Monday, October 28, 2013

Picture Day

So I don't have too much to report at this point other than last weeks weather was fantastic. Holy cow. But this week supposably its supposed to snow... Oh and also THE ALTITUDE IS KILLING MY BAKING!!!1! Rage. Nothing comes out right. Its always too dry. So if anyone knows what I can do to fix my baking, let me know and I will love you forever. But here are a lot of pictures to show what I've been up to recently.
Me editing one of my roommates papers. Sometimes I feel bad doing this because I may or may not get a little carried away with everything that I have learned at Northwood. Yay anchors. 
Me at my apartment a few days after Shaeli's (my roommate) birthday (I just kinda like this photo ha)
Last Friday we went to Fat Cats and went bowling and played mini golf for one of my friend's birthday. It was a pretty fun night (although for some reason I was exceptionally terrible at bowling)
Our living room on the morning after a sleepover. There are about 6-8 girls on the floor and it used to be a fort but apparently the blankets fell down in the night. 
Jen and Ellen. They fell asleep on each other before Relief Society last Sunday.

On the left: campus gets festive with a jackolantern. On the right: WELLLLL sometimes I put on a beanie and just get sick of my hair so I just shove it all inside the beanie... and maybe sometimes I could pass for a boy.
Basically my beautiful costume design from this morning.

The next bunch of pictures are ones that I have taken around campus of things that I thought were pretty. About the second half is of this place on campus commonly called the gardens. It is so pretty in there and I can't wait to see it 

















OK and I guess I'll tell you about my weekend. Friday night I was going to go to a party but decided against it so I went home wallowing in my own sorrow whatever cause Im a lame person and need to get over myself but then some friends came over and someone decided that we should have a pillow fight. But not just any pillow fight. The group of about 10-15 (boys and girls) of us went to the boys apartment complex next to ours and went into random people's apartments and had a pillow fight. It was pretty entertaining. Until the manager came out and got kinda mad cause we were running around being loud after quiet hours. Oh well. Then later that night we went on a late night walk to McDonalds which was great. Saturday was just a gorgeous day so after I missed our complex flour fight (I'm still mad about that) Ellen, Sarah, and I basically threw around a football and frisbee all day with some actual games mixed in there. And in case you were wondering, here is a bunch of our group running out of someones apartment during the pillow fight (unfortunately I didn't get any footage of the actual pillow fight)




Tuesday, October 15, 2013

24 Hours Away From the Burg

So this weekend was way fun because I was able to go down to Utah to spend a day with my mom! (She is up for a conference) It was a great 24 hours in which I FINALLY got some California fast food. It was wonderful. After missing my 8 am shuttle and waking up at 11:30, I finally got on the 2 pm shuttle and then arrived in Salt Lake. My mom picked me up and then I FINALLY GOT SOME FOOD! :D And I must say that after a month without it, my Chipotle burrito was amazing to say the least.
After that we went shopping! I was able to pick up somethings that I needed for my apartment as well as some warm clothes that will be extremely useful come the next few weeks, which clothes I love. After that we headed back to her hotel so I could put my stuff away and submit some homework. After that we made a late night run to Cold Stone, which was also extremely delicious, after which we came home and played cards and talked for a few hours. Eventually we were up til at least 1:30 (my mom told me the next morning that she is to old to be living like a college student and staying up that late) after which we finally quit our nertz game and went to bed. Sunday morning we got up and went to church. Sacrament meeting was pretty fun, especially with all of the kids who bore their testimonies (and in some cases "buried" their testimonies). There was also another who claimed that "baptism is a big 'party' of life." They were extremely funny and very cute, but touching at the same time. After church we headed back to the apartment and did some family history (mainly fixing my tree), but we also found out that we are directly related to King Louis I & II of France and Charlemagne. After that I packed up and left for Salt Lake again to catch my shuttle back to the burg. It was a great weekend!
My In-N-Out was a spiritual experience.       A rainbow on the way to Salt Lake
                    My mom and I :)                                          On the shuttle to Rexburg


Friday, October 11, 2013

As the Leaves Turn

The last little while has been so much fun, but while I recount the last few weeks I'll probably be jumping around so please bear with me. The leaves are changing colors which is sooo beautiful against the clear blue skies with scattered puffy clouds. (thats the one thing i don't miss about Irvine is the smog) Unfortunately though with the change of temperature and leaf colors means that all the flowers that were in bloom at the beginning of the semester are starting to die and now almost dead. Luckily, the temperature drop so far has been really mild (knock on wood). It only snowed one day last week then the temperature came back up for the most part. Its nice being able to get by on just a sweatshirt or sometimes a coat over whatever I am wearing that day.
I love the beautiful scenery here

The night after my last post my roommates and I had a girls night with our friends in the apartment on the other side of our floor in our complex. We ate ice cream, cookie dough, and pop corn while laying on the couches and watching Pitch Perfect. Literally Pitch Perfect is like the designated movie at this school. Like holy cow. EVERYONE quotes it. And im pretty sure my roommates and I have watched it at least once a week since we have gotten here. It is great. Later that weekend we all went to the General Women's Broadcast in preparation for General Conference. I loved the meeting and took so many notes. It was really cool being there with all of my friends and learning together.
Girls Night

Jen and I in the I-center after the General Women's conference

Last weekend was general conference and that was so great. It was different being away from home and having the responsibility of watching it on my own. I ended up watching the majority of conference alone in my apartment (except for saturday afternoon session and the end of sunday afternoon) as Ellen was down in Utah with her family and Jen and Shaeli were at our friends' apartment. Surprisingly I really liked watching it alone. It was nice to have the peace and quiet along with the spirit that accompanied the meetings. AND I only slept for the second half of one of the talks. I was so proud of myself haha But all in all conference was amazing. During the sunday afternoon session the rest hymn was Called to Serve, and due to the power of that song I could not bring myself to sit at home in my apartment singing BY MY SELF. Yeah. Im lame. Haha So i run to the apartment complex next to ours to where my roommates and friends were to sing with them. The cool thing about that was that when I ran back and forth between the complexes, you could hear conference echo throughout the complex because everyone's sound was up and had their windows open. It was so cool. My friends and I also decided that due to the purely inspired themes of General Conference, there was a definite manifestation that times are changing and the Lord is hastening his work. It makes me so excited for life and to serve a mission, and can feel the pressure to become the best me I can.

Next is cooking. I don't cook too much because I have a meal plan (which the food up here is AMAZING for that), but when I do, it can be a bit frustrating. On friday I went to the store to get ingredients for misc baking and things that I could cook and on the Saturday between conference sessions I decided to make snickerdoodles (Sister Gassin's snicker doodles) because my roommate Jen had been craving them all week. They turned out really well but it is so dry up here and it affects the cooking a lot and makes the dough not as moist. Luckily, they turned out really well and everyone loved them so thanks Sister Gassin! Then on Sunday I decided to make homemade Mac'n'Cheese (a double batch) and invite people over for dinner. It was the 3 of us (Ellen was still in Utah) and 5 of our guy friends because the macncheese makes a lot of food and we definitely wouldn't be able to eat it all by ourselves. I don't know whether it was that no one had had a big homemade meal in a long time or I'm a really good cook but everyone loved it. I also ended up making chocolate cookies which were also really good if I do say so myself. I plan on making Leslie's Chocolate Chip Cookies soon because I've been craving them and now have the recipe >:) i'm stoked.

This week has basically been game week... and well i guess it won't just be this week. It'll probably be the whole semester. Basically Egyptian Rat Slap is the designated game of Ricks Hall apts 284 & 285 and whatever guys are over from Lamprecht Hall. We basically play every night. Its great. And then when we get tired of that game we play Nertz! :D My favoritest game ever in case you were wondering. BUT my roommate makes us play by the DUMBEST RULES EVER. For her your nertz pile is only 13 cards instead of 15 and whatever is left in that pile is -2 per card and if you get nertz you dont get +5. It is lame. (sorry Ellen but it is haha) But don't worry, we do study and do homework together (and maybe talk a bit) in the living room before we get pulled to starting a game.
My roommate has Dr. Pepper cards! I thought of Matt and they're the sister to my moms Mountain Dew

Work has been great. I always have loved working in the theatre but its even cooler cause now I'm getting paid for it. Currently we're working on lighting our show "Dancing at Lughnasa". The set is really cool cause theres the house and we're using real sod for grass. Its pretty awesome.
Hidden Mickey with a ParNel?            Dancing at Lughnasa set from the catwalk

Yeah that is real sod/grass

On Monday for family home evening 3 FHE groups all got together and we went to "the dunes"(which is a bunch of sand dunes about 15 minutes out of town after you get out of the fields) and had a bonfire. Well it was supposed to be a bonfire but it ended up just being a normal fire but it was still fun. We roasted marshmallows, starbursts, sour patch kids, and just about anything and everything that you can put on a stick. Then a bunch of wrestling matches broke out which was pretty entertaining.
Part of our group at the dunes                                       Our awesome fire