eating quarters

A few days ago I got a text from my mom that read "we are going to Oak City to eat quarters".  Naturally, I was confused.  I responded by asking why exactly we were going to eat quarters.  As it turns out, we are actually making a quilt out of fat quarters for our annual Cousins' Sleepover.  It will kind of be in memory of my Grandma (who, if you don't know, was basically the quilting queen and made all 34 or so of her grandchildren at least 7 quilts each and that doesn't even take into account her children).

So today, my family and I met in Oak City in order to start our process of quilt making.  We each made 20 squares of the above design.  When the time comes (middle of August) we will trade them with other members of my family that have also made some so that we can each have a big conglomerate quilt from various members of our family.  It should be pretty cool :)
After cutting and sewing enough material together to make three whole quilts we decided that it was time to eat.  My poor sister has strep throat, so this was particularly hard for her.  If you can notice the difference in our tongues (hers is much more white than any normal, healthy person's should be) you can see the sickness.  She does much better when she has some ibuprofen in her system.  Seriously, it's like night and day.

All in all, it was a fabulous day with the family!

Oh, and I almost forgot.  There was totally a snake on my aunt's kitchen floor today.  I walked in to get a drink of water and almost stepped on it.  I proceeded to scream "THERE IS A SNAKE IN YOUR KITCHEN! THERE IS A SNAKE IN YOUR KITCHEN AND I AM NOT KIDDING!"  Shortly after that my brother came and took care of it.  It was a rather interesting and unexpected experience.  Thankfully I survived without any harm done.

the mourning pool and spa

Love is not in the air. Due to a handful of my friends (my roommates included) recently going through break ups, we decided to open up a mourning pool and spa. Actually, the way that it really happened is that my roommate with the most recent break up had a little bit of a breakdown at Albertson's and bought a kiddie pool. Naturally, being the good roommates and friends that we are, we helped her to make good use of her new purchase.

This is why it is called the mourning pool and spa. If anyone needs to come and partake of the mourningness that is in our front yard please feel free.

pre-testing rituals

Now I might be wrong, but I think that all of us have at least a little superstition in us.  I also think that this superstition is often made manifest when we have to take a test.  Take for example my pre-test ritual...

1. Do all of the big important studying in order to sufficiently prepare.  It is in the final two hours or so that the rituals make themselves manifest.

2. T minus two hours:  the final crunch begins.  

3. I look through my flashcards again and again and all of the final study preparations are made.

4. I make the trek to the dreaded testing center (or the computer lab on the 4th floor of the Witdsoe depending on the time of year).

5. I take a drink of water.  For some reason I have always done this.  Perhaps this small bit of refreshment will give me a needed boost of brain power.

6. Now it is bathroom break time.  My world would come crashing down if all I could think about while taking a test is how much I had to go to the bathroom.

7. My last little bit of nourishment before I go in to my doom is to eat some chocolate.  I'm not picky as to what type...it can be a brownie, chocolate bar, or just some chocolate chips.  I think that sometime in my life I have heard that eating chocolate stimulates some part of you brain so that you remember better.  I could be very wrong.

8. I have to take another drink in order to wash down the chocolate.  Having my mouth all sticky and dry would also distract me or something.

9. Finally, after like five minutes of non-studious activities, I walk in and get my test.  

I'm not sure if all of this silly little routine actually does anything for my test taking ability.  It is probably more of just a comfort/psychological thing that my subconscious would freak out about if I didn't perform.

let the serenade begin

I had the privilege of going to a Secondhand Serenade concert yesterday and man, it was so much fun!  For those of you who haven't heard of Secondhand Serenade, he sounds very much like Dashboard Confessional.  It is basically the description of my type of music so I rather enjoyed it :)  

Ferras was the opener.  He was a very good opener and kept us all entertained for a while.  However, I do think that he forgot that he was in Utah and I am surprised that he got away with doing some of the things that he did.  Haha...okay, not really.  But, we enjoyed saying that and laughing about it.

This is Emily and me in between the opener and the actual show patiently waiting for the moment to come...

And then it came.  Can I just tell you that there is something very VERY attractive about a guy who is singing and basically bearing his soul and rocking out on a guitar in front of hundreds of people.  Very attractive.  We were in heaven.  He could sing to me everyday.  

This was the opening song, so all of the cameras in front of my are also videotaping.  It was definitely a good way to start the concert out.  Oh, and p.s. it is only a snipit of the whole song so it won't take forever to listen to.

He was born to tell me that he loves me.  Isn't that sweet?

This song could very well be my favorite song by him.  It nothing else, you should listen to the video to at least the part with the heart beat.  I love it.

This last video is of the encore song.  However, it just wouldn't be a Secondhand Serenade concert without hearing Fall for You, so it is a good thing that we had an encore.  In John's words, we, the crowd, were "more than brilliant".  Take that!

word to the wise...

This last saturday my roommate and I decided that we would host a trip to the hot springs.  We invited some friends and were all prepared for a good time.  Now, if you know the hot spring options around Utah County, you know that there are some in both Spanish Fork Canyon and Lehi.  We made the decision to go to Lehi.  This is where we went wrong.  Unless your idea of a good time in the hot springs includes floating dead fish, wading through mud puddles, and smelling like dead fish may I suggest to you that you make the trek down to Spanish Fork instead.  And don't let the 2.5 mile hike deter you.  Take my word on this one.  Granted we were able to make the best of it.  After sitting in the dreaded hot springs for about five minutes (ten tops) we decided that we had had enough and that we wanted a hot tub instead.  Hot tubs are much more sanitary.  So, to cleanse ourselves of the toxins that we were exposed to at the hot springs, we spend the majority of the evening relaxing in the nice, clean water of a hot tub.  

My advice to you is this:  unless you are feeling very adventurous, go to Spanish Fork and don't let the drawbacks of a hike or the possibility of people swimming around nude deter you.  Just don't do it.

sister's week