"you cease to amaze me"

since i got my hair cut like an idiot last december, i have been trying to urge my hairgrowth along as gently but urgently as possible. i think i've made some good progress, considering i've gone from this

to this

to this.

congratulations to me.

after many, many months of not wearing my hair curly, i've lately began dreaming again of long, loose waves. so this morning i decided to bust out the curling iron.

big mistake.

i think i lost at least three inches off my hair by curling it. what the heck do you even call that look?! who knows. who. even. knows.

so, after 25 minutes of quality curling time, my hair ended up in a ponytail in defeat.

hate when that happens. so. much. hate.

chillin like a banshee

i promised peepee that i would blog lotsandlots cause she's in rexburg all alone for all of christmas break. hasn't happened. so hi.

uhhhh not sure i have much else to say?

look. i just like christmas break. i like it a lot. today jason described my day as follows: "i imagine you wake up in the morning, and go downstairs, and your mom feeds you french toast. and then you bake all day with your mom and then you deliver christmas treats at night and that's pretty much your day."

and all i would like to say about that is, exactly. that is exactly my day. and i really like it.

christmas break is wonderful because "getting ready" in the morning consists of changing out of my yoga pants and in to leggings. christmas break is wonderful because every 3.5 seconds the doorbell rings and someone's brought us food. (no, really, just kidding, you can keep bringing us food.) christmas break is wonderful because my mother and i run errands together and sometimes my dad stays home from work and we all make caramel all day long like a big happy family. minus the big part. there's only 4 stockings on the fireplace. weird? i think yes.

christmas break is not wonderful because it's not snowing and is not going to snow before christmas. uhhh whaa? isn't that, like, the one good part of minnesota in the winter?

i'll answer that for you. yes. yes, it is.

also i miss this boy.

skype's cool...but not that cool.

six days til cristina&dan come home.

seven days til jas comes to mah house.

yesterday was one of my best days in a long, long time

and i have no pictures to show for it. right now, anyhow. laura has one, and the other is on my computer, so just a bit of patience, my friends.

my afternoon started with a few bites (okay, okay, half) of a shake at the creamery with jas and his family and his sister annie who i loved meeting. i only wish i could have stayed longer, buuuut...

..it was time to run (ten minutes late, of course) to meet laura, my long-time blog bestie. it was seriously magic. my deepest wish in life is that she didn't live in canada so she could live in utawww with me and we could spill our souls to each other every day. or whatever. you know. i just really, really liked it. and her.

and then i ran some errands and went home (by home, of course, i mean the bed in bri's dorm that i share with my baby sister...) and packed a bit and then relaxed for the first time in an eternity, and watched the season finale of gossip girl (uhhhh... hated it!!).

jason and i have been trying to be in a christmas mood lately, which is harder than it might sound, what with finals and all.

but it seems like we were repaid for our efforts last night when some random guy handed us a completed free-meal cafe rio card for no reason. christmas is the absolute greatest, and i mean that.

for christmas, jason's dad gave me tickets to the play a christmas carol. it was absolutely incredible. i wish i had some pictures of the theatre itself, it was beautiful, but all i have is a picture of us.. which is also beautiful? except it's on my camera. i am not generally a crier, but this play definitely had me crying. i was so touched by scrooge's pain when he realized all the opportunities he had missed to influence the lives of others. i'm hoping that our family will read the forgotten carols this season, which we do many years. it, too, is such a timeless story.

i love plays. i love how real and alive and genuine they are. going to plays is one of my very, very favorite things to do, and it was one of the most well-done plays i have seen in a very long time. it was truly a perfect night, and i was so happy to spend it with jas.

i'm happy today. i'm so, so happy to be going home, and to be done with finals, and to have just had a two hour talk with holly, and to be celebrating christmas. christmas often makes me somewhat melancholy, because i just don't feel good enough or i don't feel like i'm doing exactly what heavenly father wants me to be doing. this year, i'm really just purely happy. i am a daughter of a heavenly father who has blessed me beyond comprehension. i have the most wonderful family and friends who i am so grateful for. i wouldn't change a thing about my life right now. i love christmas, and i am so happy to be truly celebrating it in every sense of the word.

it has been quite the weekend.

and i'm only glad that it's over because that means i am going home in a mere four days. but anyhow.

my weekend really began on thursday afternoon, because that was the last day of classes. woohoo. or something like that. thursday afternoon, i found a solution to sell my contract. i had been praying so hard that it would sell that i forgot that two girls had already told aubrey that they really, really wanted the apartment..they just had to sell their contracts. thursday afternoon, a thought popped into my head. why don't i just buy one of their contracts? and boom, just like that, we had 36 hours to be moved out of the apartment.

so friday was spent moving out, until that got too boring, and then friday was spent christmas shopping. we decided jason does not exactly belong in forever21 skinny jeans (surprise?)...

saturday was equally productive. the act of moving out was completed, studying was accomplished, and christmas shopping was worked on.

sunday the most wonderful gingerbread house was made, and ham and mashed potatoes and all sorts of deliciousness.

and then last night i slept in bri's twin-sized bed with her in her dorm, and slept in until 7:30 because i didn't have to (a) eat breakfast, or (b) walk 15 minutes across campus, and it was fantastic. absolutely wonderful.

this morning the bookstore filled our taffy jar up (SO YUMMY) and then i followed the example of my baby sistah and made a schedule for the rest of the week. nottttt too excited

so, that's that. four days and i'm home free.

good to know

clearly that was a list from jason, bless his heart.

i've learned a lot this week, mostly about creating webpages, writing mcom reports, and cramming for exams. but mainly i would like to share the three highlights.

1. stephen's limited edition pumpkin spice-flavored hot cocoa will not be returning in future years, because i can guarantee that nobody will buy a second jar of that shiz. seriously. imagine warm carrot juice. that's what it looks like. it's been four days since i drank it and i swear i can still taste it in my mouth. so. gross.

2. if you laugh at girls every morning for their skirts being all staticy and caught in their tights, like this (please note that that is her slip and not, in fact, a skirt):

don't wear tights and a skirt to school. karma, baby. i had a very, very long walk across campus this morning with a very slippery skirt..

3. having a roommate is kind of fun. bri's moved into my apartment for a few days so she can study for finals. and it's fantastic. who knew?! ps if anybody knows anybody who is looking for an apartment winter semester, lemmeeknow. this is approaching emergency status.

can it be christmas already?!
8 days til home. :))

hi. my name is amy. well i'm feeling another list coming on. here it is:)))))

ins:

1. Jason

2. sentences.with.periods.between.every.word.for.emphasis.

3.lists.

4. happiness

5. state of the union list (whats that even mean?)

6. 7200 south;)

7. more lists

8. greek yogurt

9. lehi

10. did I mention Jas?

11. being treated well

12. feeling like a million bucks

13. being the most beautiful thing in this world

14. being the most giving, compassionate person

outs:

1. gluten free stufffff

2. proper blog grammar and punctuation

3. saying goodnights

stay tuned for next week fans. I love you, and I love Jason almost as much as blogging, excel, smores, tortillas, socks with lil' piggys, holly, stevie and cold cold weather.

what's embarrassing is...

last night it was time to do my laundry. so when jason called at seven and said he was on his way home from working out and did i want to go get something to eat with him in twenty minutes, i realized i had nothing to wear. literally, nothing to wear. so i did what any reasonable girl in my position would do and put on leggings and a shirt and a cardigan.

while jason ate a hamburger and fries, i ate half a hot fudge sundae. some of which ended up on my shirt. ummm oops? but no big deal. no big deal at all cause then we went home and life was fine.

except i didn't get to bed til late last night, which meant when i woke up this morning, the last thing i felt like doing was putting together an outfit. so i did was any reasonable girl in my position would do and put on the same outfit i wore for three hours last night, only with jeggings instead of leggings.

aaaaand then i got to work and looked down and saw the chocolate on my shirt.
greaaaat.

what's embarrassing is when you have a giant water spot on your shirt because you had to try to scrub out a chocolate stain because you rewore the same shirt you already wore.

the good, the bad, and the ugly

thanksgiving weekend, it would appear, is officially over. i almost had an anxiety attack yesterday when i was told the last day of classes is next week. say whaaaa?!!

anyhow, thanksgiving was fantastic. i wish i had pictures to show for it, but surprise! i don't. all i have is this picture i took at church of four old men who were best friends. so cute.

so not cute enough to be the only picture from the weekend.

bri and i spent the weekend at cristina's, watching some shows, playing with bentley, eating d.e.l.i.c.i.o.u.s. cristina-food (i swear she is the best), and sleeping in til ten. (TEN?! can't even remember the last time i've slept that late. it felt so good..) oh, and bringing bentley on walks which turn into carries when he sits his little bum down and absolutely refuses to move, oh, about three houses down.

we ended the weekend with a four hour game of phase 10. not an exaggeration. eight to midnight, one round, 700 rounds. i broke 1000 points. dan won with 450. the most ridiculous game of phase 10 in my life.

anyhow, i'm about done with thankfulness lists in the blog world.. so much so that i realized on thanksgiving that i was so thanksgiving-ed out from blogs and pinterest that i hadn't even thought about what i am grateful for. so here's a brief list:
- my parents - living close to my sisters - Heavenly Father - a job that i love - a sharp decrease in stomachaches - a boyfriend who treats me so well - good grades - general conference talks - christmas -

it's pumpkin bread season

i should be in bed, but it's so, so hard when it feels like a weekend. i will regret this in the morning when my alarm rings at 6:45 and i try to convince myself that showering is, in fact, a good idea. ehhhh that's debatable.

-i spent my night making three loaves of pumpkin bread and a pan of gluten free pumpkin muffins. my momma would be proud.

-tomorrow is going to be a fantastic day, mayyybe even better than today. tomorrow consists of (a) work, plus an extra two hours of work, (b) stats (okay, not so cool..), (c) lehi with jason, (d) CHELSEACHELSEACHELSEA. hoorayyyyy.

-i encountered a married couple in the tampon aisle tonight at the grocery store. they were in the middle of a lengthy debate regarding which tampons were most cost-efficient. followed by an explanation of what absorbency she needs. umm how bout we not do that?

-i need to make my christmas list. so far all that's on there is this jacket and a computer screen. (but that might not be the exact jacket, mom, so let me check. i can't remember. don't buy that one yet. kaythanks. :) ) i can't even think of anything else i need/want. bummer.

-why am i still awake? i do not know. i've asked myself that several times in the last ten minutes. i should probably take care of that.

i spent the day in sweatpants.

i spent the day in sweatpants and it was magic. i woke up to homemade rice flour waffles from grandma and mom. i sat on the couch under a blanket for a while doing homework. i showered and got ready and sat on a dry pebble on top of a frozen cold rock so we could take family pictures without my butt getting icy cold and wet. i put my sweatpants and slipper socks back on the instant i got back inside. i ate grilled cheese made by mom and dan on gluten free bread. i took an hour and a half nap and woke up feeling groggy but not wanting to go back to sleep. i sat on the couch for a half an hour, having finished my homework and not having brought anything to slc to study, and realized it was the first time in months i've been bored. grandma was at the grocery store, bri was reading some arabic book, mom and dad were shopping, jas was in lehi and i was bored. so i taught myself to play a song on the piano until grandma and mom and dad got home, when we went to olive garden and i changed out of my sweatpants in the car and i ate gluten free pasta (can i be done with this gf crap yet?) and then immediately popped back into my sweatpants and played seven wonders for two hours at cristina's. and now i am in bed under three blankets and next to a fourth and wearing my sweatpants, and i'm not even one tiny bit tired because i took a nap for an hour and a half at five.

i love sweatpants and i love lazy saturdays but i hope i never have to be bored again.

bentley james

my parents are in utawwwh for the weekend which is absolutely fantastic. the highlights of my weekend so far include:

1. taking family pictures. uhhhh NOT.

2. bri and i suck at wearing the same clothes. absolutely. suck. oooooopppsss.

3. homemade cafe rio at cristina's. i'm absolutely certain my mother and cristina are two of the best cooks in the world. and when they make a meal together, it makes me die inside.

4. most importantly of all, cristina got a puppy. and his name is bentley and he's the love of my life and the most darling thing in all the world.

everything

i haven't blogged in forever. i haven't written in my journal in forever. i haven't emailed my grandma in forever. i'm a slacker, but it's not on purpose. it's only because there aren't words to say how happy i am. i sit down and nothing comes to my fingers because i'm too happy. i can't stop smiling, ever. i can't sleep at night. i want to skip through the halls at work. life is perfect and that's all i can say. i can't say it any other way.

dear you,

dear people who come into my office,

if i hear that universally obnoxious tone of voice ask "mind if i borrow your stapler?" one more time, i am going to throw the stapler at your head. also in this category is "i think i'm supposed to turn in a copy of the midterm here..?", "ummmm.... i have a midterm..", and "is there a place i can drop my midterm off in here?" because those questions are almost followed by a "for which professor?" from me, an answer from the student that's the same as the 60 students who proceeded him, and a point of the finger from me. "right there. in that box. two inches from your hand. thank you and good bye."

dear slap watch,
i think you're the best. and so is jdem#10 for buying you for me when i was having a supahhh stressful day. and flowers. and for other reasons, too, but that's the main one i'll address at the moment.

dear friday after 3 pm,
i need you to be here. i am running on far too little sleep, a giant headache, an enormous stomachache, and the anticipation of a loooong to-do list this weekend.

dear pajama day,
why do you stop existing after elementary school?? i liked pajama day. however, uggs are a passable second choice. putting my feet in those babies is like snuggling in bed all. day. long. even when it's a nice day and i probably should be in shoes.

dear hiring process,
you. suck.

a whole lotta nothing

i don't have anything funny or witty or insightful to say. so i'm probably not going to say anything. but i had a good weekend. a great weekend, actually.

and i can confidently say that i will never, ever wear 90's jeans again. once is quite enough.

state of the union

every time i start a new journal, the first page is a giant list of my loves and hates. this is not a new journal. clearly. but it just feels like time to make a list. also, i'm having a terrible day, and having already written a two-page email and multiple texts about it, it's quite frankly either a state of the union list or a ranty, whiny blog post continuing my complaining. so, count yo blessings, yo.

IN:

• the cocunuty deliciousness of almond joys
• sweaters
• uggs
• my sisters coming over on wednesdays
  
• mittens (pleasepleaseplease can it be cold enough for mittens yet?)
• getting my bangs cut
• watching people awkwardly flirt outside my office door
• studying in the extra office at work
• "you're his huckleberry whether you want to be or not."
  

OUT:

• accounting, especially bad debt expenses, and especially the test i need to take this week
  
• people being lame
• being homesick
• the mess that is my room
• the mess that is my desk at work
• not sleeping
• showering (oh wait..)
• fights with roommates
  
• biting the edges of my nails until they really really hurt and i have to put bandaids on
  
• hiring
• STOMACHACHES (can i be done yet?)
  
• gluten free bread
• pompous arrogant obnoxious students who come into the office
• not having enough time to get everything done
• not having enough time to get anything done
• art class
• wednesday, october 26, 2011
  

i would like to entitle this blogpost: shout-out to jason

not really.

but really.
happy, jas?

my weekend was spent babysitting my cousin, not sleeping in, eating sushi and sucking at bowling, playing soccer, basketball, and volleyball, teaching him how to rollerblade, bringing him to his very first byu football game, not doing homework, learning everything possible about cars and soccer players, not watching meet the parents, talking all through church, making ham and cheese grilled cheese, ham and cheese on toast, ham and cheese sandwiches, and ham and cheese spaghetti, and eating the most delicious mashed potatoes ever at the demke's. also, now that i'm home, all of my thoughts seem to be in a british accent. probably because nothing (and i mean nothing) is cuter than a seven year old named oliver with a british accent.

and now i'm back home and honestly i didn't realize how much i don't like being at my apartment until i wasn't here for a weekend. so that's a lovely realization.

and now i get to do an entire weekend of homework in the next, oh, two hours before i hopefully can go to bed early.

over and out.

my little sister is concerned she's too intimidating for me..

this is the text conversation i had with bri today after she took the stats test, which i am going to take tonight.


which translates to, congratulations on another 100% (or very, very near 100%) on yet another test, little one.

but most of the time brianna's great, particularly at football games.

this was a few weeks ago, or whenever it was that we kicked san jose's butts. it was the best game ever. it started with brianna making this face, over and over and over again.

from there, it could really only go downhill. we proceeded to rhyme every. single. thing. we said for the next.. oh.. half hour. people like us a lot. not.

what i like best right now about bri right now, though, is that nobody blinks twice when (a) we pretend that we're twins (is it immature that we sometimes do that?), or (b) i use her ID card to buy tickets.

gosh we're cool.

that one time i went rock climbing

what's cool is how good i am at rock climbing.
uhhhh just kidding.
but really.

zach and scott brought me rock climbing.
we climbed this bad boy.



juuuuust kidding again.

this is what happened: i got my harness on. i put the rope through the thing. i started climbing. i got stuck. i didn't know where to go. i started freaking out. so scott jumps on the wall and climbs up and moves my feet where they need to be. i'm feeling good about things. i fall. i scream. zach and scott think i'm a girl. i am a girl. scott's still just chillin' on the wall without a rope. the same wall where i just barely freaked out about falling to my death. guess i wasn't really up that high after all.

i don't think i'm meant to be a rock climber.
or a repeller. that's freaking terrifying.

i like rock climbing.

(also, for the record, costa vida is the love of my life on account of the fact that it is all gluten free. yyyyuuuummmmmmmmmyyy.)

here's to happiness

ten things that make me terribly happy

( here )

10. that aubrey is home. :)

9. crepe bars at wedding receptions.

8. meeting lauren at said wedding reception.

7. getting a 91% on my isys test. (apparently i am incapable of getting anything except a 91 or 92 on any test this semester. weird.)

6. the new iphone operating system.

5. that my parents will be here in a month.

4. m.a.c. false lashes mascara

3. sushi.

2. costa vida, jersey shore, and soccer games.

1. heels and pencil skirts.

hitting all the important things..and then doing mah homework

a) i'm hot. like, literally. because i just woke up and last night the heat got set at 75 degrees and (surprise!) heat rises. so despite the fact that my window is open about two feet and every vent in my loft is closing, it is freaking hot. saaaavvveee mmmeeee.

b) i like football games and i'm happy there's one tonight.

c) yesterday brianna fed me at the cannon center not once, but twice. breakfast at that place is bomb.

d) the only thing better than getting a class cancelled is getting my once-a-week-four-hours-on-a-thursday-night class cancelled. because, let's be honest, four hours is way. too. long. especially when you suck at drawing. and i'd much rather experience ihop's pumpkin chocolate chip pancakes than sit in class.

e) last night zach and i went to real steel. was i a tiny bit skeptical? i was. but did i love it? i did. also, there was a six-year-old boy behind us who started the movie by telling his mom she was his "BFFF" over and over again, and provided commentary throughout the entire movie. some guy called a black guy "brother" in the movie and he goes, "he called him brother cause they're friends." so freaking cute.

f) aaaaand now a day of homework awaits me! plus it's 50% off at gap so that's probably gonna be happening too. and i desperately need a new pair of shoes because my vans give my blisters, my sperrys give my blisters, and nothing else is water-proof. great. i hate shoe shopping.

g) i'd really like to go make my to-do list now so that i can get everything done today. it would be really nice to have a day just to do nothing tomorrow.. so wish me luck.

h) jackets with thumb holes are the greatest invention ever.

i) also there's a parade outside. what's the parade for? i have no idea.

perfect.

lately i've been thinking a lot about being happy regardless of life.

most parts of my life are great right now. i love my job, i love byu, i love my classes, i love my friends, i love general conference, i love that my sisters live close, i love that my studying is paying off, i love that fall is coming.

some things are just not wonderful though. i super don't like my apartment, i hate the heat being turned on every. freaking. day. when it's 85 degrees outside, i'm tired of stomachaches, i dislike that my best girl friends living three hours away, and i'm sick of complicated life situations.

and yet, despite all the things that i would change if it were up to me, i've been happy these past few weeks. i've been really, really happy. because it's not about tomorrow. it's not about what life would be like if i still lived at king henry, or if i hadn't broken up with my boyfriend, or if i had instantly bonded with my ward and had roommates that i adore. it's just about today, and today i get to be happy.

it's like president uchtdorf said last week:

"don’t close your eyes and hearts to the simple and elegant beauties of each day’s ordinary moments that make up a rich, well-lived life."

and also, someday i'll stop being lame and start taking pictures.

my biggest wish

there are a few things i wish for on a regular basis.

the most important of these things is my wish for somebody to offer to give me a ride to work.

this happened on a very regular basis in idaho. and do you know what? i really liked it. this does not happen in utah. probably because (a) parking sucks, (b) i don't have a fiance, and (c) i have no roommates who go to campus.

am i my father's daughter? i am. does it show? probably not. because my father is all "if you're cold, go exercise!" "if you're tired, go exercise!" "if you can't concentrate, go exercise!" and when i moved to king henry (a solid 25 minute walk from the tanner building where i work) he said, "oh that's great! you can get some of your exercise in walking to class!" i am ashamed to admit that i walked to class exactly zero times that entire semester. it's not because i don't think my dad is on to something when he always says "go exercise!" cause i do, and i like my exercise just as much as the next girl. the thing is, though, i really value my sleep very highly, and waking up 20 minutes early is so far from worth it that i couldn't even make it happen once.

and guess what? i wish somebody would offer to drive me to work. first of all because it's a 15 minute walk and sometimes i get bored on my walk, and second of all because sometimes at 7:45 in the morning my legs are tired and all i can think is how much i would love (lovelove) to still be back in bed.

so.

randoms

french fries
as a child, i hated ketchup. loathed it. for example, i loved sloppy joes until i found out they had barbeque sauce in them and barbeque sauce has ketchup. and then one day we were at red lobster at one of those big round tables, and next to us was the table we always called the "laughy table," that really, really loud table which seemed to always be right next to us, and when my mother wasn't looking i dipped my french fry in ketchup real quick-like and popped that baby in my mouth and fell in love. and ever since, i love my ketchup. lately i eat a lot of french fries (or as my mother calls them, french bakes, because they're definitely not fried and even more delicious) because they don't make my tummy hurt. however, something i really, really don't like is running out of ketchup. i would rather have six times too much ketchup on my plate than try to get enough ketchup on my last fry. gross.

other random thoughts of the morning include:

bee
i wish that brianna's phone wasn't broken. at home, we have a terrible habit of walking down the stairs after getting ready and realizing that we are a) both wearing the same shirt, b) both wearing the same jeans, and/or c) both wearing our hair in the same way. and having class together three times a week means it's important that we check on these things with each other. i'm wearing a shirt that i own in red and she owns in pink. i'm nervous.

where is fall??

i miss my chelsea (and also this sweater. i wish i was wearing it right now.)

is it the weekend yet?
my level of excitement for the weekend is through the roof. this last weekend was fantastic. football game, moneyball, finishing my entire to-do list, A-'s on both of my tests, the park, church, relief society broadcast, long talks with my mother and emails from my father, lemon bars, source code.. perfection. but now i'm ready for next weekend. and quite frankly i think five more days is much too long.

how wonderful.

i owe zach a cake. so when he texted me yesterday and said it was his nephew's birthday and could that count, i was happy. because making cakes for kids is infinitely more fun than making cakes for adults. at least that's my belief.

what sucks, though, is when you make an incredibly vital mistake first thing in the cake-decorating process. and by you i mean me, and i'm not speaking hypothetically at all. i'm speaking this-is-the-story-of-my-life.

it all began this morning when i set out to make this iron man cake.

i printed off a picture of iron man from the internet and decided the most effective way to do this would be to poke holes in the cake in the places where i needed my lines to go. only i couldn't find any toothpicks, so i opted for a knife instead. and as long as i was poking holes in my cake, i figured, why not just cut the lines into the cake?

(as you can tell, it's been several months since i've made a cake. as in, several, several months.)

and everything was fine and the cake looked great and i piped the brown lines on and then i started adding the stars. and then the cake started collapsing. meaning, the entire left side of the face began falling away from the right side of the cake.

no big deal, i figured. i'll pop some toothpicks in and everything will be fine.

false. no toothpicks. also i would like to give a shoutout to the makers of pillsbury cakes for creating the moistest, softest funfetti in all of the world. great for eating. not so great for decorating.

as the cake fell farther and farther away (further? i can't remember. guess that's probably a sign i should be studying for my mcom exam next week..) and the frosting proved incapable of holding it up, i decided to try a new approach. namely, i cut the offending pieces from the cake and placed them on a plate to be reattached at a later time.

but the cake wasn't finished. so as more and more cake fell away, i decided to try a new approach, one which i like to call "go for the 3D, multilayered look."

i wasn't feelin' great about it, but i was feelin' fine about it. so i kept on truckin'.

and i finished the cake. and everything was fine. and i was happy.

and then i cleaned up the kitchen and looked at the cake again.

aaaaand there went the rest of the cheek.

so it's currently sitting on the other side of my table, hidden behind my computer, propped up with a cup. i'd really, really, really rather not look at it anymore.

cakes suck.

true

“It is always the simple things that change our lives. And these things never happen when you are looking for them to happen. Life will reveal answers at the pace life wishes to do so. You feel like running, life is on a stroll.”

-donald miller

this is what i'm thinking

sometimes i just look in the mirror after waking up half an hour late and am genuinely impressed with my ability to make myself look presentable in fifteen minutes. today was one of those days. good work, amy.

last night cristina and brianna came over and we made pizza. i think they're fantastic. really, just wonderful. so that was lots and lots of fun.

and then i went to the movie warrior.hello best movie ever. (and no, i am not just saying that because of the high volume of ripped shirtless men. promise.) it was just really, really great.

also, i'm not allowed to chew gum anymore, on account of my stomachaches. considering i regularly go through four or five packs of gum a week, i'm foreseeing a problem. wish me luck on that one.

and one more thing. i walk into work today to find this on my desk:

thank you, brent. heaven help me.

is it monday again already?

i love hiking. i love being outside in the sun, i love walking in my nikes, i love when it is greengreengreen and surrounded by trees, and i especially love when a waterfall or lake or river is the final destination. i love sitting on a rock and just thinking, i love the feeling of satisfaction when i get home. (and maybe i also love not having to drag my butt to the gym later that day..)

favorite picture.




one other thing i really love is when chelsea and kylie surprise come over at one in the morning. particularly when they sneak up the stairs and it scares me more than they even planned. and particularly when chels brings the most glorious, perfect, wonderful birthday present in the entire world--an african safari journal (made out of elephant dung by african children..classy) and a baby nala.



soooo happy that chelsea's back in rexburg a mere three hours away and that kylie is in heber.

i just don't feel like putting pictures up

there are some things in my life that i'm really diggin right now. like, really, really diggin. (these things do not include: the rose thorn that sliced my right palm open two days ago and still hurts, the customer service system at wall street journal, the gash i put in the side of my car trying to park on wednesday, or the mind-numbingly boring statistics professor bri and i listen to for three hours a week.)

first and foremost, having a sister who is a freshman is the best. thing. ever. no exaggeration. not only because she feeds me lunch sometimes at the cannon center, but also because, when i have an hour break between my normal classes and my four hour (FOUR HOUR!) art class on thursdays, i can pop right over to her dorms and take a quickie nap. beauty.

second, accounting class is full of some w.e.i.r.d.o.s. (no offense to dan or zach, both of whom are cool enough to prove that accounting can, in fact, be a respectable major.) we're assigned a new seat every day in class, which certainly mixes things up, allowing me to meet some fun people (jason, elise) and some strangies (coughMATSONcough). it keeps things exciting. mostly i just love watching those more ..interesting.. people (a) flirt with girls, and (b) make conversation. magic.

third, pumpkin bread. i feel strongly about pumpkin bread. strongly positive. and i made two loaves this week. so i'm feeling strongly positive about life. (also can we talk for a second about bbq chicken sandwiches? FAVORITE.)

fourth, sleep. sleep is a beautiful thing. even more beautiful as of today, when i was getting the mail at work and found a request for 18-55 year old pre-menopausal women to perform a simple sleep study and receive $100. pretty sure i fit the description. pretty sure i'd like $100. pretty sure that's going to be happening.

fifth, i am such a fan of being busy that i cannot even explain it. work eight to twelve, class til three, appointments, art class, kickboxing, or homework til evening, something fun til bedtime, sleep. begin again. love it. way more than i should.

sixth and last, the rain at this moment. rain in the loft sounds freaking incredible. it's raining really hard. and i can hear the cars splashing in the puddles. so even though it's messing with my plans to get free jdawgs tonight, i'm liking it.

thank you and good-bye.

september.

the blog-world is absolutely overflowing with posts about fall, and crisp air, and new beginnings.

i wish i knew what everybody was talking about. maybe it's because i've been in classes all summer, so fall isn't so much the start of something new (no homo, hsm) as the continuation of something i've already been waist-deep in. maybe it's because it's still 85 degrees outside in provo, and in st. george this weekend it was 102, and neither 85 and 102 scream "crisp autumn air" to me. maybe it's because i didn't go to a barbeque or picnic or parade on labor day (do people have labor day parades? not sure.) but instead ate grilled cheese sandwiches and then drove three hours home and did my homework and went grocery shopping and sat in the hot tub.

the weekend was fun. especially cliff-jumping and swimming at sand hollow. and three cheese and making sunday dinner like an adult and playing in the river. loved it. didn't take any pictures, naturally, but that's life.

i wish it was fall.

school and cars, my life

i like school. i like going to class and i like taking notes and i like going to the library and i like learning new things. i like acing tests and i like getting papers back with a fat A at the top. and that doesn't make me a freak, it just means i like to learn. i like the feeling at the end of the semester when you look at a syllabus you could hardly understand at the beginning of the semester and suddenly know what everything means.

my car broke again. i say again because it's happened before. please enjoy this list of car breakages/problems in the last two years: a) months after i purchase my rav4, the transmission blew. b) one month after that i got a flat tire. c) five months after that the engine blew. as i was not about to spend seven grand to fix my car, i bought the corolla i drove in high school from my parents. d) three months after that, another flat tire. d) two months after that, the front bumper broke. e) and now, the car wouldn't start. we were worried it was the alternator. but bestfraaaand came over and fixed my car right up and now it has a new fresh battery and life is good. or at least it will be after i gas up.

other enjoyable parts of the last week have been The Spot at rock canyon, seeing david harrison smith in the parking lot, scott's razzmataz smoothie skills, art class last night, zupas at work (always a joy), heart to hearts with bee, accounting class (uhhh what?), finding out that people in america (minus minnesota) don't say "couple-three", and looking younger than the freshmen every single time i walk to bri's dorm.

today is

today is: the first day of classes.
my tummy hurts. i can't tell if it's because i'm, like, five years old and still get nervous for the first day of school, or if it's just my usual tummy ache. but really now. enough is enough!

today is: paige's last day in utah.
we've had a grand time, complete with crafts, shopping, drives, and long talks.

don't mind the tie-dye. i literally (literally) only wear it to bed.

today is: banana bread for breakfast.
can't wait until it's pumpkin bread season, and i wish i hadn't eaten all of the zucchini bread my mother brought me so quickly.

today is: not a day to wear new clothes.
i'm rocking a white v-neck and skinny jeans. cause i am an advocate of the "i'm-not-in-middle-school" look, which requires waiting until the middle of the first week to wear new clothes. which is a shame because a) mom and bri and i went on a shopping spree at gateway on saturday and it was the best. day.evahhhh, and b) brianna now lives in my town, which means my closet is basically twice as big. (DON'T BE MAD THAT I SAID THAT, BEE!!)

today is: the day aubrey probably comes home!
absolutely fantastic, i've missed that girl so hard over the last week while she's been working.

today is: a happy day.
i love being happy. and i woke up this morning with the sun streaming through my window, and even though it was 6:45, i was happy. maybe happy isn't the right word. maybe i'm just..content.