Merry Christmas!

I am in St. George, three days in to my blissful Christmas break. I forgot my camera, although my lovely roomie Audrey is going to bring it to me, but until then, I can't post any pictures.... sorry y'all!
But there is snow on the ground in St. George which hasn't happened in ages! Its very exciting, but a little crusty and thin :) I love St. George!
I have done a lot of baking since I have been home; I have personally made at least 8 dozen cookies. We are done baking all the sugar cookies and are going to start the frosting process tomorrow.
To combat the fat that is trying to stick itself to my body, I worked out extra hard to day. . . and had to go to the chiropractor as a result. Yeah, he wants to see me back on Wedensday. I have no idea how I did this.
I am going to bed early tonight because I am getting up at 7:30 a.m. to get my hair colored. That is earlier than I have gotten up in like two weeks! The lengths girls go to for their hair! I mean to think that two sane women are waking up at that hour to smell chemicals and read gossip magazines for two hours is a little crazy. But that's what we do. I want these ugly britney spears wannabe roots gone before all the pictures are taken for Christmas! Seriously. I know my appointment is soon, but I still don't know what to do with my hair. To some people, this is a big decision. To others, they don't think about it because they do the same thing every single time. To me, I show up, tell Tami what is bothering me about my hair, and say "surprise me". I am leaning toward brown. Or red. Or anything that is less like my current straw yellow blonde.
Pictures to be posted later on with the results.
Peace out :D

Back in business baby!

I got my computer back on Monday of this week! I am very happy; I will no longer have to endure withdrawls. I got Microsoft Office from a friend and installed it last night, and downloaded skype firefox, and converters etc. so I am back in business baby! Woohoo!
The computer wizards on campus couldn't get anything off my hard drive, so all of the pictures that I've ever taken, and all the music I previously had on my computer is gone for sure. They gave me my old, broken hard drive back though, in this little plastic baggie, which was pretty funny because (a.) I don't want a souvenir because I am trying to forget this ever happened, and (b.) what am I supposed to do with it? Maybe I can be creative and use it in my next art project. I will let you all know.
But there are two morals to this story: (1) Buy an external hard drive and put everything important on it as a back up. Don't let this happen to you! (2) Send me any pictures that you have of me so that the past three years of my life don't fall into an undocumented black-hole. I need proof that I have been doing something with my life besides studying and working!

A List of the Positive

There is pretty much no way around the fact that I have had a pretty crappy week; I am not going to lie. And the light at the end of the tunnel (Thanksgiving break) is still a few days away, so in an effort to counter my current mood of frustration, I have decided to make a list of some things that have gone right this week.
1. I held a baby yesterday (courtesy of Maggie's sister)!
2. I went to a pre-Thanksgiving dinner for friends that was yummy and lots of fun.
3. Everyone liked the pumpkin dessert I made! The recipe is so simple it feels like cheating - here's the link http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/recipe.aspx?recipeID=7918&Source=SearchResultPage&terms=pumpkin%20cake
4. I got an A- on a paper I thought I had totally messed up on.
5. My parents are awesome - they call me.
6. My cousin Glen is coming for Thanksgiving.
7. I am reading a book for extra credit in a class that is interesting and very applicable to life.
8. I have a job that allows me to "take a free" which means all I have to do is simply call them and tell them I'm not coming to work that day. I took a free on Saturday, and loved it! :)

Swings, Tag, and Soreness

So this past Sunday afternoon, some of my amazing friends and roommates went to a nearby park for a picnic and to play kickball. We never actually got around to kickball, because jungle gyms and swings apparently have still not lost their charm when you are 20-23. Discovering this fact made me extremely happy!

We spent 90% of our time either on the swings a jungle gym. Our main activity was ninja tag which we played on the jungle gym for over an hour. Ninja tag is a game in which the "it" person is blindfolded while trying to tag anyone they can find. All the players, except for the "it" person, are required to stay on the jungle gym at all times, while avoiding being caught. The game is fun because you have to be really creative with your super awesome ninja skills to avoid being tagged. Hanging off the sides of railings, and jumping from the fire pole to the slide without touching the ground are both excellent examples of the sweet skills necessary for winning (which means simply evading a blind person who runs into all the metal bars that the jungle gym is made of). The added bonus of the game is that you get to laugh at the poor blind "it" person as they walk around like a zombie with their hands in front of them. Taunting your blind friends is also extremely funny :) I also loved the fact that the parents that were there with their kids got a huge kick out of watching college students be so entertained by activities that their children do. One couple even expressed their disappointment when we finally left. hahaha

So the point is that I have several comments about this outing.
1. I love my friends for having so much fun being kid=like
2. I love the fact that the weather has been so awesome for so long this fall
3. Girls like to prove their sweet ninja skills too
4. I am sore from all the monkeying around, and I have no idea how kids do it
5. I am now going to develop an exercise program for moms based on tag and other games to be played on the jungle gym. If I don't make any money, at least I will be as in shape as a child. Which, apparently is saying a lot.

Dilbert is the best!

Dilbert is my favorite comic. Often times it is the only reason that I even pick up the Daily Universe (well, Dilbert and on Tues. the Police Beat - see Andrea and Adam's recent post of the best of the police beat). The sarcastic commentary on the workplace is awesome! And it always has just the right amount of truth behind it. If you ever happen to glance at the comics, just know that I am probably still chuckling from my daily dose of Dilbert.

Since this one is so hard to see, here is the link. http://www.dilbert.com/strips/comic/2008-10-10/

Prop 8: Beyond Defending Marriage

You all have probably heard the name "Proposition Eight" and know that it has something to do with gay marriage in California. I feel the need to shout from the roof-tops that the definition of marriage is only the tip of the iceberg among the implications Proposition 8 will have if it does not pass. The events in California regarding defining marriage will have a huge impact on the entire nation's freedoms of religion and speech. And court cases in other areas tell us what will happen in our future. For example:

(1) In 2000, 61% of California voters voted to have marriage defined as a union between a man and a woman in Proposition 22. On May 15, 2008, the California Supreme Court violated the wishes of the majority by striking down Proposition 22. They completely ignored 61% of Californians!

(2) In Canada where same-sex marriage is legal, ministers who preach against same-sex marriage can be sued for hate-speech and risk government fines. The situation in Canada foreshadows what very likely might happen in America once same-sex marriage is defined legally. This is a huge blow to both freedom of speech and religion. What if our government begins to try to limit what we can say in General Conference?

(3) In Boston, the Catholic Charities recently closed down its adoption program because the state of Massachusetts insisted that every adoption agency must allow same-sex couples to adopt. Thereafter, an affiliated agency in San Francisco did the same. Will LDS Family Services be forced to close its doors?

(4) A Methodist group in New Jersey lost part of its tax-exempt status because it refused to allow two lesbian couples to use its facility for a civil union ceremony.

(5) In Albuquerque, a wedding photographer was ordered by the state's Human Rights Commission to pay $6,637 to the attorney for a gay couple because she declined to photograph the couple's commitment ceremony. She had explained to them that because of her religious beliefs she photographed only traditional marriages.

(6) Doctors in America can no longer refuse to perform artificial insemination of lesbians even if other doctors are willing to perform the procedure.

(7) In Massachusetts, a 2nd grade class was read a children's story of a King and a King who married each other and were told they could marry either a prince or a princess, and these children's parents were told by the courts they had no right to be informed beforehand if same-sex marriage was going to be taught so they could take their child out of school for that part of the curriculum.

Our rights as citizens of America are being threatened. Freedoms of religion and freedom of speech were the rights our country was founded on, and now our own people are attacking these rights. It may be that soon in the future, you will not be legally allowed to act according to your conscience to choose whether or not to support same-sex marriages. But will this be the end to the limitations on our freedoms in the future? Once a law to be passed, courts almost always support those laws that were made previously by the Supreme Courts, such as California's.

Wars have been fought for our freedoms that are currently being threatened. If I recall, there was a little tea party that started a big war because the people's voices weren't being heard. And the courts in California just did something eerily similar. I feel like the question of defining marriage has the potential to snowball.

Protect our rights. Vote for Proposition 8 if you live in California. Educate yourself and spread the word to everyone, because everyone knows a Californian they could talk to about this to get another vote. Donate to the cause at protectmarriage.com. The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.

A Personality Color Code

For my business writing class we were required to read The People Code which was previously published as The Color Code. The author, Dr. Taylor Hartman, claims that every person on the planet has one of four core motives in life, and by understanding how our core motive can influence our lives, we can understand ourselves and and all types of inter-personal relationships better. The four core motives are power, intimacy, peace, and fun (in an incredibly over-simplified explanation), and each motive corresponds to a color: red, blue, white, and yellow respectively.

I took the test to find out which color I am, and what do you know? I am an completely even split between red and blue. Great. According to the book my even, multiple dominant colors indicate that I have the most inner turmoil of any of the color combinations. Having inner turmoil is like my middle-name, so maybe there is something to this theory! Or maybe I just have a split personality and don't know it :)

The book is interesting mainly because after detailed descriptions of each type of motive force, the ease with which colors are combined, pitfalls in communication between person's of different colors, etc. are addressed. If you read this book, you will forever view inter-personal relationships differently. The information this theory provides can be quite helpful, because I think it is relatively accurate.

But the point is, after reading the book, I can more easily identify other's personality color, and as such, I have developed an intense desire to know if my postulations are correct. So if you've ever taken the test or heard about this theory enough to know what your color is, leave a comment for me. I am dying to know! Also, there is a free online test at http://www.colorcode.com/personality_test/. Copy and paste into your browser, take the quiz, and tell me your results!

Just call me Piet

This weekend I became an artist- I painted a painting for my bathroom.
It all started because I had this shower curtain that was white and black, and both yellow and blue towels and I felt that I needed something to tie it all together.
I started by coloring a few of the white circles on the shower curtain yellow, but that took too long. Markers are small! So I thought bigger. And that led me to a painting I loved from ArtH 202 a year ago. An altered version of it was going to be just what I needed! So, I bought canvas, paint and those cheap sponge brushes and designed my work in the neo-plasticism style of Piet Mondrian's Tableau 2.
And then I took the paint to the shower curtain (much faster). :) I had a lot of fun, and didn't even get the paint too many places that it isn't supposed to be! But I am still waiting for the blue to come off my toe :)

Honorable mention for this blog goes to the football team. There has yet to be a point scored against BYU during their past two games! Woohoo! They are so awesome!

As a very random side note, I would also like to mention that I apologize for the obnoxiously gigantic picture of myself that has been at the top of my blog for such a long time now. "How conceited is this girl?" you are wondering. The truth of the matter is I couldn't figure out how to make it so much smaller the way I wanted, and so I got frustrated and gave up and have been ignoring it ever since. Please try to do the same until I find the time and patience to fix the problem. Cheers!

I suddenly love football

Dear readers,
I am writing to inform you that I went to the BYU vs. UCLA football game today, and I loved it! As someone who previously has had a very hard time sitting through an entire game, this comes as a small surprise. My throat hurts from screaming, and my hands were sore from clapping. I would just like to say that admiring the skill with which people beat each other up in a civilized way is thrilling. I mean, at the beginning of the game there was this amazing tackle, and another time one guy vaulted himself over the man that was running at him. It was crazy! The point is that this is the first time I have owned an all-sports pass, and I am loving it! I had excellent, twelfth-row seats today and I heard that they aren't rotating the seating this year! (And btw, I was so glad when the guy in front of me finally took off his huge gardening hat. It was totally blocking the view.) An added perk is that we are in the corner next to the portal through which the players run onto the field! Mmmm yeah :) Ha ha ha! Life rocks.

Major #4 or #5, I've lost track.

Yes, its true. I've done it again! I changed my major. I understand that these changes are so frequent its getting a bit ridiculous, but the change was necessary. I left the elementary education program and am now a business management pre-major. I have some classes I have to take before I can apply, but hopefully I will be in the program by spring term, so that way I will not be as behind in my efforts to graduate on time.
After starting off here at the Y as a Physiology and Developmental Biology major I've switched to education, to accounting, to the Elementary Ed and Early Childhood Education program and now to business. Its been a lot of work!! And just so you know, I'm not making any guarantees that this one is going to stick. Maybe I have commitment issues :-) But seriously, I am almost nervous to post this, because I realize how flighty all of these changes make me seem. But all I can say is that it is what it is :)
So good thing I enjoy going to school, because I'm going to be around for a bit longer, especially if I take a break and leave on a mission this summer. But who knows if I will ever be able to make a decision and stick to it on that one! Ha ha ha :) So, come 2011, look for me on campus, because I might still be here!

Movie Stars Love Lake Powell

So life is blissful under the Southern Utah sun :) I got to go to lake powell the weekend after I got home from d.c. and the weekend before I got knee surgery. I'm completely in love with wakeboarding and boating in general.

The other thing of note lately is that the movie that I was an extra in, approximately 6 years ago finally came to theaters! Its called "The Flyboys". My role in it is one of those things where if you blink you miss it, but I think that you can see me in a couple of the scenes when they are at school. It's a pretty good kids movie though even if you don't see me (I didn't even see myself, but other people claim they have). There are some excellent stunts, good acting for the most part, and the main characters reaffirm my desire to have mostly sons :) I love boys! So anyway, I'm officially famous now. Oh, and if anyone reading this knows Laurel Snow Horchem, she plays the snotty sister in the film, and she did a really good job, it was fun to see her up there:)

A super weird and funny coincidence is that one of my best friends, Keith, is an extra in a movie that is in theaters currently as well. His movie his called "The Errand of Angels" which is about sister missionaries. Its also a pretty good movie that I recommend seeing. Its like a step down in goodness from "The Best Two Years", but I still enjoyed it, probably because seeing Keith in it was like the happy surprise of my life! It was filmed in Austria where he is serving his mission so I haven't seen him in a year and a half, but there he was up on that huge screen, and I almost screamed. Truly. The amount of screen time he gets is significant. The camera loved him :)

The Big D.C.

So I went to Washington D.C. for a week to visit my sister Andrea who lives out there with her husband Adam. He is going to George Washington University for law school, and Andrea just got her paralegal degree from there and is now working for a law firm. Needless to say, they are both crazy cool people who are very accomplished.
I had the privilege of having my wonderful friend Audrey come with me on the trip, and I am so glad that she did. I had so much more fun because she was with me! My sister had to work during the weekdays, and so Audrey and I kept ourselves very entertained by running around D.C. to all of the monuments, memorials, and Smithsonian museums that we possibly could. It was excellent. Audrey was in her history-nerd happy-place, and I had a blast observing her joy. And I loved going to see everything as well. Both me and Auds loved the mall the best, and the outdoor memorials and monuments surrounding it. We saw all of them at least once, and then went back to see our favorites at night. We went to the Air and Space Museum, the Museum of Natural History, the Museum of Engraving and Printing, the Holocaust Museum, the Library of Congress, the Capitol (we got a tour through our senator's office), the Supreme Court, the National Archives, Arlington National Cemetary, and other places I am sure that I am just forgetting at the moment. I also made Audrey go through the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden of Contemporary and Modern Art, which was totally awesome and amazing, and I loved :) It reminded me of how much I totally love art! Which is a lot.
This whole trip brought back so many memories of my trip through Europe it was crazy. It made me miss Europe and that whole experience so much! And the architecture of all of our national buildings didn't help. They were all designed by European architects, and are therefore all totally reminiscent of Roman, Greek, and especially French architecture. Like for example, the Library of Congress looks so much like the Paris Opera house on the outside, it is crazy. And the whole layout of Washington D.C. was done by some french dude who modelled it after Paris after the Hausmannization. The mall is completely reminiscent of the Champs-Elysees... Anyway, you can imagine me talking about the European influences on architecture and Audrey spouting off facts about U.S. Presidents and various historical events, and it is easy to see that we weren't the typical tourists. We saw about three times more of D.C. than Andrea has seen of it, and she has lived there for a year :) I am so proud. Audreys feet were literally bleeding by the end of the trip because of all the walking we did. It was hard-core. Go big or go home, and we really didn't want to come home :)
P.s. the first picture is of a group of college students protesting abortion on the steps of congress (congress is currently not is session and we were wondering if they knew that). props to them, and i love this country's freedom of speech. it was cool to see it in action in our nation's capital.
p.p.s. the bottom two pictures are of the library of congress and the paris opera house. they are ridiculously similar! there is just a lack of unique creative thought that makes our national buildings "American" rather than just copies of European grandeur. this reminds us of how young our nation was when these things were being built. craziness!

Oops I did it again

So, what do you know! Rachelle is home for the summer and dying her hair! Just two tasteful purple streaks in blonde... I love them! :) but this is better than the pink tipped hair I did last time, because i don't have to cut my hair when I want it gone.  but truly, will I ever want these gone?  i think not!  My mom's reaction was wonderful.  I really think she is getting used to me coming home from Tami with completely different hair :) I am so proud!

Florida and Finally Home

The fam and I went on vacation to Florida!  I flew there from London (by myself I might add - I didn't see anyone I knew for over 32 hours) and met them at the airport.  

We had a fabulous time despite the rain. We went snorkeling, safari-ing (in a wet bayou kind of way), and beaching :)  I loved being with everyone!  Including the gators, racoons, and jellyfish :) And I am loving life here in St. George!  Its good to be home :)  

The Best Days of Our Lives

A song came on my ipod in the middle of one of my "adventures" that sums up this trip quite well. the chorus:
"i guess when it comes down to it being grown up isnt half as fun as growing up

these are the best days of our lives

the only thing that matters is just following your heart and eventually you'll finally get it right"

In the past few days i have had lots of things happen that make life interesting and it is so true that as my dad says, there is "never a dull moment!". For example, so far in paris alone, i have walked home at like two in the morning because of train issues, walked for a day with only one heel on my new pair of yellow high heels, and realized that there is dried hairspray that soaked some of my clothes and then hardened them into stiff little lumps :) but these events make life exciting, and give me awesome stories to tell everyone. and the "never a dull moment" aspect of life keeps me laughing all the time :) when things go so wrong it is really quite funny. i love this trip! :)

Saint Chapelle! I only have a billion pictures

with the eiffel tower, but this one is funny :)

and this is the painting that i presented on in the Louvre, but this picture doesn't do it justice at all. the presentation was fun to give, and it went pretty well i think.

au revoire!

Shortest Post Ever

Hey everyone!
So I have one week left on this trip as of tomorrow!! Ack! I am so torn because I am so excited to come back to see my family and friends, but I don't want this experience to be over! I wish I could post pictures, but that will have to happen later.
So far in Paris I have spent a day in the Louvre which was amazing, and I only saw half of what I want to see (I'm going back before we leave) and I've been to the top of the Eiffel tower, and the top of the Arc de Triumph, and I just spent the day in Versailles. (Don't worry Audrey, I took lots of pictures just for you). Crepes are amazing, and the bread here is even better :) I had bread and water for breakfast this morning, and if you think that sounds drab, you've never had good french bread :) It was amazing!
Send me emails because I am missing home! Got to run! Places to go, and more weird Europeans to see and sneakily take picutres of! hahaha people watching is the best :)
If I could spell goodbye in french i would say it. :) i will say it in spanish - its okay though because I get my languages confused now sometimes anyway
Adios amigos!

Home Away from Home

A bunch of us girls went to the temple and did baptisms for the dead yesterday, and it was such an awesome experience! I seriously felt like I was home. It was so nice. I haven't felt that good in awhile. None of us wanted to leave. I would have loved to just sit in there after we were done and just chill. One of the members of the temple presidency spoke to us before we started which was awesome, and it was so nice to be there with other members of the church from Spain, and to hear everything in Spanish. I love the temple, and we are already planning on going again in England :) I can't wait!

Hola!

So I am in Spain now! That is the only consolation for leaving Italy. I loved that country!!! I am so living in Rome someday! And don't worry I already have my return trip before that planned out in detail in my head. It is going to be amazing. Anyone who wants to come with me, start saving your pennies now so you can come have the time of your life. The more the merrier, as my wonderful group of 25 girls makes obvious. I love all of them! There is always someone to talk to and hang out with. Its great :) We have a lot of fun on our adventures. I have pictures to post, so I will get to it.

This was in the piazza in front of Milan's duomo. Some guy grabbed my hand and shoved corn into it, and the pidgeons swarmed! It was funny, but I had already held a pidgeon in venice and didn't really asked to be pooped on at that time. the stranger then had the nerve to ask for money to be paid for the "service" he forced upon me... needless to say, I didn't give him a penny :) good pictures though!

This was from the one day that we had in Barcelona. I really liked the city and thought it was beautiful. The museum we went to was on this hill. Its been kind of rainy off and on lately, but it is still gorgeous, and I have always loved the rain :)

These are some of the girls in my group creepin' in a part of the Park Guell that Gaudi designed. I have more pictures of it, including the section that many of you might recognize from an America's Next Top Model season finale. The one with Melrose and Caridee, and they are scary brides... And of course we had our own photo shoot, and runway walk. Audience included because blonde americans are constantly stared at all over Europe :) No, I mean of course it is because we are all drop dead gorgeous - what was I thinking?

Come back to Sorrento

So its been awhile since my last post. This is because we have been moving around a lot lately. Just fyi, I do have a new camera that works beautifully, since my last one was stolen and although I am bitter that I am out approximately 225 dollars - why waste time dwelling on it - live and learn right? But I am having technical difficulties, so this isn't my picture, but I have one exactly like it, which brings me more joy than I can say :)

I am currently in Florence and having a wonderful time. My shower doesn't have a rim around it, so it floods the whole floor, and the phone doesn't work, and it's been raining a lot, but that's just the way I like it :) Its all part of the experience! In the time since I have last posted, I have been to Sorento, Capri, Pompeii, and today I took a day trip to Piza with a bunch of the girls. The weather was gorgeous, and even just the train ride to get there was amazing. I was reading my book, and every few minutes I would look up and be so happy, realizing over and over that I am actually in Italy! The only thing that is sad is how fast this is all going.

I would like to tell the story of my trip to the Blue Grotto. So many other interesting and totaly funny or cool things happened that day as well, but this is the one I want my parents to read. All of the getting hit on and running and exploring deserted paths with Katie, my engaged adventure buddy (no one cares if you say you are married. It has absolutely no effect, ahahaha), will be filtered for now :)

We got on a boat that we thought would take us around the island and drop us off so we could go in the Grotto. To my horror, we didn't stop and I seriously contemplated jumping off the boat and swimming. We were running out of time, and we thought that we were just not going to be able to go in. But my parents taught me better than to give up like that. I sprinted to the other boat companies searching for a boat that was still going out despite some italian telling me it was impossible and that the grotto was no good in the afternoon come back tomorrow. My ferry back to sorrento left at six, so I ran and I found a boat that would take us to the grotto and get us back in time, and after some more running with Katie to tell the other girls, and the fastest bathroom trip of my life, we made it. And it was totally worth it! It was gorgeous inside the grotto, and I felt so good, following in my family's footsteps. The boat guide sang come back to sorrento in italian while we were in there - the song that our music box has played and I learned on the piano for my dad. We were the only boat in there, and it was surreal being in the place that I saw on videotape so many years ago from my parent's trip. I came to sorrento, and don't worry, I fully intend to come back. :)

And more pictures because I love them and this computer time isn't costing me anything :)

So this is an Italian Guy that was creepy but funny who was holding Natalie and Noelle's hands, and wanting to buy us pizza. He was totally married, and don't worry, I am a genius and got rid of him before we got to our hotel. I love stained glass and am so excited for the St. Chapelle, I love this architecture, and loved the modern art and the building they built around this monument for Augustus to protect it, and the guards at the Vatican were oh so sexy ;) ahahahaha :) they weren't that friendly when I tried to flirt with them, unfortunately, but it was way fun to try anyway. and it was disappointing to learn that my charms don't work on everyone :)

Pictures

I feel like posting more pictures because I have so many! and it is so hard to choose! and I had to create another post because it will only let me do five at a time :) so there is the fruit pizza, the school of athens, my bffs entering the depths of the subway (I love public transportation) (and check out there blogs for more info as well and better group pictures with me in them - Katie, Noelle, Natlie, Jackie (not pictured) and Torrie), me in my crazy cool 6 euro green aviators at the vatican museum, and the conversion of st. paul by carravaggio. A-mazing!