This is kind of a big deal...

I made homemade blueberry muffins from scratch this morning. And get this....I didn't ruin them! And they were probably one of the best versions of blueberry muffins that have ever encountered my taste buds. The secret ingredient...lemon zest! Mmmmmm.....

Even though they were quite scrumptious, I am mostly just excited about the part where I didn't destroy them because secretly I tend to do that. A. Lot. For example, the other day my roommate Shae and I decided to make brownies (out of a box) and somehow we managed to mess them up. Yeah, let's not talk about that anymore.

I have found many other muffin recipes I would love to try, so I am thinking of making this a tradition....Sunday Morning Muffins. But I also found a lot of scone recipes as well, maybe Saturday Scones. We'll see how that plays out.

P.S- This is me trying to keep up with my my New Years Resolutions of learning how to cook (even though this was baking) and taking new pictures. :)

I'm In Love

With this group of singers right here. They go by Vocal Point. They are a 9-man acapella "choir" from BYU in Provo,Utah. They performed at my school tonight and I seized up the opportunity and went...by myself. But I couldn't have cared less because I was so into their performance. They.Were.Incredible. Ahhhh I am obsessed. I was so mad I didn't have cash on me because I wanted to buy their CD's SO BAD. They are talented. They are hilarious. And they are single (well, 8/9ths of them are).... what a coincidence....so am I!

Gratitude

This is what I see when I look at my window. Not exactly this close, but still.

Needless to say, I love this temple. I am so very grateful for living near this, newly built, Rexburg temple that is just minutes away from my front door. In walking distance to be exact. The symbol it stands for and the beauty that it emanates is so wonderful. And it's where my best friend got married just a few months ago. (Yay for Sarah & Bennett Briggs!!!!)

Adopt-A-Grandparent

With this program you don't actually adopt a grandparent. But it was such a wonderful experience and I loved every second of it. It is a great way to serve others while doing something I love the most: singing.

Today I took my roommate Shaelyn and we headed up to the Taylor building to meet with whoever felt like joining along. We hopped into a big van and drove the whole 2.5 minutes away to the assisted living home. There was only 4 elderly folk who came out to listen, but they were so sweet. For the hour that we were there we spent most of it singing hymns and a small part visiting with them, but then they got bored talking with us and demanded we sing more. We hadn't practiced, we just went for it. Our group was not full of talented singers but our little audience did not mind one bit. One of the ladies, Ruth, was amazing. She kept telling us how grateful she was to be able to listen to us and how grateful she was that we actually took time out of our evening to come sing to them. She couldn't believe it. She new we could have been doing a million other things, but the fact that we decided to come visit them was such a blessing to her and a blessing to me to see someone being grateful for so little. Then there was a man who would sing every word right along with us. Such a short experience but one to not be forgotten. I will definitely be visiting Ruth and her friends next week. What an incredible time. I loved it.

I wish I was Hermoine

I don't know who all is a Harry Potter fan, either of the books or movies or both. Do you remember when Hermoine scheduled some of her classes to be at the same exact time and on the opposite sides of the "castle"?

Her solution: a time turner (the thing shaped like an hour glass). It allowed her to go to one class, turn back time, then go to the other class scheduled at the same time.

Boy do I wish they sold those suckers on the black market or something.

This semester I have made a huge...maybe too extreme...effort to get involved, make friends, and have new experiences. I never really realized how easy that could be done on campus. My planner now consists of wayyyy too many meetings, performances, service opportunities, and games. But I WANT to do them ALL. I went to the Talent Activities meeting and signed up to be on the committees of:

1. Guitars Unlpugged- a battle of the bands sort of show.
2. Nashville Nights- pretty much where people perform country songs
3. Grand Piano Live- self explanatory
4. Battle of the Dance- self explanatory
5. Broadway Review- just like Nashville Nights but with broadway songs
6. Best of- the final showcase where they take the best few performers from each of the above and throw them in a show together.

Yeah, no one told me that it's pretty much a busy job just being on ONE committee. And I have 6. So far I am for sure doing Battle of the Dance and Grand Piano Live and possibly Best Of. On the committee you do the publicity, run the booths, do the auditions, and manage the stage. So basically all of it. But it is SO much fun. I have absolutely loved being able to put together posters and flyers and I can't wait to listen/watch everyone audition.

Next on my list of things I have signed up for is Adopt-A-Grandparent. This is held two days a week. It's definitely not mandatory so I can squeeze it in whenever I can, but still, I was hoping to go to it at least once a week. I would love to sing hymns, listen to stories, play cards, and paint nails with all of the elderly.

I am also a mentor for a new freshman. I have to attend meetings/socials with her and just be there for her during this transition into college life.

Last but not least...volleyball intermurals. Dog Eat Dog is the name of our team and I.Am.Stoked. We'll have 2-3 games a week and I am just praying that it will fit into my schedule.

I am beyond excited for this semester and all of the experiences I will have and hopefully of the friends I will make and people I will meet. Classes are going great, roommates are awesome, and my ward rocks.

Life is wonderful.

Another Christmas Break

Five words to describe this break:

1. Movies- I got myself a Netflix account and watched movies.non.stop. Online and through the mail. And ofcourse a trip to our wonderful dollar theater in Boise and a few trips to the real movies. I just love movies. ALMOST as much as I love books.

2. Books- I was finally able to get my hands on the second Hunger Games book. I read the first one during the school semester but had to restrain myself from reading the next two seeing as I avoided all school work for two days while I read the first one. And after a long and unsuccessful search for the third one in Boise, it wasn't until I got to California to find that there was TWO copies sitting in my grandparents house. Let's just say that the 3rd one is definitely not a "feel good" book. More like a "feel awful" book.

3. Sleep- I slept. A.Lot. But it was an awful sleep schedule of going to bed between the hours of 2am-4am and not waking up until noon or 1pm. And even then I would take a few naps in the day every now and then.

4. Friends- Catching up with a friend from Redfish at Starbucks for 3 hours, a VVC reunion with some of my incredible froms from highschool, seeing more friends from highschool at Sarah's wedding reception, a small little Encore(my highschool choir) reunion at Olive Garden, and other scattered events of hanging out with old friends. I love them all.

5. Family- My little brother is growing up and with it, his ability to make me laugh. He has always been a funny kid but I feel like this time was different or maybe it is just me that has changed. He taught me how to play Halo on his XBox. I secretly really enjoyed it and would kick him off from time to time or catch myself playing it in the middle of the night. Too bad he doesn't have a cool headset. On Wednesday morning (the 29th) I went to bed around 2:45am and woke up at 4am to catch a 5:30am flight to San Francisco, California. A trip that wasn't planned until about 9pm Tuesday night. I told you, I like spontaneity. But oh was it a fantastic decision. I miss the semi-warm weather and being with a portion of my family. They are awesome and I love them. My grandparents house is one of my favorite places to be. Why? you ask. Well, seeing as my grandma is a woman of comfort, she has the best beds one could ever sleep in. They have the best pillows, sheets, HEATED BLANKETS, and another layer of 5 more comfortable blankets. They are a trap, it is difficult to want to escape them. I am definitely my grandmothers granddaughter. A country girl at heart who loves to blast Garth Brooks, eat pumpkin pie for breakfast, watch old movies in her bed, and shop. especially at Costco. and Macy's.




Now it's time to head back to Rexburg. Where my 5 words will turn into: Homework, Studying, Insomnia, Roommates, and Dates

A New Year, A New Beginning

Well folks, it's that time of year again. Yep. Resolution time. This years New Years Eve was spent low key with good food and good company. Seeing as I was in California, I went to My Aunt and Uncles (Dani&Paul) with 4 other of my aunt and uncles (Steve&Leah, Matt&Sara). There was a delicious spread of comfort food. What's a better way to say goodbye to 2010 than to indulge in good comfort food? Because obviously one of my reslutions has to do with making smarter food choices. After stuffing ourselves with chips and various dips, homemade toffee, eclairs, and pizza, we then watched the new Wall Street movie. My opinion: I did not understand a word of it so I did not enjoy it. My one semester of economics class in high school did not help me in understanding this movie. Oh well.

Now onto my New Years Resolution list...
1. Go somewhere I haven't been before. One of my main goals in life is to be cultured. Perferably visiting other countries, but I think that living in a different state (besides Idaho, Utah, or California) can count as well.

2. More self-discipline. I always do great with school and going to the gym for a while and then towards half way through the semester I always lose motivation. So obviously I need more self-discipline.

3. Write in my journal. Sometimes I am great at this, but I haven't been for the past 4 months. I love going back and reading through old entries. I figured if I want to be able to reflect on my life in the future, I need to actually write about it.

4. Eat good food. And by good I mean...nutritious. This should also fall into self-discipline. Every semester I start off eating so healthy but once midterms roll around, my studying increases and my will and energy to cook for myself decreases.

5. Get a job at school. If you aren't aware, trying to find a job in Rexburg,Idaho is very difficult. But it's kind of imperative that I do find a job while I am at school.

6. Start counting my blessings, not my sorrows. I think I am in need of doing this and am guilty of doing just the opposite most of the time. I have been blessed with so much in my life, why should I be ignoring that fact?

7. Volunteer/Serve others. I love serving others and it's high time that I start acting on it instead of just thinking about doing it.

8. Start saving money/ Learn to budget. As of right now, I currently have 1 cent in my savings account and I am so awful at keeping a budget. I have tried somewhat in the past and have always failed.

9. Learn how to cook. I love cooking but I just need to get out of my comfort zone and start making actual meals. Learn new recipes, maybe make a recipe book of all the ones that turn out good. And get one of my roommates to cook dinner with me so I don't have to make meals for just one person.

10. Make new friends/Meet new people. For those of you who know me...well, you know what i'm talkin about.

11. Take more pictures. And then use them to put on my blog and decorate my room. Most of my pictures in my room are of high school. Yeah, that needs to change.

I will probably add to this list as I think of more I would like to accomplish, but I don't want to overhwelm myself with too many things.

Now, how do I plan to accomplish these goals? You will just have to stay tuned on future blog postings.