Independence Day

Every once in a while I have a moment of sheer brilliance and I shock every one around me with the knowledge I forcefully threw down on them, today was not one of those days however. 

My mind has not been up to par lately and today my lack of brain waves really sunk in.
My coworkers will attest when it comes to how slow my brain has been, unfortunately for them they also have to deal with all the very stupid comments that seep through my already thin filter.
...
I was looking at a calendar the other day and when I came across the finding of Independence day, my mind drew a blank. I had no idea what this independence day was. I then quickly laughed out loud and realized how dumb I was.
If only it ended there.
Later I was talking to my coworker and she said she was going to Mexico for the Fourth of July.
I immediately asked do they celebrate the fourth there?
For some reason this whole American independence day wasn't sinking in.
In my mind all I was asking was are there going to be fireworks in Mexico for the Fourth?

Sad.

In my very slow state I realized that all the fourth is to me is an excuse to blow stuff up.
After I realized this, I took a little bit of time to reflect on what my independence means to me.
So my high school We the People teacher doesn't behead me using his Nerf gun I will make an effort to express that the Fourth is more than blowing stuff up and looking at big shiny things while saying
ooooo and ahhhhhh.

Fourth of July is a time when people feel a real stride of patriotism run through their veins. It could just be from all the grilled meats, but I don't think so.
There is something about seeing a flag on this day that means something so much more.
For one day people don't think about how messed up our country is, they focus on how far our country has come since one simple act of throwing tea into the harbor.
Living in Utah, or not watching the news anymore, has made me love this country.
Everywhere else it seems like the sky is falling.
 A lot of people are a lot happier with a lot less than Americans have, and a lot of people work so hard for what our government freely hands out.
Our country can only be as good as what it is made of; us.

THIS IS THE STORY OF MY LIFE. click on me. 

Gluten Free/Carnivore

This past week has been filled with everything but my favorite food group- carbs. 

I am now gluten free. 

That means no pasta, no bread, no cake, no cereal, no nothin.

I have literally had dreams of pasta; I miss it so much.

All I have been eating is salad, potatoes, and MEAT.

I love steak.

I am a carnivore. 

I have been since before I could walk. 

Meat was actually the inspiration for me to even start crawling. 

Like many of my other monumental stages in my life, my brother was there to help me along. 

He decided the most logical way to teach me to crawl was by sticking a yard stick in the back of my diaper and tying a piece of jerky to the end of it so that it dangled in front of me.

That was all the inspiration I needed. 

Off I was crawling. 

I feel so reassured that my brother is going to be a doctor.

When he sees someone who can't walk, he will simply hand them a yard stick and a bag of dried cow.

No other compares

All you need as a kid is a good friend. 

Well, it has been established I was a weird child, so when those friends weren't always around,

I made it work. 

One of my best childhood friends I can remember, was named Oreo:

We shared everything. Even my ice cream. 

He wasn't ours. 

Oh no. 

We are not dog people.

But we would have play dates. 

He would follow me everywhere, listen to my stories, and actually play with me. 

I don't know how hard it is for a dog to play the role of "dog" in the game of house though. 

He was the best dog ever! 

I miss this dog all the time. 

My heart has never loved another dog the way I loved Oreo.

In fact I don't think it has loved a dog at all. 

Oreo just kinda disappeared. I think the family that actually owned him moved away.

So we replaced him with a black and white cat named Miss Kitty....

Not as friendly... 

She is still alive, barely. 

I have decided that I will tell my children that I am allergic to all pets, including fish. 

All they do is latch on to your heart and then die. 

No fun at all. 

RENO, NV

 This is a picture of the drive from Reno to Salt Lake. 

It is the most boring drive out there- I am convinced. 

It is all dead and flat. 

Then you hit the salt flats and you really feel like you are in the middle of no where, driving on what seems to be a treadmill. 

You don't feel like you are moving at all. 

But the eight hours goes by fast when you have someone else with you. 

I drove with my sister, and we listened to This American Life.

We learned about Apple, carnivals, Obama look-a-likes, and lots of other really cool stuff you can't find anywhere else. 

The highlight of the drive had to be when a car of three teenage boys drove up next to us

 holding a sign that said :

CALL ME MAYBE

Personally, I love that song. 

My sister laughed, but wasn't so flattered. 

We then had the awkwardness of making sure that our car stayed a good distance behind or in front of them.

They were adamant. They even gave us their digits. 

Neither of us really felt desperate enough to call them up, unfortunately.

We went home because my sister ran in Bay to Breakers.

It is a 10K that winds through Golden Gate Park. 

There were crazies galore! 

Needless to say my family has already made plans to do it next year; I think we will fit right in. 

I love my family, but weird doesn't begin to describe us. 

I think we are more dysfunctional than anything actually.

My mother is the main culprit, but we all inherited the trait. 

These were our Christmas pictures a couple years ago. 

Awful. 

My brother and Dad refused to join. 

My family is awesome.

Every time I go home the food is always amazing, but I start to remember what makes my family so much

"fun".

The top quotes of this past weekend were:

-"When do you leave for Ughanna?"

This was said to Jaclyn, who is spending the summer in Uganda. Close mom,

-"I just want a shirt that says run on it or something"

This was said by Elizabeth as we walked into Nike town.

-"Wow, when I put these on it's like I'm seeing the world through Instagram."

And, this would be by me after I put on my new sunglasses. 

San Fran was a blast, except I didn't find my knock off purse. 

It might be because I was going into the shops asking for their fake bags, I didn't realize they were trying to pass them off as being real. 

I probably disrespected their Chinese honor.  

the most random place to sleep

Today at work I came across a person asleep under one of the study tables. 

I work in a library... not a hotel. 

At first I was really shocked to come across someone completely zonked out.

 The shock wore off real fast.

My next rational desire was to pull out my phone and take a picture.

he woke up. 

I can imagine his shock; waking up to a girl staring and laughing at you with her phone out.

 I didn't know what to do next so I just kinda ran away and pretended like my services were needed elsewhere.

This is after we made full eye contact.

He had a look of disturbance on his face, can't imagine why...

unfortunately I didn't get a picture.
DEPRESSING. 

Seeing him under that table reminded me of all the random places my parents used to find me sleeping. The reason I had the urge to take a picture is because my parents used to take pictures of me asleep all the time: 

Falling asleep with goggles on is not the best idea one can think of. They cut my circulation completely off. My mom recalls waking me up and seeing that my eyes were completely swollen and some what purple, removed the goggles and simply let me go back to sleep. 

I don't know why I had them on even. Clearly I was not planning on going swimming anytime soon. I would've been fully equipped with my pool floaties if that were the case.   

This is just funny. I'm glad my mom got the camera out before attempting to cover up her immodest 5 year old daughter. 

I can't even tell you how many pictures my mom has taken of me while I am sleeping. She thinks it is really funny for some reason. 

I blame her for all of my socially unacceptable behaviors. 

My sister claims I am the worst bed sharer ever. 

To that I say, it isn't my fault I wet the bed.

Not anymore though!  

And it isn't my fault that I enjoy sleeping in an L position. 

It is somewhat displayed here. 

I love to have my head father forward than my knees. 

Prime sleeping position. 

One time when me and my sister were sharing a bed, I accidentally had an accident (wordy I know). 

I just kept telling her to scoot over every five minutes or so, until there was no where else to go and the bed was soaked. 

OOPS.

She got revenge by bringing her rabbit into our room and letting it play on the bed while I was asleep. 

The rabbit had an accident as well. 

It was aiming for me. 

I spent the next hour in the bathtub, waiting for my mom to come home and actually do something about this. 

I was six and would not stand for rabbits in my bed.