Fresh Flowers

One of the many benefits to having some truly impressive sisters.


I have one more final at 7AM Wednesday then I'll be able to be back in the real world. See you then!

Falling Down

This was me today:

Except I really did more of a flip off. I walked away with a bruised foot and a slightly bruised ego.

Luckily I bounce back quickly.

I can only imagine how entertaining it was for all those looking on. Let's just say it wasn't my most graceful moment.

Sunday Tradition

We've started a new Sunday Tradition here at 505 East:

Crepes for lunch!!

For my birthday I was generously gifted with an authentic crepe maker like the ones you see around Europe at the various street stands. In the beginning I was a little afraid to pull it out and give it a try because I assumed that there was a significant learning curve for the thing. Finally, months later, the learning curve has been mastered (almost) and both savory and sweet crepes are had by all. I must say, it is a huge hit around here.

Singing in the Shower?

While many people out there use their shower time as an opportunity to perform their favorite hits to all those within earshot, I've never been one to take part in this ritual. (I can't help but mention the famous vocals of my brother Steve, who does in fact fall into this category of individuals.)

No, I don't sing in the shower. Apparently, however, I do take the time to talk to myself about taxes, which became evident during my 4AM shower today. (No, I was not just getting an early start to the day.)

I know this only reveals one thing about me, which happens to rhyme with the word herd.

Test Week

Test week is a unique part of the Accounting Jr. Core. During test week, all classes are canceled. I know that on the surface this sounds nice, but these canceled classes are replaced throughout the week by exams for each of our classes.

The goal for test week is always the same, that is to take advantage of the extra free time to really study early and take the tests fully prepared as early as possible. Like I said, that's the ideal. The result, of course, is far from this goal, and is again, always the same.

Time is arguably wasted (though it is claimed to be spent "studying") and the real studying happens throughout the twilight hours. Tests are taken at the last possible minute following nights of little if any sleep at all. (Random fact: All of my highest scoring tests at BYU have followed all-nighters, not so sure what that says about me.) All personal cares are forgone and replaced by constant attempts at productive studying, though I know ultimately no real studying will take place at a decent hour, even so I just can't help but try to use the daylight hours.

And then the week ends with what seems like little to show for it. Oh the joys of Test Week, which is so nice as to grace us lucky ones in the Jr. Core with its presence three times a semester. This is my world for the next week, to use the office lingo of my siblings, I'll be heads down all day and all night:


PS - I know I should be ashamed of the giant 7-11 drink by my side, but there are times when I have little if any shame, and this just so happens to be one of those times, I hope you can all just choose to look past it. At least there are two water bottles as well.

Spring Fever

The other day I happened to notice these popping up along our walkway:


Apparently back in the fall our landlord had tulips planted in our front yard and they're starting to show!! I've never really been one to get excited about plants, not like my sisters or anything, but this discovery actually got me quite excited. And now I find myself checking on them daily just to be sure they're still coming along.

I don't know anything about tulips, so I don't know if these are maybe popping up early or if they won't actually survive the days of snow that are bound to appear again, but the sight of them got me very anxious for Spring. Despite the secret love affair I admitted to having with Winter in a previous post, I do love the warmer days of Spring which are just around the corner, waiting to bring with them bike rides, BBQs, tan lines and wonderful sunshine to lazily lounge in with a great book as my companion.

Yes, the Spring Fever is starting to set in for me.

Sundance Film Festival

I'm sorry, I'm not used to this whole blog thing yet. And it's shocking how fast time goes by these days, seriously before I know it a whole month is gone and I don't even know what has happened. So I'm just trying to keep up, but I'll get better, I'll try harder with this blog.

I did want to go back and give a little more explanation to the last post, though, before moving forward. The Sundance Film Festival was here in Utah the last couple of weeks of January and I took the opportunity to go to a couple films. Now I'm no expert like some people I know, but I like to venture up to Park City as much as I can as the festival is going on.

The first film I caught with Nate was called "Manure," which is the one that Billy Bob Thornton was in (hence the marriage advice, don't worry I do know that Billy Bob isn't the best source of marriage advice). This one was actually pretty funny and kind of interesting since the whole thing was done in sepia and had some really neat scenery, although by the end I was missing some color.

Another day I made my way up to catch the film "Peter and Vandy." This one was an interesting look at a relationship. It didn't necessarily show the relationship in chr0nological order, but rather jumped around a little more which was a nice twist. I really ended up liking this one because I thought it was really honest in a lot of ways, one that people can relate to more so than a lot of the Hollywood movies about relationships.

I really love the Sundance Film Festival and I hope to be able to do it up right at least once before I'm done here (who knows if I really will ever be done here).

Alright, so now that I've finished up with that one I'll try to move forward from here. It's too hard when I feel like I need to get caught up with everything, it's easier for me to just try to move forward instead. Don't worry, you're really not missing out on anything from the past month, it's been a little slow I guess.

Marriage Advice

Last night I received marriage advice from Billy Bob Thornton.

That's all for now.

(PS - The guy on the far right is Ed Helms, also known as Andy from The Office.)

Do I Seriously Live Here?

Despite the fact that I am now into my fourth year here in Provo, I still can't help but feel a little bit of shock when I wake up to this:



I like to think that I've learned the seasons, that my eyes have become adept to spotting even the most invisible ice slicks, that my feet have mastered the perfect shuffling technique to safely cross said ice slicks, and that I can drive in even the scariest conditions to arrive at my destination in one piece. But even with these acquired skills, I still occasionally (emphasis on occasionally) find myself losing my perfect balance on pesky, unnoticed ice slabs and still sometimes happen to find myself outdoors severely unprepared for the cold temperatures. I guess it just proves that I can't yet consider myself a native to Provo.

Now I'm not writing this to lament my huge dislike of this crazy weather, in fact, I kind of like them. Maybe the whole idea of four distinct seasons is still novel enough to this California native. To tell the truth, when everyone else in Utah Valley is verbally wondering when the snow storms are going to end, there's a part of me that's secretly hoping they last for a very long time.

I will admit one thing, though. I absolutely loath having to scrap snow and ice off of my car. I haven't quite figured out how to factor scrapping time into my ETA.


On this particular day I resorted to just using the shovel used on our driveway to release my car.

So, Winter, I'm ok if you choose to stick around for awhile, even considering my 8AM walks to school.