National Writing Month

Well, it is November, which is indeed National writing month. So, since I've always wanted to be a writer and so I figured this month was a good day to try to write a bit more than I have been the past little bit. So, of course so far this month random things like locking myself out of the house or being called into work at different times have really interfered with my writing... but today that will all change!

Today I writing day, and I can do anything as long as it involves writing! So, I can blog, journal, write fiction, or write non-fiction and I intend on doing all of thee above. I'm pretty excited! Who knows maybe if it goes well I will start having a writing day once a month!

So, everyone wish me luck and I do encourage you to do a little writing of your own this month! It doesn't matter what you write, just do it!

Impatient

I have never been known to be good at waiting for things. This has never been one of my better qualities but I will indeed admit it. One of the hardest things for me to wait for has always been books. You spend hours reading them and grow to love the characters so much that once you finish a book with a cliffhanger (which they pretty much all seem to have), the wait until the next book comes out is terrible. I went through it with Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, and many many other books I love and it is once again happening to me. I just finished a great book called Divergent by Veronica Roth and I am extremely stoked to read the next book... the down side is that it doesn't come out till MAY. I have to wait till may. That is like sixish months (which I suppose is a lot less time than waiting for Harry Potter 7, Hunger Games, or anything written by Christopher Paolini... but still six months seems like forever to me at the moment. Mind you I have PLENTY to read seeing as I bought a TON of books as the bookstore was going out of business so I won't be book less but I would really love to continue following my characters. Wish me luck as I try to learn this thing that I never really learned to be and wait for May to arrive.

Flying

I titled this blog flying because that is what time is doing! We are already in mid-October and that is crazy to me! This month has gone by so incredibly fast!!

I have kept myself busy working on my 60 in 16. I kind of love it because having a goal list like that means that you are never bored! There is ALWAYS something I can be doing! Keeping yourself busy should always be good!

I haven't finished any of the goals 100% but I am making good progress on many of them and within the next month I will start marking them off.

Tonight Tyson and I did a Halloween project. We built a haunted house out of foam, it came from a kit that I got at my favorite craft store. It turned out so cute, it just makes me happy every time I look at it. It came with little sticky foam decorations to put on it like cobwebs and little ghosts. It makes me smile. I do love doing little craft projects.

Soon I hope to start working on my hair accessories. I've already started getting some of the supplies that I need but I have a few left to get and I am very much so looking forward to that.

I just felt like a little update because I haven't given any in a while... so if anyone actually reads this then thank you for your time and I will write again sooner than I did this time!

WaldenBooks

Saturday is the last day WaldenBooks in the Pine Ridge mall will be open. It is closing along with all 400 Borders Bookstores. I have worked for this bookstore chain for three years, and now it is gone. Tomorrow will be my last day of work at said bookstore. It's going to be a very odd and bittersweet moment. It will be sad to see the store that way, it is already depressing! So empty with people picking through it like a bargain basement warehouse. But at the same time it will be nice to have it over, to not be in liquidation... to be able to dedicate myself to my new job and to my house and things like that. Also, in a way it kind of feels like a new start to me... I've done this for three years so now it's a new path leading to different things. My job at Borders took me so many different places and my life is 100% different from when I started. So, who knows maybe now as this chapter closes a new one will enter that will take me through even more experiences.

60 16

So, I'm going to do something that I mostly stole from my cousin. Mine is a little different, but I got the idea from her. I am going to do 60 things over the course of the next 16 months... so starting today and going through the end of next year. Here is what I will hopefully be doing:

1. Buy a Christmas gift for a child in need

2. Send someone a kind letter each month

3. Secretly deliver cookies to someone

4. Do the 12 days of Christmas for someone

5. Go to the Playmill

6. See the Christmas lights on temple square

7. Go to Oregon

8. Go to the Blackfoot Fair

9. Go to Fightmares

10. Take Tyson to The Pie Pizzeria

11. Go Camping

12. Hike to three different places

13. Get weight under 110 lbs

14. Run a 10 minute mile

15. Stick to my meal plan for a month

16. Don’t cut hair

17. Visit the dentist

18. Learn to do eye makeup better

19. Learn to skateboard

20. Put hair in Liberty Spikes

21. Get a manicure

22. Learn to swing dance

23. Read all of D&C as well as the Book of Mormon

24. Have FHE every week for two months

25. Read scriptures with Tyson 5 times a week for a month

26. Finish project list

27. Plant a garden

28. Send out Christmas cards

29. Organize Computer Documents

30. Type journals

31. Get all pictures onto the computer

32. Stick to chore plan for a month

33. Make a pre-engagement picture book

34. Make a year two picture book

35. Make stars

36. Finish first draft of current story

37. Make a recipe book

38. Make myself a hair accessory

39. Make a woven bead bracelet

40. Try to fly a homemade kite

41. Update 101 things story

42. Learn Origami

43. Make a tree skirt

44. Finally take “Christmas pictures”

45. Beat Tyson at chess

46. Learn to make jam

47. Learn to Juggle

48. Pay off ISU

49. Start food storage

50. Read Wheel of Time

51. Work on Genealogy

52. Learn to play Magic with Tyson

53. Make Taffy

54. Get a 0 on wii disc golf

55. Make Pickles

56. Let go of 99 red balloons

57. Learn to write with the cool pens

58. Read a non-fiction book

59. Re-learn a song on the ukulele

60. Journal at least 4 times a week for 6 months

Lava

Yesterday I did one of my favorite things ever, I floated the river in Lava.

My good friend Jenelle came and got me and we drove up to Lava Hot Springs where we went to our usual stand (I always rent from the bottom so I don't have to walk the tub up and then walk down alone... I prefer to just ride down and turn it in).

Jenelle was feeling a little nervous so we didn't go over the first big water fall as we usually do because that is the one you most often flip on. However we found other adventures trying to figure out where you get in after that water fall seeing as neither of us had ever done it before. Finally we figured out where to get in and we got to do three trips down the river.

I loved it it was so much fun! Then again I enjoy almost everything that involves water. I haven't been outside as much this summer as I had hoped and I'm going to try to enjoy this last month of summer before I have to struggle through another cold Idaho winter.

So, hopefully here soon I will have some more fun tales to tell... but until then I highly suggest to anyone who gets the chance to go float the river for a fun relaxing time! : )

Closing, Lagoon, and Warped

Well, it has been a good long while since I've blogged, not really because I haven't been busy but more because I've just forgotten to blog.

We found out a few weeks ago that Borders Bookstores is officially closing! All 400 Borders and Waldenbooks will be gone before October. As far as losing my job I'm not super concerned about being out of work, many other companies have been sympathetic... I've been doing interviews... and all in all I think that everything is going to work out, I can assure everyone that the bills will be paid and everything will be okay. Being in the closing store hasn't been as easy for me. It is so depressing to walk in there and see all the signs throughout the store... "Everything Must Go" and even our fixtures are up for sale. I've been selling books for 3 years now and it's hard for me to watch it all fall apart.

Tuesday the 2nd of August Tyson and I went with some of his family, Jeff, Kati, and Ashley to Lagoon. Tyson and I always try to go down a few times a year and I love it! I'm a big rides girl! Bring on the roller coasters and High rides for me! My very favorite ride though is the Re-Entry. It takes you up just over 200 feet holds you for 10 seconds and then gives you a bit of a free-fall back to earth and even though I'm always scared and antsy while waiting for it to drop as soon as it does I just start laughing.

Yesterday Tyson and I went to Warped Tour. It was my second time and both times were extremely amazing and made memories I could have gotten no where else. I honestly right now am feeling better than I have in a long time. If you are the type who can handle concerts I highly encourage you to go if you ever have the chance! I hopefully will go again.... it is well worth the money that you pay for anything there!!!

So, yeah that's what has been going on with me... I was going to put up some pictures but they all show up weird so if you want to see pictures I will get them up on facebook soon.

Harry Potter

Last night I went, for the last time, to a midnight showing of a new Harry Potter movie. It's weird now, knowing it's over... for the past ten years I've constantly been waiting and excited for the next Harry Potter movie and now that is finished, I have seen them all.

However the movie was good, I think I cried through like the last 45 minutes of it... and in my book if a movie doesn't make me cry then it probably doesn't pull you in enough emotionally. So, that's good, because it defiantly tugs at my emotions for many reasons!

So, the new Harry Potter movie is good, and I was extremely happy to see it, but at the same time it was hard knowing it would be the last time.

But there are lots of fun things coming up in the next few weeks so hopefully there will be a lot more blogs and good things to come!

Theaters

When I was younger I always went out to the theater to see movies... as I'm getting older and paying for everything myself I've stopped going to theaters unless it is a movie I really really want to see...

Today I went to the theater to purchase my tickets to the final Harry Potter movie... as I paid I was excited to find out that they were only 12 dollars... due to the fact that my tickets to Pirates of the Caribbean were 15 each. Now... re-read that I GOT EXCITED because the tickets were TWELVE DOLLARS. That is outrageous!!

So, out of curiosity I went back to my journals/archives and found my ticket to the 6th Harry Potter movie which came out July of 2009... only two years ago and found that I paid 8.50 for the ticket that night. In a short two years prices have gone up 3.50 for a movie ticket.

That is crazy to me that they have shot up soooo quickly!!! And I just wanted to rant about that! Thanks for listening : )

Story Time

As many of you know for nearly ten years now I have considered myself a writer. For eight out of those ten I dedicated a large portion of time to doing such writing, mostly on my main trilogy... but some on other stories as well... just short stories. However for some reason over the past two of those years I've had some form of slight writers block... writing here or there but never following through on anything because I found too many flaws or didn't like my own characters.

Today however things may have finally changed for me... I have come up with something new... something that I feel has some promise... and I've started writing again... writing more like I used to... scribbling little portions of text as I talk to other people or do other things, just letting things flow from my fingers without them being forced. Not having to stop and debate what to do next... just knowing. So... I might be back, back to writing, back to what I really love! So wish me luck...

Our Only Chance is the Lighthouse

Today we went to one of my favorite places ever, the Yaquina Head Lighthouse. I've climbed to the top several times in all types of weather... but today I got to experience it during heavy winds and some rain which was a totally different experience. I loved it because I feel like during a storm a lighthouse is always there to help warn you of the danger. I think the lighthouses are so beautiful and I love to watch them. Fortunately for me we are staying in a house where I can look out and see the light spinning... and showing the boats where rocks are. Even though most boats rely on other sources now days they aren't always as stable... even when they break down there is always the light house still shining and leading the more unlucky boats to shore.

It's already the middle of the week, time flies when you are somewhere you never ever want to leave! I honestly wish that I could just stay here... I could leave all my stuff and not care about it... hum maybe I should just sell it all for the cost of living here till I can find a job... that is an interesting idea... but yet I'm sure after another few days of paradise I will drag myself back to Pocatello and go back to work. So I guess I have to enjoy the last of vacation while I can.

Earlier this week was sunshine and time to play in the Ocean, fly kites, and go on bike rides... all were very fun and I loved it. Now it is starting to turn stormy and I am totally fine with that too. Sitting looking out the big windows and the rough waters is so beautiful! I have no issues at all with the rough weather here on the beach! I prefer at least a bit of rain to all sunny days since I am after all a little water/rain girl! I love love love it! So, who knows what the rest of the week will bring but I love all of my time here in the most beautiful place I've ever been!!

Phase 10

Well, as pretty much anyone who has known me for a while knows I am a big lover of both card and board games... but as of late I have been especially addicted to the card game Phase 10. I play it as often as I can... most often this is with Tyson, Charley, and Christian because they are the ones so kind as to sit around for several hours and play with me and I LOVE IT!!! I think that phase 10 is so super fun! It just makes me feel good every time I play it... and luckily one of those nights was tonight. Thank you to all who played!!

Finally a New post.

I don't think too many people read my blog... but the few who do seem to have noticed I haven't posted anything new here in almost two months... so I suppose that it is time to do so.

Last time I posted was on my macbook which now belongs to my Dad... since it was a graduation gift from my parents and it was no longer working for me I gave it back to them so my Dad now uses it for things he can still use it for. And I am slowly adjusting to life on a PC.

April went by fast We had a fun Easter, we dyed eggs and did all the traditional things like that the "Easter bunny" or Tyson got me a very pretty necklace and hid it in an egg along with my Candy, it was very cute of him. We also went to Bodies the Exhibition at the Museum of Idaho. We had seen one in Las Vegas on our honeymoon and I'd found it really interesting so we thought we should go and see the one in Idaho Falls as well since we love going for drives anyway. I highly recommend it to anyone!

We have been stuck inside WAY more than we would have liked for this time of year. So, we have been watching a ton of movies, netflix movies are always coming and going and we still seem to never have anything to watch.

I have re-found my addiction for Phase 10 and that seems to be what I want to do most of the time, but we can only do it so often seeing as you need at least four or so people to do it, but whenever Charley and Christian have a night where they can come play we love having them over to do it.

I've been spending a lot of time working on memory books... they are so much fun for me. I always liked scrap-booking when I was younger but my handwriting is bad and I just didn't have the supplies and so doing it all online and then printing them off works so much better for me. So, I'm going to attempt to do one a year and I have been making sure I'm all caught up so that as soon as I'm back from Oregon I can get those pages done in time for the Sale going on in June. (I try to never play full price for things like that... especially because when the go on sale they go on such good sales!)

Work is super crazy this week, our District Manager is coming Tomorrow or possibly tonight so we have been trying to make sure the store is more beautiful that ever. We haven't met this DM yet because of the company doing restructuring so we are really trying to impress him.

This next week and a half coming up is going to be busy but hopefully also fun as I get ready to go on vacation. And then of course vacation itself.

I've for the time being stopped writing on what has always been my main story to write, it will always be my favorite and I will always go back to it but for the time being I feel it is important to work on something else. So I have decided to take a short story I wrote in High School and turn it into a longer hopefully novel. So we'll see how that goes.

Hopefully over the next little bit I will be better at blogging for the few of you who are interested in what is going on with me and want to read this.

Dear Macbook

Dear Macbook,

You were one of thee most amazing gifts that I have ever been given! I graduated high school and was moving into a new stage in my life and you were a gift that helped me through everything that happened over the next four years! As odd as it is you were one of my best friends... no matter what has happening, or where I was at the time I could always use my handy macbook. However I am growing older and that means so are you... it has now been four years since I graduated high school and got you... I'm not on to new stages in life and your life is coming to an end. As much as I have loved you I have also abused you... with all the traveling we've done, how many times I've dropped you, I've filled you too full and made you slow and now your backlight is starting to die on me. I regret to say that as I move on with life I must move on to a new computer.

My new computer oddly is not a mac. I will always love macs, you were amazing too me and I find you so easy to use! I one day will again own a mac but right now I have to learn and grow... this means learning how to use windows! My new HP is currently being readied for my by my husband... all set up with the programs that I need so it can do all the things you so faithfully have done but it is time to say goodbye!

This will be the last time that I blog on you, and for that I'm sorry. But we cannot live in the past! We must move on and I must move on from you! I love you my macbook but this is the end!

Me Again

So, a few people who have seen me in the past few weeks have been able to tell that I haven't exactly been myself. I've been super stressed and all snippy and things I just don't enjoy being. I also feel bad for my poor husband whom has had to deal with all this and didn't know how to fix it.

So, we went away for the weekend... nothing major just a nice little get away in Utah. We ate amazing food, had room service (which I had never had before so that was fun), watched a cute movie, shopped and my awesome husband took me to the Zoo even though it was snowing. Plus I also got something off "My List" so over all it was just an amazing weekend! I had so much fun just getting away from the stresses of work, moving and everything like that! I needed a little break so bad and now I'm feeling a bit more to myself.

So, Tyson is happy because instead of getting mad at everything I'm just giggling all the time like the girl he met and I'm fully ready to take on the challenge of getting everything put away in my house and all my crafts done!

Hopefully I will be good now at least until the end of May when we go to Oregon and I will leave every stress in the world behind for longer!!!

Hamsters and Obstacles.

Over the weekend Tyson and I moved.... which I am very quickly learning I DID NOT prepare nearly enough for. This has been the most stressful move I have ever made! I'm usually so organized about everything and somehow during a move I usually know where everything is at every stage... this time I did things in a rush and I will never ever do it again. It happened because of work and other things going on... but I can never move this way again... next time I will make more time and I will prepare as I usually do!

On the bright side though.... Tyson and I decided to get hamsters. He's been dying without a pet, wanting one so bad and me being the mean wife who won't let him because it is against our lease. Finally though I have decided that what harm can a hamster do and while I'm still scared of getting caught we have two little Robo Hamsters: Lemony Snicket and Chuck Palahniuk. They are cute little guys and Tyson just loves them. Watching Tyson with them every day makes me glad I got them... they make him all smily and everything. His smile can make just about anything in the world worth it.

New Place

We are finally moving out of this apartment that we have wanted to move out of since October! Yay! Parts of all the moving can be kind of stressful, but for me they are more fun than anything else because I actually get to do the Interior Decorating I'd like to. It has been SO much fun for my to look at paint chips again, hang out in craft stores finding every little thing I need... and this is the first time I've got to do it married so now I get to have him and his talents to do things I couldn't have done before. I am SOOO excited to get this place decorated that it is crazy! Have a lot to do though... wish me luck!

Unforgotten Dreams

Everyone has dreams and plans... listening to high school students tell you what you want to do they have amazing plans and high hopes. Four years later so few of them are still on that path to what they wanted. They got distracted with other things or put off by unforeseen events.

When I was in high school any of my classmates you asked would know that I was going to be a writer. In 2008 I sent out a few letters to publishers of pieces of my work that I now am embarrassed that anyone ever saw... but at the time it was enough of a put off that I stopped writing for a while. Then by the time I was in the mood to write again it seemed like everything else in my world was spinning with so much that I couldn't focus on writing even when I want to.

Now, that everything has changed and spun around me more than I ever could have imagined slowly it starts to settle a bit... at least for a small amount of time. At least for now my job is stable, it looks like we are going to be signing a new lease putting us in one place for at least a year, and both of us are going to be out of school for at least a year. So now that we aren't planning so much for the immediate future because we finally have a few things figured out I can finally focus on those unforgotten dreams... I can finally write again and that is what I'm going to do. I don't believe that anyone should completely forget their dreams and I haven't any intention to.

So to anyone who may read this I encourage you over the next year to do something you've always wanted to do be it big or small. It can be something simple like complete a marathon or big like change careers but whatever you do never forget how short life is and that somewhere deep inside you there is something you can do to become a tiny bit closer to what you always wanted... even if you never get it to every detail.

Diets=Dishes

Tyson and I recently decided that we eat out too much (we've gotten into the bad habit of eating out around twice a week) and we also both drink too much soda... so we decided to start doing weight watchers... a fairly easy to track and cook for diet program. I had hopes to stop eating out so much, stop drinking so much, and maybe lose a few pounds in the process... but one thing I didn't think about was how many more dishes I was going to have to do. Dishes are my least favorite chore... I would rather scrub toilets for an hour than do the dishes! I HATE DISHES! Plus they never feel done... even if you do every dish then it seems like ten minutes later there is another one!

So the two nights a week that we weren't cooking or using plates saved me a lot of dishes... plus it was very rare for me too eat three meals a day, which I do more now because it is strongly encouraged on the diet... but eating more meals also means more dishes! Plus no drinking soda which I usually drank out of a bottle or plastic cup so now I have to drink juice and things which means more glasses. Over all I'm finding that I have at least 30+ additional dishes to do and that isn't counting forks, spoons, and knifes.

I know that it is healthier and I need to do it but I that dishes come along as part of it!

Thank you for listening to my rant.... not really trying to complain just trying to get it out : )

Swimming

Ever since I was a little kid I have LOVED the water! I love rain, I loved sprinklers and swimming pools were a favorite place of mine to be! I remember summers where I spent more days at the pool than not there. When I was really little I thought I was supposed to be a mermaid and that it was a mistake that I ended up on land.

Although I now know it wasn't a mistake that caused me to be on dry land I still am in LOVE with the water. Unfortunately as I'm old I don't have the time I used to and I can't spend such a large portion of my time at the pool. Today however time was made (for the first time in WAY too long) to go swimming.

It was AMAZING!! Swimming just relaxes every part of me and leaves me serene for days. I was just SO smiley the whole time we were there and I still feel super amazing from it!! I have officially decided that I'm going to HAVE to go swimming more! It is a super inexpensive but amazing way to not only relieve stress but also get exercise!

The Cost of Books

All forms of entertainment are expensive, but it blows my mind the way people talk about the price of books! I had a woman come in a few days ago to buy some books for her child. As she comes up to the register she looks at me and says (with a very rude tone of voice). "This is the reason that illiteracy is so high in this country, books are so expensive!" Although I know while working in customer service I should hold my tongue in this case I couldn't resist stating my opinion... I smiled at her and said "Well, in all fairness children watch more TV than ever and a month of cable is more than you just paid for these books!" She rolls her eyes at me and says "Yeah, well with those choices I will happily pay for the cable!" Now all I can think to myself is the fact that our prices aren't the reason for kids not reading, it's women like her who would rather spend money on cable than books for her children.

The other thing that drives me CRAZY that happens all the time is when couples come in who have just been to the theater... the happened especially a lot when "The Blindside" came out. Now, I myself really like this story, but the people coming into my store just blew my mind. They would say to me "We just got done watching this and want to read the book... do you have it?" I would take them to the book and they would see the 15 dollar price tag. "Oh my gosh... that is so expensive!" They would be astonished.... and while I never said anything to these people I just wondered how they had come from sitting for two hours and paid twenty dollars or more for both of them to be there but yet our 15 dollar book they can read over and over again and loan out to more people is expensive...

No... books are not cheap but compared to other forms of entertainment they are very very much so worth it!!

And that is my relieving of work related frustration! : )

TV Shows

I will very much so admit that I am an addict to television shows. I don't have cable anymore (I think it is a waste of money) but somehow my addiction has only grown stronger!!! I currently am addicted to:

-House

-Kyle XY

-The Office

-Pushing Daisies

-Pretty Little Liars

-The Secret Life of the American Teenager

-Boy Meets World

-Gilmore Girls

-MindFreak

-Desperate Housewives

I write about this because last night I ran out of new episodes of Pushing Daisies, a lovely show that only got to run two seasons. It is a show that fascinates me and I'm sad that it got cancelled so soon! Kyle XY also should have gotten a longer run! It was cut short after only three seasons... a fourth had been planned but got cancelled last minute so it ends on a cliffhanger.

Thats the thing I hate about TV... I never seem to want them to end! Out of my ten shows I have only seen the last episodes of four... and all of them are terrible... perhaps I should somehow find a new addiction.....

Family Pictures

I love pictures!!! I always have. I love the concept of capturing a moment. i have thousands and thousands of pictures, but I went many years without entire family pictures so now I LOVE whenever I can get them! Over the holidays this year we managed to take a few family pictures and I love them!

Music

Ever After

     My name is Aubrey Ann Young, I am 22 years old and if I lived in Disney Princess land I would be in the "Happily ever after" part of my life. Isn't that interesting that a large majority of life happens in that part, and I personally am thinking it is going to be much more interesting!!
     I am married to the most wonderful person I've ever met, he treats me better than I could have ever imagined... (In Disney Princess land he totally wins over all their prince's). I am so thankful for him every day!
     When I was 16 years old I came up with a list of 101 things to do before I die... and I still stick to it and try to get more and more off each year. Some of them are silly, you can tell it was made by a 16 year old, but they are things I desired so I've decided to do them anyway!
     I'm a writer, but I'm getting out of practice. After working on one novel for 7 years I've finally started to feel it is time for a break from that story (though I am still fully dedicated to get it it published) and I've started attempting a new novel.
     So, that is the little overview of me for my first blog (which I swore I'd never do but I do love to type lol.). So, if anyone ever reads this then there you go!