Finally

One final down, two more to go for Neil. It has been almost 2.5 years since I took a final. Sometimes I consider going to grad school but I try to remind myself what that entails. So as I am patiently waiting for Neil to finish studying for the night, I have been contemplating those days. Honestly, I have some pretty great memories. Crazy things always seemed to happen during finals week, just to add to the stress. Dysfunctionality seemed to heighten during this time and my roommates and I always found strange ways to have fun and relieve stress. Exhibit A. For some reason we felt the urge to "dress up." We also spent hours putting together puzzles instead of studying for finals. Exhibit B. Midnight dance parties were a common occurrence (I have a video but my ex-roomies would kill me for posting it). Getting sucked into VH1 countdowns. Rushing through a final just to go out to lunch to "celebrate." Creating paper towers out of old notes and assignments with the intent to create a bonfire. Getting nasty glares in the library while hysterically laughing over something that probably wasn't that funny but somehow was because of an impending final. Plus, so many other things and pictures that I won't post because it would just be too embarrassing.

Well, after I have strolled down memory lane, I realized how much Neil is missing out. We haven't done anything wild and crazy. I asked him if he wanted to do something wild and crazy in the spirit of finals week but he declined. No fun. I guess there is always next semester.

Great Week

This week has been an interesting week. It has been full of great things and a few not so great things. But in an effort to try to be more positive, I want to focus on the great things. Here are a few reasons why my week was great:

1. I got not one but two cards from my boss for Administrative Professionals Day. He sent one (he lives in Arizona) about a month ago thinking it was last month. Then on Wednesday, I got another card on the actual day. He forgot he sent the first one!
2. I got a gift card to Olive Garden from work for Administrative Professionals Day. I am starting to love this day!
3. Neil finished classes for the semester.
4. I got to spend most of Friday in Ogden for work. It's nice to get out of the office for awhile.
5. I finished a book and picked up a new one from the library.
6. It's sunny and almost warm today.
7. I made cinnamon oatmeal muffins for breakfast this morning and they were yummy!

Blast from the Past

Are we too old for roller blading? Roller blading is one of Neil and mine’s favorite activities. Now that the weather is finally cooperating, we dusted off our roller blades yesterday afternoon. We like to go on the trail near the golf course and Logan River but yesterday we just decided to go around our neighborhood. To my dismay we got all sorts of weird looks from the children who were out riding bikes or razor scooters. Now I am not one to be intimidated by eight year olds but seriously is it that weird to see two adults roller blading? Do kids not even roller blade any more?

I remember when I was like 12 and it was the cool thing to roller blade. My friends and I went roller blading almost everyday! Plus, it didn’t hurt that a lot of cute boys roller bladed in our neighborhood and did cool tricks. In fact I think roller blading was still cool when I was in high school because that is what Neil, Ian and I did all summer as well. The trail behind Lagoon was the best. We even went to the local Classic skating during the winter. Then the tradition at that time was to get a slurpee at 7-11 afterwards. Slurpees were way cool back then too. Now, it’s all about Jamba Juice.

Maybe roller blading is no longer cool but we are still going to do it and we are even going to get slurpees the next time we go.

Rear Window

I love having a window in my office. This is only my second "real" office. My first office had no window and I worked in shifts with other people who shared it so it wasn't mine. I've had cubicles, desks, and no work space at all in the past. But now I have my very own office and I was even lucky to have a window! Here are a few things I've observed:

1. Joggers. They all look extremely miserable and in lots of pain. That is exactly why I don't jog.
2. A lone duck. It just wanders around in the bushes, the road, and along the sidewalk. There has been so many times that I have just wanted to help guide it to the pond. It's so close but it just can't seem to find its way.
3. People walking dogs.
4. Dogs walking people.
5. Paramedics rushing down 1800 North with lights and sirens.
6. People driving on the wrong side of the divided road. I keep waiting until someone driving on the wrong side meets someone driving on the right side. People it's not that hard. You see two lanes divided, which side of the street do we drive on?
7. USU crews mowing lawns, removing snow, trimming trees, and raking leaves. Glad that's not my job.
8. The weather changing every 5 minutes.
9. A jeep doing donuts in the church parking lot just down the street. It was having WAY too much fun.
10. Creepy homeless man rummaging around in the bushes.

Failure

Yes, I feel like a failure. I still haven’t met most of my goals. I’ve taken like two pictures of Neil and I since my goal to take more pictures, I haven’t finished a book in over two weeks, I’ve only scrapbooked one page in like a month, and I haven’t been blogging regularly. When I decided to start a blog, I wanted to post every day or at least every other day. I wanted to keep my blog interesting and hopefully funny. When the blogging sensation began, I didn’t start one right away because I didn’t think I had anything to blog about and I wasn’t sure if I could update it regularly. But after some encouragement from Alyssa (who is a fabulous blogger), I went for it. She always told me back in college that I should have a blog. For some reason interesting, weird and dramatic things happened during those years. Now, I look back and that is precisely when I should have started. Because now you are not going to hear about midnight runs to Krispy Kreme just for the hats, my adventures in the good old Harold B. Lee library (oh how I miss that library), psycho roommate stories (Alyssa you are not one of them but now when I think about our first year, you could probably share some pretty psycho roommate stories about me!), stories about hamsters and the cafeteria food, stealing food from the cafeteria (Operation Fire and Brimstone), boys, hot chocolate runs in less than 7 minutes, and the list goes on. Now, my subject material consists of working all day, trying not to bug Neil while he studies, and preparing lessons for emergency preparedness (yep. We teach emergency preparedness in our ward. I never thought I would be so passionate about food storage and emergency preparedness in my early 20’s), and reading. There is no drama in my life. Don’t get me wrong, I have no complaints about the level of excitement in my life but I certainly don’t find it noteworthy to blog about how we are cleaning out our garage this weekend. I am excited about it. It needs to be cleaned. But do you really want to read about it? Probably not.

I consider at times quitting. Why have a blog if I don’t have anything to say. But I know the instant that I pull the plug, something amazing and/or extremely comical is going to happen and I will have no one to share it with. In the mean time, if any of you faithful readers (all two of you) have suggestions on what I could blog about, I would love them.

Weekend Wrap Up

Our weekend began with a trip to the American West Heritage Center for Baby Animals Day. I’ve never been there before, so I had no idea what to expect but it was actually quite impressive. My parents brought up two of my nieces. My Dad said you couldn’t go to Baby Animals Day without kids. We got to pet and hold cows, bunnies, toads, alpacas, chickens, and ducks. We took a wagon ride and got to see a sheep sheared. The little girls also got to ride ponies. Neil was so cute, he wanted to hold everything but all the little kids got to hold the animals first. No fair. Now, I have to buy him a bunny.

Saturday we made the trip all the way to P-town to watch the annual Blue and White scrimmage. For all of those of you who don’t know, I am a die hard BYU football fan. I held season tickets with my Dad for over 7 years. Although I haven’t had season tickets for two years now. Sigh. I love the football season. I love the anticipation before each game. I love the crowds in the stadium. I love the $5 pizzas. I love the sea of blue and white. I love the smell of the turf. I love the rumble of the crowd. I love singing the fight song after each score. I love wearing all Cougar blue. I love screaming for the big “D.” I love the spring scrimmage because I haven’t had my football high since the December bowl game. The scrimmage will help me get through until August 30. It was perfect day for a scrimmage. My cheeks and arms got a little pink but it was worth it.

Bowling

Neil and I had a coupon for a free game of bowling. So last week we went bowling for the first time in over a year. Neil is usually a pretty decent bowler and I am usually terrible. I like bowling but I’m not good. I’m way good at bowling on the Wii though, go figure. Anyway, I was irritated that we had to pay $2.00 each for a pair of bowling shoes that have been worn by hundreds of other people. Just think of the profit the bowling alley is making off of those disgusting shoes. I am blaming the shoes for my poor performance. I can’t even remember the score but I don’t think it was over 60. Neil’s game was even off, he didn’t even get over 100. Bowling is fun and we probably will go several more times over the years. But I don’t know why it is so fun. I mean who came up with rolling a heavy ball into a grouping of pins? Plus, one of my most embarrassing moments happened while bowling. Yep, I was that girl who was nervous on a date and dropped the ball behind me instead of rolling it down the lane.