Half-way There!

I'm in a state of shock, still.

I can't believe I passed the written test for my interpreter certification!

I had studied a fairly decent amount of time, in hour to two hour long sessions for about 4 weeks about 3 times a week.

I was feeling pretty okay about the test, but a little burned out at the same time. (This semester's been really heavy with homework).

I spent the night before my test over at my friend Hannah's house to study.

Hannah is in the Deaf Studies Program, too. She's in 3 of my classes this semester, and we've become each other's confidants when it comes to keeping our cool this semester. 

We keep each other on track, study together, practice our ASL together, and share chocolate when our days have been hard. I love her guts.

So the night before the test, we sat down to take the practice test, took it and thought we did pretty well on it, then we looked at the result.

66%

Oh. Boy. 

Needless to say, the high level of confidence we had had just been shot down and trumped on by a fat leprechaun. From there it got pretty hard to want to study, but we did as much as we felt motivated to do, and then took the rest of the night watching things that made us feel better, and ate pizza. 

We decided from that point that the test would be a practice test, and if we didn't pass (because we were pretty sure we weren't going to) then we knew what the test looked like and could take into account of what better to study for the next time. 

The next day we took the test, both feeling absolutely uncertain about how we had done. People asked, "How do you think you did?"  I couldn't even take a shot in the dark. I had legitimately no clue.

Now it was time for the waiting game. 

They said to check my email over the week for my results.

I think I checked my email about 600 times that week.

Then Friday afternoon I got an email.

I went to the interpreting lab to check my email, there it was.

I flagged down my teacher (who had urged me to go in to get the test done before I graduated) and told him the results were in.

I opened it up.

"Dear Destinee, Congratulations! You've passed the written exam!"

WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?! :D

I cried.

It felt like the 5 years (yes, 5) that I had been going to college had finally paid off. I felt like all my hard work had paid off. 

My teacher was pretty excited, too.

The teacher who teaches all of my interpreting classes was in the interpreting lab at the time. He peeked his head around the corner, I told him I had passed. He said, "YES!" high-fived me, and said, "You're welcome". Haha

My friend Heather came into the room and saw me grasping my face, with tears in my eyes and though something was wrong. She said, "What's wrong?!" I told her I passed my written test, she squealed and hugged me.  

It felt pretty great to be around people who knew how big of a deal passing the written test is to a budding interpreter. People who are more affiliated with the Deaf Community tend to understand how big of a deal it is. I felt surrounded by a big group of support (:

Then I told my friends and family, they were equally excited. I could feel my mother's pride oozing over the phone. 

So that's it. I'm halfway there. I've got the performance I still need to take in order to get fully certified in Utah, but that will come after I've had a little more practice interpreting. . . .  or any for that matter. (;

And All of the Sudden. . . .

my future had fallen into my lap.

I've been going to UVU continually since Fall of 2008. The only breaks I've taken are summer breaks so I could work full time. 

For so long it's felt like I was going to be in college forever, and getting a career was sooooo long down the road. 

Then at the beginning of the semester my teacher asked me when I planned on taking the certification test to become a certified interpreter. Honestly, I felt my stomach in my throat when he asked me.

He asked me if I could meet with him to go over getting certified.

I have A YEAR left until I graduate, guys. Can you believe that?!

Well, since I have a year left, my teacher encouraged me to get registered for the test and make sure I was licensed before I graduated so I'd have a better chance at getting a job right out of college.

All of the sudden it felt like the future, which had been so far away and so unfathomable, was now sitting in my lap.

So, I'm all registered for my first test. The first one will test my knowledge of the code of ethics interpreters must abide by, and my knowledge of Deaf Culture.

I'm going to take the test on February 16th! That's in less than 2 weeks!

To say I'm terrified would be an understatement.

After the written test comes the performance test, that's where they test my signing skills, receptive skills, and expressive skills. I'm sure I'll be ever more scared about that one.

Stay tuned for more information, and keep your fingers crossed I only have to take the test once!

Welcome, 2013!

Just thought I'd take a moment to jot down what my resolution is for 2013.

**Get closer to God**
But not in the typical, go to church, way. 

I'm the kind of person that is scared away by the idea of religion. 

Meaning if someone suggests I should go to church I usually end up running and screaming away from the idea. I don't like going to church. I don't like the pressure I feel when I go by the others that have been there longer than me.

Any time I tell someone that I'm thinking about the idea, they suggest I go to church with them and then I don't want to go for it anymore. 

So this is a small plea; just let me do this my way. If I want more help, I'll ask for it. 

(: 

No harsh feelings toward any religion, I'm just going to do this the way that works best for me.

So the question is: Destinee, how are you going to get closer to God?

Answer: The Bible

Source

I'm doing pretty well so far. I've resolved to read 10 verses every night. Not too daunting of a task. 

How did all of this come about?

Funnily enough: church

Every year on Christmas Eve my mom and I go to the Grace Church that's just down the road for their Christmas Eve program. 

It's a Non-Denominational Christian Church.

They always put on such a great program, and inevitably I always end up crying during O Holy Night. 

The suggestion that Pastor Dan put up for everyone was, if you're ready, let God into your life. If you're ready.

I've always been interested in getting closer, but due to the explanation above, I haven't. 

So here it is. 

I have such a peace about it.

I'm positive this is a resolution I can keep up on. 

Wish me luck!

Positive Affirmations/ What My Future Looks Like

Just felt like letting you all in on what life is going to look like for me. 

We recently watched The Secret and I forgot how much I love that book/movie. It's so wonderful to realize just how much power the mind and positive thinking has over your life.

But first, let me explain how The Secret works for me. 

I do like to tie both The Universe, God, and prayer all together when I think positively here.

I'll see if I can put it down simply.

I believe that God is my everything. He's the reason I'm here, he's what makes me me, he's what has happened in my life and he's what will happen in my life.

I believe that He and The Universe are buddy-buddy, so to speak. 

And I believe that through prayer and positive thinking we can change the course of our lives and mold them into the things that God and The Universe both have set out for us, and what we can become. 

Does that even kind of make sense? 

Anyway. With all that said, here's what I've got planned for me and Kyle.

1. I will graduate college with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Deaf Studies

2. I will go on to be a very successful and well-paid Sign Language Interpreter

3. Kyle and I will make enough money to be very comfortable.

4. Kyle will be a millionaire through Primerica because that's where he belongs. It's a wonderful company and the people there are amazing.

5. We will live long, happy, and healthy lives.

6. Our future children will live long, happy, and healthy lives.

7. We will always have the ability to further our education.

8. Our children will understand the importance of a good education, and will receive a good education.

9. We will leave this earth a better place than it was when we started.

10. Kyle and I will always strive to be better people. 

11. Kyle will be a broker for Primerica Financial Services by this time next year.

12. This semester I will further my skills in Sign Language, and I will further my involvement in the Deaf Community. 

13. We will be wonderful, loving parents.

14. Kyle and I will have a strong, loving, and amazing relationship forever.

15. I will chase my dreams to be always involved in theatre, and stage makeup.

16. I will always have the ability to look for the bright side of things, or the lesson that comes with hard times.

I could keep going for hours. I really could. I might keep up on these positive posts. They make me feel good. (: 

I know all of these things are going to happen, because they've been put out into The Universe, God knows, and we're going to work for them. 

"Get on your knees and pray, then get on your feet and work." -Gordon B Hinkley 

Wise words from a wise man.

Though I don't affiliate myself with any specific religion, I guess if we're going to put a name to it it would be Non-Denominational Christian, I do love some of the quotes that come out of the predominant religion in Utah.

I believe that if my relationship with God is a good one, then I'm on the right track.

I'll end this post with this reminder: this post wasn't to force any sort of opinion on anyone. These are my beliefs, my thoughts, perspectives on God, The Universe and the power of positive thinking. Please don't take offence to my post, it wasn't meant to offend (:

Lately

One of these days I'll be better at blogging, promise.

Here's a little peek into what's been going on in my life lately.

Wedding Planning:

Wedding planning has come to a little bit of a halt. 

We're still getting married, still very much in love and everything is wonderful with us.

It's mostly just Kyle and me saving for the wedding, and though we do have a lot of connections with wedding stuff and we don't have to pay for much, we do have to pay for the wedding. 

We're saving as best we can, but we're also trying to save for the other things in life like car insurance and stuff. Things are coming along, but not as quickly as we wanted.

With just the unexpected money we get we'll put it in our money jar, Stephen, whom you all know.

He's been designated our Wedding Money Monster.

Together as of right now we've saved a grand total of $300. Not too bad!

We've got some more money coming out way, though so we'll be able to save more over the next little while.

Kyle's back at Primerica, so money he makes from that can go toward the wedding, 

I've got taxes coming up and so does he, and we've got my book money too. We'll be able to save a lot more over the next few months so it'll be good. 

Just a little slow right now.

Rachael has been such a great help with wedding planning and we've got a lot of really good ideas for the wedding. A lot of the stuff we need to buy for the wedding is going to come largely from post-Christmas sales. It'll happen, it's just a little laggy.

School:

Good news! I went in and talked to my counselor to make sure I was on track to graduate. I had been doing my own math for credits and wasn't sure I was as on track as I really was because I'm not good at math. 

So I went in, looks like I'll be graduating in Spring of  2014!!

YAHOO!!

This is pending that I don't get my minor in theatre, but I'm thinking I'll go in and talk to my counselor about getting an Emphasis in Theatre since I have so many credits in it. I have 3 classes left to get a minor, or I could just get an emphasis and graduate a little sooner. 

I've been at UVU since fall of 2008, so I'm pretty stoked on getting finished a little faster and the only classes I have left are stage managing, stagecraft, and stuff like that. I'm mostly interested in the acting side anyway.

Maybe it's a cop-out, but I like the idea.

PLUS

I think I might have a way into the Theatre for the Deaf world because as luck would have it, my interpreting teacher is an interpreter and he's very involved in the Theatre for the Deaf Program. I'm thinking if I play my cards right I could find out how to get into that a little better. 

Everything Else:

Everything else is good! I'm thankful I've got a job. I'm thankful I get to see my mom in less than a month.

Thanksgiving:

Thanksgiving was awesome this year! It super busy, but it was fun.

We were lucky enough to be able to go to all three Thanksgivings this year; Thursday with my family, Friday with Kyle's Dad's family, and then Saturday with Kyle's Mom and the brothers. 

Thursday we got there a little later than expected, but just in time for dinner. It was good to see everyone, I hadn't seen any of them since Kyle and I got engaged, none of them had even seen the ring!

We ate good food, had good conversation and caught up. 

Friday Rachael and I decided to do a little Christmas shopping, and by little I mean little. We went to the Dollar Store and Family Dollar and picked up ornaments for our Christmas tree we're going to be buying within the next few weeks.

Then we went up to the new outlet malls with Kyle's mom and walked around. It's pretty neat up there, but a little too out of my price range.

We got to Kyle's dad's house and had dinner which was delicious.

We went around the table and said what we were thankful for. My list this year included: Kyle, brothers, that I got to spend Thanksgiving with everyone this year, ASL, friends and family, and my grumpy kitty.

We played Cards Against Humanity, which if you haven't heard of it and you're into rude things, you should probably take a look at it. Here's a little peek at the hilarity that ensues when you play it.

And then we went home.

Saturday we went over to Kyle's mom's house and played games and ate pizza. Not really Thanksgiving-y, but still delicious!

It was so fun to be able to spend Thanksgiving with everyone. That's something I've never been able to do. 

Life's good. Once again (:

A Lesson Learned

I've had a frustrating past couple of weeks.

School has been super hard this semester.

I'm in more ASL classes than I've ever been in before, and I'm taking a math class.

Math and I argue a whole lot. I've never been good at math. 

The last two weeks have been super frustrating because I feel like I got caught in a learning rut. 

I know for a fact that I'm not the only one that has gone through it, ever. 

I know that anyone learning a new language has a hard time and sometimes goes through ruts where they feel  like they're just not understanding anything their peers say. 

That's been my life the last 3 weeks. 

Everyday I go to class, sit down, and just think to myself the whole time, "I don't understand anything that was just said." And that would pretty much sum up every class for the entire week. 

I was so frustrated, and very down on myself. 

Math has been more or less the same story. I go to class, and just sit there with a confused look on my face. I'm taking steps to understand the problems and the overall gist of the sections. It's just been hard. 

Kyle's been a wonderful help. He's so patient with me; even when I get so frustrated that I get a little catty. 

All of this has surmounted into a very frustrated and a very self-conscience Destinee.

At times I felt like I didn't even want to go to school because I felt like it would just be easier to give up. 

But then Kyle and I had a conversation about just that.

Kyle has recently gone back to Primercia. It's an absolutely wonderful company and when Kyle worked there the first time he had a lot of fun there. But times got hard and income wasn't happening, so Kyle had to take a step back from Primerica and go onto a job that had an hourly wage. 

Then we had some family stuff go on, and that postponed Kyle going back to Primerica a little bit longer. 

Once Kyle got a car that was dependable, he was able to go back to Primercia.

I haven't seen him this happy since the last time he was there. He's so happy to be back there doing what he wants to do.

But he still has the fear of it blowing up in his face like it did last time.

He told me one day, "I get so worried that I'm not going to make it, and I don't feel like going into work because I'm scared. But then I sit there and think to myself how pointless that is to just sit there, because of course I'm going to fail if I don't do anything." 

I'm absolutely terrified that I'm not going to be enough. Not smart enough to pass the interpreter test, not smart enough to realize there may be a conflict of interest in the interpreting process and I could get myself into trouble. Not a good enough interpreter to transfer the message in the most accurate way possible. Not good enough to be an interpreter that everyone says, "Yeah, she's a good interpreter." 

But you know what? I'm never going to know unless I do it. Unless I do my best to become that good interpreter who knows her limits, but isn't afraid to push herself. 

I'm never going to know unless I wake up every morning and go to school. 

I'm never going to know unless I go out there and do the very best I can.

I'm never going to know if I don't suck it up, swallow my fear and just get out there.

So that's what I'm going to do.

I'm going to accept the frustration. 

I'm going to accept the fact that there are going to be times when I feel like I have no idea what I'm doing. 

I'm going to accept that there is always room for improvement.

I'm going to accept that the amount of things I understand in one day doesn't reflect the kind of person I am. 

I just have to go and do and be. 

Because I'm amazing. 

I just forget that sometimes. 

(: 

The Positives

This week has been. . . something else, to put it mildly.

Monday we found out we're getting evicted from our beautiful house. 

I cried and Rachael cried. We both just adore this house. There's nothing about it we don't like.

But we figured there must have been a really good reason for all of it happening the week before school started.

So we started to look at the positives under all of the sadness.

First we made a list of all the things that our future apartment would have. Things like air conditioning, a back yard, a big kitchen, etc. These things we put on the fridge and then sent out into the universe.

We stumbled upon a house that had most of the things that we wanted.

But here's the good things we like about the new house.

1. The landlord is awesome! He's super nice and is already taking good care of us.

2. We're moving 3 blocks away from the house we currently live in.

3. Since we're moving the week that school starts we'll be able to hit up all of the "beginning of school/college dorm" sales when everything is discounted.

4. Our rent is flat rate for everything, including utilities.

5. We both got such a great feeling about the house when we went to look at it. It felt like we could really make a house out of it. 

6. We'll still be close to our favorite stores; where we always tend to go on Sundays and come home with lots of projects to do, and usually the motto of "We did a bad thing."

We're all starting to realize why the Universe is sending us the direction of this new house. I'm still convinced that there's a bigger reason behind all of this. And like Rachael said, "We'll look back on this after some time and realize the REAL reason we have to leave."

It's a good thing us Aries girls are driven and positive. 

The best thing to do in a tough situation is to ask yourself, "What's the lesson I'm supposed to learn from this?" Or "Why is this happening?" Not in a demeaning way of "Why, oh WHY is this happening to ME of all people?! Woe is me." But in an attempts to understand where the universe is taking you next. Keeping positive is so important. The law of attraction states that you are what you think. If all you do is wallow in self-pity and think negative thoughts, only negative things are going to come your way. If you think positively, then mostly good things will happen. I'm not going to say a bump in the road is going to come along sometimes, because this life isn't about that. Life is about learning. You have to learn how to deal with the tough stuff in a positive way and then the good things are even better.

I like to think we've gotten pretty good at the positives. 

Stranger Danger

Sheesh. . .

Sorry I've been such a stranger.

It's been a while since I've posted.

Sorry, ya'll. I've been super busy this summer doing my work thing I've had little time for much else.

Kyle works from 6:00am-2:30pm and I work from 2:00pm-10:00pm, so the time I'm not working is spent with him.

I've been working full time all summer, hanging with friends, I've discovered a new love for running, and then just had my wisdom teeth pulled on Friday.

Not too bad of an experience if I do say so myself.

The key to keep away from the pain is to keep up on the pain meds and keep ice on the face for 36 hours. If one keeps up on that routine, the pain will be a zero on a scale from 0-10 and the recovery will be pretty nice, too.

I've been doing some wedding planning.

Got the colors.

The cake.

The wedding party.

OH!! And the date:

May 30, 2013.

Be excited, cuz we are (:

Today I found a dress that rocked my world right out of the solar system, BUT it's about $300 more than I can afford. So we'll keep looking and hope for something very similar for a price that's a little more manageable.

BUT if you want to donate to the "Destinee Wants her Princess Dress" Fund, please contact me as soon as humanly possible.

Finally! (Says all of you)

Well, it finally happened.

I'M ENGAGED!

After all of the comments of "When are you guys getting married?" and "Why aren't you engaged yet?!", Kyle proposed. (:

And it's a beauty!

What's funny is Kyle's had this ring for about a year and a half. (I asked him to tell me the whole story after he had proposed.) I had a feeling that he had it, but I was never sure. Every time I would bring up the ring he'd brush it off and say, "What ring?" 

Here's how we came upon this ring in particular.

Kyle's mom and I were talking a looooooooooooong time ago about what kind of rings I liked. I pulled up just google images of rings and stumble upon this ring

source
and my jaw hit the floor. 

I found Verragio's website and spent a good hour and a half looking at rings. I told Kyle that if I got to pick out the engagement ring, I'd like it to be a Verragio one because they were so unique and pretty.

Fast forward a while.

Kyle was walking around the mall one day and went into Shubach Jewelers and asked they had any rings by Verragio. They showed Kyle a few styles and then he came home and told me he had found some. There isn't a store in Utah, so I thought we'd have to go do Idaho or something to look at rings. Kyle asked if we wanted to go look at them just for fun. So we went. 

I tried on a ring that was VERY similar to the one above, but when I tried it on, it just didn't look very good on my finger. Then the associate pulled out the first one, I tried it on and just kept going back to it. It just looked good on my finger. I told Kyle that it was the one. 

Shubach ended up having a sale in December of 2010 and the associate told us to come back for a deal on the ring. We went and took Kyle's mom, his stepdad, and his two little brothers with us. 

I'll be honest; I didn't think this ring was going to happen. They said it was the last ring they had like this one and Verragio wasn't making this style anymore. (Trust me, I don't think they do. I've looked on their website a few hundred times for something similar)

I guess in January of 2011 the associate that showed us the ring called Kyle and said they were having a sale. Kyle went in and put a down payment on the ring.

He's been hiding it in sneaky places since then.

Fast forward about a year.

Kyle brings up the idea for us to go on a road trip to California. It had been a rough year for the both of us (2011) with family stuff going on so we thought the vacation would do some good for us. 

I suggest while we're on our way to California, why don't we take the Reno way to Cali and go see my mom. Kyle decided that was a good idea.

Kyle also decided while we were in Nevada he was going to ask permission from my mom to marry me.

So we get to Nevada, get settled in for the night and I go to get in the shower. 

While I'm in the shower, Kyle pulls out the ring, shows it to my mom, and asks if he can marry. 

From what I heard from her and Kyle, her eyes almost fell out of her head, she gave Kyle a hug, told him yes, and then took the ring in to show my sister. 

So now the day he proposes comes along. . . . 

We got up and got ready after spending the night at Kyle's uncle's house.

While we were filling up at the gas station Kyle said that he wanted to take Highway 1 some of the way because it goes right along the coast. I sighed a little because I just didn't want to be in the car for the extra some odd hours that it would take us to go that way instead of the 101. But I submitted.

I fell asleep on the way and woke up and we were close to the ocean!

Little did we know that Highway 101 meets up with Highway 1 and goes right along the coast.

Kyle decides to pull off at Pismo Beach. 

We parked the car, took off our shoes, and walked along the beach.

Kyle suggested that we go up to the pier and walk on it.

So we headed up, stopping along the way to watch the waves break and to watch the surfers try to catch the waves.

Then we walked to the end of the pier and just snuggled and listened to the ocean. 

I was STARVING and there was a little farmer's market going on at the start of the pier so I started to say after some time of snuggling, "Okay, let's go."

Kyle then said, "Destinee? (Got down on his knee) Will you marry me?"

I got a little teary eyed, didn't even say yes, just nodded my head like a deranged bobble head and hugged him. 

We started to head back to the beginning of the pier and then realized I hadn't taken any pictures of afterward!!! So we ran back and took this 

We walked back to the pier. I wasn't hungry anymore, but there was a car show in town! 

So we walked around the car show. Kyle looked at all the shiny cars, I was too busy looking at the shiny rock. 

We got back in the car, I called my mom and left her a voicemail that was mostly me screaming.

Texted all my friends and family, and then updated my status on the faceplace with the answer to everyone's question: We got engaged today.

My phone continued to blow up with posts and texts for the next 2 days.

No date has been set, we're not really in any hurry. I'm going to start saving and buying things that are on sale so when we do decide to really start planning we're not overwhelmed with things to buy.

But we'll just tackle the wedding planning just like we have our relationship; when we're ready. 

Brag Time

This morning I was thinking about how much I love the new house we live in, and why I love it here so much.

1. First of all, look at how adorable my room is.

2. Hardwood floors throughout; they are the original floors. This house was built in the 1920s.

3. We can have the dishwasher, washing machine, sprinklers, one of us showering, and the downstairs neighbors washing their dishes and one of them taking a shower at the same time and EVERYONE still has enough hot water and water pressure.

When we lived in the other house, if the upstairs neighbors flushed the toilet while one of us was in the shower, the water pressure would go to a trickle and the person in the shower would receive 3rd degree burns from the hot water.

4. We have a dishwasher. *cue the sounds of a celebration*

5. We're literally right across the street from Allen's Grocery Store and Family Dollar. If there's an emergency in the house while cooking or something, we're saved.

6. Big. Windows. Samson gets to bird watch all day. He's the happiest cat in the world.

7. We're the upstairs neighbors this time. When we lived in the basement apartment it wasn't fun for any of us. First of all, the upstairs neighbors were a little heavy set, and with the old squeaky floors in that house, the neighbors sounded like dinosaurs. No, seriously,  T-rex. They also had a Great Dane for a pet and occasionally they would play fetch with their Great Dane in the house. I'm sure you can imagine what that probably sounded like. The noisiest spots in the house just happened to be right over Rachael's head in her bedroom, and the upstairs neighbors had a baby last summer so they were up and down all night long, making for a long night for Rachael since she's a light sleeper. Since we moved, Rachael's been sleeping like a baby, and I hope for the sake of our downstairs neighbors we don't sound like T-rex's, too. 

8. More room for everyone. My room is a little smaller, but I honestly don't mind. The living room, kitchen, bathroom, and the rest of the house has more room for everyone. And we actually have a little "dining room". 

9. The lawn is mowed, we have a garden, and an adorable patio. Our previous landlord didn't supply us with a lawn mower, or a person to mow it either so our front and backyard looked like a jungle.

10. Everyone is really happy. And that might be the most important thing. We all went through a pretty awful 2011, friends died, people left, relationships went sour, houses flooded, fleas intruded. It was a nightmare. But 2012 greeted us with a smile. We ate LOTS of black-eyed peas for good luck and since then things have been really wonderful for all of us. And part of it is because of this beautiful house we live in. 

Life of a Destinee

Weekends for me are usually a thing of awesomeness.

Fridays are usually spent hanging out with friends,

Saturdays are spent at the Rio Tinto Stadium,

And Sundays are spent doing whatever I please. I LOVE not working on Sundays.

Here's a peek into what this weekend was like, because it was awesome.

Saturday was a PERFECT day for a bike ride; so Brad, Rachael and I strapped the bikes to the bike rack and headed up the canyon.

I'm so cool in my kid's helmet. 

Rachael had no choice but to go for the wind-blown look. :p It was super windy!

                           

Seriously, if you ever get the chance to go up the bike trail in Provo Canyon, I suggest you do. It's so pretty up there. Every time I go up there, I feel like I'm walking through the shire. Don't ask me why.

                                                       Ye Ol' Rio Tinto Stadium

My other favorite Kyle came with us to the game again (:

The boys, they are dorks.

Oh, the flags. We're going to make one, too.

Small glimpse into a wonderful weekend, and if any of you are ever interested in going to a Real Salt Lake game, let us know! Since we're both season ticket holders we can get tickets for DIRT CHEAP. Just a cautionary note, though, we sit with the supporters and their mouths (and sometimes ours, too) can get a little. . . . foul. If that doesn't make you comfortable, you can sit somewhere else or not come with us! Haha

Am I Really 22?!

I don't care what any of you say, I have the best friends in the world. Yours aren't and never will be as great as mine. 

END OF STORY.

Before I go into why your friends will never match up to the true wonderfullness of mine, I need to start with a little statement.

I need to start taking pictures like I used to.

I used to carry my camera with me wherever I went, and I always took lots of pictures.

Then for some reason I stopped.

I think the last time I used my camera was when I went to Holi Fest in 2011. Eek!

So starting today I'm going to charge my camera and start taking more pictures of life so I can show you how wonderful my birthday was instead of just telling you.

Also, I would like to acknowledge that it's been many moons since I've made a blog post. I swear on my life that up until April 18 there hasn't been much of anything to post about.

ANYHOO

Let's start with a timeline, shall we?

April 18

-Woke up and went to school early to take a test. Got an 82% on it! (Nailed it!)

-Got sung "Happy Birthday" in my ASL class. 

-Came home and was greeted with a smiling boyfriend with beautiful flowers.

-Got ready to go to Color Me Mine and out to dinner, but for some reason Rachael was taking FOREVER to get ready (;

-SURPRISE! My mom shows up at the door with my aunt and cousin!

I bawled like a baby, I was so happy to see her. I've been missing her lots since about 4 weeks ago. So the fact that she flew out to see me made me so happy.

-Went out to dinner with my mom, aunt, cousin, Kyle, Rachael, and Brad.

They had been hiding and sneaking my mom flying out for a couple of weeks. What wonderful people they are.

April 19

-Got some new jeans with my gift card to Forever 21 (Thanks, Fer!)

-Went out to dinner with Sam and Kella (:

-Had a blast. I love spending time with them. 

April 21

-Went to Hobby Lobby and bought cute things for my room with birthday money and spent the afternoon with my mom (: 

April 22

-Went on a bike ride

-Went to Costco because we were having friends come over for ANOTHER birthday celebration. (Kyle, Brad, and Rachael went over board this year on my birthday. In a good way!)

-Came home to the whole house decorated in a Luau theme! It was adorable!!!

-Went to the bar with friends

-Came home and played Killer Uno and ate the cake that we made on Wednesday but didn't have time to eat until Sunday :p

April 23

-Got my monster that I painted at Color Me Mine

Meet Stephen (Pronounced STEVEN)

April 24

-Got my birthday present in the mail from Kyle 

It's a necklace that has the handshape for "I love you" in ASL.
I've been lusting over it for about 4 months, I screamed when I got it. (:

So many surprises and wonderful people came together for my birthday. 

Thanks to all of you for showing me love, you guys are so loved: Kyle, Rachael, Brad, Mom, Kuma, Jill, Patty Cake, Chris, Andrew, Shallise, Sam, Kella, and anyone and everyone else that did anything in regards to my wonderful birthday almost-week!

The Benefits of Exercise

I never thought I'd become that person that thrives off physical activity. I'm actually one of the biggest couch potatoes in all the land. And for the longest time I was okay with that. 
But then I started in on Zumba and I changed. I was a dancer from the time I was 3 until I was 13, and then dancing became drill team and I didn't want to do that in high school. It faded out of my life but would trickle back in on occasion when I was in musicals.
In my intuitive eating book, it says that through intuitive eating your body and mindset will change without you really noticing. This was so true for me. Before I had even read that part of the book, I was itching to exercise, was drinking more water just because it made me feel less bloated than soda did, and I was making better decisions in my diet. Then I read that part of the book and my socks almost flew off at my surprise. It was right! I wanted to improve myself and it wasn't because I felt like I needed to, it just felt really good.
Since I've been going to Zumba classes, I feel a lot better. I get to dance, which I LOVE.
I get to express myself in a new way, I've run out of crafts to do,so this is helping.
Last week I didn't get to go to Zumba, I had wayyyy too much going on and I picked up extra shifts at work. I felt off all week. I was sad, I felt like I had a lot of pent up energy that I couldn't get out.
The weather has been pretty nasty or perhaps I would have gone on a bike ride or something. I just felt really sad and like I was trapped in all of the creativity I didn't know how to let out. It was really frustrating for me.
I love that I love to exercise now. I'm not doing it to lose weight, and that feels wonderful.
Through intuitive eating and exercise I fit into my clothes better.
I secretly love the feel of sore muscles.
And my endorphine levels are up. I feel a lot better and I feel like I can handle stress a lot better.
It's a wonderful thing.
Since getting in on an exercise routine (and one I like for that matter) I've been a lot less of a couch potato.
I've been a lot more social.
And I get to dance!
I think it's safe to say my lack of exercise days are over. And I think I'm okay with that.

(source)

Intuitive Eating Update

I realized it's been a really long time since I've done an intuitive eating blog post.

It's been pretty tough lately. I've been wanting to over eat a lot. 

I've acknowledged that I am over eating. 

But I'm noticing that it's taking a negative effect on me.

I'm pretty sluggish.

I haven't been able to go to Zumba since last Friday, and that's been taking its toll on me in my feeling of sluggish-ness. BUT the good news is I get to go on Friday morning.That will help my mood.

I'm starting to take notice of the things that don't make my body feel very good.

Case in point, soda is bad news. I feel so bloated for like 4 days after drinking soda.

I've been trying to eat more fruits and vegetables and that's been making me feel bloated, too. 

I'm overall just trying to readjust my whole eating habits. 

I've probably saved $50 a month from not eating out and not buying soda. 

I feel good on the inside, but I still feel bloated. 

It's rubbing off on my self confidence, but I'm trying not to let it.

In with all of the negative emotions I've been feeling, I've had some pretty great things happen to my body.

I've noticed my calf muscles are getting more definition. I haven't seen them take a shape since Guys & Dolls. My stomach (when it's not bloated) is getting flatter.

One of the best things about intuitive eating is the outcome it's had on my wardrobe.

I wore a skirt to school a couple of weeks ago because I had a presentation in class. 

About this time last year I wore the same skirt. 

It was tight and SUPER uncomfortable. If I wore it around my waist it was too tight, if I wore it around my hips it was too tight and gave me love handles.

When I put it on for school it fit nicely around my waist.

And the best part was I pulled it down around my hips and there were no love handles! Yay!

It's not all about the inches I've lost. 

But the inches I have lost has made me feel a lot better about myself. 

My new year's resolution was to improve my self image through intuitive eating and self talk.

It's not the easiest thing I've done. By any means.

I still have to go back to the basics of intuitive eating quite often.

But the things I've learned about my body, what food does to and for me, and how I feel when I eat, I could never not intuitively eat. It's a wonderful feeling to feel like I'm in control of myself.

I love it.

(source)

Getting Better all the Time

Life moves faster than I expect it to sometimes.

If you would have asked me 2 1/2 weeks ago if I saw myself where I am right now, I would have rolled my eyes in disbelief. 

In the last 2 1/2 weeks, we moved into a new apartment!

It's BEAUTIFUL.

Hardwood floors throughout, big windows for the kitty to look out of, upstairs instead of downstairs, and more room. We've got more room all over. A bigger bathroom, kitchen, living room, you name it. 

(Hi Wicket!)

Samson LOVES the big windows to look out. He looks out them most of the day and watches cars go by, watches the snow fall, and barks (yes,barks) at bugs outside. He's one happy cat. 

(This is just a small glimpse into the bathroom.)

One of the best things about our house now is we can all have our own space. Unlike the last place; the living room was the only place we could sit down. Now we've all got room to sit wherever we like. Our kitchen is in a totally different room from the living room, which isn't something we had before. We can be in the kitchen, bathroom, living room our our rooms and not be on top of each other. Everyone's pretty happy about that.

The house stays a lot warmer now because we're not in a basement, and now the light from the sun warms the rest of the house. 

Best of all, for Rachael, she's now got a shop all to herself. Before she just had a little corner in the living room/kitchen/hallway that had all of her stuff. It was cramped and she couldn't really be in there. It was more  of a place for her to keep her shop stuff. Now she's got her own little room (that Samson cant'get into) that holds all of her stuff AND she can paint, knit, sew, and do a little happy dance in. It's perfect for her.

Then we also said our goodbye's to the little corgi that lived in the house, yesterday.

Charlie hasn't been the happiest dog in the world lately, he's been in his kennel moping a lot. The floors are older, so the wood is softer and he's been scratching it up.  His nails (even after trimming them) are too loud on the floor. He's getting hair EVERYWHERE in the house, and he's overall just a little sad dog. So Rachael put an ad up yesterday on KSL for Charlie and within 4 hours we had found him a new home.
He lives with a couple that recently lost their dog, and the next dog on their list was a Corgi. 

They've had dogs for 30 years, so they know how to take care of them.

Rachael said Charlie walked right up to the lady and layed in her lap and just looked up at her. She was in love. 

Charlie jumped into their van without a glance back. 

I'm happy for him, he deserves someone that can give him a lot of attention. 

It's been a wild ride with how quickly things worked out. We found out we got the apartment on Friday, moved out and showed our apartment at the same time, and sold our old contract within 24 hours. CRAZY! Sometimes the cosmos just works like that though. I'm glad it did. The day we put the house up on Craigslist we had 9 people come to look at in just on that Friday. It was nuts! A cute little married couple absolutely loved the house and got the contract, and were able to move into the house the following Tuesday. It was pretty awesome. 

After the year we've all had, it's nice to have a feeling of the universe working in our favor again. I hope it keeps up (:

Also, thanks to Rachael for letting me borrow the pictures for my blog post (:

Thankful

I'm really glad to be where I am in life. Like, really.

I think about where I would be if I had stayed in Kamas and had gone to the Wasatch Campus. 

All the people I never would have met, all the places I never would have gone. 

I think about what would have happened had I not met Kyle.

I'd be without a car a few times in the past, I'd be down a best friend, and I'd be who knows where with who know doing who knows what. 

Not to discount the people that have gotten married and are pregnant or any variation of the two, but I'm glad I'm not married. I'm REALLY glad I'm not pregnant at the moment. However, I hold people that are in the highest respect, they are a lot more mature than I am. That kind of commitment is something that I'm not ready for. Kudos to you for having the maturity level that apparently I lack. 

I'm glad life has taken me to where I am.

I like my house. I like my car. I like my roommates. I like my cat (most of the time.)

I'm really happy. I really like that I'm not married. I'm glad I'm with Kyle and I'm glad I know one of these days I'll be married to him, but right now it's not a big deal.

I'm glad that things haven't worked out to where we couldn't get engaged or anything soon. I wasn't ready for a long time to even think about being engaged. I'm still not quite there yet. I'm glad that things between the two of us have panned out the way they have.

I know that the Old Man upstairs has got a plan for me.

And I'm liking where he's going. He built me tough, so he knows I can handle anything he throws at me.

I'm also thankful in a way that it took me 3 years to figure out what I wanted to be when I grow up. 

Had it not worked out the way it did, I maybe never would have met Kyle.

Had I taken general classes in high school like everyone else, I might not be right here, right now, in this house, with a sleepy happy kitty on my lap.

Even the smallest change in the past could propel me in a completely different direction. Maybe it would be better than what I've got going on now. But then again, maybe it would be worse.

Who knows?

Who cares?!

I don't! 

If I had the opportunity to go back and say something, do something, go somewhere different, I wouldn't do it. Because life is awesome. 

And I'm happy right where I am.

Faith

I've been asked by quite a few people in my life if I was "A Member".. This, of course, meaning a member of the LDS Church.

No, I'm not.

Sometimes this results in the ending of conversation between me and the person that just asked me, as if I'm not good enough to speak with since I don't go to church.

Although I'm not "A Member" of any religion, I still like to think I've got a pretty good relationship with God.

I'd like to have a better one, but going about it down here is hard. I don't like the idea of church, I like the way I have a relationship with God. He gets me. If I go about saying I'd like to get to know God better, it's quite common for people of the predominant religion to start shoving the church down my throat, which is what has pushed me away even more so.

When I was younger I had a friend that was involved in the church, and I learned a lot of great things from her about what the church teaches.

A few of those things I took from the things she told me were: Dressing modestly, staying chaste until marriage, and praying.

I've taken those things to heart, and I still follow them.

I think that's why a lot of people are shocked when I say I'm not a member, those who truly know me best know that I'm not a member, but it's not something I walk around boasting. At least I don't think so.

One of the things that really turned me off to religion was when one of my friends' parents sent the missionaries over to my house to speak to my mom. They told her "I was headed down the wrong path" because I wasn't involved in any kind of religion. My mother was probably insulted by that, for I think she did a splendid job at raising me, and all by herself for that matter. I don't know what my mom said to those missionaries, but they never bothered us after that. That kind of hurt my feelings as well. It made me think that I was a "bad kid" sometimes. I didn't like the church from then on, I'm not sure why now that I think about it. It might have been because it offended my mom so badly, maybe I saw that it hurt her feelings and in turn made me angry. That was a long time ago, I don't really know what turned me.

My dad and his wife started getting more active in the church after they got married and when I would spend the weekends with them, on Sundays we would go to church. I remember feeling so out of place there. Everyone's eyes were on me. I didn't know where I was supposed to go for Sunday school and that made me feel out of place. I didn't know any of the songs that they would sing and that made me feel out of place too. I just didn't like being there because I felt so out of place. Perhaps that's what turned me off to the church as well.

However bitter I became (bitter for lack of a better word) toward the church, it never seemed to reflect upon my feelings towards God.

My mom was wonderful in teaching me about God. She's got a great relationship with Him and I know He loves her. My mom taught me that I could talk to God, he wouldn't "talk back" in the way a little girl would expect him to, but he would answer my prayers. I've learned to carry that through my life to this day as well. My mom taught me that he's always got our best interest at heart, even when we think our best interest is something entirely different. And most importantly, she taught me to stay positive and view all of the hard times as learning lessons, not as the world working against me. That's how I stay positive through all the bad times, however hard it may be, because I know he knows it's something I can handle. And I know it's going to teach me something that I need to know.

I don't want to sound in any way that the church is bad, or that the people in it are either. Some of my best friends are devout to the church and they are wonderful, caring, and loving people. There's the thorns in every group of people, doesn't matter if it's a politician, a parent, a next door neighbor, or any other person in the whole world. Some (as my friends' parents did, I'm sure) just have good intentions but don't realize it might hurt the other person's feelings.

Again, all learning lessons.

I still have my feelings toward the church and there are some things about it that I don't agree on. I won't go into depth about them, but they are the ones that have made me decide I don't want to be involved in the predominant religion out here. To each his own, I support those that are in the church and follow it very strongly. It's their belief and it makes them happy. That's fine with me, as long as it's not hurting anybody.

And again, my true friends will support me right back with my decision not to be involved in the church. They love me for who I am (you guys know who you are) and they're always there for me when I need them. Most importantly is that they love me.

I'm happy with my relationship with God. I know he loves me, I know he wants the best for me, and every day I try to get to be a little closer to being like him and his Son; Try to be more understanding, try to be more compassionate, more loving, and overall a better person.

Normalcy

I'm finally starting to feel normal again.

School started on Monday, and I'm actually glad to be back.

My classes are great!

This semester: ASL 2020 (The final ASL course I take before it's just straight up teaching things about ASL in ASL. No grammar, just history and facts)

I'm also taking ASL 3050, Linguistics of ASL. Pretty cool so far.

Race and Minorities (My final sociology class).

My teacher for the class is hilarious! He's Chinese and he makes really bad jokes. He thinks they're hilarious, and that makes him laugh, and I end up laughing at how hard he's laughing at his not really very funny jokes.

The best one I can remember from the first day of class was, "If you do not try in this class you will receive a 'wet' grade. Do you know what a 'wet' grade is?........ It's a grade below 'C' Level.".

Get it? He laughed so hard.

And finally, my Script and Text Analysis class.

It's going to be a really cool class. We got to decide how the class would be run, as far as attendance, late work, homework, cell phone policy, and other things that the teacher usually decides for ourselves.

It was really cool! And I'm super excited about the plays were' going to read this semester for it. My teacher's really cool.

Overall it's going to be a good semester, I think.

Another cool thing about school. In total, I spent probably $71 total on textbooks.

How many books did I buy for that price? 6.

I feel cool.

If you guys need a good website for textbooks, go to bigwords.com. You won't be disappointed.

In other news,

I got my car payment switched over to one payment a month instead of two, which gives me a little more money in my first paycheck of the month.

Zumba makes me really happy, and I feel so much better after I go. I feel like my mood has improved quite a bit since I started.

Samson's hair is starting to grow back more so, he's got about 1/2 an inch or so of hair.

He still looks pretty weird, but not nearly as weird as he did when he first came home.

He's less snuggly than he was when he came home from the vet. I think the biggest reason he was so snuggly was because he was cold and I was warm,but I cherished it nonetheless.

I'm thinking within a month his hair should be back to normal.

So yeah. Probably not the most exciting post in the world.

But at least things are back to normal.

And that's the best thing in the world to me right now.

And Finally...

We have some peace back in my life.
School starts on Monday (EEK!)
The house is back to normal, and very clean.
The fleas are gone and will NEVER come back again.
Christmas is over, and the holidays were wonderful.
Now we just get back to life, and so far 2012 is being good to me.
I actually had enough money in my account to go grocery shopping for the first time in 3 months.
Don't panic, I wasn't not eating.
Thankfully Kyle's mom has had too much food that she's been getting from the LDS food store, so what doesn't fit in her house makes its way over to ours. And we're very thankful for it. Very, very thankful.
I got a crockpot for Christmas, which I'm pretty excited about. I HATE to cook, but if a slow cooker is going to do the work for me while I'm at work/school, I'm down.
So I've been making crockpot dinners, it's cheap, and I don't have to do a whole lot to make dinner and lunch for like 5 days. Ultimate win!
I've started taking Zumba classes.
I really enjoy them.
I miss dancing a lot, and I did it until I was in 9th grade.
So now I go to Zumba and get to dance as much as I want a week for $25 a month.
Jordyn introduced me to it and I love it.
It feels good to have an out now.
My biggest love (aside from Kyle and Samson) is theatre.
But since I've got to make work a priority, I haven't been able to do much theatre since summer of 2009. I miss it a whole lot, but I've got a great job and I understand that sometimes you have to make sacrifices now to get what you want later.
I've set a goal for myself to do at least one play at UVU before I graduate. I'm not worried.
But since Zumba fits into my schedule so well, I can do it on the weeknights! And I love that. (:
I feel like I've got more of a hobby now, whereas my hobby over the last little while has just been making cloth bracelets. Which are cute, but they get a little monotonous after a while.
Mostly it just feels good to have life be back to "normal". Whatever that means.
It's been a really challenging last 2 months.
But I ate a lot of black-eyed peas for good luck this year.
So I'm going into 2012 with my head held high.

PHEW!

When the going gets tough.

The tough get a journal to log all of their emotions.

What a crazy month.

I've never been so overwhelmed in all my days.

Not overwhelmed in a bad way all the time.

But between the fleas, studying for tests, and everything else in between it's been a hell of a month.

Let's start with the bad news:

1. My bank account looks pretty sad.

2. My cat had to be shaved in a last desperate attempt to be rid of the fleas.

3. Rachael's car broke down and we'll be hard pressed to find a mechanic that won't charge an arm and a leg.

4. I think with all of the flea baths and not being able to keep him near a heater because he was afraid of them after his baths, he might be getting a little cold. So I'm keeping an eye on him. If he needs to go to the vet, I've got the money for it.

And the big one...

5. Our house flooded.

You heard right. The house flooded.

The sprinkler main wasn't drained before the ground froze, so the lines broke and spewed icy water into Rachael's room, then into the bathroom, then into my room.

By the time I got home, my room was a swimming pool.

Literally.

There was an island of carpet that had bubbled up and wasn't quite wet, but the rest of my carpet in my room was soaked. Shoes, bedding, books, power strips (eek!) and other things were totally soaked.

Along with my face when I came home and saw the damage.

I got off pretty easy when it comes to damage though, Rachael lost about 30 paintings. Then the restoration guys accidentally broke her antique tea set. And an antique vase.

Brad's amp for his guitar was in the house and that got water in it.

So in comparison, I came out alright.

But it's the fact that I had JUST BARELY gotten all of my laundry done and my bedding finally clean from the flea epidemic that really ruffles my feathers. I had slept in my bed a total of 3 nights before my house was quarantined. Boooo. Hisss.

But amongst all of the bad news, there is some good news.

1. Not very much of my stuff was ruined.

2. The fleas (without a doubt) are gone from the house. If there were any remainders, there aren't now.

3. Samson is finally flea free. He's a naked, wrinkly, awkward-to-look-at cat right now, but there's not fleas on that boy.

4. We have somewhere to stay. Kyle's mom came to our rescue that night and took all of us in, dogs, cats, and the people.

5. I finally have time to get my severely past-due laundry done. Since we had to wash everything all over again, we figured we might as well grab the stuff that was put on hold to wash all of the other flea-ridden stuff.

6. School is almost over, and that means I'll have more time to spend with my naked weird kitty, and Kyle.

7. Christmas is just around the corner.

8. Though my financial situation isn't ideal, this is temporary. And I'm actually pretty good at handling my money. And I rarely get to the point when I don't have enough money to come out okay in the end. God has (99.9% of the time) given me enough money to make it until next payday. For that I'm thankful.

Things will look up. I know they will. It's gotta get bad before it gets good. With all the bad that's happened lately, there better be a ridiculously big amount of good headed our way. I think we've worked pretty hard for it. And the fact that we've been able to refrain from going completely insane during the whole thing is a pretty big blessing in itself.

Everything turns out okay in the end. If it's not okay, then it's not the end.