Shop 'til You Drop. Or Not.

I am a very picky shopper.

I know what I like, and I if I don't LOVE it, I don't buy it. The problem is, there are very few things (relatively) that I LOVE. That wouldn't be so bad, except I don't have the energy or the patience to go through every rack at every store to find things that I LOVE. It's annoying. Jeans shopping, especially. I try on two pairs and I'm done.

This morning my mother and I embarked on a quest to explore the wonderful world of consignment shopping. Gently used name-brand clothes for a fraction of the original price. Sounds pretty good, right? Except that at such stores, finding that one perfect item is like looking for a needle in a haystack. There are a hundred items that are too grungy, too short, too ratty, too weird, too 70's, too awkward, too whatever to every item that I like and might actually wear once or twice. And besides, I wouldn't classify myself as as a "designer" person fashion-wise. I take note of current trends, but if I don't like it or it doesn't work with my style, I don't buy into it. I've never worn a Hollister or Abercrombie & Fitch item in my life, and I'm content for it to remain that way.

Well, today I spent about four hours in six different stores and returned home with a grand total of two items, the beginning of a headache, and two tired feet. Shopping wears me out. Can't imagine why.

Photo credit: andrewarchy on flickr

Happy Feet

The other day I bought some shoes.

Some super-sweet, sleek-silver, sparkly-shiny dance-around-your-bedroom-singing-along-to-Taylor-Swift kind of shoes.

Yep. They're that awesome. They're kind of a departure from what I usually wear, but hey, variety is the spice of life, right? And besides, I do love them so. They make my heart happy.

By the way, did you know that Dorothy's shoes in L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz were originally silver? Check it out. Which makes my shoes that much cooler.

In the Interim...

Yeah, yeah, I know-- long time, no post.

Well, you will be glad to know that even though I have not been blogging, I have been doing other things. Things like:

• Going to Utah for my brothers to go to BYU soccer camp. I also was able to go to a rodeo when I was there. Yee-haw! I do like me a good rodeo.
• Starting an exercise program. I worked out FIVE DAYS in a row last week. For me, that is dang good. And I've worked out three days this week too. Woo hoo! Feelin' good.
• Beginning work on a personal budget. My parents recommended Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace as a good starting point. My father said that he has found Dave's advice to be sound. So, as Dave says, I'm working on controlling my money and telling it what to do so that lack of money doesn't control me. Sounds pretty good, huh? I have a feeling that learning how to do this now will reap huge benefits in the long run.
• Being interviewed for an editorial assistant position I applied for. Crossing my fingers...
• Going to institute on Wednesday nights. It's a good middle-of-the-week spiritual boost.
• Taking pictures with my family and friends. Yes, we got some strange looks, and I'm sure we inconvenienced more than one little kid when my friends and I took pictures on the playground equipment. Hey, you're only as old as you feel, right? Don't answer that.
• Painting my toenails purple. YAY! Red is actually my favorite toenail-polish color, but I like purple too. And blue. And occasionally Ferrari yellow.

Some shots from our family picture session:

Families are forever

Do I know these people??

Just kidding. I love my parents and all my siblings. :) Our picture was incomplete without my oldest sister, Tara, who is serving a mission in Chile. She has been out nine months already--can you believe it?? Time just keeps rollin' on.

Abbey/Mountain Road

Stopping on the dirt road, taking pictures, yelling at cows, having spontaneous waterfights...we do these things because we can.

And because we're just cool like that.

At one point, one of my friends yelled, "Stop! It's serenity! We have to stop and take a picture!!"

This is serenity. You can find it on a mountain road in Cascade.

 Car shots--Jasmine did a very good job of driving us up and down mountains, across the raging waters, and so on.

Look how well we packed that car--aren't you proud of us?? We were prepared! (Speaking of prepared, every year we resolve not to bring as much food as last year, and every year we somehow end up with about twice as much food as we need... Old habits die hard, I guess. But at least our moms don't have to worry about us starving to death in the woods anytime soon.)

"It's a Party on the Mountaintop, Top of the World"

The people whose cabin we stayed in the first night told us that it was a short drive to the trailhead where we could start the one-mile hike to Blue Lake, where supposedly we would be able to swim.

So Saturday morning after cleaning up the cabin, putting on our bathing suits, and packing up our stuff, we all hopped in the car and drove. ...and drove ....and stopped to ask for directions ...and drove... all the way up to what we were pretty sure was the top of a nearby mountain.

When we got there, this is what we saw: The parking lot was buried under at least a foot of snow.

Needless to say, our dreams of swimming quickly evaporated. Or froze, rather.

"Is that snow?? It's JULY!!" (We were on the top of a mountain, but still.)

We thought we might as well see the lake at least, since we had come all that way. So we started off across the barren wasteland that was the Blue Lake parking lot.

"Um, guys, where's the trail? Do we have any idea where we're going?" 

Not really.

We started down the mountain anyway.

"What if we die in an avalanche? Who's gonna find us?"

"Don't worry--I have a video camera. That way people will know what happened to us. Does anyone have a love confession to make?"

(Our "We're gonna die" faces)

Waterfall!

"Oooh--pretty flowers! Be careful--don't step on them! Save the wildlife!"

"I bet Sasquash lives in these woods!"

"Sasquash?"

"What the heck?? It's snow! In JULY!!!"

(Have we mentioned that it's JULY?)

"Tonight! Tonight! It's a party on the mountaintop, top of the world!"

"Don't know if we'll make it, but watch how well we'll fake it!"

(We never did find the trail.)

"AAH-AAH-AAH! AAH-AAH! AAH!"

We were definitely not going to swim, but we tried sunbathing anyway. This is us sunbathing--and trying not to slide down the mountain.

After slipping, sliding, taking several pictures, singing silly songs, making dire predictions, and failing to find the trail for awhile, we decided to call it quits and hiked back up the mountain to the trailhead. 

There were some people up at the trailhead, and they teased us a little bit for not going all the way down.

"It's actually a hot springs, you know."

"Really??"

"No, it isn't."

We laughed, and had them take a picture of us before we left.

The same people also informed us that if we went back down the road a little bit and looked over, we would be able to see the lake.

Yep, that's it. The blue area underneath all the ICE and SNOW.

Swimming was NOT going to happen. Polar bear plunge in July? There's something wrong with this picture.

"Camping"

My brother insists that I've never really camped in my life.

I won't argue--he's right. And I can't say I've lost much sleep over that fact. (Which is part of my point--I'd much rather sleep in a real bed than on the cold, hard ground.) I shall elaborate.

Friday night, five of us--Janae, Sammy, Rachel, Jasmine, and I--all piled into a minivan, left Jasmine's house, and began the drive up the winding canyon that leads to Cascade and McCall.

About ten minutes after we left, we realized we'd forgotten something rather significant. Jasmine called up her mom.

"Hello? I'd like a frozen cheese pizza from the downstairs freezer to go, please."

After retrieving our dinner, we once more set out on our grand adventure. For real this time. A couple of hours (with me nursing a bottle of ginger ale to keep the carsickness at bay), a couple of CDs, and a few wrong turns later, we arrived at our destination: The cabin where we spent our first night. This is what we call camping:

Spacious rooms, and porch with a view (Sammy shows it off rather well)

A kitchen and bathrooms (we love our indoor plumbing)

We were very glad we did not leave our pizza. And Rachel made a lovely pizza cutter.

There was even a designated area for anyone who wished to smoke. Fortunately, none of us do--no ifs, ands or butts. :)

The Six of Us

6 girls + 3 days + 2 cabins = 1 ROCKIN' weekend.

I returned on Sunday from the retreat to McCall, Idaho, that my friends and I from high school have gone on every summer since we graduated. (I've decided to call it a "retreat," because the word "camping" doesn't really cut it. You'll see why.) The weekend was full of fun, laughter, a few mishaps, and the general craziness that is the six of us.

Get ready, 'cuz here it comes. :)