Birthday cake for breakfast.

One of my favorite parts of the summer comes on July 15th;

It is by little brother Max's Birthday.

 This is partially one of my favorite days because he's quite a sweet brother,

who opens the door for you, and offers to carry your groceries.

But also because,

He and I get to make a magical and whimsical,

and creative and artsy-fartsy

Birthday cake.

It started all with a hamburger cake.

Made of two vanilla cakes, with a chocolate cake in between

Complete with fries and ketchup made of strips of pound cake.

Then one year, after one of the Pirates of the Carribean movies came out,

(the first one with Davy Jones)

we made a cake covered with barnacles and starfish

and here's the fun part: they were made of cheerios, 

smarties, and chocolate covered raisins...

and banana pieces covered in icing squiggles

Last year, we made him an "Up" cake.

Complete with clouds, 

and lots of confetti sprinkle balloons, 

and a floating house,

...and Carl and Russell of course!

So thiiis year, after google-ing lots of cake ideas....

We decided it was time for a colosseum/gladiator cake...

With bananas for the arches,

and chocolate and butterscotch chips for the spectators.

Can you see why this is my favorite part of the summer??

Happiest (and much belated) Birthday Max Daniel!!

I love you!

Quote of the day:

"I tried to bake for my mother's Birthday - it took me four hours.

It was terrible, and I cried for three days."

--Rachel Ray

a VERY important question for you...

Y'all... should I...

get my hair cut??

I've had it cut this short before, and I really loved it.

But then it took foreeeever to grow my hair back out...

and I really love having long hair too.

But I could really go for some sort change right about now.

Cons:

1. I would have to hold a bake sale first, or find extra money in the couch.

2. Grandma Rosie would kill me!

3. I would have to actually do my hair every day;

as opposed to letting it just be the wild lion's mane that it naturally is.

Pros:

Sometimes it's just time for a change, you know??

(and supposedly, it could help me in my quest to looking a bit older...)

Should I do it??

Quote of the Day:

(teehee...)

"Some of the worst mistakes of my life have been haircuts"

--Jim Morrison

That one time I met a hot guy on the plane...

I've had the opportunity to travel a lot throughout my life thus far.

And so at this point, with all those hours spent traveling to various destinations,

 I could probably write a book with all my crazy/hilarious travel stories.

Just about the times spent getting somewhere.

Like that one time my plane lost pressurization....

Remember that?

Or the time the dude fell asleep on my shoulder on a shuttle bus?

Or the many people that have told me their life stories 

whilst I sit next to them on the plane.

Or the time I thought I would have to spend the rest of my life in customs;

when there were only a handful of us but it took houuuurs?

Always an adventure.

But none have come close to the one I had recently,

on my way home from visiting my siblings in Provo.

What was the difference you ask?

Why was this one so monumental??

Well,

this one involved a very handsome boy.

Duh.

And this is the truth;

It all started while I was waiting the in terminal;

when I noticed this very cute boy.

He standing in line at the Quiznos right next to my terminal.

He was talllll, had dirty blond hair, and a nice jaw line...

And I'll just be a little transparent for a sec;

Working two jobs for the last few months,

where one requires me to work a lot of nights and weekends,

there's not a lot of time for cute boys and such...

so I didn't just notice this guy once...

I guess i decided to "fill the canteen",

aaand I creeped him a little bit;

I kept sneakin a peek;

He was just rather good looking.

It got a bit more interesting though,

when on about my 3rd or 4th peek,

(Creepy... I know, I know!! But I couldn't help it!)

I realized he was looking in my direction.

Whooops!! I thought, and stopped blatantly staring at him...

but he kept looking over!

I could see it out of the corner of my eye.

Interesting...

No matter, I thought.

He'll go get on his plane in a minute and I won't see him again.

Well, then when they called for passengers to start boarding the flight to Austin,

He walked over to the terminal.

Uh oh...

Oh well, just keep your head down, I thought,

and boarded the plane and got in my seat.

All of a sudden though,

 someone was asking if they could put my bag

 in the overhead compartment for me,

and before I knew it,

Hot guy was putting my luggage away for me 

and sitting in the seat right next to me.

I tried so hard to play it cool and not act like one of those obnoxious girls...

And not ask him a billion probing questions while batting my eyelashes

But he started asking me questions.

So I answered,

of course.

Oh gracious, he was even cuter up close.

And the more I talked to him, the more I was impressed...

It was a pretty wonderful flight.

We both fell asleep at some point, so we didn't talk the whooole 3 hours,

but we sure talked a lot.

And about deep stuff too.

Turns out he was a Christian Camp Counselor.

He had quit his big corporate job,

much to his dad's dismay,

because he felt like God's plan for him 

was not being carried out in the corporate arena.

So instead, he'd decided to dedicate his time to counseling teenage boys.

For reals.

Towards the end of the flight,

we started to get pretty deep into a discussion about our beliefs,

and how they've affected the decisions we make.

Essentially sharing our testimonies,

no big deal.

I was thinking how crazy it was that this was happening.

It's like one of those stories you hear about... and think,

that's so cute, but it'll never happen to me...

But here it was happening to me!!

I mean, this guy lives right outside of Austin...

so we'll definitely need to see each other again.

Then,

He said "I'm so sorry, the turbulence is really getting to me..."

Oh sure! Sorry!  Are you okay?, I asked.

It was pretty stormy outside, and we were doing one of those

circle-around-the airport-a billion-times landings

So we were going in jumpy, turbulent-y circles,

and my stomach was a little queasy too.

His wasn't just queasy though...

he started fumbling for his little barf bag...

and couldn't find it of course.

So I found it for him.

He then proceeded to barf.

For 10 minutes on and off.

Until we landed.

Cute.

But I was still hopeful...

I mean, I'd already put on the big girl pants to chat with this guy

and try to get to know him!

Even though it's so out of character for me!

So I was hopeful this turbulent story would end smoothly....

He was so utterly embarrassed though,

He apologized about 50 times.

First to me,

then to the people sitting around us,

then to me again a few more times.

And then ran off the plane as fast as he could;

with his head hanging low so no one could look him in the eye he was so embarrassed.

I never saw him again.

STORY OF MY LIFE.

I laughed for like 3 days straight about this though!!!

Grateful for:

A summer-y, wonderful weekend in Provo with the older half of my siblings.

I love me some Jelly-man, and Soph-a-loaf, and Logie Bear.

And eating Papa's plums right off his tree.

Also, the Olympics

and watching the Sleeping Beauty Ballet in the movie theater 

with Emma Gracie and Mum,

and my favorite Aunt Angie coming for a visit,

and the fact that my talk in church is over,

and my roommate's apple caramel cupcakes,

and lots of new adventures around the corner.