Sunday Drive.

I really love driving Penny. It's the only time that I'm alone and get to think and sing and not worry about what someone is going to say to me or want me to do.
I love driving Penny, especially on Sundays. I sing hymns and enjoy the air blowing on my face.
Driving to church, the place where everything seems to make sense when nothing else does.
I'm not gonna lie, my hair looked dang good too.

With my crazy weeks, I feel like I get no time to myself.
I think I might do some online retail therapy tomorrow to relieve some stress.
And maybe get some Yodipity.
Or maybe Jake will take me on a date.
Who knows!

Happy Sunday!

Giving HOPE.

I haven't been taking a lot of pictures lately, or doing anything really lately, so I see now that I'm forced to blog about what I'm thinking about at the moment. At this moment, I'm thinking about my brother.

Since summer vacation started, I haven't really gotten a break. I was so looking forward to my 3 months off, and now I'm working more than I was even going to school. For some people, this would be the worst. Eight hour work days compared to four hour school days. But I just so happen to have the best job in the world. I work with autistic children, giving them hope for a better tomorrow.

I feel like in some small way, this is helping Colton. Whenever something clicks for my clients, I think about how something may be clicking for him. When they finally are able to get out the words they mean, I think maybe Colton is having a conversation with someone.

Next semester I start my pre-clinicals, and I really hope that I get the chance to work with these kids! They are seriously such a joy, and although they face challenges, at the end of the day they always seem to have a smile on their faces. We could learn something from that.

On a different note,

I'm having a hard time getting over The Hunger Games!

(more like having a hard time getting over Peeta..)

Any good books I should read?

You love me.

"Real or not real?"

I have been so busy lately. I have utterly missed my escape into the blogging world...being able to talk about what is happening in my life, journaling, and getting to read about other people's more interesting lives.

Between weddings, 11 hour work days, the world ending yesterday, and being the primary care giver to my grandma who just had knee surgery, I bet you can understand why I haven't been writing.

But I have been reading.

Every spare second that I've had, I've been reading. Because I fell in love with the characters of these books.

It's so good, I even carried it in my purse and read it at red lights on my way to work.

I got so caught up in the story that I didn't go on Facebook for a week. Not that that's a bad thing.

I highly, highly recommend these books.

It creates a world that we'd never want to live in, but want the characters to defeat so badly.

Where children are forced to kill each other while the country stands by and watches, doing nothing.

Where a girl can become a statement without even knowing it.

And it's about time that I fell in love with Peeta, too.

*Peeta Mellark, from Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games.

Weekend.

I'm tired.

More on that later.

♥ Does it look like Sirius got attacked by my yard? Because I'm pretty sure he did. I spent about an hour picking all those little pricklies off him.

♥ Friday night, me and Katie didn't know what to do, so we decided to find a new shake place to try out. Udder Delights is handmade, straight from cows, delicious ice cream and I highly recommend it! I got Cinnamon Strudel. Mmm!

♥ Saturday, our good friend Dallas came home from college in Philly, so we celebrated by having a day on the lake. It was the most beautiful day, and made me remember to appreciate Arizona.

♥ Red Velvet Pazookie? I die. 

{From BJ's, for Krista's bachelorette party}

♥ We had a Scavenger Hunt for my good friend Krista's bachelorette party, and it was so fun! I can't believe she's getting married in less than a week. Ah!

♥ Couponing!

Short and sweet. Now I sleep.

Friday the 13th.

I hope it's no unlucky to post today.

Today is my mom's birthday!

Hair dresser, belly dancer, super mom extraodinaire!

I seriously have the best mom in the world. My whole life was spent far away from her, but from the time I can remember I have always wanted to be like her. She's kind to everyone, understanding, and nurturing. She has had so many challenges in her life, and she's finally being rewarded for her bravery in this life! She is so strong and such an inspiration to me. I hope to some day be as good as she is. I'm so glad that Heavenly Father chose you to be my mom. I love you so much!

You are my sunshine.

Extremely...extreme.

My last week has been really crazy. You could say extreme.

Not only have I had finals, but today some really strange things happened.

One. I come home and see that my license plate has arrived!

We take it out of it's package to see what I've got...

Check it all out to make sure everything is ok...

And find this.

Underneath my license plate was a second license plate, with a different number.

I'm pretty sure that they made an extreme mistake! Ms. 78 is probably patiently waiting for her license plate while the license plate makers couldn't take the time to make sure their orders are correct!

I'm baffled!

Two. My dad and I have been watching Extreme Couponing...and we're a bit inspired.

Today we sat at the computer determined to find at least one good deal, because we didn't have time to plan out a whole shopping trip tonight.

Long story short, this is what we found:

The Breakdown:

4 boxes of Totino's Pizzas, Fry's sale of $1.29 each.

Albertson's coupon, $.77 each for up to 4.

2 Totino's manufacture's $.50 coupon, doubled for a dollar each.

2 store bonus coupons, $.27 each.

Total cost for each pizza:

$.13 each.

Read it and weep!

Best part? We could have saved more if we had 2 more manufacturer's coupons.

And by save, I mean, the store would have owed us about 2 dollars.

I love coupons!

Three. What the heck is this contraption?

I glared at it the entire time we were at Wender's.

How does it hold 160 different drinks?

How can they all come out of one spout?

Why does it taste extremely delicious, and much better than other sodas?

How did Wender's get so lucky to acquire one?

Where does it keep it's brain?

It can't be trusted.

Sometimes, life gets a little extreme. But I think I like it that way.

Scenes from the week.

Not the weekend, the week.

Because for some reason, I haven't been able to blog all week.

Hmm, I wonder why that could have been...

♥ I had my music theory final on Friday...and I got a B!

♥ Most of my weekend was dedicated to the music history final, which I took Monday.

♥ I have been practicing piano for about 15 hours now, so hopefully I do well on my final in about 3 hours. {Did I ever mention I bought myself a piano? Maybe I should some day...}

♥ For Mother's Day, my dad and I took Grandma out to Red Robin for dinner. Yum!

♥ My grandma is such an amazing woman, she is smart, funny, getting her doctorate, and way cooler than me. Happy Mother's Day, Grandma!

♥ Isn't my mom gorgeous? I will have a special Mom post on Friday, but I just have to say Happy Mom's Day to the best mom in the world!

Now, back to practicing... 

I love you, love you, love you!

Today was the first time in about 100 years that Jake and I have actually been able to spend time together.

And let me tell you what, it was simply splendid!

I'm loving having my camera fixed!

{headband: Forever; shirt: H&M; necklace: Forever; belt: Charlotte; Skirt: Forever; shoes: ASU kiosk store}

{watch out for that blue steel!}

The day started out just hanging out at my apartment, watching some TV. I decided that I should probably go to Tempe Marketplace to get the dress that I wanted from DownEast, as well as pick up my pottery from As You Wish. So we made it a date!

First we went to Barnes and Noble and bought some books. I'm so excited to actually be able to read something I want to read this summer instead of boring books about who composed what in 1903!

Next, we went to lunch together at Axxio (used to be Slices). We got the BBQ chicken and bacon pizza, and let me tell you what, I don't think I ever want to eat anywhere else in my whole life!

After that delicious meal and picking up the things I needed, I had to go to Mesa Riverview to get some pictures that I ordered for the empty picture frames in my room.

Since we were going that way, we decided to stop by for by one get one free Yodipity. I literally jumped around like a dog getting a treat when I saw that they had my favorite flavor, red velvet! It made my day.

After our little day date on the town, we came back to my apartment and watched some more TV and played Words with Friends while sitting right next to each other. I made us dinner, then it was time for him to leave.

It was so nice to have a day where I didn't feel like I had to do anything. And I got to hang out all day with the person I love to spend the most time with, and I'm so glad we finally got to spend that time together just being us. During the school year, I don't feel like us. I feel like we're too busy to truly be there for each other. Today showed me how nice it is to be in love.

"If you were to cast me off now -- but you will not -- you would never be rid of me. No one should come between us. I would pursue you to the death."

*Quote from Charles Dickens The Mystery of Edwin Drood.

Just getting ready for work...

And my camera is fixed!

Happy Reading Day, ASU!

I changed my mind.

{Mustache} Mondays.

Amber didn't actually feel like playing, but that just wouldn't be accepted.

Don't mustaches just make everything happier?

{I hate} Mondays; two words.

Women's Chorus.

The bane of my existence!

Don't get me wrong, these girls are all lovely.

I just don't like choir. Mostly I don't like singing with other sopranos. Diva, much?

Or interrupting my precious me time with concert.

I was about to lie and say "studying time," but I thought you all might scoff and roll your eyes at me.

It's the thought that counts, right?

The end!

Where were you when the world stopped turning?

"The images of 9/11 are seared into our national memory."

{I'm not going to VIA these, because most of them actually came from 9/11 conspiracy sites..}

I know this is what everyone is talking about.

But this is my blog. And I started this blog as a way of journaling because I truly don't like writing with a pen or a pencil. So this is a way of chronicling my life and feelings.

Osama Bin Laden was killed today.

I first heard from my best friend. My dad and I were eating dinner and watching "America's Next Great Restaraunt" when it was interrupted by a news crew talking about the death.

As I watch the news and the president's speech, memories come flooding back into me.

September 11, 2001.

I remember my dad waking me up in the morning telling me not to be scared. He carried me out onto the living room couch and I watched in horror as I saw one of the towers burning. Laying on the couch, we watched the footage as the second plane actually hit the second tower. On my way to school, we heard that the Pentagon had been hit. My school had not been canceled that day, but each classroom stayed inside all day and watched the news until class was over.

I remember learning about who Bin Laden was, and what he stood for. It was the first time I had ever heard of someone hating America. Why would anyone hate America? How could you hate millions of people who had never done anything to you; hate them enough to want to kill them? We had a boy in our class who's aunt worked at the World Trade Centers. He didn't come to school that day.

I remember crying. Someone who was nowhere near the disaster, crying. But I cried because I knew what it meant. In my 5th grade mind, I knew what it meant to be an American and know the terrible thing that Bin Laden had accomplished. I knew that the world would never be the same.

I remember there were no planes. The world was silent. Scared.

I was scared. What if it were Phoenix? What if it were LA? I have family in these places. I was so scared.

I will never forget how that day made me feel.

I will never said I'm happy that someone is dead, but I am so happy for what this means for our country. This means this wasn't all for not. It means that our war on terrorism means something. It means that the innocent people from that day didn't die in vain. This means that the heroes fought for something true.

I love our firefighters. I love our troops. I love the heroes and all those who believe in this nation.

And though those images are seared into my mind, I know that through this, peace is within our grasps.

God bless the USA.

*Quote from President Barack Obama.