I am sitting in my king size bed at the Paradise Point hotel in San Diego!!! And I feel like I should be on my honeymoon or something because this place is SOOOOO romantic. But I'll talk more about the hotel later.
The Bus Trip
After sleeping in, Angela, Nuffer, and I got up at 5:15, gathered our things together and headed to the stadium. And we paid for being late. Since I was sick I was hoping to have a seat to myself so I could sleep. But alas, I was sharing a seat, a seat with Malicious, a malicious tuba player who likes to hang around the guard.
Ugh.
But we made do and I was able to get some sleep on the bus.
Other than that, the ride was pretty uneventful. I mostly just watched movies and kept myself drugged up on Advil Cold And Sinus.
The Hotel Room
The room is actually a bungalow with a patio. WHAT!!! And 15 feet away from the door is a lake. DOUBLE WHAT!!
Inside is a large room painted a warm yellow with African-inspired art. There's a flat screen TV and a stereo for an ipod. We use that stereo a lot. For dance parties. And we've had like 5 in the past 12 hours.
One of those dance parties was more a dance exhibition from my roommate and captain. When we were musing about new costumes for the colorguard, a (great) idea was thrown out that we should wear gold spandex and wrap a bow around our chests, thus looking like a present. Adorable, right? Well, when we turned on Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas is You", my captain flung open the door wearing gold spandex and a cranberry bow and proceeded to dance for us. This was complete with body rolls, booty shakes and an awkward "Santa's lap" moment.
After a weekend of packing and moving and being mothered, I am about to embark on the grandest of semester finales. I get to go to San Diego.
One of the many perks of being on the colorguard. For the next 4 days, BYU will pay for my food, transportation, Seaworld, and lodging on a private island. WHAT!!!!
So stay tuned as I write about the crazy adventures of a BYU guard girl in San Diego.
You know that part in the movie Hitch, where Hitch has an allergic reaction and his face gets all puffy?
That's how I feel right now. Like my face is one big puffy mess. But luckily, in reality, I look just fine. And thank goodness for chambray-- it's super comfortable and I still look trendy.
I don't look like I'm sick right? Excuse the lack of makeup.
And really, a crazy cold isn't all that bad. It's just the combination of moving out, trying to get to Arizona, and crazy snowstorms that kind of pushed me over the edge.
But this sickness does have some perks. I get to spend a few extra days with my best friend before not seeing her for 18+ months. I have a bed to sleep in. And honestly, this sickness is nothing when compared to the malady that struck our country today.
Because children being gunned down is probably the worst thing ever.
My heart goes out to the survivors and the victims' families. Although I am not yet a mother, I have often tried to imagine what it would feel like to lose a child. And it felt terrible. And I know that the feeling must be 100 times worst than what I felt in my inexperienced imagination.
It was our final Home Evening of the semester (and for me, in Monticello) and crisis had struck.
I could not contact the girl who was in charge of the activity tonight.
*insert dramatic gasp*
In a frantic search on Google for an acceptable Christmas activity, I stumbled across a recipe for salt dough to make ornaments. And I had an epiphany. What if we made a salt dough nativity?
So that was our awesome activity. Each member of the group had a certain character to create and with the extra dough we made a few extra characters.
Here is our lovely nativity scene.
Joseph, Mary, and the baby Jesus
The angel
My rendition of a wiseman (feel free to comment on my artistic prowess :P)
Remember those extra characters? Although I bet there was a snail in the stable that night.
The Deadly 7th!!! Probably the coolest FHE group ever!
Only three weeks...only three weeks...only three weeks
This has been my mantra since Saturday. Only three more weeks in Provo and then I am home for a month!!! It's been two and a half years since I have spent a month in Mesa.
And I am so excited.
Being home for 8 full days for Thanksgiving was great. It was so nice to escape the drama of Provo. Not that Provo is overly dramatic, but there are boy-problems, homework, trying to figure out my future, etc. In Mesa, I could take a break from all that. Instead, I read books, took baths, and watched a lot of football. And let's not forget the ah-mazing Arizonan weather.
I mean there are always some cons about being home. One is chores. I may be still a little bitter about cleaning the garage rather than watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade.
But overall, I'm excited to spend a month not freezing my butt off in Utah.
But I digress.
Three weeks.
Three weeks to wrap up my college life. Three weeks to say goodbye to those I might never see again (not to sound morose, but lots of girls are leaving on their missions and I'll be graduated when they return). Three weeks to each as much of my remaining food as I can.
Three weeks to get the most out of Provo as I can.
I am home!!! And enjoying the 80 degree weather. Yes, be jealous.
Here are some pictures from one of the best roadtrips of my life. Thanks Crystal for being my pal as we hung out with cowboys, got creeped out by giant Santas, and encountered singing balloons.
I'm moving to Hong Kong!! Yay for making decisions!
I'm going to Mesa for Thanksgiving and I'm going to have a whole week there! A whole week!!!
Getting to wave a 30 foot streamer from the balcony of the De Jong hall. One moment, I was nobody and the next I had a dozen cameras focused on me.
Admirers (albeit 5 year old ones). As I was preparing and cleaning up after previous streamer moment, my band director's young son was following me around saying "pretty girl, pretty girl". Now if only I can enchant someone my own age...
Spontaneous trips to Barnes and Nobles to get a Caramel Apple Spice. Goodness, I forgot how much I miss books and Starbucks.
This picture
Weird
Driving in a snowstorm (Arizona standards) to colorguard practice and fishtailing in the parking lot.
Falling twice on my face during pre-game. Hopefully, I will soon take the time to document the whole ordeal on this blog.
Dating seminars. Especially when you get called to do a role play about getting asked on a date and maybe blurted to your role play partner that you saw him at the game last night cause he was sitting 4 rows in front of you and having him totally not remember and get a little weirded out all in front of a group of people you have to see almost everyday.
The strong, overpowering need for some snuggles. Darn you winter!
I belong to the deadliest Home Evening group ever! We're so deadly that we are known as the Deadly Seventh.
For those who don't know what I'm talking about, every Monday, a few kids in my apartment complex get together and do a fun activity. Usually, it's pretty short since all of us are busy college students with homework.
To make our Home Evening group a little cooler, we added a theme, "Kill with Kindness", emphasis on the kill. So our activities have an assassin, ninja, superspy feel to them.
Like tonight.
Location: Macey's Grocery Store
Objective: pin the clothespin to a random citizen without them knowing
After a super hunt to discover where to buy clothespins, we were ready for our mission. Landon went out first with no success. Then Brad. Finally, it was my turn. I surveyed my environment. My target, someone staring at a the rows of grocery products, so zoned in that they wouldn't notice me pinning a clothespin on them. I found that in the frozen foods section: a mom with her little kid scanning the take home pizzas. It was perfect. I casually made my way over to her, ready to strike...WAIT! Suddenly she was finished and started moving her cart. I tried to keep up with her, hoping she would stop again. But alas, she did not and I had to cut my losses. As I made my way back to my group, I spied a guy wearing a East High hoodie. Perfect. I crept up, quickly pinned him and briskly walked back to my group, trying not to bust out laughing.
Honestly, there is nothing more exhilarating than pinning someone for the first time. You feel invincible You feel sneaky. You wonder to yourself why the CIA hasn't come begging for you to be a spy.
I had to let the other members of my group experience this marvelous experience. So we got our ice cream (50 cent cones at Macey's are AWESOME!) and my fellow Home Evening-ers started their quest to pin a random stranger.
And we were all successful.
On the way! We are just SOOOO excited! Especially Stephen.
We wrote messages on our clothespin.
And we got ice cream.
Landon's victory pose after pinning his first victim.
After colorguard practice today, Nuffer and I ran to Macey's (the local grocery store) to grab some 77 cent pomegranates (cause I had one yesterday and forgot how delightful they are). Well there were no pomegranates in sight. And I might have made some impulse buys. And my night might have transformed from a serious night full of studying for midterms to a "unique" night indulging in some guilty pleasures.
Guilty Pleasure #1: Bread
More specifically French bread, from Macey's. Sophomore year, I honestly bought at least a loaf a week. Sometimes I would drive to Macey's just to grab a loaf when I craved it. It was rather sick. But I haven't bought a loaf of bread in over two months. My resolve was like stone, until tonight. I bought two loaves-- ate one of them tonight. And it was SO delicious.
Guilty Pleasure #2: Guarana
My dad served a LDS mission in Sao Paulo back in the day, so my family has been exposed to a lot of Brazilian food. One of our favorites is Guarana, a type of soda. It is muito delicioso! And Macey's had it on sale. But the selling point for me was it's secret amount of caffeine. You see, Guarana seeds have twice as much caffeine as coffee beans, yet because it's natural, caffeine is not mentioned on the bottle. It's secret caffeine!!! So I bought some and drank half the bottle, which is probably why I'm awake at 12:30 AM writing this blog post.
Guilty Pleasure #3: Chris Hemsworth
Another impulse buy tonight was a rental from the Redbox in front of Macey's. The movie? Snow White and the Huntsman. I got it because of Chris Hemsworth, but let's not lie, Charlize Theron is where it's at. She looks stunning in that movie, and positively evil. :)
Honestly, why aren't all the boys in love with her? Wait... they probably are.
Guilty Pleasure #4: Men's Fashion Category on Pinterest
Yep, I said it. Sometimes, when I'm REALLY bored (or just need to be reassured that there ARE attractive men who dress well) I scroll through the Men's Fashion pins on Pinterest. All those tailored blazers, cable sweaters, and preppy shorts--my fashion glands are salivating. And the faces aren't bad either. There's a saying that states, "A well-tailored suit is to women as lingerie is to men." Totally agree. I'd much rather look at a man with his clothes on, especially when those clothes are Tommy Hilfiger. I mean what girl doesn't want to look at this?
In my previous post, I talked about how I need to make and treasure more moments, especially because my college years aren't going to last forever.
And I have an obsession with beautiful gowns.
These two concepts combined equal another college adventure.
In a spontaneous decision, Nuffer and I decided to head to University Mall and try on pretty dresses. There's something about wearing pretty dresses that makes a girl feel like a princess, or in other words, she's amazing and fabulous and classy. So we grabbed our guard sister Keriann and went to the largest bridal store in Utah (oh snap!).
There were SOO many beautiful dresses. Here are a few that I tried on.
Not a great view of the dress. But let me tell you, it was SOO sparkly! And so heavy!
I just love red dresses. This one was nice and fitted with pretty roses on the hips.
The second picture recalls a "Little Mermaid"-esque pose. I just knew this green would
go great with my ginger locks.
My favorite dress! I was pretty close to buying this dress, that's how in LOVE I was with this dress.
This picture doesn't give the dress justice.
It was made with a heavy material and looked amazing when I twirled.
As a freshman and a sophomore, thoughts of graduation were like thoughts of Christmas in July: it's coming, but I had plenty of time.
But now I'm an upperclassman and I've realized that I am "over the hill" in undergraduate education terms. From here on out, it's a downhill slide through major classes, internships, and recruiting to me getting a diploma and leaving BYU.
Then, there's the fact that life as I knew has changed dramatically in the past month. Girls can now serve a LDS mission at 19. My best friend decided to cut her hair short and leave on a mission (two things she swore she would never do), while I discovered that, at least for now, a mission is not for me. My dating life went from non-existant to five dates in one week. I'm 90% sure I'm moving to Hong Kong next semester. And my dad got called to the bishopric.
Pretty much the world is ending.
Or at least, life is going to be remarkably different, especially after this semester.
And that changed my perspective on life.
I realized the importance of moments-- the crazy, funny, sad, wonderful, and weird moments that make up this crazy adventure known as life, or for right now, "college life".
Moments like tonight.
It's 30 degrees outside and I am sitting at a table outside the Brimhall building, frantically trying to finish my brief for the Loreal Brandstorm competition. All I'm wearing is my warm-ups and some tennis shoes. Pain sears through my fingers each time I type a character. My joints are frigid. My teammates are pacing around me, dictating the last couple sentences I need to type. Oh and did I mention that it's almost midnight? Then all of a sudden, a deer pops out from the bushes. My team and I look at it in surprise. Then there's another one. And another one. There's a whole herd of deer about 20 yards away from us. How cool is that?! We take a break from our intense collaboration to enjoy the sight of the little deer herd in front of us.
That's the kind of moment that makes college so amazing. Those are the kind of moments I've been having for the past few weeks. Because it's these moments that I will remember. Not the hours spent in the library studying. Not the nights watching Netflix in my room (although sometimes, the night calls for being a couch potato). I will remember goofy nights at In-n-Out, awkward encounters with creepers, singing parties with the bestie.
For too long, I let memory-making moments pass me because I was too tired, or too insecure, or too busy. I let two years of college past by with a fine, but not spectacular college experience. No more. I have 3 1/2 semesters left and I plan to take advantage of those remaining moments. Yes, school has taken a back seat these past two weeks and I need to return, but I understand now that college isn't just about professors, projects, grades, and tests. No, college is about discovering who you are, making friends, and experiencing the most of life before it gets smothered with bills and 40+ hour weeks and marriage and children and all that.
They say that college is the best time of your life.
Friend dates. The kind where you're friends, it's not officially a "date", but it kind of feels that way. Love those. All the fun without the pressure. Cause you're friends.
No Colorguard practice!! So much time on my hands.
Seeing my darling Chanda and hearing about all her adventures in Korea. And we might be in Hong Kong at the same time!!!
Country Swing dancing. There is nothing better than being being swung, flipped, dipped, and twirled around. And dance skills might have just been added to the "perfect man" list.
Going to the Oquirrh Mountain temple with some of the guardies. I love that temple because it is so classy inside.
Found someone to buy my contract in Monticello. Thank heavens!!!
Weird
Getting asked on a date after I'd just gotten out of shower, hadn't wiped the raccoon eyes yet, and not wearing a bra (though I was wearing a shirt!). And the sad thing is: this isn't first time I've been asked out on a date in such a manner.
Being deathly tired while watching the Notre Dame vs. BYU game at a friend's house. It took all of my willpower to stay awake.
Continuation of the Homecoming Creeper story!!!! Yes, there's more.
My car alarm going off for about 10 minutes at the temple. And I could NOT figure out how to shut it off. Finally, after calling my mom, I learned that all it took was opening my trunk with my key. Weird.
5th wheeling. Especially after you've been rejected by three men in one day. But hey, it was good for my ego, keeping it humble.
Hanging out with the BYU Rugby team. So attractive. So under appreciated.
Chillin' with my former roomie Becca, and then seeing her the next day on the stairs. Best two days ever!!
Acting like a spy with my fellow guard girls at the Provo Beach Resort. Discovered the best date idea ever!!!
Karaoke night at Pizza Pie Cafe with Nuffer, John, and Rebecca. Think I scared the whole place with my rendition of That Don't Impress Me Much by Shania Twain.
Weird
Getting hit on by a total creeper at the BYU football game.
My strong desire to finish the second season of the Walking Dead, but too scared to watch it by myself. It's a frustrating pickle.
The many comments directed at my booty. It's cool that you think it's great, just a little weird to have it referred to so often.
The band is basically over. And it's October 14th. We only have 3 more performances left in the season: a game, a concert, and a bowl game. How crazy is that?
Yesterday was Homecoming. And that means a very long day for the colorguard.
I was up at 7 AM, after only sleeping 5-6 hours, to get ready for the Homecoming parade. I realized I had left my uniform top in the guard room, so when I picked up my carpool, we had to make a stop at the stadium. But alas, the door to the guard room was locked! And there was no one there with a key!! So the few guardlings that were there got a little dramatic. Fun dramatic, not crying dramatic. I think the band thought we were crazy. I think they usually do. But at last, Brother Young came and saved the day and I was able to get my top and head to the start of the parade.
At the start of the parade route, the colorguard practiced by the BYU Rugby team. Yes, the lesser known, arguably more attractive counterparts of the BYU Football team. They were super funny and took pictures with us.
Then Cecil O. Samuelson, President of BYU, came over and talked to the guard and we got a picture with him and the BYU Rugby team.
Then the parade commenced. I felt that the parade was way easier this year. I didn't feel that tired. Must be cause I'm SOOO buff. ;)
After we finished the parade, we had to book it back to the stadium to eat and get ready for the game. It was our favorite: Black Jack Pizza (read with a bit of sarcasm). We scarfed it down, changed into our short-sleeved uniforms (cause it was sunny--yay!) and headed to Helaman Fields for practice.
Fast forward the end of Pre-game. As we waited for the BYU players to come out, the Oregon State kickers came onto the field to practice. I didn't pay them much heed until SWOOSH! a football whizzed past my face. Oh so scary!! For the next three minutes I stood in fear, suspiciously eyeing the OSU kickers. But the ball never got close to me again, though it did hit a cougarette. (hehe)
Halftime went well. The audience loved the Bond show. Sweat dripped down my face in buckets afterwards. But it was worth it. Our show was pretty awesome.
But the most interesting part of my day was definitely getting hit on by a total creeper. I noticed him during the first half of the game. Most people in front of us look back, mostly to see a replay on the jumbotron. But this guy... he was looking back at me. And staring. Obviously, I was uncomfortable. So I pretended he didn't exist. But in the third quarter, he literally shouted at me to get my attention.
"Hey, do you know that you have beautiful hair?"
Yes, I've been told that a time or two.
I thanked him and tried to end the conversation, but, alas, he would not have it.
"What's your name?"
"Sarah."
"Where are you from Sarah?"
"Arizona."
"Where in Arizona?"
"Mesa."
"Really? There's a lot of Mesa kids here at BYU."
Wouldn't I know it. Luckily, at this moment, the conversation ended and he turned around to watch the game, as the colorguard snarkily remarked, "Hey Sarah, did you know that you have beautiful hair?"
Real funny, girls. Real funny.
Later on, both Mom and Jiff would point out that I'd probably just given my name to a major creeper and would have a stalker within the week. Crud.
Got an A on my Humanities midterm, and it was an essay midterm.
BYU beat USU, thank goodness! Didn't want to hear the crud from my Aggie relatives if USU won. But my Aggie cousin did that this awesome picture.
My family was in town!! So much food and clothes!!
Survived one of the craziest guard days ever: performed once at devotional and then twice at the stadium for Rocky Mountain Invitational.
Weird
Making decisions. It's SOOOOO hard! Mission, Hong Kong, or school...oh my!
Collided with a trumpet player during our Rocky Mtn performance. My shoe totally came off. Luckily, I'm a sneaky chica and slyly grabbed my shoe and put it back on. And no one noticed.
Watching all your friends decide to go on missions. It's like freshman year only with girls.
BYU murdered Hawaii 47-0. And Tysum Hill is a beast. So much so, that my brother requested that I marry him cause his football skills are "so sexy".
Got to hold a baby!! And a cute baby!! Thanks Amy for entrusting your child to my care for five minutes. It was totally worth getting slobbered on.
Making new band friends!!!
Adorable small children cheering "Rawr! Gooooo Cheerleaders" to the colorguard after halftime. My day was totally made. And it's even better with the actions. Just ask me and I'll totally reenact it for you.
Once Upon A Time is back on!! Totally got a little teary-eyed in the first five minutes. "Grandpa?"
A on my Marketing test.
Weird
Totally botching the flag transition during the James Bond halftime show...on the jumbotron. Ouch!
Wearing a bun 4 days this week. Yeah, that's how busy and stressful this week has been.
Forgetting to put salt in my brownies. Not as delicious as they could have been.
Realizing that I really like to code websites. Crud, I'm such a nerd.
So to make your Wednesday even brighter! I added a video for your enjoyment! My first choice was a Disney Princess Hipster Music Video. But they say the f word. So instead, enjoy the awesomeness of Mittformer!!!! Part transformer, part presidential candidate. Ignore the political crud they throw in there, that's no fun! Instead check out Mittformer's sweet cartwheels and clever representation of political segments.
So I think there's a monster in my room that eating all of my things, cause I have misplaced a lot in the last week.
Most notably, my camera.
So that's why there hasn't been a lot on the blog. I want to share my pictures with you, but there aren't any pictures to share. :(
Please forgive me.
At least I can rent out cameras for free in the library. So there will be pictures soon.
But besides the disappearance of my camera (and my gray t-shirt and my skillets), life is good. Stressful, but good.
Midterms have started. But I already beasted my Isys test and I have confidence that Marketing and Web Fundamentals will be a breeze. I just have to be ready for my arts test (straight up essay test...ugh!).
So I guess I better stop writing this and study for that. But have a marvelous weekend!! (The Cougars won! YES!!!)
The life of a BYU guard girl is always crazy, but I have to say, I love it. Here's the second installment of my new blog feature- Wonderful and Weird Wednesdays.
Wonderful
Free breakfast and lunch thanks to the lovely people at Loreal.
Watching EviDance with Angela, watched this ah-mazing dance to one of my favorite songs. Here's a video of the couple performing at DanceSport.
My Women in Entrepreneurship class. Women can do anything they set their minds to. Amen.
Hanging out with the trombone section all day Saturday. Who knew that trombones could be cool? I do now.
Weird
Getting hit on by a guy named Chasen at Sonic. Nuffer and I were just innocently dancing while we were waiting for our food. Then, he came over and asked us to be in a music video. Pretty much, he told a really awkward but intricate story. And gave us his number. I deleted it.
My thought process while watching Casino Royale, especially the scene when Vesper is crying in the shower in her 1K+ dress and Bond comes and comforts her. My mind? "I wish Bond would join me in the shower"... wait...sometimes I can be really naive.
Ute fans. Is it that hard to get off the field? Although BYU lost anyway. Sad day.
It's that magical day that means the week is half way over. For me, that means one more day of classes and then three day weekend!! (every weekend, be jealous!)
To celebrate this momentous day, I am starting a new section.
Wonderful and Weird Wednesdays
So to start with the WONDERFUL.
BYU beat Weber 44-13.
Being a bad influence with Nuffer and getting soft serve at Costco.
Walking by a random boy that just smells SO good.
Just learned that the Dean of the Marriott School cares about my blog. WHAT!! So cool!
I get to meet with executives from Loreal for breakfast on Friday. Who says that the Marriott School doesn't give you AWESOME opportunities?
And now with the WEIRD.
Getting the perfect spot (between myself and his friend) so that cute boy will sit by me. AND THEN, he sits on the other side of his friend.
Trying to keep up with good smelling random boy so I can continue to enjoy his cologne (he smelled ah-mazing, who can blame me?).
Getting a pep-talk in the middle of band ("Sarah, you are a smart and independent woman. And you're a business major which means you don't need a man to pay your bills!")
Well, I'm off to go eat free pizza and mingle with other marketing majors!
Thanks everyone for taking the time to read the weird (and probably boring) things that occur in this little guard girl's life. I appreciate it.
I am always looking for ways to improve my blog. If you want more crazy stories like this or love to check out my closet (especially the shoes), feel free to comment. I will listen.
And to celebrate here is a cute little song I discovered on Spotify. The music video has like a billin sunflowers in it, and sunflowers are happy! And I'm happy that there are 2000 pageviews!
Disclaimer: Boys-- when we girls are together without you, crazy things happen.
That's why I love my guard sisters.
Anywho, this year the Cougar Marching Band is doing a James Bond show to celebrate 25 years of "shaken, not stirred." And let's just say that some of us guard girls have taken this whole Bond thing to heart.
It all began after the guard went to the Timpanogas Temple Friday night. Because of miscommunication, my car heads to the wrong Sonic for treats afterwards. So my car abandons the whole Sonic venture and drives over to In n Out (a much better choice).
Outside the Timpanogas Temple
Nuffer, Angela, Hannah, and Quinn at In n Out
There we change out of our dresses and into more comfortable clothing (aka aladdin pants).
My favorite part of this pic? The kids in the background.
We were waiting for our food, making fun of Quinn for being an In n Out virgin (she's not anymore). Then, a boy from Nuffer's class walks in. And he's cute. So we prod Nuffer to go chat with him. And since she's a gutsy chica (so jealous), she's fakes a need for straws and strikes up a conversation with the boy. Meanwhile, the rest of us are admiring and mocking Nuffer's bravery.
This is when things get interesting.
I don't know if it was the fact I was wearing aladdin pants in public or what, but I have the great idea of taking pictures of Nuffer talking to this boy. So Angela takes my camera and sneaks over to some plants and snaps some pics of Nuffer and boy through the leaves.
We made sure we didn't get his face, for privacy reasons.
While of this crazy is going on, I notice that the couple in the booth next to us were watching and cracking up at our behavior. I didn't mind. Honestly, I would do the same if I was in their position. And then, I'd probably write a blog post about it.
At last, all of food was ready, so Nuffer ends the conversation with the boy and comes back to our table. The boy? Walks over and sits with the couple in the booth next to us. Let's just say that we book it out of there, trying not to bust out laughing.
Later, we found out that couple was the boy's sister and her boyfriend. Hilarious, right?
