happiness *this weekend* is...

...going door-to-door with valentine's for everyone in your ward!
...teaching my roommates about things i love - namely eyeshadow and guitars
...singing with a group of people in the middle of the day for no reason
...fresh, warm laundry...mmm!....
...cleaning someone else's house!
...having little prayers and concerns answered
...having a dance-party in your car where you all sing into inatimate objects
...seeing someone cry because they are laughing so hard!!
...having a sinus infection so i don't have to smell things like rotten milk as they're poured down the drain!
...having a secret ;)
...having someone play with my hair...jooooy!....
...knowing i don't have classes tomorrow (so, with the holiday and my no-class-friday, that made a 5-day-weekend!...tho i still had work...) :)
...knowing what a cartouche is and getting a prize for it
...catching up on my fb pics ;)
...seeing my dad spoil my mother with sweet reminders of his love over valentine's day weekend! <3
...staying up until the wee hours of the morning talking with people i love
...having people say they love my clock :D
...raman with eggs and carrots! yummmm...
...seeing people i love grow and succeed!
...embarassing my roommates who taught me how to say, "kiss please!" in japanese by shouting it energetically everywhere i go ;)
...seeing how much i've grown :)
...being treated like a lady
...my nephew!
...when people comment on my pics or tell me how much they love them :D
...making/sharing/eating brazilian food :D
...getting caroled to by Michael Buble and a barbershop trio for valentine's day!

o mercy, i could go on! so many happy things happened over my holiday weekend! let's leave it here for now and say life is wonderful, the weekend was delightful, and im grateful for the little things that make my life a joy! :D

evicted...

this week our little dept of Risk Management was evicted from our happy little home in the Thomas House.

for those of you who don't know where this slice of heaven is located, take a look directly south of the Marriott center. the cute little house nestled on the crest of the hill is our joyful residence!

...at least, it WAS...

due to an unfortunate crunching of numbers, our university discovered it had too much square footage for the number of depts it has,
so something had to go.

and when i say "go," i mean, demolished.
and when i say "something," i mean our Thomas House. :(

so this last week was spent moving our dept out of heaven and into...

...the fletcher.

*duh duh DUN!!*

(best irony? the SAFETY Dept is now located in THE most structurally unsound building on our ENTIRE campus! yep! now, why is it that our safe structure is being torn down and not this place held together by duct-tape is beyond me...but i digress!...)

in the midst of my woe, i sighed to my roommate about what a hassle it is to move.

"o, i know what you mean," she comiserated, "our dept moved a little while ago and it was a nightmare! luckily," she added, "it meant we got to move out of our old place. o man, that building was AWFUL! ugh, dirty, old, smelly!...i hope they moved us out to tear it down."

"which building were you in?"

"the fletcher."

...i had, and still have, nothing else to say.

funny funny find...

as i was looking for a suitable "top ten" image for my latest post, i found this and just had to share it :)

top ten...

i moved 2 weeks ago,
and here are the top ten things i love about my new place!...


10) everyone has a day to care for dishes and we actually DO it!

9) enormous, loud dogs who attack the fence behind my parking spot every morning because they enjoy scaring the pants off of me.

8) i can leave my apt at 7:50 am and still make it to work on time!
(that is...until we move to the Fletcher...)

7) not only do my throw pillows MATCH the apt,
but my roommates loved them! perfect!

6) there is a quote board

5) the quote board is funny

4) my bed is tall - i mean, REALLY tall - as in,
i need to use my chair to hop up onto it!

3) everyone in the ward lives less than 60 seconds from eachother

2) i have a dinner group and the food is as amazing as the people!


...and the number one thing i love so far about my new home?!?...


1) my freaking hilarious and wonderful roommates!
(added bonus: i live with a brazilian :) yes!)

and please note, these are only ten things - i haven't even touched on the brazilian-style shower, the open-borrowing-policy of jewelry, the fact that i've learned to sleep with a blindfold, the "A Man is Not a Financial Plan" sticker on our door, or that there is a complex lounge with a pool table!

basically, life is good! :)

february manifesto

cliche, i know, but it's feb now, so the blog will be be-decked with

hearts and love-affiliated themes! :)

because, guess what?...

i am a fan of valentine's day!

yes, i am.

even inspite of how commercialized and awkward it can be,

as well as the fact that i have spent every feb 14th of my life single (minus one),

i am a big fan.

i love seeing people give eachother cheesy, mushy and overly-romantic gifts.

i revel in the fact that people like my parents, who have been married for over 30 years, are still completely in love and like being cute with eachother and are

willing to be silly for eachother on our traditional love-day!

they know their love goes beyond a sparkly-red valentine or roses, but they do it anyway because they know it will make their spouse giggle.

valentine's day, in my opinion, should never be taken seriously -

whether you're dating or married -

it should be a day full of light-hearted laughter, chocolate, mushy thank-yous

and inside jokes between you and your loved one

that make you both smile and appreciate eachother more. :D

in essence, they should be a cheesier magnification

of what you already express daily,

if not hourly!,

to the one who you care for.

(if your thank-yous and affection only come once a year,

something is very wrong)

basically, i love seeing people love eachother!

and i'm not just talking about romantic love either - this includes friends, roomates, and siblings who do fun things for eachother just to make that person's day brighter.

i know all this playful appreciation can/should be done without a holiday -

but i also see nothing wrong with an extra-fun-reminder day either!

so please forgive me if i refuse to celebrate this

frilly-red-and-pink holiday by calling it

"singles awareness day" or by dressing in black.

i celebrate love and all the wonderful blessings i reap from it!

"to love another person is to see the face of God"

-Les Miserables

the community

as of this morning, there were an additional +10 more tents weaving around the Marriott packed in behind the other 20 that had already hunkered down since monday.

now they are a veritable community - complete with mini grills, lawn chairs, toilet paper rolls sitting out by their tents (...communal?...and where are they using it, exactly??), and an outdoor coal-powered heater to huddle around.

they are tied by their fan-dom, which is a bond that runs deeper than blood. unfortunately, it also unites them.

...you know in those movies/musicals about enemy gangs where there's always that scene where a member of one gang is forced to pass through the hostile territory of the other? and there's that moment when the members of the home-court gang start appearing from behind fire escapes, alleyways, dumpsters, etc? and they're all leering at/following the "other" guy with that slow, deliberate "we're watching you...and about to kill you" look?!...

...well, let's just say i was the lone Jet among the Sharks this morning as i wove my way through the maze of tents to get to work....*shudder!*

so much for that loving/accepting image BYU aims for!

update...

...three more squatters today.

the pandemic continues...