I'm Engaged!!!

Hello all! So, it is official! I’m engaged!! Exciting, right? I wish I could tell you all about it in person, but I guess blogging about it is just going to have to work this time…

Last Thursday, Briana and I had planned on having one last sister’s night before I moved to California. I had to work until five, and she planned on being at my apartment around then. Right before Briana showed up, my Dad called and asked if I could home to Soda to meet some guy about the Van Gina. Feeling a little annoyed, I agreed to go to Soda and made sure Briana went with me. The drive was going well when all of a sudden I had a need to stop and use a bathroom. (For those of you who don’t know…I have a very small bladder…) Anyway, Briana and I made the stop in Lava and then continued on to Soda.

As we were driving up to the house, I saw that the garage door was open. I was a little confused and asked Briana about it, but she didn’t seem to care, so I brushed it off as well. We parked the car, grabbed the key to the house and opened the door. As soon as the door swung open, my heart stopped. Slowly, my purse slid off my shoulder and landed on the floor as I stared in disbelief at the decorations in front of me.

The house was lit with candles, and a path of rose petals and pictures of Brett and I scattered the floor. Looking down, I saw two posters with pictures of California and Idaho on each side, an ipod and a letter. The posters instructed me to 1) Compose myself 2) Put on the earphones and select the playlist “I have a question” and 3) Read the letter. Excited about what was happening, I tore open the envelope, put on the headphones and sat down to read the letter. (Brett and I met years ago through a letter, so it was fitting that he wrote me one). After finishing the letter, I followed the path of rose petals through the house and out to the deck.

Christmas lights illuminated the railing on the upper deck, but Brett was nowhere to be found. I kept walking, and as I headed down the stairs, there he was…dressed in a suit. Next to him was a table with two place settings, but instead of real food, he had brought my favorite candy, cookies and gum. (He knows me all too well!) I met Brett on the lower deck where he proceeded to get down on one knee and asked me to marry him. I felt my eyes start to tear up, (yes, I am NOT dead inside!!) and I, of course, said yes!

So, there you have it! My engagement! (Which wouldn’t have been possible without all the lies and betrayals from my sister and Dad…haha) Brett did such a great job at decorating the house, and he picked the perfect way to do it. I have been telling him that our house in Soda is my favorite place to be in the entire world and getting engaged there was the icing on the cake. It was great, and I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.

In search of answers...

This blog posting is going to be a bit different from others that I have posted. I usually enjoy making simple situations extremely dramatic, but this week, I have a more serious mentality…

I have reached that point in my life where summer is coming to a close, and I must make a decision about where I am going from here. I have officially decided against law school, so I won’t be returning to school this fall. As a backup plan, I applied to be a nanny through TSN months ago. I went the whole summer with hardly any communication from TSN, so I had figured that they just weren’t interested in me anymore.

About a week ago, a family from Connecticut contacted me. Throughout the process of interviewing with this family, I came to realize that they are wonderful people. Their children are extremely polite, active and smart. The parents are caring individuals who strive to be involved in their children’s lives. My roommate had already interviewed with two different families and didn’t end up being chosen for their nanny positions, so I didn’t think much of my interview. I didn’t want to get my hopes up about something that wasn’t a sure thing. But, it turns out that they like me and want me to work for them. This all sounds great, right?

Well, it is great. I finally have a plan…something to do for the next year. The only problem is that recent events have helped me realize that I don’t want to be moving to the east coast. Moving away would be considered a setback in certain areas…but how do I just tell this family that I changed my mind? How do I tell them that they spent countless amounts of time looking for their next nanny, found her…and now I don’t want to work for them? How do I do it?

Little Grey...

Earlier this week, my friend Todd called and invited some friends and I to go out on his boat for a day filled with tubing, water skiing and knee boarding. Now, I didn’t have the luxury of growing up with a boat, so I jumped at the chance to spend a day on the lake. Hearing the excitement in my voice, Todd took the opportunity to tell me that his boat wasn’t the nicest boat, but if I didn’t care that it wasn’t a brand new boat, then it would be a blast. I didn’t care if the boat was brand spanking new. I only cared that we were going to be on a boat... or so I thought…

It turned out that Todd’s definition of “not the nicest boat” was quite different from mine. I figured that the boat would at least be made out of fiberglass, but this boat was just metal…It also had an engine that stuck up out of the water…similar to the kind that you see on a fishing boat, and it technically only sat 4 people. To top it all off, the gas tank wasn’t attached to the boat. Todd had three tanks that sat on the boat deck…when one tank ran out of gas, we would simply remove the hose from the empty tank and attach it to a full tank of gas. Needless to say, I was a little worried about whether or not the boat would be able to handle a day on the lake.

After getting over the initial shock of the boat, we all headed out on the lake to water ski and knee board. A little ways away from the dock, the engine on the boat just stopped. We were only five minutes into our fun on the lake, and we were already experiencing problems. Things were not looking good! Luckily, Todd was able to fix whatever the problem was, and we were able to actually do something other than sit on the lake. Everything was going just fine, until Todd decided we should take him back to get his Red Vines out of the truck.

Instead of waiting for him at the dock, we dropped him off and drove around the lake until he returned…this seemed to be a good idea at the time, but it quickly turned into a bad one (I blame the stupid Red Vines for this…). As soon as we were on the other side of the lake, the engine stopped again…and Jordan couldn’t get it to start. In the process of turning the key back and forth, somehow Jordan broke the key off in the ignition. So, now we were in the middle of the lake on a boat with no engine and a no key to even try to make the boat start. Did I mention we were slowly approaching the dam??

With no way to start the boat, everyone on board started getting slightly worried about how we were going to get back to the dock. Worst case scenario, we would simply have to swim the boat back to the dock…but there happened to be these stupid girls on board that refused to get in the water…but that’s another story. Anyway, before we crashed into the dam, the Search and Rescue boat was able to come give us a tow back to the dock. Todd figured out what was wrong with the boat, and he got the broken key out of the ignition. After all the stress, we decided to call it a day and head back home...

All in all, the day ended up being a blast. Yes, the boat died more times than I can count on two hands, and we almost had to swim the boat back into the dock...but at least I got to spend the day on a boat.

A rose by any other name...

So, ya know how when you had just graduated high school and you were choosing which college you will go to? It seems that all the universities emphasize the idea that you are more than a just a number at their school. You are an individual with important ideas and opinions. This is one of the main selling points at a university. Apparently, it is not one in my family.

Earlier tonight, I was on the phone with my father and I requested that he pass the phone along to my mother so I could chat with her. When she asked who it was, he simply replied “it’s number 4.” I was shocked…SHOCKED! Appalled even! My whole life, my dad had referred to me as Briana, Bryson or whoever else he felt like calling me, but now I am simply a number?!?! What on earth did I do to be reduced to the lowly status of a number? I am not even good enough for the wrong name? I am just a number…and not any number…I am number 4.

Quarantined?!?

Last weekend, I took a trip to Los Angeles to visit Brett. This was my third trip to see him, and this particular weekend was supposed to be our “we live in the same city weekend.” Because we live in separate states, we tend to make sure our time together is filled with awesome activities. These activities, however, tend to get a little tiring… and by the time the weekend is over, both of us are exhausted. So, last weekend was a supposed to be low key, and it was…for the most part…

On Saturday, we drove to Santa Barbara (or as I call it: Santa Monica). We drove along the coast in hopes of stopping at a beach to boogey (sp) board and hang out. Sadly, there were grey clouds following us up the coast, so we didn’t stop. Once we were in Santa Barbara, we checked into our hotel, walked to the beach and later met up for dinner with Alex and Lily (two of Brett’s friends). Dinner was great, but the real reason we went to Santa Barbara was for the Kings of Leon concert.

The concert was at the Santa Barbara Bowl, and it was supposed to start at three. So, figuring we could miss the opening band, we showed up at 4:30. I don’t know if anyone has ever been to the Santa Barbara Bowl, but it is located at the top of this extremely steep hill (ok, maybe I’m exaggerating a little…but really, it’s quite the hike). Anyway, Brett and I make it past the security check point, get our tickets scanned and begin to walk up the hill. When we reach the top, we not only learn that there are four opening bands, we also learn that Kings of Leon doesn’t start playing until 8:30 that night! We were four hours early!

In an attempt to stay busy, we decide we will leave the concert and come back later. We later found out that this was not an option. Some guy by the name of “Jack” was in charge of deciding who could and could not leave the venue. Apparently, it was a big deal or something. So, Brett and I make up some excuse that our friend needs her asthma medication from the car, and “Jack” tells us that only one of us can go to the car. So, Brett goes with “Jack” down the hill on some back road while I start walking to the bottom of the hill on the other side. I reach the bottom and tell another security guard the same excuse, and he says I have to show the asthma medication in order to gain re-entry. Annoyed, but wanting to leave, I agree to his conditions and walk past the security check point and find Brett.

Brett is standing in a line talking to some woman about him leaving the premises. She signs his ticket, so I walk up and ask her to sign mine. She does, but then tells us that only one of us can go to the car to get the medication. (Why is it so freaking hard to break out of this place?!?!) At this point, one of us actually has to go to the car and search for something. We’ve come too far to go back…so, Brett leaves while I stay and wait. Before Brett has even left the area, a security guard comes up to me and tells me that “if I leave the area, I will not be allowed re-entry to the concert.” Confused as to why I am suddenly being quarantined, I start to get annoyed.

I quickly start calling anyone and everyone possible so that I can express my annoyance without actually expressing it to one of the guards directly. Sadly, no one will answer their phone, which only makes me more frustrated. I sit quietly in my chair for a moment, and then decide to question the reason for my restrictions. I quickly pull out my ticket and start reading the fine print (my mother would be so proud). Nowhere in the fine print does it say anything about not being allowed re-entry to the concert. Feeling great about myself, I walk right up to the guard and ask him to show me where it says I am not allowed re-entry to the concert. He looks stumped for a minute but then tells me to return to my chair. That did it… I was pissed… P-I-S-T! A few harsh words were exchanged, some of which I am not proud of, but I sat back down and waited for Brett to return.

Brett finally made it back, without any asthma medication, and we were allowed to head back up to the concert. I was still irritated with the security guards, but our plan to escape wasted an hour of the time we could have been listening to an opening band. So, I guess it wasn’t a complete waste…

By the time 8:30 rolled around, I was back to my chipper self and Kings of Leon finally made their appearance onstage. The concert was awesome. Kings of Leon were amazing, and, even after all the drama, it was completely worth staying for.

Figuring it out...

I just finished reading the book “Bitter is the New Black,” by Jen Lancaster. This book, which is hilarious and I recommend that everyone read, is about a rich snotty girl, Jen, who takes everything for granted and eventually ends up poor. After being fired from her job, Jen decides to start a blog. Her blog is comical and basically serves as an outlet for her anger. Almost all of my siblings have some sort of blog; so, after being inspired by Jen, and being prompted by my sister, I have decided to start my own blog. Here it goes…

I have recently graduated from Idaho State University with a Bachelors Degree in English. Now, I know what you’re thinking…What can you do with an English degree?? This has been the million dollar question in my life ever since I even hinted towards graduating from college. No one cares if I’m dating anyone or how my family is. People only care about what my next step in life is. For those of you who know me, you know that I am fairly talented at avoiding specific questions about my life; but, for some reason, people cannot be distracted from the one question I want to avoid: What am I doing with my life?

I have come up with many different answers to this question. A few months ago, I thought I wanted to attend law school. So, when I was asked what I was doing with my life, I simply replied that I was attending law school. People seemed fairly happy with this answer, but when I decided I didn’t want to attend law school anymore, I suddenly had no answer to their question. A friend of mine told me I should tell everyone I was planning on retiring after graduation. I found this answer to be hysterical, but when I told others my plan, they did not approve. They almost found it an insult that I would even joke about retiring after graduation. Come on people! Lighten up! It’s a joke! Like I would ever be able to retire right after college…I plan on working through the summer and THEN retiring…jeez!

Ok, on a more serious level, I am still working on figuring out my future. I am contemplating becoming a nanny somewhere. I work as a nanny now; I love it. The families I work for are awesome, and, even though I complain about my job a lot, I actually find it very rewarding and enjoyable. I could also go to Grad school somewhere, and further my education in the English department. I could also go to law school, or I could simply move to the beach and become a bum. I am slightly more excited about moving to the beach and doing nothing than the other options, but whatever I do, I just want to be happy.