Disney people are crazy.

Want some joy?

Okay, here’s your joy in the form of Nationals and Disneyland pictures. The girls did great btw. Made it to finals and took home 5th place!

We love trophies! 

I didn't quite make the pose. Too scary! 

Oops. Sorry for blocking your face chick behind me. But not really. We look awesome. 

I promise I'm not a creep... those wigs were just too weird! Had to take a picture.

BTMR (Big Thunder Mountain Railroad) It is my favorite ride and deserves a nickname as it should also be everyone else’s favorite. Yes, I am going to should on you right here. If Pirates is your favorite you have some serious problems that I can’t even tackle. Anyway, BTMR was closed! I feel like anytime a major ride is closed they should be discounting your Disney pass. Seriously! WTF is wrong with them?

We were devastated.

Let’s all agree that Space Mountain is the best ride, BUT since it isn't cheesy Disney enough BTMR takes the number one spot as a cheesy and fast rollercoaster. It also gets bumped up a bit because people have died on it. Every time you ride, you are basically living on the edge. How bad ass of you! Kudos.

One last thing about Disneyland. There is something about Disney that makes people completely lose their minds. They all of a sudden buy crap with Mickey on it that they wouldn't be caught dead in any other time. Don’t you worry, I am not one of those people. I have not purchased a Mickey t-shirt, nor will I in my lifetime. Unless I end up with a kid someday who loves Disney… Then I will consider buying Mickey stuff for it. When I say "it" right there I mean the kid. I did have a Tigger jacket when I was 9… Come on Joanne! Why did you let me have that? Gross. But really, what is it about Disneyland that makes people buy all that crappy stuff? Maybe they put something in the water? That would also answer the question of why the water tastes like dirt.

So long Mickey Snow White. Until we meet again!

Hey Mickey!

Oh, Mickey, you're so fine. You're so fine you blow my mind. Hey, Mickey!
CLICK HERE (and fast forward to 0:38).

Guess what!? I AM GOING TO DISNEYLAND THIS WEEKEND!!!! Cheerleading Nationals have snuck up on me. It is going to be great! Wait, you don’t think that taking a bunch of high school cheerleaders to California sounds fun? Then you are probably a normal person. I realize that I am unhinged, but a weekend in the happiest place on earth is just what I need. Plus I love cheerleading. And spending all afternoon watching competitive cheerleading sounds look a good day to me! Here is my post from the trip last year.

Looking forward to recreating this. I need to remember to pack that shirt! 

On another note, how do you all feel about Google Reader leaving us? How do the rest of you track your favorite blogs? I really don’t like bloglovin. Soooo now I am in the market for a new RSS reader that will work for a desktop and my mobile device easily.

I will be honest by telling you that I have an unhealthy attachment to my Google Reader. That being said, what are we going to do come July 1st!? Let's be real, if Google thinks we are going to favorite sites and visit them every day, they have lost their bloody minds!  Let me know what you guys are doing. I have read a couple articles about some options, but I’m not sold on anything yet.

Have a great weekend everyone!

An Urban Playground

I had a great weekend that happened to go WAY too fast. It was here and gone in a blink of an eye. There was some good stuff in it though, including spending my entire Saturday in workout clothes, renting a surrey and getting my picture taken at a blogger meet-up. Wait, maybe it went too fast because we lost an hour? No, that can’t be it.

Do you ever feel like your city is your own personal playground? Marina and I spent Saturday jogging and hop-skipping through downtown. I mean this literally. We rented a surrey, walked to Portland City Grill for happy hour, decided to go to a movie and ran and skipped to Pioneer Place to make it in time to catch the 7pm of OZ. Marina referred to downtown as our concrete jungle gym. To top off the kid like behavior we grabbed slurpees on the way home. It was awesome. If only we could have played a game of tether-ball or something. When we are roommates we plan to have what we will call, “yoga clothes days.” This is a day where you stay in workout clothes all day, even if you go to fancy places like PCG. Believe me, you won’t care what other people think when you are that comfortable!

That was my weekend, ‘twas great. Then yesterday was just painful! I have never been so ready for a day to be over. I am exhausted for some reason. I think I am actively fighting off sickness. I got over that lame cold, but now there are some new fun things like an ear ache. Not that you care about that… Whatever.

Honestly, the real reason I think I am dragging is that I feel stagnant in my spiritual life. When I get like this I tend to question EVERYTHING. I start to figure that my short-comings as a person are abundantly clear to everyone around me and that they can’t possibly even want me to be in their lives. E.g. she is probably my friend because she feels obligated; my parents probably think I’m pathetic because I am so incompetent about my taxes. I could write an entire post on my negative self-talk and how all of my relationships are false, but no one is tryna be brought down around here! I promise I will not do that to you today. I will say this though, awareness is the first step right!? Kinda like addiction… but kinda not. I need to spend more time in the word and less time believing the lies that are popping into my head.

Obviously the reason I hear all of these lies is because I am not actively listening to the truth.

Wow, this post about my weekend sure took an interesting turn. Have a great Tuesday! I hope you are listening to the new JT album on iTunes today.

Portland on Dwellable

Artificial flavor

Everyone wigs out about blue raspberry. “That isn't real! Raspberries aren't blue!!”
Or are they?...

Fact about me: I chew cinnamon gum.

The other day as I was unwrapping a piece of cinnamon gum, my mind wandered, hmm… cinnamon is brown. Not red.

I guess brown probably wouldn't be that appetizing. Everyone freaks out about blue raspberry, but no one thinks twice about red cinnamon stuff.

What’s up with that!? I'll just be here washing down some Red Hots with a blue raspberry Slurpee.

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I'm back! Sun Valley and other stuff.

Hello again!

I have been so busy doing important things like going on vacation, going to a wedding, doing laundry and getting a cold. Jealous of those last two? You should be.

Here is some vacation stuff that you may have already seen on Insta. My sister has a fancy camera with good pictures, but she probably won’t share them for like a month… if at all. It’s okay Linds, I think uploading is a hugely annoying task as well.

The Lodge and Baldy

My lovely parents

Dinner at the Ketchum Grill

And from the wedding for your enjoyment:

I posted this even though it is blurry with demon eyes. Why? Because it is hilarious and my legs look crazy tan! 

There was obviously a lot of fun involved in both. Anyway, I’m back in action! Except for this annoying cold.

Hailey on Dwellable

Road Trips and MTV

No, I am not talking about Road Rules. Close though!

Only one post this week because I am going on vacation!!!!! Woohoo! I am beyond excited to kick it with my family, ski and eat. That list is not necessarily in order of importance, but to spare feelings I decided I better type it out that way. (Hint: put them in reverse)

I’ll be here:

This is from the @sunvalley Instagram YESTERDAY! 

On a completely separate note, the trailer for Real World Portland is out. My favorite part is when they show the carpet at the airport. My least favorite part is the rest of it. I can’t help but be slightly annoyed with the quality of the cast and how they will probably make PDX look super lame by spending all their time at Splash Bar and Dirty. At least they were here during an awesome time of year! Hopefully MTV reps PDX in a fab way! It is also likely that our favorite places refused to sign whatever MTV has that forces establishments to take on all liability. I am obviously going to watch the entire season. For many reasons… including seeing if that time we yelled at them from the car makes it on TV! Ha!

Click Here to watch.

I'll be back next week!… maybe. I’ll probably have a vacation hangover. You know, when you are so relaxed from your vacation that it is debilitating. Am I the only one who “suffers” from this?

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My Love is Your Love

Whitney Houston taught me that. Happy Valentine’s Day friends!

I hope you are all celebrating with some glitter, hearts and chocolate! I for one will be hitting up the store tomorrow to get some good chocolate on sale. 40% off baby!

Obviously love is complex, but today I want to discuss a specific concept about love.

Love isn't love until we give it away. 

We talked about this at my bible study this morning. We have love. We feel love for others. More specifically we receive love from God. That love from God is real because He expresses that love to us through scripture, prayer, words from others and by romancing us with His creation. We are also commanded through scripture to share that same love with others. (Side note: Jesus is God, God is love, and we receive Jesus… scriptural word play!)

Let’s reflect that in our lives! This isn't just a religious concept. It is straight up reality. When we feel love for someone and don’t share it with them, that emotion becomes void. Unless we express to people that we care for them, it is not real to them.

So take this sappy holiday as an opportunity. You don’t need to send a card or candy. It can be a word, a call or a text. Tell them that you cherish and appreciate them!

Note that this does not only apply to Valentine’s Day. Remember it daily, love isn't love until you give it away and it becomes real for the other person!

PS. I think that is a song lyric… but we are just going to pretend it is an original thought from my group this morning. Okay? Great.

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