No More Core

Yes that's right, the Accounting Junior Core is officially OVER. This morning I pressed through my 7 a.m. tax final, came home and slept until noon. So, naturally, I need a celebratory blog post...uh...WAHOO! CELEBRATION!!

Was the Junior Core really as hard as people make it out to be??
uhhhmmmm....yes.

However, I feel as though I was able to manage and balance school with work and social life while still getting sufficient sleep very well. Did I do as well as I would have liked to? Probably not, but enjoying this school year was important to me.

So what have I been up to the past couple of weeks besides getting ready for finals?

Well, a lot of wedding planning and such has occurred. Bryce and I sent our invitations, I picked up my wedding dress, designed a photo guest book with our engagement photos, made my hair appointment, had a bridal shower and bachelorette party, went to Men's Wearhouse to look at tuxes, and a few other things here and there. I feel like everything is starting to fall into place oh-so-nicely. Only one month more from tomorrow!

Now I just need to finish packing and move the rest of my stuff to the super ghetto/sketchy storage unit that Bryce and I rented for the month of "in-between-ness" from now until the wedding. That, and finish grading 50 International Relations final exams. (besides the short-answer and geography portions, that includes 300 mini-essays, wahoo)

BUT THEN!!!
Bryce and I are driving up to Oregon on Saturday, which I am so so so excited for. Should be a fun and relaxing road trip, so long as the Honda makes it alright...wish us luck!

Bryce is famous!

Okay, so Bryce will probably roll his eyes and be slightly embarrassed at this post, but I just had to tell everyone that my awesome fiancee got written about in the paper! This week he presented to a bunch of CEO's and three mayors about the PR class project that he's been working on with a group for the Lehi Area Chamber of Commerce. He even, EVEN got asked for an interview with the Daily Universe. I've been telling him all day long,
"Bryce, you're famous!"
"Bryce, you're going places with life..."
"Bryce, you're practically a celebrity"
"Bryce, I see big success for your future"
etc. etc. etc.

Part of this is sarcasm, because it was only in the Daily Herald, but I really am proud of him for doing such a good job. He has spent many many hours on this project. Check, check, check it out:

Lehi Area Chamber revamps its brand

Happy Things

In order to keep my mind off the stress of incoming finals, oral exams, and group cases and presentations, I am going to talk about some of the happy things that have happened over the past couple of weeks.

#1 - New Running Shoes
Near the end of January, I started having a lot of pain on the back of my heel. It got to the point where it was extremely uncomfortable to wear shoes. Turns out I've been hurting my feet with poorly-fitted shoes and got myself a nice little bone spur on the back of my left ankle. I padded the backs of my shoes, and hobbled like a penguin in flats on my way to church for the next few weeks. I couldn't run without feeling pain, and walking to and from class was no longer enjoyable (if it ever was...)
BUT!
Last week, Bryce got his federal tax return (wahoo!) and had a little money to spare, so he gave me some cash and told me to go get some new running shoes. I went to Runner's Corner in Orem, where they have an excellent reputation for fitting feet into the proper shoe. About seven pairs later, I walked out of the store with these beauties:



I've been running several times in them and am happy to say that I feel absolutely no pain. Absolutely wonderful.

#2 - General Conference
General Conference weekend is great, and I especially enjoy it being out at school. This is because we get to have friends come over to watch, stay in our sweats, and make awesome breakfast. Ok, I guess on Saturday Michelle and I went and bought donuts for everyone, but on Sunday Seth, Michelle, and I made hash browns, bacon, and cinnamon rolls (they did most of the work, but I did help...and contributed orange juice). Fabulous. Besides the breakfast, it's awesome to hear the Prophet and other church leaders speak on inspired topics.
Before the Sunday afternoon session, Bryce and I went up to his Grandparents' house in Bountiful for lunch with some other family, and then headed down to Temple Square to attend the session at the conference center. It was an excellent session, as most of them are.


This is Bryce, Me, Bryce's sister Ashley and her fiancee Greg outside of the conference center. It was a bit chilly.

#3 - Girl Scout Cookies
Yesterday I had just gotten home from the gym, when Michelle and I discovered that there were people selling Girl Scout cookies on the corner of our street. No questions asked, we grabbed our wallets and walked out there...scratch that, Michelle was practically running. I bought a box of thin mints and a box of samoas. YUM. Bryce and I ate the samoas later while watching the NCAA Basketball National Championship, which was disappointingly boring.
Notice the happiness that Girl Scout Cookies create:



Also, notice on the fridge...not Jimmer, but the green thing next to Jimmer is an invitation for my bridal shower on Saturday! I'm so excited :)

Friday Afternoons

Although Rebecca Black may have beat me to the punch, I love and always have loved Fridays. There's something wonderful about the day. I think it's the fact that I can be completely lazy, relax, play, or whatever and not feel guilty.

I think it's also the combination of actually doing something "productive" in the mornings (school and work) and then enjoying the rest of the day that gives it that little something extra, er...yeah.

Anyway.

This morning I walked out of the Tanner Building on my way to work, and discovered that while I had been in class, the clouds had opened up and it had begun to sleet. I called Bryce and pathetically asked him if he could come pick me up from campus after work. I was wearing a hoodie, but an 8 minute walk home still seemed too cold, slushy, and grueling to justify.

Well, he picked me up, and then took us Costa Vida for lunch. Yummmm.
Then we watched one of our favorite movies, Wall-E.
And then we took silly pictures of ourselves on Photobooth, something we've never done, and something I haven't done in a long time. It's fun.

Let me just preface these photos. As most people who read my blog know, Bryce works at the Missionary Training Center, and so more often than not, he's wearing a white shirt and tie. AND as most people who read my blog know, I have 8 AM class every day, and I really like to sleep, so more often than not I'm wearing a hoodie and my hair is in a ponytail. Maybe this is why we've taken so few pictures together this semester...


Yeah, we think we're pretty cool.




This is my favorite, especially the bottom right one. I think he was a little surprised :)

Soccer

Bryce and I played on a co-ed intramural soccer team together this semester. Tonight we had our second tournament game and lost 4-2. It was a bit of a letdown, since our team was really starting to mesh well, but it was fun just the same.

After our first game, Bryce asked me if we could go play soccer together so he could practice and learn a few things before the next game. I guess I didn't realize that my own fiance' has never actually had any formal coaching on the sport. I am by absolutely no means a soccer expert, but I did play quite a few seasons of the sport while growing up. So I taught him how to properly kick a ball, the basics of ball control, and other things like what to do on offense/defense etc.

My favorite "drill" was when we would both start at one end of the field, and then he'd start sprinting down to the other end as I would kick the soccer ball way out in front of him, and then...he'd keep sprinting...until he got the ball or reached the end of the field. I'd yell at him to hustle back, and then we'd do it again.

After about three times he realized that I was just making him run to tire him out. BUT, I will say that his speed improved after that. Self-props to my coaching abilities.

Anyway, the point is, it's been fun going out and playing soccer a couple times every week. And did I mention that Bryce scored BOTH of our goals tonight?? I was so proud :)

Happy Birthday Michelle!

Happy Birthday to one of my very best of friends, Michelle!
Michelle and I have known each other since third grade, and have been pretty good friends for most of the years since then. (there was a time when I thought I was "too cool" to hang out with her, but I've overcome that)

Michelle and I have done a lot together since meeting thirteen years ago, including playing on the same soccer team, attending parties together, making cookies/bread etc. and going to London together last winter. Now that we are roommates, spontaneous dance parties in our kitchen are becoming more regular and commonplace than random occurrences.

For instance, last Friday night turned from a Taco Bell run into a dance party into rolling on the floor laughing into watching "DC Cupcakes" on TLC.
Exhibit A:







Happy 21st Michelle!! I'm so proud to have such a wonderful, beautiful, fun and awesome friend and roommate!

LOVE YOU :D

Bog.

So I'm in the TA office again (surprise surprise). I think that this room has sort of become what the laundry room was for me in London: my blogging location. Occasionally I'll think of clever topics to blog about, but today I'm feeling slightly "bogged down" so-to-speak. I guess you could say that I'm just feeling tired, particularly lazy, worn out, bored, etc. But bog is a pretty cool word.

bog.

So I looked up "bog" on Wikipedia, the very best possible source of information...
Did you know...
A bog is a wetland, a toilet, a joint swelling on a horse, something mediocre, automotive body filler, a village in Uzbekistan, a monster, airport in Colombia, and also an acronym for the Battle of Gettysburg??

All of a sudden the term "bogged down" seems SO MUCH more appropriate.

However, my favorite acronym:
BOG/Best on Ground - the name and/or award given to the player of the day in Australian Rules Football.
Sweeeeeeeeeet.

I never thought anyone would aspire to be a bog, but I guess it's pretty cool in Australia.

(and to those concerned, Stuart returned to me last week all repaired!)