Parachute Concert

A couple of weeks ago I went to the Parachute concert in Salt Lake with Tim, Steph, and Landon. Tim was actually sick and still drove down to go to the concert with me. He's pretty great :) We ate at the Spaghetti factory and then went to the concert. I've seen Parachute live about five times now, and they never disappoint.

Because Tim wasn't feeling well at all we sat at the back through the two opening bands and then stood for half of Parachute. They played some of their news songs which was a lot of fun. Their new album is fantastic, I highly recommend it to everyone.

One thing I've been terrible at since I've started dating Tim is taking pictures of us, which is super weird for me. I think we have a total of four pictures together. But this one we took at the Parachute concert is pretty much the best picture ever, so why would we need others?

Sunday Drives

Since I moved to Salt Lake for school I've spent every weekend in Logan. Weekends are the only times that Tim and I get to see each other, so we try to take advantage of that as much as we can. His church doesn't start until 1:30 so we spent our morning on a drive through Sardine Canyon. We went to Brigham City and ended up sitting on a bench at the tabernacle that has a fantastic view of the Temple. It was the perfect way to spend a Sunday Morning :) I sure do love that boy.

Long Overdue Update

Not blogging for 5 months means I have an insane amount of catch up to do, so here are the highlights . . .

1) Jordan got home from his mission!

2) Cody left on his mission. Miss him tons!

3) Elina and Anthony got Married!

4) I went to Europe!

5) I started Grad School at the U

6) I met this guy :)

My ten-year-old sister got a Pintrest account this week. I discovered this when I got an email saying, "Megan would like to share a pin with you". My thoughts went, "Megan has a Pinterest? Megan knows how to set up a Pinterest? Megan knows how to pin things on Pinterest? You can share a pin on Pintrest? I didn't even know that was possible . . ."

The pin she wanted to share with me was this owl bank:

Along with the pin was the message "buy this for me". A bit presumptions, no? She is rather sassy and knows what she wants.

By the end of the day she had 353 pins. Her board titles are: hair, owl, cake, mustash (spelled just like that), art, room, costumes, ideas, cool food ideas, 1D, and Doctor Who. The owl board has the most pins with 113, and Doctor Who was a close second with 92. Her 1D board only had about 65. After following her I had to unfollow her 1D and owl boards. As much as I love her I didn't want all that in my news feed haha.

I'm pretty sure when I was ten things were much simpler - no kids had phones, iPods, Pinterest, or Netflix. We played outside and you were super cool if you had a Walkman and a Lisa Frank pencil holder. Oh how I miss the good old days. The 90s were pretty darn great.

Dear Boys

Dear Library,

I liked you quite a bit for a little while, but I've come to the conclusion it's a waste of my time. If you asked me out I would probably freak out, but I won't hold my breath.

Love,

Michelle

Dear HC,

I kinda feel like I'm one of your back up friends now, and I'm not a fan. I know you have all sorts of new friends, but remember when you didn't? I kinda miss those days.

Love,

Michelle

Dear Social,

So, I have a feeling that we should go on a date. Is that a good feeling? I hope so because you're basically adorable.

Love, 

Michelle

Dear Wardie,

I think you're quite attractive, but I'm not nearly brave enough or flirty enough to walk up and talk to you. I promise I'm not stuck up, just awkward.

Love,

Michelle

Dear PG,

I think you're a really great guy, but there isn't really great 'flow' between us.

Sincerely, 

Michelle

Dear 12,

I'm sorry if you think I hate you, I really don't. I just have plenty of guy friends so I'm not going to put extra effort into being friends. I'm done with the friend zone. I do appreciate you not calling me beautiful anymore, that was just confusing to everyone.

Sincerely,

Michelle

Dear BF,

I heard about the whole thing and I just wanted to say I'm terribly sorry. She obviously didn't deserve you. It was great to catch up with you the other day and I wish you the best with everything.

Love,

Michelle

Dear Brother,

I'm pretty sure I'm not going to be engaged by the time you get home in June. Sorry for the disappointment! I guess you'll just have to wait longer for a brother-in-law.

Love,

Your oldest Sis

How to have a Pinterest Bedroom on a Budget pt 1

Pintrest - I'm pretty sure I have a love/hate relationship with it, but mostly a love. I love all the ideas I get from it, but I hate that I either don't have the time, money, or talent to get some of the things, money being the biggest issue. This fall when I moved to my new apartment I decided I really wanted something fresh and new, and completely different than my previous college bedrooms. Enter Pintrest. Pintrest was literally the inspiration for almost everything I did in my room. The first thing I decided on was to do a frame wall. I saw this on Pintrest and really wanted to do a more grown up version of it.

As anyone knows, picture frames aren't cheap. The only way I even consider buying one at Hobby Lobby or Michael's is if it's 50% off. After narrowing my color scheme down to teal, yellow, and gray I set off on a hunt for picture frames.

I already had this frame given to me

Along with this one - I just painted it white

My first stop was Michael's paint your own frames. I got this for $1. All I had to do was paint it. 

This square frame was also $1 at Michael's, and I added a strip of lace to spice it up a little.

I was really excited when I saw this paint your own frame at Michael's. It was more expensive at $3.99, but definitely worth it. I used my Cricket to cut out the letters and it turned out super cute.

I then decided to hunt through my Parent's basement and see what they had as far as frames. I found these two frames just waiting to be used.

If you don't have any frames hanging around the DI or any thrift store is a great place to find cheap frames. Most of them will be an ugly wood color, but a little craft paint goes a long way. These were both an ugly brown color and look how cute they are now.

My next stop was the DI. You would never know it but this cute gray frame used to be an exciting leopard print. I think I'm quite partial to the gray. Price: $1.50

I also got this little frame at the DI for $2

I loved both of these frames because they were different from the others I already had. These two definitely gave me the most stress when painting. The gray one is plastic and the white is metal, which is much more difficult to paint that wood. It took about five coats, but it eventually turned out. Note to self: always get wood frames.

The last place I got frames was Hobby Lobby. I love Hobby Lobby's stuff, but it does tend to be pricier unless you use a coupon or get it on sale. This adorable white frame was $19.95 but I got it for 50% off. Definitely pricier than the others, but I figured it was worth it because it was so cute.

This is the other frame I got at Hobby Lobby. It was also 50% off, so $7.50 wasn't nearly as bad as the list price of $14.99

On the wall I decided I wanted more than just frames. What else to put up? Well, I wasn't too sure. I ended up wandering around Hobby Lobby about three different times looking for random things to put on the wall. This was the hardest part because I wasn't looking for anything specific. I ended up with this music note that I painted. Price: $1.99

And this M - $2.99. Both were originally natural wood painted with craft paint.

One of my favorite things I got at Hobby Lobby I found during one of my random wandering trips through the aisles. I found this metal bird for $6.50 (at 50% off). I love it because it's different but not too weird, and it was the perfect color.

I knew I also wanted a quote on my wall, and decided to go with 'You are my Sunshine'. I had my mom make and print a small 11x14 poster on an online Publishing company called Heritage Makers. I originally wanted to make a wood one, but since I'm not allowed to put holes in my walls the wood I wanted was a bit too heavy. When I got the poster in the mail I trimmed it and glued it onto a foam board. Total cost: $5.50

Once I had all these things I knew I needed some sort of center piece. After much deliberation I decided on a mirror. I randomly found this one at Walmart for $14.99. It was originally black but after five coats of paint (it's plastic) the teal makes it look much better.

To make sure all my colors went together I picket out four colors of craft paint - a yellow, gray, white, and teal. To add variety to the colors I just added white to make some of them lighter. That way they were all in the same color family and wouldn't clash with each other.

Because I live in an apartment I'm not allowed to put holes in my walls. This makes decorating a bit of a pain. Luckily someone invented command hooks that are Velcro strips. These hold the frames to the wall and pull off without leaving a mark - it's like magic!

After re-arranging the frames 12 different times I finally decided on a layout for the wall. I started with the mirror and worked around it. I'm a bit in love with how it turned out.

 Total cost for the frame wall: $65

For those who don't want to spend that much you don't have to splurge on the two frames from Hobby Lobby like I did :)

Because this post is ridiculously long I'll save the rest of the room for the next post.

Awkward and Awesome Thursday

Awkward

• Having a guy sit right behind me in Yoga. I was suddenly much more aware of my butt . . .
• Slipping and catching myself about five times in the TSC while coming back from Yoga. Rain boots really don't have much traction.
• Realizing that the zipper on my pants is broken while I was at Mitch's apartment. Good thing I had on a long shirt.
• Making random, awkward eye contact with he same person multiple times at church. I swear I wasn't meaning to keep looking at you. . .
• Having to explain to a student for fifteen minutes why they don't get their scholarship back in a refund when they drop a class. There are only so many ways to tell them.
• Having someone at the bridal fair ask me when I'm getting married. When I told them I wasn't they were super awkward about it and told me my time would come eventually. Oh dear . . .
• Having someone at the health fair ask me if I worked here. Thinking he met USU I told him yes. Turns out he meant working at the health fair. He then asked me where to stack the cardboard boxes he had . . . um, somewhere out of the way?

Awesome

• My grad applications are finished! Now to play the waiting game until the middle of March. No big, I'll just try to plan my life without knowing where I'm going to live.
• I just won a pair or Ray Ban sunglasses at the health fair! I seriously never win anything so this was extremely exciting.

• I am hopefully going to Hawaii in May. Yay for leaving the continental US!
• The incredible amounts of snow we've gotten recently. The only thing that wouldn't made it better was a snow day.
• Ingrid Michaelson Pandora. I've seriously been listening to it nonstop lately. It's so happy and bubbly and just great.
• My best friend Aubree and her husband Cory moved back to Cache Valley so I get so see them and their cute baby all the time!

Isn't he adorable?

Brave

(Frame on my wall)

Bravery is something I've been trying to improve on lately. I'm not talking about being brave as in riding roller coasters or cliff jumping. It's more bravery in just being me, especially around boys. Whenever I'm interested in a boy he rarely knows it. I'm so afraid of him thinking it's weird I like him it's almost like I make an effort not to flirt with him. It's so much easier to flirt with someone I'm not interested in because it doesn't matter as much. I don't feel it's necessarily a self esteem thing; I like myself quite a bit actually. But for some reason whenever it comes to guys I suck at being brave.

A little while ago Tyler Ward poster something on twitter that really hit home. He said, "It's scary to take chances. But if you don't, you're an idiot. Life is too short to worry about the 'the what if'?"

I've realized I don't want to constantly be thinking, 'what if?' What if I had let them know I liked them? What if I had been more out going? What if I had made more of an effort? I found this pin on Pintrest that has definitely helped my perspective on a lot of things:

I don't want to look back and regret the things I didn't do. I'm sure I'll make mistakes, and I'm sure I'll be hurt, but without taking risks I'll never change and I'll never know what could happen. After all, if you want something different you have to do something you haven't done before.

So here's to being brave in all aspects of my life, but especially with boys.

Answers

Have you ever had a prayer answered you didn't actually vocalize? It may have been just a worry or a thought, but Heavenly Father answered you anyway? That happened to me this past week. I was feeling frustrated and worried about a few things in my life and I decided to read my Patriarchal Blessing and then flipped open my scriptures randomly. I ended up in Alma 37 and read verses 16-17 which read : '16: But if you keep the commandments of God, and do with these things which are sacred according to that which the Lord doth command you, (for you must appeal unto the Lord for all things whatsoever ye must do with them) behold, no power of earth or hell can take them from you, for God is powerful to the fulfilling of all his words. 17: For he will fulfill all his promises which he shall make unto you, for he has fulfilled his promises which he has made unto our fathers.'

These two verses were exactly what I needed to hear. I hadn't prayed specifically about what had been bothering me, but through His tender mercies Heavenly Father answered me anyway. I love how personal The Gospel is, and how much I can feel His love for me everyday.

Kids Say the Darnedest Things

The past couple of days I've heard the funniest things from some kids. Yesterday I went to a place called The Jump Zone, which is basically a giant indoor trampoline park. There's also dodge ball and giant foam pits you can flip into. Yes, it's as cool and fun as it sounds. Even if you're grown up:) While I was there we were in the dodge ball area when four boys who looked like they were about nine or ten joined us. One of them promptly came up and got in front of me declaring, "I"m going to protect the girl 'cause girls always get creamed!" He then said, "I'll be here body guard, she'll be our Queen!" I about died laughing it was so funny and very sweet. A couple of the other boys were pretty good at trash talking. A couple of things I heard them say were "What are you a tennis player?" and something about someone being a sock model . . . I never quite caught the rest of it.

Today my own sister Meggie was quite hilarious herself. We were sitting at Center Street Grill eating dinner when she did the whole routine of tying a knot in her straw wrapper and pulling it to see if someone was thinking about her. It came out clean so of course someone must have been thinking about her. I asked her if it was Kip, her best friend whom she's told us since age two she's going to marry.

 "Nope, that's over," she told me emphatically.

"What? When did this happen?" I asked, quite surprised.

"It just seems like I'm growing up and  he's not. I mean, he still likes Curious George."

And she's all of ten, hahaha. I about died laughing it was so funny. Apparently when you're ten Curious George is so not cool, so she couldn't possibly think about wanting to marry a boy who still liked it. Oh her teenage years are going to be sooooooooooooo much fun ;)

Love this crazy girl

Happy Day of Friendship!

Happy Day of Friendship! (yesterday, technically). This is what Kaylee wrote to me on Facebook yesterday along with this picture.

While this may seem like a strange picture and a random day (January 13), but it is all very significant. Kaylee and I became friends in 7th grade, right when Lord of the Rings was big. Like all 12 year-old girls we were a bit obsessed with celebrities, especially Mr. Bloom. Our love for him increased when in 9th grade he played the dashing Will in Pirates of the Caribbean. Orlando was definitely one the of the many things we bonded over, although all the embarrassing details don't need to be here on the Internet. January 13th is his lovely day of birth, and every year we try to get together and celebrate by having brownies and mint chocolate chip ice cream. It's our self designated friendship day. While we weren't together yesterday, the next time we are there will definitely be some mint chocolate chip ice cream and brownies in celebration. We still think he's ridiculously attractive, but we've grown up a bit (and so has he), so we're not obsessive like we used to be, but he'll always be our symbol of our friendship. Him and brownies and mint chocolate chip ice cream :)

Life as of Late

Sometimes my life seems super boring, and other times it seems like I'm ridiculously busy. Now seems like one of those ridiculously busy times. Right now my life consists of work (40 hours a week in front of a computer), finishing my applications for grad school (due February 1st), helping my parents with their business, and now helping plan a wedding! (no, not mine hahaha)

Work is going pretty well, I'm just ready for a change. I love everyone I work with, it's just not a job I'd want for long term. I love being on campus and being able to walk to work, except when it's -11 degrees outside like it was this morning.

Grad school applications are going pretty well. I'm working on getting my letters of recommendation this week, and then I really only have to get my transcipts, pay the fees, and write my letter of intent for each school. I'm planning on applying to USU, UofU, and BYU. Right now I'm not sure where I'd go if I got into all three . . . I really hate major life changing decisions. I took the GRE the week before Christmas, and it's such a relief to have it over. I got a combined score of 308, which is above the average for both the U and BYU. USU goes off of percentiles. I got a 48 in math and a 73 in verbal which should hopefully be enough to get in :)

For my parents business I'm kind of their social media person. I'm in charge of the twitter account (haven't tweeted anything yet), their pintrest, and their blog. I forgot how long it takes to format a blog so everything looks nice, but it'll definitely be worth it when it's done.

As for the wedding, one of my best friends is getting married in May! They're not officially engaged yet so I can't mention her name, but I'm super excited. Her family doesn't live close by so she's asked me to help with wedding planning and I'm super excited!!! We haven't worked everything out yet, but right now I'm working on bridesmaid skirts and decorations. Yay for love!!!

I have tons of pictures to put up on the blog, it just might take me longer than normal. Apparently I maxed out my photo storage through google so I have to upload everything to photo bucket and then link it to the blog . . . lame. Super lame. I'll try to upload the pictures tonight.

I'm not a big gamer, especially with my phone, but I do have a game I play all the time now. It's called Letterpress and it's super addicting. I'm not the best at it but it's tons of fun. I probably play it a little too much . . .

The Sister Shop

I can't believe I haven't blogged about this yet! This past December my parents opened 'The Sister Shop', a store for Sister Missionaries and for anyone who wants modest clothing. The shop is located just behind Great Harvest on Center Street in Logan. I've helped out quite a bit at the shop, and I'm quite proud of the accent wall I painted. The bonus of having my parents own the shop is that I get really great deals on clothes for myself, and they're all super cute! Pictures to come :)
Anyone who's interested in modest clothing should definitely check it out! For anyone not in Logan they're setting up their online store and there are already super cute skirts available.

Fall and Stephanie Videos

I am so far behind on blogging, so I'll start with my most recent videos. Here is fall semester 2012 and my Ode to Stephanie. Enjoy