. . . twenty-five on the twenty-fifth . . .

. . . today we celebrate the golden birthday of

amelia nathel romney johnson . . .

{she's the one on the left}

. . . if you need her today,

she'll probably be

eating free birthday food

at krispy kreme, joe's real bbq,

joes's farm grill, red robin, or denny's . . .

. . . because she's really, really hungry . . .

{and pregnant}

. . . yep ~ these two crazy kids are having a baby . . .

{in late august}

. . . i fully expect their child to come out

either a teeny tiny blonde

or with a full beard . . .

{let's hope not a combo of the two!}

. . . happy happy golden {times three} birthday

to my sweet mom, also . . .

{you can go wish her a happy facebook birthday. go on ~ she'd love it!}

. . . at the risk of being redundant ~

check here, here, or here

for additional mom/meems fun birthday facts . . .

{the first link is especially good, ifimaysaysomyself}

. . . nail biter . . .

. . . whenever "the game" isn't over yet . . .

{don't ask me which one ~ there's always some game on!}

. . . but the grandkids are ready for a movie . . .

. . . grampa has to resort

to them watching on the laptop . . .

. . . tagg always brings a snack . . .

. . . and elliott always makes himself comfy . . .

. . . by this point, tate and halleigh joined in . . .

. . . and i wondered

what scary movie

they were watching . . .

. . . because everybody looks pretty intense . . .

. . . i should have guessed . . .

. . . it's that notorious bad guy . . .

. . . big baby . . .

. . . happy birthday george and abe . . .

. . . these wise and great men . . .

. . . deserve a holiday where

boy scouts put flags

in all the yards

in our neighborhood . . .

. . . george said: "worry is the interest paid

by those who borrow trouble" . . .

. . . abe said: "most folks are about as happy

as they make up their minds to be" . . .

. . . presidents were really smart

back in the old days . . .

. . . camel lot . . .

. . . i love it

when unexpected treasures

come my way . . .

. . . i feel bad about the circumstances . . .

{the keeper of this scrapbook sadly passed away}

. . . but i'm grateful these pages have

{in a round about way}

ended up in my hands . . .

. . . thank you to all involved! . . .

. . . what we have here is

a thirty-seven-year-old

blast from my past . . .

. . . great times the summer before my senior year . . .

. . . a complete program . . .

. . . including cast lists and credits . . .

{i was, no doubt, super convincing as one of fatima's daughters}

. . . and this photo of my dad

{a really faded, grainy 3x3 photo}

doing what he loved . . .

{he was an attorney by trade ~ writer/director/creative genius at heart}

. . . literally making

these amazing/darling camels materialize

from nothing more than 2x4s, chicken wire,

papier mache, and poster paint . . .

. . . and a complete original script . . .

{remember the smell of a fresh ditto?}

. . . including all of keitha's handwritten notes . . .

{thank you keitha}

. . . wherein girl six became ME! . . .

{much more personal}

. . . pictured are fatima, abdul and scheherazade ~

the stars of the show . . .

{not pictured ~ handsome stranger}

. . . she even took the time

to note results of the judging . . .

{these shows were extremely competitive}

. . . and after all our hard work that summer . . .

. . . we were pretty pleased with the outcome . . .

. . . ahhhhhh ~ memories . . .

. . . valentines da[y]vis . . .

. . . my dad loved valentines day . . .

. . . you can see why . . .

. . . so we spent some time

this valentines day evening . . .

. . . remembering him . . .

. . . and trying our best to smile . . .

. . . even though

we really really really really miss him . . .

. . . and then we did

exactly what he'd want us to do . . .

. . . we went to el charro, of course! . . .

. . . happy birthday, dad . . .

. . . balentimes day . . .

{isn't that how little kids say it?}

. . . i have to admit i laughed . . .

{and stopped to snap a photo}

. . . when i saw this in safeway the other day . . .

. . . but how cute are these

valentine wallpapers

for your iPhone? . . .

{according to the comments ~ it works for blackberry, too}

. . . and they're free! . . .

. . . and created by jenny harris of allsorts . . .

. . . everything she does is a d o r a b l e . . .

. . . i grabbed the pink ones,

but they also come in red, blue, and aqua

and they're cute as a bug . . .

. . . the pit of despair . . .

. . . name that movie . . .

{see post title}

. . . welcome to my closet . . .

{think scary twilight zone music}

. . . which, as you can see,

is very deserving of its nickname . . .

. . . would you like a guided tour? . . .

. . . just to the left of the door . . .

{i bet you have a box of old cassettes in your closet, too. lucky you!}

. . . here's the side designated

for bill's cra...stuff . . .

. . . featuring 3 boxes full

of 6 years worth

of medical papers, xrays and mris . . .

. . . an empty dvd player box . . .

. . . and some really dusty sweaters . . .

. . . turning the corner,

we have the first glimpse

of my cra...stuff . . .

. . . mostly ~ clothes i haven't worn in years . . .

. . . and some sweaters behind closed doors

that i'd forgotten i even had . . .

. . . and a messy jumble

of purses, shoes, cosmetic bags,

and other cra...stuff . . .

. . . including two reallllllllllly dusty pair of boots . . .

. . . here's my out of control jewelry drawer . . .

. . . and a slightly confusing visual aid

from bill's lesson to the 16 and 17-year-olds

in our ward a couple of weeks ago . . .

{for the record ~

we were talking about sins of commission ~

things we [do], but shouldn't ~

and sins of omission ~

things we [don't] do, but should ~

and we're opposed to both kinds ~

just for the record}

. . . here's another little section

where husband's stuff tends to accumulate . . .

. . . oh, look! . . .

. . . there's a christmas present

i forgot i bought for amber . . .

. . . and some raggedy jeans . . .

. . . and no closet would be complete

without a randy johnson bobblehead . . .

. . . my closet is 9.5'x9.5' . . .

. . . 90 square feet of organizational possibilities . . .

. . . it's supposed to be classy . . .

. . . see? . . .

. . . let's just say it was not

living up to its' potential . . .

. . . so ~ remember when i was

without internet for a week? . . .

. . . guess what else i accomplished? . . .

. . . and yes ~ i managed

to spread this project out

over about ten days . . .

. . . but ~ ta da! . . .

. . . i even washed that little window inside and out . . .

. . . and dusted the shutters . . .

. . . after plenty of sorting and purging . . .

. . . dusting, vacuuming, and magic erasering . . .

. . . re-hanging . . .

. . . alterations and ironing . . .

. . . and RY G BIVing . . .

{in steph's world, ROY becomes RY}

. . . welcome to cardiganville . . .

. . . and boring colored skirts- and pantsville . . .

. . . black hoodies, anyone? . . .

. . . a few empty shelves don't bug me at all . . .

. . . there's plenty of room for more shoes . . .

. . . but i'm pretty happy

with my cute cheetah peeptoes

and nike frees . . .

{thanks, drew and jess!}

. . . here's what i like to call

the mr. clean section . . .

. . . it's really white . . .

{i even erased the board and did all the laundry}

. . . there're eleven watches in this drawer . . .

. . . one of them has a functioning battery . . .

. . . did you notice i only used white hangers? . . .

. . . would you like to see

what my ocd self

did with all the other colored ones? . . .

{looks like "ry" just became "r" g biv}

. . . so ~ in review . . .

. . . the pit of despair . . .

. . . and i so wish i knew

how to put sparkles

and harp music/angels singing

on this photo . . .

. . . we'll just have to make do

with rainbows and unicorns . . .

. . . in any case . . .

. . . here is the aftermath . . .

. . . not including three trash bags

full of shredded documents . . .

. . . there's some pretty awesome mhs tshirts

and lots of other treasures in those bags . . .

. . . which i happily delivered

to my local goodwill last saturday . . .

. . . except not the randy johnson bobblehead . . .

. . . nope ~ we totally kept him . . .

. . . some stuff is just too good to get rid of . . .

{edit: see comments. oops ~

that bobblehead is obviously not tall enough to be randy johnson}