our apartment!

My mom wanted to see some pictures of our newly decorated apartment, so here a few pics are!

Roommates

I love my roommates.  They are seriously some of THE most amazing girls I know.  I cant even believe how lucky I am that I have been able to live with them for the past two years.  There's never a dull moment with them and I cant imagine BYU without them.  We can eat a Little Ceasars pizza better then anyone I know (and probably do it more often then I anyone I know too)!

A few other random side notes... I just finished the first week of my JUNIOR year at BYU.  Crazy?  Yes.  I cannot believe I am a junior already.  Time had better slow down because I love it here way too much.  We moved into our new apartment about a week ago and we are already loving our ward and our cute new place.  Oh and we had our first football game of the season yesterday and we totally beat Washington state.  SUCH a good game (and I really think I am starting to understand football.  Lauren can attest to that!).  Annie and I actually went at the beginning of the game with everyone else and it basically killed us standing there for so long!

the crazy football fans

we just like taking pictures

I hate change.

So of course after weeks and weeks of waiting for all my best friends and family to get to Provo, I dont know why, but I'm not ready for the change.  (Ok I kinda REALLY am)  But, for some reason, once I get into the swing of things, and finally after 4 months, I'm not ready for change again.  I've never liked change all that much, and in fact I really actually hate it.  I know its a strong word, but I really dont do well with change.  

When I was 8 years old and moved out of my childhood home, I remember never wanting to leave.  The day we were moving out, I wanted to try to step in EVERY single spot in our little Cheverly home before the moving van left.  I started in a corner in the Dining Room and only got about 3 feet across when my parents told me we were leaving.  I was heart broken. 

I'm also a HUGE reminiscer, is that even a word?  When my sister Em and I get together we're even worse (and I'm realizing with Lauren it happens too...oh freshman year and our freshman boys).  Sometimes Em will count how many days its been since a certain event or fun place we've been.  I remember last summer after the Jonas Brother's concert, every week or month after it she'd remind me "a month ago we were getting on the metro to go to the concert!" haha.  

Basically I'm down to my last 4 days of work.  I get to see my absolute favorite people in the world on Saturday and my best friends start trickling back to Provo after that, oh yeah and school starts way too soon.  So I really couldnt be happier!  But theres a still a little part of me that hates change.  

p.s. I got to go down (not up...) to Vegas with Lauren and meet up with some of our girls for Janae's wedding this past weekend.  It was an absolute blast!  Seeing Janae and her husband now (weird!) so happy and so in love made me so happy!  I couldnt get over how adorable they were together!

 

Lauren and Alicia's 22 days of summer

So one of my best friends, Lauren, and I were driving up (oh wait, down..) to Vegas to visit our awesome roommate Karalyn to get away from Provo last weekend.  One our way, we decided we would make a bucket list for the remaining 20 or so days left of our summer.  We've both been pretty busy with work and other random things this summer, and this is the first real time we've had to spend a lot of time together and we decided we'd try to make the best of it! (even though a lot of our awesome friends arent down in Provo till the end of August :()  Anyways, we made a list and have been working away at it daily. Heres the list!  And of course some documentation of actually completing some of the things on our list!

-Go to Lagoon

-Dye T-shirts

-Make someone an awesome birthday present
-Put flowers on a random persons doorstep
-Take pictures around Provo and BYU to send to our good friends on missions
-Hike Brideveil/Stewart falls
-Make blankets
-Start working on decorations for our apartment in the fall...maybe if we start early we'll actually have decorations...
-Go to vegas (twice)

-pink/purple hair streaks
-jump in 4 different bodies of water in one day (here's where Emilee's ideas start)
-Stop Voldemort

-Eat only summer fruits one day
-Marathon (not the running type, the movie type)
-Do a puzzle
-Go the dollar theater w/blankets and chinese food
-watch a movie on top of a parking garage
-go to a baseball game
-super soaker war
-go to the zoo
-read a biography
-get a fish (not catch one, buy one)
-go to a play
-make a treasure hunt
-time capsule
-build a fort
-ask our landlords about painting our apartment
-get a massage
-make chocolate suckers

-buy nightgowns/tie dye them!
-go rollerskating
-go to the Temple (Timp, Draper, Oqquirh)
-learn obscure facts
-start our Europe fund
-rent bikes

We still have a ways to go in the next two weeks!  But we've made a good start!  If you have any other sweet ideas, let us know and we'll do them!

two lives.

My life is slowly turning into two lives, and I cant decide how I feel about it.

Maybe everyone goes through this, but honestly I feel like I have two different lives sometimes.  

I've been out at BYU for a little over two years now (thats utterly INSANE by the way!  I cannot believe I've been out there for that long already).  Anyways, I've learned to live on my own, pay for my living expenses, become mostly independent and make lots of big decisions without my parents hand holding my way through every little thing.  Staying out in Utah this summer has kinda been rough, but at the same time I've met some pretty fun people.  

my amazing roommates.

This weekend I come home to Maryland for a short trip and I get back into the swing of things -- sleeping in my own bed in my own room, my mom making me food, hanging out with my wonderful sisters and parents, living by my parents rules, and it starts feeling like I've never left home!  

my cute family.

Neither of these parts of my life are bad, in fact I really love both places when I'm there, but when I go back and forth between the two, sometimes I have a really hard time trying to decide where I want to be.  I love being out at BYU and being around awesome people who have become some of my very BEST friends.  And I feel like I have really grown up a lot over the past couple years, but when I come home, I start feeling like I am still a little child again who never wants leave home!  Let alone start my junior year of college and start making big decisions that could potentially affect my life forever!

Just something I've been thinking about recently...

p.s. All my guy friends from my ward back home are starting to come back from their missions and its weirding me out.  Thinking about how much has happened and how much I have changed over the past two years is so weird, but at the same time it feels like we were all just in high school yesterday.  WEIRD.

Nikki, Jason, Me and Em at church after Jason's homecoming talk.

p.p.s.  My Freshman boys have been out on their missions for a year now and I've been them thinking about them (and talking to Lauren about them) a lot lately and I keep having dreams that theyre back and all grown up!  I cant wait another year to see them!

some of my favorite boys. Spencer, Weston, Matt, Derek, and Alex. I miss them!!

I'm not a teenager anymore..

So yesterday I turned the big 2-0. Crazy. I honestly cannot believe I've been alive for 20 whole years.  It really baffles me.  It was also my first birthday away from home which was definitely rough, but I made sure to stay busy and plan lots of things (and of course eat lots of sweets!).  I woke up late which was wonderful!  And then I went for a long run.  I'm training for a 10K with my Dad, Em, and Kara thats in ONE WEEK.  We'll see how it goes.  It should be quite interesting in the heat and humidity of beautiful MD.

Anyways, when I got back from my run, I was getting ready and the doorbell rings.  I answer it and theres a package on my doorstep.  An unusually long one..  I rip it open and its flowers from Ben!  It was super cute, really thoughtful, and totally made my day!

After that I had a super fun day with Karalyn and Lauren!

We got our toes done..

And went to dinner at a delicious Mexican restaurant, Los Hermanos! We all just about exploded from eating so much.  And by eating so much, I mean drinking way too much strawberry lemonade and eating too many of the free chips and salsa before our real food even came...

We went to the movies and saw Letters to Juliet!  Such a cute movie!! Totally predictable but AMAZING.  I'm such a sucker for chick flicks, as long as the guy is attractive of course..

After the movie, I had a few friends over to play games and eat lots and lots of treats!  It turned out to be a really fun birthday.  Thanks to everyone who made it such a great day! :)

The 830 and the 850.

This is the bus I ride every Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday to work.  (which will soon become everyday once I finally get done with Spring classes...).  Did I mention I love riding the bus?  Well thats probably because I really dont.  I have tried to make the best of it despite the crazy adventures I have already had using this public transportation.  

The first day I ever rode the bus to work, I got on thinking I could purchase a transfer on the bus.  Apparently you CANT.  Luckily, the nice bus rider knew it must've been my first day riding the bus, (he ended up asking me this question later...was it really that obvious?) so he told me I could get on and gave me a transfer for free.  I got on the bus and nervously waited to figure out where I would have to get off to catch my transfer bus.  I somehow figured out which stop I needed to get off on and waited for my next bus.  It finally came and I somehow made it to work on time!  Later that day, I made it home in one piece too!  I was on a roll.  I even bought a convenient student pass and now I ride the bus multiple times a week like a pro.  I can listen to my iPod, read, and talk to my mom on the phone without missing a stop.  

The other day I was going to catch the bus home from work after I had gone to the gym.  It was starting to look a little overcast.  I was hoping and praying that the rain would at least hold out till I got home!  Did it? Of course not.  I got off the first bus, waiting for my transfer on University Ave and I mustve looked a sad sight.  I hadnt brought my umbrella that day (luckily I did have a hood), but here I am waiting on University Ave, sopping wet.  Of course today of all days, the bus gets there the latest it ever has.  It honestly didnt really bug me though.  Some of those days, you just like getting wet (at least I do).  Thank goodness it was one of those days.  When I finally got off the bus, I stepped into a big puddle and just smiled.  

One of these days I'll get myself a car...