The Poke from Hades: My Biggest Fears

Most of you know me well enough to know exactly how I feel about needles. I'm definitely, no-doubt-about-it petrified of them. Every time I have my blood taken or get a shot, the room starts to spin and my chair suddenly becomes less stable. It's been quite the sight for people including Frederick, Brianna, and my mother, all of whom find it rather humorous. Recently, I've been lucky enough to experience the thrill of an IV needle....three times. I always used to think that the more shots and needles I came in contact with the better. I figured familiarization would lessen my fear. Wrong! I'm still scared stiff. Here are a few other things that make my skin crawl: any kind of snake, great white sharks (which I also happen to be fascinated with), horror movies based on true stories, being tickled, tests, my teeth falling out, vampires (the few that exist), the sound of knives being dropped, and losing those I love.

A Little Bit Lovesick

Last Saturday was the ever-dreaded Single's Awareness Day. I say ever-dreaded because it always has been....at least for me. This year was different. It's the first time I've ever been in a relationship during Valentine's Day and I must say I was a little excited about the change of pace. I had the day off work and so did Frederick. I was sure something fun and exciting was planned behind my back. I, as usual, was correct :] and to Freddy's credit, I did underestimate him. First I need to rewind to Friday night. I was working with Clare and Abby during Scrap-Mania, a nearly all night extravaganza full of women with large black rolling cases, embellishment jars, and a whole lot of laughs. When I arrived at work, I was feeling slightly ill. I'd had a pretty scratchy throat all day and a pounding headache. I brushed it off as I'm prone to get migraines on busy days and sore throats have been my trademark since I was barely walking. Nevertheless, by the end of the night I felt like I was swallowing knives while someone hit me in the back of the knees with a baseball bat. It was bad. Fred picked me up around eleven thirty, dragged me up the stairs to my apartment, gave me some medicine, and made sure I got to bed at a decent hour. I slept like a rock. I can't remember the last time I fell asleep that fast and snoozed that hard. I woke up around one the next afternoon with Frederick nowhere to be found and a huge vase of pink gerber daisies and lillies, a homemade card, and a tin of Dove chocolates sitting on my desk. I knew he was up to something. He then walked in and told me to hurry and get ready so we could head out. Where were we going? Downtown Salt Lake City. We stopped in American Fork to eat at a new bakery cafe, one of my favorite spots for lunch. It was delicious while we were there, but once the time for dinner reservations at a hibachi place rolled around, my stomach was turning cartwheels. I felt like the freeway was an ocean wave and I was in need of some serious Dramamine. The rest of the evening progressed and I felt steadily worse. I spent the hours from eight at night to four in the morning throwing up and watching the room spin. Seasick? No, no, no. More like "lovesick"! We didn't take any pictures due to my health conditions, but I did snap a few of the flowers, card, and my very own Valentine :] thanks for reading and Happy Love Day to all of you!

What's Another Year?: Freddy's Birthday

February 5th was Frederick's 19th birthday. Wow. Crazy right? Needless to say, the day turned out wonderful. Though he was unable to escape going to class on his special day (I'm terribly mean right?), he went and was happy about it. After our last classes, we met up with Nick, Sam, and Chett at Noodles & Company for lunch. It's always fun to watch the Ogden boys together. They're witfully entertaining and always making fun of one another. Next we headed to Albertson's to pick up the cake which Fred so cleverly captioned "Happy Birthday or Whatever". It would almost seem like he was slightly bitter about adding to his age. Dinner was next and that took place at Los Hermanos, one of the best Mexican restaurants in Provo. For those of you that don't know, Fred LOVES Mexican food. Below is a picture of his rather hefty meal. I have to admit I laughed when he told the waitress he would need an oxygen tank on the side to get to the top of that mountain. It was a fun atmosphere and we spent much of the meal discussing his plans/goals for the upcoming year. After dinner, we went back to his apartment where Chett, Nick, James, Jon, and Cedric were waiting to cut the cake. We were late because we had to stop and buy the candles which I forgot. Hey I'm not perfect despite common opinion :] ha ha. After a near cake fight, everyone ate up and watched the rest of "Fight Club". The boys also enjoyed a rousing game of Halo (blah blah change the record). It was simple but fun and I thought the entire day turned out to be a success. Happy birthday, Frederick!

Yes, It Is All About ME :]

All of our lives we are taught to do good deeds by our ever challenging parents and even sometimes by responsible friends. We become conditioned to believe in the well being of others and often begin to neglect ourselves. So where does it stop? When are we allowed to be selfish? Is there some sort of invisble boundary that once crossed excuses our ignorance? I must admit I'm still trying to figure this out. I like to think I'm full of good intentions, constantly trying to do nice things for people. I've had moments where I've realized I need to slow down, take care of myself, and not worry about others so much. But what about love? When you share that sort of intense emotion with another, is there such a thing as too much? It took me a semester and a few bad grades to realize that this state does exist. We often begin to feel like our own lives are under control and try to take on the fix-up situations of those we care about. Some might call it charity, others would label it a maternal instinct. Worrying so much about another's condition caused me to let my own priorities and obligations fall by the way side. I forgot about myself. As I reconnect now, it's important that I share what I've learned. You are only given one life....there is no retry, no freebie, and no second chance. It's up to you what you do with that life, but I suggest you find what ultimately makes you happy and live that life FOR YOU. I'm not telling you all to drop everything and become one of the snobbish girls you avoided in high school. I'm not saying that acts of kindness are a waste of time. The point I'm trying to demonstrate is that you should always make yourself your number one priority. If you keep yourself in line, others will be inspired to liken themselves to you. You'll become the happy, go-lucky soul who has it all together, someone I've been seeking out for a long time. Your life should be about YOU and the people who will be drawn to you by your responsibility, charisma, and determination.

Dental Surgery, RedBox Frenzy, and Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies?

I've always had a natural ability to nurture....or at least that's what my mother has always told me. I loved dolls as a child and even today I am still drawn to babies and young children. However, I may have underestimated my own abilities as a caregiver when I took Frederick to Utah Surgical Arts last Wednesday to get his wisdom teeth taken out. We arrived around one thirty and after a quick consultation, the dental assistant's took him back to be sedated. Yes, I said sedated. I must say I'm still slightly bitter about my own mother neglecting to take me to an oral surgeon for this procedure. Nevertheless, I was left in the waiting room to....well, wait. It took about an hour and a half. I figured "wow, not too long" and "if it was that fast, he'll be just fine". Upon entering recovery, I was faced with a new idea. I was greeted by a loopy redhead in a "fake" wheelchair who was flaunting a mouth full of gauze. He grinned and waved wildly as I walked in. I laughed as I took a seat next to him. Then, Brenna, the surgical assistant, came in to give us recovery instructions. Between Fred telling the heart monitor to "be quiet so he could handle this" and his constant outbursts of "Strawberry Fields Forever", I was surprised I obtained the needed information as well as I did. Then I watched as Brenna gave him two cans of Treetop apple juice through a syringe. I've never seen anyone quite so thirsty. Next we were going to attempt to get him to the car. He insisted that he "try this himself" and as he bounded from the chair to the door, Brenna and I found ourselves trying to contain him. Once in the car, he went into an in depth explanation of how airbags work and numerous requests for warm pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. The drive home took a little time, but he entertained himself by playing every single Beatles song on my iPod....twice. We stopped by the pharmacy to drop off some prescriptions and then headed back to my apartment. It took about fifteen minutes to convince him that the elevator wasn't broken and to get on board. Once we got him inside, he had to tell Marissa, my roommate, about his traumatic surgery. I must say we both found his attempt rather humorous (he was so tired). Then I laid him down on the couch and about twenty minutes into Hercules, he was out cold. Shortly afterward, I went and bought us a couple of strawberry shakes from McDonald's along with about six DVDs from RedBox to keep him occupied. When I got home, he was up and hungry so I gave him his shake and I started eating the other. I left the room to get him some water and when I came back, both cups were empty and he was asleep. The rest of the night went on like that....he'd wake up, eat Jell-O or caramel pudding, and zonk back out. The day after the surgery, he did acquire a most mysterious case of hiccups. This happened every time he got out of bed and because he was so exhausted, it got rather frustrating to attempt to sleep when every five seconds he had to hiccup. I must say that taking care of someone after anesthesia was more challenging than I'd ever imagined. I did manage to take some rather great pictures of him throughout the recovery process (day of the surgery, percocet adventures, etc.), ones that I'm sure he'll kill me for, but I had to share the humor with all of you.

Kodak's Friendly Impact

I guess it's all part of this big scheme of growing up. You misplace things and then in a moment of frantic hesitation you go on some cleaning binge. It is then that you locate important documents like your first ticket or a copy of a birth certificate and in my case....even some old photographs. Some of them I had forgotten about completely. Others I wish I had never lost and had been missing them every second since I had. Is it some sort of reminder? A peculiar sign perhaps? I'm not sure exactly. Then again, what can you be sure about at eighteen and a half years old? Needless to say, I'm just happy these pictures were located. I ran down to Wal-Mart's copy center at eight o'clock at night just to ensure that I had duplicates on hand from now on. I'm glad I had the opportunity to be reminded of my crazy yet worthy past.