april. . . according to instagram and other things

i decided to get the flu general conference weekend. spent two days with a fever above 100.

celebrated Passover with family and friends

wished for it to stop snowing.

went to the dr. about stomach pains. got an ultrasound. not prego. no gall stones. diagnosed with gerd. gotta cut back on the ice cream :(

made pazookies.

skyped a lot.

worked 40 hours during finals week.

welcomed home my sister from her mission.

went to Pizza Pie Cafe with Hyrum. and ate lotsa pizza.

stopped blogging. woops.

bought a plane ticket to vegas.

cheered BYU men's volleyball onto a MPSF victory.

jenny moved to salt lake :(

signed up for my last half marathon until after the mish. (and i'm totes not ready for it.)

graduated from BYU!

yeah so that was april. now it's may and ya'll are probably wondering where in the heazy i went. but never fear. i've moved back home (oh the joy) before my mission. and i have a goal to blog at least once a week. also, let's play before i leave to Vancouver for 18 months. saavy?

birthday week[end]

confession: birthday week was kind of crappy. i had something happen sunday that started birthday week off on a lame-o foot. i pushed through and didn't let anyone know how sad i was feeling, but the inside of me was not happy. despite that [and a little cry sesh in the bathroom during my party saturday night] i had a fun birthday weekend!

saturday the day was spent cleaning, riding front runner to and from SLC, shopping and eating at City Creek with Jenny and Abby, enjoying peaceful Temple Square, getting froyo with my dad, playing games and watching Avengers with friends. oh yeah, and here are some pictures.

surprised face!

did i mention i bought pink [coral] pants? yes i did.

monday my family had lunch and presents for me. mom made citrus halibut, rice pilaf, with veggies and fruit. she was proud she used everything fresh- even the herbs. yes, she loves me. she also made me my most favorite and delicious carrot cake. you haven't had good carrot cake until you've tasted my mom's carrot cake. deevine. i gave my parentals the camera which pretty much means the most awkward pictures ever were taken. it's fine. 

carrot cake. yuuuuum.

i'm a gem. thank you mom. 

[did you notice my pink pants??]

all in all, i had a good birthday. 23 isn't terribly exciting, but any birthday is great :) i had so many friends bring lovely and unexpected gifts. and i had a lot more people show up to my party than i ever thought! i felt loved and appreciated. it is definitely times like your birthday when you find out who the people are who truly care about you. i sadly had the discovery that some people i thought were my good friends, did not care as much as i thought they would. however, there were many more people who showed their love. and i really appreciate that! i wish every weekend were a three day weekend full of parties and fun. but sadly real life continues onward.

last year for my birthday i made the goal to be a force for good in the world. this year, as i am now 23, my goal is similar, but different. 

goal: set the world on fire with love!

here's to a great year of being 23 and showing love to those around me!

birthday week

how do you know when you're officially "old?" because in this small-town provo, i feel like this birthday i'm turning "old." really though, 23 isn't that old.
what? you didn't know it was my birthday this very week?
yes, in fact, my friends, it is.
side note: thanks to the six kind people who commented on my last post! you are the greatest ever and i will get around to answering your questions probs after my birthday. but i did find it odd that there were 80+ views on that post and only six comments. guys, i went to grade school, i know how to count. so unless the same six people viewed my page over and over, there was some serious lack of commenting going on!

i'm sure you  are all dying to know what i'm doing for birthday week: well to be honest, working a lot. i work Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. luckily i found someone to cover my shift that i had on my birthday (McKenna gets the prize!) so i can go to salt lake that day and have a party that night! however i have bunches of free stuff that i need to use so i hope i can use that a lot this week! so here is the tentative plan for bday week.

M- work and probably wash my hair (that's kind of a big deal around here)

T- class, devotional and work

W- go to costco, spin class, institute (possibly) with Bre

TH- class, work, maybe celebrate Valentine's (but for rizzle i'll probably get home from work and be bone tired and fall into bed)

F- voice lessons, chem quiz, Tucanos lunch (hopefully), bridal shower, and then boys i'm free after that so if you wanna take me out on a special birthday date, that's the time to do it!

S {my day of birthday aka the most celestial day of the year}- front runner ride to SLC, city creek, blue lemon and cheesecake factory, Temple Square, birthday party with friends at my place (yes, you're invited)

S- church, work

M- no school! birthday lunch with the family, work

bday 2012

now let me make the whole gift buying thing easy for you. i just really want your friendship (and comments obvi). . . and maybe a bag of peanut butter m&ms. for reals i'm not going to tell you what i really want because you probably can't afford it. or it will make me sound like a pathetic love hungry girl in her mid-twenties. (is 23 your mid-twenties???) i also accept gifts in the form of nail polish, funny movies, tickets to disneyland, cute clothes, phone calls from old friends, or midnight adventures.

goals: february 2013

remember how back in the summer i used to post monthly goals? well i've decided to start it up again. i make goals for the semester, but it's kind of weird now that i'm only taking two classes and then i'll be done with school for a while! making monthly goals makes much more sense. so here goes.

february is a great month because it's my birthday! however, that often gets over shadowed and ruined by valentine's day. i mean, really? my birth is more important than your love. sorry i'm not sorry. also, have you noticed how every year a sappy movie tends to come out on valentine's day? last year it was The Vow. this year it's Safe Haven (i think). i'd rather re-watch Harry Potter. (actually i'd rather stick a fork in my eyeball.) speaking of birthdays (yes we're still on that subject) i have to work on my birthday! and the day after! and the day after that! and get this, my birthday is the saturday of president's day weekend. no going out of town for me. i have literally begged for my coworkers to take my shift on my birthday (even bribing with ice cream or hot chocolate) and no one has taken it! who wants to work until 11 pm on their birthday? not me. not any normal birthday-loving person. so there you have it, i probably will be working on my birthday. at least i get paid good money for it. and get free food. woot.
i'm only a little bitter.
however, birthday month is going to be great!!!! any ideas of what i should do to celebrate the most celestial month of the year? birthday gifts will be accepted.
thank you.
and good-bye.

22.5

today is my half birthday. you should probably know i love birthdays. really i just love parties and celebrations. so what have i done today in lieu of celebrating?

 i worked for almost six hours. . .
and watched three episodes on Criminal Minds.

guysss my life is so exciting right now!

i have a hankering for boating. and since my road trip for the weekend just cancelled i would die of happiness if i could be on a boat all day on saturday. literally.

so while i decide if i am going to go buy myself an oreo cheesequake blizzard from DQ (i got one yesterday too. don't worry about it.), i'm reminiscing about my half birthday last year. it was definitely the best half birthday i've ever had!

sarah and i went to chat n chino to "work on stuff for the leadership project" and she surprised me by buying me a coke float! what a good friend :)

Richard and Marissa made french toast with pseudo buttermilk syrup for dinner. delicious.

later than night we roasted marshmallows and made s'mores thanks for the american supplies becca brought with her. let me just say that cadbury chocolate is the best chocolate to use when making s'mores. and never did s'mores taste as good as they did cooked over that small coal burning stove in uganda.

now it's my half birthday again. time really has flown. i wish with all my heart that i was in that place again. i would give up my modern conveniences and nice clothes, just to be back there again with those amazing people. 

and celebrating isn't very fun in provo when you are all alone.

that's all.

time for that blizzard.

fourth of july in uganda

last year i was in uganda for independence day. i thought it would be really hard to be away from home on a holiday that my family loves. surprisingly, it wasn't. when you are doing something you love and serving others, a holiday is just like any other day, just a little more special. so we celebrated mzungu style.

soooo excited to celebrate

we had hamburgers and chips (fries) for dinner

please love these faces about to enjoy a delicious hamburger

then we had a dance party. but i won't post any of those pictures as they could be potential blackmail photos haha. but there was definitely some air guitar and maybe even some animal worship....? no, we just re-enacted the Circle of Life with our pup Simba.

supes excited for coke floats (thank you Sarah for photo bombing)(

 i love me coke floats

aubs and me

devin and aubs

apparently something was funny. 

yes, yes it was a grand ol' party.

secretly, i wish i was celebrating there again this year....

national hamburger month

it's been on my "list" for a while now to go to Color Me Mine. in fact it was on my bucket list of 22 things to do when i'm 22 and so when i got a Groupon for a free studio fee, i had to use it! the Groupon expired tomorrow (obviously i'm all about doing things last minute) and so i got Allison, Mel and Megan (Mel's sister) to come with me. it ended up being a real fun time. i'm not super creative so i stick with the simple clean look. i painted a plate- orange center with a zebra edge. i am excited to see the final product!!! if you haven't been to Color Me Mine then you should definitely go! but unless you are made of money (or go there on a date- yay free stuff) i would wait for a deal on the studio fee because it's kinda expensive with the studio fee.

May is National Hamburger Month! did you know that? well i'm all about celebrations and i love me a good hamburger so i just had to celebrate. this afternoon Rach and I went to In-N-Out to get ourselves some quality burgers. ok i am ashamed to say that i haven't been there for probably three years. sad right? but their burgers are SO good and SO cheap! don't worry if you still want to celebrate National Hamburger Month, you've got one more day to go get yourself a burger!


oh, i also went on a date last night. bowling and froyo. really guys you would think with how many times i've been bowling on dates that i would be good at it. nope. i lost both games. but i totally think that i want to get on a bowling league here in provo next year. how do i go about doing that? do ya know? also, i just really like bowling shoes. the date was fun though. and i think i found someone who is a bigger harry potter nerd than i am! as my roommate said: is that even possible? yes. and i quite enjoy it!

weekend rewind

in the summer, pretty much every day feels like a weekend. but i still like doing weekend rewind because that is when the party is supposed to happen. i don't have tons to say about the weekend.

on friday, after Allison got out of class we went on an afternoon adventure. we first went to the Provo Library and got library cards! i felt like a little kid again! if you live in provo and want to get a library card, you just have to have a letter addressed to you here in provo and photo id. pretty simple. after we checked out a few library books, we walked over to Shirley's Bakery and bought some pastries. yum! we ate them out on the grass. it was the perfect afternoon treat.

Allison left friday night to go up to her family's cabin, so i was alone the rest of the weekend. *sad face* it is interesting how it is going from having roommates who never talk to you or hang out with you, to having a roommate who always wants to hang out with you. i love it but then when allison isn't here i get lonely!
on saturday i worked in the morning and then went grocery shopping. of course i forgot like half the things i meant to buy. oh well. then i went shopping with amberly. if you live in the provo/orem area and you like getting good deals on name brand clothing you should go check out Trendy Xchange! I am sold. I got a cute shirt for $4! i'm definitely going back. we also stopped at F21 and i picked up some sunglasses. since it was cinco de mayo i celebrated (alone because no one would celebrate with me, except claire who is in china so that didn't really work out). i made some nachos and drank my Mexican soda (mango=yum!) and watched It Takes Two. oh and i drew a mustache on my finger so i could be truly Mexican.

sunday i went to my ward for the first time. for the most part people were very friendly. i got a calling to the missionary and friendship council. i'm excited because i definitely need the extra push this summer to be friendly! after church i went to a reunion dinner with some family's we home schooled with when i was like five. it was so great to see everyone who came! also, eating food outside in the mountains definitely makes everything taste better. i don't even mind that i smelled like smoke for the rest of the day. it was totes worth it. ward prayer was another gathering in which i should have put myself out there, but i am sad to say that i didn't really. i met one new person. that's it. i gotta work on myself. i mean really? after ward prayer i watched The Help- finally. ok can i just say i loved it?? skeeter reminds me of me a little bit. it is really an inspirational movie and now i want to read the book (next trip to the library?).

this weekend was good. i was happier than i have been. i was happy all three days of the weekend. i am glad about that. how was your weekend?

birthday week: day 6-7. Family.

on saturday (after doing nothing friday night) i slept in until almost ten! it was so beautiful. you don't even know. mom came out to pick me up for the weekend. funny story: i was wearing my fake glasses (because i'm so hipster) and when i answered the door, mom didn't recognize me! no joke. she comes inside and says, "is rebekah around?" i thought she was joking and when i realized she wasn't i saw like, "hi mom....." awkward. yet hilarious.

on the way home from provo we stopped in AF and got Coldstone ice cream. finally my ice cream craving was fulfilled! i used to go to Coldstone every year for my birthday (in high school) but with no transportation slash no money the last few years i haven't gone. it was delicious. i got cake batter with brownie and sprinkles mixed in. mom got dark chocolate peppermint with snicker's mixed in.
at home mom realized she forgot to start the crock pot dinner, so we decided we would just have a late dinner. i took a car and ran a few errands. another good story. i went to rue 21 to buy my perfume (they have so many stinkin cute clothes in right now!) and this girl (probably like 14 years old) comes up to me and says "i know this is weird but you are the most beautiful person i've ever seen." i was kinda shocked. because i thought my outfit was pretty cute and stuff, but not that cute. and then i smiled and was glad that she say that. compliments always make my day! and i realized that my outfit was completely modest and i like being a role model to girls to show them that you can be cute and modest!
before dinner we watched Newsies. have you seen this flick? it is the best. young Christian Bale is in it and he is very attractive, along with his supporting actor. i was singing along to all the songs- in my mind of course.
we finally ate dinner around 9 pm. it was totally worth the wait. i'm so grateful my mom humored me and made something she had never made before! it was indian food- chicken tikka masala, rice, naan, and grapes. we even ate on the floor and had indian music in the background! i learned to love indian food while i was in africa, which was great because i already had a liking for it. we used this crockpot chicken tikka masala recipe and it turned out great! it does take some prep time though. the naan wasn't as good as what you would get at india palace or something, but it was still great. we had cake and ice cream after dinner- of course i made an epic wish. i hope it comes true! mom made carrot cake which was the best carrot cake in the state. i'm pretty positive about this. i have never had carrot cake which has measured up to it. i got some sweet presents including a book with all my letters from Uganda! i was surprised and happy about it! grandma also gave me two jars of her raspberry jam! i cannot wait to eat it! yum. i also got a groupon to Color Me Mine. it pays for the studio fee so all i have to pay for is the ceramics i buy. i can take up two 4 people. i'm thinking a double date?

later that night my friend spencer came over and had some cake. then we went back to his house and hung out with his family. i like his family a lot! have you had blue bell ice cream? well they just brought it to Utah! since spencer went to texas on his mission and i am a self- proclaimed ice cream connoisseur, we have decided we will go. can't wait!

sunday morning i woke up to snow. lame. i definitely did not pack winter sunday wear! however, i did look super springy and cute! one of my favorite ladies from my home ward said she was shocked i don't have a boyfriend. (that's twice in one week! what does this mean?)  going to my home ward was great! after church i took a nappy nap, ate dinner and then went back to provo.
it was a good weekend. i wish i could just party on forever. but i can't. monday is the last day of birthday week, and i don't have any big plans. work, study physics, blah blah. oh well. we can't party all the time!

birthday week: day 4. WORLDWIDE CELEBRATION

it really was a world wide celebration because daniel was celebrating in russia and i got birthday wishes from africa!
i'm not gonna go through the whole day because it was actually a terribly dull day. i just want to give a few highlights.

best news recieved: my little brother, Hyrum, made it into the Music School (for piano) at BYU! i literally screamed when i found out the news.

best birthday wish: (from Bojan Elly, location Uganda) "Hapi birthday dear. may God enable you 2 become old & toothless"

best compliment: (from my spinning instructor who is a male graduate student and my brother's friend, he didn't know it was my birthday): "I'm shocked you aren't dating someone."

best surprise: a phone call (voicemail because i was in class) from Russia! daniel and i were going to skype that morning but it didn't work out so he called and left me a message. left me smiling all day.

best party throwing: becca clyde- thanks for the party girl! i really owe you one! you even did a fiesta which is what i wanted to do. the chips and salsa and cake were so good!

birthday cake time

so many pictures

birthday poster

newest characteristic of being 22: sassy-ness. i think it comes with being 22, but i am way more outspoken. i told of 3 cocky pre-med students in my physics lab. i literally wanted to punch them in the face.

best birthday card: sister sarah arnesen. she wrote a bunch of her favorite memories with me. had me smiling and missing her at the same time!

best birthday treat surprise: a plate of cookies from my home teachers. i was so hungry when i got home from school that i ate 3 in a row!

birthday letters!

soul sisters! erin and jessie

kevin- brother from another mother

i don't remember why i was laughing, but i was

favorite cousin!

all in all, it was a great birthday. i am so thankful for my friends and family who showed an outpouring of love on this special day and made me feel so loved!