rat poop.

as i was falling asleep last night, i looked at the calendar that is hanging on my wall. i've been doing the same thing i did last february...writing a word down for every day (to be posted in march...) and wow. so much has changed in the past four weeks.

in a way, it seems like my world's been turned upside down. the few things i had always counted on are suddenly not there anymore and everything is just a little...off.

so it's time for some change.

it's crazy that it's all happening now. i expected changes, of course, but i was hoping to hang on until the end of the semester. but what can you do, right? just gotta roll with it.

so as i've been cleaning and tearing apart my house, i've had a lot of time to think. and guess what?

life is like rat poop.

you may think you have a situation under control, but then you move the couch and discover a giant pile of rat poop behind it that you've never seen before. it catches you off guard, but you can't just leave it there. you've got to take care of it. and sometimes it stinks but someday when you get it all under control, you can breathe easy again and it won't be so awful anymore.

...right?

here is a list of things that are not fun to do by yourself.

-staying up late and cooking three course dinners at midnight.

-working out to jillian michaels dvds.

-baking cookies and eating them all.

-talking about boys.

-dancing to the "bad romance" song in your bathing suit.

-ordering pizza.

-watching "KUWTK" marathons and eating popcorn.

-getting the mail in the middle of the night.

-camping out in the front yard.

-complaining about dumb roommates.

-laughing til it hurts.

-wearing matching outfits when you go out.

-going to the mall and wandering around aimlessly.

-cleaning up rat poop.

-eating cereal for every meal for days on end.

i miss emily.

a valiant effort.

step one: make tons of dirty dishes.

this is an easy one, since the roommates downstairs (or RDs) use enough dishes to feed a rather large army.

step two: put dirty dishes in the dishwasher.

the RDs haven't really figured this one out yet. usually after about a week of sitting in the sink, i put the dishes in the dishwasher, at which point they thank me and tell me that they had been meaning to put everything away and just never got around to it. suuure....

step three: put detergent in the dishwasher.

this is quite possibly the easiest step. me and emily wisely bought those little packets so there's no measuring or whatever. you just pop it in and close the lid. sometimes RDs put one in just for fun. thanks guys.

step four: TURN ON THE DISHWASHER.

i don't know why, but the RDs don't get this one. they'll put the packet in its home (maybe because that's the fun part) and then they just close up the dishwasher.

HINT #1: you have to turn ON the dishwasher. THEN it cleans the dishes.

HINT #2: it doesn't magically turn on when you put the detergent in. that is ME doing that.

HINT #3: the dishes don't magically end up inside them either, in case you were wondering. yep...that's me too.

okay thanks.

**note** when i started this post, i referred to them as the "downstairs roommates," but i think calling them DRs would be giving them just a LITTLE too much credit...

dear theatre.

i realize you are displeased with my decision to pursue broadcast journalism, but i was really hoping we could still be friends. i still like you. and you will always hold a special place in my heart.

so in the future, when i have to run to rehearsal straight from my internship in salt lake and haven't had time to change into more practical clothes, it'd be really cool if you didn't rip my tights in like three different places while i am changing gels and focusing lights.

okay thanks.

xox from anna.

valentine's.

"the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak"

being at the hospital is quite possibly one of the most frustrating things of my life. you wait and wait and then you can go in for a little bit and then you just have to leave and wait some more.

i'm trying to relate this experience to anything in my life and i'm coming up blank...truly nothing compares to this. the closest i have found is the second half of matthew 26:41.

we know she has a killer spirit. we know she wants to get better. and she has so many people pulling for her. and yet...who knows.

find the people you love and hold them a little closer today. because you never know what tomorrow has in store.

emily.

i don't care if you think i'm biased. i have the best roommate ever.

we've been living at our house together for the past two years and have been bf's since we met in the dorms freshman year.

emily went to colorado yesterday for a job interview and got in a bad car accident and now she's in the hospital in denver and i miss her.

please keep her in your prayers. xox emily.

girl's night (with boys).

this is what we invented last night. and it is awesome.

the great thing is that it is a girl's night, so you can eat pizza and chocolate and watch movies with ewan mcgregor in them. you can go to the mall and get cute shoes and hang out and do fun things and then the boys are there and you can eat and watch movies and laugh about who would win in a fight between [[x]] vs [[y]] that you know and how hilarious it would be. and you can talk about disney princesses and have sleepovers (but the boys have to go home) and then you can talk about the boys and it is awesome.

yes. we just made it up. but it is fun. and we'll definitely do it again.

surprises.

i have a confession to make.

i have a party bunny.

i mean, seriously. how awesome is she? i've had chepi (my bunny) basically since i was born. and yesterday when i got home from work, i found out she'd totally had a party while i was gone...

(click on pictures to see them bigger!)

in other news, i have the best roommate and sisters ever. during my ridiculous day of internship-ing and working...

...they decorated my house...

...and my room for my birthday.

^ and even the bathroom ( :

^ here is my bedroom door. i will be keeping these decorations up for a long time. just love.

did i mention i got tons of presents? this was probably the most unexpected part...movies, work out dvds, cereal, clothes, baking supplies, chocolate and a GPS, among other things. wow. they were just waiting on my bed when i got home.

^ i got krazy straws from krazy kevs (ruth's cat)

^ and a note from big sis + the brother in law

^ and one from little sis, too

^ and somehow...a note from my brother, who is in ohio. go figure.

ah. and ruth brought over brownies! yum. me and emily ate most of them before we went to bed last night.

but that's not all. oh no it was not. today i was producing for the daily news, like i do every friday. we said our prayer before the show started (like we always do), and then after that, everyone started singing "happy birthday" to me! there were balloons and cake and it was such a fun surprise. i love my friends in the newsroom.

add this to my new mehmet okur jersey (!!!) that was gifted to me yesterday (not pictured) and a flurry of other notes and getting to catch up with some friends via telephone, which was great too.

my life is awesome. and if anyone says otherwise...i might fight you.

twenty-three.

yes...i am spending my birthday evening alone in a dark box where i push buttons to make the lighting for the same play i've worked on for the past two months. but i'm not upset. and i'm not being sarcastic.

i was awakened from my going-to-bed-earlyish-since-i-had-to-be-awake-super-early-for-work-today a little after midnight last night when sarah called to wish me a happy birthday. i went to my internship today and worked on some news, like i always do, and got to help out with the assignment desk (which is always an adventure) and even got to have a very nice lunch with a good friend. i learned new things...i helped with the newscast (in some little ways)...and all the while, my text message inbox was flooded with many of the people i love sending me nice things. my facebook page is full of people from high school, college, old jobs, my internship, the newsroom, the theatre, and all of them wishing me a happy birthday. and if you wanted to leave me a voice mail tonight, you can't because it's full ( :

granted, today was not ideal. it might have been nice to have a few minutes to relax or celebrate. but in a world where so many people have so much less, i would be stupid to ignore just how lucky i am.