I'm Thankful For The Alphabet

Here is my all in good fun but totally serious list of things I am thankful for in alphabetical form.  The rule of the game is to go in order and list the first thing that comes to mind that you are grateful for. There were other things I thought of but I play by the rules and this is what emerged:

A-Airplanes
B-Bishop and Sister Wilcox
C-Cheddar Cheese
D-Deseret Industries
E-Erika Kern
F-Friends and Family
G-God
H-Houses
I-Ice scrapers
J-Joseph Smith
K-Kristin
L-Love
M-Moccasins
N-Neville Longbottom
O-Olives, black
P-Photos
Q-Quadriceps
R-Rain storms
S-Silly Youtube videos
T-Tattoos of the fake variety
U-Underwear!
V-Vaccines
W-Watermelons
X-Xerox machines
Y-Yummy Thanksgiving dinners!
Z-Zachary Levi

Now I don't want anyone thinking that I'm being all flippant and making fun of the Holiday or not really showing gratitude. I honestly believe that it is important to think of the obscure little things that really are blessings in our lives. I was getting out of the shower earlier and looking at how my hair color is fading again and I thought, "What a great gift that God gave us color." Because honestly it isn't a necessity, but how much better is a world full of color compared to one in shades of gray? There are so many small things in my life to be grateful for. I find it easy to appreciate the big important ones like my fantastic family and awesome friends, but I don't say how much I love tupperware that often. And I really like leftovers a lot. So I should lay it out and be straightforward. I love tupperware. 

Bishop and Sister Wilcox are on here because I'm going to have dinner at their house tonight. I'm in charge of my absolute favorite part, the sweet potatoes so I better finish getting ready and go put those suckers in the oven!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Just About Ready For This Photo Challenge To Be Over

But I will keep plugging on because I said that I would finish it.


day 21. a photo of you standing up

I love Kayla!

A wider view so you can enjoy the whole glory of this moment.

day 22. a photo of your town

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Hometown number one, Eureka

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Hometown number two, Rexburg. I don't know which one to claim now.

day 23. a photo of your friend as a baby

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Ok fine. This isn't a photo of a friend of mine as a baby. Or even a friend's baby. But I would like to be friends with this baby!

day 24. a photo of you that your hair looks nice in

The vulture doesn't look half bad either.

A Fact of Life

Honey is not a replacement for brown sugar.

I learned this in a sticky not quite delicious way yesterday at dinner. I love me some acorn squash and although my cupboards are extremely low right now (read: I've been too lazy to grocery shop and cook) there was a little green squash buddy hanging out in the pantry.  They take forever to cook in the oven (Over and hour. Not worth it) so my Grandma told me to take a fork to it and throw it in the microwave for a few minutes. Hooray for Grandma! It was ready in under 10 and boy was I hungry.  Then the terror struck. I ran out of brown sugar forever ago, hence the reason I'd stopped eating yummy warm breakfast cereals and hadn't baked delicious cookies in forever. I raided all of the cupboards desperately hoping that Rosette or Shanda had some stashed in a secret hiding place, but alas, there was none.  The next best things that popped into my head were maple syrup or honey.  They're both sweet and brown right? One should be able to substitute.  WRONGO! A little drizzle of honey over my microwaved to perfection acorn squash was not what the doctor ordered.  It didn't have a terrible flavor, it just was not something I'd ever like to experience again. 

So take this as a little lesson from me. If you are ever in a bind and need something to top your gourd of choice, find a savory flavor like butter with rosemary or some other spice because honey just won't cut it.

The End.

Anthropologie Wishlist

I heart Anthro. Now I just need to keep my eyes open for things like these, only much cheaper.

foxes on tights?? adorable!

Mustard for the Ketchup

day 18. a photo of one of your classes

This picture was taken of my feet by one of my teachers. It was English 314...um, Advanced Literary Composition or something like that. Basically we just tore literature apart and wrote cliche things about it.  Brother Samuelson was a fascinating teacher though and he just loved the color combination of my shoes and socks with Chandler's book bag so he took a picture! I think I was supposed to e-mail it to him but I never got around to it. And it's been two years. Um...at least I remembered now??

day 19. a photo of you on a school trip

You may not believe me, but I went to Belize and Guatemala on a school trip. President's week 2006. Oh baby. Best field trip ever! I scanned my entire computer and when it was reset I think I lost all of my pictures but I have them on a disc somewhere and I stole these off of Mandy's FB page. (It was mine originally anyway) I'm in the middle with dumb sunglasses and a light blue t-shirt.  This is in front of Temple II in Tikal, Guatemala. Temple I faces it and it is the iconic one that is most familiar but because of its stardom it is blocked off and only for admiring.  We went to the top of the one that we are standing in front of. Amazing. 

day 20. a photo of something you enjoy doing

SEWING

It consumes my life. And I love being consumed. 

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A Happy in My Day

I was tired of my bathroom so I bought this shower curtain. It makes life so much more enjoyable and I never want to get out of the shower. But that could be because of my enormous love of bath products as well. 

buy your own

The first step is admitting you have a problem.

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Brontesaurus

I've been craving a read through of Wuthering Heights since the snow started falling.  Something about dreary white wasteland just makes me want to get sucked into a miserable novel full of vengeance and suffering. 

I found this video n my friend's facebook and had to share it. 

The power of literary women! 

And for some follow up, here is The Jane Austen Fight Club!


I'm a huge fan of Fight Club, and actually not a gigantic fan of Jane Austen, but this is a clever video.

I Am A Procraftinator

I should be working right now. Or sleeping. Or working on my final design project. 

But no. I made this refashioned scarf! 

Well, not this one literally. I haven't taken pictures of it yet but I got the idea from Disney's blog Ruffles and Stuff. It was super super easy and I can't wait to wear it tomorrow! I'll hunt someone down that's good with a camera and get it up as soon as I can. I dare you to make one yourself!

For another moment of procraftination I'm planning on making these Regency Silhouette ornaments from The Magic Bean. They are so adorable and I'm a huge fan of silhouettes.

I haven't decided completely where they will be going after I make the ornaments. Some will be for my family and a few for friends, but I'm also participating in this great craft swap

Ornaments for everyone!!! If you would like to participate the deadline is tomorrow, November 19th.

Well Erika has fallen asleep on my couch watching How the Grinch Stole Christmas, but she's probably just avoiding the fact that I've been reciting the whole thing! Brent is watching it for the first time and I bet he wants to shove a pillow in my face. "WHAT's HAPPENING TO ME? I'm all toasty inside. And I'm LEAKING!!!"

I'm super proud of the effort that I put in at work today. I'm the designated seamstress for apparel in our fabric department so I reorganized our little girl patterns and made a nice display. I also wrote a little tutorial for making fabric roses but I'll share that in a separate post. I'm really getting into the handmade Christmas spirit so with all of the new projects for work, as well as my top secret project (that will be finished on Saturday) and gifts it's a wonder that I find time to breath! But I'm managing somehow. Five weeks until California!!!

The photo challenge today is a photo from one of your classes and I'm not in any right now (technically I am, but it's independent study) and I'm not using my computer right now. If I find one later I'll add it but I think I'm just going to skip this one. Boring.

Ketchup

Yep. I took my own advice and spent some time off of the internet and read a book! Given, it was a graphic novel but it was excellent. Browsing through the local library I found a copy of Persepolis and had to read it. It's a memoir of a woman who grew up in Iran in the 1980's and about her experiences as a girl in a family that was opposed to the changes in the government at the time. It was moving to see how much her family fought for their cause and eventually her parents sent her to finish school in Vienna because they knew that she would only be punished and persecuted more if she stayed in Iran.  It's a beautifully told story and really informative so I'd highly recommend that you check it out. 

15. a photo of you and someone you love

This is me and my mom making total tard faces at my sister's wedding. You can only smile for a pictures and look normal like 500 times in one day. And this was obviously not one of those times. 

 16. a photo of you at the last party you went to

I've been to parties since Halloween, just none of them have been documented. 

 17. a drunk photo of you

Well no drunk pictures of me exist anymore, so this will have to do. Because any normal person in this situation would probably be drunk. I find it HILARIOUS!

Missionary Monday

My brother James is currently serving in the Florida Orlando Mission of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and on Mondays he gets to e-mail us updates!  This picture is from a recent baptism of a girl named Brittany (she rocks because she has PINK hair!).  The sister missionaries in the photo taught her and she requested that my brother be the one to baptize her.  He told us a little bit about her and how strong her testimony is of the gospel. She's had to change a lot about her life to be in the great place that she is now.  Stories of members in his area and the people that he is teaching are my absolute favorite about his letters.

And Elder Van Buskirk here hasn't seen The Hangover yet, but I'm going to make sure he doesn't call that a man purse. It's a satchel.  Although he's pretty flamboyant about wearing it, so maybe it is a man purse.

In other news I'm eating apple pie for breakfast. SO good! Kristin came over last night and we baked up a little storm and laughed our faces off at SNL. The perfect ending to a slow weekend.