fridates.

…are the best kinds of dates. (and yes, that cinnamon roll is as big as my head…and i have a very big head!)

p.s. suggest! suggest! SUGGEST wallaby’s smokehouse bbq in lindon–it was so good and so cheap and the portion sizes were perfect (…also HELLO freshly cooked roll with cinnamon butter!). plus, the adorable owner walks around in his safari-type get-up and heckles the customers…and there’s a magic show on mondays! what?!  also order the cinnamon roll…just do it. (faturday = pushed to friday…indefinitely)

p.p.s. katniss loves gale. she just does.

like a train on a track.

thursday it all caught up to me: the never-ending cold i am battling, the $50 ticket for rolling through a stop sign i SWEAR did not previously exist, the sub-par work i had handed in for photography, the upcoming week of finals in classes i have not (mentally) attended for weeks, the disappointing email i received this morning, the fact that i can not find ANYTHING to wear anymore and have had a perpetual hair day for months…

the stars were not in line. i spent most of thursday morning moping around. it felt so good! i rolled around in my self-pity like a…pig in its pig-sty? or something?

jeff noticed that i was in a bit of a funk (…the deep sighs were apparently quite telling…?) and dragged me to macey’s to get some soft serve ice cream and a fountain drink.

that’s when i snapped out of it! sipping on my diet coke heavily flavored with cherry i realized that i had an overwhelming amount of things to be grateful about!

like…the fact that i genuinely like my job. i really do! a few months ago i picked up a job at the tanning booth on a whim (…make fun of me, go ahead!), but i’ve ended up loving it. i love my coworkers and the people who come in and…knowing how much people’s backs sweat in utah county?

or that i have a mother that sends me sweet packages on EVERY HOLIDAY and is so patient with me and my terrible help in wedding planning (my response to 99% of the questions: “yeah! cool! do it! okay!” …i have no opinions, officially).

or that i have the best family for me in general. cousins included.

or that i have made some of the coolest and raddest friends here at byu. no, but seriously.

or that i still have the best friends at home that are always so uplifting and supportive and understanding of my terrible facebook chat manners (…sorry, taylor!).

or that morgan called me in a flurry to tell me that when she clicked on my blog link via twitter, an inappropriate picture of manhood at its finest popped up on her screen (i’m sorry, i’m sorry, YOU’RE WELCOME!)?

or that yesterday i literally had the best apple in my entire life! or that einstein’s bagels has bagel thins and $1 oatmeal raisin cookies! or that the semester is almost over! or that i am going to portland to visit my grandma with a slight brooklyn accent in a few weeks! or that a man told me yesterday that i looked like an anthropologist? okay?

or that in four short months i am marrying a boy who puts up with the fact that i only want to listen to jojo, b*witched, and disney on pandora and patiently gives me directions to his apartment when i call him and frantically explain how i am lost! i don’t know how i am lost, but i am! ha. poor guy.

or that it’s the freakin’ weekend! and almost, almost faturday! or that tomorrow it’s general conference!

see? all better. (thank heavens…the deep sighs were really getting tiresome!)

blue plate//guy fieri.

i am a self-proclaimed connoisseur of all things celebrity. i COULD NOT tell you what is going on in physical science class at present but i could tell you all about the state of justin and selena’s love life and how jessica simpson can’t wear heels anymore (pregnant jessica is the best jessica!) and how bobby brown got yet another DUI (give him a break, he misses his whitney girl!).

that said, i often times find myself pretending that i am friends with celebrities. my main circle includes gwyneth paltrow, emma stone (BE MY BEST FRIEND?!), and tina fey. we call ourselves the BESTROGEN friends! we talk about girly stuff and giggle-snort and talk about ryan gossling ad naseam and even have a pair of traveling pants! it’s fun and stuff…

…where was i going with this again?

oh yes! guy fieri! and blue plate diner!

guy fieri from diners, drive-ins, and dives is another celebrity friend i wish i had. i adore him and his spiky bleached hair and obscenely tacky button-up shirts. he is just so sweet! that said, i felt like i could trust his opinion on dinner tonight and tried out the blue plate diner in salt lake. it was yum! i think it was yum mostly because guy fieri said it was yum, you know? but also it was yum because the turkey on my sandwich tasted SO FRESH and they had an old jukebox machine and decorated with postcards and they serve breakfast all day long (my favorite) and there was a lady sitting kiddie-corner to us that had the coolest chest tattoo ever that made me wonder things like…well, never mind.

…and to my dismay, no blue plates!

…also it rained (a little) today. WHY PROVO?

night hiking.

one thing i super-like about jeff is how he’s always up for adventure! big or small! (except he won’t do some things…like let me spin him around, swing-dancing style? why?!) his response to ‘can we wander around costco and eat every. single. sample?’and ‘can we go sky-dive with no parachutes?’ is the same: YES!

last night at precisely 9:55 he texted me while i was at work (…did you see how i did that there? dropped the work-bomb? working student…you’re impressed, no?) and said “let’s do something active tonight!” to which i said “night hike?” to which he said “YES!”

note to you: night hiking is super fun at midnight o’ clock but is not-so-super fun at seven a.m. the next morning. so tired! also, for the record, we are not ghosts. ha. i was just playing around with a really long exposure…or maybe not? (so tired! so not funny! forgive me?)

night hiking pt. 2.

…i forgot that i had taken these last night! i had to bring a tripod for experimenting with the long-exposure…and also to take some self-timed pictures! ;) four pictures were taken rapid-fire style and jeff’s face really sums up his thoughts about my poses (and sound effects)…heaven help him! …the face in the last picture HAD to be a little staged…right?!

the weekend as told by my phone.

leaving my keys (and my spare key!) inside my car and sitting on a curb taking pictures as jeff fished them out with a hanger and stick (…for FOUR hours!)(also, he gathered quite the crowd! ha. the citizens of provo know quality entertainment when they see it!)//admiring my ring in the march sun//awful waffle (i suggest the pesto chicken crepe!)//pretty cherry blossoms//SUNglasses because it was SUNNY! (…and yes, i see my hand reflection in my sunglasses too…front-flip cameras might be the death of me…)//delicious creamsicles//rocking the university of idaho shirt :)//SHORTS!//my new coral sandals//watching the real salt lake soccer game//sugar.//provo at six in the morning–lucky little family(…i locked myself out of my dorm on saturday and had to wait till EIGHT in the morning to get back in)!

*also please note all the pictures of sugary foods. jeff and i realized that wedding pictures last FOREVER and thought it was time to kick it into gear and try (read: TRY) to eat a little healthier (read: refraining from eating so many crispy fries and chicken bakes). we decided that deprivation leads to depression which leads to unhappiness…so saturdays are fat-urdays. we can eat WHATEVER we want! this saturday we CRASHED. ha. orange popsicles, coke, carrot cake, syrupy waffles with extra whipped cream, cheesy nachos, buttery popcorn, orange soda, skittles, strawberry cheesecake…it got real fat, real fast! i ended the night with a sugar headache and a stomach ache…oh, faturday.

tonight.

…i cracked.

remember how i talked about eating healthier? pfffffft (the flavor of the month was mint oreo! MINT OREO, people!).

i justified my craving by explaining that i had a sore throat and had walked up a lot of stairs that day and it was that time of the month and…

MINT OREO (it’s only the flavor of the month for FOUR more days, i had to act quickly!)

the proposal + video!

a little background (other wise known as: the entire story): i had just gotten off work and he asked me if i wanted to go to a concert. i suspected NOTHING. once we got there, i started noticing that i knew 99.3% of the people who were there–so popular! i started chatting away and completely lost track of where he had wandered off to (in fact, i told one friend that i was purposely avoiding him because we both were wearing blazers and there should only be ONE blazer per group!). all of a sudden, i look up on stage and there he is! he asked me to come up and i took my sweet time (all the while giving him the death glare and trying to telepathically say DO NOT SING JEFF! YOU ARE NOT A SINGER JEFF!). once on stage (still suspecting nothing!), he told me all these really sweet things (why are you telling me this NOW?! can’t you tell me this in the car, jeff?!) AND THEN GOT DOWN ON ONE KNEE. what?! i was NOT expecting it at all! i had told my mom that i was sure he was going to propose in the next few months but figured it would be when we were at his home in california or after winter semester had ended. but nope! he got down on one knee right THEN on march 10th (he told me that he heeded to beyonce’s advice: he liked it, so he put a ring on it–a simple man, that one!). i was really, REALLY excited but really, REALLY confused? had he talked to my dad? through gritted teeth i  whisper-yelled “…oh my gosh? have you talked to my dad?” to which he responded “yes, of course!” to which i responded “yes! of course i’ll marry you!”

…and then we ran off stage because i was getting antsy.

the end!

my crazy talented friend andrew storer was fortunately there (…as was about 353 other people who i knew! it was SO cool!) and filmed the entire thing! this is a short little video that he made of the night.

*also, the song playing in the back is by the band that was playing there, robert & the carrols. it was SUCH a special night! did mention that jeff planned an entire concert just to propose?! and had a fancy little sign made and invited all of my friends?! and that i am engaged to be married to him?! winning!

a special little letter.

yesterday evening, my grandma mosman sent me the sweetest email! i just love her–she sent me a book all about italy when she found out that i was going to study there and then this little email when she found out i had completely ditched that plan because of falling so hard, so fast for jeff. my grandma is such a smart and kooky (in the best of ways!) lady that was madly (read: MADLY) in love with my grandpa; their marriage was so precious so this message was especially meaningful to me!

OK, so I cried….you sound just like I did when I met Grandpa.  So in love that I gave up a full ride scholarship to an Ivy League school, Sarah Lawrence, for the fall, because I couldn’t leave him.  I know you two will be every bit as happy as we were because you both believe, apparently, that it is a miracle you found each other.  And it is, it really is.  Love, G.

happy days and happy wednesday! :)

almot cute.

sunday after church, the j-man (I LOVE NICKNAMES!!) and i decided that it would be all cute and cliche to go on a sunday drive. we could listen to music and take in the scenery and talk about lovely things like family and small pets and bad haircuts and just be all cute…and cliche?

anyways, we hopped in the car and began to aimlessly drive. where exactly do people go on sunday drives? and what constitutes a sunday drive? how long does it have to be? does it have to be scenic?

we made up our own rules and drove to park city (wondering the whole time if we were doing this whole ‘sunday drive’ thing correctly…).

when we got there, we didn’t know what to do. what are we supposed to look at? are we talking about the right things? what do i do with my hands?! he decided to show me his family’s old cabin but needed the code to get through the gates so he called his dad (while driving! naughty!).

as he was talking to his dad, he went down a side road that had no exit and needed to turn the car around. out of laziness and too much confidence in my light blue camry, jeff neglected to make a 3-point turn and rather just went for it…and drove straight into a snow bank.  

ha.

after attempting to push the car out ourselves and calling both of our parents for a few hours (“hey dad! what’s up! i’m good…yeah, so i was just wondering out of the blue…do we have triple a?”), we called a tow truck.

the guy took forever to find us but the light blue camry out with no problem. jeff and i yipped and pipped with happiness! we were free! we weren’t going to die! we were…completely out of gas? with no wallets? crap.

we debated what to do; beg for gas money? park the car and call someone to pick us up? or maybe just risk it and drive ‘fueled by the power of love’?

so we did! we drove! and we miraculously made it home! and now we are alive and we hate sunday drives! (where do you even go on these drives?! what is so great about them?!).

we were ALMOST cute that day. almost.

p.s. HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAIGE MOSMAN! you’re the best. i hope that fourteen treats you well and that all of your wildest dreams come true. well, maybe not your WILDEST ones. scandal.

family in town.

my family came into town this past week for their spring break. in other words, they came into town to meet (and SERIOUSLY approve!) of jeff. ha. we spent most of the week eating and planning the wedding (THE WEDDING!)(BECAUSE I’M GETTING MARRIED!)(is this real life?!). it’s funny how i had pinned so many things about my fake wedding in my head but now that there’s actually a boy and a ring and a date (august 3rd, baby!) i can’t even come up with any ideas! thankfully jeff has a few of his own…oh heavens, help that boy. a few days ago he suggested that we have a sand volleyball and rockband tournament at our reception. ha. and he is insisting on having funnel cakes, fountain drinks, and a ranch fountain? hmmm?

anyways, these are pictures from one day we spent playing at the park with my cousin jennie and her precious daughters and then at a milagros’ mexican restaurant (suggest! suggest! suggest!) where jeff was thoroughly grilled by her. ha! i love how cute and protective my family is and how jeff just takes the grilling like a champ (“when did you know you were in love with brooke?” “when it was her turn to pick the song and she turned on ‘let’s get it on’ by marvin gaye!”)

 

p.s. sorry for being such a bad blogger! i am going to be better! a few nights ago i told jeff that i had to go home because i HAD TO BLOG! (which i didn’t actually do; confession: it’s harder to blog when great things are actually happening! ha!) my brain has been everywhere! in the words of my dad, he knew that he should be worried when i wasn’t blogging 3 times a day.

leap year.

how to celebrate a leap year:

1. drive to salt lake city and make a pit stop at sonic for happy hour drinks (with two shots of vanilla!) and a large order of tater tots.
2. pull up to the building and debate braving the snowstorm that came out of left field and the two and a half hours of economics class but then turn to one another and telepathically say “let’s skip class.” (truth: it was a long debate initiated by him in the pros and cons of missing class)
3. sprint over to the energy solutions arena, buy tickets to the jazz vs. houston game that is going to start in 84 minutes, shovel down an overpriced dinner, and repeat over and over and over again “WE ARE SO SPONTANEOUS!” and then realize that acknowledging you are spontaneous cancels out any ounce of true spontaneity.
4. watch(ish) the game from the nosebleeds (we were in FOLDING CHAIRS!) but mostly just listen to the gaggle of ten year old boys in front of us and their dating lives. WHY DO THEY HAVE DATING LIVES?!
5. leave game. drive home with heat on high and say HAPPY LEAP YEAR! (or maybe just goodnight?)

the end. happy leap year! and happy birthday, leaplings!