“I’m happy to be alive today”

A week or so ago I was in the Wendy’s drive-thru and there was a nice man working at the window. He asked me how my day was and I said “great!” Of course I responded and asked him how his day was and he said “I’m happy to be alive today!” in an eager voice. I thought that that was the coolest thing. He was just so happy to be alive. A couple weeks ago my family lost a close friend, Samantha Rankin. She was 21 and I had grown up with her my whole life. She got a rare blood disease and died unexpectedly. Her funeral was probably the hardest thing I have ever had to experience. I’ve learned though that out of every awful thing comes something great as well. After Samantha’s passing it really made me think about my life and how grateful I am to be alive today. At any moment, my life could be taken from me. I want to know that I loved every minute of my life and could eagerly say at any moment, “I’m happy to be alive today.”

Samantha Rankin, Age 21

A Day in the Life of A Researcher

So one of my jobs this summer is doing research for BYU at the Library of Congress. It is definitely a brand new experience for me. Having this job means that I have to commute into DC 2 days a week. This requires me to drive 30 minutes in traffic to my Grandma's house, then she takes me to the Metro and I ride on the Metro for 30 minutes into the heart of DC. It's actually alot of fun to experience the business part of DC instead of the tourist part that I am used to. I see all different kinds of people. Sometimes I just wish I knew where everyone was going and what their reason for riding the metro is. For some reason I am really intrigued by that.

Well the other day as I was sitting at work I got a little sidetracked and got to thinking that it might be fun for all of you to see what I get to see everyday at work. (if anyone really reads this...) So... here it goes. This is my life as a researcher.

I start my morning off by approaching this beautiful building right off of capitol hill.

Then I go into a room with a couple of these dinosaur machines.

And read through reel after reel of phone books from previous years....

While looking for information that I need I tend to come across funny things....

Then for lunch I get a great view of our nation's capitol! It's beautiful!

On my way to and from my research room I get to roam these awesome halls. I love the old architecture of the building.

My days in DC are always very long. I sometimes wonder what the heck I was thinking when I agreed to do this research. But overall, I am really grateful for the opportunity and the job for the summer. Atleast you have get a little peek at some of the highlights of my days in DC!

Hot and Cold

There is alot of hot and cold in my life right now...

Literally, the weather has gone from hot hot hot one day to very cold the next. It's weird and I don't like it. Just pick one and stick with it.

Also, Everday is hot and cold. I start the day off really glad that I am home and working and able to save money but at the same time I really really miss my friends and school in Provo. I can't decide how to feel.

I also can't decide whether to go to my family ward or to the singles ward. When I came home this summer I was sure that I was going to the singles ward. Now I'm not so sure any more. Staying in the family ward sounds so good to me too. I just keep going back and forth.

At this point in my life I just feel like the Katy Perry Song Hot and Cold, "You're hot then your cold, you're yes then you're no. You're in then you're out, your up then you're down."

I'm so used to always knowing what I want to do right away that this hot and cold business is really bothering me.

I'm sure I'm being over dramatic but that's the way I feel.

Aside from my venting, here are some pictures from the past couple of months that I never uploaded. Enjoy!

My sister is all grown up now. She went to senior prom as a junior this year.

On my drive back from Utah we stopped at a wildlife safari as a break. It was alot of fun. These are some of the animals that we saw on the safari.

During the last semester my sister came to visit me in Utah. While she was there we had a girl's night out during priesthood session. We went to comedy sportz and it was so much fun!

One ward activity that we had this semester was broom hockey. They rough up the ice rink and we get to go on in our shoes and use "brooms" to hit a foam ball. I didn't play for long but it was so funny to watch.

Here's my friend Scott being himself!

My New Goal

So I've made a goal for the summer. I want to update my blog every week. We'll see how it goes....

So just a quick update:

I just finished my 6th semester at BYU. I can now say that I am a SENIOR in college! That's a weird feeling. It seems like just yesterday I was leaving home to start my freshman year. Now I'm almost DONE!

I am home in Maryland for the summer. My Uncle Dave and his fiance Katie flew out to Utah to drive back with me. We had a blast on our trip. The weather definitely didn't cooperate with us but we made it through. As we were on our way across the country I stopped in Anamosa Iowa for my old roommate Bryn's 2nd wedding reception. She got married in December and had a reception in Utah then. Now she had one in her hometown which I was privileged enough to attend. It was fun seeing where she grew up and meeting some of the people that she has always talked about.

I've been back in Maryland for almost a week now. I took this week off and just relaxed. I needed a break after the busy semester that I have had. This summer I am working 2 jobs part time. One job is through BYU. I will be doing research for the Sociology department at the Library of Congress. That means that I get to experience taking the metro to work a couple days a week :) My second job is with the same company that I have worked with for the past couple of years. I will just be helping organize things around the office 3 days a week. I am very grateful for both of my jobs. They will help me to save money for the fall.

Also this summer, I will be doing a 3 week long internship in New York City. Since my Uncle works for a restaurant in the city he has become very familiar with a few event planning companies. He contacted one of the companies and they are allowing me to come and work in the city for 3 weeks. It will be a great learning experience and will help to build up my resume. I'm very excited and nervous at the same time!

I have a very busy summer ahead of me but that's the way I like it. I hope to still fit in some babysitting jobs every now and then! I have so much fun doing that and miss it while I am at school. I miss all my friends from school all the time while I am home. But, I am sure to keep in touch with all of them and can't wait to see them all again in the fall! I guess I'm a workin lady now.

Another Season, Another Sport

Now that football season has ended with a BYU win, we move onto the next sport, Basketball. I don't know as much about basketball but just love to watch any BYU sport. This past week I went to the season opener against UNLV. Last year that was the only home game that we lost. This year was a little different. We beat UNLV at home
77 - 73. It was a close game but it was alot of fun. There were a ton of fans there and it got to be really loud at the end of the game. The next home game is against Colorado State and my guess is that we are going to win :)

Changes...

I successfully completed another semester of my college career and went home to celebrate Christmas. Before I left I went t my roommate Bryn's wedding reception. That is the first big change of my semester. She was married in the Logan temple on December. A bunch of us got together and went to the reception in Payson that night. It was fun to see Bryn and Tyler but weird to be saying goodbye to my roommate. We are all getting older and changing. Bryn is the first one of us to get married. Congratulations Bryn and Tyler!

Before actually getting to go home there was a big snow storm in Maryland. This made my flight get delayed by 2 days. I was frustrated but it actually worked out. I got to take my friends to the airport and I got to spend the day with the Coulters. I got to meet little Zachary for the first time. He is so Cute! I just wanted to hold him the whole time I was there. Jackson and Tyler are getting so big. I hadn't seen them in a while and they both have to cutest personalities. It was a fun day and it helped me take my mind off of not going home.

My next big change was my bedroom. While I was away this semester my mom redid my bedroom. She said that since I was getting older I deserved a "Big Girl" room. So she painted it and bought me some new really cool stuff to decorate it. Here are the before and after pictures.

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

I absolutely love my new room. My Mom did a great job. It suits me perfectly.

The next change that I had over the break was that I got my Hair cut. I got alot of it cut actually. Probably about 6 or 7 inches. It is very different but I love it. It is so much easier to take care of and I can get ready so much faster in the morning.

I didn't take an actual before picture but here is what it looked like after I was done:

AFTER

Me and my G-Ma!

Overall, It was a great break. I had a bunch of changes and am excited for the new semester. After this semester, only 2 more and I graduate! Can you believe it? I know I can't.

Finals Week... YUCK!

At the end of Winter semester, I had my worst week of finals yet. The week before finals I had 4 papers due so I couldn't use that time to get prepared for my finals. That meant that all of the studying and test taking was crammed into 5 days. It was a rough week. I was up late and woke up very early in the morning. I survived but there were some times that I thought that I might not. One day me, Kirsten, Alyssa, and Eric reserved a room in the Tanner Building to study by ourselves. It was in the new wing of the building and was really really nice. Here are a few pictures I took while we were "studying".

Kirsten, She's the most studious of all of us.

Alyssa, Probably laughing at facebook.
I'm on facebook too if you can't tell :)

Eric, taking pictures as well.

Even though it may not look like it, we actually did get alot of studying done!