i love america

happy memorial day everybody! i celebrated by chopping lettuce for four hours and then getting an ice cone with my besties. god bless america!

i am in love with this

and also i gave a talk today. it was super scary and i was really nervous, but i got a lot of really nice comments and support about it. it was about accepting the plan Heavenly Father has for us and being diligent about doing the small and simple things to be happy and stay on the right path. i felt like it was really jumbly. hopefully the spirit made more sense than i did! :)

hint: shrimp with eyes is not a good buffet option.

tonight brianon, laura & i proved, quite literally, that it's not what you're doing, but who you're with that counts.

tonight consisted of going to the international buffet, which was immediately followed by throwing up what we briefly nibbled on there. after puking all over brianon's neighbor's lawn, we went and saw the worst movie i have ever seen: bounty hunter.

yikes. fishy smells, vomit & terrible dialogue.

it was one of the best nights of my life and would do it again in a heart beat if it meant hanging out with my bestest girlies :)

see ya later elephantogator

i realize i've posted this picture already, this week in fact. however, after today, this is literally what i feel/look like.

:D

dear birthday girl...

dos dos. it's gonna be a good one, i can feel it in my bones.

love, the fort designer

yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah

i can write a talk! i can build forts better than anybody! i can throw great parties! i can make up really great baseball heckles/cheers! i can probably beat you up! i can have really great ideas while dreaming! i can get up in 4 hours to go to work!

[happy birthday eve brb!]

it's not called the sit-around-and-wait of happiness

[i am intrigued by this photo]

today was wonderful. i am so tired that i can't go into words, but trust me, i loved every minute of it :)

lately i feel like this

it's a new dawn, it's a new day, it's a new life for me....and
i'm
feeling
good

[home, brianon, laura, dj, forts, ninja, swedish twister, funny larson brothers, wall of awesome, andrea, dancing, greys, jaz, secrets, veronica mars, stars, sunshine, bikes, sparkly things, baby girl, em, mom, dad, little kids, new opportunities, fun job, tips, polka dots, picnics, chinese takeout, europe, roadtrips, fishing, camping, high school friends, new hair, spring, warmth, green, bacon, unexpected surprises, kind people, laughing til my face hurts, danny, hawaii, being outside, walks, not wasting time, bright futures, happy days are here again]

pancake maker extraordinaire

today was pretty great. and by pretty great, i mean really freaking stupendously great.

church was nice (other than being suckered into giving a talk. enter nerves stage right) and afterward andrew and joe made brianon and me some delish pasta for lunch.

then we built a sweet fort out of blankets, ironing boards, my couch & coatrack. not my best fort, but pretty dang good, if i do say so myself. and then laura & dj came and lounged and read books in our sweet fort. and then we made breakfast for dinner and ate it whilst watching a super bizarre-o medium in the fort. then we watched funny videos and some of us maybe talked until 3 in the morning in the fort. good times for everyone.

i love today.

ps. brianon: get ready for your birthday to rock your face off. [don't be alarmed, this is what it will look like after your fort birthday party...]


www.nataliedee.com

the first rule of the flour game is don't wash your face til it's over or you are the lamest person ever to walk the earth.

step one:
cut the flour



step two:
when the penny falls, get it off the plate using your nose. [sidebar: if your sister can take extreme closeups during this process, you get bonus points. also, that's actually a lie.]


step three:
take lots of pictures that look like you have a drug problem of the classy 80s/lindsey lohan variety.


[sidenote: i don't know why i'm making the same face in each picture. that's weird. probably the drugs/flour. oh wait, here's a different face...with a top notch pedi-smile from jaz. bravo and a tip of the hat to you little sister. *insert slow clap here*]

duck duck duck MISS!

what. a. fantastic. day.

work was fine.

then i saw baby girl who can sit up by herself like a normal human and also scoot!!! [as a side note - i tried to put a video of her doing it on here, but i couldn't figure out how to. just imagine the cutest baby girl doing stuff so cute your brain explodes and you'll almost understand how awesome it was:) here is a picture to tide you over...]


then i accidentally went to the library and read an entire book about jack the ripper and another book about weird facts, including that one time in new york state a farm had baby crocodiles rain onto it and also you shouldn't use those hand dryers in the bathrooms because they make your hands dirtier (think about it, what air are they blowing on your hands at sorta-high speeds. yeah. gross, huh?).

then brianon, laura, dj, andrew, joe & kris came over for game, delicious food eating, a late night walk & otter pops. it was exquisite in its funness:) i love making new friends, especially ones that are of the cute/fun/hilarious/boy variety. also, andrew, joe & kris are brothers and in a band (a very very good band, coincidentally) called les sages. [don't say it like a lame-o american. say it french-like: lay sage(like the last half of massage).] i think their music is the bees knees, you should definitely check them out. and dj is an incredible writer. check out his blog or your friendly neighborhood costco to witness his awesomeness via the interwebs or real life, respectively.

[also, i want to go to there.]

correction: used to be. (gasp!!!!!!)

holy. crap.

grey's. tell me you watched it.

i was freaking out the whole two hours. seriously, my whole body was so tense that i couldn't relax for another three hours after. i screamed, cried and felt like i couldn't breathe almost the whole episode. i don't think i'm going to be able to wait all summer to see what happens.

[and for those of you naysayers: yeah. i know it's a television show, hence - not real. but it's an escape for me and i love it. so you can just shut up if you're about to say anything negative. why are you reading my blog anyways? get outta here.]

so then i tried watching the season finale of bones to calm down and feel better.

wrong.

that was super depressing too! get out of indonesia and the army stupids. you need to be together. freaking heck.

ugh. so much drama on tv and in my soul from that tv. haha :)

in other news: it's absolutely necessary for me to have one of these...

[are you freaking kidding me? i have to have this immediately.]

if we ever meet again.

here's the thing. sometimes crappy days happen. they totally suck/blow (whichever strikes your fancy), make you wanna die/cry (depending on how exponentially they suck/blow), and can make you feel like they're never going to end.

cue: the best idea ever (!)

i, ris (is awesome - that's what 'ris' is short for, promise...) baer, promise that if you follow this formula, you will be able to turn that frown upside down and smile that frown away.

step one: do something for someone else. it doesn't matter if it's folding your roommates towels in the dryer, wiping the snow off someone's car, or heart attacking your bff's door - just stop focusing on yourself and your problems and try to do something that will make someone else's day a little bit easier.

step two: put on some music and dance it out. i personally prefer doing so with a best friend, synced ipods & dancing around the neighborhood at one in the morning, but anytime, anywhere, and with anyone will work just as well.

end result? the buoyant feeling that life isn't so bad and that tomorrow will be a better day. so go ahead, try it. i triple dog dare you. (that's right, i used incorrect daring etiquette. sue me.)

oh you were actually going to a baseball game? oopsie. good luck with your sopping wet pants.

www.nataliedee.com

ps. uvu's tour team danced on dancing with the stars tonight and totally rocked the house! that is totally going to be me someday :)

giddyup

i feel like if i had this bike i would begin every ride by saying 'heigh ho silver, away!'

also, today i fell asleep without realizing it. it was a very weird experience, to say the least.

book closed

here's the thing. i'm done with guys who aren't sure if they like me or not. if you have to convince yourself that you want to be with me, you don't really like me in the first place. don't be sneaky mean and quit wasting my time.

i am, however, now accepting applications from guys who have their crap together and know what they want - me.
[ps. that isn't meant in the cocky or snotty way. i'm just tired of wasting time on boys who just aren't that into me. i don't think that's too much to ask.]

now if you don't mind, i'm going to go ahead and be sparkly and awesome. catch ya on the flip side (n't).

ps. dear brianon,
you are the best friend ever.
thanks for being solidly there for me.
i think you are great.
love, ris

it means 'never give up'

today was epic. brianon and i did a double feature: letters to juliet directly followed by robin hood. i loved them both. a lot. i would definitely recommend them both for a bit of cinematic fun:)
also the previews looked great, esp a new one with amanda bynes(!)

then i worked forever.

the end.

mom wanted me to be visible at night (from space?!)

today was super fun.

it started out with me and brianon watching grey's and private practice at 9 am. holy crap. i can't believe dell died. i totally called it though! i am super excited for the grey's season finale next week. it looks insane!!! then there was work (some boys asked me for my number and had me take my break with them!) was fun, then i had a barbecue with some friends (turns out turkey burgers are maybe soilent green and kill you sometimes), diary of a wimpy kid with even more fun friends (cheese touch). man. what a fun day :)

k here's the deal.

so today brianon and i headed back to provo, but first we went to lunch with my dad at in & out. it was delicious and a way great conversation about deals and other things. my dad is the coolest. i know everyone kinda says that about their dad, but i'm for reals. he is the best. i love talking to him. and my dad thinks brianon is the coolest (which she is, of course!). my whole family totally loved her and it was really awesome having her down there with me.

after a great drive back up (almost no cars + gas station chicken + awesome conversation = best drive ever!), i headed directly to work. and the girl that i had done a huge favor for (switching shifts on saturday so she could go to her last high school dance which was sooooo important), was being a total brat the whole time. she was working slow, complaining and just being a baby. it was super obnoxious and i'm still pretty bugged about it. people who don't know how to work bug the living crap out of me. erg.

it was a matter of life and death.

so today me, brianon, jaz, prax, ethan, tara & rayne hiked red cliffs.

and. it. was. cooooooooold.

it's not so bad walking in melted snow when the suns out, but st. george weather decided to be a snot and be windy and chilly. not ideal weather for a water hike.

the first part was fun, just hiking around the water, maybe getting our feet wet. but then there came a part where we had to swim and then climb up a treacherous water slide type thing. tara was whining about being cold, so me tara and ethan tried to find a land route while jaz, brianon & rayne were troopers and swam the channel of icy death. brianon basically saved rayne's life by carrying him through it. also brianon & jaz went down a sweet waterfall/waterslide at the end. what brave women:)

after that, we decided it was just too cold and headed back. tyler busted out his scouting skills to save rayne from hypothermia and we headed back to st george with the heater on full blast and it raining a little bit on us.

pretty crazy, but also pretty fun. it's a good story anyways, ya know?

[this is not us, but is a picture of what the waterfall brianon & jaz went down looks like:)]

this is ke$ha

nataliedee.com

today was delicious. hike + nolan & becky [who i negative hate;)] + singing kareoke with jaz & brianon = super duper awesome day!

razor envelopes and all

happy birthday danny! i love ya to the moon and back :)

my parents' internet stinks, so pictures when i get home!

you make me happy when skies are grey :)

happy mothers day mommy!

guess where i am

hoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooome!!!!

[surprise mom!]

i solemnly swear i will not sleep on the couch tonight. probably.

silver standard = a

film history 2 = a
british literature before 1800 = a
intro to political science = a
american literature after 1865 = b+

spring 2010 gpa = 3.83

previous cumulative gpa (3.70) plus spring 2010 gpa = 3.73 cumulative gpa

not too shabby, eh?

and i've figured it out. i've got two and a half years left of classes + student teaching until i graduate and buy myself one of these:


[look at the one on the right's little face. he's so cute i just want to put him in a box and squish him.]

are you kidding me right now

private practice caused some major brain explodation. i need to talk about it stat!!!

i want to go to there

i want to live in this pretty house when i grow up.

may the fourth be with you :]

you are never going to believe what i did today. seriously, you won't.

go ahead, guess.

i. rode. my. bike. to. the. library.

are you shocked? amazed? a little bit proud of a girl who until an excursion to hawaii in march hadn't been able to even get on a bike since she was 13?

many thanks to my favorite library pal and fellow baseball heckler brianon for coming with & a shout out to lucas t gibson for driving us home at the end so we didn't miss the baseball game. you are a trooper.

here's a little tease of some of the things we shouted at players at the baseball game: "great pitch! not!" "hey why don't you 'poole' all your money and take me to applebees for half price appetizers and kareoke after the game?!" (the guys last name was poole) "hey why don't you pitch better this time!" "ugh, i hate you byu outfielder! you and your dumb school that didn't let me in! i hate you guys!" "you look devious - that's against the honor code" there were more but i can't remember all of them. mostly we were nice and the "hate" heckles we shouted were pretty lame-o so they'd know we didn't mean any harm.

top that off with a krispy kreme sour cream donut, parenthood & some old school donkey kong and you've got yourself a top notch tuesday:)

happy star wars day ya'll!

:|

i felt so sick today:(

and i miss my family:(

at least it's stopped snowing. hopefully i feel better tomorrow so i can ride my bike!

wanted: classy ladies for bike gang

dress code: skirts and heels [mandatory]
attitude: classy and fabulous

now taking applications!


ps. in case you were wondering, looking at old boyfriends blogs on a lonely sunday night is not a good idea. in fact, it's quite treacherous on the old ticker. i'd advise you to keep to things that don't make you feel like dying a little, like nataliedee & hyperbole and a half. the past is the past and memories are better than 'just checking what they're up to'. not that i've had any experience with this bad idea or anything...

maypril fools!

ugh. what a dumb day. under in my till for no reason (i was sooo careful!) and stupid butt face came into work and acted like i didn't exist (why don't you and your dumb beanie grow a pair and act like an adult?).

thank you laura and denny duequett and 2004 julia stiles. you are all super fabulous.