Oh so Sensuous...

Imagine walking into a restaurant and asking for a 24-inch sub... for just you... to eat right then and there... in the restaurant... with random people eating their three and six-inchers all around you. TWENTY FOUR INCHES! That's TWO FEET of bread, meat and cheese (at least)! You're pretty confident that you can easily cram that much food into your stomach without throwing up, so you have the shocked and disgusted girl behind the counter add mayo, lettuce and tomatoes to the already present ham, turkey and monterey jack. You settle down into your seat with your humongous sandwich taking up practically the entire table. A small cup of Dr. Pepper is squished in next to your sandwich in case you need to wash any of the sandwich down; you don't want to risk filling your stomach prematurely so you decide you'll be careful with your sips. You turn and nod to the lady at the counter and she starts the timer. You have thirty minutes to down it. Go! Makes you sick just thinking about it, huh? Imagine actually doing it. Now imagine doing it while sitting across the table from someone else who's doing it, too. Ugh. Just thinking about it brings back memories of that chokey, throwy-uppy feeling I got when I was on the last fourth of my sandwich and watching Tiffani take large, soggy bites of hers. All for a free t-shirt and your picture up on the "24-Inch Club" wall? Man. That's embarrassing. But at the same time, kinda cool. I ate twenty-freakin' four inches of bread, meat and cheese in less than thirty minutes (I only had 42 seconds to spare... it was a close one)! Here's the picture we got to tack to the wall with our names and times written on it. The shirts say "The second best thing you can do with your lips is eat a Sensuous Sandwich." How true that is...

B is for bear

We finally got our paintings back in my Illustration class, so here is my first ever painting! It got a B (for bear) so there's obviously stuff I need to work on before it's "finished," but yeah. There you go, Mom and Dad.

I thought while it already looks like I think I'm all cool --not true-- I would put up the "award winning" eggs since I don't think I ever showed it to you guys. Fascinating.

R.I.P. Lynyrd the Snow Cow

I have been whining about snow ever since the first flake fell this school year. But, on my half birthday, Tiffani was all pushing me in the snow and crap on the way home from school. As cruel as it was for her to do that, it broke the barrier I had put up between myself and snow. Later that day, Tanisha and Michelle wanted to go make a snowman. I resisted at first, but then they suggested a snow cow. I was secretly very excited. :) So, we went outside and got busy. It was hard work, and it seemed like no one had faith in our abilities--they all snickered when we answered the question of the night: "What IS that?" However, the snow cow was born.

Lynyrd Skynyrd, the "tipped" heifer, graced the otherwise bland and monotonous courtyard of Liberty Square for all of two days before some unknown, jealous vandalizers destroyed her. There wasn't a chunk of snow bigger than a softball remaining. Her name came from the brand "LS" that was on her butt. (Really it stood for "Liberty Square" since we all love to hate Liberty.) I had the privilege of working on her head, and Tiffani later joined us and created her stump legs.

She turned out okay, but in the end we all decided she was shaped more like a buffalo (that led to the removal of her udders). To give you an idea of her size, here is a picture of two cows--one living and one the model for her-- on top of her.

Anyways. Rest in peace, friend.

12.27.08 A Beautiful Winter Wedding

As several of you know, I flew up to Utah Christmas night so that I could be there on Bonnie and Ian's wedding day. I stayed with Laurel, who took good care of me, and we safely made it to the Jordan River Temple to watch Bonnie and Ian Gutzman come out all married and stuff.

Despite the large amount of snow that Utah has been receiving lately, I don't remember seeing a single flake fall on Saturday. It was a nice, but freezing, clear day. My oufit and I were among the many who I'm sure were quite appreciative of that. I bet people were thinking that I was crazy, being the only one foolish enough to have open-toed shoes and junk. Or maybe they just figured I was from Arizona, where the weather is reasonable. Anyway, that's all done now.

I was fortunate enough to be invited to the luncheon, where I got to see how much room for improvement Bonnie and Ian have as far as reading each other's minds goes and where I got to hear their loved ones say a little something about them. I got to hear a few good stories and I learned some things about each of them that I hadn't known before. As I listened to people talk about them, I was reminded of what amazing people they are, how fortunate I am to know them, and how especially lucky I was to be able to room with Bonnie for a couple of years. She was a PFS roommate, so Ian is a lucky one. :) After they get back from their honeymoon they're driving to their place in Texas, where they'll stay for a little while until they move to Germany. I'm really gonna miss those two. Bonnie, especially (obviously! I talk about her enough for you guys to know that). She's done more for me than I think she'll ever know.

A Skimpy Christmas?

Every year Mom and Dad warn us that Christmas is going to be skimpy. But you know what? In years past it never has been. This year was different, though, because it almost really was. The following picture (taken at approximately 11:00 PM Christmas Eve) may disturb young or sensitive viewers.


That's right. There were, like, five and a half presents under the tree just an hour before Christmas. And you see that blue and red thing on the left side there? You know, next to the fallen Christmas tree ornament? That's part of a fallen-over nativity scene. Pretty dang ghetto. But then Santa came and five hours later there was shredded up wrapping paper and opened presents all over the place! He must have really liked the note and cookies we left for him. Here's a picture of it...


It's kind of hard to tell, but we left him Oreos and milk. The note said "Dear Santa, You're fat and so are we! So if you like these Oreos we probably will, too. So give us a heads up, ok pal? (heart) the Hengens P.S. Thanks and Merry Christmas!" When I wrote the note I thought we were still giving him some of the peppermint Oreos that none of us had tried yet. I guess we ended up saving them for Mom, Tiffani, Crystal and Steven's friends instead. Oh well. Santa seemed ok with it.

My favorite present was probably the one from Steven, who drew my name for sibling presents. To my wonder, and surprise, I opened my gift to find my very own copy of The Dark Knight!

With a little duct tape, double sided tape and a few pictures, Steven transformed a New Zealand tv-show-turned-to-movie (The Darkest Knight 3) into the movie I most hoped to get for Christmas! What a great guy. Especially since a deluxe edition (with bat helmet included!) of the real Dark Knight was in the bottom of the gift bag.

Since I was able to get sweet presents, be with my family, and safely fly to Utah for a couple of very happy, yet very sad, days I would say that it was an overall happy and bountiful Christmas.

When the Day Met the Night

Curtis (my music player) knows me pretty well--I'd almost say better than any of my friends. :) I did have to try again on a couple (they were titled "Track 05" or had unknown artists or stuff like that). Maybe you should see if you spend too much time listening to music, too. Put your music player on shuffle and see what it says about you...

IF SOMEONE SAYS "IS THIS OKAY" YOU SAY
"A Tout le Monde" - Megadeth

WHAT WOULD BEST DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY?
"[Untitled Hidden Track]" – Matchbook Romance

WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL?
"Breathe" – Michelle Branch

HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY?
"Disco Hades II" – Head Automatica

WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO?
"Simple Pages" - Weezer

WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?
"Bury Your Head" – Soasin

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?
"What I Like About You" - Romantics

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?
"Depends" – blink-182

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
“Off the Hook” – Barenaked Ladies

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?
"Fall Away" – The Fray

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?
"Matrix Theme" – Rage Against the Machine

WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
"Should I Stay or Should I Go?" – The Clash

WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING?
"Ridiculous" – Bowling for Soup

WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?
"Solid Gold Telephone" – Head Automatica

WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?
"Something More" - Train

WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET?
"Lord Only Knows" - Beck

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?
"Bulls On Parade" – Rage Against the Machine

WHAT'S THE WORST THING THAT COULD HAPPEN?
"Going Home " - Goldfinger

WHAT IS THE ONE THING YOU REGRET?
"Ocean Avenue" – Yellowcard

WHAT MAKES YOU LAUGH?
"Drown" - The Smashing Pumpkins (I didn't like that one so I tried again and got "Kill" by Jimmy Eat World)

WHAT MAKES YOU CRY?
"I’ll Let You Live" – Taking Back Sunday

WILL YOU EVER GET MARRIED?
"One Day" – Simple Plan

WHAT SCARES YOU THE MOST?
"My List" – The Killers

DOES ANYONE LIKE YOU?
"Loser" - Beck

IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN TIME, WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE?
"The Everglow" - Mae

WHAT HURTS RIGHT NOW?
"Suspension" - Mae

WHAT WILL YOU POST THIS AS?
"When the Day Met the Night" – Panic! At the Disco

...roommates...

Roommates-- they can make or break your school year. Fortunately for me I have had amazing roommates since freshman year! Here is your chance to familiarize yourself with the newest set.

Roommate #1 and I go way back. I've known her for, like, twenty years. Yup. Tatorschkandorfk. She plays the apartment mom. She cooks and cleans and vocalizes common sense. She also makes little goodie bags and decorates. I especially like the dinners she has ready when I get home from school. :) She makes me feel lazy...

"Big Mama T"

Roommate #2 (Naomi) I have known for a while and lived with since Summer this year. She and Tiffani have known each other for a couple of years and roomed together last year. We had a lot of fun during summer (at least I thought so) but once Fall started she kinda disappeared... we definitely don't see enough of her. :) Oh and she's Asian, and therefore Chinese. Thought I'd throw that in there.

"Chama"

Roommate #3 is Tanisha. She moved in right after Summer and, therefore, lived with us for a few weeks before Fall. She chose to have her own room rather than sharing with me, even though we thought the other two roommates moving in were friends and would want to share a room. But we'll get to that later. When roommate #4 moved in Tanisha was trying to tell her about us all. "...then there's Nikki. Or Neeki--I'm not really sure." Yes. Even after several weeks of living with me she wasn't sure what my name was. She blames our conflicting schedules.

"T"

Roommate #4. What to say about #4. I was sleeping one morning when I heard my door creak open. I was too lazy to look at who it was, but when I finally got up I found that someone had moved into Tanisha's room... instead of mine. But that was okay because T is cool. No one was home so I creepily snuck into the room and found the mystery person's scriptures. The engraving on the front read "Lauren Emily White." I quickly spread the word to Tiffani via text. Anyway, Lauren is quite the character and always a joy to have around. She is pictured here, eating a banana, with a huge spoonful of peanut butter in her hand (typical). What isn't typical about this picture is that she's eating.

"L-Hoe"

Roommate #5 was the biggest deal of them all. You can ask Tiffani--for some reason I was freaking out slightly. I had never had a roommate other than Bonnie (who is pretty much impossible to top, although I'd say Nancy is pretty close :P) and I just knew that my room-roommate would make or break my year. She made the situation worse by waiting until the last minute to move in. It didn't help that I slept at Grandma's the night she moved in--I had to wait even longer! Tiffani did manage to sneak a picture of her... Anyway. I came home the night before classes started and I was shocked by what I saw in my room. The first thing was a floral-print grandma-style scripture case. I was horrified. Immediately I took a picture on my phone and sent it to my parents, brother and my roommates from last year. The next thing I saw was also... shocking... the comforter. It was this shiny, seventies-looking thing (or so I thought). I found out later that it's as slippery as it looks, since it ends up on the floor almost every night. I went about my night, prepping for school and bed. Still no mysterious roommate. I went to sleep and a few hours later heard someone sneaking into the room and getting ready for bed. After fighting myself over it, I awkwardly said "I don't mean to be awkward, but hi." Turns out my new roommate is Nancy (what's with the names of my roommates? Bonnie? Nancy? not so typical). We talked for a couple hours then went to sleep. We've been inseparable ever since. Or something like that. :) She's fabulous and hilarious. I knew the poster was a good idea. Oh yeah! The poster. So we were asking Lauren and Tanisha why they didn't want to room with me and chose the other room instead. Their answer was the same: the poster of the Joker over the head of my bed. Turns out it made Nancy afraid to meet me, too, but now they all know that deep down I'm not all gothic and hard core scary.

"Fancy Pants"

What a great group of girls (although it lacks an Asian).