"I like my men how I like my coffee--ground up and in the freezer"

Oh my heck; I'm drawing my outfits again. Where can I get one of those social life thingys people are always talking about?

This Saturday I'm going with...oh heavens, fifty million people (Ellie, Danielle, Honeyman, AJ, Kelly, Katie, and everyone they've ever been introduced to.) to Salt Lake's version of the Stadium of Fire. (I could google the name, but its not that important.) Kelly Clarkson is performing. This has been all anyone can talk about for a few months now. Yeah...I just don't know. I'm going because I will have wished I'd gone--or so I've been told repeatedly. It will be fun, most likely, it's just that the money could have gone toward something I'd like more, like the Jonny Lang concert late this summer. No, it will be fun. I have to remind myself that. It will be fun if I am sitting next to someone I know (hahaha, oh the Toby Keith Stadium of Fire...all by myself) and everyone tries to not be 5-year-olds and be offended by anything someone says or doesn't say. No "drama." Kelly Clarkson doesn't excite me.

You know I feel so dirty when they start talkin' cute / I wanna tell her that I love her but the point is probably moot

I should be asleep. (Especially considering I woke up at 5 this morning and never really got back to sleep.) But alas, I have had a lot of diet Coke today. My last, I swear! And it was after 6 p.m., don't tell Ellie...oh wait, crap.


Sometimes my fashion choices frighten me only hours later. Much like every time I wear my "I [heart] Nerds" Millhouse shirt in public. Other times I will wonder why I never tried that outfit before.
I'm still not sure which category tonights outfit belongs, but for the moment I like it. (I may be horribly wrong in liking it-- let me know your opinion...especially Sarah, as I hold her fashion sense over some others.)


Hair: Wavy from an earlier hairdo, half pulled up, held with a pencil.
Makeup: Pretty basic, actually. Base, light brown blush, grey eyeshadow mostly just above the crease. The lips varied, as I put something new on every time the former had worn off--from taupe-ish gloss, red/brown lipstick, sparkly gloss, to chapstick.
Clothing: Red tank top, red deep-neck wrap dress, black wide-leg trousers, and black pointy-toe 4-inch high heels.


Oh, how I love Photoshop!!! Look, I drew my outfit! :) whoa...I really need some sleep, I'm loony.

"Gorgeous! Double gorgeous!" -yelled out a car window as Danielle and I walked across a parking lot

Ah, cruisin' the 8 on a Tuesday night.* High class. (Danielle called him "Mexi-Man"; and anything involving mocking Mexicans is quadruple funny coming from her 'cause she is half Mexican. :) Hahaha.) Definitely beats what was yelled a few years ago as Reba and I crossed the very same parking lot, which was "Cow!" Lovely.

Danielle and I saw "A Lot Like Love", which I loved. More profile nudity of Ashton Kutcher's behind than necessary, though. I was just overjoyed when Amanda Peet's character got rid of those horrid bangs and the poufy hair. Ick. I can now say the words I never thought I'd utter: I enjoy Ashton Kutcher. Sure, I've laughed at That 70's Show and Punk'd. It's just not the same. Anyway...loved the movie. (It's not a Meridith movie though...I'm not recommending it.) When he suddenly appeared at the New Years party after the countdown I think I actually cheered. Way cute. I laughed hysterically throughout the entire thing. Poor Danielle.

I was giggly all night (not a shocker to anyone) and Dani got to hear my wimpy little girly cough for the first time. ("I think I've got the black lung, Pop.") And she wasted no time mocking it. Hahaha.

After the movie we played around online for HOURS watching Teen Girl Squad (T33n G1rl Squ4dxOrx!!!), looking at Divine Comedy's "Mormon Adz" (My very favorite is the little duckling standing in front of the mirror with the swan in the mirror and the caption "Somebody has an eating disorder" Way funny!), and watching Heinz "Mean Bean" ads. PURE HILARITY!

One mean son of a bean

Harmless


Badda bing badda bang




* "cruisin' the 8" refers to driving around Movies 8, a dollar theater in Provo, attempting to pick up on someone.

I have guacamole here as well as Pepper Jack Doritos. I'm debating whether to experiment a relationship of the two.

There are so many reasons I love IMs over phonecalls. ...The ability to look up pictures of Ewan McGregor at the same time comes to mind...

But mostly-- the ability to go back and read hilarious conversations I have.


Sarah says:
   I went to the gym at 6 a.m. this morning. I am very proud of my little, one pound away from being clinically overweight, self.
Susannah says:
   I put on my workout clothing. And I walked down into the basement and put in my tape. Then I proceeded to the freezer and pulled out ice cream. But the other stuff has gotta count for something.
-----
Susannah says:
   it's from UHF ...What a great movie!
Sarah says:
   Never seen it.
Susannah says
   That is pretty close to sacrilege in the Holy Church of Susannah
Sarah says:
   I've never been there.
Susannah says:
   very few have
Sarah says:
   Ha ha!

Continuation...

I found the maximum size posts can be! Hahaha. This is the last bit of that journal bit:

I just filled out the customs declaration form. And because Meridith is not carrying snails into the country there wasn't much to declare. The baguette in my purse, perhaps. (No, I don't usually carry baguettes in my purse; only on special occasions and Canadian holidays.) I love filling out random things like customs declarations and credit card applications.

They just handed out a little dish of a lil sandwich and stuff and I got skipped. Outright skipped. Hahaha, random. Mer has one, the old dude with the neck pillow and eye mask next to her has one (which he's eating with a knife and fork), my parents across the aisle have some. Everone on the plane has one but me. Hahaha. Sir? Too many Diet Coke requests? *sniff* Hahaha. I don't really care, don't want the sandwich anyway, I just think its HILARIOUS. Meridith offered me her utensils, ain't she sweet? Oooo, I asked for a can and they let me have the full can! Woohoo! They always give me millions of ice cubes and a lick of soda. I am a gulper (The Honeyman once said I chug, but he was mistaken, I gulp) and a shot of soda is nothing to me.
Hahaha, Mer just said to the dude, "Umm, she didn't get a sandwich thingy" and the guy said "Ok" and brought one, haha.
Hello, my name is Susannah, and I have a drinking problem. --I can't make my mouth. I have 3 little Sprite trails down the front of my shirt, haha. I have the amazing ability to spill anything on any article of clothing. Its a skill it took years to hone; I'm quite proud of it.

Ooo, we are beginning our descent! Yay! My ears are popping, hehe. And my new boyfriend just walked by. Heavens, he's been four rows up all these 7 hours? And I didn't even know it? Hahaha. ("You're ObiWan!")

Back on the plane. Turns out my new boyfriend is foreign, I think he's Mexican. ("Dude, you're a Mexican!" "I'm from Honduras." "What part of Mexico is that?") I've been calling him My Foreign Boyfriend for the past hour. He kept showing up whereever we were--right behind me on the moving sidewalk, too. He just got on a flight to L.A.

Another flight, a completely different experience. Besides clothes shopping and roller coasters, airplanes are where I hate being chunky the most. Tiny window seat surrounded by 17-22 year old guys? Things my nightmares are made of. Oh my! Quite possibly the absolutely worst situation for a recovering social phobic!!! May possibly be worse than the time on the rollercoaster at Knott's Berry Farm where the little park employee was pushing on my tummy and pulling on the strap simultaneously as to get it to close completely. Lovely! I'm in the middle of such a huge anxiety attack. Only one tear has escaped, hopefully gone unnoticed by everyone; I don't know if I can hold the others back. Man I hate this; I wish the tears would stop, they only add to my paranoia. I don't know what I'm most freaking out about. Four and a half hours. Of this. And I just got told to turn my iPod off until after takeoff. *sigh* I can see why most Social Phobics become alcoholics, hahaha. Ugh. My skin freaked out in Europe, which really really only increases my paranoia of everyone around me.
Crap. I'm officially crying. I take what people say way too personally. Well, I just hold it against myself, or something. Like: My friend Phil once said, "Have you been crying? Either you have been or you did your makeup in the dark 'cause you look like crap." I've been paranoid of what I look like after crying since thn. He wasn't trying to be a jerk, in fact he was hugging me when he said it. Oh crap, my chin is quivering, I hate this. I don't even know why I'm writing this because I know where it will end up--out for anyone and everyone to see the actual thoughts in this neurotic brain of mine. I guess its better to write it rather than keeping my unbased paranoid thoughts building up.

Would my life be easier as a porcelain skinned thin blonde? I don't know, but I'm willing to give it a chance, hahahahaha. Daily life without constant worrying would be nice. No wonder I don't date--I can't handle a relationship with myself leatone anyone else!!!

We've been circling New Jersey for a good ten minutes, get out of here already!

Hahaha. Wow; the joys of having an anxiety disorder, eh? I settled down about ten minutes after that. (as I always do) Then I fell asleep for the rest of the flight.

"Sure; no arms, no legs, you learn from the ghetto, Man!"

Because I am lazy and not in denial about it, I am going to just transcribe what I wrote while in Europe. Later today (possibly tomorrow) I will go back and fill in the missing days. There are a few actual journal bits in here, I'll italicize as to set them apart for you. :)
There is a lot of talking about food in here, I've now noticed. Hmmmm.
------


FRIDAY, June 10th
I fell asleep in the bathtub again. (Oops!) But for good reason this time--I'd only had an hour and a half of sleep. I usually enjoy the airport but today was an exception. We stood in line to check in for nearly an hour and a half. My father referred to me as "Susasauras" after seeing my horrible passport picture (poufed pinned back bangs and a ponytail aren't good for a passport picture, you are warned.) although his "Uncle Fester" picture wasn't much better, hahaha. We had about ten minutes until our flight took off, so we literally ran through the security check and up to the gate. The dude there said he was surprised they let us through so late. Oops.

My seat was between Meridith (window) and El Raunchy Head (aisle). E.R.H. (aka Really Skinny Chick Always On Her Cell Phone or Glaring, or Both) never stopped eating, from what I saw. She kept pulling out containers of yogurt from her purse. Who keeps yogurt in their purse, letalone many containers?

We landed in New Jersey at 4:30 p.m. Our flight to Birmingham, England wasnt until 9:50 p.m. Oh my heck! 5 blasted hours in the C concourse of the Neward, New Jersey airport!
I wandered around the various shops for a while after we had lunch in a steak place (I had a club sandwich that had brie on it. Now that was weird. I used to be absolutely closeminded when it came to most food, but I'm getting better. I can now do some onions, rice, peas, an occasional mushroom slice, shrimp, calamari, artichokes, etc.)
I wanted to buy a magazine for the 7 hour flight but I couldn't find any that interested me that I didn't already have at home (Thats what I get for having subscriptions to Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, Lucky, etc.) Instead I laid on the ground with my head on my luggage and slept for over 2 hours, hahaha.

I sat next to my mom and dad and across the aisle from Meridith. I officially hate airplane seats. Ok, well, only the seats ahead of me. It's a wellknown fact, SonnyJim, that theres a secret society of the five...no wait, I meant: It's a wellknown fact that I'm tall, I've got long legs. When I'm sitting in an airplane my knees are up to the pocket on the seat in front of me. Which is fine, I'm used to that. But if the person ahead of me decides to lay their seat back it is Goodbye! to my kneecaps. ("I like to be squooshed") So I spent the ENTIRE 7 hours moving my legs in and out of the aisle--letting people go by, Ugh.

I watched the relationship form between the two people in front of me. Him asking if the seat was taken, her asking if Birmingham was his final destination, them deciding they live about fifteen minutes apart. Hilarious, really. After about the sixth hour she proclaimed, "I like you; yeah, you can phone me." and he entered her number into his cell. It was so cheesy that I would've stopped listening if it weren't for their awesome accents.
I fell asleep a few times, but not for ver long each time. I was squished and bored. I turned on The Beauty & The Beast soundtrack on my iPod and just snuggled ("Oo, you want to schnuggle?") with my index card size pillow.
They showed both "Maid in Manhatten" and an episode of "Joey"--nice diversions from staring at the lumpy bald head of the black guy ahead of me, haha.

SATURDAY
As we were getting off the plane in Birmingham a dude made an announcement about connecting flights. He was in a great suit, had awesome hair, and a sexy British accent. I turned to Meridith, "I have two words for you: Raw-ar!"
After getting my passport stamped (SWEET!) we went out front to get a taxi. Meridith realized she'd left her purse in the bathroom so we had to wait twenty years for the security people found someon who could go back in to get it.

We took the coolest taxi (a huge backseat with two fold-down-able seats facing backwards) to our hotel, where my new boyfriend, Andrew Dear, a Gemini, checked us in. Sure, he was pretty short, skinny, and his suit was WAY too big for him, but Dang Gina! he's got the raddest hair! He has totally got to be metro with how much time and product that hairstyle needs. Short, comb-swept bangs, spiked up and out all over, then longer and comb-flipped almost mullet-like bottom of the back. Strange, but it worked for him.

After locking our luggage in the Porter's closet we walked down a few streets to a mall. My dad bought some cherry scones and ginger beer. After walking around there for a while and walking to the church downt he street just to see where it was (?!?) we went to lunch in a cafeteria-style restaurant in one of the stores. I asked the dude for asalad and after dishing it up he said something I couldn
t undertand. I said, "What?" he said something that sounded like "yowamasaw?" HUH?! Meridith said, "You want Ranch, huh?" I was like, "Huh? Dressing? What?" Mer told the girl Ranch. Everyone was looking really confused. The girl said something to the dude and he dished up some coleslaw. OH! Hahaha. I'm catching about every third word people say around here, hahaha.
We went back to our hotel and got our bags from the Porter's closet and found our rooms. Meridith and I shared room 186, which had twin beds pushed together--random, but fun. It enabled us to sleep next to eachother without the risk of Mer kicking me because of the sheets being tucked in. The bathroom was darling; it had a large window, which I'm not used to seeing in hotels. The bathtub was deep and long, but really really skinny. An odd shape, really.

We were exhausted so we were going to just hang out in our hotel rooms for a few hours. Mer about fell on the ground laughing when she came out of the bathroom to find me lying on the bed in my underwear watching TV. (and she is absolutely shocked I just wrote that.)
We both fell asleep watching some Jimmy Stewart movie. My parents woke us up around 9 to go to dinner. We went to this Italian restaurant called Tiggis. Meridith and I both ordered a lasagna-like ravioli dish (that sounds contradicting, but its true.) Everyone's accents were really hard to understand. Especially the Italians. Oh my goodness; I caught about every fifth or sixth word! It was so hard! We had two cute waiters but one looked too much like Shia LeBouf and the other looked too much like a guy in my ward named Chad; who was also Meridith's orchestra teacher.
Our waitress, Kathryne (I don't know her spelling, but that is Emma Katie's), came over right as we were ready to leave and asked us questions--where we are from, where we're staying, how long we'll be here, how old we are, etc. She then wrote her phone number down and said, "if you get bored and want to hang out or something." She was really sweet.

After dinner we went back to the hotel. Mer and I stayed up watching a movie about con men starring Charles Townsend (aka Charlize Theron's boyfriend), Kate Beckinsale (with a horrible, horrible haircut), and the guy who played Robin Williams' son in "The Birdcage." It was pretty cool, I liked it.

SUNDAY
We woke up at 7:30, to a really loud alarm on the TV Meridith had set. I wore my black & white striped knee-length skirt, a pink stretch tank top, and my black track-style jacket with pink flip flops.
We had breakfast in the hotel restaurant, which was a lot of fun. They had a buffet of "traditional English breakfast" which includes sausages, eggs, fried tomatoes, fruit, mushrooms, hash browns, and baked beans. A totally random mix of foods in my opinion.
President Gerald Lund (who wrote The Work and the Glory series) picked us up in one of the church's vans at 9:45. We went to the Solihull ward. The accents were really hard to understand--you had to pay close attention; any daydreaming and everything sounded like gibberish.
It's funny being from Utah and traveling because whereever I to church (be it San Francisco to Germany) everyone knows Northern Utah well.
After church Bro. Lund (who I am not allowed to call "G-Dawg" despite my pleading with my father) dropped us off at our hotel so we could change clothes then took us to his house. We had mashed potatoes, roast, salad, carrots, rolls, brownies, and ice cream. (I opted out on the last two...and the carrots.)

I was a bit nervous and a lot not excited (that can't be grammatically correct, but oh well) to spend a few days with Lynn & Gerry Lund; the idea of having to play polite with a couple of my parents friends did not sound enjoyable. I was more than pleasantly surprised to find them a blast to be with.
After dinner we hopped in the van and set off to see some sights. This marked where I found out I get really carsick. Though not to the point of throwing up; just wishing I would, as to make the nausea go away.

We stopped in Chatburn and Downham to see where Heber C. Kimball preached and the tithing barn there. We stopped at a blacksmith's shop where the barn had been transformed into the mens bathroom. Lynn was excited to show it to us because she thinks its hilarioius, hahaha.
Then we went to a huge old chuch where we took many pictures in the rain. After that we drove to the Preston, England temple, where we, again, took many pictures in the rain. We drove through Preston and saw the house President Hinckley lived in on his mission--a little white house on a corner.

As my only relief to carsickness, I slept the entire hour and a half drive back to Solihull. My parents and Meridith went to dinner but I still wasn't feeling well so I went straight to bed--not waking up til 8 the next morning.

MONDAY
The Lunds picked us up around 9:30. We headed out to the city of Warwick to visit Warwick Castle. (Warwick Castle in Warwick, Warwickshire, England, hahaha)
Lynn is camera happy, hahahaha. She was constantly telling Meridith and me to pose with this, stand there, Smile! Hilarious lady, really.

At the front gates of Warwick Castle there were two hooded figures in black cloaks. Lynn explained that there are many wax figures throughout the castle. She told us to pose with this deathly figure so she could get a picture. I told Lynn about my phobia of things in costume ("Dude, I'm scared of Chuck E. Cheese.") and I refused to pose with it. My mom walked up and looked under the hood and said, "Yeah, it's just wax." and as we stood there refusing to pose with it the very much NOT "just wax" deathly figure came toward us. My mom screamed, Meridith was freaked out, I jumped then bust up laughing. Lynn was cracking up because she knew it was a real person the entire time. Mer kept saying, "Now I can't trust you, that was just MEAN!"


<<<<<>>>>>



We took the Chunnel (train through the tunnel under the Channel) to France. I carried a notepad with me everyday and occasional wrote journal-ly things, wich I'll add here:

TUESDAY

Seeing the world through rose-colored glasses.
I'm sitting on a bench looking at the Eiffel Tower. It makes me feel like "Sabrina." Although I doubt I'll return revamped. ("It's the hair." "To say the least.") I need to rewatch that movie because I'm not sure why she loved this place so incredibly much. Maybe because I don't understand the people and can't read anything. That in itself is enough to make me not like a place. The Eiffel Tower is gorgeous, though. And huge.

At a café on the streets of Paris. (Near Republic Stalingrad & Forum de Halles.) Finally some real sizes of glasses! 16 ounces of Orangina rather than the tiny almost shot glasses in London. The menu is pretty blah. Little English subtitles under each dish entry. Nothing too appetizing. An entire page of desserts though, :) I'm getting spaghetti bolognaise (so is Mer), not too French, I suppose, but snails and cheese isn't exactly my idea of real food, hahaha! Oooo, on to my second soda. There are no free refills in Europe so I have to kick my 11 sodas a sitting habit when I come here. Orangina is a sort of carbonated orange juice (with pulp), its good. I'm totally craving fries...they sound really good. (Pomme Frites)
Meal is over! The spaghetti was good, but I shouldve gotten what my dad did--ribeye steak and fries! Hahaha. My mom got a sald with tuna, anchovies, beets, etc--NO THANKS!
Our waiter is funny. He stood by our table staring at Meridith's plate until she continued finishing off her spaghetti, haha. My mom asked if he could tell us how to get to some random store she wasnted. He said no. Hahaha! Then he said, "I can, but I don't want to." HAHAHA! All in his think French accent. His name is Richard, he is totally hysterical.
I got Creme Brulee (for Audrey, :) ) My dad got a trio of sorbets (black current, raspberry, and peach), and Mom got an upsidedown apple torte. Unbeknownst to us, the torte has a wine poured all over the plate, soaking the crust. Ooo, my first taste of wine--Nasty stuff, haha. The innards of the apple torte were devoured quite quickly, haha. My first real creme brulee (besides a taste of The Honeyman's at my birthday dinner at Grappa in Park City last summer) was good. Not my favorite dessert (I'm a texture girl and squishy & hot isn't exactly my fave) by any means, but still good.

WEDNESDAY

Standing in line at the Louvre. Really really long line. Old dude way too close to me, talking in Spanish? on his cell phone in my right ear. Take a step back, Sir! Maybe it's Italian. I don't know. Whatever it is, it's loud and annoying.

I don't like the clothes that I'm wearing today. Poufy pants and a tight shirt only emphasizes all of the bad. Oh well; thats just what I get for being chunky. At least I have my cute new bag to appease me. :) I got it at Harrod's in London. It's faint pink with 50's style decor of a girl in a pink polkadot dress w/ a black poodle on a leash, blush compacts, lipstick tubes, brushes, pink bows, and little Harrods bags all over it. It was about $28 (14.99 Pounds).

The line is moving a bit. I've sat down on a bench on the side of the building. Yucky annoying old guy who was in line in front of me (not annoying old guy who was behind me) and kept smiling at me has just come out of line and sat by me here. ICK! What is it with me and old foreign guys? (Like that old Mexican in the Smiths parking lot who kept asking "hey girl, where you from?" then followed me in his car. ICK.)
Back in line. In the hot, hot sun. ("How bizarre, how bizarre") Yeah, I'm a complainer. I don't like all these strangers in such close vicinity, looking me up and down. They're as bad as Utahns, if not worse! Old dude just smiled at me again...ew.

Just saw the Mona Lisa. There was a huge crowd so we didn't get too close. I took a picture of Mer w/ the Mona Lisa in the backround, then I told Mer to just buy a postcard rather than waiting in the crowd to take a picture of it. My mom and dad are off together and Mer and me are together. :) We can't read any of the signs by the paintings so it's going pretty quickly. This place is huge. It would probably take a few days to see everything--especially if you could read the signs.
I'm getting sick. (Wow, this has been really complainy, I don't mean to be.) I've had chronic tonsilitis for a few years now; meaning my tonils are always inflamed, but how much depends on the day. For the past few days my throat has been all messed up, which affects everything else. I've been really dizzy and get really exhausted quite fast because of it. Which really isn't good when I'm out in the hot sun walking EVERYWHERE.
Mer's getting bugged that I'm sitting here so I'm off to the upper floor to see French statues. Woohoo.

At lunch at a café down the street from the river (that runs parallel to the Louvre.) The waiter is kind of fun. He's pretty toothless, which makes him funny enough for me! I've ordered chicken and fries, although I'm not really sure what form of chicken that entails. (Meridith just said- "My throat hurst like I've been smoking." hahaha, she's a nut.) Oh, baked chicken. A leg and a thigh? Not exactly my favorite; I suck at getting the meat off the bone, haha. Mer got a ham & cheese sandwich with a fried egg on top (those crazy Frenchies), my dad got quiche lorraine (which he didn't really enjoy), and my mom got the special of 2 sausages, mashed potatoes, and salad.

We walked down the street to the Orsay Museum (Musée d'Orsay); which is where I am now sitting on a funky bench that runs the entire length of the wall. This is an art museum. (I just got yapped at to keep my feet off the bench in French. Ugh. I was only sitting Indian-style! [thats not PC, is it? Cross-legged? Is that better?]) I'm not really into art; especially after having just gone through the blasted Louvre for two hours!!! So I am annoying Meridith by sitting here :D You see 45 statues of naked women, you've seen them all. I think the only interesting one was Venus.
The lady next to me has had her barefeet on the bench for about 10 minutes and they haven't cared! Haha, someone just came and got after her about it. I think they only told her to put her shoes on, though--what I picked up with my extensive French vocabulary, ha! Meridith came back, got annoyed again, then left. (Mer- "Its not fun to go alone." Me- "Its not fun to go at all.")

This trip has been pretty fun. A lot of walking (blech) and getting shushed every single time I giggle semi-loudly (ugh!) And I'm really not good with other languages; I get frustrated pretty easily. I like to understand what is going on--so sue me.
I think...no, I know my favorite parts of the trip were Guys & Dolls (EWAN MCGREGOR!!!) and Mary Poppins, with Warwick Castle and Tintern Abbey coming in a close second.
Seeing all these sites makes me want to be all touristy in Utah. I haven't gone up to Salt Lake for reasons other than shopping and the airport in a long time. I want to do cheesy touristy stuff around SLC. :)

Well, I'm in Paris. That's not really something I thought I'd say for quite a while. I like it, just the fact that I'm here. Gee-- France, England, Wales, Austria, Germany, the Brussels Belgium airport, most of the US states including Hawaii 3 times---I'm a pretty well-traveled gal for not even being 21 yet. I enjoy it. :) I get excited when I get a new stamp in my passport (regardless of the dinosaur-esque "Susasauraus" picture.)
Where am I? Oh yeah...Post Impressionism. The Orsay Museum. Meridith has come back and is semi-paitiently waiting for me to say I'll come with her. On to more naked pictures!


At dinner at a small restaurant down the street from our hotel on Rue de Cadet (Cadet Road.) It's cute and everything, but not a lick of English anywhere. I have no idea what I'm doing and I absolutely hate it. I ordered filet mignon and creme brulee merely because those are the only French foods I recognize! It frustrates the heck out of me. I can't hold back the tears as I stumble around this thing. I have a hard enough time with English menus! (Oh the many times I was mocked for it in Hawaii.) Ugh. I want to go home. I'm absolutely done with walking around a hot city not understanding a word of what anyone is saying nor any of the signs. Give me my Utah. Only three more days and I will be back in my bed twice the size and fifty times the comfort of my little Parisian hide-a-bed.
My parents are oohing and ahhing over their respective dishes of grilled asparagus and grilled zuchini in balsamic vinegar. No thanks. I'm a spoiled brat, I'm well aware. But I'd rather hit the McDonalds down the street than 3 course gibberish. Ugh. No, it's fine, I'm just frustrated.

Hahaha, we have some random dinner table conversations:

Sus: "Whenever anyone does anything and I try to say thank you I have four languages run through my head before I can figure out what to say."
Dad: "Four lanuages? Italian?"
Sus: "Yes. Italian, Polish, Somalian, then English, and then I get all confused."
(actual-- English: Thanks! German: Danke! Spanish: Gracias! then finally I get around to the Frenchie: Merci!)
---
Mom: "You should be a stewardess."
Sus: "Nah, I hate people--especially at extreme heights."

Our little filet mignons (everyone ordered it) were pretty good. On to the creme brulee trio. Looks like original, vanilla bean, and chocolate. Yeah, still not a favorite. I like the sugar top, however, Hahahaha! I'm not really a custard-like texture fan. Oh well, I'm in Paris, can't have a cheeseburger or anything (contrary to last nights McDonalds run) I have to have French food while in France, says my parents. French toast? French fries? Things I can handle. Snails and moldy cheese, however... Well, back to the hotel to sleep a bit before our 5 a.m. wakeup (we're going to Normandy.)

<<>>

SATURDAY

I'm sitting in the A42 terminal of the Paris Charles de Gaulle (sp?) Airport. It is 11:05 (3:05 a.m. Utah time; having a nice sleep?) and my plane to New Jersey doesn't leave until nearly 2. I have been left to watch the luggage as Meridith and my parents are off in the bookshop. I am waiting for them to switch me so I can continue my never-ending pursuit of European candybars to bring home for everyone. But alas, I procrastinated as usual, and can't find any of the cool ones I saw earlier this week. I wanted to get this cool Nutella thingy for AJ and Aaron, but it was 4 Euros and I didn't have my mula with me. Blast. Everything is pretty expensive with the exchange rate. Its about a buck & a half for every Euro, so candy bars end up being around 2 to 3 dollars.
Culture Club's "Karma Chameleon" is playing on my iPod. What a random song.
It's weird that I'm leaving Paris today because the first week seemed to take forever, but the Paris week seemed super fast. I just wished I'd've run into Marg Helgenberger! She reminds me of my best friend, Sarah. I don't know if it's just because Sarah loves Marg's hair, the many hours of CSI we've watched together, or what, but she totally does.

My slug hurts. (My pinky that I hyperextended a few weeks ago. I dubbed it my slug because that is what it resembles while its still swollen.) I think I've bent him too much today, carrying luggage and such. I'm supposed to let him heal 6 weeks. It's been almost 4? Oh well, maybe he'll just be messed up for the rest of my life. That'd suck, actually. I really don't like my screwed up middle finger (that I jammed spiking a volleyball, thats what I get for being athletic!) so having my slug like that too would be completely blah.

A dude, probably in his 40s, a few rows down is playing Beastie Boys' "Right to Party" on his laptop. Its the first English I've heard outside of my family for a few hours. I started laughing (typical) and he looked over and smiled.
I'm listening to the West Side Story soundtrack (my ecclectic tastes in music), it's the Broadway version, which is cool and everything, but I like the movie version better. I have a favorite Jet. He is the blonde who is kind of 3rd in line in the Jet heirarchy. He's the one who sings the line "little boy you're a man, little man you're a king" in the Jet Song, and "Cool Boy" is his lil solo after Russ Tamblyn's character (who I totally just forgot his name) gets killed. What was my point? ...oh yeah. My favorite jet is only in the movie, so I don't like this Broadway CD as much.
Hahaha, Meridith and I were sharing headphones listening to the 1776 soundtrack on the way to Paris from Normandy. We were both having a hard time not singing along, hahaha. What a weird family I have, hehe. I don't know anyone else who, when told to turn to the right, would burst into song with "To the right! Ever to right. Never to the left! Forever to the right." --a song about staying on the political right on issues. Haha, we're nuts. But being nuts is fun.

Oh Ewan McGregor! I can't be happy with my Peter Gallagher (Sandy [the dad] Cohen on The O.C.) version soundtrack of Guys & Dolls now that I've seen Ewan play the same role. I just love his Sky Masterson so much more. "Obidiah!" Oh he's darling. It would've been cooler to meet him, hehehe. "You're ObiWan!" (I've said that about fifty times this week, haha.)

Only two more hours until we board, woohoo. I wish I hadn;'t slept so much last night so I could sleep right now. Hahaha.

My bag is so cute, but I think I shouldve gotten the actual purse verison. It had a metal handle and a cute metal clasp. Mine is merely a bag. Oh well, its cute nonetheless and it was the cheaper of the two.
My Sprite bottle fell on the ground about twenty minutes ago, hahaha. I didn't do anything about it then I forgot about it completely. I only just remembered because I kicked it. Haha! It's way too sugary for me. I'm so used to diet soda now. Haha. but when I get home I have to go off carbonation again. That's the only way my mother will pay for me to get my wisdom teeth removed. She makes random threats like that all the time. I have to get a tonsilectomy as well. ("Ah, tonsil implants, eh? You know guys don't care if they're real or not." -Aaron Ray) Two freaky surgeries in a short time. Blech.

We look to be almost halfway to New Jersey--only 4 hours left in my 7 1/2 hour flight. There's a lot of room (no squished knees even though the chick in front of me shoved her seat back first thing) and there are personal screens on the back of the seats and a cool remote. I've watched The Wedding Date, Will & Grace, The Practice, Joey, 2 1/2 Men, What I Like About You, and the last half of Extreme Makeover:Home Edition. There are ten channels and a bunch of games. Mer keeps playing solitaire on hers. I'm sitting next to Mer with my Mom and Dad across the aisle. now this is the way to fly.

One month til my birthday. :) I'll be 21-years-old. I accept most major credit cards. It's weird to me to be turning 21--it always seemed so adult when I was little. Both of my older sisters and my mom (as well as most of my sisters-in-law, I think) were married at 21. Weird. I asked my mom why I haven't recieved the "we would like you to bring a special someone" talk for next summers Caribbean cruie, like Deborah and Clarke got for Hawaii. She said because I don't need it because I'm not ready for it (so what are you saying, Mom? That I'm not social? That I don't date? That I avoid guys? That I...oh wait...) and "25 sounds like a good age for you." Thats like 35 in Utah County years, hahahaha!
Oooo, I'm excited for the cruise (even if I am [the cooler] half of the Susannah/Meridith couple...as usual.) My parents are nuts. They are wanting to go to [Brazil with Aaron & Richard this fall,] the Phillipines with Clarke, Hawaii in April, and then the cruise in June. Yeah...I'd better not get married in the next two years, hahaha, or I may not be able to have my huge party and I will end up with dinner mints and Sparkle in the cultural hall. Hahaha.
I'm excited for the cruise, though, because I've never been to the Caribbean, and because it is the only trip all of my siblings take together. All 14 of us don't have many (any) opportunities to get together without the little kids--its when everyone get to take off their parent hats and just have fun; it's a blast.

I keep singing "Something Good" (from Sound of Music, "Nothing comes from nothing, nothing ever could. Oh somewhere in my youth or childhood I must have done something good.") in Meridith's ear while she's trying to listen to the radio and play Hangman. Hahaha! She keeps batting at me. She really shouldn't; it only encourages me. :) If she ignored me I'd get louder, then bored and I'd switch songs, then I'd give up altogether. Hahaha, it's fn to have a little sister to annoy.

I think my iPod is idiotic. he keeps doing weird things like scan the song when I mess with the volume (not scan the songs when I click the button and then mess with the scroll, because I know it does thatm, haha. I mean it stumbles through the song playing at the moment sometimes when I try to change the volume) and other random things. Weirdo.

Well, just less than 3 hours til New Jersey (then 4 hours to Utah!) I'm listening to Duncan Sheik (the Daylight album) on my iPod and watching something on the Blue Man Group...oh it's over. Now I'm watching Fashion Police on my lil personal screen. Debra Messing has great hair. I'm such a little fashion nerd. I was wearing a Narciso Rodriguez (the designer who created the white, black trimmed dress than Sarah Jessica Parker wore to the premiere of Sex and the City while she was pregant) ribbon in my hair the other day while walking around Paris (I got it in London) and I giggled ever time I remembered I had it there. :)

I'm watching a special on TrimSpa X32 and wearing my Chubby Girl Brigade shirt; how appropriate. It's been over two months since I was disciplined with my ...not diet, lifestyle I guess. I have new goals. Well, not new...revamped? Nah, just a new conviction to follow them. They include: * go to sleep before midnight (oh how I'll miss my 1 a.m. Oprah reruns) * hit at least 1200 calories, not over 1500 * 64 oz of water daily * workout at 7 a.m. and after work * out to restaraunts once a week or less * have breakfast.
I'm going to try very hard to stick to this, but I fall prey to peer pressure easily. ("Hey, Susannah, wanna go out to lunch?" Oh, OK!)

Mer is laying on my shoulder as we listen to the 1776 soundtrack (we have a dual headphone splitter thingy) and try not to sing aloud. ("Here a Lee, there a Lee, everywhere a Lee alee") There's nothing fun on our TVs and I'm bored. It is 11:35 a.m. Utah time. I won't get home until after 10, probably closer to 11. Ugh. It is 7:35 Paris time and I'm starting to feel it. I fell asleep before 10 most nights (shocking, I know) and as early as 7 something a few times. I'm gonna be so jetlagged.

Only 2 hours til Newark, New Jersey, woohoo. Mer is laying on my tray table...random, I know. Hahaha.
I probably won't get to go back to Europe for quite a while. Since I'm hoping to move out this fall so I won't be eligible to go with my parents (haha, they take those living at home with them) and I won't have anywhere near enough money to take myself for a long time. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted. Lots of walking, famous sites, naked statues, bread, and strange foreign men WAY too close to me ("Quick. I love you, kiss me." - Eric, our waiter)
Hopefully I'll be able to do some U.S. traveling instead. I want to go back to DC like last January with Amanda and The Honeyman. And I want to go to San Francisco to see "Wicked" this November. And of course I want to go to St. George to see Aaron in Les Mis, and to Cedar City to see some shows at the Utah Shakespearean Festival. Mer and I have two favorite U.S.F actors and we're excited that they've returned this year. :) (one of which was in 1776...maybe thats why we love this soundtrack so much, hahaha) We're such theater nerds, haha.

Hello, Sir, welcome to my personal bubble--I live here. Whoa, take a step back, dude. (There's an old guy using me as his cane as he walks past me.)
One hour! One hour!

"Vulcan, Vulcan, Vulcan!" -Sus

Number of times...

* Mer hit a body part into an inanimate object: immeasurable (though she hit her head 9 times)

* Mer bit her cheek: 3

* Susannah quoted a movie: appx every 6 minutes

* Sus burst into song: appx every 23 minutes

* Sus complained she was thirsty for a diet Coke: 37, in England alone

* Mom said "Soak this all up, kids": 3, in England

* Dad felt "ganged up on": 53, a day

* ...by Susannah: 29, a day

* Dad faked a British accent in public: 17

* Mer's amazing lack of earphone abilities showed themselves: 9

* Mom said, "This is us/ours" on the Metro: 74

* Sus said, "Sloane Square!", "Little Tiny Bill", "But you look so harmless!", "Platform 9 & 3/4", "Fink you're being Funny?", and "Nuh-uh, no matter how many times I say it it's still funny!": CONSTANTLY

* Mer got hiccups after a meal: all but once

* Mer & Sus got shushed: whenever they had fun

* Everyone had to wait for Sus: every time leaving a room

* Sus added "ola" to a word: appx 179

* Mer bit Susannah's head off: 14

* Mom yelled at Sus to get off Mer's bed: 12

* Sus mentioned Lance: 4

* Dad tripped off the stair outside the bathroom: 4

* Sus laughed as dad tripped off the stair: 3, as she was asleep for one of them

* Sus sang "Les Poissons" from The Little Mermaid: everytime it got quiet

* Mer sang "Paris hold the key to your heart": 3

* Sus referred to the French as frogs: 19

* Mer mentioned Ewan McGregor: 11

* Sus mentioned Ewan McGregor: 23

* Dad mentioned how expensive something was: whenever the credit card was pulled out

* Sus said "candybar": 63, over 3 days

* Sus mentioned the GIANT DOG: 6

* Meridith talked about Sean: 24

* Sus mentioned Sprite: 9, in France alone
----------

Random quotes while in England: ...I never really got around to writing down the ones in France.


Sus: "He's an Earthling."
Mer: "What's that?"
Sus: "A human."
Mer: "Oh, well you could've said that! *grumbles* Earthling!"
---
Dad: "You don't know if this is a Muslim lady all overed up or just a guy in a raincoat."
---
Mom: "See these mills on the right? That's where your great grandfather worked and met your great grandmother."
Sus: "Do you think my great grandchildren will drive past where the University Mall stands and say, 'Do you see this? It's where your great grandmother worked and where she met The Nextel Boyfriend.'?"
---
Marjorie: "There is a shoe shop in Kendal that sells Clark shoes. They just sell shoes. If you know anyone who needs shoes."
---
Dad, referring to the windshield wiper: "It's kind of like a spastic colon, or something."
---
Dad: "You wonder how many herbs lost their lives to make this tea."
---
Mom: "Did you see in her garden? She's got midgets."
Jean: "Gnomes."
---
Dad: "If you stayed here a month you could just explore everything--birth a little baby sheep."
---
Mer: "Argh; I hate it when freaky death figures suddenly come alive and walk toward me!"
---
Mom: "That's not mold, it's toothpaste."
---
Sus: "I'm her pottyguard?"
---
Dad: "Well I'll never be a little pigeon."
---
Mer: "That's not toothpaste, it's pink mold."
---
Sus: "SLOANE SQUARE!" (every five minutes) (Deb did Study Abroad in London a few years ago and when she came home she would say, "Sloane Square, mind the gap!" over and over--therefore we did too.)
---
Dad: "Those of you under 250 lbs will never understand."
---
Sus: "He'd get mauled...I'd maul him."
---
Mer, half asleep: "Would you happen to possibly turn off the light?"
---
Sus: "Do you know who you are? You're ObiWan!"
---
Sus: "Kiss the pigeon."
--
Dad, of course: "Attention, ladies and gentlemen, Heathrow Airport is not politically correct and will now be known as Itthrow Airport. Or He/Shethrow Airport."
---
Sus: "Can I have one of those?"
Dad: "Yes. ...As soon as you're crowned Queen of England."
---
Mom: "There's a Rosetta Stone T-shirt that looks like Sean."
Mer: "I have never seen a T-shirt that looks like Sean."
---
Mom: "I predict by the time we fly out of here you will have loved Paris."
Dad: "No way. You can keep your stinkin' Frenchies. I'm going to walk up to a Fish & Chips place and order Freedom Fries!"
(Hmmm, I wonder where I get my cynicism and randomness?)
---
Sus: "Don't you wish you had an always clean nose like mine?"
---
Edith: "Take this and put it...up your nose."
---
Sus: "Don't be so jealous of me just because I'm so much cuter than you."
Mer: "I've accepted it."
Sus: "Good, 'cause the jealousy probably isn't good for you."
---
Bean: "I am a Mean Bean"
Chili Pepper: "But you look so harmless!"
Bean: "Sure; no arms, no legs; you learn from the ghetto, Man!"

This morning I was in Paris, France...tonight I'm in Orem, Utah. Hmmm.

I am home!!!

It is almost 8 a.m. Paris time, so I am exhausted and need to go to bed but I wanted to mention:


MY BIRTHDAY IS IN ONE MONTH

...the countdown has begun.

There will be a test on this

Not quite sure how to get your Susannah fix while I'm in Europe?

Here are some ideas!

What do I look like?

Here ya go

Up on your Susannah 101?

You can click here,
Or click on this, Heck, even here!
This would be a good place to click, This would be fun, too. This would do it! wow, another one?

What do I like to listen to?

Well heck, lemme tell ya

How "male-tarded" am I? Judge for yourself:

Nextel
The Breakup with Nextel / rejection
Golden
Gas Station Guy
Christian
The Honeyman
Brady
James in Price
James
Zack

I have odd dreams

The Tornado
Simon Cowell & Fran Drescher
Meredith Monroe
Chad Michael Murray
Macaroni & Cheese Man
Hanson in Orem
General Conference & Mark Wahlberg
DisneyWorld & Elizabeth Taylor and Jordan Knight
Queer Eyed
Disneyland w/ The Honeyman, attack in the ewok village, & Anna Nicole Smith is my new best friend
Corin Nemec
Ryan Seacrest
Clothes shopping with Christina Aguilera


What are my "degrees of Kevin Bacon"?

You, too, can find out

What has been my most infamous (and coolest, in my opinon) post?

Why, this one of course!
The follow up with Ell...Oops, Miss Bean's argument

I have a strange love of soap. Just so you know.
I'm not lying.

Why do I hate being around people?
This may have something to do with it

What in the world did I do last year?
Hmmmmmm

"Every Frenchie that I meet just can't wait to kiss my feet" -Weird Al Yankovic's "Genius in France"

My Dearest Internet,

I must take my leave of absense from you now. I am going to England and France. I shant be but a little while; I can never stay away from you for long. I will return on June 25th, a Saturday.

Please miss me. My only consolation to missing out on all of the fun back home is thinking maybe someone is missing me. The first time I went to Hawaii I returned to find six emails from my friend, Robb, in my inbox. What joy! Each email began with "I know you are still gone, I'm not an idiot, but I miss you." Oh, how I loved it! (iWantBradPitt [at] HoTMaiL [dot] com...hint, hint)

I will do my best to keep updating nightly in a notebook to transfer here when I return. You will not miss out on a moment of my chillin' with the Brits nor frolicing with the Frenchies. And I promise to not be boring (well, I make no guarantees), to be as witty as I can, and to add some "grit" for Clarke.

In my absense I ask that everyone play nicely, eat your vegetables, and don't turn the music up too loud--the neighbors seem to hate that.

All my love,

Susannah

"Mormon May Fun" -Aaron's 'movie'

Susannah's petpeeve of the day: Guilttriping


I looked at cell phone plans at Nextel the other day. Ok, so maybe it was 2/3 about the phones and a good 1/3 about Nextel Boyfriend, though he wasn't the dude talking to me.

He said he'd give me $50 off my first bill if I signed up and bought the phone that day. I told him I'd rather keep my money to spend in Europe next week. Then the guilttripping started.

Why it bugs me so much is because I am incredibly submissive. I always have been. I feel really bad if I am dissappointing someone. When they put pressure on me by guilttripping me it is even harder.

So when I am put in a place where two friends would both be disappointed in me if I didn't do what they want--but the two can't both be done--then I am completely stuck. I have no idea what to do. I want to please both of them, but obviously that isn't going to happen. So I end up disappointing/annoying someone, and then I feel horrible.

I am only one person, and although I want to please you all the time--I can't. Don't make it harder on me by guilttripping me!

25 dolla make ya holla

After much poking and prodding from people around me, I have finally joined both MySpace and Hi5.

So...yeah. Sign up and add me as your friend. Even if you don't know me. 'Cause I'm looking pretty lame here with no friends. So...yeah. Hahaha!

My Hi-5 profile

My MySpace profile

"I am my daughter's father!" --my dad, after spilling food down his shirt

Hahahahaha, oh my...that's funny. I just went out to lunch with my dad, which is always pretty fun. We were talking about the trip to Europe we are leaving for this Friday, and how we will be meeting with a lot of my parents friends and relatives.
Susannah: "So its going to be a vacation entirely filled with me pretending to be nice to people I don't know?"
Dad: "Yes, basically. Isn't your entire life like that?"

as the pain sweeps through / makes no sense for you / every thrill is gone / wasn't too much fun at all -david bowie

It is over between My Nextel Boyfriend and me. It's not you, it's me. ...No, wait, it's mostly you.

The whole situation has just lost its charm.

It all started with me being bored at work. I needed a project. I needed someone to watch. (Should I really admit how much joy I find in the slightly stalkerish behaviors I have?) After looking around I found (almost) 20-year-old Ben. (Yeah, he has a name now; which added to the break-up.) Not necessarily someone I was interested in, just my project.

But it has gone too far.

Especially now that he is no longer just a funny little project of my own and is now openly talked about at work, has a name and personality accompanying the face, and is most likely aware of his title. (The fact that the daughter of one of my managers is his friend really really helped the end come to light.)

Once he started really catching on to what was happening it lost its fun. Being caught gets old pretty quickly.

Oh well... It was fun while it lasted. It passed many boring hours at work and led to many funny conversations--like this one with Ellie: [click to enlarge]



---

This week made it an official THREE YEARS since my last date. (May 31st 2002)

The Honeyman and I were discussing my bad habit of immediate rejection whenever a guy asks me out. It isn't on purpose--it isn't my real answer! Hahaha. It is just my automatic reaction. I've done it almost every time, Oops!
Susannah: "I've always been like that. Remember how when you asked me out [to Homecoming] I hung up on you?"


I've only not done that twice. One was The Honeyman:
He ran into the classroom I was hanging out in during lunch and said, "Susannah! Wanna go to Prom with me?" I laughed and said "Sure!"

The other is the May 31st 2002 one; Zack:
I was walking out of the school with Reba, Sarah W, and Nikki. Zack came up and started walking with us out the building. He was rambling on about something. He said, "Hey, Susannah...you know my friend Ryan?" I was thinking 'of course I do, idiot, we hang out with him every day', but I said, "Yes, I do." Zack said, "Well...he has a date tomorrow night." I said, "How did he manage that? Hahaha." Zack chuckled then started again rambling on about this date Ryan was going on. I wasn't listening. I didn't really realize he was talking to me. I heard his say something about choosing his "favorite girl" then say "and that's you." I think I smiled...I still wasn't really paying attention to him. At one point he said something like, "So, you want to?" I wasn't sure what he was talking about but I said, "Sure." When he said, "Ok, I'll pick you up at 6:00" my brain suddenly flipped into the ON position and I was like 'WHAT IN THE HECK DID I JUST AGREE TO?!' Hahahaha.

"When I grow up I want to be a waterbed"

At 2 a.m. I started Empire Strikes Back where Leia, Lando, and Chewie are just running toward the Millennium Falcon, while trying to get away from Cloud City (??)
After that ended I put in Jedi Strikes Back but I fell asleep as they were being led toward the ...creature in the sand, where they would be digested over a thousand years. (Wow, it is taking my for-ev-ver to finish the trilogy!!!)

When I woke up this morning my right pinky was hurting really bad. I couldn't figure out why. Then I remembered: Yesterday I was outside on the deck and the phone rang. I ran into the kitchen to answer it, smacking my hand into the back of a chair in the process. So I don't know if I sprained it, jammed it, or just ticked it off. No matter what I did to it, it KILLS. I had my pinkie taped to my ring finger, just for good measure. In 9th grade I jammed my middle finger while playing volleyball (thats what I get for being all exercise-y!) and never set it, so it is now bent at the second knuckle.


At 12:45 I went to work, which was pretty uneventful. My Nextel Boyfriend wasn't working today, so I got a lot done, hahahaha.
Susannah: "This is the look of productivity!"


The Honeyman came in at the end of my shift and asked if I wanted to go with him and his mom to his older sister, Amy's house. They are all hilarious and fun to be with so I of course said yes.
Honeyman's Mom: "You need to start looking for cars before you go tearin' it up around corners!"
The Honeyman: "I wasn't aware 6 miles-an-hour was 'tearin' it up', but I'll keep that in mind."
-
The Honeyman: "Mom, you were born in like the 1930's, they went to bed at like 2 in the afternoon."


While we were at Amy's house we went 4-wheeling. Oh my freaking heck! That is quite possibly the most frightening (while fun) thing ever. I was absolutely sure we were going to tip, or I was going to fly off, or something, at one point or another. Honeyman taught me to drive it; which is scarier to me than being a passenger! I got up to about 8 MPH, hahaha. When Honeyman was driving we got up to about 35, or so, MPH--me clingly incredibly tightly to his waist with my eyes shut! It was a lot of fun, and I got a little muddy.
Honeyman: "You hanging on to me like that kind of turns me on."
-
Honeyman: "Are you going to blog about 4-Wheeling With The Honeyman?"
Susannah: "Of course."
Honeyman: "That's manly!"
Susannah: "'Then we went shopping and bought him 4 new pink shirts'?" ;)
Honeyman: "My manly-quota was full and I had to femme it back down a bit."

After 4-wheeling we watched Will & Grace for an hour with his mom and sister, then came home.
Honeyman: "If we had a show like Will & Grace I would definitely be Jack and you would definitely be Karen."
Susannah: "Very true. They are the real stars of the show anyway!"

Then Danielle and I went to see the movie Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. We snuck in TacoBell, haha. I really liked the movie. It only reinforced my crush on Bradley Whitford. I had a blast with Danielle, she is so fun! After the movie we took off our shoes and ran through the sprinklers at the Wynnsong for a few minutes--hilarious! Then we danced to, and sang with, The Killers' "Mr. Brightside" on the way home, while fogging up the windows, hahahaha.



It was a really really random day, but it was a whole lot of fun!

"You like me. You really like me." -Sally Field

Holy hits batman!

I jumped up like 50 hits on a day that I didn't even post! Wow... And none of them were me, either. Hahaha.

"I was put on the Earth to annoy you--and I'm attempting to fulfill that one day at a time." -Me, to my mother

I am so annoyed at the relationship between my mother and me right now. (And I'm venting here even though I know she reads this.)

Why do we not get along? Because I am not exactly like her (unlike Meridith.) I think differently, I do things differently. I am a LOT like my father.

My ways may be slower, but I get it done eventually. After 21 years she has still not figured this one thing out: nagging me does nothing more than annoy me. Never once have I thought "oh gee, she keeps nagging me about it. Yay, I think I'll go do it!" No, never. My reaction is LEAVE ME THE HECK ALONE!!!

She deals with things that are stressing her out by doing them, getting them done. I deal with stress by avoidance. That is just my way. It is not a bad thing. I see that my room is a mess, I am WELL AWARE! It does not mean that the moment I have some free time I want to jump up to my room and start cleaning away. No. I do bit by bit. My clothes will get put away one day. Possibly a few days later I will attempt to straighten up my desk. But of course these attempts are not actually acknowledged. Guess what...I straightened up that big pile of stuff that was on the left of my desk chair. Sure, it looks a bit more messy now that it did right after I straightened it up, but it looks better than it did last week. Guess what...all of my magazines are in their holders. There are no magazines that I subscribe to on the floor (sure, there are SkyMall and PotterBarn catalogs on the ground, but no subscribed magazines.)

My mother is the type that if you do the dishes to surprise her she will tell you you missed a dish, or loaded the dishwasher wrong, or something like that. Quite possibly THE most frustrating to ever exist.

Also-- It seems like not a dang thing I do will please her. Not a one. After 10 years (yes, 10 years, and yes, I am only almost 21.) of being nagged about my weight I do a lifestyle revamp and lose over 35 pounds. Yes, she has said she's proud of me for it once or twice, but the nagging still doesn't end. Only the other day she told me she was worried I am not excercising enough. LEAVE ME THE HECK ALONE. Can't she see I am TRYING?!? Why can't that be enough for her?!? I'm not eating enough. I'm eating too much. I'm not getting enough fruits/vegetables. I need to watch my serving sizes. LEAVE ME ALONE!!! Let me take care of me.

Every blasted day it is just "how can I not get yelled at today?" How is that a way to live?

Yeah, a half hour ago she yelled at me for being up. Did she really think I didn't KNOW it was 3:30 in the morning?! Of course I do. If it was up to me I'd be asleep right now; but I can't sleep at all. Telling me that I may as well be organizing my messy room if I'm going to be awake anyway is not a way to make me like you. Far from it. LEAVE ME THE HECK ALONE!!!

Nothing will make this blasted woman happy. I work my butt off to secretly get my GED done so I can surprise her. Sure, she is momentarily excited, but that quickly turns in to relief and she immediately turns back to bugging me about getting my last packet done so I will get my high school diploma.

BE HAPPY FOR ME FOR MORE THAN FIVE MINUTES!

Any one of my siblings will tell you that Meridith and I are treated extremely differently. Mer is the one that does everything right, the first time, before being asked. (Ugh.) My mothers pride-and-joy. I am the one that stresses her out. Who keeps her up and night wondering how she can't "help" me. Lemme let you in on a little secret: NAGGING IS NOT THE ANSWER.

Most of the time I try to please her. (She refuses to ever believe this idea. She says it is "such bull".) Sure, I fail miserably, but I try. Other times I just give up--I'm gonna disappoint her anyway, I might as well have fun doing it.

I love my mother, I just don't get along with her the majority of the time.

"Thats the impression that I get"

I promised Ellie I wouldn't have any caffeine after 6 p.m. Well, Ell, I've done ya wrong. I had about 32 ounces at about 6:15, then 4 glasses (another 32 ounces? seeing as 8 glasses is 64 ounces [says Oprah's trainer dude]) at about 9 p.m.-ish.

So, as freaking usual, it is past 3 a.m. and I am wide awake. Wide awake.

I do one of two things at this point-- I get really giggly and silly or I get quiet and think-y. Today is think-y.

I get thinking about everything: what I have to do tomorrow, what is stressing me out, what friendships I've screwed up lately (Sarah, are you there?), how to get through the day without wanting to scream at my mother, Dean Cain (i mean, come on...his picture is on the wall above my computer, how can I not think about him?), why in the world my iPod said it had no power when I know for dang sure I plugged it in last night, how I really want to clean and organize my room but it will become a bigger mess before it can be sorted--and I don't want to deal with that, how I haven't yet brushed my teeth tonight--but my toothbrush is downstairs and I am too dang lazy at this point to go get it, the kiss between Luke and Leia on Empire Strikes Back (Ick), how I want to go finish Empire Strikes back (because I fell asleep during it last night) but my mother would freak out if she found me down there watching TV at 3:30 a.m. (again), how I definitely overdid it with my calories today--only about 2100--but after weeks and weeks of under 800 thats a shock to my body, how I am sick and tired of being the ugly, chunky friend (every cute girl has the ugly chunky friend; "Hey you came!...oh, and you brought a friend"), how I really need to get a hold of Sheila so I can get all this apprenticeship stuff straightened out before I leave for Europe, how I really really really need to get more excited for this trip--because I'm not right now (church history sites, a lot of walking, genealogy, and no Deborah...ick) and I realize that makes me a "spoiled little brat" I'm well aware, how I am stupidly worried that my friends will have so much fun while I'm out of the country that they won't even remember I'm gone, how I really need to get this dead moth off my desk but I don't want to touch it, and how my foot is tingling because it fell asleep after I had my legs crossed for too long, and other random things.