the one where my best friend flew to town.

the post title says it all, in true friends fashion.

i was totally in the dark as everyone i hold near and dear to me knew mimi was flying to town to surprise me and hang out for the weekend. i've never loved a bunch of liars so much in my life for keeping such a good secret.

needless to say, lots of tears and laughs ensued as soon as i saw her in the window of a papa john's in some obscure part of provo (thanks pam for planning it)!

while she was here we:

• ate in 3 days what most people eat in a month (not even offended if she missed the food here more than her friends)
• watched 13 engagements up the canyon (almost an accurate number)
• got the best ab workout ever after a night at ramsey's apartment with the crew, playing games
• temple open house!
• ate more. 

your local real estate agents

we drove up vivian park canyon, which is where we witnessed [not 17 but close] 3 engagements. 

our people! kyle was even in town. 

renee's special: our long-time fave lunch from cheesecake factory. also so many weird experiences with our hot waiter thanks to me being awkward! slowly learning that maybe it really is my fault i don't have a relationship yet.

ox/C

who wants to teach me how to be a responsible adult?

did you guys know....

in the city of draper, when you get a ticket, they make you wait 14 days before you can call to figure out how much money you owe them? THEN they make you wait another 3-4 days while they send you your bill in the mail, after which you are required to send a check back to them.

IF you do not accomplish the mailing back of the check within a prompt two days of receiving the bill, it is impossible to get your payment in on time and therefore, you will be charged $80 more or literally have a warrant out for your arrest.

you didn't know?

neither did i!

i ALSO didn't know i could have just paid it online in the first place. hahahaha.

i'm beginning to think the most useful higher education class that could be offered is "adulthood: all the tricks and tips required to survive and be happy." or i guess i could have just asked another adult or used my brain for a second. but hey! i file my own taxes, i schedule my own doctors appointments, and i make it onto warrant lists on my own these days. independence never felt so...terrifying?

so, for therapuetic reasons, a very kind soul brought over my favorite kind of cookie (oatmeal chocolate chip, in case anyone was curious) last night.

and i had a healthy dose of puppy kisses&cuddles tonight with my draper friends. 

as if that wasn't enough, my newly endowed (!!!) olivia took me out for a pazookie and catching up on her boys/garments/her boys/whatever i had to offer which wasn't much. 

thanks for listening.


ox/C


p.s. when i am a parent, i never want to forget how understanding/patient/supportive pam and chris are. if my kids are half as negligent and needy as i am, i still think i run the risk of putting them up for adoption. i'm a work in progress. but i'm working on those things now!

it's 3:37 am

it's more sunday than it is saturday. which is great for many reasons: 

+ i love my ward (my bishop's wife might be my closest friend?)

+ tomorrow is the super bowl (goooooo...sports?) and i get to see lots of my favorite people as i party hop. my most favorite = the smith fam. then there's my freshman crew, and lastly my girl crush/angel friend katelyn. 

+ sundays are just so...sunday, ya know? this songs tells it all (dear future husband...)

as much as i love sundays, though, there's something to be said about saturdays. at least, this saturday. here's why:

+ i would really rather not go into the details about how, but...i caught the mouse.

+my mom and i spent the whole afternoon in slc at the rootstech conference - which was so so cool. i've been getting into family history a lot lately, and my mom is a cool lady that i like to hang out with a lot, so it was a beautiful marriage of some of my favorite things into one afternoon. 

+i went on a date. well, but here's the thing. when it comes to dates, i always receive this advice: "act normal" and "be yourself". seriously though like i have to pick one or the other, i can't do both. there have only been two people that i've ever dated that i seem to show my "self" to and still be happy - i'm holding out hope for a third guy! everyone cross your fingers!

*needless to say, i am not dating the boy in the pic. 

oh but anyways, tonight i went on a date where we drove to midway and ate at cafe galleria, which i highly suggest (the pesto chicken pizza is amaze if you like arugula); then we went to the ice castes (!!) which i had never been to before, and they're MAGICAL. i'm not kidding when i say i actually saw elsa and anna there. 

anyways, my wifi is so super slow, which means i have to choose between this and gilmore girls. 

i'm choosing gilmore girls. 

goodnight, and happy weekend!

things i need to do this month

1. register to vote.
2. or not. i'm politically useless. i'm such a trend follower (yeah, i hate trump but also hillary!) (is there a way to hate ALL the candidates but vote for ONE of them?) (is there a way to vote for myself?)
3. eat less carbs.
4. eat more carbs but feel less guilty about it.
5. kill the mouse that's in my house.

1. front door 2. garage 3. kitchen 4. OUTSIDE MY ROOM EW EW BARF. 

ox/C


p.s.

6. get less tickets (i spent 22.5 years of my life NEVER getting a ticket.  now, in the past month, i've recieved two citations from the draper police ... mom & dad, sorry. if it's any better, one of them is a parking ticket.
mom & dad, sorry. i may or may not have a warrant out for my arrest?... lololol )

7. p.p.s. mom & dad. jk, i've paid it all off. but can you maybe help me with food? ramen will do. 

the time the smith's took a red-eye to nyc on christmas eve.

CURRENTLY: there is a tiny mouse loose in my townhome. while i anxiously wait for it to find the peanut butter treat i left it on the sad little mickey mouse guillotine, here are some pics of my favorite new york visit to date. 

we arrived in nyc on christmas morning, which was idyllic because the airplane/airports/streets were totally clear (meaning, we all got an exit row with seats in between us all. merrrrry christmas, smith clan.)  

valerie's older sister and brother-in-law live in an ok (...perfect...) apartment in TriBeCa, and we tooootally crashed their pad while they were traveling for the holidays! couldn't have asked for a better place to stay with my fave people (minus G&P&kids). 

friday (christmas day): settling in / rockefeller center / fifth avenue

the only downfall to flying on a red-eye is...

a super grumpy christina. 

i tried so hard. sorry, fam. 

saturday: one world trade center & sushi in the upper west side

i'm so good at striking up conversation with strangers on a subway! 

but that's actually just mikey. 

sunday: church (w/ barefoot blonde ah!) & the met

no pics to prove it, but we ended every night in the tribeca apartment playing liverpool rummy (british version of phase 10) and eating until we were all satisfactorily 13 pounds heavier than the day before. mooooving on. 

monday: times square, the best surprise on earth, levain's, and MORE liverpool rummy

OK OK OK OK. back in july i became obsessed with Hamilton. i got my parents (and anyone who was in my vicinity) really into it, and i am prettttty sure that since i first heard the music, not a day has gone by that i haven't listened to it? anyways. if you wanna talk details take me out to dinner and make my life by indulging me. otherwise, just know this:

*this is it's first year on broadway, therefore it's still the original cast

*it's an amazing retelling of our founding fathers

*i'm sosososo obsessed

*tickets are more than my rent, and sold out until 2017. 

*my dad surprised us by buying two tickets (for an AMAZING PRICE) for the week we were in nyc. he gave us the tickets on monday for a show scheduled for WEDNESDAY. 

many tears were shed. 

do you like my socks, Y or N?

tuesday: nate's birthday (!!!) @ natural history museum, central park, dinner in harlem @ red rooster (many, MANY thumbs up)

i love them. 

& i love the ladies (missing paige and alta!)

red rooster = southern comfort food. the girls shared this platter of a WHOLE chicken + waffles, mac&cheese, and biscuits&gravy. suggest, suggest, suggest! hbd, natey boy. 

wednesday: [alexander] hamilton! (yes, i'll rap for you if you really want me to, fine.), & nyc's best pizza (not pictured because i was an idiot too distracted by my crushes on the cast of Hamilton to take pics of the amazeeee pizza we had directly after). 

DAD how did you even get these tickets? ilysm

thursday: new years eve! 

early in the evening, pam & i did diy pedi's and read our christmas books. the rest of the evening...didn't even think to take pics OOPS but the fireworks were perfect and i think i should move to nyc now?

we left first thing the next morning, thus ending one of my favorite trips ever. i love my family, i love the opportunities we get to travel and be together, and obviously i. love. new york. the ONLY thing that could have made this trip better would be if the rest of my sibs and their babes could have been with us. i'm requesting a caribbean cruise with all of us to make up for it. vote now if you agree. 

how most nights ended: valerie cooking something amazing while i watched friends, and reading books on books on books long after everyone else was asleep for the night.  

oh AND let's not forget all the times my mom caught me reading my scriptures on my phone ... (or something).

a journal entry, of sorts

sup.

hello 2016.

so far you've been fine.

like, a b+. january was a rocky start, and i never expect too much out of february, but STILL some super cool things have happened to me since we last talked!

a year ago.

here's what's going on in my life, so that i don't forget my favorite (and least favorite) things in 30 years, and i can reminisce on the good ole' [poor, stressful, sometimes aimless] days.


+ currently listening: ALL of Sia's new album (wowowow); lots of classical music (trying to be more intelligent! also i'm out of data already so my spotify sessions are on pause, and i have a classical cd in my car); and of course Hamilton (more on this later, most likely).

+ currently doing: no laundry (again, more on this - and my passive aggressive roommate - later); weekly sessions with a personal trainer which i LOVE; experimental things with my hair, cause what else?; and anything i can to make good friends! is there such as dating, but for girl friends?

+ currently dating: no one but also everyone. ok so this sounds like a dumb problem to have, but i've been having kind of a hard go of it. truth: i'm more than ok to not be or even get married for a while, but i would at least like to be reminded that really (or even mediocre? haha) good guys exist! so many thoughts on this. but i DID challenge my date to eat a live goldfish on friday night and he actually did it. not sure if that belongs in the + or - column.

currently reading: i saved this for last cause it's the most exciting thing in my life (not joking, i love it so much). after the first presidency devotional back in december, there was a segment that aired right after on byutv about joan of arc. she's always been a hero of mine (i'll ask my mom for pictures of the time i went to first grade dressed like her...?), so for christmas i asked only for books on joan. mark twain wrote a novel based on the accurate events of her life and even he claims it's his best and favorite work of his (and i agree. even though i've never read anything else by him but ugh DETAILS whatever).  every page i read gives me so much inspiration, so if anyone is looking for a heroic story about the coolest female ever, look no further: joan of arc.

the first paragraph of this chapter! love. 

So on and so forth.

K here's pics!

ugh i hate SO MUCH that the watermark stayed on there. whatever. still goin' strong with this chick, we talk at least 3 times a day despite our distance. 

spent time with two of my favorite boys this weekend up at temple square (with a fun friend! see below), and watching Grease Live on sunday night. 

i told you a fun friend came! honestly just realizing that all my friends left me at the same time...is there a support group for friendless people? or is that just called social activities? 

aaaaaaand just cause. 

ox/C

back.

soooo this is awkward - i've spent the last few minutes trying to decide whether i should go through with making my blog private or not, then just decided that i have nothing to hide (except maybe my greasy hair) and i don't feel like going through all the work that would require. ha.

so hi! it's been a while, huh?

:: ^ just cause i can, i post shameless selfies on here. also, identity crisis! my hairdresser didn't do exactly what i hoped for but when do they ever, you know? she put in too much orange-blond and took off too much of ends, but hey! it's 2015. and in 2015, i let things go. i guess.

:: i still have an impressive 100% in ALL my classes and it has been two weeks. senioritis whaaaa? i haven't even skipped a class yet! motivation, never leave me!

:: i've seen two very good movies so far this year. most importantly, american sniper. it was hard to watch (mostly thinking of my brothers the whole time) and i will probably never watch it again, but WOW i lovedddd it. first time i've been impressed with a movie in a while. 

:: my long MLK weekend - my couch, netflix, and yoga pants.  it sure beats having to SHOWER and DO YOUR HAIR and PICK AN OUTFIT and GO OUTSIDE.  what even is outside?  

jk, it was actually really productive, but i sure relished in all the time dedicated to watching friends and eating granny smith apples in my pj's. ahhhh it's the little things. 

:: andddd to top this year off, i spent a glorious day in slc with ellie, where we ate too much and laughed even more, and ended up day with mimi at a m[i]lk and cookies party. such a good life i have. #blessed