Dear Procrastinators,

Halloween is upon us. There have been parties going on all week long and last night was kicked off the Halloween weekend celebration. Tonight there will be heaps of things to do. And here you are wondering what you should dress up as because you either (a) didn't like your costume last night or (b) didn't dress up and felt like an idiot.

A lot of my friends have been asking me what they should be so I am going to help you out and give you the list I game them with some pictures of some that have been used in years and days previous. A lot of easy, last minute costumes. Ready?

• Boy Scout. Do to DI, they have tons of Boy Scout shirts there.
• Pirate. All you need is some booty (gems and jewels), something black, something red, or something stripped, and a bandana or scarf for you head.

• Jersey Shore cast. Big hair, tan body, Ed Hardy.
• Constructing worker. Buy a hard hat, wear an old t shirt and some jeans.
• Super hero. You need a cape.

• Lady Gaga. She never wears pants, so just wear a swimsuit.
• Jungle Dweller. Bones and animal print fabric. Drape it around yourself ever so nicely, and walk out the door.

• Some sort of athlete. Everyone has a jersey laying around somewhere.
• Lumberjack. Plaid.
• 80's child. Bright colors, short things, tights, cut up things, big jewelry. You get the idea.

• Ninja. Wear all black and some sort of black mask.
• Greek. White sheet, wrap it around.
• Cowboy. Button up shirt. Cowboy hat. Maybe some rope for variety.

Well people, there are some ideas. Take it. Run with it.

I am being MJ. May he rest in peace.

A moment of silence please.

Love,

Deidre

Dear Blog,

This is your 200th post!

Love,

Deidre

Dear Google Analytics,

Sometimes I wonder what keywords I need to put in my posts to show up on more search engines.

I feel like when I blog, I blog about really random things.... always. So when I checked my google.com/analytics account today I was surprised to see I don't show up in as many search engines. The top four search engine phrases that direct people to me are:

1.	what your friendship means to me letters
2.	sidewalk art
3.	mallory arnett
4.	can't wait to see you again letters...

Interesting. I am going to log about really random and obscure things that apply to the time to see how often I can show up in search engines. Sounds exciting. Thanks for the info google.com/analytics. But congratulations Mallory, that means people are googling you. You are famous.

Love,
Deidre

Dear Nyquil,

I will be having some of you to help me sleep and to keep me from getting sick starting Sunday. No more of this not sleeping business. Thank you for being there when I need you and tucking me in at night.

Love,
Deidre

Dear Insomnia,

You are making my life really difficult. Every night I crawl in bed, ready to go to sleep, with my pajamas on and my make up off. My contacts are out, my teeth are brushed, my face is washed. Scriptures read, prayers said. It is 12:07 am. Bedtime.

I close my eyes.

I open them, still haven't fallen asleep, and look up to check the time(it is projected on my ceiling thanks to my nifty clock). 12:41 am. Not okay.

I close my eyes.

I open them, still haven't fallen asleep, and look up to check the time(it is projected on my ceiling thanks to my nifty clock). 1:18 am. Not okay.

I think about closing my eyes, nope. Not gonna work. I grab my computer to watch some ridiculous tv show on the internet. 90210, Hellcats, One Tree Hill, Glee, DCC Making the Team...

One episode.
Two episodes.

3:06 am. Bedtime? Lets try again.

I close my eyes.

I hear my alarm go off, 8:00 am already? Okay. Fine. Next day. No nap. School, work, homework. Get home, crawl into bed with my pajamas on and my make up off. My contacts are out, my teeth are brushed, my face is washed. Scriptures read, prayers said. It is 12:07 am. Bedtime.

Repeat insomnia. No thank you. but here you come again. After this weekend, I am fixing that problem.

Love,
Deidre

Dear Robi,

It as has been one year. Miss you lots. Love you more.

Love,

Deidre

Dear Emotions,

You really for put in check today when I read Keena's blog. When did my emotions become such a public thing? Tears in public can be embarrassing. Although, I am flattered and now know the difference I can make.

Love,

Deidre

Dear Fat Cats,

Thank you for a night of entertainment. Bowling has never been my area of expertise, and this night proved it. I broke 100 once, which was actually amazing to me. It was nice to spend a night out meeting new people with Michelle. Heber City people are certainly entertaining. Well played, Fat Cats... well played.

Love,

Deidre

Dear Thriller,

I have never missed dancing as much as I did when I was sitting in the audience. For Michelle's birthday gift I took her to Thriller. I had never seen it and Michelle hadn't seen it for a very long time. For the last year we have been talking about how we need to go see it. So I took her as a surprise. It was funny driving there and she would ask where we were going, walking into the Covey Center and she was just confused, and then I gave her the ticket. Surprise successful. We climbed up to the balcony to watch the show.

The show was so great with every style of dance. Hip hop, ballet, jazz, tap, Irish dancing, partner dancing, step dancing... everything. I would have to say my favorite dance was the Children of the Corn dance. The show overall was entertaining and it was a great way to spend my afternoon with Michelle.

I miss dance.

Love,

Deidre

Dear Michelle Cole,

Welcome to adulthood little lady. Finally 21. I am so glad that we put aside our differences and took out the wedge that Kevin Jensen drove between us (just kidding, but also I am kind of serious) and became friends. From second semester of sophomore year until now you have become a huge part of my life. Thank you for wanting to have the same career as me so we always have something to talk about and plan on for the future. Thank you for switching to the same major as me and always being in my classes so I can have a solid study buddy and only have to pay half price on books. Thank you for going to the gym with my on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Thank you for being so driven and motivated and pushing me to become a better person. Thank you for always treating me like a friend. I appreciate the person you are and the way you live your life. We only have great things to look forward to as we enter our final semester at BYU. Can't wait to graduate from the Marriott School with you in April. Can't wait to be friends for life. Love you so much. HAPPY BIRTHDAY.

Love,
Deidre

Dear People of Walmart,

Eat your heart out.

Love,
Deidre

Dear Teach For America,

My application is in. Please pick me.

Love,
Deidre

Dear Twin Falls,

Remember that one time I went on a soul sister trip with these two girls. Ladies and gentlemen, introducing my soul sisters. Nicole Wait and Tiffany Pasker. We like to take road trips. Our favorite place to so is, you guessed it, Twin Falls, Idaho. Valley of the Gods.

It all starts with going to pick up Nicole and stopping by Costco to gas up the car.

Then we can hit the road, or crawl along as it is rush hour traffic, to pick up Miss Pasker because she has been playing teacher games all day. Once we are all in the car it is good bye Utah, HELLO IDAHO!

Before making it to Twin Falls, we have to drive through Burley. Which also eliminates all chance of seeing out the window considering Burley is invested with bugs that are now dead on my windshield.

Here we are in Twin Falls. Finally. Delicious homemade tacos, compliments of Chef Mommy, and then off to do a little "shopping in stores". First stop? Target. Second stop? Walmart. I decided to try on this item of clothing for Tiffany and I to admire... little did I know/realize we were in the juniors section. I got stuck. "I TRIED THIS ON FOR YOU! HELP ME GET OUT!"

Bedtime. Wake up the next morning for conference (such a treat). We listened to conference the best way possible. In the sun.


After all things conference we decided to take a trip to Nan's to collect my birthday gift. Everyone loves Nan.


Then we headed out to give Tiffany the Twin Falls tour. Nicole had already received the tour when we came for EFY. She came up early with me and Tiffany was a straggler. Nicole and I thought it would be a good idea to take Tiffany out on the town. Oh, and have a little photo shoot. Here we are by the historic turquoise down.


On the tracks.

By the river.

And at some other sketchy downtown location.

After a day full of church, family, and pictures it was time to leave our mark in this town. So we headed over to Walmart to get some paint. While we were there we met two children. Gems I tell you. Real Twin Falls gems. Pierced ears. Mullets. One did the splits for us and ripped his pants. Sure hope he didn't get in trouble for that.

Soul Sisters in TF. Yep. You better believe we painted the high school rock.

Twin Falls, you truly are amazing. I will never get tired of seeing this.

And I will never get tired of being with these two girls in Twin Falls or anywhere else.

Love,
Deidre

Dear Thieves,

Are you REALLY that stupid?

Love,
Deidre

Dear Birthday,

Well. What can I say. 22. Big number. Scary things.

What the number 22 means to me:

• I am going to be graduating from BYU this year.
• I need to start applying for jobs... or as I sometimes have to explain, an actual career.
• I have finally passed all those "big" birthdays you look forward to growing up... 15, when you get your driver's license in Idaho, 16, when you can finally date when you are a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, 18, when you can buy lottery tickets and become an official adult, and 21 when you can gamble and do almost anything your wildest dreams imagine... oh, and you driver's license switches from vertical to horizontal.
• I still feel like a child.

I will admit this birthday was one of the greatest. I was able to celebrate for much longer than I really should have. Starting with a family birthday up in Twin Falls, Idaho. I got to pick my birthday dinner and my birthday treat. My parents got me some REALLY great gifts. From them I got some really cute rain boots, a nice business like outfit, a fedora, a Halloween decoration, and a ticket to Wicked (yay yay yay!).



Oh... and my birthday treat was Marge's DELICIOUS chocolate cake recipe in the form of a Barbie cake, which my Mom let me decorate.


Back in Provo I had a great celebration with all my friends. The day before my birthday Justin Stephenson took me to Chick-fil-a. Yum. And then on the day of I recieved text messages, phone calls, and Facebook messages from friends and family wishing me a happy day. After morning classes and a few minutes at work my brother Ryan, his wife Kari Dawn, and three of my nephews (Lars, Smith, and Soren... Dallyn had to be at school) came and picked me up. We went to J Dawgs for lunch, because lets face it, its great and Kari Dawn had never tried it. Yum. Smith thought I was turning thirty so we had to correct him that I was only turning 22. They got me the most adorable book mark. It is yellow with a little rhinestone attachment and the letter D. I love it. It is great since I am now a reader again. I love that they live so close and I can actually spend my birthday with family. After a quick lunch they took me back to work. Nicole Wait picked me up from work and took me to her house to get my gift. A box of mac and cheese, two balloons, a card, and a DVD of what I meant to her. It was such a great gift. Then she took me to Spoon It Up. Yum. I went back to school for one last class. Sarah picked me up from work and we went to Red Robin. Yummmm. ( Literally, yum HAS TO be there, thank you to the advertising and marketing team of Red Robin.) Where about 22 of my friends came to celebrate my birthday. I am so lucky to have so many people that care about me and wanted to be there to celebrate. Mallory Wagner got me a delicious pumpkin cupcake at The Sweet Tooth Fairy. Tiffany Pasker got me some new "diamonds", aka the most awesome earrings, and a really cute top. Her gift was half joke, half real. The joke is that I got stuck in a similar top in the juniors section the week before. Morgan McCombs and Katrina Lewis both brought me really cute cards. Daniel Mason got me a card with some currency from his mission, which I think is really cool to have. Red Robin may or may not have given me a spoon? Suzanne Whitehead brought me a beautiful daisy. Morgan Nowland got me a map of the United States because I am "Miss America" (someday, hopefully!).

After that there was a Bring Your Own Spoon party at my house. That was great because heaps of people from my ward and friends I have made over the years came to wish me a happy birthday. People that couldn't attend dinner. New friends. Old friends. Busy friends. All friends. It was great to have everyone there.






To end the birthday celebrations there was a dinner with all my girlfriends over the last few years (plus Cam, best home teacher ever and fiance of one of my besties) at Mimi's Cafe. It was nice to just catch up with everyone and see them. I got some really cute note cards, an item that can't be written about, and a nice card from them.



I am happy to be 22. At first I was nervous and scared, but 22 isn't that bad.

Love,
Deidre

Dear Nan (for those of you who do not know my family's names, Nan is my grandmother. My Mom's Mom. I am only allowed to call her Nan.),

Thank you for making the following story possible.

Today I received an email. It read:

k....so...i have a story....

i was at a funeral the other day at which your grandmother was in attendance. haha. she is so funny. she was telling me how cold it was, it wasn't too cold but...whatevs... :) she had her fur coat anyhow. :) then idk how we even got on the subject but then we talked about you. she wanted to know if i knew your brothers and such. i told her no that i just knew you. that is all. then we talked more about you. she told me how you are in pageants. she told me how she is just amazed at what things are "attractive and appropriate" these days to wear. she told me about how you are just drop dead gorgeous and how you need a husband. that i should really consider marrying you. that her daughter is jane which is deidre's mom. she is really nice and so is her husband. she really likes them. that you gave her a really nice something or other for her birthday i cant remember what you gave her she told me though. o...and do you know deidre's brothers? and somehow we are related to each other cause she is related to the babbles and rhoda or something is related to the welkers. so that is cool. deidre is in utah going to byu. she loves it there and is doing well. she is really attractive and wants to get married. "i wish she could." that is the basics i think. haha. there was more but i don't remember them all. haha

in summary...it was really fun and funny to talk to her. my boss was like do you know her? why were you talking so long? we have work to do...haha. i was like well she had to tell me something. i got her as quick as i could. she just wouldnt let me go. haha. i cant wait to see her again and here more... :)

That sounds like a typical Nan story. Nan, I just need to straighten out a few things:
1. I will need a husband eventually, but I don't NEED one right away.
2. I will find my own husband, not every boy in Twin Falls needs to consider marrying me.
3. You are right, I did give you something really nice for your birthday.
4. I will want to get married when the time is right, it isn't on a check list or something.
5. You don't need to wish for me to get married.

Thank you for being so concerned about my eternal progression. You are a nice grandma and everyone that meets you really loves you.

Love,
Deidre (or as Nan would call me Dolly Bumps)

Dear Supporters, Friends, Family, Anyone,

Well. As most of your know I love a good pageant. I love to compete. I love the crown. I love the girls I meet. But most of all I LOVE being able to promote something I really care about. I love being able to stand for something and go out and share it with the world. My platform for the last year has been Redefine Service. I just started a website to promote my platform as well. I would love for it to spread and grow. That can only happen with your help. When you get the chance, take a look at it, email it to your friends, nominate someone to be on the blog, tell me your experiences with service, blog about it, or anything else you can think of. I would really appreciate your service as I try to serve at a greater capacity. Just go to:

redefineservice.blogspot.com

Thank you.
Love,
Deidre

Dear 24 Hour Flu,

You suck.

Love,
Deidre

Dear Lady "Walking" Your Dog,

I was really confused when I was driving through Costco parking lot and you were driving around in circles. Then I realized your dog was on a leash outside the front window. Really? Are you walking or driving your dog? I guess both work. Just please don't run him over.

Either way... Thanks for letting me take your picture.

Love,

Deidre

Dear October,

I thought I should let you know, you are my favorite month. So many good things have already come to pass thanks to you. October, here are the top 10 reasons why you are the best.

1. Conference. I love conference. I love the prophet. I love the apostles. I love the recharge and spiritual boost. I love everything about it. Conference is amazing. (Blog post to come specifically about this event.)

2. I can wear boots whenever I want. Cute boots, rain boots, riding boots, warm boots. Boots like these.

3. The weather is just right where I can wear a t-shirt in the day and a jacket at night.

4. Halloween is at the end of the month. Which means I can not only buy mini-size candy bars in an assortment of flavors but I can also dress up in a costume multiple times for different parties and gatherings and not be judged.

5. Pumpkins. What else do I need to say? Pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, pumpkin seeds... the list goes on and on. And I am so happy the PUMPKIN SHORTAGE IS OVER!

6. Candy corn. Enough said.

7. Everything starts to turn into these really gorgeous burnt orange, deep red, and goldenrod colors. Everywhere. The scenery is beautiful.

8. It is cardigan weather. Anyone who knows me knows I love a good cardigan. In fact, this year I for four new ones. A yellow one with grey trim, a blue and cream stripped one, a golden rod one with cute flower additions, and a grey one with scrunches sleeves and pockets.

(here I am just singing while wearing my cardigan.... nbd)

9. It is the mark of midterms and half a semester done. Once October is done there are just a few weeks until Thanksgiving then a few more weeks to finals and then end of the semester. October marks the beginning of the end.

10. The final and best part of October. It is my BIRTH month. Which gives me a reason to ask people to take care of me all month long. (Blog post of my birthday celebrations to come as well.)

So thanks October, for being the best month around.

Love,

Deidre

Dear Facebook,

Thank you for letting this little birthday surprise be part of my day.

It is nice to know that I have people who wanted to wish me a happy birthday.

Love,

Deidre