The Best Year So Far

This has been a great year. The beginning months were a little slow, socially mostly. I had a bit of a hard time after the mission making friends. I mean, I made some friends, but not the kind I spent a lot of time with, if that makes sense. I don't know, it's hard to make friends without friends. Sometimes it happens, but it's hard. But particularly when I moved into my current ward, there were a few people that made a big difference to me, and I'd like to share a little about these folks, who made 2011 turn into a fabulous year!

McKell and Ben were great in reaching out to me. I've known Ben since we were kids. We were in the PV3 ward in Provo in primary, then he moved to Idaho in high school and so we met again there, and now again in the same area we started. McKell moved in to PV3 after we moved to ID, but I met her when visiting my grandparents in subsequent years so I knew her a little too. It was quite nice to have a couple of familiar faces in my new ward. She especially was good at inviting me to go with her to church, activities, institute, etc. It was great to have somebody to go with and talk with, so I didn't feel so awkward. After a while, I had made other friends and so when she started dating somebody (and got married yay!) it was okay, she'd done her job. She got me involved in the ward. She's a hero!

Another familiar face was Mazie. She had been in a couple of my classes the semester before, so I knew her a little bit from there. When I saw her, I thought, "She'd be an excellent Relief Society president." What do you know, that day she got sustained as such. Haha! She was also in my home evening group and she was my visiting teacher. We became pretty good friends over the course of the summer. I'm really grateful for her!

Hannah was also important because I wanted to be a good example for my little sister, so I made sure we were actively involved, continuing our institute and activity attendance. And as I said, it's always easier to go to something and make new friends if you already have somebody with you. She was a good one to have around. We had a lot of fun this summer.

Then there's Jamshid. He looked like a terrorist with his beard, but he's a softie. Hannah told him to ask me out, which he did, and a new friendship was born. We had fun flirting and joking around a lot. I could look forward to seeing him at various activities too. He has a way of making you feel at ease and he just cares about everybody. He knows everybody in the ward. It's amazing.

Kyle and Jason were other familiar faces, originally in PV3 too. They're always entertaining. I've gotten to know them even more this last semester, which has been a blast. Their whole household is quite delightful. I've written about them a little bit before. Once I moved into the the apartments, they were in my home evening group, and I know I've mentioned how awesome they are.

Of course there were others like Will and Brock and Annie who were in my summer home evening group too. As I got to know all these great people, I started considering staying in the ward for fall, which wasn't in my original plan. Then I got my new calling, which helped me even more. I made an effort to meet just about everybody. Definitely everyone in my Relief Society. I baked each weekend and took goodies to different apartments to get to know them more. It's been quite a delight. I've gotten to know a lot more people, Andrew, Brian, fun apt. 1, apartment 43 (with their own theme song), Raqel, Luke, Calvin, Celeste, Silvia, my roommies, I really can't name them all. (Also as a side note, most of these names are nicknames, but a few are real, so for those of you who actually know them, I hope you can keep track of it all.)

There are also those friends from the mission like Bunkie and Jemima and Boulty, who were around when I didn't have anybody else. They had their own lives too, but they were pretty good about being there for me. :) A couple pre-mission friends pulled through too, like Kimberly and Spencer, particularly at the beginning of the year.

In short, the wonderful people in my life have made this a great year indeed! Definitely the best year yet! And I'm sure that 2012 will be fabulous too! Thanks y'all, and have a Happy New Year!

Belated Christmas-related post

My mother is the queen of Christmas. I wish I could show you my whole house, but that would be a tad difficult. So here are a few pics to show the decor. But she's not only a great decorator, she really makes everything about Christmas grand. From the food and cookies to the gifts, to the movies and music. I love her.






This was an entertaining gift that each of us got. My brother threw his up in the air and it rained money.



This is a great ornament, don't you think?

Merry Christmas Eve!

Have a wonderful Christmas Eve! I'm so excited for our Swedish smorgasbord this evening. I love my family! Merry Christmas!

Hot Chocolate: Superior Refreshment

There's something amazing about hot chocolate. It's so comforting. It's hot. It's chocolate. It's delicious. The last few days I've had toast and cocoa for breakfast, which is really nice. I don't normally have time for that during the semester, since that requires actually sitting down for breakfast... So it's been quite delightful. And as I sipped it this morning, I thought, "Hot chocolate deserves a little lovin' for all the lovin' it gives to us." So this post is dedicated to the thousands of cups that are enjoyed each year. I hope you too enjoy some superior refreshment!

Freedom

There is a magnificent feeling that comes with the end of a semester. All semester even at somewhat relaxed times, there was still something hanging over me, an ax ready to fall and slice my head open. But now, there's no ax. There's no bucket of icy cold water. There's nothing dangling in a threatening way above me. I can breathe and relax and sleep. Sleep. Sleep. Sleep. Freedom. No school. No homework. No work. Just family. Music. Movies. Food. Love. Sleep. Beauty. Christmas.

St. Lucia Dagen

I can't remember what I've written about on here. Have I ever mentioned that I got a nickname from members of my ward? I'm Lucille or Lucy to them. It used to lean toward Lucy mostly, but I get a lot of Lucille lately. I like them both though. Anyway, I'm Lucy.

Today is Lucia Dagen in Sweden. That means Lucy's Day! I was so appropriately nicknamed. This is a favorite family tradition of mine. Traditionally, a young woman dressed in white with a crown of candles brings Lucia buns and coffee for breakfast while singing the song "Santa Lucia." It's kind of a celebration of light. (You can click on the link up there to read more about it.)

This morning as I sent my mom a text to wish her a happy Lucia dagen, I realized "Hey, I'm Lucy now! Yes! This is my day!" Now I'm wishing I had some Lucia bread to share with my friends. Maybe I'll get some pepparkakor (a.k.a. wish cookies). But for now, back to finals.

Rubbish

Rubbish. What a great word. Don't you love to say it? Rubbish! Rubbish, rubbish, rubbish. "This is rubbish." "My paper is four pages long, but what rubbish." "Que rubbish!" (Spanglish) Rubbish. Yep. This post probably belongs in the rubbish. But nay, what a rubbishful thought. One man's rubbish is another man's treasure. Treasure this rubbish. Treasure it.

December? What?

Today is December 1st. I'm not sure how that happened. Wasn't it just barely September? But I'm thrilled that the semester is nearly over. I just have to make it to the end! I don't think I've ever had such a struggle focusing on my studies. I've wanted to blog several times and I keep saying, "I don't have time." But then I find other ways to waste my time, so I'm blogging now. Mostly I wanted to show you my new shoe.

Ain't it pretty? Story? Okay. Actually, I don't know how I hurt my foot exactly. Maybe from dancing around the house over Thanksgiving break. But it started hurting this weekend. I didn't think too much of it at first. But it got worse and on Monday it hurt a lot. So I went to the doctor. They took an x-ray. Nothing wrong there. So I went to the podiatrist on Wednesday and he diagnosed me with flexor tendinitis. It's not too bad really. I can feel it if I move my big toe...so the shoe is supposed to help me not move that tendon in there that's so unhappy. It works fairly well. I had to wear two pairs of socks today though, to keep my foot warm! If it starts snowing...I might have to wear some other stiff shoes on the walk to school. We'll see. Anyway, I find it rather entertaining. Nobody noticed I was wearing it today, which surprised me. I felt like I was walking really funny since my normal shoe is an inch or so taller than this one. But apparently it must not be too weird-looking!

Ah yes, fabulous adventures have I. Happy December!