someone has a serious case of the nostalgias

And it's ME!

Surprise surprise.

So last night, I was feeling indulgent, and therefore spent about 3 hours looking through old pictures. That's when I came across these 2 beauties.

it's about this time of year that my skin is all "OH TO BE TAN AGAIN!"

I'm with you, skin. 

Then there is this:

aren't we all so precious?!

when Mckay saw this, he goes:

"Wow dad's hair isn't gray! And why am I so Asian?"

HAHAHA my sentiments exactly, dear brother.

I think we all know who the greatestfamilyoftheday award goes to!

overhaulin'

I am pretty sure I saw that show once, and I thought it was retarded. 

Good thing I am smarter than average, and am therefore not referencing said retarded show, but rather the newish blog outfit.

(Is it just me? Or has the blogging world sort of deemed it necessary to acknowledge anytime something changes with the look of your blog? I mean, if I didn't, who knows what all my loyal followers would do?! Probably have a stress-induced "ohemgeewhydoesbrooke'sbloglookdifferentdoessheevenknow" seizure.)

PROBABLY.

Anyways, I was getting really bored with the look (aka my "french flea market" template from shabby blogs. totz the cutes layouts, lolz!), so I did some housekeeping and changed the background, along with the addition of some pikchurs. Mostly for my viewing pleasure because I love the people in my life. 

Why did I decide this would be a good idea at 11pm?
While I am laying in bed with a very good book I could have otherwise been reading?

While I still have all my makeup on, and oh by the way it is now 12:24 am?

And I am significantly tired?

No tengo ni idea.

But I don't really need to defend myself, because it's Christmas break jigga, and I do what I want.

postcards from not-so-far away

I learned how to play that song on the piano today. NBD, I am basically a prodigy.
 
So it's interesting being home.
Mostly because every time I walk through my front door, it feels like I never left. I consider that one of lifes greatest blessings, knowing how constant home will always be. And how comforting it is. My mom has Christmas-decorated to the nines. It is a holiday wonderland! She is so good at those kinds of things. I am glad I have rubbed shoulders with her my whole life, because it means there is hope for my future home aka it will most likely be cute. I hope.
She also remembered my intolerance to lactose-y things, and so kindly bought me rice milk! Even I don't buy MYSELF rice milk! How is she so wonderful?
My brothers also wont stop hugging me. It's 4% annoying in a really precious/bringstearstomyeyes kind of way. Maggie the bulldog thinks it's a good idea to maul me every time she sees me too. That's a hairy 55lb tank that I am, for once, happy to have climbing all over me.
And let's not forget my sweet dad, who has taken it upon himself to remove all the stress-knots from my back. He is so great. Note to self: that should probably be a requirement for the future hubs...
Another great thing about being home is actually having food in the fridge. It still blows my mind! Like I am pretty sure there is about 2lbs of stuffing in there right now. I get excited just thinking about it!
Also, on Tuesday I get to see one of my dear friends who just got home from his mission. It's going to be a fun-filled laughter-loaded spanglishy reunion, I can already tell.
I am so thankful for my friends.
Finally, I have been listening to Coldplay almost nonstop for the last 2 weeks and let me just tell you. They are quickly achieving a Mae-like status in my book. THAT'S HUGE, so congrats Chris Martin. It's too bad you are married. Gwyneth is the luckiest.

So basically Christmas break is already looking bright. It really is a wonderful life!

a foggy day. in provo town.

That was a lie. It is 0% foggy, and will be a surprisingly beautiful day today! 51 degrees on December 13?! Chess please! 

(Also on a slightly unrelated but a little related note... It will be 74 degrees when I go home this weekend. ILOVEARIZONA)
Right. Let's get down to business.

1. So finals officially (I say "officially" because I have unofficially been taking finals for the last 2ish weeks. go figure.) started today. I feel like I should be mad about this, because that seems to be the trend with every one else, but wanna know a secret? I kind of like finals week. All you have to do is study and take tests! With no classes, and only a few hours of work each day, things feel pretty chill. I mean yeah, I am still stressing about all my exams, but I don't think finals week is nearly as bad as we all like to make it sound sometimes. Just sayin.

2. I epitomize the typical college student right now. Let me paint this picture. I have been sick for the last month. But does that motivate me to go to bed before midnight? Nope. Do I still go run 3 miles in 30 degree weather, only worsening my awesome cough? Yep. Do I ever clean my room anymore? Nope. Do I stay out far too late on the weekends? Yep. Do I literally only have eggs, cereal, oatmeal, and protein shake to eat for the next week? Yep. Let's just say Christmas break is going to be SO good for me ha.

3. Remember how I said that I don't ever go to bed early any more? Well I also have started this awesome new habit of not taking my mascara off at night (mostly due to the fact that I ran out of makeup remover... and I don't have the time to go get any...). You know how magazines always say this is REALLY bad for your eyes, and can even cause infection? Yeah well, just call me the number one witness of that because it's 100% true. On top of being sleep deprived, my eyes are also shriveling up and falling out of my head because of the constant attack from mascara monster. BOO.

this is how my eyes feel right now. 

4. I have been thinking a lot about next semester. Part of me is really excited. Let's say about 45%. The other 55% is terrified. I am taking econ, hopefully spanish 206, math 110, and 2 I-SYS classes. If I can't get in to the Spanish class I need/want, I will take Biology and Living Prophets. Either way, things are going to be crazy. On the upside, I will be in econ with dearest Kimber, and Spanish with my good friends Dean and Sydney, so at least I will have others to enjoy the pain with me.

5. Once upon a time, I had two great pairs of headphones. And I couldn't find EITHER one of them this morning. I was a little peeved.
Lie. 
I am still peeved.

6. I watched the extended LOTR Fellowship AND Two Towers this weekend. Needless to say, my brain is teeming with all things Middle Earth-ish. I love those movies so much. And great news... Return of the King will take up the entirety of my Wednesday night yay!

7. Friday night we had our ward Christmas party, and my roommates were so dear and asked me to help pretty them up a bit. I LOVE PRETTYING UP. I still think I was destined to go to beauty school. Also, be rich enough to spend all my money on lots of really great makeup. Just sayin.
8. On Saturday morning, my roomie Claire bear and I will begin our epic trek south. I have never been more excited for a road trip in my whole life. I am so lucky to have such a rad, gorgeous, funny, amazing roommate who shares my taste in music and all other cool things. SO lucky. Also I am so lucky that my parents are allowing me to bring all my dirties (aka my dirty laundry. I guess there wasn't really a point to shortening that, seeing as how I decided to verbosely explain myself after the fact of the matter.) home so I don't have to spend $3 doing it here. I am ready to have clean clothes again!

9. So I just looked back and read through this list. And it makes me sound a LOT grosser than I really am. Like I swear my apartment and room aren't a mess all the time. And I really do try to take care of myself and wash my face, and wear clean clothes. SWEAR.

10. The headband that I am wearing is squeezing my brain out my ears, and it hurts. And now I have a huge headache.
And that's all.

today

Today is sentimental. Today is stressful. Today is lovely. Today is overwhelming. Today is, well... flipping GREAT.

This time of year is always bittersweet, for a plethora of reasons. First, the semester is ending. Which mostly makes me terribly excited because I am a little sick of my classes and I am soooo excited to go home. But at the same time, I am slightly depressed because I will miss all my dear friends terribly! The Lord has blessed my life with some amazing people this semester, and it's so sad to say goodbye. Especially to my wonderful Spanish class. As much as I have complained about the ordeal, I have actually really enjoyed it. I think the people made all the difference, and for that I am so thankful! I also really loved my media writing lab. We only met once a week, but I made some fun friends in there... plus my TA was SO tight. I kind of wish we could be best friends actually. And it was such a blessing to have a fun class and TA because we met at 8AM every friday morning GAAAAG.

Finally, as I am reflecting on this wonderful semester, I just have to say this: BYU is probably the most amazing place in the world. Not only have I been enlightened through my classes, but I have continued to learn about myself, others, the gospel, and just life in general. More than I could possibly comprehend upon my return here in August. I am so lucky to be able to attend such a marvelous university, it has changed my life so much!

In other news:
Even though it's Wednesday and I am sooooo late, I just have to say that last weekend was really fun. I watched How to Train Your Dragon again (I AM STILL IN LOVE) and made paper snowflakes with some great company, worked on my advertising project for endless hours, experienced the best Mexican food in Provo (Diegos. GO as soon as possible, and eat the rice like your life depends on it!), went to Divine Comedy, and attended the Christmas devotional in SLC. On a slightly unrelated note but still somewhat referencing what I was just talking about.... *BREATH*..... I have a new life goal.

AUDITION FOR DIVINE COMEDY

I am so serious, I think I would be a great addition. And as conceited as this may make me sound, I really think it's true. Toot toot.

Also, I am going ice skating tomorrow night and I am kind of nervous about it. "Why are you nervous Brooke, oh conqueror of the winter sports?" (sense the sarcasm. The only winter sport I have ever attempted is ice skating. FAIL.) Well, I am nervous because the last time I went did not go so well. Granted, this time I will have a buddy to hold my hand, but STILL. I hate myself when I ice skate. And my knees hate me too.
Finally, since I have yet to talk about music in this post and HOW UNLIKE ME IS THAT?! Anyways... Chris Martin, has been singing to my soul today. Freak, I love Coldplay. The song's "Lovers in Japan" and "Warning Sign" especially. And even though they make me feel a little lonely and nostalgic, they are also strangely comforting. And they make me think of July, which is a beautiful thing if I do say so myself :)

So there you have it. It's a sentimental, stressful, lovely, overwhelming kind of day. But I am alright with that.

oh and p freaking s. endoftheyearblues gotcha down?
WATCH THIS.

a funny story from my ever-so-cool life

So I just remembered this yesterday... so I didn't really JUST remember this but hey.... and I thought it would be a good idea to share. First, because it's humiliating and still makes me sick to think about. Second, regardless of the aforementioned sick feeling, it really makes me laugh more than anything.

So this one time...
  my friends Shawntae, Kara and I decided it would be so fun to go to a young single adult bowling activity.

LIE. 

Can you say fire hazard/way too many sweaty 20 somethings/not enough room to BREATH/huge waste of time? Yeah, I can too.

So anyways, I was being 100% serious about the fire hazard. We got kicked out of the building, and had to rotate how many people were inside at a time. NBD, I was suffering from a heat-induced heart attack anyways. So there we were, waiting innocently when we saw 3 moderately attractive young men (we'll call them tallblonde, darkandhandsome and jose), looking rather lonely, just sitting outside as well. 

And fancy this, they kept looking our direction!

So then Brooke get's this great idea, that went something like this:

"HEY! Those three guys over there TOTAAALLLLYYYYY keep looking in our direction! Maybe we should be all bold, grow some kahunas and go over there and TALK to them?! OH EM GEE we could have like, THE FUNNEST night of all time!"

It took a little more convincing to get my friends on board, but after much prodding, they agreed.

PAUSE: In a situation like this, why am I always the one who has to do all the talking?? Like this one time, a creepy pseudo rapper/semi retarded serial killer thought it would be cool to talk to Nicole and I at Jdawgs for no reason. She went mute, and I was left to fend for us. I mean I know I am such the great talker, but I don't understand why my compadres always leave me hanging in situations like this. That being said...

We went over there and after a good 3 minutes of rambling small talk (done by yours truly, natch), tallblonde stood up and wrapped my friend Kara in this ginormous and incredibly awkward bear hug. And then darkandhandsome and jose, who were steadily looking less and less attractive, started telling us how tallblonde and Kara should get married because they would make beautiful babies and blah blah blah.
KEEP IN MIND WE JUST MET THESE WEIRDIES.
THEN they started telling us how they go to the U (gag) and how they were there in Arizona selling pest control and they have a really great condo in Scottsdale all other douchey things about their lives.
By this point, my brain is all:

"Hey IDIOT! Look what you got yourselves into! They are probably wearing ed hardy undershirts, and they most likely rocked out to Nickelback on their way here."

Touche brain, you are probably right.
Anyways, after about a half hour of painfully douchey conversation, we finally slinked out of there without getting roped in to going to Filibertos with them.

Needless to say, I don't do things like that anymore.