Made It!

I'M DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Whew! I didn't know if I was going to make it there for a little bit. It got pretty rough toward the end. But after the longest finals week ever, (6 finals spread across the entire week) I am finally done with this semester. That is such a relief. Besides the stress and the homework, I really have had an awesome semester. An awesome year even. We have had a lot of fun. I have also realized how much I really adore this school. And this ridiculous little town. Even though I will be back in the fall, leaving a place makes you realize how much you love it. SVU is little and old and poor and ghetto, but it has my heart. As does the state of Virginia. After graduation, I definitely won't be running back to the west and never looking back. Even if I only spend a total of 3 years here, I will forever consider Virginia to be a second home to me. It's an incredible place and I am totally hooked. And there's my sentiment about how convinced I am that I made the right choice in schools. I'm a great decision maker! In other news.......
-I now have two weeks to hang around (and go to class) before I leave for CHINA!! I hate that everyone is going home right now. It makes me super jealous. But these next two weeks are going to be fun and then I will be in China. So probably I can handle that.
-I am mostly terrified and a teeny bit excited to go to China. I am going to die.
-Imari, Kenzy, and I are headed to DC tomorrow morning to take a break and celebrate our making it through the semester! I'm so excited! Plus I get to see Em, which is also fairly exciting. And we are eating at Cafe Rio. Finally!
-It's firefly time! I am excited to be here for two weeks because the fireflies are starting to come out and I will hopefully be able to see (and catch) some before I leave this time. Whooo!
-Baseball season started!! I can't tell you how much I love that. I get a little more invested in it every year and I am just so excited for this season. We got off to a rough start, but they know how to make comebacks. Kenzy and I somehow always end up coordinating when we are going to rep our respective teams. It's an interesting thing being mortal enemies with your best friend. But kind of fun (in an annoying, never let you forget about your teams struggles, sort of way). The better news is that Imari decided she was a full-fledged Red Sox fan in a matter of seconds. Once we got past teaching her how many outs are in an inning, how many innings are in a game, and what it means when someone runs to first base without hitting the ball, she became a really great member of Red Sox Nation. Hahahaha!
-I have a lot of stuff. It's amazing the amount of things your accumulate over the course of a year without even realizing it. It's causing me some stress now.
-Speaking of stressed, I can't get over feeling like I have a billion things to do. I really have nothing to do right now, but I keep thinking that I need to hurry and get off my computer and get some stuff done. I decided that after the chronic stress that I have been feeling non-stop for so long, not having anything to do is going to take some getting used to. It's definitely a good thing to adjust to though.
-Buena Vista is now home to the only Young Single Adults stake outside of Utah and Idaho! Last week (or 2 weeks ago?) they took our 5 University Wards out of the Lexington stake and made us into our own stake.  They also added a new SVU ward and a ward from Roanoke. This is a big deal. I don't know....that's what they told us. It was cool though. Now my econ teacher is also my Stake President. Welcome to SVU.
Okay, I'm bored of blogging now. It's been fun. Peace.

I'm Back!!

So, it's kind of been a while. I didn't realize how long until I just got on here and saw that I hadn't posted since Spring Break. Oops. But here's the thing: life is crazy. I don't know what happened to this semester, but it disappeared super quick. Now, usually it's a happy thing when you feel like you blinked and suddenly you only have a few weeks left until summer. Unfortunately, I am having a hard time being super excited about that right now. With the end of this semester comes the due dates for things I should have been working on all semester, but didn't because I felt like I had all the time in the world. That time is gone now. And I am stressing. While I realize this isn't an unusual situation for your average college student to be in, I am usually better at staying on top of things. And even if everyone else feels the same way, it still doesn't help me to stop freaking out. Besides freaking out about school, the week after Spring Break was campaign week. That was ridiculous. I hate campaigning. I'm not a politician. But I love being in Student Government. I don't really want to give all the details because it's possible that I am a little bitter about how the elections ended up and the many problems and inconsistencies going on in SVU's Student Government program. It's not the ideal system. So, to summarize, I did not get elected VP of Campus Programming and I may be done with Student Government at this University completely.

The last few weeks have been kind of weird and filled with ups and downs. I kind of feel like I am just skipping along and then I trip and fall but, as I am falling, someone puts a pillow on the ground to break my fall, but as I land on the pillow, someone else comes along and kicks me in the shin, and then someone gives me an ice cream cone, and then someone spits in it, and then someone helps me up and it starts all over again. Okay, weird analogy I know. It's fine.  Mostly this has all summed together to create a whole lot more emotions than I really need on top of school right now. On the bright side, all of this plus the weather being summer-like has done great things for my running. That is going quite well.

This weekend was really good. I chose to ignore the fact that I have research paper due on Wednesday, (which I will regret very soon) and just enjoy my weekend. Friday night was game night with Elder and Sister Crowther. Love love love that! Last night we went out to dinner, played mattress sliding down the stairs, watched A Cinderella Story, and had a cute little spend-the-night. The rest of the last two days have been spent lazing about and watching General Conference with Imari, Kenzy, and Trichell. Conference was sooo good and I really love those girls (and sitting around in my pajamas all day). It was nice to have a super lazy and spiritual weekend to get me prepped for these next few weeks. They will be pretty intense.

So, I realize that this is probably not a really great way to make up for my serious slacking that I have done on this blog thing, but three weeks is a little overwhelming to recap in one blog post. So we are just doing a really vague/brief one. Hopefully I don't get in too much trouble for that. I will try to be better from now on. Note that I said "try." It might not get too much better until after finals week.

I'm Leaving on a Jet Plane

So as I am sitting here killing time on my four hour layover in San Francisco, I have been Facebook stalking everyone's Spring Break pictures. People do crazy fun stuff for spring break.....and take LOTS of pictures. For my spring break I didn't go to a foreign country, or a big city, or to crazy spring break parties in Florida. I went home. To Burley, Idaho; where it often smells like cows, driving 15 mph on the highway isn't uncommon due to tractors moseying down the road, and the icy winter wind is enough to make a person never want to step outside again. It's also where my family lives and where I will always call home. I knew from the start that when I got home it wasn't going to be a crazy week full of excitement, but that wasn't what I needed. I can't think of a better way to spend a week than in my favorite town with my favorite people. I was mostly my mom's shadow all week. I loved being her tag-along while she ran her errands and did her thing all week. I actually enjoy grocery shopping when I get to go with her. Going home kind of makes me feel like I have stepped back into my childhood. I absolutely love getting to take a break from being a responsible adult for a little while and let someone else handle that. I really am just a kid pretending to be an adult most of the time. When I'm home I get to stop pretending for a minute. My week wasn't anything new and thrilling, but it was absolutely perfect. It mostly consisted of: sleeping in, running every morning, errands with Mom, dinner with Dad, a dentist appointment, getting one last immunization (complete with bugs bunny band aid), baking delicious 7-layer bars, making homemade pizza for dinner, registering to vote, being jealous of Lexi's fun extracurricular activities that I miss doing so much (BPA, Tennis, Clogging, etc), frozen yogurt with Mom and Mitch, visiting with my grandparents, taco salad burritos with Dad, trying to make my puppy my running buddy (he's not so good at it yet), enduring a lot of country music, movie watching, hot tub with Dad, un poco shopping, and a whole lot of just hanging out doing nothing. I'm a pretty happy kid. I'm not excited to get back to real life, but luckily I kind of love my SVU life right now. I'm excited for the lovely Virginia weather and to see my wonderful friends again. It's going to be a long day getting home, but it was so worth it to spend this week in the funny little town of Burley, Idaho. 

Practice What You Preach

Oh hey friends. So, remember that video and post about being happy because everything's amazing? Yeah. Apparently someone decided it was time for me to put my money where my mouth is. That not complaining about stuff....airlines especially....is much easier said than done. But I have been doing my best. I have time to kill so I am going to tell you my "horror story," but from my attempted optimistic point of view.

Yesterday, I was supposed to fly out of Roanoke at 5:30 to head home for Spring Break. Dallin offered to drive me the hour to the airport, and brought his new girlfriend so that they could go on a date in Roanoke after they dropped me off (that's a whole other story). They dropped me off at about 4:15 and when I got up to the counter to check in, I saw the dreaded big, red "CANCELLED" next to my flight. Only my flight. I didn't love that, but I actually stayed really calm and composed. I waited in line to talk to the man at the counter and decided I should probably be friendly to him since everyone else was yelling at him. (Wouldn't that just be the worst job?) He apologized and got me on the next possible flight to Boise which would be leaving at 11:15 the next morning. My itinerary changed from one layover in Chicago and getting to Boise at midnight, to a layover in Philadelphia, a layover in Phoenix, and getting to Boise at 11:00 the next day. Ugh. I managed to smile and tell him thank you. Then I had to figure out what to do until 11 the next morning. As awful as getting a flight cancelled was, I actually got really lucky when it came to dealing with it. Kenzy's parents just happened to be flying into Roanoke about the same time that I was supposed to be leaving. Rather than calling Dallin and crashing his date, I ended up just riding with Kenzy's parents back to BV. When we got there Kenzy's dad took us out for pizza and we ended up having a lot of fun. This morning Kenz drove me back to Roanoke which also worked well because her parents were staying in a hotel there and her softball game was cancelled, so she was going to spend the day in Roanoke with them anyway. She's the best. Once I got checked in to my flight, I started stressing because it was delayed half an hour. I only had an hour for my layover in Philadelphia to begin with, so being delayed 30 minutes was definitely no bueno. But it's nice how things work out sometimes. My flight out of Philly ended up getting delayed an hour and a half, which means I not only had time to get to my gate, but also to sit here and write this long blog post. I'm feeling pretty good now. My layover in Phoenix was originally 4 hours, so it's nice that it will be shorter now but not too short that I will have to stress about missing my next flight. In the meantime, I am sitting in the Philadelphia airport eating a free (yes, you read that right...free!!) pretzel from Auntie Anne's. Apparently it's free pretzel day there. That was the best news. Also, I had time to buy a Phillies shirt. I have decided that since my boy Papelbon is playing for the Phillies, I am now a Phillies fan.....after the Sox of course. Now I think it's time to break into the Mini Cadbury Eggs. Yum! If I can survive this next 5 hour flight (aghhhhhhh!!!) things will be looking up. Mostly this little 24 hour setback has made me grateful rather than bitter. Grateful to my mom and Robb (our travel agent) who are always helping me every step of the way when I fly (and getting me window seats). Grateful to all my family waiting at home for me and praying that I get there safely. Grateful to my awesome friends and their family who were ridiculously sympathetic and more than willing to do anything they could to get me home. And grateful to God for those convenient little coincidences that are really more like miracles.

It seems a little silly to tell a story when I'm still in the middle of it, but I'm optimistic that the end of the story will be just what we want it to be. See you soon Idaho!

SURPRISE!!!!

Best weekend. It was a dream come true really (seriously though, I have always wanted this to happen). On Friday night I was chilling in Imari and Kenzy's house working on homework (aka talking about everyone's love life and my lack thereof) when my mom called me. That was kind of weird/exciting because I am usually the one calling her. I stepped outside to talk to her and she told me that she needed me to go get my registration out of my car because she needed a number off of it. So I stepped back inside, put my shoes on, and went to my house to get my car keys. She told me I could just call her back when I got it, but I assured her it wouldn't take too long so I just kept talking to her. After I got my keys, I went out to my car and unlocked the door. As I was about to open the door, I looked up and guess what......my best friend Emily was standing there!!!!!!!!!!! I may have freaked out un poco. I was not even expecting that a little tiny bit. Like not at all. Best surprise ever! We had talked about her coming to surprise visit me but, let's be honest, I didn't think it was ever really going to happen. And if it was, I thought we had decided it would be sometime after Spring Break. But that, my friends, is the essence of a surprise. It's surprising. I was surprised. A lot. And ridiculously excited. So mostly that made for a wonderful weekend. Unfortunately I don't have a super exciting life for her to partake in, but I'm fun and she's fun so it worked out. I didn't super want her to leave this morning, but what can you do? The good news is she is now living just outside my favorite city ever, which happens to be a measly 3 hours away. We will be seeing a lot more of each other. That is rather thrilling for me. And that's my story. I'm sorry I'm not a better story teller, but it really was the greatest thing EVER! And the rest of you can go ahead and follow her example. I expect a lot more surprises to come. Okay. Thanks. The end.

Everything's Amazing and Nobody's Happy

Watch this video. Then we'll talk....

Right?? So I'd rather not tell you how I came across this video, (lots of procrastinating/stalking random people's blogs/whatever) but I just love it! He is right on. This was kind of a slap in the face for me. I am so guilty of everything he talked about....especially the flying stuff. Pretty sure that changes right now. The things that we have and the lifestyles that we live in this century and in this country are absolutely amazing. When you really stop and think about it, we complain about THE most ridiculous things! Why? Why has complaining become the thing to do? It seems like there is always something that someone is whining about. I feel like people no longer respond with "good" to the generic "how are you?" If someone says, "Hey! How are you?" and you respond with "So good!" or "Great!" or "Magnanimous!" (that's Elder Crowther's favorite word) they either think you have a perfect life, something super amazing just happened to you, or you are a weirdo. I feel like it's become more common now to answer with, "I'm tired" or "I'm hungry" or "I'm fine I guess" or "Ugh, don't ask" or "Well, I would be doing better if...." Why do we do that? Why are we so negative all the time? What good does that do us or anyone around us? Oh, none. No good at all. Granted, sometimes complaining is completely warranted. I'm not saying the world should slap a smile on their face no matter what is going on, but it might be nice if we could cool it on complaining about things that really don't matter. Or things that we really don't have a right to complain about. You're hungry? Make yourself a sandwich. You're tired? Go to bed earlier. You're cold? Grab a blanket or turn up your heater. It's pretty simple for us, but there's a LOT of people who don't have it that easy. I forget that a lot. It's good to be reminded. Well there you go, a post complaining about complaining. Sorry. It was mostly a note to self that I decided to share. I need to be better because everything really is amazing. 

Weekend Rundown

So, yesterday morning we went for a run on the high school track. After we got done we ended up laying on the track for a long time because the sun was so bright and warm and beautiful. Today it's snowing. What the? It really is a very light snow, but it's snowing nonetheless. Silly. 

Also, we had game night #2 with Elder and Sister Crowther on Friday. Too much fun! I made enchiladas and Sister Crowther made apple crisp. Delicious! Also, I wasn't such a loser this time as I was last time. I actually won some games! During the course of the night, the Crowthers were brought up to speed on every stupid thing Cassie has ever done. Sometimes I don't know why I'm friends with the people that I'm friends with. Rude. It was so much fun though. We can't wait for next month!

Also, last night Imari and I went to the Rockbridge Symphony to listen to her flute choir teacher play. It was soo good! I don't really get excited about concerts like that, and it was really long, but I can appreciate talent. They did a great job. For one of their songs, they featured a guy on the piano. He was INCREDIBLE! We were sitting at the perfect angle to see his fingers while he played and they were out of control. He was nuts. And sooo good. Definitely motivated me to practice the piano a little more than I have been. I wish I was talented like that!

Also, pitchers and catchers reported to spring training yesterday. Do you know what that means? Baseball season is just around the corner! I am just really excited for that this year. (Because I have time to sit around and watch baseball? Um no. Not at all.) 

Also, my reading assignment for my Parenting class is 138 pages this weekend. Um that's a lot. I have to have that read by Tuesday and then about that much more read by Thursday. I don't know if you realized, Professor, but your class is not the only one that I am taking. Not even close. Maybe you could cool it on the homework a little bit? Not likely.

Also, I have to go decide what I am going to wear to church today. I hate that part. Getting dressed is probably the most time-consuming part of my morning routine. I hate it. Wish me luck!