Everything has changed

While the title of this post is also the title of a Taylor Swift/Ed Sheeran collaboration that is quite easy on the ears but not immediately lovable, it also reflects the sentiment that, well, everything has changed.


One of the changes that I wish to speak of is that I finally bought myself a desk. I have lived in my little basement-hole bedroom for a year and a half, and I have disliked the space the whole time. I have consistently said, "I need but a small work space. A desk, if you will." And last Saturday I finally broke down and realized that while I have no problem buying a pair of pants for $50, I can't even get myself over to IKEA to buy the thing that I really, truly, need and want. So I went. And I bought. And I built.

And there you have it. I am typing this on a desk. And I feel as though my life has taken an upswing. Like, I'm on this roller coaster, and instead of careening downward in terror and confusion, I'm kind of floating up and I actually feel like I can grab onto something to keep myself going up.

The overarching theme of my intense list of categorized new year's resolutions is to organize myself. It's based on Doctrine and Covenants 88:119. And with this little desk (that is honestly much smaller than I would have liked...but it was hard to tell from the picture on the box...), I feel as though I have already accomplished a lot.

And so I write a list of randoms, as always:

1. I haven't been sleeping well. and when I'm stressed and not sleeping well I break out, which leads to more stress and less sleeping, and it's really all so terrible, because your face hurts and you are so, so sleepy, and then you still have to deal with the stress. And so I remembered that one summer it felt really amazing to sleep upside down in my bed. And so I tried it again. And sleeping upside down is the best. Like, I just put my pillow where my feet usually go. And it is fresh and heavenly, and now I sleep.

2. I finally joined spotify. It's free on phones now, so, BINGO.

3. I created a budget tonight. This was inspired by my shopping spree of last weekend (the one that included the desk), and my new ability to type/write/read/record at a desk of my very own. Apparently if I want to save the money that I want to save, I need to stop shopping. Honestly, I have avoided making a budget up until this point (to my detriment), because I'm afraid of realizing that I should actually be spending much less than I do. But I need to get serious about it. I really do. If in some distant future I want to go away to school or buy a car or buy a new computer for crying out loud (this here macbook will be celebrating her 7th birthday soon), I need to spend less and save more. And be an adult.

4. I have started to make a new recipe once a week. Another resolution. And it has turned out to really be blast! I actually really like to make things! And it is such a perk when you get to eat it after.

5. Due to the stresses and various things going on in my life, I have become quite the introvert. I just spent the weekend at a cabin at Bear Lake with really very lovely people who I would love to be best friends with, and I was actually quite overwhelmed with the whole thing and found myself wishing I could retreat to one of the rooms by myself just to take a break. This is very un-audrey-ish. Lately I've just been wanting to stay home, and like I mentioned earlier, just find a way to grab on an pull myself up. It's like I just haven't been able to get a grip lately. I mentioned something about how I only want to stay at home all the time to a friend, and he was like, "sounds like you are growing up." and I just thought, is that what it means to be an adult? To feel like you can't get a grip? To want to be alone because you feel like you are trying and trying to get organized and piece things together, but you really just can't? If all that is true, then I think I'll just keep being a Toys R Us kid.

6. Ed Sheeran is up for best new artist. And so is Macklemore and Ryan Lewis. And so is this one dude that I just discovered this evening named James Blake, and he is REALLY awesome. He sings and has this incredible voice, but he's also a DJ. And he's British. I just don't even know what the grammy academy people are supposed to do! I mean, Ed Sheeran, duh. But really? Macklemore should win. This struggle is on par with the Britney-Christina battle of 2000. Needless to say, I am STOKED for the grammys this year.


7. My house is getting television! That means we can watch award shows, the super bowl, American Idol, and the Olympics. All the important things. I haven't had real television in a house of mine since, like, 2008. So, this is big deal.

8. Another one of my resolutions this year is to create more and consume less. The specific goal for the month of January is to write a poem. I will not be sharing that. The goal for February is to crochet something. My Grandma Colleen is going to teach me. (as a side note, she will also be teaching me to make homemade noodles...my fave).

Stay tuned.

Man on the Moon

(This post was started and meant to be posted at the end of March. That's how bad I've been about blogging. So it's much more lame than anticipated. Sorry about that.)

This week was a bit of a crazy one. And I have a feeling that all ya'll would love it if I chronicled it for you.

just a note: One Dani Everton told me that I needed more pictures on my blog.

good news: I took some pictures this week.

And so the week began with a quick lunch trip to Cafe Rio in which I have finally filled another card. Yes, I get a free meal next time I show up at Cafe Rio for the most delicious burrito in the world. Nathan and I were rush rush rushing because we really don't have enough time to drive somewhere, eat, and come back in 45 minutes. But we totally made it---like 7 minutes early. I was going to miss a meeting.

Monday evening was BYU time. Second round NIT game at the Marriott Center. And we creamed that team. by like 20. I got an extra ticket from Nathan and got to sit by the lovely Seth and Amelia---and at half time hung out with Dani and Amy and THE BABY!!!!!!!! That baby is probably the sweetest thing I have experienced in 2013. Not probably. Certainly.

We stopped at the Sev on 5th and University Ave on the way home and I got a slurpie. It felt like I was actually back in the Provo life. Sigh.

Tuesday was a rush of getting ready for the Relief Society birthday dinner (which was on Wednseday--see below for why I could not attend) in time for the boy's basketball stake tournament. Our boys played in the final four and then the championship game. But I'm getting ahead of myself. The Relief Society dinner decorations and preparations. We combined with the family ward in our building. And they were in charge of most everything, we were just supposed to help set up and serve food and take down and everything. I was on set up duty, and I made my roommates come too (again, for the issue of time. I didn't want to miss too much of those sweaty boys playing basketball). And let's put it this way: there is a massive difference between a family ward RS activity and a YSA ward RS activity. We YSA's are all about preparing quickly and then socializing. We don't get into the fancy stuff. We don't have time for that. There is too much socializing to be done. A bare minimum of decorations and a potluck with a program will work for us. BUT those family ward ladies REALLY get into it. I experienced the stereotypical relief society activity. It was all about decorations and fancy dinner and center pieces and literally 10 different kinds of cake. I mean, it was lovely. And everything looked delicious (again, I didn't partake), but really???? Who has time for that? Wives whose children are all in school or have left the house, that's who. Omg can't wait for those days in my life. :)

But so basketball. The ward provided pizza and delicious treats for the spectators and we basically just yelled for a long time. I had made a habit of bringing orange slices and capri sun for our boys, but the bishopric covered that this time. :) We KILLED in the semi-finals (won by like 30, which is incredible for a low-scoring church basketball deal), but then lost in the championship, mostly because two of our best players had to leave between games for a city league game they had. But we still made it to regionals! That means the season isn't over yet, thank goodness.

I have decided that one of my special skills is being a fan. A supporter. I will come and support you in a play or concert or athletic event or whatever. I may not be able to play basketball myself, but I sure love to cheer for the people who can.

Wednesday was PHILLIP PHILLIPS. Not quite an Ed Sheeran status event. Really. But I do love Phillip and it was a great concert. Part of the greatness was that I got to hang out with my Audrey Baer! And Phillip was so adorable and charming...except he said that he was kind of sick and so think he was  little high on cold medicine because he kept saying weird things. And there was this one girl by us who kept getting SO EXCITED and she was like bouncing all over the place and running into people and her boy just stood there and watched. It was quite hilarious.

hey there Phil.

we, we, we. we so excited.

And did I say that a band called Churchill opened for Phil? They were awesome. And Audrey couldn't stop talking about how perfect the girl was. We wanted to be her. The lead singer guy was like all into coming out into the crowd but I'm so glad he didn't come right by us because he was muy sweaty. He looked kind of like a dirtier and hairier Mika.

A little Mika-ish, right? Maybe I'm crazy.

Churchill. the perfect girl is on the right.

But Phillip played all of our favorite songs plus a bunch that were covers and not even on his album (that was mildly irritating), but we sang every word and my throat hurt a bit because I was so thirsty.

I love concerts.

Thursday was a waffle party and visiting teaching and I have NO IDEA what happened on Friday. Probably I just slept because I was so tired from all the other events of the week.

But Saturday was the color festival at the Hare Krishna temple in Spanish Fork!!!! But I had to help clean the church in the morning, and then I went to the gym, and THEN I drove to Provo to meet Audrey and Stacia and Brandon and whatshisname. And we played with the colors and had a grand time jumping and chanting and dancing until this one girl who was crowd surfing landed on me and Brandon and it hurt. Why are the colors so fun? Because how hilarious is it when you have purple snot for like a week? And I was still finding pink in my ear after showering and cleaning out my ears on the 5th consecutive day. So hilarious. It really is just a blast.

So we went to Sonic after the festival because we were all dying of thirst and if you just drink water it tastes like all the chalk in your mouth. nasty. So we needed delicious sonic limeraspberryricki flavor.

I rushed back to Salt Lake and showered and then Steph came and picked me up for a party and sleepover over at Grandma Colleen's. We ate Easter dinner and then watched "Glass Bottom Boat" (my fave Doris Day flick) while I did Gma's nails. I squared the tips of her nails for the first time in her life. And I filed and buffed and polished and they looked lovely. :) We left after breakfast on Easter morning so Steph and I could get back to Provo and Salt Lake (respectively) for church.

And that is the story the last week in March. Way more information than anyone ever needed to know. but you better have enjoyed the pictures, because that is literally the only reason that I finished this post.

And here's a little note from Ed, you know, to make your day better.