Memories I Love - 200th Blog Post!

I have been thinking for awhile how to make this 200th blog post different. That's kinda hard when all my posts are different...Regardless, I've been looking back at all the things in life that I've loved, memories, foods, etc. Thus, that's what this 200th blog post will be about. All the memories I love :)

First off, here's one thing I don't love: laziness. I have practically jumped off the wagon and ran from it in regards to my daily exercises. Not a single push up in February and none so far in March. Same with sit ups, crunches, and squats. Seriously, I NEED MY MOTIVATION BACK. Where did it go??? I need some encouragement, folks. Bring it :)

Okay, like I said, I've been thinking a lot lately. I find myself drifting back to my favorite memories and favorite times in life.

**Growing up in Strawberry Village. After my mean stage :).
I am always reminded how blessed we all were to have grown up in Strawberry Village with the parents we had. Having three sisters wasn't always a blast in a glass but we learned from each other. I know that I became who I am by how I was raised and I tend to think I'm a pretty good person. All my faults are my own and I own them completely. Yes, I'm lazy; yes, I eat too much pasta; yes, I can have a really sharp tongue sometimes; but these are my own. I know that all of these things are not showing my best side, but the fact that I am aware of these faults shows how I was raised to be a good person. I'm not blind to these things and I can (try) to work on them as I get older. Thanks Mom, Dad, Amanda, Bridget, and Leta. You are my favs! My other favorites? My mom's goulash :)

High School.
High School wasn't all that great but my absolute favorite memories about that time is how close Leta and I became. We were NOT close for such a long time and my poor parents can attest to how ridiculous we were. Putting tape down the middle of our bedroom was not our most shining moment :) I think I recall that one of us wasn't able to leave the room based on our divider...(Leta, do you remember that??) Despite all that, we came together at such a critical time in my life. I was happily a floater all throughout high school but sometimes it's nice to have a solid group of friends to hang out with during the school hours. Leta and her friends became that for me. We had soooo much fun riding to school together, getting ready for different concerts together, going to different events together. I love thinking back to those times :).

**College, but more specifically, Sophomore Year.
I had THE best time during my sophomore year at Luther. It seemed that my friends and I had not quite grown up yet and were still in that slightly immature, yet really fun stage of our lives. We drank a whole lot and did a lot of dancing at Scoes. Seriously, I LOVED going to scoes, but I had a routine. Go early, be drunk because I never drank at the bar, dance it up and go home when I started elbowing people out of my way. I'm glad there aren't many pictures though. Gross.

Miller 717 was THE best room on campus, so cozy and tiny. We were a room full of dead animals (my dwarf hamster(s) and fish, Kendra's fish and crabs (more on this in a second). I'm SO glad we never let Kendra buy a bunny that she desperately wanted, probably would have died! Despite the dead animals, we had a blast in that room. My favorite memories? Tubs have little baby dwarf hamsters, the crab that somehow escaped out of Kendra's fish tank and scuttled across the room for god knows how long (and may have done the same in the room next door. We heard some screaming...), all the times Kendra would waltz into the room next door thinking it was ours, tuna raid night (see this post for more details!), and having Andrew and Spencer in the same building.

If I could go back to college, that's the year I want to go back to. We grew up a lot that year so Junior Yr & Senior Yr became more about school and work and finishing than having all that fun. And freshman yr? I'm not quite sure about freshman. We had our campus celebrities that year but man it was weird.

Gary.
I truly love how Gary and I met. I was a little high schooler crushing on a boy that worked in the caf. I would read in Marty's just hoping he'd be around playing pool so I could spy on him. It took a couple of years before we became anything more than friends. At the time, I had just come out of a very crazy sophomore year and I was on the brink of making some incredibly bad life decisions. Gary was there during all of this and I fell so hard because I knew he was the absolute perfect guy for me. He was everything that I needed and could have ever asked for. He cared for me more than anyone had ever cared for me before. I knew very early on that I loved him and it makes me smile every time I look back to the summer of 2008. It was a very special summer.

I love you too, honey bear :)