Pure Joy.

This is a music video my friends made last summer. I have no idea how it took me so long to see it. But I am obsessed with it. 4 white boys at BYU breakin it down to "Africa" by Toto? Yes please.

Victory's Within the Mile

Today marks a special victory for me, as I sit here typing this in all my sweaty glory.

Did I finish the 30 day shred?

Psh. No. I actually need to start that over. Anyway. Back to my victory.

Am I the same size I was when I graduated high school?

Nope. Right now I'm actually 2 dress sizes curvier than that. But thanks for asking.

Did I win the lottery?

Nope.
Enough of this. What is this victory, you ask?

Today I ran a mile. And I did it in a little over 8 minutes. Give or take a half a block, and adding in the times I had to jog in place to wait to cross the street. No stopping. No walking. Just running.  I am officially in better cardiovascular shape than I have ever been in my entire life. V-I-C-T-O-R-Y. I beat my previous best mile time ever by almost a minute. And that time was from the 8th grade. And I definitely stopped to walk at least three times during that run.

1 mile. 8 minutes. No stopping.

Booyah.

A special Thanks to:

•  Jillian Michaels, for building my endurance and *almost* making me cry during work outs.
• Jay-Z and Rihanna (But not Kanye West) For performing the song "Run this Town" on my Ipod over and over. (Kanye's verse is vulgar. I start the song over when he starts singing.)
• The sun, for not setting until I was safely home
• My wonderful shoes and socks
• Papa Booth, from whom I have inherited the dreaded sweaty-back syndrome

Now that I've run a mile without stopping... I feel like I can actually start truthfully telling people that I 'go running'. And that makes me feel fancy.

Winter Phenomena

Some funny things happen in the winter. And when I say funny, what I really mean is puzzling. And when I say puzzling, I mean that they are super annoying.

Phenomenon Numero Uno: Arctic Nose Bleeds

I am not a person who has ever really been prone to nose bleeds. The only nosebleed I can remember from my childhood wasn't even a real one. I just wiped my nose with the back of my hand while we were watching some movie about dragons that we had rented from "the Warehouse" and I remember actually being excited that my nose was bleeding. But when I ran to get a tissue, it stopped. Boring.

Cue the dry and wintry death breezes that blow though Provo.

It really doesn't make sense to me why it happens, but my little nose just takes personal offense when the temperature dips below 20. Ouchy Arctic nose bleeds. Curse you, father winter.

Phenomenon Number 2: Reduced Headphone Malleability

Has anyone else noticed that when it's really frigid outside, the cords to your headphones become stiff and weird and all of sudden it feels like your ear buds are attached to two long white sticks? Because I sure have. And then, the ear buds start falling out of your ears and its really hard to put them back in correctly when you have gloves on. Bahhhhh. Hate. I hate crunchy cords. It's just so strange to me. Water freezes. I understand that. Most liquids turn to solids at some point when their temperature drops low enough. But wire and plastic? If it's that cold outside, I don't think I should be required to subject myself to possible bodily solidification. I'm 70 % water. It's dangerous out there.

Phenomenon Number 3: Temperature Sensitive Motivation

When it dips below 10 degrees, I lose any shred of will I may have previously possessed to venture outside. School and work and EVEN GETTING FOOD becomes a burden. I love grocery shopping. Love it. But when it's cold out, my cupboards become pitifully bare. I turn into a winter hermit. I would LOVE to be able to hibernate. Like a bear. Honestly, if my house started burning down and it was below 10 degrees outside, I would think twice before evacuating my apartment. At least deadly fire is warm.

Phenomenon Number 4: Poky Nose Hairs

I really do not like it when I try taking a deep cleansing breath, only to have my nostrils pricked by a thousand tiny frozen nose hairs. And then they unfreeze upon exhale. Poky. Not poky. Poky. Not poky. Hate.

Phenomenon Number 5: Cookie Cravings

When its cold I like to eat cookies. I usually make a half batch... which is approximately 24 cookies, and then I consume at least 3/4 of them by myself within 2 days. I have to stop myself from stocking up on chocolate chips on the off chance that I have driven the horrible journey (3 blocks) to the grocery store. It's a constant battle. But I am getting gooooood at making cookies. I seriously could eat chocolate chip cookies for the rest of my life and never tire of them. Never.

I'll update this or post again when I recognize any new patterns of strangeness that have something to do with the winter time.

Lars Vargas

I went to Las Vegas. It was sooo warm and wonderfu and there was sun and hotness and grass and palm trees. Here are some of the highlights:

Gelato in the catacombs of the Bellagio

Hard Rock Cafe.... best chicken sandwich I have ever eaten in my LIFE.

The water show.

The "fire" show.

NOT ONCE being annoyed by my vacation-mates.

Staying at a friend's house for free!

Shopping.

75 freaking degrees.

Driving around with the windows down.

Walking around inside the sparkly casinos where the nasty-nast porn-hander-outers can't get you.

Visiting the Hoover Dam.

Getting burped on by an extremely intoxicated lesbian.

Jack in the Box tacos.... They are just so wrong that they are right.

I tried on a 5 carat diamond ring at Tiffany's. It was real. The price tag said $313,000.00 Yowsa!

Seeing a ridiculous amount of vanity plates.... My favorite/least favorite.... There was a pink bug with a plate that said "BARBIES" ..... What the freak?

Getting hollered at by the Hookah salesman.

Annnnnnd I consumed an entire jumbo package of cinnnamon bears in less than 24 hours. By myself.

Weekend: Success.