A day late and a dollar short......or something like that

I had EVERY intention of posting Thursday Things yesterday. I'm not exactly sure what happened.

Wait. I lied. I had a 2-hr company meeting + a 30 minute department meeting followed by a TON of data entry that HAD to get done yesterday. So....yeah. That's what happened.

But here we are. Friday. Things. And boy, do I have things for you.

• Blue Tango last night rocked my socks. It rocked last week too....it's just been good times all the way around lately at the Blue Tango. Love it.

• I kissed a boy. And I liked it.

• This boy does not have a 'nym yet. He's new. But he's not getting a 'nym until I figure out what's going on. I don't think it will be 100% a NCMO...but it might lean a little towards the fling side of things. And you know what? I'm okay with that and you should be too. In other words, I'm not suddenly in a relationship again. I'm just having fun with one of my friends...with benefits

• He's a lot of fun.

• And a really good kisser.

• It's movie night tonight. Despicable Me. LOVE THAT MOVIE. hopefully I'm not too tired that I die watching it.

• tomorrow is a Zumba day. YAY!

• I am also working overtime to paint a new addition to our office space. That's exciting stuff.

• THEN i'm going dress shopping with Sister B. I'm super excited and very hopeful that I'll find something adorable.

• My Broadway station on Pandora is hitting the spot 100% today. Love it.

Basically, life is fun. I'm having a blast and it's great times. 

Tender Mercy Tuesday - 52nd Edition

Today's tender mercy comes in the form of my family. I am so blessed to have the family I do. They are the bestest ever.

I have really been enjoying my time here in Virginia. I haven't had to be up at a certain time. We've gotten to play lots of games and get to know the newest edition to our family. There have been movies, lots of good food, and new traditions. My family is just awesome and they make life bearable when times are gray.

I am so thankful for my family and the support they lend to me constantly. I really don't know where I'd be in this life without them. :)

it's official

I'm twitterpated.

You're all probably going, "um....duh Alishka. You've been twitterpated for weeks now."

And this is true...but it's a much deeper twitterpation.

You see, the more time I spend with Monkey Man the more I discover all the great and wonderful things about him. I wouldn't even know where to start in telling you everything that I enjoy about him. I am loving where our relationship is right now and really enjoy having someone call me theirs.

In fact, last night someone said, "I need to find myself an Alishka," and Monkey Man said, "well you can't have this one, she's taken." It was so sweet! sigh. He's just so wonderful and I feel so blessed to have him in my life right now.

We had a very low key weekend, but it was so much fun. I am really looking forward to spending lots of time with him this week. There's volleyball night, dinner with his family, (oh yeah, did I mention that I am eating Thanksgiving dinner w/his family on Thursday night? Well, I am. I'm rather nervous about it) movie night, basketball (maybe) and possibly ice skating and bowling. We'll see about those last two. :o) It's going to be a great week! I'm so excited!!

Hope all of you had a great weekend! :o) Have a lovely Monday.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

Hello my dears! I hope you are having the most splendid (or spookiest) Halloween ever! Mine has been pretty spectacular so far. This weekend had it's up and it's downs - but unlike Nottingham, the ups have definitely outweighed the downs. I've been trying to figure out how to best tell you all that has gone on...I think we'll do a day-by-day update. okay? okay!!

Friday

Friday was the "down" part of the weekend. I was ornery all day long, I was exhausted and I pretty much felt like crap. I've been fighting cold symptoms all week long and I just felt icky. I picked up a free pizza that I earned from Papa John's and sat on my couch moaning the demise of my BYU Cougars to the TCU frogs. sigh. I went to bed at 9:20 pm and slept for 10.5 hours. BEST THING EVER.

Saturday

I woke up feeling SO refreshed. I ran my 5k and did SO WELL!!!! I don't know my exact time (yet) but I know that it was better than the last time I ran a 5k. I'll be sure to post my time once I get it. ;) After that I came home and did a few pointless things before going on a TRIPLE date that I put together last minute.

See....I had this Groupon for miniature golfing for up to 6 people. (it was only $9!) It expired on 10/30 and so when SwingKid and I were driving home from the race I asked if he and his new girlfriend (who was in his Master's program. She's so nice and I'm happy they are dating) wanted to go. He asked if it would be weird,  I said no. So plans were made. I asked Monkey Man if he was available and he said YES! THEN looking for 2 more people, I thought of Surfer Boy (who has just started dating A* a girl in my ward who is one of my best friends and I just love that these two are dating!) and texted him, and him and A* were definitely in! So, if you were paying attention...I went on a triple date with my former crush and his GF and my ex and his GF. Weird? Not at all. ha ha ha ha. I didn't warn Monkey Man prior to this excursion that my ex was going to be there, but it did come up at one point. He laughed at me and told me that I had a weird relationship with him. I concurred with that statement. However, it was great fun being with two other couples doing something as simple as miniature golfing. After that triple date there was Stake Conference (which I will probably talk about more tomorrow) and then after THAT I went over to Monkey Man's place and we watched Captain America. :o) SO MUCH FUN! It was a great Saturday. :D

Sunday

I got to sleep in a little bit (no extra meetings!) and then went to Stake Conference. Monkey Man sat by me and at one point during church I looked over and thought, "oh my gosh. I have a boyfriend." It continues to amaze/shock me that I'm dating someone. It just sort of happened. And while I am not complaining, I am constantly finding myself in awe of the fact that I am dating someone. Has this ever happened to anyone else? I mean, really?! How does one just POOF find themselves in a relationship? Anyways, it feels nice to be with him and yet I don't feel this overwhelming dread when I don't see him. I am still me, still doing my own thing but with someone that I can share things with and I think that is the best possible thing EVER.

After church my roommate and I worked on her Halloween costume. I sewed a detachable wedding dress train to a shirt and then we went outside and trashed said wedding dress. It was AWESOME. I even drove around the block with the dress hanging out of my car. BEST THING EVER. She's one awesome zombie bride today! I finished off my evening with Ward Prayer and The Little Mermaid. :o) LOVE that movie so much.

So there you go. A not so little nutshell of a weekend...but fun none-the-less. Tonight Monkey Man is having a Halloween Party that I'm going to and all-in-all it should be a pretty good day. :o) Have a spooky kind of day!

Monday Madness

whew. What a crazy weekend! Work has been UBER busy this morning and I have gotten a lot done. It feels good to be productive. :o) I know you're all SO anxious to hear about my weekend so....let's do a bullet point recap here quickly, shall we?

this weekend:

• I rode in a car for lots of hours. It was very entertaining. We had several iPads in the car and at one point we played the Game of Life. It was festive.

• I stayed in a mansion. seriously. It was awesome. Sauna, hot tub, swimming pool...etc. LOVED it.

• I had the best Mexican food on Friday night. It was delish.

• The Little Mermaid was utterly fantastic. They did so many cool and ingenius things. I just sat there the entire time in awe.

• We went to Kneaders for breakfast and I got their french toast. Oh my gosh. That was the most divine breakfast in the entire world. I want more.

• I flirted. (duh. I always flirt. ;) )

• Watched a movie with Fryman. It had been a while since he and I had hung out. It was fun times.

• The movie? not my favorite. but oh well.

• Game night last was full of epic Apples to Apples fun. 

• My favorite part of the game? When we decided that getting married to senior to cash in on their social security would be a good idea.

• At one point I was laughing so hard that I rolled over (I was sitting on the floor) and I rolled over the box - it scraped me and this morning I have an awesome bruise. ha.

• seriously. SO much laughing last night. It was a total blast.

• The Relief Society broadcast was AWESOME. President Uchtdorf is a stud muffin. LOVE him.

So there you go, that was basically my weekend. :o) I'm excited for FHE tonight because we're going up the canyon and making s'mores. Don't tell my trainer. ;)

Tender Mercy Tuesday - 39th Edition

well, it's the 11th hour over here in Alishka-land. I should really be in bed right now, but I had to watch the season premier of Castle. I love that show.

Anywho. Moving on.

Like I mentioned yesterday, I got to go see the film 17 Miracles yesterday. What an amazing film.

I realized something yesterday. I am truly blessed to live the life I currently live. Seriously. I don't have to go digging for my dinner, search for buffalo chips to cook said dinner on, and I definitely don't have to worry about freezing to death in my sleep. I am blessed to live in a day where the fullness of the Gospel has been restored. Where I have the comforts of a roof over my head, a car that takes me places I want to go, and the internet to help me stay connected with people far away from me. I am so blessed.

And I'm going to try to never forget that.

just another....

MANIC MONDAY!!!

Seriously, it is crazy around here peeps. Work has just been one thing after another all day long. sigh. At least I can rest easy knowing that there are just two hours until my evening.

I have so much to blog about...I think we're going to need bullet points.....

• game night last night? EPIC. Seriously. At one point it was down to four of us and we played Go Fish! when is the last time YOU played Go Fish? (granted, this was a child version of go fish...with pictures of fishes and what not. not the real life GROWN UP version. WHO KNEW there was grown up version of Go Fish?!!) For me...it had been quite sometime. We had to read the rules. Also, we were hilarious playing this game. It was honestly one of my favorite moments of game nights so far.

• Surfer Boy....is my friend. And for now, i'm okay with that. At some point we might be more...but for now we are friends. Which is good. I want to marry my best friend. :o)

• I learned some interesting things about some back story on Blindman2 (remember him?). It makes me want to continue giving him a chance. I think I'll be seeing him in a couple of weeks with our mutual friends. We'll see what goes down at that point.

• I get to go to Tuachan this weekend! I AM SO EXCITED!!!! I can deal with ANYTHING at work this week if only because I'll be "out of town" for a mere 24 hours. :o)

• We've started having "ward prayer" again on Sunday evenings. I just LOVE going to this. There have been times in my life where I have despised ward prayer and have refused to go. Not anymore!

• TV Fall Season Premieres are upon us!!! I'm rather excited for my two favorite shows: Castle and The Big Bang Theory. YAY for fun things again!!!!

• I think I mentioned this the other day...but i'm totally doing my challenge for another week. It rocked my world last week, I'm going to make it rock again this week. :o)

• I'm going to go see 17 Miracles tonight. Don't be surprised if it shows up in my tender mercy post tomorrow. I have a feeling it could....

• I was visiting teaching this weekend and I read this quote in the message. It's how I'm going to live my life: “We prepare each day, right now, for eternal life. If we are not preparing for eternal life, we are preparing for something less, perhaps something far less.” - Elder M. Russell Ballard

I'm not sure if that's everything or not. oh well. Enjoy the rest of your Monday!

CHALLENGE

I am going to tell you all about a challenge I am giving myself. Why? So that I'll report somewhere and you can hold me accountable in a way that only you, the blogosphere can. :o)

This week (i.e. from Today until 9/18 - the next 7 days) I am going to refrain from MINDLESS TV WATCHING. 

What is "mindless TV watching?" I am defining "mindless TV watching" as that of turning on the TV to flip channels until something suitable turns on as "background noise." It might be something you've seen before, or it might be something you've always wanted to watch but haven't seen before. It could also be something that you saw the beginning, middle, end of but not the rest of it. How many of us do this "mindless TV watching?" Am I the only one? I always turn on the TV during lunch, while making dinner after I get home from work and on Sunday afternoons while I take a nap (or evenings while I work on a project). As I sat on the couch last night mindlessly watching TV trying to unwind from a long day of meetings I realized that I was wasting precious moments that could be better spent doing projects that are lying around unfinished, reading books that need to be read, or visiting with friends and family that I love. (also, this was partly spurred by the CES Fireside in which Elder and Sister Oaks spoke to the youth of the church. Sister Oaks' words really hit home for me several times.)

So there you go. I didn't turn on the TV when first stepping into my apartment today for lunch. Instead, I continued talking to my mom, ate lunch, and read one chapter from a church book and a few chapters from my fictional read for the week. I feel very accomplished. :o) I will only watch TV that I PLAN to ahead of time to watch. I won't just turn on the TV to "find" something to watch. So, pretty much the only thing that I will probably watch this week will be the BYU-U of U football game on Saturday night. ;) Bored on a Friday night and want to turn on the TV? I will either browse the TV guide online FIRST or I will do something else  better with my time because I have thousands of projects and articles to read that will be better for me compared to mindless TV watching.  If I want to watch a movie or something, I'll find one that I haven't seen in my drawer not waste my time flipping channels.

so here goes,

wish me luck!

wishing for a window in my office...

I took a 12 minute break and watched this adorable short film. makes me wish my office had a window facing another office building. with a cute boy of course. :o) Take a looksie, I think it is definitely worth your time.

Fridayness

I am so happy it is Friday! The weekend is here again! I'm excited for the few plans I have this weekend, but first I must catch you up on my life. I really have been super busy, but no worries! I am taking the time now to blog about my life. I love life. It has been so great to me as of late. I've been thinking on how I want to do this - either by day or by subject matter, and I think we'll go with by day. Seems like a great way to go, in my opinion.

Friday, July 1st

I didn't have to work this day. I was so super happy about this! A four-day weekend just for me! (well, and half of my company...) Regardless, I was excited to have an extra day off. I started the day off by having lunch with my best friend from high school, her husband and her husband's best friend from high school. It was good times. They had really wanted me to meet this friend - to see if anything clicked. He seemed like a great guy, but not much clicked. It was all good though - I got to eat lunch with really fun people at the Pizza Pie Cafe so I was a happy camper.

After that I went to the Draper Utah Temple and then came home to eat some dinner before going to rehearsal. Rehearsal was good that night and I realized that I have to memorize the words to the songs I'm singing. I sort of forgot about that. I'm happy to report that since then I have memorized 1.5 of my 3 songs. GO me!

After rehearsal I went over to Grizzly Bear's house and watched The Adjustment Bureau.  I liked this movie a lot. I always love movies with dancers in them - the people who danced in this film were phenomenal. I loved watching it even if it was just for a brief moment. I enjoy hanging out with Grizzly Bear. We cuddled a little bit, but that was it. Since then we haven't really texted or anything. I think he's lost interest. I don't really know that for sure, but that's my guess.

Saturday, July 2nd

The only plans I had for this day were that of going to the Stadium of Fire with Percy.  I slept in that morning and then ran some errands and stuff. I also cleaned my room. I love having a clean room. Makes me happy.  I curled my hair super cute and Percy met me at my apartment just before 6 pm. We drove down to Cougartown and picked up a pizza at Papa John's. We then went to campus (where I found THE BEST PLACE to park in the whole wide world! Seriously! NOBODY parked there!) were we had a picnic dinner. Percy is a great conversationalist and I really enjoy sitting and talking with him. It's fun times. After our picnic, and after we had taken the picnic stuff back to my car we walked over to LaVell Edwards Stadium. We played a game of people watching (which I totally won. I think.) and then went into the stadium. We didn't have AMAZING seats, but they weren't horrid either.

The Stadium of Fire was AMAZING. I loved being able to see my friend The Whits perform (even though they didn't win) and David Archuleta was cute as always. My favorite performance of the night? Brad Paisley. Hands down! Not only does that man sing well, and is attractive as all get out - but he performs a great concert! He was fun to see and it was a really fun show. The fireworks that followed were incredible and I loved seeing them from inside the stadium. It had been 15 years since I last saw the fireworks from inside the stadium and I was much impressed. Percy put his arm around me and we sat there enjoying the awesome display.

We ended up going to Walmart together to pick up some things for our individual Sunday dinners and we just continued to have a blast together. He asked me if we could go out again and I agreed. A date hasn't been set because with my rehearsal schedule and his busy life we haven't been able to find a time that works. I'm sure that we'll make it work sometime very soon.

Sunday, July 3rd

This day was uneventful. Had dinner with Truit and her husband. Played games with friends. Went to church. Not necessarily in that order. ;)

Monday, July 4th

Happy Independence Day! I started off celebrating the day by sleeping in, cleaning my kitchen, and making some yummy food. Then Sister B, her husband, and I all went to Seven Peaks. We had a blast spending the afternoon playing in the water and riding awesome slides. After our adventures there we went back to their apartment and BBQ'd yummy food on their new grill and played Yahtzee. Such fun times!

So there you go. I had an amazing holiday weekend and I'm looking forward to some fun times this weekend as well. I have rehearsal tonight and then I plan on going to bed ridiculously early since I've been up way too late the past three nights. Tomorrow I'm going to pick up my Bountiful Basket, visit my sister and go to rehearsal. I don't have any solid plans for tomorrow evening yet, but if all else fails I plan on breaking in my brand new sewing machine by either making an apron or some new throw pillows for the living room. :o) I live a crazy life, I know. ;)

drip drip drip

I'm pretty sure it has been raining non-stop since Tuesday.

Okay, maybe not non-stop - but it has been raining more than normal! We have so much water everywhere and the ground is sopping wet! The road by my house just has sheets of water rolling down hill. It's crazy-sauce. To top it all off I'm not sure there is an end in sight to all this rain. KSL Weather claims in the forecast that it should clear out this weekend - but it won't be anything like last weekend. sigh. I was so hoping for sunshine this weekend.

The good thing with all the rain? It makes everything SUPER green. I do love me the color green.

anywho...moving on to...

I love that it is Thursday. On Tuesday I felt like the week was NEVER going to end. I have tomorrow off, and even though it's probably still going to raining, I'm very excited to not have to come in to work. :-)

• I bought one of THESE yesterday from eBay. I am SO excited for it to come in the mail! It will be like Christmas! Or my Birthday! But Not!

• There are exactly 4 weeks until my sisters wedding. eek!! 

• The centerpieces are only partially done. I'm hoping to work on them more this weekend.

• Especially because the wax got here yesterday.

• I got my bangs trimmed yesterday. 

• Good thing too, they were so long and I really couldn't see because they'd get in the way!

• I'm going to the temple tomorrow with my best friend from high school. I'm stoked.

• I have a camping trip planned for the end of July. I am VERY excited for that.

• The end-year recital is in 4 weeks and two days. Yes. the same week as the wedding. It will be an INSANE week. :P

• Because of memorial day I have three 3-day weekends in a row. This is a very good thing.

• Leviticus randomly showed up last night. I was watching Megamind at the time and he stuck around to finish watching the movie with me. 

• I'm going dancing tonight and I am SO EXCITED.

• I am trying this recipe for dinner tonight and I am VERY MUCH looking forward to it.

 I feel like there is something I am forgetting to tell you...but alas nothing is coming to mind. Have a most splendid Thursday y'all! LOVES

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Dating Battle Stories: a boy named Leviticus

PREFACE

Last Sunday, the 24th of April was our 2nd Sunday as a "new"-ish ward. (this is the Sunday after Fryman kissed me) I was standing in the hall after church talking to my friend Rocky (who was new to the ward, but we grew up together) and there were a few guys standing there too. Some from the ward from before and some new peeps. One of the guys, Leviticus, was there (he's new) and he was a friend of Rocky's. Anyways, we got to know each other a little bit and as I left the group (because i was SO hungry and i needed lunch) Leviticus shakes my hand and says, "Alishka, you have the cutest personality, it was great to meet you have a great Sunday." I thanked him and went home. Then the whole Fryman thing went down.

FAST FORWARD….

Saturday, April 30th. I had no plans that evening. In fact, I had just gotten home from visiting a friend and her newborn in the hospital and was cleaning my kitchen. I decided I wanted to do fun things so I texted some of my guy friends asking if anyone wanted to go out and do something exciting. Well, no one wanted to, in fact I got ignored and rejected. It was sad times. So then, fast forward like 20 minutes and I'm sitting on my couch checking facebook when I get a message from Leviticus - and it says "Hi!"

I respond in kind and then proceeds the FUNNIEST conversation ever. There was mention of secret training, secret bowling alleys, and covert signals for seeing each other. It was awesome.

So yeah, THAT happened. We went bowling and I had the best time ever. It was a blast. :o) THEN we were just sitting in the bowling alley talking and we somehow got talking about moose and elk and which was bigger and why and we decided that we should go find out...without the internet. So off on adventures we went...we ended up at the BYU HBLL (the ONLY library still open at 9pm at night on a Saturday...ha ha UVU was closed because they just had graduation) So we decide to try not to use the computers to look anything up. We make our way to the science section and find some encyclopedias and look up stuff on moose and elk. It was hilarious. Then Leviticus decided we should do yoga in between the shelves. So...we did yoga in the HBLL. Then he gave me an assignment to find a book on a subject to learn something, and I did the same to him. We both ended up with books, sat in a collaborative area in the HBLL and learned new things together. It was awesome. After that we went and got taco bell and sat in the parking lot talking until 2 am. It was awesome.

THE NEXT DAY

Sunday, May 1st. It was so hard for me to get up that morning. We have church at 9 am...and I had a meeting before church...so I only got like 5 hours of sleep. I got ready and went to church. Now, because we're still transitioning, I've been doing my calling AND leading the music in sacrament meeting (I volunteered to help them out). SoI'm sitting up on the stand and while leading the music I don't see Leviticus. Well, after church I’m out in the hall and Leviticus is there! He slept in, but he was there to catch the tail end of our meetings and then was going to a different ward that afternoon. So we’re standing there talking and he asks how I had slept. I hadn't slept extremely well, about 30 minutes before my alarm went off that morning my smoke detector’s battery started to die and started beeping every 2 minutes. I have 12ft ceilings in my apt and could BARELY reach the smoke detector while standing on a chair and books to get the battery out. So I tell him this and how I don't have a battery and he's all, "Alishka! What if your house catches on fire and your smoke alarm doesn't work!? You need a battery! And a ladder!" So then he proceeds to tell me he thinks he has a battery.

Later that afternoon I wake up from a really deep sleep of a nap and look at facebook (trying to wake up) and I see this facebook message from Leviticus: "I have a battery that may or may not have power. Do you want a battery change service?" I respond in the affirmative and he comes over after saying "we'll send a technician right over." He came over, changed the battery effortlessly and then stayed to chat. Then he left because he had something else to do that evening, but he accidentally left his phone (it escaped his pocket) so I sent him a message and 30 minutes later he comes back and STAYS until 11p or so. We had the best time chatting and such. Also, on Saturday I told him about how I'm working on family history and on Sunday he asked me to show him what I have and what I'm looking for right now. So we spent a couple of hours together, on the couch just looking up stuff on my laptop for family history. Amazing.

AND MOST RECENTLY….

Monday night for FHE we had a ward BBQ. It was awesome. Leviticus sat at our table, along with a whole slew of other guys. It was awesome. I floated around, met new people, talked, played volleyball and ended up back at the table Leviticus was then sitting at.

It was decided to go to my place to watch a movie (my roommate, a good friend and major flirt of mine and I decided this) I convinced Leviticus to come.

We hung out and colored in coloring books. It was awesome.

My flirty friend left about after the movie. I was a zombie at this point because of my fried brain from work. Leviticus stayed until 11:30 or so...and at one point played with my hair (he did that Saturday too now that I think about it). We just hung out and talked and stuff. It was very nice.

So there you go. My very long story about a boy named Leviticus. I think we shall have many an adventure this summer. :o)

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Dating Battle Stories: a THIRD date!

Lines of Happiness - check
Waves of Awesome - check
Cloud 9 - double check

Fryman took me out on a third date this weekend. (first of all, this was kind of a big deal/sort of scary for me. I haven't been on a third date in a LONG time.) (second of all, i'm not going to tell you about the date with the Argonaut after all. It was okay. I knew I didn't want to go out with him again a week ago and had already decided that that night would be our last date. Needless to say I was happy to get home after the date.)

ANYWAYS back to the THIRD date with Fryman!

We had a blast going out to eat (i'm pretty sure we could just sit and talk forever. we always are at restaurants for ages) and then we went back to my place to dye Easter eggs. Then we decided, sort of last minute, to go see The King's Speech (PG-13 version) at Thanksgiving Point. It was being shown on the Mammoth screen. That screen is HUGE. It was a lot of fun and the theater was basically empty, which was all sorts of coolness.

After the movie we came back to my apartment and did some low-key cuddling while talking on the couch. He stood up to leave and I gave him a hug. We had a moment and then he kissed me goodnight.

Yes, he kissed me.

Last night he came over for dinner. We had some great conversation, actually went down to BYU campus to walk around the duck pond and the cute new trail they put in. We have really good communication and we talked about what kissing means to both of us and have decided to be exclusive in our dating. So I guess you could say I have a boyfriend. :o) ha. that sounds weird. Anyways, Fryman is great. He makes me feel wonderful and I want to be a better person when I'm around him. He calls me beautiful and compliments me and my many talents.

And that folks, is why I am full of happiness while being awesome on Cloud 9 right now.

Thoisday Thoughts and Things

Hi guys. Can I just tell you how happy I am that it is Thursday? and that it's my Friday? Oh man. It's been a very busy week filled what with learning a new ERP system at work and all. My brain HURTS. Changing over to a new system is all sorts of crazy.

Anywho...let's get to all my thoughts shall we?

• My brain hurts. The end.

• My date with Fryman last night? too short. We both had something (him a meeting for church, me a hair appointment) and so all we did was go to dinner...but it was fabulously awesome.

• I love getting my hairs did.

• After getting my hairs did I flirted with Fryman via text.

• I connived an invitation to his house to watch a movie that I was going to watch at home but my tv was taken.

• So I stayed up late with Fryman watching Tangled. Love that movie.

• Nothing happened per se...but he's not a cuddler (he's told me so...at least not until he's kissed a girl.)

• But we did get to hang out together for longer last night and I know both of us wanted it.

• The Mumford & Sons "Sigh No More" album is amazing

• Pair it with the Adele "21" album (favorite song? Rolling in the Deep - the music video is AWESOME) and you have the best play list right now for me at work.

• I'm going wedding shoe shopping w/my sister tonight. We both need wedding shoes. She's looking for flats, and I'm looking for peep-toe heels. :o) Love shoe shopping

• I have no plans for Saturday night....yet. I'm hoping to do something fun and adventurous.

• Fun but not adventurous: dying Easter eggs. I WILL do this at some point this weekend.

• It's my Friday. I'm excited to have tomorrow off. I plan on sleeping in just a little bit, going to the temple, taking a ballet class and doing some grocery shopping/errand running that needs to be done.

• I won a free hour-long massage a few months ago and I haven't used it yet. I keep meaning to...but keep forgetting to make the appointment. :P I think I'll make time for it in the very near future. 

Whew. I get tired just looking at that list....but good things have happened in the past day, good things are going to happen this weekend and I'm one happy camper. Who wants to REALLY go camping this summer...maybe I should buy a tent and a sleeping bag....

Thursday things...in Virginia!!

Well my dear internet friends, I am in Virginia! I am here with my family freezing my toes off. It is really cold (and there's even a tad bit of snow on the ground!) but I am so happy! I love hanging out with my family.  Before I leave you today, let me list off a few things that have happened:

• Part of my flight here included me flying American Airlines. Did you know that AA gives you the whole can of whatever you get when it comes to drink time? This made me heart super happy. One whole can of Coke for me!

• Went and saw Tangled this afternoon. Adorable movie with fun dialog and a cute story.

• I pulled an all-nighter Tue-Wed. It was fun times. 

• I know I've promised an update and nyms on boys and that IS coming...maybe I'll make it my Christmas gift to you. I'll work on that.

• I'm having a wonderful holiday - I hope you do too!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

tender mercies

So. I have decided to institute a brand new meme around here. I'm calling it Tender Mercy Tuesdays where in I tell you all about the tender mercies that I have been blessed with in the past week. (or maybe just some of them. but you get the point.) Wonder what I'm talking about when it comes to tender mercies? Read this amazing talk by Elder David A. Bednar - an Apostle of Jesus Christ.

This week's tender mercies:

1. the hymns in sacrament meeting that we sung were my favorite and the ones closest to my heart.
2. I found out last night about something a friend has been doing - without knowing why - and it touched me.
3. My awesome roommate who introduces me to awesome movies.
4. New friends.
5. I completed my workout last night. Felt awesome.

What are your tender mercies?

p.s. I'll still sometimes participate in Ten on Tuesday. Not today, but sometimes. :o)

editor's note:
also. I'm bored of doing the links to past years. while it's nice to link to what happened and reminisce...I tend to forget to do it. Sorry. maybe i'll do it more, but I'm not going to guarantee on anything.

things i am doing today

let me just mention....there's about a foot of snow outside that made my travels to church this morning quite adventurous. I did make it safely and didn't die though, so that's good.

and now...things i'm doing today:

• making yummy lunch
• indexing. (this is so easy and awesome! love it!)
• avoiding cheesy Christmas movies. 
• reading a good book
• trying to keep my nose warm
• admiring my adorable tree skirt i made yesterday.

what are you doing today?

two years ago 
four years ago

I give up.

I give up on trying to post my weekend recap with pictures. Especially since this weekend has now come and gone. So: Reader's Digest version: Basically my holiday weekend was filled with the sun, fireworks attacking people, a BBQ, and a celebration of love. SwingKid and I have been dating for two years now and I'm not going to lie, I love that we've had this long courtship. There's just something about it that makes me happy.

Anyways, this last weekend was not so much filled with awesomeness - besides our laser tag date which was AWESOME. loved that. Especially the part where we got soaked in the rain. Saturday was a meh day, but I found a cute dress that is a...size 8!!! YAY!!! Sunday was pleasant and all is good in the world. mostly.

Overall, I am happy with my life. i think. I wonder sometimes, but then I look to how it could be different and that's when I realize that I really do love where I am in life. Life is good.

Anyways. Today is Tuesday (ps...I get a 4-day work week so basically i only have 2.5 more days of work. HALLELUJAH!!!) which means it's time for some Ten on Tuesdayness. Enjoy!!

1. What is the worst movie you have ever seen?
um. I HATED Drag Me to Hell I thought it was so not cool. I really wish I could have that time back....

2. Do you have a favorite Disney/Pixar film?
I'm a die hard disney fan. I love Disney Princess movies as well as Pixar everything. My hands down, all time favorite Disney movie is The Little Mermaid and my favorite Pixar movie right now is Up.

3. Do you have a favorite movie from the 80′s?
hmmm...80's movies are full of great clothes and awesome dancing, i love Footloose and Dirty Dancing.

4. Are there any movies you saw more than once in the theater?
It's not often I'll see a movie twice in the theaters; however, I did see Star Trek twice. Once in the regular theater and once at the dollar theater.

5. What is one city/area of the US (or country you live if you do not live in the US) that you have not seen but would like to see?
Well...there are lots of places I haven't seen. I would love to see New York. cliche? perhaps. but it's true.

6. What are your favorite toppings on an Ice Cream Sundae?
I LOVE hot fudge and/or caramel. From there it depends on my mood. although, these days ice cream makes me REALLY sick so I tend to not eat it anymore. sigh. I also like sprinkles. lots of sprinkles.

7. How many proms did you go to? What color was your prom dress? If you went to multiple proms, what color was your favorite prom dress?
I went to three proms. I went my sophomore year w/a good friend and then I went to two my senior year with my boyfriend (his and mine). My favorite dress was the one for his prom that my completely made over from a cheap dress from DI. Best thing ever.

8. Is there a sport or extra-curricular activity that you didn’t get to try as a child that you wish you would have? (e.g. gymnastics, piano lessons, ballet, etc.)
All I wanted to do was dance. And that's all I have ever done since. I do wish now that I had played the piano or something.

9. How many siblings do you have? Are you the oldest, middle, or youngest?
I have three. I am the oldest. We create the alphabet: A, B, C, and D. two sisters and one brother. :)

10. Do you feel like you fit in with your age group? Or do you feel younger/older than your age group?
I usually feel like I fit in my age group. I also feel like it's easy for me to switch between hanging out with groups that are younger/older than me. So...yeah. I just fit in. I think it comes with being the oldest. maybe.

catch me if you can

editor's note: i started this yesterday and meant to post it. and then...life happened and I didn't. i'm sorry. So...pretend this posted yesterday. Although, I know I'm not going to be able to post again today. SO! a real weekend update probably won't be here until tomorrow. but at least it will be here!!

While my weekend was mostly relaxing, I really wasn't "around." I did check my reader a couple times over the weekend, but still ended up with a bazillion unread posts. I think I'm okay with that . Mostly. Gives me something to look at when I need a break at work - especially since I'm on a Facebook fast this week as part of my Day Zero goals. whew. Today was HARD, but I think it will only get easier. At least, it better....

So, I should really do a weekend recap, and I will I promise! However, I have pictures! (GASP! I know! real life pictures!) And they are so much fun and I want to share them with you oh so much, but right now I'm lazy and I don't want to get off my butt and go and get my camera. So...since it's Tuesday I'll leave you with a little Ten on Tuesday meme and then promise to post about all the fun that was had tomorrow. Okay? okay. loves.


1. If given the opportunity, would you choose a mediocre job that paid well or your dream job that paid poorly?
dream job. hands down. I actually do have my dream job - just another job to go with it too. My dream job definitely pays poorly. c'est la vie

2. What is your favorite thing about the 4th of July? (For the foreigners: What is your impression of the 4th of July?)
hmmm. I love how summery it is! It's everything that is summer personified into one big day. Most of all, I love the fireworks.

3. What’s the most random fact you know about American history?
um...I really can't think of a random fact right now. I'm not a huge history nut. at all.

4. What is the best fireworks display you’ve ever seen?
Well. I don't tend to remember the firework shows from years past. Except last year's awful one in cougartown. ugh. This year, I went to PG with SwingKid and his family (more deets laters!) and watched an AMAZING show. minus the part when the fireworks attacked the audience. but that's another story

5. Who taught you how to put on makeup?
my mom sort of did, and then i learned more when i was taughter by my ballet director and then my current roommate AF taught me even MORE. Now I'm pretty much awesome at my makeup. maybe.

6. Have you ever gone through a financial planning process? Tell us about it.
sort of. I currently use Mint to budget my finances. My parents were pretty diligent to teach me good budgeting skills as a kid too.

7. What was your favorite outfit as a kid? Bonus points for pictures.
hmmm. I can't think of my FAVORITE outfit. I don't remember clothes as a child. ha. I do remember wearing very 80s style outfits for a long time in the early 90s. I was awesome as a kid.

8. Do you prefer a beach, lake, swimming pool, or no water?
I've only been to the beach once. I think I would like it more if I could spend more time there. Otherwise, I love the swimming pool. Lakes seems way to icky for me. Unless it's some beautiful spring lake or something. maybe. nah, i still like pools better.

9. Do you recycle? If not, why?
at work we recycle paper and cans. i participate in this recycling.

10. What are your thoughts and feelings about the Twilight Saga?
well. i love the fluff of the books. the third book is definitely my favorite, and from what i hear it's the best movie as well. I hated the second movie and disliked the book. The ending is lame and cheap in the 4th book and if i was one of the movie directors i would rewrite the ending. especially since they've taken such liberties with the first two movies. sigh. i'm in love with MUCH better books these days.

Thursday morning giggles

Oh my gosh. I just had THE BEST giggling fit at work EVER.

Seriously.

First, go HERE and read about Nicholas Sparks and his "different" love stories. I'll wait why you read. Please read all of it. I'll be here waiting......
......
......
......
......
okay, hopefully that gave you enough time to go read. Wasn't that the FUNNIEST thing EVER?! I had never noticed the trend in his books/movies. BUT  OH MY GOSH, IT'S TRUE!!!

Seriously, the best laugh I've had in a long time.


Well...since last night when SwingKid decided to tickle me to death, but that's a different story.  :o)


HAPPY THURSDAY!