Utah people, They're just like me!

So I am outside shoveling the driveway after it snowed again last night; just minding my own business when suddenly this car stops in front of my house.
The guy rolls down his window and says, "How'd that happen?"
I stand there confused for a second and then just when I am about to reply with some snarky comment about how water freezes in the air and then falls down as fluffy white snow, he clarifies by saying, "Your outfit I mean."
I look down at myself. I am wearing a ski coat, a scarf, gloves, my Hunter boots, and oh yeah...my running shorts. So what? That's normal for me!
I look up at him and say, "This is just my style okay!"
He laughs and opens his car door, walks to the front of his car so I can see him. Standing there in a puffy coat, hat, board shorts, and Sorel boots, he throws his arms up and laughs.
"Me too!" he says. Then he gets in his car, waves, and drives away.
I love Utah people! haha

Thanksgiving in Seattle!

Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite holidays. Mostly because it is the beginning of "the holiday season," but also because it is a holiday that revolves completely around food, and let's be honest, I LOVE food!!

This year I was particularly for Turkey Day because my mom and Don were coming up to visit me in Seattle. I love when people visit me up here because it gives me an excuse to ditch my homework and galavant around the city and do all the fun things that make living in Seattle so wonderful.

Thanksgiving morning, I went and met mom and Don at the airport. I took them back to my house to show them where I live and spend all my time before we went downtown to check into their awesome hotel.

(Mom and me outside my townhouse)

(Welcome to my lovely kitchen)

Mom and Don got an awesome hotel just one block above the center of Pioneer Square. It was literally just behind my favorite building in all of Seattle. It was so nice, had an awesome view and was the perfect walking distance from all my favorite places.

(The Pioneer Square Archway with my favorite building in the back)

(Sweet hotel room)

After we all got settled into the hotel, we took off across the sound to visit my step-half cousin, aunt and uncle, aka. Don's half brother and his family. They are seriously awesome people and I love getting to hang out with them. Thanksgiving at their house was awesome and all the food was so good!

(Don and I on the ferry)

(Yummy turkey dinner)

Friday turned into a major shopping day. There is this really awesome accessory store that my mom found when she went to visit my sister Brittani back east and my mom was so excited when she found out that there was a location here near Seattle. We spent about two hours in that one store on Friday and we definitely left with some awesome treasures to add to our closets. Don was such a good sport waiting around for us while we picked through things and decided what we liked best.

(Don and me in the mall)

(The awesome view from our hotel room! Right on the waterfront!)

Saturday was by far my favorite day of the whole weekend. We started off strong by going for a nice run along the waterfront. We ran along the piers and then over to this little beachfront trail. It was awesome to have the water and the Olympic mountains on one side and the towering city on the other. The air was the perfect brisk temperature and we had so much fun!

We also took a lot of picture along the way...

(Mom and me in front of a fountain near the sculpture gardens)

(Posing in front of the pier with the new Seattle "eye")

(Don wouldn't pretend to run with me for this one..)

Later on Saturday after a nice breakfast at an awesome 50's style diner in Pioneer Square, we went on the Seattle Underground Tour. I had been on it before when my friend Anna visited by last spring, but I was excited to go on it again with mom and Don. I love history things like tours and the Underground tour is so awesome I would probably go on it any day.

(Part of the underground beneath Pioneer Square)

After walking over to the main area of downtown and stopping in for some fun at good old Pike's Place, we finally went on to my very favorite part of the weekend. The thing I had been looking forward to most!

(Mom and me at the Seattle Center. Me at Pike's Place)

What was I looking forward to most?...................

My early graduation dinner at the Space Needle of course! I have been wanting to go up in the Space Needle since long before I moved up here for school and now I was finally getting to go! I asked Mom back in the summer if she and Don would take me there for my graduation dinner in June, but when they decided to come up here for the holiday, she suggested that we just do it then, and I have to say, I am glad we did. The Space Needle is cool enough by itself, but it is even better when it has all of its Christmas decorations up. Plus, they blow out fake snow from the top! It really looks like it is snowing when you sit in the restaurant.

The food was awesome and the atmosphere was even better. Fake snow, Christmas music, and the awesome high up view of the city was even better than I imagined. Thank you mom and Don!!!!

(I got the "Mt. Rainier" drink. So tasty!)

(Seared Ahi Tuna! So freaking good and fresh!)

Sunday morning was awesomely foggy and we were a little worried that it might rain again or something  but we decided to risk it and head to Mt. Rainier. I am glad we did too because it turned out to be an awesome day! The sun came out and the mountain was so clear and beautiful. Mom had never been there before so it was pretty cool to hear her saying "Wow it just comes up right out of the sea, out of nowhere!" I love people's initial reactions to how big it it.

I of course got a little car sick from all the winding roads so that put a little damper on my day, but it ended up being totally worth it.

(I love Mt. Rainier!)

Once we got back into the city, we went and got a quick dinner down at the waterfront before I had to head back home and back to the reality of school and homework. Once back home, I had to quickly adjust back into homework mode and crank out the last chapter of Ulysses before going to bed early enough to wake up at 5am for work and class. Now just one week of classes, one week of finals and then I will finally get to head home for the best time of the year! Christmas, family, skiing, and fun are all within my grasp....as soon as these pesky finals finish themselves.

Pumpkins and Creeps!

If you weren't aware, Autumn is my very favorite season! I love everything about Fall. I love the colors, the smells, the jackets and scarves, the crisp air, the foods, and of course the holidays!

This is the first year of my college life that I have been living off of my campus and in an actual house. My roommates and I love all the freedoms that come with having our own house and at this time of year, those freedoms include sitting around the fire, drinking hot chocolate, and carving pumpkins to put out in our cute little front yard.

This year, I decided to carve my pumpkin in honor of my favorite superhero: BATMAN! He is my favorite because he doesn't need actual super powers to be awesome. He just needs a good heart, crazy courage, guts of steel, and billions of dollars. Haha. I kind of want to be Batman for Halloween, but I have yet to come by a good costume.

Yesterday, my roommates and I took a break from our crazy schedules and came together for some quality bonding time. We broke out the knives, the newspapers, the hot chocolate, and the decorations and we set about making our home ready for the most fun holiday of the year.

I love me roommies and I love my life. I can't wait for actual Halloween now!

Here is some photographic evidence of our fun and awesomeness from last night!

(My Batman Pumpkin!)

(I got it all out in one chunk)

(We made a little bit of a mess)

(I love my roommies!)

(A classic pose from "the creeps" of The Burrow)

(The Originals! We miss Annie!!)

(The three pumpkin masterpieces)

Oh! P.S. We renamed our house. Once we finally got our stupid fire alarm to stop beeping, we decided to rename our house "The Burrow." Yes, that is a Harry Potter reference. Our house is a skinny three story tall house so we felt it was fitting.
That's all for now folks!

The Five Femme Fatales of Beeping Purgatory

I love my roommates! Or, I guess I should call then my housemates. Only one of them is my actual roommate, but I seriously love all of them so much. They are exactly the people I want around at all times of the day to complain to, tell my funny stories to, whine with about homework, and go out and have fun with.

We are all extremely different, yet we have a ton in common. I feel like my senior year would not be off to a good start without them. They are simply awesome and I just wanted declare a little roommate love for memories sake.

(The Five Femme Fatales of "Beeping Purgatory")

Just a little side note of explanation, we are calling our house beeping purgatory because one of our fire alarms has recently become possessed and won't stop beeping. Pretty soon I feel like we will all develop some sort of twitch in response to any beeping noise. Beep! Why won't it end!?

Ulysses, To Thee I Fall

I am an English major. I read and write a lot, probably about three times than the average college student in a major like business or geology or really any of the non-humanities related subjects. I love reading and I love writing. Those are the two main facts that led me to declaring English as my major on my college application. In my time at college I have always been an English major and I will continue to be one until I graduate this June.

Although, as I have said before, I love being and English major, there are at times, texts that simply seem to overload my mind until it feels on the verge of exploding from too much rhetoric. To what type of texts am I referring?...Well, most recently, James Joyce's Ulysses.

James Joyce is a fantastic writer. No one can argue with that fact--although if they should want to, I would definitely like to put them up against my professor who teaches solely James Joyce texts. In my opinion, Joyce perfected the  of stream of consciousness writing style and outdid all those writers who had attempted it before him; and in all honesty, I don't think anyone has done it as well even after him. But Joyce didn't only write in the stream of consciousness style, he pretty much combined every style known in the English language and made them flow together in the most poetical, complicated and beautiful manner ever. In short, he was way too good at what he did. Scholars will often spend their entire careers and lives attempting to study every detail of just one of Joyce's texts and still never be fully satisfied. According to my professor (who has read Ulysses at least 20 times), it is impossible to ever come to a full Joyce-like understanding of the text because that is just how complicated it is. Ulysses is commonly considered the best and most important text of the twentieth century in any language.

I just wish I had known all of that when I signed up for the class. Maybe then I would have been a little better prepared for what I was getting myself into.

I registered for a class entitled 'Author Seminar: James Joyce's Ulysses.' What was I thinking? Apparently I was thinking that it would be fun to make my life ridiculously complicated for the first quarter of my senior year.

Do I sound like I am complaining? Maybe I am, maybe I'm not. I can't yet be sure. Probably both.

Although I have three other classes to focus on this quarter as well as independent language study credits, most of my studying time ends up dedicated to reading and analyzing Ulysses as well as all of the supportive essay texts we are assigned in order to help our understanding and dissection of the text. I feel like my life has come to revolve around this one book. This one 643 page masterpiece that details the life of essentially two men in one single 24 hour period on June 16, 1904 in the city of Dublin as they experience happening that are designed to be parallel to the story of the Odyssey. It is utterly overwhelming and immensely satisfying and amazing at the same time.

Every chapter I complete and understand gives me confidence going into the next. It still take me about three days to really discern each chapter, and the chapters are only getting longer and more complicated, but I am confident that, eventually, my mind will quit fighting against the information overload and just start absorbing the grandeur within the text.

Until then, this picture pretty much sums up my life.

Tales of Summer

 

    With my junior year of college completed, I jetted back home for the most wonderful season of all....SUMMER!

    My summer didn't exactly go according to my original plan, but I think it turned out for the best. When I got to Utah, I spent the whole first month catching up with old friends and scouring the streets and the internet for any possible summer jobs. Most of my days in both June and July were spent in panicked agony about not having an income. To help relieve my stress though, I spent time with some good old friends. We went up the canyon for a bon-fire and we also went to the Days of 47 Rodeo. In July, my stress about money was somewhat relieved by the fact that my mom was moving into a new office building and she needed someone to help get the place ready. I spent about 2 weeks painting and helping her prep the office before the new carpet and such came in and I made some pretty good money in the process. At least it was enough to help me cover August's rent for my new place at school.

    July also brought on the miracle of a new baby niece! Little Baby Ana came into the world just the right way! Tenille, after two Cesarean Sections for her two boys was finally able to have a baby the good old fashioned way. Little Ana is possibly the sweetest little girl I have seen in a long time and it doesn't hurt that she has a full full head of dark hair, which is extremely unusual for girls in our family. 

    Once August rolled around, I finally landed a real job. A fantastic family with two amazing and adorable children hired me to be their temporary nanny while their regular nanny took some time off to go through a session of chemotherapy. The situation which brought me the job was less than ideal, but it truly was a blessing for me and I am so thankful for the opportunity that an unfortunate situation granted me. And I am pleased to report that the chemo was a success for the girl, which allows me to feel a little better about the whole situation.

    August was a month of pure bliss. I got to spend my days being paid to play with children, swim with them a local community pool, take them hiking, and just generally goof around. My evening were spent hanging out with my sister and my nephews and niece or with my brother rock climbing. And of course, every weekend was a fun filled vacation at my favorite place on earth! I love love love Bear Lake and I am so glad that I not only got to grow up there, but that I continue to be able to semi-live there every summer! It truly is an amazing place and it has all the fun activities a person could want for their summer vacation. 

    August was also an extremely exiting month because I did something entirely new and crazy with my mom. As most everyone who knows me knows, my mom is an extremely avid runner. She runs Marathons and Half Marathons every year. Running is almost as good as candy to her, and we all know my mom loves candy! I have been into really into running for about 2 years now but I had never really considered running long distances until about a year ago. While in school last year, I started training for a Half Marathon I planned to do up near the Seattle area, but plans fell through, I didn't run it and I never finished my training schedule. I still wanted to do one though so in June, I told my mom to sign me up to do one with her while I was home for the summer. Although I had true intentions to take it seriously and train for the race, I failed to run most of the summer. The most I ran was an easy 4 miler about two weeks before the race and then an 8 or 9 miler the weekend right before the race. That was a fun run because I ran down Immigration Canyon with my mom and her best friend Julie at like 4:30 in the morning. It was dark and quite and we were all alone. It was really awesome! Plus we went to Ruth's Diner for breakfast afterwords which totally made it all worth it.

    The actual race was the morning of August 25! Mom, Julie and I went and stayed the night at my Grandma's house in Logan and then woke up super early to head to the base of the canyon to get on the buses to take us to the starting line. It was a crisp cool morning. Almost like a fall morning. It was perfect running weather and once we got to the top, I was both crazy nervous and crazy excited.

    Despite many personal set backs along the course, I finished the race in a dead sprint with a smile across my face and my shoes on my hands! Yes, I said shoes on my hands! My shoes were pretty old and they had been giving me really big and painful blisters, so at the mile 11 marker, I took off my shoes and socks, put them on my hands and finished the last two miles in bare feet. My mom's face as I crossed the finish line was priceless. She looked at me in pure shock and said, "Aubrey! Why are you running in bare feet?!" It was pretty funny and awesome. And the best part was, right after the race, we drove from Logan over to Bear Lake and went water skiing! It was a fantastical day!

 

    My last weekend at Bear Lake was particularly awesome because it was the one weekend that we finally made it up to Bloomington for the summer. We usually go up there at least twice a summer, but with all the little kids around, it hasn't happened as often in recent summers. I love going off the rope swing up there though! Definitely another favorite past time of mine!

    Although it had a bit of a rocky start, my summer ended up being truly amazing. I got to spend much needed time with family, friends, and no worries about school, tests, papers, and deadlines. Now I am back to real life in the city with school and all that fun jazz.

    Senior year is off to a good start! I am living in a house with four amazing friends just a few blocks off campus. My classes are difficult but definitely lovable and I am starting to develop my departmental honors project which is supposed to be the foundation of my possible future graduate thesis. It is my last year here and I know it is going to be difficult, but I also know it is going to be great! I am definitely going to make the most of my last year here in the city so get ready for some exciting tales to come!

Lata!

Weekend Tour Guide

(Anna's first ferry ride in the PNW)

One of the most exciting and recent things to happen this quarter came in the form of a great friend. My friend Anna from back home came to visit me! She has been out of school since the end of April and was in need of a fun vacation to jumpstart her summer before she has to start an internship. I tried to show her all the best (or at least my favorite) parts of Seattle. We explored many small of unique book shops, including the famous Elliot Bay Books; we rode the ferry to Bainbridge; we went to Pike Place to see and experience all that it has to offer; we went to the North West Folk Life Festival at the Seattle Center and we even did the Seattle Underground Tour (which I have been wanting to do ever since I moved here).

We had lots of fun and lots of good food, but my feet didn't thank me for all the walking we had to do in order to do and see so many fun things in Seattle.

(Just reading at EBB)

(Enjoying the waterfront near Pike Place)

(I started doing the Fling when some bagpipers took the stage at the Folk Life Festival)

(Enjoying Audrey's favorite sandwich at Pike Place)

Now I am heading into finals and I really just can't wait for them to be over. I have so much to do and so little time to do it. Hopefully I will be able to accomplish everything at my usual high standard though. Once finals are over, I will be heading back home for a summer of family, friends, work, and weekends at my favorite place on earth!

SUMMER IS ALMOST HERE!!!

So Anyway...

Once again I have fallen prey to the inadequacy of my ability to follow through on setting aside time to write this blog. It's not that I don't think it's important, it's just that so many other things seem more important. I seem to have a never ending dilemma concerning prioritizing and time.
Anyway, with winter quarter long over and my spring finals approaching within the week, I figured it was time for me to give an overview of my experiences these past two quarters as well as discuss recent happenings.
Following the harsh winter days of snow, ice, school closures, and application deadlines, I let loose by taking part once again in my school's annual charity event Dance Marathon. Although I didn't volunteer as an official dancer this year, the SU Swing Club (for which I am the social activities officer) was asked to participate by teaching a short swing lesson to the dancers and then leading them into an half hour social swing dance period. My fellow officers and I had a great time (as always) practicing our swingin' moves and teaching our peers about our favorite form of dance. The swing community here is truly amazing and I will be quite sad to leave it once I graduate from here.

(Swing Kids at Dance Marathon)

Winter quarter brought some tough times but, as always, I pulled through and moved on to the glories that spring quarter always offers. 

Spring quarter is always my favorite quarter. My mood instantly brightens with each new cloudless day and the assortment of classes of spring quarter is always the best. I signed up for a Fiction Writing class, an Africa and Communications class, another French class, and a Global Respect class. All of these courses have been amazing and they help to remind me why I am student and all that I am working towards in a future career and life.My Fiction Writing class has been particularly great. We have been working on one project (a novel) for the entire quarter and it is amazing how much I have learned about my own writing style in just these short 10 weeks. It really has been a positive quarter academically.

On the adventure side of things, I had many great and exciting experiences this quarter. I went to the Tulip Festival for the first time ever! It was gorgeous to see rows and rows of tulips.I wen on a Sunday with some people from my ward and we didn't bring money to get in so we ended up not being able to go right into the tulips, but they were beautiful even from a short distance and it was still fun.

(Pretty Tulip Fields)

(I pretended to be in a vast field but it didn't work out so well)

Although I made a conscious effort this year to not get overly involved with non-academic things on campus, I still led a retreat for the F&GI freshman program that I mentor for. It was just a quick one night retreat to a camp near Sequim, but it was still a relaxing getaway that I was able to fully enjoy.

(Beautiful city view from the ferry on the way to the retreat center)

(Posing in the sun)

(All the awesome F&GI students who came on the retreat. Many of which were my mentees)

(I tried to get some homework done on the ferry)

So anyway, that is what has happened semi-recently in my life here in Seattle. Nothing too exciting, but enough to keep me powered up to get through the rest of Spring Quarter.