Hey I Heard You Were a Wild One

The month of March was que bueno! The best part about it is only one more month till school is O-U-T. Booyah. I'm ready for the semester to be done. One year of grad school down, two more years to go. Luckily SLC opened up the new City Creek Mall to keep me sane. Granted yes, it is just a mall. But new things are always oh so exciting. And yes, I did go opening day. And yes, I have been back like ten times. But no, I have not bought a single thing there. My little job at the WF doesn't give me enough money to shop downtown. Scratch that. I bought dinner at Chick Fil A the first day. That's about where my checkbook max's. The joys of being a broke college student.

I digress... Back to city creek. Here are a few of my pics.

Lovely Tiffany and Co. Found my dream ring there. Now just need a dream boy.
Inside Nordy's. It's smaller than I thought, but I loved the dressing room/hangout spot. And the Gucci shop had a gorgeous purple dress. I asked if I could touch it and the lady there said I could try it on! Yah right. The thing cost the same as a semester of tuition. I'd rather not take the risk.

The Coach store. Much smaller than I was expecting

This is the outer part of the food court. Looked beautiful. The doors to the shops are pretty cool, opening like a garage door. Fancy.

About three weeks ago, right after City Creek opened, Josh came up to SLC to hangout. He made a call to a guy he worked with to see if we could get into the condos at City Creek. And we did. It was pretty cool. We went to the top condo first. It cost 2 million I believe. Crazy. But the view was worth it.

Looking down

You could see the temple right between the other buildings. I bet it'll look so pretty during Christmas time.

Another view from the top

I just took pics looking out of the first condo we went into, but I got to go inside a bunch of condos. I wish I would have taken a picture of the insides, or me inside them as proof. I'm a loser. My favorite was a condo that was more level with the tops of the buildings downtown. It had a door out of the main room that opened up to a patio. You could only see the Angel Moroni on the temple, but I loved it. Now I need to save up $450,000 big ones.

Oh the life I live.

On to more important things...

Mini Cadburry eggs are my all time favorite. Hands down. Don't judge me, but I ate one bag already, and just bought another one on clearance. But it did take me almost two months to finish the first bag, so I don't feel so bad. Plus I need something to keep me awake while I study for finals. Justified.

I absolutely love living down town. I took this pic on one of my runs. It's just a three mile loop from my apartment, down around temple square and back. I absolutely love running around the temple. It brings peace into my life for sure.

As do hamburgers.

Lovely dinner with Mauri and Xanning. They opened a new burger place a couple blocks from my apartment, so we had to go there right away. It was alright. But Xanning did get a fry that was bigger than her face. Bonus.

I've decided to go granola and stop straigtening my hair (don't fret, I still am shaving... but I may embrace the full granola life and stop. Joke. Sick.) Matt, one of my favorite WF customers and I have twinner hair now! I made him take a picture with me to document it. So great.

Sushi Ya! Good friends + all you can eat Sushi= fat and happy me. Life is good.

I'm pushing through the last two weeks of the semester now. I am excited to be done, but a little apprehensive to what the summer is bringing. I have to do an internship at a residential treatment center. As a therapist. Oh man. This could be good. Or bad, very bad. No i'm sure it'll be great, it just makes me feel so grown up. I'll be doing that 32 hours a week and then working at the WF (for now) 20-25 hours a week. Monday through Saturday. All that matters is that I will get summerfest off, and 4th of July off. The two most important days of the summer. And, I'm totallly going to see the Beach Boys at stadium of fire. I feel as though I am the only person who cares, but the Beach Boys have always been a favorite of mine. The first c.d. I ever bought was their greatest hits. I am that cool. Jealous? You should be.

Things to look forward to this summer:

-Finishing the semester

-Spencie's Iron man, which also means a weekend trip to St. George with the babies!

-Summerfest

-My mom's first half marathon (I'm going to try and do the full, but I've gotten lazy, so we'll see)

-Summerfest

-My Gma's 75th bday bash in Portland. Stoked to head back to Oregon/Washington.

-Stadium of Fire with the Beach Boys, and other 4th of July festivities

-Tickets to see Wicked

-Flying to Ohio for Rechelles wedding (the same week school starts)

Between my intense work schedule and my few festivites I'm sure this summer will fly by. I just hope to get a little bit of time to relax and play too. We will see. This will be my first summer post mission not taking summer classes, so that'll be nice. I've been in school straight since Jan 2010, so it'll be a nice to take a little break. Just gotta make it two more weeks! (PS, don't judge my gramatical and spelling errors. I blog to blog, not to be graded, thus I don't care.)

Well, back to the books.

Zions!

I've been debating the last few days if I should make this post or not. My life has taken a few twists and turns in the past few weeks... anyway... I decided, why not. It's my life, and it was a fun trip, so here I am.

I wanted to get away from life for a little bit, so Josh and I headed down to Zions for the weekend. Well, we stayed in Cedar City and then drove to Zions for a day to do some hiking. Angels Landing. Oh man. I've heard it was intense, but add snow and ice to the hike and it makes for an exciting afternoon.

This is essentially what our path looked like for about 2 hours. Several times we literally had to pull ourselves up the mountain, or let ourselves down.

Me in an awkward pose...

The veiw from about half way. The rest of the hike was pure snow and ice.

Some lady at the top wanted to take our picture. She took three, and this is the only one without her entire finger in the picture.

It was a really nice weekend getaway. Wish it could have lasted forever. School has been pretty stressful this semester. Different than how it was stressful last semester. I'm learning a lot though. And, I have been working on a practicum placement for next year. It's so weird planning that far in advanced. I didn't get the one I wanted, but I know I'll end up where I need to be.

On a much more depressing note... Celine got cancelled. I'm devestated. I'll have to get ticktes to go another time, but I don't think I'll be able to go back to Vegas again till October. Such is life. Good thing I had a little vacay while I could.

A little bit of this, a little bit of that

The past five months have been full of twists and turns. Most of them unexpected, several of them I hoped for, and others I have despised. It's taken a toll on me in a lot of different ways. I've discovered that I loathe change. I have a really hard time adjusting to new situations, new environments, and new stages in life. But I'm coming out on top and starting to live the life. And I'm loving it. Here's the brief timeline of my past few months...

(My little brother and I celebrating my three acceptances into grad school!)

(My mom, me, and J.B. rockin at graduation!)

( Me and my bird legs wakesurfing at Lake Powell like a pro)

(Me, Alli, and Mauri! Livin the roommate dream)

(My brief visit to the great state of Washington. The minor family , finally, got baptized! It was such a great weekend, and I was so blessed to be able to go.)

(Spencie, Me, Mauri, Alli, and Rob after the Halloween Half Marathon. Chels ran it too, but we lost her somewhere in the huge crowd!)

(The babies with Santa! Baby A was actually stoked that Santa came, he just has a funny way of showing it...)

That's the general re-cap of what's happened in the past little while. This next year is going to be fabulous. I've decided to focus on myself this year and focus on doing what's right and helping
others. Here are a few of my "resolutions" if you will.
· Call more, text less
· Read the BOM by the spring G-Con
· Run my second marathon (I'll be doing the SLC marathon this April!)
· Get a 4.0
· Write in my journal more often
· Fulfill my callings and work in the temple again (I think it'd be amazing to work in the SLC temple!)

Those are the basics of my "resolutions." My family is also doing a "biggest loser" competition. Haha! I love my family! It will be great for all of us to get into shape and just be overall healthier. I made the goal to lose ten pounds. Ha! I've never tried to lose a pound in my life, but here's my chance. I'm super competitive and hate to lose, so
I'm working hard (I say that while I eat a mini bag of m&m's). So I've been training for my upcoming marathon and doing p-90. Holy crap that's tough! But it feels so good and keeps me sane. I've learned that when I don't exercise regularly I go a little nutso. Running keeps me sane. Plus it lets me eat candy. Yum.

I've got some traveling plans in the works right now that I'm totally stoked for. First up is Las Vegas for spring break!!! I'm finally making my dreams come true and going to see Celine Dion!!! I giggle when I think about it. I'm ecstatic about it. So that's in March. In May the fam is going to St. George to see Spencie do the Ironman. The kid is a champ. He asked if I
wanted to do it, to which I replied "I'm not a man..." When they come out with the "IronWoman" then I'll consider it. So that's May. June I'll be heading to Oregon for my Granny's 75th b-day celebration! Woot woot!

(I'm hoping we get another just as fabulous family photo like this one taken in 1998.)

In August I'm going to Ohio to see one of my BFF's, Rechelle, to marry her redheaded boyfriend.

(Love this lady. She came to my farewell wearing jeans and thought it was the funniest thing she'd ever done. )

I've never been to Ohio. I've never wanted to. It'll be good though to see a different part of the country. It's been awhile since I've been to the East coast. I'm starting to think of where I should go for fall break... Lately I've been wanting to go to Costa Rica. I've heard good things about it, and it's apparently fairly cheap. So sign me up. Anyone want to join me?

So that's that. A little bit of last year, and a little preview for 2012. What an exciting time. While 2011 had some serious challenges, it was the best year of my life. I learned a ton and accomplished so much. I graduated from college with honors, got into all three grad programs I applied to, was a research assistant, finished my first semester of grad school, bought my first car, moved out, taught a few college classes, learned how to wakeboard, snowboard, and wake surf, and went on several mini vacations. It's going to be hard to top! But I'm up for the adventure. Life is so good.

Can men and women really be friends?

Man I wish I was more talented at this whole blogging business...

Watch this vid on youtube. Super funny. And totally true.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_lh5fR4DMA&feature=share

On another note. I've only got one more week of finals and then my first semester of grad school is over! Freedom! For two weeks anyway...

My Thoughts Exactly

"I forgive myself for having believed for so long that... I was never good enough to have, get, or be what I wanted." - Ceanne DeRohan

Summa Time!

Good thing my homie Will Smith used to be a musical man. What would I do with no summer theme song. "Summa summa, summa time!" Oh the lyrics of a fabulous season.

(my first ice-cream on a stick of the season!)

I decided I needed to set some goals for this summer, lest I accomplish nothing and waste my days away. So, my top ten adventures this summer are... (drum roll please)

10.) Hike Timp Caves

No this is not a picture of me. But it could be.

9.) Watch as much of this show as possible...

And learn to lift my leg like that. And get calve muscles like that. I know that wont happen while I'm watching the show. So...

8.)

I'm going to have to run this race. Yes. Have to. I may have to buy a new foot and two new knees to do it, but I miss running crazy distances at all hours of the day. I see other people running and I want to hit them with my car. Not really, but I think you can sense the envy I have when I see others hitting the pavement while I sit around and eat bon bons all day.

Moving on.

7.) I need to spend a lot of time here...

In order to look like this...

Haha! I saw this pic and about died! I don't really want to look like that, but I want to get a fabulous tan. So tan that people wont be sure if I am white, or black. I've got 3 months...

6.) On the 6th day of summer, I really want to see...

Jesus! Sort of. I want to go to the Mormon Miracle Pageant. AKA the Manti Pageant. It's June 16-18 and 21-25. Who's with me?

5.) I need one of these... Yes, it's a passport. Yes, I am 25. No, I don't have one. I need one. And I need the Coach passport cover. Yes. Need.

4.) I want to read 5 books. That seems lame, only five, but I have a problem starting books and then actually finishing them. My goal is five for this summer. Five and the Book of Mormon. I don't really count that as a book... even though it is the best book ever! If you'd like to know more about it, go to mormon.org, or just ask me!

And I have no idea what these books are. They do not look like my type of books though. If you have suggestions on books, please let me know!

3.) MOOOOOOOOVE.

And it really might take more than two men, and several trucks. I've got a bunch of junk. One of my bad habits is I find everything sentimental, and therefore keep way too much junk. I atleast admit it, right? I'm moving to SLC as soon as I get me one of these...

2.)

Yes. I need a job. Bad. Currently I have two temp jobs. One as a summer camp counselor, and one as a health educator with the Department of Public Safety. I tell teens not to drink and drive, slow down, and wear their seatbelt. Lets just say I'm a natural. But I need something a little more permanent. Growing up is so hard... Luckily I have the most important summer event ever to keep me motivated. And I mean ever.

1.)

This picture represents the greatness that is my favorite holiday. The 4th of July! For me the celebration begins with Summerfest, June 11, and continues through the 24th of July. Fireworks, BBQ's, parades, hot weather, swimming, and so much more. It's a fabulous time of year. I love it! And, this year the 4th falls on a Monday, so you better believe I will be having a 3 day celebration! Stadium of fire on the 2nd, party on the 3rd (in a religious, keeping the sabbath day holy sort of way), and parade morning of the 4th, fireworks at night, and a BBQ everyday! Life does not get any better than this!

Oh summa time.

It's going to be one fabulous summer.

Song of the moment...

Time to tell me the truth
To burden your mouth for what you say
No pieces of paper in the way
'Cause I can't continue pretending to choose
The opposite sides on which we fall
The loving you laters, if at all
No right minds could wrong be this many times

My memory is cruel
I'm queen of attention-to-details
Defending intentions if he fails
Until now, he told me her name
It sounded familiar in a way
I could have sworn I'd heard him
Say it ten thousand times
If only I had been listening

Leave unsaid unspoken
Eyes wide shut unopened
You and me
Always between the lines

I thought I was ready to bleed
That we'd move from the shadows on the wall
And stand in the center of it all
Too late, two choices, to stay or to leave
Mine was so easy to uncover
He'd already left with the other
So I learned to listen through silence

Leave unsaid unspoken
Eyes wide shut unopened
You and me, always be...
You and me, always be...

I tell myself
All the words he surely meant to say
I'll talk until
The conversation doesn't stay on
"Wait for me, I'm almost ready,"
When he meant "Let go,"

Leave unsaid unspoken
Eyes wide shut unopened
You and me, always be...
You and me
Always between the lines