A Series of Fortunate Events

After I blogged what I thought was a series of unfortunate events, right then a series of very fortunate events followed.  The funny thing is though, that these fortunate events would actually be very unfortunate events had I not had those extremely minor unfortunate events.  I was obviously being prepared for the weekend to come.  Confused yet?  Maybe I should stop explaining and just get on with it.

1. Right after I pushed "publish" on that blog post, my momma called and said that she and pappa would be right down to pick me up after all!  Yay!

2.  I took my test, and didn't do my best, BUT then I remembered that out of the 5 tests in that class {not including the midterm and final} the lowest grade is dropped!  Hallelujah!

3.  I got to Park City, eager to help out by babysitting my niece and facilitating the care of my broken kneed brother.  That night at around 4 in the morning {okay so morning} I was abruptly woken up to hear my sister in law Moranda on the phone with 911.  My brother was on a combination of some heavy pain pills, got up, the blood rushed to fast, had an anxiety attack, couldn't feel himself breath: a combination of things that sent him into uncontrollable convulsions.  Okay, so that is definitely not a good thing but it gets better.  While listening to Moranda describe the convulsions on the phone, my body went out of control.  That intense description put me in shock.  I was shaking, experiencing the most extreme vertigo ever  {I get migraines, so it wasn't the first time} and was literally on the floor because I couldn't handle it.  BUTTTT then I finally got control of myself and was able to manage to not pass out while they wheeled him away to the ER.  Mom and I were then able to stay up with Violet despite little sleep which is so fortunate.  Ultimately they were able to stabilize Clark and change his regimen before anything serious could take place.  Blessed!

4.  That night I was helping my Momma cook dinner.  Tasked to open all of the cans for the chili, I began on a can of beans.  Both ends of the lid somehow remained attached, so I began to pull it and BOOM sliced my ring finger.  A few expletives were uttered and my dad whisked me to the ER for stitches in a matter of 5 minutes, a record time for him.  Okay, so this isn't very fortunate either, BUT it gets better.  The entire ER visit was comical really.  I was expecting to just get it washed out and stitched up within the half hour.  Nope, I was there for four hours.  I had to get my Tetanus shot.  I had to get X-Rays.  I had to get it numbed.  I had to get it cleaned out.  Said vigorous cleaning out also cleaned out all of the anesthesia.  I felt every single stitch.  BUTTTT I was totally fine.  Even though I can't handle when other people get hurt {once I blacked out in seminary after hearing my teacher talk about donating blood...} I have a {and I'm not bragging here} very high pain tolerance.  I've had many an injury growing up: stitches in crazy places {you don't want to know}, broken appendages, head traumas, 10 sprained ankles, shin splints, too many ear infections, and of course my blasted migraines.  So even though I can't handle others, I can darn skippity handle myself.  Fantastic!

5.  Because of my "bad day" on Friday, I got the negativity out of my system and kept high spirits during the real traumas of the day.  More shiz went {and continues to go} down that is vey personal and not for the blog {what? she doesn't spill everything? it totally seems like she does? oh the humanity!}, but again I was able to forget about my "problems" and work through the arising situations that came.  Success!

6.  My lost iPod & student ID were found and returned to the ski resort!  Miracle!

7.  It stopped snowing just in time for Momma to drive me down the canyon in time for class tomorrow without scary-icy-windy-roads!  Hurrah!

8.  News flash, it's not about you.  I mean it's not about me!  It is about you...  Okay now this is confusing.  Essentially, let's not be selfish!  I definitely need to work at it, and this weekend was a complete learning experience for me.  I only hope that I can help out with everything that is still going on while finishing my finals the best that I can.  Stronger than yesterday!

P.S.  I'm totally typing with a stitched up finger right now.  Boo ya!

P.P.S.  2011, what a year, am I right?

P.P.P.S.  The dinner Saturday night was delicious, and there was no finger in it thank goodness.

P.P.P.P.S.  I tell ya, be grateful that you have functioning un-shattered and surgery ridden knees.  My poor poor Clark.  It really is so devastating.  I would post a picture, but that would be too heartbreaking.

P.P.P.P.P.S. Be so very grateful for your families.

P.P.P.P.P.P.P.S.  Want to see me after the ER in a very haggard state?  Apparently Mommas iPhone believes in reduced hairlines and triangle noses...

You're welcome.

Just One Of Those Days

{via}

I'm in a very reflective mood right now.  Which means the following will be an assortment of random and sporadic thoughts and stream of consciousness-like word type writing things and stuff with likely no central theme or purpose and stuff and stuff and stuff.  I just need to get it out without any regard to what people might think.  My blog.  Word.

Okay.

I get free downloads just about every week from noise trade.  One of the latest addition to my itunes library was Jars of Clay's newest album Gather and Build: A Collection, my email popped up and "it was like, 'it's FO FREEE', so I was like, 'shore'".  Now, I love Jars of Clay solely based on the fact that their Christmas renditions are a staple in my holiday listening of the season, so of course I was more than overjoyed.  Anyway, the other week I was pretty much almost dead in the library studying for my Art History test whilst listening to this wonderful new album.  It was just around the time I began compiling all of my notes and highlighted passages and such on Byzantine and Islamic works of art, most of which involving Jesus Christ, that I realized the lyrics coming through my earpieces were about Jesus!  The coincidence was so amazing that I went on to study all of these incredible paintings and carvings and pages and mosaics and plaques of Christ with the most motivational soundtrack.  I slayed my test, naturally.  Anyway, did a little bit of research and turns out they are a Christian rock band.  Who knew?  Now I like them that much more.  Which brings me to this song.  It's perfect.  And I am listening to it over and over again whilst writing this.

My command key is half broken.  I say half, because when I do command save, it works, but when I do command copy, or command paste, it doesn't work.  But the c and v keys dooo work...  So, what's command's problem!?  I think it's sick of me using him for shortcuts.  Whatev's.

I'm in a weird spot in life.  Cue Cameron Diaz, "i just don't know what to dooo with myyselfff".  Come to think of it, this is actually how to sing.  Ask anyone who was present during our summer late night session of ipod star.  I was terrible.  Anyway, there are times {all the time} where I want to curl up in a ball and not do anything.  No school.  No friends.  No pressures.  No anything.  I wish I had that sleeping beauty disease where I was destined to sleep for months at a time, automatically freeing me from any obligations or expectations or thoughts.  Entirely exempt.  From everything.  But then, suddenly I run through my head all of these things I should accomplish in three weeks time.  All of these aspirations, and all of these goals, and all of these things I should be doing, and used to be doing, and now, I just can't do them.  I can't.  I try, and I want to, I really want to, I just can't.  I remember this really incredible pitcher on my sisters club softball team.  She was so good, but all of the sudden, the next year she wasn't there.  But then the year after that she was back.  My dad had to explain to me that she got "burnt out".  I was only eleven or twelve and I couldn't comprehend "burnt out".  If she loved softball, if she could truly pitch, how in the world could she have gotten "burnt out".  I get it now.  I am simply burnt out.  Only I don't know if I will be back in the foreseeable future.

I need my own personal Melissa McCarthy around to pin me down, beat me up, and be my figurative "life" so I can slap the crap out of her.  Which reminds me, I often have dreams where I am trying to hit someone or hurt them but I physically can't.  I have all the might and strength and intention and what not it just doesn't work out.  It's like I'm trying to hit something underwater.  That's exactly what it's like.  Wait, so does this mean I'm never gonna hit my life back in order?  Whhaaaaattt....

I've discovered that I'm not a very motivated or disciplined person.  This is evidenced by the fact that i'm one of those "jack of all trades" people.  Softball, piano,, public speaking, writing, running, music, drawing, volleyball, stained glass, leadership {whatever that means}.  I am/was good at all of these things, but someone is always better.   I don't have my niche.  I can't choose something and run with it without any regard for what others may be thinking.  I think that's what it takes to be successful at something, you can't care.  But I do care.  I care a lot.  It can get very discouraging.

Which brings me to this so called "weird place".  Yeah, yeah, I've decided on a communications major.  But I DETEST deadlines.  I have an essay due for my comms class tomorrow...  Yep, can't do it.  I obviously am not cut out for this area.  Which is definitely discouraging.  So, no major.  No career.  Weird time before Thanksgiving, before finals, and then before Christmas.  No real daily schedule.  No steady connections.  No real events coming up to prepare for.  I want to be good at living my life, I'm just not prepared to.  Or ready or something like that.  Oh.  And I can't get a real job meaning i will never go to Thailand let alone pay any type of bill.  Sad face.

I really want lemonade right now.  And a massage.  That's reasonable, right?

One hour of the day I'm on the top of the world, and the next I'm completely paralyzed.  It's debilitating, really.  I think I'm bipolar.  Sorry if you're bipolar or have a family member with the condition, I'm not trying to be offensive.  But really.

Guyz, is this normal!?

Maybe it's too late to be thinking properly...

wahhh.

So I Was Like, "Shore"

This was the weekend of the visitors!  Yes, that's visitors with an 's'.  It all started with James visiting, and then my BFF Erin and her Idaho friends Addy & Becca came down to sleepover for the weekend.  Friday was Makayla's birthday, so my friends from summer semester Erika and Kendall flew up to celebrate.  AND THEN, the best visit of all, my dad showed up and surprised me on Saturday!  Honorable mentions go to the 3 boys of BYU basketball who came over to my place and church leader M. Russell Ballard who spoke at my stake conference.  I guess when it rains it pours!

Highlights include:
. singing Yung Humma in the back of a truck with James on our way to Dominoes
. free Sprite at Dominoes
. seeing half of my high school at my old housing complex #gotoros
. standing in the back of the boys dorm {at my other old housing complex} even though it was past curfew because it was freezing cold. we "welcome home"d all the boys until someone showed up without pants on... that was awkward.
. james making us waffles in the morning
. my dad's surprise visit!  i was so happy i burst into tears.  so embarrassing.  what can i say, i'm a daddy's girl.
. Dad taking us out to dinner at California Pizza Kitchen
. shopping at F21 after searching for the "new" H&M in vain, turns out it was in Salt Lake
. an intense round of the game Signs with Becca's twin brother Isaac
. Bridesmaids and laughing our heads off, don't worry, we clean-fixed it by skipping the sex scenes and such
. summer friends surprising me and coming over!
. BYU basketball boys coming over as well, along with a round of "deep conversation"
. falling asleep to White Chicks
. M Russell Ballard speaking at my Stake Conference, he kept us all laughing
. mini birthday party for Makayla back at Julie's place complete with Texas Sheet Cake
. and finally, I'M MOVING INTO LINDSAY'S APARTMENT IN THE WINTER!  sing praises of joy!

Now I miss everyone so much.  Come back?  Please?

Go It Alone

SOMETIMES YOU HAVE OVER 500 PICTURES SAVED IN YOUR IPHOTO UNDER THE ABLUM "HAPPYHAPPYLOVE" AND YOU WANT TO LOOK AT THEM ALL THE TIME BUT YOU CAN'T SO FINALLY YOU JUST POST LIKE TWENTY OF YOUR FAVORITES AT THE MOMENT WITH LIKE WATER AND FLOWERS AND STUFF ON YOUR BLOG BECAUSE YOU DON'T HAVE A TUMBLR AND YOU SECRETLY H8 PINTREST.

whew.

via so many places: sabino, middle child complex, mary robinson, audrey hepburn complex, everything brighter, pandalions, 

and probably somewhere else i'm missing. 

Whatta Week

So let me tell ya'll a little story.  It begins with our tortured teenage girl hero person lady thing, Miss Natalie {me}, on Tuesday night.  Laying in that barely comfortable enough to make it uncomfortable dorm room bed.  Tirelessly moving her legs from flamingo to pencil position over and over again while thinking about schooling over the past week.  Missing class.  Failing Physical Science tests...  Sleeping all day and not putting her best shoe forward.  And wearing them without socks mind you, not a good combination.  Finally she looked toward the future as she so often does.  The end of the week looked to be hell.  With a physical science midterm and book of mormon midterm to take, stained glass project to finalize, visiting teaching to do, relief society lesson to teach, ward prayer to organize and buy treats for, on top of mandatory social events including the Harry Potter Premiere, a blasted blind date i was asked on, most likely out of pity, to our housing dance {much like the one put on for Heritage Halls last semester}, and a home cooked Sunday dinner.   The dinner wasn't so much as a chore as it was just another thing on the list to do.  All in three or so short days.  Guys.  I was so incredibly stressed at that moment.  Reading back on this list now seems like nothing.  Nothing hard at least.  Buuuttt being the dramatic {at times} soul that I am I texted my mom, and I quote "I am dropping my classes.  School hates me and I hate it."  Droppin' it like it's hot.  So over it I was!  So finally after muffled curses at the world, as not to wake my dearest Lindsay, I turned around on that bed and said the longest prayer ever to have been uttered from mankind's lips, probably.  The next morning I woke up an hour before my class.  Then I got all my work done, and on it went, finishing task after task until the week was through!  I did it I did it!  Well I didn't do it alone of course.  What appeared to be one of the most dreaded weeks of the semester turned out to be one of the most absolutely fun and incredibly rewarding weeks of the semester!  Funny how life works out, isn't it?

So it began with Harry Potter.

 Over all I was completely overwhelmed.  In love.  I feel like everyone has given their two-cents about their Harry Potter experience, and rightly so, but I will just leave mine with overwhelmed.  In the best of ways of course.

On Friday after taking that wretched Physical Science exam, and slightly improving hallelujah, Linds and I decided to dine at Kneaders.  Home of the best cupcake on earth.  I am dead serious.  People, it is dipped in white chocolate.  Heaven in a mini cake of strawberry goodness!  Now on our walk over to kneaders, we passed some people filming what looked to be a music video.  We smiled, laughed, and it wasn't soon after that thecameraman whose name I still don't know and the star of the show, Phaya himself, invited us over to be in it.  Uhhh what?  Yep, we danced in front of four talented girls for three minutes in broad daylight.  Most.  Awkward.  Thing.  Of.  My.  Life.  White girls we are.  We soon made friends with Phaya, exchanged numbers, and went on our way.  That night, he text us and invited us to be in the other shoots for the video at the bowling alley.  So back we went!  And it seriously was so fun.  We met so many people, I got to stare at the cameraman that much longer, and I learned some ghetto girl dance moves.  That I wish I could perfect...  Blast this white blood in me.

{Linds and I with our new friend Barima [from Ghana!], Phaya [from the Caribbean!] and others.}

After the video shoot we changed from dancing for five + hours and joined our friends up at Squaw Peak.  So beautiful.  Guitar playin', laughing, all that good stuff.

Now time for the dance.  Exceeded all of my expectations!  Made new friends and loved every minute of it, even if the boys didn't pick us up...  I met my date Morgen {who Lauren taught how to surf? wth?}, we ate at Red Robin, shared some lol's, danced the night away, learned about Brad's moves and faces, Scott & Morgan's bromance/LOTR obsession, and even recreated Harry Potter's Puppet Palls while we were at it.

On Sunday Lindsay & I rocked the relief society lesson and looked good doing it.  I got an 82% on my Book of Mormon midterm.  Finally finished my stained glass pattern.  Got treats in time for Ward Prayer.   And got all the other little things done.  Success!!!  Other events include a ferrett, tunnel singing, and lots of rain!  Shout out to mi momma who wouldn't let me drop my classes.

 And Lindsay for helping me wake up every morning.

Now if only the anticipation of easily viewed black mail wasn't to surface youtube within the week...  Oh please oh please mr. film man, spare me from awkward dancing shots!

I Love Luscious

Hewo bwog.

Friday night was so extremely fun!  Haleigh, Leah, Erin and I had a bit of dinner at CPK with a waiter, name tag reading Kody James, who was noticeably into Leah.  You may think it was just our annoying teenage hormones and giggles that made it seem so, but he truly was {Leah we promise!}.  That being said we left him her number on the back of our check as we ran out and stalked watched through the windows of any signs of him finding it.  So far, it looks like he hasn't.  Then it was off to the football game singing T-swizzle and yelling "she's not a saint and she's not what you think she's an actress, wo-o-ah" {sorry camilla, it was catchy! i still worship you though}.  We lost.  But that wouldn't dampen our spirits!  Especially because #3, aka my 1st hour crush who is gorgeous and made eye contact with thrice, looks so cute when he's upset and in a football uniform!  I'm boy deprived, sue me.  We grabbed some QT hot chocolate and slushies on our way back to mi casa where we made a million music videos on my macbook summer.  Zacharias and Jeffy stopped by for the fun as well.  We even sang happy birthday at midnight when Jeffy turned 18!  Those videos are basically the best thing you can watch to cheer you up.  Simply amazing.  I love those girls so much.

 We whip our hair back and forth.

the check

 Hay, Lele, Me, ET.

 Erin the Excellent.

We remixed this by watching it as we did it.  It looks so legit!

this is only one of like, 6.

Saturday morning was Chantel's baby shower!  It was decked out in purple and silver, complete with cake pops {actually brownie pops} and adorable baby cupcakes.  She got the cutest things for bebe and looked hawt in her preggo outfit. I even won a new scent of bath and body works things for having the closest guess of the number of purple gumballs in the jar.  One off at 163!  So maybe math is applicable to everyday life outside of the classroom...

 Sissy

 Nat, Chantel, Breck, Momma

 heaven in a pop.

Sleeping baby <3

Then it was off to pick up Matt for the traditional volleyball paint date!  We had 3 times more paint than last year; so much so that we hardly used our ginormous tarp!  Matt clobbered me with paint.  No really, I got shirted every chance he could get, which was more often than not.  We went back to Hannah's house and hosed off in her retention basin.  Some people showered or jumped in pools so Matt and I were left to ourselves to pelt each other with the hose and try to get all of the caked paint off.  The water was freezing but so much fun.  Neither of us brought a change of clothes, so we went home, showered, and changed.  We rushed back to Caitlin's for a double feature of Toy Story 3 and The Village.  Let me just say right now, The Village is the BEST movie ever!  My new favorite.  My hands clenched Matt's arm, literally curled in the fetal position with a pillow over our faces.  We were incredibly terrified and my brain was spinning.  Afterward we sat and analyzed the thing for a good 20 minutes.  And I still think of Lucias {aka Luscious} and Ivy now!  Best date to date.

 p.s. that tarp is folded in half

 At first I was the Hulk...

Then I acquired black lips...

 attempted to strangle Matt...

 got shirted, again...

 got paint in my eye...

and then smothered his face-shawwww. 

 jerod, paige, monson, & mindy

 straight outta da Lochness with Megan.

 Min-falfa

Paige is sad that i'm leaving in January. {see that sick-nast hair?} 

 Sooo Matt cleaned up nicely, me on the other hand...  I blame the shirting.

 My shirt is legit.

Oh, and while I was in the restroom Matt broke the bean bag.  More like foam bag.

great weekend. so long, farewell.

love natalie grace.