Raisins

The thing about being home is that I have to move in. And since you are kind enough to read my... less than exciting blog, I'll let you in on a little secret: I don't like moving in.
The last couple of days, I have worked long and hard (with the help of my ever-loving mother) to move into what used to be Lizzie's room.
(2 things: I still almost walk into my old room, now Hannah's, every time I walk upstairs. And Thank you thank you thank you, Momma. You have worked really hard to help me be comfortable in this room and I want you to know that I really appreciate it.)
Now we all know that a picture is worth a thousand words. Or at least that is what they say. (Those dang theys always gotta be sayin' stuff!)

Side note: I just put one of my trusty elastic headbands on to contain my frizz and I feel like Violet from A Series of Unfortunate Events. P.S. Why do I feel like I am the only person who ever made it through all 13 of those books? *Insert cricket noise here*

What do you think? Are they right? 1000 words, eh? Digging in the closet is bound to produce treasures such as the yellow shoes below. I'm starting the bids at.... $30,000. As if the hue and clown'ness of the shoes isn't enough, I'll assure you. Yes. My actual lips did touch these.
(Notice the band-aid on my thumb. Battle scars. Let me just tell you. Once you jam your thumb and half of your nail is purple, you begin pity all the poor animals without opposable thumbs. I sure take that for granted! Thanks for the opportunity to learn my lesson!)


This is one of many stages of clutter that has been eliminated and relocated. (Why is it that when you take a picture of a big mess that it always looks less-impressively messy?)


I could only find this decrepit hammer to put a nail in the wall. It is kind of crumbling... but it worked... eventually. Didn't a wise tortoise once say something about 'slow and steady winning the race?' (And yes, thank you for asking. I have not showered today. Haha)


As far as an update on my life at home...
I am attending the Singles ward. I LOVE institute so far! Brother Ramos is amazing! I am learning so much already! There are no less than 5 Jasons in the ward. Holly and are currently planning a 'pin the smore on the Jason' party. Stay tuned for invites.
I am still astounding people all around with the fact that I went to 2 semesters at BYU-I-Do and didn't come back married, engaged, or attached. Pretty impressive, I know. Maybe I should put that on my resume...
I am loving spending every free moment with my wonderful family and playing and giggling with my 3 boyfriends... I mean nephews. (I helped Holly cut Meem's hair today. Let me tell you, it works better if you put the scissors in your right hand...)
August Rife, one of my heroes, went into the MTC on Wednesday. He will serve in Londrina, Brazil. I feel confident that he will be a wonderful missionary. Good luck, Elder Rife! Be strong.
Ashlyn and I are thinking of starting a non-profit, overnight, impromptu, babysitting business for mothers in labor, since we are practically professionals already after our 2 nights in a row. It will be referred to as NPOIBBfMiL. That's easy to remember, right?
Oh.
In case anyone was wondering about the validity of my URL, I am still getting mail addressed to 'Marc Cullen' and although I have my guesses, I have still never found the culprit. Thanks for always being the one question that I can never find the answer to. The mystery brings a smile to my face with every credit card app and army recruit.



In typical Michelle fashion, I just want to say thank you to the extra raisins in my life. Life is a box of cereal and it's better when there are raisins to sweeten the bran. Haha That might be one of the grossest metaphors ever made. But really, thank you. :)

So you want to see what my room looks like after all of my hard work, you say?

Nah! Your imagination could use a workout. :)

Much Love!!

IM HOME!


I decided to try this blog a little bit Quinci style because I miss her (And all of my girls!)

So how awkward on a scale of 1 to 10 is it to have a pedicure done?

Minimal, right?

That's what I thought. Mom and I decided to go get pedicures for medicinal purposes. You see, I am going to have to get surgery on my foot... maybe. I won't know till August 23.

But what if we up the stakes a bit? A man is doing your pedicure and you haven't shaved your legs in... well, a while?

Now the awkwardness level is climbing.

And don't forget. They don't really speak English but they love to speak Vietnamese super loudly all around you.

I've learned while living with a Korean room mate and her many friends that Asian languages are SUPER LOUD!

The other thing about having a man give you a pedicure is that they massage your feet and legs a lot more vigorously than a woman. This would be a good thing if I didn't have sooo many bruises on my feet and legs right now from cliff/ bridge jumping. Can you say, OUCH!

Also, he turned on the massage chair which made me look like I was shimmying for like 40 minutes. (Yes, it's ok to laugh. I had to pretend like I was texting someone a few times so that I could laugh and have it pass as something they said.)

See, the thing about me is that I just can't help laughing sometimes and once I start, there is no stopping it. Especially if I am not supposed to be laughing.


So in the end, Mom and I got cute toes and a lot of laughs. (P.S. Is it weird that I think of Roger and Augie Rife when I get pedicures?) The Asians all guessed that I was 10 or 13 years old and couldn't contain their laughter when I told them the truth. (This seems to be happening a lot lately. Last night at a singles ward thing, I said that I was older than I looked and this guy guessed 17. Also, my new bishop told my sister that I couldn't be more than 16 years old.)


I am loving being home! I finally got to meet my Thatcher and see my other 2 boyfriends, Jackson and Liam. I am loving the bounty of food and laughter always supplied at my house. I am so grateful for the simple joys of life. Things like Thrift Store Proms and Elders Quorum Presidents, Giggles and Family, Promises of a bike ride soon, and Spare ribs for dinner. Thank you for the extra raisins. :)

Quinci, I hope you don't mind my borrowing your blog style for this post. :) I sure miss you, Girls!! I hope your break is awesome and Fall semester is even better!

Much Love!!

Tonight we went for our roomie dinner! We went to IF and ate Reeeed Robin! Yummmm.
On the way back, we suddenly had an 80's music jam out session.

Question of the Day: Can a car full of college-aged girls change the world? (Just let that simmer for a few minutes while you read on.)

We were driving back to Rexburg singing/ screaming, "Oohhh I wanna dance with somebody! I wanna feel the heat with somebody! Yeah I wanna dance with somebody. With somebody who loves me!" by our girl Whitney. We passed many cars and got lots of looks. But the best had to be this old man in a Rav 4. He was just driving along in his cowboy hat and I think we may have given him a minor heart attack.
A couple miles later, we had moved onto "The way you make me feEel" by the man Michael, and we passed this red car full of our age-ish boys and a couple of girls. They waved, Emma awkwardly waved back and went back to our jam out. A few miles later, they appear at our side again full out DANCING with us. It was just such a great time to share our love of jamming out on the freeway that we were all busting up laughing.
There was this one guy in particular that was very enthusiastic. As we passed them for the last time. I turned back and made the "I love you" sign with my hand as if to say, "This is our exit, but you're awesome and I am going to blog about this and probably remember it for the rest of my life." He made it back and nodded his head as if to say, "Hey, you too. I'd say we'll meet again someday, but I don't think we could go forward from this moment." Then we exited and he waved one last REAL BIG wave and we were back in the calm of Rexburg. Just like that the moment had passed and gone. I love the bloggable moments of life. :)

So can a car full of college-aged girls change the world? The answer is YES! Especially if they have a little bit of help from random strangers. And hey, you should see what we can do when you meet us outside of a car! :)

Much Love!!

I feel like this is a blog of blurbs... but sometimes we need a little bit of unorganized junk in our lives. So I'm gonna leave it. :)
Marriage Prep. Sadly yesterday was the very last class. I am sad to see it go, but not disappointed in the least. Sister Hendricks truly is a wonderful teacher. I have learned so much from her. Yesterday not one of us left the class with dry eyes. (Even the boys.) I wish I could explain the reason, but I don't feel like I could do it justice in writing. Let's just say that "Come Thou Font" was involved and it was so amazing.
Side Note: Funny story. My bedroom window faces the men's housing right behind our apartment. We don't have air conditioning and neither do they so we all leave our windows open pretty much 24/7. There is this... very amused man who loves to laugh. REALLY LOUDLY!! It is the same laugh every single time. Use your imagination: "Heh Heh Heh!" It's great that he loves to laugh. I am happy that he feels the need to laugh just about every 17 seconds in the same loud 3 outbursts of noise. But not so early in the morning so loudly! Or at least can he share what he is laughing about?? It is obviously super funny! (Sorry, some things that just get under your skin early in the morning. It really is funny now though, looking back.)
Happy Thought: I was able to talk to my boss at Ave Maria today and find out that I do have a job when I get home! What a blessing that is! That is a huge weight off of my shoulders. :)
So I always thought that The Ensign was really boring and not worth my time, (Except for the conference edition.) but I guess that's because I have never read one before. Ladies and gentlemen, I was wrong. This month's Ensign is quite amazing. It is so full of treasures! I cannot believe that I have let myself miss out on this. It is hard to choose a favorite from the ones that I have read so far, but I really enjoyed the "Be of good cheer" one. (And the First Presidency Message.) John 16:33 is such an encouraging scripture. "...In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." It really helps you to keep a happy and eternal perspective. Things are going to be tough in our lives. The weather will make us sweat our skin off, the boy across the window from you will wake you up by laughing loudly and constantly, you will lose the ones you love, people will spit on you or yell obscene things as they drive by you, you will bomb a test and forget an assignment, the man at Taco Bell will forget your order, you will have so many struggles that you might feel like you can go on no longer. But Jesus Christ has overcome the world! And He has overcome it for us. Can we even comprehend how fantastic that truly is!? There is so much joy to be had. We have so much reason to "Be of good cheer." When we really see the joy that the Atonement can bring; if only for a split second we can grasp it, we can understand that all of the other things are so small. And not only are they small, they are for our benefit. That doesn't mean that they don't matter or that they are not difficult, it simply means that they will not last.
Sorry if that was a little intense... Sometimes you just have to share. I hope that you feel joy and hope today. I am forever grateful for the many people who touch my life daily. You make all of the difference. :)

Much Love!!

The heat in Rexburg lately has been UNREAL!
Today I was doing laundry for 2 main reasons. First, because it is "free laundry week" which means they give you $3.50 in quarters to spend on laundry. (P.S. When Quinci and I picked our quarters up from the office, we were putting them all over our skin because they had been sitting in the cool, air-conditioned lounge.) Second, because I went on a fantastic vacation and all of my clothes smell like campfire or lake water. (Which obviously means that it was a worthwhile and action-packed vacation. If the smell isn't enough, I've got the bruises on my legs and the burn holes on my blanket to prove it.)
So I was taking someone's finished laundry out of the washer so I could use it. (Yes. I usually dislike this task. It's slightly awkward.) But it was so dang hot today that I was about to hug this random girl's laundry because it was cold and wet!!! And let me tell you. She has a lot of leopard print.
To be honest, the main reason that it is miserable is simply because there is no air conditioning in our apartment. I am so thankful for air conditioning. I realize that I have soooo taken in for granted in the past. And at least it is not the awful, bitter cold of a Rexburg winter.
I think that Rexburg is so temperamental with its climate because if it wasn't everyone would be crowding it and it just wouldn't be the same, small town. I love the spirit here at BYU-Idaho. It feels great to be here despite the-sometimes-awful weather.
Rexburg. The best of both worlds. Extreme hot to extreme cold. Thank you for giving me a chance to look beyond the surface and find the blessings buried underneath the temperature.

Much Love!!