Friend-less

I am usually pretty good at accepting change. I like to keep my mind open. New things bring new experiences and new adventures. After watching Up! (my new favorite animated movie), I've decided to adopt Charles Muntz's famous slogan:

Adventure is out there!

...Because it is. Adventure is not found sitting on your behind in front of the television (unless you are watching Survivor, but that show is sooooo 10 years ago). Adventure is found by meeting new people, going new places, and taking new chances.

I am not going to learn and grow without change. So I welcome it. With open arms. Most of the time. But, as of late, there has been one pill that has been hard for me to swallow: not seeing old friends anymore.

I miss my friends. All my friends.I miss my first best friend, Melinda. I miss playing Indiana Jones on her swing set. I miss playing Power Rangers on my trampoline and making up the "Purple Ranger" because neither of us wanted to be the yellow ranger. (I'm pretty sure we weren't racist, she just wasn't as cool as Kimberly). I miss tying barbies to chair legs with colorful pipe cleaners because they had been captured by the evil villian, Nicholas. I miss our Jasmine Jammies.

I miss my elementary friends. I miss spending every recess, every day on the swings. I miss the innocence of youth. I miss spending all summer at the Coburn's house making dozens of music videos, talk shows, cooking shows, and quality movies. I miss being able to play all day because work had not entered our lives yet. (I wish I had some pictures of us, but I can't find any. Trust me when I say we were all pretty cute. The awkward Jr. High years hadn't attacked us yet). 

I miss my junior and high school friends. I miss getting dressed up for football games. I miss hanging out during lunch eating our disgustingly greasy pizzas or tasty bread sticks. I miss playing night games. I miss asking, answering, planning, and attending school dances. I miss being a teenager with the best group of guys and gals that anyone could ask for.I miss my drama friends. I miss spending all day in the drama room. I miss laughing at anything and everything. I miss spontaneously quoting lines from plays and watching other students look at us like we're crazy (because we are). I miss swearing with Adam because it's "Just Acting." I miss being around other goofballs just like myself knowing that no one is judging you. I miss being able to express myself on stage with amazing friends. 

I miss my gang of college friends. AKA "The District". You know who you are: Elyse, Andrea, Eric, Rick, Krista, Brammer, Emily, Will, Emilee, Kariann, Kim, Dave, Melissa, Clayton, Amanda, Laura, Michaeljohmdavid, Chad and Liz. I miss playing Ultimate Frisbee on the beach in La Jolla. I miss spontaneous get-togethers. I miss watching movies at Liz's house (especially when spending all day and night together watching the entire Star Wars collection). I miss seeing each other on campus and being WAY TO EXCITED about it. I miss all of us being together.

I miss all the friends I made when in the LDS sorority at the U. They were all so much fun, and I truly miss not seeing them all once a week. Whether we were friends waaay back when, or hung out at one point or another in college. I miss you, too.

I miss all my friends who have moved to new places to pursue career opportunities or for education purposes. I miss friends who have gotten married and have new things going on. I miss never seeing anyone I used to. I hate that as we've all grown up, new things have come upon us that pull us apart.

I wish I could have one week to spend with all my past friends. And I mean, truly spend time with them. None of this see-each-other-for-an-hour-or-two-at-a-wedding-shower-deal.

Please call me. Please send me an email. I don't know if you caught it, but I miss you.

Aside from all this missing of friends, I do love my life right now. Bob is a great husband and Maggie is a fun, furry companion. We spend a lot of time with family members and each other. He is a great best friend, and I'm happy that I don't have to be missing him like I miss everyone else.

Holy Doppelgangers, Batman!

I have often received comments from friends and others that many members of my family look like celebrities. It makes me laugh. We all have doppelgangers.

[As a side note, did you know that in folklore, a doppelgagner is a gostly double of a living person, often perceived as a sinister form of bilocation? They are also regarded as omen of bad luck.]

Yikes! So apparently my family is a smorgasbord of celebrity doubles (minus the fame) living our innocent lives in Utah. I don't even want to imagine what would happen if we ran into each other. Surely some crazy split in the space-time continuum would forever alter the lives of the residents on Earth from that time forward.
Putting panic aside, let's analyze these doppelgangers, shall we?
Starting with the top of the family:

Dad. People have said he looks like Sean Connery. A good ten years back or so we were walking around in Tijuana and some guy stopped my dad and said, 'Sean Connery! Sean Connery!' My dad had to try and convince this guy that he was not the super sexy Sir Sean. It gave us a good laugh that this guy was completely convinced that Sean Connery had decided to take a spontaneous trip to the classy Mexican city of Tijuana.
 

On to my Momma. At first when I wrote this blog I couldn't figure out who my mom looked like. Thanks to my awesome sister, she reminded me that she used to get told she looks a lot like Barbra Streisand pre-nose job. (My mom got sinus surgery a couple years back and straightened her nose so now the resemblance isn't quite as close). Still, when looking at pictures of Babs with shorter hair, there is definitely a match there.

Next in line in our look-alike contest is my sister, Holly. A friend of mine in high school swore that she was Molly Shannon's twin. He even resorted to calling her Molly instead of Holly. Coincidence that their names rhyme? I think not. Another bit of fun trivia for you all: Molly is a comedian, and my sister is hilarious. Seriously folks, if you read the old blog that we had together It Has Raisins In It, you will see that she has some serious wit. So here are the picture comparisons...see the resemblance?

Jordan. Or should I say Freddie Prinze, Jr? In my opinion this is the biggest doppelganger of the family. When I was in Jr. High and Jordan was in High School a lot of my girlfriends had crushes on him. One even wrote in my yearbook, "Your brother, Freddie, is so hot!" Umm...thanks. I'm his sister, it kinda makes me uncomfortable that you mention that my brother is hot in my yearbook. Weird. Anywho, one year Jordan went to EFY and a girl came up to him completely in shock that "Freddie" was in Idaho. Jordan played along, and, as always, was the hottie of the week. But how could he not be when there was this big of a resemblance (disregard the fact that I'm in this picture...focus on Jordan, not young Cilla)
 

And for the grand finale, Yours Truly. Even though she is 16 years my senior, I get people telling me all the time that I look like Tina Fey. In fact, my friends just went to see "Date Night" with Tina Fey and Steve Carell and said, "You were great in the movie, Cilla!" It makes me happy that my doppelganger is a funny, talented lady. I really like Tina Fey and am happy to have her be my presage of bad luck. What do you guys think?
  

So there you have it. My crazy doppelganger family. I guess that if Sean Connery and Barbara Streisand got together and had babies they would look like Molly Shannon, Freddie Prinze, Jr. and Tina Fey. Nice. Now who wants to call Ellen and get us all on a show together?

NEWS FLASH!

I am sick AGAIN. Same symptoms as the last two times: sore throat, aches, runny/stuffy nose, hacking cough. Something is seriously wrong with my body. I was sick merely 5 weeks ago, and 6 weeks before that. I have never been this sick before in my life. I usually only get sick once or twice a year. Did I mention I also currently have a UTI (Urinary Tract Infection)? You won't be surprised to hear that I just got over one about 3 weeks ago. Everything is attacking all at once. And the really sucky thing about this whole situation?

No Heath Insurance!

For the exception of the UTIs, I just keep riding these illnesses out. I'm getting a little nervous that my sinuses are all funky and that I might need sinus surgery. My mom and I have the same nose structure (crooked, bumpy, and kinda weird looking), and she had sinus surgery about 10 years back because she kept getting sick. I hope I'm not heading in that direction. And even if I am, I'll have no way of knowing because I can't go see my doctor.

Another possible reason for these reoccurring illnesses has been presented: Chronic Mononucleosis. I was diagnosed with Mono in 10th grade after needing to sleep 12 hours each night just to get through my school day. The past year I have been chronically tired, and then these illnesses have started. I could sleep the day away if given the opportunity. All my symptoms match up to Mono. While it is very rare for Mono to reoccur, it is still a possibility.

So far, I have been sick in April, May and June. Hopefully the trend stops here. I have too much to do this summer to spend it on the couch sleeping the day away.

Who's willing to change immune systems with me? Anyone? Anyone?

Grajuashon!

So I am an official college graduate from the University of Utah. Yahoo! It's about time. I started school in the Fall of 2005, and spent almost every semester on campus. One of my diplomas came in the mail today. It looks so official next to Bob's 2 diplomas.

 

Back to graduation: I really didn't feel like sitting through 2 convocation ceremonies, so I just attended the convocation for my Communication Sciences and Disorders major. It was a fun experience. There were only 15 graduates from my major in the College of Health. Pretty tiny. We also were the first to get our names called. 'Twas nice. I actually took the time before the ceremony to curl my hair. Now that's impressive. I also wore my sweet and sassy yellow shoes from my wedding. 'Twas good. I was so happy to have my family there. They cheered super loud when my name was called, and it gave me BIG smiles.

Anywho, enough of my chit chat. Here are some pictures from the blessed event. My dad took a ton, but I have yet to get them from him.

 

Curling the hair. Trust me when I say this doesn't happen often.

Half of my graduating class. Future Speech-Language Pathologists or Audiologists in the making! Don't believe the look on Michelle's face (the one wearing the lei), we were all happy to be DONE!

Anne, Trevor, and me. Soo...uhh...who is the worst photographer in the world? The girl with half a face.

Notice how my hat is slouching to one side. Yeah, that's from wearing two tassels. Boo-yeah!

Oh, and my hubby is adorable!

Bob, Cilla, Bob's mama (Kare), and her husband, Thom. You can also see my amazing shoes in this pic :)

 My degrees!...and Chile Verde

My wonderful family (minus a few).

My good friend and classmate, Anne. What a babe!

Next time I'll be in cap and gown, I will be a graduate from the Masters Program in Speech-Language Pathology. Bob will also graduate from Law School at the same time. We can't wait. Two years until we are officially done with school. We can do it!

...I think...

Ah, Life!

The past month has been beyond CRAZY! I am so behind on blogging, I get overwhelmed just thinking about it. We recently moved and were without internet for a couple week. On top of that, moving in itself is quite the feat and blogging has not been on the top of the To-Do list. Finally, we got a golden retriever/black lab puppy. She takes up a lot of time in the evenings and leaves little time for the internet. But I have high hopes of updating the blog ASAP.

Here is a list of posts to come. (I know you are all anxiously awaiting the updates!):

- Graduation from the University of Utah
- Oceanside, CA & Disneyland
- 1st Wedding Anniversary in Park City
- Moving!
- The Maggie Puppy

In the meantime, try not to die from anticipation from the awesomeness that is my life.

VIT PSA

I am sick AGAIN! (Just FYI, I was deathly ill about 6 weeks ago). Okay, maybe not deathly, but there were many days I thought I would cough up both my lungs. It was lame. It sucked. But I recovered. Now here I am, 6 weeks later with goopedy goop clogging up my sinuses and dripping out my nose.

Where were you on that one, immune system?

I'm afraid someone has hacked into my immune system. I may be the victim of viral identity theft*. I have only recently come to realize the seriousness of V.I.T. and know I need to spread the word to others so they may not become victims! I have scripted the following Public Service Announcement to achieve this goal:

Good Afternoon,
I am Priscilla Neve, recent victim of viral identity theft. Every year, thousands of innocent individuals become prey to immune system hackers. V.I.T. is a serious problem that costs millions of dollars each year in medical bills and decreased work productivity. Only you can prevent this terrible ordeal from affecting you and those you love. Take the necessary precautions to ensure your immune system is as strong as possible. Make sure to upgrade your skin wear yearly, and check your health score daily. Take caution around others who sneeze, cough, and appear lethargic, for they are most likely the individuals to hack into your immune system. For those who have become victims of V.I.T. in the past, the only way to ensure full recovery of your identity is to invest in a sterile plastic bubble. Only once the body is away from contaminated air can the immune system be restored to its original owner. For information on how one can overcome V.I.T. using protective bubbles please refer to this website. Please spread the word about this horrendous new form of theft. After all, knowing is half the battle.


*V.I.T. was first identified by Mr. Chad Tagge, Biomedical Engineer

Celebration Song

I have a kick-ass tradition (Yes, I used the A-word. This tradition is THAT cool).

After I take my last final at the end of a semester, no matter where I am I listen and dance to Styx's Mr. Roboto.


The tradition started at the end of my second semester at the U in April 2006. (My grandma passed away at the end of my first semester, and I was just trying to get through it, let alone take time to celebrate once I was finished). As I was walking away from the classroom I felt overjoyed, nay, TRIUMPHANT! I was strolling along, listening to my lil' blue iPod Nano (totally old-school now) and Mr. Roboto came on.

It was beyond perfect.

The music poured through my body. First it started in my legs. It then moved to my torso, and finally to my arms. I started pumping my fist, randomly pointing in the air, movin' and groovin' to the beat. I didn't care who saw me, I was victorious! I had conquered my first year of college and was now celebrating by doing the robot in the middle of the University of Utah campus.

A tradition was born.

Since then, Mr. Roboto is my official song for all things that need celebrating. Though mostly saved for the prime end-o-semester victory dance, it also provides a boost of happiness at the finish line of any successful venture.

And today's dance was better than all the rest. I wasn't just celebrating the end of a semester. I was celebrating the end of an era. An era full of papers, textbooks, falling asleep in class, and pulling a few all-nighters to get that procrastinated assignment finished.

I am finally done with my undergraduate career.

With that wonderful, nay EPIC, statement, I leave you with the video that started it all.

Domo Arigato, Mr. Roboto. Domo, Arigato.