Wednesday, July 31, 2013

"I didn't even like thirteen year old girls when I WAS a thirteen year old girl"

So I've heard this statement twice in one week, and I'm confused and a little sick of the teen girl hate that can be out there.

I get it that teenage girls are screamy and moody and mean and spiteful and annoying. They can be shallow and seem to only care about boys and lip gloss, but they are our future and we as women should be building them up, not tearing them down, otherwise we are just as guilty of being shallow mean girls.

Maybe it's because I am still fourteen years old in my head, or because I vividly remember what it was like to be a teenage girl, but I totes love teen girls! I think they're awesome and I can totally relate to them.

When I asked my friend about this, she told me that I had a wonderful childhood and that's why I don't understand why people don't like teenage girls. I was popular and therefore not shunned in high school, so I had it easy. I think that's nice that people think that of me, that means that my illusion is successful.

Yes, I was popular - Student Council, Cheerleader, Honour Roll, Diet Coke Table in the cafeteria, but I didn't have it easy at all.

When I was in Grade Seven, I wrote a love letter to my enormous crush, Ernie. I poured my little twelve-year-old heart and soul out to this boy. I thought that I would explode if I didn't let him know that I liked him, but I was still pretty shy in grade seven, so the letter had to be the way to go. In the letter I referred to the Lionel Ritchie song Hello which was popular at the time. The next day at school, when they saw me walk into the school yard, a couple of girls started singing the song loudly and yelling "Ernie! Your girlfriend is here!" Apparently, he had shared the letter, and before I knew it was all over school and I was mortified. I couldn't go anywhere on the playground without being serenaded. Fortunately, I had some really good friends from my softball team that supported me and protected me from the brunt of the teasing. To this day I can't hear that song withough cringing, wanting to fall in a hole and dissapear, die, and have the ground swallow me up.

Another time, we were hanging out at the park in the townhouse complex where I lived and the girls were playing "secret"; this one girl went around and whispered a secret into everyone's ears and we weren't allowed to tell. The secret she told me was that she thought that some boy liked her, I wondered to myself why that was such a secret, but whatever. I found out later that the secret was that she told everyone else that she couldn't believe I was wearing a bra when I was so flat (it was because my mum made me), and that she made up a dummy secret to tell me; she just wanted to tell everyone else the thing about the bra and didn't want me to know.

School was my refuge from an awful home life - step-dad drunk and calling me an unfeeling bitch, mother hiding under the covers in the dark, feeling like I was responsible for the well-being of my three younger siblings and terrified of setting a bad example. At least at school I had people who loved me, or so I thought, I knew how to play the game, and I was smart, so school was the only place I felt successful.

I didn't have anyone I trusted; not my parents, they couldn't be there for me, they had their own issues. Not my friends; when you're in the popular crowd, it's about maintaining your status and watching your back. Not the teachers; no way was I going to let them know that I was not perfect. Not my leaders at church; no way was I going to let them know that everything was not perfect.

That being said, I still loved being a teen. I loved school, my friends, the parties, the clothes, the music, the hair. My trust issues with my friends were mine, not caused by any of their wrong-doing, and I still consider them my friends to this day.

So yeah, girls can be mean. They can also be your support system, they can stick up for you when other girls are being mean to you. They can be shy, and smart and keep to themselves, and they can be wild and crazy and super fun to be around.

Girls are great, being a teen is crazy hard with all the changes going on (mentally, physically, emotionally), the awkwardness and not knowing which way is up and trying to figure out who you are and how to grow up. We as grown-up women need to be there as mentors and support for these girls, not shun them and call them stupid jerks.

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Life in a Northern Town


This is the best song to listen to when it's been over a hundred for over a month (or so it seems). It reminds me of cooler climes and chills me the heck out.

When this song first came out in 1985 I was a young and naive fourteen year old girl living in Canada and thought it was about Canada having not ventured very far outside of Canada and assuming that if a song is about a Northern town it must be about Canada, not realizing that other countries have parts that are northern and o my gosh I miss Canada.

Monday, July 29, 2013

Weekly Check-in


Physically: Good, but I really need to have better (existing) eating and excercise habits.

Emotionally: So happy to have my family all back together!

Spiritually: Good, better, happy.

Goal: Last week's goal was to go back to yoga. Whoops. Fail. Too busy.

My goal this week is to relax and not set any goals.

Friday, July 26, 2013

Book Report - Angela's Ashes


Title: Angela's Ashes
Authour: Frank McCourt
Length:  363 pages
How long it took me to read: Two and a Half Weeks

What it's about:
Despite extreme poverty and desperation of his childhood McCourt recounts his early age in an affecting and uplifting voice in this luminous memoir.

The ending is the most important part: I was so happy this book ended. There was hope at the end and it did end well, but I hated this book

Last word: Ugh. What a drag. Don't Read This Book.

Spoilers after the jump:

Thursday, July 25, 2013

Movie v. Book - Beautiful Creatures

Ethan longs to escape his small Southern town. He meets a mysterious new girl, Lena. Together, they uncover dark secrets about their respective families, their history and their town.

Director: Richard LaGravenese

Writers: Richard LaGravenese (screenplay), Kami Garcia(based on the novel "Beautiful Creatures" by)

Stars: Alden Ehrenreich, Alice Englert, Viola Davis

I had heard that this was the next Twilight, which interested me, so I read the book only to discover that it was a series of books, and got completely absorbed by the story so much that I almost forgot what the first book was about by the time I got around to seeing the movie!

Book or Movie: The movie is not terrible, I vote book on this one - but by a nose.

Spoilers after the jump:

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Please don't abandon your Negative Friends

There seems to be this thing about abolishing negative people from your life: that they bring you down and poison you, and you should cut them out of your life. I am here to give you a different perspective.

I went through a really bad bought of depression recently. It lasted for over a year which was much longer than I thought was necessary. I was hopeless and numb and went back and forth between wanting to disappear and desiring to become invisible. I mostly just wanted to cease to exist. I wished that I had never been born. It was really hard for me to get out of bed and do the laundry and cook and clean and go to work and take care of the daily. I struggled a lot. I hated going out in public and had a hard time facing people. I couldn’t look anyone in the eye because I was so empty inside. I felt like a zombie. It was physically exhausting going to a social event; I would suffer anxiety for days leading up to the event, it would take every ounce of my energy to suck it up and go, and afterwards I would be completely drained. Every menial daily task was a struggle. If it weren’t for DH, the boys, and Orso, it was very possible that I would have ended things, I was that depressed.

I was paralyzed. I couldn’t talk to people. I had no one to confide in. I was in a very dark, lonely place and I didn’t have anyone to whom I was close enough to let them know what was going on with me. I am very private when it comes to these things and it’s very hard for me to be honest with people when it comes to negative things. I’m fine, everything’s fine. I always tell this to people who ask because I know that eventually I will be fine. I have a hard time trusting people with hard things as I like to work out my own issues.

I can totally understand how being around a person like this would be a total drag. I wouldn’t want to be around such a bummer girl either. I know that I didn’t want to be around me, which is one of the reasons that I had such a hard time going out in public.

You guys, I was desperately in need of a friend. Someone who would drag me out someplace quiet and tell me that she was there for me whenever I was ready to come out of the hole I had fallen in; that if I needed someone to listen that they were there, or just have someone to sit beside me and not expect me to be ‘on’ for them. Someone who knew that I was struggling, but that I was figuring things out and I just needed time, someone who would just stand by me and not expect anything from me. I needed someone to say these words to me: “I can see that you’re struggling, but I know that you are the type of person who likes to figure things out for themselves. I know that you’re very private, so I just wanted to let you know that if you need to talk, or not talk, or if you need a hug, that I’m here for you.” I needed someone to pat my hand and say “there, there” and not offer any advice whatsoever. Someone who saw through my façade, called me on it and loved me anyway.

I didn’t have that. I had people ask me how I was doing. I had people tell me to snap out of it because I was being a real drag. I had people tell me to suck it up. I had people tell me I needed therapy (I’m sure they were right). I had people tell me what to do when I wasn’t asking for their advice. I had people who didn’t believe that I could ever be depressed, that it just wasn’t in my nature because I am such a positive person. I had people tell me afterwards that they were glad I finally pulled myself out of my funk because they were about to cut me out of their lives and no longer associate with me because I was dragging them down. Sheesh, thanks, now I know who my real friends are and who I can trust. (No one)

The fact that people were abandoning me and not supporting me made things exponentially worse. The fact that I didn’t have anyone I trusted to go to made it even harder to come out of the darkness.

If you have someone like this in your life, please don’t abandon them. You will need to give them space to process what is going on with them, but you need to let them know that you are there when they need you. They may push you away, but know that they need to know that you are there. You need to exercise an enormous amount of patience, but if you love this person, this is the ultimate way to show love for them.


Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Portrait of a Middle-Aged Married Couple in the Twenty-first Century

He is sitting on the bed clad in nothing but an undershirt and tan cargo shorts, back propped up with pillows. She is laying on her stomach beside him wearing a tshirt and underwear. It is a thousand degrees outside on this day in the middle of July. The ceiling fan is spinning above them.

He has just synced her iPod to the Bluetooth in his new Bose radio and is scrolling through her music.

Him: What? No New Kids on the Block?

Her: I feel like you don’t even know me at all.

She turns over and closes her eyes in an attempt to go to sleep, flipping her hair out of her face in the process. He rolls his eyes at her eclectic music collection and selects a song from Roxy Music.


Monday, July 22, 2013

Weekly Check-in


Physically: Still tired, but it's still 100 so I'm still blaming the heat. I haven't been to yoga in 2 weeks and I am really missing it.

Emotionally: Happy with my marriage, missing my boy, but he comes home on Thursday!

Spiritually: Better

Goal: Last week's goal was to clean out my pantry. Fail.

My goal this week is to go back to yoga.

Friday, July 19, 2013

Book Report - Beautiful Redemption

Title: Beautiful Redemption
Authour: Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
Length:  451 pages
How long it took me to read: A Week

What it's about:
Is death the end . . . or only the beginning?
Ethan Wate has spent most of his life longing to escape the stiflingly small Southern town of Gatlin. He never thought he would meet the girl of his dreams, Lena Duchannes, who unveiled a secretive, powerful, and cursed side of Gatlin, hidden in plain sight. And he never could have expected that he would be forced to leave behind everyone and everything he cares about. So when Ethan awakes after the chilling events of the Eighteenth Moon, he has only one goal: to find a way to return to Lena and the ones he loves.

Back in Gatlin, Lena is making her own bargains for Ethan's return, vowing to do whatever it takes -- even if that means trusting old enemies or risking the lives of the family and friends Ethan left to protect.

Worlds apart, Ethan and Lena must once again work together to rewrite their fate, in this stunning finale to the Beautiful Creatures series.

The ending is the most important part: This whole book is an ending and the ending is satisfying... ish. I'm sad that the series is done.

Last word: Usually when I take longer than a week to read a book it's because I don't like it, but I was so sad for the series to end that I took my time with this one. The book ended how you thought it should, all happily ever after, which for once, seemed a little anti-climactic, but I still recommend the series.

Spoilers after the jump:

Thursday, July 18, 2013

Movie Vs. Book

I'm big on reading the book before seeing the movie. I like to have my own version of the story in my head before the look is dictated to me by a movie. Unfortunately, I end up spending the entire time watching the movie grousing about how they changed it and that's not how it was in the book. Usually the book is better, but sometimes I'm surprised and the movie has been as good if not better than the book.

Often times, I've read a book just because I heard that they're going to make a movie out of it.

Other times, I see a movie and hear that it was a book first, so I read that book and try to block out what I saw in the movie, so I can form my own vision. It doesn't always work that way, but I try.

I read the Harry Potter books before I saw the movies, but the movies had already been released, so I already had a vision of what Hermione and Ron looked like, even though they're described differently in the book, so now I have two versions of what the Harry Potter kids look like in my head.

I'm such a visual person, that when I read a book, I always let the story flow in my head like a movie. When I see the movie, I expected that same movie to play out, but that is not always the case. I have had to come to the mindset that movies are merely adaptations and can only be a synopsis of the book, and sometimes they have to add in things in order to make the story flow better as a movie. It drives me crazy, but I have to talk myself down; telling myself that this is only an interpretation of the book, another version. I still yell in my head "That's not how they did it in the book!" The funny thing is, if I see the movie first and read the book second, I never yell in my head "That's not how they did it in the movie!" I think well, they sure got that part wrong in the movie! I always blame the movie.

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Writing is saving my life

What I look like when I'm writing - obviously an older photo
So I'm really thankful for this blog.

Back when I started a year and a half ago, I mentioned how my therapist told me that I needed to write to help me with my depression. I halfway said it as a joke, because I don't technically have 'a therapist', but the times that I have consulted with a licensed therapist, they have advised me to write.

"An artist who does not create is a menace to society." This was a point made in Where'd you go, Bernadette by Maria Semple. The truth of this statement hit my heart like an arrow. I am a creative person. I need to create. Words are my life. I love to hear them, look at them, read them, say them, and make them up.

When Dewey was going through treatment, everything about me was put on hold while I focused all my energy on keeping my family together; buoying DH up as he was depressed and without hope, cheering Dewey on because he didn't want to die so he needed to fight this, desperately trying to do what I could to ensure that Huey didn't get passed over and that he knew that he was loved and cared about just as much even though he didn't have cancer. I put all of my desires aside except for one; the happiness of my family.

I have discovered that in the aftermath, when I wasn't desperately trying to hold my family together any more, that I was lost. I went into a major depression after Dewey's treatment was complete that went on for much longer than I thought was necessary, but nonetheless, it was there. I was so lost and so dark and felt so hopeless. I wanted to cease to exist.

And then I started this blog. I started it because I wanted to rant and rave and whine and moan, because I needed an outlet, and because I wanted to document my 'weight-loss'. (I haven't lost any weight). It took me a long time to find my rhythm, my voice, my whatever. I'm not perfect or fabulous or anything, I'm not that full of myself, but I have written some things that I'm sort of proud of, and I have found a groove that makes it easy for me to write. I've gotten over the fact that no one reads this blog; this fact has given me the freedom to write what I want, how I want, and to figure out how to write. I use this blog as a writing excercise and creative outlet and it has helped me mentally immensely.

It's hard to write when I'm feeling uninspired, or when life gets in the way, but I have found that I am making time for it now because I need it. I have given myself permission to not have to write otherwise my blog will not be popular. Screw popular. I don't need to be a famous blogger, but I DO need to write.

This is preventing me from spiralling down into my rabbit hole so far that it takes a long time and a nervous breakdown for me to find my way out. Don't get me wrong. I have my spirals, and they are not pretty, but they are prettier than they used to be, and I can pull myself out without thinking that I'm going to have to commit myself.

Words, I love you.

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

The Sophie's Choice of music


So DH dragged me kicking and screaming into the Sprint store and I ended up with a new iPhone 4. I love how our relationship works sometimes. He forces me into getting some new technology that I insist I don't need (I'd rather spend the money on shoes or tacos or nail polish), and then I realize that I don't know how I ever lived without said technology. See: iPod Touch.

(Unfortunately, he's created a monster because now I CANNOT stop thinking about getting an iPad Mini.)

Anyway, my iPhone only has 8 gig and my iPod Touch has 64 gig. (look at me all talking about gigs like I know what I'm talking about) My iTunes laughed at me when I tried to sync all my music onto my phone. My iPod really isn't that full, is it? Guess what, it is. So I had to all desert island my music and figure out what I couldn't live without, but what I ended up doing was choosing the music that I listen to the most when I'm at work, because that way I don't have to take my phone and my iPod to work. My old phone was so decrepit that there was no way I could have music on there even though the dudes told me I could when I bought it.

So here's my iPhone playlist*:

*I totally know that this will morph and change as I get bored of these songs and move on to something else.

Just kidding, there are 662 songs on my phone, so here's the gist:

Love playlist - These are mostly songs that I love, or have to do with love, or make me think about love, like Love Song for a Vampire by Annie Lennox, Miss Sweeney by Weezer, and Song for a Future Generation by the B52s.
Mellow playlist - Mazzy Star, The Sundays, Punch Brothers, Annie Lennox, Shakespeare's Sister, Stuff from the Twin Peaks and Sense and Sensibility Soundtracks
Summer playlist
Twilight playlist (consisting of the soundtracks from all the Twilight movies - and quit judging me!)
Perks of Being a Wallflower Soundtrack
Whip It! Soundtrack
Kick INXS
Decade Duran Duran
Endless Summer Beach Boys
Crazy For You Best Coast
Lights Ellie Goulding
Greatest Hits Eurythmics
Fantasies Metric
Blood Surgar Sex Magik and By the Way Red Hot Chili Peppers
Happily Ever After and Shiver Rose Chronicles
Strangeways Here We Come The Smiths
A Hundred Million Suns Snow Patrol
Country Strong Soundtrack (I told you not to judge me!)
Grey's Anatomy Soundtrack
The Blue Album Weezer

As you can see, I would totally fail at the desert island challenge. Thank goodness for digital music, now I don't have to choose three CDs!

Monday, July 15, 2013

Weekly Check-in

Physically: Really, really, really tired. I think it's the heat

Emotionally: Feeling anxious.

Spiritually: Need to work on this more.

Goal: Last week's goal was to bring my lunch every day. I mostly accomplished this goal, so I'm considering it a win.

My goal this week is to clean out my pantry.

Friday, July 12, 2013

Book Report - Walk Two Moons


Title: Walk Two Moons
Authour: Sharon Creech
Length: 280 pages
How long it took me to read: A Week

What it's about:
"How about a story? Spin us a yarn."
Instantly, Phoebe Winterbottom came to mind. "I could tell you an extensively strange story," I warned.
"Oh, good!" Gram said. "Delicious!"
And that is how I happened to tell them about Phoebe, her disappearing mother, and the lunatic.

As Sal entertains her grandparents with Phoebe's outrageous story, her own story begins to unfold — the story of a thirteen-year-old girl whose only wish is to be reunited with her missing mother.

In her own award-winning style, Sharon Creech intricately weaves together two tales, one funny, one bittersweet, to create a heartwarming, compelling, and utterly moving story of love, loss, and the complexity of human emotion.
The ending is the most important part: This book will make you laugh all the way through, then the ending will make you cry, but it's okay.

Last word: Usually, the longer it takes me to read a book, the less I like the book, however, I loved this book. It is funny and real and touching and wonderful. I recommend this book for anyone.

Spoilers after the jump:

Thursday, July 11, 2013

Currently - July

Loving - Goodreads.com

Reading - Angela's Ashes

Watching - Pretty Little Liars. Everything else is on hiatus, and that's fine. I have better things to do with my time.

Anticipating - When Huey comes home from the BSA National Jamboree. I can't wait to hear about his trip!

Listening - Recover by Chvrches. They are my new favourite love. I have this song on a loop.

Planning - Redecorating my guest bathroom

Working on - Painting my kitchen

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Ways to Fail at Combating Homesickness - The Fourth of July

So being a Canadian living in the United States of America kinda sucks.

It's not like I didn't already know what I was getting into when I moved here. I grew up ten miles from the border, we have more American channels than Canadian channels, and all the Americans would come to our bars because the legal drinking age in Canada is nineteen. All our temple trips were to the Seattle temple, and I served a mission in Michigan, thus spending enough time in the States to know what it's like to live in the States.

I'm really proud of being a Canadian. I have lived here for seventeen years and have yet to become a U.S. Citizen because of the whole "denounce any allegiance to any other country". Sorry, can't give up my Canadianness. I don't sing the U.S. national anthem, and except when I'm leading it in my role as Cubmaster, I don't say the Pledge of Allegiance. The U.S. is not my country and I don't pledge allegiance to its flag.

This is a source of contention with my husband and my boys. I just can't get over my pride that I am not an American, but a CANADIAN. I absolutely love being Canadian and won't give it up for anything. (being Canadian is that awesome)

Like I said, I knew what I was getting into; Americans are totally patriotic - garishly so. This time of year, the Stars and Stripes are brought out with even more vigor. There's the singing of patriotic songs in church that I do not do, standing for the national anthem, waving flags, fireworks for days, etc. I used to not care; when I was growing up we would have our Canada Day fireworks on July 1, then go to the beach on the Fourth to watch the Americans shoot off theirs. Theirs were always so much better, longer, and louder than ours.

Now that I've been away for so long, and Facebook has allowed me to see all my friends from my past celebrating Canada Day and waving their maple leafs all over the place, I really miss Canada Day.

All I'm left with is the Fourth. The Fourth used to be fun; who can say no to BBQ, potato salad, fireworks, and apple pie? I've realized that I could tolerate the Fourth only because it was combined with the First.

SIGH.

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

There's nothing good on the radio


Except for this. Thank goodness for Chvrches. They're Scottish too, which makes them all the more excellent.

I've posted a few times about how there are times when I can't find anything good on the radio, and this is one of those times. (I hear you, Ducky)

Sometimes I get so frustrated with the radio that I can't listen to it any more and I just turn it off.

I'm my own worst enemy when it comes to this because I have yet to stock my car with my favourite CDs, but I've found that when I'm in these moods even the best of the best of music to take me out of my mood sounds bad and that just ruins it for me, so silence is the best option.

I still love you, Sirius, I just think we need to take a break right now.

Monday, July 8, 2013

Weekly Check-in


Physically: Tired because of the heat, post Fourth of July festivities, and trying to get Huey all ready for the National Jamboree.

Emotionally: Grumpy because of tiredness, and because summer's half over and we haven't done anything awesome. Sad because Huey's going to be gone for three weeks. Anxious because Huey's going to be gone for three weeks.

Spiritually: Okay, level, normal.

Goal: Last week's goal was to go to yoga three times. I totally failed. I forgot about the gym being closed for the 4th, so one class was cancelled, and PMS happened.

My goal this week is to make my lunch every day.

Friday, July 5, 2013

Book Report - When You Reach Me


Title: When You Reach Me
Authour: Rebecca Stead
Length: 197 pages
How long it took me to read: One day

What it's about:
By sixth grade, Miranda and her best friend, Sal, know how to navigate their New York City neighborhood. They know where it's safe to go, and they know who to avoid. Like the crazy guy on the corner.

But things start to unravel. Sal gets punched by a kid on the street for what seems like no reason, and he shuts Miranda out of his life. The apartment key that Miranda's mom keeps hidden for emergencies is stolen. And then a mysterious note arrives, scrawled on a tiny slip of paper. The notes keep coming, and Miranda slowly realizes that whoever is leaving them knows things no one should know. Each message brings her closer to believing that only she can prevent a tragic death. Until the final note makes her think she's too late.

The ending is the most important part: What a good ending! It was just what I thought was going to happen, but still not predictable.

Last word: I could not put this book down because it was enjoyable, easy to read, and just interesting enough to keep me going from chapter to chapter. It would be good if you were familiar with A Wrinkle In Time before you read this one. Totally recommend this for an easy, fast, read.

Spoilers after the jump:

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Ways to Fail at Combating Homesickness - Starbucks

As most of you know, I am originally from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and currently live in North Salt Lake, Utah, USA.

Being from Vancouver is really hard if you no longer live there. It's a great thing to be able to say you are from Vancouver, because most folks are familiar and know that it's one of the most beautiful places in the world. It's kind of like being from Hawaii, except colder, more rain, and Canada.

When I was on my mission, people always asked us where we were from. Every one of my companions was from somewhere in Utah - yawn, boring, aren't ALL Mormons from Utah? Then they would turn to me and I would tell them I was from Vancouver, and they would get all excited and ask me all kinds of things like do I speak French (un peu), or do I know anyone from Toronto (not really), or comment on how I must be used to the weather in Michigan considering I'm from Arctic Canada (um, no), or tell me about how they knew someone who took a cruise out of Vancouver (must be nice, I've never been on a cruise). Invariably, they would tell me how beautiful it is there. My companions hated it because no one asked them about Utah. It made me so homesick because then I would be reminded of the perfection that is Vancouver.

There is an ocean. There are mountains. There is bustling metropolis. There is the middle of nowhere. There are trees, and flowers, and wildlife. There is rain, but so what? It rarely goes below freezing nor get above 90 degrees Farenheit. Why, oh why did I ever leave? Love, that's why.

Utah is dry, and hot, and freezing, and brown, and wah wah wah. Sorry for the whining. There is lots of beauty here and I'm totally trying to bloom where I'm planted, but when it's a million degrees outside and you can't go out and play, I really miss my home and native land.

This post is a lot longer than I had intended, sorry.

Basically, what I wanted to tell you is that last night I was at my favourite store, ULTA stocking up on Big Sexy shampoo and Argan oil. The shopping centre also has a Starbucks and my boss sent me a Starbucks gift card for Administrative Professionals Day, and since Starbucks' are so few and far between here in Utah (Mormons don't drink coffee), I took advantage of the proximity, and went in for a smoothie and something else. The minute I walked in, whoosh, Vancouver. It looked like Vancouver, it smelled like Vancouver, it felt like Vancouver.

Anyone who's been to Vancouver knows about the Starbucks at Robson and Thurlow that has a Starbucks across the street. Or that you can't throw a rock without hitting a Starbucks, or Seattle's Best Coffee, or Bread Garden, or some other cute, funky, stylish coffee shop. Sigh.

The drive to the shopping center is on a highway that reminds me of Highway 10 on the way to my Nana's, and so I was already in that frame of mind a little. I got an Orange Mango smoothie which tasted more like a banana smoothie with the essence of mango and no orange whatsoever, but I also got a chocolate chip cookie that was as big as my head with the darkest of bitter (meaning perfection) black chocolate, so it balanced out, I guess.

I wanted that Starbucks to hug me and tell me it was okay and stroke my hair, but what I really wanted to do was drive straight to the airport in my sweaty yoga clothes and no makeup and hop on the next flight to Vancouver. My mum would totally let me sleep on her couch.

Don't worry about me, I'll be okay.

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

There Will be Singing


A society without rules is chaos. That being said, there is a rule that when certain songs come on the radio, they must be sung out loud.

Squeeze's Tempted  is my number one favourite song to sing out loud and every single time it comes on the radio, I have to sing it out loud. It's the rules and I can't break the rules. Normally, I'm alone in the car, but sometimes I'm not. Sometimes it's just the boys that are in the car, but sometimes one of the boys has a friend with them. This goes without saying, but they get like, so embarrassed when I sing out loud.

(I included the version with the words in the video so that you can sing along too)

I know that it's the worst thing in the world to hear the words "your mom is so cool!" from your friends. I used to hear it all the time too. Especially when she would sing along to the radio.

Sorry, I don't make the rules, I just follow them.

Monday, July 1, 2013

Weekly Check-in

Physically: Good, except my fingers and ankles are all swollen due to the 100+ degree heat. It's very uncomfortable.

Emotionally: Perfectly normal.

Spiritually: Totally average.

Goal: Last week's goal was to go to yoga twice. Mission accomplished!

My goal this week is to go to yoga three times.

A very Happy Canada Day!