Do you think there is medicine for it?

Have you ever all a sudden started to feel claustrophobic and not be able to do anything about it? Ever feel like the world is closing in on you and you can't escape it? Ever feel like you are gasping for air and there is no end in site?

Well, that is how I feel every day. I started to wonder why I was having these pseudo nervous breakdowns and finally was able to diagnose myself with an acute disorder called: Smallclosetasideous (small-closet-a-side-ous).

My medical dictionary defines it as:
A disorder typically common among women. Persistent or recurrent feelings of not having a big enough closet for all clothes purchased. Typical symptoms include: 1) excessive shopping, 2) inability to throw old clothes away because at one time, they were considered cute, 3) thinking white and black shirts are a staple and one can NEVER have enough, 4) closet envy for closets bigger than one that person currently has.

Here is a picture of my current closet. I feel claustrophobic just looking at it. Now, please tell me that if this was your closet, you wouldn't come down with smallclosetasideous too?


One day, I am going to have a HUGE closet with lots and lots of room for future purchases. Until then, I have grounded myself from shopping. Well, ok, maybe not. I do need a new pair of boots....

I am not the stupid one...

WARNING:
Content might be inappropriate for children until 18.... or 25 for that matter.

I have a new found liking for picture text messages. A few days ago, I received the following picture text from Brooke and Abby:

The message read:

Look what I found in my back seat on the way home from the game!

Shocked and appalled that my friends would think I would enjoy this type of inappropriate, distasteful, scandalous picture - I decided to join in on the fun.

Natalie: Who on earth is that?
Abby: You have three guesses
Natalie: 1. Abe. 2. Steve. 3. An unknown hot man that stumbled into your car and now all of us are going to fight over him.
Natalie: or Karl

Now, Karl might come after me for posting this. He might ban me from eating at Albertos. He might never talk to me again. But hey, I'm not the one who stripped down in the backseat of a car and let two girls take my picture. Not smart, Karl. Not smart.

I love you, but you embarrass me

That is my stance on the Utes this year. I will always love and support Utah and their athletic department, but after this weekend, I am deeply embarrassed, frustrated and angry with my beloved Utes. A loss... to UNLV? And right after the amazing win against UCLA? Like the drunk man yelled behind me at the game this last weekend, COME ON! This is UNLV we are losing to!

This past weekend my family + Chandler headed down to Sin City to support our Utes in their game against UNLV.


A six hour drive stuffed in the family suburban was almost too much to handle. I was glad I had my camera to entertain myself.. and my siblings:



Thanks to Mackenzi and her employment at Marriott, we got the friends and family rate at the Marriott Suites and were comfortable separated by a "boys room" and a "girls room". I felt sorry for Chandler and the fact that he was stuck in a room with my two younger, smelly, snoring prone brothers. What a trooper!

Saturday we did the usual Vegas activities. We hit the tables. Since Alex was the only member under 21, we sent him to the arcade. Ok, maybe not. And maybe we didn't hit the tables either.

A typical Harris vacation usually revolves around food. So, our only plan that morning was to be at The Cheesecake Factory by 11:30ish for lunch. We decided to go walk around the Wynn.

I love the trees and flower balls they have hanging in the main entrances.



I also think these...whatever they are... are the coolest things ever. The move up and down at random.


After looking around the Wynn and also heading down to Mandalay Bay to hit the Urban Outfitters, it was finally time to eat lunch. Yum, Cheesecake Factory. We definitely weren't the only Utah fans that had this plan - for there was a large table of about 20 Utah fans already seated by the time we got there.



After lunch we drove out to Primm to the great outlet mall they have out there. We did some shopping, met up with some of our cousins that drove up from Phoenix for the game, and then rode the roller coaster at Buffalo Bills. I don't know why I rode it. I already had a headache and that ride I swear, is so shaky that my brain actually gets moved around. It is not a pleasant experience.


This picture is supposed to include the sign above us saying "Desperado Roller Coaster", but it was cut out. And the next picture we took that actually had it in it, didn't work....so oh well.

Our next plan was to eat at In-n-Out burger. And it just so happened that there was one very close to the game. So, again, we ate.

We then headed to the game... and that is when the trip turned ugly. I had every intention of taking lots and lots of pictures, but with the Utes embarrassing themselves and frustrating their fans, I only took one shot. This was taken at half time when there was still hope in my heart.


Utah... I love you, but you embarrass me. Fingers crossed that we can at least, beat Utah State this weekend. It's Homecoming from goodness sake!

Thanks Mom and Dad for a really fun weekend (despite the loss)! Let the family tradition carry on!

and..

GO UTES!

Loved it!

Yesterday, I was so obsessed with finishing this book, I told my friend Brooke that I couldn't talk anymore (I was on the phone with her) because I needed to read. Yes, ladies and gents, I abandon my friends, family and loves ones when I am reading a good book. It's sad, but incredibly true. But I absolutely loved this book! With all the hype about Twilight, I was a little skeptical if it would live up to it's review. But sure enough, I read it in 2 days. I became an obsessed woman. I also became a woman scared for my life.

It gets pretty intense towards the last 100 pages and I just happened to be home by myself. It was deeply absorbed in the lives of Edward and Bella and the drama that was unfolding around them, when all of a sudden my phone rang. I think I jumped two feet off my bed. It was just Mackenzi, not a vampire coming to suck my blood. I told her she scared me and she laughed. I went back to reading my book. About 20 minutes later I hear the front door open and someone walk inside. And I hear Mackenzi say, "Hey Nat. It's Mackenzi. Not a vampire." I am glad she clarified. There is no lock on my bedroom door.

Anyway, I would recommend this book to anyone. Quick easy read that totally lived up to the hype. On to the next two books i guess!

Where have all the cowboys gone?

... Please sing the title of this post like the song from Paula Cole and you might feel the full effect of this post. Ok, not really. But it might get you in the mood..

This past Saturday I went to a cabin in the middle of nowhere. Literally, it was the middle of nowhere. Somewhere a hour outside of Evanston, Wyoming, my lady friends and I drove to a cabin in our quest to branch out and meet new people. What would make this story really cool is if none of us knew anyone at this cabin and headed up there on a whim. But alas, Kenzi's little sister's ex-boyfriend invited us up. I love random connections.


As we drove further and further out into the wild Wyoming wilderness, Brooke said something to the effect of, "Well, I hope these boys aren't serial killers. Because if they are, we will never be found." True statement. No cell service, no parents that know exactly where we are and no one at home worrying about where we are. With that said, we were really excited to go.

The boys had made us a delicious dinner of shish-kabobs, potatoes and corn. Very impressive. We played games, roasted marshmallows by the fire and got to know a new group of people.

One of the guys was getting tired around 1 a.m. and became deeply concerned about the sleeping arrangements. Who would sleep where and who would sleep by who (or whom... don't ask me which is correct)??? So I asked him, "Are you worried that if you go to bed now, none of us girls will come join you?" And yes, that was his concern. I think he envisioned the evening ending a lot different than it did. He had it all worked out in his head - and his plan went miserably wrong - the girls all ended up in beds together and the boys on the couches. Mackenzi told him that next time, she would bring sluttier friends.

I took no pictures of this weekends adventure. I am deeply saddened by my lack of picture taking, as I am sure you are too.

Thought provoking question...

If I am to get in my gym clothes and stay in them for let's say, um, three hours - but never go to the gym, can it count as working out?

A. Yes. I can even sit at home and gordge on ice cream and candy and watch hours of reality tv
B. Yes, only if I go run errands and make people think I just came from the gym
C. Maybe. It counts if my friends do it too
D. No.

I am trying to think of additional excuses. I am sure I will think of some.

This post is dedicated to my friend Brooke. Thanks for encouraging me and keeping me motivated to at least, put on my gym clothes.

It's good to be 13 again... or is it?

After a night spent shopping and eating in Park City, me, Kenzi, Racie and Brooke decided to spent the remainder of Friday night eating ice cream and watching a movie. A perfect way to start a weekend if you ask me. We had a few of our guy friends call us to "hang out", but thought shopping and eating with just the girls sounded more fun.

While watching the movie, I get a call from a restricted number. Instantly I know it is our friend Creighton prank calling. Yes. He is 27 and prank calls. Awesome. I press ignore on my phone. Not two seconds later he calls again. I press ignore again. He calls a third time and I decide to answer it. I tell him I am watching a movie and that he should call me back and leave me a message.

About 5 minutes later there is loud banging on Brooke's front door. And then, fireworks. Literally, fireworks. Creighton and his buddies have set off a nice firework display on Brooke's front porch. Now, I should have gotten my camera out to take a picture (because that is what I do), but we were more entertained at the level of interest Brooke's neighbors were taking in this pyrotechnics show - one naked man across the courtyard, and another girl came outside in her skimpies. Really, it was all very entertaining.

We decided that this kind of behavior does not go unnoticed, we devised a plan of attack.

We got outfitted in our black:


Brooke might have fallen off the bed in our attempt to capture this on camera:


We drove to 3 different grocery stores to buy cling wrap (because apparently nothing is open after midnight) and drove to Creighton and Danny's house to begin our night of fun.


C and D have the exact same car, so they both got hit. Amazingly we weren't caught. Well, a pizza mad did drive by when I was on the ground attempting to throw a roll underneath the car....but he was either too high on pizza fumes or just too high all around to care.



Mission accomplished:



As Kenzi and I drive home relishing in our successful vandalizing outing, Creighton calls me. He tells me, "nice job!" As we are chatting I turn the corner of my street and see this:





Kenzi and I couldn't stop laughing. I asked Creighton if he did it, and he denies everything. Kenz and I then think it is our friends Rich and Brandon. However, after interrogating them at church on Sunday, they deny everything. So, who's the culprit, time will tell.

In Memory Of...

I love breakfast food. I could eat is for every meal. Yum! So when some good family friends, the Hanks (Jeff and Justin are shown here and here), revealed a family favorite restaurant dedicated to ginormous over sized portions of greasy, delicious breakfast food, my family couldn't resist. So, each summer while up at Bear Lake, my family takes the 30 minute drive north to Montpelier, Idaho to stuff ourselves silly with bacon, eggs, french toast, pancakes, cinnamon rolls, hash browns... the list can go on. This uber chic (and by chic I mean hole in the wall) establishment is known to us (and the Hanks) as The Truck Stop. Because really, that is what it is. A gas station with a gift shop and restaurant attached. AND, the portions served are made for a truckers appetite. Use your imagination.


So, you can only see my families disappointment when we reached our destination this pass weekend to find The Truck Stop had shut down completely. WTF? Saddened by this turn of events, we drove back into Montpelier to find another breakfast joint. Butch Cassidy's Saloon is where we ended up. Turns out our sweet waitress had actually worked at the Truck Stop for a good ten years. Now, relishing in our new found source of Truck Stop gossip, we asked our waitress what happened to the TS. She said one day she got to work and the bank had come and seized the property. No more Truck Stop. Just like that.

The Truck Stop has provided my family with 10 years of great summer memories. You will be missed dear Truck Stop!