Never Trust Parking Attendants

About 2 weeks ago my friends Amanda, Christi, sister Hannah, and I all went on another mini road trip...this time down to Washington DC. I LOVE road trips. They are just awesome, period.

And even though I used to complain about where I live, it's actually pretty cool because I can take day trips to SO many different places...Philly, DC, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, etc...and they are all within 2-3 hours away and you can just make a day of it without having to drive forever. 

Well we looked all over the place for a parking garage close to (where we thought) the museums were knowing we would have to be paying $25 stinking dollars to rest your vehicle in between 2 dinky white lines for a mere 2-3 hours...(seriously, who came up with the whole "paying for parking" concept, and THAT stinking much?!)...and we thought we were within like 3 blocks of our destination...and we see a sign for $10 parking...HECK yes. We thought before we parked we would double check with the attendant to make sure we weren't too far away...and he said

"Oh yeah, you are only about a 5 minute walk from all the museums."

 Boy, he played us like a fiddle in the middle of a country dance in Mississippi.  

Try a FIVE mile walk through the city!! Ugh. We were so ticked. Good thing we brought the GPS with us walking.

But the museums we went to were really awesome, and the company was even awesomer. We went to the ones with pop culture and real artifacts from movies and stuff. AWESOME! Like, we got to see Dorothy's ruby slippers, and the scarecrow's hat and shoes...for real!

I was totally thinking about Night At The Museum 2 the entire time.... 

"why these aren't real rubies at all..." LOVE that movie...haha

And you KNOW i had to reference Titanic when we came to a part about ships...the railing was just screaming my name.

Amanda, Hannah, and Me in front of the Washington monument (you can kind of see it in the background).

Christi, Hannah, Amanda, and Me 

Sisters! Hannah and Me

And guess where we stopped on the way home...

heck yes, the Cheesecake Factory!! 

I am in love.

Me and Christi!

Seriously, when are they gonna build one of these closer to me???

I stole all of these pictures from my friends facebooks...I totally failed and lugged my heavy SLR through the city and when I went to take the first picture...no battery! FAIL! Oh well, maybe that made it lighter to carry around through 5 miles of city?? Haha, yeah, I didn't think so.

Movies You NEED To See Volume 1

The other week, one of my favorite bloggers, Lauren, did a post about her top 10 movies required to be her friend.  I thought that was a GREAT idea!

I LOVE movies, in fact, my best friends and sisters and I constantly talk in movie quotes, much to the confusion of others around us who havent memorized these movies yet. And its one of life's greatest joys for us when we randomly bust out a line from a movie and someone understands what we are saying..haha. They instantly become our friends.

So... here we go...

My top movies I absolutely love /quote the most/you need to see are:

The Little Mermaid

 Heck yes....Has been my favorite my whole life...my sisters and I even went to see Disney Princess on Ice....in high school.  And yes, it was amazing!  And when they re-released it onto dvd a few years ago, my friend and I had a little mermaid release party:)

A Walk To Remember

Oh my GOSH. Words cannot describe how much I LOVE this movie. Just, wow. I remember bringing it home on tape when it came to video and we watched it and I just was in LOVE the entire time, and when it ended, my mom, sister and I pushed rewind, and watched it all over again. AMAZING movie. Also, the first movie I remember crying at.

17 Again

I wanted to see this movie when it came out to theaters, but I didnt get to. Instead, my sister and I rented it while house sitting a few months later. I didn't know how much I would LOVE this movie. It is flipping HILARIOUS. Just...do yourself a favor and go see it, now. And if you don't have acrush on Zac Efron already, you will after seeing this movie. It worked for me:)

Titanic

As if my last few posts weren't enough of a giveaway, I freaking LOVE this movie. Hello. Just, I can't even begin to explain:) And I love Leonardo DiCaprio.

Pride and Prejudice

The first time I watched this movie, it took me a little bit to get into it, just because I couldn't understnad what they were saying. Ha. But by the end of the movie, I was literally swooning. Oh my gosh....this movie is absolutely wonderfuly amazing and perfect! I want a Mr. Darcy...every girl needs one!

She's The Man

One of the most hilarious movies I have EVER seen. The first time I watched it I laughed so hard I was crying, like throughout the whole movie. And I have seen it like 100 times since and laugh out loud every time I watch it.

Famous Friday

The other night my sister and I were reminiscing over some of our  favorite memories. And we started talking about concerts (so far we've probably been to about 200...no lie) and all the people we've been blessed to meet.  I mentioned this week that Lifehouse is my favorite band, and one day I actually got to eat lunch with them.

Feel free to bask in the amazingness that is this picture with me:

Rick (drummer), Me, Jason (singer, guitarist), Hannah, Bryce (bassist,singer)

(pardon the watermark, i stole this from han's facebook because i had a sad computercrashinglostallmypictures incident ).

Notice the bandaid and scratch on Jason's nose and forehead? I remember him telling us he ran into a glass door in the middle of the night walking in his hotel room to use the potty.

And Hannah, my lucky sister, got to sit next to Jason. And he dropped his knife on her lap. And he was totally flustered and apologized and grabbed it quick, looking very embarrassed. (I didn't know hot, famous guys got embarrassed!)  And then about 7 seconds later, she did the same exact thing to him. haha.

We all shared chips yo. I shared chips with Lifehouse. And then Rick offered me some of his hot wings. And lets be real...I could have eaten a napkin that day, and I wouldn't have realized, I was so nervous.  And just a word of wisdom if you ever get to eat with your favorite band/famous people...dont order something messy like a chicken sandwich. Yeah. Not a good idea.

And take a piece of Jason's quesedilla when he offers it to you, and then freeze it and keep it for life! I don't care if you can't figure out how to non-challantly put it in your purse, or that you feel like a  pig taking another band member's food, just do it. I regret I didn't do this. Just think of the legacy I could have left...

"There's Great Grandma McKenzie, and there's the quesadilla she got from Jason Wade from Lifehouse back in 2008, she's had it frozen ever since that day."

Yeah, that would have been awesome.

But you know what's pretty darn cool? Bryce messaged us on Myspace (haha) after this happened. And then we saw them in concert a few months later and met Bryce and he asked us to lunch again. Heck to the yes.

This man was worth naming my car after

It's true. Meet Jason Wade...frontman of Lifehouse.  His name is the middle name of my car. Kamrada Jason DiCaprio:)

(source)

(source)

Hot dog. He's hot.  Just sayin. And INCREIBLY nice.  I have been blessed to meet him several times (along with the other amazing guys in Lifehouse) and have always been super impressed by his humility, sweetness, hilarity, and... hotness:)  I was even lucky enough to have lunch with him and all of Lifehouse a few years ago. Legit. It was the freaking awesomest day of my life so far.  Hence, Chili's is my favorite restaurant:D

Lifehouse has been my absolute, all time favorite band since I was only 12. They are what brought me out of my boybandom into the life of real music: rock. (dont get me wrong, i am constantly shaking my booty to BSB and nysnc still). They got me through my teen years and now my early 20's and they are freaking amazing. Period. I have seen them live15 times and counting. And yes, girly squeals were squealed and huge smiles smiled and songs sung word for word and a quite a few serious cases of them giving me the chills and tearing up:) Who knows...maybe one day I'll get engaged at one of their shows? :) I think I might pass out.

So in light of their amazingness and my recent re-obsession with this song, I wanted to share with you one of my favorites from their latest album, Smoke and Mirrors. Its different from the rest of their work, but I LOVE it:)

Seriously, turn up the volume and hit play.



Yeah, that was awkward

So, you wanna know what's awkward?

Running into your very first ex after not seeing each other for EIGHT YEARS.

Running into said ex the one day you decided not to wash your hair.

Running into this ex, for the first time in 8 years, in your sweats and unwashed hair, while him and his girlfriend are lingerie shopping.

(source)

Pshyeah. That was awkward.

While most people are obsessed with The Hunger Games...

I have been freaking out at the re-release of Titanic. (Dont get me wrong, I just finished reading the Hunger Games in 3 days, and went and saw and absolutely loved the movie too). Seriously though, I was literally, like, coutning down the days. I love this movie. Like Peeta loves Katniss :) I seriously had talked about and hoped for a re-release to theaters for years, since I missed the first release.  I was only in like the 4th grade, yo.  So the day it came out, my sister and I drove 45 minutes so we could see it in 3D in a really, really nice pretty theater. And I cried about 3 or 4 times.  Especially at this part, even though I have seen this movie 100+ times, it gets me every stinking time:

When I looked this video up and watched it, my eyes welled up with tears again.  Oh my. I am such a sap.

And then, without shame, my sister and I spent a good 20 minutes taking pictures with the giant Titanic poster in the lobby:)

What can I say, I LOVE this movie.

And Han re-discovered her love for Leo.

"I'm flying!"

I would be the happiest girl in the world if someone would buy me this necklace:)

And I would totally be up for it if James Cameron would make an alternate ending where Jack lives.  Seriously, I'll never let go.

:D

The "I can't believe's"...

I believe that everyone (except some certain people who shall remain nameless) deserves to have a case of the      

  "I can't believe's...".

Let me explain.

After a year that was most certainly a rollar coaster for both me and one of my best friends, we have spent countless hours texting, talking, and sharing our experiences (which happen to be pretty similar) with each other.  Both of us had our hearts broken. Yeah, fun stuff, let me tell ya. We have tried and tried to figure things out, to explain things to ourselves and to each other, trying to make sense of these horrible things, and give each other peace and understanding.

Gratefully, OH so gratefully...I am blessed with a knowledge of the gospel in my life, and a testimony of it and the Atonement. I have been blessed beyond comprehension with healing and peace, and being able to move forward in my life, and be happy! And good things are coming:)

My friend still struggles a lot with having lost this person she thought was the love of her life, and she still defends him. Which I can relate to, I did that for a long time too. But when it comes down to it.... he does NOT deserve her.  NO ONE deserves to be with somebody who can so carelessly, selfishly, and utterly hurt you. Everyone deserves to have someone who gives them the "I can't believe's..."

Examples:

"I can't believe he/she picked me"

"I can't believe I am SO blessed"

"I can't believe someone could love me this much, I didn't know it was possible!"

"I can't believe I get to be with this person forever!"

"I can't believe I am lucky enough to wake up to him/her every day"

and, the "I can't believe's" should be a TWO-WAY street.  Both people feeling that way about each other.  Like the happiest, luckiest people in the world.

I want a man for this friend (and heck, for myself) who sings this song to her:

And for those of you who have that special someone, treat them like it. Let them know you have the "I can't believe's" EVERY day.