And I'm sure I'll think of more throughout the evening...
I've never been big on resolutions :)
I'm off to a big New Years Eve party!
Sayonara, 2011!
Friday, December 30, 2011
To say I've been enjoying my camera is an understatement.
I've had it for under a week and I've taken over 500 photos.
Yep, I'm in love.
I have tons of pictures to choose from for every day since Christmas.
I could easily start another Project 365.
But, I'm still on the fence :)
Sunday, December 25, 2011
My Christmas day was wonderful.
It started with opening presents.
I expected nothing of grandeur, but my parents surprised me (that's an understatement... tears came to my eyes because of the surprise...) with a Canon EOS Rebel T3.
Yay!
I've only been dreaming of a DSLR for nearly three years.
Remember how in my last post I mentioned that I was thinking of doing a Project 365 year 2?
Well now I really just might have to :)
I've spent a lot of time today taking pictures of anything, and everything.
Granted, I have a LOT to learn!
After gift-giving and my mom's delicious Christmas breakfast, we went to church, and later on we had my grandparents over for dinner.
After dinner we headed out to my grandparents to meet up with some other family to celebrate Christmas.
My grandma then began teaching me how to crochet.
Let me tell you, once you get the hang of it, it's addicting.
I've found a new hobby!
It's been a really great day filled with skype calls, Christmas music, photos, yarn, and too much food to even think about.
I'm so thankful for my family, friends, the birth of Christ, my Savior.
"Because He came, death has lost its sting, the grave its victory. We will live again because He came. Because He came and paid for our sins, we have the opportunity to gain eternal life. Because He came, we are gathered together to worship Him, in bonds of brotherhood and love. May His precious spirit be with us, and may He ever be the center of our celebrations and indeed of our very lives."
-Thomas S. Monson
Here are a few of my favorite Christmas songs to enjoy :)
^ This really is one of my favorites... :)
What is your best Christmas memory?
One of my favorites was sleeping in the same room with my sisters on Christmas Eve and coloring until we could fall asleep.
*My sister has corrected me: We used to color in the morning when we woke up, until we could go upstairs to wake mom and dad up. I've apparently been remembering wrong for many many years!*
What was your favorite Christmas present of all time?
I don't think I have one.
What do you really want this year?
Unrealistic: An SLR
Realistic: A whole plethora of things from Deseret Book :)
Hot chocolate or apple cider?
Hot chocolate, for sure.
Cookies or Brownies?
Oooh, tough one. Christmas cookies usually win though.
Candy Canes or Chocolate?
Chocolate.
What is your tree decorated with?
Lights, beads, and ornaments
Favorite Christmas Song?
Last Christmas by Wham!
No joke... I love George Michael ;)
Do you have any family traditions for Christmas?
We have a million. I'm the tradition keeper!
My favorites are watching Christmas Vacation, opening pj's on Christmas eve, and our delicious Christmas breakfast after opening presents.
Favorite Christmas movie?
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
It's a tradition :)
Ice skating or caroling?
I've never really been ice skating, so caroling?
Giving or Getting presents?
I don't care so much about getting presents anymore. I like shopping for my nieces and nephews!
White or colored lights for your house?
White.
White or colored lights for your tree?
White.
A Christmas Carol or How the Grinch Stole Christmas?
How the Grinch Stole Christmas!
Is Christmas stressful for you?
Nope. You just have to enjoy whatever your means are, and think about the true meaning of Christmas.
For the past year and a half my motivation was keeping my dear mother up to date on my boring college life.
But now I'm living back at home.
I guess my motivation will have to shift to my sisters :)
So, here's a catch-up post:
1. Finals: I survived and pulled off all A's and a B+
I'm now officially done with my generals, and I will never again have to take a stupid science class, which has ruined my 4.0
2. I moved back home for winter semester (because it's my off track)
3. I'm looking for a job, preferably a live-in nanny job
4. Christmas is just around the corner, but it definitely doesn't feel like it. I was most excited that my mom and dad moved to Utah so I could actually have a white Christmas. I guess it's not happening this year
5. I'm thinking about doing a Project 365, Year Two.
Today started out dreary and it didn't hold much promise.
When your alarm goes off at 7, and just for kicks you check the temperature outside and it's -3 degrees, you know it's bound to be a rough Monday.
Getting out of bed I groaned and rubbed my eyes, realizing that I was the only one in my apartment that was awake.
Then, I remembered this:
So I changed my attitude and decided to make getting out of bed worth it.
Changing your attitude can suck, but it can make a world of difference.
Walking to my first class (which is on the complete opposite side of campus, a nearly twenty minute walk, uphill...) in -3 degree weather with a wind chill on top of that, would not normally be a great start to my day.
But - you're about to think I'm crazy - there's something invigorating about freezing to the degree of numbness.
Getting to class, I was awake and ready for the day.
So thanks, Rexburg, for the wake up call to stop complaining about the things in life that I can't change.
Sometimes, you just have to realize that life is beautiful.
I don't know where this week has gone, but it's been well spent.
I head back to Rexburg on Sunday, which leaves one more day for play :)
Last Friday a snow storm set in, so my dad rode the bus up to Rexburg, and he drove down to Utah with me. Thank goodness he did, because the roads were a mess and it took us forever to get home.
On our way we stopped at Lava Hot Springs, which was amazing with huge snowflakes falling :)
The first part of the week was spent just relaxing, doing homework, and watching an entire season of a new TV show I'm obsessed with.
I spent Wednesday cooking with my mom, and when Thursday came around, we were still cooking for Thanksgiving, which was a success. My sister and brother in law came down with their two kids, and we had a really great dinner. Afterwards, we went to my grandparents house for pie with the rest of the extended family.
Then tonight, my family and I went to Temple Square.
Tonight they turned the lights on.
Temple Square during Christmas has got to be one of my favorite things in the entire world.
Sometimes it takes a bad day, or week, or month, to really accentuate all of the great things you have in life.
When I have control of my life, just do things (even if I really don't want to), and focus on serving others rather than serving myself, I am so much happier.
These are the things that saved me from drowning yesterday:
1. Exercise. I can't even begin to describe how much running decreases my stress and brightens my mood. That alone makes my day go a million times better
2. I slept. A lot. I made myself find the time and took an hour long nap, and then last night I got 9 solid hours of sleep
(Thank you to my Child Development teacher for cancelling class!)
3. I started a (mostly) no-sugar diet yesterday. I'll be doing that until Thanksgiving, so nearly the entire month. I'm modeling it off of the picture that follows, but taking it a little further with no fruit snacks, granola bars, sugary cereals, and so on.
4. Thanks to Kathryn, I started my morning by thinking about things that I'm thankful for. We're going to put one thing a day that we're thankful for on our Facebooks :)
5. I began my morning doing service. I looked out the window this morning as I was doing dishes and noticed that some immature college kids had smashed a million pumpkins on the ground below our apartment, and it was a mess. Kathryn and I knew that Arden, our groundskeeper would have to clean it up, and we felt bad. So we took ten minutes to go outside and put all of the frozen pumpkin pieces into garbage bags and left a note for him.
(We couldn't carry them to the garbage because they'd break...)
Doing service really does put you in an incredible mood.
You know those phases that we all go through, where every aspect of your life is demanding just a little too much from you?
I'm waist-deep in one of those phases right now, and I'm on my way to drowning.
School is demanding too much energy and brain power
Work is demanding too much time
I'm having trouble finding time to invest in my relationships
Church callings are stressing me out beyond belief
But don't worry, I'll survive.
"For after much tribulation come the blessings. Wherefore the day cometh that ye shall be crowned with much glory; the hour is not yet, but is nigh at hand."
D&C 58:4
Sunday, October 30, 2011
This weekend has been great.
Friday consisted of a work party with the girls. We watched The Others :)
After that I watched BYU and the Rangers lose.
(that sucked, but I just love watching games, so oh well...)
Then I finished my Christmas wreath! I love getting crafty.
When I was done with that, I made Emily watch Friday The 13th with me.
On Saturday I spent the morning cleaning and doing homework
Frosting was my study buddy for the day.
I'm going on a no-sugar diet next week, so I have to get in all I can now :)
Then Emily and I went and babysat my niece, Sophie.
Followed by that, we spent the rest of our evening attempting to go to a dance party, failing, and then hanging out with our friend Jarom.
And now, this morning, I'm spending time reading this.
Boy - "Well, where do your parents live at right now?"
Me - "They're moving this week from Washington to Utah."
Boy - "Oh.. So I guess you really don't know."
I can't even count how many times I have this conversation with people in the past three days.
Talk about an awkward start to a conversation.
I always decide that I'm just going to say Washington, or Illinois, and end it, but the question always catches me off guard, even though I know it's coming.
I guess I'm now technically from Utah.
Just like the majority of the population of this school.
That's right people, I'm from Utah, and yep, you guessed it..
At 12:35 yesterday morning I helped welcome my new nephew, Samuel into the world.
Samuel Jeffrey Walters
Born September 30th, 2011
6lbs 4 oz
It was truly amazing.
I'm so fortunate to be able to be so close to my sister and brother in law and I'm very grateful for the opportunity that I had to be able to be there.
First of all, I should probably share which classes I'm taking this semester. (For my family's benefit, since they're the whole reason why I do this blog)
Child Development - LOVE it, but it is my major, after all :)
Family Studies - Required for my minor, and also super enjoyable.
Environmental Stewardship - Shoot me, I hate it.
The Middle East - Super interesting, but the homework load sucks, and my teacher is really hard. He has lived most of his life in the Middle East, so he tells great stories.
New Testament - Love it. Great teacher, great class.
Advanced Writing/Critical Thinking - Required for my foundations. We spend the whole semester working on like a 15 page research paper. I can deal :)
I have class all day, and then work every day until 5. I come home, do homework, hopefully make it to the gym, get 6-7 hours of sleep, lather, rinse and repeat.
Needless to say, I'm exhausted beyond belief, but I love every minute of it, besides science and middle east homework.
Now, in other news, I had to start a blog for my Family Studies class.
You can find it here.
It is completely religion based, and yes, I talk about my beliefs. It's for my class, and I really don't want to have to deal with offensive comments. So proceed with caution. I say that with as much love as possible :)
And now for the big news... My parents are moving to Utah in about three weeks!
There are a number of reasons, but all that matters is that I'll be three hours away from home instead of thirteen.
I can't wait to go home for Thanksgiving, and maybe even just for no reason for a weekend or two!
Well, it's a Saturday night, and I have plans to attend to. Ciao!
I was in the line to check out and when I went to grab my wallet, I realized I didn't have it.
No problem, I just asked the lady to charge it to my school account.
Problem: You need photo i.d to do that.
Bigger problem: I didn't have my wallet, hence, no photo i.d.
As the lady and I were standing there in awkwardness, trying to figure out what to do, the gentleman behind me told the lady he would pay for my lunch.
I was stunned.
In a completely non-creepy, and quite gentlemanly way, he paid for my lunch, and when I asked what I could to do pay him back, he simply said nothing, told me to have a nice day, and walked away.
That might be the nicest random act of service anyone's ever done for me.
I wish he knew just how gracious and humbled I am.
Honestly, how many people would do that for a completely random stranger?
Between random trips to Provo, the new semester starting, a boy, and trying to get at least six hours of sleep every night, I've been swamped for the past week.
Luckily, I've loved every minute of this crazy week.
My parents came from Washington and my oldest sister and her family came from Chicago for a visit in Idaho. We spent most of the week just doing things in Rexburg and then the end of the week was spent in Jackson Hole/Star Valley for the Inkley Family Reunion.
I didn't take very many pictures (shame, I know) because I was busy being distracted by my family :)
Here are a few videos to start!
The kids all playing together the first night :)
We had family pictures done one day. This was the first time my whole family had been together in quite a while.
I'll steal some pictures from my sisters and hopefully get around to posting them :)
*Disclaimer....* Please excuse my sappy-ness. I had a terrible head cold when I wrote this. Head colds make me sappy <--- Fun Fact.
Dear Haley,
Today is your birthday. You're no longer a teenager, woohoo! It's been three long weeks since I last laid my eyes on your pretty little face, woke up to you talking/doing weird things in your sleep, and had any Haley/Melissa moments. Thank goodness you will be gracing me with your presence in just three short days. I have missed you more than you know, and I can't wait to have four weeks just you and I!
I am so eternally grateful (this is me getting serious now...) that I met you a year ago. I am so fortunate that you were placed in my life, and in that one year of friendship, I've found so many reasons why the big man upstairs needed us to be friends. In just one year we've created so many memories that will last a lifetime, and I know that we'll continue to make more.
I'm so thankful for your family who has taken me in and made me feel so welcome.
I'm so thankful for the example that you always set for me, no matter what.
I'm so thankful for how you're always so understanding whenever I get difficult, or upset with you.
I'm so thankful for what a sweet, caring, loving, honest, virtuous, and beautiful person you are.
I'm so thankful for the nights that you provide me with entertainment by talking to your alarm clock in your sleep (well, I'm thankful for the laughs in the morning, at least ;) )
I'm so thankful for our friendship, which I know will stay strong, no matter where life takes the both of us.
I just hope that life takes us to our front porch when we're eighty years old, singing to Lady GaGa with our white helmet hair and breaking various bones by trying to re-enact how we used to be able to dance.
I love you lots, Hay. You deserve to have a fabulous day.
Today I woke up, ate a hearty breakfast of banana bread that I made at midnight last night, and then got to cleaning.
I spent just under four hours cleaning my apartment.
I cleaned every room (besides the other girls rooms...), washed the windows, and even cleaned out the refrigerator and freezer.
I don't know what it is...
Maybe it's that I can just zone out and focus on my music, usually Frank Sinatra or Adele radio on Pandora.
Maybe I'm a little OCD and I just love the feeling of making things clean.
I do know...
I was raised in a very clean household and since moving out, I've inherited my mother's traits of keeping a home clean.
I feel so much better about everything when I'm living in a clean space.
I'm excited for my parents and my older sister and her family to come visit and see me living in my apartment. Maybe that's what possessed me to spend an entire day cleaning.
9:30 - Interview at the Alumni Office. Best interview I've ever had, I kicked booty ;)
10:15 - Deep cleaning my apartment. This may or may not have included a little bit of dancing around and singing to Frank Sinatra radio on Pandora.
11:00 - Phase 1 of making Oreo Truffles
12:00 - Lunch time! I made a delicious turkey panini.
1:00 - Grocery store for some meal ingredients
2:00 - Phase 2 of making Oreo Truffles. This was the fun part :)
3:30 - Watched some t.v and painted my toes
4:30 - Got a call from the Alumni Office offering me the job!
5:00 - A visit to my sister and niece to drop off some treats and visit
6:00 - Home for dinner, and SYTYCD
7:00-9:00 - An amazing amazing amazing episode of SYTYCD!
7:30 - Tears streaming down my face because of Melanie Moore, my favorite from the beginning
a) wiping down the counter after you flood it with water, crumbs and/or sticky things
b) Sweep the floor, especially if your idea of wiping down the counter is pushing your crumbs to the floor
c) do your dishes - clean them out and then put them in the dishwasher. If the washer is full, wash them out and wait until you (or another roommate) unload the clean dishes.
d) take out the trash - and then put another trash bag in the trash can (novel concept...)
e) put away your blow dryer/straightener/curling iron/towels/etc.
f) vacuum the floor on occasion
g) put away your food after using it and/or eating
Please no inquiries if you don't feel as though these are common courtesies.
I'll be especially interested if you can keep your room clean and free from growing weird smells.
On second thought,
I think it's time Kathryn Norman, Haley Adams, Emily Chandia and I invest in an apartment of our own.
I dream that I can be a stay at home mom, playing with my kids, cooking, cleaning, baking for the neighbors, doing crafty things that make all of my friends jealous.
I dream that I can be a working woman, getting up early in the morning and exercising before putting on my pencil skirt and heels and driving to my office in the city.
I dream that I can go on a mission - somewhere foreign - and teach, convert, and baptize.
I dream that I can go to grad school or law school or dental school or med school.
I dream that I can travel the world - a new adventure every break from school I get - to India, Greece, Italy, Bali, Argentina, France, Ukraine, Germany, Poland, and on and on.
But most of all...
I dream that I can be happy, successful, content and in love with wherever life leads me.
I dream that I will do the best that I can do in whatever I end up doing.
I dream that I can have trust and faith in the plan that there is for my life and that I can be patient with the things over which I have no control.
I dream that I can spend my days honestly happy and able to focus on the things that truly matter.
"Your living is determined not so much by what life brings to you as by the attitude you bring to life; not so much by what happens to you as by the way your mind looks at what happens.
Circumstances and situations do color life but you have been given the mind to choose what the color shall be."
When I got my textbooks four months ago and went to my first week of classes I thought for sure I'd die before the end. Yet, I prevailed, even if I ended up being life-less and sleep-less the majority of the time.
I made it.
This calls for a JB (Justin Bieber) packing party and celebration party with my girls.
