Feeling Guilty.

Hey kiddos!

Another month has gone by without a word from me, so let's share a little update, shall we?

Things have been busy and exciting around here as the days are getting longer and the snow has been finally MELTING!!! I am so glad that winter is over. Yes, I realize that we can still get a snowfall or two, but hey, the worst is behind us.

What have I been up to? You know what, let's just make this easy and make a list!

1. Work. I am love, love, loving my job. My main role is to create exercise programs for patients that the physiotherapists send my way. But they can also send patients to me for Ultrasound or IFC which are different modalities we use to calm muscles down or reduce inflammation. I also get to do pre-employment testing for 2 big companies (I'm not sure if I'm allowed to say who due to confidentiality stuff and blah blah blah). They both usually send a couple people my way each week to run them through some basic fitness testing to make sure they can handle the physical demands of their job. Not only that but I am also trained as a physio aid, so I know how to use the computer system and book people in or charge them, and I can also take them back to a bed, clean the beds, do the laundry and basically keep the clinic running smoothly. So of all those things I do, my day is usually a little bit a of a mix of everything. I seriously don't think I can ever be bored doing what I do.

2. Rugby. On Mondays and Wednesdays I coach the high school girls. They are a fun group of girls and after our first tournament we learned that we have a lot to work on, but they are all determined as ever.

3. Visiting family. Last weekend Joe and I drove down to Lethbridge to spend two days with my family for my brother's mission farewell. On Tuesday the 7th he will be leaving to serve a two year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in the Halifax, Nova Scotia mission. It was so good to see the family again. On Saturday we had a surprise party for my mom while everyone (AKA: me and Joe, my dad and my brother) was in town . It was perfect because it gave Joe and I the opportunity to see some of our friends without sacrificing time with our family. On Sunday was my brother's farewell and he spoke in church and I sang a song with my sister and sister-in-law and then after church we had the whole extended family over for food and in the evening we had an open house for everyone else to swing by and show their support for my bro (and of course, there was more food). And then Monday we had to pull ourselves out from our food comas and make the long drive back to GP. But of course we had to stop and see Joe's family on the way. We played with the kids, went to dinner and then were on our way again.

4. We bought a bike! For me. I had one before, but it was old and decrepit and Joe has been threatening to throw it away for a long time now. So now I have a beautiful bike that I can ride to work now that the snow is gone. I attached a bell all by myself (with Joe laughing at me as I did) and now all that's left is to give it a name.

And that's pretty much it! Joe and I are getting all excited for our big trip to Hawaii in a couple of weeks and things are coming together. The big expenses are out of the way: flights, vacation rental and rental car. Now we just need to buy a few last minute items and get packing. Wish us luck!

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?

Meow

Now that I'm living in GP I've been sharing my house with two cats. I am not a cat person in any way so getting used to living with cats has probably been the biggest adjustment through this whole experience.

Here are a few of my thoughts regarding cats:

1. They leave hair everywhere. And they have this nasty habit of rubbing up against your leg which makes your pants hairy.

2. Why do they feel the need to scratch things? There's a couch in this house that the cats have made their scratching post and it's like they can't walk by the couch without having to stop and scratch it.

3. They are sooooo lazy. Joe and I are the only ones in the house for the week and yesterday when I went to work the two cats were chillin on the couch. When I got home they were still there! No wonder they're fat.

4. Sometimes they will just randomly run across the room for no reason. And at night I'll hear the strangest noises coming from wherever they are. They're up to something, I know it...

5. Seriously, what is with the scratching? How am I supposed to like cats if I know they will claw the crap out of any furniture I might own? Are you allowed to beat them for something like that like you would a dog?

6. Since the cats spend of their day sleeping, does that mean they don't sleep at night? For a couple days in a row I've noticed my hair ties sitting on the stairs near my bedroom when I know they were in the bathroom the night before. I swear, they're up to something...

Even though I'm not a huge fan of living with cats, at least I have gained appreciation for this video.

Mrs. Amazing

I am so on the ball today, it s awesome!

My motivation levels must have been a record high, I still can't believe it. 

All the Stuff I Got Done Today

1. I went to school. That is a big deal cause I nearly slept through it and I had to hand in an essay today, ack! Thank goodness I'm living at home, cause mom saved my butt. 

2. I went grocery shopping. Okay, I only went because mom went. But I went! And I helped! 

3. I organized and cleaned my room. This is the first good chance I've gotten to do it since the move and I am so glad I did it. You can see the floor now and walk around the room in the dark without killing yourself!

4. I worked out. All thanks to Just Dance. Man, it can really make you sweat!

5. I showered. And I'll tell you a secret -- I hadn't showered since Saturday. I know, gross. But I'm sure I'm not the only one who's put off a shower for that long!

6. I studied. Okay, that's a lie. I started to read my textbook but then realized how boooooooring it was so I stopped. 

7. I painted my nails. They are nice and pretty now, so let's see if I can make them last more than a couple days this time. 

My pretty nails! With my PJs as backdrop

And that was my day. I just thought of a couple other things I probably could have done, but hey, today was still great. 

Oh!! I just remembered! I showered Sunday! So not showering on one day isn't so bad, right?

Feel the Love

I promised I'd write about something happier, so that's what I'm going to do dang it!

Today I thought I'd write about 5 things I love right now and 1 thing I not so love, because let's face it, this is real life and not a Disney fairy tale.

Thing I love #1: multigrain toast with jam. It's so yummy! I'm eating it as I type.

Thing I love #dos (that's two for you non-spanish speakers): My momma. She loves me enough to let me stay with the family for the weekend to try and give my brain the rest it needs.

Thing I love #three (3): having silly text arguments with Johnny. They're about nothing, but for some reason neither of us wants to let the other have the last word. And then suddenly, they magically stop because one of us finally got too lazy to respond, therefore the other person wins!

Thing I love #3+1: My dog, Bindi. Now that I've been moved out of the house for a while, she misses me enough to follow me around when I'm home. This weekend we've been besties :)

Thing I love #5: A good night's sleep. Something I had all weekend. Awesome!

Thing I not so love: Wednesday assignments. There are so many of them! :(

What are some things you love today?

Bindi+Nani = Best friends!

Catch 22

What's this??? It's my birthday today? Well, I should probably write something to celebrate!

Only greatness can be born on October 1st. Look who shares a birthday with me!

Julie Andrews - Musical greatness. Plus she's practically perfect in every way.

Jimmy Carter - 39th president of the United States. You've gotta be pretty awesome to be president. (Except then I don't know how Bush got in...)

Zach Galifianakis - Though I don't appreciate all his movies, you gotta admit, the man's hilarious!

King Henry III - He's a king, duh! How much more awesome can you get?

I've turned 22 today, so I decided to share 22 things about me that you probably didn't know.

1. As a child I wanted to marry Raphael the ninja turtle.
2. Even though I'm all grown up and married now, I've contemplated getting a nightlight for our place because sometimes I'm afraid of the dark.
3. I have double-jointed elbows and I think they're gross.
4. I crack my knuckles even though people say it's bad for you.
5. I hate cats. But kittens are cute, so I hate them for trying to make me like them.
6. When I'm eating ice cream with a spoon sometimes I blow on it like I would for a spoonful of hot soup. And then I feel silly because ice cream isn't hot.
7. I have a slightly irrational fear of caterpillars.
8. I like to cut my grilled cheese diagonally.
9. God made georgia mud fudge blizzards just for me.
10. I pick up change on the street as long as it isn't a penny.
11. I have a bad habit of getting parking tickets.
12. Summer is my favourite season for the heat and it's a toss-up between fall and winter for my favourite pretty season.
13. I've recently noticed that I do this weird thing when I'm putting on sweaters or hoodies. As I'm about to put them over my head, I suck in some air and hold my breath until my head pops out the neck hole. I have no idea when this started because I've only noticed that I do it within the past month.
14. I play the violin. Did you know this? If you do, bravo, because I don't share that fact too often with others.
15. I cannot pick a favourite colour because I love all colours. The only requirement I have is that they are vibrant.
16. I hate scary movies. I blame them for making me afraid of the dark.
17. I looooove chocolate. But I don't like white chocolate. I guess I'm racist.
18. I think that men's feet are ugly. I haven't met a man who has nice looking feet.
19. I don't own a brush.
20. I am a very jumpy person and therefore easy to scare. (I probably shouldn't have shared that with some of you)
21. I love listening to classical music. My children will probably hate road trips with me because I listen to lame music. (Unless I raise them to love classical too!)
22. I've lived my whole life thinking I am an american citizen, but my mother has just recently informed that I was wrong. I'm full on Canadian!

5 excellent reasons why I don't have a car

Within the past two days, this topic has been brought up by a couple people so I figure that means I should blog about it.

In case you don't already know, Johnny and I have one car between us. And while he's gone at work that leaves me at home with no car. If I didn't have my way, Johnny probably would have bought me a car months ago. This is why I'm still car-less:

1. I am perfectly capable of taking the bus. As a girl who is chronically late to everything, the bus is nice because it gets me to where I need to go with time to spare. As long as I don't miss the bus, that is ;)

2. I own a bike. And during the 6 months of the year when it isn't snowing, I can ride anywhere I need to. Except the west side. I haven't gotten up the nerve to take on Whoop Up yet...

3. My parents live in town. And they love me. So if I'm in a pickle, they are pretty willing to help me out.

4. We have other plans for our money. We want to take a couple trips, we've been thinking of buying a house and Johnny has a good chunk of his student loans left to pay and I still have a bit of school left to finish. If we drop 6000 on a little car for me, that's 6000 less for the loan, for a trip and a down payment on a house.

5. I'm cheap. If I was ranking these in order of most influential, this is reason number 1. My motto is, "If we can live without it, we don't need it." The cave men got along fine without cars and so will I.

For now, these reasons work for me so I will continue to get along without a car. If we were to move to a strange city hours away from my family, we would buy another car. If we had a kid, we'd have a car. And if we had a million dollars, we'd have another car. And a private jet.

News Flash

Has anyone watched the news lately? Have you noticed how it only ever talks about tragedies, disasters, politics and the weather with a small segment about how someone's dog saving their life.

I was watching the news tonight with my parents and I could only handle the depressing stories for 15 minutes before I walked out. I just wasn't in the mood for it.

So here is my response. A list of 10 awesome things off the top of my head. Ready, go:

10. Sneezing. Who doesn't love a good sneeze every once in a while? It always feels so rejuvenating. Unless you're sick and all you ever do is sneeze - then it gets old.

9. Fuzzy slippers, One of the ultimate symbols of comfort - these are great for a chilly day in the house.

8. Stuff that kids say. Whether you own them or not, they come up with the cutest things. Just watch the video. Precious.

7. A good hair day. Lately I've fallen into a rut of ponytails and french braids because I rarely have the time to tame my crazy curls, but every once in a while my hair decides to look good on it's own so I can leave it down. Thanks, hair!

6. Finding someone you know (and like) on the bus. Bus rides can be pretty awkward sometimes with the amount of weirdos characters you can find. But every once in a while there's an old friend there who you are generally happy to see and catch up with to make your bus ride a little more enjoyable.

5. Old couples who "still got it". My grandparents are the epitome of this one. It is the sweetest thing to see them my gramma tease my grampa only to turn around and give him a big hug and a poke to show she still loves him. And they still hold hands! Precious. That'll totally be me and Johnny in 50 years.

4. Having milk in the fridge when you've got a fresh batch of cookies. I just made a batch for my family, but when I brought it over they were out of milk! Talk about a let down!

3. Adjustment. Getting married and moving into a new family ward are some pretty big changes, but I think I'm starting to adjust. I feel like I'm making a place for myself at church and I feel like I'm learning to cope with Johnny's work schedule as a wife.

2. Princess and the Frog. Yes, the new one by Disney. I just absolutely love how Tiana and Naveen fall in love. Precious. And I'll tell you a secret - the song Ray sings about Evangeline melts my heart every time and I felt like Johnny saw me the way Ray sees Evangeline. I've always secretly hoped he'd sing that song for me. AND! Tiana and Naveen's love story reminds me of mine and Johnny's - like Tiana, I've got a lot of big dreams and Johnny only wants to help me make them come true. Gah, I could gush forever, but I won't.

1. Sundays. It's a day of rest where I get to go to church and feel the spirit and then hang out with family and have dinner with them. Two of the best things in life combine on Sunday. Awesome.

** I wonder how many of you will watch the videos I posted... 

because I gushed. =3
courtesy of: http://altaira7vn.deviantart.com/art/Ray-and-Evangeline-191448997 

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.

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!

Winter Wonderland

With the all the cold weather we've been having lately here in Alberta you would think that I of all people would be locked up in my house hidden under a warm pile of blankets. But it is not so! Life goes on in the frozen wasteland that I call home.

I feel like with all the snow, there's been so much more to do. With the arrival of all our snow, a whole bunch of things comes with it. And so I give you my list of my favourite things about winter:

- Touques! I had to break out my winter jacket last week as well as my mittens and my lovely variety of touques. My current favourite is an old ski touque that my grandpa used to wear. It's awesome because it has the Canadian flag on it.

- Hot chocolate. mmm, mmm. What better way to have your chocolate than in liquid form? I am a master at making hot chocolate. I love experimenting and finding new ways to make my favourite drink even better.

- Winter boots. And I don't mean the fashionable ones that go in and out of style (like uggs, UGH!). I mean the classic, ever practical SorelsI've found that the key to staying warm is to keep my feet warm and sometimes the cutesy little boots I own just don't cut it. I honestly love wearing the big clunky winter boots that go out of style once you leave elementary school.

- Toboganning! I may not be a huge fan of ice-skating and I may have never been snowboarding or skiing before, but I love toboganning. It's fun, it's cheap and it has so many great childhood memories attached.

- Ice fishing. Johnny was shocked when he learned that I love ice fishing. He figured that since I'm Tongan I would avoid the snow at all costs. All I can do is blame my dad. Nothing can keep him from fishing, not even minus 30 weather. He's dragged me out every winter since I was a little girl and now it's become tradition.

101 in 1001

Legend:
Black = unstarted
Orangey-Yellow = in progress
Green = complete!

1. Own a cello
2. Learn to make Marie's macapoos (oct 13, 2010)
3. Get my boat license
4. Get my full license
5. Participate in an Aquafit class
6. Read my scriptures everyday for a semester7. Make pillowcase t-shirts
8. Make a beading loom bracelet
9. Drive by myself to Fort Macleod or further (Passengers allowed, just no parents)
10. Purchase the Beatles' Revolver album
11. Participate in the Fort Macleod Triathlon
12. Sing "If I Fell" with Trudy Johnson
13. Become fluent in Tongan
14. Keep my fingernails coloured for a 3 consecutive months15. Learn to drive a standard
16. Sing a solo in church
17. Be an EFY counsellor (2011, preferably)
18. Ride a roller coaster 10 times in one day
19. Replace the camera I left in Tonga
20. Visit Selina in Logan
21. Sing "Come Together" on karaoke night22. Give wake skating a try
23. Read the Book of Mormon in two weeks24. Make a dress or skirt
25. Take a pottery class
26. Go skiing or snowboarding in the winter
27. Floss everyday for a year28. Hold a current temple reccommend (or at least be worthy for one)
29. Learn a new scripture mastery every month
30. Hike to Krypt Lake
31. Go cross country skiing
32. Do my visiting teaching every month for a year
33. Bake a loaf of bread34. Read Edgar Allen Poe's stuff
35. Buy a new CTR ring
36. wear a different pair of earrings every day for a month.
37. Draw a henna tattoo on myself
38. Renew my first aid certification
39. Don't eat chocolate for a month
40. Don't eat McDonald's for a year
41. Bring a book of constellations out star gazing and find them all
42. Try a new flavor of ice cream43. Read "A Little Princess" by Frances Hodgson Burnett
44. Donate blood the maximum number of times in one year
45. Get 100% on another test in university
46. Watch the sunrise
47. Don't watch TV for a week48. Watch the Beatles' anthology
49. Watch Nowhere Boy50. Get a new autograph on my wallet
51. Grow my hair long enough to make a wig. And donate it52. Keep my room clean for a month
53. Save up for a new winter jacket and buy one
54. Draw a picture of Shane Hawke as a superhero and mail it to him
55. Write a letter to Joel Astle while he's on his mission
56. Submit a secret to Post Secret
57. Have some special one on one time with each of my siblings
58. Submit a photo to Jones Soda
59. Get a scholarship60. Bake cookies for someone who needs it and pixie them
61. Send Patricia at least 5 letters while she's on her mission
62. Learn to make Puligi and do it on my own
63. Go paintballing
64. Make a stuffed animal
65. Go to 3 of the university sporting events
66. Find 5 restaurants I've never been to and eat there (October 2, 2010)67. Go horseback riding in the winter68. Read the Old Testament
69. Take a yoga class70. Go skydiving71. Get an autograph from the Mad Hatter in Disneyland
72. Watch A Nightmare Before Christmas on Hallowe'en
73. Read the Chris Stewart series
74. Shake an apostle's hand75. Go scuba diving
76. Make a real flower lei
77. Go to Spruce Meadows
78. Participate in a photoshoot
79. Paint something for Amber
80. Make 3 more Peace Shirts
81. Go bridge jumping
82. Unpack the last 3 boxes in my room83. Swim in a lake at night
84. Ask a complete stranger to dance
85. Learn how to change a tire
86. Learn how to change the oil in a car
87. Attend the church meeting of another religion
88. Complete 3 pull ups all by myself
89. Go ice fishing with friends
90. Buy 3 new colours of nail polish
91. Make 1000 paper cranes (9/1000)
92. Buy a decent set of oil paints
93. Make 3 new Beatles' stencils
94. Go on a double date with Cora
95. Try out for the Pronghorns96. Bring a nonmember friend to institute
97. Have a Big Bang Theory marathon
98. Memorize a Shakespeare monologue
99. Practice my violin at least once a week for two months
100. Participate in the YSA talent show
101. Go to General Conference with friends

Start date: August 13th, 2010
End date: May 10, 2013

Wish me luck!

Looking for Redemption

I am a horrible person. With this whole "minimal blogging" regime I've been carrying on, I completely missed blogging about one of my favourite subjects: Canada in all its awesome glory. Canada Day has come and gone and I wasn't here to say a word about it.

Canada is the best country in the world to live in. I've been to a few other places around the globe and they are all pretty cool, but still haven't topped the true north, strong and free. Canada has got it all: free healthcare; gorgeous mountains; big lakes; Tim Horton's; and unlike the Americans, everyone loves us! If I had to list only 10 things that I love about Canada, here's what I would put (in no particular order):

1. We're bilingual. Your country automatically seems cooler if it has two official languages. Now if I could just get around to actually learning French...

2. Loonies and Toonies. For some reason, having 10 dollars in loonies and toonies makes you feel richer than if you just had a $10 bill. Plus, there's a loon on one and polar bears on the other. How cool is that??

3. Multicoloured money. I love it when Americans rip on our coloured money, and now their money is gaining some colour too. Ha! Our 5s are blue, 10s are purple, 20s green, 50s red and 100s a browny-gold.

4. Our national animal is the beaver. The Americans have the majestic eagle, the English have the fierce lion and the Canadians? The beaver. I love it. They're cute and build dams. I mean, daaaayaamm, that's legit!

5. Hockey. We've got the best national sport. Ever. Well - the Aussies picked a pretty good one too (rugby). But I could be the most patriotic, red-blooded American and you still couldn't make me sit through a game of NFL football, or - heaven forbid - baseball. I shudder at the thought of being forced to watch a baseball game. For the love of all that is good in this world, please, anything but baseball. And you know what Johnny Lingo's favourite sport is? Baseball. I nearly dumped him right then and there when I found out that lovely little tid bit.

6. Perogies. I've been pretty tight with the missionaries that have come through in our ward for the last 6 months and one thing that they all say is that they love the perogies here. Americans don't have perogies. That is a crime against humanity! No wonder they always seem so grumpy, Krispy Kremes can't satisfy like a tasty dumpling stuffed with potatoes and cheese dipped in sour cream can. Mmmmm ^-^

7. Canada's really big. The Americans one-up us on everything: Population, economy, athletics, crime... But they will never be a larger land mass than us. And with our smaller population, we've got even more room to move around. Boo yah.

8. Tim Horton's. When I came back from Australia, the first thing I saw in the airport was a Tim Horton's stand. I hadn't seen one in a month and it was like Canada was saying to me, "Welcome back, have a donut." I always feel a little swell of patriotism whenever I see a Timmy's.

9. Our flag. So simple. So distinctive. So freakin' awesome. Red, white and a maple leaf. Who'd have thought that would be the recipe for the universal symbol of cool?

10. EHHHHH!!! I actually feel proud to be a Canadian whenever I catch myself or someone else slipping that into a conversation. How do you feel about that, eh? Take off, eh! How does a Canadian spell Canada? C-EH-N-EH-D-EH.

So what would your top 10 favourite things about Canada be? Are there things on my list that you wouldn't have put? Will you forgive me for not blogging this on Canada Day?

Yup, Another List

Yesterday was such a good day!

I'm too lazy too organize my thoughts into paragraph form, so I'm sorry, but you're getting stuck with another list.

Things that made yesterday awesome:

1. I had to get The Kids ready for school in the morning, which meant I got to wake up before nine, hooray! (Yes, I am a morning person)

2. I went for a bike ride. My second one of the month!

3. I went to institute and had an awesome sub. I love learning church things!

4. My newest Threadless shirt arrived in the mail, woot woot!



5. I PASSED MY DRIVERS TEST!!! And I wore my new Threadless shirt for my picture.

6. I hung out with Cassandra last night because I could drive myself there!

Things that made yesterday not-so-awesome:

1. I jammed my pinky. Bad. And it hurts :(



If you divide the good things by the bad things, carry the one and take the square root, you will find that regardless of the jammed pinky, yesterday was pretty freakin' awesome!!!

Beat That

Oh dear! I totally forgot that February is over! That means I need another check-up on my resolutions.

1. Write a journal entry at least once a week.

As you can see, I'm still going strong with this whole blogging thing. So that's a checkmark there. Ka-check!

2. Find a job.

I've found one. I'm nannying for Tim and I didn't apply at Chapter's. But I made some good money this month! Ka-check!

3. Get my license.

I've made progress! I drove with my grampa a few times last week and I've made an appointment to get it. Woot! Almost ka-check!

4. Work out 2-3 times a week.

Ahem, umm... Me and mom are failing. We haven't even gone to redeem our months worth of free classes at the YWCA. But I did do some serious walking with my sister when we delivered papers this weekend. It's March now and the snow should be melting, maybe I'll get out my bike! For now, a big fat X.

5. Stop gossiping.

I am now conscious of when I gossip. So now that I can recognize it, that'll make it easier for me to stop, right? I'm not completely hopeless, right?? Another X.

I only have two resolutions that I'm failing at now, but resolutions aside, I'd say this was a pretty good month. Let's see, I got my visiting teaching done, I went to the Sweetheart's Ball and a wedding all in one night, I got to show my ward what a Polynesian Luau is like, I helped my ward make a whole bunch of Vic Park T shirts, I went to the temple (finally!), and I watched Canada host the best Olympics ever.

It looks to me like February is going to be a tough month to beat in awesomeness, but who knows what March has in store. After all, I do plan on getting my license...

You Drive Me Crazy!

I am going to make a list of the top 10 things that annoy me. Just for the heck of it.

10. Excessive chivalry. Guys, if you're reading this, just know that a girl appreciates having a door opened for her every once in a while. But if we have to wait around for you to get there for us, it'll become annoying.

9. Boys that wink at everybody. I've known a few of the excessive winking type, and at first I think they're really into me because they're always winking at me. But then when I see that they just wink all the time, I kind of feel sorry for them. Maybe you should get that checked out...

8. Boys who can't take a hint. Guys, if I'm just not that into you, I will try to let you know! Generally I usually try to stick in as many "buddy"s and "pal"s whenever I'm talking to you. And if I've ever punched you (playfully or not), you can bet I only see you as a friend.

7. Hair. I hate seeing it on my clothes and I hate seeing it on other people.

6. People that chew their gum loudly. You sound like a cow!

5. People who drive too slow.

4. People who overstay their welcome. I try to drop subtle hints to suggest that they leave but they just don't get it. So I eventually have to kick them out. Does that make me a bad hostess?

3. Poor grammar/spelling. Learn the difference between your and you're; there, their and they're; and hear and here. GAH!

2. Picky children. You're going to eat whatever I make for you and you're going to like it!

1. Whiny children. I can't fix all of your problems. You stubbed your toe? What am I supposed to do for it?

Maybe for 1, I should have put "loud children" instead. Today I was babysitting The Kids, and Adam had two of his frends over to play. They were upstairs playing video games and I was downstairs watching the Olympics when all of a sudden I hear the loudest, girliest squeal I have ever heard. I knew it was Adam because I recognized the squeal, so I made my way upstairs just to make sure the boys hadn't broken anything in the ruckus. Everyone was fine, but my eardrums were protesting the squeals coming from Adam. That boy is sooo annoying! I have two brothers at home who are constantly rough-housing and always causing trouble. But at least when they're wrestling, they don't scream like little girls. Maybe Adam should take some notes from them so he can learn to buck up, rub some dirt in it and walk it off.

Let's See How I Did...

With today being the last day of January, I thought I'd write a little something to recap my month and let you know how I'm doing with my resolutions.

1. Write a journal entry at least once a week.

- I think this one's pretty easy to tell how I'm doing on. This is the thirteenth entry I've written in one month!

2. Find a job.

- I wanted to have found one by the end of January and I did! Except I don't start til February (tomorrow). I've got a nannying job for a guy named Tim. I worked for him last year and his kids didn't drive me totally insane, so I thought I'd give it another go. I've also been told that Chapters is hiring, so I might check that out for something to do during the daytime.

3. Get my license.

- Okay I don't have it yet, but I have been driving around a lot lately and I've set a goal to get it within the next few weeks. This past month I've come across so many times when I could have just taken the van out to do what I want, but with my lack of license, they were all no goes.

4. Work out 2-3 times a week.

- Without a gym membership, I couldn't see myself lasting very long on this one and I was right! But my mom recently bought a coupon book with one for a free month of an introductory gym membership for her and a friend. So maybe next month will be better...

5. Stop gossiping.

- Surprise, surprise, I'm still gossiping. But I don't think I've been gossiping as much as I used to. I've still got some secrets about some people that are locked up inside of me. I haven't even told anyone about my unofficially engaged friend! Except my mom. And one other girl, but that was for a really good reason, I swear! And besides, I told her not to tell anyone, so we're good, right?

So besides dropping the ball on three of my 5 resolutions, I'd say this month was pretty good. I started playing my violin again, I started going to Institute, I went to Utah, I learned how to play a song on the piano, I donated blood yesterday and I hung out with Cassandra for the first time since we last hung out in November. And I got my visiting teaching done! Yay!

Next month looks promising. I start nannying again, I've got some awesome FHE activities planned and there's even a wedding to go to with Suitman! (Not the one I'm in, that's not til July)