score

that's what the text from my mom said when i texted her a picture of a buffet table i found in a consignment shop today. and then i bought it.

and then i came home a rearranged my front room. i'm loving it!! i spent the afternoon arranging different things on the mantle and our new tv stand :)

#22 Observe surgery at work

I've been wanting to observe surgery at work and cindy having surgery was the perfect excuse for me to do it.
 

ps. cindy isn't blinking in these pictures, she was supposed to have her eyes closed and was just a good sport about us letting her take her picture. and in case you were wondering, observing surgery was just plain cool.

#27 Attend the symphony

my mom always chuckles when i tell her how much i love the symphony...you know, that i-told-you-so-why-couldn't-you-have-liked-it-when-you-were-in-orchestra kind of chuckle.
i like the symphony. i love going to the symphony with this crew. best friend and cousin laura is exactly 8 months older than me. you know what that means? we celebrated her 30th birthday over the weekend (since her actualy birthday is TODAY!!)
dinner. waffles. see me run. symphony. charleston chews.

what a perfect night, and icing on the cake - i got to cross something off my list!!

love you, laura. i've always loved that you have a good 8 months to give our new age a try and let me know what to expect. i think you are right, 2012 is a great year to turn 30 :)

neener neener

i'm going to guarantee you don't have one of these.

yes, this manfriend is pocket friendly, and easily transported.

and he doesn't make me watch espn.

seriously, though. my friend shannon did a good job picking out a "manfriend" for our little group of friends. on the back of the little paper is a short description of my manfriend, craig. he seems pretty normal, so i'm going to keep him around.

so be on the lookout. if you find "craig" in real life....just let me know.

and if he doesn't fit in my pocket, thats ok.

it finally happened

i wasn't sure when, but i knew this was bound to happen.

i am officially old and boring.

early to bed early to rise.
i talk to my mom almost every day.
i plan to do laundry on friday nights.
i get excited when i organize my bathroom cupboard.
a trip to walmart wears me out.

today at walmart i bought one of those racks to hang clothes on...but not a wimpy one...this one's the real deal. i felt like i was pitching a tent with all the different poles and such, but now i have a huge extra "closet" that i can keep some clothes in downstairs in the storage room. exciting, right???

in all seriousness, it's been a thought process for me lately. am i really getting old and boring? or is it ok that i don't have plans every night and parties every weekend?? i've decided that it's more than ok. it's just another phase of life. i can still have fun. i can still be silly. and sometimes i can even stay up past 10 (don't hold your breath). i just don't have to do it all the time.

on that note, it's 10:01. i should probably head to bed....

christmas secret: revealed

my friend laura came to me long before christmas with the idea to make a tshirt quilt for her husband with all of his old favorite tshirts that he doesn't wear anymore. i was more than excited to help her with her project, but it wasn't easy. her husband is king of discovering surprises, so we had to be super sneaky. thank goodness for evening classes for his master program that gave us time to meet up at her house to cut out squares!

 laura actually bought the back fabric online and once it came we met for a night of quilting. good thing we did this up at aunt barbaras house(the queen quilter). it took much longer than any of us thought, but laura and linds and i had a blast getting this quilt up on the frames and getting it tied.

and then we put it in a black trash bag and laura had to hide it in her house until christmas. from what i hear, he loved it, and was very surprised. it was so fun to help laura with such a fun present!!!

i think i did this to myself

happy new year!!

last night was new years eve. what an over-rated holiday, second only to valentines day. i have high expectations. everyone else has high expecations. and when i go back to work, the first thing everyone will ask is "what did you do for new years?"
i wanted to sit at home and watch a movie or two. it almost felt like a chore to stay up until midnight. but i decided that i shouldn't do that, so i ventured out. days before my not so favorite holiday i had no plans, which led me to an unlikely group with a random set of plans. i wouldn't have had it any other way.

started the day at the temple
took a nice nap
headed up to park city for an exchange at the outlets
dinner with great friends
appearance at a work party (great friends tagged along)
went to a lumberjack dance party
promptly left lumberjack dance party
showed up to institute building
danced
rung in the new year
movie at my house
dozing off
out of town friends joined the party
went to bed way too late

now that you know more about my new years eve than you'd probably care to know, let me tell you another story. we were all sitting in the car waiting for other friends to show up for lumberjack. i was telling a story that for some reason required to to stick my hand out the window. long story short, the window rolled up...on my hand. i flipped out. i yelled at the person in the drivers seat, who i thought had rolled it up as a joke. the window came down. my hand hurt. it started to swell. it started to bruise. and friends suggested it might be broken, so naturally, i started to cry. the last thing i wanted was a broken hand. seriously??
it didn't take long for me to realize that while being distracted by my hilarity and quick wit, i had actually rolled up the window on my hand. and everyone laughed with me, when through half real tears and laughter i said, "i think i did this to myself".
i know you're worried about my hand. don't worry....it's not broken. it's still a little swollen, and it still has the potential for a stellar bruise, but otherwise i'm fine.

are you ready for an incredible parallel to rocket you into the new year?? i look back on events from this past year and it's easy to say through half real tears and laughter, "i think i did this to myself". i've had my fair share of lessons learned, and i wish i could say that with all of them, i woke up the next morning a little swollen, but otherwise just fine. not always the case i'm afraid. some lessons learned left me with an extended case of the "i'd rather stay home and watch hgtv" blues. it's those times that i was blessed with incredible friends, family, roommates, and coworkers who reminded me of the big picture. i'm always grateful to see the big picture, and even more grateful for those who help me take a few steps back to help it to come into view.

today at church a girl sitting next to me pulled out a piece of paper and unfolded it. i looked over and saw the heading 'goals for 2012'. i should have looked away, but instead my eyes traveled down to number one. 'go bungee jumping'. now, i'm the last person to say that i'm better than the next guy, but it did prompt me to get out my own list. i pulled up my 30 before 30 list and did a quick scroll through. i was proud of my list. i was excited about my list. i can't wait to let you know when i cross things off my list.

question....have you made a list? do you make new years resolutions or stick to goals? (or are they the same thing to you??)

teaser...i have convinced 6 friends to run a half marathon with me in june. training starts tomorrow...and i'm not saying tomorrow because i'm procrastinating, but i'm saying that because january 1st was on a sunday and i can't start training for a half marathon on sunday. booyah.