Thanksgiving Break 2013

Oh me, oh my. It has been so long since I have last updated this blog of mine! So let's play catch up, shall we?

This was one of the best Thanksgiving breaks I have had in a long time, for many reasons. First off, Thanksgiving is my absolute favorite holiday. The food is amazing, and I get to spend quality time with my family that isn't all about material possessions. Dillon also comes home for an entire week for Thanksgiving break which is the best.

Dillon flew into Phoenix so I drove to Queen Creek the Saturday before Thanksgiving. It was nice because we were able to spend some time with his family before heading back to Tucson. I don't know if I have mentioned this before but my parents now live in North Dakota. Our puppies, however, are still at the house, so I went to go visit them.

Afterwards we went mud bogging! It was fun...but I was all too eager to volunteer to get out and videotape them racing around instead of me being in the backseat ready to hurl.

We then went back to Tucson since I still had class and work until Wednesday. Luckily it wasn't all bad...Dillon's 21st birthday was on Tuesday so we had a lot to celebrate!

I booked us a room at Casino del Sol, so after I got off work and gave him his gifts, we headed over there to hang out until he could go out at midnight!

 The "alcohol garden" I made for him along with a Breaking Bad flask (his favorite) that says "I Am The Danger."

The room service we ordered which was soooo yummy. 

And, finally, MIDNIGHT! We pretty much played blackjack and drank that night and all of the next day. You only turn 21 once, right?? Well, I kinda got to turn 21 twice with him. ;)

 Yeah, nbd. ;)

Later that day we drove to Chandler to pick my sister up from my uncle's house. They also made a wonderful home cooked meal for us, plus his daughters (my cousins), and it was so nice!

Finally, Thanksgiving day arrived! That morning I made a corn dish and then we headed to my grandparents' house for lunch. Despite my parents and brothers not being there, I still had an amazing time with my extended family.

Friday we drove up to Prescott to spend time with Dillon's family at his aunt's house. His cousin just recently had a baby and she was just too precious. It was so cute to see Dillon holding a little baby girl, even if he didn't quite know what to do with her.

The rest of the weekend was spent going to different casinos and enjoying our time together! I have to say, even when I know the next time we see each other will be very soon, it is still hard to say goodbye. But I am definitely grateful for the time we do have together, however brief.

I hope you all had an amazing Thanksgiving, as well! I'll be back to play some more catch up soon. :)

Adventures Abound

I have never really been the type of person to seriously make New Year's Resolutions. However, this year I did make a sort of To Do List for 2013. So, that sounds exactly like resolutions, but I mainly made this list because this is my last full year of being an undergraduate in college! That's right - I am graduating a semester early. So by this time next year I will be a big grown-up college graduate! 

I attend the University of Arizona which is in Tucson. There are not a lot of people who think Tucson is all that exciting or attractive, and when looking at the part of Tucson the University is in, they might be right. But every day as I walk through campus, and then drive north of campus, I see a beautiful campus surrounded by gorgeous mountains.

Anyways, in trying to appreciate the town I have been living in the past two and a half years and will remain for another year, I wrote down some "Tucson Adventures" I would like to have during my last year here. This list includes going to a Wildcat football and basketball game, hiking Sabino Canyon, and going to the top of Mt. Lemmon.

Another list I am making is a list of books I want to read this year. I am in love with reading. Always have been, and hopefully always will be. I am especially into futuristic novels such as The Hunger Games series and the Uglies series. (If you haven't read either of these series, you are seriously missing out!) However, I had been hearing a lot about the author John Green and how amaaaazing his books are. Even though his writing is not in the genre I generally read, I decided to hop on board the Green Train (how terribly cheesy was that?). I started with Paper Towns and all I can say is that I was definitely NOT disappointed. It took me a while to really get into the book, but it is beautifully written and pulled me into the story in a completely different way.

I have already picked up Looking for Alaska (his first novel) at my school's library and am eager to get lost in the story. By the way, there are only two authors on my list of books, John Green (in which I want to read all of his novels), and David Levithan, in which I heard his book, The Lover's Dictionary is a unique but beautifully written story. As it turns out, Green and Levithan have actually collaborated and written a book together! Funny how things work, huh?

If you are trying to keep up with New Year's Resolutions, or just a more basic To Do List like mine, I highly suggest writing your goals down and placing them on a wall in your room! Here is my very simple but very efficient white board that is reminding myself daily that I want to do these things this year.

Nothing too fancy, but it is so far getting the job done! (Although I haven't completed any of my Tucson Adventures, I have already read a John Green book.) And that Fab Ab February calendar? I'll post about that later when the X's are a little more in numbers. ;)

Memories

This year, after seeing a ton of posts about it on Pinterest, I decided to keep a memory jar. I find that it is only helpful to look at the past when you are looking at all the good things that have happened. I think we can all learn and grow from our past, whether it is the good or bad, but there is no need to dwell on the pain of the past. So to help me focus on the good things in life, I created a memory jar! It was super easy and really cheap, as the only thing I had to buy was the jar.

My only real criteria was to buy one that had a lid, and also had a flat outside surface that I could decorate. I went to Ross because I figured I could buy a fairly cheap jar, and I hit the jar jackpot! There were so many that it took me probably 20 minutes to finally decide on one!

I had planned on painting the letters on with stencils, but that proved to be a little more difficult than I was expecting. So I just free-handed "Memories" towards the bottom of the jar and "2013" on the lid. I kept it simple by just using black paint. I decided to use bright colored sticky notes to write my memories on, which will give the jar the pop of color that isn't directly on the jar itself.

So far I think I have five memories! I did put a few memories from 2012, like going on the cruise with Dillon and his family, in there. But it was towards the end of 2012 so I figured it was okay. :) I'm going to write down small things as well as the big important ones. For example, I wrote a "memory note" on my first day of my Senior year of college as a small one. A HUGE one was celebrating my three year anniversary with Dillon. I'm really excited to fill it up and to read about all the good memories of this year towards the end of 2013. I am hoping that no matter where I am in life at that time, I can look back on these memories and smile.

'Ello Poppet!

Welcome to my blog. And welcome to me. This will be just a quick about me. I find myself a very simple girl which can be both a blessing a curse. I am in love with my best friend who has been in my life for around three years now. We are unfortunately a long distance relationship, although I can't say it is completely unfortunate because it has strengthened our relationship greatly. I go to the University of Arizona and am majoring in Psychology with a minor in Occupational Therapy. I'm still not absolutely positive what I want to do as a career, but I know that I'll find something that I love. I'm trying to love life more and be happier. I love the quote by Jerri Spinelli in Love, Stargirl:

Live today. Not yesterday. Not tomorrow. Just today. Inhabit your moments. Don’t rent them out to tomorrow. Do you know what you’re doing when you spend a moment wondering how things are going to turn out...You’re cheating yourself out of today. Today is calling to you, trying to get your attention, but you’re stuck on tomorrow, and today trickles away like water down a drain. You wake up the next morning and that today you wasted is gone forever. It’s now yesterday. Some of those moments may have had wonderful things in store for you , but now you’ll never know.”

I'm trying to live my life like that. To enjoy the small things in life and not worry about what has happened in the past that I can't change, and to not worry about what will happen in the future, because it is always changing. Here is to the new year, and hopefully a happier life.


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