New News

I have decided to become more diligent in my blogging, especially now that I have been accepted to study in Israel, Jordan, & Egypt this fall! I had my final acceptance interview this past week, so it is official. I be living & studying there from Sept. 1st to Dec. 17th. I feel so blessed to receive this opportunity to see the world and study other cultures. While it leaves a hefty fee on my student financial account, I know it will be a worthwhile experience. I will not have my cell phone with me to text or communicate with friends & family while I between those dates unfortunately, which is why I believe I will use this to let family, etc know of my happenings.

The winter semester ended fine. I got through finals, still recovering from being sick. I did not do as well as I would have liked, but it was a difficult semester overall, so to come out surviving was sufficient. My RA duties are officially over for life. It was a good job & I am so glad to have met and talked with all of the girls in Fox Hall. They were so wonderful. I really lucked out in having the best building ever to look after. I miss all my friends & the girls in our hall so much! It is so much quieter & empty at my family's home.

We are leaving for Hawaii (Kauai actually) soon. I am excited, though I haven't even packed yet. Probably because I feel like somebody is going to walk up to me in the next 24 hours and tell me it was all a joke or something went wrong. Meme (grandmother) & Aunt Holly are coming with us too! I love them so much, so it will be amazing to share this with them! I miss them even though I just saw them in February.

It has been torturing me that I have not been able to visit Texas this summer....at least until the beginning of August. There are just so many people I would love to visit...old friends...newer friends...family. It is funny how things work out....I move away and still all the new friends I make are from Tx too. And I am still not there. I guess i just need to keep reminding myself, like the past 4 years, that there is a reason why Heavenly Father has put me here...even if I cannot see why. At least I am guaranteed to go because my bff Kara is getting married in August...which still seems so surreal to me. He is so lucky to have her; I have been so lucky to have her as a best friend these past...15 years!

So much is changing it's hard to keep up sometimes, especially when my life seems so unorderly right now & my future undefinite. Needless to say I am not close to "settling down" anytime soon. Though I am happy for many of my friends that have already. Who knows what I'll be doing a year from now...studying...working...preparing for a mission...I have no idea. And I am okay with that.

Old Friend

I am so looking forward to this weekend. It is so busy I feel like I will not have time to actually relax. Yesterday I spent most of the day with Tyler. We went to my BOM class with Brother Merrill, whom we both had our freshman year. He took me out to lunch at Cafe Rio.

I hung out at his sister's apartment, Ashley and Tara and we watched Grey's. It was just like last year. So much fun. I forget how much fun I have when I get outside the dorms.

Today has been slow. I got lots of sleep, which is a first for this week. I went to my one class and ate some leftovers. Now I'm just basically waiting until we go to SLC tonight. It should be really fun.

I'm still procrastinating my essays. Oh well.

So it is snowing...again. I'm a little tired of the cold...though I don't mind wearing my rain boots. I just splash through all the puddles on campus. At least it's not sticking so I don't have to shovel our building's sidewalks.

I worked last night...so it was another late night...with less sleep. :/

Our apartment's shower has been fixed...courtesy of me. My roommates don't call maintenance. Supposedly it flooded our bathroom yesterday morning when one of them was showering. They thought it was because of the caulking...but really it was because it was sooo clogged...courtesy of one of my roommates who has the ability to clog a bathtub in like...2 days? I'm excited to go home when I"ll be the only one clogging our shower...haha.

I wrote yesterday...which was refreshing. Not like for my journal or anything. It was for a class, but we had creative free reign. I just sat and mulled over 2 pages for an hour or so. I wish I had time to do that more often. I can't wait for my journalism classes to start then I'll be doing it all the time!

Fun fact of the week: The grocery store forgot to put some of my stuff in my bag this week when I checked out...so i've basically been living off a package of hot dogs. It's disgusting I know. I'm such a college student.

ng
I am finally updating. I know. It's a miracle. Things are so crazy busy here. Let me try to sum up the semester.

JANUARY
Came back for winter semester at BYU. I'm taking a bunch of GE's, and hating almost all of them. I cannot wait to take classes for my major. (Which I am officially accepted into now as of February. I am so happy to be a print major!)
Anyways...my classes: LDS History with Susan Easton Black who is such a wonderful and brilliant professor. Humanities 201 wouldn't be so bad if my professor wasn't so incompetent half the time. The medieval times do not interest me that much. I took a snowboarding class for half of the semester (it is currently over). I went up at least once a week and snowboarded at Sundance Resort. It's only 20 minutes away from my apartment. Then there is my Archaeology class of North America. I originally thought it would be more interesting.....
I love my art history 202 class. It's a very intense class with a lot of work, but it is my favorite. I seem to be doing pretty well on the written exams, which is always good. I've learned that I like art quite a bit, I just can't actually create it.
My Book of Mormon class is going alright. It is an honors class, which I will never do again. The freshmen in there are ridiculously loud and have the "know it all" attitude which I detest. It's very annoying.
I'm volunteering once a week at the elementary school down the road again. I have really grown to love my 3rd grade class. It's nice when they're always excited to see you.

FEBRUARY
I got a gym membership at 24 hour fitness to work off the freshman 15 I gained last year. It's going pretty well, though half way through the month I stopped going because I got a really bad case of a sinus infection.
I went to Texas over Valentines weekend to visit my family! It was such a wonderful birthday present. I miss them so much and wish I could go all the time. It was also a much needed break from the dorms and stresses at work.
My 20th birthday was fabulous. I love not being a teenager anymore, and I feel like I have learned a lot since I have been on my own in college, especially this year managing my own finances, etc.

MARCH
hmm...let's see. What has happened this month? I went to the temple for the first time in forever! It was wonderful, and the Provo temple is always packed. My stake also went to the Draper Temple Open House which was beautiful. I wanted to stay all day.

I am currently applying to study in Israel for the fall!!!! I am mailing my application this Saturday with high hopes of being accepted. I can't imagine what it would be like to live in a foreign country for 4 months! New culture, food, languages...I am excited/anxious.

It has been really busy as of late. I am trying to just complete my school work. I often feel like doing nothing, but that is not reality. I have organized and will be putting on an Etiquette dinner for 90 people on Saturday! I do not think I have planned an event this large before. I am just crossing my fingers that all will work out okay.

I am going to the David Archuletta concert in Salt Lake on Friday with Courtney, Sara, Steph and Hilary. They are such a fun group and it should be awesome.

Tyler V. is visiting this week too!! I am sooo hoping we will get to spend a little time together before he leaves on his mission next month to Romania! We practically lived together last year. He was my sanity and is one of my best friends.

Anyways...i'll try to update a little more often...get in the use of this just incase I do get accepted to Israel...because this will probably be my only way of communicating to the masses! (I have no idea if i'll have a cell phone, and supposedly the internet is direly slow)

(The pic is of Haylee, my roommate, me and my friend Rel, that lives in our building and is from Mckinney. We went to a neon dance this past weekend as a late celebration of haylee's b-day)

Halloween and a typical monday

Hey yall

Halloween was awesome. I went to a couple dances with my roommates and IHOP in the early morning. I ended up dressing as a rockstar. and my neck killed me saturday to prove it. Saturday I just chilled after waking up around noon. Went on a date sat. night and worked.

Today was just my typical classes. I made an appointment to figure out loans, etc for winter semester. There's a lot of hype on campus for the election tomorrow. I suspect I'll be watching cable news all night. It's exciting now that it is finally here. I sent in my absentee ballot last week.

There's a lot of campaigning going on at BYU to vote yes for Proposition 8 in California, having to do with marriage. (I believe).

It's officially November now. I'll be home for Christmas in just 1 1/2 months! I cannot believe it. I am in the process of planning Brett's birthday/christmas present..which i hope works out.

(Picture: Erin Platt (From Prosper,tx) as a raver..me...and Shae..a suicidal emo?) This is the only picture I have from Halloween. Sorry.

Fall Time!

Hey Y'all!

So I haven't updated in while. Sorry.

Pictures: (top to bottom) 1. Jillian and me at the gardens. 2. Utah in the Fall with Wasatch Mountains. View from the gardens. 3. The girls I roomed with at RAppin (r.a. conference in Colorado.) Amanda L., Ashley M, and me in our room.

That weekend I spent in Colorado for my job turned out to be very fun. It was nice to get away from school. I definitely appreciate BYU more and the many issues we do not have to deal with. I made some awesome friends with other r.a.'s.

This past weekend was very busy. Jillian came to visit me from byu-i. We went to the gardens at Thanksgiving Point. I drove a golf cart. And I must say that it is my new favorite hobby. It is absolutely gorgeous in Utah during the fall. I love the leaves and the mountains. Not so much the cold. (Though I did get a new american eagle blue puffy-ish coat from Downeast Basics this week for $30. yay for steals)

Saturday night I went on a date and had a wonderful time. Afterwards I went with Jillian to Eagle Mountain and we played games...with energy drinks. I learned my lesson, and will no longer be consuming large amounts of energy drinks in one night or at all. I was sick 'til Sunday night. I love it when she comes to visit. She makes my life more lively.

When I went shopping with my roommate for that coat on Monday, we stopped at Sally's. I bleached a strip of my hair and then dyed it pink (technically candy apple red). My roommate did too. We've pretty much started a new fad. I've never done anything to my hair before, so it was quite thrilling. I learned my hair goes red with bleach instead of blonde.

This week will be pretty hectic. I've got a couple papers and several tests coming up. Time to buckle down. If that is possible. Everyone is getting excited for Halloween. I've got a carnival going on in my building the night before. I am just thankful I do not have to work Halloween night, because I am sure it will be a nightmare. Literally. I haven't decided what I'm going to be. Possibly a cowgirl. Although I think it would bomb if I was Pocohantas too.

November is creeping up. It's unbelievable that I have already been back at school for 2 months. I feel like I am doing so much better this school year. I love my roommates. My job is awesome and provides me so many opportunities. I love writing in my journalism classes.
Anyways...that's it for the week.

General Conference this past weekend was great. I felt spiritually uplifted and loved the underlying tone of hope in all the talks. (Especially during this time as the economy struggles and the presidential election looms closer.) I enjoyed Elder Worthlin's talk about "come what may and love it". Elder Hollands was unique. It is not often that we discuss angels.

I've been hanging out with my roommates a lot. They are a treat. and a tad boy crazy. hehe. Everyone is getting excited for this weekend, since it is Homecoming. 3 of my roommates have dates to the dance. Luckily, I'll be in Colorado and don't have to worry about that.

I think my journalism classes are going well. My T.A. told me last week that I was a very good writer, which made my week. It was a nice boost to my self confidence.

This weekend I am going to Grand Junction, Colorado for a Resident Assistant conference. I am part of a group that will be presenting on the subject of identity and helping college freshmen find their identities. I'll try to update on how that goes.