I’ll take the blame

For 5 months I talked about how much I love home and can’t wait to go back and get out of the Hawaii rain. Well, jokes on me, it has rained every day since I have been home. Words cannot explain how much my heart hurts! In the last few days it has rained more then it usually does all winter. According to the news tomorrow will be the worst of the storm and then it will clear up for Christmas. I sure hope so! Despite the horrible weather, I am having a great vacation! It wasn’t exactly what I had dreamed it would be, but I do love every second!

Today I went shopping in LA with my mom. It has become a tradition for us. Twice a year, once during the summer and once for Christmas, my mom takes off work and we go to LA ,just the 2 of us, for a day of shopping. We were thinking about canceling today because of the weather but it turned out pretty nice after all. Since it was predicted to rain super bad, a lot of people stayed off the road so there was no traffic like there normally is! And since it was raining there was almost nobody shopping, so we got a lot of great deals because people were desperate for us to buy stuff. My only problem was my “waterproof” boots weren’t really waterproof so I walked around with wet feet all day. I wished I would have remembered why I had only wore those boots once before!

You know what the best part of being home is? Being with my little puppy!!! I doubt anybody will ever be as happy to see me as she was when I walked in the door. She has been by my side every second since I have been home. Right now she is asleep on my legs. I missed her so much and it’s going to take everything I have to leave her again. This is a picture of her right now.

Isn't she just so cute?! Anyway, I need to get to sleep. I have another busy day tomorrow! Peace out!

Honesty time…

Today I went to the store in the middle of the day to get milk for my family. Everything was fine, I got the milk, same stuff to make cheesecake and my celestial brownies and then I got in line to pay. The next thing I know this guy comes up to me, grabs my arm, and asks me what my name is. He was a lot bigger then I am, covered in tattoos and missing a few teeth. I made up a name and turned away putting my groceries on the counter, hoping he would leave me alone. Next thing I know his friends also come up to me and start asking me personal questions and touching my arm, totally freaking me out. Just when I was about to scream, a group of firefighters got in line right behind me and the guys went back to the line they were in still staring at me. I think the firefighters realized that something was going on because they asked if I was ok. I told them I was fine but asked if they would be willing to walk me to my car because I was scared that those guys might be waiting for me outside the store.

Maybe I’m over reacting about what happened but it really made me think about how grateful I am for the little town of Laie, HI. I know I give it a lot of crap. I hate the small town and complain all the time about how naïve everybody is. But the truth is, it’s great to feel safe in the town you live in. I know that Laie and BYUH aren’t the perfect place people make them out to be, but for the most part they have a nice environment. You can go months without hearing the F-word, smelling cigarette smoke, or seeing a drunk person when you’re in Laie. I don’t realize anything is different until I come home and something happens.

My friends in Hawaii always make fun of me for being paranoid and I always tell them they will thank me when my paranoia saves their life. While I was driving home I was thinking about what happened and how I doubt it would happen if I was in foodland and it made me really thankful for Laie. The funny thing is I grew up with crazy things like this happening all around me but I think the Mormons are rubbing off on me. Although I may still be paranoid about a lot of things, I feel really safe doing my day to day activities and that makes up for the fact that Laie is so small.

Things I do for my friends

I have this rule when it comes to books and movies. I will not read or watch anything that people dress up for and stand in line waiting for the midnight release. With the exception of Batman, Dark Night, which I absolutely LOVE and didn’t know people would dress up and watch at midnight, I have been very successful at following my rule.

AND THEN (cue the dramatic music)… My friends bought me the Twilight series for Christmas. I now feel obligated to read them. ALL of them! I don’t think I have ever read so many pages in all my life. My friends swear that I’ll become a HUGE fan but I don’t think so. No matter what I can promise I will NEVER be team Edward! That creepy, nasty, stalker dude is a freak! I don’t know how anybody could be team Edward. Team Jacob I can understand but you have to be smoking something to like Edward!

It might be a little easier to get into them because I just said goodbye to one of my best friends. Since she is a major Twilight fan I might want to read the books just so I won’t miss her as much. I tend to do stuff like that. I watch Dancing with the Stars because it reminds me of my mom. I love hummingbirds because they remind me of my grandma. I just might read Twilight to remind me of the awesomeness that was this semester and my great friends here in Hawaii.

On a completely different note I just google imaged “Team Jacob” to find a picture to go along with this blog post and my disgust for Edward, and OMG I could write a whole post just making fun of the crap that came up. Here are a few of the highlights (more reasons why I’m not a fan)…

I personally like the shirt I found a while ago that said, “Team Jesus, because Edward and Jacob can’t always save you!”

Anyway, if you know me at all you know that I like to take the words of songs and change them a little to go along with whatever crazy thing is in my head. You will also know that I like to sing these songs at the top of my lungs and dance to them, no matter where I am. (Lucky for you this is just a blog and you don’t have to hear me sing or be embarrassed by my dancing). As my friend and I were leaving from saying goodbye tonight I made up a little song that she wanted me to post here on my blog. It goes a little something like this. (Please feel free to imagine me signing and dancing to this!)

Three little Monkeys jumping on the bed
Alicia fell off and died
We all called the doctor and the doctor said
Sorry but now you only have two Monkeys to jump on the bed

Ok, WOW! That was super random and sounded a lot better when I sang it in the car. On another completely different note I sprained my wrist and it freaking hurts like crazy! I won’t say what I did because it’s not a good story but it’s killing me more then it has ever hurt before when I sprained it. And please don’t send me messages about how I should go to the doctor since its swollen, or any crap like that. I refuse to spend $10 for a doctor to wrap it up for me. I might not have gone to med school but I’m perfectly capable of wrapping up my own wrist.

So that’s all the randomness I have for tonight! Just in case you didn’t know I go home the day after tomorrow! Of course I’m not looking forward to it at all though! Goodnight!!!

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly!

This morning I was woken up by this phone call:

Me: Hello?
Mom: Are you still that sick?
Me: No mom, you called at the butt crack of dawn, I was sleeping.
Mom: I thought today was your day to wake up early.
Me: No today was the ONLY day I get to sleep in a little.
Mom: Well not anymore!! Funny story……

And just so you all know, it wasn’t a funny story and I couldn’t go back to sleep! So I have been cranky all day thanks to my mom!! If I was rude to you today please feel free to blame it on my mom. She is the one who always told the family to NEVER wake me up one second early, shouldn’t she know better?

(This was my face as my mom was telling me everything going on back home!)

Anyway on a good note, while I was up super early I checked my scores for the second part of the PRAXIS test and I passed!!!! I am so excited! I was worried I wouldn’t pass either but I passed both! Sometimes I wonder if I’ll be a good teacher and passing both tests gave me a little boost of confidence. I still have to take the special education portion to be certified in Special Education but I feel like the hard part is over.

And you know what’s even better? I’m finished with all my finals as of this afternoon! And you know what’s even better then that? I’ll be home in 3 days!!!!!!!! Not that I’m counting the days till I’ll be home or anything.

It's going to be a long night!

Its getting pretty late and I should be sleeping but that is impossible right now. We are in the middle of a big storm. The storm itself isn’t my problem though. It’s raining really hard, the thunder and lightning is much worse then I have ever experienced before, and half the town has lost power (fingers crossed that the power here will stay on). But I’m not really worried. My attitude is as long as there are no valuables on the floor, just in case it floods, everything will be fine.

The only problem is I am surrounded by stupid girls!! I HATE girls!!! They freak out over the dumbest things!!!! Every time the thunder cracks they scream as if they just got hit! HELLO, you are in your room on the bottom floor its not going to hurt you! And they are freaking out because they think that they are going to drown in their sleep if it floods! You have to be kidding me!!! You think you aren’t going to wake up when freezing water is pouring on you? And these are college students! How the heck they ever got into school here, I’ll never know!

My random thoughts…

Right now I should be writing a 10 page paper.
It’s due tomorrow.
I haven’t started it yet.
I don’t want to do it.
So I’m blogging.
But I have nothing to blog about.
Except, I passed the PRAXIS!
I’m super excited!
You can only take it twice before my school won’t certify you to become a teacher.
I passed it on the first try.
It saved me hundreds of dollars.
And a whole day's worth of testing.
And a bunch of stress.
Now I just have to take and pass the Special Education part.
And finish student teaching.
Then I’ll be a real teacher!
EXCITING!
I think this surpasses everything else I’m excited about.
I should stop procrastinating and write my paper now.
I hate writing papers!
10 more days until I’m home!
The End!!

I think I finally got it!!

Apparently being my age and not yet married is a crime. In fact, it might just be the biggest crime the world has ever seen. Rapist and murderers have nothing on a 24 year old, mormon, college student, soon to be kindergarten/special ed teacher, who isn’t married. Just ask around, anybody will tell you that.

Among the list of things I am excited for when I come home for Christmas I failed to mention my huge excitement for people asking me why I’m not yet married. In order to show them that I’m not completely evil I have been reading up on the best places to find a good husband. I think I finally understand where I have gone wrong! You can check it out HERE!

I would just like to tell all of my family and friends, you no longer have to worry about me, I’ll have a man in no time! Thank you so much Kristina for your great advice! You really did save me from a whole life time of unhappiness! And I hope that I can pass your wisdom along to all my other single criminal friends!

Just incase...

Just incase anybody was doubting my level of excitement to be going home in exactly 2 weeks from today, I made a list of specific things I’m excited for:

Being cold
Cuddling under a blanket
Playing with my little puppy
Looking at Christmas lights
Partying with my friends
Sleeping in
Reading a book that’s not a text book
Hanging out with my family
Eating a home cooked meal
Taking a bubble bath
Wearing heels and people not thinking I’m crazy
No lesson plans
Eating good Mexican food
Cuddling with my puppy
Shopping with my mom
Decorating for Christmas
Seeing new sights
Taking my little cousin shopping
Watching my favorite Christmas movies
No homework
Sitting in front of a heater
Wearing warm clothes
Taking my dog for walks
Going ice skating
Giving my mom her Christmas present
Being in a big city
Not having to drive 45minutes to get anywhere
Chilling in my pajamas all day
A day with out hearing “honor code”
Not being woken up by girls talking outside my window
Mom yelling at me for not putting the toothpaste away
Baking yummy desserts
New Year’s party
My Dog waking me up by giving me kisses
Talking to my aunt about teaching
Staying out late just talking to my friends
Eating at my favorite restaurants
Wearing the cute scarves my mom has made me
Listening to the Christmas record my mom plays every year and singing to “Santa Claus for President”

Those are just the few things that came to the top of my mind at the moment! It’s a lot for only being home for 14 days but I assure you there are so many more!

Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas… Finally!!!

All semester long I have struggled to find motivation to do school work. I have always been a procrastinator but I hit an all time low. Everything peaked a few weeks ago when I found out I would not be done in May and I would have to do a whole other student teaching when the next school year starts… And then came thanksgiving and the start of the Christmas season!! I thought that my homesickness would kick in even more hard core and that my motivation for school would completely diminish. After all, that’s what happened last year, I was doing really good until the Christmas season started, then all I could think of was going home and I no longer cared if I failed out of school.

For some reason I had the totally opposite effect this year. Ever since the start of the Christmas season all I have been able to think about is getting all this work dune so I can go home and party it up San Diego style! In one night I buckled down and did a whole week’s worth of homework. When I looked at the clock and realized that I had to be up in 4 hours, I still didn’t want to stop. It felt so good! If only I had this motivation all the time. Who knows the things I would be able to accomplish, I would probably take over the world or something.

So now I have 2 weeks more left of school and only 2 projects to do. I am not stressed at all!! That has never happened to me before! This is about the time I normally start going crazy and stop sleeping. And these classes that I’m finishing are the last classes I am ever going to have to take! I am so excited!!

Unfortunately, the end of this semester also means graduation for a lot of my friends. Although I am so happy for them, I hate that this means they are going home and I don’t know when I’ll be able to see them again. The worst part of going to an international school is that you make friends with people from all over the world, and when you leave odds are you will never see them again. I am horrible with goodbyes and I can’t stand the thought of not knowing when I’ll see my friends again!

I could go on and on typing all night but I’m going to stop now and go watch a cheesy LifeTime Christmas movie as I fall asleep. Goodnight and Happy Christmas Season!!!