Back in the South

It is quite amazing how life can throw a whole bunch of surprises at you all at once. I went from desperately searching for just one job offer--just one--to having two really great options. I really would have been satisfied with only one, because heaven knows I didn't think I would even get that much.

But I finally did. Good things really do come to those who wait! And those who keep going even though you keep getting told NO over, and over, and over. At least for me, I finally got a yes! And then another.

Then I was faced with a hard choice.

Nashville, Tennessee




or


Louisville, Kentucky



After a lot of thinking, pro con lists, praying, and deliberation Tony and I have come to a big decision!


wait for it ....













We're going to Nashville!!

In June! This decision is a little unexpected seeing as I was all but totally convinced to go in the other direction, but Nashville is definitely the best choice for us from almost every consideration. It feels good to know I'm heading back to Tennessee! It only took what 7 years?!

Decisions Decisions Part 2

So I've been rereading the Twilight Series this past week in preparation for a final term paper about Mormonism and Twilight. This is a completely different story for another day's blogging.

First let me say, Bella Swan is insufferable half the time. I especially dislike Kristen Stewart's portrayal of her. Mouth breathing, emo, drama queen much? But even in the books she is pretty much a ridiculous girl with some serious self confidence issues. Don't you agree? Edward says in the book that the reason he loves her so much is because she is so different from other girls. I mean please, she is exactly like pretty much most teenage girls. Yeah?

But I'm getting off topic. Despite my general disdain, there is one quality about Bella Swan that I wish I was better at. She makes a decision, and once she makes it her mind doesn't change. In contrast, my mind changes about a zillion times a day. About half of those zillion occur before I even get out of bed in the morning. I hit my snooze button an obscene amount of times pretty much each and every morning. I start meal planning for dinner hours before I eat and change my mind who even knows how many times, and usually end up cooking something completely different than anything I thought of. I'm officially deciding to take a leaf out of Bella Swan's book and make my final decision.

L.A. here I come!

I'm no marshmallow!

We watched this amazing movie in science today. For some reason I assumed it was something everyone had seen at some point growing up, but I think I am mistaken.

Then I lost my temper just a bit. I have the normal amount of pet peeves I think. Nothing too ridiculous, well except maybe my beef with Sweet Home Alabama. However, I think getting a little upset when half your class decides to make farting noises while you're trying to teach is reasonable. Ugh, having to punish a class (in this circumstance by 10 minutes of quite writing about what we learned and how to appropriately behave in a classroom) is definitely my least favorite part of my job. I don't like it. I certainly would much rather us all have fun, talk, and learn. But what can you do? I mean really--farting noises? Come on!

Decisions Decisions

First of all, Happy Birthday to my Dad who is 65 today!

Second of all, do you ever feel like you have a million thoughts all trying to get you to think them running around in your head at the same time? I sure do feel that way today. I have another possibly life-altering decision ahead of me after I got two rather unexpected curve balls thrown at me today. I checked my e-mail this morning, just a routine thing ya know. I certainly did not expect anything interesting because usually I don't get anything interesting. BOY was I wrong.

I got an internship here in Utah. Hmmm...too late I suppose.

But that's just one curve ball you may be thinking. Wait for it, here comes curve ball numero dos:

I received a big fat envelope in the mail today from AmeriCorps NCCC. Of course we all know the big fat envelopes mean good things (in the case of being accepted to your dream colleges and whatnot). While this big fat envelope did not contain an acceptance, it did contain an invitation to the next interview phase. I was pretty gung ho on AmeriCorp for a bit, but I haven't given it much thought lately. My mind was completely set on graduate school, and to take it a step further it was pretty set on graduate school in Provo in the fall. As I'm sure you can guess, after receiving said envelope today my mind is no longer set at all. Geez Louise!

How many decisions does a girl have to make about what course her life is going to take? I feel like making these decisions could really affect my life. Where I live, who I'm friends with, where I get a job, etc. it will all be determined in some ways by decisions I have to make very, very soon.

Whew, it's like one of those math problems: If Rachel has 7 pairs of boots (which I probably do) and 11 hats (which I also probably do) how many different combinations can she make?! Honestly though, somebody explain to me how to do this problem. I totally spaced it on the GRE!

I have been experiencing this nagging feeling about leaving Utah, just nerves I guess. I have all these big plans and ideas about doing these marvelous things (most of which don't involve Provo) and living in these awesome places, but now when I have the chance to I'm getting cold feet? Really?! I mean really?!?! What kind of marshmallow am I? (thanks to New Moon for introducing me to the amazingness of calling someone, or myself in this case, a marshmallow)

Just an interesting little tidbit:

My cheapest route to Uganda in May will look something like this:

Salt Lake City to Amsterdam, Netherlands to Nairobi, Kenya to Enebbe, Uganda all for the convenient fee of $1,817!

And for a slightly large fee of $1,831 I can go from SLC to Dallas to Dubai, United Arab Emirates to Ethopia to Uganda.

Either way I will say I was at least in the airport of some pretty sweet places I never really thought I would go!

On a completely unrelated, and more positive point of view, it is now officially the Christmas season, and it is most exciting. Doesn't everything just seem happier around Christmas time? I think so! I'm reading A Christmas Carol with my kids at school right now, and I love it. That book just leaves me with the best feeling! Coming up for Sunday movie nights this month: Elf, A Muppet Christmas Carol, A Charlie Brown Christmas, Just Friends, and many more. I can't wait!!

We made more ornaments in Arts & Crafts today!

And listened to Christmas music all the while of course! I really will miss this job when and if I leave.

Fortis Fortuna Adiuvat

Fortune favors the bold.

I responded to the inyernship offer in L.A. today. I'm diving in, taking the plunge, leaping. I thought long and hard about it both today and yesterday, and realized that I just need to do it. This is a once in a lifetime kind of opportunity. It will provide incredible job experience, not to mention enough money to fund my expedition to Uganda with HELP this summer. Yeah, I do love the way my life is going in Provo right now, and yes I will most definitely miss it. BUT the good stuff isn't going anywhere. I will make new friends and have new experiences while keeping in touch with the old. The people/stuff that really, really matters aren't going anywhere, and I can pick up things again here in Provo next fall.

Right now I'm in a very comfortable place. I think I want things to stay the same because of that reason. I have a set routine, reliable friends, a good job, and a nice house. Yeah leaving is scary, and I know I will miss a lot about Provo. This job may be hard, and I may be homesick. I might downright hate L.A. Who knows?

BUT

Fortune favors the bold, and I'm going to be bold on this one.

No regrets.

Listening to Holiday from Real by Jack's Mannequin helped solidify this decision.

This isn't holiday from real, but yet another rather convincing song by Jack's Mannequin.

Viva Las Vegas (and some other stuff too)

I went to Las Vegas this weekend! I had a most splendid time with these fine gentlemen:

We started the weekend out with a Third Eye Blind concert at Pure in Caesar's Palace.

With admission to the concert we were allowed to stay in the club that night, too. Unfortunately, the hooligans who went to Vegas with me did not meet the dress code of the posh club, and we drove to Wal-Mart to purchase dress shoes and a collared shirt before returning to the club.

We all felt pretty important when we came back, skipped right to the front of the line, showed them our stamps, and were let in without further question.

The family we stayed with treated us very well. I slept in a bedroom all by myself (no sharing with the other girls or air mattresses for me!) and they fed us cereal for breakfast every morning.

Saturday was a fairly uneventful but still really fun day. I took advantage of the family and friends sale at Gap and bought the sweater I'm wearing in the picture at the top! For lunch we all enjoyed an overpriced Korean buffet in Las Vegas' lame excuse for a China Town.

We watched parts of the air show going on that weekend from the car, and returned the aforementioned dress clothes to Wal-Mart. The rest of the day was spent exploring Las Vegas, walking the strip, watching Mason and Dustin loose spectacularly at craps, and other Vegas touristy stuff. Between the late night on Friday, the walking, and the general mayhem of Las Vegas (roller coasters, buffets, LOTS of walking, roller coasters, M&M World, etc. etc.) we tired out around 9:30. After a yummy meal at In-N-Out we crashed...hard.

And my favorite part: Visiting Tiffany's, pretending to be interested in buying a ring and subsequently trying on a $19,000 engagement ring! Probably the closest I will get to actually owning one.

All in all, a good weekend!

I checked my e-mail on Saturday night before the crashing. I got the internship in California. To be honest, I felt nervous. Not excitement or happiness--just nervousness. In the midst of my carefree weekend, I received news that my life as I now know it may soon be changing pretty much forever. Maybe I'm being a bit overdramatic, but I feel that way right now. I know how amazing this opportunity would be for my future, but I love the life I'm living right now. I'm not entirely sure if I'm ready to give it all up yet. Sigh. I've got some BIG decisions to make.

Stay Tuned

Right now there are sooooo many stay tuned things going on in my life. Since this is my last semester of school, things in my life will be changing, possibly drastically, very soon.

I knocked out interviews 2 and 3 looking sharp in my dress pants and vest today. I received compliments on my resume which made me feel good. I mentioned this yesterday, but I feel it even more today: I really want this internship in California! I will find out within the next few weeks if I got any of the jobs (stay tuned). I feel pretty good about them right now.

I also found some extremely elusive free time, gasp, today. In this free time I bought fabric for my shirt project in sewing class (stay tuned) and yarn, shoes, a shirt and tights for my halloween costume (stay tuned).

I anxiously await Halloween every year. I really, REALLY like to dress up. As a matter of fact, I am sitting in my living room right now looking like I had got in a fight in the back of an alley from my pre-Halloween makeup experiments earlier this evening. I entertained myself by prancing around in my costume earlier this evening! It turned out even better than I hoped!

I'm making soup tomorrow night as well (stay tuned) for the ward Halloween party. Oh, the joys of being on activities committee. I will post pictures of the finished Halloween costume very, very soon (stay tuned).

My official acceptance for HELP's Uganda team came today! It was mostly a formality, but it's exciting nonetheless.

Double header

I dressed up for my interview today. I put on comfy shoes with intentions of changing into dressier ones later. I went home for the sole purpose of getting my shoes. I came home, checked my e-mail, grabbed a snack, brushed my hair, and transferred my stuff from my backpack to my purse. I then left and drove back to work. About half way there I realized I forgot to change into my dress shoes. I hope I didn't look too silly rocking these in front of the company rep tonight:

These aren't the exact pair that I own, but they are pretty close.

My interview with DecisionWise was postponed today. Had I known, I could have slept for another couple of hours last night instead of pouring over their Web site looking for suggestions and understanding their business. I'm running on about 4 hours of sleep right now. Because of this, at my meeting tonight for another internship opportunity at times I'm pretty sure my eyes closed for at least a good 5 seconds or so on multiple occasions. I tried soooo hard to stay awake, but I simply couldn't. It was one of those times when you feel your eyes close and you're screaming in your head,

"Your eyes are closed. WHY are your eyes closed? Open your eyes dummy!"

But you just can't. Your body refuses to respond to your mind. Such is the life of a sleep deprived college student I suppose. At least I can look on the bright side and be thankful I wasn't behind the wheel of a car like that time on the way home from J. City. However, it's still not a good idea in front of a potential employer.

I really want this internship. I know it means moving to California, (L.A. to be exact) which seems a little terrifying. But I would love it! Moving to California for a semester would give me awesome work experience, a chance to live in a major city, meet new people, learn to surf, start another chapter of my life and basically have an all-around crazy semester. Cross those fingers...the real interview is tomorrow morning at 11. I also have another at 1 with DecisionWise. Hence the double header.

If I never hear the Celebrate Good Times song in my life again it will be too soon! The kids at work learned it to sing at Lights On tonight so we've been listening to and singing it every day for the past few weeks. I may hate this song, but this song has been stuck in my head all day long for some reason:

I'm not sure where I heard this recently to get it stuck in my head, but it is 80s fabulous!

One last thing:

I love The Biggest Loser. I experienced severe disappointment tonight when the black team sent Abby home. She is hands down my favorite contestant this season. She is so strong, and her story amazes me. After losing her entire family in a car crash several years ago, she has decided she is ready to put her life back together and be happy again. Just the mere fact she went through such a terrible tragedy is inspiring enough, but to hear her say how she is finally seeing the positive side of life and turning her tragedy into something that helps others is simply wonderful. I found a decent article about her online. And here's her background story if you're not familiar with it. There are also some videos on NBC.com.