what a year for a new year

good riddance, 2007.
(i know, i know, that's what i said last year. but things are allowed to be true for two years in a row.)

2nd to last day

to do today:
get cute
help mom
clean 2 bathrooms

and for all:
get ready for tomorrow (waffle party!)
finish puzzle
bond
watch an entire season of project runway in one sitting*

*sometimes we do things that aren't on our original list. but we are always sure to add them so that they can be crossed off. so as to leave no accomplishment unnoticed.

it's 50 degrees and sunny outside

(i don't really want to go back to utah tomorrow, even if i do get to ride on an airplane)

hot commodities

it feels good to be noticed. it feels good to be a big deal. it feels good to have people to talk to. it feels good to go to singles wards and home wards where you turn some heads. it feels good to feel like maybe i haven't totally lost my touch. i don't care if the audience is primarily made of people either 5 years younger or 40 years older than me or if they may have just been looking at my new sweater that is altogether too bright for january.

i love movies with people from grey's anatomy

saturday is a special day

to do today:
sew 1 project
buy yellow sweater
paint toenails

and for us all
-look for cute boys (except mom)
-bond

task-it baskets

to do today:
go to Jo Ann Etc.
sew 1 of 2 remaining projects
see Jill

and for us all:
bond
have a good day

because we didn't recycle any of it!**

my mom and i just hi-fived over having the best garbage output on our street. and hurried to fill another bag before the big truck came to take away our beautiful heap.

now we don't want to overdo it**

my mom and sister and i just made lists of what we need to do today. here's mine:
-sew one of my 3 projects
and for us all:
-work on the puzzle
-put away the blankets

home schooled or all i do is make lists

things i've learned/remembered while at home the last 5 days:
-i will likely never meet another man quite like my grandpa Robert, although there are many in training
-i feel severely crippled without turn signals, dashboard lights, a handle on the car door
-if my mom cries, i cry. if my dad cries, i cry.
-i like sleeping in beds more than i like sleeping on the floor
-i know how to play the piano
-no matter how hard i try to be annoyed by it, waking up to the sound of kids, isn't a bad thing
-i come by most character traits frightfully honestly
-i don't mind wearing a sparkly Christmas dress picked out by my mom/aunt/sister to church
-i will never bring portable dvd players (one for each child) to a restaurant (that wasn't my family, just people we saw while at yummy brunch. so sad)
-i could sit in my house for weeks i think and not get bored. i just like sitting in this house
-it's hard to beat a game of Christmas day kickball
-although appreciated, i don't really care what i get or don't get anymore (i'm just really mature and selfless)
-my skin and throat prefer to have at least one drop of moisture in the air they live in

merry Christmas

it's destiny, or not

today was a day of successes:
-a morning of babies: maggie, will, davey, caleb
-shopping trip with grandpa: one fantastic dress tried on, one fantastic dress purchased
-lunch: pork sandwiches, homemade spice cake with homemade frosting, fight song practice
-byu game: hot dog, cotton candy, hot chocolate and donuts, a victory, involvement in an altercation with neighboring fans, so many cousins
-two brushes with fate
-a trip through our old mall: not a single high school acquaintance run-in, we have forever21 now? and coach?

i changed my mind

i want a garage for Christmas. 

i mean, is it even possible to clean a car off with getting completely covered in snow and having soaking wet sleeves and feet for the rest of the day? i'm wearing canvas boots today, bad idea. am i allowed to take my boots off at work? and then people could sing that song 'who's desk have your boots been under?' and make little jokes about it? no? not allowed? fine. snow fights are so exhilarating. i want to have a snow fight every day!

make that FIVE pieces of REAL mail

and oh what a piece the fifth is. booya.

dippin' dots are falling from the sky

no one would be happier than brandon keller if that were really true.
this is especially weird because it was mid-march outside about 3 hours ago.
good thing i happen to have the supplies for chicken pot pies.
good thing i have like 30 hours of sewing to do in the next 6 hours.
but who cares! i just got FOUR pieces of REAL mail!!!
one of which was this:

(my mother is a very trusting person)

megan was right

this is the coolest site in the entire world, the second is also hers

this is a very insightful article. worth your time (times a hundred)

this makes me so happy right now

i can't get enough AKA timbaland goes soft AKA who is one republic?

i can't decide which is bigger news

this or this

bless her heart

The 2nd part of this week's This American Life, just completely tore me to pieces. I'd rather you listen to it, then have me explain. But, I'll just say that Sarah had a heart transplant. And her heart came from Lucas, a boy her age (young), that was murdered. Sarah describes waking up from the surgery and 'drowning' in air, she'd never breathed so much air. She goes on to face Lucas's murderers face to face, and her/his heart races. It's essentially a more tragic, real life, Return To Me. And sarah feels all this pressure to live a life good enough to count as two. And Lucas's family couldn't think of a person more perfect and his mom loves listening to Sarah's heart beat. So maybe I almost told you everything. But really, you have to hear their voices. It breaks my heart and makes it beat fast and makes me want to give it to someone else, all at the same time. Dramatic, I know. But all this heart talk made me wonder how it really would feel to have someone else's heart. I mean, it seems like it'd be the same, but these stories make me think it'd feel different. And people talk about people's hearts as their essence and I really like that but is there something physically in my heart that makes me how I am? I guess if a heart can hurt and just feel in general then that means yes? I don't know. I mostly just wish the writers would stop striking so that I could just watch Grey's Anatomy and not have to think up my own weird medical-spiritual situations.

is it so wrong to

-want the shoes and sweatshirt i bought for a 5-year-old to come in my size?
-want to buy 10 pairs of shoes for a 5-year-old i've never met. mostly because her name is Emeline. and because she doesn't know what size shoe she would wear so they just traced her foot?
-eat most of a bag of Cadbury minis that were meant to be sent in a package tomorrow?
-get really nervous right about now that i'm not living this season to the fullest?
-want to have 12 kids?
-still think i can pull off some type of holiday mixer between now and friday?
-make cinnamon pull-aparts twice in 3 days?
-scotch tape a lampshade to a lamp?
-lay on the ground in the dining room to watch Elf, but mostly just sleep, wake up at 3:30am, and then write a blahg post?

people sing louder at Christmas time. I like that.

banana is my favorite popsicle flavor, uh, usually, kind of

so i don't really have favorite anythings. i guess yellow and/or gray are my favorite colors for like a year running. but that's as close as i ever get to loyalty. 'what's your favorite___?' questions usually make me really nervous and antsy. because i don't have answers. and what if i say something that i kinda sorta like and then the next day i find something i like better? then did i lie to that person? i'm just never sure enough of any love to claim something a favorite. so, with no further disclaimer, here are some new favorites, of the week:

new favorite breakfast: english muffin (toasted and w/honey), stephen's mint truffle hot cocoa with a touch of vanilla creamer

new favorite book: i like you

new favorite movie: martian child

new favorite enemy: icy patches under my tires where i've been parked all night (good thing megan was feely extra roommatey that morning)

new favorite technique: not showering every day

new favorite experiment: photobooth picture every morning when i get to work (i don't know why)

new favorite way to get a giant me: ASCII Poster

new favorite treat: easy cinnamon bread (refrigerated pizza dough, butter, cinnamon, sugar—piled into a pan—how could that not be good?)

new favorite way to find email subject lines/post titles/sitcom ideas/etc.: Generator Land

new favorite thing to anticipate: sarah, maggie and will! sleepover! tonight!

new favorite hobby: Christmas surprises!

beinvenido a miami?

does anyone live in MIAMI? and want to go pick this up for me? and drive it to salt lake city? i really really want it. i'll send you a really cute Christmas card. come on. 

ykwim?

i just feel better when i have another person to care about as much as i care about myself.

please use the usps

sending letters in the mail is such a good idea for so many reasons. (and a bad idea for a few reasons) mostly i love it because the anticipation of the recipient getting the treasure lasts so much longer when it's sent in the mail. and then when they get it, it's something physical, it's multi-sensory! they can pick it up, and open it, and hold it. kind of funny how novel all of this sounds. i really wish it were still the norm. but that's just me. i have an old soul.

everything was blowing our minds last night

such as:

marriage

death

evolution

the inevitability of pet names

the creation

politics

the existence of matter

agency

time

(now that i've listed them, i guess our minds had the right to be blown)

at 2:53am

around 10pm there is usually nothing on my mind at all. but by 2:53am, it's full again. but the kind of full that makes it impossible to impart anything effectively. i'm more emotional at 2:53am than i am at 10pm. i listen to more sufjan at 2:53am. i make more decisions and goals at 2:53am. i miss my family more at 2:53am. i make so many lists at 2:53am. i feel really smart at 2:53am. my stomach feels weird at 2:53am. i remember things like that i have flannel sheets in my closet, and i get them out and put them on my bed, and i remember how i love the feel of them and the sparks that they can make. i'm the perfect amount of warm/cold, dreaming/awake, serious/not at 2:53am.

snow

things i do not like about the snow: it won't let my car out of its spot
things i do like about the snow: it makes nighttime look like daytime

still my favorite

The Friendly Beasts

Jesus our brother, kind and good
Was humbly born in a stable rude
And the friendly beasts around Him stood
Jesus our brother, kind and good.

"I," said the donkey, shaggy and brown,
"I carried His mother up hill and down;
I carried her safely to Bethlehem town."
"I," said the donkey, shaggy and brown.

"I," said the cow, all white and red
"I gave Him my manger for a bed;
I gave Him my hay to pillow His head."
"I," said the cow, all white and red.

"I," said the sheep with curly horn,
"I gave Him my wool for His blanket warm;
He wore my coat on Christmas morn."
"I," said the sheep with curly horn.

"I," said the dove from the rafters high,
"Cooed Him to sleep that He should not cry;
We cooed Him to sleep, my mate and I."
"I," said the dove from the rafters high.

"I," said the camel, yellow and black,
"Over the desert, upon my back,
I brought Him a gift in the Wise Men's pack."
"I," said the camel, yellow and black.

Thus every beast by some good spell
In the stable dark was glad to tell
Of the gift he gave Emmanuel,
The gift he gave Emmanuel.

hard day at the presses

this is seriously what my hands look like. all the burt's bees in the world can't help me now. mom-i think i need The Treatment.

and this is my second accident with the linoleum cutter. notice how perfectly the cut matches the tool.

(don't worry, today was my last day of printing until maybe next semester, so i'll be done talking about it now)

final score

letterpress: 2  kakie: 3

(i won! my final project was a complete success. i mean, the color choices ended up nothing like i'd imagined, but we had our final critique last night and i don't remember the last time i felt so successful. i didn't make any of the same mistakes that i did on leadbottom, so that's progress. and people liked it and were interested in it and there was all this discussion about the word intention and why i didn't do a booklet envelope. and no one would believe me when i said that i didn't really think through the concept as deeply as it appeared. i just went with first instincts and didn't question them and somehow that method created a victory for me. so basically, toot! toot! on my little horn.) 

i've never wanted to live in the UK as much as i do right now

just look at this stuff

dear santa, i can't decide which color i love most, surprise me

(i know, weird that these are my top three colors)

i cry the day that i take the tree down

we put these up on our door/in our house. i think they're really cute.

i hated her before any of you

Today is Cora Corman/corkie/c. webb/duhlady/court/queen/etc.'s birthday. We've known eachother for a while now. And if there's one thing this woman loves, it's a shout-out. So here's to the girl that taught me every acronym, every soulja boy dance move and every shoulder roll I know. Just a few shots of the lady that doesn't need (but can certainly handle) an audience. What a bestie.