Flew the Coop

Wowzers. That's all I gotta say. I'm moved out, I'm in college, I'm old-ish. 

These days have been long, tiring, busy, and so fun! Basically so far, it just feels like I'm at EFY. There's no way this dorm is actually my home for a year, right? Still hasn't hit me yet. 

Here's what I've been up to...

Day One

Got all moved in. Thanks to the help of some friendly boys it took two seconds! I'm continually surprised at how much room I have in my dorm...not even being sarcastic. I have tons of extra storage space in my room, kitchen, and bathroom! Bonus. Oh and don't mind my white bed, the duvet cover is in the mail...

Right off the bat me and some roommates went to the opening dance/social. My mom took creeper shots of us leaving. It was a great night!

Day Two

New Student Orientation started on Thursday. This is me, Shani, and Genevieve

I left early to go to my beautiful cousin Brittany's wedding! Congrats you two!

It was my Grandpa Jo's 80th birthday! What an amazing man! Love him

Day Three

This is my roomie, Jean!

Her side of the room...she likes orange, a lot. (:

 All we wanted was a good picture of us. And we got these. Braden was a little snap happy taking the pictures! He took 30, half of which were unattractive caught-off-guard ones.

finally! This one's a keeper. We got our first creamery ice cream, at half price too might I add

One of the many parts of orientation

We got a few free things...

Kept up our Pretty Little Liars tradition and watched it together! But half way through we fell asleep...good power nap.

There's a ton not pictured. It's been nonstop activities, the orientation keeps you really busy! Meeting new people is alright...basically you just ask their name, where they're from, what they're majoring in, and then you leave and will probably never see them again, it's just a sad truth. 

I'm loving the college atmosphere though! If you don't have something to do, you just walk outside and find a group of people, then end up doing something fun like beach volleyball or ultimate frisbee. Tonight it was ping pong. People are so nice and it's a blast.

Me and my roommates are getting along great! Besides the fact that I'm terrified for classes to start, there's not much more I could ask for. Still adjusting, still loving it, still feeling like I'm not old enough to be here.

class of 2016!

Memory Lane

IT'S HERE.

The time has come, college time. It literally feels like just yesterday I was freaking out at work because I had just been informed of my admission to BYU. Now it's here! Where did the time go??

Packing up and getting ready to leave has made me super reminiscent! Prepare for a sappy full-of-feelings kind of post.

I am extremely excited/stressed/nervous/sad/scared/happy to be starting this new chapter in my life! I'm a mess, I can't decide on an emotion. One second I'm crying sad tears, the next they're happy, and on it goes with this roller coaster.

First just want to give a biiiiig thank you to my amazing mom. Honestly I can tell her anything and everything. She's been a role model and best friend to me my whole life. I can only hope I'll be close to as good of a mom as her one day! She's prepared me for life, and I owe her a million times over. She will be missed every day that I'm gone. I love you mom!!

Well now let's look at some old pictures I dug up just because we can, and I think they're hilarious.

 

Those awkward middle school years. Have a whole bunch of me and lex, this was the least embarrassing one I could find! Definitely teared up and laughed at the same time. Love you tons lexe, keep fighting <3 Don't hate me for posting this (:

Polaroid picture...spent a good chunk of time at Iceberg! Had some amazing coworkers that made all the difference. Miss them!

Somewhere along the way I grew up.

Feel like I've changed so much even between this time last year and now! So many people have made such an impact on my life. I feel totally blessed and overwhelmed with gratitude. I have a million people to thank, if you're reading this, you're probably one of them! So thank you for making me who I am today. You're great.

Of course have to recognize the best friends a girl could have. Lexe, Megan, Challie, I love you guys more than you know!! No doubt in my mind we will be friends for life. Thanks for every little thing.

Alright, I think that's enough feelings for a post or ten.

This past week has been full of packing and working 8-9 hour shifts at my new job.

Work update: each day gets better! I'm beginning to get the hang of things and feel somewhat like I know what I'm doing. I'm especially beginning to enjoy the idea of working a normal 3 hour shift...

Got a whole 48 hours this week, which consisted of waking up at 4 a.m. and getting home at 3 p.m. Craziness people!!! Being in that fridge-of-a-room so much not only made me cold, but made me get a cold as well. Boo.

I know you're probably dying to see my lunch lady gettup, so here I am in all my hair net glory.

Awesome, right?

I've also kept busy finishing up my college dorm decor. Sewed some pillows!

The ruffled one was almost the death of me. Took forever! But I looove it. It can be compared to this fourty dollar one from urban outfitters...

I like mine better anyways.

Still can't believe I move in four days. FOUR DAYS! I've done all I can to prepare, so bring it on. Let's do this.

Making a Living One Sandwich at a Time.

Drum roll please....

I GOT THE JOB! (:

That's it really.

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but

if you want some boring details, keep reading.

Today was my first day working for the Creamery outlet! Overall...it was a typical first day. Which means it was not good. Haha but of course that's not all to the story! 

Want the bad side first or the good side? Hmm...I'll take that as the bad.

If I had one word to describe it, it would be cold. And if I had two words, it would be dang cold! My hands and feet were numb and hardly functional by the end of the 4 hours, it was that bad. Brrrrr.

Also, they didn't tell us when we got to leave...it's hard to keep working and being miserable when there is no end in sight!

Now the good side.

It is a low stress and easy job! You keep doing the same mindless task over and over for a while until it's done, then go on to the next project. Example: we made fruit skewers as one of our tasks. You just stab fruit. Cantaloupe, pineapple, honeydew, done. Cantaloupe, pineapple...you get the idea. Do that 200 times and ta-dah! People at the MTC now have a little snack.

Next plus side, the cold can only get better! I was crazy unprepared. I wore flimsy little TOMS, which got wet and provided no warmth and actually added to the cold. Dumb move on my part! Also I will wear gloves under the plastic ones we have to wear, and a heavier jacket.

The biggest thing I'm happy about is I don't have the 5 AM shift!!! Hallelujah. I'm so lucky! I work 8-11 on mon, tues, thurs, fri, and on-call saturdays. Having a set schedule will be so nice!

Now you have the 411. Next time you get a pre-made sandwich, just take a moment to think of and appreciate the freezing people who slave to make them. Then come give me a hug and some hand warmers.

 

Bought all my text books and got my student ID. Who's prepared? This girl.

Also got some new pants that I adore. They're fun.

That's all.

Show and Tell Time!

I have LOVED planning out my dorm room...loved it! For months I've been coming up with ideas upon ideas that keep piling up in my brain, and now it's go time! Have to make all of these dreams become reality.

Slowly but surely, it's happening. And I'm proud of my work...so I'm going to show off.

Here is my blank canvas--what the interior of my dorm looks like. My bed will be the one against the window.

My bedspread. Unfortunately won't come until September 20 ):

I'm obsessed with these cute twine flowers. I've been making a bunch, and decided to string them together to hang across my window!

For the shelving above my bed, I painted the inside of various size glass jars, and viola!

These will go like so in the corner of where wall-meets-window.

This frame collage will go above my bed. The glass jar arrangement will be on the shelf and sit right beneath where the white square frame is. Underneath the light pink circle frame on the right, this frame:

 will be sitting on the actual shelf. It is a shadow box that holds all my tickets!

The frame collage in and of itself is chock full of DIY projects! Only 2 of them didn't have to be painted or altered. The clock is a dollar clock from Ikea that I took apart and replaced with striped paper I painted. Genius points for that idea go to my mom! Turned it from an ugly cheap-o clock to a stylish cheap-o clock. 

I have a few projects left to do...

1. Sew pillow cases for the throw pillows. So far I have a big burlap one, a lacy white one, and a ruffled mint one.
2. Make these as pencil holders for my desk.
   
3. re-cover a lamp shade with ruffles also for my desk.

Hopefully you could paint a picture in your head that looks similar to the one in mine! There's a lot of aspects to my room, believe me I know.

 

Here are two organization projects I undertook!

The first one is a planner. I created my own pages to put in it, some of which include: A weekly overview, day by day planning, recipe ideas, notes, a monthly calendar, etc. The pages are in sheet protectors. I can write on them with dry erase, which allows me to use them over and over again without wasting paper!

Each day has my classes and space to write homework for them.

I'm excited to stay organized!! It will relieve a lot of stress.

 

My second project is to stay on top of finances. Another idea found on pinterest, it is known as the envelope system! I created a budget for each paycheck-- how much money I will need for different categories, such as housing, shopping, food, entertainment, etc.

This project gets a binder too! At each paycheck, you put the allotted amount of money into the corresponding folder. When the money runs out for the category, you're done! No taking money from the bank, nothing. Extra money from each paycheck will be saved and kept in the bank. It's so simple and easy, and very effective! I might be a poor college student, but I'll be a well planned one.

 

Oh, and here's my backpack.

Acid wash denim! I love it.

 

It feels like all of this is just the tip of the iceberg of what I've done to prepare for college. I haven't even gotten into all of my kitchen supplies, my amazing under bed storage plans, and yada yada. Maybe I'm the only one who even cares. But I've devoted my summer to all of these projects, and I'm super duper proud and in love with them. So they got a whole blog post. Can't wait to get to college and have it all come together!

Big Changes A-Coming.

Only one more nanny picture, I swear. Just look at this little man.

K really though, I want to keep him forever. He's adorable!

I like lunch dates with friends. I love lunch dates with friends. Squeezing out every last drop of time I can get with them before my busy college days begin! 

A few days ago, I went with Eliza to Zupas and made the mistake of making her laugh while she was drinking water. She didn't just dribble a little, no no. She sprayed it everywhere. Like the whole-restaurant-turns-and-looks kind of spray. Times like these make me want to have a video camera going 24/7.

Literally don't know what I'm going to do without these girls. Megan moved to UVU this past week, and Challie left on vacation. Saddest days of my life! Here we are pre-separation bliss, watching the 24th fireworks across the valley from up on the mountain.

Packed up Sam's truck with pillows and blankets and went up the mountain for some stargazing! You can see a little glimpse of Challie in here...she tried guys, she really tried.

Each week I visit Corb and his roommate/best friend/coworker/lover (jokes) Andrew after another commitment downtown. They're obsessed with their bods.

Some big decisions.

Growing up isn't that fun. For reals. Can I just stop?

On Tuesday I had a job interview at the BYU Creamery Outlet, which is a hop skip and a jump away from my dorm. SO close! The job is basically just preparing all the premade food that is sold at the creameries, served at the MTC, and at other functions such as EFY and education week. There are a lot of pros and cons for this job, but I don't really have the option to be that picky with what job I get...I just need a job period! So I have my heart set on this one. The boss was supposed to get back to me already either way--hired or not,-- but I still haven't heard from him...super nervous!! Cross your fingers for me!

All of this getting-a-job business made me think even more about bringing a car to college. Again, a lot of pros and cons, but in the end it just turns out I've decided to sell my car! Not only did I decide to sell it...but I actually did sell it! It happened so fast. Put it on KSL and it was gone within an hour, leaving me with a wad of cash and some mixed emotions....

Ahh so sad! Back to having my mom drive me everywhere.

My baby is sorely missed already.

Worst part is I can't even shop with this money...gotta pay housing, some tuition, books, dorm supplies, and all that other fun stuff that eats your money for breakfast. I'm serious about this not growing up stuff. Peter Pan isn't so crazy after all, make it stop!