Fingers Crossed

On Friday I had an interview at USBank--they're opening five new branches in the general area and need a bunch of new tellers and stuff. I would totally be game for a job as a bank teller. :) Now I just have to wait for a call to see if I made it in . . . *fingers crossed*

:D

Still Just Hangin' Around . . .

Oops, I haven't posted in a while . . . tsk tsk. My day-to-day still hasn't changed much, though. I'm actually helping Meagan more significantly with homework now that school's gotten started--Becci, too. And I'm responsible for keeping the lawn watered and the house more or less orderly . . . just practicing my Housewifery. :) Still haven't obtained a job, though I've sent my resume out to a bunch of places, including a temp agency . . . that was last week, and I'm hoping to hear from them this week . . . *fingers crossed.*

Meantime, I really have been working more on my writing, so huzzah. :D Though I don't plan on sharing details until I have at least a draft finished, so y'all'll just have to wait. ;)

On a not-so-same-ol' note, though: my singles' ward just combined with another branch, because both our numbers had been dwindling lately . . . so now I've got a bunch new faces to introduce myself to. And some of them even look pretty cute . . . ;) Now all I have to do is remember the date of the next ward activity. :)

All Growed Up

This morning I helped Bethany move into her dorm at the U of U! Woot! She's all growed up and going to college. :D I'll put up pics if she ever takes any. . . ;)

We were super fortunate, it seems--we got her all moved in and even helped her new roommate with the last load of her stuff about ten minutes before . . . . Boom! Major rainstorm. It only lasted a couple hours or so, but it poured. And it was cold. Like, come on, it's August already. :P On our way out of Salt Lake Michael and I drove through some puddles that seriously came up to the car doors.

And to think, there were people at that very hour still walking around Davis County Fairgrounds, ordering funnel cakes. Which I know because I went to work there this evening, and they told me about it. :P Hardcore, my friends. Of course, I'm perfectly happy that by the time I got to the fairgrounds the sun was back in its customary place in the sky, and the temperature was back to sweltering summer heat. Crazy Utah.

Also fortunately, tomorrow's forecast is sunny and clear. Yay, wedding! :D Which brings us back around to this post's title: Aw, Natalia and Clark are all growed up and getting married!

Huzzah! :D

Okay, now I'm off to shower and get old nail polish off and other such things to make myself all presentable, then go to bed early enough that I can wake up plenty early tomorrow to get places. Yep yep yep. :)

Found: One Female Boxer Puppy

So I went on my usual walk today, and as I was halfway along it I saw this dog running along with its retractable leash skittering along behind her. There were some people nearby, so I didn't think much of it. Then on my way back, this puppy (a boxer like my brother's) was still running back and forth, and all signs of human life were gone. (It was around 10:00pm.) So I called to it, thinking I'd catch it for whoever lost it. The puppy was extremely skittish. I cajoled and sweet-talked and made happy puppy-calling sounds, and it would come near . . . then bolt if I so much as reached for it. So, of course, I got more determined to catch the little sucker. ;D

Well, it took me twenty minutes or so to get enough on her good side (I eventually discovered she was a girl), and a bit of trickery to get her close enough that I could step on her leash and get hold of her. She calmed down after that, and let me pet her. She never tried to bite or even growl at me, so I wasn't worried. I was just sad/concerned that she was so jumpy. But maybe it was just the fact that her rather noisy leash had been hounding her all day. ;) So, a collar and leash, but no tags, and no people left around the park that I could see, except for a group of laughing teenagers who didn't seem to be missing their dog. So, yeah. I brought her home with me. So sue me. ;)

I'm keeping her in my room for tonight, so she doesn't get all mixed up in our posse of boy dogs. Wouldn't want them to fight over her or knock her up, or anything like that. :) Tomorrow I plan to call Animal Control and maybe take her on another jaunt up by that park and see if anyone's looking for her around there. So, no, I'm not gonna try and keep her . . . I just didn't want to leave her all by her lonesome out there. :(

;)

Road Trip

This weekend I went up to Idaho with Heather to see her sister's brand-new baby. Heather wanted a driving buddy, and I didn't have much else going on. :)

It was quite fun. I got to pester the tiny little 4-day-old baby girl just as much as I wanted. She's only about 5lb 8oz, so she sleeps more than she eats, and we got to tickle and bug her to wake her up for the next meal. :) We also got to pose her all sorts of cute for Heather to take newborn pics, which turned out way too adorable for words. :D Plus also, I hung out with the other daughter, who, at not quite two years old, was a little starved for attention with a new sister in the house. She was a cutie, too, and warmed up to me (and got over a bit of flu) by the third day, just in time to get a few smiles out of her for the family pics. :)

In addition to all that fun, I managed to convert Heather to one of my favorite audio dramas while we drove to and from her home: Decoder Ring Theatre's Black Jack Justice. Which is an awesome film noir, Dick Tracy style affair featuring a hard-boiled private eye named Jack Justice, and his sassy partner, Trixie Dixon, girl detective. Good stuff. decoderringtheatre.com. Check it out. ;)

That's a Lot of Heavy Metal.

Today I woke up and did my hair first thing (see? I can do my hair more than two days in a row. ;p), then I ran down to Farmington to get my food handlers permit so's I can be that much more useful at the concessions booth (they're required to have at least one person in the tent at all times who has one, so my not having one yet wasn't that big a deal. But now I have one, so all's well), and then I did some enumerating (two hours last week, two hours so far this week, and already I'm nearly finished again . . . *sigh*), and then I went on a walk and took one of the dogs. Tada! I only spent one or two hours today doing something unproductive, namely watching t.v. and chilling outside for a while, watching Kyle sell our p.o.j. Lumina. Yay! Admittedly, this relatively productive day didn't really get started until around noon . . . ;)

Speaking of selling cars . . . we've sold our ages-old Mormon Assault Vehicle, aka the 15-seat Ford Club Van, and today we also unloaded the Lumina. Next up is Sammy's Oldsmobile Ciera, and then the Chevy Silverado. Dang. That's a lot of vehicular turnover goin' on. We've got a new truck lined up already to be Dad's new toy (a GMC Duramax), which will be able to haul more and better than the Silverado, so the Big Boys can go on their next Big Toys (ATV) tour without worrying about the transmission, which apparently has gotten all messed up on our current truck because it just wasn't strong enough for what we used it for. It'll also have a bigger back seat. Thing is, the new truck will be off-limits to . . . well, pretty much everybody, I guess, except Dad, who won't be driving it much while he's off in Iraq . . . so it'll just wait here for him for a while. :P

Meanwhile, Kyle plans to buy a Chevy Blazer with the money from the Oldsmobile, which he can then modify and mess with to his heart's content. So we're selling four vehicles and replacing them with two, leaving the family with a total of . . . uh, four? (Impala, Geo Metro, Duramax and Blazer[?]. Yep, four.) Oh, and I guess we still have Sammy's other old car, the Ford Contour, still chillin' in the Red Neck side of the yard . . . we're waiting on Sammy to get the title to us for that thing. Apparently it got lost along the way somewhere, so he has to be the one to get a new one before we can sell that one, as well. Or save it for when Meagan learns to drive . . . *shrug.*

It'll be kinda weird, actually, having only three cars in the driveway and none on the street in front of the house (the Duramax might chill in the side yard where the van used to live . . .). I'm so used to having a million cars sprawled every-which-way all over our property, and most of them in use, too. But with Caryn and Bethany both down in SLC at the UofU without cars (Caryn and Sammy have a new one to share), we don't have quite the overload of drivers that we used to. It's just me, Mom, and Kyle. And Meagan in a year or so . . . and Becci two years after that . . . at which point I guess we'll buy another cheap car or two again. Goodness. Hopefully by then I'll have either bought the Geo, or handed it down to one of the girls because I've bought something better. Which would be contingent on me finding a steady job . . .

Dang. That's nine cars that we either own, have recently sold, or will own shortly. That's ridiculous. (All the picture links are random ones I found online to help those like me who can't tell one car apart from another unless it's one I've personally driven. They look more or less like the ones in our driveway, except for the to-be-purchased ones, for which I don't know the color.)

Is it any wonder I kept juggling cars in college? Which, if we get into that, would have to bring in the other Lumina (which Michael and Shantel now own) and the Malibu, which was intended to be officially mine upon graduation, but then I had to go and total it . . . *sob/sigh* Poor Shiv . . .

Which takes our car count to eleven. And that's only stretching it back about two years. Take it another year or so back from that and you get another Lumina and another Malibu (making thirteen) that met their ends at Michael and Caryn's hands, respectively. This is turning into a sad story . . . ;P

Long dead metal friends aside, though, to recap: we're selling five cars (counting the Contour) and buying two, for a final total of four. Sheesh.

And the Geo's mine. Mineminemine. And I won't crash it. Promise. ;D But I do need to fix that durn AC . . .

Aaaaahh!

I cut all my hair off!

Okay, not all of it. But more than I have up to this point. the front isn't too much shorter than I've had it before, but the back g

ets as short as 1 1/2 inches or so. It feels quite nice, I must say, having my hair off my neck and shoulders without having to wear it up all the time. And driving with the windows down (thanks to that ever-so-useless AC) will be much less of a hassle.

See?

Cute, huh?

That's the basic wash-and-wear look. I'll probably add mousse more often than not to give it some body and fluff.

And occasionally I can even go the gel-and-spikes route, and get this:

Which, IMO, is pretty dang cute, too. Who'd'a thunk I could pull of spikes so cutely? ;)

Aw, ain't I adorable?

Summertime

You know what's annoying? My left arm is more tan than my right. :P It's from driving long distances with the sun to my left the whole time, and the windows down because the little red Gutless's AC doesn't work. I don't get super tan to begin with, but my left arm has managed to get noticeably darker. Meanie. Maybe I need to go on my walks with one sleeve on, to give the other arm a fighting chance . . . ;)

So, a recap of the last week, since I've been a slacker:

Natalia's bridal shower was nice and successful and well-attended, and I was in charge! I guess I'm getting better at this party planning thing. ;) I made about a hundred crepes using Emily's family's crepe maker, which is definitely a kitchen tool I plan to own someday. :D

And the only thing I left in Provo this time was my unopened jar of Nutella. Oops. ;)

Friday and Saturday I worked at Madsen's Fun Foods booth at Clinton's Heritage Days. We sold funnel cakes. I'll be working with them again in a few weeks at the Davis County Fair. I like working with them--it's a fairly easy gig, takes up only the occasional weekend during the summer, and is my only real source of income right now. (The whole census thing is pretty questionable at this point. I don't think the job will be around any more after this week. :P) I did send in a resume the other day, though, for an editing position with a health foods company, or some such, that I found online . . . *fingers crossed.* Hmm, maybe jobs will be a touch easier to find once summer's over and people start heading back to school . . .

And in the meantime, I'm walking, helping Mom get projects ready for Girls' Camp, nagging Meagan about getting her summer homework packets done . . . stuff like that. And listening to even more awesome radio dramas and audiobooks. :) And pondering cutting my hair . . . Now that the idea's in my head, it's getting really tempting. ;) Especially since it's actually hot these days . . . height of summer, and all. :)

All Pretty-fied

Can't excuse my last few days' lack of posts with anything other than distraction--I got all wrapped up in a book and stopped taking time out to write. Tsk, tsk.

Anywho, we got our house and yard all prettied up for Caryn's second, Utah reception/open house, which took quite a bit of time and effort over the past few days. I even got my room all tidied up, even though no one from the party saw it. Now it's all nice because I actually have floor and desk space, and everything actually looks clean. :) Huzzah! Also the yard is all purty, with weeds pulled and a new layer of wood chips lain around all the plants and a new lattice and planter box separating the pretty side of the yard from the "red neck" side (a disused old car and trailer, a home-made "not-a-shed," weeds as tall as me . . . ;) ).

Speaking of red necks . . . so, the first reception was all traditional, with the bouquet toss and the cake cutting and the dancing and all the cuteness. This one, two weeks later and getting more extended family than friends on the guest list, was way more casual. We just sat and ate and chatted, let the dogs into the yard with us, let the kids play on the trampoline . . . a bunch of us even ended up playing card games around one of the tables while Caryn wandered around getting pictures with everyone. It was way laid back, which I liked. I really enjoyed both receptions--the city and the country one, as my mom put it. :)

On another topic entirely (though it was suggested during the party), Caryn and some of her friends suggested that I cut my hair all short and try out the a-line/"pixie cut" look--longer in front and short and spiky in the back. You know, all emo-like or just sorta shaggy. (No coloring, though. Too much trouble.) Would that just be totally insane? It might be entertaining to try . . . and my hair grows all sorts of fast, anyway . . . ;) I've never tried anything shorter than a bob . . . *ponders.*

Let me know what you think. I might play with the idea for a while . . . which, come to think of it . . . I'll probably want to wait until *after* August to experiment, just in case I look ridiculous . . . wouldn't want to spoil any bride's maids photos. ;)

But who knows? It might even be cute. I dunno. I tend to take others' opinions and suggestions on matters of fashion, and what styles (clothes, hair, makeup) will or will not work for me in particular. Gets me out of my box now and again. ;) And after all, the hair grows back . . . (of course, the biggest problem with a hairstyle like that is that I'd actually have to *do* it in the mornings . . . ;) )

Dueling Wands

Went on a date today--mini-golfing with my date and his brother and the brother's girlfriend at Cherry Hill. I won! Go figure. :) We ate dinner at Famous Dave's Bar-B-Que, which was quite delicious, then went and found some fireworks to watch. It was fun.

Afterwards I got to watch some silly young men shoot (relatively harmless) fireworks at each other. It was pretty funny. They shot colored balls of light at each other from what was essentially long, tube-like wands. :) I don't know if they would've appreciated the Harry Potter reference, but that's okay, I only just came up with it. ;) Of course, unlike Rowling's wizards, and more in the style of medieval knights, these guys had plastic shields taped over their left arms, just in case.

Also, all parties remain alive and nothing got scorched, so all is well with the world. ;)

Add in some laundry and dishes, and my Grandparents coming up to help Mom with some yard work (in preparation for Caryn's Utah reception), and you have my day. It was a good one. :)

Spud Racer!

First, a recap of the last couple days: I went down to Provo--again with less-than-reliable internet service (but they've fixed it now, huzzah!)--and we saw the premieres of Eclipse and The Last Airbender. I liked them both. I think the actors/director/special effects crew and everybody are getting better with each Twilight film they make. The plot flowed better and was more interesting, Bella didn't stutter nearly as much, and they actually had some lines that were funny on purpose, as opposed to just being hilariously bad. ;) And Jasper played Sokka, which was not as odd as I thought it would be. Of course, Sokka didn't play the same comic relief role that he did in the tv series, so it wasn't as much of a stretch for the actor as it could've been, I guess. :P Though I had been looking forward to seeing Jasper acting silly . . . Ah, well. At least in Eclipse he actually had a few lines. Turns out he even had a Southern accent. Who knew? ;)

I came home this afternoon so I could be here for my ward's "Spudwood Derby," in which we all carved potatoes and put pinewood derby wheels on them and raced them down the track. Here are some pictures of my lovely racer, Geraldine:

I can't say I put an awful lot of effort into her--I just shaved the potato into a vaguely sedan shape, and went from there. I hadn't brought anything specific to decorate the car with, so I took my owl keychain apart to make a driver and steering wheel, then dug around in my purse for other ideas . . . and ended up sticking a pair of Chlorotab alergy pills in for bug-eye looking headlights. :) Kinda cute, don't you think? Notice, the sleeping owl is facing backwards. No drowsy driving, kids! ;)

Anyway, for a random, thrown-together car, Geraldine actually did pretty well in the tournament. She beat all comers, right down to the final match. It was Geraldine vs. Spud the Stud. Me vs. Brother Ropelato, our 2nd Councilor in the bishopric. Relief Society vs. Priesthood. Girls vs. boys. ;)

And guess who won? That's right, Geraldine! :D

(One of the guys got video of it, which I'll have to get from him in the next few days or so and put it up on here. :) )

Admittedly, when Bro. Ropelato (hope I'm spelling that right . . .) realigned his wheels and we had a rematch, his car beat mine. But that's okay. I'm still taking the win. ;) It was all very exciting.

Also, yes, I went on a walk today. Huzzah. :)

Pleasant Surprise

I had some training today for a new census operation--yay, more income!--though it sadly only lasted 3 hours. All we did was re-read the same material we'd been trained on for the previous operation, and write in a few changes. Kinda silly. And to think, they'd scheduled us for 8 hours! That would've been extremely tedious. Bleh.

As it was, I had a free day when I wasn't expecting it, so I was able to accept an invitation to join some friends at Boondocks (the local go-karts/arcade/fun zone thingy place). I was invited by Dave, a friend, who'd been invited by Kassie, whom I'd only known in passing before. Kassie had a friend from the mission in town, visiting from Australia, and she wanted to show him some of the fun things we do when we're bored around here. So that was fun. I got to hang out with a real Aussie ;) plus get to know another ward member better. We raced on the Go-Karts, and I totally came up from behind and passed everybody at least once. :D I've gotta give credit to Kyle, who taught me all the tricks I know. (That one other time I went to Boondocks. Really, it's one trick. ;) )

After Boondocks we stopped by the ward activity that had been going on and that we'd pretty much missed (oops) because we were having too much fun. :) (I also got 2nd place in mini golf, and 3rd in Laser Tag. :D ) That was at the park, where we played on the swings and played a lot of random catch with the bouncy-ball I got with my tickets from the arcade. And after that, I took Dave home because he had class in the morning; Kassie added another new friend to the bunch, and we (Kassie, Paul the Aussie, myself, and now Sonny) went to Denny's for a midnight snack. (at least, by the time the food actually got to us it was creeping up on midnight.)

So we hung out and had fun and I got to get to know some people I hadn't known before, and it was quite a fun day. I'm glad that census training didn't last as long as it was supposed to. I would've really missed out. :)

Looks Like They Made It

We're back home now, and Caryn is officially among the ranks of the married! Huzzah! The reception had a great turnout, as did the Temple ceremony, with a few families making the long drive up from Phoenix or down from Salt Lake to be there. Lots of mission buddies and close friends, music, munchies, and congratulations. :) Caryn even got a surprise wedding cake from her friend, who decided to bake one at the last minute when she found the original baker had fallen through and we were just gonna have sheet cakes. It was totally a cute cake, covered with flowers that matched her bouquet, and it gave them something to cut all ceremoniously. :) (I'll try to post some pictures eventually, though I imagine there'll be some on Facebook somewhere before I ever get my hands on a copy . . .)

Caryn went for the cute/small mess by dabbing frosting on his nose . . . to which he responded by smashing cake in her face . . . which earned him a frosting-smeared smack. It was silly. (and no harm came to the dress, so all is well with the world.) ;)

Caryn played the guitar and sang Sammy a song, too: "You're Still the One" by Shania Twain. It was tender. :)

I got to see a few people I hadn't in a good long while, like Crystal who was in our ward down there. Hung out for a good while with Kelsey, too. Huzzah! :) After the reception was all cleaned up a few of us relaxed in the hot tub and got caught up. It was quite nice, especially after a hectic day running last-minute errands and making sure we didn't run out of fruit, cake, or plates.

And to think, we get to re-do the whole thing in a couple weeks, for her Utah reception! :) This time we'll be a bit ahead of the curve, though. We know what to buy more of, and what we can go easy on. (Like broccoli. We ended up with a lot of leftover broccoli.)

I didn't post for the last couple days because the internet where we were staying was on the sketchy side. But I'll continue to keep up now that I'm back, and post more details about the wedding and such if and when they come to me. For tonight, I am once again late for bed. ;) So far that's the hardest goal to keep track of. :P

Goodnight! :)

Vegas, Baby! ;)

We made it safe and sound, hooray. :) I met Kyle in Santaquin and headed down with him in the truck, about an hour and a half ahead of Mom & co. in the Impala. Not much to report today aside from road-trippin'. :)

Tomorrow is prep day--make sure we have the food we'll need, throw up some minimal decorations around my aunt's yard (it's already a nice looking place. Some twinkle lights and fluttery toule, and it'll be quite lovely)--and then Saturday is the big day. :D

In the meantime, I'm sleepy, so I think I'll keep it short for today and call it a night.

Goodnight. :)

Cake Wrecks!

Huzzah, Natalia and I made it to the Cake Wrecks book signing party, and it was well worth the effort. John and Jen are quite funny and cute and friendly in person, as well as online. :) They had a slideshow with some of their personal favorite wrecks, and took questions, and judged the cupcake wreckplica contest . . . . The atmosphere was super friendly and everybody laughed at the same inside jokes, and it was like we'd all known each other for quite some time.

Also, the King's English Bookshop, which housed the event, is so cute. It's small and cozy and situated in the middle of a quaint little neighborhood with small, old-school, non-pre-fab houses, with a little bistro across the street and a Starbucks on the corner . . . Overall, very cute set-up. Makes we wish I lived in Salt Lake City. :)

Also, they had cake. Yummy, fancy cake. For more details, check their blog in the next couple days. Heck, check out their blog anyway, and get addicted! Join the 750,000 per day readership that are laughing themselves silly over this phenomenon. :D (One guy, apparently, literally laughed himself unconscious reading the blog. Fell off his chair. Knocked his head on the ground. Un. Conscious. Fortunately he survived and the family thought it was funny. :D)

So, now I'm visiting good ol' Y Town, but once I finish this post I'll be off to crash in Santequin with the Grandparents, so tomorrow I can meet up with Mom and Caryn and company on their way down to Vegas for the Wedding! Fun, fun, fun. :D

(Also, I walked to and from a couple far-ish places, like Wal-mart and Wendy's . . . so that'll have to count for today. :) )

The Apple Never Falls Far . . .

I went to my mom's classroom today to help her reorganize some shelves and her cabinet and stuff in preparation for going off track/finishing the school year. And let me just tell you, I know where I get my cluttersome tendencies from. ;D I mean, seriously. My mom is never going to have to buy staples, paper clips, or sticky-tack ever again. Plus a lot of other random stuff that had been collected hodge-podge in these drawers since she was teaching in Vegas, inheriting random piles of stickers and flash cards and what have you from other teachers.

Yeah. As the pictures from a few posts back will attest, It was a familiar sort of job. ;)

Then after school I helped fill and tie maybe 300 water balloons in preparation for tonight's YW/YM activity--an annual, no-holds-barred, all or nothing water war. I didn't go (yeah, yeah, shame on me ;P), but Mom and all the girls came back quite soaked and well pleased.

The tragedy of the evening was, while I was busy filling water balloons, one of the dogs ran off with my brand-new black flip flop and tore it to shreds! And it was a nice one, too! *sigh.* Ah, well, C'est la vie. I may have to go buy a new set.

I'm afraid I missed my walk today, but all things considered, I think I spent my time in good causes. I'll just have to make it up tomorrow . . . if I can fit it in around the Cake Wrecks tour stop that (hopefully) I will be attending tomorrow evening, so long as I have a car to drive . . . (yeah, I know. I just rejoiced in my near-possession of the little red car. But Caryn's up for the last week of her single life, and she needs it to commute to work for another few days. *sigh.*)

So, that's my today. It was a good one, and I think I'll actually be able to fall asleep before midnight tonight. :) Being in a classroom full of 3rd graders is entertaining, but there's something about it that's just draining, too, even if you're just a sideline volunteer cleaning out the closets. :) I'm sleepy.

You Know What's Weird?

Caryn will be married by the end of the week! That's just so weird. :) And splendid, of course.

I went online today and found a couple jobs to apply for (fingers crossed!), which is terribly exciting. But I won't be able to follow up for a few days, because tomorrow and Wednesday I plan to go to my mom's school to help her prep for a sub, and then on Thursday we'll be heading down to Vegas, to make sure everything is in order for Caryn's wedding! Huzzah!

So, it's not really all that weird that she's getting married . . . it's just funny that it's pretty much here already. Terribly exciting. :D

I also get yet another check mark today for reading my scriptures, posting in my blog, and going on a walk. Yay, me! *clap clap clap!* ;)

Oh, and know what else has me terribly excited? Caryn has decided she does not want the hassle of owning the little red car, and so I get to keep it! Or, you know, I get to be the primary driver, because no one else wants it. Yay! I have a car that I can actually drive without asking anyone's permission or convenience first! And it's the one that still has a valid Alta parking sticker on it, thanks to a trip to Cancun and a Maxine who just loves me. :) So next time I visit I can actually park in the parking lot! ;)

Yep. Lots of happy things today. I feel special. ;)

A Revelation

So, I think the main reason I keep falling off the wagon where it comes to journal writing is that, in my opinion, there's rarely anything all that interesting to report from my day. And then of course, by the time something important does happen, I'm too out of the habit to write it down. Oops and oh well. Try again next time.

And then there's the "write down three ways God has shown His hand in your life today" approach. That's probably a good plan, too . . . and it's also something I'm bad at keeping up with. I mean, every day is still just the same. I like my life, I just don't know what to write about.

Well. I think today I've discovered my own personal reason for keeping a journal, and it's one I never would have expected. But it really feels right.

I've known for a good while now that I'm a "discovery writer." My best fiction writing comes when I have a vague notion, and I just let my fingers run with it across the keyboard for a while (or paper with pen), and I almost don't know what I'm writing until after I've read it. Which is fun, for me. It leads to a lot of misdirection and side-tracked stories . . . but that's a problem for another day.

I do the same thing when I'm writing a particularly heartfelt letter, on the occasions that I actually write in my journal. Heck, it's how I've written many a term paper, too. Write in crazy zig-zags and circles of thought until I know what I'm saying, then edit and rewrite it into coherence.

Today during Sacrament Meeting, I came to more fully understand another, much more interesting and potentially vital facet of my discovery writing tendencies.

There I am in the chapel, waiting for Sacrament Meeting to start. I'm writing in my journal to be a good girl and keep up with my newly refreshed goals, and I'm circling an idea in the usual rambling way. And suddenly, I GET it. I understand, quite abruptly, what it is I've been writing toward. It's something that I've been wondering about for a while, and have prayed about once or twice, and it occurs to me, hey, I think I might have something here. And I think I feel the Spirit nudge me and say, Yeah, I think you do. Now let's try it again.

So, basically, I write to myself in my journal that, hey! If I'm really being open to it, and making even the slightest effort to do what I'm supposed to, the Holy Spirit can nudge my thoughts in the right direction even as I'm writing them down. I will find myself literally spelling out the answer to my question, right there on the paper.

Wow.

I mean, I was astonished.

And thoroughly excited. I've figured something out! I wanted to shout. I seriously wanted it to be Fast Sunday already, so I could share this amazing discovery. It's like . . . it's this tiny little thing that pertains pretty much just to me, but at the same time it's just too interesting to keep to myself. So you, my friendly little readers, get to hear about it first. :D

Now I know why I, personally, really need to keep a journal. And it may or may not have anything to do with anyone else. My posterity may not need to know the laundry list of things I do each day. That's not what it's about. It's personal. And it's one really interesting, really definite way for the Father to tell me that, yes, He's talking to me. Seriously. Right now. Talking. And if I'll just listen, even if I'm listening with my pen . . . then I just might learn something.

And despite the slightly crazy, casual tone of this post, what I'm trying to say is that I have a newfound testimony of the Spirit, and the truly unique ways He finds to talk to each of us on an individual basis, and in an individual way. And while I've always known this and never doubted it, today was the first time that I've truly been floored by it. Honest-to-goodness awe-struck. My Heavenly Father was talking to me, in a way that was truly suited to me and my crazy way of thinking and figuring things out.

I mean, Wow. How neat is that?

A Rather Fun Day. :)

Woke up this morning in time to take a shower and head right back over the YSA conference thingy for breakfast, after which we split into groups to do a scavenger hunt/food drive cross. We didn't collect a specific set or number of things, just asked people if they had anything on our list, from food to clothes to cleaning supplies. I met some new people, seeing as I only slightly new one person in my group (my visiting teacher, in fact), and the other three were in another stake. It was fun. We saved a few people trips to D.I., and collected at least two truckloads overall of stuff for St. Anne's Homeless Shelter. Huzzah!

After that activity, I went shopping at Kohl's because I've been much lacking in flippy-floppy footwear for a good while, now. I got two cutely casual pairs, one black and one brown, to go with all my outfits. Huzzah, again! And they were more than $2, so I'm hoping they'll last a good long while. (I mean, not a ton more . . . we're still talking discount shopping.) And while I was there, I found this terribly cute pair of silver strappy shoes on clearance for just $9. Score! And now I at least have candidates for wearing to a certain someone's wedding. ;D

Here they are. Aren't they cute?

(though, as Becci tells me, I'm gonna have to put some effort into getting rid of the callouses on my heels, if I want the full effect. :P)

Back to the YSA for dinner, which Cafe Rio catered in for us (yum!), and then an incredible fireside with speaker Mariama Kallon, who grew up in war-torn Sierra Leone, Africa, and had a severely tragic childhood--her parents, brother, and sister were all killed by rebel soldiers. She talked about how finding the Gospel changed her life and gave her a reason to hope again, and how receiving one little hygiene kit meant so much to her and the women around her that she was able to share it with. It was a pretty amazing story.

Then we had cheesecake (don't you love church functions and food?), I met some more new people, who were pretty darn cool, and headed home once more.

Here at home I finished my laundry, walked on our elliptical machine (as it was too late to start an outside walk when I got home), and wrote in my blog! Huzzah! And listened to some more Dr. Laura, of course. ;) The getting-to-bed-on-time thing is still in the works, as I'm sure this post's time stamp will show, and I still need to take a shower (yeah, a second one. Yucky sweat go bye-bye.) and read some scriptures tonight. But hey, see? I got so much more done today than I did yesterday. I'm improving already! Huzzah! :D

Reviving Some Goals

Today started out my area's Regional YSA Conference, or whatever it's called. We had dinner (ribs. Yum.) and a "workshop," or basically 5 mini-lectures on being prepared: spiritually, physically (health), temporally (emergency kits and such), financially, and educationally. It was all familiar, of course. Stay out of debt, keep a 72-hour kit in your car, eat right, etc. But it was all still useful to me, since I don't actually do *any* of them quite as well as I should. I could eat better and exercise more; I still haven't made up my own 72-hour kit; I don't read my scriptures as regularly as I should; and, well, I don't even have a job, for the financial department. Educationally I guess I did all right. :) Now I just need to put that lovely degree to work, and get going on that financial bit. :D

Anywho, so this is a shiny-new excuse to restart some of my old goals. I've been working on the exercise thing--I've walked twice this week, and plan to up it to three tomorrow. And right now I'm fulfilling tonight's portion of that perpetually out of reach journal-keeping goal. Huzzah! So, Natalia, you should be happy--I'm going to try really hard to write here in my blog EVERY DAY! AHHH! Feel free to text or otherwise nag me if I'm falling short. ;) And this blog will serve as a reminder for my other goals, too. Like getting to bed on time and waking up early . . . hehe. ;)

Some other things I did today, so this is actually jounalistic and not just an intro to my next bout of goal-dodging . . . ;) . . . I listened to a bit of April's Conference on my iPod--Elder Koichi Aoyagi's talk about supporting each other, and Elder D. Todd Christofferson's about the translation of the Bible, and the idea that we need scriptural guidance more in this day than has ever been needed before on this earth. With the hymn "We Thank Thee, Oh God, for a Prophet" thrown in there. :) I've decided recently that I like listening to a Conference talk or two while I eat my breakfast.

After that I started a load of laundry (huzzah!), and promptly forgot about it. I should probably get back to that sometime tonight . . . hehe. And then I went online and subscribed to Dr. Laura Schlesinger's radio podcast, because she's just fun to listen to, and I listened to her while I went on my walk. :) And that's about all I did today that was even remotely useful. Hopefully, with a couple new goals to jump-start my day with (including the goal to, well, start my day . . .), I'll find myself accomplishing a few more tasks each day, until I become, once more, a fully-functional Productive Member of Society. ;)

Won't that be fun?

Picture Tag

Okay, so about a month later I notice Kelsey has tagged me in this game, to which the rules are apparently as follows:

1. Open your pictures and open the very first folder.

2. Go to the 10th photo in that folder.
3. Post the photo and write the explanation of it.
4. Tag five more people.

"All right," says I to myself, "let's see what we've got." Turns out, though, my last folder in Pictures is one called Wallpapers, for those nifty graphics I've pulled off the 'net. And who wants to see about those? My second-to-last folder is equally random, with a bunch of near-identical shots of a tree, or some such. Okay, so it's time to de-clutter the picture folder. Fun stuff. :)

So I rearrange a bunch of things, delete a few blurry or redundant shots, rename a couple things . . . and then fudge the rules a tiny bit more . . . to bring you the perfectly iconic picture above. :D Basically, my room (and Caryn's) growing up was perpetually a mess. My dad would occasionally switch between being annoyed by this, and being entertained. On this occasion he was entertained, and wanted to take a picture of me "cleaning" my room, to show to his disbelieving colleagues how incredibly cluttered his kids could be. Silly Daddy. He should have seen me at college. ;D As a matter of fact . . .

Hehe, yep, that's my side of the room. Not "messy," exactly . . . but cluttered? Oh, yeah. Fo' sho'. ;)

I guess I'm just a fan of clutter. Caryn's not--at least, not anymore. Which was tough for her when we had to share a room again just this last few monnths. But now she's moved out, preparing the apt. she'll soon be living in with her soon-to-be-husband, Sammy. She took quite a bit of furniture and other random things with her, so my room looks surprisingly sparse right now. Maybe it's time for another picture . . . ;)

Anywho, to continue the game, I tag . . . well, Naazju, as she's probably the only one who'll even look at this blog in the near future . . . and then, I dunno, the next four people who also happen to look? Post in the comments if you acknowledge tagged status, so I can head over and see what you've dug up, in turn. :D

Weird Dreams

Sometimes my dreams have unusually coherent plot lines. Like this one I had last night, which featured a few characters from the t.v. show I've been watching so much of recently: Corporal Max Klinger and Major Charles Emerson Winchester III, from M*A*S*H. I think Margaret Houlihan may have been there, as well, but only in passing.

So in this dream, I'm trying to warn Major Winchester about something, though even I don't really know what it is. I just know that something is wrong with him, and if it's not addressed, something very bad could happen in the near future. The problem is, I'm a ghost, and nobody can see or hear me. Except for Klinger, which isn't terribly helpful, because everyone knows he's always trying to act crazy, anyway.

So Klinger's trying his best to help me figure out what's wrong with Winchester, but no one pays him any attention, and we don't have much to go on because I don't even know what we're supposed to be looking for.

There follow several disjointed scenes of me floating Winchester's slippers, and such-like poltergeistery, and a scene with the three of us plus Houlihan in my Grandmother's living room . . . and some other random dream stuff.

Skip to the end: Klinger and I discover, in the nick of time, that Winchester isn't really Winchester at all, but an alien clone! The real Winchester is cocooned in some sticky web thing in the alien's lair. We rescue him and expose the alien just in time to get everyone out of the dirt fort--yeah. Dirt fort.--before the alien's bomb explodes and caves it all in! Klinger is the last one to escape, with me doing my incorporeal best to help him along. then everyone's safe, the real Winchester recovers, and everyone lives happily ever after. :D

I don't know what happened to the alien.

Dun

dun

DUNNNN!

I'm just so gosh-darn clever! ;)

So, we all know I got myself a cute little netbook for my birthday (more or less). It looks like so:

Cute, no?

I also got a cheap little slip cover for it, which is nice and handy, but not the sort of thing you can just tote the laptop in all by itself. No shoulder strap or extra room, and the like. So I decided to make my own laptop bag! :D

After scouring the internet for examples, patterns, advice, etc., I picked some fabric and started in. I screwed up several times, because I really didn't go into it with the most solid game plan in the world. I completely scratched my first attempt, and started over. Unfortunately, I didn't think to take a bunch of pictures of the process (which was long and haphazard), but here are a bunch of pics of the finished product, of which I am so proud:

Messenger bags are just so cute. :) The daisy fabric is some stuff Bethany had lying around, thanks to my Grandma C. who brought all her old fabric and patterns up for Beth to play with. I bought the black canvas material, added a black ribbon and some magnetic clasps and a typical nylon handle. And it is SO CUTE! :D

The part that made me scratch the first version was trying to split the bag into two compartments and add some foamy inserts to the laptop side. But finally I succeeded! Huzzah! See? Laptop in the back, cords and other what-nots in the front. :D

You'll also notice, along the inside of the front, a little double pocket for stuff like my wallet, iPod, pens, and such-like.



Ta-daaa! It took a lot of time, several trips to the craft store (no game plan, remember? ;) ) and rather a lot of ripping out seams and re-sewing them. Because that's how I roll. :D (Oh, and I'll probably need to go back in and reinforce that magnetic clasp . . . it's a bit stronger that I'd expected, and keeps trying to rip through the fabric instead of just opening. Silly thing. :D