Have I told you about my 40 mile (one way) commute (with road construction galore)?

Do any of you have a commute this long? Please tell me if you do so I can feel better about myself.

During my morning drives, I have been able to think of things about it that annoy me, with nuance. Like how the sun is exactly in between my window and windshield right above eye level, so with each slight curve of the road I have to switch my visor back and forth. Sometimes by the time I get to work I feel like I’m already ready to go home. So anyway, you’ve heard Jeff Foxworthy talk about how to know that you might be a readneck. Here is my list…

“You might want to move out of the left lane”

1. If you’re a semi truck, you might want to move out of the left lane.

2. If you’ve got your cruise control set to the speed limit, you might want to move out of the left lane.

3. If you’ve been camping out in the left lane since 6 exits ago, you might want to move out of the left lane.

4. If you hate your job so much, you can’t be bothered to even go the full speed limit on your drive to work, you might want to move out of the left lane.

5. If you’re in a Geo Metro and you’re going up that hill at the point of the mountain, you might want to move out of the left lane.

6. If you’re too busy having an existential breakthrough to watch the road, you might want to move out of the left lane.

7. If there are five cars behind you and zero cars in front of you, say it with me now, you might want to move out of the left lane.

Any you’d like to add?

Wait...

Ben Harper was/is married to Laura Dern? And they have two kids?

Huh.

Let's get this party started.

Have a great weekend!

Thank you, Jenna, for bringing me into the world of CakeSpy.com. Seriously cute! I would love this print depicting two of my favorite things, sitting right on my desk at work.

And remember, I'll be celebrating my birthday all November long.

Something to think about.

I love you all.

Have you been trying harder?

I have.

I think even if I don’t reach my goal, the false sense of superiority I’ll feel by being more pious will pay off.

I kid, I kid! We will all make it.

Also on my mind, Conan O’Brien. You may have noticed the image to the left on my blog here. That is the Conan Credo, which I made by doing my own thing with the “Keep Calm and Carry On” poster (which I still love, even though they are supposedly so last year.)

I am very excited for Conan’s new show and have been thoroughly enjoying his promos, especially the “Wild. Nocturnal.” poster which features Conan with an owl on his shoulder.

The man is just funny! There’s no other way to put it.

On the last night of The Tonight Show, he dedicated a few minutes to the young people, urging them not to be cynical. He said that cynicism is his least favorite quality and that it gets you nowhere, then,

“Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get, but if you work really hard and you’re kind, I’m telling you, amazing things will happen.”

And also, The String Dance.

Conan!

I printed off the Conan Credo and framed it. It’s now part of the token gallery wall in our apartment, which I may post a picture of, for my mom’s information. Once it’s perfected, of course.

TRY HARDER.

I have a really cute friend named Darcy. Dar and I go way back to 2003 and have been roommates, classmates and coworkers.

In 2003 at BYU-Idaho it was totally cool to write notes and quotes on the front of your fridge with a dry-erase marker. I know I have a picture of this somewhere…from 2003, even. It was great because your fridge is a built-in whiteboard, if you have a white fridge. You just have to make sure you’re using dry-erase markers and then you can just wipe it off with windex and a soft cloth and the next tenants in your apartment are none the wiser.

Just a little tip, just for you.

One day I was over at Dar’s and I glanced over at her fridge. I did not find tediously printed notable quotes, coined by roommates in the wee hours of the morning, drunk on caffeine and sleep-deprivation and the giggles (like in my apartment), but two words, scrawled in large capital across the freezer, saying:

TRY HARDER.

It was in Dar’s handwriting so I asked her what the deal was. Her answer was pretty simple and I’ve always remembered it:

“Sometimes, I don’t feel like I’m trying hard enough, so I tell myself to try harder.”

Who hasn’t been there?

Lately, I am totally in that mode. That mode where I know I need to try harder, and pretty soon, I will. I’ll hit my groove, I’ll be in the zone, and it will feel great. I feel it coming on, it’s starting to tickle a little bit, and I’m enjoying my laziness, but not for long. And I feel fine. I’m happy enough. I do the things I should I’m just not trying hard enough.

I’ve had these three big goals since I graduated from college. Maybe someday I’ll share them with you. But we’ll just say now that they are hefty things, and this year I’ve done two of them.

It feels great! (And no, one of them was not “get married.” That was an added bonus and a help to me in reaching some of my goals.)

I think if I try harder, I can accomplish the third of them by my birthday on November 28^th (I want a navy blue Hobo, a chevron rug for my living room and a new bottle of Viva La Juicy [hey, just in case]).

Sometimes I think we don’t reach our goals because we set wimpy goals. It’s this mental block that I know happens to me, and maybe it happens to you. Basically, we know the end is so closely within reach, we don’t try as hard as we should, and we never reach it. If it’s a big goal, we’ll take big strides to get it done and actually have a better chance of reaching it. Does that make sense to you? Because I think this is a true principle. Like that equation that approaches zero but never equals zero.

For example, how many people do you know who are trying to lose five pounds, but they never do it?

Contrast that with the number of people you know who need to lose 50 pounds and are actually making pretty good progress.

Keep in mind this isn’t just people who need to lose weight, but people who are “trying” to lose weight.

Sometimes I “try” to lose weight while eating the same things I always eat and not upping my exercise. See? Try harder.

Anyway, thanks Darcy. I need to try harder, and I am picturing your old freezer right now. It’s pushing me on to get where I want to be!

Now let’s all get out there and do our best! Who’s with me?

Are cupcakes gluten free?

Image via

This holiday season (can we start calling it that yet?), I am grateful for many things, and in my top ten is definitely the blessing of being gluten-tolerant. Like Jocelyn, I rarely find things that are too sweet, too rich, too delicious or decadent. And, wheat and tastiness seem to go hand in hand.

I have waxed poetic about The Sweet Tooth Fairy from time to time on the blog, and while I’ve kind of been in break mode, I’ve also been introduced to/converted to Cupcake Chic.

There are lots of cupcakeries in Utah, and I’ve tried several, and these are the only two worth my time so far. (But remember, I haven’t tried them all.)

Now’s Utah’s chance to get up close and personal with Utah’s cupcakes, with Becky’s giveaway over at Utah Loves Cupcakes. She’s giving one lucky reader a dozen cupcakes from the cupcakery of her (the reader’s) choice. Head on over to Utah Loves Cupcakes, specifically this post, and get the 411.

And while we’re on the subject of delectable baked goods, I am so excited for this conference weekend. Among other things, I will be baking, and I can’t wait.