did i mention...?

...i'm terribly busy being in love and don't have time to blog?  

so sorry.

but not really.

mighty fine in 2009

I am having a wonderful year so far!

okay, i realize it's far too soon to be patting myself on the back about keeping my resolutions, but you know what? i dont care, because i am feeling good about this year so far.

i started training on monday for the salt lake city half marathon on april 18. any of my loyal readers (aka my family) wish to join me in this pursuit? please do! it will be fun and challenging! and you still have plenty of time to train.

tyler got us tickets to three movies at the sundance film festival! i'm pretty excited about that. and two of those are premieres, so maybe i can meet some celebrities? i'll let you know.

saving money is the other thing i'm working on. i opened a savings account that automatically takes money from my paychecks. i stopped eating out (SERIOUSLY! such a waste of money! the biggest waste!) and have been bringing my lunch to work every day.

i feel so much better already. happy new year!

also...

someone at work was talking to me the other day and laughing at some ridiculous thing i said, then asked if i had a blog. i said yes, to which they replied "is your blog as funny as you are?"

i certainly hope the lame-ness of my blog is not a reflection on my personality. i most certainly do hope.

but just in case it is, here is a funny story for my many thousands of dedicated readers (ha).

tonight my 10-year-old brother Shane called me up, which in itself is pretty unusual. as a preface to the conversation that followed, let me tell you that last week while i was home from christmas [and snowed in at the cabin where my personal hygiene and sanity quickly went awry] pretty much the only thing i did was play Purr Pals on Nintendo DS...in my pajamas. Embarrassingly, shane and i fought over the game as we both have a ridiculous affection for kittens.

so he called me up tonight offering to sell me the game for $15, which i must say is a fantastic deal. especially if you love kittens as much as i do but regretfully live in a rented house where you're denied the fanciful pleasures of a real kitten. but i don't have a DS to play it on, which is what i told him. so apparently my other brother Sam is willing to sell me his DS for a mere $80. these two are obviously hard up for cash since my dad is unemployed and they can't legally hold jobs.

i'm going to have to sleep on it. it's a pretty good deal, after all.

i'm kind of old.

i am so terribly terrible at blogging. why do i bother?! i guess i'm just trying to keep up with my mom and her consistent updates on the family.

to get to the point: life is good. i am happily continuing my education at Shep Studio in provo, where i learn to love what i'm doing more and more every day. my job at nordstrom still continues to pay the bills and becomes more fun the longer i'm there (can you believe it's been a year!?). for that matter...

-it has been almost TWO YEARS since i finished my degree at BYU
-it has been almost SIX YEARS since i graduated from high school
-it has been THREE YEARS since i got home from Paris
-i've had a boyfriend for six-ish months (i'll have to check the books, but i think this is a record)

yipes. I FEEL SO OLD. but not necessarily in a bad way. i've gotten quite a lot done in the last 23 years, and i definitely feel like the momentum of my life is in full swing right now. i'm so happy for all the experiences i've had (good and bad!) and for where i'm at right now. it's been so interesting to see how different my life is from where i imagined not too long ago.

MORE BLOGS!!!

at the subtle request of my sister for "MORE BLOGS!!!," let me quickly post despite the current time of 2 a.m. (and my alarm set for 7:30 a.m.) with 13 hours of work ahead of me tomorrow.

Happy Holidays to all, a time of giving and cheer, warm beverages, and kittens with ribbons tied around their necks (i wish!). when you work in the retail industry, the holidays can be a little...disheartening. here are a few tips from an industry insider on how to NOT ruin people's lives as you're doing your Christmas shopping.

* It's YOUR fault that you waited until the last minute, not mine. If the item is gone or you have to pay overnight shipping, why are you annoyed at me? And why are you surprised that it's crowded and you're waiting in lines? WHY!? WHY?!?!? YOU DID THIS TO YOURSELF! AGAIN! EVEN AFTER LAST YEAR WHEN YOU SWORE YOU WOULDN'T!!!!

* If you want to haggle prices, go to a flea market or a garage sale, not a high-end department store. I CAN'T GIVE YOU A SPECIAL DISCOUNT! AHHH!!!! stop asking, or else the special discount is going to be a punch in the face.

* You're in a hurry, you say? But you want all this gift wrapped? In individual boxes? You can either give me five minutes or wrap that shiz yourself, which will probably take you a lot longer. Also, it's FREE, so don't hassle me if the bow isn't perfectly symmetrical or the box has a fingerprint on it. You'll live, I promise.

* Um...it's the holidays. Maybe you should just be nice to people. Even the sales girl at your local department store.


Okay but seriously, it's really fun helping nice people pick out the perfect gift for someone they care about. And I like gift wrapping. And I love listening to Christmas music all day and being in a place that is beautifully decorated for the holidays. My Christmas shopping is done, I have my plane ticket to go home, and someone special to drop me off at the airport and miss me while I'm there.

I love you all and Merry Christmas!

miracle on 500 west

i am officially an aunt.

little Bailey was welcomed into the world very early sunday morn, and i have been going baby crazy ever since. i'm quite certain every nordstrom employee now knows that she weighs 10 pounds 2 ounces, seeing as i couldn't refrain from talking about her nonstop at work today. i think the whole family has been walking on air after a safe and happy delivery for both nicole and bailey.

tonight at work, a customer came into my department and was returning a diaper bag, still new with the tags. i asked her, as i usually do with returns, if there was anything wrong with it or if she needed help finding something else. she paused and then said, "no, i bought it for my niece but the baby died at birth."

i immediately began to cry, and so did she as she told me the heartbreaking story of her niece's first baby. they didn't know anything was wrong until the mother went into labor, and upon arriving at the hospital and hooking up the monitor for the baby, they could not find a hearbeat. she was born, perfect and beautiful and still, and held by her family only briefly before they had a funeral for her. they named her Hope. all i could think of was how grateful i am that Bailey was safe and healthy, and my heart broke for this family who was not given the chance to know their daughter on earth.

after the customer left, i could barely hold it together so i had to go into the stockroom. i cried tears of both gratitude and sorrow. just recently experiencing the joy a baby can bring made me feel the terrible loss this tragedy brought to another family. we have been truly blessed and the gospel is true! we are children of God and he sends each of us here, even if just for a brief moment, to help and inspire each other.

North Carolina!

i went to north carolina and had the most amazingly fun time with shanna and austin (and austin's parents-- they are so adorable). i needed a break so badly and i couldn't have asked for a more relaxing and low-key vacation. north carolina is B E A U T I F U L and i could seriously see myself living there; it reminds me of washington in some ways. all i have are a few pictures i took with my phone:

Bojangles...now i know what Austin's talking about whenever Shanna asks what he could eat if he could have anything in the world...

Goodberry's frozen custard! Site of mom's embarassing 'lost in translation' moment, if i'm not mistaken :)

tobacco leaves at the North Carolina State Fair.

so many fried foods, oh so many.

need i say more?