Weekend with Maddie

This weekend was awesome!! Spent almost the entire Saturday and Sunday with my friend Maddie. We had a blast.

Saturday:
The stake Relief Society presidency put together a morningside and luncheon to celebrate the Relief Society organization's birthday and to put a close to our Honduras service project (collected gently used ties and new white shirts for missionaries). They showed a video where they showed pictures from service groups in Honduras. Then we ate some really yummy salad.

Next! Went back to Maddie's place so she could get changed for the Holi Color Festival! It was sooo much fun! The weather was nice (didn't even have to wear a jacket). So here is how the Color Festival works :)

Make sure that your car is prepared to be colored in chalk

You dress in white and walk up a huge hill

You see other people covered in color and get even more excited

People are super nice and offer to give you a ride up the last 1/4 of the major hill

As soon as you get out of this nice lady's car, you get pegged by kids leaving

You get bags of color and protect your nose and mouth

You protect your camera in a method of your choosing (mine was a ziploc bag hence the blurry-ness)

And run into friends! (this is Marty, my home teacher)

You have fun throwing color at people and having people throw color at you.

After a count-down and everyone throws color at the same time (causing a major fog of color), you are completely covered in color!

Then you walk down the major hill and cuz you are still tired from walking up it you take lots of breaks where you discover that the color all over your face brings out the color of your eyes

Then you get back to the car and take another picture because you had so much fun but are super tired from walking down the major hill

Next! (No, we are not finished for Saturday haha). We had a huge group date at our 1st counselor's house. We played signs, ate spaghetti, played Guesstures, then some of us decided that they wanted to leave cuz we had an early morning meeting the next day. It was fun. I have a few pictures but they are on my camera still and they were just pictures of people there.

Sunday:

Early stake leadership meeting (8:00 meeting). Then church where our beloved 2nd counselor in the bishopric was released. It was an emotional time for many of us but we are looking forward to getting to know our new 2nd counselor. It was also emotional because it was the last Sunday in our building. The stakes in all of Orem are being re-organized so our ward is moving stakes and going to be at the building up the street from our complex.

Monday: (I know it's not the weekend but it was still exciting)

Me, the chicken who hates needles, was brave enough to try to donate blood for the 3rd time! Last summer I found out that I could donate blood so when I went to donate, they turned me away cuz they were full. This past fall I got sick just days before the donation so I couldn't donate. This time, I wasn't sick and was determined to donate. I was super nervous though (refer to earlier when I said I hate needles). I knew though, that once I got the first donation done I would be fine for future donations. I was super prepared though because I drank OJ all day yesterday and had Maddie (my support buddy for donating) pick me up in case I got dizzy and couldn't drive. We almost got turned away because there was a huge line but they said to come back for our appointment time and they'd see if we could get in. We went back and there was no line! Maddie decided to also donate for the first time :) She was just ahead of me in line and was perfectly fine. I passed the initial test (with the finger prick) then went to donate. The needle part wasn't as bad as I thought it was gonna be. The guy drawing my blood was super patient with me being that it was my first time and I was nervous. He said I had excellent veins and was a fast bleeder though :) Anyways, I was almost done when I realized that the ceiling wasn't quite looking normal and my hearing started to go funny. I told them and they got me a bottle of water and I started feeling fine again. He had me lay on the chair for a little longer than normal to be sure I'd be ok. It was funny though because he told me no extraneous activity. I was like "what about going to my apartment and the stairs to get there." He laughed and just said to have someone go with me up the stairs to be sure I'd make it. I even let Maddie walk behind me despite the fact that I always have everyone go in front of me. I'm all good now (got a good nights sleep and have been drinking juice this morning). I am totally ready to donate again and maybe I won't almost pass out next time.

Proof!

This weekend was the best weekend I've had in a while :) I have so many good friends in my life and I don't know what I would do without them. Love you all!! :D

At Wits End

I can't take this anymore. One of my roommates and I got into a major fight last night. Like full on yelling fight. I'm not proud of it at all; that hasn't happened in years. After a while she wanted to talk but I wasn't ready. I know myself; I wouldn't have really listened cuz I was still very upset. I told her that we'd have to wait to talk until I as calm. I already didn't feel comfortable here but now it's worse. I don't even want to be here at all. I've been in my room all morning except to go to the bathroom. I have tried to be patient but I have run out of patience. I just want out. One more month...

Update and Good News

I know it's been FOREVER since I posted. I kinda gave up on the post a picture a day thing and nothing really exciting was happening. Then my plans took a U-turn and I have a lot to catch you guys up on!

So, as far as my mission goes, I'm not going to go on an official mission. I'm only a little disappointed about that cuz I think it'd be awesome to go but I feel good about the decision not to go. I don't really want to elaborate on why. If you really wanna know, ask and I might tell you :)

(By the way, I already wrote this next paragraph but then my browser froze and I had to restart it and it hadn't saved so I am having to re-write it :-/ )
Now just because I'm not going on a mission, does not mean that I have no plans for my life. Quite the opposite! I am going to go to UVU this summer! Then this fall I am going to go back to BYUI. I already talked to the people up in Rexburg and they said that as long as school this semester at UVU goes well then I'm good to go back up. I'll be cutting it close though cuz I can't petition to go back until I get the grades from this summer. I figure that since the classes I'm taking this fall are upper level classes, I can probably talk to the teachers and get in (I know most of the teachers anyway hehe). I'm starting to look at housing now though cuz other wise I'm not going to find anything. My only issue now is to find somewhere where they'll let me bring my hermit crabs hehe. I'm going to send out a mass email to housing that I'm interested in and see if any of them will let me (besides, they are no problem whatsoever; fish can pose a water damage issue). It's funny though cuz I go: Summer 2011-Orem, Fall 2011-Rexburg, Winter 2012-Orem, Spring 2012-Rexburg, Summer and Fall 2012-Orem. Since I'm off track for Winter semester I'll come back here then after Spring 2012 I'll be student teaching back in Utah so I'll come back then too. This fall will be bitter sweet though cuz a lot of my Rexburg friends will be gone by this fall and I've made a lot of friends here in Orem. I'll make more friends up there and it'll be good for me but still. I'm excited though!

My roommate situation right now is, to put it lightly, sucky! I feel like they don't like me and are bothered by me but they don't talk to me about it. I feel like we're just living together and tolerating one another rather than being friends and being more than just girls assigned to an apartment together. I'm tired of living in a situation like this. Conveniently, my Relief Society president is going home for the summer but is coming back for the fall. We talked to the management and they are going to let me transfer up to the complex next door to where I live now (which is owned by the same people) and take over her contract for the summer. She would like to move back into the same apartment that she's in now when she comes back this fall and I'm leaving this fall so it's a win-win situation for both of us (except that all of us here will miss her!).

On a brighter note, I'm happy with the decisions that I've made in my life most recently and I feel good about them. I know that I'm on the right track to being where I need to be. I'm not there yet, I know I have things that I need to work on, but I'm getting there.

I know that I said I wasn't going to talk about Stuart on this blog, but this is good news. Besides, I can't just pretend that he wasn't a part of my life because he was and I've learned so much from that whole experience. I do know now, that I'm over him. I drove by his apartment complex last week and it didn't hurt at all. I didn't look for his car like every other time I have driven by it (old habit I had to break). I have forgiven him for what he did to me, but it doesn't hurt anymore. I am ready to move on in my life and find my true eternal companion. I know that he's out there and I am patiently searching for him. In order to find him though, I have to date and I am ready for it! Bring it on! :D

PS. I have recently found this song that I listen to probably too much but I love it. It's called The Ping Pong Song (Do You Know) by Enrique Inglesias. The chorus goes "Do you know what it feels like loving someone that's in a rush to throw you away?" That's how I feel that Stuart felt about me. Not the whole song, but just parts. He didn't care and just threw me away. But I'm back and ready for the game of life again :)