late bloomin' and bloomin' late

Mom always said I was a late bloomer. So, now that's my excuse for everything. Apparently it took me about 15 years longer than most girls to decide I actually wanted to be a girl. Maybe I didn't realize that most boys want to marry a girl. Not a tomboy who plays with snakes.

About 3 years ago, I decided it was time to start fixing myself up to be more attractive to the boys. These "fix-ups" included:

• Getting Lasik so I could once and for all dump my glasses and nevermore look like an alien in photos (at least from no fault of my glasses).
• Getting my ears pierced for the first time ever!
• Growing my hair out
• Starting a more aggressive face routine that requires morning and night dedication
• Working out more = once a week
• Using the "natural glow" body lotion. Now instead of fluorescent, I am just an incandescent glow in the summer.
• Learning what eye shadow was. Thanks, Tia!
• Kicking the board shorts habit
  
• Getting my first (and last) manicure
• Working at the temple (not only makes me a woman, but an old woman at that)

Next week, I will perform my latest transformation attempt by visiting the dermatologist to see about having my mole removed. Yes. THAT mole. You all know it. My mole and I have been inseparable for a lifetime (not for lack of trying, though). About 10 years ago, I went to my dermatologist and asked him to remove it, but he refused saying that it would create too big of a scar on my face if he cut it out and he didn't want to hurt my dating chances by creating that scar. Well, news flash for him: since none of my other amazing transformations have gotten me the dates, this HAS to be the culprit! So, I'm determined it must go. And I will go see the only dermatologist in Utah valley that takes my insurance to make it happen.

Fingers crossed...I'll let you know how it goes!

favorite things

Here are a few of them:

Favorite t-shirt:

Favorite depressing/wishful anonymous quote about my life:

"Girls are like apples on trees. The best ones are at the top of the tree.The boys dont want to reach for the good ones because they are afraid of falling and getting hurt. Instead, they just get the rotten apples from the ground that aren't as good, but easy."

Favorite cited quote: (I've been trying figure out how to say this ever since Prop 8)

"There are civil rights involved in this -- the right to speak your mind, to participate in the election, but you don't have a civil right to win an election or retaliate against those who prevail."
-- Dallin H. Oaks

Favorite horrifyingly depressing movie:

Seriously...I couldn't sleep afterward

Favorite new clothing item:

Plaid jeans from target. Without the heels, of course.

Favorite winter-time tradition that I just started:

Lining my nostrils every night with Vaseline to avoid nose bleeds at my desk, in the bathroom (don't ask), at the temple, and while driving.

my newest stallwart friend

Yes, I realize that's not how 'stalwart' is spelled, jenny jo....

Over the last several months, I have come to a realization: My favorite stall in our shared work bathroom has become my own personal stall. It doesn't matter if I wait until 4pm to use it for the first time in a given day...it always has the seat up to welcome me when I arrive (a sign that it hasn't been used since it was cleaned the previous night).

It used to not be this way, I promise. But, layoffs over the last year have apparently slimmed down our (and the lds church department who we share the bathroom with) female bathroom users. There are still a few other women at my company (who I assume still use the bathroom), but they must just use other stalls. I'm not going to say which stall it is, just in case some of those other women read this and want to steal my unused sanctuary. But there are at least 6 stalls in there and considering that I think there are only 5 women currently at my company, we could, in theory, each have our own stall! (I have not seen any church employees in there for months now)

On a bathroom related side-note: Stacey and I discovered the public bathroom bizarro world: Football games! I'm sure many of you already know this, but it's been a while since I've been to a real football game (is BYU considered real?....). So, at halftime, we braced ourselves for the long bathrooms lines only to discover that the men's line was HUGE, and the women's only had 3 people in it! More football games for me, please! And this time, I'll drink lots of water before hand.

officially I am an old lady

I went with my sister yesterday to get Walter's shots. Btw, my brothers and I bought my sister a golden retriever puppy for her graduation present (actually, so far it's just one brother and I that bought it for her...the other brother hasn't paid me yet [cough] Trevor.)

These are both pics from the day we got him 3 weeks ago. I swear he is twice this size already!

During our stay at the vet's office, I decided that there are some similarities to the temple.

1) You make friends with random people you sit by: EVERY person that came in with their tiny shi tzu or 12 year old mini beagle had to stop and fawn over Walter. And I quote: "A golden retriever puppy has always been my dream dog!" And in my mind, I would be thinking, so...why do you have that yappy little thing? I'm so glad I could get everyone else's dream dog for my sister. Luckily I think he's also her dream dog.

2) When you see people crying, just look away: After we had been waiting for quite some time, the exam room right in front of us opened and 5 people with very tear-stained faces came stumbling out, sans the little white fluffy dog they went in with.

I have to admit, I was a little worried what everyone there was thinking about these two women who brought their dog in... but my fears were unfounded because after my sister told one lady that we had talked to for a while that our mom taught piano lessons, that lady then turned to me and said, "that's neat that you teach piano..." That was a relief, and also made my sister laugh really really hard.