Life and Whatnot

The Adventures of Sariah

2010-12-10T20:30:00.000-08:00

Well it looks like I'm only slightly better at updating this than I am at updating my personal journal... which isn't saying anything good about my journal keep skills.

So a basic update:

I moved into a new place in Holladay (Yeah, I guess thats how they spell it) which I love and have great roommates. I basically have a whole basement to myself with my own bathroom and basically my own kitchen since my other roommate is here so rarely that I sometimes think I might forget what she looks like. I have an awesome roommate that goes with me to the ward things we have. There are 4 singles wards around that meet together for a lot of things so theres lots of activities goin on all the time.

I'm still working at the same place. I applied for another position in the company a month or a little more back. It was one I wouldn't like a whole lot but would pay more than what I make. It has really crappy hours though (2-10pm) and so I wouldnt get much of a life just when i've started to have one here in Utah. But they hired someone else for the position because she had an LSAC (Licensed Substance Abuse Counselor) who ended up not working out for the position. But even though I was really bummed at first that I didn't get it, I'm really glad now cause I am enjoying having a life and would probably not be happy if I had that position even if I were getting more money. So once again, I see that the Lord is looking out for me even if things seem to suck at first. :)

Other than that, I'm just glad to be going home this Christmas to see my family. Its been a year since I've been home and I miss it soooooooooooo much. I miss all my nieces and nephews who make me feel so loved and hanging out with my sisters who I miss terribly.

Yep, thats my life :) One big adventure...

The last six months in six minutes

2010-06-27T12:15:00.000-07:00

WARNING: This may not take only six minutes to read... it was just a catchy title... if you read slow it might take you 10 minutes... or if you read fast, 3 minutes. I'm just sayin....yeah nevermind.

So its been about 6 months since I updated so I figured I probably should...

For the first few months of the year I was staying with my uncle and aunt Rick and Jennie. They were/are so good to me. I have been soooo appreciative of all the help they gave me while I searched desperately for a job after graduation. Things felt pretty grim for a while there. I never had to search so hard for a job... all of mine pretty much fell into my lap with little effort on my part, so this was tough. But I made it!

In mid-February, I got a job at Volunteers of America at one of their Detox facilities. It mostly serves low-income/homeless people. I really liked it at first but its started to wear on me for various reason. Some of which are bolstering my political opinions in quite strong ways. Another reason is that I have been working grave shift for the last 4 months which translates tooooooo... absolutely no chance for any kind of social life. Not like I would have a huge one had I been working days since I find it quite difficult to make friends in church settings and there were not many people at work that were very open to new friends... soooo such was life.

I also got a new car in March which has been very good to me. Its a blue 2005 Honda Civic and I got it for a very good price. The buying part was a nightmare but thanks to my wonderful Uncle and my amazing aunt Jennie who stood up for me to the very not-nice sales guy, everything worked out in the end.

Then I moved into an apartment in Bountiful with a few girls I hadn't met before (which turned out to be a disaster in the end, but the Lord had things prepared for my quick escape thank goodness!)

At the end of April, I got a call from a lady who had offered me an apartment before, but I took the one in Bountiful instead. She said she couldn't stop thinking about me and what I said I went to school for and had a job in. She owns a foster agency and wanted me to come work for her and move into one of her rental properties as part of the payment. It was heaven sent! I'd been wanting a second job to pay off my school loans quicker and neeeeded desperately to get out of the apartment I was in. So I'm working there now and have my old roommate and friend from Rexburg living with me! So life is wonderful.

I still don't have much time for a social life, but in a week, my shift goes to day shift and I can start trying to have a life and friends and all that fun stuff! ooooh the opportunities that await! I have already staked out my victims (who will soon become my friends dangit whether they like it or not!) :D I have been deprived of a social life for far too long and the stress of all work and no play is wearing on me.

Soooooooooooooooooooooooooo thats life in a nutshell for the last 6 months!

Oh... and I have been proposed to numerous times. Unfortunately, most of them have been by people who are drunk or high.... wait... all of them have been actually. Dang!

New Adventure!

2010-02-12T23:10:00.000-08:00

I didn't have much to say for this last month because all it has been is searching desperately for a job...any job... though one that is in my field would be preferable. I think I must have written a million cover letters, tweaked a million resumes and had interviews here and there... yeah, it was exciting. But luckily I've been blessed enough to have an awesome family willing to help out while I'm in that transitional state. At one point in time, I watched the movie Post Grad and became slightly depressed because, well lets face it, life isn't a movie and things don't just magically turn out perfectly.
But enough of the doom and gloom. I decided that I'd look into being a nanny/au pair! Plenty of job openings there! I talked to one family from Spain who really wanted me to go and I really wanted to go, but it turns out that going to Spain is a lot more difficult and time consuming to do. Among the hoops one must jump through, you must fly to California to apply for the VISA in person... and then a month or two later when they have accepted your application, you must fly BACK to California to pick it up in person. This is not counting the cost of also eventually flying to Spain. Yeah, it was a nice thought. It would have been an adventure, but it wasn't supposed to happen.
Then I ended up talking to a family in Pennsylvania who I made plans to fly there from the 10-13th of this month to see if I would be a good fit for their family. It sounded good and we had all the arrangements made and they paid for the plane tickets and then... the day before I'm supposed to leave, I get a call from one of the places I had applied to a month or so ago. I got the job!!!!!!!!!!!! Not only is this a job I really wanted, but its in my field! Helping people! Doing what I want to do! I was reallllly hoping for something in the social services and this one is working at Volunteers of America as a Recovery Assistant. I'm so happy and excited!
Oh, but then about the trip to Pennsylvania... I didn't know what to do at first cause I was supposed to leave the next day. The tickets were paid for and everything. But luckily, with all the big storms in Pennsylvania and NY and all that, the flights got canceled and they got their money back and so I explained everything to them and it all worked out great! YAY!
So the moral of the story is, job hunting sucks! But keep on going and eventually the misery will be over! HURRAY!

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-23T19:22:00.000-08:00

So these last few weeks have been completely insane. I didn't spend one weekend at home since the beginning of November. I've been job searching like crazy, had a wedding to go to, had an interview in Salt Lake, met up with my old friend from Brazil Elisabete who is working in Park City this winter, then I had to deal with finals. Not so fun...
I had a phone interview yesterday with a company that I thought had forgotten me but I think I might have a chance to get this job so I'm really excited and it would be doing something I would really love to do! I'd be working at as a Recovery Assistant at a recovery center mostly with women and the children they bring with them while they are recovering. I really hope it works out so be praying for me. The lady who interviewed me said that she was going to send my resume on to the next staffing person so I'm hopeful!
I made it home to Eleasha and Brad's place and its so fun to be around all my nieces and nephews again (well, not all of them yet because Aviendha isn't here yet). It sucks that I can't really stick around longer. I have a flight back to Idaho Falls on the 29th and then I gotta figure out what I'll do from there. Who knows... Thats the dilemma that I'm in now. I have to find a job and a place to live pretty soon and then a car is next on the agenda. Oh the joys of real life.
It is a relief to be done with school for now though. No more stressing about homework and staying up till 2:30 to finish them. But now its a different kind of stress in life. Bring it on I say!
Thats it in my life I suppose... nothing terribly interesting... But I love this video so I'm going to put it here

Conglomerate of silly stuff

2009-11-15T17:41:00.000-08:00

So since there's not any big events going on in my life, this is just a compilation of little things that have happened or I've been thinking about lately.
I went to the doctors Tuesday (not the one doing the clinical trial but the regular doctor) and I told him that I had been taking herbs for a while and not taking the other insulin and he went off on all the things it could have been because of, like he couldn't believe it was actually the herbs working. It was funny but kind of sad that some people have their minds so made up and closed off to other things that could be helpful. Then the dietitian did the same thing. "Oh, its probably because your body was in a honeymoon period so you didn't need the insulin" "oh it might be because of the trial drugs" (which I didn't start until AFTER I stopped taking the insulin)... and so on.
I just got to witness my roommate on a date since her date came here to make dinner for them and it was so cute. I love being a spectator on the first or second date. You can see the awkwardness and the unsure looks and comments, its so cute! lol. She's got a third date set up already, lol, I'm so excited for her!
I'm still trying to find some kind of a job after I graduate. I've found a lot of potentials in Utah that I have to apply for. I never ever wanted to live in Utah, but considering the circumstances, that seems like the most viable option for now. Its somewhere close enough that I can afford to move and there are jobs available and a place close that I can go to for the doctors appointments. I have a couple friends thinking about coming there (if they can find jobs too) and so hopefully I'll be able to find a place to live with them.
Umm, I have a million things to do before the end of the semester and still find it hard to comprehend that Ill be graduating!!! Wow. Crazy how time flies.
My ward went on a temple trip to the Idaho Falls temple Thursday which was so great! It was an interesting feeling being in the place that my parents were sealed together. It really made me miss my mom and made me sad that I couldn't talk to her about when she got married. There's so many things I wanna know from her, but i guess I'll have to wait a while to ask her.
I just realized how much of a loser I am this semester, lol. All my roommates have been going out on dates and stuff and I do homework all the time. lol. Thats ok though, this semester has gone by so fast so far because I've just been going going going. I almost wish it would slow down so I feel like I have time to prepare for all the stuff to come.
I'm frustrated that the reason I didn't do so good on my last biology test was because I skipped a question on the bubble sheet and put all the next 4 or 5 answers in the wrong spot. Ugh! I went out of there thinking I knew most of the answers so I should have done well, but I looked at my score and it said otherwise. blah, but thats ok, i will just have to do good on the next couple tests and i can still get a good grade.
In my New Testament class, we talk a lot about all kinds of things but only half the time about the new testament itself which i find funny, but I still love the class. My teacher shows us a lot of videos and this was one of them i hadn't seen but really liked:

I love that they put in quotes from Elder Wirthlin's General Conference talk in Oct 2007- The Great Commandment. Its one of my favorites.

I've sold about $40 worth of jewelery so far but I have lots of work to do to get more stuff up and going with that whole thing.
I'm excited to go home this weekend for Thanksgiving and I'm taking my roommate Auda with me so I'm excited to show off my family. lol. I'm so proud of my super cute nieces and nephews! I did have a dream last night though that she met my dad and my dad was kindof rude and I was so embarrassed! But I don't think thats gonna happen... i hope that wont happen, lol. I know my dad wouldn't be intentionally rude.
My doctors bills are slowly adding up. they keep sending me more bills that i guess they've taken longer to process. I think I'm up to a little over $500 (BLAH!) so I will be working on paying that off when I get out of this Iceburg.
Its been snowing lately so i guess my prayer a couple blogs ago didn't work so well. Thats a shame :( I have to drive in the icy snowyness to my doctors appointments now which sucks. It scares me when I think of how fragile life is and how easily little mistakes on either mine or someone else's part can lead to something very bad. Aye! I need to move to florida. If I could afford the move, that would be my first choice in destinations when I graduate. I guess i have to work up to that though.
so thats about it for the silly stuff... nothing terribly exciting.

I vote vacation time...

2009-11-01T18:21:00.000-08:00

So I just got done watching the CES Fireside where President Uchtdorf talked. It was sooooooooooo good. I recommend that all watch it even if they aren't a single young adult. http://www.lds.org/broadcast/ces/0,7341,395,00.html I just love Pres. Uchtdorf! He makes me laugh and he's so good at getting his message across!
Anyways, besides that, nothing too interesting going on... just trying to get over the stress of being half-way through the semester and knowing I have a million projects to get done before the end including two English projects which are oh so exciting. And I gotta teach my rat lots before the end but she doesn't get motivated easily and we cannot withhold food from her since she isn't fat enough yet... aye aye aye.
Oh, and I gotta start searching for and applying for jobs so I can start paying off loans and saving monies when I get done with la universidad. Yayness.
A couple of my roommates and I went out dancing at a party last night and ooooh boy, were there some hoooochies. It reminded me of mean girls where she's talking about Halloween being an excuse for girls to dress like sluts... yeah. Oh, and the guys too. lol. Gosh, It was so disappointing!!! There were girls there "dancing" or shall I say molesting, guys and I bet going to church today like nothing ever happened. Some guys with their shirts off doing something close to pole dancing in the railing...yeah...it was special. I think there were a lot of skanky high school girls looking to pick up college boys or something. But that wasn't the majority of the people, just enough that it was noticeable and sad. But it was fun dancing with my roommates :D Anywho, that was the fun of last night.

Oh there ain't no tubes in me...there ain't no tubes in me

2009-10-27T19:40:00.000-07:00

There might be tubes in some of you dudes but there ain't no tubes in me!!! Yay!

So I started the trial thing last Monday and got done yesterday with all the infusions. I know I got the real stuff because I got massive headaches for a few days. Saturday was the worst but it got better pretty quick. They had to put a picc line in my arm so I could get infusions every day and not have to be poked every day. It was slightly painful to get in because I'm one of those people who need a LOT of numbing stuff for it to work really well (my dad reminded me of when I cut my foot open again and screamed bloody murder when they tried to stitch it up when I was a kid). So there were times it hurt a bit. At one point, they couldn't get the tube through a part of my vein under my shoulder so they tried to push it through and I watched on the X-ray as my vein was pushed down and man did that hurt. I just kept thinking "I don't think my vein is supposed to go there or bend that way." But they eventually got it through.
So now the infusions are done and I have to go for check ups every week for a few weeks to see how things are going. Yahoo!
Yesterday night, my roommates and I had a ward Halloween dance that we went to and all of us dressed up. It was kind of a lame dance overall, but it was fun dressing up and taking pictures. haha. There are some, if not all up on facebook. My roommate supplied my costume so that was nice cause I didn't have anything good.
So I'm taking a Human Biology class this semester and I'm shocked how much I love the class. I am completely amazed at how complicated it all is and how everything balances just right to allow us to life. Its just amazing. I just really cant see how there couldn't be a god. I just... am so amazed!!!! Its actually not hard for me like I thought it would be to understand the stuff either so thats good! I just love it... What a shock that is to me. lol.
On another note, I hate that its getting so cold and darker. I get rather depressed at this time of year. Florida sounds better and better as the days go on. I am 10 times happier in the summer generally than the winter. I just need sunlight and warmth. I think thats how I've been since I was really young because as long as I can remember, all my best memories are in the summer... except maybe holiday memories or playing in the show when I was really young, but even then there were short lived joys. I dunno why it is...but I'll tell you one thing, I will never live in Alaska and I don't think I could live in Seattle. But we shall see where I end up...
The next thing I need to do is figure out what I'm going to do when I graduate. Everything has become so complicated since all this medical health stuff happened. I guess right now I'm looking for a job and will go from there. I was thinking of staying another semester and going on the MesoAmerican tour that my BYU-I does where you spend 4 weeks or so in Mexico, Belize, Honduras, and Guatemala (I think those are the four). But I'm not sure. Its all up in the air right now so I guess I need lots of prayers. lol. *sigh* life is crazy.

Sariah has become a lab rat, YAY!

2009-10-20T08:50:00.000-07:00

So as of yesterday, I have officially started the clinical trial. I had to go to the radiology lab first and have them put in a ... i forgot what they called it, its like a blood catheter under my arm just a couple inches above my elbow. It was slightly painful because there was a kink or something in my vein and so as they were trying to shove the tube thing towards my heart, it was getting caught under my shoulder and i could see on the screen the vein bending as they tried to shove it in. that was painful. It was cool seeing my bones and my heart pumping on the x-ray thing though! lol. Then I went to get dosed up with whatever they pumped into me and ended up staying till 8:00 or so. Hopefully after today I wont have to stay so long since I will be able to go earlier by an hour and a half or so. They have me taking IB profin so that if I do feel some of the side effects, they wont be so bad. I don't know if i'd be able to tell if i did have side effects anyways because my body is so weird. lol.
So I went into the office again yesterday to make sure all the substitution things went through and i was set to graduate. I knew i should go and check because its always my luck that things get lost or something and don't happen, and thats exactly what happened. the office lost my papers so I have to get them all resigned and such. Good thing I went and checked.
As for classes, I have midterms this week but only a couple tests and a few million papers due...only. Actually, I was a good girl and did my 5000 word paper last week and finished it yesterday while being drugged up. So only a half a million more papers for english left. But my favorite class is Principles of Learning. We finished with the chickens and I said goodbye to Sparticus but now I have a rat named Sophie who I get to teach to do tricks for the Rat Circus we have at the end of the semester. She's actually really sweet and cute. I wanna keep her when the semester ends but I don't know where I could keep her. She's all cute and likes to cuddle. Also, in that class, we watched this video that is realllly interesting. I suggest everyone watch cause its cool!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhmZBMuZ6vE

No worries :D

2009-10-09T23:32:00.000-07:00

So its been brought to my attention that some people are a little worried bout me so perhaps i should be better about writing more frequently, but theres really not much to tell. so far I have finished the screening process and should start the treatments in a week or so. But something even more cool is that I think that all the herbs and stuff i've been taking are starting to kick in and really work. Today I only took my morning dose of insulin and a total of 1.5 units of insulin all day when usually i'd take at least 2 or more units per meal. I took one this morning to see what would happen and i ended up going lower than i liked so for lunch i took only a half and got down to a perfect blood sugar level and so by dinner i decided not to take anything and so far so good! Just taking lots of herbs! I'm still figuring this all out but I'm really optimistic and so things are going well. I hope everyone else is staying optimistic in all the things they are doing, especially after such a wonderful conference last weekend!
oh, and they tried to tell me I didn't have enough credits to graduate, but I went into the office today and got things all worked out, so I'm still on schedule to graduate this winter! yay for me! so thats it in my world. I hope no one worries about me too much. I'm doing good with all the craziness and such :D Just keep prayin for me and all shall be fine.

General Conference

2009-10-06T09:59:00.000-07:00

So I was lucky enough because of one of my roommates to be able to go down to watch General Conference in Salt Lake. It was so amazing! I wish I could get tickets to all of the sessions right in the front bottom part. We had tickets for the far back though way up high. It was still amazing never the less. My favorite talks were on Sunday though. Jeffrey R. Holland's talk and testimony was so amazing and powerful and President Monson's talk about the services and the warm fuzzies was so sweet! Gosh I love conference. It reminds me of all the things I need to improve on. I really do love conference!
I went down with two of my roommates, Kabao and Macy and Macy's boyfriend and we stayed at my Uncle Rick and Aunt Jenny's place Friday night and of course my roommates loved them. They are so welcoming! I can't thank them enough for helping us so much! The next night we went to Provo to stay with our old roommate. It was cool cause she lived directly across from the temple. I mean you look out her front window or door and the temple is directly in front of her. How amazing would that be? That night we went to Tocanos which is a Brazilian BBQ. The meat was soooooo good and tender! I ate so much and so little carbs, it was exciting... though I'm sure eating that much meat isn't that good for you. lol. It will probably be sitting in me for the next 2 weeks at least. lol.
I have my next appointment for the screening process this Thursday which is another meal tolerance test so I get to fast again and get to Idaho Falls by 8:00 in the morning. This time I will think to bring more homework and such.
So thats the excitement in Sariah's life. Yahoo!
Oh and, it snowed for multiple hours yesterday which was quite upsetting so I add this:
Dear God,
please keep it from snowing again until at least November...preferably December.
Sincerely,
Me

Happily moving on

2009-09-30T09:07:00.000-07:00

I am so excited for General Conference! My roommate got some tickets to go to the Saturday Morning session so I'm super excited. I've never been before. I love watching it online and all that but I hear that its even more amazing in person! I hope everyone gets a chance to watch it or at least listen to it. I'm so excited!!

On another note, I had my first appointment for the screening process to make sure I can be part of the trial. I really hope I can be. I can't if I've been exposed to TB and the likelihood that I have been goes up if I've been out of the country...which I have been. So I'm hoping that's not the case. Tomorrow I get to do a Meal Tolerance Test so I have to fast tonight starting at 9:00 until my appointment at 8:00 tomorrow. So that should be all kinds of exciting.

I'm also excited that I got to make some yummalicious peach/nectarine/raspberry cobbler last night with xylitol and it was so good! my roommates all loved it and my roommate said again "You just get better with time". Lol, I think she just likes me for the stuff I make. Thats ok though, I've grown to love cooking this past year. I used to hate it and now I love it. I feel so old when I'm asking for kitchen appliances for Christmas. I'm dying to get a good break maker, blender, and a few other things.

And on a sad note, my vision is back to ultra crappy :( Sad times. I wanna get lasik someday... but i suppose I must pay off my mounting med bills and school loans first.

I'm loving my religion class though. Because of this class I've been getting up an hour earlier each morning to study the scriptures and its amazing the difference that it makes. Just amazing, thats the only way to describe it. I'd recommend that as well if at all possible.

Oh, and at my last appointment, I was told that I had an average blood sugar of 410 the last three months... (My new theme song is Sugar by Flo Rida) the doctor was surprised I wasn't super sick and said if I waited a couple days, I would have either come in really sick or dead. I'm so glad I had that feeling to make a doctors appointment. The Lord is really looking out for me. The past few weeks I have witnessed his help over and over again. For that I'm so very grateful.

So overall, I'm doing good, the Lord is helping me so much and I have a lot of great people around me. Thank you everyone for all the help!

This cracks me up cause its so true, lol

2009-09-21T13:33:00.000-07:00

NINE WORDS WOMEN USE
(1) Fine : This is the word women use to end an argument when they are right and you need to shut up.

(2) Five Minutes : If she is getting dressed, this means a half an hour. Five minutes is only five minutes if you have just been given five more minutes to watch the game before helping around the house.

(3)Nothing : This is the calm before the storm. This means something, and you should be on your toes. Arguments that begin with nothing usually end in fine.

(4) Go Ahead : This is a dare, not permission Don't Do It!

(5) Loud Sigh : This is actually a word, but is a non-verbal statement often misunderstood by men. A loud sigh means she thinks you are an idiot and wonders why she is wasting her time standing here and arguing with you about nothing. (Refer back to # 3 for the meaning of nothing.)

(6) That's Okay : This is one of the most dangerous statements a woman can make to a man. That's okay means she wants to think long and hard before deciding how and when you will pay for your mistake.

(7) Thanks : A woman is thanking you, do not question, or faint. Just say you're welcome. (I want to add in a clause here - This is true, unless she says 'Thanks a lot' - that is PURE sarcasm and she is not thanking you at all. DO NOT say 'you're welcome' , that will bring on a 'whatever')

(8) Whatever : Is a woman's way of saying GO TO HELL

(9) Don't worry about it, I got it: Another dangerous statement, meaning this is something that a woman has told a man to do several times, but is now doing it herself. This will later result in a man asking 'What's wrong?' For the woman's response refer to # 3.

Life is a... sucks sometimes

2009-09-17T18:32:00.000-07:00

So here's the deal. I had a bit of a sore throat the last couple days and normally I wouldn't go into the health clinic for something like that but I kept feeling like I should because I could ask them at the same time if there is something wrong with me since I have been loosing weight over the last year. So to make a long story short, they tested my blood and it was 400... and for anyone who knows anything about diabetes, that is very very high. I'm surprised I hadn't gotten to the super sick point yet. So the people at the clinic on campus told me to go home and not eat a lot of sugar and carbs and made an appointment for me to see a diabetes specialist on Friday. So I went home and called my sisters and they told me to go the the Emergency Room right away which I did. Thank goodness I have Carisa here with me in Rexburg. God really knew what he was doing not letting Tim get a job just yet. (Sorry Tim for you being stuck here cause of me, lol). So I spent like 5 hours in the ER where they pumped me full of fluids and shot me up with some insulin and sent me home with an appointment the next morning (early this morning) with the diabetes specialist.
I went in this morning and got the run-down on what I need to do in these beginning periods and got all the stuff I need (I never thought I'd be so happy to have the school's insurance). The people are really nice and one lady said she would give me a lot of samples to get me through the semester since I don't have a job and I'm poor. I also got explained to me a clinical trial that I hopefully can participate in. It sounds really good and promising so I'm really excited. What it is, is I would go in for 8 days in a row and get some of this medication that is supposed to stop my cells from attacking my beta cells and thus protect my pancreas from getting any worse for at least 5 years. Then after those 8 days, I'd come in for check ups once a week for a month or so, then every other week for a few months and then once a month for a while longer. For the last year (its a 2 year study) i would have to come in every 3 months or so. Luckily there are many places around the country participating in this so if I wanted to move, I could transfer to any of those places. They also pay for all my doctor bills and all that and I get paid each time I go in so even if I get the placebo, its not a waste of time, saves a lot on doctor bills! I'm also planning on taking a lot of herbal stuff that Gailyn has taken for a long time and hopefully help my pancreas a LOT before it quits producing insulin altogether. I'm really hopeful but it was realllllly hard to hear. When I found out, I just cried and cried and still cry every once in a while. Its really overwhelming, but I'm gonna deal with it and get through. I'm so lucky to have so many wonderful people here for me and an amazing family who are really supportive, smart and extremely helpful. My roommates have been super supportive and sweet which I appreciate so much! They did a fast for me as an apartment when they knew something was wrong. They are so sweet!
So anyways, thats the deal... sucky as it is.

Amazing talk

2009-09-14T19:53:00.000-07:00

So in my New Testament class today we listened to one of the Conference talks from last October's General Conference and It was amazing. I don't know how many people remember it but I highly recommend listening to it again in a quiet place. Its called The Way by Elder Lawrence E. Corbridge in the saturday afternoon session of General Conference.

http://lds.org/conference/sessions/display/0,5239,23-1-947,00.html

also on youtube but its split into two parts:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IyO3Wqx-0U&feature=PlayList&p=794D8075677A6240&index=17

I just love it so much I wanted to share.

Oh back to school... back to schoooool

2009-09-13T20:46:00.000-07:00

So I am back once again in Rexburg for my final semester. Yahoo! Summer was too quick though. I had so much fun after getting back from Colombia. I spent it at Eleasha's house and we had fun cooking together, making earrings and necklaces, she helped me sew a skirt (I'm shocked it worked!)... it was all lots of fun! I'm going to start selling my jewelry online as soon as I can take some good pictures of it (photographing jewelry is much harder than i would have thought). All that cooking and sewing and stuff just made me so much more anxious to have my own house. I want a garden so much!!! I wanna grow my own rhubarb and zucchini and peppers and all that jazz. I cant wait!
I also have been thinking this summer that instead of going to grad school next fall, I wanna save up for 6 months or so and volunteer in South America for a half a years or so. I wanted to do that before but somehow that got lost in other plans and I have rediscovered my desire to do that. I love traveling, I love the latin culture and I've wanted to volunteer in an orphanage for a long time now. I told my internship supervisor last fall that my plan was to spend a while volunteering in S. America last fall so I don't know why it got out of my mind for a while. But anywho, thats the plan. I think I decided not to cause i thought it would be really expensive but then I found a lot of really good programs that dont charge you to go down. I just have to pay my own way and with some programs pay for food and housing. Luckily living in S. America is cheap and I could save up in a little over 6 months and be fine down there.
Annnywho, So back to school. I only have 5 classes but some are going to be a bit intense i think. I'm taking only one class on tuesdays and thursdays but thats Human Biology and I don't know how well THAT is going to go. lol. I've never been a science person. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays I have Developmental Psych (I'm hoping will be easy), English (I have a crazy teacher but i will go over that in a sec), New Testament (with LOTS of reading to do in that class), and then Learning (where I get to train rats and chickens! woohoo).
So my English teacher is kind of crazy. to hand out the syllabus, he took the pile of papers, split it in half, and threw each one on opposite sides of the room. It was a quite efficient and quick way to hand out the papers, I'll give him that. It was interesting. Then towards the end of class, when he was talking, right in the middle he screamed and everyone jumped so high. He said he saw heads bobbing...so that was his solution I guess. He's a bit crazy but I've heard from people that he's really funny.
I have two new roommates. One is from El Salvador which I'm really excited about, and the other is from Shelly Idaho so I'm no longer the only white girl in the apartment. lol. I think it will be a good semester. :D I'm excited and hopeful!

Colombia!!!!!

2009-08-14T17:13:00.000-07:00

So I spent two weeks in Colombia and it was AMAZING! I dunno where to start exactly. I suppose I'll just go day by day.
I got to Colombia on the 29th and met my friend Catalina that I had worked with my first winter in Jackson Hole. We stayed at her cousin's apartment in Bogota first, which is fairly cool temperature year-round. about 70-75 degrees, but luckily the shower had warm water, even if just a little drizzle . Since I had just arrived, we didn't really do much that first day. Just walked around her neighorhood a bit and eat. On Thursday, we went to Zipaquirá for the day and visited the Salt Cathedral (Catedral de Sal) which was pretty cool. Theres a huge salt mine there and the miners carved out a Cathedral in it. There are pictures on the link posted. So after wandering around there and the rest of the town, we went home where her cousin's boyfriend attempted to teach me some fancy salsa dancing which was fun but I'm not sure just how sucessful he was. lol.
Friday we went around the center of Bogota and went to the Museo de Oro (Museum of Gold) which was cool. After that we went to Catalina's home town called Fusagasugá. It was about 5-10 degrees warmer there all year round but none of the showers have warm water. BERRRR!!! It was so stinkin cold taking showers. I didn't use conditioner in my hair because I could barely stay long enough to use shampoo. it was like when you jump into a freezing lake and start hyperventaling. lol, it was cold. Right when I got there Catalina's mom started telling me how I should stay for a month or more. Catalina and I explained over and over that I couldn't change my flights and stuff but she kept insisting. She's super sweet. she was showing me things around her house the first day and when I said I liked something, she insisted that I take it home with me as a present. After that happened a couple times I stopped telling her I liked things and just smiled and said it was interesting. lol. I didn't wanna take all of her stuff home with me. She's so sweet.
On Saturday Catalina's friend and a friend of his wanted to go hike up this mountain and camp. Catalina and I had to leave early in the morning with her parents so we decided not to camp but we hiked up the mountain with them. My goodness... I almost died. I haven't hiked that long that steep ever. It was super steep and we hiked for like an hour and a half stopping 5 minutes or so 4 times. I'm glad we had some sprite with us because I think I would have fainted from low blood sugar if not. The view at the top was amazing though. (again, pictures available on the link). I was pretty proud of myself though for making up that far and not being sore the next day. lol.
The next day we had to get up super early because we were making a four hour drive to a couple different towns. We first went to Boyacá where they have this famous bridge that a battle between the Spanish and those fighting for freedom took place. I got a couple pictures of me on a Chiva which is a brightly colored bus that people used to ride around to places (they still use them as a tourist thing in Cartagena where people drink and sing and drive through the city) . We didn't stay too long there before heading next to Villa de Leyva. The town of Villa de Leyva was cute and I liked that there weren't bars on all the windows there. It was windy so there were a bunch of kids in the square flying kites, it was just all so quintessential. So cute. In Villa de Leyva they have fossils of dinosaurs which was pretty cool; Huge sea dinosaurs that used to live there when the sea covered it. Her dad bought me a little sea fossil to take home (I love her family!). The next place we went was Ráquira. I LOVE that place! Love it! In that town, everyone makes clay pots and vases and people from all over the country and other countries go there for their pottery because they do it so well and its so beautiful. All the walls were brightly painted with murals along the bottoms and colorful things hanging from all the buildings. It was amazing. I just couldnt get over how beautiful and rich it was. So much color. Even the bright and the stones arond the bridge were cool (theres pictures of this too). So after this we went back home.
Monday we left for Cartagena which is a 20 hour bus ride and the air conditioner broke so we were riding an oven without windows to Cartagena. It was sooo stinking hot! I felt so gross when we got there on Tuesday that the first thing I did when we go to the hostel was take a shower but it is so humid there I felt just as sticky when I got out, lol. I got a little more used to the heat as time went on but it was about 95-100 degrees with like... a million percent humidity the whole time, lol. So since we were so tired Tuesday, we didnt do much besides eat some ice cream.
Wednesday we went to the San Felipe Castillo which was I guess a fort type thing the Spanish build to defend the city against Pirates and things like that. After touring that, we just went around to little stores and such and went to the beach then out to eat. that night, we went out walking with a couple people from the hostel and one of the guys who worked at the hostel, Charlie who showed us around the Old city a bit. (I dont have pictures up yet of the old city but its really pretty).
Thursday we went around the old city again and then went to the beach for a while and that night one of the guys from the hostel, Charlie, Catalina and I all went out dancing. It was so much fun. We stayed out dancing for quite a while. I danced with Charlie a lot but there were a couple other guys that asked me to dance and one of them kind of disturbed me...well both did but one of them asked me to be his wife and stared at me like I was a piece of meat. After dancing with those two guys I told Charlie that I didnt wanna dance with them anymore so when they were going to ask me to dance, he would dance with me. He's a really nice guy and ended up telling me that he liked me a lot and told me how he liked how pure and innocent I was and how tranquilla I was like I'm cool being myself and doing my own thing when everyone else around me may be doign differently. I just smiled and said thank you, I didn't realize he wanted more until he asked me what I thought about him and I was like "um... you're really nice, I like you, we're good friends right?" lol. He asked me if I would go outside for some fresh air to talk and I said Ok and we walked outside and he told me again how he liked me and such. I could sense he wanted me to say something but I wasnt sure what so I told him that I didn't want anything physical or anything like kissing or anything more and he was like "oh no, i wasnt telling you that to get anything from you, I just wanted you to know" so I said ok and we went back inside. It was funny because I don't get hit on much in the U.S. but I had three guys in one night hitting on me, it was weird for me. lol. But anywho, Friday, Catalina and a girl from the Hostel and I went on a ship to La Playa Blanca which is supposed to be this amazing beach. It was really pretty and all but I cut my foot a little on the coral and Catalina got some coral stuck in her foot so when people were going out dancing again that night, she decided not to go. This time there were 3 american guys, 2 israeli guys and 3 british girls, Charlie, and I that went out but it wasn't very much fun. None of them except maybe 2 really wanted to dance and when the rest of them danced it was like middle school dancing in a circle and not really latin dancing. I loved dancing the night before cause it was latin dancing and not like techno dancing (Blah). Plus, when the british and U.S. people go out, they go mainly to drink instead of dancing so it kind of sucked. I ended up asking charlie at midnight if he didn't mind helping me get back to the hostel and he decided he wanted to go home too since we stayed out so late the night before and got up so early, him for work and me for the boat ride. So everyone else decided they wanted to go home as well but they all stayed up playing drinking games and I went to bed. Saturday Catalina and I went to the beach one last time (where two guys that were trying to sell things ended up stopping to talk to me on the beach) and then went out to eat before we took the bus back to Bogota. The bus ride back was sooooooooooooooo cold because the AC was up full blast. Everyone had big coats and blankets on. I had a jacket and my towel covering me and still couldnt feel my feet or anything. We rode to cartagena in an oven and back in a refrigerator... not a big fan of the busses there.
We got back on sunday afternoon and just went home to eat and hang out watching a movie or two.
Monday morning we went again to the center of Bogota and then went to visit Catalina's university which was quite interesting...very left wing... like socialist supporting type of ideas. there was a couple american flags painted on the sidewalk but instead of starts it had skulls. I was a wee bit uncomfortable walking around knowing that most of the students there hate America, lol. But anywho, after that we went home and I packed up my stuff to leave the next day.
Tuesday I left Colombia and got back to the U.S. and stayed in a hotel in Florida where just around the corner was a Peruvian restaurant which was exciting cause I've heard so many good things about Peruvian food that I had to try it. I had some Lomo Saltado which was really yummy and I think it was pretty authentic because the girl who was behind the counter was from Lima Peru and her family owned the restaurant.Flying into Spokane, I sat next to a really nice lady on the plane that I talked to the whole way home and as we were leaving she gave me her watch for me to remember her by. It was so sweet! When I got back into Spokane on Wednesday, for a welcome back celebration, I got to go to Chuck E' Cheese!!! Well actually it was for the kids but it was Chuck E Cheese none the less. lol.
Overall it was amazing in colombia, I want to go back as soon as i can but next time I want to visit Santa Marta, Medallin and Mompox (or something like that, some town that makes weaved silver jewlery with the silver they mine and its really pretty).

So there are some things I really like about Colombia, some I didn't like so much and some I'm just not so sure about.

Things I love:

*bakery on every corner
*beautiful places like Cartagena and Raquira
*cheap fruit and a HUGE variety that i've never even heard of
*fresh made juice in the mornings straight from the fruit, yumm
*drinkable yogurt, i really liked that for breakfast
*latin dancing, LOVE IT...even if im not so great at it...
*the warm ocean in Cartagena
*all the beautiful handicrafts
*Milhojas (this AMAZING dessert thing that I had once then HAD to have once more before i left)
*Oblejas (its like really thing waffle looking things with arequipe and raspberry stuff in between)
*Arequipe- its like a carmel type thing but not as sweet and i think make with dulce de leche and other stuff, but its yummy and they use it with a lot of things

Things I don't like so much:

*cold water for showers
*bars on the windows
*paying for bathrooms
*no toilet paper in bathrooms (you have to buy it or bring your own)
*no soap in half the bathrooms, ick
*lots of stray dogs that made me sad, for some reason all the cats have homes but not the dogs
*people staring a lot and very obviously... i have never been stared at that much in my life where ever i went... in one store, i walked in and the ten people in there stopped everything they were doing and just stared at me till I left...no exaguration, it was awkward
*not having french toast or other sweeter things for breakfast
*not having separated houses with lawns or anything, I would really miss that if I lived in a south american country for a long time though i could handle it for a time, i like having property around me

Things I'm not so sure about:

* the driving is CRAZY!!! I mean, wow.... i cant decide if the people there are horrible drivers and are just realllly lucky or they are really good drivers but it was quite interesting driving down residential streets at like 50 miles and hour passing people on narrow roads and just barely missing the people in oncoming traffic. being a pedestrian is very dangerous, lol.
* a million tiny stores and not very many big grocery stores... its convenient when you want to just grab something really quick but it seems that it would be hard to find some specific things when little stores only have so much in each of them.
* lots of very short people- its not really a bad thing but i felt realllllly tall there...not on the coast cause there are a lot more tall people on the coast but in bogota i felt like a giant
* i love a lot of the music but i dont know that im a big fan of the really classical colombian music.
*I think Bogota is a little to cold for me to have it the same temp all year round which a cold apartment. If its gonna be hot all year round i can handle that better than cold all year round.

So anyways, here is the link the the pictures I have up so far.
http://picasaweb.google.com/goonhead/Colombia?feat=directlink

Colombia

To live and learn

2009-07-22T22:13:00.000-07:00

Its been great but.... THANK GOODNESS ITS OVER!!!

In honor of the end of the semester (and since I finally have a few minutes to do something slightly more insightful on here and more meaningful to me) I just wanna share 10 of the most important things I have learned this semester.

1) I doesn't matter the time or the distance really, there is just some love that is and will always be there and missing that person may not get easier with time, but I'm ok with that... I don't want it to get easier because that love feels stronger that way.

2) Though life gets really hard, for many reasons, as I let the Lord be the leader of my life, things work out, prayers are answered, and I know things will be ok eventually... I know the Lord can help me do more with my life than I could do by myself and I'm grateful for that even though some of the things I have to do are the hardest things I can imagine doing.

3) After taking a little mini class on Abuse for one of my religion classes, I realized I might wanna go more into the abuse counseling aspect. I felt really strongly that I could do something along those lines. Its just heartbreaking to realize how many lives get broken and how many people don't find their way back from those experiences... I wanna be one to help.

4) After talking to one of my teachers, I realized that I will be spending my summer doing my favoritest thing in the whole widest world!!! Studying! That's right... he says I need to take the GRE in September so if I suck (which I likely will) I can retake it in November... many people spend months preparing for this wonderful adventure but I will be spending about a month or so... how terribly exciting!
5) After saying goodbye to my mom for the length of my time remaining here on Earth, my appreciation and love for the temple has been magnified 100 times. I am so indescribably grateful that my parents were married in the temple so I can be with my mom for eternity. I can't imagine how much harder saying goodbye would have been had I not had that reassurance that I've had for much of my life that I will be with her again and those ties won't be broken as long as I'm doing those things that I need to be doing. I'm so grateful.

6) I found out about this website called Kiva that you can join and give microloans to people all over the world who are working to bring themselves out of poverty. Its amazing how it works. You can give $25 towards a loan and once those people start making profit, they pay back the loan to all the people who have contributed. They something like a 97% payback rate and you can choose who to give loans to and read their stories and their business ideas and so on. So you can put in $50 towards a couple loans and after a few month or so you start getting that money back into your account which you can then give to someone else. Its great and I STRONGLY reccomend that everyone should check it out. Just go to http://www.kiva.org/about or you can watch a video about it on here

7) I have realized that the more I learn Spanish, the more I love the language. I love being able to listen to people speaking Spanish and know (sometimes, haha) what they are saying. Its an amazing feelings. Its somehow a self-esteem boost.

8) We had this little lesson thing for FHE and read a little book that is now one of my favorites. Its short and sweet but filled with all kinds of meaning. We talked about it in terms of dating, in terms of our relationship to the world around us and most importantly our relationship with the Lord. You can look at it in so many ways, I think everyone whould see/read it at least once so I'm putting it here :D

9) After having a few issues with what seemed to be heart issues but was really I think anxiety and stress and other issues from a semester of hard times... I realized (or I guess re-realized since I knew this and did this in times past) that sometimes you have to find and be grateful for the small joys in life. There is always something to be grateful for and happy about and if you don't take time to enjoy those small things then other things can overwhelm you.

10) And last of all, I feel I should include that I learned all kinds of lovely psychological stuff. Since its my major I should probably have learned something useful in all these classes that should help in my future endevors. I had some good times in Bro. Delton's class, lots of laughing and a couple times so hard that I cried (I get that from my mom) and had some good times in other classes and overall it was a...productive semester...

So overall, though this has been one of the most difficult semesters or more like THE most difficult semester I have had, some good things, good learning experiences have come from it and for that I am grateful.

Ode to the Finals...

2009-07-12T15:59:00.001-07:00

Alas, less than two weeks left of school... you know what this means right??? No, not a party unless you are talking to my Spanish teach who likes to refer to tests as "celebraciones" (luckily Spanish is fairly easy for me so I don't resent the term "celebraciones". The next week is filled with tests (not finals), projects, and headaches. Yahoo! Then the next week is... dun da da DA!!! FINALS! *Intro song to Jeopardy plays* (I don't know why that song keeps running through my head lately...
Anyways, Almost all my psychology teachers have decided it would be a fun idea to have a test next week and then a lovely Comprehensive final the last week.
You know what my favorite part about the whole finals week is when the apartments kick you out the day after finals. It brings joy to my heart that they are so understanding what with students trying to do finals AND packing/cleaning massively in the last week. Its my FAVORITE! :D Luckily I'm not changing apartments so I wont have to haul all my stuff into storage...I hope.
I think all the stress right now with emotional stuff and school stuff is taking a toll on my immune system. I gotta start taking the immune stuff Eleasha gave me a while ago so I don't get sick in the middle of summer. I can do it though! Go immune system go!!! Woohoo!
Anyways, thats about it, lifes not too exciting right now. Just going day by day ya know.
So there you have it... life and whatnot :)

Sickly times

2009-06-29T13:03:00.000-07:00

So these last few weeks have been the most gigantic emotional roller coaster. Right when I feel like things are getting stable, BAM! its all crazy again. Oh the joys of life.
I got through the busiest part of the semester which were the last two weeks and I only have a month or a little bit less left. Thank goodness.
So last week I was having issues with my heart feeling like it was skipping a beat or something and i'd get dizzy and have to sit down and catch my breath. It happened a few times and I was a bit worried. After talkin to my roommates and a couple sisters they suggested going to the doctor. So I went to the doctor today and he was really nice... he said that it was probably psychological though. I figured that was a possibility but I wanted to be sure. He offered to do some tests but said it was probably not neccessary because my heart rate and oxygen intake and lungs sounded fine so I figure till I actually pass out, ill just try and deal with my psychological issues. So hopefully its nothing more serious than my mind telling me I'm messed up. lol. Man, I hate being so emotional. But life will go on and eventually it will be better. Till then its just getting through.

Sabbath

2009-06-07T19:38:00.001-07:00

In honor of the Sabbath I thought I would share a good video I happen to like a lot

Goodbye

2009-05-26T23:12:00.000-07:00

Almost everyone who reads this would know already know that my mom passed away on Sunday. So here I sit, trying to sort through the tangle of emotions. I love my mom so much. She is an example of the greatest strength and testimony. She was always so strong and caring and always wanted to help everyone in any way she could up till the end. She could even have that sense of humor she was known for even through the hardest times. I could barley get through a couple minutes talking with her without her laughing so hard she was crying. I always felt special around her like that... like I'm actually funny. :) She was full of interesting advice but as I have gotten older, I have realized the truthfulness of some of the things she used to tell me. One thing she told me was that when you get angry, you only see red. Her words come to mind all the time and have become so much a part of me, I don't remember at the time that they came from her. During some of my hardest times she was my best friend. When I'd come home crying from school every other day in third grade, she would listen to me and talk with me for hours as I laid next to her on the bed. She kept me going when I felt like I couldn't go on in my dramatic 8 year old life. After she got sick, I saw first hand how much it hurt her to not be able to do things for her daughters that I know she wanted to. Later it killed me to see how hard it was for her. I prayed and prayed for her to be happy even if that meant that she would be separated from us here in mortality. I thank God right now that she is finally free from the confines of a body that would not allow any length of freedom to do what she wanted. Its extremely hard to know that she is gone... I don't think any wound would compare to that of losing a mother. There is no one that can take that place in your heart. But I am more grateful now than I have ever been that we are sealed together as a family and I know we will be together forever. I thank God for temples on Earth that make such an amazing blessing possible. I pray that I will always be striving for the best so that I can be worthy enough to stand by her at the end of my days.
Overall, I am so blessed to have had such an amazing woman for a mother. I feel incredibly lucky and grateful. Though it hurts to know she is gone, I cannot help but thank God for his mercy and love for her and her joy now.

School at last.... uh oh

2009-04-27T10:28:00.000-07:00

So at long last, I have come back to school. This is exciting for me in that I am hoping time will go by much faster. The downside? I have to wake up at 7:00 every morning except saturdays... I know I'm a whiner, but I love sleeping in. Its something I treasure quite a bit and I tend to stay up late so 5 hours of sleep each night makes mornings quite difficult for me.
Anywho, for this semester I have 19 credits again and for four of my classes, looooooots of reading is required. I don't mind too much though because I don't have massive loads of homework... I just have to struggle to keep myself awake while reading over 200 pages of psychology stuff each week...or more. I tend to doze off after the 10th page or so, which proves to be problematic in the reading process. But I'm glad I'm doing it all now. I'm hoping that by doing this, next semester will be quite a bit more relaxed and I can enjoy my last semester a bit more.
This semster I get to take all sorts of fun classes like Research Methods and History and Systems of Psychology. I bet the sounds of that just makes you exude with jealousy. Don't worry, its not as terribly exciting as it sounds. But I am also taking Intro to Social Work, more Spanish, Motivation and Emotion, and Prep for Eternal Marriage (no i'm not engaged or anything).
I'm back with my Chinese roommates this semester (there are only 3 of them left) and one roommate who is Mong. I didn't know what Mong was till I ask her. If you'd like to know, you can ask. I'll just tell you its not Mongolian. So needless to say, I'm looking forward to a delicious Asian food filled semester. Yahoo!
Not many new interesting t hings except for those of you who don't know, I will be going to Peru this summer when school gets out for two weeks. So thats exciting. If anyone has any advice for traveling to South American countries (vaccinations I should get, foods to avoid, etc) I'd love to hear it :D
I love being back in Idaho where food is much cheaper. Chili is less than a dollar here! In Jackson its like $1.50 so I'm pretty excited. I have enough pancake mix to last me the whole semester for only $7.00!!! Its magical...really... Now I just need to find a lunch food that I can get for that much! *sigh* if only...
Thats about it for now though... :D

I'm not depressed, don't worry :D

2009-04-05T19:36:00.000-07:00

Well it seems its about time that I get around to updating this said bloggy thingy. I'm not sure where to start so I'll start with some random thoughts I've been thinking of this last week.

1) I can't figure out why my washing machine would have a setting for small loads, large loads and super loads... and then NOT have one for medium loads... It just doesnt seem to make sense to me...

2) there are things in my store that make me giggle that aren't really supposed to be funny... theres a stuffed bear that looks like Popeye, a rug with a bear on it that looks like it has spikes on its back so I call it Dino-bear and a moose key chain that when you squeeze it, it sounds like a dinosaur...really it does! If anyone is curious, I can post pictures of these things, though others might not find them as funny as I do.

3) I really need a haircut

4) I really don't wanna come back here next winter but I don't really know whats going to happen so I guess I should prepare for anything...including living in Jackson *gulp* once again...

So I'm in my final weeks of Jackson living yet another time. I believe I started this blog around this time last year. This last week has been torture for me though. All the wonderful people I met here have long since left and last Sunday I had to say goodbye once again to Rodolfo whom I love extremely lots and lots... And I am left here. I feel rather alone and disheartened but I'm trying very hard to keep my mood up and get through these last weeks till I can return to school and get myself busy and around friends and family once again. I leave here the 17th which can't come soon enough. These last couple months (man, its been a long time since I updated) have been rather uneventful in the things to write about. I spent them making the most of the time I had here with Rodo and working my butt off to pay for all those lovely necesities in life which cost oh so much such as...food...and housing...
I have the apartment all to myself now... for some that may be good but its really lonely for me. Before the last girl left (a few days ago), I barely saw her anyways, but it was just coming home and knowing there is someone else here made me not feel lonely. Now I come home and I have to immediately distract myself as to forget that I'm all alone.
No one needs to worry about me, I'm adjusting and working hard to keep a more positive outlook or at least just look forward to a couple weeks from now. :D
One (probably the only) semi-interesting thing is that I learned how to count to 10 in Romanian, compliments of my two new co-workers who are quite lovely and funny. I suppose thats it for now though. Sorry if this was a bit depressing... the last couple months were really good though! (besides the being sick of working here part, lol)

Some things that make me giggle

2009-02-19T11:37:00.000-08:00

Just a couple things from my store that makes me laugh

I'm not dead...yet

2009-02-08T18:30:00.000-08:00

I haven't felt that burning desire to update my blog and tell all about whats been going on with me because... frankly not much has been goin on. Its pretty much just work and not even 40 hours a week lately. Actually its been pretty pathetic with work hours this season. Thank goodness for tax returns.
Another reason why I haven't updated is because Dell sucks. Thats right... it sucks. My lovely Lappy (my laptop) that is about exactly one year old broke for the fourth/fifth time since I got it...and Dell... being the helpful company that it is, will only do one thing for me. They tell me to send it in, they will fix it, and it will work again for four months till it breaks and I must do the same thing... but this time, for an added bonus to their already wonderful customer service, they decided after I sent it in (from my address in Jackson) to send it back to my OLD address when I was living with Brad and Eleasha this summer. On top of that, it took about 20 phone calls to rather unhelpful Dell people and about 3 hours of being on hold to finally get someone 3 weeks after I sent my laptop in, to figure out a way to get it back to me. Ugh... so hopefully it will be here tomorrow or Tuesday.
Anyone wanna buy a laptop? :D

Oh yeah, and I went to the chiropracter a few days ago because my back was KILLING me and it was making my chest hurt a heck of a lot. Thankfully I think its much better but I'm going to go back in a couple days to make sure nothing else is wrong. I gotta work on my posture. I must admit I have terrible posture... stupid habits.

Happy New Years

2008-12-31T14:09:00.000-08:00

So Christmas time has come and gone once again. I missed having a Christmas tree so Jose (Rodolfo) and I made one together and had the others in the apartment write their names on the ornaments. I like our little tree :D It makes me happy inside.

So I'm back in Jackson once again and it is pretty much the same, but its amazing how different the atmosphere is with the different people. Its great though, I love it. I really love all these new people (mostly from Brazil) that are here and love the feel of everything. A couple of the Brazilians have been coming to church and the activities and enjoy them so that's really cool. A bunch of us are going to the ward overnight New Years party today where we will snowmobile into a cabin and play in the snow. It should be really exciting. Not too much else has been going on so I'll leave it at that. :D I hope everyone is having an awesome New Years

Christmas memories

2008-12-15T14:50:00.000-08:00

5 Favorite Christmas songs:(singers, groups)
1) Transiberian Orchestra: A Mad Russians Christmas
2) Transiberian Orchestra: Carol of the Bells
3) Sarah McLaughlin's Christmas cd
4) All the funny christmas songs like South Parks version of Oh Holy Night
5)All other pretty Christmas music, like Gailyn, I love Christmas music

5 Favorite Christmas Movies:

1) Muppets Christmas Carol
2) Micky's Christmas Carol
3) The Shop Around the Corner
4) The Santa Clause
5)While You Were Sleeping (Its kindof Christmas :D)

5 Favorite Christmas Treats:

1) Pumpkin Pie
2) Cheesecake
3) chips and dip
4) All other pies
5) French Toast with Strawberries and whip

5 Favorite Christmas Memories

1) Staying up all night with Maranda till Dad or Mom put the stocking stuffers in and then waiting a little longer before we snuck out to get them while Maranda would tell me stories of hearing Santa's sleigh bells. haha. Good times.

2) When I got a giant bear for Christmas that at the time was as big as me. I loved that bear.

3) Opening Grandma's presents on Christmas Eve

4) In general, just turning off the lights and having the tree lit and laying on the couches around Christmas time watching the lights and listening to the music that went along with it that most of the girls hated but I liked.

5) Eating Waffles with strawberries and whip for breakfast

Free at last...Free at last

2008-12-12T22:58:00.001-08:00

Alas, the end of the semester has come. I made it out alive. I must say, I am quite impressed with that accomplishment. I had my last final this morning and spent the rest of the day cleaning and packing. Tomorrow I head back to Jackson O.O Can you believe the year has gone by so fast? Apparently business in Jackson is SUPER slow and my store has a ton of people working there... so they are cutting back everyone's hours. I can't afford to go the whole season not working full time so please pray for more snow (at least in Jackson, cause I understand if you don't want it where you are). So here are some highlights (dunno if that really is a good description, maybe...events) of the past semester:

Had an amazing experience in my internship at the Juvenile Correction Center in St. Anthony and really came to love the girls. I'll keep praying for them.
Spent almost every weekend doing homework and studying
Had at least one test (usually two, sometimes three or four) every week
Only had time to hang out with people other than my roommates or my sisters seven or so times and most of those was with my friend Ray
Wanted to kick my teachers in the shins and run away
Had emotional rollar coasters
Pulled or tore a neck muscle then passed out...in the bathroom of all the fun places to pass out (this was this Monday)
Missed having Chinese food almost every day of the week that I was spoiled with the last two semesters
Had wonderful roommates that I love but they were just as busy as me (how sad)
Passed all my 18 credits (thank goodness)
Went home for a much needed break for Thanksgiving

So thats my super not so exciting semester. Its going to be sad leaving my roommate Chandalar who I stay up and talk to all the time. She's graduating in April right before I get back :( Thats the sad part of things like this... *Sigh* Wish me luck traveling tomorrow.

Thankful

2008-11-22T20:45:00.000-08:00

So it was pointed out to me (thank you Joel :) ) that this did not come from David Letterman, which is cool and all, but I keep it because the message is the same no matter the originator.

'As most of you know I am not a President Bush fan, nor have I ever been, but this is not about Bush, it is about us, as Americans, and it seems to hit the mark.'
'The other day I was reading Newsweek magazine and came across some Poll data I found rather hard to believe. It must be true given the source, right?
The Newsweek poll alleges that 67 percent of Americans are unhappy with the direction the country is headed and 69 percent of the country is unhappy with the performance of the President. In essence 2/3 of the citizenry just ain't happy and want a change. So being the knuckle dragger I am, I started thinking, 'What are we so unhappy about?'

A. Is it that we have electricity and running water 24 hours a day, 7 Days a week?

B. Is our unhappiness the result of having air conditioning in the summer and heating in the winter?

C. Could it be that 95.4 percent of these unhappy folks have a job?

D. Maybe it is the ability to walk into a grocery store at any time and see more food in moments than Darfur has seen in the last year?

E. Maybe it is the ability to drive our cars and trucks from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean without having to present identification papers as we move through each state.

F. Or possibly the hundreds of clean and safe motels we would find along the way that can provide temporary shelter?

G. I guess having thousands of restaurants with varying cuisine from around the world is just not good enough either.

H. Or could it be that when we wreck our car, emergency workers show up and provide services to help all and even send a helicopter to take you to the hospital.

I. Perhaps you are one of the 70 percent of Americans who own a home.

J. You may be upset with knowing that in the unfortunate case of a fire, a group of trained firefighters will appear in moments and use top notch equipment to extinguish the flames thus saving you, your family, and your belongings.

K. Or if, while at home watching one of your many flat screen TVs, a burglar or prowler intrudes, an officer equipped with a gun and a bullet-proof vest will come to defend you and your family against attack or loss.

L. This all in the backdrop of a neighborhood free of bombs or militias raping and pillaging the residents. Neighborhoods where 90% of teenagers own cell phones and computers.

M. How about the complete religious, social and political freedoms we enjoy that are the envy of everyone in the world?

Maybe that is what has 67% of you folks unhappy.

Fact is, we are the largest group of ungrateful, spoiled brats the world has ever seen. No wonder the world loves the U.S. , yet has a great disdain for its citizens. They see us for what we are. The most blessed people in the world who do nothing but complain about what we don't have, and what we hate about the country instead of thanking the good Lord we live here.

I know, I know. What about the president who took us into war and has no plan to get us out? The president who has a measly 31 percent approval rating? Is this the same president who guided the nation in the dark days after 9/11? The president that cut taxes to bring an economy out of recession? Could this be the same guy who has been called every name in the book for succeeding in keeping all the spoiled ungrateful brats safe from terrorist attacks? The commander in chief of an all-volunteer army that is out there defending you and me?
Did you hear how bad the President is on the news or talk show? Did this news affect you so much, make you so unhappy you couldn't take a look around for yourself and see all the good things and be glad? Think about it......are you upset at the President because he actually caused you personal pain OR is it because the 'Media' told you he was failing to kiss your sorry ungrateful behind every day.
Make no mistake about it. The troops in Iraq and Afghanistan have volunteered to serve, and in many cases may have died for your freedom. There is currently no draft in this country. They didn't have to go. They are able to refuse to go and end up with either a ''general'' discharge, an 'other than honorable'' discharge or, worst case scenario, a ''dishonorable' discharge after a few days in the brig.

So why then the flat-out discontentment in the minds of 69 percent of Americans?

Say what you want, but I blame it on the media. If it bleeds it leads and they specialize in bad news. Everybody will watch a car crash with blood and guts. How many will watch kids selling lemonade at the corner? The media knows this and media outlets are for-profit corporations. They offer what sells, and when criticized, try to defend their actions by 'justifying' them in one way or another. Just ask why they tried to allow a murderer like O.J Simpson to write a book about how he didn't kill his wife, but if he did he would have done it this way......Insane!

Turn off the TV, burn Newsweek, and use the New York Times for the bottom of your bird cage. Then start being grateful for all we have as a country. There is exponentially more good than bad. We are among the most blessed people on Earth and should thank God several times a day, or at least be thankful and appreciative.' 'With hurricanes, tornados, fires out of control, mud slides, flooding, severe thunderstorms tearing up the country from one end to another, and with the threat of bird flu and terrorist attacks, 'Are we sure this is a good time to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance?'

One-Word

2008-11-22T20:36:00.000-08:00

So apparently I've been "tagged" and so I kind of feel guilty not doing it so here we go:

Rules: Answer the questions with one word and one word only

Where is your cell phone? desk

Where is your significant other? :(

Your Hair color? brownishred

Your favorite thing? sleep

Your Dream last night? Dunno

Your dream/goal? Happiness

The room you are in? bedroom

Your Hobby? learning

Your Fear? sadness

Where do you want to be in 6 years? Family

Where were you last night? Twilight

What you're not? feeling

One of you wish list Items? debt-free

Where you grew up? Spokane

Last thing you did? babysat

What are you wearing? PJs

Your TV? Gailyn's

Your pet? missed

Your Computer? Lappy <3

Your mood? somatoformish

Missing someone? Yes:(

Your car? Pedro

Something you are not wearing? jewlery

Favorite store? Food

Your summer? happy

Love someone? forever

Your favorite color? neon-green

When is the last time you laughed? yesterday

When is the last time you cried? November

So I cheated on the color one... but I stand by my results.
And I suppose if I have to "tag" someone, I'd say Lee, Eleasha and Gailyn...if you want and um...don't have a life for a few minutes and feel a strange urge that is...

Still so busy!

2008-11-17T18:52:00.001-08:00

So I just gotta get through this week and I have somewhat of a break. I'm so happy!!!! I should be studying for my Abnormal Psych test right now but I figured I'll just leave a couple things I found (one someone else found but the other I got off of the first) that are really cool. Hopefully sometimes soon I can really put something interesting about me in here but for now I'll just share these.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqaesQ2EE8w

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehD390q9G3k&feature=related

The first ones a more uplifting and the other is more of a "get your act together" type of thing, haha, but I figured they both serve their great purposes to lift and inspire and urge us to be ever working and not becoming complacent. Anywho, ta da!

Sad sad day

2008-11-04T21:23:00.000-08:00

I think I shall cry for the fate of this country. It not only makes me sad that Obama is president because of who is he and what he stands for... but it also makes me terribly sad that the people of this country VOTED for a guy like this... its really something that makes me sick to my stomach and makes me want to cry. Prepare for the last days guys because it sure ain't headed uphill, that's for sure. What a sad sad day. Is it a sin if me and my roommates hope he dies before his inauguration? My roommate is praying for that... I dunno if thats bad or not. What do you think? haha.

I'm gonna die

2008-10-29T08:46:00.001-07:00

So even though I'm insanely busy lately, I have a few minutes before class that I figure I might as well update my little life story just in case anyone is slightly interested.
So I feel like I'm going to die because I have 4 tests within a 3 or 4 day span (3 if you don't count Sunday). And worst of all, one of these is my class that has THE hardest tests. The last test for my Abnormal Psych class I studied for 7 hours and got just over 90%.... 7 hours! I have never had to study that much for a test ever! I suppose it "prepares me for graduate school". At least this is what I'm told by my teacher. I can't not like my teacher though cause he's such a nice guy and he reminds me of Uncle Rick. haha. So I still really enjoy the class, but it just really stresses me out. Ironically enough, the chapters we are testing on are about Stress and Anxiety and the health consequences of them. *sigh* Life's ironies make me giggle... and then sometimes cry. haha. So I have that and I have another psychology test, a spanish test (luckily thats easy for me) and a statistics test. With those on my plate plus the regular homework, I feel like I should go curl up under a rock and die. But alas, I shall conquer! I just keep prayin a lot to get through this week...successfully.
I'm shocked that the semester has gone by so quickly. We are already half-way through! I couldn't be more happy because I'm ready to put statistics and 7 hour study days behind me for a while. Sadly, I cannot say too much about my social life because as of right now, I don't really have one. I basically only get to talk to José (I should start calling him Rodo since thats what he prefers everyone calls him) and my roommates. I try to hang out with Tekara at least once a week though and we have fun. She spent the night this last weekend and we make this DELICIOUS pumpkin bread (I even substituted stuff like xylotol for sugar, Mom would be so proud!) and it turned out. I made my roommates try it and they liked it too so it was exciting. I've had this strange urge this semester that I haven't had since I was very young to just cook and I want to can applesauce and make my own jam and all this strange stuff that I wouldn't have thought twice about last semester. Maybe I'm being prepared, haha, who knows? Anyways, thats about the extent of whats goin on. Now I must scurry of to la clase de español a aprender. Woohoo!

In case you missed it.

2008-10-22T21:20:00.000-07:00

I don't know if any of you guys watched the church broadcast, and maybe all of you did, but if not, here it is. I really liked it and I hope everyone gets a chance to see it. I think this speaks to not only the issue at hand with Proposition 8 but with the degredation of morality at large and how far things are going around us. How "normal" things have become and how numb people have become to these type of things. I really love people who have chosen to live gay/lesbian lifestyles and its not about hating them. Many have shot harsh and pointed comments at those who have opposed Gay marriage calling those who support Prop. 8 as being discriminative, prejudice, and hateful people. The fact is that there are many effects that this will have on not only California, but all over since California does set the precedence. This video explains some of those effects and there are also some other websites I would recommend (they will be posted after the video link). If you know people in California, I suggest you do your best to help them understand the impact this will have on their own families now and in the future.

http://www.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/media/mediaplayer.swf?media=http://broadcast.lds.org/newsroom/video/flv/California_Broadcast_8Oct08.flv&type=FLV

http://www.preservingmarriage.org/videos.html#current

http://www.protectmarriage.com/video (a couple from Mass. who have experienced the affects of legal gay marriage in their family)

So thats my shpeal about that... and now just for a little interesting thing:
Last night I had a dream that I didn't think about really till a couple hours ago. I was in California (I'm pretty sure I was in San Fransisco) and it got bombed. I looked up at the building I was close to that was the only one standing and realized it was the Temple and the people in it were fine. There were some survivors scattered around the city trying to escape but the most distinctive thing I remember was looking at the Temple and it being the only building left. I'm not saying it was super meaningful to everyone or not, but it feels meaningful to me.
Anyways I hope everyone else is doing well! I'm surviving the semester but hanging on by a thread with how crazy it is. Ill do an about me update soon. Take care!

It snows... i cry

2008-10-11T12:59:00.000-07:00

Its snowing outside... a little piece of me has just died. Why couldn't it wait till like... November at least. *sigh* Rexburg oh Rexburg, why must you torture me so?

Just hanging onto sanity

2008-10-01T14:26:00.000-07:00

So I realize its been a while since I posted anything but I have literally been going non-stop since school started day one! Its insane! I can't wait till this semester is over. I feel like its almost impossible to have any real social life outside of my roommates and my boyfriend but I love them so its not unbearable or anything.
My internship takes up almost all of my Tuesdays and Thursdays but I love it. I have it at the Juvenile Corrections Center in St. Anthony, ID which is just like 20 minutes from Rexburg. I'm with a group of girls and I love them already. Its been a great experience so far and I can't wait to learn more and watch these girls grow and learn. It makes me so excited when I see some progress even the slightest bit and I just love it. Its amazing how much you can care about people you just barely know. But its great. I really love it! Its also interesting because the guy who is in charge of the internship is teach us interns about different psychological testing and we get to try them out. We also get to take some ourselves! I just got my personality test back tomorrow and I must say it was pretty accurate! Its fun cause I love taking those silly quizzes online but this is actually legit (well unless you talk to certain professionals who say they are useless which I disagree with). Its been so interesting.
My stats class... oooh my. I thought I was going to fail, but last saturday, I had this dawning where I finally understood everything from the last section. It just came in one big swoop after almost crying cause I couldn't get it. Thank goodness that dawning came before the first test (which is Friday). I was freaked but I think I can get through this with an ok grade! My Abnormal Psych class.... OOOOH man. REALLY hard tests. I haven't gotten that low of a grade ever. Thankfully with the curve that the teacher gave I got just enough to get a B on it. I'm gonna have to work my butt of big time in that class and I don't even know if thats enough to get an A with his tests. His questions are very unclear so I have to try and figure out how to interpret his questions or something. Wish me luck with that. haha. The rest of classes are good and all. Its just sooo busy this semester. So busy.
I'm so excited for General Conference. Every time it comes around I just feel so recharged and just full of hope and strength. I love it. Its so powerful!
Well I wish there was more to tell but thats pretty much all thats been goin on. Just counting down the weeks for this semester to end. 10 weeks left and one of those is Thanksgiving week so only 9!!!!! Then I will have a little party. Woooo! too bad it wont get easier from here. hahaha! How sad.

Back to school. dun dun DUN.

2008-09-05T12:52:00.000-07:00

So here I sit in my new old ghettoish apartment that I actually quite like. The biggest problem is the florescent lights in the vanity area that would make even a super model look like she should wear a bag over her head. This is why a mirror in my room is crucial for my self esteem. Rexburg is just as I left it but colder. I'm not too happy about that aspect. I also am not too happy about how much books cost. I hate spending $400ish dollars on books. I really hope I get at least half of that back when I sell em back at the end of the semester.
I miss being at Eleasha's house though. I felt like an assistant mommy when I was there and it was fun hanging out with my sister and really getting to know her better. It was also so fun to be around Jarrin and Keeley and kiss on Sawyer all the time. The spit up all over my shirt was worth it cause Sawyer is so incredibly kissable and yummy.
So school starts Monday. This should be terribly exciting. I'm hoping this semester will be fun and go by quick but the unknown still makes me nervous. I guess thats why I want school to get going so that its not unknown anymore. So thats about it. Hopefully life will be a lot more "spicey" in a few days especially after I start my internship. woohoo!

crazy life, cool art

2008-08-26T13:58:00.000-07:00

One week before my summer is officially over and I return to school. This wouldn't be sooo bad except for the fact that this is the semester where I take the dreaded math class. Not just math, but Stats. I am HORRIBLE with word problems, which is basically ALL what stats is. I will need as much luck as I can this semester. I'm excited in a way though with all the new this semester. New apartment, new routine, new hair (Eleasha and I colored it last week and its now a dark purply-red. We were going for more red, and hopefully thats what it will turn to, but as of now its still a little more purply), new roommates (though I will really miss my fun Chinese roommates and the endless chinese food *sigh*), a new internship. All kinds of exciting newness, but new means leaving behind the old which I really liked too. Such is life I guess. It will also be sad to leave Eleasha's place.
Eleasha and I had a fun girls night out last night. It was so fun! We went to dinner and went to see House Bunny (which is really funny) and had a lot of time to talk. Its so fun when sisters all get up to that certain age where you can relate to each other despite the age difference and really realize how alike you are. I love that my sisters are my friends. I feel so lucky!
So theres this artist who goes around doing sidewalk art and he is AMAZING!!! You all should go and see it. The web site that has some of his stuff is: http://users.skynet.be/J.Beever/pave.htm
Its really amazing! I wish I had a cool talent like that! Anywho, I'm excited, nervous, apprehensive, worried, and curious at the same time for this coming semester. I just hope the weather stays warm for a long time since we haven't had much of a real summer. I say the weather at least owes it to us to stay mildly warm for a longer period of time since it didn't get very hot this summer for long.
Life is funny.

Back to Pullman

2008-08-11T14:23:00.000-07:00

So for the past week or so I have been back to Pullman visiting. It has been an adventure... some days. Most of the time I've felt the extreme of lazy, but I did get to go to the bank and visit a few of my old co-workers earlier today at Wamizzle (aka Washington Mutual). Since this IS a college town, the turnover rate at the bank is soooo high. Through the two years I worked there, 11 people left and about 8 or 9 of those where people who had come after I had started working there. So when I went back I only knew three people there from before, but they were happy to see me so it was fun! I also went out to ice cream with Tekara and my friend Kate's mom who is like my second mom. While I was living here, I spent half of my time at Kate's house and her parents pretty much adopted me. It was because of her mom that I finished my personal progress. Her sisters are like my sisters and her dad was the one to fix up my car and stuff for me. I love them so much! My second family. :D. So we talked and had ice cream and it was fun. I go back to Eleashas to stay for the remainder of my break on Wednesday and I saw goodbye to Pullman once again for a long time. Probably wont be back again till next summer. Its been fun seeing a few of the people I love here. Its always kind of sad when you leave somewhere to think of the people you have to leave behind, but I guess such is life, huh? So thats life right now. Nothing toooo terribly exciting.

Good sisterly times

2008-08-01T21:46:00.000-07:00

So Tekara, Eleasha and I went shopping today and had a little too much fun with hats and glasses and these are the results of it. All in all a good time. More pictures of our fun day to follow. lol.

Fun Memories

2008-07-25T18:31:00.000-07:00

here is another tag.. I think this one will be the most fun for me... This is a tag for everyone who reads this.. Have fun!

1. Add a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember.

2. Next, re-post these instructions on you blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assumer you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments. I can't wait to see what people remember about me!

Day of Dancing!

2008-07-12T20:57:00.000-07:00

So I realize its been a while since I've updated, but really, theres not a whole lot to tell. Its been a lot of homework, school, sleep and just a few other things scattered between. One more week of school left and its getting kind of intense. Luckily I only have two finals left and one is a take home. The only problem with the take home is that it will probably end up being six pages again....not double spaced. I guess thats what I get for wanting to go to college. :) And I'm tryin to learn the last chapter of Español which is proving to be muy deficil porque tenemos solo tres días a aprender todo de la capitulo! (we only had 3 days to learn all of the chapter). Usually we have a week and a half... but since our semesters are so short, they had to cram the last chapter in 3 days before the final! So thats alllll kinds of fun! Its a good thing for me that I have a spanish speaking novio to help me.
So about the title. I was in a beginning social dance class this semester and today we had our final event thing. Two actually. The first was a dance competition where you could choose to do either waltz or cha cha. I did the cha cha and out of maybe 100 couples, my partner and I got 4th place!!!! I was surprised. I knew we were pretty good but I didn't expect to get past the second round. So imagine my surprise when we get to the top 8! Then I don't work well under pressure so I messed up a step. After that, I thought for sure we'd only get 8th, but we got 4th!!!! I still delightfully surprised! Then I came home and did homework for a while and went back to another dance thing where we had groups that we had to perform in. I did the waltz and then stayed there to dance a while. Its been a fun semester of dancing and I really hope to have another dance class next semester.
Also, it looks like I'm going to have an internship this fall and also looks like I'll be going back to Jackson this next winter. Yay! lol.
Um... I think thats about the extent of the excitement in my life. Soon enough I shall be back home and staying with Eleasha and Brad for seven weeks. Yay for me! maybe not for them... lol. We shall see. Hopefully they wont hate me by the time I leave.

Soooo funny

2008-06-25T19:53:00.000-07:00

My spanish teacher showed this to me today and i laughed so hard i cried so i thought i'd share it with everyone else who reads this.

Growing

2008-06-05T23:03:00.000-07:00

So I figure its been a while since I updated so I might as well do it. I feel pretty good today. Besides being slightly tired cause I went to the temple today earlyish this morning (early being 8:30 hahaha) It was nice though. I'm really happy I went this morning. I feel really good I think because this semester my testimony has grown even more and I really understand things that I never really fully got before. I thought I understood them before but now I see them more clearly. Things parents and church leaders say to you over and over that as a kid you think they don't see it as clearly as you do... or you think that theres exceptions all over that they are overlooking... but the things that I learned are things that are so incredibly simple and we are told every single day. I know this is vague and I guess I mean it to be that way because I've learned so much that its hard to put a finger on just one thing. I think the thing I've most learned this semester is how incredibly important humility is. To me, its up next to charity. It seems like pretty much everything hangs on those two things. Success and happiness depend on those. Its been a really good time to grow for me and I love it. Its been hard at times this semester, but I've grown so much.
Anywho, I found this video on youtube and thought it was cool so Im putting it on here:

Pictures of Jackson times

2008-05-15T16:29:00.000-07:00

So I figured since Eleasha wanted some pictures up, I'd show you all some of my fun in Jackson.

So above are the people at the end of my time in Jackson. I love em a ton but it was really hard not being with those that I started out with. in the back left is Nong (Thai) and Ariel (here at BYUI with me) and Rung (other Thai). From is Rebecca (only knew her a week or so before i left), Maggie, and the guy next to me is Juan (from Ecuador). Fun people!

This above is Jose. Everyone else he knows calls him Rodo since his middleish name is Rodolfo and he hated the name Jose, but since I called him that, everyone at work did too. muahahaha! We dated for three weeks before he left to go back to Peru and are still doing the long (LONG) distance thing. He's an AMAZING guy. Super sweet and funny and fun to be around and talk to. I got him that shirt for his birthday,lol. We are both rather nerdy. and he got me the llama hat cause those hats came from Peru and so do... LLAMAS! I teased him all the time about riding llamas. lol. anyways, next...
Amanda was my roommate for most of the time in Jackson. She and I got along pretty much right away and decided we are kindred spirits! She's great fun and even if i'm tired, she can hold the conversation with little effort on my part which is good sometimes! lol. she's back in Brazil now but shes going to come visit i hope within the next year. she wont be back working in jackson though cause this part of med school she is in is a lot of work.

These are the AMAZING girls that I started with. Us four hung out all the time and got really close. I love them soooo much. Catalina in the front is from Colombia and she's so funny. She has a very spicy personality but is so sweet. lol. and Elisabete in the back in the green is soooooooooo sweet and genuine. one of the most genuinely kind and loveable person I know. She was my roommate after Amanda left and we had a lot of fun our last days together since she and i were the last to leave. she left a week before me. She lives in southern Brazil in a more rural part.

My time in Jackson was surprisingly one of the greatest in my life because I met 5 of the most amazing people ever that i just love so much. I wouldn't trade it for anything. I really love them and miss them so much. I learned so many things about myself and others by getting views from all over. all i can say is SOOOOOOO amazing!

Thank goodness for Prayer

2008-05-09T00:29:00.000-07:00

So things have been really hard this week. I wont go into detail but its been one of the hardest times for me. I also realized that I just could not handle 19 credits this semester. There was one class that was just soooo hard. It was the sensation and perception one. Its all scientifical and such and I really am not quick at understanding science and so I felt like out of the 20 things each chapter we needed to know for our test that was this week, I knew maybe 5 out of each. I knew I wouldn't do well in the class since I had so many other classes I also had to focus on, so I dropped it. Now with 16 credits, school is a lot easier to get through. But life isn't so much. But overall I have gotten through it pretty well considering how I am feeling. All thanks to praying like there was no tomorrow. I think I am more grateful for the gospel right now than almost any other time because without it right now, I would feel about a million times worse, but with it, I can smile during the day and leave my burdens behind for a while so I can get through another school day. Its amazing to me what the Lord can do for you when you let him. I never understood the scripture more that says "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light" Matt 11: 30. One minute I can feel like I just can't get through the day without crying and the next I feel hope and strength beyond what I could imagine. Its absolutely amazing. I just wanted to share that. And don't worry about me because though times are tough now for me, I have the greatest help I could imagine getting and I'll get through this no matter if it goes how I wish or not because I trust that whatever happens is the will of the one who knows whats best for all.

Not a whole lot to tell, but update none the less

2008-04-28T20:32:00.000-07:00

So as another way to procrastinate that which I must do, I decided I feel a need to update all who are interested on my happenings.
So I am back in Rexburg and it feels pretty good for the most part I think. I thought I would be living with all my old Chinese roommates again, but one got an internship in N.Y. so there is a new girl. This girl seems pretty nice but her boyfriend is over alllllllll the time and it drives me crazy. And they are always attached at the lips so its slightly awkward. But I guess she seems nice when she doesn't have a boy attached to her face. We are all taking turns making dinner again which means LOTS OF CHINESE FOR FOR ME! Woo! I love Chinese food and love eating with chopsticks.
I'm taking 19 credits (7 classes) this semester, which may or may not be the death of me. And I am applying for a job at Melaleuca. With all that on my plate... I don't know how exciting this semester will be, but I'm determined to finish school without debt. So far I only owe $1300 or so from last semester.
I love school though. The homework part not so much, but I love going to classes. I was telling my roommate before that the more I learn, even about psychology and things like that, the more my testimony grows. It just amazes me. I wish I could express how incredible it is to be sitting in a class and learn about something that most people probably don't relate to the gospel and suddenly some gospel principle that you thought you understood before has a whole new meaning thats much more profound and explains so much more than you dreamed of.
Anyways, I'm taking a dance class, Book of Mormon (second half), Old Testament (second half), Sensation and Perception, Juvenile Delinquency, Counseling Therapy, and Spanish. In other words, lots and lots and lots of reading.
Still haven't gotten around to getting an appointment to go sell my blood (not really, its plasma), but I plan on doing that as well. The things poor college students do. If I get the job, which I really hope I can get, and also donate plasma, I think I can get through this semester without using any loan money AND pay off all of last semesters debt. Wish me luck and pray for me please cause I'm going to need a LOT of extra strength and help this semester physically and emotionally but I'm determined to do it!

Yay! I feel liked a kid again... but i hated being the person that was tagged

2008-04-23T21:11:00.001-07:00

So I guess this means I get to answer some fun little questions. I know everyone is DYING to know my intimate feelings on things such as snack foods and such, so without further ado... here we go!

5 things on my to do list:
~meet w/ my academic councilor
~learn spanish really well
~stop procrastinating
~have an interesting/fun life this semester
~make it to south america to go backpacking

5 snacks i love:
~Potato chips w/guacamole
~pretzels and cream cheese
~nachos
~cheddar jack cheezits
~pita bread w/hummas and eggplant at The Whitehouse (yummm)

5 things I will never wear again
~Washington Mutual uniform
~fannypack
~clown pants (the kind that have huge hips and suck in at the feet
~pants that also act as a bra (you know what i mean)
~short shirts

5 things I would do if I were a billionaire
~donate a lot to charities and such or set up my own charitable foundation helping a cause
~save a lot
~invest a lot
~help my family with anything they needed while letting them still take care of themselves
~buy a house

5 of my favorite toys...nostalgic
~a big stuffed bear that used to be bigger than me that sister Mason took and lost :(
~"the rock" as Maranda and I called it... it wasnt a toy really but it was kind of to us...just a big
rock in our backyard...
~barbies (just to dress em up and make houses... we never really played much with em)
~waterbaby (that maranda drew on with a red marker cause she was mean and jealous)
~the couch cushions (to make cool forts that we quickly destroyed as soon as dad pulled up)

annnnd since i dont have five people that no one else has... I'm the dead link. I'm sorry :) kind of.... or maybe not... hmm.

Its All Over

2008-04-19T13:06:00.000-07:00

So here I sit... on the couch... waiting. For what you ask? For Carisa and Tim to come and get me with my mounds and mounds of junk that I felt I HAD to have in Jackson, half of which I never even looked at. I think that has to be one of my biggest problems. I am the worst pack rat you have ever seen. Not only do I keep every single thing (including receipts from years ago...don't ask me why) but I feel like just MAYBE I will need it once for some really random and unexpected event. Why throw this cute little blue ribbon away, I might have some crazy desire someday to make some cute little homemade gift in all my spare time for someone who happens to love the color light blue and collects ribbons. Why would I throw away a priceless treasure such as this? It seems ridiculous at the time. Then a couple years later when I'm going through my stuff (or when I have to pack everything up and move again) I take it out and force myself to just let it go. This is only successful half of the time and therefore I still have tons of junk that I have convinced myself is necessary or will be in the near future. So as a result, packing and unpacking are my least favorite things because I know I will have to drag all this somewhat useless crap to and from the car when I know in my mind its all for nothing because I wont use half of it and it will eventually be thrown away. Why must I burden myself so?
So anyways, here I will continue waiting till Carisa and Time arrive and say "wow, you got a lot of crap for only being here 4 months."

Sad Times

2008-04-13T15:08:00.000-07:00

I wish I could make this all fun or at least funny, but right now I'm rather sad. All of the amazing people I started with are officially all gone. I think thats the hardest part of living somewhere like this with all the people from all over the world that come to work here. All the greatest people you meet are from the opposite side of the world. Its not like they are a state away where you can take a road trip to visit them.
My last Brazilian friend, Elisabete, left Friday morning. I drove her to the bus stop and cried as she drove away. Not only was it saying goodbye to her (she's absolutely amazing and funny and sweet), but it was like saying goodbye and ending this chapter in life that I've learned and grown so much from.
Overall though, I'm so so so grateful for this experience that I've had and I really hope I can get the internship next year and have at least a few of the people I love come back for at least one last season together.
I'm going to be getting ahold of someone tomorrow that works at the CV Ranch where I'm going to see if I can get an internship. They kind of mentor emotionally handicapped kids. One of the girls in my ward works there and I was asking her about it when I first found out she worked there and it sounds really interesting. I'm sure it would be very challenging and I'll need the spirit with me a lot to help me know what to do, but I really think I could learn a ton and grow a lot even spiritually from working there. I'm crossing my fingers and hope you are praying for me cause I'm definitely hoping and praying it all works out.
So this next weekend I head back to school which in a way I'm really excited about. In a crazy way I'm kind of nervous though because now that everyone I got close to here is gone, I feel like I don't belong here anymore and with that, I feel like maybe I'll feel like I don't belong in Rexburg anymore and what would I do then? Cause usually I trust my feelings about those type of things because I see where trusting my feelings has led me and I know its the spirit telling me where its best to be... so what would I do if I don't belong in Rexburg anymore? I know its silly cause I love Rexburg and I love school and I'm going to finish school, but man, its still a silly fear somewhere deep inside me. I'm a tad crazy, this I know, cause my roommates told me everyday while I was here. lol. But what can you do?
Oh, and random side note. The DAY that Elisabete left, I started packing (since I dont think I have a day off till the day I leave) and I hear the phone ring. Its this girl asking for direction to our place because surprise to me, she's moving in. And she's moving in with me! The same day Elisabete left. It was kind of sad. She's really nice and from Rexburg as well. Her name is Sarah and oddly enough has the same initials as me. She's my replacement here I guess. lol. I dunno... anyways, thats it for me. I'm just going to go eat my pringles and cry in the corner now cause Woe is me! lol. Ciao

Crazy people

2008-04-08T23:03:00.000-07:00

Working at the bank, I decided a long time ago that the general population are not the brightest stars in the sky. And I realized that people get mean when it comes to money... But now working where I do now, I have decided
1) Crazy people and weird people travel in packs (I'm not sure if this is a survival technique or if they have some sort of chemical that draws them together) and
2) people loose their minds on vacation.
One specific instance I will refer to in regard to number one happened today. Some lady came into the store and spent more than 40 minutes looking around and PUTTING ON everything she wanted. Then when she got to the register, she commenced in taking each thing off and stating why she was buying it and talking to anyone who would listen about why it was a good deal as if trying to convince herself and others that she was making a fantastic financial investment. Her and her friend then stayed another 20 minutes after the other found a jewlery box on sale that was too good of a deal to pass up. The problem was there was only one of the boxes that both wanted. The clothes lady was upset at the box lady for taking the only box that had a butterfly on it and got mad at her for saying that it was such a good sale too loud and thats why the other boxes were gone (there was maybe one other person in the store besides them and the employees). At this point I was extremely happy that I was not at the register .
The second one I have come to realize because some people buy THE dumbest things. They will spend over $100 on meaningless useless trinkets! buying bags full of rocks and 20 key chains and then 15 other useless things and then the best part is when they look shocked that its over $100 dollars. Their eyes go wide and they say "how?" and I explain that 40 little nicknacks that cost $5 each comes out to a tad over $100 and they buy it all anyways. Most of the time. But its really annoying when the looked shocked and say "oh, well then, I don't want any of it!" and stalk away in an awful tissy like we should have said "oh well since you bought soooo much CRAP, we'll give you 50% off it all out of the kind generous goodness of our hearts." So then we are left to put back all the useless crap. Its great fun.
But I think working here has reaffirmed my original theory... the general population's intelligence level may have gone up in some areas, but common sense wise, I fear for my species.

First time

2008-04-05T19:22:00.001-07:00

So apparently this is the "new cool thing" of the family. I guess if everyone jumped off a cliff, I might too... if its my family. Call me a sucker...
Where to start. I guess I'll start with a basic update.
Right now, I am in Jackson Hole, Wy but will be leaving in a couple weeks to return to BYU-Idaho. I am thoroughly excited about that because I happen to be a nerd who loves school... at least college here. But alas, I am still working in Jackson at a big touristy shop called Jackson Trading Company.
Its been an amazing experience here and I've met some of the greatest people here. I lived most of the time with four Brazilian girls and one girl from Colombia. Two of the Brazilian girls and the one from Colombia and I are good friends, but only one of them is left with me. I learned a lot about South American culture and even picked up a little Portuguese... a tiny itty bit. I also started dating a guy from Peru named Jose. He's back in Peru now which I am very sad about, but we are keeping in touch. I'll be back next year if I get an internship here. I also got made a manager at the store which was nice because that means $1 raise! Woohoo!
So thats really my life currently in a nutshell.