ABCs of Alayna

Age: thirty (sigh)
Bed size: queen
Chore you hate: mopping the floor
Dessert: cheesecake (more specifically dulce de leche cheesecake)
Essential start of the day: going back to bed after i take a shower. it's true.
Favorite color: pink. obvi.
Gold or Silver: silver
Height: my license says 5'6" but i am probably closer to 5'5.5"
Instruments you play: piano, kazzoo and i can even play a couple of songs on the guitar
Job Title: at one point i was given the title of "assistant office manager" but i give myself the title "go-to-girl." the world would probably call me customer service or international account representative.
Kids: are great. i don't have any, but i sure do love the ones that my brothers and their wives created.
Live: mesa, az
Mom's name: marla
Nickname: laynze, alaynie, layners, noz, tof jr., haboobie, imappropriate, etc.
Overnight hospital stays: none that i can think of
Pet peeve: the sound people make when they chew with their mouth open
Quote from a movie: "i don't know...stuff."
Right or left handed: right
Siblings: two older brothers...that are amazing!
Time you wake up: 6:42 most days, but 6:15 when i need to get to work on time or 7:00 on tuesday mornings.
Underwear: under there.
Vegetables you dislike: radishes
What makes you late: that darn snooze button and/or facebook
X-rays you've had done: teeth and probably my elbow
Yummy food you make: i make a mean bowl of honey bunches of oats, and a really good candy cane cake around christmas time
Zoo animal: koala

an engaging tale

Hi. My name is Alayna.And I am otherwise engaged.

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Yeah right!!!

Wasn't it just a few days ago that I was posting about my hopeless romantic life? And do you honestly think I would look that atrocious if I thought I was getting engaged that night? Let me tell you a little story about the above picture. It's another good one...

That boy is my pal Jay (aka Jayfred, Freddy or Frederick). We like to flirt with each other...a lot. In fact, my friends have nicknamed us Ajayna. But we are just flirting friends. Nothing more. My friends made him promise that if we were not married when we were 30, that we would get married. Well...he's not 30 yet. And what's even funnier is that he thinks I'm only 27. He's a special boy...

Anyway, it was just a lazy Sunday. I hadn't showered and/or gotten dressed all day. Jay called out of the blue and we chatted for a minute, but I had to go because I had another phone call to make. He calls about an hour later asking me what I was doing and if I had gotten dressed yet. Um, nope! He then tells me that he is outside my house and that we are going to visit some friends. Gee, thanks for the warning. So I hurry and get dressed, put on a little makeup and try to make my hair look presentable. We get in his truck and drive to see our married friends, Cara and Justin.

To make a long story short, we were talking about how Jay randomly texts my mother. Strange, I know. My friends thought it would be funny if Jay sent my mom a Hey Tell (a walkie talkie type app on the iPhone) asking for my hand in marriage. So he did...kind of. Immediately Cara posts on Facebook, congratulating me on my engagement.

Then, the scheming begins.

We talked about how funny it would be to change my relationship status to engaged. I couldn't back down from a dare so I did it. Immediately people started congratulating me. We were dying...but I was feeling guilty at the same time. Then someone tosses out the idea of a picture. You have to understand that Jay is scared of commitment, and if he thinks a girl likes him (or that someone thinks he is dating someone that he isn't) he shuts down. So you have to imagine my shock when he willingly posed for this picture. I imagined that we would just stand next to each and I would flash my ring (aka Cara's wedding ring), but he had other, more legit plans in mind. We did the arms around each other, holding hands type of picture. Again, very shocking! So, once the picture was taken (on his phone so he had control of where it went) we were once again shocked when he decided that we could all get the photo texted to us. Did he really think we wouldn't put it on Facebook at that point? Well we did (and I think he secretly wanted it that way). Now Facebook shows that I am engaged, AND I have a picture to prove that it's true. Bwahaha!

The comments are adding up. People that I haven't seen for years are so excited for me, commenting on the ring and the fun of planning a wedding. Cousins are commenting, my parents are commenting (stating that they did not give permission), and all the while I was feeling guilty. Then my mother called, slightly horrified that she would get phone calls from family members and have to let them know that I am just really immature for my age and not in fact engaged. I told her that I would erase the post.

And that's about the time my phone was taken away from me. I was told that I could have my phone back at 10 to erase the damage. My friends are laughing hysterically reading all the comments that are buzzing in. Yes, I think it's funny, but more than anything I was just nervous. I even resorted to biting my nails. It was literally making me feel sick inside. So after much coaxing, I convinced my friends to change the deleting time to 9:30. And so it was. Pictures were erased and my relationship status was back to normal.

When all was said and done, many people saw the stuff on Facebook, but I don't think anyone believed it. I mean, it is ME we are talking about. The girl who doesn't date. But it was fun while it lasted. And if nothing else, I've got some blackmail. Haha.

After our little visit with friends, Jay and I headed back to my house to make dinner and hang out some more. We pulled up in my driveway and I see this gigantic bug on my garage. It looked like a dragonfly from far away (to give you a size visual) but as I got closer I realized that I was mistaken. This is what I saw:

Creepy, right? I screamed and probably said a naughty word. I was grateful that Jay was with me because I just cowered behind his back and said, "Will you take care of that, please?" And he did. And now I have a silver dollar sized gut splatter on my garage. Next time he comes over I will make sure he takes care of that too. Haha.

You see, this is why I need a man. To kill the big scary animals.

And just as a side note, we discovered that the animal on my garage is called a Wind Scorpion Spider. Not a scorpion, but a spider. A very large spider that feasts on termites. I probably should have let him run wild through my house eating the termites, but alas, my heart got the best of me. And I am notorious for killing harmless animals that look scary. Remember my pet snake? Anyway, this is a better, more detailed picture of my newest murder victim:

{I don't really feel bad}

heart breaker

Hi. My name is Alayna. And I am a heart breaker.

Sometimes I wonder why things happen in life. But mostly, I just think that God has a sense of humor. And this year has been comical for me.

Wanna hear a story? It's a good one...

You've all heard my dating woes {or lack thereof}. And you all know that I have been trying my hand at the online dating thing. Well I will be the first to tell you that I am not a fan. I was skeptical to begin with...and now I'm even more so. To begin...I paid for a membership nearly 3 months ago, and until this last weekend NOTHING had happened. Sure, I sent flirts to lots of cuties and occasionally got a flirt and/or message back, but nothing too exciting. Flash forward to last weekend. I was working my butt off at Creative Escape when I check my email to see that I have gotten a flirt and message from the online dating site. I look at the message and it seems pretty promising. He's a bigger guy, kinda scruffy looking with an amazing smile. He just joined the church a few months ago and is looking for love. Aren't we all? So I messaged him back letting him know that I was interested. Things progressed from there. We messaged for a couple of days and he let me know that he had a past but that he was trying to change his life. He gave me his phone number and told me I could call. Being the old fashioned girl that I am did not call him...after all, that's a man's job to call the lady. After much consideration I gave him my phone number and told him he could call me.

I expected a phone call that night and did not get one. I was a little shocked since he seemed so anxious to talk to me before hand. The next day at work I get a text message from him asking for my name...because he had accidentally deleted the message with my name in it. Red flag number one. He asks if he can call me that night and I agree. I tell him I get off work at 5 so he says he'll call at 6.

I was so freaking nervous/excited to talk to him. I could not believe that this was happening. My mind raced thinking about how cool it would be if he was "the one" and how weird it would be to get married.

And then we talked on the phone.

For 3 1/2 hours.

He told me EVERYTHING. More information than I cared to know about someone I am just talking to for the first time. He asked me personal questions that I did not expect to hear until we had been dating a while...like how many kids I wanted and what I would name them. Honestly, it felt like he was planning our whole future together, and I hadn't even met him yet! After I finally got him off the phone my mind was racing. We had talked about going on a date next week (let me interject that he is a truck driver and was on the road when he called me...probably very lonely and anxious for a reason to come home) but I was a little concerned. I watched some Vampire Diaries to calm myself down and then went to bed.

The next morning I got a "good morning sunshine ;-)" text from him. Hmm. Not only am I NOT a fan of sideways smiley faces (and he used lots of them), I was just a little creeped out by the text. Then minutes later I got a friend request from him on Facebook. Wow. What in the world is going on? I felt overwhelmed. This guy was a quick mover. And I was not loving it.

He had said the night before that he was going to call me after work again. I kindly texted him and asked him if he could wait to call me until after 9. Heck, I was not gonna waste my cell phone minutes on him...especially when he likes talking for hours on end. I got a text back that said that he would call me then, but wondered if we could text in the meantime. Then he told me that he had put in his request for time home and that he would be back in AZ on Tuesday but they were trying to figure out a way to get him home sooner. He was just so excited to see me in person {insert sideways smiley face}.

And that's the moment I fell apart.

This boy was obsessed. The sickness I was feeling ever since the morning text message had multiplied.

After conversing with co-workers and my mother, I decided that I would put a stop to this...right then. So I sent him a text when I got home from work stating that this was all just too much, too soon and that I couldn't do it.

Then the text messages started.

He apologized that I was feeling that way and he didn't understand because he thought our phone call went so well and that we had so much in common. Pretty much, it felt like he was doing everything in his power to get me to respond so that we could keep texting and talking to each other. I ignored his messages the rest of the night. And I haven't heard from him since.

The second I sent the "I can't do this" text I felt so much relief. Sure, I feel bad that I hurt him. And he probably doesn't even realize that he was just too obsessive for me. But I feel better. And that's all that matters...

Blog friends, don't think this experience will stop me from trying! There is still hope for me! And you better believe that I went on that dating site today and sent flirts to more boys...

{one day my prince will come}

P.S. If your name is Michael and you want to date me, you better wait until next year...

the week i decided to start curling my hair again

I apologize that my blog posts are so depressing lately! I really am not wallowing away in self pity. Sure, I have my days, but for the most part I am happy. I have a job, a car, a house, an amazing family, fantastic friends and a craft room. What more could I need?!

I have had to make quite a few decisions lately, some bigger than others, but every one important. However, the best decision I made this morning (dare I say this week) was to curl my hair. Strange, maybe?

You see, I have kind of been lazy lately. Ok, so maybe "kind of" is an understatement. It takes every bit of energy that I have to get out of bed in the morning just to get to work on time. And my hair suffers because of it. Sure, I curl my hair and look good for church on Sunday, but there's just something about the other 6 days that makes me feel less than thrilled to do my hair.

Then I hung out with some friends after FHE a couple of weeks ago and got inspired to try some new things with my hair. There is this girl in my Branch that I just adore, and she always looks so cute and tries new things with her hair. She is going through a vintage phase right now, and she offered to do my hair for me:
Isn't it cute?!

My work is putting on a huge event next week and the theme of the event is "Worth Remembering" with a retro/vintage type feel to it. I was so inspired by my vintage hair style above that I decided to learn about some more hair styles I could do for the event. I love YouTube! So this last weekend I tested my chosen hair style. The picture is extremely grainy and blurry, but you get the idea (please, ignore my gnarly looking hands):

What do you think?? Do you love it? I know I do! In fact, I spent the day wearing high heels and doing housework just to embrace the style even more.

Who knew that one simple hair style would completely transform my week? I curled my hair yesterday for work, and today I looked in the mirror and told myself to stop being lazy.

{best. decision. today.}

transitions

I lack desire to blog...and the only thing I can attribute it to is transitioning. You see, ever since I had my birthday, I have been in a sort of funk. I don't know where I fit in the world anymore. I feel too old to hang out with the youngins, and I feel too young to hang out with the old folks. It's quite the predicament. And one that I have shed many a tear over. I do not write this post hoping for sympathy or pretending like I am absorbed in depression. It's just a trying time of life, but one that I will definitely come out a better person from for having experienced it.

Ever since my roomie moved out I have been doing a lot of pondering. I have had lots of spare time on my hands...and lots of silence (I cancelled my cable...and it pretty much sucks). So many thoughts have ensued, and I have realized that I am pretty much anti-social. Sure, I like to hang out with my best girls...but I am definitely not a go-out-every-night-and-do-something-fun type of person. I like my weekdays to myself, and my weekends with...mostly myself. Yikes! I fear that once I am {kicked} out of the singles branch I will become a recluse. And recluses are terrible! So, I have been trying to change my attitude, and looking for new ways to get into a social scene.

Flash forward to last week. My dear, sweet visiting teacher came over to chit chat a little. Mind you, she is a lot younger than me, but the most adorable girl ever. I know her intentions are righteous, but sometimes someone will never really understand what you are going through until they are in that situation themselves. We were just talking about transitions {a hot topic for me these days} and she mentioned that she would be so sad and upset if she were in my position. Um, thanks? I just smiled. And nodded. Yes, that's exactly how I felt. But then she mentioned her roomie who is not of the young single adult age that is very active in the mid-singles scene. My heart leaped!

To make a long story short, this girl is having a game night tonight with the mid-singles. And you better believe that I am going to go! After all, these are my people! My new friends! And I am excited!

But my favorite part of this all, and something that just happened today is this: the mid-singles girl got my email address to send me invites when the mid-singles have activities. I got an invite today, for a game night, next week. Where is this game night you might ask? Well...it's at a retirement home. Oh brother.

{just keep smiling}

lonely days

Well, it's official...I no longer have a roommate and have my house to myself!

Was this planned? Absolutely not.
Am I going to be ok? Absolutely...I think.

I was given about 2 weeks notice, which kind of sucked because an extra month to get my finances in order would have been ideal. But what can you do? At first my heart celebrated when I heard the news. Not that there was anything wrong with my roommate, I was just getting to the point where I was ready to have my space and my stuff to myself again. And now that I am almost to the "kicked out of the singles ward" age, I wasn't sure that I wanted another roommate from the singles ward. However, reality sunk in quick. I freaked out when I realized that my bills and my monthly income are almost the same. However, I have a plan and a budget, and so far things have worked out. I truly believe that there are blessings that come from paying tithing. I have already witnessed it this month. Yay!

So what am I doing with my extra room? Turning it into a craft room, of course! I got some cheap tables from IKEA, have another desk and shelves that I am gonna spray paint, got a white bookcase and will decorate the walls/shelves with owls and birds. I am so thrilled! My head is swimming with ideas, but I just don't exactly know how to implement them. It is a fun project, but very much a work in progress. It is already a disastrous mess, but here is a quick shot I took of my tables to give you a small idea. I will definitely post more when I am done (or closer to being done).Yes, those ARE power tools on the floor. Be amazed.

And now for my favorite experience I have had since living alone. It was the day after my roomie moved out. I was just staring at the blank walls and empty room, thinking of all the things I could do in the room. I have this small window above the regular window in the room that my roomie had covered with cardboard to keep the light out. The cardboard was still in the window so I decided to take it out and put it in the recycle bin in the garage. Mind you, I wasn't wearing many clothes (it's hot in AZ) and I was barefoot. I turn on the light in the garage, put the cardboard in the recycle bin and then walk back toward the door into my house. I have a rug in between the garage and step up into the kitchen, and I saw what looked like some sort of rubber backing coming up from between the rug and the wall. I thought it was strange, so I touched it with my toe to try and push the rubber back under the rug. Then all of the sudden, the rubbery stuff started moving, in a wave like motion. It was then that I realized that what I just touched with my toe was not rubber, it was a freaking snake! I shouted some naughty words and jumped into my kitchen. I immediately called my mother and cried that there was a snake in my garage. Her words, "Well, get it out!" Gee, thanks. How am I supposed to do that? So, I decide it would be best to put clothes on since I will be opening the garage, I grab a broom and get ready to wrestle with a snake. But first, I took a picture. Gotta document this.Blogging friends, meet my unwelcomed new roommate, Elvis. Isn't he fantastic? Well, I wasn't so fond of him that day. He was promptly evicted, via broom. I swept that not-so-little guy out of my garage. He was not aggressive, but freaky nonetheless. When I would sweep/fling him out of the garage toward the street, he would immediately begin a journey back toward my garage. It was not that he was trying to fight back or attack me, I think he was just trying to find safety and/or get oriented. Once outside my garage he played in my rocks and started toward the garage again. I couldn't have that. So I decided it would be best to sweep him into the street, so maybe a car would run him over. Yes, that really was my thinking. So I continue sweeping him until he is in the gutter between my driveway and the street. Mind you, several of my rocks are in the street with him (that's how ferociously I was sweeping). He slithers around for bit between the street and the gutter, maneuvering around the rocks. Also, it was like 120 degrees that day, so I can only imagine that the road was scorching hot. I begin to feel bad and get nervous about other neighbors happening upon a snake, let alone children or a dog! I call my mother again, this time with a shovel in my hand asking her if I should kill it via decapitation so that it can't harm anyone. Her reply, "Just push it farther down the street, away from other houses." Brilliant. I grab the broom again and head toward the snake to sweep him. As a side note, I hadn't seen him moving for a bit. I figured he was just taking a rest. Afterall, I had just traumatized him. So out comes the broom again. I sweep, his stiff body moves. Uh oh. Stiff body?? Yes, that's right. He had croaked! I killed him! My heart hurt a little bit. Did he fry to death on the street, or did I literally cause his death by traumatizing him? Who knows. So, I pushed his lifeless body down the street and into the rocks at the end of the road.

But wait, it doesn't end there. My brain starts thinking again and I worry once more that some child or small animal is going to happen upon this snake corpse and have a heart attack. So later that night I take my shovel in hand and pick up the poor, lifeless creature. He was then tossed into my garbage can where he was wisked away by the garbage truck the following morning. Poor Elvis.

Upon later investigation, I found out that he was a King Snake. Completely harmless, eats other snakes, and most people keep them as pets. Great. He wasn't a threat. And I killed him. Figures.

Great story, right? Definitely one I won't forget anytime soon. So NOW I officially have no roommate. The next person who moves in will be a man. I hope.

Speaking of men, I have already lost excitement with LDSSingles.com because nothing ever happens. No dates, not many flirts and/or messages. I think I need to change things up to get men to notice me. Do you think I should make this my profile picture?

{Yes, yes I should}

San Antonio

If I had to come up with a few, short phrases to describe San Antonio, Texas I would say: beautiful architecture, good eats, questionable people, and torturous heat. It was HOT!!! And not just because it was over 100 degrees...because it was over 100 degrees and had high levels of humidity on top of it. As my mother and I walked around to various stores I kept seeing this catch phrase that said, "You can go to Hell. I am going to Texas." I think they are one in the same...

Case and point:
This is my self-portrait after our first night there. Notice my flourescent purple face, complete with beads of sweat. I thought I would die almost everyday. But it was worth it. San Antonio truly is a magical city, full of history and charm. I just probably won't visit again in the summer.

The first night there we visited this little Spanish square where they had everything latino: clothing, food, etc. It was here that I made my first friend...
...and fell in love with dead people! Sounds crazy, I know. But everywhere I went I was bombarded by skulls. Little Spanish dancers with dead faces, little Mariachi Band members with dead faces, and my personal favorite, brides and grooms that looked like death. For some reason, it was comical to me. Yes, I get that they are just celebrating Dia De Los Muertos (Day of the Dead), but I thoroughly enjoyed it. I had to take a picture of the hanging banners just so you can see how much these skulls lined the streets:
Another fun site visited was the world famous River Walk. It was breathtaking. Just a simple little river lined with shops and restaurants. But I think the thing that captured my eye the most were the bridges everywhere. No bridge was like another and I loved each and every one.And, of course, I LOVED the architecture of all the buildings. The town of San Antonio is very historic, and the people are very much intent on keeping the history alive. There were so many cool buildings. Here are just a few of my favorite architectural details:There were so many other fun details to be seen too. From trees coming out of the building walls, to tree roots that look like little gophers, there was so much to take in. And I enjoyed it all (when I wasn't dying of heat stroke).Another spot visited was the Alamo. I am sure it is a great place, but I could not enjoy it because the heat was unbearable on our way over there. I think my mom had heat exhaustion and I was dripping like a faucet. Not fun at all. It was pretty though, and atleast we got a picture for posterity. And the fact that the picture was taken by a super cute Australian was even better!On the way to the airport, we made a stop at Lulu's Bakery & Cafe to buy one of their famous 3 1/2 lb cinnamon rolls. The restaurant had been featured on Man vs Food and my brother made us promise we would stop there. I wish I would have taken a picture of the sweet roll. It was gigantic. Probably bigger than my head, no joke. It was pretty awesome carrying it on the plane with me. In fact, it was heavy and I would claim that it weighed more than 3 1/2 lbs. Once I got home the cinnamon roll went in the freezer, and hasn't been touched since. I will let you know if it's any good when the family decides to try it.

All in all, it was a great trip and I am so glad that my parents took me there to celebrate. It truly is a beautiful city. Just deathly hot. But it would figure, I got home to AZ and we had a heat wave...temperatures of 120 degrees.

{hooray for dry heat}