All In Good Fun

School is killer. Especially since President Clark rearranged the schedule and shortened the semesters. The last month flew by with ridiculous speed and with that came ridiculous stress. I decided that Jessica, Kelli, and I needed a stress reliever since we'd been studying in our rooms for hours upon hours.

Let me set this up for a minute.

I had my own room, the first in the hallway. Then Jessica and Kelli's room was next, in the middle and finally, Lindsey and Nicole shared the bedroom by the vanity. While Nicole and Lindsey went dancing one night I ran into Kelli and Jessica's room and asked if Kelli still had her masking tape. Luckily, she did. I told her to grab it and meet me in Nicole and Lindsey's room. I sprawled on the floor and Kelli started to outline me. Jessica was in charge of the cameras and here is the process from start to finish, minus the reactions of Nicole and Lindsey.

Both of them knew it was my idea as soon as they saw it.

Things that induce laughter/smiles/happy feelings in me today:

1. My mom and Grannie coming to California for Christmas!

2. My kitty cat sleeping on my bed all last night.

3. Doing a good job on my Secret Santa present shopping.

4. Only one month left until I move to Seattle!

5. Seeing Bishop and Sister Davenport and the Van Wei's at El Paso.

6. El Paso. Yum.

Happy Birthday Josh!

It's my big brother Josh's birthday today! Hooray! He's awesome! Honestly - I have the best family.

Things that induce laughter/smiles/happy feelings in me today:
1. California Sunshine.
2. Chilling with Nicole everyday since I got home.
3. Chelsea trying to get out of the car while still buckled.
4. Malaga Cove ward choir performances.

Final Exams

It's that time of year when Finals come. *collective groan from every student everywhere* I actually got fairly lucky this year - all things considering. A lot of my finals are at least part take-home, or done online. So that's nice.

Nothing is nicer than Brother Babcock's final. For the midterm he posted the short answer questions on I-Learn and we had to answer and submit them there. Well, he decided to cut out the middle man, as it were, and simply e-mail us the test. Here are his instructions:

Provide complete answers to all questions. No time limit. Use books, notes, neighbors, monsters, beanbags, blindfolds, etc. The use of carved pumpkins (Neoclassical, or otherwise) is expressly prohibited. Use as much space as you need to answer each question. In other words, use the framework of this text, but feel free to expand its electronic format to accommodate your answers. Then, re-save it, and email it to your instructor.

That's right. Beanbags are fair game. But not carved pumpkins. What he failed to realize is that uncarved pumpkins are actually smarter than carved ones in that the uncarved pumpkins still have their GUT. (I know it's not funny. It's finals week. This is the best I can do people.)

To everyone who has a final they have to take: good luck.
To everyone else: I hate you.

Things that induce laughter/smiles/happy feelings in me today:
1. $92 from book buy back and that isn't even all of my books yet.
2. Katie.
3. Christmas shopping.

Goodbyes

It's the end of another semester and I've started saying goodbye to my friends up here and this year feels harder than any other year. So this is a shout out to some of the people I've hated saying goodbye to the most.

Katie "Favorite" Porter:

I think the nickname says it all. She is by far my favorite person EVER. I only spent about 9 months with Katie and she taught me so much. I've never felt a more instant connection with anyone in my life. She's my best friend (from day one) the world over and for the past several years I've felt like I've been missing half of my body because she's in North Carolina. The Sonic runs, the World Series, the wrestling matches, the jokes, Ultimate Ball, telephone dates, all the NC boys, the road trips...the fun never ended with Favorite. Even through the fights (you slapped me first) she's been my constant.

Allison "Bella Stella" Stewart (soon-to-be-Phair):

Alli was the bright spot in a lot of darkness for about 3

years. True I only got Fall (and one precious Winter) semesters with her, but it made summer worth it knowing I would live with Alli again soon enough. Talk about a good example! Alli helped me want to do so many things in my life better - probably without ever knowing it. I loved the late night chats, slumber parties, PK's runs (fricy spies anyone?), talking about all of our classes each night and teaching each other, incriminating situations with starbursts at parties, the religious discussions that taught me more than church ever had. I'm so glad you're happy Stella! (STEL-LA!)

Shauna "Na-na" Sargent: There are no words. Shauna is amazing. She introduced me to abbrevs, mc's, ice cream as any meal and in between, ridiculously dangerous driving, the wonder of the third, Millionaire Matchmaker, super late night tv, giggle, and how to laugh again. Shauna kidnapped and blindfolded me on my birthday and put up with my frantic screams of "HELP!" while we were parked next to a cop. The awkward boy stories that helped inspire "And Rob Just Stood There" are something I will treasure forever and hope to keep up. (yay blogging). I can't believe she's graduating and moving to New York - the town she was born to live in. Congrats Na-na. Miss you already.

Kellie "KP" Parisek:

The roommate I only had twice. She left me, but I still love her. From her freshman year she should have been living with us. I'm so glad Kellie and Shauna got to be such good friends because I never would have met her otherwise and what would my life be? Boring. Kellie talked me through a lot of hard stuff last summer like Gramps dying and all the Superman drama. Kellie is my second guinnea pig for my stupid book and I can't believe she actually volunteered for this! Miss you lots. Love you more. Bitter Bettys is all I have to say. Love.

These are just a few. Obviously there's tons more...other roommates, Superman, McMoviePhone, the apartment boyfriend, the back corner crew of Francais, my Franglais buddy, Diane and Ali and there will be more to come, I'm sure. Thanks for everything you guys.

Things that induce laughter/smiles/happy feelings in me today:

1. The Muppets.

2. Clean Laundry.

3. THE LAST WEEK OF SCHOOL!

4. PK's tomorrow.

A New Trend

I honestly do not have time to be blogging right now, but I couldn't resist. This was too funny to pass up. Well...for me at least.

Ok. I know I have nice hair. I love my hair. Strangers ask to touch it. Creepy, but flattering. Most of you probably already know the story of McMoviePhone comparing my hair to corn silk in front of 6 people from one of our classes (it was hilarious...especially if you've heard his voice). It happened again today. Thankfully this time it was a single girl who said it - and she's my friend from my French class - instead of McMoviePhone (as much as I adore him). I haven't seen Miranda or Mamie since 19 November (WEIRD) so when they came into class today we were chatting and Miranda leaned over and ran her fingers through my hair and said, "Your hair is so pretty! It's like...like CORNSILK!" To which Mamie agreed while I was cracking up and getting dirty looks because all of this took place during the opening hymn. yeah. I've never had my hair compared to cornsilk before, but apparently that's what it looks like this semester.

Things that induce laugher/smiles/happy feelings in me today:

1. Getting my new jeans in the mail.

2. My sister.

3. Mornings that are so foggy you can't see the temple until you're literally RIGHT next to it.

4. Nathanael - including but not limited to: his National Guard uniform, his lollipops, his grumpy attitude whenever we sing Christmas songs in French, and the corncob pipe we bought him.

5. Knowing what I'm going to be doing for Winter Semester.

6. Getting in trouble every Monday, Wednesday and Friday with McMoviePhone. Without fail.

7. 11 more days until the end of the semester.