countdown

30 more days till my wedding day.
26 more days until Christmas.
20 more days until mah birthday and my official entry into the non-teenage world.
15 more days until school is out. YEAH.

'tis the season to be jolly.

 

 

overall I would say we are very attractive people. don't you agree?

Refined

It is always weird and somewhat comical to go through old pictures of yourself and see how much change you have gone through. You look at yourself and think, wow I am not that person anymore. But really, you are. You still are that same person. You have just become a little more refined.

1995

So cute. A time of innocence, popcicle eating and overall wearing.

2002

Oh the joys of beginning stages of puberty. 

2008

Wow, such an awkward time for me. Remember my eighties obsession that sprouted in the ninth grade? Well I didn't seem to grow out of that until halfway through my sophomore year. The majority of my clothes required shoulder pad removal before usage and I had a tendency of wearing over-sized bows on my head. Honestly people, take my advice, if you are going to do vintage, do it right i.e. please nothing your-grandma's-closet-circa-1980 type stuff.

2009

The year of my first Prom, and also the year I had begun to develop some sort of a style acceptable to the general public. I cut my hair short, and fell in love for the first time.

2010

It would appear from the first picture that I had a small relapse of my eighties stage, that also happened to be the night I got pulled over for the first and only time. Imagine that conversation going on. Oh why hello Officer, why yes, I am wearing spandex and a ripped off the shoulder tee. No I had no idea how fast I was going! It was a year Shelby and I discovered we had very white thighs, and the year I become infinitely more attractive as I finally grew into myself and figured out how to do my own hair.

2011

The year I graduated high school, discovered the joys of long johns and moved out to college with my best friend. A year of learning and struggling to find my niche in the world of adulthood. A wondrous time, but also a difficult one.

2012

Remember that time I moved to Kansas? What about the time I rode horses like everyday? This year I  fell in love with that wonderful man, got engaged, and will also get to go through the temple, get married, change my last name, and enter into my third decade of life. Certainly 2012 is a year to remember.

Reminiscing is fun. Life is kind of weird, but definitely worth living. Even if you have to go through a bunch of awkward stages to get to the good stuff. But you know what, looking back on myself in my former years - bad haircuts, shoulder pads, heartaches and all, I realize I wouldn't trade those experiences for the world.

Weekend Projects

Why hello there, are you looking to reupholster an ugly green vinyl chair? (or any sort of ugly chair for that matter). Well then you have come to the right place. Let us begin.

Remove the seat portion of the chair.

Find your fabric of choice, and cut it out to fit the seat.

Find some sort of way to attach fabric to seat. I like this fabric glue, it is quick, easy, and relatively painless (also cheap!). However one could also use hot glue, and small nails.

After having attached all the sides of the fabric with the adhesive of choice, you may then cut off the excess fabric so it looks neat and fits snugly to the seat.

Now you can enjoy your genius and highly professional craftiness. You may now also reattach seat to chair.

Here is Nathan and his sisters, helping me paint Nathan and I's new chairs! And you see that table in the background, the green one? We are painting it bright red! It's gonna be awesome.

Happy crafting, ya'll.

7:40 pm on a tuesday

sometimes

you will needlessly take fairly dorkish pictures of yourself with your new cowboy boots that came in the mail today

sometimes

you will search under the couch cushions for spare change to buy yourself a diet pepsi out of the vending machine

sometimes

you will read floral magazines while taking a bubble bath because it is therapeutic

sometimes

you will laugh at the current state of your bangs in the above picture. do I know how to use a hair brush? obviously not

and sometimes

you will happen to be the only byu-idaho student who hasn't left for thanksgiving break yet

thank goodness for itunes movie rentals, 8 Seconds here I come

oh why yes, I do enjoy movies about bull riders

Wedding Bells and Ohio

I am currently getting urges to sing songs from the musical My Fair Lady.

cuz I'm getting married in the morningggg after all.

Not really. But my most wonderful friend Melissa got married this morning! So proud of you Melissa deary. The three cowgirls pictured above, one of which is yours truly are all getting married within a month of each other. Cass got married a month ago as of yesterday, Melissa is gettin hitched today and then next month it'll be my turn. Kind of cool how that worked out. Love those two ladies, they are awesome. Thank you for preceding me in marriage and setting a good example by going to the Temple! 

I have great friends.

Not only has the facebook news feeds been crawling with engagement announcements but also mission call openings.

My best friend since I was 9 years of age, Shelbster Frampton, opened hers on Sunday afternoon. She is going to Cleveland, Ohio! Can I get a woot, woot? 

Yeah. Good work Shelby Sue. I am so happy for you, and so proud of you, missionary work will be a more than suitable occupation for your next year and a half of life.

It is quite interesting to see all of the new directions people are currently taking in life. Seems like just about every girl from the graduating class of 2011 is either getting married or going on a mission! Both honorable things to do. It makes me all giddy inside to see everyone making such great decisions to go to the temple, start families, and bringing other families into the gospel. 

Life is rich, ya'll.

The Rings

I picked up Nathan's ring yesterday. My ring literally fits inside of his. That is what happens when your fiance's finger is twice the size of your own. At least it is not the other way around, that would definitely be awkward.

Choosing a man's ring is easy. You have about five choices. If you are ever considering marriage in the Rexburg, Idaho area I recommend going to see Frank over at Main Street Diamonds. You get a free man's ring with any engagement ring you buy. My bank account loved that. Nathan gets a ring and my wallet didn't have to suffer for it. Now I can spend that money on paying our first rent payment. Woot.

Also I like to keep my ring sparkling and clean, a trick that I have learned is that if you let your rock soak in a little bowl of warm water mixed with mild dish soap for a few minutes, and dry it off with a soft cloth, it comes out looking like you just brought it home from the jewelers.

Home vs. Home

I have recently concluded that there are multiple types of homes in this world.

I can think of quite a few places off the top of my head that I have at some point or now currently consider home.

To name a few:

Idaho

Utah

Kansas

Nathan Hartshorn

Heaven

Disneyland

The Mountains

In a Saddle

What do all of these places have in common? Certainly I have lived in some of these places, but some of them I have never lived. 

As my brain was mulling around to make connections between these homes of mine I realized something. They all have in some way or another a piece of my heart.

Cheese fest here. Shed tears if you must, but truly home is where the heart is.

Home is simply a place where you have invested time, memories, emotions, relationships, experiences, etc. Home is any place that has any sort of significant part of you. (i.e. your heart)

Did you know that spanish speakers refer to their stomachs when talking about their feelings? Not their hearts. That seems strange to me. Sooo. . . I could just feel it in my heart equates to I could just feel it in my stomach, aye aye aye. Seems like a strange place to me to feel anything other than indigestion, perhaps the Latin world mistakes gas to be emotions. Who knows.

Well forgive me if this whole post was pointing out the obvious, but it had just occurred to me today that I have more than one place to call home. I kind of like it like that. It lessens my chances of becoming a homeless person.