Something New

last week Ed had to do something for work up near this mall that I have been wanting to go to for a while (I don't even know what it's called sadly) but he offered to take me and let me shop for a few hours while he did his work thing. I gladly accepted the invitation knowing that there was a huge Forever 21 there and that I was in dire need of some basic clothing that I didn't want to spend a lot of money on. On the way there, he was telling me about a conversation he had at his other job that day about jeggings:

Ed: blah, blah, blah....jeggings.
Me: What the heck did you just say? What is that?
Ed: It's those really tight leggings that look like jeans.
Me: Oh my gosh I HATE those! You know, "soandso" always wears those and I think they look so stupid! I seriously hate them, she tries to be so stylish but it just looks dumb!
Ed: Yeah, she would.

Alright, now fast-forward two hours when Ed picked me up from the mall.

Ed: So what did you get?
Me: Eh, I spent $** dollars, is that okay?
Ed: Yeah, that's fine but what did you get?
Me: Ehhhhh....(really stuttering) I think, umm well, I think maybe, I'm not sure, but I might have bought jeggings.
Ed: (silence...............dying laughing) LET ME SEE!
I show him
Ed: Yep! Those are jeggings!

And so, here I am with jeggings now. But let me just explain my mistake and my new change of heart. In a nutshell, I saw some skinny jeans (or what I thought were skinny jeans) for only $14 and I tried them on. They were pretty tight but since I don't currently own any real skinny jeans, I figured skinny jeans are supposed to be tight. They had a zipper and pockets but I slightly suspected they might be jeggings because they were so stretchy. Nevertheless, I bought them because they were cheap and I was pleasantly surprised that they looked slightly good on me. I have worn them once, and I must say that I have nothing against them now. They are ten times more comfortable then jeans and make my butt look somewhat smaller! I am now publicly apologizing for making fun of anyone who has worn jeggings and will proudly wear mine from this day forward. Granted, I probably won't ever buy another pair, but if people want to wear them, I will support their decision. And look how cute Katrina Bowden from 30 Rock looks in them?

Fess Up to Facebook!

Alright, a little pet peeve has been stirring inside me: What is with the people who say they don't like Facebook, but then they are on it all the time?? Just admit it people, if you are getting on it that much, you obviously don't hate it! I have heard several times, "Oh, I only get on facebook so I can look at pictures" or,"I just get on facebook because my friends would be annoyed if I didn't have one"......what? That is not true! (this is all my opinion by the way). Face it, you like putting up pictures because you like getting comments on how good you look or how awesome your life is. You like updating your status so you can brag about what ever you're doing that day or you want sympathy from someone out there in this world. And finally, half the reason you write on other people's walls is so they will write on your wall in return and so you can avoid having to call or text them! I, Amanda am not afraid to admit that I am a culprit of all of these things. I openly embrace the greatness of facebook and the opportunities that it gives me to freely and secretly stalk people I don't really know, reconnect with friends, and brag about my life. Bahahaha okay now I'm just laughing. Sorry if this sounded a little ridiculous, but am I the only one annoyed by this?? By the way though, I am not like a freakish advocate for facebook, I just want people to be honest with themselves and with others. Like, when did it become not cool to actually like facebook even though we are all on it every single day? Okay, I'll stop. Like it, but don't like it too much....that's what I'm trying to say.

and this is just a really funny picture because there were no good ones of facebook :)

Something Wonderful

I love,
with every bit of my heart,
Classical Ballet.
(and I have an addiction to youtube because of it)
also, Degas is amazing.
I would love this painting to be framed and placed on my wall.

Catching up...

I feel like my posts are getting a little gushy lately so I will try to stay fairly neutral today. However, I do like the gushy ones every once in a while

.
A lot has happened lately and I'm glad. I has been a fun couple of weeks and now we are just waiting and dreading for school to start. We went to the Spudman! For those who don't know, Ed is an amazing triathlete. For real, he is good (and that's all the bragging I will do, but believe me). His favorite triathlon is the Spudman because it is in his hometown of Burley, Idaho. This year there were about 2015 competitors and Ed got FOURTH! He placed second last year right behind his also amazing brother but I'm pretty sure that getting married damaged his training schedule tremendously compared to last year. Oh well, he did awesome and I was so proud of him. Not to mention, we made shirts and surprised him! Also, the Spudman just happened to land on our 1 year anniversary! After the race, we drove to Salt Lake and stayed in the Hilton in downtown. We also went to Cheesecake Factory which is both of our favorite restaurant. It was divine! When we got home there were two cheesecakes in our room from the girl at the front desk who we told it was our anniversary. It was so sweet of her. Anyway, that was that weekend.
In other news, I am done with the ice cream job! I made the BYU Creamery ice cream for a full year and I am happy to say that I have worked my last day there. I did love the job at times and I especially LOVED the people who I will dearly miss, but the job itself was just a little to rough for me. Let's face it, I'm prissy. Also, Ed's parents are leaving on their LDS mission to Houston, Texas and we are so happy for them, but goodness we will miss them. Did I say that I have THE BEST in-laws anyone could have? It has been really great to see so much of Ed's family this year. Hm, we are probably going to the zoo this weekend which I am so excited for. My sister Tess got her senior pictures taken and can I just say that I have THE most gorgeous sister in the world!I told you, she's a bombshell. The boys better watch out, not to mention, her personality is even better than her looks. I am going to try to blog more often because I hate when the blogs I read aren't updated, so for all you obscure readers of my blog who ever you might be, expect more from me. Sweet dreams on this wonderful Wednesday night!

Warm Fuzzy Feelings

My sister said something to me that touched my soul today. She said while referring to a husband, "If I can find someone that I love as much as I love you, then I'll have a very happy life." It is hard for me to explain this but hopefully someone can relate. Some days it's hard to feel loved and appreciated. That's just life and there is really no way around it. I am so thankful for the people in my life who know me well enough and care enough to bring me back to reality when I am feeling overwhelmed or unspecial. Ed and I probably say "I love you" around 4 times every day (in the morning when we leave each other, during the day sometimes over text or phone, after work, before going to sleep, and sometimes a random one thrown somewhere in there) BUT, sometimes I still feel overlooked. *Take note that I am not blaming anyone for this but myself and I especially am not blaming Ed*. I am one who loves compliments. That may sound really superficial or immature but really, it's just the way I am. Sometimes I don't even care if it's a fake compliment, I usually still feel good. I like to be noticed. Like today when I did the dishes and folded the clothes and Ed called me a Suzzie Homemaker even though I'm so far from that it is'nt even funny. Things like this make my day. My days are pretty similar to each other: wake up, job #1, come home to change, job #2, come home, dinner, some nights swim, watch friends with husband, go to sleep. Sometimes I get chlaustrophobic with this lifestyle (and yes I did just have to look up how to spell that word) but sometimes I need to just sit on the front lawn for a while so it feels like I'm doing something different. And something that I realized today is that while I am feeling this "unimportant feeling" , I am probably causing others around me to feel those same feelings because I am so focused on myself. Comments like the one Tess said to me today make me happy, they make me want good things for others instead of doting on myself, and most importantly they urge me to love others so that they can feel these same good feelings as me. It made me think of how much I love my husband and my family and my friends. Just as Tess wants, I did find someone that I love just as much as I love my sister. My Edward is an amazing man. Saturday will be our one year anniversary. To think we have been married for a year is so crazy. But boy am I glad! I hope this post came across as loving instead or complaining. We will be in Burley, Idaho for the weekend for Ed's all-time favorite triathlon, The Spudman! He got second last year so we are hoping for top three again this year. Anyway, I love my sister and my husband, my parents, in-laws, best friends. Thank you to all of you who have made my day better by being there for me.

Just Keep Swimming

So this is us just yesterday at a wedding. Recently we have been out of our minds busy! We went to a Christenson family reunion in Indiana which was so much fun. We also went to Boise and Burley to represent the brand Ed works for, Pearl Izumi (you should all buy their running/biking shoes and apparel) and to be with friends. Ed went cliff jumping which I did not approve of. We went to Seven Peaks. We saw the movie Inception which is amazingly good. We watch at least two episodes of Friends a day because we have no cable and we put it on before we go to sleep (we started from the beginning and are already on season 7 woo hoo we are addicted). We went to this wedding yesterday. And last but certainly not least....we started a masters swim class. DO NOT UNDERSTIMATE US. We can conquer the world (well at least that's how I felt after the first few nights). Let's start from the beginning of my swimming career: my mom put me with all the other cousins on the Jefferson Township swim team in 4th, 5th, and 6th grade and I hated every second of it. We were the dolphins, I was slow but graceful, and I did a potty dance before every single race. Now jump forward nine years: Ed and I are taking a masters swim class together at a rec center and I swam two miles last Thursday! Take that Jefferson Township! Ya, I feel pretty proud but don't let that statistic fool you....I felt like crying, cussing, and puncing my coach in the crotch for making me do that, but I covered it up by singing in my head the little tune from Finding Nemo, "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming". At least now I can say I conquered something I never thought I would. We are going back tonight and preparing for the worst, luckily I have an amazing husband who gives me a ten minute lift-me-up-praising-compliment-speech every time on the ride home from practice. He's cool.

I'm a big fan

I've decided that I am a really big fan of thoughtful people. It's plain and simple: thoughtful people are the best people.

Perfect example #1

look at what I recieved in the mail this week

Yes, I wrote that in 2004. It seems like just last week. And yes, she gets a 100% for thoughtful behavior.

Perfect example #2

While in St. Martin, my little sister Tess gave me a late birthday present. With it, she wrote me a four page note that she had added a little bit to every night for a while. She explained at the beginning that she wrote it because she read a book for school where there were two sisters who were really close and they were sleeping in the same bed. The one sister wanted to tell the other that she loved her but she was already asleep. That night, their house was bombed and the sister died. Sad, I know. So, Tess wrote down millions of memories between the two of us and how much she loved me. Goodness that was thoughtful. Here are just a few random lines:

"I really did come to think that my sole purpose in life was to protect you from all the monsters that I was just as afraid of. You are the reason I am so brave now." "Every time Ben (our brother) babysat and I turned against you, I felt like ripping all my hair off and slamming my fingers in the door. I hated betraying you, but I was scared of him. I still feel guilty about that." "I always wanted to protect you from getting hurt, especially by boys, but I was also scared that if I said the wrong thing you wouldn't tell me things anymore. So, I would find myself switching between being brutally honest and telling you exactly what you wanted to hear." "I always protested, but I secretly loved when would doll me up with clothes and makeup, and especially when you would randomly tell me I looked good on my own." "You are one of the few people who actually gives an equal backscratch or handrub. Most people never even give one back." "I can't believe how quickly and easily you were able to find someone just like, but who is also your other half. Ed is defintitely perfect for you."

Well anyway, those were just a few lines from the long letter that I thought were sweet. She's a good sister..... the best actually. Tessabelle, I love you too and thank you for being so thoughtful.

This is probably my favorite picture of all time of the two of us.

All in all, thoughtfulness is goodness and everyone reading this should go do something thoughtful for someone you really love and make their day happier.