Phantom

Halloween weekend is FINALLY here!!! I have been craving treats all week long, but figured it was stupid to buy any since in a few short days there would be a seemingly endless supply in every direction. This weekend also means that my sister is coming in town!!!!! Oh I can't wait to see her! - we are going to run the Halloween Half on Saturday, the first 1/2 marathon for both of us. I'm glad she'll be doing it with me, because training didn't go quite as planned. :) Halloween also means I get to dress up!!! - which I LOVE to do. I am going to be a nerd, and I have my costume all laid out in my bedroom, just waiting for its moment of glory! To start off the festivities though, I think we are going to go to a masquerade tonight. I have never been to one, but every time it shows on in the movies it always looks so fun and classy!! (Ever After, Phantom of the Opera, Enchanted, etc.) I only decided last night/this morning that we would go. So now I need to make a mask (luck I just happen to have feathers and paint in my craft bin.) and figure out what to wear. The only formal dress I have out here is my wedding dress.... hmmm. Oh, or there's the brides maid dress from our wedding that I stole from my sister :) but its short... is that legal for a masquerade?? (cast your vote in the comments.) Also, we would love to have anyone join us. Its at 8 off state street just past Orem. And if you need masks you can come craft your with me today! (or if you're not going and still want to come craft with me.... that would be acceptable too.)

Here are some pictures of the dresses, and just some that are fun :)

(photo courtesy of New Start Photography)

(photo courtesy of New Start Photography)

(photo courtesy of New Start Photography)

(photo courtesy of Zoe Crook)

Cleaning Day

Anyone interested in starting a cleaning group? - I come over and help you clean your apt (not just pick up, but vacuum, scrub, etc) and then you help me do mine?

I am hoping this will do several things:

1. Make me actually do it (like I should be doing now... but instead I am blogging and dinking around on the internet searching things like "cleaning fairy").

2. Make it more enjoyable.

3. Make it go lots faster.

4. Let us get to spend more time together.

I have designated Wednesdays as my cleaning/laundry day (they alternate weeks), however, I am open to moving this day around to whatever is more suitable to your schedule. I am now taking applications, please leave yours in the comments. :)

Growth

I woke up yesterday and found a HUGE bump smack dab in the middle of my forehead!!! Naturally I ran through all the possibilities of what it could be. Here are the most reasonable and probable:

- I am growing another head.

- someone put a tracker/gps into me while I was sleeping (I may or may not be a highly skilled and highly intelligent member of the CIA, and naturally pose a threat to other government agencies, so they will want to know where I am and what I am doing at all times... just sayin)

- I hit my head on something; both hard enough to blackout and forget what happened and to get a huge goose egg.

-maybe it IS a goose egg...

- I am transforming into a dinosaur, or a unicorn, or some other creature with a horn on its forehead

- Someone made a voodoo doll of me and put a little too much stuffing in the forehead.

Yes, I think it very well could be any of these. Then again it might only be a bug bite or a pimple that hasn't surfaced yet. Well at least it decided to happen around halloween - no one will notice a not so small bump with all the other freakish stuff running around.

Google, you don't KNOW me!!

This is a funny game. All you need is a computer, the internet and your name (or the name of a friend)! I will put a true or false after each statement to see how well google knows me :) and to give you a little more insight into yours truly! :)

1. Type in "[your name] needs" in Google search: Monique needs to shave her legs (haha, true)

2. Type in "[your name] looks like" in Google search: Monique looks like fun. (also true :)

3. Type in "[your name] likes" in Google search: Monique likes to wear high heels all of the time (false... I wouldn't say all the time.. just every now and again for fun and to remind myself why I don't wear them all the time)

4. Type in "[your name] says" in Google search: Monique says winning an Oscar won't change her life (true)

5. Type in "[your name] wants" in Google search: Monique wants Sandra to call her (false. I don't want a stranger to call me)

6. Type in "[your name] does" in Google search: Monique does 3 backflips on trampoline bungee jumping (false, I have never done this, but if/when I do, it could be true)

7. Type in "[your name] hates" Google search: Monique hates skinny people (false)

8. Type in "[your name] goes" Google search: Monique goes out without makeup (true, but I try not to make it too much of a habit :)

9. Type in "[your name] loves" in Google search: Monique loves being a mama (false, I am not a mama...not yet anyway, but I'm sure I will when I am)

AND THE TOTAL IS!!!

TRUE- 4

FALSE-5

Result: GOOGLE, YOU DON'T KNOW ME!!

Last Lecture

I just finished reading the Last Lecture by Randy Pausch (again) and liked it even better this time!!! I love his insights on what is important in life and how to make it the most enjoyable and successful you can. Here are some of my favorite quotes from the book:

Criticism is good because "when you're screwing up and nobody says anything to you anymore, that means they've given up on you. ... Your critics are often the ones telling you they still love you and care about you, and want to make you better." (p.37)

"Luck is indeed where preparation meets opportunity" (p 119)

"Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted. And experience is often the most valuable thing you have to offer." (p 149)

After reading this book it got me thinking about my views on life, how I am unique, what experiences and people have gotten me to where I am now, and what advice I would give to others. Here's a short list of things I came up with:

- I realized that what makes me unique is my ability to learn from other people's experiences. This is especially true of my sisters, I have learned so much about life and what I want and how to act just from watching them.

This also applies to making things, if I see an example of a craft or dinner idea, or outfit, etc. I tweak it to fit my style, personality, etc. but seeing what others have done always makes me more creative and gives me new ideas

-I have learned that complaining gets you no where, and it just annoys the people around you, the more you complain the less sympathy people have for you. Complaining makes it hard to have fun b/c all your attention is on the negative. Things go wrong all the time, rather than complaining, just change plans, or try to make it an adventure.

This has come in handy on almost all our family trips. Somethings always seems to go wrong, but it ends up making some of the most unforgettable memories. (Like when our boat broke down, and we got towed in by a sea-doo biker smoking a cigar while the water from his sea-doo landed arched in the air and landed right in our boat, and his buddies circled us on their sea-doos like vultures.)

-Some of the strongest relationships I have are with those I have had to go through really hard things with. There's just something about struggling, sweating, and pushing through hard things with others that makes a strong and lasting bond.

I realized this with my senior cross country team. None of us were anything a like, but by the end of the season we were the best of friends because we had been through so much together, knew we could count on each other and that we understood each other. It is also a time when I got to see the integrity and work ethic of others which reveals a lot about all other aspects of the person.

-Realizations I have come to: 1- If I don't like someone, its because I don't know them well enough. 2-The more I put something off the less likely it is to happen (for better or worse) 3-If you want to know who you are you first have to know who you want to be.

Other points to ponder:

What were God's last words were to us before he sent us here to earth.

What would you say to your children/family/friends if you were going to die?

Read Lehi's last lecture to his children.

Below Freezing

Today there was no hot water when I was taking a shower. I was so cold I was completely white (well whiter than normal) as in if I didn't have my contacts in I wouldn't have been able to tell what was my foot and what was the tub! - all the blood had left my appendages to keep my heart, and other organs warm and functioning long enough to get me through washing my hair. And so of course I stood at the very end of the tub trying to avoid the stream of ice falling on me and only dashing in for a quick rinse after shampoo, conditioner and soap. And that's when it hit me:

I have the solution to the problem of the world's depleting source of fresh water! Ready?! Get rid of water heaters! (or as most people call them "hot water heaters" but really why would you want to heat water that is already hot?) Seriously though people- take this proposal to your senators!- because it would totally solve the problem! People would only take 3-4 minute showers, and even then probably only every other day because it is just too miserable and painful to be in there any longer when its warmer standing on the cold bathroom tile than being in the shower. So there you have it, it really is that simple.

And while we're at it, I bet we could curb the obesity epidemic as well, because really the only time a cold shower feels good is after a nice sweaty workout.

If I had a dreamcatcher, I would NOT want to catch this dream!

What are dreams? and what determines what they will be about!? And what the heck makes us dream of these bizarre things!? -- Those are the questions that have been going through my mind ever since I woke up this morning after this dream:

I was single again (that's not the creepiest part) and was living in an old house with 5 or 6 other girls. My roommate was my sister Alicia (probably the best part of the dream) and we had the room in the attic and it was a bluish grey, and we had a wood dresser in front of a white window with a big tree outside. I was still sleeping and Alicia got up to get ready for the day. We had the window open, but then it started to lightly rain, so Alicia closed it when she got up. I continued to sleep, but soon it got really chilly, and i felt little tickling on me, like a small fly, so I wiggled it off and snuggled deeper into the covers- but the fly, or soon flies, kept landing on me. I was so confused how they got in there because the window was now closed. I was getting grossed out with all the flies, but so tired I wanted to keep sleeping so I tried to just ignore it. Finally I can't stand it anymore, and I open my eyes and off to the right of the window were a BAGILLION flies!!!! but they were miniscule little baby flies, more like gnats than anything, but they were all clumped together, like bees when they are in a hive, crawling all over each other. EW!!! Needless to say I freaked!!! I and I panicked wondering how they got in there! then I go over and look at the window that extends halfway behind the dresser. And thats when I see the problem- there must have been a leak in the window and it had rotted away the wall below the window and even the floor beneath it to the ceiling of the room below!!! (which was the kitchen - why that was an important detail in my dream I do not know). It didn't go through the ceiling, but just the floor and rafters below. So that's where the cold breeze and all those nasty little buggies were coming from! So there I was in my nightgown in the cold breeze with this sickening buzzing right to the left of me, looking at this rotting wood that created a gaping hole in our room!!!!! It was so scary! Next thing I remember (I must have called for a roommate or else someone just came in to talk) I'm back in bed curled up tight hiding in my blanket, peeking out as one of the girls, I actually think it was Alicia - is taking a shoe and smashing the little intruders! there are so many of them that they just fall in sheets bigger than the shoe when she smashes it! and she does that about 3 or 4 times and nearly 3/4 of the nasty pile of gnats are not dead in a heap on the floor right by our bed! As gross as that image was, at that point I was perfectly at rest because I knew they were dead and now was focusing on calling our landlord to fix the rotting hole!!!!

It was SO vivid, I even drew a picture for your viewing pleasure (click on it to make it larger):

Then I come out of unconsciousness into semi-consciousness and realize it was a dream!!!! I could feel my heart pounding and the adrenaline start to leave my bloodstream. But then in I continue to dream that I am running around telling all these people about this dream because it was so gross and vivid!! And it's bizarre because I can hardly ever remember my dreams, especially in so much detail, but this one was so real I could actually feel my skin crawling. And then I wake up for real and realize that I was so concerned about this dream that I dreamed I told everyone!! I'm sure if someone was watching me sleep during that dream I really would have been twitching off the flies, curling up tighter in my bed, and thrashing around. Needless to say, this is one of the mornings I actually didn't mind waking up and getting out of bed!

So I guess what I really want to say, is thanks Lici, for killing the nasty little buggies for me! (Especially because if it was real life I know you would be even more grossed out that I was!!!)