Movin' on up

I've officially moved my blog over to the new one.

Also, I feel like a straight up lazy kid for taking a month to do that.

Oh well, whatev, its all good.

So please ignore anything that is here and head straight over to

torries-stories.blogspot.com

Like now.

The one about Jersey Shore

By some strange and (hopefully) random occurence, my apartment seems to only get a couple local channels, MTV, VH1, and whatever channel it is that only plays Jersey Shore and anything related to the Kardashians.  24/7.  People, this is both painful and life ruining.

Anyone who knows me knows that I'm a huge fan of stupid humor...and, well, stupidity in general.  But Jersey Shore is just above and beyond any reasonable amount of stupidity that a person should be subjected to.

Rewind really quick to last March...or maybe it was July?  Either way, I was at home and my mom and I were flipping through the channels.  We got to the MTV region and saw that Jersey Shore was on.

I said, "You know, I've always been a bit curious about this show.  So many people love it...its gotta be entertaining, right?"

Mom said, "Hey, lets check it out!"

And then we both just stared.  Dumbfounded.  For about 10 minutes.  And then we shook our heads to help break us out of our stupor and changed the channel.  I think we might have made some comment about that being the dumbest thing we've ever seen, but I honestly can't remember.  I was clearly suffering from PTSD...Post Traumatic Shore Disorder in this case.

Ok, now fast forward to present time.  My roommates and their friends watch Jersey Shore.

All.  The.  Time.

And the worst part is, they enjoy it!

Yikes.

I compiled a list today of things I'd rather do than watch Jersey Shore:

1.  Be kicked by a goat.  Repeatedly.

2.  Be barfed on.  By any human or animal.

3.  Go to work naked.

4.  Eat a skunk.

5.  Light my nose hairs on fire.

6.  Shave Danny DeVito's back.

7.  Brush my teeth with sandpaper.

8.  Rinse my contacts with rubbing alcohol.

9.  Hug a porcupine.

10.  Drink rotten milk.  Chunky, rotten milk.

11.  Scoop my eyeballs out with a plastic spoon.

12.  Lock myself in a room with a rabid bat.

13.  Let someone acupuncture me with toothpicks.

14.  Build a bonfire out of all my shoes.

15.  Give up ice cream.

16.  Sleep on a bed made out of barbed wire.

17.  Use poison ivy for toilet paper.

18.  Attempt to pick a buffalo's nose.

Seriously. 

Thoughts while running

This morning, while cruising along on my new favorite three-mile loop, I was hit with the most brilliant of all brilliant ideas:

I should rename my blog Torrie's Stories!

Genius, right?

I originally really liked the whole "Torr's Favorite Things".  I promise, I did.  But then I just kept forgetting to do Favorite Things Fridays.  And I just kept thinking what's the point in having that name if I don't even talk about things that are my absolute most favorite.  Ever.

But then I was hit with the same dilemma I had when I first started blogging.  No matter what, whenever I try to be creative I'm never as creative as when I just let creativity happen.  Got that?  Basically, if I try to force creativity it always just feels, well, forced.  So I decided to just let my idea come to me instead of frantically searching for it.

And boy did it ever.

So give me some time (we all know how much I love procrastination) but sometime in the near future I will be switching the name and address over to the new one.  I promise I'll give plenty of warning in advance and try to make this trasition as easy as possible for everyone.

Ha, I'm so weird.

Good thing I always sometimes listen to my mom

My mom told me I need to keep blogging the other day.  Up until that point, I'd kind of forgotten about blogging.  Probably a little bit because I actually kindasorta have a social life now (weird, I know...I'm still getting over the shock) but mostly just because I'm forgetful.

I'll be honest, I'm not really going to do a full post now.  I just told myself I needed to do at least 3 blog entries this week and now I can drop that number down to 2.

Boom, roasted.

I win.

As usual.

But no, seriously, I actually am social-ish now and sometimes don't get home until 2 in the a.m.  And I usually have something to do both Friday AND Saturday nights.  And that something isn't me sitting at home laughing my head off as I watch youtube videos by myself...not that I've ever done that.

Don't judge. 

Sometimes I dislike things

Such as Kentucky.  That is where the sister and family moved to.  And that is why I'm now sitting on a very hard bed in a shared bedroom with an almost complete stranger.  Maybe now I should mention the fact that I also dislike roommates.  Not my roommates specifically, just roommates in general.  I also dislike having to sleep with earplugs in just so that I'm not woken up every time someone slams a bedroom door...which I forgot happens quite frequently when you live with roommates.  And while we're at it, let me just mention how much I dislike apartment meetings, dishes that never get done, an overly stuffed fridge that no one ever eats out of because apparently they only ever eat out, and finding old crusty food on the bottoms of your feet when you walk barefoot through the kitchen.

Ok, ok, life really doesn't suck that bad.  I just hate change.  And I really hate change when its forced upon you in a very short time span.  Especially the kind of change that leaves you feeling all alone.  But the thing is, I know I'm where I'm supposed to be and sister and the crew are where they're supposed to be...so its kind of ok.

Really, truly and seriously, it is.  I'm keeping myself busy with work and stuff.  I went out and played with other people in my ward both Friday and Saturday night.  I started reading book one of Harry Potter again, with plans to finish all of them before I see movie seven, part two.  And when all of those options fail me, I watch tv online.

So now that I've finally broken out of my blogging rut (aka my complete and utter lack of interest in blogging about the total ruination of my life) I'll probably start putting more time and effort into this...at least until they open up new episodes of Modern Family on hulu.   

Confessions of a swampaholic...

Hello, my name is Torrie, and I'm....

a swampaholic.

I've been watching Swamp People on the History channel for close to a month now, and I crave it more and more every day.  We just saw this last week that season one is up on Netflix, and there may or may not have been tears of joy involved.

Here's the basic plot line:

Take a bunch of red neck, born and bred in the bayou cajuns.

Give them some boats, shot guns, massively huge "fishing" hooks, and some three day old rancid meat.

And send them out into the swamplands to hunt gators.

Oh what, that wasn't convincing enough for you?

Maybe you should watch this:

Or maybe this

And if this doesn't get your heart pounding, well then you'd better get your heart checked out

Seriously people, if you're not already spending your Thursday nights watching this then I'd suggest you get started.  Soon.  As in don't even wait until Thursday, just go look it up on hulu.

Day 10

Day 10: A picture of your favorite place to eat

My favorite place to eat?  I feel as though I should know where that is...

I like plenty of places, but once you throw in that word favorite I start questioning which one I like the bestest of the best.  Man, this is tough.

After about 30 seconds of intense thinking, I'm gonna have to go with this

...

Mostly because I can get one of these bad boys there

...

That'd be the Burnin' Love burger.  By far the best jalapeno burger I have ever eaten.

And trust me, I've eaten a lot of jalapeno burgers in my life.

Some close runner ups:

...

...

...

With an honorable mention for

...

Rest in peace, my friend.

And once again, curse you Costa Vida for taking over and ruining my life.

 

Excuse me, are you Persian?

So there I was, awkwardly positioned behind the counter of the church library, trying my darnedest to avoid eye contact with anyone and everyone who might ask if I was headed to Sunday School.

[fyi, I wasn't.  My friend, who actually works in the library, was having boy trouble and wanted someone to talk to.  Plus, I just didn't feel like going.  I need a healthy dose of rebellion in my life every now and then.]

In the rush of teachers trying to get the best baggies of chalk and whatever other supplies they needed, I hear "Hey, are you Persian?" 

 I finally locate the questioner and very classily say,

"Hunh?"

[just picture the face that went with it.  Priceless.]

The rest of the conversation went something like this:

"Are you Persian?"

"Oh, um, no?  I don't know?  My mom was adopted so, I mean, I guess anything's possible...right?"

"Oh, yeah, I was just wondering.  You just look like one.  You know, like those darker-skinned Europeans.  I like it."

"Hunh.  Cooool."

Fifty points from Gryffindor for my complete awkwardness.

But really now, what do Persian people look like?  Do I look Persian?  Was that supposed to be a compliment?

As soon as I got home, I went straight to my faithful advisor, Sir Google.  This is what he had to show me when I asked what Persian people look like.

Jake Gyllenhaal from Prince of Persia

...

Kim Kardashian

...

And my personal favorite, Ahma-whatever

...

Well, I guess two out of three ain't bad...

Moral of the story kids, if you want to tell someone they're hot like Jake G or Kim K, just say that.  Because telling a person they look Persian might lead them to worrying they look like that crazy guy they always make fun of on SNL.

Day 9

Day 9: A photo of the last thing you purchased.

...

Has anyone else ever heard of chocolate milk being a good recovery food [um, I mean drink] after exercising?  You mean you haven't?  Maybe I'm just the only person addicted enough to actually read news articles and scientific journal articles about chocolate milk.

Seriously though, I'd choose chocolate milk over sports drinks any day.  Heck, I'd choose chocolate milk over pretty much anything any day.

A work in progress

...but I'm liking the progress I'm making.

We'll see how this goes.

Now I'm going to go take a quick nap before work.

You see, I only slept for 3 hours last night.

Yikes.

Stupid blog...

Oh hey, remember the other day how I mentioned I was working on downloading new fonts so that I could make my blog pretty?

Well, it didn't work.

And one of the suggestions the stupid tutorial had for if it didn't work was to switch over to a simple blog format with no modifications made to it.

Well, it still didn't work.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why my blog is now ugly.

I'll fix it again soon enough, but I just wanted to make sure and take the time to think about how I really want it to look before I start playing around with it.

Plus, I kinda feel like holding a grudge against my blog and making it stay ugly as punishment for not working with me. 

Chocolate chip cookies and rain are a good combination

A little too good, actually.  Lets just say I've filled my quota for the week.  But hey, I can't help it.  Just imagine the world's best cookie (seriously, I'm just waiting for the copyright on it to get finalized) in one hand, a cold glass of milk in the other, a scary movie on the tv, and the sound of rain drizzling outside.

On second thought, maybe it was actually the scary movie that made me eat so many...it was either a cookie or my nails.  I think I went with the better option.

Overall, I'm not sure how I feel about this rain business.  I really really really want summer and sunshine, but can I just say there's nothing quite like running in the rain?  Like, there's a little teeny tiny part of me that's keeping its fingers crossed for rain in the morning so I can run in it again.

Speaking of running, I'd like to report that I ran 9 miles this past week...10 minutes faster than I'd anticipated!  Feel free to clap now.

I do believe thats about all I have to say for today...

but mostly actually I just want to go eat another cookie.

Day 8

Day 8: A song to match your mood

Remember how I mentioned the other day that I've turned into a teenage boy?  I thought I'd gotten over that this last week.  I even woke up at 6:30 one day to go run.  Well, it came back in full force this morning.  So really, its only natural that this is the song that matches my mood today.

Bruno Mars, The Lazy Song

Ok, so obviously I don't really think everything he wants to do matches my mood.

I mean, I'd never be caught dead in a snuggie.

Ha.

For the official music video, click here.  

[Warning: I didn't use this one because its a bit creepy and had one too many pelvic thrusts for my liking]

For lyrics, click here. 

Stuff I think about on Sunday evenings

I just spent about the last twenty minutes learning how to download new fonts and use them on your blog...well actually I already knew how to do that.  I was learning how to make it so everyone could actually see that font, even if they don't have it installed on their computer.  I figured I was about done, then I scrolled down...and down...and down...and about 3 weeks later found the bottom of the page.  Lets just say I'll be working on that later.

Alright, first things first.  I'm happy to report that I engaged in social activity not once, but TWICE this last week.  I know.  Activity #1 was hitting up the cheap theater with a friend, and activity #2 was a movie night.  And I successfully initiated conversations with 4 people I didn't know.  Ha, I seriously feel like THEE BIGGEST NERD right now.  But also seriously, I'm proud of myself for setting a goal and sticking to it.

And now I've forgotten everything else I had planned on mentioning because I just spent the last 8 minutes laughing at myself.  Hmmm, well guess I'll try again later.  Maybe I'll even have some new fonts to show off...maybe.   

I've got a new attitude

So lately I haven't been blogging as much.  Oh what, you noticed?  Was it really that obvious?

I also like pretending I have lots and lots of fans who get sad when I don't blog.

Try it sometime, its a good ego boost.

Lets get back to the point.  Three seperate but equally lame things happened recently:

1.  I realized I have absolutely nothing to blog about.

I've already said it, but its worth the repeat.  The mere fact that I was boring myself with the things I was writing was what tipped me off.  I do realize that I need to adjust my attitude a bit here and find the exciting things about every day life to discuss, but for the sake of this post we'll just forget about that for right now.

2.  I spent a Friday night in complete solitude and had driven myself totally crazy by about 8:00.

The craziness came from racking my brain trying to think of people I could go hang out with and then realizing most of my friends have either moved away or gotten married and started procreating.  Also the massive amount of junk food I consumed, but mostly the former.

3.  I had yet another person at church ask if I was new.

"Well hello, are you new to the ward?"

"Um, no.  I've been here for a while.  I've actually been here longer than you..."

[insert awkward silence]

"Oh, hi.  Um.  What's your name?  Cool, bye."
Awesome.
Anyone who knows me knows that I'm a bit on the shy side at times.  I don't usually excel in the friend making arts, and have a tendency to be awkward.  I've discovered something recently though: you just have to be you, and people will decide whether or not they like it.  Earth shattering, I know.
I discovered this thanks to work, where I'm required to talk to every single person that walks through the door.  When I first started, it sucked.  Majorly.  But then I realized that all you have to do is tell a story or make a comment, and then feed off the person's reaction.  The worst that can happen is they give you a look and ignore you.  Usually, though, they laugh and we continue to converse while I help them.
I'm still not sure why its taken this long for me to realize that I can apply this same tactic in my personal life.  Seriously, it wasn't until just last night as I was talking to a friend that the light bulb clicked on for me.  Now that really was an earth-shattering moment.
So here's to me expanding my social horizons, and hopefully any readers I have will enjoy reading about my new adventures in friendship.
Now thats what I call a win/win.

Remember me?

Oh hey, hi, how's it going?

Sometimes I just forget about blogging.

Oops.

I do promise I'll be better about it...

Just not tonight.

Day 7

Day 7: Your dream wedding

Ok, lets be honest.  This post is a little difficult.  You see, I was never one of those little girls who had their whole entire wedding planned by the time they were ten years old.  I never really sat around with my roommates discussing colors and centerpieces and flower arrangements.  I've gathered some ideas of things I like, don't like, and stuff I will never have at my own wedding over the years.  But its not really a complete, cohesive list.  Plus, I like so many color combinations that I'll see a new one and decide thats what I want for my wedding.  And lets be honest, your wedding colors can make or break you.

So yeah, I don't really know what my colors will be, I don't really know what kind of dress I want, and don't even get me started on decorations.  I like the idea of having a vintagey, country-ish, outdoorsy, whimsical sort of theme.  I feel as though my words aren't making any sense, so here are some pictures to help.

c/o

Love the flowers in a mason jar



c/o

The one thing I know for sure is I want cupcakes instead of/along with my cake



c/o

I'm a huge fan of the mixed pattern plate setting



c/o

Um, can you say magical?





c/o 

Just love it

c/o

I'm secretly a fan of tea-length wedding dresses

c/o 

Well, at least now there's a bit of a visual for what runs through my mind when I think of my dream wedding.  Overall, I just want it to feel like magic...and not the Harry Potter kind.  I just picture lots of whimsy and twinkling lights with some vintage touches here and there and a sprinkling of rustic country accents.

Oh, and lots of cupcakes.

A quick list of favorites

I've had this problem for the past few weeks.  It appears as though I've turned into a teenage boy.  Waking up in the morning is torturous [even on nights where I get 8 hours of sleep], my niece tells me multiple times throughout the day that I "smell like stink", and I'm constantly hungry.  I have a feeling the first and last problems are related to ramping up my running as I prep for my half marathon.  The stink issue?  Yeah, my niece just likes to pick on me.  Pinkie promise I shower and deodorize at least six days out of the week.  Anyways, this whole being dead tired all the time thing tends to make me forgetful.  Luckily I didn't forget to do a Favorite Things Friday post.  Unluckily, I'm too tired to think of what my favorite things were this week.  Umm...I know I'm super excited about the birthday present I got for my sister.  Also, I'm obsessed with Netflix and all the awesomeness I can watch on it.  And we had stir fry.  Seriously, that's all my brain is allowing me to remember right now.
Take pity on me.

P.S. I accept sympathy in the form of Cadbury mini eggs.  Or Reese's eggs.  Just FYI.

Day 6

Day 6:  A picture of an animal you'd like to have as a pet.

Lets be honest, folks, I kind of have a love hate relationship with animals.  I seriously, seriously love them but at the same time I hate the idea of them rolling around in dirt and who knows what else then coming in and rubbing their grubby little selves on me.  Gross, right?  Still doesn't stop me from letting my mom's dog sleep with me when I visit home.

I know someday when my kids ask for a pet I'll probably let them have something.  I'm pretty open to anything [minus certain reptiles...and ferrets] as long as they take care of it.  

But if I had to pick one animal I'd like for a pet, I'd go with...umm...well I don't really know.  I've had a wide variety of "pets" in my long 24 years of life, including

lots of kittens [most never reached cat-hood...oops]

...



a bunny, named Bunny Foo Foo of course

... 

a dog for one day 

...

a couple of cows [don't judge, I grew up on a farm] 

 ...

and a wonky-eyed catdog

... 

Ok, so she isn't actually a catdog.  She's just a very "special" cat, if you know what I mean.

I still really don't know what pet I'd ever decide on.  More than likely something normal, like a good-natured mutt dog or a floppy-eared rabbit.  Or who knows, maybe I'll just open an animal sanctuary and start bringing home some lions and tigers and bears...oh my.

I'm a sucker for free stuff

As I speak, I'm downloading a free episode of Shark Men on iTunes.  I've never even heard of it, but I like sharks and I like free stuf, so it only makes sense.  Right?

I decided to take a bit of a break there, in case you didn't notice.  No reasons or excuses, I just felt like it.  Blogging is weird for me, in that I like blogging and writing about the happenings of my life but at the same time I don't necessarily want people to read about my weirdness and judge me.  But at the same time I don't care.  Sigh, if only my brain were normal.

I finally took the time [and the $50] to register for Teton Dam again.  I'll have to do another 10k again for comparison's sake, but I still think half marathon is my favorite racing distance.  I decided that as of April 1st I'm only running outside, and lets just say I'm a lot happier about running now.  The thought of pounding out anything more than 3 miles on a treadmill makes me shudder worst than a shot of Nyquil.  Take it outside and its no problemo.  Well, except for the famous Rexburg wind.

I do believe I've bored even myself to tears, so I'll sign off for now.  I've decided that I don't necessarily need to blog daily, but I'm going to try to keep it a bit more consistent.  And I promise it'll be a heck of a lot more entertaining than this one...most of the time at least.  And now I'm going to go download a free episode of Human Planet.