Thankful

This is a song by Josh Groban from his Christmas CD. I think it's very appropriate for today because it's Thanksgiving.
This has been my second Thanksgiving away from my family (the first one was while I was on my mission in Germany). And the past few days leading up to today have been difficult. Every day I wonder why I'm here and why I can't be with my family. My birthday and Thanksgiving have always been spent with my family. To help me feel better my dad suggested that I write down every day something that I am thankful for. It's helped me to realize that even though I can't be with my family right now, that I am very blessed.

"There's so much to be thankful for..."

Dear Utah,

Hello. It's me again. I have something that I would like to bring to your attention.
A few days ago my roommate and I went to the Public Library. She found a book that she wanted to check out. Filling out the form to apply for a library card was quick and easy. But when it came time to check out the book, we ran into some difficulties. Apparently proof of residency is needed to receive a public library card. Here is the list they gave us of things they will accept as proof of residency:
- current driver's license
- current utility bill
- current car registration
- current checking account statement (not checkbook)
- current rental receipt/agreement
Because these are all things that we carry around with us in our purses everywhere we go. We're students for heavens sake - not all of us switch our driver's licenses when we go to school. We had to drive home, find acceptable proof of residency, and drive back to the library. Something that should have taken just a few minutes turned into lots of driving and wasted time.
Should it really matter to you where we live if we want a library card?
Just another reason why you make living here so pleasant and un-annoying.
Thank you for making our day.
You drive me nuts.
Sincerely,
RACH
a Washingtonian for LIFE

Judge Free Zone

Today is my day off. It's now 3pm and I have yet to shower and get dressed. I've been up since 10:30 cleaning.
As I stood and looked over my work I realized that I haven't taken pictures of my apartment. And what better time to take pictures of it then when it's clean right?!

What you need to know is that our apartment is a JUDGE FREE ZONE:



The couches scare me. So I bought a comforter to put over it. Didn't quite cover the whole couch like I wanted. Don't judge the couch.





Ignore the bags of garbage that need to be taken out. I spent the morning cleaning and I'm not presentable enough to step outside the apartment. Don't judge.



Now we head to MY room! You can tell it's my room because it's mostly pink.


I'm 23 years old and my room is covered in pink and I have a painting of a princess crown on my wall. I am the Princess. Don't judge me!



In my room, it's all about me...



Well I hope you enjoyed a little insight into my world. I know it's nothing grand and wonderful. But it's my home away from home...

Oh THAT'S why I never do this....

Yesterday I was reminded why I never go hiking...

My friends and I were trying to decide what we should do on a Saturday. Somehow 'hiking the Y' was suggested and we all thought it was a great idea. We had heard that this wasn't a 'bad' hike. Whatever that means.

I thought to myself, I wonder why I don't do this more often? I love being outside and I love being active. Why don't I hike more?

This is why:

I am always last. Don't ask me why, I've always been an active person my whole life but whenever I go hiking I am always last. Everyone is super fast and bolts it up the mountain while I slowly make my way up. So everyone goes up a ways and then they stop and rest and 'wait' for me. By the time I catch up, everyone is done resting and charge up the next section. But I'm still tired and didn't get to rest so I stand around by myself and rest up for the next section. It's a cycle that doesn't end until the hike is over.

This is how our hiking adventure went:


These are pictures we took BEFORE the hike began...notice how happy we look

The hike began just as every hike begins for me. My friends bolted it up each switch back while I struggled my way up. They did 'wait' for me most of the time. A few times I suggested that we take pictures to ensure that I would have more resting time.

"I'm king of the rock"


Whoever said hiking the Y wasn't a 'bad hike'...I want to hit you. It was SO steep! I almost died!

Fortunately I didn't die and we ALL made it to the top! We also took like a million pictures to prove that we made it:

(notice how lovely my hair looks hahaha)












Someone ate grapes up here...






Once we made it to the top it was fun and coming down wasn't bad, although our muscles would beg to differ.



I am reminded of a Jack Handey quote: It's funny that pirates were always going around searching for treasure, and they never realized that the real treasure was the fond memories they were creating.

I probably won't go hiking ANY time soon. But I spent the day with my friends making memories.

Someday I will look back at this experience and laugh about how slow I was walking...and then I'll probably forget why it is that I never go hiking. And then I'll go....and be reminded AGAIN why I don't...

Life's a moving TARGET

It's Friday night.
My besties are all busy, therefore I have nothing to do.
Okay so in all fairness they did invite me to do stuff with them. So the fact that I'm alone with nothing to do is my fault.

I decided to go to TARGET.

I LOVE TARGET. I love buying stuff at Target. I love just looking at stuff at Target.

Sometimes when I don't really have anything to do, I go to Target and just walk around. I usually have something in mind to purchase but sometimes I don't.

I love to look at the house ware and home decor stuff. I pretend that I have my own apartment and tons of money so I can buy whatever I want. Then I wander around looking and deciding what I would buy for my apartment. Tonight I was stopped by the Shabby Chic bedding. I love Shabby Chic. I also love really big beds. Ones that you seem to sink in to with big comfy comforters and lots of pillows. Someday when I have a really big bed, I'm going to buy the white Shabby Chic sheets with the ruffles at the top. I'm also going to buy the white Shabby Chic comforter with the ruffles. And the matching pillows with the ruffles.

As I was wandering around Target tonight, I saw 3 or 4 couples with the registering guns. They made me laugh. They looked so young and clueless. I walked past one couple looking at cookware. BOY: "Should we get one of these?" (points to something) GIRL: (shakes her head) "No." BOY: "You sure? You don't think we'd need one?" GIRL: (shakes head again) "No." hahaha. They just made me laugh and grateful that I wasn't in their position. I'm too opinionated...and I'm the Princess. My poor future husband...

Whoever invented Super Targets I must thank you from the bottom of my heart. You are brilliant.
Tonight's Target adventure ended with me venturing to the grocery section. I caved and bought two guilty pleasures: Oh's cereal and chocolate soy milk.

I am now sitting in my PJ's, eating Oh's cereal without milk and drinking my chocolate soy milk in my sippy cup. I'm debating whether to go to a party with one of my besties or crawl into bed with my cereal and sippy cup and watch a few episodes of my favorite TV show, The Nanny.

If I had a really big bed with the Shabby Chic bedding...there wouldn't be any debate.

I'd be in bed.

October Bestie Day

My friends and I call eachother BESTIES (it's an inside joke). One of my Besties decided that we should have a BESTIE DAY - a day that we spent together doing fun things. So Bestie Chad planned our BESTIE DAY filled with Halloween activities: a spooky lunch, pumpkin patch, carving pumpkins, and watch a scary movie.
Spooky Lunch: included mummies and swamp creatures



















Pumpkin patch: well, it was POURING down rain...and we weren't prepared for rain (SO embarrassing since 3 of the BESTIES are from the Seattle area) but we got some yummy treats and took LOTS of pictures!





Pumpkin Carving: k so we had to get our pumpkins from the grocery store...and I don't have any pictures of us carving pumpkins (shame on me) BUT thanks to Bestie Keri, we have a few pumpkin carving pics:














Scary Movie: we watched The Others


BESTIE DAY was AWESOME! We decided that we're going to have BESTIE DAY once a month!



Don't test these BESTIES!

Celebrating 1986

My roommate, Stephanie, had a birthday party this weekend. She was born in 1986 - the same year that the movie Top Gun was made. So to celebrate we had an 80's party and watched Top Gun!




HAPPY BIRTHDAY STEPHANIE!