Kristofor and Aariel

candy corn

2012-01-08T22:25:00.000-07:00

So, I had this skirt:

I thrifted it, and then only wore it once because it was long (I had already hemmed it in this picture) and too too bright!

So, getting some fun inspiration from - where else - Pinterest, I decided to bleach it.

But, still not being over my love of all things ombre, I decided to somewhat dip-bleach it. I'm not sure what to officially call my method, but basically, I dipped half of the skirt in the bleach, let it sit for a while, pulled it out a little, let it sit for a while, etc.

(While all this bleaching business was happening, I watched this movie, A Day in the Life.. Basically, people around the world filmed what their life was like in one day and it was compiled into this movie - pretty unremarkable, except one scene which made my cry my eyes out. Seriously, I was caught off guard and found myself nearly sobbing. Kristofor even came upstairs to see what was wrong. The scene showed a cow being killed in a slaughterhouse - it was pretty graphic and I wasn't expecting it at all. I've seen Food Inc. and other shows, showing animals in horrible living conditions, etc. But nothing has ever made me consider swearing off meat, as much as seeing that. Did it keep me from going to Texas Roadhouse the next day? No. But, I didn't eat cow meat, because somehow it's easier to justify eating a chicken. Pretty silly.)

I didn't take any pictures of what I did next, but the bleach hadn't done quite as much as I wanted, so I thought I would try to dye the bottom of my skirt a bit darker. I wanted it to be pink, but...

It's orange! Really orange.

My puppy is getting so big!

Which is okay...

But it does remind me a bit of a certain Halloween candy..

Hahaha! Not quite what I was going for, but oh well, it was worth a shot. I could try hemming it even more, but not sure I want to.

I'll still wear it. Probably.

getting organized

2012-01-02T16:16:00.000-07:00

Using my bad-quality iPhone pictures, I'm going to show a little before and after of my sewing area. (Did I mention I lost my camera?)

I was using an old shoebox to store all my sewing materials, and the whole desk was a mess because I had nowhere to put things. So I took this 3-drawer organizer we'd been keeping all of our old shoes in and decided to re-purpose it.

Inspired by this post, I decided to put some colored paper on the inside of the front of the drawers to add a little pop of color, and to hide what was inside them.

Inspiration

Ta - da!

Instead of mod-podging the paper to the inside of the drawers like she did on MadiganMade, I just taped them with good old scotch tape. I figured that would be easier to switch out in case I get bored of the colors, and I think it looks just as good. I have some semi-permanent vinyl letters that I used to number the drawers.. not that they need it, but I like the look and they come off easily.

It was super easy, and now my sewing area is really organized - we'll just see if I can keep it that way. =)

sew sew

2012-01-02T01:13:00.000-07:00

Kristofor got me a sewing machine for Christmas. I'm so excited - I've been wanting one forever! I've already hemmed two skirts that I didn't like to wear because they were too long, and have lots more ideas forming.

The next project on my list is this skirt:

via Freshly Picked

It looks super easy (I'm going to be omitting the pockets), and you can never have too many skirts! I wanted to work on it tonight, but then I realized I forgot to pre-wash the fabric... Arg.

I'll post a picture when it's done.

dill emma

2011-12-31T00:19:00.000-07:00

Whoever said that blonde hair is hard to maintain was a liar.

A few months ago I dyed my hair brown and I LOVE it. Except the upkeep part. My blonde roots grow in and it makes me look like I'm balding. In order to stay on top of my regrowth, I have to get my hair dyed every month.. except I'm too lazy to actually do that.

I like being brunette because it makes me look more like my mom.

But I want to settle down with my hair. I feel like a teenager, still experimenting and trying to "find" myself - or at least, my best hair color. I've spent the past 45 minutes looking through old pictures, trying to decide if I look better blonde or brunette. Hmmm..

I'll probably decide 5 minutes before my appointment.

Any input?

ce ne me derange pas

2011-12-16T14:22:00.000-07:00

I miss my little brother, Joseph. I know he probably doesn't miss me very much, considering he's in Thailand having the adventure of a lifetime.

But he was always someone I could talk to about anything, and he'd give me his honest opinion about what was going on - even if it was "Aariel, you're crazy."

I have plenty of close friends and family members I can talk to, but it's not the same as talking to Joe.

And right now, I really wish he was here to tell me what to do. Or to tell me to stop worrying about things. Or to be my ally and help me feel a little less alone.

I made him pose for this picture by my car before we went to the store together.

This, on the other hand, was totally unposed - you can tell, he's in mid-sentence. Awesome.

oh, this old thing?

2011-11-28T17:00:00.000-07:00

Now that the semester's finally over and I have some free time, I figure I should update the ol' blog.

I'm done with my hour-long commute to the hospital for my student hours for a whole month! I miss the people, but not the drive. Plus, the break will be over before I know it and I'll be at it again for another (last) semester. I can't believe I'll be done with the program this Spring! I've loved being a student, but will really love getting my Rad Tech certification and - hopefully - getting a job somewhere down the line. I've decided to apply to the Bachelor's program (Advanced Radiologic Sciences, to be exact), without specializing in any other modality. I might change my mind later, but for now it's just good old X-ray.

Kristofor had a long weekend off work for Thanksgiving and it was so nice to be able to relax, sleep in, shop, etc. together. We went to his parent's for Thanksgiving this year and it was lovely as usual.

Here are some pictures from the iTouch, as well as a couple from a 'photoshoot' I did with Kelso today. I hijacked my sisters fun camera and snapped away.. seriously, I want a fun camera like hers one day.

more pictures of my dog - surprise surprise!

2011-08-31T21:51:00.001-06:00

I want to thank those of you who gave your thoughts (both on and off the blog) regarding my last post. I still feel a bit overwhelmed, but I think I have a plan forming in my head about what I want to happen in the future. =)

And now, some funny pictures of my fur baby (did I just say that?) at Bear Lake. I went a few weeks ago with my sister Brein (more pics on her blog). It was so much fun! Someday when I'm old and rich I'll buy a canoe and a cabin up there and be happy for the rest of my life.

I seriously want to get him a life jacket so he can learn to swim. How awesome would that be?

Me and my niece London.. not sure what we're doing.

Sooooo messy! You can't even tell from this picture just how dirty he was. He loved it.

"my brain is scrambled"

2011-08-24T21:15:00.000-06:00

I was initially going to write this in my journal, but I'm too lazy to actually hand write all my thoughts down - it takes too long. I just need to get it all out there for the universe, or my sanity, or something.

This is WAY too long, and too boring, and maybe too personal, I don't know. So feel free to look at the cute picture of Kelso, skip reading this one, and look forward to my next post. =)

I could try telling all my worries to this guy..

But something tells me he'd just try to cheer me up by biting my hair.

I've been pretty discouraged today. I have this problem of comparing myself to others (ie. classmates), which of course gets me down. I feel like I'm so far behind everyone.

So, I'm going to school to become an x-ray tech. And I love it. LOVE! The hospital I do my clinicals at is amazing (although the hour long commute sucks), the people there rock, I like interacting with patients and feeling like I'm helping people. BUT: The job market is completely flooded with qualified x-ray techs looking for jobs. I'd love to get a job after I graduate this spring, but the reality is that there aren't many to be had. Another thing that makes it hard is that one of the main hospital groups of the state is a "hire from within" type of place, so they open a position internally before they open it externally - meaning if you aren't employed with this hospital group (even if it's just as a janitor), it's going to be hard to get in, especially in x-ray.

I've applied to a few different positions with this 'hospital group' - and had a few rejections. The clinical hours I have to do make it hard to get a job that will work with my schedule. So... I'm pretty much just trying to 'get in' with this corporation so that if an x-ray job ever opens up internally I'll be able to at least see it and apply for it. Even then, the competition for x-ray jobs is fierce - and while I like competition in board games, I don't like it in the real world because, to me, it feels like fighting over something. And I don't like conflict and back down too easily.

The thing with x-ray is that it only gets you an Associates Degree. So if I want my bachelor's, I have to apply to specialize in a different modality (ie. CT, MRI, ultrasound), get accepted, do clinicals in that modality for another few semesters and of course, do the schoolwork. If I were to get a full time - heck, even part time - job as an x-ray tech, I could probably be happy doing that for the rest of my life. I like x-ray and am not super interested in doing a different modality. BUT! If I have my license to do x-ray, and I specialize in something else, that will make me more marketable and better able to compete against other job-hungry peeps.

The thing is, if I decide to specialize, I have to have my application in at the beginning of the year, which is pretty soon.

When we first got married, actually starting our family seemed far far away. I wanted to go to college, Kristofor was still working on college, we just weren't ready for babies. And honestly, still aren't. One of the reasons for this is financial. Of course, that's not all of it, but feeling secure in a career or job would be awesome. But I'm getting old, dang it! ;) (22 feels old). Seriously though, I don't want to wait forever to become a mother.

So thinking and talking about it today... I'm a bit lost. Because if I specialize, that probably means starting our family is even further away. But if I don't specialize and don't get a job.. then what? Or if I specialize and still don't get a job?? It all feels so complicated..

And when I compare mine and Kristofor's situations to everyone else who's gone through the same type of thing, I feel like we're so unlucky. Seriously, it's taken Kristofor for-ev-ver to make progress with school, and I've been going to college for 4 years and all I have to show for it is a general Associates degree, and soon to be another Associate degree in x-ray.. I just feel so unaccomplished. And like I'll never be able to compete with anyone.

Blah.

I just want some security. I wish someone could tell me what to do. And lately I just can't stop thinking about my future babies. I feel like they are pulling at me somehow... You don't actually have to have kids to feel parental guilt, right?

This is probably my worst post ever. Maybe next time will be better. Maybe.

aww, man!

2011-07-22T22:54:00.000-06:00

I was ~~really~~ slightly bummed today. See, there was this concert I really wanted to go to, but it sold out early.. I should have known.

So instead I took this little guy for a walk, let him play in the sprinkler, and went on a "date" with Kristofferson to Wendy's and Best Buy... romantic, yes?

still slightly wet from the sprinkler

drool worthy

2011-07-18T19:54:00.001-06:00

My favorite etsy shops lately:

amerrymishap

I so want a pair of earrings from this cute shop - I'm tempted to buy some right now...

Lepidoptery

Colorful jewelry made from cardstock? Yes, please.

Verabel

I bought the same locket as the one below as a reward for myself for losing a bit of weight a while back (yes, I needed the motivation). I wear it all the time - probably too often, but I love it too much.

boring, really

2011-07-15T23:09:00.000-06:00

Am I the only one who sometimes has a hard time enjoying vacations because you're constantly counting down the time you have left until you leave? I hate that I do it. Summer vacation is no exception. It's been so lovely, but that clock is always ticking in the back of my mind.

Pretty much all I do all day is play with the boy and eat lots of popsicles. I've been obsessed with the good old fashioned twin pops: cherry, banana and root beer flavored, of course. I buy them as often as I buy bread and milk.. it's pretty sad.

Someone wasn't in the mood for posing nicely - he obviously doesn't understand the importance of a mother and son portrait.

Right now Kristofor and my brother Michael are downstairs "jamming out" - playing the drums and guitar together.. cute. And I'm sitting in my bedroom eating a root beer popsicle, looking at cute nursery's on ohdeedoh.

I love lazy summers.

^_^

(almost) brand new addition

2011-07-08T19:27:00.006-06:00

Remember that one post? The one where I said I was going to wait until I got a house until I would try to con Kristofor into letting us getting a dog?

I totally lied.

Meet Kelso! We call him "our son," because he really is our first baby. We've had him for 4 weeks now (sheesh, I haven't posted in forever! It's because I feel like I have to post the rest of our cruise, including editing and choosing and linking the pictures and whatnot, and that's just not any fun!) Anyway, he's taken over our lives - and our hearts (ahaha, had to insert that cheesiness).

He's a Pembroke Welsh Corgi, the breed Kristofor and I researched and decided on. I flip flopped around for a while, wanting about every breed in the spectrum - Cocker & Brittany Spaniels, Boxer, Bernese Mountain Dog (too spendy!), Boston Terrier, Pug, Sheltie, Poodle . . . pretty much everything except toy and large breeds. I'm so happy we chose the breed we did!

He runs my life right now, and I love it. Selfishly, I love being needed. I don't mind the demands as much as I thought I would - the waking up in the middle of the night type of stuff. Maybe I won't make a terrible mother when I have children after all.

My favorite is when Kristofor says to him "Hi, cutie!" and "Can I get a kiss? Give me a kiss!" And makes smoochy noises until Kelso licks his face (or bites his beard). Seriously? It's the cutest thing ever. Unless you think puppies licking your face is gross, but I guess we don't? He doesn't eat his own poop, and can't reach his bum to lick it, so... Wait is that TMI? Probably.

Anyway, we are smitten. Even though he's a stinker and ripped my pants today. And tries to sneak into the garden to eat the strawberries (which I accidentally taught him.. woops), and won't stop biting my fingers when we play.

How could you not love that face?

part deux

2011-06-02T20:08:00.004-06:00

Here is our day spent on Catalina Island - it was gorgeous and charming and the houses were to die for and so was the ice cream! We rented a golf cart ("island limo") which was so much fun! We actually spent most of the time walking and wandering through the streets and the docks. It was so lovely. And lemme tell you - when I become a millionaire, I'm buying a condo here.

p.s. I'm becoming obsessed with some retro photo effects, in case you can't tell. Too much? Probably. But I love the look too much to care!

And us at the formal night dinner. My favorite food of the whole cruise was served this night - it was called strawberry bisque, but it was pretty much just strawberries, whipping cream, and sour cream pureed into pure cold deliciousness. I ordered more than one... it was heavenly. I should have taken a picture! (Surprisingly, I didn't take any pictures of food the whole time we were on the cruise - despite the fact that we spent 50% of the time stuffing our faces. What's up with that?)

Part One

2011-05-16T22:12:00.009-06:00

Man oh man. So I guess my computer and Photobucket don't get along too well? Oh well, let's get started!

To start off - before viewing these pictures, please keep in mind that:

1) looking my prettiest wasn't a priority, and there are some unflattering pictures that I'm just going to put up anyway, and

2) many of the pictures of me and Kristofor were taken by one of us, so they're the really cool "here's my face 12 inches from the camera" type shots.

Our cruise left from Long Beach, CA and stopped at Catalina Island, then Ensenada, Mexico, then we spent a day at sea and came back to Long Beach.

I've only flown once before in my life, so I was pretty excited to get on the airplane, get my window seat and order my drink! Actually, Kristofor and I spent almost the whole flight watching Spongebob.. which I quite like.. anyway, moving on!

The weather was gorgeous, by the way. In case you couldn't tell from the pictures.

Pictures of us with the palm trees! They actually got me wondering.. what grows on palm trees? Anything?

We took a shuttle bus from LB airport to the cruise terminal (the driver drove like a crazy man and when we arrived he ordered me "get out," but at least we got there safe, right?). We got our bags taken to be loaded on the ship and waited in line for forever. But I was so excited/nervous that it passed by pretty fast.

Actually we waited in one line, then another and then another before we finally got to head toward the ship- so exciting! Once there we went straight to our room:

Our room had two porthole windows - and they totally made the room. It was so nice to sit by them and watch as the ship moved, and when we ported (made port? I don't know ship-y terms) we could see the island/port/land/people/sights right from our room. We loved it.

We had people come clean our room multiple times a day. They even put my toothbrush in it's container, wrapped my cord around my straightener, and organized our flip flops. Seriously. And left an itinerary, towel animals, and chocolates on our bed.

It was awesome.

The ship was so fun to explore - and there were so many areas we didn't even get to see!

They often had the fancy white piano being played by "Thom York Jr.," as Kristofor called him -the music filled the atrium and was so pretty. There were so many places to just stop and sit and watch the water and talk..

Ok, I know this is an abrupt end, but this has taken way longer than anticipated. I'll post way more tomorrow - ni-night!

teaser

2011-05-09T12:27:00.002-06:00

Kristofor and I have been back from our cruise for a couple weeks now, and I'm just getting around to uploading the pictures onto the computer and going through them.. it was such a perfect vacation for us.

More to come.

After

2011-04-11T13:15:00.002-06:00

When Kristofor and I got married, my grandma and grandpa Jensen gave us a little brown side table. I wasn't crazy about the faux-wood finish, and I've recently been inspired by before and after pictures of old looking furniture that's been re-painted in fun, cheerful colors. And considering we'll be living in some boring beige apartment soon, I figured I could get in on the painting-furniture fun and add some color to a piece I know I'll use.

Ta-Da!

Please excuse the poor quality pics, they're from my phone.

I had such a hard time picking a paint color. I wanted either a taxi-cab yellow, a bright blue, or a chartreuse-y green. Halfway through the painting process I was really regretting my choice of blue, but now that it's done I'm pretty happy with it. And if, after a while, I get tired of it, I can just sand, prime, and paint it again. Right?

church is hard..

2011-04-06T19:13:00.002-06:00

I kind of hate to admit it, but I have the hardest time paying attention during Sacrament meeting of church - well, scratch that, I'm good for the actual Sacrament, but once those talks start... I'm a goner. I'm always fidgeting or doodling. I've developed the habit of sitting in the very back, behind these adorable redhead identical twin boys, who are probably not even 2 yet, but they sure give their mama a run for her money. Gosh they're entertaining, and they keep me awake. ;)

But a few weeks ago we sat behind the family of a little 5 year old girl who used to be in my primary class. She was sitting on the ground with her notebook and crayons on the chair in front of her - coloring - but kept looking up and me and giving me shy smiles. Just as the talks were starting she ripped a piece of paper out of her notebook, brought it back to me, walked quickly back to where she was sitting, and hid behind her chair. She would occasionally peek around at me to see what my reaction was.

A few minutes later she was back to coloring in her notebook. When she was done with this new creation, she did the same thing: ripped it out of her notebook, brought it back to me, hurried back to her chair and hid behind it.

This is what she gave me...

Portraits of: ME! She drew me exactly as I was, down to the stripes on my shirt, my earrings, and my braid. When I got home from church I had Kristofor take a picture of me to document how well she had drawn me.

Seriously, one of my favorite sacrament meetings ever.

spring break party animals

2011-03-22T17:12:00.004-06:00

During Spring Break my sister Bre asked me to babysit her 2 kids - it's Spring Break, do you think I had anything going on anyway? No! ;) So of course I was excited to babysit, it's been a while since I've been able to and let's face it - my nieces and nephews like me. (okay, I like them too!)

So Jameson and London and I had a sleepover at their house. We made a sweet banner, painted some masterpieces, blew up some balloons . . .

And had a dance party, of course! I don't even know what the music was, I just turned the stereo on and the volume up! (Before this Jameson told me that they were all Doug's CDs in there and that we couldn't dance to it because it was rap... It was some good old 70s stuff - certainly not rap?!)

The next day we made some play-dough.. (and drank Jone's green apple sodas in honor of St. Patrick's Day)

We had some time to kill, so we had an impromptu picnic at the park! We ate and played 'bandits' on the playground until we got bored and went home.

I had so much fun with those little stinkers!

twinny too

2011-03-20T00:15:00.004-06:00

My birthday fell on a Wednesday this year, so Kristofor and I decided to celebrate early. On Monday (our day off), we went out to eat at my restaurant of choice: Bangkok Gardens. Their yellow chicken curry is divine. After that we went to Farr's Fresh, one of my favorite places - it makes me feel like a little kid because I get all excited at all the flavors and topping choices. Then we went shopping for hours.. it was lovely. We went to the mall and Target (so exotic ;)) and I gotta say, Kristofor had more luck than I did. I found some awesome pants though - I thought they were going to be $20 but when we checked out, the price came up as $5 - !!! I love when stuff like that happens.

That was the jist of all my planned birthday celebrations - just a day hanging out with the Mister. But he had a few plans up his sleeve....

The morning of my actual birthday, I woke up at 5:30 to go do my clinical hours. When I opened the bedroom door to leave, I found this:

Kristofor spent a chunk of his late night (he got home past 11:30) decorating the hallway outside our room. There were streamers hanging from the ceiling, balloons and confetti on the ground, and happy birthday signs all over. It made me so happy. I kept thinking about it all day at the hospital.. ^_^

He also made me this awesome cake - it's Funfetti (my fave), decorated with cowboy and Indian figurines, and horses. He put exactly 22 candles on the cake, with one Indian dancing inside all of them. According to Kristofor, the cowboys and Indians were "fighting over the cake." It was serious business - one of the cowboys was pointing his gun at the Indian chiefs head, and another Indian had his gun pointed at that cowboys back. It's a good thing we lit the candles and ate the cake before any real violence could begin..

It was such a lovely birthday. My husband knows exactly how to make me feel loved. On a sad note, he's grown out the mustache. Apparently it's too much work to shave a chin??

p.s. Am I the only one who's having issues with font sizes on Blogger? I select different sizes when I'm writing, but when I post, it all goes back to normal size. Any ideas of what's going on?

fo ril

2011-03-11T20:51:00.003-07:00

It was my birthday this week. Kristofor did some really cute things for it - I love that guy. I'll post some pictures soon, promise. Until then, here's us crazy kids.

Did I mention that I love him?

p.s. Kristofor is now a mustachioed man - I love it. I'll try to post some pictures of that, too.

getting lucky?

2011-03-03T17:58:00.003-07:00

I'm posting this - selfishly - because I want my name to be put in twice in the giveaway to win this lovely thing.

when I grow up

2011-02-15T12:43:00.004-07:00

Someday, I'm going to move into a house..

And get one of these.

ain't no lover like the one i got

2011-02-08T18:05:00.002-07:00

These pictures aren't the best, but here are some of the Valentine's Day decorations I have hanging up around my room. I made all of them. From paper. So they're obviously super fancy! ;)

(Aww, kissing horses!)

Kristofor and I are keeping Valentine's Day simple this year. He's taking the day off work so we can build a fort and watch movies while drinking fake champagne. Mmmm. I'm excited (mostly for the fort part).

Mundee

2011-01-24T17:37:00.002-07:00

Usually on the drive to Riverton in the morning I listen to Radio from Hell and laugh my head off, but on the way home all I do is flip from one radio station to another. I'm always finding an ok song and switching before it's over to try and find something better.

But lately I've stumbled across some artists that I can't seem to get enough of - I pop the CD's in and don't skip a single track the whole drive home. This is unheard of for me, I'm always skipping around my CDs.

And because I KNOW you're going to Google these artists right away, here they are for your information! With links! To make it easy to listen to sample tracks! I'm so nice!

This is my version of taking a quick break from homework.. what I really want to do is sit on my banana chair with my ugly green blanket and watch something on Netflix.

easy monies

2011-01-16T16:36:00.005-07:00

My baby brother Joseph left for the MTC last week. He'll be there for 12 weeks and then head out to Thailand until January 2012. I'm really excited for him, but to be honest... I'm selfish and missing him already.

The kid thinks "let me get a picture of you" means "stick your tongue out all gross like"

In other news, Kristofor is now working full time at the hospital! Yay!

In other other news, my dear old friend Feathers died. Booo! :( I had him for just over a year. Between him and Oscar, I don't think I have a very good track record as a fish mother. So instead of running to the pet store for a new model, I'm going to retire the old fish bowl for a while, or at least until Kristofor and I move.

p.s. Feathers may or may not still be laying at the bottom of the bowl, dead as a doornail. And deteriorating. But Kristofor won't flush him for me and now that his body is all nasty and his eyeballs are gone, I am too scared to do it myself. I keep threatening to pay someone $10 to do it for me, so...

Any takers?

2011, please be my friend

2011-01-01T18:02:00.010-07:00

Okay, here you have them - my New Years Resolutions for 2011.

1) Spend more time studying, and do it at my actual desk (not sitting on the couch half-watching something on NetFlix).

2) Improve at waking up when my alarm goes off (not hitting Snooze a million times).

3) Experiment with my watercolors!

I could add so much - SO MUCH - to this list, but I'm going to keep it simple and focus on a few goals at a time. Then when I get better at these things I can add some more items to the list - weight loss is totally the elephant in the room that I'm still trying to ignore. He's going to bite me in the bum, that little elephant.

p.s. Am I the only one who feels weird every time they do the countdown and say 'happy new year!' and suddenly your old familiar year is gone? And you get this moment of "what the heck is this strange new year going to bring me? And how will I get used to writing 20_ _? And I miss my old year already, it was kind to me and we were friends and this new one could be a total jerk and what if it doesn't like me?"

Okay, maybe not exactly like that, but still. Every New years eve countdown, you can bet I'm having this moment of weird, uncomfortable feelings.

resolutions

2010-12-29T00:52:00.002-07:00

I've never truly made New Year's resolutions. Long-term goals are hard for me to work on and keep track of, and I like my rewards to be immediate. There have been a couple years where I've made some half-hearted 'resolutions' that were abandoned before the first month of the year was over.

But as this year is winding down, I keep thinking about the same few things that I want (and need) to work on. And the new year is a perfect opportunity to get a fresh start on things... When I have everything sorted out in my mind I'll post my "Official Resolutions" on here.

p.s. I'm thinking I need a way to remind myself about my new goals so I don't forget about them - maybe print them out and put them in a cute frame somewhere I'll see every day? Hmmm... I'll get back to you on that one.

the monson bros

2010-12-21T21:42:00.001-07:00

current obsessions..

2010-12-17T23:16:00.003-07:00

So to start off I'd just like to say that I've been wanting to post about this nail polish ever since I bought it earlier this week. Buuut, between staying up late watching Netflix and sleeping in in the morning, who has time to blog? ;)

I saw this little beauty at WalMart a couple weeks ago but didn't want to fork over the 3 dollars it cost, so I went home with nothing but boring groceries. But I kept thinking about it and thinking about it and finally went back to pick it up. So glad I did. It's called 'Minted,' and my only complaint is that it's a little soft, so you can get imperfections easily. But I love wearing it because it feels festive without being all red-green-and-white.

I don't like to "color between the lines" when I paint my nails - it takes too much patience!

I've been drinking this hot chocolate every night without fail for the past week and a half (I'm super healthy like that). I'm usually not a huge fan of chocolate-mixed-with-fruit flavored things (except chocolate oranges), but I'm smitten with this stuff. And, for a little something extra, I like to add just a bit of hazelnut coffee creamer to the mix. Soooo. Goood.

Lastly, I just can't get over my latest purchase. I've been needing a recipe box for a long time but have been kind of picky about the kind I want - my favorite ones are the retro metal ones, so I look on eBay from time to time to see if I can find one I like for relatively cheap. Well, I scored this baby for only 7 dollars - including shipping! I haven't even put it away yet (it's still sitting right here on my computer desk) because every time I look at it, it makes me happy.

Well, I'm off to play Puerto Rico with the Mr. and my little brother.

Wish us luck. This game is intense.

You should try it sometime.

my my

2010-12-09T16:44:00.003-07:00

So lately I've been on a blog-reading kick and not so much of a blog-posting kick. The more blogs I read the more boring and unaccomplished I feel, so I've been avoiding posting on here. I hate when I let insecurities take hold in my brain, because it's hard for me to shake them.

Especially stupid insecurities caused by blogs - blogs! For pete's sake... Oh, me.

Anyway, I'm done with Fall Semester! WhoooohoOO! My first semester in the Rad Tech program is down, I'm 20% of the way through the program and going strong! Well, at least I think I'm going strong, we'll see how strong I feel when I see all my grades. I think I did pretty well. Most of the work is tests and I'm a good test taker, so that doesn't stress me out TOO much. BUT! I have this problem where I don't study very much for tests and then after the test I forget whatever I've studied, so that will probably bite me in the butt when the program's over and I have to take the test to get my license.

I really have such a bad memory, it stresses me out and makes me feel like an old geezer.

Speaking of old geezer's (not really), my little brother Joseph got his mission call to Bangkok, Thailand! I'm so excited for him, and nervous, but mostly excited. He leaves in January to go to the MTC. I want to take him out to get some Thai food before he leaves, but don't know of any good places. Any ideas? Are there any Thai connoisseurs out there? To be honest, I'm kind of scared to eat Thai, I think my picky taste buds won't be open to the new experience. I guess we'll see.

So let me know if you know of any good places, or if you want to come. =)

happy thoughts

2010-10-24T20:02:00.007-06:00

- I don't think I've ever enjoyed Fall as much as I have this year. It's been lovely - the colors make me want to cry. But I don't - at least not in front of anyone. ;)

- Kristofor downloaded this soundtrack for me from one of my favorite movies of all time, the Darjeeling Limited. My current favorites are numbers 3, 7, 8, and 19. I can't stop listening.

- I'm about two thirds of the way through all the clinical hours that I need this semester.

- Kristofor and I went to Famous Dave's last night. The meal was so delicious, I was happy the rest of the night just thinking about it. Mmmm, BBQ.

- I made a batch of coconut/oatmeal/chocolate chip cookies tonight - they're for Kristofor, hence the coconut. I wish that meant that I didn't eat any, but I probably had more than him. Awww. =(

- I've spent the past week watching the first 2 seasons of Parks and Recreation - folks, I think I may like this show more than The Office. And that's saying something. I'm seriously considering watching all of it again this week.

- This past week at the hospital we made Halloween decorations using old x-ray films - we cut out a bunch of bats, a witch, a black cat, etc. and hung them up all around our department - yay for Halloween!

- I bought this shirt last week for our little photo shoot and have been loving it - especially the price I got it for.

- Farr's Fresh ice cream - words cannot explain how much I love this place. Milkshakes from a drive through no longer tempt me, I only want to go here.

- I saw Leo on Wednesday.. (For those of you who don't know, Leo is my parents 10 y.o. Maltese. Earlier this week he went to the vet and got all but 3 of his teeth pulled.) I gave him a treat and after he swallowed he kept... gumming. Like smacking his lips together, except it was more just smacking his gums together and licking. I laughed so hard and tried to get him to do it again, but he got too excited and just kept barking instead.

Little poop.

sneakster

2010-10-22T22:33:00.003-06:00

Here is a little (literally, they are small) sneaky peak of the pictures my sister Brein took of me and Kristofor.

Like I said before... LOVE them! =)

(This is only half of what she's got posted on her website)

We went to this really cool old (built in 1906) concrete factory that's falling apart - people come paint and graffiti all over it. So, we decided to bring some paint and have some fun with it ourselves.

(We stopped by a corn field on the way home. I really like the colors in this pic, they make me happy.)

It was Kristofor's brilliant idea to paint a thought bubble. Tee heeeee.

^_^

psyched!

2010-10-19T22:53:00.002-06:00

You guys - I am so excited. Last Sunday Kristofor and I went up to Brigham to have my super talented sister Brein take some pictures of us and she just posted a preview on her photo blog. I LOVE them!!!

Take a look! Feel free to leave her a comment, too, if you like.

It was so fun. And they turned out so good.

I am so happy.

=)

what a goof..

2010-10-12T21:22:00.002-06:00

The Mr. and I are getting our pictures taken this week....

I think I might need to bribe him in order to get some good shots.

crafty crafty

2010-10-09T12:50:00.002-06:00

This past summer when I went to IKEA, I got a new bedspread. I love it - it makes me happy. But it's kind of plain, so I wanted a new pillow to go with it. I had a hard time convincing myself that spending money on a decorative was worth it, so I decided to make my own.

I already had a pillow form and some Wonder-Under so I just went to Wal-Mart and bought some fabric. The total cost of making this pillow cost me less than $2.

(I got the silhouette from Google Images)

Ta-Da!

The End.

spooooky

2010-10-07T18:48:00.003-06:00

Every day (or ever other day, let's not get too specific), I go out to check on my little garden...

Most of the plants I've grown this year are gone - spinach, green beans, lettuce, a few radishes.. But I have some cucumber plants with bunches of cute little cucumbers growing, ever so slooooowly. I check to see if, magically, one has grown to picking size over night. I swear, it happened once, with my first and only cucumber of the year - and it tasted divine. It hasn't happened since then, though, and I doubt any of my other cucumbers will reach maturity before autumn decides to really settle in. Even so, I go check on my plants, pick a stray weed, will the cucumbers to grow big, and fast, before hurrying back inside.

However.... On Wednesday I went outside as usual, checked my tomato plant, checked the cucumbers, pawed around for a couple strawberries, and had the impulse to pick a carrot. See, I didn't thin my carrots very well, so most of them have been pretty stumpy and small. I usually just leave them alone hoping they will grow long and slender so I can give some to my dad and maybe keep a few to eat myself.

This is the carrot I picked.

A little orange monster - perfect timing for October. I though it looked like a ghost, so I drew him a face. I've kept him in the fridge because Joseph wants me to keep him Halloween (don't ask me why), but he's getting kind of soft. So I thought I'd take a picture of him for my blog, before he gets too old, and also take a second to say:

HAPPY AUTUMN!

Aren't you so glad fall has taken it's time to get here?

Most posts to come, soon. Promise.

you can paint it any color

2010-09-19T23:30:00.002-06:00

Lately I have been:

Doing homework and taking what feels like a boatload of tests.

Picking these (I didn't think they'd keep coming out this late in the year but I picked a handful today, so I can't complain).

Waking up at this time 3 days a week.

And missing these goofy people (aka my parents), who officially moved out of the house yesterday. Even though I saw them today, I miss them already. They're only one hour away which isn't really that far... But when I've been seeing them every day, it's going to be hard.

up date

2010-09-06T20:06:00.003-06:00

I just wanted to hop on my little blog and write a quick little update of me and my honey.

Fall semester began 2 weeks ago. Kristofor is going into Health Information Management and I, of course, am doing the Radiology program. He has 12 credit hours and I have 16, so this may get a little tricky for us! I have school one day a week for 4 hours and I go to my clinicals for three 8-hour days a week. The hospital I'm at is about an hours drive away, so that's not really any fun, but I'm just so glad that I got in that so far I can't complain. I really love the hospital I'm at - for one, everything is nice and new (it's been open for less than a year), and I have yet to meet anyone rude. My clinical instructor is about as nice as anyone can get, although he does like to play little pranks on me and the other first year student. We're gullible. But it's fun. All the other techs are really patient and nice, they take the time to answer all my questions and explain things to me. I feel a bit overwhelmed with all there is that I have to learn, even just knowing my way around the hospital, but I'm trying to be patient with myself. Sometimes have to remind myself that I'm not going to remember everything right away.

My parents are for sure moving. Which means a lot of things, but basically we need to find a new place to live sometime at the end of the year. My parents will start training for their new job in just a few weeks. And I'm glad they found something and feel good about it, but I'm really going to miss seeing them every day. =(

Life right now consists of homework and watching movies in our down time. And the occasional trip to Jamba Juice.

2 of my loves

2010-08-24T21:21:00.002-06:00

Needless to say, I reaaallllly love my Kristofor.

But, I also love Ogden. I've been living here for about 5 years, and it's really grown on me. I feel like I own it. Like it's mine. I've never felt like that about a city before.

You see, I've had these weird almost-relationships with the places I've lived. I love my hometown it because it's my hometown, not because of anything cool - like, if I wasn't born and raised there, would I even like it? I'm not sure. When I lived in Nanaimo, I felt like I was staying over at someone's house - I was comfortable and liked it, but somewhere deep down I had this unsettled feeling because I wasn't home. I also felt like there was no way I could like Canada, because if I did then that would be betraying Utah! Duh!! ;)

Anyway, I feel completely at home in Ogden. Like I've adopted it - or maybe it's adopted me, I don't know. There are some pretty big changes coming my way. Like the kind that are scary and slightly exciting but mostly you dread them because who likes change, anyway? Yeah. So, with these changes we'll be moving.. I'm not sure where to, yet, but hopefully we can stay in Ogden.

Because, really.

I love it.

(and Kristofor)

longest post everrrr

2010-08-16T12:08:00.006-06:00

After my big brother Ben saw my fish painting, he told me he wanted me to do a painting for his office. He told me the colors of the wall and carpet in his office, about how big he wanted it, and that he wanted it simple like the fish one. And that's all. After that, I had full artistic license, or whatever - which is kind of nice, and kind of scary!

So I'm going to share with you my thought process of deciding what to do for the painting, how I did it, etc. etc. etc., and finally, the end result!

*I draw everything in Microsoft Paint (fancy!) before I paint - it helps me decide on everything from composition to colors. Please forgive me.*

First, I decided I wanted to do these little bumpy wave pattern things because they were part of the pattern on one of my dresses and while wearing it a few weeks before Ben "commissioned" me, I decided I really like the pattern and wanted to put it to use somehow. So, I thought, perfect way to put this pattern to use!

So I drew it up in Paint . . .

. . . and decided I wanted to do this for the background of the painting. So then I just had to decide what the main image of the painting would be. I went to Google Images and typed in random things that came to my head. I'm very productive like that, you see. Finally, somehow, I don't know exactly why, I decided to do a tree. So I started typing in "Tree silhouette" and "tree wall decal" and things of that nature to come up with some images that I liked. These are they:

Using these trees for inspiration, here is the first tree I drew in Paint:

[Yes, it's hideous!] [don't you love the bird??]

Then, after feeling sad and like this painting was going to really suck, I tried again, more copying the little orange tree. I Paint-ed this:

Okay, things are looking up! Before getting any further on this project, I decided to Facebook-send Ben the Paint-ing above, and below, and see what he thought.

I told him this was a subject matter and composition thing only - the colors could be changed.

He told me he liked the portrait oriented one better, so next up was deciding colors (the fun part)!

So then I Facebook-sent him all these different color schemes to give him an idea of what he might like - he liked the blue one (one of the walls of his office is a pretty sky blue), so that was that!

**Just a little side note, my favorite one was the green and yellow one - oh well!**

Next step - buying the supplies. I bought an 18 x 24 inch canvas from Michaels, and the paint. Oh, the paint. I would be using acrylics, as always. And I knew I didn't want to go around mixing my own colors - if I ever need to replicate the same color again, it's nearly impossible. So, I spent a while grabbing a bunch of different blues and seeing how they looked together to decide on the final contenders.

I ended up using all of these except one color - it was a bit too green.

Also, I learned a valuable lesson about paint - the cheap stuff is cheap for a reason! You have to spend a lot more time painting to get a solid looking coat, so next time I am definitely spending the extra quarter to get a little better quality paint. My favorite of the 3 types I got was Americana.

Next I had to get my design onto the canvas so I could get started painting! It was a long and dumb process, but basically I drew my design onto some poster board as a rough draft before doing anything to the canvas. Then I cut it out so I could arrange it on the canvas. The hardest part was arranging the leaves. I cut out tons of leaves in 3 uniform sizes (except I made 1 BIG leaf), 2 big ones, some mediums, and tons and tons of the smallest ones. I arranged them all on the poster board first, would take a picture, and rearrange them until I got an arrangement that I liked.

This is the final arrangement - very messy. I colored the leaves blue so I could see them better.

So I took this picture and then took the cut-outs and put them on the canvas, trying to get everything in the same place it was on the poster board - this is where taking a picture came in handy.

***It was during this process that I realized doing the bumpy wave pattern would be too much work! So, lazily, I ditched that idea.***

After I had the cut-outs where I wanted them, I traced them, lightly, with a regular old pencil onto the canvas (which I had painted white earlier). I decided which leaves I wanted which color (to try to avoid getting any of the same colors right next to each other), and started painting!

Basically, I sat and watched a million Netflix movies while I painted. I don't know exactly how many hours it took me in total, but from start to finish - Ben telling me he wanted a painting, and me actually giving it to him - it took 2 months. But most of that was me procrastinating and letting it sit.

Without further ado,

The finished product - TA DA!!!

I had a lot of fun doing this project. It's the first time I've ever painted anything for someone other than myself, so I liked it a lot. =) I went and saw it hanging in Ben's office the other day and it looks pretty good in there!

Sorry for the overload of information and pictures. =)

blur

2010-08-03T17:13:00.002-06:00

My sister Brein says one of her favorite things is color. My dad thinks it's pretty silly for color to be considered a favorite thing.

But really . . . doesn't color just make everything better? Happier?

g i v e a w a y

2010-07-26T10:53:00.004-06:00

Hey all,

My lovely and talented oldest sister Brein is having a giveaway on her photography blog. Go ahead and enter . . . I know I'm going to!

GO HERE.

p.s. It ends Wednesday night, so be sure to enter before then!

you're waiting for a train

2010-07-22T13:27:00.002-06:00

Have you seen this movie? What did you think?

I went last weekend and LOVED it! I had high expectations and wasn't let down at all. It had so many different elements to it that worked together perfectly - action, cool special effects, drama, humor, and lots of . . . mind work? It was a thinker, that's for sure. Not to mention I loved the actors, with Marion Cotillard (that woman can do no wrong) and Joseph Gordon-Levitt being my favorites.

I thought the ending was perfect. What about you? Do you have an opinion either way about what happened (with the top), or are you ambiguous? I like to think it fell. But that's the beauty of it, it could go either way.

I want to see it again. Soon.

ice ice baby

2010-07-14T21:59:00.002-06:00

My summer goal of getting a Sno Cone is complete x 2. I couldn't decide on a flavor so I got two small ones. One is Raspberry Colada, the other is Popeye - whatever that is, right? There was a flavor called Rock Star - what the!? What does a rock star taste like? Do I even want to know?

One summer when I'm filthy rich I'm going to buy a Sno Cone in every flavor there is so I can taste all the weird sounding flavors that I usually don't want to risk spending my quarters on, because what if I don't like it? Then I can choose a favorite and every summer after that I won't have to spend so long deciding what flavor to get.

Oh, I have such grand plans for my life.

slee po ver

2010-07-13T19:58:00.005-06:00

On Friday me and my sister

Brein decided to have a sleep over. I was so excited I kept telling everyone at work. "I'm having a sleep over with my sister in Brigham today." I felt like a little girl asking her parents if she can sleep over at her cousin's house.

So I left my man at home, and drove to Brein's. Her husband and son went camping, so Brein decided to stay home with little London - and me.

Friday night all we did was TALK. We were going to watch TV or something . . . but got to talking, turned the TV off, and didn't shut up until we fell asleep! I don't even want to know how late we stayed up. The next day when Brein's husband Doug called to see how things were going he asked what we did last night:

"We just talked." It was grand. I love talking with my sisters. We can talk about anything under the moon.

The next morning I woke up to London, who didn't know I would even be there, running around. I probably creeped her out, sleeping where her dad usually sleeps. She warmed up to me pretty quickly though, so we got ready and went to go eat some waffles!

Can you say CHEESE?!

(waiting for our food!)

After we got sick from eating too-crispy-but-delicious waffles, we grabbed some Pepsi and hit the road. Our destination - IKEA! I've been wanting to go there for forever. I've been twice and that's just not enough. I have their catalog and am always looking through that and their website (which you pretty much can't buy anything through) and there was a certain something I was looking for...

A daughter! Just kidding, lame joke, London just loved running around all the little kid beds and trying to climb into each one. Every time she would see one, say "bigger bed" and hop on in! Well, she was really saying "big girl bed" but the way she said it I kept thinking she was saying something else.

This is the present London picked out for herself. Yes. It's a pillow. She loved that thing. Did she want a stuffed animal? No. A toy? No. She wanted a pillow. And she played with it the whole way home. She would sit it on her lap and put her toys on it.

I was kind of jealous.

But I got something else for myself...

This. It's 2 pillow cases and a quilt cover. Or something like that. All I know is I want to pair it with funky colored sheets and colorful pillows. I like it much better up close, and in person.

I just love that place. It's so much fun looking through all the cool things there. A lot of it's stuff that I have no use for while living with my parents, so the bedroom stuff was my favorite part of the store (if you can call it a store).

We loaded up our treasures and headed home. Brein got some curtains to use for closet doors at home, and she even let me boss her into having us put them up while I was still there. And it's a good thing, too - she doesn't have arm muscles like I do. ;)

All in all, I think the world could use more sleep overs. And more sisters. And more IKEAs.

unorganized matter aka my thoughts

2010-07-07T19:45:00.004-06:00

It's funny how much I love pictures taking while driving - or in my case, riding in a moving car. I wouldn't take a picture while driving, no wayyyy, not me.....*cough* Anyway, I don't know why I like them so much. They're usually really blurry. And the composition nearly always sucks. But I love taking them, and going back and looking through them. Like the colors in the one above just make me happy. Little things like that.

Summer is lovely, as always. I have a ton of things I want to do and not enough time to do it. I have some really fun projects in the works right now - I'll post pictures when (if) I finish.

On my list of things I MUST do this summer, #1 is getting a Sno Cone. I haven't had one since who knows when, and I'm determined. This summer will not pass without me eating one.

Life right now is so relaxing and lazy. I love it.

I think it's funny when people name their blogs "The Exciting, Crazy, Hilarious, Out-Of-Control Life of the ________ Family!!!" Because usually their posts are just as normal as everyone else's, and there isn't any craziness. I'm sure there's more going on in their life than what they post, but still. If I had to name my blog something like that it would be more like "My Ordinary, Ho-Hum, Laid-Back Life." But don't get me wrong, I like life this way.

And I'm going back to it riiiiiight now.

Jackson Hoooole!

2010-06-26T12:57:00.004-06:00

First of all, the drive up to Jackson was simply lovely. Kristofor and I drove with his brother and family. We watched movies almost all the way up and back. The ride didn't seem too long going up, but coming back . . . . that's another story!

The first night we went downtown and walked over to the Town Square for the shootout.

(I really love these arches...they're elegant and rugged all at once.

Okay, so. First of all I would like to say that after staying up all night packing and being in a van for 4 or 5 or however many hours, I was looking pretty scruffy. During the shootout a 'cowboy' asked me and another girl to dance. We both shook our heads. He said, "Come one, I need someone to dance with me!" So I took his hand and went and danced in front of everyone! Including my in-laws - not embarrassing at all!!

Kristofor wanted to get a picture of me and my new beau after the skit was over, so we did. I'm pretty sure he told me his name was Tarzan, and I wouldn't surprised if it is. But maybe my hearing was off - it's probably something normal like Tyson, but I like to think I danced with a cowboy named Tarzan.

It sounds cool.

This is the only picture I got of the hotel. Kristofor and his very own man bag!! Not really, it's just the case for the portable DVD player we took with us.

The next day we went to the alpine slide with a bunch of Kristofor siblings and their kids. To be honest, it was too expensive for my taste but I've always wanted to go down one, so I sucked it up and did it anyway. I'm so glad I did, it was so fun!

It had rained that morning so we had to wait a while for the slides to dry.

Waiting patiently....

Some of the kids had a hard time waiting patiently... 3 different kids got sent to time out at the same time.

On the way up! That's our nephew Blake in front of us.

The view from the ski lift.

Us on the way up!

Sorry, no pictures of anyone going down. I stuffed my camera into my jacket pocket and forgot about until...

We decided to get a picture of Kristofor's fingers. He went down right after me and I was going too slow for his taste so he would brake and wait for me to get ahead, and then book it as fast as he could and catch up to me. One corner he was going to fast because he almost flipped over and reached out to try to steady himself and this is what he got. It looked worse after it scabbed over. Yuck.

That night we went to see the Bar J Wranglers. It was the highlight of the trip! I've never seen them before and it was so much fun. We had a chuckwagon dinner with potatoes, beans, applesauce, I got ribeye steak, corn bread, spice cake and lemonade. It was delicious! Then the Wranglers performed and they were way more impressive than I expected. Really, it was tons of fun.

For some reason I didn't take any pictures of Wednesday. We just relaxed all day. Suntanned, went swimming, took a walk, watched TV, went out to eat. Which reminds me - if you go to Jackson and are in the mood for one of the best burgers you will ever eat, go to Billy's Burgers. The prices are surprisingly reasonable, you watch your food being cooking right in front of you, the service is fast, and it's JUST. SO. GOOD.

The morning we left we checked out of the hotel, went downtown and walked around just a bit before leaving. We went to a cute little candy shop and got some straight candy cane things... (We were hoping they had some of our favorite Canadian candy bars but they only had 2 kinds, and they weren't ones we liked. Oh well!)

A big giant THANK YOU to Kristofor's parents who gave this trip to us for Christmas. I've been looking forward to it since then and it exceeded all my expectations! It was such a fun trip, and so needed. Kristofor and I haven't been on a vacation like that together EVER, so we really appreciated it.

It was lovely. THE END. =)

my apologies..

2010-06-26T00:00:00.003-06:00

Sorry, but this is another pseudo blog post.

I just got back from a lovely trip to Jackson Hole and have so many pictures still waiting to be loaded onto my computer, looked through, edited, and posted. But, it will have to wait for another day. Maybe tomorrow.

For now I'll leave you with a picture from the first circus I ever went to, back in 2006.

And I will also leave you with a little secret... I will forever feel guilty for that day. Kristofor and I went to the circus (like I said, it was my first time going, EVER! And it was awesome!) on September 27. I got a call during the show saying that my sister Madi had had her first baby, Roman! And!!! I stayed at the circus which was a measly 45 minutes away instead of going to meet my new nephew!!! It was the circus, after all!!!!!

I know. I know. I am a horrible sister and aunt! I still feel guilty about it to this day.

Again, I am sorry. For the fake post, and for the dumping of my emotions all over the internet.

man bag

2010-06-08T20:14:00.002-06:00

I believe that men should be able to use purses and/or bags without fear of being ridiculed or called a sissy.

But good luck trying to look this cool while doing so.

I would totally write this in my journal but a blog is easier

2010-06-03T22:47:00.004-06:00

Right now:

Kristofor is sitting on a folding chair, playing a video game.

I just finished reading some of my new book, Percy Jackson - the Lightning Thief. I've been wanting to read it and Kristofor got it to me for our anniversary. So far it's a winner.

I keep thinking about a girls' night I've been planning with all my Jensen/Peterson sisters. We're going to be crafting it up, and I'm really looking forward to it. I finally finished buying all the supplies today so all that's left is for me to decide what I want to bring for food.

I'm still in my work clothes, which are just regular clothes, but it still makes me feel like I should be busy or something. It reminds me of when I was in my Junior year in high school. Right after I got home from school I would change into my pajamas - or at least my pajama bottoms. Maybe if I got cute pajama bottoms I could start that habit up again...

My parents have a small garden in their back yard that I've been wanting grow stuff in. It still needs to be tilled and planted. Will anything grow this time of year? I've never done gardening before. I was lazy and waiting to borrow our neighbor's tiller but I think I'll have to just do it by hand or else it will never get done. I hate when you plan on doing something and then for silly reasons, it doesn't happen. That's this garden. Except it will happen. At least the preparing and planting and watering. If nothing grows, then so be it.

I'm wondering why things happen the way they do. I feel like things should have a purpose, but then there are also coincidences, right? So what's 'meant to be' and what's coincidence? I don't even know any more. Is it something I just make up in my head?

My eyes have been bugging me lately. Probably too much time spent staring at a computer monitor.

And with that, night night.

ma famille

2010-05-27T20:43:00.002-06:00

Do we need another post about my baby brother Joseph? Yes?? Okay!

So this is a picture of me and Joseph and our nephew Roman. Posing as a family. Oh wait, what? We are family? Well okay then. Not so disturbing, now is it.

I kept teasing Joe that his hair looked like Will Smith's from the 90's. He cut it before he left. Peer pressure, anyone?

Anyway Joseph is graduating from AIT in less than 2 weeks - Hallelujah!!! I'm so excited for him to get home. Kristofor and I will randomly say things to each other like "When Joe gets home, we're going to ________" Fill in the blank. When Joe gets home we're going to go play tennis every day. When Joe gets home we're going to play this video game together. When Joe gets home we're going to hang out in our room all the time. When Joe gets home we're going to go see that movie.

Joe can't get home soon enough 'round these parts. He's been away for too long! I don't deal well with being apart from my family. It would be better if we could email each other or something. We text - occasionally. When he can. He'll send me texts out of the blue about what kind of dream he had the night before, or about a certain girl in his platoon who looks like a mixture of my mother-in-law and Amanda Bynes. I really like those texts.

Joe is funny because he presents himself in such a way that people get different ideas about him. Like some people might think he's cocky. Stuff like that. But the thing is... Joe is much more than what meets the eye (And he gets mad that people aren't aware of that - you're supposed to just know!). He's extremely thoughtful. Like... he ponders stuff. He's a thinker. And he hates drama. He's blunt. Sometimes he's intimidating. Sometimes he's so loud in your basement apartment that your landlords who live upstairs get mad. Sometimes he'll send my sisters texts where they can't interpret how he means something - like if he sends them a text that says "What." And sometimes they assume he's being mean. And sometimes he is. But usually he's just messing around. Remember what I said about him being intimidating?

Well, according to my dad Joe is going to call tonight. I can't wait to find out what day he's coming home. I miss him. He's my true friend. I can talk to him about anything. Well... almost anything. Sometimes he stops the conversation if it ventures into weird territory. See?? Joe is cool like that.

Can I get an amen? ;)

news?

2010-05-25T20:06:00.002-06:00

As many of you already know.... I got into the Radiology program.

Boo yah.

happy 100!

2010-05-23T13:52:00.005-06:00

100th Post!

Dear loyal followers!!

This is the 100th post of my blog!!!!!! To congratulate me you can either give me 100 dollars, give me 100 back massages or give me 100 candy bars!! Your choice!!

Love!!

Aariel!!

p.s. Or you can just leave a comment or something if you want. Whichever's easiest. ;)

stuff I like part 2

2010-05-19T22:59:00.004-06:00

Any readers out there probably couldn't care less about stuff I like, but it's fun for me! So sorry if you hate this post...the next one will be more exciting, mmkay?

Today I took work off and Kristofor and I took the FrontRunner to Salt Lake to stroll around the Gateway and hang out with some friends. Ohhhh, it was so fun. The main objective of the day was for us to try on some Toms Shoes to determine our size so we can order some off the internet for our anniversary. (I'm so excited but can't decide which color to get!) So we only went inside the few stores that carry Toms, but there was one particular store I just couldn't pass up going into....

Anthropologie! I've only ever been on their website and wanted to see what the store was like so while we were waiting for our friends to meet up with us, I convinced Kristofor to come inside with me so I could peek around. I felt like a kid in a candy store (overused phrase?) - seriously, I felt like my eyes couldn't take everything in fast enough! We were only there for a second because our friends came and we decided to get something to eat and go see a movie. Afterwards I somehow convinced Kristofor to let us stop by Anthro one more time before we went home - - - is he the best or what?!? Or am I the best, because I conned him into it..??

The second time around was way better - my eyes were able to slowly feast on all the glorious designs around me. AND, Kristofor liked it too! How amazing is that?! He said if we were rich we would shop there all the time - this coming from a guy who hates shopping! Oh, he makes me laugh.

Onto the loot! Well, not really because we didn't buy OR steal it....but we can pretend for now.

Kristofor liked this octopus coat hanger (don't tell him I didn't really like it, kay?)

I liked these bath towels - they remind me of my Gramma Davis because they're fancy and oven and whatnot, except they're groovy because of the awesome colors! (I'll bet Kristofor didn't like these - when I showed him he did an obligatory nod and went back into his own world)

This store makes me want to purchase completely unnecessary things I would never need, like this cloth napkin with a bird woven into it all homemade like.

Kristofor and I both liked these melamine plates .... until we saw the price tag. *cough!*

Kristofor was interested in with this cup and saucer set. There were tons out and on sale but we couldn't find the price! (We thought the cup came separately and kept checking the bottoms of different cups to see if there were price tags anywhere...in fact, I knocked a whole stack over while in the process of price checking and almost died because I was so worried I would somehow have to end up paying for all the stupid expensive cups even though none were broken but what if an employee saw me and got mad - !!!!!)

He also liked this dinner set. The octopus was a popular theme today.

Okay I didn't see this wallpaper at the store, but still, I love it! Just the right amount of color to make it pop but not enough to make it too crazy.

These letters were pretty cool - the only one I would have wanted would be an "M" but it only came in the fabric that the "A" is in, which is my least favorite...so.

We went home empty handed.

It was oh, so good.

birfday fotos

2010-05-15T22:13:00.004-06:00

and the boy turns 25

2010-05-11T21:18:00.004-06:00

Kristofor turned a quarter of a century old last week! YAY for getting old!! ;)

This is him on his big day. I was standing below him when I took the picture, so the angle is weird. I think he looks like he thinks he's "bad you-know-what-it-rhymes-with-glass."

For my boy's birthday week I bought him something new every day. One day I gave him Toblerone, obviously not knowing he doesn't exactly love toffee....okay, weirdo! Another day I bought him a Styrofoam head for us to decorate...more pictures of that later. Another day I brought him a 44 oz. Coke. See? I can be semi-thoughtful.

So anyway, the night before his birthday I thought it would be cool to give him a tiny surprise. A little background: As you may remember, a favorite place of ours to 'get away' to is Anniversary Inn. We haven't been in over a year and would have loooved to make it there BUT with our limited funds and poorness we decided to just stay home and hang sans jacuzzi and awesome room. At Anniversary Inn they not only serve you a yummy breakfast and supply you with movies to rent for free, they leave a little gift for you when you check into your room. That little gift is called a perfectly chilled bottle of Sparkling Apple Juice and 2 slices of delicious cheesecake in the mini fridge.

SO! COMING BACK TO MY LITTLE SURPRISE: I thought it would be fun for Kristofor and I to have cheesecake and Sparkling whatnots for his birthday. I bought sparkling apple juice at Macey's (Big plus! It was on sale! Little did I know, that's because it was "Lite" with 2/3 less calories than regular sparkling drinks! I didn't notice until I had opened the bottle! Arg!). I went to Albertson's (or whatever it's called now) to get cheesecake. Now, they had mini cheesecakes from the Cheesecake Factory for 6$, or an off-brand but large cheesecake for 10$...hmm, the frugal woman inside me chose the 10$ hugeness. It really was huge. I thought, "Kristofor loves cheesecake, this way he will be able to have as many slices as he wants, AND it's kind of a better deal! AND I'm not spending 6$ on a mini cake!"

So I surprised him and it was lovely and it was nice . . . Until we realized the apple juice was a bit funky from the Splenda they put in it, and the cheesecake . . . was pretty bad. ("I cry!") Really, that cheesecake tasted like cheap cheapness with too much spice and not enough cream cheese. Oh, I was sad. Kristofor laughed. He said, "That's just so you. You are thoughtful, but then...something is just slightly off." So I was bummed for a while, and then I got over it and we laughed together. And I drank all the juice. I grew accustomed to the taste and ended up really liking it. . . I am not lying, I drank it straight out of the bottle.

We put our giant cheesecake in the fridge with a note inviting any and all to partake.

There have been 3 slices eaten in total.

I guess it doesn't always pay to be frugal. Next time, I'm getting a GOOD cheesecake and I don't care how much it costs!

****************

Alright, my fingers and tired of typing and I pretty much just want to watch my series now. So I'll finish up with the rest of the story of Kristofor's actual birth DAY next time - it really was fun. I loved it.

les poissons?

2010-05-08T16:08:00.002-06:00

This is a project I've had in the works for a couple days now... I bought a canvas simply because it was on sale and I've been wanting something to hang above the fireplace in my room. So I sketched a few things and decided on fish. I drew the image I wanted in Microsoft Paint to determine my color scheme, and (after getting Kristofor's opinion - he liked a yellow background the best) went to Michael's, bought the paint, and went to work!

The finished result! I outlined the fish with a Sharpie (oh so professional). It was fun to do, I'm glad to be done with it, and happy that I have something to hang above my fireplace!

The problem I have with hanging my own artwork or projects up around the house is that every time I look at it I criticize it and find faults or think of things I could have done differently. I really hate when I do that, but I can't help myself! So far that hasn't happened yet with this project, so hopefully I don't fall into the same routine!

brigadoon

2010-04-26T21:52:00.002-06:00

Done with Spring semester.

Done with Tax Season.

Don't quite know what to do with myself.

a ramble and a half

2010-04-22T23:31:00.005-06:00

Brein has always been someone for me to look up to. She always made me feel special by doing things like introducing me to Reba, having sleepovers with me after she moved out, letting me pick the music when we were driving in her teal Talon...ahh, those were the days.

I really couldn't pick a totally awesome or powerful memory of Brein. But she's always been my home away from home. When we moved to Canada we would drive back to Utah every summer and I would always stay with Brein. She made everything fun - and now, looking back, I realize how demanding I was on her. I expected her to have fun ideas of something to do each night, and I probably cost her lots of money - she would taking me out for fast food and movies, shopping, etc.

She used to have this electric back massager we liked to call "Mr. Tickles." Before going to bed we would take turns using "Mr. Tickles" (it sounds kinda dirty now...) to give the other a massage. She let me use her expensive shampoo and conditioner, her fancy razors (okay maybe she didn't know that?), her makeup and clothes...I absolutely loved rifling through her drawers when I would come each new summer to see what new items she had.

One time when I was around 6 or 7 I was reading about Mozart (I have no idea why), and I learned that he wrote his first pieces as young as 5 years old. In the book I was reading they had one of his pieces written down, just a little one page thing, I think. Well I knew Brein knew how to play the piano, so I went to her and asked her to play it for me. I was so excited to know what Mozart's little 5 year old head had come up with. Brein tried playing it for me (Bre, was the piano in your room in the gray house? Or is my memory lying to me?), but fumbled through most of it. I was somewhat disappointed that I couldn't get the full effect but I knew she tried for me. I guess I kind of put her on the spot...

Anyway. Brein: I love you. Despite there being 11 years between us we have always been friends.

------------------------------------------------------

When we were little Madi and I would fight like no other. Dad would tell us to be nice to each other because when we grew up we would be best friends - I couldn't believe him. That was before I realized that siblings could be your friends. Now that I'm old (soooo old), my siblings really are my best friends. Even if we don't keep up with each other 100% of the time, that doesn't matter. I know that if I needed to I could go to any one of my siblings and pour my shabby little heart out.

Thank you, siblings, for being so awesome. And Mom and Dad - you really outdid yourselves with us, didn't you? ;)

it's a deal

2010-04-21T23:36:00.003-06:00

Kristofor doesn't know I'm posting this picture of him...mwahaha.

TO: Brein, my dearest, olderest, loverliest sister...I promise to post my memory of you tomorrow night.

XOXO: Aari

ygoloidar...yes it took me forever to spell that

2010-04-16T22:04:00.003-06:00

We love each other....although she won't admit on formspring that I'm her favorite sibling, no matter how hard I try to get her to say it.

RaDiOlGy...that's the word on my brain lately.

This whole application process has been an adventure. After job shadowing, filling out forms, getting 3 referrals, sending my (hard earned) application money, almost not making the deadline, interviewing, and getting few letters here and there...I got the deciding letter last week giving me the news of whether I got into the program or not.

The day it happened I actually called Kristofor while I was at work to see if the mail had come yet. It had. I was so impatient I told him to open it and read it and not say anything. So he did. And then I asked him to tell me. And he did. I figure if it's my honey giving me bad news then it's easier to take, and if he gives me good news, it's even sweeter.

Well, I almost got in. I'm an alternate. Which means if someone decides to not go ahead with with the program, I may be selected to take their place. I will know by July 31st if I'm in or not. So I thought I would be done with the waiting game, but I'm not. (But really, isn't life a sort of waiting game?)

BUT! I got a call yesterday. From the school. I was informed that there was a clinic that was taking an additional radiology student. They wanted to personally interview 3-4 alternates...I was told I was one of the highest scoring applicants, so I needed to call the clinic for an interview....!!! I am interviewing next week, so please cross your fingers that all goes well for me!

I don't want to get my hopes up too high, but really, I think this clinic could be so good for me - it's conveniently close, it's a clinic so a little less stress than a hospital, and a smaller scale than a hospital so easier to get to know my way around (It's stupid, but I have this fear of getting lost...lame!), and most importantly, I WOULD BE IN THE PROGRAM! Oh heavens, please let me get in!

I will be glad when this emotional rollar coaster of an application process is over...I just hope I don't have to wait a whole more year to actually start the program, which is what will happen if I don't get in.

*BIG SIGH!*

=)

2010-04-14T23:49:00.003-06:00

Alright, ladies. I have put off posting again because...Well as most of my loyal readers know, my Grandma Davis passed away. I love my Grandma and am so grateful I was able to be with her shortly before she passed away. I'm happy that she's been reunited with her loved ones who have gone before her. I wrote about it in my journal (surprisingly, I do use it once in a while!), but I feel like I have to post about it, and really I don't feel like it. So, now - back to regular blogging.

Hopefully. =)

12 of 12 - avril

2010-04-14T23:44:00.015-06:00

Here is my 12 of 12 for April! I've done it for February and March, just didn't post them...ah well.

1. Loot from my shopping trip to Maceys in the pouring rain and no jacket.

2. Ben Lomond around noon...snowy and hazy. Niiiice.

3. Where I work, as seen through a rain-covered windshield.

4. Sweaty clothes on the ground from after my intense workout - running steps at the stadium up at the college...it was actually kinda fun?

5. Flowers from my Grandma's funeral.

6. Kristofor being silly with the Pringles.

7. Feathers!! Need I say more?

8. Playing Guitar Hero. Singing was officially my favorite of the night. Yeah White Stripes!

9. Looking out my window just before heading to work.

10. Watch out people, there is road work ahead!! This is Utah..is that suprising?

11. My outfit...well, part of it.

12. Choosing whiiiiiich necklace to wear....pretty sure I put one on, took it off and that was that.

flustered?!

2010-04-05T21:45:00.005-06:00

Random thoughts today....

-I really hate writing the number 5. Mine always looks like an 'S' unless I do what they taught in elementary and draw the line on the top last, which I think is lame! 5 is such a high maintenance number...I mean where does it get off being so hard to write? All the other numbers are fine! (Except 8's when I'm in a hurry...but I don't hate 8 - see below)

-Favorite joke from Grade 9: "An 8 is just a O wearing a belt." Har Har Har.

-After I learned about the Water Cycle when I was young I wouldn't comletely drain the water out of the tub after taking a bath. I would leave a good solid inch or two because I wanted to see if it would evaporate. I got frustrated too many times when people would drain it (unaware of my brilliant experiment) and eventually gave up.

-I give Feathers this food that has "natural color enhancers." Well lately he has been getting darker and darker and it was making me mad - I don't want him to look like all the other Beta's, his color is why I chose him! Well I cleaned his bowl out tonight and with him in the nice, clean water I realize....he wasn't really getting darker. His water was just nasty!

-I've watched America's Next Top Model for years now. I usually don't agree with who they choose as the winner, and sometimes I get a little frustred at elimination, but usually I don't care that much...Until this Cycle (Do they really have to call it a Cycle? Sounds a little too close to 'period' to me). Anyway, this season they elimated my VERY favorite girl in the FIRST photo shoot! I have never picked a favorite so early on...and now she's gone. *cry*

-This post is sounding very whiny. I'm sorry! I don't feel whiny. Just...thinky??

misc.

2010-04-05T20:21:00.003-06:00

MADI...try not to be disappointed that I don't have one big cool memory of you. That's why this has taken me so long to post, because I kept coming up with memories and I'd say "no, that ones not great enough," or "that one's too short." I give up!! So instead, I'm posting a couple small ones.

*When I was little I remember sleeping in what is now Lola's room. You woke me up all excited and said, "Aariel, guess what's different about me today." I remember being slightly confused and I couldn't guess what it was. It ended up being that you were wearing my new watch!! And for some reason I remember the light coming into this room looked so good in the morning..is that still true?

*We shared a room off and on for most of our lives. I remember sometimes before we went to bed (in the gray house) we would "make" each others side of the bed up. One of us would close our eyes while the other one went to work: we would sometimes fluff the pillows up, and we'd make the blankets look like at a hotel, turned down on the corner, just ready to hop in. It made going to bed fun.

*One time when we lived in Nanaimo and were attendingDover Bay we decided to skip the last class of the day. I can't remember if we walked or took the van? I can't imagine walking all the way home just to skip class, it was a 45 minutes walk. ANYWAY, we thought we were pretty cool until we realized....Lynette was home! Crap! I can't remember if she had been home the whole time or got home shortly after we did, but we hid in our room for a good hour or so. We had to stay silent and keep the light off the whole time. Then, around the time we should have been getting home from school we snuck outside, around the house, and in the front door, like we'd just arrived home! How cool were we? Sooo not worth it!

Tee hee.

I love you Mad Martigan!

a different type of donut post

2010-03-27T17:23:00.005-06:00

This is getting hard to think of one specific memory of someone! But here goes for my big sister Rileigh (aka Wiley).

Somewhere in the ballpark of 4 years ago my step-brother Michael got married. The day of the wedding, all the family came up to North Ogden and stopped by my parents house first so we could drive together to the church. I drove with Rileigh, just her and me. I don't know where her hubby Chris was that day... Anyway, on the way to the church where the wedding was we stopped in a different church parking lot and did and few donuts and had a little laugh. Then we went to the wedding. We sat by each other and spent the whole time whispering, "this is so weird!" Sad but true.

After the wedding we went to my parents house for the reception, but before stopping Rileigh drove us to the end of my parents street (which is a dead end) and drove around the round-about really fast a couple times. I kept thinking, 'okay this is probably the last circle' and then she would keep driving! Of course we laughed and eventually pulled out of the round-about and went and parked in my parents driveway. We sat for a while and she told me she wanted to finish her Monster energy drink before we went inside so we took turns drinking it. It tasted like some green apple funkiness.. I wasn't allowed to drink energy drinks and we never had pop at our house, so I took as big of gulps as I could.

Then we went inside for the reception.

The End.

remember? that one time?

2010-03-25T22:59:00.003-06:00

Next up is my little brother Joseph.

One summer when I lived in Canada when we had early church I got into the habit of taking naps in the afternoon outside on the trampoline. This way I could get some sleep AND get a tan at the same time! Genius, I know. Well one Sunday afternoon during my nap, Joe decided he wanted to jump on the tramp. So he came out, with me sleeping/tanning and started jumping! I was so mad! I told him I was there first and to knock it off, I wasn't done with my nap yet! He just said "Tramps are for jumping, not sleeping," and continued to jump. I got up and we started pushing each other or something. Eventually I pushed him off the trampoline mid-jump. I still remember his face - full of fear at the wrath of an angry teenage sister. Or maybe just fear of getting hurt once he landed. Who knows. I know he didn't get hurt from the fall. Maybe he just landed awkwardly? Anyway, I have no idea what happened after that - whether I resumed my nap, or couldn't get back to sleep, or if Joe told on me and I got in trouble. My last memory of that day was little Joe's frightened face.

I still feel guilty about that to this day. It's not like I could blame it on being young like he could when he peed on me (that's a story for another day).

I think the only reason he remembers this incident is because I still bring it up occasionally. "Remember that time I pushed you off the tramp?" I think I am secretly waiting for him to tell me it's okay just one more time. Which he does and we laugh and I still feel guilty.

up again

2010-03-24T16:06:00.003-06:00

WARNING: Since part of the purpose of this blog is to be a type of a journal for me, I’m going to have a few posts coming up that are less blog-y and more journal-y.

I had this idea the other day of posting a memory of each of my siblings. Not a general “we used to always” memory, but a specific memory. I figure when I’m old and wrinkled I’ll have a harder time remembering specific details, so might as well put some down now.

In random order, I’m starting with Ben, my older, coke-and-skittle-loving brother.

Once in ‘the gray house,’ when I was somewhere around 7 or 8, or maybe even 6 (I am really bad at keeping track of my age. I usually judge how old I must have been at a certain time by the house I lived in). ANYWAY. When I was around 7 one night I guess my parents weren’t home because Ben and his friend (don't know who) put “Chumbawumba” in a stereo in the family room upstairs and blared the song “Tubthumping.” It was super loud and they started jumping around. I just sat and watched them. Whenever the song said “I get knocked down” they would fall to the floor or the couch. When the song said “but I get up again” they would hop right back up and keep jumping around. I remember the vivid picture the lyrics ‘pissing the night away’ painted in my head. I thought I loved that song and I thought Ben was so cool, jumping around, music blasting…

I heard that song on the radio the other day and normally would have changed the station but…it caught me. I turned the volume wayyy up and felt silly and sang the lyrics and thought of my big brother, jumping around the house, and how cool I thought he was.

p.s. I still think he is really really cool.

did you know i'm a pisces?

2010-03-19T21:31:00.002-06:00

We have a fish tank at my work, it's big and pretty and I can see right into from where I sit at my desk. One time something in the tank overheated and cooked all our fish to death. It was sad. I had secretly named them. Shh. I'm lame like that.

Anyway, we have new fish now, and they are. SO. BORING! Our old ones used to mate and make all sorts of tiny little babies that got eaten within a couple days, and they knew when someone came close by, it was time to eat. They loved people.

Not our new fish. Our new fish are terrified of people. They sense you coming and they hide. It's soooo lame! =(

Anyway, sometimes when clients come in they bring their children, naturally. And lots of times when trying to keep their kids entertained while waiting for their appointment they will take their child(ren) over to the tank and say, "Look! See the fish? What does the fishy say? Huh? Tell Daddy/Mommy what the fishies say."

And I think to myself.....what in the world do you want your kid to tell you?? Can YOU tell me what fish say? Pretty sure fish are not vocal creatures.

What do you think?

she's a maniac, maniac

2010-03-15T21:26:00.003-06:00

I have so much to do. Well actually, I really don't have that much to do, it just feels like it. It's sad how so little can overwhelm me.

I didn't used to be so whimpy. I think this is a recent thing. Something in the water here at my parents house, maybe?

In other news, I got a calling in my ward. I'll tell you next time, after I'm sustained. That is, if no one has any objections . . . We'll just have to see.

mmm mmm good

2010-03-12T19:24:00.002-07:00

Today I wore Kristofor's deoderant. I'll let you guess why.

It was all gooey and gross, but I gotta tell you...

I smell GOOD today.

yo-oh!

2010-03-09T00:32:00.001-07:00

It's my favorite day of the year. =)

Well, one of them.

I could be famous

2010-03-04T22:18:00.003-07:00

I was embarrased by own behavior yesterday and thought I would share.

We have a 50 cent pop machine where I work, in which we have a variety of pop to choose from. I usually get a Coke, but occassionaly I'm in the mood for root beer.

Now the thing is, I'm picky about my root beer. I pretty much only like Barq's. Anything else...thumbs waaaaay down. Like Mug or A&W. I really dislike A&W. I don't hate it, but...you know. Yuck.

So a while ago the machine was filled with A&W which I never drank. Okay, I did once and learned my lesson. It was filled with A&W but then we got Barq's. So A&W on bottom, Barq's on top. I knew we were getting close to having only Barq's but wasn't sure...there might still be some A&W in there.

I really wanted root beer yesterday so I thought I would take my chances with the 'root beer' button...As I was waiting for the pop to be dispensed I chanted "Barq's Barq's Barq's!" to myself while crossing my fingers. When the can came out and was silver and glorious and I knew it was Barq's and I pumped my fists into the air and said "YES! Barq's!"

Then I took my can...and opened it... "Ahhh. . . Barq's."

And I realized right then and there that I sounded like a really REALLY dumb commercial. Except I wasn't paid to act like that and hopefully no one saw me.

did I shave my legs for this?

2010-03-03T22:39:00.004-07:00

Last Sunday Kristofor and I gave talks in Sacrament meeting. The topic was "My faith in the Atonement guides my life."

Yeah. For real. It wasn't just 'faith,' or just 'the Atonement' or something easier...I was scurred!

I stayed up late the night before getting everything ready. We have church at 9, so I wanted to take care of anything that could be done the night before. First, I tried on 10 different outfits before settling on what to wear (like anyone but me could tell I put effort into my outfit). Then I worked for a bit on my talk. Then I showered and decided how to do my hair. Then I finished my talk at at about....oh, 3 o'clock I crawled into bed. WHEW!

I realized the next morning that in the hustle and bustle of "Saturday is a Special Day" I forgot to shave my legs, but oh well, no one can see your legs when you're giving a talk except the bishop and he shouldn't be looking either!

The talks went well. Kristofor only had about 5 minutes to give his 15 minute talk....(and he stayed up until 5 getting it all ready....I KNOW!!)

But no one fainted or died. And afterwards people only said "I enjoyed your talk" and not "Nice hairy legs, you hippie."

It was sure nice of them.

doughnuts and love

2010-02-17T22:27:00.003-07:00

I know I look retarded BUT LOOK AT MY B.F.F. - !

Could he be any sweeter? I don't think so. For Valentines he bought tickets for us to go to the Symphony in Salt Lake. I am so excited... I get to dress up! It makes me want to wear white gloves that go up to my elbow, like Anastasia in the cartoon movie.

On a different note, I decided to make doughnuts tonight. I was really craving double blueberry doughnuts, but thought these would do the trick.. I've never made doughnuts (donuts?) before, and except for burning the last couple, they turned out all right.
Yayyy, for my first time doughnut making success! Yay for husband letting me snap a picture of us together!!

enjoying the small things

2010-02-13T22:53:00.002-07:00

A lady that I work with showed me a blog the other day that I can't stop thinking about. It's so beautiful and touching and sweet and my words can't do it justice.

So, if you have time, go HERE. I really think that you will fall in love with this little family and one of their stories. I know I did.

And I really can't stop thinking about it.

blaaaah

2010-02-08T22:09:00.004-07:00

I'm sorry I haven't posted forever. It's because all my pictures are so old and IMO, blogs are more fun when you have a picture to look at. And I'm tired of posting old photos.

So, for your viewing pleasure, here is moi with my new hair color (yes, I was planning on this before the whole 'albino incident')!

Taken just now! Just for this blog post! When I first got it dyed it was darker but it's faded fast. I can only blame myself because I'm too cheap to buy color care shampoo and conditioner.

Do you get tired of pictures of me?!? I know they are kind of boring, huh. Sorry.

I've been missing my baby brother lately. I miss his funny comments like "Civilians are so rude" and whatnot. He's nice to talk to when I'm sad or mad because he just listens and lets me unload. Although he probably doesn't enjoy that as much as I do. I've never appreciated what a good friend he is to me.

Really, though, things 'round here have been pretty uneventful (That's another one of those reasons for lack of posting).

I should really start studying now.

winter

2010-01-24T20:23:00.003-07:00

is making me sad! I'm seriously wanting to move to Hawaii for a couple months out of the year.

2010-01-23T00:58:00.002-07:00

Back in the olden days:

Kristofor didn't have facial hair. Can you believe it?? He looks so little. Well, I geuss he's only 21 in this picture, and I am almost 21 now, so...it's almost like we're the same age in a way. Does he look a little embarassed to be with me? My head looks huge...

I'm in a nostalgiac mood tonight.

Is it wrong to miss my old dead fish Oscar when I have a new, fancier replacement 8 feet away from where I sit and type? Plus, it's not like me and Oscar hung out a lot anyway..

Is it wrong to miss my old view of Ben Lomond, when I lived in North Ogden with my parents? You could stand in the street and BEHOLD, there was that mountain with nothing to get in the way of your view. Now I'm on the other side of town and can barely make out the outline... Nevermind that my in-laws live next door to my parents old house so it's not like I never get that same view...but I still miss it.

Is it wrong to miss the days you were in high school, when in real life you hated high school itself? I miss school lunches. I miss how confident I was my senior year, and how much less I cared about what I looked like.

Is it wrong to miss that little baby 21 year old Kristofor, with no facial hair, when I get to see him every day? I miss how much fun we used to have dating. I miss it not mattering what we did, but because we were doing it together it was fun. And, really . . . I miss making out just for the fun of it.

**Madi, please note that this is not meant to be a 'complainer blog' but I needed to post and I'm just in a sappy, missing things mood.**

STAIND (no, not the band)

2010-01-21T23:38:00.003-07:00

Stained glass is so cool. You know what else is cool?

A Jesus with purple feet. I found this on Google and thought it was kind of silly.

All joking aside, though...I really do think Jesus is cool.

2010-01-20T21:28:00.006-07:00

I officially want to dye my hair.

I've been blonde my whooooole life. And while my hair is certainly a darker shade of blonde now than it was when I was 4, let's just say I'm a towhead through and through. See? Natural color, right here. I've dyed my hair tons of different colors - but just between you and me, I'm secretly proud that my natural hair color is so blonde. Most blonde's are more of a light brown. Not mine - I'm a true blonde (does that make me sound ditzy? Did I even spell 'ditzy' correctly?)

Anyway. Something happened today that made me determined to dye my hair a darker shade of anything.

In my aerobics class I was jogging alongside a certain lady in my class. We don't know each other, but were in the same group, and happened to be going the same pace - a slow jog.
**Side note: lots of girls in my class are super skinny, and super fit. What's with the need for aerobics, girls? I know, I know, it's good to be healthy. But really, they make me feel like a huge, lumbering buffalo. Side not over**
Whilst we were jogging along, the following conversation ensued.
Lady: "I have a hard time going any faster than a jog because I have anemia and it's hard for me to get energy. I almost had to be hospitalized last semester because of problems I have with it."
Me: "I'm just slow because I'm out of shape."
Lady: "Well, plus, you're albino, right?"

Hold up. What???

What do you say to that? All I could do was slowly shake my head. Like...Not that having alibism would be a bad thing, but isn't it easy to tell if someone has it? PLUS, what does that have to do with running speed? Are albinos naturally slow?

So, I have nothing against people who are albino. But really.

It's time for a dye job.

2010-01-19T20:11:00.006-07:00

A while back while I was trying to decide which direction to head with school, I met with a career counsellor up at the college in an attempt to get an outside opinion on what I should do. The white haired guy I met with asked me if I were an animal, what would I be?

My answer?

A seagull.

Yeah. Dumb answer. Seagulls are annoying. They eat garbage. And while I may be annoying, I certainly don't eat garbage!

Anyway. Although talking about our would-be lives (he would be a camel) was fun, albeit slightly awkward, it didn't help me decide on a career. But taking the Myers-Briggs personality test sure did. And you know what else? It made me feel special. Like, hey, yeah, I am that way! And I'm cool for it! Turns out I am a bonafide ISFP.

IFSP's are:
"...peaceful, easygoing people who adopt a "live and let live" approach to life. They enjoy taking things at their own pace and tend to live in the moment. Although quiet, they are pleasant, considerate, and caring, devoted to the people in their lives. Though not inclined to debate or necessarily even air their views, their values are important to them."

FAMOUS ISFP's:
Liberace
Michael Jackson
Steven Spielberg
Ulysses S. Grant
Marie Antionette

Cool, yeah? So! If you haven't taken the Myers-Briggs test....I think you should. I'm trying to convince Kristofor to take it so I can find out what he is!

This is starting to sound like an advertisement, and for that I'm sorry. But really. Do it. It's fun.

12 of 12 - January

2010-01-14T23:22:00.004-07:00

I'm a little late, but such is life. Inspired by a fellow blogger, I'm going to be taking 12 pictures on the 12th of each month. It's just a way for me to document my day, and I so look forward to seeing how the rest of the year will play out. My photography skills aren't the best, but it's a fun way to improve and have a reason for me to use my camera. We'll see if we can get a picture of Kristofor one of these months...he's anti photographs-of-himself.

By the way, there is a really cool template to use for this so the photos are more organized (you can see it on amy m's blog), but I don't have photoshop so I just made it into a strip. I'll have to get something better figured out for next time.

In no particular order:
*my feet in our psychadelic orange carpeted room
*watching Lost
*the mountains in the morning after my class
*bed still unmade from my nap with a still sleeping Tofor
*messy desk at work
*my phone after a 16 minute convo with the man concluding that he needs to quit his dumb job
*Leo, greeting me when I got home from work
*a necklace I made. I've been feeling crafty lately and this is about as technical as it gets for me
*the building where my class is
*frosty car windows in the morning - BUT someone scraped them for me! HOW NICE!
*a nap - what a beautiful thing it is (the nap, not me)
*laundry

stuff I like

2010-01-08T23:54:00.004-07:00

This post is just a bunch of pictures of stuff I like. One day when I'm a trillionaire I will be able to purchase to my hearts content. For now, window shopping on the internet will have to do. =)

These earrings look so classic. Like I could wear them on my date tomorrow, and when I'm 34 dropping kids off at school, and when I'm 72 getting checked into the old folks home.

These shoes from Anthropologie. They're similar to ones I already have, only crazier.

This bedding, also from Anthropologie (I'm not really that obsessed, I just happened to be on their website today. promise.) It would be like jumping into a pool of liquid candy every night.

Patterned tights. Like fishnets, except less hooker-y and more socially acceptable.

Oh, these shoes. I doubt I would ever really wear them, but they look yummy enough to eat. Not that I eat shoes. That would be gross and my GI tract probably would throw a fit. But if I were a shoe eater you can bet these would be at the top of my menu.

enjoy the ride

2010-01-06T00:11:00.006-07:00

My dad sent me an email the other day with a link in it to a song he found. He heard it, thought it was 'unique' (aka weird! ;)) and thought I would like it. So I clicked the link and found this little gem of a song. I've been listening to it ever since and can't get it out of my head! I am actually a fan of Morcheeba already, but had never heard this song. My papa knows me well!

Don't you love when someone hears or sees something, could be anything from decor to clothes, and thinks it looks like something you would like? Makes me feel special!

On another completely nonsensical note, I took my body measurements tonight and . . . I am an hourglass shape! I thought for sure I was a pear but nope. This makes me happy, and now I'm determined that I need one of those stretchy belts to accentuate my little waist! ;) Okay, really, I don't think I'm the cats pajamas, and I'm certainly no Twiggy. But a girl needs a self esteem boost whenever she can get it, right? ;)

just a picture

2009-12-30T01:40:00.003-07:00

I love where I live.

I miss being near the ocean, but having such pretty mountains nearby makes up for it.

crazy <3

2009-12-27T18:43:00.003-07:00

I so want to see this movie. Maybe it's the song they play in the trailer but it looks so melancholy and pretty.

Now, watch I'm gonna hate it!

I rented the movie Public Enemies last night, thinking I would really like it, and I hated it! It was boring! Johnny Depp's character was totally rude to his girlfriend (played by Marion Cottilard, who I love) and she still liked him? The supposed fued between Johnny Depp and Christian Bale's character was especially lame. 20 minutes into the movie I said to Kristofor, "This better get better or I'll be pissed." And it didn't get better.

So let's hope Crazy Heart doesn't dissapoint!

Any movies out there you're particularly excited to see?

no subject

2009-12-15T23:12:00.005-07:00

Right now I'm filing my nails. See, I painted my nails red last night and realized today I need to remove said nail polish . . . only I don't have any nail polish remover. So I asked Lynette if I could use hers. She said yes . . . only we couldn't find hers. So, here I am, filing my already-filed-just-last-night nails in an attempt to remove the red to try and make them look presentable.

Why?

I'm going job shadowing for Radiology tomorrow at the hospital here in town and I want to make a good impression.

Would a normal person get so anxious about job shadowing? Probably not. But here I am filing my nails, planning how I'm going to do my hair, what to bring for lunch and should I wear the orange shirt or the thermal shirt under my (Kristofor's) scrubs? It's like the first day of school all over again.

Wish me luck.

In other news, my poor little companion Oscar Shabadabu Monson died last week. I had him for 1 year and 3 months. He was a very well behaved fish and will be greatly missed.

But with the sadness of losing a fish, comes the excitement of getting to go to the pet store and pick out a new one! (Really, I do miss Oscar. He was fun.)

Introducing Feathers!!!

Don't you think he looks like an alien here??

i got my baby back

2009-11-25T19:53:00.002-07:00

This is the damage done to our trusty PT Cruiser. Poor little guy.

It wasn't expected to be ready for nearly another week, but Kristofor's uncle Kevin called and said it's ready for us to come get! We are so blessed to have someone in the family who can do this work for us. Kevin's been working on cars since he was a teenager and is really talented (from what I hear - what do I know about cars?)

And he didn't even make us pay the deductable.

We'll be reunited tomorrow - WAY!!

Jofus

2009-11-16T19:22:00.002-07:00

Little Jofus sent home a postcard on Nov. 10 - the day after he left. it says:

"Arrived safe! Just got my head shaved. Have PT uniform. I got less than two hours of sleep but I feel like I got 9. I believe it's due to my prayers. The first guy I talked to on my 1st plane was the only LDS in my platoon but I didn't know that at 1st."

I love his sloppy handwriting. And even though there wasn't much room to write on the card, I feel like he managed to say a lot. I love that kid. Can you believe he's so grown up?

hours of fun

2009-11-15T23:08:00.003-07:00

I'm listening to the Duke Spirit in my new room - currently dubbed 'the Brown Lounge.' Kristofor and I made the move yesterday. In the blizzard. He got in a car wreck.

But he's okay and that's all that matters... Right? ;)

Things are actually really okay. We still have to move a few things from our apartment to our storage unit and clean our old apartment, and we'll finish that up this week. I like being here. There are people to talk to and lots of yummy food.

But it makes me miss my baby brother Joseph even more - I think it would be fun to have him here. He left for basic training last week and it's weird to not be able to text him - and get random texts from him at 2:30 in the morning asking if he can come use our computer. He is a really cool kid. In fact, I used to hate my cheeks - they are pretty huge. But he would pinch them and say they were fun - hours of fun. And so now I don't mind my cheeks anymore. Because he liked them first.

ch-ch-ch-ch changes

2009-11-03T22:59:00.005-07:00

Kristofor and I are moving.

It's been over 2 years since our last move. About the only thing I remember about that move was that his brothers were carrying our dresser and the top drawer fell out - exposing all my ugly undies, socks and . . . yeeah. My lingerie.

We're moving in with my parents in an effort to save all the money we can. Hopefully we'll be out of their house before the summer.

I'm excited and nervous.

I'm excited to move on to a new chapter in our life. Excited to be closer to my parents. Excited to start saving so much money a month.

But nervous to leave our own little apartment. Nervous to have to share the bathroom with people other than my husband. Kind of annoyed that I won't be able to get ready for the day in the buff anymore.

I know.

I've been spoiled.

You Capture - Red

2009-10-13T20:20:00.002-06:00

This past week's challenge for You Capture was 'red' - now I have to admit, red is probably my least favorite color, so it took me a while to find something red that I actually liked - and this is what I came up with.

It's the stamp on an envelope that's been run through a postage machine.

On another note, does anyone know why is it that lightened red is called 'pink'? And not 'light red'? We have light blue, light green, light yellow - and pink?

longwinded

2009-10-10T16:22:00.004-06:00

I've heard all my life that people are put into your life for a reason, but I've always thought of these special people as ones who are with you for a long time - parents or siblings, etc. But today I met a man. A stranger. I don't know his name, and I don't know if I will ever see him again in this life.

But I believe he was put into my life for a reason. It sounds cheesy. Hang in there with me while I clumsily try to explain..Kristofor and I were at the school, trying to study for a test. I say "trying" because we had just been in a big fight and it's hard to concentrate when you're upset.

An older gentleman walked by, and, I won't lie, he was outright staring at us. A few minutes later he approached us and asked us what class we were studying for; it turned out he was studying for the same thing. He left and we starting studying again.

Then he came back again, this time asking if he could sit by us. Of course we didn't mind so he sat down and got out his books, laptop, etc. He wasn't shy so he started up a conversation. Anyone who knows Kristofor and I know we are not the most outgoing people. And considering that I was still upset, I wasn't exactly in a chatty mood.

But we talked - or more, he talked.

I can't describe the conversation exactly, but the feelings I got from it and the words I heard will stick with me for a long time.

He asked us how long we'd been married, if we were born in Utah, if we were LDS, etc.. Turns out he is LDS too. He's from Haiti, speaks Creole and French, went on a mission to Florida, and translated the Book of Mormon and Doctrine & Covenants from English into Creole for the LDS Church. He's been through a divorce and he described how being that felt with him being a member of the Church - see, I told you he wasn't shy.

I told him about how my mom died when I was young, and he said that although that's not necessarily a good thing, we are given things from God to "digest" - for him it was his divorce.

He told us about going back to school when he's over 50. If he doesn't do well in this course, he will simply take it again because he's determined and patient - and knows what he wants. His wife helps him study; she reads out loud to him from his text. He said he wished she could be there with him at the school today to help him.

I thought that was sweet.

He talked about America, the land, the civilization. He told us about Haiti and the people there, and how lucky he feels to be here in the US so he can live a free life with potential. We talked about how we don't even realize what great power we have, to be able to get an education and live where we do.

He talked about black people and the issues of 'racism' in the church, and the history that all goes into it - you see, he wrote a book about the history of 'his African ancestors' that gives insight into why blacks have only been able to receive the priesthood fairly recently (this is a subject I have had questions on - and he helped me understand).

He bore his testimony to me in a way that was different than other testimonies. He didn't say "I'd like to bear my testimony"- rather it was in the little things he mentioned. Like how he keeps praying for help with this test. About how he believes Heavenly Father influences our bodies, to make them healthy or let them be sick.

He doesn't just have a testimony of the Church, he has a testimony of history, America, the potential we have for good...

He was straightforward but not overbearing. He was sincere. He was open to what we had to say (although we mostly just nodded and prompted him to go on). I felt like he was the type of person I could pour my heart out to.

I had been feeling very self-pitying before our conversation. But afterward I felt renewed. Determined to press on. To study more and complain less. To realize how blessed I am and to continue to try to do better. He made me realize that my small, little world is not the only thing that matters.

Like I said, I can't explain it. But I feel extremely blessed to have met this man, although it was only for a short while. I cried after our meeting. My heart was so touched. I feel like his words reached into my soul.

I don't know if any of you have made it all the way through this - pretty sure it's my longest post ever. But I mostly wanted to write this down so I'll rememeber that man - and our long talk.

You Capture (very late) - Fall

2009-10-07T21:48:00.002-06:00

Alright folks, I know it's late but oh well. Here are some pictures that remind me of fall - ugly fruit and changing leaves. =)

I like the blurriness of this second picture. That way instead of it being a picture of something specific it's more like a picture of feelings. Laugh all you want, but that's how I feel!

Go here for more of You Capture.

milgram me

2009-09-22T19:54:00.004-06:00

I had to go to court today. I really psyched myself out about going - "Do I have to say I'm guilty?" So I went and sat quietly, judging how other people presented themselves to him - were they respectful or whiny or casual or . . .? And tried to decide how to act.
I was submissive and courteous and just went along with everything that was said.

Have you heard of that experiment where they made people give electric shocks to someone? (go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment - I really need to learn how to insert links) And basically everyone obeyed authority instead of stopping, even when the voltage was enough to kill a person?

Yeah, that would be me. Killing someone with electric shock because my superior told me I had to.

It's amazing what getting a speeding ticket can make you think about.

Love You Madly

2009-09-21T23:06:00.004-06:00

Today was the last day of Summer. And it really felt like it.

The air was cold and the sun went down too early.

This calls for a new jacket.

You Capture - Up Close

2009-09-19T21:29:00.003-06:00

Here is my first try for the You Capture challenge! Forgive me for putting up so many pictures but I couldn't decide on a 'theme' for my macro experimentation, so they are just a bunch of random pictures!

I love macro, but that doesn't mean I'm good at it! So any helpful hints or comments would be great! ;)

To see everyone else's great ideas and photos, just go to I Should Be Folding Laundry and take a look around!

<----Click me!

so yeah. i went to the fair.

2009-09-16T22:36:00.003-06:00

We had a crazy car drive over! (Not really, we just played with crocodiles and flies)

Rocks are fun. Doesn't my nephew have pretty eyes?

Jameson was so excited about all the birds we saw flying in a "V." I asked him if he knew why they do that, getting ready to explain it to him, but he already knew why! Smart kid!

Eww! Look at the snot hanging from the sheep's nose!

the horses

2009-09-01T22:08:00.004-06:00

Lately I have been going over to my Aunt's house to ride horses and hang out. I usually ride her (nice) horse Raine, and she'll ride either Angel (the white one) or Whisper (the black one). It's been so nice to be around horses again. I've been obsessed with horses since I was little, and when I was a teenager (I can actually say that now!) I used to take riding lessons. I haven't been able to ride much since I moved back to Utah, so finally being able to has been the BEST! I am so grateful that my busy busy aunt lets me come and play!

"The Babies" - Levi on the left and River on the right. They have such fun little personalities -Levi is way laid back, and River is curious and a little . . . can we say princess-y? But seriously they are so adorable, they could cheer anyone up.

Can you tell they're friends?