Boy Summer is Busy!

This summer has seriously been crazy busy! Which rightly explains why I haven't had any time to blog! One would think that summer time would be the time to lay about and relax, but in reality summer is always the busiest for me, especially this summer. In May I got my Water Safety Instructor certification, so for the summer I have been teaching swimming lessons at the Farmington Pool. I have been aiding lessons for the past three years, but this year I took the leap and got certified to teach the lessons myself. It has been a lot of work, but the kids make it so rewarding. I get to teach the littler classes, so my ears are filled with the crazy funny stuff they say everyday! On top of teaching lessons I have also been teaching Water Aerobics. Getting paid to work out, doesn't get much better then that! I am seriously in love with Water Aerobics. You get a work out without feeling sweaty and hot. It's great! I highly recommend it! I am also doing Office Staff at the pool for my fourth year. So I am basically doing every kind of job at the pool except lifeguarding haha. This job is seriously the greatest summer job around! Getting paid to swim, and being able to come and swim whenever I want for free. Nothing better!

Feeling Classy

For the past month I haven't been wearing makeup so my eyelids could get back to normal, and today for the first time in what has felt like quite a while I wore makeup. Today I actually spent time on my hair and I wore makeup! I feel quite accomplished! And I am looking the classiest I have in about a month haha. Good thing I got all dressed up for the day so I can look super fancy for my day of intensive studying! But in all seriousness, it is nice to have my face back to normal again. Greatest feeling in the world!

College: Year One

I guess I have kind of been neglecting my poor blog this month. That's what working a part time job and going to school full time will do to you haha. But seriously this semester has been the busiest of my life. I don't think I have ever worked so hard before, but I love it. Although exhausting, and lacking in a social life, these past few months have been some of the most fulfilling of my life. I have learned to support myself financially, with hardly any help, I feel like I am really on my way to being a full blown adult haha. I really have bittersweet feelings about moving back home for the summer next week. I am so excited to go home and see all of my friends and family, but I am really sad to leave behind the many friends, especially my spectacular roommates, that I have up here. This has been one of the biggest years of my life, and I am really sad for it all to end. I look back to the time at the beginning of the year when I was sad and scared about being away from home, and now in completely different shoes I am sad to leave this place that once had me frightened out of my wits. College really is one of the best experiences of my life, and I can say whole-heartedly that my first year was phenomenal. I definitely look forward to coming back in the fall. But in the meantime I will enjoy going home to my friends and family and soaking up some summer sun!

My Name is Danielle, and I am a Pinterest Addict

After months of denial, I finally have to announce that I have a bad case of Pinterest addiction. It is bad! Multiple times a day I get on and make pin after pin. I've got a problem, friends. And the thing is, I don't think I want to stop. This extraordinary website has sucked me into its black hole of recipes, fashion, books, and the most addicting of all, movies and celebrities. How can I resist going and looking at shirtless pictures of Ryan Gosling, or saucy pictures of Josh Hutcherson in black vintage glasses. Curse you, my weakness for attractive men in glasses! Pinterest has targeted all of my obsessions and put them all into one place. It's like the person who invented Pinterest was like, "Oh, how about I make this website so that Danielle will never get anything done ever again." Pretty sure that is an accurate description. So there, now that I have admitted by daily folly I can start going forth in a step process to recovery. But then again, Jason Segel posing with a fish bowl...I don't stand a chance.

Give the Piano Man His Song!

The other day at work the song Piano Man came onto the radio. And of course, me being the enormous Billy Joel fan that I am, was singing along word for word. When it came to the time when he sings about John at the bar, it cut out an entire section of the song! It was like John at the bar is a friend of mine...then cut to the chorus. How are people supposed to know he wants to be a movie star, I ask you?? Come on Kool 103.9, just play the whole song! I mean, you play the entirety of American Pie, you can play the entirety of Piano Man. I am pretty sure that Billy Joel has risen to the point in his career that you shouldn't go cut off his most quintessential song. I mean listen to the his song he wrote at the beginning of his career, The Entertainer. "It was a beautiful song, but it ran too long. If you're gonna have a hit, you've gotta make it fit. So they cut it down to 3:05." Yep, he was talking about Piano Man. And apparently Kool 103.9 is stuck in the seventies, because every other radio channel plays the entire song now. Geez. Well there is my rant....now you can adequately know how crazy I am haha (if you hadn't already caught on that is.)

Feeling Very Argentine

Last night Keiana and I had some boys over who had served their missions in Argentina, and they introduced us to a drink called mate. It is this mixture of dried chopped herbs that you put in this metal cup with a leather outside, and a silver straw with teeny tiny little holes on the bottom to suck up the water. You put a spoon full of sugar on top of the herbs and then poor hot water into the mixture and then sip it out through the fancy straw. And then you basically just keep continually keep doing this until everyone has drank the flavor out of it. It was quite good, and it was a fun little activity to get to know people and I was able to find out quite a bit about the Argentine culture.

But the thing is, when you have about five cup fulls of this thing, with a spoon full of sugar per helping, you get quite a sugar rush! Keiana and I literally could not calm ourselves down enough to go to sleep until about 2:00 in the morning! Now, Keiana and I are both probably crazy out of our minds on our own, but when you get the two of us hyper at the same time, you've got trouble. Needless to say we were pretty dang funny at 2:00 in the morning, we for sure got some good quotes on our quote board haha.

Yes, Danielle, We Know You Love Boy Meets World!

What? Danielle is doing a Boy Meets World blog post AGAIN??
Yes. Yes I am. I have said it before and I will say it again. Boy Meets World is by and far my favorite show of all time! So much so that I find small moments of my life each day in which I use quotes from it.

Exhibit A:
Everyday when I go to put my underwear on, I go into my underwear drawer and say, "UNDERPANTS!" like Cory Matthews.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXFLpND4Q_g

Exhibit B:
The other day when I was blowing my nose, I randomly quoted Mr. Turner when he tells Cory, "What if one day you rose your hand in class and I said, 'What do you want Booger?!'"

Exhibit C:
When I go to get my cereal in the morning I quote Cory Matthews and say, "There's no such thing as good news until I've had my Grape Nuts." But instead of Grape Nuts I usually say Cheerios.

Exhibit D:
Sometimes I will just start yelling the Feeny call to myself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-BB-Xk9xYY

So there are just a few ways in which my life will never be the same thanks to Boy Meets World. Maybe I am a bit obsessed.

Going Au Naturale

So for the past...forever...I have been struggling with having intensely dry, itchy, swollen, and bright red eyelids. I have basically tried every moisturizer known to man, and tried every method that I found that could possible help me. Some days I would wake up and my eyes would be so swollen and red that I was quite positive that I was probably Quasi Modo's twin. Or another morning when my eyelids are so incredibly fiery red that I told Gavin that I looked like a raccoon if they had red around their eyes instead. This week it finally got to the point where I finally broke down and saw a doctor. Unfortunately there is no real diagnosis for it, all I can do is be incredibly careful about what products I use. And one of the products the doctor told me not to use was my makeup! Heaven knows I love to put on makeup, and you know I don't put on like a ton, I just think it is fun to put on and I enjoy wearing it. But all this week I have been completely out of my comfort zone and have been hitting the town everyday with my face au naturale. After trying this out, I have decided that every girl should try this out every once and a while. Nowadays we all depend so much on makeup and artificial beauty and hardly ever simply give the original palette that God gave us a try. It is kind of this awesome confidence booster, that initially saves you a lot of time, because I never realized how much time I spend putting on my makeup until I wasn't putting it on anymore. And I have already noticed a difference in my eyelids, and honestly if maybe looking like a bum to the rest of the world will take me out of misery I will gladly oblige. And in the meantime I will enjoy the glorious free time I have gained in the mornings.

No more puffy redness!! And no more makeup.

It's Time to Light the Lights! It's Time to Meet The Muppets!

For my entire life I have been an avid Muppet fan! I just love those cute little puppets! My brother and I share this special Muppet bond, in which we watch Muppet movies and The Muppet Show together all of the time, so it was only natural that we have completely fallen in love with their newest film, The Muppets! I feel like everyone has mixed feelings about this movie, so let me just tell you why it is so wonderful!

First off, Jason Segel. He wrote it, he stars in it, he sings and dances, and he will someday be my husband. Really, what other reason do you need? But I will tell you anyways. I love that this movie is not just the Muppets acting out another existing story like Treasure Island and A Christmas Carol (which of course are wonderful as well), but this movie is in fact about the Muppets themselves and their real to life struggles and stories (because we all know that Muppets are real, right?). There is some serious character development in this film. And for a person who loves and watches the original Muppet Show, it is fantastic! Long forgotten Muppets are brought back to life, like Lew, or the Pigs in Space! And how can you pass up the truly phenomenal musical numbers??? "Life's a Happy Song" and of course the OSCAR WINNING number, "Man or Muppet." Oh, and the humor! Totally cheeseball, and I absolutely devour it up! Like, I literally just belly laugh through the whole movie! And the tenderness! There are some seriously tender moments in this movie! And if all of this does not convince you, just read this lovely quote...

“As long as there were singing frogs and joking bears, Swedish chefs and boomerang fish, the world can’t be that bad of a place after all.”
-Walter

See, don't you just want to watch and fall in love with this lovely movie???

Read more here: http://sloblogs.thetribunenews.com/shelikestowatch/2011/11/28/meet-the-muppets/#storylink=cpy

The Splendor of Weekends at Home

After months of having to work every weekend, I have had the pleasure of being able to have the last not one, but three weekends off of work! And it has been stupendous. I have been able to spend some much needed quality time with the fam. Some highlight of my past few weekends include having a birthday girls night for my Mamma with my Grammy, Aunt Becca, and my cousins, Ireland and Bentley. I brought some delicious Blimpie sandwiches, and made a plethora of treats, including Muddy Buddies and Lunchlady Peanut Butter bars. Can you say YUM?! And then we watched Footloose, although we did not necessarily get much movie watching done, because it is honestly much more fun to watch the baby, Ireland, to dance around the room to the music of the movie!

In my family March is a big birthday month for us. Including both sides of the family we have seven birthdays. So that means a lot of parties, and my particular favorite...cake! On my mom's side of the family we have a specific birthday delicacy, Red Velvet Cake. You have not had Red Velvet Cake until you have tasted my Grammy's. There is nothing quite as heavenly on the entire face of the earth. And with all of the birthdays we have in March, we get quite a lot of this deliciousness in this particular month.


And how can I not mention the highlight of my last weekend...THE HUNGER GAMES!!! I have been a Hunger Games lover for a very long time, and therefore have been looking forward to this movie for quite a while. Like, I would check the casting on IMDB daily to see who was the most recently person cast, that is how crazy I am. I love these books so much, so much so that they are almost up there with Harry Potter, and heaven knows how much I love my HP! So I really wanted this movie to be good. I bought midnight showing tickets for myself, my parents, and my brother at the new Farmington Cinemark, and I bought an incredibly epic Hunger Games shirt on Amazon, and then I was set! Then came the time when I actually went to the movie. Once the movie started, I literally had a hard time containing myself, and that lasted pretty much throughout the entire movie. I sat in this state of constant excitement for over two hours, it was glorious. The movie as I suspected was perfectly cast, and everything exceeded my expectations. It was one of the first movie adaptations of a book that everything was basically how I imagined it in the books! It was nothing less than spectacular!

Well there are some highlights of my last few weekends, which have been absolutely splendid. I really missed being with my family, and the past few weeks have really been a godsend. Just two more weeks and I can go home two days for Easter, and then in five weeks I can go home for the summer!

My Britishness is Flaring Up Again

It is finally Spring Break, hallelujah! Since I have to work all week I am staying up in Logan, and therefore have the apartment all to myself. I could walk around naked if I want to! But on this my first night of sweet solitude I have opted to read Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason in nothing but my silk robe, while drinking a cup of herbal tea (caffeine free of course.) I feel quite British and Bridget Jones-esque yet again tonight. And I love it! May I also point out how charming and pretty my new vintage teacup is that I bought at an antique shop this weekend!

Are You There Spring Break? It's Me, Danielle.

It is the week before Spring Break, and it is going on and on for a million years. Between work, studying for test, finishing assignments, and reading a whole book for my lit class, I feel like I have so much to do, and so little time to do it. Honestly, I don't know how other people do it, because I am kind of going insane. The only thing helping me keep my sanity is that Spring Break is only a few days away. And believe me, while I am doing all of the things above Spring Break is always right there in my mind keeping me going. I have already planned out the wonderful things I will be doing. This weekend I am going home for my Mamma's birthday, and then I have to come back up to Logan for the week so I can work. But that time in between work is what will truly be choice. I have already decided that my week will consist of doing some lovely watercolor paintings and watching as many episodes of The Cosby Show as I possibly can. That is all I want. So please, Spring Break, come as fast as you can!

Such Love For Steve Carell

As you may see, my movie of the week is Dan in Real Life. It is one of my favorite movies of all time. If you have not seen it yet, I highly suggest that you go do so...this very moment! Now of course we all know Steve Carell for his comedies, and although this movie has great comedic moments, it is more so a tender movie about a dad and his daughters trying to figure out how to live life without their mother. I cannot emanate how much I love this movie. I was even telling my best friend Caitlin the other day that anytime is a good time to watch Dan in Real Life. So with that being said, go do yourself a favor, watch Dan in Real Life, and then be filled with such great tenderness and love.

Now, let's talk about how wonderful Steve Carell is! Of course we all love him on The Office! I mean, who can't? As much as I still love the show, it just is not the same without him. And then you have such great comedy movies like Get Smart, Evan Almighty, Dinner for Schmucks, and Date Night. And of course the animated features in which he voices, such as Despicable Me, or Over the Hedge. Which of course will have you rolling in your seat with enormous fits of laughter! And then the comedic but also tender, Crazy Stupid Love. Definitely one of my favorites! And of course there is the darkly funny and offbeat, Little Miss Sunshine. Steve Carell has played so many different kinds of characters! The man is hilarious! Anytime I need a laugh, or have had a bad day, I like to watch something with Steve Carell in it. Nothing can put a smile on my face quite like some Steve Carell humor. Pretty sure I would marry this man if he wasn't already married, or the same age as my parents haha.

Future Scooby Doo Artist???

In my Multicultural Literature class we are reading this fantastic novel called, So Far From God. This book is an absurdist novel filled to the brim with kookiness and elements of the nautical and crazy. The book is set up to be read like episodes of a Spanish soap opera. So that right there will tell you how funny and crazy this novel is. In the latest chapter I read there was this monster called the Malogra, that attacked one of the sisters and violently disfigured her, but don't worry, the crazy sister named La Loca prayed for her to heal, and she was just fine haha. But in class today we were asked to draw the very first image of the Malogra that entered our heads. So here is mine.


Upon showing and talking to my dad and Gavbo about it. We decided that it definitely is a Scooby Doo villian. I don't know, maybe I have found my hidden talent of monster drawing, and now know that I am destined to be an illustrator for Scooby Doo hahaha??

Insomnia At Its Worst

Blah....For some reason I have not been able to sleep this week. So Keiana got these fish, and the tank has a light and it is incredibly noisy. And for some reason I cannot sleep with that kind of noise going on, so Sunday night I could not sleep. I maybe got two hours of sleep. And tonight, well...this morning now, it is now 6:30 am and I still haven't fallen asleep, wide awake as ever. But at least my insomnia has helped me to study for my big Jazz exam today. Luckily my roommate Megan shared the same inability to sleep this morning and we made crepes at 5:30. Party! Well, hopefully I will get some sleep tonight. I need it.

In a nutshell, this is what my night consisted of. Studying Jazz, and eating cool ranch Doritos.

If My Life Was an 80's Movie

Remember that monologue that Emma Stone's character has in Easy A where she talks about wishing her life was an 80's movie?? Well, here is mine.

I want Duckie charismatically dancing to Try a Little Tenderness at my place of work, and taking me to the prom in a very spiffy outfit. But unlike Molly Ringwald, I would not go with Blane..yuck.

I want Rob Lowe playing the saxophone for me in St. Elmo's Fire.

I want to slap Nicolas Cage in the face, twice, and yell, "snap out of it!" And then leave Nicolas' brother so I could live happily ever after with him instead.

I want to go to detention with Judd Nelson, and have him thrust his fist in the air in joy because he got the girl.

I want Patrick Swayze telling my parents to never put me in a corner.

I want to travel to the future with Marty Mcfly.

But just as Emma says in Easy A, John Hughes cannot direct my life. So I guess I will live with what I have and make the best of it :)

Movies Movies Movies Movies...

So as I have been gearing up for the Academy Award this weekends, I have basically put myself into movie lockdown. Keiana is gone for the weekend so I have the room all to myself, making me not feel guilty watching movies until 3:00 in the morning. Although there are movies I still haven't been able to watch because they are still in theaters, and Logan's movie theaters have slim pickings. But praise the good Lord for Redbox, because I am in love. I am now one of Logan's finest knowledge holders of Redbox locations. I can tell you where every Redbox in Logan is. Unfortunately because I had work today, there are still movies I have not had time to see or rent, but I did see some pretty good movies with the time I did have this weekend.

#5- The Tree of Life
Now I found this movie to be one of the oddest, time consuming, yet beautiful things I have seen. Most of the time it didn't make much sense, but the times that did make some sense I really liked. I always enjoy looking at Brad Pitt, there is no denying that. But I don't think I would recommend this to anyone else to watch. It was...ehhhh.

#4- Drive
Now any couple hours you can spend staring at Ryan Gosling's face is a few hours well spent. The movie was a little violent for my taste, but Ryan's fantastic acting evened it out. It was interesting to see Ryan play such a unique character. He is one of those guys that is kind of a bad guy, and you are not sure if you want him to have a happy ending or not. And of course the beautiful Carey Mulligan is in this. She is by and far beginning to become one of my favorite actresses. I for one and looking forward to her being Daisy in the new Great Gatsby movie. But yeah, this movie was pretty good, if you like violence and conflicting characters.

#3- Moneyball
Yeah yeah yeah. Another sports movie. I was kind of surprised that this got nominated for best picture after I watched this. I feel like this is a great movie, but it isn't spectacular. And yes, I love Brad Pitt, but his performance is just like any other that I have seen before. Honestly his performance in The Tree of Life was more noteworthy than this one. But I really do recommend this. It is a great family movie, and I found it worth my time. And I always find it funny that Brad Pitt always seems to be eating throughout all of his films. Seriously, go watch some Brad Pitt films, and you will notice that this guy is basically eating in every single scene. It is kind of hilarious.

#2- Warrior
I was surprised how much I ended up enjoying this movie. I mostly got this movie because I am kind of starting to have a love affair with Tom Hardy. But as I began watching it, I genuinely loved it. It is actually a great movie to watch with the family. And hey, who doesn't enjoy nicely beefed out gentlemen knocking the shiznix out of each other. Who knew a boxing movie could be so good? It is like a modern day Cinderella Man, with two main characters. There was even a lovely back story to the two main characters. And oh boy, me and Tom Hardy are going hot and heavy after I watched this movie. The man has muscles!!

#1- Beginners
First of all, who doesn't love Ewan McGregor?? I couldn't tell you. And then he has this adorable french girlfriend in the movie. And his dad is Christopher Plummer, aka Captain Von Trapp, who plays an openly gay man who came out of the closet at the age of 74. This movie is absolutely adorable, and fantastically indie, which I love. It is heartfelt, colorful, and tender. Do I recommend it?? Yes! Also, I am having a love affair with Ewan McGregor. Hope it doesn't hurt Tom Hardy's feelings.

* Also before this weekend I watched Midnight in Paris. Which is far and way the best movie I saw this year...besides Harry Potter. And I also happen to be a big Woody Allen fan. And it is in Paris....in the 20's. LOVE!

My Friend Oscar

Once a year the Academy Award roll around, and I of course get incredibly excited. Because, you see I am...a movie whore. I love films!! And 2011 was filled to the brim with good ones. But this year I seem to be more into the Oscars more so than ever before. I guess it is nice to have something to look forward to when you spend all your time at work and school haha. So I am going all out this Oscar weekend. Tonight I have rented a plethora of Oscar nominated movies, and I will then write down all my picks for the winners. People who know me know that I am an avid fan of the Muppets. I think they are fantastic and they help me feel like a little kid again. But one of the things I am most excited for this Oscar show is that the song "Man or Muppet" from the new Muppet movie and sung by my future husband, Jason Segel, has been nominated. So fingers crossed that it wins. And of course every Oscar season there are many things that get gypped out of nominations...such as Ryan Gosling in Drive or in Ides of March. And speaking of Ides of March, that should have been nominated as well. But c'est la vie, I've still got Midnight in Paris nominations to root on! And of course...Billy Crystal as the host. Now that is fantastic.

War Wounds From Blimpie

First of all, I love my job. All of my co-workers are fantastic, the customers are great, and I get free sandwiches! Does it get any better than that? Oh yeah, and I get money! But as much as I LOVE my job, Blimpie is a dangerous world. Well not really, but I have managed to cause harm to myself there multiple times. Most recently, last night. I was getting the bread out of the proofer and got this lovely, large-sized burn on my elbow from the oven door.

Also, my arm is not nearly as huge as this picture makes it out to be haha.

But of course, bodily harm aside, it is the greatest job ever! And if you ever find yourself at Blimpie, which you should, get the Buffalo Chicken sandwich, or the Blimpie Best! And get it the Blimpie Way! Best sandwiches ever! I swear, Blimpie is going to make me even more fat! It is just so delicious!

My Inner Bridget Jones

One of my favorite movies of all time is Bridget Jones' Diary. I love it! I have found the more and more I watch it, the more I realize that I basically am Bridget Jones. The slightly overweight, goofy, loyal girl with her heart out on her sleeve. With the exception of being excessively outspoken, I am probably Bridget to a tee.

My favorite scene of the movie is actually the opening scene during the credits when Bridget actively listens to the song, All By Myself while drinking generous glasses of wine. So as my Valentines Day tribute to singlehood, I mimicked this great scene in my very own room. So without further ado, here you go.

Danielle Jackson: Designated Third Wheel

In my life I have found that Olive Penderghast from the movie Easy A can describe my love life to a tee.
Exhibit A: "Welcome. This is where the magic happens. And by magic, I mean nothing."
Exhibit B: "If Google Earth were a guy, he couldn't find me if I were dressed up as a 10-story building."
Exhibit C: "I think my complete lack of allure finally shot that horse in the face."

All of the above descriptions describe my life perfectly, the lack of allure, being invisible to the opposite sex, and the fact that my love life is a complete void. I am at the point where I honestly just laugh about it, and don't have a care in the world. I am at a place in my life where I have realized that I have been strong and independent my entire life, and I don't need anyone to help me through it. The marriage thing, kind of questioning it. But who knows, maybe some day my Woodchuck Todd will come, but until then being a single and independent W.O.M.A.N. is all right with me.

Now with that aside I have found myself in many a predicament of being a designated third wheel. I just find it odd that I seem to attract friends that are couples, and become the designated third wheel. This predicament has happened to me NUMEROUS times. I love my friends, I truly do, I just find it odd that I always become the third wheel. Do I have a neon sticker on my forehead that reads, "Third Wheel"? I guess I am just too fabulous for people to want to have less of in their lives once they get into relationships haha.

Well there is my relationship rant. I hope you enjoyed it.

My Kind Of Life??

How does this college girl spend her Saturday nights nowadays?? Well tonight it consists of working six hours at the wonderful world of Blimpie, and staying up crazy late doing my lesson plan for teaching my Literature class on Monday, and watching Whitney Houston music videos on VH1. At this point it's 2:30 am, and I don't plan on going to bed anytime soon. Hmmm...am I doing this college Saturday night thing all wrong?? Oh well...atleast I'm happy.

Slutty Brownies

Yesterday, in rare moment of freedom, I had a chance to make a recipe I have been dying to make. They are aptly called, Slutty Brownies. Now why you may ask are they called Slutty Brownies? They answer is simple, they are easy haha. And frankly, if someone made some and I wanted some badly enough, I may resort to slutty measures. Just what exactly are Slutty Brownies? They are a layer of brownie batter, on top of a layer of oreos, on top of a layer of cookie dough. And they are fabulous! I didn't have tin foil to place over the top for the first cycle of baking, so they didn't turn out exactly right, but they still did the trick.


If you want to make these deliciously seductive brownies, here are some directions...

Preheat your oven to 350' F. Then for the cookie layer make a batch of your preferred cookie recipe, or you can be lazy like me and just used the packaged Pillsbury stuff from the store. Then place your cookie dough in a greased 9X13 pan. Then place a layer of yummy oreos on top of your cookie dough. Then whip up a batch of Family Size Brownie mix. Pour the brownie batter on top of the oreos and cookie dough. Then cover this concoction with tin foil and place in the oven for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, remove foil and continue baking for 15-25 minutes. And then, voila, it is time so please your inner slut with some appropriately named brownies.

Life Lessons From Boy Meets World

As you may know, I am an avid fan of Boy Meets World. I LOVE IT!! I was on the website hellogiggles.com yesterday and many people were posting life lessons they learned from movies and television shows. So I thought what television show have I learned the most from, and of course the immediate conclusion was of course Boy Meets World! So here you go, life lessons to be had from the marvelous Boy Meets World.

#13 When life gets tough....wear a helmet.
#12 Always drink coffee after you kill a man. (But of course we all know that was just in Cory's head)
#11 It's ok to be a damsel, as long as you are calm and completely in control of your destiny.
#10 Agoobwa is a great new word to use when you absolutely cannot describe how awful something was.
#9 Wood is the opposite of funny.
#8 There is no such thing as good news until you have your Grapenuts.
#7 Sometimes it is perfectly fine to dress up in drag.
#6 "Lose one friend, lose all friends, lose yourself."
#5 As long as you have friends, everything will turn out just fine.
#4 It is possible to obtain true love in this crazy thing called life. (Example: Cory and Topanga)
#3 Never risk anything you are not willing to lose.
#2 Never let anyone's perceptions dictate who you are, you will never grow as a person.

Aaaaand...drum roll...

#1 The greatest life advice... "Believe in yourselves. Dream. Try. Do good." (Isn't Mr. Feeny the greatest?!!)

Class dismissed.

Blimpie Time!!

After a semester of job searching I have finally landed my self some employment as...wait for it... Blimpie's new sandwich wench!!! Soon my sandwich making skills will be off the hook. And as of today I am permitted by the Bear River Health department to handle food in Cache Valley! Passed the exam, yes I did. Tomorrow is my first official day on the job, wish me luck!

It may be backwards, but that is my new Food Handlers Permit

The Adventures of Babysitting

I absolutely love babysitting my cousins. Now that I am in college and "grown-up," I only do it now for purely having fun. And with all of these munchkins how can I not have fun?!

The This and Thats of Christmas

This last Christmas break was simply marvelous. I got some MUCH NEEDED down time, and most importantly got to spend time with my very favorite people...my family. I got some good babysitting time in, and spent time with my adorable little munchkins. But first and foremost, let me tell you about Christmas with my family.

Usually, every Christmas Eve, me, my parent, and Gavbo get together with my mom's side of the family. Keeping the tradition alive, we did just that yet again this year. We met at my Aunt Becca's house, and has a delicious Christmas Eve dinner of ham and funeral potatoes. Afterward we participated in the widespread tradition of Christmas Eve cookie making. It is a tradition in my family that every year we make Mexican Wedding cookies. I do not necessarily like these cookies, but more than anything they are fun to make. The baby, Ireland, especially had a fun time with the pan of powdered sugar.

Christmas breakfast is always a big deal at my house. It used to be that we would attract a number of my extended family members for this, but as everyone started to have kids of their own, we started to have less and less come each year. But still it remains big for me, my parents, Gavin, and my Grandma and Grandpa Jackson. On Christmas Eve, about 10:00 is when breakfast preparation begins. We set out the infamous Heidi Gordon cinnamon rolls, and cook our delicious Swedish Rice so it can cool over night. On Christmas morning my dad adds to the plethora of food and makes sourdough pancakes. This year, I got a Cocomotion, so I added some frothy hot cocoa. I almost look forward to breakfast sometimes more than I do the presents.

Then Christmas night we got together with my Mom's family again, and made sandwiches with the previous night's leftover ham and Becca's magic crack rolls. We then just spent the rest of the night together eating yummy food, opening presents, in which I got a mini pillow pet piggy named Little Cory (named after Shawn Hunter's pet pig in Boy Meets World!), and of course a lot of laughter.

I love Christmas! And this year, since I now live further away from my family and do not get the see them so much, it seemed particularly special. Christmas really is magical, and I am glad to have such a fabulous family to spend it with.

We hope everyone had a very merry Kardashian Christmas!!