#6: Eat Ice Cream for Breakfast.

After wearing pajamas to school, I decided I really like doing that kind of stuff.  Ya know, the stuff that is maybe a little weird, but a lot of fun??  So ice cream for breakfast became a must :)  Plus my mom just made homemade hot fudge, which is definitely absolutely incredible, so I had no hesitancy giving up cereal for peppermint ice cream and hot fudge.

And for the record, my sister and I both ate a full bowl of ice cream at 9:00 am and then both came to the same decision that ice cream tastes amazing.  All hours of the day.

#5: Wear Pajamas To School.

Okay so not much explanation needed here except this was a lot of fun :)  Sometimes it’s just fun to do something that’s slightly out of my normal comfort zone because I never regret it.  It just makes the day a little more fun ya know?? 

Oh and a little bonus :)  This pajama day ended up being the day after a night with 3 hours of sleep so pajamas worked out great for my spur of the moment nap in the JFSB.  Nothing beats a midday campus nap. For 2 hours. In footie pajamas.

#4: If You Can't Say Something Nice, Don't Say Nothing At All.

I feel like I need to start this one with the disclaimer that this goal is MUCH more than a week accomplishment and will be a lifetime work in progress, but it was a good emphasis week where I learned a lot, and brought good motivation to want to always make a better effort when it comes to what I say about other people.

There were lots of interesting little lessons, but the biggest thing I just want to get down is the realization of just how easy it is to say things about others that aren’t necessarily bad, but maybe don’t need to be said.   And I found that I was catching myself a lot more than I first thought I would need to. 

One other thing of note…there is ALWAYS something positive to say about a person.  Again, I’m far from perfect and have quite a deal to learn, but ya know that statement about 2 groups of people in the world?  The ones you love and the ones you don’t know well enough yet?  Well I believe that more and more every day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGt9jAkWie4&feature=related

#3: Tell a Teacher Thanks.

Okay so this one seems simple enough, and really it was, but it also ended up being a little harder than I first thought.  To be honest, I forgot about doing it until Friday, when I was sitting in my World Religions class, and so I told myself, “Alright, easy enough.  I’ll just tell my World Religion teacher thanks for a being a good teacher.” 

But then as I thought more, I thought it’d probably be better to thank him specifically for that day, and in order to do that, I had to listen carefully and really get everything out of the lesson.  Ha and ya know I got SO much more out of that class than I ever have.  I go to class and take notes, but it’s mostly just copying down whatever he’s writing on the board and spending the rest of the class fighting sleep.  So on Friday I switched things up and I took more time to listen to the comments being made and the discussion going on in class.  And I’ve never thought about this before, but I think that is totally how smart people become smart…they just learn whatever they can wherever they go and pick up on a TON more than just going through every event so they can “check off” each part of the day.  Interesting realization :)

And then after class, my teacher was talking with another student, so I ended up waiting 5 minutes or so to say something, but I’m glad I did.  I could tell he was expecting me to ask him about the homework or the papers we had just worked on this week, but I just said, “Hey thanks.  I got a lot out of the lesson today and I really like everything you do as a teacher.”  He looked kind of surprised, but he also just smiled and said basically that he really appreciated that. 

So moral of this story…really not a big deal to take an extra minute to tell someone thanks, and it’s totally worth it.  I bet you won’t regret it ;)  Happy Thanksgiving!

#2: Laugh. A lot.

So this was a fun one and it actually ended up being pretty easy because well there’s just a LOT of things that make me laugh.  But I did discover something kind of cool…the more I thought about things that made me laugh, the more other things just became funny too.  And ya know?  There’s ALWAYS something to laugh about.

Few of the laughs of the week:

·         Sitting in World Religion class and watching my huge notebook dramatically fall off my desk and simultaneously seeing the page I was writing on be ripped right out of the notebook and fly the other direction.  My professor stopped mid-sentence, looked at me, and said, “Ha. That was funny.” Then went on with his lecture.

·         Watching my friend Ethan try and cross his eyes. Classic.

·          Walking across campus and then seeing a little 5 or 6 year old girl come running towards me with a clipboard. She stopped me and asked, “Can I ask you a question?” I said yes then she said, “Okay. Are you afraid of spiders?”  I said yes, then I see her clipboard, which had a paper with a big yes on one side and a big no on the other. She added a tally on the yes side, then ran away. Laughed the rest of the way home.

·         Horton Hears a Who…I’ve never seen it before and expected it to be alright, but I seriously laughed for 2 hours straight.  If you haven’t seen it yet, watch it. Love it.

·         Talking about the roles of girls and boys.  For the record, boys need to be able to lift a wheelbarrow. Girls need to have babies.

·         The mailman’s look after I asked him if it was possible to overnight a Jamba Juice to Texas. Ha it was PRICELESS.

And just a little something to make you laugh.
 Story of my life.

101 Things.

So a couple weeks ago, I found this book my mom gave me called “101 Things You Should Do Before You Graduate.”  And ya know I’m always looking for things to add a little extra fun to each day and week, so in pen and ink (typing and blogpost??) I am going to finish all 101. Before I graduate.  So with that being said, let me introduce #1:

#1: Make Exercise a Habit

Ha and let me just say this one was definitely a PERFECT one to start with.  Exercising used to be a foreign term to me meant only for moms and such but then I came to college and well let’s just say my mom did a really good job of giving me well balanced meals and keeping minimal treats at the house and I TOTALLY didn’t even realize what a blessing that was until I finished a full year of college…there came a point at the end of winter semester where I just felt sick all the time.  Seriously though.

BUT good news :) I got fully acquainted with the gym over the summer and now I’m finding a good balance between the craziness of school and leaving time to cook myself full meals and go to the gym, but I’m adjusting.  Since I’ve started this goal a few weeks ago, I’ve met my weekly challenge of going to the gym at least 3 times each week.  So all is going up and I plan on continuing this goal, and also moving on to number 2.  Basically, yay for goals and goal setting and trying to balance homework with other stuff.  And stay tuned for more ;)

Studying.

This is how I feel about studying. And the library. And college.

The Best Two Times of the Year.

So I know I’m a week late but I can’t let Conference pass by without saying something because the first week of April and October definitely qualify as two of my most favorite times of the year Ever.  Nothing beats the combination of good friends, mommy made food, and sitting on a couch for hours but not feeling guilty because you’re getting a constant stream of inspirational goodness :)

On Saturday some of my roommates, my momma, and me went downtown and watched a couple AWESOME sessions of conference and ate at the Garden.  I branched out from my usual Fettuccini Alfredo with Chicken and Sundried Tomatoes and got Lasagna, which could possibly become a very memorable moment of my life.   And after Conference I had a much needed shopping trip with my roommates, along with a movie night where we watched 17 Miracles. Watch it. Love it.

So then I wake up on Sunday morning…the best feeling in the world has got to be waking up to the smell of hot pull apart rolls coming out of the oven :) And eating endless food and watching conference with my roommates and family is just exactly the sort of break any hard working college student needs (which ya know makes sense because that DEFINITELY describes me and my roommates to a tee. Ha.).  But basically laying there made me realize this thing I’m living called life is pretty great.

Also, more importantly, I had a good reminder that I am part of a REALLY neat church.  I am addicted to that incredible feeling I get every time President Monson stands up and bears his testimony of the Savior and the truthfulness of this church.  And the incredible love that I feel from the prophet and each of the apostles for me individually is something that is incomparable.  Moral of the story there is a church that is growing every day and is spreading to the every corner of the world and I get to be a part of it.  I definitely have moments sometimes where I feel small or insignificant, but remembering the immensity of the work that goes on in this church and the purpose I have here on earth just changes everything around. And THAT is why every day that I’m living now is really so beautiful and full of sunshine and love. And I really hope I can become the sort of person that doesn’t let a day pass by without being grateful for it :)

Pushing Myself One Step at a Time.

Mmmk just so it’s clear to everyone, I’ve never been what some like to call athletic and I don’t think I ever will, which is okay with me because I can do other things, but it’s just one of those things in life you appreciate in other people.

With that being said, my roommates and I decided to run a 5k last Saturday and I ran the ENTIRE time.  We’ve been running most school nights these past couple weeks and ya know I ran it in a fairly decent time.  At least by my standard :)  And I decided that I’m not destined to be a runner and, pathetically, the 5k definitely pushed me, BUT I did it.  I said I would and I did.  And watch out…this time next year? 10k ;)  

PS...Note to self.  Blogging and college?  Bad combination. 

PSS…Second note to self.  Be a better blogger.  Even with college.  

Why I Love My New Apartment.

      So I guess I’m an official blogger now because the past couple weeks things keep happening and I’m like "Oh I should blog about that!" Ha. But there’s really not time for everything so congrats to you Claire.  Love you. Love marriage.  And friends reading this, I made a purse.  Yup sewed one all up by myself.  And eventually maybe I’ll get a chance to write about that too but…

Today’s little note is about my new apartment.  Because everything about my apartment makes me happy.  It means being back together with best friends, taking a step up in everything from last year’s dorm, AND school hasn’t started yet so absolutely nothing stressful and hard.  Yet :)

The biggest reason really is the difference between Heritage Halls and my new apartment.  I wouldn’t trade where I lived last year for anything, but it definitely makes everything seem pretty dang nice in my apartment now.   And I could probably go on and on to list everything that I love about it but I’ll try and narrow it down into the top 10 best things…and maybe they mean nothing to anything else but compared to what I’ve had they are all pretty exciting things for me :)

1. Entertainment center for the tv.
2. Actual separate area from the kitchen and family room.
3. Nice big kitchen with new cabinets AND a pantry.
4. Black leather couches that match with basically ANY pillows and decorations we get!
5. 2 bathrooms.  2 showers. 2 toilets.
6. Big mirror to get ready and spot to hook in my wonderful little zoom in mirror for doing my make up.
7. 6 deep bathroom cabinets. 1 for every person so no more transporting bathroom stuff back and forth!
8. My closet….ha which actually is smaller than last year and was a PAIN the first day but I hooked in this cool little second rack for more clothes and it fit perfectly with my shoe racks and it just all squeezes in there so nicely and now it’s just perfect.
9. My new pink and cream damask bedspread and my little black flower pillow. 
10. 5 best friends to live in it with me :)       

There were a few small things that held me up a little bit setting up but really I have NOTHING to complain about and I can’t even express how excited I am to start the new year.  In my cute new little apartment where everything just has worked out so well...guess I'm just one lucky girl :)

Family room.

Bedroom door.

My bedroom.

Best Sister EVER.

Alright so today’s little page is about my sister Mary.  I’ve never met a more thoughtful and selfless person and I definitely have her to thank for the best parts of my week.  And I guess the best way to sum her up is to explain the way she lives her life so here’s a quick rundown of the past few days:

Wednesday night I went to bed super tired and just hoping that I’d be able to get up and get going in the morning before a long day at work.  Then Thursday morning comes and, 5 minutes before my alarm goes off, Mary comes into my bedroom with breakfast in bed.  And it’s a HUGE plate full with french toast and hash browns and bacon.  And a fruit bowl.  And juice.  She didn’t say this, but I know it must have taken her at least an hour to pull it all together and she still made time to get it all done before she left for an 8:00 class. 

Summer 2011 in California.

And then on Saturday I had a really long shift and didn’t have a chance to grab dinner.  Mary had a full day of work too, but she remembered that I would be working through dinner and came into work with Wendy’s chicken sandwiches, a huge drink, and chocolate muffins.  And she brought the same thing for the other girl on my shift that night…a girl that Mary doesn’t even know and hadn’t even met, but she thought she’d probably be hungry too.

Last night Mary helped me look for my cell phone charger, which took forEVER and then we spent the night catching up on the Glee Project…which I LOVE watching every week but I know is really not Mary’s first choice.

And about 30 minutes go she was about to eat the last chicken sandwich but found out I was hungry and then wouldn’t eat it so I would.

I could back up and talk about every other week too because they’re all pretty similar.  My sister really truly knows how to look for someone else’s need and make them happy.  I’ve never seen a better example of someone who really lives a life of service and, even more than just happily does things for other people, she insists on it.  I don’t know how I got so stinkin lucky to have a sister like her but I sure am So grateful and I know I learn new things from her every day about the person I want to be.  And I get her forever! :)   I guess having Mary around is the thing that helps remind me life is good.  And FULL of blessings.

Goodbye Grandpa.

Last week my grandpa passed away.  He had been having a lot of health problems, but it still was surprising news that it was bad enough to be a life or death situation.  The whole funeral service turned out really nice and every part just made me think about how neat of a person my grandpa was.  My whole family also put little notes inside his coffin at the funeral and I wrote mine, but then I forgot to bring it with me when we all said the last goodbyes.  But I know he’s still here with me so here’s my letter to you grandpa :)

Dear grandpa,

Thank you for taking the time to be a part of my life.  I know it’s not easy to be a big influence on all your grandchildren’s lives, but you really made a point of being there and it made a difference for me.  I loved all the times we spent together and grandpa time tickets were the best thing EVER.  The Tran Siberian Orchestra concert was probably a little louder than you thought it’d be and it probably wouldn’t have been your first choice, but you told me you had a good time anyways :)  The plays we went to at Hale Center Theatre were all so much fun and I loved being able to get lots of treats during the plays because my mom never let me when I went with her.  And I loved that whenever we went out to eat, you always let me choose where I wanted to go most.

You were always so easy to talk to, and mainly because you genuinely cared about me and what was going on in my life.  You knew a lot about what was going on with me, even though I didn’t see you a lot, because you took the time to listen.  One of my best memories of you was going over to your house one day to drop off something, and I ended up staying for an hour or two just talking with you.  After the usual update on my life, we somehow ended up talking about how you met grandma and how you fell in love.  It was so fun for me to hear you talk a little more about your life when you were younger and I related to you in a new way after that.

Anyways, there are so many other memories that I could talk about, but grandpa just know you really were an incredible person.  You made a difference in a lot of people’s lives, including mine.  I’m going to miss you a lot, but I know you’re happy and with Heavenly Father.  I love you so much and I’ll see you again soon :)

Love, Annie.

Little Note to the Mailman.

Today I went out to the mailbox not really expecting anything, but hoping, and hoping more than I thought I guess because I was fairly disappointed when I opened up the mailbox and saw a stupid ad postcard and a home magazine.  Both for my mom.  How lame is that??!!  I mean I can’t always get the letters I want exactly, but at least a coupon or wedding announcement or SOMETHING would be nice. 

But anyways it just got me thinking.  It doesn’t really seem fair to give all that power in the hands of one person ya know??  I remember one time specifically a few months ago when there was one certain letter I wanted SOOO badly and my extremely frustrating college dorm mailman didn’t come till 8 p.m.  8 AT NIGHT!!! 

And there was definitely more than once last semester where I sat out in the kitchen doing my homework right by the window where I could watch exactly when the mailman came and then creepily waited right by him until he finished putting the mail in each of my dorm’s mailboxes.  And then after all that I sometimes still wouldn’t get anything.  Pathetic?  Probably.  Controllable?  Definitely not. 

But I also guess, in the mailman’s defense, I should say that the mailman has been the one responsible for making my day more than once too.  There’s been times where a letter was all I needed to turn my day around and I have no one but the mailman to thank for that.

So with all that being said, just a quick note to the mailman.  Please keep in mind how much you affect this little girl’s life.  Please be considerate of how it makes me feel when I get your mail after dark.   And ya know if you don’t see anything for me, you could always just write me a quick note to say hello.  But also thank you.  Thank you for all you do to deliver those wonderful surprises, because whether it’s a package with something new, a letter from my family saying that they miss me, or a letter from a close friend or a cousin on a mission letting me know they’re still okay, each one makes me strangely happy in a way that nothing else really can.

Starry Nights and Bug Bites.

So last week my dad decided to take my little brothers and 2 of my cousins on a backpacking trip down to southern Utah.  My dad was telling me a little about it the day before and, in a moment of feeling adventurous, I took off a day at work and decided to join in.  That feeling to try something hard went away about an hour later, but I had already said I was in and had a couple free days, so I went :)  And now that I’m back, I guess it’s safe to say that I had a pretty good range of experiences from enjoyable to not so much…

First of all the not so fun:

·         30 miles of hiking under a hot sun…definitely wore on me after 3 days.

·         My face that’s peeling pretty bad since I got home :(  For some reason my nose is the first thing to always peel and at the beginning of every summer, I can always count on getting a bright red nose at least once.

·         Horse flies.  Thankfully they left me alone while I slept, but by the time I was done hiking, I had somewhere between 10 and 15 bites on each leg and every one itched like cRRazy.

·         Peeing in the wilderness.  Not a fan. 

·         Being the only girl.  I think I’d prefer having the moral support of someone understanding the things that make backpacking trips a little more difficult for a girl (note previous bulletpoint).

And the little better stuff:

·         30 miles of hiking under a hot sun.  K I have to put it on the good list too because I got a fairly good workout and not a half bad tan.

·         Getting to see a REALLY pretty canyon and slide down rocks in the river that were kind of like mini waterslides.

·         Introducing my dad to Justin Beiber in the car on the way down.  I don’t think he really warmed up to the Ludacris sections yet, but ya know I don’t think he half minded the chorus :)

·         My brother’s short shorts.  Jon thought it’d be funny to wear these bright purple short shorts the whole hike and, for most of the trip, nothing but the purple short shorts.  He borrowed them from his friend (who bought them from the DI), and while I think that’s TOTALLY disgusting, it was pretty entertaining to watch other people see him and almost immediately avoid eye contact :)

·         The bathroom down at the bottom of the canyon.  Once you hike a good 10 miles down the canyon, there’s this bathroom sitting in the middle of the canyon.  It was clean and had no smell.  I don’t know how in the world they got that thing down there, but I’m not going to lie it was probably my favorite part of the whole trip.

·         Sleeping under the stars with my little brothers and talking until I couldn’t keep my eyes open anymore.

·         Talking with my dad as I hiked and also getting to just sit and talk with my dad one night for about an hour while he massaged a sore muscle out of my foot.  If that’s not love I don’t know what is :)

So while there were definitely some ups and downs in there, I think it ended up being a pretty good trip.  Even doing the hard things still ended up being okay because I kind of like proving I can be a man and rough it out if I have to :)  And after a couple days with my dad and brothers, I think I realized even a little more that I’ve got one pretty dang good family.

Sleeping with my brothers in the back of the truck
at the trailhead the night before we started the hike.

Hiking down in the bottom of the canyon.  Note the purple shorts.

The heaven sent bathroom.

Just after getting out of the canyon :)

Why I Want To Blog.

Okay so I’ve always thought about starting my own blog and even did make one when I was a sophomore.  That blog lasted about a week….then I just thought it looked ugly and it got old.   BUT it’s been on my bucket list awhile and I really thought it sounded like fun so here I go again.  And this time for real :)

The main reason I want to have a blog is for me to be able to record a little bit of my life down.  I’ve been pretty good at keeping up a journal and now I look back at what I wrote a couple years ago and it’s a lot of fun.  It’s kind of cool to see what I cared about enough to write down when I was 15 and how that compares to now.   Ha my first few months of consistently writing in a journal was when I was in Germany for a few months and I was seeing all of these aMAZing places but almost every entry is me talking about my friends back at home and who was mad at me and who I got along with and what boys I liked.  Dumb dumb dumb.  But I guess that’s what mattered most at the time :)  Now thankfully I’ve improved a little bit on what I want to remember about my life (although boys have stayed pretty consistently throughout my journal…somehow there always ends up being a WHOLE lot of pages about them).  

Anyways, this matters because if I’ve enjoyed writing in my journal so much, then why not a blog??  Writing this blog is definitely a good way for my family and friends to see what I’m up to since I don’t see all of them nearly as much as I want to, but it’s also just a good thing for me.  Just write down the small daily things that I sometimes overlook each day, but then look back and realize that all those moments pushed together are the things that make up my life.  So this blog really isn’t for you if you want to learn how to do something or read some funny story.  It’s not worth reading if you want something inspiring because I’m definitely not that.  But if you care to see what’s going on with me or just see a page or two out of my life…well enjoy :)