It snowed! Just a teeny bit!

My siblings and I playing in the snow that wouldn't stick:



I had a very Merry Christmas this year. All of my brothers and sisters came into town. It's been good to see everyone. Of course I missed my boo, but I'm very happy to see all my brothers and sisters.

At this very moment, I am impatiently waiting for Tori's enchiladas to be finished. YUM!

Christmas Joy

Picture it: North Charleston. 2010. An old Honda Accord gives up the ghost in the busiest intersection at approximately 4:30 P.M. I was tired and reasonably sure I had just done horribly on my Probability and Statistics final exam. It was freezing and (as usual) traffic was ridiculous. Seriously, it more frustrating than I can even explain. Thankfully, my mom came to the rescue. We managed to get it home, but I was definitely done for the day.

I finally get home after hours of stress and frustration from finals and the wasp. There was a package waiting for me. Guess what was inside.



A real, live, teeny Christmas tree from Bryant! I couldn't believe it. At first I thought it was flowers. I was all surprised and happy for flowers, but it was a Christmas tree! I love Christmas. I loved it immediately. It came with a teeny set of lights and a teeny set of ornaments. I look at it and it just makes me smile.

I decorated it with the lights and ornaments it came with and put it right by my window in my room. It is perfect.



I'm very lucky and grateful to have Bryant in my life. It made a terrible day eight billion times better. What a wonderful boyfriend. I think the best part about it was that he sent it to me just because he knew I'd love it. It was very thoughtful and just what I needed. :)

For my family.

Thanksgiving gives me a chance to step back and appreciate the blessings and good things about life. I wrote just a couple things to each of the members in my family.

Dear Daddy,



Thank you for being who you are. Even as a little girl I came to you with seemingly endless questions. I am humbled that Heavenly Father let me be your daughter. He must have known I needed a father who would listen to me ask questions like, "What color were a dinosaur's toenails?" I am thankful for what you do for our family. I don't know where I would be without you. I love you, Daddy.

Dear Little Mom,



I can't put into words how grateful I am for you. You have loved me my entire life without question. You spoke up for me and watched out for me when I needed you most, but somehow at the same time gave me the chance to grow and learn for myself. You have taught me the gospel, but beyond that, you have lived it. I am proud to call you my Little Mom. I love you, Mama Llama.

Dear Tori,



I am jealous of how you put that braid in your hair! But seriously. I do. But for real seriously now. Thank you for picking me up for church that whole year when I lived Downtown. I don't know if I ever told you how much that meant to me. I see now how much time that took and how much you must have loved me to make that drive every week. You are the coolest, fo sho. Your sense of humor always makes things better. I see how much you care about people. It reminds me to give in to my softer side when I start turning into a bitter old lady. I love you, Tori.

Dear Caitlin,



Thanks for letting me be born on your birthday. Hahaha! Really, I am grateful for the chance we had to get to know each other after you came back from Utah. I think about how we were both super wary of the Single's Ward and everything that is Charleston. It makes me laugh now. I feel like I can talk to you about almost anything (with the exception of bathroom stuff, because I just can't get past that kinda thing). I admire your willingness to serve in your calling. You always include me in things. It makes me feel like a million bucks. I love you, Caitlin.

Dear Courtney,



When we were younger, we were partners in crime. I always get so excited when I hear you are coming back for Christmas or for a little summer vacation. I wait for you to come out of the terminal, and we walk away arm in arm like no time has passed. It sounds weird, but I am grateful that you were married in the temple. It has shown me how dedicated you are to the Church. I can't wait to be an aunt in the next couple of months. I know you're going to be an amazing mother. I love you, Courtney.

Dear Brynn,



You are very special to me. I don't know if it is because you are my little sister or if it's because you're just so darn awesome. I relate to you in a lot of ways that I can't with other people...from being able to read an entire series of books within a couple days to surgeries to having the weirdest sleeping patterns ever. There are not many people who could stand to hear my night time rants or understand me the way you do. Remember when you used to color pictures for my wall? It always made me feel so special. Thank you. I love you, Brynn.

Dear Colton,



What it IS? I know I don't say it very often, but I'm proud of you. I felt like a fussy old sister when you got your Eagle Scout. I am grateful for you having the Priesthood and for going to Seminary even when you're ridiculously tired in the mornings. I have watched you grow into a young man (fussy old sister again) and I am excited for all of the good things you will do with your life. If you ever have a dumb day, just think about that time you threw the basketball to me and it hit me in the face. :)I love you, Colton.

Unwritten rules.

When I'm on campus, I feel like there are certain things that should be understood. Why we (Trident vs. me) are at this point, I have no earthly idea.

1. I don't want to have a conversation in a public restroom. I don't care if we have the same purse. I don't care if we just had class together. I don't care if it's raining outside and you'd like to tell me how many umbrellas you have in your car. Nothing that happens in a public restroom is enjoyable to me. For my own sanity, save whatever you want to talk about for post-restroom interaction (it should be noted that any interaction between myself and previously unknown persons in a public restroom were deemed unavoidable and more than likely annoying on site)if you feel like you just need to tell me about those umbrellas.

2. There is no need to get directly behind me when there was ample opportunity to pass me before approaching a set of stairs. I promise I'm not going to get faster because you are behind me.

3. I do not need to hear the most personal OR the most trivial details of your entire life story while I am waiting for class to start. Not only does your monotone voice destroy any will power I had to pay attention in class... it literally makes me want to bodily remove you from the building. I do not care even the slightest bit about the white wolf tattoo that you have dreamed about your whole life. In fact, it makes me hope that one day your dream will be fulfilled because you deserve it.

4. But seriously...how is being rude in a check-out line going to get you out the cafeteria any faster?

5. No, I'm not changing my mind. You can't have my quizzes or borrow my notes for a week. Just...no.

6. My mind is (for real) blown on why there are group projects at all. No, I won't do your work for you. No, I'm not making your stupid PowerPoint. No, I do not care if you fail. Not even a little bit. Not even the teeniest little smidgen. So if you want a grade, you to figure that mess out.

Fast forward.

I am terrible about updating my blog. Every time I sign on (after a couple of weeks of slacking) I look at my last post and am surprised about how much has gone on since then.

I have started my first of two internships. I work on the Memory Care Unit at Somerby of Mount Pleasant. The unit is designed to meet the needs of Alzheimer's and dementia residents within the residential retirement community. I have done more in the past two weeks than I anticipated, expected, or felt ready for. I have been facilitating group discussions, preparing for activities, helping people participate in activities, reading life stories, helping cue memories, and of course, I have smiled and laughed and been surprised quite a few times. I have seen some of the sweetest things and experienced a wonderful sense of gratitude for the blessings I have been given. One of my instructors at school always told me that you learn a lot about yourself when you do an internship. I thought that was the dumbest thing ever when he told me that. I see now that he was right. Life is a beautiful gift. Treasure it with all of your heart.

I'm trying to learn some Johnny Cash songs. One of my residents loves him. I make a fool out of myself sometimes to make people smile. The other day I attempted to do the cha-cha for about 2 minutes. I'm sure it was pretty entertaining. P.S. I learned how to do the cha-cha from a VHS library tape. Bahaha.

Sometime soon we are going to have a knitting activity. Woot! Going to put those knitting needles of mine to use.

Thingsies.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure I just wrote "Thingsies" as the title of this blog. I think that means I need more sleep!

I used coupons for the first time the other day. One of my friends is super talented with coupons. I don't quite have that gift, but I am trying! I have a notebook for them. On my last venture I saved $8.94. That's a start!

Also, I walked out of the house yesterday and came upon this lovely sight:

Oh, the joy of owning Waspy. I am lucky Daddy knows how to work on cars...otherwise I'd be out of luck. He was putting a blower in. I took the tinting off of the windows on Saturday with lots of glass cleaner and about five now useless razor blades. Colton did the first one and then started doing something else. I'm having a little trouble with the tint on the very back window because I don't want to mess up the defrosting...line things. Baha, whatever those are actually called.

Good news, everyone! I got an internship for the Fall semester. I'm actually really excited to start. I'll be working on the Memory Care Unit at Somerby of Mount Pleasant. It's a retirement community. I'll be working with Alzheimer's clients and clients with dementia. Bryant also got a new job at a law firm. We're both excited to be starting new things.

Also, our friend Rob McDaniel took this picture a couple months back. I don't think I posted any of them, but I think this one's my favorite. It makes me laugh.

The Wasp.

So I bought a car! It's a 1992 Honda Accord. Bryant named it "The Wasp." "Waspy" for short. It has quite a few issues (more than I thought when I first bought it)...but it works, and I have paid for it. Introducing Waspy!

It's a work in progress. When I first got it, the key was broken off into the ignition. It worked if you put the broken piece in to crank it, but I couldn't lock it. LM asked a Honda dealer for me and now the broken key is out and I have three new keys.

I went outside to go test out the new key. Look who was driving it.

Thoughts.

Four things I am thinking right now:

1. Tie-dye is from the hippie era, correct? I don't understand how it came about. Did hippies have a huge boiling pot they threw their t-shirts in and one day someone happened to tie rubber bands/dyes into it? Maybe I'm missing something. I bet tie-dye history is on Wikipedia.


2. Pink should be a normal color for sports teams. I would like tv sports better (if at all) if we could make that happen.



3. Why does this picture even exist? Fail!


4. Audrey podrey is paying attention to Daddy so hard in this picture:

"Say the right words," the goblins said.

I think that everyone has something they want.

http://www.mdmercy.com/footandankle/conditions/ankle_arthritis/total_replacement.html

It's difficult, sometimes, to really to come to terms with things. I don't know if I would have done things differently. I would like to be able to say I would have been more careful, but I'm awfully hard-headed and I loved dancing. I don't talk about dancing anymore. I try not to think about it, but it's awfully hard when you hear a song and automatically notice counts of eight in the beat. I get jealous of people who can go on a camping trip without worrying about whether everyone else will be hiking. Which is stupid, because I don't even like camping, but it's the kind of thing you think about when you can't. I know there are worse things, and I've been there too, but today is just hard.

I've kept my tap shoes. Which is dumb. I haven't worn them since I was fourteen, but I keep them around. They are still cool.


The scars used to bother me a lot. It probably has something to do with being a female; appearance, sadly, is worth a lot. It doesn't bother me so much these days. Which is a good thing.

But I don't know. Wondering doesn't get me anywhere. Hopefully some genius somewhere will make the perfect ankle replacement and then I'll be the perfect candidate for it. That would be dope. Even if it doesn't happen, I have faith in the Resurrection. Someday I'll be able to do any kind of tapdance I want.

Crafty crafting.

So I finished the baby blanket for my friend that I started probably...a month or two ago. Took me forever, but I took a picture of the border. I still have to put it in the mail...ah, so much to do.


Also, I wanted to make a pair of baby booties for Bryant's sister-in-law, who is having a baby girl in a few weeks. Here are my first try. They are Mary Jane baby booties! So freakin' cute.
I am going to make some for my cousin Dani as well, who is going to have a little one later this year.

Update from a (blogging) slacker.

I never blog consistently; I should keep up with it. Anyway, classes take up most of my time. I'm doing okay though, and I am crossing my fingers that my finals go well.

I made a blanket for Bryant for his birthday. Well, I gave it to him really late; I got all caught up with school and also frustrated with the sewing machine. I can never figure out patterns, so I made it into squares and sewed it backwards, if that makes sense. It's a quilt. I have a picture of it, but it's before I put it in the dryer so it looks wrinkly but there it is.




I also recently made a baby blanket for a friend. I finished it, except for the border...which I need to do. Preferably before that kid = born.



I'll take a picture of it when I finish the border. Hopefully by then I will be a more consistent blogger.

Also, I went up to Hartsville this past weekend. It was good times. There is also a picture of my initials carved into the tree, but my phone is waaay over there and I am waaay over here. So that is definitely not happening.

Another "also:" My birthday is next week!

Quite serious.

Reasons why Summerville is horrible:

- Both McDonald's were closed before 12 A.M.
- The stupid arrows that make you get into different lanes for no reason whatsoever suck.
- The traffic is ridiculous.
- Their high school mascot is the Greenwave.
- The whole Oakbrook/Summerville mess doesn't make any sense.
- I owe like $10 to the Dorchester County Library; I can't check out any more books until I pay it. Is that my fault? Maybe. Do I care that that is actually my fault? No.
- It's 8 billion away from everything.
- They took the sewing section out of the Summerville Walmart.
- Everyone's shorts are jacked. Seriously? I don't know how that happens.

...I could, and would, go on and on, but I have class in the morning. Thus concludes my seven-minute rant on why Summerville is the stupidest city on the planet.

I should be studying or sleeping.

1. What time did you get up this morning?
Maybe 9ish?

2. How do you like your steak?
Medium.

3. What was the last movie you saw at the theater?
I think it was Avatar. Bleck.

4. What is your favorite TV show?
Forensic Files.

5. If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be?
Beaufort.
I thought about it. It's legit because:
A: No me gusta Summerville.
B: Beaufort's beautiful; I miss it.
C: I don't know any langauage other than English. If I knew Italian, I'd pick Rome.

6. What did you have for breakfast?
Oxygen.

7. What is your favorite cuisine?
Dessert isn't a cuisine. At least I don't think it is. Regardless, my pick is dessert.

8. What foods do you dislike?
Seafood, onions, pickles, salsa-y type things.

9. Favorite Place to Eat?
Alvin Ord's.

11.What color eyes do you have?
Greyishbluishgreenish.

12. What are your favorite clothes?
Pajama pants.

13. Where would you visit if you had the chance?
Greece.

14. Cup 1/2 empty or 1/2 full?
I thought about this, too. It depends on how thirsty I am.

15. Where would you want to retire?
Ha, Beaufort again.

16. Favorite time of day?
Night time.

17. Where were you born?
Beaufort, South Carolina.

18. What is your favorite sport to watch?
Baseball.

19. Who do you think will NOT tag you back?
I don't think you can do that on Blogger. Maybe you can; I don't actually care.

20. Person you expect to tag you back first?
-

21. Who are you most curious about their responses to this?
This is not an actual question, fyi.

22. Bird watcher?
Only in church.

23. Are you a morning person or a night person?
Night person.

24. Do you have any pets?
A peepot.

25. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share?
Simple answer, yes.

26. What did you want to be when you were little?
I wanted to be a dancer.

27. What is your best childhood memory?
Singing random songs in the car with my siblings.

28. Are you a cat or dog person?
Dog.

29. Are you married?
Negative.

30. Always wear your seat belt?
I try to.

31. Been in a car accident?
Yes. My fault.

32. Any pet peeve?
These questions are bothering me. Do I have any pet peeves? Yes. One of them: leaving the door open.

33. Favorite Pizza Toppings?
Pineapple.

34. Favorite Flower?
I like all flowers. Except for peach-colored ones. No specific reason, really.

35. Favorite ice cream?
Strawberry.

36. Favorite fast food restaurant?
McDonald's.

37. How many times did you fail your driver's test?
Zero.

38. From whom did you get your last email?
Bryant. (:

39. Which store would you choose to max out your credit card?
I don't want to max out any credit card, thanks. The thought alone makes my poor heart dry heave.

40. Do anything spontaneous lately?
I'm more impulsive than spontaneous if that makes sense. Simple answer to the question: No.

41. Happy with your job?
I'd like to be done with school.

42. Broccoli?
Yummo.

43. What was your favorite vacation?
Any time when I don't have to be doing something is a good vacay for me.

44. Last person you went out to dinner with?
Hm, good question. Oh, wait. That's right. "Last person you went out to dinner with" is not a question. It's not even a sentence.

45. What are you listening to right now?
A fan.

46. What is your favorite color?
Pink.

47. How many tattoos do you have?
Zero.

48. What were you doing two years ago today?
Oddly enough, I remember. Hard time.

49. What time did you finish this quiz?
1:14 AM. Dang it...

50. Coffee Drinker?
Am I one? Is that what this is asking? If so, the answer is no.

You don't fool me.

1. When people rinse their hands in the sink instead of washing them after using a public restroom. ...What are you doing? What could your reasoning be? Why are you pretending? We both know you didn't use soap when you put your hands under the water for .0001 seconds and then turned the faucet back off.

2. Camoflauge clothing. If you're hunting...then whatever. That's fine. If you're in the military...then that's actually cool. Proud of you. But wearing it for absolutely no reason, any and everywhere you go makes you look like a plant. A big, ugly, moving, walking, breathing, photosynthesis-loving, earthy-colored, tie-dyed plant. Maybe I just don't like camo. Or maybe someone out there just loves plants that much. If that's what makes you happy, then...neat. Just know you don't look very intimidating when you walk around Walmart wearing a jacket indtended for shooting animals you don't need to eat. Just saying.

3. I heard your entire conversation on the phone. Don't look at me like I'm rude when I make some kind of reaction to your completely inappropriate conversation in public. You're the one talking about all your personal problems in the line at the grocery store. Not my fault you can't keep your man.