This last week I went to Montreal for a conference. Montreal was AMAZING and absoultely adorable, but I learned that Canada makes me literally dumber. Let me give you a few examples.
1.) Once upon a time I went to Montreal. Once upon a time I brought a camera. Once upon a time I turned on my camera to take a picture only to discover that I did not put a memory card in my camera. Awesome. I now have one picture of our hostel.
2.) When I got to the airport and went through customs they wanted where I was staying and my departure info. So being totally prepared I handed the nice customs man a piece of paper I had printed off my hostel website that said how to get to the hostel from the airport. I thought I was being so prepared, only for the nice man to tell me, "This tells me nothing. It does not have an address or the name of your hostel on it". Yep. That was awesome and really happened.
3.) Also at the airport I met up with a professor that I know that I kind of look up to. He did not stop to get money out of the ATM so I decided I was too scared to ask him to stop. I assumed everyone would take american money or credit cards. WRONG! The next day I had to frantically find an ATM or not eat and get kicked out of my hostel.
4.) Lastly, on my way home my flight got delayed and changed like a million times. I saved all my boarding passes incase I needed to argue with someone. Never threw any of them away. The next day when I went through security I got to the front and the nice TSA lady told me I had the boarding pass that was not used from the previous day. I searched EVERYTHING and it was no where to be found. What the fetch? I am not a flighty person for the most part. I went all the way back out, printed a new boarding pass, and went through security. Later I was going through my stuff only to discover that my correct boarding pass was stuck to the one I was trying to give to the lady. OH MY GOSH! WHY AM I SO DUMB? The answer is simple. Canada. Canada has literally made my dumber.
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Sunday Grateful Things
Look two weeks in a row!
Today I am grateful for....
1.) A husband who likes fish. Once upon a time Chris and I were trying to eat healthier. so in a stroke of genius we bought a ton of fish so we could make it and eat healthier. Now we are moving in like 4 weeks and we have literally pounds of fish. Here is the problem. I HATE fish. I have been trying really hard, but pretty much the only way I can stomach the scaley beasts is to completely cover their fish taste. Basically it has to taste like something else. Thankfully Chris likes fish so he will be eating it for the next few weeks while I eat rice. Oh why did we buy so much fish?!?!?!
2.) Chopped Champions. I am obsessed with the tv show Chopped. It is AWESOME. Sometimes when I am pour I pull three random things from my pantry and try to play chopped and then Chris pretends to be a judge (he is WAY nicer than the actual judges). It is way fun. Right now they are doing chopped champions and it is so great. Tonight the judges were the players and I LOVED it. I love you Chopped Champions.
3.) No Bake Cookies. Chris and I forgot to go to the store last night and it being Sunday we are out of EVERYTHING, but can not go to the store. Awesome. We were watching Chopped and decided we needed something chocolate and desperately searched through the pantry for something we could salvage into a dessert. It did not work out, but now all I can think about is no bake cookies. They are freaking awesome and I love them. Growing up my sisters and I used to just put them in a pie pan and eat them right out of th pan before they hardened. Ah the good old days when my mom had a pantry I could raid at all times.
4.) Disneyworld or Land. Enough said.
5.) My brothers in law. When Chris and I got married I gained a whole bunch of brothers. I did not have brothers growing up so I have really tried to adopt them as my own. Having brothers is AWESOME. They are so cool and so fun! I feel like I have missed out on so much! I love them so stinking much and am so grateful for them. Having brothers is the BEST!!!
Today I am grateful for....
1.) A husband who likes fish. Once upon a time Chris and I were trying to eat healthier. so in a stroke of genius we bought a ton of fish so we could make it and eat healthier. Now we are moving in like 4 weeks and we have literally pounds of fish. Here is the problem. I HATE fish. I have been trying really hard, but pretty much the only way I can stomach the scaley beasts is to completely cover their fish taste. Basically it has to taste like something else. Thankfully Chris likes fish so he will be eating it for the next few weeks while I eat rice. Oh why did we buy so much fish?!?!?!
2.) Chopped Champions. I am obsessed with the tv show Chopped. It is AWESOME. Sometimes when I am pour I pull three random things from my pantry and try to play chopped and then Chris pretends to be a judge (he is WAY nicer than the actual judges). It is way fun. Right now they are doing chopped champions and it is so great. Tonight the judges were the players and I LOVED it. I love you Chopped Champions.
3.) No Bake Cookies. Chris and I forgot to go to the store last night and it being Sunday we are out of EVERYTHING, but can not go to the store. Awesome. We were watching Chopped and decided we needed something chocolate and desperately searched through the pantry for something we could salvage into a dessert. It did not work out, but now all I can think about is no bake cookies. They are freaking awesome and I love them. Growing up my sisters and I used to just put them in a pie pan and eat them right out of th pan before they hardened. Ah the good old days when my mom had a pantry I could raid at all times.
4.) Disneyworld or Land. Enough said.
5.) My brothers in law. When Chris and I got married I gained a whole bunch of brothers. I did not have brothers growing up so I have really tried to adopt them as my own. Having brothers is AWESOME. They are so cool and so fun! I feel like I have missed out on so much! I love them so stinking much and am so grateful for them. Having brothers is the BEST!!!
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Gratitude
So I decided I need to be more grateful. In an effort to be more grateful I decided every Sunday I am going to blog about 5 things I am grateful for. This might only last a week, but it is worth a shot.
1. BYU basketball. I LOVE Jimmer! I was really bummed after football season and really down that we were graduating after such a crappy football showing. Then Basketball came a saved my life. I love basketball and I love Jimmer and I love March madness. This is the perfect way to leave BYU! Go Cougs!
2. Games. All games. I love card games, board games, and some video games. I LOVE playing games. My idea of a perfect night is eating good food and playing tons of games for hours. I am also an obnoxious winner and a terrible loser so I have a hard time getting people to agree to play games with me. Petty much all of my favorite memories include games of some kind. Let me illustrate this point further with a story. My favorite, all time, memory with Chris happened one night when we were playing Wii tennis. Chris and I had just started dating and we were playing tennis and he had literally beaten me like 15 times in a row. It was ruthless and he started being SO OBNOXIOUS. After every win he would run around the apartment yelling how awesome he was and doing this stupid dance where he would bend his knees and lean way back and twirl his remote in front of him like a ninja. It was seriously OBNOXIOUS. So in the midst of on of these victory dances he lost his grip on the controller and wacked himself in the head so hard that he fell backwards. We laughed so hard we were both crying. Seriously best moment EVER.
3. Reuben sandwiches. Every year for St. Patty's day I make reubens in support of the Irish. They are awesome and half on the fun is searching all over town for Corn beef to make the sandwiches. This year we had our celebration a day late, which made the corn beef way cheaper and the search slightly harder, but it was awesome nonetheless.
4. The birds outside our window. We have what I believe is a very happy bird family outside our window and every morning I wake up to their happy little noises. It is awesome. It reminds me of spring and warmness and it rocks. I want to set up a birdbath for them, but we also have a whole bunch of feral cats by our house and I think the birdbath would make their job all too easy and I would suddenly lose my happy little bird family. Poor birds. I seriously hate cats (can I say that in a grateful post???)
5. Dishwashers. We currently do not have a dishwasher, which really deserves its own blog post because I have SO much to say about that, but I digress. Dishwashers are awesome. We had our friends over last week to watch the Jimmer and it seriously took me another week to get all of the cups washed. Not because washing cups actually takes a lot of time, but because our dish dryer thing can only hold like six cups at a time and if it is full of cups it can't hold anything else. Chris and I have both learned this so we each use like one cup and wash it whenever we feel it is absolutely necessary. Anyway our friends came over again last night for the games and I felt like a freaking Nazi because I kept demanding that they all use paper cups and paper plates so I did not have to wash the dishes. I felt guilty for two reasons: 1 our paperness is ruining the planet and 2 I kept having to remind people to use the paper stuff and they all have dishwashers so they don't feel my pain and I come across and a crazy/controlling person. It is the worst. I all the sudden am so grateful for dishwashers not named Laura.
1. BYU basketball. I LOVE Jimmer! I was really bummed after football season and really down that we were graduating after such a crappy football showing. Then Basketball came a saved my life. I love basketball and I love Jimmer and I love March madness. This is the perfect way to leave BYU! Go Cougs!
2. Games. All games. I love card games, board games, and some video games. I LOVE playing games. My idea of a perfect night is eating good food and playing tons of games for hours. I am also an obnoxious winner and a terrible loser so I have a hard time getting people to agree to play games with me. Petty much all of my favorite memories include games of some kind. Let me illustrate this point further with a story. My favorite, all time, memory with Chris happened one night when we were playing Wii tennis. Chris and I had just started dating and we were playing tennis and he had literally beaten me like 15 times in a row. It was ruthless and he started being SO OBNOXIOUS. After every win he would run around the apartment yelling how awesome he was and doing this stupid dance where he would bend his knees and lean way back and twirl his remote in front of him like a ninja. It was seriously OBNOXIOUS. So in the midst of on of these victory dances he lost his grip on the controller and wacked himself in the head so hard that he fell backwards. We laughed so hard we were both crying. Seriously best moment EVER.
3. Reuben sandwiches. Every year for St. Patty's day I make reubens in support of the Irish. They are awesome and half on the fun is searching all over town for Corn beef to make the sandwiches. This year we had our celebration a day late, which made the corn beef way cheaper and the search slightly harder, but it was awesome nonetheless.
4. The birds outside our window. We have what I believe is a very happy bird family outside our window and every morning I wake up to their happy little noises. It is awesome. It reminds me of spring and warmness and it rocks. I want to set up a birdbath for them, but we also have a whole bunch of feral cats by our house and I think the birdbath would make their job all too easy and I would suddenly lose my happy little bird family. Poor birds. I seriously hate cats (can I say that in a grateful post???)
5. Dishwashers. We currently do not have a dishwasher, which really deserves its own blog post because I have SO much to say about that, but I digress. Dishwashers are awesome. We had our friends over last week to watch the Jimmer and it seriously took me another week to get all of the cups washed. Not because washing cups actually takes a lot of time, but because our dish dryer thing can only hold like six cups at a time and if it is full of cups it can't hold anything else. Chris and I have both learned this so we each use like one cup and wash it whenever we feel it is absolutely necessary. Anyway our friends came over again last night for the games and I felt like a freaking Nazi because I kept demanding that they all use paper cups and paper plates so I did not have to wash the dishes. I felt guilty for two reasons: 1 our paperness is ruining the planet and 2 I kept having to remind people to use the paper stuff and they all have dishwashers so they don't feel my pain and I come across and a crazy/controlling person. It is the worst. I all the sudden am so grateful for dishwashers not named Laura.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
The Secret to Success in Life
I realized a few nights ago, as I was not sleeping, that I had discovered the secret of finding success in this life. I know, I know, people have been claiming this for years and have written countless self-help books on it, but for real I have found the key to success. The secret to success in this life is to set everyone's expectations for you REALLY low so no matter what you do after that you look awesome in comparison. Below are some of my life experiences that helped me discover this vital truth.
Example 1: My older sisters are freaking smart. In fact annoyingly smart. My oldest sister (Mary) got her first B her senior year of college. Annoying right? Mary always wanted voice lessons. My parents always said no. Now enter Laura. In eighth grade I cared a lot more about my friends than school. So much so that on my mid semester evaluation I had a D in math. I also got a 17% on my mid semester math test and yes that was out of 100%. So my parents said if I could raise my D to an A they would give me voice lessons for a year. And guess what? I did it. Moral of the story: A to A = nothing. Zip. Nada. D to A= voice lessons. Look now I am good at math. Set the bar low and everyone wins.
Example 2: In high school I might have had a slight driving problem. I may or may not have gotten in like 5 accidents in my first year of having a license. It's no big deal. But, everyone made a massive stink about how terrible of a driver I was. Then I went to college. I didn't have a car at BYU. My junior year I REALLY wanted a car and I asked my parents, pretty much assuming that my past driving record would make this impossible. To my total shock my mom said, "Well.......you have not been in any accidents in almost 2 years so maybe that is a good idea". Keep in mind I had not driven in like two years because I did not have a car at BYU, but hey I was not about to tell my mom that. Moral of the story being terrible and then becoming slightly less terrible means people are impressed and give you a car.
Example 3: The night before our wedding I flipped. Massively, totally, psycho level FREAKED OUT. I texted my absolutely wonderful husband and 4am and told him I was not coming to the wedding. And then I fell asleep. And then I forgot to call him the next morning and tell him that I had calmed down and was in fact coming to the wedding. And then our car broke down and I was like an hour late to the temple. Ya this was not one of my finest moments. It was so bad that my husbands Uncle (that he had met for the first time that day) was asking everyone if they should leave and go out to breakfast cause the bride was clearly not coming. But my massive freak out set the standard incredibly low in my in laws eyes. I am actually really surprised they were letting their son marry this total nut job. Now pretty much everything I do they think is awesome because in comparison to the psycho nut job my in laws thought their son had married I am actually only a slight nut. Moral of story three make your in laws think you are a psycho and when they realize that you are only slightly crazy they are so relieved that they think you are awesome.
So in fact, the secret to success in life is setting the standard SO low that no matter what you do it looks way better in comparison.
Example 1: My older sisters are freaking smart. In fact annoyingly smart. My oldest sister (Mary) got her first B her senior year of college. Annoying right? Mary always wanted voice lessons. My parents always said no. Now enter Laura. In eighth grade I cared a lot more about my friends than school. So much so that on my mid semester evaluation I had a D in math. I also got a 17% on my mid semester math test and yes that was out of 100%. So my parents said if I could raise my D to an A they would give me voice lessons for a year. And guess what? I did it. Moral of the story: A to A = nothing. Zip. Nada. D to A= voice lessons. Look now I am good at math. Set the bar low and everyone wins.
Example 2: In high school I might have had a slight driving problem. I may or may not have gotten in like 5 accidents in my first year of having a license. It's no big deal. But, everyone made a massive stink about how terrible of a driver I was. Then I went to college. I didn't have a car at BYU. My junior year I REALLY wanted a car and I asked my parents, pretty much assuming that my past driving record would make this impossible. To my total shock my mom said, "Well.......you have not been in any accidents in almost 2 years so maybe that is a good idea". Keep in mind I had not driven in like two years because I did not have a car at BYU, but hey I was not about to tell my mom that. Moral of the story being terrible and then becoming slightly less terrible means people are impressed and give you a car.
Example 3: The night before our wedding I flipped. Massively, totally, psycho level FREAKED OUT. I texted my absolutely wonderful husband and 4am and told him I was not coming to the wedding. And then I fell asleep. And then I forgot to call him the next morning and tell him that I had calmed down and was in fact coming to the wedding. And then our car broke down and I was like an hour late to the temple. Ya this was not one of my finest moments. It was so bad that my husbands Uncle (that he had met for the first time that day) was asking everyone if they should leave and go out to breakfast cause the bride was clearly not coming. But my massive freak out set the standard incredibly low in my in laws eyes. I am actually really surprised they were letting their son marry this total nut job. Now pretty much everything I do they think is awesome because in comparison to the psycho nut job my in laws thought their son had married I am actually only a slight nut. Moral of story three make your in laws think you are a psycho and when they realize that you are only slightly crazy they are so relieved that they think you are awesome.
So in fact, the secret to success in life is setting the standard SO low that no matter what you do it looks way better in comparison.
Monday, March 14, 2011
Signs of a Repentant Blogger
So I am officially the WORST blogger of all time. I know it has literally been a year since my last post, but I decided tonight that I was going to try harder. I love stalking other peoples' blogs so much and I get really frustrated with my sisters when they don't update their blogs so I am officially repenting and committing to blogging. I will be better. I promise.
There is WAY too much to update it one blog but I will list the bigs
1. Chris got into every med school in the world because he is a GENIUS. Seriously the most wonderfully/annoyingly smart man alive! I am SO SO SO proud of him. He has worked so hard and been so humble through this whole process and I just could not be more proud of him. He is so wonderful.
2. We will both graduate in like a month!
3. We both got into Ohio State (me phd program) and I got full funding so we should be able to cover cost of living with my hard research work and Brad Bushman agreed to let me be his grad student (Brad Bushman= media violence expert beyond expert........he is seriously the king of media violence and SO awesome. I love him. Okay I am borderline stalking him but whatever) We will keep you posted on the official decision, but this is looking good.
4. We are backpacking Europe for a month and a half starting May 3rd! Cannot wait!
5. Chris' little brother, Patrick, went into the MTC March 2nd and will be serving his mission in Prague. We miss him a ton already, but we are SO proud of him!
So what is the take home message from the last year? And in particular the last sixth months? We are ridiculously blessed. When I think back over the last six months I seriously am blown away by the hand of the Lord in our lives and His constant watchful eye over us. I can remember spending countless nights on my knees and shedding countless tears pleading with the Lord to watch over us and take care of us and help direct our lives. He has poured out His blessings abundantly and a million times more than we deserve. I just have such a testimony that the Lord loves us more than we can possibly ever understand and that He is directing and guiding our lives. I am so grateful for Him and His love for me.
A good friend recently told me the story by Hugh B. Brown called "The Current Bush". I now have it taped on my desk at school and whenever I am feeling stressed, down trodden, or just not good enough I read it.
My favorite part of this story is when the Elder Brown, in the depths of despair and after receiving a serious personal blow, says to the Lord, "How could you do this to me? I have done everything I could to measure up. How could you do this to me?" And the Lord, in His infinite patience and love responded "I am the gardener here. I know what I want you to do."
I am grateful for a Father in Heaven who knows what He wants me to do and more importantly knows what He wants me to become. I am grateful for the hand of the Lord in our lives over the past sixth months and what it has taught me about faith, patience, and the love of an all knowing God. I am grateful for the Gardener in my life. I have a testimony that Our Father in Heaven in real. That He loves us each individually and that He is keenly aware of each and every one of us. I know that He counts our tears and our smiles and that His work and His glory is our individual immortality and eternal life.
There is WAY too much to update it one blog but I will list the bigs
1. Chris got into every med school in the world because he is a GENIUS. Seriously the most wonderfully/annoyingly smart man alive! I am SO SO SO proud of him. He has worked so hard and been so humble through this whole process and I just could not be more proud of him. He is so wonderful.
2. We will both graduate in like a month!
3. We both got into Ohio State (me phd program) and I got full funding so we should be able to cover cost of living with my hard research work and Brad Bushman agreed to let me be his grad student (Brad Bushman= media violence expert beyond expert........he is seriously the king of media violence and SO awesome. I love him. Okay I am borderline stalking him but whatever) We will keep you posted on the official decision, but this is looking good.
4. We are backpacking Europe for a month and a half starting May 3rd! Cannot wait!
5. Chris' little brother, Patrick, went into the MTC March 2nd and will be serving his mission in Prague. We miss him a ton already, but we are SO proud of him!
So what is the take home message from the last year? And in particular the last sixth months? We are ridiculously blessed. When I think back over the last six months I seriously am blown away by the hand of the Lord in our lives and His constant watchful eye over us. I can remember spending countless nights on my knees and shedding countless tears pleading with the Lord to watch over us and take care of us and help direct our lives. He has poured out His blessings abundantly and a million times more than we deserve. I just have such a testimony that the Lord loves us more than we can possibly ever understand and that He is directing and guiding our lives. I am so grateful for Him and His love for me.
A good friend recently told me the story by Hugh B. Brown called "The Current Bush". I now have it taped on my desk at school and whenever I am feeling stressed, down trodden, or just not good enough I read it.
My favorite part of this story is when the Elder Brown, in the depths of despair and after receiving a serious personal blow, says to the Lord, "How could you do this to me? I have done everything I could to measure up. How could you do this to me?" And the Lord, in His infinite patience and love responded "I am the gardener here. I know what I want you to do."
I am grateful for a Father in Heaven who knows what He wants me to do and more importantly knows what He wants me to become. I am grateful for the hand of the Lord in our lives over the past sixth months and what it has taught me about faith, patience, and the love of an all knowing God. I am grateful for the Gardener in my life. I have a testimony that Our Father in Heaven in real. That He loves us each individually and that He is keenly aware of each and every one of us. I know that He counts our tears and our smiles and that His work and His glory is our individual immortality and eternal life.
Friday, April 16, 2010
Monday, February 22, 2010
Pictures!
Forgot to put pictures up earlier of our short little trip to Vegas... Unfortunately we looked drunk in any pictures we took together.
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