Learning to Be Content

I think this is something that everyone struggles with. It's hard to live here, today, in 2013 with such a crazy world around us. Everything is new, everything is fast, everything is "I must have this right now or I can't be happy!". It's a little bit ridiculous. But, I definitely fall into these traps and have a hard time being thankful for what I do have. Because heck, I have a lot.

So anyway, let us begin with when I was eight years old. Elise moved in to the house on the corner and we became best friends. We went for walks, played barbies, built blanket forts, had sleepovers, and had so much fun being kids. But, all we could ever talk about was teenagers and how bad we wanted to be teenagers. I think we underestimated how hard growing up would be... because I specifically remember writing her a note in eighth grade that outlined all of the difficult times we had overlooked as children and how badly I wish we could go back and just enjoy the time we had as kids. As a result, we wished that high school would hurry on up and be our lives. We dreamed of cars, boys, dates, dances, make up, jobs... all the things that did nothing but stress me out for three whole years. So of course, we dreamed of college. Interesting classes, bigger schools, being away from home, freedom, parties... you know. The basics.

But the truth is, college really isn't all that great either. It's a hundred times more stressful than anything I've ever experienced in my life. And as much as I'd love to be married with a family and a career, I'm sure that is even more hard to deal with.

So, my friends, I would like to share with you my epiphany I had today. Are you ready? Okay.

"You are never going to be content with life, so you might as well just be content with life."

And I quote-

"You are never going to be content with life, so you might as well just be content with life."

ONCE AGAIN-

"You are never going to be content with life, so you might as well just be content with life."

Seriously though. I just need to take a step back and appreciate the stages of life that I'm in while I'm in them and just be content with life.

Here are a few examples of things I'm rather content with! :)

-I've always (obviously. like did you even read the beginning of this post?) wanted to go to college, and here I am. And not only that, but here I am at the school of my dreams. Every (other) day when I get off the train (sometimes I get off at the hospital and walk down the giant snow hill...which is mighty pretty), I look up at Rice-Eccles stadium and admire how cool it is. I think about how lucky I am to be at a Pac 12 school. I walk by the old buildings and think about how many great names have walked those halls. I admire the huge trees, sometimes covered with snow, sometimes with leaves, but always beautiful. I watch as students of all races, ages, shapes, and sizes walk around, chattering away. It's amazing to me how different that campus is from where I live. I never knew Utah could hold so many kinds of people. I love it. I absolutely love it.
-I've always wanted a car that I could jump in and go do whatever I want/need, and here I am, with a 18 year old Bronco that I have to put a lot of money in to but it still runs like the dickens! It has only failed me a few times, but she always pulls through! I don't know what I'd do without her!
-I've always wanted a job and a paycheck, and here I am, working somewhere I absolutely love with people that I absolutely love. And even though I feel like every penny I make has to be spent somewhere really lame, I'm glad I have it. And even though my job isn't really one to brag about, it makes me happy, and that's all I care about right now.
-I've always wanted a lot of good friends that I could turn to for anything, anytime, and here I am with a whole network of people who have my back no matter what. I appreciate their kindness and love for me and  the fact that many of the biggest decisions of my life have led me to those people.
-I've always wanted a big family to sit and laugh with about silly things, and here I am with three great siblings and two great in-laws that complete our family. I absolutely love when we all get together and have a good time. Even if it's just a few of us, it's still awesome and it's what makes home, home.

There are just so many wonderful things I have in my life right now. I'm so thankful for everything that I've been blessed with and there is no way I could name all of it. I know I have a long way to go before my life ends, but I still feel like I've come so far. Growing up is scary (and expensive) as crap but I really do love it. And I know that every single day I learn something that is going to help make me into whatever I become.

Although I am very excited for the future, I'm happy about the present. I'm content with my life.
:)

DFTBA!

February Blues

It's too cold to go out and have fun.

It's too cold to dress up for school and be cute.

It's too cold for late night chats in the car.

It's too cold for random adventures.

It's too cold for everything.

I'm just so sick of it.

Nevertheless, DFTBA!

Unexpected Awesomeness

So I had a bit of a surprise yesterday.
I woke up and didn't wanna go to school.
At all.
I just felt so awful :/
Anyway, I had a feeling that I needed to go though.
Especially to Institute.
So I rolled out of bed, threw on my glasses and some sweats, and rode up to the U.
I stumbled my way down the giant snowy hill and somehow got to my class.
When I got there I actually took notes and paid attention?
Mallory and I took the red shuttle to the stop by the Institute Building.
That was an exciting new adventure!
We got to see the residency halls and a lot of the hospital.
We actually got to class on time and got to sing the hymn.
I'm pretty sure I sounded something like a dying cat, but whatever.
After the prayer and announcements, I looked to my right and saw there was someone sitting next to me.
It was most definitely Alex. :)
I smiled so big at him and said hi and immediately regretted my poor choice of wardrobe.
But he smiled back at me and sat there for the whole lesson.
For some reason I thought maybe he'd get up and leave in the middle?
He's a busy guy...
After it was over I asked him why he was there.
He told me he had just finished taking a test and had no more classes for the rest of the day.
He had missed his own institute class the day before so he decided to come crash mine.
I was so freaking happy.
It has been a rough... month.
I HATE being alone all the time.
I hate how I have no one to talk to (in person) or just hang out with.
And even if I did, I'm so busy I can't do it anyway.
It's just a crappy situation.
So I was extremely thankful that he had decided to come see me right on the exact day I needed it the most.
We rode the train together and talked and laughed just like old times.
We had a lot to catch up on :)
He told me the "story" of how he ended up in my class on that particular day and I knew that Heavenly Father had something to do with it.
He knew I was in need of a friend, a pick-me-up of sorts, so he inspired Alex to come see me.
It's just little things like that that make me realize just how much God loves me and watches out for me.
Surely, I'm not by any means "alone".
I have a million friends and a wonderful family.
I could probably just suck it up and be fine.
But, no.
He understands how I'm feeling and knew I needed some help.
And help me he did.
Needless to say, my day got a lot better really, really quickly.
:)

DFTBA!

Quick! Say 10 Things You're Thankful For

I blame my hideous mood on wintertime. Yes, I know my last name is Winter. Ha Ha Ha. That doesn't change the fact that I hate it. Today is a terrible day. I fell and then slid down the hill while walking to class (stupid snow), had to clean my car off THREE TIMES (stupid snow), no one will pick up Kaylee so I have to go out and drive again (stupid snow), and I accidentally put too much water in my tomato soup (which if you think about it is technically just melted stupid snow). So I need to write down ten things I'm thankful for because I'm sick of being such a downer.

1- Whole milk and Fruity Pebbles

2- The friendly human beings at the Institute. And the free hot chocolate and banana bread.

3- Kittens. Always.

4- My incredibly wonderful coworkers

5- My family. Parents especially.

6- Texts from my best friend consulting me about fashion advice

7- The fact that I didn't die in the commute to school today

8- Clean laundry

9- My opportunity to go to college

10- Brother Page's awesome lessons

Also, I'm thankful for the hilarious things I find on the Internet

:)

DFTBA

¿Como Se Escribe Bored En Español?

Today I walked across the frozen tundra to get to a class that I'm not even paying attention in.

Don't forget to be awesome!!!

The Internet Knows My Life

I laughed waaaaay too hard at this. Maybe just because this happens to me all the freaking time. 

Absolutely hilarious.

Twins

I've been asked way too many times if Kaylee and I are twins.

We are not twins.

At all.

In fact, I'm five years older than her. 

She loves when people thinks we are the same age. It just makes me feel like a tiny baby. But whatever. Cause despite how different we are, we're kind of exactly the same.

I love my sister. She's so cute. :)

DFTBA!

We're Famous

So remember that New Year's party Elise and I went to?
Yeah well we were out getting a drink and this guy walked up to us and started asking us all these weird questions.
We both kinda just stared at him and were like dude what the heck?
Eventually he told us it was a prank and that they'd be making a YouTube video of it.
Well, here it is.
We're at the very beginning.
And it's not funny.
But we're famous ;)

DFTBA!

Sickly

Basically I had the worst week of my life last week.

Work was awful and school was stressful. And then I got sick.

So pretty much things were just crappy.

But I'm feeling a lot better and I haven't had to work since last Thursday. 

So anyway this has been my life as of late:

I hope you notice how awful I look.

Because I definitely felt awful.

My psychology book has gotten much more interesting and LEAP is my 11th grade English class all over again. But this time instead of BSing my study guides, I actually know what I'm talking about sort of. It's nice to have better reading comprehension and be able to find the metaphors and deeper meanings of a book. I'm so thankful that years and years and years of school has actually paid off. Also, I have to write my memoir for my LEAP final project and I think it's going to take me all semester to say exactly what I want to say, how I want to say it. So I'm probably going to use my blog to plan it out and stuff. Be excited ;)

Also, I learned something about myself. Are you ready for this? Okay.

Things. Always. Work. Out.
Last semester, I didn't think I was gonna make it. I thought I was literally going to die in the piles and piles of homework that I had dumped on me. But I made it.
When I started marching band when I was 15, I never thought I'd be able to do it. By the time I graduated I was band president and the girl a lot of kids looked up to. It worked out, I made it.
When I was called to SemCo and I didn't think I'd be able to complete my assignments or wake up on time for meetings. But I did it. I made it and it all worked out.
Sometimes I underestimate myself. I think I won't be able to do something or I won't do well on a test or an assignment (and sometimes I don't...), but a lot of the time I end up being just fine. I always work hard for things that I care about. I always do as well as I want to. And even though these fourteen credits seem scary as crap, I'm probably going to be just fine. It's going to work out, I'm going to make it, and I'm going to study hard and do well. Because that's just me. I care way too much about everything to let stuff slide. So I thought that was pretty cool. I just need some better self-confidence and a good attitude!

Anyway, I'm glad I realized that I need to quit freaking out about everything all the time and trust myself to do a good job on things. Because I can, and I will.

DFTBA!

You Scream, I Scream, We All Scream

For Ice Cream!
The wintertime at Jamba is sloooooowwwwww.
The other night Austin and I were working together and I decided it was time for a little sundae bar.
For some reason, our delivery people gave us this tub of ice cream a while back and they just let us keep it. So at our work Christmas party, we ate a tiny bit of it. Emily told us she'd take it back to Jamba and leave it in the freezer for us to eat when we got bored at work. She also left us hot fudge, caramel, and Cool Whip. And styrofoam bowls.
So, I got out all the stuff and we ate our fill of ice cream for the next month or two. It was spectacular.

DFTBA!

Spring 2013!

So the new semester started on January 7th. It approached much too rapidly. Winter break FLEW by. I felt like I was going to die when my alarm went off and it was already time to get up and throw on my sweats and drive to the TRAX station. Yes, I wore sweats on the first day of school. Do you want to know how much I care? Not even a tiny bit

I was so comfy and so warm and it was the best.

I'm taking fourteen credits, four classes. PSY 1010, LEAP 1100, COMM 1010, and HIST 1700. 

I really really love psychology and leap is whatever. It's nice to be in the same class as last semester with a professor that I'm used to working with and learning from. 

Communications might be a toughy but I think it's gonna be good. And history just plain SUCKS. I have a 1,300 page textbook that I have to read this semester. The tests are in-class essays and it's on the other side of campus in the engineering building? So whatever. 

But, I'm also taking institute! I took the other half of the New Testament with Brother Page because I just love him! 

I actually have a couple of friends in my classes and things are going to be a lot more exciting this semester than last semester but also a lot more work. I'm nervous but I'm excited. It's gonna be good :)

Also, I'm dying of laughter. I think this is one of the best Your E Cards I've seen on iwastesomuchtime.com, ever.

DFTBA! :)

DFTBA

So I have this friend called Rachel. 

I met her via marching band a few years back. She's in colorguard and a very talented girl. And she likes cats so I'm instantly attracted to her.

 Anyway, she ends all of her blog posts in DFTBA. It took me a while to understand what she was saying but eventually I got it! It's an acronym  that stands for Don't Forget To Be Awesome. How great is that!? Awesome is practically my favorite word! And it's a super great message! 

Don't forget to be awesome. 

Life can get hard, and boring, and stressful, and monotonous, but don't you ever never ever forget to be awesome. It's just so simple. 

So, since I've been searching for some sort of closing words for my blog posts for over a year now, and I'm a big fat copycat, I'm gonna use DFTBA.

Thanks Rachel for your inspiration and awesomeness.

:)

DFTBA!

Manager Status

It's official :)

The Life of a Blog Stalker

So I have discovered recently that a lot of the blogs I used to stalk have gone private. Since I don't personally know a lot of the writers, I wasn't invited to continue reading and now my reading list has grown rather short. SO, that means I need new blogs to read. Which also means if anyone happens to follow this one, please leave a comment or something so I can follow back and hopefully get some new blogs to read! I think it's awesome that we have the technology to share our adventurous lives with each other and we def need to keep the alive and exciting. :)
The end!

Ready Or Not Here It Comes

I'm definitely in denial about 2012 being over. I was going to write a post reminiscing on my year and how great it was but then I started writing it and got super depressed. 2012 was by far the best year of my life. I loved it so much! It was extremely difficult and I went through a lot of new challenges, but it really was awesome. I had so much fun and built a lot of really good relationships with people. I had some awesome experiences and learned so much. So if you wanna know what happened in 2012, read my earlier posts. I talk about most of the big stuff that happened and that's good enough for me.

So as I was saying, I had a hard time seeing such a great year end. But, ready or not, here it comes. And here it is. 2013 is a crap number but hopefully it won't be a crap year. I won't let it be a crap year! haha

My New Year's Eve was quite interesting and eventful. I'm a firm believer in "go with the flow". I hate, I repeat, HATE making plans. For anything. Ever. Something always comes up or something more exciting always happens. I just hate knowing I'm locked into something before I know what my real options are. Anyway, since I had no plans, my day turned out awesome! Anna called me and asked if I'd go shopping with her. We went around Jordan Landing and she got some real cute stuff for the coming year :) And I only bought one pair of pants. It was a Christmas miracle. :) 

Elise called me and asked if I wanted to go to the party that UVU throws every year. We discussed a few different options and eventually I decided that I would just drive down there and stay the night with her. She was working so I shoved my Jamba clothes in my backpack and set off for Provo. It started snowing while I was on the freeway but I didn't die. (Another Christmas miracle) I got to the Jamba in Provo and put my uniform on. I helped them close and it was so weird to be working in another store. I felt like I was cheating on JJJL. hahahah. Elise accidentally flooded the place and I had my very first cheddar tomato twist. It was heaven.

We went to Elise's apartment and got ready for the partay. We drove over to the school and after another trip back home and several minutes of stupid wifi we got in. It was basically a region dance on steroids. We danced and ran around and hug out with Ashley and Liz. (Elise's boss and my future boss :P) They left before midnight so we hung out with Emery and her roommate Hannah for the rest of the time. We spent much of the night trying to get people to dance with us and trying to find some cute strangers that would kiss us at midnight. Finally the countdown came. It was 2013 and there was absolutely nothing I could do about it. My year was over and another one had began, just like that. I sat there in awe thinking about what this year would bring.

Suddenly Elise went into panic mode and she was like I MUST KISS SOMEONE AT THIS PARTY. So, she walked up to some innocent guy who was walking around by himself, grabbed his face, and kissed him. Lots. Emery, Hannah, and I stood there in total shock and laughed forever. I couldn't believe Elise was just making out with some random guy. Then they hugged and said happy new year to each other and went their own ways. It was absolutely hilarious and I thought I was gonna die. Hannah found some stud muffin and Emery had a guy ask her if she needed someone to kiss. Then all eyes were on me and I was like um hello? No way. 

Being the brave girl she is, Hannah walked over to some cute fellows and was like, "hey do you wanna kiss my friend?" to one of them. Then he smiled and walked over to me and kissed me. I smiled back and was like hey thanks happy new year! and then he hugged me and walked away. OH MY. hahahahah it was the weirdest thing I've ever done in my life. None of us even know their names. But whatever cause YOLO. And not only that but, you're only young once. And you have to do stupid stuff sometimes simply because you are young. And it might make a great story one day. Who knows. 

About 1:00 I was about ready to crash so Elise and I left and went to Walmart to get some pasta and alfredo. We went home, made dinner, watched Friends, and chatted about how incredibly fun and crazy our night was. We finally went to bed at 3 and woke up at 10. I showered and we went to Village Inn and ate a delish breakfast. Then it was time for me to go home cause I had to work. I told Megan and Rachel about my weird as crap night and they laughed with me. We had sisterly chat in the office for 45 minutes and it was great. I love those girls :) It was just a really great way to start a really great year!

GOALS FOR 2013:

• Get good grades
• Meet new friends
• Spend time with the boys coming home
• Be even more awesome at my job
• Read a book every month
• Eat breakfast every day
• Read scriptures more often
• Save money! Open a savings account!
• Participate more in Institute
• Quit freaking procrastinating
• Write more, shorter blog posts
• Work a shift at the Draper store
• Be more friendly. Enough of this sleeping on the train business.
• Don't gossip 
• Memorize all of the secret menu recipes
• Not worry so much

And more to come. It's gonna be great. :)

And after all these years, we're still best friends. 

Still.

I love her.