BOO

So it's that time of year again. The leaves are turning yellow, gold, red, orange and brown, the air is getting cooler, and the sun is setting sooner. IT'S OCTOBER. And now that I think of it, it might be one of the best months ever. I mean, it's my first month as a 20 year old (which actually isn't as bad as I thought it would be-- though I swear I woke up with a new wrinkle this morning), and all of the holidays begin this month. And we know what that means: delicious food mmmmmmm I can smell the pumpkin already.

Can I say it enough how lucky I am? I get to experience the holidays with my best friends and with real weather? I am so lucky.

Man's Best Friend

So when everyone comes home for the summer, they hang out with their old friends again. The friend wakes up each day with excitement, because seeing that face is the best thing in the whole world to them. It's been too long. And now they get to go do everything together. By that I mean walks. All the time. Yeah that's right. Thats what me and my best friend do all the time. Because my best friend is my dog.

They say that chimpanzees are closest to human beings in connection. with a 98% similarity in DNA, to question such a fact would seem stupid and redundant. Except when it comes to a man and his dog.

We like to think that we are rational beings; humane, conscientious, civilized, thoughtful. But when things fall apart, even just a little, it becomes clear we are not better than animals. We have opposable thumbs, we think, we walk erect, we speak, we dream, but deep down we are still routing around in the primordial ooze; biting, clawing, scratching out an existence in the cold, dark world like the rest of the tree-toads and sloths. There’s a little animal in all of us and maybe that’s something to celebrate. Our animal instinct is what makes us seek comfort, warmth, a pack to run with. We may feel caged, we may feel trapped, but still as humans we can find ways to feel free. We are each other’s keepers, we are the guardians of our own humanity and even though there’s a beast inside all of us, what sets us apart from the animals is that we can think, feel, dream and love. And against all odds, against all instinct, we evolve.

So last time Megan Leigh Reed got me addicted to this thing. I stayed up forever tweaking things and playing with it despite my huge headache calling me to bed!

But I have made a goal this summer, and it is this: even though I am not in Provo with my best friends in the entire world anymore, I am going to make the most of Ventura, CA as possible. Because Ventura actually is beautifullll and has perfect weather. By perfect I mean 70 degrees YEAR ROUND and 275 out of 365 sunny and cloudless. And my friends here are super fun. Even though some of them AKA REX WINSLOW will be leaving me for two years to france very soon.

In reality though, I am so blessed. I get to have free room and board thanks to the Mr&Mrs Slade, I get to work at a hotel and meet all sorts of people from all over the world and it never gets old! Sometimes they are really hard to understand or really impatient but sometimes they are super easy to please and so bubbly you wonder if they are on drugs. (Which, has also happened for reals) On a side note, for everyone that thinks standing on your feet for eight hours a day is easy business, here is a reality check: it is soooo painful and it makes you feel like an 80 year old every time you sit down because your joints ache so bad it is literally impossible to get up again! Goodness me I hope I age well... right now though things are looking so good... C=

And at home, I go to Singles Ward. What is singles ward you ask? It is Church specifically for people ages 18-28 so its more fun, its at a much later time (1:30pm) and you get lectured on how you need to get married ASAP like every day. hahaha I have never felt more old and single in my entire life until I went to BYU and saw the couples paired off hand-in hand, with the baby bump every five seconds. You think I exaggerate. If you are 23 and unmarried everyone thinks "wow, poor thing. who knows if she will ever find somebody at such a late time in her life" BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA ohhh but seriously.... if I am 23 and unmarried and hear that kind of stuff... I'll probably just go kill myself.

my bucket list

1. Go to Uganda
2. Perform on Broadway
3. Get a Henna Tattoo
4. Cut all of my hair off
5. Get married in the LA temple
6. Have kids
7. Write a book
8. Write a song
9. Learn to play the Guitar
10. Take a road trip across the US
11. Have a wardrobe completely from Anthropologie
12. See all seven wonders of the world
13. camp out. hardcore style.
14. Live on the East Coast
15. Travel to every continent
16. Try caviar
17. Sew my own outfit
18. Be a Bum and get money
19. Learn Sign Language
20. Ride a Horse
21. Wait tables
22. Street Perform
23. Catch a fish
24. Shoot a Gun
25. Learn how to Sail
26. Fly a Plane
27. Make the equivalent of IHOP pancakes
28. Donate an organ or bone marrow
29. Escape a ticket
30. Sky Dive
31. Post a Secret
32. be in two places at once
33. try being vegan
34. teach yoga
35. skinny dip
36. go commando
37. mail a love letter
38. kiss in the rain
39. milk a cow
40. meet someone famous
41. sense when it will rain
42. pass college
43. Make my own sushi
44. Change someone's life
45. Witness a miracle
46. read all of the classics
47. Dye my hair
48. Stay up for 72 hours
49. Learn a ballroom dance with the eternal companion
50. Read the scriptures cover to cover to cover to cover

College made me so smarttt

Okay so this is my first post....ever...

and I can't fall asleep. What else is new. Hahaa

This year at BYU has been one of the best years of my life and now that it's coming to an end, I look at myself when I got here and don't even recognize myself. Am I the only one who feels like this? I have learned so much this year, including (but not excluded to):

1. How to do laundry on my own

2. How to get by on less than 2 hours of sleep for 2+ days

3. How to sleep anywhere to make up for mentioned sleep

4. To actually use the library

5. Everything that I can and cannot get with my dinning plus meal plan

6. How to get the things I want with my meal plan that I'm not supposed to be able to get

7. Guys are sometimes more girly than girls. So shut it next time you make fun of me!

8. Moving on really isn't that hard. You just have to learn to let go

9. Professors secretly collaborate to give you either a) an amazing week or b) HELLLL

10. There are a lot of things that are illegal in Provo....

11. Hang out with complete strangers and there is a good chance that you will become best friends

12. Shower Parties are the only way to shower, whenever I DO shower that is... hahahahaha

13. Provo and especially BYU does NOT support Vegetarianism

14. Las Vegas is one of my all time favorite cities

15. Everyone in my life is here for a specific reason.

16. Cyclones are NOT fun

17. Don't ever use a public bathroom. It could be the last thing you ever do. No Joke

18. Rape Hill is Overrated.

19. Mint Brownies = Euphoria

20. The huge difference between Pre-Mies and RMs

21. Just how scary it is to be around a fresh RM

22. Best Friends really do come in college

23. Never Ever make plans for your life. Because as soon as you do, they will be drastically changed just to spite you

24. Sleeping in the day is so much more satisfying that night

25. SOLD

26. Girls have a femination ceremony... some haven't gone through it though

27. MDT is not for me

28. I WILL GO TO UGANDA IF IT IS THE LAST THING I EVER DO