All of these make me happy.

And that's all there is to say about that.
Now back to As I Lay Dying... :/

Even though parts of it were a bit odd

I still loved Paris, Je T'aime.

ASU and a morning hike.

On our way to the game...

Mourning the loss...


Psh! It's okay!

I went hiking this morning with Mindy and Josh and we conquered Camelback.
Just a couple more weeks until Tyler comes to visit.

Even if you go mild, you're still playing with fire. Ha ha. Hm.

This 1x2 inch packet is so much more lethal than the "Marry Me" V-Day conversation hearts. You think you're safe by getting mild sauce but no -

that Taco Bell mild sauce has the power

to make or break your relationship with your significant other.
I find this both hilarious and terrifying. What a proposal.

Anyway, last night the whole family went down to Gilbert High for Brett's JV football game and WOW.

It was AWESOME.

Brett scored two, count 'em two, touchdowns against Highland, one of which was a 52 yard run to tie up the game. I speak for everyone when I say how excited, proud, and happy we are of him. He got his chance and he used it. When he jumped the fence to hug all of us, I don't think I was the only one with tears in my eyes.

Here's a picture from the game last week against Mesquite. Dad, Aaron, & Mom.

And the man of the hour, Brettsky.

It's an old picture back from 2005 but the pinky in the air was just too great not to post.

Book Recommendation

Gunnar Ardelius and his book I Need You More than I Love You and I Love You to Bits are both pretty wonderful. Granted, the copy that I have is a translation since Ardelius is from Sweden... what exactly do they speak in Sweden? According to wikipedia, Swedish is the dominant language - well there you have it.

Anyway, like I was saying, the book might be more wonderful in Swedish, but I like what I've read in English. It's a really quick read and the format is a bunch of short prose narratives about two teenagers, Betty & Morris, and their first experiences with love. With each other of course. Though it doesn't end happily ever after, the whole process of their relationship is just so relatable (I guess that would be the word for it). This part really caught my attention:

"I don't think every person is unique. If every
person is unique, then unique is a completely unnecessary word."
"Don't you think that every person has something specific that makes them special?"

"Maybe, but if that's the case, then people are 99 percent boring."

"And you, are you one of the few people who isn't boring?"

"I don't think I'm any more remarkable than anyone else. The difference is that I've discovered that I don't need to go around pretending I have a personality."

I just find it an interesting response to the phrase "Everyone is unique." I still think we have personalities though. It's the unique combination of the characteristics of our personalities that makes us unique. I also liked this part:

"If anything interesting happens, I just think how

I'll tell you about it as exactly as possible later. Today on the way to school I saw an earthworm that had dried onto the asphalt and was stuck there. If I'd told anyone at school that, they would've just laughed. But when I thought about the earthworm, I was totally sure you would understand. It was just hard to wait all day."

"What did you think?"

"That it looked sad."

Eclipse. And my soulmate.

I succumbed to my impatience and bought Eclipse - in hardcover because paperback isn't available.

And when the saleslady suggested that I just borrow the book from a friend until it comes out on paperback, I scoffed, laughed at myself, and explained that my patience had run out.

And I had a gift card.

I love you and I really miss you.
I am sorry our souls don't always seem to connect

but I find myself always getting caught up in things

like learning and the future and

I think I often forget to take a step back

and remember what's important.

You.

In case you weren't aware,

I

Love

Halloween!

Procrastinating but I thought you all should know that this

is my favorite new dress &&&&&&

my favorite baby brother.

Now on to my application essay about intelligence theories and why to never tell kids that they're "smart."

...

Un Sens Unique

Buy a small book of poetry and make a cutout the size of the ring through all of the pages. Place and tape the ring into the empty space. Write your own special poem, insert it into the first page of the book and present it to her.

Nice to meet you, etsy.com

I have been introduced to a magical website called etsy. It's been a long few weeks of school what with midterms and papers, so I have spent my entire day not doing schoolwork. I went to work, went shopping, and developed photos from two mysterious one-use 35 mm cameras that I found in a junk drawer (will scan). Then, I put the word "french" into the etsy search and found the following beautiful, whimsical items.

A violin... need I say more?

L'elephant dit: Bonjour! Trop mignon!

Earrings!!

Ooooh.

This reminded me of those books that my mom used to get me and Mindy - the ones with the little neclaces on the inside of the front cover.

Lotus flower earrings... lotus-eaters? eh.
Apparently, according to my mother, this is a common phrase. Much like my experience with "glutton for punishment," I've never heard it before:
"I love you more than yesterday and less than tomorrow."
So sweet.

The inside of this pendant contains something written in French about vampires - Twilight anyone? I am so excited for the movie. :)

Awww, birdies.
This one is just plain cool. From where the compass is pointing and around clockwise: I love you, a little, a lot, passionately, or not at all.

Mmmm, breakfast bowl for delicious

cereal and milk!
This pendant has real dried flowers inside. It made me think of when my sister and I would try to dry flowers in the back of massive books from the family room bookcase only to forget that the flowers were still there.