Slipping Away

IT IS JULY 2. What the heck.

When did summer start??? I feel like I was waiting for the weather to get warm for SO LONG, and now it finally is, but I have been so busy that I haven't had time to enjoy it yet. I've only been to 7 peaks TWO TIMES. Okay, maybe 3. but still. It's JULY.

July is my favorite month. Project "Wear only red, white, and blue" for the whole month is currently under way (does it count that I wore the same shirt yesterday AND today?)

And the 4th is coming. SUPES STOKED about that. Hot air balloon festivals and parades and fireworks and sun and (hopefully) sailboats: a perfect combination of all my favorite things in this world besides Harry Potter.

And something changed my life two weeks ago: I got an iphone. Seriously, people. I knew it would be rad, but even boring, ages-old texting is more fun. Everyone: please text me. I want to write back to you, because it is SO FUN.

My life consists of work and relief society, roommates, provo friends, summer adventures, and other sorts of church activities. My ward, for example, has a softball game and bbq tonight, which is going to be rad.

And then there is the Bachelorette. Which I am obsessed with. Does anyone else see a resemblance between Drew (the hotty hottest one) and my dear, darling brother of the same name? I would just start telling people it was my brother, but my Andrew is married, so that would be weird.

And also. I have had TWO Jef with one F sightings since moving to Sugarhouse. One day he did crunches next to me at 24-hour fitness. And then he was present at the Apple Store the day I bought my iPhone. I told the male Apple rep standing next to me:
me: "that's Jef with one f!!!"
apple rep: who?
me: you know, on the bachelorette?
apple rep: no.
me: he, like, WON. but then they broke up.
apple rep: NO. WAY. It's really him??? So he's like famous??

That Apple dude got really excited. I told him to hurry up and program my phone so that Jef with one F could be my first iPhone instagram. He was also excited about that... but then I pretended I was kidding because I didn't want to annoy Jef with one F, and I didn't take the picture.

Have I told you about my book club? I'm obsessed. It is a lovely collection of girls--who I did not know before-- but they are awesome. And I seriously look forward to our meeting every month. I have to pick the book we read next. I'm thinking either The Chocolate War, A Separate Peace, or John Adams. Yeah, I kind of want them to read that massive David McCullough masterpiece. Good idea? Bad idea? It would increase patriotism, and probably force my club members to either love or hate history. But honestly, this is my argument for the book: It's different than anything else we've read. Totally different genre. And it's so interesting. It's so patriotic, and I feel like I appreciated the 4th of July before, but now I'm looking at our Independence Day on a whole new level, and it's really cool. I think there's a lot that we could talk about, too. There are many historical figures in that book that are portrayed a little bit differently than we imagine them to be. So that would be interesting to discuss. Calista, I'm calling out to you --will people even have time to read it? Would it be torture for some people?

I'm ranting. And just so you know, I've got a great post up my sleeve. About my Dallas trip last weekend.... which is the real reason that summer has gotten away from me. I feel like I was waiting for my vacation for so long that I forgot summer was already here. Which is a crying shame. But now I will fully enjoy the rest of it----

including JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE IN LESS THAN A MONTH.

over and out.

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.

Lene Kristine Botolfsen.

I purposefully ignored this girl's birthday. Because I was on vacation and didn't really have a way to wish her an appropriate happy birthday, and if you know Lene Botolfsen, you know that she needs an appropriate happy birthday.

Lene's birthday is one of the most important days of the year. Lene is not ashamed to celebrate! (See Lene's Birthday 2010). And so, because I could not celebrate with her this year, I thought I would list 26 reasons why Lene Kristine Botolfsen is one of my favorite people in this whole wide world.

at her going away party.

1. She is extremely--but not mistakenly--confident in herself and what she wants. She's not afraid to be herself, and she's not afraid to show who she is. This quality ultimately brought a change in my through my association with her. Why should I be nervous to call a boy? Ask him to hang out? Lene isn't. She's cool and collected and very sure of herself.

2. She is very loyal and really cares about people. If you are Lene's friend, she will keep in touch with you, and you will be her friend forever. She devotes a lot of time and money to the people in her life, and that's exactly how it should be. Lene works hard to maintain the relationships that she cares about, and that is admirable. It's exhausting to have as many friends as Lene does, but she takes it in stride.

3. Lene is just so cool. This is what I tell people. That she is literally the coolest person I know.

4. Lene shops and spends money more than anyone else I know.... which makes it a blast to shop with her. One time we were in Banana Republic and she found, and this is a true story, a velvet, purple blazer on sale for a decent price-- but not a fantastic one. And she bought it. Because, what if she needs it when she teaches elementary school? She just might. Or, imagine Lene as a farmer's market. The average customer wanders around and looks at things, talks to the people at the booth, buys maybe a little bit of fruit, and then goes home. Or, if you are me, you buy nothing. ever. But Lene buys....lots of things. Not an unreasonable amount. Not like she's a crazy person. But I was always just in AWE of the way she could talk herself into buying things. :) It was adorable.

5. Lene. likes. kissing. I'm fairly certain that anyone who has ever MET Lene can attest to this fact, because she happens to bring it up quite frequently. Not inappropriately, but contextually and hilariously. In our apartment we had not one, but two mistletoes hanging from the ceiling-- year round. Around Valentine's Day we had a Kissing Booth... that stayed up until August. We had, in one area of our living room, what we like to call the "kissing corner." There was a small poster with kiss marks all over it. We each kissed the poster to signify each boy that we, as 4 roommates, had kissed. When Lene comes into town this August, I think we've collectively got like 4 to add... maybe more.

6. Lene takes an absurd amount of time to do things...like homework. It's not because she's slow. or dumb. The contrary is true, actually. It's because she likes to watch TV or a movie while she does her homework. Why not get some enjoyment out of it, right? When Lene reads this she will protest. She will say that watching something did not make her take longer... but I swear it did.

yes. lene is the one on the left. and yes. she looks terrifying.

7. Lene is very independent and very tough. She does what she wants, when she wants. Not to inconvenience people or anything, but like, if she wants to walk to the grocery store at midnight to get some milk by herself, she will, despite the repeated and emphatic objections of her roommates who care about her and her safety. She also, one time, rode her little red beach cruiser to the Provo Towne Center movie theater for a 7:00pm showing. And then she wanted to watch another movie. so she did. and then another one. a midnight showing. SO. She rode her bike home, by herself, across the SKETCHY bridge on University Avenue that goes over the railroad tracks, at like 2 AM! Crazy woman. But that is Lene. And that is why we love her.

me and lene, pretending to be dating Kevin and Geoff.

8. Did I mention that Lene LOVES Robert Pattinson, the Twilight movies (even though she knows that they are dumb), Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and Dawson's Creek. She loves them. Last summer she watched Buffy and Angel in order, alternating shows every episode, because apparently they connect and happen concurrently, which actually is kind of cool. But who else besides Lene even knows that?

9. Lene has amazing style. She is the queen of accessories, and when we shop together, she is somehow able to buy pieces that I could never see fitting into anyone's wardrobe, but somehow, they do. And they are awesome. Like the velvety purple blazer. I would never, not in a million years, consider spending money on something so impractical. But when she wore it.... I found myself a little jealous. Like, why can't I see things the way she does when I'm trying to build a wardrobe? I see solids and basics... and that my friends, is why my clothes are so boring, but Lene's are so awesome.

10. Lene has a collection of Chuck Taylors. Like a gazillion pairs. When I say gazillion, I mean probably like 15. I really have no idea how many. But that's pretty rad.

11. The first day I met Lene, I was trying to move into my new apartment at Banbridge. I found the apartment, but I had no idea where the management place was. That means I couldn't actually get checked in or get my key or anything. So I knocked on apt 12. The one right across the hall. And Lene answered. She seemed very nice, and very helpful. I noticed that she had a little bit of a strange lilt in her accent. But I didn't think anything of it. Why would I? I didn't find out for like another two weeks that she wasn't from our country. (Which leads me to #12) But she gave me the info that I needed, and little did I know that she would change my life. :)

oh yes. excitement over the little things. you wouldn't guess, but we were at IHOP in this picture. At the traditional finals week dinner.

12. Lene is Norwegian. She is, by far, my favorite Norwegian. Last year when I was student teaching, there were some visiting students from Norway for like a day. And the girls reminded me of Lene-- probably just because of the way their English sounded. :) But anyway, she is very proud of her Norwegian heritage. I have, because of Lene, celebrated the Norwegian national holiday, May 17, 2 times, and with much vigor and vim. Lene makes Norwegian food, decorates, invites everyone that we know to come over, and then on occasion, makes everyone learn and sing the Norwegian National song. It is so great. And so Norwegian. And omg, Lene and her Norwegian skin gets sunburned worse, and more often, than anyone I've ever seen.

13. Lene speaks English better than most Americans. This is partially because she's just so darn intelligent, but also partially because she was always meant to be an American, I am sure of it. On the 4th of July, she just goes around, with her patriotic shirt, waving her little American flag, and saying, "I LOVE AMERICA!"

14. Lene is not shy.

15. Lene celebrates everyday more, and better, than most people. She is always up for planning more things, doing things elaborately, and making excuses to see her friends-- to spend time with people that she likes. In the last 3 years (since I've known her) she planned a significant number of events for everyone to enjoy. And sometimes, she very gracefully let me help her. We planned a lot of things together, and I don't think I've ever had more fun-- or seriously---been more stressed. The short list includes: 2 For Like Ever parties, 2 Picnic Awesomes (I have, so far, dropped the ball on that this year, ps... maybe we'll do it when you come to visit), 1 bomb halloween party, smoothie nights, 2 17 Mai parties, several events on the roof of banbridge, the Old Maid's Day extravaganza, lotsa blacklight dance parties, countless summer weekends of fun, 2 fully-orchestrated birthday bashes, an excellent going-away party, dinner nights for friends, and omh one time we had a bike gang that had this really hierarchical leadership struture that Lene was the master of-- and we would go Slickgangin like once a week and it rocked...etc., etc., etc.

black light madness. Yes, Lene's arm says, "I <3 MEN."

I was in DC student teaching, but I had to make a presence at the For Like Ever. And Amy did to, of course. So Lene made signs. :)

Halloween 2011. At our epic party. And these are my girls. honestly, it's a miracle we were able to gather everyone for one picture. a miracle.

Our collection of summer '11 friends. you know, the summer crew.

Slickgangin

16. Everyone wants to be Lene's friend.

17. Lene is very, very smart. And very dedicated to her school work (most of the time). She went into elementary education because she genuinely cares about children and wants to make sure that they learn all the important stuff-- and that they are comfortable at school and have a safe place to go.

18. Lene is very nurturing, and she is going to be an awesome mother. She'll be the cool mom, but also the mom that her kids trust and depend on. I'm so excited to meet her children, btw. because they. will. be. rad.

19. Lene is very organized. She keeps binders full of all her things, and they are all labeled.

20. As a transient college student, Lene still made it a point to collect house decorations-- things that she will want in the future, too. I do not have that mindset, at all, so it was always surprising to me. But awesome. Our apartment was adorable, because of Lene and her decoration collecting habits.

21. Lene likes really manly, manly men.

Our relief society sleepover. We were obviously up to no good.

22. Lene treats our church, and the gospel, as her highest priority. She loves to serve. And she has a testimony, that while serving as her 1st counselor when she was Relief Society President, I learned a lot from. She taught me how to serve with love and kindness, but with firmess-- and she always allowed the Spirit to guide our actions as a presidency. We had loonnnnnnng Sunday meetings. But they were awesome. I looked forward to them every week. I loved the girls in our presidency, but I also loved learning from Lene. We followed the Bishop's counsel to a T. Lene had deep respect for Bishop Brough. She was also always very concerned about our girls. More than the rest of us. She made extra visits, and did what else she could, in her limited time, to serve them. She was an amazing example.

you know, just a small collection of boys.

another small collection. both of these groups of boys came over for dinner as a farewell to Lene, fyi.

23. One time, Lene texted all her favorite boys something akin to the following: "come over so we can cuddle." (that is not a direct quote. I don't know what it actually said... I just know it said something about cuddling). Within like half an hour, there were 12 boys at our house. 12.

24. Lene has excellent picture taking skills. She takes pictures that actually capture moments, and she's not awkward about it. For some reason, I have a hard time making people pose for pictures. I just do. But Lene doesn't. She makes people pose, and they want to. And she makes people take self-portraits, which are always hilarious. And then she posts the pictures. She has over a hundred albums on facebook. They document her college life, and that's amazing. You only have to look at her pictures to realize what a cool person she is. She experiences new things and she's not afraid. And she documents it, and it's just so great. I think that like 70% of all my pics on facebook are from Lene. :)

the 4th of July. Night before. camping out for the parade. Because in the words of Lene,  "what is more American than a parade?"

iceblocking. together. it didn't work. and no, we didn't mean to match that day.

we thought this pic was going to turn out cooler than it did. dang it.

25. Lene gets excited for people. She very appropriately reacts to news that you have. She cares about what you are doing and how you are, and she gets excited. And sometimes, you just need someone to act on the outside exactly what you are feeling on the inside, but just can't let it out.

In San Diego. At the beach. 

26. Lene has a goal to eat a meal in the smallest and largest cities in every state. Who else thinks of something like that besides Lene?

And last: Since Lene left Provo, there have been many occasions when our friends-- or other people-- have made comments about her absence. They tend to say things like, "you can't replace Lene. there is only one Lene." and it's true.

Our last picture together, before she left forever. 

I love you Lene! Happy happy birthday. And thanks for being my bestie. :)

And also. I'm so excited to see you on August 6th!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

California Dreaming and I love the Beach PART 2

My recent family vacation to the lush, wonderland that is Southern California.

Our family vacation had a little bit of a rough start-- Stephanie got sick and bailed on the whole thing...which meant that the family vacation became a family vacation-Stephanie vacation. And let's be honest, Stephanie is the heart and soul of the crew. She's the loud and funny one. I mean, they are all loud and funny, but as the oldest, she is the ringleader.

The following is a list of things that occurred on said family vacation:

1. IT TOOK A SOLID 10 HOURS TO DRIVE FROM ST. GEORGE TO LA.  This is supposed to be a 6 hour drive. The logical person might conclude that something terrible must have happened for it to have taken so incredibly long to arrive at destination b. No. Nothing happened. except my father. who was in an unusually good mood and decided to stop a total of 6 times. 3 of those stops were in LAS VEGAS. you read that right. He had also wanted to stop in Mesquite... but I was able to convince him not to. It was a miserable drive. But my father was like singing and whistling to himself the whole time, like there could not be a better drive, ever. Adorable.

2. The first day we went to the wonderful land of Lompoc. My father's dreamland (that must have been why he was so jolly the day before). My dad went to high school and left on his mission from this little California coastal town, and it holds a very special place in his heart. We had never been there before this trip-- and we were all actually very excited to visit too. We wanted to see it. And it was lovely. We loved Lompoc. We were there for the annual Flower Festival. We went to the parade (I LOVE parades) and the festival (oohhh and I love festivals), and then we drove around and he showed us his old house and everything. It really was a dream. :)

what a lovely bunch of parade goers.

3. After much discussion and persuasion (and there might have been a pickled herring involved), my mother and I were able to convince Andrew and father that driving to Neverland Ranch was in their best interest. A difficult feat, mind you. My brother and dad are two of the most persuasive people I have ever met, so they know all the secrets and getting them to do what you want is very hard. BUT, I think my puppy dog eyes are finally what did it (at least I'd like to think so). Andrew realized that driving the extra half hour to Neverland would be a dream come true for me. And it was...even though we could only see the gate. And it wasn't even the same gate that was there when Michael was in residence. But it was still great. Pictures are below, never fear.

The new gate.

4. Many of the car rides included rousing games of "Arthur Trivia" or "Boy Band Trivia." Elise and I make up the best games in this world. These 2 games consisted of everyone taking turns asking questions about Mark Brown's television show, "Arthur" or else questions about 90's boy bands. Both are excellent games. Elise won Arthur Trivia by a long shot (even though we didn't keep score), and I think I take the cake on the boy band one. Boy bands, if you didn't know, are my specialty.

5. Sunday was spent at a church in the LA area and at the LA temple. We walked around the grounds and then hung out at the visitor's center. We also made an appearance at this one terrifying beach... you know, just to splash around and see all the freaks and weirdos on the boardwalk. I was very uncomfortable, actually. Not that great.

my darling baby jo... who is going to be 17 next month. WHA???????

I told elise to get rid of that butt crack part like 12 times, just so you know.

6. Santa Monica beach on Monday. I love the ocean. so sososososoososososo much. The beach was beautiful and warm (except kind of not really. I think I was cold for like a solid three days on this trip. California is super tricky... because you think it's supposed to be warm... and then it's SOO not.) and I went a little too far into the ocean, I think. The lifeguard got a little angry with Andrew and I. I was just annoyed because the lifeguard assumed I wasn't a good swimmer. I am, okay? I just get in that there ocean and want to go out farther and farther and farther. It feels so amazing to get swallowed up in the waves. You feel so small and insignificant-- and so in awe of the wonder of the ocean. How the waves break and then disappear. How they create chaos and then an instant calm. it's amazing. But so anyway, there was an adorable pier on the beach. We rode the ferris wheel and had amazing hamburgers. Holy cow.

yummmm they love that ice cream. my parents are more adorable than yours.

7. The trip included a lot of bonding. We really had so much fun as a family, but I really missed Stephanie. There was definitely a hole. We love her.

8. I read a book, mostly on the road. Divergent. Not that good. Many people had recommended it... but I didn't like it well enough to even read the second one, so there.

9. My father snores, fyi.

10. My mother wore tie-dye sunglasses.

11. Andrew and Mallory were continuously adorable.

12. Moriah kept trying to take naps on me in the back seat. The back seat is mine, okay Baby jo?

13. And Elise just kept getting mad every time I tried to read. So rude.

14. An unexpectedly small amount of arguing and/or stressful decision making. We were all very chill. Unusually so. I feel like there is generally this expectation in my family that we all always have a say in everything. And we all care where we eat, every time. We each, individually, care so much, that it takes a lengthy, full one discussion about where to stop the car for lunch. It's so ridiculous. But there was very little of that on this trip. I think it's partly because I chose to keep my mouth shut (let's face it...I'm probably a large part of that problem), and because we've all matured quite a bit since the last go-around. Anyway, it was lovely.

So thank you, mom and dad, for taking us on this heavenly, peaceful, and lovely vacation. Love you tons.

Wow it's been a long time

I think about blogging all the time. Really, I do. I walk around at work or at home or I'm on the bus and I think about what I want t blog about.... but for some reason, in the last month, the fingers to keyboard part has not happened. And it's like the longer I wait the more I have to say, and the more overwhelming it gets. So I'm going to do a sum-up of the last month or whatever, and then we're just going to move forward.

1. I moved out of my lovely home in Banbridge Square. It was more heartbreaking than expected. I really thought of that place as home. But now I live in Victoria Place II-- about a half a block away from BB. And I really do like the apartment. And I love my roommates (Meg, Lorina, and Rachel). But I sincerely miss Lene, Sarie, and Andrea. And I miss my Fivers. My ward. Anyway. Goodbye forever Banbridge. It was a great place to live--- my favorite as BYU by far. Two best best summers took place while living in Banbridge. And the other best summer (in DC), took place right before living in Banbridge. I've had a good couple of years, I think (minus student teaching, of course. But even that has it's merit. I like to think I'm a better person for having done it).

Lene's going away party.

2. Lene left forever. Well, I'll see her again. I have to. But she's student teaching in DC and a little part of me left with her. I tried to convince her to say, citing all of my reasons for hating student teaching, but she didn't listen to me. She's going to learn on her own that it is awful. haha.

3. My Fivers won the stake kickball tournament. We won it last year too. We are so stinking cool I can't even stand it.

Kickball champions. We're holding up fives because we're the fivers. We rock.

4. We kind of hiked Mt. Timp. When I say kind of I mean that we didn't actually get to the top this year. Well, most of the group did. There were 19 of us, and the wise and happy 6 stayed behind in the meadow and then headed down early to go to the pool. It was lovely. I have to admit that I was exhausted and a little bit miserable and didn't want to take another step, but I could have (which is evidenced by last year's hike of Mt. Timp that I lovingly compared to climbing Mt. Doom into Mordor. See THIS post). And really, without finishing the whole thing, the hike didn't knock me out for the next three days like it did last year. I actually came home, went to the pool, took a nap, and was good to go. And I still completed like a 14 mile hike! That's already an accomplishment. And it was very beautiful.

the losers who came down early.

me and my pal Sara. We're excited. Meghan gave me that cute flower.

hikers.

5. I still love my job. But I love it a lot more when I get lots of good sleep. I have a hard time going to bed on time. big surprise. At first I just loved going to bed because I was so excited about the next day of work (plus, nothing too exciting was going on anyway). But the month of August was particularly hard. I didn't get to bed until after midnight a lot of the month (which is very, very bad when you have to get up between 5:30 and 5:50). I barely survived on 5 hours of sleep a night, but slept on the bus there and back. Let me tell you a bad story: sleeping on the bus is one of the more miserable things in life. Here is a simple equation to summarize the wretchedness: tiredness so complete that keeping your eyes open is self-imposed torture and you want to cry+no place to rest your head except the window, which is greasy from the head of the last person who tried to sleep there in addition to being made of hard glass, and somehow exceptionally sensitive to the jolts and bumps of the bus that is moving at (hopefully) 65 mph in the carpool lane+excessive stopping and starting due to rush hour traffic+the large stinky man sitting next to you+the bags, jacket, lunch, etc., that you are trying to balance on your lap. It's not a good experience. SO. The conclusion that rational thought leads us to: SLEEP BETTER AT NIGHT SO YOU CAN STAY AWAKE ON THE BUS AND DO PRODUCTIVE THINGS LIKE READ YOUR SCRIPTURES OR CONFERENCE TALKS OR ANY ONE OF THE 4 NOVELS THAT YOU HAVE BEEN TRYING TO FINISH FOR LIKE 4 MONTHS. Yeah, I'm working on that. So anyway, I love my job. I've really been thinking about hurrying up and getting my masters so I can move up in the library-- work in collection development or something and do real archive work. I miss processing. I miss doing the research and the writing. And holy heck, I miss school (see below).

5. Even though I still live in Provo and am desperately clinging to any semblance of my old BYU life as a student, I am left out of BYU world (for good reason), and that makes me very sad and very nostalgic. Sometimes I drive around Provo and just look at all the buildings-- virtually everything withing a 2 mile radius of BYU is labeled "cougar" or "byu" something or other, or else students live there-- and I remember what it was like when I was new to this world. I was still a very excellent student who did all her homework with great care and precision, who went to bed at like 10 and didn't do things with friends on week nights, and spent weekends doing homework. I was stressed, but I loved it. And do you know what I loved the most? The thing that I noticed the very most about this new world that I was immediately sucked into? That everyone was kind of like me. Everyone cared about school and grades, at least to some extent. It was such a drastic change from Dixie that I was in awe of these hordes of students who all went to class and who all did their homework with the same vim and vigor that I did. The library was FULL of students studying and reading and writing papers and I was amazed. I was so happy to be part of a world where I felt I belonged. And do you know what they did to this girl who loved BYU so much? They kicked her out. They made her graduate and supposedly move on to bigger and better things. I'm supposed to "go forth and serve" And I think I have. And I will. I'm loving life now-- working at the church--  but I still miss school. I miss it a lot. I want to get food in the Cougareat and then eat it in the terrace while watching CNN and doing the sudoku from the Daily Universe that day. I want to read the police beat and run into random people on campus that I kind of know but kind of don't. I want to walk by all those annoying dancer people in the wilk and then go to the bookstore and look through the journals (for the 4th time in a week) and the YA books (which I always knew more about than the girls that worked there), and then buy one of the delicious cookies from the candy counter that were only 33 cents and if you bought 10 then you got one for free. I want to take fliers from the hot rugby boys and then go to their games. I want to go to class and take lots of notes and use highlighters and post-it notes. And I want to spend reading days and finals weeks at the library for hours and hours and take breaks only for meals, three times a day. I want to make my own schedule all day every day and have group meetings and big projects and horribly annoying but kind of awesome papers to write. I want to do my reading and take breaks in the sampler room of the library to either take a nap or read my favorite parts of a Tennis Shoes Adventure Series book. I want to laugh at the annoying couples in the library, and I want to whiz right past all the people in line for computers and use the secret computers and printers that only the experiences BYUers know about. I want a hot bread and honey butter from the sugar and spice, and I want to walk to devotional, and I want to eat lunch on the grass and observe the quill and the sword club. I want to walk up to campus in the terrifying but magical snow. There is hardly anything more peaceful than an early morning walk to campus on untouched snow with light flurries still falling around you. Heck I loved being a student at byu.

 6. We went to Rachel's fairy tale cabin for a night. With probably too many people. But there was lots of flirting and eating of delicious food. And it was fun.

I can't see this picture without cracking up. Why are we all hiding behind Meg? And Seth and Drake-- what are you even doing back there?

7. Paul FINALLY took me sailing. It was magical. There should be another word that means the same thing as magical but better to describe sailing. I knew I would love sailing. I already knew that I love boats and water and sun and everything happy, and sailing could just easily be added to the list. Thanks for taking me Paul!! You're the best.

heaven.

whoa excited.

8. Last Monday was Labor Day and me and Meg had a very full day. The Schedule included: hike to Stuart Falls, 7Peaks for the last time this calendar year, Volleyball, Sailing, and then the NFL fantasy draft party. Yes, I have a fantasy team this year. I've been wanting to do it for years, and this year when I was invited into a league with all sorts of cute boys, I finally committed to doing it. And let me tell you what, that draft was one of the more stressful things I've experienced since student teaching. We just took turns picking players, but it moved so fast, and I had to reevaluate my picks all the time, and I wasn't really sure what was going on anyway, that it turned out to be very... exhausting. But I'm excited. I got me some great runningbacks, a fabulous tight end, and very strategic receivers, qbs, and team defense. It's gonna be awesome.

stuart falls.

9. My friend Christopher took me to a concert. But not just any concert. A Parachute-Michelle Branch-GOO GOO DOLLS concert. So he mostly went to see Parachute. One of his buddies from home is their roadie. But holy heck, I went for the Goos. I don't know if you remember, but I love them. Mostly I love "Iris." When they played that song I practically had a spiritual experience. It is one of the best songs of our generation, and I will stand by that statement until the day I die.

the goo goo dolls man. who has the voice of an angel.

10. Also, I just realized I am so dumb. I have not even blogged about the 4th of July, or anything that happened in July for that matter. Maybe I'll just post some pictures, and you'll have to take my word for it that July was amazing, as per usual.

we sat outside during the stadium of fire to watch david archuleta. It was awesome.

11. I loved this summer. I am still so happy to be back in Provo, and so happy to never have to student teach again. I talked to Lene for like an hour today and she had very similar complaints about student teaching that I did. This just reaffirms my suspicion that student teaching is awful all the time. HATE.

12. You guys. The Church Office Building cafeteria is Disneyland for adults. I went there for the first time last week. And now I want to go there everyday. Luckily I have a little bit of discipline and still bring my lunch... sometimes. But seriously. This place has everything you could want or imagine and it is SO CHEAP. And by cheap I mean inexpensive but delicious. Some other great things about the cafeteria: 1) you can get there by going through the tunnels under temple square. I do it everyday. 2) An old guy plays the piano for all to hear while they enjoy their yummy food. 3) yummy food includes cookies and frozen yogurt. 4) there is a bar against the wall in the dining area, and there are newspapers hanging on the wall. People who sit in their desks all day stand at the bar and catch up on the national news. You can't get more productive than that. Man I love the Church. Plus all the people are just so jolly all the time. 

I don't remember what else I was going to write about, so I guess that's all!!!!!!!!!!!