Guess who's joining the Circus!!!!!

That would be me. You should probably be jealous of me flying through the air being caught by a man with -7% body fat. The first time I climbed up the ladder to the platform, my head was saying: "I must be crazy, why am I climbing up a 30 foot ladder to then jump off?" As you reach the top of the platform you chalk up your hands and the assistant pulls you around to hook you in. After you are hooked in you have to let go of the anchor on the platform, trust that the assistant is holding you up and grab onto the bar with your other hand while you are completely leaning your body over a 30 foot drop. They then say: "ready" you bend your knees and 'hup' jump off the platform into an imaginary basketball hoop. Then the adrenaline takes over. The rest is history. After I graduate I will be joining the local circus troupe- keep your eyes open for cirque du soleil tickets!

Enjoy!

My Triumph!

Driven by the long riding desire to put my old radio in my new car (pun intended) today I finally accomplished my goal!!!!!!

Don't even worry, I definitely looked like her, however, instead of assembling airplanes and bombs to go to another country in defense of this beautiful land, I assembled my modern day fighter jet. This baby and I have seriously bonded. The chariot- as I fondly call him- underwent a frightening operation where at one point his beautiful wood covering completely peeled away left him looking bare: 

Fortunately, the surgeon didn't leave him open for long. 

The good news? Aesthetically, the plastic surgery was successful, everything is back in place and the Chariot is recovering well. Mechanically? We now have iPod capabilities!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But seriously, I feel very accomplished. And I have bettered my quality of life by at least 4%.

The final product?

Would you believe that only took me an hour? :)

That is all. 

Yes

Why does the world of teenage girls (and maybe me) find Zac Efron extremely attractive? Is it because he's an amazing actor? Probably not. Is it because he can sing and dance like an angel? Maybe. Is it because in almost every picture, his shirt is either off or he's pullin' it up? quite possibly.

Anyways... food for thought.

Petition

Dear Odegaard Undergraduate Library,

Thank you for providing me with textbooks that I cannot afford to buy, and thank you for providing me with a view of the Seattle skyline from your corner desk on the silent floor. However, I do recommend that you get new carpets and I don't appreciate the greasy books from everyone else touching them. If you could provide me with freshly laundered textbooks (especially during cold and flu season) I would greatly appreciate it. If it wouldn't raise my tuition by 100% I might ask you to even burn yourself to the ground and start over.
Thank you again for your academic support.

Sincerely,

Maren

Cooking Fail

Today after I got home from school around 9 I decided it would be a good thing to eat dinner. So I ATTEMPTED to make sausage, eggs, potatoes, onions and broccoli for greens (see! I can be healthy when I want to). When I went to pull my sausage off the pan- still red, and I definitely burned a hole in my roommates potato bag with the hot pan (shhhh!)
When I went to pull an egg out of the carton: "break!" eggs juices everywhere in the fridge.
When I went to crack another egg into the pan, 'crack too soon' eggs juices running down the side of the pan an onto the stove. (although fyi, my eggs turned out delish!)
no mishaps with the potatoes and I still have all my fingers.
When I went downstairs to my roommates room to eat said fail-food, 'spill' water all over her first-aid kit backpack.
It was pretty much a food fail tonight, although everything eventually turned out tasting really good, I'm quite proud that I accomplished even that after all the roughness.

gooing to bed!
 :) Maren
p.s. all the words in the quotation marks are supposed to be sound effects (like home star runner or a poorly made cartoon)

Preparing the Chariot

"Gentlemen! Take my Princess for a ride on her chariot!"

The first thing that the soul-patched-earring-wearing Jiffy Lube employee said to me was: "mm mmm, I love Acuras that color!"

"Health, Good humor and Cheerfulness began to reappear"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JMXcMDAxyM&feature=BF&list=PL815D40E7411F7649&index=7
Today, I sanitized my whole life. now I need to go moisturize my life. Hope that everyone is surviving finals and studying. Remember to spring forward. :)

sleep time now.

:) probably only Becca will understand this.

Carbonated Salsa? Yes, Please.

every time I go to open up my salsa container now, it is really full of gases and 'exhales' them if you will as I untwist the cap. The first time it happened I mostly just thought it was weird... then today when i actually tasted my salsa (by the way- it smelled TOTALLY fine) it hit my tongue and was super carbonated tasting. You know that bubbly taste that soda give you right as it hits your tongue... yeah. Needless to say I stopped eating it pretty quick. At first I couldn't tell if it was the spiciness; but no, I think it might be weird. So then as I am going to dump it in the food waster container, I accidentally drop the bowl and carbonated salsa literally splatters all over my floor. So then i grab my handy-dandy 409 to just pick all of it up with my paper towels. As I was finishing up the last of the wipe up, i noticed that the paper towel was a little brown... either dirt or varnish. I don't know. Moral of the story is, check 409 before putting in on any surface and don't eat carbonated salsa. Now my room smells like carbonated salsa and lemon 409... mmmm.
Also. Tonight was the second night in a quarter that I forgot my towel when i got in the shower. So then your half-delusional self has to weigh the options. Ok... what is the percent chance that my roommates are in the kitchen right now? What is the percent chance that the hand towel is clean? What is the percent chance that i'll have to put my dirty clothes back on my now dripping-wet body, one of the worst feelings in the world? Needless to say, I can't wait to have my closet attached to my bathroom for such occasions as these.

Word of the day? Lugubriousness. Don't be this. that is all. 

Criteria

So I went over to some darling friends' house today and had dinner with my roommates. They had decided to try and set me up with a guy who is quite a bit older than me. Here are the 'selling' points:
He puts the seat down and forces his roommate to do that also
He is as 'uptight' as I am- whatever that means

I forget what the other things were but I definitely think that putting the seat down is the selling point. :)

Goodnight!

What did you get for Valentine's Day?

Well, I hope it was special. Amongst some wonderful, thoughtful Valentine's (which were also appreciated and unexpected and loved), Mom surprised me with a car. Beat that Cupid! Here's a little window into my soul: I REALLY appreciate metal things, and especially useful metal things. So as you're wondering who that really awesome girl is in her new/old ride that may or may not being slightly gansta, remember that Valentine's Day is not all bad.

that is all.

disclaimer: this does not in any way negate any wonderful valentine's that I received today.

Rekindled Desire

Seeing Myke in Germany and talking to my Dad who is Abu Dhabi this morning made me remember that I really want to travel. I forgot in the hustle and bustle of school and work. Time to get a job so I can travel. Israel (when its safer...), Germany, I wouldn't mind Abu Dhabi, Egypt (also when its safer), Australia (but only if Hugh Jackman is there ;)) oh so many places. I guess I'll just have to be content with the magical land of Harry Potter. 


food is now going into my mouth. that is all. :)

so much magic

things are coming together my friends... let's just say that I love watching magic happen. I mean, being a part of it is great too but watching it is fantastic.

low point of the week: my friend was trying to explain something to me about plant physiology and light because we had a test the next day. as he was explaining things to me, my mind started wandering to the block of cream cheese that I have in my fridge and how i was going to consume it. I'm feeling pretty stressed right now about using all the resources i have and for some reason making sure that I use this cream cheese is a real concern. I don't want it to go bad like the last cream cheese I had... plus I don't have bagels to put it on nor can i eat bagels.... point is, my friend finishes explaining this principle to me and i nod my head in agreement then say: "wait...can you please repeat that, i'm really sorry, i was thinking about cream cheese..." 

high point of the week: so many: words cannot describe. 

that is all. 

A Walk to Remember

Yesterday: 1, 2, 3 boys at my house to watch a movie... what did they choose? A WALK TO REMEMBER. That being said, it was lovely. (Their second choice was Runaway Bride-I guess sometimes you just need an excuse to watch a girl movie)


Today: Finding an Eternal Companion is going to be hard. I came across the word 'slog' today and I think sometimes it can feel like 'slogging' (not to be confused with snogging-a more fun way to share saliva) but we can find joy in the journey. The work is necessary, people will walk in and out of our lives, there will be joyous times, hilarious times, slogging times but as I look at my adorable nephew I feel assured that it will be worth it. It will be A Walk to Remember. 


Disclaimer: this thought shared with you does not have anything to do with any recent dating experiences, these are just my thoughts as I got home from attending the Single's ward today.

Done and Done

One of my favorite things is working so hard all day and realizing that you have checked off everything you needed to do. It is SO satisfying. 


Life is hard. BUT: the good news is, we get to choose how to respond. Lots of times, I look back at a situation and think: "I should've said that this way, or I really should not have let that happen, or I need to change how I look at that person" but all we can do is our best everyday. i'm learning how to be content with that. Tomorrow is a new day, everything looks better in the morning, of course once you've had breakfast. Although, I have had some mornings where nothing looked better, but even then, I chose to look at it that way. 


That is all. Carry on. 

Dear Hugh,

Why are you so ruggedly handsome? Why do I love watching you even though I know I will never have a chance to win your heart? Why do I get pleasure from watching you kiss Nicole Kidman? Don't worry, it has nothing to do with my fantasizing that I have replaced her...

Please always cry. Please always have a beard. Please save me from the world in which I live.

I'll be waiting.

Love, Maren

Happy New Year?!

The insignifighanigans started when I was driving myself down to Exhibition Hall (downtown Seattle) and I took a wrong turn by my house and had to turn around. Then as I was turning left to get onto 45th the guy coming towards me flashed his lights at me reminding me that my lights weren't on. Great. Thanks guy! So as I'm struggling to turn them on (you have to understand that the truck has a dimmer switch on the floor, I swear I didn't touch it at all but it likes to play games with me) my lights are flashing all over the place. Then I see a cop tailing me pretty close. So he pulls me over. Here's the best news: he was the youngest most attractive cop ever. I was actually quite relieved because I figured I could 1. get my lights on so I wouldn't die on the freeway and 2. I somehow new it would be a man so if he was older, then I am just trying to get the lights to work on Daddy's truck and if he was younger then I am the girl who recently had to borrow this truck and still isn't quite used to how to get the lights on. Well, he was the young type so I just told him I was really sorry but relieved that he pulled me over. After struggling with my lights for a few minutes we finally got them working and he checked my license and registration and I got off Scott-free. Aren't you glad you got to see a little into the mind of Maren... there's a little nugget of how I work for you, although I might get myself into trouble for revealing some of these thought processes. Anyways, I got myself there, danced with some old friends and some new ones. Can we talk about how I love fresh RM's, they seriously crack me up: "girls, girls, there are girls everywhere and I don't know what to do....maybe I should invite them to church, or maybe if I put my head down they won't look at me... no wait, I'm supposed to look at them now." That's not quite how these boys were but they were still real fresh. The fireworks off the space needle were fun and then we danced for a little while longer. Miraculously we all got ourselves home without any sort of mishap (me and the three boys). I thank Dean and his friend for not letting me die by walking to my car in downtown Seattle at 1:30 in the morning. The only problem is that my house key doesn't open the deadbolt...so I was locked out (by this time it was 2 am...) luckily, my roommate woke up and I was able to get in, that would've been scary.

Anyways, make lots of good goals and be happy. It is going to be a FANTASTIC year. Make the most of it.