dirty thirty thursday

this new tradition was the perfect boost to a weird day.

thursdays are my new favorite.

thanks, wes!

(like, I seriously can't stop thinking about how great it was)

i live here

Our apartment is a little ghetto.  It looks like a motel, and I'm pretty sure the green carpet has been here since my sister lived here 20 years ago.  In college, you have to get a little creative to make your new home feel like home.  Because ours is a little ridiculous and a little adorable, I thought I'd share.

This is Justin.  Until today, he guarded our shelves of lady products.  Unfortunately, you can't see the swirling piano around his hips in this picture, but it is super classy.  One day we put a shaving cream mustache on him and it bleached a perfect little peach fuzzy line on his upper lip.

This is the gross stained wall beside my bed.  There's actually some grey paint in the closet that someone before us left behind, but who wants to take the time to do that?  Not me.  So, I printed off some favorite pictures from the summer and taped those suckers up.  Packing tape does not stick to walls very well, so if anyone has any better ideas, let me know.

I bought this linen calendar at my favorite Provo antiques store last year before it went out of business.  I love the thing so much.  The colors are amazing and coordinate with my quilt perfectly, so it hangs by my bed as well.  The problem is that no one else understands it.  I don't get why it's so hard. 

It's pretty!

Sometimes Taylor folds our toilet paper.  By sometimes, I mean once.  But it made me feel fancy.

This doesn't really count as decoration, but it was necessary.  We built a shelf!  Because we have ridiculous storage space in the kitchen!  That's one of my proudest moments right there.

At one point we had a lovely quote wall in the living room, showcased here by Taylor's killer shoes and Jess and Jill's wrestling match.  And the guitar.

Then our chair broke.

And we put the evidence on the wall.
And then the quote wall broke.

We gathered our favorite pinned quotes and stuck them above the couch with some decorative tape that also divides Jess and Jill's room in half.  I'm quite proud of this one.  Everybody (usually boys) asks if we made them ourselves and we just stare at them like they've never seen pinterest before ever!

I also made this adorable little taxidermy! tutorial here  It's a lot smaller than I thought it would be, so we are thinking about making a colony (herd? pack?) to help him guard/head the dining room table.

And finally, my chalkboards!  I am proud of myself for actually completing a craft this summer and for actually using it.  The wood one is my favorite and it's in the entryway/kitchen.  The teapot is on mine and Taylor's door because we love tea and not wearing clothes.

my roomies are leaving me

To us, this is the funniest video in the world.  

Jess is so happy she doesn't have to go to the Provo MTC, and that she's not going to Norway.

Her family is freaking out (that's her mom screaming) because her mission president in Spain is their neighbor! Her mom served in Finland and they have lots of Norwegian heritage, so we had been teasing her for weeks that that's where she was going because she really didn't want to.

As Jill was opening hers, Jess joked that they were saving Norway for her.  And they did.

And then Jess is all over the place.

I seriously can't watch this without tearing up.  I am the most emotional roommate ever.

There's a reason I'm not posting any pictures of us. :)

i'm about to start my period, okay?

It's 17 degrees outside and our heater is broken.

I am the absolute last to complain about being cold, but I am cold. I feel bad for my poor roommates.
(In semi-unrelated news, I had 4 cups of tea today.)

Fun fact: if you snuggle under your quilt & piles of clothes (for added warmth) and listen to the Avett Brothers for too long, you start to realize that this is kind of a metaphor for your life right now.

It is cold.

And then you feel like you're being a little melodramatic.

And then you eat a few almonds,
and realize that you can be however the heck you want because this is your life.

Life is crazy like that.
You can't control it, but you sure can psychoanalyze it. Who says that isn't fun?

The point is, I've been feeling off lately.
I think I am a very independent person. My mom taught me well, and still does. I can do stuff.
But I had an epiphany this week that made the emotional side of my life a little more clear.

I am an attention-snob. 
I need it to survive, but not in a normal way.  
I think my problem is that I'm just not normal.  
I don't need to talk about myself all the time.
I don't even need to talk at all.
I just need to be involved.
I need people to look me in the eye, and acknowledge that I am a human with respectable opinions.
I need to actually meet people that I want to share those opinions with.

I don't want to feel like a charity case.  
I don't want you to feel sorry for me and parade "are you okay"s around.
And I don't want too much attention because I don't need it and I get embarrassed.

Basically, I guess I know that I'm supposed to be here.
But it's been a year, and I still don't know why.
I'm ready to find people that think like me (and don't like hiking, but do like camping like me).
I'm ready to succeed at something.  Anything.

I'm taking baby steps, don't worry.
I changed my major. Geography, with an emphasis in Tourism. I'm actually very excited.
I got highlights. Something about feeling better about myself.
And every day I try to remember that even though this part of life is the last place I'd like to be right now, that there's got to be something I'm learning.

Every thing I hate now will help me become a better not-a-travel-agent (code for "I don't know what my major is going to do for me"), wife, and mother.

And that will be an infinitely better time than now.

Even though now is pretty fine, now that I think about it.

something about vampires and werewolves

On Saturday we had brunch at the top of the Space Needle. 

It was expensive (included a tour & photo), 

but it was beautiful and the rotating restaurant only made us slightly sea sick. 

This was the most legit brunch I've ever consumed. 

Three courses, people. And they bring bread and juice.

I can't believe only took one picture.

I had the salmon torte, hazelnut crusted french toast with crazy bacon, and white chocolate macadamia bread pudding.  I can't even think about it without getting sick.  So. Much. Food.  

The Space Needle is actually a lot shorter than I thought it would be, but still tall enough to get a gorgeous view of Seattle and the mountains.  Also, I really should have done my hair that morning.  And I never have eyes in pictures ever.

Then we walked around Pioneer Square and probably did some other stuff that I don't remember.  I just remember it was pretty and hot and my feet hurt.  Sorry, posterity.

And then we saw Utilikilts.  And then we saw someone wearing a Utilikilt.  That made it all better.

On Sunday we took a cab to church which was hilarious and felt weird, but was one of our best cab rides during the trip.  Church was funny and great.  I love that I get to feel the same spirit wherever they go.  However, they do it a little different in Seattle:

After Church we took a bus down to the waterfront for some less than impressive fish & chips.
And then we took a ferry to Bainbridge Island!  I could live there.  It was so pretty and quaint.
They also have the best ice cream ever.

When I am rich, I am buying millions of these:

Sister Lindsay wanted a seafood pot/boil/whatever and I decided to do it with her.  It was interesting? 

It was good.  I just wasn't super hungry, and plain seafood isn't always the thing you want when you aren't starving.  Or maybe it's just me.  But it was fun cracking those crabs.  

This picture was taken outside a very fancy hotel where we tried to sneak in and pee, but couldn't find a bathroom.  We were about to get on an elevator to explore, but we got nervous so we booked it out of there. We weren't even convincing ourselves trying to act like we belonged.
It was actually really funny, I promise.

Sister Larissa's birthday was Monday morning when we were all leaving, so we snuck in some yummy cupcakes to celebrate Sunday night.

And that concludes that trip.  I'm sorry to my sisters for all the complaining and stuff.
Let's do it again sometime, yeah?  Maybe next time I won't post any embarrassing pictures of you?  Maybe.

pt. 1
pt. 2

ladies doing stuff, ep. 2

I should not be allowed to think I'm this funny.  

i just thought about grey's the whole time

day 2:

this is an awful picture, but it's too hilarious.

makes me miss those girls even more!

the display they are modeling was from a crazy expensive store 

that i remember nothing about except for the bajillion sewing machines.

so, that's cool.

after killing some time we made it to our ride the ducks tour.

seriously you guys.  this is some of the best money i spent on this trip.  and it wasn't that cheap.

basically you ride around in an old military bus/boat
and explore the best land/water that seattle has to offer.

captain sid e. slicker.

haaaaah.

he was quite the entertaining fellow. 

if i wasn't cheap, gratuities would definitely have been given for a job well done.

dancing and costume changes make me happy.

did you know there is a difference between house boats and floating homes?

there is.  can you guess which one this is?

cause i can't remember.

sail boats just remind me of home.  

i didn't want to go home while i was in seattle, but i do now!

anyway, it was gorgeous.

recognize the red floating home?

it's the real sleepless in seattle house!

we crossed paths with another duck group and it was special.

right before we saw this cool plane land on the water,

we passed by the mother of one of the guys on the tour.

she was just chilling, paddleboarding in the lake.

i want to be that.

a crazy old factory they fenced around and turned into a park.

i just keep getting more photogenic as the trip goes on.

i don't know what it is.

sid had earrings and tattoos too.

which you know i loved.

besides the super authentic (not) piroshky that i make my family slave over during the holidays, 

this is the best i've ever had.  i even got a t-shirt.

but there were so many options, i just couldn't even handle it.

apparently it's a pretty popular place because several people recommended it to us,

and there was quite the line for such a teeny space

bottom line: worth it.

we saw a band.

of navy men.

and we liked it.

oldest sister, especially.

and me, cause i'm the only single sister.

it's weird being the only single one.

at night when they call their husbands and kids, i'm like, "heyyyy mom."

but i actually didn't because i thought that might be desperate. 

i saw a kinfolk magazine in person! at anthroplogie!

we walked though pike's place again and i decided that the fish men

were slightly less entertaining than i was expecting.

i laugh so hard.  i don't remember which sister took this, but it is prime.

on our way back to the ghetto, we saw our first installment of seattle's famous street art.  

i actually don't remember exactly what they called it, but once we saw it, it was all over.

interesting stuff.  i'm pretty sure water came out of this one.

we ended the night with some super delicious sushi.  

i don't think i've ever ordered seconds before, but we definitely did that night.

this is my sister before she tried a super raw roll.

she looks happy.

part 1