Dear BYU-Idaho Parking Services...

I'm going to try to make this as civil as possible. (Which will be easier to do now that I'm not in the moment of all-encompassing rage that I was in earlier.)

To sum up this letter/post in a nutshell, y'all need to step up your game.

Earlier today, I was roughly 30 minutes late to my class because all of the North zone parking spots were full (except for in the free lot which is WAY farther from the building my class is in than what I would enjoy). Granted, I left my apartment 5 minutes before the class started, so that's where my fault is. But I've noticed that if I want even a chance of getting a spot on campus, I have to be on campus no later than 7:30 AM. That's a little ridiculous considering the fact that none of my classes start until 9 AM.

This is my first semester parking on campus during the day, and I have to say I'm not impressed so far. Here are my reasons why:

1. Apparently faculty can park wherever they darn well please? There have been far too many times that I've walked through what is designated as student parking, and I see a car with a faculty placard hanging from the mirror. NOT COOL. As evidenced by the map below, the faculty has PLENTY of parking to choose from. They don't have to go taking from the students. Also, if the students have to be held to such a high obligation of making sure they're in the right zone, I think the faculty should also be held to that obligation.

   

   Blue = North student parking
   Yellow = South student parking
   Red = Faculty/Staff parking

2. Sometimes it feels like you sell more parking permits than there are parking stalls, and then sit and bask in whatever joy you find from performing such evil. This morning, I was not the only student who had a North zone placard driving all over campus trying to find a spot. Yes, there are the free lots, but those are so far away from a majority of the buildings that you have to tack on probably an extra 15-30 minutes to account for the time spent walking from your car to your destination. 

I thought I had more, but I can't think of them. 

Anyway. I'm anxiously awaiting to see what zone will go in the new parking lot across the street from the Spori. If my vote was worth anything, I'd say you should make it 100% North zone. (But I know that would never happen.)

Have a splendid day.

Spring Semester 2015

A little prologue is needed before I write the rest of this post:

For those of you who still don’t know (which, honestly, I have no idea who doesn’t know), in December I found out I am unable to serve a mission due to health reasons. The doctor gave me a six-month “waiting period” for when I can reapply, which expires in June (meaning I have to wait until June to even consider reapplying). So we’ll see what happens then. Because I’m unable to serve a mission now, I am required to return to school; otherwise I lose my enrollment (and I only have two semesters left, so I really don’t want to do that). End prologue.

A new semester will begin two weeks from TODAY, and I have all of the emotions regarding that fact. I’m excited to be reunited with friends I haven’t seen in about seven months; I’m excited to learn new things; I’m unhappy about all of the homework I know I’ll have (I’m registered for 17 credits, so please pray for me); I’m stressed about how I’m going to pay for my books and rent while still being able to eat food; etc. etc. I’m also moving to a brand new (to me) apartment complex, which means a brand new ward, so I’ll be able to meet TONS of new people. (If I did my math right, there will be more boys than girls in the ward, which is a HUGE deal.)

That being said, the main reason for writing this post is to have my goals for the semester in some sort of tangible place. I also wanted them to be visible to others so I can be held accountable for them. (You guys have to hold me accountable, k?) Therefore, I present to you my goals for Spring Semester 2015:

1. Meet at least four new people, and become friends with them. This is not including my new roommates. In the past, I’ve made it a goal just to make new friends, but that wasn’t specific enough. I have social anxiety, which makes it really difficult for me to talk to people I don’t know (and sometimes people I do know). So, I want to meet at least three new people, which honestly isn’t going to include that dumb “introduce yourself to your neighbor” thing teachers make us do on the first day of class. I want to introduce myself without someone telling me to do so. I also don’t want to include people that my roommates introduce me to. It’ll be nice to have those acquaintances, but they won’t count towards this goal.
2. Workout three times a week. I’ve made this a goal of mine several times in the past to no avail. This semester, however, I have charted out my weekly school schedule (which I now get to do all over again due to course scheduling conflicts), and I made sure to include time to exercise every day. Whether or not I make it to the gym every day is something we’ll have to see, but I know I want to go at least three times a week. Slightly along with this goal, I want to stop eating junk food (which will be WAY easier than in the past since I’m not working at Domino’s this semester) and start eating healthier foods…within the limits of my budget, anyway. I’m not going to cut out junk food completely; I’ll allow myself to splurge every once in a while, but not as often as I’m used to.
3. Save money. “With a new apartment comes a greater amount of rent.” –me. It was my hope to be able to pay off my rent before I even got to Rexburg (or at the very beginning of the semester). Unfortunately, due to my poor spending habits that is not the case. My apartment manager also is not willing to work with me to come up with a payment plan outside of the “pay the monthly amount on the day it’s due” rule (which I guess is setting me up for when I have an apartment in the real world, so it’s a good thing…), so that’s super stressful due to me only being able to work 20 hours a week at the campus newspaper. Sometimes I think I will need to get a second job to be able to pay for everything, but there wouldn’t be any time for it with classes, homework, more homework, and my first job. Therefore, I’m going to put myself on a strict budget for the semester (which I have yet to come up with) and I’m really hoping it works. Pray for me.
4. Go to the temple every week. Recently I received my own endowment in the temple, and it was a super awesome amazing experience. I have a greater love for the temple now. In addition to exercise, I have also set aside time to go to the temple. I’m going to apply the principle of “if you make time for the Lord and for the bigger things, the smaller things will fall into place” into my life this semester, and I’m hoping it works.
5. 3.0 final GPA. In the last couple of semesters, I have failed as a student. (Figuratively and literally.) Because of that, I will be having a friend change my social media passwords at the beginning of the semester so I will not be able to have access to them. It will be difficult due to working for a newspaper and working alongside a bunch of communication majors. And I’m just addicted to social media. But I know that it’s something I need to do in order to get good grades and bring my cumulative GPA up. I have also blocked out HUGE chunks of time to work on homework on that weekly calendar thing so I can spend that time doing homework/studying.
6. Take pictures. I don’t use my camera as often as I would like, so it’d be nice if I could find time to take pictures of stuff. But even if I’m not able to take pictures with my camera, I still want to take pictures with my phone. Memories and stuff, ya know?
7. No focusing on dating. I made this one of my goals a couple of years ago, and that semester I ended up with a boyfriend by the end of it. I’m pretty certain it was that “things come to you when you least expect it” principle. However, getting a boyfriend is not the reason for this goal. Ain’t nobody got time to go on dates when you have 17 credits’ worth of homework to accomplish. Actually that’s not true; I set aside time on my calendar thing to have fun. But still. I have other things I want to focus on, and I don’t want worrying about boys to get in the way of those higher priorities. Yes, it would be nice to go on dates, but I’m also not going to let myself get super sad over the fact that I’m not going on them. I’ll just go out with my new friends instead.

So those are the seven things I want to accomplish this semester. I’m really looking forward to working on these goals and am hoping I will be a better person by the end of them. Hold me accountable!

An update of my life.

It has been four months since I updated this (I'm really bad at it and need to get better), so here we go.

AUGUST: I quickly realized how awful it is to work at Walmart. Working two jobs every day quickly got tiring, and I hated not being able to go to any of my ward activities and not being able to hang out with anyone if the opportunity presented itself. But I suffered through it anyway because I needed money for my mission. (I did eventually quit in October, however.) I signed up for an institute class on receiving and understanding personal revelation (which just ended this past Tuesday), and it was really awesome and eye-opening.

SEPTEMBER: I still suffered at Walmart. I was able to go to the home opener of BYU Football, which was amazing and I'm super thankful for the games I was able to go to this season since it was my last one for a while. I (sort of) spontaneously drove up to Rexburg...I say spontaneously because it was a day before my family was going up there go to Island Park. But if I had waited to go with them, I wouldn't have been able to see all of my friends. I also got to attend the devotional that Elder Holland was speaking at! The family and I went to Island Park (as a last hurrah before my mission), and it was so great to go back to my favorite place on Earth. We went into Yellowstone (even though it was cold and rainy), and even though I've been in that park at least 20 times, it is still magical to me. I love that God has blessed us with such beauty. At the end of the month my mission papers were FINALLY opened.

OCTOBER: I had finally had enough of Walmart and put in my two weeks notice. My last day was on the 17th. I also began the process to be promoted to management at Taco Bell (which helped influence the decision to quit Walmart). Due to Taysom Hill breaking his leg which resulted in NO ONE wanting to go to BYU Football games, I went to the game on the 18th for $10, as well as the other games. The last one I went to for $5! It was so much fun. I was finally able to start going to ward activities at night, and I've been able to meet some new people. I received my immunizations for my mission papers, which sucked, but I'm glad I got them over with. (Perk: they didn't hurt as much as I thought they would!)

NOVEMBER: Halfway through the month, I became a team member trainer (the lowest level of management) at Taco Bell [and received a pay raise, but that's not important. (Yes it is.)] and it has been interesting working on training people, but I love what I'm doing and everyone says I'm good at it, so it all works out. I got my dental work taken care of (which required numbing my mouth and me sounding ridiculous/hilarious). We went to Idaho for Thanksgiving, and I participated in my first Black Friday shopping in five years...and I don't want to do it again. We took family pictures while up in Idaho, and I used one of them for my mission papers.

DECEMBER: Not much has happened in the first six days of this month, except for the fact that I SUBMITTED MY MISSION PAPERS TO MY BISHOP TODAY. I have an interview with him tomorrow, and after that I'm going to figure out how to get an interview with my stake president so I can FINALLY submit my papers to Salt Lake City. My mom is hoping for a mission call by Christmas (and now that I think about it, opening my call while on Skype with my missionary brosef would be flipping sweet). This is all becoming very real and I'm going to be honest and say that I'm getting a little freaked out, but I know that this is what I'm supposed to be doing.

As I said in my last update, I'm going to try to be better at blogging, especially with my mission getting so close, but we'll see what actually happens.

This is going to be long. You have been warned.

I don’t even know where to begin.

First, please allow me to apologize for being an absent blogger since New Year’s Day…not that anyone really reads this but oh well. Life has been crazy busy with school and having two jobs during my off-track, two jobs during spring semester, and I just got a second job that will put me at working approximately 60 hours a week between the two jobs I currently have, so once I start working there I’m not going to have time for anything except food and sleep.

I guess I should give an update on my life for the last eight months…

JANUARY: For the first time in my entire college experience, I moved home for just the three-month off-track (in the middle of December, but it’s going to count as January for this post). It sucked packing up all of my junk I accumulated in the year and a half I lived in Rexburg. I put as much as I could in my car and still had to put stuff in my then-boyfriend’s truck just to get it all home. I took a week off work and all responsibility whatsoever to enjoy Christmas with my family and then went on a trip to Island Park with my then-boyfriend and his family. Island Park is my favorite place in the world because my family goes there almost every summer, but it is flipping GORGEOUS in the winter. Just look at these pictures I took. (Thank you, Sheldon!)

When I got back I immediately began working for Domino’s down here in Utah (which was the actual worst because reasons) and began the hunt for a second job. I went out with my then-boyfriend one day and gathered applications EVERYWHERE. We spent an entire afternoon filling them out while watching Iron Man 3. Ultimately I only had to turn in two applications before I was essentially hired on the spot at Taco Bell. They gave me an interview just to give the new assistant some training in that area, and I was officially hired just a few weeks into January. I loved working there for the few months that I was in Riverton and am back at that same store now that I have moved home.

FEBRUARY: The major thing that happened was I broke up with my then-boyfriend. I had a feeling that it needed to happen, so I prayed and fasted and talked to A LOT of people (including the poor guy) about it, but ultimately it needed to be my decision. We’re still friends, though. I discovered Tinder, which is dumb…yet I continuously feel the need to re-download it. I need to go on a date and soon. I made the decision to go on a mission…but didn’t tell anyone. I wanted my decision to be for me, and I wanted to be really sure I wanted to go before I told anyone. I told a few people here and there, but ultimately no one knew (even my mom and dad) until June.

MARCH: I legitimately can’t think of anything significant that happened in March, except for the one time I drove to and from Rexburg in one day because I missed everyone so much. My hours increased phenomenally once the official breakfast at Taco Bell started (my store had been serving it forever)…so I started working 40 hours at Taco Bell and 15-20 hours at Domino’s. Basically I was like a zombie. But at least now I know what to expect for working at Taco Bell and Walmart.

APRIL: I learned my lesson when moving down to Utah and miraculously got all of the “random junk” I wanted to take with me to Rexburg to fit into ONE bin. Obviously I had dishes and other stuff to take with me, but as for notebooks and paper and pictures and stuff? One bin. *thumbs up* I was put on a leave of absence at Taco Bell and quit my job at Domino’s (I will never return) and moved back to Rexburg. I started my SEVENTH semester at BYU-Idaho, started back at Domino’s in Rexburg (hallelujah) and started my other job (yes, I worked two jobs and went to school full-time…it wasn’t fun) as Assistant Copy Editor for Scroll, the campus paper.

MAY: Uh…yeah. I don’t really know what happened this month. I bought a MacBook Pro :) it was slightly terrifying signing over that much money, but it’s been one of the best purchases of my life, and I’m still learning new stuff every day. They started selling Baja Blast (which can once again only be found at Taco Bell) in stores, and I was able to get my hands on a 12-pack of it…which I finished about three days later. I wasn’t able to find a 12-pack again and settled on the bottles. I got addicted to the stuff when I worked at Taco Bell, so I was able to cheaply satisfy that addiction during this limited time offer. Now I have to buy it at Taco Bell again…and it isn’t cheap. :( I got to Skype with my brother the day before Mother’s Day! It was the best! I can’t wait for him to be home, even though that will be when I’m on my own mission :( still looking forward to it, though! He’s about to hit his one-year mark, which is so crazy because it doesn’t feel like that much time has gone by but at the same time it does? I don’t know. I won a Taco Bell t-shirt via an Internet scavenger hunt. It took a billion years to get to my apartment, but now I can wear the gloriousness whenever I wish. I got to see my family for Memorial Day, where I also got the worst sunburn I’ve had in years. It hurt to have my backpack on my shoulders, as well as any tank top or bra straps. Thank goodness for aloe vera gel. I also got to see my sisters in their dance concert :) they did so well!

JUNE: I gave my first talk in church in SEVEN years. I’m 99.9999999% certain that’s some kind of record somewhere in church. I talked on keeping the commandments. I didn’t pass out or stumble over my words, so I’d say it was a success. As mentioned before, I finally told my parents (and the rest of the world that didn’t already know) that I was going on a mission, and my mom was definitely surprised. For a link to the video of me telling my mom (on her birthday!), click HERE (but you have to be my Facebook friend). Once I told everyone, I basically immersed myself in the planning. It isn’t going to be cheap…guys have it so easy. All they have to do is buy a few suits and BAM! done. Girls have to buy skirts and shirts that are modest yet fashionable, but not too fashionable. Add on top of that the fact that they don’t make skirts long enough for me that don’t cost $50 each…yay. This is why I got a second job. At the end of the month I went to a family reunion for my mom’s side of the family. It was so great to be able to go, even if it was only for two days because I never get to see that side of the family. I have more cousins around my age on that side, so it was awesome to hang out with them.

JULY: I wrote a column for Scroll, and it was on how people needed to tip better when it comes to waiters and delivery drivers. I think I did well on it, but it got a lot of negativity…to the haterz I say TOO BAD. I wrote a thing and I’m proud of it and it’s never going away…at least, not until the people at Scroll delete it off the archives page. The Fourth of July happened and it was the most chill Fourth of July I’ve ever had…which upset me. Fourth of July is my favorite holiday, so because I couldn’t celebrate it to the fullest (especially because this was probably the last one I’ll be able to celebrate for two years), I wasn’t all that happy. I went to Texas Roadhouse with my roommate because nothing is more American than steak. THEN IT WAS MY BIRTHDAY. I turned 22, so T-Swizzle’s song finally accurately applies to me. I reenacted several lines from the song, such as eating breakfast at midnight and dressing like a hipster. But I didn’t make fun of my exes or fall in love with a stranger. Said birthday was also chill. I went to class (ugh) and worked on Scroll for a little bit, but then I went to lunch at Olive Garden with my Nana and cousin Dani. We also went to the mall where my Nana bought me a cardigan that I can hopefully wear on my mission. I also got perfume AND my Taco Bell shirt showed up! Woo! I finally saw “10 Things I Hate About You.” It’s an alright movie, but nothing to really be super excited about. Heath Ledger’s hot in it though. After my birthday I finally had my friend Nancy change my social media passwords so I could focus on school. It was only for about three weeks but I basically died. #addicted. Then my mom, sister Laura and I went to a RASCAL FLATTS concert! We saw them at Country Explosion, so we also saw Easton Corbin (I’m in love with him now). Country Explosion is a four-day event, and we had to buy wristbands for all four days, but we sold them because we only wanted to go to Rascal Flatts…well, my mom sold them because she only wanted to go to Rascal Flatts. I wanted to see Florida Georgia Line, but couldn’t because school. Lame. It was still awesome to finally see them in concert. I finished school and passed all of my classes and that’s all I care about so yay. Then I moved home so I could focus on preparing for a mission, and I won’t be returning in the fall…which is weird. I still haven’t decided if I’m going to take an online class or not. If I don’t, I won’t be able to hold my enrollment and I’ll have to 100% withdraw from the school and reapply when I get back from my mission, which is a huge downside…but I’m kind of thinking I won’t have the time or motivation for an online class. We’ll see. I have until September 22 to decide. Not even a week after moving home, I went to Vegas with my grandparents and my cousin Dani! We went to two Cirque du Soleil shows, saw the Bellagio fountains (the video to my favorite one is HERE), walked the strip at least three times, went to the Hershey’s and M&M stores, ate at the Hard Rock café, saw the “Bodies” and “Titanic” exhibits at Luxor as well as the Shark Reef Aquarium in Mandalay Bay, and rode the New York New York rollercoaster. We also saw Tournament of Kings in Excalibur. I also got to see my old roommate Kori! We went to lunch at a place called Raising Cane’s. It was SO good. I wish they had one in Utah.

As mentioned before, I’m now home and waiting to begin working at Walmart so I can make and save a bunch of money for my mission. That’s basically it ha.

And that’s what’s been going on these last seven months. I’m going to try to blog more, but it isn’t guaranteed due to working so much and my brain can’t ever think of something to post on here.

Hope everyone’s been doing well!

My goals for the year of 2013

Where has this year gone? Did 2013 even happen? ... Seriously, though. This year went by so fast. It's crazy that it's already New Year's Eve. Even crazier, it will be 2014 in 5 hours and 45 minutes.

At the beginning of this year, I made some goals for myself instead of resolutions, because nobody keeps their resolutions for more than a week or two past the new year, but people tend to stick with goals. So, here are the goals I set for this year:

• Get to a better place spiritually
• Meaning reading my scriptures more often and going to the temple more often and paying more attention in church.
• I'm not entirely sure how to feel about this goal. I don't really think I improved upon my scripture reading, and I'm fairly certain I can count on one hand the amount of times I went to the temple. As for paying more attention in church, I think I did fairly well, but that's just me. An added thing would be personal prayer, and like the scripture reading, I don't think I improved upon the amount I regularly do. 
• Get relatively good grades
• Nothing lower than a C at any given point in the semester.
• FALSE. There were times where I wasn't sure if I would pass the class at the end of the semester. Ultimately I did with C-'s, but that's still lower than a C. 
• Get to a better place emotionally
• No more wallowing in self-pity or going to the Internet when I'm depressed. Just be happier.
• In March, I decided I needed professional help. At the beginning of the following semester (because that's the earliest they would take appointments), I went to the counseling center on campus. My counselor helped me SO much, and I will forever be grateful that I was placed with her. Currently I feel happier than I have in a long time, and very rarely do I get depressed.
• Get to a better place physically
• 150 lbs, size 7 waistline, only eat Domino's 3x a week, cut back my intake of Diet Pepsi, exercise 3x a week, take off my makeup every night and wash my face.
• NOPE. I haven't weighed myself in a while (for good reason), but I think I'm around 165 lbs, and am currently somewhere between a size 9 and 11 in pants, depending on the brand. I ate Domino's so much its not even funny, and I'm pretty sure Diet Pepsi is still flowing through my veins more than blood. However, I have been attempting to not drink caffeine as much ... better late than never, right?
• Go on at least 5 dates during the calendar year
• Preferably 3 dates every semester/summer break, actually talk to guys, and always try to have a smile on my face.
• I don't remember exactly how many dates I went on during the winter (I think maybe one or two), I went on SEVEN during the spring, and two or three during the fall. However, I am currently in a relationship, and we've been dating for almost a month now. :) And I'm pretty sure I'm smiling more than I did in the past, which is pretty fantastic.

So, that's how I did. I think I did fairly well, and there was actually another goal I wanted to work on (which is very private) and I have made great progress with it. There is still much improvement to be made, but you have to start somewhere. :)

Also, at the end of my 2013 goals post, I said I was going to write down good things that happened to me on pieces of paper and stick them into a jar. I made it to April before I stopped doing it. But I'm excited to get back home (I'm currently on vacation with my boyfriend and his family) and open the jar and look at the good things that happened to me over the course of January through April. :) I'm going to attempt to do it again this year, and hopefully I can make it past four months. 

Soon to come: my goals for 2014. I haven't really given it much thought yet...I've been preoccupied with my vacation. But it will be on here soon ... even though no one reads this thing.

Attitude of Gratitude #'s 2-5

I'm already the worst blogger ever.

Attitude of Gratitude #2 & 3: I'm not sure if combining these two is cheating, but oh well. For these two days, I was thankful for Stake Conference. I attended my first Adult Session (not sure why they call it that here...we're all adults last time I checked) ever this time since I had no scheduling conflicts, and my President and Bishop were right when they said the Saturday session is the most spiritual out of the whole conference. I felt the spirit so strongly and every single personal question I had written down plus other questions in my heart were answered. The same goes for the Sunday session. My questions were answered and I felt the spirit so strongly. I'm thankful that I was able to go into the conference prepared and that I was able to experience having my questions answered.

Attitude of Gratitude #4: I was thankful for my FHE brothers from last semester, Collin and Curtis. As crazy and obnoxious they are, they're also really kind and sweet (when they're separate). I hope I can remain friends with them for a long time.

Attitude of Gratitude #5: Today, I am grateful for Mountain Dew. I've consumed probably more than I should in the last 48 hours, but it has been a blessing since I have been able to stay up late working on homework and waking up early to continue working on it. Since I legitimately checked out of life last Wednesday through Saturday and did absolutely nothing, I am super behind in homework, which is what I'm attempting to get caught up on now. Yay. So Mountain Dew is a good thing indeed.

Hopefully I can keep up with this better...

Fall 2013 goals update

Its midterms, and that means an update of how my goals are going.

*Make new friends--I have done this indeed :) not so much people I hang out with, but people I enjoy being around. Said people, surprisingly, are all in my Scroll class.

*Workout 3x a week--nope.

*Eat healthier--nope.

*Work 25+ hours a week--roughly. Its anywhere between 20 and 25, sometimes going over 25. Yay money.

*Save money--nope. I now have to resort to using the remainder of my checks after my regular bills have been paid and put it towards rent. No saving money for me for a while. Also my spending habits are horrendous. I tried making a budget, but it hasn't worked out quite yet.

*Find a job in Utah--I got hired at the Domino's down there, but I need to find a second one. Hopefully sometime soon I can find time to start filling out online applications like crazy.

*BYU Football--YES. My roommate and I joined my family at the homecoming game on October 12. It was the best.

*Go to the temple every two weeks--nope. My recommend expired at the end of September and I have been unable to obtain a new one so far. Hopefully I'll be able to go to the temple at least once this semester.

*Read scriptures and pray daily--nope. This is a habit I have not been able to develop, unfortunately.

*3.0 Final GPA--nothing to report here, since it's only midterms. My GPA at the moment is 3.11 according to an online calculator...which probably means that number is not what the school is counting, but oh well. 

*No overall grade lower than a C--so far, no. There have been times where it has dropped lower. However, there are currently no overall grades lower than a C.

*Read 3 books--Not counting the ones I have read for school, I haven't completed any. I'm reading one though, and so far its pretty good :)

*Stay on top of bills--so far so good...I guess. Rent is an ever-looming burden, but I'm slowly but surely taking care of it.

*Write in my story--nope.

*Take pictures--besides roommate pictures, nope. At least, not with my fancy camera. I'm taking pictures on my phone all the time.

*No dates--nope. I went on one with a guy from back home, and that was pretty great. And then there was a guy where we briefly dated (and when I say brief, I really mean brief), but that was obviously a mistake from the beginning. It'd be nice to go on more during the rest of the semester, but I'm not hoping for anything...that way I can't be disappointed.

Here's to hoping I'm a little better at my goals for the remainder of the semester.