Nerd is the New Cool.

Remember when I told you about how I love Thursdays? It's not just the case up at school. I usually have Thursdays off, so that's when adventures tend to pop into my life. Last week, that meant Disneyland with the family, followed by the midnight premiere of the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie. Today* it started with grand plans. Mom and I were going to get up early, clean the house, and go out for lunch before it was time to pick up the boys. 

Instead, we watched the season finale of Glee. When the boys got home, we watched lots of Doctor Who. As we geeked out about it, my brother pointed about how nerdy we can get as a family. It's true. We love British TV and correcting each other's grammar. We like Star Trek, for crying out loud!

2007(?)

But little did they know how much farther down the rabbit hole I was about to go. I was almost embarrassed of how nerdy I was about to get at a friend's house. The whole concept was a little daunting and I didn't know if I could keep up, much less enjoy it. I decided I would at least give it a shot and see if it would grow on me.

And grow it did. Like kudzu. I'm excited (maybe even proud) to tell you that I survived my first D&D session. Yes, that's Dungeons & Dragons. It's right up my alley and you can judge me all you want because I think it's fun.

*I know it says Friday. Mind you, it's still Thursday to me because I'm a night owl.

My California Adventure

I'm home for the summer! I'm back in my own room! I don't have to buy my own food for a while! Yay!

Okay, hopefully I've got that out of my system enough to tell you a story.

Today my mom asked if I wanted to come to Michael's with her and Jared and Noah. We got in the car, hopped onto the freeway, and instead of getting off on Mountain like we were supposed to, we kept going. "Surprise! We're going to Disneyland!"

I had planned on surprising my brothers with a Disneyland trip sometime in the next few weeks, and I had no idea that they would do it to me!

We spent more time in California Adventure tonight than in Disneyland. It was a beautiful night and we had a blast. I was thinking about it on the way home, and I'd like for this summer to be my own "California Adventure." Every time I leave LA it's harder because I've come to love the area even more. I don't want to miss out on the treasures that I live so close to! So here for public consumption, is my Spring/Summer 2011 To-Do List:

• Visit the Getty Center
• Disneyland with friends!
• Go with friends to Downtown LA and/or Hollywood 
• Attend the LA temple as often as possible
• Go to the beach more than twice like I did last summer
• (All of the above can also be considered a To-Photograph List as well.)
• Get good at piano again (not LA related, necessarily, but still an appropriate to-do)
• Start making money with photography (You can help me out with that, but that's another post for another day.)

He is Not Ashamed.

I love arguing and debating...but I will never start one about things that are really important to me. I only ever really talked about Proposition 8 two and a half years ago on this blog (sort of) and with those who brought up with me. And I was terrified. I know in my bones that "marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God," but usually I'm talking to atheists about it. My argument is completely invalid to them and I can't win. 

(photo by Jill Rich Photography)

My brother John is not that way at all, and he is my Hero of the Day because of it. He's outspoken on the topic in the best way possible. He does not go looking to alienate anyone, but he will bring it up when he feels moved to. He is not ashamed. Today I watched him hold his own against two or three of his friends on Facebook. I did jump into the conversation to try and even things out some, and I think we made a good case together.

I was supposed to watch this for my journalism class a while back, but I didn't get to it today. I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in religious freedom.

Lists and Letters

Things I Hate, but Have a Morbid Fascination With

1. Jersey Shore

2. Snow

3. Economics 

Dear Cadbury,
     I will be eternally grateful for your having created the Caramello. Keep up the good work.
                         Love, Brooke

Reasons I Think the Federal Government Hates Me.

1. I never got my birth certificate back when I got my passport.

2. The Social Security Office has my birthday wrong.

Dear Summertime,
      I love, miss, and desperately need you.
                              Love, Brooke

Awesome Things I Did This Week

1.  Read de Tocqueville

2. Learned John Lennon's middle name was Winston

3. Made beautiful and delicious cookies.

4. Listened to Adele almost nonstop.

Christmas Vacation 2010

 We started Christmas off right--by going to Disneyland and getting annual passes! My parents and I surprised Jared & Noah. It was pouring down rain and we left early, but it was still fun and we're looking forward to going again and again and again (in better weather.) We took this picture in the parking structure.

 Christmas Eve brought the annual California Taylor family Christmas Pageant. It's always tough to cast. No one wants to be a wise man. 

They want to be sheep.

 Or the donkey.

Or the hay in the manger.

 The most coveted part, is of course, the innkeeper.

 But we always end up with a Mary and a Joseph. It's a cute tradition.

 We always get jammies for Christmas. Yep. Those are black and white camo print footie pajamas. They're awesome. Mine are way too big. 

 We got an ice cream maker! I'm so looking forward to using it. All the experiments we did before I left were the best I've had in a long time. And I was working at Baskin-Robbins.

It's probably because we're not just relying on the recipes that came with the machine...

The older kids all got iTunes cards in our stockings, so I got Paul Anka's album Rock Swings. It's big hits from the 80s and 90s in a swing style. It includes one of the best covers of Wonderwall I'm going to find. (Thanks for the tip, Rachel!)



Other non-holiday activities of mine included work, spending the night with my good friend Jenny, a rediscovery of my cat allergy, shopping and dinner with my favorite Yalie, and accidentally seeing a rated-R movie. (I was sure it was PG-13 at the time, I promise!)

Technical Difficulties

The plan was to return to Rexburg, edit all my pictures from the end of the semester and break, then do this big post about how awesome my California Christmas (and other holidays) were. But no. Billy's USB cord is nowhere to be found, along with my pillowcases. But when that cord turns up, I promise to chronicle:

• How the Marines are too cool for mellophones and other things I learned at the 122nd Annual Tournament of Roses Parade
• How I plan to not get diabetes in 2011
• Matching pajamas
• Jazz covers of songs like "Smells like Teen Spirit"

Lessons I Learned (or Re-Learned) This Summer

1. When there's a job to do, get it done. 
2. That said, it's still crucial to eat three meals a day and get more than 4 hours of sleep a night. Even when you think you're too stressed out to do either.
3. Crying is not a sign of weakness.
4. You don't need a whole lot of things. They cost money.
5. Singles wards are going to have their awkward moments. Embrace them--they'll be great stories to tell later.
6. Handle situations like a mature adult. 
7. Living alone isn't that great.
8. Daydreaming about the impossible is fine as long as you can understand and accept the impossibility.
9. The Atonement isn't just for sins, but for sickness, sorrow, and pain.
10. For the love of all that's holy, wear sunscreen.

To Catch the Last Weekend of the Last Week

One last temple trip. 

One last babysitting gig.

One last trip to the beach. 

All these "one lasts" are so bittersweet!  I've made friends and had experiences that have all changed my life for the better and I'm gonna really miss this. Don't get me wrong, I am ready to be back in school and get on with my life, but I'd also be happy if summer was just one month longer. Oh, well. I suppose that's what cell phones, Facebook, snail mail, e-mail, and Skype are all for.


(You get bonus points for identifying the song the title of this post is from.)

Moments of Elegant Leisure

I have the rest of the summer off. For the first time in a long time, I'm deriving more pleasure from...well, everything. Especially:

photography,

eating,

(aren't I classy?)

dressing up,

I got dressed up for a wedding reception. My mom and I went grocery shopping right after, and I'm told the cute cashier was checking me out. Yeaaaaaah.

and just being with friends.

"It's made in Germany...whatever, it's French enough."

Sabrina invited me over the other night to have a classic French summertime dinner. We put Seraphine to bed, then spent a lovely evening eating, chatting, and watching America's Next Top Model and Plain Jane. 

"They wouldn't let us on a show like that. We're too nice."

"My gosh, those EYEBROWS!"

(Of course there was also bread. Didn't get a chance to take a picture.)

This Week's Accomplishments

• I invented a breakfast pasta. I'm not really a breakfast food person, so I made pasta in a way that's more breakfast-y and sweet. Not like that just-put-an-egg-on-top breakfast pasta. It's fantastically simple and I'll post the recipe another time.
• I drove all the way out to Los Angeles to go to the temple by myself in nasty traffic. Thursdays the Los Angeles Temple has time for baptisms without appointments. I've wanted to go all summer, and everything was finally right. I was able to borrow my parents' car, I got out of work on time, all that jazz. After two hours of driving, getting lost downtown, and awful traffic in the city, I made it--only to find it was closed. I made the most of it. I took a tour of the newly remodeled visitors center and hung out for a while. Overall, it was a good experience. I'm not going back by myself, though. That's the scary part of Westwood.

• I discovered I'm not the only Rachel fangirl in my ward. Hannah and Tiffany and I all want to be like her when we grow up.
• I've finally seen Firefly. I'm sad it was cancelled. And look!

Yep. That's prepubescent Zac Efron as a younger Simon Tam. I laughed so hard.

The Best Laid Plans of Mice, You Know...

Remember this list? This great list of things I wanted to do this summer? Out of the nine specifics, I've done three. Only three more are plausible. (Seriously, $15 just to PARK at Disneyland? No thanks.) But I believe I've done generally awesome things, too.

picture by jill rich

Like get to know these fabulous ladies better. You guys all know Seraphine by now, but her mom, Sabrina, has become a really close friend. We can get together and just talk for hours on end. I don't know how I would have survived the summer without her. 

Ohmygoodnessilovethepeopleinmywardtheyaresoawesome. 'Nough said.

Running a business almost on my own has been one of the hardest and most stressful things of my life. But I've learned a lot from it and it's paying for school.

In short, I have three weeks left of my summer. I'm going to make an adventure of it. 

I know you're all just terribly excited to see what I've done with my hair. Because I am just so awesome and everything I do is important. I have no good pictures of it yet. But I will tell you that I completely disregarded the overwhelming majority of you and went blonde. And I like it. I was blonde as a child and it still works.

The sad thing is that I put that before the news of my birthday! I turned 19 last Thursday. I didn't too anything too big--worked all day, then had dinner and cupcakes with my family after.

Uhhh, that's all. Bye.

Independence Day 2010

 Since Independence Day was on a Sunday this year, Ontario held their parade the day before. The Upland Regiment always marches in it, and so we always go to see Dallin and John. (Regiment is the marching band.) We brought our newly arrived German exchange students, Stephan (below left) and Simon. 

 We also brought Séraphine!

She loved the parade. "Horsies! Horsies!"

 Dallin doing his thing. He was super far away, like in the middle of the street. Luckily, Billy has a 55mm lens, or a "paparazzi lens," as it's come to be known.

 The Lady Republicans actually got a man to dress up as Abraham Lincoln this year. Usually it's one of their ladies. (That's not their real name. Lady Republicans just sounds better in my book.)

 On July 4, we churched as usual and then went to visit my grandparents. We got back to Upland in time to watch the fireworks. This was an exciting experience photographically for me. With a normal point-and-shoot, your firework pictures come out something like this:

I actually took this one (and many like it) with Billy, but I still managed to get some really nice ones, like this:

 Yay America!

Things You Probably Already Knew But I'm Going to Tell You Anyway.

1. The new blog name comes from a rarely used nickname of mine: Batgirl. My initials are BAT, so it's all logic from there.

2. I am not  a natural redhead.

February 2006, a few months before I dyed it for the first time.

But I like to play with it.

This is me as of today. It looks brown in this picture, but it's actually more like this.

3. I've always hated USC.

4. This is the first year I haven't gone to Girls Camp since 2002. And I'm okay with that.

5. I know more about how elections work than the 35-ish looking guy I saw at the polling place last week. (I voted for the first time. :D ) He was registered Democrat and asked the little old polling lady why Meg Whitman wasn't on his ballot. I stayed quiet while the LOPL gave a poor explanation of primaries, which probably led him to believe that this is the only time you can vote for governor. Poor guy. Well, since Whitman won the Republican primary (take that, Dad!) he can vote for her in November (unless he likes Jerry Brown better.)

I have no formal post. Just captions for pictures.

 This is my dad fixing the pipes. They're partway through redoing the kitchen, and it's going to look great!

 There's a clothesline in the backyard of my new place. 

 I plan to take unnecessary amounts of pictures of my clothes drying this summer.

 I actually plan to take unnecessary amounts of pictures in general, because now I have a real camera for the first time since November! I bought a Canon EOS Rebel XSi for my photography classes. Huzzah.

I was home alone with nothing to do tonight, so I got started making chocolate hazelnut gelato. 

 Side note: I made the bacon ice cream earlier this week. It was really, really good. My family loved it, too! (See? I am neither pregnant nor crazy.)

I wore an apron and everything!

It's not finished yet, though. It has to chill for a lot longer before it can go into the machine. But it'll be worth the wait.