List of Twenty Four: Things I love about being a "grown up"

Being a "grown up" is the best.  Now, I feel as though I should use this term "grown up" loosely as I still treasure (and usually am the one perpetuating in the children and adults around me), childhood.  I live for opportunities to use my imagination and strive to appreciate my life with a child-like wonder... but I also really love some things about being a "grown up"...

1. The updated, wiser version of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich; my favorite, delicious, gluten free flax bread, 'smart choice' peanut butter, and agave nectar... It's nice for my taste buds to enjoy such childhood-delicacies, but to also have gained the wisdom to know that I'm putting foods into my body that will make it very happy as well.
2. A degree in Child Development with a minor in Art that gives me a licence for the rest of my life to get lost in a stack of children's books on a regular basis, and have a legitamate excuse.
3. Dating men instead of boys.
4. Dates to places like art museums.
5.Having smart and cultured and wise and adventurous adult friends.
6. My friends having babies.
7. Being an adult daughter and sister and granddaughter.  It's suuuper fun!!
8. Being invited to the adult table when I go to Grandma CC's for dinner.
9. Updated taste buds... mmmm sushi....
10. Owning a kitchen aid.
11. My own little carefully collected library of DVD's.
12. My Toyota Corolla named Eleanor Rigby.  I LOVE her.
13. Traveling. Scary and stressful as a kid... soooo fun as an adult.
14. Kids thinking I know all.  (As I am 24, clearly my wisdom is without bounds!)
15. NOT being a teenager.
16. A new found appreciation for my womanly curves.
17. A few years under my belt spent creating a personal style.
20. A sense of gumption to be myself in my style, personality and relationships gained through the experiences I've had transitioning from childhood to adulthood.
19. The fact that high heels are acceptable almost all the time.
20. Responsibilities.  It's a wonder to be in charge of the aspects of your life; it's a whole mess of opportunities to create that I never anticipated!
11. It's cool to talk about babies and baking and decorating your house.
22. Visiting Teaching (who would've thought when I was in YW??)
23. the Temple
24. RELIEF SOCIETY!! My fave!


Also Grateful for: A bounteous number of wonderful cousins in my life. Like Brandon who is just the greatest and headed off to med school, and who I got to see a few weeks ago! I love this pic from when we got to go out to lunch! (Also, my wonderful Californian cousins who I got to see last week, and congrats to sweet Summer Marie on the news of her baby GIRL due in the fall!!) I am sooo blessed to know them!!

List of Twenty Four: Confessions

I suppose there's just some things I'd like to get off my chest here lately.  So here goes.

1. My doctor tells me my body doesn't really like coco, and I believe him... but sometimes I eat a little bit of chocolate anyway.
2. I am a classical music nerd.
3. I don't know anything about sports.
4. I could spend hours in museums.
(5. The above confession might have been a deal-breaker on a blind date before; it made me consider not wanting to share this on future dates... but after like 6 minutes I got over it)
6. I LOVE the royal wedding. Still.
7. I might be addicted to buying magazines.
8. I only read magazines once, then rip out my favorite pages, OCD-style file them in my art stuff, and then throw away the majority of the magazine.
9. I'd prefer clothes not to match in exact hues.
10. I own about a million bobby pins.
11. I wish I could wear high heels every day.
12. Mascara is the most important part of my getting-ready routine.
13. I get a daily email from a style website partially run by Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen.
14. I've seen every Mary Kate and Ashley movie ever made.
15. One of my favorite movies is Titanic.
16. I own the Celine Dion Las Vegas concert on DVD.
17. I also own the Royal Wedding on DVD.
18. I've seen Little Women roughly 100 times.  I started watching it when I was about 7 or 8 years old.
19. I'd prefer to read only children's books.
20. I'd also prefer to have a conversation with a 5 year old, versus a 25 year old.
21. Big crowds make me so nervous, that I sweat profusely.
22. I've always wanted to dye my hair RED.
23. I love marshmallow cream.
24. I'm definitely a fan of slightly nerdy guys.
(exhibit A: Jay Baruchel)

Quote of the day: "Creation is a better means of self-expression than possession; it is  through creating, not possessing, that life is revealed." -Vida Dutton Scrudder