It's the End!!!

Hello!

Well, the end of the semester is near. This week. Oh man! I have so much to do. So much studying. I can't wait for wednesday at 2 when I'll be DONE with everything!!!

Well, Thursday was the last day of classes, and so we all stayed up SUPER late just talking in Julie and Krista's room till 3:30. Actually, I was the first to leave and go to sleep at 3:30, besides Mallory and McKenzie who had both gone to sleep a lot earlier instead of talking with the rest of us. :]

And then later that morning, at 10, my mom called and my phone's volume was turned up WAY loud and it scared Somers and I awake and I literally gasped outloud and shouted "Holy crap!" and Somers just chuckled and then fell back asleep.

That whole day was pretty relaxing, which was nice. I DID go to a two hour physical science review session, which was NOT fun because there were no more seats in the BIGGEST auditorium, so I had to sit on the floor for two hours straight. My legs fell asleep several times. But other than that, the day was pretty nice. I watched Made of Honor, thanks to my parents (thank you!), and that morning I'd made a big pancake and scrambled eggs breakfast complete with orange juice, which was really nice because we don't EVER have big breakfasts where we're all sitting down together to eat.

That night around 11, Julie told me to come to her with Walmart because she really wanted a pineapple, which I thought was kinda weird... wanting a pineapple at 11 at night... but I wasn't doing anything and everyone else refused to go with her, so I went. But I thought it was weird that when she asked Alan if he wanted to come, he said no. Because... well, he never says no. Anyways, so we went to Walmart and we were there for about an hour. After getting a pineapple Julie took me to the shoe section and had me give her my opinion on different boots and then we went to the movie section and then we looked at sweaters and just kept going around the store. When we finally left a bit before midnight and I came home, all the lights were off and everyone jumped out and yelled surprise and turned on the lights and everything was all decorated. In red. Yay. And then it made sense why the night before Krista, Somers, and Alan (Miller) had gone to Walmart and hadn't asked anyone else if they needed to go because usually when someone's making a trip to Walmart, they ask everyone if they need to go because we don't go that often. And apparently it was because they were buying streamers and balloons. Anyways, so we eat Godiva Chocolate Cheesecake, sent by my parents (thank you again!). Once it hit 1:30 and Alden and Alan had to leave, we all watched Sons of Provo. Here's some pictures of the kitchen. They also tore up the streamers into little pieces and threw them all over my bed to make it look like there were rose petals :]
There were balloons all over the ground too. We've decided that since we tend to celebrate people's birthdays for several days, we're just going to have like, four days of birthday for each person. So today was my second day, and we had these peanut butter fudge bars with oreo cookie crust that were DELICIOUS. I've become obsessed with peanut butter since coming here and eating the creamery's peanut butter cup ice cream, so they figured I'd love those. :]

Today it started snowing, FOR REAL this time. And it stuck and it's so pretty! I slipped three or four times, which was a lot of fun (never actually fell though, just looked like an idiot), and I threw a snowball at Julie. Twice. The first time she gave me permission to (Julie hates the snow). The second time I was actually aiming at Alan because he'd thrown one at me, and he ducked behind Julie right as I threw it and it hit her in the back/neck and she wasn't wearing a jacket and it went down the back of her shirt. :] So here are some pictures of the pretty snow. This was at about 1:30, so we got a lot more than there is in these pictures.





Today Julie, Alan, and I went to both the Provo Town Center Mall and the University Mall. We first went to the Provo Town Center because we ALWAYS go to the University Mall when we go shopping, but they didn't have anything we wanted, so we went to the University Mall, where I found a cute jacket. When we first walked into the mall, the first store we saw was Allysa's Bridals, which is a modest wedding dress store, and Julie and I just beelined it for the store. We sent Alan off to go shopping elsewhere, and Julie tried on four dresses. I only got pictures of the first two, because the second two she wasn't in for very long and she changed really quickly. Alan came back after she'd only tried on one dress because he was bored, so he got to see her all dressed up. Here's the first two dresses:
She likes this one a lot in terms of the embriodery and beading on the top because it's all white and a bit simpler. She's decided she really likes big, poofy dresses. :] Here's a close up of the top:Here's the second dress, which we both LOVE, but its got gold in the beading, and you can get it in silver, but its still not completely white, which the temple doesn't like. :] But we both just LOVED this dress. She decided after trying on this one she wants a lower, V waist. And here's a close up of the bodice:That dress was so pretty! And it was a lot cheaper than we were guessing: only 300. We started looking at all of the prices in that shop and they're all fairly cheap. We want to go back there another time when Alan won't be there to get so bored while she tries on dresses. :]

Tomorrow is the Christmas program for Sacrament meeting, which is sure to be good, because we already know what's on it since Julie's in charge of making the programs and she told us who's singing. :]

And then I will be doing some MAJOR cramming for my finals. :] On Tuesday I have a screening test scheduled for a job I applied for to be an online English tutor for students at the University of Hong Kong. Basically all I am is their TA and they send me their papers and I have to mark all of their grammatical mistakes. But I have to go in for the screening test so they can make sure I'm competent enough in my grammer to find all the mistakes. :]

And I'm working on an application for this other job/class that I want to take next semester. I'm not so sure I'll get it though, because I don't have much experience, but I thought, hey! What will it hurt just to apply? It's a screenwriting class, and we'll be writing the script for a potential BYU Broadcasting Television series. And we get paid for being in the class because we're writing the script for the series. So it sounds really cool, the only problem is that its on Wednesdays from 5-8, and my Book of Mormon class is from 6-8, so I'd need to drop that class, drop another class, and then schedule my book of mormon class for another time. Cause I already have 18 credits, which is the maximum, so I have to drop one class at least if I want to take this other one. But I don't find out if I'm in it or not until January 2nd, which is three days before classes start. Oh well. We'll see. :]

Anyways, I should probably study a bit and then go to sleep! Four days till I come home!

-Cate

Christmastime!

Hello all!

We've been a bit busy around here lately. After coming back from Thanksgiving Break, none of us were in the mood to be serious and crack down on our studying... so we've goofed off a lot in the past week. Of course, now we're paying for it and have to study, but we still find it hard to find the motivation to do so when Christmas is just around the corner and classes end this Thursday.

When I'm not wasting time and avoiding doing my work by watching movies with everyone else, I'm usually procrastinating my work by looking at rings, wedding dresses, bridesmaid dresses, and flowers with Julie. We've found a few dresses she really likes online, and some rings. She's already showed Alan the rings she likes, and I believe he's already gotten one of them because he's formally proposing to her tonight...

This past weekend was a lot of fun because we actually got to go OUT and get off campus. Friday night... actually, we stayed on campus Friday. Friday night I went with my friend, Mitchell, to the Divine Comedy Show, and then we went to the creamery and he bought a ton of stuff to make breakfast for dinner. We came back to my apartment and we all just talked for a while, and then he went to his apartment and Somers, Mallory, and I went to a hall meeting about winter break (which was thoroughly pointless). We were planning on going over to Mitchell's to eat and I was going to watch the first season of Heroes since he owns it, but we ended up staying home and watching a movie instead cause we were too tired.

Our apartment has been decorated all up for Christmas, which is nice because it actually looks homey now. Finally. Since its the end of the semester. :]

Here's some pictures of this past week...

Krista, Alan, and Julie. Alan came because Mallory, Somers, and I have been coloring Disney princess pictures and we didn't have a black coloring pencil. So Julie went on facebook to see if Alan was on because he's ALWAYS on, and, lo and behold, he was, so we asked him if we could borrow his black colored pencil. So he came over just to drop off that. He was nice though and brought ALL of his colored pencils, not just the black one. :]
Our beautiful Christmas tree that no longer resides in our apartment... :( Dustin actually CHOPPED this tree down in a FOREST for us. He and McKenzie brought it over at like, four in the morning while we were all asleep and they set it up so it'd be all nice in the morning when we woke up. Unfortunately though, there's a rule about real trees in the apartment... Sad. Apparently they think that real trees in the apartment are a fire hazard, so they won't let us keep it, even if we take off the lights. We don't really see how it's any different than having say, a ficas or something in the apartment, because THAT'S allowed, just not Christmas trees. So we had to take it out. Now it's sitting right outside our stairwell. :]
This was... a random night that we were all trying to avoid doing any work. Somers and Mallory locked me out of my room, so in an attempt to get them to open the door, I made Krista climb in the utility closet and hide behind the ironing board and then try to get them to find her. It didn't really work... basically Krista was just shouting for someone to come find her and Somers and Mallory just laughed. But they eventually came out and then Somers decided to climb in the utility closet WITH Krista... and that is a TINY closet. So this is a picture of Somers in the closet. Krista's actually in there too, behind the ironing board sitting on top of the mopping bucket and a pack of toilet paper. :]

Saturday was a lot of fun, though, because we had a ward trip to Temple Square to see the lights and watch the Joseph Smith movie, and then right after that was the Freeze Fest that BYU was hosting at the local ice rink. So we went to Temple Square, saw the movie, walked around the grounds a bit (but it was SO crowded and we only had a half hour, so we didn't get to take our time). Here's some pictures from the temple trip:
Somers and Krista on the bus.
Julie!
Mallory and Alan (Miller) on the bus coming back from Temple Square. They stole my headrest and wouldn't give it back. :]
We were told to meet on the west side of Temple Square, and since Moroni points East, we went to the opposite side and waited there... and waited... and waited... and realized that they were probably wrong when they told us to go to the west side for the buses. In the meantime, however, we took pictures! On the far left is Paige, and on the far right is Taylor, who are both girls in our FHE group. The buses ended up being on the NORTH side, not the west. Which they never announced. Thankfully we decided to just walk around until we found them. :]
A pretty view of the temple. Its just like a castle...Julie and Krista had left the building with the Joseph Smith movie in it before us to meet one of their high school friends who was also in the area for a basketball game. We were trying to find them and stopped outside to take some pictures before we got crushed in the crowd of people around the temple.

After the Temple Trip we piled into the two Alan's cars (Alan Miller and Alan Rosenhan), and we drove over to the Freeze Fest for some ice skating, dancing, and broom hockey. Unfortunately, we got there only a HALF HOUR late and ALL of the skates were gone! The Freeze Fest was open from 9 to midnight, and we got there at 9:30, and by that time all of the skates had been checked out and they weren't letting anyone else skate. So we just left, because really, all we wanted to do was ice skate. So we're planning on going back maybe sometime this week as a stress reliever for studying. :]

So the Miller car went to Blockbuster and rented Get Smart while the Rosenhan car went back to our apartment and got our TV, and then we all went to Alan Rosenhan's house to watch the movie, since he has a house and couches and we're allowed to stay there longer than in the dorms.

That night Somers and I decorated the kitchen all up for Christmas while everyone was asleep so that it'd be a surprise in the morning for them. We put lights around the window and hung ornaments from twine around the perimeter of the room around the ceiling, and we put up all of the cool Christmas stuff mom sent to me (thanks mom :} ). We didn't get to bed until 3:30, which meant I was way tired the rest of Sunday.

Sunday there was the broadcasted Christmas fireside, and our ward all got together in the central building with pillows and blankets and the popcorn in the tin things that have the three flavors and we had a big Christmas party. Well, it wasn't really a party... everyone was just wrapped up in their blankets and laying all over the floor. But it was fun.

At midnight Julie, Alan (Rosenhan), and I went to Walmart because I needed to do some last minute shopping for the enrichment activity and Julie wanted to get a new DVD player. I've made two big trips to Walmart already for food, and it's ridiculous how much I have to get. I have to make spaghetti, garlic bread, and salad for 130 people. The salad alone costs $124 for 130 people. Ridiculous. So I ended up getting less salad than we needed, and everyone can just have a little scoop. :]

Anyways, so this morning I ended up buying a bunch of salad, thirteen loaves of french bread, and a bunch of salad dressing. Plus a cable for our TV since ours broke and some batteries, since I ran out. :] The only thing that makes me feel better about spending THAT much money on all the food is that I'm being reimbursed, so I'll get it back. :]

Today was my third to last day of classes! Yay! I actually have one less day of class than everyone else because my anthropology class was SUPPOSED to end LAST week. But we didn't finish discussing everything the professor wanted to on Thursday, so we have class tomorrow, but not Thursday. And Friday classes are cancelled as a "reading day" for studying. So technically I'm done with classes on Wednesday! Tonight for FHE we're making it quick and we're just doing a little hot chocolate night thing, and then tomorrow is our big enrichment activity and I can finally get rid of all this food in my room and around the kitchen. I have nowhere to store all the food, so there's bags all around the end of my bed and in the kitchen. :]

Here's a video of Somers and Krista in the closet... I thought it was pretty funny, so I'll just put it up here for the heck of it. :]



-Cate

Home

Well, I've definitely had a busy week!!! I got up early Sunday morning and got all ready to go to the airport at 8... and my ride slept through his alarm clock. It didn't matter though, because even though we left 40 minutes late, there was NO ONE at the airport and I ended up sitting at my gate reading Twilight again for about an hour and a half. The plane ride home was pretty uneventful--I had an old guy snoring next to me. I tried to drown him out with my ipod, but I could still hear him even though I had cranked the volume up as loud as it would go. :]

Sunday was probably the most relaxing day, since I didn't go out. Rayne came to visit that night which was awesome! Monday after a dentist appointment, I took Aubrie, Dani, and Rayne to the movies and we saw Twilight. I definitely liked it a LOT better the second time since I was prepared for the cheesiness of it. Later I took the BART to Berkely, missed my stop, made it all the way to Richmond, hopped on the Fremont bound train, and then finally got off in Berkely. SiSi took me around Berkely and we got some asian food that I'd been craving forever. :]

I got to meet all the people on SiSi's floor and Shalika came over later to see me. We got to talk for a few hours before SiSi had to leave for a marching band initiation, so Shalika took me to the bus and dropped me off at the BART station. Thankfully I didn't miss my stop on the way back--it would be kind of hard, though, since Fremont is the last stop. :]

Tuesday I had yet another dentist appointment, and after that Aubrie, Dani, my mom, and I went to see Twilight AGAIN. I have to admit... it was even better the third time. :] My dad took Lauren and Ryan to see Bolt, which was all Lauren could talk about afterwards.

After the movie, my mom and I went shopping in Pleasanton for several hours, and then we met up with my dad at Fuddruckers, and Rayne joined us a little later. After eating, Rayne, my dad, and I went to the movies AGAIN and we saw Quantum of Solace, which I liked, but found rather plotless... Oh well. I still liked it.

Wednesday I had ANOTHER dentist appointment, and then we went out to Asian Pearl, this new dim sum place in Pacific Commons that was quite good. I've been craving dim sum for a while now. We then went to Walmart for a bit, came home, did some cleaning and cooking, and then later that night Rayne and I went to see Austrailia, which I REALLY liked. However, we didn't realize it was a THREE HOUR MOVIE. And we were seeing an 11 o'clock showing, so we didn't get out until 2. I was definitely tired. Every night I went to bed around 1:30 or 2, and I didn't get any of my naps while home. :]

Thursday of course was Turkey Day, and that was fun. Yummy food. I think my stomach has shrunk since going to school though, because I definitely can't eat as much as I could before. Not that that's a bad thing, but I had to take really small portions for Thanksgiving dinner :]

On Friday SiSi, Shalika, Jason, and I all got together. We hung out for a bit at SiSi's just talking and then we went to the theaters and I saw Twilight AGAIN. Yeah... I saw it quite a bit. It was better and better with each showing, I have to admit, but I saw it four times. In a little over a week. That's a bit much. Oh well. I still liked it. :]

After the movie we went to some asian place in Pacific Commons and SiSi and I got udon. Jason had to leave to go to dinner with his family, and Shalika, SiSi, and I went back to SiSi's house. We watched Baby Mama, which was hilarious, and then we went home. I think I was home for about fifteen minutes and then I left again to pick up Malcolm, and we went to James Blizel's house to stop in and say hi to Baugher. There were a bunch of Irvington kids there though, so we ended up staying for about twenty minutes talking to everyone, and then Malcolm and I went to Panda Express. After grabbing our food we went to Bay Street Cafe because there was some acoustic show there, and I met some of his friends who went to Irvington a few years ago. I left Bay Street at about 11 and went home to pick up Aubrie and Dani and Rayne to go see Twilight yet AGAIN for a fifth time, but once we got to the theaters, Rayne and I decided to see Austrailia again instead. We ended up laying down across the row and we fell asleep about a half hour into the movie. Oh well. But we woke up for the last 45 minutes, which is the really good part of the movie anyways, so it was all good. :]

Once I came home I just crashed immediately. I was so tired all week from barely sleeping. Saturday I went shopping with my mom for about four hours... :] And then later that night I picked up Malcolm, Baugher, and Hannah, and we drove around trying to decide where to go. We couldn't think of anything to do. I stopped by Jason's for a minute just to drop off a cd and say goodbye before I left, and then we picked up Rayne. Even though we didn't really do anything, it was a lot of fun just talking with all of them again.

I dropped off Baugher and Hannah, and then Malcolm, Rayne, and I went to Walmart to buy Leatherheads. Then I dropped off Malcolm, went to Rayne's house, and she packed up her stuff to stay the night at my house. It was almost 2 I believe when we finally got back to my house, and we both fell asleep 15 minutes into Leatherheads. :]

Sunday I rushed to get ready before church, went to sacrament meeting, and then went straight to the airport... and I forgot to eat before church. Since it was Sunday I didn't want to buy anything to eat at the airport, so I just waited for my flight because I figured I wouldn't have to wait to eat for THAT long... except that my flight got delayed for an hour because the plane was coming from Denver and, go figure, there was a storm in Denver. Once on the plane we got delayed even MORE because the whole time they were checking the plane and cleaning it up, no one filled it with fuel. So we had to sit and wait for them to refill it, and then we finally left.

It wasn't a bad plane ride, but I like window seats because I can lean against the side when I fall asleep and not have to worry about falling over on the person next to me... but I was the last one in my row to get on, and the guy in the aisle seat got up to let me in, but the lady in the middle seat didn't want to get up, so she moved into my window seat and I had to sit in the middle. I kept falling asleep because I was so tired, but then I'd jerk awake because I'd start falling to the side. It wasn't a very restful nap, that was for sure. :]

Once I got to the airport it was 5 o'clock, and I was REALLY hungry. But Jackson was still 45 minutes away, which wasn't that bad, so I just did some homework in the airport while I waited. Once he came it was another hour ride home, so we got back to the apartment around 7. So I'd gone about 24 hours without eating anything, and I was STARVING. Of course, I didn't really have any food, because I'd made sure to eat a lot of it before I left so it wouldn't go bad. :]

The rest of Sunday was pretty relaxing... I just unpacked and watched Corpse Bride. :]

I was surprised yesterday to find that I was actually kind of glad to be going to class again. My routine had been so out of whack at home that it was kind of nice to settle back into my routine. I definitely liked being home, but I also like having my routine here. :] And it was nice when I came back because Julie and Alan had already come back, so I didn't come back to an empty apartment. Mallory came a bit later, and then Somers. McKenzie didn't come back until early the next morning, and Dustin chopped us down an actual Christmas Tree!!! So when he dropped McKenzie off here, he brought the Christmas tree for us, so now we have a real tree and the apartmet smells like pine! We've got lights on it now, and Somers brought some ornaments from home, but we still need a lot more decorations to make the apartment look lively. :]

We also rearranged out living room/kitchen last night because we were tired of the previous arrangement. It looks pretty nice now. It's a lot more open, but the walls also look really bare with the new arrangement, so we're going to have to find some posters and stuff to put up. :]

And today I just found out that I may be done with my Anthropology class THIS week. My professor hasn't decided if he wants to have class next Tuesday or not... he said he'll see if we cover everything he wants to on Thursday, and if not then we'll only have class Tuesday. It'd be nice if we just had our last class this Thursday because then I would have no classes at all next Tuesday or Thursday and I could use that time to study for finals. We'll see. :]

Two weeks from tomorrow I go home again!

-Cate