summer 2010

is looking to be just as fabulous as summer 2009! (and trust me...thats hard to do considering all that we got to do last summer).

Greg got accepted into a dental internship seminar program at the University of New Jersey Dental School in Newark!!! we couldn't be more excited. out of 300 applicants, they only picked 20 people!! seriously cool! it runs for a few weeks at the beginning of june. we will try to fly out to north carolina for a few days, then spend some time in new york (he gets the weekends off..so we will head to the city for some delicious food...a broadway show?!), and maybe even vist sean and alena in DC!

i dropped all of my classes for spring semester. with the semester only being 6 weeks long, i didn't think that it would be wise to miss 3 weeks. i was a little bummed, because i really wanted to graduate in december, and now i won't graduate until april. but thats alright. an awesome opportunity like this doesn't come up very often!

so..combine this with hangin out with my brother and sister for 2 weeks at the end of june....thats going to be prettty awesome!

not to mention..that it will be sunny. and warm. and i can wear sandals. my feet are longing to see the sun!!

aaaaand. this friday...im getting a manicure and pedicure, going to cheesecake factory and seeing legally blonde: the MUSICAL with my favorite Samantha in the world! i couldn't be more excited. when i start thinking about it..i have trouble focusing on school!! its going to be a longggg week.

the power of the imagination

A few days ago my uncle sent me a link to this Harvard graduation address given by J.K. Rowling. I really liked it a lot - she's so funny!! Plus, she says some really great stuff. She talks about the importance of the power of the imagination and of the "fringe benefits of failure". I would definitely recommend watching the video if you have a few extra minutes. It's great.

The shower went super super super awesome.  it couldn't have gone better. it was a blast. i love hanging out with a bunch of awesome girls, eating, and talking. doesn't get much better!! i wish that we would get together and do it more often. It seems like we always have to wait for some big occasion like a bridal shower to get together. And I don't like it! I wish that we would plan lunch dates like this all the time for no other reason other than that we love to get together. Anyway, it was a blast. yummy food, funny presents, and good conversations. beth and i are going pro. if you need a bridal shower planned anytime soon...give us a call! we kind of rock. haha.

I love my bestie. She is going to be such a good wife. She's so pretty. She's so smart. and she's so crazy. I remembered today all of the reasons that i love her. I can't wait for her big day!!!

here's a funny story about one of the many adventures ive had with kate. once upon a time (last fall) we decided to buy a fish. we bought it during the last week of august. he was a pretty pink and purple Siamese fighter fish. we named the little guy edward. we were thrilled. we bought him a cute little bowl, some pretty beads, and the best food walmart had to offer. everyone doubted us. they said our little pet would live for no more than one week, two at the most. everyone started counting down the days til edward died - roommates, family (admittedly even us sometimes...he wasn't the most lively little creature) . well, thanksgiving came and went, so did christmas, then valentines day. pretty soon, it was time for me to go to London. so, i took edward and his pretty home over to my grandparents. they tended him with love and care...for the next three months. tuns out, our little pet lived for almost on year. he was the best fish in the entire world. the end.

thoughts of the day.

- i love getting FREE route 44 vanilla diet dr peppers from sonic. can't beat that! it makes me happy.
- i love going shopping with sammy to risque parts of spanish fork. hah! it makes me happy.
- i love buying things for katelyn's bridal shower that i know are going to make her blush.. seriously. its going to be priceless. im such a good friend. i crack myself up. her bridal shower is going to be a blast (well...cross your fingers..!) this is the first party that i've really planned, and i think that its going to be awesome. sometimes i get frustrated because i want everything to be perfect. i want everything to be so awesome that people will always remember it as one of the funnest bridal showers that they have been to - which is a big goal...i know. i like to aim high. haha. i want to have the best of the best. therefore...i end up spending a lot more money than i technically should. i spend money on stupid little details that no one will notice, and that no one really even cares about! but i know that they're there...and i like them! stupid. what a pain! okay...that wasn't meaning to like..talk myself up as the greatest friend ever, haha, because i am definitely not that. but..im just sayin - i get so frustrated when i do stupid things like that!! yesterday while shopping with sam i just went a little nuts, and started buying little things left and right, and it sure added up. dumb! anyway, bridal showers make me happy.
-i love getting food at work. it really makes a difference in my day. yesterday we got green bagles, and today we got orange rolls from shirley's bakery (definitely one of the most delicious bakeries in utah!). it makes me so happy! i love food...i was joking with greg the other day that i eat my feelings. which i suppose is partially true. certain things just make me happy (ie. vanilla diet dr pepper, chocolate molten lava cake from chilis, pf changs). i bombed a test on tuesday night...so what do i do? i make greg take me out to eat so that i will feel better about myself. HA! whoever thought of that?? it makes me happy.
- speaking of the test...yes i probably bombed it. we haven't gotten our grades back yet, but holy cow. i've never taken such a stupid test! so, at the end i told the teacher my concerns about the test, and he said that he would look over the other student's tests and take my concerns into account. i didn't actually expect that my complaints would help at all...but, turns out there were a ton of other people who complained too! which means...he won't grade us so hard. score. i love that, it makes me happy.
-we got a free upgrade to dvr...so i record all my favorite shows...watch them in half the time without commericals. my days no longer revolve around my tv shows (which, uh...they never did?). i am liberated! it makes me happy.
-i had to watch an Iranian movie last night for my humanities of islam class. it was about a blind boy who's dad didn't want him because he was blind. it was heart breaking. it did not make me happy.
-our phones haven't been working properly the last few months. they freeze, they're delayed, la la la. so, greg finally got this genius idea to call verizon and see what they could do for us. turns out, they are sending us both brand spankin new phones!! sweet man!! i can't wait. it makes me happy.
-i keep having these weird dreams. they freak me out. its turning into a nightly occurance. i do not approve. it does not make me happy!!!
-im having girls night with alena on sat while sean goes to priesthood meeting for their stake conference. then we're all going to go this new mexican place in provo called rubios. (totally not new, just new to provo). it makes me happy!

alright...thats all. no pictures. nothing that really means anything. no photo of the day. thats lame. so sorrry.

...here i go again!

i have watched mama mia 3 times since we bought it 2 weeks ago. oh my. how i love it. what a feel good movie. greg complains that he can "feel the testosterone leaving his body" when he hears Pearce Brosnan and Colin Firth singing. sorry love! its too good to miss. i just cant get enough of it. such a stupid story line, but such great music!! especially the giant music video at the end. love it!

we are loving our new house. it is so awesome!! we are so happy. it already feels like home! it has its quirks...ie. the toilet keeps flushing for a solid 3 minutes after you push the handle....when the heater turns on it sounds like the entire house is going to lift off into space...the water is either scalding hot or freezing, it is super difficult to find a happy medium...the whole no dishwasher thing BITES!... the floor creaks...the garage is so skinny - it is so hard to get into!...the neighbors jacked our trashcan and filled it with junk...the sink is bright olive green- BUT OH HOW WE LOVE IT!!

my little brother and sister are coming to visit this summer (atleast they are supposed to...!) i sure hope they do. greg and i are already thinking of all the fun things we can do with them! we are so looking forward to it!

i have to have a rough draft of my 12 page paper on Rembrandt's crazy Adam and Eve by Wednesday...I'm sure not there yet! whoops.

on friday i'm going to a muslim friday prayer service for my humanities of islam class...we will see how that goes!!

we got an upgrade with our cable company...210 channels and DVR! oh boy. im so excited for the dvr. we have both certainly missed it!!! we are thrilled. law and order marathons here we come! commercial free!

greg is in the regional tournament for ward basketball tomorrow! woo-hoo. exciting!!

 

dunno if you can read the things on this sign...but they were all over the tube in london. they are the funniest signs!! they are all things that you could do if you had a year's free rent....some of my personal favorites include:

-have a botox party                                 -kill a zombie

-own a pet squid                                     -set up a donkey sanctuary

-pimp my ride                                          -get my kicks on route 66

-learn to rollerdisco                                 -get spray tan

-get a handbag dog                                -own a pointless collection

-get mum tattoo                                      -learn the didgeridoo

-shave all body hair                                -eat posh chocolate

-get much needed moob job                  -bathe in champagne 

they provided so much entertainment!

(i promise that some pictures of the day don't have to do with london...but there are just so many good london ones!!!)

p.s.

i just received this email from my crazy Pearl of Great Price teacher:

"Being open book, this test is quite solid because you have every opportunity to get the right answer. If you did not do as well a you think you should have, please do not email me with complaints about the test and accusing me of trying to trick you or whatever (this kind of whining really, really annoys me. You need to take responsbility for your score and not shift the blame to me. Cheers."

no kidding. what a man. apparently i'm not the only one who bombed the test. what a joke.

ward basketball.

i finally decided to be a supportive wife and go to greg's ward basketball game. it was the last one of the tournament (cuz...they lost, unfortunately). i was so glad that i did! he is so dang good! yes, i am biased, but you should have seen his 3 pointers! what a stud. they lost to THE MOST OBNOXIOUS team. which makes it even harder to loose. Bummer. We came home and 20 minutes later he was off to his intermural football game. what a guy. im glad that he goes. he always comes home so happy and talking about how he has so much fun with the guys he goes with. i'm so happy for him. now, if only i could make super great girl friends...wouldn't that be nice? haha.

we are slowly packing...today my sweet hubby fixed our garage door opener and hooked up the washer and dryer while i was at school. it was so exciting to drive up to our house, open the garage, drive in from the crazy blizzard, and shut the door, then get out of the car in a dry, warmish sort of place. oh i loved it!! i'm so excited to move. i seriously can't believe how lucky we are to have found this place. i love it so much. i love everything right down to the olive green sinks (oh yeah buddy, straight from the 60's).  my boss was nice enough to let me take the day off tomorrow, so hopefully we will be able to get alllll packed up and moved out! saturday morning a few of my sweet sweet friends are coming to help me clean my apartment. so nice of them. rachel didn't even have to be asked. she totally offered. so cool! im a little embarrassed to have them help me clean our apartment...but the help with be much appreciated. i think i might bake them a treat :]

i have a 10 page research paper first draft due on wednesday. have a i started? well, no, i haven't. but don't worry, i wrote my french satire and rocked my french test. so it was a productive day right?? i think so.

question: my hair is curly...but so unruly. however, i despise spending an hour doing it everytime i shower. how do i control my amazonian curls and make them pretty and nonfrizzy?? please help. im so sick of this flat ironing routine. plus, it FRIES my poor hair. i know that there are several hair stylists who read this...please please please help me!!!

photo.... (so it's not that great of a photo..but a really great memory)

 

once upon a time, it was after dinner at the london centre. everyone had plans for the night, except me and sammy. surprise! so, we hopped on the tube and went down to trafalgar square, walked around a bit, made our way to ciaos for a delicious ice cream creation, and then, hit another wall. we really wanted to do something exciting. we made our way to the dicounted ticket booth, but nothing jumped out at us as being worth the money. so we just kinda walked around aimlessly trying to find something to entertain us. several people from the program had been trying to get tickets to mama mia, but they had repeatedly been told that there were no student tickets. well, we don't take no for an answer! so we walked into the mama mia theater literally 10 minutes before the show started, we put on our cutest faces, and walked up to the ticket window. "do you have any student tickets for tonight's performance?" "let me check...yes i have 2 front row center tickets, 35 pounds" literally we were front and center. so close that we could see the actors spitting when they sang, we could see the hair on sophies legs, and the butterfly tramp stamp that she so feebly tried to cover up with make up. it was awesome. it was so much fun. after the show was over, the cast came back on stage, disco balls were lowered out of the ceiling, and neon colored flashing lights appeared. the cast AND the audience then sang every major song from the production for the next 45 minutes. we were singing at the top of our lungs, dancing in the isles, and having a blast. it was the coolest show. i loved it. i loved even more that is was so completely spur of the moment!! it was a blast. i can't wait until legally blonde. 3 weeks!!

semi-charmed kinda life.

well...

we brought our washer and dryer home today!! it was super excited.
i cant wait to move. im getting antsy. plus. it is affecting my school work.
i cant concentrate while im at school because i have SO MUCH to get done here at home.
i cant concentrate while im at home because i'm trying to figure out where i will put stuff if the new place...and        stressing over where i am going to put everything and how it is going to fit blah blah blah.
its all useless stuff to stress over. and i know that. but hey, what can i do. im a stresser.
greg doesnt understand it. he think im stupid. he always says things like - jordan, you just cant stress over that. just stop. ha! i wish i could just stop! that would be lovely. he is always telling me that the amount that i stress is unhealthy..i probably might have to agree with him...it kind of controls me. yikes.  but seriously...im just a girl who knows how i want things done, and i know what i have to do to get them done that way, and i do it! and when i can't do it..it freaks me out a little.

anyway, moral of the story, i can't wait to be officially settled into our home sweet home. we are so lucky.

i have a french test tomorrow. you know the kind of test that really...you either know it, or you dont? thats this kind of test. so..i just cant motivate myself to study. i've eaten 2 bags of popcorn - the single serving 100 calorie variety - and drank a whole 33.8 fl oz of my new favorite drink - western family brand flavored sparkling water. yum. seriously... tangerine lime. delish.

i just took a pearl of great price test online. in class he told us "be prepared for a ridiculous test. im just testing you on your ability to find facts. i'm testing you on pointless details. i don't care about them, and you probably wont care about them, but i want to know if you can find answers" lovely. and no. that was not a paraphrase. that is a direct quote! not even kidding. not even a little bit. it was ridiculous. ive never been so baffled while taking a test. ever! greg is gone playing basketball...and even though i am home alone, i asked out loud "what the heck? we didn't even MENTION that in class". it was absurd. plus, each of the 31 fabulous questions was worth 3 points. do the math...you do not have to get too many wrong before your grade sucks. and surprise, my grade sucked. consequently, i am in a bad mood. i will have to find my happy face before boy gets home. he says that he doesnt like going out because whenever he comes home im cranky for one reason or another. i try, honey. i swear.

 3 weeks til legally blonde!! woo hoo!! much needed.

also...i'm not going to jinx it and post anything on my blog before i have the money in my hand...but seriously, obama just won my support after seeing how much money we are getting back on our tax returns because of a new education credit (or something like that..) seriously. thank you uncle sam. slash barrack.

side story: i learned in my humanities class that all through elementary school all the way up until he entered law school, obama went by the name "barry". then, when he decided that he wanted to go into politics, he reverted to his cultural roots and changed his name back to barrack. pretty crazy huh?

barry..barrack..harry..george..whatever. im behind you all the way, brother. just keep giving me tax returns like this and im a happy customer!

well greg is home. he is antsy to go to sleep.

but first..

i am super excited to move to our new happy home. i can't wait. but seriously...this has to have been the coolest place that i have ever lived. i mean, c'mon, i had a drawing room, and a library, and like 7 floors. not to mention the gorgeous street! oh how i love the architecture in london. i love the magnificently old buildings. so gorgeous!!!

on my last day in london, my professors wife gave me a bookmark that she bought in london. it is a handmade lace bookmark. and in the card she wrote "I hope that this bookmark will someday remind you that you once lived next door to Kensington Palace." and now i love that bookmark. because it does remind me of the grand adventures that i had during those seven and a half lovely weeks.

i wish that i could re-live them. i wish that i could re-live them better than i did than i did while i was there. i wish that i could savor every single minute of each day!

well, i will...someday.

 

(except the boy that i love will be by my side. aw. how romantic)

wow.

 

well...we got the house! yay! i'm super excited about it. it just amazes me that we were paying the same amount of rent to rent a tiny apartment and to rent a 2 bedroom (plus garage and huge backyard) house! crazy. me and sam went over there tonight and cleaned it. seriously...what a great friend. she came and helped me clean everything, and with a smile on her face. it doesn't get much cooler than her. no joke.

while the house is awesome...just let me complain for a second here. we have drained our savings account just trying to get set up. we bought a washer and dryer today. they are great. used..oldish...but so great, and so much cheaper. nonetheless...drained our savings. we only have $100 int he account now. lovely. we bought  kitchen table and chairs (which we are so dang excited for...it will be so nice to actually eat at a table!!) used half of the checking account...bought some much needed shelves for the bathroom...used half of what was left in the checking account..bought a decent dish scrubbing brush (cuz we have no dishwasher in the new house)...used half of what was left....you get the picture. we are making really good purchases...they are really much needed..and they arent frivolous...but good grief. what a pain. im sick of not having money. im so sick of it. blah. the end.

next week at this time i will be in my new little house and loving it and i wont be remembering all of this stress. thats the plan anyway.