Its a Christmas Miracle!

Because finals week was kind of a joke for me and I had so much free time, I decided that I would use that time to bake. I love baking. I'm not super good and I can't do anything fancy, but I get some GREAT recipes from Kim's Blog and I like to try them here and there when I have time.

I ended up getting ingredients to make 4 different cookies to bake. A little ambitious, I know. But one of them was a cake-mix cookie, so thats easy. Karina and I combined all the ingredients and got the doughs ready Monday night while watching A Muppet Christmas Carol with some friends and I let the dough refrigerate overnight. The next day I baked 3 of the cookies. Well, I tried to bake all 3 of the doughs. Sadly the S'more Cookie dough would NOT turn out fluffy cookies. Against all my efforts, all I got were thin pancake looking things that I had to scrape off. So in the end I only had 3 cookies:

1. Chocolate Chip Pretzel Cookies
2. Trifecta Cookies
3. Snickers Cake Mix Cookies

My plan was to bake a ton so that I could send off a package to Scott with lots of goodies and then also have some leftover for my friends, roommates, and I to enjoy. So by Wednesday all the cookies were baked and I wrote a letter to stick in the box. Then I had to make a mad dash to the post office to get it out on time to reach Scott on his P-day. I got to the post office at 5:31. One minute too late. Rushing, I ended up putting it in a drop box, even though the last pick-up time had passed. And then as I walked to the car I realized I didn't pay any postage for the box. Epic fail. It was a flat-rate box that I was re-using and I didn't think. :(

So I had 1.5 days left in Provo and I was just hoping it would work out. The package never showed up at my apartment, but when I told my mom the story I had lost all hope he would get it. I could picture the box sitting on my cold doorstep waiting for me to return to Provo.

But today I got a letter from Scott and he told me how grateful he was for the package of goodies and how he has been enjoying the cookies and Wheat Thins! [He is addicted to Wheat Thins and I pretty much always include a box in any package I send him :) ] I was so happy! I didn't fail epicly! The good ol' USPS came through for me and it was a Christmas Miracle! :D

No Place Like Home for the Holidays

I am currently sitting in my cozy bed at home and I love being here! Finals week went well [I took my only 2 finals on the same day] and I worked several shifts. The drive home was much more uneventful than my last drive between California and Utah, so I was very grateful for that!

It rained pretty much non-stop for 5 days. What a great way to welcome me home to the desert. But now the sun is shining and its nearly 60 degrees- thank you Southern California! :D

I can still hardly believe that Christmas is TOMORROW. This semester went faster than any ever has for me and before I know it 2011 will already be here. That is a very exciting thought!! :)

But for now I have family to spend time with, books to read, and food to eat. Merry Christmas everyone!!

Idle hands?

I have spent the past 2 weeks constantly working on some huge project or another. First it was the Medicine Wheel, then it was the Children's book for my Music class AS WELL AS the Writing Program for my English class. Then the day after those were both turned in I had a big lesson to present in my drama class. Free time was a figment of my imagination. But now that is all I have.

It is so strange to not have a huge assignment to do. I am not procrastinating anything... [well I guess thats debatable, but lets just set that aside for now :)]

I only have 2 finals this week and I feel so strange not stressing out like my roommates. I have only emailed a Cover Letter and Resume to my English teacher for our last assignment. Thats it for the week, I haven't taken a single final yet. Today was day 2 of finals week and I baked a bunch of cookies. Not too shabby, eh? :)

I LOVE my major. My classes this semester were so much fun and really opened my eyes for the possibilities of my future classroom and the way I will teach my students. I am so excited for the opportunities I have ahead of me :)

So for now I am just going to read a few books [oh how I have missed reading since the summer...] and work a few shifts. Then Thursday I will take both my finals and Friday drive home. This is the life! :)



And for those of you who do not know: only 5 1/2 months left! Yesssss! :D

The Story of My Life

For my Elementary Art class we had to create a Native American Medicine Wheel on an opened brown paper bag. The circle had to be filled with symbols representing us and telling the story of our lives, past and future, in deep rich colored pencil. This project was assigned on the FIRST day of class to be turned in on the LAST day of class. I hate projects like that.

At first you feel like you have all the time in the world to do it. And then you forget about it. And then you remember it, but you are too busy with the things due very soon so it just nags at the back of your mind. And then you have one week left to do it so you spend every.spare.minute. working on the thing. Or at least thats how they go for me...

I started this project over Thanksgiving Break and then worked on it every day whenever I could the following week so that I could turn it in Friday at noon when my art class would meet for the last time. I literally carried my brown paper bag with me to every class and even over to friends' apartments so that I could color it while hanging out. I had to sharpen my colored pencils so many times that I actually broke my sorry excuse for a pencil sharpener that I had. BUT- I DID IT. I finished my project Thursday night and I am very pleased with it.

A friend asked if i had to draw it as if I were a first grader. No I did not. Please don't hurt my feelings and ask me questions like that, ok? Here is the finished product:

Infancy

Youth

Adult

Old Age

pictures

Before Thanksgiving Karina, Katy, and I went to Nancy's house to play Sunday afternoon. We had too much fun to stop and take pictures with my camera, but here are some shots from the car ride there:

Isn't that mountain GORGEOUS?!

And here are a few of my favorite shots from Thanksgiving :)

Me between the bellies! :)

Thanksgiving Break

I am so grateful that I found a ride home to Palmdale for Thanksgiving! There was a lot of concern about the "blizzard" coming through Utah on Tuesday evening/night, but that ended up being a big joke and the drive home Wednesday morning went really well.

I LOVED being with my family and having some time to relax as well as enjoy delicious food :)

Things I did:
-watched Ponyo [super cute!]
-beat the dumb game Plants vs. Zombies [thanks Heather... haha]
-played with my niece and nephews
-saw Harry Potter 7 again with some family members
-watched Surrogates
-played Rock Band
-SLEPT :)

And I was even a little bit productive on a few projects, so that was great!

The plan was to drive back to Provo Sunday morning, but my ride decided to wait until Monday because it was supposed to snow a lot all throughout Sunday. This was a bit of a problem for me because I would miss my math class and work in the afternoon. Not good. I was pretty frustrated, but what could I do?

This is when my super social superstar sister comes into play. 10:20 am CA time Heather called the house saying she found me a ride, but I needed to pack light and HURRY. I threw a few more things into my bag and threw on a sweatshirt before driving quickly over to a friend's house where I got a ride with her cousins who I had never met before. 10:30 am I was squeezed in the backseat but I was happy because I was headed back to Provo.

I had a little trouble on the way and ended up puking at a rest stop in Halloran Springs, but after a little rest and some very kind fellow passengers I was able to make the rest of the trip just fine! It was quite an adventure though, let me tell you. The adventure then continued as we got caught in slow icy roads around Cedar City so overall the trip took us 13 hours and we got home about midnight UT time. I made some good friends in that car with all our conversations to pass the time, it was really fun :)

It was a crazy day, but I made it back and was able to spend time with my roommates and make it to class and work. It was a Thanksgiving Miracle ;)

Now the hard part about Thanksgiving Break is the 3 weeks left until Christmas Break. Thanksgiving is just a little tease which makes focusing a bit harder for the final stretch of classes. But its ok. I can do this! Here we go...

Harry Potter 7

Part 1 was AMAZING! I absolutely loved it - I laughed, I screamed, I cried. All of it. And then I was devastated that it was over so quickly. I am realllly looking forward to next July; just another amazing part of next summer! :D

I had a great time going to dinner with a big group of friends and friends of friends before we all headed to the theater to get in line around 9:30. Thankfully we were waiting inside the movies just outside our specific theater because we saw the movie in the Provo Town Center Mall. It wouldn't have been as fun standing outside... thats for sure.

I worked on my art project while we waited in line, we played a few rounds of MASH, and got super excited as we saw so many people dressed up. I think my favorite costume was this little girl who was dressed as Dobby! Adorable!

 

 working on my art project and playing MASH

 the whole group in line [minus Clarissa who took the picture]

 Giant Hagrid!

 Adorable Dobby!

 my vest for art - Optimism is Key! :)

 Katy and her fun roommates!

 sitting in the theater so excited for the movie to start!

The entire night was so much fun and I am so glad that I was able to enjoy it with my cousin Katy!


 I'm already looking forward to seeing it again!

epic plans

Today: 2 more classes, Mary Kay Makeover, Dinner, getting in line, Harry Potter Midnight Showing!!

Tomorrow: Art class, work

Saturday: last home football game!

Sunday: I'm giving a talk in church

Monday: one class

Tuesday: one class

Wednesday: GOING HOME!

YESSS!!!



and I have been feeling much better lately, so that is helping this epic week become even greater! :)

The verdict is in:

I went to the Urgent Care today and the Doctor suspects I have Bronchitis.

I was seen, diagnosed, got a prescription, and it was all about an hour - way faster than I was suspecting. Sadly the medication will make me drowsy though, so I have yet to take it.

I'm too tired to do my homework though, so I'm about to take it and knock out so hopefully tomorrow will be a start to a healthier Holly :)

Goodnight world!

Molly's Photoshoot

I got the results from my photoshoot with Molly! I LOVE the pictures and I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to work with her! She is such a nice girl and she is very talented :)

[Confession: I am a little bit obsessed with these pictures, it makes me feel narcissistic.]

Here are the pictures!

It must be that time of year

Just about everyone around me is sick, starting to feel sick, or is just getting over being sick. I think its crazy how it happens to nearly everyone at once.

I worked over 20 hours last week and I was absolutely exhausted by the end. Friday was a huge important banquet for the Marriott School of Management with their National Advisory Council Conference so I was working until 10:30 pm and then Saturday was a home football game against UNLV so I started work at 7 am. I got off around 12:45 and I was so ready for the long week to be over! I immediately collapsed on the couch and thats pretty much where I stayed for the rest of the day. I started feeling a cold coming on :(

Karina was hanging out at another apartment and when a friend heard that I wasn't feeling good he came over and made me some Chicken noodle soup. That soup was so good! I can't remember the last time I had eaten that. This was a much more welcome visit than the last time Josh had come over [dressed as a luchador] haha.

And so now I am coughing and fully clogged in the head with a cold. Does that happen to anyone else? Whenever I get a head cold I feel like my brain doesn't know how to properly function, I can't focus, and my head just feels completely solid. I feel so stupid. Example: today in my math class I could not focus and I ended up making little cubes out of different shaped pieces of paper. We were each supposed to make 1 or 2, but I ended up making 8. It took me a long time to do it, but I just couldn't focus on the rest of the lesson. And now as I write this it is taking me forever to get a sentence written [and I hope it is all making sense...]

The weather is definitely turning to winter here in Provo with rain and snow in the forecast so its definitely time to bundle up and buy some hot chocolate! Lets not all get sick and stupid like me [or am I the only one that gets this way?]

 

My masterpieces - after being a little crushed in my bag on the way home

Week 2: success!

Here is my daily photo collection for this past week :)

Sunday: my new tights [and favorite scarf]

Monday: Rain Boots in Fall!

Tuesday: Our water heater was fixed! Before, and after -

aka my impression of Nathan's afro

Wednesday: Jenn's Baby Shower

Thursday: Karina made me lunch and Josh the luchador scared me


Friday: Our bathroom construction is finally done and we now have a nice tile floor with NO sinking holes! :)

Saturday: I had a photoshoot with Molly at this beautiful location near the lake for her school project and it was so much fun!

This was such a great week! An awesome end to October.

Happy Halloween!!

Halloween!

My ward had our Halloween Party last Saturday with a Murder Mystery and a dance, which was way fun. My roommates and I came up with our costumes last minute and then put them together after I got home from working at the Football game. We were cave women! The costumes were really easy to put together and we had a great time! We even won the award for best group costume! :)

Homemade bone: tinfoil wrapped in masking tape and then burnt [idea from here]
Big hair and lots of bronzer

We all had a different animal print, but I thought it was cool 2 were b/w and 2 were orange, 2 were striped and 2 were dotted, 2 were dresses and 2 were shirt skirt combos :)

Us getting into character

It was super fun!

Our Family Home Evening group also carved pumpkins this week in honor of Halloween so here are the results:

Left to Right: Every-other-holiday pumpkin, spewing pumpkin, Perry the Platapus, "Boo" Bats

Girl's Night

After a really busy week my roommates and I decided to have a Girl's Night together. We went out to dinner, roasted marshmallows on our campfire [aka our stove], and built a fort in our living room. It was super fun and much needed :)

Ashley took pictures at the Restaurant and then of the fort after my camera battery died, so here are the pictures I have:


I love my roommates!

The Results

Taking a photo everyday is a little more difficult than I thought. I got busy and forgot... so here is what I have as a result:

SATURDAY: Girl's Night


TUESDAY: New shirt


WEDNESDAY: Pancakes by Mark

FRIDAY: Free Bagel Friday!


SATURDAY: Fall is here and Winter is coming soon

I'm going to keep working on this :)

Picture Goal

So I had this idea in my mind to take a picture every day this week and this is what I have to show for it:

Sunday Dinner

FHE- yummmmy Fruit Pizza

Apparently I only like to pose with food? haha I could have sworn that I take more pictures daily in my life, but I guess not.

Goal: take a picture of some part of my day EVERY DAY [with or without food ;)] for the next week!

It seems to be a well-known fact among my friends and family that I have small hands. And if you didn't know this already, well now you do.

Here's a picture of my hand against a friends during my Freshman year - notice that my hand is the same size as his hand when his fingers are bent.


Here's a picture of my hand all swollen as I hiked Mt. Timpanogos


This is what Karina said to me the day after we hiked and my hands were no longer swollen:
"Your hands are proportionate again... not to the rest of your body, but to your hand." bahaha, thanks Karina! ;)

My hands have been called things such as miniature, baby hands, and most recently- midget mittens. Everyone has their own term for them it seems.

But to all you hand-haters out there, this is what Scott wrote to me in a letter I got today:

"Hey, I think your "midget mittens" are pretty great. In fact, I can think of tons of situations where they come in handy (haha, get it? handy?) For example, swimming. Do dolphins have long fingers? I don't think so, and they're pretty much the best swimmers around. And what about if you have to diffuse a bomb - I'm pretty sure having smaller hands would be a big advantage. And best of all, your hands fit together with mine perfectly, and nobody else's would be right in mine! So I'm pretty sure that I just scientifically proved that you have perfect hands. Yep, uh huh, proven fact."


This had me laughing so hard with a ginormous smile on my face!! :D

So there- it is a scientifically proven fact that my hands are not weird!

One of the reasons I love this place

I love how I am surrounded by such amazing people. We have made some awesome friends this semester :)

My roommates and I have received some random acts of kindness and they really brighten up our days!

Example 1:
Some days we wake up to a post-it on our door from a super nice guy down the hall. We have put them up on our bulletin board near our entry and they are so sweet!


The most recent one from this week says this: "Blessed is a virtuous woman, and blessed is a man who knows a virtuous woman (or 4 of them!) You're great!"

Example 2:
Another friend down the hall makes delicious cinnamon rolls and when he makes a batch he brings us a plate. They are so good!

Example 3:
We received a coupon in the mail for a free bagel every Friday, but the coupon is only good for one person. We asked other people in our FHE group if they had the coupon and didn't want it so that me and each of my roommates could go together, but they hadn't seen it. Then, this morning this was taped to our door-


Its amazing how such simple things can be so amazing to others :) It is now my goal to do more random acts of kindness for others.

This has been a whole month..? Its already October...?!

I LOVE my major!! My classes are so great! Buuuuut.... they keep me super busy. I have been living day to day [or sometimes hour by hour] to get things done. So now that I am relaxing at home between sessions of the wonderful General Conference, I have decided to try to update my blog :) And just maybe this will be a motivation for my sister to do the same! [hint hint!!] ;)

The John Mayer/Owl City Concert
I had such a great time at this with Karina and 2 of her sisters. The concert was at the USANA Amphitheater in the Western Salt Lake Valley on a beautiful day at the end of August. We sang and danced in our blanket seating while Owl City performed, but pretty much everyone around us just kept talking and walking around. They obviously didn't care about Owl City, which was sad. I was mostly there for them and the rest of the audience was not, but it was still awesome :)


Timpanogos Hike
A group of people from my ward decided to hike Timpanogos Mountain on Labor day. My roommates Karina and Ashley were way excited for it and after a lot of convincing I joined them. We left our complex at 5:45, started the hike around 7 am, and finally got to the top around Noon. It was an amazing hike, but it was the most intense thing I have ever done! I am not in shape, I no longer have an inhaler, and we were climbing 6.8 miles to the second highest peak of the Wasatch Mountains. I was grateful that I had great friends help and encourage me all along the way or else I might have just sat on a rock and waited for them to come back down.
The view was beautiful! I felt so accomplished and proud of myself for finishing! I still look up at Timp and am amazed that I stood on top of it. I sure felt the effects of that hike for a while, but it was very worth it! :)


Haircut
Ever since I donated my hair Freshman year of High School I have been growing my hair. I have always felt like its still short and I needed to grow it longer. This mental block started coming down occasionally when I would realize just how long my hair really was... and so I finally cut it. It was crazy to stand up afterward and see so much hair all over the floor that was no longer attached to my head. I love my haircut though!

Before: notice how it goes beyond the visible picture

After!

IKEA
I love this store. It is amazing, entertaining, and full of the cutest furniture and decorations that I want in the future. For every school year I have made a trip to IKEA to get supplies and decorations, and this year it was so fun with my new roommates! We are known as the HACK Pack because our names are Holly, Ashley, Clarissa, and Karina [H.A.C.K.] and we have been told we all move in a pack, so we are the HACK Pack :) Our adventures in IKEA were very entertaining and this is where the very first picture of all 4 of us together was taken :)


Ice Blocking
I had heard other people talk about doing this many times before so I was way excited when my apartment was invited to go to Rock Canyon Park and try it out for ourselves. We purchased blocks of ice at a gas station, brought towels, wore clothes we wouldn't mind getting grass stains on, and then had many adventures learning how to slide down the hill! You fold up the towel and set it on the block, then you sit on the towel and use your feel/hands to balance yourself as you quickly slide down the grassy hill. It was a blast! I wasn't very good at going straight for very long or staying on top of my ice block, but it was hilarious. We had quite an audience as little kids at the park wanted to see us slide, so it was very fun :)

Notice how I am no longer sitting on my ice block in this picture, haha

Broken Bed
I fell asleep one night while doing my homework on my bed. This is a pretty common occurrence when I try to be productive while sitting in bed. Ok, so I fell asleep and then Karina came in a little bit later and convinced me to get up and actually get ready for bed. I had put on my PJs and was about to lay down when my roommate Ashley came in and jumped on my bed to tell us something crazy that had just happened. When she landed on my mattress, the bed collapsed underneath her. I stood there in shock for about a minute, and didn't move for about 5 more minutes. My bed had just broken. The bed I was just about to lay down on had broken. One side of the frame had become detached from the headboard and foot-board so my mattress was at a crazy angle and was resting on stuff I had stored under my bed. Crazy. I ended up sleeping on the couch and thankfully my bed was fixed by the time I got home the next day :)



Recapturing Beauty Lecture
Stephenie Nielson gave a lecture at BYU Thursday night about her experience and I was able to attend! It was an amazing opportunity to be there and to feel the Spirit and the emotion during her talk. There were SO MANY people there that the entire BYU Ballroom was crowded past the limit. Thankfully I got there early and I had a great seat. I even sat by a reporter for the Deseret News and she asked me some questions, so I was featured in her article. [I'm on page 2 :)] Stephenie posted pictures of the event on her blog and I found my face in it too! haha It was such an amazing lecture! She is an incredible woman and an amazing example.


Surprise Family Visit
I got a text Friday morning from my cousin Jacey saying that she was going to be at BYU for a campus tour later that day and she wanted to meet up! I was so excited :) After my class I met up with Jacey, Christie, Nancy, and Katy and was able to spend a few hours with them. I love having family around and getting to spend time with my cousins! They are all amazing women and I'm so glad we got a chance to meet up!


So there ya have it. I have had quite a month here at BYU so far! I am loving it all and having a blast with my roommates, my new ward, my classes, and all the random adventures that come along the way!