Since I am nowhere near finishing all the books I wanted to read before turning 22, I decided yesterday that I would come up with 22 things (dirt-cheap/free/pre-planned) that I've never done before or haven't done in a long time, and I will do them before I turn 22 in a week. Here they are:
Tuesday 8/30
1. Go kayaking down the Provo River.
2. Make chicken cordon bleu and share it with my dinner group.
3. Get Slurpees with Maddie and Debra.
Wednesday 8/31
4. Go the whole day without looking at myself in the mirror--this includes reflections in windows.
5. Serenade someone--guitar and all.
Thursday 9/1
6. Visit the BYU Museum of Art.
7. Go all day wearing absolutely no makeup and make a conscious effort to smile more.
8. Survive a P90X workout.
Friday 9/2
9. Take a road trip to California.
10. Create a new car dance move. Share it with the world.
11. Read a book aloud to my friends (to keep the drivers awake).
Saturday 9/3
12. Walk on the Golden Gate Bridge while singing the Full House theme song.
13. See Alcatraz. (I'm not going there, just seeing it.)
14. Buy a flower and give it to someone.
Sunday 9/4
15. Attend church in California.
16. Step feet in (and hopefully watch the sunset over) the Pacific Ocean.
17. Send an uplifting message in a bottle.
Monday 9/5
18. Do at least one cartwheel each time we stop on the way home from San Fran.
19. Crochet a pair of baby booties.
20. Design my dream home.
Tuesday 9/6 (The big day!)
21. Go to the BYU Museum of Paleontology. Call at least one dinosaur skeleton a "clever girl."
22. Kiss a boy. Or maybe just have a blacklight dance party.
I don't know how familiar y'all are with the weird Utah dating phenomenon that is the whole "creative asking" thing, but from my understanding it can get kind of out of control. Instead of just simple phone calls or face-to-face conversations, people make huge signs, put Oreos on people's cars, deliver a billion balloons with puzzle pieces that spell the question out (like in the movie The Singles Ward), and all sorts of other crazy extravagant things.
As fun as all that can be, I always swore I'd never be one of them. I never want to make dating a big deal until it deserves to be a big deal. And that's never the case on a first date, in my opinion.
But what was I supposed to do when my best friend Kaitlin and I had the best idea in the world of re-writing lyrics toJustin Bieber's "One Less Lonely Girl" to ask a couple of our friends out on a group date? I mean, it wasn't fair. We had to record it burn it to a CD and then doorbell ditch them, didn't we?
Yeah, I think I've been in Utah too long. But since I'm sure you're dying to hear the beautiful musical stylings of Kaitlyn (that's Kaitlin and Katelyn put together, in case you couldn't tell), just click below and enjoy.
***This version of the song has been anonymized. Those poor boys are probably really embarrassed.
Two Less Lonely Boys by Kaitlyn
Both: There’s gonna be two less lonely boys.
Two less lonely boys.
There’s gonna be two less lonely boys.
Two less lonely boys.
How many Friday nights have y’all spent inside
Wishin' you had somethin' to do?
Well, we’re here to say we gon’ make your day
‘Cause we got a question for you.
But you gon’ have to wait. We won’t ask it yet,
‘Cause we gotta fill the rest of this verse.
And it hurts to be this cute and coy.
There’s gonna be two less lonely boys.
We’ve wasted so many pretty faces
Just waitin’ on you,
So now we comin' to you.
Don’t think we hatin’ and impatient ‘cause we ask you.
Your loneliness will be destroyed.
There’s gonna be two less lonely boys (Insert boys' names.).
Two less lonely boys (Insert boys’ names.)
Two less lonely boys (Insert boys’ names.)
Two less lonely boys (Insert boys’ names.)
Two less lonely boys
We wanna take y’all out!
If you don’t wanna go, we’ll pout.
But if you do, we’ll be filled with joy,
And there will be two less lonely boys.
Hey boy and other boy, we want to take y’all out
To go Skittle bowling Friday night.
KG: Hey boy, I hope you’re free to go out with me.
KJ: And other boy would be my date?
KG: That’s right.
Both: We’ll get a bag of Skittles and bowl till midnight.
We’ll even pay if that’s alright.
It’s no ploy!
If you go out with us, there’ll be joy
And there’ll be two less lonely boys.
KJ: I saw so many bearded faces before I saw you,
And I liked so very few,
But it worked for you.
Now you don’t have your bearded face, and that’s okay too.
If you wanna go, just make some noise.
There's gonna be two less lonely boys (Insert boys’ names.).
Two less lonely boys (Insert boys’ names.)
Two less lonely boys (Insert boys’ names.)
Two less lonely boys (Insert boys’ names.)
Two less lonely boys
Both: We wanna take y’all out!
If you don’t wanna go, we’ll pout.
But if you do, we’ll be filled with joy,
And there will be two less lonely boys.
KG: Hey boy, you are a first-class friend.
So I hope that you want to spend
Friday night with me, yeah,
On a group date to Skittles bowl (KJ: Skittles bowl!)
Skittles bowl. (KJ: Bowl with me!)
With me . . .
You’re smart and fun, and I hope you’ll go with me.
I’ll take you and we’ll go bowl with two less lonely . . .
I have a friend who inspires me. Well, all of my friends inspire me, but this one in particular has inspired me with an increased passion for learning about anything and everything that I even have the slightest curiosity about. It's gotten to where if I wonder about anything at all I get really nerdy and excited to look it up in an encyclopedia or read about it online. It's almost always something little, but I love it. It's fun to have answers about little things I've always wondered about.
Recently my curiosity was piqued by a memory from my childhood. When my cousins came over, we liked to play Cops and Robbers in my backyard. The police station was over by the patio and the robbers' hideout was a little opening in the trees where the lowest branches made something like a little cave. Inside this tree cave, there was an abundance of this plant:
Kinda pretty, right? The seed pods, however, were our favorite part.
Every time we went to the robbers' hideout, we'd "roast marshmallows," which just meant we'd make a pile of sticks, break the seed pods off the plant, and hold them over the "fire" while we sat and didn't say anything. The twiggy stems were perfect marshmallow-roasting sticks.
Every now and then, I've thought about those "marshmallows" and wondered what exactly they were. As it turns out, a 10 minute internet search supplied me with the pictures and a description of the plant. Because of its transluscent pods, through which you can see all its seeds, the plant is called "honesty." I thought that was pretty ironic, considering it was in the robbers' hideout. As it turns out, though, another name for it is the "money plant" or the "silver dollar plant." We were a lot richer than we thought, I guess. I just can't believe we ripped up and "burned" our money!
My parents don't live in that house anymore, but I don't remember seeing that plant in the back yard for a long time. I guess we killed honesty.
And here's a special shout-out to Kathryn, who provided the beads--she made them for girls' camp and gave them to me, probably seven or eight years ago. (?!?) Call me a pack rat, but I'm just really glad to have finally found a good use for them.
If you're interested in making your own, I basically followed this pattern. I have a feeling I'm going to be making a lot more of these, and in so many colors. I'm in love.
Hey readers! I've neglected my blog for a while so I have a ton of catching up to do. First of all, I've changed my mind about the 22 by 22. I am still going to read as many books as I can, but I am changing some of them on the list from popular reads to some of my ancestors' journals. A good friend of mine has been doing a lot of reading lately about his family history, and he has inspired me. So instead of Don Quixote, Under the Tuscan Sun, and Memoirs of a Geisha, I'll read the journals of Jesse Nathaniel Smith (my 7th (?) great-grandfather on my mom's side), Elias Smith (my 6th great-grandfather on my dad's side--and yes, he and Jesse N. are cousins), and Sadie Hulet Avery (my great grandma on my mom's side). I am really excited to get to know a little more about my heritage and the strong people who came before me.
So here's the revised list. I really haven't gotten very far at all. Don't make fun; employment and friends just take all my time.
And remember, I love color coding, so here's the code:
Currently reading
Finished
Next on the list
1. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith (528 pages)
2. Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson(349 pages)
3. Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie (200 pages) 4. Out of Africa by Isak Dinesen (~400 pages) 5. Those Who Save Us by Jenna Blum (496 pages) 6. Led by Faith by Imaculee Ilibagiza (264 pages)
7. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (400 pages)
8. The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis (160 pages) 9. Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis (227 pages) 10. The Great Divorce** by C.S. Lewis(144 pages) 11. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd (302 pages) 12. Peace Like a River by Leif Enger (320 pages) 13. Journal of Elias Smith 14. Journal of Jesse Nathaniel Smith 15. Journal of Sadie Hulet Avery 16. The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan (288 pages) 17. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams (208 pages) 18. Life of Pi by Yann Martel (326 pages) 19. The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros (110 pages) 20. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne (244 pages) 21. Yo-Yo Boing!* by Giannina Braschi (256 pages) 22. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao* by Junot Diaz (339 pages)
**I found a dirt-cheap copy of this book in Spanish, so I'll actually be reading El Gran Divorico.
In other news, life is fantastic. I absolutely love my job. Even though I'm going to have the exact same schedule for the next year, the routine is not difficult or boring because everything I do is so much fun. Lately I've started being able to really get creative and write lesson plans, and that's probably my favorite thing about the job so far. Whenever I'm not busy with that, I'm spending a lot of time with some amazing friends. The Lord has really blessed me with more than I deserve.
My parents came to town a couple of weeks ago before the family reunion that I wasn't able to go to, so it was really great to spend time with them. They joined our dinner group one night and Daddy's one-wire provided plenty of entertainment for one of my friends. (If you don't know what one-wire is, ask me and I'll tell you a couple of great stories.) We also went up to Idaho to see Uncle Glade and his family. All I can say is that I'm pretty sure his son Jared and I have some sort of mental and emotional bond. We're pretty much the same person. I love that kid (and everyone in that family) so much!
Now I've started to become a domestic goddess. I started crocheting over the weekend, and I've already made one crappy slipper and half of a really good one. (I'll post pictures once I get them finished.) I'm also buying a sewing machine this weekend and I can't wait to get started on some cool projects like making cute dresses for 6 dollars and stuff.
This is all for now since I want to finish the slipper before I go to bed tonight, but just to get you excited, I'll tell you what you can expect in the near future:
Reflections on grocery shopping with Mama
Robbers' marshmallows
The Life and Times of Ronaldiago Weasley Cox-Gentry
