The Biannual Phone Call

  
Yep, that is my (favorite) brother, Wade. Oopsie! Did I just write "favorite"? What? I have no idea what you're talking about! You must all be delusional. I totally understand your condition, especially after gazing at the picture above. I mean, who wouldn't get all mind boggled after seeing that face?! Seeing as my other brothers probably don't even have the decency to read my blog, I find it totally acceptable to say Wade is my favorite brother haha! But, Cameron and Keagan, if you do ever read this, the entire above paragraph is a complete lie. Consider it void from this time forth.

That picture was taken about 2 years ago when Wade was a senior in High School; back when it wasn't a luxury to live at home and hang out with all of our friends every Friday night, doing crazy stupid things just because we were kids and we could. Back when we would stay up past our bedtimes, eating graham crackers with milk, Wade was usually shirtless and singing some ridiculous song. Back when I could call him just to laugh, or text him
just to get a reply along the lines of "go on girl, go ahead get down." Ya, I don't get it either, but that was the beauty of Wade. He would say whatever he wanted and do whatever he wanted and he didn't care. I hate that we both had to grow up and move away. Sometimes, I wish it could always be the summer of 2010 and we could go night swimming whenever we wanted and ride our bikes to 711 for a slurpee everyday. Those were the days...                                                                                     

Right now, he's on his mission in South Cali. Or at least, that's what he calls it. Normal people would call it Ventura, California, but you know, whatever floats your boat :) He left in August and we have been communicating weekly by email for about 9 months now. So when I used to be able to call Wade whenever I wanted, which was usually at 11 o clock at night, just so I could listen to him and his friends throwing "parties" in their dorm room, I had to get used to good old letter writing. It was terrible at first. You wouldn't believe how hard it is to find an hour of your time on a Sunday night to devote to recapping your entire week into a little email to send to your brother, especially when all you want to do is call him up and explain to him every detail of whats happened in the past week. But, the emails aren't so bad, now that I'm used to it. At least there's a reason to be excited for Monday's now, seeing as that is the day I get to open up my email and read whatever Wade has sent us that week, which usually consists of a lot of rubbish poetry and catch phrases, but the majority of it... wow. I can't tell you how much he has grown up on his mission. It's like he can actually describe a sincere feeling without being sarcastic or cracking a joke right afterwards. I'm so excited to see him after these 2 years are up and see how much he has grown as a person.

Wow. Tangent much, Kaitlan? Always. Anyway, Mother's day and Christmas, he is allowed to call his family, and Mother's day just happened to be a week ago! Since most of us kids are all grown and gone, we set up a big conference call with my house, me in DC, my brother in Rexburg, Idaho, and my sister in Driggs, Idaho, and of course, Wade in Cali :). It was so great just to hear his voice and his laugh. It's nice to know he still has the same sense of humor and, for the most part, he is the same brother that used to stay up all night with me and camp out on the trampoline when the mosquitoes weren't swarming. He sounded great, like he was really enjoying himself, and I think he is really loving the mission. He always reminds me that God does things in his own time and that we can't rush His work in our lives. I think he gets frustrated sometimes because he lives in a place where people aren't jumping at the idea of joining the church. I mean, people living in mansions, driving Lamborghinis probably don't think they need God in their lives, but that's just what Wade is there to teach them. He has learned so much and I am so proud of him for choosing to devote 2 years of his life to this amazing work. He's going to gain so much from it. We got to talk to him for almost 2 hours and we all just told stories and he told stories about the people there and everything he's been doing. I just wanted to sit there and listen, which is just what I did.

The Youngins on a road trip. I miss this...

The downside to the twice yearly phone call is how much you miss them after it's over. I am missing Wade more than ever right now. I can't imagine going home for the summer and him not being there to make everything funny and awesome. He always had a way of making every situation more fun. Even Disney World was more fun with Wade there. I don't know what summer is going to be like without him there. He was the one who always suggested going to the park at midnight just for the heck of it, or seeing how many people could fit into our closet full of sleeping bags. One of my favorite memories is when Wade would come in my room and just say "sleep over?". Then him and Bayley, my little sis, would come in with their pillows and we'd all pile on the bed. And even though I always hated when they imposed on my perfect night's sleep and gracious moving room, it was so much fun with all of us in there, talking til early hours of the morning and trying to keep it down as to not wake the parents. Ugh. I hate growing up.

And now for some great pictures of Wade, as a tribute to the greatest, most hilarious brother anyone could ask for. ..

First day of Summer with our friend Taylor :) Always a good time at the pool

I can't remember a time he wasn't playing guitar... seriously

Wade's classic outfit haha!

Best half of the family :) Just sayin!

 Hope you enjoyed that trip down memory lane. Moral of the story: I miss Wade!! Practically counting down the days til he comes home. But, I am so proud of him and so happy for everything he is doing and has accomplished. Miss you, Wade! Love ya, kid!

To my amazing mother

Happy Mother's Day to everyone! I hope everyone enjoyed this beautiful Sunday, and actually got off their butts and did something spectacular for their mom's. Seriously, people. Let's not be those lame people who make the excuse "She's too hard to shop for" or "She's never satisfied with anything I do for her." It's just sad. The only reason I am blog yelling at you is because I don't get to be home for this joyous occasion, so the best I can do is send a lame text message saying "Happy Mother's Day, mom. Love you." I mean, how lame is that? If I were my mom, I would have verbally slapped me in the face! I wish I could have been home to make my amazing mother breakfast in bed, or make one of those cheesy cards that all kids do when they forget that its the Saturday before Mother's Day and all they have time and money to do is pull out a piece of card stock and write a little poem. And we all know that only a mother would like those cards. That's the beauty of it :). I wish I could have been with all my siblings so we could have planned an amazing day, even though my mom is too stubborn to let us do anything for her anyway. I guess that whole plan would have gone to waste anyway. 

Seeing as it is Mother's Day, I thought I would devote this post to my incredible mom. What an amazing person she is. Seriously. I don't know how she does it. I want to thank her for everything she has done, does, and will do for me. She was the one we could all count on for every little thing. I think she's got a supernatural brain that can remember everything you say to her about school parties and performances, ballet schedules, church assignments and friend plans. . . or she just keeps a really good to-do list and has a planner that could practically be published as a documentary of our lives. She will forever be known as the anal clean freak, but I hope she knows that all of her kids profusely thank her for it. She is the woman who counts the spoons and runs around the house looking for it if there's one missing. She's the mom who remakes your bed after you've already made it, just because it's probably not good enough for her. She is the 3 times counter cleaner and the "rinse the dishes completely before putting them in the dish washer" lady. She is the vacuum at 11 o clock on a Saturday night, laundry every Thursday, and wash the bedding monthly kind of mom. Thank you for giving me one of the best examples of cleanliness that could have ever been, even though I am probably not following it. . . I haven't made my bed once this semester :) But don't tell my mom!
I want to thank my mom for always being there for me. She was the one you could always talk to when you were having a bad day and she would explain how it could all get done. Even living half way across the nation, she never fails to make me feel better. And even though, sometimes I get mad because she makes everything sound so simple and easy, I'm glad that she will listen to my complaints and help me figure out how to overcome my challenges. I love talking to her on the phone, just listening to what she's doing (which is usually cleaning or organizing something that's completely unnecessary) or laughing at her ridiculous jokes. She thinks she's pretty funny :). But, usually we are only laughing at her getting hysterical over something really lame haha! She has always encouraged me to follow my dreams and has made so many sacrifices so that I can live away from home to pursue ballet. I'm so lucky to have a mother who wants me to be happy, even if it means being criticized for favoring me over all her other kids :) whoops. . oh well.
I know everyone says this, but my mom is the most amazing mother a person could ask for. And my mom trumps all other moms. Just try and beat her; you can't. She can handle all of our crazy schedules, cook dinner, work two jobs, keep the house clean and still find time to look beautiful every day. If I had to deal with all that, I would look like a mess. I probably wouldn't even brush my hair in the morning haha! She can always make me laugh, even when I'm in a bad mood and I've had a really long day. I just call her up and she'll say something really ridiculous and I just burst out laughing. Then she'll rub it in my face that she got me to laugh :) I love that. I know this is probably bad to say, but I love gossiping with my mom. haha!! We could talk for hours about the latest news or the newest secret, even though we probably shouldn't be talking and gossiping about people :). I hate that she's good at everything. She can decorate wedding cakes like a pro and whip up an amazing dinner like a freaking chef! She keeps a planner religiously and scrapbooks beautifully. She can handle a truckload of stress and remembers to do everything for everyone. She will go out of her way to make someone else happy and fulfills all her church duties, even when it's probably not worth it. She writes calligraphy and makes a dirty kitchen look brand new with just some hot water and a sponge. Best of all, she has given us all some of the greatest memories of our lives, most of them hilarious, or weird, or goofy, or just plain awkward. Those four words basically describe my mom, and that's why we love her so much. She's not afraid of speaking her mind, even if it means losing friends or running the risk of her entire family making fun of her, which is usually what happens :) haha.
She is an incredible person and I am so thankful that I have her in my life. I look forward to so many more great times with her, learning and laughing and working together. I am so excited to see her in the next two weeks!! I owe her everything and I am glad to have such a good role model in my life. Love you so much, Mom!!!

Cupcake Madness!! (and my first recipe post)

 

 I am happy to announce (although my thighs are not so happy) that I have officially made close to a hundred cupcakes in the past 2 weeks. One thing that you must know, even though its a little embarrassing: I have a weird, compulsive obsession with cupcakes. . . I don't know why, but at the sound of that enticing little word, I light up like one of those dogs whose ears perk up at the word "ball." Is that bad? Does this mean I am destined to be obese when I lose my adolescent metabolism? For the sake of my jean size, I should probably find a new obsession, like celery or running marathons, but I just can't seem to get over it. I love cupcakes. And that's all there is to it. It all started this past summer. I was in DC for Washington Ballet's summer intensive and my roommate and I wanted to go to all the major bakeries in Georgetown. We hit Baked and Wired, Sprinkles Cupcakes, Crumbs Bakeshop, and (my all time favorite) Georgetown Cupcake. They all had something we loved, and, being the nerd we are, we compared and contrasted the quality and taste of the cupcakes and dubbed Georgetown the winner of our little non-existent competition. I mean, look at that picture! Could anyone resist one of those?!? I didn't think so... 

One of my favorite things to do, going along with my antisocial disease, is go into my sanctuary of a kitchen and whip up a batch of cupcakes. There's just something about blasting some All Time Low at 11 o clock at night, turning on that oven, pulling out the old recipe book and getting the hand mixer going. Sometimes, I like to pretend I'm in my own little bakery and making these cupcakes for customers, urgently awaiting my famous cream cheese frosting dolloped on top of a perfect vanilla cupcake. .. ya, I know I'm weird. and crazy. Get over it. Don't judge me just because I think there is something amazing about pulling out the perfect batch of cupcakes out of the oven. Alright, that just made me sound even more psycho. I'm just going to stop describing my insanity. You get the point.

Anyway, 2 weeks ago, I was asked by my church to teach a cupcakes decorating class for the women and young women in my ward. And, being the cupcake freak I am, I got so excited. I wasn't even required to make any cupcakes or frosting, but I got right to work and made 40 cupcakes and 3 batches of cream cheese frosting. I figured I had an extra can of pumpkin in my cupboard, just sitting there, not being put to any use. Why not make cupcakes!?! I had to justify making cupcakes for some reason :) We all know I was going to make them anyway. Before I make anything, I have to look through all my recipes, making sure I'm going to make the best one (and since I am on a $30 a week budget, the cheapest recipe is what I'll go for these days). So, I poured over my 3 cupcake books and my overwhelmingly huge pinterest page (I have seriously pinned way too many cupcake recipes. I have a problem). I finally decided on the Georgetown Cupcake pumpkin spice cupcakes, with a maple cream cheese frosting. My mom bought me their book for Christmas, and it has become one of my favorite books. It has a lot of little stories from their childhood and from their business. It's fun to read about what they do everyday and all the things they did with their grandma when they were kids. Theirs also a few good recipes in there, which is just awesome for me! I got right to work, creaming the butter and sugar, adding the pumpkin and honey, and finally pulling those perfectly baked pumpkin cupcakes out of the oven. I also had to prepare myself for the class. I, again, looked through all my books to figure out what I was going to teach these people about decorating cupcakes. I decided I would just stick with a few basic tips and a few little swirl techniques. Keeping it simple is always best when teaching people how to decorate, because they usually just go crazy and put about a pound of frosting on top. Maybe it's because I'm super controlling when it comes to baking and my cupcakes, but I was like mentally ripping my hair out at the sight of all those girls piling on the frosting like it was nothing... such a waste of good cream cheese!!

The class went really well, despite my OCD flaring up. I had to control myself to not scream out "JUST STOP IT" a few times. I brought four bags of frosting and my 40 cupcakes. Another lady made a whole lot of cupcakes for me too, which was really great, so my beautiful cupcakes didn't go to waste with all that nasty frosting being splattered around. I just used some basic star tips and a round tip and showed them the classic swirl and just a few simple little things you can do with a piping bag. I decided you can't really teach someone how to decorate. They just have to learn and practice themselves. It was so hard watching them fail at putting a little swirl on top of their cupcake. I didn't think it was that hard haha! I guess I was wrong :). But I had a lot of fun! I met a lot of new people in the ward that I had never even seen and we discussed our mutual obsession with cupcakes and the pros and cons of all the bakeries in the area. I'm glad there are more crazies out there like me. After it was all over, everyone got to eat a cupcake and everyone said that the pumpkin ones were amazing. It makes you really proud when people like what you bake. Naturally, I shared both my cream cheese frosting recipe and the pumpkin spice recipe. I hope people will take advantage of them!! Speaking of which, I think I will include them in this post, just for the heck of it. I'm telling you, the cream cheese frosting is to die for!! I will swear my life on it. Ask everyone you know...

Cream Cheese Frosting
8 oz. cream cheese
1 stick butter
1 tsp. vanilla
4 cups powered sugar
Beat the cream cheese and butter together until combined. Add the vanilla and mix. Putting in one cup at a time and mixing completely in between additions, add the powdered sugar and beat until combined. Then enjoy. . .on every single cake, cupcake, graham cracker, piece of fruit or finger you can find. seriously. . .

That's it! Super easy, and freaking amazing. And just because I love my readers, I think I'm going to go crazy and even give you the pumpkin spice recipe. . is that allowed? It's from a book I bought, so I don't know if this is even legal, but what the heck :)

Georgetown Cupcakes Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes
(makes 24 cupcakes)
2 1/2 c all-purpose flour
3 tsp baking powder
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp allspice
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
2 stick butter at room temp.
2 c cugar
4 eggs
1 1/2 c pumpkin puree
2 tbsp honey
1/3 c hot water
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 standard cupcake pans with 12 paper baking cups each. Sift together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg and salt and set aside. Beat butter in a stand mixer or in a bowl with hand mixer until fluffy. Add the sugar and beat until will incorporated. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing slowly after each addition. Mix in the pumpkin puree and honey. Add one third of the flour mixture and gradually add one third of the water, beating until well incorporated. Add another third of the flour and another third of the water and mix. Add the remaining flour and water and mix until just combined. Do not over mix so the cupcakes will be light and fluffy. Fill the baking cups so they are two-thirds full. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes (start checking them at 20 minutes) or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Transfer to wire rack to cool.
Maple Cream Cheese Frosting: It's the same cream cheese frosting recipe, but add about 1/4 c maple syrup, or to taste. I liked this recipe, but the frosting came out a little bit runny for it to be able to pipe onto a cupcake, so be careful how much maple syrup you add!!

Since I was so generous and gave you these ridiculously incredible recipes, I now hold it to you to make these creations and then send me a comment or a mental shout out agreeing that these recipes are genius. Thank heavens for Georgetown Cupcake :). Hopefully I can turn all of you into cupcake fanatics too! That is my new goal in life. Challenge accepted!! Well, enjoy your baking!!

The Life of an Introvert

A small fact about me: I am a slight introvert. I mean, I'm not one of those crazies who can't handle social situations, but I seriously prefer spending a Saturday night by myself than with people. It sounds mean, I know, but there is nothing better than the simplicity of not having to talk to anyone or please anyone or do what everyone else is doing. It is perfect for me to throw on my favorite, bulky fleece sweatshirt and read a good book or stalk people on facebook for endless hours from the comfort of my bed. And while I get a lot of crap about it, I simply don't care :) This being said, I do love a night out with friends, getting all dressed up and all that jazz and I guess I can call myself lucky that I don't suffer from major introversion. You really have a problem if you get stressed out over getting dinner with your daughter, DAD! I could tell he was getting a little awkward and nervous when he realized that he ran out of conversation topics and we were left staring at each other before our savior of a waitress finally delivered our dinner. My father is one of those people who will call you on the phone, ask you how you're doing, ask what you're doing and then end with a "Ok, I better let you go now" after like 3 minutes of talking. Great bonding time right there haha! After a night out, I can almost guarantee that he has to crawl in bed and recover after so much social interaction. Poor guy :). But, despite his ridiculously antisocial characteristics, I love him all the same. I'm actually pretty lucky to have a dad who can't stand people. It gets you out of spending hours making small talk with relatives you don't really even want to talk to. Once he's asked his two questions, he's had about enough talking and we can usually leave far earlier than everyone else. Thank goodness for social awkwardness.

Alright, now here's the real kicker: One of my favorite things to do is going shopping alone. At this point, I can imagine everyone thinking, she must not be a real girl, who all love to go shopping in huge groups for the satisfaction of walking out the dressing room and hearing an audience full of ooohhs and aahs at the stunning shirt they're wearing. Most people would say half the fun of buying new clothes is getting to buy them with people just so they can tell you  how cute you look in them. I would beg to differ. I like being able to walk around the whole store at a slow pace and not having to feel bad about making other people bored. I also have a problem with spending money; you could say I'm a bit of a tight wad. I get really stressed out about making any purchases, so it takes me awhile to commit to buying a $20 shirt. You have to consider lots of things when your making such life changing decisions haha!

Seriously?? I'm drooling all over myself...

Anyway, getting to the point of this post. Last weekend, I was feeling very introvert and decided to throw on a cute outfit and take a bus up to the nearest mall. The real reason I was going was to watch "The Lucky One", only the newest movie from Nicholas Sparks, including only the hottest actor on the face of the planet, Zac Efron. Being the fan that I am, I just had to see the movie. Being the introvert that I am, I decided just to go by myself and watch it, for pete's sake. Feeling on top of the world, I got their with plenty of time before the showtime, so I stopped to get some starbucks and a snack for the movie. I headed into that theater, got the best seat, right smack dab in the middle, and proceeded to enjoy a great drink and some spectacular cinema. Honestly, half of me went just to see Zac take his shirt off, but it turned out to be a really good movie!! I laughed, I cried, I was moved, and that's not just because I saw some sexy washboard abs. This was almost as good as the Notebook, which is quite the statement seeing as I am overly obsessed with that movie. Zac took on this very somber and quiet character and it was refreshing to see him in a different personality than he usually is. He suffers from post traumatic stress because of his time in the war and he develops a sort of shyness and inability to communicate with others. Anyway, he ends up walking all the way from Colorado to Illinois trying to find this girl who saved his life with her picture while he was in the service. I don't wanna ruin it for anyone who is going to go watch it )and everyone should) but there were some really funny moments and some really intense scenes. Overall, I loved it and I definitely recommend it!!

That was the first time I had ever gone to the movies by myself, but I actually quite enjoyed it. I was just lounging, my hair up in a messy bun, feet up on the seat in front of me, slurping down a vanilla bean frap and sporting my glasses so I could thoroughly enjoy Zac Efron's hot bod ;). I'm not going to lie, I felt a little out of place, seeing all these groups of people walking into the theater, but I didn't care once the movie started. After the movie was over, I walked around for awhile, dreaming about buying mac makeup and bloomingdale's shoes, then I caught a bus and went home, where I immediately got into my pajamas and retreated to my lonesome bedroom. Best Saturday ever. Just sayin :).

So there you have it! Being an introvert is very satisfying, especially when it involves starbucks and a great chick flick. It's even better when you have loads of money to blow on expensive clothes and top notch cosmetics, but that hasn't happened to me yet. Here's hoping one day it will, though!!

Senior Prom :)

I can't believe how fast the time flies. Not only am I referring to the past three weeks, which have been blog-less, but also my whole life. As you can tell from the title, this post is devoted to my senior prom. It's crazy that I am going to be graduating high school in the next month or so. Although, I secretly wish that my graduation would come sooner. 5 weeks left feels like an eternity when you are trying to finish up your last semester of high school and dancing all day long. Sometimes, I wish it was just over already and I could go home. But, obviously that just isn't the case, so I guess I'll just have to suffer through the final stretch. I'm coming on the last few miles of that marathon!! It feels good to know I'm almost done, but I have alot of cramming to do in the next month or so. haha :) whoops! online school sucks. . . and, honestly, watching tv is alot more interesting than taking pages and pages of notes and typing essays for 3 hours. Therefore, in the pure logic of this situation, I usually just end up watching that week old episode of How I Met Your Mother, only to realize that I have wasted my entire morning and it is time for me to go to dance. Miraculously, I think I can somehow manage to finish English and Calc on time, but. . . physics?? BAHA! Let's just say there are 16 weeks of work to do and I've only done 4 of them. . . .so basically, I have 5 weeks to do 12 weeks of work. Kill me now. And that doesn't even mean that I get any of the 4 weeks of work I have done. After almost 2 semesters of this torturous course, I still don't get it. Everyone keeps telling me its simple and its just math and plugging in numbers into equations, but when your teacher is an idiot and you have to teach the material to yourself, it's just not that easy. This may seem like typical senior talk, but I'm thinking about just doing 70% of the work and calling it a day. haha! Then I'll at least have a C and I can say that I passed the most impossible course I have ever taken, and, seriously, I am ok with that. And thats coming from the girl who has never gotten a B in a regular class. :) Senioritis is real, my friends, and it has overtaken me in the greatest capacity possible. I'll be good with just a diploma at this point haha. Don't tell my mom ;)

Well, seeing as I haven't posted anything in three weeks, I must inform all of my readers about my incredible experience at prom. It's a little sad to admit, but this was my first real school dance, and my last! I'm just glad I got to spend it with some really great friends and an amazing guy. Just for good measure, I'm going to begin this story from the very begging. It all began when my incredibly gracious mother told me that she would fly me home for my senior prom if I wanted to. Being the completely ignorant-about-money daughter that I am, I took her up on the offer and subtly told this guy I may or may not like that I "happened" to be home the weekend of prom. A week or so later, I opened my facebook to find the a little something from this guy. An adorable poem, which he wrote himself, might I add, and it went a little something like this...

It's the way you calm me down
It's the way you hold my hand
It's the way you make me smile
It's the way you understand

It's the car rides to everywhere
It's our every awkward moment,
It's the connection between us both
That's created this relationship like component

It's all those butterflies, fluttering in my belly
Girl, you light up my night sky
So, would you go to prom with me?
Back here in the mile HI!!
Ya, i know right?!? Dang cute. So, I said yes, DUH!, all the while smiling to myself and possibly blushing a little bit. No one has ever written poetry for me haha! I would even call it a little old fashioned, but it was a great way to ask a girl to prom who lives all the way across the nation, even if it was just over facebook haha! I spent the next 3 weeks looking at what seemed like every online prom dress website searching desperately for a dress with sleeves, and boy, let me tell you what a nightmare that was. I had no idea there were so many websites selling prom dresses, and I was unaware of how many friggin dresses that are in existence. The one thing I learned from this is that ym mother is Very Very set on modesty, and I mean shorts at the knee, sleeves covering the shoulders, and you could say that she would prefer me to wear a turtleneck over any other shirt. But, we will get to the irony of that later. After an eternity of scrolling through millions of pictures of dresses, and days of haggling with my mom about what modest means, we finally found one with sleeves and one that I actually liked. I wasn't going to be one of those cliche mormon girls who wear the poofy dresses and the little jacket to make the dress modest. And there is certainly nothing wrong with that look, it's really cute actually, but I just am not into that little jacket cover-up, princess dress look for my senior prom. Anyway, my mom snatched that floor-length, chiffon, pale pink and a sequin and diamond bodice dress, and we had accomplished the greatest task of the entire trip. We booked a few plane tickets, and i was home before I knew it. Since I was away from home when all the plans were made, I was quite oblivious to what was going on when I got home. Thank goodness for my date, Landon, for making all the arrangements, even if I wasn't happy with a few of them ;), but I'll get to that later. 

Saturday came before I knew it and it was time to start getting ready. We started at about 9:30 am, when I got my nails done at a cute little nail salon down the street from my house. It's run and worked by all these adorable Korean ladies who hardly speak any English, but do an amazing job at nails. I just got a simple french manicure, but I loved it. After getting a little pampered, we headed home where I got a headstart on my makeup and get all my things together. We had quite a bit of work to do on the dress, ironically. When I put it on, it was very low cut, and I mean, even my brother in law was distracted haha! So, lesson to learn: just because a dress has sleeves does not mean it is modest. Honestly, we probably would have been better off buying a less modest dress that actually covered my cleavage. But, because I have a wonderful seamstress of a mother, we fixed the issue with a little strip of fabric in the front and just a few safety pins. We headed over to my hair appointment at 3:30 and we were hoping to be back by 4:30 so I could be all ready to go by 5, but let's just say there were some complications. The hair stylist spent quite awhile curling all my hair, only to find out that it had all fallen flat again by the time she was done. So, we came up with another plane and she devised this really pretty chignon with lots of pinned curls and it turned out fabulous, and it stayed in the whole night, amazingly enough! The bad part was that we didn't finish my hair until 4:30, so we had to speed home, throw my dress on, make some last minute adjustments, throw my stuff together, and all while my date was waiting in the foyer :) I'm always making him wait for me, but he'll get over it someday haha! Anyway, we did pictures with the big group and then our small group of 4 mormon couples ate dinner at one of our houses. A few of our moms made a lovely meal and set up a fancy table setting. Even though I was disappointed that I wasn't eating dinner with my friends and riding in a sweet limo, I had a really great time. The dessert was fantastic and the twice baked potatoes were to die for, plus Landon kept rubbing it in my face that we probably all ate for less money that one person at that fancy restaurant. Stupid Landon :) haha. All of the boys basically quoted Hot Rod the entire time and we all laughed our butts off. So, even though I hate to admit it, I had a lot of fun, eating steak and enjoying some lovely company with a bunch of comedians. We had a little time to kill before going up to Red Rocks, which is where prom was, so we stopped by Walmart so the boys could pick up some energy drinks. Honestly, I was really disapointed that all those kids were drinking that crap. It was just kinda wrong to me seeing all these goody two shoes mormons, chugging down voltages in the back seat. I am proud to tell you that I didn't consume any caffeine that night, and as it turned out, I was the least tired after all was said and done.  

Then, it was off to the dance, which was pretty lame. We pretty much just stood in the back in our little circle while everyone else was getting their grind on. Yep. awkward. What made it worse was that they were trying to make it all mormon dance, busting out weird and stupid dance moves, and i was like. . .uh no. haha! so i basically just stood there for 2 hours and all the mormons made fools of themselves :). At least there were a few slow dances. oh! I forgot to say, we drove up and it was POURING rain!! When you got out of the car, the teachers were leading you down this really long downhill path that lead to the visitors center, which is where the dance was. I was wearing 4 and a half inch heels so you can just imagine me walking DOWNHILL and in the RAIN!! I thought i was going to die and fall on my face and rip my dress, which was just a little too long, so I was tripping all over myself. Since my date was parking the car, I was clinging to another guy for dear life while we made the long walk to the dance. After the dance was over, we walked outside and it was SNOWING!!!! What the heck! So again, I had to make the long, now uphill, walk to the car. At least this time, I was walking with Landon, who is a little more sturdy than Jacob and I didn't feel so bad grabbing onto his arm the whole time, seeing as he was my date haha! He kept offering me his jacket when we went outside, but I turned him down every time, and now I'm thinking i probably shoulda taken it. I was freezing when we walked back to the car, and maybe it would have made him feel a little more needed if I was wearing it haha. I don't understand men. They don't want to let us girls pay for anything or open our own doors or freeze in the snow just so we can maintain a little pride. It's a little sexist if you ask me, but I do like feeling pampered haha. But if your a tight wad, like Landon, you should let us pay for dinner so that we can freaking eat dinner with out friends for heavens sakes!!! I just had to say that. Alright moving on.
We went back to one of our houses to change and holy cow, let me just say how good it feels to take off an uncomfortable dress and 4 inch heels after wearing them from way too many hours. It's like taking a breath of fresh air after having your face in someone's armpit for 3 hours.. . .or something like that :) haha. I think i just stood there for a few seconds soaking in the gloriousness of not wearing a dress and uncomfortable heels, smiling to myself, and possibly even belting out a few opera notes. HALLELUIAH!!!
Then, we went back to the school for after prom, which was super awesome!! We basically spent the entire time in the poker room. Landon played and dominated at blackjack, and I got sick of if after like half an hour. There really is no strategy in blackjack; it's all luck, and I am more of a texas hold em kinda girl, so I ditched him to go play with my guy friend, Nick at the texas table. Me and nick played for like 2 hours and we pretty much cleared out everyone. He is really good at betting and so we kinda teamed up and told each other our cards every time and helped the other out if they had the better cards. It was really fun, and I wish I got to play with him longer. The rest of my group found this dealer who was pretty much giving away from points and one of the guys made like a million dollars in points!! After all was said and done, we all pooled together our points and cleared out the entire prize table, and I am saying that very literally. Jacob bought all the candy, about 20 gift cards, 6 yoga mats and like 10 water bottles, a few board games, baseball gloves, and a bunch of other pointless crap that he bought just for fun. I got a yoga mat and a water bottle that match so I was pretty happy with my winnings haha. We headed out at 4 in the morning and went over to one of the girl's house for breakfast. Her dad made a HUGE plate of bacon and some really good waffles. It was a terrific breakfast after the longest night of my life.  After stuffing myself full, we all crashed for about an hour and then got up and all went to church. Jacob was out in the first 20 minutes and the rest of us were fighting to keep our eyes open. I went home afterwards and literally collapsed on the couch, still in my dress, and didn't wake up until like 6 o clock. I'm pretty sure my brother tried to wake me up a few times, but I just can't remember. I just died haha!! What a night :) It was such a blast and it was totally worth the trip. I had an amazing time.
So, there you have it. If you have successfully read that entire story, I congratulate you. Thanks for listening to my rambling, as always. Will write again soon.
Until the next time,
Your dancer to be. . . 

There's Nothing Better Than the Weekends

I woke up this morning and realized I hadn't written in my blog for the past two weeks, even though I actually had some worthy stories and experiences to write about. And I could start out this post with a long, meaningless excuse about how I am going through some mind blowing tragedy that kept me from my laptop for two weeks, but that would be a lie. So, I've decided to just be honest and tell you that I'm suffering from a bad case of "I'm really behind in school and I'm using every passing moment to vigorously catch up before I'm supposed to graduate in May." That is a legitimate excuse, if you ask me. I don't know how it happened, but I got really unmotivated this past month and I guess it sounded like a good idea at the time to just procrastinate in all my classes. Now that I've gained complete consciousness, I am suffering the terrible consequences of my totally idiotic actions. And that means hours of homework on the weekends, late nights and early mornings of boring note taking and tedious project completions. I am even spending my entire spring break working from dusk til dawn just to get to the place where I am supposed to be in all my classes. Talk about a nightmare. . Boy, am I gonna have a blast.

But, despite my brain being on a constant treadmill, going from school work to ballet back to school work, I can still find just a tiny bit of joy in knowing it's the weekend. There is seriously nothing better than a lazy Saturday morning after a late Friday night with friends. While usually, you can find me in my room, sitting in my bed, staring into my laptop on the weekends ( I don't know what's wrong with me, but I quite enjoy being antisocial and watching How I Met Your Mother by myself into late hours of the night), I actually do get out of my bed and into normal clothes from time to time. To prove I am telling the truth, I have decided to devote this post about the amazingness of weekends to last Saturday, my friend's birthday.

 We all planned on going out to dinner at Serendipity's, only the best and coolest restaurant in the world, and it only exists in DC and New York, which just makes it that much more exclusive, but since there are like over 20 people in our class and restaurants usually hate big groups of obnoxious teenagers who don't tip well and all ask for separate checks, we had to find a different place to eat. My friend ran across this cute little Thai place that would serve a big group like ours, so we made reservations. Saturday night came and two of my closest friends came over to get all dolled up and to help me pick clothes I actually look decent in. I guess I'm not very good at shopping for clothes that look good on me or wearing combinations of clothes that work together. I need to hire a personal shopping and dresser if I am ever going to make it as a fashionista. Then, we drove out to go to dinner, which turned out to be a bigger fiasco than originally planned because DC wasn't smart enough to make big parking lots so finding a place to park your car can be a freaking disaster, filled with screaming, swearing and sometimes crying. . . it's quite emotional. But, we finally made it in, and dinner was spectacular. Since I wasn't very hungry, I just ordered a Pina Colada, but it was really good. I think that is sort of my trademark: going out to a restaurant and just ordering a dessert or just ordering a drink. I have a complex of not wanting to spend unnecessary money when I don't have to, and going to eat at automatically means you're going to spend at least $15, which is practically half of my grocery bill for the week. Nope, not happening. So, a $4 drink becomes much more appealing to me.

To say the least, we all had a blast. Everyone was being crazy and laughing; I'm sure the waitresses were just dying to get us out of there as soon as possible so everyone in the restaurant didn't have to be annoyed out of their minds anymore. But, we didn't care. We were too busy taking ridiculous pictures and cracking unnecessary jokes and consuming too many calories for our own good. That is the beauty of being an immature adolescent. I hope I never have to grow up. After proficiently pissing off some restaurant owners and overloading a perfectly good camera with unattractive pictures, we went for round two at a frozen yogurt place next door. I mean, what better way to finish off a meal than with a bowl of frozen heaven topped with some more heaven in the form of chocolate, fruit and caramel sauce?! There simply is no better way. As it is with all large groups, there wasn't enough chairs for all of us at one table, so we all snagged the nearest seat and scooted all around to form a huge circle, which probably made some more store owners mad. I think we made a lot of people very angry that night, but whatever. We shared some hilarious stories about our ballet teachers and laughed about the good old memories, while scarfing down the most perfect combination of oreo, coconut and cheesecake frozen yogurt. I had so much fun and I can't wait to do it again. Although, I do love my antisocial weekends where I can wear my pajamas and watch movies from my bed. Hmm, decisions decisions. . .

Well, I must be off. I have the pleasure of watching General Conference today and tomorrow online. And even though it's a very long broadcast, I love listening to all the prophets speak and I have a weird obsession with taking notes. I don't know why, but it makes me happy. Don't make fun of the nerd who will be spending the next four hours speedily writing down everything every speaker says. It's going to be awesome. With my spring break coming up with next week, I am hoping to use my mental breaks from dragging hours of school to blog a little bit, so expect to hear from me soon!

Until then, your ballerina to be. . .

The unpleasantness and beauty of DC in March

It is really starting to feel like Spring here in Washington DC. And while I am truly loving the sunshine, my bedroom, which has 6 windows by the way, is like a sauna right now. I have basically stripped down to a pair of shorts and a tank top in an effort to not die of a heat stroke, but nothing seems to help. I can't open my windows because then all the hot air will come in. If I turn on the fan, all the hot air that's already in my room will just circulate around and will make me want to die even more. And I certainly can't dump a whole bunch of ice onto my floor and lay in it until I'm sufficiently cooled off, but I would be lying if I told you I didn't already consider that. I'm seriously dying!! The upside to all of this is that, with the invention of a door, I actually can leave my room, though I usually opt to just stay here when there's really nothing else to do. But today, I decided I should get out of my concealed little steam room and go enjoy some fresh air, seeing as the weather is beautiful outside. Since I had to go down to the post office to ship a little package to some people back home, I saw this as the perfect opportunity to sport some green ( HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!!) and my new jeans that came in just this morning in the mail, and head down to the post office.

Can I just say, I love DC in the spring?? Seriously, it is perfectly warm, there is a slight breeze and everything is starting to bloom. The highlight of my walk to the post office was seeing some cherry blossoms starting to show on the trees. I was dumbstruck. I walked right up to one of the trees and I think I just stood there for a few minutes, but I can't remember because my jaw was dragging on the ground and I was professing my love to the blossoms in my mind. I especially love the bright pink ones and I secretly want to go out with a big bucket and pick them all and hang them around my room. That is my master plan for when I got down to the National Mall to see the Cherry Blossom Festival. I will definitely be bringing a huge bucket with me.

After lots of sweating ( you see, I wasn't expecting it to be so hot outside, so I wore a pair of jeans and a 3/4 sleeved shirt and the walk is pretty long, so you can just imagine what I looked like walking in the sun), I finally made it to the post office. I must admit, this is sort of my first time shipping a package anywhere so I didn't know what to expect. But, I learned two things during my little adventure.
1. People are really nice and helpful when you are confused and you need important advice
2. People are jerks...
I walked in looking for a box to put all the little goodies in, but I looked really stupid trying to figure out which box I should pick. One old lady walked up to me and told me to pick the flat rate ones because they are cheapest. So I picked up one of those and attempted to start to fold it, only to again look really retarded. Apparently it requires some skill to fold a piece of cardboard into a functioning box. So, she walked over again and helped me put it together. Thank goodness for helpful old ladies who are educated in the art of shipping packages. Oh! I also learned that the line at the post office takes a very long time to progress. Wow. I seriously stood in line for 20 minutes, with my little box in hand just waiting to check out and get out of there already. My time finally came, I walked up to the lady all confident in myself, which only lasted a second or two because then she started rambling off all these questions. Do you need insurance or tracking??
uhhhhhh.
Is there anything perishable??
 ummmmm.
Do you need any stamps??
ummm yes?
 Ok, what kind do you want??
ummmmm what??
What kind do you want?
 What do you mean? *awkward laugh*
Do you want a book of stamps or a sheet of stamps?
Oh! Nevermind, I don't need any stamps.
*some angry mumbling that I could not understand* Swipe your card!
Oh! ok. *fumbling for my debit card and frantically trying to figure out which way to swipe it*
Ok have a nice day ma'am. . .
Whoa. Scariest and most intimidating conversation I have ever had. She was talking a mile a minute and I had no idea all the little phrases she was saying were about. Like why would I need insurance for a package? And even if there was anything perishable in the box, what would it matter?? I don't get it. So, there you have it. People are nice and people are jerks. At least I will be more prepared for the next time I decide to ship a package, which will probably be never, seeing as I am scarred for life from this past experience. I think I will just stick to letters and mail boxes from now on. No one yells at you at a mail box.

It is sad to say, but that was probably the most exciting thing that will happen today on this lovely holiday. I have no festivities planned, unfortunately. I love St. Patrick's day and I usually paint my nails green and wear greed eye shadow and eat gold coins and play lepraquan pranks on people, but I just wasn't feeling it this year, I guess. When no one else is really into it, it's hard to have the spirit, which makes me miss my dad. This is his favorite holiday since he served his mission in Ireland. Back in the good old days when I still lived at home, I had to make sure I was wearing green pajamas when I went to bed the night before because he would always wake us up and pinch us if we weren't wearing any green. He would shake our beds and yell in our ears, which normally would annoy me on any regular day, but nothing can make you grumpy on a holiday like St. Patrick's Day. Then, he would make green jello and dye the milk green to pour on our cereal, and of course we would eat potatoes in order to pay tribute to Ireland and their steady diet of starches and carbs. Ahhh the good old days. Wishing I could be home right now, but I guess sitting in my sauna of a room and wearing my new jeans will have to do for now.

I'm hoping you all have a lovely St. Patrick's day. Try not to get too wasted. . .er, I mean try not to eat too much green jello!! Until next time,
Your homesick ballerina