Letter from Dad

Since I'm moving out soon (oh I don't think I've mentioned that... well I'm moving out hopefully in a month... anyway...) I decided to go through a box full of letters I've saved over the years. Most of them are from missionaries, some from friends or cousins, sweet notes from YW leaders... Then I found one letter from my Dad. It's not dated, so I have no idea when he wrote it. But I'll have you know he didn't write very many notes to me. My mom wrote a lot in behalf of my dad and herself, but this letter was written to me from him. Don't worry I cried. And I'm still crying. It's been 6 months and I miss him just as much as if it were yesterday.

Thank heavens I could still read it (despite the water damage... oh and don't mind the big fat tear stain).

It reads: 

"Dear Tori, 

     I just want to let you know how special you are to me. yes I know I never tell you often enough but I'm going to change that. 

     Tori you are the most driven child we have. When you wake up your mind to do something you make it happen. This will help you go far in life and makes me feel great as a father too. 

     Now of course you are beautiful and smart, you get this from me, unless mom is close by, then you better say it comes from her. 

     Tori I'm not just saying this because I'm your father. I hear this from a lot of people. You can do just anything you want. 

     I'm proud to call you 'daughter'. 

Love, Dad "

Now if that's not a tender mercy, I don't know what is! This is the highlight of my day.. probably week. I'm so grateful for the Plan of Salvation and the wonderful Gospel of Jesus Christ! I know I'll see my sweet Dad again. 

For more about my testimony click here. For more about the LDS church click here. 

You want to read a good book? Allow me to recommend...

I have discovered in the last 1.5 years or so that I love reading. There are so many great books out there (fiction and non-fiction) and I'm so grateful for the ability to read them-AND for friends who have the same taste and recommend great books!

You want to read a good book? Allow me to recommend:

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

A Novel Written By: Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

"January 1946: Writer Juliet Ashton recieves a letter from a stranger, a founding member of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Sociaety. And so begins a remarkable tale of the island of Guernsey during the German occupation, and of a society as extraordinary as its name." 

(found on the back of the cover)

There are 2 kinds of good books: the kind that you can't put down and the kind that are, for lack of a better word, great, but you can easily walk away to do normal human things like shower or sleep (we won't talk about what I become whenever I read books that I can't put down). 

I just finished a book that falls into the latter category. It was refreshing to be able function while reading a book! It took me a little while to get into it, but totally worth it. 

The characters in this book are fantastic! I want to be friends with them. The writing is superb-I laughed, cried and then laughed again. 

This is probably one of the most vague book reviews you've ever read, but I'm running out of steam haha. In all seriousness, this book is really a great read!  

Oh and I just googled it to get ^ that picture... and guess what? They are making a movie! 2013 and Kate Winslet is playing the heroine- Juliet Ashton. I approve!

Other books I've read within the last year that I recommend: 

*The Help by Kathryn Stockett

*The Wednesday Wars by Gary Schmidt

**Matched  by Allie Condie (just googled apparently Disney bought the rights to make a movie out of it)

Crossed by Allie Condie (2nd book in Matched trilogy)

*****Hunger Games Series (if you haven't read these... what's your problem?) by Suzanne Collins

**Divergent by Veronica Roth

Austenland by Shannon Hale

*=great book
**=freaking couldn't put it down!
*****=my favorite!
no star=good

2011 Summed Up

2011 was a good year. It may have been great if certain events hadn't occurred, but hey they did... so ya...

I can't say that it was a terrible year because of it either-because some pretty dang awesome things happened as well.

Here is a summary of the year-one big event per month...

January- went to a cabin with my family. It was the first vacation we had had in quite some time. It was so much fun to play in the snow! I loved it SO much! We played in the snow and just hung out in a cute little cabin. Seriously it was fantastic!

February- I started my final semester of dental hygiene school! Um... Yay!

March- I took my first (and somewhat most intense) board exam-anesthesia! For those of you who don't know... basically you have to shoot someone up with anesthetic while a few board examiners in white jackets hover over you and watch. Scary stuff. However, my Dad gave me a blessing that I will be calm, and I was! I had a very steady hand and my mom was a great patient. I thought I failed at first, but then I didn't... It was awesome!

April-I took 2 of my written boards... Longest tests ever! Left the exams thinking... "Uh... crap?!" Obviously it turned out fine-I just didn't know for a couple weeks.

May- Um freak! I took my clinical board. I was so scared my patient wouldn't qualify, but he did and I got 100% (not to brag or anything)! Then I took my jurisprudence and passed it... Then I freaking GRADUATED! Hellz ya! (excuse my french)

June- I got my license and started working! I survived my first day! The peeps I worked for had NO idea I had just graduated! That's definitely a compliment!

July- OH JULY! So much good came out of July and then at the very end of the month it made a 180... So July... First I went to CA w/Darlene, Marshelle, and Cait for the 4th... It was a lot of fun! However, I remember feeling like I shouldn't go, but went anyway... I wasn't sure why until a few weeks later when my Dad died and I realized that would have been the last holiday together... except I wasn't there. It's hard to say that Heavenly Father knew that things were going to go down that He didn't want.... But... I don't know... That's the only reason I feel like I would have had that feeling not to go.... Anyway that same week I took another spontaneous trip to California w/Michelle. It was one of the best trips ever! We were watching SYTYCD and decided... hey lets get in the car and go to San Diego (her mom and brother were there, so we figured we'd meet up with them). It was a freaking BLAST! We rolled in around 2am. Played the whole next day (on Coronado Island l<3ve it) and drove home the morning after. That day I went with my Dad to talk cars w/Dad's client Frank who was an independent car broker... And one thing led to another... I bought my beautiful red Toyota Matrix! You read about it here. Then just a couple weeks later, I had one of the greatest days at work... It was a Friday, I worked with my friends Kaija and Teresa, cleaned a VERY cute guys teeth... we had good conversation while waiting for the exam... he was seriously dreamy... Of course everything was kept professional, it was just nice to talk to a super attractive guy! It was such a great day... until the drive home when Mary called and told me what happened... Then everything just kinda went crazy in my head... thinking "No way..." "Please don't be dead" "There's no way he actually did it" That was the longest ride home of my life... trying to keep my eyes clear so I could actually see while driving... Trying to not go into hysterics while attempting to process the words that Mary said... Very bluntly stating that that my dad had shot himself...  Gee how can anyone take those words in and drive home safely? Poor Mary wasn't thinking... really how could any of us be thinking straight after hearing news like that? I finally got home and saw the billions of cop cars in front of my house and the huddle of cops standing in a circle in front of my door... and every strain of hope was gone... even though I still had to ask my mom for sure if he was gone...  Haha sorry I watched Grey's Anatomy last night, and it tugged on my heart strings, specifically the ones that are attached to my dad. Anyway... so that was July.

August- Uh... Dad's funeral? August was pretty blah.

September- Went to California w/my siblings y mi madre. It was a great trip! We went to the beach and spent time with the Brewer family. It was fantastic-just what the doctor ordered.

October- General Conference. Got my Droid X2. Went to Las Vegas with some of the greatest people I know (Sarah, Dave and Brian) and saw the Lion King (FANTASTIC show btw). Sent Deborah on her mission! HALLOWEEN: greatest costume ever+the best haunted house experience (AZ scream park with no lines and great friends)=awesome Halloween!!

November- went to UT for my beautiful cousins wedding, turned 22, went to DISNEYLAND w/the fam (such a blast), and THANKSGIVING: everyone was in town on my moms side w/the exception of my Utah cousins, but I got to see them early in the month so it was ok... It was such a great Thanksgiving!

December- worked, worked, worked, and worked some more... Dance concerts, Sarah's fancy dinner party, Wadsworth family Christmas Party, Blewster Family Christmas Party, CHRISTMAS (Christmas Eve my uncle rented a party bus and we all drove around looking at Christmas lights, got to talk to Deborah... read Hunger Games... It was Fantastic!)...

NEW YEARS EVE: was great! Spent it with great friends playing games and eating. What more could you need? Seriously it was great!

I feel like year, 2012, is going to treat me well! Here is what I'm excited for!

January 13th- Beauty and the Beast in THEATERS! Wow.. Just a week away. I'm so thrilled!
March 23rd- HUNGER GAMES hits theaters! Seriously!? I can't even... I'm just... UGH! STOKED!
April-Conference! AND hopefully (crossing fingers) I'll be moving out!
Summer/Fall-ish... Putting a stamp on my passport!?
December- The Hobbit! Definitely dressing up as an elf... or maybe a hobbit. It will be grand.

And throughout the year I plan on dating a lot... aka... I plan on putting myself out there more and hopefully getting dates in return...

Sorry for the long post! I guess towards the end there I couldn't pick just one thing/month... too many cool things happened from OCT-DEC. I'm really excited for this year! Lots of good came out of last year. I grew a lot in several ways. But. This year. I will grow even more and its going to be good! I feel it in my bones!

Fall Thus Far

So here is fall so far... All of the pictures are from my phone, so you must forgive the poor quality. Also.. its all jumbled and out of order. I would take the time to fix it, but then I wouldn't get this posted. So here goes!

My lovely grandparents, ma and german chocolate cake-delish!

Sarah and Dave, 2 of my favorite people!

Mi Familia! First birthday with Deb out on her mission, and my first birthday without Dad here. Ok so yesterday was my 22nd birthday. As much as I love birthdays (why do I always want to be older? I do not know... when I was 8- I wanted to be 12, when I was 12 I longed to be 16, when I was 16 my desire was to be 18, and when I was 18 I wanted more than anything to not have "teen" in my age... I'm weird.)... I don't like being the center of attention. When its my family, sure. I love it. But when I'm around friends and everything I hate it! Especially when its celebrating me. Maybe its my lack of self esteem? I'm not really sure. Anyway, so as usual I didn't plan anything for my birthday. Oh ps in case you are thinking "oh I'll plan a surprise party for ya next year..." please don't. I've had like... 2-3 in the last 8 years. I think I'm good until I'm at least 29. Anyways... So I didn't plan anything except to go eat my free Joe's Farm Grill with mi madre and go get my birthday present... BOOTS! (featured in a picture somewhere below) I vegged out like I usually do when I can't think of anything better to do on my days off, but this time I didn't feel guilty about it. Its my birthday and I do what I want to! I went to hip hop, then had bday dinner w/the fam, bday cake/ice cream w/the fam+Sarah and Dave and then went to FHE. After FHE I went to Michelle's  and watched Bride Wars. Ok so I didn't do much watching. I fell asleep like I usually do when I go to her house to watch anything... must be her couch.

^Somewhere in UT or AZ. Beautiful none-the-less... 

Over the weekend I went to UT with my Grandparents and Aunts to celebrate ^Whitney and Sams wedding. Whitney is my amazing cousin and the first in the Blewster line to get married. Hopefully I'm next... or Deb. It was beautiful, cold, and a very busy weekend, but totally awesome! 

Congratulations Whitney and Sam!

*Sad Side Note: I really missed my Dad. I think one of the hardest things is thinking about all that he won't be here for... my wedding especially. Who is going to dance with me during the Father/Daughter dance? Whenever I went to weddings before he died I thought about that dance... Mostly because we weren't very close when he was alive... But now I feel closer to him then ever, and I just wish he could be here physically, not just in spirit, on that special day-if and when it comes.*

Oh here's Rachel and Mom at Joe's. 

Now for Halloween.... I was freaking awesome. This is one Halloween costume I'm extremely proud of! Let me tell you, those who knew who I was appreciated it immensely, as I knew they would. Have you figured it out? I'm GILLY! I know-awesome right? 

Ok before I continue I must tell you my goal for the this, my favorite time of year (Oct 1st-Jan 1st):

Enjoy every last second and embrace the season! 

Halloween: check!

I went to 2 haunted houses and partied like it was 1999. I had a blast this year!

Me and Rachel. Awe she's so stinkin' cute! Funny story:

We were in the car on our way home from Joe's and DSW when we

told her, "Rachel you are so stinkin' cute."

Her reply? 

"I'm not cute. I'm gorgeous!"

Baha! She is a.d.o.r.a.b.l.e.

Happy birthday to me from me! I re-read Matched and read 

Crossed for the 1st time on the way back from Utah. Loved it! 

Boots=So Cute!

Also something (or someone) who is cute? Justin Bieber. There I said it. 

Mom bought me Never Say Never on Blu-Ray for my birthday.
No I did not ask for it. 

Yes I am very happy she got it for me. 

What DVD did I ask for? 

Monte Carlo-featuring Selina Gomez-JB's girlfriend ironically enough. 

Yes I am 22.

Oh and before I forget... Debs left on her mission Oct 12th! She's at the MTC right now, but sh'ell be heading to Des Moines in a few weeks. She has been learning Spanish! Holla!

 You want updates? You want to write her? She'd love it! 

Check out her blog here.

Ok welp! That's all I've got for now!

Oh and for all you Hunger Games fans who for some reason haven't watched the official trailer... Watch it right now! You will cry and be really upset that you have to wait 4 months.

But oh muh fish it looks fantastic!

Seriously... I'm dying!

Oh Hey Roxbury Frames

DISCLAIMER: This post may paint me as someone who is super shallow or conceited. I assure you that I am neither.

These are my new glasses. I picked them up the beginning of August AND I LOVE THEM!

But I'm not here to just tell you that they are way cuter than my old frames (old, oval, brown, cheap), or that they cost me an arm and my favorite toe (yes I have a favorite toe but that's a subject for another day). I'm here to tell you about their amazing ability to attract those of the opposite sex.

That's right. Boys.

I'm pretty confident that when I brush the contacts aside and become four eyes for the night, the guys actually talk to me! Who'd a thought simply wearing glasses would get the guys attention? Definitely not this girl!

Ok so maybe they don't say, "Oh hey! I like your glasses! Can I have your number?"

However, conversations like this go down:

Man/Guy/Boy: Oh hey! Your glasses are super fly.
Me: Oh why thank you! They are real. (Side Note: I like telling people they are real... there's nothing wrong with wearing fake glasses and I don't have anything against people who do... I personally would feel dumb wearing glasses just as a fashion statement with no solid reason. I actually need them and I think that makes me cooler... just sayin)
Man/Guy/Boy: Oh sweet. I need to get glasses.
Me: Did you want to try them on? (Side Note: Maybe not the most sanitary thing... but... I only use this as a way of flirting w/the really attractive boys)
Man/Guy/Boy: Cool... *puts on glasses*... How do I look? (Side Note: Perfect opportunity for me to flirt some more)
Me: *insert compliment here*

This compliment maybe something like... "Oh they look great with your facial hair." Or (as I look deeply in their eyes) "You are one of only a few people who can really pull them off." (Side Note: That may be an exaggeration... these glasses actually look good on pretty much everyone. On the other hand, they look especially spicy on guys with strong jaw lines and a 5 o'clock shadow...mmm...) Or "Dang son, you look smokin'!"

So in conclusion, my precious Roxbury frames provide me with several opportunities to flirt it up with boys AND they get me compliments... Which in turn gives me more confidence, and if you know me at all, you know that I have the confidence of a gecko (no not the Geico gecko who confidently talks to America about saving 15% or more on car insurance... I'm referring to the geckos who hang out on the walls of my house (outside on the front porch, haha not inside the house). All you have to do is walk up and they scurry to a hiding spot as quickly as possible). Last night I gave out my number to two guys (I'll add that they asked for it). Yes, TWO! I think I'll be wearing these babies more often.