I Don't Mean To Brag...

But really. I just thought I'd share my good fortune in this tidbit:

I ASK YOU THIS: HOW MUCH DO YOU THINK I PAID FOR ALL THIS?

And now I ask you this: Think I could have gotten it under $25? Maybe? Well what about under $10? Little tough, right?

Well I'm TELLING you this: I paid less than $5 for all that.
No, seriously.
What was it, again? $4.40 I think?

Shirts: 50 cents a shirt, four of them, thus $2
Mugs: Buy 1 get 3 free. Thus four mugs for fifty cents.
Backpack: 1.00
Old Disney Post Card: .15 cents
Two Mickey folders: 25 cents each
World Atlas [No I'm not using them as maps but for decor. You'll see in time!]: 25 cents

Missing anything? No? Well then. There you go. All of that for less than five dollars.

Granted, the clothing is a bit big. BUT things to do with clothes to big: shrink them, alter them, or find a way to wear them as they are. Should I start a fashion blog? I think not, we've more than enough I'm sure. But I couldn't resist!

And the mugs-

Look in my cupboard and there's already a vast assortment from superhero mugs to butterbeer, and more! I think this puts my limit over ten mugs now. That's a little embarrassing, isn't it? I just adore mugs. I like a good handle, a good grasp.
And if you know me: I FOUND AN IRISH MUG OKAY. I wasn't going to give into the sale but then I found that mug and was like "Hey, I can get three more for free! Hmmm" So that's what happened. It wasn't my fault, I'm a victim of my lovely heritage.

The folders... I didn't need them either. But Disney. They were DISNEY. My obsession is getting a little scary: a Disney blanket, stuffed creatures, pillow, more than two shirts, at least two mugs, a few notebooks, now folders, two purses, a wallet... my, oh my. It's almost frightful! Haha

The backpack was just nice and you know, girls and their bags. we never have enough.

As for the clothes... well like I said, I'll make them work. I've noticed though my style is forever changing and  currently a good bit influenced by a lovely, fashionable woman, Charla. You can check out her own blog and life at charlavail because she's just that awesome. Seriously. I envy her a little too much, I think. Her adventures in Alaska and Europe and everything just kills me!

AAAAAND that's it. 13 items for less than 5 dollars. I shouldn't have splurged, yes, I know. But I won't be doing any shopping for the next two weeks, I swore to myself! Scouring the streets for a job in Cedar now, and getting ready for the two classes I'll be taking this semester.

Cheers!

^My cobra ear cuff I bought before my birthday for about $2 Probably can't see it too well though eh?

Post Birthday Mirth

Sound: Doctor Who season 3 episode 6 'Evolution of the Daleks'
^ Andrew Garfield is in this episode and the one before. Thought you should know.

Just a quick post, I suppose. Last Friday I officially turned 20! My mom sang to me on the phone and said there should be a package soon of gifts! :D

Soon after, I got a call from Amanda, a new friend who lives with Lindsey, who I roomed with just over a year ago. New friends are definitely a good thing to have around your birthday! To be honest, I would not have been surprised if they forgot or anything, people do that all the time. I had hopes but not too many, because I didn't want to be disappointed.

And my goodness! I most definitely wasn't.

Amanda not only texted me happy birthday, but soon after she called me to invite me with her other friends to go to Sand Hollow! I almost said no but I'm SO GLAD I didn't. I took the leap and joined them- literally. I jumped off cliffs whilst there! Cliff jumping on my birthday!

Maybe up to 25 ft high? I have no idea, I don't do numbers. Worked my way up but finally jumped off the highest- screaming all the way dooooooooooown.

The sand/mud was a lovely desert red, and the water was so clear, I couldn't believe it. I think I read something about them having vents or something, you know, to keep it that warm. It had to have been 80 or something. But I loved it!

The Mitchell family joined us ladies out in the water for a bit, before we headed over to their house to rinse off. There we got to see just how sunburned we were [quite a bit! haha]. We showered off, got Hawaiian flavored snow cones [pina colada, YUM], and finally ventured away.

We went and got mongolian BBQ for dinner. Stir fry style- you shove as much as possible into a bowl of your choosing, watch them stir fry on their big thing [almost a show, really], then sit down and enjoy! I bought the smallest, but it fit me for about four servings that I took home and enjoyed over the weekend. So delicious!

My left overs with the last of my apple juice and my chopsticks from Japan :) Or was it China...? Somewhere in Epcot in Disney World, haha... but still. It was lovely!

We finally ventured home and they dropped me off for the evening. By then it was getting a little dark, about 8 or 9, I don't really remember. I sat down with a good movie, most likely The Little Mermaid, and then i went to bed!

AND that was my birthday. I never got on the computer to see if anyone told me happy birthday since i had no internet at my place yet, I have to go to the library which is on short summer hours, you know? But it was nice, a very fun birthday indeed!

Happy Birthday To ME!

It's my birthday!
Well, almost.
TOMORROW! Who knew? It kind of just popped up. But that's what happens when you're born in the summer. It comes sort of suddenly.

You know, I feel like my red hair is part of the reason I was born in the summer. Red just fits the summer doesn't it? I don't look good in the color but the chopped up mop on my head looks decent there, eh?

Anyways, yeah I need to work on updating, I know. I'll try do it weekly or something. I don't know. Updates: Family Reunion. Flu/Food Poisoning [can't figure out which]. Moving to Cedar. Alone!

Not really my own place- Katie will be moving in the next few weeks. But I found us a little place to live right next to campus. It's noisy with the windows open but I hate turning on the A/C so the noise makes me feel... less alone, maybe? Oh, and I already hate college. GWC was fun because it was simple. But I don't do things complicated. I do storylines and ideas that are fun with all these strings but this is real-world-complicated which quite frankly, does NOT settle well with me.

Anyways! As an upper, I went by the thrift shop and found something I knew I'd like. TA-DA!

Total spent: $1.25

Oh I do enjoy a good deal! Granted, I do not own an LP record player or anything- yet. But one of these days when I'm famous and rich, I'll have one and I will love it very much with my lovely records. And hey, if you know me well enough, you'll know why I'm so happy with these-

I'm much a cat person. [Though I really do love dogs as well. Go fur!]

Musicals! Broadway! And of Shakespeare origination so how can I not love WSS?

Frank Sinatra is beautiful and fabulous. If you don't know him, you better start now

Mary Poppins- British, witty, creative, and quite eccentric! My dream :)

-I got one more, Snow White, though she didn't have a case, poor thing! She's hiding away with the kitties, because I thought she'd enjoy that ;)

We'll see what tomorrow brings. I may receive a package, for one, hopefully! And maybe even a friend or two in Cedar will come by and say hi, at the very least. Wouldn't that be nice? I've come to accept that I handle being alone a little too well. But really, no one should be this alone on their birthday. Thinking I'll go to Smith's and get me some yummy ice cream, eh?

Ta- ta!

PS hey hey if anyone did have a record player.. ehm... and they're not using it... and it's not broken? We could make a deal! and c'mon, it's my birthday!!! ;)

Dinner's Ready

Music: 'Trust Us With Your Life' Improv Show

Okay, I know I have to get better at blogging. You'd think after years of writing, I'd have an idea how to write a basic blog, right? Apparently wrong.

Anyways, I'm in the middle of this tug-of-war to get an apartment. I said I'd take it, I could convince my friend, but then he was like "yeah well if you don't have enough people then I'm giving it to these six guys because that's a better deal, there will be six, blah blah blah" after he's already promised at least half of his rooms to girls.
Just imagine an anvil falling. I do.

ANYWAYS so I just wanted to make a quick, sort of late post, about DINNER. I'm supposed to make dinner at my house every Wednesday, we all have a day to make [or destroy] dinner. And if you know me at all, you know I can sometimes make popcorn. Maybe bake the same chocolate chip cookies if I'm lucky. But I have not been able to make bread rise in over a year, and I even burn the pancakes on the stove. I kid you not.

So I attempted again and I succeeded! I make easy, delicious [it's all in the onions, I swear] sloppy joes! I actually tried them out when I first got home and with a lot of help [I had to make like half the recipe and so my mom told me everything haha], I made them yummy. That was the first time they were in our house in YEARS. I loved them as a kid, but we had one bad batch and I never ate them again.

But these were DELICIOUS

I even managed to make a basic salad.

And french fries!

^Those are easy as all get out. You cut potatoes, rub them with some oil, spray a pan and dump them on there and sprinkle salt or seasoning if you'd like. Put them in at 400 or 450, whatever you like, and wait about 20 or so minutes until you decide they're done. Ta da!


On another note, I went to the County Fair for fun on  my last day of working there. We brought my cousin, Alyssa, my brothers, their friend Hunter, and Jordyn's boyfriend, Edie. While Jordyn and I worked, they... well, I'll be nice and not tell them the stupid things they did without us there to stop them. :D
I'll just show you a picture of my drink!

A butterbeer! Not quite as good as the frozen ones in Universal Orlando, but hey, it was half the price and still tasty! We ran our hands in some hot tubs, tried some swings, embraced massage pillows and tried fried oreos! [Not really that impressive, unfortunately] Then the day was done and we went home to crash after a long, fun day in the sun.

Now, I'm dusting all of our fake plants at home for money. This is how desperate I seem to have come. Just thought I would share. Booyah.

Look At The Time!

Sound: 'Bleach Blonde' by This Century
^ check them ooooout

WOW it's been a while. A month or so, eh?
Hm. So what has happened. WELL.

End of June:
I had a date! And if you really know me, then you'll know that's decently rare. Double date with Adam, an old friend from my "high school" stage I guess you should say? We grew up studying Shakespeare and the like together.

Man that was a long time ago. (It was a double date with his bro, Jonathon, and his date... oh no. OH NO. I'm so sorry I forgot her name! I want to say it was a 'C' or 'S'.... SORRY! She was very lovely, very fun, though! )
Um but yes. That was us in the audience for the Broadway play Wicked! My sisters sort of wanted to kill me but that is A-Okay! It was absolutely amazing. During Intermission we chatted and tried to guess what could happen next, seeing as I only knew about the first half. But then we got our questions answered and maaan it was amazing! I couldn't believe it. Seriously. We had such a blast!

Then!
Literally the next day, this!:

Okay, I know this weirded out a few people. The general population know I'm not such a fan of pink- anything pink! However, I've been considering this for quite a while. Months, in fact. You can ask my friends back in Florida! I've been wanting super short hair [time for a trim, yes??], and I wanted bubble gum pink hair. Like pale pink, you know?
My only problem is having darker hair. My sister, Jordyn, achieved such a color in her blonde hair with kool-aid. I tried the same and literally nothing happened. But at the moment, I was dying for something new and my sister had her dark pink dye lying around so... ta-da! This is what came out.

But be warned. Expect this in the future. At least a strip:

Because I'm dying for that light color... Ugh. I'll have to bleach it, though. That's the problem.... But it shall be AWESOME.

Anyways, onto July:
A week later, Warped Tour!
It was a little weird this year. It came to San Diego in June instead of August. Instead of getting the early prepaid ticket [which look SO COOL, I have three from the last few years], I got in free by volunteering. I helped American Rag magazine which was fun and easy.
They had a tent with a fan which was so nice. I ended up not seeing a few bands because I wanted to stay in the shade so much, haha... But I met a few fun and fabulous people. Two lovely sisters, two crazy brothers [I had to help one of them get a skelanimals fake tattoo off his neck because it got sticky in the heat and I couldn't stop laughing], and some others!
Ummm Then I had to run between Mayday Parade's set to the oooother side to see the last of All Time Low's set because they played at the same time [not cool!] But it was still cool. Then I reuinted with a few girls I met a year ago downtown at the House of Blues for The Maine- SO crazy they recognized me, it was so insane I still can't believe it. We talked for like thirty minutes and went inside together but eventually lost contact with the show began. It was crazy and it took me a minute, but its all cool.
Also ran into Meghan and Andrew from church! We hung out for a little.

Then to be honest, I left earlier than normal to go get dinner with my dad, grandma, and my cousin who got in town, Alyssa. After all that music, energy, and possibly drugs, I was feeling high and happy and that was a fun dinner...

Ended up hitting up the beach a few days later with her, Jordyn, and Eddie.

We were at South Mission Beach right by the rocks so since it's surfers area, we got kicked out after a short while. But we had a decent hour in the water, and we were soaking wet and COLD! But it was nice. Took Alyssa to eat her first Jack-In-The-box tacos and burger, yayyy.

Anyways, all was well. Lots of Mexican food once her parents arrived.

The fourth of july! INDEPENDENCE DAY!
Lovely day. We have more traditions than Christmas.
First: early to the Church Ward Breakfast at the Park
Then: Hurry home and CLEAN
Noon: Barbeque with friends! Invite right beforehand. Games, food, sweets!
3ish: CLEAN. Make caramel corn!
4ish: Head to Coronado!
We've been going there for fireworks for the last... four years maybe? We bring frisbees, games, and snacks. The Humistons have always joined us and managed to do so this year as well, yay! And another few people come as well :D

Lots of swimming for exercise, taking Eddison on walks [he's lazier than I am!], Oh I had a temporary job at the Del Mar Fair, aaaand NOW?

In about TWO WEEKS I'm heading up to UTAH for school. Currently in a rush to find a place to live!
A house with more girls, 10 mn walk, more expensive?
Or an apt with 1 friend, cheap, next to school? Hm?

Good Morning, America!

Sound: Daytrotter Session of "I'm Sorry" by The Maine

Okay so since it's been forever I figured I'd do another [daily] update. Aren't you lucky?
And I did recall: I DO have a few of these in Drafts that I'm still working on. My thoughts on dating, for example, and even better: big chunks about all four parks in Walt Disney World, FL!

Anyways, it's Monday Morning in the Petersen household.
As usual, I'm at my daily post: on the computer

Isn't it lovely? I really do need a desk.
But I get on, write a few thousand words a day, and of course, I have my television shows to catch up to:
New Girl
Modern Family
Improv-A-Ganza
Psych
Criminal Minds
Bones
and currently, I'm finishing up The Mentalist (In season 4, yes!)

*And more, of course. Such as researching Art Museums in San Diego. My mommy's taking me out and I get to choose the place. I feel slightly uncultured when I consider the fact I've never really been to an art museum. Unbelievable, right? That should change this Thursday!

Eddie managed to get Jordyn up (as long as they're together he's sort of like the cousin who doesn't really live here but is here anyways, you know that guy) early to go running but he came over and spent like three hours working in our front yard to help mom plant her avacado or lemon tree. [how to tell the difference when neither are blooming? great question]

He's very proud of those trenches, just so you know. Them trenches he did.
When he's not working at either of his jobs this summer, he's usually with Jordyn. Half the time that even includes hard work either for his family or over here because he has a really good work ethic. Pretty good example for my brothers, if they would look his way.
And probably me. But, you know, I'm busy.

Jordyn on the other hand took a few minutes to work on a skirt she's trying to sew. We girls know the basics of sewing anyways, and find fun fabric to play around with on occasion. So why not fiddle around? There are a few rips in some of my clothes I should probably take care of now...

Connor's got Camp at the beach this week so he'll be disappearing early every morning so he's out, and Jake'll spend his time playing yahtzee, studying German, or sneaking around with the itouch he just bought with Connor.

Treats for the family!
Oh ta da- Cinnamon Rolls Bread or something like that. Basically from I saw: a sourdough loaf with about 3 cups of sugar aaaand anyways made into cinnamon dough-y treats. Next to it is Texas Sheet Cake, my family's favorite version of brownies [but not me, NOT my favorite] from last night. We celebrated Father's Day a week early because my mom's leaving town with my brothers for YFF and such next week.

Another picture of proof my younger sister does more with her time than me.
Wow I need a job.
I hate Mondays.

My Spice Cupboard- And Pantry Of Thought

Exciting thing of the day: I dreamed I was tattooing a (my) cow.

^However I have decided to accept this as something more... well, more as an analogy. In case you didn't know, cows are one of my irrational fears [probably because I've always been a bit more of a city girl than anything else], and tattooing is a form of art, which I've always aspired to.
So it's like I'm conquering my fears, almost, with something I love.
Make sense, right?

Well it's going to get stranger for you.
I thought I'd share a thought or two before saying how my week has been. Or feel free to skim down because it's gonna get a little odd. So I was lying in bed at 10:26 PM last night, just thinking to myself and having those absolutely brilliant thoughts that you always get so late at night- and for once, I actually remembered it after I dreamed and woke up!

My Spice Cupboard (Analogy)
In case you haven't noticed, I don't immediately attach to everyone. Talking to me, you might be able to feel as if there's something blocking the two of us? We can make connections but it doesn't always bring us closer. I've just had the feeling that I make the effort but not enough to make us close friends.
So I've related many/most of my connections of people to a spice cupboard.
But don't take this too literally. I don't relate any of you to a certain spice or anything. You aren't cumin and you aren't cinnamon.
ANYHOO, I just feel like I get to my cupboard, and I have you labeled. "This person's mom" or "Kid I almost grew up with but not really because we were growing apart the entire time" or "mentor" or something along those lines. I know we shouldn't label people, but that's how I recognize everyone and I'm not too sure I could go back to scratch all of a sudden.
So when I talk to you, it's like I'm pulling out the jar of you with the lid off, and talking to "this person's mom" or something along those lines. Whoops. Made a little more sense last night to myself. I was just thinking how I appear so unattached to people and how I don't really mean to act as though I don't care.

Let's get onto something slightly more eventful: my life.

Scarily enough, these are the people I hang out with most. My younger sister Jordyn, and her boyfriend Eddie. They've been together since last September or so and are together a lot of the time, as in every spare moment.  Not that I can complain much. He helps out around the house, helps with a lot of the yardwork, and is almost amusing.
But we had a serious talk the other night which was good, I suppose. He wanted to know why I don't wholly heartedly approve and we dug into that for a bit [with Jordyn sleeping in the car with us], and I'm not used to serious conversations so it was pretty interesting.
It's [mostly] all good now.

Other things in my life:
-I'm still trying to get hired at O's Kitchen (originally Pat & Oscar's)
-Adam Mellor, an old friend from school, returned from his LDS Mission abroad in Russia! Pretty exciting. We went over there for an Open House kind of event to see him after all that time. He's doing swell.
And they had kitties! Their cat, Lady, had kittens a few weeks ago and so they brought them out for us. Eddie says he'll be taking two home in a few weeks, if possible, once they're ready to go. [If you're around San Diego, you should ask because they still have more!] They were all so tiny, fitting in my palms. Everyone in my family was loving them- except for my Dad. He won't let a cat inside the house.
-Still doing a little bit in the Re/Max Praecelsus Real Estate Office, that's getting me a little money.

And not much else.
NO WAIT

Camp Nano: Write 50,000 words in the month of June. I'm trying to to do it right now with one of my favorite stories that I'm rewriting. I'm already halfway done after 11 days! I didn't do any writing over the weekend but hopefully I'll get a good start today or something and finish up soon. It's about time I published a book!

And that's my life. Hoping to go to [my first] art museum this week with my mom. We'll see how that goes :D

-I realize this was a pretty crappy update. I'll try and find anything more that I've been up to, take pictures, and pretend my life is a thrilling roller coaster ride with a lot of upside downs. ; )