Dot.

I absolutely love this little stop motion. Once again, Camille showed it to me. She knows all the best stop motions I think.



Here's the making of Dot... watch it.

Jon Schmidt.

So, on Tuesday I went back home where my family and I had the opportunity to see Jon Schmidt play at the local high school there. I had heard he was really good... Camille has been to one of his shows and loved it. I was surprised by how much I did enjoy it though! It also made me feel like I probably should have practiced piano more while I was learning... Oh well haha. Yeah, so he's a classical new age pianist. He's really funny, animated, and plays fantastic music. Especially when Steve Sharp Nelson plays with him. We didn't get to see him, but I wish we could have because he seems like he's pretty much good at everything.
I think their cover of "Rolling in the Deep" by Adele was my favorite that Jon Schmidt played at the concert. Seriously listen to it. So. Good.


Beautiful. Then we came home and Camille showed me this:



I just want to be as cool as they are! Hmm... maybe I should start practicing piano more often....

abacuses or abaci?

Photo Credit

So what exactly is the correct plural form of the word "abacus"-- Abacuses or abaci?
According to dictionary.com you can actually use either one. Hmm. Just thought I'd share that.
Anyway, this post is mostly not about abaci. It's really about my Saturday adventures.


...Which were awesome.


We decided to celebrate Robert's birthday that day so we ventured off to the Draper aquarium. I didn't have high expectations because I've been to a few aquariums in Utah and none of them were really that cool... but this one was! I loved it!

Here are some photos:

The Birthday boy.

Canoe!

Penguins!!! Personally, this was my favorite exhibit.

You can't see them too well but you get the idea.

They had just added the otter exhibit. It was pretty awesome.

...It was Jamie's favorite part.

Cuuute.

Come to think of it..I'm not actually sure which was my favorite. I liked both the penguins and otters.

The otter cave.

And Robert's favorite was the puffer fish.

After the aquarium we headed to IKEA where we feasted upon delicious pizza and cinnamon rolls. We toured the entire store which took a couple of hours but it was really fun. Oh and there were abaci in like every corner of every display room. So that's where those come in.
We each signed up to be part of the IKEA family.... mostly so we could get free frozen yogurt. Which was delicious.
We came back and watched Tangled which is one of my favorites.

So good.

Anyway, that's all. :)

2012, here i come...

I know we're about halfway through January but I'm a little behind in my blogging so here is my new year's post. I was reading my post from last year and it was interesting to see how many of my resolutions I actually achieved. And how many I didn't.

2011 resolutions:
-Run a 10 k.
-Eat healthier and more natural foods.
-Three A's winter semester. (ahhh scary).
-Choose a major. (Scarier).
-Move forward with my musical skills. (Learn guitar, keep practicing piano, perform, etc.)
-Spend much less time on the computer and more time reading, writing, etc.
-Focus more on serving other people and helping others be happy instead of being so focused on my own happiness.
-Actually use a planner for at least a couple of months. (I rarely even stick to it for 2 weeks but I need to be more organized).
-Go on more adventures, even if they're local. (Holi, concerts, hikes, etc.)

 Success? A little bit...
-I ran a 5k. So half of what I'd planned. But hey, I was happy about it.
-I ate healthier some of the time...
-I got two A's that semester and the other grades weren't too bad. So, progress.
-I chose my major! Yes!
-I worked on learning the guitar all summer with Camille, and our neighbor friend Sarah. My dad taught us.
-Ehh, I maybe didn't change at all with my computer time. A little but not a whole lot.
-Could always work on serving other people...
-I think I used the planner for  like two days. So. Yeah.
-I went to Holi, Jack's Mannequin Concert, Blue Man Group, tons of hikes, Minnesota, Louisiana, etc. So, I think I did pretty well in the adventure area.

So all in all I did okay. Some of these resolutions are going back on the list for 2012 though! 2011 was a pretty great year. It wasn't the most exciting year of my life so far, but nothing terrible happened, it was pretty easy-going and I learned a lot. It's amazing how much can change in just 365 days. Makes me wonder what's ahead of me this year.

On to 2012 resolutions:
-Get a second job over the summer.
-Apply to the English Teaching major.
-Read the whole Book of Mormon again.
-3 A's this semester!
-Learn to cook.
-Learn to actually do my hair.
-Healthier foods.
-Improve piano skills.
-Blog more frequently.
-Develop a healthier sleeping schedule.
-Run two days a week.
-Adventures! (In case I fail at everything else, I have one resolution to fall back on for a feeling of some success hehe.)

Those are just the more superficial ones. I have more personal ones that I won't post here. :)

This upcoming year holds a lot of big decisions, change (as always), and adventures. I'm excited and hoping it will be a good one.

louisiana.

A few weeks ago my mom, aunt, Camille, and I headed off to the land of po' boys, alligators, fried okra, and a large part of my family I barely know. My wonderful great grandma had passed away the day before we left and we wanted to make it to her funeral so, as you can imagine, the trip was rather last minute.
We left at 10:00 pm on Saturday and by midnight we'd already been pulled over twice (no tickets though). It was a great start to one of the longest car trips I've been on. We drove straight through the night (yeah, Camille and I were lucky and got to sleep the whole time). The next morning we decided to stop in Amarillo, Texas for some breakfast or lunch. We wanted to find a cool, little place where we wouldn't be able to eat at home. We found one restaurant where they cook hamburgers in the shape of Texas that sounded pretty good. Texas really has the biggest ego I've ever seen in a state. That place ended up being closed so we settled for a chain breakfast restaurant.
It was crazy crowded. Our waitress took us to our seats and kept saying "okeh?" at the end of every sentence she said. "Here's your table, okeh?" "Take a look at the menu, okeh?" "Our special is on the back, okeh?" etc. etc.
Camille and I ordered hamburgers and fries because they sounded good and can you really mess up a burger? Believe me, you can. The buns were soggy. I mean like sponge-type consistency. And fries? It really is hard to mess those up, but they were pretty gross as well. Like over-cooked, but not crispy or flavorful. Just over-cooked. We were all kind of disgusted by our meals. Right after we left, we went through the Wendy's drive through. It tasted so good--and I don't even like fast food.
It took us forever to actually get to Louisiana. It took us about 20 hours to get to my aunt Kristie's house near Dallas because Texas seriously goes on forever. Then she and her family joined us the next day as well as Uncle Mike and his family. We finally made it to my uncle Eddie's camp after hours and hours of driving. I did learn how to make a cool bracelet in the car though, it took about 6 times of trying and failing before I finally got it. I had plenty time for that though so it worked out.
Eddie's camp is pretty cool. It's right next to a river and there are alligators inside. I remember seeing one way back when I was like 10? 12? Somewhere around there. They were hibernating this time though since this was in December. Camille and I got to hang out with all of our awesome cousins who came. I love them, they are crazy cool. Some of them live in Tennessee so we actually only get to see them about every six years or so. I wish we saw them more often though, we get along really well.

Cassie with her cool Kermit the frog hat.

Kelsey, teaching the little cousins how to plank. :)

On of my favorite parts of this trip was definitely the food. We had everything delicious. At Eddie's camp we had a fish fry (turns out fried fish isn't so bad). We also had french fries, fried okra, and I think other fried things but I can't remember.

Oh my goodness, I love beignets. They are so filling though. Just looking at this picture makes me want to go find some haha.

The roast beef po' boys are amazing from Bear's. As well as fries and Abitas root beer... mmm so good.

Popeye's!

On the way back the roads were so icy so lots of roads were closed and so we took a different way. I woke up in the car when we were going through Colorado and I was amazed! On either side of us were frosted mountains contrasted with cloudless, blue skies. It was beautiful.

 Although the trip was really short, I loved it. I loved the food, the people, the stories I heard, etc. But, really this whole thing was for my great grandmother who I have only met a couple of times. I barely remember her, but while on this trip I learned so much about her and how awesome she was. My mom gave a talk at the funeral, she talked about how Grandma would do little things for other people. Like, one time my mom worked with her and she saw that a bunch of the other ladies had given Grandma beautiful flowers. My mom had stayed a little later after work and saw my great grandma placing flowers on the desk of a lady who was going through a divorce. She didn't know my mom was watching. I thought that story was so cool.
Another story that I liked was when she went on a road trip with her daughter and some other women. She was worried about them traveling alone, so she brought a blow up man! They stuck him in a seat and drove their whole road trip with him. Apparently at gas stations her daughter could see the people just laugh because they could definitely tell it was a blow up man.
My great grandmother was a career woman in a time when that was not very common. She worked hard, she raised three children, she served three or four missions, she told crazy good stories, etc. She sounds really cool, right?
The thing that stood out to me most about her while listening to all these stories was that she really knew how to make every person in her life feel special. She went to the mission president in my sister's mission and told him that she would be taking my sister to lunch, no matter what the rules about that were haha. So she did!
She never forgot birthdays, she sent birthday cards to children, grandchildren, great grandchildren. I don't know how she remembered all of that. I still remember getting birthday cards from her every year though. She sent people newspaper clippings that she thought they would be interested. Everyone talked about how they were sure that he/she was her favorite person. She was just cool like that, she knew just how to make each person feel like she loved him/her the most.
I think this is something I'd like to work on. I want to be more like my great grandma and treat each person like they are my favorite. I want to be able to look at each person in my life and really put forth the effort to show them that I care specifically about them. It's so hard sometimes though! I'm sure it will take a lifetime of practice.
I also want to make some of her sayings catch on like: "This sweater attracts everything but money and men!"

That is all.

I'm sure you've all seen this already...

But in case you haven't. Watch it. It's pretty cool. :)

i am sort of obsessed with this song....

And really this whole album.

stop motion.

Camille showed this to me. It's pretty cool. I like the song as well. 

Vote For Dawn!

Photo Credit

 "Vote for the Survivor you think deserves $100,000 and you’ll be entered for a chance to win $10,000! Vote up to 10 times for more chances to win! The Player of the Season vote opens at 8pm ET/5pm PT on December 14 and closes at 2:59pm ET/11:59am PT on December 18"

Dawn works with me in the English department. She was on Survivor this season. She is awesome. Vote for her! Just text 6 to the number 99888. You can do that ten times. Vote online at cbs.com for more votes.

Taking Over the World 1,851,000 Status Updates at a Time

My psychology presentation group focused on Facebook. I thought it was rather interesting so I think I'll share a few things we discussed. It's amazing how rapidly Facebook has, in a way, taken over the world. I only know about one or two people who don't have their own Facebook profile. Even businesses, bands, companies, etc. set up Facebook groups to advertise. Before I had a facebook, I refused to ever get a Myspace account and I know a few other people who felt the same way.

The Good...

• I think the main reason I wasn't as hesitant about starting a Facebook account as opposed to a Myspace was simply that the privacy seemed better. You choose your privacy settings and you choose your friends.
• I think people find it really appealing that you can basically portray yourself as the person you want to be. You create a controlled profile showing your best self.
• I know that a huge reason I keep my Facebook account is to keep in contact with old friends.
• Now some of my classes use Facebook as a tool for out-of-class discussions. I find out about school events, mission farewells, friends' birthday parties, etc. on Facebook. It's an easy place to create event invitations.
• Sadly, I do find out about most news through Facebook. The good part is, at least I find out faster than I would if I didn't have a Facebook...
• People love having a general place to post/share pictures, videos, music, and quotes. 
• Honestly, sometimes people ask me what my favorite music and movies are... and I check my Facebook page to remind me. Could be a good thing. Could be a bad thing. But hey, I know other people who do the same thing. So no judgin'.
• And let's face it. Everyone Facebook stalks other people. People will often be talking to me and say something like "I feel like such a creep because I was Facebook stalking so-and-so the other day." But isn't that the point of Facebook? If they don't want people seeing their pictures and such then they shouldn't be posting them. So don't feel creepy. Facebook stalking is not like stalking someone in person... If you do that, then yes, you are creepy.

 The Bad...

• It's the best way to waste time. You have homework? Facebook is the perfect procrastination tool! Suddenly you realize you've been on the computer for two hours and you haven't done anything...
• Self-Esteem. I'll talk about this a little later in the post.
• Spam/hackers. Don't click the random weird link your friend who rarely posts on your wall just sent you. Just don't do it. 
• Don't post about your vacation before you leave. When you come back feel free to post pictures and tell your Facebook friends all about it but if you mention before "Guys I'm going on vacation with my family!! See ya in a week!" it's basically an open invitation for robberies. See this article.
• Like it mentioned in the video above, some people do talk on Facebook more than they do in person. Which of course isn't just a problem with Facebook but also chatting on other sites like gmail and also texting. (Yes, Mom I know what you're thinking about my texting habits...)
• Some people don't know that you aren't supposed to add friends you aren't personally acquainted with.

Of course those aren't all the pros and cons but you get the idea.

The effects Facebook has on self esteem is a topic I'm particularly interested in. Studies have been done to see how people feel about themselves when looking into a mirror versus their Facebook page. Obviously, people feel more confident after looking at their Facebook profile because they have created that image of themselves and it's the version they want to be. So, my group came to the conclusion that self esteem is heightened by joining Facebook. I agree that it can, in some ways, make people feel more confident because they are seeing the person they want to see... but I also think it can go the other way as well. My friends and I have talked about how seeing other people's profiles makes it easier for us to compare ourselves. Which is not good; basically we are comparing our real selves with other people's portrayal of their ideal self. So, I'm sure you can see where I'm going with that. Comparing yourself to others is really easy with Facebook and can be pretty detrimental to your self esteem. Also, Facebook and other social media can increase the risk of depression. Here's an article.

I've run out of time and I'm sure this is much too long already anyway.

Farewell!