Perfect Butter!

This is one of my favorite things!!!

I love opening a new tub of butter, margarine, peanut butter, or whatever.  That swirly design with the little tip in the middle is so cute and perfect!  I kind of love it.  Every time I just have to open it and just look at it for a while until plunging in with the knife.

Just thought I'd share. :)

Song of the Week: "The Climb" by Miley Cyrus

Haha.... Okay, I know you might be rolling your eyes right now.  That's fine.  Miley Cyrus is kind of old news these days.  But I have totally bonded with this song over the past 4 years.  When I first started working at the Boys & Girls Club in 2009, one of the teens was showing me a slideshow video thing she made of pictures of her and her friends.  "The Climb" was the song playing with the video and I liked it.  Fresh off the mission, I was totally out of the music loop, so when I asked them what song it was, they all kind of looked at me like, "Really?  You've never heard this?"  Well... that was my first exposure to Miley Cyrus.

This same teen has since grown to be one that I am closest to at the Club.  I care about her like she's my sister or daughter all mixed into one.  A few years ago she asked me to play the guitar so she could sing it at the talent show.  We did.  It was the first time her mom heard her sing in public... because this girl is shy and would never sing in front of her mom at home.

I love the message of the song.  Motivating!!  Last year when I did the Halloween half-marathon in Provo, I included "The Climb" on my playlist.  Although it's not my typical upbeat running kind of music, it has a good pace if I'm running to each beat.  And the message of it motivates me to keep going.

I recently watched "The Hannah Montanna Movie" again and love the part of the movie when she sings this song. I know, I'm an emotional softy!

Lastly, just this past week at the Club, we were having "Squad Wars" (each staff has their squad of teens) and there was a "sing-off" portion the staff had prepared.  Each squad had to sing a song and we were judged by some other staff members.  The final squad sang "The Climb" and it was a magical moment in my treasure box of Club memories. :)  By the end of the song we were ALL singing... even the tough boys slumped on the couch were clapping and totally into it.  My staff guys were singing their hearts out, and I literally had tears in my eyes.  I thought, "THIS is what it's all about!!"  People of all ages, backgrounds, and circumstances singing "The Climb" together at the Boys & Girls Club. Ha. :)

I will always love this song.  I will always sing it out loud when I'm driving and it comes on.  Always.

"Bree Unplugged" (private blog) Updated...

Updated my other blog-- a nice emotional release of thoughts swirling around in my head... inspired by a friend recently passing away.

"Bree Unplugged"

Song of the Week: Hall of Fame

This is just kind of for my own benefit-- to be able to look back one day on the songs that I've loved.  Songs that have pulled me through different phases of my life.  So I'm going to post a video for my "song of the week" every weekend.  And you can tell me if you love it or hate it.  But either way, it means something to me.  And that's the beauty of music!

SONG OF THE WEEK:

"Hall of Fame"-- The Script

A friend of mine is battling cervical cancer right now.  She's in her 30's and she's such a strong, spunky, confident, talented woman.  I love her.  She posted this song on her Facebook wall one day and I have loved it ever since.  I love it for her.  I love it for me.  I love it for the teens I work with.  I love it for anyone who is trying to make something of their life!  Hopefully that is most-- if not all-- of us. :)

Emotional & Sappy

I admit that I am a super emotional, sentimental, and sappy person.
I am mostly this way about friendships, family, and people I truly come to love and care about.
My freshman year at BYU, after I found my niche of friends that became my first REAL GROUP of best friends... I started crying every night beginning in March, just thinking of going home that summer and having to be separated from everyone.  Maybe I'm just a big, emotional disaster.  But I remember I even got a little rash around the corners of my eyes from crying so much. Haha... and then we'd play and laugh all day long and have so much fun in the dorms... and then I'd turn into a cry-baby at night.  Yep.

So here I am, 32 years old, and I have big changes coming up in my world.
No, I'm not getting married-- calm down.

I'll be moving on to a new career in about a year, and my entire world will flip upside-down.
My comfort zone of the Boys & Girls Club and the wonderful family of teens and staff that I hang out with every day... I'll have to walk away from all of that.
I'll have to be a "grown-up" and start working as a real school counselor in a junior high or high school-- which sounds scary but super awesome all at the same time.
I love my job.  I really do.  I think all of you probably know that by now.  And I think my job loves me right back.  I love the people and the people love me.  There are plenty of things that I don't love some times, and those are the days that help balance out the emotions and the sappiness oozing out of my heart.

But today I am sappy and emotionally wimpy.

One of my teens makes videos all the time of her and her friends at Club.  She edits them and adds music and makes them all cute.  Those kinds of things will just make me sob and lose control of my emotions.  Any slide show of pictures and music will just get me every time.  So of course we were watching one of these video medleys she made today, and we were all laughing SOO hard.  Videos of us from 3 or 4 years ago.  Videos of me when I first started working there and I was super awkward.  And I looked gross and couldn't believe I wore that outfit that day.  And I unknowingly walked in front of the camera and shook my booty and did a little dance to the music in the background.  Sure didn't know they were recording that moment.

We laughed through all of it and I had tears all over the place.  And suddenly those laughter tears were sappy emotional tears, and I exclaimed, "Oh my gosh, I can't do this!! I am going to be a mess this entire year.  Are you kidding me??!"  And I thought of how ridiculous I will be come June when my sweet teens are suddenly graduating from high school... or come August when it is most likely my last month working at the Club.  Everything will make me cry or whimper or ache in my heart.

I love those kids.  So much.

I started up this little "memory/quote book" at the Club a few weeks ago.  It is tiny.  But I told the teens I'm going to start writing down funny memories, quotes, or incidents that take place during the Club day.  And I invited them to write in it any time, draw pictures, whatever.  So some of them have already printed off funny pictures of celebrities we love or inside jokes, glued them in the book, and wrote little notes.  I've written down super funny quotes that the teens say.  When I stayed home sick a few weeks ago, one of the teens wrote a note about how much they missed me and Club is not as fun when I'm not there.  Awwww.  Bless their hearts!  I will CHERISH that little book when I leave that job.  I will read it, laugh, smile, and cry.

Right now I am trying my best to just take it one day at a time and enjoy every little minute.  I have seen so many of these kids grow from awkward, moody 8th graders, to amazing, confident, hilarious, fun young adults who are suddenly getting ready for college.  What?!  That's crazy.  I love that I am a part of their lives, and they are certainly a part of mine.  I love when I get to know their parents and develop a close connection with the family.  It means a lot to me.

Basically, I am just one, big, emotional basket-case and I am one of the most sentimental people out there.  One day a girl ripped out a big wad of her hair while she was trying to take out a "hair wrap" thing.  Her hair is taped to my wall. (haha, gross, I know).  On several occasions, we've been eating fries and there is one, nasty, burned crusty one in the bottom.  so we have burnt, crusty fries taped to my office window.  I have pictures galore.  Notes.  Letters.  Stuffed animals who have acquired names, voices, and personalities.  Little trinkets everywhere.  Stickers.  Justin Bieber, Hunger Games, and One Direction paraphernalia everywhere. Nasty, used "American Flag" shorts that no one has claimed but we all take turns wearing them over our jeans, or they just hang on the coat-hook in my office.  post-it notes stuck all over my computer and desk.  Creative artsy things by the teens.  A picture of Bethany Hamilton (my soul surfer hero) on the wall, with a plastic toy shark taped on the wall where her arm is missing.  Teeny Bopper magazines on my desk.  My secret snack stash drawer that I dig into for the teens who are always hungry.  My markers and stickers for teens to use for special occasions.  School pictures that teens have given to me over the years.  I could go on and on.

But you know what I'll miss the most?  The daily interactions.  The way I can observe some of my most favorite teens as I watch them reach out to other kids-- I watch them work their tail off to get good grades-- I watch them go out of their comfort zone to try new things-- I watch them smile as they walk in each day because they know I'm so happy to see them.  I'll keep in touch with them always.  But a frequent note or phone call won't be anything as close to the daily interactions.  The face to face conversations, laughter, encouragement, heart-to-hearts, teasing, disciplining, venting, smiling.  All of it.  I'm going to miss that.

So anyway, the whole point of this post was to mention the "memory/quote book" thing.  I'll probably take a few pics to post on here at some point.  But for now... I'm still wearing my heart on my sleeve and loving my moments at work.

Dog Farts

What is it about dog toots?!  (I tried to say "toots" just now, since "fart" may offend some people, but let's be honest.  "dog toot" sounds ridiculous.  Dog Farts.  That's it.)  Totally gross.  Like, really.  They seriously make me sick.

*ugh*

But that's not the purpose of this post.

I simply wanted to vent about the blog comment "word verification" things.  They used to be something as simple as this:



... and you think, "Sure, I can type in 'extus'"... and boom, you're in.

Then they started getting a little more tricky:



Sure, okay.  The letters are all wavy now.  That'll surely prevent the hackers from getting in.  Still easy.

But now they're all crazy like and include things more like this:

     

Those two examples aren't that bad, but I have been presented with some that make absolutely no sense to me!  And I sit there staring and wondering what the heck these letters are that I'm looking at.  And then it becomes some kind of game as you try to decipher the code language on the screen.  Minutes have passed and you suddenly forget how you got there and what the word verification was for.  Sometimes I get rejected more times than I have patience for and just say, "Oh forget it" and give up on the comment I had so carefully typed an hour ago.  Does anyone else get tricky ones like I do?  I promise I'm not a complete idiot. Some of those suckers are pretty darn sneaky.

2 Pet Peeves:

Word Verifications

Plastic Wrapping and Tape Stuff on DVD's and CD's

That's all for now. :)

Remember the ACT and SAT?

Hey All,

If you took the ACT or SAT test back in the day (or yesterday)... please complete my fun little survey!  It only has 10 questions and it's anonymous.  I'm doing this for part of my research project for my school counseling program. 

*THANK YOU!*

Super Easy ACT/SAT Survey

31 Dates in 31 Days... LOVING IT!

My book finally came!

I was so excited for this to come in the mail... it was kind of ridiculous.

But I anxiously opened the mailbox a few nights ago, and there it was-- the white package.

It had 2 books in it-- one for me, one for Cass.

I ran upstairs and waved it around in the air when I walked through the door.

I don't think Cassity is nearly excited as I am about this book.

I don't even know if she will end up reading it.

But I hope she does!

Anyway, as I vigorously ripped open the package, I reminded myself of the dad on "Christmas Story."

You know, when he finally got the leg lamp he ordered, in the "Fra-gi-le" box.

My book wasn't as weird as that leg lamp, but I was just as giddy and excited.

And there it was.

THE book.

Thank you for that newspaper article, grandma!

So I started reading the book a day ago but just skimmed the beginning pages.

I started reading it for real last night, and got into a few chapters.

I read more in my bed last night and more as soon as I woke up this morning.  

I have also been feeling sick so this is a perfect sick day to stay home.

And I will read my book all day long!

I am loving this girl's dating adventures.

Granted, she's doing all these dates in New York City, which is different from where I live.

But it's fascinating, entertaining, funny, emotional, real, awkward, romantic, all those things!

I love it.

It's one of those books I am going to be bummed about when I finish.

Because I just don't want it to end... but I guess her 31 day project has to end at some point.

This reading experience is causing me to think about my own dating adventures.

How have I viewed the guys I've met and gone on dates with?

Do I judge too quickly?

Do I hope for too much, too soon?

Am I really myself?

Do I ever really let down my walls around guys?

Do I enjoy dating the way I should?

All that and more... to be continued. :)