Day 222

First off, yesterday's post failed again. Found that out when I went to start my post for today. Grrr.

So, I know everyone and their mom has been talking about this lately, but I just want to take a second to discuss little miss Hannah Montana...

Or not.

I get it. Kids grow up. And keeping up in the entertainment industry is a lot of pressure. But come on, Miley. First off, your outfit isn't even sexy and your buns look ridiculous. I never thought I'd say this but Miley Cyrus was out-sexied by Lady Gaga, you know, the one who WORE meat.

Still raunchy with this outfit (what'd she have, like 3 outfit chances in one performance?) but at least she pulled it off and could dance instead of twerking like a cheap stripper. Also, put your tongue back in your mouth, Miley, you're starting to remind me of this:

There is a line between having more mature content in your music, maybe getting a little less PG with your dance moves and just getting plain trashy. Miley crossed that line. I mean, if I were her, I would want to move the hell away from my Disney Channel persona too, but that doesn't mean becoming a hot mess.

A lot of people have pointed out how her managers and the record companies have a huge influence in her "image," but nobody has more control over your image than you. This was her choice. She is 20 years old, not 12. She's seen enough girls in her industry rise and come crashing down to know better. 

You know who I feel the worst for? (and no, not Daddy Cyrus because he helped create the monster.) Her fiancé Liam Hemsworth aka Gale from the Hunger Games. 

Yes, of course I chose this picture. 

Anyways, I bet he was absolutely mortified. Check out these quotes from a pal of Liam's.

"Liam really does care about Miley, but her racy new look and sort of ghetto attitude isn't exactly what he signed up for." 

"He doesn’t really see anything sexy about what she did on stage." (Did anyone?)

"His entire team ... urging him to part ways with her because she’s nothing but negative for his reputation and career. He doesn’t want to babysit her anymore. He has to move on.”

Even if the source isn't 100% reliable, a lot of this has got to be true. She put him in a really awkward spot with that VMA performance. I'd be pissed at her for grinding on some dude on it's own. Then add the fact that she did it in front of millions of people and don't forget that she totally owned it (owned it like she's totally proud of it, not owned it like did a good job). So done. Even though it's damaging his image and he probably can't stand the childish way she's acting, it's hard to call off an engagement especially with the whole world watching you.

Also I'm surprised Robin Thicke's wife didn't beat her ass in the parking lot after the show. 

 

Because I would have.

Day 221

Guess what's ready to ship :D

Excuse the clutter lol. Once I know Sam has opened the package I'll show you how much stuff I managed to fix in that box. It's actually quite impressive. I think I outdid my self with this one. And I'm a Master packer. It's in my genes. My great grandma was a hoarder.

Day 220

Hey so after taking a break for the summer, I'm back to writing for Lane Today :) The article that I wrote today is a preview article for an awesome event that's coming up in Eugene. Check it out by following the link below and expect a feature article after the event.

http://lanetoday.com/2013/08/28/ayang-rinpoche-to-present-phowa-buddhist-workshops-in-eugene/

Day 219

I need a day off. Hopefully tomorrow can be my errand running day... Well, after work that is. I STILL haven't gotten everything together for Sam's package. I know he's looking forward to it, so I want it to get to him soon, but I also want it to be perfect. I don't get to do things for him very often so when I do, I like to make them as awesome as possible and put a lot of time (and sometimes money) into them. I wish I could share what's in/ going in the package, but I'm not going to risk spoiling any surprises ;)

Yesterday, my cousins, sister, mom and I went to the Gilbert House and I wanted to share my favorite photo of the day

Day 218

Since I missed the chance to do it yesterday because of my rant-ish post, I want to do my top Pins of the week today.

5. How cool are these?! All they are are glow sticks in balloons.

4. I love this because it's not sappy and romantic and is a much more accurate description of what married life is going to be like for me.

3. Since being introduced to Ink Masters, I have a new thing for tattoos. This is one I wouldn't necessarily get on me but I think it's beautiful. For those of you who don't know, that's Arwen's pendant that she gave to Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings. 

2. Garlic Cheesy Bread bites. Yum.

1. Found this under "weddings" but I feel like this would be more at home in a college apartment.

Day 217

This blog was supposed to be about love when it started. I had all of these ideas to make things and actually do things and research, all about love. But that's not what this blog turned about to be. And you know what, I don't mind. Because some days aren't about love. Some days are about work or school or random things that happen during the day. That doesn't mean love isn't there. I always have Sam and my family and friends. But as much as I thought writing about love would be personal for me, it wasn't, at least not every day. I wouldn't be doing this project justice if I wrote about things that weren't personal just to stick to a theme. I want to be able to look back on this blog after this year and see my life for the year. The name of the blog isn't going to change because the concept is still the same, but instead of thinking of "love" as a noun, think of it as a verb. That's the new theme for this blog.

Thank you to everyone who actually reads this. Since I've gotten my iPhone, I've been posting from there a lot and can't see the stats, but every once in a while when I post from my laptop, I check on the page views and I'm amazed at how many people have seen this. Keep reading, and I'll be posting tomorrow :)

Day 216

Today was not a good day for me but that's okay, everyone has those.

Day 215

As much as I miss Sam and hate him being gone, it does have its perks. I get to be especially creative with the gift giving and little things mean a lot more when that's all you have. I doubt he even looks at this, but just in case, I don't want to post any specifics. What I can post is that Sam is getting an awesome package as soon as I get everything together and finish the adorable fiancé part of it. He's going to love it :) 

I might include some stationary in there just as a little "hint hint" that he should write me a letter (or a few). I know it's not exactly considered manly but whatever, it won't kill him haha. I don't even think that's it in all seriousness, I just don't think he gets how much I appreciate it even though I tell him. Getting letters while he was in boot camp was my favorite part of the week. I just don't want to ask him to write them because it kinda takes the romantic spontaneity out of it but with him, directness is usually what it takes for him to have that "aha" moment. 

I already have an adorable idea for Christmas if he ends up not coming home. As of right now he's NOT deploying due to a bunch of complicated complications that I don't really get but hey, I'm not complaining :)

Day 214

I'm soooo tired. Watching little kids is exhausting. I'm back at home though in my own bed so hopefully I can catch up on sleep before they come to stay at our house starting Sunday. I don't know how I'll ever handle being a mom.

I also wanna give a shout-out to my aunt. Thanks for the package, you're the best :)

Day 213

More arts and crafts today :)

^this one is Maci's.

^ this one is Chloe's (I helped a little).

We also had another lotto winner today! It wasn't me.

This morning was really fun though. My grandma took the three if us to a flower farm to walk around and buy some flowers. Definitely a little wedding inspiration going on for me.

Day 212

Today, Maci and I had our own time together and I've got to say, I had a lot of fun with her :)

This morning, I showed her how to play Zoo Tycoon. I tried to keep my perfectionism in check (she wanted to put the shelters smack dab in the middle of the exhibits!) and let her do her own thing and I think I was successful for the most part. I built the fences and paths since she was struggling with it and she did the exhibits exactly how she wanted. The best part was hearing her laugh about how many ostriches we had by the end of the day considering we only started with four.

While Chloe was napping, we did some big girl artsy stuff. I brought two different art projects with me and she chose painting shells and rocks. I don't have a picture of her's yet, but here's what I painted:

Beautiful, right? If we end up doing our other project tomorrow, I'll be sure to post it :)

We went to Starbucks in Safeway after my aunt got home. We were picking up stuff to being back, but since my aunt said to take our time, we did. Maci found some stickers she wanted to use for tomorrow's project, and I was paying for them I thought, "Ah, what the heck," and bought two $1 scratch-its. (Side note: getting carded is really cool when you're actually old enough. It's like, "Hell yes I'm an adult.")

As we were drinking our Starbucks, Maci and I each scratched off our scratch-its. I won $2. I bought two more. Won $2 again. Bought two more. Maci won $4. 

Aaaaaaaand now she's an addict.

She got to pick out some candy and I spent the other $2 on more scratch-its. That's where our winning streak ended but Maci's determined to win again so I'm feeding her addiction and taking her tomorrow.

Day 211

I'm back babysitting at my uncle's house and to be completely honest, I just passed out without writing what I wanted to.

I had to give my ring in to Fred Meyer Jewelers because it's too big for my finger, so now I have to go without it for a week. I don't think it should take that long to get my size 5 ring down to a 4.5 but whatever. It's already weird not to have it on, even though I haven't had it that long. I don't like it. As Sam said, "It's not the ring that's keeping us engaged," but something about not wearing it feels... Off. I'll be excited to get my ring back next Tuesday, that's for sure.

Day 210

It's official. Pinterest now takes up all my free time. I'm kind of in love with it. Today I'm going to be sharing with you my top 5 pins if the week. This might become a thing, I'm not quite sure yet. Anyways, here it goes:

5. I think this is an absolutely fabulous idea that I could actually do myself :) I think these would be neat at my wedding and I could still decorate with them afterwards.

4. I don't quite know what's out the window but ignoring that, this is the kind of bedroom I want. It'd need a bit more color but other than that I love the low, big bed and the window.

3. Raichu is just adorable using Fly.

2. A lot of people think I eat salads just to  seem all healthy or whatever. Nope, I just really like salads, especially when it's hot out (along with ice cream which is totally not healthy). This salad has spinach, strawberries, pineapple, red onion (which I could do without), Parmesan cheese and pecans.

1. I was looking for some more artsy things to do when I was babysitting this week and my mom, the queen of all things little kid, told me that She used to give us buckets of water and brushes to "paint" random stuff. I was browsing Pinterest a little later and found this:

So kudos, mom, for being 17 years ahead of Pinterest.

Day 209

I'm sitting here hanging out with my grandma so I'm not going to be writing a big long post tonight. My grandma is one of the people that I wish I got to see more but can't because of college. I'm glad we have tonight just the two of us to relax, eat dinner and watch the Hallmark Channel. More tomorrow :)

Day 208

While I was working today, two of my favorite high school teachers happened to come in to my store (I just refer to One Fair World as "my store" because I've been volunteering there for 2 years now and I absolutely love it). It was really nice to catch up with them and it was awesome that they not only remembered me, but remembered what I was into and planing on doing after high school. They were both really excited to hear about what I was doing at UO and honestly, that felt good. I'm planning on going back to West after school starts to visit the teachers I actually liked from high school because those are the teachers I respect and appreciate for their awesome teacher-ness.

Day 207

I did it. I gave into peer pressure, you guys. I got a Pinterest. 

Now, I know that my wedding isn't for almost another three years but I'm so excited for it and Pinterest isn't helping. At least I actually have a fiancé. That makes the whole planning-my-wedding-on-Pinterest thing slightly less pathetic...right? No? Still pathetic? ........... Yeah, I know it is. 

I was never one of those little girls that dreamed about their wedding. I never fantasized about my perfect dress and a handsome Prince Charming sweeping me off my feet. The only thing I really looked forward to with my future was my job. Probably up until 3rd grade I wanted so badly to be a paleontologist (around 3rd grade is when I realized how rare it is to actually find dinosaur bones and that most of the work isn't digging around in the sand, it's in a lab). I've always been very career centered. Hell, even a year ago I was convinced I was going to be single for a very long time because of it. And now I'm engaged... Funny how that turned out.

It's not that I'm not career centered now though just because of Sam. I still care very much about what I'm going to be working as the rest of my life. It's just not the ONLY thing now. And that feels good. 

Day 206

Counting with Chloe

Day 205

So my little cousin Maci has been saving up her coins to donate to the animal shelter. We counted it all out last night and came up with $21. 

Her little sister "helped" us count.

We took her coins in to a Coinstar machine (I hate how they take a cut of it!) and after her dad matched the money, Maci had $41.

These are all the toys she bought. I would have thought you could buy more dog toys for $41 but hopefully the higher price means that they'll last for a long time.

The girls walking into the dog shelter

Maci: so i saved my money and then i went to pet smart and bought toys for dogs at  the oregon  dog rescue  i bought a ball that squeaks and a frisbee and pluto that squeaks bone that squeaks  3 green balls and a rope and red ball that has circles n it

Day 204

So thanks to Jessi, I have a new song obsession.

Literally listened to it at least ten times on the way from my house up to my aunt's in Portland. I'm babysitting the same cousins as last time for those of you who remember my posts earlier this summer. We'll have a special post tomorrow so stay tuned :)

Day 203

Hah, almost forgot to post but I didn't! 

Today was busy. I got a lot done. This... 

used to be all sorts of unorganized. It was literally thrown in boxes and all over my floor. This looks much better :)

I also talked with all of my future roommates today which was pretty cool :) all this just makes me more excited to move in!

Day 202

Sam and I are going to have a very serious talk tomorrow. You see, I REALLY want a little kitty for my apartment but I don't think he's down for that. I know he's not living there now, but it's not like I'm going to drop it off at some shelter after he comes home. I think I'll ask him with this picture.

Day 201

Seriously, who are you people? I've been averaging around 26 views per day the past week or so. I had no idea that many people knew about my blog, let alone read it. I mean, that's good, but my readers are so... anonymus.

Anyways, what to write about today? I had a pretty productive day today even though it doesn't really feel like I've been doing anything. Just busy work.

I did work at One Fair World today though and I actually ended up buying something besides the little 25 cent pieces of chocolate that are extremely addicting. With Sam being gone again, I needed to pick up more letter-writing paper (all of his letters since boot camp have been on the same paper). Even though he'll have wifi and everything, actually sending him a handwritten letter is better I think. The paper I buy comes in boxed sets, so I've been collecting all the different boxes.

These are the ones I have so far:

And this is the next one I want:

What's really cool about this paper (besides the fact that it's fair trade) is that it's made of elephant poop! Like, no joke, it's actual poop. Check it out: http://mrelliepooh.com/story_book.html

If you want to buy some poop paper of your own, come to One Fair World in downtown Salem or order online here: http://mrelliepooh.com/

Day 200

Damn, I can't believe I've actually kept it up for this long. I know there have been some, uh, skip days, but I'm still writing. I didn't honestly think I would be. The reason this post is happening so late is because Jessi, Amanda and I were finishing the second half if The Lord of the Rings movies. 

I'm really sleepy though. I'm going to get some sleep and hopefully get caught up. I've been feeling run down lately. 

Goodnight everyone and thanks for staying with me this far. 200 down, 165 to go.

Day 199

Got another person watching Lord of the Rings (sorry for the spoiler alert there). It still amazes me that even after watching those movies as many times as I have, I still love watching them. I still get just as sad when *insert name of first meaningful death here to avoid spoilers even though, let's face it, everyone knows who I'm talking about* dies. I still get just as excited with how much ass Legolas and Aragorn and Gimli kick. That's the sign of a good series and it amazes me how much there is beyond The Lord of the Rings story that Tolkien created for Middle Earth. Kudos to him!

Day 198

My mom had a parent moment today, except she did a really bad job of hiding the remote (we can all see the top of the fridge now) and she didn't do anything about the upstairs TV, but still, it worked.

Day 197

Two really cool things happened today.

1. It was my mama's birthday!

She loves giraffes. Plus this card is from the store I volunteer at, One Fair World, where everything for sale is fair trade. That's means it's a good-for-the-planet card too. It was actually made in Rwanda. I forgot where the bracelet I got her is from, but it's also fair trade. Seriously guys, if you're in Salem or close by, the store is downtown and you should check it out. :)

2. We checked out my future apartment today!

I also have my own bathroom but it's nothing special so I'm not going to posting the pictures. I have big

plans for my little room :)

Day 196

So now that Sam's gone (again) I'll be back to writing every day. It was really hard to be consistent and write every day with him home, especially since most of the time it was a choice between writing for the blog or cuddling up and watching TV. I'm a sucker for cuddling.

Anyways, in the midst off all the excitement of Sam being home, something else exciting happened. I got my first email from one of my FIG students. For the people who are new here or forgot, my job for next fall term is to be a mentor for around 25 brand new freshman. They had a summer assignment where they had to answer the question, "What is religion?" and email me what they came up with. Like I figured would happen, I didn't get a bunch of emails as soon as the Welcome Letter with the assignment went out. But just getting that first one was really encouraging, especially with how thoughtful her response was.

I think I'm more excited for my job than anything else that's going on first term - I'm not a huge enough football fan and I'm only taking Japanese, two PE classes and a journalism class that's supposed to be hell. I'm pumped to have my own apartment (which I'm going to check out tomorrow!) but honestly, I just can't wait to meet my FIGlets.

^^ That's my FIG. I'm hoping that the FIGlets will be way more into the religion part and less into the art history because art is not my forte. There's a reason I haven't shared any drawings on here. I think my role will have less to do with the specific classes they're taking though, and more to do with college in general. I'm hoping that my role will be more of a mentor and someone they can talk to than a teacher. There will definitely be more postings about my FIG in the future.

Day 193 - 195

I haven't written on the past few days because I wanted to spend as much time with San as possible before he left. I just got home from dropping off from the airport. Not gonna lie, I cried. Like a lot. It was a bit awkward because I was at the gate, so it looked like I was flying out too and he wasn't in uniform so there was no explanation there. 

For those of you who don't know, he's deploying August 11th to southern Afghanistan. His deployment will be 9 to 12 months (most likely 12) and he should have about a week of leave somewhere in there. 

Most of you probably know by now, but Sam isn't my boyfriend anymore... He's my fiancé! :) 

 

It's preeeeeety.

Last night we went to Lincoln City to have the bonfire we couldn't have on our Seaside trip. It took us three hours to get there because of a car wreck so by the time we got there is was already dark. We started making a fire and somehow got talking to two homeless guys that were camping on the beach on those way down to the Oregon-California border. They came up to us to ask for a piece of wood and a little bit of firewood but they were so drunk that they didn't realize they were kind of intruding and started talking to us. They were really nice guys, but it's like dude, it's obviously a couple on the beach... It's supposed to be romantic, not campfire story time. Our fire was pretty impressive though. 

Anyways, after they left, we were talking for a little bit when he just pulled the ring out from his pocket and asked me to marry him... Which if course I said yes to. No way I'd ever say no to that boy.

Thanks to everyone who send us encouraging messages. It really does mean a lot, especially with how hard things are going to be for us in the next few years.