Gonna wash my bones in the Atlantic Shore

Ok. I am a stubborn person. I can admit this.

That being said, I have finally - FINALLY - given Band of Horses a fair trial. And... um... I might not actually hate them after all. Well, ok, I guess I never said I hated them, but I wasn't exactly their cheerleader. And I'm not saying they're my favorite band ever, but The General Specific is pretty darn catchy.

On another topic, I'm on my way to being nearly finished with my pumpkin colored knit bag. I've got all but one small piece finished, and once that's done it's just a matter of sewing it up and adding a buckle. I think it's going to be great!

I started French today. It's... going to be interesting. It's the same teacher I had in the fall and the class is mostly full of people who just finished 101 during the winter quarter. So I feel a little disconnected in comparison to the rest of the class. But whatever, I'm going to just stick it out and push my way through to an A. I just want my A.

So that's life for today.

Can I just add that I'm really really happy lately? I mean I have moments where I feel a little down, but overall, life is actually really great. Thank goodness!

You've got to believe in treasure to find it

Jordan and I watched King of California tonight. I loved it. It's bittersweet and charming in a completely quirky kind of way.

I've been a little depressed today. Saturdays do this to me. I don't actually like weekends, to be completely honest with you. I prefer routine over wandering aimlessly. I only knitted a few inches today and then felt the fever of being indoors, so I went shopping and bought nothing. I always feel better when I do this than when I actually buy something.

Well, no, that isn't always true. I like buying things, but they have to be things I've been wanting for a long time and I have to feel that I have enough money for it. Lately I feel like I don't really have enough money for anything (not what The Secret has taught me, I know. Think less, get less. Think more, get more. I know, I know). In any case, because I've been feeling that way lately, when I go shopping and walk out with nothing, I actually feel a lot better than if I'd wasted my money on something I only kind of wanted.

After the mall was a quick visit to my grandma. I love her so much. I think I get my sense of people from her. When we're in a group and my grandma is reacting to things, she seems a little distant and perhaps baffled. Maybe even a little senile. But when she recounts things later, she's very spot on. It reminds me of how I get quiet in groups and rarely contribute but prefer to passively watch what's happening instead of participating actively. It's not that I'm not paying attention, it's the opposite. And it's made my sense of people a bit more keen. I hope this means I will one day be as great a woman as my lovely grandmother is.

Today is Brocky's birthday. He is two.

I think no one reads this anymore. But what do I know? And really it's for me anyway. I guess I just can't help but wonder.

I started a new knit project today. I really needed something to do and crochet squares, while nice, are not exactly challenging. Well, neither is my new project, but at least it will be something I can use when I'm finished with it. And it's going super fast. It's an orange garter stitched messenger bag. I really love the yarn I'm using too. It's very soft.

We went to a Mexican restaurant tonight for Brock's birthday. He loooves his chips and dip. Guacamole is his favorite. I ordered two cheese enchiladas and I forgot to say no beans, only rice. I don't normally like refried beans anyway, I think they're kind of gross, but now I think they're doubly gross because they've got lard in them. Very few places use anything else. So I ate the one enchilada that wasn't touching the beans haha. I brought the other one home. I'm going to try to suck it up and just eat it, but seriously, I've become a bit of a freak about this. I really really hate eating anything that has animal in it. I never ever thought I would be this way. Maybe after a few weeks I'll calm down, I don't know. But right now it's a little bit of a pain hah.

I think I'll get back to knitting now. Or sleeping. One of the two.

Healthier rambling

aaagh, work is boring, and I'm going a little bit crazy!

So, I will ramble here.

Firstly, I have decided to learn how to sew. I know how to knit and how to crochet, but it has become more obvious lately that knitting/crocheting things that don't look like something your crotchety old great grandmother would make for a wee-tyke is very hard to come by. Unless you're super talented/have the time to work teeeny tiny knit stitches to make something more akin to fabric. But then you've generally got to sew it anyway.

I've done a little research and I think I'm going to get a Brother sewing machine from WalMart. They're only $70 and supposed to be pretty easy to learn on. I don't want to invest in something really nice until I know I enjoy sewing. I'm pretty excited about this venture though. I've been wanting to learn for years.

Next, I just want you all to know that I am really enjoying being a vegetarian. I am, for once, eating veggies and enjoying them. And I'm discovering my love for other things I'd never really considered before. So it's going well.

I think I want to start doing Pilates. I remembered this week that I did it once at a YW activity from a real Pilates instructor, and I loved it. I think I could barely walk the next day because I was so sore. But I'm ok with that. There's a new studio opening in Auburn, but I don't think it'll be open for group classes until August, so I might have to go up to Kent instead. Or maybe I'll look into Yoga if there are no Pilates classes around here. I loved Yoga back in high school.

Upside down and round and round

It has been an extremely bizarre day. It's the end of March (a.k.a. spring) yet we've suddenly got an inch to two inches of snow sitting on our back porch. And a friend came out of the closet unexpectedly this afternoon.

Life seems a bit topsy-turvy lately. Not bad. Just not quite usual. Though I guess, when is it ever?

And right now I'm watching an Oprah about packrats. It's insane.

A week... or so's... worth of accomplishments

I finished The Book of Mormon. Finally. 2 weeks and 2 days from start to finish. It's been really neat. I certainly have felt the difference in my life. An added peace. It has of course brought me to a better understanding of my own shortcomings, but I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing :)

I'm going to read The Infinite Atonement next I think. Though I'll probably take my time with that, just reading a little each day. And of course I'll continue my scripture study, just not in such a ravenous way hah.

In other news I managed to finish 7 more squares for Warm Up America in the past week. I have also caught up at work and have a routine down finally. And the whole being a vegetarian thing is going pretty well, minus the whole family ganging up on me and trying to make me miss meat (which I don't) thing. I'm actually really enjoying the fact that I'm forced to think up other things to eat. It's making me more creative. So, 4 days down, another 26 or even a lifetime to go. I guess we'll see what happens!

Fish are friends, not food

I have been so incredibly lazy this weekend. I think I've been asleep more than I've been awake. But considering I worked 5+ hours of overtime last week learning a ton of new things, I'm pretty ok with how I spent it. That and I finally finished Alma. And I read half of a health book that... well... has kind of turned me into a vegetarian...

I'm so grossed out by slaughterhouses that it's all I can do to eat things with milk and eggs in them, let alone any meat. I don't know if it will stick, but I signed up for the 30 day Peta Vegetarian challenge. I'm going to give it a try and see how I feel. I am by no means an animal activist, and I'm wary to actually call myself a vegetarian because I can't stand those people who are "vegetarian" for a few weeks at a time in between Big Macs and chicken sandwiches, but I am willing to try this out and see if I really do feel healthier afterwards.

Also thanks to this health book, I now want to cut out all bleached flour and hydrogenated oils. I'm not quite there yet because that stuff is in almost everything, so I'm going to have to do some hunting around and trying new things. I'll just ease into it. If I can get that down, I may eventually cut out eggs and milk altogether as well. I'm going to have to learn to do a lot of my own cooking.

This is a new experience and I'm actually pretty excited. Eating is suddenly kind of an adventure!

Oh, the Place You'll Go!

New Life Plan:

1) Save up money for school while ditching... I mean taking French and online BYU classes
2) Go to BYU
3) Have insanely good time at BYU
4) Have insanely good time at BYU whilst dating cute foreign boy/boy who speaks different language thanks to mission
5) Talk Avery into applying for Summer internship in Australia
6) Mooch off of Avery for a month during her Summer internship in Australia
7) Work for publisher and/or book store part time
8) Graduate from BYU
9) Marry cute foreign boy
10) Start kitschy little book store while cute foreign husband finishes Masters/Doctorate
11) Have darling little children
12) Live happily ever after, preferably in cute foreign husband's villa in Tuscany/native country

National news

Apparently today was insane news day:

Woman dies after eagle ray jumps on boat and kills her

This ups my fear of fish/open water by about 15%.

Woman's skin grows over toilet seat and boyfriend charged with abuse

How in the world do you sit on a toilet long enough to have your skin grow around it, and how does your live in boyfriend just not notice? In an article I read earlier about it, he said she just kept going in for longer and longer periods of time, and eventually she just didn't come out. So he just sort of got used to it... hahaha

Sigh. People. Maybe this belongs in the Darwin Awards

Blaaaaaah

Sorry it's been a few days. I've been... stressed, depressed, dressed, and messed, but not caressed.

My car. Sucks. Well, it did. $775 ago. Now it had better be freaking awesome because I'm not dropping another grand on it!

Work has been a little insane the past few days. Well it was today too, but now that we've rearranged and reorganized the office it feels a lot better. I feel a lot better. I have a lot more work now, but I'm slowly but surely learning it all and getting faster at it. That being said, I've already worked 4 hours of overtime this week. Awesome.

I don't know why, but Alma is going SO SLOW. I am having the worst time getting through it. Which is weird because it's usually one of my favorite books.

I dunno, life is a little bit blah right now. I'm feeling a teensy bit annoyed with myself I guess. But whatever. School (French) starts soon. That'll double my stress. Yay. But at least summer is coming and it's getting warmer.