blessings.

so, i was having a really rotten, no good past few days.  school is so close to being over, i think it's mostly just end of the semester stress... and the cold [it was basically snowing on friday!]

but i have been so blessed this week.  here's how:

. like i said, semester almost over

. an awesome, selfless boyfriend who let's me rant, complain, etc. and knows the tease : sympathize ratio perfectly. he also just holds me and lets me be.  remember that scene in waitress (around 1:20)? yeah, that's how it was for me, these past couple of days.

. family who lets me rant and complain [especially my mother, who just had a birthday!]

. essie nail polish.  this is by far the brightest color i've had since i was like 14... but i like it.  it makes me happy (thanks to boy for helping me pick it out)- also their top coat "no chip" works really well. just sayin.

. m&ms

. running/ pilates: these endorphins were definitely needed

. my awesome classmates who listened to me rant

. pandora: well picked songs, as always [new amsterdams, nicole reynolds, angus & julia stone, etc.]

. Mosiah 15

. rain boots

. sweet potato fries and burgers; pizza and lemonade

. divine comedy

important people

now this blog is private, it's going to get a whole lot more personal.

meet some incredibly important people in my life:

my parents

laura and peter

their son, andrew

ruth and joe

katherine and john

my grandparents

my roommates (and ahlin)

last but not least, my boy

party-filled weekend.

so, friday was sarah's birthday party.  it was awesome.  here are just a few pics to make you see how awesome it was:

saturday night was the stake luau activity.  i went as a tacky tourist, and my roomies [and ahlin] went as natives [and female jason mraz]. photo time:

i love my roommate [sarah]

today, while organizing/ cleaning, sarah and i had the following conversation[s]:

me: there’s a myth that this is the field that Van Gogh shot himself in.  historically, it’s been proven inaccurate, but I like to stick to the myth. it's better

sm: I like the idea of getting flowers from a guy. i've never gotten them before.

me: really? yeah, i guess i've only gotten them from my dad...

sm: i think guys think it's old fashioned, dying out and cliché.  

me: yeah, but girl's like cliché.

sm: so true.

...

me: if you think about it, giving flowers is so ephemeral.  like, “here, have something beautiful that’s going to die.

sm: but if you think about it, it’s more like carpe diem, like a reminder to make life the most of it.

...

sm: sometimes, i wish we could record our conversations.

happy birthday sm!

last april, i met this girl.  she is so amazing.  we became fast friends, and our bond grew after she went to london and saw everything i had grown to love for two years.

today is her birthday.

sarah:  thanks for the advice.  thanks for being sassy with me, especially when i need it.  thanks for being the "ted" of our group.  thanks for listening to all my mini freak outs and bringing me back to reality.

sarah, you're the tops.

x

lately

what i've been up to lately:

- school [art theory and methodology, french feminism, art of the medieval west, and writing about arts and the humanities]
- friends
- learning tai-chi.  ok not really.  but i learned a few steps last night
- being way happy
- living with these awesome girls: jen, katie, sarah [and ahlin]

the happenings

this semester is over! [cue hallelujah chorus]

to celebrate, you can read about our girl's night up to temple square from these two buddies of mine: ahlin & sarah.  here are some of fritz's shots.

i love sweet potato fries!

currently i am up in snowy midway.  it's magical, for lack of a better word. we're hanging out with family, including this lovely cousin of mine and her two adorable twins.  [emmerson really likes me]

another week, another weekend

sorry guys.  i feel like i'm only blogging after the weekend... don't know why.  i guess college life is a lot more boring than when i lived at home.

this weekend wasn't too exciting.

friday: i walked around campus looking legit and taking pictures of autumn.  trammel, jen and i went up to sandy for chipotle.  (it was like my second time having it, but dang, it's good stuff).  then trammel's roommates bennett and tanner joined us at our apartment to make sugar cookies.  i showed them this and then this.  their other roommate alec came over with his bud jordan.  then kye joined us.  we just hung out and stuff.  it was a blast.  pictures below.

saturday:  the football game.  i'm not a huge "Y" fan, but i like going and hanging out with friends. oh, and we were on the front row.  right behind the end zone.  say what? afterwards, we stayed and volunteered to help a buddy clean up the stadium.  gross, gross, gross.  people are gross.  i will never leave anything (half eaten or not) behind at a stadium.  yuck.  then, i took a shower, ignored the two miler i was supposed to do, and went on to study german. (yuck) photos below.

sunday: a much needed extra hour of sleep thanks to the end of day lights savings. church.  a desire to bake resulting in a no-bake peanut butter/chocolate/oat bar.  watching chitty chitty bang bang with friends and eating all of said no-bake delight.

monday: (yea, i know it's not the weekend, but whatever)  rain, which made me miss home- rainy ol' london.  grocery shopping thanks to urges to bake all sorts of things (peanut brittle, pepermint bark, cinammon rolls).  i swear it was bring "attractive man shopping day".  i saw at least twenty VERY good looking men today.  dang.  if only i had put on make up.

last week/weekend

last week was a struggle.  i had a billion things coming up: three midterms, a few papers, and a project that i haven't started working on.... needless to say, i was stressed.  i was up late every night, studying like a madman, which isn't good cause i'm getting sick.  but i had a few distractions this week that kept me sane.

wednesday, my old friend darrik and i went to a benefit concert for his friend and band-mate dane.  it was an interesting collection of artists to showcase, but it was fun.  then, we came back to my apartment to watch a 30 Rock episode whole, while drinking tea.

thursday, adam was in town, so some of the gang headed out to gold spoon and ate yummy, yummy ice cream.

friday was my sick day.  i went to bed at 10, with the help of nyquil.

saturday was my birthday! yay!  to celebrate, jen and i ran a 5k accompanied by our good friends ahlin and arielle. we did pretty well for a sick person, and for someone who didn't get home until 1:30 the night before.  our time was 32.08.  so not bad. it was a halloween run, so they were dressed up.  jen and i weren't.  oh well. katherine came down from salt lake and took me to sammy's, a delicious burger place with the best sweet potato fries i've ever had!  i received shopping money from the parents, so katherine, me and the roomies went shopping.  i got the best thanksgiving outfit, ever.  so, don't worry, pictures of it will follow. i also got two extra cardigans, an extra shirt, more of my perfume and some all-natural deodorant. after our shopping extravaganza, we were exhausted, so jen and i watched some hulu together, until we went to seem darrik's other-band [that also includes my katie's brother].  the concert took forever to start, but once it did, it was good.  then, katie and her bf went to dinner while jen and i went halloween party hopping.

yes, i stole this photo from ahlin's blog.  thanks, love.

sunday was busy but great.  our friend is going on a 18 month mission for our church, so she'll be missing thanksgiving and christmas, so her parents threw an early "thanksgiving/ christmas" dinner, on halloween.  the food was great, and so was the company.

sadly though, i still have my three midterms, papers and project coming up.  today i get one midterm out of the way, but i'm still kinda stressed.

best halloween costume

ok.  check us out.  we're bubbles. awesome huh?

we got an award.  sweet, no?

what i've been up to

... besides school of course.

a few weeks ago, instead of homecoming, a group of us did what we call "homeless coming".  read more about it on my friend/roommate katie's blog.

here is a group picture.  yes, my date is pouring his root beer on me.

here's a pic of the three roommates with their dates.

bennett & me, paul & jen, katie & tanner 

then, this last week, we had a roommate birthday party.  jen's birthday is on the 3rd and katie and i are twinners born on the 30th.

so far the running has gone well.  i've run four miles in the past four days.  no, it doesn't really sound like a lot, but i'm proud of how i'm doing.

bits of my weekend

this past weekend was jammed packed with family, general conference and fun!

friday: katherine and i road-tripped it down to st. george to watch my daddy and my uncles run the st. george marathon.  we ate about forty dum-dums, took only one bathroom break, and didn't get a single ticket!  yay!

saturday: woke up from sleeping on a tiny couch- yes, my back is killing me. then, we went over to the finish line to see the band of brothers cross the line.  then, we "rushed" back home [rushing with people who just ran 26.2 miles as well as your grandparents is kinda hard] and we watched the last speaker of the morning session.  during the two hour break, katherine and i dyed my hair.  we then played and talked with family.  we watched the afternoon session.  and then, my grammy took katherine and i shopping with my aunt shelia.  then, all 21 of our group went to dinner.

the new hair color.  what do you guys think?

sunday: woke up again, after being curled up all night on a couch, watched the morning session of conference and took off for home.  it started raining our drive home which meant the remaining heat of summer is going away. yay! finally!  when i got back to provo, i bid my father farewell-- i won't being seeing him again until christmas.  it was jen's b-day, so katie and i watched her open her presents, then we ate cupcakes, decorated our apt for halloween, and then partied it up with some friends.  we played "battle of the sexes"- yeah, the girls won.  [say what!] yeah, i know what the "green monster is." be proud.

so, it was a fantastic weekend... but i could really use a good back massage.