The End of High School/Friends For Life

As High School came to an end I would have to say I had a lot of friends and a lot of great experiences with those friends, and even some not so great experiences as well (you can't have one without the other). I think that this is the time that I need to mention 2 specific friends that I have had for a long long long long long time. My whole life, in fact (well, one was my whole life and one was his whole life). If you haven't guessed it by now, I am talking about my brothers.

So, I have 2 brothers. My older brother, JR, is a year and a half older than me, and living in a small town like we do we ended up having the same friends and going to the same events and even being in the same classes sometimes in elementary school (they would often combine classes due to a lack of teachers). As I have mentioned, my friends have often had crushes on him which has always irked me - I hate the feeling of being used for that, but of course that is not his fault.

JR is, in a word, charismatic. Everybody likes him. I remember when I first started in High School I would go to a new class with a new teacher and they would read my name off the roll and then they would groan, and tell me they hoped I studied more than he did, but they would also grin and tell me how much they loved him. Teachers would tell me this. It is the same reason that most of my friends had a crush on him. You can't help but like him ... when he wants you to. Of course, he can flip it and reverse it if he wants, and make you hate him with just a look or a word. He has this ability to almost control the feelings of others, if that makes sense. And I love him for it. And I hate him for it. I always hated that people would love him for no reason. I hated that they would love him when really they had every reason NOT to love him. There was one girl in my High School who referred to him as her 'future husband' even though he was almost always mean to her and treated her like crap. But I loved him because I knew (and I still know) how good he can be. How much he can care about other people, especially those he loves, and the (sometimes ridiculous) lengths he will go to to protect those people.

The perfect example is my first day of High School. We had to wait for the bus over at the post office because then on cold days we could go inside and not freeze, but it wasn't out of the way for the bus to get there and it was super close to our house. As we are waiting for it JR says to me "At school, we don't know each other. You don't talk to me. You don't talk about me. We aren't related." I agreed because a) I knew that it was totally ridiculous to think that anyone would not know, and b) I didn't really give a crap and I didn't want to ride on his popularity anyway. But then, at lunch, he comes and grabs me and drags me over to a big group of guys from his grade that are all just milling about and says "This is my sister Mandi, if you hurt her, I will hurt you" in a very threatening way. It was dumb, and probably pointless since I imagine I was not really the object of any of his friend's lusts, but it was also really sweet. When I was in kindergarten there were some grade 2 kids picking on me and even though he was only in grade 1 he stood up for me, because he loved me and didn't want to see me get hurt. And I love that about him.  And although he can, and often does, make bad decisions, and he does things I don't like, and gets mad at stupid things because of his temper, and he says things that are mean and he pulls my hair (okay, not so much anymore, but you get the picture) and even though there are times when I just HATE HIM, I always know that I love him.

I hope that all of you reading this now haven't fallen for him because he is currently in a long term relationship with his girlfriend and baby-mama Jessie. They have been together for about 7 or 8 years now and they have a 3 year old boy who is the most adorable little boy on the face of the planet (so far, until I have kids that is lol). She is like a sister to me and I love her a lot as well.

My younger brother, Dallas, is a different story. He is 4 years younger than me, so our interactions in school were kept to a minimum. He was in the same school as me for 2 years in elementary school, and then never again. His friends were never really the same as my friends, but instead they were the younger siblings of my friends. I regret to say that until we moved to the town we stayed in, I don't really have many memories of him. I knew he was there, I guess I just didn't really care (I know, I am so callous). Well, that and he was a baby and I was a self-centered 6 year old, so I think you have to give me a break. A few Christmas' ago I found a picture of me sitting on a tricycle in a pink dress and a crown, with Dallas in front of me, pulling me along with a rope tied to his waist. I asked Mom about it and she said that I was being a princess and he was the horse. She said he liked it. I laughed pretty hard at that one.

But that's the thing, Dallas has always been so sweet to me. While JR always tried to control my decisions, Dallas trusted my judgement and wanted to hear my opinions about things. He never felt like he had to be over-protective (at least not that he ever said to me) and I think that wasn't because he didn't care, but rather because he knew I was smart and would make good decisions about things so that I didn't get hurt (as much as a person can). And I know that if I ever was hurt and needed his help he would be right there for me, (as much as he can since he lives pretty far away) because that is the way he is, but he doesn't assume I need the help. I felt like my relationship with JR was always laid out pretty strictly as he was the 'protector' and I was the 'thing to be protected' and Dallas was more of an actual friend. Someone I could chat with for a long time without worry of judgment and without worrying that what I say is going to upset him into thinking he has to save me.

Once I did realize that my younger brother was more than just a little drooly baby and instead was a fun, interesting person with whom I could interact, and my brain decided to start forming memories of him, they are almost all good memories. I don't remember fighting with him much (although JR claims there was this one time I threw a tape measure at him and hit him square in the back, so I must have been angry, but I don't remember it). I know that he has a bad temper, just like JR, and I know that he has also made some bad choices here and there (because really, who hasn't) but despite those things he is one of the most awesome people I know. He truly cares about others in a way that is so hard to describe but it feels overwhelming. He doesn't have the same natural magnetism of JR, but he is darn close. Honestly, it could be the same and I just didn't notice it as much because of the age difference. I do know that he was always friends with everyone - he could be friends with the popular kids and the underdog and no one could ever peer pressure him into changing his mind about that. He had a tough reputation to live up to when he went to High School. JR was so scrappy and tough and yet lovable and obviously his younger brother was going to be tough too, and then to top it off he was taller and bigger than JR. Add that up and you end up with a lot of people thinking that they need to beat you in a fight. But he held his ground and never punched anyone (although he did punch that one kids truck and put a huge dent in it haha). And to top off the whole package of awesome, he always smelled so good (which might be why I love guys that smell good, because they remind me of the awesomeness of my bro).

Dallas is currently working a good job and living with his girlfriend of a couple years, Suzie, who is amazing. Although I have only really got to meet her and interact with her a couple of times due to me living so far away, I still feel like I have known her forever and I could tell her all my secrets. And I love that. And I love how much I can tell that they love each other.

I want to end this post by saying that I am lucky to have had some great built-in friends for my whole life. I have learned so much from them. Not just from stuff they have told me, but also from the way they interact with me and the way they interact with others. I have also learned from their mistakes. I have learned a lot about how men think and how they act. I learned that I am lovable and worth protecting. I learned that I am a good judge of character and I can make good decisions. I have learned that a short fuse isn't good, and drinking just shortens it. I learned that out of adversity and out of hurt, we can be changed for the better. I learned how to be likable to anyone (at least, I tried to pick up that skill, but I often think with them it is more of a natural talent). I have a different type of relationship with each of them - neither is better than the other, but rather, they are just different. And I am okay with that, I wouldn't have it any other way.

Confessions

Well followers, and anyone else out there on the world wide web who stumbled upon this little blog here, I have a confession. It is late. And I am tired. And the next post I have planned is going to be long and kinda intense, so I am going to skip it for tonight and write it tomorrow. I hope it is worth the wait. If it makes you feel any better, I am tired because I stayed up too late with my friends. :D

Maryn

Those were most of my close friends from Jr. High School. Again, I need to mention that we went to a small school, so everyone was 'friends' in a sense of the word, but not always the kind that hung out together. We would spend time together as needed on projects and we would all interact in class since we were so small.

Also, we had what we called 'Grade 9 Grad'. Since our Jr. High was in one town and then we all went to the next town over to go to High School, it was definitely a graduation. It was always a big deal to pick out our theme and decorate (the grade below always decorated for the graduating class which was fun) and to pick out our dresses and all those fun things.

I have mentioned Maryn a few times before in this blog, because she was another girl that I knew from church, but at the point where Jr. High ended I didn't know her SUPER well since I didn't go to church that much - but I still knew her from camp and stuff like that so we weren't totally unknown to each other. A bunch of the kids from the town where we would eventually go to High School were invited to our grade 9 grad celebration, and I remember that Maryn came with her boyfriend at the time, J. Now, this boy was quite ticklish and he was very fun to poke and I pretty much spent the night torturing the heck out of him. Later I found out that Maryn thought I was flirting with her boyfriend, much to my surprise. That's how you flirt? Wow. My obvious lack of interaction with boys who wasn't a brother or a friend of a brother was obvious.

Luckily, Maryn forgave me for the incident and we got to be good friends. We were more of 'acquaintances' (as much as you can be in a place that small) for the most part until the end of grade 10, when we were both on the rugby team together. All of my best friends - Renee, Lissa, Mel, etc - didn't play rugby, so I had to make some 'new' friends. I have never really been the kind of person who is a good runner, but I have always been pretty tough (growing up with my older brother kinda makes that happen, whether you like it or not) and I thought it was fun to be able to hit people without getting in trouble (maybe I had some aggression issues I had to get out? hmmm ...). Maryn played though, and that was awesome. We bonded a lot as team members when we would go to away games and during tournaments and stuff like that.

By the time graduation from High School began to roll around, I hadn't really thought about where I would go to school or what I was going to do afterwards. Maryn and I talked about it and she told me she was applying to church schools, and we decided it would be really fun to go to BYU together - so I applied to the church schools as well, but of course I am a procrastinator so my applications were submitted late. Maryn got a response first from BYU, and unfortunately she didn't get in, but she got in to BYU-Idaho. I got my letter from the Y-I first, and I was rejected. I was so sad - if I couldn't even get into the Y-I (which had just recently made the transition to a 4 year university) then I was never going to get into BYU Provo either. What was I thinking only applying to those schools and nothing else? Crap! I was pretty much panicking. But then, I got my letter from BYU Provo and to my surprise, I was accepted (but because of my late application I wasn't accepted until the winter semester)! Woo! I could go to college! I was sad I couldn't go with Maryn, but at least I had somewhere to go. And if she and I hadn't applied 'together' then I never would have applied at all and who knows where I would be now? Thanks Maryn!

Later on she moved to Provo so she could attend UVSC and work and just experience something new. We hung out quite a bit and it was always a blast - she is so much fun! While in Provo she met her husband and got married and all that fun stuff. They now have 2 kids and are happily supporting each other while her husband finishes school (at least, that's the impression I got from her Dad, who I saw at Christmas - he was very sad she couldn't be there). It is interesting to me because I know that Maryn had her period of time where she wasn't the best member of the church, just like I did, but she managed to grow and learn from those experiences and become the amazing person that she is now because of it. She taught me that people can change, and will change, and that we can definitely learn from our mistakes. She taught me to be forgiving of other people's mistakes as well, because just like I changed and became better, other people can too, and they deserve the chance to prove that.

Ashlee

The year below me in Jr. High was a girl named Ashlee. Now, I am not exactly sure what caused us to start hanging out, but we did hang out a lot. I think it might have started in volleyball - our school had an 'A' team that had all the really awesome players and then a 'B' team that had everyone else. I was on the 'B' team, but I was part of the starting group (as if that makes up for it). It didn't matter really, all my friends were on the 'B' team and we still had fun playing. There were other school's that had 'B' teams, and then there were some schools that just had one team, but they were in the 'B' league I guess ... anyway, we always did well in our tournaments and things so I never felt like we were the sucky ones. But I think that is mostly why she and I started hanging out, and then we just sorta, stuck. She and Lissa and Renee and I would hang out together.

I spent a lot of my time writing stories with us as the main characters. None of these stories were anything like real life - in them we had boyfriends (in real life there weren't any boys to be our boyfriends since we had a severe lack of boys in the school, and the ones that were there tended to be more interested in the 'A' team), and crazy things would happen in these stories like vampires would exist, or there would be witches and curses or one of us would be evil, but which one was it? *dun dun dun* It was good times. Ashlee and Renee also wrote stories in a similar fashion (I don't recall if Lissa did, but she read and added input to all of ours) but I maintain that I started the trend (if I am wrong I really don't want to be corrected on this if any of you are reading this).

We did a lot of fun things together. Unfortunately, I am not sure that any of the stories I wrote exist anymore - our computer at the time was more of a word processor with a screen and it had a big old floppy disk drive, so saving things to a newer format was a bit difficult. Also, I had them all printed off and in a binder at one point, but I gave them to a friend in High School to read them and I never got them back from her. That was pretty sad, but I think I will get over it (in fact, I probably don't want to read anything I wrote back then - it would probably be really discouraging to see how crappy I was haha). I think maybe some of Ashlee's survived though, or maybe even some of Renee's and I would be interested in reading those if ever they were dug up *hint hint guys*

From Ashlee I learned that we are all given gifts and talents (such as writing) and not to be embarrassed about sharing those gifts with other people. It has always been hard for me to share anything I wrote with other people, in fear that they would judge me or tell me it is crappy, (and yet here I am, writing a blog post for anyone who wants to read and I am not even going to edit it!) but Ashlee was never scared to share her stories and she always encouraged me to share mine. I learned that the same characters, and even the same plot-line in some cases, in the hands of different people can become different. I learned that everyone has a different story to tell. I learned that creativity should always be expressed (well, maybe not ALWAYS, but you get my drift right?)

Forget Me Some ...

So it is funny to me when I look back at things from when I was younger and I realize something was way more important at the time than I ever remember it being. And I am sad to say that over time there are people that I think were really important to me during certain periods of time that I have come to forget. Not the person specifically, but rather, the importance of the friendship. There are a couple people who were in this category that I am going to talk about today - I was reminded when I was home for the holidays and looking through some old papers and notebooks and stuff (yeah, the ones I didn't clean out, but just looked at and put back).

One of these girls is named Shauna. She was also a member of our church, and she and I were pretty good friends in Jr. High because of that. She was a year older than me, but she lived in the town where we had our Jr. High. We became really close for a while and would talk on the phone every night and all that fun stuff. I stayed at her house a few times and that was always fun too. I think her parents split up around the time that she was going off to High School and we didn't see much of each other after that. She had a crush on my brother for a while there and that really kinda hurt my feelings because I think I thought that she only wanted to be my friend so she could get close to him. Looking back she never really gave that impression when I would spend time with her, but I guess the teenage mind makes whatever assumptions it wants. I hadn't seen her or talked to her in forever but I found her on facebook in the last couple years (I love fb for that reason) and I can report that she is now married with four kids (I think) and looks ridiculously happy.

The other friend who I forgot the importance of at the time is Arren. I met her in Jr. High as well and again there were several times I would go stay at her house and we would talk on the phone often. But more than talk on the phone, Arren was a note writer. What I mean is, she would be home at night, bored or just thinking about things or whatever, and instead of call me and talk about it she would usually write a note about it. I always thought it was odd, but looking back I totally get it. For me, when I am all full of emotions about something, it helps to write it all out - she was probably the same way. Also, it takes more time than a phone call might so if you are bored and trying to kill time it is way better for that. The thing that I like most about them now is that since I am such a pack-rat I still have a lot of them and they are in that aforementioned drawer at my parents' house. I read a bunch of them when I was home and I remembered how much I loved that girl. She would randomly write me notes just to tell me how much she thought I was awesome - if I had any confidence growing up it was in large part to her. She was another one of those people that had a crush on my brother. She and I grew apart after grade 10 and for a while I thought it was because she 'got over him'. But really, that was dumb, and I have all those 'you are awesome' notes from her to prove it! And when I say we 'grew apart' all I mean is that our friendship ebbed in the way that friendships tend to do. But as far as I know she is now married and has a few kids (although the last time I saw her in person was when her first was first born and that was quite a while ago!). She is part of the non-fb crowd so I am not as up with her as I could be, but she still spends time with some of the other girls that I am friends with on fb and so I see pics once in a while and she is looking great.

From these girls I learned that just because someone has a crush on my brother, doesn't mean they are using me to get closer to him. I learned that positive reinforcement is good. I learned (a long time ago, and then again recently in re-reading some notes) that I am a good listener and I am good at being there for others. I learned that keeping stuff from the past isn't always a bad thing and it can remind you of good things that you completely forgot about.

Renee

So when I went to Jr. High - which we went to the next town over because our town only had a k-6 school - I met 'a lot' of new people. Now my class size was like 17 instead of just 8. Woot.

My friend Renee is one of the first people I want to talk about. I knew her before from small things here and there. She went to my church, but since I didn't really go, I didn't know her all too well. I am LDS and in my religion children get baptized when they are 8 years old, which I did because my Mom's parents are strong members and were very emphatic about my brothers and I all getting baptized at 8, but we never really went to church because my Dad isn't a member and my Mom was always working or something and it just wasn't a priority for us. Renee's family on the other hand were very good members. She went every Sunday and to young Women's every week and all that stuff (Young Women's is a night when all the Young Women get together for a spiritual lesson and/or activity - I think at one point they called it Mutual because the boys go too, we just had a severe lack of boys). Renee decided I should be going to things like this and so she became very persistent in inviting me to things. All through Jr. High and High School she invited me to camp, activities, church - anything. She became very adamant. Eventually it got to the point where I felt like I couldn't say no. I would try to come up with some excuse "Oh I can't drive" and she would have a reply "come to my house after school and then someone can pick you up, or we can take you home". After finding out she had cats I would say "oh, you have cats, I can't go to your house" her reply would be "sure you can - that's what claritin is for!" And of course I was too nice to just say "No I don't want to" so I would go. It started off that I would just go to Young Women's activities and camp in the summer because those were social activities and it was way easier to drag me to those. And of course once we were old enough to go to Stake dances those were easy to drag me to since there were no cute boys in our school but there were tons of people we didn't know at the dances. It took a long time for me to start going to actual church though. Renee set up a ride for me with some other members that lived in our small town and I started going. After that it was kind of a whirlwind - I didn't really have clothes so an older member who lived in town and didn't have kids bought me a skirt and some nicer tops I could wear. I started going every week. Next thing you know the Bishop came to my house and called me to be Laurel President.

Now for those who aren't members I will do a bit of explaining. In our church they group all the young women from 12-18 together. Those ages are then broken into smaller groups by age - BeeHives, who are 12-14, Mia Maids who are 14-16, and Laurels, who are 16-18. They have adult leaders to guide the girls but then they also call some of the young women to have their own presidency, so that they can have experience with leadership, and also so they can help plan activities that will be beneficial and fun for them and the rest of the girls. It was a bit of a shock to me to be called as Laurel president when I had only been active for what seemed like a month (it might have been longer but I can't be sure). After that I was converted. I don't really have one thing in specific that I can say made me believe in the church, I think I knew it was true all along, but I just didn't have the background or the resolve. After that I applied to only church schools, went to BYU in Utah and my life has never been the same.

Now, I am not saying that Renee was the only one who did anything in this regard. My friend Lissa was also a member and she helped, and my friend Maryn from High School (who I will talk about later) also helped out a lot. But Renee was the most persistent and so I do credit a lot of my conversion to her. It is funny because all growing up she was dragging me along to try to make me do what was right and be a good little member and now she doesn't go to Church anymore and I am the active one. It is strange to me how people change.

We had a lot of fun together. We would play this game called 'Rooms' in their downstairs hallway that was so much fun. We drank Barq's rootbeer and had whip cream straight from the can and giggled like maniacs (Lissa was there too). We even put whip cream in her younger sister's hand while she was sleeping and tickled her face, just like in the movies and tv shows. It worked the way it was supposed to - her sister got whip cream all over her face. And then she cried because it freaked her out (sorry Amanda - turns out it wasn't as funny as all those shows made it seem :-/). I also feel like maybe Renee was one of the people I didn't always treat as good as I should have. She is a very quirky girl, and that plus her religious strength often made her a target for teasing and I think there were times when I might have joined in, and if not that, I know for sure that I didn't stick up for her the way I should have. I am sorry Renee for giving in to peer pressure - thanks for not giving up on me in spite of that.

I also saw Renee when I was home for Christmas this year. She just got married this last summer, but I wasn't able to attend the wedding so this was my first time meeting her husband. They are so good together - they are very happy and in love and it was great to see that. From her I learned that being different is not always bad, in fact it is really good. I learned that persistence is good. I learned the hard way that sometimes you need to stand up for your friends in the face of peer pressure.

The Rest of the Town

So, my other friends that I acquired in elementary school are all going to go in this one post because if I did each person I know separately this would have to be nablopo-everydayforthenextseveralyears.

There was Joe and Jay - they were the boys of my class. Joe ended up going to a different school for Jr High and High School because he lived just far enough the other direction and because his parents liked that school better (and it very well might have been). Joe was my biggest rival in Elementary - he and I always fought for the best grades in the class, so I was totally okay with him going elsewhere (then I met Lisa and Chels and they were worse lol). Jay lived across the street from us until his parents split up and then he moved to the town where we went to High School. His family had 4 boys and so my brothers really liked hanging out with them. One time his Mom was supposed to bring us home from some sort of activity or function at the school and she forgot me because she wasn't used to girls. Good thing we lived close to the school.

There was Michelle and Delaine. I once stayed the night at Delaine's house and drew a picture of her (which I am sure was pretty darn crappy but her Mom exclaimed over it like it was the most beautiful thing she'd seen which was nice of her). Michelle always had epic birthday parties at her house where everyone would come and we would go crazy.

Stacey and Jodie. We had this thing called 'The Comedy Club' for a while in Elementary school. Everyone who was in it got these little green beaded rings that Stacey made (or maybe it was Jodie). I was kicked out of the comedy club because we had put together a little play and the girls were all trying to sell tickets to the other kids and I thought it was stupid since we couldn't stop them from watching us so what was the point of selling tickets. I kept my ring out of spite. I might still have it in my room at my parents house. These girls were pretty much the founders of the Comedy Club (at least, as far as I remember).

Jen and Kelsey were sisters. One older than me and one younger. During recess we would act out movies and tv shows that we had seen. Well, at least Jen had seen them. She was always the director. She would tell each person what role they were going to be and then feed them their lines as we went through the scene. It was fun. I was almost always the male lead because of my short hair. I am pretty sure this is what made me want to be an actress. When we were acting out some soap opera (I don't recall which one) Jen's character was burying Mel's character alive and I started fake crying because I was in the moment. The girls were all very impressed with my acting skills. As for Kelsey, she was a super fun spazzy girl. She and I taped our own 'radio show' a few times and mostly we just recorded ourselves eating pickles and burping and telling dumb jokes. But it was fun.

Lexi and Shara were in the same grade and Kelsey and were younger than me. I never knew them very well. Lexi's Mom was a hair stylist and she always had the coolest hair. I remember when she came to school with shapes crimped into her hair - stars and hearts - I thought it was the coolest thing ever. Shara seemed pretty snobby to me when we were younger, but was actually super funny. I don't know why she came across snobby to me - I guess because I thought her and Lexi were cool and I assumed they thought the same and I didn't really get much of a chance to prove them wrong since they were younger than me and both lived on farms.

There were also Corey and Kyle who were in my older brother's class. They had the same last name but were only cousins. they just seemed like quiet guys to me and I didn't know much about them. Corey went to a different school like Joe did, but Kyle came along with us. He was a really nice guy whenever I talked to him, which wasn't super often.

That was the crew that I grew up with since Elementary School. In general they taught me the value of lasting friendships. I keep up with most of them via facebook even now and I still get excited when someone gets married or had a kid or buys a house. Naturally, the next step was Jr. High and there was a whole new set of people to get to know and add to the mix. I will start with some of those kids tomorrow.

Lissa

So, Lissa and I met on the first day of school - at least I think. Like I said before, I don't really remember that first day, but I know that I had to have met everyone at the school that day because it was so small and we were the new kids. Lissa was in my grade and lived on a farm. She was really quiet, but super fun once you got passed the quiet part. I thought she had lived there her whole life, but it took until Jr. High for me to figure out that she had been new the week before me and she only knew everyone by the time I got there because the school was so darn small. She had a couple cousins in the school, but no one that she knew super well.

Lissa is the friend that no matter where we were or what was going on, she and I were the best of friends. With Mel, since she was in the grade above me, we would go a long time without seeing each other much, but since Lissa was in my grade we never had those times we didn't hang out (except maybe in the summer - but even then we still did stuff, just not quite as often). With Mel, she and I were more of 'after school friends' but Lissa and I were always friends. Like I mentioned before, we had 8 kids in my elementary school class. 2 were boys and so I always lump them together in my head. As for the girls, they all go in groups of 2 in my head as well, it was Delaine and Michelle, Stacey and Jodie, and then Lissa and I. And I am pretty sure that I am not the only one who lumps us all up like that. I stayed close to this girl all through elementary, then through Jr. High and High School as well.

I went to my first concert with her (it was 'NSYNC and it was awesome!), and my second concert as well (The Moffatts) plus many others, not to mention tons of dances and parties (we would drive together since we were coming from the same direction). She went to my church as well, so when I did go to stuff (which I didn't really do growing up, but I will get to that later) she was there too - like camp and church dances and other activities. We had tons of sleepovers and talked on the phone all the time and did all sorts of girly stuff like that.

With most of my friends on this list so far (which I admit isn't very big so far) I have talked about a specific instance with them, but with Lissa it is so hard because there were so many instances. This is the girl who convinced her dad to drive us to both the above mentioned concerts and wait outside for us. The girl who, the year I couldn't go to girls camp, took a picture of me along and held it up for every picture they took so that later they could show me how I was 'there'. The girl who stayed up almost all night on the bus to Vancouver with because we were both so excited for our school trip that we couldn't sleep. The girl who helped me stay awake the next day even though I was dead tired! The girl who I had a 'band' with and together we designed a logo and a CD case and everything (except we didn't have songs - we didn't even play instruments!) and then we put those designs on shirts and wore them on Halloween. One of the few friends I was close with growing up that didn't have a crush on my brother at some point (there are only 2 or 3 girls I can say that about). I never felt judged or looked down upon by her no matter what I did - and I did a lot of things that I knew I shouldn't and that she knew I shouldn't.

She is now currently married to a man who is good for her, and good to her (from what I can tell - I have only met him a few times). She has 2 kids, one daughter who is almost 3 who looks just like Lissa did when she was younger, and a son who is only a few months old but is already quite sweet and charming. From her I learned that it is okay to express myself creatively, and that I actually can have good ideas sometimes. I learned that quiet isn't always bad. And neither is blond (haha). I learned that I can be a good member of my faith and still be fun.

A final note - I realize now that I should be including pics with these, but I don't really have any from when I was little (digital wasn't really invented back then, and if it was it was WAY to rich for our blood) with me here seeing as they are mostly at my parents house. I will see what I can do about posting some in the future (and maybe adding to some of these) but I am making no promises.

Mel

*I know that technically this post says it was posted on the 5th, but I haven't gone to bed yet, so to me it is still the 4th, so I am counting it. So there. *

As soon as the moving truck was unpacked in our new small town, JR and I grabbed our bikes and went to ride them around and explore. We had seen some kids riding around earlier and were just itching to go and meet them. All around town there were big drainage ditches on the sides of the roads, especially the more 'main road' into town. Right down from our house (this is a pretty familiar phrase for me since living in a small town makes everything 'right down' from us, but in this case, I mean on the same block) one of these ditches was the perfect shape and size for a little bike jump, which some kid had discovered long before (I imagine) and now there was even a little path right where you were supposed to go. If you went at the jump from one side, the jump ended up being kinda small, but if you went at it from the other side it was a pretty big jump. The main road into town was one of the few paved roads, but right after the bike jump area and right before it gets to our house is where the paving stops and it becomes gravel, so some of the rocks from the gravel migrated right up onto the pavement, making things a bit slick.

We met the kids we had seen earlier they were a boy and girl who lived down a couple streets or across town (they were the same thing) and also some other boys who lived across the street from us in a different direction. After riding all over town and them showing us their houses and the houses of other important figures (read: kids our age and scary people to stay away from) we came back to the bike jump and were all taking turns. I am not sure exactly how it had happened but my brother was teasing/flirting with the girl we were playing with and he rode close to her bike tire, she swerved to get out of the way and crashed her bike, right there, face first on the half gravel paved road. She cried and when she stood her face practically looked like hamburger. I ran home and got my Mom and she came in the car and got my new friend Mel. We needed to get her and her bike home. Instead of taking the time to put her bike in the back of the station wagon my Mom was driving, I thought it was a brilliant idea if I rode Mel's bike to her house and lead the way for my Mom in the car since I already knew where she lived. Anyway, Mom made it there ahead of me since Mel just told her the way and eventually she got all taken care of.

From then on we were really good friends. Obviously we had better times and worse times. Her parents split up and her Mom moved to a big city pretty far away and I got to go stay with them for a couple weeks one summer, which was super fun. Then once she went to Jr. High we drifted a little since she was a year older and went to a different school than I did. Then we were back together again for a couple years and then we drifted even further apart when she went to High School because she moved to the town where the High School was with her Mom (who moved again - this is not the big city I referred to earlier). I am not saying we weren't friends, but sometimes friendships just ebb and flow, and this was like all those.

I am happy to say though that we are still friends to this day. She is married to a great guy who is perfect for her and she has three daughters, twins who are around 4 and the other who is only 3 months. I recently saw her when I was home for Christmas and it was amazing. It was amazing to me that although we haven't seen each other since before her twins were born, we were able to get together and talk and just click like we always had. The hours we spent hanging out felt like less than half the time we actually spent because we were so comfortable. And I think that because of the bond we have from knowing each other so long, that will always be the case. I can remember us fighting once. I am not exactly sure what it was about (I have a feeling it was because I was being annoying and the other girls all didn't want to hang out with me and I felt left out and I was blaming her for that for some reason ... but I am not totally sure) and I know that eventually her Mom and my Mom had to force us to make up. And we were probably around 8 or 9 years old. And other than that I don't really remember fighting with her. Ever. And considering we have known each other for 22 year that is pretty darn good in my opinion. From Mel I learned that within one person is any number of different versions trying to get out, and depending on the circumstance or the situation, that is totally okay. I learned that you don't have to talk to someone every single day to consider someone a friend. I learned that even as a person changes over time, they are still always worth loving.

Small-Town Friends

So, when I was 5 my family moved to a new town again - this was probably the fourth move since I was born (that I know of, there might have been more) and it also happens to be the one that stuck. We moved to one of the smallest towns you can imagine, with only about 250-300 people for the total population, and that includes the outlying farms. I was excited about the house we were going to live in because I was finally going to get my own room - up until this point I had been sharing with my older brother but my younger brother was going to share with him now and I got my own. When we first saw the house the previous owners were either still living there or they just hadn't moved all their stuff yet. I remember Mom saying "honey, do you want this room?" I looked inside and it was filled with old people furniture - like an old rocking chair and and china cabinet and those kinds of things - and for some reason I thought those things were staying there as well, so I said no. Young minds are very strange to me.

Anyway, on the first day of school we were still living in our old house in our old town, and I somehow got it in my head that I was going to go with Dad and he would drop us off at school on the way to work and then pick us up on the way home. I am not sure if this was ever the actual plan according to Mom and Dad, but it was MY plan. Of course I got up that day and I think Dad was already gone .. or just leaving or something. Somehow, I was told that I wouldn't be going until we were finished moving. I was pretty bummed, but I managed to survive.

We finally did move the next weekend after that and I had missed an entire week of school *gasp*. I had carefully picked out this outfit that I thought was amazing - it was a sweater dress and it was black and white with pink on it. Amazingly, I don't really remember the first day of school there. I do remember finding out that most of the other kids were related or that their parents had grown up there and so I thought they all knew each other and had forever. I found out later that one girl, Lissa, who ended up being one of my best friends had just started at the same school just the previous week (when school started and I didn't come with Dad) and although she was kinda distant cousins with some of the other kids she didn't really know them either.

The school was small so we all got to know each other fast. My class had 8 students in it - 6 boys and 2 girls. And we were the BIG class. My brother's class, which was a year ahead of me, had 5 kids in it - 3 boys and 2 girls. The class below us had only 3 students - all girls (of course, since I was in Grade 1 at the time they weren't really there yet since they were in kindergarten all the way down in the lunchroom and only part of the time). Of the kids in my class three of us lived in town - me, one other girl and one of the boys. Of my brother's grade three also lived in town - my brother, and two girls. The grade below us had one girl who lived in town. One of the girls from my brother's class and the one from the class below me who lived in town were siblings and they lived right next door to the other girl from my class who lived in town which was a couple blocks away from us. The boy from my class lived right across the street from us (well, he was across the street and across a big field as well) and the last girl who lived in town lived much closer to the school than the rest of us (yet it was still only about 4 blocks from us).

That didn't leave a lot of options for friends. You pretty much all had to be friends with everyone. And you had to be the kind of friends that hang out with the town kids, even if you preferred hanging out with the farm kids at school, because getting permission to go to a friend's farm after school either meant you had to be driven back or someone had to come get you.

This was a good time for me. I was probably pretty obnoxious, as I think I mentioned before, but everyone still put up with me for the most part. I had a few instances of disagreements with the other kids, but we always made up and things turned out okay. I learned how to get along with people I didn't always see eye-to-eye on which is a good skill to have now. I learned that sometimes kids, and people in general, can be mean, but that doesn't mean they are evil. I learned to forgive, even if my Mom had to force me.

Come back tomorrow to learn about the first friend I had in this small town and how we met and how our relationship developed and changed over time (heh - I feel like I am advertising for a TV show).

First Friends

So, I am going to talk about 2 people in this post, one a little more than the other.

To start I want to mention that we moved around a lot for the first 5 years of my life because of my Dad's job (for those of you who are curious, no, my Dad was not in the army). I don't remember all of them, but I remember a couple of the people we met.

The first friend I remember having was named Ryan. I think this was mostly a friendship of convenience for our mothers because, from what I can recall, we lived across the street from one another (although I could be wrong here, I was only like 3 or 4 at the time). All I really remember is that for his birthday we got to play on a slip'n'slide. Also, he had this kit that had balloons in it you could blow up and then a bunch of different parts you could attach - like the balloon version of Mr. Potato Head. And for some reason I also always associate the song 'Crocodile Rock' by Elton John with this friend of ours as well, although I don't know why.

The second friend I ever remember having is named Laura. This was also a convenience for the parents friendship I think, since we definitely lived across the street from her. But it was also convenient that she had an older brother who was the same age as my older brother and we could all go over and no one would be bored or left out and my bro wouldn't have to play with icky girls. I remember we used to do everything together. I remember getting a hula-hoop for my birthday and then she broke it (I always said she did it on purpose, but probably she just was using it and it broke and I blamed her).

Laura  and I were in kindergarten together and I remember one time we were painting. They made us bring shirts to wear over our clothes while we painted in case of splatters, so she and I were both wearing these shirts that used to belong to our fathers that on us looked more like dresses than shirts. Somehow we started splattering each other and then realized that it would be way more fun to paint on each other than to paint on the paper. So there we sat, painting on each other's shirts, having the time of our lives. But we had to use a lot of paint to really make the colours show up on each other. Well, after painting time was over and we took those shirts off we found out that the paint had soaked through to our regular clothes as well. I don't really remember getting in trouble for that, although we must have, but I remember how much fun it was.

We moved away from that town when I was just starting grade one, and I never talked to Laura for a long time. There were a couple times over the years where we would write each other a letter or go visit each others house or something, but it wasn't really the same. I went to her High School graduation and party and by that time we were so different it was really no fun for me. I didn't know any of the other kids and she wanted to just go have her last hurrahs with her graduating class so it was kinda a bust for me - but I don't blame her for me not having fun and we still keep up with each other. We are now friends on facebook and I was invited to her wedding. She is now married and has little twin girls who look really sweet. I am glad she was one of my first friends and from her I learned a lot about how to have fun and interact with others.

Friends: A Definition ... Kinda

I started by googling 'friend definition' just because I was curious as to the what the actual official definition would be. According to 'the free dicitonary' is it 1. A person whom one knows, likes, and trusts; 2. A person whom one knows; an acquaintance; 3. A person with whom one is allied in a struggle or cause; a comrade; 4. One who supports, sympathizes with, or patronizes a group, cause, or movement: friends of the clean air movement; 5. Friend A member of the Society of Friends; a Quaker.

I know, this is starting off sounding like some kind of high school paper or church talk, but I only include that definition because I want to emphasize that the word 'friend' can have a lot of definitions and a lot of different intensities.

I have a known a lot of people in my life, and by the above set of definitions, I would call most of them friends. According to facebook I have 532 friends. Obviously those aren't all people that I see and spend time with on a day to day basis or anything like that, but they are all people that I have met and felt some sort of affiliation with at some point or another. I always hear about people culling their friends list down, but I don't do that because ... well mostly I am too lazy. Haha. But also because I feel like I added them all for one reason or another and removing them just seems silly.

But, way back in the days before facebook, when I was growing up (I know - it seems like forever ago to me too) I still had friends. A lot. In fact, some that I almost forget about now because it was like a different world. I was recently home for Christmas and I was going through a bunch of old papers and stuff that I have in a drawer somewhere (and I promise Mom, someday I will go through and get rid of stuff, not just look at it and then put it all back) and it reminded me of friendships that I had completely forgotten about, and friendships that were more important at the time than I remember. And it got me to thinking about how friendships seem to wax and wane like the moon, and how that is okay. Every person I have been friends with in my life have served some sort of purpose - all have helped me grow and learn in some way.

I am glad of this. There are times I wonder how I have any friends at all. And then I remember that it is because of who I am, and I am who I am partly because of the people who are in my life and the experiences I have had with them. I think back to when I was in elementary school and I remember how obnoxious I was and I am very thankful that I lived in a small town where there weren't many other people so the kids were friends with me whether or not they liked me - either because they were forced to by their parents, or because they felt bad for me, or because they knew that if they didn't hang out with me they themselves would be bored - whatever the reason I am glad they did it and I was shaped a lot by those early friendships.

Over the next month I am going to go through and talk about different friends I have had over the years who have influenced me in my life, either when I was young or as I got older, and how those friends have changed me for the better. And they have all changed me for the better and I hope, however minutely, I have done the same for them.

*Disclaimer: The following posts are all going to be pretty personal, but I will only be using people's first names for protection of the innocent ... or maybe just so that you can't go look them all up and stalk them. Either way. Also, any events that are related are purely how I remember things and from my own point of view so if you think I got it wrong you can state your opinion and then just suck it up - this is my blog, I will post the truth according to me :D

Maybe I'm Stupid ...

But I just signed up for NaBloPoMo for January. Basically I need to post a blog entry every day for the month of January. It might be stupid but the theme is friends and I think it will be interesting. I plan to write about a different kind of friend or about a friend in specific every day for the 31 days. I will prob start tomorrow with a better description of what I am going to do specifically and what I think of friendship in general. It will be fun :D Check back every day in January for updates and to learn more about my views on friends and my friends.

My New Car (Again)!

So, I got a new car. It is a 2009 Pontiac G6 GT and I love it! It drives really nice and has all sorts of fun features like an auto-dimming mirror and an auxiliary jack on the stereo and stuff like that and I got it for a pretty decent price. I am glad to be done with the rental as well so I no longer have to worry about returning it and all that stuff. Here are some pics: 

Other than that I have been trying to make sure to take care of everything with the car and insurance stuff before I leave for the holidays. That hasn't been too bad - there are just a lot of things to remember. For one the insurance people are giving me some $ to make up for the 'inconvenience' of my finger being all bi-jiggity for however long, so that is nice. I have a few other things I need to make sure to do as well like figure out who the new lien-holder is (I forget the bank name) so that I can tell me insurance company. 

I am also trying to figure out what to get all my family and friends and stuff for Christmas. I have a few people's things figured out, but not everyone. My brother's are ridiculously hard to buy stuff for because they are adults and they tend to just buy whatever they want, unless it is really expensive in which case I can't afford it! Oh well, I am sure I will figure stuff out, it will just take a bit of thinking and asking around.

Also, last night I went to Wal-Mart over in Cornelius because I like Wal-Mart and it is pretty new. I guess I didn't stop coming out of the parking lot and I got pulled over. Ugh. The cop was super nice and didn't give me a ticket, but I still felt dumb. It thought I stopped but I was trying to figure out where to go at the light coming up and I guess I just didn't. Also, he was super cute! Thanks hot cop for giving me a bit of a break! And of course I get pulled over when I don't have registration or even an official insurance card :-/ That was fun. He was nice though. He said "Oh you got it at Dick Hannah? How was that?" and I said "pretty good, they were nice" and he said "yeah I went with a friend to get a car there about 6 months ago and they were great".

Anyway, other than that, that is about all I have been up to lately. Not super exciting. I sang at a Relief Society thing on Thursday night. It was a bit shorter notice than I would like, and I know that if I had had more time to practice it would have went better, but it was still okay so I am not too embarrassed to see those people again ;) And now I just need to finish out this week and I am leaving to go home for the holidays on Friday. I am super excited to see my parents and brothers and their girlfriends and nephew (mostly my nephew) and I am way excited to not have anything to do for a week and a half! No work! Yay for the holidays!

Saturday (Where Mark Saves the Day - SEVERAL Times)

So we had this Relief Society meeting after church planned for Sunday so we could do a little extra training for all the girls who have callings in the RS. On Sat I was supposed to go to Costco with one of the councilors so we could get some little sandwiches and stuff  (we have church from 2-5 so by the end we are all a little hungry). Anyway, I text the girl I was supposed to go with around 3:30 to see if we are still on. She calls me at 4:30 and is like "I kinda forgot and I am in NE Portland - but I can be at your house by 5:30." Well I really didn't think that with Costco closing at 6 on Saturdays we would have time so I told her I had another person who I thought would take me and not to worry. So I ask my friend Mark if he is busy and he says no and I ask if he would go with me and he says sure. (Mark saves the day #1).

By then it is about 5 so we decide to just meet at the Costco over on 158th in Beaverton. We get there and get the stuff and as we are over in the deli area he sees the Rotisserie chickens and suggests that we got one and call Jasmine and do dinner. I agree, we get a hold of Jasmine and decide to go ahead with things - Jasmine has gotten off work and will meet us at Mark's place. We then look around for potato salad and can't find any (I don't go to Costco often and he really doesn't either) so we call Jasmine and see if she can pick some up at a different store. She is a bit annoyed because she will have to backtrack a bit, but says okay. We pay and leave. I take forever to get out of the parking lot and so Mark is ahead of me by quite a bit. I am driving north on 158th and there is a guy who is headed south on 158th, turning left onto Walker road. I have a green light and he has a yellow flasher and I guess for some reason he doesn't see me or he thinks I am turning or something and decides he has enough time to go - but he does not. I see it coming and try to swerve and I hit the brakes and he cuts the corner more than he normally would, but neither thing really helps at all and I pretty much t-bone the crap out of him. He then continues on and side-swipes a van that is waiting at the light on Walker. My airbag deploys and there is smoke/crappy stuff everywhere. I am all discombobulated and in the middle of the intersection and I can't breathe so I turn on my flashers (I am so responsible) and get out of the car. A couple in a van pull over and ask if I need them to call 911 but it looks like the guy who was driving the other vehicle (a Honda Fit) is on the phone with the police already so I say I think we are okay and tell them thanks. I kinda get my bearings and start to think that 'oh my gosh - did I just run a red and hit that guy?' and I don't think that's what happened but I go over to the Fit and ask if they are okay. The guys says that one of the kids seems pretty hurt and I think he hit a pedestrian or something and I realize that no one can go anywhere because I am in the middle of the freaking road. I go back to my car (which was still running by the way - albeit leaking fluid all over the place). I get in, roll the window down (still can't breathe from the airbag) and then pull the thing off to the side of the road. It has a hard time turning but I am thinking it was because the fender is rubbing against the tire. Anyway, I get out and go back over to the guy on the phone and I hear him say that he had 2 15 year-old passengers with him and think "oh good, he didn't hit pedestrians". They seem okay - one has a bloody nose and the other is complaining about his hip but he didn't look broken or anything so I decide I should call Mark and let him know what happened so he isn't shocked when I  don't get to his place. I call him and say "I got in a bit of a wreck". At this point I am on the verge of tears but kinda holding it in. He says "do you need me to come back?" I (being kinda dumb and not wanting to freak him out) say "you can if you want, but you don't have to" (how I thought I would go anywhere is beyond me!) He says "yeah, I think I will come back" so I tell him where it was and we hang up. (Mark saves the day #2)

I then call Jasmine so I can tell her the sitch so she isn't sitting waiting for us. I say "I hit someone" and she says "A person?" and I go "no, a car." I guess that is a bit of a confusing statement. Anyway, I told her I called Mark and he is coming back and she says "he needs to come get me first because my car won't start." And I am like "What? Where are you?" and she says Safeway, but then Mark is calling her so we hang up and she can talk to him. (Mark saves the day #3)

Next the couple who pulled over in the first place are back and I am a bit confused. They come up to me and say that they saw the whole thing and wanted to come back and make sure that I had their name and number and all that. They said I definitely had the green and it wasn't my fault. I say thanks so much and do they mind waiting while I go get a pen and paper to write their info down. They say sure and come to my car with me. I am rummaging around in my purse and I start kinda sobbing for about 10 seconds (I kinda cried when I was on the phone with Mark and again with Jas, but not really) and the old man puts his hand kinda awkward on my shoulder and says "there there, that's why they are called accidents. It's okay" I apologize for blubbering and then I stop doing so and finish finding the pen and paper. He writes down their info and I repeat it back to them so that I can make sure I can read it. As I am talking to them the fire truck shows up and they check out the kids and start cleaning the street. Also the police show up and an officer comes over towards us. I am rummaging again for my insurance card and license and the couple approach him and say that they saw it all and tell him what happened. He asks them to write their info down officially on this paper thing and they say sure and he ushers them over to his car and tells me he will be back for my license, insurance, registration in a few.

Anyway, I grabbed the things I need and I head back towards the firetruck. They give me a paper to fill out all my info (but they give me nothing hard to write on) and I kneel on the ground and start writing it all down. The police take my cards and stuff and put all the info in their computer or whatever. I mention that my hand hurts like the dickens to the fire guys and he looks at it and tells me it doesn't look too bad but I should go get it checked out somewhere anyway. The police gives me my cards back and I hear them asking the other guy if he needs a tow. I quickly say I need one because my fluid is leaking all over the place and I can't really turn and the police kinda looks confused because he hadn't really looked at my car and didn't think it was bad. He goes and checks it out and decides I am right and calls for the tow. I finish my paperwork and give it to them and they go and start to put it in their computer or whatever. The mother of one of the 15 year old boys shows up and I ask if he is okay. At first she didn't realize who I was but just says "yeah, he's fine, just a bit shaken. It is just so scary you know?" and then I am like "yeah, I know, I am the person who hit them" and she just says "oh! are you okay?" and I assure her I am. She was so sweet. I sobbed a few times then as well just looking at the stupid Fit sitting right in front of us all crinkly and crunchy. The firemen and police officers are impressed with how well it held up. I see Jasmine and Mark kitty-corner to where I am standing and wave across to them - they are waiting for the walk signal so they can come over. From their side they can just see the Honda Fit (which looks fine on that side) and the van that was side-swiped and my car (which also looks fine from there) and a suburban and they don't really realize how bad it is (by this point I think the firetruck was gone).

Anyway, they get over to our side and see the Fit and are like "oh ... it is worse than we thought" and I kinda re-hash things for them. I try to take a pic of the Fit with my phone but it is a pos so doesn't work so well. Mark lends his phone because it has a flash. I take a few good ones and then I think about taking pics of my car and the tow guy shows up and says it will be safer to take the pics of my car once we get to the lot since then we won't be in the road. We get it all hooked up and get over there and I took pics of my car too (which doesn't look terrible, but so much fluid came out - good thing I parked it right over a drain on the side of the road). Then we went to eat since we were all starving. After the eating and then sitting around for while to kinda give me a chance to calm down (oh and I called my mom when we were on the way from the site to the place they took the car so don't worry, I didn't neglect her).

Then we had to go and figure out Jasmine's car at the Safeway. We got there and she tried it and it started right up, so we just assume it was low on gas. We get gas and it wasn't super low so Mark follows her home to make sure she gets there, and because Mark wants to check the oil pan since her car has been leaking lots of oil lately. We get there and he messes around with things a bit. Car starts fine in the garage and he thinks it might be a battery problem (which has happened in that car before) and wants to clean the posts but swe are all tired and she says she will do it in the am. So Jasmine decides to back it up and put fresh cardboard under it so we can better see whats dripping, and Mark is going to take me home, so we start to back up and she goes to start it again and it doesn't start. So then Mark is really convinced it is the battery and she still says she will find the cleany thing in the morning. The car still didn't start the next day and Mark ended up picking her up and taking her to work in the morning. (Mark saves the day #4 - except it is a new day I guess so he saves the next day #1? I don't know)

That is the story of my crazy Saturday. I am going to post pics here from the accident site. I am only putting up a couple but I have more. I took the ones of my car while it was still up on the tow truck so that's what the straps and stuff are.

 

The real kicker is that it hasn't even been a whole year since I got rear-ended. That time wasn't my fault either. But that time it took them a long freaking time to fix my car!Of course I now know that they have to total the darn thing out and I really will have nothing to show for it. I will let you know more details once I get things a bit more straightened out, but for now I am going to bed.

Updates on Project Statii

Statii is the plural of status, right? Oh well, moving on.

I have been super busy trying to work on crafting. I am trying to knit this thing for my brother's girlfriend for Christmas and so I keep making sure I work on that - it is slow coming. I started it and almost made the whole thing last year but I didn't have a pattern and I was just kinda smashing a bunch of patterns together and I didn't check gauge (I never ever do) and it was HUGE. So recently I found a pattern that is almost perfect (it needs a bit of tweaking, but it is way closer than the other one I had) so I started it and it is going really well so far. I did the whole back panel before I finally broke down and actually ripped the first version out. It hurts me to rip out knitting that I worked so long and hard on, but since I have what looks like a suitable replacement it made it easier. Also, I needed the yarn. Lol. I hope it turns out okay. Especially since it is a vest and so it needs to fit her, and it is hard to fit something to someone you haven't seen in a year and a half (and now I hope she doesn't read my blog or she will know what she is getting for Christmas ... oh well I guess) Luckily this pattern is ribbed so it will still fit decent on a variety of body sizes. At least that is the hope.

Another crafty thing I am working on is a jacket. You see, a few years ago I was 'Penelope' for Halloween (if you haven't seen this movie, you should, it is WAY cute). I was planning to make this jacket she wears so I bought fabric and a pattern, but then it got too close and I knew I wouldn't have time, so I didn't do it. I just recently found the fabric again (I forgot I had it!) but I had lost the pattern. Then two days ago, I found the pattern. Huzzah! I think I am going to make it. I was originally going to add red cording to it to make it similar to the original, but now I think I will leave that off. I might do some red buttons or something, but that is the extent of it. I am excited. I am not so good at using patterns, but my roommate is so she will be able to explain the stuff I don't get to me. It might turn out crappy though, so you will only get to see a pic if it turns out okay. :)

Other than that I am slowly working on NaNo. This is hard because when my roommate is doing her crafty things and watching a movie I can't write unless I go in the other room. So usually I will end up working on the other things I am doing because then I won't have to concentrate or ask her to turn it off and be bored and I don't have to be anti-social. Luckily I usually have a chunk of time between when I get off work and when she does, so I try to do it during that time. I haven't much, but I can catch up! Lol.

Well, I should go get back to my working on stuff. I have tomorrow off so I hopefully will make progress on a few of them - of course, I have a lot of shows on Hulu that I need to catch up on, so I might get NO crafting done. We will see. :D

Halloween Pics

So, Halloween was so fun. Jasmine and I dressed up as Minnie Mouse and Daisy Duck. It was great. This was my inspiration:

And this is what I ended up looking like:

And here we are together as Minnie Mouse and Daisy Duck:

We won cutest costume. Yay! It was such a blast.

I only have one more project to show you, and I am nowhere near having that done. And now it is November, which is NaNoWriMo which I might participate in (if I can think of a good idea soon enough). If that happens I will be doing even less knitting than I am currently (and that isn't much) so, like I said before, don't hold your breath for that. But, if you are lucky (and I do participate in NaNo) I will post excerpt(s). So yay ... maybe. Lol.

Project Update

So, I finished making my dress. I will show you some pictures. This first one is just the dress on the hangar in my closet. (sorry for the terrible quality, as I mentioned before my camera is now officially dead so I had to take these on my phone :-/)

 This one is a pic of me IN the dress. It was right after church so my hair is all did nice and I have my shoes on. I kinda wish my roommate had been home to take it for me. Oh well.

 And this is just me playing around taking a picture of myself. It isn't too often I make myself all pretty so I figured I should capture a picture as proof that at one time I looked somewhat decent. lol.

Well, that's all for now. I am pretty much done my Halloween costume but I am not going to post pics until after I wear it for the party - so you will have to wait until almost November for that. And the knitting - well that is going to take a LOOOOOONNNGGG time. Don't hold your breath.

Wow

So, I have gone almost a month without posting AGAIN! I suck. Actually, what I really need is a schtick. Something that I post about other than just my boring life - because when all I do is post about my boring life I go a long time between posts!! So I think for the next little while I am going to post about my projects that I work on. This has 2 purposes - one is so that I will post more often (hopefully) and the other is so I will actually work on my projects since I will know I need to post about them. I will start today off outlining what I am currently working on. (Pics will be hard to post of current projects because my camera is officially dead - but I can take crappy pics with my cell phone and upload those. Sorry.)

1) Halloween. I am making my costume. Last year our costumes were awesome and we won a costume contest (voted for by everyone who was at the party - closest I will ever come to winning a popularity contest!) 

So this year has to be good - we have to live up to quite a high standard now! But I think we have something good planned. I am done most of it, I just need my facial accessories and shoes.

2) Making a dress. My roommate has a sewing machine and I haven't found any clothes that I have liked in the stores lately so I am making a dress. It is looking a bit 50's-esque so far, but I like it. Also, I have no pattern and I am making up what I am doing as I go along, so we will see how it comes. But it is fun and it keeps me busy.

3) Knitting. I have many a knit projects going on currently - I am really good at starting something and being gung-ho about it for about 2 weeks and then my excitement fizzles out and I just kinda stop. But I plan on working on all those fizzled projects because, for one, I already have the materials purchased so it is cheap-as-free to do, and two is that I need to get them done!! I don't want them cluttering up my space anymore. I want to have room to put stuff for new projects! Also, knitting projects can make for good Christmas presents. Right now I am working on this thing for my bro's girlfriend. We were watching 'Be Cool' together many years ago and she mentioned she liked something that Uma Thurman's character was wearing and said I should make it for her. (You can't see it well in this pic, but it is this vest.)

 I bought yarn and tried to make a pattern (by mushing together a couple different patterns) and that didn't work. Recently I found a pattern that is almost perfect (I just need to add a hood and pockets which is way easy peasy!) so I am ripping out all the other stuff I have done and I am going to do that. I have a blanket I am making for another friend and I have a scarf I have been working on as well, not to mention a few other projects so I will keep you all updated on how these things come. Yay for projects!

One Month

That is how long it has been since my last update (almost) and I kinda feel bad about it, but I kinda don't because I feel like not a ton has happened and so if I had updated more then you guys would have just been bored. Or something like that. Although looking back at my last post I have to admit that at least one major thing has happened so ... I guess that excuse sucks.

That big thing is that I moved. My roommate (and landlord) got engaged so I had to find new accommodations. I found a place with a girl in the Ward that is a little more expensive than where I was living before, but not a lot, and it is with a super fun girl. It is actually the same complex that I lived in when I first moved to Oregon (not as an intern, but when I got my actual job) so that is nice because I know where everything is and stuff like that. Of course the management is different so things are a bit different, but in general things are pretty much the same. I am in a 2 bed/2 bath this time which is good. It is a super cute apt and the girl is super fun. We are a lot alike in a lot of ways so I feel very comfortable with her and I did almost immediately which is good. I have had that with a lot of the important people in my life and since it happened again I feel like she is going to be an important person in my life as well, which I am totally okay with :D

I have also started a 'Biggest Loser' and I am chronicling those adventures over at this blog. I am not going to say much about it here since I will try to keep that over there, but I do want to say that I feel pretty motivated and I really want to do this and keep going with things after the end of the competition. Let's hope that feeling continues!

Other than that I spend a lot of time working and hanging out with my awesome friends. Life is pretty good right now, I think I am working out problems and trying to find ways to be happy even if I don't get what I want.