Filet Ass-car

The week went by just like any other..EXCEPT for the fact that I got a summer job. (We are still in the training round so it's not set in stone yet). But considering everything goes well, I will be a part of Kari's Magic Parties in the East Bay dressing up as a Princess, Pirate, or whatever the heck they need me to be for children's birthday parties. It's my dream to spend all summer wearing princess dresses and doing face painting. I couldn't be more excited!! 

Fast forward to Friday - I went to school and ditched out on work because I had a plane to catch! I was Houston bound for Easter weekend. My sister lives in Katy, my grandparents live in Houston, my parents were on a cruise that docked in Houston, and my uncle and cousin were in Houston for spring break. I figured I would join in on the fun. 

There were some rockin' clouds while I was on my flight.

By the time my flight landed it was around 6 pm Houston time and I was starving! My sister Katie picked me up from the airport and we headed out to a classic, Escalantes. Nothing beats TexMex you guys. I could die for their queso. That was pretty darn good, but we stepped it up a notch and got cupcakes from a cute place next to Katie's apartment. We took them home to eat them and were greeted by a few guests. Owen and Toby were crack-ups acting like little kids having a sleepover. They wouldn't leave me alone and were sad to see me go in the morning.

Katie and I both opted for Boston Cream Pie cupcakes. Yum!

 Toby is such a pretty cat. He has probably the longest whiskers ever. They are insane! I think he's using a hair growth serum or something.

 

The next morning Katie generously treated me to a nail appointment! We went to her usual nail place and they were so nice! It was a welcomed treat. We then went to Panera to meet up with our parents who had just driven back from their port and were eager to catch up with us. We decided to go to Genghis Grill for lunch, and while we were there they shared cruise photos and stories with us. My favorite photo is the one below which showcases how skilled my dad is at taking selfies. What a rockstar. 

 

After hanging around Katie's apartment for a little, we headed on over to my grandparents house to join in on the circus. We got there and played with Julia and Callie and caught up with everyone for a while. Then we all got changed and headed out to a special dinner at Brennan's! My dad's family lived in New Orleans for a while and grew up going to Brennan's for Easter brunch. When I was a kid, we went to New Orleans a lot. We also went to the Houston location of Brennan's quite a bit, including their New Year's Eve parties. The Houston location burned down during Hurricane Ike but it is back and just as good as new! 

So the waiter came around and started telling us all about the special of the evening which was "Filet Oscar". Unfortunately, he had an accent and it sounded like he said "Filet Ass-car". Needless to say my mom and I started busting up laughing. We had the giggles so bad - it felt like we were getting in trouble for laughing in class. Every time I composed myself and stopped laughing, I would look at her and start doing it again. My uncle decided to ask the waiter to repeat what the dish was called, which just set us off on another fit of laughter. Then he asked us to order first, which was absolutely horrible. Neither of us could spit out what we wanted. Eventually we got it together though. 

We were all super predictable and got the turtle soup for an appetizer...it's a Brennan's/New Orleans classic and I will never pass up the opportunity for a good turtle soup. It is basically the best soup ever. 

 

And anyone who knows me knows I will never pass up a steak on the menu. Especially a big one that is resting atop some yummy roasted potatoes. 

 

For dessert I went with the strawberry shortcake. Not the Brennan's classic, but don't worry, Uncle Kyle ordered that one. 

 

My cutie pie parents

 

I told Julia (my cousin) to make the funniest face she could. I think she succeeded. 

 

Kyle ordered the Bananas Foster, another Shaw favorite. Basically anything that is flambeed table side is a winner in our book. And Bananas Foster brings up great memories and stories of the time my grandpa tried cooking it at home and nearly burnt the house down by catching the curtains on fire. 

 

After our meal we all got Pralines! It was such a nice finish to our Creole meal. 

 

The next day before church I just had to take pictures of the "Texas" things that stood out to me. The first one isn't isolated to Texas, it was just so bizarre for me to see everything so green since I live in the middle of the desert. Things in Houston grow like nobody's business with how humid it is. Beautiful to look at, horrible for everyone's allergies.

 

I also found this centerpiece in my grandparents house. Classic Texas. 

 

And these beautiful flowers were gracing the entryway and they smelled just as good as they look!

 

On our drive to church we passed a middle school that had an interesting installation in their front yard. I thought it was super creepy. Look at all of those tape children. We had some tape people made for one of the Institute dances and they still creep me out. 

 

After church was over, we went outside for a photo op! 

 

More people kept joining our photo..

 

Until we had everyone in it except for my dad and Kyle (the photographers). 

 

After church we headed to Masraff's for Easter brunch. It was pretty packed and we were early for our reservation, so we hung out in the bar and taught Julia some classic pranks. A favorite amongst our family is the "you have food on your shirt" prank where you end up goosing them on the nose. She picked up on our tricks really quickly. 

You might be shocked, but I indeed ordered the steak again. This time it was a filet, so it was different - I promise.

 

And for dessert I had s'mores bread pudding. Oh my gosh I could have eaten a bucket of it. 

 

Then my parents and I headed off to the airport, did some last minute Easter shopping in the terminal, and then headed off to our respective flights. Now I am back home and jumping back into normal life to finish off the semester. In less than a month I will be sitting at home with Dewey. 

As a gift to you all as the year is winding down, I thought I would share a lovely photo of me with some of my San Ramon friends. Warning: this is not a one-time occurrence. I have issues on California Screamin'. Enjoy. (look closely at my mouth, you'll see what I'm talking about)

Where the green grass grows

Hello people who read my blog. It was a crazy week but we are in the homestretch. Only 4 more weeks of class! Plus I get to see almost my entire family this weekend for Easter. That basically never happens with all of us living all over the world but my uncle and cousin who I haven't seen in over four years are coming to Texas for Easter! I'm so excited. 

Monday started out pretty routinely. School, work, the whole shebang. I had a Google hangout interview scheduled for Tuesday, so I wanted to familiarize myself with the platform ahead of time. I enlisted the help of my trusty roommates to get me accustomed to proper Google hangout etiquette. In the midst of testing all of the features of Google hangouts, I left the black and white feature turned on. I assumed it would shut off when I logged out and back in again, but no, it didn't. So I did my entire webcam interview in black and white. Super embarrassing. Maybe the guy thought I was just super vintage and artsy. Anyways, I ended up getting the job so maybe the black and white helped me stand out. It's for a daytime writing camp that I'll be a camp counselor at for 4 weeks this summer. It looks super cool! aiwcamp.com peeps. 

I tend to lose track of the days that happen in the middle of the week. They are just kind of there. This week was no exception. It was hot, I had school, I worked, I slept, and I ate. It was also hot. Did I mention it was hot? This California girl is not used to the Arizona heat. Ew, it almost pained me to call myself a California girl. But being that my family has lived in California for almost as long as I lived in Texas, it is almost time to start accepting it as my home as well. In a frugal attempt to stay cool, I blew up a kiddy pool that was left over from my birthday party. It was no simple task, but the reward was more than worth it. 

I didn't want to indulge in my paradise alone, so I enlisted the help of my friendaroomie Annabeth. 

Wednesday and Thursday consisted of more school and work, and a Relay for Life bake sale on campus. The baked goods were melting, it was hot, and not many people seemed to want melted cupcakes at 2 in the afternoon. But it went well and the important thing is that money was raised to go toward cancer research. Here are some pictures of me dying in the heat. 

A wonderful wonderful surprise came for me in the mail on Thursday. A young cutie named Josie Thompson came to visit Tucson a while back, and she spoke of her courageous battle with bipolar disorder, a topic which hits close to home. She was so inspiring and strong, and her mission in life is to spread happiness and to find what makes others happy. She started something called the 444 project (the name is an homage to her family's favorite scripture, Alma 44:4) where she travelled around the country for 100 days, living out of her car, to ask random strangers "What gets you out of bed in the morning?" Her willingness to spread joy and love is awe-inspiring. Her cute mom sent me this bumper sticker which immediately made its way onto my RAV4. 

On Friday, we had a devotional where we had an "Institute Conference" which was like a mini General Conference. Refer to my General Conference posts or mormon.org if you'd like to learn more ;) Lauren interpreted for a girl (who ended up not knowing sign because she was newly deaf...but that's ok) and it was awesome to see her in action! I am always amazed by the talents of the people around me. It is rare to see them showing their talents off, and it is a great reminder of how important we all are to all aspects of life. 

On Friday afternoon, Annabeth and I headed on over to the institute for a technical rehearsal for choir. I had a speaking part that was supposed to be memorized, so I wrote it on my hand just in case. It was quite lengthy. Don't worry, I said it correctly during the actual performance. 

After practice, we rushed up to Mt. Lemmon to partake in a much needed getaway. It was only one night, and all we really did was eat and sleep. But being away from the chaos of University life and "becoming one with nature" is so cathartic. It felt nice to have a quiet evening with good company. 

Selfies are always in order, even in the wilderness. 

I was totally mesmerized by the fire. I think I will become an arsonist. 

Cutie roomies. 

Below is a series of pictures of Annabeth trying to find a bag inside the deflated tent. 

AM selfie as well. 

Since we were embracing all that Mother Nature has to offer, I stopped at the vista points on the way down the mountain. Sometimes you need to just stop and take it in. 

After camping, we rushed home to shower and then headed off to Spring Fling. It is the largest student-run carnival in the nation, and this is the first time in years that it has been held on campus. It was so awesome and I can't wait for next year!

That evening we gathered at Funtasticks for some kick-butt games of laser tag to celebrate my friend and coworker Isaac's birthday. 

While all of this was happening, my adorable parents jetted off on a cruise to Cozumel and Belize. They have limited cell service and email, so talking to them becomes much more precious. My mom was concerned about how our animals were doing, but rest assured our petsitter posted this beautiful photo of our pups on her Facebook page. 

I also received this picture from my dad while they were docked in Cozumel. Humidity does not fare well for Shaw girls. It's ok, she's still pretty. 

Tonight we all went to U-Swirl for a goodbye to Elder Hickenlooper. Surprise! Another zone in Tucson was having a zone meeting there and I got to see one of my besties! Sister Hale. She has never served in a YSA ward, but I've seen her around maybe 4 times. We had an instant connection and we are basically soul sisters. I love her. We even have the same perfume. Rock on Nat. 

Roomies with Elder Hickenlooper, Elder Cooper hanging ten in the front, and Ryan Dee showing off his muscles in the back. 

Since it is Easter week, I kicked us off with an Easter egg hunt. Not really a hunt, just hidden eggs around the apartment. Any reason for candy is a good reason for me. 

Speaking of Easter, this is the perfect reminder to celebrate our Savior. I don't necessarily like to get all churchy up in here but you can read these quotes or hit up the hashtag #BecauseOfHim on any social media this week. Rock on humanoids.