Teenage Girls!!!!!!!

So today is Bethany's 13th birthday. Something good to celebrate with all the sad stuff going on in the world. She is "dictator for the day", as she likes to call it. Just a few quick things...
I was quite proud of my birthday card that Brandon and I picked out for her. I won't explain the story, but it's a good one that Bethany can explain sometime:

How cute.
Bethany is a cute 13 year old, and hopefully she keeps her sweet disposition throughout her teenage years.

Crocheting

Ever since Brandon left me (or I should say I left him, because he's back where we were before), I've been trying to come up with things to do with my time. It's not even that I hate being with my family, because I don't. I like being home. It's just hard to go from being with someone all day every day to only being able to communicate by phone and Skype (Although I did get to see him this week (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) which is my excitement) which i'll post about when I get brandon's camera back). My mom suggested I take up a hobby, which I initially scoffed. I just enjoy being by myself when I'm melancholy, moping around or whatnot. But, I took her advice and took up crocheting. This is my first attempt at it...

By the time I realized it looked bad, it had gone on for long enough that I didn't just want to give it up. So I decided to keep going with it. It's going to be for my hammock that we're hanging up in our study room in the apartment that we SIGNED FOR!!!! Very exciting. At any rate, it's getting quite big, and I am also moving on to other things. Namely, a blanket for our front room.
I'm obsessed. It's really funny, because this is just the thing I would make fun of normally. But now I know I can make baby blankets for when my friends start having children, and stuff for our apartment. Since we're all poor and stuff. I'm also going to make tablecloths, but not by crocheting. Anyway, if anyone has good tips for me I'd love to hear them!

My first temp job

Well, I survived my first temp job... and by survived I really mean survived. It was horrible.
So they called me and told me it was customer service for a company. I would be calling people who had recently bought a product and ask them about their experience.

FALSE.

I get there the first day (it was 1 PM to 5:30 PM originally), and they tell that they're supposed to recruit 240 participants for an auto clinic in New Jersey the weekend of May 6 and May 7. So what am I doing? Cold calls to people from 4 PM to 9 PM East Coast time, calling owners of certain cars to get them to come.
It was pretty interesting, to say the least. I got yelled at a few times, hung up on a LOT, and talked to some pretty interesting people. I was in a room with this girl named Sophie, and she was pretty awesome to talk to. I enjoyed it. For a few days one of the other temps was in our room, and she drove me nuts. She was such a pessimist and a one-upper. One of the other temps was a woman about 65 years old... bless her heart she was so nice but so weird. One time she complimented me on my boat shoes, and then asked me if I was on a boat. I didn't know how to respond, so I said no.
Imagine my joy when the temp agency told me my assignment ended earlier than they had anticipated. Hallelujah!!!!!! It was worth not  getting the extra dough... I am a firm believer that my mental health is much more precious than $10 an hour. And now I'm going to go back to babysitting until i get another job. And I get to visit Brandon next Monday. Yay.

Nothing is going according to plan.

I'll clarify.
Back when Brandon and I started talking about getting married, I had this whole vision in my head. We would either get married July 23 or December 22 (his idea) in the San Diego temple. We would have a gorgeous wedding reception somewhere that is nice but not extravagant, and we would honeymoon somewhere way far away from everyone else... maybe Hawaii? I even had our announcement picture planned out. He would be in a dark gray sweater, wearing his glasses (because I think they make him look very attractive). I would be in a navy blue dress that I bought a year or so ago. We would be standing in front of either a tree with changing colors (obviously if we were getting married in December) or a tree with blossoms everywhere).
Well, obviously that's not happening. But here's the thing. All of this, this is real. I keep telling Brandon that. Those ideas were fantasies, and obviously not realistic. But these pictures, the Newport Beach temple, possibly having our reception at the Bryan building, honeymooning no more than an hour from our families (San Diego and Maine)... that's our real plans. And, I love it!
So why do I keep trying to justify my decisions? No idea. "So where are you getting married?" "The Newport Beach templeBECAUSE we just thought it would be easier that way..." "Where are you thinking about having your reception?" "The Bryan buildingBECAUSE it's free, and if we have a free venue we can spend more money on other things..." "When are you having your reception?" "The night beforeBECAUSE we want to enjoy our reception..."
Seriously. What am i doing? That ends today. It's my wedding gosh dang it and I like how it's going! I don't need to justify anything to anyone.
PS 110 days... I"m counting down. And I am flying up to Idaho in 14 days to see Brandon... I can hardly wait.