it's called jetlag

whitney tagged me 'cause i "need stuff to blog about"... which is true. so thanks whit. so the idea here is that you pick the 4th picture, in the 4th folder of your photo library. and this is it. nothing embarrasing or scandalous. but this does have a bit of an unexciting story to go along with it. and since i have nothing else to blog about, you get to read it.

but first, i have to make a comment. do you ever wonder whose pictures you end up in? i mean, take this guy talking on his cell phone. i'm sure he's looking at himself in the glass while he talks ('cause you know that's what you'd be doing...) and he's so wrapped up in his phone call and his reflection that he's not paying attention to what's going on on the other side of the glass. or is he? ...is he looking at me? is he thinking mid-sentence "why is this silly american (he would assume i'm american... but little does he know...) taking a picture of me? great! now i'm going to end up on some silly mormon girls blog a year and a half from now, and there's nothing i can do about it." ('cause of course he'd know i'm mormon...)

anyway... so this picture is taken from inside the eurostar travel information area which is inside london's waterloo station. burton and i had just arrived in london, and were hung-over with jetlag. holy cow, that first couple hours sucked. i was in a daze and even though we were in england, where people speak english... i couldn't understand anyone. partly because i was drunk on jetlag and partly because they talk a thousand miles a minute and say words like ... hmm ... i don't know, words i didn't understand. anyway, after an hour or so of trying to feel normal, eating lunch at a pub, surrounded by cigarette smoking brits (they must have seen those commercials in the 1950s... and never got the memo that smoking will kill you), and listening to burton ramble on about the book he was reading to try and keep me from falling off my chair, we decided to go somewhere a little less stressful. and so we found this visitors area. the area wasn't intended for people to fall over and die, but that's what we did. well, burton did. i slipped in and out, because i was too paranoid to die and miss the train.

anyway... that's the story. see, i told you it wasn't exciting.

oh ya, now i have to tag people. i hate this part. hmm... i'm going to cheat. if you read this, TAG! you're it.

ah, the memories

so i realize i'm completely cheating by going three weeks without blogging and then coming back with a "tag", of sorts. but i'm all about memories. and i'm about as sentimental as they come. and since this is the latest "hot tag" on the blogsophere (or at least the mormon one), and so many of you are so willing to confess how much you miss me as it is (haha... no, but seriously... i miss you too)... here goes:

1. as a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and i had together. it doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. next, re-post these instructions (minus my smarty-pants comments) on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. (apparently...) it's actually pretty funny to see the responses. if you leave a memory about me, i'll assume you're playing the game (<-- sort of didn't know this was a game... but if it makes you more excited to do it, then we'll just call it that) and i'll come to your blog and leave one about you. if you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, i'll leave my memory of you in my comments.

deal? deal.

for skyler

this ones for you skyler. this is only because you're my friend and i really do appreciate the constant nudges to post more often. so here goes... another tag:

how long have you been married? 4 years, this coming august 14th.

how old is your spouse? 26… which is better than botox for an "older" woman such as myself

who eats more? burton. but i’m a “snacky-snackerton” as burton likes to say

who said i love you first? umm... i think it was me. i'm just forward like that. burton would also tell you that i kissed him first and that he was sleeping when i did so... but the jury is still out on that little fact. i mean, seriously? he was sleeping!? give me some credit here.

who is taller? b-dawg. 5' 11 and 3/4" (when you're not quite 6'... you just can't say you're 6')

who sings better? burton, for sure. unless he’s brutally murdering a song i like just to be funny

who is smarter? is this a trick question?

who controls the t.v. remote? it’s more like, “here… you find something to watch…”

whose temper is worse? i wouldn’t say temper… but i’m certainly more emotional… and burton is certainly not.

who does the laundry? it’s been pretty evenly spread between us over the years

who does the dishes? whoever doesn’t cook the meal, so usually burton

who sleeps on the right side of the bed? it’s been a back and forth thing… i started on the right (against the wall, as a matter of fact), then i got the left, and now i’m back on the right again.

who cooks dinner? usually me. or a local fast food restaurant worker. burton fills in when i just can’t take it anymore and he's feeling too cheap to go out.

who is more stubborn? we’re having a competition. i’ll tell you for sure in about 60 years.

who is the first to admit when they are wrong? i’m almost always the first to apologize… though i’ve been known to say things like “i’m sorry you’re frustrated with such and such thing i just did” or “i’m sorry that you think i said that”… which i kind of don’t think really counts.

whose parents do you see the most? burton’s parents lived only an hour away until recently when we packed up and moved across the country.

who has more friends? umm… i’m going to have to say me. but burton is way cooler.

who has more siblings? burton… but i have more friends, so whatev. :P

who wears the pants in the family? we both wear pants, except on sunday.

there you go... everything you probably already knew about burton and i.

decades of deliberation have come to this

we've all been asked this silly question... if you found a genie in a lamp and you could have three wishes, what would they be? (and of course the third one can't be more wishes... but we all wish it could be, don't we?) so, after much deliberation throughout my life, i think i've narrowed it down to three solid answers:

1. i never want to have to stop at a red light or stop sign or even yield to merging traffic ever again. i want all lights to be green when i get there, all stop signs to be for other people, all cars to yield to me. i want to be able to walk out the door, get in my car, turn it on and go. and not have to stop or slow down until i get where i'm going. the eternal green light.

2. i want a soundtrack for my life. i have always wanted that... perfect music to play at the perfect moment. and not just on my ipod... i mean a REAL soundtrack. like hugh grant wandering the streets of london after having his heart torn to pieces while hearing bill withers sing "ain't no sunshine when she's gone", or hearing wreckless eric take over singing "whole wide world" for will ferrell as maggie gyllenhaal suddenly kisses him on the couch. music just makes everything better. it makes the moment more moving, more passionate, more intense... so ya, i want a soundtrack.

3. i want that perfect pair of jeans to last forever. and my favorite shirts to never fall apart. and my favorite sweaters need to not do that weird fluff ball thing or stretch into weird shapes or shrink to the size of a babyGAP sweater... they need to stay looking exactly the way they did in the store. oh... and my favorite clothes need to always fit... no matter how much what i'm trying to stuff in them may have increased in size (is that kind of like sneaking in a 4th wish?)

so... if you found a genie in a lamp and you could have three wishes, what would they be? and no wishing for more wishes... geez.

i've been tegged (said with a canadian accent)

so, i have been informed by a creative-smart-handsome-intelligent-athletic-wonderful-someone-who-threw-a-great-Halloween-party (see comments on previous post) that i was tagged (or tegged, as it would sound if i actually said the word out loud... i simply cannot help it). though the actual tag is unclear... i THINK i'm supposed to write 8 odd tidbits about burton and i. so, here goes...

1. when i was 16 and burton was 12, unbeknownst to either of us, i attended his ward in farmington, utah with my friend matt (who was in the same ward) while on a family vacation at cherry hill campground. if someone had told me that day that i would marry one of the deacons passing the sacrament, i'd have laughed in their face 'til it hurt.
2. burton and i have driven from the west coast to the east coast of the united states together, travelled to 26 US states and 7 countries together, and 1 canadian province... which i'm from... that part is pathetic.
3. burton and i kissed before we'd ever even been on a date. THAT is what i call a solid foundation, people!
4. when burton got his family together and told them he had an announcement, in order to tell them he had received his mission call and was going on a mission (something they weren't expecting), his whole family thought he was announcing that we were getting married. his dad's comment to me afterwards -- "we would have been happy either way" ... ya right! :)
5. i usually cook.
6. burton usually cleans.
7. neither of us want to thaw the chicken. (i'm clearly running out of tidbits)
8. we have an on-going disagreement about whether the bottle of hand soap should sit on the rim of the sink or on the counter behind the sink... and everyday it's moved back and forth about a dozen times. insanity, i tell you.

and the list goes on... but that's where it gets too personal... and a little TOO odd. so... i'm supposed to tag two other people. so... (1) whit and ben... because they're blog slackers lately. and (2) becki and jeff... because they're entertaining. :)

(UPDATE: err.... i've been to two canadian provinces. which is still pathetic... but not to be trumped by the patheticness of not remembering that.)

grade 12... senior year... whatever...

saw this post on ashby's blog... which you can only see if you're cool enough to have been invited :) ... and it seemed kinda fun. so here goes:

*** MY SENIOR YEAR (a.k.a. grade 12) ***

1. who were your best friends?
jessica, melissa, and emily

2. what sports did you play?
uh... does winning the stake basketball tournament count? how about playing volleyball with the missionaries?

3. what kind of car did you drive?
i wish. ok... well, not like these were my cars... but i drove my parents van (like a real van... like the kind with a bed and a tv and captain chairs in the back... you should've seen me parallel park that sucker... like a glove! passed my drivers test in this vehicle, i'll have you know), i drove my parents little tracker (and failed my drivers test twice in it... did i seriously just admit that?), and shortly after highschool my dad braved the "teach your daughter how to drive a stick" experience and i learned to drive our honda prelude.

4. on friday nights what were you doing?
sleepovers with the girls. church dances. going to parties and practicing the phrase "no thanks. i don't drink."

5. were you a party animal?
i didn't drink. i didn't do drugs. didn't smoke. my body was a temple and no one had a recommend. i was a major flirt and loved friends and stuff... but party animal. i don't think so.

6. were you considered a flirt?
see above. yes. yes, ok. yes i was.

7. were you in band, orchestra, or choir?
if there wasn't a trip to hawaii involved, i wasn't interested.

8. were you a nerd?
teachers pet, yes. nerd, no. dork... definitely.

9. did you get suspended/expelled?
i thought about this often. in my entire life, i was never ever even sent to the principals office. this fact sort of made me nervous, because i came to realize later on in my high school career, that should it ever happen, i would have no idea what to do and i would feel the need to ask the teacher "umm... so you said go to the principals office... exactly what do i do when i get there? do i sit down and wait? do i knock on the door? will you even know if i made it there?" and the teacher would think i was being a brat... but really... i had no idea. so no... never suspended or expelled. although... i did almost get kicked out of ricks college. that was fun. :)

10. can you still sing the fight song?
seriously... i didn't even know what a fight song was 'til i left canada. and i still don't really get it.

11. who was your favorite teacher?
mr. myhrer's - english teacher. we've been through this before. oh wait... he wasn't even my teacher my senior year... haha... ok favorite senior year teacher... hmm... nothing's really coming to mind. too much drama my senior year to worry about school. :)

12. where did you sit during lunch?
locker bays. outside. melissa's kitchen. oh... melissa and i used to go to her house and watch "remington steele" on our lunch breaks. haha. awesome.

13. name the school's full name?
dover bay secondary school

14. school mascot?
dolphin... doesn't that just strike fear in your mind?

15. school colors?
turquoise and white, maybe?

16. rival high school?
every other school in nanaimo. dover bay was sort of viewed as the rich kid school... so there were lots of enemies. and not that i was rich.

17. did you go to prom?
wow... i have no idea where to begin with this question, so i'm just going to leave it at "yes".

18. if you could go back and do it again, would you?
if i could go back to highschool and do it again, i would do it differently. but i don't think i'd be stoked about the idea. freshman and sophmore years at college though... definitely!

19. what do you remember most about graduation?
drama drama drama. girl likes boy (ok... many boys), boy likes different girl, girl's friend likes same boy(s), girls get in huge fights almost every day and then have sleepovers and are best friends again almost every night. boys. wow.

20. where did you go senior skip day?
i don't recall if this was something that happened at my highschool... if i did skip this day, i probably went to melissa's house and we probably ate food and watched tv or talked about boys while laying on the trampoline.

21. favorite memory?
stumped. but i'm sure it has to do with a boy.

22. were you in any clubs?
nope.

23. where did you go most often for lunch?
this is sort of a repeat question... moving on...

24. have you gained some weight since then?
hard to say. probably about the same actually. except what was once muscle is now some other substance i care not to talk about.

25. who was your senior prom date?
adam beaumont... or was it eric ellis... or were those melissa's dates? ;)

26. are you planning on going to your 10-year reunion?
came and went. didn't go, but reconnected with a bunch of people virtually. wish i could have been there.

27. who was your home room teacher?
no idea. did we have home room?

28. who will re-post this after you?
maybe whit... or jackie... or alison... i'm not sure...

29. who was your high school sweetheart?
hmmm... you want the whole list?

30. do you still talk to people from high school?
yep. quite a few actually.

31.did you win prom queen or king?
americans...

32. where did you work in high school?
i cleaned my dad's office once a week... yes, i was a janitor... for my dad.

33. what were your grades?
good. i did better when i got to college though.

34. what was your dress style?
i plead the 5th (which i can do, since i'm in the us)... but i will say it included the word "short" a lot.

35. what year did you graduate?
1996 -- geez.

okay, so here's the challenge... conjure up your best (and worst!) highschool memories and post this survey!

five more things... well technically 30...

it's been awhile... but i've been tagged by esther. so here goes...

five things i was doing 10 years ago:
1. working my way up the corporate ladder at staples.
2. thinking, dreaming, crying, laughing, fighting... about boys.
3. preparing to leave for college... i thought i'd be going for one semester, maybe two. who knew...
4. sending a boyfriend off to be a missionary.
5. discovering email and instant messenger. so weird.

five songs i know the lyrics to:
1. the theme song to "the fresh prince"
2. ganstas paradise (coolio)
3. come as you are (nirvana)
4. zombie (cranberries)
5. today (smashing pumpkins)
this is not a reflection of my favorite songs, per sa, but simply a reflection of the era in which i grew up. :)

five things i would buy if i were a millionaire:
1. a second car.
2. a modest size home, but with all the furniture and trimmings i covet in the catalogs i currently order to torture myself with.
3. patience... you can buy that right?
4. let's be honest... clothes, clothes, and when that got boring... more clothes.
5. stock. 'cause i'm boring like that.

five things i would never wear again:
1. boxer shorts and baggy jeans. yes, i am female... don't ask.
2. belly shirts, mini skirts, and daisy dukes. not that i ever wore those, Mom. ;)
3. burkenstocks. ok... FAKE burkenstocks. i never had real ones.
4. scrunchies. who decided that looked good?
5. braided belts. i shutter at the thought.

five things i would like to do:
1. travel travel travel. egypt, jerusalem, japan, china, russia, back to greece, more italy, more paris, more more more please.
2. write a book.
3. actually print some digital pictures.
4. go home to canada more often. i miss my family, my friends, the rain, the ocean...
5. finish reading a book. (it does happen... just not very often)

five favorite toys:
1. i have a soft spot for stuffed animals.
2. barbie. alright. i love barbie.
3. can we talk about a toy i HATE for a second... 'cause that would be BRATZ dolls. the person who came up with that idea should be shot.
4. lego
5. i could kill anyone at super mario cart!

five people i tag:
if you're reading this... do it.

three three three three...

so... if kate can copy me, i can copy her.

three things that scare me
1. the potential of long car rides with really annoying people who either can't shut up OR can't sustain a conversation.
2. the dark. yes... i am 28 years old and afraid of the dark.
3. the freeway right before 106th south in salt lake city -- BARELY avoided two really bad accidents right there and i tense up every time.

three people who make me laugh
1. burton -- pretty much everything he says is hilarious.
2. dave & bart -- which i know is two people, but if you knew them you'd know it was a package deal.
3. kam -- which i miss. because we don't share an office anymore and so i don't get to crack up all day long while i'm at work anymore.

three things i love
1. laughing so hard you think you're going to cry.
2. road trips -- long ones.
3. childhood friends.

three things i hate
1. ending a phone conversation. "ok.. good to talk to you... you too... i'll let you know how it goes... ok great... great... alright well, have a good day... you too... k, bye... bye" (lame!!)
2. red lights. stop signs. yield signs. cross walks. basically stopping my car.
3. and... drum-roll please... thawing chicken.

three things i don't understand
1. child pornography.
2. statistics.
3. burton's belly button lint -- seriously!! where the crap is it coming from!?

three things on my desk
1. bed sheets.
2. two pillows.
3. a down comforter. (recognizing a pattern here?)

three things i'm doing right now
1. getting paid.
2. ummmm...
3. and that's about it... haha.

three things i want to do before i die
1. go to egypt.
2. learn a really cool language, like chinese.
3. finish reading all the books i've started.

three things i can do
1. drive a stick-shift like i'm a race car driver.
2. negotiate.
3. keep little kids entertained -- i usually can't walk the next day, but in the moment it's fun.

three things i can't do
1. eat mayo without initiating my gag reflexes.
2. tolerate rude customer service people.
3. hide my feelings.

three things i think you should listen to
1. your parents.
2. music that makes you smile.
3. criticism.

three things you should never listen to
1. ignorance.
2. hatred.
3. women when they're pms-ing.

three things i'd like to learn
1. the alto parts for all the songs in the hymn book.
2. patience.
3. speed reading... so i can finish all those books i've started.

three favorite foods
1. really good ceasar salad.
2. katrina filet at macaroni grill (which you can't get anymore!! grrr!).
3. rice crispie treats.

three shows i watched as a kid
1. saved by the bell.
2. full house.
3. the price is right, when i was sick and got to stay home from school.

three things i regret
1. worrying so much about what people thought of me in school.
2. not booking our hotels in europe earlier.
3. not getting a professional photographer for our wedding.

three people i'm tagging
1. if you're reading this... you're it!

if my life was a movie...

if my life was a movie, what would my soundtrack be?

so, here's how it works:
1. open your music library
2. put it on shuffle
3. press play
4. for every question, type the song that's playing
5. when you go to a new question, press the next button
6. don't lie and try to pretend you're cool.

(side note: i swear i did exactly what it says above, and they came out just like they are below... but some of them are bizarrely perfect... i guess i'm just naturally cool, no pretending here)

opening credits: "alameda" by elliot smith (uh... ok?)

waking up: "i can’t" by radiohead (so true... so so true)

first day at school: "american idiot" by green day (hahaha... wow)

in love: "talk" by coldplay (for all those poor young men i've dated and had oh-so-many "talks" with... i truly am sorry for putting you through that)

fight song: "just another" by pete yorn (you know me... all i do is throw punches)

breaking up: "delicate" by damien rice (cause i'm such a princess)

prom: "the word" by the beatles (we're not going to talk about prom)

life's ok: "black" by sarah mclachlan (so, i guess it's NOT ok)

mental breakdown: "(night time is) the right time" by ray charles (i always say that... the only time to have a breakdown is late at night... definitely)

driving: "a foggy day" by frank sinatra (i hate driving in fog)

flashback: "china roses" by enya (remembering them is my favorite part)

getting back together: "nothing left to lose" by mat kearney (so we might as well)

birth of child: "silver bells" by bing crosby (so maybe it's christmas... )

wedding: "it’s good to be in love" by frou frou (i SWEAR i didn't cheat)

final battle: "i’ll be seeing you" by billie holiday (seeing you getting your face kicked in by my round-house kick to your head!! grrrrrrrr!)

death scene: "witchcraft" by wolfmother (i always knew that's how i was going to go)

funeral song: "sadness" by enigma (i SWEAR! ... and i expect everyone to cry!)

end credits: "running to stand still" by u2 (might as well)


ok... now it's your turn!

one hundred confessions of a crazy canuck

so, i'm stealing jackie's idea and i'm going to write 100 things about moi. call it self-absorbed or maybe a bit of a confessional type experience... i don't know, but it sounded fun. so here goes:

100. i was born on my parents first wedding anniversary.
99. i'm canadian.
98. i bought my volkswagen jetta about 6 months before burton got home from his mission because i knew burton didn't like vw's, and i was worried if things worked out and we got married that he'd never let me buy it.
97. i went to efy twice - once in washington state and once at ricks college (ricks 6... it was a big deal)
96. i wore casts on both my legs for the first six months of my life because there was a problem with my toes... but the casts got so smelly that my mom went back to the doctor and forced him to take them off because she couldn't stand it anymore. luckily they'd been on long enough that i don't walk like a duck.
95. i hated country music til i started dating burton... i'm one of THOSE girls.
94. i used to list every guy i had a crush on in my journal on any given day... sometimes there were as many as six.
93. in highschool i would bring clothes that my mom wouldn't approve of with me to school and change in the bathroom.
92. in 5th grade i wrote a book with my friend tara called the "jt detectives".
91. the first time i kissed a boy was in 7th grade and it was one of those experiences where all the girls are pushing me and all the boys are pushing him and there's nowhere to go but towards each other... i kissed his chin and he kissed my nose.
90. i had little red hearts on my wallpaper until i was 16.
89. i had a few new kids on the block posters on the walls in my room, and i would sit and daydream about donnie wahlberg.
88. on that note... i owned the nkotb christmas album.
87. i've played bloody mary in the girls bathroom in elementary school and still get creeped out by mirrors in the dark.
86. my best friends in highschool (all mormon kids -- guys and girls) had a tradition of staying at one person's home on new years eve every year and staying up ALL night after the new years eve dance doing nothing... watching movies, eating food, whatever. if you fell asleep, you got jiffy marker on your face.
85. i have 108 people on my instant messenger list... i think i'm addicted.
84. in highschool (and sometimes in college and since graduation), i could talk on the phone for 6 or 7 solid hours in one sitting and be totally engaged the whole time.
83. i bite my nails.
82. i have had what some might call a bit of a wart problem with my feet. i've had surgery a few times and basically my podiatrist is like my grandpa... i even invited him to our wedding.
81. melissa and kam (who don't really even know each other) have almost the same identical handwriting as i do. with kam and i, i sometimes can't even tell our handwriting apart.
80. the people i have had the most all-out fights with are my absolute best friends in the whole world.
79. i love spicy foods.
78. i spent most of my life liking my steak well-done thinking that it was better that way, until burton introduced me to medium and i fell in love with steak.
77. you already know this if you've read my previous posts, but i have an uncanny aversion to thawing chicken. i hate it with a passion.
76. i look like my dad.
75. i see my mom when i look in the mirror.
74. i have white hair - like not a few... like if i wasn't obsessive about plucking my white hairs, i'm sure you'd notice them.
73. if i could, i would wear my flip flops all year.
72. i have an obsession with coats. all sizes. if it's cute and it's for a toddler, i will find a toddler to buy it for.
71. i really like clocks. not lame clocks (except the egg shaped alarm clock i bought at target that burton absolutely hates), but i love cool clocks. i want to have a clock on enough walls in my home that i merely have to turn my head from any place in my home and know what time it is.
70. ironically, i hate wearing a watch. i don't own a watch.
69. i owned two... count them, two... mickey mouse watches in highschool that sang "it's a small world afterall" when you pressed a particular button. yes... highschool. yes... two. one brown and gold and one black and silver.
68. the clothes in my closet are color coordinated. but i never make my bed.
67. the first concert i ever went to was Weezer and No Doubt in 1997... and it was awesome.
66. the most recent concert i went to was U2... and it was even more awesome.
65. i was the only kid in my 5th grade class to get straight A's and i was ridiculed for it. you can cry for me now. kids are so mean.
64. i have never drank even a drop of alcohol... and i'm canadian... and mormon, so i guess they kind of cancel each other out.
63. i love the snooze button. i LOVED snoozing when i was single. i just enjoyed it... i relished it. but now that i'm married, and i know i'm driving my husband crazy, it's not so fun anymore. but i still do it... every morning.
62. i have never been water-skiing. i've been kneeboarding, wakeboarding, tubing, etc... but never strapped on the skis.
61. i had a song written about me in college and put on a CD that people own. it's weird. but i kinda like it. and my dad cracks jokes about it all the time still.
60. i really like to cook... and i'm pretty good at it too... but curse that frozen chicken that needs to be thawed first!
59. i've cheated (on tests and stuff). a few times. and we'll leave it at that.
58. sometimes i won't kill spiders in my house, because i figure that eventually they'll just go away.
57. i love strawberries... period. pretty much strawberry anything.
56. almond toffee symphony bars... need i say more?
55. i have never been good at sticking to something... piano lessons, the gym, tae-bo, sports... but you know, i really like yoga... and i think i'll actually stick with it. thanks whit.
54. i'm not sweet. but i try to be kind... most of the time.
53. i like to work in the dark. burton will come in the room or the apartment and start singing "batman... da-na-nana-nana-nana".
52. i spent hundreds of dollars in college on textbooks i never read.
51. i was an english major for almost two years and then changed to advertising because i didn't like to read.
50. i have freckles and dimples. the freckles aren't that noticeable for the most part.
49. i love freckles on other people.
48. i have two shades of skin... white and red. there is no such thing as "tan" for moi.
47. i have two crushes other than my husband... johnny depp and jake gyllenhaal.
46. i can't handle background noise. like music or video games through a wall, people talking outside my apartment, car alarms, hammering, tapping, HUMMING and WHISTLING (equally)... and much more.
45. i never want to lose touch with any of my friends. ever. and i miss the ones i never see.
44. i could make myself cry right this very minute if i start to think about the possibility of my dog dying. and i'm going to leave it at that so i don't.
43. i'm the oldest child in my family (of 2) and my brother, mom and dad are all youngest children (well, my mom is second to youngest... but one of the youngest)... and none of us know what it's like to have a sibling of the same gender.
42. i remember birthdays. for some strange reason, they just stick. i remember people's birthdays that i don't even like anymore... the day will come and i'll be like "crap... why do i know this?!"
41. i loved being teachers pet in school... elementary school, highschool, college... you name it. i took pleasure in it.
40. i had a crush on my english teacher in highschool. like the movie "never been kissed" but i wasn't actually old enough like drew barrymore's character ended up being. and we never kissed. very important part of that story.
39. the very first boy i ever kissed (see #91) ended up being gay in highschool and died of a drug overdose. weird.
38. i once applied for a job as a waitress at a place back home just for the summer, and the manager, as part of the interview, asked me to tell a joke. and i did it. and it wasn't funny. and i didn't get the job. does anyone else think that's really lame?
37. i had those posters... you know the ones... the black and white ones of the little kids dressed like adults from the 1920s with flowers that were in color. i shared a room with jess in COLLEGE and had those still. she wanted to kill me. thank you jessica for making me grow up and get rid of them.
36. my favorite color right now is green.
35. my lucky number is 8.
34. i'm a sagittarius.
33. i used to write the horoscopes for my highschool newsletter and i would hear people in the bathroooms saying "oh my gosh! that's SO true!" and i would make fun of them for being so stupid.
32. i used to read the horoscopes in magazines and say "oh my gosh! that's SO true!"
31. my friends and i would play MASH (Mansion, Apartment, Shack, House) to figure out who we were going to marry, how many kids we were going to have, our occupation, the kind of house we would own... and i would put a lot of faith in the positive outcomes.
30. i like using a particular kind of pen.
29. i get homesick for the pacific northwest more than i admit.
28. i had never colored my hair until 2001 when i met kam.
27. my name is finnish, and would be spelled "janeija" if it were spelled the finnish way.
26. i haven't used shaving cream or soap or anything to shave my legs in about 8 or 9 years.
25. i don't have a canadian accent anymore... except for the following words i can't say: flag, bag, tag, vague (probably the hardest one for me to say), and plague.
24. i had 9 volumes of journals when i met melissa and she was so cute and wanted to read them, so i let her... and she read every single one.
23. i'm lazy. when i put my mind to something, i can work my butt off... but deep down, in my heart of hearts... i'm lazy. and it drives me nuts.
22. i really love fly fishing. really. and ALMOST more than i love fly fishing, i love my fly fishing gear... mostly the boots... cause they're cute.
21. i'm an interrupter. i really really hate that i do it, so i really really try really hard not to. but it's a battle i fight and sometimes lose.
20. my knees ache when i get really tired. and my head hurts when i get really hungry. does any of this make sense to you?
19. sometimes i like being sick... it's a good excuse to take a break (see... lazy) and i usually get this sexy raspy voice, which i think is pretty cool.
18. i miss school sometimes. and then i remember making no money and paying to learn useless crap. and i don't miss it anymore.
17. my dad was a DJ when i was a little girl.
16. my dad was also a movie theatre manager when i was a little girl and one week my mom went away to a convention or something and i went with my dad to the theatres all day and watched "back to the beach" about a thousand times (bet you don't even know what that movie is!)
15. i was a faker. (i try really hard not to be a faker anymore). i would call home from school and pretend to be sick so i could come home and veg out (and... lazy).
14. in college, my roommates and i would stay home from school to watch 90210 reruns all day.
13. i can't watch scary movies, or i will literally not be able to close my eyes to wash my face for many months.
12. i watched "the ring"... i can't even talk about it. I GOT A BLOODY NOSE PEOPLE!!!
11. i love the cosby show. burton almost bought me the dvds.
10. i think my dad was right when he said that "paying for your education is an important part of gaining an education"
9. i love sneezing.
8. i love sneezing while driving... it's kind of a scary rush. like, am i going to hit a car while my eyes are closed?
7. john lennon was killed on my 2nd birthday, and i have the same birthday as sinead o'conner and cybil shepard... uh, who?
6. in highschool, i was known as "the mormon girl who wasn't going to have sex til she's married"... fun huh?
5. at a restaurant, if i can have ceaser salad, i will.
4. two words... prom sucks.
3. it's 1:12 AM and i'm still awake writing this post. see... if i put my mind to it...
2. i'm going to love the snooze button tomorrow, for sure.
1. tada!

one word answers

feeling: relaxed (or is that just a nice word for "lazy")
thinking about: "the view"
your family history: unfinished
the last person you had "words" with: burton (probably)
want to fly away to: italy
hate the sight of: yogurt (being stirred)
the sport whose players turn you on: football (love the butts)
favorite color ink: yellow
american idol judge who irritates you most: randy (dawg!)
place you thought monsters hid when you were little: bed (under it... one word answers are lame)
favorite spice or herb: garlic
what you like for breakfast: special-k-bar (hyphens make it one word, right?)
your living room couch: plaid / borrowed / in-laws (no one said anything about multiple one word answers)
most recent purchase: "the prestige"
hours you typically sleep on weeknights: 8
something you dislike: poodles
a favorite color: olive
your snack when willpower is nonexistent: symphony (the 1 lb bar)
your bedsheets: wrinkled
the part of your face you scrunch most often: eyebrow / forehead
the last thing you thought was funny: commercial (tyson chicken commercial)
what you're going to do now: eat

now you copy and paste this and either post it on your blog or in the comments!

p.s. seriously... one word answers bore me. i can't even do it.

five things about moi challenge

simply because i would rather be doing pretty much anything besides what i'm supposed to be doing right now, i will use this time to respond to kate's challenge to list 5 things that are uniquely me and that she wouldn't already know about me. and since we were friends for a total of about 7 days back in 1996 at EFY (ricks 6 baby!) this should be pretty easy for me to do. i suppose i'll put a spin on it and try to identify 5 things MOST people wouldn't already know about me, just to make it interesting.

1. i am a compulsive eavesdropper. i've discovered that a lot of people do it, but i happen to be particularly skilled at it. i can usually tell by facial expressions, tone of voice, and of course the few words that i can hear (or see) here and there while carrying on my own conversations simultaneously, what is going on with people sitting near me in a restaurant, standing behind me in line, sitting across from me while waiting for my plane to start loading passengers, talking in the next office over, sitting outside their apartment talking on their cell phone (i wish i couldn't hear this one... cause it's usually at 2 AM and single girls between the ages of 18 and 22 tend to make me want to slit my wrists). anyway, i can't seem to help it, but i am an eavesdropper.

2. i hate thawing chicken. hate it with a passion mind you. and in most cases this wouldn't be a major problem because how many people out there really LOATHE thawing chicken. but unfortunately for me, my husband hates it too. so here we sit most evenings dreading the first step in cooking pretty much most things we like to eat because neither one of us wants to get up, open the freezer, pull out the chicken and start the thawing process. and there doesn't seem to be a process that is particularly better than another. thawing in the microwave is messy and juicy and i hate the smell of raw chicken. thawing in hot water seems to be our preference, but it's messy and wet and takes awhile. thawing in a bag in the fridge is probably the least messy, but you have to be organized and know what you're planning to cook the next day, and well... i'm just not that person.

3. i don't like a bizarre number of foods and i can list pretty much all of them: black beans, kidney beans, pinto beans, any kinds of beans except green beans, eggs, mayo, sour cream, cottage cheese, yogurt, sour krout, guacamole, alfredo sauce, fish including tuna, seafood period actually, chicken salad, potato salad (some of these are a given because i hate the ingredients, but i'll still list them), brussel sprouts, cabbage, tap water, most cereals that are good for you, cookie dough, lamb (sick), game of any kind... i've tried pheasant and it does not taste like chicken, cream cheese, butter on bread, ranch dressing, thousand island dressing, crappy ceasar salad dressing, pretty much any creamy dressings, any creamy sauces that would go on a burger or sandwich, cauliflower, squash, yams, pie crust, bananas, chicken pot pie, apple sauce, oatmeal, peanut butter and jelly anything, parogies, skin on chicken... i'm sure there's more, so i'll keep adding as i think of them. and actually... i like a few weird things too: hot peppers, the edges of brownies (the corner piece is the best), crispy cookies... notice this list is significantly smaller than the list of things i don't like. so my oddities tend to be more offensive than welcome. i spent most of my life being rude when eating dinner at other people's homes. i'm lame. and my parents used to tease me about being from another planet because i didn't like so many foods... until the day my mom asked me if there was one thing that they could do to make my life better what would it be, and i said "could you stop telling me i'm from another planet?" makes you want to cry just thinking about my mom's heart breaking, doesn't it?!

4. i have a knack for sneaking things. i will admit that i don't do it anymore because i'm married and too mature for sneaking (or rather, it's just embarrasing to think that i would be sneaking in my own home with just one other person in the house who would just think you were really strange for doing it). but when i was a kid... and ok... when i was in college... i had a knack for being able to sneak things and make them look exactly the way they were when i found them. i did it mostly when i was a kid though (all my old roommates are sitting back thinking "man! that's why my good cereal went so much faster than it should have!" hehe)... but back home i would sneak food all the time... cookies, candies, flintstone vitamins (they were good). i was also a little obsessed with looking for christmas presents (which i don't do anymore, i promise!). my brother and i knew all the hiding spots. we could unwrap our presents hidden in the back of the closets and make them look perfect. we found them under the head board of my parents waterbed (we'll talk about waterbeds another time... cause they were rad), behind the drawers of their waterbed, at my grandparents house... my parents had to get pretty creative, but there were only so many places to put things in our house. anyway... i am sneaky.

5. i have started about 25 books that i have never finished. this is not to say i can't finish a book, cause i have done that plenty of times. but i am really good at starting a book and never picking it back up again. or getting distracted by another book. i have even started the same book a couple of times and never finished it. and on the other end of the same weird stick, i also can't stop reading books sometimes and i will end up reading into the night to finish a book in one day.

so... my husband knows all of these, and my best friends probably know most of these... if i were to delve in to the "really obscure", it would just be embarrasing... so we'll leave it at that. and the next step in this challenge is to tag 5 other people to write their own post with 5 things about them that i don't already know. here they are:

whitney: because you need some motivation to get the ball rolling with your cute little blog.

becki: because it's been too long since you last posted something and i'm running out of things to waste my time reading online.

nephi: because who gets to read their old boyfriends blog 10 years later? it's just funny. :)

bwitty: because i think you should start a blog.

melissa: because you're cute and sweet and i bet you have some deep dark secret you're dying to unleash online. :)