I'm still alive.

My home computer is broken (again)...but I don't have internet in my apartment yet, anyway...so yeah.

I'm in my new place -- and I'm so grateful to be out of that awful situation.

Also, how about that Super Bowl? I'm kinda shocked the Packers came back and won it all ... but good for them! They needed a Favre-free title for sure.

I also have a bit of a Case of the Mondays...so I'm stealing Lacey's {/Leigh Ashley's supposed-to-be-Wednesday} writing prompt to get my creative juices flowing.

So I present: 

Things You Probably Never Needed to Know About Me But Now Will

{one} what was your favorite sitcom growing up?

Favorite? Oh man, I'm not sure I can pick just one. I was a HUGE fan of the TGIF lineup -- Full House, Step By Step, Family Matters...I also LOVED Saved By The Bell (Zach Morris...be still my heart).

{two} what song always makes you happy when you hear it?

The Beatles--Here Comes the Sun

{three} do you still have your wisdom teeth?

Thankfully, no. Those things were a huge pain in my...mouth. Actually they were so impacted that when they started doing my x-rays they realized that they were much worse than they'd thought and that they'd have to break parts (yes multiple parts) of my lower jaw to get the bottom two out. It was one of the most unpleasant things I've ever endured.

{four} what is your go to way to relax?

Sometimes a bubble bath. But usually some music, a magazine, my sweats, and the blazer blanket.

{five} do you play any instruments?

Two. Piano and the flute. Though I remember very little of the flute.

{six} nude beaches: yes or no?

Um. If you'd like to be on a nude beach goforit. But for me--nah.

{seven} do you chew your pens/pencils?

Mostly clicky pens. Weird, right? I click them on, and then chew on the loose top. I'm a nutcase, I know.

{eight} can you change the oil in your car?

I can do a lot of things car-maintenance-y...but changing my own oil isn't one of them.

{nine} can you curl your tongue?

Yep! I can fold it into a clover, too.

{ten} can you knit or crochet?

I can knit...but I can't crochet to save my freaking life.
I'm a pro at knitted potholders...but that's about it.

{eleven} have you ever been on tv?

Um, several times. I was a Broadcast Journalism student and work in TV.
But here, my friend, I have a present for you.
From my VERY FIRST STORY EVER...as a mere 19-year-old college student.


(This is stuff I never show ANYONE.)
But yes, it aired on LIVE Television...as did all my other stuff. Woot.

{twelve} what was the best movie you saw last year?

Um, I'm not quite sure. I think I saw 4 movies in the theater in all of last year. But I'd have to say Salt. A lot of people didn't like it, but I LOVED it. (And I don't usually like Angelina Jolie.) I thought it was intriguing and contained a lot of plot twists that I, truly, didn't expect.

{thirteen} do you sleep with your sheets tucked in or out?

I don’t sleep with a top sheet. I always end up getting tangled in it at night and kicking and thrashing until it's off me...and, subsequently, off the bed.

{fourteen} do you cut coupons?

I'm starting. I'm looking to save money and stick more to a budget (my resolution/a necessity)...so I'm starting to.

{fifteen} do you ever count your steps when you walk?

Sometimes. But more often I have to get in the same cadence as the people walking closest to me in order to be in the same rhythm. Again, I know I'm a nutjob.

{sixteen} what sauce do you dip your chicken nuggets in?

Ranch and/or BBQ. Always and forever.

{seventeen} do you have any magazine subscriptions?

Actually, yes. I have a subscription to Glamour. It's just about the only girly magazine I consistently like. I used to have one to Newsweek, but didn't renew it.

{eighteen} when was the last time you wrote a letter on paper?

Last week! Shockingly, enough.

{nineteen} what’s your favorite fruit pie?

Razzleberry or Apple. I'm a HUGE pie person. I always have Birthday pie, not cake. 

{twenty} black olives or green olives?

Black. And the jumbo ones, preferably.

Happy Monday, friends.

xoxo.

on tha reez

I promised a post or two ago to post a picture of my new glasses. 

I finally remembered! Haha. Here they are:

I like em! I tried on about 40 pair of glasses ... to no avail. I left the store and came back a couple hours later and found these cuties. I'm still a little sad they didn't have the red ones I was in love with a couple months ago -- but I really love these ones.

Also that sweater is pretty much my favorite item I own. It's SOO soft. 

 Also my yoga pants. They cost me $3.00 and they're so comfortable. 

How was everyone's weekend?

strange things you don't know about me...

My friend Ginny: 

{isn't this an awesome picture? it's from Holi.}

{oh! and remind me to tell you sometime about how truly incredible and amazing Ginny is. she's one of my heroes.}

challenged me to do a 10 Quirks post {like her} -- and we all know I'm real quirky, so I'll gladly oblige. 

1. I have a routine to follow before I sleep. And not like a night time face cream regimen -- like a number of flips and tosses I have to do in my bed before I can fall asleep. I start out on my back, then turn to my stomach facing right, then turn to my left, (and sometimes i do another sequence of this) and then I can slumber.

{my actual feet}

2. I have 9084560984058 pairs of shoes (okay, that's an exaggeration) but pretty much I'd rather be barefoot than wearing shoes at any point.

3. I don't set my alarms for normal times, but they're always set in 5 minute increments. 8:08, 8:13; 4:54, 4:59; 10:03, 10:08; etc.

4. I'm one of the most accident prone/clumsy people I know. Literally I can hurt myself in ways no one else would (like when I cutting stuff last night for dinner). I even broke my foot in high school by tripping over the other one. No joke.

5. I'm not a cat OR a dog person ... I'm both. I tend to think I'm slightly more suited for a cat because they're more autonomous and I work all the time -- but I love both.

6. No matter what is going on in my life, good, bad, happy, sad, ugly, pathetic, hopeful -- set me at the ocean and I'm immediately at peace.

7. I always pick the most annoying ringtone on my phone for my alarm setting. That way I'm so annoyed that I have to pay attention to it.

8. I usually cut my own bangs because I think other people mess them up. I'm RIDICULOUSLY O.C.D. about them. And I cut them (to some degree) at least once a week.

9. When I'm concentrating really hard or I'm really bored I tend to tap my front teeth with my pointer finger fingernail. I'll just sit there and tap as I think.

10. My favorite writing medium is not regular paper, or anything like that. It's napkins. I LOVE writing on napkins. They're so cushy and great and my handwriting looks awesome on them.

What about you? Let me know YOUR quirks!

winner, winner, blog friends should come to dinner!

So...I have 51 followers!

How/when did that happen!?!

It's AWESOME. 

And only a portion of you know me in real life ... and for that I am sorry!

{I keed ... I keed.}

I'm actually sorry I don't know you all of you in real life.

You seem are awesome.

I can tell.

So, because we don't get to see each other all the time ... I'm gonna do something fun. 

ASK ME ANYTHING.

Seriously. Anything.

{within reason -- no social security #s my friends, sorry.} 

And I will answer it.

All you non-commenters and lurkers -- come on out. 

I wanna get to know you!

And I want you got get to know me!
But friends, don't be shy, feel free to ask away, too! 

So, ask away my dears.

And I will answer!

xoxox.

it tells a thousand words...

i heart pictures.

and ever since joining the blogging community -- i've become more obsessed and enthralled with looking at, enjoying, and finding pictures.

so, in my lame cop-out post ... i'm going to show you some i think are wonderful.

little insights into my psyche.

{the apparent theme of the past few days...}

i love these houses.

they're sooo pretty and so many different colors.

this is a favorite picture of mine.

I love this piece. It's by Kurt Halsey.

And it's called:

About A Boy.

I LOVE that. Totally true. I can see her getting all cute and putting on a nice outfit -- and I think the butterflies are a great touch.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

This slays me. I seriously laughed for like a minute when I saw this.

{i do not endorse actually eating turtles.}

Pretty, pretty, pretty. And fun. I love this. And her ensemble. I want. I want. I want.

this is important to me. i love this. for so many reasons.

♥my puzzle piece.♥

i love you, barkley.

isn't this pretty? i love this. i want a print.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH. So many people have wayyyyy too much time on their hands.

but this is HYSTERICAL.

i think this is so tender. and so creative.

i want to hang out with this little girl. this is so funny!

i have an obsession with fake mustaches.

i have literally laughed out loud about 5 times just this afternoon while looking at this picture.

it's the baby. it kills me!!!

I think India is GORGEOUS. The colors, the culture, I love it. Bollywood? Dank.

I think that in their culture they appreciate color --and vibrant color, at that -- a lot more than we do. I love saris. I think they're gorgeous and I think they make women look gorgeous. This picture is amazing.

{gorgeous}

the other reason i've been laughing all afternoon.

i think this is true. {mine is ryan.}

i think this would make a great framed print.

{i have a thing for pictures of doors, i get it from my dad. i have a collection at home in boston.}

HA! fun. fun. and more fun.

star wars humor mixed with dairy = humor milkshake. aweeeesome.

I hope you enjoyed this.

And hopefully soon I'll post something more personal ... and less sappy.

{all images via we heart it}

show a little love...

I have some beef with Sonic.
I LOVE the Sonic. I want to crawl in their tator tot fryer and live there.
But I have gone twice in the past two days -- and they were closed!
I went at 1 in the afternoon, and 9 at night!
They're supposed to be open. Ugh. I'm craving a strawberry limeade like none other. 

Anyway. Let's look over some things I'm currently totally swooning over.

The 160 GB iPod. It's like a dream.

40,000 songs?! YES. PLEASE.

I mostly started looking at these because my iPod is starting to die...and I only have half a gig free space on it.

And my alma mater's bookstore has the 120 GB ones for just a little less.

And you have to have an iTrip to go with it -- I'm sobbing without mine.

EVERY.DAY. 

I love this necklace. It's hand stamped...with a phrase from my favorite poem.

I think it's adorable. And sweet.

I like this Etsy seller. She has a sand dollar necklace (I LOVE sand dollars) and tons of other cool jewelry.

 This CTR ring. (CTR stands for Choose the Right.) My current one is getting a little small on my hand. And this one is pretty.

 I FREAKING LOVE PLAID. 

And this matches my pink comforter...and the color scheme of my room.

{I LOVE bright happy colors for bedrooms. They're happy places!}

I also love this bedspread, this duvet and sheet set, this bedroom set, and this bed in a bag set.

This is why I have to stay out of the home goods sections of stores.

I LOVE these things. They're old WWII propaganda posters from England to let everyone know that all would be well. Definitely like the British--keep a stiff upper lip. And I love it in the honey color. I think it's gorgeous. It's the color my room was as a teenager.

{They have it in more colors.}

My Life Is Average.

It's pretty much one of my favorite things that got my through my sick days ... and my normal days, lately.

It's HYSTERICAL. They're all stories people send in from their every day lives.

Like one of my favorites from Halloween: 

Today, I was handing out candy for Halloween and someone rang the doorbell. I opened the door, but no one was there so I was about to close the door when I saw two people dressed as hands running toward each other down the sidewalk. They proceeded to collide midair: they were a high five. I gave them extra candy for their awesomeness. MLIA

I want to be friends with a LOT of these people. If you want a good chuckle, or even a smile, check it out.

And speaking of MLIA, I recommended it to one of my very favorite bloggers, Gabby @ Gabby She Wrote, and she mentioned me in her blog! It was a HUGE moment for me. I basically idolize this girl. 

Mental-Floss is definitely, 100%, certifiably for nerds like me. I love this stuff!

And I'm Etsying my life away trying to find a super cute, reasonably priced beanie, or two, for winter. It's getting chilly here.

What are you guys loving? I'd love to know!

Well, off to write more sweeps stuff. Yay for ratings periods! (Someone shoot me.)

Catcha on the flip side.
xoxo.

circle of salt to protect from zombies, witches, and old boyfriends...

Okay, I'm a bad blogger friend.
Seriously, life has been so crazy go nuts that by the time I get home the last thing I want to do is look at a computer.

Work is work.
That's all I can safely say here for now.


As far as that whole tutu thing -- I had a bunch of questions asking how/why/what I'm gonna be for Halloween.
Well, friends, Halloween is, like, my favorite (non-traditional) holiday.
You get to dress up as whatever you'd like and people give you FREE candy!! Where's the bad in this whole situation?
Anyway, in the past I've always been something cutesy or just fun for Halloween. I've never been anything even a touch morbid. I've been a princess (a thousand times), a cheerleader, a construction worker, a witch, a pirate, etc...but never anything ... weird.
So this year ... I'm going as ...
(drumroll, please)
a dead ballerina.

I know, I know.
But dude, my tutu is BAD A.
(I PROMISE I'll take a picture when my camera battery isn't dead).
As far as how to make one -- I did mine similarly to this:

I figured a video was better than trying to describe it.
AND sewing tulle is a BEAST so the non-sew option is AWESOME.
Anyone can do this. Seriously. ANYONE.
I did mine with 4 colors: black, turquoise, hot pink, and black with purple metallic spiderwebs.
And then I have spiderweb tights, some gorgeous heels, I made a headband for the occasion, and even "invested" in a leotard.

As far as makeup, MAC has been doing this awesome series of Halloween themed makeovers.
I think my zombie makeup will become something like this -- what do we think?

I'm SOOOO excited.


In other news, last week seems like it was craptastic for just about everyone. And in one day I managed to cry, break my purse AND my dvd player, and get sick in a giant fell swoop (and that wasn't even all of it). now that I've repaired/replaced at least some of that ... I feel like it can only go up from here. BUT. We all need a little humor. So I leave you with something that keeps making me laugh, no matter how many times I watch it.

Hope you all have a great Monday.
xoxo.

from 10,000 lightning bugs...

my brain is broken.
so you're getting a post severely lacking punctuation, capitalization, and (potentially) grammar.
be warned.
be very warned.


spencer's butte via wikipedia.

i hiked (if you can call it that) this beast today. early early in the morning. which is totally eugene. apparently all part of the movement to make me into a hippie (eek). and while it kind of kicked my rear ... it was awesome. and you really can see like the entire valley. and i love oregon. it has SO many trees. mmmmm. makes my heart happy.

i remembered today that i love bagels. i love them. their warm warm warm cream cheese covered goodness. mmm. (and i pounded that beast.)

in said bakery... i realized how much i missed the east coast. i'm a little home sick. i think it was the challah bread -- or the notices posted about rosh hashanah. sigh.

i'm still crazy because i had a near panic attack when i thought i couldn't see my car in the parking lot. it was there. there was just a bush in the way.

asthma is a wench.

i solidly got in two carmen sandiego references today.
i also had enough excedrin inside me to kill a small horse.

i'm watching the interpreter with bonnie. i'm still not sure if i like it or not (3/4 of the way in). i'm leaning toward not. plus i made her tell me what was going to happen because sometimes i like to have my movies ruined so that i can know if i can keep hating it or if i might have a chance of liking it in the end. i should have known i wouldn't when i heard the words "sean penn" [genius actor, just not my cup of tea]. (15 minutes later: still hate it.) (it's over. yep. not in my fav 5. not even in my fav 50.)

i missed summer, apparently. i'm still pale. i'm still unadequately vacationed and pool-ed. sigh.
and on that note, whoever said being a grown up was awesome-- LIED. all kinds of LIES. growing up is the fun part. being in this realm is dumb.

i'm hungry but not hungry. i hate that feeling.

i'm like 10000000000 degrees right now. even in basketball shorts. (i LOVE basketball shorts.)

i've had the same 3 songs stuck in my head on repeat for the past like 12 days. or 5 days. you pick.

i kicked butt in fantasy football this week. aw yeah. and i'm just a tiny bit proud of myself being in a league with guys all completely obsessed with sports -- all of whom should KICK MY BUTT.

my hair is so smooth. i keep touching it. mmmmmmmmm.

my life is crazy. i keep trying to figure it out. because it's never simple, or without strange occurrences, i'm trying to figure out what to do with it while staying true to myself. but crazy is not bad. not bad at all.

the patriots won yesterday. i did a happy dance.
i love fall. i want fall weather. i love fall fashion, and football, and foliage. and baseball.

i miss my mom.


i actually really miss byu. provo. cafe rio. megan. lyndsishae. all my other wonderful, amazing friends down there.

i need a nap.

xoxo.


p.s. kanye west. you're still an idiot.

one wacky wednesday

When was younger I had a book called "Wacky Wednesday."


The premise is that everything goes strange that Wednesday.
There are mice chasing cats, shoes hanging on the wall, people are missing arms and legs and words are misspelled.
TODAY HAS BEEN THIS WAY FOR ME.
As a result... we get an itemized list of things I currently love:

When my friends ... photograph other friends.

photo via matt clayton photography

I grew up with these boys. Yeah, I know, LUCK-KEEEEE.
And, honestly, they really do look like that in real life.
I met Matt through another friend.
He takes the most AMAZING pictures.
Thus = love ♥.
P.S. The oldest looks JUST like Daniel Craig in real life and he's on the u.s. bobsled team.
(click on the links. you'll be glad you did.)


Okay. My little brother sent this to me and it makes me laugh SO hard. Just bear with the video until you reach the couple in the car. This company's commercials -- hysterical.


Great moments in culture .... in stick figure form?
Yes, please.
Find more here.


The starfish on the bottom of my Gmail theme when it hits around midnight.
I think they're SO cute.
I even avoid hitting the refresh button if they're at the bottom of the page.
Wow, neurotic.


I left my bike in Provo (too much other stuff to fit in the truck).
Now I want a new one.
I am IN LOVE with this cute little cruiser!

And were the bike thing not to work out:

I would LOVE a Vespa.
They're so cute.


I'm mad for plaid.
I have been forever.
And I'm head over heels for this coat. I want a plaid one so bad.

And Gilmore Girls episodes with Tristan.
I love him.
He's such a snot. Which is probably why I love him. And he's SO witty.

Seriously, Chad Michael Murray...hahaha.
Plus we have inside jokes about him. So i pretty much crack up as soon as he appears on screen.