Advice

It's ALWAYS a choice.

Well, Nuts

I have been feeling, lately, like what I can only describe as a wash of beige. I feel colorless. Bland. Unremarkable. My skin is breaking out again. It's one of the bad spells. Ever since a few brief stints on a particular pill at the beginning of the year I have been breaking out regularly, though it varies in severity, even though I never broke out like this in junior high or high school. Meagan says it's karma coming back to give me what I deserve for having such great skin when all the rest of the adolescents were makeuping their pizza-faces. I don't know about that. Acne is so fickle and its causes so varied that it's hard to say why certain people have more or less issues with it. I have been using the Clinique Anti-Acne system for a while now and have really liked it, but I'm thinking that perhaps it's just not strong enough for my new super-acne, or my skin just got used to the medication and it's not as effective as it was when I started using it. Kira swears by Proactive. I remember using it for a while during high school and definitely didn't have any complaints, though I don't know that I would have been able to say for sure that it was that great either because I never had very severe acne to begin with. I've pretty much decided to give that one another shot once my current set runs out. Hopefully it will help me even out again.
Also feeling really not so happy with my body. I lost a full 35 pounds at the beginning of the year, and was feeling great. I have continued to scrupulously record my food intake and maintain my calorie budget, but I wasn't able to bring my treadmill with me to Arizona in August and have therefore not been walking like I did at home. I know that I could go outside, I know that I could do other things, other aerobic workouts in my room, blah blah blah, but the sad truth is that I love walking on that stupid old treadmill too much to have the determination to do much of anything else. I love walking. It makes me feel so great, and while I was doing it I was constantly and steadily losing weight. I want to be a person who goes for a walk every day, and eventually work my way up (stubborn lungs..) to running. It's more of a lifestyle than a workout routine and even in my short stint I have already felt the immense benefits and consider myself thoroughly converted. I think I let myself fall into a funk whenever I'm in Arizona. I detest the weather 90% of the year and find myself confined to the house which does not harbor very strong get-up-and-be-active feelings. I've actually gained back 7 of the pounds I lost at home. It's not the end of my story. Far from it. I'm letting myself just bum out the last few weeks that I'm here and then as soon as I get home I'm starting fresh again. I'm going to lose that last 30 pounds if it kills me. (Note: I know it's not about the number. It's about getting fit and healthy and feeling good about myself. Thing is, I know myself, and it's going to take that 30 pounds.)
Last but not least on my complaining spree, I am feeling completely unimpressed with everything in my closet. I have purchased a few new items of clothing over the past year or two, and I like my clothes, but everything is getting so old. Even my old favorite staples are fading and wearing and getting holes, and where I could have worn them as a nice outfit for a night out, now they seem too dingy to be on the "date night acceptable" list. I have a few pairs of jeans that I wear every day which shrink up shorter after so many washer/dryer cycles (another woe of the ridiculously tall, yay), and it seems that things aren't even fitting me the right way any more, whether because they've lost elasticity over time, or have shrunk in the dryer. I absolutely know that I have so much more than others. I am truly grateful for what I do have. But a girl does like to feel extra pretty sometimes and I find that it's harder to accomplish that as of late. It's entirely possible that I am feeling like this more so now than other times simply because I haven't washed my hair in a few days. It always boosts my self esteem when I'm clean. (What a concept, right?) And I will take a shower and wash my clothes and put on a fresh face and all that. And I'll be just fine. I mean, there's nothing wrong with me. I'm just looking forward to a few months from now when I'm back in a better groove of taking care of myself. Happy Holidays, you're a bum! Lol. End rant. Now only joyful things!

So I Have These Hips

Most of the time they're good to me. They're curvy, and wide, in a good way, and I like them. But apparently my hips are also very temperamental. If I sit with one leg sort of crooked to one side, or lean on one foot for too long, they protest. Loudly. If I sleep on my side, my waist sloops all the way down and those hips rotate themselves into oblivion. If I sleep like that for too long, they stay rotated. I worked at a Chiropractic office for a while and once I had the doctor adjust me, as my hips had been giving me grief again. He informed me that my legs differed precisely two and a half inches in length because my hips were so wonky. He cranked me back and told me to sleep a certain way, sit a certain way, yada yada. And then I was back getting cranked again two weeks later. Tonight my hips are extra cantankerous. And I would like to sleep.
Dear hips, please be nice to me. Love, Danielle.

Robert Vavra

Has an enchanting talent.

Art School

For as long as I can remember I have desperately wanted only one thing: to be a mother. It seems that this is indeed a very likely thing for me to achieve in this life, although I am certainly not quite there yet. I thrill at the idea of becoming pregnant, at growing my own tiny little person inside of me. The long months we will have together, just the two of us before a little babe is brought into the world for me to hold and squeeze and cherish. That I will get to pick out an earthly name for this new person, and that he or she will be a little version of me (And the Mr. of course) and will grow and change every single day, always getting bigger and smarter. I anticipate days with little people running around my house, playing, laughing, learning. I look forward to giving advice, even discipline when needed, so that these children will know about the world, will know how to behave, will know the things that are the most important, and the things that are not. I do know that having children is bittersweet. That by creating these beings you are in essence allowing a portion of your heart to walk around outside of you. That they will get hurt, and that they can hurt you. But all these things combined, the happy and the sad, amount to an experience that I would not trade for my very life. I have been promised joy in my children, and I am so excited for that time in my life when I will bring children into this world and with the companionship of a loving husband raise them into grown people.

BUT.

I realized at some point in the past twenty-one years that even though motherhood will certainly be the position I hold for myself in the highest regard, it does not in fact equate to a career in the terms of the world. One does not receive a salary for raising children. And while I would love to have the luxury of focusing my time and energy on this one thing, I know that I can't sit idly by and just assume that the person I marry will automatically have the education and the career and the means to support me and our little brood without any financial contribution from me. That just wouldn't be fair at all. After coming to this decision I was faced with yet another dilemma. What is it that I can do to contribute that will allow me not only to still be available for my children when they come into the picture, but also that will fulfill me as a person and individual, not just solely as a mother. I've been thinking about this and contemplating my options for quite some time now. During high school I came to the solid conclusion that I was not about to waste my time and money on college right out of the gate when I wasn't even sure what I wanted my focus to be. And so I didn't. I graduated, and I worked. I made the money necessary to pay my bills by watching and teaching other people's children. This work is extremely fulfilling to me, but still I was unsettled at the thought of being a perpetual nanny. I love it now. There's nothing else I'd rather do as a job, that's for sure. But it's not a career. I know that some people make it work while raising their own children too, but for me it just doesn't sit quite right. There had to be something else. I tried out hair school. I like to make things pretty, like to make people feel good about themselves, this could work.. Nope. I hated it. I dropped out four months in. It just wasn't the right fit. I could let my ego be hurt, or feel ashamed at quitting something that maybe doesn't seem so hard, but really it was just something I tried and realized it wasn't for me. No harm, no foul. If I hadn't have tried it, I wouldn't have known that, and I'm grateful for that knowledge even if I don't appreciate the loan I'm still paying back..

Then a year or so ago I had the opportunity to work with a wonderful woman I met through church who has a business she runs out of her home making wedding invitations and matching favors and other stationary. For the most part my job consisted of applying adhesive to the backs of hundreds of identical pieces of cardstock and sticking them to hundreds more pieces of cardstock, assembling these great little invitations, some more involved than others. I tied ribbons, stuck labels on water bottles and boxes of candy, stuffed envelopes, and various other detail oriented tasks. After a few months of doing this I realized how much I really liked it, and even more so the level of my fascination with the invitations themselves. There was nothing more exciting than seeing an eight part, five dollar wedding invitation all completed, feeling the smooth crisp papers with bumpy embossed glossy ink, the matching name cards for tables, favors tied with corresponding ribbons. It was then that I decided I would very very much like to do something similar with my life. I thought about what that would mean for me on a day to day basis, thought about what I would need to do to get there, and what I really wanted there to actually be. What if I didn't just design and create wedding invitations, what if I designed and created all sorts of things! (I'm really getting excited now.) I could have the potential to work from home, make my own hours, own my own business, create beauty, make other people happy, and be totally happy with myself too. Jackpot. This feels right.

And that's where school comes in. I'm not the kind of person to just jump into any given task blind. Oh no, never. I'm one who truly appreciates rules and instructions. I will follow a specific list down to the very last detail and wouldn't dream of trying to do something I didn't actually know how to do. If there isn't an instruction manual or "proper way" of doing something, I think about it and plan it out and prepare to do it until I'm sure I can accomplish the task in a satisfactory way. So when it comes to the thing that I am going to be doing for the majority of my adult life to contribute to and support my family, this surely isn't a step I'm going to skip. Do it the right way, or don't do it at all. Anyone who knows me can attest to the fact that I very much so operate by this mantra. I'll admit, I didn't do a whole ton of looking around at different schools and programs.. Shame on me, I know. I've had my eye on The Art Institute of Salt Lake City since I decided I was going to go to art school, and I think that even if I had found a program somewhere else I just wouldn't have felt like it was the best. I have a problem with this, always wanting the "best" things. But what can I say, I'm not ashamed of it. So what if I picked the most expensive art school I could find. Details? I spoke with an admissions advisor for about two and a half hours last week, sent in my high school transcripts, admissions essay, and some other paperwork and have now been officially accepted into the Graphic Design program. I am THRILLED.

School starts on January 10th. It's a 21 month program if I go full time (which I intend to do, yes.) and from the looks of it I will be working my butt off with 20 hours of school per week, just about that much on homework, as well as working a part time job to continue paying current bills and also whatever is leftover from pesky loans that I will be taking out by the bushelfull.. I am trying to stay positive and remind myself that I am in this 100% for the education and experience, and that if I truly felt like it wasn't worth the price I shouldn't and wouldn't be doing it. But I am. The program includes some really exciting classes like Color Theory, Typography (I get to design my own font! Cool!), Illustration, Marketing Design, Print Production, and even a Photography class that I'm pretty excited about since I've been hankering to take one of those since junior high. I am feeling a significant amount of anxiety about starting this whole thing, because it is going to be a big change for me. I'll be much busier than I have been probably since high school, and that was two and a half years ago. I'm going to have to relearn how to time budget so that I don't get stressed out of my mind and so that I can remember why I'm doing this in the first place. Aside from the anxiety though, I am pure excitement! One and three-quarters of a year really isn't that long at all, and when I'm finished I'll come out with a legitimate degree in Graphic Design and the tools I need to do something I'm really kicking to do.

Art School (life), here I come!

(Is it totally unattractive if I feel forty-seven times more awesome for being someone who is going/goes/went to art school? I'm just tooting my own horn this once, and then I promise to be totally humble from here on out. Yay art school!)

Thank You

Mom, not only for being a great mom but also for being my best friend. I love you.

Neil, for loving me, for being my friend, and teaching me things about myself I didn't know yet.

Lori, for being so willing to share your delicious Sunday meals with me and allowing me to be a little part of your family.

Jessica, for inspiring me. For being fearless.

Sara & Jason, for pulling so many strings to get me here and really making me a part of your family. Wish I could stay!

Grandma Nielsen, for being absolutely amazing with everything and particularly for renting out your basement to me and helping me so much with school.

Tia, for encouraging me to take risks and create my own version of happiness.

Ramey, for being a wonderful friend and listening ear, and allowing me to work with you on wedding projects that have inspired me to do it on my own someday!

Allie, for being my why-are-we-still-single complaining buddy, and bringing so much laughter to my life.

Collette, for your friendship and good thoughts, and my favorite yellow bag!

Brandon, for making me laugh no matter how crappy of a mood I'm in.

Kira, for being such a great friend and sister to me, and letting me come over to hang out basically whenever I want to.

Gabe, for encouraging me to be artistic and for always having something new and interesting for me to learn about! Best brother-in-law award:)

Meagan (Woman), for sharing so many tender nights falling asleep to movies on each others' bums on the couch bed in our disgusting apartment, and for being my friend and confidante. It feels like a lifetime.

And to all those people who have impacted my life with their friendship and love.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

<3

I JUST

APPLIED TO ART SCHOOL.

And so it begins..
(Details to follow.)

I Have A Girl Crush

on Zooey Deschanel.

But really, WHO DOESN'T??

Dear Self,

[Or why you're 'looking' at all for that matter.]

Are We There Yet?

This morning I took advantage of the FINALLY cooler weather (Read: The high is 79 in stead of 94 like last week) to brew myself a cup of peppermint tea. I love tea. During the winter enjoying a good cup of tea is most definitely a daily thing. I like the caffeine free herbal teas that Celestial Seasonings makes, and aside from mint, sleepy-time is my favorite. Probably because I grew up with it. Add a touch of lemon and/or honey, and I'm in heaven! I am also enjoying the cool breeze through all these open windows today, and looking forward to going out tonight and bringing a sweater! Everything is better when it's not hot out. Hot dang, is it winter yet?

Happy Birthday, Sir

You know who you are:)

Ps. Jessica, we are making this cake in January. <3

Halloween is for Zombies

I figured I'd round October out to a pretty ten posts with a Happy Halloween to you! This year I got to attend two Halloween parties, one on Friday that Kira hosted at her great new apartment, and another with the YSA group from several stakes on Saturday night. Kira's party was oh so much fun. I put on my pretty gold prom dress and then doused my hair in hair spray and ratted it into all oblivion to craft my zombie prom queen hairstyle and attach my crown, as well as covered myself in gross zombie makeup and oodles of fake blood! Yay! Dallon was my zombie prom king, so I got to gross him all up when I was done with my face too. We were certainly something to behold. I highly recommend this. We got home so late on Friday night after delicious homemade food and treats, scary (true!) stories, fun games, and great company, that I decided to leave the task of detangling my hair for the morning. This was probably a good idea, as it took me seeeeveral minutes as well as a good dose of conditioner to accomplish the task. I was feeling so fresh and nice after this that I decided to forgo the gruesome makeup and attend the YSA Halloween party as a living prom queen. This party had a haunted house (which I did not enter as I was advised that the many obstacles and decorations were likely to harm my pretty silk dress), some great chili, games, and most prominently featured, karaoke. I don't think I've seen so many people sign up to sing in front of a crowd before. It totally made the party though, everyone was in high spirits and just had a good time eating and spooking and goofing off. Today is officially Halloween, and while I may not be donning my gold dress for a third night in a row I sure have had my share of holiday weekend spirit! Happy Halloween everyone. :)

Eat Your Vegetables

Currently have Joshua Radin's "Vegetable Car" stuck in my head. Look it up. Try not to listen to it seven times in a row. And after the third time when you know the words try not to sing along. Love this artist.


Baby you don't even know me
But one day I'll get up the courage as you pass by you'll see
Oh baby one look just might save me
I need you to slow by the corner, stop right in front of me

Till then I'll see you hopefully through
I do wish that you'd ask me to ride along
It wouldn't be wrong to tell me more than I know about you

She drives a vegetable car, diesel, Mercedes, green, two door
I barely know who you are
Lisa Loeb glasses, I'd sure like to ask you to stay

Baby I need you to save me
The one thing that my heart requires is that you admire me

Till then I'll see you hopefully through
I do wish that you'd ask me to ride along
It wouldn't be wrong to tell me more than I know about you

She drives a vegetable car, diesel, Mercedes, green, two door
I barely know who you are
Lisa Loeb glasses, I'd sure like to ask you to stay

How do I know why the sight of you makes me weak?
Each time I see you turn onto my street
Your hair is always up in a bun, this girl is the one

She drives a vegetable car, diesel, Mercedes, green, two door
I barely know who you are
Lisa Loeb glasses, I'd sure like to ask you to stay, don't go

Underwater

You know how there's this thing called being a woman, and sometimes when you're a woman you do woman-y emotional things, and you just hate it because you wish you could be tough and cool and just rise above even if there's honest to goodness nothing that you even need to rise above, you're just being womanly for no gosh dang reason? Like crying. What in the world is this all about ladies? Why do we cry for no reason at all? Especially when we talk to our mothers! I love my mother. She's one of my dearest friends, and I like it that way. I feel like I can talk to her about just about anything, and I love that she often returns the favor. A lot of people would argue that having personal types of conversations with your parents about things like money and relationships and heaters would put an odd kind of wedge between the child and the respect aspect of the parent-child relationship, but I beg to differ. I know people who never really got to talk with their parents. They never got let in on the 'adult' type things that were going on in their lives so now that they themselves are 'adults' they're floundering around trying to make life work and wondering if they're the only ones who ever struggled with it. Life can be hard. Life is hard. Life can also most definitely be happy, but sometimes life is just downright hard. I love that I was lucky enough to be raised in this life by a mother who reassures me that I am not the only one guilty of thinking this, and that all those 'adults' out there are still trying to figure it out too. It's not a magical gift bestowed upon you when you get married, or have kids, or anything like that. We're all supposed to learn and keep learning and really, do we ever become real adults?
Anyway. That's not really what I thought I was writing about when I started this post but you know how that goes. The point is, ugh. It is one of those weeks again! And I am a woman, and I am crying. Dangit. And in a minute I am going to go take a shower, and put on some freshly washed clothes, and I will feel much better. And I will stop crying. And it will be okay. Women. Geez louise.

LOVE, Danielle

Dear prom dress,
Huyeah! You totally fit me again! Even better than you did when we custom made you in high school. Get pumped for zombie prom queen, Halloween 2010!

Dear weather,
You are beginning to breach acceptability. I'm pretty much stoked that we kept the windows open all day today and it didn't turn the house into an oven. Ps. If this is a prank, there will be heck to pay.

Dear new bedspread,
You looked super great on my bed at home when we got to visit a few weekends ago. Can't wait to move you there permanently! In the mean time, you make this room feel a little more like home too.

Dear Chuck,
You are broken, and I don't know how to fix you. Or rather, I don't know how to make you understand that you have to fix yourself. Every time I see you it's like you have potentiality-constipation. Let it out! Do something with yourself! I know you can. You. Can.

Dear hand-me-down laptop,
I complain about you a lot. You give me a lot of grief. But I think that if I keep up this behavior, I may find myself out a computer entirely. Thank you for lasting this long since I don't yet have the funds available to replace you.

Dear iTunes,
Really? What the heck.

Dear sleeping boys,
You were extra, extra cute today! I am becoming more attached to you each day and have so enjoyed being able to spend the past ten months growing up with you. (It seems like so much longer than that!) I am glad that we have another eight weeks together still, and I will miss you so much when I'm gone!

Dear bladder,
You are so punctual! (And persistent!) Although, it may interest you to note that I do not in fact need to wake up precisely at four thirty every morning, and request that you kindly push the show up to six AM so that I can get that full eight hours of sleep I plan so well for. Thank you.

Dear Joshua Radin,
I think that you were born to sing to me on cloudy days. My heart likes you.

Dear treadmill,
I know I broke your heart, but if you can find the strength within you to wait for me, I promise that I will return to you once again in December. You can't fight a love like ours.

Dear feet,
Um, hello, you babies need a pedicure stat. I feel like this is a constant thing with you. What's the deal? Can't we just be friends?

Dear fourteen water bottles in my bag and stashed various places around my room,
Hahahaha.. It's no wonder I need to pee in the night..

Dear every single other girl my age that I went to high school with,
Stop getting engaged. Just stop it. Seriously.

Dear Jessica's friends,
You are super funny and really good guys. Thanks for making me feel totally in the loop and in the group when I visited. I'm pretty excited to be around more and get to know you better!

Dear bed,
Oh hey! It's been like, what, sixteen hours? You're looking pretty lonely over there. Alright I give. Bed lovin' time!

LOVE, Danielle

Beautiful

It's relative, isn't it?
Feeling beautiful today.
Because of the weather.
(Yeah, that's how it works with me.)
Kiss kiss!

Jessica Dawn Shane

is my favorite person.

I hope that she doesn't mind me dedicating this post to her, especially since I am naming her by her very name, but in all seriousness I love this woman to the moon and back again. Jessica has been my sister for nearly nineteen years now and we have definitely been through our share of downs and outs, but in the past few years I feel like I have grown closer to her than almost every other person on this green earth. Jessica is a knockout stunner, so beautiful, and yet so at home in her own skin. She's unique and quirky and unpredictable, quick and sharp and blunt. She says exactly what she means and never takes it back, never makes excuses, but most of the time she doesn't do it with her words. I love the way that she can convey an entire thought process or emotion just with the tiniest expressions on her face. She doesn't talk just to talk, she says everything deliberately and leaves out the fluff. Jessica has always amazed me with her ability to downplay any situation. Over-dramatizations have never suited her and she doesn't tolerate them from others either. She likes things clean, and concise, and to the point. A very effective way to communicate. Jessica has a gift for shutting people up. It is something to behold.
Growing up, Jessica tended to avoid drawing attention to herself. She took care of herself and she kept to herself, and she was pretty good at getting away with that without anyone really even noticing. In all of the pictures of the three oldest girls as kids we have very personality-specific expressions on our faces. Kira is the kooky one always coloring (and/or living) outside of the lines, creating her own versions of things. I'm the one with a smile plastered on, trying so hard to look right and do things just the right way. And Jessica is always turned slightly away from the camera with a look of annoyance on her face as if she's saying, "Why are you wasting my time with this, I have better things to do." When we were teenagers I feel like I was a constant annoyance to her with all my talk about the boys I liked and my little dramas with that (probably even more so now than then even, sadly), but she never seemed to have any boy troubles of her own to complain about. While I was off chasing one classmate or another, or bumming myself out because the right boy wasn't chasing me back, Jessica was happily doing her own thing and secretly scoffing at the scene because she already knew that none of them were even worth it, and certainly none of them were good enough for her to get so worked up over.
As we've grown and matured, however, I think we may have at least begun to strike a balance in this if in no other way than our conversation. Jessica teaches me to give up my temper tantrums and just live for real. I feel like she's years smarter than me sometimes and I often forget that we're not the same age, or that she's not actually the older sister. Every time I go away I realize more and more how much I miss her and how close of a friend she really is to me. Despite her desire to cut out the excess, she is such a good listener and always has good advice. She puts up with me in all my shortcomings and somehow manages to make me realize that I have nothing to complain about. That we are sisters, and we are friends, and all the other things in life are going to have their time and then they'll be done. And we'll still be sisters, and we'll still be friends.
Jessica has this effortless sense of style. Even with a wardrobe that is too many years old, she still manages to look exactly how she wants to and get me all green over it. She knows what she likes, she knows what works, and she makes it happen. This may mean trying on fourteen different things before she settles on one outfit, but still. When I'm hanging out with her, I'm pretty much sure it makes me a cooler person. I think I'm always basically trying to be like her, and hoping she won't realize it and call my bluff. She is my role model. My best friend. My confidante. My sister. I love you so much Little Jessica. Kiss kiss!!

Two Lists

Can't Live Without:
Cheese. Any kind, any time of the day (or night).
Diesel: Fuel For Life cologne
Painting my fingernails
Vermilion and navy
Peonies/Poppies/Ranunculus (In that order)
Artistic photography
My new iPod
Jessica's taste in music
Jewelry window shopping
Starbucks hot chocolate in the winter
Tea in the winter
The winter
Watching movies with a pillow or blanket in my lap
Spoon the band
My treadmill
Checking my email multiple times a day. (Hour.. :/)
Singing really loudly in my car
Shoes. How have I not written this already?
Mom's back yard
Apple. Pie.
Ice cream
Bird things
Braxton's deliberately conversational jibber jabber
Thousands of emails with Kira
Honeycrisp apples
BONES (Aka, David Boreneaz being a bad A)
Teaching Brax and Eli how to jam out to the classics
My rocks (Even if they'll make the real thing less surprising)
My yellow bag from Franchesca's (Thank you Collette!)
Handy refrigerated water bottles
My awesome car
Dark chocolate
Date night with Dallon
My super creamy Dove body wash
My red hair
Sisters
Girl time with Meg
Photoshop ha
Hanging out at Kira and Gabe's
Waking up to snow

Makes Me Crazy:
Being hot (Temperature. Yeah.)
Being late
Having old hair color
Being sweaty and/or grimy
Being ambushed by unwanted online chatters
Having my flat ironed hair get wet
Breaking a nail when they all finally match.
Waking up and having to pee so badly that I can't ignore it an hour before I need to be up
Running out of my favorite lip gloss
Being offered anything but Burt's Bees chapstick
Arizona
The A/C blowing only on one concentrated spot
The sun shining directly on me
People using improper grammar
When my car is dirty
When my room is messy
When the rest of the house is messy
Having to drink room temperature water, or water from the tap
When my computer will not recognize my iPod
When Pandora recommends bad R&B songs on my Broadway station
When the shirt or pants I feel like wearing are stretched out and need to be washed
Shaving my legs
Having to shave them again anyway
That my computer shuts off immediately upon being unplugged
When bloggers I like post eleven million things in one day and make me hate them a little bit
When bloggers I like don't post anything for several days
Not being able to fall asleep even if I know I'm super tired
When the Thomas theme song gets stuck in my head
Eli asking to watch Thomas AGAIN
That I'm taller than 95% of the guys in most singles wards
That I can't take a walk outside either
How I feel like my life has a big 'pause' symbol hovering over it
That every new ward tries to get me in with the annoying girl group (Honestly. I would be more likely to stay and enjoy it if I had some good down to earth guy friends.)
That it's almost November and it's still 100 degrees
When I feel a hair tickling me but I can't find it to get it off
When the legs of my pajama pants scootch up to my knees
When I eat a meal and immediately want to throw it up
That I can't throw up even when I want to
That I have more acne now than I ever did in high school

Neuroticism

So by now most of you probably picked up on the fact that I can be a liiiitle neurotic and maybe slightly OCD. I have come to terms with this aspect of my personality, and honestly, usually don't even realize I'm being odd when I am. Nothing I do impedes any other thing from working out naturally, and other than my magical organizational and tidiness powers I really don't think I'm all that crazy at all. However, I have noticed that when I get stressed out for whatever reason, the weird quirks start showing up. One thing in particular that I realized I do is that I cope with anxiety or stress by brushing my teeth. A lot. For extended periods of time. This is my theory behind it: Brushing your teeth is not only soothing in the actual physical sensation of the bristles in your mouth, but also the steady mindlessly repetitive movements your arm makes as you brush. It also feeds into the desire for cleanliness which is tied to control aspect of the situation. I may not be able to control or change the things that are stressing me out, but by darnit I can sure control the plaque inside of my own mouth! Even writing this out, it seems a little.. Well, freakish, that I would have such a strange coping vice. But really, it's not like I'm bawling uncontrollably as I bleach and scrub everything in sight until the varnishes start to wear and there are holes in the appliances. I'm not brushing a dangerous amount. Just, more than normal. At odd times of the day. I have watched a tv show that I happened upon on Hulu once called "Obsessed" which is a documentary type program that focuses on people with severe Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. One of the women who was on the show also had a scary addiction to brushing her teeth. She had a routine every night that lasted twenty minutes with floss and a Waterpik and the whole nine yards. She was afraid that her teeth were going to fall out and she would be ugly and no one would ever love her. Pretty intense stuff. So even though I'm a little freakish, I'm definitely not that bad. I know I'm lovable! :P Juuuuust, like to brush my teeth right now. ;)

Va-Va-Vacation Time!

Well, the babe is back in QC for the time being, but man oh man was it a great weekend!! I worked on Wednesday until a little after one when Jason got home, after which I promptly grabbed my keys and my phone, popped into my already loaded and prepped car, and made my way to Phoenix to pick up the sister. It's so funny to me how completely different our personalities are in basically every way. I was already a little on edge because I knew the later we left the later we would get to Lehi, and I really wan't into the idea of driving through the wee hours of the night. I was totally in go mode and I was hoping we would just move her bags from the entryway of her apartment to my car and head out, but Kira of course doesn't quite work that way. (Love you Kira!) I was trying oh so hard not to get all worked up and pushy while she finished her last few minutes of housekeeping tasks so that we could just be on our way but I'll admit I was pretty keyed up and anxious to leave. Kira's philosophy is that road trips are lazy time. They should be relaxed and go with the flow and just happen the way they happen. Stop here, stop there, you get there when you get there. While I can see the sense in this (That whole 'the beauty is in the journey' thing.), there's this thing about me called, I-like-to-make-plans-and-schedules-and-if-I-get-behind-on-the-schedule-I-kind-of-freak-out-and-get-hives-a-little-bit. Okay, maybe I don't get hives, but seriously. Anyone who knows me and knows how much I hate being late can probably just assume that even if I'm the one making the schedule you just don't push it. Bad things will happen if you cause me to be late. I understand that this is a perfect textbook example of my mildly neurotic and high strung personality. And I'm okay with that. I like to think of it as a magical get-things-done power! Anyway, I'm over dramatizing the kick-off of this trip. It was really just fine. So after a few short minutes of finishing up the bills and doing a last once over of the apartment, we loaded up the last bags in the car and off we went!

Oh! I should add in here, upon sending out my "I'm leaving the house!" text message updates to the few people I know wanted to get them, I got a call from my good friend Dallon who had some interesting news for me. Apparently the morning we left there were a total of three TORNADOES in Flagstaff, Arizona. First of all, what the heck?? Tornadoes? In Arizona? Really? Dallon said that two of them were really in the outskirts of town but the third one hit right on the Seventeen south of Flag which is right where we would be driving in a few short hours. He looked up exactly what the situation was so that I could determine if it was still safe to drive through (which it was), and I asked him to keep me informed if anything new came up. We had been having some pretty great storms the past night or two before then but I guess Flagstaff just really went all out. Meteorologists reported that several more tornadoes began to form in the clouds within that one to two hour period as well that just didn't touch down. In one city, one hour, the regular quota for tornadoes in ONE YEAR in the entire STATE of Arizona was reached. Crazy stuff folks! Can you say 'The end of days'?? This was definitely surprising and mildly alarming news, but we determined that the threat of some Wizard of Oz freak tragedy occurring wasn't severe enough to push us over to Vegas (Thank goodness, because then we would have been even more behind schedule!) and we just went on our way. Let the adventure begin;)

When Kira and I were preparing for this trip, we both separately put together probably enough food for the both of us to eat over the course of the drive without really realizing it. Needless to say, we were not short on provisions! We snacked and drove and talked and laughed and drank down pleeenty of water. Now, when I make this drive by myself, I usually only stop one time at my regular place in Kanab to gas up and use the bathroom, but with the two of us drinking so much water we were having I-have-to-pee-NOW meltdowns before we even got to Flagstaff! I won't go into too much detail, but let's just suffice it to say that we were both in laughing hysterics as we creeped forty miles.. Thirty miles.. Ten miles to Flagstaff, and finally even exited the Seventeen before we were technically there! I dropped Kira off at the door to the gas station so that she could run to the bathroom and then quickly parked so I could go in as well. When I got into the Womens bathroom though, I noticed that Kira wasn't there. There was, however, a nice girl who saw us show up who kindly let me know, "Umm.. I think that your friend went in the Mens restroom because the stalls were full.." Hahahahaha! (She didn't laugh, I did.) Oh man, I can just imagine what we must have looked like to the poor people of Southern Flagstaff. Racing around the corner to the gas station, pulling right up to the door so hysterical redhead number one could race into the ironically full bathroom before racing right back out and into the Mens, then hysterical redhead number two coming up right behind her into the now empty Womens restroom, which made discovering that her cohort wasn't even there and laughing even harder. When I finished my business and came out to look for Kira she was already toward the front of the little convenience store looking for me. We spotted each other, and she sheepishly said, "I was in the Mens restroom because the other one was full.." I laughed heartily and explained, "Yeah I know! That poor girl already told me!" after which more hearty laughter ensued as we made our way back to the car to keep going.

The rest of the trip went well albeit with several more pit stops than I'm used to, but even so this was the best one yet because Kira and I had such a good time talking and laughing, all enhanced with our growing excitement to finally be home again! We pulled up to Mom's house at about 1:25 AM and quickly brought our things inside before being stampeded by Lucas and Jessica. It was a sweet reunion filled with attack hugs and laughter all the way until four in the morning. Ha. Finally we decided we should all get some sleep and zonked out. It probably goes without saying that we got a good sleep-in the next morning (all but Lucas who had to be at band and school waaay too early in the morning) before lazily getting up and eating breakfast. (Aren't vacations great?) Since Lucas and Sara were at school Mom was at work, us three oldest girls had the house to ourselves for the majority of the day, and we spent it making aprons! Kira and I had purchased material and bias binding beforehand, but we needed Mom's sewing machine to put them together and this was the perfect opportunity. I whipped up my blue and pink bird apron and Kira put together her three kitchen-colored aprons too. All in all, a good project:) That evening my dear friend Meagan came over and put some color in my hair, which I have been in DIRE need of for the past several weeks. We chatted and ate and hung out together and especially got to spend some time outside in the awesome back yard. The weather was PERFECT. Fifties to seventies and wonderfully sprinkly and overcast. 

On Friday morning I drove down to Orem to meet up with another good friend and got some nice herbal tea at Starbucks. There was no way I was going to pass up the opportunity to get some good tea in me with that weather! On the way I even passed through an overpass with a cups-in-the-fence-message that said, "It's over forever Maggie. From Dan." with a little heart next to it. I've seen welcome-homes, I've seen I-love-you's, but never a breakup message! It was quite comical to me. After my breakfast tea and short, but very nice visit, I made my way back home and then went with all the sisters and mother and grandmother to lunch at Olive Garden. Yum! It was so awesome for all of us to be there together and we had a great time eating some delicious food and catching up. (Ps. The Apple Crostata? GET IT. OmgoshDIVINE.) After lunch we went over to Grandma's house because Kira and I had a song we wanted to practice with her remarkable Pramberger baby grand, and also just because we weren't done visiting! That evening I was planning on spending some time with another buddy, but plans fell through and I ended up going to hang out with Jessica at her friends house in stead. She's been hanging out with these guys for a while now so it was cool to go and meet them and even though we didn't do much of anything in particular, it totally got me out of my bummed-out funk. I always had lots of guy friends growing up and through high school, but it's hard to keep track when I keep moving around and now that we're all in school and working and such, so it just felt nice to be around another chill tight knit group. We ended up talking and goofing off until pretty late/early in the morning before we finally decided we should go home and get some sleep. Haven't done that in a while! ;) 

Saturday has always been chore day in the house, and we were planning and preparing for a fun backyard fire/movie night as well so part of the day was spent making sure everything was all cleaned up and presentable. After having all our trip stuff basically exploded all over my room it was very nice to clean it all up and make it look like my room again! I cleaned the bathroom and tidied up a few other rooms in the house and then took a last minute shower before party-goers were scheduled to show up. The last minute thing worked out though, because obviously no one our age ever shows up to a party on time. I felt worlds better after washing my hair again (Isn't it funny how that one little thing can boost your mood so much? Not that I was in a bad mood, I was happy all day, it's just refreshing you know?) and took my time drying and flat ironing and prettying up for the show. We hauled pillows and blankets outside into the back yard as well as set up the projector for the movie to play drive-in style on the side of the house and brought out the roasting sticks for our hot dogs and marshmallows! It started to get dark and people started arriving, a few of whom I had met the night before, but for the most part Jessica was the one doing the big time inviting so it ended up being many new faces and a really good time! We sat around the fire and chatted and ate for a while before finally settling down into the grass and cuddling up in our blankets for the movie. Hocus Pocus! A lot of the guys hadn't seen it before, so it was extra funny with their reactions. I almost forgot how good that one is. We used to watch it over and over and over again as little girls before Mom hid it because she was so sick of watching it! Haha:) When that movie was over most people decided they weren't done hanging out, so we popped in another one. Stranger Than Fiction this time, another favorite. People went home, some fell asleep, and by the end of the movie there were only two or three people outside. The boys were awesome and helped me bring blankets inside before they left since it was so cold, and then I ended up staying up and talking with Mom and Kira inside for a while too. It was an awesome night, definitely just what I needed for this trip!

On Sunday morning I went with Jessica to her singles ward and enjoyed a really good sacrament and testimony meeting before picking Kira up from the family ward building and heading home to load up the car again and head back to AZ. I wish we could have stayed longer, heck, I wish we could have stayed forever! But Kira was missing her Gabe, and of course I had to get back to work this morning bright and early at 6:30 so we needed to leave pretty quickly. It was really neat to see all the landscape on the drive back since it was pretty dark for the last half of our drive up there. We took lots of pictures and talked and laughed and cried and just had a really good sister-bonding time. The only downer of the drive was that apparently every other person on the road was completely OBLIVIOUS to proper driving etiquette! Seriously, I consider myself to be a pretty patient driver. I usually give people the benefit of the doubt. But this was ridiculous!! We encountered chunk after chunk after chunk of cars that were all backed up because of some idiot in the fast lane going five or ten or twenty UNDER the speed limit and preventing anyone from passing the big rigs and cars in the slow lane. Kira and I both did our fair share of yelling at the stupid people (which does in fact make you feel better) and finally we made it into the valley. Incidentally we didn't have to stop half as often for potty breaks since we were much more careful with our liquid intake this time around. Haha:) I dropped Kira off at her place in Phoenix and made my way down to Queen Creek at last. All in all the drive only took ten hours, which is preeetty good if I don't say so myself.

I seriously needed this vacation, and I couldn't have asked for a better one! I am so glad to have such a great family, a mom and sisters who are my BEST friends, and a home town that is such a pleasure to come back to  time and time again. I cannot WAIT for December when I get to go back again, and this time stay for keeps!! I love Lehi. :) *sigh...*