my captain phillips experience.

because my favorite holiday is just around the corner (oscar sunday), i thought i had better get festive and talk about some of this year's nominees. you should know and you will plainly see, however, that i am not as well-versed in this year's hits. i spent the majority of this movie season laying out plan of salvation diagrams and asking complete strangers if they want to stop smoking instead of jamming to 70s hits along with j-law or crying my way through another tale of slavery, like i would normally be doing. today we will discuss the nautical tale of captain phillips.

i will begin by asking you this? have you seen a movie in the "d-box"? i didn't know what that was a few weeks ago. i though it was a new kfc meal deal or something. have you seen the "honey i shrunk the kids" hit 4d movie from the 90s version of disneyland? or the 2000s version of it--"the bug's life" one? where it feels like you are part of the movie? it's nice. being part of something bigger than you, ya know? i had that experience, except i didn't have to pay extra. it came with the decision of sitting next to courtney.

courtney is to...

as i...

am to captain p.

i got to feel what captain phillips felt like while trapped in a boat with somali pirates. you know that part where they yell at him? been there. remember that part where he is dying of thirst? done that. i mean, i was trapped in a dark theater, without access to the communal diet coke, with courtney yelling things like...

"why haven't they rescued him yet?!"

"this would never happen like this!"

"i am so angry!"

"this is the longest movie ever!"and

"ii soo bax halkan"

needless to say, it isn't courtney's pick for best picture. and i have some ptsd breathing techniques to go over. until next time.

courtney + paige.

so now you know. i cry sometimes. you probably thought that i was unstoppable, almost superhuman, before you saw this video then heard me weeping at the tail end of this epic film. but courtney is my kriptonite and i couldn't help but do what i did throughout her entire mission, right there and then, which was bawl uncontrollably at any and everything. so know you know. anyway...

the best things i have done with "sister wightman" since her return

ONE YEAR AGO today...

-caught up on movies that she missed out on.

-ate at all of the best places we know of, both new and old, including {but if you know either of us at all is not limited to}: vinto, basillas, blue lemon, big nicks, pizza factory, hires, pazzo vita, zupas, and enough cafe rio to feed a small village for probably a decade.

-walked across the brooklyn bridge.

-held the washington monument in between our fingers.

-played with sister missionaries.
-enhanced our yogi resume.
-participated in the greatest whitaker circle firework show.

-frequented the phrase "did you see ___ on pinterest?!"
-integrated chopped techniques, sayings, and practices into our daily lives.

-played alice in the most beautiful garden {wonderland} ever.

-spent a good morning in baltimore.

-learned the art of estate-ing.

-honored taylorsville dayzz <3 <3.

-"ran" a 5k.

-began a bike gang which quickly consumed our summer.

-conquered our fear of tree climbing/rope swinging into a lake in our darling swimsuits.

-stuck with our cougars all season long.

-homemade doughnuts.

-fell in love with phil dunfy.
-fine-tuned our crepe-abilities.

-saw the world through the eyes of a lawn gnome.
-learned how to become slc-ers to the fullest.
-rooted for city creek and roamed the aisles of harmons...even directed lost citizens.

sister. we're fun. i love you. and let the good times keep a'comin.

why i love my sister. and why you should too.

sometimes when we're riding in the car my sister will tap me on the shoulder, i will look, and she will show me a crazy face.  and when i am busy driving, she'll take a picture of her face so that i will be safe while driving and still be able to enjoy her silliness at a later, more appropriate, time.  she's thoughtful.

sometimes when she is in charge of waking me up, which i am pretty sure is not as often as it happens, she'll say "paige!  wake up!  it's your birthday!"  probably because she knows that the love of my birthday cancels out the hatred of waking up.  she's a sweetie.

sometimes she gets new cars that are the opposite of mine {slow, boring, lacking power, dirty, white} and lets me drive those new cars for the day.  even though she paid lots of money for it and is well aware of my one and only weakness...which, if you  must know, is easily distractedness.  she's patient.

sometimes she finds out the cool things before everyone else {mustaches, urban outfitters/anthropologie, cupcakes, blogs, ray bans, facebook, indie-ness, red lipstick, pandora radio, toms...not enough room to put it all down} and will clue me in on the coolness even though i usually say "no way am i getting into that...that's lame!" and then be sorely mistaken a year later when the rest of the world catches on.  she's hip.

she's the best, right?
i know.
i love you, sister.

twenty four and a little more.

i'm hip on the phrase "you thought you knew, but you have no idea" lately.  i don't know why.  it's really myserious. and yeah.  so is it a surprise that i am going to tie two ideas together and do a "happy birthday courtney/you thought you knew courtney but you have no idea" post.  and here we...go.

did you know that courtney....
-is a different person in the swimming pool.  i don't know what it is but water does something to her?
-doesn't drink from the same spot on the glass twice?
-won't drink milk with anything but pancakes?
-will probably marry someone that most would call nerdy?
-can make paper tissue flowers look alive?
-invented the genius "friend crush" desciption?
-wore stick on earrings as a child?
-made fairies once?
-finds beauty in the pom pom?
-takes a lot of pictures of herself?
-makes really ugly faces then taps me on the shoulder and makes me look at her?
-claims to be a diet coke fanatic when really she only drinks mcdonalds and sev diet coke?
-talks to herself a lot?
-sings to herself a lot?
-likes when i narrarate her life?
-today she is a year short of a quarter of a century old?

well now you know.

get excited.

oh hey guys.
computer=fixed.
life=restored.
your life=100% enriched because...

i'm back, baby!

and i am not alone.

guess who else just got back in the blogging game,

to further enrich your life 

while at the same time make you wish you were her...

my all time fav...

you are what you love aka my sis.

{some things never change.}

read it.

love it.

obsess over it.

you know i will.

oh

and promise to come back

even after you see that courtney

is the talent sponge of the family.

reunion.

guys.  did you feel sad that i haven't blogged for a long while?

i know i did.  

i did it because i had this stellar idea for the "reunion" post but it required taking a picture of me and sister w hugging since our last one at the mtc.  instead of having someone take that picture i...

made sure i looked good.

weighed the odds of whether peter pan existed or not because i swear i saw him at the airport.

said hello to every one of court's fan club.

bargained with little gavin and gabe to get them to hold a banner for me.

made sure i had all of my cameras {flip vid, diana, digital} ready.  pointless.

fell for every "THERE SHE IS!"

...and i ended up with zero reunion hug pictures.

18 months of planning a post

and fail epically. 

so here is the remains of what could've been your fav post ever..

then.

september 16, 2009.
saddest day of my life.

now.

march 2, 2011.
happiest day of my life.

yippie.

{sister.  getting artsy.}

my friend {and fake little sister} celebrated the return of her sister from her mission.  i looked at all the airport pictures and threw a miniature pity party for myself.  all day i wished that it had been me uploading pictures of me running to the escalator and hugging my favorite girl in the whole wide world.  i wish it had been me sitting at home debating whether or not it would be acceptable to leave five hours early to leave for the slc international airport. i wish it had been me extremely tired today because i was too busy praising my sister to sleep.  but it wasn't me. it was my friend and her sister missionary.  not me and mine.  instead, when i opened the mailbox at my home in the great ville of taylor, it was me that opened a letter from the mission president of the washington dc north mission, preparing us for the return of sister wightman, on march second, two thousand eleven.  it was me that held a miniature party, celebrating the reality of the day my life goes back to normal again.  it was me that noticed that march 2nd is almost kind of soon.  it was me that read about her ticket back home and the encouragement to still support our missionary for the last few months.  it was me.  and that will be okay for now.
today i am so happy.

in case you didn't know...

...i'm still obsessed with my sister.

remind me why i'm not a party planner already?

today.
i had the greatest idea ever.
feel free to copy the idea after i use it first.

idea...

homecoming shower.

{i'm saddened by the fact i feel inclined to include this but by homecoming i mean the return of a missionary, not the football game, dance party kind...though, on second thought, maybe the idea could apply to both.}

you know about wedding showers and baby showers i assume.  same concept:

• instead of bringing clothes for the new baby, bring clothes for the returned missionary, who, in more ways than one, are similar to newborns.  they need a little nudge in the right direction in the fashion world.  at courtney's party we will buy her some lucille elaine goodies.
• instead of offering tips on married life, offer tips on the music and movies they have no knowledge of.  they are new to songs and movies that are old news but blew our minds two years earlier.  at courtney's party we will introduce cocorosie and toy story 3 to her.
• instead of making chicken salad sandwiches with blue or pink slush, serve food from their area.  at courtney's party we will serve...uh...knock off georgetown cupcakes and whatever she says is cool.  in all reality, we will probably eat hires since she misses it so.
• instead of playing games like the "don't say words like 'temple,' 'marriage,' 'bride,'" game {make sense?}, play the "guess how long it will take for you to remember your first name isn't elder/sister" game. 

yeah.  best. idea. ever.  i know, right?  courtney won't ever begin to know what hit her when i throw this party.  mark your calendars lovelies!

where the good stuff is.

{too true.}

once, when i was small, like really really small, like before i went to school small, my mom took me to arctic circle for lunch.  i loved that place at halloween 2 for reasons:

1.  pumpkin milkshakes {mama and i are all things pumpkin in the month of october.  always have been, always will be.}
2.  best kid meal halloween toys.

so this day that mom took me to a.c. and i got me some pumpkin milkshake and a kid meal.  with that kid meal came the greatest toy a kid meal could come with.  a flashlight.  a halloween, trick or treat flashlight, the kind with lots of little plastic sticks that light up at the top {i know.  that is the worst description ever and you will never know what i went through to get a visual aide to enhance this awful description. anyway that description will do for now, okay?}  mom also got a meal for courtney, meaning another cool, flashlight, trick or treating treat as well.  as usual, i thought this was fantastic.  i couldn't wait for courtney to get home from school and see this awesome flashlight that we were going to use while trick or treating.  finally she came home, smelling like vista elementary {i trust any former vista lions to know exactly what smell i am referring to right now} and i ran downstairs to get the flashlight.  as i ran back to her, i did something that i always did as a child {and may or may not still do as a bigger child}, i tripped up the stairs.  the flashlight flew out of my hands, crashed to the ground, and snapped off every single plastic light stick on my cool new trick or treating flashlight.  i was devastated.  now what was going to separate me from the other trick or treaters in the neighborhood?! but courtney did what she always does.  she helped me up, wiped my tears, and told me that it was okay.  she even game me her flashlight to trick and treat with while she used the broken, significantly less cooler version.  and i will always love halloween because of that day.  and the pumpkin flavor explosion.  and scary movies.  and dressing up.  and getting candy.  and so on...

birthday by proxy.

courtie. 
just so you know, you had a fantastic birthday. 

you swung on a yellow swing.

little malia pushed you around in a shopping cart.

you rocked the rocking horse.

you and gabie baby rode bikes.  {don't tell him that i am still
secretly using that nickname.  even though he is not very
"baby" anymore.  sadly.}

and mom and dad gave you a little birthday cuddle.

we spent some time together too.  we took a nice long sunday nap on your bed.  we watched a movie.  we made cupcakes and ate them too.  it was a lovely time to celebrate the day, 23 years ago, that the world got just a small bit brighter and better.  i miss you.

p.s. jayden blew out your candle for you. and i made a wish for you. 

 i can't tell you what it was but let's just say that your mission may

go by a bit quicker because of it.

from the 801 to the district.

{matchy matchy sisters.}

dear courtie.

as you already know, i am quite fond of birthdays. mostly mine, but i enjoy a good celebration of birth no matter what.  i even like your birthday.  i liked it a lot more when i was small.  every toy that you opened became mine as well through default.  and as we grew, each item of clothing became mine as well.  and now that you are on the opposite side of the country, wearing mid calf length skirts and a little black tag, all of those toys and clothes are all mine.  {sorry in advance for wearing your toms so much.  i'll show you cooler things than toms when you are home.}  but i would much rather you just come home and fight with me about who's top your wearing or what shoes i pick out.  i would rather you be home to do my make up and choose my outfits.  i would rather you be home to blow out your candles and pick out some ridiculously rich cake from some classy bakery.  i would rather you be home so i can sing "you had a birthday shout hooray" as many times as i feel like it.  i would rather tell you happy birthday in person than on some cute stationary that i cut out from a magazine.  on second thought...you are so obviously doing so well in the district, so i guess i would rather you share that love you have with the people of washington dc.  although i could use a little courtie hug or something.  it will just be that much sweeter at the airport in 7 months.  happy birthday sissy.  i miss you.  i love you.  i can't wait to see you with my eyes. 

xo,

paigey poodles.

in my life i love you more.

sisters are notorious for not getting along.

we are supposed to fight over shoes and make fun of each other's hair cuts.

i am well aware of that.

me and courtney are no exception.

when we were small

we fought about everything.

who got to measure the flour when we made cookies

whose turn it was to vacuum on saturday

what movie to watch as we fell asleep

everything.

but i can tell you right now

there has never been a greater sisterhood

than the paige&courtney connection.

she is my best friend.

nobody knows me like she does.

she knows that i copy her.

she knows how much i hate driving long distances.

she knows that i would rather jump off a cliff than throw up.

she knows that i hate talking on the phone

but i loved it yesterday

when she was on the line.

i miss her.

lots.

march 2nd 2011

please hurry.

my sister wightman.

word on the street is missions change people.  obviously they are more spiritual and educated post mish, but i mean they change...socially.  i have a little thought in the back of my head that my soul's identical twin (sister courtney wightman, of washington dc north) will change.  i worry that when she is home that she won't:

laugh at my silliness anymore

or shop at anthro

or wear paper mustaches for fun

or dye her hair purple like she did that one time

or still want to be "immature forever"

or write her blog

or make cookies all of the time

or still want to play testimony bingo on fast sunday

basically i want her to stay the same

forever.

and by judging by this picture...

my wish

is granted.

phewf.

sheri dew...you doll you.

i have one sister.  she has one hate.  that one hate is reading.  so you can understand why it took me by surprise when she suggested, long ago, before she left me here to rot, that i read no doubt about it by the one and only, sheri dew.  i decided last night that i would take my sister up on that offer.  and i am so happy that i did.  every sentence is quote book worthy.  she is so eloquent and talented.  she shares a quote that i just adore:

you are good.

but it is not enough just to be good.

you must be good for something.

you must contribute good to the world.

the world must be a better place for your presence.

and that good that is in you

must be spread to others

-gordon b. hinckley

i want to be good for something.  i want my good to rub off of me and onto my surroundings.  just like my sister wightman is doing in the district of columbia.

thanks sheri for this gem.

and thanks courtney for living her words.

17 months to go.

i don't know if this is legal or ethical or right at all

but i absolutely love this book.

and i want to give all of the credit to this book as i can.

anyways.

my sister, sister wightman, has been gone

on a mission

for one whole month today.

and i miss her.

lots.

so when i was in st. george,

wandering around a book store

i found this beautiful gem

by simms taback

called "i miss you everyday"

which i am going to quote from now.

"when you miss someone you love so much--there's only one thing to do:  wrap yourself up, jump in a box, and send yourself for a visit...

please unwrap me from the paper 

i missed you everyday

give me a bath and feed me supper

give me candy so i'll stay

tuck me in and read a story

                                                and everything will be ok "

  that alone makes me tear up a little.  i miss her.     everyday.  but i wouldn't have it any other way.  {hmmm...maybe i'll write a poem too} i am so proud of her and her decision to sacrifice 18 months of her life and serve the Lord, but what a wonderful sacrifice it is.  washington d.c. is so    lucky to have her.  i love you sister wightman!

 *all of my love my dearest friend and sister

always remember that we're never far apart

"i carry your heart, i carry it in my heart" 

i spy with my little eye.

so my sister, the sister missionary, has been gone for one week tomorrow, even though if feels like she's been gone for a month.  we haven't heard anything from her, which is surprising since she wrote this on her blog once upon a time.  i have had enough of this not-hearing-from-my-best-friend business and decided to try to "run into" her after a visit to the provo temple (which happens to be across the street from the mtc where courtney may or may not be living currently).  since the mtc accommodates somewhere around 4,000 missionaries, there had to be some bopping around.  indeed, there were many young men, all dressed up with those adorable little black tags, but nobody who even resembled my

fashionable

beautiful

darling

sweet

sister wightman.

so my search continues.  i sure hope that

everyone is nice to her

she likes the food

she can sleep in a new bed

she is learning and loving it

she is excited

she isn't too homesick

she remembers what i look like

i remember what she looks like (it's been so long)

but i really hope that

she will write soon.

because i miss her.

lots.

called to serve.

my beautiful, hilarious, brave, darling sister went away today.  she's off to begin what will most likely be the hardest and most enjoyable thing she will ever do.  i miss her so much that i took heart burn medicine ease the pain.  even though i need her to:

pick out my outfits

do my makeup

give me loves when i'm sad

make me cookies

tell me stories

laugh at my jokes

watch movies with me

sing me songs

vent to

love me

i know that someone, somewhere in the washington d.c. north mission needs her more than i do.  so i think i can share her with them.