12.31.2010

My Totally Cliche 2010 Recap

I lived out loud. I learned what it means to have hope. I appreciated the Atonement. I stayed busy. I realized how much I love my family. I went to a rodeo. I managed to get 2 traffic tickets in one week. I tied together loose ends. I fell in love with Josh Duhamel. I hung pictures and things on my walls. I had a blast in summer school. I stayed up for 40 hours straight in order to participate in the madness that is Black Friday. I became fascinated with people and the mind. I admitted I needed help. I swore I'd never again buy a Dell. I was introduced to the goodness that is Sprinkles. I discovered the much more convenient Sugar Mama's Sweets. I was crafty. I kicked booty in my classes and got awesome grades. I found a fish tank that whose occupants matched those in Finding Nemo. I joined a gym. I got a couple credit cards. I realized my fear of credit cards. I was surprised at how ridiculously awesome my mom is. I missed people I once was close to. I shot a gun. I started sleeping through alarms. I bought me an Xterra. I attended many a haunted house. I watched everyone and their uncle my age get married or engaged. I got 2 more semesters of college under my belt. I went through 3 phones. I almost overcame my chocolate milk addiction. I was responsible for someone elses' children for an entire week. I bought a new swimsuit. I loved my job. I ran down the up escalator. I memorized the entire Taylor Swift Speak Now album in about 2 days. I sang my heart out. I drove to California at 3:30am with 2 of my best friends, played in Six Flags all day, drove home, and was back by 3:30am the next morning. I focused on me. I experienced missionary work. I missed snow in Arizona. I played in quicksand. I bought (and fell in love with) an iPod touch. I cut off 6 inches of my hair. I began to develop patience. I realized I still had a long ways to go when it comes to having patience. I started a fabric flower business. I broke hearts. I had mine healed. I bought cute shoes. I . I received some extent of closure. I loved learning. I grew a whole lot. I was me.

12.30.2010

French Toast Lovin

Meet Erik, the 12 year old brother.
This morning, I half jokingly told Erik that he could make me some French toast for breakfast and I'd be perfectly okay with it. I was shocked when homeboy enthusiastically said, "Okay!" and whipped out the bread, eggs, and pan. That right there, my friends, is true siblingly love.

Needless to say, I was a very happy Kymber. P.S. Erik, you rock.

12.29.2010

Inspired.

My name is Kymber and I am a blog stalker.

One of the blogs I faithfully read ever day is that of Nat-uh-lee. I love her humor, her photos, and her honesty. Oftentimes, I am inspired by her faith. This morning was case in point. To quote today's post:

"Regardless of what people think, Heavenly Father has a plan. A perfect plan for every single person. And it will go on whether you believe in it or not. I love that. It comforts me to know that I don't need to worry about what I want, because it will work out in a way that gives me exactly what I need - which is ultimately (and eternally) what I want.

I love that as we live and learn to serve others, we are reciprocated those blessings ten-fold.
I love that trials of our faith simply reap a greater understanding and testimony of the Savior.
I love that the the blessings of the gospel are conditional - merciful yet just."

I love how she says that she doesn't have to worry about what she wants because she has faith enough to know that in the end she will have exactly what she needs. I have never thought about my life, my hopes, my dreams, my desires in that way before. Definitely a light bulb moment that put things into perspective.

I also love the point she makes on trials giving us a greater understanding and testimony of Christ. Reminds me of this post.

I appreciated these small reminders today, and to add my testimony to Natalie's, I know the Lord has a plan for each of us, tailored to meet each individual's needs. Each plan is flawless because He sees the bigger picture and has our best interest at heart. He loves us more than we know and wants us to return to live with Him again. To live with Him, we need to be like Him. Trials help us reach this point. Through trials, we are given the ability and the opportunity to grow, to become more like our Savior, and to feel more and more of His endless love for us. For me, it is during these hard times that the Atonement is most real and most personal. He is very aware of us, of our longings, and of our needs. Most importantly, He loves us, and that is what it all comes down to.

Thank you, Natalie, for helping me start my day with a comforting peace that comes from feeling of the Savior's love for me.

Happy Wednesday :)

12.27.2010

Obsession of the Week

Organization.

I share a room with my 15 year old sister. Um hi, that's two teenage girls crammed into one pretty small room. All of our clothes, shoes, and just things made our small room even smaller. You see, before college, I was a neat freak. My side of the room was rarely a mess. Enter college, the stage of life when you no longer have time for anything outside of school. The tidiness of my room ranked last on my priority list and it (my room) got out of hand real quick. Imagine how bad it was after a semester. Yeah, not okay. I was losing my mind because of the chaos that was my room. The week after school was officially over for Christmas, Celeste (bless her heart, love her dearly) and I spent 10 1/2 hours tackling my monster of a room. Yes, I just admitted that. 10 1/2 hours folks. Granted, we did do some assembling, some rearranging, deep cleaning, organizing like mad, and took a lunch break. It wasn't until after we were done that we decided we should have taken before and after pictures. Blast.

Anyway. Here are some of the things I now (or have) used to keep my room a lot less messy and a lot more organized.

A color coordinated closet. I've been using this trick for quite some time. It makes finding something to wear SO much faster and easier.

I have to show you the special skirt hangers. These lovely things were introduced to me by my dear friend, Hannah Gunderson. They...are the best invention ever. Just sayin. You can hang six skirts up with one hanger! And it takes up like no room in your closet! Seriously. 6 skirts on a special skirt hanger = 1 dress on a regular hanger. Best. Invention. Ever.

I used to keep my necklaces in a box until a few years ago when we moved into our new house and my mom bought Kelcie and I this shnazzy little thing. World. Of. Difference. Goodbye tangled and knotted chains!

My bracelets have now resumed the prior home of my necklaces. Tada.

This...is my bookshelf. Secretly, I wanted to post a picture of it so you could see my super cute ridiculously awesome painting that is my most favorite ever. And my birds and birdcage, duh. So my organization strategy (a.k.a. my excuse for this counting as organization) is my little candy bowl right there! I don't touch the thing much; it's mainly just used for bribery :) Muahahaha.

Once upon a time, I went through an earring phase. A couple years later, I went through a ring phase. As a result, I have 1,000 pairs of earrings and 100 rings. Thank heavens for earring holders and jewelry boxes! As you can see, it's getting pretty full all up in there so I was super excited when Mom and Dad Rudd got my a new (and super cute!) jewelry holder for Christmas! Observe.
See? Super cute, huh? I need to get some shelves put up in my room so I can start to fill it!

Ah, the nightstand. I love my nightstand. My perfume tray...is fabulous. My mirror...is fabulous. My birds...are fabulous. Those hope blocks right there are what made me choose "hope" to be my word of the year. Oh yeah, this post is about organization. Helloooooo. Perfume tray. All perfumes and smell good things in one spot. The end.

Behold the shelf part of my nightstand. Little basket for school supplies and things and a piano pen holder. Cute! Milano's baby! Aw yeah.

And these...are my shoes. Kept nicely underneath my bed. Those long Tupperware things that are perfect for under-the-bed storage and can work wonders. Lovely!

Oh wait, I have more shoes! My shoe fetish was (is?...nah) getting a little out of control because I was (am) getting more shoes, with no room to put them! When I found this awesome little shoe rack, I was extremely pleased. AND...it's expandable. It can get to be over twice the size you see there, so I'm good for another year or so :) P.S. Those nude heels right there in front are the Steve Maddens I mentioned in the previous post. We have a love/hate relationship, those shoes and I.
So I have like 50 scarves. I love scarves. I used to have them on hangers in my closet, but they were taking up way to much room. Then last week I had the brilliant idea to get over-the-door hangers and store them that way! Can I just say that I'm a genius? P.S. Lame-o Walmart does not carry over-the-door hangers, and they're not going to magically appear even if you walk up and down the aisles for 30 minutes looking for them. Thank goodness for Target.

Another something I did was take all my movies and put them in a CD/DVD case. It takes up SO much less room. And yes, they are in alphabetical order.

The end. Hooray for organization!

Things I learned this semester at ASU

  1. Bikers are inconsiderate!
  2. Birth is a beautiful thing to experience, not to watch. Future husband, please no videos.
  3. Institute is where it's at.
  4. Taking a test when friends are around is not a smart idea. Distraction anyone?
  5. When one alarm doesn't wake you up, set two.
  6. When two alarms don't wake you up, set three.
  7. When three alarms don't wake you up, stop using your phone as your alarm.
  8. Registration is the biggest headache EVER.
  9. I'm growing up, and despite my mindset, I am not 15 anymore. People are jumping on the engaged/married band wagon like it's nobody's business. Stop that.
  10. Maybe student wards really aren't that bad. And for the record, student wards and singles wards are totally different.
  11. It's okay to ask for help.
  12. Cupcakes make everything better. The best way to reward yourself is with a red velvet cupcake topped with cream cheese frosting....And now my mouth is watering. Good thing I got a gift certificate to Sugar Mama's Sweets for Christmas!
  13. If I marry a blue-eyed boy, my (our) kids have a 50% chance of having blue eyes.
  14. There's a method to the madness.
  15. Emma Smith was older than Joseph Smith.
  16. "Processes" is apparently pronounced "process-ease."
  17. The service corner at Institute rocks.
  18. Wearing, standing, and dancing in 5 1/2 inch Steve Madden heels for 7 hours will cost you the feeling in all of your toes for approximately 2 1/2 weeks.
  19. If you rearrange the letters in "prenatal," you get "parental."
  20. I'm a bit of a perfectionist.