"Keep smiling!"

This is what I got in the library today :) I had kind of a stressful day today. You know how it gets just a few weeks from the end of the semester: big research papers due, work piling up, concerts and rehearsals for Women's Chorus, lots of tests (right before finals... seriously professors?!). It's crazy. So I was working on my research paper in the library today, and I decided to go to the Periodicals section. This was weird for me. For some reason, I tend to study in the maps and science sections on the second floor. Don't ask why. I think it might because there is usually an available computer, and my phone doesn't get as good reception, so I'm less tempted to text (doesn't stop me completely though). Anyways, today I decided to have a little change in scenery and move to another section. As I was working, someone came and sat at my table. Naturally, I look up to see who it is, and I just give them a smile. I figured no one would want to sit diagonally across a table from someone who was grumpy. We didn't talk or anything, just silently worked on our individual assignments. He eventually got packed up to leave again, and as he was walking away, he slid a little sheet of paper towards me. And this was the note that I got! I was so caught off guard! What's especially funny about this is all the hype BYU got from the last anonymous note-giving in the HBLL. If you didn't hear about it, apparently a boy was offended by a girl's dress (he thought it didn't keep with the honor code) and wrote her a note about it on Valentine's day. But I couldn't have been happier with the note that I received today. Little did this boy know that he truly made my day so much better. So thank you anonymous BYU boy in Periodicals. Keep smiling :)

Looking smart...

I broke my left contact. Most people would just brush this aside, saying, "Oh sweetie, that's fine. Just use the one for tomorrow and it'll even out eventually.".... I wear hard contacts guys. Meaning I only have one contact per eye. One. Until my prescription changes, I don't get new ones. So since I broke my left contact while cleaning it Sunday morning, I am forced to either be one-eyed blind (which just makes you dizzy... I know from experience) or wear my glasses. Glasses win! I love my glasses, but I just never wear them out very much. Reason: I think they are actually men's glasses, which is why they are awesome, but the frames are a little bit big. Whenever I tip my head down slightly, they slip down the brim of my nose. I can ignore this for a while, but eventually they either just slip all the way off or I look up to talk to someone, and I look like a nerdy librarian bitty with glasses at the end of her nose. So cute, no? Luckily my mom is going to order a new contact down in Texas, but it takes about a week and a half to get them, plus the mail up here to Provo. So if you see me over the next few weeks with glasses at the very end of my nose, please still be my friend. Kindly give me two seconds to push them back up the bridge of my nose, then think, "Oh those are smart little glasses!" Ok so I guess that second part is a personal choice, but it's my prerogative to supply possible ideas of what you can think of me.

Luck o' the Irish

Remember that Disney channel original movie? The one about the high school basketball star who turned into a leprechaun? Not gonna lie, it was always one of my favorites. Happy St. Patrick's day! I feel like my blog is turning into a hoopla for random and overlooked holidays: new years, President's day, Valentines, Pi day, St. Patrick's Day... what's next? Maybe April Fools' Day? Anyways, focusing on the present. Whit and I celebrated green day early by going to our friend Michael Sean's party. He's a friend from Jerusalem, so we knew we would have a blast see everyone again. He also hosted it with his cousins, so there were plenty of people that we didn't know too! Yay for making new friends! It was a really fun party with lots of  Irish decor, green clothes, a potato peeling contest, and even a Blarney Stone to kiss! I also tried out a new dessert--rice krispie treats, but instead of rice krispies, you use Lucky Charms. Whit had the idea, so I did it. They turned out ok; since the cereal already had frosting/sugar on it, the mallow coated it kinda funny. But they still tasted good, so I guess that's what counts! I at least get extra points for holiday spirit and appropriateness.

3.14 Happy Pi Day!

So even though I am no longer a math major (yes, I was one for two whole semesters... still wanna be friends?), I am still a huge fan of pi day! I'm obsessed with numbers and any cool patterns that they form. For instance, my birthday is April 16th, 4/16. First of all, 4 is the square root of 16, so that's already awesome because my birthday is a perfect square. And my favorite number is 8, which is the double of 4 and the half of 16. And my golden birthday was my sweet sixteen--how much better can that get, right? And the year of my birth is also divisible by 4, so my whole birthday can divide down. And my Grandma told me that I'm distantly related to Abraham Lincoln, and guess which number of US President he was?....16! I'm obsessed with numbers. I memorize addresses, telephone numbers, scripture references, and ID numbers by forming patterns and equations. Maybe two sequential numbers add up to the value of the third number, or the sequence is almost the Fibonacci series. Whatever it is, I look for something that will help me remember it. I don't even do it consciously--I just look at numbers and automatically start making connections and patterns. I think it all started in elementary school when my math teacher Mrs. Anderson would put a series of numbers on the board, and we had to use any type of mathematical operation between the numbers to make two equal sides of the equation. Here's an example:

3  0  5  1  2  7  4

One solution is this:

3 x 0 + 5 x 1 = 2 + 7 - 4

See, both sides now equal 5! This is a really simple solution, not very sophisticated math, but I thought it was pretty good for not having the number planned out or anything. But I digress. I think it is now obvious that I like numbers and math, even though it's no longer my major. So naturally I celebrated Pi Day. Since Whit and I didn't have any pie at our apartment, we decided to get the next best thing: pie shakes at Sammy's. Sammy's is a Provo gem: it's this tiny hole in the wall restaurant that is fun, artsy, and serves the best sweet potato fries and shakes. They are especially famous for their pie shakes and cupcake shakes, and yes, they actually put a piece of pie or cupcake into the shake and blend it up. How much better could it get? Once we got there, though, it seemed like half of Provo also had the same idea as we did... but don't worry we still got out shakes. Whit and I also dragged our friend Carter along with us, so we got three different flavors: banana cream pie (Carter), peach cobbler (me), and raspberry cheesecake (Whit). They were all really good, but I'm not going to lie, I really really just liked mine a whole lot. I didn't really want to share. Luckily we're all friends so I could just be honest about it, but I did still let Carter and Whit have a few bites of mine while I stole a few bites of theirs. Divine. And the best part was that we did this all at the spur of the moment around 11 pm. I definitely think Sammy's pie shakes is a Pi Day holiday tradition that I wouldn't mind keeping for years to come. 

Whit and Carter with their shakes

Happy 3.14!