A New type of Greeting! Act Now!

I can kindly be described as a cold girl.  I used to be known as a warm girl with a natural body temperature that allowed me to enjoy the cold; thrive off of it even. Then suddenly, without warning, things changed and I became cold. I started to wear pants in the summer and an extra jacket during the fall, but now things have escalated to a point that I do not know if I can continue without a transfusion of warm.


Occasionally [read: all the time] I try to warm my hands on BF's neck, contrary to popular [BF's] belief I do not do this to:

1. Torture him

2. To make him prove his love for me. (I have better testing methods than this :)

3. Because I want to eventually kill him of hypothermia.

Why do I put my cold hands on his neck?

Because it is the warmest, nicest, all around BEST spot to put my cold hands and have them gain back some of their warmth. Basically, I do it because his neck is warm and my hands are cold.

I would do this to others if it wasn't considered a social faux pas to place your hands on someone's neck. I feel like this should be considered a new type of greeting and I have been working on it but there are few people who seem to agree with me that placing hands on the neck is an appropriate greeting. With a lot of had work, I believe that it will soon replace the handshake as a type of formal greeting.

Then I will no longer have to place my hands only on the BF's neck and he will realize that I am not trying to kill him.

NPR Valentines make me feel LOVE!

So...this is slightly belated but totally worth every second late....because......


LOOK HOW AWESOME THESE NPR (National Public Radio) VALENTINES ARE!!!!

 My inner nerd is literally giddy with delight right now. Seriously, how can you beat these beauties? I sent (via facebook) the first one to my sister because she would understand it and appreciate it. And yes, I will admit it I listen to NPR. A lot. Enough to be considered a senior citizen which is ok b/c the BF is old as well.

I'm sure you're all wondering how my Valentine's Day was and what super awkward goodness I got myself into. Strangely enough, my Valentine's Day was extremely chill because

1. It was a Monday; it's kind of hard to feel super romantic on a Monday.

2. The BF lives in Bountiful (about an 1 1/2 hours away) and he has school until late at night. It really just was not worth the effort, and while it would have nice I wasn't expecting anything. 

Instead, I count the weekend I spent with the BF as my Valentine's Day celebration/his birthday celebration. It was very nice to spend a weekend with him and he LOVED the present (Linkin Park tickets) I got him which makes me the best girlfriend ever is always a plus. :)

He is so funny when he gets his excited eyebrows. I wish I could draw them but there is just no way to accurately depict these brows of glory but suffice it to say they are awesome. 

Instead, for Valentine's Day I had dinner with my friends Kodie (a girl) and Katy (if you don't know the gender you don't need to know) and then played Disney Scene it. It was kind of nice to take a break but it wasn't a crazy night by any means.

Ok, here's the gushiest, mushiest, most sweet thing that happened to me yesterday (read: day after Valentine's day) the BF sent me this text completely unprompted: Italicized words are texts.

Him: Babe. You are the best. (AWWWWWWW....who doesn't like to hear that?)

Me: That I am. (No I am not cocky, I am confident. There is a difference...I think.) What prompted you to tell me this?

Him: I don't know. (Hmm...looks like my mind control is working BAHAHAHAHAha..bad joke sorry) I just thought it and my thumbs did the walking.  (say it with me: AWWWWWWWWWW)

Me: *melted into a little puddle of AWWWW* your thumbs did the walking, eh? (what am I? Canadian?) 

 

And that about sums up our relationship, me being weird and him being sweet.  Anyway, happy belated Valentine's Day!

I may have told a half-truth this week but it was for a good cause

So....this week is a special week because....THERE'S AN IWA DANCE ON FRIDAY!!!  

Yes, I realize what you are thinking...Emily. You are way too excited for an IWA Dance. It's not that big of a deal and is in all reality just a lame dance, but au contraire mes amis, this one is completely different because....

THE BOYFRIEND IS COMING WITH ME. TEEHEE. (I had to use a smaller font to attempt to contain my excitement.)

***Sidebar: Ok I realize that for many of you this isn't exciting at all; it's even more boring than when I told you about that time at band camp but for the rest of you who are just bubbling over with excitement that I completely and totally agree with you!! ****

Alright now here are some reasons why I am excited:

1. I love dances. I love to dance. I love listening to the Top 40 (clean mix) songs and shaking my tail feathers. This does not mean I have an ability to dance. In fact, I would say that I am fairly uncoordinated and probably look like a hyperactive squirrel (for a more accurate picture I refer you to the ever striking hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com post on expectation vs. reality to understand my full point) But even still I love to dance, and my uncoordinated dance moves do not stop me from doing it and loving it (if you even think, that's what she said, I will strike you down with a roundhouse kick). 




2. The BF is coming with me. 
(sidebar: ok, I know this is random, but I know if you read this blog, you probably know who I am and know who the BF is,  but....I still do not feel comfortable just talking about him online without his permission, so the BF he will remain until I can think of a better nickname...) 

Which is a pretty big deal as he hates dances, with a burning fiery passion that he usually reserves for things like Satan and Justin Bieber. It only took me a lot bribing and a wee bit of pleading to get him to come. I think it actually went down like this:


Me: So....there's an IWA dance next weekend....*I look pointedly at him waiting for him to finish my sentence with a "sure we should go!"*


Him: yeah? *he knows me too well*


Me: *with a nonexistent amount of nonchalance* We should go!!!!!!


Him:*groans in agony* but...Eemmm...


Me: Come on, I told people I would come (true statement) and it will be real fun (somewhat true: it will be tons of fun for me and no fun for him) and super legit and you'll get dinner (true but a bribe) and I will love you (true but also a bribe) and I really want to go (the start of the pleading)


Him:....


Me: *pulls out the puppy dog eyes and the lip curl  and goes in for the kill* Come on, I missed the last one...*the BF groans again in even more agony* and I can't go by myself and who else would I bring but you? 


Him: fine...


Me:*begins celebratory dance complete with high kicks and cartwheels* WOOOOOHOOOO! 

So...yeah this is a big deal.




3. I have a pretty dress! Because this a formal dance, I had to find a dress. I wore this dress last year but that doesn't stop it from being super pretty. Here is a picture of me and my bff Kodie. (additional sidebar: I like taking pictures but I do not have a camera which seems silly doesn't it? I think when I am super rich and famous I will by myself a camera.)

 

I am on the right. In the purple dress. Yes I am wearing that dress.

(sidebar: I noticed that we are in a very awkward pose. Like we should be posted on awkwardfamilyphotos.com; I don't know why we are doing this so...just ignore it and concentrate on the DRESS!!!)

I like this dress. I do not know why, I think it does not make me feel gross and fat which is mainly how I feel in formals but its hard not to right?

4. I'm taking the BF for Slurpee's after the dance. I know it seems lame but (hopefully) it will make all the difference for him. :)

So...recap: I'm excited!  

I am a volcano of pure awesomeness just waiting to explode!

(Ok, I'm done, the excitement is out)

You're holding my hand Chuck, you sly dog... :)

I have decided to dedicate this post to one of the best people in my life....my sister, Natalie.

To fill you in on the current situation:

I am at home, during Christmas break doing the normal Christmas break things: sleeping in, eating, never getting out of my pajamas (and not having my mother make any sort of comment about it) and reveling in the fact that there is someone who understands every single one of my jokes.

(The title of this post is a reference to a wonderful movie entitled: A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving for those of you who are unaware).

Something that makes my sister Natalie special is that she needs no explanation of this to understand that I am quoting a wonderful line delivered my the impeccable Peppermint Patty.

I guess you could say me and Natalie are close but that is a complete understatement; we're more like twins than sisters.

I know this sounds totally sappy and Natalie would be completely outraged and say something to the effect that we have no similarities and we are merely sisters though she being more mature than me should be considered the older one. This is so commonplace that it would feel weird if she did not protest this fact.

I wish everyone could see Natalie for who she really is: the crazy, wonderful, ridiculous younger sister that I have.

Instead, they see her as one of two things:

1) the kind, mature Natalie

or

2) the bossy, stuck-up Natalie


Natalie can be both, but that's not WHO she is; she's just as crazy as me.  I guess with school and life I can forget about home and how much I love it but Natalie is my connection to home even if she is attending the  heathen school of BYU... (shudder). I guess she just has to be different, right?


I will have to admit going back to school will be difficult just as it always is.



Merry Christmas and see you in 2011!

Christmas?!? When did you get here?

Christmas is a wonderful time of the year when snow falls, people seem cheerier and the world is at peace. *cue the angelic voices*.

Unfortunately for me, Christmas is somewhat like your mother unexpectedly dropping in on you.

[DISCLAIMER: I love my mom. I just look a dirty slob when she comes.]

It's not like she can come on a Sunday after you spent the entire Saturday cleaning and she can come in when you are sitting there looking all nice in your Sunday clothes, clean and fresh. You look wonderful and you have some sort of delicious something cooking in the background.

That's too easy.

Instead, she'll drop in on you on the Thursday where you have 2 weeks of laundry sitting in the corner and the dishes in the sink are starting to create flies. You slept in and are wearing a shirt with three mysterious stains on it. You didn't shower but it rained and so you look like a drowned rat and you just got home and are sitting on the couch not doing anything because your brain feels like you tossed it in a blender with a bunch of random facts and you are just hoping that if you sit there long enough you will get the energy to do the stuff you need to do.

And then your mom comes in.

And as she gives you and the room a once over, you give up the fight and just sit there like a fish out of water, praying that she doesn't ask you why?
 -Why your room is messy and she can smell your clothes?
-Why you have flies in your dishes?
-Why you look terrible?

Instead, you realize that the most you can hope for is just a slightly cocked eyebrow. If your mom is fully really guilt-trippy she will just start cleaning things up and that's when everything comes out in a flood because there is seriously nothing worse than watching your mom clean up your mess. I can't handle it, so I generally start to bawl while shouting, "STOP CLEANING!"

Christmas is a little like that, minus the mom guilt. It's just the normal kind where you think to yourself. "Now I have these people in my life that deserve/need a Christmas present" and then you realize that you have no way to get them anything that they are going to like. This is something that I have happen to me a lot. In fact, most gift-giving holidays terrify me because everyone seems to just instinctively know exactly what I want and that's  exactly what I get. It means that I spend most of Christmas worried that they hate me gift because to be perfectly honest with you I am a lousy gift giver.

This year it has been taken to a whole new level. I now have a boyfriend that has been added to the list. This kid is a douzy because of two things:

1. I know him but at the same time I have no idea what he will like. He also bought the blu-ray I was going to give him for himself. (note: I know, who does that in December?!?)

2. He told me he got the perfect present for me. (Seriously, how could that not scare anyone?)

This is the kind of pressure that makes me feel like I should know these people better.

Example: My sister Angela got me the third season of Psych for Christmas last year. Did I even ask for that? No, but it was the best gift because I LOVE that show! I was so psyched (hahaha, pun totally intended!)

This is why Christmas is always a little bit scary....

I really should just add dating service to my resume

I am very comfortable around people, I really like being around them and learning about them. This has sometimes got me into to trouble as I have an ability to probe out stories from people, and sometimes I really shouldn't prod them (generally with a pitchfork) to answer my questions.

I do this mainly because I am curious and sometimes because I know people do not want to brag so they want someone to ask. I am that person.

If you want someone to freak out with you because you got kissed, call me!

If you want someone to bring you ice cream when you get dumped, call me!

If you just want someone to act interested in your life, call me!

This is an attribute that I have noticed more and more has gotten me into position where I set people up on dates. Not often, generally just for Girl's Choice IWA dances.

[Sidebar: I believe that girls should definitely be feeling the pressure to find a date for these things. I feel that every girl needs to know what a guy goes through to ask a girl out. It's hard to do and something that I feel most girls do not fully realize. It's hard to put yourself on the line, so be kind to those boys who are asking. They are great people too].

I have this position because a) I do know a lot of guys b) I am willing and able to take rejection c) most people have a hard time saying no to me.

I always go for one of three approaches to asking them to come to a dance with a stranger.

1. The "I need a Favor". This works well on hometeachers, friends and guys who you know in the ward but aren't buddy-buddy with. I start the pitch with asking them if they are busy and then finish with, I need a favor.  There's a cute girl (because they are all cute!) in my IWA chapter who does not have a date for the dance. Would you be willing to go with her? (if they aren't busy, they say yes).

2. The "I heard you were single". This works well on random guys in your ward. It keeps you from looking too suspicious and you start with, "I heard you were single, and I thought what?!? he's so cool and then I say I know you are busy but would you be willing to go on a date with [insert name of girl] she's super chill!" It works every time like a charm.

3. The "please". This works well on guys who are generally opposed to going on set up dates. Generally, the guy in question might hate set up dates. This one requires that I see them in person. And I say,"so I have this girl who needs a date..." I pause and wait for them to say something like, "You know I do not like set up dates," or "So?" and then I say, "please?" while pouting and looking at them with puppy dog eyes. These guys generally cave because looking at that face makes them laugh and so they are forced to realize that it might be fun.

I think a dating service might just be the thing for me....I'll consider the idea over Christmas break.

Maybe time for a picture....

I make silly faces. Ask anyone who actually knows me and they will have one if not many stories about me pulling a face that is unable to be described using real words. If some of the faces I pulled were real words they would be stuff like:

aoquweripoaiu9qrfe

and


tututyewiorwpwarw


maybe with a dash of


jgdkjgfreiruye[rjg

thrown in for good measure.

I think to start off this blog (we are going to discount everything that has just been said previously) I should explain just a little bit about my friends. My friends are extremely cool and let me get away with a lot of stuff that they shouldn't.


*example/memory*

This one time when I was 14 I was over at a friends (Laura Smith) doing super cool stuff, like taking online quizzes that told us the name of our future loves (mine: Harold hers: James translation: I am going to marry an old farty grandpa while she is going to marry a hip, hot and cool man) and listening to music (I think we were listening to The Click 5, a boy band who was known for their emo haircuts and ridiculous music). Because we were sitting in the kitchen there happened to be a lot of things on the table, one of which was a mini-baseball bat. We were just talking when my friend's younger sister (Eve) came into the kitchen.
I then decided to pick up baseball bat and tap it into my palm, much like one would do if they were planning on beating you up. Thinking back, I have no idea, why I thought to myself  "Pick up the baseball bat, this is will end well" but I decided to trust my gut.

As I slapped the baseball bat repeatedly into my palm, I looked at Eve and said,

"Eve put some candy in your pockets, we're playing pinata." in a slightly scary tone.

At this point in our relationship, I had talked to Eve maybe a total of two times, and I hadn't said much more than "hi, how are you?" so this was quite unexpected. Eve looked at me as if the insane asylum had had a half day and let me out early, and then walked out of the kitchen, my friend Laura burst out laughing and then we went back to talking about who knows what.

This is just one of many examples/memories of how my friends just let me say it and then we all move on. In fact, Eve and I are now friends and she is hilarious!

*end of example/memory*

Now that that tangent is done, let's get back to the real story.

A couple of weekends ago, I went down to Provo to visit my younger sister and see some friends from Wisconsin who I hadn't seen in awhile (including Eve but not including Laura b/c she's on her mission in Russia still). This was an AWESOME adventure into why I love my friends from Wisconsin. I thought about making a list but then thought "there are pictures on facebook...why describe when I can just narrate the photos!?!?" so of course that is what I am going to do.


First of all that's start with me and my younger sister Natalie: (I am on the right, with the shopping bags under my eyes)

We are holding a bear that Eve got from two boys (yes, TWO boys) named Buart (like Stuart with a B), who  besides looking cute, plays the Jonas Brothers when you squeeze his paw...I think that sums up Eve's relationship with boys. She has pretty much 50 guys after her but she remains single because she is a smart girl who realizes she is still in high school. After Eve came and messed around with us for a little bit, we decided to go out to dinner to Zupa's which is a soup, salad and sandwich place that is in one word: SUPERAWESOMELYMOSTDELICIOUS. 

Here is a picture of the food we ordered:

This is an interesting story because I could not for the life of me order the food. As you can see I had one sandwich, one soup and two salads. I was paying for me and Natalie and they have this deal where you can get half a soup and sandwich or half a sandwich and salad or half a soup and a salad at the same price. It is an awesome deal but I could not remember what we had gotten, and the situation went a little bit like this:

Girl taking my order: So what do you have?

Me: Two soups, two salads and a sandwich.

Natalie: No

Girl: *with a confused look*: so what do you have?

Me: Two salads, two sandwiches and a soup"

Eve: No

Me: oh, I mean two salads, a sandwich, two soups

Natalie: No!

Girl: *staring blankly at me*

Natalie: Noooo!

Me: a salad and a soup

Girl: *thinking to herself  you idiot* so what do you have?

Eve: a soup, two salads and that sandwich over there.

Natalie: yes...wow Em.

It was extremely embarrassing but of course Natalie and Eve had a good 'ole laugh at that one, and the food was so YUMMY!!! I was eating it and I kept making really weird "yum" noises.

This next picture is of a common occurrence. I decided to feed Eve and this is what Natalie captured:

This would be just one of the many weird facial expressions I often make. My most embarrassing picture is one where I look like I have no teeth and am sort of squinting. Suffice it to say, I look stupid. This was a picture that was taken of my ward at girls camp and so everyone who went has a copy of this picture. I don't have a scanner so I won't upload it but here is Eve and Natalie's interpretation of my face:

Aren't they cute? We had planned on going to see the movie Despicable Me afterwards but it wasn't playing so instead we decided to go to Eve's house before going to see another friend of ours "A" (I will explain later). We goofed around and here is just a good picture of the three of us:

We are all sitting on a chair meant for one but no big deal because Eve weighs less than a dollar bill and Natalie should be a model. I am the only one who has substantial weight, so it was pretty much like one person was sitting on the chair. After we goofed around a lot, we went to go meet up with a friend (who is named Adriana but everyone calls her A) who is also  from Wisconsin and had just finished a choir concert. We met her at this diner called "The Shoppe" or something like that, where she was getting a shake with some choir buddies. Because Eve and I are loud and Adriana is short we decided just to shout her name. Natalie abstained. It went a little like this:

*Eve and Me enter diner*

Eve and Me: A! A! Adriana Rankin! ADRIANA! ADRIANA RANKIN! A....a?

*complete silence from patrons*

*Eve and Me stand awkwardly, Natalie enters*

Natalie: maybe A isn't here.

Eve and Me: *feeling uncomfortable* oh ok (to other patrons) I GUESS SHE ISN'T HERE YET, WE'LL JUST WAIT!!

We sat down and not a minute later, A pops up. I guess she was at the front of the line and did not hear us shouting, so we just looked liked fools. We were goofing around and taking pictures, when someone who was standing in line said, "hey do you want me to take a picture of all four of you?

Eve and I stared for a second before shouting, "YES!!" like this guy had just solved the world hunger problem. He stared at us like we were drunks in Provo. Here is the best of the shots he got:

The others feature me looking away or us all blurry. A is lying across our laps, but she really is that short. (Just kidding).  A's shake is in the lower right hand corner, and it got knocked over (probably by me, but I don't remember) and everyone (all the patrons who were starring at us) said: OOOOHHHH! We then decided it was a good idea to go back to Natalie's apartment so we wouldn't get the police called on us to arrested the obviously intoxicated persons. 

When we got back another of the Wisconsin bunch of friends was there. Natalie's roommate Danielle, is a Wisconsin buddy so of course we decided to play "let's do weird things and take pictures of them. Here are some in little bursts:

I think we are doing some sort of dance...again I'm not really sure what we were thinking.

 Danielle is the one who looks like a Twig. Hence her nickname for awhile was "Twiggy" Aren't we clever?

This picture is only funny because after we took, I looked at it and said, "It looks like I'm trying to give birth to Buart...BREECH BABY!" Which made us all laugh and feel silly together. 

Honestly, this was one of the best weekends I have had this semester. I love my Wisconsin friends (if you weren't aware) because it doesn't matter how much time has passed we are all still friends and it feels like no time has passed every time we get together, and that's something I can handle.