you know you look rough when...

everyone you see in the widstoe building either asks, "Did you sleep here last night?" or "early morning huh?"

:)

yes...yes it was an early morning. yes...i am in fact wearing slippers. yes my braid was braided yesterday, not today. no...i don't really care at this point.

:)

Liz's weaknesses...

*the soft pillow as my alarm is going off...

*buying really good country songs on itunes...

*symphony bars, chocolate-covered almonds/cinnamon bears...

*Zupas and Cafe Rio with Steph...

*scratch that, Steph in general...she has a look/tone of voice that can get me to do almost anything...

*watching "one more" Smallville episode with the siblings...

*putting off doing grown-up productive things (like folding my laundry or doing the dishes) to spend time with people...

*staying up late doing semi-productive things (or sometimes not productive things) like blogging, writing in my journal, and balancing my checkbook...

looking forward to...

I always blog about things AFTER they happen...but turns out being excited about them BEFOREHAND is the best part :) so here's what's up next in the exciting life of liz:

(1) FINALLY starting the last chunk of my dissertation...photographing the cytoskeleton! excited for cool pictures...perhaps tomorrow will be my maiden experiment :)

(2) STEPH'S BIRTHDAY on friday! i may or may not have an adventure planned for us to do before the dance party that night..

(3) my first big ward activity in my new calling on SATURDAY.

(4) BEAR LAKE with friends in two weeks!

(5) the hobbler HALF MARATHON on july 7th...just signed up today! excited to run with my brother ryan.

(6) earning a little extra cash by HOUSE-SITTING for my professor during the month of july... not to mention bonding with his bird, kiwi, who is basically like a toddler.

(7) my trip to san antonio on the weekend of august 3 to see JENNY and JONATHAN and JAMES and ELLA :) spontaneously bought my ticket today!

(8) three weeks in russia starting the very next weekend! can't wait to be with my dear MOM and DAD again :)

love the anticipation.



A random thought to tag on the end of a random blog post:

Both a recent relief society lesson and a chat with a friend last night have had me thinking recently: what really brings happiness? Often, we think of some future event that will finally make us happy, but happiness can only be found now. What we imagine in the future is always rosier than the reality we currently face, but all phases of life have their ups and downs, their joys and their challenges. It's up to us to BECOME a happy person despite situations or circumstances. We need to actively CREATE happiness now instead of waiting for happiness to just HAPPEN. Anyway, I realized that the key to all of this, for me at least, is PEOPLE. It's all about relationships. My relationship with Christ is my truest source of happiness, but this should be a pattern for relationships with other people as well. I'm always happiest when I'm close to others...not just doing things with them but getting to know who they really are and sharing each others' lives. Focusing outward, on others, has always brought me joy. When I get caught up in selfishness, I'm never content. So here's a shout out to all of the people in my life: you are my happiness :)

ps - I'm so mad...I thought I included pictures of a big group photo of high school people and one of lab friends, but I didn't realize I forgot until the collage was made and I was too lazy to start over. So  just know I love you :)

gill

Meet Liz, the fisherman...er woman...

This may or may not be the story of Liz catching her first fish EVER.

She's not excited or anything.

 Meet Gill.

We intended to keep him alive and set him free,

but Gill swallowed the hook :(

After having the hook ripped out,

(yeah that doesn't sound painful does it?)

Gill's little gills were still struggling to work,

so we thought we'd put him back in the water to see if he could bounce back.

Result?

Meet gutless Gill.

The End.







PS:

How gorgeous is this? Wow, I'm a lucky girl to see scenes like this one.

note to self

Dear Liz,

Next time you go 4 wheeling up hobble creek canyon, don't leave your cell phone in your back pocket. It will not still be there when the ride is over. You may never find it again. You may have to go to T-mobile tomorrow and buy a new phone. You may be sad about his :( Just wanted to warn you,

Love,
Liz

"are you married?"

Well I keep procrastinating blogging about this because it was so funny at the time that I worried I wouldn't be able to do it justice. Oh well, I'll just pretend that my readers will catch the hilarity of this moment despite my lack of talent for writing.

(Sidenote: I'm trying really hard to capitalize "I" and write in full sentences because it bugs Steph when I don't. So Stephanie, this is for YOU!)

Okay, so last week a group of us went over to help a girl in our ward move. I had heard she needed help cleaning so I think I assumed everything was all packed up and we'd just do the deep cleaning. However, I arrived to discover that virtually NO packing had been done yet. Not only that, but let's just say there was a lot of stuff...everywhere...and it all had to be out that night. It was one of those overwhelming moments when I did not think the task ahead was possible. So, being Liz, I turned to Sara and Tara (who were beginning to box up the kitchen) and said, "Do we need more boxes?? I'll go get more boxes!" (hence appearing super helpful while really just wanting the easy job). Sara immediately said, "I'll come with you!" which left Tara..."I guess I'll stay here..." poor Tara.

So off Sara and I went on our grand box-acquiring adventure. First stop: "Dirty Allens"....no luck. Every store near the mall...negative. Never discouraged, we decided Walmart might be our best best...but who wants to drive all the way to Springville if they're not really going to have boxes right? Unfortunately, Sara and I are both in the stone age and don't get internet on our phones. However, Sara is a genius and texted google...BAM we got Walmart's number. We're so good. So Sara calls and talks to a super helpful person who tells us to go to the produce section and they'll have boxes for us! Sweet! Off we went.

Enter: super nice Walmart worker in the produce section...a spanish-speaker.

Our friend took us to the back and loaded up a cart with banana boxes. He even offered us tape! We were trying to decide how many boxes would fit in my little car, and I guess we were discussing like a married couple because the next thing our friend asks us is, "Are you married??" Did this guy think we were married to EACH OTHER?? That was definitely what we both thought when he asked us...but I'm going to assume he just thought Sara was super cute and wanted to know if she was available... Well that's pretty much the story... now that I've typed it all out I still think it was a you-had-to-be-there moment, but man it was funny! So was the trek back to the car with this huge cart loaded up with banana boxes...not to mention the next few hours packing and cleaning up that house... and watching Tara clean out that fridge...

ward talent show

well tonight was our ward talent show! steph and i wanted to do a little something...and for some reason we decided to reenact this commercial:

who knows if people thought it was funny...but we sure cracked ourselves up...and that's all that matters right? :)

tulip festival!

sometimes you need a roommate day. sometimes this includes pretty gardens full of tulips, waterfalls, etc. sometimes you find a coupon that gives you $2 off the entrance fee and it makes it even better. sometimes you wish you were better at photography so you could have captured the beauty...but you enjoy the pics you took anyway...

yes please!

once upon a time i got an email from turbotax. they told me they had made a mistake and that some people would be getting a refund. they said if i thought i might fall in this category, i should fill out an online request. i remember thinking it was only like $6, but i filled it out anyway...because who doesn't want an extra $6?? well GUESS WHAT. they just emailed me and said i qualified for a $37 refund!! YES PLEASE. and then i lived happily ever after. the end.

the lightning cubs

so one reason i love my roommate steph is that she signs us up for random stuff i would never think of. like how she signed us up to be volunteer soccer coaches for a team of 1st and 2nd grade girls for provo city. (we don't tell the little ones that i'm not that great at soccer!) it has been a BLAST. these 10 little girls have won their way into my little heart. of course i still get frustrated when they have attitude, or sit down on the field when the ball is on the other side of the field, or get tangled up in the net while they're playing goalie and can't get out when the ball is coming toward them, or when they get mad when i put them on defense, or have a hard time focusing...but we love 'em anyway. :) one gem: "hey liz guess what!! i have a boyfriend...but we're not going to kiss until we're 26!" sounds like a good age!

here's us after our only win so far...