reasons to be kind of excited for 2012.

As much as I wish 2011 didn't have to happen, it did. And as much as I'm hoping 2012 will be 1000000X's better than 2011, I know it will still have its bad times and things I already hate about it.

BUT.

Here are some goals of mine for 2012 that are making me excited.

+ I am going to learn a new word every day.
+I will stop the bad habit of picking my split ends.
+I will really try a tomato on a burger.
+I will drink more water than pop.
+I will take pictures of something everyday.
+Use my Instax and Diana F+ cameras more.
+Wake up on time... in other words... not hit snooze so many times AFTER I'm supposed to be up.
+Make more time to read after work.
+Make more crafts.
+Branch outside my comfort zone.
+Carry a mini notepad in my purse to write stuff on and draw on.
+Save money.
+Be better at texting back and answering my phone.
+Think of better resolutions.
+Eat more fruit.

Aaaaaaaand...

Another reason to be excited for 2012 is because my 2nd favorite book, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is coming out in theaters on January 20th, 2011.

And ANOTHER reason to be excited for 2012 is because Beauty and the Beast will be playing in theaters in mid January! Sorry I don't have the exact date. I am too excited to remember it.

fortune cookies that don't have fortunes.

My favorite part about eating Chinese food is getting to read my fortune from the fortune cookie.

BUT

My not favorite part it when the "fortune" isn't a fortune.

I'll explain.

One time I got one that said,

 "You have friends when you need them."

That's not a fortune.

That's something I was well aware of before a cookie tried telling me.

I know there are a lot of bigger things to be annoyed by, 

but what better place to address this than my blog?

Here is my fortune from the other night:

I think that's a good fortune to get right before the new year!

wow. whoa. hmm.

Hi.

I can't believe how much has changed since last year at this time.

It seems like another life time.

From everything big to small.

Kind of makes me excitednervousscared to see where I will be next year at this time.

So nervous that I am combining words to make new words.

the pros and cons of dying your hair.

Pros:

I refresh the color I currently have.

I no longer have re-growth.

The dye somehow makes my hair unbelievably soft. 

Cons:

When I'm waiting for the dye to process and I'm carefully lounging around the apartment, I get the dye everywhere. On the walls, doors, toilet, the ceiling, on food, the floor, my shoulders, my neck etc.

So pretty much, if the new color of my hair doesn't tell you that I just dyed my hair, just look around the apartment at the dye stains and that should tell you.

Yesterday, instead of doing the laundry in the basement laundry room of my apartment building, I went across the street to 2nd Avenue Laundry and did it there. I'm going there from now on. 

#1 It's only 25 cents per load instead of the $1.00 a load that my apartment charges. 

#2 People watching. People watching. People watching.

#3 I just had fun sitting there with all the other local laundry doers. 

#4 I guess Brazilian Drum/Dance classes are big here in the Avenues. On the bulletin board where people post advertising, things for sale and classes, I saw a bunch of Brazilian Drum/Dance classes. Hmm..

Also, I went to Wendover yesterday. Wendover is basically a really ghetto version of Las Vegas. If Las Vegas had a child with Atlantic City.... it would be nothing like Wendover. Wendover is like a glorified gas station casino... but bigger. Anyway, I won $182!!!

Gambling is only fun when you are winning.

both photos by : me

finally, 2011 is over.

When I was coming up with this post, I first thought I should do.....

2,011 things I hated about 2011

Because honestly (and sadly) I could really come up with 2,011 things I hated about 2011. 2011 was the most rough year I've yet to live. But to avoid coming off as ungrateful and mopey and bratty, I will just do a normal list of all the great and not great events that happened to me in 2011.

-I watched Steve get surgery on his right eye. 

-I tried and became obsessed with sushi simultaneously. 

-Was awarded employee of the month.

-Went to Cortez, Colorado for the first time.

-Hiked to Delicate Arch in Moab.

-Turned 22.

-Was broken up with/had my heart broken. Ugh.

-Started my camera collection by purchasing the Instax Mini, Holga, and the Diana F+ as a gift.

-Went from blonde to brunette.

-Visted Los Angeles for the first time. Decided that city is overrated and I kind of hate it.

-Went to San Francisco. 

-Grew my wisdom teeth. (I think).
-Went on some first dates.
-Didn't become a better cook like I had hoped.
-Didn't try a burger with a tomato on it.
-Didn't win any contests.
-Got a new car! RIP Ford Explorer :(
-Saw a few free concerts at Pioneer Park. Decemberists, Bright Eyes, & Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros.
-I didn't get sick once! Not even my annual food poisoning I usually get on June 18th of every year.
-I got migraines about 2-3 times a week.
-Went out to Wendover a few times. Won $120 one of the luckier times!
-Saw the final Harry Potter movie.

That's about it. As you can see, it was a pretty bleak and vanilla year.

blue christmas.

Just so you know,

it was a blue Christmas without you.

But Merry Christmas anyway!

what's going on in my life part 2

Update #1 - Yesterday was a big day. Not because I bought 80 pizza rolls from the frozen food section at Smiths... but because I finally signed up for health insurance on my own! Oh yeah. As of January 1, 2012, I will be fully covered. Health insurance is something everyone should have... but when you are a hypochondriac like myself and think you have every illness and symptom you hear, heath insurance is more than just a 'need'.

Update #2 - Today is Friday. Any other Friday I would be at work, but no, not today. This girl does not have to work until January 3rd!!! You probably think I have the holidays to thank for that, which I kind of do. But this week and a half break is the result of me having many, many, many vacation hours I didn't use throughout the year. So I am using them now.

Update #3 - We've been driving around the Avenues to see all the unique decorated houses in Christmas lights. We kept driving up and up and up clear past 13th Avenue. We turned a corner and saw this:

And believe it or not, I was only able to get HALF of the display in the picture. You can't really tell, but what they have on display is: multiple snowmen, multiple Santas, multiple nativity scenes, candles, palm trees, candy canes, penguins, carolers, etc. Basically if it's Christmas related and can be covered in lights, they have it. The owner came out and brought us candy canes, too.

fa la la la la! la la la la!

My cute, sweet, funny, thoughtful, adorable, any other nice word you can think of,  nephew Gavin had his very first preschool Christmas program.

It went as expected : and that means there were kids on stage, Christmas songs sang and parents armed with digital cameras and video recorders.

Halfway through, an America's Funniest Home Video moment happened... a kid on stage fell backwards out of his seat. I laughed first, made sure he didn't get a concussion and the continued to laugh.

Gavin's favorite candy is KitKats, so after he was done singing, I surprised him with a king size one. He loved it.

Fun fact: Sometimes in pictures, my eyes look like they are closed. Like the one above.

guilty pleasure #112

MTV's Teen Mom 2

That is all.

And the new one starts in ten minutes.
Whoop.

days like today.

Today was probably one of the most productive days I've had all month. 

After work I:

Crossed off most things off my Christmas shopping list.

Grocery shopped. - Went a little crazy in the string cheese section, 3/1.00. Talk about a deal of the season.

Cleaned the bathroom, my bedroom, the living room, and cleaned out the fridge and freezer.

Learned how to french braid my bangs. That's the way uh-huh uh-huh I like it! Uh-huh uh-huh.

Stubbed my toe.

All was done with a mud-facial mask on my face and my teeth whitening strips in; I am great with multi-tasking.

six months.

On December 27th, it will be six months since Steve and I broke up. Let me tell you, it has seemed like a lot longer than six months. When I think back to that day, it seems like another lifetime. I know I've said this before, but I'm sure that time functions differently when you have a broken heart. 

Even though Steve did break up with me and we remain close friends to this day, I feel with every piece of me I will never be able to forgive him for hurting me the way he did that rotten day he broke up with me. I have never been that hurt in my entire life. I will never understand why or how he could do that to me. That may sound childish and immature, but as of right now, I feel I will never feel the feeling of forgiveness for how he hurt me.

I've been okay recently. I haven't felt emotional or sad over our breakup and there are days when I don't even feel sad about what happened. The days where I feel sad and depressed for our breakup are getting more and more spread out and I find myself thinking about it/him less and less. This is giving me hope that I can finally be moved on once and for all. It does make me slightly sad that I am making myself move on from the person that I loved and was my future husband and said he would never leave me. 

I definitely went through the five stages of loss:

1. Denial and Isolation.

2. Anger. - I was in this stage the longest. Not only feeling anger towards Steve but I felt a lot of anger towards myself because I left myself believe it was my fault.

3. Bargaining.

4. Depression.

5. Acceptance. (I hope I am finally to this stage)

Here are my most favorite quotes about change, moving on, and letting go. Don't think I didn't cry while reading these quotes. I am after all, the queen of crying over everything. This post was incredibly emotional for me to write, but luckily, it has made me feel better.

“Some of us think holding on makes us strong, but sometimes it is letting go.” — Herman Hesse

“Change is never easy, you fight to hold on, and you fight to let go.” – The Wonder Years

“There are things that we never want to let go of, people we never want to leave behind. But keep in mind that letting go isn’t the end of the world, it’s the beginning of a new life.” –Unknown

“We need in love to practice only this: letting each other go. For holding on comes easily–we do not need to learn it.” – Rainer Maria Rilke

“We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned, so as to accept the life that is waiting for us.” – Joseph Campbell

Ugh.

when you have nothing left to burn, you have to set yourself on fire.

Firstly, I want to share a quick dream I had today when I was taking my enchanting Sunday nap....

I had a dream I had an app on my phone that could melt snow and ice on the road!

Nothing excites me more than seeing snowflakes falling from the sky. With that being said, nothing gives me more anxiety and stress than driving on an icy road with snow falling from the sky, so you can understand why this app would be useful to me. If I ever figure out the technology and skills to make this app, I will create it and I will make it FREE. You are welcome.

I drove to Boise, Idaho this weekend to watch the Utah State bowl game. We left on Friday afternoon and made it home safely around 1AM on Sunday. I was stuck in the backseat in the middle on the way there and back.

Things I learned being stuck in the backseat in the middle:

1. There is absolutely no place to move your legs to.
2. There is absolutely no place to rest your head when you want to doze off.
3. There is absolutely no place to rest your arms when you get bored of them sitting at your sides.
4. There is absolutely no room to adjust even a little.
5. There is absolutely no worse place to be than stuck in the backseat in the middle.

I don't have work tomorrow so you can imagine my happiness right now. Alas, I have ten finger nails that need desperate attention that I must go trim and paint.

Hope your weekend wasn't spent in the backseat in the middle, if it wasn't, your weekend was already better than mine.

an almost love story.

Today as I was sitting at a stop light on the way home from work and I saw something moving out of the corner of my eye.

It was a dark haired guy sitting in the passenger seat of a car, breathing on the window to fog it up. Once it was fogged, he drew a heart and smiled at me.

I was too shy to do anything back so I smiled and looked away and freaked out like a spaz the whole way home.

Story of my life. 

if you watch this video, it will be the best minute and nineteen seconds of your day.

A great way to sum up this video is....

I was talking on the phone and this video had me laugh so hard I had to hang up.

It's a 1:19 worth watching.

I'm guilty of saying/doing 100% of the things in this video.

it's december.... the last month of 2011.... when did that happen.

photo by me

2011:

You will forever be remembered as the year that I officially hate.

You will forever be remembered as the year that almost took away my optimism forever.

You will forever be remembered as the year that when something great happened to me, a bajillion of not great things happened right after.

You will forever be remembered as the year I had to get rid of my first car due to a transmission that was giving out even though I knew it didn't want to. :(

You will forever be remembered as the year that more awful things happened than good.
You will forever be remembered as the year that left me unimpressed.

And on a silly note...

You will forever be remembered as the year that came after 2010 and before 2012.

Ha.

bits of my weekend.

It's baaaaaaaaaaack.

'Bits of My Weekend' is finally back!

I wasn't able to do this weekly post for a while since my lame laptop refused to let me upload photos and after smacking my laptop several times, (the international action to take if an electronic betrays you and you don't know what to to do to make it work) I decided to give up. Laptop is still being lame, but I made the decision to just use the camera on my phone and just email the photos.

So now, you can relive my weekend with meeee.

This is me in my favorite beanie and trying a fancy setting on my phone.

That is our Christmas tree. See how there aren't any presents under it? Yeah, I should probably start Christmas shopping.

This is a cracker I wrote "I <3 U" on in spray cheese and then I remembered I didn't have anyone to give it to. But then I remembered if Reader was with me, I could give it to Reader.

 The Christmas lights in my bedroom.

 Just some lights downtown.

 Pancakes for dinner!

 Cinnamon rolls.... just cinnamon rolls.

Not pictured from the weekend:  I went to my friends, Tiffany and Alana's, housewarming party and it was a blast, but in the most sad way, I did not take any photos. However, while I was there, I did hear the most epic snore. Let's just say, when I first heard it, I thought it was a chicken/rooster outside.

this is a hat that i really want and would make a great christmas present.

Look how cute this hat is.

It looks like it would be easy to make and if I was better at making things, I would try it. But instead, I will just look at it and wish it was mine.

the one i love the mostest.

Yesterday was Jim Morrison's birthday.

:)

That is all.

what's going on in my life part 1

Lately. Here are a few updates on what is going on the world of Kaleena. Beware, you are about to be updated with a lot of nothing.

Update #1: I'm pretty sure I am teething. That means I am growing my wisdom teeth. My whole mouth and teeth area are ridiculously sore. I 100% completely understand why babies cry and scream when they are teething. Give me one more day and I will be screaming and crying with a teething ring.

Update #2: I had my worse migraine yet today. Not only did I suffer a migraine, but it came with an earache, back ache, and wanting to throw up.

Update #3: I have been licking Nutella by the spoonfuls.

Update #4: I am currently obsessed with ................ Big Macs. No idea where this obsession came from.

Update #5: I am really happy lately. I like this.

Update #6: I hung some pretty Christmas lights in my room and I sleep with them on. This is my favorite, sleeping with the pinkish dim in my room from the Christmas lights. I probably will leave them up after Christmas.... maybe.

i'm still a big kid now.

I feel like an adult when...

-When I get paid, I pay all my bills and grocery before I go browse Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.

-When I do the dishes right when I'm done using them, instead of letting them pile up.

-When I wake up the first time my alarm clock goes off so I can get to work early... instead of hitting snooze 7 times to get a few extra minutes of sleep.

-When I find myself looking at the recipes in magazines instead of ways to get my hair to do a woo-hoo looking thing.

These aren't big things, but they are still baby steps.

and that's why you always go the speed limit.

Last Saturday night, I was driving home. I was just happily driving along, listening to 'Nsync's Christmas album... I was about two minutes away from my apartment when I saw those upsetting blue and red lights flashing in my rearview mirror. I hate that feeling you get when you see those lights are right behind you and you slowly pull over. Ugh. Double ugh.

The officer basically told me I was going ten over the speed limit and blah blah blah. Officer Loveitt was pretty belittling for how handsome he was. I angrily signed my ticket, agreeing to comply with paying and all that nonsense and wondered if the cop would have been more understanding if I told him I was pregnant. But I've watched Cops on TV many times, that never works.

I had 4-14 days to pay the ticket before I would receive a warrant for not obeying. So this morning, before I forgot, I went to the website listed on the ticket to pay. I never knew what dying a little on the inside felt like, til I saw the price of the ticket.

$90.00.

....$90.00.

$90.00!!!

Because I was/am an idiot and felt like I needed to drive a little faster, I now have to pay $90.00. Reader, it costs $90.00 to be an idiot these days.

pinkish-purple everything!

I tried a pomegranate for the first time in history last weekend. Reaction: enjoyed it.

I didn't know so much effort and work was required before I got to eat it.

If you are looking for a fruit to eat that won't stain your entire kitchen, clothes, fingers, face, house, dog, Christmas tree etc. a pinkish-purple... then you shouldn't eat or peel a pomegranate. Things you didn't even know you had will get a pinkish-purple stain on it.

so many books, so little time.

I did not go to bed until 6am. I spent the night and the wee hours of the morning playing Mario Party with friends. Whenever I go to bed that late, I always think I am going to sleep until like 4pm or 5pm... but I woke up at 10am. I was surprised, and then something happened that I can vaguely remember and then I woke up at 1:30pm.

Playing Mario Party with friends all night is highly recommended. I think that is the first time in history that I spelled 'recommended' correctly on the first try. If you plan to play Mario Party with friends all night, make sure you have lots of treats so you don't have to keep going to the gas station to get more.

After I woke up, I spent 100% of my day on the couch reading. And if you ask me, that is 100% how every day should be spent.

“You know you've read a good book when you turn the last page and feel a little as if you have lost a friend.”
― Paul Sweeney

why i wish the wind wouldn't exist.

Reader, I hate the wind. If I knew how, I would kick the wind in the face. If I think really hard, I'm sure I can give you close to ten days that have been ruined by the wind. In fact, I'm pretty sure the days where I have a good hair day, is when it's windy outside. So the good hair day lasts only mere seconds before the wind destroys it.

Wind, in my opinion is the worst weather condition. Not only is it the worst, but it also spoils my other favorite weather conditions. For example:

Snow is awesome. But if it's windy when it's snowing? Snow is no longer awesome.
Rain in wonderful. But if it's windy when it's raining? Rain is no longer wonderful.
Perfect still days are lovely. But if it's windy when it's a perfect still day? It's no longer a lovely day.

There has never been a time where I felt the wind blowing and I thought 'you know, I really enjoyed that.'

Brushing your hair after it's survived in the wind is probably one of the most painful things that can happen... to your hair/head.

I'm aware this is full of complaining, but I don't complain much and I really just hate the wind.

It was pretty windy the other night and it blew over a bunch of trees in our neighborhood. Some houses didn't even have power for a few days. See? The wind is awful.