So Busy up in Here

I don't know why I apparently have more time to blog when I am on-track than when I am off, but apparently I do. And now I have 5 minutes before I have to leave to go to Idawhat, but here's a blog on what I have been doing instead of blogging:

1. Sleeping in.

2. Napping.

3. Going to my friends' classes.

4. Grading and planning some stuff. I have to write that small because I really haven't been doing all that much of that. 

5. Convincing other people that they don't need to do their homework / study / go to bed early because playing with and / or feeding me is much more important. I am the worst. 

6. Going to Cornbelly's. What's that, you say? Wellllll just my [fourth] favorite place on Earth! After, you know, like Disney World, and the temple, and my house.....Pictures coming soon!

7. Going to a Halloween party all dressed up with the roommates!

Left to right: Minnie Mouse, Pocahontas, Tangled, Alice in Wonderland, Snow White

As you can see, the Jew joined us! She came to town this weekend and pretty soon, I will be venturing over to her hood for even more fun times :)

8. Eating at the Cannon Center with some studly biceps.

9. Consorting with famous authors. NBD (aka, VBD) but I shook hands with him and rode in a car with him and chatted with him and just, you know, spilled the Starbucks that I got just for hanging out with him on my new blue pants about it, but whatever. #famouspeoplepantsfail

10. Ate my heart out for the annual birthday lunch at Tucano's!

11. Re-discovered the Fall Waffle at the Awful Waffle.....why is this list almost entirely about food.....

12. Spent the night in Snowbird in this swanky little place that I'm obsessed with, with some roommates, a hot tub, some romantic music, and about 40 cookies.

13. Watched House at the End of the Street again. For the record, it is at least as scary in the drive-in as it is in the real people theater.

14. Watched Casper for the first time! Watching movies has just become my favorite thing recently.....totally not sure why, but yep. That's just what happens when you go off-track, kids.

15. Carved a punkin! You have to say it like that: punkin. Or else you basically hate Halloween.

16. Made about 5069 punkin seeds. And they are the most bomb-amazing punkin seeds you have ever tasted, ever.

Recipe:

1. Get all your seeds rinsed off.
2. Boil seeds in salt water (2 cups water for every 1/2 cup seeds, 1/2 tsp salt for every cup water).
3. Simmer for 10 minutes.
4. Drain.
6. Put olive oil on a cookie sheet. Spread it around. Put the seeds on top.
7. Sprinkle with lemon pepper seasoning and onion seasoning. And some more salt if you don't care about your cholesterol.
8. Bake at 400* for about 10 minutes. When you hear popping, they are getting close!
9. Show off your talents to all your friends who previously hated punkin seeds. Like me, until I was converted with this very recipe!

Peace out, Provo! Don't worry, I'll be back in time to fit in 2 more Halloween parties. Which is convenient, since I have 5 more costumes for this year that I haven't worn yet.

You might need more sleep if....

.....you have been consistently getting 4 hrs of sleep a night.

.....you start out your shift at the Writing Center feeling pretty tired.

.....the paper you are reading over with a student is not the most entertaining.

.....you find yourself swiveling your chair distractingly back and forth in a valiant effort to keep your eyes open.

.....you also find yourself biting the insides of your cheeks to keep from yawning for the 42nd time in the same tutorial.

.....you feel a little drowsy while reading this blog post.

.....you hear yourself talking, and you just hear your voice getting gradually slower and lower.

.....you kind of feel like you're having an out-of-body experience, and you're just watching yourself talk from a foot or two above your own head.

.....you realize, just before the words leave your mouth, that you were about to say: "Sometimes scientists break the rules, right. So are you arguing for the police to come and put them in the pool, since they're being unethical?"

.....you are barely able to remember that this does not make sense when discussing a paper about the medicinal properties of chamomile.

.....you realize, when you remember this, that you just fell asleep while talking.

.....you try to restart your brain and think of something....anything!.....intelligent to say, and nothing comes.

.....your tutee is looking at you with a vaguely concerned expression and doesn't understand any of the questions you ask them.

.....you realize that they probably don't understand your questions because the questions probably don't make sense.

.....you end this remarkably unsuccessful tutorial and go back to the tutor table, feeling a little guilty for the lack of help that you were to your tutee but mostly just feeling sorry for yourself.

.....you go back home, bound and determined to go to sleep immediately after dinner.

.....you don't go to bed until 1 in the morning - again - because you got all wrapped up in roommate bonding, ex-roommate bonding, lesson planning, and the ever-entrancing power of facebook.

.....and the cycle continues.

Giving of Thanks

I heard recently about this thing called "First Class Problems." It's when you complain about something that those less fortunate than you would lovvve to complain about. Here are some examples:

"This dress is way too loose!" Those less fortunate than you - anyone who has put on a few pounds and can't seem to find a scrap of clothing that is even close to loose on them.

"My boyfriend wants to hang out alllll the time and it's so annoying!" Those less fortunate than you - anyone who are neglected by their boyfriend. Maybe he is too busy cheating on them. Maybe he just went to California while you stayed behind. Whatever.

"Ugh! I can't rotate the PDF on my iPad touch!" Those less fortunate than you - anyone who doesn't have an iPad touch.

"My boobs are way too big, they never fit in anything!" Those less fortunate than you - oh, me. Shut up about it.

You understand. Since it is Thanksgiving, not a single First Class Problem will escape my lips this holiday or on this blog! Instead, I will list things I am grateful for. One thing for each letter of the alphabet.

** I'm not including people, since feelings might get hurt. You guys, I'm just too popular! (Kidding.) But please know that I am more grateful for people than any of these things :)

A - Awful Waffle. Best crepes in Provo, I love it!

B - babies. They're so dang cute!

C - Christmas. I cannot wait!

D - Daddies. Kind of a person, but also I'm just grateful for daddies in general. They're so sweet and hardworking and selfless.

E - exercise videos. Thank you, Lena Pareira!

F - Florida. I sometimes think I dreamed my life there. It was a very nice dream.

G - girl friends. I don't know what I would do without my friends! I have been so blessed with the most loyal and fun girl friends and I love them to death.

H - Heavenly Father.

I - ice cream. I work at ColdStone, so obviously it is my passion! Just kidding, but I really am thankful for it.

J - Jesus. I'm so grateful to be a member of his church and grateful that he wants to have a personal relationship with me. I'll never be able to thank him enough for what he's done for me, but putting him on this list is a good start I think!

K - kissing. Mhmm. It's a nice thing.

L - laughter.

M - moms. Mine is obviously the best, but I'm grateful for moms in general. It's so great that in today's society with so many pressures to choose something different, there are still women who think it's important to have and raise children, who are willing to put the needs of their children in front of their own desires.

N - naps.

O - optimistic thoughts. It's never been super-hard for me to be happy and optimistic, and I am grateful that that comes naturally to me. I know it is a struggle for lots of people.

P - pandora.com. This guy gets me through all my homeworks.

Q - questions. I am grateful for the chances I get to ask questions, and for the questions other people ask me about myself. I am grateful that I am not afraid to ask questions.

R - rights. I'm grateful to live in a country where my rights are defended daily. I'm grateful for the concept of rights, the idea that we have inherent worth.

S - sunshine. Anyone surprised?

T - taste. Can you imagine if we couldn't taste? Eating would be a chore, something we just had to fit into our busy schedules. Instead it is a delight, all because of taste. We've just learned how to appreciate it.

U - underwears. Cute underwear can make you feel instantly better, even though no one else would be able to tell the difference if you had on granny panties or a thong. It's nice to have something so simple just for your own enjoyment.

V - Vera Bradley lanyard. I love mine!

W - washer in my apartment. It is so handy and convenient.

X - X. This x represents everything that I forgot. As in, I am grateful for x. :)

Y - yesterday! I am grateful for all the great memories I have, the wonderful opportunities I've enjoyed so far in my life.

Z - zippers. It is nice when they don't get stuck. And when they stay up.

So there you go! What are you thankful for?

Everybody's Gonna Love Today

You know what is really great? My morning playlist. Waking up to Mika, Britney Spears, Flo Rida, Michael Jackson, and Justin Bieber just makes life so much better. And it makes it so I end the semester on a really good note.

Why My Life was Awesome on Thursday:

1. Theresa brought raspberry muffins into the Writing Center today. She made them from scratch. They are the best muffins she has ever made. I loved them. And her.

2. I tutored a Brazilian. He was from Brazil. He spoke Portuguese. He had a Brazilian accent. He was Brazilian. I tutored him.

3. I had lunch with Kelly. We have had lunch almost every day this semester and I realized I am going to miss it so much when I am in Disney World! Right now, this is what our lunch goes like:

-I txt kelly and say, "Lunch at 12?" or whatever time.

-She txts me back and says, "Yes :)"

-We meet at the CougarEat and get in line at L&T. Or wherever.

-She talks. I talk. We talk. Sometimes our conversations are random, sometimes organized. We kind of just go back and forth and it doesn't always make sense if you are just listening in.

Here's what I'm wondered my lunch will look like in Disney World:

-me to random friend at work: Hey, do you want to go get lunch?

-friend: yeah sure!

-We go to a random cart or restaurant. We order our food. We sit.

-And sit.

-me: So. Work is fun today huh?

-her: Yeah. I love Disney World, don't you?

-me: Yeah.

-We sit.

I am just so worried that it won't be as fun!

4. I had my last health class. I loved this class, even though it was only once a week and we missed like a whole month of classes, since my teacher was sick or there was a holiday or I had my sister's wedding or whatever else. Anyway, today we got our final and it is going to be so easy and I am so excited about it.

5. I sent Crystal a letter! We were roommates last year and it was so fun. We are kind of opposite but somehow we became really good friends. Unfortunately, she moved to Hawaii to go to school there, so now we only get to communicate through txting. We've been talking about being pen pals all semester and I finally got around to sending a letter today. It was so exciting! Sending letters is really one of my favorite pasttimes.

6. I took a nap. I love naps with all my heart, might, mind, soul, brain, strength, bosom. Everything about me loves naps.

7. I worked with Jackie. I was planning on going 80's dancing but that fell through, so I went to work at Coldstone instead. It was really fun to work at Jackie because I haven't seen her in forever! She left at about 10:30 and Ashlyn covered the rest of her shift which was also awesome because I haven't seen her in even longer. Like, since we went mancamping.

8. As roommates, we decided to do a dare of the week, every week. We had to complete the dare by the week and then report back to each other. We are still on our first dare because Caitlin and I, who have been named the social ones of the apartment, are chickens and cannot bring ourselves to compliment a random boy on his physical appearance. Not sure why this is so hard but I've tried to do it like ten times and every time, I get super-nervous and just look away. Or run away.

This made the list of things that made my day awesome for a reason, I promise.

It's because today, this boy came into ColdStone. He was a college student and was with two other friends, a girl and a boy. He had pretty eyes that went really well with his shirt. I thought about the dare. I tried to work up the courage to tell him that his eyes looked pretty.

I opened my mouth.

"Um, do you want this in a waffle bowl?" I asked.

"Oooh," he said. "I'd better not. It's probably a lot more calories, huh?"

I shook my head. "No!" I said. "The waffle bowls are zero calories!" I say this every time a customer asks me about calories because it is so obviously false. You just need to not think about calories when you are in ColdStone. It's the only way to be happy. (If you want to be miserable, you can look at the nutritional information here.)

Anyway, he believed me for a second. He said, "Really?" and seemed to be considering the waffle bowl. A split second later, I started shaking my head on accident (I'm a really bad liar) and he stopped believing me.

"No, waffle bowls have calories. You're full of crap," he said. I put his ice cream in a boring old cup and brought it down to the cash register. He handed me his card and I rang up his ice cream.

"I can't believe you just said I'm full of crap!" I said. We talked a little bit more and I noticed that his eyes went really well with his shirt. I got really excited because I could easily say, "That shirt really brings out your eyes" and then I would have done the dare. I would probably never see this boy again anyway!

I opened my mouth to say my compliment, but before I could, he said: "Has anyone told you that you are really cute?"

I closed my mouth. "Um.....like ever?" I said.

"Like, today," he clarified.

"Nope, not today."

"Well I'll say it. You're just, really cute."

"Thank you!" I said. "That just made my day." So I appreciated the compliment, but I never did get to do the dare. I think I just need to learn how to compliment boys, besides saying "You're looking dapper today."