Living For The Weekend

After 3ish hours of sleep last night, I strangely woke up in a good mood. I know I'm doing a number on my mental and physical health with this lack of sleep and I'll have to remedy the situation... eventually. Until then, I've got some things that will keep me busy.

• My car is still out of commission and despite my attempts to set aside a day to fix it, something else always comes up. 
• I'm leaving for Washington this coming Monday and I need to survive until then.
• I've got a family member's wedding coming up the day after I get back from Washington so we will be throwing this thing together pretty quickly and staying up very late.
• I'm currently cutting my sugar intake due to a related panic attack yesterday. No sleep + sugar overdose = a cracked out/hyperventilating Haley. I type this as I eat a pop-tart....
• I've got girls' night tonight with my sister so I'm going to need to plan something grand yet money smart.
• This Thursday is now pasta night for the boy and I. He has a swim meet where the coaches race on Saturday so he needs to carb up and I need to make sure I remember my spaghetti recipe. 

I'm hoping this week goes by quickly because I've already mentally checked out for the weekend/vacation as of last Monday. I can do this!

Some motivation, courtesy of homestarrunner.com.

Week of (Attempted) Fashion 11

This week... man oh man, I'm glad this week is over. It was filled with too many ups and downs and crazy things to get done and spending way too much money, hence only four photos. I'm sad I didn't get a picture of Sunday's outfit because I thought it was pretty good. Hopefully this week is a little better and I don't go crazy and rip this phone out to stop all the annoying calls and then bang my head on the desk until I knock myself out... this is what happens when I get four hours of sleep. -_-

Post Party

Last night I was an emotional wreck and I really can't pin point a reason. My closest guess would be a slowly building pile of stress that eventually tipped over and fell right on me. It wasn't really how I wanted to end my birthday but we can't always get what we want. I crawled into bed around 9:30 because in my 20 years I have discovered that sometimes the best way to get over a bad mood is to just go to sleep, no matter how early it is. So I lay there wrapped in too many blankets trying to make my mind stop running through all the things I need to do, but to no avail.

Around 10 I heard my phone buzz with a text notification; it was the boy asking if I was asleep yet (I wasn't able to see him that day because he had work in the evening). I messaged him back and then he gave me a call. Thankfully just a few minutes on the phone with him made me feel so much better. He is a very positive person and a great example in my life and although I am still a little stressed, the eight hour of sleep and his reassurance is helping me through today. The weekend will be much better for me because even though all the things I need to do are still there, at least I don't have to worry about work during the whole thing.

Once I get my car back up and running I think things will calm down just a bit. And I still have the boy to help me out (he's great at taking care of me) so I think things will be okay. I just need to get rid of these waves that keep hitting me.

Happy Born Day To Me

Twenty years ago, I opened my eyes for the first time. Twenty years seems like a very long time to me, but in reality it's just a blip of time. I feel accomplished just hitting to big two-oh and I'm very thankful that I didn't die before then. Also I'm celebrating the end of my teen years. Some people say they wish they could be teenagers forever but I'm more than ready to leave them in the past where I can look back on them occasionally and remember the good stuff, but then look forward to all the new and exciting thing life has to offer, because let's face it, life is pretty amazing even when you're down and out and everything is going wrong.

Yesterday my car broke down twice and it is now stranded at a gas station about thirty minutes from home. I'm borrowing a car with no airbags and no working seat belts and I know my car is going to be an expensive fix, but yesterday the boy told me that he was impressed by the calm attitude I kept during the whole thing as well as keeping a smile on my face. I attribute that to keeping a good perspective. No matter what my situation is, I'm still breathing, my family is alive and happy, and God is always there to hear my frantic prayers, like "Please keep my car from blowing up while I'm driving it".

I've got a lot of reasons to be happy and when things get bad I'll just fake it till I make it. So today while I get through work and try and figure out how to get my car home, I'll be thankful for the little things. I've got my new birthday shoes on (courtesy of the wonderful boy), a cup of hot chocolate, a loving family, and dinner reservations to my favorite Thai place with some of my favorite people. Life is good and I'm intent on enjoying it completely. Now let's see how long I can keep this attitude. :)

Pre-Birthday Day

More car troubles this morning left me stranded on the way to work. Thankfully one of my coworkers was willing to pick me up and I had a nice man who was waiting for the bus to offer to help me. I'm also glad it wasn't blazing hot out yet because my nearly all black outfit wouldn't have been fun out there.

I would think that the day before my birthday would be an awesome day (and it still could be) but thus far, it is lacking. This car stuff is just stressing me out and stress is one thing I've been trying so hard to avoid. It messes me up, man. Messes me up.

It's also this kind of week:

Dad, Daddy, Pappy, Padre

I know this is a few days late but Father's Day is something that just can't be skipped over. I feel badly that I couldn't be home for Father's Day and give Dad a back rub (which he will fall asleep instantly to) but I decided I'd let him know how much I love and appreciate him through writing and hopefully he will read this.

He still looks this handsome.

My dad is the smartest man alive. Hands down. I'm sure as he's reading this, he will be going through all my grammatical errors and will let me know once he finds them. He knows how to do everything and how to fix everything. He's also full of it.... good advise, that is.

Dad took the time while we were growing up to teach us every day, even small things like how rocket engines work to get the ship off the ground. He taught us the importance of hard work and putting "first things first". Even when we were snot-nosed kids, he didn't brush us off and do his man stuff, he included us in the projects he was working on and helped us develop interests at a young age.

Some of the fun memories I have of my father are when he and I worked on putting the engine together in my red Camaro. He loves cars and is a wiz in the garage! He would explain all the different parts and how and why they go together in terms that I can understand. Another memory I have was our road trip to Colorado to see my cousin's graduation. It was just him and I for quite a few hours and I never got bored. We had many deep discussions and had fun finishing off water bottles, looking at each other, and them tossing them over our shoulders into the back seat. We also stopped a few times to look at old ruins in Wyoming.

My dad also did/does something that is very important. He let's us know how much he loves our mother by word and action, and that has made a huge difference in our family. We see how he loves her and treats her like a queen and does all her manual labor tasks and projects. It is also an example to us about how we should treat our future spouses.

Picking mom up from the airport.

My dad is a great family man. He recently became a grandpa as well and he is so doting and attached to little Claire. He's become one of those grandparents that shows pictures of their grand-babies to complete strangers because he's so proud of her. 

My dad is also so funny. Even though we give him endless flack for some of his more ridiculous jokes, I accredit all my humor (hopefully you think I'm funny) to my dad. He likes to think outside of the box and I never get tired of his witty little quips and antics. 

His response (right) to my warning sign. 

Dad is my hero is every way and I want to be just like him (with less hairy legs) when I grow up and I want to marry someone like him as well. He's been the greatest example and help in my life and I just wanted to let him know that I love him. 

Happy Father's Day, Dad. <3

Car Talk

This weekend was a great despite one bad thing that started on Friday. I was unlocking my house after I got home from work and I happened to look over at my car and noticed it was leaking like crazy from the engine. I checked to see what is was (my diagnosis was coolant from the radiator) and I called my dad to let him know. Since it was later on Friday, I decided to wait till Saturday to bring it into a repair shop; however, when Saturday rolled around, I was out with David too long and the shops closed early. Not exactly disappointed, I figured I could call in at work on Monday and use that day to get the car fixed.

Monday morning I went to the shop and waited about an hour and a half (which wasn't too bad because I was chatting with my parents on the phone most of the time) and when the man came out to tell me the diagnosis he said it was a leak in the radiator... which is what I already knew. Then he told me it would be about $900 for all the things I needed (a whole new radiator). I sat there and tried to keep a straight face like $900 was pocket change and I was like "Oh... okay. Can you talk to my dad?" So we called him up, I went into Receptionist Mode on the phone and he chatted with the auto technician. When I got back  on the phone, my dad told me to get out of there as fast as I could.

I gave the technician some BS about talking it over with my dad and then scheduling an appointment later and took off, hoping my car wouldn't blow up. I talked with my dad some more and we decided to do it ourselves. So I bought a radiator for $65 and Dad is going to come down in a couple weeks and we can take care of it. We're such a great team.

Now I'm checking my coolant level every time I get in the car and filling it up with water. But as long as that saves me money, I'm willing to do it. Plus I look really cool working on the car in heels and a pencil skirt.

I would almost want a new car if the one I was driving now didn't look like this.

And the one before looked like this:

I think my next car is going to have to be a Camaro because I love them so much!

Maybe a little some thing like this:

or this:

Week Of (Attempted) Fashion 10

This weekend I finally broke and went shopping. I allowed myself a $200 limit to get as many clothes as possible. I didn't get all the things I wanted and I probably only spent about $110 total over the course of two days but I think I made some good purchases and hopefully you will be seeing them in later posts. (I even got some awesome wedges for my birthday, courtesy of the boy). Sorry for the repeat but that grey striped dress is so comfortable!

How To Cuddle In Arizona

Last night the boy and I decided to do pizza and a movie. Originally we planned to make the pizza from scratch (being so healthy and all) but once we got to the store and realized how much time that would take vs. the time we had, we decided on a pre-made boxed pizza which surprisingly wasn't bad at all. We picked out our movie (Taken, because we were both itching to see it again and Liam Neeson is so cool) and headed back to the house.

Being mid-June in Arizona, the house was kind of hot, especially upstairs where the TV was located (it also doesn't help that the boy is built like a space heater). However, us being the ingenious people we are, got all our ice packs from the freezer and came up with a good system. One went in each of his pockets, the largest wedged in between us, and two smaller ones on my stomach.

We should have taken a picture because we looked pretty ridiculous, but hey, that's how to cuddle in Arizona without getting heatstroke.

Maybe I should just get the boy one of these suits. 

In Which I Start Another Project

I'm sitting here at the office drinking my mug of hot chocolate and I laugh a little to myself. I'm in Arizona, in the middle of June, and I'm wearing all black drinking a hot beverage. It's mostly for comfort I guess, and the fact that I love chocolate. As for the black outfit, I've decided I want to branch out in what I wear. My boss has commented multiple times on how I'm always wearing black. Which is true. It's my fail-safe.

Now I've spent the last half hour looking at new style ideas online; mostly bloggers and pinterest. I've also decided I want to make my outfits more modest, which is a standard in my church: skirts at knee length, no short-shorts, shoulders, back and tummy covered. The hard part is it's summer in Arizona and I do not want to wear clothes. At all. I also have a "chest thing" going on (if you know what I mean) so It's hard to find stuff that will cover me completely with out wearing crew necks all the time (which I find uncomfortable).

So I've decided to enlist the help of my fashion savvy friend(s) and revamp my closet and do a little shopping and branching out of my comfort zone. I also want to see if I can go a whole week without wearing black, but that wont be till after I go shopping.

I feel this is going to be an extensive (and expensive) undertaking. Good thing I'm so rich!! (......) Naw, I'm just going to hit up Goodwill and other used clothing stores. It's amazing what you can find there.    

Lessons I Learned This Week

1.  People are actually good.
Surprising, I know. It's always nice to have faith in humanity restored. Yesterday I was at the grocery store picking up four gallons of milk for a young single adult activity (involving cookies) and being the genius I am, I forgot a cart. So I load myself up with four gallons and start walking stoically to the front of the store, trying not to look like I'm putting any effort into it. Just as I decide that this was not a smart idea, I hear a small "excuse me" from behind. I turn around and there is a nice employee there with extra carts and pulls one up for me. He told me he was sure I could handle it but the cart might make things easier. What a sweet man. Like I said, people can be good.

2.  Mom is happy if you're happy.

I love my mother. My favorite thing is to call her on my way home from work and tell her all the tiny things that made my day and my frustrations and boy-news. She can tell that I'm excited and offers her praise and advise. Although she may be busy doing something else, she takes time to listen to all the insignificant things I want to say and she tells me, "I'm happy when you're happy." I have the best mom ever. 

3.  Try, try, try again. 

Thomas Edison had this one down but I'm still working on it. There is the point I hit occasionally where I just want to give up, sit down and cry, but that's not how things work. The boy I've been mentioning is a great person to remind me of this. When I'm out, he reminds me that it's about putting your full effort into things and if you mess up, pick yourself up and try again. 

4.  Boys have feelings too.

Shocker, right? They just don't show them as often. I'm not going into detail on this one but let's just say that I need to be more sensitive to how men feel as well. Sometimes I assume nothing makes them sad besides their favorite team losing but that isn't true. I just need to pay more attention to how my actions and words make others feel, especially when they don't outwardly show it. 

5.  Wearing clothes is (usually) a good idea.

So I live in a house of girls. I know all their cars so when I came home I knew right away I was the only one there so I made merry of it. I sang, danced around a bit as I scoured the cupboards for food until I noticed a pair of men's sandals on the floor and some glasses I did not recognize. I thought maybe our landlord was here doing maintenance but then I didn't see his car and he wouldn't be barefoot anyway. I just figured someone had left them there. So I went about my business and made my way upstairs to change clothes. I got down to my unmentionables and decided I would raid my sister's closet for an outfit. I opened the door and there was a man asleep on her bed! I quickly shut the door and ran back to my room. I thought, that couldn't be Michael (her bf) because he would be with her and she's not home. Therefore I assumed he was a hobo who had gotten in. I quickly called my sister and asked her if she left Michael at the house and she said yes, because he had fallen asleep. Phew... not a hobo. I recounted the story to her and we had a good laugh. Moral of the story: always make sure you are completely alone if you're going to run around the house in your undies.

Week of (Attempted) Fashion 9

So I didn't do so great this week... I even deleted Wednesdays picture because I was making a funny face but I guess we will have to do without. I finally broke and went shopping so this next week there will be a few new things. Sad thing was, I went to the store saying "Haley, you can only get casual clothes. Shorts and tees, no jeans, no dresses." And what do I come back with? Two work dresses, a dress shirt (that could work as casual), and an offensive pj shirt*. Fail. But I will try again later. I never thought I'd see the day when I had a hard time finding casual clothes to wear. Once again, I blame work.

*Alright, I guess I'll show you my offensive pj shirt.

Super, super comfortable and I can't help but

laugh when I wear it. 

My sister picked it out for me. 

We both have a similar sense of humor. 

Zombie Mondays

Four hours of sleep and I'm blazing my way through work. I'm not exactly tired but I have a feeling that I will be by the time 2:00 rolls around. Weekends are for sleeping but my body loves to wake me up for work every day of the week, so Saturday morning I was awake at 6:30, forced myself to sleep for an hour and then got up at 7:30 and read until it was an acceptable time to wake up my sister. I was determined to let at least one of us sleep in. Saturday was nice and long and despite breaking a (full) 5 gallon jug of water in the laundry room, it was a pretty good day. That boy and I got through the 4th Star Wars movie, even though he slept through the good parts (he's really good at that) and played a game similar to Apples to Apples with my sister and her boyfriend. I'm proud to say that I won. Beat everyone. Winner. That's me.

Sunday was nice as well but I found myself crawling out of bed at noon with barely enough time to get ready before church. That evening I had dinner at the boy's house with his family and I loved it because it reminded me so much of my big, loud family when we are all together (whom I will be visiting in 3 weeks). I really miss them. :( Later that evening we went to a church social thing where I recognized only one person and then headed back to my place to finally make cookies (we always intend to, just never follow through). They turned out great this time, or rather, the ones I didn't burn turned out great. I'm not quite used to this oven yet. The boy and I really had so much fun. We listened to 40s big band music, ate too much cookie dough, and danced around the kitchen, swing style. Afterwards we crashed on the couch and watched some Bill Cosby. Once again, the boy fell asleep so I mostly just listened and tried not to doze off myself (this is what work does to you, folks. Drains you of your life force).

So back to today, almost a zombie and temporarily foodless. I know I will get though the day with little or no casualties and it was already made a little bit brighter because I got a letter from my lady love, Ruby, who has been in basic training for the past few weeks. I love that girl, although I do have my share of scars from her.

I've been blessed with a lot of mail today so hopefully work will go by quickly and I can be productive. Here's to Zombie Mondays!

Happy Day To You

You know what I'm really good at? Giving advice. You know what else I'm really good at? Being a hypocrite. Sometimes I say these things to people and they are like "You're right, that's just what I need to hear" but then I go through the same problem and I'm sitting there in the same situation, not even listening to myself when I tell me it's all going to work out.

I think I'm going to dedicate this month to self-development and by that I mean a positive change in attitude and practicing what I preach. I'm determined to keep a smile on my face (even though most of my family will say it's already there permanently) and being positive and helpful to others, including myself.

I'm already happy this morning. I opened my bedroom door to see that my wonderful sister had bought me a box of my favorite bunny crackers and a bottle of gummy vitamins (because I throw up the huge horse pills she tries to feed me). What a thoughtful girl! I love living with my sister. You may be surprised when I say we never really fight. Even when we were both sharing a room together we had so much fun and it was a pretty peaceful co-existence. Now we have fun sneaking up on each other in the house, drawing random picture on our shopping list whiteboard, and waking the other up on Saturdays by coming in and attacking each other.

I've got a lot to be happy about. It's casual Friday and that means the weekend is here and I'm going to stay up as late as I want and float down a river, go shopping and do whatever tickles my fancy. I also get to see the very cute boy who I've been palling around with for a while. He was over last night trying to show me how to change my oil but like most things in my life, the Camaro decided to be difficult, so we will just have to save it for another day. I give him major points for being willing try serve.

Today is so great, I think I'm going to have some pop-tarts. I may even see if the girls at the office want to join me and go out to lunch. We tried it last year and we had a lot of fun at a Mexican restaurant. Who knows? Maybe today will zip by so I can get out of this office chair as soon as possible. People like me aren't ment for desk jobs.

Happy Day.    

Resolutions Revisited

So it's been five-ish months since I made my New Year Resolutions and I decided to check up and see if I completed any of them (but mostly because I couldn't even remember what they were). So here is a quick rundown of what I've got done thus far.

2011 2012 Resolutions!

• Sell at least 2 of my paintings.
  I think painting in the first place might help me with this one.
• Complete my visiting teaching every month.
  I just got assigned girls to visit teach so I'll see if I can get my rear into gear!
• Exercise regularly.
  Although this one is ongoing, I did get the habit down and I've lost weight.
• Get into school.
  I've applied and I got in and will be starting this coming Fall!!!
• Make a music video.
  Haha I forgot about this. I'm currently memorizing a rap song so I can do this fairly soon!!
• Finish The Book of Mormon again.
  Soo close. I think I'm about 3/4 of the way through and I still have 6 months.
• Learn 3 new songs on my saxophone.
  Forgot about this too. I'm planning on busting it out this weekend.
• Remember to write 2012 instead of 2011 by February 1st.
  I'm so good at life.

I'd say that's not too shabby, considering I forgot about them. This time I'll check up on them more often and see if I can wipe them all out. Now, I've decided to add a few more on. 

• Hike up Camelback Mountain in no more than an hour. 
• Make at least $200 selling used items on ebay.
• End the 2012 year with A grades in class. 

I think these wont be too hard to accomplish as long as I remember them. I'll check back in four months to see what else I've accomplished. 

10 Thing I Never Want To Do

In my last post I mentioned Instagram and how I vowed to never use it. Here's a list of other things I want to never do:

1. Use Instagram. Just because the picture has a neat filter doesn't make it amazing.

2. Post or follow on Twitter, for obvious reasons. 

3. Re-activate my MySpace account. I don't know why anyone would.

4. Post a picture of myself on Facebook with a caption quoting a love song or a statement about "smiling through the pain", or that "boys just can't handle this", "some day I'll find my prince charming". (Unless I do it in a sarcastic, hurtful way to make fun of all the girls who do. But that would be mean, right?)

5. Use the word "Bestie" when referring to a friend. Or use it at all.

6. Wear my hair on top of my head in a "top knot" style bun. Seriously, I have the urge to scalp a girl every time I see one flopping around. 

7. Take a picture of myself consciously making the "duck face".

8. Get a spray tan. These scare me to no end. I don't want to be orange. :(

9. Meet someone on an online dating site and then meet them in person. There are just one too many risks involved in that.

10. Squeal and yell "This is my jam!!" when a well liked song comes on and then proceed to sing loudly and off key. 

Rant Regarding Mail And Food

Here I am at the office, staring at a liter jug of water that my sister tells me I have to finish. It's a daunting task, let me tell you. It's almost noon and I've only finished about a fourth of it. In a moment I'll drown myself and see if I can get it to halfway.

Today is pretty slow. The usual Mailman, the one I love, is on vacation for the next 10 days. He even came into my office to tell me specifically that he will be gone, what a sweet man. We're pretty much best friends by now. The replacement Mailman does not come on time, making my day full of waiting for him to arrive (most of my daily tasks depend on the mail). This is the point in the day when I look everywhere for something to do just to take up time. I'll probably sanitize my desk after I'm done writing this and then stare at the calendar for a while. Maybe that will make the weekend come faster.

I believe we are tubing down the Salt River on Saturday which would make it the most wonderful of days. I hope no one flakes or I may just end up painting my room... which I probably should be doing anyway.

I'm excited to get home today because tonight I'm going to be making cookies with Star Wars Boy and possibly another couple. When is comes to making food, it's kind of a hit or miss for me, especially if I'm making up the recipe myself and I'm hungry while I do it. But when it comes to deserts, I'm the queen; especially my chocolate cakes (that I got requests to make for several people's birthdays). I haven't made one in a while because with just my sister and I at home, I would probably clean out that entire cake in about two days. It's very very good. 0_o

Sorry, I'm just ranting now. I should probably put some really cute pictures up that are made better with Instagram or whatever that thing is called, but I've vowed never to use that app as long as I live because... it's just one of the things, you know?

Week Of (Attempted) Fashion 8

I'm starting to get tired of dressing up. Every once in a while it's fun to put on a skirt and heels, but ever day? It's not too comfortable. Guys, be thankful you don't wear heels. I didn't take a picture for Saturday because I probably had three or four outfits that whole day and I was too busy to take pictures. I think I'm going to have to go shopping soon, which I haven't done in a very long time!

Farewell, Weekend

Sunday was pretty spectacular (despite running out of church early because I felt like puking) but after I calmed my stomach down, things went back to being fantastic. Our church meeting was wonderful. We had fast and testimony meeting where the members of the ward have a chance to stand and bare their testimony to the congregation. I was having a little mental struggle the night before and amazingly the theme of most of the testimonies were centered around picking yourself up and trying again. To strive to be a little better each day and as long as we're making positive progress, things will be okay. Just what I needed to hear. I happen to be the queen of beating myself up over each and every mistake much longer than necessary. So after being uplifted and edified, the day got a little brighter and a weight seemed to lift from my shoulders. Also because of the fact that I had one of my very favorite persons to sit next to and laugh with about how loud our stomach were growling from fasting that day.

After a much needed (but non-intended) nap, I was able to spend the rest of the evening sitting and listening to above mentioned boy play the guitar and then talk with him about anything and everything. Thankfully, our conversation distracted me from the woozy feeling in my stomach and I accredit my speedy recovery to his help.

Saturday was pretty fun as well. I woke up bright and early to hike up Camelback Mountain with my friend Adrienne and I'll say that my legs are really feeling it today. We took our time and meandered up but we realized too late that we drank the water too fast and ran out before we even reached the top (not good in AZ 100 degree weather). We were both getting pretty dizzy on our way down from dehydration and although we planned to ask the next person we passes for water, we only saw a couple of people going up at such a late time. One group did stop to help us and then on the walk back to the car, a very sweet man gave each of a whole water bottle. At that moment he was my very best friend. Kind of still is.

Monday finally reared it's ugly head and that leaves me here at the office in a cutesie dress and a rumbling stomach. I shouldn't complain so much because I'm so glad I have a job and such a great job too! It's just a little sad to see such a wonderful weekend go. Here's to many more to come!