Something That I Never Thought Would Happen

I'm not going to be homeless anymore!  Yesterday at church I found a posting for a sublet in my neighborhood.  I didn't even know this lady lived in my neighborhood, but she's going to let me rent her space for June.  It's smaller than my current apartment but way nicer and also cheaper.  She has a roommate who seems pretty cool and that roommate has a cat, and I like cats!  After I agreed to take the place and as I was walking back to my apartment, I thought the following thought:

"It's too bad I'm not staying here longer."

Whoa!!!!!!!!  I thought that!  I, who hates Hawaii more than a person can hate anything, expressed remorse about leaving sooner than later.

Maybe it's just because I'm frugal.  If I'm paying to rent a place for a month, I might want to stay for a full month, rather than just the first two-thirds.  It could also be because, for the first time, the other-people aspect of church yesterday wasn't totally sucky.  Regardless, it's progress, right?

30 Days

Today is May 19th.  I fly back to Boston on June 19th.

I have only one month left in Hawaii.

I can totally do this.

Thankfully, I'm killing it on the elliptical this week...

...because complimentary hotel desserts are delicious.

Things My Mother Taught Me

It's Mother's Day, so in honor of my mom, who is awesome, I'm going to list a few things that my mom has taught me that make me significantly cooler than a lot of people.

1. Straighten your skirt when you sit down.  I'm baffled at the number of adult women who apparently never learned this rule and then end up sitting on their underwear and have wrinkled skirts for the rest of the day.
2. If you want something done right, do it yourself.  This is probably why I hate group projects:  I'm very possessive of my work.  I guess this is both a blessing and a curse in some respects.
3. Sometimes a woman just has to have a new dress.  Every time I am on the fence about buying something pretty, I call my mom, because I know she will talk me into it.  I try to be the sensible one, however, so I will usually walk away more often than she would.

This photo was about six years and countless hairstyles ago.

But my mom is cool.  Even though she doesn't know how to use computers or voicemail.

But Seriously Though...

All shoe- and mass engagement-related joking aside, a ton of stuff happened in April.  I got into BU; I decided to go to BU; I got to reject offers from three(!) other schools; Boston went crazy; General Conference happened; I had a huge wave of self-actualization (vague, I know); I committed to a place to live in Boston (more on that later); and I began the process of moving out of Hawaii.

Hard to believe that all of that happened in 30 days.  But now...

Things That Happened in April

1.  Eight of my Facebook friends got engaged.  Eight.  In one month.  Can you calculate a p-value for that?  If you can, I bet it's wicked low.

2.  I bought these shoes:

My sister is the only reason I own any 'relevant' music.

Fact:  my sister Gabi's CD collection will kick your CD collection's pasty non-comprehensive bum.  And not just because nobody buys CD's anymore.  She has hundreds of them.  Even the ones that are technically mine are hers; I'm just "leasing" them from her and she has the right to take any of them back at any time.

I, too, have awesome taste in music, but most of it is music that nobody's really heard of, or music that people associate with very specific things.  For instance, I told a guy that Sarah McLachlan is my favorite artist, and while I'll give him props for knowing that Sarah is the founder of Lilith Fair, I'm pretty sure he thinks I'm a lesbian now (I do wear Tevas, but that's irrelevant).  I don't really listen to the Top 40 radio stations very often, because very often, what they're playing is really the top eight or nine.  Gabi, however, is an expert in all radio stations, including the ones that play the new, hip music.

Because I have an iTunes account, Gabi regularly requests that I make mix CD's and gift them to her on special occasions.  For her coming birthday, she has requested one with a high concentration of modern pop music, and for this reason, I am now the owner of lots of songs that people can actually hear on the radio today!

Here's what's on her 31st Birthday Playlist:

1. Feel So Close - Calvin Harris
2. Look At Me Now - Karmin
3. No One - Alicia Keys (This one is actually for my Mom.  She decided that she likes Alicia Keys.) 
4. When I Was Your Man - Bruno Mars (Also a "for Mom" one:  she really likes his voice even though she didn't realize that he was a he until recently.  Same thing happened with me and Michael Jackson in the early 90s)
5. Girl On Fire - Alicia Keys
6. Wild Horses (Unplugged) - Alicia Keys featuring Adam Levine
7. Give Your Heart a Break - Demi Lovato 
8. Brokenhearted - Karmin
9. I Need Your Love - Calvin Harris featuring Ellie Goulding
10. Your Song - Ellie Goulding (This is one that I actually bought for myself.)
11. Why Am I the One - Fun. (Also this one I bought for myself.)
12. You've Got It (The Right Stuff) - New Kids On The Block (This song was 100% requested by Gabi.)
13. Ice Ice Baby - Vanilla Ice (Ditto.)
14. Little Talks - Of Monsters and Men (My sister discovered this one, but I also like it.)
15. Ho Hey - The Lumineers
16. I Will Wait - Mumford and Sons (This one is one that I bough for myself.)
17. Some Nights - Fun. (They have an edited version for sale now!!!  But it's cheaper on Amazon than on iTunes, so keep that in mind when you buy it for yourself.)
18. Somewhere Over the Rainbow/Wonderful World - Israel Kamakawio'ole (Because I live in Hawaii.  Also because it starts out saying "this one's for [Gabi]")