While I was home today, the phone rang, and I was the one that got to answer it. When I picked up, I nearly said "AMP, this is Lauren" but instead I said "Hi, this is Lauren" like it was my cell phone. To make matters worse, it was our friend Lori on the other end, who knows that we usually answer the phone "Hello, this is the Bytheways."
Today while I was working my 8 hour shift at the beloved AMP,
I had a crazy idea enter my mind to go home for the weekend so I could work on the baby blanket I'm making for Trent and Manda. By doing so, I would also get to go on the legendary Sunday night walk with my friends.
I had it all planned out in my head, get off work at 3, stop by Old Navy (because I had a coupon for 30% off that expires tomorrow), go home, pack, and hit the road by 5 at the latest.
Turns out, my plans changed. When I was nearing the end of my shift at 1, my brother Ryan came in and told me a sad story of how his recently newly replaced iPod stopped working that morning, and how he was so sad that he had to work all night because he wouldn't be able to make it up to the Apple Store 
to get it checked out. Jokingly, he suggested that I could be a really nice sister and run up to the Apple Store for him to get it fixed. I thought about it, and decided that he had been such an awesome brother to me this summer (getting me a job, giving me rides, fixing my car, hooking me up with wireless internet, entertaining me with Rockband and movies, introducing me to Netflix, etc.) that I could make the trip to attempt to pay him back.
I drove up to Salt Lake, paying careful attention to follow the directions Ryan gave me because I had never driven in Salt Lake before, let alone by myself. I found what I thought was a decent parking spot and made my way to the Apple Store. It was packed! I thought for sure it would take forever to be able to talk to someone, but the concierge hooked me up and I was talking to a genius within 3 minutes of walking in the door. He took the iPod to look it over and said he would see what he could do. 20 minutes later he came over to me and told me the problem wasn't as easy to fix as he thought and to be patient. Well, what else could I do? haha. So I just sat there texting some friends to keep me occupied. About a half an hour later he came back with a new iPod in hand and some paperwork with me to sign. He said he tried to fix it 2 different ways and he couldn't solve it, so he just replaced it. He also gave me a reciept with the plastic cover stuck to it and told me to go to the Invisible Shield kiosk for a replacement cover, so I did. I called Ry-Ry to share the news before I started the trip back to AMP to drop off the iPod. Ryan was pretty happy because he didn't actually have an Invisible Shield cover before, so it was really an upgrade for him. Lucky kid.
As I was walking back to my car, pulling my keys out of my pocket to unlock the door, the Parking Enforcement officer
pulled up behind where I was parked and stopped. She then got out of the vehicle and started to look around at the car parked next to me. In my eagerness to find a parking spot, I overlooked the fact that I had parked right in front of a fire hydrant.
(whoops.) Luckily, I was able to move my car before I got a ticket, and the officer didn't even say a word to me as I unlocked my door and got into the car. phew. close call. Then Ryan would have really had owed me one for this favor.
After dropping off the iPod around 6 I made a quick stop at Old Navy and quickly got home to pack up some essentials and my laundry to do at home. I had a particularly uneventful drive home, just spent rocking out to some tunes (using my new mp3 player from Woot).
When I got home and drove into the driveway, I was happily surprised to see some extra cars in the driveway belonging to Trent and Manda and Lori. Who knew I was coming home to a party? Everyone was out in the barn watching the boys work on the bikes, so I made my way over to say hi. Within the 10 minutes I was out there, I was attacked, no, seriously. ATTACKED by mosquitos. Go Figure. I go all summer without a single bite, and I come home for 10 minutes and they've made up for all the lost time. geeze. Here is some proof of the damage (beware, it is kind of gruesome).
Seriously. I promise those are all mosquito bites. Not paintballing welts or cancerous growths of skin cancer. All that from about 10 minutes outside!!!
Oh welcome home. Home, Sweet Home.
Today, during my shift at work when I was most bored, I decided to go look around on hulu.com and see if I could find any other gems I could watch because I'm all caught up on all the other shows I watch. I came across the "Hulu Days of Summer" which is their deal to post one new show a day all summer long. I was browsing through last months additions, and found that they loaded Mighty Morphin Power Rangers THE MOVIE. Words cannot express my excitement!
When I was in elementary school, I loved the power rangers. It was the coolest thing on TV and my parents actually let me watch it. I always imagined myself as the Pink Ranger, Kimberly (and I'm sure I wasn't the only one to do so). My mom even made me pink ranger costumes a few years for Halloween; definitely some of the best costumes I've ever had!
So now, I'm reliving a small, yet AWESOME piece of my childhood, all thanks to hulu.com. Have I metioned before how absolutely awesome hulu is? Because its incredible. I owe so much of my summer boredom to it.
Any of the later Power Rangers (Time Force, etc.) are pretty lame. Only the original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers are cool enough to be forever awesome.
riding the bus home after work. It was dark outside, and my iPod kept giving me the sad face and didn't want to cooperate with me, so I had to turn my attention to something else to keep me entertained for the half an hour ride. As I was thinking to myself about things, one of the other passengers phones went off. I looked up to see where the noise was coming from- turns out it was from a passenger who had been sitting hunched over with his head down since he had boarded. When he checked his phone, however, a soft smile came across his face and it continued to grow as he responded to a text message. 
Later that night, after we had spent a few hours playing Uno Attack, Brandon stopped me in the kitchen and gave me a huge hug! Probably one of the best ones I've had in the last 7 weeks. It definitely made me smile. Just what I needed really. 
Thats the beginning of my happiness for the week. I love it when little things like that happen and make you smile. Life is good!
Oh yeah!! Another little thing that made me smile was a new announcement from Rivers! haha.
Weezer are going to release their very own Snuggie blanket, which they're calling a "Wuggie," and have been working on a new album."A Wuggie is basically exactly like a Snuggie, except it says Weezer on it," frontman Rivers Cuomo told Rollingstone.com about the proposed sleeved blanket. "The people at Snuggie are doing it with us and promoting it with us. It's a totally legit Snuggie."
A Houston Rockets Hat. I'd say that pretty much explains it all.
