open mic night.

spontaneity...the spice of life.

all you need is:

a little imagination

working with your environment

and the guts to back it.

this is where i come in....

i won't go into the boring details, but today i was called to be the drive up teller for the day. not the best {nor the most fun} idea my managers had, but i did it. the afternoon was ssssssllllloooowwwww. i mean slow! we listen to a classic rock station at the branch you know: journey, queen, bon jovi, acdc, simon and garfunkel, boston, billy joel, elton john, billy idol....

i think you get the idea.

so when queen's "i want to ride my bicycle" came on i COULDN'T resist singing in the drive-up mic. much to my surprise, if i sang loud enough my singing would echo through the entire drive-up.

heaven.

so i had an entire concert. including, and not limited to:

journey, "open arms"

bon jovi, "wanted dead or alive"

styx, "come sail away"

finally the boss lady had, had enough. she told me no more and said if i wanted to i could go get a diet coke or something.... she just wanted me out of the branch.

* only 16 more days!

it's on it's way!

my birthday is in 19 days.

i love my birthday.

i repeat.... I LOVE MY BIRTHDAY!

i don't know if my birthday could ever possibly live up to the insane expectations i create in my head.

regardless...

here is a one stop shop for my birthday wishes.



mac's creme cup accompanied by beurre lip liner.

 

i've needed a new purse for awhile. i think this is the one.



mr. george strait will be here april 2nd. i need to be there.



and i wouldn't be mad if these found their way to my desk.

•  i couldn't find a picture for this: but what i'd really LOVE for my birthday would be the complete guide to the male brain. unfortunately i don't think it exist.

last but not least.

aubry wanted this on her birthday.

{sorry aubs, totally ripped off your idea}

but i can't think of anything better than all the people who mean something to me in one central location!

love

"Think of the purest, most all-consuming love you can imagine. Now multiply that love by an infinite amount—that is the measure of God’s love for you. God does not look on the outward appearance. I believe that He doesn’t care one bit if we live in a castle or a cottage, if we are handsome or homely, if we are famous or forgotten. Though we are incomplete, God loves us completely. Though we are imperfect, He loves us perfectly. Though we may feel lost and without compass, God's love encompasses us completely. He loves us because He is filled with an infinite measure of holy, pure, and indescribable love. We are important to God not because of our résumé but because we are His children. He loves every one of us, even those who are flawed, rejected, awkward, sorrowful, or broken. God’s love is so great that He loves even the proud, the selfish, the arrogant, and the wicked. What this means is that, regardless of our current state, there is hope for us. No matter our distress, no matter our sorrow, no matter our mistakes, our infinitely compassionate Heavenly Father desires that we draw near to Him so that He can draw near to us."

-Dieter F. Uchtdorf



r.a.n.d.o.m.

it's one of those posts... hold onto your hats.

• just watched the town {so...maybe it's rated r} LOVED it.
• %$#!*&^#^ i just don't get it.
• sundance tomorrow. number 1 goal: find a cleb love interest.
• doesn't paris in the spring sound nice?
• down 8 {maybe 9} pounds.
• i bought sparkely purple nail polish, my 4 year-old niece is the only one who has appreciated it to the same level i have.
• mario and lugii KIND of remind me of simon and garfunkel.
• i made it to the gym 3 days in a row.
• i hate being home alone.
• my birthday is in 22 days!
• i hit my co-workers car last week. awesome.
• i'm sick of cold winter.
• i'll get a killer tax return this year. {who needs a sugar momma?...kidding.}
• i need to watch a foreign film for my humanities class, any suggestions?
• sometimes i feel like i live out of my car.
• i've had a serious lack of blogging material lately. so you get posts like this.
• "what will n-y-1-5-2 do today i ask myself?" name that movie.
• this week has been so off. i feel completely disconnected from my life.
• i'm the funny one in my family.
• ok: and for the record. i may not be a very good blog commenter, but i AM doing really good at blogging.
• i won my first blog give away.... thanks jen! i'm going to smell SO good thanks to you.

i think that's everything. ok, not everything, but somethings i need to keep inside my head, and off the world wide web.

5 5's about me:

5 favorite things:

• diet coke
• surprises
• fresh flowers {especially when they are delivered}
• my birthday
• anything colorful with a pattern

5 guilty pleasures:

• jersey shore
• snickers
• being connected to everything and anything via blackberry
• midnight snacks
• being right

5 things i'm good at:

• spending money
• my job
• finding humor in the NOT so humorous things
• mixing so many colors and patterns in one single outfit your head will spin
• sleeping

5 most played songs on itunes:

• poker face: lady gaga
• don't stop believin': glee
• just a dream: nelly
• totally eclipse of the heart: glee
• she's always a woman: billy joel

5 things i couldn't live without:

• diet coke
• blackberry
• music
• family
• gospel

time

have you ever thought about time. how it's always moving. you can never get it back. when all is said and done you only have the memories? for some reason the concept of time has been on my mind a lot lately. it makes me heart-sick to think that i'll never get certain moments back. i will never be able to relive or recreate special events in my life. i will always have those memories, and pictures from a lot of events, but i can't experience them again. i can remember so vividly the day i drove to college. i remember laying in bed that night realizing that the chapter of my childhood had been closed. i could always go home, but it would never be what it once was. i was heart-sick. i remember the day i left dixie to move back home. i remember watching st. george slowly disappear in my rear view mirror having the same heart-sick feeling. life is constantly changing and evolving. it's funny, i always catch myself longing for the next phase of life, but then when it comes i don't want to let go of the now. {because i know if i do, i won't get it back}i need to do better at appreciating the here and now, because it won't always be here. i can't think of a single time in life when the next phase of life has presented itself, and i haven't looked backed and wished i'd only appreciated it a little bit more. but i guess that the trick of life. learning to love and embrace where you are in life, knowing the next phase will come. it always does.

life is good. it is oh so good. and real {deep, inner} happiness comes from being happy in whichever circumstances you find yourself, don't waste life waiting around for what comes next.

"a quality life is God’s greatest wish for us. life is to be lived well in whatever circumstances we find ourselves. there should not be a waiting period."
-marvin j. ashton.

mom... this one's for you.

find print here.

just another reason....

....i'm the fun aunt.

simon {&} garfunkel

yesterday when i walked into work 'bridge over troubled water' was playing on the radio.

i was instantly taken back to lake powell.

i was 5 years old.

we'd stopped for lunch.

dad had set up his station for making lunches.

pita bread with turkey.

i was sitting on the back bench of the boat.

{wearing a lifejacket that i hated, with a t-shirt over it to keep from rubbing my chin}

soaking in the sun listening to the best of simon & garfunkel.

to this day i can't hear these guys without instantly being taken back to lake powell.

my nightstand.

what's on your nightstand right. now.?

this should be tag post or something.

this is how mine looks.

{i swear i didn't stage this photo....not even the scriptures.}

1. my awesome pictures of my papas.
2. scriptures. {they are a post in-and-of themselves}
3. chapstick. and more chapstick. remember, i'm addicted?
4. the nail polish that is currently on my nails.
5. i can't sleep without water right. by. my. bed.
6. lotion. i have a weird lotion complex. i can't sleep if my hands feel dry.
7. gross, my retainer. 8 years later i still wear it religiously.
8. my glasses.
9. i'm not sure what it's called. i just know it used to belong to my great-grandmother.
10. tickets to the utah/byu basketball game {date} i'm going to tomorrow.
11. the cute picture of me and jen she gave me for christmas.
12. a box of checks i thought i lost that have since been found.

jensen communication

today i had to go out to sandy to get a few things done.

i knew i would be in heidi's neck of the woods.

so i called her to see if she was up for lunch.

heidi was a go.

so i called my mom to see if she was in...

she thought she could but didn't commit.

next up jamie.

once again no commitment.

amy.

she'd let me know.

jill.

 no answer.

jenny.

she was a go.

informed me my mom was also.

i got a call from amy.

she'd be late she, but coming.

text from jamie,

"lunch plans? i think i'm in"

and this is how the jensen family works.

9 phone calls & 2 hours later...

we had lunch planned.

{this happens more often than not}

final result:

lunch for 9 please.

{not to mention a similar scenario for a shopping following lunch.}

the bridge....

today bridge and i have communicated via:

• blackberry messenger
• phone call
• facebook
• e-mail
• brain waves

there are few people in this world lucky enough to have a friend like bridget in their lives.

post high school bridget headed north and i south.

despite the distance nothing changed.

{i can remember many nights call my besite in logan in tears...

she listened... she's REALLY good at that.}

we've been able to spend a lot of time together over christmas break.

i'm dreading sunday when she heads back up to logan.

blessed doesn't even begin to describe my friendship with bridget.

we. just. get. each. other.

and it's beyond refreshing.

whenever we get together we pick up right where we left off.

without skipping a beat.

dating.

this item of business has been in the works for a while. so much has happened and i've had so much to say... so tonight i gear up ready to type my fingers to death and get. it. all. out. there.

when i get to the other side the first thing i'm going to do is ask why. "why are women wired the way we are?" it just doesn't seem fair that we get to deal with the emotional and physical aspects of womanhood. now don't get me wrong, i feel so grateful to be a women, and feel blessed to understand the unique role of women in god's works. but... the emotions. oh the emotions.... especially when it comes to boys.... which brings me to the subject of my blog... boys.

i have a few thoughts i want to share, and i don't know how best to discuss them other than just throwing them out there... so here goes nothing.

• i have tired my entire life to be doing the right things, at the right times, and do the best that i can. i know i'm not perfect, but that doesn't mean i don't try. it's SO frustrating to be passed up time and time again for girls that are just a pretty face. all growing up my mom always told me, "someday boys will understand that there are more important things than looks." i'm ready for that day.
• ASK GIRLS OUT ALREADY! dating is kind of a helpless thing when your a girl. you wait. you wait for a guy to ask you out. i recently read a quote by marvin j. ashton, "to marriageable, mature men, i call them unto repentance. do not procrastinate the day of your repentance. believe us when we tell you there is someone for you and god will help you find her. i have little patience for a marriageable, mature man who hasn't found "miss perfect"." i can't say it any better.
• why don't boys care like we do? recently a boy broke. my. heart. i was talking to aubry last night telling her that i was almost grateful for how he treated me because it made moving on easier. how backwards is that? boys have to hit all time lows for girls to feel like they are ok to move on without them....not only that, but i still held on for so long. he had moved on and didn't care anymore, i wasn't even a thought in his mind. and me? i was left to mend a broken heart.
• dating is hard for me. {i won't sugar coat it} i've never been confident when it comes to boys, and don't even get me started on first dates. i'm awkward. {any advice here?} first dates are such a gamble. you try to put your best foot forward, but if you don't do well enough, there's not a follow up.
• i know me, i know who i am, how i am, and my heart. there have been so many times that i look at boys that aren't interest and i just want to scream, "if you only would take the time to get to know me! if you would give me a chance! if you would take a second look. you would see that i'm brooke. wonderful. happy. kind hearted. well intentioned brooke. and someday i will make some man the happiest man in the world!"then i get passed up for boobs....
• i am who i am, and i won't change it for any boy... although sometimes i wonder, if i became someone i'm not, would i be someone worth having?
• i try not to get down on myself for not dating, but that can be hard. how am i supposed to feel when guys aren't asking me out? or when i go on a date and never hear anything more? how do i not take that to heart... then i remember another quote by marvin j. ashton, "the real fun of life is in overcoming obstacles while still happily hoping everything will work out." remember that always brooke.

i know what everyone will think when they read this....why is brooke so anxious to get married? or.... i remember feeling that same way when i was single, but it was so worth the wait to find my mate.... the list could go on and on. but this is MY blog so i get to blog what's on my mind! {and please don't leave a comment like the second one, i really don't want to hear it.} dating is just hard. that's all there is to it. i'm certainly not giving up.... and one day i'm SURE it will all be worth it. but for now, i endure the emotions that are part of womanhood, and continue working my way through boys to find that man that will be mine. i've been promised i'll find him, and it will all be worth every broken heart, dateless night, and tear i've cried.

dress ups

the girls new favorite thing is to play dress ups in my closet.

and truth be told it's my favorite thing.

morgan had gotten all dolled up and oakley looked at her and said,

"oh morgan! you look simply beautiful!"

so cute!

oakley's finished product.she looked "simply beautiful"

i walked in my room and she was all dressed up.

sitting on my bed.

singing katy perry's "teenage dream".

priceless!

i hope that when my pseudo kids are all grown up i hope they remember how much fun i was.

good ol' aunt bwookie.