Re-commitment

Now that I have been home from New York for a few days, I've started my life over in some ways. I've explained it to people recently as getting back to my "real life" but really it is starting over. I decided to recommit myself to living a certain way. And it's not that I was living a bad life or that I was unhappy. On the contrary, the two months I spent in New York were quite happy and fulfilling and though last semester was full of tough classes and the like, generally speaking I was still doing pretty well.

But it was time for a change and I'm completely stoked about it.

For one thing, I'm abiding by my Four-Fold Mission more than I ever have before. For those who haven't heard me spout off these four points before, I'll give them to you now:

1) Happiness is a choice.
2) Change happens when the pain of staying the same is greater than the pain of changing.
3) The secrets of life are hidden behind the word cliche.
4) Don't forget to be awesome.

Very recently, Eli McCann, who writes the It Just Gets Stranger blog, had this to say of choices and happiness:

 "There is so much more joy in this life to be had if we decide to be happy rather than let our happiness depend upon the decisions of other people." 

So after reading that I was 100% certain that Eli is a total genius. (His blog has become one of my absolute favorite reads because of both his incredible sense of humor and knack for profundity.)

Beyond my re-commitment to those four points, I'm also taking on a new fitness regimen. Phrasing it like that sounds totally pretentious so let's just say I'll be working out a lot more. And by "a lot more" I mean every day but Sunday. This is where the second point of my four-fold mission really comes in. It's not painful to be who I am right now but changing physically is something I really want to do. I've written countless times about ShayCarl and his weight loss and how he's made an incredible life for himself. It's not that Shay wasn't happy before but once he really started losing weight, the change in his attitude toward life was astounding. I can run a couple miles and be fine but I'm capable of more than that. I know I am. I have little to no upper body strength. But I know I'm capable of more than that.

On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays I'm running. Just two days ago I started the Couch-to-5K running plan. Like I said already, I can run two miles, but I figure I might as well give myself a strict schedule to follow to work up to something more. On Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays I'm doing push-ups. Remember the time I started working toward doing 100 push-ups consecutively? I'm starting that plan again and this time I'll finish it. Last night I was talking to my friend Trent (of the Egg) about all this stuff I'm doing with my life and he brought up a good point about strength. He said it's not so important that I'm physically strong but that I feel strong. He's totally right. What I love about taking control of my life in this way is that I get to be both physically strong and, I guess, mentally strong.

The second to last thing I'm focusing on is cooking. This isn't really a thing I'm committing to again but rather something I'm just going to do again since I didn't get to cook at all in New York. Tonight I'll probably make a master list of ingredients I need to buy so I can start cooking all the Sorted Food recipes I put in a playlist.

And the final thing I'm working on is reading a bunch of typography and graphic design books. This is another thing that isn't a re-commitment but rather just a thing I can finally do now that I have the whole library at my disposal once again. I've already checked out four books on the aforementioned topics and read parts of two of them. It's the most interesting summer reading I've done in a long time. Typography is the coolest subject ever. I already love words so I figure it's a good idea to understand why people choose to make them look like they do.

Living life like I am now is very empowering, more so than I thought it would be. It's gearing up to be an absolutely fantastic summer. The weekends will be full of boating, camping, frisbee, reading, cooking, eating, movie-going and all sorts of other good stuff. Every night I've been back has been spent with my amazing friends and I know the rest of my summer nights will be just the same. From the first night I was back and Ben coming over at midnight to last night doing Taco Tuesday and seeing Monsters University with Badger & others, it's been wonderful. Tonight I'm supposed to see Phillip (also of the Egg) and get ice cream with Ben, and then tomorrow I'm getting dinner w/ Trent. Reuniting with all my friends makes me feel so alive.

From perfect to not to perfect again

I spent all summer longing to return to Utah not for the school or because I missed the mountains or because I was sick of Wisconsin (on the contrary, I will never not love being in Wisconsin), but because the people I've met and continue to meet are all amazing. I made plans, both daydreamed and real. I hoped for the best and practiced a lot of patience.

Then I came back to Utah and things were, quite honestly, perfect. Everything worked out better than I had ever imagined. I was living a dream. For about two weeks my life was golden. I never expected to return and feel as if my life was turning into everything I had ever thought I wanted it to be, but that's what happened.

And then it no longer was.

But here's the thing: it wasn't perfect anymore, but things were still incredibly great; things still are incredibly great. I've already learned a lot, both about myself and about life, in the first two weeks of school, though not much of it actually pertains to school itself. The most important things I've learned and continue to learn?

-It's okay and sometimes completely warranted to be brutally honest with people.

-I'm worth more than the amount of time it takes to write out a text message and anyone who thinks otherwise? Well, they can go ask Trent and Jeff what they think of texting when real talking is what's needed. (Here's a little secret: Trent's not cool with it. At all. And Jeff is just full of disappointment.)

-Sleep is not really all that necessary when you're a single college kid.

Wednesday night I didn't get back to my apartment until after 7. I didn't eat dinner until 9. I didn't go to bed until nearly 1:30 when I should have and could have been asleep by 12:30.

Yesterday I woke up less than an hour before my 9:30 class. I didn't get back to my apartment until after 9. I went to bed earlier than I did on Wednesday but probably not by much.

But I wouldn't trade any of that for anything.

It's all in the spirit of being a single college kid. On Sunday I was talking w/ my friend Cameron about relationships and friends and just being single. He vehemently defended his right to be single, even though he's seriously dating someone. It isn't so much single life he loves but more so the carefree nature of being a college student in general. He's got roommates he loves and doesn't have to "schedule" spending time with them, which is something I cherish as well. I'm not opposed to this single collegiate life by any means, but it was just interesting to hear someone else's perspective on a life that is both similar and terribly different than my own. It just so happened that Wednesday and Thursday turned into the kind of days that epitomize my collegiate life.

On Wednesday I was on campus only until 5 since my evening class got out early; it's supposed to end at 6:30. Walking home I ran into a girl from home who just got back from her mission. Since it's been a year and a half we talked for almost an hour.

Then I booked it over to Mckenna's since she was opening her mission call! She's going to the Czech/Slovak mission. It's going to be quite the adventure. I'm excited to add yet another person to my list of people I've written letters to.

By the time I got home from Mckenna's, I had to finish a couple assignments that took way longer than they should have. And suddenly it was 9 and I had not eaten since 10 in the morning. I made a legitimate stir-fry and hunkered down to finish the rest of my homework before Becca's friend Karina came to spend the night. At that point we went to watch a couple episodes of Doctor Who w/ boys from the ward.

Upon our arrival back at our apartment, Becca, Karina and I ended up talking for a good long while before I decided I needed sleep more than social interaction.

And then suddenly it was already time to get up. Even though I still felt like I could sleep for another hour, I started getting ready for the day. It was a chill day for me clothing-wise. I mean, every day is chill clothing-wise but yesterday especially. The day was full of classes and work. On Thursdays I work till close which is not that bad really but just slightly uneventful once 7 passes.

Becca and I then went on a little night run. The plan was to go just over a mile because Becca doesn't run much (read: ever) so off we went. It was a beautiful night for it. (Only 145 more miles to go!) Eventually Becca got really thirsty and we were super close to Jeff's house so the only solution was to stop. I'll use any excuse to see Jeff and his roommates so I was more than happy. Long story short, we ended up staying for over two hours and hypothetically planned around 3 different food runs that never actually happened.

So what was perfect just a few weeks ago completely transformed into a new kind of perfect. It's funny how life works out like that. I still have lots of plans for this semester, both daydreamed and real once again, but they've shifted a bit. Some are the same. Others are completely different. I'm still hoping for the best and my patience is always being used.

Life isn't everything I thought I wanted it to be. I'm pretty sure it's better.

Last YouTube video I watched: Spaghetti Symphony

Hellos and farewells

As school starts on Monday, the final trickle of people has ended. People are moving in all over the place. Church will now include a whole new cast of people. The number of people you meet on a new Sunday is incredible. In the most saddening turn of events regarding church, no longer do I have The Egg to accompany me from class to class or to pass notes to. (Though I'll still be seeing them often enough, it is a farewell of sorts.)

Starting Monday I have the opportunity once again to run into all the boys from my freshman ward who have returned. I'm quite ecstatic about all the possible encounters on account of how I've seen very few of them. It's like I'm getting a whole bunch of new friends, all ready-made who already know and love me. I've seen all of . . . 5 boys from my freshman year. (Jordan, Matthew, Wade, Will, Braden, and I think that's it.) That means there's a whole slew of them left for me to get to know once again!

Though as they have basically all returned, many of the girls I know are leaving. Tomorrow SJ gives her farewell talk. I'll be in attendance, of course, and I'm quite excited. Her brother is giving his farewell talk as well. I don't know if I've mentioned but Sara is going to Ecuador. For 18 months. How awesome is that? She's going to be an amazing missionary, but that won't stop me from missing her terribly.

Senior year is going to be insane, though I hope in the good way. As my good friend Augustus Waters would say, "I'm on a roller coaster that only goes up, my friend."

In other news, I ran another 2 miles today. Only 146 more to go. That's slightly less intimidating. Not.

Last YouTube video I watched: Responding to Haterz

Better than okay

Margaret is perhaps the most profound person I currently know. We've seen each other only a few brief times this summer but we're only a phone call or text away from at least pretending to be in the same place. Yesterday night we were talking about recent events in both our lives. After sharing a story of my own she smartly replied, "I can neither confirm nor deny that any of it happened, but I can pretty confidently say that this is real life." It was meant as a funny thing, a reassuring thing, but it was the most wonderful sentence to hear last night.

being together means home

Today at church I heard some other profound things from friends. In the hallway as I was getting ready to walk home w/ my roommate Stacy I ran into Trent, Phillip and Grant, also known as The Egg and the boys of the house formerly known as Fiery Passion. I had only seen Grant thus far since June. Seeing Trent felt like coming home. He represents so much of what made winter semester and spring term the best they could be. Just talking w/ him for a few moments was so familiar and relaxing; I only talked to him once or twice over the course of the summer but falling back into what makes us us took a matter of seconds. I gave him updates on life and had the special pleasure of sharing with him that everything I had worried about in winter and spring was completely fixed. He just smiled at me and laughed a little bit, saying, "Didn't I tell you everything was going to be okay?" Those words individually are not profound or complicated. They're about as basic as you can get, but strung together in that question they mean so much.

we keep each other in line

As positive as you try to remain, it's hard to see things in a larger perspective. Back in May, August seemed terribly far away. The fact that I had to make it until August for things to start working out came across as ridiculously difficult. So no matter how many times Trent and Phillip and Grant told me that I would figure things out, I was still unsure. Often enough, "unsure" is a synonym for life itself; though I know they forgive me for questioning their wisdom at times.

making life better than okay

Currently, life is, for lack of a better word, awesome. My roommates are all hilarious and kind. The boys from freshman year are all back from their missions. Jordan and I talk every day. I have a new job on campus. Soon enough everyone will be back from summer vacations and such. I'm not just surviving life or getting by; I'm enjoying and savoring it.

Last YouTube video I watched: John and Rainn Wilson Talk Romance

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

Fake spring break day 5

It's fitting that I finish this little series today since it was a week ago today that it ended.

The final day of the trip started off great: we all slept in well past the time we wanted to leave. Instead we got much needed sleep and ate a wonderful breakfast prepared by Grant's parents. There were pancakes, scrambled eggs, juice, cereal and milk. I sure do love pancakes, even though just two days before I'd eaten some as well. Breakfast food really never gets old.

Once breakfast was eaten and the car packed up, on the road we went. It's interesting to see how quickly we could revert back into driving mode. We all had our sort of designated places and roles in the car.

The drive took us a little out of the way since we intended to visit Lake Tahoe before heading back to Utah. It was the best detour/side trip I ever could have hoped for. The scenery started changing gradually and eventually we were driving up and down winding roads through incredible trees and rivers and mountains. It was absolutely breathtaking. Just going through South Tahoe and the area around it was amazing. Trent was having the time of his life with his head stuck out the window as we blasted the soundtrack to the movie Spirit. It really was the perfect background music. All the windows were rolled down as we drove into Tahoe itself. Phillip was having the time of his life and repeatedly expressed his desire to be in something like a small little sports car instead of his Subaru Outback. I can't really blame him either.

So we ate pretzels and Cheetos and smiled and laughed and marveled. We made our way down into the valley area and stopped by Phillip's old house. Yes, he used to live in Tahoe. We parked the car on the side of the road and played around a little in his backyard. Well, it was mostly the boys who played. (These pictures were taken by the wonderful Emily.) Yeah, his backyard literally had a river in it. How awesome is that?

I ventured onto a rock you could jump to from the grass.

Then it was time to actually get to Lake Tahoe. The drive to the actual lake took perhaps another hour or so, but we cared so little about time. It was just too great a place to rush through. We stopped off at a lookout place to see Emerald Bay before we actually got to the lake itself.

Is that not one of the most beautiful places you have ever seen? Pictures hardly do it justice.

Then we actually got down to the lake! We sat in the sun for a while, much longer than we had planned, and eventually got up the courage to do what we had come to do: run in, dunk our heads, and run out. We didn't get any pictures during the act but it was great, definitely one of those moments we don't need pictures to remember.

The boys literally ran back to the car & changed afterwards,
which left Emily and I looking way more hardcore than them.

And once Emily and I changed back into normal clothes, we departed from the glorious place that is Tahoe. (I was already planning a return trip in my head, that's for sure.) So then we drove. We stopped outside Reno and got In & Out since Emily was craving a burger and I'm sure glad we did. I'm pretty sure In & Out there is better than it is here in Utah. From that point on we only stopped for gas. On the drive back we also watched movies 3-5 of Harry Potter consecutively. Since we'd taken our good ol' time at Grant's house and in Tahoe we didn't arrive in Provo until 2 am. It was totally worth it.

This was a fantastic trip and I'm so glad I was able to go. Road trips seem essential to college and this was by far the most awesome one I've been on. I've done little trips up to Idaho and other places in Utah but this was pretty legit, the kind of trip I'm pretty sure I'll always remember. Everything about it was wonderful; well, except for the not sleeping too much, but even that was totally necessary in some ways. What kind of road trip involving college kids involves getting good sleep every night? With how much stuff we crammed in it probably would have taken something like 12 hours of sleep every night to make us not tired, and even then it might've been close. So I wouldn't change a single thing about that trip, except to maybe make it longer.

(Also, you can find even more awesome pictures at Emily's Flickr account. Some of the pictures from these posts came from her. She's a great photographer)

Fake spring break day 4

Sunday was not terribly exciting since all we did was go to church and eat lots of food. Literally.

We woke up and ate a lot of cereal before getting ready for church. That was interesting since there were four of us, two boys and two girls, sharing one bathroom and we were all trying to get in there to fix our hair and brush our teeth and such. And yes, I include the boys in the act of fixing hair because do they ever love making their hair look nice and spent more time on it than Emily or I did.

Church was lovely though, not terribly exciting, but nice. A boy who was leaving on his mission spoke and that is always entertaining to me because all my friends are coming home. 19 year-old boys seem so young now, even though they're barely two years younger than me. It's funny how time changes things like that.

After church we spent most of our time playing with Grant's niece before dinner. We hung out on the trampoline and acted, well, old. And his niece was just a little ball of energy and fun. If we'd gotten more sleep the last few days we probably would have been more lively but mostly we bummed around in the sun while she yelled at us to jump. The best part was when Phillip and Trent started holding down Grant so Clara, his niece, could start tickling him, though she didn't really get that. Instead she enjoyed stepping on him and kneeing him right in the chest.

Clara definitely wore us out a bit and then it was time for dinner. We had delicious barbecue chicken and cheeseburgers and fruit salad and just all this summery food. And then after that dinner we went over to the house of some of Grant's family's friends and ate a SECOND DINNER. That was amazing as well. We had steak and baked potatoes and more fruit and salad and for dessert brownies and ice cream. I had Thin Mint ice cream, which was delightful.

The thing about this trip and food is the fact that we never really knew when we would eat next so we just as much as we could when we could, hence two dinners not really being an issue. Even though we spent a lot of time in the car, we also spent a lot of time wandering around different places for hours on end so we worked up some pretty big appetites.

Sunday night we played Cranium. Grant and his mother were a team, Phillip and Emily another, and Trent and I made up the third. Suffice it to say, Trent and I did not have high hopes on account of how Cranium requires you and your partner/team to think along the same lines and have this sort of mind connection. It's hard to compete against a mother/son and boyfriend/girlfriend in the "thinking alike" category. Things didn't start off well for us either. Our worst suspicions were confirmed as Trent and I failed to spell the word "squiggle" backwards. Well, I could do it, he couldn't. However, our luck changed and it turns out Trent and I can get each other to guess pretty much anything once we get the right strategy; or at the very least he can get me to guess things. I managed to figure out he was drawing the phrase "animal magnetism," impersonating Adam Sandler, humming the little bunny Frou Frou song and acting out "free range chicken." When he was acting out free range chicken I even had him stop acting so I could put together each of the three parts. I literally yelled at him to stop and put my hand up, and it worked. That's pretty quality work on both our parts. So while Trent and I found our groove, Grant and his mother lost theirs. Grant went from guessing things like "truck," "ice cream," and "car" to "jail." When all was said and done, Trent and I absolutely demolished the other two teams, thus proving how awesome we are.

Once the game ended we watched Surf's Up which I absolutely adored. Penguins surfing. It's genius. So then the movie ended and off to bed we went, pretty early once again since we had the intention of leaving Grant's house at 8 for Tahoe.

Things did not go quite that way . . .

Fake spring break day 3

In the morning we bummed around in our sleeping bags for quite some time. Trent, Grant and Phil also spent a good amount of time wrestling when they got up. It was hilarious, especially because we were right in the middle of all these campsites and I'm sure plenty of people were weirded out. I'm not joking when I say we were right in the middle either. There were these two small dirt roads that formed a circle all around us. We weren't exactly being quiet either. Emily and I were, of course, laughing loudly and pretty much uncontrollably while the boys laughed and screamed and threatened each other with bodily harm. I love how crazy and loving those boys can be.

the view upon waking up

Waking up basically next to the ocean was pretty great, though. You can't camp right on the beach but not  too far from the campsites was the Pacific Ocean in all its glory. We walked there shortly after getting up. And by getting up I literally mean getting out of our sleeping bags because we were awake for quite some time before we summoned the courage to leave the comfort and warmth they possessed.

I love a good ocean breeze

Once we left the actual beach of Santa Cruz, we made our way into the actual city to find sustenance. And we found it in the form of Denny's. This meal really should've been documented but I'm pretty sure we were all too preoccupied with eating delicious breakfast foods to care about pictures.


After our meal, we went to Manresa beach in Santa Cruz. The boys frolicked in the ocean a bit and Emily and I laid on the sand where it was less windy and actually pretty warm. The sand kept our feet nice and toasty. Eventually one of Phillip and Grant's friends showed up and we made our way to another beach in Santa Cruz that he said was sunnier and less windy. However, that was not the case when we finally got there. It was at least as windy, if not more so, though it was slightly sunnier. The goal of this beach trip was to teach Grant how to skimboard. It was comical to say the least. And eventually it was time for all of them to make a gallant run into the ocean. It took about five minutes for all four boys to psych themselves up for plunging headfirst into the waves. Eventually it happened. They took a running start and off they went, falling and diving into the mighty Pacific. Once again, Emily and I had a great time watching from the sand. They played for quite some time in the water and Trent and Grant eventually got out the boogie boards. Once all was said and done, they were definitely worn out and pretty chilly.

Grant in his natural frolicking habitat

Once they got dried off and changed, off we went to Grant's house, a place we had only spent maybe 4 hours during the whole trip to that point. On the way back we stopped at WinCo, my first time at the store, to pick up stuff for dinner. We ended up having pesto and garlic bread and strawberries and bacon wrapped corn on the cob. Yes, you read that right: bacon wrapped corn. That was Grant's idea, something he learned on his mission in Kentucky. The boys made all the dinner and when I originally went into the kitchen to help, Trent shooed me away but did allow me to sit and watch them cook. All in all it was a pretty chill night. After dinner, which was probably around 9 or 10, we watched something on TV, though I cannot remember what it was exactly, and all of us fell asleep before midnight.


Stay tuned for more!

Fake spring break days 1 & 2

Here's the story of how I went to California for 4 days with 4 of the most awesome people ever.


On Thursday we left Provo at like six even though the plan was to leave at like four. That meant we didn't get to Grant's house until two in the morning. Needless to say, we were all pretty dead tired. The drive wasn't too bad. I was in the middle back between Grant and Trent for the most part; yep, I drove to California in the back, in the middle, with my feet on the hump. It was pretty nice all things considered. I fell asleep on Trent's shoulder two different times, mostly by accident and without the intention of actually falling asleep, but of course he's so sweet that he would never complain, even if it did bother him.

the best road trip buddies a kid could ask for

We listened to a lot of music, of course. And we also watched a Mission Impossible movie, though I mostly slept through it. Well, it wasn't so much sleeping as it was laying against the window with my eyes closed. I quite liked the drive, honestly. I love road trips. All in all it was an uneventful drive. Apparently some crazy stuff went down as we were going through Truckee but it was really only Phillip and Trent that know what went down. And Emily and I aren't going to ask about it anytime soon.

On Friday we left Grant's house bright and early to get to the Oakland Temple so Phil could go to the actual wedding in the temple. That was the reason for the trip after all, so we could celebrate the wedding of Wes and Hannah. While that was going on, the rest of us walked around the temple and went into the visitors' center. I haven't been in a visitors' center in a long time. The sister missionaries of course reminded me of Kelsey and soon enoug Sara. After that, Grant and I went back to the car to study. Grant got a lot done but I ended up taking a nap of sorts. Once the sealing was over we took some pictures on the terrace of the temple. It was very beautiful.

Then we made our way to a nearby BART station to take the train to San Francisco. Taking the train made me really miss London and the tube. Once we got to San Francisco we made our way to Chinatown. I say "made our way" but it was more like wandering around. Since Trent served his mission in Oakland and San Francisco he was our unofficial guide of sorts. He didn't really know where he was going but it seemed like he did. It took a while to walk to Chinatown but we didn't mind. It was just great to be around each other in a new city. We eventually found a really good place to eat, though the boys were not pleased with the size of the portions, though that was to be expected. After lunch we made our way to Fisherman's Wharf and Pier 39 and Ghirardelli Square. We were on the bay and walked around there for another few hours. It started to rain just a bit but nothing to deter us. It was crazy windy by the ocean but once again we didn't care. I think the best part of the day for Emily and me was Ghirardelli Square. We shared a delicious and huge peanut butter sundae known as the "Gold Rush." It cost us a bit but it was most definitely worth it.

I also loved when we stopped at this random Thai restaurant. Trent spoke to the waitress all in Thai. It was awesome and I admire Trent so much for being able to do that. He's an incredibly talented and smart guy. Things are always great when you have a half Thai/half Irish friend who speaks multiple languages.

At that point we were even more tired and decided to take a street car to the Embarcadero BART station and then back to our car. From there we drove back to Oakland for the reception. It was beautiful. Wes and Hannah had their reception at a building at the Oakland Zoo. It was outside and a perfect night as the sun set over Oakland and San Francisco. The dinner was also awesome. They had a great buffet. (You'll notice quite quick that much of this trip revolved around food.) Perhaps the coolest part of the reception was seeing Wes and Hannah's friends give toasts. Hannah's Harry Potter fandom friends were there and they said some hilarious things I'm sure only a few of us got. It was neat to meet them especially because I've seen pictures of them for years and heard a lot about them from Hannah. Though by far the best thing about Hannah and Wes as a couple is the fact that they have known each other since they were about three years old.

We left the reception before the dancing which was kind of a bummer since I really wanted to dance with Grant and Trent, who were both my dates.

our fearless men

 So we went off to Santa Cruz then, heading for our campsite. By the time we got there it was sometime after eleven. We all basically went straight to bed, and by bed I mean we laid out a huge tarp, unrolled our sleeping bags, crawled in and didn't wake up for hours. I did sleep quite well and wasn't cold at all.


And that's the end of days number 1 & 2 of our epic fake spring break trip to California.