Devastation.

Our trip to Santa Fe did not go as planned. 

We already arrived in Santa Fe when we discovered that the concert was cancelled. We had already done some sight-seeing before heading over to the park where the concert would have been. It was almost 5:00pm and we were all a little tired (and maybe a little cranky) from walking around in the afternoon heat, so a concert by a fun (pun not intended) band would have been an excellent cure. You can imagine our disappointment (Mine and Holly's, at least. Our men aren't super fans like us.) when we were given this news. It was the whole point of the trip, ya know? I tried really hard to be positive about the situation, and it worked... but only until we reached Holly's parents' house (in which we were spending the night). I kept thinking to myself, "I could be watching Fun perform right now! I could be dancing and singing along!" I then allowed myself to feel sorry for myself. 

I should have been feeling sorry for the band too, I guess, with the lead singer being terribly sick and all. It was just really hard to swallow when it's a free show and the band cancels. It's the easiest to cancel free shows. Seemed a little suspicious. Jokes went around that he was probably hung over. We are terrible people with little faith/trust. (Haha) But fo' realz, I know he was legit sick. Regardless, it was pretty tough to get out of that "disappointment funk." 

We still had our own fun (pun intended), but we avoided listening to the band for the rest of the trip. It only reminded us of the whole situation. 

More about Santa Fe later, this post is already long enough! 

Can't Hug Every Cat

Holly's mother-in-law found a couple of stray kittens. Holly has them at her house, but her other cat (Mia) is a little sassy pants and doesn't like to share her pad with a couple of orphans. It's the least she can do, right? But there may be no convincing this cat, and so the kittens must go. I wish I could keep one, but we aren't allowed to have pets in this apartment.  

Now, please enjoy this video. If you've never seen it, watch this one first.

Awful/Awesome

So many awful things, so any awesome things this past week.
Let's begin.

Awful:

- Not being able to find some decent roller blades in my size for work.
- This week seemed like the longest.
- Going to get an oil change and finding out that Ryan's car has a leak. We haven't had it looked at yet...
- Not being able to find The Great Gatsby at the library
- Eating at a Chinese restaurant and being very dissatisfied with my meal, so we went out for frozen custard and I got full from that instead... Oh wait, maybe that's awesome.
- Realizing that I really need to stick to a budget
- It's been real smoggy 'round these parts. Apparently some mountains were on fire :|

Awesome: 
- I've reached 40 followers! Thanks guys :)
- Finding a pair of running shoes that fit! All I had to do was look in the little boys' section at Big 5.
- Planning a trip to Santa Fe to see fun. live... for freeeeeee
- Getting a new library card with my married name on it (I lost my old one...)
- Bearing my testimony in church today about remembering to be thankful and humble. I've got work to do, but by bearing my testimony about the subject, I am determined to do better
- Reading this blog post. Once again, the thankful thing
- Being in love (cheeeeeeesy)

skirt: Old Navy, belt & polkadot thing(?): thrifted, shoes: Kmart, necklace: a friend made it

(I was breaking off a twig, kay?)

What a Bum

I've been bumming around this past week. It seems like it has been such a long week too.
I guess I haven't been motivated to do much of anything. Le sigh.
I need a constant schedule. My work schedule may slightly change from week to week, so there's nothing I can do about that, but I can make a few goals for this summer that will help me feel more accomplished...

1. Update the blog at least 3 times a week
2. Work out at least 4 days a week
3. Take more photos!
4. Read The Great Gatsby (I may be the only person in America who hasn't read this book)
5. Have a legit date night each week
6. Read scriptures every day
7. Continue to save money for a fun summer trip :)

I know there are tons more things that I should do that aren't on this list, but I don't want to overwhelm myself or be unrealistic. The thing is, this past week, I've been so amazed with the internet. Haha, it's true. It's like I've rediscovered the endless possibilities and entertainment and magic(!) the internet has to offer. I've wasted so much time just looking at stuff when I could be doing stuff instead.

Wish me luck, friends.

T.G.I.S.

Oh Sunday, blessed Sunday. Thank you for Sundays. 

I've worked a lot this week, just as much as last week, and it can get tiring after a while: being in the heat and wearing skates for 6-7 hours. You know. 

My week in a nut shell~

Awful: 

- When I didn't look like this:

 I looked like this:

- Eating too much fast food... us Sonic employees aren't allowed to bring our own food to work. Lame, eh? It's especially difficult when you don't eat beef, pork, or chicken.
- Stressing over giving a talk and preparing a lesson for church.
- Going to bed at 3:30 in the morning because I was watching Glee after I got home from my night shift, and then laying awake in bed for another hour just thinking about the things I want (but can't afford) and trips I wanna take. I had to be at work the next morning at 11 and I woke up with just enough time to get ready. I was a wreck at work though.

Awesome: 
- Being rewarded with free mochi at the sushi restaurant for correcting the waitress on our total (she forgot to add the cost of the sushi to our main dishes). It was my first time eating mochi. So. Good.

- Getting my work schedule for this next week: I don't work as much :)
- My talk (speech) in church went well, and so did my lesson for the youth.
- I'm super excited to watch the second season of The Glee Project this summer
- When I walked into Holly's house to feed her cat today, I found this on the coffee table:

The perks of being a cat sitter.

Wise Words

I've come across some pretty awesome blog posts recently. I love reading a blog post and thinking, "Yeah! I TOTALLY agree with that!" So here are a few that have really blown my mind this past week:

The Secret Life of Bee

"So here I am admitting that I cry when I am overjoyed. I cry when I am overwhelmed. I cry when I watch Ellen DeGeneres, always. Sometimes I cry when I am singing in my car and I have this epiphany of my existence and I feel overcome by love for my family and friends and God and all the goodness that He brings to all of us. If someone cries in front of me, I will cry with them and for the first time in my life I am not ashamed of it. Showing emotion and feeling puts us in a very vulnerable state and all of my reasons for hating it are because of pride. I have wanted to look put together and if I let myself fall apart, I cannot appear as such. I have been oppressing the very gift that God has planted in all women: The gift to love and nurture and mourn with those that mourn."

Mo Mo Mod, Chandra

On the saying, "Modest is Hottest":

"Dressing modestly doesn’t have to be frumpy; I’m a firm believer in that idea. But why associate modesty with a worldly term? Since we are a chosen generation, I don’t think He called us to be hot. He called us to follow His Word–even when it’s not popular to do so. It’s hard to be a light when you associate with darkness." 

Delightfully Tacky

"Lately I've been thinking a lot about, well, a lot. But one of the things that stood out in the last week was how we have this tendency to describe ourselves based on our accomplishments, or how we base people's value on their accomplishments (or lack thereof). It was very obvious during my brother's graduation ceremony, which makes sense because graduation is really a celebration of an accomplishment. But it still made me hope that those kids don't base their value on their accolades and accomplishments. The high school my brothers and I graduated from prides itself on having a high academic standard, so I understand that they'd want to highlight that during a graduation ceremony, and to congratulate the graduates on making it through the rigor. It's easy to get caught up in placing your value on things like that though, and I think it's a shame. People have inherent value, not because of things they've accomplished, but because they're human beings. I shouldn't place a higher value on someone with a bachelor's degree and a lesser value on someone who only graduated high school. Someone who is a CEO isn't more worthy of love than someone who works the night janitorial shift in that CEO's office building." 

*all photos do not belong to me and came from their respective blogs*

Picnicking and a Solar Eclipse

We went up to Cloudcroft with Holly and Ronnie yesterday afternoon to enjoy some mountain air. 

I think Ryan and I are pretty blessed to have such a great couple as friends. What would we do without another married couple to hang with? 

And then it was time for an eclipse... 

We left before the sun set further because it got pretty cold once the moon blocked the sun, but as we were driving away we got a glimpse of how cool the complete eclipse was.