Hi everyone! This is probably going to be a quickie…with a longer, more detailed follow up. Hehehe. This week has sure been a fun one. I am currently on a bus back to Idaho. That’s part of the reason this is going to be a short post: I am doing this on my tablet without a regular keyborad and no pictures to add. If you don’t know this yet about me, get ready. I LOVE PICTURES! I never take any though. That’s why it’s one of my goals this year for the improved me. Anyway, I don’t currently acess to any of the hundreds of pictures that that were taken this last week. I’ll expound later but here’s a fast little blurb that will get you anxious for my next post.

I got to be a bridesmaid in a wedding!!! It was so fun. Lewis’s best friend married Lewis’s cousin. It was crazy how it all worked out but they are the cutest couple ever (other then lewis and I of course). I’ve never see either of them so happy before AND  they get to be together for eternity. It made me even more excited for when I get to marry my best friend. The girls got mani/pedis, I wore sparkle shoes and a princess tira, Lewis and I got to eat at Red Lobster…. There were lots of giggles and tears. Oh it was wonderful! And while you are leaning on the edge of your seat, I shall bid adieu. I will write about it more soon!

I work at at a bounce house place in the mall called Jump In. It’s full of bounce houses, obstacle courses, slides, and more. It’s actually kind of a fun place to work. Part of my job (depending on if I’m opening or closing) is to inflate/deflate all of the bounce houses. I opened today so basically I just had to plug everything in. Super simple….right? Well, I have a story for you. Haha. I got to work today, on time, counted my register, scooted all the benches back to their spots, and then started going around and plugging everything in. I got all of the “jump side” ones done and headed over to Gravity Zone. I plugged in the big slide, went and kicked all of the foam back into the pits, and went back down to plug in the last two toys in. The blowers started up and then stopped. “Oh great,” I thought. “Stupid fuse.” I ran up back to the front counter, looked at the clock (5 mins to open), grabbed the keys, and sprinted to the back again. As soon as I got into the utility room, my brain completely forgot what  switch it was. I frantically started to flip every little thing – the lights went on and off, the fans on the other toys turned off and then back on, the heater went dead…. It was madness!! I called my manager to see if she remembered which one it was. She just told me to flip everything, so I did, again. I finally found it. I flipped it and the two fans behind me started back up. Whew… I turned to walk away and POP! they went dead again. I flipped it again but this time I waited. It popped again. I didn’t have time for this!! I knew I was running behind. I looked at the time on my phone. Yikes! I was supposed to open three minutes ago! I finally just decided not to mess with it anymore, locked the room back up, and walked away. I ended up putting a sign up telling people to not go over there. That was so much easier. I called my boss and explained the problem. He told me that he would come take a look at it. I was just glad that I didn’t have to deal with it anymore.

Because it’s been snowy outside, we like having a mop up next to the counter. It’s nice to keep the front clean from all the icky stuff that gets tracked in. I like to grab my mop and bucket before I even open the gate. As you know,I opened today, so that was on my list of things to do. With all the craziness dealing with the power, I couldn’t do it before the gate went up. As I unlocked the gate to pull it up, I hoped and prayed that I would be able to go and get my mop before anyone came in. I finished with the front stuff and ran to the back again. I put the hose in the wheelie bucket and turned it on. For some reason, the hose wasn’t all the way in the bucket… Water started coming out of the hose, moved a little, and splashed against the side, getting me and the wall soaked. Really?! There was now a puddle of water on the floor and dripping from the wall. I was already cold but now I was wet. My shoe was squishy and I had water spots all down the front of me. I was a mess. I wanted to be done. I wanted go home. I wanted to scream. I wanted to cry. I hadn’t even been there for the whole first hour of my shift yet before any of this happened! I wiped up the water around the bucket and off of me the best I could and then wheeled the mop up to the front. Just as I got back up to my counter, a cute little family came in. I took a deep breath and smiled. That was all it took to make my day better. Just one smile.

We get to choose what kind of day it will be. Our attitude determines the outcome. That’s pretty amazing. My dad always tells me that if you choose to have a crappy day, it will be exactly that. Same thing happens if you choose to have a happy one. We have the power to make it what we want. With that smile, I had decided to not let the crummy morning I was having ruin my day. Because of that choice, my day went great! I enjoyed my shift at work, I got a lot of things done there and at home, and most importantly, I was happy. I agree that some days you just need one of those “not my day” days, but rarely. Before my transplant, I used to decide to have several of them quite close together often.  I learned quickly that I didn’t like it. I felt miserable, I felt icky,and no one liked being around me. Heck, I didn’t like being around myself! I decided that I needed to choose to be happy. From then on I have decided to smile at whatever comes my way, be an optimist, and have a wonderful day!

All my life I have been able to experience what I like to call “all in” syndrome. That’s when you stumble across something new. You love it so much and can’t think or talk about anything else! It’s usually books, movies, television shows, or music. I can categorize my life into stages of what I’ve been obsessed with. Taylor Swift, Doctor Who, Supernatural, Broadway Musicals, How I Met Your Mother, Les Miserables (the movie), High School Musical, Friends, Lost, Tom Hiddleston… Believe me, the list goes on and on. During these “all in” stages, I pick up on really random facts and store them in my head forever. They never leave! Like for instance, I bet you didn’t know that Benedict Cumberbatch’s (Sherlock and Dr. Strange) full name was Benedict Timothy Carlton Cumberbatch or that Jared Padalecki (Sam Winchester) had a broken arm during season 10 of Supernatural because he insisted on doing his own stunts or that Matt Smith (the 11th Doctor) actually hung from the bottom of his TARDIS for the 50th Anniversary episode of Doctor Who because David Tennant (the 10th Doctor) was going to be there and Matt wanted to show off. See?! Weird facts no one wants to hear about! Haha! I have a great appreciation for all of my past and current obsessions.

As I’ve phased in and out of my different obsessions, one has always stuck. Harry Potter. Always! I love the books! I love the movies! (Yes I know that they are so different from each other and yes it bugs me that movies can’t follow the books exactly but I appreciate them as separate things.) I love HP so much! I’ve read all the books – even the silly short stories that J.K. Rowling has written to go with the actual series. I’ve taken all of the Pottermore quizzes. I was sorted into Ravenclaw. My wand is Cedar wood, 10 1/2 inches, dragon heart-string core, pliant flexibility. My Patronus is a Ragdoll Cat. Buzzfeed quizzes have told me that my best friend would be Neville and Luna. My boyfriend would be Neville or Malfoy. My personality is usually Luna or Hermione. Yeah, I’m kind of  crazy. Hahaha.

For Christmas, I really wanted the two new books that she’s written. They are screenplays so it’s a different layout but it’s still HP, so I had to have it. It was kind of a late addition to my Christmas list so I wasn’t expecting to be able to read them Christmas morning. When Lewis handed me a box, that after multiple layers of wrapping paper, turned out to be the books I was dying to have, I almost lost it. I was sooo excited to read them. I started Fantastic Beasts that day but kept getting distracted with all of the traditions and festivities that were happening around me.

Before Lewis was scheduled to go back to Utah, he decided that he was going to take me to the new Harry Potter move – Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. I thought that was a wonderful idea because, Harry Potter! I told him that we could go but I wanted to finish the book first. I’m weird like that. By the Wednesday after Christmas I was almost done with Fantastic Beasts. I said goodnight to my family and then stayed up to finish it. I was having mental breakdowns after I was done reading it. For moments like this, I’m so very grateful for my friend Arie…. These are just some of the texts between us that night:

Me at about 1:30 am: “Okay, so i fell asleep on the couch at like 9…. Lewis woke my up around 11ish so I could go to bed for real. Haven’t been able to fall back asleep since I got to my own bed. So what do I do? Well, I just finished Fatastic Beasts! BEST. BOOK EVER. ;)”

Her: “ISN’T IT AMAZING!?!” 

(Then we talked about things that happened but just in case you haven’t seen/read it yet I won’t say anything.)

After talk about the events in the book, I said. “I really want to start The Cursed Child but I know that I do there will be NO chance of any sleep ever until I’m done with it…”

A few hours later, I’m halfway through the book freaking out at her still. Thankfully, she had come home late from work and had to get up early the next morning for her play she was in so she was staying up all night, so she was emotionally there for me. Hahah! I came across the biggest plot twist and told her what part I was at.

Her: BREATHE

Me: I CAN’T I HAVE ONE ACT LEFT AND THEN IT’S ALL OVER

Her: JUST BREATHE!!1

Me: *Deep breaths….

Her: You’re not breathing are you….?

Me: Nope. Just hyperventilating

Her: ….figured

At 6:22 am, I sent this final text: I’M DONE!! IT WAS INCREDIBLE! AHHHHHHH! I’m falling asleep so I’ll freak out about it with you in a few hours. Goodnight! 

Her: Hahaha! Goodnight. 

I had finished the Cursed Child, a 308 page book in just under four hours! It was great. I woke back up a few hours later and went upstairs. Lewis was already up. He pulled me in for a hug and a kiss, asking how I slept. I started laughing. “I didn’t,” I said. “I finished my books instead.” Wide eyed stare. “O-okay… Now you can start on the next one.” “No I can’t I finished that one already too. That’s the one I read last night…in four hours.” “It hasn’t been a whole week yet. You’re crazy!” He kissed me again. Even after two years, you’d think he’d be used to how fast I read books.

A few days later Lewis took me to see Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Eddie Redmayne is my current hollywood heartthrob so it was so wonderful to look at him for a few hours. 😉

And the best part?! It was just like the book. Granted, the book was the screenplay for the movie, but it was a wonderful experience that the movie followed the book exactly! I was kind of a little more than enthusiastic when something would happen “just like it did in the book” and I could tell Lewis was trying really hard not to be annoyed with me. It’s a good thing he loves me so much right! Haha. Oh, I am so grateful that no matter how old I am or what staged of life I’m in, Hogwarts will always be there to welcome me home.

P.S. I just realized that this movie was the first movie I watched this year (we went and saw it on January 2) so that means that 2017 is going to be magical, right?

Hi everyone! It’s been a while… I know I say this pretty much every time I post, but I will try to do better. I really actually want to this time. It’s one of my resolutions with the new year. 😉 Everyone always says “New year, new me” and I don’t like it. It just bugs me for some reason. I understand what it means. We all have to change at some point. I mean, I’m not the same person I was a year ago but I think it bugs me because even though I have had experiences that have changed who I am, I’m still me. I don’t know if that makes sense to you but it does in my head. So, instead of “New year, new me” I’m changing it to “New year, improved me.” Yeah, I like that so much better. That way it doesn’t feel like I’m not me but I can still grow if I let myself do so.

Part of “New year, improved me” includes:

• blogging/posting more – even if it’s just silly nonsense that has happened
• not worrying so much about all of the “what ifs” that are contently around me – I am a planner and always end up worried about every possible scenario and, thankfully, my wonderful sweetheart that helps me have perspective and calms me down from my little spirals of anxiety
• take more pictures – I love pictures, but I just don’t take enough of them. Example: Lewis was here with my family the last two weeks so he could spend Christmas/New Years with me. Two weeks. Festive traditions, Christmas morning, Dates, Friend meetups, Family stuff… How many pictures? I think I counted a total of nine or ten, maybe?! Sure I remember the day when we had some time to waste so we went and said hi to one of my friends while she was working….but that would have been great to get some pictures of! This one’s pretty high on my list of things to improve on. I think a big contributor is because of my heart transplant journey. I don’t remember much of anything before and quite awhile after…mostly because of all the drugs I was on during recovery. There’s a good fourish months of my life that I don’t really remember. Mom and Dad took a lot of pictures and because I’ve heard the stories associated with each of the pictures so much, it’s nice to “remember” what happened. That’s why I want to take more pictures. Pictures are important to capture memories.

There are a few more on the list but those are the top three. I hope that by next year everyone will be sick of my blog updates, I will be a little better at controlling my “what if tornadoes of worry”, and that I will need to get a couple more sd cards to hold all my pictures! 2017, it’s nice to meet you! *cheers*