Twenty-six things

I turn 26 today! Happy birthday to me. In honor of growing one year older and (hopefully) wiser, too, I decided to share 26 things (in no particular order) that I love with you.

1. Red
2. Camelbak water bottles
3. The Voice
4. Italian sodas
5. New sheet music
6. Floral jeans
7. Fried eggs with Jarlsberg
8. Body by Victoria perfume (my jam!)
9. Singing as my brothers play guitar
10. Brace-free teeth
11. You've Got Mail
12. Instagram
13. Norah Jones
14. Blog comments
15. Idaho
16. Grumpy Cat
17. Amazon Prime
18. Brandi Carlile
19. O Brother, Where Art Thou?
20. Polka dots
21. Speak (a novel)
22. Fish tacos
23. Mail at work
24. Andrew's eyes
25. Anne of Green Gables (the books and the movies)
26. Wool socks

I hope you have a wonderful day enjoying the things you love!

Time flies

I had to have a new picture of myself for a Relief Society spotlight, so I thought I'd share the one Andrew just took. After our photography class last weekend, we've been more conscious about ISO and flash, so I think this one turned out pretty well -- especially since it was taken inside at 7 p.m.!

And here is my lovely birthday gift from Andrew, a rose-gold watch. I love that it's oversized and boyfriend-inspired, but it's not enormous and heavy. He did well.

Yes, I realize that my skin looks mottled and purple (as it often does -- the result of poor circulation), but I'm too lazy to Photoshop the picture and make myself look better, so just pay attention to the watch and not my arm. :)

We started teaching the 16-year-olds in Sunday School today, and I'm already trying to come up with a better plan for next week. Teaching teens is hard! How do you get them to pay attention and stop talking? At least they're nice and none of them are troublemakers. I remember having some really obnoxious kids in my Sunday School class when I was in high school. We'll see how things go.

Do you feel like time flies by faster as you get older? Sometimes I don't know where the day has gone! I remember as a kid watching the clock or counting the days down to my birthday or to Christmas, and now, before I know it, they've passed by. Another year older and, hopefully, wiser! I'm determined to make 25 much better than 24.

Quarter-life crisis

I'm not really having a quarter-life crisis. I just like the lyrics from John Mayer's "Why Georgia" and they're really applying to life now that I'm 25. It's so weird. I feel like just yesterday I was 21 and had just moved to Salt Lake for the first time -- and now, four years later, I'm married and have a home here and life is wonderful.

Andrew surprised me by giving me one present last night (fuchsia jeans!), one this morning (a cute new black skirt) and finally a gorgeous rose gold watch I'd been wanting when he got home from school tonight. Unfortunately, it's monstrous on my wrist with all of the links and we can't find the right tool to take some out, so I can't wear it right now -- but I'll take a picture of it soon!

He also brought me flowers and Del Taco's fish tacos at work (the boy knows me too well) and we went out to dinner at Z'Tejas, where I ordered fish tacos again. Yes, I have an obsession with fish tacos, but it could be worse -- I could have an obsession with polish sausages, for example.

I also got so many nice birthday wishes on Facebook! I'm so over Facebook and rarely update my status or do much with it, but then my birthday rolls around and I remember why I still have a profile. I always feel so loved after getting so many messages from great friends throughout the day.

Here's a picture of me in my birthday pants! Ignore a) the awful circles under my eyes, b) the shadows on the wall and c) my terrible posture. This is what happens when you ask your husband to take a picture of you at 11:45 at night so you have a picture of your birthday outfit for posterity (and your blog). The results are never pretty.

Thanks for making my birthday great and for all the phone calls, texts and Facebook messages! I even got an unexpected call from my former bishop, Bishop Bettinson, that totally made my night -- and I found out he reads my blog and saw the "Sax on the Beach" post. If you're reading this, Bishop B, I love you!

The top 24

Yes, I turned 24 a month ago, but I never got the chance to do what every other blogger has been doing lately on their birthdays/spouse's birthdays -- write 24 things you might not know about me.

I really wouldn't bother doing it, except that 24 has always been my favorite number and I will never get the chance to do this again -- unless, of course, I do the same thing when I turn 48 and do 24x2 things. HAHAHAHA.

So please humor me as I list 24 things. I think these are fun to read, so I'll read yours when you decide to do it, too. :)

1. I can pop nearly every bone in my body. For most of you, I'm sure this is absolutely disgusting to read, but I am rather proud of this. I've always had loose joints for some reason, and my body just pops without warning. I don't know many people who can pop their tailbone, but I can. Just imagine what I'll be like when I'm 80, though. Shudder.

2. I absolutely hate to get my face wet. Andrew thinks this is funny and has shoved my face under running water before just to see me sputter and scowl at him as I squeeze my eyes shut. This, I'm sure, is the reason I don't swim very well. I just don't like my face to be in water AT ALL.

3. I HATE America's Funniest Home Videos. You might argue that this is a family show and that you grew up watching it and that it's clean and wholesome, but I change the channel the moment this show comes on. It is not even remotely funny to me to watch people fall off a see-saw, crash on a bicycle, break a diving board or fall into a mud puddle. Videos that result in injury are just not amusing. That said, however --

4. I love watching clips with babies on YouTube. Have you seen the clip of the baby who gets terrified when his mom blows her nose and then laughs hysterically? Or the one where the dad rips a piece of paper and the baby breaks into giggles every time he tears a piece? There are few things more funny to me than babies laughing.

5. I am addicted to buying children's books. Yes, we do not have any children, and children very rarely come to our little condo. There's just something about children's books that makes me happy, though, so I am browsing the shelves at D.I. at least monthly when we drop something off there to find cheap Berenstain Bear, Clifford and Mercer Mayer books. I'm also addicted to anything by Beverly Cleary that I loved as a kid. Our children had better like to read, because they already have quite a collection!

6. I never wear necklaces. There are several reasons for this. First, I have a really small neck and the length of most necklaces falls at weird places on me. Second, I have scar tissue from two surgeries around my collarbone that is pretty sensitive. However, I have been wearing necklaces lately because there are some ADORABLE styles on Etsy that I want, and I have to prove to Andrew that I will wear them so I can justify buying them. :)

7. I have killed three cactuses. Technically, my brother dropped Spike I on the floor and killed him, but I've definitely been responsible for the deaths of Spike II and III.

8. I fall asleep when I watch movies after 10 p.m. For some reason, no matter how interesting the movie is, I CANNOT stay awake to finish it if we start it at or after 10 at night. What can I say? I am old and tired.

9. I have completely filled up my 8 GB iPod nano and have to periodically switch songs and playlists out. Eight gigs sounds like a lot -- until you realize that it only holds about 2, 000 songs. I HAVE to have a lot of different music on my iPod for my different moods. Looks like I'm going to have to upgrade to a 16 GB iPod when I can afford it. :)

10. I get lightheaded and have passed out before when I have blood tests. As embarrassing as it is, I do enjoy watching the nurses fly into a frenzy to get me juice while I watch them from the floor.

11. I am REALLY annoyed by words/phrases that are capitalized for no reason. And things in "quotes" for no reason. And people who use ellipses ALL THE TIME... Basically, grammatical errors get under my skin. They just do.

12. I detest cleaning the floor. I will scrub the toilet, bathtub and sinks, but I put off cleaning the floor as long as I can (or I ask Andrew nicely to do it, usually). There is something about hair, crumbs and dust together that is gross, and I can never get that entire mound to go into the dustpan. Gah!

13. I watch the Food Network almost every day, but I don't really enjoy cooking. Andrew and I love watching Chopped and Restaurant: Impossible, but I have a hard time coming up with things to make for dinner, and then I feel discouraged when I make the same things over and over. I need to be a better cook before we have kids!

14. I like to pick out names for our future children and discuss them with Andrew. Names have always been fascinating to me, and I think it's fun to throw names back and forth. And who knows -- when we do have kids, the names we like right now might not fit them. It's still fun to come up with possibilities.

15. I am cold almost all the time, even in the summer. Fortunately, this also means that Andrew gets to cuddle with me all the time to keep me warm. :)

16. I am slightly afraid of dogs. They bark, they bite, they jump up on you. What's not to love? I do like Andrew's family's dog, Sally, now.

17. I love anything with birds on it. Stamps, paper, prints -- I just think birds are lovely, and I adore birdcages, too.

18. I do not like being in rain. See #2. I also do not like getting my hair wet, outside of a shower, because it gets frizzy and will not behave. And rain in Idaho and Utah, unlike England, is COLD. See #15.

19. I could eat fish tacos every day. As it is, I now order them at every restaurant that serves them. It makes it a snap to decide on what to have whenever we go out to eat.

20. I really like the scruffy look. It could be because my dad had a beard for 20 years of my life, but I really like it when Andrew grows a little scruff. I think it looks great. :)

21. I like to watch other people watch movies. It's really fun to watch Andrew's reactions when he watches movies I loved as a kid that I have memorized. I'd actually say that sometimes it's more fun than watching it myself, because I'm sharing something special with him and seeing him experience it for the first time.

22. I rarely eat cereal for breakfast, but I always eat it at night. What more can I say? Cap'n Crunch, especially the peanut butter kind, is great as a late-night snack.

23. I really like road trips with Andrew. Unfortunately, my convertible is too loud on the highway to be much fun, so Andrew has to drive every time we go somewhere -- and his car is stick, which I can't drive. So even though I'm always the passenger and he probably doesn't enjoy the trips as much, I love just driving anywhere with him and talking and listening to music.

24. I am never going to do one of these again. It sounded like fun at the time, but it has taken me all day to come up with 24 things about myself! If any of you decide to undertake it, though, I look forward to reading it! :)

Royal birthday

Happy birthday to me! I celebrated my royal birthday yesterday -- I turned 24 on the 24th! Andrew and I spent the weekend in Island Park in a cabin my dad rented and just hung out with my family. It was nice to get away from our crazy lives for a little while and celebrate Easter in quiet, beautiful Island Park. 

My mom even brought Easter baskets and Reggie hid them throughout the cabin (Andrew hid his). He is a FUNNY kid! He made us all laugh hysterically with his Family Guy impersonations (even though I've never seen the show) and background singing as Randall wowed us with his songs on the guitar.

We also spent some time with Andrew's sister, Mary, and her family, and I got to spend some time with cousins I hadn't seen in years and hold some new babies -- always a treasure with family.

Since we were traveling for most of the day on my birthday, Andrew surprised me with lunch at work today and a DINOSAUR balloon when I got home. He also made a delicious dinner and a red velvet cake because I was sad I didn't get to eat a birthday cake yesterday. :) Ignore the way my shirt is poofing out in the picture below. I am not sure why I look so big...

We also bought a NEW MATTRESS (long story short -- we bought a new bed frame, sold our old frame and mattress and slept on the couch for two days after an ill-fated trip to Saratoga Springs at 10:00 at night ended in anger over a so-called "gently-used" mattress), spent way too long in Bath and Body Works and got my wedding ring cleaned. I can't believe Andrew bought it a year ago yesterday. It's nuts! If I didn't think it was weird to do this, I would take another picture of it like we did when we got engaged because it is SOOOOO sparkly and beautiful!

Anyway, more pictures to come once we have our bedroom put back together. We finished painting it and just have to hang up the pictures and do the trim. We love our little home. :)

Hot air AND balloons

I had an EXCELLENT 23rd birthday last weekend, and there are still reminders of it in my room because of my fantastic boyfriend, Andrew! On Thursday evening, I came home to THIS:

There were (and still are) balloons covering the bed and the floor, streamers hung from the walls and ceiling, "happy birthday" posters on my mirror, and confetti all over the place. I have tracked confetti through my entire apartment. There was even some in the bathtub. I LOVE LOVE LOVE my man!

Then, on Friday, my parents and sister came down and we went to The Olive Garden and to the Gateway Mall. Saturday morning rolled around and my family, Andrew and I went to the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point. It was really hot, and we both got a little sun, but the flowers were really pretty.

To top things off, Andrew took me to my favorite restaurant, Thaifoon, for honey walnut chicken and we watched Sweet Home Alabama in Cinderella Park on his laptop. He even made me a rainbow cake with homemade frosting on Sunday and gave me a cute pair of earrings, a copy of one of my favorite books, The Count of Monte Cristo, and one of my favorite musicals, The Sound of Music.

Life is so spectacular! I am 23, completely in love with the perfect man for me, have a job that pays the bills, a cute little convertible and a fun apartment to hang out in. What could be more exciting than that? 

Learnin' to be in 23 places

Spring (although it feels like summer) has officially sprung in Utah! Yesterday we put Ruby's top down (I came up with the name while I was sitting at work today) and drove up 45th South, where Andrew showed me this cute little park he calls Cinderella Park. I would have taken pictures, but I didn't have my camera and it was getting dark anyway. It was really cute and had a fun orange "carriage" and a castle to play in. If I were about 15 years younger (a scary thought), I would have been crawling through the tunnels and hitting the slides.

I put this picture of me on here not because it's a spectacular photo (I'm squinty and wearing my puffy coat because Idaho is cold), but because I'm turning 23 this Saturday, and it feels like a more grown-up birthday. Twenty-two was an interesting year -- I had just graduated from college, was still living with roommates and was looking for my big break while interning at a tiny newspaper. It was a birthday filled with "the world is my oyster" thoughts.

But this birthday, I'm a bit more of a realist. Don't get me wrong -- I still have the ambitions of actually sending in my children's book manuscript, starting a magazine and singing in jazz clubs around town. I'm just more grounded and more willing to accept the $300 brake jobs, head gasket failures, apartment lockouts, horrible viruses and expensive doctor trips I've had lately -- because I have so much good in my life, too!

So here's to being almost 23 and still playing with seven-year-olds in the bouncy castle slide, blowing bubbles to a 2-year-old and secretly wanting to build forts out of Lincoln Logs with the other kids. No matter how old I get, I'll still like merry-go-rounds and swingsets and fun little parks with castles and carriages. I'm grounded because I have to be -- but there's always enough sky to keep your head in the clouds for a little while.

Now, if only that Little Tikes castle I played in as a kid was a bit cheaper on Amazon. :)

Wisdom?

I turned the big 22 on Friday, so my dad took me and three friends to a sweet cabin in Island Park to celebrate.  We had dinner there and then soaked in the hot tub and watched the end of a scary movie.  It was a lot of fun.

It feels weird to be 22, however, almost like I'm pushing 30.  I'm really not sure why, either. When I turned 21, I felt really young still (probably because I was dating a 26-year-old at the time) and like it was time to party and go hog wild.  But this birthday was different. I'm not as idealistic anymore, and I feel like I ate a box of wisdom flakes and they got stuck in my throat — I feel wiser, but I don't really think I'm any smarter than I was last summer.

I think part of the problem is that I'm not in the place I dreamed I would be at 22. I'd always imagined I'd be working at a magazine I loved by now or freelancing for a newspaper. And, I'll admit it, I thought I would be married by now. My mom was married at 20, and for some reason, I thought that was the lucky number when you got married.  Never mind that the right one has to come along first, no matter HOW old you are.  I've always compared the milestones in my life to my mom's, and I guess I need to stop doing that.

So here's to being 22 and in a different place than I ever expected. Heavenly Father certainly has a more interesting plan for me than I'm dreaming of. And perhaps the wisdom flakes will work themselves out of my throat eventually.