and so my favorite season begins...

Me: I need a hobby this summer

MarGee: Words with friends can be your hobby

Me: That's not a hobby

MarGee: Well we play it enough it could be one

I knew i needed something enjoyable to keep me busy while the bf is gone for the next 4 1/2 months, a person can only work so much, but this convo was a sign that I was in dire need of something great. While I'm still in search of one substantial something that might actually better my life or fill a void better than words with friends, I'm hoping to bring blogging back into my life as one of hopefully many summer hobbies. As I wait for my summer work schedule to go into affect I find myself passing the seemingly endless amounts of extra time by staying at work longer, participating in multiple but not necessarily more beneficial daily trips to the gym, and a few extra long lunches with friends.

I definitely have summer activity ideas in mind but the key is putting them into affect. The warmer months can most definitely be spent working three days, Bear Lake Wednesday, pool for two days, and rounding off with a three hour block every week. Seven days of fun to be repeated until further notice. But today is not warm, tomorrow will not be warm, and Bear Lake will be a chill festival for many more days.

So, I have created Summer 2011 Life Aspirations. I started the list of few days ago but had to do a slight edit after...

Me: The cupcakes I made last week are still all in the fridge. I don't think anyone ate one.

Ty: Why didn't you make good ones?

Me: I don't know. I just really suck at baking.

Ty: You better get good at that soon.

Me: Why?

Ty: I just need you to.

It's time to buckle down and make a more public announcement of my physical, intellectual, and maybe silly endeavors. If I know other people are aware of my plan to better my daily life I can have my own group of cheerleaders to keep me on track to carry on.

Summer 2011 Life Aspirations:

Complete 2 Quilts

Meet & Maintain Goal Weight

Run DAILY

Host & Attend 5 Garden Tea Parties

Take Too Many Pictures

Attempt 2 New Recipes a Week

Visit Minneapolis, Chicago, Virginia, and Vegas

Blog weekly

Master the Baking Basics

I wish myself good luck and hope you all do the same.

You're welcome :)

the tans may fade but the memories will last forever...

Summer is amazing. End of story. Vacations, BBQs, sunbathing, outdoor jogs, block parties, what’s not to love about today and envy in 6 months? Summer 2010 has especially brought me great joy that I hope I never forget. Celia Thaxter, an American poet from the 1800s once wrote “There shall be eternal summer in the grateful heart.” I’m undoubtedly grateful for everything that I’ve been able to do these past 2 months.

Summer has created so many opportunities for my family to be together. From family discussions or Sunday bbqs at grandma’s to dance revue time... A new generation of Castillo dancers, Kellee, Ali, and Makendie, performed in their first Tueller School of Dance revue in May. Also on the dance note, Michelle, Katie, and I had our Tuellerette Concert poster photo shoot with Todd and dragged little Taryn in on the fun. Dance has always been such a fun experience, enhanced by the fam. We even invited one of our dance family members to become a real family member last month as Joe’s wife.


A family tradition of an annual ‘gemini sister’ birthday trip started this year in New York City. Remarkable doesn’t even begin to describe the places we explored and the memories we’ll hold forever. A short two weeks later, the Cooleys found themselves in Utah for a few action-packed days.

This summer has also lead to fishing trips, Pocatello, nights with Phil Mickelson, tennis, adventures with Gabe, movie Sunday in Kansas, best friends, baby Makye…

At one point I turned 22…which I consider a very non-monumental age but nonetheless it happened. At 18 you’re an adult, 19 you could buy cigarettes if you wanted, 20 you’re not a teenager anymore, and 21 you can legally do everything you want in Vegas. I guess 22 is just another year to cross off the list. Maybe, and with any luck, one day maturity will come with the age.

Hopefully everyone else is having a marvelous summer as well. Take pleasure in the small things and remember all we have to be grateful for. Love you all!

:)

some days all you need is a lunch date with your best friend to make everything better.

ps. summer posts to come.

quotes of the week...

yesterday i had the fabulous opportunity of spending the afternoon with my two very best friends...which now also includes the husband and soon-to-be baby. things are different but maybe better. haley and jake were up for the weekend so me and lyns went up to the thompson's for a hang out and birthday dinner. we were talking about some of my recent dating experiences and discussing the possible physical similarities between two men. well...since haley has been pregnant she has become a great deal more emotional, but also more sassy. she was agreeing with the similar outward appearance of these two individuals but didn't find it relevant to the fact that she was definitely favoring one of them..."it's like comparing jesus to satan."

can we laugh at that? we did.


a few minutes later....we were all sitting at the kitchen table waiting for dinner to be ready, we did help a little bit. haley's niece brylee was looking at my phone-reading my messages, calling people we don't want to talk to...way cool stuff. we came across a picture of elder hales whom lynsi thought it would be a good idea to tell was my boyfriend and ask if he was cute enough for me. not funny, after i assured bry that though i love the man, he is surely not my boyfriend but better yet an apostle "Bry, that's an apostle...do you know what that is?"
Bry: "Yeah I've been there."

"i know...im speechless" quotes of the week #1

for all of you that have ever spoken to my boyfriend for more than 7 (that's probably pushing it) minutes, you all know there are lots of things that come out of his mouth that make you wonder what really goes on inside his brain. the thing is... he doesn't know a normal person wouldn't say what he says until we all point it out to him. sometimes it's really funny, sometimes it's not funny, sometimes i think he does it on purpose to be funny...funny thing is it's ty speaking, he's funny and we don't know why.

because of the number of outrageous things that he decides not to filter before speaking, i was forced to begin logging these phrases in order to remember them. but why let such great humor be limited to those only who are subjected to be in his presence when he let's these great bits of entertainment be known? as a weekly minute or two of laughter for everyone to read, i'll try to let you in on his best lines. enjoy :)

normal conversation, everyone going back and forth and Ty comes up with this comment:

"I just have to think what I know."

excuse me? we were all confused and couldn't even figure out why he would say those words... we started laughing, kind of making fun of his inability to see what's wrong with what he just said, slightly making him the center of attention. he doesn't see the humor but likes the attention, so serious as can be he comes back with...

"I know, I'm speechless."

honey, we're speechless, you're speech impaired. love ya

but i think it would be unfair to let just ty have the limelight. a lot of other good stuff goes down in my life. so...along with ty's quote of the week...

girls' night at celeste's is a usual occurrence since it seems the boys are always gone. this week we gladly opened our circle up for brenton so he could watch the jazz game. he tried to stay a silent guest but popped into our conversations every few minutes. we were talking about teaching dance class and crazy family members, kind of everything, and kynzie was telling a story about a girl that pretends she's a cat at all times. weird? yes. she was going on about how she acts and what she does, etc. and brenton pops in.

"At least she's a nice kitty and not a mean tiger."