Annnnnd.....cut!!

It's the last day of 2013. As per usual (love that phrase, even though I'm not sure if I'm using it correctly) there have been a lot of um, life lessons in this year. I've never been a fan of the number 13, I'm oddly superstitious, no idea why. But maybe that 20 in front of the 13 was going to make it okay, I told myself as we entered this fateful year. And many things did happen that I was a big fan of, fo sho!! 

Now, because I don't want to bore you with my lessons learned, I'm going to try my darnedest to keep this simple. The absolute, number one thing I learned this year...... Drum roll...................(the dots are the drum beats) *crash* I learned to be positive!!! Super deep, surprise ending, right? Okay, all joking aside, but honestly, at the end of this year, which had some crazy, unexpected plot twists, I can say coming out that looking at things positively really and truly does make all the difference. Just for an example, I'm going to take you back in time a little, this actually happened not in the year 2013, but a few years ago, when I cleaned toilets for a living. I was a morning janitor for all the Shakespeare buildings at suu, they have a big Shakespeare festival there every year in case you didn't know, it's really famous, a lot of old people go to see plays there, yada yada, anywho, being a janitor is DEFINITELY not the most glamorous dream job in the world, and we had to be at work at 6 am everyday. Anyone who knows me knows i am in no way, shape or form a morning person. Actually I'm barely an anytime person, but for sure not morning. And we were cleaning some pretty gross stuff on many occasions. Opening the bathroom doors every day was like opening a really stinky Pandora's box. It was just bad news bears all the way. But these last couple months I realized that I only have good memories of that job. Even the horrible stuff we had to do has turned into great fireside stories I can tell when I'm running out of other great fireside stories to tell. A couple great things I remember. First, we used these really cool backpack vacuums. We had a few names for them, the one I remember most is back vacs. And we used to joke that they were our ghostbusters guns and we would constantly tell each other "whatever you do, don't cross the streams!!" Or another great thing I remember, the whole cleaning crew had to polish the brass stair rails every day, and that was tedious work. But the whole time we did, we were playing Would You Rather. We had many a philosophical debate over whether we would would rather have forever wolf-man hairy arms that we couldn't shave, or a thick unibrow, also unshaveable.

Moral of the story. You actually CAN put a positive spin on almost anything. And another part of that is just being grateful. If you spend your time thinking about all the things you're stressed about, all the things you need to fix, all the things you're bad at, guarantees you'll be down in the dumps. I've seen the dumps, they aren't pretty. BUT!!!! If you look for even the slightest second at what you have to be grateful for, something will immediately come to mind, I promise. And if it doesn't, well, that's not my area of expertise, sorry. Who am I kidding, I don't really have areas of expertise:) so happy new year, everyone. Go out and live, really live. And put that positive twist on everything you possibly can, and dont give up! Learning this has made me feel good, much like the time I successfully harmonized with the Dollar Loan Center jingle on the radio.

Just one of the great discoveries of 2013.

Love, Savannah, sometimes known as Savvy, Sandbag, Sissy, Sav a nuh, lil Savvy....

The World NEEDS Good Music!!

Elder Sommers, total stud

Gabe, my lil' broski, showed me this sweet page on the LDS website. It has an entire list of free, uplifting music to download and I've been checking it out and the music is REALLY GOOD!!

Music to me will always be one of the best ways to reach out to people and to help brighten our own lives. So if you want something to bring you inspiration in your life, I strongly recommend checking out this page. free uplifting music

A couple of favs of Gabe's are Glorious and Mountains to Climb.

And share it with others!! People need this!!!!

Why I Dream in Jane Austen

Exercise=a stroll among the woods/about the grounds

Ladies don't cook, they hire cooks

Things like sewing, playing the piano forte, painting, drawing...were what made girls "most desirable"

Writing letters=texting

Gentlemen stand when a lady enters the room

Riding carriages and buggies=sports cars and motorcycles

Big, elaborate up-dos were all the rage.

Wearing dresses is an everyday occurrence

"How could he treat me in such an uncaring fashion?"="That jerk face!!"

“I have been a selfish being all my life, in practice, though not in principle. As a child I was taught what was right, but I was not taught to correct my temper. I was given good principles, but left to follow them in pride and conceit. Unfortunately an only son (for many years an only child), I was spoilt by my parents, who, though good themselves (my father, particularly, all that was benevolent and amiable), allowed, encouraged, almost taught me to be selfish and overbearing; to care for none beyond my own family circle; to think meanly of all the rest of the world; to wish at least to think meanly of their sense and worth compared with my own. Such I was, from eight to eight and twenty; and such I might still have been but for you, dearest, loveliest Elizabeth! What do I not owe you! You taught me a lesson, hard indeed at first, but most advantageous. By you, I was properly humbled. I came to you without a doubt of my reception. You showed me how insufficient were all my pretensions to please a woman worthy of being pleased.” 

="I really like you, you are cool."

Be warned, it's a kissing scene....

My goodness, the LANGUAGE!! Girls, if you agree with me on this, don't be afraid to own it!! 

Have you read Pride a Prejudice a million times? Does your heart sing when Collin Firth comes out of the lake dripping wet? Do you clap and squeal when Emma and Mr. Knightly FINALLY get together?? How could I not dream in Jane Austen????

The National Parks

Great places to visit, yeah? Yeah! But also this amazing new band!!!

I can't even try to pretend that I'm great at knowing the best music out there (excluding classical of course, it's totes the bomb :)

But I had a stroke of luck in the past couple weeks. But I don't believe in luck, I believe in straight up blessings! And thanks to my dadio, I had the privilege of meeting Brady Parks. Who is way cool, guys. And he has a band. And I'm not exaggerating when I say that this band is amazing. 

Their sound is beautiful. It's inspiring. Makes you feel things, raw emotions. And they write it all themselves. It's just the three of them, Brady, Sydney, and Paige. Vocals, guitar, keys, Violin, and some light percussion. It's simple, but complex in it's depth. The kind of music that makes you stop and stare at the sky, soaking in the grandeur. Then it makes you stomp, clap and sing along.

Can't rave about them enough. But I can tell you to look them up. Their album "Young" is available on itunes and amazon, as well as hard copies on their website, http://www.whoarethenationalparks.com/ .

It's hard for me to pick a favorite song, depends on how I feel that day :) But I will share a video, and advise you to check them out in depth. You will just be ever so happy you did!!

Isn't that just breathtaking? 

It was a blessing to meet Brady, Sydney, and Paige and get to hear their music. Music truly is a blessing from God. I believe that 100%. 

Trust me, guys! I'm only honest!

Road trips bring out the best

I have a pretty good roadtrip story. It's really brief, but I find it quite hilarious. Please don't be mad at me, Dwight. A couple hours ago, the shrimp nugget, my mom and I were in the beautiful Wendover, NV and it brought back a favorite memory. It comes back to me every time we stop there on the way to SL, UT. So about forever ago, we were driving to drop Dwight off on his mission to Mada. And we are using the facilities. I go into what I'm pretty sure is the girls bathroom. And I bump into Dwight in there. And we immediately stop and stare at each other and our eyes grow big and they say "crap, one of us is in the wrong place!" And we both take off out the door and guess who was right? That's correct, Dwight used the girls room. And every time I think of that story I crack up.

Don't roadtrips just bring out the best in everyone? I'm talking about myself for a minute. I didn't shower this morning, I put my hair up in a bun, stayed in my pjs and slippers, only applied enough makeup so as not to give small children nightmares for years to come. And sometimes you even go so far as to have to use a bush because the facilities are still 15 min away and you can't ruin the rental car. Also you eat things that shouldn't be fed to vultures. Today's meals.... Ensure, cookies, soda, cookies, other stuff I rather not mention.

But one thing I love about roadtrips. You can kind of make buddies with the people that are on the road with you. You know, you stop at all the same places, take turns passing one another, and you just sort of have this unspoken bond. Roadtrip buddies for life. Rbfl. And you can act like you're the coolest for both traveling somewhere foreign, distant, like Provo.

Then there are the million pictures you take of everyone in the car because you're bored out of your mind. I'm pretty sure I have more pictures of car rides TO cool places then I do of actually being at the cool places. Then your mom points out the mile markers and you can't think of anything else but counting the miles in suuuuuuper slow motion and call them out every time you pass one.

More good stuff though. Sometimes your little sister plays with your hair forever until you fall asleep and then wake up with a jolt because your mom accidentally drove over the vibraty things on the side, you know, the things that keep you from falling asleep. They usually help the driver, but sometimes the passengers need to be awake to keep the driver company, so it's cool I guess.

Just one thing I can say to the guys out there. If you are ever traveling with a female companion, please be really patient and understanding. If the trip is longer than two hours, we are going to need to stop at least 3 times, we are sorry about that. Just plan for an extra hour when you figure out your eta and all will be well with you. But you should feel a little sorry for us because we have to use bathrooms that we are pretty sure have been witnesses to horrific crimes. We pay for our small bladders, trust us.

All in all, roadtrips are great for providing  plenty of comic relief, as long as you focus on the funny side of things. And there are plenty of those:)

Peace and blessings y'all!!

A prayer

I am grateful for this beautiful world
and the fall and the winter coming on
and Christmas time with lights and singing
and my great family and friends

I am grateful for the unexpected
things that wake me up
for the things that tell me You're there
for the animals and the cute little kids

I am thankful that I know You're there
because so many others don't know that
And I am thankful I can talk to You
and tell You about my life

I know this world is so hard for many
that many want to give up
and do things that make them lose You
Please help them find their way to You

Please bless the sad ones
bless the ones missing someone
bless those who don't know
their God is watching over them

Watch over the babies in the world
protect their innocent hearts
take care of the mommas
worrying about their babies

Help the Daddies who take care of families
help them with their jobs
let the children love their mommas and daddies
let the mommas and daddies love each other

Bless everyone to listen to music
and love the colors in the world
bless them to wipe the tears and stand up
and with gratitude help their friends stand up too

Help me help them
and listen to the whispering that tells me
someone is out there needing Your love
Help me be strong for others to lean on

The future looks brighter

I read an article today that made me super duper happy. Real Men Like Josh Groban

I have really given sports a fighting chance. To be liked I mean. I have had sporty siblings play all sorts of games, basketball, football, baseball, soccer,... and have gone to tons of their games. I love going to their games because I like to watch my siblings play, not because I'm an avid, jersey wearing, athlete name dropping sports fan. And I wish I was at times!! Because I have the feeling sometimes that I would be so much cooler in guy's eyes if I could refer to any other athletes besides the obvious (Collin Kaepernick, Steve Young, Tom Brady, Coby Bryant, Michael Jordan, Carl Malone, Larry Byrd, What's-his-face, and that completes the list of athletes that my brain can recall!!) Pretty pathetic, right?

But I really did try. There was a span of a few weeks when I tried to follow horse racing. Maybe that doesn't count, but hey! I knew some stuff! And I have tried to want to follow football three times at least. Like I said, always love to support my family in this endeavor, I think it's great. And when I have sons that want to play, I will be there every game! But man those games are so long!! haha, that's all.

Basketball, now that's a different story. I went through a phase where I attended as many UNR basketball games as I could. And I had some friends who loaned me their season tickets on occasion and will I always be grateful for that. Basketball is the game that really can get my blood pumping and even get me to jump in the air and scream and then sit back down all embarrassed for losing my "cool."

Okay, sorry, getting to my point. I love music! But more classically-based music. And the guy that will willingly take me to see Josh Groban in concert is the man for me! And the guy who will take me to see the Phil will be my hero! And the guy that will sit through a chick flick or two without feeling like it will threaten his manhood, that's the guy that gets my vote! I will watch a loud, manly action movie with tons of explosions and lots of metal robots, will attend rock concerts, whatever, but when my guy, whoever he is, will sit through Les Mis with me without bashing on it's every song lyric, I will be one smitten Savannah!!

Let me just say that the men in my life, aka my awesome Dad, brothers Dwight and Gabe are great examples of being willing to watch chick flicks with the girls. I asked Dwight to see Austenland with me a few weeks ago and when he asked what it was, I just said, "It's a comedy." But he was a good sport, watched it, and didn't bash on it at all!! My dad will watch While You Were Sleeping with me, Mom, and Sidney and openly laugh at it! They all draw the line at Pride and Prejudice though, haha, and I don't fault them for that.

Sorry for getting a bit long-winded, but basically I loved that guy's article because it's not about feeling like your internal make-up is threatened, it's about trying new things, keeping an open mind, and even doing things because you know your sig. other will love it. That is all, this is me expressing my opinion.

Peace and blessings!!

This is soooooooooo dumb.

I've lived a full life. As in full of injuries, illness, freak klutzy accidents, extreme sunburns, dehydration, food allergiessss... so many, many enjoyable experiences.

And through it all, my dad's sage advice has always seemed to ring in my brain at the exact moment I wasn't following it.

Ex 1. Dad: "Take vitamin C every day."
         Me: "Okay, Dad," (just started doing it about a couple months ago after years of asthma flare ups, bronchitis *Ain't nobody got time fo dat!!* and picking up every flu bug and common cold thrown around in the world.

Ex 2. Dad: "Drink lots of water, especially when you're sick or else you will dehydrate"
         Me: "Okay, Dad." (Got dehydrated a couple months ago and had to go to the hospital)

Ex 3. Dad: "Wear lots of sunscreen, even when it's cloudy."
         Me: "Okay, Dad. (Can't count the number of sunburns...)

Ex 4. Dad: "Be careful where and what you eat, you never know what is in food and you're too sensitive to not be careful. (referring to celiac)
         Me: "Okay, Dad." This advice has been followed by at least four bouts of 3-4 day illnesses including vomiting, other fun stuff, and ironically, also lead to the afore mentioned dehydration.

This last example is my favorite, and will probably be the clincher as to being what it takes to finally listen to my dad BEFORE the inevitable occurs.

And it's probably my most idiotic, self-inflicted injury yet.

Dad: "Lift with your knees, not your back!!"

I can't tell you how many things I have lifted in my life where I had those words echoing off the walls of my low-functioning brain. But I did try my best to follow them, unlike some previous experiences.

Until today, and that rotten garbage truck.

Mom leaves for work, asks me to take out the garbage, pretty normal Thursday proceeding. But she mentions there are some boxes in the garage that need to go out too. NBD, I got this!!?

The garbage truck never comes at the same time every week. (I'm referring to the truck instead of the man that drives the truck because I feel less bad directing my frustration at a lifeless object) So I'm just enjoying myself in my amazing bed, because that is by far my favorite place to be in the morning, when I think I hear the scumbag truck. So I jump out of bed, run around and grab all the trash, zip out the door, run the trash can down, remember the stuff in the garage, fly through the door to that place, see the boxes run up and try to lift one purely with the strength of my back and let out a loud "OWWW!!"

My first thought was, "well that was new." As in I'd never experienced that type of pain. And of course I assume that it would immediately go away and I would be able to get that box. Round two, bend with me knees, exert a little energy trying to lift the box again, this time I believe my words were, "Owie owie owie!!"

But I used a dolly and got that piece of trash out! And it literally was a piece of trash, not the derogatory term.

But you know how there are scenes in movies or cartoons where someone freezes as they are in motion? As the day has gone on, my back has stiffened to the rigidness of an ironing board, can't sit or lie down or sneeze or breath, let alone use the bathroom. And all because I am soooo dumb! And I can't help but have a little painful laugh about it, then maybe say some swear words in my head followed by a sarcastic, "great job, Savannah."

You should all not feel bad for me because I am pretty much the definition of "my own worst enemy". I take full responsibility for most of the health problems I've had in life.

If I only listened to you, DAD!!! Bet you always wanted to hear those words ;)

So now I'm watching all electronic devices I own slowly be drained of their power because I'm too sore to get up and plug them in. Sweet.

Peace and blessings!

A place of my own

It's official, I moved out!!!! ......oooooooffff mysistersroomandintomybrothers. What?! Like you guys don't want your own rooms! And I'm only 24, okay?? Sheesh.

This has been a long time in coming guys, and it took YEARS of careful planning. It started when I was just a wee lass. I made sure I always kept my room clean so my mom would know I was responsible enough to live on my own. The process took many moons.

Then, I insisted I share a room with Baby Sister after she was born because I knew she would be messy, so I would clean up after her so my mom would know I could even handle the messes of others.

A while later I even moved out and to a different state and took pictures of my clean room and sent it to Mom so she could see the proof.

Finally, I moved back, but to my dismay, a room of my own was not to be had at the Sommers' residence. So I had to keep planning.

I tricked Little Brother into serving a full time mission. I even convinced  Parents that Big Brother would love to live somewhere else.

The last piece to the puzzle. I had to work very hard to stay not married so that I could finally enjoy the peace of a room of my own.

And now, on this very evening, I, Savannah Sommers am typing to you from MY OWN ROOM.

Okay, all joking aside, it's pretty ridiculous how excited this makes me. Plus we painted over all the boy on the walls so now it looks like a new part of the house. And slowly but surely it is getting decorated. I'm exhausted from how much work has gone into this room. But the result is going to be so worth it! Plus I'm taking pictures of the whole process, so you all will get to see the end result, are you not just so excited??

Anywho, Peace and Blesseeengs!!!

Howdy

So, it has been QUITE SOME TIME since I blogged. Writer's block, writers block, righters block....??one of those was my issue. Jk, I know how to spell writers, you guys.

Life lately. A big event was that I purchased an iphone, much to the anguish of my anti-iphone older brother, but he just doesn't understand, it's just so........AMAZING!!! Actually, that's being dramatic. I only got an iphone because I allowed some bum-guy to talk me into it, I have no idea how they actually compare to any other phone as this was also my first smart phone.

Another new event is that I have started attending IA. (Iphone-aholics anonymous)

No, but seriously, getting a smart phone was a huge step for me!! Now I can text people funny pictures ALL. DAY. I needed this really bad. I can't believe I went so long without the ability to do this. My life has dramatically improved. My mom loves that I hardly ever talk to her anymore. Okay, slight exaggeration there. She doesn't like it. Okay, another exaggeration, I still talk to her. But any ideas of how to get myself to set my phone down for more than 25 min would be greatly appreciated.

Um, some other things that happened, I got engaged, and then I got not engaged. But I don't super want to dwell on that. I do want to say that I believe Heavenly Father has a plan for all of us and I want to do my best to align my will to His. This life is short. We can't always see the purpose for certain things, but we can act in faith. That's all He asks of us. Always act in faith that obedience will lead to our incredible joy.

BIG THING!! Little brother Gabe is now on his mission in Tempe, AZ! I have to say that it's a huge comfort that he is just right down there *Pointing south* as opposed to Dwight's mission where he was all the way through there *pointing through center of earth to the other side of the planet, Madagascar* But Elder Gabe is actually having some pretty third world experiences, stuff we didn't really expect. But he loves it! And he's all mature in his e-mail and facebook posts, making his older sister look like a bigger kid than she already is. And he is in a facebooking mission, which is amazing! They get to talk to people about the gospel from anywhere on the planet that has internet, basically! And we get to see his inspirational quotes every day, which makes for a happier Mom and sisters :)

Something I should probably announce is that Kimmy and I are going to leave and work as entertainers on a cruise ship. Or train dolphins in Hawaii. Or become pirates. We haven't really decided, but something is going to happen. But we DID get Barbie feet the other night when we swam in the Carson City hot springs for about 2 hours, which could be really beneficial to our modeling careers. We expect that our modeling careers will take off any day now. But anyway, Barbie feet. You know what I'm talking about? We got really excited for a minute because eeeeevvveeerrrrryyyy little girl wants to be like Barbie. You know, 7 ft tall, 20 in waist, 44 in bust and 34 in hips. And feet that make it so you can always wear stilettos. We literally couldn't put our feet flat for a few seconds, best feeling ever. Actually not though.

As we speak, I am downloading a bunch of piano guys music for the Gabe-man and we are going to send to him for his b-day which is on the 26th. So I'm going to post a vid of one of their songs, it's pretty gorgeous. 

Well that about does it for me, can't think of more to write. But peace and blessings!!!

Irony

I have had a few very ironic experiences in my life. and I enjoy them. because after the fact, they always make me laugh. always after though, I for sure don't like them in the moment.

example one. the other night I was driving home. that's not the ironic part, hold on. and I was listening to a talk given by Elder Cook. it's a really great talk, you should definitely read or listen to it if you have a minute. here's the link--->Personal Peace

and now for the irony. I was listening to it while driving in my car which I had forgotten to register and there were cops EVERYWHERE. one even zoomed past me with his lights on and I thought for sure I was done for. so my heart and mind were definitely not calm at this point. then a coyote ran across the road and I screamed because my nerves were about to ....um,....something. I was just very wound up, let's say. so, irony. talk on peace playing in the background of a frantic, practically illegal car. and did I mention I have an irrational fear of coyotes? I do.

here is another story from the past. I don't know that this is irony so much as just an interesting coincidence. wait,... anywho, there was this day back when I was going to SUU. it was one of the first warm days we had had in quite a while and I had decided I would try to do myself up reeeeaaal cute and not even wear a jacket. I took extra time with my hair, picked out my favorite clothing articles, painted my toe nails, all the stuff. and I was walking on campus feeling pretty dang fly. now, there is this walkway on SUU campus. it's pretty much a main walkway. it goes right down the center between all these main buildings and everyone has to walk down this cement path at some point in their day. and at the end of the path is a wide staircase, also a very popular walkway. and I was walking up these stairs with a large-ish crowd of people behind me. and I was thinking how cute I felt and how much less self-conscious I was that day. and my flip-flop caught the edge of one of the stairs. and I flew forward, throwing all the books and sheets of music I was carrying. and I landed less then gracefully, scraping my hands and wrists. and I learned something that day. and I've learned it several times since. flip-flops are the devil. just kidding, that's not what I learned. I learned to not get too prideful. and I also wonder how anyone can even be prideful. because I can't be the only one this stuff happens to. right????

I love ironic croc

so why did I tell you these stories? no idea. but peace and blessings!!

Feelin' senti-mental

K so I've been going through some bins I have that are full of old school stuff. Like stuff from school that is old, not "old school". Anywho, it is giving me that sort of heart-achy feeling you get when you start remembering too many happy things that have gone by. I am happy that I went through those things and had those experiences, but I'm sad because I miss those people that I never get to see anymore. I have all these old notes from my friends. Notes of encouragement, get well notes, old pics, quirky gifts people have given me, etc. And I am really missing these people right now. Like a lot. Mary Swank, Dani Harris, Anastassia, it has been waaaaaaay too long since I have seen you and I'm not happy about it!! So I made a little resolution. Whenever I take trips, I mostly only want to go where I can see these people I care about. Sight-seeing and all that can wait, I want to see my people!!

K, that was the sentimental part. Now for the funny part.

My little sister wrote me this little letter while I was away for my first semester of school. This is what it said and her exact spelling and punctuation. She was 8.

Oct, 23, 2008

Dear Savannah,
The best sister in the world!

A few days ago we'll as you know.
I got on the trampoline like I always do,
and the first jump I we'll I got a head ake,
and every single time I went up and down it got worse.
But I didn't want to get off.
Because every single time I get on the trampoline,
I haf to have a good reson to get off.
And that is what I call not a good reson.
So I stayed on with my stuipid friend named head ake.
Once I got on the trampoline and we'll I had to get off
because of stuipid homework.
But, I didn't want to get off so, I stayed on.
The next time I had to get off was worse because
that had a reson that was very bad.
But, now and then I am getting head akes.

Your sister,
Sidney

p.s. I think we are growing alike, don't you?
write back

Bahahaha, love my lil sis :) The "reson" she included that little postscript is because I get "head akes" when I jump on the tramp, so she and Gabe were always upset at me for not jumping with them.

Yep, Sidney, you and I ARE growing more alike :)

Changing up the game plan

Hey guys. So I have been in a blogging rut and haven't known what to do. But I've recently had an idea that I am going to run with and I am very excited! So my blog will be in remodel mode for a few weeks. But stay tuned, and I am gonna need my friends help getting my blog of the ground! Thanks to everyone who reads, I am so super excited about this new plan, I hope it works!!

Mean Girls

This applies to girls mostly.

What's up? I haven't written anything in a while, and I'm not entirely sure why. My comedic juices ran out maybe. Or I was never funny to begin with and I'm realizing that harsh truth. At any rate, I actually do have a topic I want to write about. It's been on my mind for a while. It's something I wish I could change. But it's not up to me and I have very little influence on it anyway. It's kind of a serious thing, and I may share some personal stuff here, so please be kind.

It's about high school. And back biting, gossiping, and just being flat out mean. There's a reason they made a movie about it. It's quite funny, but painfully true.

So um, I was the shy, home-schooled kid in high school. I was so concerned about what kids my age would think of me, that for the most part, I didn't hang out with anyone outside family members. And we moved a bit while I was the high school age. Well there was one place we were in that was a little bit worse than the others. The girls would spread rumors, make up vicious nick names, and be flat out mean even to other's faces. It wasn't pretty.

But this experience taught me a lot of things I want to share with other girls.

1. A lot of the time, I let circumstances outside my control keep me from being happy. I couldn't control how people acted, yet I still would feel sad and hurt and alone. But that wasn't their fault, it was mine. I would say to young girls going through high school right now, please don't do this to yourselves. Do what you love, wear what you love, be what you love. You will be so much happier. I didn't learn this until after high school. but I did learn it. No one can stop you from enjoying every possible second of your life. It's a fight sometimes, but it is possible.

2. If I hear "news" about someone else, I will not spread it, no matter how I think it will go over. Girls, we struggle with this A LOT. We just love to talk, and that talking usually leads to talking about other people. But other people most likely don't like their business being discussed, and things can get twisted until the truth is lost in a mess of exaggeration. You never want to look at the people around you and feel like you can't trust them. So be someone other people can trust. Let the talk stop at you.

3. Be nice. When it seems almost impossible to greet some girls with a smile, do it anyway. Being kind always makes me feel 10 times better than the most elaborately planned vengeance. Not that I ever planned vengeance, ha. ha. Seriously, there are things I did that I'm not proud of in response to what went on, but there are also good things that I am so glad I did. As a quick example, there was one girl who seemed to dislike my very presence. So I made her cookies. Haha, at the time, my motives might not have been ENTIRELY pure, but the intent was mostly good. And I didn't even put laxative in them!!

4. Speak nicely. Don't just act nice, but keep your mouth in control. I still struggle with this a bit. But there is seriously such a difference in how people react to unexpected loving words as opposed to something sassy or sarcastic.. Since I don't speak loving words much, I notice the difference a lot.

4. As cliche as it sounds, you are NEVER alone. Even if you think not even your parents can understand what you are going through, you have a Heavenly Dad who loves the heck out of you!! And He knows exactly what is troubling you. ANNNNDDD, you can talk to Him literally ANY time. So talk to Him often. Don't let the harshness of life turn you away from real love and concern. Up until this point I was mostly saying "I", but now I am saying "you" because I am talking to whatever girl reads this.

Life can be happy, even in the rough, dramatic, painful time known as high school. I'm gonna be cheesy for a sec, but I know it's tough and if there is so much as one teenage girl who reads this and is going through some nasty crud, just know that I know how you feel, and things will be okay, I promise.

 You can be happy :)

24

In honor of my aged-ness, I decided to type the top 24 life lessons I've learned.

24. NEVER  assume there is toilet paper in ANY bathroom.

23. DO NOT believe your brother when he tells you to do some crazy stunt and promises you won't get hurt.

22. Always look both ways before emerging from a grocery isle at Walmart.

21. If you live in the desert, expect to trip over snakes.

20. Even if your number one activity is playing piano, you can still get injured. A LOT. Just check out my bruised shins and knees.

19. It's too popular to be your own person, now you have to be your OWN own person.

18. Laughing and crying sometimes feel like the same thing.

17. Never offer to give rides to large groups of people when you own a tiny car.

16. Don't tell your best friends about any physical deformities or weaknesses or intolerance's you may have.

15. Buy that piece of furniture in Junkees before you see it riding away in the back of someone else's truck on the highway.

14. Being a janitor actually ISN'T the worst job on the planet. But it's preeeeeettttttttyyyy darn close.

13. Never say what your favorite restaurant is. People will expect to eat there with you until you die, and it will no longer be your favorite restaurant, and you will probably die while eating there.

12. If you happen to share a room with younger siblings, make sure your beds aren't too close together. You WILL wake up suddenly by them whacking your face "in their sleep, they swear."

13. NEVER, I repeat, NEVER,  use the bathroom after someone else who has just made it, um, smelly. Someone will inevitably be there waiting for you after you use it and they will think you did the stinky.

12. Being an adult is not as fun as you thought it would be when you were a kid who couldn't do grown up things.

11. No matter how old you get, loony toons will always be hilarious. Especially Wile E. Coyote.

10. In a lot of ways, children are braver than adults.

9. Liking a band that someone else already likes is so uncool, almost like wearing the same outfit as them to a party.

8. For some reason, whenever people list off reasons for why being a short person is handy, they always include the ability to hide in more places. Like we as adults play hide n' seek all the time or something. You short people can probably attest to this.

7. No matter how hard you try, you will never be able to keep up on the latest technology. First of all, the cool stuff is in Japan. Second, you will go broke. Unless you are already rich, in which case you might be able to keep up and that's cool for you I guess. But vintage is cool now anyway, so keep your little 4th generation ipod nano and use that sucker up!!

6. Sometimes the things that cause the most anger are not the things you should be mad at. Such as the chair you stub your toe on over and over and over again.

5. There is ACTING cool, and then there's BEING cool.

4. No matter how hard you try not to, you will always fit into at least 5 stereotypes. It's a messed up world.

3. The internet is a lonely place.

2. Your car will drive you from point A to point B no matter what it looks like. You OWN your car, don't let it own you :)

1. Never get involved in a land war in Asia.

Habri-elle And weekly wisecrack number something....

That is my latest and greatest nickname for Gabe. Poor little buddy never actually gets referred to by his real name. Anywho, he has, da, dada, DAAA!!! Provided me with a new wisecrack!!

So he was in class at school where he goes every day and loves every second of it. And he was, wait for iiiiit, TEXTING!! *Gasp* oh no, not that!!! Let it be any other activity besides texting!

Anywho, his teacher caught him of course, which happens with all good kids committing lesser crimes than your average deviant. And she said something along the lines of "Gabe, you're gonna have to stop texting and give me your phone."

To which he replies, while holding a finger up to her and continuing his text, "Give me a minute."

She was laughing so hard, she didn't have the heart to get mad him and through her tears of joy she said, "no one has ever asked me to "give me a minute" before!"

Ahhh, the life of a class clown.

Imaginary conversation

It's been a while. Believe it our not, I have had a blog post in the making for about a month now. But I hit blogger's block. Or I'm in it. Or I have it? I've never understood just how to use that phrase. Anywho, this is what I am SURE you are all DYING to say to me. And this is totally what I would say back.

You guys: "Hey, Savannah!"
Me: "Yeah?"
You guys "You haven't written anything in a while. I've been really bored and have nothing to do because of it!"
Me: "Yeah, I know. It's pretty rough I bet. I'm going to try to get something reeeaaaal nice put together to ease your boredom, okay?"
You guys: "Okay GOOD. Because my life is swiftly spiraling down into a theoretical pit of despair."
Me: "Well, we just can't have that now, can we."
You guys: "No. No we can't."

Phew, I'm glad we all got that off our chests!

Okay okay. Sorry for the intense stuck-upedness I just displayed. I know you guys would never say that. OUT LOUD, HA!!

Okay, I'm really done now.

Annnnnnd, I still have nothing interesting to post, sowwy!! But I'm sure something really dumb will come to my brain soon. Also, I noticed that I started thinking my thoughts in blog post patterns, which can't be good, can it? So maybe I just needed to cool the jets a little.

Peace and blessings! (I almost accidentally spelled "blissings" which isn't a word, but I hope you have "blissings too. You can decided for yourself how to interpret that.)

In my old age, which is now

As some of my close friends and fam know, I enjoy some good, old-timey crocheting. Scarves, hats, gloves, baby booties, blankets... I just loooove to crochet! (I don't know why, but I said that in a Julia Child voice in my head. It might sound funnier if you read it in that voice as well.)

Most of the time I receive some kind compliments on my work. To which I must humbly give most of the credit to the internet. I don't know why we even go to school anymore. But I feel like, and I'm trying to say this as humbly as possible, I've made some DANG CUTE crud!!

And everyone always asks me, "Do you just crochet, or do you knit as well?" And I tell them that I only crochet, because there are about 90 bajillion things I can crochet, and when I get to the bottom of that list, I will probably pick up knitting.

So I scan the internet often looking for new ideas, patterns etc to feed my never-satisfied crochet appetite. Until tonight. I have found something that brings to mind the phrase "all things in moderation" and makes me take a step back. It makes me pray that I never go TOO FAR with my crochet craze. It is really too amazing not to share with the world, and since the world obviously reads my tiny, one in a billion blog, here it is.

The best worst crocheted item ever

You're welcome.

And please stop reading the word "crow-shay" as "crotch-ette."