If Finals Don't Kill Me, This Wretched Snow Will!

This morning I woke up and got ready for school same as usual.

When I looked out the window, much to my dismay, there was a freaking blizzard. I'm not kidding, it was SNOWING. Hard. *Sigh*

I put on three more layers of clothes(not an exaggeration), a scarf, my cheap jacket from AZ, and determined that today I was going to buy a real coat and actual shoes because ballet flats just don't cut it in the snow.

I grabbed my trusty polka-dot umbrella and set off for an adventure. I only got about a foot from my front door before deciding that snow is absolutely wretched.


By the end of my driveway, my socks had slipped down to the toes of my shoes due to the slippery nylons I was wearing under them. Not like I could really stop and take off my shoes to fix it because it was still coming down. Also, my cute little flats were so full of snow that I could hardly tell the socks from the piles of ice. Wretched.

Determined to actually make it past my street, I continued on. Note: while the umbrella did help to keep my head dry, and the snow out of my eyes for the most part, the wind started to pick up about this point, and I was covered with snow.

I was trudging along at a terribly slow pace, trying to convince myself that it wasn't all that bad, but knowing at the same time that I was a terrible liar, when all of a sudden my little flat failed to grip and I went down. Hard. In the middle of a street I was crossing. *Sigh* I picked myself up and heard someone yell: "Are you hurt?" To which I replied: "Just my pride, thanks!"

I brushed myself off and continued on. After all, I was almost a tenth of the way to campus. Wretched. Freaking. Day.

I then began wondering just how many times I was going to fall before actually making it to campus. And then I pictured the eighteen stairs I would have to climb, and the ginormous hill I have difficulty with when its nice out. Those stairs and that hill covered with snow and ice? Kill me now. The only emotion present was dread. Pure and simple dread. This was going to be humiliating, but it was too late to turn back and I had two papers to write, a study group to meet, and a final to take and both(yes, both) of my computers decided to die on me within the last two days. Once again: Wretched day.

It was about this point that I began questioning the reason I even moved here. Why was I willingly subjecting myself to this torture?

Then it began snowing harder.

I now could barely see a few feet in front of me, which didn't really matter because I was staring at my frozen feet attempting not to fall again. Almost two tenths of the way to campus.

It was at this moment that I heard: "Do you want a ride?" I peeked out from under my polka-dot umbrella, and there in a car pulled to the side of the road was a man I have never seen before in my life. With no hesitation I replied:"Yes please." I trudged off the sidewalk and climbed into this strangers car and promptly filled it with the snow I was covered with.

The man told me his name was Camon and I told him that I was from Arizona and that this was my first real snow. He tried not to laugh at me and almost succeeded.

He took me to campus and I thanked him profusely. He really can have no idea of just how grateful I am for that.

The moral of the story is: there are angels among us and those angels drive old beat up red Toyotas and rescue strangers from fates worse than death.

Thanks Camon.

I'll be Home for Christmas...

do, do do, do doooo. (Uh, that was the next line of the song, of course!)
Anyway, it's true! My wonderful parents have lovingly bought their pathetically poor college student/daughter a plane ticket to go home for a whole week! Yay! Thanks Mom & Dad!

So, in celebration of that fact, and in order to totally avoid my life, stress, and homework, I decided to do a random Christmas post just for kicks. Feelin' Christmassy? Join me!

1.Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper, totally. Way more fun than gift bags.

2. Real tree or artificial? All my life we've had an artificial tree and I think this is the first year ever that I haven't helped put it up. (Just kidding. Now that I think about it, I didn't help the year I was in Russia for obvious reasons.)

3. When do you put up the tree? Day after Thanksgiving. Right after shopping and a nap.

4. When do you take the tree down? Sometime soon after New Years usually?

5. Do you like eggnog? Only the Meadow Gold kind, which I can't find in the grocery stores here. The Shamrock kind is way nasty though and tastes like that bubble gum flavored junk the dentist used to use on me when I was little. I hated that stuff.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? My adorable Cabbage Patch baby doll. Her name is Marianne, and yes I still have her. (In a box at my parents house - not like I still cuddle up with it at night or anything, sickos.)

7. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes, a really cute one that is also in a box at my parents house. Huh.

8. Hardest person to buy for? Cassie. Love ya Sis, but you know its true.

9. Easiest person to buy for? Not sure, probably Annie and Lynnsi.

10. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Probably nylons. That would actually be an okay gift now knowing how annoyingly expensive they are and considering the fact that I can only wear them once before ripping them, but I was like 15 at the time, so it was just kind of strange(love ya mom!)

11. Mail or email Christmas cards? Christmas cards? What?

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Elf. Miracle on 34th Street. Muppet Christmas Carol. The Grinch(both the cartoon & Jim Carrey versions). White Christmas. It's a Wonderful Life. Okay, okay, so I can't choose, and apparently I LOVE Christmas movies way more than I realized!

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Well, considering I haven't started yet, your guess is as good as mine.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Not that I can remember(or would admit to if I could).

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Cap'n Crunch, Ham and potato casserole, and my Grandma's(or whoever actually makes them) caramels. Mmm!

16. Clear lights or colored on the tree? We always used to have colored lights, but now our tree has clear lights already on it which is so fantastic. If I'm doing a pretty theme tree then I like clear, but if we are doing the random conglomeration of ornaments from all over, then I like colored.

17. Favorite Christmas song? Like I could ever choose. I must say though that I seriously LOVE Josh Groban's Christmas album. If you don't have it, get it. If you don't want to get it and don't mind my gushing over my Joshy-boy and singing along, then you can just come over and we will listen together. I pretty much listen to it year round.

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? It all depends. The last couple of years my family has headed off to California or a cozy cabin, but this year I am going home and I can hardly wait!

19. Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer? Yes, but not without singing.

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? We always had a star until a couple of years ago when I convinced my Mom we needed an angel. We discovered that it was kind of difficult to find a non-scary looking angel, but did eventually succeed and she adorned our tree for a couple of years until we found the most adorable star topper ever at Joanns! Oh, my red and cream elf and star tree is my favorite!

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas morning for sure!

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? The commercialism. Although I must say, living in Utah and freezing basically all of the time is pretty annoying as well.

23. What I love most about Christmas? Everything! I seriously love it all! The baking, the music, finding the perfect gift for someone, how happy and generous people feel, singing Christmas hymns in church, visiting friends and family, going home for a whole week, the Arizona weather, everything!

My computer is LAME

Okay, okay.

Yes, I'm still here. Yes, I'm still alive. Yes, I'm still having crazy adventures. And yes, I have tons of stories for you all.

But...

my computer is SO dumb! I worked for like forever and a day on this really great post, and it wouldn't let me post it! I've tried like six times and it freaks out every time! It's so frustrating. So then I abandoned that wicked awesome post and attempted to post this really great Thanksgiving message complete with totally awesome picture, and I couldn't do that either. Grrr.

Point of the story is: this computer is lame.
Also? My life is going to be crazy stressful for the next three weeks until school is over and all I wanted was to do one more happy post before my life became a living hell during finals week, and instead all you get is this lame post of me complaining. Sorry bout that.



**Okay, I cannot believe that it let me post this. I seriously have tried so many times to post that other stuff and it wouldn't do anything. So why this? Why now? Boo.

A Few Things I've Learned Since Moving to Utah:

• Arizona sweaters and "jackets" don't cut it in places that actually get cold.

• Scraping ice off your car every morning gets really annoying.

• Trying to buy an ice scraper for your car when you've never even seen one, can be difficult.

• You can buy food storage supplies ANYWHERE in Utah, including grocery stores and gas stations.

• College kids really can survive on nothing but ramen noodles. And ice cream.
  

• Leaves that have fallen onto the sidewalk can be slippery when stepped on wrong.

• The BYU testing center is purgatory.

• People like to sometimes do odd things while walking to school such as listen to music, talk on the phone, read, study, eat, and shave. (I actually saw a guy shaving with an electric razor on his way to class last week. Took every ounce of self control I had not to laugh out loud.)

• Spiders can grow to horrific sizes, pop up when you least expect them, and fake their own deaths to trick you into a false sense of security.

• English professors can, and do, talk about church-y topics in class, and some have opening prayer every class period and assign scripture readings as homework.

• Huffing and puffing the 3/4 of a mile up the ginormous hill to school every day makes those jeans that were a getting a little snug two months ago a little more comfortable.
  

• College professors who occasionally sing during class lectures do not get a lot of respect.
  

• Fall is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!

• Windows that have been stuck down for two weeks without budging, then magically decide to smoothly roll up the moment the mechanic lays a finger on the button, can be quite embarrassing.
  

• Giggling like a crazy person in front of said mechanic who failed to see the irony in the situation, can also be quite humiliating.

• When having a panic attack at eleven o'clock at night, there is nothing better than a roommate who takes you out for pizza, ice cream, and girl talk.
  

• Having one entrance to your street closed off for a month and a half can be really annoying, especially when you never once remember to turn before you get to it and have to go all the way up and around to get to your house.
  

• Not cutting or dying your previously dyed hair for two months straight has some pretty scary results.
  

• Having neighbors who own movies like What's Up Doc? and North and South, and who have parties on "National Talk Like a Pirate Day" where they watch Pirates of the Carribean and eat Chips Ahoy cookies, means instant friendship.
  

• Singles Wards will use ANY excuse to get everyone together, such as "ward prayer."

• Life as a full-time student, part time employee, Relief Society music coordinator, roommate, and friend means always having adventures of some kind or another!
  

Kill me now!

Want to know what the last two days of my life have been like?

Here, let me show you:

(That's an electric blanket controller, in case you were confused)

(And those are textbooks, because reading for pleasure has become a dream of the past)

I hate being sick.

Sucks to be me.

THE END








PS- this:


is the best soup ever. I think I've had this soup every time I've gotten sick since...birth, probably. It's great stuff. Try it. I promise it helps.
Just don't get the kind with chicken, its way nasty. And I wouldn't recommend the "extra noodle" variety, unless you are some kind of noodle fanatic. I myself, am a regular amount of noodles kind of girl.

*All pictures taken from here

Greatest Invention EVER!

I have discovered the most amazing thing ever!

I really don't think I could survive here without it.

Someday I really hope I get to shake the hand of the person who invented.....

the electric blanket.

Not kidding. Best investment of my life. I turn it on while I get ready for bed, and let it get all nice and toasty, and when I climb in, its like heaven on earth. It doesn't even matter any more that the heater in my house isn't working, or that the water bottle sitting on my desk is partly frozen, or that I'll have to scrape ice off of my car in the morning, or that every time I move my bed makes terrible squeaking sounds, or that I've barely been functioning all day because I'm too cold to move, because for the first time all day, I am actually warm. It is fantastic.

Therefore, I dedicate this post to the inventor of the electric blanket, the person who has saved me numerous times from freezing to death. Thank you, whoever you may be.

I'm still here!

I know, I know, its been forever.

My excuse is that I haven't had internet at my house, which is.....completely.....wretched.
But, good news: I actually have internet now!!! Yay! (Insert rejoicing choir music here)

I am officially a part of the online world again, and it is fabulous!

I have a confession to make: I love Utah, I love Provo, I love my gorgeous view of the mountains, I love my roommates, I love my ward, and my calling, and occasionally my classes, and I even like my job, but the truth is:
I am F-R-E-E-Z-I-N-G!

Pathetic, I know.

Seriously though? I feel like I should be listening to Christmas music if its this cold outside. Maybe I'll just start listening to it now even though its only October. Last year I started towards the middle or end of October sometime(don't tell my mom. Her rule is that if we listen to Christmas music before Thanksgiving, we don't get any turkey. She hasn't caught me yet, but better safe than sorry.[Mom? You didn't see anything])

Last night I finished my homework, put on my sweatpants, hoodie with the hood up, and socks and climbed under my four blankets to go to sleep, and still shivered half of the night. And frankly, I'm scared. Its only October people! How am I going to survive the winter? Although, I must say, the fall colors are amazing. I live in a place with seasons, actual seasons, I'm talking spring, summer, winter, and fall, not just somewhat pleasant sweater weather, hot, hotter, and freaking hot, actual seasons! Its amazing.

There is supposed to be another storm this weekend though, and I heard a rumor that if it gets cold enough, it might snow. Snow. Do you realize what that means??? I'll tell you exactly what that means: Snow=cold, cold=ice, and ice=bad news for me. I have difficulty walking on completely flat surfaces and often trip over nothing and run into things, so ice? And walking a mile to school? Yikes. Plenty of opportunities for humiliation.

Let's talk about something else, this is getting upsetting.

Here we go: The things I miss about Arizona(in no particular order):

• My awesome and totally crazy family

• My amazing friends

• My adorable cousins

• My incredibly comfortable bed

• Arizona Mountains

• Mattas
• My moms cooking

• LJ's

• Actually knowing my way around town

Wow. That's sad, can you tell I'm starving right now?I feel like I'm forgetting a ton, but that's good for now.
Also, Provo is seriously lacking in amazing places to get Mexican food and Pizza, it's very sad. But, to it's credit, there is the most ginormous DI I have ever seen in my life. It's basically amazing. I bought these great shoes there that looked brand new, and they are so comfortable, I wear them practically every day. I've gotten into this really bad habit though, whenever anyone compliments me on anything, before I can stop myself, I tell them what a great deal I got on it at DI. It's so sad, I should totally get paid for how often I advertise that store. Someone says, "cute shoes," and my instant response is: "thanks, I got them for three dollars at DI. It was pretty much the best day ever!"

I think I've avoided my homework long enough, but the point is, besides missing Arizona and everyone, and totally freezing and being terrified for winter to come, and hardly ever sleeping, life is good. I'm unspeakably happy up here. Love you all! Mmwah!

Hello from Utah!

Hello Everyone!

I feel like its been forever since I've seen all my AZ friends and fam.

This is just a quick post to let you know that I am officially a resident of Provo, Utah. It's true. I don't think it has really sunk in yet that I live here, but I do. After an adventure filled week seeing the sights with my family, I have been left here on my own to suffer in Mormon-ville. Alone. (Kidding, kind of)

I have ridiculous stories and pictures and tons of randomness to post soon, but just want to quickly remind you all that I do still own a cell phone(with the same number), I have unlimited access to a computer and email, and I am jobless, friendless, and life-less for the next few weeks until school starts.

If that hinting wasn't enough, let me be more blunt: I am not dead--I moved to Utah!!! I realize this may seem like death to some of you(especially my family, all week most of what I've heard is "this is the last time you'll ever...{fill in the blank with anything}), but I assure you I am still here and as lame as ever.

I miss you all already and expect to hear from you often!

Catching Up

So I'm basically a failure at this whole blogging thing. Its been forever since my last post.
So what, you may ask, have I been doing in all this time that I have been neglecting my blog? Not a lot to be perfectly honest. Mostly I've been avoiding packing, cleaning, or anything else even remotely associated with my moving in three weeks. I prefer the avoid-at-all-costs-until-its-absolutely-necessary-and-I'm-having-
a-panic-attack approach.
That being said, in order to fully avoid, I have:

*seen a lot of plays:

• The Wedding Singer (with my mom)
• My Fair Lady (with Lindsay)
• Aida (with Chelsie)
• Children of Eden (with Cassie)
• High School Musical (with my little sisters-there is no way to describe in words the sound of literally thousands of little girls screaming their lungs out when Troy Bolton walked on stage)

*Watched a lot of movies: To make a list would take all day, so we're not going to go there.

*Gone to see a lot of movies: Even if there was nothing new out, I would just see something I had already seen.

*Hung out with my fam at the Diamondbacks game at the Gardner family reunion:

Our view of the field

I have super shaky hands, so my pictures are always blurry :(

My parents

Doug & Stacey

My adorable cousin Emma



Around the 6th inning, with the score 0:0, boredom set in:

At this point, my lame-o camera died, and i took no further pictures of the remaining few days of the reunion. Anyways, on with my list:


*Chelsie came home from her mission in Brazil

* Kalia got her mission call to England

* I bummed around with my cousins and played games at Geronimo

*Read some amazing books: Right now I'm reading Twilight and getting ready for Breaking Dawn to come out. Only 13 days!!! The thought of actually having it in my hands makes me want to squeal like a little girl who just met the Jonas brothers.



*Went to a couple of card classes with my cousin Hillary and made some adorable cards. And in the continuing style of the cruel irony that is my life, during the Christmas in July class, my ticket was drawn and I won the $20.00 August class free. Too bad I am moving to Utah the week before the class. It worked out good though, cause at least Hill will get the free class and I can steal the card ideas later.

*Never missed an episode of So You Think You Can Dance or Project Runway

So that's basically the story of my life, or at least the last couple months of my life. Other than that, I'm still working(only five more days to go{insert rejoicing choir music here}), spending time with family & friends but not actually thinking about leaving them, trying to figure out how I'm going to fit my entire life and my 1,000+ books into my little Cavalier(j/k,actually trying to decide which books to take, and which to leave-which is no easy task, mind you as they are all my dear friends), hanging out with my cute Mia Maids, and bummin around livin the good life.

Drama, drama, drama

I nearly died this weekend.

Not kidding.

Saturday night I was driving home from Chandler, singing along to my Wicked soundtrack, and thinking about what I was going to do when I got home. I wasn’t tired enough to go right to sleep yet, so I decided that I was going to go home, get ready for bed, get all comfortable and put on the movie that I’ve been wanting to watch for a couple of days, then watch that until I got tired enough to fall asleep.
It was a great plan and I was excited.
Now, you have to understand something about my bed. I am the proud owner of a queen size princess bed. I inherited it from my Aunt and Uncle when I was like 15 and we have been nearly inseparable ever since. I seriously love my bed! When standing, the bed comes almost to my waist and is covered with a down mattress topper, six pillows, and a huge down comforter(hence the “princess bed” title). It’s basically amazing. My very favorite thing is to get all the fans blowing on me and curl up in my huge bed and watch a good movie. It’s fantastic!
Anyway, so I went home, got all ready and popped the DVD into the player. I began trying to locate the DVD flipper among the blankets on the bed and during my search picked up one of the pillows that was lying on the bed near the wall. I lifted the pillow, spotted the flipper, and sitting right next to it looking perfectly content and sinister was a huge cockroach! I’m not talking about one of those wimpy little half inch ones, I mean, this thing was A BEAST!!! And not only was it huge and revolting, it was in my bed!
I saw that revolting little spawn of Satan sitting there so casually and an involuntary scream escaped my lips as I dropped the pillow and jumped back a few feet.
I was panicking. What was I going to do? There is nothing I despise more than roaches – especially a monster like this one. Halfway to my bedroom door in search of help, I heard my sister Cassie's voice from the other side: “Leash? Are you ok?” I flung the door open, and in near hysterics told her that there was a roach in my bed. Knowing my love for my bed and my extreme loathing of roaches, she sprang into action. “I need the spray and a cup or something!” I ran to grab the necessary roach destruction items, and upon delivery went to find my Dad in case she needed further assistance.
I explained the emergency to him, and he went to help while I sat impatiently on his bed lamenting the story to my Mom. After what seemed like forever, he returned and informed me that the crisis had been averted.
Halfway up the stairs, I was greeted by the revolting smell of roach spray and entered my room to find my sister putting things back under my bed and attempting to arrange the bedding in a way that it would not appear that she had just chased a roach all across it.
She then informed me that she and my cousin had been sitting in their room watching a movie and as soon as she heard my scream through the wall, she paused the movie, informed my cousin that there was a roach crisis, and came directly to rescue me.
She then relentlessly chased that little devil around until she ended up on her stomach under my bed, where she attempted to drown it in bug spray, before chasing it towards my dad, who squished it. This had been no easy task, but knowing that I would never sleep in that bed or room until the little sucker was dead, she persisted.
I love my sister! Not many girls would be willing to go through what she did for me. What would I have done without her? She quite literally saved me from a fate worse than death.
Not only did she correctly interpret my scream, but she gave the problem everything she had. Can you imagine if I had crawled into bed to go to sleep before finding it? The mere thought makes me shudder! Who knows what could have happened? Dang I love that girl!
Who could ask for a better sister?

The bane of my existence:

What exactly is a bane anyway?

Drawing on the poetic meaning of the word "bane", this means that the subject is a perpetual thorn in the speaker's side, a chronic cause of trouble and difficulty and even suffering. A useful phrase to pull out when you're all out of swear words to describe a certain coworker, roommate, or college professor.

Originally referred to a kind of poison, and as Webster 1913 points out, an especially deadly one at that. Today the poisons all have obscenely long names straight out of a chemistry textbook, so "bane" has moved on to a more poetic meaning. You may sometimes hear of someone describing another person as "the bane of my existence"; the toxic metaphor has not been misplaced.

Ya. That describes it.

I. Hate. Full. Moons.

For some reason that is beyond me, I get insomnia when the moon is full. I know, I know, sounds ridiculous, bizarre, peculiar, and a little creepy, but all werewolf jokes aside, its true.

Its been this way for as long as I can remember. Whenever the moon is full, I lie in bed for hours, and no matter how tired I am, it takes FOREVER to fall asleep. And then when I finally drift off, it is not into peaceful slumber as one hopes for, but rather, I spend what is left of the night tossing and turning and having ridiculously strange and disturbing dreams.

It is beyond annoying. Its my dads fault though. He's the same way, but no one else in my family seems to suffer from the same ailment. In fact, hes the only other person I've ever met who complains of something so strange. Although, its probably not something people generally admit to.

And its not just one night, oh no. When its a full moon, the agony usually lasts for about three nights, and no matter how exhausted I get, there is nothing to be done. Sleeping pills? Bad, bad idea. I shudder at the thought. Seems logical, but makes it soooo much worse.

So, if you see me with dark circles under my eyes, frazzled hair, and a grumpy expression, check the phase the moon is currently in, and chances are good that it will be nice and full and mocking me with its bright and sinister...fullness.

By the way, anyone seen the moon lately?

777 1/2

This has been the longest weekend of my life!

My Mom & I left early Thursday morning and drove for eight hours to Hurricane, Utah where we stayed the night at my cousins adorable house. Hurricane is basically the smallest hick-mormon town I have ever seen, but its cute and seems like a nice little place.

Friday morning we left my cousins house and drove the four remaining hours to Provo where we promptly got a hotel and I cleaned up to go to my appointments on campus.

I wandered for awhile around BYU's huge campus looking for the right building and room. I finally found what I was looking for, and met with an academic adviser who was very kind and sweet, but not a lot of help.

I left her office much earlier than anticipated and set off to find my next appointment location. I very quickly realized that it was in the next building over and that I had some time to kill before my next appointment, so I called my friend Chase who got me into this in the first place, and luckily, he was on campus at the time, just a couple of buildings over and had some free time, so he came to meet me. It was really fun to see him and catch up for a few minutes(love ya Chase!).

I then met with a financial adviser who was about as much help as the academic adviser had been, and I started feeling a little discouraged as I tried to locate my car, but soon realized that it was not a completely wasted effort, because I at least got to see and get a feel for the campus and talk to my old friend Chase.

That night, my Mom and I went to dinner and two movies(ya, two movies in one night is not that unusual for us. What can I say? We're movie people).

The next morning we drove around for a ridiculously long time trying to find the SLDC(It's a long story). We drove all the way to Bountiful because the dumb girl who gave us directions told us to get off the freeway on 90^th street, which apparently is Utah slang for 9000 South, which is the actual name of the street. She knew we were from out of town, why would we know that 9000 South is sometimes referred to as 90^th Street? We ended up driving way out of our way and having to come all the way back, but we found it in the end. The point is, we spent all morning long doing something that should have taken an hour or so, at the most.

That afternoon I called a few places trying to find somewhere to live. This being the main purpose of the trip, I began to get discouraged when the first few places I called were no longer available, or would not become available until later than I am hoping to move.

After a few tries, I talked to a woman about a duplex and made arrangements to see it that afternoon. When we pulled up to number 777, this is what we saw:

Cute, huh?

I loved it, but was still a little unsure.

We went inside and checked everything out and found that it was small, but cute, and should work for what I need. I was pretty sold, but then I was informed t hat I would actually be living in the back duplex rather than the front, which I had seen.

I was informed that it was the exact same layout, and was taken outside, where I saw this:

Apparently there was more to this house than I realized.

Upon closer inspection, I discovered this:

How cute is this? It was love at first sight! I know its cheesy, but 7771/2? I love it! We didn't even look at any other places, I told the lady I had to have it, paid the deposit, and as of July, I will be living in 7771/2!

I'm so excited! Its a really cute little place and the other girls that are living there seemed nice, and its really close to campus so I can walk, and I'm so happy and relieved to have found a place!

We returned to the hotel, bummed around all night, and left early this morning for the twelve hour drive home, feeling pretty good that although the trip was not exactly all that we had planned or hoped for, we accomplished our main goal.

So, to sum up: We found me a placed to live, but basically accomplished nothing else. On the plus side, we laughed a lot, sang a lot, and made a lot of U-turns. :)

Guess What?!?

No I'm not engaged, you sickos.
Why is it that lately whenever I ask someone that question, people just automatically assume that I'm getting married? It drives me nuts, but that's another post entirely. Anyway, my actual good news is this:


Dear Alicia:

We are delighted to inform you that you have been admitted to Brigham Young University to begin Fall 2008. Through your preparation and personal achievements you have distinguished yourself from a very strong group of applicants. We believe you will make a positive contribution to the BYU community. It is a great pleasure to welcome you to our campus to pursue your educational goals.

We look forward to having you on campus. We encourage you to maintain the standards outlined in the University's Honor Code. You are to be commended for your accomplishments!

Warmest regards,

R. Kirk Strong
Director of Admission Services


Yep. Its true. I'm going to BYU.

Whenever I tell anyone this, they all ask the same questions, so here are the questions and my answers, in case you wondered:

Q: What is your major?
A: I don't know.

Q: Where are you going to live?
A: I don't know.

Q: When are you leaving?
A: I don't know.

Q: Where are you going to work?
A: I don't know.

Q: What classes are you going to take?
A: I don't know.

Q: What made you decide to go to BYU?
A: I don't know.

Q: When are you going to figure any of this out?
A: Ya, you guessed it - I don't know.


So, basically I have no idea what I'm doing, all I know is that for some reason I'm supposed to go to BYU. How exactly do I feel about this? Let me try to describe:

I feel excited, scared, nervous, happy, terrified, grateful, cheerful, uneasy, joyful, concerned, glad, tense, stressed, delighted, agitated, pleased, distressed, alarmed, and anxious. And that's just how I feel at this moment. It's complicated.

And to top it all off, I just received a call from a girl I worked with at my old job. Let me give you some background first:

I used to work at a Physical Therapy office and it wasn't the greatest job in the world, but I really loved it there. The people were I worked with were great, I loved interacting with my patients, they were training me to do tech work during slow times at the front desk, the hours were good, I got benefits, and I was good at what I did. To make a long story short, they closed my branch in the beginning of January and I got laid off.
I now work for a CPA, and in my desperation to get a job after being laid off, I took a major pay cut and now work with crabby people who expect me to have been born with an internal and extensive knowledge of all things accounting, which I was obviously not blessed with, I get no benefits and am always given the dumbest and most pointless tasks and am treated like an idiot if I do even the tiniest thing wrong.
Basically, it kinda sucks, but has been getting better over time. I have been kinda happy though that I will be leaving in a few months and can find a new job.

So, enough background, back to my story: Yvonne called me this afternoon from the Physical Therapy office(she worked at the other branch, the one that didn't close), and after catching up for a few minutes, she informed me that she had found a better job and was looking for someone to replace her. Since I was already trained and knew everyone and they already knew they liked me, I could basically have my old job back, no questions asked.

Ouch.

I could have gone back to a real pay check, people I like, and be able to do something I like and am actually good at.

Oh, the cruel ironies of life.

I know without a doubt that I'm supposed to go to BYU next semester, so I turned it down. Not nice, not fair.
I really didn't mean for this post to turn into me whining, but I'm a little bummed that I can't go back. I mean, the PT office wasn't perfect by any means, but I was happy there, and I obviously have mixed emotions about going to BYU. I know that that's where I'm supposed to be, but I don't know why I'm supposed to be there. It just better be a dang good reason, that's all I'm sayin.

I know this post is getting ridiculously long, and if I haven't bored you to tears yet and you are still devotedly reading, either you love me much more than I deserve, or you are laughing at my pathetic life and the reasons I find to whine. Either way, let me conclude with this, I'm planning on going to Provo next weekend to scout out apartments and jobs and talk to a counselor.

Hopefully I will find an amazingly adorable and ridiculously cheap place to live, a fantastic job, and decide a major, at which point the PT job will become a thing of the past and I will be able to confidently answer everyone's questions.

Cross your fingers for me.

100% Girl

I finally did it.


The temptation was just too much to handle.


I couldn't resist any longer.


I gave in.


I'm embarrassed to admit it,


but...


I bought another bookshelf.


I know it's sad, but its true. I had to. The books were starting to pile up on the floor in front of my crammed full shelves.
I think that what is even sadder(more sad?) about this situation, is that I don't even feel that bad about it. In fact, I am kind of looking forward to watching the shelves fill up. Its sick. I'm addicted to books. I suppose there are a lot of worse things I could be addicted to, but still.

The shelf has been in my trunk since last night. I was just to tired to drag the box up the stairs, but tonight, with the help of my brother, I got it up the stairs. This was no easy task, and I thought the hard part was over, but then I saw the instruction manual. It was normal letter size paper and about thirty pages thick. I could almost feel the impending failure hanging in the air around me. I've never been good at this kind of thing - I'm such a girl! When I put together my last shelf, (I can't believe I'm admitting this) almost all of the nails came through when I nailed on the back. My Grandpa was a carpenter, he would be ashamed.

That was when I saw the notice on the box that read:"No Tools Required." Yes! How lucky can I get? This was my chance.

Everything went fine until one stubborn little plug absolutely refused to go into it's designated hole. I scoffed at the 'no tools required' sign and looked around for something to pound the un-compromising little sucker in with.

And that was when I saw it: my favorite wedge shoe lying on the floor. Who needs hammers? I pounded that plug and a couple of other stubborn plastic things in with that shoe.

My dad once told me that all a shoe like that was good for was a broken ankle. Well, sorry dad, but I think you have been proven wrong.

Not only are my favorite shoes adorable and look great, but they can be very useful.

I didn't think it was possible, but now I love those shoes more than ever. Cinderella can keep her glass slipper, give me a good wedge heel any day.

Wildlife World Zoo

Today I took my little sisters out to the Wildlife World Zoo. Well, I had planned to take just my two little sisters, but ended up with my three sisters, my aunt Jenn, my cousin Angie, my cousin Katie and her husband Robert, and Alyssa, who we consider a part of our family because she has practically lived with us since she was about two, but is actually our neighbor.

Anyway, it was a long, but fun day. The zoo was pretty cool, I liked it better than the Phoenix zoo, but its been a long time since I've been there. The only problem is that this place is forever away. It took about an hour to get there, and looked really lame from the outside, but was actually really neat. It did get pretty hot today, which is so annoying. Seriously, it's March 1st. It should not be this hot already. Its just wrong. I actually got sun-burnt today. Sad, I know. I was the only one - I mean, what kind of an Arizona girl am I? I can't even spend a few hours at the zoo with out frying. wretched fair skin.

So, it was forever away, and really hot, but we had a lot of fun.


First stop was the reptile exhibit. This is Lynnsi (my littlest sis) and Angie(my cousin) in front of the zoos claim to fame: albino alligators. They look huge in the picture on the website, and were a bit of a let down.

We also saw a few snakes like this,
which probably doesn't seem that cool unless you grew up reading books like this:



By far the most disturbing thing about the reptile house(besides the large hissing cockroaches) was this:

I know its hard to see, but that is a huge boa constrictor on that branch and Cassie and Angie are leaning into the cage because there was NO GLASS!!!
Anyone else think it disturbing to put huge reptiles that could easily eat a child Angies size in a cage with no glass? I was slightly horrified.
In order to ease my horror, I tried to get Cassie to climb into the cage and re-enact a classic Harry Potter scene, but to my dismay, she refused.



After the reptile house, we went and looked at the monkeys. Two of the spider monkeys had babies and it was absolutely amazing to watch them swing all over the place while the little babies just held on for dear life.
Sadly, none of my pictures turned out, but lets pretend like I took this one.




Angie was so excited to see her friends Timon and Pumba there, though they weren't quite as cheerful and musically talented as she expected.



Then we saw the rhino. Or, rather, we wanted to see the rhino, but it apparently did not want to see us.

Angies favorite was the flamingos. We seriously couldn't get her to leave.


When we finally drug Angie away from the flamingos, we went over to the petting zoo where there was all kinds of goats and deer. They had a machine where you could buy food for them, but if you went in the gate with food in your hand, you got swarmed.
Annie was the first to go in and got so scared when they all ran at her that she was clutching the food in her hand and yelling, so I had to yell at her from outside the fence to put her hand down and give them the food.






Once she ran out of food, some wandered off, but others stuck around to chew on her shirt and shoelaces until Katie chased them off.















After the petting zoo, we watched an animal experience show. I thought it was kinda lame, but the girls liked it. This is us waiting for it to start:





























I've never been good at that hold-the-camera-out-in-front-of-you trick. And ya, my sisters shirt says "I dig your mom." I tried to convince her it was wrong, but she wouldn't listen.

Next we went to the giraffe feeding station, which was so cool. You had to drop the food on to the giraffes tongue, because if you just held out your hand they would wrap their nasty long tongues around your hand. It was hilarious. More than one child screamed as the long, slimy tongue encircled their hand.


We had a lot of fun, but it was a long, hot day and I've got the burn to prove it. : )