An Elephant Never Forgets!

Even worse than my fear of spiders, I'm afraid of forgetting. So afraid, that I religiously write in my journal. (A lot of the time, more than once a day.) I'm even halfway through my 18th journal ...starting when I was 11. I fear growing old and not being able to remember my past or those who I love or see on a regular basis. So, if an elephant never forgets, why should I?! With only a day left in Australia, here are things I hope my forgetter never forgets!

The beaches were superb. The heat was lovely. The biplane ride was fantastic. The new constellations were intriguing. The night time swim (with possible sharks) was exhilarating. The chocolate was amazing. Animals? Fascinating.  The seashells, rocks, temple, waterfall, mountain, parks, water, city, and sunsets, were beautiful. The family ...sensational! Loving through and through. 

Tonight is the night I've been longing for since I got here; pizza night at (step-uncle) Bobs! Last time I was here he got a brand new pizza oven and flipped dough high in the air for me! I loved it so much that I've reminded Bob of it probably 20 times. He flipped the dough 10 feet up (sound effects inlcuded), and before you know it we had A LOT of pizzas and a house full of hungry people. After we were stuffed like a Thanksgiving turkey, everyone was socializing, and I found Bob and Philip on the deck outside. They were playing on their guitars! I pulled up a chair, curling my knees to my chest, and listened to their collaboration of music! Philip taught Bob 4 chords and then Philip sang along and by the end we had people from across the street catcalling and clapping! Then Bob played a slower song that was quite lovely. I watched the city lights of Adelaide twinkle in the distance, and the cool night breeze blowing past. Before we called it quits, a hearty song of "I'm a Believer" broke out, and everyone was goofing off! Philip sang out as much as I think he could, and Bob and I took the back up singing. By the end, all 30 of our frozen toes went inside. 

My favorite thing about this trip is probably Chris' brothers. 

Rick says I'm the only one in the world allowed to call him Fred. He calls me his girl (which sounds a bit more like "gell" with his accent) and dahling! Always count on a hug and kiss from Fred!

Bob always winks at me when I laugh at his jokes or when he think's he's about to prove some one wrong. And when he smiles, you can't help but smile too because he has the happiest smile wrinkles and dimples ever! He calls me Canna, and I like it. 

Though not my blood uncles, I feel like they are really my family and like they all love me. ...Which makes leaving hard to process. (Or as Australians say, prOcess.) But here's what I've come to decide this trip:

Though it's difficult having family tucked far away in their own corners of the world, I find comfort that no matter where I travel, my family will be there. And there will always be a place with them I can call home.

October

One, two, three, FOUR rubber duckies and I come to you live from the bubbly-bathtubby. The lights are dim, an autumn candle is burning away on the counter releasing sweet smells of pumpkin apple, and the lovely Crosby, Sinatra, Astaire, Kelly,  and other oldies sensations are tuned in with the help from Pandora. With a tall drink of ice water nearby, and hair on top of my head to stay cool, I feel completely relaxed and in the writing mood. ...Finally.

So it's been awhile. Where've I been? Basking in every moment of Fall that time will allot me. Rolling fog, cider, leaves of every color dancing to the ground, crisp chilly air, boys sweatshirts and blankets to snuggle, dark starry night drives ...I mean, wouldn't you be a little distracted too?

I've always wondered what it would be like to walk through a door into a different season. Imagine all your Summer loving coming to a close, and the thought of school starting again depresses you. ...When you walk through this magical door that takes you to a cabin already decorated for Christmas, with snow falling outside, beautiful lights and Winter smells, and fire logs crackling as your favorite holiday music rings! Cool huh? Well. I get to do that! ...Kinda. In a week I will be well on my way to the land down under where it is very much NOT Autumn, but Summer! Hot every day, and I'll be a total beach bum. When I get home (hopefully with all my limbs intact) I imagine my tan body will be QUITE cold as I walk through my "magical door" and it's Winter; holidays unravelilng! 

I'm SO excited!

But for now, my body is shriveling up like a raisen, and I need to go to bed.

Sweet dreams,

X 

the rain in spain stays mainly in the plane

As a little girl, I remember sitting in my car-seat tracing with my fingers the rain drops that ran down the window hitting other drops along the way. I absolutely hated mom listening to radio talk shows because it would muffle the sound of rain hitting the roof of the car. And I remember being jealous when my little brother got a new pair of rain boots, as I still wore the hand me down boots. For my 16th birthday I got rain boots and an umbrella, and to continue the theme for my 17th birthday, I received the 60th anniversary edition of Singin' in the Rain. I guess you could say, some things just never change.

One of my favorite things now, is driving in the rain at night. Even if it means going 5 under to stay safe. The pitter-patter on my roof, the lamp lights blaring into the street puddles, the wipers dancing across the windshield, the fresh smell wafting through the air vents... These are the moments that make time stop. These are the moments right around the corner.

Autumn in the pacific northwest is the best. I'm so excited.

Brides Special Dance

Andrea had a very special dance with some very close family and friends at her wedding. Her father passed away so her brother recored "butterfly kisses" and she danced with all of them during her Father and Daughter dance. it was a truly touching moment not a dry eye in the house.

Her dad, Mark, died earlier in the year from pancreatic cancer. Andrea's first dance is with Mark's father, followed by her brother Luke, then brother Nick and finally her new father-in-law Scott.

Just try not to cry. I dare you.

Thursday.

Today I wrote my friend a note (bottom right) hinting to FINALLY watch a movie we keep talking about watching but never actually do, Can you figure out what movie it is based on that letter?
Then, I spent the majority of my morning at the dentist office getting a crown on two teeth. Ladies and gents, that is now 3 fake teeth caps in a row on my lower left jaw! I'll need dentures before you can say "Jack Robinson"! So Jim Channel (being the stud that he is) brought me flowers (upper right) because the pain has actually been killer today, and I haven't been able to eat anything too hot, too cold, or too solid. So now my diet consists of mashed potatoes and bananas. ...But flowers make everything better.
Once pain meds kicked in, I finished my work of art (left) of some cute little house in Spain.

How was your day today?

œuf.

Just as with any good story, we start at the cover with the legendary words, Once upon a time...

Remember back when I had such wonderful success with my crêpes!? Yes well, that went so splendidly that I decided another adventure was in order... I like to call this experience "œuf" (which being interpreted means "egg") for that is how the French say it, and they are classy. That being established, let's move on.

My goal was not merely to boil an egg, please, I was going to make a scrumptious egg salad.

Reading about le eggs, and how to boil them to a soft perfection, I learned the secret to success!! (The secret being, a SLOTTED-SPOON! ...Whatever da-heck that means!)

Being completely prepared, (like how Martha ALWAYS is) I set the water to a "ROARING" boil.

And I waited...

And waited...

And waited some more...

Basically all I did was wait from this hour, to this hour:

For the roman-numerally impaired:  12:30-2:36pm

And so, being puzzled and perplexed as to why I couldn't get some water to a ROARING boil, I tore my sister away from her sweet melodies to assist me.

As I continued to pass time until the problem was solved, I opened the cabinet filled with unknown grains and --to say the least-- un-snackable foods....Ah! Doth mine eyes deceive me!? What could be dressed in such a paper of parchment?! BROWNIES!!!

To put simply... I ate dem all. And felt fat. To which a round of 1-2-3 BE-UGLY was in order (and in my mind, long overdue).

Now let me tell you what the problem was. My ROARING boil would NOT come because I could only manage to s'évaporer (meaning, EVAPORATE) my water! It would not roar because it just simmered away! 

Yes, I always win!

At last, the water came to its ROARING boil. With my utensil (which I determined to be thoroughly slotted) I inserted the eggs, one. by. one.

As Martha's book of wisdom told me, if I use a slotted spoon, then it will prevent the egg from cracking. Well... IT LIED. (Unless my roaring boil and slotted spoon were not worthy of such an assignment as this...)

After they had cooked the precise amount of time, the moment for peeling had {FINALLY} come. As Martha said (and we like to do as she does) it is better to gently roll the egg on the counter than to crack it on someones head. Hmpf. The gentle roll of my boiled egg, very quickly turned into ...well, scrambled.

With a starving stomach, I cannot deny a few tears were shed...

My soft boil was in fact so soft, that a tag team composed of a skilled veterinarian  and a rooster, could probably have turned this soft boiled egg into a baby chick.

Suddenly, a glimmer of hope!

Très magnifique! All is not lost! 

Victory is sweet.

And thus we conclude our endeavor. Bon appétit, and jusqu'à la prochaine fois (until next time!)

six months more

Happy 1/2 birthday to me!

(Naturally a celebratory breakfast -cut in halves- was in order ...Cause I'm kind of a big deal.)

Take a Seat -- Make a Friend?

I'm just in this video mood... So... Watch this one. It's great. And it gets better towards the end. Hope it makes you smile!

ALSO, today has been an exceptional day! Today I won my FIRST contest/give-away, and this bad boy is going to be mine....! (It's a journal where you write one line a day every day for 5 years in a row. And the one line can be about ANYTHING!) I decided I'm going to save this for when I get married, and i'll so it with my hubby for the first 5 years of marriage! ...Even if he doesn't do it every day!

And we had a Priest/Laurel etiquette dinner tonight, and it was tons of fun with my friends! (Probably more fun because I didn't get to see any of them last week!)

Goodnight, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite!

Best Love Story EVER

I just might like this better than "Up!" 's short film... Really.

I am H-Nelly

I Facebook stalked myself last night... Shuddup, I wasn't bored. {k maybe a little bit...} Anyway, I totally forgot that this was on Facebook, but here's a rap my 2 friends wrote me a couple years ago. It's silly, and doesn't really make sense, but if you know them it will make you smile (sorry about the awkward size ...not actually sure how to change that):

profile pet peeves

This is my blog, so these are my thoughts. If you don't like 'em all, I apologize. But here are a few pet peeves I have when girls post profile pictures online:

#1.

They take roughly one million photos to achieve this pursed-lips photo, but somewhere down that road of perfecting the lips, they "forget" to freaking cover up their bra straps. Honestly, pull your shirt up, you're not being sexy and cute, you're being obnoxious and i hate you.


#2.

Stop touching your face. I'm breaking out just looking at you do that.


#3.

Who doesn't love the fake smile, fake lip color, fake white teeth, fake blush, fake dark dazzling eyes, let alone the fake pasty-blemish-free-lack-of-any-dimension-in-your-face...? IT'S FAKE.  I can see it now: "Oh cute make up! What brand?" ... "Picmonkey! I just do my makeup online!"   

O_o

Also, when you apply your mascara, I hope you know that those globs on your eyes kinda looks like spider legs crawling out of your eye... not coooooool.

#4. 

I feel optimistic when girls post a pretty natural/down-to-earth looking selfie!  ...Until you see the caption they paired with it: 

"(: <3 i was trying to fly but i couldnt find wings, u came along and u changed everything <3"

And then I cry. Those lyrics have absolutely nothing to do with your profile picture! (...63 Facebook likes later...) So much wasted potential. *siiiigh*

*****

I'm not meaning to offend or hurt, and I'm hardly the role model for awesome profile pictures myself, I mean, THIS beauty was my last profile picture:

Alright fine, it is awesome.

But come on girls, branch out a little from the wonderful world of phony. Have some fun, and stay classy!

"Taking joy in living is a woman's best cosmetic." - Rosalind Russell

soccer sunday

Today, is Superbowl Sunday.
I don't really know what this means, because let's face it, football is boring to watch. I mean, you freaking need binoculars to even see what's going on! (let alone their tights!) Then their little plays last literally like 3 seconds before there's a timeout and the ref is throwing his hands up in the air and speaking AFSL (that's american-football-sign-language). So why is it so many people love to root for the winning team that isn't even their team once a year? Well. I have an answer.  And this is it:

An endless supply of food for 4 hours, AND it's the only time of year anyone really cares about commercials. So happy superbowl everybody, I hope it's truly tasty ...terrific!

-hannah

P.S. I think they did a good job having this on a fast sunday, cause lemmetellya 8 seconds worth of an extremely loud/attention grabbing/tummy grumble during a quiet young womens lesson, is truly a moment you won't forget.

New Years Eve

I'm ending the year the way I wanted to last year! Ladies and gents, I'm sleeping through the New Year. ...Crazy? Yeah well. I'm 17 years old, and I can't bare the thought of being conscious at 12am when all of my friends are out kissing e'erybody. No sir. Not me. Because I will be having the best gosh darn sleep ever!

It's kind of a shame though... My sister and I have been sewing dresses this last weekend, and mine is a red shiny silk covered with a red lace. It's quite beautiful, and it's made me daydream a little bit whenever I put it on. I imagine putting on that dress, strapping on some black heels, curl that young money hair, and drive out to the New Years dance in my BMW {my daydreams are classy} march right into that dance full of kids wearing jeans, and kiss the most attractive man there. It would be my very own Cinderella story. Ah, well. I'm not that brave. Instead I will be like Sleeping Beauty and sleep as if it were any old day, and maybe next year I'll find my Prince Charming Phillip and be a happy girl.

Happy New Years everyone!