busy busy busy

I've been a very busy girl these days!

Last weekend my dad and my uncle joined my sister and I here at OSU for Dad's Weekend, which turned out to be a great time for all sorts of reasons. I worked a lot, but my family was able to tag along, which made it far more bearable.

This week I've been busy staying on top of homework and midterms (don't get me started on my stance on having midterms during week eight...hello, the MIDDLE of the term is long gone by now!)...I'm anxious for this term to just be over already!

I've also been doing a whole lot of smiling for several different reasons...I'll give you one right now:

Say hello to Santander, Spain...also known as my home for spring term! I am going to be studying abroad from March 28 to June 2, and I am so excited, it's ridiculous!

Hope everyone is having a good week!

♥ abigail

the plumber's granddaughter

Yes, that would be me.

It's not something that defines me, but it really is one of the biggest things I know about my grandpa.

My mom's dad, Grandpa Ted (a plumber), died before I was born (although I've always felt special knowing that he knew I was on the way). He was only 54 when he died 21 years ago.

For some reason he has been on my mind over the past few days. My mom and I were talking about my student loans (side note: WHY is college so expensive? Yeesh!), and I made a joke about marrying rich to solve all my financial woes.

She laughed and told me that Grandpa Ted always used to tell her "You know, you can fall in love with a rich guy just as easily as you can fall in love with a poor guy!"

Sounds like grandpa was a funny guy.

He always comes to mind when my roommate and I are dealing with toilet troubles - in our case, the chain always gets caught in some do-hickey (obviously this is the technical term), causing it to run until someone jiggles the handle just so. Or the chain disconnects completely, leading someone (usually me, because toilets don't scare me) to stick my hand in the tank to reattach it.

It seems silly, but at those moments I really feel some semblance of a connection to him - the plumber - as his toilet-fixin', problem-solvin' granddaughter.

And while we're on the subject of grandpa, take a look at him...

I think grandma did pretty well for herself, don't you? He was quite the looker, in my opinion! My mom and her siblings look a lot like him...they have his smile.

So I may not have known him, but I know about him. I know what he did, what he stood for, and when I can see little pieces of him in those around me (and on those plumbing occasions, in myself as well), I feel connected to him...and those connections are enough to really make me the plumber's granddaughter.

♥ abigail

the little things

The older I get, the easier it is for me to be happy.

You'd think it'd be the opposite, considering the fact that kids are experts on enjoying the little things in life...but somehow, as I've grown up, I've found that it doesn't take much to make me happy.

Today I was driving back to school after a nice weekend spent at home, and I was so happy. I was happy to be on Highway 99, I was happy to have enjoyed my weekend, I was happy with the weather...in essence, I was happy with everything.

Always inquisitive, I tried to put my finger on why I was so happy...and I couldn't think of a reason.

Highway 99 is probably nothing special to most people, but to me it is a beautiful road that connects my two homes. Its lovely farm scenery inspires my thinking and boosts my spirit, and it further solidifies my desire to live somewhere outside of the city.

My weekend was also nothing spectacular - I spent most of it with family, which is always a joy for me. I spent Saturday in Portland with my mom to watch my brother's cross country race, which also crossed my path with my grandma, uncle, and ex-boyfriend's parents (I love his mom dearly). I spent today at church, doing homework, doing laundry, watching football with my brother, and catching up with my sister.

The weather this weekend was my favorite kind - cold and sunny. It's the kind of weather that encourages people to wear boots, jackets, scarves, and hats...my favorite kinds of clothes. I love that my favorite clothes and favorite season go hand in hand...and I love that I rocked my new boots this weekend. Icing on the cake, definitely.

If you look at the things that made me happy on that short 45-minute drive back to school, you can see that there wasn't anything major there that should have made me grin ear-to-ear like I did. Nothing out of the ordinary or especially fantastic...it was just the little things.

And that's what it takes to make me happy.

If you think about it, our lives are made up of little things - even the big moments aren't really that big, because they too can be broken up into something much smaller.

A big, happy moment for my family and I this summer was my uncle's wedding. That in and of itself was huge, but break it down and you can see that we were happy because of all the details...yes, he got married, and we were so happy for him and his wife.

But what's more, we were together. We were at the beach. We were celebrating love. We were bringing families together. We were relaxing. We were in the sunshine. We were eating at Pinkberry for the first time. We were taking walks. We were sleeping in. We were cooking. We were all under the same roof. We were sitting on the balcony, taking in the mornings slowly. We were laughing.

It's really all about the little things...and I'm glad I have that figured out. Because now I've realized that even if the big picture isn't turning out exactly how I want it to, that's okay, because the little things along the way are what matter.

Add in the fact that I know I will end up exactly where I need to be, and I can rest easy and really appreciate the fact that the little things are my life...and I love my life.

♥ abigail

a weekend in a day

I mean to write this post sooner, and I have no excuse for not except that life is happening right now.

I am doing my best this term to keep up with my classes and my grades and my fitness and my friends and family that other things fall by the wayside. Like sleep.

But it's all good.

After Saturday night's incident, I really needed a good weekend...and that's exactly what I got. I somehow managed to cram a weekend's worth of fun into one day...and I loved every minute of it. Almost. You'll see.

I need to get to bed so I can get up in the morning and review for my tests I have tomorrow, so you get the cliffnotes version...but only if I can write that little.

So we'll see.

After a horrible night of sleep on Saturday (every time I would start drifting off, some loud ruckus - either inside or outside my house - would snap me out of it, leaving me awake and grumpy for a while), I got up to head to the Portland area for the day.

I hadn't seen my favorite cousin for a month, so we were due for a visit. After arriving at her house, we headed to Roloff Farms (yes, as in the Roloff's from the TLC show Little People, Big World), which was about 15 minutes away.

We spent a while touring the farm, hanging out in the pumpkin patch, and looking at the animals. We managed to track down a few of the Roloff's so my cousin could get her picture with them...she was extremely starstruck when Jeremy remembered her from last year...it was entirely adorable.

Here I am with a pumpkin...and my new(ish) haircut. Told you I'd get around to sharing it!

After we left the farm we hit up Sephora for a few essentials for me (hello, Hope In a Jar and Purity!) before heading back to my cousin's house so I could get ready to see Tyler Hilton in concert.

Yes, the same Tyler Hilton as last year...remember him?

Yeah, me too!

It was a great show, despite the fact that it took me forever to get there...I don't know Portland well at all, and my cousin accidentally printed directions to the wrong theater. I arrived in one piece and before the show started, so all was well.

The concert itself was fabulous, and I also was fortunate to enjoy time with two old friends. We went to school together from kindergarten through our senior year in high school, so when we're together it's incredibly easy to just pick up where we left off.

I love those kinds of friends. More than I love Tyler Hilton's music even.

Seriously.

I left the concert with a dead phone and directions in hand, only to get lost once again...this time it was slightly more stressful, since it was late and dark, and did I mention my phone was dead?

I finally found my way back to my cousin's (I had left some things there on accident that I need for school), and was finally heading home around 11:30.

Of course, this was the moment when I got pulled over.

I had never been pulled over before, so I was a little nervous. The road had been completely empty - this cop showed up literally out of nowhere - and I must have zoned out and not used my signal to change lanes. This resulted in getting pulled over and (luckily) getting left off with a warning.

I drove very carefully home, and arrived around 1:00 a.m. I proceeded to do a little homework, get a few hours of sleep, and then do homework all morning until my Spanish presentation.

I hoped my week would slow down after that, but it hasn't showed any sign of letting up.

Don't get me wrong, I would rather be busy than bored...but combine my busy weekend with not a lot of sleep, and you get a girl craving a moment to sit and relax.

I'm never doing just one thing anymore. I study while eating. I read during commercial breaks. I quiz myself while in the shower and cooking dinner. I go over notes while on the elliptical. I multi-task everything, and while I'm glad I have that option, I would love to be able to do just one thing at a time.

This weekend I hope to head home for a day or two for some much needed relaxation...until then, I'll be busy busy busy!

Hopefully this weekend I'll have some time to write again...really write. While I like staying in practice with these little updates, I have so many bigger thoughts floating around in my head that I feel are so worth me writing about. My comm class is really getting me to think, and I have post-it notes everywhere reminding me of topics I want to ramble on about...so stay tuned!

♥ abigail

a wee bit of me

It seems as if just when I was getting excited about being back on top of my writing game, writer's block decided to come back and hang out with me for a while.

It's not a severe case (I hope), because I still have ideas floating around in my head...the execution of those thoughts is proving to be a bit troublesome though.

To remedy this, I realize that the cutesy little "take me back to the days of myspace bulletins" (does anyone else remember those?!) survey things could be of assistance. They provide me with a more structured way of getting my thoughts out, and while it may be less "real" than my usual writing, I can't complain about the fact that when I do the surveys, I'm writing again.

So here is one from a blog I've recently discovered, my leigh ashley. Her blog is adorable, and inspires me to make and find and do all sorts of pretty things. Until then, here is "a wee bit of me" (make sure to link yours to her blog if you participate!):

{one} have you ever won a trophy? if yes, for what?The only trophy I've legitimately won was in seventh grade when my team won our school's 30th annual basketball tournament. I'm not sure that counts as a legitimate win though, because I definitely sucked at basketball and probably played for about a minute total. My friend gave me a huge trophy with my name on it for my 16th birthday, but I don't really think that counts. Most of the awards I've received during school were for academics. Go figure!
{two} what was your favorite subject in school?In high school, I loved my creative writing class and newspaper. I was Editor-In-Chief, and I was very happy to be in control. In college, my favorite class is spanish. I am absolutely in love with the language, and I have a great professor. He's the kind of teacher who really wants you to learn what he's teaching, so rather than going exactly by the lesson plan, he makes sure we fully understand what we're talking about. Plus, I'm not gonna lie to you - he's easy on the eyes. But please notice I said that last...I have my priorities straight here!
{three} what time do you get up in the morning?Lately I've been tossing and turning for hours before I can fall asleep, which leaves me drifting off around 3:00 or 4:00 and waking up around 10:00 or 10:30. It makes me feel incredibly lazy, but since the kids I nanny are back in school and since I'm stuck at home without a car all day, I suppose it doesn't really matter when I get up. Normally I like to be up and at 'em by 9:00. Once school rolls around hopefully I'll be back on schedule!
{four} if you could open your own business, what would it be?Something to do with books and writing. Or baking. Every time I try out a new recipe my brother informs me that this recipe will do really well at "our" bakery. He decided that he (at 15, mind you) will be the manager, I will do the baking, my younger sister will work at the counter, and my older sister will clean the shop. Apparently this will be the new family business?
{five} if you could spend the evening with one rock star/band, who would it be?Well, you know how much I love Tyler Hilton. So that would be nice.
{six} what sitcom character reminds you of you?Monica from friends, hands down. I am Monica. Every time my family watches the show together and Monica has one of her Monica moments, my family looks at me and says, "Abbie..." Every. Single. Time. It's the anal-retentiveness, mixed with the control-freakness, added with the love of all things clean...I can't help it. I'm such a Monica.
{seven} what are the 3 most important things to you?Family is definitely the most important thing. I love my extended family just as much as my immediate family. We're a very tight-knit group. When I was in Portland last weekend and my cousin dropped everything to come pick us up and make us dinner, he told us that his girlfriend wasn't exactly thrilled that there was going to be unexpected company that evening. He also told us that he told her, "Sorry, but there are 144 people in my family, and they're all more important to me than you." Now, he may not have actually said this, and I sure hope it came across as sounding nicer if he did actually say it, but I loved it all the same. Because that is how important family is.
Also important to me are being a good person. And living a good life. Not a good life in the sense that I want to live "the" good life...just a life where I do good. No, I didn't mean do well. I want to do good.
{eight} chips or popcorn?Depends on the moment, but usually chips. Pop chips are currently my favorite.
{nine} have you ever ordered anything from an infomercial?No, but I'm often tempted! I always love to check out the "As Seen On TV" walls in stores, but I'm still too chicken to buy anything from it.
{ten} what is one thing that you are grateful for today?Is it cheesy to say my life? Because every day I wake up knowing that I have a life to live, and that even though I may not have it all figured out, it's mine and it's beautiful.
♥ abigail

I digress. A lot.

Call it a sickness, but I can't tell one story without telling the pre-story first.

Lucky for you (my three lovely readers), this means lots of ramblings for you to read.

Unlucky for you, I lack a camera, so my rambling words aren't broken up with nice photos for you to rest your eyes upon for a second.

Lucky for you, once upon a time I was editor-in-chief of my high school newspaper, so I know about breaking up paragraphs into two to three sentences for reading with ease.

Unlucky for you, explaining all of this resulted in you reading more ramblings...and I haven't even gotten close to the point of this post!

Just so you know, in case I never get around to it, the point of this is to talk about my new workout regimen. If I forget to talk about it, feel free to yell at me in the comments section.

I feel like Ted in How I Met Your Mother for saying this, but before I tell you that story, I really do need to tell you this story.

I just returned home from a lovely weekend in Portland. My younger sister (she's 18) and I made the two-hour drive on Saturday to visit our cousin (she's 16) for a highly-anticipated sleepover.

Clearly this warrants another story...this summer we spent a lot of time together. We were inseparable for 10 days in Manhattan Beach, we saw each other a mere two weeks later for the annual family camp out, and then we saw her a week after that for a trip to the coast.

I'm pretty sure I spent more time sharing a bed with her this summer than I did sleeping alone. That's a lie. But it feels true! She and I moved past our days of having cover-tugging battles all night long to having cousin snuggle love all night long...I really had trouble sleeping alone after our Manhattan Beach trip!

But I digress.

Upon realizing (on August 22) that we wouldn't see each other again until the high school state cross country meet (November 6), we decided that would be too much time apart. We decided to orchestrate a sleepover on one of her free weekend's before my sister and I have to start classes...hello, this weekend!

After getting off to a late start on Saturday due to my sister's visit to Urgent Care (nothing too serious, her earache ended up being caused by a canker sore on her throat...weird, right?), we finally made it to our cousin's house in Aloha by 3:00.

From there, we took our bags to our grandma's house in Beaverton, the site of the sleepover (my cousin's house is in the middle of a remodel, and there isn't a kitchen...this is a problem at sleepovers. Especially when pancakes are required in the morning for breakfast).

After leaving a note to our grandma explaining our whereabouts (we showed up unannounced and didn't want her to be alarmed by the mess of clothes we left all over the front room), we set off for the MAX station.

We had a brief encounter with an interesting stranger, in which he gave us the following advice: "When you meet Prince Charming, don't let him lead you into the ocean because when you get bit by a shark it's for life. An arm and a leg. You don't want to live with that."

Thank you, kind stranger. We'll take that to heart.

We hopped on the MAX and wandered Portland for awhile, making a stop at Buffalo Exchange and Powell's, before our cousin (the cousin we were with's older brother) came and picked us up and took him to his house.

He cooked us a fantastic dinner of the most delicious paninis we'd ever had (jury's still out on whether that was because of how hungry we were or because they were just that good), then took us to a MAX station for our ride home.

We then went to a Safeway and spent a good 15 minutes debating what flavor and brand of ice cream we should get (we settled on the store brand's "Extreme Moose Tracks", which was a good choice), then spent another 10 minutes deciding what other snack foods we wanted (we picked Pirate's Booty and cookie dough). We grabbed a movie at a Redbox on our way home, then finally got back to our grandma's.

We proceeded to eat our weight in junk food and watch our movie, all the while perusing my grandma's scrapbook...she just scrapbooked this summer's events (which included two family weddings), so we were anxious to see what the pages looked like (read: how many pictures we were in, and how we looked in said pictures).

Remind me to get back to the picture I found that inspired my workout regimen. I feel compelled to finish the story about the rest of the weekend...stick around, it might amuse you.

Not because it's amusing. Maybe you're easily amused and just like to read my ramblings. I won't judge you if you do. I'll thank you, though!

After snuggling the night away, we woke up and went to breakfast with my grandma (how perfect was it that today is Grandparent's Day?!). Next, Grandma took us to the zoo, where my cousin played tour guide (she's a Zoo Teen volunteer during the summer).

I fell in love with naked mole rats all over again.

Try to convince me they're ugly.

I dare you.

We went and had a quick visit with another cousin and aunt and uncle before heading back to Grandma's for a late lunch before my sister and I hit the road for home.

It was a lovely weekend.

I love my family. Don't worry - my cousin and I will be reunited on October 10 for the Tyler Hilton concert. Yes, he's coming to town again. I am so excited. Again.

If you want to read about the second time I saw him (the first time I blogged about him), check it out here.

What a pretty man. With a pretty voice. I'm dying, seriously.

Anyway. I'm getting to the point here.

We looked at my grandma's scrapbook pages from our time in Manhattan Beach, and this is what I saw:

That's me in the swimsuit. Let me address a few things:

Yes, I know the dangers of skin cancer. Yes, I wear sunscreen (SPF 45 and 55 the entire trip). Yes, I am blessed with the skin of my father, who is of a Polynesian/Hawaiian bloodline. No, I don't know why I'm so excited about eating that apple. No, those party cups are (probably) not all filled with alcoholic beverages.

What struck me about this photo was the fact that I don't look like this anymore.

This was two months ago, and apparently I was doing a much better job of maintaining my fitness. This photo inspired me to get my butt back in gear and get in shape.

I don't look that different, but I have lost a lot of tone. (By the way, I'm not looking for any sympathy or anything of the sort. I'm definitely not one of "those" girls.) But I have lost a lot of tone and definition, and my stomach doesn't look like that.

So tonight, I decided that instead of complaining about it, I would do something about it.

I'm normally an active girl, but the lack of a gym (I don't belong to one at home, and just have access to one while at school) makes me sluggish...for some reason, I can work out for much longer on ellipticals and treadmills than I can while running outside.

I don't like it, but that's the way it is.

Despite this, tonight I went for a two mile run, did 100 lunges, 50 squats, plus a whole bunch of sit-ups and push-ups. (I also wandered the zoo for two hours today, which definitely got me some exercise.) On tonight's run I discovered that my favorite time to run is at dusk - for some reason I have more patience with it and get less bored.

That photo showed me not only what I used to look like, but what I can look like. And that's all the motivation I need to get myself moving again...which I will be doing every day this week (and in the coming weeks), one way or another.

What motivates you? (Besides reaching the end of this post. Congratulations, you did it! And I am so happy you did. But probably not as happy as you are.)

♥ abigail

the ultimate happy list

For the past few weeks, I have been in a fantastic mood. We're talking insanely happy, almost all of the time. There are very few things that would upset me right now, and that's exactly the way I like to live.

I really believe that our own happiness is up to us. I don't think that there's anything wrong with being sad, or even with getting sad and hanging out there for a while...sometimes it's nice to sit in your dark room with your journal and sad music, just emoting. T

here comes a time when it gets to be enough. When you have to snap out of it, pick yourself up on the floor, move on, and get going again.

As a naturally perky, bubbly, happy person, picking myself up off the floor is usually an easy task. Simple things make me incredibly happy...and here is a list of 100 of them...the ultimate happy list!

1. Waking up in the morning and not feeling tired.

2. Going to bed knowing that I'm 100% prepared for the next day.

3. Reading books I've never read before.

4. Reading books I have read before.

5. The beach at night.

6. The beach during the day.

7. The beach when it rains.

8. The beach, 100% of the time.

9. Sunshine.

10. Lilies.

11. Baking.

12. Writing.

13. Organizing.

14. Buying people presents.

15. Putting together a really fabulous outfit.

16. Rocking said outfit.

17. Acing tests.

18. Feeling confident.

19. Curly hair.

20. Blue eyes.

21. Green eyes.

22. Good-hearted people.

23. Daisies.

24. Meg Ryan movies.

25. Tom Hanks' voice.

26. Andy Warhol's art.

27. Flower-printed clothes.

28.

Birkenstocks.

29. Dresses.

30. Floppy sunhats.

31. Days off school.

32. Dessert.

33. Chocolate.

34. Being with people I love.

35. Swimsuits.

36. Stilettos.

37. Cookie dough.

38.

Headbands.

39.

Bows.

40. Sunglasses.

41. Oversized bags.

42. Hope in a Jar.

43. Trashy reality TV shows.

44. New music.

45. Musicals.

46. Laughing.

47. Shooting stars.

48. My grandma's Seaside house.

49. Quotes.

50. Waking up to text messages.

51. Babies.

52. Nail polish.

53. Pad Thai.

54. Taking obscene amounts of pictures with my sisters and cousins.

55. Family stories that get told again and again.

56. Laughing until I cry.

57. Libraries.

58. Long walks without destinations.

59. Being on the beach at sunrise.

60. New shampoo.

61. Reruns of shows from my childhood.

62. Concerts.

63. My siblings.

64. Family.

65. Making lists.

66. New school supplies.

67. Finding the perfect song to fit my mood.

68. Skype sessions.

69. Making other people happy.

70. Baseball games.

71. Fireflies.

72. Writing letters.

73. Snail mail.

74. Weddings.

75. Non-fat iced chai tea lattes from Starbucks.

76. Buying shoes in the kids' section.

77. Clean sheets.

78. The smell of SJP NYC perfume.

79. Browsing the make up at Sephora.

80. The ridiculous conversations I have with my sisters that no one else can follow.

81. Crossword puzzles.

82. Naps.

83. Crisp fall weather.

84. Catching up with old friends.

85. Feeling like I'm right where I need to be.

86. Summer nights.

87. Daisies.

88. Road trips.

89. Otter pops.

90. Old family photos.

91. Good dreams.

92. Being with people who understand me.

93. The first day of school.

94. Finding bargains.

95. Lazy rainy days.

96. Warm blankets.

97. Not having homework.

98. Random acts of kindness.

99. Not having anything to do.

100. Having lots of things to do.

According to this list, I should be happy pretty much all of the time...and I am!

Happy happy happy,

♥ abigail