day of moi

it's my job to think of other people. day in and day out,for at least 40 hours a week, i think of 20 3-4 year olds and their needs/wants. i like to think that i am thoughtful of my friends as well,and their needs/wants. i do think of my own needs/wants but usually these don't go past "i WANT a sandwich for lunch" or "i NEED to buy some new jeans". today, i decided today-the WHOLE day-was just me. i have had a lot of things on my mind lately. today,those things didn't exist. today I was the only person in the world and i had no worries, no problems, no other people in my life. it was one of the best days ever.

it started by sleeping in. i LOVE sleeping in. definitely on my list of "top 10 things i enjoy doing a LOT".

i decided a LONG time ago that i needed a pedicure...BADLY. so,after getting good looking, i grabbed my morning americano from starbucks and drove to a place in puyallup that i had been to before that i knew was awesome,and it was perfect. and sooooo relaxing. if you have never had a pedicure i HIGHLY recommend you get one. they are the best things in the WORLD. not only do you get pretty toes,but they massage your lower legs as well and it. is. wonderful.

by the time my pedicure was done it was lunchtime and i was huuuuungry. for some reason these past 2-3 weeks or so i've had this crazy hot dog craving. where do you go when you have a hot dog craving? um, COSTCO of course. i got a hot dog,soft drink, AND a compliment on how good i looked in my shirt for $1.64??? hells. yeah.

perfection in a bun.(apparently i have the wrists of a 143 year old. check out those wrinkles)(that's ketchup,mustard and relish you're looking at. raw onions are gross)


as i was leaving costco i drove past a piece of my past.

when i was in junior high and my sister was in elementary school and our parents left us alone in the house sometimes we would leave our house and walk about a half mile to this corner grocery store called "the handy corner". we would then proceed to buy all the candy,chips and soda our allowance would allow. we moved out of this house by the store in '97 and i'm pretty sure i haven't been back since. today, i went back. inside is exactly how i remember. i went in with the intention of just buying a pack of gum but then,i saw them...sixlets. did anyone else eat these as a kid? they're kinda like mini malty flavored chocolate balls of candy. i bought a pack just for nostalgic sake and they tasted exactly how i remember.


this amazing piece of perfection was immediately followed by the search for the perfect mariners shirt*AND another compliment on how cute the shirt i was wearing was(i'm SO wearing this shirt every day for the rest of my life).

while i was in federal way, in the middle of the search for the perfect mariners shirt, i got hungry(it was,after all,about 6 hours since my costco dog).(*disclaimer* i have noticed that when i post about foods i have eaten,they are usually high calorie,high fat,highly gross for you foods. i want to assure you that i do, during the week, eat healthy, meaning no fast food/excessive sugar so that i can afford to spurge during the weekend and not gain 38973 lbs. so don't worry,grandmas! i do eat my veggies/fruits!)i stopped at one of my FAVORITE places to eat dinner/lunch that is relatively good for you...Panera Bread. if you are craving a sandwich this is THE place to go. (random fact: i have absolutely no problem eating at a fast food-like place by myself. however, i will NOT go into a bar/red robin/olive garden/any other restaurant where you can't leave without spending at least 15 dollars on your meal by myself.)

this may look boring but i promise it's one of those most amazing things i've put in my mouth EVER.(a turkey and swiss sandwich with chicken noodle soup and french bread)also,it must have been "be a bitch to your customers" day because the lady that took my order was not nice at ALL.


most of my day consisted of searching for my mariners shirt. after i found it i left target and saw a rainbow,which basically signified that i should probably head home and chill.


the rest of my day is just going to be: writing this post(done and done),and cleaning my room.
today was probably the MOST relaxing day i could have ever asked for(even though it may not sound like it,it was to me). pretty sure if i tried to sleep now i would fall into a coma and not wake up for a very long time.that's how relaxed i am.

today was pretty close to being perfect. the only reason it wasn't was because i: #1 wanted my hair did but waited too long to make an appt. and #2 it was rainy :(

had those 2 things occurred i'm SURE it would have been the best day of my life.

*see previous blog post

mission(seemingly)impossible

my mission: find a seattle mariners team shirt for the game tomorrow.

sounds simple enough,right?

i've had the same m's shirt that i bought for 6 dollars off the clearance rack in the little boys section at target for about 6 years now,so i figured i was way overdue for an upgrade.

my thinking before my adventure started was "oh,i'll stop at target and pick up a shirt there." since i was in puyallup(a very long ways from my house in tacoma) i decided to check the puyallup target first.nada.

this started my search for shirts in the fancier,more expensive sports stores. coincidentally target is attached to a mall,so i just headed out there.

second stop,champs sports. they had a shirt i liked,but i wanted to check other stores to make sure that was the one i REALLY wanted (note to dudes:this is a regular occurrence when girls shop. why else do you think it takes us 3 hrs to buy one item?).

third stop,just sports. nada.

i then proceeded to check jc pennys and sears(stores 4 and 5). nada aaaand nada.

i decided to purchase the shirt i saw at champs, and called my mission complete.little did i know my mission had only just begun.

i went home and tried it on...it was TOO BIG. UGH. i did NOT want to drive all the way back to puyallup to exchange the shirt so i went to a champs store in federal way(store 6,mall 2,city 2),where i was subtly insulted by the sales girl.

me:hi,i'm looking for this shirt in small,do you have any in the back?
*stupid sales girl pauses and then looks me up and down*
stupid sales girl:are you sure you need a small?
me:yes. the smallest you have out here are mediums,i need a small. do you have any in the back?
*stupid sales girl half ass kinda sorta tries to look for a small in another section of the store,not the back*
stupid sales girl:no...that's all we have.you're SURE a small is what you need?
me:YES. i bought this shirt(holds up first purchase)at one of your other stores,it's a medium and it's too big. i NEED a SMALL.
upon hearing that i had actually tried ON a shirt in a bigger size and,thus,confirming that i do,in fact, actually need a small the stupid sales girl all of a sudden became a lot more helpful.
stupid sales girl: OH!(as if she just had an epiphany)well we don't have that shirt,but we do have this one and this one and this one in small.

unfortunately,none of the other shirts were to my liking,so i headed to just sports(are you keeping track? we are now on store 7) located in that same mall. i find a hoodie that i really liked,but was kinda leery about it since it's supposed to be 70 degrees at the game tomorrow,but i bought it anyway-just in case i couldn't find a small shirt.

on my way home i decided to try one LAST stop-target in tacoma(store 8!!,city 3). i head straight to the mariners t-shirt section and i SWEAR i saw little angels with halos singing the "hallelujah" chorus guiding me right to it...there it was...right in plain view...the PERFECT seattle mariners team shirt...and they had my size!!!

8 stores,2 malls, 3 cities,5 hours,1 insult,1/4 tank of gas and 100 dollars later...i had it. all that's left to do now is return the other 2 shirts i bought. i can safely say, after today, it will be another 6 years before i try to buy another m's shirt again.


(yea,i'm SO happy i found a shirt!)

the end of a tradition

one of my favorite things about my family is that we are big on tradition. every major holiday comes with a handful of things we do EVERY time that holiday comes around(if we are all together,which is rare nowadays,which makes these traditions even more meaningful). for thanksgiving, we always have a fancy feast,with my dad always making the turkey. for christmas, me and my sister ALWAYS wake up early,check out what santa brought us in our stockings+the dogs,then wait for mom and dad to wake up so we can open the rest of our presents(this was even true last year when she came to visit,but was extra awesome cause we got to do it with justin and connor). new years eve is fun because,according to my mom,it's good luck to turn on EVERY SINGLE light in your house right before midnight and then bang pots and pans and jump up and down once the new year has arrived. even for each of our birthdays,it's tradition that on the actual day of our birth the birthday boy/girl gets to choose where they would like to go for dinner,with almost no restrictions.

i would say that my mom has been a big influence on a lot of the traditions we have. she LOVES decorating for different holidays(i would say christmas is most definitely her favorite),and always tries to add extra special touches that make it personal and makes you feel just that much more important,or makes it that much more fun. this is especially true on easter.

growing up,easter day ALWAYS started by going to easter service at church. but after church is when all the fun began. our mom would restrict me and sam to a certain room of the house (usually our bedroom)while the "easter bunny" hid the eggs. depending on the weather,the eggs could have been hidden inside or outside of the house. usually there was a mix of both real eggs that sam and i had helped her decorate the night before, and fake eggs,with hidden prizes in them. we would have the traditional egg hunt(usually while dad was in the kitchen making a delicious easter breakfast),then once that was done we would eat breakfast as fast as we could so we could dive into our sweet easter treats.

as we got older,things got a LOT more interesting.

our mom decided to turn the egg hunting into a type of game. find a certain amount of eggs-get a prize. find a specifically decorated/colored egg-get a prize.this is how,up until about 3 years ago,our mom was still able to convince sam and i to egg hunt in our backyard. i'm not gonna say i wasn't totally embarrassed being a 20+ year old running around our fenced yard like i was 6 with an easter basket complete with easter "grass" and decorated eggs. but i could have cared less,i was focused on finding the most eggs so i could be the big winner!

not only did the egg hunting get more elaborate as we got older,but the prizes got more elaborate as well.while 80% of our plastic eggs would be filled with the traditional chocolates and jelly beans,every once in a while mom would throw in a dollar bill into a few of them,as well as offering money up for "special egg" prizes.i'm pretty sure one year i walked away from an egg hunt 20ish dollars richer,just for finding the "special" eggs. another good incentive to egg hunt in your 20s-that's a work weeks worth of lattes! during breakfast my mom would then give me and samantha gift bags she had made just for us, full of more chocolate and trinkets like a bracelet,gift card,or other small gift.

unfortunately,this year i have realized that this tradition has basically run its coarse and come to an end. samantha is now living in texas and is starting her own easter traditions with connor and justin. this year,my mom is working,so me and my dad are hanging out at their house until she comes home so we can have breakfast dinner together(at least my favorite part of the tradition can be salvaged :). he's sitting next to me playing world of warcraft and listening to talk radio while i'm writing this post. even though it's not as elaborate or exciting as years past i still get to spend it with 2 of the most important people in my life and that,to me, is worth more than any tradition.

change

as i mentioned in my last blog, i've been reallly tired these past couple of weeks. i figured it was just anemia,but went to the doctor to make sure it wasn't something more serious. well guess what,it's serious...

i'm PREGNANT!

i'm not sure how to take this news since it is,in fact,completely unexpected. i'm nervous,scared...i don't even know. i had no intention of having kids any time soon but,it is what it is i suppose.

i'm 8 weeks along, my due date is Nov 7th.the dad is a guy i was dating a couple of months ago. it didn't work out romantically,but we are still good friends. i have told him and he is totally supportive of my decision to go through with this new adventure ahead of us.

i KNOW a lot of my family will be disappointed in me,but i see this only as another challenge in my life that i will take on and overcome,but will also need helpful tips and techniques from all of you who have gone through this before :)

alright,well that's it,that's my big news! all donations in the form of diapers,clothes,bottles,future college funds are welcome and will be accepted :)










(p.s. this is my lame attempt at an april fools joke and is not,in any way,shape,or form real. sorry if any of my family members suffered a minor heart attack)