Farewell Gilbert

Jonathan Crombie passed away tragically this weekend.  If you don't know, he played Gilbert Blythe in the Anne of Green Gables series.  Basically he ruined all other men for generations of women and at church today there were whisperings about how we have once again lost hope in finding love. 

Is that dramatic Anne enough for you?

So now like a lot of other women I am watching through Anne of Green Gables this lovely Sunday afternoon as I make some food and pin recipes for Raspberry Cordial.

Rest In Peace Gilbert and Jonathan.

Bearded men, dogs, garbage, and guns...

...That is what my weekend consisted of and it was a lot of fun.  First Mike and I took the dogs up Millcreek to run around, hike, and play in the snow (well the dogs played in the snow, we just tried not to fall down).  That night we headed to see the movie "Need for Speed" staring Aaron Paul.  It was surprisingly entertaining and fun. 

Also this weekend Cyrus and I worked on our community health intervention by picking up trash in Tooele at the shooting range and by the lake that supplies Tooele with their drinking water.  There was some seriously creepy furniture that had been dumped and I didn't look too closely in fear of what I would find.  While we were out there Cyrus took me shooting.  I wasn't very good with the 22, but not to bad with a 9mm and the Automatic Rifle.

2013 review.

“Year’s end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on, with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us. Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right.” — Oprah Winfrey

 

This has been a year of many ups and downs.  Part of my year honestly felt like those weird chapters of Bella's life in the book New Moon, the blank ones with months written at the top.  But then the Stars came out.  I decided it was high time I made an effort to meet people that weren't friends of roommates, old friends from USU or High School, or co-workers.  So I started out on my own and I met some amazing people who made my life a lot better. Oh and this one day I turned 30.

In tradition of all year-in-reviews I am now going to list those that have been lost to me this year:  My old pseudo grandpa: Del Niederhauser,  and friend from Jr. High: Kandy, Cory Montieth, Paul Walker, Nelson Mandela, and 4 guys named Mike, most notably, Michael Scott and the cast of the Office.

Speaking of the Office,  my life seems to have been entertainment tonight, today, everyday, all day. I get a lot of comments about how people hate looking at my facebook (but can't help themselves) because I seem to live a life of endless entertainment.  Well I must admit that there have been a lot of intentional and unintentional moments that entertained me this year.  I also went to back to school, lost 2 sisters to international time zones, and had the most weird dating year since like, well 2003, but overall, yes it was a year of endless entertainment.

Trips:  I went on 6 trips this year:  Germany/Italy, Seattle, Bryce Canyon, Zions National Park, St. George, and Vegas.  I love to travel, I am glad I was able to see so many places and do so many things with a lot of people I care about.  Some quick stats:

Movies: 29 movies.  Favorites include Iron Man 3, the Host, Thor 2, The Mortal Instruments, Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters, World War Z, Fast and Furious 6, and the Hobbit: Desolation Of Smaug. Honorable mention is Sharknado.  Seriously.  The last movie I saw this year was The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.  I HIGHLY recommend this movie.  It was funny, clean, and inspirational.  I will talk more about this movie soon.

Books: 41 books, and 5 were text books I actually read through!  My favorites were House of Hades by Rick Riordan, Inferno by Dan Brown, Chasing the Prophecy by Brandon Mull, and Into the Fire by Dakota Meyer.  My least favorite book was Warm Bodies...the movie was better for sure.  New series I got into was The Mortal Instruments. Most random thing I read was a sociological study and review titled, "What is the Hipster." 

Plays: I attended 13 plays this year, all were entertaining and most were well acted.  I loved Elf the Musical and 39 Steps the most.

Events:  I attended 13 concerts this year.  2 were repeaters, Muse and Imagine Dragons I saw twice.  The most surprisingly good concert was Fun.  They most random concert I went to was Rush.  I love live music so this goal to average one concert a month was a fun one.  The last concert I went to this year was Mannheim Steamroller's Christmas concert with my mom.  I love their new age music, but the cheesy graphics from the late 80's.... time to change that!

I also attended 2 Yankees games this year with Toni, gotta love it and glad I got to see Mariano Rivera and Andy Pettitte play before they retired.  Also Robinson Cano before he left us for the Mariners.

And I have to mention Salt Lake Comic Con.  I didn't know if I would really like it or not but it was a total blast, I had so much fun meeting so many cool people and hanging out with friends.

So I am definitely excited to see what 2014 has in store.  I have learned a lot about myself and what I want my life to be versus what Heavenly Father has in store.  I think those things are finely lining up a bit better and can't wait to see what path it leads me down.  Have a happy new year everyone!

 

“Let our New Year's resolution be this: We will be there for one another as fellow members of humanity, in the finest sense of the word.” — Goran Persson

oh juliet.

I've been reflecting on a lot of things for various reasons... books I have been reading like "House of Hades" and "The Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down".... songs I have been listening to, people I have been spending time with, etc. Too many thoughts to put to paper right now but I would like to point out that this moment I had in January:

 ...has caused A LOT of interesting circumstances since. I am not a crazy superstition person, but my "love life" has dramatically been, well...entertaining, confusing, fun, and different. Thanks Juliet, for better or worse.

The Nerdy Way.

Let's have a chat about my geek/nerd/fantasy side.

Before 2001 I wasn't much of a fantasy fan.  I enjoyed the book, "Last of the Really Great Wangdoodles" by Julie Edwards when we read it in 6th grade, but I was a hard core mystery fan.  I read Caroline B. Cooney and John Grisham.  My favorite series were the Boxcar Children, Little House on the Prairie, and The Mysteries of the Three Investigators.  I had tried to read things like "A Wrinkle In Time," "Chronicles of Narnia," and "Bridge to Terabithia" and HATED THEM.

I know it probably surprises a lot of you.  Most of you know me as a hardcore YA Fiction novel lover, Harry Potter fanatic, and Avengers fan (I have never even read a comic book).  One day, in 2001, I picked up and read the first 4 Harry Potter books straight through in like 4 days and obviously I was hooked.  I think as I was heading to college that next week the reality was overwhelming so I enveloped myself in fantastical things.  I have read many, many more series and generally liked them all.  Don't get me wrong there are some I never would have gotten through if I hadn't seen the movie first (ie. The Host, LOTR) or didn't have the whole series sitting in front of me (ie. The Hunger Games, The Mortal Instruments, Twilight).

Speaking of "The Mortal Instruments" I went and saw the movie.  The demon start out horror-movie style and end up disgusting alien style.  But overall I loved that movie.  It took me awhile to get into the books, but as a whole the concept is fascinating and I really enjoyed them.  I honestly don't know if someone who hadn't read the book would enjoy the movie or not, but I was enraptured and have thought about it a lot since I saw it.  PS. Like the soundtracks too.

Anyway my point is that I am going to the awkwardness and weirdness that will be Salt Lake ComicCon next week.  I have always wanted to go to the ComicCon in San Diego because I love movies and TV, but this one will be a special experience.  Most of the guests are from things I have never seen since they are from my "pre-nerdy" years but I love to people watch, can't pass up a good photo opportunity, and have so many friends going, I am excited for this event. 

Now let me make something clear...I have not and will not ever sit around and watch Dr. Who or Star Trek Marathons... Unless Chris Pine is in all of these marathons.  I will always watch Chris Pine.  This brings me to another way I got into geeky things... hot guys.  I'm not going to hide it, a lot of these movies have been seen and have lead to a nerd obsession is due to the extremely good looking guys who are in them.  Yes I am one of those girls. Hello, Thor!

Anyway you can go ahead and judge me.  I don't care because I am going to meet Darth Maul next weekend!

Hurricane

This song basically explains all of the [internal] drama I have had with boys this year ( I would say men, but when they act like boys they don't get the title)...  The original music video is super weirdo so I chose this one with the lyrics instead. 

Some thoughts about that one word.

Love, oh love. Valentines day is creeping around the corner and Love is on everybody's mind.  Last year I blogged a saracastic post and sincere post about dating and love. 

A quote from the sincere post that struck a chord with me today: “Have you ever been in love? Horrible isn't it? It makes you so vulnerable. It opens your chest and it opens up your heart and it means that someone can get inside you and mess you up. You build up all these defenses, you build up a whole suit of armor, so that nothing can hurt you, then one stupid person, no different from any other stupid person, wanders into your stupid life...You give them a piece of you. They didn't ask for it. They did something dumb one day, like kiss you or smile at you, and then your life isn't your own anymore. Love takes hostages. It gets inside you. It eats you out and leaves you crying in the darkness, so simple a phrase like 'maybe we should be just friends' turns into a glass splinter working its way into your heart. It hurts. Not just in the imagination. Not just in the mind. It's a soul-hurt, a real gets-inside-you-and-rips-you-apart pain. I hate love.” ― Neil Gaiman

But on to the happier thoughts amd cute pictures about love (All via pinterest)





Happy Valentines Day.

B-Gratitude from A-Z

This post is brought to you by the letter B.

Brynn:  My sister Brynn is one of the most creative people I have ever met.  She is passionate and fierce and quirky. 

Briar Rose:  My sweet dog is so dumb, but dang it she just loves people and I am grateful that she just wants to sit on your lap and be adored, it always makes me feel better.

Boys:  I love boys, always have and always will.  I especially love funny boys.  I am grateful for their entertainment, their lack of over-analyzing everything, and for when they have skills, I just don't have.

Kristin and I with some of our favorite boys.

love.

... i used to think i'd look back on loving you as the hardest thing i'd ever done.

but truth is, loving you was easy. was in fact the easiest thing in the world.

it was the attempt not to love you that nearly killed me. the attempt to rationalize and to make sense of what was never meant to make sense. the attempt to ignore and silence and make little what was as big--as vital--as anything in this life can ever hope to be...

-Meg Fee

 

This is one of the most beautiful and true statements I have read in a long time.  I know what she is talking about and have fought with this idea for the past few years.  Thanks Meg for verbalizing it.

Current Celebrity Crush

Let's talk about my boyfriend Jeremy Renner.

On his acting:
-He has these amazing eyes, and he can give "the Look"  ...that deep, sensual, I love you look and want to.... Obviously I am a big fan. 

-He does pretty much all of his own stunts...and he does quite the stunts.

On his characters:
-I have always had a thing for secret agent man, and secret agent man in a nice suit and with kick-a skills... extra hot.

-I also have a thing for the "I can save you while I save the world" characters. Done and done.

 

On that note, I highly suggest Bourne Legacy if you liked any of the other Bourne movies.  Definitely born of the same stuff, this movie has the flashbacks, crazy awesome skills, clean kills, and wicked chase scenes.  It also take place at the same time as Bourne Ultimatum, thus I need to re-watch the old ones.  If you haven't seen the old ones before I recommend doing so before seeing Legacy.  They are good on their own, and Legacy will make a bit more sense.


All pictures are from googling the following:  Jeremy Renner, Jeremy Renner Hawkeye, Bourne Legacy, Hurt Locker, Jeremy Renner eyes, Jeremy Renner Mission Impossible. 

I recommend any of the above to view more pictures and /or seeing any of those movies mentioned.