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!

there's white fluffy stuff coming down

and i'm rewarding myself with a giant mug of hot cocoa.

oh and just in case you were wondering, all of my big fat greek wedding is on youtube.

yep, i just went there.

it's going to be a low key weekend full of movies, a research paper, preparing a presentation, and making food with friends.

cheers!

have a warm and safe weekend!

i found you...{not miss new booty}

i may have found the reason

of why i've lost my touch with the opposite gender.

{well...what little touch i had. HA.}

 

but it's alright.

it'll come back...eventually.

right?

its a funny life

--getting texts from my roommate that say when are you coming home to me?
--this hilarious video. {if you don't speak japanese, you won't get it. sorreh} but you don't need to know japanese to laugh at this one.
--making my roommate laugh so hard while she's brushing her teeth that she gets toothpaste all over her face and pees her pants.
--getting a text from my little brother asking if i am participating in no shave november. duhhh.
--trick or treaters coming to our door on saturday and my roommate thinking that they were handing out candy. and then getting free chocolate while they looked confused.
--someone describing their future husband as swagtastic
--getting asked out by a guy who just told me he kissed a girl the night before. hello complicated provo dating scene.
--sending a goofy face webcam photo to the wrong person on facebook. should've gone to my roommate but went to some random girl in another city instead.
--what my nightmares consist of. who knew chattanooga could be so scary.
--starting a movie with the intention of turning it off after i finish eating...and then watching the ending 2 hours later while my homework sits untouched...woopsie!

i like to pretend i'm fancy

 

my girl maren took these the other day. one of our friends wanted a couple photography tips so i played model for an hour early the other morning. isn't she good? here are some of the ones she took of emily.

hope everyone had a great monday!

he's a halloween baby. minus the baby part.

lemme tell ya, this guy is pretty great. he's a fantastic cook and once you get to know him, a total crack up. he can make a mean pumpkin cheesecake and kick my tushy at board games. he knows what's right and he sticks to it. we haven't lived in the same house for a few years and we don't talk nearly as often as i'd like, but i know he has my back just like a good big brother should. love that guy.

happy birthday sho!
here's to another big year :)