Alive... Maybe?

So, I think my phone is alive... It seems to be working alright, the screen just looks weird now. I'm happy to have it working, that's for sure. I was going through some serious withdrawls yesterday. So, for now, I'm connected to the world. :)

Hallelujah.

Curse You, Storm Drain!

Today was really not my day.

So, I had a little accident with my phone this morning. I can't even believe that it happened how it did, because the chances of that are... Well, you know how clumsy I am.

I dropped my phone, and it fell in a storm drain...I can't believe that it actually did. It barely fit through the holes, but it managed to slip it's way in. It teetered for a minute, but fell in before I could catch it. Paula and I managed to life the grate off, but the hole was too deep (about four feet) to reach my phone. I almost jumped in after it, but I wasn't sure how I would get out, and I didn't want them to have to call paramedics and stuff over a stupid phone. There was mud and water in there, and my phone sat there for about 20 minutes before maintainence came and helped me get it out. Once we recovered it, I removed the battery and dried it out, but now it won't turn on. I've looked pretty much everywhere online to see if I can save it, but it looks like it's ruined. Fortunately, I have my stuff backed up on my SD and SIM cards, but now I'm out of a phone and don't know when I'll be able to get another one. So, readers, good luck getting a hold of me! I've still got my email. :)

*sigh* I'm going to have a hard time with this.

Stayed Home

I stayed home sick today, which means I should have blogged sooner, but I was busy sleeping. Trying to get better, here! It's not really working much.

I do feel a little better, more rested, but my head and chest are still full of pressure, so it's kind of hard to breathe.

I can't wait to feel better... Hopefully soon!

Finished

I finally finished my personal essay. I've got to say, it was a tough one. I feel like it's forced writing, which is not my best. I like it, but I don't love it. I'm not proud of it, and that's something I struggle with as a writer.

I want to like my own writing, but sometimes I just don't feel like I can. I feel like I'm gloating if I do. It's hard sometimes. Even though I'm required to share it with my class, I don't feel like I should share it here. Maybe someday, but not today.

Thank you, readers for bearing with me. I've been struggling to blog this past little while. It's probably because I've been sick and busy, but I'm going to try to be better.

I Win!

I'm not really sure what score I got on my math test today, all I know is that it took my grade from a B+ to and A. You better believe I'm happy.

I was uber nervous for this test. I'm not good at math at all, so when I hear the word test I get nervous. Very nervous.

I was pretty confident by the end of the test that I did alright. It seemed pretty easy, but I can never be sure. There's times when I think I've done well and I didn't, and there's times when I think I failed and I did well. So, I can never tell.

But............................ I have an A! So obviously I didn't fail.

Take that, Math test! I win!

{sick}

I am officially sick. Sick as in, my head is pounding and it may blow off of my neck at any moment. Yeah. That kind of sick. The kind of sick when you're miserable no matter what you're doing, and you can't sleep because you can't breathe.

Pardon my little moment. I had to get that off my chest. Oh yeah, did I mention it feels like an elephant has taken up residence in there? Because it feels like one has.

I know, I know. Snot very funny.

P.S. There's pretty much only one good thing about today. There's only three months until Christmas. You better believe I'm excited! Santa, I've been a very, very good girl! ;)

Duck Hunt

If you know my mom, you know she absolutely loves ducks. Not the real thing, but stuffed animals that are ducks.

I was struggling with what to get her for her birthday, and I finally thought of getting her a Duck Pillow Pet. Little did I know how rare those are to come by.

I spent most of this afternoon calling stores from Logan to South Salt Lake looking for a dang Duck Pillow Pet. I called everywhere I could think of. Walmart, Shopko, Bed Bath and Beyond, Toys R Us. You name it, I probably called them. Then, finally Dad thought of Smith's Marketplace. So, I called the one in Bountiful. Asked the nice lady, and she said "I'm pretty sure we still have one, would you like me to look?"

Obviously, I responded yes, and she came back on the line with the best news I'd heard all day. "Yes, we've got one."

I quickly asked her to please put it on hold for me, that I'd be down that evening to pick it up. She told me that it would be at the service desk under my name.

I'd never been to a Smith's Marketplace before today. That place is awesome. It very possibly may be my new favorite store. They've got everything and more!

After wandering around the store for an hour and a half, we went to check out and by the blasted pillow pet. The clerk rang it up, and it was only $9.99! I was told it was going to be $19.99! That was a very big blessing.

So, the Duck hunt wasn't all bad. I discovered a new store, got mom her pillow pet, and saved 10 bucks! That, my friends is a Saturday well spent. :)

Puddles is mom's new best friend. He joined the family as the seventh duckling. It now goes: Ducky, Ducky II, Baby Duck, Platty, Squishie,  Quacky, and Puddles.  Who knows who will join the family next?

Yes, she even has a duck blanket. She really loves ducks!

Bonfire!

Oh my gosh. I have the best friends ever! :)

Last night was the Bonfire, which is a tradition of homecoming week. So fun.

Here's a few pictures:

It may seem kind of lame, but for me, it was super fun. It was kind of sad when I realized that this is my last Bonfire as a student, but I know that I'm going to go on to bigger and better things!

Happy Birthday, Mama.

Happy Birthday, Mama. I thank Heavenly Father every day that I was blessed by having you for a mother. You've taught me nearly everything I know, and made me the young woman I am today. I love you so much!

I Got It!

Today, I got a video of Paula and I doing the Parent Trap handshake. :)

Here it is!

Yeah, I know. We're beasts. :)

Self Portraits

I'm getting back into photography, so I decided to take some self portraits for fun. I got a few ridiculous ones, and a few turned out blurry or out of focus, but  I did get a few I really love. <3

I like this one, but it's definitely not my favorite...

I think this one shows the more serious side of me, people say I look sad, but I'm not! I promise! If you know me, you know I'm generally a pretty happy person. :)

This is my favorite close up. It's better than any school picture I've had in years!

I like this one too, but something about it just keeps it from being one of my favorites.

I think this one is cute because it has all of me, and I'm not ashamed of myself anymore. :D

This is probably my absolute favorite. It kind of just shows my fun personality, I think.

Not too shabby for being on timer, eh? I'm pretty proud of them. :)

Dear Facebook,

I'm honestly hating the new changes that have taken place on Facebook. But then again, I haven't come across anyone who particularly enjoys them.

This latest update is tempting me to wean myself off of Facebook and to eventually delete my account. It's become a place for more drama, and honestly, that's not something I need or want to deal with. I love social networking, and I believe it's become a big part of society, but seriously. Now everything  is linked to facebook. WHY?!? I have no idea.

Is anyone else with me on this, or am I alone? I'm not switching to Google+, I hardly ever tweet, and well, myspace is just dead. I'll reserve a plot for facebook to join them, it probably won't be much longer.

Random Should Be My Middle Name

Paula and I spent a half hour of our lunch today perfecting this. After about a thousand tries, we got  finally got it right! I'm not very good at these types of things. I have a hard time remembering how to play patty cake!

We picked kind of a random spot to do it, in between two staircases by Mr. Mendenhall's office (vice principal). It was so fun! We got a few strange looks, but it was totally worth it. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. :D

Sorry, I don't have a video of us doing it, I'd have to hack into the school's security cameras for that. haha. Believe me, I'm tempted. :)

I told you...

There my friends, is my lovely bruise. I hate to say I told you so, but I did.
Fortunately, it's kind of reddish purple right now, so I can cover it up and pass it off for blush. Not exactly sure what I'm going to do when it turns blue-gray... Any ideas?

It Takes Talent...

It takes talent to be as clumsy as I am...
I can prove it.
For dessert this evening, I enjoyed a bowl of vanilla ice cream with my favorite carmel-chocolate topping. While eating it, we watched my favorite show, Parenthood. (You know of my love for Parenthood :) .)
After the show was over, I went to gather the bowls to clean up. That was when my clumsiness kicked in.
I dropped a spoon, and in the process of picking it up, I whacked my cheekbone straight into the corner of the video cabinet.
Hello, instabruise! A few not so lovely words slipped my lips, and the pain shot through my cheek.
This really, really hurt, folks. That instant feeling of swelling came, and for a second, I thought I was going to throw up. Fortunately, I didn't (that would have just made a bad situation worse).
I'm sure tomorrow I'll have a beautiful blue bruise gracing my cheekbone. Don't worry, I'll be sure to share that with you, too!
Meanwhile, wish me luck making it through this week! I think I'm going to need it...

Welcome Fall!

I've been feeling domestic lately. Perhaps it's because of my love for fall and it's accompanying goodies, or maybe it's just cause I've been craving things lately. Either way, we've been eating some delicious food. :)

The rainstorms from yesterday and today brought cooler temperatures along with it, and I'm loving it, because that means I get to cook and bake! Believe me, I've taken advantage of this opportunity.

Right now, I'm in the process of making stew (can't wait to dig in!), and a fresh baked pan of brownies just came out of the oven. (I think a few of those extra pounds are going to come back if I don't get myself in the gym soon!)

Today I also retrieved fall decorations from storage, and put afghans on the back of our living chairs. I lit candles and cleaned up a bit, and now our house smells so good!

Have you guessed that I really love fall?

Because I do.

Dear Fall, please stay forever.

Warm & Delicious

I had soup twice today. It was delicious.

I'm so excited that fall is almost officially here, because that means long sleeves, crunchy leaves, and homemade soup.

I absolutely love soup. But I just can't eat it in the summer. It's too hot, and it makes you all sweaty, and you want it, but no matter how delicous it is, it's just not worth it.   

That is why I'm so happy fall is {almost} here.

Hurry up, fall. I'm kind of excited for your arrival!

Weekend... Where Are You?

I am so ready for this weekend. It's been a long and stressful week, and I just need to relax. Especially since I think I'm getting a sinus infection. Yayyyyyy!!!!!!!!!! I just love being sick. Particularly when I'm super busy! But then again, I suppose the lack of sleep probably isn't helping me too much either.

So, I guess I'll down some OJ, sleep till noon on Saturday, and pray I don't get really sick. I've just got to make it through one more day. One. More. Day. I can do it... I think.

I hope.

Personal Essay

For my English 1010 class, I have to write a personal essay. Just something simple about myself, and the life lessons I've learned.

I struggle with knowing how much I should share. I don't know where to start. Well, I do, but I don't know how to start. I don't really know what I should share, because I hate being looked at differently when people find out about mom. They usually don't say anything, but the look in their eyes says it all. It's a look of pity, or perhaps it's a look of helplessness. I'm not really sure. I know they don't know what to say, which is understandable. I've heard the words "I'm Sorry" about a thousand times, and I know people are sorry. I know they feel sorry for me, and that's what I have a hard time with.  I don't want to be pitied, I just want people to understand.

I lead a different life than most people my age. That's okay with me. I'm used to it. I schedule my time around visits with mom, because no matter what, she's my priority. I really hate missing a day of seeing her, because her condition is so unpredictable that I don't know what may change from day to day. Sometimes it's hard, missing out on things, or choosing between them. I usually pick seeing mom. She deserves at least that from me.

 I picked seventeen different titles for my personal essay. One for each year I've lived. I wrote a paragraph about each, and I'm not really sure which one I want to pick. I thought about picking a couple and writing an essay for each, and then choosing which I like better, but I know they'll just end up at the same place, about the same thing. It doesn't really matter how I start it, because I know the story will morph into my story, and become the same words, just arranged in a different order. I suppose that's what writing is about.

I'll keep you posted and let you know when I figure out which essay I'm going to write. This should be interesting.

P.S. Thanks for letting me brain dump. It cleared my head so now I can do my homework! And I have a lot of homework.

Favorites. Part 2.

I just realized I haven't done a favorites post in a long time! So here goes!

Music Video



Seriously. I love this video! I've loved it since the first time I saw it, and I'm pretty sure I love it a little bit more every time I see it!

Beverage

Come on, you know Coke is the best ever! Don't even try to deny it. ;) 



School Subject

You guessed it! English! What can I say? I'm a wordgeek! You all know of my love for writing. :)

Candy



Watermelon Taffy. :) Too bad it only comes around in the summertime! I still have a few cherished pieces saved to last me until May. That's a long time away!

These are just a few random things that popped into my head for favorites. More next time!



Much Better!

Today was a much better day than yesterday. :)

I did get a nice chunk of homework though... I knew it was too good (and easy) to be true! Oh well, nothing I can't handle!

Do you know what makes today even better?

My favorite show is back on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

I'm just a little excited.

Yes, Parenthood is back!!! Woot! I can't wait to watch tonight's episode! I've been dying to see it! Finally it's here!

Do You Ever?

Do you ever just wake up in the morning and want to roll over and go back to sleep, knowing it's just going to be one of those days?

Well, that was me this morning. I probably would have been better off if I had. But, I still had to get up and go to school. Life goes on.

I can't really tell you why it was a bad day, it just was.

All I know is that I'm glad today is almost over. I'm going to try to wake up in the morning a make tomorrow a better day. It probably will be considering it's my half day.

 Hallelujah.

zero.

Well readers, I'm dissapointed.

I have a TON of pageviews. Thanks.

However, I have no followers. Not.a.single.one. 

That makes me sad, people! So please follow? Pretty, pretty please?

A big THANKS in advance from a very grateful blogger! :)

Never Forget 9/11

Ten years ago today, I was sitting in my second grade classroom; a young and terrified seven year old little girl.
I didn't really understand what was happening, I just knew people were afraid. I knew I was supposed to be afraid. I knew that my country was under attack. I knew that my life was somehow going to be different from then on. What I didn't know was why.

What I have come to learn since then is that no one knows. No one knows why all of these lives were taken so senselessly, so brutally, and so tragically.

All throughout the day, we watched in horror as the tradgedy was slowly replayed on the TV. The planes crashed, the smoke rose, and two thousand nine hundred and eighty three people perished.

There aren't words to describe all that was taken from our country that fateful day.

All we can do now is remember. We can look forward to the future and embrace the lives of those who were killed on that day.

Never forget 9/11

God Bless America

I thought this was a beautiful and touching tribute to the firefighters who risked their lives that day and saved so many others.



Buh-Bye Summer! Hello Fall!

As I type this, I've got a belly full of homemade chicken noodle soup and blueberry muffins.


Can I just say yum? Soooo delicious. You don't even know.


If you know me, you know I love, love, love food; and I especially love homemade food.

There's nothing quite like homemade soup from your mom's recipe.  The only thing better is when your mom makes it for you. Unfortunately, my mom's not able to do that, so I just made it from her recipe. It. Was. Delicious. Really folks, mouthwateringly delicious.

A little weird thing about me is that I can't eat soup in the summer. I just can't. So this means that my body doesn't think it's summer anymore! Yay! I am so excited for fall. So. Dang. Excited. I love the warm bowls of soup and the turtle necks and sweaters. I just love it! Ah! I can't wait for the leaves to change colors, to crunch underneath my feet.

So fall, can you please come a little sooner? I kind of can't wait for you.

{minus 6}

Minus six more pounds!

Which makes it a grand total of....

-51 pounds.

I have almost as many to go, but I can do this!

I start back up on my workout routine Tuesday.  I kind of can't wait. Hello, treadmill! :)

Oh, also a BIG DEVELOPMENT for me.

I can now tolerate eating a salad. That, my friends, is almost a miracle. I hated salads!

Nerdy

I feel totally nerdy for posting this blog, but I just can't help myself.

My very first college textbook came today. :) I squealed.

I opened it and felt the fresh, bright white paper; I breathed in the scent of the new book.

I immediately went to the Table of Contents and found an article of my interest. I read every word.

I love the subject, I love the class, and now I love the book.

Creative Writing is my true love. <3

Baptized

Nine years ago today, I was baptized and I became a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

I've had my ups and downs, and my faith waivered at times, but ultimately, I know that I made the right decision. I know in my heart and in my mind that this is what I was supposed to do, and where I am supposed to be.

I have absolutely no idea where I would be without the gospel in my life. I've met some amazing people because of it, and my life has been blessed by my membership.

I love this gospel, I love the people in it, and I love the Lord.