Goodness knows I haven't been the happiest of all the campers lately.

I'm sure all of my life bunkmates have been pretty tired my attitude over the past few months.

I know I have.

Luckily, there are things that can still make me giggle like a schoolgirl.

Heck, most of them make me laugh like a hyena at a comedy show.

- I started watching LOST again. It's so much more dramatic than I remember. I still love it.

But this scene made me laugh so hard. I watched it at least seven times! -

- The first time in ages that I've posted a post without photos and I lost a bunch of followers. I laughed. No worries though. They are probably the people who kill baby dolphins for fun. I don't want them and their porpoise murdering ways to taint my blog. -

- This photo. It made me chuckle. I thought I was so cool with my long hair. It's at least four inches longer than that now. (BTW, I still think I'm so cool with my long hair!) -

- My long, emotional goodbye to my old, dead laptop before I took it to get sold. Just to find out it wasn't eligible and Laptop Xchange wouldn't take it. -

- This song. But only for the Zach Galifianakis line. Every time I hear the song, I giggle. -



- I have two jobs right now. I'm hired at a third. And I'm struggling to make rent this month more than I have since I got here. The irony is pretty hilarious! Let's hope I survive! -

Life is funny? Don't you think?

While blog hopping the other day, I came across this post on one of my favorite blogs. Busy Bee Lauren is pretty much amazing. Check her out!

In the post, she talked about a fun site called Free Crappy Portraits. 

You send in a photo of yourself and a small description, and later they email you a really badly drawn portrait of yourself.

It's awesome.

And did I mention that it's free?

I sent in this photo of myself with this description:

And four days later, I got sent this awesomely crappy portrait! So much fun!

I think I want to be a guest artist now! So much fun!

Check out Free Crappy Portraits! Whole heck a lot of fun!

Okay, seriously though. I went to fill out paperwork for my AWESOME new job.

And they noticed what countless other employers have missed. Something I'd never even noticed.

The name on my Birth Certificate and Social Security Card wasn't Kathryn, but Katherine.

However, I've grown up spelling it Kathryn. And my Driver's License was spelled Kathryn as well.

Apparently the Utah DMV doesn't care if you spell your name the way it is spelled on your documentation either.

But my new employer does.

How is it my fault that someone mixed up my name when I was an infant?

Did they expect me to point out the mistake right out of the womb?

I didn't know how to read. Or spell my name.

Heck, when I heard my name, it probably sound more like the teacher from Charlie Brown was talking for the first few months of my life.

I blame the adults of 1989.

Yet. I'm still being punished.

They made me go to the DMV.

Living hell. Seriously.

I spent a grand amount of time going through the process of changing the name on my Driver's License.

I realize that it is spelled the correct (illegal) way on my Driver's License and I could have tried to change my Social Security Card to the correct (illegal) spelling.

But it was so much simpler just to adopt the wrong (legal) spelling of my name.

But I still feel a strange case of missing identity.

It's like finding out I have a long lost twin or that I was switched at birth or something.

Only... much less awesome.

Oh life.

Someday I will reclaim my name and my freedom!

I've noticed in so many of my recent posts that I've been holding myself back.

I only show the side of myself that I think is least likely to be made fun of.

Well today, I'm going to change that.

Today I'm going to show off my goofier side. 

This is me!

I sing Broadway songs at the top of my lungs when I'm home alone!

I smell my hair when I think no one is watching!

I stumbled upon something today that made my mouth drop open in shock. 

Does anything look familiar? No? Let me help you.

It's the same girl!

Thief! Thief!

(Let's not mention that I have no idea who this girl is, and 'borrowed' the image from Google for my own purposes.)

But still! Jorra doesn't have flaming hair! Jorra lives under the water! Flames and water DON'T mix!

Sad.

I know that this was just the cover I created two years ago. And I know that if I ever get published, this won't be the cover they use.

But I feel so violated.

I like my cover better anyway.

Jorra could totally kick this 'fury' girl's butt! Fury is too feminine and soft. My Jorra would totally win in a fight.

I kinda want to read it though... You know... Just to be sure...

I'm reading a really fun book right now. Entwined by Heather Dixon.

It's based on the fairy tale of the Twelve Dancing Princesses by the Brothers Grimm.

When I realized this, I instantly wanted to read it.

Why do I have such a fascination with this tale, you ask?

When I was sixteen, I was in a musical production of the story.

It was a hilarious retelling of the story featuring a whole mess of goofy characters, dialogue and songs.

The princesses names for example:

January. The eldest. With a heart as cold as ice.

February. Who was dangerously in love with herself.

March. Mild one moment and raging the next.

April. She cried. A lot.

May. Innocent and ridiculously happy.

June. Always the bride.

July. Hot. Smokin' hot.

August. Or, Gus. Training for the Olympics.

September. Very studious. A total bookworm.

October. A jokester. She put the trick in trick-or-treat.

November. Had an insatiable appetite.

December. The youngest and sweetest.

I played October. Cause I'm that awesome.

The princesses go through a secret passage in their bedroom every night; through forests of silver, gold and jewels to a magical ballroom where they dance the night away. 

Leaving their shoes in tatters each morning.

The King sends out a proclamation to all eligible men. If they can solve the mystery of where the princesses go every night, he can marry the princess of his choice.

Ooh look. Earl Robin of Williams is so funny and good looking!

It's love at first laugh!

Unfortunately, none of the princes are able to solve the mystery. The girls drug them. For every princess needs a mystery.

Good night sweet prince, and pleasant dreams to you.

...and throws the princes in jail! Sad day!

But one handsome guy in an invisibility cloak does manage to figure out the secret. 

Unfortunately, the evil shoemaker overhears the revealed secret and tells the king before Hugh McManly has a chance. That scoundrel!

He then uses this advantage to pick one of the princesses as his bride.

But he is foiled! Huzzah!

And the princesses give puppy dog eyes to the king.

King Gullible is an old softy and releases the prisoners!

Princesses:

"For by dancing our sleep we would lose,

All we need now's a bit of a snooze --"

Princes:

"Now let's set things straight.

You'll be staying up late.

And believe me, you won't need your shoes!"

And they all lived happily ever after! 

This was probably the best show I've ever been a part of. Oh all the memories.
(Except maybe the one where I played an old lady. But that's a a story for a different day.)

What are some of your favorite memories from high school? 

Do you have a favorite Brothers' Grimm fairy tale?

And be sure to check out Entwined by Heather Dixon! It's really awesome! The review will be up in a few weeks!

Last night, while I was digging through my bottomless purse in search of something that I wasn't likely to find with the mess of receipts and other useless items taking up space, I decided that I should clean out my purse.

I started pulling things out one by one and laughed at some of the ridiculous things that I had in my purse.

Now, this time around wasn't as astounding as it has been in the past. I've cleaned out my purse countless times and found strange things inside. Things that I never use and have no business being inside of my handbag. 

Once, while hanging out with friends, a gal pal asked for some gum. I started digging through the contents of my bottomless bag in search of the double-mint. Because I was having such a hard time, I decided to clean out my purse on the spot. Everyone laughed at the random things that I felt I had with me. The craziest of which might have been the set of measuring cups that were inside. I don't remember packing those along... I had no idea how long they'd been in there.

In any case, they all affectionately named my bag "The Mary Poppins Bag."

So, as I emptied the contents of my purse, I remembered those "What's in my purse" posts that I've been seeing lately. And so...

HOP

I'm on the bandwagon.

1. Silver nail polish. The only color I ever wear. I never paint my nails in public.

2. A guitar pick. I don't use picks when I play and never take my guitar with me anywhere.

3. A mini flash drive. It's green and cute. And I checked. It's empty.

4. Eight hair ties. Because two isn't enough. I need eight.

5. Three packs of opened 5 gum. Because inevitably that I won't be able to find gum when I want it. Three packs give me better odds.

6. A hair brush. I have a lot of hair and it tangles easily. Finally something practical!

7. Sunglasses. A black pair AND a brown pair. To match any outfit, of course.

8. Stamps. For my spur of the moment mailing needs.

9. Car keys. Most of those keys are obsolete. But I like keys on my key ring. It's a KEY ring.

10. My camera. I've been using my sister's lately, so it's in there too. But I have mine as a back up in case her's dies or I forget it.

11. A tampon. Just in case.

12. Sadly, that's about all the money I have.

13. Christmas themed hand sanitizer. It's never been opened, but you never know when you need to kill some germs.

14. Lip gloss. Three of them. I like how they taste.

15. My mini notebook. I'm obsessed with notebooks but I never use them. But if I need it, it's handy to have.

16. A movie ticket to Beastly. I didn't enjoy that movie much.

17. Advil. The best thing ever. And definitely something that I use from my purse often. It has it's own pocket for easy access.

18. Kleenex. You never want to be caught with a big dangly booger and not have tissues. 

19. A random array of jewelry that I took off mid-day for some reason or another.

20. Pens. I always lose pens, so I take multiple pens with me everywhere I go.

21. Nail clippers. I have no idea why I have two fingernail clippers. They are handy, but I don't need two. And I assure you I never clip my toe nails in public. 

22. Matches. I think I stole them from my sister on one of her "quit smoking" kicks.

23. My wallet. I've had it since I was 12. It has one zipper compartment, and two pockets. It sucks. I love it!

My purse makes no sense to me. 

But I'm proud to say that it's just like Mary Poppins' bag.

Now if only I could learn to fly with an umbrella...

I've been thinking about all of my past relationships. Some of them are pretty laughable. Enjoy yourselves in my failed relationships.

Justin (age five): A boy that lived across the street. His two older sisters forced us to get married in my back yard on my trampoline. The marriage didn't last for more than a few hours, but we remained really good friends.

Brogan (age six): A boy from my neighborhood. Our relationship consisted of swimming in ponds and climbing the tree in my back yard. While climbing said tree, he dared me to kiss him. I did. We didn't talk much after that.

Mike (age seven): A boy from down the street. He was eleven. We were pretty good buddies until he and two of his friends followed me to the park and forced me into the boys bathroom. Mike made me french kiss him. My seven year old self did not enjoy it. Yes. I was lip raped.

Quinn (age nine): A boy I met at the canal my friends and I used to swim in. After five minutes he asked me to be his girlfriend and I said yes. The next night I ran into him at the movie theater. I was going to see a movie with my parents and he asked me to ditch them and see the movie he came to see. I agreed. "Can I carry you to our seats?" He asked. I laughed at him and went back to sit with my parents.

Manny (age twelve): A boy who moved in down the street. Me and my four best friends were walking down the street to scope him out and he decided that he thought I was the cutest. After a week of "dating," we went to the water slide with a bunch of friends. Two of my cousins were there and were very clingy, meaning that I wasn't able to spend time with Manny. He decided to date another of my girl friends. By the end of the night he was back with me, and there was a tizzy in the girl group.

Jeremy (age fourteen): A boy from school. He was my walk on the wild side. I tried to sneak out to go to his house once. I was caught. (Thanks parents.) We went to the water slide on a date. He wanted to stop in the slide and kiss me. I called my dad to come and pick me up. I broke up with him that night.

Justin (age fifteen): A boy from school. We "dated" for the summer. We always brought an extra person to throw the number off because I wasn't 16 yet, therefore I shouldn't have been dating. (I don't know why all the previous boys didn't bother me.) He was apparently using me to make another girl jealous.

Adam (age fifteen-twenty): A boy that made my life a complicated mess. I was crazy about him for nearly 5 years and he never felt the same. I finally decided that I was being a moron and forgot all about him.

James (age eighteen): A boy I knew from school. We dated for a week. Lots of kissing. Oh, the kissing was fun. He broke up with me. A week later he changed his mind. I didn't kiss him again after that and I broke it off after another week.

CJ (age twenty): He lived in Canada. I didn't. As amazing as he was, he wasn't good enough to make me move to Canada. I like living in the States. I like spelling favorite without a U. The U is for Unnecessary!

Tim (age twenty-one): The quintessential bad boy. He was a bad influence on me. It's okay. I had fun. He was a jerk. It's all good.

Kevin (age twenty-one): The boy I'm with now. He's a great kisser, he's the sweetest guy I've ever met, we have fun doing anything and he's amazing. I love him. A lot.

I told you all I had a plan.

After seeing this video, I figured this was a substantial idea. And I decided to implement it in my Ice Cream Man Caper.

The amazing and talented (and hilarious) Bri from Bummer! even wrote me an original rap just for the occasion. (Please go and check her out! She's my hero!)

It didn't work.

While catching up on my blog reading the other day, I came across a meme that was just the thing to get me back into vlogging!

I've been trying to get back into making videos, but every time I try, I don't do too well. But this one seemed fun and simple enough to ease me back into the swing of things!

The meme is the Accent Meme and I found it on Alicia's blog, The Princess and the Parolee. (She has such a cute blog! Go check her out!)

I had a lot of fun making this video. I stayed awake until five in the morning editing it. Good times were had by all. 

And by all, I mean Itty Bitty and me.

Woo hoo! I received my first 'hate comment' today! It was from an anonymous user and everything! 

I have to tell you all something. I feel like I've finally arrived as a blogger. I'm legit now. I have creepy little trollers! (Err... troller. Singular.) I'm kind of stoked!

To that anonymous little muffin who said this:

Last night while my family was hanging out, my sister brought up the 'pickle girl' segment from a few posts ago. Here's the quip if you missed it.

Speaking of pickles, my dad bought some last night. WHEW! They cleared my sinuses! I would so take a jar of pickles with me to the dance, but I don't want to risk two guys having THIS conversation. "So, was she cute?" "She smelled like pickles!" "OH! You were dancing with pickle-girl? Sorry dude. I could have warned you." No thank you. I do not much want to be pickle-girl! 

My dad made a very good point. "But what if the guy LIKES pickles?"

We all laughed pretty hard, the conversation between the two guys becoming something more along the lines of:

"So, was she cute?" "She smelled like pickles!" "OH! You were dancing with pickle-girl? Sorry dude. I could have warned..." "What are you talking about? It was intoxicating. Forget classic! She was VLASIC!" "Pickles turn you on?" "Are you kidding me? I smelled her breath and I heard the CRUNCH!"

When I was younger, we had stake dances (a youth dance for the church) twice every month. From the time I was 14-17, these dances were the highlight of my 2nd and 4th Saturdays. (Though, I'm not sure why I went most of the time. I usually came home crushed about something some boy did. Psh. Boys.) I haven't been to a dance since New Year's Eve 2008. I remember that I really liked them, even with the stupid boys. 

My singles ward hosts dances quite frequently. I always tell myself I'm going to go, but never do. For some reason, I think I'll sit on the sidelines, never dancing. In my mind, I'm finding it hard to believe that adult single guys are going to ask me to dance. Or maybe that there will only be one or two guys there at all! 

Tonight is the Valentines Dance. I'm actually really excited to go. I've got a group of girls I'm going with and it should be a really good time.

However... I have a cold. It's not crippling, but I sure can't breath. I've been taking every little step I can to clear it up by tonight. I don't feel I'm having much luck. I'm sure I could tough it out, but what guy wants to dance with a sniffling, stuffy, breathes-through-her-mouth girl? I don't want to leave that impression! And it's not like I can tell them I have a cold! The word will spread like the viral infection I'm likely to spread to a few people. "Don't dance with THAT girl if you don't want to get sick!" I'm in a pickle.

Speaking of pickles, my dad bought some last night. WHEW! They cleared my sinuses! I would so take a jar of pickles with me to the dance, but I don't want to risk two guys having THIS conversation. "So, was she cute?" "She smelled like pickles!" "OH! You were dancing with pickle-girl? Sorry dude. I could have warned you." No thank you. I do not much want to be pickle-girl! 

So, I'm crossing my fingers, hoping against hope that the cold will diminish before 8pm tonight. I think I'm going to go and drain my sinuses again. (Have you guys ever used a Neti Pot? SO gross, but so awesome! WOO!)