the best advice i've ever gotten...from dad to daughter:

1. Think for yourself, but be willing to learn from others. Be skeptical, but not cynical. Be optimistic, but not naive.

2. Make the world a better place for having been born. You will struggle from time to time making sense of life on this planet. However, you can never go wrong with looking for and acting on activities that will improve the world around you. That's enough meaning to last a life time.

3. Be flexible and adaptable with others, but don't compromise your core values, beliefs, and integrity.

4. Be open with others, but always keep a bit of mysteriousness and your own nobility to yourself.

5. Always be open to new and improved information that may change your mind.

6. Be forgiving of yourself and others. Everyone messes up from time to time. Learn from yours and others mistakes and move on. Too much time can be spent focusing on guilt for our own mistakes and criticism pointed at other's mistakes. Quick spring showers of guilt change our behavior, but torrential downpours of guilt just burden us to the point of paralysis.

7. Be willing to place your pinky outside of your comfort zone daily. Those that do this embrace life and its challenges with optimism; those that don't imprison themselves by their own fears of failure. Every new experience (positive or negative) is a new opportunity to learn and grow. Be brave and push yourself- you won't regret it.

8. Learn as much as you can now because after your mid to late twenties you may never have as much time and energy as you will during your late teens and early twenties. Absorb information and new ideas- this will increase your personal power like few other things can.

9. Don't personalize others' opinions, beliefs, or actions. Everyone is very different. Some will like you; others won't. Some will agree with you; others won't. It all comes from their frame of reference and you can't control that. Be humble, honest, and kind and most decent people will appreciate and like you. Be civil to the others and move on. However, if you find that a few trusting people are giving you similar kinds of feedback- listen and be open to changing your ways.

10. Fill your mind and soul with great music (however you define that). As Neitzche once said, "Life would not be worth living without music."

11. Finding a mate? Don't get too preoccupied with it...it'll just happen. Wait as long as you can. There must be a romantic spark, but don't let that spark or infatuation eclipse the most reliable qualities of a life long partner (i.e. responsibility, hard worker, respectful, intelligent, blah blah...). Always employ the "four season" test. Date for at least four seasons before bringing up any crazy talk of marriage. I hope you are as lucky as I have been in having your mom for my life long partner!

12. Be charitable, kind, and helpful to others. You can't go wrong with these. These qualities make you and the recipient happier. Don't forget to have fun and laugh REALLY hard a few times a day.

Love you,

Dad.

hi summer, i've missed you.

Squeaky swings and tall grass

The longest shadows ever cast

The water's warm and children swim

And we frolicked about in our summer skin

I don't recall a single care

Just greenery and humid air

Then Labor day came and went

And we shed what was left of our summer skin

On the night you left I came over

And we peeled the freckles from our shoulders

Our brand new coats so flushed and pink

And I knew your heart I couldn't win

Cause the season's change was a conduit

And we'd left our love in our summer skin

the trip of the girls

so my mom and i are currently in the lovely but friggin hot desert that is PALM SPRINGS. we decided to take ten days off and head to california for a little girl time! stopping in st george and vegas along the way...here are some pictures of the adventures we've been having...

stopping to stay in st george

swimming at mandalay bay

dinner at the chop house
ehh..haha don't know how that got stuck to my leg...

shopping on el paseo drive

veeeeegas!

i met a mariachi band juuuust like braden :)

if this song doesn't make you cry...you have NO heart.

"elizabeth" by ruru.

it's about how his dad felt when his mom got cancer.

whaaaa? so sad.

i'm...not sure why i'm blogging this

but i am in love with this song so...here be the lyrics.

i held my sparkler as i walked

death was inevitable but nobody talked

we'd just forget, love, and we'd strike the match

the fuse was life and the light was death

and they gave you pills that made you swell

lost the hair on your head, self-image shot to hell

spent some time at the beach, to my surprise

we would walk and watch the waves... synthetic hair in your eyes.

time didn't wear away my feelings for you, love.

just rusted them and made em hard to find.

but i love you

elizabeth, you're mine.

and i'll try my best here, love

but when i don't succeed please come visit me in hell

cuz that's where i'll be.

but if i do, love, will you have the time?

cuz there's a million other people that deserve you more than i.

now it's been two years since the day you passed.

and i'm starting to forget the time i kissed you last

and i feel scared.

cuz i love you more...

i love you.

elizabeth, you're mine.

i LOVE my job

oh. sooooo. no big deal or anything but... last night at work things got a little crazy. all of a sudden a huge limo pulls up outside of sammy's and a bunch of people file in. i didn't recognize any of them at first but they just had that "famous" feel. so i went to grab a sheet to take their order and my boss whispers to me "ever seen the movie fame? well..that's the main character and his boy band" haaaaha. WHAT?!

yeah yeah i know FAME isn't that huge of a movie and it only got 2 stars...but still. he was famous. asher friggin BOOK.

[look him up. he's hawwwwt]

so. i didn't want to seem like i was TOO much of an idiot. i just stood there, took their orders, made their shakes, tried not to stare... but right as they were about to leave my boss said "alright guys, my employee has to stop taking order for a second so she can get a picture with these guys!" um YES please!

so that's when this happened. HA! asher is the one next to me. yep.

ANYWAY. i didn't think too much of it after that...finished up my shift and went home happy.

WELL. the next morning [aka...tuhhhday] i get a text from my boss "hey asher came into sammy's again today asking about you. he wants to know if you want to go to his concert and hang out back stage with the guys...you and a friend"

...

what?

haaaaha! i couldn't even believe it. the girl serving milkshakes at sammy's gets to go hang out backstage with V Factory- his band. i'm completely stoked. so me and maa cousin ciara are going to be there tonight. hopefully i'll have pictures to post tomorrow.

YES! i LOVE my job.

ten things that make me happy today:

1. EMAILS. three of them. from brady to me. yessss!

2. zumba dance class

3. bob marley

4. a clean room

5. the fact that it's almost summer

6. i have the best family on earth

7. apricots and cream lotion

8. the bus driver that tells us the "facts of the day" like we're in fifth grade. love him.

9. green nail polish

10. month number three of braden being gone= OVER :)

eaze-turr

ha! look at me. post number two. so proud.

easter weekend should be blogged about right? i still don't know exactly what i'm doing here. BUT. i'll just g'head and do it. so. my easter weekend was...great. just great! even though my parents WERE scuba diving in florida and my brother DID survive a 7.2 earthquake in mexico...i had a great time safe and sound in dear old farmington. since i was lacking a family, my second family, the tibbitts' [let's hope i used that apostrophe right], took me in.

i slept over on saturday night and helped jill put toget

her the easter baskets and hide eggs. we went to sleep and when i woke up there was a HUGE basket (braden's old one) waiting for me on the couch. they are the cutest family. i absolutely love being with them.

just wait till you see what

they got me...

ohhh DON'T worry. there i am wearing braden's clothes. taking over braden's easter basket. in my new sandals that say GUADALAJARA across them. and holding the mexican flag trumpet that i got. oh heyyy braden in the background. haha. hil.arious.

oh. can't forget about steve. i stole his dog too i guess. :/ sorry braden. you had to be replaced!

wellp. das it eye GUESS.

does um...anyone read this? k. good.

bye.