Brr!

Oh Jack Johnson, you can always make my day a little brighter, warmer and happier.

Today is freezing! It's so cold it hurts to breathe. It's so cold that if you were to walk outside immediately after a hard work-out, all of your sweat would instantly freeze, turning you into a human popsicle. It's so cold that Jack Frost stepped out his door this morning and said, "Forget work, I'm staying in today."

Another artist who will always leave a smile on my face is Israel Kamakawiwo'ole. If you don't know who he is you need to check him out right now! His most popular song would definitely be his Over The Rainbow/What a Wonderful World song. Le sigh.



What sort of music is your go-to for a rainy (or snowy) day?

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.

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.

Aloha and Mahalo!

Family Home Evening last night was a success! I may even be so bold as to say it was a huge success. I am so grateful for the people that were willing to help with set-up and cooking and cleaning. I don't know how many of them will read this, but if they do: THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! I could not have done it without you. I will also be sure to extend my gratitude beyond the spheres of the internet and actually thank these folks in person. I also loved it when people came up to me afterward and told me that they had a lot of fun. It feels good to be appreciated!

I guess I should share what we did last night for those who don't go to Vic Park. We had a luau! I've been wanting to do one ever since I got called to be an FHE Ma, and I finally did it! I (along with some wonderful helping hands) cooked a ton of polynesian food and everyone ate while they watched Johnny Lingo. Then when everyone was done eating, I had some old friends of the family come out and do a couple dances. The girls were taught how to do Pearly Shells and the guys learned the world-famous Haka. It was so much fun. And everyone actually helped to clean up too! (Hooray! Less work for me!)

Today was a good day. I had to go over to Tim's house this morning at 6:30 so I could get the kids up and get them to school. Even though it's super early, I don't mind it; I love mornings. My visiting teachers also came to visit me before institute and we had a good ol' chat; I love them :) My favorite part of the day was when I walked home from Tim's house rather than get a ride. I live on the far north part of town and they live on the south side. We're about 15 blocks apart and I walked it in 35 minutes! I mapped out my route on google maps and they said it would take 38 minutes. I can beat google!

Ooh, and something else that made my day: I was listening to CKUA and they reunited me with a song that I haven't heard in ages! It was on a Zellers commercial some years ago, and I always loved it but never found out the name of it. Now I know. Yay!

Oh What a Beautiful Mornin'!

Oh what a beautiful day.

I've got a beautiful feelin'

Everythin's goin' my way!

I went for a walk with Bindi this morning and it was beautiful! I got halfway down the block when I realized that I needed a camera in my hand, so I turned around a ran home. Bindi wasn't too pleased, but it was totally worth it.

Lookit the rainbow!!

No stroll is complete without climbing a tree

My Bindi. <3

And of course I couldn't resist taking a macro shot of the frost.

In case you don't know what song I was singing in the beginning, shame on you. Here, educate yourself.

What's In Your Playlist?

Beatles, Beatles, Beatles. I love the Beatles.

I've kind of listened to them since I was about 10. But I've been seriously listening to them since my grade 11 art class. We only listened to the best of music while we were 'arting', so naturally the Beatles was one of our favorites.

Last night I participated in a cd exchange in which a bunch of us made soundtracks to describe our 2009. With this being my first time, I was a little nervous because from what I could tell, this group of people seem to have quite the taste in music. What if they thought my stuff was crap?? Well, it turns out, that my taste in music is similar to theirs. I could even recognize a few of the bands listed on the cds! Phew! All in all, it went well for me. I got to hang with a different crew than I normally do and I got 5 cds with a whackload of new (to me) music. I'll have to do some reviews once I get a chance to listen to them.

I think you can tell a lot about a person by the kind of music they listen to. Sometimes I'm surprised to find out what some people are into. Take my English 1900 professor for example. You'd think she was a stuck up snob who listens to classical music, but no! She listens to a pretty wide mix ranging from Audioslave to Taj Mahal to Loreena McKennitt.

On my cd, I have a song by the Moleni Brothers and was surprised when one of the guys recognized the group. He was surprised that I knew them too. Although I don't know why he was surprised; I'm Polynesian! Of course I know who they are. I just wish I would have asked how he knew about them...

Ooh! Before I forget! The best part of the cd exchange! Denise had goblets. GOBLETS for us to drink punch out of. They looked something like this. I was pretty stoked. Except, she said they might have lead in them which would explain why her grandmother has Alzheimers. So if you see me when I'm 60 and I have no idea who I am because I have Alzheimers, you know who to blame: Denise and her goblets!