twenty twelve, the end.

this year went by ridiculously fast. it's insane!

these are some of my best times from this year...

saw one of my favorite bands, new empire.

road tripped it to vegas for spring break.

recorded my own album.

got a puppy.

went to lake powell for the first time.

campaigned for mitt in vegas.

went to san fran for fall break.

went to my first real fancy dress up party.

 i also learned to slalum ski, did lots of boating (starting in april... freeeezing), threw some pretty great parties, went to some more great concerts, and performed a few times at my school.
cheers to 2012.

christmas cheer

Christmas was very chill this year. On Christmas Eve we went out to dinner, read the Christmas story and other stories of Jesus, and drank some bubbly. We got matching Christmas pajamas, as usual.

 Andrew and KateLyn couldn't join us, unfortunately, so this was as good as we could get. They sent us nutcrackers of themselves! Andrew the Marine and KateLyn the school teacher. How festive!

 When we went to bed on Christmas Eve, I heard Santa filling up our stockings. He is punctual.

We had a lovely breakfast and dinner, skyped with A&K, exchanged gifts, and played games. It was the merriest of Christmases!

gramma

Yesterday the Jenkins clan went up to Grandma Pete's rest home and played some Christmas tunes for her and her friends.

 

Lin played her uke, I played the guitar, and we all played the piano.

They loved it. Grandma was so excited when Mom asked everyone to sing Silent Night.

They said come back anytime and we said okay!

Aunt Nette. Carlee. Kate. Grandma. Me. Lin. Mom.

temple square

A few weeks ago I went to Temple Square in Salt Lake to see the Christmas lights. It was a beaut. I went with Chaise, Chris, Lizzie, and Rich. A bunch of other people were coming too but when they saw the snow flurries in the canyon they turned around. We went through it. It was a bit scary but we made it safe and sound and it was all cleared up by the time we came back to Logan. We walked around Temple Square and it was perfect because with the Christmas lights and the snow, it was just so festive. I love Christmas time!

gatsby

Last night I went to a Great Gatsby party at one of the frats (the mormon frat), SigEp.

 It was pretty stellar. I went with Chaise, Mark, Jaron, and Keaton.

My roommate, Katie, did my makeup all awesome and I did my hair, which I was totes proud of. I got that fur coat and a feather and got all dressed up. That was probably the best part

One day, I wanna live in the 20's and dress up all classy and go to fancy parties and drink mocktails with gentlemen in suits and vests.

 

At the party, there were tons of mocktails, which Mark and I had like ten each, and we tasted each others too. That's like twenty each.  As you can see we found it rather funny...

 

We danced for hours, not Gatsby style. 2012 style. 

And we even played a little blackjack! 

Here's some more pics for your viewing pleasure...

the after date text

dumbest thing ever, in my opinion.

why would you, after just saying goodnight and thanking your date for the lovely evening, ever text him minutes later saying,
"um, i'm not sure if you remember me saying thanks like five minutes ago... so, thanks again! i had such a great time! you are so charming!"
when you really did just say it to him... in person.

it's insulting, really.

cause now you're gonna be texting for a while, possibly. and texting is kinda lame. especially compared to a date, if it was a good'n.

it's especially weird when guys send the after date text.
"hi, i know i just thanked you at your door, but i wasn't sure if you heard me. thanks again for coming on this date with me, it wouldn't have been the same without you."

please, just let it be.

grateful

everyone else is doing it, so i'm gonna be festive myself 

and write a few things i'm grateful for...

sisters. and brother.

big sister who knows how to help me get unstressed.

instagram.

mom and dad's cooking skills. and them.

my calling (fhe head lady).

photographs.

family traditions, like playing hearts.
hair.
beards. patchless, of course.
music.

so many great friends. new and old.

the feeling you get when you accomplish goals.

holidays.

election

Barack Obama, reelected. Who is everyone kidding?! You're mental, that's all I'm saying. All of you Barack lovers. One day, maybe, you will realize that you helped screw all of us Americans, and we will never ever ever forgive you. Like, ever.

For another FOUR years, we have to look at Michelle Obama's extremely large lips and forehead and listen to people's fibs about how she's gorgeous and a great role model for women. We have to listen to Joe Biden laugh his head off about things that aren't funny and talk about people having big balls, cause he's jealous. We have to listen to Barack's lies and count how many times he says "fair", cause if one person doesn't have money, obviously no one should. I have to watch other people get an Obamaphone in jealousy, because I'm not white trash enough to get one (I guess I'll take my good looks and clean skin over a free phone). We also get to pay for Obama to play golf and party with black rappers.

We could have been looking at Mitt's salt and pepper hair. Admiring his and Paul Ryan's handsome faces. Making the name 'Tagg' popular. Laughing in Joe Biden's face. Making lazy people get off their hind ends and maybe possibly work for their money? Been proud of our country and it's leader.

If only Mitt was black, too.

It's a sad world we live in. Maybe, one day, we won't live in it anymore.

novembeard

it's back. we're only on day 2, but it's back at last.

this is a great month for girls like me, who love beards. it's a shame it only comes along one month out of twelve. for some sad reason men have this idea in their minds that women hate facial hair and so they need an excuse like no shave november to grow one. whoever the girl was that made that up should never be able to shave again.

i do know of some girls that like to do no shave november.

they're pretty vocal about it, which is kind of weird to me.

i mean, i wouldn't want anyone to know if i had a mustache to shave.

but, maybe it's their legs they're talking about?

santa franta

San Francisco was awesome. 

I went with Jake, Michael, and Shelby.

Jake had a dental interview on Monday and it was our fall break, so we made it a date.

We took off Friday morning at 8:00 a.m. I brought my 42 oz bag of
m&m's and my pillow and was set to go.

It was a short 12 hour drive.

I slept a little, talked a lot, listened to good tunes, ate a ton of junk, 

and looked out the window.

We went tandem biking across the Golden Gate Bridge.

Went to Muir Woods, a National Forest.

Walked around Fisherman's Wharf.

Rode the ferry, visited the Exploratorium, went to Chinatown 

and the Castro (home of the gays)

and went to the house on Full House!

The Golden Gate Bridge was amazing. And a biker yelled at us,

"You helmetless idiots!"

But I think helmets are for wussies.

eighteen hours

Just got back from San Fran yesterday morning. At 8:30 a.m. After driving since Monday at 2:30. If you do your math correctly that's 18 hours. Of driving. Without being able to sleep because I can't really sleep in the car. 

After getting home at 8:30, I had to get to class by 10:30. I had class all day long, 

then I had a volunteering gig,

then I had some last minute homework,

then I had to go to Taco Tuesday TWICE with different friends.

Then I cut my friends hair.

Then, at 11:00 p.m.

I went to bed.

After a 40 hour day, if you will.

 

erica

A few weeks ago, one of my high school best friends, Erica, got married. In high school, we ate lunch together, played at our school talent show, played and went to concerts and Denny's on the weekends. We had jazz band together and since there were so many guitarists and bassists, we got to go in a side room and just jam and talk the whole time with a bunch of people.

She was in my high school band, TeliFone Pole, as the bassist. Her bass was stellar, had a wood top. We (Megan, Erica, and I) were best of friends and band buddies and we hung out all the time. (One time we played a show in my basement and a few other bands came. They played so loud some of the pictures fell off the walls!)
We did things like... 

take Valentines pictures and post them on our friends Myspace walls as a Valentines card.

 

Boys Bathroom Madness.

 

Wore matching shoes to stake dances.

 

Had pie parties.

 

And jammed. All the time. And sometimes played shows.

I guess you could say we were a little weird. But whatevs, we had fun.

Anyway, this girl got married and now Megan and her are both Swensons. So I'll know when I've found the right man when his last name is Swenson.

 

You go, guuurl.

little sister

I have exactly one little sister. Little meaning younger. That's the only thing I can say about her that is littler than me. Her personality, height, and amount of time she can talk are all bigger than mine. This girl is not shy.

 

I'm extremely close with all my sisters in different ways. But being the youngest two kids, Lindsay and I have always had a special bond, if you will. On vacations, we always shared a bed. On cruises, we always shared a room. When the three older kids moved out, it was Lindsay and me. So you see, we were always paired up, so naturally, some bonding is gonna happen.

 

My little sister just started chemotherapy for Hodgkins Lymphoma. She's doing good and has a priiittty good attitude. I didn't know our family could get closer than we were (cause we were daaang close). But I think we just might have because of this. Trials always bring blessings and I've already seen many. 

Lindsay is one of my three best friends (sisters) in the whole world. 

We laugh and laugh whenever we quote [and especially when we see] the beginning of Titanic. The line where Rose as an old lady says, "Aww yes. The woman in the picture is me." To everyone else, that line has no humor. But to us it does.

We always sing 'Some Nights' by Fun loudly and harmonize in the car.

When we were kids we shared a bedroom. Whenever Lindsay would go to the bathroom, I always smelled her hands to make sure she'd washed them. She usually did, but sometimes she didn't. And when I asked to smell her hands, she would refuse... obviously I wasn't stupid. So I'd tell her to let me smell them, and she'd finally just go wash them. I was such a good teacher of hand washing.

Dad used to pay both of us a whopping two bucks an hour to massage his feet. We gladly did it, and often. Two bucks was like five candy bars back then! 

 

 

So, I say...

Girl, kick that cancer to the gray-ound.

autumn

my favorite things about autumn:

fall colors
leaves changing
cool weather
halloween
starbucks caramel apple spice
scarves
decorations
caramel apples
pumpkin treats

mitt

  

just got back from las vegas helping romney campaign! it was pretty swell. they bused us down from salt lake, provided all meals (generous meals, at that), and provided hotel stay at the marriot. we went door to door asking people who they would vote for. one lady said she wouldn't vote for romney if her life depended on it. i wish i could make her life depend on it. how foolish of her. we made some phone calls doing the same thing. we went hot tubbing and walked the strip, ate tons of m&m's and soda, and sat on the bus for over 12 hours total. it was grand, and i'm being totally serious.

bittersweet

Summer is pretty much over. Monday was my last boating day of the year. It was terribly sad. Like, I honestly felt a little emotional.

 

Summer did me well. And so will fall, I hope.

A few of my favorite things about summer were:

recording my first album ever

Lake Powell

weekly boating trips

playing with little Albus

and taking family pictures.

I am excited for fall; wearing scarves and cardigans, drinking apple cider, and going to corn mazes. But it's always so so so sad to see summer go.