Inside My Head: Enter If You Dare!

Out with the Old...

2011-01-22T11:40:00.000-08:00

I will no longer be using this blog. (not that I did much in the first place.) So if you want to know about my life, you should check out

the-hale-fam.blogspot.com

That's our new blog :)

News

2010-11-23T11:19:00.000-08:00

I am married.

And, I am in the process of making a new blog. Bear with me.

Also, bear with the lack of wedding photos. I'm sad, too, don't worry. I haven't forgotten about them, just haven't received them from the photographer yet.

Life is good! Stephen and I are poor, and we are so crazy busy that I hardly have time to clean the apartment (sorry Stephen), but we love married life and all that it entails :)

If you are still miraculously following this blog, you get a small reward: sneak peek pictures! Voila:

Thanks Angie for the pictures, and thanks Leigh for making me pretty!

My apologies

2010-09-30T10:49:00.000-07:00

My life is utter insanity right now.

Hence, the lack of posts.

BUT, I will change that within the next couple of days! I haven't dropped off the face of the planet, I promise.

PS. 29 days until I get married <3

Chaos

2010-08-23T09:39:00.000-07:00

Can I just say, I love my family, and I love love love my fiance?

On Thursday I had the fabulous opportunity to ride down to Mesa with my love, and we spent the weekend with our families. Sort of. We were ALL over the place...doing our wedding registries, getting fitted for my dress, our engagement photo shoot, getting ready for the finishing touches of our invitations, going to our friends' reception...

...and THEN spending time with our families. Probably the highlight of the trip for me was my Daddy's 58th birthday celebration...we had all but the Utah siblings (Christina, Seth, and their families) get together at my parents' house to eat and par-tay! Me and Stephen sat at the "kids table" for dinner, and I think that's my favorite. Possibly will make a habit out of that (if Stephen's ok with it)...my nieces and nephews are HILARIOUS and I loved catching up with them! One of the funnest dinners of my life. We also had Mike & Sarah Rogan come over (minus the triplets...not that we would've noticed, with all the kids running around as it was) to add to the party. It was loud and it was crazy...but mostly loud. And it was AWESOME.

So I'm gonna be honest with you all (all 2 of the readers I'm sure I have.) :) Things are laid out nice and smooth-ish for the wedding and reception, but me being me...I stress. And I freak out. And I am just so impatient. So, naturally, I get irritable. I apologize profusely for been snappish or distant. (If I'm being distant it's because I don't want to be snappish.) :) Poor Stephen has been so patient with my psychosis and unpredictable moods.....he MUST love me! I promise to him and everyone else to get better though. This is not a permanent condition, no worries.

PS. A sneak preview of our engagement pictures:

Isn't he attractive? :)

HAPPY!

2010-08-02T12:15:00.000-07:00

Life is SPLENDID!

This is me:

Why am I so deliriously happy...?

Because STEPHEN (aka the most wonderful man on Earth, and I am marrying him) has moved up to Flagstaff! Do you know what this means?!

It means I don't have to drive 163 miles to see him anymore. It means I don't have to hang up the phone every night and count down the days until I get to see his face. It means we can actually have a NORMAL relationship now, instead of over phone and facebook.

It means Amy is very, very smiley :D

Confession.

2010-07-26T08:48:00.000-07:00

I am a nerd.

I love poetry. LOVE it. Reading it, writing it, analyzing it...I have no words to describe to you how happy a good poem makes me. So if you really despise all things poetic, stop reading now. This is your warning :)

My all-time favorite poet is Robert Frost. Even though some of his poems are long enough to be little novels, they are always simple and thoughtful, and often involve symbols or references to nature. Naturally, my favorite poem is written by him. It isn't VERY well-known, but some have heard of it. It's called The Telephone. Let me share:

"When I was just as far as I could walk

From here today,

There was an hour
All still
When leaning with my head against a flower
I heard you talk.
Don't say I didn't, for I heard you say--
You spoke from that flower on the windowsill--
Do you remember what it was you said?"

"First tell me what it was you thought you heard."

"Having found the flower and driven a bee away,
I leaned my head,
And holding by the stalk,
I listened and I thought I caught the word--
What was it?  Did you call me by my name?
Or did you say--
Someone said 'Come'--I heard it as I bowed."

"I may have thought as much, but not aloud."

"Well, so I came."

For all you choir buffs out there, you may have heard of the series Frostiana, which is a selection of Robert Frost's poems arranged into choral music. The Telephone is part of that series, and my favorite rendition is done by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir...you can find it on their album Choose Something Like a Star. For fun, you can hear a small 30ish second clip of it here.

I just love this poem SO MUCH!!! It's so tender! If you don't understand or appreciate the poem, that's alright. I won't be offended...I will just be a little sad on the inside that you can't enjoy it as much as me :)

Changes

2010-07-22T10:24:00.000-07:00

This morning I decided it's time to change.

I started with my blog background; that's probably the most noticeable change I'll be making. Cute, isn't it? Then I redid my playlist a bit, have a listen and enjoy :)

On a more serious note and more importantly, I've decided to change my attitude. The past couple days I have been stressing. And I'd like to think I've had due cause for stress! With my boss deciding to close the daycare in the afternoons and with school starting up soon, come the end of August my hours will be literally cut in half...and that's if I'm LUCKY. Let's not even get into the financial poop being flung at Stephen right now when it comes to loans and all the expenses that keep popping up! So, yes. I have been stressed.

But...I am still sooooo, so blessed. For example, when fires were raging on all sides of Flagstaff, I was protected enough that I didn't have to evacuate. Now, all those areas that had vegetation burned away are being demolished by monsoon-spawned floods. A 12-yr-old girl has died... and entire homes have been destroyed. Burned carcasses of wild animals that died in the fires are washing down the mountains into people's yards. Pets are being pinned against fences and killed. Every single loose belonging in houses are being swept away. Leftover ash is mixing with dirt, creating black sludgey mud almost a foot deep.

These are some things I've missed out on:

Makes you think, doesn't it. Time for a perspective makeover, Amy! Sure, my financial stability is a little questionable. But at least I have a steady job...I have *2* steady jobs. I have the gospel. I have the best family EVER I am receiving a great education. I get to enjoy the beauty of a mountain thunderstorm without being afraid my home will be destroyed by a lightning-induced fire or a mudslide or a flash flood. And my personal favorite...I am marrying the most wonderful man alive.

Life is good.

Because.

2010-07-19T11:39:00.000-07:00

I'M GETTING MARRIED!

I am aware that if I shout that out one more time, I will thoroughly annoy several people. But it's true...it's happening! It is happening, despite everything I did to furiously try to prevent it.

Meet my fiance:

Stephen Hale, in a nutshell.

You may THINK this isn't a very good picture of him, as you can't see his face...buuuut it's a pretty spot-on accurate depiction of him! He loves his guns almost more than he loves me. And this is him with his AK-47, which is one of his favorite toys. :)

Let me let you all in on a not-so-secret little secret:

I wasted about 3 months of my life away, trying to find a diplomatic way to kick Stephen out of my life. (I did a GREAT job, right?) Looking back, I realize I was just being stubborn and bull-headed, which is no surprise to anyone who knows me. Sparing you all the unnecessary details, I'll just say this...I honestly believed with all my heart that Stephen and I would never work together. And I told this, very adamantly, to everyone in the world. (which made me feel that much sillier when he and I started dating) :)

My main complaint? "He's just...too nice. Too sweet." And to think I actually got frustrated at people telling me I was ridiculous for saying that! Turns out, that is exactly the reason WHY we work so well together. Never have I been with someone more perfect for me. I thought I needed tough love, because I prefer people to be straight up and blunt with me. Stephen showed me that it's possible to be blunt and tender at the same time.

What would possess me to marry the one man I specifically claimed I could never be with? When he dropped down on one knee, why say yes...?

Because.

Because he knows his Savior, and loves Him enough to live the gospel.

Because he is the most dedicated, determined person I have ever met.

Because he is hardworking.

Because he has his priorities straight.

Because he is SUCH a dork, and is 100% comfortable with that fact :)

Because he's taught me to "keep smiling" even when I just really don't want to.

Because we can be (and are) completely open and honest with each other. No secrets.

Because he loves kids.

Because from our very first date, I have been able to be absolutely myself around him.

Because he respects me the way I deserve.

Because he reminds me to respect myself.

Because he makes me laugh. Every day.

Because we know how to disagree without fighting.

Because he is beyond patient with me.

Because he is a fantastic listener.

Because he will be an amazing, loving husband and father.

I love him.

Wedding Hairdon'ts

2010-07-07T11:57:00.000-07:00

So...I'm bored at work with nothing to do. With nothing to occupy my thoughts, they just wander of their own free will. So this is what was happening inside my head:

WEDDING WEDDING you're getting married STEPHEN :D wedding DRESS flowers HAIR wedding RECEPTION WEDDING!!!!!

One of the things I don't have decided yet is how I'll have my hair done. With google at my fingertips and ample time to waste, I started browsing through pictures of formal hairstyles. Some were cute! And some were......creative :)

Here were my personal favorites:

I give the stylist of this one props for being resourceful. Who needs to throw away money on hair accessories when you can make your hair BECOME the accessory?? Hair bow made out of hair. Impressive, truly.

Nothing says beautiful blushing bride like electrocution, right?

Ok, ok...in this girl's defense, it was SUPPOSED to be a nice hairdo....her stylist was just drunk! The bun just looks like it should be anywhere but THAT particular spot on her head.

Hint: If your hair is the same color as your skin, don't pull it straight back. You look BALD. (and what the mushroom ponytail thing?)

Ohhhh my....there are no words. None.

Guess I better keep looking for ideas, yah? :)

IT'S ALIIIIIIVE!

2010-07-06T09:24:00.000-07:00

I have SEVERELY neglected my blog...why is that? Because I have an insane life. And I'm lazy. But I have been faithfully following 2 blogs recently...my little sister Beth and my sister-in-law Leigh. They are AMAZING!! So, blogger guilt set in, and here I am. Updating the blog I have been hardcore ignoring for far too long.

So lets...just catch up on the last year and a half of my life, shall we?

Freshman year:
Done. Quit Subway (halle-freakin'-luia!). Moved back to Mesa for summer. Worked in a fantastic little naturopathic doctor's office in Chandler, SanTan Natural Medicine. Best job I have ever had, and I miss it dearly! Went on my first date with Stephen Hale . . . . . . . and hit it off reeeally well with him . . . . . . and then moved back to Flag 2 days later.

Sophomore year:
Moved into University Meadows, building 10, baby! Inherited my graduated cousin's job at the Summit Health and Fitness daycare. Had the most incredible roommates EVER. Slept through 30% of classes. Got my first (and only!) B of my college career thus far. Fell madly in love with Stephen, against my will...that story is for another time :) Finished the year, Kaci/Kels/Lissa graduated and moved on. Me and Liesel, the remaining not-quite-graduated girls, got booted from our apartment...landlord sold the unit. Downfall of the Reign of Building 10--moment of silence, please.

Present:
Got a second job in the NAU Union, at the Office of Student Affairs. I do important stuff, like answer the phone and staple things. Still work at the daycare. Moved into new apartment in Meadows, and am currently living with Jenna Lindsay, Liz Frost, and Brittney Leafty. Not that we ever see each other...not much else going on in my life, besides planning my wedding.

WHAT?!

Yah. That's right...Me and Stephen. For forever. :) On June 12, 2010 he shoved a ring in a fortune cookie (SOMEHOW) and popped the question over chinese takeout at the park. I didn't have the slightest clue what the heck was going on til he was on one knee...which I am still impressed with. No guy has ever been able surprise me the way Stephen can...it keeps life interesting, and I kinda like it I decided :) But yes, bottom line: as of Friday, October 29th, 2010, Stephen and Amy Hale (future me) will be sealed for time AND eternity. And it will be great.

I think we're all up-to-date now :)

I'm going there someday...in October!

Procrastinators Anonymous: Meet in the conference room eventually...

2009-02-15T15:47:00.000-08:00

remember how i mentioned i hadn't played in the snow yet? well the day after my previous post, i decided it was high time to have some fun and enjoy it.

lets just ignore the fact that i had an entire paper to write still that had to be done the next day...

anyway, while i was posta be sitting at my computer dilligently writing a literary analysis for my honors english class, i was outside digging into the fresh(ish) untouched snow to the side of our apartment building. lauri was my accomplice and we got a bit carried away after we decided to make a snow WOMAN :) take a gander:

this is frieda :)

her eyes are rocks, her nose is a baby carrot, her mouth is...toothpaste...and her other accessories were found in varios places around our apartment. haha :) she has eyelashes and everything!! but idk if you can tell from this picture...which makes me sad cuz i spent quite awhile arranging them. what a waste.

lauri and i bonded very deeply with frieda while we were sculpting her, so we decided to pose with her for a couple photographs in order to remember each other forever. behold:

i found a friend shorter than me! :D

and here is the lovely lauri, my partner in crime :)

yah we're good buddies. and its a good thing we had this little photoshoot, too! alas, she had a short-lived live and couldn't endure the sun's relentless rays. this is frieda, that very evening:

poor girl. ah well...it was fun while it lasted! and i sufficiently wasted enough time to force myself to focus and write my paper, so all in all it was a good day. all the snow is gone now, however, so it was good that i enjoy it while it lasted!

Firsties!

2009-02-12T16:43:00.000-08:00

there have been a couple "firsts" that have happened to me the past 5 months or however long its taken me to update this blasted thing. one of them being....

MY FIRST SNOW DAY EVER!!!!!!!!!!!

here's a little before and after for ya...my porch pre-snowfall, and currently:

yes...its crazy. that lamppost is taller than i am. ITS COLD!!! and i dont like it!! but maybe thats just because i haven't made a snowman yet...i'm sure i would enjoy the snow much more if i took the time to play in it :) perhaps soon...perhaps.

haha here's a picture of the creepy empty apartment right above ours.

i think the icicles are a nice touch, yah?

another first that i had was my first blind date! jordan (my roomie) and her boyfriend chase decided to set me up w/ chase's cousin, kimball hansen. i stole a picture off of his blog and am putting it up here for the world to see! muahaha! (assuming the whole world views my blog.) meet kimball hansen:

look at that grin...CLEARLY he's plotting something, concocting some devious plan which will lead to someone's demise. prolly chase's (sorry chase! haha). no but really he's pretty much hilarious and has changed my life...kinda. :P changed in the way that now i "beep" out half of the things i say (my previous post makes reference to that) because we can't tolerate any sort of swearing, now, can we? and also, i've had the song "africa" by toto stuck in my head for the past blasted week, my goodness! its like the soundtrack in my head is stuck on repeat...lol.

welp, those are the only *major* firsts that really happened that i can think of. other minor firsts include, my first bruising-of-the-tailbone as i slip multiple times on the treacherous ice and slush plaguing the streets of flagstaff, my first dinner party hosted at our apartment (the first time using my slow cooker i got for christmas! woot) and my first addiction to the office. me and my roommates have watched the first four seasons within a couple months. we're THAT dedicated. :)

ah i should go get ready for work now...time to trudge through the snow uphill both ways! literally. i am SO gonna be one of those moms who plays that card against her kids when they whine! o yah ;)

later! (but hopefully not too much later...i'll try to be better about updating!)

"I'm Not Dead Yet!"

2009-01-01T11:42:00.000-08:00

(name that movie and win a prize!) this post's title is significant for several reasons...

first of all, because those of you following my blog i'm sure have thought i've dropped off the face of the planet! i'm still here, no worries :) i apologize *profusely* for slacking on my blogging...but in my defense, i have been unbelieveably busy with school and work. and hey, it paid off too...i not only survived my very first semester at a university, but i got STRAIGHT A's!!!! even though i had THE most ridiculous difficult time with my honors english course. i felt like no matter what i did, my writing or effort was never good enough for my professor, but apparently it was good enough in the end! and i am quite pleased with my A in developmental psych, since i'm majoring in psychology and all, haha :)

second of all, i'm very lucky to be alive...on saturday, the 20th of december i was driving down the 17 on my way home from flag, with my cruise set at 80 mph, all by myself since all my roomies left over a week before. i was heading towards a really sharp curve around a mountain, and didnt quite turn sharp enough...i was heading straight for the guard rail on the outside lane and my tires hit the bumpy part between the rail and the lane, and the sound FREAKED me out! i overreacted by veering really far right, which had me heading right for the side of the mountain. so i veered back the other way, realized that was bad cuz i was just overcorrecting all over the place, and finally lost complete control veering to the right again. i swerved off the road and my car rolled several times, no one could tell how many. my car landed upsidedown in the dead brush, at a point that was past the side of the mountain and wasn't on a steep incline so i didnt roll DOWN anywhere. i stayed conscious for the whole thing, but after i realized the accident was inevitable, i just screamed and closed my eyes so all i remember was a whole lot of impact. my head hit my driver side window and my steering wheel so i got a lovely, large cut on top of my head...

isn't it pretty? :D thats on the left side of my head if you can't tell. its kinda a weird picture cuz its just hair...and blood...bahaha :) i also got a mild concussion, naturally. but i was very, very blessed because on the scene, there was an EMT who stopped, an ER nurse, a bunch of other really nice and helpful people, and two LDS priesthood holders who were able to give me a blessing. all of my stuff was strewn across the 17...my trunk popped open and all of my EVERYTHING came flying out. but there were people who went around collecting things for me. and the only thing i'm missing (other than various socks) is my mp3 player. *small trickle of tears* but i will survive. i'm re-burning all my cds back so at least my world isnt COMPLETELY music-less! perhaps that might be an idea for a birthday present, mom and dad? :)

but i digress...

so after the random EMT and nurse did some quick (but hardcore) cleaning and dressing of my wounds etc, i got loaded up into an ambulance where they drove me to a helicopter (o, i'm sorry...a beepicopter, in kimballese) and then they proceeded to fly me back to the flagstaff ER. at this point, i started to cry. mostly because i wanted to go home and i was really, really mad that i was going the OPPOSITE direction of home. i was mad at myself for driving all stupid and getting into the crash in the first place, and i was REALLY really mad that i would hafta wait even longer to see my family and i was just costing them even more money. i was just unbearably upset at myself...i didnt care about the pain. which actually wasn't all that bad because of the adrenaline rushing through me and the medics dosed me up on a ridiculous (sorry...rebeepulous) amount of painkillers.

so at the hospital they got me out of my clothes (as in completely cut them up to remove them...naturally it was my favorite outfit. hahaha) and after covering me with about 6 blankets cuz i was freezing half to death, they ran some CAT scans to check for broken anything, internal bleeding, etc etc. then i laid in a nondescript room for a long time while i waited for someone to come clean the blood off my face and...well pretty much everywhere else too, and while i waited, my sister christina walked into the room! it was wonderful to see her face...altho she couldnt say the same for mine...she got a bit of a shock. apparently my forehead had swollen so much from hitting my steering wheel that it looked like they shaved some of my hair back. but it was so comforting to be able to talk to her and squeeze her hand when something hurt. as we were talking, she made a small confession... "umm... amy i called skylar." WHAT?! skylar pond is this guy i know from work who has become one of my favorite people ever. christina and troy know his aunt/uncle and their family, so when my mom called troy to tell him i was in the hospital, one thing led to another and they decided to call "the flagstaff ponds" to see if brother pond could assist troy in giving me another blessing. so yah skylar showed up at the hospital too...altho i really wish he didn't hafta see me in that condition, once again it was really relieving to see a friendly face, especially when the time that i could see my friends back home was...postponed a bit. he got to see me before they stitched up my face and everything! (i was wearing sunglasses when i hit my steering wheel so i got a huge cut on my forehead...ryan glover calls me harietta potter. lol) in fact lemme SHOW you what i looked like!

LOVELY, yes? :)

hmmm this is getting lengthy...lets fast forward a bit, shall we?

so since i'm allergic to lidocaine (a local anesthetic...dentists use it to numb your teeth) they had to just knock me out completely to give me the 8 stitches on my forehead and the 11 staples in my head. then i laid there for awhile waiting for the anesthesia to wear off so i could go home!! (threw up a couple times in the meantime...never knew concussions cause nausea! whatdya know.) then after a long while, christina and troy and their munchkins drove me home! i got home around 4 in the morning...and then just took it easy from then on while my body recovered! the next few days were pretty awful as the soreness set in and my face swelled up a lot, but after the 4th day or so, everything started smoothing out. and now i'm all better!! the only reminders i have are the scar on my forehead, on my scalp, and the little bitty scars on my hand that got all cut up from going thru my windshield--its kinda funny, when my hands are cold, the scars turn purple and i look like i have leprosy. lol :)

(thats what i looked like the 2nd and 3rd day after...in the latter picture, my face is so swollen it's literally stuck in that position. i couldn't smile! sad day!)

unfortunately, my car did not fare as well as i did...dear little agnes is no longer :( they couldn't even tow her normally, cuz there was nothing to hook onto! sigh...

lets all have a moment of silence out of respect for the deceased..... :( i miss her. she was a great friend. rest in peace, agnes!!! ("rest in peace...es! heh heh..." --kevin, from the office)

k. i think i'll just close this post for now and move on to lighter news in a new post :) so thats all for now.

The Bare Necessities

2008-09-19T11:35:00.001-07:00

yes, its has been awhile since i've posted something on here, and for those of you (aka beth) who go blog hopping every day, i'm sorry for ALL those times you have gotten on here only to be disappointed by the very same post staring at you day after day. :P my sincere apologies!

but i'm repenting!!!

for those of you who are viewing my blog for the very first time, welcome!! i know my parents have given out my URL in a couple places...i'll try my best to keep this updated when i have a fragment of a spare moment (i can never get a whole one here...sigh!) so you all can know whats goin on in my life :) and you will hafta forgive my wordiness. thats just...me. haha

so! the theme of this post is, as the title says, the Bare Necessities of college life (more specifically, MY life!). lets start with the obvious...

meet agnes!!! she is my very quirky, very temperamental car. she has a built-in security device called "screaching horrifically every time you steer while breaking" so if anyone tries to steal her in the middle of the night, i will most DEFINITELY hear them trying to pull out. :) her hood is black, and the rest of her is a peeling, fading maroon. if you tap the break, she comes to a dead stand-still and ejects you out the windshield if you do not have your seatbelt on (another security feature...wear your seatbelt or else!!!) she also needs you to talk sweet to her if you wanna coax her up a steep hill. BUT!!! she gets me wehre i need to go, and she gets purty awesome gas mileage!(i think...i've only had to gas up twice since i've been here...thats good right?) so i love her!!!

and here is the newest addition to my life...my very own CELL PHONE!!! FINALLY!!!!!!!!! (thanks mom and dad!!) yes, this is most definitely a necessity. it keeps me in touch with the outside world, and now i have someone to call when poor agnes dies in the parking lot! (hasnt happened again...but still. this is me. who knows what WILL happen.) i have unlimited text (...fortunately...) so keep in touch! if you want my number just drop me an email at fuzziemunkee@hotmail.com and i'll get that to ya :)

This is my kitchen. it includes our fridge/freezer, our microwave, our TOASTER (also a new addition! woot!) and our stove. to sum up...this is the place where i eat. important? only a WHOLE LOT!!! me encanta comer comida :) ("i love to eat food :)")

my wallet and my debit card: need i say more?? my wallet carries my drivers license, my little tiny cash stash, my school ID which gives me access to two of my classes and is how i print things off at the library...yah anywhere i go, my wallet goes. and my debit card? its how i pay rent, buy groceries, buy books, gas up agnes, do ANYTHING. this little piece of plastic rules my LIFE.

and here is my computer :D without it, it would be utterly pointless for me to be in college. every assignment is typed up on this baby (and printed off on my roomie jordan's printer). and this is my means of internet access...and this is my shout out to dearest Joshua Lindblom!!! THANK YOU FOR MY INTERNET!!!!! while it was once a convenience, it truly is now a necessity, as 7/8 of life up at NAU (well any university i suppose) requires online access. no computer, no grades!!! and no purpose in me spending buckets of money on my education. (thanks again Josh!!!) <3>

so...these are my sunglasses. they may not seem like SUCH a huge necessity to y'all...but lemme tell ya what, walking 20 minutes at a time, like four times a day, can be a highly unpleasant experience if you have nothing to shield your eyes. even when its cloudy, cuz everything else is all bright and reflect-y still, like the sidewalk and the clouds. these are also something i never leave the house w/ unless its at night! (btw...flagstaff is one of the only places i know of where people habitually carry around sunglasses and an umbrella at the same time. gotta love arizona!)

aaaaand last but NOT least, my subway visor and a roll of quarters. clearly, my visor is important because it represents my awesome job (only downside: we close at 11 and i usually dont get home til after midnight. ah well, ya win some and lose some, yah?) which is HIGHLY critical to my survival up here for several reasons...it pays me first of all, second of all its like a free all-you-can-eat for me, and lastly...it gets me OUT of my apartment!! haha :) and the roll of quarters? essential. who knew how many quarters you would need in college?? parking meters, vending machines, and most importantly......the coin laundry at my apartment. $1.50 per wash and $1 per dry. crazy! cant live w/out quarters.

And that is my current life in a nutshell! questions? comments? stories? anything??? just let me know :)

urm . . .

2008-08-26T17:02:00.000-07:00

so can i just say how much i love love love kylie and aubree and rachel and catey? (those are the girls who live in apartment 909, right down the parking lot from us!) (sorry catey, no pics of you on this post!)

so this is what happens when i walk away from my camera...which happens to be in rachel riding's reach: (thats an alliteration! :D )

aaaand this is what happens when aubree stradling and kylie hassell...well...uhhh this is just kylie and aubree :)

please note in the following photographs: kylie's face changes drastically. aubree's stays stone still.

and these are the people i spend my free time with :) gotta love 'em. <3

Formula for the Worst Day Ever:

2008-08-19T21:15:00.000-07:00

*you get woken up early (is woken a word...?) by a call from your father saying he will be at your place in 10 minutes to help you move

*you rush frantically to get everything packed into your car while its raining outside

*the management from new apartment gets your rent wrong and you sit in the office for over an hour while he tries to get the lease taken care of

*your debit card gets denied because the deposit you put in isnt available til monday (so your roommate pays your part and you write her a check that she is absolutely not allowed to deposit til monday)

*you get exhausted from moving millions of boxes and realize....you are 10 min late for work (the closing shift, of course)

*it happens to be raining again, so you cant drive nearly as fast as you would like to

*its your fourth day of work and the only other person on your shift decides to tell you half an hour after closing that he doesnt know how to close out the register

*after going through 30 more min of grief finishing closing, you go out to the dark, empty parking lot at midnight...

*...and find your battery is utterly DEAD...cuz you left your lights on, in your rush to go clock in

*you no longer have a phone cuz you returned the loaner you were using that very morning

*you flag down a stranger miraculously going thru the parking lot and use his phone! <3

*your roommate doesnt answer....

*the girl a few doors down sends HER roommate to rescue you, but her battery isnt strong enough to jump yours

*so you leave your car in the parking lot overnight

*they drop you off at your apartment...and your key doesnt fit in your lock

*its still raining, by the way (your roommate eventually hears you futilely jamming your key in the lock and opens the door for you)

yah this was my saturday :) everythign worked out finally, and thanks to kylie/aubree/rachel's roommate, catey stroud, my battery is now sitting inside my frotn door waiting for me to take it down to checker and get it charged :P she is an AWESOME little mini mechanic! gotta love her.

whistle while you work!!! ...or eat, or text, or whatever the heck you wanna do.

2008-08-15T13:46:00.000-07:00

"five dollar, five dollar, five dollar footlong!!!"

easiest job...EVER.

all you do is make the sub the way the customer tells you...and make sure you smile while doing it. the hardest part about working at subway...is mopping. not even kidding you! well that, and i guess figuring out what to do with yourself when no one comes in. we're allowed to eat whatever we want, use our phones whenever we want, do our homework (sweeeet!), WHATEVER, just as long as we do it away from the customers...and we arent IGNORING the customers. best job in the entire world :)

and its nice because i get free food! i'm NOT gonna starve my freshman year :D yay!

ohhhhh i'm SOOOOO EXTREMELY EXCITED! lauri, anne carroll, jordan walls (my three roommates) and kylie, aubree, rachel, and their roommate caty (spelling?) are moving up here tomorrow into the woodlands village apartment complex!!! i'm so pumped to see my friends again, and now i wont be sitting alone at church and firesides :) well i mean i always sat by other people, but now i wont feel like i'm inflicting my presence on anybody! haha

so this past monday for family home evening my ward went "hiking" through the lava tubes, it was AWESOME! if you ever go, make sure you have a good, nonbulky flashlight, and a jacket. and jeans :) and shoes that you dont feel every single little rock on the ground. haha but yah, it was two-ish miles worth of climbing over EXTREMELY uneven damp rocks, sometimes hunched cuz the caves got so low (some hunched less than others...bahaha, take that, all you people who mock my 5'1" height!!) and my quads were soooo sore the next couple days, but it was beautiful and incredible! my left knee is quite bruised and scraped, and at one point when i slipped, as every person who goes thru the caves slips, i kinda lightly hit my head on one of the rocks. no harm done, just felt a little bit like a moron klutz! (which...i am. so whatever!)

welp, i should get goin and pack up my stuff as much as possible since i'm moving into MY OWN APARTMENT tomorrow! o yah and i hafta go down to the apartment office since they're trying to screw us over for our rent, and i'm not as nice and meek as anne is, and she's been the one talking to the management lately. wish me luck :P

i love you all!!! and mom/dad/beth, i miss our ice cream freezer terribly. ice cream is a grand luxury i wont be enjoying for awhile unless handed to me for free :P

LSD, Crack, and Heroin

2008-08-05T19:05:00.000-07:00

SUCCESS!!! the fruits of my job hunting labors have been brought forth unto me in the form of 7.25 an hour for 20-25 hrs a week at subway...a five minute walk away from my apartment (MY apartment, not the one i'm staying in for another week and a half!) and within walking distance of campus and institute! (plus there was this guy who works there who peaked my interest...maybe i'll get to know him and we can be friends and play!) so i am now officially EMPLOYED!!!!!!

....that is.....after i pass my drug screening. (which is what this post's title is referring to. *mischeivous, winky smile*) but hey, i'm a good girl with good clean blood! and this should be cake since peeing in cups is nothing new to me, what with all the pregnancy tests i've had to get. ("remember my motto," said dr. germaine to his new nurse assistant... "women always lie about pregnancy." well then....with all the times doctors have had to ask me whether or not i'm pregnant, apparently i've carried enough children to populate a small town by now!)

anyways...

the point is, i'm hired!!! (mostly.)

aaaand you should take time to check out the most incredible collection of songs pretty much EVER. as i'm sure you've noticed by now, i added a playlist to my blog, and it consists of 25 of my most FAVORITEST songs i have ever heard. some awesome ones you may not have heard of: she's got a way - billy joel
helplessly, hopelessly, recklessly - jessica andrews
beautiful disaster - jon mclaughlin

enjoy!

Flagstaff, AZ

2008-08-02T11:51:00.001-07:00

it's BEAUTIFUL here!

for those of you who dont know, i moved in with my cousin alicia in flagstaff on july 31...it was hard to throw myself into the real world and even harder to leave my friends and family behind, but i am where i'm posta be! (yes kates, i just said posta. so shoot me ;))

its been purty uneventful here, i just settled right in and took up my allotted space in the apartment, and then immediately hit fry's so i could, y'know, EAT and stuff. (thank you a million times over for the food lisa!) i've already determined how much i hate the traffic and the drivers in flagstaff, there are the super courteous ones you find every once in awhile who you just want to get out of your car and kiss, because of all the other crazy idiots who scare the living snot out of you! BAH!

so i've already made friends with the LDS institute building and barnes and noble :) and i'm about to go make friends with cline library (the nau campus library) cuz i need to print off my resume (yah, that was dumb of me not to do before i left. woops!) and i think my roommates are getting a little weary of me using their comps for google maps for every little place i need to go :)

just around the corner from this apartment there is a place where i can sell plasma...so if they like my blood, i might sell myself to help get through college!

....urm....maybe i should word that differently :-/

well i better go chow down a cup o' noodles and head out again so i can officially start my jobhunt!(i've already applied online for cline library and barnes and noble, we'll see what happens with actually going out and collecting applications) wish me luck!!! o how desperately i need it :-

mi familia

2008-07-29T09:37:00.000-07:00

so i've got pictures of most of my good friends up on the side, and i decided (once again at the request of lisa. . . she's slowly taking over my life!!!) to introduce you to my very, very psychotic family :) i'm even leaving all my neices and nephews out of this post...i'll put them up later, after my pregnant sister in law finally pops and i can put up a picture other than an ultrasound :P ok...starting from the oldest:

this is my brother jess and his wife cami, i had a hard time finding a picture of them without millions of kids jumping over all of them...and even here, you can see one and a half of them :P that should tell you a bit about them, they are both very laid back and fun people :) jess teaches spanish at mesa high and the only bad thing people have to say about him is that he works them to death :P cami is so good at scrapbooking that its intimidating. haha! she's awesome

this is my sister sarah and her husband james. sarah is the cute, health conscious one in the family :) she's always trying new healthy recipes (that she magically makes taste good) and she is very good with decorating and crafts. she's really fun to play curses with cuz she's so kooky and uninhibited! james likes to pretend he's stoic and unfeeling, lol. and while he makes fun of our family for bursting into random song, i have heard him on more than one occasion burst into even RANDOMER song than we do, such as the hokey pokey....and my personal favorite, "when i was a young warthoooog!" not so tough, are ya, james? ;)

christina and her husband troy...who are tirelessly trying to hook me up and get me married off :P christina is very perky, talkative, and understanding. when i get the chance to talk with her, i spill my guts and fill her in on every detail of my life. i reeeally appreciate it!!! troy is a HUGE tease, and fit the big brother roll very very naturally...ya gotta love him :) and he will drop everything he's doing in order to give someone a hand, he has such a big heart.

michael...argumentative, all too logical, but talented and hardworking. he likes to laugh...a lot. mostly AT me, but hey that's easy, yah? :) i think if there was any boy bothering me, michael would be one of the first ones to know. he is very deep and sensitive, and while he may appear to be awfully masculine and macho at first, he is the biggest baby and is the kind of guy you wanna take to a good romantic comedy. (but if its not funny, he'll hate it.)

my brother seth, his wife joyelle. seth is .... ah, i love him. i owe a lot to him, he's been my unofficial musical trainer my entire life. my relative pitch is his fault, the fact that i've made regionals and all state for four years is his fault, and passing algebra 2 (with an A!) is his fault. he's such a good teacher and just an incredible guy! i wish i knew joyelle better, she is the sweetest girl you can possibly imagine. her heart is so good, and every time i'm around her i just want to be a better person! she has very directly influenced our family for the better, because of her, we have a lot more unity and affection...idk what i would do without these two :)

my brother robert, his wife leigh. robert is....ummm complete sarcasm and silliness packaged into a person. he's the type that likes to indimidate my dates, and i'm not gonna lie, its funny and i dont mind it. bahaha...sorry guys :) but seriously, he is so willing to help out anybody and do whatever he can, and he is a bit of a peacemaker whenever we all get too prideful and argue-ish. he tells us we're ALL stupid and should shut up :) good ol' robert. leigh is a bundle of energy, she's spastic and ocd and creative like you wouldnt believe...and when she's good at something, she is GOOD at it. there is no halfway when it comes to her! it may stress her half to death, but it will be perfect.

so this isnt the best quality pic, but this is the infamous lisa (ya happy?) and her husband jared. btw, that is totally the wedding dress i am going to wear. keep it in good shape for me, alrighty lisa? it needs to last another five or six years. lol! so i chose this picture because its...the most accurate. these two are soooo extremely goofy! they have a very ...entertaining relationship, you wouldnt understand until you saw the two of them together. lisa is confident and extroverted and VERY outspoken, and she has the soul of a black woman. if you hear her sing, you'll agree! jared is a bit of a mad genius, he's brilliant and very business-minded, he's got his own company...check out his website, signsxtra.com! haha :) he is very blunt about his opinions, and he can talk about the most boring things and make you sit on the edge of your seat. aka politics, history, whatever! he is kooky and mildly insane, if you need a good laugh, just talk with him for a few minutes. not kidding :)

aaaand here's beth. she's a bit shy at first, she's my one and only little sister, altho for a lot of my childhood she was more like a little brother! she was a bit of a tomboy :) and even now, she thinks more like a guy than a girl, which is why i dont hate her. haha! altho, dont ever get her and michael in the same room. you will want to strangle them both because they refuse to admit the other is right, no matter how retarded the argument. for example, i think the silliest one was whether green is a "shade of yellow" or not. ohhhhmygosh. but beth is the only one in my family who actually appreciates how loopy and immature i can be, and while she doesnt express herself very well, i know how much she deeply loves me and the rest of our family! she has a lot of strength in her (but not physically! i can still pin her down and i always will! bwahaha) she's got a good head on her shoulders and i dont worry about her one bit.

some of you may have noticed i havent mentioned my parents...thats because if i did, this would be a mile and a half long and its already pretty long. i will introduce them at a later time. but until then, just know that i love my family and they are such a huge part of who i am!!!

sheep! lemming!!!!!!!

2008-07-28T20:38:00.000-07:00

i caved. totally. i was resisting the whole blog craze...until the entire world, AND my sister lisa (the final straw) decided to pressure me into it. lisa's argument was "but we need to know whats going on in your life in college!!!" so yes, as this post's title implies, i am like some dumb animal being driven in the same direction as the rest of the dumb animals, and have succombed to the spirit of BLOGGING!!!

however: bradley pew is determined to retrieve me from the dark side. "I won't quit on you! I'll get you started on a 14 step program right away. Amy, friends don't let friends blog!"

there is hope for me yet!