Sunday, August 28, 2011

Last Hoorah

   Last Monday I started the end of my summer by flying into Long Beach to visit my roommate Rachel in Lakewood.  It was great to see her and my other two roommates, who flew in from Alaska, again.  My vacation started on Monday when I left home at 7 A.M. to catch a flight into Long Beach.  I had never flown by myself before so I was a little nervous.  The guy I sat next to on the plane was nice enough but we had exhausted all small-talk before we even reached the runway.  In the middle of the flight though he started to ask me what my friends and I would be doing for fun, and if we were going to go clubbing.  I told him that we don't drink or do drugs.  To this he replied, "that's smart, because you'll wake up the next morning remembering what you did the night before.  If I was younger I would probably know where the hot L.A. clubs are but now that I'm older I've stopped my wild ways."  After an awkward silence I said that my friends and I were maybe going to do a bonfire on the beach.  He smiled and asked me if I had seen Hangover 2, which I hadn't, and then told me the premise of it.  Apparently the premise is about these men who wake up one morning and can't remember what they did last night even though they hadn't had a drop of alcohol.  I guess then they realize that someone had put weed or pot or something in the marshmallows used for the s'mores.  So the nice 60 year old man next to me on the plane advises me, "if there are boys going with you girls, don't eat their marshmallows."  I was about dying of laughter inside because I didn't think we would have that problem.  After that conversation I was thankful that we were landing so I didn't have to make awkward small-talk with strangers.
   After I landed Rachel, Tess, and Cara picked my up and took my stuff to Rachel's house.  We drove to the mall and then spent most of Monday at Seal Beach with us four where....wait for it..... I didn't get sunburned.  That night we watched a movie called Arthur.  Wasn't my favorite movie but it was kinda funny.  I don't think my family would like it though because it's about a 30 something old who still has a nanny.

   On Tuesday we woke up and went kayaking at Huntington Harbor with Rachel's brother, Matthew.  I must say it was a fun place to go kayaking for your first time.  I was afraid I would tip over but I didn't, which was good.  That night Rachel, Tess, Cara, and I drove to Anaheim to watch the fireworks at Downtown Disney.  Driving home at 11 o'clock at night we heard a loud bang or pop sound and it sounded like something had just hit our car.  I thought my door had become opened somehow and then felt myself start to sink a little bit.  I told Rachel I thought she had a flat tire so we pulled over, and sure enough the tire on my side was totally flat.  I was a little worried that we had a flat on an L.A. freeway at 11 P.M. but thankfully Rachel's dad and brother came to change the tire for us.


   On Wednesday we waited for the car to get a new tire and then us four girls and Matthew headed to Huntington Beach for the afternoon.  At Seal Beach I hadn't gotten in the water because I didn't want to get wet but on Wednesday I gave in and plunged into the cold ocean.  I swallowed a ton of salt water but it was worth it to be in the water.  Mom will also be glad to know that I didn't get sunburned on that day either.  After we got back from the beach we ate dinner and watched Sidney White.  It's an Amanda Bynes movie that I had never heard of but again I thought I was pretty funny.  I don't think my family would like this movie though either because, well, it has Amanda Bynes in it.  After the movie we retired to bed because we had to get up really early the next morning.

   Thursday morning we woke up at 3:30 A.M. and got on the road at 4:02 to drive back to Provo.  We surprisingly fit Rachel's bag, Matthews bag, Rachel's moms bag, Tess' bag, and my bag in the car.  Cara's we had to strap to the top of the car.  We drove to St. George where we took a break to visit Rachel's cousins.  Her cousin Paul was attacked by two lions on his mission a couple months ago and it was the first time Rachel had seen him since he got back.  He had to have his left arm amputated right above the elbow but he was in really good spirits.  It's amazing how trials come into our lives but how the Lord gives us strength to carry on and not let those trials keep us from living life.
   After leaving her cousins house we ate lunch at Costco, where Cara and Tess had their first polygamist siting, and then got back in the car and drove for another 4 hours.  In the car we watched Kung Fu Panda and Holes.  Even though we were distracted from the long car ride it was nice to come into Utah valley and see the Y on the mountain.  That night Cara, Cara's brother, Tess, and I went over to Cara and David's aunts house for dinner.  After David let us come see the new Heritage dorms.  Man those dorms are huge, they make my dorm from last year look like a dump.  My apartment this year looks like a shack compared to it, but regardless we moved stuff in to our apartment and did a lot of deep cleaning that night.

   It's nice to be out of the dorms but at the same time I miss it.  Last night our friend Tricia came to visit us and there was an awesome lightning storm outside so we decided to take a drive above the temple to watch it.  When we were driving past Helaman Halls, we wanted to walk through our old hall and then go say hi to our friend Chris who is an R.A. in a different building.  It was weird walking past my old room because it feels like it had only been like two weeks since I had been there.

   Well this has been a very long post and I'd be surprised if you even read down this far.  But I'll close this post now but saying Happy Sunday and I hope the semester starts well tomorrow.

Sunday, August 21, 2011

End of Summer

It's that time of year again.  Usually I'm excited to get back to school but this past week I've been surprisingly wanting it to stay summer.  I'm excited to get back to Provo but I've had a pretty amazing summer and it's not over yet.

Last Tuesday Rachel, mom, dad, and I left for California.  We stayed over in Truckee and then finished our drive the next day to San Francisco.  If you've ever made the drive from Utah to Northern California you know the Nevada portion is pretty dull and long.  Only when we got out of Nevada did I begin to enjoy the drive.  The best part was when we passed a mini golf course in Sacramento whose sign said "Jimmer plays free."

So here is how our trip panned out:

Tuesday:  Leave Salt Lake

Wednesday:  Shop at the outlets in Vacaville, lunch in Sonoma, Golden Gate bridge, Bi-Rite ice cream (if you ever go, get ricanela which is basically snickerdoodle), Humphry Slocombe ice cream (yes, we did two ice cream places in one outing, but definitely skip this store next time you're in San Francisco.  It' has the weirdest flavors),  Pacific Catch for dinner (one of our favorites), China Beach, and drive thru Sea Cliff

Thursday:  Breakfast at Tartines, pick Brooke up from the Oakland airport,  pick her bags up from the San Francisco airport, lunch on the marina, "shop" on Fillmore street, shop in Union Square, Fort Point, dinner at La Canasta, and nighttime walk thru Cow Hollow neighborhood

Friday: Breakfast at Tartines (again), baptisms at the Oakland temple, antique and lace stores in Berkeley, lunch at Netties, Cable Car museum with dad, walk back thru dad's old neighborhood, Ghirardellis

Saturday:  go back to Oakland to pick up Brookes camera from the temple, go back to the Vacaville outlets to shop a little more, walk along the Nevada freeway to pick up part of the car that blew off, watch Undercover Boss to pass time, and arrive home at 11:45 P.M.


Oakland airport 

Fort Point
Walking back from the Cable Car museum with the Transamerica building in the background
Mom and dad's old apartment on Pacific


Now, less than 18 hours after getting home I am doing laundry and packing again to head back to California, this time Long Beach.  I'll report on that later.

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Christmas in August?

As most of the people reading this blog know, I absolutely L.O.V.E. the holidays.  If I could, I would just have September, October, November, and December rotate in a calendar year.  Well this year I seem to have caught the Christmas bug a little bit early.  It all started the other day I was talking to my friend James about the good old days of singing with Madrigals at Christmas time.  Well now I have seasonal depression because I wish it was winter.  I watched Miracle on 34th Street tonight and now I'm listening to my Pop Christmas station on Pandora.  Yes, I know, it's weird that I am listening to holiday music in August.  Although I can't help myself.

It's kind of a family joke about me and Christmas.  I love decorating the tree on my birthday (which is always over Thanksgiving break) and dragging one of my sisters to shop at Modern Display at least twice during December, and I usually add 3 or 4 glass ornaments to my collection.  This year I started my shopping early.  On our vacation a couple weeks ago we found a store across from Quincy Market called Christmas in Boston.  I was seriously in heaven and wanted to move there just to work at the store.  Let's just say I got a few ornaments.  After we walked out about $100 poorer, Erin joked that when my parents die all my sisters will get the furniture and valuable stuff and, well, I'll get the Christmas ornaments.  But hey, I wouldn't complain! And at least my house will look festive.

As a friend just stated right now and you're probably thinking, "Abby. Stop that right now! Summer needs to stay."  Well agree with her or not, but for now I'm going to fall asleep and hopefully dream of snow, Christmas lights, Grandpas carved Santas, and Mannheim steamroller music.
The before and after of last years tree

Monday, August 1, 2011

Rise and Shout

Today is the day that BYU all-sports passes go on sale.  I thought that this year since I'm actually buying one I should probably learn the fight song.  I'm totally behind because if I was this kid my parent's would've taught it to me 17 years ago.  I guess you're never too young to learn the BYU fight song.  In case you can't understand what he's saying, I've posted the lyrics for your benefit.


Rise, all loyal Cougars
And hurl your challenge to the foe.
We will fight, day or night,
Rain or snow.
Loyal, strong and true,
Wear the White and Blue.
As we sing, get set to spring.
Come on Cougars, it's up to you!
(STAND)
So Rise and Shout, the Cougars are out
We're on a trail to fame and glory,
Rise and shout, our cheers will ring out
As we unfold our vict'ry story.
On we go to vanquish the foe
For Alma Mater's sons and daughters
As we join in song,
In praise of you, our faith is strong.
We'll raise our colors high in the blue
And cheer our Cougars of BYU.