Top 30 Memes of 2012

You should all know by now that I think memes are hilarious. I've been saving my favorite ones because it's double funny to forget about something you thought was funny, then laugh about it when you find it again. Here are 30 memes that make me laugh harder than they should. Please leave a comment and vote for your favorite one. I'll announce the winner as the BEST MEME OF 2012!!!!!

Check out 29 more awesome memes after the jump! 

What are you doing New Year's Eve?

It's that time of year again! I have to tell you that I have a love/hate relationship with New Year's Eve. 

On one hand, there seems to be so much pressure to have the most epic night of your life (every NYE...how does that work??). No matter what I do, I somehow feel like I'm missing out on some crazy celebration that I wasn't invited to by imaginary people who are somehow cooler than me. (Now I know I'm not alone...have you heard of FOMO?)

On the other hand, I feel like NYE comes at the perfect time. Post-holiday blues with a few months of winter left just beg for a holiday that inspires hope and new beginnings. This introspective girls just loves a reason to reflect. 

For me, NYE these days means celebrating with my BFFL. I tend to enjoy small shindigs over huge parties or town celebrations, so this year we will be throwing a minute-to-win-it party with Matt's family and some friends. We'll be ringing in the new year by making large fools of ourselves! And really, I can't think of a better way to celebrate.

What are you doing New Year's Eve? 

Oh, and when it comes to resolutions, my resolution this year is to NOT. Pinterest makes me feel inadequate enough...I don't need those unfinished resolutions making me feel guilty two months from now! I feel like I'm constantly making goals throughout the year, anyway. Instead, I'm issuing a blanket statement over my entire life:

Happy New Year! 

Why I want to be BFF with Emma Stone

I think I've written about Emma Stone before. I love the vulnerability and humor she brings to the roles she plays. She has a personality behind the beauty, which is rare in women in Hollywood. Plus, she advocates eating the damn red velvet cupcake because life is short. Here, here! 

A Sunday Quote

Today's Sunday Quote comes straight to you from Les Miserables. I cried maybe eight times during that movie, even more than the pregnant lady next to me. If you haven't already noticed, I tend to be a little sappy about the media I consume. I'm always looking for something to learn or take away from it. My favorite aspect of the whole Les Mis idea is that JVJ was shown mercy, and in turn showed mercy to so many people in his life because one person saw past his outward image. The priest created this ripple effect that hit others he never even met, in ways he could probably never fully comprehend. Love goes a long way. 

What was your favorite part?

Thank You, Internet.

Waking Up In Vegas

We are back from California! It was so good to be home and spend time with my family. The girls got manicures and (much-needed) haircuts, my dad took the men on a "man day" (who even knows what they did) and we watched lots of movies and ate lots of food with lots of people. And we had FOUR Christmases! 

On our way back, we picked up some friends and spent the night in Vegas! The last time I was in Vegas, I was eight and my grandma took us to Excalibur. I don't remember anything about that trip, so all my ideas about Vegas have come from movies like 21 and  Ocean's 11, 12 and 13.

This time, in real life, we spent some Christmas money on a nice meal and walked through the Venetian and saw the water show outside of the Bellagio. 

The whole time we were walking around town, I just kept thinking about how many casino heists and card-counting scams were most likely secretly happening all around us. All the moguls making huge business deals in elite penthouse suites, and me wearing my husband's huge sweatshirt to keep from freezing. Something about Vegas makes me nervous, because I am not a Vegas person. I don't enjoy anything that people who go to Vegas like to do. I felt pretty out of my element based on all the things I've seen in movies about Vegas (luxury, danger, sex, and partying, all done by George Clooneys and Julia Roberts' with lots of swagger). 

Have you actually walked around the strip and looked at the people walking around?  They aren't sexy. They don't look like moguls. In fact, they look just like ordinary people! The only people who looked sexy were the girls on the corner dressed up like flamingos who got paid $10 a pop to take pictures with people and promote their hotel. Even they looked like they were freezing and not having a good time. I'd rather be warm in a big sweatshirt than freezing in a flamingo costume. 

And that, my friends, is why I should trust real life instead of all those movies I watch. 

PS: My favorite things about Christmas was that it was our first year together as newlyweds. The last two Christmases were spent pining instead of fully celebrating. On Christmas Eve, after everyone went to bed, we stayed up playing Wii and Pinning (respectively) and watched the First Presidency Christmas Devotional together. It was a great way to start Christmas and reminded me why we celebrate this holiday longer than any other holiday. What better reason than Christ? 

Artist: Georgia O'Keeffe

Why I want to be BFF with Sarah Jessica Parker

I fell in love with Sarah Jessica Parker watching Sex + the City. She just has this undefinable quality that makes me want to follow her around and give her things. I love the clothes her character wore and the ideas she brought up in her column. I wish I could pull of that wardrobe and I want to be a writer like Carrie, using my life as inspiration for words. 

SJP is married to Ferris from Ferris Bueller's Day Off. I would never have put them together, but I get it. Her life choices just seem so interesting. So cheers to you, SJP! You have fabulous style! Don't listen to what anybody says about your face, because I think it's beautiful.

The True Meaning of Christmas: A Babe, born in Bethlehem

It's Christmas Sunday! I'm so excited to go to church and listen to the story of Jesus' birth and life. I've been reading up on him here, and it's getting me really excited for Christmas. I love having a reason to learn and think more of my Savior. To get you in the Christmas mood, here's a quote on the true meaning of Christmas, and a short movie of the nativity. Enjoy your Sunday! 

"The Christmas season is a time to celebrate the priceless gift of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. His birth, which we commemorate during this season, is more than the symbol of a holiday. He is the Son of God, the Redeemer of all mankind, the King of kings, the Prince of Peace, and our joy and salvation. This Christmas season will have greater meaning as we seek to follow His example and live His teachings."

-found here

End of the World Favorites

Happy End of the World! We are safe and sound in California. It's been a great 14 hours so far, and no Zombie Apocalypse! Here are a few of my favorite things this week:

Look at this octopus!

Paint your own matryoshka dolls?!?!?!?!?!

Super fun wrapping ideas for kids presents.

A gift that anyone would love to open.

72 years of Batman logos on a single poster.

If the Apocalypse actually does come today, I hope that I am holding this when it happens.

Oh my gosh, look at this print!

My friend told me she was attending an End of the World Party. What does an EOTWP look like, you ask? I guess people bring their favorite food and do fun stuff that would look cool if you were found dead...that's actually a guess. They probably just played Wii or something. Either way, FUN. What are you doing for the End of the World????? (I'll probably spend it trying to make my nephew love me more than my husband, and eating bacon.)

Vacation Kellie

What are you doing for Christmas? Matt and I are on our way to California for Rowland Christmas. Another road trip! You have no idea how bad my holiday senioritis is this year. The excitement of Christmas is around, but the dark days have been making me feel sluggish and weird. I've been counting down the days until our sunny CA vacation. Yesterday after my last day of school, I came home, took a hot bath, and was deep in the throes of a serious Parenthood catchup session when Matt finally got home from work. I was so excited to see him and finally be on vacation that I think I may have tried to make him wrestle me while he was trying to pack. Vacation Kellie has arrived! It's time to mess up my sleeping schedule with late-night movies, rile up the young nephews and do nothing at all but be with family.

As we speak we are driving through St. George, the homeland of our love story. Oh how glad I am to be on my
way out of here. There are few things that perk me up more than a good vacation in a warm climate. Winter Blues are serious, y'all.

Happy and safe travels, my friends!

Carl

Did you hear that story on the news of a monkey in a winter coat that was left at Ikea? They named him Carl and now he's an internet sensation! He's popping up in memes everywhere! Matt told me the story one day on our way to the gym, and it made us laugh so hard together. I don't know what it is about a monkey + human clothing + memes that makes me laugh, but there you have it. Matt found this picture yesterday. What's better than my favorite meme of the moment plus one of my favorite artists? 10 points for Gryffindor if you can name the artist.

Artist: Laura Wilson

A Christmas Card

Can I just count our wedding announcement as this year's Christmas card? Who am I even asking? Who is in charge of all these questions? The answer for me is, my delusional self. Yes, Kellie. This totally counts. You can post a Christmas card on your blog and it will totally be the same as sending out a nice paper one to all your friends and family. 

Technically we haven't even been married a whole year. So this Christmas, we're taking our mulligan. Expect a Christmas card for the next 50 straight years. Or until the apocalypse comes.

(Please pretend you received this card after December 21, 2012).

Why I want to be BFF with Shia Labeouf

Do you guys remember Even Stevens? That show from the Disney Channel? By some grace of God, that annoying little brother turned out to be the smokin lead character in Lawless. I would probably just take him out for proverbial coffee and ask him what it took to get from point A to point B...and then recreate it in girl form. 

A Sunday Quote

I hope you had some of both of these this weekend. I know I did. If you didn't literally laugh out loud when you saw this cat, keep looking until you do. This picture makes me so happy.

We just got back from seeing The Hobbit. That movie is so long and epic that I felt like I had a reality hangover when I walked out of the theater. We also got to try out Texas Roadhouse with our friends who just had a baby. We were there for their first night out since she's been born!

In other news, I may have gone extra hard at the gym today just so I could nosh on the gingerbread house we made at cousin night.

I'm also pretty sure I'm starting a book club. Message me if you're interested in joining! I'll probably post the book on here so anyone who wants to can join in!

Friday Favorites

It's Friday! I have been at the museum all week (usually we're in schools teaching, but my co-worker is in EUROPE for a month, so schools are out). It's nice to have a teaching break! For more on what I do at work, go here. This week we got to see lots of loved ones before we go off to California for Christmas. We made gingerbread houses, had FHE together, and even visited a little one in the hospital :( Luckily, she's doing better and will hopefully come home tomorrow. 

I'm super excited because my BFFL is coming down to have a ladies night with me tonight! Who even knows what we're going to do. Last time she came down, we ate dinner at home while Matt played video games and sat in my bed on our computers for an hour, then went to bed. And it was awesome, because we have the kind of relationship where we have an awesome time, every time, no matter what we do. This time we might go out and do something festive. I'll keep you updated.

Time for Friday Favorites! 

I'm re-writing a lesson I did while student teaching on barriers. I found this video about El Bocho + CNN's Berlin Wall Tape Art Project  for the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. The things people come up with continue to amaze me. Watch it...it's pretty cool. 

Do you guys know about Flash Mobs? A group of people get together and rehearse a dance, then meet up in a very public place to perform it as a surprise for strangers. I'm going to admit that this one made me cry (but then again, everything makes me cry). I just love the idea of strangers getting together to make other people smile! The world needs more things like this. 

This list of unexplainable GIFS had me crying laughter.

ps. The first time I tried having a civilized, decent public forum on Facebook about a hot button issue, it blew up in my face. Good to know! Turns out I can't take the heat.

Pants

I'm sure by now you have heard about the renegade call for LDS women to wear pants to church this Sunday. I have read a few articles about it (go here for more context. I especially loved cJane's take on the subject) and I don't entirely know how I feel about the whole situation. This is what I do feel...

I believe that church is a time to worship God, learn more about the Gospel, and build community with fellow LDS members.

I believe that God does not care about what we wear to church as long as it is our best and we are fully clothed.

I believe that pants are not the thing that make men and women equal.

I enjoy femininity and the spirit that comes with being a woman. (edit: I'm not saying that wearing pants to church makes you less feminine. I'm just saying that I enjoy being feminine, and I also enjoy being a strong woman, and those are not mutually exclusive.)

Skirts are more comfortable than pants. Pants can be just as dressy as skirts. Neither alone will secure my place in the Celestial Kingdom.

Women and men were created to work together as partners. Men are not above women. Women are not above men. We have equally important roles, and clothing does not change that.

What do you think? Just as on my Facebook, I welcome all opinions as long as they are respectful and in a spirit of discussion, not bashing.

And whatever you do, please just don't wear these to church...or ever:

Artist: Edouard Cortes

Why I want to be BFF with Tom Hardy

Every movie I have seen with Tom Hardy in it has been mesmerizing. Even his walk is mesmerizing. Turns out he's just an old softie under that beautiful face. Need I say more? Tom, let's be friends.

A Quote

On Being A Movie Masochist

I know I'm about a billion months late on this bandwagon, but I just watched Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Remember that I have this thing where I can't get into pop culture stuff until after it's heyday? Yeah, sometimes it's the worst because I miss out on awesome things like this movie. Matt and I started watching it a couple of days ago. I think I cried three times before he turned the movie off because "it was making me act weird." Welcome to women, Matthew. We cry. I think he thinks I'm a movie masochist. 

Last night I stayed up way too late Christmas shopping online, which means I woke up way too late this morning. In fact, Matthew had already been to one or two events, cuddled me in bed, then got up and left for his third event before I got out of bed. (He's an early Saturday riser, that one.) Saturday is my day, which means I get to do whatever I want. Today I wanted to stay in bed and watch this movie, which made me cry approximately three more times before the end. The DVD even skipped at the most crucial part, but that didn't stop me from crying context-clue tears. 

What do you guys think about movies that make you cry? I have grown accustomed to watching "boy" movies like Batman and Spiderman and Ironman and anything with a noun-attached-to-the-word-man title, but I still just love movies that touch on the deepest and truest human experiences, like how a strange boy deals with the death of his father on 9/11. I don't care if it makes me cry. In fact, I'll probably like the movies more if I do. 

Friday Favorites: Website Edition

This week's Friday Favorites are dedicated to my favorite websites. These are the sites I go to all the time to feel awesome about life.

Single? Ever been single? Go here. It won't disappoint.

Did you know that Zooey Deschanel teamed up with her two best friends to create a website dedicated to all things woman? Some of the posts are deep, others dumb, some funny...all awesome.

This is my favorite blog right now. Joanna has been a writer for various high-profile magazines and has an adorable toddler. She lives in New York and writes about a lot of things, including NYC, motherhood, travel, products she loves, gift guides, and things that make her happy.

Need a pick-me-up? Even if you don't like cats, five seconds on this website will cheer you up, guaranteed.

This guy wrote 1000 posts about 1000 Awesome Things in life. It makes me so happy to be alive.

This site gets me laughing harder than anything else in the wehrld. Oh, memes.

Everything you would ever want in a party + lifestyle blog.

And, a post about being pretty, or the lack thereof.

What's your favorite go-to cheer-up website?

I Need Your Advice

Remember how I told you guys about our summer travel plans? We were originally going to save up to rent an RV to road trip up the coast of California to see the Redwoods. Then Matt found out that it's even more expensive than going on a cruise, which seems about 100xawesomer than a road trip in my home state. So we are now planning a cruise for summer 2013 with our friends, the Johnsons. 

Have you ever been on a cruise before? My family has been on a few cruises, and we loved them all. 

Even if you haven't been on a cruise, I am looking for some travel advice. 

Where has your favorite vacation been, and what made it so great? 

The Best Thing Matt Has Ever Said To Me

So Matt and I spend a lot of time at home relaxing. Work is crazy, and home is this blissful sanctuary where we watch tv and google crap until the cows come home. We go on real dates on the weekends and go to the gym or the store, but we do spend a lot of after-work time at home. Last night I did yoga and Matt got pumped on his doorway pull-up contraption. And then we ate dinner on the couch. Something on tv must have referenced a chicken (I wasn't paying attention), because all of a sudden, Matt blurts out,

"Babe, did you know that I know how to hypnotize chickens?"

I mean, you can't just spring something like that on someone who's knee-deep in Pinterest. It's just too random! It was so out of the blue that I couldn't stop laughing for like 3 whole minutes.

Just the image of him trying to calm a chicken down makes me crack up.

I didn't even know chicken hypnosis was a thing! Apparently you do that before you kill it. Which makes me sad.

But there you go! Now you and I know about one more crazy strange thing that exists in the world.

So this is officially the best thing Matt has ever said to me, besides all that romantic stuff he said while we were engaged haha.

Happy hump day, y'all.

Artist: Lord Frederic Leighton

The Best Christmas Movies Of All Time

Remember when I talked about my favorite family Christmas traditions? Watching movies together is a big part of that. In honor of one of my favorite traditions, I have compiled a list of the best holiday movies to watch this month to get you into a festive mood. This post could also be called:

"The Best 17 Movies to Watch At Christmas Because They're Awesome And I've Seen Them And They Mention Christmas At Some Point". Enjoy! 

1. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

2. Home Alone

3. Meet Me In St. Louis

4. The Santa Clause

5. The Polar Express

6. Elf

7. White Christmas

8. To Grandmother's House We Go (Oh yeah. This is happening. I was addicted to MK+A growing up. Watched every movie 10 trillion times. This is staying on the list, mostly because it makes me happy to see them pre-hobo.)

9. The Harry Potter series

10. Little Women

11. Mean Girls

12. Serendipity

13. The Holiday

14. Sleepless in Seattle

15. When Harry Met Sally

16. You've Got Mail

17. The Family Stone

I won't apologize that 3 of those movies feature Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks/Billy Crystal. While googling Christmas movies to refresh my memory, I stumbled upon this gem. I've never seen it, but I might pay a billion dollars to find a copy.

Your turn. Do you have a favorite Christmas movie?

Why I want to be BFF with Abraham Lincoln

Have you guys seen the movie Lincoln yet? We saw it in Arizona over Thanksgiving break. First of all, we went on a Tuesday afternoon, so I'm pretty sure Matt, our BIL + I were the only three people there under the age of 60. We walked in and were surrounded by seniors! When I pointed it out to Matt, he just said, "Babe, look at the only other movie playing at this theater. Twilight. That just goes to show how dumb our generation is." What has become of our generation when most people would rather see a poorly-written movie about glittery vampires than an amazingly produced movie about our best president ever? I mean, he got rid of slavery, for crying out loud. There is my rant. Go see Lincoln. 

BTW, the uptight mom from Mrs. Doubtfire played Mary Todd Lincoln. She brought me to tears during their fight scene. But then again, I think I also cried during Twilight, so...

Follow Me!

Hey hey hey! Here's an easy way to follow my blog:

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Bloglovin' is a cool site where you can follow and search for awesome blogs. It's an easier interface than Blogger and Google+, and...you should just do it. I found some great blogs using their search tool.

In other news, Matt just sat through an entire indie movie with me because he's the best. And then Land of the Lost came on and I conveniently had to go pluck my eyebrows. Funny how that works. I think that's a point for Matthew.

Sunday

"The Lord knows who we really are, what we really think, what we really do, and who we really are becoming." - David A. Bednar

9 Cute DIY Christmas Decorations

one / craft stick snowflakes / two : glitter reindeer art / three : candy cane wreath / four : miniatures in a jar / five : sparkle branches / six : dollar store fake fruit + glitter = centerpiece / seven : 25 awesome advent calendars eight : handmade christmas trees / nine : peace garland