Thursday, December 9, 2010
Dave and Jess
My brother has been dating his girlfriend Jess for close to three years now, and in October, they got engaged! I'm so excited and happy for them. Over Thanksgiving I was able to go take some pictures for them up near the Rose Gardens in Portland. Very fun, despite the rain, and mud...looking forward to seeing them again at Christmas!
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Home
I've been counting down the days to Thanksgiving since probably August. Well, not necessarily counting the days, that would be just a little excessive. But it has been something that I have been looking forward to for what seems like forever.
I get to go home on Tuesday. THIS TUESDAY. (I'm sure my parents are smiling at the fact that I'm so excited) Besides the fact that I get to see my fabulous, wonderful, generous parents, there is quite the bundle of other things to look forward to:
- A BIG bed. and sleeping in.
- Food, I mean it's Thanksgiving, and I haven't had my mom's sweet potatoes in quite some time.
- I get to see my favorite brother David and his new fiance, Jess. I've missed them every day since Ragnar this year...I'm also hoping to see Jess's little sis Jackie, who was my partner in crime during Ragnar.
- Bryce is coming with me. He hasn't met any of my family yet except for my wonderful Aunt Karen and her family. It's about time! Plus I get to give him the grand tour of my hometown, of which I am very connected to and proud of.
- Woodburn Outlet mall. Yes, it's making my list. Oregon=no sales tax, need I say more?
- Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie night/afternoon/whenever date with my best friends in the world, including Seth, who I haven't seen since August of 2008. Sheesh.
- My parent's GIANT HD TV - good for watching football and playing Wii.
- No class. woot.
- Rain. I miss it every single fall and winter. Forget this snow stuff.
- Give n' Gobble 5k. Ran it with my dad last year, running it again this year.
- Thanksgiving also means Christmas is close to around the corner, and I also love seeing my home look like this:
I'll come prepared to help put up and decorate the Christmas tree, mom.
I've been envisioning the descent into Portland for a while (ok this proves that I am absolutely nuts). My FAVORITE thing about flying home is when the plane finally falls beneath the clouds (and there are always clouds) and all you see is trees trees trees forever and ever. Beautiful Oregon, I'm coming home soon!
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Tests
As we round into Friday, I am finishing up my second "exam week" this semester. In the accounting program, they give us the week off from classes (thank goodness) and we have exams in all of our classes (Audit, Systems, and Financial). Conveniently, I guess, my Doctrine and Covenants exams fell on the same weeks as the accounting exams...thus, I have found myself taking 4 exams in 4 days twice this semester (I guess three times once finals come around).
Honestly, it's not that bad. I enjoy not having to worry about homework assignments and being able to have some free time along with my studying.
As of right now, I have completed three of my four exams for this week...BUT.
My most difficult test, intermediate financial accounting is tomorrow (today), and I have to be in the testing center by noon. I've studied for at least a few if not more than several hours today.
percentage of completion, installment sales, cost recovery, earnings management, loan covenants, earnings-based bonus plans, bad debt and warranties, inventory accounting, lower of cost or market, fair value, debt concepts...so. many. concepts. and. problems.
Ready for my fool-proof solution that has yet to fail me in my college career??
stop studying and go to bed.
nighty night.
Honestly, it's not that bad. I enjoy not having to worry about homework assignments and being able to have some free time along with my studying.
As of right now, I have completed three of my four exams for this week...BUT.
My most difficult test, intermediate financial accounting is tomorrow (today), and I have to be in the testing center by noon. I've studied for at least a few if not more than several hours today.
percentage of completion, installment sales, cost recovery, earnings management, loan covenants, earnings-based bonus plans, bad debt and warranties, inventory accounting, lower of cost or market, fair value, debt concepts...so. many. concepts. and. problems.
Ready for my fool-proof solution that has yet to fail me in my college career??
stop studying and go to bed.
nighty night.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Update.
I've been dating my boyfriend Bryce for about 4 months now, but have failed to record any of our dating experiences or stories anywhere as of yet. (Part of this is coming from a very direct lesson learned in my Doctrine and Covenants class yesterday about the importance of keeping a personal history or journal...relevant? sure, why not)
Rather than start from day one and proceed from there, I'll just say that once we met, we realized that we got along pretty well, so we spent some more time with one another, and within probably a week you could say we were "together".
Anywho, the summer was nice because both of us were just working, not taking any classes. We spent a lot of time together, and sometimes Bryce would even bring me Subway and cookies while I was at work. I looooooove cookies.
During the summer, I was training for the Ragnar Relay Northwest Passage, and then the Top of Utah Marathon. We started dating a few weeks before I went home for the Relay, and being the great boyfriend that he is, Bryce decided to come running with me on multiple occasions. The first run we went on together was 8 miles. I just had to test him to see if he really liked me as much as it seemed. The first week or so of running with me was a little rough on him, but after some time, Bryce was determined to train for and run the marathon with me. I didn't oppose the idea, but I promise that I did not pressure him at all into that decision. Well, a couple months later (September 18) we finished the marathon, holding hands. It was one of the funnest things I have ever done, seriously. In fact, we were singing "I Believe I Can Fly" at about mile 7.
In August, I went down to San Diego to visit some friends from London. Conveniently, Bryce's family lives in San Diego so we drove down together and I stayed with them for a couple of days. They took us to Sea World one day that I was there. Fun fun fun.
Now we're both busy taking classes at BYU (and Bryce works at the MTC), but we still manage to spend a great deal of time together. Some of our favorite activities include watching football (this is all-inclusive, meaning I go to his intramural games, we go to BYU home games, and we watch college football at home), playing Scrabble, Blokus, or Rook, spending way too much time in Target, Costco, Fye, Macey's, etc. buying movies or 10-pack boxes of Oreo's for $4.97. We do lots of other things, those just seem to be the most common.
Last Friday afternoon we decided to take a drive through the canyon to see what was left of the Fall colors. There were still some very pretty spots, and we enjoyed singing along to random songs on the radio. Before we knew it, we were in good ol' Heber, UT.
Heber Main Street...always hoppin
After exploring main street a little (meaning driving for 5 minutes) we turned around in a Smith's grocery store parking lot. They had some nice looking pumpkins, so we bought 2, along with a bag of candy corn, and carved the pumpkins later that night. Neither of us are very skilled in the art of pumpkin-carving, but it was fun just the same.
Happy Halloween!
Rather than start from day one and proceed from there, I'll just say that once we met, we realized that we got along pretty well, so we spent some more time with one another, and within probably a week you could say we were "together".
Anywho, the summer was nice because both of us were just working, not taking any classes. We spent a lot of time together, and sometimes Bryce would even bring me Subway and cookies while I was at work. I looooooove cookies.
During the summer, I was training for the Ragnar Relay Northwest Passage, and then the Top of Utah Marathon. We started dating a few weeks before I went home for the Relay, and being the great boyfriend that he is, Bryce decided to come running with me on multiple occasions. The first run we went on together was 8 miles. I just had to test him to see if he really liked me as much as it seemed. The first week or so of running with me was a little rough on him, but after some time, Bryce was determined to train for and run the marathon with me. I didn't oppose the idea, but I promise that I did not pressure him at all into that decision. Well, a couple months later (September 18) we finished the marathon, holding hands. It was one of the funnest things I have ever done, seriously. In fact, we were singing "I Believe I Can Fly" at about mile 7.
In August, I went down to San Diego to visit some friends from London. Conveniently, Bryce's family lives in San Diego so we drove down together and I stayed with them for a couple of days. They took us to Sea World one day that I was there. Fun fun fun.
Now we're both busy taking classes at BYU (and Bryce works at the MTC), but we still manage to spend a great deal of time together. Some of our favorite activities include watching football (this is all-inclusive, meaning I go to his intramural games, we go to BYU home games, and we watch college football at home), playing Scrabble, Blokus, or Rook, spending way too much time in Target, Costco, Fye, Macey's, etc. buying movies or 10-pack boxes of Oreo's for $4.97. We do lots of other things, those just seem to be the most common.
Last Friday afternoon we decided to take a drive through the canyon to see what was left of the Fall colors. There were still some very pretty spots, and we enjoyed singing along to random songs on the radio. Before we knew it, we were in good ol' Heber, UT.
Heber Main Street...always hoppin
After exploring main street a little (meaning driving for 5 minutes) we turned around in a Smith's grocery store parking lot. They had some nice looking pumpkins, so we bought 2, along with a bag of candy corn, and carved the pumpkins later that night. Neither of us are very skilled in the art of pumpkin-carving, but it was fun just the same.
Happy Halloween!
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Thursday Morning
Today is September 9th, 2010. I'm sitting in my living room, with open textbooks, excel spreadsheets, word documents, notebooks, calculators and pens and pencils surrounding me. Oh the life of an accounting student.
But. I must say...
I LOVE FALL. It's the greatest season ever.
one main reason:
football.
But. I must say...
I LOVE FALL. It's the greatest season ever.
one main reason:
football.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
"In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt." Margaret Atwood
Holas!
Somehow it is already July and I have intended to blog many many times …but have obviously failed.
I took Spring classes at BYU, including organ, voice lessons, piano lessons, university chorale, mission preparation, and music fundamentals (which I tested out of the first day of class, thank goodness). I also managed to (finally) complete my independent study course, statistics 221. Some of you have heard me rant and rave about all of the hoops I had to jump through in order to finish that class, but now it is done and I don’t have to stress about it anymore. Anyway, I spent most of spring term in the HFAC tucked away in a practice room. All that practicing seems to have paid off because I got my first 4.0 since my sophomore year of high school. Wahoo!
Besides taking classes, I returned to my wonderful job at Cougar Creations. In addition to the fact that I absolutely love working there…making copies, laminating, book-binding, etc…getting a paycheck every two weeks is a VERY welcome change. Let’s just say that recovery from London is taking a little longer than expected. We’re getting there, though.
So that’s the “boring” side to what I’ve been up to during the past 2 months. Other things that I’m doing for fun…
RAGNARRRRRRR.
I
CANNOT
WAIT.
22 days.
I’ve been training pretty well and hard for this race. There’s not much else to say about it other than I love the feeling of being able to run and run forever. Other races that I’m planning on doing in the near future are the Freedom Run 10k (July 5th), Top of Utah Marathon (September 18th. Yes CJ, I think I’m ready to register.), and the Provo Halloween Half-Marathon (October 30th).
More about Ragnar. Our team name is Gooey Nanners, and I’m running leg numero tres (that’s “three” in Spanish, mom). I made shirts for our team, and finally got them all made today at work. WAHOO.
Ok….so yeah I’ve been running. It’s fun.
I have new roommates, obviously. Brittany, Matz, and Sohea. They’re great, and we’ve done fun things. Some such things include:
Going rappelling in the canyon
Going to Sammy's for the first time for pie shakes and concerts
Throwing and attending awesome dance parties
Bonfires
Painting our living room
Making air pop
Going to IHOP for 2-for-1
Going to movies
Watching So You Think You Can Dance
Doing Pilates workout videos in our living room
etc.etc.etc.etc.etc.
I've also been spending some time with my good ol' friends Anna and Amber, my Oregon buddies. Last weekend I hiked the Y with Anna for her first time ever. I think it was quite the successful hike for the both of us. Amber and I have been spending a lot of time relaxing by the pool.
I've played with my favoritest sister Abby a few times as well. She's moving to Texas with Paul the man on Saturday (boo hiss) so I probably won't see her until Christmastime. I've had fun hanging with them for BBQ's in the canyon or at their house, shopping with Abby, and just talking about everything.
Somehow I managed to go off to San Fransisco with Cam and Calvin, my friends from London, to visit the magnificently talented Laura, my roommate from London. She was performing in a benefit concert for diabetes so that was the main purpose of our trip. I had never been to the city before, and it was pretty awesome. The long drive made for some interesting conversation, too. Top notch weekend for sure.
My mom came down to Utah for a few days just recently, and so spending time with her was pretty great, too. I'll get to see her again in just a few weeks when I go home to Oregon (right before she leaves for Girl's Camp, tee hee hee hee hee).
Aaaannnnnd that's about it. Now I'm not in classes anymore, but my work hours have doubled, so that keeps me kind of busy. And most of the things that I listed that I'm doing I'm still doing. So yeah, spring was good, summer is looking pretty good, too.
Somehow it is already July and I have intended to blog many many times …but have obviously failed.
I took Spring classes at BYU, including organ, voice lessons, piano lessons, university chorale, mission preparation, and music fundamentals (which I tested out of the first day of class, thank goodness). I also managed to (finally) complete my independent study course, statistics 221. Some of you have heard me rant and rave about all of the hoops I had to jump through in order to finish that class, but now it is done and I don’t have to stress about it anymore. Anyway, I spent most of spring term in the HFAC tucked away in a practice room. All that practicing seems to have paid off because I got my first 4.0 since my sophomore year of high school. Wahoo!
Besides taking classes, I returned to my wonderful job at Cougar Creations. In addition to the fact that I absolutely love working there…making copies, laminating, book-binding, etc…getting a paycheck every two weeks is a VERY welcome change. Let’s just say that recovery from London is taking a little longer than expected. We’re getting there, though.
So that’s the “boring” side to what I’ve been up to during the past 2 months. Other things that I’m doing for fun…
RAGNARRRRRRR.
I
CANNOT
WAIT.
22 days.
I’ve been training pretty well and hard for this race. There’s not much else to say about it other than I love the feeling of being able to run and run forever. Other races that I’m planning on doing in the near future are the Freedom Run 10k (July 5th), Top of Utah Marathon (September 18th. Yes CJ, I think I’m ready to register.), and the Provo Halloween Half-Marathon (October 30th).
More about Ragnar. Our team name is Gooey Nanners, and I’m running leg numero tres (that’s “three” in Spanish, mom). I made shirts for our team, and finally got them all made today at work. WAHOO.
Ok….so yeah I’ve been running. It’s fun.
I have new roommates, obviously. Brittany, Matz, and Sohea. They’re great, and we’ve done fun things. Some such things include:
Going rappelling in the canyon
Going to Sammy's for the first time for pie shakes and concerts
Throwing and attending awesome dance parties
Bonfires
Painting our living room
Making air pop
Going to IHOP for 2-for-1
Going to movies
Watching So You Think You Can Dance
Doing Pilates workout videos in our living room
etc.etc.etc.etc.etc.
I've also been spending some time with my good ol' friends Anna and Amber, my Oregon buddies. Last weekend I hiked the Y with Anna for her first time ever. I think it was quite the successful hike for the both of us. Amber and I have been spending a lot of time relaxing by the pool.
I've played with my favoritest sister Abby a few times as well. She's moving to Texas with Paul the man on Saturday (boo hiss) so I probably won't see her until Christmastime. I've had fun hanging with them for BBQ's in the canyon or at their house, shopping with Abby, and just talking about everything.
Somehow I managed to go off to San Fransisco with Cam and Calvin, my friends from London, to visit the magnificently talented Laura, my roommate from London. She was performing in a benefit concert for diabetes so that was the main purpose of our trip. I had never been to the city before, and it was pretty awesome. The long drive made for some interesting conversation, too. Top notch weekend for sure.
My mom came down to Utah for a few days just recently, and so spending time with her was pretty great, too. I'll get to see her again in just a few weeks when I go home to Oregon (right before she leaves for Girl's Camp, tee hee hee hee hee).
Aaaannnnnd that's about it. Now I'm not in classes anymore, but my work hours have doubled, so that keeps me kind of busy. And most of the things that I listed that I'm doing I'm still doing. So yeah, spring was good, summer is looking pretty good, too.
Saturday, May 1, 2010
How's it gonna feel when London ends? Out of money, out of friends.
Those are lyrics from a song by Cold War Kids, except I changed the word "summer" for "London". I figured it sums things up pretty well.
So, the last few days in London were spent enjoying the beautiful weather, and spending time with all of my favorite people. It was really very nice.
It's already been too long for me to remember all of the different things that we did, but I can certainly remember a few:
- Playing soccer in Hyde Park
- Staying up until 5 a.m. talking with Kira and CJ
- Buying 3 CD's at a the music exchange store on Bayswater
- Eating Nando's Nando's Nando's
- Watching movies galore
- Walking with some of my favorite girls down Oxford Street
- Seeing "Mamma Mia!"
- Doing the paddle boats on the Serpentine in Hyde Park
- Making more animal friends (i.e. swans and squirrels)
- Eating pints of Ben and Jerry's
- Learning from Dr. Susan Howe how to be a poet
- Dancing in the laundry room to JT
- Overdosing on Diet Coke
- Packing :(
- Saying goodbye to friends and London, and shedding a few tears
Pictures from the last week:
Leicester Gardens
Gotta love my home
paddle-boating in Hyde Park
Seeing planes flying out was a little surreal...I left the next morning
Well, I added it up, and the time I left the London Centre to the time I walked into my Aunt Karen's house in Lehi, UT was about 47 hours. Means of transportation included the following:
- Tube from Queensway to Bond Street, then Bond Street to Victoria
- Gatwick Express from Victoria to LGW
- Airplane from London to Fiumicino (nope, I didn't see a wink of Rome. And yes, I'm still bitter)
- Overground train in the airport
- Sketch Taxi to hotel near the airport
- Not-so-sketch shuttle back to the airport
- Plane from Fiumicino to Washington D.C.
- Plane from D.C. to Denver
- Plane from Denver to SLC
- Car from SLC to Lehi
I. Crashed. SO HARD.
So yeah, I've been back in the good ol' U.S. of A. for a little over a week now, and I think I have readjusted pretty well. I forced myself to get over jet lag as soon as possible, and it worked alright, except I think I'm still catching up on lost sleep from the past four months. I sleep a lot.
So I guess life is back to "normal" now. I'm back in Provo, with a new apartment, new roommates, new classes...same work. Just call me the copy queen. Being back has it's perks, though. I've been able to see so many people that I missed and catch up with all of them. There are still a few that I have yet to see. Between seeing family, friends, and former roommates, I guess you could say I've been busy...but honestly, sometimes I don't know what to do with myself. What on earth DID I DO before London?!!? I'll figure it out.
Best of all, I have my Nikon back in my possession. I used this blog solely for my photos before London, but now I have a little bit of a blogging obsession. We'll see what happens with it from this point forward.
Well, I guess I should put some sort of finishing BAM to my London experience. I may be one to be cheesy at times, but I'm not very good at being sentimental. I guess I can just say that London was the most fun I've had my entire life, and I can't help but smile every time I look back at pictures and memories. Even more importantly, I learned so much - about myself and everything else. Best decision of my life thus far. Well done, self.
So, the last few days in London were spent enjoying the beautiful weather, and spending time with all of my favorite people. It was really very nice.
It's already been too long for me to remember all of the different things that we did, but I can certainly remember a few:
- Playing soccer in Hyde Park
- Staying up until 5 a.m. talking with Kira and CJ
- Buying 3 CD's at a the music exchange store on Bayswater
- Eating Nando's Nando's Nando's
- Watching movies galore
- Walking with some of my favorite girls down Oxford Street
- Seeing "Mamma Mia!"
- Doing the paddle boats on the Serpentine in Hyde Park
- Making more animal friends (i.e. swans and squirrels)
- Eating pints of Ben and Jerry's
- Learning from Dr. Susan Howe how to be a poet
- Dancing in the laundry room to JT
- Overdosing on Diet Coke
- Packing :(
- Saying goodbye to friends and London, and shedding a few tears
Pictures from the last week:
Leicester Gardens
Gotta love my home
paddle-boating in Hyde Park
Seeing planes flying out was a little surreal...I left the next morning
Well, I added it up, and the time I left the London Centre to the time I walked into my Aunt Karen's house in Lehi, UT was about 47 hours. Means of transportation included the following:
- Tube from Queensway to Bond Street, then Bond Street to Victoria
- Gatwick Express from Victoria to LGW
- Airplane from London to Fiumicino (nope, I didn't see a wink of Rome. And yes, I'm still bitter)
- Overground train in the airport
- Sketch Taxi to hotel near the airport
- Not-so-sketch shuttle back to the airport
- Plane from Fiumicino to Washington D.C.
- Plane from D.C. to Denver
- Plane from Denver to SLC
- Car from SLC to Lehi
I. Crashed. SO HARD.
So yeah, I've been back in the good ol' U.S. of A. for a little over a week now, and I think I have readjusted pretty well. I forced myself to get over jet lag as soon as possible, and it worked alright, except I think I'm still catching up on lost sleep from the past four months. I sleep a lot.
So I guess life is back to "normal" now. I'm back in Provo, with a new apartment, new roommates, new classes...same work. Just call me the copy queen. Being back has it's perks, though. I've been able to see so many people that I missed and catch up with all of them. There are still a few that I have yet to see. Between seeing family, friends, and former roommates, I guess you could say I've been busy...but honestly, sometimes I don't know what to do with myself. What on earth DID I DO before London?!!? I'll figure it out.
Best of all, I have my Nikon back in my possession. I used this blog solely for my photos before London, but now I have a little bit of a blogging obsession. We'll see what happens with it from this point forward.
Well, I guess I should put some sort of finishing BAM to my London experience. I may be one to be cheesy at times, but I'm not very good at being sentimental. I guess I can just say that London was the most fun I've had my entire life, and I can't help but smile every time I look back at pictures and memories. Even more importantly, I learned so much - about myself and everything else. Best decision of my life thus far. Well done, self.
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