Off the Bandwagon

Reasons why I need to get off the "Mondays are Lame" bandwagon:

• The new Pandora website is super cool! I know this may seem lame to get excited about, but with all of the other changes on Facebook and BYU's website that are super confusing and seem soooo unnecessary, it's nice to see a change that actually looks like an improvement.
• Since I'm weird, I haven't brought any tissues over to the living room where I'm "doing homework" so every time I need to blow my nose, I have to get up and walk to the bathroom. This counts as exercise, right?
• None of the members of my Pathophysiology study group had taken the exam yet, so we cancelled and I got to go home an hour early! 
• No roommates = no need to wear pants all the time around the house
• Nyquil. Thank goodness for it. I am so looking forward to 9:00 when I can swallow a cup of that and get zonked out for the rest of the night. Now that I'm married, going to bed at 9 is totally acceptable, right?
• I switched out our fake candle in the living room to the "Hot Wassail" scent. Hello fall in my living room, thank you very much.
• Every paper I've written for school so far this semester has taken me less than an hour. With Facebook/Pinterest/Twitter open at the same time. Not bad.
• Husband is home now! And he brought me pizza. What a great guy. 
• The term "checkerboard chick" Go Hairspray.
• If I did break my toe, at least I'll no longer be a wimp who's never broken a bone before. So that's good. 

On the Bandwagon

Reasons why today I'll be jumping on the "Mondays are the worst" bandwagon:

• Woke up with the sorest throat, which somehow throughout the day has progressed into "leaky faucet nose." And it's barely into the first week of fall!
• My potentially broken toe that happened today during dance class. As if learning contemporary dance isn't awkward enough, try doing it with a potentially broken toe that causes you to walk funny but you don't want to seem like a wimp so you keep going anyway. And then you have your husband come pick you up in the car from campus.
• Said husband also has to work late tonight on something to do with bugs and fixing them. Which is sad because that means he's not here to kill at the dumb bugs that keep flying around out house! And because I will miss him. 
• Had my third voice lesson today and STILL HAVE NOT SANG A SINGLE NOTE! All that stress and agony over the weekend for nothing........grrrrrrrr.........
• Trying to eat a super awesome dinner of pita chips and hummus and all that's left is little itsy bitsy pita crumbs.
• Gossip Girl season premiere tonight and guess who doesn't have the CW? Me (well, any type of TV) or my sister. 
• Forgot my power cord today and realized what a useless drone I am without my precious machine. I didn't even bring paper with me onto campus. Good grief. 

Boo hoo for me. Hope you Mondays is filled with lots more sunshine and rainbows than mine.

To Ruin Your Diet This Weekend

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And to make me feel better while studying for pathophysiology. And about going to Yogurtland last night (it is the best. esp the blackberry lemon mint flavor!!!). Yogurt's not that bad for you, right?

A Sign

Sorry it's been only about a thousand years since I've posted but it turns out that this school thing somehow takes up a ton of time. Not sure how I forgot about that but these days there is very little that I do besides studying altered cell biology, choral conducting, or pretending to sing. Anyway, I know it is like wayyyyy after the fact, but Owen and I went to That Game last weekend.

This was probably our favorite part -- if you can't tell because that guy's dumb head was in the way of all of my pictures, this is a gigantic flag that the army guys unrolled out on the field while the national anthem was playing. It was sweet! And huge! And they didn't let it touch the ground once! Very impressive.

At this point in the game, we were a little discouraged, but there was still some hope and cheering. Go Cougars!

At this point in the game, we were wondering if we really should have bought a sports pass this season or saved the money to go to Bali or something instead.

And at this point in the game we were languishing in our seats, eyes wet and hearts broken.

I've decided to interpret this event as a sign that I should apply to the University of Utah for pharmacy school.

Happy Birthday Sista!

I really hope that you are enjoying the crazy hair, matching outfits, and goofball faces in this picture.

Happy birthday to my little sis, Lyvia! I can't believe you're 15 already -- too old! Slow down! At least I have a year to get over the whole you're-in-high-school thing before the D word comes into the picture. Dating. Not that other D word. I don't even know what you're talking about. Anyway, just want to wish you the happiest 15th ever and let you know I can't wait to come home and and have you make me homemade pizza!

Truth & Tolerance

This Sunday, we got the chance to attend a CES Fireside where Brother and Sister Oaks spoke. I was so glad that I finally didn't forget to go to a fireside! They are always so uplifting and wonderful, and I love having so many chances here at BYU to hear directly from the voice of the Lord's servants. We are so lucky! The fireside was great -- Sister Oaks was super fun and endearing, and Brother Oaks was very thought-provoking. A wonderful balance. Here are some notes from the messages that I wanted to share!

Sister Oaks:

• How you spend your time every day determines who you will become
• Note to self: Less time on Pinterest, more time studying scriptures!!!!
• We are not saved in isolation. Instead of just worrying about saving ourselves, we are under covenant to act on truth to help those around us.
• Note to self: Stop being so worried about myself! Focus on sharing knowledge of the truth of the gospel with others so they can be happy too!
• The Lord is always preparing us for greater happiness
• Our greatest responsibility is to become the best disciple we can.
• Note to self: What am I doing every day to focus on becoming a better disciple? Study more, serve more, facebook less

Elder Oaks:

I loved Elder Oaks' message on the twin towers of truth and tolerance. I think this is an issue that many latter-day saints have questions about, and that many people outside of our faith question us on as well. How can you balance a firm belief in absolute truth with a tolerance of those who have different ideas and attitudes. One thing he made very clear in his message was this:

There is absolute right and wrong

He discussed how many people in today's society believe in relative morality, and that truth depends on the believer. However, he made it very clear that it is absolute truth that: 1) God exists and 2) His commandments explain what is right and wrong. 

Then he went on to talk about tolerance. I loved the quote that he gave (and of course I can't remember it exactly) where he said that we will need more than just acceptance for peace in this world. Simply accepting that others have different beliefs than us is not enough - we need to learn how to understand and respect different ideas. He discussed three principles that we must always stand up for:

1. All persons are brothers and sisters under God, taught to love and do good unto one another (despite varying religions) 

2. The gospel of Christ teaches us we must live with differences. I loved this point, because how often was Christ found preaching amongst society's typical "outcasts"--the publicans, the sinners, the adulterers. Christ was the perfect example of tolerance. He always sought to embrace those who were different than Him, but never supported immoral behavior.

3. We do not abandon our covenants. There is no middle ground! We are not required to tolerate wrong behavior.

He then went on to describe how tolerance requires and action or behavior to be defined -- there is no one straight answer on what we should tolerate and what we need to stand up for. Confrontation depends on how much the offensive behavior involves us personally, and we must always have kindness in communication but firmness in truth. 

Help!

Hey Everyone!

I hope you are having a great Monday and that you were able to get some extra sleep this weekend. That is usually my goal for weekends.

Anyway, I had my very first voice lesson today -- yikes! It was exciting to talk about everything I'm going to learn this semester, and I can't wait to get started. For my next lesson next week, I have to pick three songs that I want to learn. And I want YOUR help! Owen made me a sweet Qualtrics poll where you can vote on which songs I should pick to learn from my anthology book. I need on classical song and one mix/belter song, so you can vote for more than one option.

Let me know what you think!

labor day trip

Guess what weird thing I touched this Labor Day???

Mmhmm, that's right. A sting ray.

It was so bizarre. It felt like jello or a squish soggy mushroom top. 

 Owen was a lot braver than me and played with a couple of them. I really only did it for the photo op.

The stingrays were at the sole aquarium in Utah, which strangely looked like a grocery store from the outside. But it was surprisingly cool, and they had fun things like PENGUINS (I love I love!), a super scary anaconda, see-through fish, poison dart frogs, ugly Utah fish, a bullfrog, seahorses, Nemo fish, and more! 

Owen totally had Bruce the Shark under control.

Scary fish wishes you a happy weekend

An Actual House

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So I realized the other day that since our house is now above ground, we might actually get trick-or-treaters! I am so excited! In fact, I am so excited, that I am thinking that maybe I should decorate my house this year? We're not going to be around for Christmas this year so we probably won't do much during the winter, but we'll definitely be here for Halloween, and I would love to be that creepy house on the street that all the kids are scared to go to! Or maybe I want to take an approach similar to the photo above that is just full of fall awesomeness. I wonder if our neighbors Ashley and Jordan would be up for decorating our duplex to the max? Any ideas on fun Halloween decor?

I Am Not Dead Yet

You probably think I am dead now or something because I haven't blogged in forever, but alas, I am not dead yet! (Spamalot, anyone?) I thought the first week of classes was crazy, but don't worry, this week was crazy too! This week was Pre-Pharmacy Club week for me -- we had the annoying Involvapalooza that I was guilted in to doing and then our first club meeting as well! Though it was super hot during the club fair, and I forgot to print out handouts to get everyone's email, and I was a super stress freak all week, it is over! Yay! And now I can get back to more important things like blogging and looking at food blogs and stuff like that. Blogs. Anyway. sorry that there are no pictures again today. I'm technically on the clock TAing for MMBIO 222 right now and talking on the phone and my camera is at home, so I am full of excuses. But I promise to blog about all the super fun things that we did on Labor Day instead of doing homework or cleaning our house. Maybe today. Who knows. It took us until yesterday to clean up our fort, so you can see how things have been a little nut-so. PLUS we had an organization activity for RS on Tuesday that I think made me more stressed out than before because I realized how much I have to do this semester! 5 midterms in one class, 4 midterms in another, 4 required concert attendances, and more...yikes! But if there is one thing that I have learned now that I am a senior at BYU (still can't believe it...) is that I can do hard things! This semester may be crazy and I may get less sleep than I would ideally like, but I can do it!

And now, a little ridiculousness for your day:

stayin' in

Man, what a week. Owen and I had all sorts of grandiose plans for last night, but when we got home, we realized how exhausted we both were and decided to stay in for the night. We tried to go to the soccer game, but Owen left his sports pass at home and apparently by the time we got there it was standing room only, so we decided to give up on that little notion. Instead, we did what all good married couples do when they're staying in for the night - make a pie and build a fort.

This is the best pie ever. Chocolate chip cookie pie. So rich. So heavenly. So bad for you probably. But so good too. Bake it immediately please. But on the other hand, maybe you shouldn't because you'll never go back to normal pies or cookies again... (here's the recipe in case you're interested!)

Like my sign? I tried to emulate my faves Calvin & Hobbes in the design. I hope you all are enjoying my lovely skull and crossbones and spelling.

Clever design, no? Making a fort was a lot easier in my dorm room with the three squares inches of space. Now that we actually have a living room where people can walk through without bumping in to each other it is a little harder, but I think we made it work quite nicely. Also, I hope you're checking out that sweet quilt inside that my aunt made -- it's awesome!

Speaking of Calvin and Hobbes, Owen is reading the new book we bought right now. I have never heard anyone laugh out loud so much, I should record this, it's hilarious. I wish that Bill Watterson would right more comics...oh please oh please oh please oh please!

reality - feather edition

Hello Fellow BYU Students!

I know it is the beginning of the year and you are super loaded with lots of homework and everything already, but I hope you can spare a little time for a mini lesson I would like to teach you all. I promise it will be super quick, and much more useful than anything you'll learn in American Heritage or Physics 105.

Allow me to introduce....a REAL feather!

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Yes, birds have these. They are usually neutral tones so that the creature is able to blend into its environment and not get completely destroyed by predators. They are usually wider at the top, and then tapered down to allow the bird to fly. Because feathers are meant to help birds fly.

Now, let's see Exhibit B: Things that are NOT feathers

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And certainly nothing on this head:

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Perhaps it is just my science background, but can we really not see the difference here people?? I must admit, I am completely baffled by this new feather extension hair trend thing. When I first heard of it, I thought it might be cool. Since I have brown hair, I thought a soft, light brown feather clipped in with a natural color and natural blend might be kind of fun. But since I've seen them lately all over campus, I really think this trend has taken a nosedive in the WRONG direction. The ones I see everywhere are obnoxiously colored, and stick out like you got something stuck in your hair after you rolled out of bed this morning! Why? 

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Maybe I am just a Negative Nancy, or maybe I'm too old now to know "what's cool," but to me, I feel like accessories should enhance your natural beauty and style, not make someone think, "What is that in her hair??" So if you are in love with this style and believe that it must be for you, I beg you, please go for a more natural, less neon look. Thank you. 

Back to the Grind

And, we're back in the game. Back to school. Back to clubs. Back to meetings every night. Back to ridiculous amounts of reading. Back to sucking up to teachers and forming study groups. Back to BYU.

It's stressful already, but good. I can tell this semester is not going to be a piece of cake, but since it's my second to last semester at BYU, I am going to try to enjoy it as much as I can! This semester, my goal is to seize all of the unique opportunities that BYU has and to try as many new things as possible. As I learned from the Bachelorette this past season, I'm going to try to live with NO REGRETS....hahah

I'm loving my Greek & Roman Mythology class, which I am taking with Devynne (the super pro at that stuff!) It is so fun to take this class which is completely unrelated to anything I am studying. Lots of people complain about GEs, but I think they have been some of the most wonderful classes I've taken here!

I'm continuing to do gamelan, and am trying to work on learning some of the harder instruments. In addition to playing in the gamelan, in order to get my music minor, I am taking choral conducting and voice lessons. Conducting is WAY more complicated than I thought it would be, and I learned I've been leading music incorrectly my whole life! But it is really fun, my teacher is weirdly entertaining (and a chemistry professor!), and I think I will learn a lot! I haven't had any voice lessons yet, but I think I can sense a theme this semester -- getting outside my comfort zone!

Speaking of comfort zone, I'm thinking about adding a contemporary dance class. Well, I actually added it last night, but the class is only MW, so I'm still not sure if I am going to keep it. I danced all growing up until we moved when I was a pre-teen, but dropped it when I started playing other sports and haven't really done anything with it since. But when I was studying in the RB outside the dance studio, I just got this strange urge to...dance! Maybe I am crazy. I can't decide.

Other classes are good too...all science-y of course. Pathophysiology is a pain because its 4 credits and lots of work, pharmacology IS SUPER COOL which is good news if I think I want to go into pharmacy, and my advanced molecular biology lab is...lab-y. I don't know. Everyone else in that class is a MMBIO major so they all already work in a molecular bio lab and know everything but that's okay. I totally isolated my genomic DNA from my saliva today -- cool!