The Reasons

Sometimes I wonder if it's worth it to go home for Christmas. Is it worth it to spend almost 400 big ones on a plane ticket out there then endure the dreaded time on the plane and in the airport? Is it worth it to take an entire week off knowing I'll have to work all day every day for the other week, essentially giving up any free time during my break? Is it worth it to use 5 of my precious PTO days going somewhere as non-exotic as Indiana? Yes, it is. For so many reasons. Well, about 16 of them:

 

I absolutely LOVED being home with my family for Christmas this year. Usually after about a week in Indiana, I'm ready to come home and get back to my life. This time, 8days was not enough. Here are a few of my favorite moments from the week:

1. Every time Nalon opened a gift, he would exclaim, "Just what I wanted!!!" Seriously, every time. I really think he would've said that even if he didn't know what it was. He is such a sweet, loving, cooperative, polite, and thoughtful little boy. He makes me feel the way an aunt should feel every time I see him.

2. Micah got a phone for Christmas, which really is just what she wanted. That's not funny, though. What was funny was when she opened it and started crying. I'm talkin' big, wet, legit tears rollin' down those cheeks. So.freaking.funny. I think she even surprised herself.

3. Of course a highlight of any visit to Indiana is The Big Cheese. This time I was only able to go twice but it was SO good both times. I even smuggled a sandwich onto the plane and brought it home for Jaime because she's been addicted ever since I introduced her to it a couple of years ago when she came out to visit. It is worth carrying 1600 miles on a plane. And of course, the girls that work in there always make me feel like a celebrity.

4. The second day I was there was Sunday so I went with my family to their ward. The youth did a really great Christmas program just for themselves, but I snuck in. Everyone participated, including my Thomas, who read a story, and Micah, who did a great rendition of Drummer Boy on her flute with the help of a boy in our ward on the snare drum. They did great and I was so proud of both of them! They can be pretty annoying sometimes, as little brothers and sisters can, but they really are two pretty fantastic teenagers. I loved watching them.

5. Most mornings, I started by doing a little Hip Hop Abs workout, and even though she was usually already dressed and ready for the day, my mom would usually join me! If you haven't ever heard of the DVDs or done one of the workouts, they're actually pretty fun. And I hadn't worked out for a while so it was fun to get moving again!

6. One night I got to stay up at my sister Tessa's house with four of my nieces and nephews. That night once the babies went to bed, I was treated to a delightful lip sync and dance performance by Jonah and Emerson. I took three videos but I haven't been able to upload videos on Blogger in the past, so if you want to see them, I'll post them on facebook. Jonah is very seriously into his performance, and Emerson is very seriously into making sure you are looking at her at all times. They're fun and I loved hanging out with them.

7. My mom, Tessa, and I had our traditional shopping and lunch day which was fabulous. We even did Cheesecake Factory on a budget! I always look forward to that day to get to hang out with two of my faves.

8. Umm...babies. They're cute. And fun. When I was at Tessa's, it took no time to get Cooper to like me and be willing to play with me; that's just how he is. Campbell, on the other hand, is much more wary. We got there at about 7 at night and it took until about 4 the next afternoon for her to actual laugh and play with me. She started slow, staring at me from across the room. Then she'd bring me a toy and walk away without playing with it with me. Then she'd come play by me but if I talked to her or tried to play with her, see ya. Finally, she came and would sit on my lap and engage with me and laugh when I tickled her. It was pretty rewarding. Unfortunately, all that was erased the next time I saw her. I guess it takes a while for her to remember that she trusts you. There is one picture, though, of her sitting on my lap. I had to get that picture because it was the only time she actually let me hold her without trying to get away. A Christmas miracle!

I'm very blessed to have a family that is always very excited for me to come home and who supports me from so far away. I'm also very lucky to be the aunt of the five cutest children on our dear planet Earth and surrogate-aunt to two others who are pretty darn cute, as well.

it's the hap-happiest time of the year!

Merry Christmas, everyone! Here's a little Christmas delight for you. Love this song and love her voice!

Done

I got Mockingjay yesterday. The third book in the Hunger Games series I posted about last time. I had to wait an excruciating 2 full days to get it. I know, hardship. Fortunately, I had some very adorable children to distract me.

But.

I got it yesterday. And I finished it yesterday.

I started reading about 5 pm I think and I finished last night at 2 am. I stopped for a couple hours for dinner and games with Isaac and Korie but I picked up at 9 pm and never looked back. And I loved it. It was pretty gruesome with all the killings and descriptive details so it wasn't my favorite of the three, but it obviously kept me interested since I read for almost 8 straight hours. After the second book, well after the first book really, I was on Team Peeta all the way. I just think he's fabulous and kind and loves Katniss in exactly the way she needs. He's pulled her through some pretty nasty moments, and I know from experience that those who are with you in your very worst times are the people who become so much a part of you and how you deal that you can never really handle life without them. I think Gale's statement about who she'd choose was exactly right. So those of you who have read the books know how I felt on those last few pages.

I felt like the ending was a little anti-climactic, a little too predictable, but the details all throughout were not, so it kept me interested. I feel satisfied with the end but I don't feel satisfied with being done. I told my mom today that I really wanted to read but there's no more left... I felt that way after reading the Harry Potter books and the Twilight books. When reading these longs series, it's hard to just get cut off when you've invested so much time in the characters and their stories. I miss them. I guess I'll just have to find something else to fill the void. And I still have about 10 days left of my Winter Break. At the rate I'm going, that leaves me enough time for about 7 more books. I'm taking suggestions.

Lost Without My Mockingjay

It is 11:32 pm here in Columbus, Indiana, which means it's only 9:32 pm in Utah. That means that everyone here is in bed and I'm having a hard time putting myself there because I think it's a lot earlier than it really is. I haven't posted in a while, mostly because I have this fabulous "reasons why" post in my head but I don't have pictures for it yet. So instead, I'll just tell you a few random things:

1. I just ate 4 clementines. That's right, 4. They were small. In Argentina they're called mandarinas and in the winter, my companions and I would buy a kilo of them (that's 2.2 pounds. Or maybe a pound is 2.2 kilos. I can never remember.) and eat them pretty darn fast. Well, I just ate 4 at once. I could probably eat a few more but I think I'll resist in the hopes of also resisting a stomach ulcer.

2. I just spent about 24 hours with four of the most adorable children on the planet. 17 month-old twins are a lot of fun. Just so you know.

3. I started reading the Hunger Games over the break and Holy Addicted. I've been wanting to read them for a while, but I know myself pretty well - turns out I have a little bit of an obsessive personality. So I knew that if I started them, they would take over my life. In the middle of a semester, that's not so great. So I put them off until Christmas break. I started reading the first one in the SLC airport Saturday, read on the plane (which I NEVER do), read that night, and finished it by Sunday afternoon. It was even faster than I had anticipated. So I started the second one Sunday night and sure enough, done by Monday night. I borrowed them both from my incredibly gorgeous, talented, and oh-so-generous friend Angela, but she only had the first two at the time. So now I'm in Indiana stuck without the third one. I NEED IT! I told my little brother and sister I would reward whomever remembered to look for it at their school library. Neither of them found it, but Micah found a friend who said I could borrow it, so I'm getting it tomorrow! I can't wait!! This time tomorrow, I'll probably be done and I'm super pumped!

Just 11 Steps Behind

Jaime and I are 11 days apart. But I'm 11 days older. That's great for one reason: I get to see what she does for my birthday so I know how much I need to do for hers. =) That's only partly true. This year, though, I failed. Let me paint the picture for you.

So I was trying to figure out what to do for her birthday that would blow her away. In passing, I thought I should see if the Jazz played anytime around her birthday. She loves the Jazz. So I go online...they play ON her birthday. At home. Against the INDIANA Pacers! Umm...meant to be. So I shoot her a quick text informing her that she has plans on her birthday with me and must refuse any other offer that presents itself.

The only problem? She loves the Jazz, remember? She knows their schedule. She knows they play on her birthday at home. She figures out the surprise. Great.

So that's fine, I just tried to come up with a couple other things I could do to surprise her in some way on her birthday. I came up with this:

I got up super early to get myself ready for school. Then I headed to her house. On the way over, I stopped by Shirley's Bakery to grab some very yum cinnamon rolls. When I got to her house, her roommate let me in and I made her breakfast! Those are eggs with onion, mushroom, green pepper, tomato, cheese, and avocado. They were SO good! I put a little birthday candle in the cinnamon roll then took it into her room to wake her up. Except she was already awake. But she loved the eggs. I'm not gonna lie, I did, too.

That night we went to dinner at Biaggi's in Salt Lake then went to the Jazz game. I tried to get some sweet tix, but failed again. I was so close to getting us 7th row, but the guy who was going to sell them to me sold them to someone else. Lame. We still had pretty decent seats, though, and even got to sit by some very friendly guys. Who were super cool. Of course. The Pacers lost, unfortunately. Probably they just did it so Jaime's team wouldn't lose on her birthday. That was considerate of them.

She promises she had fun, and really I just loved celebrating with her! Seriously, birthdays are just the best.

Italian for Heaven

Ok, so I'm pretty fluent in Italian. Not a lot of people know that, but it's practically my first language. Let me teach you a word.

Pizza: heaven.

Pizza with squash, zucchini, tomato, and avocado: exaltation.

Angela, Jaime, and I made this. Yes, from scratch. I know, call me Betty. It had tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, yellow squash, zucchini, tomato, and avocado on it. Holy so-delicious-it-hurt. Colorful, too. I recommend it.

Birthday Weekend

My birthday should be a giant celebration lasting more than one day. I truly believe that.

When people ask me what my favorite holiday is, I usually say Christmas. I love Christmas. But if I were to be completely honest, I should probably say my favorite holiday is my birthday. It's just fun. I know I'm a little bit of an attention hog, but this isn't really just about everyone focusing on me. Because that's not why I like it. I think I like it because it's just fun. Parties, presents, lots of cake, friends... what's not to love? Oooh and surprises. I LOVE surprises!

Fortunately, I have fabulous friends and family who help make my birthday great. This year was no different. I was a little worried because Jaime was out of town for my birthday and she's usually the one that makes it a big deal. Probably because she understands how important it is (note for the future husband...no birthday celebration, no marriage.) I have some other pretty fab friends that totally pulled through, though.

This year, the week-long celebration started with the Sara Bareilles concert mentioned in the previous post. This may or may not have actually been part of my birthday. But I loved it, it was a celebration, and it was three days before my birthday, so I'm counting it.

The day before my birthday at work they bought me a cake, since I wasn't working on my birthday, thank goodness. Yum.

That night, several of my friends and I went to Red Lobster for dinner. Every time I go to Red Lobster, I feel like I should take advantage of the fact that it's a fish place and get something healthy. Instead, I get a combo plate that has fried coconut shrimp and shrimp linguine alfredo. It comes with a salad and a few florets of broccoli. Does that count for healthy? I don't care. It's good. Real good. Here's Aubrey, Angela, Cary, Carla, Cody, Sarah, me, Erik, and Mitch.

After dinner, we went back to the Omni and my still fabulous friends had cake and ice cream ready. Alecia made the cake (I know, it's beautiful. It was as good as it looks, too!) and some other people came by to say hello.

The next day, on my birthday, I woke up with a nice little surprise in my throat. That's it, it was an illness. That beloved illness has been my constant friend ever since, with the exception of a nice little 5 day break in the middle in which I thought it was gone but then it decided to come back to party. The more the merrier on a birthday, right? (That's 18 out of the last 25 days that I've been sick. Just in case you were wondering.) Fortunately, it wasn't too bad yet so I was still well enough to get up and go to breakfast with my dear friends Angela and Aubrey. We went to Magleby's fresh and I got some very delicious french toast which was covered in a buttermilk syrup, which may or may not have tasted like heaven on my plate.

Following breakfast, we headed on over to the intramural fields to watch our friends the Omni Warriors play some flag football. It was crazy windy and also very cold. That's why we're all wearing hoods. We're dedicated friends. Hooded: Aubrey, Carla, me, Sarah, Alaina, Lindie, Angela, and DeeAura. They ended up losing but there were about 3 near-fights which made it all worth it.

She's so pretty.

When I got home from the game, there was a mysterious bouquet of flowers and a candy apple on my counter. There was a card but it didn't have anything on it. Well...it turns out there was a message. It was just typed in teeny letters. Smart. My very best friend Jaime took the time to send me some beautiful flowers on my birthday since she couldn't be here herself! Then a few hours later, I got a surprise delivery of Argentine empanadas, also from Jaime. Yum. Thank you very much.

That night a bunch of people from my ward went to a BYU basketball game. Also not really for my birthday, but it happened on my birthday so I'm claiming it.

The next week, Jaime and I met in Salt Lake for our traditional birthday dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. It rocked my socks off, as usual. Then we topped it off by seeing the new Harry Potter movie, which, by the way, I really liked. I loved the books, but I'm not usually a fan of the movies. This one was fabulous.

I also got several cards and gifts from other friends and family members for my birthday which made me feel very loved! I'm grateful to be surrounded by fabulous people who enrich my life and make me happy. It's also pretty great that they recognize what a big deal I am. Here's to 25 more...

Idolatry

Here is my much-delayed post about one of the most amazing concerts ever.

Here's a true statement: I was supposed to be Sara Bareilles. There really has been some sort of mix-up. I was supposed to have her voice, her songwriting ability, her piano playing skills, her stage presence, and her job. She is who I was supposed to be. Except for the lack of the gospel, you know, whatever.

Anyway, when I can get over coveting everything she is, I love her. LOVE her. Her newest album, Kaleidoscope Heart, came out the beginning of October and I could not take it out of my car for almost two months. I have loved CDs before. But every time I even thought about taking this one out, I got sad. I used to sit in my car after arriving at my destination and I couldn't get out of my car because I was feelin my music too much. I would actually get excited to drive places, because it meant I could listen to it! If you know me very well, you know I hate driving, so that's a pretty big deal.

 

Sara came to Salt Lake November 17th, which is three days before my birthday. That is not a coincidence. I'm prety sure she planned it that way as a special birthday gift for me. It was a fabulous start to my birthday week (more on that in a future post). The concert was at In the Venue - the same place the Ingrid concert was. We got there a bit late (but still before Sara came out) so it was pretty packed when we walked in. I could see an open space a ways up so we squeezed our way through the crowd only to find that we weren't allowed to stand there because of some fire escape thing. (Umm...there was just a space in the middle of the crowd. That won't help in an emergency, fyi.) Determined to stay, we just squished all together so we weren't in the forbidden zone. Here we are all nice and snug: Jaime, me, Athena, Whitney, and Krysti. It was pretty tight but we were able to spread out a bit after the show actually started. I definitely kept getting pushed back by the girl in front of me, though. Her hair smelled good, though, so that was ok. Although I was so busy being bugged with her head in my face that I barely even got to enjoy my favorite song. Dumb. Don't be confused by the picture, though, the annoying girl in front of me was not Jaime, even though she is, in fact, in front of me in this picture. She is not annoying. I may have mentioned this previously, but Sara's freaking amazing. She's just so ding dang good. And fabulous. And fun. And also, good. Yeah, she'd just stand at her piano and play and sing and rock out. She barely even looked at it. And she's never had formal training. Umm...what? I have and I can't even play like that. Un.fair.

For those of you who are familiar with Sara's album "Kaleidoscope Heart," (If you're not, it's ok. It's never too late to repent.) the first song is a really sweet billion-part a capella song. She does all the parts on the track, but obviously in person, not even our very talented Sara can sing more than one part at a time. So instead, she just pulled out this accordion box thing. I have no idea what it is. I even looked it up and google failed me. But she rocked that box while singing unimaginable notes and rocking my socks off.




I have so many favorite songs of hers, but that night, I think her version of "Bottle It Up" took the cake. It's not even my favorite song, but she just rocked it and I loved it. Unfortunately, I didn't get a video of it. But I did get a video of her encore "Many the Miles," which was also beyond impressive. Except it won't load. So instead, I found you this sweet Beyonce cover that she did. She didn't do it at the concert, but she could've. She's that cool.

Yeah, Yeah.

Today I skipped class to come to the computer lab. For no reason. I just didn't want to go. So instead of using the time wisely, like reading background articles for my giant research paper due in a couple of weeks, I read my email. Then scoured facebook. Then read all the blog updates I could find of anyone I'm remotely close to. So, to show my gratitude for the excellent time-wasting material, I figured I should throw some good back into the universe and make my own post.

Except.

I have nothing to write about. I actually do have lots to write about but I loaned my camera cable to my friend because she lost hers and hasn't been able to blog forever. So now I don't have my cable and now I can't upload my pictures and now I'm the one who's behind on my posting.

But very soon, you will see pictures from one of the greatest concerts ever. And my birthday celebration, which lasted almost a week. I know, it's the best idea ever. And also, a pizza that my friends and I made that you should probably covet. Oh! And...

Today is my very best friend Jaime's birthday! Happy birthday, friend! We've got all kinds of fun plans for the day. I don't have a husband or any children to spoil on their birthdays, so until I do...Jaime gets to benefit. I'll post about that, too!

One thing I would like to say is this:
I am IN LOVE with the fact that 2 weeks from tomorrow, the semester from hell will be over. Don't get me wrong, this hasn't been my hardest semester so far. Not even close. But I have had the worst attitude about it since the first day. And I have hated 4 out of my 5 classes since the first day. And I have been looking forward to the last day since the first day. So I am quite excited for that. Today during my time-wasting in the computer lab, I heard a guy in the hall say to his friend,

"I love introduction paragraphs. They're so fun."

I do not agree. Nor do I understand how that boy even got those words out of his mouth. He must have been a robot planted in the halls by the English department in an attempt to use peer pressure as a way to get students excited about writing papers. Well, it didn't work. Not on me.