The kind of post my mom would scold me for

It is after 10 pm and I have to be at work for 9 tomorrow. But here I am blogging because I am an adult and I pay rent so I do what I want.

I saw someone post an article earlier today that said something like "15 things couples do when they leave the honeymoon phase". I skimmed it and it made me think of the days when Joe and I were in the honeymoon phase, but more specifically it made me think of the day we left the honeymoon phase. (and just to clarify, I'm defining the honeymoon phase as that time in a new relationship when the couple still feels the need to put on their best selves around each other. Not the literal honeymoon phase where the couple has just gotten married and is still enjoying the perks of - well, you know...)

Anyway, sorry for the long parentheses. Where were we? Oh yes.

The day Joe and I left the honeymoon phase, or in other words: the day we broke the fart barrier. Everybody knows that when the fart barrier is broken, all other walls come tumbling down. It's impossible to go back to the honeymoon phase once gas has been passed between two lovers.

I can say with a mix of pride and shame that I was the one to break the barrier, but it was Joe's fault that it happened.

I think we'd only been dating a month or a month and a half when it happened. Joe was over at my house and we were just messing around in the living room. Somehow we started steam-rolling each other. Then Joe got the bright idea to turn himself so that he was steam-rollering me from top to bottom instead of side to side. As he did so, I said "No don't! I'm really gassy!" (which in itself, was a first in the relationship for one of us to even admit we had gas). But instead of respecting my womanly dignity of not farting in front of men, Joe just got this look in his eye that said "Oh really??" and he began to focus his steam-rolling efforts around my abdominal region (I was lying face-down, btw, otherwise that would have really hurt).

He didn't have to try for long before the demon was released. At first it was funny because of the noise it made and the fact that when I laughed, it came out in time with my laughs. But then Joe got a whiff of the monster and jumped across the room so fast you'd have thought someone released a stink bomb - oh wait...

I was rather embarrassed and worried that it might have been a deal breaker, but thankfully Joseph was able to see past my stench and he learned to love me for who I really am: a smart, talented girl whose farts should be taken seriously. Honestly, I'm pretty sure he only did it so that he would finally be allowed to fart around me. I later found out that until that point, his stomach used to hurt so bad from holding in the gas when he was with me too long.

So if there's a lesson to be learned here, it's that you should break the fart barrier as early as you can in a relationship in case there could be health risks associated with holding in your gas for too long. If you truly cared about your loved ones, you'd let them fart around you.

Two Hundred

I've started a couple posts recently, but haven't uploaded them because my last post was my 199th published post and I wanted 200 to be something special. I finally decided to write something and get it over with. So without further adieu, I give you my

For those of you who've been reading since the beginning, I thank you. We've been through a lot together here on the blog. You were with me when I used to talk about boys and how stupid they were. When I went on my trip to Australia you eagerly anticipated the days when I'd post pictures. Hey, remember when I created my 101 things to do in 1001 days? It's over now and I think I may have gotten like, half of them done...  And oh my gosh! You were there when I went on my first date with Joe (!) back when I called him Johnny.

There are so many memorable moments. I'm just going to put a bunch of labels at the bottom of this blog post and you can feel free to browse through them at your own leisure. 

Thanks for reading everyone! And here's to another

I don't plan on ending this thing any time soon, so I'm sure we'll get to 400 :) Who's with me?

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had some great New Year's Celebrations and they were safe in whatever they were doing.

Christmas was good too, nice and relaxing! We spent Christmas with my family this year and it was nice to spend a few days at my parent's house. I have to tell you about the gift I got for my mom because I am just so proud of myself. 

I found this software made by Roxio that converts old VHS movies to digital format so you can burn it onto a DVD. It's called Easy VHS to DVD3 Plus. Yeah, a mouthful, I know. So what I've been doing is converting our old family videos and putting them on DVDs for my mom. I just gave her one DVD to begin with, but now that the hubby is gone I've started up the process again so that I'll hopefully have all the videos converted before school starts up next week.

With the New Year I've come to a decision. I've decided that I am going to stop referring to my husband as Johnny on the blog because I've grown tired of it and feel ready to move on. His name is Joseph, and that is what I will call him here from now on. In case you didn't know, I introduced him on the blog by calling him Johnny Lingo because of the pineapples he brought over when we first started going out.  

Speaking of the New Year, have any of you made New Year's resolutions? Or do you even believe in them at all? I've made resolutions on and off before and I am always terrible with keeping them. However, starting this blog was part of a new year's resolution, so I guess I'm still doing alright with that. 

Joe (my husband, remember?) and I haven't made any resolutions this year, but we've decided to try something else instead. We decided to come up with a family theme for us to focus on for the year and maybe we'll throw in some monthly goals to work on later, but for January we're just focusing on the theme. I even got all gung ho and made a little picture using google docs. So here is our theme and goal for the year:

Calories

Here's a snippet of the conversation that happened on Johnny and I's most recent video chat

Johnny: "So I found out how many calories are in that soup I told you about."
Nani: "Oh? What's in it?"
J: "Just a cup has 1000 calories!"
N: "Well it's a good thing I'm not scared of calories."
J: "..."
N: "I eat calories for breakfast!"
J: "..."
N: "I eat calories for breakfast, lunch, and dinner!"
J: "..."
N: "And then you know what I do with them? I burn them! Hahahahahaha!"
J: "..."
N: "Baby, why aren't you laughing? I'm hilarious!"
J: "You are so sad."

I thought I was pretty funny, I was laughing my head of and Johnny just shook his head. After all my laughing that made me think of Happy Gilmore and one of my favourite lines...

*Warning, this scene contains mild language. But it's still pretty funny.

Ew.

I think I just drank sour milk.

I made a protein shake after morning training and I mixed milk and water with my powder, so I couldn't really tell at first. But now I've got a funny taste in my mouth and my stomach doesn't feel too good. Blah.

Anyway, that's not what this post is supposed to be about. I wanted to tell you about my trip to Utah! Since I mentioned it in my post about my summer, I should let you know how it went. And show you some photos. 

This is Johnny's first picture on the blog! I am married to a hunk :D

We shot stuff! We spent a weekend in Logan with Selina and her man and this was one of the things we did with them. It was pretty fun. The last time I shot a gun was 4 years ago, so I enjoyed myself quite a bit. 

We visited Temple Square. This was taken on top of the Conference Center. It's a sand blasted mural which we thought was pretty cool. If you ever visit Salt Lake, you must visit Temple Square and learn a thing or two about us crazy Mormons. 

We ate the most AMAZING cupcakes ever! Down in Provo there's a magical bake shop called the Sweet Tooth Fairy where they make your sweet dreams come true. We also may have brought a dozen cupcakes back up to Canada with us the day we left. Om nom nom! 

We visited the Hogle Zoo. It was fun to walk around and look at all the animals. My favourites were definitely the elephants and the rhinos. Johnny looooved the gorillas. (Naturally. He's practically a gorilla himself).

And we played with my little cousins. We stayed at my Aunt's place once we left Logan and the kids absolutely loved Johnny. Whenever we were there, he'd hardly have a second to himself. I've always told him that if we have a little girl, she would have him wrapped around her little finger but Johnny's always said he'd be able to resist...

 But after spending a week with THIS little cutie, he's discovered that he is an absolute sucker for girls with big, brown adorable eyes. And if our babies get my genes, they're gonna be just like her! (Except a little lighter maybe...)

And that's our trip in a nutshell! We had a blast and I loved seeing my family and exploring the Utah valley with Johnny. We will most certainly go down again in the future. 

Yesterday

was such a good day, I don't know why I didn't blog.

One of the best things of yesterday was that I wrote my first final already. That's one down and three to go. I can do this.

Another awesome of yesterday was my nap. Oh my word, it was glorious. I had no idea I could still nap for a solid 2 hours!

And the cherry on top of my yesterday cupcake was that it was Johnny and I's 8-month anniversary! I am only making a big deal out of it because 8 is one of my favourite numbers and I have to wait far too long for our 8 year anniversary to make a big deal out of that one. Next month will be our 9 month anniversary which is 3 quarters of a year. I'm even more excited for that number because 3/4 is my favourite fraction.

I told Johnny about this on the phone last night and he said that since 13 is his favourite number he claims our 13th anniversary as his anniversary. He is going to treat me like a princess on all the other anniversaries, but for the 13th I have to treat him. To be honest, I'm scared I'm going to forget all about it. Should I start planning now so I don't have to worry about it down the road? I'm sure we'll have at least a couple children by then, so life will probably be more hectic. It'd be better if I just saved myself all the stress in the future and planned it now.

I seriously cannot wait for us to grow old together. I can't wait to see what life has in store for us and the things we will experience together. I once heard that you know you're in love when you imagine yourself spending forever with that person and it doesn't seem long enough. I must have it bad for Johnny, because to imagine an eternity with him only seems like the beginning...

Oh the irony

I am positive - absolutely certain - that once I wrote my post about why I don't have a car, the universe set itself to conspire against me and make me eat my words. Then I wrote another post whining about how Johnny won't be home for the rest of April; and I am gladly eating my words on that one too.

So yes, that means that Johnny and I have bought another car. I was completely opposed to the idea at first, trust me, but I had to break down because so did the clutch on our first baby.

Here's the story:

Johnny came home this week for an unexpected week off. And with him he brought our car, Lupe (pronounced LOOP-ay). Turns out the clutch had been acting up on him all the way home so we talked to a mechanic to diagnose the problem.

The mechanic told us she could be fixed for a resonable price and we were relieved until we discovered she couldn't be fixed until next week. Johnny had to leave for work before then so we weren't sure what we should do.

We weighed our options, explored our avenues, toyed with ideas, and in the end, decided to buy another car.

So we've bought ourselves a 2007 Nissan Versa. She's been good so far, and will earn her stars once she survives her trip up to Grande Prairie with Johnny this month. I've decided to name her Ronnie - short for Veronica.

As for Lupe, she's staying home with me for now and will be going into the shop on Tuesday. I still don't know how I feel about having a car, but I must admit, it's nice to be able to go out for groceries whenever I want and to have the freedom to go where I want without having to mooch a ride off someone first.

Love Vomit

I am so incredibly ineloquent it's ridiculous. I am so ineloquent it's like- like- gah! You know what I mean.

Feelings? I have them, but I suck at expressing them.

Today is our 6 month anniversary. I have a thing for celebrating halfway marks (like half birthdays - awesome!), so this is a big deal to me. I want to say all these cute things about us, but it's all getting so jumbled up in my brain it can't even come out right when I type it. This is why I'm a hand talker, folks. And sound effects? I thrive with those.

Anyway, just know that the past 6 months (or 3 if you count the amount of time he's actually been home) have been absolutely wonderful. Johnny treats me so well and I have love, love, loved the time we've had together. There have been times when I can't wait for us to have kids, or I can't wait for us to have our own house. But if I spend my time looking forward to what's going to happen, I'll miss out on the good times we're having now.

Who needs Valentine's Day when you've got a 6 month anniversary? (V-day was awesome by the way, I'll blog about it later)

Sorry, wrong number

Okay, story time.

This is one of things that you'd totally read about in the embarrassing story sections of all the teen magazines you used to read. Except Johnny doesn't get embarrassed over anything. Oh and this story happened to Johnny. Not me. Cause I'd never make such a silly mistake (pfft, okay I might be lying).

Anyway, on to the story...

As you know, Johnny works out of town a lot. So we'll often start the day off right by sending a text to each other in the morning. You know just the standard, "I love you, have a good day <3 xoxo". But sometimes we'll get creative and come up with barfy pet names for each other like cuddle monkey, snuggle bear, pookie bean, etc. and throw those in there. Aaaand we may or may not have had an I-love-you war via text once. But you get the picture.

Well, this morning Johnny must have been feeling particularly barftastic because he sent me quite the barfalicious text. It was super cute and made me smile and giggle and all that girly stuff you see on the chick flicks. However, not only did he send the text to me, but he sent it to his boss as well. Have I mentioned that he works on the rigs?

So you can imagine the reaction. The boss bursts out laughing (luckily, Johnny was right there when he sent it - oops!) and shows it to all the other guys. Now they're all calling him "love monkey" over the radios and having a real hoot about it.

Of all the texts meant for me that he could have sent to his boss, it had to be this one. Don't get me wrong, it was totally cute. But to anyone else it's just funny.

The only story that might top that would be one where your best friend's wife accidentally sends you a text that reads, "I'm ovulating! You need to come home now!"

But I'll save that for another post ;)

lonely, but loved

It's ranting time!

This is something that has bothered me since I got married. Actually no, it's bothered me since Johnny got his job with Halliburton, but it's bothered me more since we got married.

I hate it when people ask how I like living alone while Johnny's off at work.

Seriously, people do that.

Yes, my husband works out of town for two weeks at a time. Yes, it sucks but it is just a fact of life because this is how we are surviving right now as newlyweds. Yes, it is a sacrifice but it won't last forever so don't pity me. I grew up with my father working the rigs, so I knew precisely what I was getting into, yet I still chose it.

I am actually grateful that Johnny has the job he does. Even though it can be really tough to say goodbye to him and to have to handle the house on my own while he's gone, it really makes us appreciate the time we do have together. Because of this, I can proudly say we've never had a fight because our time is too short together not to enjoy it.

So for the people who want to know how I like living alone while Johnny's gone, know that I love it. I love it because it means I am married to a man who is sensible enough to stick with his well paying job to provide for our little family, and for that I am so grateful.  Even though the time apart can be really tough, there's enough love between us to make it all worth while.

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

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?

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.

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.

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!

Good with Money

I'm so thrifty. But I still buy too much stuff.

I think it's because I save so much that I give myself the excuse that I can splurge on some things every once in a while. Maybe I should see if I can go a week without spending money.

Dang, that would be hard! It's not like I'm a shopaholic or anything. In fact, I hardly ever go shopping just for the heck of it. Most of my money gets spent on food. If I'm too lazy to pack a lunch for school, I just buy one. If I get a hankering for some mini-blizzard love, I just pop over to the DQ next to the Institute building and buy one.

I think if I just carried around cash that would help curb the problem. I find it way harder to actually hand over cash than it is to hand over a debit card. My brain says to me, "That's not money! That's plastic." and so I think nothing of it. That is, until I get that little statement at the end of the month that shows exactly where all my money is going. It's then that I realize how much the little things add up.

But you know what? Things aren't so bad. Heck, if it weren't for Johnny, my bank statement would be so much higher than it is now!

Hooray for boyfriends.

A Break From Rugby

You guys must be getting sick of only hearing me blab about my rugby business. Sorry, it's kind of taken over my life.

But good news! I have some non-rugby related things to talk about today.

As some of you may or may not know, one of your favourite tongans has had a birfday (Pfft, yeah cause you have more than one). Yes! Me! I've had a birfday! I have left the familiar groove of teenage-hood and have entered the twenties.

You are now reading the blog of a twenty year old. Oh barf, that sounds so boring. Maybe I'll look into getting a snazzy new design as a present to you.

But anyway! You must hear about what I did for my birfday. I mean, I've only been talking about it since Johnny and I became an item.

We went down to Vancouver for the weekend and saw Jack Johnson in concert. It was so awesome! We arrived in the coastal city on Friday morning and spent most of the day in Chinatown and exploring other parts of the city. We grabbed a bite to eat at this little Indian restaurant called Sitar (which counts as #66 on my 101). Then we went back to the hotel, grabbed our things and went off to the show.

If any of you have heard of Jack Johnson before, you'd know his music is pretty chill. So naturally, his concert was pretty chill too (and the fact that pot was being smoked everywhere probably added to the chillness of it all). But he put on a great show. He played a good mix of the favourites as well as some new ones from his latest cd which I love anyway. My favourite part was when he encored with a group of songs he wrote about/for his wife. He's so awesome! I'm just sad that I didn't end up marrying him after the concert. Maybe next time...

Technically the the concert wasn't the end of our adventure in the latest Olympic City, but really, it was. We were staying with a friend of Johnny's who lives in Surrey, an hour outside of Vancouver, so we didn't end up getting to her place until late, late, late Friday night. We slept in the next morning until 11 and chilled around the house for most of the day. We went out for sushi that night, but that was all the excitement we had on Saturday. And Sunday just consisted of us taking a plane home and arriving in L-town just in time for Thanksgiving dinner with my family.

I'll probably upoad some photos. But later. Cause I'm lazy and it seems to take forever. Maybe one of these days I'll take my laptop to school with me and upload photos while I study. Look at me being all smart!

Anyway, til next time,
Peace.

One for the Road

Hey friends!

I've got a bit of time to kill at the institute before Friday Forum, so I thought I'd write up a quick little blog while I wait.

Problem is, I don't have much to talk about. Maybe I'll just give you a rundown on what my week's been like. . .

Insitute started on Monday and I am loving my classes so far! I'm taking an Isaiah class with brother Wood and a New Testament class with Brother Reid. If there's anyone reading that has an opportunity to go to institute, do it! It's tons of fun and a really great way to spend an hour of your day. (Plus you get free parking)

My school classes are going well. I feel like I look like crap all the time because of my training in the mornings and then badminton class in the afternoons, I'm always in sweaty gym clothes! But on the days when I only have lectures, I make myself look pretty to make up for it. My poetry class is interesting so far. I'm pretty sure it's going to be a challenge. I sat next to this awful girl in my last class and she made the meanest, snippy comments about everything that people said! I'm never sitting by her again. I think I really like my evening psychology class. I've made two friends in there and we seem to get along really well.

I've been working hard in rugby practices and I think it's starting to pay off. The soreness has gone in my legs and it's getting easier for me to keep up with the rest of the team. Our first game is on Sunday and I'm both nervous and excited for it. I'll let you know how it goes.

Aaannd, that's my week. Sort of.

Ooh! Johnny took me out on Tuesday and we saw Despicable Me. It was so cute!

15. Learn to Drive a Standard

First, let me give a little background on why I put this goal on my 101.

I've always wanted to go on the show, Amazing Race, and if you've never seen it, it's a reality tv competition where 11 teams of people race around the world and they travel to all these different countries and the winners get a million dollars. In most countries, they're provided with vehicles to get themselves around and they always get standards. And some of the teams lose a lot of ground because they can't drive standards. So I figure if I ever want to compete in the Amazing Race, I have to be able to drive a standard.

Johnny gave me my first standard lesson a couple days ago and I was such a nervous wreck. But I didn't crash and that's the important thing. We just drove around my block and went on a busier street for a bit and then learned how to reverse in a parking lot. I got a cookie ice cream sammich as my reward. Next lesson: highway driving.

Concerts, Blood and Farewells

I've been meaning to write something lately, but have been stuck trying to decide what to talk about. Then it hit me: I just had an awesome weekend, let's talk about that.

Friday was a good day. I was in need of some sound advice and counsel that morning because of something that had happened the day before. I didn't know where else to turn so I texted my good buddy, Brent. He called me as soon as he had the chance and we had a good heart to heart. He expressed how much he cared about me and made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. I love that guy. He is the big brother I never had. While I was babysitting The Kids for the last time, Johnny came over and he also made me feel better. I have got some awesome people in my life and I am so grateful for them. After work, Johnny and I went over to McFLY's to chill for a bit before we went out to Magrath to see a concert. Air Raid Anthem was the band we saw and I must say, they put on a good show (it helped that the drummer was really pretty and took his shirt off halfway through the performance). If you decide to check them out, you should have a listen to their Tik Tok cover (Johnny's favourite) and a song called Unsolved Hystories (my favourite). After the concert our new friend, Snowman, came over to McFLY's house and we had a fun "girl's night" with me, McFLY and Snowman. We had lots of fun getting to know him while we cooked food, swapped stories and did facial masks.

Friday may have been good, but Saturday was perfection. I'd slept over at McFLY's, so together we walked back to my house and then went to donate blood with KTJ. Denise was there as well and I am happy to report that we all made full donations. McFLY donated for the first time, KTJ filled a bag for the first time, Denise finally made it past the iron test and I beat my record for the fastest donation time with 4 minutes and 19 seconds. We were all so proud of ourselves. After our fantastic performance at the blood clinic, KTJ, McFLY and I went out to the air show to check out the planes and guns and men in uniform. It was a beautiful day to be out in the sun and I got so brown =3 After the show, we went to DQ and got some ice cream. It was then that I parted ways with them to go with Johnny and hang out with B&C. Since I had just talked to Brent the day before, I was excited to see them. We just chilled with them for an hour or so and then went out to Raymond for a goodbye bonfire for Gingy. Gingy leaves for his mission on the 4th of August and I am going to miss him. The group will not be the same without him. Johnny and I came home from the bonfire around 11 and then went for a walk. It was fun; whenever we came to a turn in the road or anything, we flipped a coin to decide which way to take. Sometimes we vetoed the coin whenever we saw somewhere we wanted to go down the street. It made for a pretty goood walk. Try it sometime.

Sunday was probably my favourite day out of this weekend because the whole lot of us spent it together. I'd slept in that morning, so when Johnny came early to pick me up to go to Raymond, I got ready in half an hour. I was quite proud of myself. In Raymond, Gingy gave his last talk and we were all there to support him. After the meeting we went to his house and had some great food and some fun times just being together. When we came back to Lethbridge, we didn't just want to sit around inside while the sun was shining gloriously outside, so we went to Hendersen and had a relaxing time at the park.

This weekend was perfect. I am so grateful for the awesome group of friends I've found and I love the support we have for each other. I know that with this bunch, many more perfect weekends are sure to come.