Now I can breathe a sigh of relief

Getting the hiccups is a frequent occurrence if you're me. I get them at the most random of times in the most inappropriate places - like the library for instance! And when I get the hiccups they tend to last for too long. My main method of ending them is by holding my breath, but that hardly ever works.

That's why my husband rocks. If I get the hiccups when he's around, I won't have them for long. All he has to do is hide around a corner, wait for me to come by and jump out at me. Sadly, that's usually all it takes to scare me. Sometimes when he's feeling lazy or if I get them while we're lounging on the couch, all he has to do is shout, "HEY!!" and they're gone. Even sadder still, this technique is just as effective as the previous one.

So it's a good thing I'm as jumpy as I am, else wise I'd have the hiccups all year long.

This entry has been brought to you by The Book of Awesome

Did You Know...

Your spinal cord stops growing when you're about 4 years old?? That means it's shorter than your vertebral column! (it stops at the L1 vertebrae, just below your rib cage)

Did you also know... 

Sometimes when I'm studying I'll have my earphones in but I won't actually be listening to anything because 

a) I can't pick something I want to listen to that won't distract me

or b) I just don't want to be bothered. 

Now you know. :)

if he doesn't find me handy, he'll at least find me handsome.

I've become a muffin pro, I make my own meals and I can fix the dryer. Look at me go!

About a month ago we had to get our dryer replaced because the original conked out on us. However, when I went to use the new one for the first time, I discovered that the tubey thingy on the back was not securely attached so it came off and the dryer ended up blowing hot air into our bathroom/laundry area! If the only roll of duct tape wasn't in the car with Johnny at work I would have fixed it right away, but it was and so the job got put off. But on Monday, November 21st, I - Leinani, a girl with zero experience fixing dryers - rolled up my sleeves, rolled out the duct tape and fixed that sucker! 

Here's the original patch job... No good. 

My patch job! awesome! 

Yeah! 

I think Red Green would be proud.

Yeah!

Don't go stealing my power... or my toilet.

You know what grinds my gears? (I'm not even bothering with an introductory preamble, I'm just jumping right to the point. That's how ground my gears are)

I hate it when I'm looking for a place to plug in my lap top and I walk by someone who's sitting by a plug in and they're using their laptop, but IT'S NOT PLUGGED IN!! I hate it when someone without a laptop is sitting by an outlet too, but they don't have a laptop, so they don't know what it's like to base your choice of study spot on where the nearest outlet is. They don't know any better.

But someone with a laptop knows. They know what it's like to be working on your computer and to see your battery meter shrink smaller and smaller and the sudden urge you have to find a plug-in. I don't have that luxury anymore. My poor battery has lived its life and it can no longer function for more than 10 minutes without life support - I mean - an electrical outlet.

So to see someone sitting near a plugin I need with their laptop on their lap not being plugged in is like a cruel joke. It's like they're saying, "haha, look at me! I can work on my laptop without needing to plug it in because it's new and expensive and young and beautiful and BETTER THAN YOURS!".

It's like being hit by the sudden urge to go to the bathroom and you run around looking for a bathroom and when you find one, you can't use it cause it's already in use. But the person inside isn't even doing anything because they just wanted a spot to sit and read the newspaper!

That's why I love the newly renovated pool observatory at the school. They put in more plug-ins. More plug-ins! Finally, something the university has done that makes my life better.

Now I've just got to find a vacant bathroom and my life would be good...

better than gold

As you may or may not know, the Pronghorns went to Nationals again. And we placed 4th for the second year in a row.

Really, to be ranked nationally at fourth place is pretty good. But after winning gold 3 years in a row, people tend to judge us a little more critically for getting 4th. It is sooo annoying when people find out I play for the rugby team and they say,

fan: "You guys are awesome! You won gold this year, didn't you?"

me: "Well, no. We placed fourth this year, but we played some solid games and we're proud of what we did."

fan: "You mean you didn't win?? Why not? I thought you guys were supposed to be the best!"

me: "We are the best. Have you seen any other UofL teams going to Nationals? I didn't think so."

To me, it doesn't matter that we didn't win nationals again this year because I seriously feel like this is the best team in the world. Besides, we're gonna take it next year - just you wait.

At It Again

I'm procrastinating! (sidenote: did you know that whenever I try to type the word, procrastinating, I always accidentally type out procrastination first?)

I could be working on my concert report for my Music in Recital class. But I'm not.

Instead I found a new webcomic site and I'm going to share it with all of you because it's funny! And because I want you to procrastinate too.

http://poorlydrawnlines.com/ <-- That's the site.

And here's a sample:

Peace out, homeskillet. I've got to get back to - uh, ah... work. Yes, work. 

Running in Circles

The Circle of Life, that is!

Musically speaking, I've been on a bit of a Lion King binge lately. And it is baaad. I'm not just humming the main songs like "I Just Can't Wait to be King" and "Hakuna Matata", but I've been humming the instrumental ones as well! Seriously!

You know the song that plays at the end when Scar is dead and Simba is taking his epic walk up Pride Rock? I've been humming that one. And then when Johnny got sick of me humming that, I started humming the music Simba runs to across the desert as he returns to the Pridelands (which, coincidentally, is on the same track as the other one when you listen to the cd).

I've got Lion King fever and I've got it bad.

Lucky for me Disney has come out with Lion King 3d and all the theaters are playing it - but I hate 3D. And I have parents who own a perfectly good VHS copy of the Lion King and I have stolen borrowed a perfectly good DVD/VHS player from my parents. Which brings me to my predicament:

Do I see the movie in 3D or on VHS in the comfort of my own home?

It'd be cool to see the Lion King on the big screen, but it's in 3D. It'd be less cool to see the Lion King at my place, but it'd be infinitely more comfy. When it comes down to it, I think my decision will have to be to watch it at home. Want to know why? It's free. And my desire to save 10 bucks is far greater than my desire to be cool. Saving money is cool, isn't it?

Shoutout to Trudy, whose recent disney flavoured post inspired this one. But when you think about it, I may have inspired her with my ridiculous disney flavoured comment on one of her entries... So really, the shoutout goes to me for inadvertently inspiring the girl who inspired me.

Right now

I feel like a little kid.

A little kid waiting for Christmas. Except Christmas is Johnny and the little kid is me.

You know what the worst day is in the wait for Christmas? December 23rd, the day before the day before Christmas. That's where I am right now. It is the day before the day before Johnny comes home and it is going by so slow!!

I woke up this morning and thought, "Sweet, Johnny comes home tomorrow." and then I realized that today is Wednesday and he doesn't get home til Friday. Boo :(

Are we there yet?

Happy Thanksgiving!

And for you Americans out there, you have to wait cause your thanksgiving isn't til November, ha!

I love October for so many reasons and one of them is because of the many holidays it has: Thanksgiving, Halloween and my birfday. Ooh, and my husband's birfday, too! I have so many reasons to celebrate this month, yay!

What with it being Thanksgiving, I thought I'd share a small list of the things I'm grateful for:

1. My husband (bet you didn't see that one coming) - I couldn't ask to be married to anyone better, he is so good to me. He supports me in all I do and makes me feel like a princess everyday.

2. My family - My parents are so supportive and helpful, my dad always makes me laugh and my mom has been a great role model for me. My siblings are great - even though my brothers can be idiots, I know they're good boys and my sister is turning out to be a pretty cool girl even though she started out as a psycho.

3. My home - Even though the doorways are a little cramped and the upstairs neighbors can be a bit noisy, I am grateful to have a place of my own with Johnny and it really is the perfect place for our needs right now.

4. My team - I know I've mentioned them before on the blog, but I am so grateful to be a part of the Pronghorns. I was glad to be part of them last year, but this year now that I'm living alone most of the time, it really makes a difference to have this great group of girls as friends and teammates.

There are so many other things I could mention here, but then that would turn out to be a pretty long post. So lets just say I have many blessings to be thankful for.

Happy Thanksgiving! 

Thank goodness we weren't being robbed

My, my, my, September has certainly flown by. I had such a good start to the month with all the posts I was making, but then hit a bit of a slouch. My bad.

Things are going well. I just had Johnny home for a week and now he's back to work. It's so nice to have him at home, even though I skip studying at school to spend time with him, it is so worth it. Oh my goodness, I never told you about how he surprised me!

H'okay, so:
Johnny wasn't suppposed to get home last week until Friday, which really stunk because that's when us rugby girls had to go to BC for some games and we wouldn't get back til Sunday night (we won both our games, by the way). So I had resigned myself to the fact that I wasn't going to get to see my husband until Sunday night and we would end up only having two and a half days together because he had to leave for work on Wednesday.

BUT!
Johnny surprised me by coming home on Wednesday instead so we had that night and all of Thursday before I had to leave and then we had all of Monday and Tuesday together as well as Wednesday morning. (follow me so far?)

So I got home after practice last Wednesday and I see that the light in our place is on and I could hear someone doing something in the kitchen so my first thought is that someone has broken in and stealing our stuff and it was up to me to beat them down and save the day. I quickly rummaged in my bag and got out the first thing I thought to use as a weapon: my rugby boot. With my stinky shoe in hand I slowly opened the door only to find that the burglar had cleaned my kitchen table and set it for dinner. As I put my bag down in the entry way and stepped into the kitchen, I found Johnny at the stove making dinner as if he'd been doing it our whole married life. A wave of relief, confusion, joy, anger and embarrassment flooded through me. Relief for the fact that we weren't being robbed, confusion for not knowing how Johnny pulled it off, joy because my husband was home and anger because my husband tricked me and came home before I got a chance to clean the house for him, hence the embarrassment as well.

Do you know what the first thing I did when I saw him? I smacked him on the arm and scolded him for tricking me. Then I gave him a hug and a kiss and thanked him for dinner and for tricking me. Then we sat down together and had a lovely dinner of perogie supreme (perogies, hamburger meat, sour cream and salsa).

The end!

puttin' a twist in your stem

Does anyone else play that little game you play when you're twisting the stem off an apple and you say the letters of the alphabet in your head as you twist, and then the letter it breaks off on is the first letter of the guy you'll marry?

I still play this game, but I need to change the rules now. Today I was twisting the stem off my apple and it came off on C and I thought, "I'm gonna marry a guy named Carl. Oh wait..."

Now that I'm married I've changed the game to just trying to land on the same letter of my husband, but it hasn't happened so far so I've decided to change the game again. From now on, when I twist off my stems, it'll be the letter of my first child's name. Which is a long ways down the road from now.

Better Together

Today I am thankful for my rugby ladies.

It's a lonely business to have your husband work out of town for extended periods of time, but it's not so bad when you're with friends and family. I met a lady today who told me her granddaughter just recently got married and her husband is away at work for a month at a time. I'm so grateful Johnny's only gone two weeks at a time. So to everyone working the semi long distance relationships because of work, I feel ya.

I can feel pretty lonesome sometimes when it's just me in my little basement suite, but luckily I have things to keep me busy. Right now, rugby is one of them. I love being with the Pronghorn girls. Honestly, you wouldn't think a bunch of rugby players would be nice people, but these girls are the funniest, sweetest group of girls you'll ever meet -- and I get to be a part of them.

High Class

Hey friends,

I'm trying to think of something fun to share with you but I'm drawing a blank.

Nevermind! I just thought of something...

Yesterday we took our team photos for the new rugby season. We were all dressed up in our gear and got our photos done for the FIRST time on the Pronghorn logo at the U of L stadium. You'd think it wouldn't have taken so long considering we're the most succesful team the school has. Oh well.

Anyway, I just wanted to share with you the last photo we took.


Beauty.

Back to the Swing of Things

Helllloooooo!

Sorry for the abrupt hiatus. Things were pretty crazy once EFY was over with all the wedding business and whatnot and now in my new place we don't have internet! So I've had even less of a chance to blog.

H'okay, I'm just going to give you a quick update on my life and hopefully I'll be able to give you something within a week.

EFY was awesome. I couldn't have asked for a better group of girls. I am so glad I got the chance to do it before I got married. Speaking of which...

I'm married now! It's weird getting used to the last name mostly because it's such a mouthful. But I'll get the hang of it eventually. The wedding was awesome and the food and people were fantastic. We honeymooned out at Kootenay Lake, BC and it was so awesome. I loved showing Johnny around my favourite places to go at the Kootenay.

School has started up and this semester looks to be a good one. I've got Anatomy, Wall Climbing and Music in Recital. There's also an Intro to Biomechanics class that I just picked up, but we'll see if I keep it. Along with school, there is also rugby. Wahoo! Glorious rugby! I was nervous that I wouldn't make the team again, but I did and now I'm excited to have an even better season than I did last year.

Alright. That's all I have time for now, but I will hopefully be back with something a little more fun for you.

Calm Before the Storm

I am currently in Calgary for EFY preparing to be a counsellor to the luckiest kids in the entire world. Yup, I'm just that awesome.

In case you don't know what EFY is, it stands for Especially for Youth and that's exactly what it is. A week dedicated to the youth of the church to help them grow and learn in the gospel. My job as a counsellor will be to set an example for these kids and to help them come unto Christ.

The youth will arrive tomorrow and then the madness will begin. The days start at 630 in the morning and go right until lights out at 1030. They tell us that we are the front line of defense; therefore we're expected to be good shepherds at all times, in all things and in all places. No pressure.

I really hope I do a good job this week. I hope I get a good group of girls and I hope we can have fun together. When I went to EFY as a particpant three years ago (ohmygosh I'm so old!! D=) I had such a great time and I just hope I can give the same kind of experience to the girls I'll have this year.

Believe. Hope. Endure. That's what this week will be about.

Phew.

Hallelujah!

Johnny and I finally found a house! We signed the lease agreement on Friday and we can move in on the first of August. I am so so so sooooo excited to start moving in to a place of our own.

It's a cute little basement suite in a cute little neighborhood next to Gas King! I can get Williwas whenever I want now, haha! I am so stoked for this place. My favourite part of it is the kitchen. There are plenty of cupboards and lots of counter space and I cannot wait to use it. (I may have just done a bit of a mental facepalm there. I already sound like such a housewife! Arg!) I just hope we have enough things to fill up the cupboards with :S

Anyway, that's all I wanted to share. Happy Sunday everyone!

Time to Destress

Okay, not to be one of those girls that can't stop announcing how close her wedding is to everyone she knows just to get a reaction out of them, but --

-- HOLY CRAP I'm getting married in less than a month!

At this point I am excited, nervous and stressed beyond belief. It's not even the wedding itself that I'm stressing about. It's finding a place for us to live! As August 16th draws closer and closer, I'm running out of time to find us a place of our own.

I don't think I have ever been so worked up over something in my life. In fact, a couple weeks ago I think I had a slight melt down - I was terrified to call people about rentals. I would actually sit and stare at the phone, dreading the task I was given to do. I felt comepletely helpless and miserable.

Thank goodness for ice cream. And Amy. If I didn't spend some quality time with that girl one friday night eating oreo and cookie dough - brownie ice cream while we watched 13 Going on 30, I may not have snapped out of it. It's amazing what a late night vent session with ridiculous amounts of dairy can do for a person.

Since that night I've been on the go calling house after house and setting up appointments with them, trying to find a place for Johnny and I. I'm still waiting for the right one, but we've made progress, people! Though, I definitely do think I'll be due for another ice cream night soon. We've still got two half-full tubs of ice cream to get through!

So moral of the story kids: Don't wait for someone to notice your distress and save you. Sometimes you need to reach out because hey, maybe they've had a bad day too.

A Page from Trudy's Book

My friend and fellow blogger, Trudy, loves to share random facts acout herself at the end of her posts. They're pretty cute and funny and today I was inspired to share something random about me.

I'm not sure if a lot of people know this, but while Johnny is away at work, we call each other every night before he goes to bed. So if I was ever supposed to hang out with you in the evening and I don't end up getting there til late, you know why.

Anyway, in one of these phone calls I made a discovery about myself: I hate awkward phone silences. If I am on the phone and there is more than three seconds of silence between me and the other person, I will always make some sort of noise either by clearing my throat or humming or just straight up talking.

So when Johnny discovered this little tid bit about me he immediately capitalized on it. When I would say something, he made sure he took forever before he said anything. Sometimes I'd try to keep myself from being the first to break the silence, but I would literally start to hyperventilate a little or just start giggling out of sheer anxiety. I'm retarded!

However, in real life, I don't care about silences because most of them aren't awkward. If I'm comfortable enough with you, I don't mind there being a few minutes of silence between us. It's just something about a phone call that makes silences all the more awkward for me...

Oh Canada!

Happy Canada Day everybody! Just thought I'd share a little something from the days when we still had the Molson I Am Canadian commercials.



Oh, and a small story from today:

Johnny and I went swimming to celebrate Canada day. Mostly because I hurt my back and swimming made it feel good. Anyway, we were swimming and there was a guy there who had an American flag towel! Really?! Of all days for him to break out the ol' red, white and blue, he picked today. Oh well, maybe he didn't know any better. And maybe he didn't have any other towels. Perhaps I should have lent him the Tinkerbell towel I had with me...

Seeing Green

This is what I wore today:

Notice anything strange about this outfit? For someone who hates the colour green, I sure wore a lot of it today.

Here's how it happened: I was mostly lazing about this morning in the green shirt you see in the photo along with my pajama bottoms. But once I had to go out I threw on the green shorts you see and started looking for a different shirt to wear. Then I caught a look at myself in the mirror and thought, "hmm, I wonder if I can make this work?". You see a while ago, back when the Cream blog was still running, Ginger posted about monochrome outfits from head to toe and since then I've only really made one successful outfit with this tactic. Until today. So I accessorized with a green and gold bracelet and a ring with a turquoise leather flower on it, and voila. I stepped into the world a mess of green and brown.

But I want to know: was it a total flop? Or did I actually look somewhat decent today? I didn't really care because I was comfortable and in the sun and happy.

Abandonment Issues Anyone?

Oh goodness. It's been a while since I've said anything here, so I guess I might as well give you an update on things. Let's make a list!

1. Wedding plans.

Dress: check!! It's here and it fits me and I love it! And none of you can see it til after the wedding. :P

Engagement photos: check.

Invitations printed off: check.

Invitations delivered: mostly check. I've handed a lot out to people as I see them at church and whatnot, but there are still a bunch to go.

Decorations: to be checked. I can't make up my mind on what I want, argh!

Ring: uncheck :( We had to send it out to get the wedding band made for it and they said it would take 6-8 weeks! Are you kidding me??! It's been 4 weeks now so if I don't have it back by mid-July somebody's gonna get a hurt real bad!!

2. Summer school.

Yes, I am one of those nerds who does summer school. Technically it's just one class so you can hardly call it school. It's the Introduction to Early Childhood Development and I've found it quite interesting. Although when we were talking about the whole birthing process, it did not make me too eager to start having kids right away once Johnny and I are married :S. The course is pretty much done now. Our last class was on Wednesday and now all that's left is I have to write the test on Monday. Maybe I should start studying... hmm...

3. Rugby.

We were given a training schedule to follow for the summer with exercises and a nutrition guide and whatnot, but I've been a little slack on my workouts. I was doing pretty good in May, but then I injured my shoulder in rugby practice and I got sick right after that so that put me out of my routine, so now I'm trying to get myself back into it. I've got two more months til Pronghorns season starts and I've promised myself that I would not let myself get out of shape.

4. Honeymoon!

I guess this one can go under wedding plans, but the honeymoon is after the wedding and I'm really excited about this one so I wanted it to have it's own heading. I've found a place for us to go! It's out in BC right on the Kootenay Lake and near the camping spot my family uses when we go. I am so excited because as I said in a post last year, Kootenay Lake is one of my favourite places in the world. Basically, if you love the earth and care about clean air and water and trees, you will love Kootenay. I sound like a total hippie, but that's how everyone is around there and I love it.

74. Shake an Apostle's Hand

Who? Richard G. Scott.

When? April 15th, 2011

I went above and beyond on this one, folks. Not only did I shake Richard G. Scott's hand, but I hugged him too!

He came to Lethbridge for a YSA fireside* and when it was over, me and my friends, Shirls and Wendy, waited in a tiny hallway as he finished a meeting with the Stake Presidency*. When he came out he greeted us and I had the biggest, stupid grin on my face as Shirls told him about my goal to shake an apostle's* hand, then my uncle (who was there because he's in the stake) told Elder Scott that I'll be getting married. That's when I got my hug and Elder Scott told me that he hoped I would be very happy.

You know, in the church the apostles tend to be glorified as these out-of-this world men, but really, they're just like me and you except they have serve as special witnesses of Christ. I loved meeting Elder Scott because you could tell that he wasn't trying to be anything special, but at the same time you could tell there was a special spirit about him. I could feel the love he had for me and all the other YSA there as an extension of the love that Christ and Heavenly Father have for us.

If you ever have a general authority visiting in your area and you have a chance to meet them, take it! Because it is totally worth it.

---

* - YSA? Fireside? Stake Presidency? Apostle?? What is all this?

It's mormon lingo. We have our own little language within the church mostly comprised of acronyms. YSA stands for Young Single Adults and it is comprised of the unmarried members of the church between 18 and 30 years of age. A fireside is when we all gather at a church building to listen to counsel given to us by leaders of the church. A stake presidency is comprised of a man and his two counselors and together they govern over a body of members of a couple thousand people grouped together in congregations of about 400-500. An apostle is one man of twelve who is at the very head of the church with the prophet and his two counsellors in charge of them all.

A new day

I have a new favourite artist. For a long time I've loved the works of Andy Warhol. You know, his colourful prints of marilyn monroe, his classic campbell's soup cans and his banana.

Then I discovered Banksy, the secretive London graffiti artist, whose street art exposes the skeletons of the world's closet and also reminds us of what a beautiful place it can be/has been.

Enter my new love: Candy Chang. Her website describes her as a public installation artist who likes to make cities more comfortable for people. I'm still discovering all the inspiring works she's done and I've loved every single one. My absolute favourite is what she's done with the side of an abandoned house in New Orleans. She transformed it into a giant chalkboard with the words "Before I Die" painted on it. They left chalk out so people can write down the things they want to do before they die. The response has been impressive.


Here's my favourite comment that was written on the site:

"you know what I abslolutely love about this?
the purity of it all.
reading this, the thoughts of all these people, make me realize that deep down, after all the materialistic bullshit we put ourselves through every day, our human race isn't too bad after all."

I want this done in my city! This is something that every city needs. Wouldn't the world be a better place if we all realized that everyone has hopes and dreams of a brighter future? I am on the verge of starting a new life with the wonderful young man I love and who loves me in return. I want us to be happy together and when we have kids, I want to raise them with love and teach them to make good choices.

Before I die I want to raise a family that loves each other and will make the world a better place. World peace has to start somewhere, right?

I just have one thing to share...

My ring is in =3

Look what i can do with no pants.

Well folks, I'm feeling particularly unmotivated to put pants on today so I decided to take advantage of it and post a little something.

Sidenote -- I went to bed without pants last night and when I woke up I never got around to putting any on. It's wonderful! TMI? Maybe. But no worries, I will be sure to put some on before I step out the door. Or before I go upstairs. Whatever comes first.

Moving on -- I've got a few exciting things to share with you all. I'm sure you'll be very happy for me if you haven't heard already...

I'm getting married!! To Johnny. Duh. I suppose that since I'm gonna be marrying the guy you should at least get to know his real name.

Wait. Nope. I change my mind. He is my Johnny Lingo and that is how he will stay on the blog. (Besides, if you know me in real life, you most likely know Johnny in real life too). Sorry folks, but the number one rule of any superhero is never wear a cape because it can get caught in things and kill you. And the number two rule is always protect your loved ones.

Tee hee, I have a loved one.

Anyway, I suppose you want to hear all about the proposal and whatnot? Good, cause it's a good one.

First he had to ask dad's permission and boy was he nervous. But it was cute. What he did was he went out and bought 48 cans of pineapple and 2 real ones. Then he printed off 50 little cow pictures and taped them to each can and pineapple. Then he brought them over to my house while I was at school one day and my parents were at home. Then he started taking them out one by one and when my parents saw the little cow pictures, they had a pretty good idea of what was going on. (If you don't know the backstory here, you need to read my first post about Johnny and then you need to watch this little movie (it's been split into three parts that you can find here. here. and here.) and you will get it) Anywho, once all the cows were on the table he gave my parents his speel talking about how we love each other very much and how we'd like to get married but with their blessing first. I'm told that my dad put on his typical tough-guy-father face and my mom put on her I'm-so-happy-I-could-cry face. My mom gave him instant approval and dad said no but then mom smacked him and he changed his answer.

So that's the permission part. The proposal was much more exciting.

We went skydiving. No joke. It was pretty wicked. He went first and then I went after Johnny. When I landed on the ground he gave me a hug, got down on one knee and proposed with a watermelon as the jewelery box. Naturally, I said yes and everybody went home happy. You should see my ring! It's so pretty and shiny. I got to wear it for a day and I couldn't take my eyes off it. It's been sent away to be resized now and I have a very nice Walmart substitute for the time being but I want my opal ring!

Pictures will be coming soon, but right now I've gotta go get some pants on.

Today's blog has been brought to you by...

Recently I've felt the need to blog. But I've been at a lack of things to say. I'm pretty good at going off on a tangent about random subjects so I asked my good friend, Jules, to give me something to talk about. And here it is:

Yellow.

I know I've mentioned that I don't have a favourite colour because I love them all (except green, sorry Trudy), but yellow has always had a special place in my heart. Generally I love warm colours the most, but yellow is the best because red is always associated with romance, which makes me barf; and orange, while it is bright and cheerful, can also be slightly obnoxious.

But yellow. Yellow is a happy colour and instantly brings a smile to my face. Except when it's a lemon, that brings a pucker, but think about it. The sun is yellow. The sun brings life. And life is - awesome. The sun is warm and and bright. And when it's sunny, I turn brown. What's not to love???

Here are a few of my favourite yellow things:

Yellow gum boots.

There was a girl in my high school who used to wear yellow gum boots all the time and it made me so happy. I used to have my own pair of yellow bootish type things, but then they got a crack in the heel, so now they are no more.

Dandelions.

I know they aren't the prettiest flowers, but when I was a kid I used make dandelion bouquets for my mom all the time, so it brings me happy memories. I hope my future kids will do the same thing for me.

Pineapple.

For some reason, when I was a kid, I wasn't a huge fan of pineapples. Now that I'm older, I love it! Usually when there's a fruit tray with pineapple on it, I will only eat the pineapple. Plus I've got a great story with pineapples to share with you. But I'll save that for another post...

Reminiscing

I know I said this in my first April post but I'll say it again: I can't believe it's been a year since our big Australia trip! A year ago today our trip was winding down as we spent the last few days of it with family in Tonga. Do you remember how I tried to upload a video of it to youtube last year, but it wouldn't because it was too long? Well it's up now!

Here, have a look:



If you want, you can also take a look at some of my posts from April of last year to check out some awesome vacation photos.

Just a Little Something

I've had such a busy time these past couple weeks with the last week of school and exam studying, but I'm in the mood to blog something so I'll leave you with the lamest joke I've ever heard:

Jon: What's a pirate's favourite letter?

Jane: Arrr?

Jon: No, you'd think it'd be arrrr, but it's actually the sea.

Happy Fool's Day!

Today is April 1st. Do you know what is significant about today? I'll tell you:

1. It's April Fool's. So if anyone tells you a piece of life-changing news, don't believe them for a second. Unless they still claim that piece of life-changing news to be true tomorrow.

2. It's my half birthday! For reals. I am officially twenty and a half years old today. Tomorrow I can say that I'm almost 21 - not that I'd want to... (If today is my half birthday, when is my whole birthday??)

and 3. Do you know what I was doing at this time last year? I was in New Zealand. Le sigh. A year ago today my family and I embarked on one of the best family vacations ever. And now it's all over. Boo :(

And that's all I feel like sharing for today. But I would like to give a shout-out to my friend, Annika (if she's reading), because it's her whole birthday today! It's thanks to her that I know when my half-birthday is. So Happy Birthday Annika, hope you have a great day today.

PS - apparently Prince William and Kate Middleton have called off the wedding. Kate said that the stress of planning a royal wedding was just too much for her and she can't handle being in the public eye anymore. True story. I heard it on the radio this morning.

In Living Colour

Anyone that knows me knows that I love colour.

Not because I'm coloured myself, but because - well - I don't know why I like colour, I'm just drawn to it. That's like asking a crow why they like shiny objects - they just do.

When I grow up and own a house, I want to paint the fence a hundred different colours. It'll probably look ridiculously tacky, but it will bring great joy unto my soul.

I would also love to spend some time in Newfoundland because you know what they have there? Colour. And lots of it. Their houses look so fantastic that I could totally see me painting my house a bright sunshiney yellow to go along with my multicoloured fence. Would it be clashy? Probably, but I'd love it.

Today as I was driving home from school and I saw a big ol delivery van drive right in front of me, and I loved its rims! They were painted a bright blue to go along with the blue colours in its logo and they brought me a little joy inside.
And now with springtime well on its way, I am so excited to be getting a little more colour outside rather than white.

The Nose Knows

Have you ever been walking behind someone and had their perfume or colonge (or BO, ugh) waft back to you? You take in a few deep breaths and you like what you smell so you follow them around for a bit. And then it always gets awkward when you follow for too long and they realize what you're doing...

Today I was walking behind a guy and he smelled pretty good. Except something was wrong. I was probably a good 10 feet behind this guy and I could smell his cologne perfectly. How did he smell that strongly?? Did he shower in cologne this morning?

He was walking a bit faster than me so there was a point where he got out of my view because he turned a corner, but I could still smell him! I bet I could have gone blood hound on that guy and followed him around all morning.

But why did he have so much cologne on? Maybe he's actually a really smelly guy and so he's trying to mask his smell with something else. But that's what a shower is for is it not? And I mean a real shower with real water and body wash - not cologne.

So my friends, if you think you might have an offensive odor about you, don't mask the smell with pretty perfumes or colognes. Try a shower. And then maybe a spritz of your favourite smell. You don't want your smell to be a smack in the nose for someone else, whether it's good or bad.

The Best Thing I Ever Ate

I ran across a show called The Best Thing I Ever Ate and the episode I found was where they were talking about their favourite cakes. They all looked amazing. There was this pound cake in Kansas that looked absolutely divine and one guy raved that the hoecakes in the South were the best thing ever.

But it got me thinking, what's the best thing I've ever ate? Eaten? Whatever.

I'm not a picky eater, so it's hard for me to narrow down a list of favourites because I like everything. My mama makes some pretty good food, so I pretty much like everything she makes. And my grandma can make a stew out of anything and it tastes delicious! Then there's one of my Tongan aunts who once owned a restaurant and she can make the best Tongan dishes ever.

Okay, okay, I have to narrow it down cause it's no fun to say, "I LIKE ALL THE FOOD IN THE WORLD!" because it makes it sound like I should be 500 pounds and living on a couch. Or it could mean I'm well travelled... and weigh 500 pounds.

So I give you my list of my 5 favourite things to eat (sorry, that's about as narrowed as it's going to get).

• Meat pies from New Zealand. I tried my first meat pie ever when we were down there last April and they were scrumptious! My favourite was the breakfast meat pie which had eggs, bacon and hashbrowns (i think) inside it.
• Fish and chips from a little restaurant on the Kootenay lake called JB's. They's got some big juicy strips of halibut deep fried in a delicious batter served with some awesome coleslaw and big chunky fries.
• The apple pie at Swiss Chalet. The first time I ever went there was with Johnny a few months ago and for dessert I had the coconut cream pie and he had the apple. He let me try a piece of his and it was heaven!
• The lamb souvlaki at some Greek place in Edmonton. I had a bad experience with lamb a while back and since then I'd been wary of eating lamb. But when I tried it at this place, it made me love lamb all over again. They served up the most beautiful, juicy pieces of meat I've ever had. I'm starting to drool just thinking about it!
• Roasted pig skin. Seriously. Don't knock it til you try it folks. You roast a pig over a spit and when it's all done the skin is crip and golden. It's so good with salt. Maybe you can try some at my wedding one day because there will be a roasted pig and it will be awesome.

Keep in mind that I don't have these listed in order of most favourite to least favourite. I don't think I could do that. It was hard enough just to pick 5 favourite foods! Let's see you do it! What are your 5 favourite things to eat? Or what's the best thing you ever ate? I wanna know!

going from a social butterfly back to the cocoon

You know that girl that stops hanging out with all her friends once she gets a boyfriend? You know the one I'm talking about: one day you two are hanging out, having a great time and all of a sudden you realize it's been over a month since you've seen or heard from her and it's because she's spent most of her time with her boyfriend. Don't you hate girls like that? Well don't hate too much because I think I'm turning into one of those girls.


Don't get me wrong, when me and Johnny first started dating, we were always hanging out with my friends. We were hardly alone! But now that he's got this job with the oil company that puts him up north for 2 weeks at a time, things have changed.


When Johnny's gone I rarely go out to see people anymore. I just spend most of my time with other commitments like school, church and rugby. Which I guess isn't a bad thing. After all, my grades are looking pretty good right about now with all the studying I've been doing (just wait until I finish my second round of midterms and quizzes). And in the 6 weeks that Johnny was gone, I got a role in the play my ward was putting on and we performed it for the first time just last week (it was hilarious!). And I'm feeling pretty dang good about myself too since I've been hitting the gym almost everyday.

Okay, I may be exaggerating a bit when I say that I never see people while he's gone... I just don't go out looking for people - I let them come to me.

In A Pickle

What an awful time it is for me to have an essay due.

I am in a hibernation mood and nothing would make me happier than to bundle up in a pile of blankets and watch a movie on my laptop.

But nooooo, I have an essay due on Tuesday and today (Saturday) is the day I decided I would write my paper. So I've spent the day procrastinating instead. I donated blood this morning with the ever so lovely KtJ, I uploaded a video onto facebook, I vacuumed the basement, I washed the dishes, and now I feel like snuggling in a cozy cave of blankets. It's been a rather lazy day, really. And I want it to stay that way.

Grand Unveiling

Dah dah duh dahhh!

Isn't it lovely? Most of you probably don't remember but when I made my birthday post I had mentioned possibly finding a snazzy new design as a treat for you and for me.

Well here it is. And it's only 5 months late! Go me!

For now I will just let you admire, but I'll be back with new ramblings for you to digest. Why don't you try looking around a bit? Pick your favourite month and see if I wrote anything of interest to you. And if you like it, leave a comment. If you don't like it, leave a comment! Sometimes it's good for me to hear some criticism once in a while.

Blast from the Past

We've recently aquired an old TV/VCR combo from a great aunt of ours and I must say, having a VCR in the house again opens up so many options for movie watching! Now I can watch my old disney favourites that we haven't quite managed to find on DVD yet and better yet, I can watch our old family videos.

I'm so conceited though, I only like watching the parts with me in it. And who wouldn't? I was the cutest little girl ever. Don't believe me? BAM! Look at that face! Who could possibly resist those chubby wittle cheeksies! Such a cutie pie...

Along with watching some old family favourites with our VCR, we've also been watching a lot of old movies. You know, the classics like My Fair Lady and Gone with the Wind. This has been my first time watching these movies and they're great!


We watched My Fair Lady first and I loved it. The songs were great and I loved Audrey Hepburn. And oh my word, the costumes!! They were faaaabulous.

The dress she wore to the ball was utterly stunning. If I could have a wedding dress similar to that one, I would be a happy girl.

My favourite scene would have to be the one where they are at the races. I love how every action was perfectly choreographed to reflect how everything the upper classes do is perfectly choreographed to some unwritten social protocol. I also loved it when Professor Higgins was introducing Eliza to everyone and she said, "How do you do" perfectly. I don't know what it is, but I just love how she said it! =3


We watched Gone with the Wind the other night and it was so long! The story was alright, but I could not stand Scarlet O'Hara. She was such a selfish brat. But the dresses were fun to watch.

The red dress she wears to Ashley Wickes' birthday party was pretty dang hot. And you know, I'm not normally into moustache guys, but Rhett Butler could certainly work the stache quite nicely. I don't see why Scarlet was so in love with Ashley when she had a guy like Rhett chasing after her, I would have totally taken Rhett!


Okay now I'm curious, out of Clark Gable (Rhett Butler) and Tom Selleck, who has the better moustache?

Wake-Up Call

Have you ever had one of those dreams where someone close to you hurts you? And then when you wake up the next morning, you're still mad at them for hurting you in your dream? Or you feel awkward when you see them the next day because the dream you had about them was really wierd?

I get that all the time. And Johnny makes fun of me for it because he always reminds me that it was just a dream!

I don't know what it is, but it seems to only happen to women. Maybe it's because we're more emotional than men so when we experience emotion in a dream, the left overs are still affecting us when we wake up.

Last night I had a dream that Bindi died (my dog, not Steve Irwin's daughter). I don't remember how it happened, but she saved my family somehow and contracted this awful disease where all her insides turned to water and then my mom had to put her out of her misery by throwing her against a concrete wall. Morbid, I know, but we were all miserable that she was gone because she had saved our lives.

So when I saw her this morning I was so happy to see her that I scooped her up and held on to her for a long time. And then she squirmed out of my arms and ran away.

So much for being a hero-dog.

14. Keep My Fingernails Coloured for 3 Months Straight

I don't have much to say about this one except, DON'T DO IT!!

I had to end this goal early at two months because my nails got so weak and brittle. I have a feeling they'll be recovering for a while.

So, moral of the story: If you love your nails, DON'T keep them coloured for two months straight. Maybe just a week or two. Besides, the polish gets pretty chipped by that point anyway and nail maintenance is such a pain.

Alright I feel bad for giving you such a short entry today, so I am going to share with you one of my favourite comics that I found on deviantArt. enjoy :)

I couldn't avoid the sparkles forever

Okay, don't freak out. But do you remember that one post where I wrote about what I want for my future wedding? Well this post is kind of related to that.

No, I am NOT engaged!! Sheesh, you people need to chill out.

But I have been looking at rings.

No, Johnny and I are NOT planning on getting married!! And trust me, you guys would not be the first people I'd tell. No offence.

I was just surfing on the interwebs a couple days ago and I ran across an ad for engagement rings. And like any other woman who is attracted to sparkley/shiny things, I looked it up. And I've been looking at rings ever since. I guess it's just so I could get an idea of what I like in a ring. There is just so much variety, it's hard to narrow it down, but I do know that I do not want white gold.

White gold is a HUGE pet peeve of mine. The thing I hate about it is: it looks like silver, yet you pay the price for gold. If you're going to spend more money buying a gold priced ring, it had better look like gold! How annoying would it be if one your friends was admiring your white-gold jewellery and said,

"Wow, that silver bracelet is adorable!"

"Actually it's white gold. Friends off."

Now fake gold, that's a whole other story...

67. Go Horseback Riding in the Winter

This one was so much fun! My friend, who we shall call Small, invited me and Johnny out to her farm for a visit. So we went and had a blast. Going out to the farm made me realize what a city girl I am, but it was still great. The weather was perfect: there was snow on the ground but it wasn't too cold either. I feel like this is more something I should show you rather than tell you, so here are some photos from the day:

Here I am with my horse. Can't remember her name for the life of me. I think it was something like Maggie, or Pepper? I have no clue.

Here we all are on our horses. We rode around Small's pastures and checked on the cows and we would have stayed out longer but our horses had had enough and became incredibly difficult to urge forward. It was still a good time nonetheless.

101 revisited

I don't know how many of you have been keeping track of my 101, but I figured it was about time that I gave you an update. In case you haven't noticed I've made quite a bit of progress: 17 of the goals are now complete and 7 goals have been started. I don't think I'll write an entry for every goal that I've completed, but I will write a few. Here is the first of a couple installments to come in the next few days (or weeks, depending on how much time I have)

66. Find 5 restaurants I've never been to and eat there

#1: August 21, 2010:

Johnny and I went up to Calgary for the day and before we came home he took me to this all-you-can-eat sushi joint. It was delicious! Johnny ordered 1 of almost every kind of sushi they had. We had to eat 36 pieces of sushi! By the end of it, eating had become a chore and I'd decided that if I never had seafood again it wouldn't be soon enough (but we're still planning on going back, ha!). There was also a BBQ in the middle of the table and Johnny ordered a crap-load of Korean BBQ meat for us to grill. It was pretty cool, but again, way too much food. And apparently, ladies, men are under the impression that we are incapable of grilling food properly over a barbecue. Bah! Who cares about cooking food over hot coals anyway? That's what stoves are for...

#2: September 26(?), 2010:

The sushi place we went to for dinner in Victoria with the rugby girls. We were given a $12.50 budget and I only went over by 40 cents with a set of prawn rolls and chicken udon noodles for $12.90 - very filling.

#3: September 27(?), 2010:

The other sushi place I went to with Annika in Vancouver. Again, $12.50 budget, I had tempura and some rolls. Satisfied.

#4: October 1, 2010:

Johnny and I were in Vancouver for the Jack Johnson concert and found a little Indian place to eat at called Sitar. The food was delicious. I had the chicken tiki masala and Johnny had the something-something-butter chicken. I can't remember the name, but it's a classic Indian dish that I would recognize if I heard it again. The service was really good at this little place. After we ordered, the waiter brought us a little dish of chip-like things to munch on while we waited for our food. So if you're ever in Vancouver and find yourself on Powell Street around the Gastown area, check out Sitar.

#5: October 2, 2010:

Another sushi place. Metrotown. All-you-can-eat. Really good. 19$ per adult. BBQ eel rolls, prawn tempura rolls, yam tempura rolls, california rolls, rolls with salmon and crab (mmmm), teriyaki chicken kabobs, prawn and vegetable tempura, salmon and tuna sashimi... much better all-you-can-eat experience than calgary. And much cheaper too.

There have been a lot more places that I've been to since the last restaurant on the list and there have been some pretty good ones. Here's a couple of my favourites:

Edmonton - I was up there with the team and we went for dinner at this Greek place downtown (can't remember the name of it). I had their lamb souvlaki and it was amazing. The service was fantastic especially considering the fact that there were 30 of us and when our meal was done we had a belly dancer entertain us. She put on quite the show.

Swiss Chalet - when Johnny found out that I had never been to Swiss Chalet he made it his goal to take me. I really liked it there. The atmosphere was really friendly and I was particularly impressed with the host when he offered to give a woman a free meal when she wasn't satisfied with the one she'd ordered. The chicken at Swiss Chalet was delicious and their sauce was super yummy. For dessert we each got a piece of pie: I had coconut cream and he got the classic apple. I regretted getting the coconut once I tried Johnny's piece - it was to die for!

In the Blink of an Eye

You know what this world needs?

Superpowers.

Actually, no. There's too much speculation that people would abuse their powers for evil, so the world doesn't need superpowers.

But I need superpowers.

You know what superpower would be awesome to have?

Teleportation. And I'm not just saying that because my boyfriend is currently living 6 hours away from me for his new job training. (And that, my friends, is a lie)

But seriously, I would save so much time if I could teleport wherever I want without freaking people out. I'd never have to worry about travel time any more. All I'd have to do is make sure that I'm ready at the time that I need to be someplace and at that exact time, I just poof myself in.

I would never be late for anything ever again! I could easily poof back and forth between my house and school in between classes whenever I want. It'd be like walking from my room to the bathroom. Except I would have to make sure I'm dressed properly before I walk out my door.

Have you ever forgotten something you need, but don't want to go get it because it would take too much time to go back for it? You know, you just get on the road for your big vacation and you realize you forgot your toothbrush, but it's too late now cause you've already been on the road for an hour so you'll just have to buy one at the nearest Walmart. That wouldn't be a problem with teleportation. All you'd have to do is poof yourself back to your house, grab your toothbrush, poof back and you'd be good to go.

I'm forgetting things all the time. It's never worth it to go out of my way to get whatever it is I need, so I just learn to deal with out it. But with teleportation, I'd never have to "deal with it" ever again.

Forget my wallet? Piece of cake, I'll just poof back to my house, grab my wallet and I'm back in thirty seconds.

In the middle of baking a cake and there's no eggs? Easy peasy lemon squeezy! I'll just poof out to the store, buy some eggs and be back in no time.

Craving lemonade? Don't have any lemons? Simple, I can poof out to a lemon grove and get myself freshly squeezed lemonade in a matter of minutes.

If you could have any superpower, what would you want? In the past I've always been partial to the classic super strength and flight, but right now teleportation has really caught my eye. And I don't know why. (Again, another lie)

I Liiiiiiive!

So tell me what the problem is, Great Ancestor. Just say the word and I'm there. If anyone messes with our family, vengeance will be mine!!!

Okay, enough of that tangent.

I bet you guys thought I'd abandoned you, didn't you? Well - in way I did. You see, I vowed to keep my laptop use to a minimum over the Christmas break so I could spend some quality time with family and friends. But you forgive me right? You knew deep down in your heart of hearts that I would be back someday, right? There was that little blip I left you on Boxing Day, that was a nice surprise, wasn't it? All that matters now is that I'm back and I promise I'll try to be better - unless I forget. Or if school gets totally crazy. Or the world comes to an end.

But anyway, I hope all of your Christmases treated you well. And I hope your 2011's are going well so far. My year started out pretty good. Until I had to say an early goodbye to my bestie, Selina, who went back to Utah before school started. But here's the kicker, Johnny got a job with some big shot oil company and they need him to go up to Edmonton for training for SIX WEEKS. So he left a week after Selina left me. I never thought I'd do a long distance relationship, but I don't think this one will be so bad because there is a definite end to his awayness.

Moving on... (No you will NOT see a mopey girlfriend on this blog!)... I've started school again and I think my classes will be a lot more challenging than last semester. However, there is one class that I am totally stoked about. And that class is yoga. I had my first yoga class yesterday and as we started doing some beginner's poses, I had such a hard time concentrating. My mind was thinking about the next class I had to go to, what I did at FHE the night before, Johnny, when I was going to buy my textbooks, anything but the class. But eventually my mind calmed down and I relaxed. I stopped worrying, stopped planning and stopped thinking. And then I fell asleep. I couldn't help it, I mean, she gave us blankets for goodness sake! I bet she has students fall asleep in her class all the time.

Either way, I must say, my yoga class is going to be an excellent start to my day every Tuesday and Thursday.

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PS: 100 cool points to whoever can name the movie I quoted at the beginning of my blog.