Surprising the Roommates!

Right now I am currently in the BYU library attempting to touch up some essays so I can turn them in and finish this dumb class. Yuck. In between editing and writing I am, of course, updating this fabulous blog that I use as an excuse not to be productive. 

So yesterday I up and flew to Utah for the weekend :) I only told one person (in Utah), my very dear friend Aric so that he could pick me up from the airport and help me surprise my roommates. And what a surprise it was! First of all it's freezing in Utah, and I couldn't believe I was actually going when I got on the plane, nor when I stepped off into the Salt Lake City airport. Second, we almost missed the girls on their way out to dinner and a movie. Aric and snuck up the stairs of my apartment while I waited outside the door and listened to Kim and Kat talk (oh, how I've missed their voices!) and then when he came back to open the door, he grabbed the camera from my hands as I walked in, Kim started screaming so loud Hannah's dad came upstairs to see what was wrong, and then Kat started crying. Best. Moment. Ever. 

I love my roommates so much!! Through a wonderful series of fortunate events (and the help of some very good friends) I was able come back to Provo for the weekend, and couldn't be happier :) 

We ran into a few more friends at Cafe Rio after (Mauri, Hilary) and then went to see Breaking Dawn, which is definitely the weirdest, grossest, and most entertaining of the Twilight movies thusfar. I can't say I'd necessarily enjoy seeing it again, but when we walked out of the theater is was SNOWING, big huge flakes of wonderful icy cold stuff from the heavens! We drove around in Kim's car, singing at the top of our lungs and laughing and gasping at all the beautiful Christmas lights now decorating the Riverwoods. I couldn't ask for anything more. 

But I got more--friends I haven't seen in what feels like an entire summer showed up at our apartment (I was exhausted from not going to bed the night before and traveling all day, but who cares! :) ) and played Apples to Apples with us, and then Skjelse and I shnuggled on a mattress pad thing all night, happily giggling til we passed out. I also finally got to see Trent in person, the one that basically made this weekend happen :) Finally! And that's a whole 'nother story.

they had no idea! Aric did well

Kim, Kat and I in the SNOW :) And Brad on the phone

Skjelse's and my favorite Apples to Apples description: "Fat and Sassy." And man I missed my onesies

best sweater ever!! The story of my life in clothing, and you can't see it but #50 is the best: Hugs :)

The Many Adventures of Chip -n- Dale

Chip and Dale were at Camp Minnie - Mickey today in Animal Kingdom when something neat happened :) On their way back into Camp after a break spent stealing chestnuts from Donald, the chipmunks passed a whole group of people, and one woman exclaimed "Oh look, it's Chip and Dale!" Her companion, a blind woman with sunglasses and a walking stick turned her head in the direction of her friend's voice and replied "Oh really?" and smiled. Timing and spacing throughout the crowd synchronized perfectly, making a clear pathway for Dale to catch up with the blind woman, place a friendly hand on her shoulder, and give a her a loud surprise smooch right on the cheek. And the lady smiled again, wider, as Dale continued on his way :)

Chip got a wonderful key chain present from some very nice Japanese girls!

Ready for Next Week

.....but I'm actually not, because I forgot what it's like to not be counting down the days to something, waiting for the semester to be over, for finals to be over, counting down the hours til work is over, til class is over, etc. I stop counting down time because I'm having too much fun. I just love it here! I can't even describe it. And I do get to meet John Smith soon!!!!

The other day, the first day of Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party in Magic Kingdom, my friend Jordan and I decided to stay til 6:15 for the castle-lighting ceremony. Basically the VIP's (Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Goofy) all come out onto the castle stage, notice the castle is the one thing not decorated yet, and argue about how it should be decorated (Minnie wants candy canes on the towers, Goofy wants strings of popcorn, etc.) until Fairy Godmother comes out of the main balcony, Cinderella and Prince Charming walk out to help (since it's her castle and all), and Fairy Godmother grants Cinderella's wish to light it with magical icicles. Or something like that, but anyway, it's November 8th and at Disney that means it's official the holiday season, so as we watched the castle slowly light up with icicles...I thought I heard Jordan accuse me of crying (I totally was) but she was actually saying she was, and oh my goodness it was SO MAGICAL! Go ahead and mock us. But I'm not even much of a hopeless romantic anymore and it still made me totally wish I could be Cinderella as she leaned her head against Prince Charming's shoulder with his arm around her waist as they watched their castle light up together. So cheesy. I love it. 

Also of late, I went to Hong Kong auditions this week and that was fun :) Honestly it was, auditions are so interesting. To see who went, run into friends, meaet the casting directors, dance and act a little, it's a good time. 

I went to the Christmas party the other night with Belynda, Jordan, and Emily, which I think is not worth the money I'm paying for 'free' cookies and hot chocolate, but whatever. We basically just saw all our friends at work, it snowed foam a lot, and the castle Christmas show is my favorite, the chipmunks talk and are so cute! And it made me miss the Disneyland Christmas fireworks. I listen to that music every year for Christmas. 

Thanksgiving's in a week! I think we're all going to get together and try and whip something up, since most of us can't go home for the holidays. I'm also finishing my independent study class in a week (TG) and many other exciting things are coming up....ALSO, I found Pocahontas on Flickr for the first time ever!! Made my day. As always, I'm making new friends every day and finding more and more reasons to wish I could stay here past January. It's going to kill me to leave. But I'll be back :)

magical

Chelsea-Marie's birthday--and I'm obsessed with my new beret

Suz and I found Raja in Animal Kingdom!

love love love love

Prince Ali--probably my most favorite person to meet at the Christmas party

loooove Belle's Christmas dress, she's a colonial holiday goddess

I just love hugging Sulley--Kitty!

It's Been Awhile

I've been so busy trying to force myself to do school work! Ughhh I hate it, always have always will. This week has been crazy, we have cleaning checks soon and have to make sure we pass with flying colors this time although I have nothing to clean my bathroom with and my room is currently a mess after doing laundry, Halloween, and taking things off the walls (management demanded the removal of all decor). I was sick this week too, and working while sick SUCKS. One of my least favorite things in the world, most of all because I can't breathe and then it's just a mess. It's very hard to perform when you can't breathe, or talk without spreading disease, are exhausted, and can't sleep at night. Glad that only lasted a few days. This week we also went to the Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween party again, I finally got to meet Tarzan and my friend Rebekah and I spent our day off doing costume surgery to be Megara and Esmerelda. Jack Sparrow told me it was especially nice to meet me, and the picture I gave Tarzan with Pocahontas and himself on it made him laugh. Also, tonight my friends and I went to see Disney create a little Christmas magic, and it was AMAZING. So beautiful, so fun, and I am so ready for Christmas!! :) Haha. It even snowed!

my friend Steve got baptized last Saturday! he's in the middle

Paul drives me nuts. We're constantly battling each other.

everyone from UP!

I kind of love him

FINALLY

the picture I gave Tarzan

Snow White and I are good friends

we asked Flynn if Rapunzel's tiara was in his satchel

Happy Christmas :)

Main Street, plus snow

Why I Don't Like Cooking

1. All the dirty dishes afterward.

2. It's expensive. 

3. Who am I going to give my food to when I get sick of the leftovers?

4. It takes way too long.

5. I have no patience, and never enough time to sit down and just wait for food to cook.

6. When I make something really good (because I'm not going to waste my time cooking recipes I know aren't yummy) I just want to keep eating it. And it's not healthy to be eating a whole plate of cookies or tons of pasta. 

7. I'm never home long enough. 

So...it bugged me a little that even though I go and buy food when I'm out a lot, and actually save money by buying less groceries I'm not using and just buy things for sack lunches and breakfast, people think I never cook, or can't. So in the last 24 hours I've made ramen (with shrimp, green onions, and eggs added, plain is too boring), guacamole (I could live off avocados), eggs with spinach and cheese, and pumpkin bars that are amazing. And I can't stop eating them, like mentioned previously. So HA. And I'm making dinner for everyone this weekend! Tortilla soup (my favorite Halloween/Fall recipe), 7-layer dip (so so so good, you could eat that by itself for dinner, my family does), and either oreo truffles or a pizooki for dessert. No one hear knows what pizookis are (I love introducing them to people :) ) and I might have to save oreo truffles for when Christmas gets closer, or we all have Thanksgiving dinner together. Too bad I still have my class to finish in three weeks...

All In A Day's Work

Pocahontas, princess of her village (and currently the village existing somewhere in Rafiki's Planet Watch in Disney's Animal Kingdom), may or may not have been almost kissed by a full-grown man today, had her whole face grabbed by an adorable little girl for a kiss on the lips, have taken tons of pictures with thankfully proper older Indian warriors, and played tag with Rafiki in between meeting new people and making new friends. Also, she was asked a million times if her hair was real, and what ethnicity she is and where she comes from. For those wondering, OF COURSE it's real (duh) so why would you even ask, and Meeko likes to braid it when he's around. Also, Pocahontas is from the village Powhatan which is now called Jamestown, can be found in Virginia, and she's a Native American :) Now she's going to canoe just around the river bend to talk to Grandmother Willow about all the new friends she made today and all the sweet hugs and kisses she got from the little ones.

Sometimes I Just Want to Quit School

I'm taking this class. Persuasive Writing. Independent study. I feel like I've taken this same class about five times in my life now, and you'd think instead of getting harder it'd get easier. But no, they give you books to read where the author thought it'd be fun to make every word one you need to look up in a dictionary, and by the time you get to the end of the sentence you've already forgotten what the first half of the sentence was saying. I loathe those books. Do the authors just feel accomplished publishing something, or are they purposely trying to make our brains hurt? Or they like thinking they're better than everyone else because they can put ridiculous sentences together that nobody but themselves can understand. And somehow this class is supposed to make me a better person. All it's really doing is teaching me how to use online dictionaries and Wikipedia.

Also, I'm in the completely wrong section of the country to be taking an online class right now, there are WAY too many distractions. I work 'full-time,' and the rest of the time have decided to use wasting my money on Food and Wine at Epcot, "meeting" all my friends at work, and re-watching all the great Disney classics. Also of late, we like going to Steak and Shake (open 24 hours) to eat somewhat crappy burgers, harass the poor waitresses, and dance in the parking lot. And go to the Halloween party, which hosts fantastic dance parties with Woody and Jessie, and my favorite chipmunks. Also, Tarzan and Jane, the princes, and villains. Which, in my opinion, is a way better use of my time for a semester.

Blechh, school :P I'd rather just read a book. That uses normal English, thank you.

I was a muse from Hercules with Maverick and Goose

dancing at Steak N Shake

I was the prince. Everyone else made up their own characters

poca pose!

we just love Aladdin and Jasmine

Belle has more than one Beast

I couldn't let Rebekah and Paul have fun by themselves