april, i'm sad you're over!

..i always really like april.

 note to self : never stick something under your arm at a store that is carrying a bag - you will walk right out of the store and not realize that you have committed theft until you are almost home. 

as part of my birthday present i made j-man come get mani/pedis with me. sadly the place was really busy and they did a terrible job so he probably will never do that again but it was still fun! 

after weeks of taking a break we went back to my favorite thai place and i think i'm getting sick of the phad thai and IT MAKES ME SO SAD. i hate when food that once brought you so much joy just makes you sick. 

and, after months and months and months of not seeing old companion sister starley she happened to be in boston for a work trip! we met up in the north end for lunch and cannoli and it was so fun to catch up with her. 

my grandpa had a 90th birthday surprise party!!! i really hate missing out on things so my dad was sweet to facetime me. sadly i forgot what time the party was and was actually on my way to go sailing so it was kind of a miracle that we even connected for a few minutes!  

i was happy to see him and be a part of his party! (kind of)

then the sailing happened after the facetime failed. thanks captain chip! or whatever your name was

seasonal mount auburn photo with the nat

and a bonus picture with sister jordan! natalie is a good person and takes the sisters out to dinner regularly and then sometimes i join her. sister jordan is a convert and has worked for gladys knight the last five years in vegas! i told her to tell gladys hello for me. 

bonus picture number two and three would be facetiming with this dear ashlie friend of mine. it was one of the happier hours of my recent life. ashlie come to boston already!

i need you to imagine me and about 10 other girls doing yoga on the grass in the picture above. sunset yoga is one of the best things that has ever happened to me and i need to figure out a way for it to happen every day. 

and look! it's my netpal! me and my homegirl sonam have been writing emails back and forth for the last few months through a program my work has with a local middle school. we got to go to their science fair and see their projects and then eat lunch with them. i got my last email from her today which included this - "I'm gonna miss reading and writing emails to your fun, excited, and always interested personality! Everyone was like, "OH MY GOSH, YOUR NETPAL IS AWESOME! SHE'S SO YOUNG AND HIP!" And I'm just like, "Yeah, I know right!" *hair flip* haha, I'm not kidding though!"

yep guys. if you want to feel good about yourself just start emailing a 7th grader.

also, can we talk about how the last few weeks of spring blossoms have been unreal? new england sure knows how to do spring and fall right with all of these trees everywhere. i've taken 4,934 pictures of them so don't worry, you'll get to experience it too.

natalie was nice to gather some gals together for a belated birthday dinner. i'll tell you something, you can really tell who has lived in utah and who hasn't just by someone's enthusiasm for texas roadhouse rolls. some people just don't get it!

and then the next night i went to A CIRCUS IN A TENT. i got there a little late and walked in as the horses were running around and i guess i looked really excited by it all because the usher was like "oh i can tell from your face that you haven't been in here yet, let me help you to your seat" haha.  i loved that it was small and intimate and i'll say it again - in a real tent. old circuses have always fascinated me so it was fun to feel like i was at one for a minute. 

and then that is the end for now because i got overwhelmed with how many photos i have of life and had to stop going through them. but when i bring myself to blog again you can look forward to weekend trips to nantucket/cape cod and brooklyn! and many blossom photos in between. 

work and new caanan and conference and stuff

work: 

last week (darn it, this is now two weeks ago) was pretty eventful. gave blood, organized my heart out, and threw a birthday party for all of our fake test patients since their pretend birthday is april 4, 1944. 

(this also happened to be my one year vecnaversary!! ..so i just pretended the party was for myself)

(and also the company truck was being used so my dear work friend tim offered to take me to the store to get everything. he does all the facility work for our company and dresses like my dad and poses for the camera like my dad too so i rather enjoy him)

last week awarded some nice temple time which i appreciated. i love driving up route 2 and seeing the temple majestically placed in front of the sunset. it is always my favorite. 

new caanan: a few girls headed south to natalie's home in connecticut for conference weekend and were met by this handsome devil...just like this haha

in between conference sessions on saturday we went to do a little window shopping in the very quaint downtown new caanan. every time we walked by the sign below our eyes did tricks on us and we all thought britches was a different word and thought it was a bit weird to have a name like that in such a classy place haha. 

"this better be the only wedding card i ever give you" = so funny to me.

crepes!

that night we headed to stew leonard's (do we all remember stew leonard's?) and everyone was really excited to experience the world's largest dairy store. 

sunday was lovely. 

it was nice to be in a real home for conference but probably wasn't the best idea for us to sit on comfortable couches and chairs while watching..

because this had a tendency of happening

i wasn't exempt.

just another reason to re-read/watch the talks later i guess!

the next day my cute grandpa turned 90 years old! he doesn't hear very well and doesn't have the internet or a cell phone so i sent my aunt a screenshot of an instagram shout out for him to see.  hopefully it wasn't too confusing for him. (and the picture to the right was sent to me over the weekend, they were loving life so much!)

instead of being with my grandpa for his birthday i got to hang out with natalie and these fun after school friends. we tried to get them to make paper robots and these pictures might make it seem like they enjoyed it but that would be a facade. it was more like:

- "this is too hard I HATE THIS"

- "all my pieces are blowing away (proceeds to shove the rest on the ground), i'm outta here i'm goin home this is stupid"

- "why you guys makin us cut out these stupid robots at this park where all of our friends are playing basketball? WHY DO YOU LIKE TORTURING US? "

ah, the joys of service. 

april, welcome.

aaaand it is may already. 

well after a few months of hanging out at all of boston's hot spots by myself i got a real job! 

being unemployed in the dead of winter was pretty awesome but i am very grateful and happy to be an adult again! kind of sad that I didn't time my unemployment better (i.e. i should have been unemployed in the summer rather than the winter..what was i thinking?) but everything happens for a reason so i'm excited for the opportunities this new job will bring. 

a celebration was definitely in order so roommate maren and i did some grocery shopping at target! i just really wanted a personal pan pizza.

the first weekend in april (i'm just a little behind on blogging) was so nice. john and i went on a little dinner date with grace and dave to a vietnamese restaurant. the food was great but the real highlight for me was this baby watching her ipad the whole time haha 

then we parted ways and headed to see charles strouse SING AND PERFORM ALL OF HIS BROADWAY HITS. i'm talking bye bye birdie and annie medleys people. it was awesome. 

this would be me meeting him afterwards and you can tell from my huge cheek that i was just as happy as he was. he told me i reminded him of his daughter! i appreciated that. 

i'm obsessed with cannoli's these days and want grace and dave to be obsessed too. we picked them up to go on what is becoming a pretty regular occurrence (late night cannoli runs in the north end at bova's, a 24 hour (!) bakery) and i think they liked it! at least baby alta liked it i'm sure. 

we had this great idea of being the easter bunny for my roommates so we went to the nearby grocery store, raided the easter aisle, and then came back to my house to put it all together. my roommates said we really did sound like parents just giggling in my room after telling them they all had to go to bed or the easter bunny wasn't going to come haha. i really loved it so much and wish i could be the easter bunny everyday. i was especially proud of my letter i wrote and the creepy easter bunny picture we found in the paper that definitely made my efforts go from mediocre to awesome. 

and there it is in all it's glory. sick peeps and chocolate bunnies even made their way in that basket!

church was so nice the next day.
this picture isn't very good and it looked way better in real life but i kept staring out that window to see those hot pink blossoms through church and it was so dreamy. everyone gave really thoughtful talks and everything was centered on Christ and the many things he has done for us. all three hours were perfect and i am so grateful for the preparation everyone made to make it such a lovely easter. 

all the pretty blossoms just added to the niceness of the day

i got to spend some quality time with my roommates which i always enjoy

we had a lovely spaghetti dinner

and the easter bunny thing was a big big hit! they loved feeling five again. 

and to top off the day i got this sweet picture of my grandpa (thank you aunt jeri!) about to blow out his candles because easter so happened to be his birthday! happy birthday grandpa! i sure do love you. 

so..the first week in april was a success. hopefully i can blog a little better this month so you can see all the other nice things that happened last month too