the best part about the day after Christmas is that Jesus is STILL born, and we can still share love, give love, spread love, and measure our lives in love :)

Merry Christmas :)

He is the light and the life of the world; a light that is endless, that can never be darkened, and also a life which is endless, that there can be no more death ♥

the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light;
those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined.

Merry Christmas everyone! :)

fast food adventures with baby bals

isn't she gorgeous?? :)

One of the activities that I really enjoy is getting fast food. Especially in Snohomish, and especially with my favourite alison balison bayubi :) Today, we went to pick up taco bell for julia at work. it went something like this:

We order.
We remember that Julia likes hot sauce.
"Can we have the hottest hot sauce?"
Worker: *leans out the window* *uses sexy man voice* "Well, I've been told it's a matter of opinion.... ;)"
"Uhh.... we'll take the fire sauce??"
~moments later~
"Do you guys have water?"
Worker: "Yes we do!"
"Can I have some... of it...?"

and that is why I love fast food.

finals

are like death.

the end.

Carol of the Bells

welcome to our world

joyful, joyful

my wall :)

I love letters! 

love came down at christmas

i celebrate the day

early morning adventures

today at 6am i realized that the delta logo is a DELTA. like alpha beta gamma delta. triangle. like an airplane. only it's a delta. and my aunt just pointed out that delta means change.
this is just blowing my whole world.
you know how when you find something out and it just changes everything? the way i pronounce delta in my head is different now.
so. mind-altering.

in other news, the stewardness gave me an entire can of ginger ale to myself (normally they just fill up a cup with ice [like, FULL of ice] and add a few drops of soda) but today i got the whole can, AND double cookies because i said they were delicious.

i also went through the full body scanner that sees you naked. i felt like a spy. it was kind of awesome.

the moral of the story is always be nice to the people with cookies.

and so concludes the early morning adventures of cece.

shopping

Lyndy and I just bought 80 biscuits. Because they were 10 for $10.... but only if you bought ten cans. Otherwise we would've had to pay $2.19 per can! And we really wanted biscuits. At a good price. So we bought. Eighty. Biscuits.

~The ensuing apartment conversation~

Lyndy: I don't think you've seen the fridge, it looks like we're prepared for a nuclear bomb... if nothing survived a nuclear bomb.. but biscuits?? {We later dubbed this event, the Biscopalypse.} 

Me: WE ARE SO PREPARED. We're just getting started on our year's supply of food!! Follow the prophet, yo :) :)

Lyndy: If only we had bought TWENTY DOLLARS of biscuits we prolly coulda lasted til spring semester..

Me: Yeah but then they would have expired!!! This way, we've got until Christmas :) :)

Lyndy: Too true... after thanksgiving we'll stock up again.

Alannah: Why do I have a feeling that if there was a nuclear bomb, you wouldn't share your biscuits with me?

Me: WE WOULD NOT SHARE.

Lyndy: Maybe you'll think twice when we offer to split a 10 for 10 deal, Alannah..

//

2/14/11 EDIT: We now all hate biscuits. The smell makes us nauseous. I hate them with all of my stomach. So. Vomitous. 

‎Be thankful. Out of all of the numberless people that have been or could be, You are You, here, and now. And even if you're in a bad place today, as long as you are alive you have the potential for greatness, and the possibility of tomorrow. :)

 

"to live with gratitude ever in our hearts is a touch of heaven"

so this post kind of got out of control haha. it’s ridiculously long, because i’ve been ridiculously blessed :) you probably won’t read it, and that’s okay.  i just wanted to say that i’m thankful :) 

I am thankful for:

1. God 
2. my Savior Jesus Christ & His Atonement
3. the opportunity to repent and be with Him someday
4. the Good News of the Gospel
5. my scriptures :)
6. my parents
7. my siblings
8. family love
9. extended family
10. support
11. courage
12. hope
13. mercy
14. happiness
15. joy
16. smiles
17. rainbows
18. flowers
19. beautiful earth
20. trees
21. mountains
22. water
23. air… so that we can breathe
24. music
25. creation
26. close friends you can say anything to
27. people who make me laugh
28. people who cheer me up when i’m down

happy halloween :)

the old lady, the lumberjack, and the mad hatter.

we like to improvise :)

to love the mountains here :)

aren't they pretty? :)

the story of the slarf

~transcript of a conversation between roommates via facebook chat~

dude

this exists

http://www.etsy.com/listing/44901655/sleeve-scarf-fw-2010?ref=fp_treasury_1

it's called a slarf

what thet!

the*

that is redic

hahahaha

i want one

except it's 200 DOLLARS

TWO HUNDRED

WHAT THE HECK

it's too bad you can't make numbers be all caps..

i know right

i don't understand why the left arm gets left out in the cold haha

just the letters spelling out the numbers

not the same thing

literallly

out

in

the

cold

COLD

yeah fool

and def not the same

stand up.

I recently watched this video {youtube splits it into two} and it really impacted me. It's about 16 minutes long, but for me it was well worth watching.





These are some of my favorite quotes I've gleaned from her speech: 

what do an atheist, an agnostic, a jew, and a mormon all have in common?

"Atheists and agnostics, Jews and Mormons are among the highest-scoring groups on a new survey of religious knowledge, outperforming [others] on questions about the core teachings, history and leading figures of major world religions... On questions about Christianity – including a battery of questions about the Bible – Mormons (7.9 out of 12 right on average) and white evangelical Protestants (7.3 correct on average) show the highest levels of knowledge."

http://pewforum.org/other-beliefs-and-practices/u-s-religious-knowledge-survey.aspx

This is not meant as an insult to other religions. Of course this doesn't mean that all Atheists know more about religion than any given Catholic or Protestant, or anything like that. I just found it interesting :) Personally I think it's very important to be well-educated about not only one's own religion, but others' as well.

You can take a short quiz here to see about how much you know :)

{my personal score was 15/15... I like religion :)}

i love october :)

crunchy leaves

sweaters & boots

skinny jeans

hot cider

seeing your breath in the morning and at night

crisp air

apples and caramel and yum

cold enough that tip of your nose gets numb… but not so cold that you get frostbite

beautiful colors on the trees & all around

my birthday month :)

pumpkins!

colder at night

pretty stars on a dark night sky

halloween = excited little kids, costumes, dressing up, candy, love

excitement in the air

it’s that much closer to the holidays

still warm during the day

jumping in leaves and puddles

bright sun

wrapping up with blankets on the couch and being happy :)

photo credit: alisonayubi

how to stem a flood.

Once upon a time, I was sleeping in my bed. At the absurdly early hour of 8:30am, my roommate wakes me up in a panic because “There’s a flood in the bathroom!!!” I was extremely confused, because I was still basically asleep. I told her to just fix it, but she said “No I need your help!!!” 
When I finally got out of bed and walked to the bathroom, it was FLOODED. COMPLETELY. FULL OF WATER. The water was starting to lap out of the bathroom and on to the carpet. In the actual toilet area there was about an inch and a half of standing water. And the toilet was SPEWING WATER. overflowing, and squirting. I did not know this was possible. 
So I just stood there, really confused and still trying to wake up while my roommate freaked out. Eventually she waded over to the toilet, (luckily it was clean water,) and I told her to lift the top off and fix it. Which worked, sort of. It stopped the overflow but the toilet was still spewing. And my blankie was getting wet. 
After a while the spewing stopped too; I forget how. 
So then I went back to sleep, basically abandoning my roommate, but I was tired. I had to wake up like 30 minutes later to go to school, so that was dumb. And as I was walking through the living room to get my breakfast, I walked through a puddle. In the carpet. squish squish. yucky. We’re still not sure how it got there because it was dry all around and not even close to the bathroom. What the heck. And I kept forgetting it was there and walking through it again. Disgusting. 
While I was asleep, my roommate had mopped up most of the water in the bathroom with rugs and towels. 
Then we were late for class…. so we left.  


I'm at the library right now.


I hope all my stuff is alright.

The end.

sorry alannah. ♥ :)

awkward moments of the day

-singing "i'm feelin like a star you can't stop my shine!" out loud (on accident) in the library and then having people stare.

-the pakistani man sitting next to me in the library falling asleep, then snoring, then drooling. while still sitting up in his chair. what exactly am i supposed to do in that situtation??!?

-the lady in the testing center saying "good luck on your test" and me replying "thanks you too..." then standing there awkwardly before running away with my test.


yep.

awkward moments forever. ♥

embarrassing.

my life is an embarrassing situation. i'm used to it.

but the most truly embarrassing thing that's ever happened to me? story. once upon a time i was working on a drama production, and the girls were using the boys restroom as a dressing room. after we had all cleaned out and were backstage before the show, one of the girls discovered she had left her bag or something in the boy's bathroom, so i went to go look for it. audience people were already there waiting in line, buying tickets.... using the bathrooms...... so i walked in to the men's restroom (which wasn't weird since we'd been using it for hairspray, makeup, etc.) but it WAS weird because a man was in there using the urinal for its intended purpose. i won't go in to details. but it was. embarrassing. and awkward. but not the most embarrassing thing of my life, because i am sadly used to that sort of thing happening. no, the MOST embarrassing part of my life was AFTER the show, when said man approaches me and begins to TALK about our lovely bathroom encounter. in front of everyone. ummm..... what exactly is the proper response to, "hey, i remember you! from the bathroom! you saw me peeing!!"
....... it was awk. i gave uncomfortable laughter. and the man would not shut up. he just kept talking about it. i do not know why. he was probably a psycho. 


the end.

i can save a life

Giving blood is at once the coolest and most terrifying thing of my life. Part of me insists that my blood should stay inside my body where it belongs, and that it’s too painful, and that someone else can give blood today because I’m too scared*. 

But at the same time, I can’t deny that giving blood is probably the only time I will ever have the opportunity to save a life, ever. And it’s so easy! Admittedly not pain-free, but since when is anything worth doing done without some sacrifice? Compared to rescuing someone from a burning building or pushing someone out of the way of a speeding vehicle, giving blood is really. easy. And it saves lives, just the same. 

(Side-note: I wear my arm bandage like it's a badge of courage and honor. Maybe making too big of a deal of out it, but hey. It was scary for me.) 

And while I may not have that many opportunities to perform CPR or the Heimlich maneuver on someone, I can give blood every eight weeks. It only costs me a little bit of time, and a tiny bit of pain. And really, I can handle that. For next-to-nothing, I get to feel sort of like a hero.  I can feel like maybe my existence on earth made someone else’s existence a little bit better. I can do my part to contribute to the general well-being of mankind. I may not be a firefighter or a nurse or a doctor, but I can do this one thing. 

At least that’s what I tell myself, as I sit nervously in the hard plastic waiting chair.

The cookies and juice help a lot too. Yummy.


*Reading through the list of things that can disqualify a person from donating made me realize that not just everyone can give blood. Actually only about 38% of Americans are eligible to donate - and less than 10% do. One more reason I’m glad I’ve lived the life I have, and what a good reason to keep living it. 

:) 

ten reasons to 'like'

1. it’s like giving a thumbs-up to the world
2. it shows approval or agreement without even having to say anything
3. it makes people feel good about their comments
4. i actually do like a lot of things
5. i believe in expressing approval
6. things make me laugh. thus, i like them.
7. i believe in validating other people’s attempts at humor and/or wit
8. liking is virtually risk-free. creepy “liking” is rarely called out or commented on, giving me the freedom to “like” the comments of veritable strangers without fear of my creepiness being brought to attention. in the case of comments on a wall post, there isn’t even an option to comment on said liking. leaving me free to like, show my appreciation, and move on.
9. liking comments does not result in billions of notifications afterwards, which results in a sort of “why not like this” attitude.
10. i like to imagine that it makes someone’s day a tiiiiinyyy bit brighter to have their comment “liked.” a post not liked is a post under-appreciated, in my opinion. if it is funny, witty, or otherwise like-worthy, why not let them know? all it takes is the click of a button :)

football game: the first

This game was par.tic.u.lar.ly exciting because we were playing the UW Huskies, my home state team and the school a lot of my friends were going to. We had been trash talking for weeks haha. Also the Huskies' coach used to play for BYU, and BYU's quarterback Jake Heaps had been offered a scholarship by the Huskies but chose BYU instead. So it was a pret.ty intense game :)

sooo excited!!

we had great seats :)

it was so hot! 

sorryyy washington :) 

so fun!

my new apartment :)

my window is the sketchiest scariest thing of my life. it like, dosesn't close all the way and when the wind blows it sounds like someone is trying to get in. and it's right next to my head.
also, my bedroom door is the loudest door ever in the history of the world and it sticks when you open/close it all the way.
while annoying, i am thinking that this could be a good thing, as it will make it extremely difficult for the rapists to sneak in.
see the good in everything :) :)
♥


"Oh I love your door but hate your window sounds like it would cause me fear. Door could be bad in case the rapist did break in and the door was jammed shut. But luckily you would have pajamas on thus making the rapist frustrated and leave. :)" --Arthur Pennock

dreams :)

1. to write something that people actually like and that adds some good to the world :)
2. to find my pizza soulmate
3. to go to a legitimate bollywood dance
4. to make people laugh
5. to camp on the beach
6. to visit Rome
7. to take an epic roadtrip with friends and to stop and play frequently along the way
8. to have an alphabet party with 25 of my closest friends
9. ‎to climb on the giant red tube sculpture in seattle and take pictures :)
10. to be on AFP
11. to visit Jerusalem
12. to create a music video in the style of the 80s

12. check.