Cat's Cradle: Not Just a Game Played With String

I am an Elite Yelper.

Yelp: a website on which one rates businesses, then others can base whether or not they want to visit said business based on reviews.

So I guess it you Yelp a lot and write fairly good reviews, you get nominated to be an Elite Yelper.

What does that entail? You get to go check out cool places and meet cool people and eat really good food. It's great.

Tonight's event was at Cat's Cradle, an antique shop off Center Street in Provo. Cubby's and the Mighty Baker catered and ohhhh man both were so tasty. We did a scavenger hunt throughout the shop, then took a tour of their "Museum of Haunted and Mysterious Objects."

Was it spooky? I didn't think so...but it's totally one of those things that depend on what you want to get out of it. If you go in with the mindset that it will be eerie, hair prickling, and goosebump raising, you will get that sort of experience. But if you go in with the attitude that you don't believe in all that mumbo jumbo/you want to be able to sleep that night so you try your very best to be brave, then it's not all that scary.

Akkster and me.
And a goose.

1st Prize doll 

Looks like one of the 7 Dwarves looking for his pick axe...or for your child's soul...I can't be sure. 

So once upon a time, I bought this ring in London for a pound-I was OBSESSED with it, wore it nearly every day. I wanted my future engagement ring to look like it. Then one day...IT BROKE. I literally cried. I cried over a ring worth $1.54. The pearl ring in the middle is the closest ring I've been able to find to the one I had!

You can't count on him to keep a secret (due to his big mouth), but you can count on him to always have the time? 

I love how this mirror makes you look like an old photograph. #whenvarnishesandscratchesareagoodthing

oooohkay.....strange....

Yep. That's a throw pillow.

"Shrimp kebabs, shrimp gumbo, pineapple shrimp, coconut shrimp, shrimp stew..."

For those of you wondering where Lord Farquaad from Shrek ended up...

Thus concludes Nikki's and my "Night at the Museum." Until the sequel at the Smithsonian or British Museum...#reallylameNightattheMuseumBenStillerreference

Spoopy Disneyland

Once upon a time, I wanted to do something big for mine and Meg's 21st birthdays. Of course we are probably going to go to a bar when we're 21--just because we can--and order diet coke and hot wings and it will be amazing, but in all honesty, I've been in enough pubs that the novelty of going to a bar isn't going to be this huge milestone and bragging right. But we will still go.

SO. What do you do for the big, legal 21? You go to Disneyland. 2 months early. The plan was to go in December, but with finals and the holidays, it just gets too crazy. Plus, Disneyland is so fun at Halloween time; it's so "spoopy." (a typo for "spooky," but Megs kept it and it kept us laughing...well...I'm still laughing at that one)

Megs and me-Bio Trip 2013

My darling friend from work, Sage, joined us last minute for the spontaneous adventure. But I guess we're outside-of-work friends now, because she moved back to Arizona 2 days after we got home. So that's a complete bummer. But, now that we've been to Disneyland together, that kind of forces us to stay friends, because you just don't go to Disneyland with anybody.

 

It was crowded and hot, humid, and I was sick, pumping Airborne, orange juice, and Advil all day, and yet it was such a fun day. The overpriced food was tasty, the atmosphere whimsical and enjoyable, the company--well, they were the best of all.

It's funny, we could have gone to Disneyland, or Lagoon, or on a tour of the state prison...while yes, duh, Disneyland is more fun than touring the state prison (unless there's a specialty tour that I don't know about where you get to eat corn dogs and dance to the kind of music you love which most others don't), it's about the people you're with. You can make any experience a treasured memory, filled with laughter, cries, and inside jokes and quotes to tell for years.

 

Birthday Beignets

Spooooopy 

Um what is that face??

Oh Captain, my Captain...

Also, just a few notes, based on things people have said in the past few days:

Be full. Full of life. Full of happiness. Full of hope. So full, that you are overflowing, having enough to share with others. Sometimes (always) there are things in life that aren't great or are scary or sad, but you can still be happy and have that fullness. Not only is it good for you, but it's good for others too. And go to Disneyland often. It's the best.