You've Gotta Have Friends

Friday night marked a significant event. Well, not entirely, but there were poignant moments. I don't know if it was the silly slide show playing while we ate our ward Christmas party dinner, or if it was the impromptu puppet show Hayley, Jenna, Andy, and Brian and I put on afterwards, which was hilarious, by the way. But one of those moments was definitely after the party, when I headed over to Centennial apartments yet again to play and sing in the rec room with my "group". Last year, every once in awhile, some friends of mine and I would gather together, bringing all kinds of music (mostly disney and musicals) and just sing for awhile. They were great times, especially since half the time I was in my pajamas. A few extras would join us, but we had a core group of me, Cody, Rob, Lisa, and Mike (and Mike really shouldn't be listed last, considering it was him that gathered us most of the time). So we wanted one last hurrah before Cody leaves on her mission to Brazil and Mike gets married. Life changes. We can't stop that. But I was so pumped that we got to sing together one last time, even if I did start to cry when we were hugging each other goodbye. Well, the tears never actually came out, but I clammed up a bit. Good times.

I now officially know more about bagels than I ever wanted to ever in my lifetime. That's what comes of being around them for eight and a half hours a day. Phooey. At least I don't smell greasy when I come home, though, so that's a plus. But I do smell pretty yeast-y, if it's possible to smell that way.

I'm looking forward to this weekend. Fun times ought to be had all around, seeing as how my cousin Adam is getting married, and my family will be here, and I don't have to worry about working when they're all around. I'm really looking forward to seeing my family. They're pretty great. The only thing that I'm not looking forward to is possibly having to drive up to Salt Lake and Clinton in the snow. I'm not as bad at driving in snow as I was when I first did it at the age of 17, but that doesn't mean I'm really good at it or like doing it at all. But we'll see.

Dashing Through the Snow

Would anybody be annoyed if I once again stated how much I love this time of year? If yes, well, then, that's just too darn bad! Because this is a great time of year! Why? If you need to ask that, you need to go get your head examined. We had the first snow of the season about a week and a half ago, and I will admit, I wasn't overly excited about it. I saw the snow and immediately thought, "Great. I don't want to have to drive in this!" What a sour attitude. However, I took a couple of good cold walks that just made me happy, especially since seeing Hayley slip while saying "Now be careful of the icy patches" is quite entertaining. Anyway, that snow melted away from the streets and sidewalks pretty quickly, so not a huge deal.

Then it happened again on Saturday! Crazy times. But it was immediately made great fun Saturday afternoon because Megan called me up and we went sledding at Rock Canyon Park! So fun! Making snow angels, slipping in the snow on our way up the hills, trying to avoid the slush, getting wet and rosy-cheeked! We took a couple of pictures, but they were with Megan's camera, so I haven't got them to put up, which is too bad, because we looked truly awful. When Megan dropped me off, Hayley invited me upstairs for some hot chocolate (Stephens, it's truly the best ever) and I hung out there until Megan picked me up again to go watch "White Christmas" and eat ginger snaps with some girls she knows. Oh, yeah. It was definitely a good wintry day (haha, descending to it's close), doing the fun outside stuff, but still getting to come inside and warm up and be all Christmas-y.

Hayley and I kept ourselves entertained for a good hour Sunday night (after watching "The Chipmunk Adventure" . . . ah, memories) listening to Mannheim Steamroller. And when I say "listening", I actually mean "dancing like fools". Some hip-hop, ballet, interpretive, swing, Irish step dance, clogging, and who knows what else? But hey, it was Christmas music! At least they haven't seen me jumping around to the Osmond's "Sleigh Ride", although Jenna did see me really getting into "Claymation Christmas" a couple weeks ago. Good times.

Then last night, our ward went Christmas caroling to a nearby neighborhood. My little group decided to start out by running from the church parking lot to the neighborhood, and who knows why? But, oh well. We had fun singing at each place. Weird, though, to not be caroling with the Russells, even though that hasn't happened for several years. But I was glad we went caroling. Yay! (and afterward, more hot chocolate, plus donuts)

Rise and Shout, the Decorations are Out

So by this time, the fact that BYU trounced Utah is old news, but this is my official celebration of it, so YAY!!! Go Cougs! I didn't actually get to watch the game, but I'm still pretty pumped. I'm really glad we won again, and this time at home, too! But come on, seriously? 3-0 for the first half? Give me a break. (break me off a piece of that . . . fancy feast--gatorade . . .)

I have finally figured out the secret to making canned Chicken Noodle soup at least a little more palatable, and maybe this was an obvious secret, but I just discovered it last night, so I don't really care. Just add a little cream of chicken soup! What a big fat duh! But really, it made it taste LOTS better. Yeeha.

I love this time of year. I took a walk a couple nights ago, and there are lots of little houses nearby where I live, and there were some of them that were all decorated, and it just made me happy. Honestly, Christmas decorations make houses happy! For the other eleven months of the year, houses look dreary and uninteresting and unapproachable (with maybe the exception of halloween, but those are supposed to be "scary" decorations, right?). But to see the lights and the cute wreaths and people decorating their trees gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling in the middle of all this cold. It just unites all of us for a time, and I really like that feeling, that we're all really looking for peace on earth, goodwill toward men and all that jazz. So decorate your houses and make people happy!

Oh, It's a Jolly Holiday with Megan

Well, Thanksgiving has come and gone. Wow! I haven't eaten so much at Thanksgiving in a few years, that's for sure. I was definitely missing the hot tomato this year, as it is always excellent. But that's all right. I survived. This year Thanksgiving was spent at my friend Esther's home in Stansbury Park, and it was pretty dang good. Becky and her sister Rachael were also there, so we had quite the girls' week going on. Watched "North and South" by request of Esther's sister and were just extremely lazy while Esther's mom fed us . . . and fed us . . . and fed us! Good times. Lots of sleepiness. And of course, as soon as I woke up this morning, I could hear the Mannheim Steamroller Christmas music going. Has anybody really ever lived without hearing Mannheim Steamroller? I'm not sure that it's possible! Anyway, that just means that it is now legal for Christmas music to be played, which makes me pretty excited, especially now that I have my own Nativity set going, so I set that up when I got back from SP a couple hours ago. Woohoo! It's a good time of year.

I've also been brushing up on my "performance" skills. Well, we had a talent show for my ward and I sang with Hayley and Jenna accompanied us. We sang "For Good" from "Wicked", and it went pretty well, so that's a plus. Yay! We were originally going to go all out for it and somehow paint my skin green (seeing as how i was the lucky one to sing elphaba's part) and Hayley would wear a blonde wig and whatnot, but we decided that might be a little too much, so we opted to just dress in black and white. Jenna even joined in the fun at this point and dressed all in green, to represent the Emerald City (and a couple people understood that, too!). No microphones, but when did that ever stop me? -wink- Although, I was highly amused when Tyler, who doesn't know "Wicked" at all, thought that Hayley was someone who had just died and was an angel (since she was wearing white) and I was mourning her at her funeral (wearing black). Some people really need to get some culture. Just kidding. Kind of.

Life is a Song Worth Singing

Life has some odd quirks about it, doesn't it? It's amazing how your day can change to be something you did not expect at all within an instant. That's not to say that it changes to be something really, really significant that changes your whole life, but just your whole day. For example, on Friday around 1:30, after doing my usual job-hunt-in-the-morning gig, I went up to BYU campus to run an errand and saw my friend Bethany, who pleaded with me to go to her philosophy class with her so she would not fall asleep. Well, I went along with it (and no kidding, she would have fallen asleep without me) and proceeded to spend the next twelve hours hanging out with her! Which is totally fine with me because I love and adore Bethany, but completely unexpected!

Similarly, on Thursday night, I sauntered over to Esther/Becky/Whitney's place for a quick visit, and when I got there, Esther informed me that my friend Kelly got hit by a car the day before and had a broken leg! He ended up dropping by their place not too long after I arrived, so I got to see him in all his gimpy glory, and we all were there until about midnight. Not what I was expecting or planning to do that night (and i doubt kelly was expecting to be hit by a car the previous night, so yet another curve ball, but a longer-lasting one for him).

So yes, these are all pretty inconsequential things in my life currently, but life is full of those moments that catch you off-guard like that, be they significant or surprising or practically common-place. How do you deal with them when they aren't altogether pleasant (i.e. kelly breaking his leg)? Do you treasure them when they're good (i.e. getting to see one of my best friends i wasn't expecting to)? After all, it's those moments that bring some spice to life and brighten up, or at least diversify, an otherwise ordinary and routine life. I guess we should be grateful for those moments. And when I say "we", I mean "I".

The Monster Mash

So, fun times to be had all around! I spent two weekends in a row with family, which was totally fun. And that included a trip to Oregon for Mom's piano recital. Way awesome! She had her family in tears, it was great. Pretty good turn-out, too, despite the stormy weather. Of course it was the day that I flew back to Utah that the weather took a turn for the better. Figures. The family fun continued the night after I got back with us Provo cousins going to Stephanie H.'s volleyball game, the first (and probably only) time I have ever cheered for the U. -sigh-

Last night we had our Halloween barn dance, which was lots of fun. Our ward combined with two other wards, but there was practically no mixing, which is okay, but kind of too bad. But the dancing was fun, until they started playing music that I really couldn't dance to. They really should have stuck to the "Billie Jean"-type music, because we were all dancing to that. The costumes were really something to behold, as well. My hair still hasn't completely forgiven me for the torment I put it through with my "mad scientist" look. Oh well. It was fun while it lasted.

Oh, the Office

So now I have a new addiction, and it is known as "The Office". I blame Hayley and Jenna for finally making me crack. I have lots of friends (and family) who are really into "The Office", but I still stuck to my guns and had never seen an episode. However, being around Hayley and Jenna was driving me crazy because half of their conversation was "Office" quotes. And I was really curious about who exactly Jim and Pam were. I had no idea. So I borrowed the first and second seasons from Jenna, and now I am hooked. Darn them! I still have to borrow the third season from someone (I think they said Justin has it) and catch up on the episodes that have aired this season, but golly. The things we are entertained by. And I'm going crazy not knowing what's going on now! Of course the second season finale ends with a cliffhanger, and it's a doozy, but it is taking every ounce of willpower I have not to look up the current happenings of the show on Wikipedia. How incredibly sad. It's similar to how my mother and I were so thrilled when Anthony and Elizabeth got back together after years and years on the comic strip "For Better or For Worse". They're not real people!

In other news, I'm heading to Oregon tomorrow. I was originally supposed to be a surprise for my mom, but Craig had to go and spill the beans. But that's fine. I'm looking forward to the visit. Last weekend I went to Grand Junction, CO, to see my cousin Dane, who just got back from his mission, so there was a lot of family there, too. Yay! And since my niece Nicole was baptized last Saturday, I was up in Clinton with my parents and sister's family, too. Yay for family!

I have decided once again that I really like guys. They are fun. And occasionally, they can be nice, too. I went to lunch today with Bryson, who came over to my apartment to inform me that he is my home teacher (good to know). And while we were chatting, he suddenly asked me if I was hungry, so we went to this Mexican place that was really cheap but really good! Interesting. But he's nice. And last night I was over at Tanner 7, being thoroughly entertained by Tyler and Clark and "Noodle", mainly because Tyler took about an hour to tell us his "first kiss" story. What funny guys. It was fun to see them in their natural habitat and distract them from their homework for a couple hours. -evil laugh-

First Time

So there's a first time for everything, and I guess this is my first time with "blogging". How ever exciting! Well, I figured it was about time to join the craze, although I really don't know who's going to read this. We'll find out, eh?

Well, this weekend pretty much rocked--General Conference! It was pretty fantastic, and I thoroughly enjoyed it, even when I had to ignore the poor little boy Becky and I were roped into babysitting that started crying toward the end of the Saturday afternoon session. I went up to the Sunday afternoon session with Hayley and Jenna, two fabulous girls from my ward that I've gotten to be friends with in the last month or so. We went up earlier than we might normally and ate lunch in the car once we got ourselves parked. Yay for cheese and crackers! (Yeah, the three of us managed to eat a whole block of cheese within a matter of a couple of hours. Oink, oink!) We saw plenty of people that Hayley knew (she's so popular), but I ran into my friend Andrew, so it's nice to know I know people, as well.

Other than that, life is pretty much the same. The job hunt sucks, but that's nothing new. And I'm trying to stay patient with the fact that both my roommates have boyfriends and I am still woefully single. Well, not "woefully" . . . despite all my complaints, I do enjoy being single. I just think I'd like being in a relationship better! I need some good snogging! (man, i wish i were british so i didn't sound so dumb saying that)