3 things i learned on family vacation:

1.  apparently the way i did my makeup throughout high school and even freshman year "looked a little scary," according to my grandmother. but don't worry she said i fixed it now. fantastic.  these are the wonderful pearls of wisdom you find out years after the fact from your loving family.  so my apologies for frightening everyone with the "loads of black eyeliner" i wore. still not sure about that one...

2.  marley and me is an excellent family film. that is one very positive part of my family vacation, despite the fact that i bawled my eyes out for the last thirty minutes. still, everyone should go see it. only anna and i decided it's not a movie to go see with a bunch of friends if you are going to be the only one (with any kind of soul) who actually cries. i love you anyways anna

3. don't forget the birthdays of loved ones, it can make for really REALLY awkward interactions once the entire day has passed without you realizing it. from now on i will always keep a birthday calendar.

 

when it rains it pours

oh. my. gosh. after the near disaster of yesterday today was far less dangerous but still just not my day...i take my car to get fixed this morning so my always dependent robby took me out to lunch and drove me all over town. the day had started splendidly until after lunch when my good fortune changed considerably...

i have to get fingerprinted and background checked for school next semester. this is all well and good except the mysterious people who do these fingerprintings seem to not actually exist. after at least 21 unanswered phone calls robby suggested we just go check it out...EPIC fail. took us forever to find the room in the hospital. of course the lady wasn't there and no one knew where to find her. i'm convinced this woman seriously isn't real. and needless to say i did not get fingerprinted. on the way out i dropped my cell phone, which i do frequently, so i wasn't worried until it would not turn on. at all. completely dead. sweet. then walking to the car a huge water main busted in front of us, pouring out thousands of gallons of water and nearly soaking us both. we stood there stunned, not believing this series of unfortunate events and burst out laughing. from there ruby drove me to the verizon store where they informed me my phone was doomed and started offering me other choices. i finally picked one when the entire verizon in-store computer system crashed for over forty five minutes. yes, i crashed the whole dang thing. oh well. the universe is apparently against me this week, it happens.

robby you are my hero and i owe you at least six gigantic favors.

i have a new cell phone. it costs money. but it is purple, my absolute favorite color, and therefore the highlight of my day.

and i will never have two more eventful days of my entire life so enjoy the madness while it lasts.

p.s. i have no numbers in my cell phone except those i memorized or had time to steal from robby's iphone because of course verizon couldn't help me with that either so if i sound confused when you call you will now understand, merry christmas eve eve!

here goes nothing...

i finally caved.

here it is. my very own blog. and i'm not quite sure how i feel about it yet, hence the title and picture. the giraffe's name is gemina. she has a neck condition, obviously, and she looks kind of pathetic so i thought it would suit my poor excuse of a blog. if anyone is actually reading this and wants to look her up she was born and raised in the santa barbara zoo until she died at the beginning of this year. rip gemina. (i would post a link for her but i haven't figured that out yet)

and in other news, my power steering and brakes gave out on a rather scary downhill today while i was helping gracie deliver christmas presents. i think i petrified her because i didn't say anything except a few loud expletives as the car started going way too fast then skidded to a stop once i pulled the emergency break. we sat there a minute. she was okay, and i was perfectly fine until the "what ifs" started up in my head. never a good idea. long story short and not to be too dramatic, but i'm really glad to be alive. God is so good and protected my sister and me, for which i am extremely thankful. now in a super cheesy moment (risky in the first post, i know), i am really appreciative of all the amazing people in my life. i love you all very much, and moments like today remind me just how lucky i am...

so i decided what could have been an almost near death experience was a good enough topic to begin my venture into the world o blogs. i am not sure of the permanence of this thing, but for now i'm actually kinda liking it