Moments

Some things that get me through weekdays in the winter:
1. American Idol. I am in love with the new judges. I was skeptical, but I'm in love.
2. THE BACHELOR. Poor Casey B. But she went a little bit crazy.
3. my fluffy bed.
4. hot showers.
5. fluffy socks.
6. chick lit.
7. St. George
8. Daydreaming about this:

our clothes are wet. and we are outside. and we are still warm.
Note to Dani Richards: I wish you were in this shot.

I'm on the beach.

can you see the sunshine making our hair glow???

a star of friendship and love and happiness and warmth. and patriotism.

frolicking in Central Park.

CAN YOU SEE THE SUN??????

Again, the sun makes its appearance. It's a rare occurrence this time of year in the land of Salt Lake City.  And Christopher Bradshaw, this one is for you. :)

Do you see the sun?? Do you see the fun?? The friends? the laughter?? the good times to be had??? It seems so far away. I just want to hang out in the sun, not wearing coats or shoes that require socks. Oh my heck and I would love to outlaw pants. I just want to wear shorts and skirts and dresses 100% of my life.

Thoughts of January Second.

1. Why can't socks stay on my feet? New socks, old socks. With new shoes or old shoes. The only ones that stay are ankle socks, and you CANNOT wear ankle socks with dress pants... which is what I have to wear to work. I am seriously constantly twisting my socks back around and pulling them back up. I'm going to blame the shinscles.

2. I bought Phillip Phillips's The World From the Side of the Moon yesterday...I finally gave in after wishing it was on my iPod for like 2 weeks. And it's so calm. It's like....raw pop. (I know, I make up all of these terms. I am aware.) It almost has this Johnny Cash feel, like a little bluegrassy or something. But in a good way. And he has such a sexy voice. Sample below:


3. It is so unbelievably cold in this place we call Salt Lake City. And my basement might be the coldest basement in the world. I feel like a ten degree difference when I walk up the stairs in the morning. Honestly, I get out of bed and just shiver the entire time I get ready and then I go upstairs to eat and I'm like, how is it so warm up here???????? It feels all  lovely and then I just get angry and jealous of those who sleep in the toasty land of the upstairs instead of the tundra of the basement.

4. Conversation with Nathan today:
Me: have you seen Les Mis?
Nathan: no.
Me: why not?
Nathan: I don't want to.
Me: Why?
Nathan: It's a musical.
Me: Do you hate music?
Nathan: No.
Me: Do you have a soul?
Nathan: .....

He obviously doesn't. That is clear. And he even served his mission in Paris! As Mike Poulson would say, "WHAT THE?"
As a sidenote, who else has a crush on Marius?

January

1. This is how I'm going to live my life in 2012.

I am going to live every week like it's shark week.

I have to appreciate every moment while it's there. No regrets. I should do as Mad-Eye Moody (aka Barty Crouch Jr.) admonishes, and have CONSTANT VIGILANCE. Because you know what I realized this year? New Years' Eve isn't about celebrating the year that is ending. It's not about endings at all. It's not about remembering all the times you slacked off during the past year. It's about new beginnings. It's about moving forward; learning from the past to make the future brighter. And that's what I'm going to do this year. That's why 2012 is going to be so great. Because even though I love history and practically live in the past as a profession, that doesn't mean that I can't see the future for it's brightness and potential. 2012 is a new beginning-- the doorway to something exciting. I just don't know what that is yet. But it's my responsibility to make it rock.

(PS I wrote this on New Years' Day. It had some planned addendums and additions that never happened... so that is what we are left with. And I think I still got my point across.)

2. THE BRILLIANT MR. RYAN TEDDER. Look up his discography. You'll see several hits, which include, but are not limited to, Beyonce's "Halo," Leona Lewis and "Bleeding Love," Adele's "Rumour Has It" AND "Turning Tables," almost the entire OneRepublic catalog (which I'm in love with btw), Jordin Sparks, "Battlefield," Kelly Clarkson, "Already Gone," Hilary Duff's "Gypsy Woman" (perhaps the greatest Hilary Duff song, if the word "greatest" can be applied to ANY of her songs), various unheard of Backstreet Boys recordings, some of my fave Adam Lambert songs, and drumroll please..... "The Way I Are." Timbaland. Only one of the greatest songs of the 2000s. Oh wait, like 5 of these songs are on the VH1 list. Anyway, this man is a hero of a songwriter and producer, and I've been in love with his talent for like the past 6 months, but have failed to mention so on this blog. So. For real. Pay attention to this guy.

Also, I've had OneRepublic's Dreaming Out Loud, made in like 2007, in my car's CD player not stop for like the past month. And um, unless you're name is Michael Jackson, that is a really rare occurrence in my car. And I haven't even gotten sick of it! It's mellow (which is also rare for me), but so beautiful and still exciting and I love it. And I would love to see OneRepublic in concert. Would love to. I would love to watch the genius of Ryan Tedder in person.

And that is all. 

3. So I've been sick the past couple of days.... and that makes me grumpy. And it makes it harder to handle all the other responsibilities in life. Like, we had the For Like Ever 2012 party on Friday, and I was honestly tempted to cancel the whole thing because I felt so crappy and tired and I knew that it would be a disappointment because my one and only Lene would not be present (which was true, btw, it was a disappointment without Lene. But I don't regret having the party... it was fun despite the illness). Oh, and pictures to come.

4. Good news. I've almost completely stopped watching Netflix. And 30 Rock is back on. And when 30 Rock is on, I forget that there are any other shows on television, besides American Idol, of course. But seriously, though, I have had a hard time with American Idol this year because my evenings are just so dang busy! I always miss it. I was only able to watch 1 hour of Hollywood Week this year. Shame of all shames. I love group round. And I missed all the performances. I think I might write to Congress and then show up on the Capitol steps to lobby for a bill to be passed requiring American Idol to post their shows on Hulu the next morning. Because it is just a tragedy when people like me have to miss the show, and then they can't even make it up!!! I JUST WISH I HAD TIVO OR DVR OR SOMETHING!

5. I don't even know what else happened last month. It was cold. And I went to work, and then I came home. I went to my some intramural dodgeball games. That was fun. I went on some dates. Hung around a lot, trying to keep warm. I went to Cafe Rio a couple of times. I hung out at a friend's cabin for a weekend. And went shopping in Park City. And I went to some sweet BYU basketball games (St. Mary's and Gonzaga)--- I was hooked up with some awesome seats. And I let my room get a little too messy, a little too often. February definitely has some room for improvement. :)

6. Oh and guess what. My phone broke last week. So I'm using an awful temporary one. And I might buy an iPhone. Because I want one. But I definitely don't want to pay for a data plan.

7. And last: Meghan and Joey are engaged! WOOT WOOT! August 18th errabody!

Anywho. Peace.

Lee DeWyze.

There are too many words to say about Lee. So I will settle on just a couple:
1. Sexy sexy voice.
2. Adorable little half smile that peeks out every once in a while.
3. Hallelujah. The Boxer. Hey Jude. Beast of Burden. 

I love Lee. And I'm excited for him to win... or lose. I don't care much either way, because no matter what, he will be making music. And that's all I really need.

Yay American Idol finale.

And boo Simon for leaving the show.

Adventures at the Base.

Jefferson Memorial. My all-time fave.

I am way behind. This blog post in informally titled "Catch-Up Post." I have LOADS to talk about, namely, NYC!!! But I have to talk about this first, so we'll get to that later. :( I might have to write about it in installments.

So, I'm going to start with last weekend. This was actually before the "Going Private Fiasco" involving The Museum that Must Not Be Named. So, May 17-19. And here ya go:

On Friday, after class, we went to Johnny Rockets (a really cute 50's diner with a juke box and a checkerboard floor and everything) for lunch, and then to some museums. "We" means me, Genevieve, Cameron, Adam, and Tyson. The Air and Space Museum is AWESOME. I love it. I secretly want to be an astronaut.This is me and Tyson and a statue sculpted by a guy from St. George. So me and my St. George buddy took a picture with it.

That night, we went to the Pentagon. I had never been there before, so I was excited. We walked over to the September 11th Memorial. It was really, really cool, and I would recommend it to anyone. By this time Genevieve had ditched us, so it was just me, Tyson, Cameron, and Adam. All of the benched represent a person who was killed in the attack at the Pentagon, and the direction that each bench is facing tells whether the person was in the plane or in the building. There was water running under and in between all the benches, so they were all connected and it was all very symbolic. I love symbolic things.

On Saturday we went to the Eastern Market for breakfast again (my favorite thing ever), and then to the air show at Andrew's Air Force Base. It was a REALLY bright day, and I forgot my sunglasses, so I was kind of grumpy. But it was really cool to go in all the old planes and walk around in the giant hangars and hold ginormous guns. And then, the air show was really awesome. The jets did all sorts of cool tricks. We sat on the grass and watched. There were probably about nine of us, and we each had our own umbrella (we had thought that it would rain. It didn't). So, because it was so bright, we set up our umbrellas and lay under them. It was beautiful. The sky was blue, and the clouds were fluffy!This is Cameron's giant umbrella. When you hold it up, you can fit like five people under it. And when it's closed, it's like 3 feet tall. Hilar.

And now for some other orders of business:
1) American Idol is over. I don't know what I will do with my life. And, my finale celebration party was ruined. This is what happened: I had a briefing for my Seminar class on Wednesday night, and my Professor PROMISED me that it would be over in time for the show. I was very concerned. I COULD NOT miss the finale, of all episodes. So, when the briefing ended a little before 9, I ran and changed from my business clothes, then down to the TV in the game room. And GUESS WHAT?? All those stupid people who like to watch playoff basketball games were already hogging the TV. And so I said, "Um, huloo!!!! I am supposed to be watching the American Idol FINALE right now!!" They didn't care. So, I went to the other known TV in the building. It is in one of the institute classrooms. On the TV cabinet I found a sign that said, "PLEASE DO NOT TOUCH. Love, Elder Blanchard" (He is the elderly missionary that runs the place with his wife.) I set out to find Elder Blanchard to get special permission to use the TV, but he was down in the lobby with everyone else still, and I would have just gone down there in my pajamas, but my professor was still there, along with the United States Representative who had just given our briefing. It would have been muy embarrassing to walk in and not be appropriately dressed. :( And to add to all that, I forgot my room key, so I couldn't even go back up and change. By the time I got Genevieve's attention from the hall way, got her key, got into my room, changed back in to business clothes, found Elder Blanchard, asked permission to use the TV, and got the TV to the right channel, there was a half an hour left in the show. You can imagine that I was just a little bit T.O.ed. Grrrr. I was mad at the basketball boys more than anything. It was that one stupid married guy. Anyway, I watched the last half-hour by myself, sat in shock by myself when Adam lost, and then went in to mourning by myself. The season was over, Kris won, I missed the first hour and a half of the episode, and I didn't get to have a finale party like usual. Sad day. But I got over it.
2) One of my favorite things about life is eating lunch on the National Mall and calling friends and family while I do it. When the weather is nice, there is hardly anything greater in the world. I love it.
3) I love my job. My supervisor made me project manager of the Scurlock collection, which is a really big deal. When the other interns come, I will be in charge of them and what they do everyday. That is super cool. I said in the other post that I was kind of the unoffical head intern, well, spoken from my supervisors mouth, I AM the head intern!!! YAY! AND, I am supposed to take pictures and make a scrapbook of the processing. And we all know that I love to scrapbook.
4) A downside. I have to write a MASSIVE research paper by the end of the summer. Sometimes I feel like crying when I think about it.
5) I love summer and warm weather and wearing shorts. It rained today. No me gusta.

The End. Stay tuned for New York, and make sure you check out the post below this one. It is Muy Importante.

Diamonds and Upside down.

I'm too tired to summarize. I am just going to post pictures with their captions. :) But wait, here is a list of today: class until 3:00pm, The Natural History Museum, Chinatown for dinner, and a walk down the Mall to see the monuments AGAIN. I really need to branch out, but the group promised we would finally walk all the way to the Jefferson Memorial. But then, when we got there, nobody actually wanted to go, and we ended up just going home. LAME. I was mad. So, thanks, Rachelle, for making the hike out with me last year. Apparently it's like this huge sacrifice. Oh well. Maybe tomorrow.

Me and Genevieve and the Hope Diamond
Me and Tyson and the Utah dirt! (We're the two St. Georgies in the program)
Me laying on the bench looking up at the Washington Monument. You can kind of see it in the background.
Me and Genevieve, both being upside down. :)

Adios Amigos!

Edit: I forgot to add a moment of silence for Matt G's dismissal from American Idol. Ready, go, uuuuuummmmmmmmm. Okay. So now I'm switching sides, and I will be an ardent Adam supporter. GO ADAM! He totally deserves it. But I'm still sad about Matt, and I still love his rendition of "Let's Get It On." :)

Backup, honeys. I forgot to post about this before.

The last couple days of the semester were stressful, very sad, but very fun. It was really hard to drive away on that last day, because I feel like I've lived in my little, perfect, BYU, fairy tale bubble for the last two years, and once I drove away, I knew it was over. I can't ever live with all those girls again. I am very upset about that. I actually try not to think about it. Never mind, I'm not going to talk about it anymore.

But anyway, those last three days were mostly packing, cleaning, and studying days, because, after all, we still had finals to take. But, we did some fun stuff too. On Tuesday night I convinced Meghan and Rachelle to go on a little adventure with me. Rachelle ran, Meghan biked, and I rode my roller blades. It was seriously a blast from the past. I looked exactly like the 90s. We rode around for a while, and then went to visit our friend Jake, which is always a pleasure. The second thing we did was draw with chalk. Me and Meg did this just minutes before I had to leave. My car was already packed. We traced ourselves on the ground and everything. I love sidewalk chalk.

And that is the end. Literally. It's all over. I'm out of Provo, and I won't be living there for a long while. Adios.

Also, don't forget to read the post below this one. It's all about Washington!!!

THE BEST BIRTHDAY WEEK EVER. Except for finals.

Monday: Okay, fine. So Monday was no fun. I had to write two papers. But we played kickball for FHE!

Tuesday: My birthday!!! YAY! Happy birthday to me! I had to get up early to finish one of my papers, and then finish the other one during my break. It was okay though; a necessary evil. I got to leave campus at 3, and it was the last day of classes, so good news. When I came home I snuggled up on the couch and watched music videos, which is one of my favorite pastimes. My new favorite music videos are Kelly Clarkson, "My Life Would Suck Without You," and Katy Perry, "Thinking of You." Kelly's video is hilarious, and Katy's has Kyle XY in it. :) By the way, I'm sorry, I don't care what anyone says. Kelly Clarkson is amazing and I love her music.

At 7:00pm, I got to watch American Idol! The whole thing! I love American Idol. And I love Matt G. We had some trauma this week. He did not perform to the best of his abilities, but, I still love him, and I still pre-ordered this week's song on iTunes. The recording is amazing, by the way. I encourage everyone to go on iTunes and listen to the clips of his recordings, cause they are the best. If you only listen to one, listen to "Human Nature." Blows me away. I love it. When Meghan and I listen to it in the car, we both kind of melt and she says, "his voice just sounds like heaven," and then I agree, and we talk about how amazing the song is for a while. It happens every time. Anyway, what better day to have a birthday than on a Tuesday that is not only the last day of classes, but is the night of American Idol performances? It was perfect.

After American Idol, we went to Old Spaghetti Factory for dinner. Most of the gang was able to come. We missed Lauren, Lorina and Dani, though. :( I love Old Spaghetti Factory. What other restaurant gives you salad with an amazing house dressing, sourdough bread with delicious butter, your scrumptious meal, AND spumoni ice cream for dessert??? It's the best. AND, it just so happens that on Tuesdays this month they have 40% off part of the menu!! Again, lucky my birthday was on a Tuesday!Following dinner was dancing! I know it's loserish to go to on-campus dances because only freshman go to those, but we just wanted a party and dancing. So, me, Meg, Rachelle, and Ann went. It was actually quite fun, except that they played a lot of dumb music. I requested a song, and the DJ said he didn't have time for it. So I told him it was my birthday. He still didn't play my song. What nerve, right? He even played a slow country song. How rude! :)

So, when the dance ended, we gathered up our stuff, and I realized that somehow, somewhere, I had lost my keys. We wandered around the Wilk for a while asking everyone if they had any keys, and nobody had. After about five minutes of looking, I was starting to freak out a little bit. I needed my car keys! First of all, I just need them to get places! Second, it was my birthday! Third, I was parked in an "A" lot, which means that I would get a ticket if I was still parked there the next morning. Bad news. Fourth, I didn't have a spare key. My mom would have to ship me one from St.G. And fifth, it was POURING rain outside. We were not in very good circumstances. But we decided to go outside and retrace my steps to the car. I was very glad that my mom had just given me a new umbrella and raincoat for my birthday. It was perfect for the dreary occassion. Well, we got out to the car and I noticed that I left my purse in there. Locked in. Meghan saw that her purse was also in there, locked in. So, not only did I have missing keys, but I did not have access to my wallet, my camera, my phone, my iPod, my anything! What is a girl to do in this sort of situation? Well, she calls Dani, who comes to pick everyone up, and tells me to call Campus Police. (801-422-2222). Oh the brains that girl has! The policeman said someone would be by to unlock the door momentarily. Momentarily turned in to like half an hour, but once he got there, the door was unlocked in a jiffy, and miracle of miracles, MY KEYS WERE IN MY PURSE!!! Problem solved, major crisis averted.

So then, we realized that it was like 11:50, and almost not my birthday anymore! I had 10 minutes to gather the gang and blow out my candles on my cake before the birthday magic was gone. So, right when we got home, I called Meg, who had ended up at Lorina and Lauren's, and she called Kyle, and I called Paul, and somehow Kaitlin and Spencer just sensed they needed to be there, so they showed up, and it was a regular party, planned and coordinated within 10 minutes! Rachelle had been in charge of my cake- she got this amazing lemon deliciousness at Costco. I loved it.

All in all, it was a great birthday. Quite eventful.

Wednesday: Reading day of relaxation and no studying, and Pebbles. :) Oh, and that night, we went to Wal-Mart to get stuff for Ashley's shower. And guess what? IT WAS SNOWING. Like, really bad. Major blizzard. On the way back, we couldn't see the freeway AT ALL. It was very hilarious.

Thursday: Me and Meghan actually decided to study. We had to. So, we went to the library at about 10 (the plan had been to get there at 9. Yeah, right.) We stayed until 3, when Kaitlin picked us up to go shopping for Ashley's bridal shower present. We were in and out of Victoria's Secret at Provo Towne Center within like 10 minutes. It was incredible. We had to hurry because I was supposed to go in to work at 4. And I made it! I worked a two hour shift, because then I had to come home for Ashley's shower! Rachelle and Kaitlin planned it, and it was fabulous.

After the shower, me and Meg went back to the library. We studied for approximately 3 more hours. and THEN, the best event of the week! 17 Again!!! the first, premiere, midnight showing. Yeah, so I had a final the next morning at 7am, but you're only young once, right? (haha) Me, Meg, Rachelle, Kaitlin, Dani, Lorina, and Stephanie all went. And I just want to say this: ZAC EFRON IS SO HOT IT'S RIDICULOUS. Ok, I'm done. But seriously, that movie was really really funny. We all loved it, and are all kind of obsessed now. We got home around 2, and I went straight to bed.

Friday: The next morning, I woke up at like 6:15 so I could go over my notes before my test. Yes, I love getting 4 hours of sleep. It really was VERY stupid of me to have done it, BUT SO WORTH IT! I took my test- it was British Lit, and I actually think I did okay on it. It worked out very well. Yay! The rest of the day was serene. I came home and went back to sleep. For a long time. And then I studied for Mission Prep for a couple of hours. That night, I had to work my last shift at Pebbles. Sad day! I was so super tired, though, that I just wanted to go home and had a hard time savoring those last moments behind the register. Oh well. I have a feeling I'm going to be really sad about this in a couple of days when I realize that I really won't be going to work there again anytime soon (or ever again). I have loved working at Pebbles. It has meant so much to me. And I have such good friends there. I love you guys!

Saturday: A very busy day. Me and Meg were supposed to have turned in our Mission Prep final that morning at 8, but at about 1am the night before, we realized that we could turn it in next week instead, so we slept in. That afternoon I had Audrey P.'s baby shower to go to. I got Darbi a ducky hoody towel. I love duckies. And I got a 4th of July dress for a 0-3 month old. Hopefully she'll be the size of a newborn by July!

After the shower I went to Pebbles for our party. I pretended it was my going-away party. Danielle, both Amy's, Stephanie, Stacie, and Keli were there- Audrey P. showed up towards the end. Anyway, it was a very productive night! I got Kaitlin's sign-in book done, and I did like 6 pages for my roommate scrapbook! All in like 5 hours! I know, I'm incredible. I have never done that much in such a short amount of time.

And last, after the Pebbles party, we had our MASSIVE SLEEPOVER! We all finally gathered at around 1Am at Hannah's house. We had our mad dance party and played apples to apples, and had a CRS. It was so much fun, and I just have to say that we are the biggest bunch of nerds ever. I love it! Hannah has a king size mattress on her floor that six of us slept on, and then we blew up a queen air matress for another three girls. Before we went to bed though, we jumped on the beds and sang Celine Dion songs at the top of our lungs. If you didn't already know that we were 2o and 21-year-olds, you probably would have guessed that we were 12. It was a blast, though. I'm really going to miss those girls.

And that is the end of the week. It was a good one. :)

Baaaa Happy Easter BAAAA!!!!

Last week (4/6-4/12) was great, just great. I'm going to sum up using pictures this time...

Monday: Homework.
Tuesday: American Idol!!!
(I will respond to this weeks events on the show later).
Wednesday: WE HIKED THE Y. IN THE SNOW.
Thursday: Home again, home again, jiddedy jig!
Friday: Doctor, Dentist, Shopping. 3 Words: I HATE SHOTS.
Saturday: My best pals.
I love you guys!!!


Sunday: Easter and bunnies!Bunnies are one of my favorite things. This litter had five bunnies, and their names were: LaFawnda, PokerFace, Ocho Cinco, Drake Anthony or "The Count," and Penny. Ocho Cinco was my fave.

And to finish this off really fast- I loved going home. St. George, I swear, was made for the soul purpose of recuperation. I love it so much.