This is so sad...

Well today is my 20th birthday and so far I am feeling very blessed and loved. It's nice to be the center of attention for just one day, then tomorrow life can go back to normal. :) Happy birthday to me

8 minutes until my birthday....

The past 24 hours have been absolutely the most fun I have had in awhile! My best friend, Danielle, called me on Thursday night to tell me that she was getting me a professional massage for my birthday (which is on Tuesday by the way...)! I was so excited because I have never had a massage before. Along with the massage, Danielle spent the night at my house last night and we stayed up until 5:30 in the morning girl talking...which we haven't done in awhile and it was great! So on about 5 hours of sleep, we got up and drove to Body and Soul Spa in Scottsdale, AZ. Danielle and I each got a 30 minute heavenly sugar scrub and 30 minute therapeautic massage. This is the room where they did the sugar scrub. You can kind of see in the picture the shower nozzles they used. After the massage therapist did the scrub, she turned on these nozzles and it was like warm rain hitting your body. The bed you lay in also fills with water so it's similar to laying in a bath. Basically, it was incredible. There was soothing music and heat lamps and.....aaaahhhh....it was so relaxing. For an entire hour I didn't have a care in the world. here's a few pictures I took there:After the wonderful relaxation, we ran some errands, got some lunch, then went to her house to watch her sister get ready for winter formal! Her sister, Ashley, is 15 now but I seriously remember her when she was 5. She is so beautiful, but she is getting so grown up. She was excited because she was going to the dance with a boy she really likes and we got to meet him too! it just brings back so many memories from high school. Me and Danielle both wanted to go to the dance with her!! Here's some pics of Ashley and her date, Chris:
All in all, an extremely fun weekend. I decided if I'm ever rich, the first thing I'm getting is a personal massage therapist!!! I'm so lucky to have an amazing best friend-she knows this is exactly what I needed! Too bad I have to do a ton of homework tomorrow, but now it's time for bed to catch up on some sleep....Goodnight!

I LOVE this show ....it is the one show I absolutely have to watch every week...I need silence and I cannot do anthing else while watching it. And, lucky me, if I happen to be home on a Friday night like tonight, I watch it again. And usually cry... hehe...I'm a complete nerd

Like the new look? Added some links and lists on the side also...

Just found these classes at PVCC. I think I may sign up for the beginning and intermediate workshops in May, but $139 is alot of money for some who is currently unemployed. Anyone interested in taking the classes with me?

I'm considering taking a photography class or workshop. I don't really know if I have time to or not, but I'd like to look into it. Any ideas about where to find one?

I also want to get a semi-good digital camera...for less than $300 preferrably. Advice?

You know what would be really great?

...If one month could go by without someone in my family going into the hospital...that would be fantastic.

HEROES!!!!

So I watched the NBC show "Heroes" tonight...it was soooooo good! I have never watched it before, but decided to tonight just for lack of better things to watch. Originally, I was only going to watch because....ahem...there is a very good looking guy on the show. This is Milo Ventimiglia...very yummy. He also played Jess on "Gilmore Girls" way back when. Anyways, considering Milo's character was asleep for the majority of the show I was a little disappointed. However, after actually watching the show I am officially on LOVE with it. It is so funny and suspenseful. There is a character on the show named Hiro (lol-coincidence...I think not) and he is so hilarious. Most of the time he speaks only in Chinese, so when he speaks in English, he has the stereotypical Asian guy accent. The fact that I am a complete nerd and happen to have a love for sci fi movies and tv makes it all so much better. I really haven't liked NBC since FRIENDs and Will and Grace went off the air, but I think it's coming back. Now I am watching Studio 60, which also seems like it will be a good show. Too bad I found this out halfway through the season.

Anyways, if anyone else loves this show...tell me. I really need to be caught up on what happened the first half of the season.

I can't feel the bottom half of my mouth....or my tongue. not fun. I went to the dentist because when I was there 2 weeks ago he said I had two very tiny cavities that were so small he wouldn't even have to use novacine. sure ok fine-made the appointment to come in today. Went in today and the dentist informs me that, when taking a second look at my xrays, found another cavity on the other side of my mouth. This one was still very tiny, but the dentist said he decided to give me some novacaine just so I wouldn't feel any pain. 4 shots and 15 minutes later I can't feel my mouth. He drills, fills, etc...and then! he finds another tiny cavity (tiny is his word by the way) and asks if he should go ahead and fill it. Sure-I already can't feel my mouth so go ahead. Drills one more time and I'm done. Now I'm supposed to go workout in an hour and I still can't feel my mouth. No good.

School starts tomorrow and I am actually very excited! I have been bored out of mind for about a week and a half, so some mental stimulation will do me good. Although I only have one class tomorrow, so I'm going slowly back into the whole school thing. My life is boring because all I talk about is school so I think I'll post some pictures just for the heck of it:

This one is of my Perkins cousins and second cousins...at least some of them anyways. Heather is missing, and so are Kevin and Amy-although I know they were there so I'm not sure why they aren't in the picture. The only one of my Aunt Bunny's kids who is there is Chris, and her 3 kids, but Bunny's other two daughters and their kids are missing.

This one is of just my second cousins on the Stratton side (although there are a few cousins mixed in there). I think most of them are pictured...but some may be missing.

These are my Stratton cousins. I believe 5 or so are missing, plus there are no spouses pictured.

And lastly just my immediate family...my mom made it balck and white and it looks pretty cool. The kids look silly, but adorable as always.

OK-that's all. I have to go prepare myself for school tomorrow.

Reading is fun!

I went and got my books today...so far there are 16 books for 3 classes, and at least 4 for the two other classes that the books weren't in for. Amy asked me to post the book list for my Contemporary Women Writers class so here it is:

• Nickel and Dimed By Barbara Ehrenreich


• Written on the Body By Jeanette Winterson


• Human Croquet By Kate Atkinson


• How the Garcia Girls Lost their Accents By Julia Alvarez


• Yo! By Julia Alvarez


• The House on Mango Street By Sandra Cisneros


• My One Night Stand with Cancer By Tania Katan

If anyone has ever read any of these books, or other books by these authors let me know! I'd love to get some reviews!

Has anyone ever heard the story of Tania Katan? It is an amazing story that one of my professors shared with us last semester. Tania was diagnosed with breast cancer when she was 21 and had a mastectomy. When she was 31 she was again diagnosed with breast cancer and had her other breast removed. Since then, she has run three 10k breast cancer marathons...topless. Shocking huh? Since she has no breasts, she runs them holding a sign that says "This is what breat cancer really looks like". It's amazing to me. I don't think anyone I know has the courage to do something like that. I know I don't. I found a picture of her:

I couldn't find the one of her actually running the marathon. Anyways, I thought I'd share this incredible story with you.

I will also be reading a Foucault reader for Political Theory and "What Color is My Parachute?" for Adult Career Development, among many others for those classes as well. I'm pretty excited for the semester to start actually. It will be stressful as always, but I think my classes will be awesome! I know, I know-I'm a nerd...it's in my blood.

Lots on my mind recently...making me not be able to sleep...

I'm not sick anymore...yay! just in time to go work out tomorrow w/ our trainer...fun stuff :) actually, it really is fun and I know it's helping me reach my goals, but i still have to force the lazy bum inside myself to keep going. at least i have a good trainer...

One of my friends just got engaged...it's funny because he's the guy I never expected to get engaged, simply because he never thought he would meet the right girl. I'm happy that he has though :)

I feel pretty useless lately...not working will do that to you. I actually started thinking today about how I should've worked at Petsmart over break....then I regained my sanity. :)

Hope Floats is a great movie...and Harry Conick Jr looks goooood in a cowboy hat!.....yummy....

OK-sorry for the boredom everyone...maybe I'll go to bed now... :)

ahahahahaha...this made me laugh....

"Old aunts used to come up to me at weddings, poking me in the ribs and cackling, telling me, "You're next." They stopped after I started doing the same thing to them at funerals. "

in other news, I'm sick. Just woke up this morning and BAM! sickness. Kinda stinks. I'm pumped full of drugs though so hopefully it won't get too bad. At least I am sick now though instead of a week from now when I'll be starting school again....that happened to me last year and was not fun!

Almost finished another scrap page too. I love it when I actually have the time to scrap...once school starts I probably wont have another chance to until summer....maybe spring break.

Tomorrow should be a fun day...going to the Deer Valley wrestling tourni in the morning to see a bunch of people I haven't seen in awhile. Then my grandma's birthday party in the afternoon which should be fun. AND Davis gets his truck tomorrow!!! Yay! Possibly hanging out with Danielle in the evening because she leaves for Tucson in the morning..boo. lol

ok-that's it for now. Time to go take nyquil and go to bed!

Late night!

You know what excites me to no end? Conan O'Brien is now on immediately after Jay Leno....no more 15 year old episodes of Cheers in between. It's amazing. Normally this wouldn't be so exciting-but since I'm on break I actually stay up late enough to watch these shows! I LOVE Conan, but it's very rare during school that I stay up to watch it (when it began at 12am). Whenever I was actually up that late it was doing homework-not watching TV. Anyways-that was my happy todbit for the day.

Oh-and I did two scrapbook pages today. Only 3 left and I am completely caught up! yay!

Do you ever get that feeling that you are the only person on the outside of the circle? The only one who isn't involved and isn't around? It seems like I'm always being left out and not being invited. Does that sound like a 2-year old thing to say? Probably, but I don't care. I have this group of friends that I have hung out with throughout highschool, more recently towards the end of high school. Alot of them I have been friends with since elementary school or middle school. These are people I always thought I could depend on, call if I needed to talk. And yes-going off to college has changed everyone some. However, it is amazing how everyone still gets invited to parties and get togethers, but I don't. Or should I say we don't, because this involves Davis also. It almost like they get together and decide they don't want us to be around. Paranoid? Probably, but once again I don't care. I'm so sick of being forgotten and left on the outside. What did we ever do? Did we piss someone off enough to end our friendships? I don't think so. Now I have been through this before-could we call and ask people what their plans are? Sure, but I am not a big fan of inviting myself along to things I am not really wanted at. Can we call and invite people to do things? Tried it, we either don't get called back or they are always busy. I guess I'm just tired of it all. I'm tired of thinking I've done something wrong. And I'm sad to say that I have almost no friends who actually care about me anymore. It's a really good feeling....

A New Year

2007 huh? I was trying to remember my 2006 resolutions and I can't. I guess that means I didn't keep them! 2006 brought alot of changes my way. The biggest of all was my decision not to stay at NAU, but to instead transfer down to Phoenix and go to ASU West. At the time, I wasn't sure it was the right decision. I had many reasons for doing so (no matter what other people thought my reasons were), but I was still unsure. I now know without a doubt that it was the right thing for me to do. I was unhappy there, and it just wasn't the right fit. Honestly, I went up there for the wrong reasons in the first place. After my first semester at ASU West, I have a 4.0 gpa and made a bunch of new friends. I love the smallness of the campus. I got enough grant and scholarship money so that I don't have to work...yay! Living at home had proved to be a real blessing. I thought after being on my own for a year that there was no way I would be able to stand living at home. However, me and my parents (especially my mom) have become so much closer, and our relationship has improved tenfold. Plus, other than a few expenses I have, it's almost cost-free. All in all, I am 100% happier down here than I was in Flagstaff and that's what matters most.

That was my biggest event this past year. There have been minor ones along the way, such as finally quitting my job at Petsmart after almost 2 years and possibly adding a double minor to my school load, but other than that it was a fairly uneventful year. My biggest hope for 2007 is for the health and wellness of myself, my family, and my friends. My grandma has been in the hospital 4 times in the past 2 month, including over the Christmas holiday, and I am worried about her. I hope that she is healthy enough to be with us another year of more, but I am afraid that won't happen. At this point I am just wanting her to be happy and pain free. Davis has not had the best of luck this year, especially recently with his engine blow out and then his accident, and now he's in the process of looking for another vehicle. He is stressed out and getting discouraged, but still trying to be positive. I hope his luck improves...especially in terms of winning a fishing tournament or two. I have many friends who will be making major life changes this coming year, most in terms of either marriage, children, or different living arrangements. No matter what my feelings on these things are, I can only wish them the utmost happiness in their new lives.

And then there's me....what are my new year's resolutions? Every year I say 'what's the point?' but every year I do it anyways. I have some small ones-such as keeping my grades up, getting my scholarship renewed, and getting an internship. But I have two big ones also. The first is my exercise/health/weight loss goals. I have set some small goals along the way, hopeing to reach my final one by at least me and Davis's 4 year anniversary in July, but hopefully sooner than that. Luckily, my mom and I are doing this one together so I have a built in support system right here at home. Second is to make a career decision. At the moment I am leaning towards government type work....but I'm still unsure. My mom brought up the point this morning that I don't have to figure out what I want to do with the rest of my life, just what I want to do after college. This is true, and one of the main reasons I chose Sociology as a major. I tend to get bored doing one thing for too long, so unless I find a job I absolutely love right out of college, I plan on making a few career changes throughout my life. But I still would like to narrow my ideas down slightly, so that I can begin preparing.

So that's it really...my recap for the year. I hope everyone had a great New Year's Eve, I know I did. I wish everyone happiness throughout the coming year! :)