I had an extremely productive weekend. productive and weekend are rarely in the same sentence for me, so please excuse me while I give myself a cyber pat on the back and post about it all here. ;)

In no particular order I:

went to a blogger meet up
bonded with lovely girls and made some (what I hope to be) long lasting friendships
got an art piece accepted in a show!
*PASSED A KIDNEY STONE
*watched 5 episodes of Toddlers in Tiaras
made business cards
*threw up a lot
watched EAMES and MOOG, (we're on a documentary kick...can you guess who picked what?)
*went running for the first time since september
watched/heard my mom preform in an amazing concert
cleaned our little dwelling
saw signs of spring
felt the sun burn the part in my hair
observed a high school art class
*got no sleep
went thrifting and spent under $10 {big pats on the back}
*got way too much sleep
booked photoshoots
danced around to funky vinyls
watched KONY 2012 and joined the fight
made plans for this years "spring cleaning"
missed church because my iphone decided to "fall back" instead of "spring forward". (Did anyone else have this problem? Apparently it's an iphone bug. I find it rather hilarious.)

blogged. {lets be honest...that's kinda a big deal for me as of late}

part of me is tempted to make a little tutorial about these business cards called "twenty minute business cards under $20". cause, they were in fact made within 20 minutes and cost well under $20. But I'm pretty sure they are self explanatory, right? The key is gold paper people. Gold paper makes even the quickest, least thought out idea look...well.....golden. {pin it! I dare ya!}

********the biggest news of all is that I PASSED A KIDNEY STONE! This may not seem like a big deal but need I remind you "passing a kidney stone is more painful than childbirth" out of the mouth of my mother who has passed equal stones to children birthed. Right after I cried tears of pain, I cried tears of joy. I've had this kidney stone since before thanksgiving (that's more than half a pregnancy people....). It's bothered me EVER DAY. I didn't realize how debilitating it was until the very moment I passed it, in the middle of watching an episode of Toddlers in Tiaras. (Thank heavens for that show, it's so bad I can't look away...perfect for distracting me from pain.) I have kidney stones. "It's like my thing." I try not to blog about how annoying it is cause there would be a post about it every other day. But you best believe I'll post about it when I pass one! It's like a major celebration over here :) seriously, tears of joy. Everything seems better knowing that annoying foreign object is no longer lingering in my urinary tract. TMI? be grateful I'm not sharing photos.

As of late

as of late I've been a pretty "blah" blogger.

but I might have a semi-excusable excuse....

ya see, on friday night I wasn't feeling so swell. which led B and I leaving our pumpkin carving party early (thanks millers!). The next morning I felt the stone. Yes the very same stone that has been poking around this blog in complaints for the past few months. But this time it was a different sort of pain, it's like I just knew deep down inside that it was going to pass! Well that night (after a day of sleeping in till 3: the glory of pain killers) I DID pass it. And oh what a glorious (kinda painful) moment it was! B and I were at my parents when it happened and we had our friends, the Sorensens, with us too. It was like a big celebration since everyone there had seen me struggle with this thing and have played in active role in helping me feel better :)

It felt like I passed a huge milestone in my life!

heheh I think I'm punny

oh and the stone! let me describe it for you (I'd show a pic except thats a little weird + it's at the docs so they can analyze it?) Basically it was really really small. Like you'd probably see it and think i'm some wimp for bawling about it so much. But i tell ya, that little thing drove me nuts! It kinda looked like a crystal. Like it was sort of sparkly. weird.

So saturday night i'm shouting hallelujahs to the heavens.

and then the very next day i had stomach flu.

slept on the bathroom floor.

worst i've ever had.

And my sweet husband took such good care of me (LOVE HIM)

but the poor boy caught my bug the next day.

only a mutated version of it that has now lasted 3 days.

and I haven't taken good care of him.

(school ruins my life sometimes).

so basically my "bleh" blogging is only reflecting my "bleh" life right now.

maybe I'll post some art later....

lucky the ladybug

I have NEVER been more depressed about school in my life.

let me explain:

Guido (thanks angie) has been dormant the past 2 days.

Dormant meaning no pain what-so-ever. (happy me & happy happy husband)

However, I've kept up the diet of monkey and moose bars and my tummy has found other excuses to moan. Not to mention that I had two amazing dinners and two amazing deserts tonight. Mom and Roma fed the hubs and me silly. I could probably pass as three months prego.

I'll spare you the pics.

My mom reminded me of my age old remedy to tummy aches: Lucky.

Lucky is my giant sized ladybug beanie babie (remember the craze? I also had her in normal size and McDonald's happy meal size...) she was my go-to stuffed animal as a little girl. I'd rest her on my tummy and her lucky powers would heal me.

serious.

I've pulled her out from under my bed in my old room. She'll be sleeping with me and the hubs incase I have another kidney stone scare. (oh how I hope that doesn't happen).

When I had the first scare, two weeks before my wedding mind you, I thought there couldn't possibly be a more inconvenient time to be bed ridden. I mean...I had a wedding to plan for crying out loud!

well folks, I was wrong. THE ABSOLUTE WORST TIME TO HAVE A KIDNEY STONE is when you are a college student. Missing a day of classes in college (when you are serious about your grades/applying for a program/really really need to impress your teachers) is about the worst thing you can do. Missing a total of 5 days of classes is suicidal. Especially when after you explain your health situation to your teacher and she has no sympathy and gives you a C on your art assignment that took you hours and hours to complete. which, for the record, was a pretty swell piece (i'll share it later).

Basically I'm so far behind in school that I'm scared to go to classes tomorrow. My work load to catch up is so big I don't even know where to start. I've been slugging all day at my parents house. Complaining. I'm depressed. But more like just having a huge pity party. Luckily my family is nice and they pity me. and they told me I better not complain on my blog, cause people hate reading about other people who complain. amen.

that all being said I've decided in order to get caught up in school (sigh) I must give up blogging for a week. Not only will I not post but I wont blog stalk either (which is going to be really really hard, since stalking you all is one of my favorite past times.) But in order to keep you all very entertained (ha) my Mother, Sister, and Husband have all agreed to guest blog. I won't be screening anything they say nor will I read it until this blogging fast is over (next sunday) so who knows what revealing things they might share with you all.

so stay tuned!

and since I already broke two of my blogging rules

1. don't write long boring posts

2. don't complain

the least I can do is follow this one:

3. always ALWAYS post a photo

just chillin with the cattle. no biggie.

P.S. I'm considering doing a side bar of lingo translations so things like Hank, Guido, B, the Cupboard might make a little more sense.

The Return of Spike

Tonight I am supposed to hop in a van full of my cousins and head to Southern Utah for the RED ROCK RELAY

a 186 mile run. I, of course, would be running the easiest of lges (only a total of 10 miles) by choice. I am not a runner. It doesn't come easy for me (does it for anyone?) So it took some training, of which I haven't done so well at. So in my hurried attempts to be ready for the race, I took a good long hard run on tuesday evening. I felt fine until I stopped moving and realized a horridly familiar pain on my left side.

Kidney Stone.

It had to be. I'm a champ stomach acher, I've had just about every one in the book. Kidney stones are distinctly different. I've heard they are worse than giving birth. I haven't given birth so I wouldn't know. All I know is that the pain makes you wish you could cut yourself open and rip out your kidney so it would all feel better.

I was in denial though. I thought maybe if I didn't acknowledge it was a kidney stone that it would just go away. Ya know, mind over matter. Didn't work. I'm a wimp. I have a very low pain tolerance. The meds I took kept coming back up and I knew I was in for it.

I refused to go to the hospital that night so Brandon played me sweet songs until I fell asleep. The next morning we went to the docs where they hooked me up with an IV and all sorts of drugs in order to "stabilize" me. It worked. Since then I've been popping the pills like the good old days, eating a diet of only monkey bars, moose bars, and saltine crackers. Oh and lots of water. So much so that I fear I might drown myself from the inside out.

Oh and did I mention I'm missing school?! The second week of school. Just a week after all of my teachers threatened us with a whole grade letter if we were to miss class.

Yes. This is no fun at all.

And as much as a part of me is secretly happy I don't have to run, most of me is extremely sad since I've planned on running this race for a year now. And I was thrilled that I got to run the very first leg and was so excited for the lovely photos I was going to capture and most of all to be with all my family.

Alas, this weekend will be filled with crocheting. Somehow my fingers manage to function properly whilst the rest of me slows down due to the drugs. In fact, it's easier to type than it is to talk....

I would post a photo but there is nothing pretty to be photographed right now.

oh gee that sounded so depressing....

lets see what I can find...

aha!

this photo is for you Mr. Spike.