i wish i had a mango tree

in my backyard. 

some that look like this.

loving my links

i sometimes read this one gorgeous bloggie.  she has gorgeous photographs.  she also sometimes has "link love".  and i'm going to copy her.

and this is what i love as of late:

music:
this gorgeous song.  i can't get enough of it.  it also has a lovely little video.
this song too
and this one - it's acoustic! oh, how i love acoustic.

this Gorgeous place if you go, look at their keys, under jewelry.  i'm in love. 
i'm customizing my wedding ring - i hope they do that, because i've mixed 3 rings together for my perfect ring!  yay!  hope future boyfriend is generous! haha
this place is fun And it makes you smarter!

youtube said i should watch this. it kinda made me laugh
this too. kinda cute.

the end.

annoying

lots of annoying things have happened to me today.

#1 annoying thing.
i just came home and as i was walking up my stairs, first it smelled like cantaloupe (which i hate), and then it smelled like mcdonalds chicken nuggets mixed with cantaloupe, and then it smelled like egg rolls.  this was all within a 30 second period, as i was climbing my 50 stairs (i think there's 50 - usually i count, but i guess i haven't been lately, since i don't remember).

#2 annoying thing.
now my flat smells like egg rolls since i opened the door to let myself in.

#3 annoying thing.
i got a craving for chicken nuggets since i smelled them in the hallway

#4 annoying thing.
i burned my finger when i was getting my non-mcdonalds chicken nuggets out of the oven

#5 annoying thing.
now my flat smells like chicken nuggets and egg rolls.

#5 annoying thing.
i can't eat my chicken nuggets because i don't have any clean dishes.

#6 annoying thing.
guess i'm doing dishes...

favorites

i have been doing some serious blogging lately.  as in, reading other people's blogs, and reading their favorite blogs and reading their favorite blogs.  and i have found so many interesting/funny/crazy ones.
so i am making a list of them for easy entertainment access.

i just found this one listed under blogs of note, and it is beautiful. 
milasdaydreams

red means go
toy with me: nothing risque', nothing gained
whiteboard unicorns
hark, a vagrant
steam me up, kid
cynicism is a lifestyle
27bslash6 (lost cat emails member?)

you know...instead of making a post about my favorites, i could just put them in the little widget thing that says 'favorite posts' or whatever it says...
but i think everyone should know, and not everyone reads the widgets...especially when they're called widgets.

a real blog? aka. ranting...nah.

these last few weeks have been pretty crazy.  2 exams within 2 days does not make for stress-free living.  and of course you have to drop everything else for those 2 exams, and then the entire week after is spent trying to catch up on what you got behind in, and then you are behind again when more exams come around so you have to drop everything again to study for your new exams....
it's a vicious cycle.
 
while i was not living stress-free, i kept seeing/hearing all these crazy/annoying/ridiculous things.  and i was going to go on this big rant about all of them and Finally become a real blog, because you know real blogs always rant about stuff and get all political and are really controversial because they may or may not be politically correct.  which makes things exciting. 
but then i decided that. this isn't really a ranty blog.  and i'm not a very ranty person.
hahahahahahahahahaha
did you believe me?

well, it really isn't a ranty blog - maybe a bit here and there.  but i think it's Much more satisfying to rant in person.  so if you ever need more detail on something that i barely mention - feel free to give me a little jingle for a serious debate.  and by serious i mean not so serious, and probably slighly hilarious and fun?  i'm always up for a debate.  i always used to win them in 8th grade science class.  everyone always wanted to be on my team when we had to debate whether solar power or nuclear power or wind power (is that what it's called?) was the most efficient and reasonable.  solar power all the way, baby!  that was just what my group was assigned to.  if we were assigned to nuclear power, it totally would have won, hands down. 
cool.

well, here are the things that i have seen/heard/experienced that are completely ridiculous these past few weeks...

#1 ridiculousness:  ignorant people.  and by people i mean person.  and by person i mean freshman.

the past 3 theatre lectures i've been to, i've ended up sitting near the same kid.  i like to call him 'birthday boy'.
as soon as i first heard him talk, "ew, freshmen..." popped into my head.  ok, maybe not as soon as i heard him talk, because this is a kid who never shuts up.  commentary all throughout the lecture, whether you want to hear it or not.  and no one does...  as soon as what he was saying broke through my best attempts to ignore him, it popped into my head.  and when that happened, this is what i heard: 

...ya, and i was looking through the syllabus for this class, and it says that our first exam is on tuesday, october 14th, and obviously the 14th is a thursday.  all i have to say is that he better give the exam on tuesday, which is the 12th, because wednesday is my birthday and i plan on getting wasted, and if i have to come to an exam and be all hungover - well, that's just not acceptable.  actually.  i'm gonna go talk to him and tell him to move it to tuesday if it is actually on thursday.  and if he won't move it, i'll just tell him he owes me a drink for my birthday.  wouldn't that be awesome? if he was like buying me drinks on my birthday?!  but he better move the test to tuesday.  that's all i'm gonna say.

birthday boy is utterly clueless.  'that's all i'm gonna say'...
#2 ridiculousness:  clothes.  fashion, or the lack thereof...

i was at safeway the other night, and i kept crossing paths with two other girls.  one of the girls had shorty shorts (i know they're called that for a reason, but really.) on that were so short they barely covered half of her butt cheeks.  it was one of those morbid fascination instances:  you want so desperately to look away but you just can't, because you are floored.  and i was.  floored.  and not in a good way. 
but after probably 3 run-ins with miss cheeky, i managed to avoid her and her friend the rest of my shopping trip.  and i put it out of my mind.
then the other day, i was walking to the library for a serious organic chemistry (barf) ((hahahaha...barf)) for a serious ochem study session and, of course, i got caught in a sea of kids switching classes.  and the inevitable (?) happened.  or should i say, the ironic happened?  never mind, it's irrelevant.  i got caught behind miss cheeky's cheeky twins!  a completely different girl (i assume) with Jean Shorts that her butt was hanging out of.  what's the point?  might as well go in your underwear if you really want people to notice you that bad.

#3 ridiculousness:  house cleanliness.

my house/flat/apartment/hovel/
shanty/den/slum/burrow/
abode/habitation/homestead/
pad/residence/flophouse/castle

don't you love thesauruses?  thesaurusi? thesauri?  irrelevant.  i do.  and that's not even half of the words that came up for house.  awesome, eh? 

anyways.  not the point. 
my flat doesn't know how to stay clean.  it's not me, i swear!  i'm like the cleaning lady:  always cleaning and cleaning (ok, maybe once a week)  but i never know where the mess comes from and i am Definitely not the one making it. 
it's irritating.  i wish that when i put something away (like i always do hahahahah) it would just stay there.

#4 ridiculousness:  amnesia?

or something.  i've put off blogging for so long that i can't even remember what i was going to rant about, and then not rant about. 

the other night i was at a dinner party (don't i sound all grown up and sophisticated??  i was the youngest one there, and everyone could totally tell...) well i was at a dinner party and when i was leaving i saw this 'instant excuse' ball, like an 8 ball, but with excuses instead.  so i shook it and asked it why my homework wouldn't be done that night (it was, don't worry).  the answer it gave me was 'amnesia'.  it made me laugh...

those are my toes and jerod's shoes.  jerod is the one who had the dinner party.

waaaahoooooo!!

ITS MY SISSY'S BIRTHDAY!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

GET CRAZY AT THE RIGGGG!!

love you!

my 18th birthday? 17th maybe?

i was just having a little trip with my memories, looking at old pictures.  and i found this one and it made me smile. 

behold!

behold the awesomeness that is my new pair of sunnies!

i found them laying all lonely in the classroom building.  so i did what any other kindhearted person would do.  i took them home.  and adopted them.  and now we are happy!

don't worry - they haven't replaced my 'vintage wannabes'.  those will always be number one.

pretty awesome

this is so cool!  i was like so scared for them the whole time!
watch it...!

dance party in the kitchen!!

the other night we (as in my sissy and i) decided that we should go out.
and we somehow ended up at k-mart and we were by the fake eyelashes and i had this brilliant idea that we should wear falsies - eyelashes, that is...!!! 
and so we did! 
and we had a dance party in the kitchen to my latest favourite song.  it's on monsters vs. aliens and it's So Funny.  watch it.  and listen to the song too - it will be in your head for the next two weeks!

party pooper.  she wouldn't dance when i was trying to take her picture

so i danced extra crazy to make up for it!

barbies.

luscious lashes!!  woo woo!

new age massage

my sissy and i have been doing lots of stuff (kind of) since she's been here. 
like, (ok fine, i'll use correct grammar...) as in, last week we went and got our hair cut!  the hairdresser was so stoked that we had such bad haircuts.  she got to talk trash for two straight hours about how she sees cutting hair as an art form and no one else does and that's why she rocks and everyone else doesn't...
and also last week i had an appointment for a new age massage, and my sissy came with me so i would be brave enough.
i didn't really enjoy it, but i guess i didn't hate it either.  but i Loved the results, and i totally recommend it, but only if you know exactly what you want!

beee-you-tiful right??

also.  i have been 22 for 8 months today...just a little fyi.

golden

i was driving home from dinner with my fam the other night (mikah has been cooking like a mad man) and the sky was so Golden. 
so i took phone pics, and as suprisingly usual (i don't know why it's suprising still, because it happens every time with my gorgeous little red phone) they turned out Perfectly!

i think this one might be my favorite.  i love how it's just a little bit chaotic...

everyone's talking about it

it's what everyone's been talking about!!  bridge building!  cabin pants!  bucket heads!

since mikah is here (she's the favorite) we got to go to the cabin Two weekends in a Row! 
and on the first weekend we got to build a bridge.  by we i mean mostly everyone else.  i mostly read a weirdo book and watched, but i helped a Little. 
and on the second weekend we didn't have to do anything but eat and sleep and read trash magazines! 

action shot #1

eric is a pro hurdler.  possibly.  bad form, though, really...

action shot #2

action shot #3

action shot #4

you thought i was kidding when i said "buckethead"

action shot #5

we were tahred from working so hard.  ok, maybe just i was. 

action shot #6

this is for real.  you couldn't make this up if you wanted to.  and by you i mean me. 

this is sydney doggie and she had tail surgery.  but no cones were big enough for her head, so she had to be fitted for a bucket.  i don't know which would be worse:  conehead or buckethead?

megghina's horse.

i talked to my italian flatmate not too long ago, and the time i talked to her before that, she had just gotten a puppy.
she sent me some doggie pictures this last time we talked and doggie is Adorable. (i can't remember her name).  she is also apparantly a horse.  and still growing.

how gorgeous are her eyes!!

italy is so full of gorgeousness that even their dogs are beautiful.  sigh...

3 year olds' priorities

i have a little stash of old notes and important rocks packed with sentimental value and just weird things that i have kept over the years for one reason or another. 
this note is one example:

i ran into it the other day when i was cleaning, and then right behind them i found some valentine's cards that were Really Important to my 3 year old self. 

3 years old is my wild guess because i would like to think that i knew how to spell my name by kindergarten..

but hey, i was on the right track.  right amount of letters, just not all the right ones..! 

also.  from past experiences.  the 'r' might be an 'r' or it might be an 'i'.  i used to like to write in all caps except the i for some reason, which would have a giant bubble dot on top.

i don't know.  i guess something about barbie and minnie mouse just spoke to me.  probably because my favorite barbie (with the ripped off head, because i was trying to learn how to braid) had the same swimming suit that changed colors when barbie went swimming!
top priorities.

hair day

the other day i had the perfect fringe day.  the rest of my hair was more of a "meh" on this scale:

crap - - - - > meh - - - - - > WOW!!!

so of course i took pictures. 
i cropped them so you could focus just on my fringe and not the rest of my gorgeous face
hahahahahahah. sorry, i had to.
anyways.

gorgeous.  you have to enjoy WOW days because you never know when you might have one again.

told you i would like them sooner or later, mom!!!

before and after

i took a before and after picture of my nomex.  before washing them, from when i went 5 days wearing the same gross shirt.

BEFORE.

very gross. and black. and smelly - but not as smelly as all the boys' shirts.

also.  please note:  my gorgeous man muscles!  i put them on that day...

AFTER.

still looks gross and dirty and smelly.

but. smelled delicious!  see the look of pure olfactory satisfaction on my face?

me: the wedding date!

a while ago, i went to weston's wedding as booker's date.  and we went with shoden and his date. 
these are all kids that i worked with this summer.  which, if it doesn't, most definitely should explain a lot.
anyways.  shoden loves documenting...and then facebooking all the pictures that he just took.
so all these wedding pictures are on facebook. 
the pictures of me are all of me drinking.  even though i really feel that i didn't drink that much. 
funny how pictures can distort the TRUTH!

you know how facebook is like a disease.  well, our whole crew saw all these pictures and were like "man, claire, we never knew you were such a lush!" 

thanks facebook.  and shoden.  that's shoden, ps.

also, if you look closely, the red one's are the same drink, and the other one is the quarter of a glass of champaigne that they give for toasts.  so see?

anyways.  for future references, parents love me.  i charge a very nominal fee, and i don't even charge extra to dance with you!  feel free to call my manager!

:(

i miss my crew.
and i am really jealous, because the week that school started they went on a fire to idaho or ohio or something and as far as i know, they're still out.  jerks.

here is our one and only group picture.

see how we love each other?

shake or smoothie?

i made a shake today!  or a smoothie.  i'm not really sure how to distinguish.  i know that smoothies have fruit in them and i know that shakes have ice cream in them.  this one has fruit and ice cream!! 
maybe it just means... EXTRA DELICIOUS...

i made an Extra Delicious today!  and it really is extra delicious.
i'm gonna go out on a limb here, and even give out the recipe.

EXTRA DELICIOUS
one peach. or two.  or however many you want.
some blueberries.  a little or a lot.  either way.
some coconut milk - vanilla flavored.  a lot or a little.
some vanilla ice cream.  a lot or a little.
            the key is that you have peaches and blueberries, because it makes a Smashingly Lovely flavor. 
            the coconut is also a nice subtle presence.  it also makes the fruit blend really well in the blender.

VOILA!!!  EXTRA DELICIOUS!

i had to do an Extreme closeup.  it's really hard to hide the fact that my flat is Very, uh, cluttered.  photos always catch that sort of stuff.  don't look too closely at the background, k?

new art!

i hung up my new art from my favorite auntie!
my dad actually suggested the spot (after he and my mamacita got done hyperventilating from the shock of the serious clutter that is my flat), and anyways, it worked out perfectly!

Perfect!!!

the end...

the end of mikah's geranium, that is.
i tried and tried to make it live.  i cut it back, i took off the old leaves, i cut the flowers off to make the plant live better.  but it just keeps dying. 
so i have finally decided to pull the plug, so to speak. 
and here is a last gorgeous, slightly blindingly bright photo to go in your memory book.
sorry, sissy!