Birth Month 2011

Today is the last day of the month, so it's the last day of my month-long celebration of my birthday. Sort of. I'm not opposed to celebrating myself the rest of the year, but I just can't invoke anymore birthday rights (not that that has worked this month, at all when I really wanted it to).

The month started out really promising with a few dates with the same guy. And while the whole thing was a flourish into nothing, it was not without having some fun in the process. (Read: It basically ended before it began, but it was fun while it lasted.)

I bought books and clothes.

I went to Idaho to visit some of my most favorite people. And even though it was a flash trip, it was really fun. I made plans to go see them again for Thanksgiving, but was instead surprised with a ticket home for Thanksgiving! For my "birthday", we went and saw Breaking Dawn and went to El Sombrero. They didn't make me wear the sombrero though. My mom got me a new GPS, because my old one broke. It was a smart move, because it saves her a lot of time and hassle when I have an actual computer to find where I am when I'm lost. Being home was by far the best part of my birthday month.

Another unexpected surprise was the fact that we got a new bishopric! I'm pretty excited about the new regime. It was no secret that our old bishop didn't really like me... and I really think that the old YSA 142nd Ward could use a pulse check and shock into some new ideas and activities. I have high hopes for our new bishop and his counselors.

At work, the guys bought a cheesecake, the one without the bug. (Thanks, guys!) And then I went to dinner with a group of friends to my favorite restaurant in Provo: Thai Village. The majority of us got pumpkin curry, which is heaven-made squash in a bowl served with rice. I love it. I want some more.

Megan bought me a MUSIC BULLET, which is as awesome as it sounds. It's a battery operated speaker that plugs in to iPods and computers and such. It will be a great addition to our summer swimming, and until then, I will be happy to use it whenever the opportunity comes along. Thanks, Megan!

Tonight I'm headed north for pedicures and Cheesecake Factory with the FTC. Vietnamese tacos are just what the last day of my birthday celebration called for!

Happy Birthday A-Mong-Yong!

I just wanted to wish my sister and her adorable not-quite-a-baby-anymore baby a happy birthday! I love these two to death, and I only wish I were there to celebrate with them.

Kelsie is in her terrible twos, but she's so dang funny about it, that who can begrudge her this milestone? Of course, I live over 1,500 miles away, and so all I get to hear are cute stories about her and her cute little voice in the background whenever I call.

I do not often hear Amy's cute little voice in the background. She is not in her terrible twos, but she is dealing with Edison (community college) and all the stress that comes with being a student and working mother.

But I just wanted to let them both know how much I love them! I hope you have a great day, Amy, and that you and Kelsie party it up all day - even if you are barricaded in the house because of the freakish amount of ice out there.

Brrrrr....

The 25-year Old

So Not Excited

Has anyone looked at a birthday with less enthusiasm than I am looking at tomorrow? I do not think it is possible.

“When childhood dies, its corpses are called adults and they enter society, one of the politer names of hell.”  Brian W. Aldiss quotes

“Birthdays are merely symbolic of how another year has gone by and how little we've grown. No matter how desperate we are that someday a better self will emerge, with each flicker of the candles on the cake, we know it's not to be, that for the rest of our sad, wretched pathetic lives, this is who we are to the bitter end. Inevitably, irrevocably; happy birthday? No such thing.” Jerry Seinfeld quotes

Happy Birthday, Mackenzie!

Fourteen years ago today, my youngest sister was born. For the longest time, I wanted my mom to name her Marcy. I've since gotten over liking that name, even remotely, and so I am really glad that my parents went with Mackenzie.

On the morning she was born, my mom's friend Sue came over to take us to school. The hotel that housed El Sombrero had set on fire the night before, and Sue drove us to see the smoldering building before dropping us off.

I loved Mackenzie from the instant I saw her. She was the most ADORABLE, BEAUTIFUL baby I have ever seen. To this day. Her dark curly hair and little button nose was just, so precious.

I am told that Mackenzie is very similar to me. In fact, my dad calls her my "twin." I'm not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing. Though, as I was told tonight, it is probably not a bad thing as long as she has learned to budget her money much better than I have.

Here's hoping that is true.

I spent most of my teenage years babysitting Mackenzie, and now that she is grown and able to take care of herself (I assume that she is able to...) it's been fun to get to know her as an individual and more mature person. Though, it is still weird to figure out exactly how mature I'm supposed to anticipate. One second, I think I can talk about just anything and the next minute, I'm wishing she would grow up a little faster. Some days, she's just the little girl that could be coerced into "hip-atizing" everyone, and other days, she's the stubbornest young lady.

You would think as the baby of the family, we would have been able to get her to do whatever we wanted her to do. But the truth is - if she didn't want to do it, she didn't. That doesn't mean we never had her sneak us Pringles into our parent's bed while we were watching TV, or get us a drink... but she must have done that out of the kindness of her heart, because she certainly wouldn't have done otherwise. 

Regardless, I really think that this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Happy birthday, my darling sister! I love you!

When I was 17

EFY - Age 17

There is a show on VH1 or MTV called When They Were 17. They go through different celebrities and talk about what they were like when they were in high school and what they were doing. Everyone already knows what has been on my mind lately, so it shouldn't be any surprise that I would reflect on what I thought my life would be when I was 25 at the age of 17, and how differently it compares.

Memorial Day - Age 17

Latin Class with Sabrina

When I was 17, it was 2002 through 2003. I celebrated the worst birthday/Thanksgiving of my existence. I lost my grandmother. I turned 17 as a sophomore in high school. I had a crush on Kenny Campbell and nearly every missionary that served in our ward. I drove an Eighty-Eight Delta Oldsmobile of the maroon variety, named Bessie. I took a class at Edison that summer and a teacher told me that my writing was good enough to be published (it's taken me eight years to finally start making that happen). I was also working at Edison and went to school there nearly full-time. My car was stolen. I got it back a few days later. I had my first kiss. I went to the Harlem Globetrotters. I went to prom with TJ Karns. I went to my first party where there was alcohol (I did not partake).

Halloween

I became a senior in high school and applied for scholarships (of which I go two) and BYU (of which I was accepted). I took the ACT twice and got the same score. I tried to have school spirit, and failed miserably. I became better friends with my sister, Amy. I became less friendly with my best friend since first grade.

Basketball season

At 17, my main goal was to go to BYU, graduate in two years and then come back to Ohio - that is, if I wasn't married - and take over Edison. I very much thought I would be married. I don't think that I really sat down and thought about what the next eight years would bring but by 25, my 17-year old self certainly knew the following:

Senior Picture

By 25, I should be married in the temple with at least one child. I would be a stay at home - in a house with a mortgage - mother that had perfected the art of sewing, cake baking and and roll making. My house would be clean. I would be in the young women's presidency and coaching the basketball team. I would have long gotten my degree at BYU in graphic design - in fact, my 17-year old self had a highly different picture of what life at BYU was going to be like. Heck, she had a highly different picture of what her senior year in high school would entail. (So it really shouldn't have been any wonder that things were so different...) But BYU was supposed to bring scores of dates and love interests and experiences. And lifelong bosom buddies with which we would all get married at the same time and have kids at the same time and the kids would play together and we'd go on weekly dates with each other....

And if we needed the money, I suppose I would be freelancing my graphing design knowledge. My kids would be brilliant and funny and highly entertaining and little primary proteges. My husband and I would be attending the temple frequently. By 25, I'm sure I would have traveled outside of the country. I hoped that by now I would be well-traveled. At the age of 17, Italy was the number one country on my to visit list, so we would have gone there first...

Is my life different than what I imagined?

Yes, very.

I wish that I could say that though my life is different that I imagined as a teenager, that is is somehow better than I imagined or more fulfilling than that simple vision I had. Or more exciting. Or worth the wait...

But that's not really how I've been feeling at all...

In an effort to make this post not completely depressing, I do DO have to say that while I'm not world-traveled, I have had the opportunity to see more of the west than I ever thought. I DO have lifelong friends that I love dearly. The only problem with adult friends is that, while they remain your friends, they leave. Marriage. Grad school. Job offers. I have friends dotted across the world now, and while they are my friends and that is just...great...it makes it hard to have things to do on the weekend and you're more playing "catch-up" then you are enjoying the craziness of everyday life and finding joy in the little things in life... Right, anyway, upbeat things. I have a job. I have a car. I have friends... And I'm fairly self-sufficient. I have a new vigor in writing, and am trying to get published and make somewhat of a career of it and for the most part, have received nothing but encouragement.


I'm wondering if my labels are now going to have to include self-pity, because I feel like this post was kind of catering to my frequent pity parties. Ach, oh well...

Almost Old Enough

One of the new gimmicks that salespeople and marketers are trying out are scratch cards that promise vacations and money and cars and enticing things that sound much too good to be true. The person on the other end of the phone assures you that there is nothing that needs to be purchased - it is just a technique to get their name out. I have to take all these calls and answer their silly questions and then after listening forever, I find out that I'm not eligible (as if I wanted to be) because I'm under the age of 25.

But in a few weeks, that won't be the case anymore.

I guess I could lie about my age. Most people don't start doing that - unless they are trying to be older - until they're about to hit 30. And I think that it is really lame that I need to lie about my age to escape telemarketers, and not for something cool... like... I don't know. Whatever reason it is cool to lie about your age.

Or maybe, these too good to be true deals are really true! And I could then be eligible to win off of this no-purchase-necessary, get-our-company-name-out scratch card. And then I could have a free trip to Mexico or the Bahamas or a new car or something!

If that's the case, let's just hurry up to my birthday and I'll accept the next caller and give them all my info...

Nope, never mind, I'm too jaded. Those scratch cards are a gimmick, and totally not worth turning 25.

Birthday Month Tribute

New month. New design. And this time I had to throw in a tribute for the fact that it is my BIRTHDAY month. Commence celebrations! And also mourning. I'm still deciding how I feel about 25. No. Scratch that. I've decided how I feel, but I'm trying to be more excited and less pessimistic and gloomy about it.

Of course, I am always excited to celebrate myself... so that shouldn't be too much of a problem.

Birthday Planning

My birthday is still over a month away, but that hasn't stopped me from thinking. If you write to Santa Claus, put a tooth under your pillow for the tooth fairy and rub the lamp of a genie... who do you petition for your birthday wishes? (Besides last year's candles? Because you don't always know what you want right when you are blowing out the candles...) Do you have to find a shooting star? An eye lash? A dandelion? What's the birthday wish protocol here?

My list is fairly unreasonable. Everything I want, i.e. teacup piglets, new laptop, trip to Europe, etc., is either really expensive... OR, there is something that I want that doesn't actually cost anything: except my pride and dignity. Which, I'm not really willing to pay.

That being said, I've already bought my birthday present to myself. I probably really shouldn't have. But I couldn't pass up the opportunity. And with it being my 25th birthday... I really felt like I deserved it. Of course, I also think that I deserve all the things mentioned in the above paragraph.

I think it's a good thing that 24 was such a big year (I literally celebrated EVERYDAY of the month...practically) because aside from my GRAND birthday to myself, I'm not really sure how 25 is going to play out. I mean, I know how I want it to play out... I just don't know that it will.

Anyway, the countdown is on... I mean, after we celebrate other IMPORTANT October birthdays first, of course.

Happy Birthday Father(land)!

I was just thinking that I should go to bed. I'm tired and I want to sleep, but I still have a million things to do and so it is hard to justify sleep at the moment. Of course, you're wondering then why I am "wasting" my time blogging when I should be finishing those things and getting my hind end into my bed.

My dad is probably the forerunner in those thoughts, because he never understands why I would still be awake past midnight. Clearly, if I were more mature then I would be in bed.... but then I hear the TV on and I know that my roommate is still awake. And I hear the shower and footsteps upstairs and I know the girls that live above me are still awake. And I'm betting Becca is awake. So it got me to thinking... not all of us are immature, though I think my dad would probably disagree with me. We just have different sleeping schedules. And at the age of 24(ish) I would have thought that we would all be more "responsible" and "mature" much like my dad was when he was 24.

But there's a big difference. When my dad was 24, he had a wife, two babies, a job (maybe two jobs) and was going to school. Of course he had to mature! He had four people he was trying to support while putting himself through school. And I've been struggling with just trying to support myself while going to school. So there's obviously some benefit in being forced to mature earlier, but for those of us that haven't had to grow up yet, it's no wonder we're taking our sweet time with it.

Anyway, that was my thought for this evening. My dad keeps wondering when I'll grow up and be more responsible, but obviously, I'm in no hurry. And I don't have a real reason to be. It isn't as if someone is sitting at home waiting for me to do the responsible thing.

And more to the point... On Sunday it is our nation's birthday. But more importantly, it is my dad's birthday. Since my dad is pretty great and was willing to grow up at the tender, naive age of 21, I do nothing but commend him at what an awesome husband, father and human being he is. I don't think I can accurately put into words how much I admire and love him. Most the time I find myself wishing I had been more of a daddy's girl when I was littler - it would probably be easier for him now that I really find myself wanting to cling to him.

Happy Birthday, Dad! (a little early) amo tu!

Happy Birthday, AMY!

Twenty-three years ago my little sister was born on this very day. I don't actually know the story - I know that she was born breech and that my mom had a C-section.

I'm not really sure what my reaction was to having a little sister when she was first brought home. I was only 18 months old. I think the picture shows that I liked her well enough.

As we grew up, we were so close in age that we basically did everything together. We collected slugs in our emptied out peanut butter jars. We rode our bikes around the block and tried to get ourselves lost.

We made up dream machines. And played pound puppies before we went to bed. We shared friends. We walked to the pool everyday. We made a paper house floor plan and paper people. We played Barbies. Lots of Barbies.

I'm not going to lie - we were pretty much the most awesome kids in the whole world.

Since we shared a room, there was some fighting. She didn't like the fact that I liked to listen to Classical music. Or that my alarm went off 328 times before I got up for seminary. But once I started driving, we were friends again.

Amy has been a built-in best friend since the day she was born and so I am very grateful that we have this day every year to celebrate that.

Happy birthday, little sister! I love you.

 

Also, I love her even more because ONE year ago today, she had that baby. Kelsie is sooooo cute. I can't believe that she's been around for a whole year. She's such an intricate part of all our lives (well, maybe not intricate for me as I sit some 2,000 miles away) and I love her to pieces.

 

Amy - will you PLEASE PUHLEASE get me more pictures?

Late December back in '63

December 10 is probably one of the most underrated days of the year. But it should be celebrated with GUSTO! (GUSTO I SAY!) Because it is my mom's birthday and she deserves to be celebrated. I was trying to find a poem or song or something that fit here, but they were all really gay and my mom just doesn't deserve a gay poem on her commemorative post.

That being said, well, there isn't much more to say. My mom is the most awesome, caring, faithful woman I know and I love her more than life. She is literally my best friend. I hope that she knows how much she means to me. (She should, I only call her six times a day in order to tell her! That's right Mom, my calling you and telling you every mundane thing that happens in my life is just a way for me to tell you how much I love you!)

So, Happy Birthday, Mom! You deserve a very wonderful day!

Birthday Pictures

From Movies

I'm experimenting with posting a video...ish, (slide show really) of the pictures from my birthday and it isn't working. You won't be able to watch it from an email or probably Facebook, but click to my blog [click here] and then click on the video, and it will take you to it. (Grandma, it's not really that complicated!)

The Rest of Birthday Week and Plans for Today

After Monday's birthday celebration with the FTC, I went to work. It doesn't seem like much to add to the festivities, but let me tell you - I'm still just so grateful to have a job. Even though getting up in the morning is hard, and I don't like that I don't have the energy to get anything done after... I still love where I am working and the fact that I have a paycheck every two weeks.

Anyway, for Day #2 of birthday week, we went to Red Robin. I typically don't like Red Robin, BUT, I got a coupon in my email for a free burger, and I wasn't about to pass that up. So I met Meghan and Kati for lunch and we had an enjoyable lunch sitting of the Red Light District lights and talking about...things. As we are known to do.

Day #3 was spent, for the most part, in the car. After working a half day (in which I was in the office completely alone, as the guys went on a field trip) I went home and packed and then we were off to California. I sat in the back of the car the whole time while Reuben and Kira had a taste of the Hunger Games on tape (THANK YOU MEGHAN!) and I slept on and off. So really, the drive wasn't bad at all. We stopped in Vegas and got In-N-Out.

Day #4 is Thanksgiving. So of course, it involved a lot of food. I got to sleep in. I lounged around. And then we had dinner. Outside. OUT-FLIPPING-SIDE! It was awesome! I don't think I've ever had nice enough weather that Thanksgiving dinner could be eaten OUTSIDE! It was so warm, and lovely, and beautiful. Sigh. I loved it. We had traditional-enough food: turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, cranberries (I didn't touch those, but they were an option). Of course, I missed my mom's rolls. And the mashed potatoes didn't turn out. But it was delicious nonetheless.

Day #5, Birthday Eve, We went shopping. I wasn't about to go if they went at 4:00 a.m., but they didn't, so we went to Target, Old Navy and Bath and Body Works. I bought a couple of things, but they were all pretty cheap, so I don't feel bad about it. Then we came home and relaxed, had leftovers for lunch and then went to the beach. I'm going to have to get the pictures from Kira. Every time I go to the beach, it is cloudy or near sunset. I'm not sure what that means, but it was pretty anyway. Afterwards, we walked around Fashion Island and saw the giant Christmas tree. We came home to Round Table Pizza and wached Christmas Vacation. I still don't understand why people think Chevy Chase is so funny...but whatever. And then I went to bed! It was only about 10:30 p.m., so it was very refreshing. I even heard my phone go off at 6:30 this morning, which means I was well-rested.

TODAY: The plans are to watch the BYU vs UTAH game. Go on a bike ride. And have dinner at El Torrito. There might be some tennis thrown in there or something of the like. We might hit up the beach again, just to test my theory of always being cloudy. And then who knows?

Last year I made a birthday goal/wish and it didn't happen. So I think I am going to stay clear of those this year; instead I'll just wait it out and see what happens during my 24th year.

Birthday Week: Day #1 "Your birth is definitely something to celebrate."

When the FTC says that they have come with the perfect way to celebrate your birthday, you need to be a little wary. It isn't that we don't like to celebrate birthday - because we do, we really like birthdays. We like to torture each other, as if our bodies don't do that enough as we age.

So when Pepper and Fern said that they knew EXACTLY what to do for my birthday, I wracked my brains. Would it be nice? Would it be humiliating? Would it stretch me out of my comfort zone? Would they force some poor pathetic guy to kiss me? Would they make me hike up the freezing cold mountain? - No, they wouldn't do that...it would be too cold for them.

They wouldn't tell me what my surprise was. I begged, I pleaded, I tried to trick them, I tried to go behind their backs and get G to tell me. In short, I did everything I could and they were like vaults! Locked down, baby. I couldn't believe that I couldn't get them to crack.

Finally the day arrived. They picked me up at work at 4:30pm and we went to Zupa's. (Much to their satisfaction, I had every intention of Cafe Rio and ended up really just wanting soup.) It was delicious. They gave me a $30 gift card to spend as I wish and paid for my dinner and then bought cookies. Then we headed to Fern's house. Chest (her cat) wished me a happy birthday and let me hold him. We watched a weird ninja video (which, guys, I still don't understand) and then they blindfolded me.

I honestly don't know all of the things they were planning. The blindfold threw me off. The comments about needing a coat and other random things... I had no idea. And I won't embarrass myself with the things that I thought were going to happen. Pepper held my hand as we waited for Fern to "get the goods." I heard a feel people snicker at the poor sap in the blindfold. And then they opened the door and I smelled the popcorn. I knew we were in a theater and I kind of figured we'd go see New Moon. But when they took off the blindfold, I was standing in front of a Christmas Carol. It was a clever ploy. You needn't ask why. CHRISTMAS! (I think I gave the appropriate response they were looking for. Also, if they had taken me to see A Christmas Carol, I would have been fine.) They steered me to the "other" theater, which shockingly did not say what movie was playing. It was when the kid wearing a "team Jacob" shirt that I realized we were seeing NEW MOON!

You don't realize the sacrifice this meant. The true devotion and love for a friend. Because Meghan had SWORN that she would not watch it. When I asked if we could go a few days ago, they both said "FALSE!" and really, I never thought I would be able to force them to pay to see it. And yet, here we were. The end of the movie resulted in no vomit. Only a few gagging noises. And luckily, Jacob put on a shirt before the old ladies next to Meghan tried to jump the screen.

Over all, the surprise was excellent. A true display of great friends. So thank you, Meghan and Kati. You guys are seriously awesome. And I am really pleased that I scared you into thinking I guessed what we were doing. That makes me smile.

FTC forever! :)

~**23**~

Kira, Becca, me, Ashley

So my roommate, Becca had to work yesterday. Sometimes when she does she gets home really late. So I didn't think anything of it when she got home at a quarter to six.

But apparently, what she really was doing was baking a cake over at Apartment 304 (Skye, Jake, Levi, and Travis').

So when I announced that I had to shower before FHE, because I hadn't for the day, my roommates all looked at each other, and was like - you can't. Apparently they had plans. After much bribery and threats of being tortured with cold water and/or invasion of the bathroom...I promised to take a fast shower; (I know this comes as a shock to most of you - but I can do it.) and I did. I just, may have, not put on make-up and I definitely did not do my hair...which sort of ruined the pictures. Oh well.

We headed to the Thai Kitchen, where sometimes they can speak English, and sometimes they can't. They are always incredibly slow. Don't expect refills. And yet, the food is DELICIOUS. My absolute favorite. Yum... I just get happy thinking about it, even a day later. Never mind what it does to my insides afterwards.


Chris, me, Colin, Jackie, Ashley

We got home just in time for FHE. Despite our group getting split up, we had fun. After we viewed everyone's pictures from the photo scavenger hunt, I was hanging around socializing - but everyone cleared out pretty fast. So when Ashley suggested we leave, I didn't really have a choice.

Apparently Ashley was trying to get me to open the apartment door, but I was too slow to pick up on that - so she had to open it, and when I walked in Skye was laying on the counter, similar to the way people may lounge on a piano... and I started laughing and was like, "Oh, well...this is quite a surprise!"

But that was just the beginning.


Colin, Kevin, and a few others jumped out from hiding spots. Then they were like, "There's a present in the laundry room," And I was thinking it was gift that Becca bought, because she had come home with something earlier that week that she wouldn't let me see. So I open the laundry room and Jake is sitting there with his arms wrapped around his knees, and he was like, "Did anyone order a BYU student?" And then got off and started dancing. Of course, it was very funny.

A few more people showed up and Becca came out with the cake that she had so deviously gone and made under pretense of fellowshipping one of Skye's roommates and they sang. We listened to the Twilight soundtrack, and chatted it up.


Kevin, Skye, Colin, me, Chris, Jake, Levi, Bryce

Becca really had bought a present though, so she brought it out and they got me a popcorn popper! I, apparently, told Becca that I wanted one the VERY first day we met. Which is true. I often walk by the air poppers and want to buy one every time I go to the store. Now I can find something else to pine over. Hooray! I love air popped popcorn!

It was a pleasant surprise, and I was very grateful to have such good roommates and friends. I love them all!