Got money? Me too.

So, these are my new favorite blogs. Mostly because money is important and apparently most of the U.S. doesn't know how to handle theirs, it makes me want to be better about how I handle mine (soon to be ours).

http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/

AND

http://frugalwifewealthylife.blogspot.com/.

Both just well-written blogs about being smart with your money. If only I could do that from the get-go.

blonde brownies?

So, I have a bunch of bridal magazines. And guess what.

Almost every model in them is blonde. I would say a good 99.9 % are blonde. And the brunettes in them just don't have good hairstyles.

I guess that means I can't really get married unless I dye my hair. Which sounds like a good idea in my head. But not on paper or in reality.

Want to see what I mean?? Here are the hair styles I like:

(as you will be able to tell, I am 75% leaning towards my hair up and 25% leaning towards it half up. I think the third one is my favorite.)

I am also stuck on whether or not to buy a "fashionable" headpiece or short veil (Kins- could I maybe borrow yours? If you don't want me to, that's totally fine. I completely understand. ) or use the semi-long veil I currently have. Any suggestions? My dress is already busy enough, so I'm just trying to find what I can that would complement it.

Any suggestions?

Or maybe I should just go blonde.

Things to do today:

6:30 a.m. - have crazy weird dream that wakes you up multiple times

9:01 a.m. - sit through stats numbly

10:09 a.m. - after perusing email and facebook, work on review sheet and hope i'm not the only one contributing to the google doc.

11:00 a.m. - keep working on review sheet while NOT paying attention in history

12:00 pm. - my chemistry professor is a crack up. spills eggs all over himself, stands on the desk while making nylon and tries to convince us that this is an amazingly educational site

1:05 p.m. - stats lab. work on the homework for next week, while everyone else around me is confused by the one due tomorrow. (i love the little moments like this that say "hey, good job on not procrastinating!")

1:52 p.m. - pay off credit card! yay!!!

2:00 p.m. sit at work and blog slash study after finishing my work to-do list for the day...

And that's where I am now. Waiting for this:

4:00 p.m. - freedom!

I need to go shopping. For 2 reasons. Engagement pictures tomorrow that I just found out about yesterday (or Wednesday? i can't remember) and a wedding. (next week. yeah, I definitely put off shopping for this one - semi not my fault though,.)

engagement pictures: outside, hope it doesn't rain, and I have a slight idea of what we should wear. (P.S. Thank you SO much, Jessi! Your tips have helped me TONS. I love you!)

the wedding colors are: white, cream and pale yellow. do I own any of these colors? oh NO, of course not. (I can't really help it, I like dark colors 95% of the time.) least of all in clothes that are wedding-appropriate. Can't I just wear black?

[Oh J.Crew if you weren't so expensive and made for petite people, you and I would be more than best friends right now. You usually have EVERYTHING I need.]

And I'm pretty sure no one is selling clothes in these colors right now as it is still "winter". But by the time they do get their new retail in for "easter/spring", the wedding will be past and gone.

What to do. what to do.

Guess that's what the shopping is for. :D

What about this dress?

(It's only $1990. Thank you Christian Dior.)

(taken from here)

Say a little prayer for me.

Well. I took the leap of faith and ordered my dress today. (THE dress.) I REALLY hope this works out. Everything has been falling into place so perfectly, I am just waiting for SOMETHING to go wrong--- and I'm really scared that this is going to be where it does.

Oh boy I'm scared.
Oh boy.
Oh boy.
Oh boy.




- Posted from iPhone

about TIME. sheesh.

I did it. For real this time. I took a whopper of an ANATOMICAL test at the infamous and awful testing center, known loathingly as Heber. AND I came away with a solid 92% on the multiple choice with a "fantastic!" written next to my number on the score screen.

Can I just say I've been waiting for a moment like this for 4 years? I've gotten good grades like this before, but not on a test for my major. Just on little side tests like ethics, and judaism, and d&c, and english. but never on a test for a major class. BOOOOOOOYAH.

I'm pretty peacock proud right now. Except I have yet another test (for my major, yet again) tomorrow before I can claim my freedom for the holiday weekend.

Time to get off my proud pedestal and back to the old grind. I just wanted to document this moment for posterity's sake (and my sanity's - for when finals roll around and I feel utterly stupid again). And I thought this picture was strangely appropriate:

'Tis the season, I suppose.

It is almost Thanksgiving. And I'm starting to think I need to start taking a healthy dose of gratitude every day. Sometimes being a grump is so strangely satisfying that it is hard to get out of the slump.

I should be grateful I have at least one exam every week because it gives me more points to help my grade (theoretically speaking).

I should be grateful for the long hours at work despite the slowness because it means a bigger paycheck with less stress.

I should be grateful for my education because it is almost over and I am starting to get the feeling I might actually miss it.

I should be grateful for my busy days because it means I am actually doing something with my time (and hopefully those things are worthwhile)

I should be grateful for the time I get to spend with friends because very soon we will all be doing different things with our lives and going in different directions.

I should be grateful for planes that can fly me home for Christmas because it means I do not have to take a 176 hour train ride or 5 day bus ride.

I should be grateful for this blog because it gives me SOME PLACE TO RAMBLE on about things and not waste someone else's time by making them listen to me.

I am grateful for family and soon-to-be-family.

I am grateful for winter. Because it makes springtime even better.

I am grateful for photographers who can capture the incredible beauty of the world we live in. And make us realize how precious the little moments are.

I am grateful for twinkly lights, pumpkin rolls and hot chocolate. Because being happy inside makes you happy on the outside and then the happiness spreads like warmth.

I am grateful for professors who tell you everything they are asking about on their exams. Because it is nice to know that they aren't trying to kill you and that they want you to do well.

I am grateful for fashion. And the pops of color that have been carried over from summer. And ruffles. For some reason, I really like the femininity they create.

I am grateful for the Honor Code. For the ways it helps us be better.

I am grateful for weekdays. They make the weekends so much better.

I am grateful for bloggers who are willing to share their creativity and imagination with the world.

I am grateful for emails from across the world. Because somehow reading someone's words brings them that much closer. Even when they are really FAR AWAY.

I am grateful for my best friend.

And, I am grateful for hope. Because sometimes things get overwhelming. And that is okay. Because I can handle it. At least, that's what I keep telling myself. Maybe if I keep repeating it, one day I will believe it.

I guess that's enough gratitude for the day. I apologize if you made it to the end of this post. I think I needed to write this more than anyone else needs to read it.

Maybe next time I will just make a thankfulness tree like this one:

I did it.

In story form:

My Fight For Freedom:
How Facebook Sucked My Life Away

Dear World,

I did it. The feeling right now is incredible. Liberation + no more temptation = a feeling of elation. Today at 11:07 a.m., on the 2nd floor of the HBLL, I deleted my facebook. And let me tell you, the result has been wonderful. Even before the actual deletion, I was on such a high from deciding to do it that I paid attention in all of my classes - the whole time. And enjoyed them.

I've had a couple friends ask me why I did it. Here are a few of my reasons: A) I'm addicted to it. I can't control myself - in both how often I log on and how much time I spend each time I log on. It takes up so much of my time -- time that is supposedly valuable, but that I'm not valuing very much if I'm spending it all online. B) I'd rather have a relationship with real people instead of a machine. C) I'm pretty sure my real friends are the ones who have my cell phone number. The rest are all just the victims of innocent stalking. And I'll sacrifice them for a real conversation with a real person. D) I still have an email and a cell phone and skype and a blog. Despite what it looks like, I'm not ostracizing myself from the rest of the world.

I have had my facebook for over 5 years. I got facebook when you had to be invited to have a facebook. Back when they didn't have an inbox, or a news feed, or quizzes, or put photo albums up or chat. Or a lot of stuff. Back when this guy was the logo of facebook:

And at first, it was a fun, easy way to connect with your friends without feeling like you're sending an intrusive email. And if you didn't have a cell phone, it was quick and easy. And had fewer numbers to remember.

But it soon escalated. To the point where I was/am addicted. This I will freely admit. I would check it not once or twice a day. More like once or twice an hour. And after an hour of being on it in the library, or at work, I'd finally get off and not be able to remember the things I needed to accomplish for the day. I was more interested in seeing people's lives and critiquing them and feeling involved from afar instead of being real friends.

I liked what this man wrote in a NYtimes article (Feb. 9, 2009) about the whole "25 things" fad that went around at the start of this year :

"The idea that real intimacy is achieved by telling 25 people about the first time you saw a horse or the name of your kindergarten boyfriend is, admittedly, worthy of ridicule. But in her refusal to participate, Ms. B may have unwittingly touched upon the very thing that makes the exercise so appealing: the fact that we can learn intimate details of a person's life without actually having to interact with them. 'I've gotten 25 random things notices from people that absolutely fascinated me," said Mr. C, the actor. 'But I'm pretty certain I wouldn't want to be stuck on a bus with them telling me these things.'"

And as much as I love stalking people and seeing pictures, I'd rather be taking the pictures or be in them instead of just looking at them. I did have the hardest time convincing myself to delete it. I've actually been considering it for a couple months now. And when I actually told someone I was going to do it. I told them I was going to delete it tomorrow. But then I talked to someone else about it and he said to do it right now -as in: as-soon-as-we-sit-down-at-the-table-in-the-library-now. So we did. And I honestly am glad I did. I'm glad I have my life back. Or at least the chance to have one.

From the same article as above: "'Whatever happened to talking to people face-to-face?' she wrote in an e-mail message. 'Since when do we have to give our friends synopses or overviews of our lives? Anyone who wants to know 25 things about me can call me
or ask me.'"

And that's pretty much how I feel now. If you really care about me and want to know about my life, you can have my cell phone number. And we can talk about it.

Lag time and lists.

"You're forgetting about lag time. -- Everything you do has a lag time. It takes a while for your efforts to pay off. Like when you go on a diet-- you don't lose weight right away, it takes a few weeks for your body to drop some pounds. Once people understand that you love them, they'll forgive your mistakes. For some things the lag time is weeks, for others it's years or even decades. But things do get better. Things will get better." - a very very wise woman named Carolyn

My lag time must be 21 years and counting. Because sometimes I still can't seem to make my efforts pay off.

My problem is I have all these crazy ideas that turn into "goals" I plan on accomplishing (usually starting my list at New Years' and then it fizzles off into nothing by the end of March/beginning of April).

And my list is quite extensive of things I want to do but have never done. Because I have the teensy tiny problem of never actually finishing anything I start. Ever. So I thought maybe now would be a good time to start?

Want a small sampling from my list?

1. run a marathon
2. get a passport
3. keep a journal
4. get a scuba diving license
5. learn to cook

I am taking hope in the fact that "...things do get better. Things will get better." So... here's to making things better instead of just waiting for it.

celebrate!

Guess what I discovered last weekend?
I am this many classes away from graduating:

1

2
3

4

5

6

7

8.

Only EIGHT classes away from finishing my undergrad. And now I am feeling relieved/ excited/ nervous/ stoked/ enthusiastic/ hopeful/ determined/ scared/ comforted/ and astonished all at once. Is that even possible? Must be, I guess....

P.S. I have SENIORITIS like crazy.

Please and Thank You.

Yes, the WEATHER was a chilly today. And yes, I was wearing shorts. AND sandals. The cool brisk 37 degrees of chill outside in the morning cannot deter me from avoiding the fact that the snow season is coming up. However, I dressed for the high temperature of this fantabulous October day. Not the morning one. So, now it is quite pleasant outside and sandals and shorts perfectly suit me and this balmy 54 degree weather. Please and thank you, I would like one, just one more day to have the opportunity to put both feet into sandals - not one in a sandal and one in a cast, thank you.

ALSO, I would like to formally apologize to the guy who sits next to me in math class. Yes, I have had a cast on my legs for almost 6 weeks. Yes, it is quite, quite hairy as it is next to impossible to shave it -trust me, I tried. It is probably more painful for me to look at than for you. Perhaps you dislike the fact that the amount of hair on my leg is competing with yours? Or the fact that you are so captivated by this phenomenon that you cannot focus on the chalkboard or what the professor is saying.

However, you Sir, may celebrate come class time on FRIDAY. I will be rid of this cantankerous thing. And then, you are free to stare at our moustached-and-portly-enough-to-resemble-Professor-Slughorn-from-Harry-Potter-professor and try to decrypt the mumbo-jumbo of scribblings on the board that by some MIRACLE translate to be the lecture for the day.

I, on the other hand, will celebrate by shaving off a piece of me. Or many pieces of me. And I will wear sandals one more time.

This one is for you, girl!

Kinseybug.

Tomorrow is going to be one of the hardest days of your week, month, year.
The sun is going to pound down on you like you've never known.
Your feet will feel the pain of every single step, every dip, bump, pebble and ridge of that path.
Your legs will quiver with dread of going even a little bit farther.
The hill ahead will seem like the impossible feat you could never accomplish.
And every mile will feel like eternity.

But guess what. I have faith in you. I know you can do it. Because you cannot be beaten by the sun, the path or the distance.
You will make it. And every drop of sweat will be worth it.
I promise.



LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE,
me

The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

I am a terrible student.
I like learning, hate exams.
Like classes, hate grades.
Love college, hate the stress right now.
Love education, hate school.
And I have 3 exams in the next 5 days.
And it would be nice to have 4 more hours in my day.
But hey, at least it's Wednesday!
And fall is here, so things can't be that bad, right?

Anyways… back to the old grind of studying.

I don't want to close my eyes..... 'Cause I don't want to miss a THING.

I love college.

For lots of reasons.

But right now, I love it for this one:

Sometimes it is a good idea to take a break from studying.... and go stalk someone. And it is still as fun as playing cops and robbers or hide and seek back when we were in the third grade.

EVIDENCE of our success?Boom. Roasted.
Good thing Sadie is a cool cat and is totally fine with the fact that we just stalked her and Bryce. Even though she doesn't know us. AT ALL.

Also, the fact that there is a guy sitting behind me in linear algebra doing his homework in the back of the class with his ipod in. TURNED UP SO LOUD EVERYONE CAN TELL WHAT SONG IT IS. First up on the shuffle-di-duffle list, "I don't want to miss a thing" -- definitely got everyone's attention. A little Hilary/Haylie Duff combination came up next. Then some Enya. Now a little Micheal Buble.

I'm just waiting for him to start singing out loud!

But this is definitely making math go by faster than normal. Hallelujah.

I ♥ college.

I hate to brag, but this is like a 100% on a math test that gets put on the refrigerator...

So you know how in high school there were times when you didn't really have to try and you were still smart? (I'd like to thank my mother and father for passing on the smart genes!) And you just had a blast because classes were full of your friends and you played sports after school to stay entertained? Weekends were about fun and not finishing leftover homework? And the only really stressful part of the year came from finals and AP exams? Yeah, those were the glory days.

Then you get a bucket of ice cold water in your face which locals around here call COLLEGE. Imagine the one smart kid in all your high school classes who knew ALL the answers. Then think about 30,000 other kids who were the brains of their high schools. Put them all together and you get BYU.

Classes here are HARD. All of a sudden I feel really really stupid. You still have the same old smart kids who still know all the answers. And you look around and wonder if you are really where you should be. How did they get the email with the answers and you didn't?

EXCEPT, today I got to be one of them. I got to taste the elixir of fame and knowledge for about 8 seconds. And it was glorious. I got to be the smart kid who gets the gold star next to their name. 8 seconds of the "YEAH, that was me. The teacher listened to my answer and said, 'exactly.' Yes, that is the taste of grandeur right there." And then, only a simple fleeting 8 seconds later, it's gone.

And you are left with a big gaping hole of wondering if that moment will ever come again.
If I have anything to do with it, then it will.

Why can't a skeleton lift weights? --- He's all bone and no muscle.

Question: how many bones are in the human body?
(my hand SHOOTS in the air! pick me pick me oh please pick me!)
Answer: TWO HUNDRED AND SIX. (if it's an adult. children, please add 100 to that number.)

And I've spent the past two weeks learning every nook and cranny of every single one of them.
How's that for AWESOME homework?

This is Cesaer. He and I have grown very close lately. In fact, I devoted two hours of my day yesterday to simply just staring at him. Not adoringly. More like loathingly. Although I love and appreciate how incredibly interesting he is, I would much rather NOT have an exam on him in two days. With every indistinguishable marking as a possible test question. I'd rather love and cherish him from afar - with no exam and no cramming and no tibial tuberosity or sustentaculum tali to worry about. (I will give you a dollar if you can tell me where the sustentaculum tali is without looking it up or asking anyone. *science majors not included.) But as soon as this is over, the peripheral nervous/upper extremity muscles begin.... woe is me.

Dear Cesaer,
As much as I absolutely ADORE you, I am pleased to announce that starting Thursday at 10:00 a.m. MST, we will no longer be together. I'd like to have my life back instead of slowly becoming a skeleton like you.
xoxox, Nat

"Do you like hip-hop? I got an album --- and I never shot nobody."

So sometimes I miss Hawaii. I miss the lazy, dream-filled nights. I miss the random connections we made with the people at the hostels. The people with whom our paths crossed for that miniscule moment in time. I miss hiking around mountains and being inches away from the edge of the cliff - hiking for hours until suddenly the waterfall appears and makes the 2 hours in the rain worth it. Conversations on hotel rooftops. Being in flip-flops and a bathing suit, no matter where or when it is. I miss not having to be somewhere at a specific time. Stretching out on the beach with a book that I don't actually have to think about reading. Hammocks made out of parachutes. Riding on the bus and not caring how long it takes to get there. I miss the friendly alohas and the breathtaking flowers. I miss the sound of the waves.

But then, I come back to Provo and realize how much I've missed the deadlines, and the pressure, and the stress. (I know, I'm crazy. But I secretly love having a semi-fast-paced life.) And the sense of pride. And my bed. And hot showers. And not having sand in every single crevice of my skin and on every article of clothing I own. I missed Grover and being able to drive (not that I'm able to drive now anyways......) I missed face-to-face conversations - somehow texting and phone calls don't make the cut after awhile.

However. I did not and do not and will not miss from both Hawaii AND Provo: grades, offices, big casts on my leg that make me walk 103293483920 times slower than normal, singles wards, creepy old men offering me a shack to stay in, creepy old men telling me about the 14 times he saw Jesus on Larry King, creepy old men telling me how he hates Christians, creepy old men telling me that I could be wife #5, drunk spaniards, $2 value menus, and linear algebra.

On a completely different note, I love BYU football.

I'm on a boat

So I was on a boat last weekend. We woke up before the sun so that we could be on the lake before anyone else. And it was totally worth it! We had absolutely the most beautiful water. So glassy and perfect to wakeboard on. I haven't ridden on perfect water like that in a LONG LONG time. It was incredible.


And yet, I still managed to do something like this:




It kind of really really stung. And kept stinging after I'd gone and fallen again three more times.
Then, I decided to jump off the boat. But I got a lovely reward for trying to do it with a wakeboard on. :)



This picture is from 4 days later. It is so colorful!
All in all, it really was a fantastic trip that I now have a reminder of every time I raise my left arm. :) I just wish I could go every day.




20 days until school starts? where did summer go?

Saturday is a special day.

Saturday just happened to be awesome. I don't know if anyone else noticed. I think a few people did. I mean, come ON. It was the eleventh day of the seventh month. And what does that mean? It means it is a day to be celebrated. No, not because I survived the best five minutes of my life in a gut-wrenching, adrenaline-rushing, head-spinning, mind-blowing, amazingly awesome fall from 12000 feet above the majestic mountains, and then circled the sky around and around in a parachute and finally came to rest on the ground with a landing that was smooth as butter - no, it was a glorious day because I got my free slurpee from 7-11. Thank heavens. It was delicious. More specifically, the mango-apple + pina colada was definitely a highlight of my day. That smile on my face definitely says it all.

But seriously, skydiving was rad. I'm definitely, absolutely going again. This is half of the group that went. We jumped first.


How can you NOT want to do this again? More pictures to come when I steal the rest of them off of facebook.

a hello and a smile

This might be completely random and have tons of tangents, but this has been on my mind. So now it's getting put on here.

So I went to dinner on Sunday (which was fabulous, by the way. Thank you, Kellys). A tiny part of that wonderful conversation was about how we interact with other people and how it does wonders just to smile at people. I've been thinking about that a lot lately, especially when I'm at work. Because I constantly interact with people. A big part of my job is customer service. And I will freely admit, there are some days when I would love to shake some common sense into a couple of the EFY kids. (I don't - which I think is very big of me. I mean seriously, how is it possible that you lock yourself in your room? HA. I understand locking yourself out, but not in.)
But after working here for 2+ years, I can definitely tell a difference between the days when I bring my attitude to work with me, or leave it at home. The whole "fake it 'til you make it" saying is so true when it comes to customer service. You go to work. You are getting paid to help other people, to solve problems, to come up with creative unique ideas. Why would you want to bring the drama from last night into work to ruin the mood? I think I just want to be able to make a difference everyday. And if I can do that by cheerfully doing what I'm already supposed to be doing, maybe - just maybe - I'll make someone else's day better. (Go watch Pike Place Market if you want to see some good customer service. They don't have the whole video up, but you can get a smidgen of what they do. I want to go there just because they make it seem so fun. We show this to our new employees at work.)

And I think we all need to stop looking at people with judgemental eyes, me especially. A lot of times I automatically judge someone (Kinz you know what I'm talking about haha) even when I don't mean to. And I am please to say that I am often wrong - probably 95% of the time. I try to remember that whether I realize it or not, they have feelings too. It is amazing what can happen when you put yourself out there and talk to a complete stranger. The more I think about it, the more I realize that some of the greatest friends I have are the result of a smile and a simple hello. One of my favorite videos is about this. (Granted, it is a commercial, but just ignore that when you watch it.) I don't know why, but it just makes me happy.