why not?

Randoms:

1. I have a bad problem with always wanting to cut my hair. This is the only reason of why my hair is so short right now (above picture is a desired length). 

2. I love to eat.

3. I love tv shows but I also love to read. Odd? yes. Possible? Of course.

4. I love California with all of my heart. Born and raised.

5. I'm an extremely passionate person for the things I believe in. 

6. I would like to find the real life version of Seth Cohen. Oh, and marry him.

7. I am generally a very happy person; it takes a lot to ruin my day. 

8. I love road trips and everything they entail. 

9. I am a perfectionist with my handwriting.

10. I love to fill up journals and begin new ones. 

11. I'm ridiculously outgoing. 

Questions:

1. What is your guilty pleasure?

Reading blogs & currently Pinterest.

2. Do you prefer going shopping, or shopping online?

I would prefer going shopping but since I moved out to Idaho shopping online has more appeal. I can shop at stores that aren't available here and it works out quite nicely. 

3. What is your favorite baby boy name? Girl?

Whatever comes first. I love Cohen. For either or. Steal and I'll die. 

4. If you had to change your name, what would you change it to and why?

Seriously no idea. I've always liked different names though. I think when I was 7 I wanted to be Rachel? More than likely a Friends reference. 

5. If you had only 24 hours left to live, how would you spend your time?

With my family and friends I call family. We'd have a bbq of some sort, play some games, and I would just died painlessly and peacefully? Too much to ask?

6. What is your all time favorite ride at Disneyland?

Space Mountain.

7. What makes you the happiest?

Being with people who I love and they love me. Seeing the good in everyone. Passion. 

8. What is your beverage of choice?

Water

9. What is the one thing you could not live without (tangible object)?

Laptop? This one is hard. 

10. If you could be anywhere in the world right now, where would you be?

On a vacation exploring somewhere I have never been before. 

past & future

yooo hoooo.

random thoughts of late:

i love church, oh so much.
i recently jumped on the iphone train---love it.
i really want to be a runner. well, that also means i need to start to love running. any ideas?
this winter here in idaho has been really mild. no complaining here.
i've been living next to my espn app on my phone. obsessed.
i did my first paid haircut on a guest a little bit ago and it went a little like this:

me- "hi!! so what would you like today?"

girl- "i'm not exactly sure but i know i want a few inches off."    (mind you- her hair is past her shoulders)

me- "alright perfect. here let me shhhhoooow(cut off)"

girl- "actually i really want your haircut."

me- "ummmmm.... you want a pixie?"

girl- "definitely."

at this moment i walked over to one of my learning leaders and almost freaked. i didn't think this girl actually thought i cut my own hair. i ended up cutting the pixie and it was awesome. satisfying to all heck. let's just say anyone who wants a pixie. i'm down. so fun. 

for school i was santa and gave the new core babies their kits. happy kitmas everyone.

love running into friends at the good old taco bell. 

oh yeah. reminder. in case you didn't know--- i'm 5'0 tall. hence here i am rolling a perm standing on a booster seat so i can see. awesome. oh and yeah i do have red hair again. hair school will do that to you. but in all reality i'm a natural red head so this isn't too bad of an upkeep. :)

and last but not least. I was asked to help my friend kayce by being in her photo shoot. Josh from Innov8 took the pictures and I have to say that they turned out awesome. I'm such an awkward model i feel so this picture was more than likely taken on accident. but all in all it worked out.  and contrary to popular belief i am not naked in this photo... haha not one bit. 

sgs episode one.

Personally, I believe this is hilarious.

ps.

i'm now blonde. 

sure i've changed my hair so many times in the last month....but who gives. haha

oh yeah. and i'm still loving my red lipstick.

amazing.

I am so amazing with people these days, this is beautiful.

today.

photo overload.

why yes these are all off of my phone, thank you for asking.

well here is the little things in my life....found with my phone.  when i first moved into this cozy shack that i currently live in i realized that i needed some inspirational words for me to live in this room (which comes complete with the frigid wind coming through my window). so as you see, there above in my inspiration board of sorts.

and then there is invisible children. a charity that helps rescue children soldiers from the LRA in northen uganda. check them out here.

I have the best friends ever. On my first day of Paul Mitchell, Molly & Skidz (ryan) went and bought me flowers and left me a note for me to find when I got home from school. Sweetest people ever, of course.

Oh, you see that heater there? Yes. that is literally the only reason i'm probably living. As i mentioned before my room feels like the artic if this isn't constantly on in my room. If anyone would be to stand in front of my window they would feel a constant breeze from the outside. That's called quality living my friends.

Oh hey, that's me wearing my new lipstick. Ruby Woo from Mac. I've been meaning to get a gorgeous matte red lipstick. So I decided on passing up the grocery store because I wanted to be fancy and frankly i just wanted some mail---but who doesn't? I love it. Makes everything more classy. Also, that is my favorite word...classy.

Last picture: Sums up my life. to a tee. 

i gave in. to the MAX.

hello november. to start off november (well kinda) I started Paul Mitchell on Halloween! It's been a thought for a while and I finally made the decision to start---and I am so glad I did. And we all know that with big changes comes rash decisions.

and let's just say i'm loving my rash decision. 

are you as stunned as me?

you should be. 

be stupid.

"Do you think I'm wonderful? she asked him one day as they leaned against the trunk of a petrified maple. No, he said. Why? Because so many girls are wonderful. I imagine hundreds of men have called their loves wonderful today, and it's only noon. You couldn't be something that hundreds of others are."

-- Jonathan Safran Foer, Everything is Illuminated

emma my girl.

"I find the whole concept of being ‘sexy’ embarrassing and confusing. If I do an interview with photographs people desperately want to change me - dye my hair blonder, pluck my eyebrows, give me a fringe. Then there’s the choice of clothes. I know everyone wants a picture of me in a mini-skirt. But that’s not me. I feel uncomfortable. I’d never go out in a mini-skirt. It’s nothing to do with protecting the Hermione image. I wouldn’t do that. Personally, I don’t actually think it’s even that sexy. What’s sexy about saying, ‘I’m here with my boobs out and a short skirt, have a look at everything I’ve got?’ My idea of sexy is that less is more. The less you reveal the more people can wonder.

 - Emma Watson

happy days.

it's been a bit. i'm come to realize i suck at this whole blogging thing...but i'm not willing to let go--naturally. 

I've been in rexburg almost a month now. So far i've managed to snag a job (not an ideal jobs but it pays) and I can safely say I love my roommates this semester.  We all bring something else to the table it's great. Really, I don't think i've laughed so much lately. Which is a great thing. 

today i feel like writing. i just feel like getting things out in word. lately i've had a lot of realizations. i feel like i'm growing up. i'm not caring about a lot of the things i used to. ok ok yes i'll agree that i still can be materialistic because first, i'm a girl and second i like to get new things (so what if i mail myself stuff that is gift wrapped?). but i mean i've been focusing a lot more on the important stuff---- like friends and family and how they help us through this thing we call life. one of my closest friends is currently serving a mission for the church. having her gone reminds me of things she used to bring to the table. she is a good example for life i'd say. she doesn't get caught up in drama and she knows whats truly important. i've come to realize that at school we have a lot of "fake" friends. now bear with me because no one wants to admit to this but sadly it's true. think about it. how many so-called friends do we have that we will see eachother at parties and all of a sudden we're best friends. we know nothing of their personal life but we "love" them because they are so cute or so nice (which is not a bad thing...at all.) but then the semester comes to a close and some of us go home some of us stay---but now think of the people you actually keep in contact with during those breaks. i believe that those are the people who we really care about in our lives. we want to know what is going on with them. we care. we make the actual effort. don't get me wrong we can always have the excuse of, "oh I was busy, sorry I didn't call." Yes, this can be a valid excuse but all in all if we want to make the effort, we do. 

I was talking with my friend logan and we were talking about all of the drama that goes on in this tiny town we live in. who cares about drama really? that's the thought i've always had...figuring that no one cares. but i've come to see that that statement is pretty false---so many people thrive off of it. and they forget the meaning of college life. other than getting an education here i am a huge fan of making lasting relationships here.  here in rexburg i have met some of the coolest people ever. sure it's not like i have a million close friends and i wouldn't want it that way. friends get us through life. really they do. who do we call when things go wrong? when we want to vent? when we have awesome news? when we just want to talk? and who do we always want to do things with? our friends. yes, i know our family is also in those....but i see so many of my friends like family. as we've all heard, "friends are family we choose for ourselves." 

mainly, i love my life. i love people. i love love. it all comes down to that. all of us need love in our lives. whether it's within family, friends or a romantic relationship. we all as people yearn for these things. and when you feel truly loved and when you have people in our life that mean the world to you--it's like hitting the jackpot. and i can honestly say i have done just that. i have the best friends. ever. the kind of friends if i need anything they are there. always. so treasure those relationships because it gives me a sense of ultimate happiness. 

blah blah blah

of course.

just so everyone who reads this knows.... 

i absolutely love my life. 

let's play catch up.

let's reminisce shall we? life lately has been a bit of everything: smiles, laughs, tears, stress, happiness, and pure fun. A little over two weeks ago I left those teenage years behind and finally turned twenty. It's odd because for the past couple of years I've been looking forward to turning twenty, don't ask me why because I have no idea? Maybe I thought I'd be taken more seriously not being a teenager and all. But in reality on my plane ride home from Seattle I was thinking to myself and it hit me. I will never be a kid again- sure maybe a kid at heart, but still always an adult. It was insane to me. I know many of us have had this realization and I'm sure I've had it before but not like this one. Through all of this I realized that I want to keep that carefree happylike characteristics that kids/teenagers have. It's not my personality at all to turn into this stress crazy woman so I'm hoping to always still be somewhat of a kid at heart. 

Right after my birthday I flew up to Seattle, WA for Niff's farewell weekend. It was the kind of weekend I needed. There wasn't a ton of plans, I fell in love with Washington and I got to spend some quality time with some of my best friends. I was content and it was amazing. Niff actually went into the MTC (Missionary Training Center) in Provo, UT to begin her mission which will take her to serve the people of Bangkok, Thailand. I'm so proud of her. It's going to be weird not having her with me 24/7 in Rexburg but she's doing better things :). 

life is good. oh so good.

yes yes yes.

heads up. i love so you think you can dance. partly, because i wish that was a talent of mine. they are just so good at what they do. i'm constantly amazed.

sweet 16.

my boys. my baby brothers are 16 today. watch out everyone. the van liew twins are now of age to drive. good luck.. seriously.

take note: these pictures are from 2010.

happy birthday chase and conner! i love you both so much.

la la la .

looooove gavin. at work this song came up on pandora and i realized that i had forgotten how much i love my gavin degraw.

17 days till I get to get on a plane to go see my babes ( niff, sarah, logan, and ali--and finally meet brock). You know no idea how excited i am. i'm dying of excitement.

here is courtney. court and i lived together my first semester and we have known eachother for years, due to being from the same hometown. 

she has returned from her mission and it's so great having her home! i've missed her. 

oh and anyone who knows me knows that i'm obsessed with nixon.... and that i have a million freckles. awesome.

happy tuesday yo. 

be happy and make it great!!

quick trip.

this past weekend was the long awaited break from everything here in california. i hopped in a car and drove all through the night to end up in provo, utah. good ol' happy valley. it was a short lived time there but definitely well spent. i got to see my other half alexander morgan---always a good time.

we also discovered that i have a million freckles...but hey what's new. (don't mind the smeared eye liner...classy i know.

then i got to see my old roommate sarah and spend time with her and her family. i barely took any pictures of being there with them at their condo, but again---good times.

then the long awaited rexburg, id. 

a big reason of why i needed to go was to see abi. abi and i have been friends for the past two years and now she is all grown up, married & such which means she has to leave the college town and move elsewhere (texas, no worries---i will visit). ps. abi & luke's dog sperry is a total babe.

i also hung out with some more regulars---nick, ryan, megan and such. picture overload...ready.go.

i'll be back soon enough.