The Virginia and Other Adventures

Guys

I've been a bad blogger.

I was talking about blogging today with my bff and fellow blogger Lara Jean from the new world

and we agreed that there comes a point in your life where you would rather go out and live it than sit at home and write about it.  

I think I've reached that point.

But I also want to be able to share the life I'm living with all the people I care about, and since I am currently on the opposite side of the continent than most of you lovely people, blogging is the best way to share my stories. 

So as of today,

I'm going to try to blog at least a little bit every day

so I can share my crazy Virginia adventures with you all.

And also because I know that if I don't write them down somewhere, I will eventually forget them and then no one will be able to use them if they decide to make a hallmark movie of my life. And that would just be too darn tragic.

To start off this hopefully fruitful blogging venture,

here are of few of the exciting encounters I've had during my first month in Virginia:

A stoned man told me I should change my name to zebra

I met a dog that was half German Shepherd, half Beagle

A little boy offered to share his otter pop with me

I started accidentally saying y'all

A drunk guy told me I could be the next Meryl Streep

I spent all day walking in a tropical storm

I got caught in a different storm that had a tornado warning

A little old lady with dementia let me inside her daughter's house, and her daughter was not very happy about it

I caught my first firefly

I had a pet baby salamander for a day

I put my feet in the Potomac river

I went to the DC temple

and I got a ridiculous tan line on my feet

So far this summer has definitely had it's ups, and definitely had it's downs. But one thing is for sure,

it's been an adventure.

I look forward to sharing the rest of it with you.

The end.

Drawring

So, last semester I decided to be a wild woman and take an actual art class for the first time in my life. 

I'd always wanted to take art classes in high school, but I was always too busy with band and such; which I loved, but I was always secretly envious of all of the students I saw walking in and out of the art classroom. 

College is a time for trying new things, finding new passions, throwing caution to the wind! 

Some people try "experimenting" with things like drugs and being bisexual, I decided I didn't want to do that. So I took a drawing class instead.

Now.

I'm no Leonardo or Michelangelo

and I'm also not a ninja turtle.

But I ended up really enjoying this class.

It was so invigorating to actually create something, 

to transfer ideas from your head to a piece of paper, and to have complete freedom to create whatever you wanted.

Since I am stuck here in Logan because of work, while everyone else and their dog went to St. George for Spring Break, and I have absolutely nothing to do...

I decided to take pictures of some of my favorite drawings and put them up here so you can enjoy them too!

Or, if you don't enjoy them you can throw rotten fruit at them or something. 

Whatever floats your goat man.

Anyway, here are just some of my pieces.

Don't judge them too badly, I told you I wasn't very good.

 

 

Those Who Can

A lot of people have been asking me lately why I chose to be an  Elementary Education major, why out of all the millions of jobs and careers to choose from, why choose this one?

I'm not going to lie, 

sometimes I'm not so sure.

Sometimes, the thought of spending the rest of my life in a crowded classroom, wiping kids noses to endless cries of "TEACHER! TEACHER!!" is terrifying.

I look at the people around me, people studying to be doctors, lawyers, artists, or engineers; amazing people setting out to do amazing things and I feel a little inadequate.

They'll be designing rockets,

 curing cancer, 

painting masterpieces.

They'll be changing the world,

and I'll be wiping noses 

and singing the ABC's. 

Today, my best friend and fellow Education major Lara Jean, told me about an experience she had in the classroom where she volunteers. 

A motivational speaker was giving a live broadcast to schools all over Utah, and he asked all the students to close their eyes while he asked them questions, and raise their hand if their answer was yes.

He asked them if they had ever thought about killing themselves. 

And in her classroom of 

beautiful, sweet, eight year old children

four of them

raised their hands.

Four. 

Just in her classroom.

Four and who knows how many others across the state

across the nation

across the world?

How many children out there have felt so unloved, 

so inadequate,

so unimportant,

that by the time they are eight years old they've considered taking their own life?

These children are beautiful. They have wonderful imaginations, amazing personalities, and the biggest hearts. They have so much love to give to the world, so many dreams and ambitions, so many wonderful things that they can achieve.

And for whatever reasons

whether it be abuse, bullying, neglect, or some other horror,

they don't believe that they have anything to offer. 

That the world is a worse place for having them in it. 

I may not ever be wealthy.

I may not cure cancer

or save someone from a burning building.

I'll never go to outer space, 

I may never even leave the country.

But if I can tell a child,

one of these amazing, wonderful, inspiring children

that they are beautiful.

That they are special,

 and that they have so much magic inside of them, 

so many thoughts and feelings and ideas that only they can bring to the world

and have them believe it.

I can't think of any other experience more amazing.

If I can help the children I'll encounter over the years

to feel important, and to feel loved;

If I can help them to see how unprecedentedly, mind-blowingly, earth shakingly incredible they are,

then maybe I can help to lower some of those tiny hands that were raised this afternoon.

So, to all of the people out there who look down on educators 

those who believe the ridiculous saying

"Those who can, do. And those who can't, teach."

I don't care if you are one of the most "successful" people in the world, 

you will never do anything more worthwhile in your entire life than what the teachers all around the world do every single day.

That is why I want to be a teacher. 
Not because it's easy,
And not because I'm afraid, or I'm not smart enough to do anything else.
I want to tell children they are beautiful,
because they obviously don't heart it enough.
 

Winter: Pros and Also the Not Pros

So, today I was sitting at my computer

laughing at pictures of grumpy cat on pinterest

and I remembered

Blogging.

Yeah....blog. 

That's a thing I do....

....sort of....

So I decided to actually do it. 

Here goes.

It's a new year now, and we all know what that means!

It means we're all messing up writing "2013" on our assignments because we just barely got the the point where we were used to writing "2012".

I know how you feel guys,

numbers are hard.

Also, it's winter.
I'm not a fan of the winter, but I know a lot of people that are, so to appease them and also to hopefully give myself a better attitude about this season...
I present to you

WINTER!
the pros and also the not pros:
We'll start with the not pros first, because I'm better at those.

Not pros:

1. When you first step outside, the freezing cold ice-air slaps your face. You haven't even done anything to make it mad, but it just backhands you as hard as it can anyway and then your face is all red and sore for the rest of the day.
2. Warm feet become a distant memory.
3. The sun becomes a huge liar. You can see it out your window and it's all like "Oh hey there, look how bright and sunny and warm I am! You're not going to need those extra two jackets under your coat today, I'm being a pal and warming it up a little because I love you!" And you think how much you like the sun, and how maybe this winter won't be so bad. But then you go outside and it's so cold that you're pretty sure your lungs are frozen solid, and you die a little bit on the inside, and also you're a ginger so you get your nose sun burnt, and you just hate life and seriously consider quitting school and hitchhiking to disneyland.
4. Your hair freezes. This seriously freaks me out, because my hair freezes even when it's dry and so I'm terrified that one day it's just going to break off like an icicle and I'll have no hair. Or I'll walk to close to a pole and my hair will stick to it like that kid in A Christmas Story...
5. People don't get to hibernate. Really, in what world is this fair? We're humans! We're on the freaking top of the food chain! We are the master commander! And we have to go on with our lives during winter while all the bears and squirrels and crap just get fat and sleep all winter long?!? No. Not okay. I vote the squirrels run the world, and I get to stay in my warm, cozy bed.

See? The squirrels totally want to.

I vote we do this.

Pros:

1. You can snowboard and ski. If you live in Logan you get an added bonus because you can not only snowboard and ski on the mountains, but also to and from class because there is snow EVERYWHERE and it never melts.
2. All the bugs are frozen to death. There used to be so many boxelder bugs and grasshoppers on campus that you couldn't take two steps without squishing at least four. Now you can walk wherever you want and not worry about having bug guts on the bottom of your shoe.
3. It's socially acceptable to wear big, ugly sweaters all the time. Also earmuffs.
4. Snowflakes are pretty.
5. You can make snowmen. Now, you can make your normal, run-of-the-mill, generic snowman if that's what you're into. Or. You can make snowmen like this:

A Gulliver's Travels inspired snowman

A snow dalek

A ginormous lego snowman

Snowtoro!

and Jabba the....pile of snow...

Guys, now I really want to go make an epic snowman. 

I think I will.

Have good lives you guys, 

I'll talk to you later.

The End.

Oh... Fudge....

Now, my good people.

I have a secret.

Sometimes...

I say curse words.

I know what you're thinking,

"Not Brittany! She's too small and adorable!"

Well, I'm totally with you on the adorable part, 

but unfortunately... you're wrong.

It's not all the time, 

but when I get hurt, or very angry, or when I'm at Lagoon

sometimes they slip out.

One such time happened last week.

I was at Swing Club, I had been dancing my little ginger heart out and decided to take a break and sit down for a little bit.

I was sitting on the floor, and the club is held in a dance studio room so there's a bar halfway up the wall and my head was right underneath it.

My friend Patrick asked me to dance, and without thinking I jumped up to dance and ended up smacking my head

really, really hard on that stupid bar.

Now, not that smacking my head wasn't painful and embarrassing enough; but at that exact second, the song playing ended and so in that three second pause of silence, the entire swing club heard me yell out a curse word. 

That's right

I didn't just say a swear

I yelled it

pretty loud.

And, I totally would have been embarrassed about it, but I've kind of become immune to embarrassment, and also my head really hurt. 

So there you have it

my guilty confession.

Judge me if you will, 

but I don't really care what you think about me. 

So, you know. 

Whatevs. 

How Lumberjacks Ruined My Life

I love Logan, 

I especially love Fall in Logan. 

I love how many trees there are here, and when they begin changing colors the whole city looks like a kaleidoscope of oranges and reds.

There is one particular spot where the trees are especially beautiful, this spot was my favorite place in Logan until two days ago.

Right behind my apartment, there is this adorable little canal. It's not very big, but it's beautiful and I love it.

All along the canal, on either side are these big beautiful trees, and they all lean in towards each other and make a tree-tunnel. When you're looking down the canal, and all the trees are reflecting in the water, and it's just nature and just beautiful; you feel like everything is ok with the world. 

Yes, bad things are happening other places, there are wars and starving lonely people; but right here- right in this spot.

Everything is peaceful 

and beautiful

and right.

For me it was kind of a magical place.

And then Monday, I woke up to an awful sound.

A horrid sawing, screeching sound.

I looked out the window

and found to my horror

that a group of lumberjack men were cutting down my trees.

Now,Monday was just not a good day for me. I had a really crappy cold, I was going through a lot of emotional turmoil, I was out of Dr. Pepper- and now they were cutting down my trees?

They were ruining my favorite spot!

I'm not going to lie, 

I cried.

Maybe it's just because I'm a weird hippie, 

but I get really attached to trees

and watching these ones get cut down, especially since I loved them so much- it broke my heart a little bit.

I walked past the canal when they were finished

and I was pretty devastated.

With the trees and the beautiful colors of their leaves gone, 

everything was just brown and dead looking.

The beautiful little canal was now sad and naked. 

Like a mountain after a forest fire, or those little starving African children. 

My favorite place in the whole city is now just a dingy little puddle, all the magic that was there before is lost.

I don't know why the trees had to go,

but I hope that the men cutting them down were at least a little sad while they did it. 

I hope they understood what they were ruining.

I hope they cared.

The End.

Liebster!

So, my BFFFFFFFFF Lara Jean from 

The New World 

nominated me for a  LIEBSTER AWARD!

I thought a Liebster was the way people with fun accents say Lobster, but apparently it's an award for blogs with under 200 followers. 

My li'l blog has never been nominated for anything before! 

So this is perty exciting!

According to the Liebster Lawbook I now have to:

• Tell you 11 things about myself
• Answer 11 question from the person who nominated me
• Make up 11 questions for 11 blogs that I will nominate

I wonder why it's 11 things and not 10. 

Maybe because it's November

Or something.

Anywhooooooooooooooo

Here goes.

{things about me}

1.  My second toe is longer than my big toe
2.  My favorite person in The Avengers is Loki
3.  I can do this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xcuixdq6h1g
4.   Over the summer, I spent most of my time as the train driver at Lagoon and I loved it. I got to wear cute overalls and spend all day looking at tigers and antelope and other animals like such as.
5. My feet have never left American soil except for when they're on American sidewalk or when I jump really high.
6. When I was 8, my grandparents took me to the circus and they made me kiss a clown. He was crying and smiling at the same time and that really freaked me out. I don't know if I've ever recovered...
7. I really really really really really really love elephants.
8. I had my first boyfriend in kindergarten. His name was Gentry. When we played Star Wars at recess all the other boys wanted to be Luke, but he wanted to be Han Solo. I loved him. He knew.
9. I've always been terrified of Furbys
10. My favorite band is currently Steam Powered Giraffe. They are a steampunk group that pretend to be animatronic robots. I'm not even making this up. They're tote's legit.
11. My favorite band used to be Alestorm. A Scottish metal band that only sings about pirates. I'm not making these guys up either. My favorite songs are Keelhauled and Nancy the Tavern Wench.

Now I get to answer Lara Jean's questions!

1. Favorite time of day?- Not morning. 
2. What's the best popsicle? (POPSICLE not ice cream)- The kind that are patriotic colored and shaped like rockets. Merica. 
3. If you could travel anywhere, where would it be and why?- Somewhere in Africa where I could be warm, feed hungry people, and ride an elephant.
4. What inspires you to blog? Well, at first it was to keep in touch with my bff's Jackie and Lara, but after a while I found out that other people were reading it and that they liked it. So now, I blog for my friends and my followers and I try to tell them things that will make them laugh. I just like making people happy.
5. What is your dream pet? A hedgehog. I love hedgehogs. I'm studying elementary education, and when I graduate and have my own classroom I'm going to have a pet hedgehog named Benedict Martin.
6. What is your passion? I love a lot of things, but I guess my biggest passion right now is for Big Band Swing dancing. I've been doing it for almost three years now, and I just can't get enough of it. It's my favorite.
7. Who is your cellphone service provider? T-mobile. I think the T stands for Terrence, but don't quote me on that.
8. What is your biggest pet peeve? Snooki.
9. What is Your favorite perfume scent? Victoria's Secret Beauty Rush "Honeydo" scent. I don't think they even make it anymore, but holy poop on toast it smells like spring and summer and sunshine and melons. 
10. Something you've always wanted to learn? To break dance. 
11. Who's your very best friend? I'm super lucky because I have so many great friends. I have my sisters, and then I have Lara Jean, Jacqueline Loveland, Haydn Owens, and more great friends than I can count. 

So. That's it for me.

My Liebster moment of fame.

Now it's your turn!

I'm supposed to pick 11 blogs and nominate them for a Liebster, but I honestly can't name 11 blogs so I'm opening this up to anybody! 

Here's my 11 questions to you!

1. What flavor of jam is your favorite?
2. If you were given the chance to either attend Hogwarts or Star Fleet Academy what would you choose?
3. Who would win in a fight, Liam Neeson or Chuck Norris?
4. What is your favorite song?
5. What is you favorite part of Disneyland?
6. On a scale of 1 to Betty Crocker, how good of a cook are you?
7. What is your favorite book and why?
8. Summarize yourself in five words
9.  Name three things that frighten you?
10. How good are you at karate?
11. What is your favorite thing about blogging?

I don't really know what the point of the Liebster thing is, I don't know if there's an actual "prize" or anything- but answering questions is always fun! 

 

If you guys ever have questions for me, or have something specific you want me to write about just let me know. I'm always looking for ideas!

Happy Halloween you guys!!

The End

My Apologies Mr. Dafoe

I try not to be a judgmental person.

Try being the key word in that sentence.

I do judge people.

I judge people that say "I seen" instead of "I saw"

I judge people that wear tights as pants

(jeggings are ok. tights are NOT OK)

I judge people who shave their dogs and then buy them sweaters.

And I judge Willem Dafoe's face.

It just doesn't make sense

and it creeps me out.

I feel really bad that I judge Willem Dafoe.

He's a great actor, and he's never done anything to offend me.

Ever.

But there's just something about his face 

that just makes me uncomfortable.

Maybe it's his abnormally protrusive jaw,

maybe it's his crazy cheekbones,

or maybe it's how his eyes kind of bug out all the time.

I really don't know what my problem is.

But his face doesn't make any sense. 

It's like the top of his head is normal, but then he has the jaw and mouth of a giant man just shoved onto the bottom half of his face. 

And he always looks like he's secretly plotting your death.

When he's angry

When he's happy

When he look sideways

And especially when he looks like this

That face isn't normal.

Not even a little bit.

And I feel like an awful person for disliking him based solely on his face, but I just can't help it!

HIS FACE IS JUST SO WEIRD!

It's like when you see a car crash, and you're horrified, and shocked, but you just can't look away. 

You're sucked in

and you can't escape.

And even after it's gone, after you drive past the smashed up cars and continue on your way, you know it's still there.

Willem Dafoe's face

is always there.

Am I an awful person?

Maybe I am.

Maybe Willem Dafoe is actually the coolest person in the world, and we were supposed to be BFF's and go shopping and to the zoo together and now we can't because I'm weird and shallow.

I'm sorry Willem.
I'm sorry I don't want to go to the zoo with you because your face is weird and also because you're an old man.

But I guess that's just the way it has to be.

The End

My Shoe-marang

I, being a female, suffer from a very serious dilemma.

I get too attached to my shoes.

I fall in love with them at the store,
and then once they're mine they go everywhere I go
they take part in all my adventures.
They say you can't judge a man until you've walked a mile in their shoes because only shoes know exactly where you've been and what you've been through because your shoes have been there with you.

I have one pair of shoes that over the past few years have gone many places with me.

The Hunger Games premiere

The Festival of Colors

And they've taken me on adventures from Ogden to Iowa.

We've been through a lot these shoes and me.

This last weekend, I was headed home and I had these shoes balanced fairly precariously on top of my embarrassingly large pile of laundry. I carried everything down the stairs and out to my friend's car, and somewhere between my apartment and my parent's house in Ogden one of the shoes was AWOL.

I was very distressed; these shoes were my friends and for one of them to just be gone? It was very sad indeed. 

 I figured that my shoe had fallen out of the car somewhere, and that it could be anywhere from Logan to Ogden, and who could know if I would ever see it again.

I came back to Logan with a lonely shoe and a heavy heart. My neighbors came over and I explained to them my sorrow over my loss. One of them, said jokingly to the other, 

"I bet it's that shoe we saw outside on our way home from church!"

I inquired about this shoe and they informed me that there was a lone shoe that had been residing on the grass outside our apartment building all weekend. I asked what kind of shoe it was, but seeing as they were boys they could offer me no information other than that the shoe was brown. 

Since even that meager description somewhat matched my missing shoe, I started to hope. I asked them if they could go down and get it for me, since they knew where it was. One of them went down, and when he returned

He was holding my lost shoe.

It was a sweet reunion.

My shoe was a little worse for wear, it had fallen out in the parking lot and looked like it might have been run over by a car once or twice, but I thought it had never looked better.

It felt like one of those moments in those awful "Incredible Journey" movies where the ragtag band of animals that have just conquered the great outdoors and defied certain death finally step on top of the hill and they're all backlit by the sun and their family sees them but can't believe their eyes because according to all reason these animals should be dead but they aren't because that would have been a horribly depressing movie.

Imagine that.

But with a shoe.

My shoe conquered the wilderness, and against all odds made it home safely.

It is now dubbed my shoe-marang.

The End

The Eye-Contact Tango

As I said in my last post, I have been back at Utah State for a little over a month now; being back on campus has reintroduced me to many unspoken rituals that the students here all participate in. There are many of these rituals, but my favorite one is what I have come to call the

Eye Contact Tango

To take part in an Eye Contact Tango (or ECT for short) 

just place yourself walking in a direction in which you will encounter people walking past you in the opposite direction.

As soon as the two of you are close enough to make out each other's facial features, the ECT has begun. 

There are many different ways to style your ECT, if you want to appear shy yet interested in your partner; make eye contact for a brief moment, blush and look down at your feet, and then right before you pass each other look up and make eye contact again, this time with a small flirtatious smile.

If you want to unnerve your partner; stare them down. As soon as you can see their eyes, lock onto them and stare deep into their soul until they look away or pass you. Whichever comes first.

For girls that want to appear saucy and confident, I recommend the following approach:

Make eye contact soon after arriving in the correct range, hold it for a second or two, give your partner a quick wink, and then walk right on by. 

If you find yourself approaching a tango that you do not want to participate in, there are a few ways to escape:

Check your phone until you pass the other person

Wear sunglasses

Become suddenly fascinated with the ground

Refuse to make eye contact

Stop and tie your shoe

Start coughing and look the other way

Pretend you are crying so no one can make eye contact with you without feeling awkward

Run away

Pretend to faint

Give em The Face

In my experience, all of these will give you a reprieve from any undesirable tango you are confronted with.

Now my young grasshoppers, go out into the world and find some eye contact tangos of your own. Unless you walk by a creeper.

Then just run away.

The End.

Squirrel Feuds.

So, this one time, I didn't blog for like three months.

And the whole world plunged into a deep depression. Caterpillars refused to come out of their cocoons, flowers wilted and died, and Robert Downey Jr. got hurt on the set of Iron man 3.

Just kidding. 

None of those happened.

Except Robert Downey Jr. really did get hurt on the set of Iron man 3. Not very bad. But it happened.

But really.

The world went on, because that's just what the world does.

Summer began it's slow change into fall, and I moved back to Logan and started my third year at Utah State.

I love Utah State.

Like totally 100 percent for real, true love.

If it was a man, I would marry it.

Twice.

I'm living in a different apartment complex this year, it's called Bridgerland, which is a little misleading because there are no bridges here. But it's still pretty cool.

There is a little canal behind my building and these adorable ducks live there. 

Sometimes I share my Pringles with them.

We're tote's bffs.

Except there is this one really mean white one that sounds like the Joker doing an evil laugh when he quacks. 

Which is a lot.

There is also this squirrel that lives in a tree that I pass every day on my way to campus. For a while, we were friends. I would walk past him, he would chatter at me in the cute little way that squirrels do, and I would smile and wave and sometimes chatter back in that crazy way I do- because unlike Disney Movies would have me believe- it is not normal to talk to random animals you meet on the way to campus.

But I do it anyway.

Because that's just how I am.

Now, one day, I was walking under the squirrel's tree, and I could hear him chattering away in there when all of a sudden I felt something small and very hard hit the back of my head. Now, there was no one else around, just me and the squirrel.

And the crab apple it had just thrown at my head.

That's right.

For no reason whatsoever, this squirrel that I thought was my friend, had just chucked nasty fruit at my head.

I was so sad.

Then, I was so mad.

What right did this squirrel have to get angry at me?

I had been nothing but nice to this rodent, and he has the gall to chuck crab apples at me?

No sir. NOT IN MY HOUSE!

So now, me and squirrels have a feud.

The End.

Saved By A Smile

A few days ago,

I was feeling a little blue.

And a little purple.

But mostly blue.

Mostly, it was because I had to wake up at six for a training at work instead of sleeping until noon like I wanted to.

Because I just really love sleeping.

My bed and I are perfect for each other, but my alarm clock doesn't want us together.

That jealous whore.

In any case, I was not keeping my chin up buttercup.

Not in the slightest.

I was driving to work. In the wee hours of the morning, and I kept hitting every freaking red light in the universe and at each one I was getting progressively crankier.

While I was angrily stopped at yet another red light, I happened to look over at a bus stop along the side of the highway.

Sitting at the bus stop

happy as a clam

or a bird with a french fry

was a large Polynesian man.

And he wasn't just sitting.

No.

My dear friends, this man was also jamming out on a ukulele like he hadn't a care in the world.

I was so amazed by this man, I was staring at him with a face that probably looked kind of like this:

He was just that awesome.

The man looked up at me, our eyes locked, and if I were him I totally would have scuzzed off the weirdo staring at me like I'm a shaved llama. 

But he didn't.

His face broke out in an enormous grin, like I'd just given him a puppy and told him a funny joke. This man, was just so happy.

He was up just as early as I was, probably earlier, who knows how long he was waiting at that bus stop, and he was just so at peace with the world around him. 

It really made me stop and reevaluate my attitude

and revel in the random little joys life puts in our paths.

Throughout that day and the days since passed, whenever I find myself feeling down like an ugly clown

I stop and think of that man

and I can't help 

but smile.

The End.