Mail!

I love getting mail. Luckily for me, I'm at the age where half of my friends are gone (or will be soon) on their missions. That said, I have about 5 that I write letters to. It's great. I write them a letter, they write me back... you know how that all goes. I've decided I did something REALLY stupid though. I let their letters pile up. And then, I wrote 3 of them on the same day. Now, that's not really a problem. Until... I get letters back from the three of them, within just a few days of each other. Now I find myself with 4 letters to write to people who already wrote me, as well as the address of another who told one of the other guys to tell me to write to him. I guess I'll just be spending my evenings writing letters for the next few days, and maybe this time I'll space them out a little when I send them.

Also, not only do I get letters from some of the missionaries... but when they email their families each week, I get emails forwarded from the parents of 5 of my friends. It's fun to check my email on Monday's & Tuesday's and find emails from my friends moms. Kinda weird, but also very fun!

But... I do love getting mail! I even requested catalogs to be sent to my new dorm starting in the middle of August so that I'll get more mail, isn't that great?

Also... this summer I have gotten 2 wedding annoucements. For people that I actually know. My RA, Danica got married in May, and Uncle Russ & Auntie Adri are getting married August 16th. It's crazy to see my friends getting married while other of my friends are going on missions. WeIrD!

I've also decided that it will be so weird to go back to school and not have very many guys my age there. Weird, weird, weird. But I guess that's the way things roll at the Y.

Hmmmm!

In exactly 3 weeks and 25 minutes, my plane is scheduled to land back in my happy other home. That means I have only 3 weeks and 25 minutes to endure! Only 13 days left to work, only 2 more Friday nights babysitting, or maybe only one... depending on when we're going camping. Only 2 more Saturday's to do chores. Only 3 more Thursdays to be my "dinner/dishes night", although this Thursday is Mexican Night (I'll explain) so I won't be the only one cooking, and I imagine we'll all pitch in and help with dishes too. Only 36 days til my <3 215 reunion <3 with my loverly roommates from last year.

So Mexican Night... to explain Mexican Night, I need to explain Italian Night. Last week at church, a girl originally from 3rd ward, but who is attending SV with us (Carolyn C) invited me and Jenna for "Italian Night". We had no clue what this was going to be, but later in the week, Jenna and Carolyn talked about what we should bring. Anywho, we went over to Carolyn's house on Wednesday night with the makings for Italian Sodas. She and her sister Molly had made a pizza (more like, they cooked a pizza that they picked up at Costco) and it was amazing. Christi W brought pasta (pasta roni mind you, and man was I happy to see that stuff again :D) and the 5 of us had a fabulous time laughing and eating. Rachelle D showed up a little later and joined in on the laughter, oh... and I guess Carolyn's brother, Spencer, ate with us as well. We had a fabulous feast with our pizza, salad, pasta and italian sodas. Add a fabulous dessert and probably a good 4 hours of hearty laughter, and Italian Night was a success. We decided we wanted to make this a weekly thing til we all leave again in a few weeks, and decided that next week would be Mexican. Jenna & I decided to host it at our house, and boy, are we excited. We want to get costumes and decorations and have it be a full blown party. Pretty much, it's going to be hilarious. I'm way looking forward to it.

Last night Jenna & I crashed a 1st ward ward activity. More like, we went... I ate a few bites of a burnt hamburger, we both ate some chips and we talked to some people. Mom, Brenda says hi. And so do Michelle & Stephen Beecroft. Oh, and Rachel R does as well. Then, we sat with Claire A (she's 16) and decided to kidnap her for the night. We went down to downtown Kirkland and saw The Dark Knight. And man, it's a good thing Christian Bale is so attractive. We were all freaking out. Also, that movie theatre is dumb. They have something like reversed stadium seating... it was messed up. It was cheaper than Bella, and the movie started at a time we could actually handle, so I guess we can't complain too much. It was fun hanging out with Claire & Jenna. Next time, we're kidnapping Claire's brother, Charlie, as well. He was just too young for Dark Knight (he's like 11).

Today I went to the dentist to get 2 fillings. My appointment was at 8, and when I left his office at like 8:45 he told me to go home and go to sleep. So, I did. And when I would wake up randomly, I would check to see if my face was numb still, and if it was I would go back to bed. It got to the point that a little after noon I just woke up and walked into Jenna's room. Then we went and got Jamba Juice. Oh man, I love Pink Star Jamba's. Probably my favoritest ever!

I should probably do my laundry, and take a shower. And maybe find something to do.

Why I Like Sundays

Sundays like yesterday are some of my favoritests ever. Here's how it went down... I slept in until 10:45. Took a shower, ate breakfast, got all ready for church. We got to church, sat with our friends and chatted for a little bit. After church we (of course that means me and Jenna) went to choir. THEN I went to Paul's. I don't know who to give credit to (Paul or Jeanne), but we had some amazing Veal Parmesan (sp?) and garlic bread (which I think they said Bryan made?). After dinner we all went outside. The kids ran around playing, and then decided they wanted wedgies (these kids are kind of odd... they ask for wedgies). After a while, Bryan had to leave, it was fun eating dinner with Bryan again. Eventually Jeanne took Tyler on a drive to get him to go to sleep, and after that she and I sat at the piano. She played a bunch of songs (from the hymn book, the primary book, some purple book, and music not from a book) and we sang them together. I LOVE sing-a-longs. It wasn't quite like the sing-a-longs we had growing up, as our music supply was slightly smaller than mom's music collection. BUT, we sang songs that now always me think of Jeanne and the girls. I love when we sing this particular song that Jeanne's sister rearranged. Paige always comes in when we sing, and she comes and stands by me. It's super cute, and we always end up with our arms around eachother in some way. I love the memories of it.

Pretty much, Sunday was pretty laid back, and we were at the piano for more than an hour. It was fabulous. I can't wait for the first week back at school when my building is empty. I'll have the piano to myself. We'll just have to see if I can find my piano music. Hopefully my Ben Folds book comes in really soon so I can start working on those songs before I get back to school.

So, I suppose this post is to help me remember how much I love Sunday afternoon's at Pauls house, and to remind me of our sing-a-longs. Also, it is to help me remember how badly I need to work on my writing skills. My grammar and punctuation is pretty much awful, I guess I've been out of school a few too many days.

26 days til I go back!

Countdowns

Traci's post made me chuckle a little. All this time I've been counting down til the day I fly away (28.5 days, fyi) and there is something a little sooner that I have to look forward to! How on earth did I forget about Stephenie Meyer's new book coming out? The bookstore at school had signs up in April before I left announcing the arrival of it (Mom, do you remember seeing these signs, and did you think it was ridiculous?). I'll have to work something out to go and get this book as quickly as possible. Probably won't stay up all night reading it like I did with Harry Potter 7, but I'll read it before I go back to school, that's for sure!

I have something else to look forward to. I have 18 days of work left. Three full weeks, and then the Monday-Wed of the week that I leave. I've got two days to run errands and pack and make sure I've got everything taken care of. That gives me 3 weeks to sub for people and to get the sales area of the store all finished. I'm making new price labels for ALL of our products and changing out the hooks that the products hang off of so that the plastic price tag holders are slightly more modern and sturdy. Unfortunately the process of making new labels and replacing the old ones takes long enough without replacing the hooks. Lets just say I get a lot of quality time with my iPod while I'm at work.

One of my favorite things about not being at school right now is that I don't have to pay a dollar to wash and dry each load of laundry. Call me crazy, but free laundry is AMAZING. Also, I don't have to lug my laundry, my quarters, my laundry detergent and my fabric softener down to the basement. I carry my clothes down, and everything else is there waiting for me. I also don't have to set a timer so that I get my clothes before the stupid people who steal clothes from the laundry room do. Christie was a victim of that a few times. Silly girls stealing modbe and shade shirts and camis. Who would've thought?

Another thing I love about being here, not at school, is teryaki. I just haven't found decent teryaki at school yet. Here I go to Yummy Teryaki, or Joy Wok often to get my teryaki chicken fix. I LOVE teryaki. Probably my favoritest ever. I'll be so sad when I go back to a place with no good teryaki. If anyone knows of good terytaki in P-town, let me know. This is really important for my well-being.

A question... and the last post I'll post tonight.

As I wrote the post about me being the best aunt in the universe, I realized I had no clue how to spell the name Kami. What are the most popular ways to spell Kami? Kami? Cami? Camie? I have no clue, and now it's really starting to bug me. I might have to call the office tomorrow and ask them how said massage therapist spells her name.

Also, spelling the name Kami has nothing to do with me being the best aunt in the universe, just to clarify. My lack of spelling ability does not change the fact that I am the best aunt in the universe.

And, while I'm thinking of aunts, tomorrow is Auntie Adri's birthday. So, although Auntie Adri pretty much has no way of accessing my blog (that I know of)... Happy Birthday Auntie Adri!

*for those of you who don't know Auntie Adri... Auntie Adri is marrying Uncle Russ next month. Uncle Russ was the uncle of one of my roommates, Allison. Russ was an RA in Helaman, and he came over for dinner a lot. After he and Adri started dating (oh, and Adri was an RA in Helaman also), Adri came over too. My whole apartment called Russ "Uncle Russ" because that was what Allison called him. When they were starting to plan their wedding (officially engaged or not) Adri said we should call her Auntie Adri. I jumped on that one as fast as I could, although Allison just BARELY started calling her Auntie Adri. I thought it was really cool. I love my Uncle Russ and Auntie Adri!

A to-do list

At school I found that I got a lot more done if I talked through my to-do list. That in mind, Christie and I regularly told each other all of the things we needed to do. If Christie wasn't around, Kelli and I would talk about our lists. Sometimes as I explained the tasks to one of them, it helped me figure out if it was a top priority or not. I also figured out that if I told somebody what I needed to do, they would sometimes ask me how a particular task had gone. It was like when you go on a diet with a friend and you check in with each other regularly to see how you are progressing.

After I would talk them through, I would number them on whatever paper I had written them down on, and then rewrite them in order. It was kind of a long process. I found that if I spent some good time making my list, it motivated me more. That and I figured I wasted 30 minutes figuring out what to do, so that was 30 minute less time I had to accomplish everything. Also, I really just like writing down lists of things I need to do. In a notebook that I hope is in a box in Provo (I only hope that because I can't find it, I really wish it was here) I have this huge long list of all sorts of things I need to do. However, that might have to be another post for another day, like a day that I actually have that list in front of me. It has a bunch of good lifetime goals, goals for the summer (whoops!), goals for next year, goals I want to accomplish before I get married... just a bunch of goals. Well, I suppose that the things on my to-do list are my goals. I don't really know why I started typing goals instead of 'things to do'. Actually, I probably did that because goals is significantly shorter than 'things to do'.

I decided that if I post my list of things I need to get done, I might actually do them... for fear that you all will laugh at me if I don't get them done. Also, I have a bad habit of losing my list of things to do.

I need to...
-vacuum my bedroom
-do my laundry
-pick up my piano book at the music store (yay for ben folds!)
-pay my tuition
-pay my $1 fee at the library... woops
-do my 4th RA Assignment (it's already a week late...)
-do my 5th RA assignment (it's due in a week... and it's the last one)
-work harder on my Geography class (independent study is a beautiful thing)
-figure out what to make for dinner on thursday, or find out if i'm really in charge of cooking since there are 5 extra people here
-call the two girls i'm supposed to call for my church calling
-schedule my visiting teaching, which shouldn't be so hard since i live with my companion, and 2 of the 3 girls we visit are girls i talk to on a regular basis
-think about writing letters to my friends that are still in the mtc (namely: brendan c and chris)

that should about do it for now. oh. i decided that simple things like getting sleep, eating, showering... didn't need to make that list, although those are things I do as well.

also, the other night when I talked to Allison on IM for a while, she told me that she could hear my voice as she read some of the phrases I said, like when I said "go for it" or "holler" and similar phrases that frequently come out of my mouth. I'm finding that this post is pretty much just typed exactly how I would've said it. If it's kind of hard to follow sometimes, or just has really bad english I apologize. On my blog atleast I write the way I talk, and sometimes I just talk funny.

"aunt marci, you're the best aunt in the universe..."

This week I've been subbing for the lady that replaced me in the office. Not only do I get to spend a few hours in the office each day filing and billing, I get to drive for 6 hours a day (minus a few short little breaks between runs). I've noticed in the two days that I've driven so far that my left arm is already getting a nice (nice for me atleast) tan! This happened last summer too... hopefully we can get Jenna's car back (Laura is in town and using it because her van broke) soon and I can be a passenger with my right arm out the window so my arms are kind of close in color.

30 days! That's all that's left til I fly out. Is it sad that I am counting down? Do I feel bad about counting down? There are two things keeping me here for the next 30 days. Work, and Paul. Not just Paul, but his wife and their adorable 4 kids. It's a good thing I've already got a few plans to be back here in the near future.

Things are getting to be frustrating here. Sometimes all that can keep me from crying is the thought that I almost get to go back to school!

OH! Today at work! In the afternoon when I was working in the office, I grabbed the keys to the Green Machine (the ancient cavalier that I drive at work) and walked out the door, turning around to say "hey, I'm going to 7-11. I'll be back." Once I got to 7-11 and got my Orange Carrot Sobe drink I got in line (it was a kind of long line too, everyone wanted a slurpee today). And then... mom, guess who walked in! Kami (my massage therapist from last summer). She asked me when I was going back to school, and what I'm doing next Wednesday at a certain time. I told her I would be at work, but that I could take a long lunch if she had an opening. SO! I get to go visit Kami again and have her fix my back, neck and shoulders. I thought to myself "self, that was the best trip to 7-11 I've ever had!" and then I went back to work. Next Wednesday will be a good day.

On yesterday I went to Paul's after work. We didn't have FHE at the Lively's, so I figured I'd go to FHE with real family. After work and before dinner, Jeanne, the kids and I went to the park. Ryan had a scooter accident and skinned his knee. After dinner, everyone was outside except me and Ryan, and he asked me if I would carry him outside so he could be where everyone else was. As we sat on the front step, and he asked me to get him water, he told me I was the best aunt in the universe. That made me smile, until like 2 minutes later when he told me that he was just kidding. Either way, Ryguy doesn't normally say things like that, so I had to blog it as proof later in his life. I felt pretty good about it, even if he was just kidding.

That's my life for ya...

I wish I had more to say...

Like the title says, I wish I had some cool story to tell, or some great explanation as to why I haven't blogged in more than a month. Well... I don't have a good excuse. My excuse is that I really haven't done anything. I work everyday, babysit on Fridays, often babysit on Saturdays... and I go to church on Sundays. Sometimes during the week I hang out with my two friends (Jenna and Evan). I go to Paul's regularly and hang out with the kids/Paul/Jeanne.

The 4th was pretty cool. I went to Paul's house around 4 and at 5:30 we went to Shane & Shannon's for a BBQ with a few other families from their ward. There was a ton of REALLY GOOD food there, I loved it. After the BBQ was over, we went to the Elenbaas house for their fireworks show. I heard it lasted like 23 minutes, and boy, was it fantastic!

As much as I love being "home" again and having Paul and the kids so close, I'm SOOOOO ready to go back to Provo. I can wait for school to start again, but I miss all of the people and everything that went on there. There were always things to do, and everything was in walking distance pretty much. It gets kind of lonely here... and I feel like I do the same things every time I hang out with people (probably because we really do do the same things every time). In about a month I'll be back, living in those amazing cinderblock buildings. Man, I'm excited!