Goodbye, Hello

I leave for Rexburg next Tuesday...I'm way excited to be going back to school and see all of my friends..also to progress in my schooling; it's going to be AWESOME when I can be done with school. I can't believe I only have 2 more years. Leaving either place is bitter sweet. I will miss everyone I leave behind but look forward to seeing all of my great friends at school. To the end of my summer I feel I must say goodbye to somethings.

Goodbye To:

Charlotte Speech and Hearing Center; who let me work there all summer for the past three summers. I really appreciate having a job waiting for me when I get home and I love the fact that I can work with my mom. It helps when you have a built in best friend at work to make things easier.

Three day weekends; where I could start my weekend on Thursday night and live it up until Monday morning. I'll miss mistaking Friday for Saturday.

My calling as Relief Society teacher. I actually loved this calling!! I never knew how much I loved to teach and how much I could learn from teaching. I got released yesterday...and even though I joke about "being free" I'm really going to miss being able to share my thoughts and feeling about gospel topics and having my RS girls throwing their 2 cents out there. I only have to teach three times but each time was a great experience and I think helped me in ways I didn't know I needed help. I believe I've grown from this calling and I hope that I can build on what I've learned and maybe use it in the school setting. Heavenly Father really does know what we need! :)

The Hilliard Branch! I am so thankful that we have a singles branch around Charlotte!! I feel like this is a place where people in the same stage in life can come and build each other up. I didn't think I'd make such great friends but these past two summers have been loaded with many friend filled activities...and I'm SO thankful that invite me places or share things with me. I'm glad that I can come home to a place and still feel like I'm a part of the branch even though I've been gone so long. I had the opportunity to keep my spiritual oil lamp full even while I'm away from the little mormon bubble that Rexburg is! :) There are certain people (in and out of the branch!) that I'd like that thank for that...hopefully they know who they are; thank you for EVERYTHING...you've been my rock this summer!

My family...oh how I miss them when I'm gone. I love them soooo much! I'm always so ready to leave for school but as soon as I get there I still wish I was around for my family outings and constant jokes. They're pretty good about keeping me clued in though. I'm happy that they allow me to come and take over the house in the summer. I move stuff around and arrange things the way that I want so there's room for me...but they just let me do it. Shout out to Gramma...thanks for doing my laundry, cooking, and taking us out to lunch! :) I'm ready to go back to school but that doesn't mean I won't miss you terribly!!! LOVE YOU!

Cheeseburgers! Every summer it's like there's a food theme...it just happens, we don't know why but my family kind of get into a certain food and just love it! Last summer was Sushi...the year before that it was casadillas (oh and we became masters on how to make them!!) ....this summer was cheeseburgers....at least for me it was....I'm not sure if my family was as into it...I just LOVE them! I was always jonesin' for a cheeseburger. Either my dad's (which are THE best), Outback, Redrobin, Woodbutchers or wherever...I got a cheeseburger. I love them with sauteed onions...mmmmm. What I won't miss is soup! I've had soup just about every day for lunch this summer at work...it's quick to take in the mornings and it's freezing in the Center so it's not too bad...I just get sick of it quickly. I'll eat it...but I won't miss it. :) Any guess what I have for lunch today???

Also, goodbye to:
Charlotte! Thursday night Office and LOST and occasional SNL! Lauren's house! Jamming to music in Ashleigh's car! Driving!!!! (I hope I get to drive someones car in ID) Money! Laziness! Reading for pleasure! The possibility of the beach! EVERYONE WHO LOVES ME!

HELLO to:

Rexburg, ID and Fall 2008

The Olympics: Self Improvement 101

I LoVe the Olympics. I'm excited they're on. I enjoy Summer better than Winter but I still like to watch the Winter too. Summer Olympics means:

Swimming

Diving

Gymnastics

Beach Volleyball

Baseball

Soccer

But my favorites are usually what everyone elses favorites are: SwImMiNg and GyMnAsTiCs. :) I like swimming better because it's absolute. You start the race, you end the race, if you were ahead of the other person you won. In Gymnastics it's judges and I don't feel they're always fair. This is besides my point. What I always gain from the Olympics is that these are (usually) young people that have accomplished so much in their short time here. They have worked hard and devoted hours upon hours to this one thing. Sometimes I feel inadequate compared to them, but now I'm taking a different approach. I'm learning from them. If I want something bad enough I'm going to have to work for it...and work for it hard. They might have had talent to begin with but they didn't get where they're at by relying purely on that...they put in time and effort. They sacrifice so much for their dreams.

Here are some of the dreams I'm willing to work harder for:

*Writing a novel.

I've had a short story that I've wanted to extend into a novel for quite sometime. I think it's time that I stop talking about wanting to write a novel and actually do it. I'm sure it will be a long hard process but I'm willing to take the time for it. I don't expect it to be a master piece but it will be MY masterpiece.

*Getting into shape

I have lost some weight since the start of college but I need to do more. I need to eat better and work out more, even if I don't have access to a gym. I plan on getting into a full routine while I'm at school and to stick to it. I'm going to work out at LEAST three times a week but hopefully more. I'm basically going to just stop eating things I know aren't good for me. I mean we know if what we're putting in our mouth is good or bad...I don't want to follow a "diet" because I never follow them. I just want to cut out the bad and control portion sizes a little bit better. I look at these athletes in the Olympics and I envy them because of their build and how toned they are. I am a Michael Phelps fan but not for his looks, believe me. I think he's a great athlete (yeah sometimes they promote him too much but hey he's making history...he deserves it!). But if he wasn't in such great shape he wouldn't have much going for him in the looks department. He's perfectly toned and his skin just lays right against his muscles. He's super fit and I just think (every time I watch him race) 'wow...his body is pretty much perfect...I want to be that fit.' It's not that I'm thinking he's "hott" or anything...I just want to be toned like that. The thing about athletes is usually you can't say "oh they're too skinny and a bad role model for kids..." nope! They're healthy, they have to be to compete and they look healthy too. I'm excited to start this new phase of my hard work...actually I just can't wait to see the results. :) I feel like if I write this down I will be even MORE driven to do it because I've told other people I'm trying...I hope it works.

He's AmAzInG!

*Study
I'm going to work even HARDER at school. I waste a lot of time sometimes and I'm determined to use it wisely this coming semester. There is time for play and rest but I know a do more than my fair share, especially when I should be doing homework. :P I'm not going to make a schedule for myself because I never follow them, but I will make a list of things to get done each week. I also will think twice before starting to lounge and think about what I need to get done.


*Money
Saving money isn't THAT hard for me, but knowing I have it also is tempting to go out and use it. I will save money. For what? Who knows, but it's just good to have something to fall back on. Plus, I'd really like to go to Greece some day. It's my new destination of choice.


So there you go. The Olympics have had the opposite effect on me from 4 years ago. When they were in Athens I felt insignificant but this year in Beijing I feel impowered and that I can be just as accomplilshed as they are. Maybe I won't get any Olympic gold medals but I'll settle for a personal gold medal any day.

Aci Page

I have to tell everyone of my long lost sister Aci Page. She WAS my roommate Staci but since then she became one of us and had to have her first name start with an A...therefore she is Aci. : ) Even my mom says she fit in so well with us...my whole family was pleased to meet her and happy that I have such great friends at school.
(Remember I'm talking about Staci but I'm going to call her Aci the whole post....) Aci came to visit me on July 18th! She's so funny and decided to be adventurous and take the train in. WoW...that's a little scary. But she said even though she had to sit by a snoring fat guy it was still worth it to see me. (awww) She got in and we were going to go to a dance the branch was having but she got in two hours later than expected and we just wanted our pj's on and to hang around. We had a sleep over with a couple other girls (Arin's friend and such...) We played Balderdash (hehe Sniggle!) and pigged out on pizza and icecream. I love girls nights! We couldn't take it anymore and had to sleep at 2:30am. Plus Ashleigh was acting a little crazy so we had to cut her off of whatever she was on! We got up early to take Ash to work and Aci got to see my mad driving skills. We got back home and had breakfast...laid around and didn't want to do anything. We said goodbye to the other girls and then finally had the motivation to get ready for the day. We went and picked up Ash from work and then went to the park for a little bit...but EVERYONE (ehem my sisters) were complaining so we went to lunch and Aci had BBQ the RIGHT way...with slaw and everything. That's one thing I love about Aci is that she'll try things at least once (the train, the food...) She also became an addict of Cheerwine! I was so proud we kind of made her the tiniest but more southern. That afternoon we took pictures like crazy and made a couple videos. We played some guitar hero (she's a natural) and she schooled me in baseball...WHO KNEW! Then she beat Ash too...we also did bowling. Her Mii was so cute and it's funny how those things can really look like you. We went and saw Batman that night...we were both pretty creeped out by the Joker and didn't know what to think. I think the movie was very well done but I think that it was a little too scary for my liking...I mean I HAAAATE scary movies so this was not fun for me. So I was pretty negative about the movie afterwards..I think I'd like to see it again for further judgment. I was too wrapped up in being scared and having to pee every 30 mins that I missed a lot of the plot and point of certain things. After that Aci and I were soooo tired and got ready for bed....but once that was all done with we were awake again. We talked for another 2 hours at the least. She's pretty awesome...I can't wait to see her in a couple of weeks!!! AHHH...it's coming so soon. Anyway Sunday we went to church and were tired all through it but it was still good...just like I was back in college with her at my side...don't worry we didn't pass notes. ; ) Then we helped make dinner and desert...and ate Spaghetti Speleato which is a family recipe. She said she liked it and I think I'll try to make it for dinner sometime at school. We chilled the rest of the day and took another 100 pictures. I'll share a few.

We were so tired that we took a nap together and then got up and talked about just everything. We took her back to the train station in the morning and she didn't get home until WAY late at night. I'm SOO happy she came to see me...I'm hopefully going to her house next summer!!! Thanks Aci for being such a great friend and truely becoming my sister!! I hope you got a little insight into my crazy life. : ) I love you tons! 28 days until I get back to the Burg...see you there!!!

Biltmore!!!

It's not that I didn't think about writing but hey I've been busy as you will soon see. This post is dedicated JUST to Biltmore Estate with Colie!!!

I went over to my good friend from high school; Colie's house the night before so that we could leave early in the morning. We watched the traditional episode of the office and then hit the sack...we were tired. We woke up about 7:30 (sleeping in on a Tuesday..nice!) and decided if we were going on a trip every meal must be bought "on the road". So where did we go for at least ONE meal?? Chic-fil-a! : ) Breakfast there is very good...I could have eaten lunch there too. We got on the road and jammed to a cd that we made the night before. We called it Teenybopper because it was FILLED with *Nsync , BSB, Brittney, Christina, Dream, and more...ahh it was AWESOME! We belted our hearts out....and then went through her random cds and found some other good things to listen to. Too bad I can't find my HSM2 soundtrack, that would have been fun. We got there by 10:30 and dove right in.

We got a good pic of us jamming:

We took the conventional shot in front of the house and then got some of just the grounds.

We took the we-want-pictures-together-so-we'll-stick-our-arm-out-way-far-to-get-us-both-in shots....

Then we toured the house. I can't imagine actually living in this place! I mean it's huge...I wish there wasn't places roped off so I could explore and see all the different ways to get places but we had to follow the crowd. What I love about Colie is that she wasn't all "oh the history...blah blah.." we both weren't that interested in how it was built, preserved, or what it stood for....we just wanted to see how huge it really was and to see the details of each room. Every ceiling was different! They have 43 bathrooms and back then people usually still had an outhouse! Colie and I both decided that the basement was our favorite part. BOWLING...SWIMMING (that pool looked amazing..I could run in from the other room and jump into a room filled with water!). So Colie and I decided we'd work in the kitchen to have easier access to the basement facilities. : ) We were done with the tour and went to explore the grounds and take some funny pictures as well....

We went to the green houses and then to the lake. I'm not a nature-ish person but there was something very peaceful about just walking around the lake and seeing all of the green. Colie and I had some good discussions while there too.

We saw a sign for a waterfall and followed it but it turn out of be a dam that had water flowing off of it...we thought it was a natural waterfall. It was okay...we soaked our feet in the creek and rested. Then we had to walk all the way back up the grounds and we were BEEEAT! I mean it was hot and uphill. We got back to the house (Mansion!) and decided Icecream sounded AWESOME! We got cones: Colie with Mint Chocolate Chip (a favorite of both of ours) and Me with Moose Tracks (I never had it in a cone before thus making the experience so much more enjoyable). They were pretty big (I guess when your house is that big...you try to make everything match it..) so we decided to skip lunch and count that as nourishment enough. We caught the bus back to the parking lot...yes we were that tired. Then we drove to see Colie's school UNCA! It was so tiny...and Colie and I swapped college stories! I love talking about college..I also like that Colie and I are still great friends even after high school. We went and ate some Thai food which was so delicious...mmm...I want to go back to Ashville just for it! The drive home was just as fun just not AS enthused because we were dog tired! We came back to my house and chilled for a little bit but then Colie left and I just fell asleep.

It was a good day and I'm glad I can say that I went on my Biltmore trip...it helped that I had a great friend to go with! : )