the most wonderful time of the year

Slightly premature, I know.

But I can't help but be filled with ultimate holiday cheer right now. 

The mono monster has almost fully disappeared, 

*Rejoice, body!*

They are "lighting" the Riverwoods tonight,

*Santa AND Jon Schmidt will be there, EEP!*

There are so many wonderful Christmas albums out right now,

*Matt Wertz, Lower Lights, Michael Buble........ be still my heart!*

Thanksgiving is next week,

*Bringing Christian home to meet the family, holy wow!*

And it's the weekend

*This speaks for itself*

Happy Friday.

p.s. look how presh

Grainy, but cute. Real Cute.

november thankfuls

Tis the season. 

And I'm feeling pretty thankful right now, so I figured I might as well just knock out the whole month in one fell swoop. I'z so SMART and I'z go to college! Obviously!

- Today I am thankful for good music. I went the entire last week 

(I repeat, an ENTIRE WEEK)

without listening to pretty much anything. I forget how much of a lifeblood it is, and I'm really enjoying some Groban tunes today. Bless good music. 

- I am thankful for good health. 

I'm just going to be real and admit that I have mono again... I don't know why I'm embarrassed, but I am...

And seeing as how I have felt like DEATH for the last week, I'm incredibly glad that for the majority of my life, I have been lucky enough to be disease-broken bone-other ailments free. 

Just a few weeks and that will be me again. A few weeks.... a few weeks....a....few....weeks.....

*falls asleep*

nobutreally

- I am thankful for church. 

Sadly, I was unable to attend yesterday. And that cliche of wanting what we can't have sure rang true. 

I will be immensely grateful when I can go again in a few weeks.

- I am thankful for loving friends.

Not just mine, but all the friends in the world. It makes me really happy to know that just like my friends, roommates, boyfriend, and family have been so kind and helpful to me over the last week, there are 7 billion other people in the world who would probably do the same thing for their friends. 

I really do have faith in humanity. I know way too many beautiful people not to. 

- I am thankful for bland food. 

As Cholula's self-proclaimed #1 fan, it's no secret that I MUST have food with lots of flavor. However when your throat and stomach don't want to comply, thus resulting in the loss of 9 lbs in one week,

(Truth. Watch for the latest fad, the mono diet. "You're one kiss away from the best body of your life!") 

you have to eat really tame food. And I am so thankful that tame food exists! 

I'm lookin at you, oatmeal, applesauce and popsicles!

- I'm thankful for Christmas tunes. 

Mostly just Michael Buble Christmas tunes. 

Give me a minute while I wipe the drool from my face........

-I am thankful for baths. 

I mean really, do we really need to shower every day? Because I have taken a bath every day for over a week now, and it's probably my favorite thing ever. 

Don't ask me when I am going to stop, because you probably don't want to know the answer.

I could go on and on, but this is what I have been thinking the most about over the last few days. And now I'm going to take a nap, because this has been the most energy-expelling 20 minutes of my day thus far. 

It's the life, let me tell ya. 

baby carrot?

False.

Larry Bird carrot.

Witch finger carrot.

Sorting hat carrot??

That's the first thing I thought when I pulled this out of the bag. 

HarryPotteronthebrainmuch?

Duh. What's new.

Obviously lunch was fun today.
Also I took the math exam from HADES last night and I didn't fail....
This weekend is going to be B.O.M.B.....
Halloween is in 5 days....
My birthday is in 6...
...AND I don't have any tests next week.
(First time in 2 months, I kid you not.)
All things considered, I have every reason in the world to be a happy camper right now.
Thus, I am.

thursday's childfun

Here are some things I have to be thankful for as of late

How's that for getting down to business?

-lunch of champions, 3 times this week. (seriously though, it makes me way happy to eat crap for a meal sometimes. SOMETIMES. I do like vegetables too)

-lot’s of good inspiration and revelation. Thank you parents, conference talks and LDS.org

-it’s finally cool enough to wear a cardigan all day and only be mildly sweaty upon arriving to class

-midweek dates with friends

-being stupid with my roommates. SO freshman year of me.

And still SO fun.

Whatevs, I will be 19 forever.

-short hair.
6 inches shorter to be exact

Never mind the fact that I am one of THOSE people... you know the kind that takes pictures of themselves.
And makes semi gay faces.
Ugh. New low.

-running to "Livin on a Prayer".
You haven't truly enjoyed running until you do this.
Also maybe you should sing along.
Just sayin.

-Rupert Grint making surprise appearances in the library. 

And then gawking for 20 minutes because literally, it was Rupert Grint.

 How creepy are we, on a scale of 1 to  "get a restraining order  "?

-carving a Harry Potter style pumpkin tomorrow night with Christian.

Yeah....he loves me. Are you jellycat?

-Michael Buble’s ability to heal my soul with his sultry goodness

-Thanksgiving in a month SAY WHA?!

That’s all.

Happy Thursday.

Alabama, Arkansas...

Love Edward Sharpe. And that song. Speaking of.....
Oh home. 
Such a bittersweet thing. 

I feel like the luckiest girl in the world because I live close enough to my family to take little trips, a la this weekend. But then leaving is just.... BLURGH. I hate saying goodbye to those wonderful people.

The great thing about being able to go home, however, are the new things I learn and experience every time.
So cliche of me, right?
Oh well. I'm over it, because it's the truth.
And in light of that, I give you:

Awesome things I learned on trip number 480 to Mesa:
You see, that's funny because I really do go home a lot.... and 480 is an AZ area code.... 
I kill myself sometimes.

- I learned that I thought I hated yoga.
But I don't.
I'm actually obsessed with it.
Specifically bikram yoga.
Never heard of it?
Let me paint a picture.
You are in a room, 100-105 degrees, with a humidifier.
Doing yoga.
And getting so sweaty, you might as well have jumped in a pool.
Actually, you would probably be drier if you jumped in a pool.
I'M NOT KIDDING.
My toes were dripping with perspiration, people.
My friggin toes.
Basically it was the most cleansing, peaceful, awesome thing EVER.
Hence the reason why I am joining a yoga studio as a birthday present to myself.
 (Also my birthday is 20 days away. HOLLEERRRRRR)

- I learned that even though I am an adult, my bestest  friends and I will never cut the middle school shenanigans. Like talking in retarded voices. And dancing around like lunatics.
How did I figure this out, you ask?
Well, Saychelle, one of my closest friends since the young age of 14, was also staying at my house this weekend. Needless to say, we get a little crazy.
Also, she is a married woman.
I feel like that should be said to further validate my point.
Basically no matter how adult my friends and I get, we are still 15 at heart.
I hope it never changes.

- I learned that my brothers are getting so OLD.
I talked with my Mckay for about an hour one night about serious things, like dating and marriage.
It was so tender.
I love having brothers who love me almost as much as I love them.
It's so fun to watch them grow up.

- I learned that dog parks are so fun.
LIKE, SO FUN.
We took Maggie and Saychelle's bulldog Gus on Sunday night, and I was dying of happiness slash laughter.
Dogs are CRAZY when you let a bunch of them run free together.
Not going to lie.... I loved it.

Maggies face makes me die laughing. She looks like a super grouchy yoda-gremlin.

-I learned that absence makes the heart grow fonder.
Look at me and all my cliches!
But really.

- I learned (or re-learned) how much I love outdoor Sunday dinners.
Especially in beautiful Arizona summer weather with people I adore.

 Forgive the absurd sun-induced glare. And Mckay's disregard for social norms.
- I learned that just when I thought my mom was the most amazing woman out there, I actually had no idea. She has more compassion and love flowing through her body than I knew was humanly possible.

So basically I am just exceptionally grateful for family, friends, dogs and love.
And the fact that it's almost the weekend again.
It's a good life folks.

(When I first wrote that, it said "its a HOOD life". Yeah, that too)