Greetings

Hello, my fine friends. Merry Christmas!!!! I hope you are all getting excited Christmas; I know I am super excited to go home.

The other day while perusing the internet, I stumbled upon this quote:

"What if you woke up only with the things you thanked God for yesterday?"

Holy. Smokes. This has really made me think...am I being as grateful as I should be? Honestly, I am given so much....why am I so dang ungrateful. At the same time, I am happy that I read this...I want to be grateful.

Switching gears....

A Facebook Friend posted this, and it's pretty cool. Ok, so not everything is completely correct; but isn't the church just great?!?

Gym or No Gym???!?!

So I am thinking about joining a gym! Ok, it's only out of necessity. Since moving, I no longer have an apartment gym to exercise at or nice sidewalks to go run on (or a safe place to run after dark...because that's the only time I'm home...at dark...) I pretty much have two options, (ok three options, but my work gym is OUT OF THE QUESTION...I'm not going to get all sweaty in front of co-workers...nope...not going to) LA Fitness or 24 Hour Fitness. Now to make the decision, I'm sick of making those...decisions....

This was a pretty exciting blog post, I know.

This is Not a Pity Party....

This is not a pity party. Sometimes there is a lot to figure out. Sigh.....

November!

November has been an incredibly busy month, and now it is almost over!

It started out with me moving to a new place. I have roommates now! AND I live with a dog! Please stop your hysterical laughter. I like dogs, ok not really, ok not at all. I am definitely learning and definitely saving a TON of cash by doing this.

A few days after I moved, I took my fourth Actuarial Exam. Holy Smokes I was so stressed out. I get my results mid-January. I hope I passed!!!!! These will end someday, right? Oh dear, I certainly hope so....

A few days after my exam, I jetted off to Colorado to visit my family for the Thanksgiving Holiday. I went shopping with my Mom and chilled with the fam a lot. We played some games, and ate a ton....It was a glorious break from work.

SOOOOOO busy, but that is all I have to write. Peace out.

Tragedy

Ok people, so I know I normally write about things that probably don't matter much on this blog. Sometimes (always) I am a bit goofy,  but hey, that's me. Now, it is time to write about something more serious, something close to my heart.

Please let me begin with a little background....

When I was born, my dear mother made me a little receiving blanket (By the way, my mom is awesome at making quilts. She even had a quilting business for a few years. Just thought I'd take a moment to brag about her, just so you know.). This little blanket was made out of tricot fabric (I had to look up how to spell tricot; definitely not said how it is spelled!). I LOVED IT! I was not a baby who was attached to a blankie and had to take it everywhere, but I definitely loved to sleep with it and play on it. (Ok, that may be a lie. I can't quite remember this time in my life, so I am going to say that because I am pretty sure that is how it went down.)

Fast forward a few years. I grew, and my blanket did not. I was two or three years old (can't quite remember my age). So for Christmas, Santa Claus brought me a brand new blanket, lovingly known as my silkie (This describes how the blanket felt just in case you are not familiar with tricot fabric.). I remember getting this as a gift and diving into it the moment I opened the box. It was SO BIG!!! Ok, it was made to fit on a twin size bed, but Jonathan (my older brother) had to carry it up the stairs for me because it was SOOO heavy. I remember the exertion required to heft that baby around.

Fast forward a few more years. I am 24. 24! Since when did I get old??? And I have slept with that blanket every night since then. This blanket moved from Idaho to Colorado, back and forth to Utah while I was in college, and then made its way to Dallas with me now. I even took it on trips with me if there was room. :) But to finally get to the point of my story, my blanket is now dying. The batting in the blanket has nearly disappeared. You can see through the blanket. What is left of the batting is leaking out of the seams that are now ripped. I have been finding little pieces of batting around my apartment. This death is eminent and quickly approaching.

I don't know if I should be embarrassed about this picture or not, but I do think it's quite funny. I promise I did not pull any of this batting in any way.

I've been looking at the other blankets around my apartment; there will never be a replacement. What am I going to do? I don't really like blankets because they are too hot. Maybe I'll start sleeping under my sheets?

I can see why Michael Jackson named his son Blanket; so precious. (Ok, I am really just kidding here.)

Anyways....

Thank you for taking the time to mourn with me as I lament the loss of my dear blanket.

Ok, I'm done being dramatic. I really will live.

Hey There!

Well folks, I know it has been a while. Hey, I have been busy, and so have you...so it works out...right? :)

Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on how you look at it, there is not much  to update on my life. I have been pretty occupied working, studying, and trying to be do better at my calling at church. As part of continuing education post-college, I am taking actuarial exams! Oh yeah, baby! Ok, so if I had the choice, I wouldn't make myself sick over them if I didn't have to, but such is life and I do see some benefits from taking them. I am having to develop more discipline. I have to choose between what I want to do and what I need to do all the time.  And let me tell you, I want to pass these bad boys badly! The exam I am currently studying for is MFE, and I take it November 15th. Wish me luck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This weekend I had the opportunity to listen to General Conference. It is always so refreshing and uplifting. I love it. If you would like to know more about General Conference and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, please click here. Last year during the October General Conference, I missed the last session to fly out to Dallas to interview for this one job. CRAZY how many things have changed in my life over the past year. It has been kind of cool to reflect upon those things this weekend.

Sorry for the boring post; I must just be a boring person....KIDDING...only kidding, my friends. sheesh. ;)

It's Too Hot!!!

Announcing the newest edition to my apartamento! I am in love....sigh....

 I even carried this baby up the stairs all by myself. Oh boy, it was heavy. I almost didn't make it, but I think it was my excitement that got it up the stairs. Today, a lot of muscles hurt that I didn't know helped in carrying large, heavy objects up stairs. :) Anyway, I have been thinking about this for a while. I've known  I was going to buy one, and the money was all set aside (thank you MLC!). So I was sitting at work on Saturday waiting for IT to fix some code problems, and I thought to myself...I should check out pianos on the internet since I am just waiting. A friend told me about a certain store that sells digital pianos...so I went to their website. There was one that I liked so I looked up where they were in Dallas...I drove straight to the store after work and....BAM...10 minutes later I bought a piano....done....kind of impulsive for a girl like me...I mean...I am an actuary...I don't do things like this :)

So happy I did though. :)

In other news, my life has definitely been exciting and fun lately...but you're going to have to ask me about it and not read about it on my blog. :)

bahaha.

Pop Quiz!!!

There are two flavors of popsicles I do not like....Can you guess which flavors they might be?

 

This was all that was left when I went to go get a popsicle from the freezer. :(

In Other News....

Just a quick update with what's going in my life!!

The rest of my family (my mom, dad, and lil bro Steve-Dawg) came out to visit me over the Fourth of July. It was hot, but we were actually in a "cool front" while they were here. You know, 98 and 99 degree highs... Sigh, I love it here....Anyway, here are a few pictures of our adventures.

In true Stephen form....something illegal.

Stephen in the Grassy Knoll.

 Dad and Stephen in front of a statue by the Asian Art Museum...don't go there...you'll get offended...oh wait, I think that was just me....

And that's all the pictures....four....someday I will take more pictures...and perhaps one day I'll be in them too. :) haha. Thanks for coming to visit me! Even though it was super hot!!!!

In other news, my study materials for my next exam arrived in the mail. yeah! Gearing up to study again. My next exam is MFE...Financial Economics. Just so y'all know (I am trying to sound Texan...is it working?), my fine readers...every single one of you...are invited to have a study party with me. :)

Also in other news, I've decided that it's absolutely necessary to go swimming EVERY SINGLE DAY...except Sunday of course.

This pool is my new home....everyday at 8:30 :)

Big D to the Big D

Big D (aka my little bro Daniel) came to the Big D (otherwise known as Dallas). How fitting is that?!?! Anyways here are some pictures from his visit:
The Red Museum with Reunion Tower in the background. 

 Daniel being really cool in front of the Red Museum and Reunion Tower.

 The Guadalupe Cathedral. The inside is quite impressive as well.

 Daniel being kind of silly.

I am no Miley Cyrus; even with my sweet Miley Cyrus pose. 

 

 I think there are a lot of Mav's fans in Dallas. Just to clarify, Daniel is not one of them.

 From the base of Reunion Tower where we had dessert.

 

The end. Thanks Daniel for coming to visit me!

please allow me to toot my own horn

I'm a really good cook.

La Cucaracha

So Daniel (my brother) is currently in town to visit (another post on that later). We've been having a pretty good time doing the whole Dallas thing...well at least I hope he is! Anyways, we were hanging out at my apartment on Friday night. Daniel walks out of the bathroom to call me in to look at something. I go into the bathroom, and what do I see???? I see two antenna sticking out of the overflow face plate (yes, I had to Google that term to know what it was called...perhaps you should Google it to in order to get the full visual. :) ). They were about 2 inches long. SICK.

We were on our way out to go to the Firewheel Mall, so we just left it there and went on our merry little way. When we returned, the nasty little guy made his appearance on the bottom of the bathtub! Don't worry though, the good pictures are on Daniels' phone, so you won't be completely disgusted by the semi-blurry pictures that I am about to post. 

We ran to Walgreen's, and this is what we purchased:

We were two people on a mission! It was gonna be a good night!!!!

Oh boy am I glad that Daniel was there to save me from this most dramatic event. :) The roach (at least we're pretty sure it was a roach) didn't even have a chance. The guy died in seconds.

I went to my apartment's office the very next day to report this little germ spreading incident. I dramatically told them the situation (ok, maybe I just explained it to them), and they were like, "ok, we'll send pest control out on Monday." WHAT!!!???!!! I could have died.

My Backyard

Keep Austin Weird

 So my parents made the trip down to Austin this past weekend. It was a very eventful plane ride for them, as their plane was struck by lightning in the air. There ended up being a hole in the plane! BUT!!! they made it safely, and for that I am glad. I made the drive down to Austin to see them as well as my bro and sister in law. We braved the humidity, and boy howdy it was bad! We went to the Texas History Museum. I must say, I feel a bit more Texan...scratch that...I will never be Texan. We went to the botanical gardens later in the afternoon. Just some advice, don't go in the middle of the afternoon when it's 90 degrees outside and 95% humidity. It suddenly isn't as enjoyable. Take that for what it's worth.


 Here is a picture of downtown Austin from the botanical gardens.

 Here is a pretty pink flower.

 Here is a nasty lizard. I would jump EVERY SINGLE TIME I saw one. Yes, I am a wimp, and they were everywhere. Hey, at least I was entertaining for everyone else!

Here is a picture of yet another lizard.  I am sorry, but I get grossed out even looking at these pictures....let's move on.

We also went to the Lindon B. Johnson Library...sorry, no pictures....not my strong point. I enjoyed spending time with my family. As always, it was hard saying goodbye, but I hope to see them soon.

In other news, life has slowed down a bunch since my exam. I am not sure what to do with myself after work. I have been spending more time reading, hanging out with friends, talking on the phone, etc. I would like to say that I am becoming a better cook, but I want to be honest, and well, that would be a BIG FAT LIE! Here is one thing I am ok at making:

This is the first batch of cinnamon rolls/rolls I made with my new Kitchenaide...If you ever want cinnamon rolls, let me know!

The Day of Doom...

Today was the day. I took my third actuarial exam today and that is the reason I have been MIA from this blog in the past few weeks. I unfortunately ran out of time on the test and had to guess on some of the questions...ok, more than I would have liked. Oh well, I am glad the test is over. No more 12 hour days at work studying, plus hours and hours outside of work...at least for a few weeks anyway until it all starts up again. NO MORE FEELING LIKE A ROBOT! No more feeling like I am at the starting line of a race...my heart feeling like something has got a hold on it at all times. I am relieved. I am excited for a little break. I had plans to go shopping, or get my eyes checked (because I cannot see anything!), or clean my entire apartment after the exam, but I have been quite content to veg. I did get my apartment cleaned up, but that's about it. I will do better, be better tomorrow.

I would just like to take a moment to thank EVERYONE who has supported me in taking this test. The countless phone calls and texts sent to me (especially today!) encouraging me and supporting me in this desire of mine. Thank you for your support. Also, thank you Jonathan and Wendy for the free trial of Netflix (I activated it today, and it has allowed me to relax a little).

Peace out.

Yeah, Baby!

Remember when I told you that you should come over for dinner? This is why!

I. AM. SO. EXCITED.

The Year in Review.

So I was talking to a friend the other day, (yes, Dano, that would be you :) ) about how I have been graduated from school a year. A YEAR! Holy Smokes. A lot has happened in a year.

April

• Graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Actuarial Science (please google that) and a mathematics minor.
• Traveled to Idaho to visit my Grandma.

May

• Traveled to Lubbock, Texas to attend my brother and sister-in-law's wedding.

June

• A lot of chilling...taking care of the fam while my mamita was in Idaho taking care of her mom. 

July

• Traveled to Idaho to attend my grandmother's funeral.

August

• Traveled to Utah to attend the White Family Reunion.
• Had some friends from Provo come visit.

September

• Traveled to Austin to visit Jonathan and Wendy
• Started babysitting Dallin and Cooper full time.

October

• Traveled to Dallas, Texas to interview for a job. 
• Bought a SWEET new car!

November

• Moved to Dallas, Texas. 
• Started my new job as an actuarial technician at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas!!!!

December

• Got super sick!! I could not get my fever to go down...at all. It was MISERABLE. 
• Traveled back to Colorado for Christmas. That was a good little break.

January

• Started studying for MLC (my next actuarial exam) Oh man, I take that sucker in May!

February

• Traveled to Austin to visit. 

March

• Working, working, working, working, working, working, working, working, working, working, working, working, working, working, working, working, working, working, working, working, working, working working, working, working...that. is. all.

A lot has happened this past year. WOW! I live in Texas. I hope to see you all soon.

This is for my Mom!

Before:

After:

This is totally worthy of a blogpost. Why? Because I never have food in that cupboard. The before picture is actually a full cupboard! Now I just have to eat it all before the cans start bulging....so that means you're invited and we can have dinner together! You can eat my food! PLUS, yesterday I made a very exciting purchase...but you'll just have to sit on pins and needles to find out what it is. You should REALLY come over for dinner. :)

I Love to See the Temple

What an incredible weekend! This past weekend was General Conference. As always, the talks were amazing and the spirit was really strong. I thoroughly enjoyed this Conference and am so grateful to know that there is a prophet living on the earth today. I am truly blessed to be able to hear his words and be taught through the spirit.

Another exciting thing that happened during this conference was the announcement of a temple in Fort Collins, Colorado. This is a tremendous blessing to the members in that area. This temple will be minutes...literally minutes...from my parents house. I may or may not have started jumping up and down when I heard the news. I'll let you decide whether or not you believe that. Ok, I really did it...and I also probably danced. :)

If you would like to find out more about General Conference and the church, click here.

If truth is beauty, how come no one has their hair done in a library?

If truth is beauty, how come no one has their hair done in a library?  ~Lily Tomlin 

That's right, next time I am going to go to the library to get my hair cut. So I went to get my hair cut yesterday...just a trim...to cut off the dead ends....at Great Clips. My hairstylist didn't exactly speak English..she did a little, but it was really hard to understand her. In fact, the perfect way to describe her is by this video.





She kept on saying, "You have lot hair. You want tin it out?" What? "You have lot hair. You want tin it out?" Oh, do I want to thin out my hair? No thanks, please just cut it. After she starting taking the scissors haphazardly to my hair, I noticed that there was something outside that she was looking at. She wasn't looking at my head at all when she was cutting it! I stopped her right then and asked her if she would please look at my hair when she was cutting it. (I actually said that...I couldn't believe myself...That's probably not the nicest thing to say, but it's my hair we're talking about here). She then moved onto my bangs. I told her to keep them longer but just clean them up a bit. Well now I have bangs that are mid-forehead....not even kidding. haha...She asked me if I liked the way they looked. I said, "Um, I've never had bangs this short before." She responded with "Oh don't worry, two day be longer." I don't know about your hair, but my hair doesn't grow longer in two days. 


So the moral of the story is, well, there isn't one. I just need to find a hairstylist that can understand me and I can understand her!

Oh the Weather Outside is Frightful....

Please let me reenact a typical conversation upon meeting someone new here in The Big D.
 
Me: Hello. What's your name?


Other Person: Howdy. My name is ______. Are you new here?

Me: Why, yes. Yes, I am new.


Other Person: Do you like it here?

Me: Why, yes. I do like it here.

Other Person: Have you even been here during the summer?


I used to think that was quite an odd question to be asking somebody...or at least an odd third question to be asking upon meeting somebody. It all came together yesterday when I got in my car and the thermometer read this:

It's March folks, only March.

Despicable Me.

This guy was my checker at Walmart today. Not. Even. Lying.

Green means go and red means...????

While driving home from church and rocking out to How Firm a Foundation by the oh so fabulous Mormon Tabernacle Choir, I may have run a red light! In fact, I did run the red light. WHOOPS! You would think that after years of playing red-light green-light while teaching swimming lessons and babysitting, I would have, in fact, learned what the color red actually means. Nope, unfortunately that has proven to not be the case. If repetition is the law of learning....how many times must I repeat stopping at a red light before I actually learn that red means stop? It's ok though, I'm pretty sure driving laws don't apply on Sunday ;).

What better time than now?!?!?

Why do we wait to improve ourselves?!?  Change can be hard and maybe that is why. I have a few things I want to change about myself (ok, way more than a few things). Now, why am I putting this off? There is not a good answer for that and a good excuse certainly does not exist. I've been thinking a lot about goals lately and what I want out of life. What's the point? Who do I want to be? Where do I want to go? With work getting increasingly frustrating, I wonder how I can enjoy each day. I would appreciate your input because I don't know at the moment. So here I go, I am starting today. Please let me know if you have any advice on this little thing called life. :) 

A Bunch of Nothing....

Hello, hello! Not a lot has changed since the last update...still working tons (I spent an absolutely joyful 16 hours at work Friday....pulling up to my apartment at the oh so early hour of 11:40 pm)...still studying for MLC...learning equations like this...

You will be happy to find out that after five minutes of intensive and exhaustive investigative work, I found out the problem with my vacuum cleaner. Now, I know this has been on your mind, but you may now sleep at night. I broke the belt ... I may or may not have sucked up a washcloth while vacuuming my closet...can't remember though...so I am going to buy a new belt and should be good to go!

On Friday,  I went here with some coworkers.

It's called Urban Eatz just in case you can't read the sign. The place was packed. We could not find a place to sit down! I had the turkey sandwich...and it was....a turkey sandwich. The bread was pretty good though. My coworker had some pizza. She let me try some of it and it was SO GOOD! She had some sort of chicken pizza...and it was delicious. Overall, I would recommend this place.


I spoke in church today. That always stresses me out! haha. I am grateful for the opportunity, however, to do some extra studying on things that I need to improve in my life.

Well, I hope all you readers are doing well. I don't know who you are...probably just my mom...but that's ok...I hope that life is treating you well and I would love to hear from you sometime!

Clean floors no more.

See this little guy here...

...May I suggest to you that you never buy it. Now, I know you are dying to know why. Well, my friends, you will get to use it approximately 3.29659 times before it breaks. grrr. Does anybody know how to fix a vacuum cleaner?

Changing it up!

I normally don't post anything too personal on this blog, so here is a little change.


Colossians 3:12-13

"Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye."

"Each of us is a son or daughter or God, endowed with something of his divine nature. Each is an individual entitled to expression and cultivation of individual talents and deserving of forbearance, of patience, of understanding, of courtesy, of thoughtful consideration." - Stand a Little Taller

I am working on this right now, and it's hard, dang it!

How about some dinner with that ranch?

I had great ambitions for today...to actually cook dinner. This does not happen too often. I made dinner...and it was awful. I cooked two different things and ended up dumping ranch on both of them to make them taste good...or like ranch. I would tell you what I made, but you might actually throw up when you find out that I put ranch on these things. Am I still in college? Well, I definitely still cook like I am...or worse. I think it's worse. I'm getting worse as time goes on. Please pray for my future family....

Snowy, Snowy Dallas.

Some unusual weather has hit Dallas as of late. On Tuesday night we had this massive ice storm. I could hear it pelting my window all night, but the real fun came when I had to leave for work the next morning. You see, my friends, I do not have an ice scraper. I bought this car in October and immediately moved to Texas. And well, you know...you don't need to worry because it doesn't get cold in Texas. Somebody told me that...but I can't remember who....Anyways, I didn't have any method to remove the inch thick layer of ice that covered my car. I spent 45 minutes sitting in my car waiting for the ice to melt...You see, I couldn't leave my car running while I was inside because I am afraid that someone will steal my wicked rad car....So there I sat. NOBODY, I mean nobody, was on the roads that morning, so the drive wasn't too bad. Nothing that couldn't be handled. I think the entire state of Texas took the day off of work...(The grass wasn't even covered with the 'snow' that we got). This entire week at work has been very sparse. In fact, out of the 9,000 people that work at the great and spacious building that is Blue Cross Blue Shield, I think only the actuaries showed up...and not even all of us at that. By the way, if you don't know what an actuary is, you should google it. Back to my story, it snowed another 6ish inches last night. This didn't go too well with the layer of ice underneath it. The commute was the worst this morning, seeing how I don't think a single plow exists in the state of TX (kidding, the news said there were 30 plows out. seriously? 30 plows....Only NYC, LA, and Chicago are bigger than you and you only have 30 plows out? haha) BUT it's the weekend, and I don't have to deal with the commute for two whole days! This is glorious. Oh Texas, you are great. If I were still in school, I would of have four days off! How awesome is that?!? Well folks, I just got home from work, gah!. It's 10:30. I'm outta here.

Oh honey, Texas is NOT the south....

Hello, Hello from the good ole state of Texas! I've been living here coming up on three months now. Can you believe that?!? Well, the first two months went fast...not so much the last.  There is not a whole lot to report. Work is becoming increasingly busy. I've had a couple weeks of 55+ hour weeks, and I have the pleasure of going into work tomorrow (Saturday) morning at 7, and I've already put in my 55 hours this week. :( Oh well, enough complaining! Life is great! I have a job!

I can't really think of anything to say. I'm just that boring!!! I did spend three hours waiting in line at the DMV on Wednesday to get a drivers license. Three hours! RiDiCuLoUs! Please do not make me explain the inefficiencies of our government. grrr... In much happier news, it was 75 degrees today. How awesome is that? SO AWESOME! 

My calling in my ward is Family Home Evening Co-Chair. It's my eternal calling. I must need to learn that FHE is important. haha. Anyways, I have to speak in sacrament meeting in a couple weeks on how to make family home evening a priority in your life. That is a HARD topic...at least for me. I mean, I have a few things to say about it, but definitely not a full talk's amount on it. Please pray for me. I need all the help I can get.


Well folks, it is Friday night and I am wiped out! If any of you are in the Dallas area any time soon, please remember that you have a place to stay....well at least you'll have a floor to sleep on. Do not fret however, the carpet is super plush with nice straight vacuum lines. You will most surely sleep well. I mean, I am sitting on it RIGHT NOW, and I think it's great! AND, don't worry, they just sprayed for bugs yesterday, so no little critters will be sleeping with you. :)

Overwhelmed....

This is how I feel right now. Buh Buh Buh Buh Buh....Buh Buh Buh Buh Buh.....

Hello blogging world!

I have been out for a while. Work and studying takes up so much time! Here's a little update. I went home for Christmas. It was great to get away from here and to see my family. Even my grandpa came out to visit for Christmas, so that was good. It was a super short break. I haven't worked at my company very long, so I didn't have much PTO built up. I've been trying to learn my job at work for a while now. I feel like it's taking so long for me to feel like I actually work there! I have been busily studying for MLC when I am not at work. I will be taking the test in May.  Oh boy, these tests are stressful!

I'm trying to think of fun things to tell you. I've been meeting a lot of people in my single's ward. I've made some good friends, which is fantastic! I feel so much more welcome here than I EVER did in Greeley. I've been slowly "decorating" my apartment...and by decorating I mean hanging up one picture that I got for Christmas that broke in my suitcase on the way back here. I bent it back into place, took out all the broken glass, and called it good. There is still some college student left in me!

Peace out folks.