Homemade decorations and the meeting of the parents...

Growing up we always had the BEST decorations, especially when it came to Christmas. My favorite decoration is our Advent wreath. It was handmade by my mom when her and my dad were first married, and its a felt wreath with a bag that holds 25 pieces like a snowman, angel, santa head, and a baby Jesus. Every day my brother and I took turns putting on the pieces knowing that we couldn't put Santa on until the 24th, and baby Jesus on until the 25th. I still remember fighting over the pieces and who's turn it was ha ha.

Well today my mom and I were shopping at Joann Fabrics when I came across a felt advent calendar kit for 50% off, plus we had an additional coupon for another 50% off. I decided to get it because I hope when I have a family of my own they will enjoy something like this as much as I did. I know I'm nowhere near close to having a husband or kids, but I thought why not start making stuff while I still can. The only thing I wish this calendar had was a baby Jesus to hang on the 25th, but I'm thinking I might be able to be creative sometime and make one on my own. My favorite ornament is the penguin ha ha, and I love the sequins that is has to give it that Christmas sparkle. I know its going to take me forever to hand stitch everything (heck it took me 2 hours to embroider the numbers 1, 2 and 3 ha ha) but I don't mind. Oh and I love that all the pieces can fit in santa's sack on the bottom. Here is a picture that I found of my kit when its completed:



In addition to my fabulous new project, last night my parents took Brian and I out to dinner. It was the first time Brian met my parents, minus the 2 times my mom was in the car and he was also outside. I had a great time at the Chancery, and my parents think Brian is delightful and amazing. It was odd because my parents are very much supportive of our decisions (as long as they're legal ha ha) even if they think we're making a huge mistake. For example, they gave permission for Steve to propose to me even though they hated Steve and my mom knew that he wasn't "the one" and I didn't know the latter until yesterday after dinner. However, in this case she told me that she thinks Brian and I are excellent together and that even my dad thought we were cute together...precious.

I'm glad that they really do like him a lot. Even if they didn't it wouldn't really change much, but I could tell they didn't really like Steve way back when. They never really got to know Devon, which would be my next most serious relationship, for my mom only met him once when I was moving, but I think it would have ended up being another Steve situation (not because they wouldn't like him cause he's great and my mom did like him, just that he wasn't "the one"). Gosh I'm a lucky girl to be with an amazing boy whom my parents adore, yay for Brian!

Breaking the law!

Tonight I broke the law...sort of. You see Brian and I had this great night planned out where we were going to get pizza, eat it at my house, and play games. All was going according to plan, we had our pizza and we were almost to my house when I realized I didn't have my keys because I hadn't driven to work (my mom dropped me off and Brian picked me up because yes once again my car is broken). Ergo, tonight I broke into my house.

It was quite entertaining actually and I couldn't stop laughing. I have broken into my house before but it has been a while. First I popped off the screen to my brother's room's window, but then I realized the window itself was shut and locked. I contemplated doing my room but a.) the window is higher off the ground, b.) theres a giant flower box in the way full of flowers, and c.) there's nothing under my window to catch my fall (my brother's bed is right below the window). Brian then realized the kitchen window was open so we popped off that screen, I took off the curtains so they wouldn't be damaged in my crawling, and I crawled through. I was nervous I wouldn't fit but I did :)

Needless to say it was extremely entertaining to me, and definitely a good start to our night. I ended up losing at Wii tennis and Wii baseball so I'm protesting Wii sports.

Here

Today was rather interesting, for it had both good points and bad.

The bad really came before the good because lets face it living with your parents isn't always easy. Now I love my parents and I have been blessed with exceptionally great ones, but that doesn't mean that it's always peachy. I think the hardest adjustment for me is feeling like I'm a little kid again, like I know its all done in good intention, but I want to feel like I'm a grown-up despite living in my parents house. And its little things that send me over the edge, like telling me what bank I should go to, and what I should or shouldn't wear, and most of the time I let them go but sometimes it just bugs me.

As a result, I ran away for 4 hours today to the mall. I decided the mall is my safe haven because the mall and I can never fight with each other ha ha so its where I will go if I ever need somewhere to go. Brian ended up coming to find me at the bookstore, and we went to dinner at Charcoal Grill. The best part of the day was standing in the parking lot when we were done, cuddling cause it was freezing cold out, and talking about silly and serious things. I even made up an amazing song about Brian using cereal names...though it definitely wasn't as good as Billy and the Mysterio's cereal song (sorry I can't remember the real name). Our parking lot time was just amazing, and it will definitely be one of my favorite memories of Brian and I thus far.

While driving home I was listening to the Still Feels Good CD by Rascal Flatts and the song "Here" came on, and it's the subject of my post because this song is the song that always pops into my head when I think about Brian. So for kicks I thought I'd post the lyrics.

There's a place I've been lookin' for
That took me in and out of buildings
Behind windows, walls and doors
And I thought I found it
Couple times, even settled down
And I'd hang around just long enough
To find my way back out
I know now the place that I was trying to
reach
Was you, right here in front of me

CHORUS
And I wouldn't change a thing
I'd walk right back through the rain
Back to every broken heart
On the day that it was breakin'
And I'd relive all the years
And be thankful for the tears
I've cried with every stumbled step
That led to you and got me here, right here

It's amazing what I let my heart go through
To get me where it got me
In this moment here with you
And it passed me by
God knows how many times
I was so caught up in holding
What I never thought I'd find
I know now, there's a million roads
I had to take
To get me in your arms that way

Repeat Chorus

In a love I never thought I'd get to get to
-here
And if that's the road
God made me take to be with you

Repeat Chorus

And I'd retrieve all the years
And be thankful for all the tears
I've cried with every stumbled step
That led to you and got me here, right here
Oh, baby-Ooo
Oh, got me here

Ok you can all stop gagging now, I'll end the sappiness but I just had to share my great night :)

I want to be a detective!

Today at work I got to play spy and it was fun. Ok it wasn't really that fun, I was highly afraid I was going to get poked in the eye with an acrylic nail, but I survived. See these 2 ladies came in with GINORMOUS purses, which were empty...it was very shifty looking. So then my manager said to keep an eye on this one lady so i was following her around conveniently straightening stuff where she went. Well she kept taking things off of the hanger instead of carrying it around on the hanger, and she was getting REALLY annoyed with me. Then the other lady intercepted, asking for stuff that was on the kids side of the store (its really 2 stores in one, theres an opening inbetween them, but still you can tell its two separate stores) so me catching on to their shifty game sent her over to the kids side without walking her over (which is kind of against the rules...we're supposed to show them what they want). Well in the end, mostly due to my manager's skills the one lady I was originally following ended up shoving a pile of clothes into her arms saying she didn't want them...well duh its cause you couldn't steal them. The other lady left and just said she'd be coming back with her son to try them on, and conveniently she never came back.

Are people really that stupid and desperate? I mean come on its not like we're moronic and can't catch on to their shifty ways. To top it off about an hour later a girl i was working with found 5 security tags hidden in a pile of toddlers clothing. See now this is where I think Gap is retarded. Instead of using the plastic pin sensors like most places, they sew the sensors inside the clothing and you cut them off when you get it home. Well now we realized today that you really can just rip the sensors out pretty easily because thats just what they did. I hope I don't get into trouble for sharing that to all you future shoplifters, but obviously they've figured it out by now. Ugh people make me mad.

However I don't think I'd make a very good detective because after work i was walking to my car and walked right by Brian who was waiting by the entrance to the mall for me. In my defense I was more focused on the fact I just got a paycheck and my feet were killing me. I love surprises though so i was so happy to see him. He took me to Paciugo where I got yummy watermelon, grapefruit, and lime italian sorbet. I love treats and surprises, he's so great! I hadn't gotten to talk to him in a few days because I worked til Midnight on Monday, and til 1 am yesterday, so I was SUPER happy to see him. I'm a lucky girl!

Gummi Bears are more than just a food...

Tonight after work (speaking of work, the mall is freaking CRAZY on weekends, ugh) I got to go on a hot date with the ever awesome Brian. I'll be honest, we hit a rough patch this week largely due to me being over-reactive and having an issue or two, but somehow he forgave me and still likes me. Go Brian! Anyway, so we went to dinner at Champps and afterwards decided to rent a movie and possibly play games. We rented the movie 21 (which is great!), went to Pick 'n' Save next door and got gummi bears, and on the way back to Brian's house we decided to play cards. Is gummi bears spelled gummy bears or gummi bears? I just think gummy looks weird when referring to the bear species. According to Wikipedia it is gummi bear, although sometimes spelled gummy bear, and since Wikipedia is essentially doctrine, we're going with gummi. Oh and also on the wikipedia article it says they have a kosher gummi bear vending machine at the Jewish Museum in Berlin...who knew? Anyway...carrying on...

This is where I learned a very valuable lesson...gummi bears can be used in gambling. You see I had the desire to play poker (Oh don't worry I lost horribly...) but thats only fun if you can bet. Not having money nor poker chips makes one resourceful, and I thought it ended up being pretty fun. Seeing that we were watching 21 we switched over to playing blackjack with an imaginary dealer, and I actually came out ahead! I started with 12 gummi bears and ended up with about 18 or so since Brian started to eat mine so I can't give an official report. He had less than 12 gummi bears so in the end, I win! The only downside to playing with edible money is that you do in fact eat it so you could technically just eat your opponents stash. Oh and Brian may or may not have a welt appear on his forehead due to a gummi bear accidentally being flung at him ha ha.

Taggity Taggers

Favorite person (outside of family)? I would have to say Cami, she's amazing and I don't know what I'd do without her as my friend. And she puts up with me through my ups and downs and our friendship :)

Favorite food? Surprisingly, my favorite food is any fruit that is not a peach, apricot, plum, papaya, or mango

Quirks about you? I have ADD, there are many quirks.

Any regrets in life? Not really, I mean I learned from everything thats happened.

Favorite Charity/Cause? Make-a-Wish

Favorite Blog recently? I love the Cake Wrecks blog listed on my favorite blog list.

Something you can’t get enough of? Coke (the soda, not the hard drug)

Worst job you’ve ever had? Flower Crew at SUU for like a week. I got fired for driving a mule into a pole.

What job would you pay NOT to have? a Porta Potty cleaner.

If you could be a fly on the wall, where? Hmmm...probably in the white house, it would be fun

Guilty Pleasure? Cookies from Mrs. Fields

Got any confessions? Yeah but I'll keep them secret.

If you HAD to spend $1,000 on YOURSELF, how would you spend it? I would buy things from Anthropology

Favorite thing about your house? My bed is soooooo comfy.

Least favorite thing about your house? Theres only one bathroom.

One thing you are bad at? Losing weight

One thing you’re good at? nothing, hence why I work at the Gap.

If you could change something about your circumstances, what? I would have a real job with a real paycheck and real benefits.

Who would you like to meet someday? Living or dead? I would say I would like to meet Jon and Kate and the 8! I love that show and I think that it would be interesting to hang out with their family and see how the dynamic is. That sounds creepy I think, but I mean it in a nice way ha ha.

What makes you feel sexy? Nothing

Who is your real life hero? My mommy!

What is the hardest part of your job? Trying not to jump over the railing to my death during my breaks since its embarassing to work there.

When are you most relaxed? When I'm curled up in bed with a good book, and its slightly cold in the room so I can have a blankie :)

What stresses you out? Budgeting/money/finances.

What can you not live without? Caffeine

Do you agree or disagree with the recent article that reported that blogs are authored by narcissists? Well, I agree ha ha why else would someone want to talk about themself.

Why do you blog? out of boredom.

7 Weird Things

Natalie tagged Cedar people to do this, so here I go

7 things that you may NOT know about me

1) I hate water. I don't like to drink plain water because it makes me nauseous. It stems from when I went through some hard times and would drink like 150-200 ounces of water a day and I was always sick largely due to that probably (I weighed about 115 pounds at the time so thats quite a bit of water, and I wasn't heavily exercising to have a need for that much water, or any amount near it for that matterl). As a result, drinking plain water makes me sick. However, sometimes I CRAVE it, like I have to have it. These times are rare and few and far between, and I don't get sick during these times.

2) I HATE when people chew on ice. It sends me into shivers, goosebumps, and subsequent mini convulsions ha ha.

3) I hate silverware. I hate the sound of it scraping against plates and bowls and what not. I would much rather eat with plastic utensils all the time. Subsequently, I can eat with it in restaurants and such because thats life, but under no circumstances can I eat yogurt or cake with a real piece of silverware. It has to be plasticware or I wont eat the item at hand at all.

4) I am obsessed with cake decorating and cakes, but I have never actually decorated a cake beyond slapping some frosting from a can with some icing writing. One of my dreams is to take a cake decorating class.

5) I love all things dinosaur related ha ha. My dream is to have a pleo dinosaur of my very own. the sad thing is, it's an obsession that started randomly. I had just broken up with Steve and luckily I have a great friend named Judy who invited me to do things with her and we were going to a bonfire for some specific reason that I didn't know. Anyway, there was something in the road and I think it was Judy who asked "what is it?" and I answered "A dinosaur!" and it just kind of went from there. Silly, I know.

6) I was a model for Molly the American Girl Doll when i was little. I looked just like her with the same hair color, eye color, and I wore glasses. I still have my pair of red and white striped pajamas like hers, my mom saved them for when I have a little girl someday :) Thanks to my mom!

7) I want to open my own dress shop someday and be a dress designer but I lack the confidence and resources to do so.

The End

I TAG: Brian specifically, and anyone else who wants to :)