and so, we wait.

you know, i always have wondered whether its more difficult to stand by and watch someone go through something, or actually go through that thing yourself. i think the answer can be different for everyone; while some people might be strong and able to experience great trials in their lives, others may be better at being there for those that go through trials and offering support. i may never know. last friday, my baby sister (literally a baby, just turned 18) was diagnosed with a Phyllodes tumor in her right breast.

it is a rare and aggressive tumor that could result in breast cancer and/or spread to her lungs, heart etc. while my sister has always been one of the strongest people i know, she has handled this situation very well and taken everything in stride. i have not once seen her act the victim in this or as "why me?" she has simply absorbed everything that is going on and moved forward.
now, having the walnut sized tumor removed is inevitable for her and could happen as soon as this weekend, but tomorrow is, in my opinion, the hardest part: the biopsy. tomorrow she will learn whether her tumor is malignant or benign and how much tissue is actually going to be removed during her lumpectomy. - you know in the 20's and 30's when the newspapers were coming up on a big story and they'd print two head lines so they'd be ready to sell the story immediately no matter what the out come was? the young newsies would sitting outside with their stacks of papes, waiting to hear the news on which head line to sell and hope they had bought enough of that particular headline.

that's what i feel like tomorrow will be like for my family. we'll be those hopeful newsies, waiting for the headline. benign or malignant?
no matter what the headline is for tomorrow though, i know we'll get through it because we have not only each other but so many wonderful friends and family members praying for us and wishing peace and comfort our way. and in addition to all of that, we have a merciful Father in Heaven who has a plan for my sister and my family and i know that no matter what's going to happen tomorrow and in the future, He'll give us the strength we need to bear the burden he has asked us to bear. we are not alone in this. i know that to be true.

here's hoping for a positive outcome tomorrow! and cc, i love you, baby! no matter what happens, you got this.

♥ ♥

to read more about my sister and her outlook on life as she goes through this and other life experiences, check out her blog The Freedom Blog. tell her i sent you.

my week has consisted of: wonderful.

this week in review:

valentine's day cupcakes!

(made by cc.)

so, i worked on v-day but i actually didn't mind. we were super busy and so i was constantly on the go (i quite like it that way). it was so amazing seeing so many different walks of life coming in to celebrate the same thing: love. there were couples in love, parents with their children, single friends, and best friends.

it really warmed my heart right up seeing so many people who love each other.

amaze.

a-maze.

oh. and i also got froyo on this day. who in the world could forget that?! i mean, come on.

i've also been getting really into my book:

so, i've been trying to branch out from the middle grade reading rut that i've gotten quite cozy in (just like gregward recommended) and have been dabbling a little in a different genre of literature.

i'm pretty sure this book ^ is considered YA but... i'm not 100% sure. (how do i tell? it wasn't in a MG or YA section at the lib*.)

anyway, its a fictional story about non-fictional people who were involved in the salem witch trials. while i had a hard time getting addicted to the story, its the truth behind the story that gets me. seeing what those who were accused went through (and their families) is absolutely heart wrenching. i never realized how difficult it was for them and how poorly they were treated until i began reading this book.

i'm almost done with it and i'm pretty sure i'll be reading up more on the salem witch trials because now, i'm kinda hooked.

(you can read the first chapter here.)

i also went to a friend of mines show the other night. it was muy fun-o. (i'm speaking spanglish here, peeps.)

i'm slightly addicted to live music. it, in my opinion, is one of the most wonderful things IN. THE. WORLD. gah. and while i didn't drag the rebel** along, i did get a vid of a very drunk lady/girl/woman/person showing her love for the band:

(i apologize in advance if there isn't sound. i also apologize if its hard to see. i was filming with my blackberry, guys. not much room for a steven spielburgesque film.)

so, before she was sitting at the bassists' feet, she was over with her face all up in the guitarists grill. srsly. and when asked if she had any requests for songs, "just keep it fresh" she said.

(if you're that lady/girl/woman/person, you are my hero. thank you so much for the laughs)

i also took some pictures.

did some more design work for a friend (i'll link up soon, once her site is up and running!).

and obsessed over my museek.

and now it is le weekend. (now i'm speaking frenchish)

and i am oh-so-grateful.

it is now time, to relax.

*sigh*

*lib = lie-brayer-ee. library.

**the rebel is my camera. its a canon rebel. hence, "the rebel".

a random playlist which consists of:

led zeppelin

mika

the clash

rooney

and the across the universe soundtrack

(i was getting my british love on. go figure.)

its regrowth demolition day.

as a professional hair stylist one of my biggest pet peeves is regrowth.

especially on me.

while i notice it on others (all the time) i can't stop noticing it on me.

and i can't stand it.

well, the last time i had my hair done was late october early november (i know, i know.) and so you can only imagine the hideousness that was my roots.

no? you can't?

allow me:

yeah. it was bad.

so, i went to the beauty supply store and picked up some color and determined that today would be the day i would no longer have trashy looking roots.

{not the color line i usually use, but i'm not complaining.}

my highly trained sister (aka home taught by yours truly. really people, its not rocket science.), c, and i got to work and slapped the color on quicker than my roots knew what to do with.

process.

wash.

done.

then came the next obstacle.

the bangs. (or lack there of.)

i had been contemplating cutting them.

but then i also thought about just letting them continue to grow.

and then...

i'll probably hate them in a week, but they'll grow out quickly.

so, that's what i did today.

what'd you do?

(oh! and i updated my photogblog.)

found it.

well, after this post {thanks for the sweet comments!}, i decided i needed to come up with my own cure-all. so i grabbed the rebel (my slr), my model-worthy sister (aka c, cc, cini bird etc.) and lola (the gps system) and jumped in the car for another friday adventure. while this one was no where near as eventful as last week's, it was exactly what i needed for today.

first stop was to find a decent place to do photos around here. we found a pretty good spot for senior pics and such but i wouldn't recommend say, bridals there or anything.

go here to view the rest of her session. {well, the ones i've edited anyway.}

and then, we went to find a fro yo place.

i'm bound and determined to find something here that can temporarily be my spoon me.

{and after drooling over these for so long, i was craving some goooood fro yo!}

that's where yogurtie comes in.

its a whimsical little fro yo place run by an asian family.

best part about it was, it was about 5 minutes away from where c and i shot.

yogurtie ftw!

{don't go to the website. its down.}

{obviously its the place to be.}

{i'm rockin the top knot! inspired by sydney and ashley.}

i've decided to rate each fro yo place on a 5 ♥ scale in comparison to spoon me who, of course, gets 5 ♥.

i take into consideration:

atmosphere (i.e. decor, staff, music, etc.)

flavor (not how many flavors they have, but the actual taste of the fro yo.)

price

variety (different flavors and toppings.)

extra zing (whatever else i feel like giving points for.)

and yogurtie gets ♥ ♥ ♥.

first off, the flavor was great. i prefer my fro yo to be a little thinner and icier than creamy (if i wanted creamy, i'd eat ice cream.) yogurtie had that perfect combo that i love, although it did melt pretty quickly. secondly, there was so much variety! they had over 10 flavors to choose from and even more toppings (but you better believe i stuck to my usual 'original flavor'). plus it was self serve so that was a plus. as for atmosphere, the decor was pretty cute, but the music they were playing was horrible and i prefer to speak to someone who actually speaks english...

they lost points for price. while they only charge $.39 per oz, that adds up quick! for two cartons of yogurt it was over $10.00. that, for me, is a little pricey.

over all, it was pretty delish and fun to try.

but its no spoon me.

all in all, a great friday night.

{oh and they got an extra point for having a random book on one of the tables about a lost beaver.}

{if you want to visit this yogurtie, its on eldorado in mckinney, tx.

look me up, we'll go together!}

well, that was an adventure.

today i took my baby sister out for her birthday. (a week late, but hey! i'm not known for my punctuality...)

as we got in the car, i told her that our gno was going to be a slew of adventures.

i. had. no. idea.

so, on our way to a strip mall we'd never been to, we got lost (and getting lost in texas is much scarier than getting lost in utah or idaho) complete with getting on the wrong freeway and everything.

when we finally found where we were headed, we decided to first stop at the los charros tex mex restaurant and get some grub so we could chat and unwind from our adventurous excursion we'd just experienced.

(p.s. it was DELICIOUS. i've been craving good mexican food for like 9 months and i finally got some. y.u.m.)

{you had me at endless chips and salsa.}

after eating, we headed to the strip mall (which had rue 21! not my favorite store, but it reminded me of my home town, st. george, so we HAD to go in.)

found some gems.

then headed to juicy couture and charlotte russe.

after our shopping there, we decided to head to another shopping center. strip malls are great and all, but very small and sometimes over priced and we were over it.

but wait.

you need keys to drive to your next destination and oh, don't worry, i locked ours in the car... and left them in the ignition. 

that's a bigger problem than it seems. you see, we only have one car in our family. even though we have spare keys, i didn't know how anyone would bring it to us.

after calling a lock smith and hearing the prices, i finally called my mom, admitting defeat.

luckily we have an angel of a neighbor who was on her way to our neck of the woods anyway and so she agreed to bring us a spare key.

thank heavens!

after waiting the 20 minutes or so it took her to make it where we were, we were pretty much ready to go home, but we had one more stop to make and little did we know our adventures weren't over yet.

we had to stop at a walgreens to pick up a few somin' somin's for me madre and while we were there, we decided to pick up some [crappy] new nail polish colors as well. 

we deserved pretty nails at this point. 

eagerly pulling out of the walgreens parking lot we drive not even 5 minutes before we are pulled over.

yes folks. 

ugh.

i didn't even know what i had done! 

mr. cop takes his sweet time walking over to my sister's side of the car and waits for us to roll the window down, only the window is broken and doesn't roll down. we try motioning that to him through the window and so he pulls the door open. 

i said "sorry, that window is broken. it doesn't roll down."

cop: "but the door opens doesn't it?"

well obviously, he had opened it.

cop: "do you know why i pulled you over?"

me: "no"

cop: "look out in front of your car, what do you see?"

at this point, i felt like playing a dumb blond and asking "oh, are we playing i spy?!" but i didn't. i looked in front of me and realized my lights weren't on. so, i flipped them on.

cop: "yeah, those might help out." then he walked away. 

whatevs man. whatevs.

after that, we were more than ready to go home and so, we did.

after getting lost again.

gah. what a night.

at least my nails are pretty and i found some awesome jems while shopping.

and ate good mexican food. 

totally worth it. 

how was your friday?

katy perry's one of the boys and teenage dream albums.

did you or did you not?

living at home can sometimes be challenging. especially when i'm still trying to live as independently as i can (i.e. purchasing my own shampoo, face wash, etc.) the challenging part comes in when you have siblings [sisters] who thrive on using your things.

i've asked c countless times to please not use my stuff because it goes twice as fast and i have to pay for it. she said she'd stop, but sometimes i still catch her. other times i falsely accuse her. observe:

(this is a convo on facebook via wall posts, mind you. i didn't want to get up and talk to her cause i'm lazy like that and i couldn't find my phone to text her. my laptop just so happened to be on my lap at the time so, yes, i resulted to a public family feud. whatever.)

me: you either used my shampoo or conditioner. i can smell it. i will shank you. I WILL SHANK YOU!! you really should try to be more sneaky when using all of other people's stuff especially if you don't want to get beat down.

c: hahah noope. i used the kind mom got me. smells goooood huh :)

me: yeah right.
me: oh, wait. did you use the body wash?

c: um yes, i do in fact use body wash when i shower!
c: ‎..you mean to tell me you've been using MY body wash, not me using your shampoo or conditioner... you tool.

me: no you blithering idiot! is it the new kind? ha ha ha. WHAT DID YOU USE! I WANT SPECIFICS!

then i found out she really hadn't used my shampoo, she had used her shampoo which coincidentally enough smells very similar to mine. (it really does. i smelled it myself.)

i found the convo pretty funny though because we were both blaming each other of using each other's stuff when in reality neither of us really were.

i don't know. maybe its only funny to me. haha. quite possible.

ah the joys of living at home.

sisters are awesome.

and although web cam pics can be frustrating in the quality category,

they are priceless in the candid category.

so they win.

p.s. i vote i look like my mom. what do you think?