Frisbee Fever

Do you know why I am excited for summer? Perhaps it is because I will be done with school and homework, or because of the warm weather instead of the ridiculous snow in Logan, or perhaps it is because I will get to live for free at home and hang out with my awesome family. Yes, all those are true, but I am weirdly excited to play frisbee every week! I think about it every day, which is weird. Maybe I should join a league...

Turning into a girl

I think the past week has made me more of a girly-girl than I ever experienced during Jr. High when these things typically happen. What has caused this change you might ask? Well it all started with a little Aggie coupon book that had a coupon for free Tanning at a salon called. The Rage. I have always been against tanning, but somehow let my roommates talk me into it. Perhaps it is because I have been in the land of eternal winter for the last 7 months and could use a good 10 minutes in a tube of artificial warmth. Plus it was completely free, so I would be foolish not to go right? Well I did, and now I am burnt like a lobster in places that have probably not seen the sun since I was a baby. And oh how it burns. I should have taken heed to the warning signs. Like when we asked about the different beds the words "even more intense lights, UV skin penetration, and deeper tan" were used. Oh well, I think I got rid of 6 summers worth of bad tan lines from working at the city. Will I go again? It is too soon to tell. On the other hand, I had a most positive girl experience that ironically was introduced to me by a boy. On Friday my friend Pete called me up and asked if I wanted to go get a facial with him, so I said why not? We went to the beauty school in Logan so it probably wasn't as supreme or up class as a facial could be, but let me tell you, that was some extreme relaxation. For those who don't know a facial is basically a face massage for about an hour with soothing music in the background. Pete and I both had glowing faces all day. In summary, don't go tanning, there is nothing natural about that bed of blue light. Facials on the other hand, I would highly recommend, just be prepared to be drowsy for the drive home.

50 Book Challenge

I have taken the challenge, the 50 book challenge. My roommate Torrie told me I should do it, and so I said yes. What is this challenge you might ask? Well it is to read 50 books in one year, which means I basically have to read a book a week. So far I have only read 4, so I am not so sure how well I am going to be at succeeding in this challenge, but I think that I can do it if I put my mind to it.. So far this year I have read the last two of the Hunger Games books, Catching Fire and Mockingjay. I liked this series, but I felt that the end did not leave me very satisfied. Overall, I feel like the Hunger Games is a combination of 1984 and the Twilight series; they were entertaining and interesting, but not life changing. The third book I read is called Honey, Baby, Sweetheart. From the title and appearances this book seems like a teenage romance novel, but it is actually about a teenage girl finding herself and discovering what love really is. I thought it was a surprisingly good book; it was predictable, but still a good read. The latest book I read is called Chains. This is by far the best so far this year. It is the story of a young slave girl during the time of the American Revolution. I think it is a great young adult fiction and provides an interesting perspective on the founding of America. I particularly liked this book because it wasn't about romance, vampires, or the complex social problems of present day teens that many young adult books are like these days. It is a wholesome book (if you haven't read a popular young adult fiction book lately you would be surprised how explicit they can be), and it has a strong protagonist, which I think some books that teens read these days are lacking.

I had kind of a depressing moment at the Bountiful. City Public library this week. I was looking for a series that I read when I was in Jr. High and couldn't find it anywhere. The books were old when I was younger, so it isn't too surprising that they were no longer there, but what made me sad was what had replaced these books. Was young adult fiction always so superficial? There was literally an entire shelf for Twilight books alone. It made me sad that the books of my childhood had been replaced by entertainment books about boys and vampires, but who knows, maybe books were always like that and I just didn't notice because I was too young.

Well since I have a lot of catching up to do if I am going to read 50 books, I would love any suggestions of books to read. I am looking for books that have substance but are not super long. So nothing like Crime and Punishment but maybe a little more substantive than say Charlotte's Web. I am open to just about any kind of book. Wish me luck!

A Shoutout

I would like to dedicate this post to my Awesome Family. Basically the past year has been one of the most humbling in that I have had to learn to be more dependent on other people than I have ever before. And I don't mean the kind of dependent that is forced upon you as a child or even a teenager. I mean the kind that you have to willingly submit to, or even worse, ask for. Yes, yes, I admit that as a grown 24 year old, I am still dependent, and I am maybe learning that in a way, I always will be. I can't think of a time when a member of my family did not come through for me when I really needed it. Every single person in my family has helped me in an enormous way. So I just want to say Thank You. Thanks for always looking out for me, as the little sister. Without you I would be very lost, probably cold, and very hungry.

Birthday

I have noticed something about birthdays lately. For some reason many people in this world have decided that liking their own birthday is an unacceptable notion. It's like saying you are excited for your birthday makes you selfish, or conceded even. Well my friends, I am not afraid to say that I like my birthday. Is it so wrong to enjoy celebrating another year of your life? I don't think so. Maybe it is because my birthday also falls on the holiday that the rest of the world celebrates as well, but maybe it is just because birthdays are awesome. It isn't because I want people to buy me presents or treat me special, I just like my birthday. I get to spend time with all the people I like and do fun things, what is so bad about that? I haven't exactly decided what I will do for my birthday this year, and maybe I won't do anything out of the ordinary, but no matter what, I will like it, and I am not afraid to admit it.

GIS Master

I just wanted to share in the wonderful and exciting news that I am done with my GIS class. Who thought I would ever know what it meant to spatially anaylze something, project coordinate systems, and run geoprocessing tools on data? Just call me a map making fool.

shutterfly.com holiday card promotion

My sister, Bethany, let me know about a great promotion Shutterfly is running for bloggers.  She has made a lot of cute stuff on Shutterfly lately-her wedding album, a calendar for our family she gave everyone for Christmas, as well as all her photo printing needs.  Shutterfly is great because you can upload all your photos to their site and they store them for you all in one place so you can use the same photos for multiple projects. 

Anyway, our family just got some photos taken this last weekend because the whole family was together (now that Grant is born and Bethany and John were in town) so we are excited to get the photos back and use on our family Christmas cards this year.  Shutterfly has a great selection of cards, there are so many cute ones it is hard to make a choice.  Check out a few of my favorites:

To check out the full selection of cards go here.

If you want to participate in their promotion and receive 50 free cards go here.

I hope you are all enjoying the holiday season so far-check out Shutterfly for last minute photo gift ideas.