Don't tell me not to fly, I've simply got to.

Sunday, August 21, 2011

The one where I reminisce

I actually began this post over a year ago and wrote #1 then, but then left it be. So I'm picking up where I left off.

I've decided to make a list of some of the best/most unforgettable moments of my life. In chronological order.

1.) A boy named Andrew and a crazy old woman named Hattie

Fall senior year of high school, on the band bus driving to a cavalcade, my friend Andrew was playing with this $.88 ken doll. (A bunch of us would go buy random things at Redners before we left for a trip...not sure why, but it makes me laugh.) The doll was naked and we decided to add some anatomy using one of those thin balloon-animal balloons, not blown up...we attached it to the doll's hip area haha. As a side note, Northern Lebanon had hired this crazy little old lady to be a bus driver...she drove up on sidewalks, ran over trash cans, the works. She was on our bus that evening "training" the woman driving. Oh, and her name was Hattie...I have no idea how you spell that. We loved her, because she was crazy and we could tell stories about her, but she kind of scared the crap out of us too. So anywho, we always sat at the very back of the bus, and we're back there laughing cuz Andrew's playing with this naked doll, waving him around and making it walk around on the seat, and Hattie spotted us and yelled at him to get up there to the front of the bus and give her the doll. He stands up in the aisle and starts dancing around like an idiot and yells "make me!!". So Hattie nods and with that crazy look in her eye says "ok, I will!!" and starts charging down the aisle, which makes Andrew start screaming and shouting like she's gonna murder him and in an attempt to take cover he dives back into his seat over and on top of Josh, cowering in the fetal position. He somehow managed to get the balloon off the doll by the time Hattie came back, and when she gets to his seat, she grabs the doll from him, and starts beating him with it and saying "where'd ya put the peter you had on it?!??"

I was sitting right next to this scene, curled up in a ball leaning on Steph laughing so hard I couldn't breathe and tears were pouring down my face. I have so many good memories with that group of people, but of all of them, that one's defnitely the best.


Can't believe I found a picture to go with this story, I had to dig to find it...not sure who took it.

2.) A weekend with David A. Bednar


Fall of 2007, Elder Bednar was our visiting general authority for stake conference. For those readers not of my faith, this is a HUGE deal. He is one of the 12 apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It's like being Catholic and having the pope come visit.

2007 was a really rough year. Things often seemed really gloomy and dark. That weekend spent in the presence of an apostle, listening to his words of encouragement and getting taught by him, was incredible. It was like a clear sunny day after months of dreary rain. I will never forget sitting in the 3rd row, the pulpit directly in front of me on the Saturday nite session, and him telling everyone how much he wished he could go to each of us individually, take us by the shoulders, look in our eyes, and tell us "you can do this", and how he looked me right in the eyes when he said those words. And I knew I could after that.

After that weekend, I saw the light at the end of the tunnel that wasn't there before. I wasn't just going through the motions, but moving toward something. And even though it took another year until I reached that light, it grew ever brighter and bigger from that moment on.

3.) Singing the National Anthem at the Phillies game in April of 2008 when they were presented with their World Series Rings

I used to hate baseball...hard to believe, right? I wasn't even that into it when the Phillies actually won the World Series the fall before this event took place. I remember sitting in our suite with my roomies watching it, and hearing our apartment building explode with shouts and cheers when they won, and hearing stories about how the apartment complex right next to us had set a couch on fire in the middle of the street in celebration.

In choir the following semester, our student leaders decided we should send in an audition cd to sing the national anthem at a game. Our director was cool with it, so we did. And somehow, we got chosen for the most important, landmark game in Philly history (aside from the World Series itself of course). A sold out crowd of almost 50,000 people, standing mere feet away from all the Phillies, and they even shot off fireworks when we got to "o'er the land of the free". I honestly can't describe how awesome it felt.

Afterward, we watched the game, and that was the moment I fell in love with baseball. Because that was the first time I watched it live, and there's nothing quite like it.



Me singing on the big screen.

I know several members of the choir had videos of us singing, but I've searched and searched for it and can't find one. Sad.

4.) Volunteering at Kanab

A couple weeks after the spring semester was over in 2009, a group of us from our club Helping Paws flew out to Las Vegas, and drove to southern Utah to volunteer for a few days at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary. This is the largest animal sanctuary in the country, possibly the world, with 33,000 acres of owned land, home to all kinds of animals. Best Friends is known for going to scenes of disaster and/or animal abuse, rescuing animals, and rehabilitating them at the sanctuary. Best Friends became a little more known after the Michael Vick dog fighting incident, because they took these dogs and have been working with them ever since to rehabilitate them into safe, people-friendly animals again. There was a show on Animal Planet about it. Anywho, it was like the best week of my life. I love animals and getting to spend all day with them and helping them was so much fun. The scenery was gorgeous, it was in the middle of nowhere (and I MEAN the middle of nowhere...you wanna take a trip to Target, the closest one is 2 hours of no red-light, no nothing, open highway driving), no cell phone service, just a cute little town. I adored it. I can't wait to go back there one day.

We also spent 2 days in Vegas before flying back home, which was pretty fantastic. My favorite parts were eating at the Stratosphere, wandering around all the popular casinos, driving down the strip with my roomies, windows down blasting Poker Face, which was insanely popular at the time, and watching the Bellagio water show standing right where they did in Ocean's 11 after they steal all the money. Magical.








5.) Graduation and a break-up


I know what you're thinking...a break-up? You're kidding, right? Let me explain. For the record, I think all of us agree that break-ups suck. As did this one. So no, the actual break-up wasn't one of the best parts of my life. It was in fact, a crappy awful experience. But an experience nonetheless. I graduated from Millersville a few days before Christmas in 2009, and about a month before had gone through the previously stated "experience". Things sucked. That's why this blog started, actually. But rather than get depressed, I used my support system and reached out to build a bigger support system to get myself back on my feet. And out of that one horrible situation/experience, came 9284726261 blessings and happy good wonderful things and an amazing 2010 and indeed 2011 (so far). Things dramatically turned around for me and got better than I ever even knew it could, and I owe it all to getting dumped by a guy. Why do bad things happen to good people my friends? So we can learn, grow, gain experience, and best of all, have even better things happen to us. And as for graduation, even though it took 3 months, my degree got me my job. 'Nough said. Thus, I put graduation and a break-up on this list, because it was the turning point for great things, and the reason why the past 2 years have been simply incredible.

6.) "The last summer"


Summer of 2010 Sydney was living with her mom and we got to spend so much quality time together. It renewed and strengthened our friendship. Right off the bat at the beginning of that summer, Haley, one of our best friends from high school, lost her dad in a car accident. I remember how we cried together and were so scared to go talk to her, because things had gotten kind of rocky and we didn't think she would want to see or hear from us. We went anyway. Friendships were mended. It was kind of amazing. Something you don't realize the significance of until you really stop and think about it. The 3 of us had some good times together after that. Me and Syd always referred to it as the last summer because her boyfriend (now husband) Steve was deployed to Iraq until the end of August, and it was our last summer to be just the 2 of us, no men, no full-time jobs, before going on to do big-girl grown-up things. I think if that summer had gone any differently, we wouldn't be as close as we are now and probably would have very easily grown apart.

7.) A visit from Missy, Shawn, and Ethen

My sister Missy lives in Arizona and I basically never get to see her. Shawn and Ethen are her sons. I hadn't seen Shawn since he was a year old (2 months shy of 4 at the time), and I had never met Ethen (age one at time). They came to visit for a week last October, and I enjoyed every minute of it. I love them a lot and I wish they lived here so I could see them all the time. I'm secretly hoping and praying they move back east sometime soon...shh, don't tell.



8.) A black lab named Scarlet and how she changed my life

This is a cute story. As many of you know, almost a year ago now (WOW time flies) I got asked to be the leader over the young single adults of my church, and as a part of that, activities creator/planner/overseer. March 12th of this year was a big all-day conference, where people from a large chunk of PA were going to be coming to. It was the most stressful activity I've ever planned to date. Leading up to it was terrible. Anyway, I distinctly remember sitting in the foyer of the church that morning with my planner-partner (a guy I previously dated, funny enough), before everyone else showed up, discussing how Josh liked me and it was awkward cuz I didn't like him and I didn't know what to do about it. I was telling him how I freaked out at first, "wahhh, I just wanna be friends!" and then said "but I've talked about it with him since, I told him that and we're ok now, I set him straight". HA. I readily admit that I am, indeed, an idiot.

So then people start showing up, and everyone has their own people to hang out with and I was sort of flitting around trying to organize the chaos. Josh gets there, and without even thinking or me realizing it, we stuck together. The first part of the activity was service projects, and I was in charge of getting a crew of people to the Farm Show complex to volunteer at Pawsabilities. I was stressing out a tad cuz we were late, and Josh went with me in my car and calmed me down. We parked at HACC and walked over, the 2 of us happily chatting away. When we got to Pawsabilities, we found the woman in charge who split us into groups and walked each group to where they would be volunteering. Pretty soon Josh and I were left alone at the volunteer table, unsure what to do, when I hear it. The saddest little whining dog noise I've ever heard. I turn around to see a bunch of empty cages right behind us, and turn back around thinking I'm hearing things. Then I hear it again. This time when I turned around, I looked down and spotted Scarlet, all alone in the corner in a covered-up cage, one little eyeball peaking out at me. I felt so bad. So when the lady came back, I decided to ask her if Josh and I could let the dog out and walk her, expecting her to laugh it off and give us a real job. Surprisingly, she said sure. So that's what we did for our 2-hour project...walked a dog and fed her treats and flirted. Josh was adorable with that dog too, a complete natural, which of course won him a lot of points in my book, and melted some of the I-don't-like-you ice away from my heart haha.

To make a long story shorter, we ended up spending basically the entire rest of the day together, especially during the dance, which I appreciated because I sort of felt like I was the only person without a clique.

After everyone left, and we cleaned up and I was heading out to my car, I looked at my phone and saw he had sent me a text saying how much fun he had with me that day. I smiled to myself and this is exactly what went through my head: "I had a really great time too. WHOA, WAIT. WHAT? I had a great time too. Did I just? I just spent the entire day with Josh....and had an amazing time. (Wide-eyed open-mouthed look replaces smile) OHH NOOOO"

And that friends, is the story of how, despite all my protests and fighting to prevent it, Josh and I ended up together. We've discussed this and Josh was the one that said "it was the dog". And he's so right.




Hope you enjoyed reading these as much as I enjoyed reminiscing.

Friday, August 19, 2011

The one with flashbacks and some nasty sancocho

First order of business: Yesterday I noticed I'm coming up on my 100th post, and I got all excited, until I realized that over 30% of said posts were still in draft form. So I went through them. I deleted a couple, but I did find a handful of gems. I don't know why I didn't post them...some of them have anger/emotion in them that maybe I didn't think should be shared. Others I just never got around to brushing them up. And even more others I read and thought to myself "this is hilarious why the heck didn't I share this?" So you guessed it, I decided to post them.

Forgive some of them for still being in somewhat of a rough draft form, I wanted to leave them be as best I could.

From most recent to oldest:

Being a kid at heart

The one where I slept through a tornado

the irony of life

Can I just have a thank you, please?

I'm a survivor

One weird and unexpected reason why I wanna get married

A dream is a wish your heart makes...or not



I think my personal favorites are a dream is a wish your heart makes...or not, and the irony of life. Irony is funny to look back on because it reminds me of how ridiculous I behaved when Josh and I first started dating, and how embarrassed I was at the thought of dating someone younger than me. I remember apologizing to him for being so weird and giving him mixed signals, and he responded (via text) "that's ok. I think it's just hard for you to admit that you like me a whole bunch" haha. He had me figured out better than I did.



Second order of business: Sancocho (aka latin american soup/stew). Yesterday I tried a puerto rican version of Sancocho for the first time. It was a terrifying experience. I was told it had potatoes and squash in it. I took a bite of just the broth, and it tasted horribly of fish. Now, a little side note. To me, seafood is not a real word. Because anything that comes from the sea, is clearly NOT food. How could something that looks, tastes, feels, and especially smells, SO GROSS be meant to eat? It's got 4 out of the 5 senses stacked up against it. I will never understand how or why people consume sea creatures. Especially the slimy rubbery pungent ones.

So I tasted fishyness in the broth. I was a guest in someone's house and they had offered it to me so I didn't want to offend them. I continued eating. I ate around what I was pretty sure was the culprit of the awful taste...grayish bite-sized pieces of blech, with a really unappetizing hairy/bumpy quality to them. It looked like it had feelers. I ate the potatoes, the squash. Then all I had left was the pieces of blech, and I'm not sure why, but I decided to cut a tiny nibble and eat it. It was like I put death in my mouth. I swallowed that thing whole (which was pretty easy given the texture) in under a second from the time I put that spoon to my lips. And I refused to eat any more of it.

Here's the good news: the maker of the sancocho expected me not to like it and wasn't offended. I researched sancocho online once I got home only to find that unless you're from Colombia, there shouldn't be fish in it, but yummy ingredients like chicken or beef. (That discovery wasn't good news, I was kind of pissed..."why the heck did they put squid/fish/I don't even know what the poo that was in there??") But because I like to have cooking adventures, I've decided that my next one will be to make my own sancocho, and you can bet your bottom dollar it will not have anything rubbery, smelly, or barf-worthy in it. I will blog of this adventure whenever it happens.

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

*snip**snip**snip*

Yeepppp, after not getting a 'real' haircut for more years than I care to say, yesterday, it happened. And...




I AM BEYOND PUMPED ABOUT IT MY HAIR LOOKS A-MAY-ZING!

I was pretty much scared poopless about it before I got it cut. (Which reminds me, that phrase doesn't make sense to me...isn't it usually the other way around for most people? TMI! haha. EDIT: Nevermind, I googled it, and am now thoroughly educated on the subject. Sooo...) I have major trust issues with people and my hair. But once I got there and talked to my stylist, that all went away. He was fantastic. Anywho, very very very pleased with it. So I took 10,000 pictures of course. I will show you about 100 of them.

The icky before:




And the glorious after...


















I really really love it. It makes me wonder why I didn't do it sooner. And it cost a pretty penny, but I would've been willing to pay 2 pretty pennies for how good it turned out. Totally worth it. Thank you Tim, you are great with curly hair, and I think you're my new best friend.

Sunday, August 14, 2011

The one where I fess up to being kinda dumb

It's been a lazy rainy Sunday.

I somewhat hate rainy Sundays actually...as if it weren't hard enough for me to get out of bed when I need to as is. But today I managed, even if it was 15 minutes before I had to leave for church. I got up and I got there on time, and all was well.

So anywho, I've decided I'm blog-retarded. I suppose, especially with my education and career, I really should stay away from that word. (My coworkers always say that we're the only ones allowed to use that word, because of what we do haha) But really, I am. I've had this thing for over a year and a half and have never really explored blogging. I just click on new post and type. And I've recently stumbled across and started following some blogs that are incredible...and I don't know how they do it.

How do you make it so you have different tabs and links going across the top of your page, right beneath the picture? I've seen it on many a blog, and want it, bad. How do you change the template aside from what blogger gives you? And how do you become blog-popular? I don't really care how many people are following me, but I just think it's so cool how people from all over who have never met can connect and be best friends...how do you do that? The one blog I started following is just a normal girl my age doing everyday things, and she started out like me. And now she has like 4,000 followers. How do you sponsor each other? Has anyone tried the google adsense thing? Is it worth it? I've seen blogs where your average girl has gotten to model for a company, and does give-aways and makes money...can I do that? I would love to do something like that on the side, doing something I enjoy. Is it one of those things where you become blog-popular first and receive a lot of hits, and Blogger notices and offers you stuff? And everytime these people blog, about 50 people comment on it...I think that's what I'm most jealous of haha. I enjoy doing this, even if no one reads it, I really do. But I think it would be nice to feel the support and friendship of people who appreciate what you say and/or are going through similar things.

And, my most important question...when someone does comment and you want to respond to what they said, where the heck do you do it? On the same blog post...will they ever see it? Or do you go to their website and say something? That's the most annoying thing to me, I'm so used to facebook where you can comment on anything and people get a notification about it.

Ugh, I am most definitely blog-retarded. I'm pretty sure I have lots more questions and can't remember any others right now. I hope I figure it out and one day have an insanely successful blog like those people, because I think I would love it. Who knows...maybe I'll change my mind. Whether or not I make money from my blog and get to sponsor people and model clothes, I at least would like to connect with people. That's the most important thing to me.

Can anyone help me out with any of the above questions?




P.S. Whoever can tell me what movie this is from, I'll give you a prize, like my undying love or something. (Which you probably already have):

"I can go through this door, alone. You'll never see me or the people chasing us again. Or you can come with me, and I don't know what's on the other side, but I'd know you'd be next to me. And that's all I wanted from the minute I met you."
Hint: It's new, it makes you think, has a great love story, and discusses the importance of our agency to choose. And I loved it. If you don't know, figure it out and rent it. ;)



Friday, August 12, 2011

The one with heaven in a cheesy doughball

I wish my photography skills were as good as my cooking. Because whenever I cook something, I always wanna put it on here, and it would be cool if the picture of what I made actually looked good.

Oh well, ya can't have everything.

Last nite, I made pao de queijo. What is that, you ask? Well, it's a Brazilian doughy gooey cheesy ball of goodness.  When Josh got called to Brasil, I thought back to the one time in my life I've had Brazilian food, at a restaurant in NYC, and remembered taking a bite from a cheesy dough ball that was so tasty and perfect, it made everything else I've ever eaten seem like brussel sprouts (or whatever food you think has a nasty flavor...my personal food/beverage of choice to fill that blank would be anything with artificial sweetener in it). So I decided to research the most delicious thing I've ever eaten so I could make something authentically Brazilian.



After weeks of searching for cassava aka manioc aka polvilho azedo aka tapioca flour/starch (who knew one thing could have SOOOOO many names) and 2 tries in the kitchen (1st batch stayed in the oven too long...oops) I accomplished my goal. They were pretty good, but not fantastic. I can't wait to hear about how amazing the real deal is.


Also I wanted to note that, a couple weeks ago, I made my first pie. I've made easy-cheesy cream pies before with pre-made cookie crusts. But this thing was my first entirely-made-from-scratch, crust and all, pie. It was a peach pie. And of all the things I've ever baked, definitely top 3 most delicious.



This is the only picture I got...I know, it looks so appetizing, right? But it really really was, ask anyone who tried it.


I believe I've used my sister's quote on this blog before, but here it goes again. Food is good. =)






I enjoy the fact that I'm blogging more lately...now I just need to get people to start reading this thing again. ;)

Also, happy birthday today to my best friend, Sydney Keller.

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

The one with the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day

Ugh, it's one of those I'm-in-a-poop-mood-and-just-need-to-sit-and-cry days. I hate them. I realize we have to have them and it's all a part of life, but UGH.

It's one of those days where I feel like people don't like me. Like legit hate me and only me. All over someone unfriending me on facebook. Stupid facebook. Stupid person judging me by facebook and deciding to cut me out of their life. Stupid me for thinking if you're not friends on facebook you've been cut out of someone's life. Stupid stupid stupid.

Any other day, looking back on it, I'll probably bust up laughing. But today's one of those days where I'm bawling my eyes out I'm so freakin' upset.

It's one of those days where I had to stretch my spanish-speaking skills (or lack thereof) and it makes me feel so foolish.

It's one of those days where I try to do a favor for someone and just made it worse, because my spanish-speaking skills suck.

It's one of those days where I get called on the carpet for slacking at my job because it totally slipped my mind and I feel awful about it.

It's one of those days where I get so overwhelmed trying to think about my future...applying to schools, money, GRE prep, looking for 2nd job opportunities so I can work 60-hr weeks, worrying about working too much, etc, that I end up not being able to accomplish anything.

It's one of those days where I start crying when my mom sends me a text asking me if I want her to get me a crunchwrap supreme from Taco Bell. Because I'm amazed that someone loves me and knows me well enough to know what I always get when I go to Taco Bell.

It's one of those days where I'm happy because someone brought me a crunchwrap supreme, my favorite thing from TB, and I start eating it and it was really, really nasty and disappointing.

It's one of those days where I'm all keyed up (along with the whole future thing) because he leaves in a month and what if in 2 years everything's changed and it doesn't work out?




It's one of those days where I need chocolate, and a hug, and to stop being such a ridiculous girl.

Ever have one of those days?


P.S. I adore the book that this post is named after. Also Jamie Lee Curtis's book 'I Feel Silly'...that one's good too.

Sunday, August 7, 2011

The one where Sheridan turns 23

I had a really great week, and I wanted to remember the happiness.

On Monday, I went here:


With my parents and my love. We ate pizza, we got ice cream, we went on some rides...ya know, the usual good time. I love that place. When we got home we discovered that while we were gone a nasty storm had blown through. Our nicely landscaped mulch had gotten washed out into our entire front yard, along with sticks and branches and all sorts of debris. And a certain boy left his windows down and had leaves, pine needles, and inch-deep puddles in his car. 3 towels later the car was cleaned up but still very wet, and we sent him on his merry, gross-wet-seat way.

Tuesday, I went to institute and got to see all my favorite people. I played volleyball...let's skip the part where I got super-frustrated because some of my friends become 5 year olds with adhd when they're together, oy. =) Lately I've been really into volleyball...the group that plays has such a fun time. Best part of all of it was my bff Sam is home for a little, and we hung out and had some good talks, like usual. Yay for time spent with friends who I don't see often.

Wednesday a small group of ysas went to a free York Revolution game (the minor league baseball team). I love baseball and I love when things are free. =) I met Josh after work to drive with him. As we walk out to get in the car, he gets a funny look on his face and says, "do you want me to drive? cuz my car smells REALLY bad". Turns out a good soaking rain inside your car doesn't make it smell too good, whoda thunk? We stopped on the way to buy an air freshener, and when we got to York we pulled it all the way out of the sleeve and rolled the windows up to let it work it's magic. Anywho, at the game they were giving away free bobbleheads:


of their cute mascot, Downtown. They were playing the Lancaster Barnstormers, and it was a game full of homeruns and excitement (occasionally) and free ice cream and foul ball chases, but it was sooo sloooow. 3 hours into the game, it was the top of the 8th and Josh and I were ready to go home. We get back to the car only to find that the car smelled like gross smelly poop old car and air freshener mixed together which somehow made it worse. So much for that idea. I commented that it smelled like a public bathroom with that mix of smells. But after a few minutes you get used to it, and ya know what? We had a great drive home, just holding hands and singing and chilling out after a long day. I love when you can go out and do tons of fun exciting things with someone, but you find that some of the best moments are when you're doing absolutely nothing together.

Thursday was a fantastic day. I took the day off to celebrate my birthday with my family. A day off from work in and of itself would've made Thursday fantastic, but it gets better. Let's not talk about how frustrated and upset work's been making me lately. Suffice it to say, I badly needed a day off. So first thing first, I slept in a little. Then, went to


for breakfast with Mom and Dad. Love their breakfast. Afterward, I decided I wanted to go to the Pennsylvania Bakery, this really famous place in Camp Hill, for some cupcakes. I'd never been there but heard wonderful things. So off we went, and here's the goodies I found:



 Once the delicious baked goods were bought, we went home. Quick sidenote, for those Harry Potter geeks in the audience, this week on J K Rowling's new website, Pottermore, http://www.pottermore.com/ was the magic quill challenge to register for the site early. Only a select few can, and then everyone else has to wait until October to enter the website. So being my little randomly-competitive and curious can't-wait-til-October self, I decided I had to pass this test and be an early registrar. Well, it's been kind of impossible. They gave one clue per day, at any random time in that 24 hour period, and if you're not able to be on a computer at that time, too bad, because within 30 minutes, all the spaces fill up. So Thursday was day 5 of 7 and I hadn't made it yet. So I get home with a comfortably full belly and a box of cupcakes and get on the computer to see that I hadn't missed the daily clue yet. And then the thought popped in my head that it would happen at 1PM. Lo and behold, it actually did. And I was ready...I figured out the clue, found the magic quill, passed the test, and registered early. The day kept getting better and better.

Next, I had an eye doctor appointment. I've never had one in my life, never needed it, but figured I'm getting older, I just discovered a floater in my eye, and it's time I had one. Found out my eyes are still perfect, everything's wonderful, the floater should go away, and my mother was the nicest person in the world and paid for the appointment, because silly little me doesn't have eyecare. For a doctor appointment, it was not at all a bad experience.

Afterward, Mom and ginormous-pupiled me went to a nail salon to get our toes done. Second time in my life I've done it, it's a relaxing wonderful experience. Here's the result:


Yay for cute toes!

The rest of the day was spent Costco-ing and going for a nice long walk. It was a perfect day off.

Friday was my birthday. After working for 3 hours for the last day of our extended school year program, I went home and prepped for my date nite with the boy.


Hello, straight hair. On a side note, I've been straightening my hair more often, and it takes me a little under an hour now. I get faster and faster at it. I'm getting very tired of my hair, I've never done much with it my whole life and am considering some big changes (think a little shorter, layered, and maybe bangs?) The second I find a trustworthy person that can handle the curly mess, I will be getting it cut. And I'm sure I'll blog about it.

On my way out the door, this is what the kitty looked like:


She's so stinkin' cute.

Date nite involved mini-golfing at Caddy Shack, dinner at Applebees (the food was kind of grody...don't get the riblet basket guys) and then a movie, Cowboys and Aliens.


Which was weird but good at the same time and I liked it. And followed by another great drive home. Like I was saying before, I've found that sometimes it doesn't matter what you did when you were together, it's just being together that makes it great. Birthday date nite did not involve, but should have, picture taking. Because I'm lame and forgot. Hopefully at some point within the next 5 weeks I'll remember to take a picture or two.

Saturday not much exciting happened. We had the open house for our new stake building in Lancaster. People were friendly and surprisingly none of the angry neighbors tried to burn it down. We were gonna go to the drive-in but it was a nasty rainy day (yet so desperately needed), so we rented Limitless, the world's worst movie. Don't watch it.

And that was about it. My happy wonderful birthday week.

In other news, grad school is expensive, yikes. If it's not a bill or my student loans or gas for my car, I will never be spending any money ever again. Thank heaven for my hybrid car that I still have to fill once a week cuz I drive so much.

Also, how do you handle a break-up that you've known exactly when it was gonna happen from the beginning? When you still love each other. And how do you handle going from hanging out with someone all the time to not seeing them for 2 years and only being able to write to each other? How do you write a missionary? I've never done it in my life and I have no idea how to be a molly mormon and send care packages and all that schtuff. And then there's the whole I'll be single and available thing while all of this is going on. Ugh, weird. I really hate being single and available. Not because I feel the need to have a boyfriend all the time, no sir. Because I HATE being hit on. And I HATE feeling like prey being hunted. And I HATE awkward first dates. At least I can use the 'I have a missionary' excuse for the ones I don't like, haha. It's just strange thinking of being with other people when you already love someone. But like one of my friends so eloquently said, you have to go out and get annoyed by other guys to realize that you'd rather be getting annoyed by that one for the rest of your life. =)

I'm just gonna pray like crazy, write from the heart, and hope for the best. What else can I do? It'll work out the way it should. I've said this before and I'll say it again, the next couple years will be a huge learning/growing experience. And I never saw it coming. But that's life.