Sing, Sing A Song...

When my family all gets together, we usually end up singing, often for long periods of time. I think both of my newly acquired bros-in-law were warned about our annual Christmas Eve singing, which can go on for a good amount of time, but I don't know if they truly comprehended that we weren't joking.

This Christmas Eve was no different, after singing 11-12 songs for the program portion of the evening, we discovered a karaoke section of our OnDemand on the tv. We then proceeded to sing for at least another hour. I decided to document part of a real classic...

Isn't my sister a fabulous dancer?

These Boots are Made for Walking not Sitting in the Closet

So I have always loved boots. When I was 14, I got a pair of beautiful black leather boots for Christmas. I wore them a few times but always had to put them under my pants. I have always had fairly large calf muscles and so, much to my dismay, i could only zip my beloved boots part of the way. This led to me wearing them only a handful of times before I sadly but carefully stuffed paper and cardboard in them to keep them nice and in their normal form and put them in my closet. I always hoped i would one day be able to wear them, but the more I started playing lacrosse, the less I was able to zip them.

A few weeks ago, I decided to once again try to wear my beautiful boots. I cautiously slipped my foot in, and held my breath as i was able to completely zip them up! That day, I proudly displayed my boots with a knee-length skirt. Today, my boots made their second appearance.

Although it is great to be able to wear my boots, I can't be completely happy about it. I can't stop asking myself if my left relief society arm and skinny legs are just the first of many things to go with the end of my lacrosse career??

Sehr, Sehr Gut!

I got a letter from my Austrian host family today. It always makes me happy to hear from them and what is going on in my second home. Last time I wrote to them, I decided to be brave and actually write it in German. I will admit i was a little dismayed when I opened the letter because they decided to respond in German! I was nervous I wouldn't be able to understand it, but amazingly enough, I understood everything but one sentence (them asking when i was getting married, what is with all of these marriage references in my life? Haha)!

For those I haven't talked to Vienna about (I don't know if there is anyone i haven't talked about this to, haha), I had the BEST host dad ever. Everyone in my group was jealous of him and he took great care of me. He was a little boy during WWII and was in Vienna when it was bombed. Every year around their equivalent to the 4th of July, he goes to the schools and talks to the children about what it was like. He has pictures of the bombed city, his mom's passport to get around the 4 sectors (Vienna was split like Berlin, the passport has pages in English, French, Russian and German), and other things. He talks about how his little sister was sent to Portugal with all of the other really small children, but he wasn't able to go because he was just barely over the age limit. It is extremely fascinating, and he was nice enough to come and give the presentation to the BYU kids for an FHE.

Anway, in the letter I got today, he told me a BYU professor came and interviewed him recently. I guess he is making a film/documentary of some kind and Peter will be a big part of it. I found the professor's email and emailed him. I sure hope he writes me back so i can see it!

Walking down the Basketball Court, or I Mean Aisle!

No, I haven't figured out the name of my mystery man yet, but....

My sisters and I have always had very different ideas than most girls of how we wanted our weddings. We did not want to have a reception where we had to stand in a line all night shaking hands of people we don't know and not even get to enjoy the food and entertainment. When my sisters got married this year, one did not have a reception and the other had a big luau party. Although I don't know what exactly I want, there are a few things I definitely DON'T want.

So whenever I go to the Independent Study Office (yes, i finally finished!!), I pass this van advertising wedding decorations. The business is called something like "Cindyrella's Decorations" and then it says "Cultural Hall Decorations." Only in Utah...This truly is the epitome of the Utah Wedding Culture.

I'm by no means saying having you reception in the cultural hall is a bad thing, but it is definitely not for me. I think it hilarious that there is a company that specializes in this! I guess it is a good idea since it is so common around here, but everytime I drive past that van, I can't help but think i'm just going to elope (to the temple, of course)!

Kome to the Kiosk!

Do you like my alliteration??

Update on dumb class: I just finished the worksheets, hurray!! I will take the final tomorrow and be done! I can't wait!!

Other note:
I have now worked a couple of shifts at the kiosk. I have to admit, i'm enjoying it a lot more than i anticipated. It is killer on the feet to have to stand/circle a small stand for 9 hours straight, but the work is far less monotonous than expected. I get to interact with a lot of people, which is generally fun (gotta love those grumpy shoppers!) and stay busy 98% of the time i'm there. I was worried i would sit with nothing to do, but i have only had maybe 10 minutes from all my shifts combined without things to do.

Another great aspect is my 40% discount. Not going to lie, i spent way more than i should have, but to end on a happy note, i only paid $63 when it was originally over $120. Gotta love it!

Boy Was I Wrong...

So i told myself i would avoid complaining on the blog, but man, this is a situation that warrants an excuse to my usual principle.

Just when I thought i was almost out of this Hell-hole of a class, the stupid busywork worksheets take me all day long to complete. I started doing them this morning at 8:30, and i've been going at it all day long and they are STILL not done! This class is so ridiculous, i don't feel like i've learned a single thing from them (worksheets), they are just incredibly hard (they expect you to be able to calculate things when they don't give you enough information and have to guess, but if you are wrong the whole thing is wrong) but they take FOREVER (as shown by my 13 hours and counting)! FYI: these are only the worksheets from the very last of the class, i endured all this 4 other times already!

So much for taking the final today, I haven't even started studying. I think redemption day is going to have to be pushed back until Wednesday :( I have to work all day tomorrow so I won't be done until after the testing center is closed, boo!!

I can't wait until Wednesday!!

Almost Out from the Depths of Hell

So last night I finished reading the text of the class from Hell. I read the basically all 652 pages since December 1. I am so tired of the stupid class and can't wait to be finished with it. I have about 12 worksheets, then i need to study, study, study for the final. I'm nervous, it has almost 200 questions, and I have absolutly no idea what will be on it! I emailed the teacher awhile ago asking for some direction in what to study, but sadly, I never received any response. This has been a ridiculous class that took about 8 hours on average to complete a lesson, had quizzes full of questions whose answers were no where to be found in the book, and busywork work like none other.

I can't wait to be done!!! But seriousy, wish me luck, i am going to need it!!!

Yesterday was my first day of work as an official employee instead of a trainee. The Disney Store opened right by us this weekend. We had the great opportunity of listening to the same few lines of High School Musical songs over and over and over, while listening to a very excited about her work employee cry out to everyone who passed, "It's the Disney Store's First Weekend! The Disney Store is open in Utah again! Welcome to the Disney Store" nonstop (no lie, we counted how many times she said this, and in 90 minutes, she shouted it out 300 times!) Overall, i have to say it went pretty well. I'm not going to lie, i thought working at a kiosk full of undershirts would leave a lot of boredom and down time, but there was no time at all that wasn't full of answering questions, folding clothes or ringing up sales. In fact, it was pretty darn crazy at times. Apparently they stay so busy, they normally have a rule that two people have to be working at all times. This makes sense, because like i said, the two of us last night worked constantly.

Anyway, the kiosk is opening an actual store in the same mall supposedly at the end of next week. I guess they decided to have everyone work in the store, helping to get everything set up and ready. This makes sense, but then i have been scheduled to work the kiosk by myself all week. Maybe it is just me, but it seems like it makes more sense to have the inexperienced girl help do the manual labor of setting up the store, while having someone who can easily manage anything and answer any questions that might happen arise at the kiosk.

Well, i'll keep you posted on how it goes. Wish me Luck! Those girls can get quite catty about their undershirts!

Man on a White Horse

So i had a weird dream last night. I was suddenly trapped in this old, weird hallway of some old building with Lyndsey Lohan. The next thing you know, Lynds (i like to think since we were trapped in a scary building together, we would be on nickname terms) was gone, and i was stuck alone. Lucky for me, this random attractive boy came and rescued me. He lifted me to safety, and after that, we were inseperable (how's that for a "how we met" story?). We quickly fell in love and were very happy. The more we got to know each other, the more we had in common and and the more connections we discovered we had, like his brother had married cashia, a girl that played on my high school lacrosse team (about 5/6 years ago).

Everything was going great until i realized i couldn't remember this man of my dreams' name! I kept thinking it was Mark, but i knew that wasn't right. My sheer bliss was turned into stress and agitation as I not only tried to figure out what the heck my true love's name was, but also not let him know that i was such a horrible girlfriend, i didn't even know his name.

Maybe this dream is a sign, now i know what my future sweety looks like, me not knowing his name is just a sign that i haven't found him yet? Hah! Yeah Right! :)

To the Kiosk I Go

I start work today. Wish me luck! I hope i can handle manning the little stand in the mall. I'm afraid there will be a big rush of immodest girls who have seen the light and come rushing the stand in a stampede! I don't know if i could handle that...

By Request

I have had a few requests for my Christmas List to be posted, so here ya go!

1. New watch-- i still can't figure out what the heck happened to my beloved old one :(

2. Camera -- i didn't realize how old mine is until i noticed the other day that it is only 2 megapixels. I don't know a lot about that kind of stuff, but i'm fairly confident that is not very good...

3. Clothes-- Duh, this one is a given. I would particularly like some new shirts i can wear to work (if i ever have a work to go to)

4. Color contacts-- i have always thought it would be cool to have eyes that people could actually identify the color of (only occasionally, i do love my crazy color-changing eyes)

5. Furry Boots-- ones that i can slip on, preferably dark brown or tan

6. Brown high heels (just normal pump style)

7. Black high heels (see description for #6)

8. Roswell DVDs-- i always loved that show and was so sad when i missed the end of the last season, i still don't know what happens to them!

9. Cute rain boots

And Finally!!

10. A JOB!!!! :)

Six down, 3 to go!

So this weekend my little sister created a blog. Now all of the girls (plus abe) in my family are a part of the blogisphere. Shortly after my first post, my bro-in-law and sister hopped on the wagon. Then after some mild resistance, my other older sister did too (although she has only done one post). Now with my little sister onboard, we only need to convert the males (not including abe, way to be abe!), my brother, father and other bro-in-law. My mother, being the hip mom she is, has had a blog she uses for work for about a year now.

Feels good to be the start of something ;) JK!

A New Trend??

So i attended my little sister's band concert last night. The kids were pretty good, but i kept getting distracted by the man in front of me. He had a comb-over. It was one of the best comb-overs i have EVER seen, it was incredible. The entire time he was there, I was kicking myself for not having a camera that i could somehow sneak a picture. Since I wasn't able to get a true picture, I decided to draw a picture of it (i know, first my creative talent and now my artistic?!).

The poor guy had a fauxhawk! He also had a perfect part all around his head where he combed the hair up in such an unnatural way. Never before have i seen a combover coming from both sides and meeting in the middle. Classic! Never fear balding men, you can always take fashion advice from this guy, i think he fooled just about everyboday ;)

Dedicated to all my Crafty Friends (Kristen, Connie, and many others)

So i have been blessed to have several friends with the great talent of taking something and making it cute. They then proudly display their projects on their blogs. Throughout life, i have tried to pretend i was one of these people, but unfortunately, that gene seemed to have skipped me, so I've learned it is better for my ego to just avoid crafts whenever possible.

The other day though, my mom and i were going through some things and found our rather large collection of various craft supplies. Seeing as i have no job, hence no money for Christmas presents, i decided to see what i could come up with for gifts.

This is what i came up for my sister. It was an earring, but sadly the earring part fell off, i guess i'll have to think of something else :(

Please excuse my lovely pre-getting dressed self. It is a little bit hard to tell, but it is a beautiful dolphin wearing a pink collar.

I know what you're all thinking, "Oh boy! I sure hope I get one of those too!" To that i say, don't worry, you never know what kind of creative masterpieces i'll come up with using those little plastic tube-beads that you melt together! Be sure to check your mailboxes!