Sometimes I get crafty.

On the very, very rare occasion when I feel like I need to get a little more scrapbooking done in my life, a funny thing happens to me. You may recall this from another experience I had last year, but when I get started on a project, there is no stopping me. No matter how many annotated bibliographies, media watch journal entries, or memory strategy activity assignments I have, I have no higher priority than to complete my project.

I was recently inspired by a couple of websites to do this project. Plus, my walls have been almost completely bare since I moved in, and it's gotten to the point of mildly depressing. Anyways, so I went to the scrapbook store--



Wait, WHAT?? I sent this picture to my mom with a text saying "Mom. I am in a scrapbook store. On purpose. VOLUNTARILY." To which she responded "Who are you??" I'm pretty sure I'm turning into her.

Anyways, I bought a bunch of cute paper and some plain cardstock, then went home and proceeded to write some little words of advice on each one. Here are some of my favorites. They range from fairly deep to simple, silly things that just make me smile.

Anyways, that's my craftiness for the day. Not that big of a deal. Oh, and there's about 38 of these that run in a straight line around my room at about eye level. I really like the placement and such.

Hope you enjoyed this edition of how I spend my days.

Come back soon!

Reunited at last!!

I'm spending my fall break with my best best of best friends--Best Friend Kyle! I got here yesterday afternoon and so far it's been a pretty good trip. I FINALLY met his family, then he took me on a date to get sushi, then we came back to his house, made inside out Oreos (reduced fat... gross), then just chilled and did the best friend thing. Today I get to go shopping with Mama Kyle while Kyle Kyle is at work. After that... I don't actually know. We'll figure it out.

My point is: so far, I love this weekend. (:

Sushi!

LOVE.

My bad.

I'm awful at blogging.

But the good news is I got the app for my phone, so I'm about 12% more likely to improve!

We'll see how this goes.

Can you guess what these things have in common?

1:
--When my internet declares I no longer have internet access, even though I’ve already been online for like an hour.
--When it’s faster/easier to blog, Tweet, Facebook, and watch Netflix from my phone than my computer.
--My actual internet.

2:
--My checkbook.
--My history book.
--SoBe LifeWater.

3:
--My carton of chocolate milk.
--My checking account.
--My stomach.

4:
--My hamper.
--My trash can.
--My to-do list.

5:
--Jay Brannan. (super chill artist I am currently listening to)
--A deadbolt.
--This granola bar.

6:
--Going to the Pastry Pub then on a walk with Devan.
--Free Thai food.
--Being told by my English professor that the first draft of my paper is fantastic.

7:
--Criminal Minds Season 7 Premier.
--Criminal Minds Season 7 Premier.
--Criminal Minds Season 7 Premier.



Answers!

1: Things that make me think my internet is run by actual seamonkeys.
2: Things I really hate opening.
3: Things that should be full but are dangerously empty.
4: Things that should be empty but are actually rather full.
5: Things that are preventing me from throttling my through-the-wall neighbor that will NOT shut up.
6: Things that were the highlight of my day.
7: Things that completely blew my effing mind.

You can call me Rachael Ray.

But please don't really. What I mean is that I'm still on that cooking/baking spree I mentioned a while ago, only now it's mostly just cooking because that seems a lot more practical. Plus it turns out I'm kind of good at it.

A few weeks ago, I was in the middle of making dinner (lemon chicken with a side of green beans and French bread with oil and vinegar) when my bishop dropped in to get to know my roommates and I. Turns out, he was extremely impressed to see that I like to make my dinners from scratch. (When he came over, I was cutting up the raw chicken, and had the corn starch and lemon zest and everything already measured out for the sauce)

Anyways, that little encounter resulted in getting an assignment with two other people to be on a cooking committee for a ward "Break the Fast" dinner next month. Hurray. Bishop also has a bad habit of talking me up to anyone he can. However, it is a boost to the ego, which results in nights like this one.

Tonight, I was inspired to make fettuccine chicken alfredo. However, rather than buying the sauce out of a jar like I did the last time I made this dinner, I decided I wanted to try making it from scratch.

GOOD CALL, ME.

It was absolutely incredible. I actually had some friends come over so they could have it with me. Because I really don't like making these awesome dinners just for myself. I don't know if it's actual charity so much as maybe me fishing for compliments, but either way, no one can really complain about it.



In case you're wondering, I'll share the recipe I used for the sauce. It made this much. (About 4 servings.)

1/4 cup butter
1 cup heavy cream
1 clove garlic, crushed (I bought garlic cloves, but they weren't very crushable. So I used garlic salt to taste, and it worked very well.)
1 1/2 cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley (that was my favorite part to do...)

Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium low heat. Add cream and simmer for 5 minutes, then add garlic and cheese and whisk quickly, heating through. Stir in parsley and serve.

And I always have some chopped up cooked chicken on hand in my freezer for occassions such as this, so I just thawed that, then threw it in with the sauce and let it hang out there to warm up while the fettuccine was still cooking.

Anyways, it turned out really well. And as you can see, I'm a big fan of aprons. But that one is my adorable roommate Lindy's. I kind of want my own. If anyone feels like donating an apron or the fabric for one to me, I'd be okay with that. (:

I look good in aprons.

Well this was a fun update.

On my new hobby.

Which is cooking.

For multitudes of people.

While wearing an apron...

I'm such an old lady.

This is absurd.

Last year, I did not have a vehicle at college. While it was midly inconvenient at times, I was actually okay with it for the most part. Here is why:

• I lived on campus.


• I had a meal plan, so I never really needed to go to the store.


• Most of my friends lived in the same building as me, so the issue of "I never see my friends!" never really came up. And the ones that I didn't live with just lived down the street, so I could walk.


• A lot of colleges don't even allow freshmen to have cars.

This year, however, it is proving to be more than a little annoying. For the following reasons:

• Now that I have to cook for myself, I am forever thinking of things I need to get from the store, and I hate asking my friends for a ride to Walmart, because I feel like that mooch friend that everyone hates. I feel like they're all going to start ignoring my calls before the year is out.


• Free parking in my apartment complex. It hurts.


• The Biggest Stunt guys all live 8 miles north of here, and since none of them really have functional vehicles, I'd hate to ask them to come get me just to hang out. If I had a car, I would go see them occasionally.


• I can't go home unless I happen to find someone else that is headed that way.


• I am in desperate need of a job, and there are only so many places within walking distance that I can apply to. (Yes, Mom, I've even checked on-campus jobs.)


• My inspiration for this post stems from the fact that I am stranded at my stupid house while literally everyone I know is at a bonfire. Or doing homework. Result: I want to be at the bonfire because it is barely 9:00, I have all my homework done, I look absolutely adorable, and I want to be spending time with other people. However, all of my friends with vehicles are either already at the fire or too busy with homework to go. (Which is when I say "That's why you do your homework in the afternoon, champ.")

I'm just so, so frustrated all the time. I hate the feeling of being stranded and depending on other people. Poor Lindy has gotten to a point where she actually pities me and lets me borrow her car from time to time. And when that happens, I am just super paranoid that something is going to happen to her car while I'm driving it.

My point is: not having a car freshman year really isn't that big of a deal. Even at the time I was okay with it. But that this point, I just get so frustrated every day that it's causing a great deal of stress in addition to what I already have going on.

And I don't know what to do.

In the past 48 hours,

I have had a surprisingly high amount of rather humbling experiences. (And by "high", I mean like 3.) I'm really not the kind of person that's all into "signs" and stuff, but I kind of feel like I've been punched in the guts by a pretty heavy realization. I don't know if it's because I just finished reading a book about what happens to a person that allows sin and offense to fester within their soul and it just scared the living daylights out of me or if it's just time to understand what an infant I've been lately, but something has to change

As most of you may know, I really kind of hate people. A lot. Yesterday, I saw this random girl for the first time in my life. I looked at her outfit, how the was playing with her hair, and the way she was inexplicably puckering her lips while observing the people around her, and I verbally declared that I absolutely hated her. I wish I could say this was an exaggeration, but it's really not. Literally just the way this poor girl looked was enough for me to announce that I wanted to punch her in the face a hundred times.

To explain my "humbling experiences", they were pretty much all the same. Between yesterday afternoon and today between classes, I held genuine, civil conversations with three of the top five people that I bear more hostility toward than any other individual on the planet. Really. The other two people don't even live here, but I happened to run into the three that do. I don't know what came over me to sit down with these individuals and just have a normal conversation, but by the time I walked away, I actually noted that I was not filled with rage or any kind of negativity at all... and it was nice.

I feel very Grinch/Ebenezer Scrooge-y saying all this, by the way. And I'm really not sure if anyone will actually read this, but I feel like I need to somehow publicly declare these feelings or I might later pretend they never happened and go back to my hateful ways. I'm not saying I'm "turning over a new leaf" or anything. I'm not reinventing myself as a person, because there will always be those people that just rub me the wrong way, and I will not actively enjoy being in their company. However, I've just realized that every day, I waste so much time, energy, and emotion being so angry at so many people, many of which that haven't even done anything to offend me. Just their personalities conflict with mine, so I declare a hatred that isn't deserved.

So while I have absolutely no intention of going out of my way to befriend all of these people that bug me, I'm just so tired of putting forth the effort to be angry every time I even think about them. One guy was such a sensitive subject with me that even hearing his name pissed me off. But after talking to him today, I thought how stupid it is that the reason I started "hating" him was because of something he said in bad taste in January. January. That was seven months ago, and I have been festering in rage all this time. It's absurd and ridiculous and childish and stupid and I'm just tired of this routine.

It's time to let go.

It's time to change.

And I have done so.

I have no enemies.

And I am content.