Birthday Confessions

First off, let me just say that I don't really like birthdays. You get your hopes up that your day will be fun and then BAM. Your day just sucks. Or at least half the time anyway. Don't get me wrong, I mean it's great that we celebrate the day we broke free from the womb. It's liberating. But... for me, I rarely have a good birthday. It's kind of hit or miss thing for me I guess. Birthdays just make me think of that time back in the day when you were five when all you wanted was a pony. But you woke up that morning and SURPRISE! No pony. That was a big deal.

My mom was trying to make me feel better about my birthday's uneventful-ness by saying "you know when you get older birthdays won't matter so much." Thanks mom, but even though I'm not a teenager anymore, I still like to have fun! And it's not like my birthday was on a Wednesday or a day when everyone has school/work the next day. It was a Saturday... the day when you're supposed to have PLAY TIME!

My day went like this:
* Got up and started cleaning my house.
* Birthday dinner got canceled and changed to birthday lunch therefore making my Saturday night BEREFT of plans.
* Cleaned my house so I could show it to a prospective renter.
* Showed my house to a girl who will hopefully rent it.
* Sat at my house... while my roommate was asleep.
* Sat at my house... while my roommate studied.
* Sat at my house... and called my dad to tell him birthdays suck.
* Sat at my house... and replied to every single birthday message someone sent me on facebook.
* Sat at my house... and texted everyone in my phone within a 1 1/2 hour radius to see if anyone could play. ...They couldn't.
* Sat at my house... and got a call from my mom who told me it's okay because birthdays aren't really important when you get older.
* Sat at my house... and talked to Katie on the phone. *HIGHLIGHT* of the night.
* Drove to Walmart to buy myself cake and ice cream because no one else did.
* Sat at my house... stuffing my face with cake and ice cream and talking to Katie.
* Went to bed at 10:00pm.
Aren't birthdays fun?
..I didn't even take any pictures from the day... and you all know how I love to take pictures...

Yesterday really made me miss Dallon. He wouldn't have forgotten. Last year he was trying to hard to be the first person to wish me happy birthday. It's the thought that counts... even though Dayton came running into the room and beat him by literally three seconds! I miss Dayton too. I had the best friends last year. :)
Gah. But really you have no idea how much I miss Dallon. It's day 284 today. Not that any of you care... because I don't think anyone (if anyone) who actually reads this ever met Dallon. Which is quite unfortunate. I know I haven't known him nearly as long as some of my other friends, but you know when you meet someone and you instantly click? You meet and all of a sudden you're best friends. That's how it was with Dallon. Only 446 more days. :) And I can't wait!

Your Love's Got Me Lookin' So Crazy Right Now...

Oh my goodness. Life has been SO crazy lately! I've been kinda stressing, but having a "hoot and a half" (can someone please remind me to punch whoever it is that uses that all the time in the face... because I now say it... a lot) all at the same time. Let me just tell you a little bit about my week.

Monday: School from 7am - 4 pm. CRAZY. It was Tex-Mex week this week. We made Mexican wedding cookies, jalapeno corn bread, chili, and... something else. And the dishes... really piled up. And of course... I scrubbed a good majority of those pots. Exhausted!
THENNN... I had to go find SYSCO... which is out in the MIDDLE OF NOWHERE! So anyway, I've had a bit of a sore throat, and I was sick all last week... so I was pretty tired. But I got there and we had to wait around until 1:30 for them to start our tour! While we were waiting we had a rage against the art institute party. woot. Those are my favorite things ever. So we took a tour of SYSCO. It was pretty cool. For those of you who don't know... it's a storage place for food products that they distribute to various restaurants and stuff like that. Pretty cool if you ask me. But also very cold. :( BRR! It was like winter in Idaho! haha!
After that, I went and tried to take a nap... My throat was killing me! But that didn't work so instead I called a girl about housing for next semester. (Did I mention I'm transferring to UVU? ...if not... SURPRISE! I'm transferring to UVU's culinary program next semester). I'm seeing her place on Sunday. It's in the same ward as some of my practically roommates from last year and pretty close to some friends from high school. So I'm hoping it works out well. :)
As soon as that was done, it was time for FHE. We got there and we were locked out of the church! We finally found someone in the building to let us in! Good thing! It was pretty cold outside. Things started off pretty slow, so a group of us decided to play Ninja while we waited for things to get started. It was pretty intense. I would have won, but my headband fell off and covered my eyes so I couldn't see. :( Bummer. Then our game was interrupted so we could have a lesson. Then we all got together and played "I have never" ...it was a pretty intense game. I realized that I have, in fact, done a lot of things. I had to move A LOT. Toward the end of the game, Courtney's future husband and another guy were racing for the same chair (they both wanted to sit next to me) and her future husband accidentally touched me inappropriately. It was an accident, so it wasn't a big deal... but he was rather embarrassed and left quite quickly after that. Oops!

Tuesday: Class at 7am again. This time we made Mole, flautas, Tortilla soup, and flan. Pretty good stuff... except the mole. It was a bad recipe. Sad day. It was gross... mostly because Chef gave us the wrong chocolate. EEW.
When I got home from class, I got an email from a girl who wanted to look at the apartment... IN THREE HOURS! I had to hurry and shower and get ready and clean the apartment! So... she came and looked... and was kind of weird. But I shouldn't judge people. Shame on me. :(
My friend Derek took me to see the "sights" of Provo that day too. It was a lot of fun. Went on a tour of a carriage cove apartment. (Thanks Nicole) Pretty sure that's where I'm going to live. Saw all the fun things to do in Provo. Made some new friends (Thanks Derek). And I saw PEOPLE! It was even 9pm.. but there were people! Real college kids! Out. and about! And doing things! IT was so great! I'm kind of excited to move there now. :)

Wednesday: Ah. I got to sleep in. :) Class from 8-12. But it's the worst class ever. It's a stupid English class in which we discuss politics... and the teacher admits to doing something gross or illegal. This time he admitted to not filing his taxes for three years. The IRS doesn't know. My mom told me to turn him in because he's creepy. (I added the creepy part... but she did tell me to turn him in).
Then I came back and finished cleaning the apartment for the next girl... since she gave me much more notice than the first one I spent more time cleaning for her. :)
She was really sweet. Came right on time. And seemed to like the apartment. Kristi and Stacy seemed to like her too, so I'm hoping she'll tell me she wants it. :)

Thursday: No classes today... you'd think it would be less stressful. NOPE! I had a meeting with my adviser for UVU today. She cleared me for registration and told me what classes to register for. The only problem... I can't find half of them in the database! So I'm kind of at a loss for what to register for!
Another girl came to see the apartment today. She wants it... but she's not LDS and I'm not sure if Kristi will go for that. ...but if she ends up being the only option.. then I'm telling them that they can either live with her or can pay my part of the rent. And that's all there is to it.
One good part about today though was that I got to see my good friend Nicole! We hung out for a couple hours in Provo. Made some plans. Got caught up. It was good. :)

Friday: Tomorrow I need to talk to someone at the art institute about withdrawal, finish registering at UVU, go to dinner with Celeste, talk to the financial office about the stupid charges that shouldn't be on the bill, and talk to Sophia the housing lady to get her to take the double charges for housing that I don't even live in off my bill!

But then Saturday is my birthday. So hopefully I can take a break and relax a little bit. That would be heavenly. :)

Ciao. Adios. Aloha.

My parents are the B-E-S-T BEST of all the R-E-S-T REST!

That's right... they're the best ever and their even better than your parents!

Yesterday and today were pretty much FABULOUS days. :D Yesterday I had no school so I got to sleep in. :) ...And as soon as I awoke, I got a text message from my mommy saying "We'll be there in 45 minutes!" SAY WHAT?! I was not expecting them for HOURS! So of course, I hadn't showered, my room was a mess, and I wasn't going to have time to finish watching the new PSYCH episode on hulu! Crazy! But it's okay because I was excited! :)
I had quite an eventful shower yesterday too... I got a phone call from the lady whose car I hit... then another call from her... and then she called me again... and then I got a call from my insurance agent.. all in the space of about 10 minutes while I was trying to take a shower!
Then my parents showed up! WEE! They brought me cupcakes for my birfdayyyy because "it always gets squashed in with Thanksgiving so you don't ever get to celebrate really." So then we went to Target where daddy bought both mom and me shoes and a hat. :) I got Tiger Lily boots and a way sweet winter hat. And mom got some sweet red shoes and a way cool purple hat that looks super cute on her. :)
Then we went to lunch. Yum yum yum. We went to firehouse subs. SOOOOO Good! We had never been there. But seriously SO GOOD. I almost went back today. haha. :) I had a real man sammich. It had pastrami and corned beef and cheese and sauce. That's it. It was yummy. hahaha.
Mom and I went SHOPPING after that! (Dad had to go take the car to get a checkup) We went to Torrid. I got some way cuuute stuff. :) Shiny vest. Plaid jacket. New pants. :) All is right with the world.
Then. We went to Provo. To go to Greg's (the restaurant done by the UVU culinary students). It was pretty good. The plating was BEAUTIFUL. And the food was yummy. The soups were under seasoned... but that's the only complaint. Everything else was WONDERFUL! The chef came over and new exactly who I was and that I'm the art institute kid that wants to transfer. It was almost creepy. We also met a guy from Good Ole Idaho Falls.
After that we went to the parents' hotel and they gave me birfday gifts. My mama made me PETER PAN PILLOWCASES! SOOO CUTE! And I got a 1931 Peter Pan Picture Book. It's AWESOME! I also got a table runner (With those cute fat chefs) that my mom also made along with a homemade recipe card holder. :) And some white, wide-rimmed dishes so I can practice plating. AND A SPICE RACK! Ha. My parents know me so well. :) They're great. Then I ate a cupcake. :) MMMMMMMMmmmmm.
Today was not QUITE as eventful, but was still good nevertheless. In my baking class, I made the poundcake for my grupo. There was a hater in my group that said it was not very good though. :( Sad day. But his bagels didn't turn out. They were undercooked and burnt at the same time. He burned the topping and undercooked the inside. So his were really the crappy ones. Chef Allie said my poundcake was "Poundcake at its finest." Take that haters! That's really all that happened today though. Because after that I came home and got ready for the day... then my visiting teacher came... and then I took a two hour nap. It was greatly needed. Yes. it was. And now. Here I am. :)

Wow 2 in 1 day!

So today has been eventful...

1. Made homemade rolls YUM.
2. Hit a car in the parking lot. (they haven't called me yet though. But I have the feeling I'll be getting a call sometime tomorrow).
3. Decided on Courtney's future husband. I'm determined (so she'll stop stealing boyfriends).
4. Went to a soup party.
5. Sang for the conductor of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Seriously. I did this today.
6. Listened to him speak at institute
7. Talked to Darcy. She's cute. I like her.
8. Deemed Derek the most influential person in my life. Heh. He was happy.
9. Had a Christmas song throw down.
10. Had a cooking party with my roommates. Yes.

Well... that's about it.

Nottt My Week.

Will this week EVER end? Seriously. Oh my gosh. It has just been baaaaddd and it's only Wednesday! Aye.
So Sunday night I got sick, right? So I didn't go to school on Monday and missed two classes that are pretty hard to make up. So I have to go to make up class and write a 5 page report on butcher's yield. That's not so bad right?
Today, I bumped someone's car in the parking lot. Oops... :( Yeah, I'm usually a pretty good driver and haven't really hit anyone thus far. -__- Until today. Rawr. How embarrassing. At least I don't have to face them... yet. I wrote them a note and stuck it on their windshield.. it says sorry twice! I already faced my parents... so they know at least. And surprisingly they were super chill about it.
Dad: "Accidents happen! At least you didn't kill anyone! There was a guy in Rexburg..."
Mom: "Even the best drivers have bad days! You can just blame it on being sick!"
Thanks mom and dad for your support in this...

My parents are so great. haha.

I wish I had an interesting life. I wish I was funny, or someone else in my life right now was funny enough for both of us just so I could actually have something interesting to talk about on here. Sorry anyone who reads this, but I'm really boring.

I'm hoping that moving to Orem and going to UVU will help me be.. less boring, and will help me make some good friends that will actually do crazy "I'm not really acting very mature right now, but it's okay because I'm still young enough to get away with it" things with me. Anyone who knows me, knows that's the kind of person I am. This whole having no life, not doing anything EVER, sitting on my couch watching movies all the time, and sitting on my computer all day thing just isn't me. I want to go run around and be crazy. And take stupid pictures. And climb trees. And roll down hills. And do all those things that I'm still young enough to do (even though I'm almost not a teenager anymore). I'm not ready to be a grown up yet, okay?!

Does this look like the face of a grown up to you? :)

I'm not saying that I want to be one of those immature annoying people who really does not know how to act her age. I am completely ready to be a somewhat mature and responsible member of society. I am learning how to take care of myself and be a mature person, I am. But honestly, I'm not ready to give up having fun yet. I'm still in college. I'm not ready to be a boring old grown up.

Sorry for this strange little... rant I guess, but I just feel like I can't be my young, immature self here. It needs to change. But, it's going to. Just until January. Then hopefully things will get better. :) Now I just need to write a Craigslist add, find housing in Orem, and register for classes. I'm so excited. :) WOO!

Well, I'm going to go back to lying on my couch now. Sick dayy. :(

Ciao.

So... yesterday started out AMAZING. I woke up at 8:30. Stayed in bed until 9:30... got up and made French toast with some leftover brioche. :) With a raspberry reduction on top. SO GOOD. And then I was just kind of lazy. I played Super Mario Wii and just relaxed until about 11. It was SO NICE. I feel like I haven't had a lazy Saturday morning in soo long!
After that though I pretty much worked on homework all day. eew. But I'm getting one of my stupid portfolios done.. and it's the big one so the others will all be easy. I also watched most of Zoolander. I need to finish it though... I got sleepy. :) Hooray for time changes that give me an extra hour though! woohoo!
The UVU thing is really happening. I got accepted and now I just need to find a new roommate... find myself a new place to live... and that's really about it. Some minor things here and there but I'm pretty pumped. I know it's way further away from IF. But I should actually get real breaks this time! And summers off. Woot! I just think it will be a really good thing for me... even though I don't want to live in Provo very badly. But technically my school is in Orem... so yeah. Ha.
Sorry my life isn't very interesting. I really haven't done much... umm.. I'm on WORLD 6 of Super Mario? Is that interesting? No... didn't think so. Umm... really other than that I got NOTHING. So I'm gonna go... yeah...

Creme Brulee and Brioche

So... today. I made creme brulee. :) YUM. It was good. I also made THE BEST rolls. And... Churros! and Bread pudding. with BRIOCHE. I LOOOOOVE Brioche. YUMMMAY! And I have a whole loaf... with which I shall be making French toast... and maybe bread pudding... this weekend. Now who wants to come play with me?! We will get brioche! And maybe if I'm feeling nice, I'll make creme brulee for you too! ...except for the fact that I don't have a torch thing with which to caramelize the sugar. Bummer. :( But yes. Today was a VERY YUMMY day!
In the past few days... I've made some major life decisions, including changing schools. That's right, kids. AI just isn't doing it for me after they changed their program and now half my credits no longer count. BLECH. Oh and no one knows what in the world they are doing! So... I'm moving to Orem. To go to UVU (did you know they have a culinary program?! Because I sure didn't!). So all you kids at UVU/BYU I will be moving closer to you... Thisss January. :) WOOHOO! I'm actually really excited. The class schedule is going to KICK MY BUTT for sure. It seems 3 million times harder than AI's program... and also more realistic! Some of the stuff they're doing is INCREDIBLE! And they get real life experience catering and stuff. It's going to be so cool. :)
I know what you're thinking, didn't you just like... barely move... AGAIN... Yes. But... you gotta do what you gotta do, ya know?! I will be closer to some of my friends. :) :) Nicole, Maddie, Whitney, Celeste. :) :) And people my own age! PLUS! There's like... an actual campus... and mass amounts of students live there... and Yeah. So... I might call Nicole because she told me some girls are selling their contract... so yes. :) That's what's going on in my life right now. :) I'm feeling pretty good about it too. (even though it means I'm moving yet another hour away from good ole IFtown and many of the people that I love... and that I will be sooo close to PROVO... as in pretty much IN Provo...)

Last Day!

As much as I have grown to dislike that stupid blog challenge, it has done what I suppose it was intended to do. It sure got me on here a lot more... even though some of the stuff is kind of lame. heh. :S But today is the last day of that challenge. We shall see if I keep up my good work at this whole blog thing. Part of me wants to say YES! I'll be so great at it now! But the other part of me is a bit more pessimistic about the whole ordeal. Maybe now that I don't have any set thing I have to write, I won't do it anymore. I guess we shall find out. But for now, Day 30.

A picture of yourself today and 3 things good things that have happened in the last 30 days.

This is me. Today. :) The pan book happened to be next to me... I read it last night before I went to bed. And I have hat hair... hence the hat. To hid my hat hair. Oh the joys of culinary school.

3 good things that have happened in the past 30 days:
1. I got to see the Holloways, Nicole, Nate, Stephanie, and Cami Jo.
2. I got a letter from Dallon. :D 8D :) :D 8D :)
3. I got to have a chat with Katie Matheson via my cellular telephone and that hasn't happened in WAY too long. So it was really good. :)

There you go. It's over. Fine. El fin. Finished.

Okay. So about my life. Today I only had one class... but I'm still exhausted nevertheless. Sometimes cooking just takes a lot out of a person. It was southern dishes today. Which means. CARBS. yes. Haha. Bread pudding (my daddy will like that... and also the fact that I'm making a different version on friday so I can see what's the absolute best!), red beans and rice, bisque, ettouffee (I don't know if I spelled that right). Yum. It was all good. :) Today I learned how to... umm... I don't know what it's called... shell? maybe? a crawfish... It was kind of creepy at first... because they stare at you with their beady little eyes while you rip their tails off their bodies. :( It sounds a bit inhumane. But they're already dead. And I didn't kill them. It was just kind of cool. Gross. But cool. The group next to me was all pastry students... they were all grossed out. Briana (she's way cool) got up the courage to do it though. I helped her out so she didn't have to do it all alone. My group was awesome! Rick and Guy are fearless, and Rick knows a lot about southern food. That was helpful... because I really know nothing. And Guy is good at soups and totally dommed our Bisque. I... feel like I didn't really contribute much today. :( But I made the bread pudding and prepped a lot of stuff. So I know I did help. Just some days you don't seem to have a dish you were in charge of. Eh. But it was fun. :)
Clean up was even kind of fun today, Briana, Ben, and I were sent to the storage room to put all the ingredients back... and then we helped with dishes. Then after class we stood around talking. They're pretty sweet. We all kind of get each other's humor and sarcasm... so we make a pretty good team. It would be way sweet if we could be in a group together. We would DOMINATE! (Though it's not a competition... even though some people definitely act like it is...)
Well, I have to go register for next quarter with Chef Kraus so I've got to skeedaddle (Is that how you spell that?! I've never actually written it out. hmmm... oh well).
Ciao. Adios. Aloha.

To LIfe, to life l'chai-im!

(I think I spelled that right... I googled it...)

A picture of you last year. How have you changed?

This is me literally one year ago yesterday. I honestly feel like I've grown up a lot since then. I've done so many things. I figured out who I am (for the most part) and who I want to be. I picked an official major. And I've just generally grown up. I've made friends that I think I'm going to have for a while. I've learned what I want out of life and how to get it. I've learned to not let anyone stand in my way. Some things about me haven't changed though. I'm still crazy, and hyper, and fun loving. But I've also learned to be a bit more mature... and do my school work instead of party ALL the time. (I haven't even missed a single class this year! And I've only been late ONCE!) That's a big change for me. I still have things I need to work on changing about myself, but overall I have grown up quite a bit. :) At least I think so...

My favorite movies in the whole world right now are.
Peter Pan. (In any and all forms)
Hook. (Not even because of the pan obsession... It's mostly because of Katie Matheson... and it's just a great movie.).
The Producers.
The Breakfast Club. (cheesy, I know. But there's just something about it).
Schindler's List. (Weird... I know... but I LOVED it)
Hercules! (Mostly thanks to Courtney and Dallon. And the song "Zero to Hero.")
Count of Monte Cristo (even though I liked the book better)
That's all I can think of right now...

Something I could never get tired of doing.
Okay... so I'm not very good at this just one thing... thing.
* Cooking
* Singing
* Theatre
* Reading. Seriously.

Now I'll save the last one for tomorrow and then I'm DOOOOOOONE!!!!!!!!! :)

And now...about my life. :)

Today was going pretty swell... until I got home from school. Ugh. But I will start at the beginning for you all, rather than at the end.
In class today, I made key lime pie. It was super good. Mine was pretty tart though... and I don't quite know why. My friend Briana and I made ours together, did exactly the same thing, and mine was MUCH more tart than hers. I don't quite know what happened. Hmm.. Peculiar. But it was good nevertheless. Just a strange phenomenon perhaps. I don't know.

Then I drove downtown to Nicholas and Co. for my 2nd class of the day. Purchasing. Aside from the project (which I really don't mind either... it's just a lot of work) I LOOOOVE this class. It is so interesting! Today we had an olive oil and cheese tasting! It sounds super gross, but it was actually a lot of fun. :) First we did cheeses and started with the mildest and worked our way to the sharper cheeses. Most of them were good, but a few of them were not my favorite (blue cheese for example). But we also learned the uses of all these cheeses and what they go well with. Hooray for specialty cheeses. After that we tasted olive oil. Yes, I had to DRINK olive oil. Pure. Straight. Olive Oil. We tried a few different varieties. Chef Nook explained to us that Olive oil is like wine or vinegar. You like what you like and it's all personal preference. We tried a California olive oil... it kind of tasted like grass. (I'm pretty sure that Nicole would like it. hahaha) But it was good at the same time. The Italian one tasted a lot more like olives... but I like my Turkish olive oil better. I also learned the difference between virgin olive oil and extra virgin olive oil. It's the amount of time the olives are pressed. Extra virgin is the first pressing... it's the most flavorful. And Virgin olive oil is the second. Then... there's Pomace... which is the mashed flesh and pits after pressing. It's cheaper and not as flavorful. I thought that was pretty interesting.
Then when I got home things were going fine... until my roommate got home. Right now she is really getting on my nerves. Maybe I just struggle living with people, I don't know... but lately she is just driving me crazy. I may sound incredibly emo right now... but... sometimes I really just dislike people in general. She just gets in my face and bosses me around. She ISN'T my mother. It just kind of gets on my nerves. Rawr. But I don't want to rant... even though lately it seems like that's all I do. GROSS. I'm sorry that's all I do anymore, dear readers.