loving the little things

Life is crazy busy. But great. There are so many tiny things that happen everyday that make me love life. They are such little things but make me grin and laugh at the tiniest things that can make me happy. So I thought I'd share just a few of those things to show a little of my appreciation. :)

1. Freeway Entrance
There are only a couple days a week that I go straight home from work, which is when I take the freeway home. The other days I'll go straight to the gym or errands. But when I take the freeway home, I love love the entrance I take. It seems so lame I know! But the good 'ol 1600 N Orem entrance is a simple part of my day that I love. It has a special lane that you don't have to stop at the light for and can just round the curve and go. ... yeeaaa.

2. Elderly lady at Zumba
I loove this elderly lady that comes to the same Zumba classes that I go to. Now this is a pretty high impact, active class. So I love that there's this little lady that kinda comes just to keep moving, regardless of the routine. So cute. This significantly increased last Friday when I was next to her in class and said, "If I get in your way, just kick me!" No! She's so cute! :)

3. Subway Kid's Meals
Instead of getting a six inch sandwich, I now get the Subway Kid's Meal, where the sandwich is pretty much the same size, plus I get a drink and a side. For the SAME price. Yea...oh, you get a toy too.

4. Unexpected Visits
I've had several friends randomly stop by recently, and I love it. I'm not really in the areas where people are coming in and out (which I'm grateful for), but I love it when people have just stopped by to see me for a minute when they are in the area. It's great.

5. Having the apartment to myself after a long day.
I love getting home and just being able to settle in by myself as I unwind for the day. I

6. A clean fridge
Last week, we cleaned out our fridge and it is amazing! I love it. I get happy every time I open it. I can see all my food!

7. Getting free or really cheap stuff
Like last week when I got a free $10 gift card to the mall. Yea, it was great.

8. Random Christmas reminders
I'm so excited for the holiday season, and while I have yet to prepare personally, I love when I walk in a store and otherwise hear some Christmas music or see decorations. Yea, I'm not the type that insists on waiting after Thanksgiving. For me, it's all part of the season.

9. New friends who I click with and tell me nice things about myself
Haha, yeaaa who doesn't like hearing nice things about themselves. I've made some great new friends recently, something I haven't really done for a couple years. It was suddenly easy again and I'm so thankful for these new people in my life.

10. Old friends
Along with new friends, I love the opportunity to become better friends with old friends again. It seems like so much changes, and I have a hard time when the distance increases. I may not be the greatest friend, but I am grateful when the opportunity to rekindle friendships comes along.

11. Hearing from Susie on her mission
She always has the perfect thing to say to me, and I'm so grateful we can e-mail. Oh it's great.

I feel like there are so many more little things as well. Each time I realize another tiny thing I love, it makes me appreciate everything in life so much more.

Jazz Game—Front row

These are four photos from the Salt Lake Tribune's photo gallery for the Nov. 5 Jazz v. Spurs game. And you can see me in the background. Yes, we were on the front row!

This is the ticket. Do you see the price?? $904.00 Isn't that insane? I must say, I like Row A. It's easy to find. :) We were part of the 100 Club so we got to go in the elevators and have little elevator operators take us to the proper place. Then there was this HUGE dinner. We had the whole table setting and a waitress taking our orders for drinks. The dinner was kinda like a big buffet, but with nicely dressed attendants at every spot opening up their silver platter asking, "Steak?" "Salmon?" We did three courses: salad, main course, and desert. Man I was full! I tried salmon because it's one of those things that I don't really like, but think I should like it just because it's healthy. And where else to try it than at this super nice place. It was ok, just a little chewy. There was a lovely view of Salt Lake City lit up in lights. We got our lanyards for our passes, plus little Jazz basketballs. When we were leaving, one lady was passing out "mints." I thought it would be a lifesaver-esqe type. Not so. It was this rich, indulgent, chocolate mint thing that was like an inch deep. It was crazy looking around and thinking, "Man, these people drop 1,000 bucks on a basketball game? Whaaaat."

We were there with my date's (Mike) work, so there were a bunch of people with us. But we probably had the best seats. About six of us were on the front row, a few were right behind us, and several were on the side about row six. Row six tickets were about $400, while the second row was about $700. When we first sat down, I was like...are you serious. We are ON THE COURT. If those fancy guys in red jackets weren't there, we could totally walk up to the players in like 2 seconds.

I had to take a picture with my feet showing, so there's no confusion. I was not zoomed in. I was right there! The only people in front of us were the newspaper photographers who sat on the floor in their little parking spots.

We were on the Spurs' side, so if I looked slightly to the right, I saw this:

Hello Spurs!

When Boozer threw the ball in, this was my view. No joke. If I had longer arms, I would have reached out and touched him. I bet that would have gone over well.

Do you guys know this guy? He's HUGE. He was coming in for someone about mid-game, and my eyes grew big and I was like....oh my goodness! Apparently he's like the 3rd heaviest guy in the NBA. Or so I've been told.

At halftime, we were escorted (really followed the crowd) to our special room, where we were greated with MORE FOOD! I was like are you serious?!! Drinks, sandwiches, egg roll type of things, nuts, popcorn, goldfish, nachos, candy, etc. etc. One of the workers was like, "If there's anything else you'd want, let us know. Do you want ice cream? We can get ice cream." We were like, uh, we are ok for now. As we walked out, the attendants handing us printouts of the game stats so far. Yea, we were pretty important.

Another funny thing is that on the night of this game, my date's roommate (they are in my ward) was having a birthday party at their house. So most of our ward was there, also watching the game. Apparently lots of people saw us on T.V. because Mike kept getting tons of text messages. I was like, "Hmm. Who do I know who watches the Jazz games?" My options seemed limited. However, today one of my friends in the ward was like, "Hey so the entire ward saw you on your date." "Really?" "Yea we were at Tom's party and watching the game and suddenly everyone's like 'Look, it's Mike and Karianne!!'"

So, although no one texted me at the game to tell me they saw my ever important self on T.V., they did see me. And I am content. :)

Halloween

It's been a few years since I've dressed up for Halloween, or actually had fun plans for the holiday. This year was tons of fun! I was kinda stumped about a costume, but I went with my friends Marie and Whitney to D.I. and in passing Whitney saw this red, polka dot shirt and said "Hey, you could be Minnie." Ten minutes later I was back looking at the shirt and trying it on...and decided to go for it. The shirt was a little big and had long sleeves, so I cut the sleeves and put elastic on the ends to make them a little poofy and took in the sides a bit. Then I used the leftover sleeve fabric to make my bow that I attached to the mouse ears I got at the costume shop.

We had a big stake, plus other area wards, dance in a big barn in Payson. There was food, hay rides, supposedly an outdoor movie (I never saw it) and lots of people. The big thing about the evening was that a group from my ward had learned and been practicing the Thriller dance to all randomly start doing the night. Every Monday evening after FHE, we'd gather to practice. I was one of the first people who learned the whole dance and then helped Nate, the guy who organized the whole thing, teach everyone else. The dance was kinda like a line dance where you turn around and the whole thing repeats, so Nate would stand in the front for when we started, and I'd be in the back when we turned around. It was fun, and people gave my a lot of complements about my "awesome dance skills." Unfortunately my stupid camera battery died right in the middle of the Thriller recording. We have the first 30 seconds or so. My roommate Marisa recorded it as well, but her camera guy was really stupid and it's all bumpy, plus he only recorded the section of people who didn't really know the dance and it doesn't look cool at all. So I'm stuck sharing my 30 sec clip. Nate is the guy in the orange jump suit, and you can probably see my Minnie ears in the back. (Man those things threw me off when it came to dancing.)



And a bunch of pictures! I don't usually post many pictures on my blog, but oh well. :) Sorry there are a ton.

My roommate Marisa and I.

Me and my friend Marie. Yea, she's a bit taller than I am. I love my white gloves. :)

My fun girlfriends in the ward: Marie, me, Whitney, Brittany. We have an angel, Minnie, Pebbles and the Queen of Hearts.

A group of all the Disney characters at the dance. Yea, I admit, I had to think for a minute if I was Disney. Sad I know.

Recreating the Thriller moves for a picture. I'm between Matt and Nate Seely. These guys/brothers are awesome dancers, so it's fun. Yea, that's a laser pointer. It showed up amazingly in the foggy barn.

A group of my ward. Yea the roller derby girls and their coach dominated the front row. :)

With two Jack Sparrows. The one on the right is my home teacher.

Yay for Minnie... uh, yea.

Just some peoples in my ward. I had to post this picture because Shark/Flash was a friend of Ruthie's and now he's in my ward and we are friends. Fun.

Lots of lots

Hello everything! My last couple days have been BUSY, busy, BUSY. Tomorrow continues, so I dedicated tonight to getting a bunch of stuff done since there will be lots of playing the rest of the weekend. I've done a lot of errands and gone to the gym, among other tasks to complete tonight. Next up is cleaning my room. Yea, so I'm blogging.

I feel like there are so many different things to blog about. Time just hasn't been on my side. Goodness, goodness. But the following posts will be just a few updates. :)

Whaa November?

Hello all...I have officially been a blogging slacker. I need to find a happy balance between excessive (September) and non-existent (October).

I have so many fun and funny stories to share. Life is good. Yes, it has its ups and downs. Yes, it can be overwhelmingly difficult at times. But overall, well, you come out stronger. (P.S. I must add here that I love my sister Susie on her mission. If you want to write her see my invite on Facebook...please participate! :))

The weeks have tended to be flying by super super fast. I'm always like, "What it's Friday already?" That can't be a bad thing right?

This past week however went by super super slow. I'd be like "What, it's only Tuesday!!!?!!" But it was actually a good week, a lot better than I anticipated with crazy deadlines at work.

For example, on Wednesday I went with three guys in my ward to the BYU social dance lab, basically a ballroom full of dance music and dancers. Plus I ran into some high school friends, and well, the whole night was super fun. I really loved it. But come Friday, I was like...ooh yea a couple weeks ago I went dancing with some people.

Then I stopped.

Thought.

And realized it had only been TWO DAYS. How is that possible?

Anyways I have tons of stories. And will be posting some soon hopefully. I'm good. Life is good. I can't express that enough.

I'm loving that it's November. The weather has been PERFECT, especially considering the time of the year. I know it won't last, but it's great.

I'm so excited for the holidays. Julie is flying in to spend Thanksgiving with Christy and I...and others. I may go somewhere for Christmas—that's in the air. I'm so excited for the holiday season and think it's crazy that 2009 is almost over. Can we really wrap up the whole year already? Wowsers.

I'll also have to start brainstorming alternative New Year's plans because once again I will not be in D.C. for my regular, although increasingly becoming less regular, YSA dance.

Creative Juices...Twitter Strategy

As most of you know, my sisters and I have started a craft blog: "Keep the CREATIVE Juices Flowing," aka Creative Juices. I mentioned it a couple times in my month of posts in September and have posted links on my Facebook account. But if you SOMEHOW have missed the news, there it is. We have five sisters contributing on one blog featuring a whole lot of craft projects. It's a super fun project to do as sisters, and these girls have come up with some awesome stuff. I'm personally trying to get ahead by setting aside specific "craft time," so I actually have something to post come my turn every Wednesday. So far that hasn't worked out so well. Usually it's Tuesday night, I get home from the gym, think about what I need to do that evening, and suddenly remember I have very limited time to step up and get crafty!

Back to the point—we are all pretty busy ladies. But working together with very part-time schedules, I think we could really see impressive progress over time. I have been involved in some amazing online media projects and have been thoroughly impressed by the great power online media has. Seriously, I'm often flabbergasted by everything I learn and experience—especially the relationships you can make. It's an amazing opportunity for any business.

So I've taken the lead on expanding our blog through other types of social media, especially Facebook and Twitter for now. I've written about Twitter a bit in the past (I think most of those posts are linked in my "Featured Posts" sidebar.) But I want to combine the basics of getting started with some basics to start networking a business—and of course building relationships. So here is some of the information and tips I've put together for my beginning tweeting sisters as part of Creative Juices official social media marketing plan.

The first 3 steps are pretty simple. (They are also more thoroughly outlined in my post "Twitter Steps 1, 2, 3") I

Step 1: Create an account and fill in all the information. Have a picture, a clear set of information and a link to your Web site.

Step 2: Start following blogs you already read and profiles that interest you, especially those related to what you do.

Step 3: Retweet. A retweet is when you pass on something that you see in your feed. Basically you are saying that information is really cool/interesting and want YOUR followers to also see it. You will usually see this as a "RT" in front of the message, although some also show it as as (via @profile) at the end of the tweet. (Again, more examples are on my Twitter Steps post.)

OK so those are the basics. I've been using Twitter for a while, so I forget about some basic things that others might not know how to do. My sister asked me today how to reply to what someone says or to let them know that you say something about them. In the Twitter world, those are called "mentions."

To mention someone, all you do is put @profilename in your tweet. So if you want to say something mentioning me at my personal Twitter account, you'd say @skariann. Simple.

If you look under Home on your account, you'll see @yourname. Click on that. You'll see every time your account has been mentioned. You can also send private direct messages.

Alrighty...those are the basics of basics. I'll go more in depth as we move on. Twitter is an AMAZING tool and there are so many ways to use it. Just check some examples at my post, "Customizing Twitter for YOU."

To get started, I'm assigning every sister to find 10 new people to follow. (We are small and don't do this full time so we are starting small...and yes, 10 is small.) However, we don't want to start following a million people (well really just 40 for the 4 active sisters) who aren't going to want to follow us back. So we want to start building a relationship with them. Either reply to or RT something these people have tweeted. If we are interested in their content and want to start building a relationship with those accounts, this will be super easy and will help us expand our network.

Lastly, observe how others tweet. There are amazing examples and amazing tweeters out there. I have been downright speechless on the fabulous things I've experienced and relationships I've created via my Twitter usage. You can learn so much simply by observing. So it's an assignment now!

Go, Tweet, Go!

That's a promise

Today concludes the end of September. Tomorrow starts October and before we know it, November and December will fly by and we'll be saying hello to 2010!!!

Oh my goodness, that is insane.

Thank you so much for reading my blog this past month! Seriously, I know this project and goal of mine didn't turn out how I planned, but I finished—almost completely successful. (I did have to make up two posts the next day.)

I had big plans, and although I didn't quite accomplish everything I hoped, I was thoroughly surprised when I check my Google Analytics account for this past month. I didn't get to write any real article type of posts, mostly I wrote about things on my mind and events and such. I had planned to use Twitter and Facebook as marketing tools and see how much traffic I could attract using daily posts and good content. Well, I haven't used Twitter much at all this month and haven't even thought about marketing this blog. (Creative Juices and HS2College are different stories.)

But when I signed on to see my monthly stats, I saw that my traffic and views has significantly increased. I received as many as 85 different visitors with an average of 40 every day. And as many as 140 page views one day. Considering I just posted regularly, without a whoole lot of planning, I was pleasantly surprised. Lesson learned: regular posting is key to getting traffic. KEY

Anyways, with this last day I again wanted to say thank you for putting up with me while I reached this small little goal for myself. I've gotten a bit of insight as to what this blog will be for and some motivation to move forward with similar goals for some of my professional side projects. I have soo not been focusing on them like I should be. But with this month out of the way and having just finished up a chunk of my freelance projects for the year, I'm dedicated to focus on those things now.

You will of course continue to be hearing from me, but not everyday—and that's a promise! :)

glassessss glasses

I finally ordered new contacts....I've been needing them forever. Next task, find new glasses. I'm pretty sure mine are from 8th grade, are 3 prescriptions old, are bent crooked, and just lost one of the plastic nose coaster things....what in the heck are those called? Oh, and when I look down, mine fall right off my face. I assure you, this has provided some very interesting moments when I'm getting ready for bed.

I definitely need new ones. I would like to not always HAVE to wear contacts because the past year or so my eyes get really dry a lot so I'd like to give them a rest every now and then.

Does anyone know the best places to buy glasses? Good deals I should look into? I've never personally bought glasses (it's been since 8th grade remember) so I kinda have no idea what I'm doing....

Oh, and if anyone wants to volunteer to go with me while I pick out frames, that would be amazing. I tried some on during my last eye doctor visit, but it's hard to tell by yourself. A second opinion would be beneficial.

shy v. quiet

Those two things might seem the same, but I believe there are differences. For example, one who is shy might feel nervous or out of place while talking and therefore doesn't much. But one who is quiet might simply not have much to say (to random people) or doesn't feel the need to burst into every conversation. But should they need to talk it's not a big deal.

Those aren't great descriptions, but I've always maintained that I am a quiet person but not shy. I can definitely be outgoing in my own right when I feel like it...but not all the time. However, lately I'm beginning to think more and more than I'm actually really shy, not just quiet. (Of course this all connects to people I'm first meeting or getting to know. Later down the line, it's a completely different story.)

Anyways, I'm realizing that perhaps I am more of a shy person than I thought. This isn't always the case, but I'm realizing how nervous it makes me to have a bunch of attention focused on me. I'm kinda awkward anyways, but turn even more awkward, don't really know what to say and probably give off a really weird vibe. It's really a case by case situation, but it's kinda interesting. Tonight for example, we were sitting in a circle at FHE, were in new groups, and were introducing ourselves, saying where we are from and what we do, and then doing the Two Truths and a Lie game. While I'm completely fine, it's my turn and I do my thing...and then we finish up and go to the next person. Suddenly I was extremely aware of all of the nerves that had apparently built up inside of me while I was speaking and the center of attention. It's not really a big deal but it was kinda strange. And has caused me to be thinking about the topic once again.

Do you think there is a difference between being shy and being quiet. What is the distinction.....

Welcome October...almost

It's September 27th. A quick glance at the London calendar on my wall quickly reveals that, including today, there are just four days left in September 2009.

Craziness isn't it. Make way October....here comes great things.

The weeks themselves in September have flown by....like really quickly. One day it's Monday...the next it's Friday. Now that's the way to work things. :P But September...well there ARE STILL four days left.

I'm fully supporting October's arrival...including things like corn mazes, haunted houses, more fall stuff, Halloween, General Conference and oh so much more.

Come quickly.

Happy Saturday

Good times yesterday and today. Dancing was awesome and fun...although my feet were KILLING me by the end. Haha. As I've done social/ballroom dancing, I've always got comments about how I can spin well. That's probably the only reason my partner and I won our intermediate country western polka competition. His awesome dancing skills and my spins.

Anyways, perhaps my favorite comment of the evening was while dancing with this kid and after he completed leading a spinning move, stops/catches me, looks at me with wide eyes, and says, "Wow, you can spin!" Haha I shrugged and we kept on dancing. :)

Afterwards we all went to IHop for a late night snack. I was riding with the people who planned the event and we ended up being the last ones to leave and didn't get home until...2:30. Yea, I RARELY see that time of days these days. But it was really fun and I'll definitely do it again next time.

This morning my aunt Margie picked me up and we went up to a fair/booth thing at Sundance and walked around. Then we picked up my grandparents and we took them for a drive up the canyon to look at changing leaves. My grandma made sandwiches and stuff and we ate up there.

Then I came home and...took a nap! Hehe I was just starting to get ready for the day...at like 6 p.m. :) when a friend from the ward called and we went to grab some food at Wendys and then talked about random stuff for a while. We went back to his place and ended up still being there when the 8 p.m session of the Relief Society broadcast started...so they decided to turn it on there and watch it with me. Only good guys will watch the Relief Society broadcast in their apartment when they don't have to. :)

Anyways, I'm exhausted and am hoping to catch up on rest soon. :) And hope the kink in my neck that developed last night soon goes away. Tata for now.

Double Spaces—Wrong??

In honor of National Punctuation Day yesterday...

Several weeks ago I was at an apartment in my ward playing games on a Sunday night. Catch Phrase was rolling and one girl mentioned something that you put two of at the end of a sentence. The team guessed "space," which was the correct answer, but I couldn't help but mutter "Except you don't" under my breath that only those closest to me could hear. Then the kid next to me gives me an approving look and says, "I know."

And then we move on. :)

It's not too big of a deal, but I've found that while many people ARE aware, there are still lots that have no idea that you aren't supposed to put two spaces after the end of a sentence. I've found it funny because one of the first things I ALWAYS have to do when I edit new material is run a Find and Search replace all double spaces with just one space. Every style guide and dozens of grammar books say to just use one space. OK, I can accept that, but why? I've always thought that the two spaces was something our middle school teachers would teach us just to MAKE SURE we got it right. But that doesn't really make sense. Which is why I LOVED this podcast by Grammar Girl—both the question and the response.

Grammar Girl—Spacing Out


Turns out, the whole thing relates back to typewriters. Simply put, each letter used to take up the same space, no matter its size. So the "i" and the "m," had the same space, but obviously the "i" would be surrounded by a little extra. To adapt to that, any typist had to put TWO spaces after a sentence to make sure you can recognize the space. Today, typing is done proportionally, and there is no need for the extra space.

Wow, ya gotta love it right. :P

Here are some of the other basic, oh very basic, but common errors I see a lot.

feel vs. believe

Feel refers to something you can touch, a sense
Believe is a thought or idea

Wrong: "They feel that the position was not assigned properly."
Right: "They believe Jim should have received the promotion."

try and vs. try to

For some reason this phrase has become ever so common. You can use "try and" to indicate two separate things, but if it's one...well, use try to.

Right: "I'm going to try and hope it will all work out." (Two separate things. I'll try and hope. I'll not just try hoping. .. I hope I made the difference clear. :P)

Wrong: "I'm going to try and make it to the gym for my Zumba class."
Right: "I'm going to try to make it to the gym."

over vs. more than

There's more than one opinion on this, but check Grammar Girl's post. I go with the tradition use that "over" actually means OVER, a sort of direction, not more than.

Right:
"I stepped over the puddle."
"There were more than 100 people attending."

One Week

Wow, September is almost over....FINALLY. :P I actually look forward to having a little break from my blog. I'm glad I've done/am still doing this once a day thing, but I haven't quite been on top of things like I planned.

I'm very very very excited that tomorrow is Friday. And that next weekend is General Conference.

Today I went to a concert put on by our friend Kimberly Knighton...and she is amazing! :) It was really good. Tomorrow I'm going ballroom dancing up in Salt Lake with a group from my ward. I'm very excited....there seems to be a lot of people who can dance and I haven't done it in forever. And they are hard core about make the whole thing a good experience, including hard core guy recruiting, carpool organization, a planned IHOP visit afterwards—plus they had pre-dance dance lessons for anyone who wanted to learn or practice before hand. I actually stopped by after institute on Wednesday (which I love by the way-great teachers plus a full meal every week). I had met a new girl in our ward and asked if she had heard about the dancing activity on Friday. She seemed interested but that she didn't know really how, so then I told her about the lessons that were happening right then. She seemed like she wanted to go (it was a I'll go if you go type of thing.) I probably wouldn't have gone by myself because I kinda know the basics anyways. But we stopped by together. And then it was kinda fun, because I became the unofficial T.A. The one guy was teaching and then he'd have me and his brother, who was on the BYU ballroom team show the step beforehand. The girls who were learning were so cute and like, oh we are so glad you came so we can see it from a girl and stuff. There were like 6 guys and 8 girls or so there. Anyways, it was fun and I'm excited for tomorrow.

Uh....I think that's it. For now. Until tomorrow of course...annnd I just realized I'll have to post before I go out for the evening because otherwise I won't make it.

Oh and P.S. Happy National Punctuation Day! :P Pick your favorite punctuation mark today...and tell me what it is :)

My craft post — Bubble Magnets

Hey Everyone! So the Salisbury sister craft blog is going pretty well! I'm actually pretty impressed that we've been posting every day for about 2.5 weeks now. Everyone has unique ideas and I remember how creative my sisters are. I on the other hand....well, let's just say I haven't been very good at setting some time aside for crafts. :P Or for blogging. Haha. Anyways, remember to visit our blog keepthejuicesflowing.blogspot.com. And I'm sharing with you my post from today! All about bubble magnets. Oh, ya gotta love them.


This is a pretty common craft project so most of you have probably seen other examples.

Bubble Magnets.

I think they are fun; you can make them to match whatever you want. The possibilities are endless. When I first tried this project, I was really excited and wanted to try every possibility. I made individual sets for various Christmas presents last year and still have a ton of supplies that I want to play with. (One of these days, I will have time for crafts...one day.) I'm pretty sure I'm going to end up with more magnets than I have places for!

This project is really quick and easy so if you haven't made them before, I hope you give it a try.

Supplies:
First you'll need the glass stones. You can usually find these in the wedding/special occasions section of crafts stores, Wal-Mart, or your store of choice. Pick the size you want, big or small.

Next, grab some magnets from the general crafts area. You can usually get some pretty strong ones or if you are working more for decoration, you could get by with the thin magnet strips and just cut them to fit.

You'll also need some reliable glue that dries clear (or Mod Podge) and cute paper! (This is a great project for double-sided paper.)

Each stone has a slightly different size, so you can trace the flat side before you cut out a circle. Usually the difference isn't much, so you can use a circle punch or the same template for all the magnets.

Once you have paper cut out, cover one side with glue and apply the paper to the bottom of the stone. Let this dry.

The strength of glue needed for the magnet depends on the strength of the magnet. If you have a strong magnet, use strong glue. Otherwise the magnet will detach itself. :( Let the magnet glue dry REALLY WELL before using, so the magnet doesn't move/detach.

Be creative and customize your magnets to match whatever area they'll be used in; the kitchen, the office, the locker, the to-do board. The possibilities are endless.

The magnet set I made for Ritz's kitchen.

Zumba Zumba

Yes, I love Zumba. :) These days, I go just about every day...it's growing out here in Provo so there are more and more options all the time. When I first started about a year or so ago, there was one class on Friday evenings. The then added one on Thursday, later one of Monday...and now there's one pretty much every day that I attend. (I do like to mix it up by doing other classes or trying new teachers...although I admit there are only one or two teachers I don't get bored, and as a result, frustrated in. And yes, I'm annoying and will leave the class when the teacher isn't good...is that mean?

Anyways, last Monday Studio 5 came to our Zumba class and filmed for the following video. Haha, yea it's kinda embarrassing because we're working out, gross and sweating, and the film guy loves some very attractive angles. :P

It aired today at 11 a.m. And they awesomely posted it on their Web site. The instructor they interview is my favorite one. You can see me in the class part just to the right, wearing a red Build-A-Bear shirt—haha, ya gotta love it.

Music Monday - A couple song thoughts

1. Today Kris Allen, this past year's American Idol winner debut his first signle. I found out beforehand that it was actually written by a band I like, the Script. I actually always liked Kris Allen as a contestant on Idol. He was one of my initial underdog picks (even before the top 32) to make it all the way. For a while in the middle he didn't impress me thaat much, but it looks like things worked out for him. So I like the song...although I have mixed thoughts on it. It's mostly because I really like the Script...and I really like the lead singer, his voice and intonations. And when Kris Allen sings it, he takes on some of the same things. It kinda bothers me because I Know that's not Kris Allen coming through but really the Script. Anyways, I'm sure you will be hearing the song "Live Like We're Dying," in the coming days, weeks and months. So here's the Script's version...to see where it all came from.



2. Right now Boys Like Girls are pretty popular for the single "Love Drunk" They also had a couple popular singles in 2007: "Hero/Heroine" and "The Great Escape." A couple weeks ago I discovered their duo with Taylor Swift entitled "Two is Better Than One." I pretty much fell in love. :) I have their album on my computer but hadn't listened to the whole thing. Today a song came on while I was working and really caught my attention. (This is my favorite way to rate music I own. If it comes on and I take notice and make sure I know who it is and such, I know it's a song worth listening to...) But that's what happened with their song "Someone Like You." It's another slower ballad and I like it. I'm a big fan of more punk-type of bands doing slow songs...this fits right in. I hope you enjoy.

tsk tsk

I'm doing bad at 1) posting and 2) getting sleep. Things must change soon....how about with the new week? Starting officially tomorrow. :) 

Dance Dance

The last few weeks I've thought a lot about how my exposure and experience with dance has evolved over the years. I think I've almost always been doing dance of some sort, but it definitely changes and at certain points I've been really involved in one....but then soon embrace a new style and continue on.

I've always considered myself to be a dancer. I danced and did gymnastics when I was really young. Then, between cross-country moves and dozens of other things, I had a few years without it. Then, I think it was sometime during 7th or 8th grade that the movie Center Stage came out. I so wanted to see this movie. For some reason I wasn't able to go with my friends or kept putting it off...and the movie left the theaters. Then I found out it was in the dollar theaters. Again, I HAD to go. My aunt Margie said she'd want to go with me, (really she'd take me because I didn't drive and probably didn't have any money :P) but on the day we planned, the movie had left even the dollar theater. NO! I had to see this in theaters...and I so wanted to see it right then. Well, we probably weren't as apt with the Internet as we are today, but we somehow ended up finding a theater 30 mins or so away that was still playing it. We finally caught it.

And I loved it.

And, yes, I cried.

It was actually that moment that made me remember how much I loved to dance. I don't remember if I was already back in classes or if I signed up afterwards, but that was definitely a moment that threw me back into it.

I, of course, did ballet and jazz. I also did tap, although I sucked at it. (I wasn't able to relax my feet enough.) And I did classical character (a stylized type of folk, a lot of flamenca). I basically did anything I could. I remember I was in a really good studio with a really good teacher, but then she had to quit or something. Then this pretty young girl bought the studio and took over. For some reason in my memories, she reminds me of Sophia Bush. She didn't have the technically training my other teacher had, but she was still good. She was more into competition and costumes and the such. My former teacher had been more focused on technique. This would have been my first experience with dance competitions...but unfortunately this was also around the time my family was supposed to be moving to Virginia. My dad had already left and we were trying to sell our house so we could join him. So I didn't buy the competition costumes or plan on participating. But our house stuff took longer than planned and I was actually still around...oh well. (Our competition piece was to Michael Jackson's "Smooth Criminal." I still remember our intro.) In spite of the move, I tried out for my high school's dance team. There were probably around a hundred girls trying out and maybe 12 spots open...and I made it!!! I was super excited...but then the move finalized and I had to turn down my spot. :(

I wanted to keep dancing so some friends helped me make a tryout video which I mailed to my new high school, hoping I could join their dance team. I didn't know anything about it, but dancing in high school was always what I'd planned on doing. I didn't hear back for a while. We moved out to VA and got settled and such. Some of my new friends in my ward knew some people on the dance team and told me when they'd be starting practices and stuff. I called the school to get information about the coach and such and we set up a meeting. I remember the coach telling me how they didn't know if I'd be interested still because I was very trained in classic dance like ballet and jazz....and the team, well the team was not so much, very much more hip hop. But they agreed to let me go to the first couple practices to see how things worked out. I believe there were maybe only three of us who had actually taken dance lessons. On the first practice we did a bunch of things across the floor, like leaps, battements, and chaines. Then they tried teaching axle turns—my favorite move! I remember everyone's awe as I completed my round across the floor: chaine, chaine, axle, chaine, chaine, axel... Likewise, I was kinda amazed that no one else knew how to do it. (Except Kiyana of course) I had to learn the dance routine for the first football game next...uh, yea, it took me a while. It was definitely a different genre of dance for me. Kiyana (the co-captain) taught it to me via mirroring...which was something we hadn't done much in my classes so I was always really confused. Haha.

I didn't take formal dance classes that year. Just dance team. We had a lot of things we had to pay for, so I didn't want to take on additional lessons and all the costumes and other charges as well. But one year was enough for me. The dance team only had maybe 10 girls on it...and we all didn't always preform because we had to try out for each performance and only did it if we 100 percent had the routine down. I had fun, but wasn't getting what I wanted to out of dance. So for my senior year I quit and started lessons again.

My technique was lacking but I got back into ballet, point, jazz, hip hop, modern, pilates...and possibly others. I pretty much had dance classes every day. I often had to miss mutal activities and had to arrange my work schedule just for the weekend evenings. But I loved it.

Coming out to BYU, I planned to do a minor in dance. My first semester I think I have 4 or 5 dance classes. I tried out for a folk dance team and did that my first year. Plus ballet, pointe and jazz classes. That was the last time I did ballet. After that, I got more into the folk classes. I took Irish, clogging, and modern (just remember how much I LOVED that class) my second semester.

One of my friends freshmen year told me to try ballroom. At first I said no, because dance for me was all about expression and emotion and I didn't really feel that in ballroom. I don't remember the timeline but I kept taking jazz classes and did also started taking social and ballroom dance classes. This was something I really hadn't done before. I took all of the social classes, the upper country class and a couple standard and latin classes. I did folk on and off for a while. As I got further along in school, I had less time for dance, but did always manage to have one or two classes a semester.

After graduating I moved to SLC but didn't have classes. I started going to the gym regularly and got a bit of my fix mostly through step classes. Hey, there were routines and steps and turns so it kinda counts. When I had just a month left there, I found out about the Rose Wagner dance studio downtown. I went for my first all day $5 workshop and took African, Brazilian, jazz, ballroom, and modern classes. It was so nice doing it again! I wanted to sign up for a dance card, but didn't think it would be worth the $80 bucks if I didn't use it.

Now, my dancing is mostly latin dancing through Zumba classes and country dancing. I do Zumba almost every day and have been trying to do country dancing twice a week. (I have for two weeks so far) Every once in a while, I head up to Salt Lake for another workshop. I still wish I lived there, soley for the purpose of attending that studio. I would still loove to take additional classes...I guess we'll see where my next transition takes me.

P.S. I had a COMPLETELY different purpose for starting this post about dancing...haha maybe I talk about that later. :)

cursive?

I found this interesting article about how cursive writing is fading from our society. One mother was shocked when she and her eighth-grade daughter had to sign paperwork, and her daughter didn't really know how to sign hers. It's kinda an interesting article because it shows how the older generation is pretty much shocked, but how modern methods are turning to technology. I like the relate how people think about cursive to how people think about language use. Some are very adamant that our modern use of the language stay the same and get frustrated with "improper" phrases or e-mail and text lingo. Language has obviously evolved over the years and will continue to do so. Whether you like it or not, shouldn't the language reflect the culture and users? With cursive writing, why should it continue when we obviously are not going to be using it much. I pretty much only use cursive when I sign checks (which is a dying trend) or sign contracts (which can often be done electronically). Hmm, thoughts anyone?

Here are some tidbits to note from the"Cursive writing may be fading skill, but so what?" article.

Only 15 percent of SAT test-takers chose to write in cursive, while the others wrote in print.

The mother's thoughts: Cursive writing is a lifelong skill, one she fears could become lost to the culture, making many historic records hard to decipher and robbing people of "a gift."

Besides, it isn't as if all those adults who learned cursive years ago are doing their writing with the fluent grace of John Hancock.

In 2011, the writing test of the National Assessment of Educational Progress will require 8th and 11th graders to compose on computers, with 4th graders following in 2019.

West Virginia's largest school system (article was in WV) teaches cursive, but only in the 3rd grade.

Thought for the day

Hello! This week has FLOWN by. I've gotten a lot done at work, but still have so much to do. I'm really excited for the weekend...I always get excited to have some time to myself and get caught up on everything in life that I haven't had time for. 

Haha, I need to be better at managing all that don't I?

I'm super tired today, so this will be short and sweet. So I just want to share this quick quote for today:

Taken together, dreams and action are a powerful team. Figure out which one needs your attention and go forward with strength. 

Facebook Tagging

Most of you know that I'm kinda always thinking about quitting Facebook. For some reason I really don't like it anymore...but it's almost a necessity to be on there because...well, everyone else is. Maybe if I'd been one of those people who has held out the entire time. But no...I was one of the first of my friends and remember having to convince people to join, rebutting arguments that it's not something only high school kids do and that, yes, it's gonna be big.

Now it seems that there's no going back.

I can talk and talk...and try and try, but any quitting of Facebook doesn't seem to have the makings to be permanent. Well, at least for the time being.

But there is one feature that I have to admit I kinda like. I haven't been seeing it used too much yet...probably because people either don't know about it or they don't know how to use it.

You can now tag people in your status and wall posts. I'm become a bit of a tweeter (although I admit I haven't been active for a couple weeks), and this Facebook tagging SCREAMS Twitter traits. It's kinda funny, because first Facebook got the Twitter-like status updates and now it actually uses the @username tagging feature that is oh-so-common on Twitter.

Try it...type@ and start typing one of your friends' names. It will bring up your options, you select one, and then it puts a link from whatever you post to that friend's profile. Kinda nifty.

It might seem pointless to many users right now, but I can see its use really exploding in the coming months. And I'm not even a fan of Facebook.

Maybe not...but what are your thoughts?

Let it Go

I didn't realize I forgot posting yesterday until about 10 a.m. this morning when I was sitting at my desk at work. 

Shooot. 

Well, I haven't really been posting about the things I wanted to post about anyways...So a part of me thought about just ending now. Afterall, I had already messed up. But the other part has decided to keep going, to finish what I started, no matter how imperfect my result ends up being. 

I'm really a perfectionist. Not about everything...but it really affects me when I feel like I've made a mistake, can't do something or at any point feel less than adequate. I let things stress me out too much; I worry about things too much; I forget or stop trying to push through my weaknesses.

There are so many small little traits about me that I so desperately want to improve on or change. I know and recognize what these things are but have been having a hard time overcoming them. I know I know all the answers, but actually implementing and pushing forward can be difficult. 

Well, here's to being halfway through the month! I've been LOVING the rain and the weather! Yesterday after I got home from the gym, my roommate and I ran and played in the rain in the park by our house. It got a little cold but was oh so splendid. I'm looking forward to fall and the changing season. I love fall. And this is more of a recent discovery. I love the rain and I love the fall. Both things are things I learned to despise in college—afterall rain means you are wet all day and fall means cold and eventually snow. But when I'm not outside at least once every hour, they are so much easier to love. 

Today I watched the season premiere of Biggest Loser. Yea, after last season I'm pretty much in love with it. The first challenge had the contestants simply running/walking/crawling (seriously) one mile...ONE MILE. Two ended up in the hospital. There is so much holding these contestants back, but so far they've all been very diligent in pushing forward. I love forward to seeing them progress and offering motivation for me to keep pushing forward for the things I want to accomplish. I love bringing connections from one part of life and applying it to another. 

With that, here is my song of the day. Seriously, this has been my favorite song and the one I've related the most with over the past year. Again featuring the great Debra Arlyn, here's "Let it Go" 

Yea, I'm cheating

Eeek, I couldn't stand seeing the heading on my blog reading September (14) when I knew today was the 15th and I had missed a day in my month of blogs goal.

So here's a quick catch up. I'm starting to finally use my printer to print coupons and be a strategic grocery shopper. Last Saturday I went to Albertsons to get some Kashi products they had on sale. If you bought 4 you automatically got $4 off. I also had three coupons...so I got 4 Kashi items for $3.22. So pretty much the price of 1. 

This week Target is having a Kashi sale too. And I think if you buy 5 you get a $5 Target gift certificate. I pretty much live off these things so it's exciting. :P 

You can get lots of coupons on Kashi's Web site. Also check the Pinch Your Pennies blog for more coupon links if you are interested. 

flash mob

Flash Mob: A large group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, perform an unusual action for a brief time, then quickly disperse.  

A couple of years ago I had the chance to participate in one of the BYU flash mob events. If you haven't seen any of the YouTube videos of flash mobs, you should definitely check them out. 

One of my favorites is the Sound of Music video. 

For a BYU focus, I found this video of a dancing mob in March 2007. This is around the time I would have participated but I don't think it was this actual one. I think it was a lot bigger when I did it, but I'm not sure and you might not be able to tell from the video.

Anyways, I just decided that it would be fun to organize one such event. I don't have any brilliant ideas of what or where, but I think it's something to consider. Does anyone want to participate/provide some awesome ideas. We could get a ton of people and make it amazing. Eh? What do ya think? 

Do I really have an entire post about butternut squash?

Last week I finally found butternut squash at a price I wanted to pay. It was only 69 cents a pound at Maceys, when I've only seen it around 1.30 a pound for a while. I purchased a very small one several months ago and experimented with some of the Hungry Girl recipes and have been wanting to try more ever since. 

I've mentioned the Hungry Girl recipe books before, but I absolutely love them. I have both of the current two cookbooks and love searching through them when I'm suddenly in the mood to cook. As one review describes: 

"Packed with sneaky tricks like using light bread for sandwiches, replacing potatoes with butternut squash, baking with pureed pumpkin rather than oil or eggs, "The Hungry Girl" is fun and healthy!"

I go through phases where I cook a lot and then even longer phases where I don't cook at all. Having still been recovering from my move, lots of family visits, and just getting a regular schedule down (which I still don't really have—sad huh?), I haven't made much time. So I was excited last night when I got home and actually had some time to prepare something and wasn't already half starved. :P

PLUS, both of my roommates are gone this weekend. For some reason, I have this weird thing where I can't cook when others are in the kitchen and worry about making too big of a mess, so the timing worked out perfectly. I set up my laptop in the kitchen, selected a movie, and proceeded to watch while I cooked. It was great fun.

I pulled out my squash and looked for a knife to start the process: to cut off the two ends and cut the entire thing in half. Guess what, there's no knife. Uh, all I have are my little steak knifes. Not exactly gonna cut it—literally. Hehe, I didn't even plan that! 

Quick Facts about Butternut Squash

* It's an easy way to get payloads of vitamins A and C and fiber.

* Squash is an America original, first cultivated in Central America

* Low in fat, butternut squash provides significant amounts of potassium, important for bone health, and vitamin B6, essential for the immune system. 

* Can easily replace regular and sweet potatoes for a very similar-tasting recipe that is a lot healthier.

I then see that we have one of the knife blocks sitting on the counter. Yes, I've been saved!! Except I quickly find that the cheapest knifes offered at IKEA are not exactly great. In fact, they barely cut and are extremely flexible, and not in a good way. I'm not willing to go out and find/buy myself another option so I keep working and hope something will work eventually.

Even though I don't cook much, I'm learning how important it is to have the proper tools.

It was a good thing I had a movie on because I'm pretty sure it took my about a half hour to finally cut the squash in half. Not exactly effective use of time, but hey, I'm cool with that. But, that was only the first step. I still had to peel the thing and then slice and cut it up. At this point, I didn't even know what I wanted to make with it. :)

The peeling went a lot smoother this time around than it had last time. It helps a lot to put the squash in the microwave for about 30 seconds. I only tackled half of the entire squash—it took me long enough! But I cut a bunch of fry-like chunks, some thin cracker-like pieces, and finished off cubing a bunch. 

It was a lot!! And that was just half of the entire thing!! 

I ended up making the Bake-tastic Fries last night and browned some like hashbrowns this afternoon. Seriously, they taste pretty much exactly like potatoes like this. It's insane. 

I've done some research and found that you can freeze raw squash in the freezer for about 4 months. So that's awesome. I'll have a ton available on hand to use for so many of Hungry Girl's recipes. I actually want to eat squash more regularly so this will definitely help me out. In fact, I just might have to go get another one while they are still cheap. :P Here are some pics of some other recipes I look forward to try. I think the cheesy butternut bake will be next. If you want the instructions either buy the Hungry Girl book (look up which one has the recipes you want: Book 1 or Book 2) or ask me and I'd be happy to share!!

butternut hash browns

cheesy butternut bake

i can't believe it's not sweet potato pie

creamy butternut squash & chipotle soup

squash-tastic shepherd's pie

Interesting post from craigslist

I stumbled upon this posting on craigslist a while ago. She gives quite the story....perhaps too much. Haha, what interesting posts have you seen? 

For sale, IKEA "Kullen" dresser. Originally $59.99. (See it here: http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/40093059)

Let me tell you the story of this dresser, and why it needs help.

I moved to Salt Lake from Phoenix last summer, and my just-graduated-from-high-school sister came with me. My parents agreed to pay for her to go to school and get an associates in medical assisting. They agreed to pay her half of the rent, and buy her a bed and dresser here, and then when she finished school I could keep them for my guest room.

I took her to IKEA and strongly suggested that she get the dresser that matches my dresser and coordinates with all my other furniture. Oh no. Princess "hates that one!" so I let her get a different one. Nevermind this is technically my dresser. I try to be nice.

So Princess is putting it together, and ends up putting the wrong side panel on, and it's held together with these super-effective plastic screw/nail things. She tries to pull it apart, and it cracks the side panel a little. So she just gives up. I actually stopped at IKEA one day and picked up two of the new plastic thingys so she could fix it, but of course she never did.

Well, Princess ends up not going to class half the semester and totally fails out. My parents decide--and rightfully so--that they're spending too much money for her to not even go to class and they don't let her come back after Christmas break. (I think she should have to reimburse them for tuition, but she never will, just like she'll never pay me back for utilities.)

Now I have this half-assembled dresser that doesn't match my furniture and makes me mad every time I look at it. It's pretty much never been used, because in addition to being stupid, my sister is also a slob, so she never put any clothes away. (She also left dishes in her room, when all I asked was that she put them in the kitchen, where I would clean them, because she also didn't help with household chores, even after I made a chore chart. That's not really relevant to the dresser, but I'm trying to paint a picture of why this dresser bothers me so much, because it embodies the crappy roommate skills of my sister.)

So I'm selling this damaged dresser for $20 or best offer, just to get it out of my house. I think it's totally possible to fix it, once you get it apart. Some Gorilla Glue and a clamp should do wonders. But I just don't want to deal with it. I have--as far as I know--all the parts and instructions, but I make no warranties, written or implied, that the dolt didn't lose some of the fasteners. They should all be there, but if not, you can get them at IKEA over by customer service.

Help a girl recoup some of the money she'll never get for utilities and buy my dresser!

Thanks.

I almost forgot

One of my favorite comic strips is Pickles. I think the grandfather just reminds me too much of my own grandpa—and his funny, faux-grumpy self. Anyways, today I thought I'd share a couple funny ones because I just caught up on a bunch online. He he. Here are your Thursday laughs...or Friday...or Saturday. Whenever you might read them.

Man

No, there is no man, that's just a saying. :) But I've been finding it hard to write the many meaningful posts I had been hoping to. I'm actually surprised how hard it is to focus on writing a blog post a day—and mine have been much lower than mediocre!!! 

I'm finishing this out because it was a goal I decided on and because I think having the mindset is really going to help when I'm further along developing the HS2COLLEGE site. So yes, this all does have some of an interconnected purpose.

For now, check out my post on keepthejuicesflowing.blogspot.com. It's a creative blog my sisters and I are starting. I posted my introduction post today and will be posting every Wednesday from here on out. Check out the blog and share it with any crafty friends you have. I've been talking with my sisters and it's really going to be a cool source once things get going. I designed the header by the way....and there are a few tweaks and such that will be happening in the next couple weeks, so bear with us!

Enjoy!

Finding Yourself...In Your Closet

Yea, this kinda seems like a weird topic doesn't it. But I'm hoping this all ties together...

Do you ever have one of those days where you get dressed and decide to wear something that you might not wear very often. ... And then you remember why you don't wear it. Maybe it settles funny after a while. ("Settles" is a weird word when it comes to clothing :P) Maybe it stretches out quickly. Whatever happens, you aren't entirely comfortable in your outfit. 

A couple months ago, I decided that if I found myself in such a situation, I would immediately get rid of the particular articles of clothing. I didn't want to be make a mistake clothing-wise in the morning and then be stuck in something I'm not perfectly happy with. 

I've found it interesting over the last year or so, how much how you dress can affect your attitude and perspective on life, one day at a time. I'm more of a dressing-up kind of person. I love dressing nicely and professionally and always feel my best when I do. 

We've all heard the phrase in the professional world that states, "Don't dress for the job you have, dress for the job you want." I've thought about this a lot and also how you can apply the same principle every day, not just for your job.

I want to be a put-together, organized, confident and professional person. I've found as a try to dress in a way that reflects that, I can more fully take on that role and become that person. 

As always, I love finding articles that relate to my current topic of thought:

Would you believe that something as simple as how you dress could affect your attitude and self-confidence? The truth is, how people dress is related in some way to how they feel. They feel first and dress later. Just think of a time when you didn’t feel well, did you want to pull out all the stops and dress smart? Not likely. You probably pulled on whatever was closest to you and dressed the way you felt – not that well. 

If we change the way we dress the way we feel will change. When we are dressed well and look good we automatically feel better. When we feel good we are more likely to feel good inside, have more energy and treat others better. 

How Dressing Affects Your Attitude and Confidence. 

Summer to September

Well it seems that the summer is officially winding down. Today is Labor Day, and most schools are at least starting up tomorrow. It doesn't really affect me personally given that I'm not in school, but there are lots of people that are still in school or are teachers and such and starting the new year—officially. 

Anyways, we all know what the end of the summer brings...Summer Songs! Haha, I've been compiling my list for a while and am excited to officially make the cds. 

Hopefully I'll finalize everything throughout this month...after all, the summer officially ends Sept. 22. 

Here are just a few of the first almost 100 percent selections for this year. I'd post mp3s, but I don't have the best Internet connection. But look them up (imeem, youtube, myspace, ilike, etc.) and enjoy. 

She is Love - Parachute

Anywhere But Here - Safetysuit

Waking Up to Love - Shanna Crooks

Symphony - Marie Digby (She was majorly featured on Greek tonight)

Blue Sky - Francesca Battistelli

Honey Let Me Sing You a Song - Matt Hires

The MAn Who Can't Be Moved - The Script

Fallin' For You - Colbie Caillat

Best Days of Your Life - Kellie Pickler

Again - Natasha Bedingfield

Who Am I to Say - Hope

Gravity - Ryan Tedder

Runaway - Love and Theft

Use Somebody - Kings of Leon

Two is Better Than One - Boys Like Girls/Taylor Swift

Where Are You Now - Honor Society

Pony (It's OK) Erin McCarley

I Just Haven't Met You Yet - Michael Buble

18th Birthday

Sometimes it's hard to keep realistic expectations about birthdays and stuff and not bum yourself out when your family and friends go above and beyond. I should be better at this because I know there were times when I wished someone would just surprise me and do amazing stuff for my birthday...but more likely than not I'd have to help plan and make things happen. Haha that's hard to explain (and I've had great birthdays btw) but sometimes you think that maybe you'll be surprised about something that just doesn't happen...and while great stuff DOES happen, it might be hard to overcome that first expectation. 

I should be better at going above and beyond for people. To make someone's day feel special and beyond amazing. 

I feel bad because I failed my assignment for my brother's 18th birthday. I was supposed to pick out a BYU hoodie for him. (Go BYU for beating OU btw...whup whup). I was really concerned about what he would like and such. My brother's somewhat small and he didnt want a baggy sweatshirt or anything. 

So I picked out one I thought he'd like and thought about the sizes. I looked at the small and it seemed SMALL. Like squeeze your head through the hole and probably really fitted small. So I opted for a medium and told my brother that it seemed like the same size of our sister's hoodie that he currently wears. I didn't think Susie would be able to fit comfortably in the small.....

Regardless, I sent the hoodie off with my dad today to take to Virginia. Tonight I received this text:

"The hoodie's too flippin big"

Oh, no. I'm sad and assure the boy I'll get him a new one and to just send me the old one back.

"I knew this would happen. Now I'll have to wait forever. My birthday sucked."

No one's birthday should ever suck!! I feel horrible and will do whatever I can to right the situation asap. But still...this strengthens my resolve to help make people's birthdays — in an above and beyond type of way. I know I'd appreciate it so I might as well start acting.

For now, what's the fastest way to ship a package to Virginia?

Long Weekends

Don't you love it when a long weekend sneaks up on you. Oh, I do. Luckily I had plans even before I knew I had Monday off. Sometimes I like it when I just get an extra day to relax and get things done rather than doing something super exciting for the long break....although super exciting stuff is always good too. Haha

My dad came into town Thursday and we planned for me to take him up to my sister's house Friday. Which was fun to have another chance to come visit...it seems like I make it up here at least every month or so.

And when I come up, it's like I'm living a completely different life. I don't focus so much on the things I usually focus on and get to try all kinds of new things. Like:

Waking up at 7 a.m. to go to garage sales and find good deals.
I haven't been looking for anything TOO big yet and while my sister has found several pieces of furniture to refinish and assorted things, my stash has been pretty basic. Today I found one of those cake/cheesecake pans where the bottom drops out and its awesome ($1). Some glass jar things I've been looking for (.25 cents). A cool frame that matches my bedroom decor...well once I painted it black. (.50 cents) And a last minute purchase of a like-new Friends trivia game ($1).

I had a twenty in my purse and my sister emphasized that that was plenty of plenty enough. My three dollar purchases have suited me well.

Completing random crafts and projects.
I had a few things to paint so with a handy bottle of black spray paint, I refreshed the mentioned frame, the lid of one of the jars, and this huge ceramic-ish pot I inherited from a couple apartments ago. All are now black and look amazingly better. Plus I painted the other jar lid a turquoise to go in my bathroom (and match my shower curtain.) Oh, and I miight explore the possibilities of my sister's new Circut machine. 

I've also helped my sister and dad build a bookshelf. Yes, an actual bookshelf made from real wood we picked out from Lowes. Oh, we are hardcore.

P.S. My hands are currently covered in black paint. Anyone have tips on removing spray paint from skin? Anything would be appreciated. :)

Plus I've watched the end of the BYU game (which is usually the most exciting part). Go Cougars! Yea, we beat the #3 team. Whup whup. And, as always, I get to play with my nieces and nephews. Abbey seems SO MUCH bigger to me than like...last month?? And Wesley is getting over being mad at me for spray painting in an old pizza box that he apparently wanted to put dirt in.

That's it for now. Oh happy Day 5 AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my little brother, who turned 18 today. Wow, he's old. :)