In the spirit of hell midterms week, I turned to my French roots and remembered the phrase, "C'est la vie." Yep -- that's life.
And then I played worked my other job for a little bit and came up with this:
Pretty good, oiu?
Yeah. I get paid to play with blocks and then write step-by-step guides for how to make the structures. It's definitely my favorite part of being an advertising blog writer...thing (I actually don't know what my job title is).
Pray that I don't die this week. As in I'm only slightly joking.
I had to share this because it is too cute to keep to myself.
My friend and coworker Dana drew this picture for me -- I for one don't find this giraffe ugly at all, and he is now hanging on the wall next to my calendar. He makes me happy every time I look at him. Dana totally made my day!
(And by the way, Dana is the one who named him Steve, not me. She knows me well.)
...hearing little voices yell, "She's here! She's here!" when you walk in the door
...being almost thrown off-balance by a hug from Cade as he flings his arms around your knees
...seeing Corrine model her new pajamas (called her "Minnies" in honor of the character on the fabric) after her dad tells you that Corrine has been waiting all day to show you
...receiving a big kiss on one cheek from a laughing little boy and on the other from a grinning little girl
...listening to Cade sing all of the words to the Mickey Mouse Club House theme song as he dances around the front room
...having arms thrown around your neck as a little person whispers "I love you" in your ear
...carrying a sleeping princess up the stairs to bed
...snuggling with a three-year-old in a big, cushy chair and falling asleep to Octonauts in front of the TV
...being asked to stay by Cade when mom and dad came home
...hugs and tiny voiced "good nights!"
How did I get so lucky to be asked to be a babysitter?
And may I just say...I would rather cuddle with a three-year-old boy than with a grown-up boy any day. No offense, guys.
Okay, so I actually don't know how to say Saint George in Spanish (I Googled it and got three different ways to say it -- I don't know which one is right) but Santa Jorge is just so much fun to say!
Anyway. Last Thursday through Saturday I went to Saint George with Ann and Brianna. It was sunny and warm (dare I say hot) and beautiful. We found the Walmart, went swimming every night in the waterfall pool, made our own lazy river by running in circles around and around the circular hot tub (hence the circles we ran in), shot the heck out of each other with water guns, drove past the temple a couple of times, went mini golfing, played Deal or No Deal in the arcade, discovered that you can buy ice cream at the Dollar Tree, pretended to be Iron Man (or at least I did) while driving go-carts, made lasagna (frozen...haha) in our hotel room OVEN, took jumping pictures on the hill above the city, made paper cranes at the dinosaur museum, and did whatever we wanted whenever we wanted (except for when we ate breakfast -- you had to do that before 10am).
Here are some photos of the adventure:
Brianna with the lambs at the petting zoo near Scipio (how many prepositions can you use in one sentence, eh). They even had a zebra! It was a little guy.
Brianna's "hole in awesome!" Or in one, if you prefer.
Jumping downhill = a feeling very similar to when you tip your chair back too far and think you're going to die.
It was alright. They had groups of us auditionees go into the studio four at a time. After asking us why we wanted to be a part of the production, they had us get into partnerships. And then they dropped the bomb: "improv a fairy tale for us."
I SUCK at improv.
Seriously. I am so bad at it. Not to mention I got totally confused because the detailed instructions were to act out a fairy tale...but the two girls before my partnership and the girl I was with decided to do storytelling. So instead of creating a scene or having a plot, they told the entire story starting with "Once upon a time" and so forth.
Con-freakin-fused. I found out later that one of the directors we were auditioning for is the storytelling professor in the theater department. A lot of her students were trying out, so they were doing what she'd taught them. Soooo yeah.
Anyway. So the my partner and I get up to do our improv section. She got into the storyteller groove, and I stood there feeling like an idiot. Then it came time for me to say something, so I went for it and...
they laughed at me.
Not just a polite titter or a chuckle, but a throw-your-head-back, bust-a-gut roar. I was so thoroughly thrown off by it that I looked at them like a deer in the headlights, then realized this was an audition so I just had to go with it. So I kept going and...
they laughed even harder.
Every time I opened my mouth they started laughing their heads off. So while I was up there making a fool of myself I replayed what I had done and said in my early improv attempts and started laughing too because gosh dang it...I was funny.
It was fun. I don't know if anything will come of it, but it was entertaining. It still is entertaining to think back and picture my 5 foot 2 inch self trying to tower over a girl three inches taller than me, ordering her to come to dinner and go on a date with me because "I'm the Beast!"
Guy in my Humanities class: "You just like the Sherlock series because of his curly dark hair. All the girls love that." Reply: "No. I just like the way he holds his gun."
Stats professor: "I should never ask questions on Monday mornings."
Humanities professor: "You can't disagree with a General Authority. That's starting an argument with God!"
From family:
Amanda: "So we were talking about Afrighanistan in class yesterday..." Interuption: "Afrighanistan? Do you mean Afghanistan?" Amanda: "What, you mean I've been saying it wrong my entire life?!"
Amanda: "Whenever I squish a Skittle it turns into a shape like an FUO...wait...no! I meant UFO!"
And last but not least...
From Primary:
Little girl talking about how excited her little brother is that her mom is going to have another little boy...finally: "Now he won't be the lone man in the garden of estrogen."
6-year-old boy: "I don't want to get married." Another 6-year-old boy: "Yeah. It looks stupid. All that work for dumb kids like us. Adults are crazy."
...my English professor after listening to me express my concerns regarding an upcoming assignment: "Oh, Georgie, I don't have any worries about you in this class. You are a great writer. Really." ...97% on my religion exam. ShaBAM. ...apologizing to a friend who I was a bit short with yesterday and feeling absolutely liberated afterwards. ...printing 100 pictures for only $13 instead of 23 for $5.75. Much better economically speaking. ...perfect birthday gift for little Mandy. She's TWELVE tomorrow. TWELVE. Oh Em Gee. ...old fashioned doughnut from BYU bakery. Mmmm. ...coloring book that Ann gave me for Valentine's Day! ...clean fish tank. Leo is happy. ...laundry almost done! ...dinner "date" set for next week with a friend I haven't seen in over a month. Noodles & Company, here we come! ...apples the size of my palm at Walmart on sale (and I have little hands so they really are teeny apples). ...letter from Q came in the mail with an AMAZING photo of a butterfly she saw in California. I love mail! ...my English teacher pulled out a pack of Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream gum, and when she learned that I'd never heard of it she gave me her last piece. She was right-it is super good. ...less pain than ever before and it's awesome. I can actually walk. ...Captain America is on BYU campus everywhere. Posters, t-shirts, sidewalk chalked in front of buildings. Love. ...ran into Miss Julia Rae Sanchez at the store and got to talk to her for awhile. She always makes me happy. "You're pretty!" Love her. ...going to be IN bed with the lights OFF before MIDNIGHT for the FIRST TIME in WEEKS. YES. ...and this
Last night I didn't sleep well. It's been the running trend for the past month or so. It's become rather hard to deal with, and I'm hoping that I'll be able to do alright once school starts. Somewhat worrying, because I won't have time to catch up on lost sleep until Sundays, so I'm just crossing my fingers that it will be okay. Sleep. Something you hardly think about until you can't get enough!
When I finally got out of bed today, I had no energy and no desire to do anything other than get my laundry done and avoid contact with people at all costs. Then I got on Facebook and saw a post from one of the choir members, asking for any girls who were available this afternoon to help out the Eggetts. Sister Eggett had surgery earlier this week, and when mom is sick, nothing fun happens.
Allie and Heather were the ring leaders for the small gang of choir members who went over to the Eggett home. The four youngest children, Brother Eggett, and we "grown-ups" (Heather, Sam, Mike, Brad, and myself) had a lovely time playing Just Dance 3 on the Wii. Rachel, the oldest Eggett girl, dances circles around everyone at that game! And my one claim to fame for the night: I beat Brother Eggett at his best song, "California Girls" by Katy Perry. It's a proud moment in my life.
Later in the afternoon we took the 4 youngest kids to the park and played there.
A short soccer game took place until Joseph, the youngest, got too tired to run. Then freeze tag for awhile until Joe again was too tired to run anymore. So we played an on-the-grass version of Dead Man, Dead Man. Since there was no trampoline available we made a ring out of coats and made it work.
Pretty soon the kids got tired of Dead Man, Dead Man. Once the playground was pointed out, there was no stopping any of us from having a go at the slides, swings, and ramps. A new game began, Lava Monster. If you've never played it, you should! It's a total blast. The wood chips are the lava, and one person starts as "it", or the lava monster. Rules: The lava monster can only touch one color of the playground equipment. In our case, it was white. The monster can only touch the color for five seconds at a time (that rule eventually got overlooked). The people have to stay on the playground equipment. They can only touch the lava for 5 seconds in the case of the kids, 3 in the case of the grown-ups. Once you're tagged, you become a lava monster. The last person still "alive" becomes the lava monster for the next round.
After a good three rounds or so of Lava Monster, everyone was getting cold and hungry. Back to the Eggetts we went to finish up the dinner prep. Sam and I took the two youngest girls, Sarah and Hannah, to Harmon's to get some extra food for the LDC "grown-ups". He bought each of us a bottle of Jones Soda, which I thought was very nice of him. Mine was Green Apple...it was weird, like a carbonated green apple snow cone. Good, just weird.
Dinner was followed by Wii Resort, emphasizing in the game Swordplay. Wow...that was so intense! We were all screaming and jumping up and down. Brigham, just older than Joe, was jumping in circles he was so into the game. The best part was when Hannah was taking her turn, and her dad started cheering her on. "Be aggressive, Hannah!" he shouted, to which she calmly replied (while swinging her remote at the screen) "I'm not that kind of person." Priceless!
All in all it was a 100% enjoyable, perfect afternoon. I didn't really want to go over at first because I was feeling so tired and just downright sad. I'm so glad I did though. It was just what I needed.
And may I just say that if I could look as beautiful as Sister Eggett did today, I would feel absolutely satisfied with my life. I don't know how she always manages to look so wonderful, two days after surgery and all! She is an amazing lady, not just because she's pretty, but because she is so kind. I hope to be half as gracious and kind as she is.
Here are some of my favorite captured moments from this afternoon. The Egg-letts are the cutest kids ever! Seriously though. BEAUTIFUL children.
“If you stand in the center of the carousel, on the platform that the operator walks on while the ride is moving, you will not move.”
That’s what her mother had told her once, years ago at the carnival. Ever since she was very small she had loved the carousel, with its tinny fairground music, twinkly lights, and magnificent menagerie. Her older sister tried a different mount every ride, shouting and exclaiming at the wild-maned lion, the white-necked swan, the fiery-eyed dragon. But she wanted nothing more than to ride the cream and gold pony with the pretty pink saddle and the bright blue eyes. Sister would tease her for choosing the same animal every time, but she would merely look over her shoulder to where mother waited by the gate. Mother always smiled and nodded, and so the pony it was.
Those years are in the past now. Sister has gone away, still the same—always searching for something new, something exciting, something different. And mother—well. Mother is gone now, too. No more walking hand in hand to the carousel. No more encouragement. No more anything. Gone.
She tries to imagine the way it was, climbing onto the carousel pony, looking out as she spun past the world, mother appearing and disappearing in turn as she spun round and round on the back of the pony. Try as she might, she can’t conjure up the scene. Suddenly feeling trapped inside her small bedroom, she puts on her shoes and walks out the door, down the hallway, and across the kitchen. Out she goes into the starry summer night, locking the door behind her.
Her feet know the way to the fairgrounds. Quickly they move her forward as she loses herself in the memories of sister, mother, and carousel. So lost is she that she hardly notices where she is until she stumbles upon a raised bit of sidewalk.
There it is. The carnival, laid out before her. It is late enough that there is no one around. The lights are dark; the booths and shops are quiet. Swiftly and silently she makes her way through the town of tents until she finds what she is seeking: the carousel.
She has never seen it dark like this before. The music is stopped. The lights no longer blink. The wild-maned lion, the white-necked swan, the fiery-eyed dragon, all as she remembers them to be, sleep under the mirrored roof above them. And there—she squints in the darkness—it isn’t there.
Her breath catches in her chest and she runs forward, tripping on cords in the darkness. She grips the metal fence that surrounds the carousel, craning and straining to see through the shadows. It can’t be gone. It can’t be.
But it is. The pony—the cream and gold pony with the pretty pink saddle and the bright blue eyes—it’s been replaced by something else. She slumps against the fence and listens as her breath comes hard and fast. How can it be gone? How can something else be gone?
She closes her eyes, praying for some sort of memory to fill the awful, empty hole she feels inside. Slowly images come: her sister climbing aboard the wild-maned lion, whooping and waving her arm like a cowboy in the rodeo; her mother handing quarters to the ticket seller; sister scolding her for riding the cream pony for a third time; mother nodding and smiling, giving her the go ahead to ride the pony; mother laughing and waving to her as she spins by; mother taking her hand; the cream and gold pony with the pretty pink saddle and the bright blue eyes; mother; the cream pony; mother…
“Mother!”
The word rips from her throat unbidden, crashing into the silent night, thundering in her ears. She shakes her head, trying to rid herself of the sudden, frantic pounding of her heart.
The carousel. She looks up, up at the carousel before her.
“If you stand in the center of the carousel, on the platform that the operator walks on while the ride is moving, you will not move.”
Jumping the fence, she runs up the carousel ramp to the platform where the operator runs the machine. She knows how it works, having seen it hundreds of times. She even asked someone once, when she was not so small, to show her how to run the carousel. She finds the small key, left only where an operator or an operator’s friend would know to look, and places it into the slot. One turn to the left. Press three buttons. Flip one switch.
Lights go on. Music begins to play. And with one more knob, the carousel begins to spin. Round and round they go: the wild-maned lion, the white-necked swan, the fiery-eyed dragon. Round and round they go: sister, mother, pony, sister, mother, pony. But where she is, she does not move. Where she is, the world passes her by, spinning and spinning away by the light of the carousel.
I've had so much on my mind today. I guess it showed a lot in my face this morning...oops. I need to work on my thought and facial expression connection. No need to be a billboard that says "I'm THINKING about stuff!" Buh.
Despite all of the things on my mind, I feel good. There have been some rocky moments, but for the most part it's been a really happy, peaceful day. It helps that I spent time with little Amy this evening, dancing around in her living room to Christmas music by the glow of the tree lights. That definitely helped. It's hard to be sad when your 4-year-old best friend comes running to the door and launches herself into your arms, saying "I LOVE YOU!" and then after a few seconds of a giggly, squeezy embrace says, "Hug me tighter." Precious much? I treasure all of the moments I've had with that little angel.
It really has been a great day. Temple this morning, singing with LDC and then lunch with some of the gang afterwards, a nap (very important), and visiting the Raddatzes. It's been awesome. I'm super grateful for today.
There's nothing like a three hour Nerf war to improve your aim and accuracy.
Unless of course you took a shooting class at a legit shooting range. Then you'd probably improve even more. But for my purposes, the practice I had today was good enough.
I got recruited to help the girls' team in the already heated battle taking place at the Raddatz home. It was just Ruthie and Amy (the latter girl mentioned is 3) against Jason, Kyle, and Makay. We girls got a base arranged in the little play house but had to change tactics after Jason single-handedly stole all of our extra ammunition AND pelted each of us with darts.
Change of tactic: Ruthie would hold the ground areas. I took to the roof. And yes, I had permission from the parents.
Me. On the roof. Say what? Yeah, that's what I was thinking. But I got up there without dying, and I stayed up there for a long time without dying, too. Sniping the boys from above was super fun, especially when Jason got past me and climbed up as well. We probably looked like maniacs, scampering about the roof chasing each other with Nerf guns. I mean, how old are we? Haha...I don't want to talk about it.
After a three hour battle, Jason declared me and Ruthie the winners. Do you have any idea how amazing that is, for him to actually admit to us beating him? He's done it before, but never so openly and with such...hm...almost respect! It was very satisfying, haha!
I've gotten to be a pretty good shot with a Nerf gun. The only bad thing about that is I'm good at hitting people in the face. Only the boys, but still. I got Jason in the cheek and the dart stuck for a second. He started laughing and said that everybody was going to wonder where he got the hickey on his face. Hickeys...ew. Yeah, I'm mature, lol. I have no idea why I said what I did, but I told him that his answer was easy: tell them he got it from me. That made his whole family fall apart laughing, especially his mom and dad. Yeah...it was after one in the morning. I get a little ca-wazy. I am just so incredibly mature it surprises me! NOT.
Perhaps it's silly and childish (not perhaps about it, it is silly and childish) to get such a kick out of being able to hit the center of a picture from 15 feet away with a dart tipped with a suction cup, or to be able to get a dart to hit your friend in the back of the head, but it's really fun. I guess I've found a hidden talent for shooting stuff. Great! Now I know that I can rap and I can kill things. Or pretend to kill things.
LDC performed tonight for a wedding reception. Jess and Liz, who were members of the choir, got married today! They are the cutest ever, Jess in his turquoise and black, Liz in her white dress. Those two are just perfect, really. And the reception itself? So beautiful! Liz had lanterns for decorations! That automatically makes her like, 15 times more awesome. I am so having lanterns and lights at my reception. I've entertained the idea for awhile, but actually seeing it tonight sealed the deal. It is just so pretty. Jess sang a song to Liz a little later in the evening, and it was totally precious. I love those two! They are the greatest.
After all of the fun reception traditions, people were just milling around and dancing and stuff. One of the boys in the choir pulled me aside to ask me as question.
"Of all of the boys in choir, which one do you want to date?" My brain? How the heck am I supposed to answer that?! Out loud? "Do I have to answer that question?" His reply, "Yes."
Oh. Awkward. Why? *ahem*:
He would never consider me.
He's almost dating another girl in the choir, who is also a good friend of mine.
The "he" in these sentences is the him who asked me the question.
And so I said, "Well, [insert name], I really can't say because, well...I mean, I can't. And besides...he's pretty much dating another girl."
His reply? *blank stare slowly leading to realization* "Oh. Well...oh." A little more conversation about other boys who I might consider in the choir, and he walked away.
Let's just make things as awkward as we possibly can, shall we? I mean, our friendship has already become awkward, but let's just add to it. *sigh* I need to just let all boys go and stay home in my room with a book, a blanket, some chocolate, and some music. The only problem with that is I get bored quickly.
On a different note! I broke down and went to visit the Raddatz family (after lasting only three days of trying to not go see them). Jordan performed his theater final for me, two monologues. That boy is much more talented than I gave him credit for. I rarely get to see him perform outside of ballroom or choir settings. He has great delivery, a good sense of emotion, he portrays thought behind the lines...he's very good.
Soon after I went to the graduation rehearsal at the college. Yes, I'm graduating tomorrow, and surprisingly so are a lot of the people who were there. I say that because some of the questions they asked made me wonder at the validity of their diplomas. Sheesh! It was hilarious. Jordan picked me up. He drove up in his brother's old car with the windows down, music blasting, aviators on, hair all windblown, and shirt partially unbuttoned (the overall effect was very nice). He leaned out the window and yelled, "HEY, baby!!" At first I didn't know what to do, so I laughed and returned the greeting, just without the "baby" at the end. I love that kid. He is so great; I'm so glad he's my friend.
Jason, Kyle, Mandy, and I had an awesome dart gun fight. I got very good at hitting people in the face. I didn't mean to. To be honest, I wasn't even aiming the thing because the gun wouldn't shoot straight. Interesting moment: I chased Jason into the house after he nailed me in the face with one of the darts, and instead of running to the back of the house he stopped and turned around so abruptly that I ran into him. He put his arms around my waist and pulled me close into a hug. Then we just stood there in the entryway, door open, his siblings watching us, not saying anything. It was not like him at all. Usually he waits for me to hug him, and that's always when we're saying good-bye. But this? It was different. Not in a bad way. Just a different way.
I really need to quit playing with boys. I'm too girly to keep my feelings in the Friendship Only zone. Idiot.
Bubbles followed the dart fight, as did kite flying in a neighboring church parking lot. I haven't flown a kite in years! It was great! I'd forgotten how much fun it is.
So, in my area of life that concerns young men, I really need to grow up, get over everything, and move on. I'm too girly and boy crazy. Blergh. Something else to work on.
