Volume One of Valen Hood

I don't mean this lightly when I say I will get what I deserve. What I mean when I say this is the day will come when the world will tremble, the sky will darken and the rivers will flood when I bare my very own Valen reincarnate.

You may think it doesn't sound so bad, however, only my mother knows how bad I could make the Earth shake. Let me elaborate.

We will start with preschool.

I like to think of myself as a little girl version of Robin Hood, rather, Valen Hood, "Steal from the rich and give to the poor". I knew a rich snotty girl when she crossed my path. I met the first of its species while coloring next to Miss Goody-two-shoes at my first day of preschool. Her picture was VERY pretty and I was rather envious. Her tree's were very round and fluffy and the sky very colorful. It was so pretty that it almost pained me to see it sitting next to my ugly scribbles. No, it didn't almost pain me, it did pain me. I hated that stupid picture and I hated her instantly and her glorious talent. So much so, that as soon as she turned her back I put my scribbles on every inch of her drawing. Ohhhh it felt sooo good. That was until she started screaming and crying. Oh great, what a drama queen. Moments later I was sent to the the naughty stool in the corner where all of the kids in my preschool class crowded around me, pointed their fingers and like a chorus of motorcycles speeding off and changing gears into the distance "ooohhhh ooohhh ooooh", they oo'd at me. HOW REDICULOUS is that? I just did them a favor by crushing miss Goody-two-shoe's self esteem and all I get is their mockery, their "ooo oooing"!

This meant war.

The last encounter I remember with Goody-two-shoes, was the time she snatched and ran with my chocolate chip cookie as I was about to shovel it into my mouth. No one steals cookies from me! She payed for it after I chased her down and bit the ever living crap out of her shoulder. She had to go to the hospital to get stitches, and it was back to the naughty stool and the oo-ooing for me.

That's fine. I could suffer like Braveheart. Valen Hood shows no mercy!

This is only a small pinch of an example of how merciless I could be.

Love,
The L.G.


* I dedicate this post to my favorite big blue monster. Yes I'm talking about you Cookie Monster.
You were always my favorite on Sesame Street. I am glad we can share our affinity for cookies together : ) You would have bit her too.


Also I just wanted to say that I appreciate all of the comments that you guys leave. I read each and every one of them, and it makes me happy to get your feedback and thoughts!
A lot of you I know in my personal life, and some are blog buddies, some strictly beloved blog stalkers (which I welcome).
Either way, I love you all the same in this blogging community.

I have now opened up comments for anyone, not just bloggers. In fact I didn't even know I had it set to limiting who could and couldn't comment.

Oh jeez, I can see my brother Chubsy leaving gross, perverted comments already.

A new side.

Every night I lay in bed thinking about all of the things I really want to write about. The only problem is, is that I have a lot of personal, deep, dark, feelings and memories. How personal should a public blog get and who would I hurt in the process?

I read a lot of messed up memoirs, currently The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls. Her life compared to mine was a holocaust. I found a lot of similarities though, in her life experiences and mine, and it made me feel not so alone in my thoughts. It made me feel alive and so glad to be where I am. My mom reads this blog occasionally and I can imagine her saying "I gave you everything! You had a very privileged life!". Indeed I did. But what about all of the other emotionally taxing memories I have of the past that I am stuck with? Don't you see that it's usually experiences you went through that matter and not so much the things you were given and privileged with?

My life is now a complete 360 from what I imagine it could have been had I not been:
Given a mother that is a free spirit
Shipped to my Dad at the age of 14
Had I not moved in with the LDS family when I was 16,
Had I not joined The Church
Had I not moved back to North Carolina when I was 17,
and Back to Utah when I was 18,
and met Justin when I was 19.

What matters most to me is how I am living my life now. I will be changing a whole generation of children that I will bring into this world some day. They will have it good and I want it that way. I want them to be spoiled with love every second of every day. They will know that home is a place that they can turn to. Two people will be there to accept them always.

I look back now and I feel like THE LUCKIEST girl in the entire world.
Because! My life has turned in to something great, a fairytale come true.

My raising may have not been ideal, but, I was raised right.


What say ye to hearing my life experiences? The funny ones, like digging through trashcans for bottle caps? I promise, they are entertaining especially when you put my 2 brothers in the mix!

Love, The Lady Girl

Fanny Pack Awareness Day & A Somewhat Contributing Story

Story Time
When I think of fanny packs, I am reminded of this:
I was a little girl of 9 (maybe or somewhere close to 9) when my mom and step-dad had decided to enlist the family in a beach combing gig. This wasn't a gig that my brothers and I signed up for particularly, however there was a prize. Budweiser Beer, whom my Step-dad was a big fan of, had a prized point system for the number of beer bottle caps that were collected.

Objective Prize: A foosball table.
Bottle caps needed to win said foosball table: Thousands.
Alcohol consumed in my home to collect more bottle caps: A LOT!

So for months, every weekend my blue Little Mermaid fanny pack and myself went to numerous beaches and parks in the area where lots of booze was consumed and where we were guaranteed handfuls of caps. We dug our hands in the sand, we ravaged through trash cans despite the bees, and we approached people and snatched their caps (if only they knew how precious they were). At the end of the day, after my step-dad had already made sure we checked every trashcan twice, I'd empty out my mermaid fanny pack and sulk because there still wasn't enough bottle caps which meant the next weekend we'd do it all over again, plus my fanny pack now smelled like the trash cans we had been digging in + beer.
The deadline finally came and we sent our bottle caps in. I really didn't care what happened, I just didn't want to dig through any more smelly trashcans; from an outsider's point of view you'd think we were homeless and starving, and I was ashamed to be seen doing so. Weeks passed and I had since forgotten the whole gig and had even chucked the forsaken fanny pack when we finally received our much deserved foosball table. I don't really remember being proud or excited about it, I only remember the laboring part (and fanny pack), so, this story ends here.

The main reason for this post is because of an up and coming occasion. I am collecting caps! HA just kidding! Justin and I are going to The Sasquatch Music Festival in Quincy, Washington in May. If you have ever been to a concert you have experienced the inconvenience that a bulky purse can cause. Even putting your stuff in your pockets is risky. So, to make life easier when spending countless hours in the sunlight, fighting crowds and the worry of something being lost or stolen I have devised a plan to find the PERFECT fanny pack. Well not really a plan, but, I will find the best fanny packs and show you "anti-fanny's" that they can be cool and they will, OH YES, they will be back! I will show you the do's and don't's of fanny packs so that your children and peers won't be embarrassed to be seen next to you.







Clockwise: Redbirdstyle . MadeinHolland . Onanya . MadebyLoumms . Maytreeark . Epintado .



Clockwise: Kersplash . Maytreeark . Sketchbook . RubyZaar .


Try out the fanny pack hat if you dare






With love,
My alter-ego The Lady Girl

Child playing Ukelele and singing/mumbling "I'm Yours"

Ohhh, I'm melttinngg because this is sooo cute!
it's funny because I sing like this.

A Ladies Camper Trailer! Step Aside Manly Men!

A couple of months ago I was at Apartmenttherapy.com, which by the way is the coolest decor inspiration site there is...anyways, they were featuring modern (green) campers and well, I was thinking of those tonight and did some research and found these. With the widest most sincere gooey eyes I thought "Can this be true? The most cutest camper's I ever did see? Is it truuee. Is it trueeee?". I AM IN LOVE.
You know that song
"I'm in love with a stripper"? By T-Pain (not that I really listen to that stuff [don't tell my mom-in-law]) Instead I'm singing "I'm in love with a camper, she roll'n, she roll'n"








Recycled trailor society: Trailor trash has a new definition. It's beside the word "Awesome" in the dictionary.


Photo's from the first collage were found HERE.
VW Camper found HERE.
Yellow, Aqua, White camper found HERE.
Camper with the snowcone on top found HERE.
Aqua with white trim camper found via google (sorry, I lost the link)
Trailer Society found HERE.

Hope you enjoyed the collages I put together! I think I will be making more of those! V.W. Busses and bugs are next on the list!

Love,
Lady Girl Val

Gettin' Punk'd By a ONE year old.

This is my back-up nephew (neighbor) Joshua. He can be such a punk sometimes picking on me. It totally brought back memories of being stuck in a locker in the 6th grade (yes that really happened). I later went home, cried and ate a whole pizza by myself.

I put the Valen in Valentine's Day!

(please excuse the ugly layout of the blog. I want to display bigger pictures so pardon it's blandness while I find a proper layout)



This is the only good picture we were able to get together. I'm the cute one anyways : P






I first came home sort of in a crummy mood because Justin worked doubles Saturday and we wouldn't be able to celebrate V-day. Most people think that V-day was created by greeting card companies and tend to opt out. I differ! I have always been thrilled for Valentine's Day, my birthday is the 4th so February has always been a fun, colorful, cake and candy filled, lovely month! Plus, I love any excuse to celebrate ANYTHING! So you can see my dilemma. Here I was thinking that I would be forgotten this year, but, when I opened our front door there sat a display of 5 hot pink roses, 20 cans of Dr. Pepper the "Fir Tree Couple Print" that I found on Etsy, and the best love letter I have read in a long while! He totally beat me this year. I got him flowers too, but we both know I enjoy them more. When Justin was a kid he loved reading the dictionary, remembering this little fact I purchased this:

I know he'll love it! *still waiting on delivery*

And this is going in a frame above our bed:


Last night I stayed up till 2 a.m. making lots of cupcakes (and taking pictures). They are all gone now (thanks to my primary kids, justin and his young men and the neighbors). They were way fun to decorate! I also wore my new grandma style shoes (refer to collage) to church along with a floral high waist skirt and red cardigan to be festive.

Anywho, that's how I roll. Hope Valentine's Day was an awesome excuse for you to do something extra sweet for the one you love. Goodnight!

-Val

Ode to Chris Farley

R.I.P.

Every time I think of Chris Farley, my heart breaks. He has given me so much to laugh about. The day Chris Farley died, heaven got it's fat jolly angel back. And, I always think that it was such a comedic waste that he's gone, he totally trumps Will Farrell. So I hereby dedicate this day to Chris Farley. I will leave you now with some photos and a video of this fat guy in a little coat, and then I'm going to watch Tommy Boy.

P.S. One of my special needs guys is totally the spitting image of Chris Farley, it is awesomeness, his name is Chris too, I should get his autograph.My favorite Chris SNL moment.


This video I dedicate to the guys over at MBP: they need all the help they can get with the ladies these days.



Who's your favorite little rascal?

Man I feel awesome!

I love playing with new lenses. Lensbaby:Fisheye.

I'm also very happy that Justin has his dream bike now (the last one was stolen from our front porch-gotta love living in Downtown Salt Lake). It's a vintage touring bike from France, I don't know how to spell it but it's pronounced Pee-oh-jay (the "J" is more like a -sh- sound). They don't make this bike anymore so you know it's extra special.

Meet Christie

I love it when a friend from afar makes time for me on a quick trip. The other day I found a mixed CD in storage from when we were sixteen (6 years ago). We made it together and It's labeled "Val & Christie are Hot" & "Your my best friend and that's all there is to it" inscribed are little hearts and stars. She is my best friend indeed. One day Christie begged her parents to let me come home with her (I was on my way to the pound). I lived with her family for a few months when I was sixteen because things weren't going so well in my own home. A few months later I was baptized into the LDS church. My life changed immensely after that. I'm very grateful for that time in my life and love the people who shared it with me. Looking back the only thing I regret are the songs on that ancient CD. Gwen Stefani, Taking Back Sunday, Tsunami Bomb, The Sounds, Rise Against and others...our tastes in music are on the other side of the spectrum now, and I'm glad. It was nice to have this little piece of evidence showing our friendship. Our future teenage kids will not let us forget our wicked-awesome taste in music though, I'm a little embarrassed.

"Say goodbye to the tangerine sky, say hello, say hello to tomorrow"
Lyrics by: Kottonmouth Kings from Val & Christie are Hot mix.
Christie and I back in the day.

How're them goals comin' ?

I still don't know where this blog is going. It has only been about a month since I started the whole thing up. I would like to have the layout done professionally instead of the ready made just add water layouts that you see now. I don't really need a particular direction, it's just my life.

A while ago I wrote out my New Years goals. I have been doing better with scripture reading. When I made the goal, for a little over a week I read a chapter every night, and now that I'm a primary teacher I consider that a big part of my scripture reading in planning my lessons, except now I have stopped reading every night and just do it when I remember to or I'm not so tired. You would think that it shouldn't take much effort to open up a book and read a page or two, but some how I'm dragging my feet.

I spend every moment I can with Mr. Hunter. We are so busy these days that sometimes it can be difficult to find that time.

As far as my 10 pound weight loss goes, I have been doing more rock-climbing, which helps my arm strength and that's it. 2 weeks ago I was running on a treadmill when I got this bright idea to try running with my eyes closed, before I knew it, as soon as I opened my eyes (it was too late) and flew off the back end= Big Fail! However, it did give me a moment to laugh at myself or exercise my abdominal muscles= WIN! My neighbor wants to start running (or wheezing is what we like to call it) in the afternoons. I'm glad because I need a support system to get things done

I am taking more pictures! I also am thoroughly EXCITED about my future career. I knew I wanted to be a photographer, but I couldn't pin down what area. I have finally landed on photojournalism. I feel my heart flutter when I think of the idea. I don't feel that way towards, portraiture or wedding photography. That was the route before but it seemed too cliche for me. Any soccer mom with a nice camera can learn to do that (okay-not everyone). In Utah there are a lot of low budget photographers willing to do that job though, and way too much competition. Any one who knows me well is aware that I don't take the easy route, EVER. So I am going to do my best and hope to get "there", and if I don't end up landing a job at the Salt Lake City Tribune or Elle magazine, Fine. I will get my barrings and eventually do what I love.

Oh yeah, and I'm not doing so well with the fabric addiction. I bought 15 fat quarters the other day with no intention to use them. (there was a sale)

I did have a really pretty collage of pictures to go with the post but I ended up deleting it because the quality was a bit too crummy for my liking.

I usually feel guilty for not including a photo, but it'll just have to do.
(that'll do pig, that'll do). I promise lots of pictures next time...maybe even my own *gasp*.

-Val

The not so glorious, glorious day.

It's my turning 22 photo!

Weeks before your own birthday you might put a lot of thought into what gifts you want or what you would like to do and who you want to invite to help you celebrate. This year as I was about to turn the ripe old age of 22, It didn't even occur to me that a birthday was coming. Monday while I was spending time at my neighbors house the occasion came up and I had totally forgotten that my birthday is this week! Yesterday my husband asked me what I would like to do for my Birthday and I felt a tiny pang of bitterness about the subject, like why should I be deciding this??It's my birthday, you plan it! But, when isn't it always about deciding what YOU want for your birthday? Well, somehow this year the world decided to spin a different direction and, well, I just may like a surprise this year. So, It's here, today is my birthday and the only surprises I got was my usual monthly gift that ravaged my body in the middle of the night and a dead transmission. That leaves Justin and I, who have really busy schedules, with one vehicle. This year I feel like my birthday was taken away and if I could find who took it, I would bite them so hard that it would draw blood, just like I did to the little girl who took my cookie that first year of pre-school. It's like a magical, secret, hiding spot that only I knew about has been taken over and occupied by Nazis.

Today I feel bitter. Bitter that I'm another year older, bitter that today hasn't been a memorable one, bitter that Justin is at school late, bitter that I don't have a cake with candles to blow out, bitter that I am not a kid, bitter that I was born during a cold winter month when there is nothing to do at 8:00 at night. Maybe I can consult my mother and see if we can move my birthday to a nice, hot summer night!

I'm sorry you all have to read this. When it's someone's birthday don't you hope that they have the best day ever?! Wouldn't it crush you to hear that it absolutely wasn't their best day ever?
Well sorry to disappoint, but, I wouldn't say today's occurrences is something I want to relive. However, I have had so many good days in my year as a 21 year old! So many that it out weighs this horrid day. That to me is more important than one day of gifts and cake.

So, now I raise my glass to all the people who have made many memorable days for me to live in. You make turning another year older worth while!

With love, Val
This is my pretend birthday cake! It sure was delicious!