Its called civil rights. This is the 90's.

Remember that time that I gave up on my grateful-off? Yeah, I do too. I kind of knew I would, but it was a good try. Life just gets real busy ya’ll!
 
So what have I been so busy doing for the past week? Oh, just seeing the movie Bridesmaids THREE times. I am super proud of it too! For some reason I think that seeing the same funny movie 3 times in a 6 day period makes me far superior to those who have only seen it once or twice. Really it probably makes me pathetic, but I am sticking with my plan to feel superior. If you haven’t seen it yet, stop reading this NOW and get yourself to the next showing. Seriously, go NOW!

 

 
I trust if you are still reading this that you have already seen the movie, because if you didn’t do as I said above I am not really sure why you even bother reading my blog. Clearly you don’t really care about me as a person if you disregard such sage advice. Seriously though – SO FUNNY!!! I laughed harder than I did in The Hangover! I had tears running down my face at some points. Oh, and I am pretty sure I am Annie. I think that’s something I should feel sad about, but she is funny so I will take that as a compliment from myself.
 
Thank you, Kirsten. That is really nice of you to compare me to the character of Annie. I like her!
 
You’re so welcome, Kirsten! You are SOOOOOO funny! No wonder all of these people read your blog.
 
Oh, Kirsten! You’re too kind.
 
It appears my funk has ended since I am now complimenting myself constantly. Funk ended, but sanity now questionable. Who cares! The greatful-off was a success! That is really why I gave up on it. Yeah, it was the success that made me stop doing it. It had nothing to do with laziness or me being a goal-quitter, obviously.  

These Guys

My dear friend Sharon who taught me so much about listening and following your heart
Early morning workouts
Flip-flops
(500) Days of Summer
These guys:

Happy Endings

Have you guys been watching the new show Happy Endings? No? Oh, that’s right…I am one of like 4 people who love that show. But I do love it and I want you all to go check it out and love it too so that it doesn’t get taken away from me! It’s all I have! Please!?!
 
Moving on… Basically, Happy Endings is a newer version of Friends. It’s great because I am now old enough to relate to and appreciate the situations the characters get in to, unlike when I was 14 and watching Friends (no disrespect intended). So I was watching Happy Endings the other day when my 16 year old brother walked in and it turns out that he is also 1 of the 4 people that loves it. We began a discussion of its hilarity and our favorite characters and I told him that I was concerned that I am Penny, the funny yet neurotic one. I was hoping he would disagree, but he quickly changed the subject. They learn young how to get out of a lady-trap. This all brings me to today. Happy Endings is on tonight (YAY!) so I was thinking about that conversation and his lack of answer. Behold the conversation I had with my brother via text:
 
Me: I’m Penny, aren’t I?
Austin: Yes
 
Just like that! No cushion to the blow, no “but she’s the funniest” or anything; just a resounding confirmation that I am indeed the neurotic one. Allow me to give you Wikipedia’s character description of Penny Hartz:
“The group’s desperate and single friend who constantly worries that she’ll never find the right guy”
 
Umm, yeah. My brother said that about me. I’m not desperate, right? What’s that? My begging you to watch this show so that it’s not taken away from me because it’s all I have, came off as desperate? Well this is awkward then.
 
 
Let’s just move on to my gratitude list for today and ignore my desperation and obsession over finding the right man:
 
The show Happy Endings (obvs)
My new salad holder
Goosey (aka my brother Austin)
The awful waitress I had last night who provided me with weeks of jokes
Pretzels
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

I heart Andrew McMahon

Andrew McMahon and his musical genius 
Short work days
Ranch dressing
Friends that text you all day while you're bored at a symposium
The tools I have to help get me through discouraging times

I am insanely tired and still posting.

Dash fitness studio
Pickles
Gel nails 
Babies
My bed

Dia De La Madres

My mom
My Gma
My aunts
My friends moms' who have always been wonderful mothers to me!
My friends that have mothers for being my friends

Much love to all the mothers out there.

Did you notice how nice it was outside today?

Sales at JCrew
Nights in the park
Flowers
Walks in the park
Sleeping in

Day too

College…specifically the University of Utah
My sense of humor
Words with Friends (if you haven’t checked out that app, do it.)
My camelback water bottle
The Temple
 
I was only like 3/5th materialistic today. We are making progress.
 

Grateful-off!

I'm just going to cut to the chase on this one: I have been in an epic funk lately. There have been a lot of changes in my life and I am kind of hating on lots of things right now. Not that any of these changes are terrible, but I just don’t care too much for them and it has put me in a pretty sour mood. I have a fear that if I don’t stop this funk, it could turn me into that bitter, negative girl that people start avoiding because she is constantly in a bad mood. Then I'll stop trying and start gaining weight at rapid speeds and I'll buy 4 cats. I hate cats and I have a phobia of getting fat, so I just can’t allow this. In an attempt to keep my spirits high and my gloominess at bay, I have decided to challenge myself to a grateful-off!
 
Starting today I will be posting 5 things that I am grateful for on a daily basis. They will be in no particular order (obvs) and they will be new every day. I will keep this up until the end of May (or until I give up on my own challenge. I am not a very good goal-finisher. Stop it, Kirsten! You are being positive now!).
 
Today I am grateful for:
 
The sun shining outside
My iPhone
Diet Coke
JCrew Cardigans
My AppleTV
 
 
Okay, so I am starting off pretty shallow. I think we established that I am grumpy so it might take me some time to warm up to the bigger picture. Or maybe I will prove myself to be the most shallow, materialistic girl you’ve ever encountered. We’ll see…
 

Once upon a time I had this Great Grandma that lived in this quaint house on 9th east. She had coloring books under her sofa and fig newtons in her fridge. She also performed Indian rain dances upon occasion. When I was 5ish, the alzheimers got the best of her so we moved her to a home in Canada. She lived up there for another 8ish years and sang dirty limericks up until her death. It was awesome…the limericks, not her death. That was sad. But she also started me on my salt and pepper shaker collection.
 
The current members of the family:
 
 

When she moved from the quaint house on 9th east, she bestowed upon me some ceramic salt and pepper shakers. There were several sets, but the one I remember is a kangaroo and her baby. Kangaroos were and still are my favorite animal so I loved those ones! Obviously a 5 year old is not to be trusted with ceramic things, so who knows what became of them. The problem is, I want the kanga and roo salt and pepper shakers. Bad. If there was a salt and pepper shaker stalker, it would be me. I spend a lot of time online looking for a match. I have found many similar ones, but they do not match the image engraved in my mind’s eye. I once found the exact set, but they were all chipped and kanga was missing an ear. Another time I found a perfect match on etsy and said I’d be back later to buy it. I was too late.
 
Please, help me find these salt and pepper shakers. They are the founding members of my collection and they belong with their family. Your help is appreciated.
 
 
 
On a side note: My friend Ryan told me that my salt and pepper shaker collection might be scaring men off. My other friend Ryan told me my collection "made him sad for me". I am guessing this blog post isn’t going to help either.