buying in

It is no secret that when I imitate a Vietnamese accent, it sounds a little bit like someone who has Down's Syndrome. The fact that my mother has also picked up on this resulted in much hilarity this morning. She called me from her office and asked if I would want to get our toes done at Number One Nails on her lunch break. And I was like "heck yeah." Then she says "Okay, I'll call Num One nails to make an appointment." oh my gosh. as julia said, my sweet mother, with not a single mean bone in her body. and i mean, point in fact, that is how they say the name of their shop. but the fact that she busted that out shocked even the julie.

Another surprise on my return home is that my family has basically gone completely soy and organic. there is a gallon of soy milk in our fridge--and only one sad liter of milk. I never thought this day would come. My father was bred in Montana, he generally scoffs at anything that isnt what the manliest of mountain men would drink or eat or say or wear. you know, he likes to imitate that barking thing that tim allen used to do on tool time. but i personally find soy milk sort of hoity toity in the states. in taiwan it's a whole different deal b/c you would use it for the same ourposes, mostly just for drinking with bkfast and lunch. anyway, things have changed here in the hartle household.

Do you ever forget how much you like cereal? I know Rachel doesn't, but I do. I rediscovered the love this morning. oh man, and we get this awesome punpkin granola at the grocery store. grrowl, delicious.

I have achieved a whole new level of loserdom and have actually registered at drpepper.com so that i can check the contest codes on my diet dr pepper bottles to see if i have won a prize, like a hummer. a hummer i would immediately sell and would rather die than drive. i mean, right when the website makes you register i should have thrown it to the wind. but no, i persisted. i now shall go and check codes on two more bottles. cry for me argentina. a vintage drpepper tshirt would be sort of sweet. what makes me sad is that i know this means i have fallen victim to a "brand." but i love drpepper so much, even if it was called dr fart juice or something i would still drink it. fie all this branding making me feel like an automaton rather than a purist.