February First Resolutions

You know something?  New Year's Resolutions are entirely over-rated.  I'm going to lobby for February First Resolutions!

Why, you ask?  Well, it has nothing to do with the fact that December and January were a complete wash for me due to wedding planning and the generally mushy state of my brain caused by engagement-itis.  (It's a real thing.  Look it up on Wikipedia...after I have a chance to write a bogus page about it.)  No, it has nothing to do with that!  *Shifty eyes*  The reasons for the needed change to February First Resolutions are endless:

1)  Who wants to be making big decisions in January?  Need I remind you that it is the worst month ever?  It contains the most depressing day of the year, folks.  Now, I dont know about you, but I don't want to be trying to change my flaws or refraining from eating fried food during the most depressing day of the year.  I want to be sitting in my footie pajamas or Forever Lazy, watching Downton Abbey and crying into my brownie batter.  Save the resolution-making for a different day.  

...That's actually the only reason I have right now.  

So!  In honor of February First Resolution day, I'm going to list a couple:

1) Get married (check)

2) Blog (check)

Excellent!  I'm just cruising through this!  

Well, all that resolutioning tired me out.  Time for some brownie batter.

Oh!  And, just as an update, the wedding was a success and the honeymoon trip was excellent.  Pictures and details will be upcoming...as will a new blog.  Methinks.

Mwah!

I Saw. I Learned. I Blogged.

A few things I've learned over the last few months (in no particular order):

• There are far too many shades of red.  (Cranberry?  Red delicious?  Barn red?  Antique red?  Heirloom red?  ARGH!  Which one do I want?)
• Postponing the inevitable is sometimes really lame.  And prevents you from getting the Twitter name you want.
• Even if the puppy has just barely peed, there is no guarantee that she will not pee all over your Sunday clothes the moment you pick her up.  
• The cure for depression may be this clip right here. 
• The DMV is the government's substitution for cruel and unusual punishment.
• I do not like living out of a suitcase and therefore will never fulfill my dream of being a rock star.  (I also don't drink or party, so I guess that dream was doomed from the get-go.)
• Two people is the perfect number for Disneyland.  You always know who to ride with, you always have someone to talk to, you don't have to worry about keeping a big group together.  Perfect.  The only thing that could improve it is if one of you is in a wheel chair.  (Temporarily, of course.)
• You can judge a bad fruit salad based on the number of honeydew melon and cantaloupe chunks inside said salad.  And the lack of strawberries.
• The Food Network is either my greatest friend or worst enemy.  I can't decide.

And, last but not least:

When planning a wedding, it helps to have a family full of wonderful people who are excited to help.  And who know how to decorate.  And, the best part about wedding planning is when everything is over and done with.  

Mwah.

Two SQUEE Worthy Bits of News

I have two exciting pieces of news to deliver. We'll start with the most important.

BLUE BELL IS NOW AVAILABLE IN UTAH!!!



*SQUEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!*

(Ironically enough, I was in Texas when this particular ice cream parlor had their "We now have Blue Bell yay yay yay!" celebration. So, I was going to be having Blue Bell either way. Score. Love you, Texas! And most of all, I love all the wonderful people who let me hang out with them last week. Mwah! Miss you guys!)


And now for the second, slightly less important piece of news:

I'm engaged!

To this guy right here:



Hmmmmmm. Maybe we should find a different pic....



That's better.

*SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!*

I sure do love this boy. Even more than Blue Bell. (Don't tell that to Blue Bell, though. I don't want to hurt its feelings.)




And just for fun, here's a commercial we did together for BYU Broadcasting.  Enjoy.

Bucket List Kicked the Bucket

Prior to this summer, I had two items on my bucket list:

1. Visit Hawaii.
2. Swim with dolphins.

Obviously I'm a big dreamer.

Well, I'm happy to announce that I have officially crossed off both items on said bucket list! *CONFETTI!!* And the cool thing is that I didn't even have to PAY to swim with dolphins. Because all I had to do was jump out of the kayak and swim with them. In the wild.

I give you permission to be jealous.

And while I could go on and on about how much fun I had with Taren and Michelle and Mike, I'd rather just post some pictures and call it good. Yes? Yes.












Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of swimming with dolphins, so we'll just have to settle for this one with Taren and a turtle.

Totally awesome. Only someone with Taren's skill could manage to get her head and the turtle's into the frame of one of those cheap, disposable, underwater cameras.

(Note: We realize that you're supposed to maintain a distance from sea turtles in Hawaii, so as not to harass them. For the record, this guy was harassing us. We just couldn't stay away, so why not take a photo? )

Conclusions:

1. I need to add some things to my Bucket List.
2. Hawaii is the best.

Freedom!!

I just realized that I forgot to tell you all that I am now officially out of "Thank you for calling. How can I help you?" land. That's right, friends. I reached my 9 month customer service representative limit, and now I'm going back to music for a little while.

Hooray!

Here's hoping that this time I can make some money. Yes?

Ring Ring! PUNCH!

As is the case with most brilliant discoveries, I didn't even realize I was conducting an experiment. I thought I was just going to work for the last 9 months. But no! As it turns out, through the wonder of classical conditioning, I have successfully trained myself to react negatively to the ringing of the telephone.

I am a regular Ivan Pavlov. It's true. Someone give me a Nobel Prize right now.
Through my experiments over the last 9 months, I have discovered that a normal person, when forced to listen to the telephone ringing for hours a day followed by an angry call from a customer, will turn into a miserable human being.

Don't believe me? Well, feel free to try the experiment for yourself. I'm sure there are many call centers near you that would be happy to hire you on. Once at work, you will soon discover that every time the phone rings, you will have an almost uncontrollable urge to punch something in the face.

Happy call centering!

What to do, what to do....

Lately, I've been more of a hermit than normal. Shocking, I know. There are all sorts of reasons for the increase in hermitude, but I can pretty much sum up all of these reasons with the help of this lovely image from thisisindexed.com:

I feel like it's time to move on. Anyone else feel the same way?

There comes a point in life when winter has lasted far too long, and you're just ready for the sun to come out and stay a while. (Curse you, Utah springs. The month of May should not consist of 40 degree weather.)

There comes a point in life when you cannot stand the thought of another work day filled with ringing phones and whining customers and people who don't know how to copy and paste.

There comes a point when you just need to move on.

So, I'm working toward that. It's time to jettison the things in my life that are weighing me down, and to stop choosing things simply because they're easy.

Oh! And it's time to start crossing things off my bucket list--starting with Hawaii. Before this summer is over, I WILL go to Hawaii and I WILL swim with dolphins.

Want to join me? Feel free. Hermits unite!