So I just posted about Backstreet Boys, right? Well the same night that those handsome men came to my mind I went through a series of thoughts about my younger years. I seriously could not stop them, one thing led to another, and before I knew it, it was 3 am. I must admit though that I had a lot of fun thinking about old stories! Here are some tidbits from the good old days that may or may not interest you:
1. In 2001 (crazy that that was 10 years ago), my family took the most awkward family photo in all history. My mom's hair was so blonde it was almost white. My hair was slicked back in a pony tail, probably wet b/c the thought of blow drying it hadn't even crossed my mind, with awesome braces on my face. We took it against a white background. I was wearing a white skirt so it basically looked like I had no lower body. And our dog Bounder, the dog from Hades, was in the picture and he most likely had a really awkward haircut. Wish I had a copy of this gem. But to get a sense of how the awkwardness continues with our family photos, feast your eyes on this sucker:
We were supposed to color coordinate, but everyone besides myself was too lazy. Dan is in his pajama bottoms. Enough said. 2. Speaking of laziness, at one point in time my sister and I shared a room, probably when I was about 5. You're wondering how that relates to laziness... well she definitely took advantage of me and made me take off her jeans for her everyday. Back when the baggy jeans that were tight at the ankles were in style, if you remember. What a bum.
3. I remember how technology used to be. Back when we could only listen to music if we had an actual CD and used a discman (you probably forget what this is, check it here ) or a stereo. And my brother used talkboys. When we didn't have cellphones and if friends wanted to call me, they had to call the house phone. I miss those days - technology has gotten way too advanced in my opinion!
4. My family lived in Japan when I was in elementary school. We shopped at this market and they sold octupus in a container there just like you would find hamburger meat in a container. My siblings found sincere enjoyment out of coming up behind me and scaring me with this octupus. Rude. I have still not fully recovered. Along the same lines, there was the time that my dad wanted to order a full on lobster (still looked like it would from the sea) and I started crying so he couldn't. Sorry dad.
5. When I was in Kindergarten one time I was playing on the playground and I thought I saw my friend so I tapped him on the shoulder and it turned out he wasn't my friend. I remember running away scared half to death. Heaven forbid I touch a stranger!
6. My Kindergarten teacher was obsessed with Winnie the Pooh. This is pretty much all I remember about Kindergarten. Because of this, that year I became obsessed with the song "Return to Pooh Corner" and listened to it alllll the time. Fast forward to Senior year of high school when I remembered this song and I started listening to it a lot and couldn't believe my K-12 experience was over. It was a bittersweet time.
7. My family also lived in Hong Kong when I was in elementary school. I remember one day waking up in our house and saw that it was raining down the hallway. In my house. I rubbed my eyes and opened them again because I sort of thought I was dreaming. Truth be told, I wasn't. It did in fact rain through the roof into our house. That house also flooded a lot with all the typhoons. Which reminds me of the crazy weather guy that would walk out and represent the weather. When a bad typhoon was in the forecast, he would walk across the screen and blow away into the air. Literally. HA so I always thought if I went outside during a bad typhoon that I would really blow away and never come back. To this day, I still don't know that that really would have happened....
8. In fourth grade, I was walking around downtown Hong Kong one day and I saw my teacher across the street at a bar. I was so scarred to find out that my teacher actually had a life, and a bad one at that.
9. My best friends in Hong Kong happened to be my next door neighbors, Leah and Ali. I would go over to their house all the time and we would hang out up in the loft they had created in one of the bedrooms and we would make awesome dances up to Christina Aguilera and Backstreet Boys songs. They also had a maid and their maid would make us ice cream shakes all the time. Talk about awesome.
10. I used to write notes back and forth with my best friends in middle school during school. They were really ridiculous notes full of "hehehe" and "bff 4 lyfe" - good thing I grew out of talking like that.
11. In Kindergarten, I lived right across the street from the school. For some crazy reason, I took the bus almost everyday instead of just walking across the street. Probably because my mom was lazy, haha JK. But I remember there was a boy that often sat across from me on the bus and he would cough so much I seriously was afraid he was going to die. I hated that dang bus ride.
12. When I was in 3rd grade, I used to watch Saved By The Bell - the college years episodes. I remember watching one particular one that was full of romance. I went to bed one night like a giddy little school girl so excited to see my crush the next day at school. His name was Yuh Yuh and he was Asian. I love me my Asians.
13. My Grandma Bobbye was sick in the hospital a couple years ago. We visited her in the hospital a number of times and on one occasion she called me a little s***. Oh grandma!
14. Aol Instant Messenger used to be ALL the rage. When I opened an account, I wanted my screen name to be something like "cutechick" just like every other girl. My bro Josh insisted I have a cooler screen name than that. As a result of his suggestion, it ended up being "fluteplaya329". Real cool Josh. Pathetically enough, I remember days when I would sit at our desktop computer in middle school and high school for hours on AIM. I even had a secret boyfriend that I would talk to strictly on AIM. I never met him in real life, but boy did we have intense conversations on there. I was so cool.
15. We used to have a dog named Emi. My mom went out of town one time and I got home from school one day to find out that my dad let her outside and LOST HER. It was the worst thing ever. Calling my mom and telling her was horrible. Bad memory.
16. My first real boyfriend was PJ in 9th grade. I hate to admit that we would go to the mall together and mack in department stores right in front of the workers. Those poor workers. Since then I have learned to be a bit more private with my macking. ;)
17. I used to be obsessed with this song "Everyday is a Winding Road" - I can't remember who it's by. Some song from the 90s. I made a recording of me singing it once and listened to it later. Lets just say I've gotten a bit better at singing...
18. Not only was my sister Rach lazy back in the day, but she was also sorta wimpy. When we stopped sharing a room, we continued to go get in each other's beds in the middle of the night when we got scared. She may deny it, but she came and got me far more than I got her - and she was in high school. ;) But I still love her.
19. My grandparents on my mom's side live in Tennessee. We used to go visit them every few years during the summer and I used to always go outside at night and catch fireflies in a jar. Good times.
20. When I lived in Hong Kong, our house was right on the ocean. Titanic had come out right before we moved there so I was obsessed with huge boats. I would always take my telescope and use it to look out our huge windows and see if I could find ships as big as the Titanic. Sometimes they seemed almost as big! Super fun.
21. I used to email some of my cousins regularly. We would write back and forth - I did it with Thane, Jess, and Amy. All at different times. I wish I still had the emails saved, it would be a lot of fun to go back and read them. Love my cousins!
22. When I was in elementary school, I decided to join Girl Scouts just to wear the uniform because I thought it was incredibly fashionable. If you know me well, I am sure that does not surprise you at all. Some things never change. I ended up hating it and it wasn't worth the uniform. I stopped after 2 weeks I think.
23. I used to take school SOOO seriously. In third grade, I would get weekly assignments and finish them right at the beginning of the week. In fourth grade, I had to do this complicated penny project and I cried to my teacher that it was too hard and I couldn't do it well enough. Fast forward to high school when I would skip school so I didn't have to turn in homework assignments... ha.
24. When I was in 7th grade, I went to lots of school dances. I wanted to wear hoops SOO bad because I had other friends that wore big hoops. My mom thought they were too sophisticated for me at that age but I snuck out with them and wore them anyway one time. Sooo rebellious.
25. In elementary school, I accidentally spilled a whole bottle of nail polish remover all over our kitchen table. I didn't even know what to do and I remember being SCARED to death to tell my mom because I knew I ruined the table. I thought she was going to kill me. Luckily she was feeling Christian that day and spared my life. ;)
This post is already plenty long so I'll have to post again in another while to tell you about all my other crazy shenanigans. I know my three readers are probably sick of reading by now!
Stay tuned.
What crazy things do your nephews make you do? 
This shindig was closer to the beginning of December. Kim and I joined Heather because we thought it would be fun to dress up and eat good food. Heather had played up her home ward Christmas parties to us because the food was to die for. So we ventured there with her and one of the first things we did was take a couple pictures at the photobooth, as you can see above. What Merry Tacular means, we still have no idea. So fill us in if you know... Anyway, after checking out the food we discovered it was not to die for this year. Have no fear, it still ended up being an awesome party because something happened that we also did not expect to happen at all. There were actually single RMs there. Shocker, I know. We spotted a few and Heather's mom somehow convinced the bishop's wife to make them come over and talk to us. We were expecting a quick hi, but thanks to the pizza Heather's parents ordered since the food was a bust, they actually hung out with us the rest of the party. They were fresh off the mish, which means they are younger than me (that is a very very strange concept I have come to accept recently) but seriously we were dying laughing the whole evening. They were hilarious and definitely good company. The next night we even had a game night with them and I won't explain the game, but lets just say the phrases "booty drop" and "I'm gay" were playing through my head that Monday at school. I promise it was an appropriate game. ;)
This occurred on a Monday night for FHE. They served dinner, but we combined with another ward and so it took like half a freakin hour to get food. We definitely sat at the wrong table and got served close to last. My stomach almost started eating itself. We enjoyed some great Christmas musical numbers from fellow wardies too and then made gingerbread houses. I consumed my entire body weight in candy since gingerbread houses are not my expertise. Don't judge me. As you may or may not be able to see above, we created The Burroughs from Harry Potter for our house. Yes, we are that awesome.
It was at this party that I discovered the true talents of my roommate Heather Brown. This party consisted of socializing, food, mistletoe (of course), cookie decorating, and making snowflakes. First, we made snowflakes. I failed. Heather succeeded. Then, we decorated cookies. I did mine in two minutes and ate it and Heather created two masterpieces. Epic fail for me. Great success for Heather. Above we have the picture of us posing with her cookies! Perhaps one day I can learn the special ways of Heather Brown.
sI don't like looking ugly so I opted out of going in an ugly sweater. Just kidding, I just couldn't find one. Sadly. But don't you worry, Sean sported a sweatshirt that could have fit my 4 year old nephew as you can see above and below we have Thongvun in a truly authentic ugly Christmas sweater that he himself created. Lovin the creativity guys. We partook of some delicious food and then watched The Polar Express after the party. I do believe that was the pivotal moment for me getting in the Christmas spirit. :)
This party was definitely a hit. Not only was it great to see Rachelle and Karissa and catch up with them, but there was also great food and tons of awkwardness. We did a White Elephant gift exchange and Ryan and I scored some great awkward gifts. First we opened some stool softener, to find out there were only mints in it. I would have been happier if the stool softener was still in there myself. Feeling jipped, since that was actually just an extra gift in case someone didn't bring one, I was happy to be told we could open the last gift on the table and have that instead. Inside there was a mirror, which ended up being a creepy Halloween mirror with a face that appears in it when you press a button (great Halloween decoration if you ask me). There was also a blow up Spiderman and we won't talk about the awkwardness associ
Pink flamingos. Doesn't get much more awkward than that. At least that's what Ryan and I thought. They had an awesome blow up snowman which we all decided to take pictures with at the end as you can see. Sweet.
Well after church today we saw him sitting out on the swing (well, I guess laying would be the technical term - he's pretty stiff) by the guys' apartment that gave him to us in the first place so we stole him. We put him this spot where you don't see him until you go all the way into the living room, but then you see him outta the corner of your eye RIGHT next to you. You're probably sitting here reading this thinking, what girls go out of their way to scare THEMSELVES on purpose? Well, we do... and yes we are weird. Don't ask why we decided to do this. Aaaaanyway, I am upstairs and I hear Heather screaming bloody murder downstairs. She sounded as if she was having a panic attack - I became quite concerned because the screaming was not stopping either. Like the nice roommate that I am, I went downstairs to assess the situation and she starts laughing and I'm asking what happened and she's not answering. I walk fully into the living room, see Jacob out of the corner of my eye, and hyperventilate because I think it's a real man and ... well, I peed my pants. Okay just kidding, but then it all made sense - SHE was freaking out b/c of him and decided to make ME freak out too. And it was our plan in the first place to do all of this.... and who has been scared so far because of it? Us. Not Laura or Kim. Us! The end. 
Of course I had to get a picture with Tara too, since I had never gotten one with her from past recitals. You can see her little cute boy Crew in the picture too, staring at me like who is that chick!? Ha
