some awkwards and awesomes

AWKWARD:

- When I tripped and almost biffed it on an escalator yesterday. AND came away with an incredibly damaged toe. Seriously though, I'm probably going to have kiss (figuratively of course) my big nail goodbye, because it's almost sure that it will fall off now. BOO.

- Mosquito bites on your feet.

One of the world's greatest injustices.

Yeah, I'm having serious issues with these bad boys right now.

This picture is pretty awkward too right?

- When husband wakes up and says "Thanks for that kiss in the middle of the night last night!"

And I'm all "Uhhhhhhhh...... what?"

And he's all "Yeah! I woke up at like 2am and you kissed me!"

I definitely don't remember that. I guess I should try not to be weirded out, but take comfort in the fact that even my sleepy subconscious self is madly in love with Christian.

- When you just sit at the kitchen doing nothing table for all but an hour of your nannying job. 

Because both parents are home.

I mean, I GUESS it's okay if you wanna pay me 13 an hour to sit and do nothing!

- Being reminded why I NEVER wear backpacks.

It's like "Oh hey I'm Brooke! Don't mind my sweat soaked shirt even though it's only 77 degrees outside!"

AWESOME:

- A wonderful institute class. 

I totally thought it would be weird going to institute as a *gasp* MARRIED PERSON.

But last night proved me wrong. And now I'm way excited for the rest of the semester.

Now excuse me while I go eat a heaping helping of my words!

- Seeing Christian wear studly business attire every day now that his internship has started.

I think I'm maybe going to love that whole "working man" aspect of married life.

Maybe

- Making new friends.

I will admit, I came to DC slightly pessimistic and feeling like no one would care that I'm here because I'm the "intern-less spouse".

I've been pleasantly surprised however. Everyone has been so kind and friendly to me!

It's a good thing I have my incredible humor and great looks to carry me through these hard times!

*Wink*

- And the final "awesome" is simply that we are in this neato city.

Still can't believe it. 

And with that, 

THE END

two days and a sometimes list

- Sometimes for work, I have to take public transit.

Which is stressful enough on its own.

BUT THEN.

Throw in a screaming toddler, 

a REALLY dramatic and grouchy businessman, 

and a very racist homeless person 

(Who, might I add, exited the bus by saying "BYE WHITE TRASH!" to me and two other women. It sounds awful, but it was actually quite funny)

and you have the most exciting bus ride of your life.

Me and the little (who was NOT screaming anymore thankfully) at the Botanic Gardens today.

Aren't you just dying over her precious Mary Janes?? 

- Sometimes you go to Sprinkles anticipating the purchase of 1 cupcake, and you come away with 5.

But you only actually paid for 2!

Now, I'm no math major, but that seems like a pretty tricky and AWESOME story problem to me!

- Sometimes you get to commute with your husband both to AND from work!

What are the odds that out of the whole city, I am working just up the street from his office?? I mean really.

And even though the hour long commute turns our days into 10 hour long shenanigans, it's really fun.

- Sometimes D.C. has the CA-UUUTTTEEESSST houses ever and you have to snag creepy photographs while no one is looking. 

Seriously though. I die on my walks around the city.

Also, this is me.

I'm going to let you guess why I was laying on the floor. 

But I will tell you.... It's NOT because I was feeling dramatically deprived of attention from my husband, and thus threw myself onto the ground.

Not at all. 

So obviously, things are pretty lively here in the good ol' District. 

Stay tuned for more unbearably exciting news!

just another manic monday

We made it to Washington DC!

Here's what's gone on so far:

- Friday night after navigating HORRIFIC Georgetown rush hour traffic,

(never.again.)

we unpacked. And also even though our apartment is only about this big, we are in LOVE with it.

- Saturday, we settled in some more, and then ventured to the national mall to visit the Museum of Natural History. I died. It was just as awesome as I remembered. 

Also the walrus they have there is LITERALLY the size of like 8 adults. IT'S SO AWESOME!!!!

Then we braved the incessant rain and trekked over to the Museum of the Native American, where we enjoyed a DELICIOUS meal. 

If you are ever in DC, you must try the food there. It's a little off the beaten path, but it's tasty. 

(aka get something with buffalo in it.)

- Then we came home and watched Dances with Wolves because DUH going to the Native American museum gave us a total hankering. 

- THEN

(Saturday was really busy, obviously)

We went to a karaoke bar and got sushi with a huge group of Washington Seminar students. 

It was super fun and super yum.

- Sunday we took a bus through Georgetown to get to church, and baaaaaasically I'm super in love with this place already. I mean look at it!

- And THEN!

Today I started work as a nanny, and wow my commute this morning was unreal.

1 sweaty and metroridefilled hour later, I made it safely. 

(Mace in hand, might I add. 

Nothing says "come at me bro" like a white girl walking down the streets of DC with mace.)

Christian also got to spend the day prepping for his internship, which starts TOMORROW! 

Yay!!

So far, we are loving the busy city life. 

It's a little stressful getting settled into a regular schedule, just because so much of it consists of navigating around this crazy place. But it's so neat!

I mean, this morning I walked right past the White House. So.... YEAH. 

Neat actually doesn't even cover it.

the moment we've been waiting for

So basically after a YEAR of planning, we are moving to Washington D.C....

TOMORROW.

I feel like a deer in headlights, thrilled, but also slightly terrified.

(Mostly because the people who I am working for in the fall keep telling me how ghetto everything outside of Georgetown is and I can't help but wonder if I will legitimately have to use my mace on someone before December. But anyways....)

We've been shopping for clothes for Christian's internship like it's our job

Check out this handsome bloke!

And today we are going to buy a bike rack so we can haul our transportation up north with us and peddle around D.C. like we own that place.

Also, this weekend while I was in Coral Springs, I got to spend Thursday-Saturday helping at the stake youth conference. (Which was seriously a BLAST, by the way)

5 hours of sleep and 3 trips to the store later, I was feeling a little loopy, so a break in the mother's room was much needed. 

And seeing as how my husband hadn't  laid eyes on my face in 4 days, I decided to make his life a little better by sending him these pictures. 

A texting war of "who can make the weirdest faces" ensued.

(Don't tell him, but I'm pretty sure I won.)

And now that I've assaulted you with WAY too many sides of my personality....

THE END.

P.S. Wish us luck this weekend. 

Hopefully the next time you hear from me, we will be settled in the Barlow Center, and loving life at our dream jobs of "nanny" and "intern at the Federal Judicial Center"....

 and not remembered as "knifing victims that died on L street".

because sometimes being happy is hard

I'm down in coral springs for the week visiting my family.

Sad... because our time here in Florida is almost done, and husband is not with me until Friday.

I miss hugging that man.

But also wonderful because I love being with people whose blood runs through my veins. 

Who I can take retarded photo booth pictures with, and eat out with, and shop with, and countrymusicsingalong with, and just be Brooke with

It's the best.

So basically now that summer is over, I'm just going to be real and admit that these last few months have been SO HARD. For a lot of reasons.

I'm totally cool with rough situations and big changes.

But I have learned that I don't deal well with a million of them at once.

Another thing I have learned is that sometimes its really hard to be happy. 

Even when you have a good life and a sweet husband and allotherthingsthataresupposedtomakeyouhappy.

So I was REALLY glad when I came across this article tonight.  

Sometimes you just need a little reminder to seek out the little rays of sunshine.

And even when you can't control everything around you, you CAN control these things.

I hope it sticks with you as much as it did me.

hidden talents of the Carters

Since you are obviously bored

(i know i'm funny, but i'm not THAT funny....)

I'm going to share some things that you probably don't know about Christian and I.

Christian is a supreme beat-boxer. 

Apparently he spent his entire childhood honing his rhythm skills

(READ: he would beat box ALL. THE. TIME. Like, at the dinner table kind of allthetime. Oh I'm excited to have crazy children with this man)

Anyways, he is seriously good at it. 

This morning while he was getting ready and I was taking a bath, I made him practice for me.

Little does he know, I'm just preparing him so that the next time there is a ward talent show, he is prepared.

Mwahahaha.

and now for my hidden talent.

I am a master at guessing the time.

Honestly, I am never more than a minute or two off. 

This summer as a camp counselor, it was my favorite to blow the kids away with this talent on a daily basis. 

In fact, we turned it into a game. My rules were as follows:

1. Whoever guesses closest to the correct time is the most awesome

(a title that every kid was pretty anxious to achieve.)

Unfortunately for them, I can't control my skills and I dominated them every time but one.

I still can't talk about it. 

And there you have it. 

Just when you thought we couldn't get any cooler.....

Well, you were right. 

We actually can't. 

beauty product win

Here's a little secret about myself...

I am marginally obsessed with beauty products.

For years now,  I have been on the hunt for the best shampoo, hairspray, facewash, nail polish, makeup primer, mascara, lipstick, self tanner, perfume...

Basically anything and everything you can spend money on to make yourself feel better about life.
And worse about your bank account, but that's a different matter entirely.

And although I haven't struck gold on all of these yet

(I'm still stuck on the mascara for some reason....)

I have found a lot of products that work great. 

And seeing as how I am the citizen of the year, I'm about to share some of these with you!

Hold the applause, I'll be here all week.

First, I give you:
Best volumizer 
(especially for thin or fine hair)

Toss up between Aquage uplifting foam and Bumble & Bumble thickening spray.

Both have proven great for several reasons. I can absolutely feel added volume to my hair from both products.
Aquage gives a lot of texture, which at first I didn't like because it made my hair felt dirty. But after using it several times, I was able to use that to my advantage. It made styling SO MUCH easier, and it lasted all day.

Bumble and Bumble is nice because it doesn't feel quite as heavy as Aquage does. The only downside is that is doesn't give you as much texture, which makes styling a little harder than when I used Aquage.
Both products are GREAT, it just depends on what you are looking for and how "naturally thickened" you want your hair to feel.

Now before you choke on the price of these products, I just have to say that you CAN use them sparingly enough that they last forever and still do the job. Like, I have had my bottle of B&B for a year now.

And for all you thick haired ladies out there..... take your smirk somewhere else because A) I'm so jealous of you and B) you are saving money all over the place because this stuff is priccceeeeyyyy.

But it 's so worth it, seriously.

Now if you would excuse me, I have to take this phone call from Allure magazine....
They said something about a job as assistant beauty editor??

And while I'm at it, I'm gonna wipe this sarcasm up off the floor because it is just DRIPPIN in here!

i don't really have anything interesting to say...

.... So, sorry in advance. 

Basically here is what's been going on for the last week or so.

1. I still haven't been able to kick being sick

(obviously my rhyming habit is OUTTA CONTROL too)

Yesterday I went to the doctor, and I guess I have a kidney infection. 

That will be confirmed on Monday, but let me just tell you it is 0% fun, and 100% stupid.

*EXCEPT: Christian has decided that he wanted to watch all the Harry Potter movies with me during my down time. Just when I thought I couldn't love him any more...... no but really.....*

2. We got to spend last weekend with my family again, and this time we met the Carter side halfway down the coast, and had a big extended family reunion party at the beach.
We played bocce ball, collected about 20 pounds of sea shells, and just had an all around great time

(despite the 125 mosquito bites we contracted. Who knew they would be a problem at the beach?!)

Also here is a tip.

As awesome as it is to get your tan on when you go to the beach

(GUILTY!)

It is SO MUCH BETTER to go at like 3 in the afternoon and stay until the sun goes down.

*blisssigh*

And last but not least, Christian and I will be moving to Washington D.C. in approximately 20 days.
First, you can expect far more exciting posts starting around that time.
I know I know...... hang onto the edge of your seat folks, lest the anticipation kill you....

And second, I CAN'T BELIEVE WE ARE GOING TO LIVE IN DC FOR 3 MONTHS EEEEEP!

And that is all.