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.

I'm the King of New York.

Recap of the constant adventure that is NYC...

A plane and bus ride, and a metro pass and a bit of walking later...

we came upon the Plaza !!

Which inspired plenty of "Home Alone 2" quotes,

and made me feel like I was inside one of my favorite children's books;

"Eloise at the Plaza"

Then, when Aubrey, Christina and Mandy headed off to see "Evita" on Broadway...

     

...I headed off to an art museum.

Of course.

And also happened to catch the season premier of Project Runway on Times Square.

Nooo big deal.

"Che" in Evita was played by none other than Ricky Martin.

Seriously y'all, no big deal.

And of course we stopped for some Max Brenner dessert afterwards.

Good thing I'd sampled the chocolate at Max Brenner in Australia;

before I couldn't eat chocolate any more!

(But a s'mores sundae is delicious with just vanilla, in case you were wondering)

Next morning; Central park (where some awesome people went running... I am not included... I walked around all art-nerdy and took tons of pictures...)

and then Statue of Liberty.

In some rather perfect weather.

Then, obviously, China town.

Anyone need a purse??

Adventures around every corner.

And Aubrey found some fruit!!

Great deals--she was so excited!

And,

Are you ready for this??

NEWSIES.

Seeing as we were SUCH fans,

we took the tip to stay and wait for the cast after the show.

Best. Idea. Ever.

Sooo many handsome boys.

Seriously; life changing.

And then we just wrapped it up with a little Brooklyn Bridge/pizza magic.

Can I just live there please??

Grateful for: Artwork on the subway.

And friends that don't get too embarrassed when I pull out my gargantuan camera to snap a photo of it.

Big. Fat. Donuts.

Today, to wrap up my week with Jesse, Max, Dylan and Emma,

before Mom and Dad got back from their big adventure in London,

I took the kids to Gourdough's.

For those unfamiliar with Austin cuisine,

Gourdough's is a part of the ever-growing, super hip,

"trailer food" industry in down-town Austin.

For some reason, we Austinites love the individuality and Austin "weirdness"

that comes from eating cool food from a cart or trailer.

Well Gourdough's is no exception when it comes to weird;

it's all about "Big. Fat. Donuts."

Huge donuts.

Slathered with lots of chocolate, ice cream, cookie bits, cake batter, icing, etc...

There's even one that has bacon on it.

When I told my brothers and sister about it, they wanted in.

They didn't quite think they could handle the donut with bacon on it,

but they had to go.

I think D-bob was especially excited.

(waiting impatiently.)

Dying in 99 degree weather...

but we still love Austin!

Here's the options.

And after much deliberation,

here's what we chose...

Clockwise from top left:

funky monkey

baby rattler

dirty berry

blackout

Watching them eat the chocolate ones reminded me of the book/movie "Matilda"

where Ms. Trunchbull makes a kid eat a whole chocolate cake.

It was against his will though.

These dudes were enjoying themselves.

(and I didn't make them finish them... we have lots of left-overs!!)

This was the most I could get Dylan to eat all week while my parents were gone.

Best sister ever?

No, probably more like worst! :)

...but maybe favorite

(at least for today...)

Grateful for:

such cool siblings to hang out with all week,

and a little sister who makes her brothers breakfast every morning.

They're just the bestest.

Why I went to NYC.

Okay, okay, there were actually a few reasons I went...

Like;

It's NEW YORK CITY,

I'd never been,

it was on the very tip-top of my travel-bucket-list

I got to go with some totally wonderful friends,

the statue of liberty,

times square,

central park,

seeing where scenes of Elf were filmed,

ETC...

and also it's simply an experience I should (and therefore, could) NOT miss out on,

But...

Here's what sealed the deal;

LIFE CHANGING.

I showed this to Emma, and then this is what happened...

(Do you like my shirt??)

More NYC pics to come a bit later...

But I had to share this video with you ASAP.

I love it so.

Grateful for: Really cool friends who take weekend trips to NY.

Also,

Spending the week with my brothers and sister

while my parentals are away...

and when my brother Max tells me my glasses are like Spongebob's

when he goes jelly-fishing.

Why yes, yes I do.

I love my life.  It's FULL, ALL THE TIME, with astounding people and opportunities.

Sometimes though,

I just wish I had a husband and babies.

Let's be honest for a minute.

Well here's a wee story about that.  The other day I was having a little chat with one of my bosses.  It was a serious chat about business.  He was filling me in on buisnessy-type issues and giving me updates.  He asked for my feedback.  He was very polite and professional.  At one point, he, in a very buisness-y way, asked about my plans for the future in regards to my schedule.

But then, he caught me off guard.

Still with a manner of professionalism, but now with a bit of a twinkle in his eye, he said, "I mean, I know you really want to fall in love and have babies..." and finished with something to the effect of "but for now you're going forward with other things...." (or some statement like that).

Then he flashed me a big grin.

And not even a facetious one, but a genuine one.

A bit of a smile that made light of a potentially uncomfortable subject, but also said,

"It's okay, I get it."

Now, I work really rather hard,

to fill my head with different thoughts

other than thoughts that dwell on things I don't currently have.

Thoughts such as:

Would I ever have chosen to do this  if I was married and had kids right now?

Look at what I've accomplished that I didn't even realize I ever wanted to!

I could go do that ?! I never even thought about that!!

(Being single and 24 is actually kind of rad.)

I'm also working very hard to take action on these thoughts too.

So my day-to-day existence is very much founded on that thought process.

But,

what my boss said that day kind of pulled the rug out from under me,

because,

well,

my boss is right.

I really  just want to fall in love and have babies.

In fact, sometimes I want it so bad, it hurts.

So here's a random thank you to you Mr Boss-man,

really.

It's an unexpectedly wonderful feeling,

that someone out there gets,

that despite all the things I'm involved with,

and trying hard to accomplish,

and the genuine smile on my face,

and honest gratitude and love for my current life,

the greatest desire of my heart is still to be

a wife and mother.

And without prodding me to get married ASAP,

you're simply cool with it.

thank you.

so much.

What a random blessing huh?

This could have been awkward,

and could have been 20 seconds of my day that meant nothing,

but I'm pretty sure what it actually did,

was remind me that I'm always being looked out for,

and this random 20 seconds

was precisely what my heart was in need of.

Tender mercies are rather tailored to our individual needs and personalities...

wouldn't you agree?

Grateful for:

My fabulous life as a single 24 year old;

a ticket to NYC in  days,

and also to see Newsies on Broadway.

I should never EVER complain right?!!!