In Honor of Stephanie

So, back when I was actually doing Thankful November (For the whole week I did it), Stephanie was miffed I didn't include her in my roommate post. I told her I'd dedicate an entire post to her later in the month, and well, we all know what happened to that . . .

So, since I didn't do this post earlier, I figured I should probably do it now :)

Where to start with Stephanie? I guess the beginning is probably good. Steph is my closest sibling, both in age and who I talk to the most, as well as being one of my very best friends. We're 20 months apart, but I was only a year ahead of her in school. Being this close in age we've always had a lot of the same friends, especially in High School and College. We also ended up sharing a lot of things - a bathroom, straighteners, clothes, shoes, etc. I can tell you it's very beneficial to your wardrobe to have a sister close in age :)

But, besides all of those things, Steph and I share tons of less materialistic things. We share a love for the piano, ice cream, the Lewis family, decorating, stalking cute boys on facebook, good music, late night conversation, family stories, Psych, laughter, and so much more.

Steph and I have the ability to just look at each other and know what the other is thinking. It's pretty sweet.

While I don't think it would ever be a good idea for Steph and I to share a room again, I do miss living with her. So many times she'd be in bed and I'd come in wanting to talk. Half the time she's be half asleep and talking back, or telling me to leave the room. I know she secretly misses me coming in every night ;)

It's kinda funny having so many of the same friends, just because of the way they perceive us sometimes. With Steph, I never really get mad at her. I can get annoyed, but I'm never actually mad. Sometimes people think we're arguing, but really we're just discussing things in louder voices than normal. I must say of the most annoying things in the world is for someone to say something about us 'fighting' or 'arguing'. We're never actually mad at each other, and having someone say something about it will make me mad at them, not Steph. I'd say we get along pretty well overall :)

Stephanie is definitely one of my favorite people. She's pretty darn neat. She's very feisty - she knows what she wants. She's also is fiercely loyal. You really don't want to get onto her bad side ;) She also makes super cool cakes. I got a Dobby cake for my birthday which I know you're all super jealous of. She's a bit gullible, and can be ditsy at times, but she is really smart. Steph is also one of the most giving people you'll ever meet. I'm pretty sure all of her friends have been at the receiving ends of her cookies at least once. If you're friends with Steph, consider yourself very lucky :) Steph is also stinkin' hilarious. I know she doesn't mean to be all the time, but she really is. She has a great laugh, and uses it a lot. She is also willing to do anything for anyone. She does things for me all the time, and I know I take her for granted. She's always willing to bring me things I've left at home, and she also brings me lunch a lot :) I can also talk to Steph about anything, and we seriously have the best conversations and inside jokes.

All in all, Stephanie is basically awesome. She's quirky and weird at times, but so loving and kind. I'm definitely very lucky and blessed to have her as my sister.

Thanks Steph, for being the greatest sister I could ask for - through our awkward stages and all! :)

Enjoy the copious amount of photos below

  

   

Dear Boys . . .

Okay, I know, I've failed at this whole Thankful November thing. I've found that when I feel like I have to do something, I find any excuse not to do it. I told myself I had to blog every day and poof! Blog failure. I'll probably write another blog after this about Thanksgiving in general, but the whole Thankful November thing was kind of a fail.

So, instead of writing another Thankful blog, I decided to do another Dear Boys, because those are much more fun :) (And I was inspired by Kaylee's:D)

Dear Boys: 

Dear BF,

I miss you . . . like a lot. We haven't had a real conversation

since the beginning of October.  Let's go back to being real friends, k?

 Miss your face, Michelle

Dear Plaid,

Seeing you at work seriously makes my day every time :)

 Love your face! Let's play more, for reals this time.

Love, Michelle

Dear Guy in my Dad's Ward,

I'd never seen you before last Monday, and now I've seen you like

five times. I'm not stalking you, I promise. . . . maybe you're stalking

me. Jk :)
-Michelle

Dear HC,

I think I could like you . . . maybe. . . I'm not so sure yet. But I sure do

enjoy hanging out and being friends. We'll see what happens.

Love, Michelle

Dear Ward Boy,

I found a pin on pintrest that made me think of you, not to be creepy or anything . . .

Love,

Michelle

Dear Games,

You are hilarious and so much fun. You definitely make Sunday nights

more enjoyable.

Love, Michelle

Dear Dislocated Rib,

Please go back into place! I never knew how important it was that

you stayed there. I'll never take you for granted again!

Pretty please, Michelle

Dear all boys,

Yes, I'm single, but you're going to have to be pretty awesome

to change that. And you'll probably have to try hard . . . I kinda suck at flirting.

Love, Michelle

November 7 - Music

Music is one of the best things in this life. I listen to music every day without fail. Music has a way of being able to express your feelings in ways that words aren't capable of. Whether it's church music or everyday music, it has the power to make the day better. 

Some of my favorite artists of the moment are: Parachute, Taylor Swift, Lady Antebellum, McFly, and tons of others. Lately we've been on a bit of a 80's and 90's music kick, it's tons of fun :) There's nothing like having a dance party in your kitchen to 90's boy band music, hahahaha :)

November 6 - 25 Hour Birthdays

Today I'm thankful for 25 hour long birthdays. You see, daylight saving's time is today, so my birthday was an extra hour long. I am so cool :)

Other things that are great about today:

Everyone in church telling me happy birthday. I have no idea how they all knew, but I quite enjoyed and appreciated it. I also love logging on to facebook on my birthday. There's just something about seeing over 40 people posting on your wall that makes you feel good :) Dinner today was awesome. My mom made roast with potatoes, carrots, nutmeg beans, rolls, and green stuff, with raspberry pound cake for dessert. It was all amazing, and I ate way too much. We then opened presents. I got the most adorable boots ever, a super cute purse, earrings, black tights, a sweater, and a new ipod tuner. I'm super excited about everything. My mom really did a great job this year. 

I came home before ward prayer and my mom fixed my sewing machine :) We then went to ward prayer, had sweet treats at some guys' apartment, and then played games at our house. Games was seriously insane! If we counted all the people that came and left, we'd have had about 40 people at our house. We played Werewolves and it was freaking hilarious. Mark, Adam, and Andrew stopped by and it was super good to see them. Mark game me a hug but jumped up and left the ground; I thought I was going to fall over, ha. It was super good to see them. I definitely need to play with them soon, I really miss them.

Overall, it has been a fantastic birthday - all 25 hours of it :)

Gotta love Cody :)

November 5 - Laughter

Today I'm thankful for laughter. Laughter has to be one of the best things in the entire world. I absolutely love the feeling of when your stomach hurts after you've laughed so much. Some of my favorite times are when my friends and I sit around doing nothing, but laughing at everything. I'm throughly convinced that laughter is one of the simple joys in life, and can honestly make you feel better when things aren't going well.

I found this on Pintrest and thought it described me rather well :) My friends and family make fun of me when I laugh. I don't make a lot of noise, but I do vibrate a lot, lol :)

November 4 - My Camera

Now, this may seem a bit more materialistic than previous thankful posts, but I truly am thankful for my camera. I'm not the best at writing in journals (or blogging for that matter), so my camera is one way for me to document what happens in my life. I love having my camera on me at all times, although my roommates and family don't always appreciate it. My camera has allowed me to document some of the greatest and funniest moments in my life.

I love the camera I have now. It's purple (color is a necessity), has 16.1 mega pixles, and takes hd video. It's also super small, which is super handy to just throw in my purse, or be sneaky.

So, completely unrelated to this post, but I just had a hilarious conversation with my Dad on the phone. I called my house to ask Steph a question, and he answered.

Dad: "Why aren't you going on a date tonight?" (there's a Girl's Choice Institute dance tonight)
Me: "Because I didn't ask anyone."
Dad: "Why not?"

Me: "I didn't have anyone to ask!"
Dad: "There are 10,000 boys at USU."
Me: "Everyone I know has already been asked."

Dad: "Well branch out then!"

Hahahahah, I guess this is what I get for my Dad being in a single's ward Bishopric.

November 3 - My Amazing Roommates

Today I'm Thankful for my amazing roommates. I seriously don't think I could live with a better bunch of girls. We don't have any drama. We just sit around and laugh all the time. Seriously, the best times are usually late at night doing absolutely nothing :) We also have random dance parties and adventures.

Rachel - Isn't she gorgeous? I absolutely love Rachel. This is my third year being rommates with her, and I definitely consider her to be one of my very best friends. Rachel and I always have random adventures together. We're a bit crazy sometimes, but boy do we have fun :) We laugh at anything, and have the best conversations ever. She's getting married in December and I'm going to miss her terribly :( Luckily she'll be here in Cache Valley and I'll steal her from Josh sometimes.

Paula - As Paula said, she's my crafty partner in crime! Paula and I have taken it upon ourselves to make sure our apartment is adorable. I also have the best coversations with Paula. We have a lot of similiar situations in our life (mostly boys, ha), so we get along super well. I seriously learn so much from Paula, it's insane. I look up to her tons and love her even more. Paula is also one of my blog friends :) She's probably going on a Mission in May, so I'll have to take advantage of my time with her while she's here.

Stacy - What is there to say about Stacy? She is so hilarious, she makes me laugh all the time :) She's very witty and sarcastic which I love. She is also very good at pointing out the obvious and solving our problems, even if we usually don't take her advice. I originally met Stacy through Rachelle, and I'm so glad I live with her this year. I've loved living with her and really enjoy our random adventures and conversations. She has some pretty great quotes on our wall :)

Stacey - (Yes, another Stacy, with with an E). None of us actually knew Stacey before she moved in. We were worried she was going to be weird, but we got super lucky. She's super sweet and funny, and I've really enjoyed getting to know her better. I think she probably thinks we're all crazy - she sits and laughs at us a lot. I'm really glad she's stuck with us :)

Elina - Elina! I've known her since High School. She was best friends with Mckenna, so I knew her a little, and we also did Color Guard together. We share a room, and we've had some really awesome conversations and inside jokes. We enjoy dance parties in our room and while doing the dishes. She may be younger than me, but she's given me some great advice :) I love her to pieces, and am so glad I get to live with her. She also has a pretty awesome laugh :)

November 2: The Scriptures

November 2 – Ether 12:6

“And now, I Moroni, would speak somewhat concerning these things; I would show unto the world that faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith.”

Today I’m thankful for the scriptures, especially the Book of Mormon. A lot of times I don’t realize the powerful effect they have on my life. Lately I’ve been struggling with knowing what to do with my life. At times I feel so behind in life, and kinda stuck. For a while it seemed like everyone my age was getting married. Then it was everyone younger than me getting married. Now everyone’s having kids, and I’m just here, me, by myself as usual. It especially doesn’t help that I turn 23 on Sunday. To be an LDS girl in Utah who’s 23 and unmarried is a little weird. I’m going to be honest; I thought I’d be married by now. I thought for sure I’d at least have kissed a boy. Fail.

Every time I get discouraged, it always seems to come back to patience and faith. Earlier this week when I was reading in Ether I came across verse six in chapter 12. The last line in particular stuck out to me, ‘for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith.’ For some reason I never thought this would be a trial in my life, but it is. A lot of my friends tell me how awesome I am, that I don’t put up with crap from guys and don’t have to go through bad relationships because I know what I want, and am willing to wait for it. To me it just seems that guys are never interested in me. I mean, I’ve never been on more than five dates with one boy, and that was even over a period of three years. I guess I haven’t mastered the art of patience yet, and nothing will happen until after my faith has been tried. I try to not get down about it, but sometimes it’s so frustrating I can’t help but doubt. I then feel guilty for feeling sorry for myself, when I have so many blessings I can’t even count them all. There are so many less fortunate people than me, who am I to complain? I’m so very thankful for a loving Father in Heaven who has so much patience and trust in me. I’m sure he gets sick of my constant complaining to him about the subject. I know he has something great planned for me; I’m just not very good at being patient. 

3 Nephi 14:11 “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father who is in Heaven give good things unto them that ask him?”

I’m a firm believe that Heavenly Father loves us more than we can ever comprehend with our mortal minds. He would never let us see something we want so badly (as long as we’re righteous), and not let us have it. He wants to bless us and give us everything we want. He either has something much better in store for us or something just as good, the timing just isn’t right. After all, we might only want a cottage, but He wants us to have a Palace. I have to remind myself of this all the time, especially regarding boys. It seems all the boys in my life are so dumb, it’s ridiculous. Once again, I’m so very grateful for the scriptures and the comfort they give me, even if it’s not exactly what I want to heart at the time.

Thankful November

Currently No Shave November is a big thing with a lot of guys I know. One friend is calling it 'Movember' for moustache season. So, while girls can't really participate with facial hair, some girls don't plan on shaving their legs. I for one can't do that, it's just weird. So, instead of doing something with hair for the month of November, I'm going to do something with this blog :)

My roommate Paula inspired me by making a paper turkey for our kitchen. She's going to make a bunch of feathers, and we'll write what we're thankful for and add them to him slowly. So, this month, I'm going to blog every day about something I'm thankful for :)

Today I'm thankful for modern medicine. I've been sneezing since Sunday, like all the time. It's getting ridiculous. My head's been really fuzzy and congested, and I feel a little spacey. I'm grateful that I can just run to the store and pick up something to help me feel better and be able to function throughout the day :)