25 June 2011

one down...one more to go...

Today my dear friend Carissa got married. She married her sweetheart Shem L., (we all went to high school together) and I couldn't be happier for both of them! The whole wedding was flawless and everything from the temple to the reception was just perfect.

Weddings of close friends are always a bitter-sweet thing. You are so happy for them, but at the the same time you know that your friendship will never be the same. That sounds depressing and melodramatic, but it's not. It is a fact of life that things change, people get married, sometimes they move away, have kids and start a life of their own. It's exciting and fun! The thing I've come to realize is that when you get back together with each other months or even years later it often seems as if no time has passed at all. A wonderful little miracle.

I was a little frustrated as I left their wedding because I realized I had my camera with me in my pocket the whole time and didn't take ANY pictures except for one I took on my phone to send to Logan. My frustration quickly dissolved as I realized I was enjoying myself so much that I didn't even have time to take any pictures.

I enjoyed the ambiance of the beautiful lights hanging overhead, the delicious lemon cookies Whitney and Francene made, seeing old friends and familiar faces, but most of all, I enjoyed catching up with everyone.

It was a perfect evening and I'm excited Natalie's wedding is only 2 weeks away so we can do it all again! I'll have to force myself this time though to pause and take some pictures!

EVERYONE SAY CHEESE!!!

Carissa and Shem's wedding (Carissa's backyard). It was beautiful!

07 June 2011

Empty chairs at empty tables...


Saturday night I went to Les Miserables at Capitol Theatre. WOW! It was AMAZING! It was seriously sooo good!

I was once in Les Mis, the musical, at my high school. I could pretend like I was Jean Valjean or Marius, but let's be honest I was chorus member #46. I remember the director always saying, "the chorus is the backbone of the musical." (or something like that - made to inspire the chorus members to feel special even though they weren't good enough to get the leads.) When in all reality, if you don't have strong leads you have NO musical, especially when in comes to a musical like Les Mis.

Lucky for us we had strong leads and still to this day I hear Tyler B.'s voice singing Jean Valjean. I remember Katy S. and I would go up to the catwalk above the auditorium and watch the play going on down below. We would just sit there both crying as Eponine died in the arms of her love Marius. This scene still gets me every time.

One thing I love about the story of Les Mis is the emphasis on new beginnings and moving forward. As a college student it seems every few months you're faced with new beginnings. You seem to get a group of friends that you love to do things with and suddenly they disappear to crazy far off places like Africa and the Marshall Islands.

I find myself trying to avoid getting sentimental about things because sometimes it is easier because if you are sentimental about it change can be hard. Let's be honest too...I'm ALREADY too sentimental. I have every movie ticket of EVERY movie I've ever been to, and variety of other mementos that I shameless admit to keeping. Who does that? I even think to myself, "What are you going to do with that?" Does that stop me from keeping it? Nope.

It goes into a small USU bookstore bag that sits in the lower cupboard of my desk. Wedding Invitations, a fake medal from our Spring Break cruise to Mexico, old airplane tickets from this last year, a few scattered photos, thank you notes, letters, several Euro museum passes, and an aquarium wrist band from the Denver Aquarium.

Looking at these sentimental items doesn't make me sad though. It reminds me of the good times and even if some friends I'll never see again it doesn't take away from the fun memories we shared together. I realize at the end of the day I'm not on my own, but that I can make it one day more because I dreamed a dream that I had a heart full of love. And isn't that what it's all about?!?

24 January 2011

"OUR DIET STARTS...TODAY???"

Well hello 2011. here I am. right here. blogging in the new year. I know I promised you I'd be better. And I haven't been great, but here is a post...so that counts for something right???

Well this year has already been so much fun. I must confess I knew it would be because New Years Eve/Day was a riot. absolute riot...in a good way...not in the "You-burned-my-car-and-trampled-me" kind of way.

Some things to highlight include: a fun trip to Denver over the long weekend, getting food poisoning, eating at Pinkberry...so good (and not associated with the item before it...that was the demise of KFC. bleh.), Logan putting my life in "danger" on the freeway (getting pulled over for 8 mph over the speed limit), feeding a stingray, and starting my new DIET!

Yes sir. My diet started today. By diet I really just mean exercising and not eating candy or sweet desserts. How did I do? Well I had no candy today, but when I came back from lunch to the Dean's Office in the Huntsman School of Business...where I work...Mary had saved me a piece of delicious cheesecakes with strawberries from a luncheon they had. Well who can say no to cheesecake? It would be rude to turn it down right??? And strawberries would count as a serving of fruit...so naturally I HAD to eat it...and did. It was delicious and therefore will forgo dessert tonight because of it. A fair trade off I thought.


Well, it feels great to be back to the blogging world...who knows...maybe I'll even post again this year!!


-

30 December 2010

2011...getting back to the way things used to be...but better...

Wow. it's been awhile since I have graced the pages of this blog. Part of me is saddened by this, but the other side of me remembers the fact I could barely keep up with my homework...at best...and therefore the first thing to go was this dear little blog. I've been half-way around the world and back and decided that instead of ending my blogging experience forever I would get back into the swing of things. I realized how much I love to write and if for nothing else it helps me to remember some funny experiences that have taken place....because let's be honest I think I'm the only one who ACTUALLY reads this. Which I guess really just makes this post a post to me...I'm not sure if it's conceded to post to yourself, but at the very least I've obligated myself to this now. Good luck on the future blogging Brent.

26 October 2010

My other blogging life.

I apologize for my long absence in the blogging world. I have been in Europe the last month and if anyone is interesting in reading a bit about it you can find it at:

brent-europe-2010.blogspot.com

23 August 2010

A graveyard of lost souls....

I will openly admit to everyone I am NOT the world's greatest driver. I'm NOT "bad". I'm....just distracted a lot. A few weeks ago I went to meet a friend for lunch. As I turned on to Fruitland Drive in North Ogden the stack of DVD's I had to return to the Hartvigsen Family quickly slid from off the passenger seat. They became stuck between the door and the seat. My natural reaction was to immediately try and grab the DVD's. This horrid spot seems to capture many great treasures. Candy, change, pens, and the like, always seem to be stuck in this time warp void between the car seat and the door. These DVD's were NOT going to be the same.

 I successfully retrieved them, but to my utter horror found myself hurtling toward a power line pole. I reacted quick and with a sharp turn of the wheel I thought I was in the free and clear...until I heard a loud crash and realized my poor passenger side mirror dangling from my car. I hopped out, looked around, and thankfully realized there was not a soul in sight to witness this utter embarrassment. My car survived without a scratch, other than my mirror which really had only lost the actual mirror part. The mirror body was fine and although not secured by screws it stayed on for the next couple weeks until we could get it fixed.

So today my Dad and I decided we would go and fix it. I often wonder if I got my good sense of deal-finding from him. He refuses to buy parts for the car that can be found at the junk yard. Good idea right?!? Well, I have never been to an actual junk yard and all I could think about was the Brave Little Toaster and the scary metal thing that kept trying to get him.

We arrived to our destination which ended up being less of a junk yard and more of a business that gets old cars and basically stages a junkyard. Don't get me wrong, it was huge and junk was everywhere, but we didn't have to sift through old mattresses or anything to find the match for my car. We just walked down the path.

The junkyard was located in the heart of Ogden by the train yard...kind of shady part of town and the management was no different. It would not have surprised me to find a secret mobster poker game going on there...if you know what I mean. My Dad and I paid our $1 fee to enter and set off to find my mirror. We located a perfect match and while he worked on detaching it I wandered around.

I met several interesting characters. An almost toothless half naked troll. For real though. I was messing around with this one car and as he walked by he gave me the creeps. One eye was closed more than the other, he had a bit of a limp, and mumbled nonsensical things under his breath clearly talking to himself. Not to mention his mechanic jumpsuit he had unzipped and pulled down to his waist and the greasy grayed mullet that dawned his head. I would not believe me had I not seen him myself...that is why I snapped a picture of him and his crazy wife with my phone.


As my junkyard experience continued I became very saddened as I looked around. Hundreds of cars not fulfilling their destinies. Most were missing lots of parts as people have come taking only select pieces. It was sad to see so many cars that you could tell had been in bad accidents and to think there were people that were attached to them...very unnerving.

As I continued to look around I realized I was standing in a graveyard of lost souls. car souls that is. Just think how many of those cars dreamed of finding their special family and how they would take them to soccer practices, and dance recitals, and be filled to the brim with stuff when one of the children went off to college.

So many dreams lost as they sat in this junkyard with creepy troll man and only the occasional passerby who remembers what they once were. Someone who remembers the lost dreams of the lost car souls....


Clearly I am not happy with so many lost dreams behind me...

10 August 2010

Dating, templates, and so much more....

This one is quick because truth be told I'm not the biggest fan of everyday blog posters or multiple posts a day bloggers. Mainly because I can barely fit in a few minutes each WEEK to catch up on my favorite blogs, let alone follow daily streams. (If this is you...I still value your blog, but just know I only catch a few posts here and there.) :)

I decided to change my template today. Although argyle is still very much "my thing" I decided a new background was needed as a new semester rolls around and new stories demand telling.

The main reason for this post is to vent my utter frustration in trying to find the perfect template. I'm sure you can all relate! Isn't it funny how you scour millions of websites searching for the one and only template that "represents" you? "Is it even out there," you wonder? "Will  you ever find it?" It seems to me that all of this reminds me a great deal of dating. You ask friends for "sites they found a good template on". You download one you think looks great, but discover it messes up your dates and cuts off half of your words. Some you even keep uploaded for months, but it seems until you find the "perfect one" you're always on the search.

Well....although I have yet to find the "perfect one"...template or girl...I hope you enjoy the new change. :)