Waffle Wednesday

Decisions have been difficult. Every time I think I've decided something, another pro to the other somethings I've been pondering pops up. My thought's are going in circles and it's making me dizzy!

I decided to try meditating... nope, i couldn't get my head to be quiet for long enough.

Finally the thought came into my head of the temple. I don't know how I've gone so long without that thought, after all there is a large picture of one in my bedroom. Honestly this was the first time I had even remotely had such a thought, probably because all the other ones had created a tornado around it. So I made the decision to go yesterday.

Unfortunately I forgot my phone at home. But it was ok, because I left a sleeping friend a note in her apartment asking if she could call for me (I hate asking for favors, but I always have to remember that others don't have the opportunity to serve if you don't ask) Long story short, I missed the appointment she had made and had a nervous breakdown. Sometimes it's hard to get into the Logan temple, but if you ask to come over to someone's house, they'll usually find time for you. There was plenty of open spots and my roommate was even able to come with me.

From then on out the day was great!

At the temple, the moment I walked in I was actually able to have my head quiet for the most part.

After clearing my head I went to the field house even though it was just 20 minutes.

When I was done there, I had time to spare before my SI session and decided to walk around, and in the process of doing so ran into an old friend. Since she does student teaching this was one of the super rare occasions she was on campus. Earlier that day I thought it would be great to run into her and voila!

SI was one of the better ones.

Waffle Wednesday was wonderful because, honestly, it ends with waffles and syrup with a friend, enough said.

Ode To my Teens

Good bye.

You were an excellent 7 years.

I enjoyed your beginnings very much while I was in middle school

And I ended you while being in my second year of college.

The middle of you was excellent as well.

I began my travels during my time with you.

Fell for Harry Potter harder than I had before

Enjoyed my education very much while you were with me.

The books we enjoyed together were marvelous weren't they?

So were the friendships that we had.

I'll miss you my dearest years.

So long childhood

You helped me strive to be what am now and what I am going to be.

But don't worry, you'll always be with me. In memory, and of course you've practically imprinted yourself on me. What am I talking about? You are me. Lessons learned, and not yet learned. Experiences, joys and sadness. I shall miss you most definitely, I feel like Peter Pan right now (who is sitting in the other room, since it is getting close to Halloween). Growing up, started a couple years ago but I feel that this monumental perfect age (I can still count it on my hands and feet) is only going to change at a more rapid rate. So long 13,14,15,16,17,18, and 19.


... And hello roaring Twenties!

So far you have:

Given me a free fully loaded cup of Fro-yo.

Time with my best friend

My family from another state

Cake(of course)

A great conversation with a friend and neighbor

First taste of French onion soup made by my roommate along with deliciously spicy brownies.

A walk among pumpkins.

Just simply splendid days. It will be a great year indeed and I look forward to you, in all difficulties and happiness of figuring out life and emotions and friendships. I'm excited for all the joys in store!

Clever Hollywood

Alrighty Hollywood you've caught my attention with this one. A very well done trailer. I'm wondering though, do you think they would be gutsy enough to film the whole film in black and white? Because that would be extra kudos from me.

News on the "Telephone "

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

I heard the story from my roommate last night and then watched this when one of my co-workers showed it to me. It did wet my eyes but at the end we both noticed the same thing. Even the news plays the game of "telephone". I feel like the details are important, but maybe that's because I'm proud of my school.

For instance, it wasn't really a nearby office building, it was the business building. And it wasn't a nearby college. It is a major UNIVERSITY and the accident happened practically on campus. That's all.

Classique Vintage Part I

Life's been a bit hard lately, for not only me but those around me, so it's kinda a double whammy. Circumstances and experiences aren't tough though. Nope, those are all rather fun.

For example, Wednesday I had the privilege of going to a Tony's Grove company party at the Hyrum dam. It was all just a spur of the moment invite. I literally grabbed my swimsuit and left. I wasn't sure that I did want to go, but I was sooo glad I did. I didn't know anyone there except for Cody, so it was kind of strange, but it turned out excellent in the end. Highlights: free pizza, tan [no sunscreen no sunburn :) ], for some reason my body decided to pretend to be a flat rock and skip across the water three times as I let go of the tube( I actually recommend this one, SO fun). I will tell you however, that I can barely lift my arms up, they are so sore.

Another example is showcased by this:


Pioneer Day was spent by dressing up vintage style( yeah we do know what the meaning of the word pioneer is I promise) and going to Bear Lake and doing a photo shoot like the one I mentioned at the bottom of the post here. It was even topped off with Twizzlers, Starbursts, soda, and hair whipping wind.

So fun.


























Go to this link to see the rest of them. :)

I Spy With My Little Eye

The other day I rolled out of bed and went hiking. I didn't have a plan for it, but I was invited the moment that I rolled out of bed and answered the door. And I thought "Why not?" I wasn't doing much that day anyway. So I went.

It was a 10.4 mil hike. 5.2 in and out. I didn't think it would be too hard. And it wasn't. It was pretty. The trail wasn't a lake or a big scenic view like most people go hiking for, it was an old tree. Juniper to be exact. Who comes up with the idea to hike 5 miles to go see a tree? No matter how old it is.

But there were perks. Remember my blog name? Well, it was definitely one of those beautiful butterfly days. As we were hiking, butterflies were EVERYWHERE. You had to watch your step, they were fluttering in and out of our legs. It was GREAT.

The Day My Childhood Ended

Childhood has the greatest memories. Friends were made so much easier. My best friend up to high school became my best friend simply because my shy little kindergarten self mustered up the courage to ask the new girl from Texas if she wanted to play tag and there it started. Sadly I don't remember much about our friendship up to third grade, but I do know we were pretty good friends.

She had the coolest birthday parties. She talked super fast, but I always seemed to understand her pretty well, I didn't know what people were talking about when they said she talked fast. We balanced each other out. Her and her family always seemed to be having fun. We were always in the same class throughout elementary. I'm not sure we had much in common, but somehow we were great friends.

Then in third grade something came along that really tied us together with great memories. There were previews for a certain movie on TV. My dad had tried to read us the books but I didn't want to, they seemed boring. But when I saw the preview, I thought I'd give the books a chance. Good thing I did too. For they became my favorites.



My best friend and I started reading them at the same time, I don't even know if we knew the other was reading them or not, but we were hooked, and I remember talking about them to her in the alcove of the entrance of the school during recess.

Games ensued in the following years.

-We recruited two boys and during recess we pretended we were the characters out of scenes of Harry Potter. When someone was gone we would skip to a part in the story that allowed for them to be gone.

-During a free time, a very competitive game of Harry Potter Trivia occurred and soon became a favorite of those who played, it was a dark time when the teachers wouldn't bring it out anymore because there were missing pieces. But because of that game I found another friend.

-My best friend and I found a way to entertain ourselves during the science projects we worked on together by making characters and objects out of clay and playing Quidditch with them in her kitchen.
-Countless other games happened as well, these came to mind easily however.

Many memories occurred on account of the Harry Potter books and movies alike. I cannot convey how much I adore them because they remind me of childhood. So to finally attend the last movie was somewhat heart breaking.

But I did enjoy the day. I went shopping all day for the cheapest t-shirt I could find at the mall, only to end up going to Walmart to find everything I needed all in 30 minutes. And then I made this...


Heidi found it on this blog and thought it was adorable. It's Harry Potter- esque without being too blatant about it and I love it! Plus did I mention I made it entirely from hand, NO STENCILS. I'm pretty pleased with it. I'll probably go get more shirts so I can make more sayings or pictures and what not. Hmm... maybe I could sell some custom, one of a kind shirts?

Red Class

Cute clothes have been on my mind lately, and as I sit at work while watching The Andy Griffith show I discovered this site as well as this one where you can "pin" any photo on the web to a board on the website. It makes things so much easier so that I don't have to save the whole page as a favorite. It also might eat up too much of my time.

If you decided to go play, well here is some inspiration for you. Musically and fashionally :)



And here as well.

I just love Zooey Deschanel: voice, clothes, talent, person, everything! Although I've never met her, she comes off as a classy personI want a photoshoot like this :)

Paris Giveaway? Too Good to be True? Oh HAPPY DAY!

I have a Paris poster hanging in my living room and a friend stated yesterday that she wanted to go to Paris. Lo and behold look what I found today. http://ohhappyday.com/2011/06/goes-to-paris

Amazingly, this wonderful lady is giving away a trip to Paris, which includes your own personal tour guide since she's lived there long enough to know the best sites and shops and places to buy delicious food. How wonderful is that? Just go here to visit her blog and get all the details on how to enter.

So it may not be a guaranteed win, but it's still an amazing opportunity right? There's nothing to lose in entering. Plus the blog itself is pretty cute.

Super Sunny Funny Grandparent Vacation

Oh, reality I thought I had hidden so well from your wretched grasp. The week I spent without you was much needed, but now I see that you missed me all too much and pulled me back into the whirlwind with you. But while we get back together (you're making it difficult by the way) I'll tell you all about the time I enjoyed apart from you.

First off, here's the do's, don'ts, and lessons

1) Go with you're grandparents and sister and cousin. So great.2) Play mad-gab in everyday conversation. Inside jokes and laughs are included.

3) Don't buy $10 sunglasses from Walmart as a last minute decision. If Wally world is your selection just go for the $5 bugeyed one (you'll end up buying bugeye ones anyway because those $10 ones broke on the first day and you'll have an extra 5 bucks to go towards those new ones)

4) Super glue is messy. (Grandma supervision is advised)

5) Snorkeling in Cozumel, Mexico is so gorgeous! I don't really know if I saw any fish that were super duper cool, but the water was so beautiful in the gulf.


6) Make sure you find those celebrities hanging out around you

johnny depp

dr.phil
Where's waldo?

6) Zip lining through the rain forest is G-R-E-A-T because sometimes you are in the trees and other times you are above the trees. Just make sure you wash your face off.

7) Sometimes buses get stuck on muddy mountain trails when they are forced to get out of the way of the slippery truck coming down on the one lane road.
8)Sometimes you do get what you wish for. Such as seeing the Panama City temple, even if it was just a glimpse
9)Having the best waiters/waitress makes the whole trip even better, such as when they shout your name when you are walking somewhere, or suggesting foods in the buffet line at lunch and breakfast, or trying to save a table for you, failing and then setting one just to save a new spot with two choices of drinks.
10) Humidity can be your friend and is sometimes not too bad.

Wearing the sunglasses mentioned in #2) and 3)

11) Sitting out in the sun and feeling a sunburn coming and not getting out of the sun is not a good idea. Although, getting a late night pizza snack and taking vinegar from one of the tables to use on said awful sunburn to draw the heat out, is still not the greatest idea but it sure makes for a little relief and good memories.

Legs got super super burned. Arm is burned as well. Guess what I got by wearing that shirt in the sunshine?



12) I had a super - cali- fragilistic- expial-idocious time.


here's heidi's blog to fill in or reiterate some events

"Know what you like, trust your instincts and live" - ghislaine vinas

Yesterday that famous interior designer was on USU Campus. Don't know who she is, don't worry, I didn't really know anything but her name. I'll save you now though so that the next time you hear her name you can know what she does. www.gvinteriors.com

Although I was thirty minutes late to the presentation, I learned a lot from this uniquely creative lady.

1) She loves bright colors

2) Her favorite color changes every dayThis kitchen was inspired by a sunny side up egg, yellow in the middle, and white cabinets surrounding it.

3) She married a graphic designer

(Inspired by a weird bird painting. This room always reminds me of Dr. Suess, but adult style)

4) She hates the color of natural wood and will us it as little as possible

In this house, all of the walls were painted colors but absolutely all of the furniture was white. I really like the idea a lot.


5) She works off of inspiration of her clients
She used a painter for the murals and gave him a bunch of photos of what she thought life of little boys who didn't live in the city was like. The couple who lived here was married in aspen so she put a embedded a bunch of model trees in the wall(bottom left. The striped room is a guest bedroom, the stripes make your eyes go bug-eyed, you can't stay in the room for long, that's why it's a guest bedroom.

6) She likes to find the ugliest things she can and use them in her spaces

Instead of leaving the wainscoting white she painted it all pink to take it over the top, then she found the ugliest chandelier she could find and painted it purple and found the ugliest gaudy mirror she could find and painted it white.
In another room she showed during her presentation, she collected about 150 white plates from a thrift store and embedded them on a wall, she said some of them were the most hideous things with cherubs and other such random things on them.

Overall, I quite enjoyed this designer, her bright colors make me happy; I love her spaces, although I don't think I could ever live in them for too long.

Happy Happens

especially with these songs.









now Smile on

Just a Thought

That's all lots of things start out as. Circumstances in life fly to us and descend upon us even when we don't really notice. All my life, thoughts have been powerful things.

When I was younger I watched "The Secret" and yes, I believed it and knew that it did work but I never really noticed how MUCH it does work. Sometimes simple thoughts turn into reality.

When we think a thought, it isn't just a connection in our brainal fluids(sounds gross I know), it seems to be almost like a messenger bird. After we think it, it flies away and searches for something related to it and then brings that back.


This year, these "birds" I have really begun to notice, and they have brought back wonderful things that have made me truly grateful. As I began to notice, it seems like these birds got to be more and more powerful and come in greater abundance.


Running into someone that I haven't seen and just was randomly thinking about, having an object that I thought about for an entire millisecond suddenly show up a few days or even months later, or thinking of something that would be fun to do and then having that circumstance present itself in front of me a couple days later are just a couple examples of what an impact thoughts can have on our lives.


Really, most of these were just millisecond thoughts. They weren't dwelled upon, or even formed in complete words in my mind.

"The outer world of circumstance shapes itself to the inner world of thought, and both pleasant and unpleasant external conditions are factors which make for the ultimate good of the individual. As the reaper of his own harvest, man learns both by suffering and bliss." - james allen

Thought control is the most difficult part of being human, but I didn't think that I would have to block out every thought that even mentions anything about negativity.


My life had been so good that a millisecond thought creeped in that was to the effect of "my life is so good I haven't had a bad day in a really long time" BANG. The following day, was.... you guessed it, a bad day, which turned into two bad days in one week.

Then life turned good once again.

Lately I had seen people post things about failure

"Failures are fingerposts on the road to success" - C.S lewis

"We seem to gain wisdom more readily through our failures than through our successes. We always think of our failures as the antithesis of success, but it isn't. Success always lies on the other side of failure."
- leo f. buscaglia

"Failure is Nature's plan to prepare you for great responsibilities."- napolean hill

"Good people are good because they've come to wisdom through failure. We get very little wisdom from success you know." -william saroyan

And I thought "I've never failed before" and wondered if such quotes are really true.

Well, you probably can end the story just as well as I can.

I just hope they are.

P.S "In the wise words of Justin Beiber, "never say never "" - Katherin Nelson

Photos from google images and here http://raspberrytart.tumblr.com

Something I've Been Wanting to Make

I think this little girl has the right idea.

Presidante Day

It took a lot of debation (word? It is now) to decide to go home. As much as I adore my family for some reason I felt like I would be missing out on something no matter what I decided. My weekend was .... interesting.

I found out that I'm so glad to be out of highschool. Yeah I know everyone says that, I honestly didn't have a bad experience, but it wasn't my favorite time of my life (middle school and elementary school were that part, which I know, middle school was the one everyone else hated).


The problem with high school brains is that sometimes they think some odd things like playing cat and mouse with the cops is entertaining? What is this? Because it's not really.

Wasting gas by riding down main street with your music blaring? Dumb, go do something fun.

Scraping the snow off the ice skating rink so that you can slide around? That's more like it. Even though there were complaints that people were ruining the rink (What! A couple girls in dress coats are going to be ruining something artful?) If they had only known what we were really doing with that toate lid, shovel, broom and ice scraper, they would have laughed out loud.

Don't get me wrong, I do love my little high schoolers, and I love spending time with them. It was so great to catch up after not talking at all for five months.

Going on a lovely, but cold, Sunday stroll

Trying to take a picture on the rink

Time to Listen

Definitely so true. Sure there are hardships and trials, decision and deceptions, but really altogether they make you stronger to the point where you can't help but to "luv lyf"

Although the picture is one that I put together, we really did see this license plate as we walked out of the Logan tabernacle and it was so fitting after the wonderful experince. There was a tribute to women thing going on where the actress of Emma in the Emma Smith movie (Katherine Nelson who is also my favorite LDS singer) spoke a little about her experiences with the movie and in life in general.

One thing that stuck out to me and something that wasn't really a main topic of her talk but rather a part of setting it up was how important it is to listen to the promptings of the Spirit. Quite frankly even though some were a little odd, such as a random thought that she was going to marry a husband who couldn't spell, each was important. I love that she heeded every one of them. Having the thought that one day she was going to have an album, or compose the music of a soundtrack, and that she was going to act in the next Legacy film.

And she was successful with each of them. It makes me wonder how many "hints" I get that maybe I don't heed.

After all this I'm thinking I need to make meditation a must. I have lots of time by myself(where I should be doing homework), but I feel like I am wasting it. What a better way to prepare ones self for homework, or anything really, than by opening up my heart and mind to recieve revelation. After all, being filled with the Spirit is the best feeling in the world.



In addition to all of the wonderful things Katherine shared, I recognized even more(if possible) how blessed I was to go to Nauvoo. It really COMPLETELY changed my life and my perspective on virtually everything. I dearly miss it.

Dinner with the President

That is the President of the University. However, he wasn't there, it was just simply at his house (which is a very large house). Something to do with legislature stuff, you know completely unimportant.

How did I have the privilege of doing such a thing? Well you see, there is a program that the University organizes to sucker freshman into going to events. You go to them you participate a bit and then you go to the booth and they stamp your "passport" Six events you get $15. Eight is another $15 and ten events you get that $30 and get to have dinner at the Presidents home. Heidi has always wanted to go, but she didn't so I decided that I would let her kinda sorta live through me, although it doesn't work so well with something like this. Especially when pictures don't turn out (red eye flashes twice, so true)

On Facebook I mentioned something that the story of how I got to the house is amazing all on it's own. It combines, stamina, adrenaline, and being blonde all together quite well.

Since I don't have a car that is where we will begin this once upon a time story. I had to find someone with a car who was available at that time, the only people I really know are my sister's roommates. So she asked them for me and wonderful amazing Ashley was willing to walk to campus for rehearsals so that I could drive her car (Yeah she's pretty much the greatest).

My day started at 7:30 (so my hair was shoved into a messy bun after my shower) and I worked 30 minutes later than usual. I got to Heidi's apartment to pick up the car and keys(key point here, pun kinda intended) at 5:15 and the dinner started at 6. Talk about a little nerve-wracking I only had 30 minutes until I was supposed to be headed to the mansion and I still had to get back to my apartment. So I walked over to my apartment wishing that someone could have given me a ride and that I could have walked faster.

At 5:25 I was at my apartment door and realized that I didn't drive! And I had the keys in my pocket! Right there got me way super flustered, I had only fifteen minutes to get ready and I still had to get back over to get the car. On top of that my shirt I had washed the night before wasn't dry, my hair was a mess and all of my nylons had runs in them.

With some scrunching of the hair, improvising of the wardrobe and deciding that no one was going to be seeing my nylons I was ready... with the exception of a car. 5:50 I ran over to #9 apt and asked if anyone in there had a car, one girl did but it was 3 blocks down and had a difficult time starting, I was practically pulling my hair out with worry when I spotted a guy walking out of the apt next to mine, I watched as he walked over to a car I recognized and I knew who he was. He was so great to give me a ride to my next ride.

By this time I was already late to the thing that I was so desperately trying to be early to. I couldn't figure out the car I was driving so I sat scrunched in the drivers seat. I didn't think that the directions were too difficult to figure out, but lo and behold I arrived at my destination 30 minutes late. They made a spot for me at a table( which to my great pleasure and surprise my step-cousin Elizabeth was there) and I got a roll, the main course and dessert (everything was such super deliciousness that I didn't even notice that I didn't get a salad.) There was lots of small talk with the VP and his wife and then a survey on the program. Overall I thoroughly enjoyed myself while there. If only I could go back, I'm honestly missing it already

Hollywood Fabric

A couple years ago I bought this fabric(the one above), not knowing really what I was going to do with it, I just thought it was cute.

Today I was watching Pushing Daisies and I did a double take.

Craziness! Maybe I'll use mine for a sling, then again I don't want to curse myself and I don't have nearly enough fabric for it.

Happy Friday!

Lessons Learned

1) It isn't nearly as terrible as I thought it would be to stay in my pj's three days in a row. In fact it is pretty wonderful to not keep track of time at all. It makes getting ready for bed much easier.

2) It is possible for me to be beat at baseball on the Wii

3) I need to be careful to not get too excited while playing the Wii otherwise I will get terrible hiccups each time.

4) Eating pie out of a jar is completely worth the time it took to put it in there.

5) I love my family... but I already knew that.

Joys

So 2010 was great. I graduated and went to college. Those two things right there makes the year a productive one. Not to mention it ended so great. Mostly with movies I watched

I watched this movie for the third time with my roommies, if you have seen it, the movie its self reveals how great it is and nothing I could say could emphasize it more.

I enjoyed Ramona and Beezus with my family. I had watched it before with my sister, but it really is such a cute movie that I could watch it over and over and over again. It has such cute joys, like water fights with neighbors, the ability to become a scuba diver by jumping out of a hole in a house, and drawing the longest picture in the world. It reminded me so much of being a kid, ever since I watched it so many memories have come up, and that is enough to make me happy for the entire year.

I also was able to watch an episode of Pushing Daisies. I think it is hilarious and super cute. It has a really lighthearted fun feel to it just like Ramona and Beezus. It would be great to make life feel like that all the time. Not to mention Chuck always wears dresses and they are super super cute.

*Happy*