Mes remerciements

You know, I really should be grateful for what I have. I've got an amazing place to live that is in an amazing city.
Most of my family within an hour or so driving distance.
Good friends who listen to me every now and then (I don't think it's a good idea to complain too much).
A few (ok, a lot of) stinking awesome pairs of shoes.
Some possible love interests.
A good tech support guy/friend.
A really cool and fun roommate, who pushes me to be a better person, and to grow up, for crying out loud! (My words.)
Ridiculously good taste in music (not bragging, it's true!).
Lots of subjects I am passionate about that are pretty widespread (good music, photography, possibly product or graphic design, well-constructed clothes and shoes, politics, dancing, relationships, the way mine and other people's brains work, correct spelling, hot chocolate and really good fruit pie, feng shui, and boys).
A Franklin Covey planner that saves my butt almost every day.
A cute little red car.
A body.
A well-balanced brain (thanks to my parents- Dad for the math/tech side, and Mom for the artsy side).
My testimony.
Many, many things that have been given to me that I really don't deserve.
The ability to remember, every now and then, that I really don't deserve them.
http://www.threadless.com for the really cool shirts that make people think I'm a cool person for wearing them.
My little knowledge of French, so I can look cooler than my dad, although I never do. You can't beat someone who says, "Those French!! They have a DIFFERENT WORD FOR EVERYTHING!!!"
A bucket of fun pens on my desk.
The fact that I can see right through Twilight- that it's a ridiculous over-hyped impossible love story, set upon plaguing the world's women of their happy and realistic dreams, replacing them with wishes for something that doesn't exist, or at least probably isn't good for them, anyway. I mean, do you really want some guy to crawl through your bedroom window every night, watching you sleep? Sure it sounds cute, but that's the last of your privacy. GONE! I'll admit, however, that they were exciting- who can shake off all that suspense?
My love of reading.
My equal love of sleep, although sometimes the reading wins.
My past experiences, to teach me where my limits are.
My dreams, to make me break out of my box ad try new things.
My $15 razor scooter that I bust out every now and then, just to make people laugh.
My new family and brother-in-law.
My reading glasses.
My ukulele.

Ketchup!

I know, I know. It's been forever since the last time I wrote. But I got out of the habit when my internet died, and I've had a hard time coming back to this. Too much to say!!

I needed to post pics of my new place, so here some are:



This is my birthday. You can see most of the living room behind me.
















This is at the birthday party I had that Saturday. You can see the color of the other 2 walls in my living room. Suzy came that weekend for my party!! It was soo super fun to have her. I miss her tons.

It was also cool that Warren decided to drag his bum out of his house- only when he heard that Suzy was going to be there. I see how it is... ;)







This is of Carissa- she was so cute! After Lily's bridal shower, I took my mom and some of my aunts and my sister Laura to see my place. Carissa loved Rachael's fish. His name is Sir Charles McRumpshaker, and it's got something to do with the way he swims...

Anyhow, you can see my kitchen in the background.

This is sooooooo funny.

Flat, pad, digs, crib.... so many names for one awesome thing.

My apartment. My first one. So exciting!! I've been looking for a while, then it took me a while to move it, now it's taking me a while to find a bed.... but good things are worth waiting for. In case you're reading this and haven't heard, I moved into an apartment with my friend Rachael. It's an awesome place!! I love the apartment community, I love my random bright blue accent wall it came with, I love my bedroom, and I love that we each have our own bathroom. No more sharing with Melissa, no more bugging her to clean up after herself (sorry Pems, but it got frustrating), no more feeling like my room was imploding due to all the extra furniture in there, waiting to be used in a bigger space.

I spread all my stuff out, and I painted my room for the first time. I made sure to pick color that's not almost white, because I've never had a room with that much color. It looks awesome! Because I was able to start with a fresh slate, I've been able to master plan what I want everything to look like.

I should definitely mention: Warren helped me paint my room, my mom and dad helped me move my stuff, and Rachael has the best taste ever!! (It's the same as mine- could I have asked for a better roommate???) Also my dad put together both my shelves (they're the same ones Lily and Grandma have) and my desk, which was $40 and consists of a piece of wood and 4 legs. They're both gorgeous and work very well for me.


I'm basically taking this chance to do all the things I've wanted to do but never had the guts, or ability. I have a room with colored walls, I'm decorating in a nice clean style with minimal clutter, we're getting a white couch and black and white patterned chairs. Lots of pops of color, and enough pattern to make it exciting. I'm also buying a bigger bed, because I've always wanted one and never had the space! My friend is giving me a mattress (thanks, Chris!!) and I'm buying the cutest frame ever from Ikea. I would buy it online, since they won't have it in the store for another month, but the shipping is almost as much as the bed!!! The headboard, frame, etc costs $150, and shipping is like $130. Holy cow!!! So I'll just go back in a month and pick it up. I hate having to wait, though. :(

I'll post pictures of the actual place once I take some, but I want to wait until we get the couch and my bed frame. If you happen to be reading this and really want to see some now, let me know in a comment and I'll do it.

I'm just excited and impatient to have everything done so we can finally have our housewarming party!!!

I love my ukulele all over again.

Today, for some reason, I decided it would be useful to discover that there really are a lot of chords and tabs for ukuleles.


I mean, of course there are, I just decided it would be a good idea to look for them. And I've found a ton of stuff!! I've been sitting at my computer and tinkering around with my uke and playing everything from The Beatles (I have "I Will" already), to a song from Juno, Happy Birthday... how have I not been doing this the whole time????

Here are some cool websites I found (this is for you, Grandma and Jake):

Animated Beatles songs: http://beatlesite.info (Although it bugs me a little- they show you the chord on the neck after the song changes, so it's not in unison. That doesn't make sense to me, and is quite frustrating.)

A complete random and very diverse collection of songs (presented with tab or just the chords): www.alligatorboogaloo.com/uke/tabs.html

And this site, which seems to have the most professional look in my opinion: http://ukulelehunt.com (and where I saw this amazing cover of a Stevie Ray Vaughan song, whom I looooove):


Totally cool.