I've been losing lots of keys lately

I don't know what that means
But maybe I've been better off with things that can't be locked at all...

Thank you, Jack Johnson, for putting everything so perfectly.
Although actually, my keys have been the only things I have NOT lost over the last couple days. I've successfully lost my debit card, my graphing calculator, my iPod, and my charger. :( Pretty soon I'll have nothing left to my name. Good thing I can't lose the most important things in life, huh.

Like this:

My most adorable sister. And the rest of my family as well, I suppose :)
















Or like this:

My wonderful experience in Mexico. And all the other memories I have of awesome times and awesome people.









Or even this:

Yes, my phone. I'm glad I haven't lost this too.










Well, now that I feel better about losing so many of my material possessions...
New topic.

I went running for the first time tonight since October 30th. It felt great. Really great, actually.
My running buddy, Jenna, and I discussed how we're going to tackle the Moab marathon in April....things like hitting the gym, running in the mornings, eating healthy...and then our conversation came to this.
Jenna: "I'm totally off sugar! If I eat skittles, I get a migraine."
Me: "You're an inspiration to us all."
Jenna: "You should do it too. You'll feel a lot better, I promise."
Me: "Me? I'm junk food extraordinaire. Plus, I just bought pudding cups."
Jenna: "Just do it. Give the pudding cups away to your FHE group."

Then we talked about what's healthy and not. Prohibited: sugary cereal (you mean, MY cereal?), yogurt (apparently it has a LOT more sugar than I'd imagined...so much for all my "healthy" yogurt breakfasts), fruit snacks, pudding cups, candy (obviously), granola bars (ahhh), and basically everything else (okay, not everything) that constitutes my diet.

Me: "....okay. I'll try."

We'll see how this goes. So far, I've turned down ice cream. :)

The eating just never stops...

I have been incessantly eating. How do you choose between chips and three different kinds of dip, veggies, green bean casserole, turkey, ham, sweet potatoes, rolls, stuffing, cranberries, etc? It's impossible. How do you select a single dessert among the platters of cheesecake, cookies, apple pie, pumpkin pie, and brownie/cool whip heaven-in-a-bowl? You don't. And thus, you eat. And eat. And eat. Top that off with a nap afterward and you've had one heck of an amazing experience for the soul. Thank you, Thanksgiving, for recharging me. I have a renewed confidence in my ability to get through these last few weeks of studying, writing papers, and taking finals.

Even though I couldn't be with my family this Thanksgiving, I still had a wonderful time with Haley's family. They were all so friendly and it was a nice change from the usual hectic Provo ambiance. I guess I've been thinking a lot about family this Thanksgiving. Wednesday night we went to the theater and we walked through a casino and we saw all these elderly people sitting alone, just playing the slots. No matter how fun Las Vegas is cracked up to be, I can't think of anything more awful than just sitting in front of a slot machine by myself, forlornly putting in dollar after dollar during the Thanksgiving holidays. It's just so SAD. So lonely. I'm so glad that I was able to call and skype with my family on Thanksgiving Day and that I could spend it here in Vegas with Haley's family.

On a different note, we did go Black Friday shopping...We drove down the strip and shopped at Prada and Gucci...not. But we did drive down the strip. We shopped in the biggest Forever 21 in America. And I walked through the fanciest mall I've ever seen in my life. And we had some random creeper try to dance on one of the girls in our group. In between all of this, I made quite a few purchases. If a good Black Friday shopper emerges from the fro with tons of stuff...then I'm a pro.

Oh. Wow. It's 1:18 in the morning. I'm tired. And of course, I'm still stuffed. Good night, folks.

Giving Thanks 2010

I love Thanksgiving. I love the spirit of gratitude, the happiness, the families, the food, the everything. I also love how it gives me the opportunity to be something other than the extraordinary complainer that I can be sometimes(although I'm working on it).

I'm thankful for a lot of things this year. I'm thankful for...

the gospel. I'm thankful for my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I'm thankful for church, prayer, the scriptures, and for the close relationship it's possible to have with the Savior.

my family. I'm so blessed...I have the cutest, sweetest little sister any big sister could ever ask for. I have two of the coolest brothers on this planet. Seriously. And I have wonderful parents. I love that we're such a close family.

the basics. I'm going to school at a great university. I live in a good apartment with wonderful roommates. I have food in my cupboard (usually) and a laptop. I have awesome friends. I have clothes and shoes. I'm healthy. I'm proud to be an American citizen.

the not-so basic, extra blessings. I'm grateful for all the little things that kind of enhance my life and make it even better. Things like ice cream from the Creamery, Christmas music, and pumpkins. I'm thankful that I had a place to go for Thanksgiving Break, that I found that $10 bill in my purse, that places like Costa Vida and Panda Express exist. I'm grateful for french fries. I'm thankful for Celine Dion, the Harry Potter books, and that i got accepted into the Madrid Study-Abroad Program. I'm thankful for the french toast I had for breakfast this morning. I'm glad I got to skype with my family today. I'm grateful for all these things and if I went back and listed all the little things that made life great over the past year, this post would be endless. So let's just leave things with a general, "Yes. I'm blessed. And I'm really thankful for those blessings."

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! :)

Get up and shake the glitter off your clothes now...

That's what you get for waking up in Vegas.

I definitely woke up in Vegas this morning. I'm staying with my roommate and her family over break...but unlike the song, the fun's just beginning.

We got a ride there with a distant cousin of Haley's. We sat in the back of a 8-person van and listened to [very loudly played] indie bands for hours. It wasn't so bad at first, but after a while, it was kind of hard to sleep. There's only so much you can do when your pillow is 4 inches away from the speaker. However, I'm still so glad they were willing to give us a ride and it was a great roommate bonding experience. Plus, they stopped at Wendy's to let us get food, even though they'd already eaten. Extra kudos to them. I was so hungry. Fries never tasted so good.

Just driving in to Vegas was incredible. We drove up to the crest of a hill and we looked down at the city and it was lights galore. I think I saw more casinos in ten minutes than I have my entire life. In fact, the house I'm staying at is in a subdivision right across the street from a huge Casino. Even though gambling is not anywhere near to the top of my list of priorities, I still think it's pretty legit haha.

Today's pretty chill...just hanging out and doing homework with the roommate and her twin. But Thanksgiving dinner, black Friday shopping, and visiting the Strip are all definitely on the agenda. I can't wait.

I am crossing Las Vegas off my list of places to visit as I speak.

Baby, it's cold outside.

There's a massive snowstorm coming our way. It should be hitting us around 3:00 this afternoon.

I'm so glad that we're driving all the way to Las Vegas starting around 5:00. It should be a grand adventure getting through Utah. If I didn't get carsick, I would totally just bring a book with me and a thermos of hot chocolate and read--and pretend I was just sitting in front of my fireplace, with an occasional glance at the storm. That would be excellent. As it is, I'll probably be praying we don't get blown off the road.

Before I can start thinking about that though, I still have to go to class at 12:00 (Thank you, Chemistry). And I still have an appointment at 3:00. But after that, I'm running (yes, running) home to pack and prepare for the adventure that awaits me in Las Vegas. I'm not even going to THINK about the two research papers that I still need to finish (and okay, start).

You know, I always swear I hate the cold. And most of the time, I do. But sometimes (like on Christmas morning and today) I love it. I woke up this morning, walked out the door, and got hit in the face with a cold front straight from the Arctic. It was unbelievably refreshing. It just SMELLED like winter. And winter smells like Christmas. And I absolutely love Christmas. The refreshing cold combined with the snow on the mountains and the fact that today is the last day of school before break...suddenly made me realize that yes, it's Thanksgiving. And I really am so grateful for my life. I'm grateful for my family, for my friends, for Christ, and for all the wonderful little things that make life amazing. Thanksgiving is always a wake-up call right before the most stressful part of the semester. It kind of shakes me and tells me "Whoa, wait a minute. Stop complaining. You're one of the most blessed people I know."

Bad news: I lost my debit card. Good news: I called my bank this morning and told them that...and they're mailing me a new one. Unfortunately, it won't get here for 7-10 more days. However, the good thing about checks is that I have so many of them...that it's impossible for me to lose all of them. So I WILL still be able to go Black Friday shopping. 

And my research paper awaits...

My research paper has been patiently staring me in the face for the past couple hours. Lucky for it, I'm really good at wasting time. Really really good.  I could be here all night at the rate I'm writing right now.

Writing and I have a love-hate relationship. One part of me loves it. Heck, I'm a writing tutor. I'm all about helping other people to enjoy writing and improve their writing skills. At times like this though, I fervently thank myself that I decided to switch majors from English to Food Science last winter semester. However, I know that next year when I'm in organic chemistry memorizing reactions... I'll be kicking myself in the shins. It'll be great.

Right now, I'd love to go on a great run...mhmm. This past semester I was training for a half-marathon. I ran that half marathon October 30th. I haven't run since. However, I'll have to get off my couch pretty soon...after Thanksgiving Break, my girls and I will be training for the REAL THING. I'll hate it. And love it at the same time.

That's kind of how it is with life. The best things in life are always the hardest things. Why is that? Let me tell you, around mile 11 of that half-marathon, I wanted to walk so badly. My knees and ankles were killing me. And there were people walking all around me. But thank goodness I had my running buddy with me. And she kept running when I was tired. I kept running when she was tired. And we crossed the finish line running together. Best feeling ever.

When I graduate, it'll be the best feeling ever. When I get my first internship, it'll be the best feeling ever. When I save up enough money to travel the world, when I accomplish my dreams, when I learn how to play my guitar, when I learn how to make origami cranes,and when I finish this ridiculous paper, it'll be the best feeling ever. I'd better get started.

Viva la Vida

I most certainly did not blog over the summer...or even over the fall.

In my defense though, both the computers and the internet in Mexico leave a lot to be desired. Yes, Mexico. It was one of the best experiences of my life. I met some amazing people, ate some amazing food, and had some amazing times. It changed my life.

Lauralee, my super cool roommate, and I had a catchphrase--"Viva la vida." We were so determined to make every single minute memorable--and you know what? It was. It really really was.

Attitude is everything. Something that I learned over the summer is that I can't always control what's going to happen. But it's okay. In Mexico, I had no control over a lot of things. Sometimes I had no idea what was going on. Sometimes I offended people. Sometimes other people offended me.

I remember this one time my roommate and I were talking in the church in Mexico with one of our friends and we didn't see an older Mexican lady standing in front of us. When we finally turned around, the poor lady was so offended that we had ignored her that she told us off, saying we were prideful and rude. I think by the end of that encounter, we were just as offended as she was.

And then I realized that it didn't really matter. That was a huge defining moment in the trip. It had been a cultural issue and I couldn't control or change what had happened. I learned to let stuff like that just roll off my back.

By the end of the trip, swallowing my pride had become such a daily occurrence that it didn't even feel like a lump in my throat anymore. Between falling off the bus, trying to communicate in broken Spanish, stepping up on my partner's toes while trying to learn to salsa dance, getting hopelessly lost, and repeatedly losing the bartering game, I learned to have a blast while being comically incompetent.

Viva la vida.

Live the life.

Life happens. You make mistakes. So you accept it, fix it, and move on. Just enjoy life while it's happening.

Yeah. I loved Mexico.

Still do. Probably always will.
Anyways. Back to the present. This fall semester has been so busy for me...the first half of the semester, I was so overwhelmed. My classes this semester have been pretty challenging and I was working two jobs...one in the Quality Assurance Lab and the other as a Writing Fellow. I got pretty stressed out.

I'm still a little stressed out, but I'm definitely feeling like I've got a handle on things :)It's been a little harder to remember to "viva la vida" but I'm making the effort.

On the bright side, only two more days of school before Thanksgiving Break! My roommate invited me to go home with her, so I'll be going to Las Vegas, baby!