Low Threshold of Pain.

According to research everyone has a different threshold of pain. So who are the lucky one's that don't feel pain so much? Men and people with low-stress levels. By process of elimination that means women and people with extremely high-stress levels have a lower threshold of pain...except for when women are giving birth, thank you for Your mercy on that one.

But anyway, for those of you who don't know, this past week = probably the most stressful week of my summer. Just a bunch of demands at work (all reasonable, its just that its Seminar week for Mary Kay and their our main people), company (yay for Michaela coming to visit...just trying to balance that wasn't fun) and the typical drama (............think what you will.........). That being said, huge, huge, HUGE amounts of stress. Like weight of the world (or a business, nbd) and being pushed to the grind in every other aspect.

Now that you know that, I guess it's a perfect moment to let you know that to top off this fabulous week, I GOT MY WISDOM TEETH TAKEN OUT! Yay for no more wisdom! And boo for my low threshold of pain I'm experiencing. My oral surgeon (who was great, if any of you want a referral!) told me I'd be in some serious pain, especially since I wasn't prancing through a field of flowers so to speak...and whatta ya know. She was so right. I cannot even feel my pain meds kicking in.

Let's pray I'm just jumping the gun saying that above statement and that in about 20ish seconds I'll be ready to enjoy my weekend of 24/7 bedtime, mashed potatoes/ice cream/pudding/applesauce/yogurt, and America's Next Top Model since I already finished the first episode of Project Runway (seriously people, watch the show!).

Oh and shout-out to Jillian who brought me "fruit chillers"...they are my favorite, thus far! Thank you!  :]

Reasons Why I Should Learn "Car-Speak"

1. Boys like it
2. I'd feel pretty darn cool
3. I'd understand/know what Michaela is talking about when she freaks out about a car that zoomed by
4. I'd be able to tell Michaela what car my friend drives in, so when she'd tell me "oh, it's already here", we wouldn't have to wait another 10 minutes for her to walk into my house.

For the #4 comment--yes, this is a true fact. What she was doing, I have no idea, nor did I know this until she left. Again, this is why car speak is so important. Cuz had I known it, I would've snuck up down the cul-de-sac, crawled around her car to the front and jumped up and freaked her out. That would've shown her haha.

FUN THINGS MICHAELA AND I HAVE DONE SINCE SHE'S BEEN HERE (let's remind ourselves that fun is relative...especially given that this week is Seminar at work AKA crazy demanding):

1. Take your best friend to work week...yup, made that up.
2. Watch an endless amount of hulu.
3. Had "Family Game Night" two days in a row (with David).
4. Gone to a Nats baseball game (with David and his friend, Jared)...can I just say, I will marry a major league baseball player?
5. Pool.
6. Stay up past oh-dark-thirty three nights in a row (with David).

Needless to say, hopefully there will be more on the list, but that cannot be promised due to a David/Michaela day and my removal of wisdom (yes, these wisdom teeth are finally coming out Dr. Insert-My-Dentist's-Name-Here). So we shall see if I'm an anesthesia/vicodin light-weight or not. Hopefully not. Let's keep our fingers crossed.

BYU Bestie

MY BYU BESTIE, MICHAELA, IS COMING TO VIRGINIA! SO STINKIN' EXCITED! 

Oh, and can I just say that I LOVE writing missionaries. I've gotten serious and spiritual letters, sweet and cute letters and downright funny letters. I've got the best guy friends ever and I'm so glad they're preaching the Gospel. I love my elders. 

Family Reunion in Tennessee AKA Survival of the Fittest.

So I just got back from my big week-long family reunion in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. It celebrated 50 years of my grandparents' marriage and got all of my cousins, aunts/uncles and, of course, my grandparents together in one huge, slightly ghetto cabin up in the mountains. Although we all had our butting-head moments with one another and had completely terrifying/life-threatening moments (continue reading), it was still a blast and I wouldn't change a thing. :]

The whole clan except for one cousin and his wifey.

The grandparents and their kids.

My family.

Big Adventure #1: WHITE WATER RAFTING

This was definitely one of those activities that make you think, as long as I do this, my week will have been a success...at least that's what I thought. AND IT WAS TOTALLY AWESOME. I'd definitely do it again. But here comes the life-threatening part. Dun-dun-dunnnn.

So let me start off by saying that 1) only my parents have WWRed before, 2) my little brothers can barely paddle, 3) my dad's vision was doubling, hence his "Patchy the Pirate" look and 4) my dad can't swim (there really was no need to swim in Alaska when he was growing up...just sayin'). Anyway, so my family and I are in one raft. My cousins/aunts and uncles are in the others. We start off paddling and it feels pretty good...went through some flat water and a few small rapids. Then came Razor Rock. "That rock is so sharp, if you hit it a certain way, it'll cut straight through the boat," said Bobby, our guide. Well needless to say, that was not comforting to know especially when we were paddling and paddling to avoid it and ultimately FAILING. We hit Razor Rock and my side (Dad, me, Ethan) flew out of the raft. Dad ended up floating down the rest of the rapids because Mom and Hailey were busy saving me, who's body was half in-half out of the raft (seriously, I was so scared...I mean, we were going in-and-out, up-and-down in rapids for Pete's sake), and Tanner was busy saving Ethan who ended up on Razor Rock and Bobby the Guide who was jumped out to save Ethan. And then when everyone was safe (except for Dad who was still floating down the rapids, trying to keep afloat--a life jacket can only do so much), we tried to paddle out with half of our paddles which were EVERYWHERE. Eventually my dad did get back in our boat (he was saved by the cousins) and we did get all our paddles. Ethan said we should give Bobby a medal of honor for his bravery...but instead we gave him a tip haha.

Still loved it though.

Big Adventure #2: HORSE-BACK RIDING IN A THUNDER/LIGHTENING STORM GOING UP AND DOWN A MOUNTAIN

Before the storm/horse-back riding...and after.

Trust me, I like horses just as much as the next girl. I used to think I could have a horse in my less-than-an-acre backyard back when I used to live in Ohio. I also love those old-fashion movies where horses are involved. So with all that information about me, how could I not be excited to go horseback riding?! I was so pumped--I got a cute, white-yellowish horse named Sunshine and we were going to go ride up and down a mountain and see a beautiful waterfall on the trip. SWEETTT. That is until it started to pour. It was literally a monsoon. There were times when I could barely see where my horse was heading (oh yeah, toward the edge of the mountain where he usually went). And speaking of my horse, not only did he seem magnetized to the edge of the mountain, he also would try to pass the horses in front of him (a no-no on the trip), sprinted up the mountain for about a second (the scariest second ever) and tripped and got momentarily freaked out by the lightening. And apparently, if your horse got freaked out, you were supposed to "tuck and roll" which seems easy enough until you actually get on the mountain and think, "WHERE THE CRAP WILL I ROLL?!". Not to mention, I couldn't hear a word of what the guide was saying so I had no idea if he was saying, "Good job, group" or "Don't do that or you're going to die". It was quite literally the Horseride From Hell...I prayed so much I think it made me closer to my religion haha.

Big Adventure #3: Harry Potter 7.2

Okay, okay, so this wasn't super big or life-threatening, but you have to understand that a bit of my childhood ended that night. I went with some of my cousins to the midnight showing. If you aren't on obsessive, psycho HP freak, then you'd have probably thought it was pretty dang good...which is what I thought. Anyway, some favorite highlights (SPOILERS):

1. Rupert Grint (Ron)
2. Tom Felton (Draco)
3. Matthew Lewis (Neville)--okay, who knew that he'd turn out THIS attractive?!
4. The super awkward hug between Voldemort and Draco
5. Voldemort dying
6. Finding out Snape was good
7. The adventure

Well, that's basically all the note-worthy parts of my trip. Whatta blast.  :]



Cabin Fever.

I'm having cabin fever. Not because I've been stuck at home. Mostly because I've been stuck in the United States my whole life and I'm having intense urges to just get on a plane to anywhere in the world. I even made a list and decided that next time I go to the library, I'm going to checkout "(somewhere I want to travel) For Dummies". Yup, cabin fever stinks.

Top Places to Travel and Why:

• Italy--One, I'm part Italian. Two, who wouldn't want to go to the place where the food and art's golden? Plus, after watching Eat, Pray, Love, it makes me want to go even more. 
• Spain--My old neighbor in Ohio went backpacking there. After seeing all her pictures and hearing all her stories, I KNEW this was a place I had to visit. 
• Greece--My friend, Tamika, was Greek. I watched My Big, Fat, Greek Wedding and The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. 
• Holland--My neighbors are from there and they tell us about it and bring back the delicious caramel waffle things. I watched Best Two Years. I fell in love with the flowers.
• England--Prince William. 
• Belgium--Belgium waffles/chocolate. My friend, Will, used to live there and told me all about it.
• Croatia--I watched a show about it. 
• Germany--I'm part German.
• Morocco--Part of America's Next Top Model was filmed there. I fell in love with it. 
• Russia--I danced with the Moscow Ballet Company when I was a kid and fell in love with their accents. I also loved the building with the crazy tops...I forget the name, but you all should know what I'm talking about.
• Bali--Eat, Pray, Love. 
• Australia--Aussie accents. Kangaroos. Beautiful place.
• South Africa--Part of The Bachelor was filmed there. Fell in love. 
• New Zealand--Part of the Biggest Loser was filmed there. I want to do the building jump thing. 
• Prince Edward Island--Always wanted to go since I heard about it in Anne of Green Gables. 
• Saudi Arabia--My friend, Miles, went there and he got me hooked on Arabic music.
• Egypt--One word. Pyramids. 
• Ireland--From PS: I Love You. 

So many places to visit. Only one lifetime to cram it all in. :]