Freshman fun (2 years later)

Last night I saw one of my very best friends dance with her husband at their gorgeous wedding reception.

Last night I also stayed up late talking about boys and the mysteries of life with my freshman roommate while sleeping in the same room once again.

Today I talked to and hugged another one of my very best friends for the first time in over two years.

This afternoon I also sat next to, hugged, joked with, snacked with and talked with two other really awesome friends who I've only seen once since they returned to Utah in December and January respectively.

It was a crazy weekend for freshman memories and friends, that's for sure. It all started with being around Jordan for a few hours on Friday. (Except I'm totally lame and we didn't take any pictures together. Bummer.) Being around him always makes me reminisce. 

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Saturday night was Mikaela's wedding reception. It was an awesome night. Lorraine and I helped decorate Mik and Calvin's car. It's so fun being involved in wedding activities like that. Our good friend Kara was kind of in charge and had bought a ton of supplies: window paint, post-it notes, streamers, knock-off Oreos, marshmallows etc. The greatest part about the car was what Calvin's uncle did. He wired the brakes to a horn, so whenever someone stepped on the brakes off went a horn. It was hilarious.

the finished product

After the reception Lorraine and I went to SJ's house to hang out. When we got there she had a huge ice pack on her face. Her little brother accidentally hit her in the face with a lacrosse ball. It was both funny and sad. We got a lot of nice talking in and just reminisced on life and also we got to learn about her boyfriend Dave. This was the first time I met him but he's great. Once Lorraine and Dave left Sara and I kept talking of course and just philosophized like old times. It was lovely to sleep in the same room as her again and talk about life across the room in our beds. It was so familiar and comfortable and great. I'm going to miss her terribly when she goes to Ecuador.

This morning Sara and I went to a mission farewell for her really good friend and a girl I met through her. It was lovely. Then we went back to SJ's and ate crepes with her dad and little brother. Sara is a great cook and the crepes were DELICIOUS. We had strawberries, raspberries, chocolate syrup, maple syrup and homemade whipped cream! We ate a ridiculous amount but it was great.

This afternoon it was time to see Matthew for the first time in over two years. He did an awesome job speaking and I loved just seeing and hearing him again. In church I sat next to Sara, of course, and our freshman friends Braden and Will. They were two of Matt's roommates and this was their first time seeing him too. We all just laughed and had a great time all afternoon talking about their missions, summer plans and our plans to hang out in fall. Will and Braden are the guys Lorraine and I saw Imagine Dragons with back in March. Will and I already have plans to go to another concert together in September.

reunited at last.

I probably monopolized Matt's time a little much but I felt justified since I haven't seen him in over two years and I won't see him now for another two months. It was so great seeing him and I can go back to Wisconsin a very happy kid having seen him.

I will never not love him.

Last YouTube video I watched: Permafrost (Laurena)

Summer packing & last adventures

I've spent a little time the past two days putting my clothes and a few other belongings in my now-weathered suitcase. It's been on quite a few trips now, many to and from Utah. The most exciting thing about packing today is the fact that I'll be able to fit my wonderful memory foam pillow and the suitcase won't be over the 50 pound weight limit. I'm very excited about this fact.

Packing is always interesting because it really shows you what things you like/need the most, especially when it comes to clothes. There are some shirts and pants I most definitely need and others that are nice to have but just aren't necessary. I've found that to be the case with a lot of my t-shirts. There are still things at home in my closet so I don't need to bring everything from here. It's hard to decide what to bring and what to leave though since I don't know how I'll feel a month from now and I don't doubt wanting a lot of the things being left behind in my closet in Utah.

Of course some of the hardest things to leave behind are books. I love having a lot of my books here in Utah because they make my room feel like a home. Luckily my brother and I both have all the Harry Potter books or I'd be real sad. This will also give me the opportunity/force me to read books I haven't read before.

Besides packing the last few days have been spent doing awesome stuff with awesome people. Becca and I made Swedish pancakes the other night at, like, eleven. They were delicious of course. Lorraine and Laura came over to enjoy them with us.

Lorraine, Becca and I also went to a birthday party for a friend, though the real purpose was to see Amber. She lived in the same building as us freshman year. Becca and her were also roommates sophomore year. It's always lovely to see Amber and just catch up on life. It's great when we all get together because suddenly all these inside jokes come out that we usually forget about, and then we just laugh really hard and people are confused as to what's so funny.

Thursday afternoon I got lunch with Jeff. We went to Cafe Rio and it was glorious. I seem to always forget how delicious Cafe Rio is until I go again. It was just the two of us which was lovely. We sat for a long time just talking about life and such. We're really good at transitioning between all sorts of topics of conversation. One minute we'll be talking about BYU football or basketball and then we're talking about his roommates' dating lives and then we'll be having some spiritual/churchy conversation. It's great times with Jeff and I'll miss our little hang outs.

Perhaps the best thing of this past week was hanging out with Jordan one last time before I leave. Actually, it is definitely the best thing that happened this past week. He came over yesterday morning and we went to the park and threw around my frisbee for an hour. Then we got shakes at the creamery. It was the first time he had the flavor graham canyon since getting back from his mission so he was super excited and he was not disappointed. We ate our shakes at my apartment and then watched most of the Sweden/England soccer match. At halftime we shared our friends' awkward engagement pictures and had a good laugh. I also shared some of my new music with him. Jordan and I became friends primarily because we loved each other's music, but we stayed friends because we have a lot of other stuff in common as well. Saying good-bye to him was difficult since we've only seen each other a couple times in the past month he's been home but it's all right this time around because we can actually call each other and text each other whenever we want. Fall semester is going to be awesome and we've already made plans for some adventures upon my return to Utah.

So tonight is Mikaela's wedding reception. Lorraine and I will go to that and then visiting SJ's house to have a little fire and to eat s'mores. I'm sleeping over at Sara's house so tomorrow we can go together to see Matthew speak in church. This will be the first, and really the only time, I'll be seeing Matthew this spring. I'm ecstatic. Now that he's home the mail has little meaning anymore. For two years I practically lived for checking the mail, but those days are no more. It's weird to not have that constant anymore, though now that my friends who are girls are going on missions I'll still be writing plenty of letters, that's for sure.

And now a photo tribute to Mikaela and I throughout the years:

I'm pretty sure this is the first picture
Mikaela and I were ever in together

Congratulations on getting married today, Mik! You're awesome and I can't wait to hear about all your married life adventures with Calvin in Colorado.

Last YouTube video I watched: Watsky raps fast

Accomplished: spring term

Today is the last day of classes. I am all done with spring term. Time is a crazy thing. When I got home from my last class of "junior" year, I went for a 15 minute run and then I did an ab workout for 15 minutes. There's this really cool app called Nike Training Club that has all sorts of workouts to do that focus on all different things. They last anywhere between 15 and 45 minutes, all depending on what you want to do. While doing my abs I started watching more Euro Cup! (This is what I've been doing every day before the past few days.) Ukraine and Sweden are plying right now. (Carson served his mission in Ukraine so I really hope Sweden wins so I can trash talk him.) I love Sweden. They were the first national team I ever saw play so I will always love the Swedes. Also, they are all very good-looking; well, except maybe Ibrahimovic. If matches were decided on how good-looking the players are, I'm pretty sure Sweden would win unanimously.

But since spring term is over now, not counting exams (I only have one so it hardly counts anyway), I am officially in summer. So I present:

Spring term in Utah (photos I haven't posted yet)

Finding "wetlands" in Provo

Watching Grant be a sea lion

Pondering life in Santa Cruz (This is my favorite
photo from the entire CA trip)

Riding the train to SF between these hooligans

Matching with Stacy

Being Trent's favorite, meaning I always got the front seat

Celebrating Maddie's wedding

Mik's bridal shower type party dealio

This week will bring more awesomeness since I'll probably see Matthew McKay soon(!) and Mikaela's wedding reception is Saturday(!) and the California road trip crew (Grant, Phillip, Emily and Trent) are leaving for Canada to run the Tough Mudder so I'm probably going to hang out w/ those boys one last time before we go our separate ways for the summer. At the very least Trent and I will be getting lunch like old times, and by old times I mean like we did three weeks ago and for most of spring term.

So eight days from now I will be headed home. That'll be lovely.

Last YouTube video I watched: The Green Bean Gelatin Plan

Excitementish?

Sometimes I feel like my life doesn't amount to much. I see what my friends are doing, friends from school and friends from home, friends taking classes right now and friends elsewhere in the world. People have jobs and internships; others are graduating; a good number are on various study abroad trips to awesome places, like Mckenna in Guernsey and Carson in Italy. I've got my riveting classes of media and world religions, which goes right up until 6:30 every Monday and Wednesday evening, and Iberian civilization, which has an exam basically every week. At first glance, I don't have much exciting stuff going on, but things are surprisingly great, and exciting in ways that most people would probably not consider exciting.

I've gotten a lot more time to read lately. I love sitting in the grass on campus or at the park and reading a good book. It's definitely one of the things I miss the most about fall and winter semesters. There really just is not time for recreational reading. I may have gotten a little too excited about reading though because I've barely started some of the books I checked out from the library and they're due in a couple days.

There's a house of boys who live right around the corner who make sure at least two or three nights a week are filled with some kind of . . . something. Whether that be watching a movie, or kidnapping a roommate for his birthday and getting cupcakes and then fries and Frosties from Wendy's, or going to Macey's for cheap soft-serve, or getting lunch and then going to Home Depot to find spray to kill wasps. They're always around for hugs and laughs and smiles and snacks. Just last night I saw The Avengers with them, and let me tell you: seeing that movie with a bunch of boys makes it 10 times more hilarious and epic.

My apartment has always been friends w/ the apartment right across the hall, but over the last few weeks of spring semester we've seen even more of them, and it's been awesome. We've gone to see movies; we've stayed in to watch movies; we've eaten cookies; we've talked about boys. I got to go to an awesome fire w/ one of them and then after to stare at the super moon. We stop by each other's apartments just because we can. It's a really small thing but hanging out with them is easily some of the most fun I've had all semester.

And perhaps what I'm most excited about/what is most exciting is having the opportunity to go to Mikaela's wedding reception, which is exactly a month from today! I'm so excited. Mik is from Colorado and getting married in Utah and is having a reception here and back home, so had I gone home for spring semester, I would have missed it. Mikaela easily became one of my best friends at school and I'm both terribly excited and sad she's getting married, though mostly I'm excited. Her dress looks awesome and it's going to be an epic day.

However, now that I think about it, what will make spring semester the best is the fact that I get to go to California over Memorial Day weekend! My other wonderful friend Hannah is getting married in Oakland, and fortunately for me the aforementioned boys who live around the block are all going to California that weekend and I get to road trip it with them. One of them is going to the reception as am I, another is from the area, and the other two are basically just going for fun.

So while my life may not be as epic as those traversing the world, it's still pretty dang good.

Last YouTube video I watched: Pitcher Makes Awesome Behind the Back Grab

Tuesday madness

Like I mentioned in my post from 2:30 this morning . . . Tuesday was pretty crazy. So here's what went down.

My exam wasn't until seven at night so I spent the day half studying, half watching Vlogbrothers, half watching The Office. It was alright, though I wish my exam had been earlier in the day.

I went to campus around five something and sold back two more books and got $13, money which would later pay for my delicious dinner.

So I took my exam at seven and it only took about an hour, which was awesome because then I was able to get dinner w/ my friend Mikaela and her old roommates. Mik was in New Zealand all this semester on a study abroad and is getting married in June and is all done with school so after she gets married here in June I won't see her again for a long while. It was awesome spending literally the entire night w/ her and our other friends. We went to Red Robin and I remembered how delicious that place is. I had quite a large amount of steak fries. It was awesome. 

After our crazy dinner, which it really was, we went back to Mikaela's old apartment, where all her old roommates still live obviously, and ate tons of candy/chocolate from New Zealand. I also Tim Tam slammed for the first time ever! That was pretty nifty and Tim Tams are quite lovely when soaked in hot chocolate. The whole night was spent acting generally ridiculous and laughing and talking about old times  and new times and all that jazz. I realized how much I missed having Mikaela around just to hang out with. We met freshman year but really only became friends till the last month or so of winter semester so all summer we talked and then when we got back for sophomore year we hung out a ton. Provo isn't quite Provo without Mik so it will be interesting to come back this next fall and have her not be here.

I'm thinking about how delicious Red Robin was and now I'm getting really hungry again.

As for today's plans, there are none. Lorraine and I will probably bum around a lot. Maybe clean? I really have no idea. We'll figure out something. If it's nice weather that'd be even better but it seems pretty cloudy right now. It's almost 11 and my room is still dark considering it is almost 11. I think it's supposed to rain a little today but other than that be warm. This afternoon I should probably go for a run. I definitely need it.

Last YouTube video I watched: Romance and Sex Questions in an Airport