Who are the People in Your Neighborhood?

I had a major epiphany as I was getting ready to go back to school a few weeks ago (School started the 17th, ugh.)--we live near a huge university. Universities are surrounded by cheap, fast food. Why am I not taking advantage of this?!! So I've tried three new restaurants in the last two weeks, two of those with Paul.

1. Mr. Chao's Asian Bistro. I don't know why it's called Mr. Chao's when it's run by a Vietnamese chef named Tran, but whatever. Best American-style Chinese food ever! Super-tasty, ridiculously fast, the only downside is that it's nowhere near ASU. They make sesame chicken just the way I like--sticky sweet.

2. Republic Ramen. I'd heard good things about this place, but the whole "authentic Japanese-style ramen" angle had be scared. The thought of noodles and broth was more appealing Thursday, rain day 2 of 3 this week. I tried the shoyu, a soy-flavored broth, with pork. It was lip-smacking delicious and I will be warming the remaining broth up after this post just to drink. (I ate the rest for lunch on Saturday, it was even better the next day.) Their boba slushes were lousy though.

3. America's Best Taco Shop. Aptly named. They are the prefect trinity of cheap, tiny, and absurdly delicious. The store is also covered in cute one-of-a-kind pieces of art. It's small, filled with beaten-up furniture, and the owner talks with you a mile a minute with barking out orders in Spanglish. The guacamole is to die for and they give you garnish baggies--with cucumbers!

I can only wait to see what pocketbook-friendly delicious dives I will find this week. (That's right, I say pocketbook. Deal with it.)

Piper and Jules

This is a story about Piper and Jules. This is Piper in case you've forgotten. This is Jules. Jules is a chair, from IKEA. Jules used to belong to Paul, but now Jules is Piper's. This is a recent development. For a year, Jules sat empty when Paul wasn't using the computer. Now, Piper is in it all of the time. Paul has to forcibly evict her to use the computer. He gets up for a second and wham! Piper is there, lying all stretched out and pretending she totally did not just sprint across the room and jump into the chair before he turned around. We've decided to get a Jules for just Piper, but exactly where does one put a chair solely for cat lounging? I'm open to suggestions.

July, The Month that Blogging Forgot

Sorry for not blogging for so long. July was a crazy month. Assume it action-packed with family, holidays, vacations, etc. Here are the highlights:

June 26-July 6--in Provo. Send Matt off to the MTC, celebrate the Fourth, miss the Muhlestein reunion and feel appropriated shamed.

July 6-13--my sister visits. We do much swimming and watching of forbidden TV.

July 10-13--my mother visits. Watching of forbidden TV dramatically decreases, swimming and hanging out on the balcony exponentially increase.

July 18-23--I work on an abstract, which is subsequently accepted for a conference presentation. Feel smug for a while.

July 22--Tempe Town Dam breaks. This would be big news if it was a real dam and not like a dike. Also if the breach actually flooded something besides a dry river bed. Here's some pictures.



The remains of the "dam."



Looking east to show how far the resevoir dropped. Note there are only small pools upstream.



Looking down in the resevoir from the dam to show how low the level is.

July 29-Aug. 1--Paul's brother Spencer visits. Obscene amounts of swimming ensue.

In between I cleaned everything down to the baseboards and worked on that pesky paper. Oh, and I painted and decorated a bookshelf and a set of stacking boxes. Have some more pictures.



Look at those pillows! It's like a freakin' magazine.



Sorry for the blurry cell phone pic. We really do need to get a camera.

Umm, so that's that then.