but i have Miss Mattie with me, so its been a hilarious day.

hello, all. i just wanted to stop in and let you know i'm currently in Austin, TX. i saw the Texas Capital building today and ate at the Salt Lick and Applebees. go me. i'm also staying in a charming little Days Inn in a smoking room (i'm a non-smoker) and hoping i don't die from second-hand smoke by morning. i'm also afraid that at any minute, the rickety ice maker out in the hall is going to morph into a Dalek and start screaming "exterminate, EXTERMINATE!" but i have Miss Mattie with me, so its been a hilarious day. (aside from the fact that we saw a man literally 2 inches from being smashed by a car.)

i also wanted to share this whimsical little video that i found on YouTube. i absolutely love stop motion and since this is stop motion set to Vampire Weekend's: White Sky it gets even more awesome points. lots of love.

xx

p.s. i started a 365 blog where i share a picture i took and a song i like every single day. you can check it out here if you'd like.

vegas.

when i was out West i visited Viva Las Vegas quite a few times (bestie lives there). only one of those days did we visit the Strip. we probs would have gone more often but it was just so hot and its one of those things where if you've seen it once, you've seen it all.

but then again, its Vegas there's always something to see...

xx

why, hello there blog!

i'm baaaaack! and can i just tell you? st. george was absolutely lovely. i snapped the above photo in a place called Ancestor Square. all the leaves were changing and the air was growing crisp. love. love. love. it was perfect.
i hope you all had an absolutely wonderful Thanksgiving. i sure did.

♥ ♥

in which i ride a camel.

you know, i love holidays that are nearly irrelevant but that give me extra days off. like today for example. not laboring on labor day? genius.

because we all had the day off, we took advantage of the beautiful weather and took a little trip down to the dallas zoo.

it was lovely.

my brother even got me on a camel. yes, all, i rode a camel. it was... frightening but also sort of cool. but i think the highlight of my day was watching my mother get onto a camel. perfect.

i love the zoo. i could sit for hours and watch the elephants and giraffes. i know all they do is walk around and eat but there is something so fascinating about them that captivates me.
what's your favorite zoo animal? and what'd you all do for labor day?

♥ ♥

another vacay post - BABIES & movies & books oh my! {pt. 2}

90% of my friends in utah are married and have children. this equals lots of oodeling time for me when i'm there! i got to see some of my favorite kiddos (and some of my favorite mommies!) while in utah, and i thoroughly appreciated that.

le sigh.

babies.

i love 'em.

since before heading to utah (long before!), i had been really wanting to see i am number four. i'm sort of crushing on alex pettyfer and i had read the book over the summer, so i wanted to see if they did it justice.

um, yes.

they did.

i LOVED it. absolutely.

and it was probably better because i saw it in utah...

(okay, maybe not but we can pretend!)

annnnd i bought a couple of books while i was there as well.

beyonders: a world without heroes by brandon mull (which i haven't finished yet because... i've been super caught up in the mortal instruments series!)

and matched by ally condie (which my sis and i read on our drive back to texas. i'll review it soon, but *spoiler alert* i'd recommend it.)

one of the most fun parts though, was going to barnes and noble with my brother and cousins and drinking chai teas and reading.

that has got to be one of my most favorite things to do.

i feel so... chill when i do that.

anyway

that's it for now.

i'm sure you're just dying to know more about what i did a few weeks ago.

but for now, i should sleep.

cause i'm tired.

about my vacay {part 1}.

well, i'm glad to be back. while my trip was lovely, there is really nothing like sleeping in your own bed, eating dinner at your own kitchen table, and showering in your own shower. who's with me?

but, i did have fun. observe:

since moving to texas i've been craving in-n-out burger. i grew up eating there and was feeling seriously deprived of my double double with no tomato, fries and rootbeer. then they began building an in-n-out right. next. to. where. i. work. (it will be the first one that isn't in the west!)

excited? yes. but also its complete torture because, folks, they're building too slowly.

so, when i decided to go to utah, i vowed that my first meal in utah would be a double double with no tomato, fries and a rootbeer.

did that happen?

no.

why?

because cinnabun and starbucks happened instead. right there in the salt lake airport.

and guess what?

it was good.

and i didn't even feel bad for cheating on in-n-out.

first meal in utah: absolutely delicious.

stay tuned for more on my trip to utah! (i promise its not ALL about food...)

the blackberry voyage.

this one time, i was driving down a really long highway from UT to TX with my sista. as we crossed over the TX border (from New Mexico) we decided to stop and take some photos with the Welcome to Texas sign.

mindlessly, i tossed my BlackBerry onto my seat as i got out and aided sis in her photoshoot with the sign. then i had to take care of some cat business (yeah, we traveled 22 hours with our cat in the back. so fun, guys.) aka replace his potty pad with a fresh one. i took him out of his kennel and put him on my seat, took care of the potty pad and put him back in his kennel. (except it wasn't as easy at it sounds. he's a fussy traveler and was being very difficult when i lifted him off my seat to put him back in his kennel.)

then we took off down the highway.

except for, wait.

where was my BlackBerry?

no.

really.

where was it?

searching the entire packed-to-the-brim car, calling my phone incessantly and not hearing it and seriously stressing out, i came to the realization that the worst had happened.

my BlackBerry had fallen out at the TX sign either when i slid out to take photos or when cat was squirming around in my seat.

either way, it was on the side of the highway.

shucks.

sis and i drove to the nearest turn-around-spot, turned around and went back to the TX sign.

we searched...

and searched...

and searched...

and didn't find my BlackBerry.

sadly, we had to go, leaving my BlackBerry behind.

i'm still in mourning.

so, if any of you find a beautiful white BlackBerry on the side of the road by the TX sign, its mine. it'd be great if you'd return it. cause i really miss it.

i'm in arizona.

hey-o! i'm blogging from my hotel room in flagstaff arizona where i'm also watching a cake boss marathon.
since i don't have cable, i'm seriously taking advantage of my circumstances.

my sister and i have 15 hours left of our drive from utah to texas and i am more than ready to be home. in my own bed. with 24/7 internet access (its true. i'm an internet junkie).

luckily sis has a 6 CD player in her car (yeah, we're ghetto like that, still using our CD player) and we brought along the book Matched and have been reading that aloud to each other. brady bunch style.

in other news, Beyonders: A World Without Heroes came out while i was in ut. you can bet i grabbed a copy right quick. and there are only 10 days left until City of Fallen Angels is out (book 4 of The Mortal Instruments series). i. can't. wait. especially cause of this; ahhhh naughty!! (that link <--- contains a **spoiler**).

what have ya'll been up to? spring breaking and all that?

2010 in review.

(you can read my 2009 in review here.)

{january} - in january, i was jobless. boo. i did travel to utah though, i also learned how to make beanies, and had a little fun with the nestle crunch hotline. but other than sharing my doppelgangers, i didn't do much in january. it was kind of an uneventful month now that i look back on it...

{february} - february brought the olympics, another trip to utah, and valentines day. i also hosted my first ever give away in february and started making my summer plans. i attempted to do my first ever "fashion post" and slowly but surely gained new followers. what a month, huh? don't worry, my life got more exciting. i promise.  

{march} - i moved into a new house and finally got a one-time-job as a wedding planner (which i LOVED by the way.), i also started making necessary changes in my life, and went to utah AGAIN. i was involved in a bomb threat and that was about the highlight of my march.  
{april} - in april, i finished the wedding i was working on (big success btw), hosted my second ever give away and was in desperate need of some adventure in my life. i also got a job (that lasted about... 3 weeks.) and shared what kind of girl i am.
{may} - in may, my brother graduated from highschool and i moved from the dreary state of idaho to the gloriousness that is utah. i bought my first ever laptop (thank you student loan!) and shared all sorts of crushes during my 2010 crush week. i also went to my first book signing ever and met one of my favorite authors, aprilynne pike. (if you've never read wings, or spells, please go do it because they are AWESOME books. simply AWESOME.)

{june} - got ready to move into my new apartment, saw a lot of awesome movies AND started school. basically, moving and school alone took up most of my time. but somehow i found time to watch the world cup... 'somehow'.
{july} - i participated in more school, saw a woman with a full on obe won kenobi hair cut, got a real live job (first time i'd had one in over a year) and basically just loved on my utah (but still spent some time in idaho. figure that one out.)
{august} - lets see... what did i do in august? oh, right! i turned 25. even though 25 is a number i don't really care to discuss, i will gush about the she&him concert my besties took me to! i also finished my summer semester of college, and traveled a little bit more. i celebrated 8/9/10 and got a little 'contreversal' on my blog by sharing what types of physical traits i do and don't like in a guy.

{september} - in september, i mostly just worked. a lot. and packed getting ready to move AGAIN. my sister did visit though, and i spent my spare time doing super productive things like watching legendary tv shows.
{october} - i spent most of the month of october in st. george ut with my sister, but not before throwing my bestie a surprise murder mystery party! what fun, what fun. after that, i went to st. george and worked and stuff. 'and stuff' means... nothing. oh, i did watch supernatural (which required me to drool over my lover.)

{november} - i went to my second concert of the year, kate nash (amazing!!) and spent some time on colorado with some of my besties for life. then, harry potter was released and i saw it a couple of times. score. then i moved to a new state (3rd state i've lived in this year) and traveled quite a bit (i covered 5 states in 2 days. it was a LONG drive.) celebrated thanksgiving with the fam and started working AGAIN. oh and i loved on jensen a little bit more...

{december} - december was a long, hard month for me. i had zero christmas spirit and was just having an all around bad attitude. luckily, things got better (like the fact that i survived my first driving experience in texas) and i am now looking forward to ringing in 2011 to see what it has in store for me!!

what did your year look like?

sometimes rant.

sometimes, i think about going back to school... 

...but then i remember i hate school. and that i'm no good at it. and that its expensive.

and then i think "eh. its probably better that i'm not in school."

sometimes, i think about traveling the world...

...and then i smile. because i know, someday i will.

sometimes, i wonder what it'd be like to be someone else for a day...

...and then i think about all the movies i've seen where people trade places for a day and how grateful they are, when its all said and done, that they are just them and not someone else. then i wonder if its really like that. would i really be eager to just be me again, or would i enjoy being someone else?

sometimes, i think about jensen ross ackles...

...that's a lie. i always think about jra. ;)

sometimes, i wonder if i'll ever achieve my dreams...

...or if they will always just be a dream.

sometimes, i think "if i just had more money..."

...but then i know if i had more money, i'd be thinking "if in only had [this] or [that]" because the human race is never just grateful and content. they are always wanting. and i am a human.

sometimes, i feel like i'll never be happy again...

...but then when i am happy again, i know that being sad allows one to feel happy, so then, i'm grateful for sad.

even if it does suck.

sometimes, i get so tired that i just sit and think about going to bed...

...rather than actually going to bed.

sometimes, i smile for no reason.

those are the best times.

*all pictures (except for the one of me) courtesy of weheartit. what a cop out, i know. ugh.