feeling the melancholy

I don't know why but all my favorite Christmas songs this year are the more melancholy type. The kind where the singer can't be home for Christmas, they lost their loved one, or life is just hard at this time of year. They include Kenny Loggins' "Celebrate Me Home" Dan Fogleberg's "Auld Lang Syne" The Eagles "Please Come Home for Christmas" and Wham! "Last Christmas" among others. It's weird becasue the past couple of years my favorites have been songs about coming home for the holiday. Probably because I was at school and could relate to it.

It could be the fact that not seeing the sunshine really bums me out.
It could be the fact that I just don't feel in a Christmasy mood.
It could be the fact that I get a grand total of one day off for Christmas.
It could be the fact that I'm listening to sad but classy cello music right now.
It could be the fact that I've only watched one Christmas movie so far.
It could be the fact that I've recently said good bye to a good friend.
or a plethora of other things.

But I love Christmas. I made gingerbread today with Jillian and we will bake it tomorrow! Also those songs are just really good so why shouldn't I like them? I still have shopping to do and wrapping and I still don't feel like it should be december but time keeps marching on I guess. It's just me adjusting to the holiday when I get one day off work instead of two whole weeks. yay.

what canadian province am I thinking of?

So there is this game where you ask someone "what state am I thinking of?" and you put your hand on their knee. They guess a state and each time they guess wrong you move your hand up their leg. Technically they have fifty guesses. I was playing this game with Brian but he kept giggling and couldn't handle it. Then I played the game with my friend Andy. I sat down next to Andy and said "Hey Andy, what state am I thinking of?" But then there was one small problem. Andy is from Canada and doesn't know all the United States. Ha ha! That game could never end...whoops. So I changed it to "what Canadian provence am I thinking of?" after a short geography lesson we got that game going again. I found that whole situation highly amusing. O Canada!

FYI: Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia, Manitoba, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland & Labrador (I guess they get grouped together), Prince Edward Island, Northwest Territories, Yukon and Nunavut. (for the next time you play trivial pursuit.)

sometimes things just stink

LIFE.

It gets harder when you get older. Did you know that? There's been some serious stuff going down yesterday and today (not really my own personal issues but others' that have affected me) and I am just having a hard time dealing with it. I think some sleep would help the problem.

i need a time-turner

I'm about to lose one of my friends to moving away and I am really bummed about that fact. It stinks because we've only known each other for 3 months and only been good friends for about a month and a half. If I had a time turner like Hermione has in HP3 I could go back in time or maybe slow it down. I'm not sure of all the technicalities. Then I would make friends with this person faster and we'd have more time to do stuff and be better friends. It's also at a point where we haven't been good friends for a long time; what I mean is that we could totally just forget about each other and never talk again. But that would stink! I just wish we had more time to be friends. I feel kinda jyped. And it's like the third or fourth time this has happened this year. I make a friend but we are doomed by time constraints. I feel like friendships shouldn't be dictated by school semesters because I'm not in school anymore, and neither are most of my friends. Alas, life is crazy and you never know when things will get shaken up. Anyway, my point is I will miss my friend and I wish it didn't take us so long to decide to be friends.

snow and sara

1. Due to certain events I have yet to see the new Harry Potter movie. I know right? I don't know who I am anymore. This should be fixed this week.

2. It snowed this week in WA. I guess UT has a blizzard advisory (side note-didn't really happen). I have a love hate relationship with snow. I hate that it makes it dangerous to travel right when my sister is trying to come home for Thanksgiving. I hate that it's negative a million degrees outside. I hate biffing it on the sidewalk. I love how it looks, everything is so pretty. I love that my work closed for the rest of the week because everyone is scared to drive on the snow. I love sledding, getting really cold, and then getting hot cocoa. But I only love that for so long and then I'm done with it. I'm totally a summer girl. The minute it gets sunny I eagerly await the days where it's warm enough to go out without a coat. And I hold on to summer as long as I can. Last week I noticed that my neighbor still had roses blooming. Something I equate with spring and summer. But my ultimate rule is that snow is not wanted before Thanksgiving or after New Years.

I find Richland really funny after living in Provo for five years. When it snows it's not like Utah where they can deal with the snow by plowing it, salting the roads and school not getting cancelled. Here, everyone freaks out. No one knows how to drive on it. My city owns one snowplow which means all the roads are bad. School gets cancelled because the roads aren't getting plowed. Businesses shut down. People shut themselves inside. But we still brave the elements and crappy roads to go sledding on Carmichael Hill. This snow is giving me a workout though. Between shoveling the driveway and sidewalk and walking up the hill sledding I am using muscles. Yay.

3. JILLIAN is coming home for Thanksgiving. Hopefully. If not, see number 2.

4. I saw Sara Bareilles last Saturday night. It was a blast! I went with Nichole and Erica, two girls I grew up with, and Erica's little sister, Claire, and her friend, Angela. We did a little shopping, ate at Beneditos Pizza (thanks to Becca for reccommending it), and saw her concert. We got to the venue just in time for the opening act. Again I had the problem of not being able to see because I am short but there was a little girl there with her mom and I stood behind her. Sara is so good live. She has a great voice, a lot of energy and her songs are so much fun to listen to. She has her own shiny blue baby grand piano and also played the guitar and some kind of box organ thinger. A lot of her music can be taken as "girl power" songs because they are about how boys are dumb or how she or girls in general let them have control or girls change themselves for them. But there are also songs about love and relationships and love that didn't work out. Sara was really nice and cute, she was really good about talking to the audience which always makes things more fun for the crowd. She played about half and half from both her albums. She did play my faves "Uncharted" and "King of Anything." For her finale she sang "many the miles" and danced on top of her piano. We all had a good trip, and we realized that Spokane was really not that far away and that we should go more. Thankfully the snow waited until Sunday night to come.

Nichole, Erica and me at the concert

Sara Bareilles singing

singing on top of her piano

you should read my brother's blog

because he's really smart and I think he's pretty cool. He just wrote an interesting little piece that I'd like to share. Stephen is his name, going to medical school is his game.

thinkin'

So I don't have anything particular to blog about, but I just felt like a blog. Also, I thought I was going to have Thursday off because the clinic where I work is closed. But today my boss was, "can you come in for awhile on Thursday?" Ha ha ha. Good one boss. Also, I thought about the fact that my work might have a Christmas party, and that it is a real job Christmas party, like bring a significant other party. Poop.

Let me just say that people be harshing my vibe when they talk about people behind their back. I generally like most people. I know that people have their weirdness and oddities. But that makes them who they are. Everyone makes mistakes, but that is what life is for. Making mistakes and moving on. I think people need to allow others to mess up, but they also need to allow others to grow up. I feel like I meet a lot of people who pass judgment  on others and it bugs me. I also feel like they are still acting like they are in middle school. "She likes the same guy I like so I don't like her." Aggh.

I'm also having a hard time with people disappointing me. I guess I hold people to high expectations and sometimes they let me down. It's just a little hard when you know the person can be/act a certain way, but they are often two-faced and act differently in different situations. I hope I don't do this too often myself. I try to be honest, loyal, and not a flake.

Aaaaand, the movie theaters here are still not selling advance tickets to Harry Potter 7. I'm getting worried...