why my life should be a book

its May 16th, 2012.

I've had a real treat of a day.

Sometimes I play a constant commentary in my head of things happening. I found that especially during high school when I was constantly doing journalism, I would think as if I was writing a news or feature story in that sort of tone. I'm pretty sure my life stories could be written in a form of a book....it would either be the top selling book--or it would just be a manuscript that the editor wanted to burn to ash.

Here is a story today that I would have added to that book:
After my class and lunch today, I had about thirty minutes to spare. So....doing what I always dream of doing...I took a nap before I had to leave for work on the grass outside the Wilkinson Center. After 20 minutes of being in a nice slumber and enjoying the not to cold-not to hot-just perfect for a light jacket-sort of weather, I was gently (or lack thereof) awakened by the sprinklers surround the perimeter of the grass. Why did I set an alarm clock on my phone when you have sprinklers to wake you up.

I immediately sat up, trying to grab my backpack and shoes to run off the grass when I see the grounds crew man who turned on the sprinklers just smile and wave to me. Thank you kind sir for your ever so thoughtful warning that you never dare mention to me. Why don't I offer my whole heart of love in behalf of your generous warning.

It probably didn't help that my hair was still wet from my morning shower hours earlier.
But it continues to get better.

I am walking to work now, and this car pulls up to the side of me, for about 2 seconds i was hoping it was going to be an attractive male species inside the car offering me a ride, but instead it was a woman about 28ish. She was asking me where something was located....and I slyly offered that I would be happy to show her precisely where it was because i was headed in the same direction! ;) So i got a free ride to work, which ended up being a tender mercy. She too happened to study communications at BYU and Purdue and she told me lots of good nuggest of information--so i was really excited to hear about it.

Anyways....I am tuckered out, entirely. And now, because of inventory at work, I have to be there way to early for the good of man kind...so I'll be back later.

p.s. You know Jack Waylend....the author of "Charly" and "Sam" and "Adam"....well, he is in the MTC right now with his wife. And not only did I put their missionary packet together last week, I also got to be their cashier. I just wanted to shake his hand and say....i'm a sucker for your books, thank you for winning my heart! :) but...alas, i didn't. Perhaps if I work up my 20 seconds of insane courage one day...i'll do it. :)

happy friday!

if i've made it to friday, i feel like its my birthday, and i just get to celebrate and say happy friday to myself all day. today's friday is finally beginning after 11 hrs on campus. no beuno. but...i got things done. i am so close to being caught up. and once i am....wait i probably won't, so i won't get my hopes up.

its the first night i've come home before 11pm. that means success--because that means i'm not at the library! tonight my summer ward is having a little "reunion" but....i'm just skipping that. why? because i am reading a really good book, called MindSet. and right now, a book sounds more enjoyable then talking to people. crazy as that sounds coming from me. so far, i've been reading this book in sections, because it's not a novel. it was written by Dr. Dweck, from Stanford.

some funnies this week:

:: one night after going straight from work back to school, i decided to indulge and buy myself some dinner at the cougareat. I was hesitant. because i can count on my hand probably how many times i have actually bought food from there. i usually would rather starve, eat gum and drink water, then pay and arm and a leg...you get the point. i bought a wrap, and proceeded to sit down. as i began eating, i see Crismon walk by to get a napkin or something. he sees me too, and we start talking, and he brought his dinner over and we sat and ate together. it was good fun. its nice to not eat by yourself once and awhile :)

:: part 2 to this story, as we finished, he said he was on his way to the library. when i replied i was too,  he asked me where i like to study and i said the media center on the 4th floor, and to my surprise, thats exactly where he studies too.

:: part 3 to this story. then on wednesday night, of course, like my ritual, i went back to the media center to study, after being there for awhile, i had fallen asleep sitting up, and crismon happened to walk by to get something, and sure enough saw me....go figure. this truly means we are siblings since we eat at the cougareat at the same time (which is seriously a rare occurrence for both of us), and study in the same place at the same time unintentionally.

:: sorry, since all my time is spent in the lib, i really only have stories about it...but today, i was again in the media center, and i saw my cousin becca!!! one of my most favorite people ever. what i mean to be only a quick hello ended up being a 1.5 hr conversation! my checks literally hurt from smiling and lauging with her. i'm so glad she goes to school, because i love seeing her at devotional! :)

:: another funny. i walked back to the school after work on thursday and i was on the phone with Ondalynn, my sister. after awhile she handed the phone to sydney, my 8 yr old niece, she's my hero by the way, so we could talk, and then i told her i had to go meet up with a friend for institute. without missing a beat she said, "FINALLY!" and I kind of laugh, and said, "sydney, why is that...." and she responded, "well, every time we webcam with you, or you talk to my mom on the phone, you are always by yourself on a friday night! its about time you have friends." wow... reprimanded by my niece. :) i did nothing but laugh.

look familiar? this would be a girls bathroom counter space. 0% space whatsoever. typical.

I had every intention...

 Let the record show that I had every intention to make  a fabulous homecooked meal tonight for dinner.Truly. When your mother is the champion nurterer, where every homecooked meal tastes delicious...you begin to miss her the minute she leaves. I am evidence of that.
So my intentions for tonight to be a great homecooked meal were just a bit too much.

Let me tell you of tonights series of events.
I got caught up in practicing the piano too long, before I realized I needed to go babysitting and dad had  a church meeting. Problem #1, already behind schedule before I even started.
Problem #2, what in the heck was I going to make. Keep in mind, we have a very limited supply of food since, when you are being self-reliant for the first time, you realize all the things you SHOULD HAVE bought at the store instead of the two packages of Klondikes and brownie mix, (not like I'm speaking from previous experience or anything). Problem #3, even if I did have an idea of what I was going to make, I most likely wouldn't know where to begin. (i hope you are seeing my dilema here!)

I decided to throw any rules or lessons I had learned on cooking out the window and just began pulling things out of the freezer and fridge until SOMETHING could be edible. I warmed up the stove, placed a skillet straight on with some boneless chicken breasts on the skillet (with no oil or water). bad idea. I might have lost a few brain cells in the process as I inhaled all that smoke. Than, I grabbed some potatoes, scrubbed them, peeled them and warmed them in the microwave. Why didn't anyone tell me that they would just get harder instead of softer. I kept warming it up, over and over again with no success. Than in my deperateness, I did what any wise, normal girl would do. Call my mother. "Mom, how the heck do I warm up potatoes!?" (yeah, i know, its pretty much as bad as asking your mom had to boil water. Yes, you can mock me for it later.) She told me to just cut up the potatoes and save for tomorrow. Great. Than I realized we had crescent rolls in the fridge. Popped those out and baked them in the oven (probably the only successful edible food we ate---of course, it would be prepackaged, no wonder it tasted better than anything i made).

So I screwed the skillet attempt, and plopped those pieces of animal on the george forman. In the mean time, I thought it would be valuable time to do the dishes from....who knows when, and clean up what used to be the table. If you walked in, you wouldn't really be able to tell it was with all the papers and junk piled on top.
Than I remembered that we needed more food than JUST rolls and chicken. I ripped---and literally---ripped the frozen pea bag open, so much that half of them went all over the stove rolling around. I furiously tried to gather them up all up with my hands--only to have forgotten that the stove was still heated from that stupid skillet attempt. Yes, this is where you shake your head and laugh at my stupidity.

Than I began cleaning again, only to have forgotten about the chicken--so that was more than cooked. I placed chicken and peas on plates and realized they looked alittle bear. So I pulled out spinach and lettuce. Sure enough, between the few meals dad and I have made, we have forgotten to use the lettuce, so that was going bad. Than, I decided to peel some oranges. And in the process managed to spray orange juice ALL over my new shirt, and getting THIS close to slicing my hand half open with the knife.

At this point, I just began laughing. Seriously. I could barely manage to do any of this, yet my mother has done it everyday for 36 years with out fail....and frankly, more gracefully as well.

And as I ate my dinner  I realized I had every intention to clean the house today too. Or change the load of towels that have been sitting in the dryer....since, oh, Monday morning.

Yes. This is the glamorous life I lead.
No. I will never be as good as my mother,
but hopefully I can say I always had good intentions.
Because lets face it, there really is no hope for me. :)

the world record for the fast class ever

today is fantastic. which frankly, its not too hard to be fantastic when the sun is shining and you actually have to use the AC button for the first time in 8 months.

last night I got home from a church activity around 9:30, and i was tired, so being the lazy one i am, I just slept in my clothes. I got up this morning, and in the process of dressing for school, i put on sweats. Go figure right?

It was my short day at school (short day=1 class). I didn't bother to put any make up on, or do my hair, or take a second look in the mirror...lets face it, who am i trying to impress at school....no one.

I get to my IB Biology class, only to find a sub, in otherwords, when you see a sub, you run for your life, because there are so many other things you could spend your time doing than be under the non-watchful eye of a sub. his job is so hard, i pity the man.

My brilliant Biology teacher pre-recorded his lecture of notes on his computer so that we could listen and write down what we needed to learn that day. After that was done, we had the rest of class (1 hr and 5 mins) to work on a project. Sure enough, the guy that has our project on his computer wasn't there. So...we had nothing to do.

Thats when i said, screw it, i'm leaving. It was a very thought-out, mechanical process, if you will. I used the back door that leads to a labish/storage room, that leads into another classroom, I walked through that class room, down the hall, down some stairs, out through the doors that would eventually lead me to the parking lot. Brilliant.

So, I went to school for 15 mins today. And I loved it.

I wish i could do that everyday.

I came home. I cleaned. I made meatloaf (HOLLA!). I cleaned more. And than had a school meeting. and went grocery shopping. Ha, and my parents worry about my survival during college....well, that is nonsense!


So....in all, it was a great day. And to make your day even better, watch this awesome movie about spreading kindess and charity all around. Have you ever thought about it...to be kind and charitable is FREE! SO WHY DON'T WE DO IT MORE OFTEN!?

Fun fact: 38 DAYS UNTIL MY FIRST DAY OF COLLEGE.
someone catch me, I think i'm going to pass out!

what he said...

Across the dinner table, comments were thrown back and forth on Crismon's lack of ability to do the living essentials while away at college (such as cooking, cleaning, and laundry).Hence, this conversation came up saying all he has ate this past semester are sandwiches, because he can't cook anything else. I know you're are thinking, 'look who's talking' but I'm doing much better. I guess having no ability to do these things runs in the family, since I've never seen daddio make a single item of food, or do any laundry. I told him he cannot complain anymore about dirty laundry while mom's away because he doesn't know how to do it himself.

The other day in our scurry to get the house cleaned up, mom asked dad to retrieve the blanket from the dryer. After Dad laid the blanket out on the bed, he found an unfamiliar rectangle stuck to the blanket. Confused as dad was, he took it to mom (the all-knowing one), gently held it in his hands and inquired what it was.
"Look! I pulled Crismon's blanket out of the dryer and look what came out! What is is!?"

mom...silence.
dad...still thinking. "could it be from the dryer?"
mom..."yes, its a dryer sheet."
dad...hmm. (walks away)

Mom tells this to us at dinner. We laughed.*


*read: doubled over in pain we were laughing so hard. Of course we now have rights to give dad a hard time anytime laundry comes up.

stupidity at its finest: from sister 1

Julia and I were thinking about all the stupid things I've done this year. And one of the most hilarious events went "un-blogged" about--so humor me and listen to what I have to say.

This year has been a year of first, cliche, I know, but its actually true. 1st plane ride, 1st time across the Mississippi, you get my drift. So, to keep my rhythm going I decided to sign up for my first 5k run. Not bad, right? Well even better, I signed up knowing full well that I hadn't ran in about 4 months...ish. Who does that? Oh, yeah, me. I signed up for Provo's Freedom Run Festival that occurs the day after July 4th. Its a huge event, drawing in over 3,000 people hailing from all over the country. So the night before the race, I was pumped...for about an hour, and than I got an unmentionable sickness (tmi for this blog--so i leave it up to your imagination). I was all sorts of disappointed, but at 11pm I had this genius idea, why not have my brother (read that as: incredibly serious cross country runner who will kill for first place) run in place of me? Although I registered in the 16-19 year old women's division...I was sure it wouldn't matter. 

It didn't matter until they were announcing 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and to Crismon's surprise he heard, 1st place winner from Gresham, OR...Emily Lewis. Crismon tried getting another girl to go up and receive the prize--but every girl wouldn't. So he just went and said he was collecting it for his sister.(see prize below in picture).

(this is where it gets good)

It had to be the funniest story as Lewis's we've ever been able to tell. Until I was en route to Minnesota and I sat in a tiny wood cabin about 1 week after the race to receive an email from the director of the race, stating that a male crossing the finish line was wearing my bib number and zip tie and if I could explain this mis-communication. 

I just about died.

I frantically wrote back it wasn't intention for my brother to win, and I explained the whole situation. Thankfully, him being LDS, he wasn't too upset. But I got a bit scared for a day. It also required me to ship my "first place" trophy back to Provo after it was sent with my mom to Oregon. And even better, I got sent a letter from the director sent to all Woman runners in the race saying that I was DQ. Classy.

So, the diagnosis of this predicament:

 $20 to register (but hey, free shirt, bib #, medal). 

$8 to ship that stupid thing back. 

Awesome story to tell=priceless.

Picture Perfect

They say a pictures worth a thousand words. Yep....I think their right.

So you're probably laughing right now, or trying not to pee your pants. But let me explain. Seth was taking my senior pictures, and told me to do a serious face. So that's it. I personally think I looked a little ticked off. Perhaps I should practice my serious face in the mirror the next time I go to get my pictures taken!

Have a great Sunday!

the quotables

Have you ever noticed that when people age...they miraculously get funnier. I can appreciate this because I live with two ancients myself.

Here have been some of my highlights lately:
Setting: mom's birthday (Easter)
Story: its 8pm Saturday night before mom's birthday and i'm napping on the couch (after i slept for 2 hours, I stayed up for another 4 hours doing hw) anyways. Dad calls me after the priesthood session inquiring on what to get for mom. Typical, huh? i told him to get an ipod touch for me, and then we could mom our old ipod(that isn't even sold in stores anymore its so old). He opted for an mp3 player instead. The next morning, she unwraps it. Stares at it. And a looong pause. Then she says, "What is it!?" Ha ha!!!! Best moment of the day! We told her what it was and what its used for.

Setting: The living room
Story: I was explaining my prom dress to mom, commenting on how i loved that it was a bit retro with the darts and pleats. Mom stops me in mid-conversation, "whats retro?" As if its an actual thing instead of a descriptive word. I told her, mom your day is retro!

Setting: The kitchen table, dinner
We were admiring how the flowers dad got for mom were almost dead for her birthday last night. When I ask, "what do yellow flowers even symbolize anyways? because red is passion, and white is purity." Julia's like, "Friendship!" Ha ha...we all laughed, wow dad, 35 years of real good friendship huh!? You guys must be like bff's!

I love old people.