It's the Little Things

Hey, family. Sorry to disappear for so long. I've just been doing school. But I was feeling so appreciative today and a little bit guilty about not writing, so I thought I might tell about some of the fun things that happened to me today (and maybe some of the not so good things too).
So, those of you know me really well, know that I always try to be honest, and I hate lying. But I also strongly dislike when I am in a not-perfect mood to share with others. Which is why I often despise the question how are you. I know people are just trying to be nice or friendly. But when I'm not in that perfect mood, I usually don't feel like sharing. Especially since those that ask me how I am are usually the ones that think they need to fix it, which is what I don't want. Often when I do actually tell someone how I really am, I just want them to listen, not tell me what to do and try and find a solution. If I want help, I will probably ask. Anyway, vent over.
So, this morning, I was standing in lab, halfway listening to my chemistry teacher go over the rubric for our independent project. For my chem class, you have to wear goggles and most people have these really big kind of cool looking ones. Well I noticed with my divided attention that on the lip of the goggles on the bottom it had written, "Do not use for paintball or/and simulated wargames." I thought that was hilarious and showed many other people in my class. That was one of the little wonderful things that just made my day.
I had a test for waltz in my dance class. I like waltz. It's kind of fun. I've found that I'll walk on my tiptoes a lot more since I've started taking this dance class. But the little thing that made me happy was that on the little slip of paper evaluating how I danced, my teacher had put "much improved". That meant a lot coming from him.
Another thing that made me happy was that I was able to practice ASL with some TAs and fulfill an assignment for my ASL class. It's so much fun to just sign back and forth with someone. Really, I just love learning different languages. I really wish I could learn Spanish officially.
After ASL, I ran into a friend and I was talking to him in the Talmage Building. I looked behind me and I saw one of my best friends come around the corner. We didn't say too much at first because she was on the phone. She was soon off and we were hugging and asking after one another. It was so much fun to see her! I hadn't seen her in forever, ad she's one of the most fun people I know. Yay, Talmage Building.
Umm, what else is happening with me...? Only 12 more days until I go home! My family and I have joked that it only took a year for me to want to come home. Kind of sad, but true. That and living in an apartment with people that I'm not related to and that I'm not friends with has also been a very influential factor. But seriously, I am soooo excited to go home so I can be home, not have school and have some one-on-one time with a very special 5 year old girl. Any suggestions for what Eliza and I can do during our time together? I'm also looking forward to spending some quality time with my parents and sister. End of Spring term and South Carolina, here I come!
P.S. So, as a budding Sophomore at BYU, I get to have the joyful experience of having most of the my freshman guy friends leaving for missions for two years. Anyway, I've written a few and I've read their letters home. It's just funny to me that the guys seem to think that now that they're a missionary, they also hve to preach the gospel every second. And in a sense they do, but I almost feel like they forget what it's like to have a normal conversation with someone. I guess I'm just realizing even more how great a missionary Robby and how good he was when he would write home. Thanks, Big Brother! ;)

Yes, I Am a Nerd

So it's not exactly the most flattering picture of me but it is a picture! This is me with my fancy-schmanc eclipse glasses on. So I could look at the eclipse with out hurting my eyes. It was so cool!! And if there was ever any doubt that I am not a nerd, I hope all doubt has been eradicated.

    So I know it seems like I just sort of dropped off of the face of the planet. Sorry about that. I had homework and I was tired. I had a pretty fun weekend.
     The most amazing thing happened. I had family here! Amanda and Robby drove up for Jeff and Melissa's wedding. They were nice enough to stop by Friday night. (Also, I had an intermural soccer game. Our team tied. It was fun.)
    On Saturday, Robby and Amanda picked me up in the morning and took me to one of the most wonderful places on Earth: Kneader's for breakfast. I was happy. Then they took me to Macey's and too me grocery shopping. We drove back to my apartment, put my groceries away, then they dropped me off ner campus, said goodbye and left.
I went to be a volunteer for this big chemistry fair type thing called "Open Chem Lab." It was fun. I got a free t-shirt. I was in a lab helping middle school students learn how to make hydrogen oxygen rockets. Very fun. Afterwards, I helped hand out liquid nitrogen ice cream, got some for myself and they had pizza for the volunteers. When I was done there, I went to the Eyring Science Center, where they were having Astrofest and I got my lovely glasses. Then I went to the Richards Building and practiced the ChaCha with people from my dance class. Our test is tomorrow, Monday. Then I went home and slept. I woke up and worked on a prelab quiz for my Chemistry class, chatted with my mommy, who is apparently in Florida right now. I walked to the temple. It wasn't open, but I still liked being able to go there. There was a dance party at a place near me. I went for a little bit, had fun, then came home and watched TV on my computer.
    Today, I had church. The bishop gave the lovely mandatory chastity talk. I made gluten-free peanut butter cookies for one of my roommates. I had fun watching the solar eclipse. It was really cool. Hopefully you will hear more from me soon!

If you hadn't noticed yet...

      Hola! So if you hadn't noticed yet, I am slightly crazy. I am used to being called crazy after taking 19 credits during winter semester. (BYU allows a maximum of 18 credits, so I had to ask for special permission.) This is one reason why I have not really been in touch with the world. I'v been called crazy for my choice of major: Chemical Engineering, and for taking chemistry classes that are not required for my major. But enough about my craziness! I'm sure you're interested in what I did today.
     So today was much less exciting than yesterday. This morning I woke up after sleeping on the couch in my den area b/c I went to bed lat last night, my bed was covered with clean laundry, my roommate was already asleep and I didn't want to have to deal with all of that, so I slept on the couch. I wore my lovely purple "Carolina Girl" shirt from my mommy. I got to my chemistry class on time, where a teacher was subbing for my teacher. My teacher is out of town for business. It's interesting to me b/c when I've asked my parents why they like engineers more than chemists they said they thought the things chemists do are not as exciting as what engineers do. I have the opposite opinion. To me, the chemical engineering teachers seem very dry while the chemistry teachers seem very exciting with their research projects and and businesses. But I digress. It was interesting to compare the two teachers' teaching styles. I was extremely happy b/c during lecture, the professor showed this comic, which my first  college chemistry professor referenced and it became a running joke in my class.

   After chemistry, I went to the Campus Forum. The forum was all right. The speaker was an Economics professor from BYU. I found it pretty interesting until about halfway through at which point I felt like the speaker was saying just about the same things over again. It was hard b/c I was hungry and his presentation/talk was all about food. After the forum, I went to my dance class. We did the ChaCha. I do not do well with ChaCha. -Sigh- I guess that's what practice is for. After dance, I went to my ASL class. I was finally able to eat the sandwich I had made for myself. Class was interesting as usual. M teacher had to leave class early b/c her husband had hurt his back and couldn't walk very easily. She was happy to tell us about how she was able to skype with her son who is on a deaf mission in Manhattan.
    After class, three people from my ASL class went with me to the BNSN Bldg. None of them had really spent very much time there. I was hoping to be able to have my friend who originally taught me sign could join us, but she had to go home. So we fulfilled one of the requirements for our class, which was to converse only using sign language for half of an hour. I could tell I was a little more adept at it b/c I'm used to signing with my friend all the time. We finished up and I went to the Clyde Building and read for ASL. Then I went and saw Br. Parry in his new office in the Maeser Bldg as the new head of the Honors Department. It was good to see him.
    After I finished talking to him, I went to the computer lab in the BNSN. At the beginning of the term, of the term, my teacher said that we would be spending a lot of time in this computer lab, claiming relationships were made in this computer lab. I thought he was joking but I have spent a significant amount of time in this lab. And I went to a reception for a friend who was a TA last semester. One of the pictures of her and her husband was them in the computer lab together. I guess he was right. So I started to work on a hw assignment, getting help from friends there. Then I went to a review for my midterm for my chem class from 7 to 9. I hung out with my friend a little bit then she was nice enough to give e a ride home. I had some dinner, and I should probably work on hw some more. Good night!

Hello, Family!

Hello, Friends, Family and Acquaintances (although probably just Family)!!!
        It has been expressed to me that people are interested in what I am doing. In other words, my parents are tired of giving lame answers and trying to guess what their youngest daughter is doing when curious people ask them. Sooo, I have decided to resurrect this lovely blog! Sadly, I have no camera and/or iPhone, so there will be no fun pictures like on Katy and Amy's blogs. I am also not an English major by any stretch of the imagination, so my posts will probably not be as engaging as my wonderful sister-in-law's, Amanda's. Also, I make no promise that my posts will be as consistent and informative as my mother's e-mails. At this point, my family is probably thinking that I should stop being like our mother and sandbagging my ability (Love you, Mom! ;) ). But y'all are supposed to be curious, so here we go!
       I am currently living in The Elms Apartments at the address of 29 E 700 N Provo, UT 84606. It takes me about ten minutes to walk from my apartment to the Benson Building, which is the Chemistry Building on BYU campus. This is a very good thing because I have an Analytical Chemistry class every day. I have it from MWF from 8 to 12 and TTh from 9 to 11. I have a social dance class from Monday through Thursday from 12 to 1 and then I have Sign Language Monday through Thursday from 1 to 2:40. And I have been loving just about every minute of my schedule.
      Today was a very interesting day. I woke up, having very little clean laundry. Saturday night I went with my ward to the Hot Springs in Saratoga. It was all right, but I very stupidly did not think about how if we were leaving around 9, we probably would not get back before 10, which is when the laundry room in my apartment complex closes. And they're closed on Sundays... Anyway, back to Monday morning! I woke up, took a shower, then very carefully put Sting-Eez on a big bandage I got from a good friend to put on the bee sting on the bottom of my foot. Yes, this demands explaining, I believe...
      So, the trash needed to be taken out, so I took it out and I saw a guy from church unpacking his car. During church this guy had accidentally said water instead of wine when blessing the sacrament but quickly started all over. So I started talking to him joking about his mistake and found out that he wanted to be an ER doctor. We finished talking and went in opposite directions. I was walking barefoot b/c I am a Southern girl and shoes are for wussies! Well, I turned into a big wuss right then. I felt something prick my foot. I turned my foot over, expecting a thorn but instead found a bug. I thought it was just something with pincers, so I pulled it off. I'm pretty sure it was a bee b/c I had a stinger in my foot, the bug was  fuzzy and my foot started to really hurt. So, I called to the guy I had been talking to, named Josh, and said, "Josh, do you have any Benadryl?" Him: "My roommates might. Why?" Me: I think I just got stung." He then tried to get the stinger out with a dollar bill. That didn't work so we went near his apartment, he found  credit card and got it out. While he was getting th stinger out, I called my mommy, feeling very embarrassed b/c it was past her bedtime. Me: "Hey, Mom! I think I just got stung by a bee. What should I do?? Oh, and Happy Mother's Day! :D" She was nice and told me what to do. I went back to my apartment, treated my foot, took Advil, then made Peanut Butter Melts (Hannah Swenson recipe from Katy's cousin-in-law's blog) to make me happy.
        Gosh, I haven't even left my apartment yet! Anyway, I showered and I was seriously considering wearing sweatpants today. I didn't care what I looked like, so I wore a dress, brushed my hair well and put on mascara and my best blue sparkly shoes from Amy. Ironic, I know, but I had to wear a dress for my dance test and I decided I didn't want to change. I left my apartment, got to the Lab prep/pep talk my professor gave us before letting us into lab. We have to try and figure out how much potassium hydrogen pthalate is in a substance. Basically, they give us a vial of stuff and we have to figure out how much of whatever is in the powder or liquid they give us. Yay!  I got done with lab and hurried over to the Richards Building. I practiced a little bit with a guy I had asked to test with before. We danced the foxtrot. I did all right. It was fun though. Oh, and I was worried about my foot and having to dance with it, but I was fine. It doesn't hurt at all. Dance class finished early and I went and recuperated a little before going to my sign class for another test. I think I did all right on that test as well. I love learning sign language. I think part of it is I love to learn different languages, but I also have an amazing teacher. She's actually deaf and tells some of the funniest stories!
        So I was done with my classes and I went home, I mean the Benson Building (BNSN Bldg). I'm only partially joking though. I really do think of the BNSN as my home. I gave away the last of my peanut butter cookies to friends, after using my mom's awesome wet paper towel over cookie in microwave method. Then I really went home, tried to buy a replacement key (I lost mine), but the office was closed. But I was able to get my clean laundry! I talked to my mom as I walked back to campus, took a nap, had Subway for dinner, then tried to work on homework in the library, but it was not happening. I talked to my friend, Mitchell, for a little bit as I walked home. (Mitchell lives in TX and I have known him since we were 17. He's working on turning in his mission papers.) I went for a run. It felt good to go, especially since I ran around Provo Temple. I always feel more peaceful after going there. I got home, packed my stuff and went to the library. I read for American Sign Language (ASL), but my reading was cut short b/c the library was closing. But I absolutely loved the fact that the library played "Clocks" by Coldplay to tell us to get out. I walked home and finished my reading. Then I started to write this. So if you are still here after this Dostoyevsky of a post, I'd like to know what you think. Should I post every day? I was always sort of confused as to why people were curious about what I'm doing. I'm just doing school. My life is homework and classes. But I guess I do have some crazy stuff happen to me every once in a while... Or every day... Anyway, tell me what you want! If you don't like the idea, tell me! As people that know me well, I value honesty. So please be honest with me. If you want me to keep going, I guess we'll just have to wait and see how this turns out...

Things One MUST Do During Christmas Time

Read A Christmas Carol

Take a nap

Get your hair cut

Snuggle with your niece :)

It Was Cold So I Went .....North?

I had the opportunity to go to one of my brother-in-law's favorite places: Virginia Beach! I had to get up the same time I do for Seminary: 5:45 a.m. Everyone was complaining about how early it was but I was used to it. We eventually got on to the buses. They were really nice, big buses with plushy seats and a dvd player for all the tv screens. On our way up, we watched "Avatar" and "School of Rock." It was my first time watching "Avatar." It was better than I expected. When we finally got to the hotel, we unloaded and went up to our rooms. I quickly changed and did a short work out. Then, we all got ready to go to a sail boat where we danced and ate pizza. :) I had a lot of fun. We were all tired when we got back and went to sleep.
The next day, we could basically do what we wanted until about 2. I ran on the beach and boardwalk. I read. I showered. I ate lunch at Abbey Road Restaurant and Pub. It was yummy. We left for our music Festival at 2:30. First Chorale sang with Chamber Choir as a big mixed choir. Then Chorale waited for Chamber Choir to sing. We went back and were escorted to Wendy's b/c the Navy was in town! There were a few people who asked us if were choral or prom, which we all thought was silly b/c girls wouldn't wear the same thing to prom.....oh well. We went back to the hotel. I was boring and stayed in my hotel room. It felt like vacation to me because I was able to watch tv. :)
The next day, we got up early and checked out. Then we went to Busch Gardens! I t was soooooo much fun! I rode a ton of roller coasters. At 9 p.m., we had the awards ceremony. Lexington won first place for Chorale and Chamber Choir! We got two other awards as well. It was pretty awesome. We left the park and got on the buses. We watched "The Princess and the Frog." Then, I tried to sleep for about five hours. I was so happy to be home. Fortunately for Mom and Dad, they decided to leave me the car. I am now happily at home.

Celebrating 17

(If anybody was wondering what I looked like early in the morning, you don't have to wonder anymore.)

I had an awesome seventeenth birthday that started pretty early. I think I was the first awake in our house. We, Mom, Dad, Amy and I, all celebrated by going to Waffle House for breakfast. I had a waffle, of course, and my mom and I put some quarters in for music. It was classic with Elvis Presley playing and eating a waffle. (We had a lot of driving and I read my Book of Mormon on the way.)This is a before picture at the beginning of our hike at Table Rock State Park. It was my dad, my mom, Orah, Zara (the dogs) and me.

We finished! I am very happily pointing to the sign saying we were at 3,124 feet. We hiked about 7 miles. It was not easy.Someone was nice enough to take the picture for us so we could have a group shot, including the doggies. :)Lunch at the summit. I had an apple of course.
Dad with Zara (see if you can find her)I told Mom it would be better for her to be in the picture because then she wouldn't have to see how high we were. It was beautiful.
A prettier view on the mountainDad with both of the dogsMom showing the steps cut into the mountain with OrahEliza and me tasting the frosting from my red velvet birthday cake: Yum-yum! Thanks, Mommy!

Birthday cake!

We went to Shealy's for dinner. It was delicious!