Artie.

Art Douglas is the wonderful husband of my oldest sister, Katie. He is also my teacher in all things mechanical or electronic. So when he saw that I wanted to learn how to change a tire, he jumped at the opportunity to help me out.

Art VERY patiently taught me how to change my tire, but not without a few groans, struggles and whines from me. He even whispered "righty tighty, lefty loosey.." in an impressively not sarcastic tone to me after a few seconds of me more or less jumping on the wrench. He tried to make me do the whole thing alone and he ALMOST succeeded, but lets be honest, I'm just not very strong. And it was HOT. So hot. I was sweating so much. As was he. But you can see the pictures to prove it.

Art has more or less been a part of our family since I was in elementary school. He has come to everything from my fifth grade graduation to my senior recital and been remarkably excited about all of those things. He has tutored me in math, science, woodworking, mechanics, boys, and generally being awesome. He has treated Emily and me as his sisters from day one and loved us immensely.When boys broke our hearts, he was ready to fight and when we were going to dances he oohed and ahhed over our dresses.

He is constantly surrounded by girls and I am very glad that he is there to teach me things like this when we really need a boy around. He is the best that I could have dreamed for Katie and especially my nieces.

YAY ARTIE.

19. Learn how to change a tire.

The Count.

Ok.

I finished The Count of Monte Cristo.

I don't know what I think about it. Don't get me wrong, it was an amazing book and I loved (almost) every minute of it, but I continue to find myself reflecting on it and thinking.. "What the heck? How can that happen? Is that what I would have done? HOW DID HE DO THAT? He ended up with HER??".

So I guess if the only complaint I can come up with for a book is that it made me think too much, then that's probably really only a good thing.

I finished the book on the way to Jackson Hole, Wyoming to visit my beautiful friends! I am going to take this time to thank them for being such wonderful hostesses and truly giving me a once in a lifetime experience. Thank you to Laurel for being my riding buddy, Laura for being my DH introducer, Morgan for being my wilderness guide, and Anna for being my bedmate. You all are truly more than I could have asked for!

P.S. Poor Mercedes..


2. Read The Count of Monte Cristo.

FB.

Guys.

Everyone should stop using facebook for just a little while. It is so freeing. And not nearly as big of a deal as people made it seem when I told them I wasn't on facebook. Anyways, I did it. It was great. I might do it again soon. Sorry if I missed your birthday in that time.

Hooray for real people time!

14. Spend a week (or mooooorrre) off of Facebook.

4 8 15 16 23 42

It saddens me just a little that I didn't even have to look those numbers up. I thought I would never remember them, but there they are.

If you don't watch 'Lost' already, then you probably have no idea what I'm talking about. I just watched every episode and I don't understand 99% of what I just watched. But did I love it? Yes, I did.
I surely did not understand the phenomenon when I began my journey. I couldn't imagine why everyone cared about this Island (which I now feel like should be capitalized out of respect) and simply watching how the people just survived on it. How they dragged 6 seasons out of it, I had no idea. But after having finished all 6 seasons I can honestly say, I was wrong. If you are reading this, you probably know that that is not an easy statement for me to admit. I am sorry to my friends who I didn't believe (yes, you, David Roy). I fought the fact that I could be so easily pulled in. You totally called it. I actually even got through most of the first season without being totally absorbed.. but I was taken after that. I actually just cried, CRIED, while watching the finale. Partly because I was so sad it was over. I have never cried during a TV show. I cannot imagine having had to wait an actual six years to understand (mostly) everything instead of the 6 months I spent on it. Bravo to you who held on through that time..and to my 'Lost' guides.. thank you for humoring my random texts, calls, general confusion and all of the ridiculousness that I required.

So here is to Jack and Kate, Sawyer and Kate, Sawyer and Juliet, Sawyer and Ana Lucia (bet you forgot about that one..), Jack and Juliet, Jack and his father, Jin and Sun, Sun and the bald guy, Sayid and Shannon, Boone and Shannon (his sister, which I will never get over), Sayid and Nadia, Hugo and Libby, The Dharma Initiative and the polar bears, Alex and Carl, Charlie and Claire, Charlie and heroin, Claire and Aaron, Kate and Aaron, Mr. Eko and being awesome, Ben and Jacob, Jacob and his brother, John Locke and Ben, John Locke and the Island, and of course, Desmond and Penny.


 See you in another life, brotha.



4. Finish 'Lost'.