One week to rule them all...

I thought I would update you all on the goings of my semester...you know, now that I have 8 days left of it. 

Many things are making me laugh these days.  

I wish that meant I had a great sense of humor, 

but I think I should attribute that to lack of unconsciousness.  

That beautiful blissful thing called sleep.

Sleep is like that friend that always comes over at 

all the wrong times.  Like, the middle of the day 

when you should be busy with homework, or 3 in the morning

when you'd rather not have company come knocking. 

My Monday/Start of finals went a little something like this:

Woke up 15 minutes before class started.

Got there on time!

Jessie 1, Monday 0!

Asked a guy in my class 'How was the test?'

Last test was 2 weeks ago, next one is in 3 days.

Jessie 1, Monday 1.

Left a class and told my friend 'Have a great weekend!'

...it's only MONDAY!!

Jessie 1, Monday 2.

Got all my homework done for Monday on Saturday (take THAT, Monday!).

Halfway through the day I realized I had 3 projects due tomorrow.

...this is when I just let Monday have the win for once.  

My day definitely turned around after attending my last class where we read this talk 

by Howard W. Hunter who was the prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at the time of the address.

"Despair, Doom, and Discouragement are not acceptable views of life for a Latter-day Saint. However high on the charts they are on the hit parade of contemporary news, we must not walk on our lower lip every time a few difficult moments happen to confront us."

Later in the talk he also said:

"Contrary to what some might say, you have every reason in this world to be happy and to be optimistic and to be confident. Every generation since time began has had some things to overcome and some problems to work out. Furthermore, every individual person has a particular set of challenges which sometimes seem to be earmarked for us individually. We understood that in our premortal existence."

How about that, huh? We all have the right to be happy.

I'm choosing to be happy about the small things today.

I passed 2 tests today.

I'm going home in 9 days.

I'm going to the lake tomorrow night.

I got to talk to Dani last night.

I'm going rock climbing this Thursday.

I went bridge jumping with my cousin and two friends yesterday. 

I have been blessed with some of the best friends I could have asked for this year.

Tomorrow is another day to do better.

 “Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the Lord thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. …

“And the Lord, he it is that doth go before thee; he will be with thee, he will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed.” (Deut. 31:6, 8.)

The day I publicly shared a haiku on the internet and lived to tell the story.

One thing I will never deny in my college career is food.  If food is offered to me- I will take it.  I hate grocery shopping.  I hate spending money on necessities.  Hate it. So yeah when the bishop offered me the left over burgers, fries, buns, mustard, marshmallows, napkins,  and bowls from our activity. I took them.  Gladly too! :)

No shopping here tonight, yeah! No shopping here tonight, yeah! No shopping here tonight, yeah!

Know what I do love though?  Spending my money on fun things.  I'll always love that.

Today is Monday.  I wrote a haiku about this.

"My life"
It's Monday again.
5am, crash, BEEP, BEEP, whirrr.
That darn garbage man.

I figured out why my Mondays are so weird now. That garbage man has no respect for my sleep!  As my inner Stephanie Tanner would say "How rude!"

And then I found twenty dollars after a little kid gave me a candy necklace.  It was pretty much a great day.

Speaking of great days, last weekend I went to the land of milk and honey, Zion, Deseret, the place where the 'Y' and the 'U' are no longer just letters in the alphabet-if you guessed Utah, then you are correct!! DING DING DING WE HAVE A WINNER!!! Where are you going to go with this new win under your belt? And don't say Disney World because this isn't really THAT big of an accomplishment.

Utah is a great place.  It's a beautiful state that is now home to my sister and best friend.  I had fantastic times and ate great food everyday.  It was amazing I wrote a haiku about this too.

"What a weekend"
The sun shone brightly
I long for this to never end
You right here with me
we swim, hike, climb, and be.

I also wrote a haiku about this semester of school.  Which I think is 100% appropriate to BYUI students.

I titled this one...

"Date or date not, married is the goal" (is it wrong to like the title more than the poetic part?)

This school is crazy

everyone has envy

it must be the rings.

Obviously I have had some free moments for a quick haiku or two...or enough to fill a smallish notebook. 

I'm tapping out.  This is turning into a rant.  And I only rant when I stand on a chair in my kitchen when I'm looking for food. You'd think I was hungry for how many times I mentioned food in this post.  I'll go stand on my chair and find some food in my cupboard now.  Maybe I'll eat some of the food the bishop gave me. ;)

Amour...amore? I can fix that.

My friend Dani got me started again on making lists of things that I love to perk yourself up-and let me tell you nothing will make you smile faster than counting your blessings like that!

Every list is different and yet the same theme usually hovers around with each one.  They're very therapeutic-make one if you don't believe me.  Last year I tried to not say 'I love [fill in the blank]" too commonly since our blessed English language only chose to have the one word for love! I can't overuse, and abuse it and expect it to still mean something to people right?

Wrong-O! I use the word everyday.  Here is my latest internet love.  This golden nugget showed up on Pinterest as I tried to find ideas for FHE- then this popped up! For you LDS folk out there...enjoy.  I hope your homework, dishes, laundry, and rest of your day is done before you embark on this site of laughter. Because it is relative to the lives we live and modern day saints. 

-->Go here first to get some chill tunes going first. <3 http://8tracks.com/goldsworthing/summer

-->Go here to laugh out loud now. :) http://amenalready.tumblr.com/

One day I realized...Indian food is dang spicy.

As the first week of classes came to a close this weekend I realized a few things that I haven't always taken the time to notice or or give any real thought about.  I recently read a book that was intended to show you how to get a new perspective of the things that have become commonplace in our minds and in our eyes.  I like to think I'm opening my eyes to new things around me that have always been there, but I never really saw or thought about.  I feel like I've been noticing some interesting things lately, so here are some I'll share:

Every soon to be college student should know that the first homework assignment you will have in every class is a syllabus quiz.  And if you go to BYUI then all of the quizzes will be nearly the same.  Read one syllabus for an education class...read them all...

Having a mutual trust with your friends is a big deal and should be treasured.  Hide it under a rock and never lose it! Pull it out for friend tests though and brush it off for those trust falls!

If you have a fire in an illegal fire zone the Ranger will probably give you a ticket for it.  Lesson learned.  Okay so this one is maybe a little more obvious...

"You never know what you got till its gone" applies to the track system at BYUI. 

Your oven can be used as a heater for your apartment.  This is especially helpful information if you find yourself in the same predicament I have this semester.

Watching your sister rap with her fiance is adorable.  Watching them become husband and wife is amazing.

Potatoes, eggs, and beans are probably the best lunch you can have on any given Tuesday or Thursday.

If you hit your Bishop with the front door you are most likely going to end up giving a talk in church to make it up to him.  And also to let him know that your apology was sincere.  Again...lesson learned.

I don't know what it is about those pie shakes, but they get me every time at Sammy's! Seriously guys...

One thing I love about this school is that everyone seems to want a friend.  They want people to study with, play with, talk to, learn from, and just listen to them every now and again.  It makes making friends so much easier. Either that or everyone is lonely.  I'll take it either way! ;)

A plethora of students have a reusable water bottle. I love this.

I'm a creature of habit whether I admit to it or not.  I fall into routines no matter how much I fight it.

I'm still spontaneous.  Even though I fall for that habit and robot route of a routine I still break free and go wild enough to keep me sane. 

The more I do my homework the better grades I get.  I genuinely thought there was no correlation there. ;)

I love writing poetry now.  It's been one of the best creative outlets I have found.  Also, I love reading the poetry board in the McKay library.  A lot.  It's the one time I judge something I had no part in creating without feeling the guilt of judgment.  

People who say they like "spicy" food usually can't handle it like a sumo wrestler mowing down on wads of wasabi. 

I think "do you live under a rock?!" is becoming the phrase for the summer of 2013! Watch out everyone! 

The people of Rexburg un-zombiefy come spring.  Take them out of the buildings and give them some sun and color, personalities, and a sense of humor and you have real live people again! 

It can most definitely snow on May 1st.  Happy May Day! :)

Living with family is a bigger blessing than anything else I can think of.  I love living with Emily because we can confide in one another, see each other only once or twice a day and never assume that we are growing apart, and that she gets me and I get her.  I never realized how much we actually got along before because we were separated by age, but here that doesn't matter.  I love that. 

There are a lot of people who don't know who they are at college and I will be the one to tell them that they're not hipsters if all of them are hipsters.  It just isn't the hipster way, cannot be the hipster way, and never will be the hipster way.  

I couldn't do any of this without my Heavenly Father, Savior Jesus Christ, or the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost.  I am whole because of my testimony.  I love this church and the fact that I never feel truly alone no matter how far I am from home.  

And with that, I bid you adieu.  Stay classy, happy, and keep smiling.  ...Until it gets creepy then you can flat line that mouth of yours. ;) 

Enjoy. <3

Good golly I love this show.  I hope you all become as hooked as I am just from this song. 

Confession Time: Inside the Mind of an Elementary Education Major

I have learned a lot this semester and one of them is that I get busy when I'm at school.  Like so insanely busy with awesome things that I have to update my blog when school is over.

Hence this post actually being written during normal hours of the day instead of the wee small ones.

How about a recap on the year thus far? How about a list of my advice? How about a list of both?

Boys will flock to homemade food. Fact.

You can always push yourself harder than you thought even though you forget the safe word and your friends won't let you come down off of the cliff. When you can't hold on anymore then you pull.

That last recap was about rock climbing, but I bet you applied it to something else.

The temple is AWAYS my haven. And it can be yours too.

Pzookies are best after midnight.  Also, with lots of chocolate chips and marshmallows on them.

A boy making the duck face never gets old.

Tandem bikes are a great analogy for marriage.

Teaching 6th grade math is fun- especially when you have the class that I had.

I can now tell you 5 sentences about chemistry, physics, geology, astronomy, and biology.  But do not ask me to go in depth about any of it!

Sometimes to get a free shake you have to carry someone through a building and down an elevator.

I want a pet cockroach now. They'd be so simple to care for! 

Haiku's and poetry should be written on any writable surface.

Wearing a onesie and walking across town to get a shake for a dollar is also acceptable.

Study.  Because when you take a state test you reap the benefits.  Big time!

Pick up new hobbies.  All the time.  Never thought I'd be a climber, but now I'm hooked!

Bonfires are fun, but can be made more fun with peeps, jeeps, and temporary insanity.

Go to General Conference at least once in your life! 

There are 8 phases of the moon and I can draw them out for you. 

No matter what you think, the internet is always going to be faster at home than that secret place in the Clark, Hinkley, Smith, or even the Benson.  

The Teton pass is EXTREMELY SCARY this time of year!

Brigham Claus is my new favorite mythical creature.

Longboarding is when I am the most myself. 

If you can make it from scratch...what on earth are you doing buying it premade?!

Don't break certain boundaries unless you're willing to have a conversation about it.

I am not cynical enough to be a hipster.  And proud of it. 

You know you're studying El Ed when you find the shwa in a really long word.  Without having to argue about dialect and blah blah blah.

The best compliment you can get as El Ed is "You have excellent classroom management skills.

Homemade salsa makes the world go round.  No literally, if Dani and I stopped making salsa the world would have stopped spinning on its axis. And you would all go flying because of inertia.

You know you are going to be a teacher when you manage your with a group of friends and you manage them like you do the 6th graders you work with. 

The temple is home.

Waking up to your dog nuzzling you is one of the top ten things that make me smile.

Discovering your talents is a blessing.  Refining them is a reward to yourself and others.

You can have as many best friends as you want.  

I'm sure there is more to tell you all (the four of you who read this), but I also know there is a time and a season for every story. This is not the time, nor the season because I have to get ready for church. :) 

Love you. 

Life is a long lesson in humility

I like to think that I'm learning something as I go through this crazy existence we call life.  If you're not progressing then you are coasting.  You can only coast so long before you stop, or worse, roll backwards.  So therefore since I am not stopped or rolling backwards, I am getting better and learning from mistakes and my trial and error approach to life! How about them apples?!

This last weekend I made the decision to stop procrastinating! ...I'll let you know how that goes next week.  I played a lot this weekend.  And I don't regret a single moment of it.  Even the 10+ hours of homework I had on Sunday. ;)

How about we move on to the things I do remember learning and following through with, yeah? Good idea.

1. Don't spend time with people you don't want to.  This came to me like a frying pan in the face.  Why would you spend time with people who don't make you happy? You're only given a short time on this beautiful earth, so let's all spend it with people who matter to us! 
2. Laugh all the time!  Laugh at yourself, laugh at your friends, laugh at your co-workers, laugh at your neighbors, laugh, laugh, laugh!! It's good for your health! You get an ab workout and you relieve stress! So relax, and let yourself giggle. :)  I especially like to laugh at other people, but they only seem to accept that if you laugh at yourself twice as much! Psh. Some people! 
3. Learn to cook.  I LOVE food! I love it. I love to share it even more!  This is a great skill to have that will save you money in the long run.  No more fast food!  Plus, you make more friends when you can feed them good food!  Have a signature dish.  It's worth it. 
4. Share.  This can be a hard one.  Sharing does not come naturally for humans.  Survival of the fittest, homeboy! Did you know that we don't start to share without being asked until we are 7 years old!  Duh, this is a hard one! Share your heart, your love, your food, your smile, and your blankets.
5. Smile.  Smile until your cheeks hurt! If you are a lazy person, just remember that it takes less muscles to smile than it does to frown.  Not motivated yet? Try smiling at random people.  Not just a lame "Hey how are you doing? Fine? Oh, okay, yeah I was just gonna smile and take my bagel to go." kind of a smile, but a smile you greet your friends with after they get off the plane from Italy. And they've been gone for 6 months.  And you couldn't Skype.  And remember it's been 6 months! You know what kind I'm talking about. ;)
6. Dance whenever and wherever! This is an important one to remember.  You just gotta dance your pretty little pants off sometimes. Sometimes that's a very literal statement.  Sometimes you feel the need in line at the grocery store, or the 2nd floor of the library, or maybe its while you're walking down the street of your pretty city. Bottom line. Dance. 
7. Love everyone.  You don't have to like people.  You just have to love them.  Love people as soon as you meet them.  Find something great about them and love them for it.  And like I said before, by no means do you actually have to like them.  Because let's be real.  I don't like everyone.  But you would have to do a lot of stupid behavioral type things before I would stop loving you.  If you give a little love, then you get a little love. 
8. Express confidence in yourself.  I know this is a hard one, but I think it benefits yourself the most.  Muggers in NY were interviewed (why they weren't arrested after this, I don't know) and they said that they were more likely to jump the guy with his shoulders hanging low and his head dropped low.  The people who walked with purpose looked like too much of a challenge.  You have to remember that you have purpose here.  You are important.  If you are lost you will find your way soon enough.  Don't worry too much about life and don't let it get you down.  You're amazing.  I'm sure that if we were acquaintances I would smile at you, feed you, share stuff with you, and I would for sure love you. Be confident in yourself.  "Today you are you, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is youer than you." Dr. Seuss is my main man.  

Okay, I'm done.  I hope you enjoyed the thoughts that literally have been posted to my computers homepage for over a week now.  I love you.

Enjoy this amazing tune, on me. ;) 

Patience is not my virtue.

I'm doing it again.  I'm counting down the events in my life!! Today in class it hit me like a ton of bricks in the face!  We had a devotional in class where someone reads a scripture, a quote, and then we pray.  Well the quote could not have been more clear that it was for yours truly.  I have to remember this forever and always.

"For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin - real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way. Something to be got through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life." ~Fr. Alfred D'Souza

Pretty great, huh? The obstacles in my life are what make my life worth talking about.  The misadventures or days gone awry are the ones I talk about most.  The times that I get lost, pull over, have a dance party with friends in the car, and then continue on our merry way are my favorite.  

Why then, do I always want the days where I pass every test, get to the gym before it closes, or the days where I actually get to get out of town to have fun?  Because I have danced my pants off for an 'F' just because the class was over, I've gone running around Rexburg when the gym was closed, and I have more fun leaving love notes on the doors of friend's apartments than I do snagging a deal on a cute top out of town.

My life is just a bunch of moments.  Moments that are stitched together to create a day.  There are good patches and bad patches in a day.  I've learned that you can always turn it around to make it come out how you want it to.

Right now I'm going to be happy that I don't have homework due tomorrow.  I am happy that I'm listening to The Lumineers for the 7th time this week.  I am happy because I went to yoga with a friend tonight.  I'm still happy that my best friend and I met Vocal Point last weekend in a hot tub (WHAT, WHAT!)! I'm happy because I have hilarious friends who fly helicopters into each other, but won't take it outside.  I'm happy because I'm loving my life.  A lot. 

Found this little treasure a year ago, but never bothered to take a photo.  I guess I was never with the right person. <3

I promise we are dressed as "ninjas", not middle easterners!

This girl.  Yeah, look at her.  She is leaving on a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in just a week.  She is my best friend and I'm going to miss her like crazy! Her mailbox will be flooded.

Current likes: Valentines Day, The Lumineers, apt #209, Kiwi Loco, the very wise magic 8 ball, and smiles. :)

This is place sunk the Titanic

So I am back in wonderful Rexbuuurg Idaho. You guessed it!  I was greeted with negative degree weather upon arrival late in the wee hours of the night as we pulled into Saint Anthony, ID.  This is my cousins first year at college so we had the privilege of being driven down by my aunt and uncle.   Here is a photo of part of the trip!
   

We partied.

Remember awhile ago when those society memes were WICKED popular?  Well I found this one I made on my computer and thought I would share it with at least the one person who reads my blog. ;)

It reminds me of what I made Rexburg last year.  Some people complained all the time about the cold, but I try to say I love it at least once a day (its really not that bad) and truly live in it.  Yeah, I have a lot on my list to keep me preoccupied and continue growing, but I also have a ton of fun outside this list!  I am finding my partners in crime for a majority of my list and I am excited to say that I just may accomplish something VERY soon! 

So, it's cold, it rains ice, and there is a good 3 inches of ice I walk on by my apartment, but the people are good, I love my roommates, and I am having a good time so far. :) Classes are going to be rough, but I can do hard things right? Right. 

Again, some humor because I'm in a silly mood after doing my homework for the past 3 hours. :) 

Does that work?? Hahaha I do not want to find out! Love you all! Warm wishes!