Home sweet home

So now that I have been home for almost a month I've gotten into enough of a routine to actually remember to write on this little ol' blog of mine. Not a lot has happened since I do basically the same thing every day. It took some getting used to I must say. I've never worked full time before. It reminds me why I'm going to college. My current job is to sanitize instruments for a Orthodontist. The people I work with are great, I'm just bored. I spend a lot of my day in my own little corner with my back to everyone else. It's not that much different from my last job in that respect. So I am continuing my old habits of planning stories or singing to myself, anything to keep my mind busy. 

I also thought I'd throw in some of the pictures I've been taking. I walked  past this window almost every day after school so on the last day of finals I finally took a picture of it. BYU graffiti, friends. It's really intense. 

Nah, I think it's great. A reminder of the Jimmer craze and it's on a building that will probably not be used again for ten years. I don't even know what it was used for before it was closed, that was before I ever walked past. 

 The boys came with my mom to pick me up from school. Neither of them like having their pictures taken but I did manage to catch a couple. Most of them are as the boys are dodging away from me (like the bottom two where they cover their faces. Typical.), but I bribed them into letting me have just one smiling picture of them. When it comes to these two it's cheesy smiles all the way.

We stopped to spend the night with my Grandparents in a little farming town outside of Boise. I love it there, it's so peaceful and there's plenty of room to breathe. 

Because I should be doing homework, yet I am not

 I really should be working on my final for my drawing class. But I am rationalizing myself into relaxation. I  made headway in the assignment this morning. I worked for six hours. I'm feeling lazy now that I have finally eaten dinner (it's 9 pm. It was banana pancakes. So good.), etc, etc.

So make this mildly better I am trying to be mildly productive and write this post. I think I shall even post pictures.

These just below are from our jaunt to the Festival of Colors. It's an Hindu festival that I know nothing about except that everyone throws colors at each other. We all felt quite creepy in our doctors masks, but when everyone threw a handful of color into the air at once (its a thing) they came in quite handy. Without them I'm pretty sure our lungs would have been rainbow colored.

We rather enjoyed ourselves. For more pictures check out our group photo blog here. 

I've recently developed this love for street art and graffiti. Even though a lot of it is just ugly and crude, some of it can be quite beautiful. I've decided that if it weren't totally illegal (and I believe in following the laws, they are good things) I would be a tagger. Do they have permits for this kind of thing? I bet there's some place where there's this giant wall where people are allowed to just paint whatever. I should find this place and get out some of my tagging angst. 

The rest of the pictures are from our various adventures. Okay, just one adventure. But that's just because I was really good at taking pictures pretty much all day one Saturday. It was after we went to the Saturday afternoon session of General Conference (click here to learn about Mormons). But we've been on several adventures lately and I rather enjoy it. I think I might go on some more (most likely solo as I will be home and all my friends elsewhere) rambling picture taking adventures before I leave on my mission. 

So friends. I should probably try to actually be productive. It is finals an all. 

Veggies and Scones. But not together.

I feel like a cooking boss. My roommate and I made scones today, that's a new one for me. They weren't amazing, but that was because we had to substitute a few ingredients. So for the modifications we made they were pretty good. I'm starting to dream of having a kitchen with a wide range of foods so I can actually make the things I think of making. Like ginger chicken and spring rolls and fancy rice dishes that I can't pronounce or spell. 

I can't wait until I have my own garden so I can have fresh green beans and onions and tomatoes and raspberries. I love raspberries. I must admit, I've even dreamed of owning chickens. But only so I can have fresh eggs. Chickens are ugly and right up there with squirrels (tree rats) on my list of animals I dislike. But fresh eggs.... I spent ten minutes last night looking at an add trying to sell me chicks. I don't know why we got this ad (it was from a farming store) seeing as how my whole area is college students who will get kicked out of their apartments if we have animal. It wasn't very well thought through on the stores part. 

I also have this dream of living in New York with a hubby, living in a tiny apartment and eating Thai and Indian food all the time. These are two very different dreams. Strange how they come out of one person. But they aren't that different, I imagine having vegetables filling my little, almost non-existent patio. Home grown vegetables are important. I miss them. Probably part of this stems from the fact that it is now spring. I am keeping a sharp eye out for buds. 

Missions and voices

I am speechless. I don't mean this in the 'That is so amazing I can't come up with any words to do it justice' way. I mean it in the literally. I have lost my voice. My guess would be it is from a combination of too much sugar, talking much more than usual (with my family in town and all), and a cold. Mix all these in a pan and cook at 375 degrees for 10-15 minutes. Wa-la! The perfect recipe for losing your voice. Or rather, mine. So I am staying home from work and skipping class in order to save others from sharing in my fate. My poor roommates are already at risk.

But lets speak of happier things. I finally got my mission call! All of you that read this blog already know this, but I'm going to share anyways. I like sharing. Drumroll please......
Malaga, Spain!! I am going to the Madrid, Spain MTC on July 24th to start my 18 months serving the Lord. I am so excited. Thus the multitude of pictures. I don't know if these are a good representation of Spain or not, they're all from Google.  

Because I have amazing friends

My roommates are amazing, I must say. We have had so much fun this year. Somehow, grocery shopping has become something I look forward to as we go to the "magical place called Winco", to quote one of these roommates. Winco really is amazing. If you live in Idaho or Utah, see if you have one in town. You'll be amazed how much  money you save.

But anyways. Amazing roommates who are lots of fun. We will all be going our separate ways in a few months when the semester ends. Some on missions for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints , some onto other college adventures. We were sad to not be living together any more, but excited for all the adventures we were going to have.

And then someone had a moment of inspiration. 

So we have started a blog together. A photo blog, to be precise. There are nine of us and we are going to share our adventures with each other. And you dear reader, if you care to join our little party. Pictures fill the spaces between words, thus the name of the blog, Bracing Ellipsis. Take a look! We've already got quite a few pictures up and the design is much better than my little blog here. It's fun, and it gives me another place to let out my artsy itches. 

Speaking of splitting ways, I am currently waiting for my mission call. It could possibly come today. The experience of waiting for my mission call has shown me that I am not a very patient person. I guess this is good practice. When I find out I will let you all know with a beautiful little map and all sorts of unnecessary details. 

Peace out. 

Life is good

It's official. I am in the right major. I'm only in one official studio art class, figure drawing, but I love it. It's three hours long and most days I am surprised when class is over. The only clue to how long the class is, is when my back hurts from straddling the donkey easel for so long (a plank of wood with a plank in front to lean the art board on. It's like sitting on a horse. Thus the name.) I find myself analyzing peoples faces at work, placing their features and noticing what shape their face is. It's very distracting sometimes. Some people just have interesting faces! I wish it wouldn't be super weird for me to ask them if I could take a picture, just so I could draw their features.

Last weekend I was lucky enough to have my mom visit. My Melissa and Jeremy were being sealed to little Charlotte. It was really fun to visit with so much family. And eat real food. That was a huge perk too. I get tired of rice and oatmeal sometimes. It's amazing how creative I've gotten with such simple foods.

Yesterday I got to spend an hour with my good friend/ ex-roommate Kaia before she went into the Missionary Training Center. There were more of us there but this was the best picture. I figured people would play nice and not put the pictures of the silly faces we made up. Kaia will be spending the next 18 months in Germany sharing her testimony. I am so excited for her! But sad to see her go. I should be getting my own missionary call towards the end of this month. I can't wait to see where I will be going.

Watch, Love, Share, Repeat.

Finish

I am on cloud nine. After a very hard semester I am having a wonderful couple of weeks. Finals are over. I don't work for three weeks. I made it into the studio art program. I had pizza and m&m's last night (if you have never tried this, it's so worth it. It's best with cheese or pepperoni pizza). And my first ever pie shake earlier this week. It was heavenly.
The other day at work was momentous. You have to understand a couple of things about the pizza store I work in. It is a small store and so we tend to get creative with storage. We keep our extra dipping sauce on top of the ovens to keep it warm. One of my co-workers put a box of sauce on top, not realizing that there was a box on the other side. The box on the other side tips off and all the cups of sauce splatter everywhere. I mean everywhere. It was on the menu sign, the ovens, my shoes, her shoes, inside her hat, on her glasses, on the warmer. Everywhere. All four of us in the store freeze in shock for a split second before we all start laughing. We continue to laugh as we clean it up. And the next day. If I'd had a camera I would have documented the moment and this would make more sense and sound less crazy. I have come to realize that with moments like that there are two choices: get mad, or laugh. We choose to laugh.
Detour! So pie shakes. Please, try one. They are worth every cent. My roommates and I went to a little place to celebrate the semester together. One of my roommates is going on an Latter-Day Saint mission next semester so we won't see her for 18 months. We are all very excited for her (she's going to Germany!) but sad to lose her. Thus the pie shakes. I have pictures, but I'm too lazy to hook up my camera to the computer and download them. I just finished finals. And I have to go pick up my laundry.
Merry Christmas!

A beautiful day

Yesterday we celebrated my roommates birthday by going to her favorite restaurant. It's this little family owned Vietnamese place. We all got pho which is this delicious soup with rice noodles and your choice of meat. If you have never had pho before, please go try to find some. It was amazing. We tried bubble drinks too which are these fruit drinks with tapioca balls in it. It was so fun to try new food and it all tasted great. Neither of these photos are from our trip but they look almost exactly like what we had.

To top it off that night a roommate and I made homemade pizza. We've done this several times before but this was our best one yet. Mozzarella, spinach, olives, onion, fresh tomatoes and fetta. It was fantastic, and so healthy! I love it when healthy things taste really yummy too. Of course we counteracted all the healthiness by making cookies to eat while we watched a movie. But that's besides the point. It was a great Saturday. I was productive all morning and had fun all night. Not every Saturday is so balanced.

Things I love

Snow in October is one of my least favorite things. But honestly, the rest of the October-ish things help make up for it. Like pumpkin pie, and hot chocolate (I LOVE hot chocolate) and fuzzy slippers and fall leaves and blankets and crisp weather and apples... *deep breath*
Yes. I love fall. But one of the BEST parts is carving pumkins. It's the only part of Halloween I really care for, but I love it. Love it, love it. We carved an apartment pumkin last night. I don't know about you, but I think it turned out pretty sweet.

You can't see it very well but the man is holding a fishing pole and there's a fishing line and some stars. It looks better in person, but this is the best I've got. Have a fantastic weekend!