Think of a Wonderful Thought, Any Merry Little Thought.....

There are quite a few things going on these days that put a smile in my heart (get it? It goes with the title...if you can name the move you get ten cool points in my book.).

Yup, time for bullet points.

• We got a new/used car!!! Exciting, right? She's silver and we named her Toph, and rightly so, because this girl's got power. (You get ten more cool points if you know where that name came from.) She's got A/C, automatic windows, automatic locks.... I feel spoiled.
• Our master bedroom is FINISHED!! I'll post pictures of this soon...we still need to add the blinds and closet doors, so I guess it's not TECHNICALLY finished, but close enough. It looks fantastic. Seriously, it turned out even prettier than I imagined.
• I still get super giddy about my house. When I drove home from work I just think about how lovely the area is that I live in and how perfect the location is. When I pull in my driveway I'm filled with happiness and I just sit there and beam at my little house. I still don't really believe it's mine. I still have those moments, pretty much everyday, when I think to myself, "I own a house. Seriously? That can't be real. There's no way." Today we were in our backyard, talking to the neighbores and I was just in awe. Is all that yard really mine? It really is. I can't even believe it. I felt so happy and peaceful back there. Sigh.
• Menchie's frozen yogurt is fantastic. It's my new obsession. It's my favorite frozen yogurt place so far. It's got such a fun atmosphere and there are always tons new flavors. Frozen yogurt toppings are probably the best things ever. Usually my bowl is half frozen yogurt and half topping. I'm in love.
• My Dad and his lady are FINALLY getting married in October. I am pretty stoked. She is totally awesome.
• I'm getting two neices/nephews (we don't know the genders yet) in February!
• There's still a bit of summer left and I'm soaking it up every moment that I can. There are still so many summery things that I want to do. I love summer evenings especially. I never want those to go away. I find myself clinging to what I have left of it.
• On the other hand, I also find myself beckoning in fall. I LOVE fall. I think it might be my favorite season. It's so nice and calm, a good feeling after a busy summer. It has pumpkin flavored baked goods, carmeled apples, Halloween, cool, crisp air, gorgeous leaves, cider, hot chocolate, sweaters....I could go on and on. I LOVE it.
• General Conference is in ONE MONTH. I love General Conference.
• People. The people in my life are amazing. Seriously, I never cease to be amazing and humbled by how many wonderful people I get to have in my life. If you're reading this and I know you, I probably think you're incredible.
• I think I finally feel ready to go back to school. I'm not in school and I don't know if I will be next semester, or the one after that... but I find myself genuinely missing school. Just the mere fact that I feel like I could go back to school makes me happy. I wondered if that feeling would ever truly come again. I find myself thinking about my favorite classes and how cool it was to learn all the things I did from them. I miss that feeling of learning so many new things all at once. I feel like this bullet point should end now because I can feel it turning into it's very own blog about how I miss school and how I miss Logan, UT with all of my heart.

So, there you have it. Life is good.

As We Sat Beneath the Willow Tree...

Waaaaaay back in kindergarten I met a girl named Vienna.

At least I'd assume we met in kindergarten, but I don't actually remember it clearly. My first clear recollection of her doesn't come until second grade. We were both in the same class and we sat at the same table. The teachers just announced that boys and girls would be paired off and would learn a couple's dance. I was completely mortified. They wanted me to dance with a boy? Gross.

But, I did have one friend that was a boy, that I really wanted to be my partner. They let us choose our partners, but I was too shy to even attempt asking him. Thus, I was both insanely embarrassed and very grateful when Vienna piped up and said, "Hey Kenny, you and Karissa should be partners!"
Ok, so I don't remember the exact words, but you get the picture.

Oh, if only I would have known then of the adventures we'd have in years to come. I could have never known that we would attend ever single year of school together (kindergarten all the way up to graduating from USU). I had no idea of the great friendship that would come. In fact, I don't even remember a whole lot about her from our elementary school days, just bits and peices here and there. I remember she was super tall. I remember that in the later elementary school years I was jealous of her butterfly shirts and accessories. That's really about it.

Fast forward to middle school. That is when our friendship really started to grow. I don't even recall how it happened. I think I started eating lunch with Cameo, who ate lunch with Vienna. Or maybe I started eating lunch with our mutual friend Ariel, who also sat with Vienna. I don't really know, but I'm pretty sure it's because we started eating lunch together. And maybe gym class? That and a whole lot of MSN messenger. I  wish I could remember more (she probably remembers because she has the best memory of all time). All I know is that it happened and we stuck together through the middle school years, high school, and college.

I have a hunch though, that part of what really bonded us was our strangely parallel lives. Please observe:

• We were born just a few days shy of a month apart. I don't know if that really counts, but I feel like it does. We were both winter babies. That's gotta mean something, right? We wer both on the olderish end of the people in our grade and we learned how to drive together, we were allowed to date at the same time, etc.
• We liked the same boy in Middle School. that usually tears girlfirends apart, right? But, it didn't for us. I think it was because he wasn't really interested in either of us, (though I think he took quite a fancy to Vienna at the end of high school...haha) so we talked and gushed about him pretty much all of the time and we never reached that crossroad of one of stealing him from the other.
• In high school we liked two different boys, but our relationships to those boys were uncannily similar. It's kind of hard to explain what I mean, but just trust me on this one. They were both those kind of relationships where you like the boy so much, but they are also your greatest challenge in life, ya know?
• Freshman year of college we both got our first boyfriend. Both of these boys left on a mission. We both sort of did the waiting for them thing, but then we both decided not to wait while said boys were still on their missions.
• The summer after our Sophomore year of college I met Jayson, who just so happened to be friends with Vienna's husband Rob. We set them up, and thus our second date became their first date. 5 1/2 short months later we got married a day apart from eachother, Jayson and I on the 18th of December, Rob and Vienna on the 19th.
• We also graduated from USU on the same day. I guess this is not that shocking or strange, since we are the same age and we both finished in the standard four years, but it seems like a lot of people don't finish in the standard four years anymore, so I thought it was pretty awesome.

Vienna and I have also had some amazing times together.

• Youth Conference when we were in middle school. Vienna was the only one her age in her ward, so they let her bring a friend. It was a rockin good time.
• That time when my bracelet broke in French class and scattered VERY LOUDLY all over the floor, past the door and into the hallway and not a soul noticed but us.
• When we played baseball with our French books, in French class
• Pretty much just French class all around
• When she introduced me to Death Cab, for which I will always be grateful.
• Our first Death Cab concert
• Driving home together from working at the Desert Star. She's always inspired the crazy in me on those drives.
• Ogden lunches
• Cross Country running/singing of Disney songs/Best summer of my life spent with her and our friend Marni
• Many many many Jamba and Cold Stone nights
• Watching A Cinderella Story on Prom night
• Driving to California together

...to name a few. A very few.

Vienna is the classiest person I know. She's hilarious. She's brilliant. She's gorgeous. She's kind. She's super crafty. She's passionate. She's an AMAZING story teller (seriously, like the next Jim Dale good). The way she explains things and the way she talks about things that she loves is contagious and it makes you want to love those things too. She's fantastic friend. I just love her.

But, do you want to know my very very very favorite thing about her/memories with her?
Talking to her. Seriously, she's like the easiest person to talk to. I absolutely adore talking to and being with this girl. I do not stay up all night. I just don't. I've never ever pulled an all nighter doing homework. The times I've stayed up all night are far and few between and do you know what was the cause of every single one of them? Talking to Vienna. Though we hated life in the morning (and the whole next day, really), those late night talks were the absolute very best.

She truly is one of my dearest friends in the whole wide world.

I know, there are significantly less pictures than you'd think for how long we've been friends, right? Well, let me tell you a secret. Despite the fact that we are both pretty attractive people, (I think so anyway) we are notorious for taking really ugly pictures together.

It's so surreal to think of the crazy times we've had and then to realize that in about a month she'll be having a baby. Surreal, but wonderful. I'm so insanely excited for her. She is really going to an AMAZING mom, like seriously amazing. Little Magnolia will be so well loved, educated, and nurtured. You should see how excited she is, it's fantastic.

Baby Nolie, you're one lucky girl.

Nennie,
LOL

Challenge

Ok my wonderful and creative friends. I have a challenge for you. I have this little space on my main level ...

...and I really want it to be a living room/dining room. I want to have sofa/chair space for at least 4 people and a table that will fit at least four people.

I just know it can be done. I even have this awesome bay window to work with. Behold:

I've been cramming my brain about this problem since we first looked at this house and I keep changing my mind about what would look the best.

Then today, as I was browsing a furniture website, it hit me. I need other people's opions. I mean, really, the more people working on a problem the better, right? The more inspiration I can get the better. Plus, honestly, some of my friends are some of the most creative people alive.

I even have a little wooden booth that I can work with that looks a little something like this:

Except it's wood color and not white. But, I suppose it could be white. I think the table is also square.

But, I don't have to use the booth either.

So, any suggestions? Use your imagination. The possibilities are endless.

But, try to also keep in mind that my budget is not.

How the House is Going

So, are you sick of hearing about my house and all of the fixing up projects yet? If you are, you should probably just stop reading my blog for the next couple of months, because that's pretty much all I do, besides camping on the weekends with the fam. I'll post pictures of that one day.

A lot of people, and by that I mean pretty much everyone I talk to and see, have been asking how the house is going, so I'll just tell you.

When people ask me this I always reply with a sigh and I say two words: slow and good.

Let's talk about slow. Well, it's really pretty self explainatory. Things are going a lot slower than I imagined they would..like, A LOT slower. I didn't really take into account that I would have to do things like the dishes, laundry, vacuuming, grocery shopping, etc. whilst working on the house. woops. We keep hitting little sangs that drag things out longer.

Plus, our Saturdays have been pretty much taken up by various things, camping, boating, working, and that sort of thing. So, only having week nights after work to work on the house makes things a little bit more difficult as well. But, I really can't complain. We decided that vacationing with the family is really important and we wouldn't be able to get those vacations back, but the house will still be here to work on when the family is not going camping and such.

And, the other day Jayson's car finally died. It's probably just a battery and wouldn't be that much to fix, but we decided it's probably time for a new/used one, so now we're focusing on that because shuffling cars is kind of a pain. So now there's looking, test driving, inspections, licensing...etc, which will probably set us back another couple of weeks on the house. But, getting a new car is pretty exciting.

So, really, the reasons that things are going slowly are really pretty good and exciting reasons, but still I get majorly stressed out about it some days. I just want my routine back, I want to have time again to do other things, to go running, etc. I know a couple of other people that have been fixing up their places and they've gotten done way faster than we have, so I get frustrated. Maybe we're just slow workers?

 I just have to remind myself to have perspective. It will proably only be another month and half, but then I'll have a beautifully fixed up home (except for maybe the basement bedroom and bathroom). Not that much time when you consider how long we'll probably be here. I don't really know how long that will be, but I'm pretty sure it will be longer than anywhere else I've lived in the past five years.

Now we'll move on to good.

The things that are done look fantastic. I just love everything about the basement family room. The finishing touches aren't done, but for the most part it's great. I love the carpet, the wall colors...everything.

We got a new front door and it makes our house look ten times better. I am in love with it.

We've done a lot of repairs that you can't see. (This might be another reason I get frustrated. I don't SEE the improvement or progression.) We have running water and our house is leak free. We have a lawn mower. We've done lots of other things I can't even remember right now.

The ceiling on the main level is painted, so the worst is over. (Serioiusly though, have you ever painted a vaulted ceiling? I don't recommend it. Talk about a pain in the neck. Pun intended.)

Anyway, onto something more fun. Do you know what I do meanwhile? I day dream of how to decorate. Most particularly my main level. I just want to make it look incredible. I want there to be a cozy, peaceful feeling when people walk into my house. I want people to love being here.

So, do you want to see pictures of my main inspirations thus far?

So, what do you think? I have no idea how all of this is going to come together and it probably won't look near as nice as these rooms, but I hope it looks fabulous.

Do you guys have any brilliant decorating ideas? I'm all ears. I really want to do something cool with my angled wall...any suggestions? I have a picture on Pinterest of an idea where the pictures are set up so that there's one big picture in the middle and then one above and to the right of it and then on below and to the left of it...so, sort of a stair formation. I really like it, but Pinterest is being rude right now, so I can't post it.

Anyway, I hope I didn't come off as a complainer too much. I really am so incredibly grateful for this house and I wouldn't trade it and it's slow moving fixing up for anything. Everytime I see the beautiful hard wood floor I get giddy. I still wake up in the morning and can't believe that I have a house. It still feels so incredible and so surreal. Our very own house.
So much happiness.

The Perfect Paint

Ever since thing started looking like we were really going to get this house I started looking at paint colors.
I am now OBSESSED with paint.

There are SO many options. I have felt myself desiring more rooms, just so I can use all of the colors that I want. If I could just choose paint for people and decorate around those paint colors for a living I would be a happy girl. Maybe I should have gone into interior design?

Anyway, I've learned a ton of things about paint. Like, how it never EVER looks the same as those little paint swatches you get from the store. But, good news, you can buy little tester cans of paint. BRILLIANT.

Even after testing the paint on the wall you just really never know what the paint is really going to look like until it's on the whole entire wall. I discovered this when we painted the basement family room. I had the color picked out. I got the paint sample. I loved it. I put it on the wall and wow. It was WAY different than I pictured. I even thought for a minute about repainting it. I decided to leave it for a couple of days and see how I felt. (I've also discovered that certain colors of paint grow on me after I'm around them a while.) Guess what? I love it now. I just brightens up the whole room.

Speaking which...shall we go on a small tangent so I can show you the basement family room? It's basically done. I'm so please with how it turned out.

Here are some before pictures to refresh your memory.

And here is after....(the camera makes that wall look yellow. It's really super light beige.)

Do you love it? I am in love with the carpet. It's so soft and so lovely. The pictures really don't even do it justice. It really completes the room. Sigh. We still need to do a few things down there, but, for the most part, it's done and live-able.

Anyway, back to paint. There are so many more paint dilemmas than I ever thought possible. What colors should I use? Should I do an accent wall? If so, which wall do I accent? What sort of mood do I want to create? What color should I do the ceiling? My walls and ceiling are a bit textured, which makes for some nasty corners where the wall and ceiling meet. If I do them different colors will I ever be able to get a straight line in those corners?

Now, let me tell you a little quirk about myself. I can be a very picky person. I mean, generally, I'm pretty easy to please. If you buy me something, I'll probably like it. But, I usually have to absolutely LOVE something to buy it. I'm often very particular about my purchases. I honestly have tried on like 12 pairs of pants at a store and not gotten a single one. I really feel bad for people who come shopping with me sometimes. I just figure, if I'm going to buy it, I might as well love it, instead of wasting money on something I just like. I have discovered that paint is no exception. I mean, it is going on my walls, where I'm going to have to stare at it for years and years every single day. My dad and Jayson tease me about how picky I've been with it, but I've been on a quest for the perfect paint colors.

I have literally spent over a month thinking and analyzing about paint. Although this is frustrating at times, I honestly love paint. There really is nothing like having fresh paint on your walls. It's an incredible and glorious feeling.

Also, paint is one of the main reasons I'm so happy we bought a fixer upper. I actually love to paint. I love the feeling of the roller gliding with fresh paint all over it. I love opening a new can of paint and seeing the pretty color in it's silky-smooth texture. I have absolutely loved being able to pick out all of the colors I want to use. I think I have FINALLY come to a decision about what colors to paint the main level upstairs. It only took me a month of grabbing swatches, buying samples, spending hours upon hours looking at more swatches, looking up ideas on Pinterest, etc. It was a long process. Below you can see the choosing process:

Yup. Those are my paint samples all over the walls.

I honestly feel like I change my mind like every other day about what paint I want and where I want it, but I think I finally have it down. Hopefully we can start painting the main level this week. I'm pretty stoked.

So, you can see why I've loved paint samples so much. They allowed me to pick out the perfect paint. The only bad thing about paint testers is that I never really use the whole thing. In fact, I use way less than half most of the time.

So, the real question is..
What I do with all of this left over paint?

Does anyone have any craft ideas that involve a small amounts of paint?

The Story Lives On

Ok, so, I know I already did my post about Harry Potter, but I simply could not pass the opportunity to share a few words and a really great quote by J.K. Rowling herself.

Last night I saw the movie and I thought it was very well done. There were, of course, parts I was sad that they left out, and stuff they changed, and all that jazz that naturally comes with converting a book into a movie, but the overall movie and the feeling of it captured the book pretty well. It was wonderful and I want to go and see it again, right this minute. I won't do too much of a review, as I know many have not seen it yet, but I will tell you that I cried like 1/4th of the movie. Also, McGonagall pretty much steals the show. I think she was my favorite part of the movie.

Anyway, I wasn't sad last night when the move ended. I don't know why. I was sad the day before, thinking about all of the amazing times I've had waiting in line for hours to get a book or see one of the movies at midnight. Maybe it hadn't really sunk in yet or maybe I was just too tired when it was over to think about it. However, today was a different story. Now, don't worry, I haven't been lying around all day sulking about it, but I have had a sort of sad, almost loney feeling about it all. You know, that sort of feeling you get when you see a friend you haven't seen in a long time, but you don't get to spend too much time with them, so you you miss them even more when you part than you did before you saw them. Anyway, it's not an overwhelming feeling, but a strange one.

Well, you've probably heard enough of all of this from me now, so, I will share the quote I mentioned above. It's really lovely and captures things perfectly. I may or may not have been close to tears when I read it.

"No story lives unless someone wants to listen.  The stories we love best do live in us forever.
  So whether you come back by page or by the big screen, Hogwarts
will always be there to welcome you home."
-J.K. Rowling, at the Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows part 2 premiere

I might have just gotten a little choked up again.

The Finale

One day I will post about my 4th of July weekend in Bear Lake and our progress on the house.

But, today is not that day.

Today I have to write about something that hasn't been given as much attention by yours truly as it should be: this Thursday.

Why? Two words: HARRY. POTTER.

My step-mom's work got tickets for a preview showing of the movie on Thursday evening. Needless to say, we're INSANELY stoked.

However, is it just more does the coming of this movie seem to have a different feeling than the others? A bit less exciting and a bit more somber? I can only pin point it to one thing; the fact that after this it's going to be over. I remember getting about half way through the seventh book and feeling the same way. I was so anxious to find out what was going to happen, how it all would end, but I knew that once I got there, it was over. There weren't any more books coming. No more midnight book releases. But, I was able to console myself by telling myself that there were still the movies. They, of course, are nowhere near as awesome as the books, but it's always exciting when they come out.

This has been a really strange and bizarre thing to wrap my mind around. For the last 12 years of my life I have been captivated by Harry Potter and the excitement of new book and movie releases. This week it's over.

I also feel like it came SO fast. When the first half of this movie came out I thought July would never get here. It seemed SO long to have to wait, but the months since them had flew by and now that exciting day I've been waiting for is on my door step.

But, I just read a quote about Daniel Radcliffe that just sort of made everything all better:

"I don't think the end of the story happens tonight, because each and every person, not only in this square, but also watching around the world, who will see this film and who have followed these films over the last ten years, will carry this story with them through the rest of their lives , and it will affect what they do." (and I'd like to add " who they are" to the end of that.)

Thanks Daniel/Harry, for saying exactly what I needed to hear and expressing exactly how I feel.

Enough about the somberness of the occasion though. I really just want to tell you a little bit about why I love Harry Potter.

• It really is a HUGE part of why I love to read. It was the first book that I really just couldn't put down. I like reading before I read Harry Potter, but it always came to the point where I'd want to stop and go do something else. Not with Harry Potter. These books have given me one of the most precious gifts in the world: a true love for reading.
• The characters. I love almost every character in these books. Almost every character that's not a death eater anyway. And, even then, I kind of like the Malfoys. I definately don't love them, but I'll always have a little soft spot for Narcissa, since she did basically save Harry. I have a really hard time narrowing down my very favorites. I seriously just love almost all of them so much. I don't think I've ever read anything else that had so many wonderful characters in it.

My top three favorites are as follows:

ALBUS PERCIVAL WULFRIC BRIAN DUMBLEDORE
First of all, how cool is his name? Dumbledore has always and will always be my very favorite. He's amazing, powerful, incredibly wise...what's not to like? Also, he's super quirky. I think people forget that a lot. I even forget that, but it's one of the best things about him. I find the fact that he loves lemon drops and raspberry jam incredibly indearing. Plus, he can speak mermish. Enough said. When I read the sixth book I cried from the time he died until the very end of the book. I still cry every time I read that part and every time I watch the sixth movie. I just love him.

HARRY JAMES POTTER
Again, the name. Isn't that a fantastic name? I know, it's cliche and sometimes it seems lame to love the main character, but come on. He's amazing. He has so much just pushed on him and he takes it. He doesn't back down from what he believes in because others think he's crazy. I really admire that. I really don't think I could do that, but it's a quality I really want to possess. He has his whiny moments, but all in all I think he's incredibly noble and brave. Plus, he always said that he was Dumbledore's man, through and through. The first time I read that I was sold on Harry. I also did always find him really attractive while reading the books, which didn't hinder my love for him one bit.

HERMIONE JEAN GRANGER
She is just plain wonderful. My love for her is a recent development. She didn't become one of my favorites until last summer when I re-read/listened to all of the books to prepare myself for the first half of the 7th movie. She's brilliant and I just adore her love for learning. She's a true friend and honestly, just plain rocks. I mean, really, where would Ron and Harry be without her? In a lot of ways she's the sort of person I want to be. She never gives up and she's incredibly brave. She always had the utmost integrity too.

• The names. The names in these books are absolutely wonderful. Let me list some of my favorites: Alastor, Albus, Regulus, Sirius, Remus, Karkaroff, Dolohov, Severus....I could really go on and on.
• The friendships. They're so beautiful. The love the characters have for eachother is wonderful.
• Last but not least, the story. You can't deny it, it's wonderful. It's mind boggling-amazing! The plot, the messages, the symbolism. Sigh.

There you have it. Some of the many reasons I LOVE these books.
Now, let's face it. This post wouldn't be complete without some amazing quotes:

"Differences of habit and language are nothing at all if our aims are identical and our hearts are open." ~J.K. Rowling, "The Beginning," Harry Potter andthe Goblet of Fire, 2000, spoken by the character Albus Dumbledore

"There was no point in worrying yet.... what would come, would come... and he would have to meet it when it did." ~J.K. Rowling, "TheBeginning," Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, 2000

"We must try not to sink beneath our anguish, Harry, but battle on. ~J.K. Rowling, "ASluggish Memory," Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, 2005,spoken by the character Albus Dumbledore


And, my personal favorites:
"It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities." -J.K. Rowling spoken by Albus Dumbledore

"It was, he thought, the difference between being dragged into the arena to face a battle to the death and walking into the arena with your head held high. Some people, perhaps, would say that there was little to choose between the two ways, but Dumbledore knew - and so do I, thought Harry, with a rush of fierce pride, and so did my parents - that there was all the difference in the world." ~J.K. Rowling, "Horcruxes," Harry Potter andthe Half-Blood Prince, 2005

Happy Harry Potter Week.