day 30- your favorite song

Okay, I admit that when I saw this prompt for the last day of this blogging challenge, I almost gave up right then. I mean, what a lame prompt for the last day? Favorite song? Boring. Also, a super hard question to answer. No one has ONE favorite song. That's impossible. You might have one favorite Jack Johnson song, or one favorite Christmas song, but one favorite song to rule all others? No way. I will say that one song that I like is the song that Owen and I danced to at our wedding. "Two is Better than One" by Taylor Swift and Boys Like Girls--I like it because I think it is a good representation of Owen and I. I'm the girly one and then Owen is the one who likes a little more punk rock than me and we definitely are better together.

totally the scariest part of the whole wedding day! 

day 29- in this past month, what have you learned

This past month I have definitely learned a lot. Since it was the end of the semester, I basically re-learned everything in my biochemistry class and tried to cram it in right before finals (and still pulled out with a B+ yeah!). I learned that trying to keep six people in one tiny basement apartment can be challenging and memorable. I learned that playing in the snow with my husband is way more fun than going to work. I learned that my little sister Lyvia is way better at French brainding than I am. I learned that I love Settlers of Catan (okay I guess I sort of already knew that). I learned that I was able to blog pretty much every day, which is pretty awesome and I hope to be able to continue it in the future!

Took my family up to the airport today :( And of COURSE it snowed a ton on our drive back. Thanks a lot Utah for not snowing while my family was here but then greeting us with a blizzard once they left.  Oh well. Still an awesome winter break if you ask me.

day 28- a picture of you from last year and now, how have you changed since then?

Then:

Now:

same pants & same pose

I know I'm cheating again by doing two posts, but I just thought that it would make so much more sense if I finished day 30 on December 30th. Plus I'm at work right now, and don't really want to work of course, so what else am I going to do?

I have changed so much since last year, it's insane. Some of the most life-changing events for me have occurred in the past year, and it kind of makes me hope that next year will be a tad more boring. I could deal with a little normality for a while.

First off, in the last year, I went from being Chelsey Barret to Chelsey Hancock. Talk about a huge change!

In the last year, I decided to challenge myself and pick up a music minor to expand my creativity.

This past year, my father passed away, and this has changed me in ways that I haven't even realized yet.

This year, I turned 20 and am now considered fully independent.

Other than that, pretty much nothing else has changed. I still am a planner fanatic, still pose in pictures the exact same way, still love my family to death even though sometimes we drive each other crazy, still am super competitive, still like wearing orange shoes, still like food way too much, and still love Beauty and the Beast. But as you can see, this past year has been one of most paramount years of my existence. I hope that next year will bring some good changes to my life, but nothing as dramatic please! :)

Also, can't wait to spend the rest of the day celebrating Quinn's 10th! Laser tag, here we come!!!

day 27- why are you doing this 30 day challenge

There are many reasons why I am doing this 30 day challenge.

1. I like little blog chain post things like this secretly.

2. I like having something new to write about every day without even having to really think about it.

3. I like talking about myself...

4. 30 days is a lot, and it seemed like a good blog project to tackle while doing finals because I didn't have to think of anything super creative on my own, and it was a lot more interesting to write about than how much time I was spending studying.

5. Since it is December, I thought it sounded like a good way to wrap up the year and sort of summarize some things in our lives.

6. I like blogging!

day 26- what do you think about your friends

This is an interesting prompt. Being newly married, our relationships with people pre-wedding are definitely changing, and it is becoming a new challenge to maintain ties to our "single friends" and also make new "married friends" while still trying to figure out how to live with a new person who you are going to spend the rest of your life with!

So basically I'm not sure how to answer this prompt. I think my friends are...changing.

Good news though--went shopping today! Found some fabulous deals, including a new planner (thank goodness), 2 of Owen's favorite pair of pants (original price $60, price we paid $21.34 oh yeah), and the expansion pack for Settlers of Catan half price. I'd say we scored. And I can finally start writing all of the important things in my planner for next year--yay! Tomorrow is the little bro's birthday-Happy 10th Quinn!

my favorite brother...and as he would remind me, my only brother :) 

day 25- what I would find in your bag

click to enlarge photo

day 24- your last five facebook statuses

This one is kind of embarrassing for me since I never update my facebook status....but here it goes!

Chelsey Hancock

only two more finals...and after tomorrow--I'll be done with chemistry FOREVER!!!

December 14 at 7:52pm 

Chelsey Hancock

anyone know the best place to buy a christmas tree in the provo area?

December 1 at 7:51pm

Chelsey Hancock

Only 237 more days until Part 2....

November 19 at 10:11am

Chelsey Hancock

leaving to go to the theater...HP 7 HERE I COME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

November 18 at 7:17pm

Chelsey Hancock

Owen Hancock has his internship interview with PIXAR today! Everyone wish him luck!

November 2 at 8:43am

Yikes, I had to go all the way back to November 2nd to get five facebook statuses! Not as bad as Owen though...I don't even know if he has five facebook statuses total. We're both kind of bad about facebook, I admit it. But at least we've gotten better with blogging!

And yes today is a makeup day because, well....yesterday was Christmas of course! This Christmas was definitely different you could say, but I think overall it was pretty good--filled with family, good food, and remembering our Savior. And Owen and I rocked on the present front, that's for sure! We got more than what we could even ask for; I told Owen that I don't even know what we should ask for next year! One of the highlights was all the awesome games we got--we got Settlers of Catan, Disney Apples to Apples (awesome!!!!) and Quelf. Game night, anyone?

day 23- something you crave for a lot

This one is hard. I mean there are of course the normal cravings that everyone has all the time--chocolate, pepperoni pizza, Guacachips, Jones Green Apple soda. But why are the cravings we always think about food? Surely we often have cravings for things that we don't shove in our mouth. I think the two non-food things that I crave the most are 1) Seeing my family and 2) Doing something new and creative.

I love my family and I do not like being 12 hours away from them all the time! I am so glad that they are here right now for the holidays-hopefully they aren't bored out of their minds in our tiny apartment.

We went to the basketball game last night--Go Cougs!!!

Even though I really love my major and think that everything I learn about is really intriguing, sometimes it does get a little boring memorizing cycle after cycle and metabolic process after metabolic process. And so I feel like I need to have a creative outlet. In the past, I've just taken music classes as GEs and taught myself new photoshop skills, but this Christmas break was a chance for me and Owen to do some fun crafty things that I've been looking forward to for a while :)

Here are our finished ornaments!

We also tackled the task of making about a million cake pops, which was quite the adventure! I think by the end of it, we got pretty good at it, but we were also super tired of making them by the end. We were so tired, we tried to trick our friends Ashley and Jordan into finishing off the last few after our dinner at the always marvelous Tucanos... We introduced them to SpeedRacer also, so hopefully it balanced out.

Here are some photos from our process. For only our second time making cake balls and first time w/ the pops, I think they turned out pretty good!

we made a HUGE mess with the sprinkles...

here they are chilling in the fridge

owen decorated some super adorable snowmen :)

Tomorrow is Christmas! YAY!

day 22- what makes you different from everyone else

Well first off, what makes this post different than any other post is that I'm typing it on our iPad because my family is sleeping in our living room and I don't want to go grab m computer at this point. Yay! My family is here!

Anyway, i think there are lots of things that make me different...definitely too many for me to try to type here on this little device (I apologize for any typos...) As a child, I raced in soapbox derby races which is pretty unique I suppose. Ever seen the movie Miracle in Lane Two? Yeah, those were the kind of cars I raced. My grandpa built the cars and we raced them. I even went to nationals once and got tenth place!


Another thing that sets me apart is that I have a super awesome husband who no one else is married to. Oh yeah.

One last thing is that the only thing I am allergic to is hair dye. Yeah we found that out the hard way when my mom and I were trying to do DIY highlights in my hair...interesting.

The bad news is that on the iPad, I can't upload any photos, so you will just have to wait to see our awesome cake pops tomorrow!

day 21- a picture of something that makes you happy

Okay I'm cheating on this one, because right now, there are lots of things that make me happy!

1. Cake Pops

I have now realized why everyone is so obsessed with Bakerella's website! The woman is a genius and is super talented. She has inspired me to give these not-so-challenging a treats a try, though I will never be able to make mine as beautiful as hers. I mean, just look at this Mr. Potato Head cake pops.

photo cred

2. Disney-Inspired Fashion

That's right. There is someone else out there in the world who shares these two loves of mine.

photo cred

They have a whole series of Disney-inspired fashion on CollegeFashion.net, and I'm obsessed with it. They have done practically every Disney heroine, and then they even went and wrote a series of posts on Disney villain inspirations. I love it.

3. Temple Square + Hancock Family

This past weekend, we had the great opportunity to NOT WORRY about school and instead spend time with Owen's family! It was so fun to bake and go up to Temple Square with them. And now I super can't wait for my family to get here too.

4. Half-Birthdays

Yesterday was mine. And it was awesome.

okay we didn't actually make a cake...i stole the picture from here :)

day 20- someone you love

Yeah yeah so I didn't post yesterday...I apologize because I was so busy having THE MOST FUN DAY EVER!

Seriously.

So yesterday we woke up like normal, got ready to go to work and everything, and then walked out the front door to find a foot of snow on the ground.

It took us about thirty seconds to decide that this snow was WAY too good to spend all day indoors at work. So I called in to say I wouldn't be visiting the Math Department today, and then rushed back inside to go layer up!!

I've seriously never had so much fun playing in the snow. Snow in Washington is usually super wet, so it soaks through your clothing and you can't even build anything fun with it. The snow yesterday however, was absolutely perfect. We started out by making a gigantic snowman in our front yard, and of course, we had to give him a little personality.

We thought his face kind of ended up looking like Robin Williams as the genie from Aladdin, and the little kids across the street shouted, "Hey! We like your goblin!" We'll let you interpret this snow creature however you'd like. And  since there was a chance that this snow goon might just be an evil giant goblin, we decided that we probably ought to give him an army of snow minions.

As I was building the snow army, Owen did the manly duty of shoveling the driveway. But why just shovel the driveway into huge piles on the side of your driveway when instead you can build an awesome fort?

Unfortunately, no one came to challenge us to a snowball duel. But we would have been ready!

After going inside, warming up with some hot cocoa and a much-needed nap from all that work, we hit the stores looking for craft supplies. Owen is such a good sport about supporting my crafty endeavors, even if it means going to Hobby Lobby AND using a coupon.

We spent the rest of the day baking cake for a delicious winter treat we shall finish today and then cutting out, baking, and painting homemade salt clay ornaments. It was so fun!

I forgot to take a picture of the final projects because it was super late last night by the time we finished, but I promise to post them soon--they look awesome!

And so for today's post on someone I love, I am going to have to go with my wonderful and awesome husband, Mr. Owen McKay. Even though he was sick yesterday, he went ahead with all my crazy ideas and was so much fun. I love hanging out with my husband! I always say I have no idea why people think you get better grades once you are married because when Owen and I are together, homework is the last thing we want to do! Tomorrow was just a wonderful reminder of why I married this fantastic man, and of how I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with him and see what other adventures we will create.

day 19- nicknames you have and why you have them

I'm actually against nicknames.

I don't know why, but I've never really been a fan of them. Maybe I was just jealous because there aren't really any cool nicknames that go with my name (Chels? Doesn't really work for me), or maybe I just think they are weird, but I've never really had a nickname that has stuck for me. The one nickname I tried to develop for myself in 5th grade turned out to be an inappropriate term in Spanish, so I sort of quit after that. No one in my family has nickname-able names either, so we just avoided that.

I never really call anyone by their nicknames either. Tylers are never "Ty"s for me, Michaels are always Michael (except my dad who was Chef Mike), and I wouldn't call Elizabeth "Lizzie." Just like I will never ever call Owen "O-ee" like his family sometimes does...or "Oweo" or "Hot Hands" (don't know about that one--thank you Tim and Zach) or "O-dog" which my dad called him occasionally for some unknown reason.

So I apologize if you really like your nickname, but I will probably call your right and proper name that you were born with.

I really hope that it keeps snowing! Please have a white Christmas for my family! I cannot wait for them to come...although I'm not sure how we are going to be able to get everything in that we want to! This weekend was so wonderful because we were able to get things done we wanted to and not have to study. Ahhh. And last night we watched Merry Christmas Charlie Brown. I love this season.

day 18- plans/dreams/goals you have

Man, it is hard to limit this all to one post! Somehow my parents drilled into my brain as a child the importance of making goals and always having dreams. So I have a lot! I'll try to pare it down a little bit:

Plans:
- I plan to go to pharmacy school after graduation.
- I plan to always make family the highest priority in my life.
- I plan to let Owen study this year instead of trying to convince him to watch Psych.
- I plan to join BYU's gamelan this semester and learn Balinese music.
- I plan to have about four children and experience the interesting world of parenting with my awesome husband.

Dreams:
- One day, I want to live in a house with either a wonderful library, stately study, awesome home theater, in-home gym, or outdoor pool or any combination of the aforementioned features
- One day, I want to donate enough money to the church to build a temple!
- One day, I want to be self-motivated enough to exercise regularly.
- One day, I want to go to New York, London, Rome, Sydney, and Paris.
- One day, I want to take a Disney cruise with my whole family!

Goals:
- To finish my undergraduate degree at BYU and maintain my scholarship.
- To develop more meaningful scripture study habits.
- To stay in contact with the people who have been a part of my life.
- To shadow a pharmacist in the local area.
- To show more gratitude and work on having a positive attitude.
- To reach outside of myself and make new friends.
- To serve others, and to make it a part of my everyday life.
- To not feel rushed and to focus on the important things.

day 17- someone you would want to switch lives with for one day and why

photo credit

This one is easy. Though I would definitely only want to switch for one day, and then immediately get back to my awesome normal life with my family and Owen.

But if it was only for one day, I would definitely want to live one day in the life of Blair Waldorf. Okay, go ahead and mock me Owen.

She is a powerful independent woman and she always looks fabulous. She always manages to look a little trendy while still staying totally classy. Not to mention her hair is always perfect. She is witty and definitely knows how to get what she wants. I'd probably have to modest-ify some of her outfits and withhold from some of her sometimes questionable activities, but other than than, I think it would be a blast. And I wouldn't mind going shopping for a day with her credit card and snagging a few items from her closet!

day 16- another picture of yourself

Here is a picture of me teaching yoga to my FHE group this past spring. 

I've decided that it is pretty hard for me to find a picture of just myself! I always want to pose with another person, and all the pictures of just me, I'm usually making a face because I think it's funny to look ridiculous in a picture?

Anyway, sorry for no interesting posts lately--it was finals week which meant all I did was study my brains out and then the past two days all I've done is work (data entry...ughh...) and been sick. Just a runny nose/congestion, but man was I grateful for Nyquil last night. No wonder they make good money--that stuff works! 

day 15- put your ipod on shuffle: first 10 songs that play

Okay, this post that was supposed to be yesterday's highlight is a complete fail because 1. Our neighbors are being awfully suspicious and haven't responded to our requests to reset the router and thus we have no Internet and I couldn't post and 2. My iPod died yesterday. Terrible timing. 

day 14- a picture of you and your family

also, guess who's done with chemistry for forever??????


that's right--

ME!

hallelujah done with finals. time for some psych and sleep please.

day 13- a letter to someone

To: Santa Claus
1 Reindeer Lane
North Pole


Dear Santa,

I know it has been a while since I've written to you, but this year just seems like a good year to send word your way. Maybe it is because now I am a poor married college student. Or maybe I am just looking forward to a little Christmas magic right now to lift my spirits in the midst of studying for microbiology.

I really think that I've been pretty good this year. Sure I don't always study for my tests as much as I should and instead I blog, but I've tried my best. And I know I shouldn't always make Owen do the dishes or complain about doing the super boring time detail at work, but I promise I will try harder next year.

For Christmas this year, I want

• A new planner. You know how much I use my planner everyday and I would really like to have a cute one like this (in really any color except Twirly Birds Pink please):

• New neighbors. Is that too much to ask? I really just want upstairs neighbors who don't stomp around everywhere like sumo wrestlers, don't smoke, don't have an annoying dog, who go to bed at some sort of reasonable hour, and who don't yell interesting things at all times of the day. That's all.
• A front door that closes and that we can lock.
• Black boots that I actually like, that will last a while and that won't cause me to slip and fall in the snow. Good luck with this one, because I still haven't found a good pair that won't break the bank.
• This adorable and also very practical umbrella that was feature on Gossip Girl. And it's on sale right now! 

• Some satsumas. Not mandarins or tangerines or clementines or "Cuties." Just satsumas please. 
• A hot pad for the oven. I know they aren't expensive or exciting, but we just keep forgetting to buy one when we are at Target
• Time next year to exercise. Please give me a manageable life schedule?
• A lab coat so when I'm doing research, I stop getting holes in all of my shirts across the front. It really is quite embarrassing. 
• A vacation to Disneyland and Blake Lively's hair. Okay, now we are dreaming...

I hope things up North are going well for you. Have you been having mild weather like we have? It's been great! But I do hope that there is snow for Christmas since my family is coming up here this year and I want them to experience some real Utah snow. 

Tell Rudolph and the elves hello and Merry Christmas for me!

Happy Holidays and Best Wishes,

Also a ridiculous gift I found online: a Swarovski-crystal encrusted toilet. A perfect gift for someone if you have $75,000 laying around

day 12- how you found out about blogger and why you have one

Well, I found out about blogger by searching "free blog sites." Not very exciting. However, I knew that I would love it because it is through Google, and we all know how I feel about Google everything. I actually created my first Blogger blog in high school and it had this really dumb polka-dot background and I think I posted on it once. It might have been for a class assignment? I'm pretty sure you could find it and make fun of it pretty easily online if you want. Unfortunately, I can't remember my password that I created for it (along with my myspace page which hasn't been updated since like 2006), so I guess it will remain on the internet forever.

I have a blog because I am terrible at keeping up with people. My freshman year, I was totally good about sending out monthly emails to friends and family, letting them know what I was up to. Then facebook got way easier, and then it got way distracting, so I didn't really have a way of informing people about my super-duper interesting life and how I feel about everything. So now I just refer them to my blog! I like it because not only do I get to practice my writing skills (something that rarely happens as a Physiology and Developmental Biology major), but I also get to be a little creative sometimes with blog layout and design--I even learned a little bit of html which Owen was proud of until he made fun of my amateur web design skills...I really should let him handle that part but it's fun to practice!

Basically I blog because I think my life is so interesting and I want everyone to know all about me. Plus I love reading people's comments :) So feel free to share one (hint hint) if you would like!

Update: 2 finals down, 2 to go! Really should be studying for biochemistry right now....I'm sick of the urea cycle!!