NIGR - National Institute of Genealogical Research

Yep! I was sent by the Family History Library to attend the NIGR conference at the National Archives in Washington DC. Did you know it's the oldest genealogical week-long research class in the US? And I was fortunate enough to be sent to glean all archival knowledge from really smart people about really old original records! Doesn't that sound like a good time??? Ok, for me it is...

Sunday morning, me and my good friend, Marj - from GRA days - headed off to DC. After being on the waiting list for the institute in position number 4 since February, Marj was given the good news last Thursday that they had room for ONE MORE! And she was that one more.... All I have to say about that is, Ether 12:6. Plus, I had a good feeling about it...so of course, she got in!!

We flew into Dulles airport and I encountered the STRANGEST things!! Already giant "shuttles" got taller to attach themselves to each terminal to pick up passengers then to take them to the main terminal. I have NEVER seen such a thing in my many years of traveling around the world. That leads me to believe that the idea was great on paper, but in practice wasn't quite as good an idea as they hoped because the concept didn't catch on at other airports. Now Dulles is just that weird airport with chimney stacks coming out of large mobile homes on BOBCAT tires. Weird!

Anyway, we headed to the Mandarin hotel - a fancy-smanchie hotel - near the National Archives. It's right by the Jefferson Memorial and has a lobby inspired by the monument. We got a good deal because of the conference and I do believe this is the last time I will ever be in such an overpriced hotel. Which is fine by me!! Being continuously approached by people to "help" and then being confused as to whether I'm obligated to tip them is really tiring for a middle-class girl like myself!

Because this hotel is for the rich, it's in this big deserted cul-de-sac and is far from restaurants that don't cost an arm and a leg to get any sort of decent meal. Because everything was closed on the weekend - and because of a time crunch before a meeting - we were compelled to experience at one of the hotel's restaurants for dinner. Really the following pictures say it all....here is an example of the kind of overprice but scantly clad plates we encountered. Fellow co-worker, Jeff decided to buy $19 mini burgers (he got three) because it was the cheapest meal on the menu. As you can see, they were the smallest burgers of ALL time!! I think it qualified for the Guinness Book of World Records, frankly....

Well, we got through the meal and had our orientation for the institute. We met lots of nice people and got our information for the week. It looks like some good stuff! Military records, Non-population censuses - man, I'm salivating thinking about it...

Then after checking out the "lay of the hotel" for perks - fitness center, indoor pool, steam room - we did some last minute internet research on the Library of Congress to prepare for the next day. (DID I MENTION I PAID $75 for a week of internet service???? Man, I long for a Econolodge!)

The rooms are kept at a low temperature which feels quite pleasant in the 59% humidity we flew into on Sunday. When I get cold, I use the complementary robe. Don't I look natural in it?? All I can say is that this cotton robe is HEAVY. I never want to be rich...it's just too hard to deal with...

I do have to say though, I could really get used to pillow top mattresses!

4th of July Aftermath Party

So, what do you do after July 4th once the fireworks have ended? Why, you attend a "July 4th Aftermath Volleyball/BBQ party" on July 5th!! That way, you can get in your last playing before the 3 day weekend is totally over and you have to go back to work the following Monday.

The party was at Liberty Park and included friends galore! Married, single, dating, short guys and meeting of total strangers! And I'm happy to say, there was no rioting or police interference.

Callie and Kelly manned the grills and helped keep chaos for those bbqing bratwurst, cheese dogs and hamburgers. Oh, and a few hundred skewers!! Everybody brought stuff to share resulting in a huge feast!!
















The evening was a little warm but once the sun started to set, volleyballing ensued. The rest of the group did some hanging out and chatting...it was a lovely evening as the sun set and the temperature became more pleasant - only to be shattered by the sprinklers coming on at 9:10pm. Everyone pitched in - amongst a few ack!s and crap!s - and everything was cleaned up in record time!

Top picture: Al and Plewe and short guy, Eli hanging out on the grass chatting up a storm! Man, that kid can chat it up!!! As you can see, I broke his concentration by taking his picture....

Bottom picture: Sarah, with wounded foot, and Kent taking a comfortable position to minimize foot swelling

What is a Barrel Dress?

Well, good question, Ann! First of all, I spelled it wrong...yeah, where is spell checker when you need it???

What am I talking about? The previous post talked about how Lynn didn't like the look of "barrel dresses" we saw at the Arts Festival. But alas! This is not their official name. I searched the web and came up short....Can you believe they don't actually call it that?? I thought barrel dress was a perfect name!!!

This is the closest thing I could find and it looks a little bit like what we saw. Notice the band around the legs. That same "band" is also around the top - usually sleeveless and looks like a kickback from the 80s. It's also made of that terrific knit instead of this sweater material found here. I'm SO glad knit came back!!! (insert sarcasm here.)

Anyway, someday I'll find the perfect picture of a barrel dress so you will all know what to avoid in real life....

Arts Festival Tradition

One of my favorite activities in the summertime is to go to the Utah Arts Festival at Library Square downtown. I have some really great memories from past festivals (I love Neil Diamond cover-bands!!) and it seems wrong to not go if I can. I think I've only missed a couple of times since I moved to Salt Lake in 1997.

The group consisted of Me, Dona, Alexis, Lynn, Diana, Marianne and some new people, Sarah and Inga. I warned Lynn that he would be heavily outnumbered in females. He said he preferred the odds in his favor.

This year we were blessed with the parking spot of the year! (GO DONA!) Dona snatched a fabulous spot literally 150 feet from the entrance - after we remembered to pick up some free tickets from Sacha! (THANKS SACHA!)

Ok, so let's get the bad news out of the way...the food - although fabulous - SO overpriced! And the crowds are getting to be a bit much. Doing a big group - like we did last weekend - just gets harder and harder because there are a million people moving around! You definitely have to be in the mood for a crowd if you are to enjoy the experience. And a really easygoing group. Luckily we did!

Now to the great news! Oh my, the people watching gets better and better! I will forever remember the conversation with Lynn concerning women in "barrel dresses" (he's not a believer). Being among so many diverse people reminds me of home in California and helps me remember to look beyond myself. There are all sorts of fantastic people - in all shapes and sizes! And it's good to mill around with them for an evening...

The Earth Harp was AMAZING!! It consisted of HUGE wires that they attach to architecture or nature and play amazing music with. This time they attached the wires to the outside of the Library. This is a picture of their performance but it just doesn't give it justice. If you are curious, check out this short little montage about it from our local newspaper: Earth Harp



I bought a fabulous corn dog (for $4 it had better be fabulous!!) and shared some of Lynn's really tasty homemade huge french fries with fry sauce. Ok, I bought the corn dog to go with the fries...and finished with a strawberry banana smoothie. Mmmmm!

We wandered around a bit and saw some amazing art along with some not so amazing art...it's all on the eye of the beholder, huh? But one exhibit was a wall of post it notes that had to contain 6 words to create some poetry. They had some really creative ones as well as hilarious ones. The one that struck us most was the "What if happiness is right now?" It's a great reminder to seize life and appreciate it to it's fullest...I've included a picture of some of the others...
After mingling around and such, we found a spot at one of the stages and saw the Disco Drippers. After about 20 minutes, I remembered I didn't like disco...but it was fun to see a live band for a while...
It was a great time though! The weather was beautiful and the sights and sounds intriguing and fun...as we left for the night I tried to take a picture of me Dona, and Lex. You can see Dona was
being difficult by not getting in the picture!!! In the end a kind stranger helped us out!!

You've got to love people!

To Sew is Divine....

So, I sew now. I took a sewing class last Fall and found that I really do enjoy the power of creating (or altering) things! All my life, I put off sewing! That was because when I was a teenager I sewed a dress with my mom's help. And it took a lot of work to get something to even look slightly like you want the picture to. (mom did all the hard parts and saved it so I could at least wear it) But it was a hard experience and I knew that it would take hours and hours and hours to get it right. And I just wasn't into it...

To my mother's chagrin (she's a fantastic seamstress!! and my little sister followed in her footsteps, so now SHE'S the favorite daughter), I quit my very early sewing career and never looked back.

But alas, throughout my life I have had things that needed to be altered or enhanced (adding a pocket to a skirt). I would send it to my sister to do for me - in LA. But the crazy thing was she was really busy and couldn't always get to it - something about working 14 hours a day or something. And then when she did have a few hours to herself, she would finish it and then have to mail it back to me. It just wasn't practical.

Because of this, I decided to bite the bullet and take a sewing class from Salt Lake Community College. I roped my friend Sarah into it and we attended as many classes as my crazy, RS pres schedule would allow. And you know, it wasn't all that bad!

Our teaching insisted that we not have any zippers or bias used in the project. I was ok with it, because zippers scare me and I didn't even know what bias tape was. My project was an apron (the pattern was from "Sewing For Dummies"). I got it started but the class was over before I could finish it. And it's been sitting on a shelf low these many months because I didn't have the time to finish it. But now that I'm free from being RS pres, I'm sewing up a storm! With my new sewing machine that I got for Christmas/Birthday from Sarah and Dona, I've blind stitched 2 pairs of pants, fixed the hem of a skirt, shortened a REALLY long shirt, and fixed another shirt! I'm a SEWING MANIAC!

So now I'm back to the apron. But alas! I'm trying to top stitch and something terribly wrong keeps happening. And this didn't happen while I was in class! The stitch looks grand on top but underneath is a looped-de-lou nightmare!! I've turned the tension from 3 to 4 hoping it would help, but it didn't? So now I plea to the sewers of the world!! Please save me!!!

What am I doing wrong???

Picture #1: Top view (isn't it beautiful??)
Picture #2: Bottom view (nasty!!)