mocha choca what?

there is a place called pirate island.

and on thursday nights at pirate island

there is an event called open karaoke.

for those of you who do not know

my signature karaoke song back in high school

was "love shack" by the b-52's.

as years have passed on

i have taken my new signature song very seriously.

"moulin rouge."

by christina agularia and friends.

forunately, i am not the only one who takes this

song seriously. my diva friend, brad masters, is also on board.

this song is actual what kindled the flame to our friendship.

so we will sing it for the world to hear.

because we go on with our bad selves.

p.s. don't be fooled, i was so nervous to get up there.

i can even explain to you how unreal my cotton mouth was.

like, i would smile or laugh at brad and realize my upper lip was rolled

up to the top of my gums and my teeth were fully exposed.

i didn't know what to do with myself.

storm hits apt. 301.

this photo was taken on the last sunday of warm weather.

family and friends spent the afternoon in the park chatting up storms, tossing volleyballs (some at peoples faces. yeah, i had a marsha brady moment. mr. jd rasmussen aimed for my leg but somehow hit the jackpot of the side of my face.)

we were all having a gay ol' time. how could we not? it was mid october and still in the low 60's. this never happens. well little did we know that mother nature was going to ruin my party and make it rain. and when it rains, it pours.

this past sunday was a monsoon.

i don't think i've seen it rain like this EVER in utah.

i mean, it was drizzling through out the whole day, not a big deal but come 2 am while im in a deep slumber, the monsoon killed my dream. if you don't know, im the one roommate who was booted up to the loft of the apartment. i call it my throne. i have this window on the ceiling that protrudes outward like a bubble. when rain hits that bubble, it's like bullets from a gun. now, i love thunderstorms, believe me, being from the south, i live for those suckers. but this storm last night scared the living day lights out of me. maybe because my loft is kind of creepy to begin with and who knows what died up here... but i was not having it, so i bolted down the stairs to find that all of the electricity was out. jackpot. and i really had to go to the bathroom. i was blindly walking through the halls with my arms stretched out to stay clear of the mirrors because seeing my own reflection at night freaks me out as well. because of this, i am really thankful we have about 5 mirrors on every diameter of apt. 301. why did the scene of the dead girl in the bathtub in "what lies beneath" have to pop into my head while i was sitting alone in the dark in my bathroom? i dont know, but i didn't flush the toilet because i didn't want strangers to know that i was awake. im lame...

funny enough, i wasn't the only one crying in my bed. poor marissa was all balled up in her covers texting me and begging me to come to her room. i refused, making her come to my throne. she didn't have to argue when she realized i slept in a full size bed. i died laughing when she walked into my room with a battery powered candle to guide her up the stairs, which she later knocked me out with in the mouth because she "saw someone." anyways, though my full size bed is a dream, my costco nuva foam placed on this dream is a twin so mariss and i were not having that either. we were kind of delirious and now wide awake that we couldn't stop laughing. she wouldn't stop playing footsie with me, so i kicked her out of my throne.

long story short. i lost a lot of sleep because of a big storm,

that granted:

power outage

40 degree weather

snow capped mountains

and being an hour late to class due to

alarm being off.

happy monday to you all.

welcome to winter.

lets make the best of it.

midnight run.

breakfast past midnight at magleby's fresh is the bomb.com

i will say though, nothing beats my southern waffle house.

which might i add, is open 24 hours.

with servers who most likely hate their jobs

but love the customers.

and has a jut-box with a great selection of jams.

and smothered

covered

diced all-star hashbrowns.

but for the meantime,

ill suck it up with maglebys.

a patch of pumpkins.

two weeks ago, maybe three. the sistas and i made our way through

thanksgiving points pumpkin patch for free. how so you ask? well we accidently

walked in through the exit. no worries. karma hit when the pumpkins were $15.

come again? so we took a snap shot of proof that we went to a patch of pumpkins

and drove back to the valley and found ourselves digging in macy's grocery store.

we found ourselves four beauties. 5 bucks each with 3 buck carving kits.

came home, worked vigorously on our boys, broke 2-3 carving knives,

forgot to bake the pumpkin seeds,

and realized we carved pumpkins 3-4 weeks

before halloween meaning the rotting session will occur

in three days. shizam.

long story short. our pumpkins were the best thing that has happened

to all of us. we were pretty proud of our products.

so proud, we displayed them in our front windows.

lit them for the world to see, patted ourselves on the backed

and called it a night.

unfortunately, an uproar occurred at plan b the following night.

while nik and i were taking out the trash, we were speaking to maris from the windows, and well.... to be funny maris dangled niks anthro-like pumpkin out the window threatening to drop it. of course maris would never do such a thing, but the anthro-pumpkin was so frail and fragile that it snapped.

right before niks eyes.

splat. murder. death.

nik shrieked.

i instantly went into fetal position in fear

that i would wet myself right then and there.

before i know it, nik is hauling butt up three flights of stairs.

goes straight to the window, picks up maris pumpkin and

chucks it with such anger and might.

once again, i can no longer stand the insanity.

marissa is now found on the ground screaming bloody murder.

ive never witnessed anything so dramatic in my life.

i was eating the whole commotion up.

the death of two pumpkins didn't matter.

mine and kristi's were rotten by sunup.

i wished i smashed mine like a physco.

any hoo. happy spook season!

holy miss hudson.

need i say more?

no.

kojo kendall bird.

hip hip hooray! this past friday, I made my way south to salem, utah to visit baby kojo for the first time since ghana. kojo was such a sight to see. he is the happiest four year old i've come across. he raspy voice with a hint of a ghanaian accent cracks me up his english is pretty impressive and his laugh is contagious. i can't get over his big brown eyes. i mean they are huge, and full of curiosity & love. i really am obsessed with kojo. im just really grateful he is where he is with a solid loving family. the birds can't get enough of their new son. kojo loves to show off his cars and trucks. he thinks they are the coolest toys known to man kind. i agree with kojo, they are pretty dope.

kojo loves to run up to you and snuggle in your lap. this is very out of the blue but it makes me really giddy. his mom was telling me how impatient kojo gets in the car. you see, in ghana there really are no traffic rules. in fact you're more likely to die in a car accident then by a AK-47. amy said when she stop at a stop sign, kojo went ballistic. his raspy voice start to yell, "GO MAMA! GOOOOO MOVE JUST GOOO!"

though kojo is now going to be raised in an LDS family, he found some prayer beads at a friends house, wrapped them around his neck, made a horn out of paper and stomped around the room praising, "hallelujah JESUS! hallelujah LORD! hallelujah HEAVENLY FATHER! hallelujah GOD!"

he is a spunky one, that kojo. full of imagination and a great childhood a head of him.

this babe knows how blessed he is. you can tell in the joy he carries every minute of everyday. dear kojo, i just love you . i adore you and i am so thankful you are now here in a place that will treat you right, keep you safe & give you tender love and care.

welcome to america.

and thank you for the goodbye smooches.

you really smothered them on me.

see you sooner then soon baby kojo.

think different.

thought of the day.

this is the place.

im very grateful & lucky to have such easy access and attend general conference.

before i moved out to utah, the thought never crossed my mind that i could physically be seated in the same room as the Prophet and hear him speak. To always have this opportunity now is such a blessing.

to keep it short & simple, i love this time of year.

happy conference weekend to you all.

precious cargo.

i always catch myself saying, "my goodness, if only i had a little sister or brother..." i love being the youngest, don't get me wrong. but i would really love to baby a little one. squeeze their cheeks, beat em' up a bit like jenna did to me. i dont know, just have someone else to check up on other than myself.

but it's okay because even though i technically don't have a little one, i've got a bundle of kiddie cousins who i'm very close to and im thankful for. they really make me happy. i think each and every single one of them are crack ups. i love watching them grow and experience life. i love to be a part of their lives and even though im 10 something years older than most of them, i love how we still act on the same level and have a really good time.

so i can't complain because i have it really good. i mean really good. i talk to my cousin ash about this all of the time and we can't get over how blessed we are with such a great family. extended and all. we love how close we are with each other. im just really lucky and blessed to be placed with these peeps of mine.

i sure do love them all. especially the little punk ones.