I just wanna see if this works...

CO2 emissions (metric tons per capita)

Data from World Bank

Yea. Maybe not...

2-K-Dime-Penny

I seem to have given up on a journal, so I keep track of things that have happened here, on this blog, that nobody reads. 
So here is my attempt to remember the year 2011.

HIGHLIGHTS
A-ness party
Black Monday
Harlem Globe Trotters
Glow in the dark birthday dance party
Festival of Colors
"Camping" with Kyle and Rob (Rob lost his pants!)
Making root beer + sidewalk chalk face-painting and chicken fights
Church on a mountain
Roadtrip with Tiny to California
Snowcones. All the snowcones...
That cougar on the mountain that was going to eat us
The 4th of July at Larson Manor
Discovering Mexitalia
Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeroes
Matt's wedding (it's always good to see old friends)
Kelly and Maren came to my rescue
Cami's birthday extravaganza
Jess's sausage birthday
dressing as a wiener for Halloween
Jenny and Adam's wedding!

PHRASES that came into our lives this year

"A-ness"

"Oo-NA-na-na-na!"

the "meat sweats"

"church on a mountain"

"_____ is connected to the... SNOWCONE!"

"Larson Manor"

"Jew-vee-jew"

"...iiiisss for fun"

I had a lot of free time this summer. In my life of leisure, I spent a lot of time at the pool and at the Provo library. A roommate later told me that when asked to describe her new roommate to a friend she said "Sarah sleeps late, talks in a weird accent, and reads dragon books." So there you go. Sometimes I wish I had better taste in literature, but mostly I figure I'm cultured enough. Here are some of the books I read in 2011:

Pride and Prejudice

The Help

The Fantastic Mr Fox

The Awakening

Austenland

Things Fall Apart

Poison Study

I Am the Cheese

Eat, Pray Love

Ender's Game

Ender's Shadow

Magic Study

Eragon

Bossypants

Parts of The Screwtape Letters

Eldest

The Hunger Games

Catching Fire

All My Friends Are Dead

And now... *drumroll please* for the event we've all been waiting for...
SARAH'S 2011 FIRSTS:
Festival of Colors
Kneaders all-you-can-eat French toast
Geocache-ing
Slip-n-slide (I know, where was my childhood?!??)
Purple rice!
Hogel Zoo
Camping out for the Pioneer Day parade in SLC
Summer in Provo
UVU class
Reading Pride and Prejudice
Living by myself (even if it was only for a few weeks, it still made me feel cool)
Movies by myself (this had been a long-time goal)
Preparing the honeymoon suite
Prayer in sacrament meeting
Job in the restaurant business(PF Changs)
Corn pizza!
Using the P-EZ
Flight on JetBlue
Rock climbing




Yup. That's all. 2012 will be weird. We'll probably all die. No big.

What I should be doing: studying pathophys...
What I'm listening to: Noah and the Whale, Vampire Weekend, Chiddy Bang

Something to Think About

Not that I'm great at this...

But it really helps build a good perspective.

This was shared with me by my Exercise Physiology professor.

23 1/2 hours: What is the single best thing we can do for our health?

"Can you limit your sitting and sleeping to
 just 23 1/2 hours a day?" 

-- Doctor Evans

Bears. Beets. Battlestar Galactica.

Today's blog is brought to you by the letter B and viewers like you!

I feel the need to pay tribute to some prominent things in my life, to create a little snapshot of the current me, and conveniently enough, these things all start with B.

Beefy Crunch

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Taco Bell's Beefy Crunch Burrito...
Layers of seasoned ground beef, rice, warm nacho cheese sauce, reduced fat sour cream and Flamin’ Hot ® Fritos® wrapped in a warm, flour tortilla.
And only 99 cents!
I can't even explain to you the deliciocity of this glorious concoction.  It's cheesy and crunchy and beefy and spicy and yummy and filling.  Let's just say I swung by Taco Bell multiple times a week to pick up one of these bad boys and Jess and I have made our own for special occasions (like the Super Bowl).
Unfortunately, this was a limited time deal and the Beefy Crunch can no longer be found at your local Taco Bell.  May we forever remember its short, but full, life and all of the joy that it brought into ours.

Side note: It is complimented perfectly with Mountain Dew's Baja Blast, exclusively at Taco Bell. 

Backwaiter

I have been working at PF Changs since September.  I started as a hostess and sometime around late October or early November I trained to be a Backwaiter.  At first, it was terrifying and I kinda of hated it so I stuck with hosting (also, I was pretty bad at it).  But lately (as several of our adorable lil prego ladies move over to the host stand) I've been scheduled primarily as a Backwaiter, and I LOVE it! It is so busy and stressful and exhausting, but so so fun.  Plus, I can make more money *wink*

Ok, I added this later -- Erika and I with our warrior friend.

A lot of restaurants don't have Backwaiters, so when people ask, I usually tell them this: "You know how your server takes your order and brings you drinks and comes by periodically to make sure you're ok and then some random person brings you your food? That's me."  Yup, I'm the stranger with the giant tray, bringing happiness to everyone.

Baby Mama

Ok, this isn't really new, but it's still going on.
And it's apartment-wide.
We are obsessed with Baby Mama.  We could watch it two days in a row, or even three (and we have).  It never gets old.  Any small triumph in our apartment if promptly followed by this sound (skip to 0:36):

We write things on the fridge like "Bi*ch, I don't know your life!" with the magnetic letters.
We often wish we were at Arby's, because there's better food and cooler people!
We resolve arguments with the phrase, "You have to admit it's a valid suggestion."
We frame our face at dance parties.
We ♥ Baby Mama. 

Break, Prison 

(ok, that's kind of a stretch...)

Jess and I have become addicted to Prison Break (thank you, Netflix). 
Like, ok-just-one-more-episode-before-bed-after-3-40-minute-episodes-already kind of addicted.
It may or may not have anything to do with the attractiveness of these men:

Wentworth Miller as Michael Scofield

Dominic Purcell as Lincoln Burrows

Ball so hard!

Nothing gets me more pumped than this song.


"Blue Drank"

Also not new.  But I would be remiss if I were to leave out our go-to soda, Mountain Dew Voltage -- more affectionately called "blue drank."  It comes along with our good friends Doritos and Buy Low Bread on any and all picnics and makes a great morning pick-me-up for those of us who don't get around to breakfast.
Some people do the "gallon challenge."  We use a 2-Liter of blue drank instead. (For the record: Kyle lost)
Some people do shots of tequila.  We do shots of blue drank.
So let's raise our glasses of varying shapes and sizes (mine is a boot cup), and enjoy Pepsi's greatest invention: Voltage!

I'm sure there are more and I sincerely apologize for any chronological discrepancies as this blog post was written in pieces over a several month period.  I will now leave you with some B-inspired tunes:
- "Blow" - Ke$ha
- "Only the Young" - Brandon Flowers
- "Black and Yellow" - Wiz Khalifa
- "Biblical Sense of the Word" - Quiet Company
- "Never Say Never" - the Biebz

Two Dozen Eggs

Republic of California

So, lately I've been missing a few things.

These trees...

this beach...

this view, of this mountain...

these flowers...

these faces...

doughnuts in general...

this place and this team.

The only logical conclusion is that I miss this place:

What I Should Be Doing: running, making lunch, returning my library books, oh and getting a job.
What I'm Listening to: Quiet Company, Les Sages, and some California-related tunes

How I Feel Sometimes About Being a Grown-Up

Yea, that's about it.

I need a job...