I'm a genie in a bottle baby...

Ok. I'm in the mood to ramble a bit, so I figure I'd catch you up on a few random things. So, in no particular order...

• I love my job. I know I've said that before, but the last two days have been busy. The good kind of non-stressful but I have things to do busy. I like it alot. I'm a little more confident and I've decided that if I'm corrected, it's not a bad thing and I don't need to be embarassed....I'm just learning. (and I still love the soap)


• I am EXCITED for this weekend. #1, it's conference #2, my family is coming up #3, Cindy will be here #4, Taylor's coming home (yay heather!) and #5, I get to go shopping with the Beb to help her find her dress and accesories for homecoming. Talk about living the dream. This weekend will be primo.


• Let's focus on the fam coming in town. I love my family. Truth, I think distance makes the heart grow fonder. Even though I have alot of family close by, I don't get to see them all the time, which makes gatherings extra special. I love my siblings and have enjoyed watching us all grow up and develop our personalities. Maybe that sounds weird. I think we are all very different, but have something great to contribute - it makes weekends like this a riot.


• I have been braiding my hair lately, and I like it. You know how all those cute girls from California do that cute little braid in the front? I tried for ages to get mine to work and be a cute little braid. My work paid off, and I have a sense of pride when people comment on my cute little braid.


• I get to go to Lake Powell. I know, it's late in the season and the water will probably be freezing. I'm excited for a weekend away, new scenery and good company.


• I still am not sleeping very well. I feel like I wake up with a headache every day. What is the deal?!?! I am thinking maybe I need new pillows. How often do you buy new pillows? No clue.


• I made banana bread, and it was good. I will be making more tonight. If you want some, stop by. It's up for grabs :)


• I am loving my ward. Everyone is friendly. Our fhe group is normal, ward prayer is outside my front door and institute is great. No complaints (unless I get called as ward chorister, and I may be jinxing myself right now...)


• I'm making new friends. I love making new friends, especially when they live upstairs. It's funny how you can meet people and act like you've know them for ages. It's one of my favorite things. What can I say...I've still got it.


• My team is coming to my house for queso night. That probably means nothing to everyone else, but to those on the team? No words. Can't wait to see them and catch up.

Sorry, that was a random list of goodness. Probably not goodness, but still. Congrats to cousin Teresa who had her cute cute baby this week! She looks great and I'm so happy everything went smoothly.

early to bed, early to rise

yeah right.

I have been done with EFY for over a month now, but I still can't seem to get in the groove of my new schedule. I really have tried have a bedtime of 10:30 so I'm not dead tired when I wake up in the morning to be at work by 8, but there always seems to be something to distract me. They aren't bad things, but this week I've been happy to have lights out by midnight. Okay, now I'm sounding old, but I've come to terms with the fact that I can't survive on the amounts of sleep I got while I was going to school....and I can't take naps in the middle of the day like I did at EFY.

old age + early bedtime = won't fall asleep at work

I remember a time when I would wake up in the morning feeling refreshed - got enough sleep, ready for the day. Not now. Confession: I set my alarm for AN HOUR earlier than I need to get up. That's right, I'm one of those that "snoozes" for an hour because it makes me feel like I'm sleeping in. I've been told to grow up and just set the alarm for what time I really need to get up, but I've been doing this little trick for so long, I'm afraid in such a groggy state I would forget and sleep for an extra hour. I've started to wonder if my bed is not comfortable or if I need new pillows. Do I toss and turn all night long? I know I've been having weird dreams lately that make me feel like I didn't sleep as well as I could. I'm about to try weird sleeping remedies, cause let's be honest, when I sit in a cubicle all day by myself in the silence off the office (NO ONE comes to work on fridays...why am I here?!?!?) it is hard sometimes to not want to climb under my desk for a little shut eye.
Like I would ever really do that....get serious. Any suggestions for a good night sleep??

p.s. Ali is back in town from her trip, so I no longer feel like I live alone. And Cindy and I have been playing phone tag for WEEKS. I finally gave in and we have been emailing. EMAILING?!?! I know we live in different states, but seriously. Yesterday I sent her three emails because I kept forgetting to tell her things. When we finally got to talk for 4 minutes later that night she told me she had printed off the emails so that we could touch on everything. But that didn't happen in a 4 minute phone call. Goodness gracious, what are busy best friends supposed to do?!

postman pat

i LOVE getting stuff in the mail. not bills, not advertisements. real letters. it's part of the reason i write letters to missionaries- to get mail back! (in my defense, i write really good letters and include pictures, and i do enjoy writing them)
love getting announcements or invitations. oh the goodness! and even more, i love packages. even better....when someone gets your address from someone else so whatever they send is a SUPRISE to you. (ok, not in a stalkerish "i'm getting your address" kind of way, but in the i want to suprise you cause i know you like it...and we are friends and i've been to your house, i just dont know the "physical address")
i came home the other day and my roomate had gotten a package from her mom. loved it. my mom is past that phase unfortunately. she only sends packages to my missionary brothers, which is fair i guess.
so, if you are ever trying to suck up to me, or feel i need a self esteem boost, you know what to do. and no, i will not post my address, you will have to get it somewhere else. and if you're lucky, you will get something in the mail from me. and i usually throw an airhead in the envelope, just in case you were needing a treat while you read my amazing letter or note. how cool am i?

dropped your phone...

in the toilet? i wish i could say that hasn't happened to me before. don't worry, my phone made a full recovery. how you ask? it spent the night in the freezer. that's right, you heard me. right next to the frozen bag of peas and chicken tenders. in the morning, it was good as new. i don't know how it works, so don't ask. all i know is it worked :)



(yes, i did sanitize the little beauty too. toilet juice on your face is not acceptable. thank you.)

yeah toast!

You never know how much you love and miss something, until you don't have it anymore. I'm sure you all agree and could tell me something you miss that you no longer have...or have access to.



Most recent longings are for toast. Over the summer I loved toast, especially on a trip we took to Idaho where the family we stayed with had toast and honey for us every night we got home.



Now I am living in an apartment without a toaster, and never have I ever wanted toast so badly. Not only does this limit my toast consumption, but girl can't have an egg over easy without toast. So by default, I am also missing eggs. Woe is me.

raise your hand if you love vampires

loved the first two books. dragging through the third. half of the people i talk to loved it. the other hated it. i'm just trying to motivate myself to finish. should i keep reading?

nathaniel NOFEAR stewart

My brother got to call home from his mission on Tuesday. He's been serving in Bolivia, but is now in Peru, officially re-assigned to the Lima North mission. It's been interesting to hear specifics of his experience trying to get out of the country and his new assignment. I'm proud of him for his dedication to the work as he said in his last email, "i felt the encouragment that this was part of my mission and not an interuption." What a stud.

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,700259371,00.html

fortune cookies are supposed to tell me my fortune...

WORK ON IMPROVING YOUR EXCERCISE ROUTINE

Just what I wanted to hear after eating a plateful of chineese food. Sick. Who likes chineese food anyways?

diamond in the rough

We are about to get personal. Some things are just so embarassing, you don't tell anyone. Not even your family. I still laugh about this "secret"....even after that phase of life passed, I brought it up with my family around the dinner table. Let me back up a bit.
I needed a place to live. Desperate. Moved into this townhome. Great...one might think. I met my roomates. Here's the clincher. No one told me before I moved in that Jule lived downstairs. Jule (as in jewel) is well into her 40's, and tried to act like my mother on several occasions. I can hear it now. "WHAT?!?! You lived with a 40 year old?? How did I not know that??". That's when I would correct you and remind you that she was in her late 40's (purely a guess, but still) and you didn't know because I was so ridiculously embarassed by it I only told my mother and CLOSEST friends (that means only Cindy). There are a few people that found out on accident, like they came to pick me up and happened to meet Jule. A rare yet treasured occasion. Can I top it off by saying she worked at the dollar store? I used to LOVE Honks, but swore I would never return. How do you explain that to you friend? A casual trip to Honks, and an old woman says, "Hey Bethany! How's your day? Great, I'll see you tonight at home!". No. Never again, which is a shame, because I loved to buy socks at Honks.
Back to the dinner table with my family. I made a crack about Jule. My mom and I laughed, and everyone else looked at me...confused.

Me: "You don't know about Jule???"

Dad: "Who's Jule??"

Shoot. Now I have to explain. I had kept the secret so well, for so long. And now the cat was out of the bag. I don't know what shocked them more, the fact that Jule and I lived together for a FULL YEAR or the fact that I had kept it from everyone.
The list of people that know about Jule is a short one. (well, longer now that i'm posting about it, duh). My favorite was when a friend was asking about her.

Friend: "How's Pearl?"

Me: "You mean Jule?"

Friend: "Oh yes, I knew it was some kind of precious gem"

And that she was. A precious gem in my life. A diamond in the rough. Were you one of the lucky people to meet Jule?You think you have a better bad-roomate scenario? try me.

I went running twice today.

Booyah.

special delivery!

okay, so these aren't the best pictures, but it was late at night and i was more concerned about taking my new baby for a spin than taking pictures. i'll take better pictures in the light of day, but these will do for now. Jake was a dream to work with, and even detailed the car himself! we didn't even go inside to sign the papers, we signed them right there on the hood. and i can officially say i bought my very first car...without ever driving it. true story.
what can i say? i'm a proud mother. she drives like a dream, and i couldn't be more thrilled. wanna go for a ride? i'm sure the answer is yes. call me. we'll go for a drive and chat it up while we rock out to hsm2 (yes, thats the cd that is currently playing).

no one likes nasty attention

I won't go into the details of that story and where that saying came from, but just think about it. Nasty attention? Who needs it? Especially if you have friends like I do. I got off work a little early today and went up to pick up Ryan from school. I secretly love to pick Ryan up from school cause that means I get to park the car and head up to the BYUSA offices. I was lucky enough to tag along on a trip to disneyland with alot of kids that work in the office, and I love seeing them. Alot of them have become, or already were dear friends....love it. And they give me normal attention. No nasty.
Tonight I was able to go to dinner with a dear friend and have normal conversation. normal attention. We met up with other friends to go to a luau. My cousin Heather was there (love love love) and other favorites. Normal. Then we headed to rock the block and met up with some all time favorite efyers and of course...Ryan and Cog. Excluding the speakers, normal. (sorry, dancing with the speakers are just a necesary part of rock the block and are not considered normal. please love me anyways) I am grateful for normal friends and normal attention. No one likes nasty attention.
Changing topics, I left work early today to go pick up my check from the bank. I'm getting my car tomorrow! The bank wasn't quite ready for me so I stopped by my old job to say hi and see my old co-workers. Turns out they had two people to look at glasses and no optician. Did I sell two pairs of glasses today? Did I put the orders in the computer and order lenses online through their insurance? Did I collect over $300 dollars from them for their visit? You betcha....and i loved every second of it! I was suprised how much I miss selling glasses. When you do it everyday, I know it can get old. But my goodness, it was a weird feeling to leave my new job where I still feel so new and insecure about my responsibilities and go to a place where tasks are so familiar and I know everything. It made me want to pick out a new pair of glasses....like I don't have enough already :)
Okay. It's past my bedtime, and I need my rest. I'm going to pick up my baby tomorrow! I am so excited!!! Don't worry, you will see pictures soon...and they will be incredible.

stop being kind and charitable...

I am trying to get on a new schedule of going to bed early and waking up…well, on time. Last night I was in bed by 10:30 and it worked miracles! It’s funny how your body works when it’s functioning on an appropriate amount of sleep.
I sat at work yesterday and wrote out a new little schedule for me that included a new running schedule and a bedtime. Okay, so I didn’t go running yesterday, but I did go car shopping…which felt like exercise, so I’m going to count it. Ali came with me (thank goodness), and I’m still laughing at the salesman in the back seat who decided the test drive was a good time to tell us about his marital problems. I should have charged him for the time, or he should have lowered the price of that jazzy little car I took for a spin. Car shopping is the pits! I laugh because most cars on the lot are much better than what I was driving before, so I’m trying to not fall in love with everything I see. Everyone has been good at offering suggestions as to what kind of car I ought to buy, but my sister gave me good advice last night that I needed to hear. I have this weird need to please people. “You should get a Mazda. I could see you driving that car.” “Okay”, I think to myself. “They are right”. Duh. Advice from my sister: everyone else will get over what kind of car you buy, because it’s not their car. You (me) on the other hand, have to get in the car everyday and will NOT get over it if you don’t like it. It might not make sense to you, but it made sense to me, and gave me the extra little boost I needed to go car shopping yet again.
My brother Ryan has been so good to share his car with me. This morning he even drove over to my house, picked me up so I could take him home again and drop him off so I could have his car for the day. Yes, this was before 8 in the morning, and he didn’t have class until noon! I am grateful he is willing to sacrifice to help me out while I’m car-less. My dearest of dear friends Ali and Lindsey have also been my little drivers. THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!
I get to go again tonight…to conquer the car dealership. It’s hard for me to have this “I don’t care” attitude. I have this weird thing that I keep apologizing to the car people. “I don’t want a car with that many miles on it…..sorry.” Ali told me yesterday to stop apologizing. I think she actually told me to “stop being kind and charitable. We’re doin’ business here!” Yes we are. Let the good times roll.

flames of death.

I found my camera!! I was so excited to finally have these pictures from the wedding. Emily looked gorgeous...I don't know that pictures will ever do her justice! She is the first of the sugar shackers to get married, WEIRD! I would make predictions of the order the rest of us will bite the dust, but i'm afraid it would cause contention, so i will keep it to myself. :) So here we are, minus Ali, at the temple.

Alright, let's talk about it. I should be embarassed about this moment in life, but i'm trying to force myself to laugh about it so i don't cry. here it goes. I was (am) in need of a new car. In light of the new job-new life phase happening, a new car was in the works. I kept telling myself that now i could save, and by january I would have a nice little down payment saved up and go ahead and get the car of my dreams. funny how things happen.

Ryan and I were driving home from a great weekend in St. George with the fam. (Thanks for such a fun time by the way...racing on the 4-wheelers, Les Mis (I'll be at the hospital), sprinklers on the golf course) Ok, back to the road trip. Driving. Weird noises. Ryan was asleep. Smoke. Merging. Pulled over. More smoke. Opened the hood. FLAMES. Highway patrol Officer Esplin saved our lives. Called a tow truck, and luckily my other siblings were only about 20 minutes behind us on the road. My dad had me CLEAN OUT MY CAR, and told me the next step was to contact the bank and start looking into a loan for a new car. (no, i dont have wads of cash lying around and i will be making payments....why does that scare me?)

So there you have it. Today i said goodbye to the blue bullet. My college car. Gone. I think it was slightly shocking because I didn't get to wave goodbye, saying good riddens as I drove off in my new car by choice. Heaven knows, the flames under the hood were no choice of mine! I'm just grateful my brother Ryan was there so i didn't have to ride with Dave the tow man all by myself.

So now starts the car shopping. I thought this would be a joyous time in life, but i'm really intimidated by it. I have been trying to put off the whole payment stuff. I hate feeling like I have 700 "payments" and "bills". YUCK! I guess it's a part of life and will force me to budget. I am going to sit down tomorrow and figure out income and other bills and figure out what I can afford. Holy moly, I hate that. I keep telling myself that in a week, I will have a new car and everything will be alright. right? any suggestions on the car buying scene?