An Island in the Sun!

I have a thing for palm trees. It's true. If it were possible to marry a palm tree, I'd seriously consider it. You know those weeks where you just want to be on an island in the sun, a pepsi in your hand, sunglasses on (I also have a thing for sunglasses), etc!?! I want to be on an island in the sun right now. An island where the only sounds are of laughter and waves crashing into the shore. An island where you bury your toes in the sand and your only worry is if you put enough sunscreen on your nose. An island where only nice people are invited. All those people who are mean to you and that just down right annoy you, they aren't invited. An island where reggae music plays all day long (I have a thing for reggae music too-I should have just been Jamaican, totally just kidding). An island where "dressing up" is wearing a tie dye t-shirt over your swim suit. An island where the only thing on the agenda for the day is to meet up with your best friends and scope out guys on the beach. An island where hate doesn't exist, but a whole lotta love does. An island where you don't have cell phone service, and it doesn't matter because the only people you really care to talk to are on the island with you. An island where my curly red hair, does itself and looks good. An island where the words "love" and "groovy" are used constantly. An island where your cheeks get freckled and I actually get a tan (yeah, right). An island where the nightlife is filled with flower leis, tiki torches, and little drink umbrellas. An island where smiling is an all day activity. An island where the only drama was if someone was wearing the same flip flops as you. An island where you smell lime and coconut all day long.

Have you fell in love with my island yet? I have. I wish this island existed. It might, I don't know. It's been one of those weeks. I want to get away from everyone except for a few people, I want to turn off my cell phone for days, I don't want to check my email, I don't want to have to be somewhere at a certain time, etc. I want to go to my island. Not to mention, I have an extreme case of spring fever and it's not helping the situation. Oh well. I've decided this week, I WILL pretend I am on this island that I speak of and it WILL make me happy. I'm sure I'll blog about my island again, we're in love you know. So-happy island week everyone, don't forget your sunscreen. ;)

Spring Break 2010

Ahh Spring Break. The much loved occasion that is jam packed with events, no sleep, lots of food, sunburns, and fun. To be honest with you, I don't remember much of spring break this year and it only happend last week. Not sure why I don't remember. Most college students go to Florida and Mexico and drink for spring break. But, being LDS that is not the case here. So I don't have that excuse of not remembering because "I drank too much". Nope, I just plain ol' don't remember. I had an extreme case of lack of sleep during spring break that is probably why I don't remember all the details. I did a lot of fun things. Went to movies, out to dinner, just hung out, etc. But the highlight of my spring break and what I remember most was going up to Salt Lake for a girls only day! That is what I am going to write about in this post. We originally were going to Lava Hot Springs in Idaho but some things didn't quite work out so the plans changed. We decided to just run off to Salt Lake City for the day. So we did. I had 3 hours of sleep and away we went, 5 girls jam packed in a car all nice and cozy. We went shopping at the gateway mall, took some crazy pictures, and out to eat (which was quite an adventure), and then watched a movie. It was fun. There is something about being extremely sleep deprived, out of Utah County and with great friends that makes me go crazy. I was a total looney toon the entire day. Like I said, I was very sleep deprived but still, I was embarrassing myself.

When we were taking pictures, Torina asked this guy to take a picture of our group. He kindly agreed. We had two cameras. This man was with two of his friends. Ok, so the man that Torina asked to take our picture was taking it, and his friend was also taking the picture with our other camera. We're smiling and I notice three cameras. What the??? We only had two cameras. Um.. .. .. creepy. These men were taking pictures of us. Okay, we took the picture and all was well. Nope, it's not over yet. Then the men have one of the guys take a picture while the other two guys get in the picture with us. Why? Why do these men want pictures with us? I still can't figure it out, but it was definitely weird. Were they torists? Maybe. Were they facinated by the two foreign-looking redheads? Maybe. Or maybe, it was just creepy. Anyway, the pictures turned out cute. I look extremely tired in them. It was not a good hair day for me, so my hair was up. I hate pictures of me with my hair up and I look, well, like a crack hoe (excuse my icky language). I am in fact, NOT a crack hoe but I was so tired that a crack hoe was just what I looked like in the pictures. But, nevertheless, the pictures are fun. Thanks for the pictures, Torina and thanks for darkening/lightening some of them, they look good.

Dinner was my favorite part of the day. We were CrAzY. All of us. We looked like alcoholics. We drank so much soda. Half of our table was filled with empty cups. I think Katie had like 7 dr. peppers and the rest of us followed closely. So fun. Did I mention the dessert? YUM. We got a moulton chocolate cake with ice cream and cheesecake. If I wasn't before, I was now in a sugar coma. Heavenly I tell you, heavenly. It was a really fun day. I apologize to all of my friends for my outrageous behavior. That will teach you to not take me out in public when I am sleep deprived ;) It might not have been the most exciting place to go for Spring Break. We didn't leave the country, we didn't even leave the state, we didn't do anything out of the ordinary. But heck, if you know me and my fellow friends, we have this amazing ability to turn any ordinary experience into such an extra ordinary, hilarious adventure. Thanks girls for such a fun day!! (Sorry if this post doesn't make sense, I am still suffering from sleep deprivation.)

This is the photo the creepy men took. We all look a little confused because remember, there were 3 cameras and only 2 were ours. Maybe we're going to be in an foreign magazine, you never know. Yeah, creepy.



No comment.

Love it.


Torina and Amberlee on a sugar high.

I have no idea what's up with this picture.

So fun.

Royalty 2009-went out with a bang!

Last night was the 2010 Miss Pleasant Grove pageant. I went early to get good seats. Oh. My. Word. It was crazy. I waited in line outside then they decided to let us in the foyer. Soon after that, they decided to let us in the hallway but we still could not go inside the auditorium. We all lined up outside the doors. I was about 3rd in line. After waiting for about an hour they finally opened the doors. AHH! Mad house!! Everyone was so crammed in the hallway. There were so many people. These little high school girls (no offense high schoolers) butted me, ran right in front of me and floaded the doors. This caused pushing, shoving, etc. It was crazy. There was a grandma lady in front of me who pushed the girls and gave them a dirty look. Haha, that made up for them butting, and they did deserve it. I ran into the auditorium and with Katie and Amberlee's help we hurried and taped off a entire row. Whew, hard part was over. They audtorium was already pretty much full. Crazy. Anyway, the pageant started and what not. I have to say that I was not impressed with this year's pageant. It was disorganized and just didn't feel right. The contestants were great, it was all the other people! They couldn't get the microphones, lights, videos, etc. to work. They just had a lot of problems and I was not impressed. But all the girls did great. Anywho, this post is dedicated to Kim and Amanda.

You girls did AWESOME! Unfortunately, you are not in the royalty this year but who cares, you were in last year and last year was way better!!!

Kim- I love you to death! You are so beautiful and talented. You looked stunning in your evening gown last year and this year. You're hilarious, you always make me laugh histerically.

Amanda- You rocked your interview at the pageant, you looked great, loved the dress! We always get into harmless trouble when we're together and I love it! We have so many fun times!

Both of you did great, I could go on and on about you both. It was an honor to be your bodyguard last year during all of the Strawberry Day's events. We had such a fun time and made so many great memories. I will never, ever forget it. I loved going to all of the events with you and riding on the float!! What a great experience and I am so proud of both of you! You both did great this year! I love you both to death. We've been friends for such a long time and I intend to be friends forever. FYI- As cheesy as it sounds- In my world, I will always be your bodyguard haha, and you will aways be royalty!! Love you girls! I could've posted so many pictures, it was hard to pick and choose but enjoy the pictures from last year as you were royalty. . . :)

It's about that time again.

(Kimberly-3rd Attendant to Miss Pleasant Grove 2009, Bodyguard of the Attendants-Amber{me}, Amanda-2nd Attendant to Miss Pleasant Grove 2009)

It's about that time again for the Miss Pleasant Grove pageant. Wow. Time sure does fly. Seriously, time goes so fast! It was already a whole year ago when the gang of girls (our whole tight group of friends) and I were standing in line to get a good seat to watch my peeps compete!?! Seems like a few months ago is all. Crazy. As you all know, Kim and Amanda took 2nd and 3rd Attendant to Miss P.G. 2009. We're all tight by the way, Kim, Amanda, and I are all tight so it was fun to watch great friends compete together. It was so fun. Strawberry Days was a TOTAL blast. If you didn't know, I was their personal bodyguard, yep, I'm a lot tougher than I look. Seriously, I had a sash and everything. I went to every even to support them, and protect them of course. Things get pretty crazy in the pageant world. I am not the pageant type, I think they are great for girls that their whole world is pageants but in some ways, I think pageants are a bit ridiculous and I know that Amanda and Kim would agree with me! You couldn't pay me to compete in one, but I will be the bodyguard and go and watch, it's fun entertainment and of course I will go to support my friends! Last year, we went to every night at the rodeo of course, the many, many, many parades, etc. It was fun to have a "behind the scenes" look at everything, I felt a little bit special because I was the bodyguard, hello read the sash. Anyway, they are competing again this year for queen. Half of the contestants are still in high school and half are not. Kim and Amanda are not in high school anymore, they are my age. I just wanted to write a quick blog post to tell you girls good luck. I know you girls have worked hard. It was an honor to be your personal bodyguard haha and it will be fun to be involved again if you win this year. So here's a quick shout out to Amanda and Kim, I'll see you this Saturday at the pageant, I'll be there front and center! Good luck to the both of you, love you girls! :) Sorry for the quick, scatter-brained post but just wanted to let you know that I'm rootin' for ya both! :)

Give me a bottle of Nyquil.

(Glamour shot, I think I was under the influence of nyquil when this was taken. This is about exactly how I am feeling these days. I really need some sleep, or caffeine, something has gotta give ;)

Give me a bottle of Nyquil. Seriously. My past few weeks have been so messed up! I had strep throat a month ago but no worries, I got a shot in my rear end and I was all better the next day (too much information?). I love those shots in the bum, they are magic. A cough followed strep. A nagging cough. A cough that I still have! I feel fine, totally fine. No other symptoms, just a cough. It's driving me nuts. I can't laugh without having a cough attack. I've gone through bags and bags of cough drops. Anyway, I think I am finally on the mend, I only cough a little bit, more of just clearing the throat. The reason I titled this post "give me a bottle of nyquil" is because that is a song, not because I am a nyquil junkie or anything like that. Can't stand the stuff. It was like one of the first little silly songs I learned on the guitar when I started playing about 4 years ago or so. Give me a bottle of Nyquil, that restful sleep my body needs. Goes something like that. Anyway point being, I don't sleep. Ever since I had strep my sleep schedule has been so wacked! I'm blaming everything on strep throat. So when I developed a cough I started taking nyquil at night to sleep. Bad idea. Medications have always affected me a little different than the normal person. Benedryl makes me psychotic, when I had oral surgery the meds they prescribed me for pain didn't work at all and we're talking some pretty serious pain killers. Anyway, nyquil makes my body soooo tired but my brain is wide awake. So really, ever since I took nyquil a few times that week I haven't slept normally. Permanent damage. Not to mention, that stuff is disgusting. I gag everytime. I have to plug my nose, shoot it back and eat a cracker or something salty right after or I will vomit that nasty green nyquil. Blech.

I am sleep deprived and I'm really sick of it. I feel like a crazy person, I can hardly function! I've been trying different techniques and such for sleeping and it's getting a little better but not much. I've never been a good sleeper and have always had problems with it but now is worse than ever. Stress doesn't help either, it makes my brain stay awake all night and if I do fall asleep, I have the strangest dreams. Oh yeah, I have big news, are you ready? You better sit down. Sitting? I kicked my caffeine habit. Yes, me, Amber Lynn Morgan is no longer addicted to caffeine, the sweet nectar. It's kind of sad, but I was becoming a serious junkie, I had to cut myself off. I still drink it, I won't abstain from the stuff if you offer it to me but point being, I only drink it about once a week now, that is huge for me, huge. Put your hands together and clap for my accomplishment, it is quite the big deal. Still, no sleep. Oh well.

I am now done complaining. Just had to vent about all of that. The good news is, next week is SPRING BREAK and there is going to be some serious partying going on, I don't sleep anyway, might as well stay up all night having fun instead of laying in bed! This blog post is super scatter-brained. Sorry. Sleep deprivation and caffeine withdrawls remember!?! Anywho, spring is on its way, waaahooo! Booyah! Happy Spring Break to me and everyone else!! :)

Ahh, Hollywood!

Did you watch the Academy Awards? I did. I don't think I've ever watched them before and as you know The Oscars take place in L.A. California. As I was watching the award show, it reminded me so much of my junior year in high school when I had the great opportunity to go on Choir Tour. My choir toured parts of California and we spent the most time in L.A. AHH, you gotta love Hollywood. We saw everything. . . Grauman's Chinese Theatre, Hollywood Blvd., Studios, Farmer's Market, Hollywood Walk of Fame, everything. We saw it all. As I was on choir tour I fell in love with Hollywood. I don't know who didn't. A bunch of teenagers in L.A. with all that jazz of Hollywood in the air, it was great. We also sang in many of these places that we got to see. Ah, I loved it, such a great experience. As I was watching the Academy Awards last night, all the talk about Hollywood got me reminiscing about choir tour. It was fun to remember those fun times.

Anyway, my whole point to watching the Academy Awards was to see if Sandra Bullock won "Best Actress" for "The Blind Side". No worries, she won. It was fun to see the Tuohy family (the family of the true story, the blind side) in the audience at the Oscars because if you remember about a month or so ago, I got to hear them speak in person. It was fun to watch the awards and I'm so happy Sandra Bullock won an Oscar, she sure deserved it. She's probably my favorite actress, love her movies. But "The Blind Side" was truly just phenomenal. True story, great acting, etc. Sandra Bullock's acceptance speech was really good. You know how it goes, usually after an actor or actress wins an award, their speeches are usually the same as the person before them. But Sandra Bullock's was different, and is definitely worth watching! If you didn't catch the Oscars last night, there is a video I pulled of of youtube below, of her acceptance speech (scroll to the bottom & pause the music before watching). It was fun to watch the award show even though it got boring at some points. It was mostly just fun to remember when I was in Hollywood and all the fun I had!

It's the little things. . .

Life confuses me. It is a confusing thing. It's a big thing. It's one of those things that it's okay to be confused about. Confusion leads to questions and if you have enough determination, questions lead to answers. I think at some point in every one's life they should be a bit confused about life. People need to ponder about these things in order to find themselves. Now, I've done my pondering, I've done my time with that. As being LDS we know about the Plan of Salvation and all of that. I fully believe in it. That's not exactly the kind of pondering I'm talking about. I think people should ponder often, about how they want to live their life and what life is really about. I don't always think this much... just some days.

After recently attending a funeral I start thinking about these sort of things. Funerals bring up these kind of thoughts. Funerals bring up mixed feelings. They are sad, sad for those that are left behind. They are also very peaceful. They usually provide a little bit of closure. They are a great chance to honor some one's life. Personally, I think that it's quite sad that it takes someones death to usually bring friends and family together. It's especially sad that it takes someones death to celebrate and honor them. We should be doing this long before someone dies and then again when they pass away. Anyway, as I was pondering about life today, it made me so much more aware. I want to live my life better each day, as we all do. I want to live each moment like it's my last.

Of course, life is life and we must deal with it's "downers" but I want to do my very best to get over those "downers", learn from them, move on, and be happy. I want to smile even when it's hard. I'm not saying that I want to be superhuman. It is kind of freaky when you meet those people that are always happy. I'm not a robot, I feel. But my point is, I want to improve. I especially don't want anymore silly things to ruin my day. Example-I don't want to argue with friends and family and leave with feelings of contention. I've always felt that this is one of the dumbest things ever. It always gets me that whoever we argue with could leave this earth at any given day or time. If I could just have a perfect life? No, that doesn't exist. I hope all of my readers don't take any offense from this post. I'm not trying to be too cheesy and I'm not wishing to be perfect. I'm just wishing to be better. I'm just wishing to make each day a little bit more full of laughter than the day before.

I truly and very passionately believe that happiness is in the little, simple things. Life isn't about the first or last breath, it's about all of the ones in between. I just want to improve, just like everyone else. I know that I can't always win. I'm going to have to lose sometimes, but I want to get right back up, put my game face back on and do my best. Today I had a great opportunity to honor some one's life as it came to an early close. I wasn't extremely close to this particular person who passed away but I learned from them. I learned that life is too short to not love every minute of it, even when it's hard. You never know when it's going to be over. That shouldn't be a stress, it should be a motivation to be better. Motivation to love a little more, laugh a little more, smile a little more, give a little more, etc.