today is brought to you by the letter M

Morning milkshakes
Movies
Magic
More (shopping)
Mother

thanks Suze

This is a friendship bracelet made by my niece Susanna. I got it on sale for $3, instead of the usual price $5. Friendship is expensive these days.

disney day with Mother

So today is the first day at Disneyland with my mother. My brother and his family left this morning. We had a BLAST. I'll post pictures and stories of their first time later. But today was our special lunch at our favorite restaurant The Blue Bayou. It was so great. Amazing food and perfect conversation. We always laugh a ton. And on top of that... We got a "celebratory" chocolate mousse for desert. YUM!!

Now for our first ride of the day... Pirates. It's tradition.

I'm not sure if today is a good day or a bad day.

Don't you hate that?

fact

I'm feeling a little stressed out.

My eye is twitching majorly and my voice keeps going in and out. My manager at work sent me to the free clinic for cast members and the doctor said I'm suffering from exhaustion. So I am literally exhausted. It was diagnosed. Weird.

People won't return my messages!! Based on important need to know information! They're crazy but I love them. But they're still crazy.

I have a letter for M&B that I started two days ago but my crazy brain forgets it and then I start another one!

Finally a family trip to Disneyland!! It's been way too long.

But I'm tired. Diagnosed exhausted with no time to rest. Time to start The Fun.

fact

My brother is better than your brother. And I think every family should have at least one psychologist in them.

thought

Every time I tell someone that I work for Disneyland, the first thing they ask me if I'm a character. Particularly Snow White.

At church today was the same situation but when I told the two gentlemen that I was talking to that I'm not. they started making a list of characters I could be:

Snow White
Belle
Esmeralda
Mary Poppins
Jane (from Tarzan)

I'm thinking that their only connection is the dark hair. But I loved the Mary Poppins idea.

thought

In the words of my Grandpa: "Dang nabit!"

One of the things that really SUCKS about working with Disney is that they won't really work well with you when you need time off. My family is coming down all of next week and I put in my request to have time off one whole month in advance!!

But did they give me the time?! Nooooooo... that would be too easy...

So now I get to scramble around like a chicken to trade shifts around and bat my eyelashes at my coordinators to try to get them to help me out.

This part will not be so fun. And I'll still have to end up working while my family is here :(

father's day

Technically it's Father's Day as of now, but I haven't quite gone to bed yet. But I had to put up this post now so it could be up for all of this special day.

I have been fortunate to have so many wonderful men in my life. These men have protected me, taught me, and have shown me how to be happy.

This is my Granddad.

He taught me how to love silently and unconditionally. He showed me how to love my family through all the good and bad.

This is my brother.

He showed me how to show love through laughter. That by making the people around us laugh, it can truly make us happy. He also showed me how to work hard and how to take care of myself and the people who matter most to me.

This is my Dad. With his Dad.

My Father has shown me how to live adventurously. He has taken me many places and encourages me to continue to go far. With his support I know I can go any where and do anything that I work hard at. I love you Dad.

I love the men I have in my life. So I'm not just celebrating the father-figures I've had but all men that treat their families right. Happy Father's Day

a bowl full of Cherry's

I had an amazing day today.

I went to go visit my family today for a very special occasion. My cousin's twins were getting baptized today, so I was able to go to their baptism. It was beautiful and just what I needed.

There were tons of smiles, snuggles from a cute baby, bike ridding, walking around barefoot, white dresses, good food and new love. And this is kind of silly, but I got to live one of my life-long dreams. My two cousin's were blessed with amazing voices (that whole family were always beautiful singers). And every family gathering or special occasion they would sing. I remember always loving hearing them and I desperately wished that I could be good enough to sing with them some day. These women can belt it out and my only practice is in the car during road-trips, so it would be like comparing Aretha Franklin to Weird Al... but they invited me to sing with them for the program at the baptism! I was actually very honored under all my unworthiness. But now I can check that off my bucket list.

And I got to take some amazing shots of their adorable babies. I missed portraiture and these kids were way too stinkin' cute. Plus, how can you resist taking one of the most dysfunctional family photos ever?

This one is my favorite. Each person has their own story and emotion different from the rest

thought

I'm feeling kind of homesick today. But I'm not sure for where.

I've been anxiously waiting some guidance in form of a letter from M and B. So I'm really hoping it gets here this week.

And I just got this new App that let's me blog on my phone!! Finally I will stop forgetting all my random thoughts that I had to wait to post until I had time to go to Starbucks!

You'll have to excuse the potty-mouth here but I've been having a lot of problems with this exact same situation...

I promise I'm a happy person!! Just sometimes I think of things that make me forget to smile all the time!!

thought

I'm not going to lie...

I'm a little heartbroken that he's getting remarried...

it should be me...

another day at disneyland

I am standing at the exit of It's Tough to be a Bug as the guests are exiting from the attraction. Supposedly, I'm supposed to be there to thank the guests for coming and wish them a magical day, but in all reality, I'm really there to make sure no stupid teenagers try to kype the glasses.

As I'm standing there with my best Disney smile, I see a larger man walk towards me with a tiny version of himself. The little boy was about the same size around as he was tall, with an oversized baseball cap and a matching Angels jersey. He looked like a little ghetto punk but he couldn't have been any older than 7.

H: Thanks for buggin' us! Have a great day!

Ghetto Dad: Look son! She's got ants on her pants!.. GO GET 'EM!

With my smile still plastered on my face I take a couple of hesitant steps back as Ghetto mini-me starts running towards me. When he reaches me he starts swatting at the stitched ants on my overalls which happen to be mostly on the upper part of my overalls.

H: gently trying to keep the boys hands from getting to second base... oh no no no, it's ok!.. See the ants are my friends! It's ok... go with your Dad, have fun! I gently shoo him towards his laughing family, away from my chest.

After all of that and he didn't even buy me dinner! Hahaha

school is for smarty pants

I'm all signed up for classes!! It was WAY easy and fast too. I'm pretty excited about it. Usually it takes forever because of how quickly the classes fill up and everyone is online trying to get their classes so the connection gets really slow.

But here is my new regime:

Preparation for an Eternal Marriage (This is a church school, so I am required to take one religious course per semester. I don't really mind, they're always really interesting. And this particular class will bring a lot of snickers and giggles when I get to laugh at all the baby-brides who think they know all about marriage at age 19): monday/wednesday

History of Photography: monday/wednesday

Color Photography: tuesday/thursday

Ceramics: tuesday/thursday

Art History I: tuesday/thursday

Art Seminar: one thursday every month

So obviously tuesdays and thursdays are going to be my craziest days, but I'm really excited that I'm now getting to the point where I can start taking classes that focus specifically towards my major now. Although I'm a little sad that I won't be taking any photography classes with M. or T. But I'm sure we'll still have lots of time to hang out and go shooting (cameras not guns). And I have no school on fridays!! Woop woop!!

though

Kelsi and I just finished "Band of Brothers"...

I am a mess. My face is puffy and I can't breathe.

Really though, it's amazing. But hard to watch when you're a huge movie-crier like myself.

photo thoughts

I love her make up

And I love his hair!! I want someone with this shaggy hair cut

Originally the black and white version is the one that was published and wildly popular, but I think I really like the color one best

awwww, cute

I always wondered how she did it

I should have been there for the 60's

sick day

Lots of people have been getting sick with strep throat at work, and so of course, yesterday when I woke up with a sore throat, I panicked. Then this morning when I woke up and it was even worse, I decided I shouldn't risk it: I called in sick and went back to bed.

I'm 21 years-old and when I get sick, I still want my mother to be around. I have been extremely fortunate in my life to have an abundance of mothers in my life. I've got my actual mother and she is more than enough; she's exceptional. But then I've also got one of the greatest older sisters. She's always there to answer the phone when I'm sick. When I had the Swine Flu and I was quarantined with no voice, she talked to me for over an hour giving me the pity I needed and lifting my solitary-bound spirits. And she always has advice that helps. Thanks Shelly, the steamy shower did help my throat. I can't wait to see you in a few weeks!

So I've been sitting pitifully on the couch, downing tea with my pillow and yoga pants, while watching Keeping Up with the Kardashians... I love that show now. But my roommate made me a huge bowl of spaghetti and I got to talk to both of my parents, so now I'm full and loved. I'll be better tomorrow.

Happy Birthday Dad! I love you!

photo thoughts

I love the style of this whole movie. The bold and blunt colors and all the angles. It's fun to the eye

ISN'T THIS SO TRUE?!! I feel like this happens all the time. I'm the type of person that likes to plan for a situation ahead of time and as much as I hate to admit it, I turns out exactly like this

Clever

I WANT!!

She's just gorgeous!

This is DISGUSTING!! I can't even stand this!!! How does she use her hands?! Ewwwww