A Pillow of Blue Bonnets

With all the weddings I've been surrounded by as of late - I began to wonder about my own future wedding and what I'd like it to be like.

One thing I am sure of, I want a bouquet of wildflowers.

It would be necessary for me and husband to pick them ourselves. We'd probably take a little mountain stroll a day or two before we're wed and march ourselves along some rugged trail picking indian paintbrush and blue bonnets and those cute little yellow and white flowers. Then we'd pass by a particularly awesome flower and husband man would pick it and put it in my hair and tell me that I was as "pretty as the morning". Then we would walk away into the sunset.

Commence your puking.

But it is true. And it'll be just as cheesy, if not more so than described.

When we got back home I'd just stick the bouquet in a mason jar and the night before we get hitched I'll tie 'em all together with some pretty pink ribbon.

Oh, love.

Lovely Locks

Vanity always was my favorite sin.

Just kidding, but I am kind of a junkie for figuring out cool new hair styles, and this summer I've been really into beach waves, and messy, braided hair.

Like so:

Kate Hudson, dang that girl can pull off beach waves like perfectly, every time.

Sometimes I feel a little shafted though cuz with my bangs some of these hairstyles just don't look as good. But whatev, I can still try.

I've done my research and from experience I can tell ya the best way to get beach waves, for those of us who are not naturally wavy, is to spritz your hair with sea salt spray before styling.

I bought this stuff - Not Your Mother's Sea Salt Spray from Wal-Mart and it works pretty darn good if I do say so myself! The theory behind it all is that it gives your hair texture. The kind of smokin hot texture you get when you just come running out of the ocean on a summer day. Like huzzah - Beach Hair!! Beach Babe Hair. I want to be a Beach Babe. So anyway, this stuff costs like 3 bucks I think. And if you're dead broke you can always just mix some regular salt with some water, but the above stuff smells like coconuts so I suggest buying it if you're into smelling good and what not.

The next step after sea-salting your beautiful hair is to take a medium sized curling iron, and wrap your hair around it. None of that clamp-and-roll business. Just grab some hair, and wrap it around the barrel and hold it for a few seconds. Just long enough to get a wave - cuz you don't want a tight curl. True Beach Babes don't have curls, they have waves. Messy waves.

So after you do that to your whole head I usually just spray some regular run-of-the-mill hair spray and whip my hair around a few times to AC/DC or something. Cuz I'm, like, totally a hardcore rocker.

That was a joke.

But just whip your hair around a bit, no rock n' roll tunes necessary, and scrunch. Messy it up.

And voila!! You have yourself some beach waves like Kate Hudson in the picture above.

Hello, I am hungry.

It has recently come to my attention that, like many of you, I will soon become a college student. With that comes certain responsibilities. Such as cooking my own food. For the most part I plan on living on Cup-o-Ramen, but for those rare occasions when I find extra change in the couch cushions I need to sharpen up my cooking abilities!

I'm no Iron Chef .

You pickin up what I'm puttin' down?

 So I gotta get myself all sorts of chef practice and what not.

Starving College Student Eatin' Recipe #1

Get your spatulas and elbow macaroni noodles out, people!!

Mac + Cheese Casserole

We eat real fancy where I come from. In case you couldn't tell. Anyway.

3 c. elbow macaroni

4 T. margarine

4 T. flour

2 c. milk

6 oz. cream cheese

2 c. shredded cheddar

1/4 tsp. salt

dash pepper

1/2 c. dry bread crumbs

Cook macaroni. In separate saucepan melt margarine, stir in flour until smooth. Using whip, gradually add milk. On medium heat bring to a boil, cook and stir 1 minute. Reduce heat, add cheeses and salt + pepper. Stir until smooth. Add pasta to sauce, transfer to baking dish.

For the topping: melt 1 T. margarine and toss breadcrumbs in. Sprinkle over your mac.

Bake at 400 degress for 15 minutes.

It is delicious.

Farewell Elder

This little lad left to the MTC today.

He's going to the Tawain Taichung Mission! Congratulations Elder Allen!

    Thus far I have watched three of my close friends leave to their missions. I seriously have never felt more proud than watching my friends make the choice to dedicate two years of their lives in service to the Lord. Such an honorable thing to do. I really look up to them.

    The downside is always the goodbye though. I mean what can you even say? Like - "Hey see ya later!"

    For some reason that just never seems to suffice. I really wish there was a word that meant something along the lines of "Your friendship has meant the world to me, I'm so proud of you for making this decision. I have enjoyed our time together and will miss you greatly. Love ya!"

    Except there isn't a single word that means all of that so we all just have to stick with "See ya!". Plus bending down on one knee and confessing all your deep feelings about a person and their friendship as you're walking away from a missionary open house isn't entirely appropriate. So goodbye simply must make do.

    I'm just going to invent a new word I think, that fits everyone's goodbye needs. Deeper than goodbye, less awkward then "I miss you, I love you... blah blah blah."

    I'll let you know once I think of it.



Burgers, baby.

If I had a last meal, it would be a quarter pounder with cheese, and a Dr. Pepper.

Greasy it may be. But I'm a girl who appreciates real good, delicious, American food.

Sure, maybe my life expentancy has dropped to 59, but there really isn't anything better than a burger straight off the grill. Even the grills of the McDonald's variety.

Never Been Kissed

Why yes, I am 18 years old and have never been kissed.

Occasionally I am embarrassed about it, particularly when I am in a group of girls that is going around in a circle sharing first kiss stories and then it gets to me and they all look at me with eyes full of knowing and pity and tell me that I should just make a story up.

I was always one for a little bit of cheese so I make up this perfect kiss story, they all clap, and then we continue going around the circle. (What's super awesome is that one of my friends later asks about who the boy was, totally forgetting that the story was completely made up).

But later I remind myself about the multiple opportunites I have had to kiss, and I'm glad that I never took them, because let's be honest, sitting on a filthy park bench at 12:30 at night, being asked by some boy to kiss him because it's his "last night in town" is not exactly what I want to tell my kids about down the road.

It's just that you know when you really like someone, and everyone else kind of pales in comparison? Yes. Because of this you could say that I have become a very picky gal over the years. I know what I want. I'm not expecting perfection, but I do have a pretty good idea about what I'm looking for in a man and just because I am not tempted by every Tom, Dick and Harry doesn't mean that I have issues.

The other night I was sitting around a bonfire discussing my VL-ness with two of my guy friends. One of them was criticizing me for being picky. I told him that I would rather kiss nobody then kiss someone I didn't really like. He then offered to let me kiss him. He was completely serious. I was completely uninterested, although very amused.

I am by no means 'saving' my first kiss for my husband. But should I end up kissing someone and he ends up being the person I marry and I never brush my lips with another soul for as long as I live... I am totally cool with that.

What I'm really trying to get at is that I want to kiss someone I like a lot. Not just someone I'm attracted to, or someone who happens to offer up their lips so that I can "know what it feels like". I want to kiss someone who makes me go weak in the knees, someone who will take my hand and ask me to dance with him on the side of the road just because. Someone who will steal a glance at me when I'm not looking and smile that crinkly smile of his because he adores me so much. Someone who loves me for me. That is what I'm waiting for. And when I am finally lucky enough to be kissed by said man, it's going to be the end of it all. The end of life as I know it. And I am going to be walking on cloud nine because of how absolutley wonderful it all is. It's going to be freakin awesome!

Nostalgia

As the end of my senior year in high school approached I began to anticipate feelings of sadness that would assuredly come.

Graduation passed.

None such feelings came.

I took some sort of strange pride in that. Like "Ha! I'm not sad at all about high school being over! Take that you bums!"

But this afternoon, I came across this video that was made for Cavestock.

I don't know what it was about watching a bunch of people I know dancing around the halls of American Fork High to Chris Brown... but I felt a momentary twinge of sadness.

High school was awesome. Super awesome.

And ya know what I'm gonna kinda miss it.

I was talking to my aunt the other day about why high school is such a huge event in people's lives. I mean people talk about "Back when I was in high school..." all the time. There's like countless movies and TV shows about high school. I swear people just can't get enough of it. My aunt said it makes such a huge impact on people because it's the ending of childhood. It is the transitioning point from little-kid-wearing-footsies-and-watching-saturday-morning-cartoons-with-your-favorite-sugar-cereal to big-adult-kid-wearing-paisley-ties-and-eating-Raisin-Bran - cuz let's be honest, anything else might cause the diabetes.

It's surreal almost. I feel like I've kind of waited my whole life just for this moment, and now that I'm here I'm not so sure what to expect.

I'm moving out. To like, Idaho. In like... 1 1/2 months. Woah. My parents are giving up my room! Heck, I might never have a room all to myself ever again. That's a crazy thought. But ya know what, I'm totally ready for it. I'm ready to move on and start the next stage in life. I appreciated my time at American Fork High School. It was time well spent, I'd hope to think. I will miss it now and again I'm sure. But now it is time to move on.

Anyway, my nostalgic feelings are over.

I am Hannah. I am nearly 19 years old. Bring it, world!