When the stars align

This morning I updated my facebook status. It read as follows: Angie needs a shot for motivation, know where i can get one?

I have been feeling less than motivated, with school, work, life . . . and I just need a boost of some sort. Well, I went to the library to pick up the new book club book (Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by: Jonathan Safran Foer) and to my surprise, I found a little motivational treat right inside the book! Someone left this note-



I know that this letter is for me alone, but I thought it could help so many. Anyone know a deaf or blind person?

It's like whoever wrote this knew that today I would need a boost and today I would check out that book. Now all I have to do it get my hands of Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium.


P.S. I've seen Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium and the only thing it motivated me to do was run out of the theater screaming.

The Famn Damily

My friend Sarah took pictures of my family. These are some of my favorites- some because they are funny. Thanks Sarah!










There may be an extra person in our photos next year. I'll tell ya more information later. EXCITING.

3 year anniversary

I have been matched with my little sister for three years. It is so hard to believe. Last night, in celebration, we did some super fun things.

First, We went to Color me Mine. It's a place where you can paint pottery and then they glaze it and fire it for you. I did it once for a bridesmaid activity when my friend Alissa got married. Whitney and I each chose something we wanted- I wanted a mug and she wanted a vase. I painted the vase for her and she painted the mug for me. I forgot to bring my camera to that part, but as soon as I pick up our artistic projects I will post pictures.

Second, we drove through Wendy's and ate from their dollar menu.

Third, we changed into some nicer clothes and went to the Melting Pot for dessert. I have been trying to watch what I eat lately, but tonight was a special occasion- well, we went a little crazy and got the Yin Yang, white chocolate/dark chocolate mix. We didn't get the one for just 2 people, we ate the one for 4 people. It was so good! But I felt sick afterward.





Yep, I ate ALL of it.

OK, so I am going to say this again. BE A BIG BROTHER OR A BIG SISTER.

Goodbye my friend

I have been thinking a lot about finishing up graduate school and all that I need to do. I am done in August (scary) and then on to real life. I have to take 9 credits of electives this summer in order to graduate, which is kinda nice, because I get to choose what I want to study. I discovered an option of being able to go to Cuernavaca, Mexico for the month of July. During that time I will be taking an intensive Spanish class and trying to speak with the natives, since that is who I will be mostly interacting with. We will also be doing service projects with the local communities related to social issues, poverty, employment, etc. I really want to do it!! I am not sure my finances will permit it. But I am going to try everything I can to make it work (donations are always accepted).

As part of my preparation, I noticed that I needed to renew my passport. It expires in June of this year. As I was looking into the process of renewing it, I discovered that I have to turn my old passport over. Sad. Not that I have oh so many stamps in my passport, but I do have some memorable ones and it's hard to let go. Thailand, England, Scotland. I'm not too upset about getting rid of the picture of my 21 year old self, but the rest I am feeling sentimental about.




My goal: fill up my next pass port. I mean REALLY fill it. Maybe Mexico will be the beginning of another ten years of adventure?

I love me some Valentine's Day.

I am not sure anyone knows this about me. But I love Valentine's Day. Now, this hasn't always been the case. I remember when I was first at Ricks College and painfully dateless pretty consistently, I didn't like it so much. My roommates and I would wear all black (but that was fun too, so I guess I DID like it, hmm). But over the past 8 years or so I have really loved it. It hasn't been because I always have a boyfriend either, because more times than not, I didn't. But I really like that it is a time when you can tell someone and everyone that you love them. I know that there are people out there that claim that Valentine's Day was created by the greeting card companies and that is fine, I still choose to love Valentine's Day.

So this year, I decided to be creative. I made my girlfriends a special treat- which involved the use of a glue gun AND fancy bags AND shredded paper, ribbon AND fancy labels. For those of you who are not aware of my creative and crafty abilities, believe it or not. . . I don't have any. So these are not that awesome. But I did spend an entire Saturday afternoon creating for people I love. Whether they like it or not is up to them. But it's the thought that counts and the thought is love.



Another reason why I love Valentine's Day is that other people get to tell me how much they love me. My dad did just that- in his usual hilarious way. I received the following in the mail today. First, the envelope-



If you can't see it properly, it has three American flag stickers as well as an NRA symbol. This is my father's attempt to indoctrinate me into his conservative ways. It's actually pretty funny. We don't talk politics in my house (because I do not agree with most of my parent's views), however, any chance he gets, my dad will do something like this envelope. For Christmas he wrapped up a republican party pin with a note saying that I could wear it on my lapel to my social work job. Ha.

And then this was in the envelope:



With a message regarding the similarities between me and Miley Cyrus (hilarious dad).

And this was in the card:



Click on the picture to get the full effect. Yes it is Celine Dion and yes she is thrusting her pelvis to the audience. The sticky note says "Now do you believe me? Proof!" with an arrow pointing to her crotch. That is because a few weeks ago my mom was telling me all about how her and my dad had watched the Celine Dion concert on TV and it was "so wonderful" (according to my mom). My father piped in saying "I like her voice but really don't like that she flashes her [crotch] to the audience" (he didn't say crotch, he used an old navy term, but I censored it for sensitive readers). I kinda gave my dad a hard time about it- and sure enough- he was right. The proof IS in the picture.

Happy Valentine's Day.