The BYU Cougar Life

{disclaimer: I was going to call this post "the Cougar Life" until I realized how that made me sound like a forty year-old woman looking for young men, and changed it to what it is now. Cougars are BYU's mascot, just fyi ;)}

School is underway, and I'm pretty darn excited about it. This is probably shaping up to be the best semester of my college career! I have the perfect schedule of classes only on Tuesdays and Thursdays (which is seriously unheard of in Senior year), my classes are all pretty doable with great professors, I'm taking patternmaking (!), and for my capstone, I'm going to be sewing for a BYU fashion show that's happening in April!

And the best news of all so far? I got a job! I had a few interviews this week, and yesterday, just hours after one of them, they called me back wanting to hire me! I'm so excited, it's a videographer position for the alumni association, so it's doing something I love doing anyway, and it will give me great experience. I'm so excited for it and also amazed at how quickly it happened! I'm sure I will share more as I get started, but man, it's gonna be fun, and it'll be a great job to have as I finish my BYU career.

It's so crazy. I'm graduating. I'm graduating! It hasn't happened yet, so let's not get ahead of ourselves or anything, but wow. It's crazy to think that I took (and passed) enough courses to actually do this graduation. In April I'll walk and in June, I will be (hopefully) worthy of a diploma from Brigham Young University. Wow. And from BYU of all places! I wanted to go to this school for my whole life and then I got accepted and came here, and soon I will be leaving it. That of course will open many exciting doors and prospects in my life, but it's also a sad door to close and leave behind. I will miss it terribly when it's all said and done.

This school year has already been so good and it is only getting better. Life has a way of working itself out and I know that taking a year and a half break off of school was definitely the right thing to do. I'm so happy to be finishing my college career out with a bang. Yay for winter semester! (pretty sure I've never said that before so it's one to record in the books :))

A Cute Dress for a Cute Girl

I've decided to christen this week "Children's Clothing Week!" because when Gracie and I went up to the capitol to take her baptism dress pictures, we also took pictures of her in all the other clothes I made for her in my Sewing for Children class, so why not post them all in one week?!

I absolutely love this dress. It was my first project in class and definitely my most favorite one. It fits Gracie's style perfectly and I also see my design aesthetic in it as well. Favorite parts about this dress include the peter pan collar, the piping on the sash, and the little pocket on the skirt (I ended up putting pockets on 3 out the four projects I did, because we had to incorporate things we learned in class and pockets were always easy to add. Haha so there's the pocket disclaimer!).

Man, I totally love this dress, and Gracie looks just adorable in it. Kids clothes have been really fun to make! They are cute, and they also use less fabric and are easier to make because they don't require darts and such. Yay, so fun! I think I'll be making more children's clothing again in the near future. :)

Gracie's Baptism Dress

Gracie got baptized this past Saturday and it was a super special day for her and the rest of the family. Kinda crazy because being eight years old means she's not really a baby anymore! :(

I took a sewing for children class last semester and for one of my projects I decided to make Gracie's baptism dress. It was a lot of fun and I'm glad I had the chance to do it for her. I think I would have redone a few things for sure, and it was really sad because the zipper in the back broke, so if she were to ever wear it again I'd have to put in a new zipper. Overall though, I think the dress turned out really beautiful, probably mostly because it was on a beautiful little girl! It was a simple white dress with tulle on the skirt, and then I sewed gold beads as though they were cascading on the dress. The beading took FOREVER, but I'm so glad I did it because it was really cute.

We went up to the capitol building in Salt Lake City to get some nice pictures with my new Canon camera. We had fun, though Gracie was definitely getting tired by the end. Anyway, enough talk! You can see the pictures for yourselves and decide what you think.

Isn't she such a cutie? Man, I love this little girl SO much! We had so much fun spending three whole weeks with together over the break and I'm so proud of her for making the decision to get baptized! I sure am lucky to have Gracie as my sister and best friend for eternity. :)

Things I'm Currently Enjoying

Good friends and talking about real things with them. I love having close friends to do that with.

School and everything about it. Also, my schedule is the BEST. Classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays and that's it!

The fact that it's winter but not terribly cold outside.

Still feeling the aftermath of Christmas in all its happiness and glory

Being around my roommates again after three weeks of being home for Christmas

Applying for jobs...it's so productive and makes me excited for what's out there

Wearing my Frozen shirt!

Being passionate about many things right now--fashion design, videography, blogging, school, etc.

Gilmore Girls :)

Friends on Netflix!!

Reading books again, because I've made a goal to do it more this year. (currently reading Red Rising by Pierce Brown)

Already making so many plans for this year to come. With weddings, family stuff, and trips, it's already going to be a packed and exciting year.

The fact that I own a Canon Rebel t5i. I own it AND I get to use it! Revolutionary, right?

Thinking about Noodles and Co.'s pesto pasta with pulled pork. I guarantee it's the best pork you will ever have in your LIFE. I want some so bad right now.

Listening to music with my new head phones.

Enjoying life. I really just love being happy.

The fact that I posted a picture of myself wearing glasses on here is true proof of how much I love myself ;)

2014

I don't think I realized how awesome 2014 was for me until I started looking back on it and remembering all the cool things I did.

Some of the best things this past year brought...

TWO fashion shows with Provo Fashion Week! One in April and the other in October

Stadium of Fire with CARRIE UNDERWOOD! and seeing other people in concert like Andy Grammer, Brian McKnight, and VanLadyLove

FOUR weddings for roommates and relatives...

Working at the daycare with so many fun kids and then quitting in August.

Going back to school and taking fun (and scary at first) classes like Public Speaking and contemporary dance, where I did an end of semester solo.

Traveling on a two-day trip to California with Carina and going to Cheyenne twice in the summer with my family:

Getting to be the costume designer for this hilarious video. It went viral with 15 million views on facebook and youtube combined! Watch the behind the scenes video afterward and you'll see me a few times.

Salt Lake Comic-Con twice, in April and September.

The bible video I was in two years ago finally got released! You can see me in it at about 1:59, I'm wearing orange.

Running my first race at the Potter Run!

Learning how to use Adobe Premiere Pro, filming and editing some fun videos, and getting a new camera for Christmas from my parents (a Canon Rebel t5i!!!). I'm really excited to get more serious with videography in the future.

Ending the year with two weeks of amazing Christmas break with my family. Literally. It has been perfect. :)

For all of you visual people (which, if you're reading a blog, you're probably one of them) here's my year-end video. I keep watching it because it makes me feel good and happy :)


2014 was a really good year and I'm especially looking forward to 2015, because there are already so many fun things planned (college graduation, family reunion, weddings), as well as a lot of things unplanned and unknown (what am I doing after graduation, where will I live, etc.) so it will be fun to look back in a year and see all the changes, because I'm sure there will be many. Can't wait!