she got her toes done up with her fingernails matchin...

i just can't stop blogging lately.
it's a disease!

not really.
i just keep finding stupid things on my computer.
ready for a cheesy essay full of lame, high school anecdotes?

up, up and awayyyyyyyyyyyyyy

Every Christmas, my grandma gives my dad a very special present. Every year it is the same thing: a puzzle. After all the other presents were put away we would sit down as a family and work the day away trying to find the perfect pieces to fit in the certain gap. Sometimes we would split the puzzle up into sections, I would take the edges, Dad would take the sky, and Mom would take the flowers. It was so much easier to get through when you only had to worry about one little segment of a large puzzle. Two years ago, my grandmother gave my dad an especially difficult puzzle. It was a picture of hundreds of white golf balls stacked on top of each other with a singular, bright red tee on top. We have yet to finish that puzzle…someday though, it will get finished, and the pieces will find their place.
Puzzles are a lot like life. You start out slowly, with the easy edges; hoping, that once you reach the middle it will be a piece of cake to finish. Needless to say-it never works out like planned. The pieces become more intricate and harder to piece together. Your eyes get tired of looking at the same thing for so long and you lose the urge to find “just one more piece.” These are like the experiences that shape our lives. Just like the puzzle pieces, experiences come in different shapes, sizes, or colors. Sometimes there are the pieces (or even puzzles) that we have to put aside and come back to later; these are the ones that shape our character. How we fix problems, how we handle grief…this is what makes us who we are.
When I entered high school it seemed that my world had gone absolutely nuts! The once, insecure, scrawny boys turned into studly, hunks in the eyes of all the young, sophomore girls. Boyfriends were the latest rage. I watched as girl after girl crashed and burned for the deep, blue eyes of a brown-haired boy. Some of my best friends ended up just as alone as they were before, but far worse off. The girls had run amuck! A melancholy mood hung over their heads and everyone could feel it. Eventually the mood seemed to lighten. It was an ever-so-subtle change, but after a month or two…the girls, though still broken, were able to see the good in situations once more. They learned the high price you pay for love, and afterwards never looked at the same situation as blinded as they had before. They had become shaped by their experiences, making them stronger, weaker, or even more enigmatic as they refused to show their real feelings to any “unworthy” boy afterwards.
When I was 7, I had this Barbie puzzle. It was 100 pieces of Barbie and all of her friends at their best. While exercising, the group of friends was dressed in leg warmers and brightly colored spandex, and I was so excited to get started on my very own first puzzle. I finally found where the brunette Barbie was placed, the leg warmers all matched colors, and the smiles were all in tact. I had done this puzzle by myself. There was no need to split it up between family members, because I had dominated the once seemingly impossible task of completing a puzzle. This is the one thing I know for certain and I learned it from that simple puzzle I still have: every piece will find its place eventually. Whether through our family, friends, or even lots of chocolate and a good cry-we will conquer our trials and we will move on to better, easier days. That’s the way it always had been and many things besides puzzles reflect that truth. Rainy days will turn sunny…even in Seattle. Snow melts and later falls again. Everything works in a cycle and prepares something that was once broken. That’s the most important thing that I’ve learned in life and I will never look at puzzles the same.

this is the time in this post where the deep voiced man comes on to say something like: "family. isn't it about (pause for dramatic effect) time?" i imagine that this time he would say something like: "high school. isn't it about using cliches to make your paper 3 pages instead of 2?"

my grandma really did give us that stupid golf ball puzzle. i get the chills just thinking about it. (that's called exaggeration, kids.)

clear as crystal.

yesterday i bowled a turkey.
no, i did not throw a commonly consumed bird down a greased lane of wood.

i got 3 strikes in a row.
woo.

i also ate a grapefruit.
yum.
i love citrusy sweets.

today when i walked home from work, i looked up instead of down.
and when you hit the right spot by the trees next to the wilk - you can smell the leaves...and they smell amazing.

i love fall.

i dreamed a dream

sometimes i sit in my kitchen,

in the middle of the dirty dishes and plants that need watering

and i listen to showtunes while i make ravioli.

i'm so grateful that i get to do this.


in other news...i got to have a photo shoot, study session, cake eating and dance party with april and her wonderful roomies (shout out to M, B and L).
i've never had so much fun with hairnets.

gettin some lovin from my little blondie, april.

kennedy (my niece) got her ears pierced. i hope i looked this cute when i had mine pierced. and hi, can you say future ballerina? she looks like a ballerina to me.

check out that graceful neck.

i also listened to death cab for cutie alllllllllll last night. and i loved every second. (shout out to a new friend for reminding me how beautiful the lyrics are to "we looked like giants.")

i know you - you're that one girl...

i had no idea how liberating it could be to be called "sassy."
maybe liberating isn't the right word...wait...it totally is.
i've gone from shy, awkward girl to sassy girl with glasses and hippy hair.
i blame the meds...and the fact that i don't get up early enough to even bother touching my straightener.
but i totally don't mind being the girl with the quick quip about why you're stupid today - because i think it's nice to get a swift kick in the butt every once in a while. and if it comes from a mysterious girl with glasses who always has her bangs in her face, well then i ask you: what could be better?

favorite question of the week: "hey natalie. have you ever been called catalie? you know...like a cat?"
i love advertising class.

i never posted this video, but it's hilarious. in all fairness, she's wearing my sweatshirt - so it's kind of like my clothing aided in her fire blowing abilities.

another one of those...

things i'm thankful for today:


- parents who trust in my abilites and goals.
especially in my ability to drive safely - even though i'm not supposed to.


- google translator.
if french literature doesn't kill me, it'll be a miracle.
(this is what comes up when you type in "french" in google images. haha.)


- wonderful sisters.
movie night with amanda is surely my new favorite wells girls tradition.


- zupa's.
believe the hype, kids. it really is that good.


-bulldogs.
molly (my sister's neighbor's dog.) made the baby shower that much more enjoyable.

how many, baby cakes?

according to www.howmanyofme.com, there are 109 people in the united states with my name.

dude.
rock on child born at christmas.
rock rock on.