awkward and awesome thursday

i think this is the first "awkward and awesome" i've done since being home. hooray!

awkward...

• my sister and i having the same color toothbrush, and not knowing which is which
• walking/driving around overland park in my black pants and tuxedo shirt because i forgot to bring clothes to change into after work
• a man offering me $20 to date his son because i "look cute and fun" (or is this awesome?)
• walking to dillon's (the grocery store) to go to the bathroom because my boyfriend's toilet is broken
• bearing my testimony in sacrament meeting, weeping like a small child, and having two streams of mascara flowing down my face, and no one telling me about it

awesome...

• rick telling me he noticed that i was losing weight
• weighing what i did my freshman year of high school
• getting letters from missionaries (especially kyle!)
• getting called to teach ctr 7
• making mix cd's
• it being warm enough to drive with my windows down and sunroof open
• getting a text from kayla because shes finally back IN AMERICA
• little sam being a sick and him telling me a paige hug should make him feel better
• driving two and a half hours to springfield for the night with my best friend 
• skype dates with cassie first thing when we wake up

pet peeves

maybe it's because my mom double majored in english and is kind of a grammar nazi, or maybe it's because i find good spelling and grammar extremely attractive. i'm not sure. but whatever the reason is, something inside my being has driven me to several grammar/spelling related annoyances. and i'd like to take this opportunity to share them with you.

1. When People Capitalize The First Letter Of Every Word In A Sentence

this is not the title of a book or movie, the name of a person, holiday, or any other string of words that requires capital letters, and therefore, entirely annoying and unnecessary

2. When people use exclamation marks at the end of every sentence!!! And not just one, but multiple!!!!

doesn't it feel like they're yelling at you? or overly excited? whatever it is, i hate it

3. WhEn PeOpLe PuLl NoNsEnSe LiKe ThIs... WhY, wHyYyYy!?

you're basically saying, "hi i'm 5 years old and don't want people to be able to understand what i'm saying"

4. The incorrect spelling of words, but mostly: definitely, gauge, restaurant, and weird.

i think "definitely" is the one i hate the most. it's not DEFIANTLY. that's a whole different word. we had spelling tests in elementary school for a reason, people.

5. Wen ppl talk lyk this n e wer but txt msgs... lyk 4 real

i feel this behavior unacceptable anywhere, really. it confirms the stereotype that americans are lazy, but more importantly it just kind of makes you look... well, dumb. it doesn't take that much effort to spell words out entirely and correctly. but i mean it's whatever.

6. People who say "I could care less" obviously don't understand the expression.

this should probably be higher on my list because of how much it bothers me. it's i COULDN'T care less. because obviously, if you COULD care less, you care quite a bit about that matter.

7. When people insert an "s" on the end of everything. Recent examples I've seen...

..."maybes i'll see you later"

..."lovessss you" (i'm not even going to address the other apparent issue there)

8. Me vs. I

"come to the store with sarah and me" is correct

"mom and i watched a movie today" is correct

"did you see the picture of sarah and i?" is incorrect

"brian and me are about to leave" is incorrect

want a trick to help you figure out which to use? remove the other person's name, say the sentence with just either "i" or "me," and put the other person back in. like... "i am about to leave" "brian and i are about to leave" ...see? it's brilliant

now, i'm sorry if 1) you are guilty of these common (but awful/disgusting/annoying) mistakes, 2) i offended you, and/or 3) this turned into a grammar lesson. i just really felt the need to get that out there. it has been boiling and festering inside of me for quite some time and i feel so much better. 

END OF RANT

awkward and awesome thursday

awkward...

• telling pablo our driver, "no fumar en el van" (no smoking in the van) not knowing that he actually is a smoker
• macie and emily running around the baby orphanage with no pants on because theirs were sopping wet due to carnival festivities
• having lice; spending four hours in the bathrooom while three different people shampoo, later, rinse, and pick at my head (pics to come)
• only two more weeks in ecuador... this isn't awkward, it just sucks
• maria (one of our special girls) hitting on tanner hardcore, and making him feel ridiculously uncomfortable
• daisy telling me she likes my boobs

awesome...

• seeing the backstreet boys in ecuador with 8 of my favorite people
• my 20th birthday being in just 9 days
• skype dates with all of my people
• listening to my friends band on 96.5 the buzz online, a whole hemisphere away
• losing 2 more pounds
• oatmeal chocolate chip cookies
• three new babies at our main orphanage! diego, carolina, and mayra... it's kind of a sad awesome, but still exciting
• carnaval ending... one whole month of eggs, flour, baby formula, soap, and water being thrown at you gets old after about a day

let's hear your awkward/awesome :)

awkward and awesome thursday

awkward:
- so at the all girls orphanage we were at on saturday the girls kept calling us sénor, but i thought they were saying señor. so every time i heard it i'd be like "no soy un señor, diga chica or senorita." but then they explained to me that sénor and senorita were synonymous. so that was just fantastic. too bad i never learned that word in high school.
- forgetting it was superbowl sunday until i saw everybody's statuses on facebook.


(there wasn't a lot of awkward this week, i apologize)


awesome:
- eating at crepes and waffles last night to say goodbye to chantelle. yay for ham and cheese crepes. and yay for strawberry and brownie ice cream cones afterwards.
- one of the 2 yearolds finally calling my name every time i walk into a room. even though it sounds more like "peeeee" than it does "paige" i know she knows who i am. its the best feeling.
- being sick, yet again... not
- having two birthday parties this week for 5 of our babies (happy birthday emily, vicky, manuel, josue, and camilo).
- skype dates this week with madi, betsy, adrianna, and ethan.
- making valentine's day decorations at night shift with macie
- homemade pizza for lunch yesterday
- chopping my first tomato and onion for bruschetta... please dont judge me
- i've been here 6 weeks as of tonight!
- talking down a cab driver from $5 to $2.50
- the new aj rafael single being released early.
- starting roommate prayer in cassie's room at 8:30 every night.
- the possibility of spending fall semester studying in guadalajara.
- my religion teacher from the last three semesters ending his email to me "your friend, brother riggins"
- having a whole day tomorrow of nothing to do!
- my first valentine's day not in the united states being monday. i don't have just one valentine. but i have 30 little ones that i love who i get to spend my whole v-day with.

valentine's day last year

awkward and awesome thursday

inspired by miss sydney

awkward:
- walking in on the cleaning lady changing her clothes in the laundry room
- not understanding jokes in spanish but pretending to laugh about them anyways
- being trapped in a 12x8 foot room with 3 other people that have really bad gas but not knowing how to tell them to go outside when they need to take care of things like that, and then openly discussing it later
- having electricians in your room fixing your electricity when all your laundry is strewn about
- accidentally using the "tu" form with the workers at the orphanage instead of the "usted" form
- waking up your roommate as you cough up a lung

awesome:
- falling instantly in love with the two new volunteers we have
- having a consecutive 39 hours off, though i do miss my babies
- finally mailing the 7 postcards/letters i've had ready to go for 3 weeks
- getting a long overdue apology from someone that hurt you
- being told you look good when you have little to no makeup on and your hair's a mess
- getting leftovers of delicious fruit smoothies made by amber
- kisses from 2 yearolds
- making friends with ecuadorian high school girls, and dinner with them tomorrow night!
- rico crackers and cream cheese, and apples
- new music
- sacrament meeting in another country and another language, where the spirit is the same
- tomorrow is friday!
- the pictures below (i miss summer and amy cragun)