Ugh.....Catch Up!

Yes, I've missed four days of posting now. I have no excuse other than I didn't feel like it. :) So today is catch up day....here we go!

Day #19 - Topic: Something that shook your belief system to its core (a big disappointment in your life).

Since I think I've talked enough about my divorce on here, I decided to talk about my brother for this post. As many of you may know, my brother Zack passed away from an accidental drug overdose at the age of 21. This was a big shock, and the timing was pretty terrible as his girlfriend had found out she was pregnant just a few weeks earlier. I actually came close to leaving the church at that point, but was pulled back in when I went to BYU-Idaho several months later. Zack always caused heartache in our family with the choices he made in life, but we each loved him very much and he was a good person. I still think about him most days and will always miss him. I am especially sad to not get to see him as a father to his wonderful son, who was named Zack in his dad's honor. But Little Zack has a great mom and a  great new step-dad. I think my brother would be happy with how that turned out. 

Day #20 - Topic: Discuss your favorite movie and why it's so special to you.

I've got to go back to my roots here and say Scream is my favorite movie! It's somewhat hard to explain why. It was one of the first scary movies I'd seen. I loved the surprises and thrills, and the laughs! When I was a teenager, everyone knew I loved that movie. I own Scream 1-3 on both VHS and DVD (I don't claim the recent release of Scream 4 =P). I also dressed up like Sidney Prescott (the main character) for 2 or 3 Halloweens. Oh, and the horror screenplay I have? It started out as a script for Scream 3, to try to see how close I could get it to how the movie actually turned out. But my mom and sister liked my opening scene and said I should keep on going with those characters and right something unique.

Day #21 - Topic: Write about your best friend (not significant other) and what makes them special.

I decided to write about two of them for this entry. The first is my best friend Cheri. I met her at BYU-Idaho. We were roommates our very first semester at college. We immediately bonded. She was my sister from another mister, as I like to say. :) We made up our own language (the LOSAC, which I still have a record of) and had our own traditions (like watching Felicity!). Some of my best memories from college were when we lived together our second year and went out on "stalking missions" for boys we had crushes on. After Cheri started dated one of the guys we had stalked, we decided to kidnap some of his stuff and hold them for ransom. We got all elaborate and made a bunch of notes of stuff he had to do at this park in order to get his stuff back. We both laid in the grass in the dark and watched him. He had to jump off a swing, bark like a dog, and do cartwheels. Well, as he was doing his cartwheels, right near my secret location, he ran straight into this big metal slide. It was pretty damn hilarious. :) In the end, he got his stuff and we both got candy bars. This is us after our mission (I had already changed my pants...they were all stealthy and black):

Cheri is special because she understands me. She knows all my flaws, all the things I've done, and she still loves me. :) She's one of the best examples to me of an LDS person. She never judged me for leaving the church and was always there for me, with open arms and total acceptance. She was also the most understanding person about Chris. I told her about him the first time by basically saying "I met this guy, he lives in England, but he's my soul mate and we're going to be together forever." She didn't laugh, and didn't doubt me (at least not to my face ;))...she was just excited for me and wanted to know everything. She will always be one of my best friends.

My other bestie that I wanted to write about today is Alex. I met her through my friend Greg, when the two began dating. It wasn't until Greg had a party at his house that we really started talking, and we became fast friends after that. She's another gal that I can just relate to and understand. We enjoy a lot of the same things and she's a great buddy to go dancing downtown with. She's a lot of fun to be around and never minds hearing me complain. :) I've been so grateful that I've gotten to know her. We even have a weekly girls night where we watch shows, have dinner, and vent about life. I look forward to it every week! Here we are a couple of weeks ago before hitting up BoDo:

Day #22 - Topic: Describe a dark/turbulent moment in your life.  

I think this topic has all been covered in other posts I've done throughout this 30 day challenge. Take your pick!  I don't really feel like drudging up any more dark memories right now...it's Friday and time to be positive about life!!

So instead...I will share some news! After going round and round and round for about a month, Chris and I have officially decided we are moving! Before you get too nervous/excited, I'll tell you we are moving about 15 minutes away from where we currently are. I've been in my current apartment for two years and they are raising the rent on us now, so I didn't really want to stay but couldn't find anywhere else that was good. Our max rent we wanted to pay a month was $700, but we decided to just go see these place called The Birches in Nampa whose rent was $750 because it seemed really nice. It is less than 2 miles from my work and has a pool, gym, tanning bed, clubhouse, hot tub, and a nice big pond right in the center of the complex. Oh, and the apartment itself is bigger than our current one. It was a gorgeous place and we really liked it. The lady who showed it to us asked what our price range was and I told her we didn't want to pay more than $700 a month. So before we left, she said she'd be willing to sign a year contract with us for a 2/bed, 2/bath for $700 a month! It was awesome. But once we got home, we decided we wouldn't be able to afford the deposit, as it was $350 for the security deposit and $400 per pet!! That would have made it $1150. I emailed her the next day to let her know that would be an issue and we'd have to stay where we were. Well, she responded and said she could waive one of the cat deposits, so it would only be a $750 deposit, which is actually cheaper than my current place. Because of that, we decided to go for it last night! We have put down part of the deposit and set up a moving date of June 16th. That should give Chris plenty of time to pack and clean (with me helping, of course!). We are both very excited! This will be our first place we've gotten TOGETHER and we can set it up and decorate it as we both please. It's also awesome that I will be able to ride my bike to work while the weather is nice. Get some exercise and save some gas!