Lately.

Can I first say how happy I am that Hayley is back in Riverton?  I didn't really have anyone to hang out with for a while there and now that she's back I can force her to do stuff with me.  The other week we went over to City Creek for the first time.  It's a pretty cool place, they have this furniture store (I can't remember what it was called) that was... well, beyond words.  I loved it so much I probably could have cried.  And then you know they have a Tiffany's there?  yeah, I was seriously wondering how much force it would take to break open one of those glass cases that keeps the dirty hands of people like me away from their yellow diamonds.  If a guy proposed to me with one of those babies I would say yes, no questions asked.


After that we went to Bruges and had their authentic Belgian waffles and some fries with andalouse sauce. Oh baby were they good!  I had never heard of andalouse sauce before but a girl I work with told me about it and that knowledge has changed my life. I want to go back to that cute little place soon.  Here's a picture for you... see how concentrated that girl is on the deliciousness of the waffles?
   

So yeah, that was a good time.  You wanna hear about some other good times I've had?  Yeah?  Ok, well try and hold yourself together when you read this next part.  Boom Boom and yours truly went to the college rugby national Championships and.... wait for it!.... BYU WON!!  It was really hard to hold back the tears when they gave Mike the MVP trophy and then again when BYU did their victory Haka.  Speaking of the Haka, Hayley was talking about how she was really pumped when she saw the All Blacks doing the Haka before they won the Rugby World Cup and I have to agree.  Nothing strikes fear in  your heart like seeing Ma'a Nonu dragging his finger across his neck and sticking his tongue out at you. Obviously France lost, they didn't have a chance. 

all's well that ends well.

I spent most of the day today stressed out because I wasn't sure if I would have enough time to finish my photography assignment by tomorrow.  I actually even left my Japanese calligraphy class early because I was so worried (and also because that class is kind of a joke... but that probably goes without saying huh?).  But happily, it turns out that when you don't have 20 other people in the dark room you can get triple the amount of work done in half the time.  Whether or not it's quality work is definitely debatable... and come to think of it... it will be debated tomorrow during my class critique.  I'll let you know the verdict.  

So anyways, it's now 9:30 and instead of going to the gym like a good little girl who is training for a half marathon I'm going to go to bed so that I don't sleep through my history class again.  

an annoying review of the last Harry Potter movie

(I post this at the risk of being laughed at and judged by normal people who are neutral to witchcraft, wizardry and all that crap)


So I just got back from the last Harry Potter movie.  I thought it was.... good?  Before I say anything I need to be clear that I'm as happy as the next person to see Voldemort die.  Just because I didn't love the movie doesn't make me a deatheater.  


I don't know, I guess I've gotta give them credit for the movies, they were a lot better than I thought they would be.  And really you can't expect much because translating the Harry Potter series from a book into a movie is like hearing the Mo Tab sing the Hallelujah Chorus (reading the book) and like hearing Erin sing the Hallelujah Chorus (watching the movie), both good... but in there own way.  So yeah, that's how I feel about the movie.  I gotta say though, I could probably have cried seeing them destroy Hogwarts... so sad.


Also. There were previews for Twilight, SHERLOCK HOLMES (!), and Batman before the movie. The best part of the Twilight preview was when a boy in the audience dry heaved.  But Sherlock Holmes and Batman.... oh boy... I can't express my joy, I didn't even know they were making another Sherlock Holmes and, you know Batman is always wonderful. 

catching up

 I've been pretty bored lately so I haven't had anything interesting to write about.  I don't know why but I feel kind of guilty if I go too long without writing anything so I'm just going to write about some fun things that have happened this month.

First off, Hayley graduated from high school.  

Crazy huh?  Little Hay, all grown up and done with public school.  Who'd have ever thought?

So what is she going to do now?  

Well, she and I are going to start up a t-shirt business and become rich and famous

...or something like that.

Here is a rough draft of the shirts I designed for her:

Another cool thing that happened was that we had two baby showers for Erin on Saturday, one was done by the some of our neighbors and the other was at our house and my Mom's side of the family came over.  Both were pretty dang fun and Erin got some awesome swag.  

The last thing I can think of to write about is that last week my friend Chelsey came down to Salt Lake and I got to go hang out with her.  We went to California Pizza Kitchen and saw Jimmer while we were there.  I kind of felt bad for the poor guy, it wouldn't be fun to be famous.  After that we did some shopping and got some frozen yogurt.  Thinking about it makes me want some frozen yogurt right now... mmmmmm.....

Well, I guess that's about it!  

Over and out.

I'm a bum... lately

So it's been about two weeks since I've moved home and I feel like a complete bum.  I have no job so basically all I do is, homework (occasionally for my online class), read the Hunger Games, and go to the gym.  It sounds nice... and it was for the first few days, but now I feel kind of useless.  I noticed this past semester at school that the days where I had a lot to do were the days that I was the most productive.  When I had a free day I would plan on getting caught up with everything but I would always end up doing something like watching youtube all day long instead.  So now that I really have very few responsibilities, my good intentions of doing productive things with my days always end up in failure.  So I'm a bum who gets nothing done.  I really need a job, and not just for the money or so that I'm more productive, I need a job so that I get that feeling of accomplishment and that boost to your self-esteem that comes with a job (even the crappy ones), I always take that feeling for granted.  I hate when everyone comes home for the day and asks me what I've done and then I have to say that horrible word... "nothing." It's really not good on your self esteem.  So yeah, that's my life lately and that's why I haven't posted anything for a while.  But on a happier note!  I do finally feel good about the future because I finally have a plan and some solid goals that I feel are possible to accomplish.  I would share them with you now but I'm kind of a superstitious person sometimes and I feel like when you  say out loud (or in this case write) what you really want you will get jinxed or something... it's like making a wish on a star, or when you blow out your birthday candles... you can't tell anyone what you wished.  And at this point, my plans are more like wishes than anything else so I'm keeping them to myself for now.  

I wish I was in England.

Last night was the wedding (you know which one I'm talking about) and this morning I woke up and checked facebook to find that only guys had posted comments about it... multiple guys actually.  I thought it was really funny because they all wrote some kind of reference to how the don't care about it.  Really they obviously do care about it or else they wouldn't have said anything at all.  Right?  I'm not ashamed to say that I've taken an interest in the whole thing because let's be honest, it's interesting.  The whole concept of a Monarchy and the class system that the British have (even though it's not as extreme as it used to be) is very interesting to me.  Living in America where it seems like 99% of it's citizens are in the middle class, I didn't realize how much influence classes had in the United Kingdom until I watched the TV series "Downton Abbey".  I don't know how historically correct that show is but it really struck me how the people in the lower class  respected the positions that the people in the higher classes held, but not necessarily the person who held the position. I think that this is partially why the "Royal Wedding" is so important to the British people, it's not really about Kate and Wills it's more about celebrating the country's traditions and it kind of connects the people with their ancestry.  

Anyway... I don't know if I'm right about all this.  

But one thing I do know is that Kate's dress was SO perfect. 

I just hope that it was enough to change everyone's current obsession for strapless dresses which are not so... perfect.       

Hey.

I'm watching "The Man Who Knew Too Little" with my room mate Natalie and writing this blog at the same time.  I am a multi-tasking master.  So anyway, I decided that I need to document our recent family vacation to St. George for future generations of the Thaxton family to read about and talk about with amazement and probably jealousy in their hearts... or something like that.    Actually, I don't really want to write about it cause I'm feeling pretty lazy right now and either way, Erin has already done a good job of documentation.  So future family generations, 

you guys can just click here and view the details along with some pictures (including one of my butt {with a swimming suit over it of course}).

Speaking of my butt...

(ha ha.)

It's gotten kind of big lately.  So I've started the old "keep track of all the bad food I eat" thing again. I feel pretty good about it this time, but then again, I always feel pretty good about it for a week or so and then I give it up.  

I don't know why I'm writing about this.  But I don't really have anything else to write about except the end of the school year and moving home and all that stuff but I'm kind of tired of thinking and talking about that stuff, and also, I'm sure people would much rather read about the exponential growth of my butt huh?

Ok, I think that's my cue to stop writing.

Good times.

This weekend has been pretty fun.  

It started off with "Jake Appreciation Day" and although there was no Jake Cake, back braces, or even t-shirts with his darling face on them it was still a complete success.  Everyone was very appreciative for his good looks that could only have come from heaven above. Jake, you are a gentleman and a scholar and I wish you luck with your new life in the Source Code.  

The next day turned out to be Korean appreciation day.  I watched some Koreans do a pretty cool drum show thing up on campus and it made me really want to go there someday. This video doesn't do it justice AT ALL.  It was sad too because the guy doing the dance was actually supposed to do it with the hat on his head and not use his hands at all, but one of the things that holds the hat on his head broke.  I was lucky though cause I got to see the real thing the day before.   

I sat there and watched with the exact same face that Boom Boom has in this video:

So then yesterday we had the first bonfire of the year (well, my first at least).  Don't get me started on how much fun it was.  I think the best part was when one guy was telling us scary stories about certain laws passed in Wisconsin, oil spills in the Gulf of Mexico, and the scariest one of all... one man's plans to build a mosque near ground zero in New York, "much to the dismay of all Americans".  Needless to say, I couldn't sleep at all last night after these stories.

Mixed in throughout all this fun-ness I got two of my last three days of work at the Old Grist Mill over with.  Now I just have to get through work on Monday and class on Tuesday and I'm free for the rest of the week.  I entirely plan on enjoying myself in St. George, and I'm not even going to worry about how white my legs are compared to everyone else. 

So yeah, I guess that's all I have to say about that.  

Portrait of Korian Gray

So in my drawing class we've been drawing each other's profiles and it's a lot of fun... except when I'm the one getting drawn.  It make me so self conscience. Getting my picture taken is one thing but having someone draw your portrait is a whole other story, especially when they are profiles.  This has got me thinking about the whole "self perception" thing.  I am truly my harshest critic and I only see the imperfections and the things I'd like to change.  I've really been trying to stop doing this and just accept the way I look and even try and like it.  It's definitely easier said than done though.  It's my life long goal to be able to see a picture of myself and not be afraid of what I  look like.  That would be awesome. 

But anyways, 

I've started taking pictures of the portraits people draw of me and I have the beginnings of an awesome little collection.  I really like looking at different people's interpretations of my face, they are all trying to get an exact likeness but you can clearly see that some are more successful than others and you can see the different ways that they draw, no one draws the same, it's so interesting to me.  I really love learning it.

Matters of the heart.

So last night my roommate and I were talking about boys.  We had a nice long discussion about them, mostly just wondering about them because they can sometimes be so interesting (and by interesting I really mean odd).  So anyways, the conversation came to the topic of soulmates.  Until recently I believed in the soulmate theory (you know what I'm talking about here...) but the older I get the less I'm convinced.  I'm not sure what's changed my mind but thinking about it, it doesn't really make any sense.  Really I think we make ourselves into who we will end up spending our lives with, fate or destiny have nothing to do with it.  The kind of decisions we make in our lives have everything to do with it.  But really who am I to say?  I love Jane Austin as much as the next girl but honestly I relate more with the Bronte sisters. I guess it would  be nice to think that there is someone out there who was made for me though, that would definitely take a lot of responsibility off my shoulders and therefore, a lot of weight off my mind. 

Sorry,  I don't know why I'm writing this and it probably makes no sense.  I can't sleep and am tired of just laying in bed thinking about how I can't sleep. 

On a different note, today's high was 64 degrees!  I thought I died and went to heaven.  Also, I don't have to work at all this weekend which is also very heavenly.  You know what would make it even better?  If I won the lottery and could quit my job all together and have enough money for school! Isn't it crazy how slow money comes and how fast it goes?  Especially when you only make minimum wage and only work part time.    

Alright, I think I'll be able to sleep now.

Goodnight!

So...

At work we're doing a weight loss challenge thing where everyone who wants to participate gives $10 and at the end of 8 weeks, the person who loses the most weight wins it all (I think it totals over $100).  Up until Monday I wasn't really trying because I didn't think I had much of a chance but Monday I learned that I'm in second place!  So I started thinking that maybe if I tried I could win.  So I've been to the gym everyday this week and now if I could only stop eating the gelato in my freezer I think I might do pretty well again this week.  We'll see how it goes.

Also.

A miracle happened to me last night.  

I was in my drawing class and left for a bit to go to the bathroom, as I was leaving I noticed a book on the top of a paper towel dispenser with no name or any way to tell who it belongs to. Guess what book it was?...

"Principles of Cereal Science and Technology"

The exact book (that I didn't buy at the beginning of the semester because it was too expensive) for the exact class that I might fail.  Also, I had a test for that class today and it was open book.  I think it helped me out... we'll see when I get the grades back.  I'm kind of torn though, I know I should turn it into a lost and found somewhere but I don't know where and I'm afraid that if I turn it in, the owner won't find it anyway.  That way both of us will be S.O.L.  I really wish it had a name on it because I know how bad it sucks to lose a book that costs over $100.  I'll probably just turn it into a lost and found and hope it doesn't end up back at the book store for them to sell twice without ever having to even buy it back. 

I have 5,000 things to write about.

First off.

I really love this blog and I read it all the time.  I especially love the "bording pass" seires that she does and a day or two ago she interviewed a lady who makes these awesome mini books to document her travels:

So I started looking at this lady's blog and saw that she is full of  good ideas and I want to copy all of them.  One of these ideas is her "34 things to do before i turn 35" project.  I think this is an awesome idea and I think I'm going to do something like that as well, maybe something that includes doing all the things in Utah that I've always wanted to do but never done because I forget about it (Spiral Jetty?!?)

Also.

Mallory and myself like to go on Sabboth walks when we are both up in Logan on Sundays (obviously).  This past Sunday we discovered the joys of breaking into the football statium and taking crazy pictures of ourselves. 

This is one of my favorites from the day: 

Mallory's pose reminds me of this:

(except Mallory is on an incline and wearing a skirt, which is obviously much harder)

sweet huh?  

Mallory.  You always amaze me :)

Also on Sunday we found this awesome tree house thing in Logan Canyon and after we knew for sure that no homeless people were living in it I climbed on it.  I was glad to be wearing my indian climbing moccasins. 

humm...

out of the 5,000 things I wanted to write about I could only remember two.  I must be getting old and senile.  Awesome.  

Well, I guess I'll write more later if I remember.

Peace and blessings.

Confessions of a blonde

I'm bored and I have a bottle of Coke zero running through my veins because I thought I would need it to get through my drawing class tonight but it turns out that it was canceled, so yeah... I can't concentrate on anything now.  Sometimes I think I have A.D.D. (or something) and caffein seems to make it ten times worse.  And we all know that boredom working on a weak mind (such as mine) produces nothing... nothing good at least.  Here are some examples of things I have produced during these times of boredom which I just described: 

Grades like this...*

  

... photo booth pictures like these...

 

... a messy room like this...

... drawings like these...

... music in my itunes like this...

... and about 30 pounds of fat covering my rock hard, washboard, 6 pack abs.

It's a tragedy really.  And yeah, I realize I'm going to regret confessing all of these deep dark secrets on the internet the next time I look at this blog but oh well... such is my life.

*P.S. I AM going to pass this class.  It was just one bad (ok... one REALLY bad) test.  At least I keep telling myself that I'm going to pass that class.

Further proof I am not a responsible adult.

After falling off the budget wagon today,  I went to work and started coughing really bad.  So I walked over to Walmart to and bought some cough medicine.  When I got back to work I took a large dose of said medicine and went back to work.  A little later I started feeling heavy and my head was all cloudy and I was worried that I was going to pass out or something.  Scared that I over dosed and would have to have my stomach pumped, I went and looked at the medicine box.  Apparently the medicine was also a sleep aid.  

Idiot. 

(I guess at least I felt better knowing that I wasn't about to see a light at the end of a tunnel or something like that.)

crazy days.

Remember my last post?  The one where I was productive and I was wondering if I had grown into a responsible adult?  Well, today has proven that I am NOT a productive, responsible adult.  My productivity consisted of going to yoga class, running 3 miles, and going to work.  As we speak I'm proving my irresponsibleness by writing this blog when I have 4 hours of sketching to do for my drawing class and about 1 million pages to read in various books for various classes (all of the above is due tomorrow).  I had very good intentions when I opened up my computer to "turn on some music to listen to while I did homework" but you know how it goes... itunes leads to checking my email, and checking my email leads to checking facebook and checking facebook obviously leads to checking to see if any of the 1,000 blogs I follow have been updated and that leads me where you find me... feeling sorry for myself for not doing my homework (and writing a blog about it).  


I guess that's not really the only thing I'm here to write about though.  I also wanted to write about something I've been worried about since I was home this weekend, which is, Jimmer Ferdette (or however you spell his name).  I'm just concerned that my family loves him a little too much. Example: Mother and I are driving up to Daybreak and Mom turns on talk radio.  What's strange about that you ask?  Well... SHE TURNED IT TO 1280 THE ZONE!  Since when does my Mom prioritize what she wants to listen to on the radio in the following way 1- Sports talk (to see if they are talking about Jimmer) and then 2- Rush Limbaugh???? What is going on here??  Oh yeah... guess what else she did, she made my look Jimmer up on facebook so that I could see a picture of him when he was like ten or something and the she says, "I don't know, I just think of him as my son..." So now we've got Erin who is going to name her baby based on some version of Jimmer's name and my Mom who thinks he is her son. These are crazy days we're living through.

This semester is going to be an adventure... to say the least.

 That is why I was so grateful for the "pep talk" that Elder Christofferson gave at the fireside on Sunday (at least that's what I got from the talk). So I decided that I'm going to make this the theme of this semester:

Just finish the day.

I can do anything for one day and I won't let myself stress about the next day, week, or month until it comes.  I can handle anything life throws at me from the perspective that it's just for the day, but when I start thinking about being stressed out for three months with the end result possibly being failure and a waste of time and money I start to not be so happy.  So basically, I'm just going to make each day a success and before I even know it, three months will go by SUCCESSFULLY! 

This, I can do. 

The end.

It's almost 2AM here in Logan

and I can't really feel my feet or my nose cause it's so cold.  I don't know why I'm writing this, I should just go to sleep but I have nothing to wake up for tomorrow so I guess it doesn't matter.  I don't know what else to write, I just thought it was important that I let people know I was cold I guess.  Anyways... I watched  Valkyrie tonight and it was intense, even though I've seen it before and know what happens in the end I can't help but get really upset when the plan doesn't work out. I guess I always have this hope that maybe next time I watch it, it will end better.  I'm just happy that Hitler does eventually die. But I gotta say that I love movies with Nazi's in them because they are so easy to hate.  There's no "feeling sorry" for the bad guy like you do for guys like the Phantom of the Opera, Frankenstein, or King Kong.  Nope, there is no way to feel sorry for a Nazi unless he is trying to kill other Nazis.  Speaking of villains dying, have you ever noticed how many movie villains fall to their death?  I'll write more about that later.


I think it's obvious I need to try and sleep now.


Goodnight.

Patience.

"Everyone of us is called to wait in our own way.  We wait for answers to prayers, we wait for things which at the time may appear so right and so good to us that we can't possibly imagine why Heavenly Father would delay the answer... Gods promises aren't fulfilled as quickly or in the way we might hope.  They come according to his timing and in his ways... I know for sure that the promises of the Lord if perhaps aren't always swift, are always certain..."

These are just a few things I needed to hear from a talk Pres. Uctdorf gave.

patience... 

you are one slippery virtue. 

One day I will catch you and tie you around my restless heart.

Maybe that way I will be able to relax when I'm in situations like the present... you know... situations like being 23 and living in Logan making sandwiches for a living.  

Not my idea of the American Dream. 

But it's ok.

I'll be patient.

I'm supposed to be doing homework right now but I'm not.

Instead, I'm enjoying some guilty pleasures: reading blogs and watching The Biggest Loser.  I think I deserve it because today has been long and hard so my homework will have to wait till tomorrow.  For one thing, I'm sick and my knee still hurts from the half marathon so I haven't been able to workout as much as I would like.  Another thing that made today so unpleasant is the weather, it was FREEZING!  I really don't know how I'm going to make it though the winter this year.  So today at work when a girl came in with a bag that had "Scotland" written all over it, I just had this all consuming desire in me to go... but you know what? 

 I can't. 

Sadly, Mr. Burns isn't willing to pay enough for me to spend a weekend in Scotland.  Maybe one day I won't need to depend on a "Mr. Burns" but the way things are playing out in my life, it doesn't seem likely... but a girl can dream right?

In other news....

oh wait.

I have no news.

But I do want to share this little bit of wisdom that I recently read in the book "Villette," which is one of the best books I've ever read.  Actually... make that two bits of wisdom.

1)

"A strong, vague persuasion, that it was better to go forward than backward, and that I could go forward-- that a way, however narrow and difficult, would in time open, predominated over other feelings."

2)

"Reason still whispered me, laying on my shoulder a withered hand, and frostily touching my ear with the chill blue lips of eld... I groaned under her bitter sternness.  Never-- never-- oh, hard word! This hag, this Reason, would not let me look up, or smile, or hope: she could not rest unless I were altogether crushed, cowed, broken-in, and broken-down.  According to her, I was born only to work for a piece of bread, to await the pains of death, and steadily through all life to despond.  Reason might be right; yet no wonder we are glad at times to defy her, to rush from under her rod and give a truant hour to Imagination-- her soft, bright foe, our sweet Help, our divine Hope."

Food handler's permit

Since I get to work with food these days, I had to get a food handler's permit. I took the online course and I had a hard time taking it seriously.

Look at some of the pictures they used:

Who gets paid to make these things???

Did they really have to put in the picture of cartoon people at a funeral? I know they're trying to make me feel how serious it is to follow the food safety guidelines (and maybe shed a tear) but the picture made me laugh when it popped onto the screen...

so....

mission NOT accomplished FDA (or whoever made this course).

I guess I could have a rock in place of a heart, or maybe, I'm a little beyond the level of a three year old who needs visual aids to understand simple concepts and sentences.

That's all I have to say about that.