The Epic First Week of School

I did it! I'm back in school and seriously loving it. Who knew someone could love school this much, but after a year and a half break and getting ready to graduate in June, I'm so psyched to be back. My class schedule is pretty good and not too difficult, so I have lots of time for homework and time for sewing for Provo Fashion Week coming up October 11 (so excited for that!).

Epic is the only word I can really use to describe the first week of school because that's what it was. I meant to post this right after the first week of school but here we are like a month later. It is what is. :)

I apologize for this long and late post. Read at your own risk!

Monday (labor day): No school this day obviously, but I met up with my family and extended family where we went to Red Butte Gardens since it was free that day, had a picnic, and then went and saw Maleficent at the dollar theater (I'd definitely recommend watching it if you haven't).

I made this video (its only like a minute long) if you want to see all the beauty and fun of Red Butte Gardens.


Tuesday: First day of school! First day of school! So on Tuesdays and Thursdays I actually only have one class and it's not until the night time, so this day was really chill. I spent the day getting ready for school, making this wedding video, and sewing for the upcoming show. I went on campus early and got my new id card which I'm pretty excited about having. You don't realize how many perks there are to being a student until you're not a student anymore.

My night class is sewing for children and I'm way excited for it. All the people are fun and I think I'll learn a lot of useful things for children and adult clothing. I'm especially happy that we get to be pretty creative in that class with what we want to do for our projects and how we do them. I'll have to post what I make on here when we get to that point. That class ended early and I rushed over to the park for my friend Alyne's birthday party, where they had already played games and we watched Remember the Titans on a projector screen in the park. Super fun night! When the movie was almost done there was a random drunk man who lived across the street and kept yelling at us to leave and started going to take pictures of our cars. We took that as our queue to leave, even though we were being pretty quiet and respectful.

I realized I hadn't taken a picture of my first day of school outfit so I shamelessly went out to the living room before going to bed and took this picture on self-timer. Ha! It was a really happy day and I kind of just wanted to capture that.

Wednesday: I went to pretty much ALL my classes this day. Wednesdays are my long days..I have classes until 9 am to 7 pm, with a few breaks in between. I get a lot of exercise from that haha. The other classes I'm taking are Statistics (which is going extremely well so far, yay!), Critical Inquiry and Research Methods, Doctrine and Covenants, Contemporary Dance, and Public Speaking. Everything except for the last two is required for my major or graduation. Dance was a no-brainer and since I really struggle with public speaking, I thought it'd be a good skill to have. I think it will be a little nerve-wracking, but I'm excited for the class. That night my friend Andre invited me over to his apartment for some mac n' cheese dinner so that was pretty great.

In the middle of the day I got to go to the BYU Museum of Art and check out this gorgeous exhibit of costumes from different movies like Pirates of the Caribbean, Ever After, Phantom of the Opera and tons others. We weren't supposed to take pictures but I snuck one of this gorgeous dress I couldn't get enough of. I think I'll probably go back and gawk at the clothes again, It took everything in me not to touch the clothes, so all I could do was lean forward as close as I could to see the details. It's funny how fabulous clothes up close are just that--clothes. It makes it a little less intimidating haha.

Thursday: This was another really free day, but I had found out that Studio C (of which I'm definitely a big fan) had a tech rehearsal and still had tons of tickets left for it. So that morning, I drove over to the BYU Broadcasting building and got a ticket to go and then went back home to get ready. As I was driving to the broadcasting building again to go to the rehearsal, there were no left turn lanes, so I slowed down but all of a sudden heard a screech of brakes, and then felt a crash as I was rear-ended. I guess the car behind me slowed down, but the car behind them didn't, so the car behind me got hit, which then caused them to crash into me.

I'm not lying to you when I say it was one of the scariest things ever. Nobody was hurt and it really wasn't that bad of an accident, but I was freaking out when it happened. I couldn't stop crying and when I called my mom to tell her what had happened, she couldn't understand me because I was so hysterical. I know, clearly I'm the person you want with you in times of crisis. For the next few days after the crash, I kept bursting into tears just thinking about it because I couldn't get it out of my head. I'm doing pretty good now, but every time I brake and slow down when driving, I can't help but tensing up and expecting the car behind me to crash into me. Not necessarily the funnest, especially in stop and go traffic on the freeway. Hopefully that's something I'll get over time.

this was the car behind me..they got it way worse and the people driving it weren't even the owners of the car, so that was unfortunate.

So basically I didn't get to see Studio C (I was really sad about that) and it's goodbye to the orange car. It was going to cost more to fix than it was worth, so the person's insurance company totaled the car and is giving us money for it instead. Crazy day. I guess a car crash is pretty epic too, but not necessarily in a positive way.

Friday: I had one class in the morning this day and I left really late and rushed. About a block from my apartment to campus, my wonderful roommate Jessica pulled up and gave me a quick ride to campus. She's the best! That was my only class, and since it was Comic Con weekend, my sister and I headed up to Salt Lake. Our younger sister Sidney's birthday was that day and since she's going to school at the U, we  took her out to lunch and gave her flowers. I think she really liked it and it was a lot of fun! We had Costa Vida which was delicious. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture!

After that, Carina and I headed to Comic Con and met up with my friend Andre. We had such a great time there seeing all the costumes and vendors and such. It was dang crazy though. There were SO many people.

(sorry the quality of some of these pictures are so bad! They were from my phone and then I emailed them to myself and the quality went down a lot)

That night, I had the absolute wonderful pleasure of going to see Sutton Foster at BYU. She was there for two nights and my roommate Olivia was the BEST and got me a ticket. I couldn't thank her enough and was sooooo excited to go. And man, was she incredible! She sang a plethora of songs from her album Wish and her friend Megan McGinnis (who performed in Little Women with Sutton on broadway) was also there for a few songs. It was so amazing and I'm still finding myself singing those songs and listening to them and hearing them the way she sung them. I can't find her version of it anywhere unfortunately, but she sang a lovely rendition of James Taylor's "You Can Close Your Eyes" that I absolutely adored.

Afterwards, she did signings and YES I got to meet her! Dream come true right there. I've always admired Sutton and especially loved her on the show Bunheads. We couldn't take pictures with her, just of her, so all of us in line coordinated with each other so that we took pictures of each other when she was signing our stuff. So yes, what you see below is me and SUTTON FOSTER. whatev, no big deal ;)

I also got a picture with Megan McGinnis who was just the absolute sweetest.

So yeah, Friday was pretty much an amazing day overall.

Saturday: I face painted at a few events until the early afternoon and then headed over to Comic Con again with my siblings and our cousin Shayden. We got to see more vendors and see a few dance numbers from Odyssey Dance Theater's Thriller, which was way cool. At both days of Comic Con I got a ton of Harry Potter merchandise! I got my time turner the day before and on Saturday I found a bunch of really fun prints. #potterheadheaven ;) That night I went to my family's house and we went to Cold Stone to get ice cream for Sidney's birthday, which was quite delicious, as Cold Stone always is!

Sunday (by this time the epicness of the week finally died down, but I might as well still blog about it): Went to church with my family, picked sunflowers with Gracie after church :) and that night we celebrated Sidney's birthday with all our relatives. I got Sidney a foot bath since she dances like three hours a day and always soaks her feet at the end of the day. I've been wanting to get her that for a while so I was so happy to give it to her and I think she was pretty happy to get it! I loooooove giving gifts--it's totally my love language--and it seriously makes me so happy to give people the perfect gift or to receive an amazing gift. It's my favorite.

So all in all, pretty great week! Obviously, I've done a few more fun things since then so I'll try and post about those soon-ish. Provo Fashion Week is two weeks away and I'm finishing up my collection! So hopefully all of that will be covered in due time. Haha having school at the same time as preparing for a fashion show is BUSY!

P.S. I will talk about this later, but you should totally COME to Provo Fashion Week! I'd love to see you there! You can go here to buy tickets! My collection is showing at 3:00 and 7:00 on Saturday, October 11th. :)

things that made this day happy

You know those days when there are lots of "oh that's nice" moments? Little things that just make you happy in your heart? Well, Thursday (april 25th) was one of those days. let's count the ways, shall we?

this outfit. Because I was wearing shorts! That I made! And a bright pink cardigan! And leopard print shoes (that I got from walmart--yes, walmart--for only $7...also, I got the cardigan from jcpenney for $3. Bargain hunter, that I am)! And SHORTS! Shorts=warm weather=summer=happiness. Printed shorts that I made=double the happiness. Is that enough math for you? I also loved my fun backdrop for these photos, it was still up from our party the night before (more on that later).

Having a day off! I love my job, but I love days off. They are the best and make me really appreciate my free time.

Seeing my uncle and saying goodbye to my cousin Jenner before he leaves on his mission. That was actually kind of sad, because I won't see him for 2+ years, but it was still a nice moment. Also, we ran into (I say that like we're old friends...which he actually is with my grandparents) Brad Wilcox at Deseret Book and got a picture with him. Sweet!

Spending the day with my sister. We shopped a little at the mall and then tried to sell her books back (no luck) and tried to sell her clothes to Plato's Closet (no luck there either, the money gods were not on our side, granted, this was the second time we were taking her clothes there, just seeing if they would buy anything they'd passed on before). Today she moved back home for the summer, so it was nice to have that day with her before she left for Provo. I love that girl.

Appreciating moments when I'm prepared. I'm really one of the most prepared people you will ever meet (I  always have a "preparedness pouch," as I like to call it, in my purse with anything you might need in an emergency...hair stuff, bandaids, a usb, pens, chapstick, a pocketknife, etc.) and it paid off on Thursday. I had just filled up the oil in my car about a week ago and had two extra oil containers because I hadn't known how much I'd needed when I filled it up before, so I had extra oil (in the containers) just sitting in my car. I was a little annoyed because I felt like I had wasted money on them, but I saw my car on Thursday and the whole front was covered in oil. I lifted the hood, and turns out that my roommate and I had forgotten to put the cap back on the oil when we had changed it about a week ago. Obviously I stink at putting caps back on things because I also forgot to put my gas cap back on a month ago (you are probably wondering who thought I had the responsibility to have a car haha). Anyways, I luckily and gratefully had those extra two full oil containers that I was able to fill up in my car, as well as a towel in my trunk that I used to clean it all up, and then a plastic bag to put the towel in. AND I put the cap back on! I was actually pretty proud that I knew what I was doing in the whole process. I know nothing about cars, so to know something--how to lift the hood, check the oil, and fill the oil--made me feel pretty sweet. Like maybe I can do stuff like that on my own and be okay. I think God has been giving me all these crazy car experiences in my life so that I will be an expert. Anyways, long story, but it made me happy.

Finding two adorable and really cheap blouses at Papaya. Yay for new, cute clothes!

Going to BYU men's volleyball game on Thursday, to see them play and WIN their semi-final game! It was a super intense game...they play five games and have to win three of them. It wasn't looking good when UCLA won the first two, but then we came back and won the third and fourth ones, and then the fifth! It was intense though, we were seriously neck and neck in pretty much every game. Oh and the championship game was tonight (I had work so I couldn't go) and I found out they won! Woo! Men's volleyball games are fun, because there are hot men, the school spirit is great and exhilarating, and it never gets very boring because the games are short and you are always wondering who could win. I loved going with my roommates and also meeting up with our friends Bryan and Nik. Heidi and I enjoyed playing a "where's waldo" type game where we kept looking in the audience and everywhere for people knew. We actually found a lot of people, and definitely took plenty of stalker photos of them. ;)

Hearing this song for the first time. I do love Sara Bareilles and bought this song from itunes within 20 seconds of hearing it. Love it.

Sun. Warmth. Enough said.

And for your personal enjoyment...the fact that I cannot take a good jumping picture to save my life. I'm not even sure why jumping pictures seem like such a great idea, but I am always tempted to take them when I'm doing outfit pictures. Needless to say, I didn't really get a good jumping picture shot. Just a few too many fails.

oops, jumped a little too early!///mmm....look at how I ferociously eat that wild hair of mine

haha my fav...too late for the self-timer, but still feeling obligated to look at the camera for the photo///just an unattractive photo of me in general where my hair flattened immensely and the wind caused me to wrap my feet up in the sheet as I tried to jump

Haha and with that, I leave you.

The Story Behind the Pictures

My crazy, silly life...

This happened a few weeks ago on a Friday. It was any other day and I was driving in my car to find a place to take outfit pictures. I was about 10 blocks from my apartment when I saw this cute white picket fence and decided to take pictures by it. I left my phone inside my car, and as I locked the car and shut the doors I realized in my stupidity that I had also locked my keys in the car. Not to mention the fact that my wallet and purse was also inside the car. All I had was my camera and my tripod. It was about 4:00 and I was supposed to go with my roommates to sign a contract for the place we're living at next year at 4:30. Problem? Yes. So I wasn't in a super great mood to take pictures, having locked everything I needed in my car. I was right by a house, but because of technology these days, I didn't have any of my roommates phone numbers memorized. So with tripod and digital camera in hand, I proceeded to walk the ten miles back to my apartment.

It actually wasn't that cold, almost warm and the walk took about 20 minutes, so it really wasn't bad. My roommate Katie was thankfully home when I told her the news. She (and most of my rooomates) has a car so we drove back to my car, taking a fly swatter and some other tool with us. My car's an explorer, so there's a window in the trunk door that comes up on it's own. There was a little unlock button just inside the door that if we could get the fly swatter in and maneuver it to push down on the button we'd be golden. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough leverage using the fly swatter to push down on the button. It was about 4:30 and we had to go sign the contracts. But...my cash for the deposit was in my wallet, which was in my car (I know, I know)!!

So Katie offered to just write a check for my deposit and then I could pay her back with the cash. We went to the apartment signing, and the lady was actually okay with me just bringing the cash on Monday so it worked out. We went back to our apartment and found some flowers on the doorstep. There was no note, but there was a clearance sticker on the flowers saying they'd been bought for $2.50. We tried figuring it out and the flowers weren't given to my roommates who had boyfriends. The flowers were a mystery.

And I was super stressed. The thing was, I was supposed to go on a date at 6:00, but I had nothing! What if my date needed to text me or something? I tried calling BYU Police to see if they could unlock me from my car (they did it for my mom and I once...though that's another story) but they can only do it if your car is on campus. So I called the Provo Police, who told me very rudely that they don't even have tools to break into cars. By this time I was freaking out (it may have been an emotional time in the month for me as well...) because a locksmith would be too much money. I messaged my date on facebook asking if we could leave at 7:00 instead, because I was a mess and still had to do my makeup and I wanted a chance to back to my car and try breaking into it again. I called my mom from Heidi's phone and was just bawling (emotional time of month, remember) and my date hadn't replied to the facebook message yet. So I got my bearings together, redid my make-up and made myself look cute. I also sent my date another message telling him to disregard the one I had sent before, just in case he read it right before he left.

Important fact: We still did not know who the flowers came from.

Well, 6:00 rolled around and he wasn't there. 6:05, 6:10. Still no date. So of course, speculations started and they had to do with the flowers. This was the conclusion that we came up with. My date was the one that brought the flowers earlier. He brought them because he had to cancel last minute on the date, so that's why the flowers had no note and why there was a clearance sticker on them. But because we weren't home, he just dropped them off at the doorstep and then texted/called me. I just didn't get any texts because I didn't have my phone. By 6:30, I figured he wasn't coming. My roommates were going with our friend Bryan to a photography exhibit, so going along with the flower theory, which at this point, I believed to be 100% true, I went with them, and then we'd go look at my car after. The exhibit would just be closing soon so we had to go there first.

On our way to the event, we called my roommate Talya to ask her to put a note on the door, just in case my date did come so he'd know where I was and that I hadn't just ditched him. Just to make sure. The exhibit was great, here's a link to what it was about (just so I don't make this post longer than it already is). After the exhibit, we went to my car but by that time it was about 8:00 and it was too dark to see anything so we had to go back to our apartment to get a flashlight. I also checked my facebook and he had messaged back just asking if I'd gotten my keys and phone, but said nothing else. So now I was very confused.

We went back to my car, and finally, with a lot of work and using the fly swatter, we got the car unlocked! I looked at my phone and had a few missed calls and texts. Oh dear.

6:02   Hey I'm on my way, what's your apartment number?
6:15   Missed call
6:25   I think I'm here, is it called the ___? (sorry, don't wanna give out too much info)
6:50   Missed call

Wow, I felt SO bad. Seriously. I mean, I did everything I could to try and contact him, but I felt really bad. By this time it was about 8:30 and I called him right away. I told him sorry a bajillion times and said we could still go on the date or we could just postpone for another time, whatever worked for him. We ended up going on the date and had a fun time. This was his side of the story: He did not bring the flowers and obviously from the texts he didn't have my apartment number (I thought I gave it to him, but turns out I didn't, oops) so he didn't know where I lived. He waited for a little bit and then figuring something must have been wrong, he went to his friend's house and checked his facebook. He saw the message and then his friend suggested he just go back to my complex and start knocking on doors until he found mine. Then he found the note (see, it was good!) and things started to come together after that.

Moral of story? NEVER lock my keys or my phone in my car again. Obviously. But really, they are always going to be with me, I'm super paranoid now!

And in case you made it all the way to the end of this story...no, we never found out who gave us the flowers. Though they really messed things up for that date. Goodness gracious!

The end.

Driving

Hallelujah! Finally, I got my license!!!!!!!!!! It took me forever to get, but now I have it. I turned sixteen about six months ago, had my permit for six months, and passed my driving test the first time. So it would probably seem weird that I didn't get it then. But, my parents were a little unsure about me driving right away and said I had to get 20 more hours. It took me forever! Most of it was my fault, because I was too lazy or scared to drive sometimes, so I gave up chances that would have gotten me more driving time. I got my last five hours done over spring break, and my mom told me that we could go get my license on monday! It was one of the happiest days of my life. So now I'm free and I can drive wherever I want, though I don't have my own car yet. We are in the process of looking for one. Thats all, I just had to share my happiness!