My tunes

I think I’d be comfortable saying that naturally I’m a pretty happy and loving person. I don’t consider myself too emotional, hormonal, or pessimistic.

But then I looked at my playlist I’ve been listening to all day today and this is what I found:

Matt Nathanson- Heartbreak World

Matt Wertz- Falling Off the Face of the Earth

Sara Bareilles- Hold My Heart

Adele- I Can’t Make You Love Me

Tracy Chapman- The Promise

Geez Hannah, stop listening to such downer music would ya?

I can’t. It just speaks to me.

Luckily for me I don’t think the music I listen to translates to my behavior.

Modern at its best

In part 9 of my 10 part series of grateful lists I've tried to get down to the nitty-gritty and list ten modern inventions I love. Creativity has never been my strength and so even though I'd love to dazzle you with 10 modern inventions that will take your breath away

...cue this video...

I found that all ten of my items are really rather boring. Absolutely necessary and in some cases for me, thrilling- but boring.

Bear with me.

1) Contacts- If I were to take my contacts out and not put my glasses on, you could hold two fingers two inches from my face and I wouldn't know it. I'd probably say you were holding up five fingers. My eyes are that bad. I got contacts when I was in 5th grade because I was dancing almost full time and when I would spin on stage my glasses would go flying off my face and across the stage. You can bet that made me feel popular. So to my parents credit they decided to get me contacts. Bless them.

2) Mattresses- Sometimes I thank Heavenly Father for a soft mattress because, well, wouldn't it be miserable to sleep on a hard floor every night after a long work day? I think so. Sometimes I don't think we realize how fortunate we are to have soft things.

3) Flat Iron- You don't want to see my hair air dried. It's not pretty. I'm grateful for a flat iron that makes my beautiful locks straight and shine for all they're worth.

4) Medication- Let's just say that if it weren't for modern medicine I would have bit the dust a long time ago. And we're not talking just tylenol. We're talking good strong morphine and the like. That stuff has literally saved my life (a couple times) when I've found myself in the hospital in more pain that I can even describe. Pain that creates delirium. Modern medicine continues to save my life as I take pills that keep my Crohn's in remission for (hopefully) the rest of my life.

5) Airplanes- As I grow up and become more adult-like I seem to move farther and farther from my family and hometown. How grateful I am for jets that take me away and in just a couple of hours deliver me back to my loved ones. It's as simple as that.

6) Pillows- See number 2. I'm grateful for a soft thing to rest my head on at night and dream about all the good things.

7) Camera- I have one of those dads who, on every single family road trip, would stop every couple of feet to take a picture. Oh how it annoyed me! My brothers and I would whine and complain and whine and complain some more. "Why?" we always protested. Now I can't praise my dad enough for all those stop-to-take-a-candid-photo moments. We have six large albums chock full of every road trip and every phase of my childhood bangs. You better bet that anytime you visit my house I will sit you down on my couch and show you all my favorite photos of my Halloween costumes throughout the years. Consider yourself lucky.

8) Chap stick- Yes I used to have a chap stick addiction. Yes I used to attend chap stick addicts anonymous. Don't make fun :) But really, I had a problem. And then I discovered my secret chap stick. The one that revolutionized my world and made my addiction disappear almost overnight. I know I've said this before, but if you're really one of my friends than you've probably been privileged to learn what it is. Good for you.

9) Sunglasses- I inherited sensitive eyes from my dad. Couple that with the fact that I have blue eyes which are naturally more sensitive to light than other eyes and BAM, I always need sunglasses. I'm thinking I want to buy some Ray Bans this summer and complete my east coast summer look. What do you think?

10) Printing Press- Okay so this is probably the least modern, modern invention on this list but in reality I'm super grateful for this revolutionary machine that allowed me to learn to read the written word. Books are some of my absolute favorite things. I want to have a library full of them and the most comfy chair in which to sit and read them.

Ten modern inventions. Fairly boring right? I decided wrong. These inventions are all amazing in their own right and oh how grateful I am for every single one!

Hannahisms

Rules for life:

Do you ever find yourself creating little rules for your life? Things that you do and will always do no matter what? These are things that you live by. Things that you do subconsciously (or consciously) in order to prove something to yourself or others, or just to have a better life.

Here are some of my own rules for life:

1) Always walk up the escalator. Live an active life. Get moving.

2) Go to bed before midnight. The next day will always be happier.

3) Get dressed up on Fridays. Your weekend will start off on the right foot. Optimistic and lookin' good. You'll find you get more dates.

4) Don't wash your hair everyday. Shiny healthy hair = letting it get greasy every once in a while.

5) No social media on Sundays. Turn off Facebook and Pinterest and Google Reader at least once a week.

6) Laugh as much as possible. I'm a person that loves to laugh. I laugh at just about anything. I love people and I love laughing with people. It keeps me young.

7) Buy a new shirt for a special event. If it'll give you the confidence you need to dazzle than it's worth it.

8) Set realistic expectations. Life is all about coordinating expectations and reality. If you can get your expectations under control than your life will be easier.

9) Make eye contact and keep it. It's a powerful flirting technique and great for job interviews.

10) Always rinse your plates and silverware and put them directly into the dishwasher. The house will always looks better.

11) Go to the temple often. Life will ALWAYS be easier than if not. I promise.

12) Don't listen to music on walks. Walks are time for talking with God and working things out with Him. Go on lots of walks.

13) Spend money on a good makeup foundation. Having a clear, beautiful and smooth face will always feel good.

14) Have at least one guilty pleasure. I love the Bachelor which I probably shouldn't. It's fabulous entertainment and ridiculous at the same time.

15) Having a nice sized cushion of money in a savings account brings a sense of security not found elsewhere.

16) The most important parts of a wedding are the photography, the dress, and the food. Everything else people will forget.

17) Don't be afraid to talk.....and to love.

18) Perfume is a good thing.

19) Always keep a book in the purse. You never know when the metro is going to break down and you'll be stranded. It will not matter if you have something good to read.

20) Have mints and gum handy at all times. The last thing you want is bad breath.

21) Be where you are. Stop wishing you were reliving the past or already living in the future. Be happy with the phase of life you're in. And never complain about the weather.

22) Strive for matching dinnerware and coordinating centerpieces.

23) It's okay to jump on the bandwagon for some things and then jump off for others.

24) Call people by name. If you remember someones name the next time you see them you can bring a smile to their face quicker than almost anything else. It makes people feel important if you remember their name and then use it.

25) Write love letters to those you love. Be sincere. Tell them they're beautiful and loved. Don't be cliche. Leave love letters in unexpected places.

26) Be nice to the little people- the cashiers, the waitresses, the cleaning people. We've all had those jobs and know what it's like. So be patient and kind.

27) Try not to eat after 7pm....unless you're famished. Then eat.

28) Be the person that's easy to get along with. Don't have enemies. Don't be exclusive.

29) Creamed honey over any other honey. Frozen vegetables over canned. Always quality over quantity.

30) Always wait for your letter from Hogwarts. It'll come someday.

Maxims to live by- Hannahisms if you will.

What are your rules for life?

A personal victory

I'm not a super tech savvy person by any means but I do feel like I can understand and follow instructions exceptionally well.

I enjoy putting furniture together because it's like putting together a puzzle and challenging my mind and hands to figure the project out. 

I love word searches and strategy games. Really, I like any sort of game.

I'm the type that if I don't know something I'll probably Google it almost immediately to find the answer. 

I love learning new words and trying to use them regularly.

All these things I feel I'm pretty good at, so when it came time to set up a router in my apartment for wireless internet I wasn't too intimidated.

But it was 12:15 am last night and I found myself surrounded by cords and more cords, little boxes that all looked similar, and none of it was working, that I almost broke down in tears.

The router had come in the mail on Monday and I finally had time last night to sit down and figure everything out. I pulled out the instructions and carefully, ever so carefully, started going through them one by one. When I got about halfway through I was supposed to turn the computer on and confirm access to the internet.

The web browser window came up and..................nothing. 

I was perplexed and annoyed and eventually frustrated. I reviewed the instructions, made sure the cords were securely attached, and even started over again to make sure I had followed the instructions perfectly.

And still..............nothing.

Still almost in tears I scanned my contact list in my phone looking for any male that I could call to help, but it was almost 12:30 am and so instead I called my dad.

Good 'ol dads, always there to save the day. 

He reassured me that I could figure it out but that I might need to call technical support and talk to someone in India who could walk me through the instructions. I really wanted to get everything going then because I wanted to go to sleep knowing the job was done but finally conceded that I had to wait till the next morning.

I called Comcast this morning *cough India* and talked to a really sweet woman who definitely knew better than me what was going on even though she was thousands of miles away. We figured out that there was a single cord that had to be plugged into the wall that wasn't included in the instructions and within minutes....BAM, we got wireless in my apartment.

I may have screamed as I danced around my apartment and then called my dad out of breath to exclaim the news

Have you ever gone NINE months in an apartment without wireless? It was definitely time.

For me it was a personal victory. A life victory. I installed my first router. Like the time I bought stamps at the post office for the first time or the first time I successfully purchased a rump roast. It's the small things people.

I'm growing up kids. Who knew a little router could make me feel so smart and accomplished. Now I know why people put as their Facebook status that they have wireless in their apartment. It's because they're PROUD they actually installed something so important so successfully. I get it now.

Food loves- a top ten

Top ten favorite food items:

1) Lime- ANYTHING is better with lime. Nuff said. But I especially enjoy tacos on the street of some small Mexican pueblo with the corn tortilla, carne asada, cliantro, onion, and lime.

2)  Cilantro- I could probably eat an entire salad out of the stuff I love it so much. Reference the tacos above for a detailed explained of the perfect taco.

3) Onion- My mouth waters just thinking about onions caramelizing on the stove top, but whether it's a thick slice of onion on a grilled hamburger in the summertime, in a tin foil dinner fresh from the fire coals, or with roast and potatoes from the crock pot at the end of a Fast Sunday, I think you can see where I'm going with this. Onions are one of the best inventions of our Creator.

4) Salt- My dad's been trying to get me to read the book Salt by Mark Kurlansky for a while now because who wouldn't want to read a history of salt? Actually I really want to read it because I think the evolution of this beautiful mineral would be fascinating. Supposedly back in the olden days, I'm talking a couple hundred years ago, salt was a luxury and rare commodity. Only the royals had riches enough to buy and use it. My how things have changed eh?

5) Great Harvest bread- Any of you who've experienced Great Harvest bread know what I'm talking about. Those of you who haven't, I sincerely apologize. Your world will change. I promise. 

6) Cafe Rio tomatillo dressing- Let me get one thing straight, I don't have an obsession with Cafe Rio because of the sweet pork. No no. For me it's something completely different. It's the creamy goodness of the green tomatillo dressing. I could smother any and everything in it and die perfectly happy. Whether it's a salad I get at Cafe Rio or a burrito (non Cafe Rio style) I always get a large tomatillo dressing and enjoy every bite with a smile on my face.

7) Water- Being a rare soda drinker (on a really bad day I'll enjoy an ice cold Dr. Pepper but for the most part avoid the stuff) I have a fondness for good ol' aqua. Sometimes I can't get over how a clear liquid can satisfy me like no other thing can, but it does, and I thank you for it water.

8) Frosted mini wheats cereal- Only those who've lived with me know this but I have eaten Frosted mini wheats cereal with frozen blueberries every morning for a very long time now. I hate super sugary
cereal but I also despise Grapenuts-like blahness, so I find a perfect balance in my frosted minis. Plus, I add frozen blueberries which keep my milk super cold till the end and give me the healthy nutrients from the blueberries that I need. I'm full, I'm healthy, I'm happy.

9) Chocolate- I mean, how could I not include chocolate? From the time I was 17 years old to 23 I couldn't and didn't eat an M&Ms worth of chocolate because of my Crohn's. It was hard but I kept going because eating chocolate hurt my intestine so bad that it wasn't worth it. I'm thankful for that trial because I learned almost perfect self-discipline when it came to eating. Now that I can eat chocolate I enjoy it ever so much more and probably appreciate the melt-in-your-mouth experience better than most people. 

10) Fruit- Out of all the food groups this one has never been a problem for me....ever. I might be a little obsessed with the large containers of Driscoll's raspberries from Costco that I snack on constantly, the cut pineapple that I almost always have in my fridge, or the summer ripe strawberries that I get constantly during the summer months and feed off of daily. Fruit is a beautiful thing isn't it?

Aw, food. Doesn't it just make everyone happy? It sure does me :)