Whaaaa...?

Um, seriously? August is OVER? I... don't understand. How did this happen? WHEN did this happen?

Well, guys, apparently tonight is the LAST NIGHT OF BEDAugust 2010! I'm... shocked. I can't believe I did so well this year. I didn't miss a SINGLE DAY. And I brought in two new BEDA-ers! I'd say this year was a success :)

I just finished season four of Bones. And... HOLY FREAKING CROW!!!! WHAT THE HECK??? AHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

I won't say anything, because I don't want to spoil anyone, but HOLY CLIFF HANGER, BATMAN!

Oh, and that last episode? SO GOOD.

Anyway, I have a chapter I need to read for Theatre 101 (as a former Theatre major, I have a feeling this class is going to be RIDICULOUSLY easy) and then I should probably get to bed. Don't worry, though. This isn't the last you'll hear from me. I plan to continue blogging pretty regularly, both here and over at the MJ ning :)

Until (insert day here), best wishes!

BEDA POSTS: 31!!!

Eeeek!

I see that my titles are getting progressively stupider, but it's because I CAN'T BELIEVE BEDA IS ALMOST OVER.

Today was crazy busy (but awesome!), so I didn't have a chance to catch up on everybody's blogs and respond to comments, but I WILL get to it!  Tomorrow I only have two classes, one of which is an Institute class, so I'll have MUCH more opportunity to catch up on everything.  Still, though, this whole week is BUSY.

I'm really excited for this semester.  It's going to be GREAT.  I can FEEL it.  I feel really good, and my classes seem like they're going to be pretty awesome, so I'm happy.  Oh, and my job is so much FUN!  We have a Black and White Dance coming up next week, and I'm really excited to get everything set up and to do all the decorations and stuff.  I'm a little worried that the music is going to be, ummm, raunchy, but hopefully it won't be TOO bad.  I just remember going to prom and thinking, "What the CRAP is this stuff coming out of the speakers?" and I have a feeling this isn't going to be very different, but who knows?  Maybe I'm wrong*.

Anyway, today was really good because, for the first time, I SERIOUSLY considered going to Grad School.  I always figured I would teach right away and then go back and get my Master's in a few years or something, but seeing all these grad students working for Residence Life and having such a good time kinda inspired me.  I had a really good talk with one of my Institute teachers this morning when I went to register, and talking with him gave me a really good feeling about grad school.  So... I think I'm gonna do it.  I mean, I still need to do some research and figure things out, but... yeah.  I'm almost certain that this is the path I should take.  I'm not even worried about the fact that this means I probably won't get married until I'm like 25 because the options are so limited in Flagstaff.  (Assuming I decide to stay in Flag, which isn't a guarantee.)  I'm just happy about the prospect of continuing into a graduate program.  Which is weird, because only a month ago I was ready to drop my Education degree and just do English and get out of school as soon as possible.  So... yeah.  Kind of a 180 for me, but I'm happy.

WELL, I don't have much else to say tonight.  I think I'm going to keep blogging even when BEDA is over, though.  Anyone else with me?

Until tomorrow, then, best wishes!


*Doubtful.

BEDA posts: 30 (WOW!)
Sewing projects completed: 9

ACK!

Holy cow. SCHOOL STARTS TOMORROW. And BEDA IS ALMOST OVER. This is SO WEIRD.


Tomorrow is going to be a BUSY day.

9:10 - Theatre 101 (for a liberal studies credit that I still need)
10:20 - Register for Institute classes (religious classes like)
11:30 - American Literature from Colonial to 1865
Lunch? Hopefully?
1:00-5:00 - Work
Dinner
7:00 - Teaching Theatre Class

Yeah. My Mondays are always going to look like that. EXCEPT... starting on the 13th, I will have COOKING CLASS in that 10:20 slot each week. YAY! :D I took this class last semester and it was AWESOME. We made delicious food every time and all the recipes that we got were awesome! I'm so excited to take it again. It's gonna be excellent.

ANYWAY, it's getting late and I need to be well-rested for my return to the world of academia.

Until tomorrow, best wishes!

Days until school: ONE!
BEDA posts: 29
Sewing projects completed: 9

Harry Potter Cookies

So, my friend Vicki is making a BUNCH of sugar cookies to give to her residents at tomorrow's floor meeting. And I just HAPPEN to have Harry Potter cookie cutters. SOOO...


TA DA!

Aren't they AWESOME*? And luckily I had some multi-color sprinkles, so they SPARKLE. Or do they twinkle? Hmm... :)

You guys, I know you understand, but I feel like I just have to say: I LOVE HARRY POTTER. Like, seriously. I don't think people understand what it's like, really. I mean, sure, lots of people love Harry Potter. It was a worldwide phenomenon and whatnot. But I don't think they REALLY get it when I say that I love Harry Potter. I literally think my life would be majorly different if it weren't for Harry Potter, and that's not true for a lot of people who love Harry Potter.

Okay, I feel like I'm rambling. This is getting to be a boring blog, isn't it? *sigh* Sorry. It's late and I'm kinda tired, so I think that's why I'm being all wordy right now.

Sooo, until tomorrow, best wishes!


*I know the picture quality is bad, but trust me, the cookies are AWESOME.

Days until school: 2
BEDA posts: 28
Sewing projects completed: 9

I Want El Pollo Loco

Seriously, KFC is okay, but it's nowhere NEAR as good as El Pollo Loco. And I'm not just saying that because they give you the little tortillas.


I was kinda sick today. Nothing major, I was mostly just felling the effects of yesterday's allergy attack. Still, though, I didn't really feel like eating much. Until I got a serious craving for chicken. I wanted El Pollo Loco so badly, but since there isn't one anywhere near campus (and possibly nowhere in Flagstaff), I decided I would just go to KFC and order the grilled chicken. I didn't even want any sides, really, just the chicken. WELL, I went and asked about getting a 3 piece breast & thigh with no sides, and it was only like $1.50 less than the meal, so I got the meal and I got mashed potatoes because I thought they sounded pretty good and it couldn't hurt. I drove home, grabbed a cup of applesauce, turned on Bones, and, SUPER hungry at this point, pulled open my box of chicken... and cursed*. It was fried chicken. Breaded and fried. *SIGH*

I ate the chicken anyway, and it was okay, but since I was kinda sick I really just wanted the plain chicken. So I wasn't quite as satisfied and I hoped to be. I think I'll search for an El Pollo Loco in Flagstaff and, if there is one, I'll go there tomorrow for lunch. YUM.

Anyway, tonight was SUPER FUN. Every year as part of our Move-In Weekend activities we have a hypnotist show. I had never been before, which is CRAZY because I am a SENIOR and it is a BIG DEAL each year. But this year it was part of my job to help run things at the show, so I went and I helped and I had a BLAST. It was actually two shows in a row this year because it is SO POPULAR. And it was hilarious. The guy does mass hypnotism, so he had like forty or so people on stage and he would say things like, "Your right shoe is the cutest puppy in the world" and they would all pet and kiss their right shoe. It was excellent. SO FUNNY. I don't ever want to do that, though. I know you wouldn't do anything that would break your own set of morals or anything, but I don't think I would like to lose all my inhibitions like that. Still, though, it was really fun to watch :)

Until tomorrow, then, best wishes!


*Okay, that's a lie. I don't curse. But I was pretty annoyed.

Days until School: 3
BEDA posts:27
Sewing projects completed: 9

Exhausted

Today was a LONG day.

This morning I got up and cleaned my room. I wasn't sure when my roommate was going to move in, but today was the first day she could, so I wanted the room to be clean when she got here.

Then I had to go down to south campus to help direct traffic at one of the huge/confusing dorms because today was the beginning of move-in weekend. It was horrible. We were outside in the heat for four hours in the middle of the day. We had one of those canopy/tent things, but after 1:00 it was hard to get shade. And on top of that, we were right next to a bunch of dirt and weeds. I have MAJOR allergies. This was not a good combo. My eyes were swelling and itchy and I had that feeling of exhaustion you get when you're in the sun too long. I got home and all but collapsed. It REALLY drained me.

So then I watched Bones and talked to some friends who moved in today. Then I got a call from my friend Katie who said we were supposed to go pick up the sound system and take it back to the CDC at 7:30. This was news to me, but I dragged myself out of my room and went to get it with her. That thing is so AWKWARD and HEAVY. It was not fun to carry. But we managed, and then when I got back to my room I watched more Bones.

And now I am going to SLEEP.

Good night.


Days until school: 4
BEDA posts: 26
Sewing projects completed: 9

Oh, D-Bore

David Boreanaz. He is awesome. I do <3 him oh-so-much.

As you might guess, I'm watching Bones right now. I'm kinda distracted. Sorry.

This show is so good.

You know what else is good? Dora Fruit Snacks. YUM.

Also, Scooby-Doo! Baked Graham Cracker Sticks. Apparently they're a good source of calcium. And they're shaped like bones. Get it? Lol.

Okay, clearly I'm too distracted to blog. I'll have to do better tomorrow.


Days until school: 5
BEDA posts: 25
Sewing projects completed: 9

Non-Spoilery Excitement

WOW. JUST... WOW.

That book was SO GOOD!

I got up at 8:50 this morning, got dressed, headed over to Barnes and Noble, and then proceeded to spend the ENTIRE DAY reading Mockingjay. And it was SO GOOD.

When I only had about 100 pages left, I decided I wanted to get out of my room and get some fresh air, so Vicki (who was about 30 pages behind me) and I drove up to Mars Hill and sat in my car with the windows down to finish reading. I was ahead of her for almost the whole book, but she caught up to be about 20 pages out and ended up finishing 10 pages before me. And she didn't even get her copy until like 12:30. So, yeah, I'm a slower reader. I like to spend as much time with a book as possible, though, so I'm okay with that.

Anyway. Yeah. WOW. That was such an awesome book. And, I'm not going to spoil anything, but I was SO HAPPY with the ending. It was excellent.

I can't really say anything else because the book is all that's on my mind and MOST of you probably haven't finished it yet. When you do finish, though, we can discuss it privately so as to not spoil others.

Until tomorrow, may the odds be ever in your favor!


Days until school: 6 (yikes... that is SOON!)
BEDA posts: 24
Sewing projects completed: 9

A Poem

More often than not I tend to be
Overzealous about
Cool books.
Koala.
I couldn't think of anything to do with the "k". ANYWAY,
Nine hours from now I will be (hopefully)
Getting up and getting ready to
Jump in the car, drive to the store, purchase my book,
And return to my room where I will FINALLY
Yield my mind over to the thrilling conclusion of The Hunger Games series.

(I AM EXCITED.)


Days until school: 7
BEDA posts: 23
Sewing projects completed: 9 (but I am working on one right now that should be done in a few days... AFTER I read my book)

Charity Never Faileth

...


...

Oh! I didn't see you there, blog. Sorry, I know I haven't posted on you yet today. It's just.. THIS BOOK IS SO GOOD. I can't stop reading it. I'm sorry! But I'm here now, and I actually have a topic I'd like to talk about.

I want to talk a bit about charity. I don't mean charity in the sense of donating-old-clothes-and-nonperishable-foods, necessarily. Yes, that is part of it, but I want to talk about charity in the broader sense.
Now, I just want to preface this by saying that I'm going to get a little religious here. It's okay if you're of a different faith or if you don't believe in any higher power, though, because you can apply this to your own set of beliefs pretty easily. I AM religious, though, so I'm going to talk about it in the way that makes the most sense to me.

So, charity. Some of you might be familiar with the verses in 1 Corinthians 13 that people often have on plaques or posters that say, "Love suffereth long and is kind; love envieth not;" and so on. In the King James Version of the Bible, which was translated to English in the 1600s (and therefore sounds more like Shakespeare's English than ours), the verse actually reads, "Charity suffereth long and is kind; charity envieth not;" etc. In my church we often talk about charity as "the pure love of Christ." So what I'm getting at here is that charity is much more than giving things to people who have less than you. Charity, in its essence, is LOVE.

We could all stand to get a little more love. I know I often feel like the people around me just don't understand me or my circumstances and I wish they would just cut me some slack. And then other times I feel sad or lonely or upset and I just want somebody to notice me, to take care of me, to acknowledge that I'm feeling bad. Here's the secret, though, and I want you all to really think about this before you roll your eyes or dismiss it: WE have to be the ones who spread the love. Everybody needs love, and everybody has those times when things are looking REALLY DOWN. So it's our job to lift them up. It's our job to love them.

And here's the real kicker. When YOU are feeling sad or frustrated or lonely, you know what actually helps the most? Helping others. Sometimes it's just a smile in the hallway. Sometimes it's cooking dinner for a friend who has a lot going on. Sometimes it's organizing a huge event to raise money or awareness for a particular disease. And sometimes it's just loving that person who is driving you absolutely insane. The point is, when you have charity in your heart, you not only share love and joy with others, but you get caught up in it, too. Your family troubles suddenly seem a little less horrible. Your class load seems a little easier to bear. And your heart feels so much lighter that it's hard to remember why you ever felt depressed in the first place. All because you did something for someone else.
The way I see it, selfishness is the stupidest thing in the world. Of course I have my moments when I'm completely selfish; nobody here is perfect. But this system we have where everyone looks out for themselves is inherently flawed. If you only look out for yourself, and everyone else does the same, then each person only had one person looking out for them and nobody gets that benefit of losing themselves in serving others. BUT. If everybody would just look out for EACH OTHER, the world would be a glorious place. When you think of others first, you are able to understand the outcomes of your actions much better. You can see that doing THIS will negatively affect X number of people, and so you choose to do something else. Also, when everybody is looking out for everybody else, there are a LOT of people looking out for you. To me, that sounds a lot better than just ME looking out for me.

The other thing is, if we all just took a minute to consider others before we said something or did something, then the whole atmosphere of our world would change. Cruelty and hate would all but vanish. Sure, people would still disagree on things like politics and religion, but they would do it in a way that would not include slander or bigotry. In short, everyone would be so much happier.

Of course, the whole world isn't going to change overnight. And we can never force others to change the way they think or act. But we CAN change our own thoughts. We CAN change our own actions. We CAN choose to think and act charitably towards others. And, more often than not, when we choose to be charitable, people notice. They notice what we do and they notice the change it makes in us. And maybe, just maybe, when they see how charity makes us happy, they will catch on and try to become more charitable themselves.

I'm not saying it's easy. I still have my days when I want to ignore everyone else on the planet and wallow in self-pity. BUT. If we each take this idea to heart, if we each decide now to make a real effort at thinking and acting more charitably, then we are already making the change. And with that change we can bring a little more love into the world.

Because we all know that love is the only thing that there's just too little of.

Until tomorrow, best wishes.




Days until school: 8
BEDA posts: 22
Sewing projects completed: 9

I'm HUNGRY for HUNGER GAMES

I finished The Hunger Games last night. WOW. I mean, I knew that I loved those books, but DANG! I forgot how much I LOVED THOSE BOOKS! It was JUST SO GOOD. I know I've said this approx. a gagillion times, but dudes. READ. THEM. NOW.


Today I took a bit of a rest from reading* and got some other things done. I watched Bones, I went to work where I caught up on Twitter, and I finished my secret project for my mom. Since my mom reads this blog, here's a non-spoilery picture:

Mysterious Envelope of Awesome

This is the mysterious envelope of awesome that I will be mailing to my mom. That's right, it fits in an envelope. :)

I'll tell you guys all about it when she gets it, but for now that's one more sewing project completed! :D And don't worry, telling you it's a sewing project gives away NOTHING. (Muahahahaha!)

Anyway, I think I might keep it short and sweet tonight. I still need to begin consuming Catching Fire tonight.

OM NOM NOM

(Hmm, looks like I already started...)

Tomorrow I'm having a Yay-Training-Is-Over Dinner for my new staffmates, so I'll fill you in on all the yummy details. Maybe I'll share some pictures of my delicious homemade peach cobbler. We shall see!

So until then, best wishes!


*Sometimes I need a break after reading one book before moving onto the next. Even if they're in the same series. Vicki thinks I'm crazy, but I think I'll be able to better appreciate Catching Fire now that my brain has had some time to simmer.

Days until school: 9
BEDA posts:21
Sewing projects complete: 9 (yay!)

I Don't Want To Marry Neville Longbottom

Don't get me wrong; I LOVE Neville. Really. He's just not quite my type. He's very sweet, which is something I want in a guy, but he's too unsure of himself. Of course, in the last book he grows up a lot and seems to find his purpose, but I digress. I bring up Neville because I want to tell you who I DO want to marry. This boy is sweet, too, but he has an edge that Neville lacks...


He is a baker.

Okay, no, that's still not why I love him, but it would be a DEFINITE perk to have a husband who is a BAKER.
I'm talking about Peeta, of course.

Let me just say right now that I won't let this post have any real spoilers, but if you haven't read The Hunger Games yet, you need to. RIGHT NOW.

Or, fine, after you finish reading my blog.

Peeta is the world's sweetest guy. And he has some kind of quality to him that goes beyond the sweetness. Protective, I suppose. Not just physically, though. He's emotionally protective. And that is something that REALLY appeals to me. But he's also really big and strong. I would feel safe walking down a street at night if he were there with me. And there's something about his presence that just seems calming. Which would probably be good for me, too. Plus the fact that I LOVE HIM!

Oh yeah, and the bread thing. I would be so happy to marry a guy who makes bread for a living. Seriously. I can't tell you how perfect that would be.

Nothing against Neville, though.



Days until school: 10
BEDA posts: 20
Sewing projects complete: 8

This Blog Comes To You In List Form

Today I:
-Watched Bones
-Went to counseling
-Made a Safeway run for laundry detergent and heavy whipping cream, but ended up buying a lot more
-Watched more Bones
-Made chocolate-chocolate chip banana bread
-Went to work
-Read Hunger Games
-Blogged

(Oh, and happy birthday to my baby brother, Ammon!  He turned two today!)

Days until school: 11
BEDA posts: 19
Sewing projects completed: 8

I GOT RICKROLLED IRL!!!

Today was AWESOME.

I had a bunch of training stuff to go to, and it was all pretty good. The best part was our staff time where we each talked about our own identity and got to know each other on a much deeper level. I love those kinds of open discussions where nobody is going to judge you and you can share and be honest about your beliefs and your feelings. It's a really great experience.

Then after our staff time we had to get ready for the Music Extravaganza. THAT was FUN.

Each hall's staff (or in our case, the CDC staff) was assigned a random song and they had to come up with some kind of skit/dance/thing to present to the rest of the groups. We ended up with Boot Scootin' Boogie, which we then mixed with the Macarena, and EVERYBODY in the audience danced along. It was awesome.

There were several other awesome halls that did cool skit/dance/things, but there was one in particular that I loved. They stared out with one of the RAs pretending to be Justin Bieber. The two other male RAs were his body guards, and the girls were his crazy fans. They screamed and followed him around stage for like thirty seconds before the song started, and then they all stopped, looked at the audience, and shouted, "RICKROLL!" And then Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up" came on. IT. WAS. AWESOME. It didn't look like very many people actually got it, though, which made me both a little sad and a little smug. (If you don't get it, here's a good explanation.) It was kinda epically awesome.

You clicked on the link back there, didn't you? Wow*. Seriously? I mean, I guess I understand if you honestly don't get it, but if you know about Rickrolling, then you should know to expect something like that. Just saying :)

Anyway, it's nearly midnight and I kinda had a long day. I think I'm gonna go finish the episode of Bones I was watching earlier, read some more Hunger Games**, and then go to bed. Tomorrow I will do laundry and make banana bread. Yay! :)

Until tomorrow, best wishes!


*Here's a real explanation from wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rickrolling
**Hunger Games = AWESOME.  The third and final book comes out in less than a week and I am super excited!  You should read them if you haven't.  DO IT.  READ THEM.  http://amzn.to/aE2loz

Days until school: 12
BEDA posts: 18
Sewing projects completed: 8 (hopefully I'll get some more of these done tomorrow, too)

About How Phantom Is So Awesome

(Thanks to my best friend, Vicki, who has the best ideas for what to blog about.)

Phantom is SO awesome. Like, seriously. I'm not a music major or anything but even I can detect beauty and genius that is Phantom of the Opera. I love how the music has themes/motifs/whatever that go throughout the whole show and tie everything together and... and... it's just AWESOME. I desperately want to go see it live. Or, even better, ON BROADWAY. That would be like my dream come true. Seriously.

So Vicki and I have this thing. See, there's a hill in Flagstaff called Mars Hill. It has a beautiful view of the city, especially at night, and you can see the stars really well up there. Of course, being a secluded spot, it inevitably attracts couples who want to, erm, park. It's actually kinda funny. So we go up there to just hang out and see the pretty stars/city and the whole time there are other cars around with people inside them doing who-knows-what. One day we went with like five people and we brought a tarp and laid it on the ground and sang songs at the tops of our lungs while star gazing. I don't know if it was ACTUALLY our fault, but by the end of the night we were the only people left. We potentially drove away like four or five cars. Lol.

Anyway, we went to Mars Hill after dinner tonight and we listened to Phantom at top volume and sang along. This time we stayed in the car, though, so I don't think we actually disturbed anyone. It was super fun, though. And in between musical numbers we discussed the upcoming release of MOCKINGJAY!!! We are both SUPER excited. I bought Hunger Games and Catching Fire today because I want to re-read them before the new one comes out in ONE FREAKING WEEK... and when I read them the first time I borrowed them from Vicki, so I've been wanting to get my own copies anyway. This way my brother SIMON will have NO EXCUSE next time I tell him he should read them because I OWN THEM. *meaningful glare*

Oh, and about Hunger Games? I am SO Team Peeta. <3

Until tomorrow, best wishes!

Days until school:13
BEDA posts: 17
Sewing projects completed: 8

Just Let Them Exhume Me

I GOT A TV TODAY!!!!

Well, I'm just borrowing it, but I am SO excited. I was going to have to wait TWO MORE WEEKS to have one, but my awesome and WONDERFUL friend Jen has all her stuff in Flagstaff but won't be moving in until the weekend before school starts, so I asked her if she had a TV I could borrow for the next two weeks, and she said yes! So I went and got it from her roommate this afternoon and then I played Civilization Revolution for basically the rest of the afternoon. It was awesome. I am SO HAPPY. And yes, I know, I'm a nerd.

Along those lines of nerdy behavior, I also finished season one of Bones today. That show is so awesome! And at risk of being labeled the shipper that I am: BOOTH AND BONES LOVE EACH OTHER SO MUCH!!! :D

While I was playing video games this afternoon, it RAINED LIKE CRAZY! It was SO COOL. I could smell it before I could hear it, but as soon as that scent hit my nose (or more likely when it hit my olfactory thingies) I got SO excited. I rushed over to the window and I could only BARELY see the drops coming from the sky, but as I watched it quickly transformed into a STORM. It was VERY cool. I love rainstorms. I'm from the desert, so rain is rare. When it does come, though, it is a BIG DEAL, even if it's only ten minutes of light sprinkling. In my book, any amount of rain makes a dull day into an awesome one.

Anyway, yeah, today was an excellent day. I am in a very good mood right now. Hopefully tomorrow will be just as awesome.

Oh, one more thing: I HATE it when the police are trying to exhume a body in order to solve a murder and the family puts up a huge fuss and won't let them do it. So if I die and my body is key evidence in a murder investigation, just let them exhume me, okay? It's only my body; I doubt I'll be using it again for some time.

Until tomorrow, best wishes!


Days until school: 14
BEDA posts: 16
Completed sewing projects: 8

Oh Shoot, It's 11:40!

Sorry, but I think today's is going to be a short blog. I only have... seventeen minutes to get this up. Oops?


I think rain is my absolute favorite smell. I was sitting at my desk, Skyping with my friend Korina, and then suddenly my nose caught this heavenly whiff of refreshing humidity... and I felt SO HAPPY. I love, love, love the rain, even if it only lasts for ten minutes. I suppose it's a product of growing up in the desert, but rain feels so clean and comforting. I LOVE it.


Oh, and I'm almost done with Bones: Season One for real now. The other day I THOUGHT I was almost done, but actually I was only on disc three out of four. Now I really AM almost done. I'm very excited. David Boreanaz = <3.


Sorry for the brevity tonight. I'll do something cool/interesting/fun tomorrow.


Until then, best wishes!



Days until school:15

BEDA posts: 15

Sewing projects completed: 8

Bones, Sewing, Mike Lombardo, and Lots of Abbreviations

I watched more Bones today.  I'm almost done with season one, and I LOVE it.  I've seen random episodes on TV and stuff before, but I prefer watching a show from episode one and getting the whole story.  So far, the story is AWESOME.  And I <3 David Boreanaz more than I can explain in mere words...

I also had my first shift at the Community Development Center (CDC*) this evening.  It's basically a resource for all the Resident Assistants (RAs) on campus to get supplies for their bulletin boards (BBs), door decorations (door decs or DDs), or fliers for programs (no abbreviation**).  We have tons of butcher paper, two die-cut machines, drawers full of regular-size colored paper, glue, scissors, balloons, a helium tank, a laminating machine, a button press, and much more.  It's like a craft-maker's dream room.  And I get to work there ten hours a week :)  The other part of my job will be planning the campus-wide events, and that should be starting pretty soon.  Luckily our first event, the Black and White Dance, is already pretty much planned, so we just have to set up and be there, I guess.  That will be nice.  I'm excited for the event-planning, though!  I love stuff like that.  Ask my mom.  I used to plan EPIC birthday parties.

Before my shift, though, I made two more headbands, as seen below.  I can't stop making these!  I really need to get that etsy shop set up...

Two more headbands!

I realized that I have no brown thread.  I need to get some.  Luckily I had other colors that worked okay with these particular headbands.

I couldn't watch Bones while sewing because my sewing machine faces the other way and it's too hard to hear the show while sewing, so I decided to listen to music.  There was lots of different stuff I wanted to listen to, though, so I decided to make a playlist (which eventually became a full-fledged mix CD) of wizard rock and artists from DFTBA Records***.  This took longer than you might expect.  See, I like my playlists/CDs to FLOW.  I don't want just random songs thrown together.  So I spent like an hour arranging the songs so that each one led well into the next and no artist had two songs in a row.  It was kinda fun.  And I ended up calling it DFTBA, Wrock****.  Get it?  (If not, then you're probably not a Nerdfighter.  That's okay.  You should be, though.)

One of the main reasons I wanted to listen to that music was because I wanted to listen to some Mike Lombardo.  Mike Lombardo (or MiLo) is a musician on YouTube who was (kinda) recently signed to DFTBA Records.  He is AWESOME.  He plays the piano, which is like the coolest thing ever, and he writes rock music!  With the piano!  I don't think I can explain how AWESOME that is.  Anyway, here's one of my favorite songs of his (called "Abby Never") and the official music video that he filmed and put up a few days ago.  You should give him a listen:


Anyway, yeah, it wasn't a productive day in the conventional sense, but I got stuff done!  Tomorrow I think I'm going to work on a little secret project for my mom that I can't talk about because she reads this.  And maybe I'll make the nursing cover for my aunt that I promised her.

So, until then, best wishes!


*Not to be confused with the Center for Disease Control
**Residence Life (ResLife) does like it's abbreviations
***Record label of artists from YouTube, run by Alan Lastufka and Hank Green
****DFTBA stand for "Don't Forget To Be Awesome" and Wrock stands for Wizard Rock, which is music based on Harry Potter

Days until school: 16
BEDA posts: 14
Sewing projects completed: 8 (I LOVE it when this number goes up!  I actually WAITED to blog today until I finished my projects so that it COULD increase.  Because I'm cool like that.)

This Is a Crappy Blog...

So, I'm watching Bones right now and I'm not going to be very focused on writing this blog. Sorry... :)


They're working on a case with gangs from El Salvador, so Brennan keeps talking to them in Spanish. It's kinda cool.

Anyway... I started two more headbands today, and I've been trying to make scrunchies but it's kinda hard to get all the proportions and shapes right. I'll try some more tomorrow and let you all know how it goes.

I'm really hungry right now. I think maybe I'll have a snack or something.

Guys, I'm super distracted right now. This is going to be a short, short blog. I'll do better tomorrow...

Days until school: 17
BEDA posts: 13
Sewing projects completed: 6

I Did Stuff Today!

First off, I want to show you the two pictures that I was missing yesterday.

The hat:

Sun hat

And, of course, the APRON:

Only the best apron EVARRR.

And JUST IN CASE you didn't notice the fabric on there, here's a close-up:

SKULLS!

Flowers and SKULLS! Yes, that's right, SKULLS! This is my proudest piece yet. SO AWESOME :)


Anyway, now for today. This morning was kinda meh at first because I was SUPPOSED to be somewhere at 9:00 to set up some projectors for RA training, but ACTUALLY I was supposed to have everything DONE by 9:00. My boss realized this morning that we had the times mixed up, so she called me and my new friend Katie, who is one of the other PAs*, at 7:30 to let us know that we needed to get going. So I grudgingly got up, went to her office to pick up an extra laptop (the projectors need laptops with them, and we didn't have enough down on south campus where training was happening), did some AWESOME parallel parking**, and then picked up Katie and went down to south campus to set things up. It wasn't hard or anything, and the good news was that we were just in time to have breakfast after we finished setting up. So it all worked out okay.

Then we had a good deal of time before we had to be back for OUR training (we only have to go to a few of the training sessions because we're not actually RAs), so I decided to... (wait for it...) sew!

I turned on my Eclipse audiobook that I had been listening to in Utah and I started looking through fabric. I had a friend tell me yesterday that she would actually buy a headband from me (hi, Lori!), and that was super encouraging, so I decided to make another headband. It's actually the same fabric as the hat that I made for my mom, and I think it's super cute!

The new headband:

I really love this pink plaid fabric <3

So I think what I'll do is take all the smaller scrap pieces from my big projects and make headbands with them... that way I'm using ALL the fabric up instead of wasting a bunch. I'll keep you posted about the whole selling-things thing (that sounds weird, I know) and send you a link when I start up my Etsy shop.

Anyway, after training and dinner I wanted to do some MORE sewing, so I looked through my projects-to-accomplish, and I noticed that I STILL hadn't tried out my ruffler foot! The bad news: It's the wrong kind, so it doesn't fit my machine. The good news: The seller I bought it from has a 30-day-guarantee on all their items, so I'll be able to get my money back. ALSO, they have the RIGHT kind for my machine (I think... this time I'll ask, though, don't worry), so maybe I'll just be able to do an exchange or something. *sigh* Just one of those learning experiences, I guess. At least now I know for sure that my machine is a LOW SHANK and not a SLANT SHANK. Which are quite different.

Sooo... I just spent like an hour figuring out how to sync my phone with my computer via Bluetooth. But I DID it! And I am now trying to figure out how to cut my songs into shorter bits and upload them to my phone as ringtones. We'll see how that works. Anyway, I did all this so I could share with you the picture of my unparalleled parallel parking.

And with that, I think it's time to be done with this post. So, until tomorrow, best wishes!


*PA= Programming Assistant (not to be confused with RA, which is Resident Assistant). This is my awesome new job where I get to plan school-wide events and be a resource to all the RAs for THEIR events. FUN! :D
**See?

I can haz license?

Days until school: 18
BEDA posts: 12
Sewing projects completed: 6 (yay!)

Pictures!

Okay, I've been promising some pictures, so tonight I will DELIVER! Hopefully this will live up to all the hype :)

Let's start with the sewing projects.

My apron!

This is my apron! It's the first thing I ever made, and I LOVE it! Though I haven't actually used it to cook yet. But do not fret! Soon we will have a hall bake-off and I will make home made peach cobbler and WEAR THIS APRON! :D

My headband!

I know I showed you the picture of me WEARING my headband, but I wanted to show it up close just for fun. This thing is so awesome. I am TOTALLY going to make like twenty of these in all different colors. Let me know if you want one. I'm thinking of selling them for like $5 or something to make some extra money. Or if I like you I might give you a discount ;)

Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of the hat or my mom's (AWESOME) apron yet, but I'll ask my mom to take some pictures of them so I can post them on the blog.

Aaaand now, MY ROOM!

My ROOM!

Yaaaay! I <3 this picture. If you look at all the details, almost every part of me is represented in one way or another. And LOOK AT MY BEAUTIFUL SEWING TABLE!!!

Here's a better look:

My AWESOME sewing table!

Look at all that storage space! And the machine fits PERFECTLY onto the table! (Actually, it's a desk... but it was JUST the right size!) I love this thing. I can't wait to sew on it.

My pin collection!

And this is a close-up of my awesome pin collection. Again, many of my obsessions represented here :) Those two square-shaped Harry Potter ones are ACTUAL pins from an ACTUAL movie theatre! (One was mine, the other was a friend's, and he was SO NICE and GAVE his to me!)

Anyway, I think that's it for today. I'm a bit wiped because training started today and I had to be up and out the door much earlier than I usually like. I think I'll go work on some sewing projects and listen to Eclipse for a while.

Until tomorrow, best wishes!

Days until school: 19
BEDA posts: 11
Completed sewing projects: 5

Ouchie

MY ROOM IS ALL SET UP!


It looks amazing. Seriously, my mom is a G.* The little entertainment center is perfect for my game systems, my VCR**, and all my DVDs. More importantly, though, the sewing table is MAGIC. It looks amazing, it fits RIGHT into the space, and it has storage for all my sewing supplies and my new iron! YAY!

Unfortunately, the road to perfection was not paved in gold. It was paved in PAIN.

Building the entertainment center was no problem. Yeah it made my wrist kinda tired from screwing in all the screws, but other than that it was pretty simple. The sewing table, on the other hand, was NOT EASY. I mean, we had all the directions and we were able to put it together just fine, but it seemed a lot more complicated and DAUNTING. We were about 2/3 of the way through when IT HAPPENED. See, they had this nifty little bag thingy with all the screws and nails and stuff organized into individual little pockets. This was a good thing, because there were LOTS of different screws and nails and things. Included in this bag were six things that go on the bottom of the unit to make it slide a little easier over the floor. Well, these were shaped like GIANT push-pins. The little slider things were attached to the top of decent-sized nails so they could be hammered into the bottom of the legs of the table. WELL. We had this bag thing on the floor off to the side so we could access it easily. At one point I was sitting there, probably holding a part or screwing in a screw, and I needed to stretch out my back. So I went to put my arm behind me and strech a bit, but instead of landing on the floor my hand landed ONTO ONE OF THOSE SCARY PUSH-PIN THINGS. I gasped and picked my hand up and the push pin was STILL IN THERE! I pulled it out quickly and proceeded to CRY. It HURT.

Lucky for me it wasn't actually a serious injury. It didn't go in nearly as deep as it seemed, and we cleaned it and band-aided it right away so it's very unlikely to get infected. Actually, I can barely feel it anymroe... it's kinda like a small bruise more than anything. But DANG did it hurt when it happened!

Even after that, though... the table was totally worth it. My room is AWESOME.

Until tomorrow, best wishes!


*G for genius, though gangsta might be applicable, too.
**You read that right. We use our VCR to play our cable because we don't have the right remote for our TV and so we can't program the TV to find the cable channels or something. I dunno. It's weird. We also record shows sometimes.

Days until school: 20
BEDA posts: 10
Sewing projects completed: 5

Money, Money, Money...

... must be funny in the rich man's world.*


I spent a LOT of money today. Totally worth it, though. My room is going to be AWESOME this year.

We decided to rearrange everythnig so that we could fit a sewing table next to my futon. It took some creative organizing skillz, which luckily my mom has in abundance, but it turned out fantastic! All we have left to do is build the furniture and get all the stuff set aside that's going back home.

First we went to Target and bought a little entertainment-center-ish thing for the TV.** It's much sturdier than the one we had last year, which is excellent, and it has a bunch of storage space, so there will be plenty of room for my new gaming systems! We also bought a cute little lamp for my desk so I can record a video or two with decent lighting. (Maybe I'll even do a vlog or two for BEDA...) And we were going to hit Safeway on the way back, but there was enough of a grocery section at Target that we didn't have to.

We weren't able to find a good table for sewing at Target, though, so we went to Wal-Mart and found a great desk with a bunch of storage space and a sturdy-looking build and it is going to fit PERFECTLY into the space we made for it. I'm more excited about that than anything else, I think.

Oh, and good news! Wal-Mart has a HUGE sewing section. TONS of fabric and supplies and stuff. So I'll be okay for the semester. :)

Anyway, tomorrow morning we're going to this awesome Mexican breakfast restaurant, so I should probably try to get to bed pretty soon here.

Until tomorrow, best wishes!


*I thought ABBA would be appropriate for an MJ-sanctioned event like BEDA
**Unfortunately, my roommate has the TV and she won't be here for like three weeks. I can't begin to describe to you how sad I am. I have a Wii and an Xbox 360 and NOTHING TO PLAY THEM ON. Actually, this isn't exactly true. My friend Vicki has a TV and she's up here now, and I bet she would let me hook up my game systems for a little while if I got desperate, but I'm not QUITE at that point yet. We'll see.

Days until school starts: 21 (Thanks, Julia!)
BEDA posts: 9
Sewing projects completed: 5

Flaaagstaaaff!

You guys, you guys, you guuuuuyssss! I am IN FLAGSTAFF! It is GORGEOUS and WONDERFUL here. I want to be here FOREVARRRRR!!!!

:D

Can you tell I'm excited to be back? I've missed Flagstaff a lot, and it sort of feels like coming home. I mean, it IS coming home, but it's like I have several homes and I'm coming home to the home that I've been away from for three months. Yeah.

Today was mostly just unpacking with some organizing thrown in for fun. My mom wanted to finish all the organizing today, which we probably COULD have done, but we were so exhausted from hauling boxes up two flights of stairs that we took more breaks than we usually do when moving me in to my dorm.

Tomorrow is shopping, organizing, and probably a movie. I have a lot of stuff to buy and organize, though, so we'll see. Also we're going to take a walk in the morning, which should be LOVELY. The weather here is AMAZING. On the drive up this morning it was about 80 in Phoenix (this is at 6:00 in the morning, mind you) and when we got close to Flagstaff and looked down at my little thermometer on my car, it read 64!! SIXTY-FOUR DEGREES IN AUGUST! I literally started bouncing in my seat and singing, "WOO HOO, FLAGSTAFF! Soooo excitedddd!!!" Luckily, I was alone in my car.

Oh! Oh! One of my unofficial BEDA buddies, Julia, gave me an awesome idea! She is having her mom make a Hufflepuff duvet cover (because they ONLY sell Gryffindor!), and I WANT ONE, TOO, but I'm not sure bright yellow would go with my room right now, so instead I am going to make a Hufflepuff pillow. Complete with badger, I think. Of course, this will probably be at the end of my TO SEW list, so it's going to be a while.

Anyway, the air coming through my window is LOVELY, so I think I might curl up with a book. Also, my mom is going to bed now. Sooo, until tomorrow, best wishes!

Days until Flagstaff: NONE! I am HEEERE!
BEDA posts: 8
Completed sewing projects: 5

Stress Eating

I basically just inhaled a Chewy bar and a string cheese. I desperately want ice cream. This is what I do when I am STRESSED.


We had to pack the cars up today, and in order to do that I needed to finish packing up my clothes and some random things that were laying around, and in order to do THAT I needed to get back to my mom's house, but we ended up spending most of the afternoon at my dad's. Sooo, the last three or four hours have been FULL O' STRESS.

On a happier note, I finished my mom's apron today! YAY! It is SO cute, and I will totally get a picture up one of these days because I LOVE it. And this means my "completed projects" number goes up to five! Yippee for something that is NOT STRESSFUL!

I'm sorry, but today is going to be a short post again. We're leaving at 6:00 tomorrow morning, and I still need to shower and stuff tonight, so there's not much blogging time. Tomorrow night, though, I think I'll be able to write a longer blog because the whole moving thing will be OVER. Which means NO MORE STRESS!

Until tomorrow, best wishes! STRESS!*


*I just wanted every paragraph of the post to end with a variation of the word "STRESS!"

Days until Flagstaff: 1!
BEDA posts: 7
Sewing projects completed: 5!

JoAnn's

Sorry, folks, I forgot to copy/paste this from my other blog last night.  I swear I didn't forget to blog last night.  Here's my blog over at the Maureen Johnson ning in case I forget to post it over here again.

And here's my post from last night:


So remember how I've been to JoAnn's like three times in as many days? Well, the first time I went I had two coupons, but after that I bought some more expensive things and I wished for one of those two coupons that I had already used. And guess what? After three trips to JoAnn's, I got a coupon in the mail yesterday. It expires before I'll be able to come back down to Phoenix and GO to JoAnn's. So... I think I'll go to JoAnn's one last time tomorrow and get a pattern or something. Lol.


Anyway, it's almost midnight and I have basically nothing to say right now, so I think today is going to have to be one of those short-posts-about-nothing kind of days. Sorry. I'll try to be more entertaining tomorrow.

Until then, best wishes!

Days until Flagstaff: 2
BEDA posts: 6
Completed sewing projects: 4 (hopefully this number will change tomorrow)

My Mother Is Annoying Me

Well, okay, she isn't any more, but earlier today when we were talking about blog posts she was. See, we have two different views of the meaning of BEDA, and hers is WRONG*. See, I think of BEDA as an excercise in writing and journaling. She sees it as an exercise in witticism. So she thinks that EVERY blog post needs to be witty and interesting, whereas I have no qualms with writing mundane things like my feelings while flying.


Speaking of which, my mom and brother are both blogging for BEDA (I converted them!), and they're both extremely funny (read: sarcastic/witty), so you should check them out. They don't do super long posts like I do, either, so it won't take up too much of your time. Leave 'em a comment if you wish, and you can tell them I sent you :D

Mom (Stacey): http://perchancetocreate.blogspot.com/

Brother (Simon): http://nyrole.blogspot.com/

So, today was fun! I went to JoAnn's again** and then I went to my old high school (my brother goes there now, too) and helped my theatre teacher run auditions for the fall play. I LOVE doing this, because I would like to teach theatre at some point, and it's great getting the practice in. Plus, I'm a huge nerd and a total teacher's pet, so I really like going back to school and reliving the good old days. Then my friend Matt (who was in theatre will me all four years of high school and is one of my best friends) and I went to Applebees, which is kind of our thing, and then came back to my house and played video games. He kicked my butt at Mario Kart, but then I kicked his butt at Wii Play, so we're even. It was super fun, though.

And now I'm feeling a little melancholy, but I'll get over it. It was a good day and tomorrow should be fun, too, because it's call backs*** and I'm going back to help again. I love theatre :D

I don't really have much else to say today, so until tomorrow, best wishes!


*Okay, obviously this is not true. But it sure FEELS like it sometimes.
**The roof of the JoAnn's in Flagstaff collapsed last winter and it won't be functional again until January, so I'm trying to get everything I'll need BEFORE I go up to school.  Hence all the trips to JoAnn's over the last three days.
***Call backs are like the first cut of auditions. If they liked you enough the first time around, then you get called back and you audition a second time. Usually the call back audition is a different kind of format. For example, if your first audition is a monologue, then the second time they might give you a scene from the script and ask you to do it with a partner.

Days until Flagstaff: 3
BEDA posts: 5
Completed sewing projects:4

I'm on a Plane.

This is me at the airport, wearing my Oceanic Six* shirt. They are an awesome band and if you like LOST (or if you like Alex Carpenter, Jason Munday, and Luke Conard) you should listen to their songs.

It was hard to get a good angle of me and the shirt and the airport. You'll just have to trust me that it's really me in that shirt and I really am in an airport.

And this is what I wrote for you during my flight:

I'm on a plane! Well, when you read this I won't be, but as I type I am! I love flying. My favorite part is liftoff and landing; if I'm in a window seat, I will glue my face to that window and try to see the exact moment when the wheels leave/touch the ground. And I love it when my flight is at night, because all the city lights are BEAUTIFUL. I think I saw the Salt Lake Temple as we were ascending. It was pretty cool.


Another cool thing is flying when it's stormy. Yeah the bumpiness of the ride is disconcerting, but looking out the window and seeing the clouds beneath you is AWESOME. A minute ago we were flying over some clouds that were over the city, so the lights from below were shining up and illuminating the clouds just the tiniest bit. I felt like Mario in the sky levels; I wanted to jump out and bounce around. Luckily, I have a bit more respect for the laws of physics than the creators of Mario, so I won't be jumping on the clouds any time soon.

Okay, this has nothing to do with flying, but have you guys seen that new viral video about the double rainbow? If not, you should WATCH IT. It's hilarious. Okay, seriously, here it is for real**. It's this guy taping a double rainbow outside his home, and he is just BLOWN AWAY by it. He literally falls down to the ground and starts sobbing at one point. Anyway, I saw a double rainbow before we left for the airport this evening, and I wanted to take a picture of it, but by the time I was able to it was only a single rainbow. It was still cool, though, because it stretched all the way across the sky.

Ooh, I just got my peanuts! I LOVE IT when they give you peanuts. Although, they offered peanuts or pretzels, and I kinda wish I had asked for pretzels, because the peanuts are a bit too salty for me. I really wanted honey roasted peanuts, but it looks like they only have the one kind. *sigh* Oh well, my cranberry juice will be here soon and it will balance out the salt. Oh, and I have a bag of cookies. Maybe I'll have some more after I drink my juice.

MMMMMM, cranberry juice! So refreshing :) This is why I fly Southwest. Two free checked bags, complimentary peanuts, and a complimentary drink! When I flew to and from Mexico last year, one of the airlines charged for drinks ($2 for a bottle of water!). I was very upset. I think it was US Airways. The other airline, American Airlines, gave us drinks and snacks, but I think they still charged for checked luggage. Luckily, neither of the airlines charged for luggage if you were flying internationally, so I didn't have to pay anythning then. But STILL.

Well, I finished my juice. I think I'll save the second bag of peanuts (they gave me TWO!) for some other time. Maybe I'll have a cookie in a little while. We'll see. It looks like we're almost an hour into the flight, so there's only another half hour or so to go!

I think I'll spend the rest of the flight playing hearts. I need to practice so I can kick my uncle's butt next time we play. :)

Hope you all have a splendid night! (Or day, if you're reading this at a later date and it's daytime when you are...)

Until tomorrow, best wishes!

*Thier music at DFTBA records
**Did you click the first one? Hahaha, you got HANKROLL'D! :)

Days until Flagstaff: 4
BEDA posts: 4
Completed sewing projects: 4
(Hey, did you see that? Complete coincidence, too.)

All I Want Is to Get Married and Have Lots of Babies, but Not Really That Many Because OUCH

It's day three of BEDA, and I don't know what to talk about! So I'll just revert to the one thing that I can ALWAYS talk about: marriage.


I told you yesterday that my friend Jenna just got engaged. Well, I got to meet her fiancé today, and he is absolutely PERFECT for her. I honestly don't think there is a better match out there, and I am SUPER excited for them.

As for me... well, this might get a little whiney*. Sorry.

See, I always figured I would be married by now. Or at least close to getting married. When I was in middle school I was sure I would get married right after I graduated high school. When I realized that that was a somewhat unrealistic timeframe, I figured that I would get married during college. That was FOUR MORE YEARS that I had to find someone and fall in love and all that fun stuff. But, here I am, about to start my senior year of college, and guess what? I haven't been on a date since high school.

The problem is, I'm not really interested in any of the guys that I know in Flagstaff. Or if I am interested, they're already taken. So, I'm kinda out of luck. There are a couple guys in my life who I would be happy to marry, but one is very strong in his faith and neither of us wants to marry outside of our own religion, and the other is on a mission and probably has no idea that I'm even interested. I guess we'll see what happens when he gets home in a few months. Maybe I'll get lucky and he'll want to date me. Who knows?

I guess I just need to continue being patient. I honestly like the life I have now. If it turned out that I stayed single for several more years, I would be okay with that. But REALLY, I just want to get married and start my family. I'm ready.

Until tomorrow, best wishes!


*Whiney? Whingey? I never know which one to use... Maybe the one with the "g" is British or something?

Days until Flagstaff: 5
BEDA posts: 3
Completed sewing projects: 4

I Am Quite Hungry

I slept in today. Like, MAJORLY. First I woke up at 9:00, which isn't too bad, but I was having weird dreams and I didn't want to get up so I feel back asleep. Then I woke up again and thought that it was probably like 11:00 or maybe even 12:00. Nope. 12:45! HOLY COW! I NEVER sleep in past noon. It was so weird. And then I stayed in my room talking on the phone to my mom for like an hour, and then I stayed in my room some more and watched YouTube. (Note: After neglecting videos all summer long, I am finally caught up on Vlogbrothers, Italktosnakes, and WheezyWaiter.)

I ate some breakfast at like 2:00 and then at 3:00 I got ready to go to JoAnn's. My uncle didn't get home until 3:30, which was good because I wasn't ready to go yet, and he needed the car back by 4:30 to go pick up my aunt from work (their other car broke down a few days ago). So I rushed to JoAnn's, found most of the stuff I needed to buy, then rushed back to the house so he could take the car. Then I watched YouTube again.

It's been a rather unproductive day, as far as practical things go. And I STILL need to go back to JoAnn's, but I'll probably do that tomorrow. See, the JoAnn's in Flagstaff is closed until JANUARY because last winter we had crazy, CRAZY snowstorms and the ROOF CAVED IN! So I need to stock up before I go back, and I won't have much time once I get home because I have a BAZILLION other things to do.

Anyway, I'm pretty sure in my last blog I promised some Utah pics, so here we go!

Tabernacle Organ

Isn't that COOL? It's one of the most famous organs in the world. It was originally constructed in the 1860s, though since then it's been rebuilt and enlarged. It has 11,623 pipes. The Tabernacle is home to The Mormon Tabernacle Choir, which started with a small choir that sang at a Church conference in 1847 and now has 360 unpaid members who not only perform at Church conferences but also broadcast Music and the Spoken Word every Sunday morning. It's the longest-running continual network broadcast in the world.  (Can you tell I have a little brochure? Still, I think it's all super interesting.)

We went to a short organ recital here in the Tabernacle, and it was really neat. The building is made with music in mind, so the acoustics are pehnomenal. The organist did a demonstration and we could literally hear him DROPPING A PIN from the stage. Yeah. AWESOME.

Salt Lake Temple

This building is so BIG, and every time I see it I marvel again at it's GRANDNESS. In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (or "LDS Church" or "Mormon Church"), a temple is a sacred place of worship and learning. There are many temples throughout the world, but this one is the biggest and the most well-known. If you ever visit Utah, go to Temple Square. It's gorgeous. This picture is only the back of the building. This temple took forty years to build. That's right. FORTY YEARS. They started construction in February of 1853 and the temple was dedicated on April 6, 1893. The walls are nine feet thick at the base and six feet thick at the top. (Info found here.)

Me, just south of Temple Square in front of some cool fountains

I don't have any cool information about these fountains or anything, I just thought they looked neat. :) This is just south of the temple (you can see it in the top right corner) in front of Deseret Bookstore. Oh, and that's the headband that I made. I made it the night before I went up to Salt Lake because I knew I would be taking pictures and I wanted to look cute. No, seriously. That's why I made it. :D

ANYWAY, as the title of this post says, I am QUITE hungry. So, I'm going to go have dinner with my friend Jenna who just got engaged. :D

Until tomorrow, best wishes!


Days until Flagstaff: 6
BEDA posts: 2
Completed sewing projects: 4

So it seems that MJ is NOT doing BEDA after all... I'm still not really sure why, because I was absent from Twitter for like two months this summer, so if anyone would like to fill me in, that would be appreciated. ANYWAY, my point is, even though she isn't doing BEDA, WE MARCH ONWARD! And I fully intend to do it this August. April was kind of a hard month for me, so I am happy for this second chance in August :)

These last few weeks have been awesome for me. I've been in Sandy, UT staying with my aunt and uncle, and I LOVE it here. I've been here before, but I've never stayed for three whole weeks, and I'm going to be sad to leave on Wednesday. I will be happy to be home, though. I missed my family a LOT, especially my siblings. I'll only be home for a few days, though, and then it's back up to Flagstaff for school! Well, actually, I'll be there about three weeks early for training, which is going to be nice because campus will be pretty much deserted and I'll probably have a lot of free time on my hands to get things done.

By "get things done" I mean, of course, "finish all my sewing projects." See, I've been sewing up a storm here in Utah, and I am super excited to continue with my newfound hobby. I acquired a sewing machine about a year ago, and I knew how to sew from my Costume Construction class (I'm a Theatre minor), but I didn't know how to use that particular machine yet and I never really got into sewing. Then this summer we took the machine in for a tune-up (because it wasn't working quite right, and it turned out there was a broken piece that needed replacing) and started sewing things. I made a really cute apron while I was at home, and then up here in Utah I've made a pair of pajama pants, a hat, a headband, and I'm almost finished with another apron, this time for my mom. I can't wait to get to Flagstaff and make all the things I'm planning to make. (I imagine that will be a common theme throughout this BEDA.)

Anyway, I think that's long enough for today. Maybe tomorrow I'll post some pictures from Utah and tell you about the cool things I've seen while here.

Until then, best wishes!

Days until Flagstaff: 7
BEDA posts: 1
Completed sewing projects: 4