This made me chuckle

Moving on, for the past couple of weeks I have been studying a lot and thus, listening to a lot of music while I do the said studying. Here are my current faves:

Airplanes by B.o.B f/ Hayley Williams
Warm Whispers by Missy Higgins
Sky by Joshua Radin and Ingrid Michaelson
Found Out About You by Gin Blossoms
Whisper War (The entire album) by The Cab
Out of My Hands (The entire album) by Green River Ordinance
Who Knew by P!nk
I Will Follow You Into the Dark by Death Cab for Cutie

Yep. That's all for now. If you get bored, I'd highly suggest finding some of these and getting your world rocked.

Not too Shabby!

As in, "Hey, how was the test?" I must say, it turned out much better than I thought it would. I did, however, finish 45 minutes early causing me some concern, but only for a second...then I remembered the sweet freedom I would be facing for the next week. Oooh yeah! (Cue for KoolAid man to break through a wall) Anywho, not much new here--went grocery shopping after discovering that the only food I had was one lonely pickle, half a jar of peanut butter, and the sad remnants of one head of lettuce. So now...Grocery shopping? Check. Paper due tomorrow? Almost done. I only have 700 more words to go. Dinner? Check. That about covers everything. Except for this--read it and love it (but I think you can only appreciate it if you are a woman).

Mom Jeans and the Dreaded "Long Butt"

Over and out.

Signs that a final probably will not go well:

1. While studying you realize that you have no idea what the class was actually about

2. Again while studying, you look at the example questions and have no idea what THEY are actually about

3. The first two realizations do not worry you, so you couldn't be bothered about learning the material now.

I'm [unfortunately] testing this tomorrow. Stay tuned to find out how it goes.

Study, study, study...right.

Today is Monday and I have two final exams this week and absolutely no ambition to study for either of them. On Saturday I made about half of the study guide for one of the exams (the one that is tomorrow) and I have not even looked at anything for the exam on Thursday. Because the exams are the largest part of my semester grade (if not the only determining factor), this morning I decided that I had best get to studying. However, today it looked like this outside:

**Please notice two things: 1. Cherry blossoms and 2. The CLEAR sky

..and because I had to study, I looked like this sitting inside:

That wasn't going to work now, was it? I spent a solid 4 hours studying and then because the afternoon was so nice, Melissa and I took a break out on the lawn and this is how it started, complete with an apple juice spritzer, a dandelion problem, and glorious, glorious, warm weather.

After sitting out on the lawn for a solid hour and a half, I got back to some studying and then off to a barbecue for dinner. Now I am back at home, attempting to master all that is consumer behavior. Off I go.

P.S. Music recommendation: O by Damien Rice (The ENTIRE album. Love it.)

Spring Break: Week 3 (& then Some)

Ok, so I promised the last three days of spring break would be posted soon, so here they are:

Monday the 19th: Never went to bed Sunday night and spent about 2 hours booking ferries and buses to get home. At 5:15 am we shipped out of the hostel to catch our first bus. We were at the airport for an additional three hours before the bus actually came. Then the 51 hour trip began. We got on the bus and proceeded to ride it through part of Spain, along the southern and eastern borders of France and ended up on a ferry to England at some hour of the morning (or night?) when it was still dark. I can't even remember what time this was at, it's all kind of blurred together in a haze....

Tuesday: Aforementioned ferry ride, drive UP England from Southamton to Leeds and get there early afternoon. Upon arrival we hung out in the airport for a few hours, got interviewed by a paper and radio station, and then made our way to the Leeds bus station. We then got on another bus at 6:15 and were on it for the remainder of the evening.

Wednesday: At 2 am we hopped on a ferry and finally made it to Dublin. We then caught the 7:15 bus to Galway and got back around 11:30 am. Whew. 17 days after leaving, I can finally sleep in a room with just me and take a shower in my own bathroom :)

So now that that's done, moving on! Today was a lovely SUMMERY day, complete with freshly cut grass, sunshine, IT WAS WARM, and there was a delightful little breeze. Can't ask for much more, I'd say :) Which is what brings me to my next point: Why summer is awesome.

Let's start with a general background, shall we??? Growing up my summers consisted of taking care of the flower and vegetable gardens (and thus was born my love of all things green and living), jumping on the trampoline, sleeping on the trampoline, eating boxes and boxes of Otter Pops, painting (barns, fences, the house once, etc. etc.), and hanging out in Utah with the cousins for weeks, if not months, at a time. Jolly good! So those were the wonderful warm months until my sophomore year of high school. For the next three summers I ended up working as an office gopher. Not bad considering what most high school jobs are like--this one was mostly just a lot of office work. As a bonus, my mom worked there (meaning that if I got bored I could go bother her and she would try to teach me AutoCAD, which I found out I DO NOT have the patience to learn). The last summer I worked in the office (after my senior year), I also had a part time job mowing lawns. I worked with a 79 year old man that had a mouth like a sailor and it was a terrifically fun job :)

After I started college, I decided that I liked being outside for these 3 glorious months and consequently got a job working for my neighbor doing farm and ranch work. LOVED. THIS. JOB. I got to be outside ALL day, drive big machinery (and learn how to fix it. amazing!), and come home every night covered in tractor grease and hay and completely exhausted :) That particular summer was odd in the fact that while the days were nice and sunny and rather warm, it rained A LOT in the evenings. Also that summer, the little bro was working in the mountains for 10 day stretches at a time so he was never home, leaving me alone with the parentals. What was I to do? Get home around 7 every night, take a shower, eat dinner, go out and sit on the porch on a rocking chair and practice my guitar or read. I saw some good sunsets that way, also. For example:


Now we get to the other things that I like about summer now that y'all know the major ways in which they have been spent. Here are the things I like:
-The smell of warm asphalt
-Snow Cones in Choteau...and the ice cream parlor
-Warm nights
-Running around in the dark on warm nights
-Hiking Palisade Falls on warm nights (my favorite time of the day during summer is night, can you tell?)
-The 4th of July!!! (and going to the Evenson family reunion every year :D)
-Barbecues on the porch
-Music on Main
-Riding bikes
-Floating the river
-Playing with Squirt on the front lawn
-Saturday adventures

Hmm...I think I have comprehensively covered just about every aspect of summer imaginable. I am quite excited that it has finally decided to arrive and I can once again whip out the Birkenstocks and/or flip-flops and give the feet an old breather from the sneakers :)

This is where I leave you, but not before the music recommendation of the day, three actually. Song: "You've Got the Love" by Florence + the Machine. Re-discovery: "Somewhere Only We Know" by Keane. Artist: Imogen Heap. Amazing. Over and out.

Spring Break: Week 2

Before we dive into the week, I will tell you now, the day I landed I came down with a dreadful sinus infection that lasted pretty much the entire week. The first three days are pretty hazy and the only reason I know what I did is because I have picture evidence of me being in those places. After Thursday it started to clear up a bit, but the entire week was still amazing and I had a rockin' time (I wasn't going to have being sick stop me from seeing everything, right?). :) Here we go:

Monday April 12th: This started off with flying from Rome to Spain. We flew into the Girona airport, which is about an hour and a half from Barcelona. As luck would have it, my aunt and uncle HAPPENED to be driving from Girona to Barcelona the day that I flew in! I took a bus from the airport into the city of Girona and after wandering around in the rain for awhile, met them there, wandered around some more, stopped for tapas and left for Barca. I slept most of the way there, but it was still nice to see them :) Once there we found the hostel and they resumed their trip. After checking in we went to see La Segrada Familia, but due to rain, the towers were closed, so we decided to wait for a day with better weather. We then went to the Spanish Arc de Triumf and the Parque de la Ciudadela and [once again] wandered around in the rain.


Tuesday: Parc Guell. Freakin' sweet. It looks like Dr. Suess invaded Barca with mosaics and crazy footpaths. Then we went up to the 1992 Olympic stadium on Montjuic-that was neato. We wandered around there for a few hours, then walked back down to Las Ramblas.



Wednesday: Go back to La Segrada Familia; here's the story, this church (or cathedral?) was designed by Gaudi is designed to have the stations of the cross depicted with carvings along the outside of the church. It was started in the late 1800s and won't be done for at least another 15 years. Back to Las Ramblas where Angela had KFC for the FIRST TIME.

Thursday: Took a walking tour of the Gothic Quarter, went down to the waterfront and walked along about a mile and a half of it, fed some fish a baguette (I didn't think fish liked bread, boy was I wrong), played in the MEDITERRANEAN, and went back to the hostel to grab our bags so we could catch our plane. Upon arrival we found out our flight was canceled, so we re booked another one for early Saturday morning and went out to get some churros (good choice? very).



Friday: Sleep in then go hang out at the beach. It wasn't the warmest day, but delightful still the same :) Found out my flight for Saturday was cancelled, so re booked for Tuesday.

Saturday: Sleep in and go the beach. Then I met up with a senior missionary couple and went to a Relief Society activity where I learned to make some kind of Philippine dessert. I think it was an acquired taste.

Sunday: Went to church and it was all in Spanish. Yeah...my Spanish isn't that good ;)Had lunch with the senior missionaries (I slept at their house on Saturday night), took a nap, and went to a fireside. The fireside was sweet, there was a mission conference the next day, so Elder Hinckley of the first quorum of the 70 was there and he spoke (in English and they then translated it into Spanish. Good for me, I understood it that way). Found out my flight for Tuesday was cancelled, and by a completely random set of events, found out about a ferry and bus service that was not completely overbooked and could get us to England. Went back to the hostel and ended up finding another ferry and bus that could get us to Ireland by Wednesday. SCORE! Booked it and never went to bed, I figured it would be better to stay up all night and pass out on the bus later.

The next three days will be posted shortly.

Spring Break: Week 1

Ok, so this will take awhile. I will ATTEMPT to cover the last 2 1/2 weeks of all of my wonderfully warm(ish) spring break travels. For the sake of time (because I have a whole load of studying that needs to get done), it will be in bullets. Ole! Here we go.

Sunday April 4th: Get on a bus and go to Dublin. From there we flew to Florence, Italy and at 2am that morning we watched the season opening game of baseball, Red Sox vs. Yankees, anyone?

Monday: Went to the the Ponte Vecchio, wandered around for awhile and found a square with tons of statues, and watched a nifty sunset while wandering.

Tuesday: Climb the Opera Tower of the Duomo (all 414 steps), find a huge produce market, go sit out in the sun outside of Palazzo Pitti, which is a ginormous palace turned museum, go see Michelangelo's David, climb to the Piazza Michelangelo and watch the sunset, and go get some delicious pizza.

Wednesday: Hiked Cinque Terra; this is a series of five tiny towns on the northern coast of Italy, all connected by hiking trails. We ended up at the 4th town and stopped for some lunch. By that time it was early afternoon, so we took the train to 5th town (it was a 2 hour hike otherwise) and we went and played in the Ligurian Sea. Booyah! That puppy was cold. We also stopped in Pisa on the way back to see, what else, but the Leaning Tower of Pisa and take horribly cliched pictures :D



Thursday: Head off to Venice and hang out there all day. Pretty nifty, but not much to do. We saw St. Marks Square and had some stellar Italian food.

Friday: Take a train to Rome. After getting there we went to the Colosseum and took a tour (that thing is enormous), went to the Roman Forum and Palatino, and later that night hung out in the Piazzo Navona.

Saturday: We went to the Vatican--the museums, the Sistine Chapel, all of it (well not ALL of it, just the parts open to the public). We also found a random little market and what did they have?? Fake Montana license plates! Good find.

Sunday: Still in Rome. Went to The Trevi fountain, the Pantheon, the Spanish Steps, and sat in the Piazza del Popolo all afternoon.

Whew. Week 1 is done. Week 2 to come shortly.

Happy Hunting (for Easter Eggs of Course)!

It's almost Easter, which would usually mean go home, dye eggs, have a big Easter egg hunt in the stacks of hay bales, use the same baskets that I have since I was about three (they are AWESOME! Mine is a duck.), hang out with the fam, and I could go on and on. However, this year is slightly less ordinary. Melissa is going home tomorrow, which means on Sunday I will be here all alone until early afternoon. We did have to still celebrate this glorious holiday, so what did we do? We went to the store, loaded up on Easter chocolate and hid everything in the house when it was dark and had a blindfolded egg hunt. It was amazing.

I'm pretty sure this will keep me hopped up on sugar for the next two weeks; this is only HALF of what we had.

This is the house we built out of mini Kinder bars and all of the delightful little men we found in Kinder Eggs! :D

Happy Easter everyone!

Another Dollop of Delight

I really should be writing a paper (earthwork castles. intriguing.), buuut I was distracted. Distracted as in I lost interest in the topic at hand and am trying to stay awake :D I realized that I hadn't left any quotes in awhile, so here you go. It is found in Atlas Shrugged.

“In the name of the best within you, do not sacrifice this world to those who are its worst. In the name of the values that keep you alive, do not let your vision of man be distorted by the ugly, the cowardly, the mindless in those who have never achieved his title. Do not lose your knowledge that man's proper estate is an upright posture, an intransigent mind and a step that travels unlimited roads. Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark, in the hopeless swamps of the approximate, the not-quite, the not-yet, the not-at-all. Do not let the hero in your soul perish, in lonely frustration for the life you deserved, but have never been able to reach. Check your road and the nature of your battle. The world you desired can be won, it exists, it is real, it is possible, it's yours.”

-Ayn Rand

Wonderful Irish Sunshine

Soooo, today I woke up and it was SUNNY and GORGEOUS and WARM out, so what was the best way to take advantage of the day? Go for a run of course! I ended up finding the NUIG regional track after I took a detour from the usual route. Super duper (it is a very nice track). On my way home it started to downpour, which was fine with me. Then we went grocery shopping, came home, and went exploring!

I was randomly looking out the window and realized that there was a little path behind our house. Who knew? So Melissa and I went to find it and had to scale a wall to do so. Once we had gotten to the other side, we noticed a little mini horse and this was the smallest horse that I have ever seen in my life. Anywho, it looked lonely so I went up and started to pet it; poor little guy, he was sweating uncontrollably, there was no water anywhere for him to drink, and his eyes were dripping with who-knows-what. Unfortunately, there was nothing we could do, sad day. After that we left to resume the afternoon and enjoy more of the day. When climbing over the wall again, what did we find? A lonely license plate! It was at the end of a dead end road and was from 11 years ago and had apparently been abandoned. I think you can tell how this story ends... :D Then it went back to a pretty typical day and we had EARTH HOUR!!!--this is when you shut off everything for an hour. It was dark out and there wasn't much to do, so we went for a walk. Delightful!

That's my day and now I will give y'all some suggestions in case you want to brush up on Irish history (I have these all hyper-linked, so you can click on them for the Wikipedia articles):

Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt: This is a book about an Irish family during the 1930s and 40s.

The Wind that Shakes the Barley: This is a movie about the Irish War of Independence from Britain--very sad, very well made, and the actors are actually Irish.

Michael Collins: This is a movie about Michael Collins who was a leader in the Irish revolution and a key player in the Anglo-Irish Treaty.

So, that's all I've got. Have a great day!