This & That

It was so nice to spend time with my family and friends as I was home.

Those times always turn out to be my fondest memories.

The day before I left, I went with some friends down to the Mission Inn.

The street and hotel were decked out in Christmas lights and other decor.

It was fun just to walk around and enjoy the night and the not so cold weather.

So just last night, Mad & I went to a wedding reception of someone who

has done a lot for us, specifically Madison.

It was the reception of Kyle and Rachel Whimpey.

AKA- Elder Whimpey.

I could tell Madison was excited to see him, they hugged it out a couple times.

Madison made sure to give him an extra hug for my Dad.

We ate a little, danced a little, and enjoyed the beautiful setting.

Congrats to the new couple!

Secretly

I was just scanning through my phone looking at my pictures for no reason

and these are what I find.

These 2 girls secretly took my phone and took these awesome pictures of themselves.

Sorry guys! But you set yourself up haha

 Lauren Nicole Hailey

Aarean Leigh Jergensen.

Don't I have beautiful friends and family?!

I think so.

Christmas!!!

So I've been home for almost a week and I have loved every day.

Why?

Because it's so nice to be home in my beautiful house again with my beautiful family.

I've hung out with my friends just a little bit (I'm sure I will more in the next couple days),

played with my pups, spent a night with my second favorite family (Madison's fambam),

now have relived my yearly traditions of Christmas, and been soaking up the sun.

It's been just glorious.

As you might notice in a couple of the upcoming pictures, I decided on a whim to literally chop my hair off.

Back to blonde (honestly, if you're naturally a blonde, stay blonde. You have so much more fun!)

and I cut probably 10 or more inches off.

It has taken some adjusting, but I love it.

Here are a couple captured moments...

 This is when Mad's family celebrated Christmas. We had the most delicious dinner (thanks to April), and enjoyed everyone's company.

 This is Sagey girl helping me wrap presents.

 A night on Coronado Island with my family was well needed and well appreciated

(Before the hair-cut, not my favorite picture).

 Aarean and I celebrating our Christmas PJ's

My man right here. I'm so happy I got to spend a little time with him over this Christmas break.

I'm one lucky girl.

I appreciate my Mom so much. She really is such a doll and loves her family more than anything.

Thank you Mom for making my time here so special.

Your hard work pays off more than you realize.

I head back to Utah County in just a couple days.

Am I sad? Not really.

Am I happy to leave? No.

I guess it's just time to realize that I'm all grown up now and I don't just get to sit around and have the time of my life without stress. Back to the new semester. Back to work. Back to the cold.

Plus, I have very special people that surround me in Provo, so I know I'll be A-OKAY.

Merry Christmas!

Silky Giveaway!

Great giveaway at Color Issue!

Directions to enter on her blog.

 Here is the prize!

I want it.

Till Then!

Adios Provo!

I'm off to good ole' Murrieta, and I'm very excited to be home.

I can get away from this current ghost town of an apartment complex.

I wish everyone the best Christmas!

(In case I don't have time to post till then).

P.S- On a very happy note, I'd just like to congratulate myself for ending with a B+ in Biology.

Thank you, thank you.

Merry Christmas to all!

One Day

One day, I will visit these places.

Or ones that are similar and dreamy.

One Day.

Bittersweet

I know in my last post I said I was completely content, and really I am.

But I just realized something that made me have a little bittersweet moment...

My 1st semester of college is now finished, complete, gone, donezo.

I imagine my kids asking me what college was like in the beginning when they are going through the same experience, and I'm going to say it was great. It was memorable. It was fun and it was hard.

Where does time go?

Where did my childhood go? High school? Eventually it will be college, marriage, kids?

Growing up is obviously inevitable.

Well, I shouldn't say growing up necessarily, more like getting older.

Some people never "grow up".

But truly, I remember when I was little, playing in the playroom and suddenly realizing my house was too quiet.

I'd call out my Mom's name until she answered asking me what I needed,

and I'd reply "Oh, nevermind."

Really, I was calling out for her to  make sure she was there, which she always was.

She called me her little buddy. I was her "tail."

Where ever she went, you were sure to find me there as well.

I remember being dared to kiss this one boy in 5th grade, and I refused to do it.

I said "NO! My mom would kill me!" So instead, I held hands with him to a rock and back.

I remember having to wear my retainer to my first couple weeks of middle school and playing the 

introducing game in every class. Embarrassingly, I had a lisp when I said my S's. 

Of course, my name starts with an S. I had to repeat my name so many times before people understood.

I remember being at the gym with my sister Rachael when Madison walked in with his friend Robby,

and I remember becoming really nervous because I knew Rach was going to talk to him... meaning I would have to talk to him for the first time as well.

Don't worry, Madison gave me a very awkward side-hug and didn't even make eye contact with me once,

even though we had been texting 24-7 before that. 

I remember his friend Robby saying "Well... this is awkward."

Now, 3 1/2 years later, here we are.

I remember sitting in my psychology class with Lauren & Shayla my Junior year of HS, making faces at our teacher, when eventually he caught Shayla, and asked if her face was okay in front of the class.

I remember Lauren & I laughing so hard that we had to keep our heads on our desks the rest of class.

I remember meeting my roommates for the first time, sleeping in my apartment for the first time, laughing so hard with them at a not-so-decent time of night and being exhausted the next day.

Here I am, finished with my 1st semester at BYU, going home for Christmas

to see the people I love, and working every day at an admissions office.

I'm almost 19 years old (which I know is still so young), but where did all that time go?

It just blows my mind to be honest.

Who knows, in twenty years, I'll look back at this post and think, "Gosh, where did THAT fun 

time of my life go?"

Anyway, I'm just appreciating the moments I've experienced in my life

Because it's all gone in a minute and no matter how much you don't want it to, life goes on.

Blissfully Content

At this exact moment, I am perfectly content.

Why?

Just finished all of my finals, got payed today, Christmas is in almost a week, and most importantly...

I get to go home in just 3 days.

Home to see the faces of my family, my friends, and these two lovable pups!

Oh I've missed my home...

Venice

Recently I was just stumbling along on Stumble Upon (no pun intended)

and this picture of Europe came up and I swear I have picture of the same bridge when I was in Venice!

Venice was such a romantic, beautiful city.

Such an interesting layout of water, bridges, Venice Square

(which was where my hotel was located).

Such a beautiful, amazing city.

Stumble Upon:

 My picture:

Okay so I'm sure there are hundreds of similar bridges in all of Europe,

but hey it's close enough!

Oh Italy, we only had a quick 2 day romance but I'm still in love with you...

SOOOOO maybe I'll save enough to go visit again next year?

But this time I'm thinking ROME.

Most worth it.

Old Spice

Old Spice-BYU-Study

Nothing will ever beat the original "Old Spice" commercial in my eyes...

But I'll admit, I did laugh a little in this one.

Plus, they did the editing so well/.

MOVIES

This is me procrastinating my ASL studies... oh well :)
Here are some movies that are coming out soon that I can't wait to see...

(plus the Hunger Games, but I've already posted about that before).

I have a feeling this is going one of the best romantic movies of the year.

YES. I think it looks so good.

Intense. Just by the trailer, I appreciate the Marines.

There are more... but I don't wanna look like a pathetic loser who watches movie trailers in her free time...

Back to studying I go.

Stress Much?

So I've been waiting for the real "sting" of finals to hit me,

and today, it did.

Along with a couple other things.

The stress has suddenly piled up in the last couple of hours out of nowhere.

Tomorrow I have my Biology final as well as my ASL...

I hope I survive the Biology. I'm nervous.

You know what that means... test anxiety. Yay?!

Anyway, I'm studying away. Hopefully it pays off and I can (let us pray) get at least get a C?? Please?

Yeah, it's that bad for me I know. Sorry I'm a bad test-taker.

So I went to the gym tonight to wake up a little bit and have some one-on-one time with Mr. Treadmill.

Man you take a couple days off, and sometimes it feels like you haven't worked out in months.

I walked by the scale... told myself not to do it, but I couldn't resist.

Now I'm not gonna put any real details out there, but let's just say the past couple of weeks have NOT

done me any good.

The stress, the endless cookie supply everywhere I go. Literally. My work supplies cookies ALL the time recently and people have been offering me Christmas cookies left & right!

My ASL class even had a "cookie" party last week.

Usually I can easily resist since cookies have never been my absolute favorite thing,

but I don't have time to eat real food recently and I'm hungry... so I accept the generous offer of calories without a second thought.

Until now.

No more cookies, no more eggos, and sadly...  I'm taking a much-needed break from carbs. Specifically bread. 

No one said it would be easy, only that it would be worth it... right?

Yeah well let's hope so.

I know Christmas is in less than 2 weeks so this new diet isn't going to have the most successful beginning,

but I will restrain myself from indulging in any sort of food offered to me.

I know I sound like such a typical girl, talking about "weight issues" and recent blows to the confidence-meter.

But hey, I'm not complaining. I take full responsibility.

These are just goals, and posting them will give me a little extra push to doing it right.

So tonight, after I vented to Madison, we went to the grocery store to buy healthy food and snacks

and now I have a lunch prepared to take to work tomorrow so I can quit with the boxed food, ya know?

Then before I dropped him off at his apartment, we decided to divulge in a nice, fattening crepe.

Yum.

Strawberries and Cream Crepe from the crepe place in front of his apartment.

It was my farewell to sugar for the time being. Adios!

Warning- Delicious, yet harmful.

One Down...

One final down, three more to go!

I don't know how I did, hopefully well.

I won't find out for another week or so.

All I'm saying is that I'm glad the first one at least is over.

Happy Finals week to all those in school!

Good luck!

P.S- I love Pandora. 

You wanna know why? Because I finally figured out my laptop, downloaded a new internet browser so now I can actually listen to music and even watch videos.

I'm so proud of myself for figuring it out.

Thanks for the laptop Dad! You don't know how much it helps me

Temple Square

Yes... finally the little night out of Utah county I've been looking forward to.

Paige, Madison, and I decided to drive to SLC and visit Temple Square and grab some dinner.

After finally finding parking, we went to this little Italian restaurant and shared a big bowl of pasta and brushcetta.

(I think that's how you spell it?)

Anyway, it was delicious and very filling.

Afterward we went to the Temple, looked at the amazing Christmas lights, and walked through the buildings.

Whenever my family and I would come to UT during Christmas time, this was a tradition that I loved to do.

This was Madison's first time going there, and I could tell he thought it was pretty cool.

So of course I was happy.

It's amazing how much time people are willing to dedicate to putting up lights and the nativity and all of the other

precious decorations that had.

You can just tell there is something different when you walk in the temple walls.

I'm lucky to have these two people there to share this fun, little experience with me.

Early Gift!

Yesterday, as I was putting on my running shoes, I told Madison how much I couldn't wait for new ones because mine were so old.

He ran down to his car and came back up with a bag.

He wished me an early Merry Christmas and handed me the bag.

What's inside?

Really nice, new running shows.

I usually don't like early gifts but I got really excited.

He told me not to forget he gave me those when Christmas Day rolls around.

Knowing him, he's got a lot more up his sleeve.

I'm so lucky to have someone who is so thoughtful and giving like he is.

Thank you Madison!

I know, they're pretty saaa-weeet!

I love 'em

Horrifying Moment

What's wrong with this picture?

Yeah... take another look. haha Kills me

Doggies!

So Madison texted me this link to stumble upon the other day.

I opened it and thought it was pretty funny.

A photographer took close-up pictures of dogs shaking water off.

In the moment, their faces are pretty funny, and pretty ugly!

But still, you gotta love 'em.

I know it's weird how much I love dogs in general... I just do.

Kate Bartel's Giveaway!

Holiday Giveaway--Exclusive Color Issue Katie Bartels Necklace!

My lovely sister Aarean is having a giveaway for this beautiful, colorful necklace on her blog, The Color Issue.

If you wanna join in on the race to win this fine piece of jewelery, follow the directions on her post.

London 2011

So I was thinking about my "grateful" posts and how honestly you probably don't care.

So instead every week I am going to post a memory from my trip to Europe I went on in April.

Maybe that will be a tad bit more exciting!

So today, my first post for this Europe reminiscence is...

Our first day in London, England.

(Warning- the first day in London, we all look like Hell. Literally. By this point we had gone almost 3 days without sleeping technically. We were past the point of exhausted. I've never in my life been that tired. We coudn't even stay awake on the tours. We all passed out on the bus. Eventually our tour guide gave up and let us go to our hotel and get some rest. So if you're thinking, wow they look miserable... that is why).

 MMMM... I just love the architecture in Europe. So beautiful.

Had to drink water from water bottles. Why? Water can easily make you very sick. I wasn't taking a chance to miss out on traveling to Europe. This trip was a HUGE deal to me.

 We were there not even a month before the royal wedding I think. So it was busy, but exciting and structures were being built for the "big day."

These girls (Lauren, Shayla, & Krystal) are what made the trip SO much fun.

Oh if I could go back... Someone wanna take me there? Or just give me the money to go?

It would be greatly, greatly appreciated. Thanks!

I wish!

So a little story about the 1st day of London was that we were so exhausted, the Tour guide had  to practically drag us off the bus to see the London Bridge. Finally when we got to our hotel room, thee girls and I ordered room service for dinner and to tell you the truth, I can't remember from the time I finished eating to falling asleep. All of a sudden I woke up at 0:00 in the morning? They obviously forgot to inform me of the different times?! I freaked out, it was dark outside and I was supposed to wake up Lauren to tell her to take a shower. Well, after us being a little stressed about not knowing what time it was, we found out it was midnight. So we went back to sleep until 10:00 then next morning. Yeah, we slept from 5:00pm-10:00am. Well worth it too.

Our tour guide saw us the next day and told us he didn't even recognize us, we looked so much better.

How sad. They aren't kidding with the phrase "beauty sleep"!

Brio

Last night, I drove to Fashion Place mall to do a little Christmas shopping 

and run some errands with Madison.

After spending a nice hour and a half or so in Nordstrom and the new, huge H&M,

we decided to get some dinner at this nice restaurant  next to the mall called Brio.

MMMM...

(Thank you Madison for feeding me... for the millionth time. Don't know what I'd do without you!)

After eating some yummy bread with oil&vinegar, our meals came out.

Plus the nicest waitress only made the restaurant that much better.

I got this dinner that was cheese stuffed noodles that looked like a little bags/octopuses with this sweet, kinda spicy pesto sauce and little pieces of bacon and spinach on top.

It was delicious.

 Madison ordered this shrimp something dinner.

Looked so yummy, too bad I couldn't eat it due to my somewhat recent realization that I'm allergic to shrimp and lobster. Sad I know.

His had this juicy, brown rice underneath with tomatoes, green beans, asparagus, and spices soaked in this creamy, buttery sauce. I did try a bite of the rice and vegetables and it was pretty good.

So if anyone ever visits the mall in Murray, try Brio.

My experience was a good one!

Race to the Seat

Okay so this entire semester I have sat in the same seat in my Religions class.

the seat in the back, right corner has my name all over it.

So why suddenly does this random girl start sitting in my seat the last month of the semester?

I don't know. 

It may be weird that this bothers me, but it does.

The funny things is that the 1st day she sat there, my professor called her out and asked why she 

was sitting in my seat? She replied with a sort of snooty "I didn't know we had a seating chart."

My professor laughed and just said he didn't care, he just always expects to see me sitting there.

Since that day, I'm not kidding, its been a race for the corner seat.

And I know she knows who I am and that I usually sit there.

(You may not care at all about this little story of mine, so sorry).

So today was my last day of class and I was determined to get my seat.

Of course everything that could've possibly made me late happened.

I woke up, had to shower really quick, got ready, scarfed down some eggos, and was on my way.

Then I had to wait in my FREEZING car while the ice semi-melted off my windshield.
I drove looking through a hole on my windshield about the size of my fist where the ice had melted.

I had to run to the store really quick to grab some stuff before school, don't worry I was good on time.

I finally arrive at my normal parking lot, and there's a sign saying that any car there after 4:00 would be towed for the basketball game that night.

I am finished with school at 5:00, awesome.

So I quickly drove across campus to another parking lot of which there were NO spaces.

I drove around trying to follow people zig-zag through cars, but someone else always beat me.

Finally after 25 minutes, I asked this guy who had barely set foot on the street if he was leaving.

He was, and I was so relieved, since class was starting right then.

So I slowly drove behind him as he walked, and he kept stopping, looking and continuing.

Turns out he forgot where he parked.

Another 6 minutes later, he finally finds his blue little smart car and happily waves at me.

I nodded back, but not really feeling the happy morning spirit at this moment!

So I have to run up 6 long flights of stairs (they're a killer),

and walked as quickly as I could to class.

My feet were so cold in my boots, it hurt to walk. As well as my nose.

Finally I walked into my classroom (15 minutes late), and there was the girl...

snug in my back, corner seat.

Dangett. 

This is the sneaky picture I took of her.

I had to post this. Now the semester is over, and she got my seat.

You probably think I'm really weird for caring about a specific seat, but I just had sat there

all semester and had adapted to the classroom that way.

Game over.

Simplicity

Sometimes I think about the world and everything I've come to learn and I think

why can't it just be simple?

It's amazing when you think you know everything about someone and then you realize

that they were going through something hard and you didn't even realize it.

I believe that trials were given to each and every one of us so that we can be prepared for what is

coming in our future, or to make us stronger and teach us a lesson.

Or maybe we go through trials so that we will be prepared to help someone else, one day.

If only everything could be simple.

But at the same time, simplicity can get old.

Sometimes I think, a simple life is all I really want, and I know I would be happy.

Then I think about the experiences I could have if my life were to be a little more complex...

Does that even make sense?

I wish I could help people so that they can finally let go and move on. 

But that would be too simple.

I even wish someone could just take away all my stress, worries, anxiety.

Not that I'm constantly overcome with these negative feelings, it would just be nice for them to be erased when they surface by someone other than myself.

I see good people have serious trials. Good people who make bad mistakes.

Then it either is straight downhill or uphill from that point on.

If this life could be a little more simple, maybe everyone would be a little more content

with how they are living, or with their past.

But if that were the case, people wouldn't become who they are.

They wouldn't become the person who has that rough journey that helps someone else through theirs.

Sorry if this makes no sense to you.

I'm just thinking out loud, or typing out loud?

I guess what I'm trying to say is even when we all wish for simplicity, that isn't reality.

It isn't what makes life what is is;

A rigid adventure that is worth more than we can even comprehend.

Date Night

So Saturday night Madison took me on a nice little date (since Friday kind of fell through).

There is this restaurant that I always pass on University Parkway called "Tepanyaki"

and I always want to go there.

So he took me there and it was just like "Shogun" if you've ever been there.

The food was delicious and VERY filling.

I love the kinds of places where the chefs cook in front of you. I don't know why.

So after we stuffed our faces, we went to the ice-skating rink by 7 Peaks,

and we were lucky enough to go when they were having BYU and UVU activities.

AKA- We just walked right in for free because we were "in the ward", grabbed some skates, and skated for about 2 hours... Not to mention we got free donuts and hot chocolate :)

So, if anyone is thinking of a fun date, get some dinner and go ice-skating.

 Anywho, just thought I'd mention a fun little night I had with Madison.

This week, I'm going to see the Christmas lights at Temple Square and planning on shoving

my face full of the Spaghetti Factory pasta.

 I'm loving Winter already!

Oh Happy Friday

I am so happy it is Friday today.

The 1st stressful week of school is now done.

Even though I am nervous about my Biology test tomorrow, it's Friday.

You wanna know what makes it even better?

It's gonna snow tonight. 

Oh and Madison finally has an open Friday night which means I get to hang out with him.

This makes me happy.

I hope everyone has a great Friday!

And here is a random little picture that'll melt your heart;

Yeah, she's my niece. I'm absolutely in love with her.

Idioms?

The English language is so strange.

We have past, present, future terms, and phrases that don't even make sense.

Metaphors, similes, idioms, etc.

I would hate to be a foreigner learning the English language.

Today I had a work meeting and before every meeting, they show a funny video or picture.

Today the video was this:

I was laughing so hard when I watched this. 

So I thought I'd share it with you.

My Girls

Right now I am missing my girlfriends, more than usual.

Maybe it's because they are the only girls that aren't family that I am 100% comfortable around.

Maybe it's because they all make me laugh harder than almost anyone.

Maybe  it's because we all grew up as such close friends and have endless memories together.

Maybe it's because we all have similar yet such different personalities, so when we get together we

combine perfectly and we always have fun no matter the situation.

Maybe it's because I love each and every one of them for separate reasons.

Maybe it's because they make me happy.

So Lauren, Shayla, Kristen, or Mel, if you read this, know I am very excited to see you guys in just

a couple weeks. I'm very, very excited.

 

 This picture above was taken at the ASB president's farewell our Senior year.

This picture was taken in London when we went on a little trip to Europe.

Probably some of my favorite memories were made on this trip.

Thanks to Shayla and Lauren.

Oh and to Europe in general, because it's an amazing country with so much history.

In just a little under three weeks, I will be able to be in all of their company at once.

Another reason why I love December!