Confession: I Miss A Real City

Every once in a while, I go thru Big city-withdrawal.

 I miss the loud noises

The tall sun-blocking-shadow-causing buildings

The smells (even the smelly people smells)

The food choices from every corner of the globe

The sidewalk restaurants with little wobbly tables and chilled glasses of water

The shopping (OH sweet baby Tootsie roll the shopping!!)

The parking garages

The walking EVERYWHERE

 The people who walk into you at cross-walks

 The food-vans and food-carts

New people to meet ALL THE TIME

The lights- everywhere! 

Some this open at ANY time of the day-or-night

The cars humming as they wait for a light to change.

The sounds of bands and singers in random bars, clubs, coffee shops

Always having something to look at

Always having something to DO; even if it’s just sitting and waiting.

The fact that everyone seems so purposefully- they are going THERE or HERE or somewhere.

The clothes you get to wear in a city (much nicer than a "trip-to-Wal*Mart" outfit...)  

The variety of EVERYTHING. 48 different doughnut shops? Yes -in a 3 block radius.

I just miss it.

Thanksgiving (From my heart)

Whelp, I’m sitting here at work blog surfing and catching up on some of my favorite people and what their lives have gotten them into, pinning thing on Pinterest, and stalking people on facebook, when I remembered how long it had been since I had actually hammered out a few lines, slapped up a picture and said a little "howdy ‘do" to the blog followers of my own.

Hello blog-stalkers. I know, I know, it’s been far too long. Please forgive me. Pretty please! Will big doe-eyes and a duck face make it all better?

Phew... ok now that that is out of the way...

Me: Well today is Thanksgiving...yes I’m at work "working “today for a bit.

You: But why are you at work????

Me: Well you see kids, I had no real plans, and my family is spread all over and so my roommate and I planned a little some'thang some'thang for dinner...plus holiday pay... plus all my coworkers have families and activities to run to and be involved in... And did I mention holiday pay???

You: Ohh I see. Yeah, that makes sense. Wow Ry, you’re so thoughtful and nice to your co-workers...

Me: Aww shucks, stop-stop.

ANYWAYS.....

Today is Thanksgiving, and what a better time to ponder all the things i am thankful for.... These are a little unconventional ....I’ll try and be a little serious....maybe. (Please know that I 100% and truly thankful for the following list....)

1) I thankful for a job. A paycheck. And the not-stressing day to day how I would be supporting myself.

2) I am thankful for my P.O.S. lil' 1994 Toyota. Its not much, but I don’t have a car payment and it starts and gets me from A to Z with pretty decent gas mileage.

3) I am thankful for the 180degree switch my body has made from night-owl to morning-person. From sleeping in until 2 or 3pm to waking up on-the-dot-alarm-or-not at 5am and able (most days) to hop up and start the day is amazing. I love it. It makes me feel so GREAT!

4) I’m thankful for make-up. Sometimes before I slap on the ole'war paint and head out into the world I get a glance of fresh-faced-me.... She ain’t as young as she once was that’s for DANG sure! I’m thankful makeup can help rectify that situation.

5) I’m thankful for amazing friends who make me laugh until I pee my pants and my cheeks hurt and I can’t stand up straight and tears roll down my face and come with me to stupid events and lame movies and let me rant about stuff they don’t care about and listen as I make fun of people who dress up their animals, and "LoL" when I sent them stupid pictures of turtles dancing and put up with my "no cell phone when we are together" and "be on time or I will stab you" rules (yes...those are real rules) and who make me the happiest gal in the whole world just by texting me and being my friends. I’d be in a psych ward talking to a fish tank without them.

6) Shopping. Yep. I’m selfish and I’m an addict and while I really only have 3.8 stores here to shop at, I’m thankful that I can go spend money and buy pretty things (plus, those 3.8 store options make it so that I am not in bankruptcy court)

7) I'm thankful for Vanilla ice cream and nerds. It might seem silly but it tastes amazing- and often times can turn my frown upside down.... So can Oreos, a juicy hamburger, sushi, good lemonade, and hundreds or even thousands of simple pleasures.

8) I am thankful for the ability I have had to travel. I still have tons of "go-here" places, but I have seen a lot of beautiful places and hiked and strolled and zip lined and swam and canoed and bussed and trekked thru and to a bunch of really amazing places.

9) I’m grateful for a tan. When the sun hits my skin i can almost hear it say "Ohh hello honey! I love you. let me hold you until you are a golden hue and let me make you toasty and warm and did I mention that I love you?? Cuz I DO!!”.... I swear! That’s what it says to me!

10) I’m thankful the history channel, the discovery channel and stupid TV shows that either suck me and dull my mind for 30min, or educate me and give me knowledge and information on random topics like how to make a kite or how the dinosaurs lived, etc...

Well, that’s a good start. Happy Thanksgiving! May your pants fit tomorrow!!

.....what?

Do you ever hand your phone to someone to show them ONE picture, and then suddenly they are flipping thru thousands of hundreds of random pictures that you have taken over a 4 year time span? (dang you memory card that allows me to keep phone pictures years after taking them!- DANG YOU!) 

well... this happened the other day and it made me think 1.) Good thing I don't have any inappropriate-ish pictures and,  2.) I hope they enjoyed my hundreds of bored "duck-face" pictures I take to check my makeup when I don't have a mirror handy (I cant be the only one that does this... can I?)

So I started flipping thru the pictures to "check" out what they may have just seen ..... and I found these......... Enjoy!

(For some reason I was impressed to take a picture of my breakfast... This is usually what I eat Monday -Friday- I cant get enough!)

(DUCK FACE!!!!!! ..... And I straightened my hair and was taking a picture for my sister...)

(Stayed in Vegas a few weeks ago and the uber nice hotel had this amazing mirror that was crafted by the Gods and blessed by some Buddha prayers and was then sold by unicorns and elf's .... you get my point, best make-up mirror EVER... In pricing them I found its over $120.00 - Dang you elf /unicorns! Cant you have a coupon or a sale???)

(I was on hold at work and was really really really bored...... )

Channeling my Inner Betty Crocker

Yup. You know when you walk into any store, you see those little plastic containers with huge soft fluffy sugar cookies with whipped buttery smooth frosting and the trade mark sprinkles? ( I'm drooling just typing this out...) 

Well, with the help of Pintrest, I was able to stumble across this little recipe of delight and joy!! 

24 hours later (you have to refrigerate the dough over night) but once their cut out, baked and frosted  and sprinkled, they practically scream "Quick eat me up and then eat 7 or 8 of my friends!!"   

....Who am I to ignore the wishes of this beautiful lil' blue cookie!

Got it at Target... It's on sale

Do you ever notice little things that you do that you maybe didn't ever notice before??? I had a little moment where this happened...

Someone said to me "Ryanne, Cute shoes" (I have to admit they were really cute...) and immediately after hearing that I respond "ooh thank you... I got them at old navy... last year... I got them on sale!"

That's when it clicked- As soon as anyone compliments me on some piece of my outfit, I immediately comment on

• Where I got it (Old Navy/Target/etc...)
• When I got it  (Last summer...)
• Whether or not it was on sale

I wonder if its some sort of verbal disease.

Or if I'm channeling my inner Ricky Bobby

JAWS

SHARK WEEK!!!!!!!!

Need I say more? MY favorite viewing experience...

 IT'S AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(Sent to me by my friends..... out of concern and fear... a post on interventions will appear shortly)

(Also stay tuned for info on my "swim with the sharks" adventure!)

Happy hour!

Its Monday morning and I'm in a GREAT mood!!!  (which is interesting considering the pain-in-the-butt things that have been occurring in my life....)

So... I'm taking advantage of this rare moment since any minute now someone/something/somehow/somewhere is bound to hop into my life and spin me 180 degrees on a war path of death and destruction.... so until that happens I'm taking advantage of "happy hour" and share with my faithful blog readers and tell you some things that I love!

* I love Sunday naps! I love coming home from church, eating a yummy lunch, putting on my pajamas (or not) and crawling into my crevasse I have created in the couch - putting on some lame made for TV movie, and napping thru the afternoon with my roommate (not together spooning or anything...not that I would mind *wink*wink* Jodie...)  It is wonderful and I love it!

* (brace yourself this is going to blow your mind!) I love waking up early!!! I know, I know, for anyone who knows me knows that I could sleep in with the best of them. crawling out of bed at 3pm and rolling over and going to bed late. It was rare if I was circulating among the living before noon (no one was aloud to disturb my slumber before noon or a violent death would occur) But for the past few years I have been awake (ish) at 5:30am and on a good day out of bed by 6am... and I love it! "sleeping in" for me is now about 8am... 10 if I can push it...but then feel like I have wasted my day! I love waking up early!

* I love driving fast. (which is often a difficult feat in my better-of-an-old-Toyota) but I slam the peddle to the medal any chance I get! I must be channelling my inner Nascar!

* I love breakfast foods! (currently addicted to wheat toast, peanut butter, and bananas)

* I love make-up!

* I love dressing up for work!

* I love shoes that "click" when I walk!

* I love eating out at restaurants and trying new places!

* I love power! (and being able to tell people what I need them to do, and having them DO it!)

* I love shopping on Amazon( more than should)

* I love Air Conditioning

.... OK, now I'm just rambling.... Happy "Happy Hour!"

Before school starts again (on MONDAY!! GAH!) I need to get all the blogging out I can before I am taken over by my alter-ego "School-Ryanne" - Its not a pretty sight.

Anyways....

In thinking about starting a full schedule this fall, it reminded me of the classes I have already taken, and the pain I have already endured! (OK so It really isn't THAT bad.... except for math... math REALLY was bad)

Which brings me to Mr. Blitzer. Or more accurately, the death of Mr. Blitzer.

Let me explain. Mr. Blitzer was the man who wrote my math book. A 800+ page book that was full of useless boring and repetitive information. What took Mr. Blitzer an entire chapter to explain, took my AMAZING, HANDSOME, and WONDERFULLY AWESOME math tutor about 3 sentences (2 of which was re wording the first sentence because I still couldn't understand) This man should be nominated for saint-hood, I will put in many good words for him when we stand at the pearly gates!

 Anyway's, I digress....

Mr. Blitzer was the bane of my existence for 6 long weeks! So at the end of the class rather than sell my book back, I decided the only logical thing to do was to shoot the holy crap out of it. The images that follow are the massacre that felt better than passing with an A+ (all thanks to Jacob-the-amazing-handsome-wonderfully-awesome-math-tutor-extraordinaire)

(Ryanne , Zac, and  Jacob-the-amazing-handsome-wonderfully-awesome-math-tutor-extraordinaire)

3 Things You Didn't Really Care To Know About Me

I ask people all the time to tell me one thing that they usually don't tell people. Usually just to start a conversation... and mostly because I like to hear weird quarks about people... It makes my neurotic OCD tendencies seem less traumatic.

 So I thought I would share 3 of mine that have come up this week in conversations. 

1) I have Amentrophibia. What is that, you ask? Why I will tell you. It is a fear of pealing an orange. Yup. Its true (and weird). My last recollection of actually peeling an Orange was back before I started kindergarten. I eat oranges and love orange juice, but my roommates and co-workers peel them. I can hold the orange before and after it is peeled, BUT I physically can not peel it. I get physically sick, anxious, dry heave, and start shaking at the thought of it (I'm nervous and sick just typing this actually).

2) I hate walking on grass. I will do it, but only after I have exhausted all my options to NOT walk on the grass. It makes me irritated that #1 people have no respect for other peoples property and #2 the feeling i get when walking on grass creeps me out. I know... don't ask me why, I'm not sure when this started,  I just hate it and do not like to do it.

3) I dip everything. Chips in salsa or queso or sour cream. graham crackers in applesauce or nutella or frosting. granola bars in yogurt. chicken in BBQ sauce or ranch... ETC.... the list in endless. I dip anything in anything. It isn't good unless its dipped in something.

I love ...

PRESENTS! And really I know you do too... The other day, I was sitting at my desk when one of my Doctors walked in and slammed a gift bag on my desk. She had just returned from a trip to England and Paris (I know, It must be so difficult to not only BE a doctor, but to also be MARRIED to a doctor....) any-who... I eagerly open my gift bag and what to I pull out???

Yup.... this is the most random of all presents. Without sounding ungrateful, I assume the thought process behind this was: " Man, I really need to bring home some souvenirs... and I guess I should take something to Ryanne since she knows I'm here... and well, let’s be honest she totally deserves something shinny and cool from some European country she will never afford to come to... let’s see... magnets? Nah, key chain? Maybe as a last resort... HELLO tea-cup with a picture of the queen! SOLD!"

Well- In my mind that’s what happened.

SOooooooooo..... In honor of presents, I am doing a post of all the odd and random gifts I have been given.... I love them all!

You should know I have no real attachment to ladybugs... but this is a magnet, I have also been given cards, stickers, key chains, and various lady bug paraphernalia. Apparently someone thought I liked them?

Magnets form Paris (you can’t really tell from the picture, but these are from the "Moulin Rouge" and are vintage pornographic pictures. The men in my office won’t let me take them down) 

...... A pen with a spy camera on the end…not sure why...but why not? Yes, it clicks, and flashes... and I’m sure somewhere is a collection of mini photos of office people and stuff. 

Just like the staples "easy" button... only an assortments of way to say "wow, that totally sucks" (A commonly used phrase in our office)  

 Post it notes! You can never have too many post-it notes!  

This one is a bit ... different.... Push-pins of dapper' men in suits: "pin- heads" 

  and because I collect Buddha’s one of my Asian doctors brought me one back from China when she went for a visit. 

These are just a few pictures from the pile of free junk, presents, swag, and name brand gifts that I have been given over the past 3 year- I love presents and I love that people think of me when they are out and about (while I sit in my office)  

Keeping myself busy....

I took a break from school... 6 whole weeks to do nothing but catch up on books I actually WANT to read, lay in the warm summer sun, eat cubes of watermelon from my cozy spot in my hammock and.... GO on vacation... to a remote little island, perhaps you have heard of it...

HAWAII!!!! That's right, I took a vacation from school to go on a romantic and luxurious and beautiful and amazing and deserved vacation with my best-friend SueAnn (*cue angry jealous eyes from everyone reading this...*)

(yummmm... I hope I never come back....OK...FOCUS!)

However... while I wouldn't complain one tiny little iota of a fraction about spending 6 weeks in Hawaii, I am only spending 10 days, and now had/have 4.5 weeks to fill the void.

After falling into a deep cavernous funk for a few weeks... I have finally started something productive and EXCITING!

SCUBA DIVING!

In an effort to work on my 30x30 list, I am tackaling scuba certification! Im currently half way thru, with 4 tests and 2 dives under my belt (who knew Id be taking tests and enjoying it with out even being in school! ) and I have a 2 dives and one major test left! This is something that I have always wanted to do, and have finnaly found the time, energy and a diving buddy to do it with! Its beautiful, peaceful and opens up a whole new world of adventure for me- and think about it... when have I ever turned down an adventure??



THIS NEVER HAPPENS!!!

Do you see this....

Yes.. It's just a pen. but not just ANY pen

Look closer... closer... notice anything??

nothing?

How about now... 

See it now?

I don't know about you but this never happens! A pen is either lost in my purse, left somewhere, stolen, or in general hurled into the outer abyss that is lost-forever-pen-heaven.

But not this time!! This time (quite possibly for the first time in my whole life) I have used a pan down to it's last dying spurt of ink!

I feel as if this was an accomplishment that needed to be shared. I feel blessed to have been able to share this with you.

A Few Thing I Have Learned....

While in my current studious state I have noticed 3 things....  (Specifically related to math since that is the worst subject ever created or invented by some evil satanic person......)

#1 While in class working on a math problem the formula resembles this:

#2 when working on assignments, or doing homework, the questions appear like this:

#3 Then of course when it comes to taking a test that is quite possibly 90% of your whole class grade rendering your hard sweat inducing work on all the other assignments all but pointless.... the equation loosely resembles: 

Help! Im Drowning!

OK, I'm not drowning in water or in a swift current off the coast of some tropical island... no, that would be preferable- Instead I am drowning in a sea of textbooks and homework assignments and highlighters and mechanical pencils, and ...and... well you get the point. For the past year I have been hunkered down with a calculator, a mountain of textbooks, and my handy-dandy-laptop in the hopes of finishing my Bachelors... I'm not done yet, but I hope it gives a little insight as to my lack of awesome blogging. School-Ryanne is hiding in a closet taking tests if you need her...and apparently pant-less (as per the picture...)

Easter!

I made Easter Dinner! … Usually I just saunter over to my moms and mix up a batch of deviled eggs but not this year- nope!

This year I planned a menu, glazed a ham and put together a whole meal for my sister and my roommates, and even dyed Easter eggs.

It felt like an Ensign article where you hear about a little kid who polished the silverware, shinned the water marks off the glasses, etc... all in the hopes of a "special Easter visitor" and then it ends with a spiritual reference to the Lord and Savior who is the entire reason we have Eternal life, and a holiday involving cadberry cream eggs! I spent my time making things ready and pretty for the people I care about on a special day.

And I don’t mean to brag or anything… but it was pretty amazing.

Friends with Benifits....

Southern Utah has some of the crappiest radio stations ever created. So... I opt for satellite radio (via ipod touch) and streaming Internet radio.

For the past 8ish years, and since being syndicated into the grater Boise area, I have listened to a radio station based out of Dallas Texas. Kidd Kraddick in the Morning has been my go-to station where I enjoy the rantings of a 4 hour, 6 person radio program. They have become people I see as family! I know the inner workings of their lives almost as well as I know my close personal friends!

They make me laugh, chuckle, giggle, snort, and roll my eyes (My co workers even know when I laugh "Are you listening to that Kidd Kraddic ??"

( Big Al Mack , Jenna , Psycho-Shannon, Kidd Kraddic, Kelly, J-Si )

(It's pretty pathetic when you think about it... a while ago they had a game called 'Kraddic Addict' .. I was one... seriously, I listen EVERY Single DAY)

ANYWAY...

They are playing a game called "Friends with Benefits" where you sign up, and give them the names and phone numbers of 5 friends, if they say your name, you call. Then THEY call any one of the 5 friends you gave them, and if they can name the friend calling and your friend answers and says YOUR name, you win $1,000 AND the friend wins $1,000

My point is... I cant play. And I blame ALLLLLLL of you (well, all 2 of you that probably read this thing) for not listening so that you know to answer the phone when a Texas number calls you!