my other half

Today on the metro I saw two identical twins. They had matching hair dos, shirts, shorts and even matching star ribbons in their hair. Everything was the same even down to their red nail polish. It made me think about mine.

A lot of you know (or maybe not) that I have a twin sister Molly. Some people tend to forget this (my best friend cort of how many years texted me a couple months ago and said...wait. do you have a twin? haha i swear I told him this on more than one occasion). 

Everyone always asks us if we are identical. But when they ask us this question we are never together. I think if they saw us side by side that question wouldn't  arise. We are extremely different in every way. Just look at our hair styles in these pictures and it explains what I am talking about. I haven't seen her in over 2 years hence the cropping//pasting/photoshopping that has been done in these photos. I'm ready for her to come back to the USA.

I'd say we looked a lot longer when we were younger and mom made us dress in matching outfits. Go BYU!

tuesday's tune

For all of you that know me I go through liking songs. Don't ask em my favorite band, artist, album etc. because I don't have one. I listen to songs incessantly for days, sometimes a week and then move onto the next. Tuesdays will be dedicated to my new song obsession.



Grease at it's best!

that one roommate

Whenever people ask how my roommate situation is I start off with it's good. I like two of them but one of the girls is just.....so........weird....unusual..... interesting......different and..... and.....and....

I try to think of so many "nice" words to describe the girl but I always have such a  difficult time. Can i just say I have never met a girl quite like her! Her door is just across from mine so one would think we would see each other a lot, or at least more than the other 2 girls who live upstairs. Right? Wrong. Wrong because every time I shut my door my roommate quickly opens hers to go out and get food/go to the bathroom/do whatever else she needs to do. The moment I shut my door, her door opens. We both get up around the same time, have to leave to work around the same time and we even share the same bathroom but I still manage to go weeks without seeing her. Am I really that scary in the morning you can't leave your door open or secretly have to sneak out just to avoid me? Just yesterday my roommate (the one I like) told me that when I was fiddling with the keys outside, trying to get in after work, that one roommate was in the kitchen and quickly booked it to her room. It's so bizarre. I don't know what I ever did.

Maybe it was something with our bathroom. One day I found smelly onions in the bathroom trash. Was she trying to tell me something?

Or maybe it's my lack of recycling. After a whole long day of site seeing, my roommate (the one I like) and I get each get back to find a 3 paged (front and back) sticky note about how we need to recycle. I am sorry that I have gone my whole life without recycling and instinctively throw away the toilet paper rolls in the trashcan when it runs out, instead of the recycling bin I didn't even know existed.

While the note is addressed to Amanda (I think she has mine) it was almost an exact replica. Enjoy.

I had to read the note more than once and then have my roommate explain it to me. So maybe that's why she hides from me. I suck at recycling? I am harming to the environment? But recently I haven't gotten any love notes so maybe she sees that I am trying? So while I am sometimes creeped out by the roommate I never see or the roommate who has the weirdest mannerisms I can't even begin to describe, at least she keeps things interesting around here. 

the new job

I am absolutely loving my new job in DC.  Love taking the metro everyday. Love the city. Love the professional feel. Love all the youthful energy that flows at work. Love the laid back/ I still get my work done attitude.

The first couple days I thought it was weird because people would get up randomly and play ping pong throughout the day. I thought to myself-is this really allowed? While I still haven't gotten to playing ping pong nearly as much as I would like after all I am the new girl/ I have work to do/ things to prove I have still managed to beat some of the men I work with.

But because I haven't been dominating over the ping pong table I have had the time to design a few things. This past week was the first time one of my coworkers Jeff let me lose to do what I wanted to do. This was the final result.

Open publication - Free publishing - More government

I was excited to see the finished project. Even more excited that I didn't have to look at anymore of those puzzel pieces again. After so many countless hours of drawing, looking and aligning all of those puzzle pieces my eyes were going crazy. But in the end they gave me positive feedback about the overall guide. I learned some new things like hyperlinking...all that blue text throughout the guide isn't a design element! If someone were to open this as a pdf and click on them, it links to another page (definition for those who don't know what a hyperlink is-mom). But really loving the job, the new life out in DC and all the designing that's taking place.

it itches....

I never knew a sunburn could itch. Then again I have never been this badly sunburned before.
After the pain, itching and sleepless nights I am feeling better. But can I just say I wanted to cry more than once over the past week and no it wasn't because of a certain someone. It was so bad I almost went to work without a bra.

But really whose fault is it? I take all the blame. My sister told me once we got to the beach that I should put on sunscreen. But me being ever so bright thought, I never get sunburned, I never put on sunscreen, and walked in the hot sun in Brasil for a year and a half without every putting on sunscreen. Why now? Never again will I go to the beach without my SPF. I seemed to have forgotten about how I hadn't been in a swimsuit for 2 years or how my shoulders and thighs have been hiding from the sun as well.  My shoulders were definitely the most painful.

 

These pictures were taken literally right when I got home from the beach. Just imagine how it got afterwards.

But after using almost a full bottle of this baby, I made it out just fine. The itching has stopped and one day the peeling will as well. I'd like to think I have a solid base tan for the rest of the summer.

lately...

This phrase says it all.

These past few weeks I have been doing a lot of thinking. Thinking about all that has happened since I have been back from the mission, the changes, new experiences, joy, heartbreak, my fresh new start in DC, the things I have learned,  how I have grown, what I want in a man and just the opposite-what I don't want.

After breakups people always say "my heart hurts." I thought that was just an overused expression. I didn't know that your heart could really hurt or feel pain. And I am not trying to be dramatic but I can just say now...I have felt that.

But after all that has happened-I know that everything will work out just they way the Lord intends.

Thanks to amazing family, friends, scriptures, prayer, general conference talks and starting a new life out here in DC-what could have been hard has turned into a great, learning experience.

Every night I have had at least 1-2 people to talk to on the phone that send me nice messages like this.

Took a trip to my sisters where my nieces and nephews could give me more hugs, kisses and squeezing than I could handle.

Found a way to call and group chat with my dear friends in Brasil.

I have been listening to the general conference talks daily at work.

I have been talking to amazing friends (who have been doing all the listening...sorry guys!) and getting more insights from amazing friends who have blogs such as this-http://ldsbreakups.blogspot.com/

Here are just 6 (of many) quotes I have heard/read recently that ring true...

1. Girl I'm pretty sure he's blind!  Farias's mom
2. You cannot change the past but you can shape the future. Elder Baxter
3. Don't hyperventilate when something doesn't happen at 9am because the grace of God is trying to bless you at 9pm. Elder Holland
4. Nos so perdemos aquilo que nao e pra nos. (we only lose something that isn't for us). Pae do Batista
5. Our understanding of the Atonement is hardly a shield against sorrow; rather, it is a rich source of strength to deal productively with the disappointments and heartbreaks that form the deliberate fabric of mortal life. The gospel was given us to heal our pain, not to prevent it. Derek sent me this from Bruce C. Hafen
6. The guidance you gain in life doesn't take away your agency. Elder Scott

I have really thought about that last one. How could I feel so sure about something, we both felt the spirit so strongly and then it doesn't work out? What others have told me and what Elder Scott said in this past general conference is this---people have their own agency. And he had his.

But life is good and I am counting my blessings. Things happen for a reason and like Eyring said, we go through things to be a bit more polished in this life. I guess I can say that the Lord wanted me to be a bit more polished!

kids say the darnest things

I learned so many things from one conversation at lunch.

1. Wyatt only likes girls if they're cute.
2. Ashton didn't know any better than to kiss a girl when he was 5. But he is sorry.
3. He not only hated that first kiss but hated every millisecond.
4. When someone tries to kiss you, you feel like you're going to throw up
5. Girls like to tease.
6. They love me more than anyone could.

I think this was obvious after my short but ever so sweet 3 day weekend in Delaware.

On the drive home from the beach, a couple days before I headed back to DC, Ashton couldn't stop kissing me. I told him that I have never received so many kisses in my whole entire life than on the 2 hour ride back from the beach. But as Ashton said, he said he had to make up for the 3 years he couldn't kiss me.

He definitely did. I miss their kisses and all that lovin' already.