Roaming 25th Street!!

I met a friend. Her name is Emily. She's awesome. We're buds! We actually had met each other at the beginning of January and worked together a few times but she thought I was like 22 or 23 and I was busy doing other things and we never really clicked. Then on Friday the 11th we were casually chatting about the concert type of thing that we were planning on going to that night and she found out that I was only 19 and much closer to her age and I just discovered that I enjoyed talking to her. And we clicked!

Well that night of Friday the 11th I discovered that Emily and Alexa, another friend of mine, had NEVER randomly roamed around 25th street! Or downtown Ogden for that matter! I of course had gone to school in downtown Ogden so I'm quite familiar with the streets and I offered to be their 25th Street guide. We wandered around and had a grand time but we had to get to the concert so time was limited, plus we saw so many things that needed to have a picture taken of but we didn't have a camera! So we decided that someday we would come back. And we did! Last night.

Alexa had been having some guy troubles and so we had decided to have a girls night out to support her and talk her through the times. But of course the serious conversations we had in that regard did not keep us from noticed and doing all the fun things we'd thought of last week! Here's just a few highlights! You can go to facebook for the full set.

This was the sign that started it all! This was the sign we saw on the night of the 11th that we REALLY wanted to get a picture of. I know it's still technically graffiti but it's such creative graffiti! Totally cracks me up!

This is the first of a three part picture series. We were walking by the Lindquist Field when we saw that there was this HUGE row of green trash cans just chillin' there, not chained or anything. Just trash cans! So Emily contemplated trying to run away with one. 

Suddenly she made a split decision! She grabbed the trash can with lightning quickness!

And the getaway! Have to be honest, running away with a trash can is not the most subtle thing that you can do in your life....she was pretty obvious. We gave her props for originality though!

Alexa picked up a scary looking metal pipe. I refused to touch it. I stick by my theory that it is probably carrying some sort of horrid disease. It was pretty helpful in keeping those pesky guys away though. 

This was my favorite sign that I saw all night long!! It was on the side of the Marriot Hotel, the side that they had kept decorated like it was still the 1910's. The side that advertises open rooms for only $2 a night. Now remember all you Coke drinkers out there! Don't just be refreshed! Be really refreshed!!! 

And that's Emily with the two little men that were painted on the wall. Again, I know that it's graffiti but at least these people are original right?!

Be REALLY refreshed people!

Nothing says "We trust the people of Ogden" like two benches chained to each other....and a tree. This did give rise to one of the best quotes of the night though! Alexa: "Hey Emily, look at that pimped out Impala! You should do that do your car!" Emily: "No way! You wouldn't catch me dead in that car! Oh wait...it is Ogden, maybe you WOULD catch me dead in that car...." I laughed so freaking hard! Emily is form Plain City, I guess she's just not used to our wicked ways :-P

Ah! A crowning part of our night! We were walking by Farr's when we noticed this empty Bobcat. Emily really wanted to sit in this Bobcat and have Alexa in the shovel and get a great picture and more memories! But when she sat down an alarm sounded and she literally FLEW out of that chair (that's where the picture comes in) and jumped and landed ninja style clear out on the opposite side of the sidewalk. It was talent! Who knew that empty Bobcat's came equipped with alarms?! Not us! We sure do now though...

Friday night brings to life the fact that no matter what you're doing if you're with the right people ANYTHING can be fun! Walking around 25th street would always be interesting, no matter who you're with. But who knew that aimless wandering for hours could be so fabulous?! Of course it is possible that this was just because you had 3 girls and a camera. Always a winning combination!

Point of Clarification

I would just like to make a quick clarification about my Factual Friday (not for this last Friday the 18th but for Friday the 11th)

For those of you who were curious about how a topic of breathing the same air that Jesus once breathed could come up while watching V for Vendetta you obviously don't know how my father and I can get when we're in the same room together. Side tangents build upon side tangents. I wish I could remember EXACTLY how it happened but I couldn't follow the tangent exactly. I do believe that it started when I made a comment about how it would be hard to breathe while constantly wearing that mask at the same time that dad made a comment about the symbolism of the movie.

It just kind of went from there :-D

Factual Friday!

The particular fact for this week totally explains to me how I can get so ridiculously dehydrated, even when I'm not doing anything particularly active.

Did you know?

The human body loses half a liter of water a day through breathing-- this is the water vapor that we see when we breathe onto glass.

Crazy eh?

A 1939 Honeymoon

Monday's Memory

I know that you're not supposed to have favorites where relations are concerned, and normally I'm really good about following that rule. I don't have a favorite sibling, or a favorite niece/nephew, or a favorite parent (or if I do that information will never actually leave my brain :-P) But I must admit that I do have a favorite set of grandparents, and even this information would never leave my brain except I really don't think there's much danger of my father ever reading my blog- and if he does I think he'd understand.

My mom's parents, my Nana and my Poppa, were the best grandparents in the world. When you think of ideal grandparents (at least when I do) they are the ones that pop into my head. For a long time they lived out in Michigan and I rarely saw them but they were very good about sending Christmas Cards and pictures and whenever we did get to go and see them it was a huge treat!

And then one year I discovered that they were moving to Ogden!! They were too old to live on their own and they wanted to be closer to more kids (Of the 5 only 2 lived out east and one of those was only there for half the year) and they ended up picking out a retirement home less than half a mile from where I lived. I was SO excited!!!

Those were the glory years :-P I remember sleepovers at their apartment, trick or treating at Harrison Regent (got some of the BEST swag ever those years) I remember my Nana and Poppa having a jar full of oreos and little candies and we literally were not allowed to leave their house without taking some. But one thing that I remember the dinner.

I don't even truly remember why we were having the dinner. It was some special occasion I'm sure, and Nana wanted to have dinner with the two of her children who lived nearby and their spouses. Poppa had died in 1998 but Nana wanted to have a nice dinner. We kids threw ourselves into the idea with all shades of enthusiasm and tried to make it as wonderful as possible. For whatever reason I remember that all of our decorations were silver. I'm not entirely sure why, but that was the color of choice! We had silver bells, silver wreaths, everything that our minds imagined making a day as special as could be. And in our backyard we set up our summer tent, complete with decorations and a beautiful table set up underneath.

For some people that would have been enough. But not for us. We decided to have a waiter/waitress service available to them. The dinner was, after all, all the way in the backyard. So Thom, my brother, and Sarah, my cousin dressed up in slacks and white shirts, and practiced how we imagined truly amazing waiters/waitresses would serve.

Thom had heard somewhere that proper waiters never showed emotion (I believe he was mixing up Butlers with Waiters, but no matter. It was so hard to get a smile out of him that entire night) But here we have Sarah and Thom simultaneously removing dirty dishes while placing down pie. They really had it down...

See? We were so proper that we even had the towels over arms like real waiters do- we were determined to do it right!

Alas I don't have many more picture from that night (not ones that are co-operating anyways) when you're 11 you don't really think about the importance of taking picture. But it's still a night that will live in my memory. Trying to do something really special for our Nana because she was always doing special things for us.

Today was a Grateful Day

Don't worry, it won't be like my forever long post of things that make me blissfully happy, I just realized today that there are a couple things in my life that I am completely grateful for.

See it all started this morning when my father told me that he and I were off to clean the church building for Sunday. This isn't new for me, I grew up frequently cleaning the church on Saturdays but normally we had a couple other people to help, but today it was just me and him and the whole huge church. Which was filthy.

As I was working and thinking (with, I have to admit, some disgust) about what kind of people would let their place of worship get into this kind of state it hit me just how lucky I was that I had been raised to treat things that are important to me with respect, and to always, ALWAYS treat things that are of God with respect. Initially it was just a thought that came and went, but about an hour later as I was cleaning something else I realized how grateful I was that my parents had raised me with a good old fashioned sense of work ethic. I was grateful that I not only believed in getting the job done right, but that I knew how to get a job done right and I didn't mind the extra work that is typically involved in getting it done right. My thoughts went from that to being EXTREMELY grateful that I am physically able to work! I always feel so badly for people who would love nothing more than working and aren't actually able to. I feel so blessed that I can.

And that just kind of set off a day of gratitude. All day long I would see things and realize just how lucky I am. My friend gave me a call letting me know that she was back with her cheating boyfriend because she was just so afraid of being alone and I was so grateful that my fear of being alone never overpowered the knowledge that I was worth more. I was grateful that I knew I was worth waiting for.

I was at the store and my cashier was an extremely unpleasant person and I was just grateful that I am lucky enough to have a personality that is naturally more able to see the good sides of life and enjoy all that I have.

A friend that I've only recently met but that I already am quite certain I will adore tremendously texted me and we had a fabulous conversation that made me grateful that I get to meet so many wonderful people in my life and enjoy their company.

Today was just a grateful day! I have so much and I'm so thankful for it! Today was a grateful day.

Factual Friday!!

Here it is! My second in a row! I am so very proud of myself!

And today's fact is: *drumroll please*

It is virtually 100% certain (which means not quite 100% but past 99.9% [I know, why isn't it 100%? Doesn't seem like there's much left to go from there does it?]) that if you take a breath of air at least one molecule in that breath will be a molecule that Christ breathed 2,000 years ago. Isn't that crazy?!

Today's random and obscure fact is thanks to my father and the rather odd conversation that we were having last night over V for Vendetta. Thanks again dad!