(lack of) christmas

fujie//where i'm headed

 

our family is doing things a little differently this year for christmas.

there is no tree up in my house.

the boxes full of decorations are still in the garage.

and we aren't buying eachother presents this year.

it sounds like we're scrooges but we're really not.

promise.

but this year we're going to Japan to visit my dad's family. after 4 looong years i will finally get to see my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. but since they aren't christian, christmas means nothing to them. it's a regular day where people get up and go to work. it's a little sad but they sure know how to celebrate new years ;)

but between me and the moment i walk through their door is four airports, three flights, two layovers, and one already tired girl who will be traveling by herself. wish me luck! and merry christmas season to YOU :)

snow pictures: the good and the bad

it snowed last night! it rarely snows and stays snowy in my hometown so this was a huuuge deal. my brother was playing around with the camera so we decided to take some pictures.

i clearly don't do serious and love my cat way too much.

 

 

back at home

well everything went smoothly. except for my two items of luggage, my life has been boxed up and put into storage. i left my apartment squeaky clean (well...the portion i cleaned) and said my good-byes. it was definitely bittersweet. i've met some incredible people the last couple of years and it's odd to think that i won't see them for almost two years. not to mention that they will probably be graduated/married when i get back. but that's how life works.

 

now i'm back at home, sleeping on a couch in the guest room. back to hanging out with my more-hilarious-than-i-remember parents, back to rain, back to baby duty, and back to cat loving. i've already eaten more the past two days than i have in the past week and it feels great. i leave for japan in 4 days and i am readayyy to go. but in the meantime, i'm going to enjoy me some of this.

 

 

**the baby my mom takes care of and the cat we're cat sitting.

time to move, time for change

my apartment is quiet, there are boxes everywhere, and i'm snuggled in bed. today will consist of packing up my life from the past 3 years and i'm not quite ready to face it yet. two of my roommates have already gone home for christmas and the other is at work. so much has happened the past two months and now that it's all really happening, it's a little surreal. major life changes, the decision to serve a mission, and the decision to go home beforehand. the past two weeks have been emotional, stressful, and exhausting but it was a learning experience and am content with how things have turned out. i'm slowly learning that sometimes you just need to rely on Heavenly Father and things will always work out, even if you have no idea how or why.

so here i am, done with finals and wrapping up my life here in provo for the time being. saying goodbye to the people i'm close with has been hard but i know i'm making the right decision and that we'll see eachother again eventually. i'm getting on the plane on saturday and i'm so excited to see my family. i haven't seen my family since july and it's high time i spend some quality time with those guys. not to mention, my family in japan who i will be seeing in exactly a week!! so many exciting things to come in the upcoming weeks. but right now, my closet is staring me down so...

CALLED TO SERVE

Dear Sister Sugihara,

You are hereby called to serve as a missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. You are assigned to labor in the Japan Sapporo Mission. It is anticipated that you will serve for a period of 18 months.

You should report to the Provo Missionary Training Center on Wednesday, April 24, 2012. You will prepare to preach the gospel in the Japanese language.

I'm so incredibly excited and humbled to be embarking on this new adventure. Teaching the people of Sapporo about Jesus Christ will be a wonderful experience. I'm grateful for this opportunity to grow spiritually and do what Heavenly Father would like me to do. If you want to know more about what I will be doing, this has some pretty great information :)

countdown

 

2 days until i know my fate for the next 18 months.

3 days until classes are over.
10 days until finals are over.
12 days until i'm home in seattle.
19 days until i leave for japan.
come at me bro.
oh and you could say i'm a little bit excited.

a little bit of fall in december

remember this post? well we got the rest of the group photos so here they are!

 

 

what can i say...we're a crazy bunch ;)

love these ladies.

to do

in a word, my list is huge. there is so much to be done between now and that moment i'm sitting on an airplane home. packing, research papers, presentations, studying, cleaning, finals, last minute playdates with people i won't see for a couple years...not to mention the two appreciation parties my office is throwing for me ;)  i really should be overwhelmed right now. there should be feelings of stress and maybe even a little bit of angst. but there isn't. i wouldn't go so far as to say i'm calm but there is definitely a feeling that everything will work out. that's a good thing, right? because i can't imagine spending the next 2 1/2 weeks running around all crazy..but we all know that's how it'll end up ;)

turkey day with no pictures of turkey

 here's what a turkey hangover looks like.

the house we stayed at for thanksgiving had a limited amount of minutes for wifi (i didn't even know that was an option...?) so that's why this is 5 days late.

thanksgiving was a grand 3 days of eating, napping, and being with great people (sadly my camera is on the fritz so i didn't get very many pictures. and the ones that we did take were on a friend's camera, so there you go for a blog fail). the weekend started when we, ky, carly, jill, spencer, and i, left wednesday afternoon to head up to carly's grandparent's house in midway, utah. her entire family was there so sleeping situations got a little cozy but we made it work. one night carly just laid on the carpet and ended up sleeping there after we gave her a blanket and pillow haha.

thanksgiving morning shined bright and clear and we started off the day with a run and a giant breakfast. the day was spent cooking and having fun. and let me tell you, when all of the food was ready, there was so much. carly's sister made 10 lbs of mashed potatoes, we made 7 lbs of green bean casserole, our turkey was 23 lbs...you get the idea. to make us sound even more gluttonous, we'd been snacking all day on mixed nuts, chocolate covered acai berries, and baby oranges. needless to say, we ate quite a bit and all took some time to decompress afterwards ha. that night, we watched a random movie on tv about a goose and played board games.

over the few days i had some time in between eating to sit wrapped in a blanket, write in my journal, and reflect on how much i have. i'm so blessed to have my family, my friend, and my faith. the list is much longer but i'll spare you. but sometimes it makes me sad that we have a holiday for gratitude because really, we should be thankful and express our gratitude every day. but then i think about all that good food and then i'm fine again ;)

the rest of our weekend was spent doing homework, napping, eating leftovers, and pretending that finals aren't 2 weeks away. but with the end of break comes reality. cheers everyone.

hello my name is embarrassing

emily drake is my roommate. but not this emily drake. this emily lives in orem and does hair. say hello to one of the most embarrassing moments of my life. happy sunday all.

thankful - part two

yes he's part of the fam too

 my family is crazy, weird, and sometimes dysfunctional but they're my family and i love them. there's just something about being friends with people who still love you at your worse, you know? they're my support, even from a few states away. my dad's family is across the world but i love them just as much. they're all amazing people and  i'm incredibly excited that i get to see them for the first time in four years this christmas.
i'm going to miss them all deeply when i'm gone but i'm thankful that i will get to spend time with them during the upcoming holidays.

thankful - part one

there are moments in life that are celebrated and then there are moments when life gets hard. in both i truly believe that the people around you make all the difference in the world. the past couple months have been a learning experience, one that i'll always be thankful for. i've mentioned {ahem, quite a few times. sorry} that this semester was the first time all my roommates were random.and even though it's only been a few months, my belief that certain people are sent into our lives for a specific reason has gotten stronger.
people need people. i need people.  i'm thankful for those in my life who have taught me that it's okay to rely on others sometimes. life is so much better when you're surrounded by wonderful people.

big news + a new chapter in life

I have decided to serve a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. It will be 18 months of teaching and sharing with people what our church believes. I submitted my application/mission papers a few days ago and now I'm just waiting to find out where I will be going!

This was no small decision and took months of contemplating and praying. If you remember this post, that's the weekend everything changed. That's when the age requirements changed (for girls, the age requirement changed from 21 to 19) and all of my nicely laid plans for internships went out the window. But even after the announcement, I still wasn't quite ready. It took me a little more time to finally choose and commit to this life changing decision.

I love my life here at BYU but I'm putting it on hold for a while. This semester I really got into my major and fell in love with it all over again. I've made incredible friends and become more established in my job. But as sad as I'll be leaving all of this, there's something bigger out there for me. "Paying it forward" or "giving back" doesn't adequately express it, but that's kind of how I feel. I've been so blessed and have so much to be grateful for, this is my way of expressing it; 18 months is so short in the grand scheme of life. (I know that serving a mission is not meant for everyone so I'm grateful that there are other ways to show gratitude and help people locally).

I'm so incredibly excited for this new chapter in life. I find out where I'm going either next week or the week after and I'm getting more and more anxious! I have a particular country I want to go to but I'll be happy going anywhere. I haven't decided what to do with my blog while I'm gone but until then, thanks for reading :)

exciting news! minus the news part.

via



something really really really exciting is supposed to happen today.

keep your fingers crossed!!

(i know this is really ambiguous but i'll explain later when things are more set)

weekend highlights

via
 

8 inches of snow. a research paper. shall we dance. a giant crockpot of soup (and lasagna, bread, salad, gyoza, chocolate...). movies. boots and hats. no hot water for two days. first official roommate pictures of the semester.

it was fantastic.

yours truly. in plaid of course.

i looked so annoyed  in this one.

couple weeks ago i went on this mini photo shoot with some friends and these are the portraits that emily took. she was really friendly and her and her husband/assistant make an adorable couple. the barn that we took these shots by was so pretty, i loved it! so glad i have more photos of my favorite plaid since that's all i wear these days ;) thanks emily for the photos!