Happy Thanksgiving

Christmas Lights

I. Love. Christmas Lights.

I don't know what it is about them. But I LOVE them. They make me feel happy and hopeful and bubbly and warm and fuzzy and they make me feel like a kid again. I LOVE LIGHTS! I still love the annual family lighting ceremony we have every year when Dad puts the lights up: "Ooooh, aaaaw, ohhhh!" (It's tradition.) And I'm sorry for those of you who have problems with things like this...but I am a pre-Thanksgiving Christmas celebrator. I say that December just isn't long enough to fully enjoy all the delightful things Christmas has to offer. Like LIGHTS. Or music. I mean really, the music from "Charlie Brown Christmas" always puts me in a blissful trance. Guess what I'm listening to right now?!

**Disclaimer - I swear I'm not the type of person who skips Thanksgiving either. I believe in celebrating Christmas without dismissing Thanksgiving. It's really the precursor to the whole holiday season. And I love it all. It's a time of year, not two distinct holidays. 

SO! As I was leaving my last class on Monday before my Thanksgiving break, you can imagine how tickled I was to discover that adding to my initial joy of starting the break, there were CHRISTMAS LIGHTS on CAMPUS. I feel creepy stopping to take pictures on campus sometimes, so this is the only picture you get. How delightful is that?!

Now let's back up a little bit. The roomies and I had a lighting ceremony of our own on Sunday. We invited some friends, cranked up the Christmas music, make some hot chocolate, and dressed up in colorful hats, gloves, and scarves, and decorated the front room with lights. I was dancing around to "Jingle Bell Rock" while someone untangled lights, someone eye-balled, and someone tacked. It was truly a fantastic little get-together. And when it was all finished, we turned out all the lights and sat back to enjoy our handiwork:

Personally, I love the juxtaposition of the Thanksgiving pumpkins that remain in the window along with the lights and ornaments hanging above. Who said the holidays can't go together?! Across the entertainment center is a garland with lights and over the couch is our gift-wrapped painting. It's a nice touch. After Thanksgiving we'll put up the Christmas tree!!!

And since I'm spending so much time talking about Christmas lights, please enjoy this song by Coldplay entitled "Christmas Lights." (Oh, the irony.) I'm not sure why I love it...it's catchy. But upon listening more closely to the lyrics, it's a little depressing...and the members of Coldplay are sort of creepy. But it fits with the theme. So there.

My sister is a hoob.

Ran an errand at the craft store the other day with Em and found her name near the top of the naughty list. We laughed. Really hard. The cashier who served me was named Cinda.

Life is like a box of cardboard...

Sometimes life is like getting stuck in a box that your co-worker dared you to try to fit into. Part of it is funny, part of it is scary, part of it is frustrating, part of it is painful, and part of it makes you want to die of laughter. Sometimes you ask yourself why you did it, sometimes you need a sharp object to get out, and sometimes you are late to things because of it. But in the end, it always makes for a good story.

PS - Happy REAL 100th post. Turns out that last count was lying to me. Such is life. ;)

Nostalgia

Happy birthday Jake. Miss your face.

We're so professional.

EUROPA!

Guess where I'm going?

England, France, Germany, Austria, Belgium, The Netherlands, Greece, Italy.

May - July 2012

It's one hundred percent official. Got my second acceptance letter today.

Be jealous.

Some Exciting Stuff

Call it silly, but I like to pick one pen when school starts, use it for everything I do, and see how far I get until it dies. It's sort of a monumental thing when the pen finally goes. And trust me, the pens are never special in any other way. For example, this particular pen (which I LOVED) I accidentally stole from the lady who brought me my apartment contract to sign. (Last year it was a UTA pen I got for free from some on-campuse booth.) On November 9, 2011 at approximately 4:28 pm, it finally gave out. It was a sad moment. RIP.

Yesterday was exciting beyond the death of my pen. I was sitting in my studio techniques class waiting anxiously for it to be late enough to warrant leaving...when the fire alarm went off. Two shows, two concerts, and at least a dozen classes in session, and they evacuated the entire HFAC. I watched the firetrucks pull up as I made my way to my car. Turns out one of the opening productions used some fancy light that legally requires a fire marshall on hand to turn off the alarm when it gets set off. Made my night. Almost as much as the awesome site I happened upon on my way home:

Most epic toilet papering ever? Check. Turns out they were filming some youtube video. I don't really care about all that jazz, the fact is that the effect of the 1000 rolls of toilet paper in the dark with strategically placed lighting was strangely magical. Don't believe me? I've got about a hundred more pictures you can go through.

It was a good night.

Jumbalaya

These are my observations for the day:

- Most of the motorcycles parked at BYU belong to unattractive guys.

- Some girls wear really, really tight pants. Or jeggings. And it's not fun to walk behind them.

- Walking to campus hurts when your toe is bleeding. 

- I can pretty much describe any day I have with a food analogy.

- Studying is super boring.

- Sometimes Christmas music is all you need to get going in the morning.

So...I'm going through these grumpy, angsty and really light-hearted phases. Back and forth. Hating school. Being fine with it. It's definitely related to stress. For example, super cranky and disagreeable when I left this morning. Took a test. Feeling much better. Bracing myself for more bad attitude because I KNOW I need to get researching for my paper that's due...oops...next week. Sigh. I'm allowed a little break to reward myself for the good job I did on my test, right?

You know, I thought this post out as I was walking the long walk to my car with my painful toe and in my head it was really creative and fun and full of actually interesting facts about what's going on in my life right now. Typed out...it really sucks. So here's a picture of a snow shovel lying in the middle of the intersection by the Marriott Center.

Okay. So it wasn't quite the MIDDLE of the intersection...enjoy all the same.

S.O.S

You know those days where you wake up at quarter to five and for about ten minutes you are wide awake and panicking because you realize all the things that you have to do that you haven't done and you should go in to work but you probably won't make it because these things are high priority because let's face it you have a test tomorrow and a paper due next week and you definitely forgot to do that silly photography assignment that you really should have just done last Saturday and what the hey did you do with your Saturday anyway you slacker?

Sigh...I've suddenly gotten very, very, very stressed about school. And for the first time, it's stress enough to make me want to just cry.

He told me that I'd done alright.

I should be doing the copious amounts of homework I've put off AGAIN, but instead I'm getting sentimental over this song. I just love it. Really. I do. Enjoy it. Just remember, I loved it first.

In more exciting news, I went and bought a German Book of Mormon today, or, "Das Buch Mormon." I feel like it needs an exclamation point..."Das Buch Mormon!" And you have to say it with a really bad, heavy, rough German accent. Spit a little. That's not the point of this story. The point is, as I flipped through "Das Buch Mormon!" I was surprised by how much I could read! (That really does deserve an exclamation point.) Just off the top of my head! Gee willikins, Dr. Kelling, I really am learning something in your class! Speaking of German, that's exactly the homework I'm putting off. That and photography. Do you know how hard it is to take an abstract photograph?!

And here's my plug for the delicious Shirley's Bakery. All their pastries were 30% off today. I bought far too many. Sooooo worth the stomachache I'm going to have.

And here's a plug for the Indian Palace on Center Street in Provo. I was introduced to Indian cuisine last night and I finally know what I've been missing in life. It was that good. And according to this friend of mine, who is a self-proclaimed connoisseur of Indian cuisine in Provo, the Indian Palace is the place to go. But don't take my word for it. ;) PLEASE, SOMEBODY PICK UP ON THAT REFERENCE!

Ach! German. Peace out.

EEP!!! That was my 100th post! Here is an anticlimactic exclamatory celebration!!!

Bigger Pictures!

Oh hey friends. Digging the new blogger format. Wonder how long I've been missing out on this excitement. Guess I should pay more attention to life.

In other news, here's the fresco I made in art class tonight. And in case you couldn't tell, it's supposed to be Monet's "Impression of a Sunrise." Fresco = A lot of work, and a lot of fun.