Sarah: Crispin Chicken with BBQ Sauce

It's a universal fact that Crispin Glover is a weirdo. No question. But I didn't realize just how weird he was, and I don't know if you did either, gentle reader. He is currently visiting Salt Lake City, where he nightly attends the showing of his movie, What Is It?, at the Tower. Watch the trailer. You will be scarred.

Lisa: secret admirer, show thyself!

So, it's a good thing I'm getting around to writing this while it's still really fresh, relevant news...

This past Valentine's Day, my brother David was the recipient of several gifts from a mysterious secret admirer. We still don't know who this person is, since the most obvious suspect (his GIRLFRIEND) was ruled out early on. Anyway, here are a few pictures of one of the gifts.

If you are the admirer, please speak up. Everyone else, don't even think about making fun of David's skinny arms, because he will cut you.

Lisa: Atomic Age Apron

A while back, on a 99-cent pattern day at Jo-Ann's, I picked up this retro apron pattern.

Since I believe not actually needing to use an item shouldn't stop you from making it, I took advantage of a Presidents' Day fabric sale to pick up this sweet fabric combo. The one with the bubble/dot things on it is seersucker, the pink is a linen-look fabric for the lining, and the trim is a lime-green velvet ribbon.

The pattern only took me a few sessions to sew, and it was pretty easy to figure out. I think this might be the best sewing I have ever done--my gathers lined up exactly right and my stitching stayed even right on the edge of the trim, and everything. I even learned how to sew on buttons and put in buttonholes on my sewing machine!

Anyway, here's the apron in all its neon-colored retro glory. Now I guess I'll have to find something to cook. In heels.

Lisa: Los Angeles - Last Leg

Well, I'm finally going to finish telling about my trip to California with the Tabernacle Choir. I'm sure everyone cares even less than they did a month ago, but it's my online diary. SO THERE.

Okay, so after breakfast on Saturday morning we all walked from the hotel to Disney Hall, via an elaborate system of walkways and escalators in various office buildings that kept us from having to walk up too many hills. Since the women in the choir and orchestra are required to wear skirts and nice shoes when on tour, this was greatly appreciated.

Here's Disney Hall from the street corner:

After a bunch of waiting around and then a rehearsal, we were supposed to head back to the hotel for lunch. Unfortunately, Jeannine and I spent too much time in the L.A. Phil gift shop, and had to bypass the hotel and buy lunch at the cafe at our next venue instead. Before we left Disney Hall, we got someone to take our picture. Here we are:

Anyway, we headed over to the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels and ate in the courtyard.

Here's the outside of the cathedral:

After some more waiting around, we got to go inside and get set up.

After our rehearsal, I had to get a closer look at the tapestries hanging along the cathedral walls. From where we were sitting at the front, it looked like the subjects were painted on the fabric, but it turns out that these incredibly detailed portraits are actually woven. Anyway, they are all of different Catholic saints. Here's a closeup of one of the panels:

At the back of the cathedral there is a super tall panel depicting the baptism of Christ.

I thought this one was especially interesting from a theological standpoint, because it depicts Christ being baptised by sprinkling. In the LDS church, we interpret the bible as saying Christ was baptized by immersion.

ANYWAY, after the rehearsal at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, we walked back down to the hotel to eat dinner and change into our concert clothes. Then it was walking back up to Disney Hall for a concert, walking from there to the cathedral for another concert, and then back to Disney Hall again for a third concert. After we walked back to the hotel for the last time, my feet hurt pretty badly because I was dumb and wore the pretty shoes instead of the sensible walking shoes.

Which! Reminds me! Right before we went onstage for the last concert, the foot joint of my flute flew off and crashed on the cement floor backstage! One of the clarinet players grabbed his tools and fiddled with my flute until the low notes would come out again so that I could play the concert (thank you, Darin!), but I still have to get it fixed by a professional - and I should probably get the foot joint tightened a bit, too, so that doesn't happen again.

So, that's the end. On Sunday we split up onto about six different flights and headed back to Salt Lake and cold weather. I drank three big Diet Cokes right before getting on the plane, which was REALLY smart. Anyway, a good time was generally had by all. I hope they ask me to go on tour with them again.

Click here to go back to the beginning.

Lisa: Now I know why they drink on St. Patrick's Day

St. Patrick's Day is supposed to be a happy day. Everything is green, the pinching of near-strangers is officially sanctioned, cute little leprechauns and pots of gold abound, and Blake and I got engaged on St. Patrick's Day five years ago. Unfortunately, today is not living up to my expectations. I forgot to wear green (thank goodness I am not in elementary school anymore). Blake is deathly ill, and is at home under a pile of blankets, moaning, with the hood of his sweatshirt pulled up. I may have roiled the Orchestra at Temple Square waters by mentioning the seating situation, and I don't want to deal with that issue again. Most upsetting of all is that we were not able to get the deal on plane tickets that we were waiting for, and now there doesn't seem to be anything AT ALL available in our price range. Please help me salvage the crumbs of my wretched existence by leaving genius ideas about where to get cheap plane tickets in the comments. I am having a hard time now finding round-trip tickets between Salt Lake and London in June under $1000. I should have known $500 was too good to be true!

Tomorrow morning I plan to take a little blue pill and then reassess the situation. Hey, it's not my fault Mormons have to self-medicate via prescription.

Lisa: Sin City

What. The crap. Is this?

Lisa: Sleep... Oh! how I loathe those little slices of death.

I had a series of disturbing and morbid dreams last night that may or may not warrant analysis.

1. Something involving a helicopter crash into a swamp. Of course, we had to pull out all the dead bodies, including Gwyneth Paltrow, Luke Perry, and Michael Vartan. We rolled them all up into one big bundle with a tarp. After the crash, I decided to hook up with a chubby but nice Agent Sean type. His roommates were very happy for him.

After that one, at about 3 am, I got up and brushed my teeth and washed my face and then went back to bed. I guess I felt dirty?

2. All I remember is visiting Kelso in a prison or detention facility or something. He was wearing a helmet.

3. I was on the set of a new Law and Order spinoff set in the 1950's and starring Christian Slater, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Winona Ryder (as one of a set of twins). I was very scornful of the whole thing, and kept pointing out anachronisms in the costumes.

4. After (finally) having sex with her boyfriend for the first time, a young blonde girl slid into a refrigerator on a little cart and closed the door after herself. This was totally not weird because it was her job and she was a professional. After a few minutes, her boyfriend heard sort of a coughing sound and opened the fridge, only to find her dead with her throat blown open. Believe me, the whole fridge thing sounds a lot weirder when trying to explain it to the 911 operator.

After that one, I woke up (one minute before my alarm rang) and got out of bed.