A Time of Thanks...

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Although I can't quite believe it, Thanksgiving is in 2 days! And I am so looking forward to mashed potatoes, turkey (dipped in mashed potatoes), rolls (also dipped in mashed potatoes), and pumpkin pie. When I was mentoring today, the fourth graders were all dressed up as Pilgrims and Indians and it was so cute! My favorite thing to do in school was draw a "Turkey Hand" and decorate it with five things I was thankful for. In honor of that tradition, here are five things I am thankful for today!

5. Microwaves. Probably one of the best inventions of all time! Do you know how hard it is to heat up leftover rice on the stove? First, I tried the oven, but then the bowl just got really hot and it was taking forever. So I switched to the stove. Then the rice started to congeal on the bottom of the pan. Good thing I added some soy sauce to it to loosen things up. And although you really can cook anything using the stove and oven, it takes SO MUCH LONGER! So yes, I am extremely thankful for microwaves and extremely thankful that I can now afford to buy one!

4. Potatoes. In case you couldn't tell, I love mashed potatoes. But really, I love potatoes of all kinds. Baked, scalloped, in soups, in salads, fried, as chips, all forms of the potato is good! When I went on the job interview at Washington Mutual, Hillary was telling me about how one branch asks the question "If you could be any vegetable, what you be and why?" I immediately knew my answer. "I would be a potato. No matter what situation you put it in (i.e. baked, scalloped, fried, mashed, etc.), you can always expect a satisfactory result. It's a vegetable that is very multi-faceted, and most importantly, very adaptable." Of course they didn't ask me that question, but I was ready for it just in case. I am truly thankful for being an Idaho girl and for the deliciousness that is the potato!

3. J. K. Rowling. I absolutely idolize her. She restored my faith in the written word and introduced a world of magic that will help me escape the reality of the world today for years and years to come!

2. My friends. There really isn't anything I can say that does justice to how much I love my friends. I am truly blessed to have so many wonderful, lifelong friends. I know many people believe that you meet your lifelong friends in college, because that is when you discover who you truly are as a person. I am lucky enough to have friends from every major part of my life-high school, college, and work. I can honestly say that I have more true great friends than I count on both hands. I know that each of them would do anything for me and I would do anything for them.

1. My family (Go Figure, right?!). I don't have a huge, extended family. But the 12 crazy people that do make up my family are the best I could ask for. We are all so alike and so different in every way. But the bottom line comes down to this: Always do whatever is best for you. The family will support you no matter what. I am so very excited that I get to go home for Thanksgiving this year. But, just so you know, even if I was going to have to stay in Boise, I still would have been celebrating with family. About four different sets of family, to be exact!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! May your plates be empty and your stomachs' full!

It's About Time!

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Emily finally has a job! Yes, it's back in retail, but I think it will do me good, and I am definitely just happy to have something to do now. And I get to do all my training in Idaho Falls, which makes my family super happy!

Oh-I am now the store manager at Christopher & Banks in Nampa. So if you're looking for a festive holiday sweater, let me know!

All Moved In!

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It's official! I am entirely, completely done moving into my new apartment. So I don't have a couch. Or a dining room table. Those things will come in due time. For now, here are some pictures of my favorite parts of the apartment. Diane and I have affectionately dubbed it a "Scandinavian Ski Haus." How awesome is that?!




Pretty much, the built-in bookshelves and the fireplace sold me. And I have to thank Miss Kari Burkett for doing such an amazing job at arranging all my books and pictures. I definitely wouldn't have done such a good job! And how do you like my $30 entertainment center? Gotta love CraigsList. Just please ignore the giant whole behind the tv. I'm working on a solution. The deck might just be my very favorite part though. It makes me feel like I'm up in Island Park or Hebgen Lake at my cabin. The fox and raccoon that I've seen in the past 3 days also help with that vision!
My room and the kitchen are the next two projects to tackle. Pictures will come shortly. And cross your fingers for me, because it will require some extreme craftiness on my part. Scary, I know.
On a completely unrelated note, Brittany dragged me to see the midnight premiere of Twilight. And can I just say-BLEGGGH! Pardon me while I go throw up the bucket-sized popcorn and soda I ingested prior to it starting. Don't get me wrong-the books have a great premise and the movie could have been amazing. But the 5-minute long swooning scenes where Bella and Edward gaze hungrily into each others' eyes and then climb to the top of some trees where they spend some quality getting-to-know-you time seriously made me feel ill. And the 12 year old girls next to me having "Edward-gasms" really made me it hard for me to not laugh out loud. Brittany almost made me leave. It also didn't help when Mike said it was the most emo thing he'd ever seen; even more so than an actual emo concert. I couldn't agree more. If the books are as mushy-gushy (which I've heard they are) as the movie, then our relationship will be a short one. At least I got to see the preview for the next Harry Potter movie. I don't think anything can EVER compare (or even come close) to the magic J.K. Rowling managed to produce.
*Sidenote: I am looking for a new purple bedding set. Like the one in Twilight, but not the actual one (which is from Target, and has weird felt flowers and is dry-clean only. Who really dry-cleans a comforter? Who really even washes their comforter that often?). So if you see anything that is a dark-lilac or plum color that has some sort of floral/plant motif and isn't outrageously expensive, let me know. And the same goes for curtains.

A funny thing happened...

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A funny thing happened tonight. I changed my mind about fate.

A little background: I changed my mind about fate one other time, about 3 months ago. Before that, I had always believed that my life was already mapped out for me and that I would eventually end up where I was supposed to. If something didn't go my way, then I tried to look on the bright side and trust that it was supposed to be that way.

Anyways, I was considering moving to Oregon and things were not going my way. At all. And so I posed a question on MySpace asking what to do when fate steps in and flips things around 180 degrees. Every response I got told me that fate is for losers. The only really successful people out there make their own fate and create their own destiny. And so I decided to change my outlook on fate, and just life in general. I started doing things because I wanted to, not because I thought I was supposed to. For the most part, nothing really changed. I did become more decisive, something that needed to happen. And I did stress out a little more, always questioning whether or not I made the right decision. What decisions, you may ask? I decided to stay in Boise. I decided to move somewhere downtown. And I decided to get my teaching degree. Not everyone thinks I made the right decisions. But I do, and that's all that matters.




Anyways, back to tonight. After Mike and Brittany so graciously helped me move about 3/4 of my stuff into the new apartment, Brittany and I decided to go to Old Chicago for dinner. As we chowed down, we decided that we were going to the hockey game this coming Wednesday and then to Hannah's to have a reunion with Rocci Johnson (Rocci Johnson herself deserves an entire blog dedicated just to her. That will come later.). So we checked to see if there is a game on Wednesday (there is) and then we decided to check in with our long-lost friend Jason, who bartends at the hockey game (meaning we get free drinks). I sent a text message and got a reply of "Who is this? I'm on my 4th phone this year and don't have anyone's numbers."

Now, I've gotten this text message before. And he probably really is on his 4th phone of the year. But Jason is also kind of a player and has too many girls numbers to count. And so Brittany and I decided to play a game of "Guess who this is." It basically involved not telling him who I was, but still asking him if he bartends and if he would give us free drinks. Jason is apparently a little desperate these days, because he was pretty insistent on finding out who I was. He even promised me free drinks for life. Tempting, but we figured he'd give them to us anyways, and we'd still get to drive him crazy for a night.

And so we left. We parked in the garage, and had just barely gone over the first hour (which means we were going to have to pay). And so Brittany suggested that we walk down 8th Street and see her friend Wendy's new shop. And who happened to walk by as we were looking at the window display of the shop? Jason. And who did he happen to be on the phone with? My voicemail. And who supposedly doesn't get free drinks ever again for playing a mean trick? Me.

Really funny story! Brittany and I laughed about it forever. And then fate popped into my mind. Here's the thing:

1. We never go to Old Chicago. Ever. And if we do, we always go to the one at the mall because that's basically where we live.
2. We haven't seen Jason in literally 2 years. After we both stopped working with him, we saw him every now and then, but that was REALLY 2 years ago.
3. We were really only over on our hour by like 4 minutes and probably wouldn't have been charged anyways.
4. We just happened to stare at the windows for a really long time because Brittany thought she recognized something from Michaels and then had to tell me a long, involved story.

And so, after a discussion with Brittany, I once again have a new outlook on fate and the role it plays in my life. I still believe that fate has a part in my life, and a pretty big one at that. I also believe that the decisions I make can alter the role fate plays in my life, but that eventually, I will end up exactly where I'm supposed to.

And don't think that I now believe that Jason and I are meant to be together or some crap like that. Brittany and I merely decided that we were supposed to get caught and ultimately that we were meant to be such good friends and such awesome people in general! And here's hoping Jason will still give me free drinks. I don't have a job after all!

It's Taylor-iffic!

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Today has been a good day. Not only is it one of those cozy, rainy days, but Taylor Swift's new album came out today. All I have to say is it's about damn time!

I have an extremely eclectic music taste. My favorite CD's are the mixes I make that have anybody from AC/DC to Eminem to Wynonna to The Goo Goo Dolls. I never listen to a whole song and I change radio stations every three minutes. Taylor Swift, however, is a completely different story. I listened to her first CD religiously last summer and I listened to every song in it's entirety. When Rascal Flatts came to Portland last May, Brittany and I drove down there, but really just to see Taylor, who was opening for them. And let me tell you, she was BY FAR the best part of the concert.
And so, in honor of the release of Fearless, I added a playlist featuring my favorite Taylor songs. I know I sound like a crazed fan. But she really is good. Even if you don't like country!
Oh yeah-I got a sweet new apartment and think I get to move in either next week or the week after. Still no job (: ( Stupid economy!), but I'm working on it!

Happy Birthday Hillary!

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Exactly 25 years ago yesterday, Hillary Dawn Kelsch graced the earth with her presence. She is now Hillary Dawn Kavran and she will probably kill me when she sees that I posted her birthday pictures on here. But I couldn't resist. Especially since her eyes are open and that never happens!


We had dinner at Casa Mexico and then some delicious chocolate birthday cake, made by yours truly. I know you can't see, but right next to the Scooby-Doo candle is a Mexican flag to go along with the Fiesta theme!

Anyways, I am super glad that Hillary and I are still such good friends. I really don't know what I would do without her! We've made a million great memories and I'm sure there are a million more to come! One quarter of a century down, AT LEAST three more to go!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
Hillary-isms:
"Put your brake up. We're on a heeeelll."
"Stop tickeling my tunnel."
"Who do I look like?
I look like Justin Timberlake."
"Look at those arches!"
"It's like an amusment park for my finger!"
LOVE YOU!!!!

Anti-bacterial Argument...

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As we were shopping the aisles at my most favorite store (Target, of course), Brittany and I got into a sort of argument. An argument about soap, to be exact.

Emily: Oooh look! New holiday soap. I dare you to smell this one. (It was the Toasted Hazelnut Method soap and it smells horrible!)
Brittany: Ewww. That is gross! Do any of these smell good?
Emily: Not really. I just always buy the plain, old, fragrance-free stuff.
Brittany: Yeah, we just buy all our soap at Bath & Body Works.
Emily: I know. You buy that anti-bacterial crap. You know you're just helping all those bacteria grow stronger. Soon they will take over the world.
Brittany: You sound just like Mike's Dad. You guys are all crazy. If we don't use anti-bacterial soap, then how do we kill all the gross germs?
Emily: Hello? There is nothing wrong with regular soap. How did people survive in the past without anti-bacterial soap? They did just fine. They probably did even better.
Brittany: Whatever. You need to get a real life. One that doesn't focus on what kind of soap people use.
Emily: Whatever yourself. You need to buy me my own soap to use at your house.

And then we were distracted by the toy section. However, I didn't give up on my soap crusade. Instead, I did some research and sent Brittany an email. Did you know that anti-bacterial soap has been found to cause a 30% increase in the amount of asthma and allergies in young children? It's all because they are growing in too sterile of an environment. And MRSA, that crazy new staph infection? Yep, just stronger bacteria that is resistant to normal anti-biotics.

So yeah, I'm sure this is one of my more boring posts. But I thought everyone needed to know!

Pumpkins, Transformers, and Jabbawockeez...Oh My!

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The first party of the season was at Hillary and Natalie's assistant manager's house. They seriously go all out. They do an amazing job and it was a great time. They created a haunted house of their very own and they even had Sheila the psychic from 105.9 FM there to read Tarot Cards and look into the future for everyone. It was definitely worth the 2 hour wait! In case you can't tell, we dressed up as 'Deal or No Deal,' complete with the shaving of Tony's head. Aaron was 'Dick-in-A-Box.' If you don't know what that is, it's a SNL skit that you should look up online. Very funny. Unfortunately, we didn't win the costume contests. Believe me, we tried. However, I now know that when we try to stuff the voting box, we need to switch up the handwriting!




For the actual holiday, I was in Idaho Falls. My dad and I carved pumpkins the night before and mine took FOREVER! I got a lot of compliments on it, though, so what can you do? I handed out candy with my mom earlier in the evening. We had so many trick-or-treaters, it was ridiculous. Seriously, there must have been like 75 people. We went through 6 huge bags of candy. There were some good costumes, though. I went and saw my cousins at Grandma Wava's house. Rylee was 'Pumpkin Spice' and Andrew was a Transformer. Tony, Hillary, and Whitley came over to visit and my Grandma totally dragged out the family videos. I don't know why, but I do know that she better watch out. She's in for some revenge! Afterwards, I stopped by Bowl-Ero to see my crazy friends. Avacado, Doug, and Greg had the BEST costume. They went as the Jabbawockeez from America's Best Dance Crew. I totally might have to steal their idea for next year! All in all, it was another spooktacular Halloween. Can't wait for next year!