One fine day(s)

So, my new semester has started and it's the bomb. Seriously, I love all of my classes, and I feel I'll do very well this time around. I'll keep you posted more about what goes on in my classes, but this blog is dedicated to the sweetest day(s) I've had in a long time. Here goes..

Monday:
Started school. I am enrolled in a Country Swing dance class.. it's so fun, complete with LOTS of attractive men. Good thing too- you get to dance with every single one of them. Yes, please! My roommates and I went out to eat lunch at Beehive Grill, found out that they sell gourmet burgers for $2.50, complete with tons of fries. Yes, please! And there was an Aggie basketball game in which we dominated BYU-Hawaii.. Pretty good day over-all.

Tuesday:
The greatest day of all. Went to my classes, enjoyed them all, and while I was walking home, I was stopped by a really attractive guy who just wanted to talk. Nobody does that anymore! Also, another cute guy asked for my number.. Made my day. Later on, we went to Taco Bell. Don't worry they messed up somehow and gave me a free burrito along with my regular meal, so I had a free dinner. American Idol started up.. need I say more? The secretary of my ward called and asked if I could meet with this bishop, so needless to say, I am the new Visiting Teacher Coordinator! I was SOO happy! I've been waiting for a calling since I moved to Logan 10 months ago! I finally got my church calling, and I know I'm going to love it, and be blessed because of it. Lastly, $2 tanning.. always a good day.

Wednesday:
I learned how to Country Swing dance, and I'm not too bad! It was actually really fun. My roommate Elicia made Chicken Alfredo for dinner and invited a cute boy over.. that's always nice. And the dinner was AMAZING.. Shot out to Elicia for fixing dinner! At the Kent concert Hall on campus, the Institute put on the Joseph Smith movie. I was so excited to go, I love the movie, and bawl every time without fail. I asked this cute returned missionary if he wanted to go, so we met up with him. It was nice to catch up.

Thursday:
I went over to my grandparents house to watch the Jazz game. My sweet grandma made me some dinner and sent me home with a bag of potatoes. My favorite thing in the world! Grandma, if you're reading this, I really appreciate all that you and Grandpa do for me! You're the greatest grandparents in the world! To top it all off- The Jazz won!! If you guys didn't watch the game.. you missed out for sure!! A rookie made a 3-pointer at the buzzer, and swished it! I cried a little bit. Sleeping after that shot was almost impossible. I'm still on a high. Go Jazz!!!

So far this week has been complete with cute boys, blessings, and victories! I sure hope today, tomorrow, and sunday will be good too. That would make this week legit, no doubt.

Current Obsession(s)

I like Michael Buble.. I really do.

And I really like his new song, "Haven't Met You Yet."

It's basically how I feel in a nutshell, I'm glad someone put it into words for me.

So hats off to you, Michael. Your song is my new current obsession.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AJmKkU5POA

& here are the lyrics for your convenience.. :]

I'm not surprised,

Not everything lasts,

I've broken my heart so many times I stopped keeping track.

Talk myself in, I talk myself out, I get all worked up, Then I let myself down

I tried so very hard not to loose it;

I came up with a million excuses,

I thought I thought of every possibility

And I know some day that it’ll all turn out,

You'll make me work so we can work to work it out,

And I promise you kid that I give so much more than I get~

mmm.......I just haven't met you yet.

I might have to wait,

I’ll never give up,

I guess it's half timin', and the other half's luck.

Wherever you are,Whenever it's right,

You'll come outta nowhere and into my life.

And I know that we can be so amazin',

And baby your love is gonna change me,

And now I can see every possibility, mmmmmm....

Somehow I know that it’ll all turn out,

You'll make me work so we can work to work it out,

And promise you kid, I'll give so much more than I get,

mmmm....I just haven't met you yet.

They say all’s fair in love and war

But I won’t need to fight it,

we'll get it right and we'll be united

and I know that we can be so amazin'

And bein' in your life is gonna change me,

And now I can see every single possibility, mmmmmm

And someday I know it'll all turn out,

And I'll work to work it out,

Promise you kid I’ll give more than I get

Than I get, than I get, than I get.

Oh, you know it'll all turn out,

and you'll make me work so we can work to work it out,

And promise you kid to give so much more than I get,

yeah I just haven't met you yet.

I just haven't met you yet,

Oh, promise you kid,

To give so much more than I get.

I said love love love love love love love.....

I just haven't met you yet

Love love love .....So doy day ay ay ay, ay ay yeah

I just haven't met you yet!

-Even though basically all of my friends are married/engaged/dating I'm not worried. I know my time will come, whenever that may be. But as for right now.. I'm having fun. I'm in a good place with good people, and I have the sweetest roommates. I have all this time to strengthen my testimony, and grow closer to the Lord. I have my whole life ahead of me to get married. But if the opportunity does come up faster than expected.. I won't complain. :]

****************************

Also, I have another 'Current Obsession':

My roommate Emily and I made dinner tonight and it was delish. I made tortilla soup, which was okay.. it was store bought and not the homemade kind that my mom makes, so it didn't really compare.. but Emily made Bubble Bread. Basically cinnamon rolls in a different form. Anyway, it was absolutely amazing! Thank you Emily for introducing me to a little slice of Heaven!

Smells delicious!

This is Emily's 'I Love Bubble Bread' face!

Well, it's kind of late, and I've got to get reading my scriptures before I fall asleep. One of my New Years Resolutions is to read everyday and I've done pretty well so far! Hopefully by doing this, the Lord will help me ace my classes this semester! Huzzah!

aaaaaand I'm back!

After a very much needed long break at home, I've come back to reality and responsibilities in Logan. I also changed up my blog a little bit, so feel free to look around. I'm excited to start back up with school and institute, and to have a schedule again. I always feel like I'm wasting time when there's nothing that I need to get accomplished in the day. But anyway, I just wanted to say that I'm back, I'm alive, and ready to start blogging again! I know you missed me..

Attutude of Grattitude

“Develop an attitude of gratitude, and give thanks for everything that happens to you, knowing that every step forward is a step toward achieving something bigger and better than your current situation.” –Brian Tracy

I'm thankful for so many things I can't even begin to type them all down. Every night I say a "gratitude" prayer and try not to ask for anything, but to just thank Heavenly Father for everything. It makes me really think about what I'm grateful for, and helps me to reflect during the day of the many things that I might take for granted, but am really thankful for.

-The opportunity I have to be here at Utah State, furthering my education.
-My wonderful family who sticks together through thick or thin.
-My friends who have been such great examples for me.
-The gospel, my testimony, and especially the knowledge I have of The Plan of Salvation.
-The fact that the Temple is 5 minutes away.. if even that.
-My loving grandparents who take such good care of me. I'm so grateful to live so close by.
-My job, where even though I don't get the hours that I want, I'm still making money.
-My car.. and the fact that it runs properly.
-My body, my senses. I'm so grateful that I am able to see, hear, taste, and feel.
-My health
-Personal Revelation, and the Prophet who receives revelation from God in our behalf.
-My awesome Institute teacher. Brother Hunsaker is the bomb.
-Missionaries (my brother is soon to be one, too!)

This is just a short list of the MANY wonderful things I'm grateful for..
Hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving.. I know I sure did. :)

Halloween Pictures

I'm on a blogging spree right now. But I remembered I forgot to post my pictures of Halloween. I took the cheap, economical route and wrapped myself in some tinfoil, with the intentions of being a robot. FAIL. But my hair did look pretty awesome. I wanted to do the whole corpse bride thing, but there were NO dresses at the D.I. on Halloween. Go figure.


Straight out from the TLC video, No scrubs. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Av7m_Pgt1S8
kinda..


Ha! Elicia was a Gothic clown, and all my other roommates were animals. I feel so left out, I should be an acrobat or something to complete our circus.

The classic apt. 49 jumping picture. I couldn't get a lot of height due to the tin foil that tear any minute.

My favorite picture. Maile is about to eat the little lambs for dinner. Emily's face is priceless. (she's on the left.)

Despite the Howl being a huge disappointment, getting ready and taking pictures was fun. :)

My Life is Average

www.mylifeisaverage.com is the best website I've ever visited. Makes my day everytime I read the posts. I've tried to get my posts published, but apparently they aren't average enough. Anyway, I've posted some of my favorites.. so enjoy!

Today, while waiting for our classroom, we realized the door was jammed and the class before us was locked inside. After a team of maintenance men with drills and hammers, two administrators with master keys, and one janitor trying to pry it open with a crowbar, the quiet kid in my class took a running leap and karate kicked the door. Guess who got it open?

A fortnight ago I finally solved my rubiks cube. I waited two weeks to post this so that I could use the word fortnight.

Today, I went to the store and bought some Land o Lakes cheese. On the label, it said 'LOL Cheese'. I laughed

Today, I decided to tan on the balcony. I took my top off and my neighbor came out and saw me. He's a guy. So am I. We greeted each other

Today I won a million dollars, but I closed out of the pop-up anyway

Today, as I was waiting on line at a store, I noticed the cashier had a British accent. When it was my turn, I faked a British accent in conversation. He asked me where I was from, so I admitted that I was faking. His British accent disappeared as he said, "Me too."

Today, my boss passed me in the hall at work and asked me "Do you have a sec?". I was trying to be flippant and replied "I have tons of secs". We both pretended I didn't say that.

Today, my boyfriend asked me what I was thinking. I told him I was considering healthcare plans. In reality, I was wondering what it would be like to be an octopus. It would be awesome.

Today, I began writing a paper that is due tomorrow morning. Instead of writing today's date in the header, I wrote the date it was three days ago to make it seem like I didn't start this last minute

Today, I asked waiter for a chocolate shake. He laughed at me and proceded to jump up and down. He was black. Needless to say he got an awesome tip

Today, while driving to school, the Spice Girls "Wannabe" came on the radio. I began singing loudly and dancing in my seat when I pulled up to a red light. I looked to my right and saw my physics teacher,also singing loudly to the song. We made eye contact. It was awkward. We are both guys

Today, my 6 year-old daughter was asking me questions about Santa Claus at dinner. My 13 year-old daughter was getting annoyed with all the dumb questions and simply told her younger sister that Santa didn't exist. Instead of being aghast and upset, my younger daughter just said, "Yea but neither does Edward Cullen!" My older daughter left the dinner table and I think its easy to say who won tonight

Today, I used a cheap store-brand pregnancy test just for fun, and it came out positive. I'm both male and a virgin, but I'd be simply thrilled to have a baby

Today, I was trying to be productive and was some what succeeding. That is until I got a text from my little sister ask me what blind people dream about. Homework didn't stand a chance after that. I'm still thinking about it.

Today, I bought some toilet paper and noticed that the side of the package said, "Now flushable." I'm now afraid that I've been using it wrong all these years.

Today, I asked the people in my row in law class if they heard a strange buzzing noise. After five minutes, I had six people agreeing that they heard it. There was no buzzing noise

Today, for dinner I ordered pizza online. There was a box to type in any special requests. I wrote in "Delivery guy must beatbox." When I got my pizza, the delievery guy beatboxed all of Sexy Back. I have new faith in my local pizza places.

Today, I had to stop for a pedestrian in the crosswalk. The pedestrian was a chicken. I'm not sure if I'm more excited by the fact that I saw a chicken cross the road, or that he was smart enough to use the crosswalk

Two weeks ago, after battling leukemia for 4 years, my sixteen-year-old son, Erik, passed away. For the last 3 months, he read MLIA everyday, and it made him laugh, gave him something to talk about other than his prognoses, medical issues or anything else cancer-related. This site, he said, made him feel more average. Thank you, My Life Is Average.

*MLIA is the bomb. and my therapy.

Looking Up

My family knows I've been pretty negative lately, and not very appreciative of things. Well.. I have changed. This past week I've taken a different view on life, and it's helped dramatically.
Last weekend my mom and brothers came to visit and I can't even describe how much I needed that. When my mom called me after my morning class and told me she was coming it was all I could do to stay calm! I wanted to jump for joy, or something embarrassing like that. I was so antsy all day waiting for them to come, and I'm so glad she was able to visit even if it was for a short time. It was totally worth it! I love you mom, thanks for coming. Thanks to Lerin and Layne who also came, you guys are awesome.

Also, I've been happier at my apartment. Before I was just kind of boring, unmotivated, and such a downer. I've had such an amazing week with my roommates, ahh I love them to death. I've seriously been in such a good mood that I think it's time for yet another "ten things that make me terribly happy."

1. being in a good mood all day
2. good company
3. the regina spektor station on pandora radio
4. $2 tanning on tuesday's and thursday's. (I'm not addicted, but I'm getting pretty tan..)
5. Driving to Salt Lake just to look at the lights at night, and Temple Square. I can't wait for the lights to come up
6. The fact that I can go home for 5 days for Thanksgiving Break, and I think 2 weeks for Chirstmas Break.
7. Blasting LFO and busting out their gangster dance moves in the hallway. (Click here and you'll know what I'm talking about. They don't even dance, they just move their arms around and squat. It's hilarious.)
8. Watching the Jazz games with my grandparents, or just hanging out at their house. ( I know this was on my last list, but it truly makes me terribly happy.)
9. Playing Parkour. (Click here and you'll know what I'm talking about.)
10. Working hard at the gym and feeling the pain the day after. Makes me feel like I've accomplished something.

Ahh, well it's snowing outside. I don't really like the snow. But I can now enjoy it as I bundle up in a warm blanket, watch a movie, and eat some awesome mashed potatoes that I just made.
*Thank you Grandma and Grandpa for hooking me up with that bag of potatoes! You guys take such good care of me. :)

Lately..

Sorry I haven't posted in a while, I've been pretty overwhelmed with mid-terms and other stressful events that were going on.

Anyway, Emily and I pledged to go to the gym at least 3 times a week. Not too much of a sacrifice considering we have a free gym available on campus, and we're on campus everyday.. We also pledged to stop being so lazy. When we get home from school we crash or watch TV. We're boring, but we're also worn out! Don't judge!

My lame boss cut my hours, so now I'm only working every other weekend. I figured out how much money I would lose, about $200/month. Which isn't too much, but when you're a struggling college student, every Penny counts! We're supposedly having a meeting on Friday to discuss hours, I will voice my opinion for sure. That's crap!

My dad's birthday was on the 15th. I balanced my schedule so I would be able to make it home that day and back in time for work. My plan worked out perfectly, except for one thing.. My dad wasn't even home!! He had to travel for work on his birthday! He had a good attitude about it, he's a good man! I love you dad, and grateful to have such an awesome dad to take care of me all the time! You're so sweet and always make sure I'm living comfortably. I'm so blessed to have a dad like you, who looks out for our best interest and always put others before yourself. I LOVE YOU DAD!

I've been really sick lately. Not with the swine flu, thank goodness, but I have a terrible cold. I've never been this sick over a cold before! I'm so grateful to have such an understanding roommate who feels bad for me when I'm up all night hacking out my lungs, when I feel bad for keeping her up! She's always saying, "Laurel, I feel so bad, what can I do for you? What can I get for you?" She's the bomb. Love you Em.

This month is full of birthdays! It was Kenny's birthday about a week ago. (Kenny is a guy that's in Kristin's house, and he just started hanging out here all the time, so we made him a little birthday dinner.) Let me just tell you how excited I was about making my contribution to the dinner..

So, I found this awesome recipe from Emeril. You can never go wrong with one of his recipes, they're always the bomb. It was for scalloped potatoes. The recipe called for 4 cups of cream. Well.. it was a Sunday, his dinner was spur of the moment, so we had to use what he had. I had no cream. And we all said that our dinner would be SOO good if we didn't break the sabbath to buy something. So, I didn't go buy cream. I used milk, Emily said it wouldn't make a huge difference. WRRRRRROOOOOOONNNNNNGGGGGGGG. Also, forgot to mention, that Matt (a guy that lives below us) was home alone for the weekend, so we invited him to our dinner. He came up to tell us that he invited ALL of his roommates that came home later that night. So basically we're feeding about 10 people. With groceries that we have on hand. Anyway, back to the potatoes. So I let the milk and potatoes simmer, I cook it, and I taste it. I have NEVER in my life tasted something so disgusting. It tasted like burnt milk. Which, the milk probably did burn while it was simmering on the stove. I made like 10 servings, and had to throw it all out. I've never had a recipe go wrong, but then again- I followed the recipe. I improvised on this one.. bad mistake. But glad I didn't break the sabbath. Let's just say this guys didn't hear about my potato incident. That would definitely ruin my chances for getting dates.. haha

This weekend Emily and I were pretty bored. It was Maile's birthday, our other roommate, but her parents came up, and we didn't want to intrude on family time, so we made a spontaneous trip to Salt Lake. Let me just tell you how much I love Salt Lake. It's soo pretty, I seriously want to live there, or maybe I don't. Maybe I just love to visit? I haven't decided yet. But we went to the Cheesecake Factory, we were going to sit down and enjoy a nice slice of Cheesecake, but the wait was 2 hours- no lies. So we got it to go, and ate it at the mall. While walking inside, we're stopped by this lady. She says, "You girls are really cute, I like your style. We just got done with a High School Musical audition, and I would love for you girls to audition for something. Let me get your numbers." We exchanged numbers and she called the next day. I missed the call, and she left a message saying she wanted to set an appointment. I haven't called back yet.. Anyway that's basically all we did. We went walking around the mall a little bit and I got sucked into buying the cutest purse known to man. I couldn't help myself. I was JUST looking, but the oriental lady probably hasn't gotten a sale all day, so she's totally trying to sell me the purse. She talked me into it, and was jumping up and down and hugging me. This went on for about 3 minutes. I got myself a cute new purse, made her day, but was $50 poorer. I figured it was a nice birthday present to myself.

On our way home from Salt Lake, my sister texts me and tells me she's in the hospital waiting to have her baby! Bad timing!! If we were still in Salt Lake, and spent the night, Emily would have driven me to Provo to see the baby! But that didn't happen. And now I'm sick, so I can't see her baby for a while..

I'm pretty excited for my birthday. I will no longer be a teenager! And I'm also excited for the big Halloween Dance, The Howl! I'm dressing up as the Corpse Bride, I'm pretty stoked. I'll fill you in on Birthday Festivities.. But here are some pictures to enjoy.

Kristin, Maile, Me, and Emily on Maile's birthday.

I forgot to blog about how we went to Lava Hot Springs. It was fall break, and I got off of work early, so we made a quick trip up. We went through Grace, ID. So my roommates could see what an awesome little town it was.. haha

The hot pots are amazing.

Yummmy Cheesecake!

Design on a Dime & Evan's 80th Birthday

I finally got around to posting pictures of my new apartment! I live on the very top floor.. kind of sucks. Moving was such a pain, but thank goodness that's done with..until I move out. But my roommates are so cute, I get along with all of them... and when I say all of them, I really mean 4 of them. The other girl just has different interests, and we just don't seem to have anything in common, which makes it hard to try and hang out with her. But I'm trying!! Anyway, our apartment looked like barf when we moved in, and I was hating on life because I didn't want to move out of my summer apartment. I have adjusted, and love it here. There are WAY cute boys in the apartment on the lower floor. All RM's might I add. Which was a relief because I thought everyone in this complex was 18. That's the one of the only apartment's in the complex who are older 20. They're fun, and we're having a dance party in the commons this weekend, I'll be sure to blog about. ;) Here are some pictures of our newly decorated apartment. We got pretty festive for Halloween! Pretty much we have the cutest Apt. in the complex, hands down.


3 of my roommates from left to right: Elicia, Kristin, Emily


Haha, Kristin brought all of this up from home, she is a major
Halloween fanatic. Love her.


These are actually puzzles that we mod podged and hung
them on the wall. We have to improvise when we don't have
money! This is kind of the theme of our living room, 50's/gambling/music --random,
but it's soooo sweet.



End table centerpiece



Our couches were the ugliest print ever. So we went to walmart
and got ourselves some couch covers! Actually, they're fitted sheets.
$5! How's that for designing on a dime! And it looks a million times better.



See those pillows?? That's what our couches looked like.. barf right?
And all of the roommates each made their own piece of art work to display.
I did an attempt of the Ace of Hearts card. FAIL. I love Emily's painting, the
poker chip. She's an amazing artist.

Our CD display is freaking sweeeeet. We wanted to find those

60's beads that you hang from your bedroom door, but we thought

that it would be cool to do CD's, and everyone that visits our apt writes

their favorite movie quote and name. We are so creative. That whole project

probably costed like $20.

Haha Mine and Emily's attempt to decorate for Halloween.

Check out the TV too, basically the size of my head! Better than

nothing though.

Kitchen centerpeice.

Our kitchen.. and Kristin :)

*** Yesterday was Evan's 80th birthday! His daughter came to town from New York, and we had a little party for him. We went to the Golden Coral (his favorite) and had some cake back in his room. He was so cute, when I came in to start my shift I said, "Evan! Happy Birthday!!" And he smiled and said, "Let's hope it's that way!" I'm starting to like my job more and more everyday. I'm so blessed to have a job in such troubled times, and I'm also blessed that this job allows me to do my homework and make money at the same time, which was a huge concern for me coming to college. The weekend girl was fired, so I picked up extra over-night shifts on the weekend. I love going to the retirement home and meeting all of the residents. They are such great people.

Evan's B-day cake!

Ohh Evan, you never fail to read to me the Herald Journal!

80 years old and still truckin!

*I'll be sure to post about our dance party this weekend!

Oh, Mother Nature.

First day of Autumn- September 22nd.. 8 days ago

First day of Winter- December 21st.. about 3 months away



With this said.. WHY IS IT SNOWING RIGHT NOW? We still have 3 more months of Fall, Mother Nature! Give us a break.

And if my Landlords close up the hottub today, all hell will break loose! Just sayin..