for your information

There are a few things that all my friends know about me and since you are reading this, I guess I consider you a good friend. So if you want to make it official and all, you should remember this. I love the Olympics. I have anyways watched the Olympics, I was shocked to find out that some people didn't, but somewhere along all the times that I have watched them, something clicked, and they became my first true love. As anyone would know that has seen me during the weeks that the Olympics take place, I am a complete mess. All I think about is when I am going to get home so I don't miss a specific sport or if the US is going to win, or the cute Canadian. I was a total wreck during every single one of Michael Phelps' races, I was pretty much completely devoted to him freshman year. Even after, I still was. Sophomore year I referenced him in my AIMS writing (I exceeded!!). I know all the athletes, I know who won, by how much and who got thrown out. By the end of those 2 or 3 weeks, I am exhausted and on the verge of a panic attack. After the closing ceremony everyone I know breathes a much needed sigh of relief, me included.

Another thing is I am in love with Australian guys. I am also perfectly okay with them being British or Canadian, you know as long as they're in the commonwealth. I'm also not sure where this love sprang up from, but it might have something to do with this guy.

let me explain. I first saw Jesse Spencer in Winning London, my absolute favorite Mary Kate & Ashley movie (besides Our Lips Are Sealed, where they are actually in Australia, but honestly the guys weren't quite as hot and I never owned that one). He was playing a british guy but with a little research I found out he was actually australian. He is gorgeous and his beautiful accent made me love him even more. I saw him again a few years later in House. His lovely-ness was the only way I could suffer through that atrocious television series. Then he was in Uptown Girls, which is one of the main reasons that movie landed in my top 5 chick flicks (there are really only 5 that I actually like though). I also like that movie because my incessant singing of the sheets of egyptian cotton song prompted my mother to buy me egyptian cotton sheets, which are FANTASTIC! Anyway ever since I have had a deep love for little australian/ british boys i.e. Prince William, who will be pleased to know that I am closely following his wedding details and totally plan to crash it. You should also know that I hate googling people, so just finding that picture up there was quite a stretch for me, but you really needed to see it.
Now you are probably wondering why I have such intense obsessions with said things. Well it is because I am easily persuaded to become obsessed with things. I mean you already know that my sister and I (cayla) are both totally obsessed with The Buried Life (canadian!!), Adam Young and Andrew Mcmahon. You might also have observed, by my lack of an oxford comma, that I now love Vampire Weekend and even more surprising, John Mayer. I am obviously obsessed with Apolo (who you should know is named after Apolo Ohno, Olympic speed skater, although I wanted to name her after JR Celski who was totally hot, but not Australian) but more recently I have become obsessed with two things. Spanish music and Colonial House. I got a CD of Spanish music from the old spanish teacher, so that explains that, but I should probably explain Colonial House. It is a reality show where modern day people go and live like in Colonial times. In other words, it the most awesome, drama filled television series you will ever watch in history class. It's like Jersey Shore but like 400 years ago. There are also 2 hot British guys, which only make it better.

blue & white, see them? it's the british ones, ignore the guy with the crazy beard and the other creeper in the background who went skinny dipping with his wife...and his son. I told you, drama.
So with that little snapshot of my current life and carpel tunnel looming in the distance, I will close this out with a few more key things about me. I love watching movies and I can pretty much quote every movie I've ever seen in everyday situations. (I can pretty much recite Monty Python and the Holy Grail) I tell long winded, confusing stories multiple times because I can never remember if I've told them before or if I forgot a major detail. I love reading books, especially good ones like Sherlock Holmes and ones by Mo Willems, who writes the books about pigeons driving buses. I go to a lot of concerts, but not so many anymore because I think I am losing my hearing. I love writing, and if you've made it all the way through my little novel you will know that now too.
I also love talking about myself.
hahahaha

cheers,
cayla
p.s. this computer is an idiot

no words:

cheers,

lauren & cayla

a lesson in romantics

over the past five days i've been to three concerts, aka i'm barely clinging to life. sydney and i saw dierks bentely (and chingy, who doesn't count) at asu for free, which was our first country concert and very enjoyable. although i only knew about two songs, he was good and we didn't have to pay. the next night was owl city and john mayer, which, as already discussed, was epic. then last night was something corporate, which there are no words to describe. it was the fifth anniversary of andrew's stem cell transplant, they were doing shots on stage, i have never seen anyone happier to be alive then those five boys. i could pull up the little thesaurus on my computer, but like i just said, there aren't any words that would do them justice. but, unlike the title suggests i did not see mayday parade, nor have i listened to them in probably a good two years. what i'm trying to say is that it's hard to listen to andrew croon konstantine while looking so in love or john mayer sing anything while you're upset. the little pieces of your broken heart start to press up against your chest and make it really uncomfortable. how's that imagery? thankfully these shows all pushed into one sleepless week have helped me realize a few things and hopefully left me for the better. that's all i'll say about that so that cayla our resident cynic doesn't get too upset.

i started school last week, and so far i still possess no motivation to do anything. i've been logging in and out of my online classes to make it look like i'm doing something. that little bird is still living in our backyard, we named him enrique. i'm going to go make some tea some hopefully i'll have a hint of a voice by the time i have to go to work today.

it's not hard to dream, you'll always be my Konstantine.

cheers,

lauren

#25

DANCE WILDLY IN A PUBLIC PLACE

yessssssssssss. so here's the deal:

owl city comes with john mayer. cayla, jaclyn and i (lauren) get to cricket wireless pavilion averagely 45 minutes before the concert starts due to getting stuck in a ton of traffic on the I-10. after kicking some butt and taking some names, we get the PERFECT seat on the lawn with a straight-on view of the stage even though we're still 234532 feet away from it. little did we know we had just stretched out our woodstock-themed picnic blanket in hardcore john mayer country. no one within a 10 mile radius (yes that's how big this place is) of us had any interest, or had probably even heard of owl city. so needless to say when our little baby adam came on stage we completely lost it and had to sing and scream so he knows we're back there showing him some love. everyone around was completely 100% stone silent. then we decide that flailing our arms about on our little blanket is still not enough, so jaclyn suggests that during the little breakdown of the song 'tip of the iceberg' we jump up and go completely crazy. and so we did. for the approximate 45 seconds that the music break lasts, we danced so wildly that the people sitting behind us left to find new seats. only until after owl city was over did we turn around and realize how many people were really surrounding us and witnessed our dance show, but it was so worth it. you may think that dancing wildly at a concert would not count for this, but when everyone else is checking their phones or making shapes out of the grass blades on their blankets, we definitely stood out. it was sweet! it'll have to happen again, we love you little adam.

needless to say john mayer came on next and blew us all away. cayla and i have never been jm fans because we think that he loves himself just a little too much, but after seeing him perform live we quickly signed ourselves up for the cult of mayerism. the show was amazing, we danced a little more, and harassed the two kids in front of us that swore they "weren't a couple" even though the girl was so into him & he kept trying to inch away from her. sad. and yes we even cried a little bit because somehow john mayer is a mind reader and knew exactly what jaclyn and i needed to but didn't want to hear. it was a night to remember and the most fabulously perfect way to end the summer. again again!

cheers,

lauren, cayla, & jaclyn

p.s. hi it's cayla and i'm going to marry john mayer's saxophone player, just so you know.

#66: crime scene, do not cross

so about a million years ago, we crossed "be a csi" off of our list, but we never posted the story, mostly because we never got the pictures off the camera, but also because we forgot. but I just remembered and found the picture so now I will tell you about it.

We got a letter in the mail and it was addressed to VANDY. I am not Vandy, no one in my family is Vandy and I don't know anyone who goes by that name, so we were all a little confused. Lauren and I (Cayla) decided that it would be a good idea to do some investigating. We googled the guy in the return address to make sure he was not a terrorist sending us anthrax, then steamed open the letter (of course after googling how to steam open a letter). 

so of course I look like an idiot in this picture, but it is the only one I could find and I figured you should see it.

We finally got it open after like 20 minutes and it was a birthday card drawn by a little kid with parent -writtten sticky notes letting us know that the vertical lines were trees and the horizontal lines were birds. Which draws the deeper question: Who is Vandy? Why is this little kid making him a birthday card and why doesn't the mom think I can figure out little kid drawings? Well I guess we'll do a little more research into it, but we have decided that it was worthy to cross off our list!

Owl City is on Wednesday and Something Corporate is on Sunday, let the obsessed fan-girl stalking begin.

Cheers,

Cayla

early birdie

i finally rolled out of bed this morning, and, after giving pebble an acceptable amount of scratchies, decided it was a good day for a pumpkin spice latte. fortunately i have about 6 boxes of pumpkin spice mix for my little single-cup coffee maker that was originally intended for my dorm room, so i was in good shape. as i was stirring a little sugar into the coffee, which i just noticed needs a little more, i looked out the window to see this little guy.

it's so tiny!! what a cute little baby, huh? i just checked and he's still back there and apparently doesn't want anyone by this plant. he keeps chasing off this especially curious red headed bird. i guess i should stop drinking coffee and birdwatching since i'm supposed to be cleaning my dad's house today. 

tiny birds > cleaning supplies.

cheers, 

lauren

p.s. hey it's cayla (again) and we named the bird enrique and he lives in a tiny nest in our front yard, he as a friend named snooki, i think they're in love

as if you actually were inside a saltwater room

technically my pool is chlorine, but you get the picture.

cheers, 

lauren, cayla, madelyn & sydney

my mind has been BLOWN

what?
What!?
WHATTTTT just happened. literally.
so when I was in boston we tried to order a pay per view movie and the only ones they had were dear john (no thanks) and this little movie called the imaginarium of doctor parnassus, which i had never heard of.
but wait, I HAD heard of it! heath ledger's last movie, anyone? I had to see it, but unfortunately our ice cream schedule did not match up with the movie times, so we skipped it.
SoOoo tonight we were ordering a movie off of apple TV (which is the most difficult thing EVER) and I saw the imaginarium of doctor parnassus and I was like soo ordering this, so we did and even though apple tv sucks and it paused for like 30 minutes every 5 minutes we finally struggled through the whole thing and it WAS AWESOME! 
yeah it was so amazing that I had to make it that big. it was like a tim burton movie minus all the stuff that makes tim burton movies crappy. It was like a circus and a fiesta and an acid trip plus heath ledger, johnny depp and jude law. can you imagine that, it so intense. there was humor and dancing and gambling and magic. but do you really want to know the best part of the whole movie? they are all british!!! this is definitely my kind of movie.

woahh right, now I honestly wouldn't turn you on to a bad movie, plus I have watched over a million movies in my life time and there are veryyy few that I would write an entire post about soo go and find some obscure place that would rent it because I haven't seen it anywhere besides poorly scheduled pay per view and apple TV which if I may suggest, don't use it! so it's super weird and the end is like ohh my zeus and then you're just like I really think I should watch that again, unfortunately we rented it, so we could only watch it once. frick

cheers,
Cayla

amazing.

since cayla is now back in "school" it's up to to me to sit on the couch all day with pebble and think of things to write in here. i've been thinking about studying abroad for a while, and at the constant persisting of the woman i nanny for, i finally looked into it. there are so many opportunities to go to so many places through asu, all which cost upwards of $22,000. not that i don't just have that lying around, but i was thinking of upgrading my private jet or something. anyways, my mother and i started talking about how it could almost be cheaper to send me over to whatever country and i suppose find a place to live, and you know, study. clearly a better choice since it does not involve the constraints of intense schedules, weekends packed with guided bus tours, and those all too bothersome classes. but this still leaves the question in my mind of where i would go, not to mention how i'm still going to get any money for it, but we'll pick the destination first. i've been looking into countries all over the globe, from the ever so popular italy to smaller ones like slovenia and bulgaria. still nothing has really caught my eye with the "you have to come here" kind of thing. so a few nights ago out of nowhere, i had a dream that i went to south africa and was helping all these kids in this little school. amazing, right? in the dream the stoplights were also red and white instead of green but that's beside the point. i know that i want to work for a non profit after i graduate, so why wouldn't i want to start doing stuff like that now? my mom is obviously not going to go for me living in africa for five months, but maybe if i let her use the private jet while i'm gone she'll change her mind. another option through asu called semester at sea, where you study on a cruise ship for 15 weeks and visit 11 different countries, including south africa. suite life on deck anyone?

cheers,

lauren

rest in peace

we love you sloane

you were always a tiny angel, now you finally have your wings. we'll miss you and can't wait to see you on the other side. rest in peace.

love,

lauren & cayla

save ferris

4:33pmMe

come into my room

4:33pmCayla

im doing stuff

4:34pmMe

uh what stuff?

4:34pmCayla

important stuff, you just want to eat my popcorn

4:34pmMe

i do not like popcorn nor did i know you had any

4:34pmCayla

ahh

i dont want to come inn

4:35pmMe

YOU HATE ME

but i have a polar bear in a sleeveless turtleneck

4:35pmCayla

seen it

4:35pmMe

what the f

4:36pmCayla

sorry

4:36pmMe

fox in an ascot?

4:37pmCayla

yep

4:37pmMe

somewhat larger fox in a somewhat larger ascot?

4:37pmCayla

um i think so

4:37pmMe

you totally suck

cheers,

lauren & cayla

what's up earthlings?

our family in one picture:

minivan, dog in the middle of the road, gps leading us into the ocean.

cheers,

lauren & cayla

I feel like

someone else that also updates this blog is a little over dramatic.

there should also be a blogger app for my phone.
forget it I need sleep

cheers,
cayla

someday you will be loved,

i'm being stalked. here's the best part, it's not even by a person. death cab for cuite has been following me around ever since i left boston. when i say "following me around" i don't mean a few small coincidences. they're popping up every other song on my ipod when i've only downloaded one of their cds. they're playing in a minuscule shop on a tiny island off of the washington coast when i'm shopping on vacation. i hear them on my pandora radio station that doesn't even relate to death cab. their music video is playing when i walk into the experience music project in downtown seattle, stuck in the middle of jimi hendrix and the beatles songs. the window of our hotel looked out onto a greyhound station. life can imitate art but that's taking it a little far. i settle into the couch today for a buried life marathon (!!!!) and realize that there's at least one song, FROM THAT ONE CD, on each episode.  don't they know what they're doing to me? i'm skipping to different ipod songs, running out of stores, deleting pandora stations, searching for the bathroom at the emp, and keeping the curtains to the hotel windows closed to escape the music. i totally just dealt with the buried life scenario though because it was worth getting to watch every episode in a row without interruption. but really, can't they just give me a break? in any other circumstance this would be a crazy coincidence that i would totally welcome in my otherwise mundane life, but can't it be any other band? every song is a cheap shot sending memories searing through my brain and giving me that sick feeling in my stomach. that one where you feel like you're about to shatter into a million pieces and plummet down through the storm sewer drain that no one likes to walk over in the middle of the sidewalk. i thought i had known this feeling before, but when mixed with just the right dose of the strongest brand of disappointment, it'll hit you like seven hurricanes from pat o'briens in the french quarter and leave you stumbling around in the clothes you'd left the house in the night before. i have not known this feeling before. slowly but surely, i am getting over it. emphasis on the slowly, but also a little emphasis on the surely. i could increase the stress on the surely and decrease it on the slowly if only death cab would decide to leave me alone. only for a little while, would that be okay?

i know that this isn't all going to go away overnight, that years from now i'll hear a death cab song and the little memories will float in, less searing and hopefully more nostalgic this time. i guess i can say that now i'm more prepared for the challenges life has ahead for me, i know a little bit more about people and how they act. i hope that soon i'll really be ready to fall in love, and this time for real.

cheers,

lauren

an airplane carried me to bed

at first, we thought it would be a good idea to only listen to adam on our vacation. after all, seattle is the absolute perfect city for his music, am i wrong? but five days into our washington journey, i'm a little over synths and drum kits. not to say we love adam any less, but maybe it's just time for a small break.

our pictures are piling up but the internet is painfully slow here. they'll have to wait until we're back in az, hiding inside from the sunshine. it's incredibly cloudy here without a drop of rain in sight, the weather is finally warming up & we're spending as much time as possible outside. notice my lack of an oxford comma? why would you lie about how much coal you have, why would lie about something dumb like that? get it? we ordered pizza 2 hours ago. i'm starving

cheers,
lauren