Whether the weather

~ It feels like home here. Until tonight it has just been overcast and rainy. And foggy in the morning. Just like winter in California. In fact, it's been so foggy in the mornings, I could have been home and wouldn't even have known it because I can't see anything. I like to pretend that's where I am.

~ It's a good thing the rain finally came too, the inversion was so bad I was thinking I would need to go back to LA for some fresh air.

The Plan

You know when you're dating someone for awhile your friends become their friends and theirs become yours? (On a side note, when the relationship ends, your own friends should stick to your side of the breakup and vice versa. Ah hem.) Logan and I have one friend in particular who began as a mutual friend--Chris Tobler. Granted, Chris and Logan have been friends for about 6 years now, have lived together, and are best friends. Whereas Chris and I, albeit friends, are not nearly as close! Chris is the friend who gets credit for setting Logan and I up--longer story and less lame than it sounds. So it was pretty fun this weekend to be able to take a little trip, (which turned into an adventure) to Southern California this past weekend for Chris's wedding. The wedding was absolutely beautiful--words fail me, and also pictures as I didn't really take any (thanks, Nicholle). They both looked so happy, and it was really fun for Logan and I to see friend's and family we hadn't seen in awhile.

At the rehearsal dinner the night before, Chris and company went around the room and introduced everyone. Logan of course was the best friend from the mission (every wedding has one) and I was.... "the girl he's dating." Wait a minute...when did I get demoted from friend to "my buddy's girlfriend"? Probably when I started acting like that awkward girl when I would go over to their apartment. Odd phenomenon: even though I, too, was friend's with Chris, when I would go to their place, I got all shy because he was Logan's friend. But when Logan would leave the room, it was normal. Needless to say, I wasn't offended at all at the dinner. I don't mind being introduced as such, and I wouldn't have been there if I wasn't "the girl Logan's dating." But this really showcases how the friend's theory has been working in the opposite direction. You're supposed to become better friend's with your boy/girlfriend's friends, right? But with Chris, ever since Logan and I started dating, in my head (and apparently Chris's too) Chris is Logan's friend. The good news is that with Chris getting married we wouldn't have stayed in touch, but now that I'm dating one of his best friends, we get to stay friends. I guess our friendship has come full circle.

I also hate making my bed

Yesterday I had to make the most excruciating purchase of my life. A vacuum. Nothing could be more lame. Yes, there are things that are more lame, but none that are this expensive! I debated for a few weeks after my old vacuum died. I didn't really want to spend too much money, but then what's the point of getting one that will die in a year. I decided on one that was still more than I wanted to spend, but not the most expensive. Although, my price of "more than I wanted to spend" started at about $15. It was just so painful spending that much money for something that I will use to do something I HATE doing. In my world, vacuuming is one of the worst chores, second only to cleaning the bathroom. When I received the dead vacuum (RIP) I thought it was the worst wedding present, but now that I've had to buy one, in retrospect, that was the best present ever. It saved me from having to go through what I'm going through now. It was a good vacuum, and lasted quite a long time, in fact, 4 years longer than the marriage.

Can't I get a little sympathy?!

I'm very anxious about a problem in my life right now. I can tell because I'm losing sleep over it. I wake up far too early and just lay in bed thinking and fretting and trying to come up with solutions for said problem. And when I'm awake, I spend all my waking time on it too. When I talked to my parents about it, they laughed. As was the response from several friends, accompanied with some rather sarcastic remarks. This is not the first time in recent history that my problems just haven't received the level of sympathy I was hoping for. For example, nobody really cares when your big problem is that you can't gain weight, no matter how hard you try, and so your normal clothes don't fit. Even if the cause is a life altering chronic illness.

Right now, my big worry is how I'm going to fit all my trips in this year. I have several options, all of them feasible, but I'm not sure how to work them all in, and if I'll have the money to do it.

Here's the breakdown:

Jan--Japan

Feb--China

March--Mesa Verde/Havasupai
April--Grand Canyon/Paria Canyon

May--Hawaii

June--Glacier NP/Mt. Rushmore

Sept--South East Asia

Nov--Africa

March 2010--Antartica

And then, in the next few years, I have to reach:

New Zealand

Patagonia South America (not to be confused with the store I frequent)

St. Petersburg, Russia

Jordan/Israel

I know, nobody cares.

Let Me Count the Reasons: 7

There are a few reasons why I'm dating Logan. But right now there are a few that are at the top of my list. Namely his nieces and nephews. The Holman family was nice enough to let me crash their holidays as I spent most of my time off over there. Who wouldn't? He has the cutest nieces and nephews! I always try to stay away from saying too much about my dating life on my blog, so don't read too much into this. All I'm saying, is if it weren't for cutiepies, who knows if we would still be dating.

In related news, my great-grandpa on my mom's side has a museum named after him. Rightly so, as most of the collection was gathered by him. (Do you see why I'm so paranoid about being a packrat? It's in the genes! He needed a museum for all his collections!) It's in Lehi, called the John Hutchings Museum of Natural History. And I highly recommend checking it out if you live in the area. Also note, this same grandpa actually discovered Timpanogos Cave. Yes, the history books say it was Mr. Hansen. This fact is highly disputed by those in the know, and even though my grandpa was too humble to say argue, I'm not. I digress. We took one of Logan's nieces there, and had a really fun afternoon.

MPE Reunion Tour

One of my favorite cartoons:

Every time Callie, Ang, and I travel, and we see a panflute, this comic gets brought up. And for some reason it just cracks us up. So 2 years ago in Peru, Ang went ahead and bought me a little panflute as a joke. Well, unbeknownst to me, I actually could play the panflute quite well. Not only could I cover the classics like Twinkle Twinkle and Mary had a little lamb, I could do all sorts of hymns, and even Postal Service covers. At which point, my little $1 panflute was no longer cutting it, so Aaron and Brian (who we met in Peru) we kind enough to buy me a professional panflute. It has the word professional stamped on the side. From there, it snowballed. Now that I had two panflutes, everyone else wanted an instrument. We ended up buying instruments all over Peru and playing them frequently on bus rides, probably much to the chagrin of our fellow travelers. Aaron was on the drums, Brian had a bullhorn and a guitar, Ang on a flute/whistle, and Callie rocked a drummy tamboriney thingy. And not to disappoint all our fans in Peru, we recorded a song with all our instruments (thank you Apple Garage Band). Since Peru we haven't played together, but this last weekend we had an MPE reunion (our band: Magical Puma Experience) and it was pretty great. Thanks for coming and visiting Aaron!