how to have a successful Valentine's day when you're single

i would know. i've been single for the last. . .  22 Valentine's days. but since it only really counts when you get to college (or something like that), it's only the last five years. but who's counting? i've had generally good valentine's days despite the lack of flowers, romantic dates, and kissing in the rain (or snow).

- get together with friends (or family). my family always has a little fondue party on Valentine's and we all exchange Valentine's. i went to that for a couple years in college. or you can get together with friends and go to dinner or watch a very unromantic movie.
- make Valentine's for those around you. roommates. best friends. make them humorous or make them cute. last year i made strawberry oreos and harry potter valentine's for my friends. this year i made english toffee for my family.
- buy yourself some back up chocolate. because chances are you will be wanting some and no one will have bought you anything.
- look to the future! remember that you aren't going to be single forever and someday you will have a perfect valentine's day that will make up for all the one's you spent alone.
- remember that my birthday is just two days away (yes folks, it's on the sixteenth) and i'm having a birthday party at 7:30 pm at my humble abode (141 E 700 N #23 Provo, UT) and i would love to see you there! birthday's are more important that love anyhow.
- and if you are just having a bad week and don't really want to face the world, pick up an 8 hour shift at work. that's what i'm doing. . .
- treat yourself to something nice. be it take-out Asian food. a manicure. new clothes. or just a night off. take some time to love yourself!

i feel like this sometimes

in all reality, love is good. don't forget that. and don't forget this: that you are loved! not only is there someone, somewhere who is looking for you to make them infinitely happy, but Christ died for you, and felt pain for you, and cries with you when you are sad. don't ever forget that!  so remember that love is real. that it will come to you. and that it will be worth it. wait for it and wish for it. never let yourself become bitter. love will conquer all!

past valentine's day posts here and here

finals are over. now what?

i have this problem every year. i'm so excited for finals to be over so i don't have to stress. but then once finals are over and i've had a couple days, i start getting bored. so i have to make lists of things to do over the break or i might die of boredom. either that or i eat so much food that i gain ten pounds. (that is no scientifically proven, and is probably a hyperbole.)

so what am i going to do over Christmas break?

Watch these movies: Elf, White Christmas, Miracle on 34 Street, It's A Wonderful Life, Charlie Brown's Christmas

Go to Temple Square (on a date?) 

Go sledding

Decorate gingerbread houses

Go Christmas caroling

Get a photo with Santa

Make oreo mint pops/truffles

Do a blog Christmas countdown

Read Harry Potter series

i'm also going to work a lot and make mounds of money. i'll spend time with family. and i plan on working out every day and running every day that it's possible. there's 10 days until Christmas! 

what fun things do you have planned for the holiday season?

a slice of reality pie

this is not the kind of pie you eat at Thanksgiving. although my Thanksgiving Break didn't involve anything hugely monumental, it was a terrific break from school. this morning i woke up and reality hit me hard- like a bad hangover. (note: i don't know what a hangover feels like, but i had a horrible migraine and i figure a hangover can't be much worse.)

our toilet was clogged and overflowing. when i woke up i found that my roommates had used every paper towel in the house to clean up the water (next time let's use a mop or rags ok?) and our manager was in DC, unable to assist us as our bathroom flooded with sewer water. yum. we don't have a plunger so i borrowed one from my brother and tried to fix the toilet. nope it didn't work. it stopped overflowing, but the water is like a centimeter below the top of the toilet. . .  thank goodness for will smith! he came over and fixed the toilet! i guess it just needed a man's plunging!

i have a huge pathophysiology test this week. i didn't study nearly enough over the break. granted, spending time with family and helping my parents is 100% more important, but that doesn't mean i'm not stressed. i have a test next week too. who has tests the week before finals? oh yes, my professors. it's so great. (not.) can i just live in the library for the next three weeks until finals are over?

this week is the Festival of Trees. i haven't missed it in the last three years. and i can't go this year. so bummed about that. any kind soul want to take me?

but on the bright side, here is a quick recap of Thanksgiving break. . .

at the women's volleyball game. there's a sock in my hair. don't worry about it.

we made seven pies! my favorite- pecan pie

ran my fourth half marathon. . .

with these two Africa girls! it was freeeeeezing!

i also:
worked almost 20 hours
started reading Harry Potter again
sang Christmas songs
watched a BYU basketball game
put up Christmas decorations

over the river*

sometimes when you are away from home you forget some things.

like how long it takes to get in the shower when there are 8 other people who have to shower.

or like how your mom is going to remind you to make your bed, even though you have been living on your own for 4.5 years and have made your own bed almost every day for those years.

or how delicious cold cereal is.

or like how your siblings and parents are still busy, and since you don't want to do that pile of studying, you end up sitting around (on pinterest) too much.

or how cute your cousins are and how fun it is to make seven pies for thanksgiving dinner.

or how nice it is to not set your alarm (even though you still wake up in a panic at 7:11 thinking you need to get up. dang body clock.)

or how you don't have to have your cell phone with you 24/7 because the people that really matter are there with you.

yeah, being home actually is pretty great. we are all ready to have a wonderful thanksgiving dinner tomorrow at my grandparents in Cottonwood Heights. and i'm not even nervous for my race tomorrow (it will come though).

*technically, no rivers were crossed in my drive to my parents house.

happy halloween!

if you didn't already know, i love halloween! i literally start planning my costume in the summertime. why do i like halloween? i love dressing up. i love dance parties (they usually happen around this holiday). i like parties with my friends. i like scary movies and haunted houses. i like pumpkins (and pumpkin food). i like candy.
so there you have the reasons i like halloween.
since halloween is on wednesday this year its hard to party it up, but i still did! on monday i went to my ward halloween party. my roommate, Tara, and i dressed up as Thing 1 and Thing 2 from dr. suess. the party consisted of dancing and of course the pie eating contest! i didn't win the pie eating contest. i was the only girl (represent!) and the other guys were like. . . HUGE. i did, however, beat last year's champion, Andrew. in your face! literally. (no really, i threw pie in his face.) it was a fun party despite some small troubles.

brother and sister

love my roommates

tuesday night my old roommate, Natalie, and her husband, Matthew, threw a Harry Potter Halloween party. we just won't even discuss how much i love harry potter. if you don't know then, you will soon know. i LOVE HARRY POTTER! it was such a blast! i went as Ginny. we got sorted into houses (i was in Gryffindor of course), drank chilled butterbeer, ate chocolate frogs and other delicious treats, took our O.W.L.S., played Harry Potter Scene-It, and just had a blast! sadly, Gryffindor did not win the House Cup, but we did our best!

Michelle, Natalie, Heather, and Me

what am i dressing up as today for Halloween? a stressed out college student. #thisisreallife 
what am i doing tonight to celebrate? studying pathophysiology. (diseases are pretty scary.) and then probs watching an episode of gilmore girls. and eat cookies & cream ice cream. obvi.
don't feel bad though. my mom sent me this delicious and festive treat. i'll enjoy that, and then get back to studying.

cute right? it was pretty good too. for a rice krispie treat.
hope your Halloween is full of tricks, scares and treats!
or lots of studying.
whatever.

Thirty Days to Thankful

guess what ya'll? there is 30 short days until Thanksgiving! and honestly there couldn't be better timing. just when i was getting a little (ok, a lot) downhearted, cynical and ungrateful it's time to start getting in the mood for Thanksgiving!

i was going to do a photo thirty days to thankful, but the thing i found on pinterest was just... lame. ha ha. so i'm going to do what i did last year- that is, keep a thankful journal and write day each day things i am thankful for. on thanksgiving (or the day before) i will record what i wrote down!

but i want to do more. i want to live in thanksgiving daily. i want to notice and be grateful for the things i take for granted. as i strive to have a grateful heart, i hope and pray that i will be able to make it a habit to live in thanksgiving.

i know that having a thankful heart brings happiness and optimism to life, as well as a renewed appreciation for the gifts God has given us. so, go out, buy yourself a little notebook and make that your "thankful journal 2012." join me in thirty days to thankful! i'd love to hear what you are thankful for and how thirty days to thankful helped you get in the Thanksgiving mood!

reason utah is cool #423 [pioneer day]

in an attempt to be a better blogger, i decided that instead of sitting around being lazy and eating four cookies (too late for that), i'd write a post about Pioneer Day. that's why utah is cool because instead of just one holiday in July, we have two. Pioneer Day commemorates the day the Mormon pioneers arrived in the Salt Lake Valley. basically it's another excuse to go out and eat lots of food with your family and then have a firework show. i'm cool with that though. here is my celebratory (ha) day in a nutshell:
- french toast breakfast with my roommate and some friends
- hiking Bridal Veil Falls with Somers
- Pizza Pie Cafe with Somers
- chilling at Somers' pool
- Hunger Games with Somers and some other friends

in other news, i am looking for a job. this CNA thing is not working out. i didn't get any shifts for all of july and i am not scheduled for any in august. i can pick up shifts, but i like to have some normalcy and regularity in my life. oh and money is good. so if you know of any jobs in the Provo/Orem area would you let me know? i really will do anything just so i can earn money. it's getting bad folks and as much as i love relaxing, i need to save money. let's just say that summer has not turned out how i wanted it to. i wanted to save a couple thousand dollars and i definitely need the money. 

and there are other things on my mind, but i'm not ready to talk about them right now. maybe another day. i feel pretty good about this post. sorry if it's horribly boring. welcome to my life. 

baby you're a firework

1. after the Freedom Run. hyrum and i did the 10K and everyone else did the 5K

2. another post-race photo.

3. playing cards and waiting for the fireworks to start

4. fireworks!!!

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....

{last} weekend rewind

i got my camera back so here are a few pictures from my adventures last weekend!
on friday i went to lunch at Cafe Paesan with my friend Kevin. if you have not been there i highly suggest you go! it's delicious. after work i was supposed to go to a friend's wedding reception, but my ride ditched and so i couldn't go. (sorry heather!) but i did go to City Creek with Kevin and Jacob, friends from my old ward. it was my first time and we sadly didn't have a lot of time. it's such a beautiful mall though and i can't wait to go back! maybe next time i'll be able to spend a little moola. . .

saturday was mother's day mingle at Grandma's. i pretty much spent the whole time playing with my cousin's 2 year old son, Logan. he is seriously the cutest. out of all my extended family he is one that i'm most looking forward to seeing at the family reunion in a couple weeks! after the mingle, i drove up to downtown salt lake to volunteer with Ouelessobougou, for their benefit dinner. i've wanted to volunteer with them for a while and i was excited to help out! they are a great organization and a good example of the type of non-profit i'd like to start/work for in the future. my cousin MacKenzie was volunteering too and it was so fun to be there with her.

on sunday we talked to Elder Arnesen early-ish in the morning. we skyped with him which we haven't done before! it was weird and awesome to see him. i think it was weirder for him though- i mean he hasn't seen our faces in almost two years! after the skype call me and the boys made mom a waffle bar breakfast. she got a new waffle maker and so they were pretty legit! we went to church which was great. i like going to my home ward on mother's day because they give treats to all the Relief Society sisters. i'm not a mom but i sure do like celebrating future mother's day by getting chocolate! after church, i talked to Adam on the phone for like an hour. geez that kid is awesome. what a great friend! later that afternoon we skyped with sarah. it's weird talking to missionaries because it's like- what do you say? your lives are so different. so it basically was mom and sarah talking, and the rest of us sitting there. i made teriyaki chicken with a delicious salad for dinner. we had avocado and mango too and it was almost like a dinner back in uganda! oh yum. 

it was a good weekend, mostly spent with family. which i love. i am excited for this weekend too! hooray for weekend fun! 

what are your plans for the weekend?

easter weekend roadtrip

this last weekend consisted of:

8 hours of driving within 24 hours

Sammy's Rexburg

being cold and warm in Rexburg

exploring BYU-I campus

coloring

watching the justin bieber movie

first real Easter egg hunt

getting spoiled and feeling lucky

walking down Main Street Rexburg

semi-creepy candy shops

Rexburg's Chamber of Commerce

getting lost, but being ok with it

good-byes :(

McDonald's for breakfast

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince on CD

sketchy rest stops

getting sick 

costa vida therapy run

feeling at home

a basket chock full of candy-filled Easter eggs

happiness