come what may and love it

Minnesota jargon, dontcha know.

2011-12-23T08:42:00.000-08:00

I've lived in Minnesota for almost my whole life. We moved to Minnesota from Wisconsin (which is the same as Minnesota except there are less lakes and more cheese, and as you may or may not know, I have no problems with that) when I was three years old, so I'd say that 21 years out of 24 would be a suitable justification for saying "I've lived there my whole life". Living in the same place forever has its advantages. I didn't have the traumatizing experience of moving the summer before my senior year of high school, I was never the new kid at school and I have somewhere that I will always be able to call home. But I would say that living in the same place your whole life also has its disadvantages. There are habits and phrases that are very state specific and when you do go somewhere else and learn that people might not know what you're talking about, you start to wonder if you've been lied to your whole life.

So when I started going to school in Idaho and started making friends from all over the country, I was shocked to learn that not only did they not know what cheese curds were, Minnesotans have quite the variety of different names for things that we're all familiar with on some level.

As if Minnesotans don't already take enough heat for their accents (my mom actually trained me and my sister to not have MN accents. When people find out I'm from MN they usually say "Wow, you don't even have the accent!"), here are some other things that you might find strange about our way of speech.

I know some of these are definitely specific to MN, but some I'm not so sure. You'll have to tell me if your homeland says it too.

1. Duck, duck.......

Did you say goose in your head? Well in Minnesota you'd be the source of confusion. Because in Minnesota it's "Duck, duck, gray duck". That's right. Duck, duck, gray duck. I'm not really sure why the color gray was chosen or what a gray duck is (besides a duck that is gray...) or what sets it apart from other ducks and makes it so special that it gets to be the action signal for a game, but that's what you'll hear MN kids saying when they play this childhood game.

2. Flick someone off.

This one I'm not sure if it's MN specific or not. But when you give someone the middle finger, we'd say you flicked them off. I'm pretty sure my dad says it (he also grew up in MN. Born and raised. Even the same town.) but my mom who grew up mostly in Virginia and North Carolina says we're crazy and its flip them off.

3. Budge in line.

Remember the days in Elementary school when you'd patiently be waiting in line and some punk would sneak in in front of you as if you wouldn't notice? In MN we'd brand them as a budger. And say "Hey! No budging! Go to the end of the line". Apparently every where else you cut in line, you don't budge. I mean, cut makes more sense.

4. Ding dong ditch.

I only recently learned that not everyone calls it this. Some other states call it "ring and run". But you know, the classic "We're bored, let go have some fun" where you ring an unsuspecting persons house and run away before they answer the door.

5. Common phrases such as "dontcha know" "ya, you betcha" and "ohhh ya. ohhh sure".

My adventures in Idaho have allowed me to learn some other state jargon. These are the ones that I'm aware of so far, but please add to the list. Especially ones that come from your own state.

In Idaho/Utah they call the glove compartment of a car the jockey box.

In the South any type of soda is a Coke.

I can't remember which state (Washington, maybe?) they call a drinking fountain a bubbler.

In Canada a couch is a chesterfield, a hat is a took and they say "zed" for the letter Z.

thank you for traveling with us today.

2011-12-21T20:49:00.000-08:00

My mom and I flew home from Utah today. Who doesn't love a good plane trip every now and then? I'm just waiting for the day that teleporting is real.

Today's flight wasn't bad at all. At all. Besides having to high tail it to the very opposite end of the terminal in Dallas to make my connecting flight and the beyond giant security line in SLC that wrapped through every aisle that's roped off and trailed all the way down past the luggage carousel and ALMOST out the door, it really wasn't bad.

I've started to just expect traveling to be horrendous, so having incredibly low standards helps the overall experience not seem so bad. And since I went to school far from home, I've had plenty of travel time that has allowed be to become a seasoned traveler. Not that my travels have been that exciting, it's mostly limited to the Western states on my journey back to Idaho.

Even though today's flight wasn't bad, I've sure had my fair share of travel horror stories.

Like the time my sister and I were on our way to San Francisco with our cousin to visit her dad/our uncle and our flight got canceled and in order to make it up to us we got FOOD VOUCHERS? Oh here. Here's a ticket for $1o that will buy you a water bottle and a stale sandwich. You can imagine the fight my mom put up and we were eventually on a flight that night. That was Northwest, by the way.

Or the time we had a layover in San Francisco (I'm only now realizing a slight trend...) and we were starving and trying to find something to eat, which by the way, is slim pickings in that airport. We were walking and before I realized it I had walked into the danger zone and my family was still behind me in the safe zone. My family tried to warn me and once I realized I turned around practically in the same step but the dragon security lady made me go through SECURITY again. Who designed an airport that has the already limited eating options outside of security? Pfft.

Or the time I ran out of room in my suitcases when coming home from school so I stuffed my backpack to the seams, and shockingly, it was too big to fit in the overhead compartment so they told me I had to gate check it and apparently I didn't put it in the right place (even though I set it down where everyone who has ever traveled sets gate checked luggage--to the right where the door is where they are loading the luggage down on the plane) and the snooty stewardess got on the loud speaker and said "would the owner of a polka dot backpack PUH-LEASE report to the front of the plane? IMMEDIATELY!" and they asked me if it was mine and why I put it there. I put it there because you told me to, Sherlock.

Remember the days when you got to check TWO bags for free dollars AND they gave you a meal? Now you're lucky if you get to your seat and someone else hasn't already shoved their clearly too big of carry on bag into your rightful overhead space.

What have been your traveling adventures? Or perhaps misadventures?

elf on the shelf, say what?

2011-12-15T20:02:00.000-08:00

I came across this blog the other day and I was almost in tears by the time I was done reading it. If swear words offend you, then I wouldn't read it. I should probably be more selective in the things I read, but we're all working on something, right?

So I don't know about you but I have never heard of this elf on the shelf business. I did some googling and amazon.com-ing, and apparently, it's some Christmas tradition. According to my google searches and this blog post, it sounds like you hide the little elf and your kids try to find him. Or something. And somehow it's a game. I'm still making sense of it.

But can I just say, have you ever heard of a more creepy tradition? I mean besides some of the famous Christmas songs like "Santa Clause is coming to town" you know... "He sees you when you're sleeping, he knows when you're awake". And you're telling me that this creep is going to slither down my chimney and deliver gifts? AND I'm supposed to leave treats for him? No thank you. (For more creepy and obnoxious holiday songs check out http://jacobdivett.blogspot.com/2011/12/worst-christmas-songs-ever.html)

To me it sounds like elf on the shelf could be used as a form of punishment. You break a rule? Better watch out for elf on the shelf. You never know where your mom or dad is going to hide him. Perhaps in your bed. Perhaps in the cereal box so when you unsuspectingly pour your morning breakfast he appears in your bowl.

Did anybody do this growing up? Or has anyone at least heard of it?

Merry Christmas and beware of lurking elves.

change is coming my way

2011-12-07T20:20:00.000-08:00

I think that the end of the semester (or the end of any phase in life) is a lot like pregnancy. Not that you become with child, but that there seems to be a never ending stream of emotions that change at the drop of a hat.

The other day I went to grad night. Some little meeting/ceremony where President Clark and Vice President Eyring spoke to the graduating students that were in attendance. Up until last night I couldn't wait to get out of this place. And be done with school. But as they were speaking. It hit me.

I'm going to be done with this phase of my life. D-O-N-E. Kind of weird, huh? No more classes, no more text books, no more testing center, etc. What will I do with my life? What will consume my time and worries? Something will, that's for sure. Work? Bills? Life? Yes, yes, yes.

Change is always hard. But it's kind of exciting at the same time. It's like we get a fresh start. We get to meet new people and have a blank slate. But when we've been in one part of life for a while (ahem...since 2005) you get comfortable. But comfort is where we get in trouble. When we're comfortable we don't see a need for growth and improvement.

As weird as this little town is, I'm going to miss it.

Here's to whatever is next.

rest in peace

2011-11-30T23:19:00.001-08:00

Guess who died a year ago today?

forever seared in my memory.

2011-11-26T23:14:00.000-08:00

Did you catch my traumatizing canoe story? Well in case you though I made it up, here's physical photo proof.

I'm not really sure why we are going in a different direction while everyone is watching us and having a seemingly good time while they laugh it up. See? Told you.

canoes are not your friend.

2011-11-09T19:09:00.000-08:00

You would think after one, even two, traumatizing experiences all involving the same event, one would learn their lesson. But you know what they say. Third time's a charm.

So what is the event at hand that has caused so much grief and memories to shudder at in my life? Canoeing. That long and skinny boat and two beady little ores leave nothing but a sour taste in my mouth.

The first happened at a fairly early age in my life. It was a cool Wisconsin day, and my family and I were enjoying our time at the cabin.

My dad decided it would be the perfect day to spend some quality time with his daughters and take them out on the lake in the canoe. Sounded like a good idea to me. At the time.

We gathered up our life jackets and set into the canoe. My sister and I were both pretty young and lacking strength. We tried to help by steering with the other ore, but my dad was responsible for a majority of the work. A noble undertaking. We were paddling around and enjoying ourselves. Staying close to shore and in fairly shallow water in case anything happened.

We caught some pretty good speed and my dad's rhythm was a perfect match to the waves of the water as he pulled the ore in and out while simultaneously switching sides to produce a swift forward direction.

We were laughing and talking and were completely oblivious to the tree hanging over the lake that we were fast approaching.

Then it caught our attention.

My dad tried to desperately slow down, and in a matter of seconds all I remember was...

"It's pretty tall.....I think you're short enough....you should be fine...no wait! DO! Duck! GET DOWN---"smack. The tree quickly met my forehead. Knocked to the ground, luckily the boat didn't tip.

Occasion number two.

It was August. And my friends birthday. Her dad drove us (about five girls in total) to the river where we rented our boats and set out on our adventure. Everything was going well. We were enjoying each others company. One by one we started tipping. Getting back into a canoe in a shallow river isn't too hard. Getting into a canoe in a river with water above your head--a bit more difficult. We had to paddle over to the side so we could climb up the bank to get back into the canoe.

Then it started to rain. Then there was some more tipping. Some more tipping as people tried to get in and eventually surrender as some girls swam while others continued to row.

There was one girl who just could not catch a break. She was mad and swearing and wanted it to be over. Her anger increased with every tip. You knew when she was down. Sometimes our group got far enough spaced out that all we would hear was a splash in the distance soon followed by a loud and slightly dramatic scream of anger and frustration.

Guess who's down?

The adventure was coming to a close. And she was in the front of the group.

"OH MY GOSH. What is that--? Is that...a....COW?"

Yes. Yes indeed it was. A cow. Just standing in the river. Not another cow in sight. We made sure to paddle as fast as our little middle school arms would carry us. It's not every day you come into that close contact with a wild or potentially AWOL cow. What if he was dangerous? Or rabid?

The third and final one takes the cake for traumatizing canoe experiences. I would even take it against canoe horror stories of others. That's how bad it is.

It was a hot summer day and we were vising our friends in Wisconsin (coincidence? Doubtful). They had planned a canoeing trip for the day. I was worried, since canoeing had not proven itself loyal in the past.

We packed up some snacks and set out on our adventure. We arrived at the starting location and everyone that was in our group loaded a bus and we drove out to the river that we would be spending some quality time with. We stepped off and they had a little stand with all of the canoes stacked up that we checked out to use for that day. Now, calling these boats canoes would be generous. They were the dinkiest little things you have ever seen. They looked as reliable as an airplane made out of cardboard. And they were made out of fiberglass. Whoever thought of that money saving, eco-friendly idea should be fired immediately. Have you ever touched fiberglass? There's a reason you probably haven't. Because it hurts, it makes you itch and leaves a rash.

The boats were only big enough for two people. Everyone paired up. I was paired with my dad (I'm starting to see a correlation. Summer, Wisconsin, my dad...). These boats were incredibly prone to tipping. I think we had tipped our canoe at least 10 times within the first several minutes. You had to sit just so and any slight movement from either party dumped you into the lake.

We were going and going.

Tip.

Scratch my foot.

Tip.

Current.

Tip.

Someone tried to pass us.

Tip.

You get the idea.

We were nearing the end of the first stage of the canoeing drip of doom. We had traveled through a pretty substantial distance of river and little side rivers that led us to bigger rivers. I had totally lost count of the number of times we had tipped or how many times I had to chase my ore down the river and with every passing tip my fury only enraged. My increasing fury and tip after tip was quite the entertainment for the rest of my family and friends. Which only got me more worked up. Surely you can sympathize.

Then all of a sudden our boat started scraping the bottom of the river and then suddenly the river stopped.

Everyone ahead of us jumped out of their boat and in one swift motion they popped the canoe onto their shoulder and pranced off into the distance like it was their job. It didn't look too difficult, and the boats didn't seem too heavy. Yet somehow it turned out to be a miserable experience. My dad and I couldn't quite get the timing right. He would lift his side up to his shoulder and I would drop mine. He'd pick up his walking pace and the canoe would be lurched out of my grip. When we finally reached the end of the blasted portage we had arrived at the bank of the nastiest lake I had ever seen. Complete with all sorts of slime and murky water. I carefully tiptoed into the boat. If this boat even thought about tipping us, it would be done for.

I was itchy, mad and hungry and there was no way I was going to let this lake or the boat be victorious over me.

We made sure to keep our distance and go at a glacial pace so our boat would not tip. I was determined. I didn't care how long it took us to paddle across that lake, I would not end up in it.

Then I saw it. Face to face with my current nightmare. One of the boats in front of us tipped. They tipped into the nasty abyss of dirty lake water. My hart sank and started racing at the same time. I couldn't take my eyes off of them. They both were down and out and struggling to get back into the boat. My worries were quickly interrupted.

"Hey Christine...did you see that?! How bad would that be if---"

"don't. you. dare."

I didn't care what it took, I was not going down in that lake and my dad was only trying to egg on my fury. As you can imagine, I was beyond a foul mood by now.

We safely made it through the lake without a single tip and once we were back on a river my eyes could not have beheld a more glorious sight. The end. People were getting out of their boats and pulling their canoe to shore.

We were so close. And we hadn't tipped in quite some time. I was trying to pick up speed while maintaining balance so we could be done with this nightmare. Little did I know my dad had his own plan too. He was PURPOSELY rowing like a maniac and schlepping water INTO the boat so that it would sink. So it would SINK. My dad sunk the boat. On his own flesh and blood. I had HAD it. Had it. Done and done. I stomped out of the boat and left him to finish out the journey solo while he sat there like a fool laughing his head off.

My friends and family were rolling. Laughing like hyenas. Which I did not appreciate nor find nearly as funny I was still itchy, still mad, still hungry and now sopping wet. And you know what? I couldn't even sleep with a blanket that night I itched so bad.

And that's how I came to loathe canoeing. It's been some time since I've set foot in one. Perhaps I'll give it another try and I'll let you know if it leaves me with yet another traumatizing number four.

david duchovny, why won't you love me?

2011-11-06T21:06:00.000-08:00

I found another culprit that steals my time. Netflix instant stream. Why? Because every episode ever of the X-Files is available. EVERY SINGLE ONE. I just barely started my marathon, which I intend to make some serious progress on during Thanksgiving break. One thing this year I will FOR SURE be grateful for.

The X-Files premiered in 1993, meaning I would have been six years old. I've seen quite a few episodes, but not many of the early ones. You see, Netflix really only has my best interest in mind.

There's quite the history in my life with X-Files. My mom got me into it. I had a close group of friends that had a similar interest in the X-Files. We may or may not have had a party for the season finale one year. Or possibly series finale, I can't quite remember. One of them REALLY liked the X-Files and we may or may not have called each other Mulder and Scully. If it did happen, it was sixth grade. Not exactly a record breaking year for good ideas or non-embarrassing stories.

Anyway...

The X-Files has a lot of things going for it, but I'd say one of the main reasons being this leading man.

Special Agent Fox Mulder. MULDER. He makes me melt just watching the show. His witty and sarcastic humor and masked nerd tendencies. The ultimate motivation for his job--solving his little sisters case. Obviously he's quite the family man.

There's hidden tension between him and Scully, you can tell he goes to great lengths to protect her. So clearly he's in touch with his emotions, I can get with that. Although the coming episodes and seasons will only confirm that my chances with him are done for as their relationship continues to grow.

And he towers over Scully, so he's got to be at least 6 foot. The definition of a true man, if you ask me. And his dark hair and dark eyes. Talk about a dreamboat.

I also may or may not have been so excited for the most recent X-Files movie that I made a t-shirt that said "Mulder is a FOX" and wore it to the movie theater. I thought it was wickedly clever and my family made fun of me.

I'm already dreading the season when Mulder leaves the FBI, due to his own abduction, and Agent Doggett takes his place. Don't get me wrong, Doggett brings a lot to the plate. He can run like nobody's business.

But he's no Mulder. And he never will be.

#ihopethesmokingmansinthisone #imgonnakillscully #andtealeoni #iwanttobelieve

Trick-or-....nevermind.

2011-10-26T17:27:00.000-07:00

So the other day at my internship I was surfing the web (I'm a social media intern, so it's a legitimate use of time. Don't judge) and I came across this gem. Read it and then tell me you didn't laugh and or nod your head in agreement.

I decided to compile my own list of worst halloween "treats" ever. I mean EVER.

Halloween has its own set of rights. You only get this much candy for free one day out of the year. Those are statistics not to be taken lightly.

I'm sure we can all relate to Fez here. And just ignore the obscenity at the very end.

I have fond memories of my trick or treating days. And my neighborhood knew what was up when it came to trick or treating. They didn't skimp on treat giving. For the mostpart. Here are the top 5 worst Halloween treats that unfortunately, I've fallen victim to.

5. Peanut Butter salt water Taffy

Could you think of a worse flavor for salt water taffy? Besides maybe grass clippings? What are we, contestants on fear factor? Gross. My family used to take trips to Myrtle Beach where there are salt water taffy stores on every corner. We know salt water taffy. This is a disgrace to the entire salt water taffy corporation. Not to mention they're tough enough to rip a tooth or several out.

4. Caramels with white nougat in the middle

I don't even know what these are called, that's how gross they are. Even Google is ashamed of them. I couldn't find a picture of the right thing until I searched "individual caramels with white crap in the middle". It's true, you can even check my browsing history if you want.

Dry stale caramels with even more dry chalky "nougat" in the middle? Thanks, but no thanks.

3. Apples

Now don't get me wrong. I love me a nice crunchy apple. But on Halloween? The one day where it's OK to eat enough candy until you puke? Like I'm going to waste my time on an APPLE.

To quote Strongbad,

"What are you? Some kind of a dentist? Some kind of a hippie? Some kind of hippie dentist?"

I couldn't have said it better myself Strongbad.

Not to mention it typically caused your parents to go into a whirlwind of nervousness. The next time you go on a bike ride you'll hear them screaming in the distance "Stay away from that one house! You know the one that gave out APPLES for Halloween?"

Because odds are they either poisoned them or slipped razors into them.

2. Pretzels

These bad boys fall into the same category as apples. Delicious any day of the year except Halloween. Not to mention we already have a barrel of them in the pantry and they're packed in my lunch every single day.

Last and certainly LEAST

1. Wax vampire teeth

Can anybody say Halloween's worst idea EVER? These aren't even edible. And as far as I'm concerned...they're just taking up valuable space in your pillowcase that could be filled by more desirable candy.

So there you have it. My worst top 5 Halloween treats.

What are yours?

who am I?

2011-10-15T12:02:00.000-07:00

Growing up I always thought that my features were pretty average for a white American. Blue eyes, light skin and brown curly hair. I’m not entirely aware of my heritage. But I know that my relatives and ancestors came from Europe (whose didn’t?), my Grandpa grew up in Canada and I have a pinch of Native American.

I grew up in the same town for my entire life. More or less. We moved there when I was three. And it happened to be the same hometown that my dad was born in and grew up. We Flemings like to stick to what we know.

Rochester is a pretty diverse town for being in the middle of farm country. I went to high school with people who had a wide variety of ethnic background.

My race was never confused. I was always that white girl.

Until I moved to Idaho. Oh Idaho.

I remember my first semester at BYU-Idaho. I had moved into the dorms, the semester started up and took its natural course. Then all of a sudden it started happening. Multiple times. I don’t remember all of the exact details...but I was somewhere with someone. We were carrying on our conversation when there was a lull in the conversation. I noticed them looking at me and they had that look on their face. You know the one I’m talking about. They’re debating if they should say what they’re thinking. Weighing out the pros and cons, if it would be offensive or if they should just take their chances. What do you do in this situation? So I just waited....not sure what to expect.

“So...um....what...well....uh......what are you?”

What am I? What does that even mean? You mean besides human?

“Uh.....”

“You know, like, where are you from?”

“Uh......Minnesota.....??”

“No....I mean....like....you know.....are you black?”

“I'm sorry. Am I WHAT?”

Now, don’t get me wrong. I would love nothing more than to be able to claim some African American heritage. But have you SEEN MY SKIN? It’s white. Or my eyes? They're blue.

I brushed it off as, well I don’t even know what, I had no explanation. I was dumbfounded. Dumbfounded, I tell you.

I went to my apartment and retold the story to my roommates. All five of them.

“Guys! Get this. So I was on campus today talking to this person and all of a sudden they ask me if......”

As I finished the story I waited for their agreement of the absurdity of this question. Nothing but dead silence.

They looked at me, looked at each other.

“I could see it.”

“Yeah, me too.”

“Sure. I mean you have big lips and puffy hair.”

Thanks?

I wrote it all off as ignorance. Clearly these people didn’t know what they were talking about.

So the semester went on. Semester after semester.

And I got asked this question AT LEAST once a semester. I finally decided that moving to Idaho must do some magic trick on your brain that causes you to not think rationally, because I was getting it from people from all over.

So I just got used to it. And when people started looking at me all confused with their furrowed eyebrows and half opened mouths I’ve just learned to say...

“I’m white.”

So after so many semesters I took a few off and went to serve a full time mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Virginia.

It was one of my last weeks in the mission and I was serving in Norfolk. My companion and I were trying to find a street. So we stopped and talked to a man (who happened to be African American. You’ll see why this detail is important later) to try and get directions. He told us how to get there, we did our best to share the gospel with him and gave him a card for mormon.org

Then some chit chat started.

“Where are ya’ll from?”

“Utah.”
“Minnesota.”

“Oh. Alright. Alright. Well I know that you (pointing at my companion) you’re originally from Ireland. Because you have red hair.”

Which was only reddish. It was mostly brown. And I’m pretty sure it came from a box anyway.

“Oh yeah, um...yeah, I think I do have some ancestors form Ireland.”

Then it was my turn. (can you tell where this was going?)

“And you, I don’t even gotta ask you ‘cause I know you got some black in you.”

“Oh, no sir, I don’t. I’m just white.....”

“No. No, no, no, no, no. You got it in you...just embrace it!”

“Really, I wish I was but I....”

“No. Look at your eyes. And your nose. And that flower in your hair, that’s straight Billie Holiday!”

“All my relatives are white....I think I have some European ancestors too, you know like Ireland.”

“Well if that’s the case then there was some sneaking and creeping going on. Because you got it in you, I know you do.”

And there you go. A bona fide African American told me that I too am one.

After all, it takes one to know one. Or so I’ve been told.

time keeps on slipping, slipping, slipping...

2011-10-12T22:11:00.000-07:00

Time 100% astounds me. Isn't it quite the phenomenon? I mean time is always changing. Even right now as I write this. I'm still writing it, still doing the same thing, yet time is still passing around me. Or even just thinking about what I was doing this morning, a few hours ago, even just a few seconds ago as I was typing earlier words to this post. I don't know if that made any sense at all to you, but it makes perfect sense in my head.

And don't even get me started on time travel, which I totally wish existed, because there are some pretty sweet moments in history that I'd like to go live. Or some times in my life that I wish could go back to, like that time when I got totally owned and didn't have a response. Well if time travel was real I could go back and give an awesome come back line and the recipient wouldn't even know what to do it was that cool.

Someone I know actually thinks that when you time travel you can't go back to a time before you were born. Which totally defeats the purpose of time travel if you ask me. Because it's real and all.

The one thing I do know about time travel is that JK Rowling is a time travel boss and I'm pretty sure she's the time travel guru.

So I've been thinking lately about time....and how I spend it and how I don't spend it.

This is usually how my day goes. I make a mental list of all the things I need to get done. Go to class, study, go to my internship, grocery shop, go to the gym, make a new playlist/routine for my cycling class, homework, etc.

Then when I get to the end of the day I realized that I've done oh, maybe, four of them. On a good day. So how on earth did I not do the rest? I mean that's not even that demanding of a list, considering I only have three classes this semester and I go to my internship three hours a day.

And then I remember.

Pinterest. Hulu. Amazon.com. and everything like such as.

These things totally suck the life out of me and before I know if I've done nothing but pin 80 new recipes to my food board on pinterest. Or watched the latest episode of Modern Family on Hulu. Or longed for new cupcake cookbooks on Amazon.com . Because I need a new cupcake cookbook like I need a hole in my head.

If I were diligent I would make rules for myself. Like I can only go on pinterest for 30 minutes AFTER I've gone for at least a three mile run. Or I can watch Modern Family after I've done all of my homework. And there is really no justification for looking at more cupcake books on Amazon.com because I like my head the way it is. You know, without holes.

Daily Affirmation

2011-09-11T17:16:00.000-07:00

Daily Affirmation (from dictionary.com)

noun

the act or an instance of affirming;state of being affirmed.

the assertion that something exists or is true.

something that is affirmed; a statement or proposition that is declared to be true.

confirmation or ratification of the truth or validity of a prior judgment, decision, etc.

Law . a solemn declaration accepted instead of a statement under oath.

If only we all had this type of attitude.

i just don't understand

2011-08-31T09:27:00.001-07:00

Do you ever get lost in your thoughts? I do. And let me tell you, sometimes it's enough to make me crazy. These are the things that I 100% do not understand.

1. Christopher Columbus.

How can he possibly say that he was the first person to discover America when the story goes that he got off the boat and met Native Americans? Even his own story doesn't line up.

2. How people don't realize what they're literally saying when they use the word literally.

Have you ever noticed how much people use the word literally? And when they do, have you ever stopped and thought about what they actually are saying when they use said word?

"She literally took the words out of my mouth."

"I was so sick last night I literally died" Which I literally heard when I was walking home from class one day.

"I literally cried my eyes out."

Literally, each would be quite the feat. But maybe not quite what they literally meant.

3. Starvation mode.

Is there really such a thing? You hear people say over and over "don't cut out too many calories when trying to lose weight. If you do your body will go into starvation mode and you'll end up not losing anything."

Well then riddle me this. Why is it that people who are anorexic (not that I'm promoting it by any means), children in Africa, victims of the Holocaust and contestants on Survivor eat next to nothing for days on end and before you know it they are withering away to dangerously low weights?

4. Natural Sugar vs. Sugar.

Sugar cane is pretty natural, last time I checked. I mean it's a plant and sugar is harvested from it. So natural sugar substitute like honey or agave, isn't really a substitute. It's just another option. And either way, it's still sugar.

Tune in later for more wonders of the Universe.

run and tweet that

2011-08-23T11:57:00.001-07:00

So earlier today I was perusing through the books at Barnes and Noble. I was longingly gazing down the aisle wishing that I wasn't a poor college student and could afford more books. I was looking at the crisp and clean spines of the books that were sitting on the shelves, waiting to be picked up and purchased, when something caught my eye.

"Tweethearts".

Yes. You read that right. TWEET-hearts. OK fine. I was looking through the teenie bopper section, I was debating whether or not I should buy Pretty Little Liars the book series. ABC Family has totally sucked me in and now I'm curious to see how the books stack up. You caught me. But you didn't hear it from me.

So I'm ALL about social media. I think it can be a great tool when used correctly. And Twitter is one of those ones that can be a little tricky, it's great for businesses and I suppose celebrities (since being a celebrity is pretty much a business), but as for every day people....the use is lost on me. I have an account, but I'm still not really sure what to do with it.

But suddenly Twitter is taking over the world. I can't look at anything without seeing a hash tag and a string of words with no spaces that I need some type of legend to decode.

And now it's making its way into novels. NOVELS.

The subtitle was "A love story through blogs, emails and tweets"

what?!

I couldn't contain my curiosity anymore. I opened the book. I'm not quite sure what I was expecting, but true to the subtitle, there was page after page of what looked like screenshots from Twitter. Bits and pieces blocked off in a little box of 140 characters or less with a little profile picture to the side. Just like your tweet feed on Twitter.

And of course since this is a love story story (and a teen one), there is sure to be drama and multiple characters. I quickly glanced over the page I was on and there was some teen-angst banter going on back and forth between the two characters who I'm sure after many emotional days, eventually got together, became a couple, and lived happily ever after.

Tweets like "OMG dis is all ur fault. I never gave him a chance cuz o wat u said! Y do u always lie? #mylifeisover"

Not to mention, I'm convinced that Twitter and texting have single handedly (...double handedly....?) destroyed the English language.

the end is in sight.

2011-07-21T10:20:00.001-07:00

For two reasons. All I have to do for this semester is go to an interview for next semester and then present my final paper for extra credit. I'm not too worried about either of them, I just have to go do them.

And then I have to finish cleaning and packing and I'm out of this place. And after this I will only have one more semester of this student housing nonsense. Reason number two the end is in sight.

I understand that there is only so much that can be done...but still. It's not the most exciting thing when you get the short end of the stick. And I understand that all students have been there, I'm just documenting my experience.

So last semester was a nightmare when it came to cleaning. I won't go back into it because it will make me frustrated and I'm aiming for a more stress free life. This semester has been better, but it's still having its moments. All I'll say is that if you've already left and you leave your stuff in the apartment...it becomes fair game of possession. And that includes donating it to the garbage can.

With the track system at BYU-Idaho there is a pretty constant flow of students in and out of apartments and campus. I don't even know how many people have lived in my bedroom up until this point. But I can bet it's been a while since one of them has cleaned the tracks on the window. So as it is white glove time and I'm totally moving out until next semester I had to clean my room with a lot more detail than I did last semester since the break was shorter and they didn't require me to move out during the break (does anyone else think its outrageous to pay $200 for storage for a room when nobody is going to be living here until I come back into the exact same apartment and most likely room?).

So I was scrubbing and scrubbing the window track since it had quite the collection of dust and grime in it. Oh, did I mention glass shards?

Last semester there was an incident of a crashing snowman head that left a nice hole in my window and glass all over the floor. Thankfully the apartment paid for it to be fixed.

But this is where things get ironic. When it comes to clean checks they come and check with a vengeance. And I would put a pretty penny down that sometimes they look for things or make up things just so they can take your money.

Well I would like to pose that residents should be able to do the same. Since I don't own this apartment, I'm not responsible for maintenance. They are. So the air conditioner that you took your sweet time to fix? Or the dishwasher that broke every other week last semester? The fan above the stove? The clogged sink and bath tub? All I'm saying is that if they are going to charge ridiculous fines, residents should be able to as well when they don't fulfill their responsibilities.

Not to mention, isn't remaining glass shards a little bit of a danger? In all fairness, I could have checked and cleaned a little bit earlier, especially since it was last semester. But on the other side, they could have checked to make sure they cleaned up their mess as well.

OK, enough ranting for today.

wishful thinking

2011-07-01T08:04:00.000-07:00

The topic ideas have been coming in! Thank you so much. Please keep 'em coming. I'm still in desperate need of ideas. But here's the first one.

If you could just *BAM* have any talent without having to work at it, which talent would you choose? Not a super power, just a real life talent that real people have.

I'm going to answer this in two ways. What first came to mind was something that involved music, which is more like expanding an ability (and I use that term very loosely) that I already have. I play (again....using the term loosely) the violin and the piano. I'll spare myself the embarrassment and not tell you how long I've been playing them because for the amount of time I have been, I should be exponentially better than I am. Especially when it comes to the violin. I mostly blame myself because I didn't like to practice, but slightly blame by teacher because she DROPPED me. She said I wasn't progressing fast enough. Really?! Why does it matter to you? You're still getting paid if I'm correct. Don't worry. I'm not bitter.

But I think it would be beyond cool to be able to hear a song on the radio, TV, at a performance, what have you and then sit down and be able to play it. How does that even work?! People can pick out notes and recognize them, not to mention remember them, well enough to learn an entire new piece in a matter of seconds. Crazy cool.

OK, so that's the first way I'll answer that question.

I'll pick something entirely new, that I've always thought was cool but have no part of currently. I wish I could pick up on new languages like a boss. It comes so naturally for some people. I've heard that once you're fluent in one language it's pretty easy to pick up on others. Especially languages that are similar, like Spanish and Italian. And if you're good at languages the possibilities are endless. You could have a sweet job like working as a special agent like Sydney Bristow.

writer's block.

2011-06-25T21:41:00.000-07:00

I'm not a professional writer or even a talented writer by any means, but I believe I am experiencing writers block. I don't know what to blog about. I try to make posts about a specific subject or a story. But I am coming up with nothing. A big fat blank.

I've heard about these exercises where someone will just start writing and they will keep writing and writing and then they will have a masterpiece. Malcolm even tried to get Cole to do it in the Sixth Sense because he heard that once you keep writing and you get into a flow of it you write and write and all of these feelings come out that you didn't even know you had. Which seems a little bit scary, if you ask me but I thought that seemed like a pretty cool idea so I tried it. Yes, I took life advice from a fictional character. Thank you M. Night Shaymalan.

Truth be told? It didn't work. At least not for me. And I'll tell you why. Because I'm a worrier. And my mind is constantly racing. This didn't work because I didn't know where to start. I mean how do you just start writing? What do you just start writing about? The possibilities are seriously endless. And what if you start writing about something and it gets you nowhere? Or you should write about a different subject because maybe it would bring something out that's more interesting, but how am I supposed to know what that subject is? See. Told you. I have and always will be a worry wort. My mom can verify.

But this is where you, my lovely friends, can come into play and to my rescue.

Leave a comment and ask a question(or statement, topic, etc). Maybe it can get some creative juices flowing. A question/whatever that might help me recall a story or experience or something to blog a post about.

Please and thank you.

WARNING: I'm getting old.

2011-06-15T06:44:00.001-07:00

The other day as I was getting ready for the day I noticed the culprit. I tried to take a picture for proof but it wasn't working out so well. You'll have to use your imagination.

A GRAY hair. Gray and shiny. A GRAY HAIR?! And this isn't the first time one has surfaced. I think my sister so lovingly pointed one out to me while we were in Target by pointing at me, grabbing and yanking my hair and saying, in not the quietest voice you've ever heard, "Is that a GRAY hair?!" I think I was maybe 19 at the time.

Since when did teenagers and college students start getting gray hair? Isn't that something reserved for our grandparents? And really old people? When my grandma died she still had mostly brown hair.

I mean I'm not that old. I'm only 23. 24 next month. Of course according to Mormon folklore I'm a few years shy of becoming a menace to society. But still, I'm only in my 20's. Early 20's mind you.

I have heard that gray hair is a sign of stress. Which I guess wouldn't be that far off. I tend to get stressed fairly easily. And I have about two million things to figure out before I graduate in December. But the fact still remains that I've fallen victim of early-onset graying in the hairs.

For future gray hairs: please keep your distance. You're not wanted.

behold the power of...

2011-06-08T10:51:00.000-07:00

CHEESE.

Yes, that's right ladies and gents. An entire post dedicated to our beloved cheese.

I don't even know where to begin. I'm sure I can trace this love back to the fact that I was born in America's Dairy Land. Wisconsin. I know they say that "Happy cows come from California" and it may be true, but you just can't compete with America's Dairy Land. Plain and simple.

For example. Wisconsin (and Minnesota...maybe other parts of the Midwest?) is home to the greatest fair food EVER.

Enter Cheese Curds.

Delicious deep fried nuggets of ooey gooey cheesy goodness. Now tell me these don't look scrumptious. Never mind the fact that it's cardiac arrest on a plate. It's yummy anyway. They are SO bad for you that my friend's dad who is a cardiologist doesn't let his family eat them. But they sneak them at the fair sometimes anyway. I thought these were a common staple among state fairs. I had grown up eating them every summer (and looked forward to it too!) But when I got to college people looked at me like I was crazy. "I'm sorry...have I ever eaten what? Cheese curds?" I tried hard to defend them, but I still came up short. They're a close cousin to the mozzarella stick...but better. Loads better. Sorry mozzarella sticks. Although you are quite delicious too.

I will firmly say that I could eat cheese every day and never EVER get sick of it. And I usually do. I try and work it in somehow. Whether it's a string cheese, cheese and crackers (I eat cheese and crackers so much that my roommate used to call me cracker), on top of a salad, on my sandwich, you get the point. And thankfully cheese has none of the common side effects on me that it may on others. Just saying.

The old and true standby when it comes to everyday cheesy snacks is most likely string cheese.

Has anyone ever noticed how many types of string cheese there are these days?? It is quite the decision when I go to the grocery store. I don't have too much of a preference, although I did have this one really weird kind one time that was american string cheese. Yes, somehow they put those slices of cheese into string form. It was weird. I will eat American cheese melted on a sandwich though. But that's beside the point.

Back to string cheese. When I was little I thought that the string cheese that was one big lump and you pulled off the individual sticks of string cheese was THE COOLEST THING EVER. I tried to find a picture of it but couldn't find quite the right thing. The first time I ever had it was when my family went to Myrtle Beach and we bought it at Food Lion. And don't get my started on string cheese etiquette! You MUST pull it apart. Not just bite into it. OK, so on occasion when I've been in a hurry I've given in to this type of string cheese eating. But mark my words. This is not a regular occurrence.

Does anyone have as hard of a time as my family has in finding a decent cheese slicer? Doesn't anybody know how to make quality products these days? We have this one old one that we've had for as long as I can possibly remember. The wooden handle is cracked from so much use and cycles through the dishwasher. And it slices the cheese PERFECTLY. I guess we got it from one of those party packs that comes with summer sausage, cheese and crackers. Well wherever it came from, it's a gem. And every other cheese slicer producer should get in contact with them and ask them a thing or two.

It always produces a sound slice of cheese that is the exact same size as the surface of the block and it's the same width all the way though. All with one swift movement. None of this random thick parts or breaks off so you have a weird shaped slice which totally throws off the cheese ratio for your sandwich. Nothing can compare to this cheese slicer! We've even bought new ones by fancy brands and they just don't stack up.

My favorite kitchen chore? Grating cheese! I don't know why I love it so much but I really do. Whenever someone is making something that requires cheese to be grated I immediately volunteer.

And yes, I have grated my knuckles before. But just once. And it wasn't that bad...and I didn't take it out on the cheese. I still love and always will love cheese.

milestones a plenty.

2011-06-05T18:39:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is a BIG DAY.

Are you ready for this?? At 6 am Mountain Standard Time I will register for my last and final semester of my undergraduate education. That's right. Bring on the BS of Communication/Public Relations.

I am finally down to the final stretch, in every sense of the word.

Which means that after 11 semesters I will finally GRADUATE.

And the best part? I don't have that many requirements to graduate so I don't even need to take that many classes.

Don't worry Mom, I'll still take at least 12 credits so I still get the best bang for your buck. Or Grandpa's. Anyway. It will be a well worth it semester.

that's why you don't forget that you gotta fix that step

2011-05-25T20:23:00.001-07:00

This was a tough one. My favorite show. So I narrowed it down to my two favorites.

arrested development and modern family. These shows can seriously make me LOL over and over and over again. I love the witty and sarcastic comments.

You also gotta love families that at times are so completely dysfunctional yet they make it work.

So...what's your fave show?

26.2

2011-05-24T17:38:00.001-07:00

OK, So I realize that I'm already a day behind. But I'm not going to beat myself up about it because I'm still making progress and that's what's important. So here is today's post. A goal.

To run a freaking marathon.

To me it seems like the ultimate test of your in shape-ness. Can you imagine? What an accomplishment. It also wouldn't hurt having the satisfaction that I could say "WHAT NOW?!" to all of my elementary-high school foes who made fun of me for not being the most athletic or coordinated when it game to sports/gym class. If I should ever cross paths with them again, hopefully it will be after I ran a marathon. But who knows how many of them have already run one. Oh well. That's beside the point.

a picture of something...

2011-05-22T16:52:00.000-07:00

...you hate.

Hate is a very strong word. You better really mean it before you use that word. And maybe it's even a little too strong. So I chose something very carefully that I can most indeed say

I HATE.

mushrooms.

Now, I have overcome a lot of my eating fears. Like this, for example. Among many others, scrambled eggs, tomatoes, macaroni and cheese (I know, I know. I was a very picky eater when I was a kid) and much more. But one thing that I will never overcome is mushrooms. NEVER. EVER.

For starters they are 100% bona fide FUNGUS. Really? Whose idea was it to eat fungus? I've tried to like mushrooms. I really have. But I just can't bring myself to fully commit. One time I was at Macaroni Grill with my roommates and we were switching around plates. Someone got some tetra chicken something or other and I picked up a bite of what I thought was chicken and bit right into it. Wrong. Mushrooms. Cue gagging. It's true. They all even asked me if I was OK.

And that is the one thing that I truly hate.

here we go again.

2011-05-21T10:43:00.000-07:00

As motivation to update my blog more regularly, I'm drawing inspiration from facebook. There is something going around about this 30 day challenge or something. It looks like it has something to do with posting a picture and then elaborating on it. I don't know if I will follow the 30 exactly and maybe it will go longer than 30 days, but here goes. Day one.

Day One: Post a picture and 10 facts about you

1. My middle name is Leigh (Like "Lee" not "Lay").

2. I have double jointed fingers.

3. My favorite animal is a dolphin.

4. Pets are like family members.

5. I only drink skim milk.

6. I have a metal rod in my back from a spinal fusion surgery.

7. And a 13" long scar to go along with it.

8. I don't really have any fears of objects, like spiders or bugs, etc.

9. People think I'm part to half black. And as much as I wish I could say yes, I can't.

10. When I was younger I had an extreme beanie baby obsession and I still have every one of them boxed away somewhere.

how do you eat an elephant?

2011-04-22T23:02:00.001-07:00

My friend on the book posted this link and it immediately intrigued me. I can take no credit for any of the following context. But I can pass it along.

1. Let go of attachments: According to Buddhist Philosophy, attachment is one of the roots of all suffering. I can’t agree more. We attach ourselves to all sorts of things even the most self-slapping stupid notions in the universe. Are you attached to something? How much are you attached? Is it keeping you back from something? Is it making you suffer? Look at it straight through – break the illusion. Know that every attachment can be detached.

2. Let go of guilt: Guilt has absolutely no function whatsoever. Think about it – what could guilt possibly resolve? It just holds you imprisoned to self-mortification and sorrow.

3. Let go of Negative thinking: Pessimistic thoughts and negative attitudes keep you locked in a dark aura that permeates in everything you do. It’s a dangerous line to follow. Know that thoughts influence the world around us. Enough said

4. Let go of self-criticism: Many times we are our biggest pain in the neck. We criticize ourselves with the best of intentions but then go over the acceptable limit. Criticism then turns to disempowering messages. Let go of it and be kind and gentle to yourself.

5. Let go of prejudice: Prejudice keeps you bitter and resentful. It restricts your opportunities to connect meaningfully with others.

6. Let go of compulsive thinking: Do you keep on doing something just because you feel you have to do it without any apparent reason? It’s time to honestly reflect on its usefulness and its side-effects.

7. Let go of the need for others’ approval: We often tend to seek approval by others. This is an attention-seeking behaviour and one which threatens our self-confidence and authenticity.

8. Let go of limiting beliefs: Most of our limits are self-imposed. Life doesn’t have defined limits. Our beliefs do. Learn to identify those beliefs which narrow down your possibilities for action and let go of them.

9. Let go of grudges: Let me put it this way – grudges are bad for your heart. Keep them long enough or numerous enough and your health will eventually suffer. Research is showing the relationship between heart disease and emotions such as anger and grudges.

10. Let go of the “I’ll do it tomorrow” attitude: This is a delaying tactic of your subconscious saboteur trying to keep you from accomplishing important tasks. Try to be aware of it when you think it and consciously push yourself to do at least the first part of it. Naturally you will then continue the whole task because the hard part is only the beginning.

11. Let go of anxious thoughts: These are born out of our fear of the unknown and uncertainty about the future. The thought that something unpleasant may happen is only an unreal thought we have created ourselves. Ask yourself: “Is this thought based on real evidence?”

12. Let go of past heartbreaks: A heartbreak can take quite a long time to heal. Your heart is locked as your mind keeps on hovering over the same thought. The thing to realize is that in heartbreaks it is not the loss that make you suffer but the idea you create in your heads about that loss.

13. Let go of bad memories: Sometimes we remember unpleasant things that stir up some sad feelings in us. Bad memories make you relive those sad moments in the present. Keep them where they are – in the past.

14. Let go of useless things: We also attach ourselves to things of all sort. Sometimes we clutter our life with useless objects. Let go of them and simplify your working and living environment.

15. Let go of bad company: If there are people around you that are insincere, harbour envy, are highly pessimistic or disempowering, keep away from them.

16. Let go of the idea that you are a product of your past: One very common mistake we fall into is the belief that we are determined by our past experiences. This limits our view on future possibilities since we are stuck in believing that the future can only be more of the same as our past.

17. Let go of identifying yourself with your job/role: This is one of the risks of modern day life. Since roles are always becoming more specialized we think that we are part of our roles. This makes us lose perspective of our true nature.

18. Let go of counterproductive habits: These are the repetitive patterns of behavior that obstruct or distract you from constructive and productive behavior. They can be anything from watching too much TV and overeating to self-destructive behavior such as drug abuse.

19. Let go of taking things too personally: Very often we are disturbed emotionally because we interpret people’s words and actions from a very subjective perspective. When we take things personally we get irritated, hurt and disappointed. When you look at life from a more detached and objective point of view, we stay emotionally balanced and focused on our priorities.

20. Let go of the ticking clock: Time is one of our biggest sources of stress. Well, not time really but our perception of it. Sometimes we are enslaved by the concept of time even in our moments of leisure. This has devoured a lot of our genuine freedom and space. Learning to spend moments without the constant awareness of time can be liberating and finally productive.

Now the question is. Where to start?! So to answer my first question...how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.

Although....I'm not sure who would eat an elephant in the first place. just sayin'!

never can, never will, CAN'T HOLD US DOWN

2011-04-15T17:02:00.000-07:00

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is always in the public eye. Well not always, but it appears pretty regularly. And usually not in a good light. At least the stuff that gets the most attention isn't the best light.

Recently a broadway play was created about LDS missionaries and the Book of Mormon and the faith as a whole. Of course it's dripping with sarcasm and falsities and everything you could possibly imagine.

I wasn't going to waste any more time with it, but I was grateful when I came across this article. Especially this excerpt.

“As someone of Jewish faith,” he began, “I take personal offense at this show….I cannot believe that New York, MY New York, where I was born and raised, would ever do such a thing. Shame on you, New York Times, shame on Broadway, and shame on all of us who stand idly by and do nothing while the faith of others is mocked. Religious and cultural Jews need not support such bigotry.”

I'm grateful for kind people out there. People who may not have the same beliefs as you but still understand the principles of human decency and respect that people can worship as they choose.

If anything this play and this event only confirms my testimony of the church of Jesus Christ.

So producers of this broadway play, if you were trying to get anyone to sway from their faith...

Sorry.

The Standard of Truth has been erected; no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done.

when life gives you lemons....you deal with it.

2011-04-09T10:34:00.000-07:00

As I turned in my advertising final on Thursday morning I thought the stress of winter semester was finally over. I had fulfilled a majority of my responsibilities and was only left with a few more that wouldn't take too long.

I quickly learned that more responsibility was coming my way because other people decided to not fulfill theirs. I'm not going to go into detail or name names. I'll leave it at this: me, and a few other people had to pick up a lot of slack due to the choices of others.

But I want to focus on some thoughts that have been running through my head during the process. When did it become OK to totally tap out on all other responsibilities just because there is some stress coming from another part of your life? When is it OK to dump everything else on someone else just because you're at one stage of life and they aren't? Who are we to judge that we are in a more fragile state of mind just because someone isn't experiencing the same thing that we are? Don't you dare tell me that you are more stressed or more worried or more whatever, and that therefore you have less responsibility than me just because there's one event in your life and a different event in my life. And I'll do the same.

When did we forget about responsibility and agency? The right to CHOOSE. The right to dictate the choices we make?

Now I'm not saying that life doesn't get hard. I know it does. I've experienced it first hand and I've seen it in the life of others. But what I am saying is that no matter how hard life gets, you can always rise above. And you can rise above gracefully and not let anything get you down.

Helaman, a prophet from the Book of Mormon teaches his sons...

And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.

Can't the same apply to us?

YES.

It can. I know it can.

When life gets stressful, when life hands you lemons, you make it work! You don't ignore other aspects. You solider on and rise triumphant.

You can look back and say...

"WOW!"

"Look how hard life was! Look at all the different things that were pulling for my attention and look how much I accomplished!"

awakening.

2011-03-27T22:53:00.000-07:00

With Spring just around the corner, you can't help but think of renewal and a fresh start. New hopes and new opportunities. So much potential. A perfect time fore reflection.

I have the tendency to focus on my have nots instead of my haves. It's easy to stop and think about all the ways your life did go that you weren't planning on, in a negative way. At least for me.

It's hard to let go and move on. I like closure. Whenever something ends, I like a reason. Which is usually why I blame myself. I may not like the answer, but at least it's an answer. And then I dwell on it. Which ends up being a pretty vicious cycle.

So I'm opting for a better approach.

"To cut my losses and let my profits run" -American proverb.

After all, there's no use crying over spilt milk.

before i die.

2011-03-16T12:00:00.000-07:00

Yet another post as a result of browsing the internet.

This is in New Orleans. Someone constructed this chalkboard and then put it on the side of an abandoned house in their neighborhood. It's a project similar to post secret. There are buckets of chalk that anyone can use to write their goal or what they want to accomplish. When it fills up, a picture is taken, it's washed clean and the process starts all over again. SO COOL OR WHAT?

So what do YOU want to do before you die? Leave you answer in comment form. Even if you don't have a blogger, you can still leave a comment.

As for me. These are my top 5. As for now.

1. Fall in love, get married in an LDS temple for time and all eternity and start an eternal family.

2. Serve a senior couple mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with said husband.

3. Run a marathon.

4. Learn Spanish.

5. Travel the world.

más fotos.

2011-03-14T13:39:00.001-07:00

a list worth doing.

2011-03-13T17:01:00.000-07:00

I was browsing around the internet and came upon this link

"66 things to do before you graduate college"

I'll admit. I was ready to not be impressed. I envisioned things like "get so drunk you can't remember your first name" or "streak at as many sporting events as possible". Things that for whatever reason define the college experience and aren't exactly up my alley. But to each his own.

But when I took a look at the list I was impressed. And intrigued. And curious. And inspired.

It's a list of legitimate things to do. That not only will improve you and prepare you for the future, but make your college experience a little more memorable and worthwhile. Some increase knowledge, some widen your scope of abilities and talents, and some are just for fun.

1. Principles » Your Dashboard

What beliefs equate to success to me?

01. [] Take the Gallup Strength Finder 2.0

 02. [] Host a Potluck Dinner 

03. [] Read The Alchemist

 04. [] Take a Personal Development Course

 05. [] Read Rich Dad Poor Dad 

06. [] Journal for 30 Days in a Row

 07. [] Hold 2 Leadership Positions

 08. [] Read a Spiritual Text Cover to Cover

2. Passions » Your Keys

What do I love doing and why?

09. [] Play an Intramural Sport for Fun 

10. [] Volunteer for an Organization that Moves You 

11. [] Take a Graduate School Course

 12. [] Finish an Assignment One Week Early 

13. [] Do a Public Speech 

14. [] Start a Campus Club 

15. [] Learn to Play an Instrument 

16. [] Write a Business Plan

3. Problems » Your Fuel

What social, scientific, technical, and/or personal problem do I want to solve?

17. [] Wear a Costume to Class (on a day other than Halloween)

 18. [] Do Karaoke 

19. [] Write an Article for the Campus Paper

 20. [] Recite a Poem at an Open Mic 

21. [] Correct your Professor 

22. [] Do something you’ll likely get Rejected from

 23. [] Get a Grade Change 

24. [] Take a Quarter, Semester, or Year off

4. People » Your Motor

Whom do I want to serve and how?

25. [] Attend a Meeting of a Group you Think Thinks Differently

 26. [] Get off Campus and go Camping

 27. [] Join a National Organization

 28. [] Mentor a Younger Person 

29. [] Raise $1,000 for an Organization you Care About 

30. [] Go on a Cross Country Road Trip

 31. [] Study Abroad

 32. [] Visit your Country of Cultural Origin

5. Positioning » Your Lane

What do I want to be #1 in the world at?

33. [] Buy your own Domain Name 

34. [] Start a Blog/Website

 35. [] Start Tweeting (Follow us at www.twitter.com/nscsroute66)

 36. [] Buy Business cards 

37. [] Create a Resume 2.0 on KODA.US/nscs 

38. [] Do your Future Job Now 

39. [] Create a Portfolio of your work 

40. [] Intern with Two Companies

6. Pioneers » Your Pace Cars

Who are my models, mentors, or guides?

41. [] Watch 20 Videos @ Ted.com  

42. [] Find an Upperclassman Mentor 

43. [] Take a Professor to Lunch

 44. [] Seek to Meet a Prominent Alumni

 45. [] Interview your Grandparents

 46. [] Shadow an Alumni on a Project 

47. [] Conduct Research with a Professor

 48. [] Choose something to Master and Practice Everyday

7. Picture » Your Road Map

What’s my vision for myself and my world?

49. [] Learn WordPress

 50. [] Master Excel and Powerpoint 

51. [] Abstain from Something 

52. [] Organize a Huge Event and Build a Team 

53. [] Create a Vision Board 

54. [] Learn how to use Photoshop or iMovie 

55. [] Learn HTML & CSS

 56. [] Sell something and Make a Profit

8. Possibility » Your Destination

What would be possible in the world with me that is not possible without me?

57. [] Learn to do your own Taxes 

58. [] Run a Marathon 

59. [] Take the GMAT, GRE, LSAT, or MCAT

 60. [] Save $5,000 to $10,000

 61. [] Clear your Credit Card Debt

 62. [] Learn a Foreign Language

 63. [] Get your Real Estate License 

64. [] Earn a Certificate or License relevant to your Path

Last but not least…

 65. [] Complete the 64 Things to do before you Graduate List

 66. [] Graduate 10 Times more ready for the World than your Classmates

66. Route 66. Get the car theme? I thought it was pretty clever. These were all taken from the website. I didn't create any of them. I wish I was that creative . But for now I will have to benefit from the creativity of someone else.

Let's be honest. As much as I love college, it can get a little mundane. Not to say education isn't important, it's just easy to get into the school rut. You wake up, go to class, take notes, fail a test or several and there seems to be a never ending pile of homework. Your confidences waxes and wanes. And you do it day after day. Semester after semester. Year after year.

So needless to say....I'm getting a little sick of it. It being college. I think we all do. Maybe. It seems like I'm at that weird phase. About to graduate, not really sure what exactly I want to do. I have ideas, and in a perfect world I would bake cupcakes all day and sell them at my very own cupcake bakery.

Do you ever feel like life is just happening around you? Almost like you're observing it? At times I feel out of place. That I'm just here at school ever so temporarily and preparing to the best of my abilities for whatever comes next.

I think I'm in survival mode. Just taking it as it comes. Wanting to be done and on to the next phase of my life. After all, life is about progressing and growing. And I've been in this phase for so long. Since September 2005. Granted, I did take three semesters "off" to serve a mission for The Church of Jesus-Christ of Latter-day Saints But still. I've been in this phase for quite. some. time.

Well my estimated graduation date is December 2011. After getting a hold on my account due to high credits, going on a wild goose chase to get it lifted, changing to a Bachelor of Science to avoid any further Spanish classes, getting an internship, and a list of other things, graduation is finally in sight. Finally.

So with two semesters left, it's coming down to the wire. And I'm going to make my college experience the very best that I can. Personally and to benefit my future. All while keeping my mental health in check.

as promised.

2011-03-12T21:43:00.000-08:00

It takes too long to upload photos. Stay tuned for more at a later date. When I have more patience.

how not to teach.

2011-03-03T15:50:00.000-08:00

We've all had a nightmare of a teacher...or two. Maybe even more. The kind that when we reminisce about our education experience it makes us shudder. Some were so bad that they may have even been the source for dropping a class.

I know that teaching is an important role and not an easy job. But just like everything in this world...there are teachers that are great and some that....fall short.

I'm currently taking a Spanish class. It has always been my dream to be fluent in Spanish. Not to mention that white boys that speak Spanish are totally dreamy. At least if you ask me.

When I was a full time missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints I was blessed to have served with two different people that were called to preach the gospel in the Spanish language. I remembered fairly quickly what I had learned from middle school and high school and was surprised how fast you can pick it up when you are around it.

When it came time to register for classes, I wanted to stay on top of learning Spanish (and I need foreign language credits for my degree) so I signed up for Spanish 201. Which is the last grammar class for non Spanish-Ed majors.

I was anxious and excited to take the class.

I found myself struggling. So I took advantage of BYU-Idaho's free tutoring services and started meeting with a private tutor once a week for an hour (which would probably cost an arm and a leg at almost any other school). He helped me a lot and was even willing to start meeting with me twice a week.

He hands down gets the award for world's most patient tutor. He explains things over and over and is encouraging while doing so. Exactly what a teacher should be. He never gets frustrated when I ask the same question time and time again and he usually tells me "I know you know this. You're just over thinking it." He encourages me to take some time and think about it or even write it down and look at it before giving my answer. Yet again, gives advice based on my individual learning style. Potential future teacher? Survey says: yes.

I was improving in the class but still struggling at the same time. I realized that if I wanted to improve the most that I could, that I was going to have to put forth more effort. I was going to have to volunteer answers in class and take full advantage of the classroom and risk sounding like an idiot.

The class is taught entirely in Spanish. Which is hard and challenging but effective.

So today we were reviewing for an upcoming test.

My teacher was reviewing the subjunctive with time clauses. She asked "Class, when do we use the subjunctive with time clauses?"

I remembered reviewing this with my tutor. I was grateful that I was starting to grasp and remember the context.

I answered...."With commands and the future tense."

"Well.....uh....we already knew that. You always use the subjunctive with commands"

Which is only slightly true. The actual word that is the command is formed the same way as the subjunctive tense, but its possible to have a command in a non subjunctive sentence. Just saying.

Well whatever, it's not like teachers haven't shot me down before.

We started reviewing something else. My teacher was talking about when something is either indefinite or nonexistent. I raised my hand and said that I didn't understand the difference.

"Well....(shooing hand wave)...you'll figure it out."

REALLY?! I mean really.

You're a teacher. By definition you get PAID TO ANSWER MY QUESTIONS.

Everyone around me was on my side. They said that they didn't know the thing about commands and subjunctive and they quickly whispered that they would explain the difference after class.

How is this supposed to encourage me? And I know that I'm not alone. I know plenty of students in this class and in general are discouraged by their teachers. Which is pretty sad, if you ask me.

I know that she can't hold our hand the entire way, and that at some point I'm going to have to learn this on my own. But that's just it. AT SOME POINT. Like say, after class? After she teaches us? After I graduate and I have sufficiently taken the classes I need and I'm no longer a student.

Isn't school for LEARNING? For asking questions and getting answers?

Maybe I've been wrong all of these years.

hooligans, at the ridge, with a snowman head.

2011-02-27T00:26:00.000-08:00

It's Saturday in Rexburg.

Well now it's technically Sunday.

My sister and I were lounging around the house and watching GLEE on my laptop out in our living room. It was about 12 am. Curfew. The tow cars were roaming around the parking lot looking for cars without permits, boys were scattering from the girls apartments and others were screeching into parking spots and running up to their apartments to be home in time.

When all of a sudden we heard a loud CRASH. Loud enough to wake the dead.

Not to mention it interrupted Puck's cover of "Fat Bottom Girls" in an attempt to woo his current crush, Lauren Zizes.

I was a little freaked out, but I figured it was some crash outside.

Katie shot up like a bat out of h-e-double hockey sticks.

WHAT WAS THAT? I'M GETTING A KNIFE (Katie with a knife? Probably scarier than the noise of the crash).

She ran to the knife block, grabbed a knife (as promised) and headed down the hall checking each bedroom to make sure there weren't any intruders.

Checked the first four bedrooms. They were good to go. The door on my bedroom was closed.

With knife in hand and in position to shank if necessary, she kicked the door open.

"Christine. ohmygosh. ohmygosh. ohmygosh. comehere comehere comehere."

I walked in to behold this lovely site.

what. on. earth.

We were freaked out. Can you blame us? We called the emergency number for our manager. No answer. Ran downstairs to our RA. No answer. Ran back to my room. Called the manager again. Called theRA again. Ran back to the room again.

Somewhere in the runaround I noticed this.

That's funny. I didn't recall eating carrots in my bedroom anytime recently. And I especially don't remember dropping any on the floor. But I was in too much of a frenzy to really think through it.

We still couldn't get a hold of anyone.

I started to diall 911...but wasn't really sure if it was emergency noteworthy.

We called our only other roommate in town. Well, Katherine did.

I ran back to my room. And noticed this.

And then I put the pieces together.

Carrot+giant snowball=Snowman head.

You got it ladies and gentlemen. Someone threw a snowman head at my third story bedroom window and promptly through two panes of glass and onto my floor. We found out later that their goal was to knock down the giant icicle in front of my roommates window, but severely missed instead.

glass was everywhere.

My manager texted us. The RA ran upstairs. And our roommate said that we should call the cops. So we did.

They came. Took some pictures. Called the manger. And got the name of the culprit.

Apparently when the glass shattered, he made a run for it. Little did he know there was a witness. The towing man. Who chased him down. Got his name. And said that if he didn't turn himself in, he would.

My roommate, sister, and I cleaned up the glass.

Garbage bagged and cardboard boxed the window up.

And shut the door.

You better believe I'm not sleeping in my room tonight.

Not to worry. All is well in Rexburg.

rexburg for the win

2011-02-25T14:49:00.001-08:00

Rexburg is known for a lot of things.

It's the home to BYU-Idaho.

Cranks out the most engagements and marriages in record time.

Nothing is open past 11 pm.

But I would say the thing that it is most known for and its greatest skill would be its ability to turn an entire town into an ice rink in the blink of an eye.

Rexburg, Idaho has the most random weather patterns I have ever experienced. And I'm convinced it would take home the blue ribbon if it ever went up in a global competition.

It's usually bitter cold throughout the week, way nice on Saturday and a majority of Sunday, and then Sunday night there's a freak snow storm. Just in time to turn all of Rexburg into a lethal ice rink as students brave the sidewalks on their way to class. Which only Kristi Yamaguchi or Scott Hamilton could ever appreciate.

My teacher once told me that the city of Rexburg has two concers that when combined turn into one giant problem.

1. They don't want to ruin the skreets (that's a shout out to my Norfolk peeps).

2. They don't want to ruin their snowplows.

So when they go out in the morning to "plow" the roads, they don't scrape right against the skreet. No, they scrape about an inch above the skreet. Thus creating a sheer sheet of ice, encompassing the entire town. Perfect for slipping.

I bet they could have saved money if they purchased a zamboni instead.

Every February, you'll be my Valentine.

2011-02-22T11:08:00.000-08:00

I'm sorry that this post is coming a little late, but I wanted to recount the Valentine's Day events from this year.

My oh so gracious parents put money into my account so that my sister and I could go get something nice and delicious for Valentine's dinner. Neither of us really felt like going to a sit down restaurant. Since everywhere was sure to be super busy.

So we went down to Quiznos for dinner and then WalMart for some Vday treats. We got it all to go so we could go home and eat.

Now, backtrack for just a second.

The car that my sister and I have up here is a trooper. It's a '94 and still runs well, considering how old it is. The odometer has already been looped and is well on its way to getting up to 200,000 miles.

The gas gauge has never worked incredibly well and it always runs for quite a while even though it says empty. And, when it's cold, it's even more off.

So the needle had been on empty, for let's say, close to a week. I knew we had to get gas one of these days. My sister, Katherine, mentioned as we were pulling out of WalMart that we needed to make sure that we get gas tomorrow. Good thought.

Then I said "Sometime I just want to run the car completely bone dry just to see how many miles this thing can TRULY get."

More famous last words had never been spoken before.

We headed home (we even flipped a U turn RIGHT IN FRONT OF A GAS SATION after giving the poor dancing statue of liberty advertising Tax season a zebra cake) and as we were headed up the hill to our apartment...something in the car changed. It started slowing down and wouldn't speed up if I pushed the gas. It may have been making a weird noise or two....I can't remember.

"Just try to make it home and then we'll go get gas somehow" -my sister Katherine.

Make it up a hill that we are already losing speed on?! If only.

Now my car and car repair knowledge is beyond limited. I can put gas in it, windshield wiper fluid (if really necessary) air in the tires, and that's about it.

So I pulled over and turned the car off. I tried to start it a few times, and it would rumble but not turn all the way over. The lights and everything still worked, so we had that in our favor. It wasn't an engine or electrical problem.

We called our roommate.

She came and got me.

Took me to get gas.

Katie waited in the car that was parked on the side of the road next to a sign that said "NO PARKING".

Turned the hazard lights on.

We went down the street and got a portable gas tank holder thing and put one gallon in it. It's all it would hold.

We were on our way back to rescue the car. I was still hoping that there wasn't something else wrong with the car, even though I was pretty sure it was only a gas. As I've mentioned before, I'm a perpetual worrier.

As we were heading up the hill, I noticed some flashing lights. That were slightly brighter and redder than our flashing lights.

I said to my roommate, Audrey, "I wonder if a policeman stopped?"

"No. I'm sure it's just your hazards"

Well as we topped the hill, sure enough a cop car was there.

He noticed the car with the flashing lights on and stopped to make sure everything was OK. He also wanted to make sure we weren't lost. My sister had SO MUCH JUNK in the car from being at school so long and moving around so much, that he thought we were moving and maybe didn't know where we were. Such kind law enforcement in south eastern Idaho.

Audrey and I pulled up with the little red gas holder to the rescue.

"So...does your gauge not work....or did you forget to check it?" Mr. Cop

"Uh.....both...." me.

We put the gas in our tank and it puttered back to life. And yes, we went directly to the gas station and filled up our faithful little car.

tender mercies.

2011-02-05T01:45:00.000-08:00

I know that a lot of people don't believe in God.

But I do.

And this is my blog. Which means that I can write whatever I want.

(At the risk of offense, several wise men have once said that being offended is a choice.

Something that I am still working on.)

I firmly believe, and nobody will ever change my mind, that God's hand is in our lives. That He allows things to happen so that we can feel of His love.

Even something as simple as the thought to send a friend an email, thank them for something, and then go to their blog and read a post that was exactly related to the email that you just sent.

What do I call that? A tender mercy.

And since this is my blog, I'm allowed to be a cryptic as I want. But I know that at least two people (besides myself) out there know what I'm talking about.

thank you.

some people have their own bowling ball, their own bowling shoes and no friends.

2011-01-26T21:52:00.000-08:00

My sister started a bowling team. And she needed people to be on it for her first "game" tonight. However many people bowled and we took the top four scores and added it up for a collective score against our opponent.

Oh, what was my score you ask?

38.

That's right baby. Read 'em and weep.

I think I only scored on about five frames and I had 16 by the eighth frame. I made some pretty good catch up the last two frames. If you ask me.

So if you care to find me, look to the Western sky.

2011-01-06T18:31:00.001-08:00

The Rexburg sky. To be exact.

I'm back at school. It's bittersweet. Like many things that have happened in my life lately.

I'm trying desperately not to be "that RM" that can't talk about anything but their mission to the point that it becomes annoying. I don't think I've hit that level yet, but I'm starting to have more sympathy for RM's. I understand why they talk about their missions SO much in any setting and at any chance.

First of all, it was what they were doing for the past 18-24 months. It's only to be expected that they talk about it. A lot. Doesn't everyone talk about what has been happening with them lately? Whether it was the birth of a child or their past year at school.

And secondly, it most likely changed them. I know my mission changed me. And when things change us, especially for the good, it's natural to talk about them.

Not to mention, missions usually make for some pretty good stories.

So I'm on to adjustment phase two. Being at home was a piece of cake in comparison. It still had it's rough moments, but I was mostly with my family and didn't have to get out of my comfort zone that much. But now I'm back at school. With thousands of people that I don't know. Thank goodness I'm living with my sister and the rest of my roommates are just as awesome. One is even a RM, so we can adjust together. Or rather, she can help me adjust since she's done a pretty good job herself.

I have classes again. I have to study and take tests. I have to make sure that all of my homework is done. And done on time.

I have to worry about myself instead of worrying about the progression of others in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I liked being on a mission because all of my worries and stresses got put on the back burner. There really is no other option. You serve others on a mission. Sure you grow and learn and progress and do a lot for yourself, but it comes in the process of doing things for others.

Not at school.

Sure, I can still serve others. Whether through a church calling or by choice. But I'm still here for me and my education and my future. Which is good for me. I need to face my downfalls head on and tackle them once and for all. And of course I can still be a member missionary. But at BYU-Idaho, it's a little different. I think there are only like 26 non members out of the 12,000 or more students on campus. And I don't even know a single one of them. Who knows, maybe I'll meet one of them on campus one day.

But at the end of the day, I'm excited to be back and I'm looking forward to a rocking semester.

Who knows when I'll graduate.

2011.

2011-01-01T12:26:00.001-08:00

Happy New Year.

Here comes 2011.

What's my resolution?

To make it the BEST. ONE. EVER.

And this is how I'll do it.

2011 goals/bucket list

Become as close to fluent as I can in Spanish.

Read the Bible.

Run a half marathon.

Maybe a full marathon.

Go on a trip with my best friend.

GRADUATE COLLEGE.

Get in shape/live a healthy life.

Become a yogi.

Be a spin class master.

Get back into playing the piano and violin.

Excel in racquetball.

Visit Virginia and North Carolina.

Go to as many LDS temples as possible.

Be HAPPY.

happy christmas.

2010-12-23T15:05:00.000-08:00

I could not have asked for a better time to come home from my mission. Right at Christmas time. So many friends and family to see and so much to be grateful for.

I love Christmas.

Serving a mission has changed my out look on Christmas.

I love my Savior.

I love His Gospel.

I am eternally grateful for the redemption that he brings me through his infinite sacrifice, the Atonement.

What greater reason to celebrate than the birth of our Savior?!

myth: busted.

2010-12-19T10:22:00.000-08:00

Here it is. I'm about to bust every myth about sister missionaries. But I'll start with this disclaimer: I know that not everyone thinks these things about sister missionaries, but they are common myths that are out there. And I may or may not have thought these exact same things at one point.

1. Sister missionaries are frumpzillas.

Sister missionaries have ample space to express their personal style. Our mission president's wife told us to wear COLOR. Now, for those of you that have received that lovely mission prep pamphlet that came with your mission call, pictures would prove otherwise. But we're keeping up with the times. And rumor has it that they are even recreating that pamphlet that they send. Or it's already in circulation. I'm not sure. I haven't seen it, but I've heard about it and heard others talking about it.

2. Sister missionaries are on their mission because they had "nothing better to do".

I had plenty of companions that were at a stable point in their life. Working, going to school, about to graduate, etc.

3. Sister missionaries are on missions because they couldn't get married.

Now, although I wasn't dating anybody before I left on my mission, it doesn't mean that other sisters weren't. I have known several sisters that were in perfectly happy, healthy, functioning relationships before they left on their mission.

I would say that those are the top three. If you've heard any others, send em my way. And I'll be more than happy to bust them.

pictures.

2010-12-14T10:50:00.000-08:00

I thought I had more pictures than this on my computer. I am having a TIME trying to get my pictures to upload from my camera to computer. I'll figure it out one of these days. But for now...here are these.

Enjoy.

if she wants to rock she rocks if she wants to roll she rolls she can roll with the punches as long as she feels like she's in control.

2010-12-07T06:59:00.000-08:00

My dad is in this thing called Rotary club.

Heard of it?

I'm not sure what exactly it is. Some group of business types. I think it helps get your name and your company out there. Or something.

Anyway.

He was in charge of arranging for the guest speaker today. He set up with a doctor that my mom works for to come talk about stress management.

Can I get an AMEN?

If you were to look up stressed in the dictionary you would see a picture of me and then a foot note that said "see Christine Leigh Fleming".

I tend to be stressed. A lot. And it stems from me being a perpetual worrier.

I know it's my own fault. But we all have things that we are working on, right?

Dr. Amit Sood talked about a lot of really interesting concepts.

How we can de-stress.

And it all starts with perception. And being in control of your life.

Afterall, we generally can't change what's happening around us, but we sure can change how we react to it.

Virginia is for LOVERS (and missionaries)

2010-12-06T14:30:00.001-08:00

So.

After EIGHTEEN months, how do you even begin to update?!

I can start by saying this. That the past 18 months were the

hardest

saddest

happiest

most frustrating

most enjoyable

BEST

18 months of my LIFE.

Hands down.

More to follow. Including pictures.

ps. I mentioned in an earlier post that the mission boundaries included Maryland. And it sure didn't. I thought that the Eastern Shore, that little part under MD was part of MD.

Fun fact for ya: IT'S NOT. Shows how much I paid attention in Geography.

T-18 months.

2009-05-12T18:32:00.001-07:00

Tomorrow I enter the MTC, and I'll be there for three weeks. And then I head to Virginia to finish the 18 months Which means no more blog posts.

So check out these in the meantime. They're some of my favorites.

http://taffrine.blogspot.com

http://jacobdivett.blogspot.com

http://beccaobsesses.blogspot.com/

http://www.benkeamy.blogspot.com/

Peace out.

DC = cool - lame crowds at museums.

2009-04-16T21:02:00.000-07:00

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. I. Hate. Crowds. Hate them, hate them, hate them. I took a psych class and the teacher said that the fear of crowds, enoclophobia, means "fear of the marketplace" and you don't like them because you're affraid that if something happens to you there would be too many people for someone to notice. Or something like that. Either way there are too many people in one small space.

Why do I hate crowds? For starters, I have a huge personal bubble. I don't like people getting that close to me. So you better keep your distance.

Secondly. When a person is in a crowd, it seems that all previous unwritten rules that every human being knows, go completely out the window. Like budging in line, being polite, and randomly singing while in public that's not at a performance, and everything like such as.

Example.

My family and I took a trip to Bethesda, Maryland this past week to be part of a medical study. After being poked and prodded at for a few days, we had a day off. We took the metro to DC to do some touristy things. It was raining that day. Of course. So the three Smithsonian museums that we went to were super crowded. Perfect. I'm guessing they're all usually pretty crowded, but since it was my first time going, I had nothing to measure it against. And there were about 50,000 screaming kids running around that were there on a school field trip. Double perfect.

The American History Museum holds the American Flag that Francis Scott Key saw that inspired him to write the Star Spangled Banner. Pretty cool. Of course there was a long line, but it was worth the wait. The line went outside of the room that it was in and people were lined up in single file fashion. But once you got into the room it was like a mad house of people trying to push their way up to the front.

Really?

Wait your turn. There are lines for a reason. And people will shove all up in your personal space as long as they get to look at whatever they've been waiting in line for. In this case, a flag.

And I won't even tell about the crowds when we saw Honest Abe's hat.

As much as I don't crowds it was still a pretty sweet museum. That museum had all sorts of cool crap. And I'm sure the other ones had just as much. We only made it to three of the who knows how many Smithsonian museums.

If you go to DC, I suggest not doing it on your one day off from medical tests. Spend a whole week there.

closing time.

2009-04-04T11:25:00.000-07:00

This is the last weekend of school. My last weekend in Rexburg for the next nineteen months. I'm grateful that I get to spend one of those months in Minnesota before I leave for the next 18 where time will be spent in Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, and Maryland.

I'm also grateful that I get to spend the last weekend in Rexburg listening to General Conference. Seriously. It's always a nice break from the chaos of life to sit back and listen to the words, counsel and advice of the leaders of the church.

so long my favorite songs.

2009-04-01T13:16:00.000-07:00

I know that so many of my posts have been about the mission I'm getting ready to serve, but since it's the next biggest thing in my life, I spend a lot of time thinking about it and preparing for it. Sorry for all of the mission related posts, but here is another one.

Missionaries are supposed to lock their hearts and get lost in the work. I'm not too worried about the things I'll be leaving behind, because I know the ones that are worthwhile will be right there when I get back. But I do think now and then about the shows I won't be able to watch and especially the music I won't be able to listen to.

So, if one were to ask me, these are the best fifty songs. Ever. Or at least the ones that I'll miss the most while I'm gone. In no particular order.

1. Ants Marching by Dave Matthews Band.

2. On The Radio by Regina Spektor.

3. The World At Large by Modest Mouse.

4. The Way I Am by Ingrid Michaelson.

5. First Day Of My Life by Bright Eyes.

6. Mr. Pitiful by Matt Costa.

7. Hide and Seek by Imogen Heap.

8. Chain Me Free by the Matches.

9. We Intertwine by the Hush Sound.

10. Free Falling by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.

11. The Joker by Steve Miller Band.

12. Shimmy Shimmy Quarter Turn by Hellogoodbye.

13. Love Today by Mika.

14. Banana Pancakes by Jack Johnson.

15. Pork and Beans by Weezer.

16. Super Massive Black Hole by Muse.

17. Ain't No Sunshine by Bill Withers.

18. Wine Red by the Hush Sound.

19. We Used To Be Friends by the Dandy Warhols.

20. Gives You Hell by the All American Rejects.

21. You're My Best Friend by Queen.

22. You Owe Me An I.O.U. by Hot Hot Heat.

23. Do You Know by Enrique Iglesias.

24. Mala Gente by Juanes.

25. My Doorbell by the White Stripes.

26. Taper Jean Girl by Kings of Leon.

27. Di Di My Doe by the Matches.

28. Why Do You Let Me Stay Here by She & Him.

29. Let My Love Open the Door by Sondre Leche.

30. Touchdown Turnaround by Hellogoodbye.

31. Foreign Language by Anberlin.

32. Fidelity by Regina Spektor.

33. Mercy by Duffy.

34. Scar Tissue by Red Hot Chili Peppers.

35. Campus by Vampire Weekend.

36. Come Sail Away by STYX.

37. I'm Shakin' by Rooney.

38. Little Razorbalde by the Pink Spiders.

39. Brat Pack by the Rocket Summer.

40. Let Go by Frou Frou.

41. Honestly by Cartel.

42. New Soul by Yael Niam.

43. Sway Your Head by We Shot The Moon

44. Catch My Disease by Ben Lee.

45. All The Young Dudes by Mott the Hoople.

46. All I Want Is You by Barry Louis Polisar.

47. Everyday by Dave Matthews Band.

48. Sea Of Love by Cat Power.

49. The Mating Game by Bitter:Sweet.

50. Superstar by Sonic Youth

This is harder than I thought, I had to change my original number about five times. But this is it. My top 50. I think. It was still a hard task.

peace, love, and racquetball.

2009-03-28T20:39:00.000-07:00

I have recently discovered a new love in my life. Racquetball. If you ever have the chance, PLAY IT!

I never knew that BYU-Idaho had legit racquetball courts. I figured they somehow set up some makeshift ones in the field house because everything from volleyball games to track meets have been held there. But oh no. BYU-I has five of their own actual racquetball courts. So after many, many, many weeks of saying to my roommate, Christina "Hey, we need to reserve a racquetball court sometime and try and play" we FINALLY did. We played for the first time on Tuesday. Then we played Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.

The first couple days we just hit the ball around. Then Christina and I played the game how we thought it made sense.

Then, today, today we played with my other roommate Alli and her fiance Jacob (whose uncle is ranked third in the WORLD, by the way) and we were pretty far off.

The point is, is that racquetball is great. Tons of fun. And you don't even realize that you're getting a fabulous workout because it's that fun.

Injuries sustained from racquetball:

Getting pelted in....

the arm

the knee

the hand

the back

the calf

and the face. It's a good thing you are required to wear goggles in the courts.

happy make up your own holiday day.

2009-03-26T00:00:00.000-07:00

I couldn't be more serious. Today is actually national make up your own holiday day. I mean, I found it on the internet so it must be true. So what is my holiday that I am going to make up and celebrate?

National Sonic Strawberry Limeade Day.

Why wouldn't you want to dedicate an entire day to the most delicious drink known to the human race? Strawberry Limeade is amazing. Why? Let me count the ways.

1. The ice. I love ice, and I love chewing ice. A bad habit I got from my mom. But the ice from sonic is the best. It's the perfect crunchiness.

Perfect.

2. The REAL strawberries and limes. Even if you suck down the strawberry limeade in record time, like I may or may not, the deliciousness does not end there. Oh no. Once you have drank all of the limeade substance, you are left with a delicious pile of perfectly chewy strawberries. Sometimes you even suck one up the straw. Double Perfect.

3. Strawberry Limeade is the best when your roommate has the sonic sticker and you get the biggest size, the Route 44 size for only ONE DOLLAR!

Triple Perfect.

So what do you say? Let's celebrate National Sonic Strawberry Limeade day and treat ourselves to a delicious strawberry limeade.

Call me and we'll go together.

mission wish list.

2009-03-25T11:45:00.001-07:00

Missionaries have pretty strict rules about what they're allowed to wear. Guys look good in suits no matter what, and although I know the goal of a missionary shouldn't be to make sure they look good while they are serving, I still want to make sure that I don't look like a frump while in the process.

Missionaries spend a lot of time on their feet (or bikes) thus begins the nearly impossible task of finding cute and comfortable shoes. Yet again, something only Sisters seem to have to worry about. Do Elders worry about cute shoes? Negative. Although, my guess would be that dress shoes are also fairly uncomfortable. So they still have the shoe task at hand.

So I've been scouring the internet and different stores to get an idea of some clothes I could buy when I get home to wear while I'm in Virginia. I've also been looking at non clothes items that will be fun to buy, like bedding, a backpack, pens/paper, etc.

RSVP pens are hands down, the best pens. Ever.

I think that Camelbak's are the coolest backpacks in the world, and I am TOTALLY getting one. OK, so I might already have one, but it's not big enough to be a missionary backpack! I even told myself that if I went stateside I was definitely getting one because I would be able to trust the water to fill it up with water from the sink. If you ask me, it's fate.

I imagine that these shoes are fairly comfortable. And they aren't too frumpy either. Right?

Dear Sister Fleming.

2009-03-19T11:31:00.000-07:00

You are hereby called to serve as a missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You are assigned to labor in the Virginia Richmond Mission. It is anticipated that you will serve for a period of 18 months.

You should report to the Missionary Training Center at Provo, Utah on Wednesday, 13 May 2009. You will prepare to preach the gospel in the English language.

it's the final countdown.

2009-03-10T10:38:00.001-07:00

The end is in sight. Five school weeks left of the semester. It's crazy, let me tell you.

This semester has been....eventful?

Mission papers are FINALLY in. After stuff getting lost, things not getting submitted, the stake presidency calling me numerous times because they didn't have sufficient information. Like my height. Pretty sure that's on my medical papers. The point is, they are in. IN! Now I'm waiting on a call. My stake president, President Packard said that he was going to submit them on Sunday, they would be at church headquarters on Monday (YESTERDAY) and that I would receive a call in TEN days. The quorum of the 12 makes all of the assignments and then President Monson confirms them on Thursdays. They make 600 in four hours. Amazing? I'd say so.

People keep asking me where I want to go. And I can honestly say "I don't care." I am just so excited to go and I know that wherever I am called to is where I am supposed to be and that it came from the prophet who is inspired by God.

Pretty cool.

The only thing that I am really hoping for is that I'll have the chance to learn a language, especially Spanish.

take two.

2009-02-03T14:22:00.000-08:00

I find it incredibly therapeutic to write things about myself in bullet form. In a non selfish or stuck up way. If that's possible. I think while doing it I even learned some more things about myself. So here I go for another round. Continue on if you like.

some more things you may or may not know about me.

1. I absolutely cannot stand rollie backpacks. At all. Not one little bit. When I see them, I want to kick them. Before my back surgery my mom said "You know Christine, your doctor might want you to use a rollie backpack so it doesn't put pressure on your back". False. I will risk the health of my back to avoid using a rollie backpack. At all causes. Some people on campus have even moved on to using suitcases. I'm sorry, I didn't realize we were at an airport.

2. I find it incredibly satisfying to download songs. Whether from itunes or limewire (which of course I don't do, it's illegal....) or wherever.

3. I have neurofibromatosis. It's a genetic disorder. My sister and I both got it from our dad's, and I have a 50% chance of passing it on to my kids. It scares me half to death to think about having kids, knowing that I could very well inflict them with something, especially since my sister and I both have it slightly worse than our dad, which could possibly mean that my kids could be worse. Maybe.

I have light brown spots all over my body from it. And the lymph nodes on my neck are swollen.

4. I cringe when I hear the word coagulate. I think it sounds disgusting.

5. I usually don't enjoy group work, which poses a problem since a majority of my major is group work. I wold rather do an entire project on my own than have to delegate, be delegated to, or risk the chance of someone else dropping the ball. At least if I drop the ball on my own project I have nobody else to get mad at but myself and my grade isn't dependent on the work of others. Not that I'm saying my work is better, I'd just prefer to know exactly what I'm turning in and be responsible for all of it.

6. I only drink skim milk. Even 1% makes me gag. I'm OK with it though, it's healthier for you anyway. Once you're done growing at least. Which I've have been for about the past seven years or so.

7. I don't really like the word hot to describe people. I'd rather say attractive, cute, so good looking, etc. I'd prefer not to be called it either. Not that it's something I have to worry about.

8. I'm a nerd at heart. I love, love, LOVE Harry Potter, the X-Files, Heroes. And many many more nerdy things. Like playing text twist or scrabble for hours on end.

9. Although, I'm not a fan of Star Wars. I've never been able to get into it.

10. I love photography. I don't really know all of the technical terms, but I'm OK with that. If you enjoy something, the technicalities shouldn't really matter, right?

real pretty thangs and crap.

2009-01-29T23:56:00.000-08:00

My roommate Alli has started this website. It's an online thrift store of sorts. She sells slightly used clothes. She has a pretty great selection for some very reasonable prices. Check it out, and if you like something, contact her and buy it!

www.realprettythangsandcrap.blogspot.com

twenty five.

2009-01-24T10:04:00.000-08:00

Recently a lot of people have been making notes on their Facebook accounts about 25 things about themselves that people may or may not know. I decided to do the same, but here on Blogger instead.

So here it goes.

1. I have lived with 37 different girls while attending BYU-Idaho. That's a lot of girls. A lot of personalities to love, get along with perfectly and clash with.

2. I have played the violin for about 14 years. My teacher dropped me when I was in 6th grade because I wasn't progressing fast enough. And that's a straight quote. Sometimes I still get it out and play every now and then. I know I'm not near as good as I should be, but I'm good enough. At least I think so.

3. I must marry someone who likes dogs. And that's that. I need to have dogs in my life, and I miss mine that are at home terribly when I'm away at school.

4. I'm not really attracted to blonde guys.

5. I love shoes. Especially sneakers. I have four pairs of chucks and about six pairs of vans. And I'll keep getting more. I love a good pair of dress shoes too.

6. I really enjoy baking and cooking. It is my dream to own my own bakery one day. I can't stand it when I'm cooking or baking and people come in the room, look at it, and either tell me why it looks gross or what I did wrong and how I should fix it. Or that I'm currently doing it wrong and I should do it this way instead. I've had quite a few encounters with this exact experience already this semester.

7. I'm glad my parents taught me to read early and the importance of it.

8. Geocaching is the coolest thing ever. I heard about it a while ago, and finally tried it out last weekend. See my last post to learn more.

9. I'm not the type of girl that has to change her outfit 15 times before going somewhere. The most I've changed it is twice for church. I just put on what I feel like wearing and go on my way.

10. I don't care what anyone says but I love Dave Matthews Band, The Jonas Brothers, Britney Spears, Miley Cyrus, etc. I could listen to pop music all day long. I can't stand when people judge you or pride themselves based on their music likings. Nobody cares about how many obscure grunge emo bands that aren't signed to a legit label because they don't like the mainstream music business you listen to. If you like it, listen to it. If you don't, then don't.

11. My sophomore year up at school my GPA was suffering. So I took a bunch of easy classes to boost it. Including a college reading one. I had to get a tutor and everything. It was a nightmare and incredibly embarrassing, and I had to reassure my tutor that I indeed knew how to read at 19 years old and I usually just ended up doing my homework during my tutor time. Thankfully I got an A and said GPA was boosted.

12. I like playing sports, but I'm not any good. And I don't get competitive. So people don't like playing with me.

13. I have a metal rod in my back from a spinal fusion surgery. And a 13 inch long scar to go along with it. I had scoliosis that was found in fifth grade. I had to wear a brace all through middle school and part of high school. As if those times aren't awkward enough. Some kid even called me scoliosis girl in seventh or eighth grade one time. Awesome.

14. My favorite animal is a dolphin and it was my DREAM to swim with one for as long as I can remember. It finally came true last Christmas when my family and I went to Hawaii for vacation.

15. I'm trying to let go of the past. I can't change it. So I'm learning to either enjoy the time and realize that it was fun while it lasted, or be grateful that it is in the past and not going to be in my present or future.

16. I can't stand Twilight. It's not even because that they're about vampires, and I even tried to get into them. I read the first one and couldn't stand it. Bella complains just a little bit too much and I thought they were incredibly boring.

17. No matter how old a CD is, I just can't bring my self to throw it away. Ever. So, yes, that does mean I still have CDs from artists such as the Spice Girls, 98 degrees, Backstreet Boys, Hanson, B*Witched, and everything like such as.

18. I rarely stick up for myself. I don't tell people when things are bothering me. I just tell myself that it's only me thinking it and to get over it.

19. I have easily spent $300 on beanie babies. I used to be obsessed with those suckers. Now they're all boxed away at home in Minnesota. I guess if anything my kids can play with them someday.

20. One of my biggest pet peeves is when people shorten words in texting or on the computer. As in ur, 2nite, u, and so forth. It doesn't take that much effort to spell out the rest of the word.

21. I love it when I say or do something and someone laughs. Especially if they laugh really hard. I think being told you're funny is one of the best compliments.

22. I have a secret addiction to post-it notes. And almost any office supply for that matter.

23. One time I got pulled over because my tags were expired on my license plate. I chose to appeal the ticket and went to traffic court. The judge was my friend's dad and he gave me ten hours of community service. The only option available for community service was working at a cat shelter. It was awful. And he let me off easy. He gave his son, his own flesh and blood, 30 hours of community service for a similar offense.

24. I rarely, in fact next to never, wear jewelry. For various reasons. I especially don't wear rings because I think I have funny looking hands/fingers and don't like how rings look on them. I notice people's hands, and pay very close attention to them. Sometimes I even think whose hands I would and would not like to have. If I lined up a group of people I knew, I could identify them just from their hands.

25. I'm trying my best to really budget my money, because it's a skill you'll need for your whole life. I'm getting better, but there is still plenty of room for improvement.

do your cache hang low.

2009-01-18T20:48:00.000-08:00

I have successfully completed one of my new year's resolutions.

Geocaching.

I found my first three today, alongside Christina Mitchell and Jessica Durham. We took a trip to Las Vegas for the long weekend. Christina lives here, so we stayed at her house. I've been wanting to try geocaching for quite some time now. We decided that we would make some time for it while we were in Las Vegas, so I brought along my handy dandy GPS do hickey for the trip (referred to as Susan from here on out), and we decided to do some while we were down here.

We went to www.geocaching.com and found some coordinates, plugged them into Susan, and were on our way.

This was the first cache we found. Called Dancing Princesses. It was underneath that black box on a lamppost. Christina lifted it up, and bada bing, there it was.

#2 Did he invent lamps? Also found underneath a lamppost. Seemed to be a common theme for our very first day of geocaching.

Last but not least, From a King's View. Was also found, you guessed it, under a lamppost. This one was a take something, leave something. We took these sweet purple dice and left a shamwow sample we got from this crazy guy at the mall yesterday.

You may have noticed a small notebook, pad of paper, etc. in each of the geocaches. When you find one, you are supposed to log that you found it. Your name and the date. Several people had already found it that day or a day or two earlier. Pretty cool.

Geocaching is quite possibly my new favorite activity. Stay tuned for updates. And while you're at it, explore the geocaching world right outside your door. You won't regret it.

a new day, a new year.

2009-01-01T09:35:00.000-08:00

2009. Craaazy. I remember when it was 1999 and the year 2000 was soon upon us. Everyone thought that the end of the world was coming and that all computers would crash and explode because they would be so confused and wouldn't know how to comprehend the number change. Really? I mean, really. How is it any different from changing from 19 to 20? Or 29 to 30? Or ANYTHING? If someone is smart enough to invent a computer/internet/whatever I'm pretty sure they figured out how to make sure the numbers would work in its inner workings. Anyway. This is all beside the point.

These are my goals/things I want to do in the year 2009.

-Geocache (if you don't know what it is, it sounds pretty tight and you should look into it. It's essentially treasure hunting. People have hidden crap all over the world and then posted its coordinates on the internets so other people can get the coordinates, plug it into a GPS and then go find it!)

-Train for and compete in a triathlon

-Eat a more balanced diet

-Lose at least 20-30 pounds

-Read the entire standard works (BOM, Old/New Testament, D&C, the Pearl of Great Price)

-Get straight A's (we'll see about this one...)

-Study in the library more

-Facebook less

-Finish the two quilts I have started

-KIT

-Hike

-Serve a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

you decide oh-eight.

2008-12-31T11:42:00.000-08:00

The end of the year is always a time for reflection. Did the year stack up how I expected? Did I meet my resolutions? Overall, did I enjoy this last year? No. Somewhat. Absolutely.

This past year I made friends and lost friends. Cared and didn't care. Was happy and was sad. Earned money and spent money. Got new pets and lost old pets. Lost weight and gained weight. Worked out and was lazy. Had fun and was bored. Laughed and cried. Enjoyed myself and found myself in awkward situations. And much, much, more.

Oh-Eight definitely had its ups, and its downs. But I wouldn't trade it for the world.

i wanna be made.

2008-12-26T15:33:00.000-08:00

When I was younger my mom wouldn't let me and my sister watch MTV. So I would watch it when she wasn't home, and I would quickly change the channel when I heard the garage door open. I know, I know. I'm such a rebel. Now we watch it together. Oh how times have changed.

I'm secretly addicted to the show Made. It features kids who want to be something different.

These people must have no shame. They whine, cry, complain, act like total idiots/fools/brats on national TV

and don't even seem to care. I shudder when I think of that many people seeing the worst side of myself.

But if I could me made, I think it would be into a triathlete. I mean how cool would that be?

So that will be my New Year's Resolution. Even though it's

not quite that time yet. To complete in a triathlon, or at least a sprint one (shorter distances), this spring.

Sprint Triathlon Training, here I come.

i hate my car. take two.

2008-12-09T10:00:00.001-08:00

Yesterday Katie and I had to fix our car.

I got out of one of my classes early and didn't have my next one, so I went home and called triple A. They came and put the spare on, and I went to class. We planned to meet up after our classes that ended at three. First we would go get Katie's rabies shots and then we would go to Idaho Falls around 6:30. We were driving home from the hospital and we decided we should just go right then. We had to get it done, and the sooner the better.

I went home, grabbed my Sam's Club card, and we were on our way. The tow man who put on the spare said that we shouldn't go above 55 mph on it. So we putted along the highway, and arrived at Sam's Club. The lady at the desk said it would be about two hours till it was done. Awesome.

We got some dinner, and then walked around the store. For eons. Or so it seemed. It turned out to only be about 45 minutes. So we found some couches and passed out.

"Attention members and guests. Would Christine Fleming please come to the tire and battery center."

Our car was FINALLY done. Nothing else to worry about. We could get everything done this next week because our car was fixed.

Katie and I were now on our way back to Rexburg. She was driving and we were about 5 miles away from Rexburg, just outside of Rigby. When there's a really loud and weird thumping noise.

You guessed it. Our tire went flat AGAIN! Sam's Club claimed that they rotated our tires, so it would appear that another tire went flat, because it was the front drivers side tire. AGAIN.

So we called triple A. Again. They came and put the spare on. Again. We drove home on the spare. The next day we drove to Idaho Falls on the spare. Again. Waited at Sam's Club for two hours while they fixed the car. Again. This time they ended up putting a new tire on.

And it has been fine since. Knock on wood.

i have a love/hate relationship with my car. mostly hate.

2008-12-07T18:30:00.000-08:00

My parents were gracious enough to let me and my sister take our car to school this year, after much persuasion. We drove our dinky little Mercury Tracer the some 1200 miles out to Idaho. I was thrilled to finally have my own car at school. I would no longer have to ask for rides, go to the grocery store whenever my roommates were, and feel guilty for always bumming rides. I was anxiously looking forward to the freedom it was sure to bring.

It was great for the first few weeks, until it died. I figured it wasn't that big of a deal, cars die every now and then. Maybe I left the lights on overnight. I got it jumped. And it died again, a week later. You think I would have learned my lesson, but I didn't. I just kept jumping it, and it kept dying a week or so later. The worst two times was when it died at a gas station and when it died at Wal Mart.

My sister and I were finally able to work out our schedules with one of my roommates to drop off the car, get it fixed, and pick it up.

I was so glad to finally have a working car. My sister and I drove it quite a bit the next few days. It was nice having a car again.

Then a few days later my roommate came in the house and said that my tires were looking a little low. Especially the front one on the drivers side. I went and filled it up (by the way, only one gas station in Rexburg doesn't CHARGE for air. Chevron, in case you're curious. Everywhere else charges 25 or 50 cents! Tell me that's not the most ubsurd thing you have EVER heard. I refused to pay for air, and drove to every gas station until I found one that didn't charge). So I filled them up, we went and got dinner, and everything seemed hunky dory.

Enter the next day. Saturday. I had to go to Wal Mart. I drove about two blocks and I noticed a really weird and loud thumping noise. I couldn't tell where it was coming from. I pulled over. Got out. And saw a flat tire. It's possible I swore. I don't really remember. I was definitely annoyed.

So now, during the busiest weekend and week of the semester, I somehow have to fit in the time to call triple A, have them put on the spare (my sister claims she knows how, but my mom said that driving on a car that Katie has installed the spare on is like walking on a tight rope that Katie set up. Not a good idea, and death will probably follow), drive to Sam's Club in IF because they'll fix it for free. And it has to be tomorrow because Katie has to go to IF tomorrow for her second round of rabies shots.

At least my huge a project for my PR class is due tomorrow, so I won't have that to worry about not working on, since most of my night, if not all, will be dedicated to going to IF tomorrow.

I'll admit it, I'm a pet person.

2008-12-03T23:24:00.001-08:00

For as long as I can remember, my family has had a pet. I was really little when we got our first dog, Boomer. She was a Border Collie, and one of the nicest dogs ever.

Since then we've had quite the list of animals, which include, but are not limited to...

Hamsters

Cats

Dogs

Lizards

Fish

Crawdads

Turtles

Birds

Rabbits

Chickens

you get the idea. My family likes animals. Or at least my mom, my sister, and I. My dad likes them because we do. He's the most easy going person on the face of the earth. It may seem weird to say this about a pet (I don't think so) but they truly become a family member.

Before I continue, I realize that it may seem silly

to write a post about pets, and as you'll see later, more specifically, one pet. But you know what? This is my blog. My posts. My documenting. So if you think it's silly, I don't really care. Too harsh? I didn't think so either.

Anyway.

Boomer died when I was in 5th grade. She was a really smart dog and she got bored easily. She got so bored one night that she ate some carpet. We had really old carpet in our house, and it came off in long messy strings. It got tangled up in her stomach. The vets did all they could but they just couldn't save her.

We tossed around the idea of getting a new dog, but nothing was set in stone. Then one week when my dad was out of town, we were given the opportunity to rescue the sweetest, kindest, Australian Shepherd from Iowa. We were soon able to call her our own, and we named her Zuzu. Everyone loved her, and she loved everyone back.

But with age, came illness. We had to give her large amounts of medicine on a daily basis, and she wasn't getting any better.

About a week ago it had been almost one year that she was on her medicine. My sister and I knew that things were getting really bad and that she most likely wouldn't make it until we got home for Christmas break. I called my mom on a Saturday and she said that things were getting really bad. She couldn't even stand up on her own. She was trying to get a hold of her vet and said that once she did we would probably have to put her to sleep.

The next morning I had an email from my mom. There were two actually, one had an attachment and the other was entitled Zuzu.

I opened the attachment first. It was enough. Zuzu was finally out of her misery, but she would be missed terribly.

r.i.p. Zuzu. Make friends with Boomer.

caving & co.

2008-10-12T22:24:00.001-07:00

I tend to say that I'm fairly claustrophobic. I don't like crowds. As I've mentioned before. The idea of being in small spaces terrifies me. Especially small spaces like caves. And small tunnels you have to crawl through in caves. And low ceilings that you have to hunch down because of in caves.

So when some of my roommates and one of my roommates mom that was visiting for the weekend went to some of the caves out here, I'm not really sure why I agreed to go. I guess because I had nothing better to do, and I had heard that they really weren't that bad.

It turns out, it wasn't bad at all. We had to do all of the above. Crawl, hunch down, etc.

I used to say to myself "What causes people to think about climbing Mt. Everest, or crawl into caves, or whatever their crazy outdoor adventure might be?"

But the thing is, I can start to see it now. When we were in the caves I wanted to keep going. I wanted to see what was in there, how far it went, how far we could go.

I'll admit, I got a little creeped out, and once in a while I would think "Man, it sure would suck if this thing collapsed."

Luckily it didn't.

I'm a white girl, but my neck is red.

2008-09-28T13:13:00.000-07:00

First of all, I'm not an actual redneck. It's just that I have roots in the South. The deep South. Well, kind of. If you can call North Carolina the deep south. For all intents and purposes of this post, NC is temporarily the deep south. And if that's not enough to buy your vote, the name of the town that most of my relatives hail from is called Polkville. Maybe it's just me, but I think it screams redneck.

My family and I made a trip down south this summer to visit my mom's side of the family. I haven't been in years, so I had been looking forward to it. We packed our bags, and left Saturday morning, and drove straight on through. We arrived just in time for a "family reunion" of sorts. My mom's birthday was also on the 24th, so this gathering doubled as a birthday party. Rather, it whatever-ed as a get together/family reunion/birthday party/reason to have a good time

My uncle, or something, owns a goat farm. One of these goats has been castrated, so over time he has gained a good amount of weight, and according to my uncle "really has no purpose anymore". So why not have a good old fashioned goat bar-be-que? Perfect solution.

Or at least that was the original plan. I guess there weren't going to be enough people there, so he resorted to some pork instead.

My uncle has also started a business where he sells smoked meat. That he smokes in a homemade smoker. That he fashioned from old milk coolers. So, if you haven't already guessed, that's how the meat was cooked.

It was pretty crazy, and a bit odd, and the food was delicious. But when you're with your family or loved ones, that's all that matters. And of course it will make for some good stories. Er...blog posts.

and THAT'S why you don't forget to say the name of the secretary.

2008-08-20T11:46:00.000-07:00

My job requires me to do a lot of random tasks throughout the work day. One of these tasks that comes up fairly regularly (which I guess doesn't make it that random) is taking a CD with patient information on it down to a lab so it can be uploaded onto the computer. Then once the information is all uploaded I go back and pick up the CD, bring it back to the office, do some stuff on the computer verifying that it has been uploaded, and then destory and throw the CD away.

So the other day one of the secretaries, Barb, asked me to go pick up a CD that had information for a patient of Dr. Sundt's (in the grand scheme of things, these names don't matter. It just makes it easier for me to tell the story). That's all I was told. Go pick up a CD for Dr. Sundt. I wasn't told the patients name. Probably because a. it didn't matter, there was probably only one CD that Dr. Sundt needed to see, or b. for patient confidentality.

This is how the rest of the story goes...And I am not even kidding. This is EXACTLY how the conversation went.

Me: Hi, I need to pick up a CD that has been loaded for Dr. Sundt.

Lab worker: OK. Patient's name please.

Me: Oh, sorry. I don't know, I was just told it was one of Dr. Sundt's patients.

Lab Worker: OK. Well does Random first name, Random last name, Random first name, Random last name, or Random first name, Random last name, sound familiar?

Me: Um...I'm not sure. I was just told the name of the Doctor...

Lab Worker: Hmm...(picks up a box holding a CD, and points to a piece of paper on the lid) well this box only says that the patient was in whatever hospital building, whatever floor, whatever room number. Do you think that's right?

Me: Oh, well now that you mention it, I do like to stalk random patients whose name I don't know, but I do keep track of which hospital room they're staying in. So yeah, that is the right patient.

False. I didn't actually say that. But I sure was thinking it.

My patience was wearing VERY thin at this point. "I don't know. Barb just sent me down, we could call her and see if..."

Lab Worker: OH! Barb?! Here you go. (and handed me said CD)

Guess I learned my lesson.

watch out Venus and Serena.

2008-06-21T12:55:00.000-07:00

A friend once asked me "What is there to do in Minnesota?". For some reason all I could pathetically come up with is "Uh, there's the Mall of America". Why I said that is beyond me. I don't even enjoy the Mall of America. Go ahead and call me un-Minnesotan, see if I care. Crowds make me nauseous (I put my fear aside for concerts and stake conference), and for some reason my family likes to go at the busiest times possible. Like Christmas shopping season. I don't mind it (for a short time) if it's in the middle of the day and school is still in session, so it's next to empty. And that's about it.

What I failed to mention is that Minnesota is filled with opportunities to take advantage of the great outdoors through various activities. In every season. Hiking, fishing, swimming, skiing (water and snow), wake boarding, snowboarding, canoeing, and so forth. Whatever outdoor activities you enjoy, I'm sure you can find a place to do it in Minnesota. Except surfing. Maybe you can in any state. But Minnesota is pretty much the only place I have ever lived, so that's all I can say.

Every summer my family makes goals to become more active, and do things outside. We usually make it to through a bike ride or two, and then return to the gym and hit the treadmill or whatever kind of cardio equipment.
This summer we have made the same goal, yet again. This time we have included tennis. There are about four different locations that have at least two tennis courts within a mile of my house.

In order to jumpstart our new tennis mastering goals, my mom and I got a tennis racquet for my dad for Father's day, and a few cans of tennis balls. So Sunday evening after our Father's day festivities we walked up to the park in order to test out his new racquet and play the first of hopefully many games of tennis. Little did I know how awful we both were. I'm sure dead tennis stars would be turning in their graves if they could only see the shame we did to the sport.

But it's the effort that counts, right? We have not given up! Before you know it, we'll be tennis champs. I even convinced some friends to play with me the other day. Be on the lookout for Christine Fleming at the next Wimbledon. I'll be the one kicking trash and taking names.

chipotle & missionaries.

2008-06-13T23:00:00.000-07:00

There are two things that I love in this world and will always hold a special place in my heart.

The first one is Chipotle.

Everything there is great. The burritos, tacos, salads, burrito bowls. All of it. Fantastic. If you have never been there, you haven't lived. It's so good. If you are ever driving, and you see one, you MUST go. If for some reason you ever find yourself in Minnesota, more specifically Rochester, call me up and I'll take you. My treat. I'm dead serious. My beloved hometown happens to be graced with two of these fine establishments.

If you have been there and you don't like it, I'm not sure we can be friends. If we are friends and you don't like it, I might have to reevaluate the relationship.

Don't tell me that Bajios is better than Chipotle. Because it isn't.
Don't tell me that Cafe Rio is better than Chipotle. Because it isn't.
And especially don't tell me that Taco Bell is better than Chipotle because it most definitely isn't.

The second thing that I love in this world is any Mormon missionary. Male, Female. Past, Present, Future. All of them. They're awesome. They set aside 1.5- 2 years of their life to provide service for free dollars.

So you can imagine my excitement when I got a twofer. Dinner with my parents at Chipotle WITH the missionaries that are currently serving in my home ward. My love only increased for these missionaries because they share the same appreciaton for Chipotle that my parents and I, and anyone cool do.

And it's Friday the 13th, which automatically makes today a cool day.

I'm not sure this day could get any better.

for the love of pomegranates.

2008-06-06T08:14:00.000-07:00

Anybody that knows me, knows my love for pomegranates. I try anything I see that has the word pomegranate smacked across it; gum, yogurt, smoothies, juice, lemonade, mints, etc. which probably makes me a little bit of a sucker. I'm a marketing employee's dream. But I just can't help myself.

I also love the actual pomegranate fruit. Over thanksgiving break I went home with my roommate Kaitlin. Her mom is a realtor, and had a house listing with a pomegranate tree IN THE BACKYARD. We went and picked about twenty pomegranates and rearranged our luggage so we could bring them back to school. We both were beyond excited to have all these pomegranates for free ninety nine. We could never bring ourselves to pay the ridiculous prices at either Broulim's or Albertson's (I fully believe that they enjoy ripping students off). My life was complete.

But then to my surprise, my life was completed yet again.

I was looking on the internet one day for some baking recipes I might like to try out. I stopped dead in my internet surfing tracks. Pomegranate cupcakes. Chocolate Pomegranate cupcakes, to be more exact. My mom told me they sounded gross, but I wanted to make them anyway.

I'll let you know how they turn out.

the carrot cake chronicles.

2008-05-31T14:00:00.000-07:00

In recent years I have been converted to carrot cake. And by recent years I mean roughly within the past 8-10 years.

I used to despise carrot cake. I used to think that if I wanted to eat dessert, why would I want to eat something made of vegetables? (I know, I know. It's not exactly vegetable matter. I was little and dumb. Weren't we all at one point?) Why don't you add some peas and broccoli to that "cake" while you're at it? I also wasn't a fan of cream cheese, so vegetable cake smothered in a cream cheese concoction was just about the last thing I wanted to eat in any given situation. Besides mushrooms.

Sadly, carrot cake had two strikes against itself.

I remember my biggest fight with carrot cake, and it was when I turned 8 years old. In Mormon culture this is a significant age. It was time for me to be baptized. My Mom got the great idea to make a carrot cake for my baptism. FYI: This point in time falls before my conversion to carrot cake.

I didn't think it was asking too much to make a cake for my baptism that I would like.

Apparently my eight year old self didn't know any better, and it was indeed too much to ask.

"Why Mom? I hate carrot cake, it's so gross. Can't you make something else?"
"No, it's good. Now shut up and be grateful."

I am only pretending to be happy and like the carrot cake in this picture.
I didn't know what I was missing.

The last time I made...scratch that.
The last time I helped make a carrot cake was from a box mix.
Yes, it was good but nothing compares to something homemade.

I took the liberty of stealing this picture from Jacob Divett's facebook album. I'm assuming he won't mind...

Before I continue, let's rewind a few weeks. It was Sunday and the third hour block of church. My mom and I were sitting in Relief Society. A sign up sheet was being passed around for food assignments for the annual Ward Hog Roast at our old Bishop's house. I immediately signed up to bring dessert because I love to bake.

I thought I would be ambitious, and make a carrot cake from scratch to bring. I had to search the Internet for for quite some time before I found a recipe that sounded decent. So many of them had pineapple, which seemed a little weird. Maybe it's normal for carrot cake, but I didn't feel like trying it out this time.

A lot of other recipes had pureed carrot baby food instead of real shredded carrots. I'm sorry, but I have to draw the line somewhere. And baby food seemed like the perfect place.

Here are the results. I know it doesn't look like much, but I was still super excited about it.

I'm on much better terms with carrot cake these days.

come along with me, and embrace your inner nerd.

2008-05-23T10:37:00.000-07:00

I have decided that everyone has a nerdy side to them. Whether you want to admit it or not, you do. Some have larger sides than others, but there is nothing wrong with that.

I will proudly admit that I can solve a Rubik's cube, I love the show Heroes, I watch the X-Files every now and then, I had a Harry Potter cake for my 20th birthday, and I have a crush on the fictional character Oliver Wood. Yes, the keeper/captain for the Gryffindor Quidditch team.

Don't even judge me because you know that secretly you play World of Warcraft or for reals Dungeons and Dragons, or what have you. To each his own.

And even if you don't think you're nerdy or have nerdy tendencies, someone else does. So either way, you have an inner nerd.

Anyway. My point is, I also have a hobby that not that many people know about. You could say that it is definitely part of my nerdy side, and it could be categorized within the hobbies section. sub filed under granny.

I quilt. It's something that my mom enjoys and she taught me a few years ago.

I have a couple different projects I'm working on so far this summer, and when I'm done perhaps I'll post some pictures.

So there you have it. I have admitted parts of my inner nerd for the entire free blogging world.

welcome back.

2008-05-14T09:24:00.000-07:00

I had to start this blog for a photography class in the Fall of 2006 at school. Then I remembered about it, and thought I would just start using it again. It will be good for me because I am so bad at writing in any type of a journal. I always make an effort to, and I do fairly well for a couple of weeks, and then I forget.

I have another blog, but it's from high school, and it's super lame. I was reading it the other day. So I'm starting over. I feel it's an appropriate time. I'll have somewhat of a fresh start at school next year. Living in a new place, with new roommates. Can't wait.

Anyway.

I start my new job on the 27th. I had to go get my preplacement health exam done today, and since I also had to have one last summer and took the pee/drug test then, I didn't have to do it today.

Not that you wanted to know that.

beauty

2006-11-11T12:14:00.000-08:00

motion

2006-10-16T12:24:00.000-07:00

2006-10-05T16:21:00.000-07:00

The sunset. In Idaho.

come what may and love it

Minnesota jargon, dontcha know.

thank you for traveling with us today.

elf on the shelf, say what?

change is coming my way

rest in peace

forever seared in my memory.

canoes are not your friend.

david duchovny, why won't you love me?

Trick-or-....nevermind.

who am I?

time keeps on slipping, slipping, slipping...

Daily Affirmation

af·fir·ma·tion

i just don't understand

run and tweet that

the end is in sight.

wishful thinking

writer's block.

WARNING: I'm getting old.

behold the power of...

milestones a plenty.

that's why you don't forget that you gotta fix that step

26.2

a picture of something...

here we go again.

how do you eat an elephant?

never can, never will, CAN'T HOLD US DOWN

when life gives you lemons....you deal with it.

awakening.

before i die.

más fotos.

a list worth doing.

as promised.

how not to teach.

hooligans, at the ridge, with a snowman head.

rexburg for the win

Every February, you'll be my Valentine.

tender mercies.

some people have their own bowling ball, their own bowling shoes and no friends.

So if you care to find me, look to the Western sky.

2011.

happy christmas.

myth: busted.

pictures.

if she wants to rock she rocks if she wants to roll she rolls she can roll with the punches as long as she feels like she's in control.

Virginia is for LOVERS (and missionaries)

T-18 months.

DC = cool - lame crowds at museums.

closing time.

so long my favorite songs.

peace, love, and racquetball.

happy make up your own holiday day.

mission wish list.

Dear Sister Fleming.

it's the final countdown.

take two.

real pretty thangs and crap.

twenty five.

do your cache hang low.

a new day, a new year.

you decide oh-eight.

i wanna be made.

i hate my car. take two.

i have a love/hate relationship with my car. mostly hate.

I'll admit it, I'm a pet person.

caving & co.

I'm a white girl, but my neck is red.

and THAT'S why you don't forget to say the name of the secretary.

watch out Venus and Serena.

chipotle & missionaries.

for the love of pomegranates.

the carrot cake chronicles.

come along with me, and embrace your inner nerd.

welcome back.

beauty

motion