Drive Baby Drive!

I have often let my mind wander back to the days when I could fill my car up with gas and still be able to pay for food-in the same week. I know I know we all though that was simply a dream but i am hear to prove it ain't true! This picture is actual evidence of modern day gas prices. We are living in a time when gas is not an extravagance but rather a possibility! What are the odds? I don't even know if i trust it myself and than I look at this picture again and believe. All we need people is a little belief and also a continual drop in our economy.

Masquerade Conclusion

The Masquerade was a success. Friends came, food eaten, dancing done.

The Stress of Planning "The" Party

Back when I was chilling in Italy Rachael Dannielle and I planned on having a Masquerade ball the following fall semester (this semester). Well the date has finally come. Today. I should already be in the car driving to prepare the cabin, Rachael won't answer-we have alot to do. I know i shouldn't let these type of things take over my mind and make me want to go run a marathon rather than plan one more part but i just cant stand it when things aren't planned just right. We are having a chocolate fountain and yesterday we spent three hours shopping for the right dippers for a chocolate fountain without knowing what amount and what kind of chocolate to buy. There is also the chore of inviting people and than hearing a few say "sorry i can't come, you should have told me earlier" when I had being telling people since august (do they want a year's notice?). The other stressful aspect of creating the perfect masquerade is the outfit. If you are going to be the host you cant show up in your sunday casual and your dollar store mask, you have to be the hot one on the floor (if you know what i mean.) If any of you have seen The Phantom of the Opera you easily notice the important characters because of their intense outfits. I have to be that character. Wow it sure feels good to vent like this. Thanks!! Pictures of the event to come-unless it is a total flop of course!

NBD (no big deal)

. . . I just went to a private concert with Jason Mraz last night. HELLO!!! it was amazing! I could totally tell he had a crush on me and that he would be calling me after the concert. I haven't gotten a call yet, but I have faith it will come. My friend's boss had a private concert to celebrate his own birthday and everyone in the company was give tickets, free dinner, and free drinks to the Salt Palace with Jason Mraz. I was probably 10 feet from this hottie. What more does a girl want. He was quite charming and you couldn't help but do a little knee bending as his rhythm and the beat ran through the entire building. There was quite a range or individuals at the concert. You had everything from your over 50 still wanna be hip, sugar mommas to your young college grads hoping to make it in life and sloshing down a few drinks. I fit in perfectly. I got as close to the front as a could, leaned back and just let Jason take me away.

Russian Love

So I have heard that Russians are ugly. WRONG! Since some of my friends are basically dating Youtube they showed me this Russian pop singer. Any man (even if Russian) that can hit a note like this deserves every American girls' love. So here you go buddy, here is the dedication of my young heart.

Quote Moment

First of all can I say that President Monson announced that he enjoys musicals just like me. That makes us more alike than people think. Second I would like to share a quote he stated from Music Man, one of his favorite musicals.

"If you pile up to many tomorrows you will have a lot of empty yesterdays."

That is one packed punch.

Alright i also heard another one by C. S. Lewis in Music and the Spoken Word:

"The rule for all of us is perfectly simple. Do not waste time bothering whether you ‘love’ your neighbor; act as if you did. As soon as we do this we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love them."

That leaves no room for any one to say they hate someone and you just can't like them, it is always your choice.

Alright and now from one of my favorite musicals Aida(even though i have never seen it):

"You talk as though you've been enslaved, if you don't like your fate change it. You are your own master, there are no shackles on you. So, don't expect any pity or understanding from this humble palace slave!"

Okay so this one is a little out of place but it makes me happy. When you have a black woman shouting this words from her soul, you have no choice but to believe and agree with everything she is saying.

The Power of Missionary Work

Every week when i check my email i normally receive any where from 1 -6 emails from different mothers updating me on their missionary. This week i read an email from a friend serving in the South Africa Misison, he is very musically gifted and quite brilliant. He just recently wrote a poem that I think it pretty beautiful and I wanted to share it:


From under His continual gaze,
I pause and lift my weary head.
Confused, but yet not truly phazed,
I contemplate the blood he shed.

A sacrifice so full of grace
springs from a life lived perfectly.
Our Savior came to set the pace
and beckons now, "Come Follow Me."

I know, yet I obscure the path.
Why do I place my faith in men?
Resolved, refreshed, and realigned,
I raise my head and start again.

Elder Roper

True Love

I am super excited because 80's style is now IN style. I just love putting on those bright colors, walking onto campus and seeing fellow students flaunting the same brilliant colors. I have even gotten some looks from other students and their face is basically telling me, "i choose to respect your clothing options although i have no desire to wear salmon colored pants." I have learned alot from my retro cousin Taylor and with her help have just recently acid washed a pair of normal cute jeans. They are now a blotchy bleached pair of sassy pants. Yesterday I was even told i looked like this girl in the band Love You Long Time, honestly i think there is no similarity except for the fact that we both were purple jeans. But if that is how my peers chose to see me so be it.

The Hard Life

So as a new semester starts so does the call for money. I have begun again working for Megan, my cousin, helping her decorate cakes and bake tasty treats. Let me explain to you how hard my life is. I go to BYU and study italian, linguistics, and religion. I have to sit in classes with extremely interesting professors learning about stuff i am crazy about. Between classes I am constantly seeing old friends/people on campus that are nice to me and ask about my life. As i walk to classes i get to see a plethora of attractive sites. I then have to go to Megan's and spend hours hanging out with my little sister, friends, Megan and her adorable children, making really sweet cakes. I am required to taste cookies, cupcakes, frostings and use my creative juices to design beautiful cakes. Then i get to return home to my apartment and be around 5 amazingly awesome girls. We sit up and talk for hours about how hard our lives are. O yea THEN i have to wake up and do it all again.

BYU Sports

BYU football is back!! Isn't it the best. I love walking into a game and seeing the thousands of fans all here to cheer for the true blue. It is easy to pick out those students who are true fans and those that are there just for the social scene Or to see the fathers that wish there were still students and do their best to fit in with the huge student crowd. Or the wifes that show their true blue by dressing up all their children from head to toe in BYU blue and than making them all sit through 3 hours of game time. This season better be good!!

Weekend of Bliss

I had the most beautiful weekend, ever. I spent it on a boat in the middle of this beautiful lake, Lake Powell. I am almost positive that place has a magical power of adding peace to any troubled soul. Actually it also has the reverse power when you are being pulled at 30 miles an hour behind the boat on a tube that has no ability to stop your almost naked body from completely catapulting into the 200ft deep lake. So i had very fighting feelings if the weekend was relaxing or near death defying. I will let you know the results soon.

The Power of a Ladle

Upon returning home to Utah i have decided to dedicate each free moment to the kitchen. I have actually baked so much that we dont really have any more room in our fridge for my concoctions. I get excited anytime someone comes over to the house so i can stuff food down there throat and here their opinions on what i should fix with my recipes. Today i did an italian dinner for my family. I cook stuff tomatoes, a presto chicken pasta, carbanara and for desert we had strawberry tiramisu. This week my favorite recipe was the Chocolate Peanut Butter Crunch Cake-it took two days.

She Lives

So after much consideration i decided that i need to write JK Rowling and ask her to do a book series about me. I know, I know it might be a little out of my league-meaning letting a strange woman into my many secrets but i feel that she has really proven herself with exposing this Harry Kid. So i guess the world is ready to here my story . . . I will survive.

Ultimo Sabato

So for our last Saturday in Siena together we decided to have our own Palio. For those of you who dont know what the palio is i will explain. It is a famous horse race run every July 2 in the heart of Siena. Siena is divided into areas called contradas that each have their own symbol. My contrada is the Tartuga (turtle). Well for our last saturday together Danielle and I planned a sweet ultimate day. First of all i planned we would have our own Palio. We first drew the jockies than the jockies drew their horses. I happened to be a horse. We than all headed the the Piazza (the place where everyone just chills in Siena). We saddles up and than began our piggy backing around the must public place in Siena. All eyes were on us (no seriously i think we were entertaining nations). Dont worry I came in as a strong third. Which is good since Second is considered the losing position in the Palio. Many of 2nd places are beaten up after the Palio-no joke. But i have to admit in our Palio there was alot of cheating and falling and a little blood. In these pictures i have my warrior face and we also had a picture with an old man who was telling us that we were doing our race all wrong and proceeded to demonstrate how it should be done.

We have now taken our last day trip to Florence. This time we got to see the Uffizi but sorry to say I think the most of us are historically arted out. So a lot of market shopping commenced that day. Plus some eating, being caught in a freak rain storm, buying sweet ray-bands, and other important Italian life aspects. O yes and many of the girls invested in leather jackets. I on the other hand bought beer bottle cap earing-see where the difference in priorities lye?

Last Cooking Class

Our final cooking class was a hoot! We made my favorite recipe of the whole trip, this focaccia bread. It may look simple but don’t be fooled it WILL change your life (that was said more like a command.)

Cookin'

We get these cook aprons to decorate each cooking class. Mine normally has some cool drawing that astounds the Italian chefs we work with.

My Morning Adventures

O don’t worry this just happens to be the place I work every day. And I probably shouldn’t call it work since I just learn cool recipes and get free food. Today I got to make a celery pesto, on my own. These gardens are actually a place for mentally ill to stay and work. It is really enjoyable to be with them. I have lots of new Italian friends now (even if they don't ever remember my name).

The 3rd Birthday Party

But this birthday party was my favorite, more of a all day long party. After church the boys invited Ray, Dani and I over to watch a movie. They fed us some snacks (ritz, bread, juice) while Tommy made his own birthday cake. Than we pushed the guys beds together and watched the Ultimate Gift. I slept. Than we went over to the red-heads apartment (the two red head girls in our group live together so basically they are seen as one person.) and they made us dinner. We made homemade pesto!! I know it was amazing. I learned it at work. Don’t worry I am not done. Than we all went back to the guys apartment and had the cake. Sadly people didn’t show up until ½ late so the five of us there sang to Tommy and ate his cake (he cut his own cake). So he decided he only has 5 true friends. Count on me to always be on time when there is food involved.

O and that picture Erin is holding up is one that I colored for her cause I love her.

Mari Scary Ann

this birthday party was a serious festa. Marianne, the girl in blue, is kind of everyone’s favorite. She is the type of girl who hates certain types of people and would actually make a hate list. I don’t think I am on her hate list, yet-I do tease her excessively. She actually is already making a wedding invite list and I am at the top (she hasn’t found the guy yet.)

Bparty

This week we celebrated three birthdays, one of the birthdays happen to be celebrated in a dungeon. The basement of one of the apartments even had this jail cell that me and Cameron are locked in. Hmm interesting. Also this specific night we ended up playing an 1 ½ hour game of Mafia, it was intense! My professor was getting real into it, and it think we might have even had some hurt feeling afterward. I don’t think that game will be played again this Study abroad.

My Welcome Home

After my arrival home from sicilia I was given a warm welcome home from the pigeons and yes, they gave me one of their unique little presents-poop. Try and find it? When I told my posy they informed me that it is considered good luck and we actually have a pigeon poop group in our SA. I am the newest member.

Titanic in Sicilia

Sadly on the way home we had a titanic experience. We were on the fairy from Sicilia to the main land and I was accompanying Caitlin to the bathroom. After about three minutes of waiting for her to come out a heard a serious door jiggling and than a “Reagan?.” At first she accused me of holding the door (like I would ever do that) and than we both realized she seriously could not undo the lock. Would stood in panic and had many failed attempts for about ten minutes and than is when I ran for help. Boy who cried wolf. I ran to all my friends on the top deck and told them the dramatic news. Only 2 believed me and followed but on our way to the bathroom she was walking our way. Great now I look like an idiot. But she backed me up and told them we were sure the ship was going to sink and she would have died a toilet death, always go to the extreme in possibilities. We are all grateful Caitlin is still with us today.

End of Siracusa

After the day we spent caves skaplunking or however you call it, the girls took a little skinny dip in the Mediterranean Sea. It was actually quite enjoyable and pleasant. We felt like a bunch of old woman that go and tread for an hour each day to keep their heart rates up.

More

Now to Siracusa!

So this coming monday is a national holiday in italia and therefore we all were given the option to travel. One of the boys in our group served his mission in the Catania Mission and so seven girls joined him to visit Sirucusa, Sicilia. We are staying with his buddy Toni the one i am dancing with. But first let me inform you that we took a total of about 13 hour bus rideto get the this party joint. Finally upon arrival we preped up and headed to the beach. The time there was spent cliff jumping, cave searching, avoiding speedos, and some serious sunage. We than purchased our goods and headed to have a baraque out in Eddy's familys cottage home (he is a professional biker, the guy with the blue shirt). That night we headed up to the discoteca, dropped a few beats, and bought ourselves some seriously non-acoholic beverages. Lesson learned from this day: italian men like the kisses, and expect it. Cameron (the boy in out SA) made me practice a few time because he said i did the double cheek kiss awkward. I have definitely improved though. O yea and Siracusa could definitly be a one hit wonder, i am in love with this divine place and its crazy people.

Firenze, woot woot!

Basically it rained the whole day in Florence and there were many people that, i quote, "should learn umbrella ediquette" as said by mary-ann the girl most quoted on this trip because of her slightly toasty attitude and opiniated ways, we love her. But no complients because wow. How else do i explain such magnitude. Wow once again is how i will appoarch an accruate explination. The David was the thing that most blew my mind, he was very . . . big. Also i must add the gelato there was m m good.

Ciao Clase

This is my italian class. This was our last day of class, and boy was it hard to say goodbye. No really it was hard, none of us really speak the same language and i think in those two weeks i learned more chinese than i did italian. My friend Paolo the one kneeling next to Rachael would always talk to us about the Jazz, Streetboy (some rapper) Panda Bears, and pistols. O yea and he asked me and Ray to go the the beach with him and Jason (the hard core looking one). But my favorite was Cezare he is the one that looks like the chinese version of Ron Weasley. I never understood one italian word that came out of his mouth, Paolo would have to translate for me in a little clearer but still butchered italian. But dont worry, we are all now friends on facebook.

Leaning Tower of . . .

Today was Pisa Day. We did have to go to school, but immediately after we headed to the adventurous town of Pisa. The train ride was full of many laughs, so much so that at one point i was to tears (as seeable above). These kids here are crazy. We got to the top of the tower and had to stand sideways to keep from falling, i know crazy stuff. No worries dude we made it and now we will be the one telling michaelangelo what's up. I dont really know what that means but sometimes i just wanna still to michelangelo cause that man has got serious skills when given a knife and stone. O and just for clarification he was not at all involved with the leaning tower.