Exhausted

This is pretty much how I felt after my 13 hour shift at work the other night

Drinks All Around!

As my good friend Brittany aka Spitty always says "I love weddings! Drinks all around!" Weddings are always an exciting event to attend, and not only was I able to attend the wedding of the year, but I was also able to be apart of the magical day.

My good friend Timian married the man of her dreams on Saturday and she asked me to be an usher for the ring ceremony. (Little did they know that they would actually need me to walk one of the bridesmaids down the aisle as one of the groom's men was delayed at the airport).

It was such a wonderful day filled with friends and love and food and cake. It made me so excited to someday start my career as a wedding planner/reception hall owner.

Congratulations Brandon and Timian! I love ya!

Suggestion

Read this:
and this:
and then, if you would like, we can talk :)

Trick-or-Treat!

Halloween is just around the corner, and is one of my favorite times of year! Last year I decided to do my first ever group themed costume, Scooby Doo, which turned out better than I ever could have imagined.

I wanted to carry on the tradition this year, but wasn't sure what to do. We had thought about being 80's rock/pop stars i.e. Madonna, Cindy Lauper, Prince, etc. and we also thought about being TV commercial personalities i.e. Flo from Progressive, the Orbit gum lady, Dex, the Verizon guy etc. But as my cousins and brother and sister and I were sitting at a family reunion over the summer, the rest of the family decided to pop in a particular movie, and we all knew at that instant we had our group theme.

Costumes

Tis the season for dressing up, which is why Halloween is one of my favorite times of the year. To quote the ever hilarious movie Mean Girls: "Halloween is the one night a year when girls can dress like a total slut and no other girls can say anything about it." And therein lies the beauty of it all. You can be whatever you want, and no one can say a word to you. Especially those who don't dress up. And why? Because it's Halloween! Dressing up is what you are supposed to do! So I urge you my non-Halloweeners, to let loose, let your freak flag fly and go to town this Halloween!

The past couple of years I've kind of been into the whole group costume thing. Last year My older brother, my younger sister, my cousin and me went as the Scooby-Doo gang (pictures below) . This year we have decided to continue the group theme and have come up with another (although probably not as epic) group theme. I will include a "hint picture" to see if you can guess what we are doing.

The Gang

Looking for the culprit

Here's the hint for the group costume this year

A Change for the Better

I don't know why, but it took me a year to figure out that accounting was a HUGE mistake for my minor, so I finally came to my senses and switched it to music. Yes everyone, I realize that switching this late in the game will set me back a semester or two, but I have given it a lot of thought and came to the conclusion that I would much rather be in school a few more semesters learning about things that I actually like and am good at than completely hate my life for the next 3 months. So, if you think I'm an idiot for switching this late, you can take it up with the Man Upstairs and see why he waited so long to tell me to switch.

Accounting Bad

Music Good

And Your Next American Idol Is....

Well it sure as hell isn't me haha.

I will compare American Idol auditions to pregnancy. You forget how painful and agonizing it is, so you keep doing it (or so I've heard). And I honestly forgot how grueling the audition process was, from early mornings to long waits in line, but I assure you it won't happen again

This year didn't turn out to be as promising as the last time I did it, and I am actually completely ok with it. I have a lot more important things to focus on right now, the most important being my degree. With only one semester left, I can't afford to mess around.

Even though I didn't make it past the first round of American Idol, I was able to spend a couple of days in beautiful San Fransisco (and Oakland). I ate some amazing food, walked around the whole city, saw the Oakland temple (which happens to be my favorite one), and went to some really fun clubs. I will be back to visit again San Fransisco!

Me in front of the Oakland Temple

Pretty fountain on the temple grounds

The Temple

View from the temple grounds

Jordan and I partying it up our last night in San Fransisco

Let's Get Some Shoes

Ok I admit I have a slight addiction, but I can't help it! There is something about a good pair of shoes that makes me go weak at the knees and I have to give in! Hey, it's better than being addicted to something like Heroine or Cocaine, and is probably less expensive.

I confessed to a good friend the other day that I may or may not have a small problem, and she replied with "at least you do it in style". Thank you for making me feel better about my enslavement to shoes, Bri! :)

There is an old adage that says "If the shoe fits, buy it in every color". And so that is exactly what I did. In my recent shoe-buying endeavors, I came across a pair of shoes that I couldn't between 2 colors, so I got both. Here they are:


Nice Eh?

A Sig I Am, A Sig I'll Be

I was able to spend 4 days in North Carolina for my fraternity's annual leadership convention. Despite the humidity, I had a really good time and learned a lot.

The University of North Carolina's campus is HUGE and took a good 20 minutes to walk from one end to the other. I would definitely be in the best shape of my life if I went to school there.

We stayed in the dorms at UNC and it got pretty crazy every night. Drunk frat boys up until 4 AM singing drinking songs and chanting, mattresses being thrown off the tenth floor, guys throwing beer cans off the balcony trying to make a basket in the basketball hoops down below (yes that stuff actually happens). But it all made it part of the experience.

My brother Devan and I on UNC's campus

My dorm room

UNC's Football field under construction

The room where my meetings were held

The Sigma Chi house at UNC

We Are Family!

Whether we like it or not we are stuck with the family we've got. Lucky for me I really like my family so it's never a painful experience spending time with them.

This last weekend was the annual Barnett Family Reunion and it was held at Mammoth Creek. There is always good times, great ( and A LOT) of food, and fantastic company.

Liza reading to Lisa (much to Liza's dismay)

A bunch of the family playing games

The view from our hike

The house that fell on the Wicked Witch of the East

We love a good game of kickball

I Know a Place Where the Grass is Really Greener

To quote the beautiful and talented Katy Perry, "Nothing comes close to the Golden Coast". I spend 2 fabulous days in San Diego and loved every minute!

The reason for my very short trip to SoCal was for my cousin Jacqui's wedding. Jacqui and I have been really close our whole lives and I was able to sing for her as she walked down the aisle. It was such a beautiful wedding for such a beautiful couple. I love you Paul and Jacqui!!!

Paul, Jacqui and me at a rooftop lounge the night before the wedding

This is the view from where the ceremony was held

This is Lucas. He played the guitar for me

The beautiful bride and my BFF

The groom. My other BFF

What Once was Lost Now is Found

Sure enough, right after I write about losing my camera and possibly never finding it...it shows up...

Lost

It has always been said that you will find what you are looking for in the last spot you look...duh...when you find what you've lost, you stop looking...which means you found it in the last spot you looked.

I lost my camera about a month ago and I have yet to find it, which leads me to believe that I won't be finding it in any spot that I look. Just one more thing to ad to my list of things that I need to buy...

A Little Bit Wicked

I just finished Kristin Chenoweth's book, A Little Bit Wicked. If you are looking for a good read, something that will make you laugh, doesn't take a whole lot of brainpower, and is just plain fun, I would suggest you give this one a try. You won't be disappointed.

Summer?

It snowed during the night...that is not a good sign of summer being just around the corner...

Mormon Crack

Mormon crack=ranch dressing and Diet Coke

Alpha Phi Formal

I realize that this is the third blog post in the past week, but I have some catching up to do.

This last Saturday was the annual formal event of the sorority that I represented. It was super fun and I had a good time, but it was really really hard for me to hand over my position to the next guy. I got very emotional while giving my speech and couldn't even talk at some points.

I love these girls so much and hope they know that they will always have a big brother. Thank you girls for such an incredible and memorable year!


My date and bestie Kristy


My BFF Bri! She was my very first friend at SUU


These are some of my frat brothers that were at formal. That's Noel in the middle. She's our sweetheart.


This is my big brother Zach. He is amazing!


Me with my big brother Zach and one of my favorite brothers Stuart


The Fantastic Four! We went to formal together


This is my really good friend Jessica and her boyfriend Jeremy


This is me with my friend and current president of Alpha Phi Timian and her boyfriend Brandon


This is me with the oh so gorgeous Raquel


Me with Hazey (Haley)


My girls Kim and Ali


Roz and Kalin are two of my favorite people in the whole world!


Me sliding down the railing at the end of the night

Don't forget to check out my most recent posts! :)

Michael Buble

When I went home over Christmas for a few days, my dad approached me and said "guess what I got?" Of course I had no idea, so when he told me that he bought tickets to the Michael Buble concert I flipped out! He actually bought them for his staff and their spouses and I believe that I told him that I would sell my soul to the devil to go to that concert!

Needless to say I ended up going and it was AMAZING!!! Thanks for such an incredible memory Dad!


This was what was on the jumbo screens before the concert started


The fam (minus dad)


My bestie Alishia was at the concert too! It was so fun to see her


The concert was starting! So excited!


Michael