L - Little life changing moments

It never happens like in the movies. The noise doesn't stop, the light doesn't focus, and sometimes you have no idea our life just changed. Unfortunately, the life-changing moments are seldom big enough to be noticed in the chaos of everyday life.

The day I discovered HPANA was one such moment. As embarrassing as it is to admit, I was 14 when I came across the Harry Potter fan site and made myself at home. I joined conversations voicing my opinion and theories until, fatefully, I found the Sonorus section.

It was the place where graphically talented people fathered. They made avatars, desktop wallpapers, and blends. I was fascinated by their work, and I knew I wanted to be a part of it.

The first day I opened photoshop was just as fateful, if not more so, than the day HPANA was discovered. I played around with the tools, teaching myself one-by-one what each of them did. For years I experimented with the program, everyday learning new tricks. Never taking a class or looking up a tutorial online, learning the program was a slow and frustrating process. Nonetheless, my persistence paid off and by the time I entered my 12th grade digital photo class I knew more about the program than my teacher did.

But I didn't stop with photoshop. I soon discovered the entire adobe creative suite, slowing learning them all. I continued entering competitions, eventually winning 1st place in an international book cover competition.

Then, one day, I had an idea. I knew I was capable of making wedding invitations, so why not earn some extra cash? I decided to start my own business, a wedding invitation company.

My love for the art only continued to grow, and when I entered college I declared a visual arts minor, hoping one day to have a career.

Where would I be had I not come across that site? Would I have ever opened photoshop? It's crazy to think of all the moments that have made the biggest difference in my life, and to realize that at the time I took them as nothing more than daily routine.

But I like it that way. I think that if, every time something big or life changing happened, we were aware of it, we would stop paying attention to the little things, and life would become one big string of monotonous activities, just waiting for the next big thing.

And that is why the little life changing moments made it onto my gratitude list, because I believe that not knowing which moments in our lives are the biggest makes us appreciate each moment so much more.

K- Kanga ang Roo, and DVP too.

Let me just say, before I begin my ramblings on why these people fall on my gratitude list, that I cannot ever do them justice.

     Roo: a.k.a. Rachel Perry. Friendship at first sight...or at least as far as I can remember. Best friends from the age of seven.
     Kanga: a.k.a. Christina Perry. Thought it would be cool for the nicknames Kanga and Roo to be implemented. Unfortunately, while Roo took off soaring Kanga never had it's big debut. Not friendship at first sight. If I remember correctly she feared my mission was to steal away her younger sister.
     DVP: aka Diana Perry.  She was the older one who was mature and who liked to dress up with friends and go to the neighbors pretending to be someone else. We couldn't have friendship at first sight because she held a position of authority and was too cool. We eventually bonded over hair dye and other common interests.


The day the Crookston family moved into a house across the street from the Perry residence was a major one. Little did I know that I was about to gain my second family or that my Msquared* lived in that house.

There have been numerous relationship defining moments with this family. The fact that Msquared loves Anne of Green Gables and O Brother, Where art Thou? being prominent. The Perry family also introduced me to my love of butter spray, Mary Kate and Ashley, crystal light, barbies, 007, mario tennis, the OC, good quality Mexican food, flip flops, tetris, sims, and smarties gum.

We have been aliens together, shared korean lunch boxes, made videos of Pierre and his lover, watched the video of Lee pulling out the tree in the front yard, discovered the joy of the Donny barbie, driven to Canada, danced to Radio Disney, fought over whose desk was the messiest, endured numerous renditions of Genie in a Bottle, had matching outfits, gotten over my white-out addiction, and made our way around town with two people on one bike.

The day I found out the Perry family was moving for three years to be mission presidents I pretty much died.

But they moved back so I was able to resume life as normal.

This family has basically consisted of my best friends for the majority of my life, and I'm pretty sure I would be a different person without them.

They also brought me the most delicious cupcakes last night, so if that doesn't prove their awesomeness, I don't know what will.

    

*Msquared: Noun. A person who assumes the role of a second mother.

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J - Jennie

Remember my gratitude blogging?? I know it's been a while, but I haven't forgotten! 

I feel a little guilty having people on my gratitude list, because then when someone is not on the list I fear they will be offended. So, um, please don't be offended.

So let's talk about JENNIE :)

Full Name: Jennie Rae Smithson
Date of Birth: November 26, 1990
Favorite Color:  Green. Or Teal. Or pink.
Favorite Food: Pizza
Favorite restaurant: Red Robin
Favorite Ice Cream: Graham Canyon
She is most recently from Alabama, but she moved around quite regularly.

Last semester we met in Freshman Academy, oh the ... fun? times. She quickly became a regular study partner and very good friend. Next fall semester she - and friend Milanne - are going to be living with sarah and me and I am so so excited!

-She is one of those amazing people who always manages to make the best out of every single situation.
-She knows what she stands for and she will never lower her standards.
-She has the ability to move situations into something she is comfortable with without making others feeling awkward or as though she is looking down on them.
-Her talent for photography and crafts is amazing. You can always count on Jennie to bring a camera to any event :)
-It is obvious that she loves and cares about her family
-Her wardrobe is wonderful and she always looks like she actually spent time getting ready, something that cannot be said for all college students.
-She has the gift of making everyone feel comfortable in any situation - definitely not cursed with the awkward gene!
-Her sense of humor is amazing, and her optimism is unfailing.
-If you ever need help with anything, Jennie will do everything she can to assist you.

Basically, she is an amazing friend with unquestionably integrity, a person who can always be trusted, and still knows how to have fun... If only we could all be a bit more like Jennie :)

p.s. Jennie, please don't be creeped by my photo stalking!!

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I - Imagination

You have no idea how many times I started writing this post, realized I wasn't saying what I wanted to say exactly how I wanted to say it, so deleted the whole thing only to start again. What I am finding is that imagination is a hard thing to explain. I tried starting this post by listing all of the many books, art works, movies, music, and ideas that have come through imagination, however, that list was proving to be something of a novel, and I felt that it wasn't quite getting my point across. My next thought was to try and explain to you the role my imagination has played in my life. Being the only child at home for about ten years, I quickly learned that the best way out a boring or lonely situation was to imagine that my circumstances were different. I have created many different lives for myself in my mind, however, trying to explain them made me sound more mental than imaginative, so they were deleted. After that, I thought about my writing. Over the course of my short life, I have come up with hundreds of story ideas, and have begun to write down many of them. The problem with starting my post with that information was that I did not want to post any of my writings here, so telling you that I like to write seemed a little pointless.

So here I sit, with a head full of imaginative thoughts, and no way to expresses them in a blog post. Then again, I guess the point of this is not to tell of my imagination, but to tell of my appreciation for it. Now that is something I can do.

As I mentioned earlier, my imagination was something I used to escape from my only-child syndrome. For many years it filled the void left by my lack of siblings, and for that I am grateful.

I do not think that I could write about imagination without mentioning the wonderful things we have because of it. Someone had to imagine the story of love-struck Romeo and Juliet, and where would we be had Edison not imagined a better source of light? Artists, musicians, authors, dancers, scientists, architects, mothers, the list goes on and on. So many things that require imagination, and I am so glad that they do.

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H - Home and family living/Hip Surgery/HP

Home and family living. My favorite class, without a doubt. We have learned all the random necessities such as how to get a grass stain out of a shirt and how to stop alcoholism from passing from generation to generation. My teacher, Dr. Erickson, is amazing. She has a talent for getting the class involved and never makes anyone feel like their answer was not exactly what she was looking for. Not to mention she assigned the book The Hiding Place, an amazing book that officially pushes all but number one and two down one spot on my favorite book list.

Hip Surgery. Am I excited? No. I have this horrible terrifying fear that I will be one of those people who can feel everything during surgery and for the rest of my life I'm a mental case. Really, this fear has kept me up at night. I am also not really looking forward to the uncomfortable socks after, but thankfully Emily is taking care getting those for me. I am, however, grateful that I will not hurt anymore. Hip pain has been growing, slowly but surely, and it is a happy thought that one day they will hurt no more :)

HP. Yes, I actually added it. Harry Potter has played a great role in my life, and I feel like not adding it to the list would be unfair to J.K.Rowling and Jim Dale. I just really enjoy these books, they're one of those classic comforts, like a harmonica, that will forever remind me of my childhood.

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G - Gravity

I don't really have much to add to that. I just prefer having my feet on the ground.

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F - Friends? Family?

Talk about pressure. Everyone knows that when you come to the "f" you have to do either friends or family, usually picking whoever is most likely to read it. But what if both friends and family are going to read it? And what if your family members are your friends? And what if your friends become like family? Too many technicalities for my liking. So I took a second to think outside the box and decided to be grateful for friends and family. Genius.

Family: A few years ago, Rachel came out to BYU. I didn't have any particular feelings about this change of events, but my general thought was negative. As every family member knows, Rachel and I do not have happy childhood memories. I remember the first few Sunday's she came home for dinner, they were defined by awkward side-glances and attempts to avoid conversation. I do not remember exactly when our childhood hatred turned into the best-friend bond that we have now, but I do remember one day sitting on the green couch talking about our family, and the oddities that come with having Crookston blood. It was then that I realized how nice it is to have someone who is both family, and my age.

This was about the same time I started to get to know Polly. She moved home for a while, and I am so glad she did. For years, she had fallen under the category of "older siblings who I know basically nothing about," and her time at home gave me the opportunity to know her better. Polly taught me a lot about our family, and helped me realize that as a Crookston, I am just naturally weird, and that is ok. It is ok to be an introvert, and to have a quirky sense of humor.

Through getting to know Rachel and Polly better I came to know my family
 better, something that had been hard for me to do as the youngest by so
many years. I'm pretty glad I have them, because they are quite possibly the
only people who will ever truly understand my oddities, and possibly even
share a few. So thanks, Family, for being weird, so I feel a little bit more normal :)

This is the only pictures we managed to get at the last family reunion. It's not complete, but it's the best I have.

Friends: Where do I even start? After coming to college I have a new definition of friendship. True, my family is about 15 minutes away, but none of my college friends are so fortunate. There is a quote that Sarah and I put on our wall that says, "I've learned that your college friends are kinda like family. You eat together, you laugh together, you cry together, and sometimes you do nothing at all. But most of all, you can't seem to remember how you ever lived without them." Touché. (I always feel odd using that word. I'm not fencing. But it is a cool word, so I'm using it anyway.)

These are my best friends, or the ones I have easily accessible pictures of, anyway

Um...please don't be offended if I didn't put up a picture of you. I am running late to class, and don't have time to facebook stalk everyone at the moment

<3

E - Electricity.

Need I say more? No. But I will.

Here is a list of electricity-requiring things that I can think of off the top of my head:
Computer
Phone
Light
Hair dryer
Fridge
Washer and Dryer
Television
Fire alarms
Printers
Microphones
Video projectors
Oven
Radio
Toaster
Hair straightener
Fan
Heaters
Power tools
Lawn mower
Alarms in general

On a scale of one to ten, one being "I never think about what life would be
like without electricity", and 10 being "I devote every waking moment to
thoughts of life without electricity," I'm probably a two. In fact, until a
few minutes ago when I was thinking of things that start with "e" to be
grateful for, I don't think I had thought about electricity since our went out at home a few months ago. However, electricity definitely falls under the category of things that make my life wonderful, so I am taking this opportunity to express my gratitude. So thank you, people who invented electricity, for making my life easier.

<3

D - Don Raphael

Being the homeschooled part-time student that I was, and not being involved in any high school teams, it always throws me off when someone from OHS recognizes me.  For example, a while back I was sitting in the freshman academy center being introduced to *Don Raphael. During the introduction I was silently thinking to myself how I knew him, and he did not know it, which gave me creeper status. And when he said "You went (1) to Orem, right?" I was officially thrown off. Don Raphael was the sociable sort who did outgoing things like run for student council and actually make friends in high school, and I was surprised that his type knew my type.

Little did I know that that (2) conversation with Don would be the first of many. Shortly after participating in a musical rendition (3) of the book Seed Folks, Don and I discovered that we were both working at Legends, and we later discovered that our Tuesday and Friday schedules are the same. Not long after that, we realized we were in the same psychology class, and a study group was formed.

It did not take many conversations with Don to realize that he is a genuinely hilarious person. This fact was validated (4) the day he sent me a text that said (5): "I was filling my water bottle and so was the person next to me. We started about the same time, and when I was done I yelled 'beat you!' He looked confused, but I walked away feeling awesome."

Now, after I have written that down, I feel that maybe you might have had to be there for full-frontal hilarity. Take my word for it.

A while back I updated my facebook status to say "Has anyone else realized that OK is a sideways person?" I got many comments, (6) all saying "wow!" or "never noticed that before!" By far, hands down, the best comment was the one left by Don :

Because I enjoyed seeing that so much, I have spent the past 5 minutes trying to be as cool as you. All I have gotten were

man with better arms: OE<

and man with long neck: O-K

or rocking horse man? OK)

yeah, definitely not as cool.

There was also the time he told Johnny "Yeah, that took you forever" after Johnny typed a random row of letters. Again, with the "you had to be there" aspect. Maybe Don's humor is based on comedic timing, which is hard to express via blog post. Despite the context in which you need to hear the humor, I am glad to have someone to keep me entertained at work. Also, it is always nice to have someone to assist you in stalking the football team, and to remind you that starting an "I stalk the football team" club is probably not the best idea. So thank you, Don Raphael, for keeping life interesting.

*Name has been changed... sorta
1- I just spelled that word like wen't
2- I love it when I can use the same word twice in a row and have it make sense
3- There was actually no music involved, it just sounded cooler that way
4- You should watch that if you have not already. It is well worth the sixteen minutes of your time.
5- This is not a direct quote. I spent so long trying to find the text, I looked through all 2163 texts in my inbox, but I could not find it :(
6- 16, to be exact. Quite possibly more than on any other status update

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C - Creativity

How bland would our world be without it??

Cheers to those who create.

<3

B- Being Close to Home

Before the semester started, I was talking to a friend from my freshman academy via facebook. Our conversation covered country music, lame Tarzan jokes, and our home towns. He told me of his excitement to be leaving home for college, and implied that he felt sorry that I had to stay so close. At first I agreed. Isn't part of the college experience getting away from home, learning to survive in the big scary world? During new student orientation I couldn't help but be slightly jealous of those people from Connecticut and Georgia, who had really left home and couldn't just pick up and head back just for the fun of it. It seemed at the time that they were getting the real college experience, and I was getting somewhat of a knock-off.

As time has gone on, however, I have found joy in telling people that I am going home to do laundry, or for Sunday dinner. Knowing that I can stop by my dad's office and see a familiar face is always a comfort, and when I am too poor to buy a box of Kleenex, my mother is willing to supply. Though these comforts are (insert word I am looking for here. It is late, and I honestly have no idea what it is. If I remember in future, I will fill it in), I still felt slightly foolish telling people I am from Orem. I feel as though they think I am not getting my full college experience, and thus feel sorry for me.

However, at this very moment in time, as I sit on the comfortable brown chair, waiting for my laundry to be done and listening to the clock tick behind me, I realize how very grateful I am to live so close to my  home. What a blessing it is to have my mother so close, so I can see her when I start to feel homesick. How lucky am I to be able to see my dad daily, asking him advice or just saying hello. How many college students get a weekly home cooked meal, or can have their mom drive them to the orthopedic center? I am not sure how many college students are needing rides to the orthopedic center, but currently it falls under the category of things I am grateful for. There is just something different about being home. There is a sense of comfort that simply cannot be found in the dorms, and i am so grateful to know that I can come home whenever I need.

<3

A- American style Chinese food

Who doesn't love it? The fried rice, the orange chicken, the egg roll, all topped off with a cookie that predicts your future.

Yesterday, after that delightful American Heritage movie, Lauren and I went to Panda for a genuine American-Chinese experience. My craving for Chinese was filled, and I have another fortune to staple to my wall. All-in-all I'd say it was a pretty successful trip.

<3

From A - Z

Once upon a very long time ago, I kept a gratitude journal. Every night I would pull out a little notebook and write something I was grateful for. Orange juice, when I had a sore throat, laughter, when I was feeling particularly giggly.

Until quite recently, I had forgotten about this journal that I once updated so religiously. The other day, however, I happened to be blog-stalking when I came across Rachel and Makenzie's blogs. What a brilliant idea they had:

A-Z gratitude blogging.

Being the idea-stealing person that I am, I am going to steal their idea. Starting sometime later this week, (don't judge me for procrastination reasons. exams, and doctors appointments, and work, and leaves to rake... it's not like I don't have nothing to do) I will staring my A-Z gratitude blogging. Something to look forward to??

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