Action-packed week.

Funny how you can never find time to do the fun/crazy/unproductive stuff you want to during the semester, but then decide the week of finals that it's absolutely critical that you do it all then, when you have the least amount of time of all and the most to do. It only makes sense.

It all started on Friday the 12th, dubbed "reading day" by BYU in an effort to encourage us students to use our time wisely and study the weekend before finals. Studying...right.

Naturally, the first thing we do Friday morning is organize a birthday ambush for a friend. There may have been a few hitches in the plan, (the victim woke up before we could ambush him and he caught one of us hiding out in his living room that was waiting to jump him) but overall I'd say it went pretty well:

And then it all snowballed from there. Saturday my fish Pierre died :( and we took a joint apartment trip to temple square in Salt Lake:

Sunday we went to church, drove around and looked at ridiculous synchronized Christmas lights:

(click on the picture for more info about the annual display)

and the boys brought us a present/tribute to remind us of our late fish Pierre:

the resemblance is striking...

Monday was Family Home Evening- eating pizza and watching Home Alone, a Christmas must-see.

Tuesday was the first real snow of the year that stuck, so naturally, I was ambushed and bombarded with snowballs when apt 125 knocked on my door and I went to answer. I spent all day at work thinking of ways to get them back, and when I came home that night, we had an apt brainstorm.

If any of you have ever watched The Office, you may recall the episode in which Jim puts Dwight's stapler in jello and leaves it on his desk, and Dwight, being Dwight, freaks out. I have always thought this was hilarious, and I've always wanted an excuse to do something like that. Now I finally did.

That night, Loni and Kirra and I made up some excuse to go over to their apartment to hang out for a little bit. Loni came prepared with her humongous purse, and we proceded to stealthily swipe half of their stuff right out from under their noses. We made off with quite a stash, and lemme tell ya they were TICKED about the remotes and mail key...personally I felt most bad for the poor sap who didn't get to brush his teeth that night. Also for whoever had to fess up to owning the scalp cream...

(The pink razor is mine, hahaha...we thought it added a nice touch, and it would be pretty amusing to have them trying to figure out who's it was in their apartment...)

We figured we'd give them a full 24 hours to start missing all their stuff before we would return it to them bright and early Thursday morning...

in jello.

Yummy...

Revenge has never tasted so sweet...

no pun intended.

Santa Claus is coming...

...to the OACL Christmas party?!??

If I didn't know any better I'd swear he was my boss...Stanley...

Notice the floppy disk ornaments on the tree in the background.

Only at a computer lab party...

Girls Night. Plus Nolan.

Well it's that time of the day. The time of the day when I'm sitting here at work, thinking of all the things I could be studying, but instead find myself here, imagining all the things I want to blog about. So here goes.

This past weekend was amazing, to say the least. For one thing, we finally were able to tear Lanae away from her boyfriend to spend a girls' night with me, Loni, and Arielle. For another thing, we got pedicures (whoooo), ate chinese food (can you say Great Wall of Chocolate Cake at PF Chang's??), and built our very own, precariously-postioned-atop-a -lamp, ready-to-fall-over-at-any-second, watch-movies-under, have-sleepovers-in, what-every-kid-dreams-about, blanket tent!!! Yeah, that's right, you heard me.

We played Disney scene it, sang some kumbaya with Nolan, watched Elf, and eventually fell asleep under the tent. 10 am the next morning...and Loni and Lanae were still out cold...

Also (even though Arielle and I are not pictured here, since we had gotten up 30 minutes earlier) I would like you to notice how Loni and Lanae each got their own mattress, but Arielle and I somehow ended up sharing the pink one. That is roomie love for ya...

Noche de luz, Noche de paz

This Christmas, my church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) really wanted to do some good service for some needy families in Provo. We had worked to raise some money over a period of a few weeks, by going around to various apartment complexes and asking for loose change. In just a few short weeks, our ward (church congregation) had raised $1300 in pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters, with just my group of 15 raising $1000 of that. We had more than expected, and much more than we knew what to do with. Finally we decided to work through the Sub for Santa organization, where groups of us were assigned a local needy family to buy gifts for. On Saturday, my partner Devin and I (we were in charge of our group) went to the store to buy all kinds of toys, clothes, and books for this family with 4 children. Each family was allotted about $400, which is a lot of money, and Devin and I felt that we were more than generous in picking out gifts on Saturday. When we got to the checkout counter, however, we discovered that we still had $150 to spare! It had been suggested that we buy the family a Christmas tree as well, so we did, as well as decorations, wrapping paper to wrap the gifts in, and a visa gift card with all the leftover money on it.

Now, the point of this story was not to tell all about what we did for this family...the point of it was more to tell about what they did for me.

We showed up last night to deliver the gifts, a little apprehensive because even though they knew we were coming, we were not sure how they'd react to us. We approached the door, opening with a verse of Silent Night. They sat quietly and listened, and there was the special spirit as a few of us finished with a verse in Spanish. God bless the boy in our group who had the foresight to bring a couple of Spanish hymnbooks. You see, the family was Hispanic, and spoke no English. We went in, and while the boys set up the tree, a couple of us girls gathered around the mother and her two adorable little daughters to chat. She was touched by how many of us spoke Spanish and Portugese and were comfortable conversing with the family. I learned a lot of things about them, how they were newly baptized members, how they'd only lived in the area for a few months, but had no family close by, which is why they were so appreciative of the love that we showed them. It almost seemed that our willingness to just talk to her in her native language meant more to her than all the gifts we had brought them.

I came away so happy with not only the service that we had performed that night, but because I know now that there is a reason why I am studying Spanish. I've kind of always known it was the right direction to go with my education, but I'd never really had this gut feeling validated until last night. It was the first time I've ever really had to use my Spanish, but I know that it will not be the last time that I will use it to help others. And I'm grateful for this little family for giving me that opportunity last night to serve them and helping me learn a little more about myself :)

Never a dull moment at the mental hospital...

I was really excited to find out today that Lanae, one of my roommates, was planning on going to the temple around dinnertime. When she asked if I wanted to come after my classes were out, I jumped at the opportunity, since I have not been in quite a while. So there I am, just walked in the door, picking out my Sunday best outfit, rounding up a few odds and ends before we leave, and then I discover that my temple recommend has been expired for 2 months now. I was devastated to say the least.

Fortunately, I did remember that tonight was Wednesday night, the night when I often go to volunteer at the Utah State Mental Hospital. Our stake has the unique responsibility of providing a Sunday School meeting every Wednesday night for the patients at the hospital, and it's often a very fun, enlightening experience, one that I always come away from feeling better about life. Going there really helps me forget all about my trivial problems when I realize how blessed I am, and it definitely helps me put everything into perspective. Plus after being somewhat of a regular there, I have made friends with a few of the patients, and I genuinely have a good time talking to them and meeting more of their friends.

One thing you can be sure of when you sign up for this job is that you're pretty much guaranteed an action-packed night, as it is likely that one or more patients will spontaneously start an uproar or scuffle in the middle of Sunday School. Tonight was no exception, as poor, cute old man Joe had to be escorted out after wildly accusing virtually everyone in the room of breaking into his room and tearing up his screenplay-worthy novel that he had been working on for some time now. Last time he was escorted out a few weeks ago, it was because he simply did not understand why he couldn't be called as the church's next prophet. It's a good thing nothing fazes us anymore.

The lesson was still very edifying, and peppered as usual with the occasional crazy/irrelevant remark from a patient. Overall, just your average day at the mental hospital.

Moral of the story- even though sometimes things may not work out as you planned, it doesn't mean you can't still have an exciting and uplifting night. Also, always carry a current temple recommend.

Reflecting.

Today I was given the challenge, "Using as many details as possible, describe what your life will be like in 10 years". It's a valid question...one I'd previously given little thought to. Oh I'd thought about it enough to know the important things, but I accepted the challenge, and after much thought and deliberation, this is what I came up with:

In ten years I will be just shy of 30 years old. I will have an amazing husband. Qualifications for my husband are not specific, as I love all kinds of people easily. But ideally he's got a good head on his shoulders, a good work ethic, and has a steady job- but is NOT a workaholic. It is critical that he puts his family as his first priority and loves kids. I will have three beautiful blond children by this time, though I'd maybe eventually like one more child or so. The blond part isn't necessary but would be nice, haha. The birth order or ratio of boys to girls doesn't matter to me, but if I have a son I will name him Luke. Not for any particular reason, I just really like that name. Haha. I will be raising my children in the Gospel and teaching them everything they need to know- spiritually as well as secularly, as this is pretty much the most important reason I am here. I cannot say for sure what choices my children will make as I am raising them, but good or bad I will continue to love them and be a good example for them to look to. As a side note... if I can help it, my children will NOT be picky eaters. This is probably my biggest pet peeve ever. They will be open-minded not just about food, but also about life. They will appreciate diversity and will be exposed to different cultures and ways of doing things as often as possible.

I will have earned my Elementary Ed and ESL certification a few years earlier, and I will be teaching 1st grade in an underprivileged school with lots of cute Hispanic children. Here I will teach them English and the value of education, as well as show them the potential that they all have and all the good things they can do if they just work hard. Ideally, I'll be living somewhere in the southern US, as I'd more easily find a job that I want there, I'd be close enough to my family, and the weather would be infinitely more bearable, seeing as how I hate the cold/snow. Location is flexible though...I moved around a lot my whole life, so I really wouldn't be opposed to trying out a few different places.

By this point I hope to have been abroad in a Latin American country where I have taught English and improved my Spanish. I'd like to do this as a student, but I most likely will not be able to fit it in with my program being infinitely long. In this case, I will hold off on the travel until my family is financially secure enough to afford it. But travel WILL be happening, if not in ten years, then further on down the road.

Well was that in detail enough for ya? I tried really hard to be specific. Family, church, job, and travel are my big four things I guess...nothing else is important enough for me to worry about yet. It was good for me to at least think about it and write it out though. I guess the important thing I try to keep in mind is that even if/when things don't turn out how I planned, they will still all work out for the best!

Sundays are the Greatest.

Have I ever mentioned how much I love my ward?? I just feel so lucky that I get to associate with such amazing people on a daily basis. And Sundays are by far the best day of the week. I get to see all my favorite people, with the added bonus of having an uplifting, spiritual day at church. Take into consideration the occasional service project, surprise birthday bashes, and games, and it's undeniable that some of the best times I've had at BYU have been on Sundays.

The Child in Me.

So this week I had an experience that made me reflect on my inner child...an embarassing and slightly graphic experience, but a symbolic one nevertheless.

It all goes back to how I'm still recovering a little from the pneumonia that hit me a couple weeks back. I'm feeling loads better, but it takes a long time for me to fully bounce back to my old self after being that sick. Anyway, to say the least, I am still a fountain of snot and often very tired. So the other night, I'm blowing my nose, (a totally normal occurence considering that I am still phlegmy) and all of a sudden I feel something fairly large dislodge from my nose. I look into the tissue, and lo and behold, there is a long-grain piece of rice...leftover from lunch that day.

Hahahhhaa. How it got there, I don't know. But my first thought was, getting random things stuck up your nose is not something a 19-almost 20-year-old-college-student should be having problems with...this is something that most 2-year-olds struggle with. Anyway it was just a very poignant reminder to me that some things may never change, and the child in me may never go away, in fact, it might remain an integral part of who I am.

Who ever knew that a piece of rice could inspire such profound thoughts?

Lauren Bedard's Birthday

May 1999

See if you can pick me out...

NEWSFLASH!

Yesterday, Haunted House Boy (Dallas) asked me out for tomorrow!

Also, Halloween Hand Holder (Ben) asked me to go to the bball game with him next week!

Hahhaa. I love how I went from 0 anything boy related in my life to 2 new admirers in such a short time. Why this is all happening at once, I do not know. But I can't complain. I'm very much enjoying the attention...

In other news...I'm almost 100% recovered from the bout of pneumonia that I had last week. Whoo. Party.

VICTORY

Haunted House Boy asked for my number Monday night!

It's been a while since something like that has happened to me. Definitely the morale booster that I've been needing :)

Also, just wanted to reaffirm how much serving other people can help you feel so good about life!! I went door to door tonight for a ward fundraiser, raising money for needy children this Christmas. Usually I hate stuff like that, but tonight I was strangely invigorated, and I got really into it. We have raised hundreds of dollars in just pocket change, and we're not even close to being done yet- it's incredible what small and simple things like that can add up to!!

Good day, good day.

Pneumonia Sucks

Having now missed two days of school, 3 days of work, and 1 weekend of fun, I can officially say that I am sick of being an invalid!! Sitting at home while the rest of my roommates get to frolic about is the definition of depressing. Especially when you don't even use the oodles of time at your disposal to do something useful, like homework, or clean your room. Everything sounds unappealing when you're sick, and you have an excuse not to do it, sort of, so it's really easy to get nothing done. Here is a summary of my day today:

-Woke up
-Felt like crap
-Ate breakfast/took meds
-Read
-Went back to sleep
-Woke up, left the confines of my apartment for the first time in 3 days to get what little social activity I could handle in my condition (walked to the nextdoor building to have a chat with a friend)
-Ventured to Walmart to get some grocery shopping in. (I was a little out a breath towards the end, after chasing Kirra and Lanae around the store at breakneck speeds)
-Came home, unloaded groceries
-Watched Zorro
-Read Scriptures
-Am in the process of starting the movie Chocolat

Now, that may sound like a lot of things that filled up my day when I list them all out like that, but when you really look at it all, none of those things really amount to anything, except maybe the scripture reading time.

Man. I can't even handle how productive I was today...

Scheming

For the third night in a row, my brilliant prank has been put on hold. For various reasons too...the prankees still being awake, the election going on, my partner in crime geting sick and needing to go to bed early. When will the interruptions cease?? I just want to hurry and put my plan into action!

Stay tuned for this weekend...I plan to see this thing through if it kills me!

Pumpkin Extravanganza

Today has been an obnoxious day for many reasons...sad that it should be so annoying already, because I've only been awake for about 5 hours now. Even sadder, it is Halloween, and isn't it some kind of rule that no one should have a bummer of a day on Halloween?

Here are some pictures from this week's FHE to help rekindle the festive, happy thoughts I should be having on this glorious, costume-wearing, spirit-celebrating, candy-getting day.

Like every typical Mormon family on the Monday night before Halloween, we carved pumpkins...for each others' apartments.

Mask of Zorro

Apt 185 Lovin Pumpkin...and Anthony's arm brandishing a knife.

a prime example of apt 185 lovin, which inspired our pumpkin

Very standard BYU pumpkin.
Funny because neither of the guys that carved it actually go to BYU...haha

Aww this was the guys' gift to our apartment...
a pumpkin carved with the likeness of Pierre, our pet fish,
as well as his name on the side.

Oh Halloween...how I love you.

A day in the life of cerulean

So this past weekend I had the most fun I've had in a long time. I wasn't planning on going to the stake Halloween party, but at the last minute Loni and I threw together a costume consisting of matching sweats, electrical tape, and iron-on letters...all purchased at Walmart.

It was a pretty brilliant costume if I do say so myself. The general consensus was that the best part about our outfit was our hair. We put water bottles inside our ponytails to hold them upright, and used lots of hairspray. And colored hair dye, of course. What kind of costume could you possibly make with these items, you might ask. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves...

You can't really tell in this picture, but our Crayola colors are on the side of our legs. I am Cerulean (everyone's favorite color of blue) and Loni is Razzmatazz (pink).

The only downside to this costume was that people kept picking me up to color things...

Aww cutest roomies ever :)

That, my friends, is how it is done.

Tagged by Saurin Lauren

Here are 10 quirky things (to name a few) that you may not already know about yours truly:

1. I pace around the room/house/property when I talk on the phone. The more intense the conversation, the more I pace. No one knows exactly why I do this, I just do.

2. I have a mole on the bottom of my right foot.

3. I am anal about oral hygiene. I am sure I picked this up from my mother, who drilled into my small brain at a young age the importance of brushing your teeth several times daily.

4. I have tiny hands. Literally, they are the size of a child's hands. It's a miracle I can play piano as well as I do, since I have trouble reaching many chords.

5. I can whistle louder than probably anyone you know. It happens to be my favorite talent.

6. I cannot walk in a straight line. This poses a problem in large groups of people, because I tend to bump into everyone every few seconds.

7. I am generally a nice person, but on occasion I cannot resist subtlely irritating really annoying people. Usually I only do this when the person has consistently exhibited annoying or rude behavior. Then I work my magic. An example of this actually occurred today in my one of my classes:

There is a girl who I sit by in one of my classes who for many reasons, annoys me a great deal. She is often frustrated when she doesn't understand things, sometimes to the point of tears. If I try to kindly explain them to her, she takes offense for some reason, makes some rude remark, ignores my advice, pouts, and then insists on asking the professor. Granted, I am not an expert on the subject, but I generally know what I am talking about when it comes to easier concepts that she doesn't understand. It often seems like she looks for opportunities to be offended, so lately I have just not been helping her. Also she knows she is an amazing singer and insists on belting (opera style, might I add) the hymns that we sing in class, and is sullen if she doesn't get to pick out the hymn every day. It's also funny that even though she sings louder than anyone in the entire class, if anyone should be singing too loudly next to her, heaven forbid, she SOMEHOW cannot hear herself, and has to cover her ear to better hear herself. Good grief.

Well today I was particularly annoyed by her, so I decided to play the sing too loudly game. Basically this consists of me singing loud enough to bother her, to the point where she has to cover her ear. Hahah. Subtle yet soo satisfying.

8. I am very touchy feely. By this I mean that I hug people, pat their heads, play with their hair, and pick lint off their shirts constantly. Also nothing makes me feel better than a hug or a massage.

9. I cannot fall asleep at night if my feet are not a comfortable temperature. My whole body could be perfectly comfortable, but if my feet are too hot or too cold, I will lay in bed staring at the ceiling until I work up the energy to either remove my socks or go put some on.

10. I am obsessed with photoshop. It has reached the point now that I cannot show any pictures to anyone until I have first adjusted the lighting, fixed the redeye, gotten rid of any zits, removed any unflattering facial shine, and sharpened the clarity of the photo. It's ridiculous, really.

Now, don't you feel like you know me better?

So much time, so little to do. I mean...

8 T.V. Shows I like
1. House
2. Burn Notice
3. CSI
4. Friends (reruns)
5. Seinfeld
6. Who's Line is it Anyway
7. American Idol
8. So you think you can dance

8 Favorite Restaurants
1. Red Lobster
2. Spring Creek BBQ
3. In N Out
4. PF Changs
5. Macaroni Grill
6. Chipotle
7. Jason's Deli (complimentary ice cream, baby)
8. Taco Bell?

8 Things That Happened Yesterday
1. Church at Davey's
2. partayy with the Johnson fam
3. saw Trav :)
4. talked to Zack, Ty, Mom, and Dad
5. had Ward Prayer, aka write love notes time!!
6. ate wayyyy too many desserts
7. watched Surf's Up
8. talked to Haunted House boy...

8 Things I Look Forward To
1. this freaking test being over with
2. going to bed early tonight
3. Thanksgiving
4. Christmas
5. seeing trav again
6. Friday
7. checking the mail!!
8. Monday emails from D-ron

8 Things On My Wish List
1. please help me pass my test today
2. more self-discipline in going to bed earlier
3. a puppy, and somewhere to keep it.
4. a boyfriend
5. be able to study abroad.
6. more time in a day
7. the ability to fly
8.world peace.

8 People I Am Tagging
1. Mom
2. Cristy
3. Lauren
4. The End.

Still running on last night's adrenaline

I can now officially say that I have been to a haunted house.

Last night, I drove up with some friends and their friends to go to an apparently famous haunted house in Ogden, UT. (Click on the picture below to read the "legend" associated with it):

It took us something over an hour to get there, so you can imagine the worrying and nail-biting that took place on the ride up, at least for me.

The haunted house itself took us 40 minutes to get through, and was comprised of several different sections, including a CAVE, a SWAMP, a FOREST, a MINESHAFT, a CORN MAZE and several creepy old SHACKS. It also boasted some pretty interesting characters- a chainsaw murderer, a guy wildly waving a blowtorch, some demented clowns, an 8-foot bearded creeper, and a man entirely covered in blood who crept up behind me and whispered in my ear when I wasn't paying attention...just to name a few. Needless to say, I was freaked out.

It's a good thing David had the sense to bring some of his mission buddies along to serve as escorts for us girls...not that I was looking for an excuse to flirt or anything. I am just the most easily frightened/startled person I know, and I honestly don't know what I would have done if I didn't have someone to grab onto. Also I was very grateful with how patient the guy (Dallas) was with me, despite me dragging him along at reckless speeds and occasionally causing him to hit his head on various ceilings/beams. To tell you the truth, I think he kinda liked it, in some weird, manly, macho way.

It's crazy how hard my adrenaline was still pumping and how hard it was to just calm down, even hours after the fact. I must have looked pretty beat/overwhelmed, hahah, because everyone (or the boys at least) would ask me every few minutes if I was okay, and tell me how proud they were of me for being such a trooper, hahaha. How nice of them. I must say though, after going through something like that, I'm pretty proud of myself too.

Go me. There's another thing I can cross off my list...

Staplers- they're out to get me.

Currently I am exhausted...no thanks to the sweat I just worked up wrestling for 30 minutes with a stapler at work, trying to pry the dumb thing open to refill the staples. Which, by the way, makes it the second time I have beat myself up over one of these dumb objects this week. At least in today's match, I came out the victor. Last week, I wasn't so lucky.

Long story short, last week I was filling up a stapler, when it decided to spontaneously not close. Frustrated after a couple minutes, I slammed the thing down in a last resort to shut it...and it happened to slam down on my finger. I came THIS close to screaming as the staple penetrated my left middle finger...but then I remembered that probably wasn't a very professional thing to do while on the clock. Anyway, I pulled the stupid thing out of my finger and to my extreme surprise, it's didn't bleed a single drop. Que suerte.

Why is it that I cannot get along with these very useful and necessary office tools? Once I figure it out, I'll let you know.

Where have all the girls gone?

Upon sending out last minute invites for Lanae's birthday get-together this week, I discovered that most, if not all, of our friends in our ward are boys. This became increasingly obvious as the night progressed, and boys kept pouring into our apartment. The guy to girl ratio was very top-heavy that night. One thing is for sure, us girls definitely know how to throw a party :)

Embarassing...Story of my Life.

To sum up the past couple of weeks:

1. Unbeknownst to me, I spent an entire day walking around campus AND work with two HUGE holes in the butt of my pants, revealing my oh-so-cute pink underwear. How this happened? Let's just say my weight has been shifting of late...

2. On two separate occasions when I had to skip two different classes (for very good reason might I add), I had the joy of running into both professors of said classes immediately following the lecture. Or rather, they noticed me across the way, called my name out, said they missed me in class, and proceded to converse with me as if I had not just committed an unpardonable offense. Can you say guilt trip major?

3. Last but definitely not least...
Well we all know how...excited I get about things, and how I like to use hand gestures to express myself. It just so happens that last night in the midst of one of my very lively conversations with a friend after ward prayer, I swung my hands back to make a point, and in the process, my hand and about half my arm went directly into the buttcrack/crotch of a guy standing behind me...

yeah. If there had been a less graphic way to tell that one, trust me, I would have done it.

So there you have it. I apologize to any of you that may have had hopes of winning Most Embarassing Person of the Year Award. Unfortunately that title has already been claimed...

Bananas, Birthdays, los Bailes, and BYU

So...the beginning of a new school year. A time for reflection upon last year and resolution to have an even better year this year. So far, my ward seems really cool, and I've already made several new friends. But let's not get ahead of ourselves...let's start with the basics. First off, introductions.

Here are my roommates, whom I love!
Lanae and Loni, whom you already know:

Kirra, from Idaho:

Nicole and Alyse from Ohio! (We threw Alyse a surprise Bday party!)

And last, but certainly not least,
is Pierre Jean-Claude, our fish:

So what have we been doing, you might ask?
Well for starters, we've painted our living room:

We've attempted to decorate our rooms:

(it usually looks a lot better when my bed is made haha)

We've been socializing (a lot) with the locals:

And walking around looking like we're from the wrong decade:

Yep, we've definitely been busy around here. But life is good! Until next time!