Life is Good

So I found out today, that as soon as you wake up in the morning you should thank God for the day and ask him to make it good. It worked for me today, and despite circumstances dictating otherwise... I had a wonderful day :)

That said, I felt the need to show you what makes one half of Em tick:





Are they not beautiful?

Recipe for Insta Happy

1 grilled cheese sandwich (using Tillamook sharp cheese)
1 bowl warm applesauce with cinnamon on top
1 chilly January day
1-2 sunspots
1 cat (if available)

Put the sandwich and applesauce bowl on a plate and sit down in the sunspot, preferably indoors. Depending on the size and location of the sunspot, you may need 2 of them. Slowly eat the food and bask in the sun. If a cat is available to you, pet it intermittently (they generally don't leave sunspots anyway). Add hugs to taste.

Oodalalee, oodalalee, golly what a year

New Years Day 2008 my family got up very early, and moved away from Long Beach, WA

Pullman got a lot of snow, so much snow in fact that WSU closed on the 31^st of January (and February 1^st). First time since Mount St. Helens

I helped build a 4 person igloo at XA

I discovered that I could hula hoop with a spoon on my nose

Started watching Stargate

Rosalie and I started dating on facebook, and we went to pizza, and went and saw Enchanted at Todd Aud. Oh, and that’s when I officially met Snook

Met Brooke

Brian had ridiculous mutton-chops, and then a ridiculous moustache, then he shaved

I took ornithology, and it kind of changed my life

I actually talked about God with a fellow zoology major

Took an amazing blackmail picture of Rosalie and Angela

Had a shortbread making party at 1 a.m. during finals week

I survived organic chemistry and the second half of my year of physics

Rosalie left for California, never to return

Kiira, Alana, Snook, and I went kayaking on the Snake river for Snook’s 21^st

Went to Save Our Shire to watch Bridging Babel play, and experienced my first hippie festival. Oh old barns, frisbee in plowed fields, and the smell of pot

Went home for the high school graduation of Rayna, Kelly, and Jonathan

Alana went to Poland

I took Technical Writing in the summer, and finished my English minor

I spent 3 weeks in California with the Staley’s, and survived 107 degree weather

Climbed rocks in Joshua Tree National Park, hugged a Joshua tree and almost hugged a cholla

Added about 15 birds to my life list, and saw a Western Tanager

Saw Hollywood for the first time

Started a blog

I went to a concert with Phil to see Blues Travelers, Collective Soul, and Live. Also went to the Spaghetti Factory and sat in a sweet purple chair. Also went to the sci-fi museum!

Flew home to Pullman, and for the rest of the summer helped Daddy build a house in Palouse.

Mommy and Daddy got two kittens, and we named them Dorian Gray and Pierre Dantes. Such nice kitties.

Grandpa Bill died

Got to see the McKindley-Ward cousins for the first time in 5 years

Fall semester began and there were 8 new girls in The Rock: Janna, Erika, Melissa, Lauren, Liz, Abby, Hannah, and Brooke. Liz and Lauren were late arrivals, but turned out absolutely wonderful.

Fall ’08 semester was the biggest God thing I’ve seen in awhile. We thought it would be a hard semester, and that people wouldn’t get along. God thought otherwise.

A few of us went to the first football game of the year in Seattle at Quest Field. We lost

Rosalie broke up with me because she started working in Hollywood

My first semester ever where my academic courses were all biology classes

I learned how to dance and work out.

I went dancing for the first time at CJ’s… actually I went six times total.

I went to the Highland Games for the first time, and was there all day

Took care of Phil’s guinea pig, Samwise Hamgee

Sylvester jumped out of my arms and was temporarily paralyzed. I had to put him to sleep.

We played with hermit crabs in Invertebrate Zoology lab, so I went and bought a hermit crab, and named her Hermione

Brooke, Phil, and I took co-ownership of a blueberry dwarf hamster, and named her Ambrosia the Precious (nectar of the gods)

Decided to go to graduate school and get my Master’s degree (hopefully in New Zealand)

Had a house sleepover, and left one of the mattresses upstairs

Melissa and Liz had an 80’s themed birthday party. Actually talked to Robbie Love for the first time

Barack Obama got elected the 44^th President of the United States on November 4^th

Brooke and Janna cut my hair to look like Alice from Twilight, loved it!

I got 6 inch heel, black, lace-up, boots. Everybody had to try them on

Halloween: Hannah and I were vampires and Brooke was a vampire slayer. Beth did my makeup, dark lipstick and everything. I looked amazing, if I do say so myself. We all went dancing

Beth, Brooke, and I ate an entire pumpkin pie with our fingers (minus the crust)

Put a big black X and the word NO on the upstairs door

WSU beat UW in the Applecup, so UW is officially the worst team in the Pac-10

Went ‘home’ for Thanksgiving break and IDed a whole bunch of invertebrates at the beach

Alana and I hung up blue icicle lights inside

We had a house tea party

I drank a lot of tea this semester, a heck of a lot of tea

The night before my 21^st birthday Brooke, Robbie, and I went down to the park so I could turn 21 on the swings, in the pouring rain :)

I had a Disney movie night for my birthday

WSU basketball lost to Gonzaga

A bunch of us went to the acoustic battle of the bands and saw Ian, Snook, Chris, and Brian play

Beth, Colleen, Jennifer, and I made chocolate almond shortbread at 2 a.m. during finals

Julie Ann, Chris Akers, Nate, and ZZ graduated

Brian came dancing at CJ’s for the first time

Boys… oh boy….

Alana and I drove to Seattle and stayed with the Kime’s, Broberg’s, and at Grandma’s

We shoveled a foot and a half of snow off Grandma’s roof

Met a second cousin from Minnesota, age 19, named Jason. Great fun

On Christmas day Mr. Broberg drove Alana, Dani, and I to the airport. Alana and Dani flew to China to visit Nicole Norwood. I flew to California.

Rosalie picked me up and we went out to dinner at a French restaurant at The Grove with her Jewish coworker, Mike Dillon, then we went to his apartment and watched Gladiator.

New Years Eve 2008 Rosalie, her roommate Hannah, and I watched Gross Point Blank, popped a bottle of champagne, toasted the New Year, watched the ball fall in New York, and then we watched Emperor’s New Groove.

I really want ferrets

And I would name them Zaitsev and Markovnikov :)

Hollywood

Despite the fact that there is no official town of Hollywood, I did spend the entire day of December 30th downtown Hollywood. Without going into a rant about the superficial, materialistic, creepy atmosphere of this famous part of our country, I will just say it is not a place I would want to live. All the shops on Hollywood Blvd. had bars on the front, there are homeless people sleeping on the walk of fame (which is swept and polished by hand), and the famous Santa Monica Blvd. when walked at 8:30 in the morning couldn't be distinguished from any other inner city where a girl shouldn't be walking alone.

Ok, I'm done now. On to the cool parts.

I found out Will Smith and George Clooney have bigger feet than me, but Johnny Depp and I have the same size hands and feet. Though words of wisdom, if you want to explore around Graumann's Chinese Theatre, go before 10 a.m., otherwise there will be too many people to see anything.


There are people who hang out on Hollywood and Highland dressed up as famous movie characters. I saw Optimus Prime, Captain America, Wonderwoman, the Watchmen, Tinkerbell, Jack Sparrow, the Joker, Catwoman, Charlie Chaplain, and Spiderman. Yes, it was the Spiderman you see in Italian Job! He was wearing a fanny pack... I laughed.

The Hollywood Highland Mall is huge (5 stories) with an open courtyard containing a really cool fountain and mosaic quotes on the ground. The stores are incredibly high class (with prices to match), but fun to walk around in and pretend you're rich.


I wore my WWF shirt and a dude walked past me and yelled, "Save the pandas!"

There are three theaters just in the Hollywood Highland intersection area. I went to the Mann Chinese 6 theatre inside the mall and watched 'Marley & Me'. I was one of the only people there... which is good because that movie made me cry, just like the book did :P

The Borders Books on the corner of Sunset and Vine is huge, and wonderful. I spent about 4 hours inside after it got dark out, writing on my laptop and reading. Quite pleasant, and interesting to watch people go by.

Before Rosalie picked me up, I did a little waltzing by myself on the walk of fame.

Personal Favorite :)