Fill in the Blank Friday

I'm having bloggers writing block, so my solution is to play a fun mindless game via blogging (and then shower, because, well, it's time). Now I just want to go a clean and decorate the house! But not go to Ikea...I think it's evil that they trap you in and make you spend 20 minutes to find a parking space. Evil I tell you!

1. My favorite room in my home is  __the living room     because ___our home is not that big and that's where most of the action happens.    

2. My current decor style is ___traditional meets poor graduate student income      but I wish it were more ___contemporary. I like the warm tones in my home, but I'd like to incorporate more accent pieces in the decor and furniture instead of on the walls. It also seems like a lot of flexibility/opportunity is given to that style whereas traditional has been set for years.___

3. I wish I could redecorate the ___"master bedroom"___ in my house to make it more decorated and cohesive. Seriously there is one big picture on the main wall, or marriage certificate on another, and a picture from our wedding on another. None of the frames match and really it's just so boring and does not reflect us at all!___

4. My dream house absolutely has to have ___a huge library with 3 walls of built-in bookshelves, preferably chalk-full of the best books of all time! This room would have glass french doors opening to it the 4th wall would be a huge window with a large sit-in window seat smothered with pillows! There would also be the most comfortable reading chairs ever created in it, not too comfortable you'd fall asleep, but so amazing that you don't even realize you've been reading for days! Yeah, I haven't thought about this at all...___

 Bigger window, books along third wall, and comfier reading chair. Perfect, no? (source)

5. One house item I am willing to splurge on is a ___reading chair. See above dream room as to why.___

6. A decor trend that I just don't "get" is ___modern. There is nothing cozy about it and I just think a home ought to be comfortable, not streamlined for the sake of being different or hip. It just isn't homey to me.___

7. ___Splashes of red___ is a little touch that makes my house feel like home. (Red just makes me happy.)

Fill in the Blank Friday

I started participating in this game a couple weeks ago, and I am excited to do it all again! Play along will you, from this awesome new site I found!

1. The best thing about being in school is...I feel accomplished. My last job didn't give me that, but now I feel like I am capable of so much more than I thought I could ever do!

2. The worst part about being in school is...when I want to have fun and be creative I sometimes can't because I have reading, projects, or emails to write. I enjoy learning, but it sometimes cramps my creativity style.

3. My favorite subject in school was...always music/choir/orchestra, but I really enjoyed my economics and public policy courses I took this past year. Talk about a 180-degree change! Who'da thunk it?

4. One subject I wish I could have mastered was...orchestra. I've played the violin since I was 5, and I still play in church, but I am definitely not as good as I ever wanted to be. Now I feel like I've missed my chance. I just can't practice for hours a day like I used to do.

5. I could never get tired of studying...statistics and making pointless numbers mean something to others because that was one major problem I had in my math classes, but applying that skill to different situations and applications and policies is how it stays interesting and relevant (see #4  on Nick's Thursday 13). But my guess is that my short attention span would not allow me to study one thing forever, which I'm okay with. Why choose just one thing?

6. The most memorable teacher I had was...my 4th grade teacher, Mr. Marquez, for a couple reasons. (1) He recommended that I skip 5th grade, which I did. (What 4th grader wouldn't?) (2) I got to name our class pet guinea pig, which I picked Oreo because his ends were black and his middle was white. (3) H taught me how to love reading. He read our class The Giver by Lois Lowry and that was the first non-picture book that I really devoured! (4) It was his motivation to think about our future that made me decide when I was 10 years-old that I wanted to attend BYU. There was no negotiating after that point.

7. If I could choose between going to school for the rest of my life or working for the rest of my life I'd choose...probably go to school. If I could just learn what I wanted to learn for the sake of gaining knowledge, and get paid enough to survive, school would win hands down! Although, I had another job interview yesterday, and I could do that forever I think...I'll tell you more about it if there's good news to share!


Happy News: I bought these adorable new shoes yesterday for $10. Yeah, it's okay to be jealous if your envy is over something this awesome! Sad News: nowhere to wear them...yet!

Fill in the Blank Friday

So I stumbled across this blog and the author plays this game with her readers on Fridays. As I love games, of course I wanted to play! Oh, I want you to play, too! Let me know if you do by posting a comment.

1.  My dream vacation would be I think it would have to be Brazil. Nicholas spent two years there and it looks amazing, the people seem incredible, and what an experience it would be to hit up a soccer game, just to be part of the soccer insanity!

2.  The best trip I've ever taken was either my trip to London with my choir group when I was 11, or any number of the trips I've taken to Oregon since moving away from home. It is simply impossible to choose a favorite/best.

3.  The most important items to take on a road trip are newly burned CDs, Hot Tamales (the candy, obviously), your pillow, and great company!

4.  The next trip I'm looking forward to is a no brainer: TWIN LAKES! Every year Nick's paternal side of the family gets everyone together in Washington for a week in July to play with the boats, chat, and eat amazing food! And we're leaving in only 34 days! Which also happens to be one day after I turn in my final paper for my Master's Degree (perfect timing, I know)! I see some items on my live list getting checked off soon...

5.  If I had to pick one CD to listen to for a long road trip it would be  funny story: the last road trip we took (to Utah) we made some CDs and since Nick was hating on a lot of my music, I made a CD and called it "Don't be a hater!" On that CD I included the following songs (I really am an eclectic listener, so there is a lot of schizophrenic variety here. If you don't know a song, check it out, they're all awesome):

**Not all songs have a link because I either put them in a previous post or I KNOW you've heard them before**

Samson, Regina Spektor

Finiculi Finicula, The Three Tenors

Hate On Me, Jill Scott (I play this when Nick's being ornery)

Smile, Uncle Kracker

Modern Nature, Sondre Lechre

Beauty Mark, Rufus Wainwright

Lovely Rita, The Beatles

The Best Thing, Relient K

Come Go With Me, The Beach Boys

Run and Tell That, Elijah Kelly (from Hairspray)

Train Going South, Peter Breinholt

Single Ladies, Beyonce

She Talks to Angels, Black Crowes

No Doubt at All, Rockapella

Halo, Beyonce

Defying Gravity, Lea Michele (Glee, yeah I love it)

Best Days, Matt White

And I Am Telling You, Amber Riley (Glee, again, love)

Buddy Holly, Weezer

Must Have Done Something Right, Relient K

Girl on the Roof, David Mead

I Know Where I've Been, Queen Latifah (Hairspray, awesome soul)

Got to Get Home, Peter Breinholt

I Got the Sun in the Morning, Kim Criswell (Annie Get Your Gun, this isn't her version which is better, but you get the idea)

(I totally just realized I forgot about She & Him on my CD, In the Sun is GREAT!)

This list would absolutely include Jack Johnson and Michael Buble if I didn't already have entire CDs of their music already in the car at all times. Just FYI. And yes, I did fit all of these onto one CD, because I "you're not hardcore, unless you live hardcore," and fitting 24 songs onto one CD is so hardcore!

6.  The biggest disaster I've ever encountered while traveling  was  nothing immediately comes to mind, but one situation does stand out as particularly miserable, but wonderful memories: 5 people in 5 passenger Mazda Protege; we're all tired, sore, sunburned, and hot; middle of July; no AC; 19 hours. One word to describe: craziness...we were all hating every second of that drive, but misery loves company and we had a great time nonetheless!

7.  My favorite traveling memory is  one of the old school ones, which is pretty good: We were traveling to/in/around Cali to visit family with my grandma sitting in the front seat. The song "I'll Make a Man Out of You" from Mulan came on and when that happens my 3 sisters and I would pump up the tunes and just belt it out! After the song, my grandma said something like "you girls have the prettiest voices" and we're all thinking "uhhh, were you listening to the same border-line screaming horendousness that we were?" 

My grandma also described some spinning hubcaps as "darling"...probably not what the homies were going for. RIP Grandma, we miss you and your unintentional humor!