11.23.2009

one day more.

okay. this is so nerdy. buuut. i've had this song stuck in my head ALL. MORNING.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuffHRacZMQ

check it out.

this song gives me chills every time. last summer my mom and i went and saw this play in tuacahn. freaking amazing. our family has listened to the soundtrack for years, though. i remember when mitchell was going through his opera stage and we would see if we could hold out the last note till the very end. hahaha. he usually got it. too bad he wont sing anymore.

anyway. the reason i've had this broadway tune stuck is my head is because i only have ONE DAY MORE till i can see my family! a couple things i'm looking forward to...

1. eating my mom's thanksgiving dinner! just the mere thought of janet rolls makes my mouth water. i'll post a picture after thursday. i've decided that thanksgiving/black friday is my favorite holiday. YES, i would rather stuff my face and shop than receive presents. thats ashley barnes for ya.
2. laughing at tanner's jokes in person. i miss that kid.
3. holding baby afton. even if she screams and cries the whole time.

4. sleeping in my bed. i should have put a memory foam pad on my christmas list.
5. seeing the ladies from my old job at Lakes Cleaners. i havent seen them since august! i miss my adorable manager carol. she's for sure one of the top 5 sweetest people i've ever met. my blunt boss ramie and my co-workers jen and jamie. they are hilarious! i wish i had a picture of all of us. if things work out the way i plan, i can rightfully claim my coach purse this week. (this coach purse has been on the dry cleaning line since october 2008... and our rule is after a year we either keep it or give it to goodwill. jen, jamie, and i have had our eyes on this purse since day 1! they took it off the line last month and we decided that to be fair we would send it back and forth like sisterhood of the traveling pants... but they havent sent it to me. hahaha. i'll change that.)
6. hanging out with my family
7. seeing vegas people! i miss hannah and her sister and her mom and amanda and james and sister schlauder and i could list billions of other people but im trying to keep this somewhat short.
8. being in WARM WEATHER. the forecast for monday and tuesday in provo is 41 degrees, and las vegas is 67 degrees. uuuhhhhhggg. thats almost 30 degree difference!!!
9. waking up at the buttcrack of dawn on friday to shop with john. we've only been on the crazy black friday shopping bandwagon for a year, but i expect this tradition to carry on for quite some time.
10. going to visit miss kristin hawkins. i have volunteered in her kindergarden class for over two years. we've been through a lot together. parent drama, stupid administration problems, hahaha. she would vent to me and i told her all about my pathetic senior year. i single handedly saved the christmas program last winter. hahaha. good times. i love this woman. i hope to see her on wednesday and pay derfelt elementary a surprise visit :)


anyway. i think its obvious that i miss las vegas more than i can explain. and i also think that this monday will last 70 hours instead of the usual 24. don't get me wrong.. i love byu (most of the time), but nothing compares to home sweet home.

cant wait.

11.14.2009

new roommates.

yes, i am fully aware of the visitors policy here in Helaman Halls.. but i dont think my three visitors would pass the tests. in my bio 101 class, we have been learning about bacteria. gross. we did some experiments and such, which were bearable but not something i'd want to do every day. then to my astonishment, brother stowers announced that we would be conducting our own "at-home" experiments, and be in charge of three different petri dishes for a week.
EW. EW. EW. EW.
so right now i am babysitting little trays of e coli (yes, e coli...), and lactobacillus (you dont even wanna know where this is found. yuck.). oh and lets not forget the third dish that i got to fill with whatever i wanted... i should have put candy or something in it hahaha. but believe it or not, my grades matter to me. so i took a cotton swab and got some bacterial specimen from the lovely dorm shower. look at this nastiness


i wish the picture was clearer but it was hard not to get a glare.
this is the dish from the shower. ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTING.
you can not look at this fungus growing in my dish and say you want to go hop in the shower butt naked. i dont know what im gonna do. there's gotta be a hose somewhere outside i can use instead of this infested place. hahahah.
katherine keeps making fun of me and saying that im like one of those psycho creeper roommates who grows stuff in her room and does weird experiments. but i told her if she doesnt shut up i will open the dishes and dump them on her face while she's asleep.
good times.
23 more school days left :) wooo!
-ashley
oh by the way... we had our first legit snow this morning. stuck to the ground. i think its almost melted by now... but lets just say i havent stepped out of my hall ONCE today. uhg. can i go home?

11.05.2009

yum.


if i were oprah (which has been a continuous dream throughout my life), one of the coolest things would be making my favorite things show. for those of you who misconceive this woman's greatness and choose to pass on watching her show, it is the one episode a year where oprah dedicates a whole 45 minutes (roughly) to share her most favorite possessions. that obviously everyone should like considering they are the things she likes. its usually amazing. the "things" can be literally anything; movies, books, ipods, items of clothing, shoes, last year she had this sweet thing called a kindle which i will probably never have the luxury of owning in my life, and et cetera.
anyway, that took up a lot more space than planned, here's my new all-time favorite lunch. i decided this week to venture off from subway and get soup and bread. this bread (first spotted when my family was in town... my mom made the woman at the sweet and spicy store take a loaf out of the oven to show me. my mom is obsessed with miniature things. i remember one time we saw a little cheese grater at the grocery store and she adored it... but lets be real, it would never be used. stupid. what a waste.) is AMAZING. just like anything else byu-creamery made. its like your own personal loaf of home-made bread... but you can eat it in one sitting.
and its delicious. i took a picture, but i have to say that it looks a million times better in person. its the perfect amount of slightly crunchy on the top, yummy softness in the middle... mmmmmmm. AND, i ask myself if they did this on purpose, it is thee perfect amount to accommodate the soup. if one were to dip the bread into the soup, you would run out of both at exactly the same time. it feels like some sort of miracle. anyway, here's the picture that doesnt do the bread any justice at all...

now i feel unfair because i shared so much hoopla about the bread, but the soup is really good too! wild rice and chicken.. mmm. nothing compared to the one my mom makes, but this will have to suffice for the next three weeks. THREE WEEKS! exactly three weeks from yesterday. piece of cake.

ashley

11.01.2009

joy.

I dont know about you, but to me this is one pretty good-looking family.

i was honored with the pleasure of seeing their faces this weekend :)
thank goodness for nevada day

haha, i love this little guy.
he makes me laugh so hard.
the fam is still here in provo (kills me that they are miles away but i have school in the morning and am unable to spend the whole night with them), i'll treat them to lunch on campus tomorrow and then send them off to vegas.
if you know me well at all, you know i'm the biggest weenie ever. BUT, something tells me tomorrow i wont cry. i mean, come on. thanksgiving is only a short three and a half weeks away. i can do this. right? right.