Genna...... with a G.

My first project of 2012

2012-01-22T16:16:00.003-08:00

I decided 2012 is going to be a great year. To help make sure this statement is true I've decided to take on 3 projects this year. So far I've only thought of what the first 2 of these projects will be and I'm letting the next 6 months or so help me come up with my last project.

With January quickly coming to a close, I've decided it's time to start my first 2012 project. Some of you may remember a Christmas project I made for my family a few years ago. It was a quote a day calendar, with quotes from the modern day prophets & apostles (what's that?) and each month has a different gospel topic (gratitude, repentance, revelation, knowledge, womanhood, faith, prayer, scriptures, forgiveness, family, charity, Jesus Christ). While this project was quite overwhelming at times I've decided to do it again.....kinda.

When I came up with the quote a day idea for that project I also wanted to do a scripture a day calendar, I know, such a fresh and unique idea right? :) Well, it's now 2012 and I'm finally going to make it happen! So here's the game plan, I'm going to incorporate the scripture mastery scriptures (huh?) but let's have some fun with this....

If you'd like to be involved, add a comment below this post with your favorite scripture from any of the 4 standard works (Book of Mormon, Doctrine & Covenants, Old Testament, & New Testament) and also include your date of birth. Then I'll put your favorite scripture on your birthday!

Now don't let this game stop you from adding multiple scriptures you like, I mean I do have to come with 265 more scriptures after the scripture mastery ones. Just put your date of birth next to your most favorite one. And if you're a frequenter of my blog you may remember that I've mentioned this before so if you responded then please respond again under this post just to keep it all in one place.

As you can image this project will take some time, so if you happen to see this post weeks from now, you can still totally play along!

Let the game begin!

Say I'm a bird

2011-11-19T13:02:00.002-08:00

It's with some reluctance that I admit my recent actions.

I have joined the world of twitter.

I'm not sure what it's called (maybe a handle or something) but if you feel like reading some random thoughts feel free to follow me @mugle5. Otherwise I'm just talking to myself..... like a psycho.

World's Best Dad

2011-06-19T19:18:00.011-07:00

Although many may think they have the best dad in the world, they are all mistaken because I actually do. And in case there was any doubt I've complied the following as proof of how great my Dad actually is.

My Dad has always been there for me and there supporting me. I remember one of my last years in Super Steppers (a drill team I danced with for 8 years between preschool and 9th grade) we had one of our big performances and it happened to fall on the same day as my sister's high school cheer tryouts. My Mom stayed home to be there for my sister and my Dad came with me to watch me dance and support me. I'm sure there were plenty of other things he would have rather done that night, but he came to be there for me. At the time I was so upset my mom wasn't coming (even though now I totally realize she should have stayed home with my sis) that I'm pretty sure I was in such a bad mood that I never even thanked my Dad for coming. I've thought about that night so many times throughout the years. That was just one of the many times my Dad was there to watch me dance or cheer or compete. He always supported me then and continues to supports me now.

Some of my favorite childhood memories with my Dad involve water and swimming. My Dad is the best back floater I've ever seen. Get him in water and he'll just lay back and chill there forever. As kids this always turned into a little game for us. When he would lay on his back his stomach would stick out of the water and we'd try to sit on top of it like it was a hill or something. But then every time once we'd start to get up he would roll and roll and roll in the water like a log. And just like that it became a very challenging game that would occupy us in the water for a long time.

Some other favorite water memories happened at the beach. Another skill my Dad has is body surfing. This has led to a lot of times playing in the waves in the ocean. I love diving through the waves and just hanging out in the water waiting for a good wave to ride. I also love swimming really far out in the water with my Dad. We swim really far out and then catch waves back in. Whether we are diving through, ducking under, or waiting to catch a wave it's always a great time with my Dad!

When I was a kid my Dad commuted back and forth to California for work. One week during the summer I got to go with him and stay at my grandma's house in LA while he was working. I remember feeling so special being able to go with him. During the day I played with my grandma, usually Blackjack, and then each day we'd make a special dinner or treat that my Dad liked and have it ready for when he got back from working. That trip meant so much to me and I really cherish these memories.

Regardless of anything else, I think I could win this whole argument of having the best dad just by talking about all he's done with me and my car. Not only has he always been there to check my oil and my tires, but if there is any issues with radiators or fan belts he's my go to guy. But that's just the tip of the iceberg. After a plethora of car problems we thought we finally had my Neon fixed and good to go. After spending a weekend in St. George it was time to head back up to Provo and spend the summer working before my sophomore year of college. I had only made it close to Beaver, Utah before my car overheated and died on me. After freaking out and trying to figure out how I was going to get back up to Provo, move into my new apartment, and get to and from work everyday I called my Dad who quickly came to my rescue. Not only did he come meet me on the side of the freeway, but he moved all my bags from my car to his, tossed me his keys, and sent me on my way. Then he spent the rest of the day sitting with my car on the side of the road waiting until my brother-in-law was able to get a trailer and drive up and pick him and my car up much later in the afternoon. And while he worked on my car for the following few months I drove around the truck he had recently bought himself and never heard any frustrations or complaints from him. But of course it doesn't stop there. After my internship in LA I was driving back to Utah with a completely packed full car when my tire popped and I flew off the freeway and landed 30 feet into the desert sand near Barstow, CA. After I tried to compose myself, I called my Dad and once he made sure I was ok, he tried to calm me down and walk me through the next steps. After our phone call, in classic hero fashion, my Dad (and Mom) hopped in their car and drove the 4 hours to where I was and picked me up. While he never said anything about the inconvenience it was to rescue me all those times I still get a phone call whenever he drives past the areas and he gives me a little friendly reminder of how much I owe him.

In addition to all the great memories I have of my Dad, it is his character that makes him so amazing. My Dad is one of the most hardworking people I know. No matter how hard life is on him or how many great opportunities don't work out he never quits. He wakes up every day and continues on. It also amazes me how much he sacrifices not just for me, but for my entire family. He'll give up anything in order to help his family or get them where they want to be. It's always funny when I hear my friends talk about their loud and strong-willed dads because mine couldn't be any more the opposite. He is so quiet and gentle and kind. Definitely the strong, silent type. I can hardly think of more than a handful of times where he's gotten mad or complained.

Another quality I've admired in him is his constant faith and commitment to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Without any questions or hesitation he goes to church on Sundays, fulfills his calling no matter how big or how small, magnifies his Priesthood, and taught me that as long as you're doing what's right it doesn't matter what else happens. Do what's right and it will all work out in the end.

On a lighter note, my Dad always makes me laugh when he tells stories or jokes. They tend to be long and delivered a bit slowly but you can always see how much enjoyment he gets from sharing them. I love when I'm at home visiting and I get the chance to just hop in the car with my Dad when he runs to put gas in the car or grab something from the grocery store. It's so nice to get those few one-on-one moments with my Dad.

When I was in Elementary School I had a paper route. Every day after school I'd rush home and deliver the paper, but on weekends the papers went out in the mornings. On Sunday mornings my dad would help us out to get it done quicker. Once we had all the newspapers folded we'd load them in the back of his station wagon and while I rode on the back flap that had been laid down he'd drive slowly through the neighborhood as I threw the newspapers to the various houses. I was always so happy when he'd help out, especially on really cold mornings!!

Another favorite childhood memory involves spending time at my Dad's apartment in CA. Since he was commuting back and forth so much between St. George, where we lived, and Southern California, where his business was, it ended up costing less to get just a little apartment in CA instead of staying in hotels every week. During the summers the whole family would take trips to California and stay at my Dad's apartment. Since it was only a one bedroom, all the kids would camp out in sleeping bags in the living room while my parents had the bedroom. While these trips were full of crazy antics the thing that sticks out the most is what was always stocked in the kitchen. In the cabinet was a huge container of Tang and there was always Spam in the fridge. Weird I know, but whenever I think about that and it always brings a smile to my face.

This post is starting to get a bit wordy so the last few memories I'm gonna kinda rattle off quickly.

My Dad is a great person to sit next to at church because he tends to have lifesavers in his pocket... which he shares!

Although my Dad acts like he hates our pets it's cute seeing him go out in the garage and play with our cat, even with his allergies.

My Dad is a really good cook! His chicken recipe is delicious and so is his brisket! I love and miss home cooked meals made by my Dad.

My Dad started this thing we would do at the beginning of FHE called compliments. Basically someone in the family starts by picking someone else and paying them a compliment or just like thanks them for something they did during the past week. For example I would say, "I want to compliment Mom for making my bed so nicely for me." Next it would be Mom's turn to pick someone and compliment them. Then you go around the family and each person can only be complimented once so you pick until everyone has been complimented for something they did that week. This was always funny when people were fighting but had to come up with something to compliment the other person about. Nothing like a great long pause. But this was always one of my favorite parts of FHE.

Lastly I just want my Dad to know how much I love him and am so grateful that he is still here with us. It's been over 2 years since my Dad was diagnosed with kidney cancer. That was such a hard time and while surgery wasn't a perfect fix I'm just so grateful that he is as healthy as he is and I am so lucky to have him as my Dad. I couldn't have asked for anyone better!

I love you Dad!!

Thank you for everything you've done for me!

You really are the best Dad ever!

And the winner is...

2011-06-19T02:20:00.003-07:00

FRANKLIN

Although it wasn't one of the initial choices I just kinda started calling him by that name and so far there have been no complaints. So Franklin it is. And after a few touch a go days in the beginning where I thought he might try to kill himself (luckily those times are behind us) he seems to be adjusting well and is enjoying his new environment.

Introducing...

2011-06-12T20:29:00.005-07:00

Meet my new roommate!

His name is still undecided although I have some ideas.

My favorite right now is Calvin, Cal or Vinny for short.
Other options are Malcolm, Marlyn (Lyni for short), or Barnaby.

Any feedback would be appreciated, and feel free to suggest another name. Thanks!!

I got it from my Momma

2011-05-08T18:07:00.011-07:00

I was thinking today about my mom and about all the traits I really admire about her, all the lessons she's taught me, and some of my favorites memories. So I've decided to share some of those thoughts with the blogging world along with some photos of her (and me).

All growing up and throughout high school my mom totally supported me and attended all my games and performances. There were very few times she wasn't there. It meant so much to me to look into the stands she see her. Through 8 years of Super Steppers, one year in Encore Entertainment, and a year of horse back riding my mom was always there encouraging me. I'm sure it was boring at times to see the same thing every week at football and basketball games I was cheering at, but she was still there wearing her cheer mom shirt and clapping along. Thanks Mom for always supporting me!

My mom is super crafty. He can paint, sew, cross-stick, crochet, knit, to name a few. I wish I was as even a fraction as talented as she is with all this stuff. Growing up our house was always decorated with crafts my mom had made, something I hope to replicate in my future home. Thanks Mom for trying to teach me some of your crafty ways!

She is brown. This is something I am particularly jealous of. I spend every summer trying to become more like her in this regard. One day maybe I can .... no actually I will never be brown like her, but a girl can hope. Thanks Mom for keeping me jealously working towards a goal!

My mom taught me a lot of things growing up. She taught me the importance of being independent, the value of keeping things clean and taking care of your stuff, and the difference the little things can make. Dirty dishes were never left in the sink overnight, Saturday was cleaning day, and I knew how to do my own laundry from a very young age. Although I don't always love these traits they have had a very valuable and lasting impact on my life which I am grateful for. Thanks Mom for everything you've taught me!

My mom taught me the value of a getting an education. When I was in elementary/middle school my mom went back to college to get a degree. I would go with her to her night classes sometimes and sit outside the classroom and wait for her. She always pushed me in school to do my best and achieve as much as possible. I remember in 7th grade I was having a really hard time understanding the concept of negative numbers. (How could such a thing exist?!) I remember sitting at the kitchen table while my mom explained the concept to me in a way I actually understood. Finally it all made sense and math became one of if not my best subject in school/life. Thanks Mom for helping me achieve so much!

As a kid we didn't have sprinklers in the front yard, so this meant my mom would go out and water the plants and trees in the yard. While watering the plants she would also give our bedroom windows a little spray down. When not expecting this, the sound of water coming from a hose sprinkler and hitting a window can be quite startling. And since this usually happened around bedtime when we were sure to be in our rooms I have many of these memories. Thanks Mom for keeping us on edge!

One of my favorite childhood memories involves a food fight at dinner one night. I'm not sure how the rest of the food fight went, but I remember the ending. Mom was chased from the kitchen, down the hallway, through her bedroom, and into the master bathroom where she hoped in the shower to try to avoid what was coming only to end up having the big water pitcher dumped on her. Thanks Mom for all the fun times!

My Mom and I have a very unique relationship and one aspect I've really appreciated is the fact that I can tell my Mom anything. It didn't matter if it was about boys, friends, work, school drama I knew/know I can always talk to her about it. In high school I would sometimes sneak out of my friend's house when we had sleepovers. This was always super innocent and we usually just met up with people at Denny's at 2am, cuz it's St. George and we were good kids but I would always tell my Mom the next day. I liked that I didn't have to keep secrets from her and I wasn't worried about her overreacting because she knew me well enough to trust me. Thanks Mom for always being there to talk to!

The summers after my Sophomore & Junior years at BYU my Mom and I went on a road trip to visit my oldest sister in Temecula, CA. A particularly fond memory from these trips involves my Mom giving her interpretation of what the dance described in the song "Lean Like a Cholo" was. All I can say is the woman's got moves! Thanks Mom for the road trip memories!

Another fun memory from these road trips was simply laughing. Whether it's rocking out the Hairspray, taking stupid photos in the car/everywhere, or just joking about trying to see some celebrities when we pull up to fancy houses these trips were full of a lot of laughter and it's always good to hear my Mom genuinely let got and enjoy herself. Thanks Mom for the laughs!

Growing up and being in dance since preschool I've always been able to do the splits. Not a big surprise. What was surprising was my mom stretching out with us in the living room of our house and then proceeding to do the splits and be able to go down flat. Impressive to say the least. Thanks Mom for keeping me stretching so I can do the same with my kids one day!

Growing up my family went on a lot of vacations to California and almost always went to the beach. The beach trips were a blast! We'd dive through the waves, try to swim out to be the furthest person out in the water, collect seashells, build sand castles, etc. It was always a fun and carefree time and I knew my Mom would be sitting on her beach chair watching us and making sure everything was safe. Thanks Mom for always looking out for me!

Hands down the most important thing my mom has taught me has been the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the great blessing it is to be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Every week my mom got us up and ready to go to church and supported and helped us when we were asked to speak or fulfill various callings. She made sure our blessings, baptisms, seminary graduations, endowments, and other significant church events were specials days for us and she was there celebrating with and supporting us the whole time. Of all the amazing things you've taught me, this by far means the most. Thank you for going to church with your neighbor friend as a kid. Thank you for getting baptized even though your parents weren't members. Thank you for meeting and marrying Dad in the temple so our family was able to have the Gospel in our lives and the opportunity to be together again throughout eternity. Thank you for being my escort last December. Thanks Mom for helping me develop my testimony!

Thanks for everything Mom!
I love you & Happy Mother's Day!

2011-03-24T23:55:00.002-07:00

Taking steps in the right direction today

2011-03-17T22:29:00.002-07:00

*Today's Positive Moment*
3 miles on the treadmill followed by 7 miles on the bike

*Today's Negative Moment*
Kettle Corn & Dr. Pepper for dinner

My new favorite show on TV

2011-03-06T19:41:00.004-08:00

It's funny, I really like all the characters, and the actors are all good. Also I find Roy from The Office totally attractive in this show. That was surprising to me too, but I can't deny it. Anyways, everyone should start watching it so it doesn't get canceled like too many good shows do. It's on FOX on Tuesday night and more realistically you can find it on Hulu. Watch it and let me know if you agree.

Oh yeah I guess other stuff has happened...

2011-02-27T21:40:00.002-08:00

Do you like how after not posting for months I finally write on here and it's a product placement? So alright I guess I'll try to catch you up on my life for the past 3 months in the best way I know how.... bullet points! With the exception of the first item which is clearly the biggest, most important, and best thing that's happened, the following are in no particular order.

I went through the St. George, Utah temple and received my endowment on Monday, December 27, 2010!! For anyone reading this who's not sure what this means, click HERE and read all about it! Not gonna lie, my first time was EXTREMELY overwhelming. I knew what I was doing was right and good, but it was a lot to take in. It took me about 2 days to replay everything that happened over and over again in my mind and this is the conclusion I came to. I love the temple. You can be having the most stressful day and you go into a session and all that stress and worry disappears. The spirit there is so strong and it is so incredibly easy to feel the love our Heavenly Father has for us. Needless to say, it was such an amazing experience and I'm kind of obsessed with the temple now. With the exception of like 2 weeks I think I've been able to attend the temple at least once a week since I went through in December. I've gone through sessions at the St. George temple (my 1st & 2nd time during Christmas break), the Oquirrh Mountain Temple once while out in Provo for work with Nicole Walker & Rachelle Gleason (love and miss you guys like crazy!), and then the gorgeous LA temple many times. I'm looking forward to attending the San Diego, Salt Lake, Newport Beach, and really every temple I possibly can! Now on to the less serious stuff.
I bought furniture affirming the fact that I am now a full fledged adult. Granted the furniture is from IKEA but still it's a big deal. I can no longer just pack up my car and move. I need movers or something. Crazy huh!
Going perfectly along with #2 is that I bought a bed! Anyone who really knows me knows I have a hard time committing to certain things including big purchase items. Buying a bed was a huge deal for me. I went to at least 6 furniture stores trying out a ton of beds, researched a bunch of reviews online, and then when I still couldn't decide I ended up sleeping on a bed of blankets for about a week until I was finally able to pick and have a bed delivered and let me tell you I LOVE MY BED. It is so comfortable I never want to leave it. I literally make people come in my room and try it out that's how comfortable it is. And when I'm at hotels now I just want to be back in my bed it's seriously that comfy! Oh and for those who may be wondering why I'm just now buying furniture when I've lived in LA for like 7 months it's because the spot I took was for my roommate from my intern summer out here who was getting married and moving to London for a semester and wanted to leave her stuff here while she was gone. A perfect situation for me, but yeah that's why I waiting till now to buy stuff.
Work.... I do it too much. We're smack dab in the middle of busy season and this week was crazy. I worked 70 hours this week, 14 of those being on Saturday! I know there are many many people who work way more hours than that, but let me tell you I seriously don't know how they do it. There were multiple days that literally all I did was work and sleep those days. Yay for me it all starts again tomorrow :/
George died. :( My favorite fish ever passed away shortly before Christmas. I know it's corny but I was seriously so sad! If you've been lucky enough to meet George you know how much I cared and protected that fish. Anyways, he is deeply missed. RIP George.
My family came out here 2 weeks ago for my niece Taia's 4th birthday which we celebrated at Disneylad. We had so much fun!! I'm so obsessed with my nieces and nephews. My chubby buddy (Khyri) was so much fun! Towards the end of the day at Disneyland I took Khyri and the two of us got on the Merry-go-round and rode it 3 times without getting off. He didn't want to leave it. Kruzzi (Kruz) was so dang cute! He is the happiest baby ever (almost all the time) and I love chanting his name cuz when I do he gets so excited and smiley. And of course my little Monster (Taia) that girl kills me! She's so spastic and funny and I accidentally taught her the word douche. Oops. I did have fun hearing her parents explain why that word was too grown up for her even those she is a big girl. haha it's fun being the aunt.
I have developed a fairly serious eyelid twitch that wont go away. It is actually twitching right this very moment as I'm writing this. Ya know what, I'm gonna google it right now and see why it's doing that. Ok, googled it and either I'm sleep deprived and stressed or I have a neurological disorder. I guess I hope is the former. It's normally just the right eye but sometimes the left one gets in on it too. The worst is when they both start going crazy at the same time. Whenever I show my roommate the twitching she tries punching me in the face. I figure it's an attempt to scare my eye to behave or something, but really it's just coming off as attempted roommate abuse. I do not approve.

Well, a lot of other stuff happened but I'm getting super tired right now and just keep thinking about how soon the morning will be here and I'll have to go to work so I think that's enough for one night. And tell you what, I try posting more than once every 3 months, deal? Deal. (Yeah I just made a deal with myself like a crazy person, but it's my blog and I'll do what I want.)

My new favorite thing

2011-02-27T21:30:00.003-08:00

So after working 14 hours yesterday, (yep that's right 14 hours on a Saturday) my face was just feeling awful. Like dead skin cells just hanging on needing to be scraped off. Gross I know. So I decided on the way home I'd stop at the store and pick up one of these babies.And let me just tell you. This is one of the best purchases I've made in a long time. I HIGHLY recommend it. Not only is it effective in cleaning your face but it's also super relaxing. It has 2 different speeds, a fast one to maximize cleaning and a slower one to massage and I'm obsessed! I got it last night and I've already used it twice. So moral of the story, go buy this product cuz I love it and you will too.

(I should totally get an endorsement deal from this post. Just saying.)

A break from real life

2010-11-23T01:45:00.003-08:00

I'm so excited right now because tomorrow instead of waking up and driving into downtown LA for another long day at the office I get to pack up and take off for a long day of driving.

I haven't been to St. George since the very beginning of July and while for most people that may not be a very long time since they've been home for me it feels like forever. During school I would go home maybe every month or two and after nieces and nephews came along even more often. I'm really looking forward to going home for a few days. Isn't it weird how there's something about just being at home that kind of rejuvenates you? All I know is that after the last 5 crazy, hectic, fun, challenging, and over worked months nothing sounds better than just being back at home. Maybe it's because I wish I could go back to being a kid again. Don't get me wrong, I feel lucky to have my job and the life I have, and to be living out here in LA. I enjoy the freedom to do what I want when I want, when I'm not working of course. But man, sometimes I wish I could go back to the carefree days of childhood where all I wanted to do was jump on the trampoline with the sprinkler on, or dig a hole in the gully, or walk to the park with my mom and Coco. It's weird because I'm still young but I feel like so much has happened in my life already. Not as much as other people of course, but looking back it's been an amazing 23 years so far. I guess I'm pretty tired right now and I just read Chelsi's blog which always makes me more thoughtful and emotional, but it's crazy how fast time flies. That's what hits me most about the last 5 months of my life since moving out here. All of the sudden you start your career and before you know it 5 months, a year, 5 years have come and gone. I guess my advice to anyone reading this and I guess to myself too is to enjoy your life. Time comes and goes so quickly so make the most of it while you can. Make great memories to look back on.

Well that is not the post I expected to write when I opened my blog, I was going for something upbeat and exciting about how I can't wait to see my parents, and sister, and nieces and nephews, and all the red rocks tomorrow, but all that other stuff came out instead. Anyways, I'm off to bed so I can wake up and get on the road at a decent time tomorrow. See, even that was such an adult consideration...

Goodnight blog world.

Don't Worry.... I'm still alive

2010-10-31T21:28:00.002-07:00

For all those who actually read my blog, so really just my parents every now and then and those people who blogstalk when they're bored, I'm still here. And since I haven't written in over a month and a half I'm just going to give a brief overview of the past 6 weeks and hopefully be better at writing going forward.

I survived my first busy season as a public accounting work at PwC. Work is good, it kinda takes over my life which I hate, but I don't know what else I'd be doing right now otherwise, so I guess it's ok. With busy season I worked SO much it was ridiculous. I pulled a couple of 4am mornings after working all day and even one where I worked from midnight till 8am to meet a deadline. Anyways those days are over, at least for now I hope.

Oh I almost forgot..... Happy Halloween! I usually say I hate Halloween, but that's just because I think this holiday is more fun spent with little kids who dress up and go trick-or-treating. I'm not so into dressing up or going to big Halloween parties, BUT I did realize there are a few things I really LOVE about Halloween. First off, I love SCARY MOVIES. This is hampered a little by the fact I don't watch R-rated movies, but there are still a lot of good and scary pg-13 movies out there and I love watching them! Also, I love HAUNTED ANYTHING! Yesterday me, B-ray, and Emma went to a haunted hayride at Griffith park. IT WAS SO FUN! Emma & B were freaked out and either curled up in a ball (B) or laying flat out on a strangers lap (E). I still can't get over how scary and awesome it was. The clowns were the best! I can't wait till next year to go again!! Another thing I really enjoy about Halloween is pumpkin carving. I carved two this year and loved them both. I also kinda started a tradition of carving or putting a G somewhere on my pumpkin. I didn't really intend on having this be a tradition but I'm kind of obsessed with the letter G, go figure, and realized I've put one on all my pumpkins for the past couple of years. So... go G! I also really like haunted houses and haunted cornmazes, I didn't do either of those this year, but that is the part of Halloween I really like.

Tuesday is election day and can I just say I can't wait for it to be over! The campaigns are so awful and definitely not inspiring at all. Who wants to vote for someone who is so negative and flagrant with the truth. There are a few adds I really can't stand. One is where the candidate says she oppose her party if she needs to - way to instill hope from the party you're supposed to be representing. I also hate when they have adds that are super degrading of the other candidates and then at the end come onscreen all happy saying they support that message. I want a politician who doesn't spend the whole campaign time tearing their opponents down, but rather building themselves up and stating their opinions on the real issues.

I'm still loving LA. I miss my friends and family LIKE CRAZY though. I'm so looking forward to Thanksgiving to be able to go home and see my family and just chill for a few days. But, you know what I really love about LA.... yesterday, 2 days before November, I was able to lay out by the pool for a couple of hours and it was totally hot! Then I went to run some errands in shorts and a short-sleeve t-shirt and flip-flops and was hot so I had to blast the A/C in my car. Ahhhh just another great day in LA.

Anyways, it's sad to report, but I think that just about catches anyone reading this up on the past month and a half of my life. More updates to come...

Happy September 15!!

2010-09-15T22:09:00.002-07:00

That's right, it's September 15 and I'm still alive! Can you believe it?! Yeah, me either, but somehow I've survived my first busy season as a real working accountant.

It's weird now looking back at the past month or so because it seems like it actuallly went by really quickly, but that's because literally all I've done for the past month or so was work. And as crazy as my schedule seemed there were so many people who worked so many more hours than I did. I really don't know how they did it. I would go into the office between 8 and 8:30 every day and then leave at like 10 or 10:30. I pulled two all-nighters. The first was after working like 12 or 13 hours at the office I went home and worked from 11:30 pm to 5 am. That was a looooooong day. Lucky my DP got me through it. The next one was during my weekend in Utah (which I went out there to help with recruiting at BYU). I had worked for a few hours in the morning before I had to check out of my hotel, and then I hung out with friends the rest of the day. After that I still had a bunch of work to do so when I got back to Rachelle's apartment I worked from midnight to 8 am.

It was rough working so much, but I'm not as burnt out as I thought. Which is good since I'm still gonna be busy through October 15. Most people don't know why we are busy this time of year, but it's because seriously everyone is on extension. So corporations and trusts on extension were due by today and then individuals and state returns are due by October 15. But for now I'm enjoying a nice little break and am loving leaving the office while it's still light outside. I was even able to make it to FHE this week - miracle of miracles.

Anyways, now that work is starting to mellow I'm switching my focus to be all about the CPA exam. I really need to get 2 done by the end of the year because they are changing parts of the test and these ones will be harder/more involved starting January 1st. So I'm just going through all the paperwork stuff now and after taking a few days to unwind from busy season I'm going to start cramming for the exams. Wish me luck!

Have I mentioned I LOVE LA lately? Cuz I do.

A Quick Update

2010-07-20T21:06:00.002-07:00

So I keep thinking I need to update this with my new life here in LA, but I just can't bring myself to spend the time doing it right now. But I'll briefly mention the big stuff.

The job's great. Really nice people and the work is good. Working full-time at a legit job is super tiring though! And it takes so much of my day just getting ready, driving to work, working, then driving home.
The ward is cool. I just hate being the new girl. But I just need to meet more people and I'm sure I like that too.
I LOVE my apartment. The area's great! Haven't been to the beach yet which kinda sucks, but I've made it to the pool the last 2 Saturdays.
I've started reading Hunger Games - SO GOOD!
I saw Inception last weekend - ALSO SO GOOD!
George is still going strong.
I made my study schedule for the CPA exam. I take the first exam the beginning of October and the final one the end of February. I can manage that right?!
I keep having fairly inappropriately timed laugh attacks. I always love them, but just wished they were better timed.
Also my oldest niece Bella called me today. So cute! Love that girl!

A Shakey Start

2010-07-07T22:50:00.002-07:00

Literally.

Today was not only my first day of work at PWC, but it was also my first earthquake since moving out here. Both experiences were not as bad as I may have anticipated.

Work this morning was pretty fun for a first day. It was great to see so many of my internship friends and the OC office met in LA today so Emma and I had a sleepover and drove to work together. And the commute was not as bad as I was expecting, it only took like 35 minutes to get to work and maybe like 20 or so to get home. Not bad at all.

Then after work, Emma and I came back to my apartment and were just hanging out in my room for a bit, which is even bigger than I had anticipated and I love it! I was playing on my computer which had just arrived at my apartment after being in the shop for the second time when all the sudden I realized my bed was shaking. I couldn't figure out if it was some construction outside or a moving floor or something so after shaking for a bit I finally mentioned to Emma that I thought my bed was shaking and she said that her chair had been shaking and she was wondering what was causing that too. Then like 2 seconds later we started seeing a bunch of peoples facebook status talking about the earthquake that hit down south. Crazy huh?!

Anyways, I really do love it out here all ready. It is weird thinking I'm not going back to Provo and that when everyone starts classes again in the fall I'll just still be going to work. But I think I'm really going to love it out here. I'm looking forward to getting in a routine and learning the area better and going to the beach.

Oh, and most importantly, George is doing great. I think he really likes it out here and is happy to get back in my room and not banished to the kitchen table.

Well I guess that's enough of the adventures of G & G (Genna & George) in LA for now.

Well Utah, It's been great but I'll be seeing ya

2010-07-04T23:17:00.002-07:00

That's right, the time has finally come and I leave tomorrow morning for Los Angeles. Now that it's here I'm really excited and just ready to be there and get all unpacked and situated in my new apartment. Then work starts on Wednesday and as un-fun as work can be I am kinda excited to get started and see where things go.

It's the beginning of a whole new chapter of my life. The last chapter, my "college days" chapter, was amazing and I have so many amazing memories and friends that I'm going to cherish as I move on. I'm looking forward to new friends, new opportunities, and new possibilities.

For tomorrow I'm hoping for a nice, smooth, and safe trip to Santa Monica and that George and I will get there in good time. Fingers crossed!

Bye Bye Blonde

2010-07-02T23:50:00.002-07:00

What a shocker right? Ok, so not so much. But yes, I am going back to dark hair. It's just going to be easier to keep up since I won't be going home as much now that I'm becoming a real adult. And for the sake of my hair I will be staying dark for the next while. Once I get it dark and pretty the goal will be to get it healthy and long again. So pretty much my hair will be the bain of my existence for the next few years I'm guessing.

In other news,

I saw Eclipse today - and it was sooooooo good!! So I'm totally team Edward, which may come as a surprise since I'm in love with brown/black boys, but I just can't help myself, R-Pats does it for me. TMI probably, but it's true. So everyone should go see Eclipse cuz not only is it WAY better than the first 2 movies, it's just so good in general. My only complaint was that Emmet, who I normally think is so hot, looked kinda stupid/weird in this movie, but other than that I'm a big fan.

Lastly, 3 days from now I'll be going to bed in my new apartment in LA. SO WEIRD!!

Phase 1 of the Move - Complete

2010-06-28T22:36:00.002-07:00

So about 4 hours later than I initially said I was leaving, I finally managed to drive away from Provo. Let's be real though, we all know that when I say I'm leaving at noon really that means I'm leaving around 3 or 4, which is what I did. So yeah, typical.

I'm extremely happy to report that George (my fish) has made it through the first part of the big move to LA. He got a little stressed out on the drive to St. George which of course stressed me out, but I think we'll both be fine.

More updates to come.

2010-06-24T11:14:00.002-07:00

"I know that love isn't enough. That you have to cherish the people you love, that saying I love you isn't ever enough, that you have to show that love each and every day, even when life threatens to get in the way."

-From the book The Other Woman by Jane Green

Blank Walls

2010-06-24T08:56:00.002-07:00

I spent another couple of hours last night packing. I now have all under my bed cleared out, everything out of my closet except my clothes and shoes, my movies packed, the desk drawers cleared out, and all the decorations from the walls & shelves have been taken down. I've decided I really like packing, not moving, just packing. I like going through my stuff and seeing what I have then boxing it up. The idea of having to load up my dad's truck and my car don't sound like fun but I like the part I'm doing now. It still kind of looks like I have a lot of stuff in my room, but most of it is stuff I can't pack till like the last day. Anyways, the time is winding down very quickly!

In other news, TODAY IS MY LAST DAY OF WORK IN PROVO! Crazy huh. I was supposed to be working tomorrow and Saturday, but I really didn't want to (dumb excuse I know). So now I'll have a few somewhat chill days to spend doing all those little last minute things... like get new tires. Oh you wanna hear that story, ok I'll tell you.

So yesterday I went to get my car serviced. Although I still had a few days and like 200 miles before is was scheduled to have the service I just had the time then and my tires were looking really low so I just went yesterday to get it done. Good thing I did cuz guess what, yeah I have a tire that's super bald. If anyone remembers my horrific car accident I had coming back to Utah after my summer in LA last year, where I flew off the freeway 30 feet into the desert, you know I'm really leery of flat/shredding tires. Needless to say I'll be getting a new tire like tomorrow. Don't worry, the story doesn't end there. So after the car flying incident last year I replaced 3 of my tires in August. Well apparently those tires are starting to look kinda bad as well. Not something you want to be told when having a repeat of last year is one of your biggest worries and you are a week out from making the same trip. Luckily I bought a warranty on the tires last year and I'm pretty sure tires are supposed to last a little longer than 10 months or 8,000 miles so I might be getting a couple of those tires replaced as well. We'll see.

Ok, this was supposed to be a little post just saying that today was my last day of work at my job here in Provo, clearly I've gone overboard.

The beginning of the end

2010-06-23T07:22:00.002-07:00

I started packing last night!

So far I've only packed my blankets, hoodies, scarfs, textbooks, side table stuff, and some decorations, but hey it's a start.

Packing is getting me really excited to move because it's like the time is finally here! The crazy thing is the rest of my time in Provo is pretty booked, which is going to make the next 5 days go by even faster.

The Last Week

2010-06-21T10:38:00.007-07:00

The time has finally arrived, and this is my last week in Provo. Doesn't it feel like I've been talking about moving forever?!

Everyone keeps asking if I'm so excited to be moving and of course I am. How could I not be. But I'm feeling like every other possible emotion as well. I'm nervous, apprehensive, worried, happy, sad, optimistic, relieved, etc.

Housing worked out perfectly (at least the LA part. I still haven't been able to sell my contract here in Provo, so I'll be paying rent in Provo & LA for July & August which totally sucks!) and I'll be moving straight to Santa Monica to live with my friend and roommate from last summer, Heather Hinton. I love that girl. She's such a great roommate and I'm really excited to live with her again. Also, my room in LA is HUGE!! And my other roommate from last summer whose spot I'm going to be taking over is going to leave all her furniture in the room for me to use. Her furniture is really cute and looks great in the room and works out perfectly since I don't have any furniture like at all. Let me explain why the room is so great and then I'll put up some of the pictures she sent me. First off, let me just say again that the room is huge. Anyone who has seen the size of my room in Canterwood knows that most rooms are bigger than my current one, but this one really is big. Then I not only have a nice, big walk-in closet but I also have a coat closet, in my room, that's all mine! Then there's the cute vanity/sink area, linen closet, and bathroom. Then on the patio of the apartment we have a hammock, how cute/fun/great is that?!! Still adding to the greatness is that the apartment complex has a gym, pool, and hot tub. Oh, and did I mention it's like maybe 10 miles from the beach. Yeah, I'm lucky and happy about where I'm moving to.

So the plan is to spend this week packing up my apartment, and boy do I have a lot of stuff to move! It's also my last week of work here and then trying to get together with friends before I go. Some of my friends are throwing me a Going Away party on Thursday night which will be really fun to get to see everyone again. I've made such good friendships the last 5 years and there are some people I will miss like crazy!

Then on Monday I'll move down to St. George. Originally I was just going to be there for like 2 days then go to LA on the 1st, but now I've decided to stay in St. George for the week and spend the 4th with my family. I love the 4th of July in St. George. We always have a BBQ then go watch the in town fireworks at the same spot of the part in the middle of town and then we go home and do our own fireworks. I love it. Then I'll just move down to Santa Monica on the 5th, get all unpacked and then have a day to relax before starting work on the 7th. And that is the play by play of my next two weeks.

Now for the pictures.....

These first ones are of my room. And I love the tree outside my window.

(Warning you will see 2 bras in these pictures. It's a girls room, what do you expect.)

Such a big bed!

Sadly the TV won't be staying

View from my bed of the other part of my room

The walk-in closet!

The coat closet

The hallway in my bedroom, yeah I have my own little hallway

First thing you see when you walk in my room

Hammock! How great is this?!

Let's talk

2010-06-12T08:01:00.002-07:00

about speed limits.

Most of the time I'm not a huge fan and think they should be higher, but today was more frustrating than normal. I've noticed recently that people in Provo have decided to ignore speed limit signs and pick their own speeds. Normally I would be a big proponent of this type of behavior except that the new speeds being chosen are around 15 mile below the actual speed limit. So annoying!! Today was especially madening because on the other side of the road there were a bunch of people running a race or something. So of course people decided to not only stare at the runners going by but they also thought it was a good idea to go between 15-20 miles under the speed limit. I understand wanting to be cautious but we were on the other side of the road from them and there was another lane or two of traffic between my lane and the runners.

Moral of the story, drive the speed limit or faster or please just let me get around you. Thank you.

Memory Lane

2010-06-10T08:52:00.003-07:00

Since I have so much free time at work I decided to go back and read some of my earliest posts on here. It's so weird reading about all the things I've forgotten. And I found it interesting to see how I've changed and also all the ways I haven't changed at all since I started blogging. It's also kind of embarrassing to see all the spelling and grammar mistakes. Oh well, right?

All in all I quite enjoyed my little stroll down memory lane today. The end.

The Color Quiz

2010-06-10T08:31:00.003-07:00

Genna took the free ColorQuiz.com personality test!

"Seeks success and independence. Is willing to ove..."

Click here to read the rest of the results.

It's safe to click on the link. It just shows you the real results, nothing sketchy.

I can't wait to see these movies!

2010-06-10T07:21:00.002-07:00

I seriously think this is the funniest thing ever!

2010-06-10T07:20:00.000-07:00

Picture Update

2010-05-17T15:52:00.020-07:00

It's been so long and some pretty big things have happened since my last post so I thought this would be a more entertaining way to update things. Here we go.

I awkwardly walked across a stage

And waved at my family.

I took a picture with some fellow Master friends.

I tried to convince my professor to come to my birthday party next year.

I signed my name on a basketball floor - clearly having issues with my last name

Then took a picture of my head and the signature.

I rang a Bell for Victory.

These guys were there to cheer me on

So were these ones.

Made these people proud, like always.

Let Joey be taller than me for a change (you're welcome brother)

I posed with my 2nd home

And took the classic BYU graduation photo.

Then I felt it was time to show some leg

And get Mom in on the action.

I saw my favorite animals at the zoo

And snuck into a picture of Landri.

I loved this Chubby.

I rode a Rhino

And almost fell off.

Bonded with family

And took a puppy for a walk.

We took a picture of the single girls

But then I found love.

Then rounded out the day with a ride on a tiger.

I played Legos

With this crazy girl.

Then we had a mini photo shoot.

We made this face

Then this one

And even this

Then we held hands.

This girl was baptized

So we took a picture with some strange brown man.

I went on a road trip with this weirdo

And some sleeping crazies.

See I was there too, awkward as always.

I buried this one in the sand

Then celebrated with Chubby.

I spent my days with these people.

Someone stole my sunglasses...

More hands were held.

Someone bought the same sunglasses as me.

One face was painted

And then another.

I took another picture with my sis.

Boys snuggled

Then showed some leg

And siblings cuddled.

THE END.

It's been a week since my last drink.

2010-04-01T15:29:00.002-07:00

You read that right. It has been a week since my last drink, my last drink of Dr. Pepper that is.

Last week I decided it was officially time to give up the love of my life, Dr. Pepper. It was no easy decision, but I know it's what's best for the both of us. I will miss you my dear friend. So far however I've actually done pretty well this past week when it comes to withdrawals, and with a few exceptions life has continued on as normal without the sweet burning sensation DP adds to my life.

Ok, I need to stop thinking about this before it makes me relapse...

101 Things

2010-03-23T19:58:00.005-07:00

I borrowed a book from a friend called 101 Things You Should Do Before You Graduate. As I was looking through it I found some things, I've done, some things I still want to do, and some things I'll never do. But it got me thinking of the past 5 years I've spent here in Provo at BYU and instead of going off the list in the book I've decided to list my very own 101 favorite memories of the past 5 years, in no particular order.

Meeting my first BYU friends Mo McGoldrick and Emily Hixson
Having our Book of Mormon teacher, Brother Marsh, set Mo, Emily, and I up with his son and his friends. Can you say awkward....
Bonding with my freshman roommates over chocolate chip cookie dough (also one of the worst things about college, the blasted cookie dough, not the roommates of course!)
Freshman FHE brothers. 197 boys are the best! Also the video they made which helped us get through the years they were on their missions
Car rides home with Matt Dixon, especially when he brought movies for me to watch
Four square in the middle of the parking lot at Heritage Halls
Sleeping in the backyard of Zack Milne's grandma's house
As with #6 is Zack's pathetic attempt to help Ashley Wadsworth (now Ashley Voelkel) and I actually get into the grandma's house at like 6 am to use the bathroom. This consequently led to Ashley and I literally running like 10 blocks to a gas station, at 6 am no less, to find some relief.
Also with #6 was the boys throwing their blankets on the girls in the bed of the truck and running inside the house to finish sleeping after grandma came out in the morning. This led the girls to wake up burning hot and alone. All was forgiven after granny's great breakfast and a long morning nap on the floor.
Snowball fights!
Beating up Nicole Christensen (Now Nichole Walker) while Morgan Maxfield (now Morgan Rogers) video taped
Sleepovers in Morgan and Nicole's room
Football games
Classic Skating with Morgan and Cabrina Minson (now Cabrina McNeil)
Jess Gomm chasing Jordan Mangum out of our dorm after curfew and scaling the walls as she ran after him
Building forts in the dorm common area
Matt Dixon's towel shorts
Playing Crochet on the grass at Kimball Hall
Mocking the Kimball Hall quiet hours
The amazing picture taken of Morgan and me from when we played ultimate frisbee in the snow
Cameron Nelson and slurpies, enough said
Hiking Stuart Falls with Morgan and Nicole
When we were messing around taking pictures in Morgan and Nicole's room and Cabrina dropped the camera on her face! It was sad, but HILARIOUS at the same time.
Hiking the Y
The night Morgan had gone to bed but Nicole and I were still up messing around and when Nicole tried to get into her room Morgan started freaking out and swearing at us for being loud, which of course only made up laugh more.
The cursed shower power and sticky hand
Hiding Zack in Morgan and Nicole's room when Leslie's family was visiting our dorm
When Morgan and Nicole thought it would be funny to make we unknowingly watch a super creepy email video thing that ended in me basically falling off the desk chair while screaming for my life and crying
Playing/sitting in the dryers
Pushing my broken down Neon into the middle of the parking so we could get Morgan's AAA to come tow it
All of my freshman roomies laying on my tiny twin bed
Moving out of the Heritage Halls with it's cement walls and shelf that I'd hit my head on
Canterwood #1 - oh how I love you
Summer in Provo
Scooter rides
Kris McGuire's amazing massages - don't worry, it always stayed PG
Laying out in the Canterwood Courtyard
Cheering for Thomas Bills at the baseball games
Calling Rachelle Gleason "Rochelle" for the 1st month we lived together, thinking it was how her name was pronounced of course
Game nights in 202
Laying on the kitchen counter and table listening to Mika with Rachelle
The Toler's, Amanda and Chelsea, amazing musical talents, with Katie on the maracas of course
Being twitterpated, Nicole knows what I'm talking about =)
Calls in the middle of the night from Nicole while I was away from Provo. Always good stories
Basically moving Nicole's mattress into my room one summer so we could stay up late and talk every night, you know, cuz if we were in our separate rooms it wouldn't be as fun
Sitting on the grass in front of Canterwood while enjoying a popsicle and watching for a car crash
Getting locked out of our apartment and Nicole and I having to spend the night on Tyson's couch
Picture time with Nicole, we have way too many photos!
Sneaking into CW 9 and rearranging the furniture
River Rafting in Moab
Tyson Wyatt, thanks for keeping my eyebrows pretty
Sleepover in Park City
Feeding the ducks at the pond at the bottom of the hill
My love/hate relationship with the one and only PF
Ryan Folsom's amazing butt. I love that kid!
Flirting with Jeff Anderson
The Blaze game followed by a car photo shoot with Nicole of course
Sunday naps at the park
Floating the Provo River
Yoga wars with Tanner Parkinson
SPRINKLERS!
T - everything about him
The best California trip with Nicole. So much fun and so much sun!!
Playing on the swings at the coolest park ever (the one by Walmart with the giant circling swings)
Chris Merritt concerts with the gang
Monica Thomas's (now Monica Billen) footie pajamas
Christmas Lights at Temple Square
Getting into the accounting program
Boyd Randall, Michael Pinegar, Peter Johnson, Jeff Marsh, and Bob Gardner
The Payson Lake outing and doctoring Rachelle's poor foot afterward
Trip to the hot springs, we may have been misinformed about the trek in and out of there
Tubing at Soldier Hallow and beating up Jordan Edwards with my tube
Bishop Bowcut, the best bishop for college students!
Bowling with Shannan Brooks, Laura Callan, and Meaghan Reese at Fatcats. Thanks for the hook-up Meaghan
Rollerblading while Brenna Ray biked all throughout Provo. And nothing was better than when we rocked out to We The Kings
My awesome accounting friends - Michelle Miller Teicher, Emma Douglas (just Douglas, hahaha yeah her and I are like the only single ones in the Tax program, go us!) Lindsay Barraclough Owen, Michelle Brown, and the boys of course. Special shout out to the MANEC group, Michelle Teichert, Emma Douglas, Jae Clarke, Ian Walser, and Matt Van Dyke. How I miss that class.....NOT!
The endless amount of jokes about the one and only Jessica Fields. My favorite was probably when she told us she wasn't going to answer any more questions about the stupid Rootbeer game even though no one knew what we were supposed to be doing. "I know how you guys like to understand things."
Foxwood's pool and hottub
Longboarding the Provo Canyon at night
Movie nights with John Hill and Mikey McMillian that lasted till 6 am and only Mikey and I would stay up and John would fall asleep so early
"Whoever smelt it, dealt it." "I have to pee." hahaha on of the funniest nights every!! Love you Rachelle and Nicole!
Celebrating failing a final with Emma by driving through the street of Provo looking for the best Christmas lights. Also incorporated with this memory is the one of Emma losing her phone in the snow and guess who was able to find it...yours truly. Good times.
Trip to the Hoggle Zoo and the amazing photo session at This is the Place monument. "Do you want a mint leaf?"
Longboarding to Spanish class at 8 am
Getting accepted into the MAcc - Tax stem is the best!
DC/DP runs with Brittany Hewitt
Getting an internship and subsequent job offer from PricewaterhouseCoopers in Los Angeles, CA
Going along with #78, just about everything that happened during my summer in LA. Not technically while at BYU but during the time frame so it counts. I exclude any drama I encountered during these months, and everyone from this time should know exactly what drama I'm talking about.
When the power was out for like 2 hours and Emma and I were so bored and had no clue what to do. LC is always the solution.
Outdoor ice skating
When Rodrigo and Tucker came to visit me in Utah!! Favorite parts - Ikea, tubing, pictures around Temple Square in Salt Lake and the Capital, playing board/card games, Tucker reading Dear John on the couch and crying while Rodrigo and I stared at her, taking a nap with Rodrigo, and every other part of that weekend!
The Renevati dream team - Kelsie James (yes, one of my besties from high school), Hannah Gibson, John Pugh, David Walke, and David Garcia (or Hawaiian Dave, or Asian Dave - take your pick)! Nothing better than g-chats, scrabble, planned bathroom breaks, trips to Will's Pit Stop, and qualifieds. Just make sure to sign out of your chats when you leave the room!
LC Mondays, and CSI NY Wednesday
Graduation photo shoot with Kelsie and Hannah in the freezing weather!
GRADUATING FROM COLLEGE!!!

I decided to leave the last bit of ones blank since I still have a month left and you never know what can happen in a month. But don't be worried cuz I will fill them all in by gradation. Also, if I left something out feel free to leave a comment reminding me of the awesome time, you know how crappy my memory is. Anyways, there you have it, and basic wrap-up of the last 5 years of my life.

I may be growing up....

2010-03-17T17:09:00.003-07:00

I think I've started to mature. This worries me a bit, but it's probably for the best. This conclusion came about by the fact that I can't bring myself to watch Gossip Girl anymore. I used to be obsessed with that show and couldn't wait to watch it, but today miraculously the sound on my computer was working at the same time the internet in my apartment was working (a rarity these days) so I tried watching an episode I'd missed. I watched like the first 5 minutes then decided to do homework instead.

Homework instead of Gossip Girl.... I'm becoming a full on responsible adult and I'm not sure how I feel about it.

2010-03-12T22:02:00.004-08:00

I'M GRADUATING FROM COLLEGE IN
43 DAYS!

Bye Bye Playlist

2010-03-12T21:08:00.002-08:00

In case you didn't notice I decided to take the music playlist off my blog. This decision came after some careful consideration and I think we all will be happier because of it.

However, in order to satisfy my desire to share my current favorite music finds with others I'm going to start a "What I'm Listening To" list in place of the music playlist. This way, if you are interested in hearing some of my top songs of the moment you'll be able to just google them or something.

Also, I've decided to include my 2 new top songs as part of this post. I heard part of the second song listed in a show this week and of course had to google the lyrics to figure out what the song was called and who sang it. Well, in the process of finding the actual song I was looking for I found the first song listed below. For the last 6 months to a year I've been compiling a semi-short list of my favorite love songs (for a potential wedding video/first dance of course - don't let this trick I'm still completely and unequivocally single with no prospects for that to change anytime soon) and these two were both added to that list. Enjoy!

NeverShoutNever - Happy

Lindsey Ray - You Make Me Happy

2010-03-10T11:59:00.005-08:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MICHELE!

When Michele and I first thought about her turning 33 yesterday (March 9, 2010) we felt like this...

But then I started listing for her some of my favorite (or just memorable) memories with her

Singing Beastie Boys while driving around in her Saturn
Our sister theme song (I just gave it this official title), Cake's Going the Distance
When I was interviewing in LA and she came and met me (a few hours late of course) and then she/Ben had to rush me to LAX getting me there 10 minutes before my flight boarded.
when we shared a room with her ugly, flat-faced Persian cat
When she let me and my friend stay at her place and then we went all went to Disneyland
Skim boarding at Oceanside
Beach cookout with mom and dad too and running to the water
When she brought me back presents from Argentina
When I cut the tip of my finger off in 7th grade and she bandaged it up for me with a purple bandage (My parents were out of town).
Sitting on Amber's bed crying over a killed cat
Competing to be the furthest person out in the ocean (past the surfers!)
Introducing me to Rosa's even when I was very against it
Watching Hairspray and dancing in the movie theater and grocery store parking lots
Pretending to be asleep on the floor was she was having fun with a boy on the couch
and so many more!

After thinking of all these cool memories we felt like this...

Love you Chel!

2010-03-06T22:51:00.001-08:00

The Box is the stupidest movie ever.

Brainstorming

2010-03-02T08:54:00.003-08:00

So I've been having some trouble knowing what to write about on my blog and thought I would look for some suggestions. What do you think I should write about?

LA Love

2010-03-02T08:44:00.002-08:00

Last night I went and saw the movie Valentine's Day for the first time. After hearing some bad reviews I was pretty skeptical but ending up thinking it was super cute. The thing I realized even more was that I LOVE MOVIES THAT ARE BASED IN LA.

Movies in LA just make me SO excited to move out there. One of my favorite LA movies is 500 Days of Summer cuz it was literally filmed right by my office in Downtown.

So, if you know of any movies based in LA or that show LA a lot in them PLEASE let me know. I want to have an LA movie marathon to help get me even more pumped about moving out there!

Blank-A-Day

2010-03-02T08:28:00.002-08:00

For Christmas I decided to make a quote-a-day calendar for my family. Each month is a different gospel topic (faith, repentance, prayer, family, etc.) and each quote is from a General Authority (leader in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints). I love my quotes, probably because I went through and found them all, but I think it's a great way to start each day. And if I remember I'll try to add a picture of it on here.

Well anyways, I thinking of making a scripture-a-day calendar this year. I'm gonna use all the scripture mastery scriptures from Seminary and then some of my favorite ones, but I am definitely looking for suggestions. So, if you have a favorite scripture PLEASE comment and let me know what it is. Thanks!!

Really, how do people not see what this really is...

2010-03-02T08:17:00.003-08:00

Have you guys seen that commercial for a product called Full Bar? Well if you haven't let me explain the gist of it...

Someone is actually selling a granola/energy bar that they say you should eat and then drink a full glass of water before your meals. Then you will fill fuller faster and eat less at your meals.

WELL DUH!

Of course if you eat a snack bar and drink a bunch of water you'll feel fuller faster, you've just filled your stomach with a snack and liquid. Basically they are telling people to eat food before every meal and then you won't eat as much during your next meal.

Who doesn't realize this is bogus?! Well that is enough ranting for right now.

This made me laugh for hours at work today!

2010-02-13T12:19:00.005-08:00

My friend introduced me to this website today and I felt it was extremely important to pass it along. Here is one of my initial favorites, but the more I saw the harder it was to pick just one...

http://awkwardfamilyphotos.com/

Different Strokes

Last we checked, being in a fraternity did not qualify as a talent.

I just want to dance

2010-02-13T09:36:00.004-08:00

So last night I decided to have a Step Up marathon while I studied for some up coming tests. Mhmm I love Step Up! In addition to realizing again that Channing Tatum is sooo hot I also realized I really miss dancing. I grew up dancing. For any St. Georgian's out there I was one of those AMAZING Super Steppers for 8 years, starting in preschool and going till the end of 9th grade. (I took a little bit of a break for like 2 years where I took horseback riding lessons and danced and sang at a place called Encore for a little while, that was a mistake...) Then I cheered in high school, so needless to say dance used to be a significant part of my life. Last night I realized how much I miss it.

SO..... the conclusion is that I need to find somewhere here in Provo that offers a weekly hip/hop class or something.

Who wants to go with me?!!

2010-02-08T16:54:00.001-08:00

My Art History class reminds me of gossip magazines: spending 10 minutes describing all the different aspects of a picture/work of art we can all obviously see with our own eyes.

Ex. "Here the girls is sitting largely in the sculture with 2 columns behind her" ..... well duh. I can see that without you explaining it to me like I'm blind.

Gotta love Mormons =)

2010-01-28T07:55:00.004-08:00

My mom sent me these poems and I found them funny and quite accurate so I thought I'd share them.

How many Mormons does it take to change a light bulb? It depends!

If it is the Relief Society it take four.

One to fix refreshments.

One to bring the tablecloth.

One to design the Center Piece,

And one to screw in the light bulb.

If it is the Bishopric, forget it, they don't do light bulbs.

They call a Priesthood Executive Council Meeting

and delegate it to the Elders.

If it is the Elders, it takes four.

Three that don't show up, and

One to change the bulb.

If it is the High Priests it take four.

Two to push the wheel chairs.

One to handle the oxygen tank,

And one to screw in the light bulb.

If it is the Home Teachers, it only takes two,

But you have to wait until the end of the month.

If it is the Aaronic Priesthood, it only takes Four,

Two adult leaders to supervise, A Teacher to change the light bulb

and a Priest to sweep up the broken glass. NO Deacons!!

If it is the Laurel class, it takes only one.

She holds the light bulb in the socket

and the whole world revolves around her.

Mormons really do have a language all their own. If you don't believe me keep reading and you will....

My son's a CTR ... I go to PEC.

I work for CES.....I study the TG.

I read the B of M . I probe the D&C.

I search the KJV ... I ponder the JST.

Today in BYC ... we planned for EFY.

I stayed a little after ... and had a PPI.

The YM and YW ... are putting on a play.

It's one that I remember ...we did in MIA.

Before our oldest son ...went in the MTC,

He helped the BSA . complete their SME.

Soon our oldest daughter .. is heading for the Y..

Soon our oldest clothing ... is going to the DI.

Now, if you've understood ... this alphabetic mess,

The chances are quite good ... that you are LDS

Dream Team

2010-01-21T12:07:00.002-08:00

My new job is pretty sweet. I get paid to hang out with friends basically. In between calls the people in our little room here at work joke, play MASH, run to the gas station and get drinks, do homework, and play on the internet. It's so fun. And yes, we've formed a dream team, made up of me, Kelsie, Hannah, John, and David. Work is definitely a lot more fun with friends! Go Renevati!

2010-01-20T22:07:00.003-08:00

So it's that time of year again......time to watch the entire Arrested Development series. I can never get enough of the Bluths.

I keep trying of something else to write, but either I'm just really tired right now, or nothing cool has happened recently......I'm guessing it's a mixture of both. All I know is that while I can't believe I graduate in 3 months and am a little reminiscent, I am so sick of classes and can't wait to be done sitting through them.

Also, my flat iron broke last week so I've been doing my hair curly recently. Well tonight I frowed my hair with the curls and while it's kind of crazy and out of control, I like it.

Oh yeah, on Tuesday at work we played MASH and my results were:

I live in a mansion (If you insist)
Married to Michael Cera (Apparently I'm in a phase - I watched Juno on Monday night)
I'm a crime scene investigator (I've also been watching a lot of CSI-NY thanks to Emma D)
I drive a Ford Focus (What a classy car)
I live in Salt Lake City (Yeah I know, totally bummed me out too)
I have 4 kids (I like that)
I have a pet turtle (Ok)

Well there you have it.... the highlight of my week was playing a game where I marry a younger man, live in the snow, and never get a new car. Curses.

One Week Down

2010-01-10T18:06:00.002-08:00

So the first week of the new semester is over and I must say it's been a pretty good week. I was finally able to work out all the kinks in my class schedule Monday night and so now my schedule is perfect. I am taking 15 credits but the best part is that I only have classes on Monday and Wednesday! I'm also taking an independent study class which, if you don't already know, just means I can do the class work online whenever I have time. Basically it's the easiest way to finish one of my last GE's without dealing with sitting through another boring class.

After my schedule working out on Monday I was excited to have a relaxing Tuesday. I initially thought I would just wake up, maybe go tanning, grab some kneaders breakfast or something, and then just kind of bum around the rest of the day. Well, as great as that sounded something better actually happened. When I first woke up I got a text from a friend telling me that her job was hiring. (I had put that I was looking for a job on my FB status Monday night. I'm guessing she saw that and then sent me the text.) Anyways, she sent me her manager's number and for a second I contemplated calling him later and continuing on with my earlier plans. BUT I decided to do the responsible thing and so I called the guy and set up an interview for like an hour later. I went in for the interview and after talking with the guy for like 15 minutes he ended up hiring me on the spot (which he and my friend who works there said never happens. Go me!). After he said I got the job he put me on the schedule starting on Thursday. So in a matter of 2 hours I went from jobless to on the schedule. Successful morning if I do say so myself. Oh, the place is called renevati and it's a college advising call center. It's pretty chill and it pays well and the schedule is perfect for me.

So to sum up, my class schedule is perfect and now I have a job with an awesome schedule too. Not a bad first week.

Well hello there 2010

2010-01-01T10:26:00.002-08:00

So I must admit I'm pretty excited about the new year. 2009 was fun and a bunch of cool stuff happened, but I'm definitely looking forward to 2010. This year I'll be turning 23, which I'm feel very ready for surprisingly, I'll graduate college - for good! No more school ever! -, this summer I'll be taking the CPA exam, I'll move to LA for good (well at least for more than a few months), and this will be the year I start my career. It's a lot to look forward to and I'm excited to see how the year plays out!

Before I forget 2009 I wanted to do a recap of this past year and the stuff that made it what it was

I started a scripture reading schedule and this year I read the Book of Mormon, Doctrine & Covenants, Pearl of Great Price, and the New Testament (2010 I'll be reading the Book of Mormon and the Old Testament.... it should be good!)
Had the summer of my life in LA. Met some great people and lifelong friends for sure. I loved having my intern friends coming out to Utah to visit - it was such a blast. And I found the coolest girls to live with. I <3 roommate chats. And I believe in the cards!
This year brought another new nephew, Charles Orion Mugleston - keeping the tradition going. He looks like such a grandpa with his oxygen tank that he has to have on right now, but still so adorable. Love him.
This last semester I got the highest semester GPA since before I started the accounting program (over two years ago) so that's cool I think.
My vans (the shoes) collection has grown. That's only a positive thing!
And a bunch of other stuff happened that was great, awful, and everything in between.

Peace out 2009!

A Little LA in UT

2009-12-20T22:41:00.007-08:00

Some friends I made this summer in LA came to Utah to visit me this week. It was so great to see them again. We had so much fun! I dominated Tucker and Rodrigo in Monopoly, Domino Train, and Tubing Races which was awesome! We also had a little facebook fun! In the 4 days they were here we went tubing at Soldier Hollow, hung out at Temple Square (toured the conference center, saw the Christmas lights @ the temple, and ate at this awesome Italian pizza place), played laser tag, realized we were old farts at jump on it, saw 500 days of summer at the dollar theater, played a bunch of games @ my apartment, ate @ In-N-Out, Tucker read a book & cried while V & I laughed silently, stayed up late and slept in late (always great!), played in IKEA (mistletoe!), toured BYU, and basically realized we are quite the dynamic trio. Here are some pictures so sum up the week.

2009-11-04T09:01:00.002-08:00

While driving yesterday I noticed the car in front of me was using a GPS as they were driving down University Avenue. Seriously, you need a GPS for Provo.....it's a giant grid.

2009-10-28T00:20:00.002-07:00

I think I'm in love with Puck from Glee (Mark Salling)

I feel like a 13 year old right now.

Brrrr It's Cold!

2009-10-27T19:27:00.003-07:00

I'M FREEZING!

Today was the first day of snow in Provo for this winter. It was awful and I'm constantly cold! The only bright side is that this is my last winter in Provo so thank goodness for that.

This past weekend I went to Disneyland with my roommate Emma, her sister, and her cousin. It was really fun. Some highlights of the trips were:

Singing songs from Glee in the car and throughout Disneyland
The new holiday decorations in the Haunted Mansion. It was all done up in The Nightmare before Christmas theme
Getting on California Screaming twice waiting less than 10 minutes each time
Space Mountain being decked out for Halloween and becoming Ghostly Galaxy.....so good!
Riding Star Tours and remember Robert (an intern I worked with this summer) making all sorts of Endor jokes the last time I was there
Eating at In-N-Out twice
Getting frozen yogurt! I don't know why, but frozen yogurt in California is way better than the crap we have here in Provo
Basically walking right on to every ride in Disneyland because Emma's sister has a special pass that got us to the front of like every line
And best of all was just getting away from Provo!

Yesterday my nephew Khyri turned turned 1 year old. He's so stinkin cute and I'm gonna be going down to St. George this weekend to go to his birthday party. I'm pretty excited about it.

Oh, and the last big update is that I registered for my last semester of college EVER this week. It kinda sucks because I have to take 18 credits again but I'm hoping it won't be too bad because 2 of the classes are supposedly super easy GEs (Anthro 101 @ the Salt Lake Center and History of Creativity 202 once a week at night). It's weird to think I never have to register again and that I really am that close to graduating. I actually apply for graduation starting in the next week or so. Crazy huh?! I can't wait!

Too Much

2009-10-14T13:58:00.001-07:00

I think taking 18 credits and working over 20 hours a week is too much for me to handle. It's only the middle of the week and I'm exhausted and there is no real break in my schedule anytime soon.... maybe there will be some time next week.

Bucket List

2009-10-02T22:45:00.004-07:00

I've decided I want to make a bucket list of all the things I want to go before I die. So far I have 11 things on my list. It's pathetic so I'm looking for some suggestions. What are some things I should add to my list?

Farewell Steeds

2009-10-02T18:58:00.004-07:00

I'm warning you right now that this is not your typical blog post. It's kind of a more serious side of me but something I felt others should or would maybe want to see.

For the last few years (I'm a slow reader) I've been moderately (or compulsively) obsessed with The Work & The Glory series. Well finally after probably about 4 years or so since I first started reading this 9 volume series I actually finished it tonight. I couldn't have finished at a more perfect time. The series ends with the family finally reunited in the Salt Lake Valley and they are remembering their past trials and looking forward to a bright future without the worry of constant persecutions. At the very end of the series one of the main characters was kind of wrapping things up and talking to the whole family now filled with the original Steed family plus spouses, children, grandchildren, and even a great grandchild. He was saying how even though they had finally reached the Salt Lake Valley it feels very similar to their time at Winter Quarters, but then he goes on to express one way it was very different. He looks around the family circle, focusing especially on the younger children and babies, and says,

"These children will never know a Far West, a Haun's Mill, a Carthage Jail. They may go to bed hungry this winter, but they will not go to bed afraid."

After reading this book and reading about these horrific events in Church history I feel so grateful for the sacrifice of those who did go through such things. I'm grateful for their faith and strength that help them through those early days and help bring them here to Salt Lake. After that statement the character goes on to say,

"The Valley represents much more than that, though. Like Israel of old, we have come through the wilderness and entered a land of promise. Not a promise of milk and honey - though I suspect those shall come too - but a promise of renewal, of growth, of vision - of Zion. Think of this. Our children will raise up children who have never known any life but life in this valley. Think of that and rejoice."

Ending this book the night before the 179th Semiannual General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints starts was perfect timing. I am so looking forward to being able to hear from the Lord's Prophet and Apostles tomorrow. As I've come to learn more about the history behind the Church I can't help but be amazed by the sacrifices and all the difficulties that people went through and the faith they had to persevere. They made a barren and destitute valley into a valley full of life and faith. I was invited to go up and see the afternoon session of General Conference in the Conference Center tomorrow and I can't wait to have another opportunity to be a part of something that was started to long ago and see what it has been able to grow into and then think about all the possibilities for the future. I feel very lucky to be a part of something and that has meant so much to people who came before and that will continue to spread around the world. And I'm wondering what my contribution to this giant puzzle will be. I guess we will see in time.

It's the final countdown!

2009-09-29T18:10:00.004-07:00

I can't believe this is my last year of college. I'm so excited and ready to be done! I'm sure once I finally graduate it will be weird to not ever have class again or tests (besides the CPA exam of course) but as of now I can't wait to be done and move back to LA. Oh how I miss the beach, weather out there, and my friends.

This semester is crazy cuz I'm taking 18 credits and working a bunch. This may be a mistake because I'm exhausted already and there is still months of this to go. I work at American Eagle in the Provo mall which is funny and not super stressful which is good.

I got my first test of the semester back today and did really well especially for me and for an accounting test. The worst part is though that I totally could have gotten 100% on it but I made the dumbest mistake. The one accounting test I could have aced and I blew it. So annoying! But oh well, still happy about my score.

Nothing really interesting has been happening lately so sorry this is such a boring post. The highlight of my week so far is feeding the ducks at the duck pond south of campus last night and only having 4 chapters left of the Work and the Glory volume 9 - the final one. I can't believe I'm almost totally done with that series. It kinda makes me sad, but on the bright side maybe I'll read my textbooks more.

Well, that is all. I am lame. But I'm coming to terms with it.

The End of my LA Summer

2009-09-22T17:57:00.004-07:00

It has been so long since I updated this. At this point I'm back in Provo and finishing up my last year of school. But so much happened my last month in LA and so I want to do a quick recap on my summer.

In addition to all the awesome things I already mentioned in older posts the rest of my summer in LA was spent doing the following:

More beach time. I don't think I will ever get sick of the beach. So much fun.
I had a great little summer fling, pretty fun while it lasted although there was some associated drama. But who doesn't want to move to a cool city and have a fun summmer romance?
I GOT A JOB OFFER! At the end of my internship PwC gave me an offer for full-time employment that will start next fall after I graduate. I'm super excited to go back there! PwC is so fun and I love the people I worked with, so fun.
A bunch of the interns went to Dinseyland after our last day of work. We had some much fun! We ate at Club 33 in Disneyland that is this super exclusive club that PwC is a member of. Hands down the fanciest (and most expensive) meal I have ever had. Also it look us 3 hours for dinner and I don't think I've ever had a meal last that long. But it's a sweet deal cuz you pay for you meal and then get a free hopper pass for the theme parks. Granted the price of the meal is like the same price as the park tickets but for the same price you also get a super fancy dinner out of it. I seriously love the interns. We had so much fun and I love that we've been staying in contact since we've all dispersed back to our schools.
My friend Cameron and I went to the Long Beach Aquarium my last week in LA which was also fun. I pet a bunch of fish and a sting ray was kind of obsessed with me. Cameron put some sweet pictures and videos up of it on my facebook so feel free to check those out. The videos kill me. We had so much fun!
I seriously had the best roommates ever this summer. I was really lucky and loved all my roommates but the last month it was just me, Janae, and Heather living in our apartment. We had so much fun and it was probably my favorite living situation ever! We had roommate chats every night and then Janae would help solve my problems by reading the cards for me. Also they were responsible for my summer fling so thanks guys! Yentas are the best! I am very much looking forward to living with at least Janae again, and if Heather is still around (which for multiple reasons I'm supposing she won't be) I hope her too. Oh how I miss them!
I got some sweet PwC swag including a backpack, juggling balls, a cute internship scrapebook with so many fun pictures from the summer and the last day of work, a t-shirt, oh yeah and the fact that I don't have to worry about what I'm going to do after graduation. Thank you PwC!
Every year there is a Mormon Dodger night. It was so cool. Elder Boyd K. Packer threw out the opening pitch. It was adorable. They also welcomed the different stakes in the LA area that were there that night - Go LA 1st ward/stake! Elizabeth Tucker and Rodrigo Vicuna (other interns I worked with) came with me too. They are honorary Mormons and Elizabeth spent most of the night trying to pick out a husband for me. She's so thoughtful. =) Also, Michael Orton, Emma Douglas, and James Barker (Orange County interns) came up for the game too. Such a blast!
One weekend Emma and I went to a movie theather on Sunset in Hollywood and it was the weirdest theater ever. It was in a dome room that looked like a giant beehive - we almost felt like we were back in Utah. Then on the inside it looked like a play type theater cuz there was a stage and then a big curtain and there were ushers with little flashlights and everything. It was the weirdest but coolest thing ever. We saw the movie "500 Days of Summer". The movie was great and the park bench the main guy sits on a lot during the moving is actually right by my office building. I walked past that spot all the time and you can also see my office building a ton during the movie. I loved it.
I saw the play Fiddler on the Roof at the Pantages Theater in Hollywood. I loved the movie and thought the play was so good too! The Pantages is really pretty and that night I also ate a Rosco's chicken and waffles which was also quite the experience in and of itself. I really wanted to run into Snoop Dog there, but alas he was not there.
In addition to seeing Dr. Robert Ray at church again (but this time with his family) I also saw.....Will Farrell! One day when I was on my lunch break with Elizabeth and Fuchi we went down to the different food places below our building and found a table and there was Will sitting a few tables away from us wearing sunglasses and reading a newspaper. It was pretty cool. Gotta love LA!

Well I'm sure there are so many more things that happened but I can't remember anything else at the moment. I've had some pretty great summers but I think this one may have topped all the others. I miss my intern friends, roommates, and so many other things about LA (Yogurtland!). I'm trying to stay positive about spending another year in Provo, but I wish just about everyday I was back in LA.

Another great week in the big city

2009-07-12T20:54:00.004-07:00

Time is flying by so quickly which is making me extremely sad. When I first moved to LA all I thought about was my friends back in Provo and just wanting to be back there hanging out with everyone again. But the longer I'm here the more I love it in LA and dread having to move away in a month. Anyways, this has been a fun week and here's why.

First off my internship midpoint review was this week. I was nervous of course but my coach and I had a chance to talk about things on Thursday and he made it seem like everything went well. All my performance reports I got back from people I've worked with were pretty positive and while there are some things for me to work on it appears that I'm on the track to being an associate. So I was obviously really excited to hear that! Of course it's no guarantee but it was nice to know I'm not a complete failure.

Also on Thursday my group of interns, the blue group, decided we would all wear blue to show our group spirit. With the exception of a couple missing people here are the interns I work in the conference room with. The blue group is awesome. We have dance parties during our break and just have a good time working together. Also I believe this is my first picture I've taken this summer since moving to LA!

On Friday we had our first "Intern Friday Activity" We went on a double-decker bus tour of Hollywood and then had some time at the Kodak Theater shopping area and then went to the Grove's farmer's market for lunch. Minus the fact that my GPS lied to me about how to get to Griffith Park where we were meeting resulting in me totally being late (no real biggie) it was a fun and very hot day. Nothing like getting paid for a full day of work when you just hang out with friends, are fed breakfast and lunch, get a tour of the town, wear normal clothes, and are only there for like 6 hours. Loved it.

Also this week my parents came into town. It was really nice seeing family again. Friday afternoon my parents came up from Anaheim and saw my apartment for the first time as well as my office building and the streets I walk home from work on. This was to ease my mom's fears of my dieing in LA I think. Anyways, after that my mom and I went to Downtown Disney (I have now been there like 3 times or so since I've moved here and I might actually be going again this weekend, we will see....) and my dad just chilled at the hotel. Saturday Chel came up from Oceanside and we all went to my favorite beach ever (and yes another one to add to my list) BOLSA CHICA. Although we didn't get to the beach till kinda late I still totally got a sunburn in the backseat of my parents' convertible. Once we were at the beach though my dad and I played in the water for a while. It was way fun. After the beach we went down to Newport Beach and ate at the Spaghetti Factory down there. Mmmm so good.

Today at church was kind of exciting as well cuz guess who I saw as I walked in the doors of the building..... Dr. Robert Ray from Dr. 90210. Apparently he goes to church in the same building as I do. Weird I know. Also the girl from Center Stage 2 is totally in my ward as well. Oh LA, gotta love it - and I do.

3 more beaches added to the list

2009-07-05T20:13:00.003-07:00

Since it was a holiday weekend I had an extra day off and you know what that means....... another day for the beach. This weekend I was able to get 3 different beaches in my list of ones visited this summer - and yes, I'm keeping an actual list. Friday I hung out with my friend from work, Elizabeth, and we went to Point Magoo (I think that was the name of the beach) during the day, and then headed up to Camarillo to shop at the outlets. What I learned from that day, I love the Banana Republic Outlet and I also love the Burbank area. If I end up staying in this area forever then that's definitely somewhere I'd consider living.

On the 4th I went with my roomies to "Huntington Beach" or so we thought. After spending a couple of hours with just our little group laying out on the beach we decided we should meet up with the rest of the people that we knew that were on the beach. It wasn't until then that we realized we were nowhere near the other people and we also couldn't see the pier. This is when one of the girls asked somewhere where we were and we found out we were actually at Sunset Beach. So then we all got back in the car drove down the coast until we hit Huntington. *Side note: It was during this trip down the coast that I discovered the location of my favorite beach from childhood. That's right.... Bolsa Chica is right in the middle of Sunset and Huntington! This and the Banana Republice Outlet were definitely the best finds of my week, dare I say the best finds of my time here so far. Side note over.* So we finally get to Huntington with enough time for Melanie and I to play in the water for a little bit. It was really fun. The water was so cold but we just got used to it and it ended up being totally worth it. The rest of the night entailed some random beach houses, a taco restaurant that wouldn't make me a cheese quesidilla, an awesome firework show on the beach, followed by some incredible people watching at another random beach house party, and then of course I fell asleep in the backseat of the car on the ride home.

All in all, another great LA weekend. This city grows on me more and more everyday. I'm excited for next weekend because either I'll spend a day at the pool at my apartment for the first time or I'll be trying out another beach. Either way, it has the making of a great weekend all over it.

LA Updates

2009-06-30T22:17:00.004-07:00

Tomorrow is July 1st. Can you believe that?! This means that I have officially completed my first month of my internship. How crazy is that! Time has flown by so fast.

Since there's been so much that has happened I'm going to just give a quick and fairly basic rundown on my life the past month.

Every Saturday for the past 3 Saturday's I've been going to the beach. First Oceanside, then Santa Monica, and then Zuma. (I think Santa Monica was my favorite even though everyone in LA talks about how disgusting it is. I really hate Zuma though. The sand and water are covered in seaweed. It is sooooooooo gross!! Plus it took forever to get there. The only cool thing about Zuma was the drive back because we [I made Emma come up from Irvine to go with me] drove through Malibu canyon through Calabasas and it was so pretty. I love seeing parts of CA that look like that!)
I have been to some of my favorite food places: Pat & Oscars, The Old Spaghetti Factory, Yogurtland (my new found love!), In'N'Out, and of course Little Caesars.
For at least a week straight I went to the hot tub after work and sat in the hot tub and read my book (The Work & the Glory - volumes 7 & 8 - I'm obsessed!)
I've been to Downtown Disney twice (they have the best jewelry store in Downtown Disney. I'm obsessed with it! Also I love the movie theater they have there) and Universal's City Walk once.
I've seen some great movies (Up, The Proposal, Land of the Lost, & Year One - The Proposal was hands down the best. I freaken love that movie!)
I went to a cute little cafe off Sunset Blvd called Bourgeois Pig. It has a cute backroom that looks like the woods with trees and shrubby pillows. It's really cute and mellow.
On the way to church on Sunday I drive down a street that leads straight to the LA temple. It is sooo pretty. And it looks especially cool at night. The LA temple is huge!
I'm starting to figure out LA. It took a while to learn where things are and how to get there but with my first paycheck I bought a GPS and it was one of the best purchases of my life.
Work is so tiring! I never realized how tiring working 8:30-5:30 everyday is. Luckily I live really close to the office so I don't spend very much time commuting. I usually get rides in the morning and then walk home at the end of the day (sometimes I get rides home but I only live a mile from the office so the walk isn't bad at all).

I'm sure there's been more that's happened but it's late and of course I'm tired. My mom told me today that I need to start taking a daily vitamin, so although I'm not a huge vitamin fan I think I'm gonna start taking them starting tomorrow.

*Also, as a side note. I am sooooo tired of my current hair situation. This is what my hair looks like now
and this is what I want my hair to look like again.
Hair school girls of America tell me what you think I should do to get back to this color. So currently I'm at a level 3 in demi permanent color sync and I want to be like a 6 with blonde highlights. What's the best plan of action? Bleach cap? Color stripper? Shave my head? I need your help to figure this situation out!

UPDATES*

2009-06-04T11:12:00.002-07:00

There are sooo many things that have happened since my last post. First of all I finally moved to LA!!! After talking about it for so long the time finally came for it to happen! Of course it was kinda scary moving somewhere so different all by myself but I'm definitely glad I did! I moved there last Friday and my sister, Michele, cam up from Temecula to help me move into my new place. I live in downtown, less than a mile away from my office. The apartment building itself it pretty nice but the surrounding area is a little sketch. Sunday night my roommate and I watched a guy standing on the corner trying to figure out if he was waiting for a drug deal or something to go down. Unfortunately after standing pretty confidently for a while a car drove by that must have spooked him and he hurried to his car and drove off in a different direction. It was pretty interesting!!

My first few days in LA involved, lots of unpacking and trying to organize/reorganize, walking around downtown with Chel & Mia trying to find my office building, being really really sick (killer food poisoning) but still going on a way cool hike in the mountains, sleeping over 12 hours one night (the night I was really sick), a sweet cookie party at the apartment down the hall, getting completely lost every time I go outside, and lots of meeting new people.

On Monday my new roommate, Melanie, drove me to the airport to catch my plane for Georgia. I ended up sitting next to a girl on that plane that was a new intern too, and guess what .... we are practically bffs now cuz not only did we sit by each other on the plane but then we were roommates at the hotel, in the same office, and in the same group at the training and back in LA. It's pretty sweet.

Well class (training) is about to start again, so I gotta go!

Tears

2009-05-12T22:40:00.002-07:00

So I've been thinking lately about crying and how I can get so emotional over a movie or a book and then I feel retarded for crying all the time. When I was talking to a friend about this and about Mother's Day they brought up this poem thing they'd heard once so I googled and found it. I think it's pretty good and so now I figure I'm just getting a head start on the motherly crying times.

A little boy asked his mother
“Why are you crying?”

“Because I’m a woman”,
she told him.
“I don’t understand”,
he said.
His mum just hugged him
and said, “And you never
will”

Later the little boy asked
his father, “Why does mother seem to cry for
no reason?”
“All women cry for no reason”,
was all his dad could say.
The little boy grew up and became a man,
still wondering why women cry.
Finally he put in a call to God; and when God got on
the phone, he asked, “God, why do women cry so
easily?”

God said:
“When I made the woman she had to be special.

I made her shoulders strong enough to carry the weight of the
world; yet, gentle enough to give comfort.

I gave her an inner strength to endure childbirth and
the rejection that many times comes from her children.

I gave her a hardness that allows her to keep going
when everyone else gives up, and take care of her
family through sickness and fatigue without
complaining.

I gave her the sensitivity to love her children under
any and all circumstances, even when her child has
hurt her very badly.

I gave her strength to carry her man through his
faults and fashioned her from his rib to protect his
heart.

I gave her wisdom to know that a good man never
hurts his woman, but sometimes tests her strengths and
her resolve to stand beside him unfalteringly.

And finally, I gave her a tear to shed.
This is hers exclusively to use whenever it is
needed.

You see:
The beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears,
the figure that she carries, or the way she combs her
hair. The beauty of a woman must be seen in her eyes,
because that is the doorway to her heart - the place
where love resides.

-Author Unknown

Who would have thought I'd be this excited to go back to Provo

2009-05-08T12:21:00.002-07:00

That's right! After weeks of trying to figure out a job down in St. George I've decided to go back to PF in Provo for a couple of weeks until it's time to move to LA. I'm excited to be able to hang out with my friends again and to actually be making money! The plan is to head up there tomorrow until the 27th. Then I'll have a day in St. George again before I move to LA on the 29th. That's the plan anyways.

So, yes I'M EXCITED!

My name is Genna and I'm a DP-holic

2009-05-05T20:20:00.003-07:00

That's right I'm addicted to Dr. Pepper and I think it's slowly starting to poison me. For this reason I'm going to try to give up this magic elixir and go cold turkey for a while. I have included a "road trip" exemption where I'm allowed DP while driving long distances but other than that I think I'm going to give it a break.

We've had a nice run Dr. Pepper, but it's time I try things all alone for a little while. I will miss you my good friend. Thanks for the memories.

10 Things I miss about Provo

2009-04-29T09:35:00.003-07:00

My friends
Raj & 7/11 runs
Zupas
Actually having a job/making money
Foxwood pool
Rollerblading around Provo & longboarding the canyon
Sitting in front of Canterwood with a popsicle
Being in a singles ward instead of a home ward
Campouts in the Canterwood courtyard
and did I mention my friends .....

2009-04-25T23:22:00.001-07:00

I MISS MY FRIENDS!

Finals

2009-04-18T09:19:00.003-07:00

This week I've written 3 papers and taken 3 tests. And next week I have another paper and 2 more tests and packing all my crap up. I just want to be done already!!! I have summer-itis real bad! I just hear the pools calling my name. Even pools are wanting me to get a tan already.

LA!

2009-04-18T09:16:00.002-07:00

K so the summer is so close and I finally got my official start date for my internship. It begins on June 1st! I'm so excited! I also think I might have found where I'm going to live. The place looks ridiculously nice - it kinda looks like the place Lauren Conrad live at the first couple of seasons of The Hills. Anyways, I am getting so excited for summer in LA! Can it just be here already?!

Finally!

2009-03-25T18:13:00.002-07:00

I've finally finished with all the tests based on the material I missed while I was on my fly-out and home for my dad's surgery. Thank goodness! I can finally relax and not feel like a total idiot!

Also, I have now been sick for over a week. It was the worst on Friday and every time I got out of bed even just for like 15 minutes I wanted to die. Now I'm just sick of going to bed and waking up coughing. Can I please be healthy again?!! Hopefully within the next couple days this stupid cold will be over! Also, it's totally jacked up my taste buds and even water has a weird taste to it, and - I know it's hard to believe - but even Dr. Pepper has tasted disgusting!! I've also had the nastiest voice! I sound retarded.

My parents were in town last weekend celebrating their 33rd wedding anniversary. Congrats guys! 33 years is a long freakin time! Since I was so sick I couldn't really hang out with them cuz I didn't want to get out of bed and cuz my dad is still recovering from surgery, but I did get to see them for a little bit on Saturday. It was neat. Love the parents and the phone call my dad always gives me when we pass the area where my car broke down and he was my hero.

Amber sent me some new pictures of Khyri today. He is soooo stinkin cute and can sit up all by himself now. Man I love that little boy!

I can't wait for school to be over! I am so sick of studying or feeling guilty for not studying! I'm also sooooo sick of sitting through boring classes. Only one more year of school after this and I seriously can't wait to actually be done once and for all!

This post has been all over the place, but welcome to my life.

Preview of Summer!

2009-03-16T13:46:00.006-07:00

Here are some pictures I took a couple of weeks ago while I was on the office visit in LA. The firm I'm signing with is PricewaterhouseCoopers! I love PwC! The people are so nice and the office is rad. My ears popped every time I rode to elevators up the their floors (I think their offices are on floor 44-51 or something like that. It's crazy!) They also have a sweet area in the middle of the plaza with a water show. There are also picture from the plane, my hotel room, and views from my hotel room window (I was on the 11th floor). The light building is the hotel and the glass one is the office building!

I'm so happy I could cry! ... and I kinda did.

2009-03-12T19:46:00.005-07:00

Guess what...... I got the internship in LA!!!! I'm the luckiest person ever! First my dad kicks cancer's butt and then I get the internship of my dreams! Best 9 days ever!

As a disclaimer, I still hate Miley Cyrus, so don't take the fact that I added a song of hers onto my playlist to mean there's been a change with that. There hasn't. I just really like the song, not her!

More Updates!

2009-03-05T21:49:00.000-08:00

The surgery was last night and so we were at the hospital from 3 pm to about 12:30 am. The surgery went really well and the doctors feel very confident that they got all the cancer! So yay for that! There were some complications due to some heart problems we've found out about earlier in the week. So he had to spend last night in the ICU because of low blood pressure. He's been there all day, but has been off the blood pressure medicine (another milestone) and he's actually been off all painkillers since about 5 hours after the surgery, which is pretty crazy! He's a trooper though and it not only missing the kidney they removed, but they actually had to remove part of a rib to get to his kidney, and now he's just hanging out with zero pain meds. He's awesome! They are keeping him in the ICU again tonight, but mostly because of a shortage of beds in the other areas and plus it's just cool for him to get extra special treatment! So I've been spending most of my time at the hospital the last couple of days and that's the plan for the upcoming ones as well.

Updates

2009-02-28T22:29:00.002-08:00

So it's been a little while since my last posts and there have been some changes in plans.

My dad's surgery was pushed back from what we were originally expecting on February 18th to this coming Wednesday, March 4th. Another change was that what I had originally been told about not knowing if the tumor was cancerous or not was also not totally true. I guess they wont know for sure until they take it out and do a biopsy, but they are pretty confident that it is cancerous, but they're hoping the cancer is contain within the kidney area and they'll be able to remove it all. I came down to St. George tonight to be able to spend time with my fam for a couple days before and a couple days after the surgery. I'll be going back to Provo in about 9 days. Missing that much school is a little stressful, but being here is way more important and all my classes that actually matter my teachers are being way cool about me missing class. My tax teachers - Randall & Gardner - are the nicest men ever. Anyways, that's the updates with my dad to this point. Love him.

Other Events

I had my flyout this past with PwC in Los Angeles. It was so fun! I loved LA and the office! The people I met were super nice and really the LA office has the coolest clients! They said they'd let us know by March 10. It's always hard cuz you think interviews go so well, but really you have NO IDEA! They all went over on time which I hear is a good thing, but I guess I'll just have to wait and see.Keep your fingers crossed!

I should be reqired to watch the movie "He Just Not That Into You" once a week to not overthink things. Everytime I watch that movie I realized how crazy girls can be thinking random things boys do actually mean something, and I'm totally one of those girls. I am Gigi - at least until like the last 5 minutes of the movie. But yeah, I must watch that weekly!

I went snowboarding last week for the 2nd time ever. I loved it!!! I really suck still, but it's sooooo fun. I want to get better, but that might mean I have to go more than once a year. Who knows if that will happen.

Well I can't really think of anything else right now, but I'll try to keep this updated in the coming week.

Diagnosis

2009-02-06T13:49:00.003-08:00

After running some more tests today the results of my dad's condition came in. He has a 9 centimeter tumor on one of his kidneys and the other kidney looks like it is functioning alright, but it has a stone that will need to be removed. The surgery will be in about a week and half. They wont know if the tumor is cancerous at all until they remove it. The crazy thing is that he originally went in yesterday because he was getting blood clots in his bladder that made it so he couldn't pee, but had it not been for those blood clots he would never have gone in and found out about the tumor because minus the blood clots he feels normal. So in a weird way he's lucky. But one thing is that my dad has a low platelet count normally so they have to have a hematologist come in for the surgery to make sure everything with his blood is fine. In the mean time they'll let him go home until the surgery if the clot problems goes away otherwise I think he'll stay in the hospital for a few days. I'll be going down for the surgery and some days around it but I'm hopeful that everything will turn out just fine. I love my dad, he's seriously one of the greatest people I know so he's gotta be fine.

WORLD'S BEST DAD!

2009-02-05T22:02:00.003-08:00

So I don't know if you've heard but I actually have the world's best dad! After hearing he went to the hospital today for some health issues (he's spending the night in the hospital and they're still running tests and we don't actually know what's wrong or what caused the problem yet) I decided to write this blog post especially for and all about him! There are so many reasons I love my dad, but really he's just the cutest, nicest, jolly-ist, most giving, most self-sacrificing person I know. To give you all some small idea of why he's so great I'll tell you some of my favorite stories about him.

*My favorite story happened right after my second semester at BYU. I was driving back up to Provo to start Spring semester classes the following day when my car broke down somewhere around Beaver or Fillmore. I called my dad and started freaking out cuz I didn't know what to do cuz I had to start classes the next day and I was working and I had to move into my new apartment that day and I had no clue how I'd b able to do any of that without a car. So what did my dad do . . . he totally came to my rescue. He drove up and met me with his truck that he had just barely bought not too long before this happened. While I was still in the process of freaking out he started moving all my bags from my car to his truck. Then he gave me his keys and told me to take his truck until we figured something out. This in and of itself was so nice and classic of my dad, but the story doesn't end there. This all happened before noon and guess how this story ends. My dad ended up waiting with my car for at least 6 hours in the heat of April until my brother in law got off work and was able to come up with a trailer to pick him and the car up. Then I was able to keep his car for a couple of months and he was the one found something else to drive. So great!

*Any story my dad tells is awesome! Last time I was home my dad was running to RedBox to rent a movie and I ran out and jumped in the car with him. He has so many stories that you can just tell he wants to talk to someone about, but he's just so cute cuz he's kinda talks slowly when telling stories so you have to be patient and wait for him to spit it out. But really he's so smart and has some great stories to tell!

*My dad is so patient! He has spent sooooo many hours sitting in a car or reading a book or just listening to some good old talk radio while the girls are inside the mall shopping for hours on end. He never complains and just goes with the flow.

*Another thing I love about my dad is just all the little things. He's always know the details about our birth and it really made me feel special to know that my dad actually likes being a dad enough to care to know the time of day we were born and how much we weigh and how long we were. Other things I loved was his big belly for using as a pillow when watching movies or a tv. He's also really fun to play with in a swimming pool cuz we'd always try to sit on him stomach when he was floating on his back and then he'd start rolling so we'd fall off. This was always a fun game. I would also hang on to his back, holding around his neck as he'd swim underwater. Body surfing and diving under the waves in the ocean is always a blast with my dad.

I really do have the best dad ever. I couldn't image anyone else as my dad cuz there's no way they could compare! Love ya dad!

PwC

2009-02-05T13:25:00.003-08:00

I had another interview this morning with PwC. I really liked the people I met and talked with from the firm. Last night they had a dinner for everyone who was interviewing with them. It was at a building on campus and pretty nice. I always feel so weird at these fancy dinners but I'm getting more used to them the more I go to. Anyways, so I've had 3 of my interviews already and tomorrow I'll have the last 2. I'm so excited to be done with on-campus interviews I can't even tell you! And the "silence period" ends at noon on the 12th, so that's when I should hear back about if they want me to come and do a fly-out. Continue crossing your fingers for me in Orange County!

Other news:

Today is day 2 for my VITA lab shift. I'm pretty excited about that.
Last night I went to bed before midnight, which almost never happens.
I don't have any classes tomorrow so that will be awesome.
I miss my nieces and nephews. I was video/audio chatting with my mom the other day while Taia was at her house. It was the cutest thing ever cuz Tai was just laughing so hard in the background about everything. I really just can't wait to go home in a couple weeks and see them!
I'm freezing! I need winter to be over already! I can't take the cold any more!
And finally I'm giving a shout out to Emma. I'm pumped!

GT

2009-02-04T10:26:00.002-08:00

This morning I had an interview with Grant Thorton. They're included in the Fab 5 of accounting firms and I think it went really well. I was able to totally be myself while still showing a professional side. Honestly, it was probably my favorite interview I've had either last semester or this one so far. They just seem like a laid back firm that has great clients, lots of grow, and lots of opportunities and openings for the locations I want (Irvine or San Diego - but really Irvine!). There's a silence period where the firms aren't allowed to contact us about whether or not they want us to do a flyout that last until about the 12th or 13th of this month and then I should hear from them. So keep your fingers crossed for me in Irvine with Grant Thorton!!!!

Nerd Alert!

2009-02-03T23:31:00.002-08:00

Guess what.......

I prepared my first income tax return today! I'm volunteering with BYU's VITA Lab as a basic level tax preparer. During my little shift today I only did 2 returns and the first one made me think I should just totally drop out of school/life but I got through it and the second return went much much smoother and faster.

I'm not gonna lie, I actually really enjoyed filling out the forms and stuff once I was getting a hang of the software and stuff. Ahhhhh I'm such a nerd! Oh well, at least I'm getting good practice and something nice to add to my resume! If you want me to do yours for you (which don't worry, someone more advanced goes through and double checks things) sign up for a time on the bap website for BYU. My volunteer shifts are Tuesdays & Thursdays from 3-4!

Go taxes!

Sunday Naps

2009-01-26T23:15:00.002-08:00

I must confess that Sunday naps are the best thing that has ever happened to me! For some reason I always seem to stay up ridiculously late on Saturday nights resulting in about 4 hours of sleep. The last couple of weeks I've made up for this by indulging in long naps, and when I say long I mean long! Two Sundays ago I took an 8 hour nap and then this past Sunday I took a 6 hour nap. After such naps you'd think I wouldn't be tired when it came time for actually going to bed . . . oh no, that's not the case at all. Somehow I'm able to pass out virtually the second I hit the pillow. What can I say, I either have a packed life or I'm a great sleeper! Take your pick.

I'm a deer?

2009-01-23T09:41:00.002-08:00

Ok, so I just got home from my interview with Deloitte. I think it went ok, but you never really know what they are thinking.

At the end of the interview he asked if I had any questions so I asked him a couple questions and then I asked if he had any suggestions for me (showing that I'm interesting in feedback and improving). Well he started off saying things like that I did a good job showing that I was interested in that area (which I totally am!) and that I would be someone that people felt good about recommending for a position, but then he started saying that I really should be working for a 4.0 and that I swear he said something like "try not to look like a deer in the headlights" so I'm kinda confused right now. But seriously how funny is it to be pretty much told your grades suck and you look like a deer.

All in a day in the life of Genna. (Oh, and he called me Gina)

D-Day

2009-01-22T22:37:00.002-08:00

If you didn't know, the internship interviewing processing last semester was really interesting. It was full of new experiences for me and I learned a lot from it. The biggest thing I learned it that I don't want to live in Vegas, which means I'm doing the whole process over again.

Tomorrow I have my first interview for this new go-around. I'm interviewing with Deloitte for their Costa Mesa, California (Orange County) office. I will have three other interviews with Grant Thorton, PWC, and KPMG that will all be the first week in February.

I'm not nearly as nervous this time around, the only thing I'm really worried about is if I'll actually get an offer. As fun as the process can be and the flyouts and all the cool socials and stuff I'd really just like to be done with this process and have an offer! Anyways, keep your fingers crossed!

2009-01-22T08:58:00.003-08:00

Here's my question of the day:

How is my bed becoming more and more comfortable every day? I swear every morning it is the hardest thing to get myself to actually roll off my bed. It's just so warm and soft and good to me. Even talking about it now I just want to get back into in, but no I have to stay on campus and do school work. Sad day.

Anyways, I've just been thinking about how nice my bed is the last little while and so I thought I'd blog about it.

2009-01-21T07:49:00.001-08:00

I think 8 am class will be the death of me.

my story

2009-01-20T23:00:00.003-08:00

For my communications class tomorrow night we have the assignment of "telling our story". There are so many different stories to chose from that have molded different parts of my personality and character that I'm left wondering which story to chose. I think I'm supposed to make the connection of tying it into what kind of class member/student I'm going to be, but I'm really not that sure. Anyways, my preliminary idea is of telling about the flood in St. George. It was a pretty big and unusual event that taught me some valuable lessons about community and helping others even if you don't know them. It was taught me about what is really important in life and what we can lose in an instant. It also taught me that when the roads you always use are out of commission going the other way can be pretty annoying! Anyways I think I'm gonna talk about that but I still have 18 hours to change my mind. Any suggestions of stories that I wouldn't mind sharing with an entire class of basically complete strangers?

Real World Update

2009-01-14T23:01:00.002-08:00

So tonight was the second episode of MTV's The Real World feature Chet, a Mormon guy from SLC. The more I see of him and the show the happier I am. He's doing a great job representing us and showing that we aren't perfect or professing to be perfect. On this week's episode Chet's family visited the house and it was so funny to see this big old family come walking in that all looked similar and clean and dressed nice. It was also funny to hear the other roommates comment on his family. They all had good things to say and his mom was so cute and totally your typical Mormon mom. I'm so glad that he's on the show and if the worst things people are saying about him is that he acts childish sometimes and has an interesting sense of style, more power to him, there are so many worse things that could be said about a person. So keep it up Chet!

A Mormon on the Real World

2009-01-13T22:11:00.006-08:00

On this season of MTV's reality show The Real World: Brooklyn they have a Mormon on the show from Salt Lake City, Utah. This makes me kinda nervous and definitely guarantees I'll be tuning in on Wednesday nights.

On one hand I think it's really great for Mormons to get out there and start getting the truth out about our beliefs and who we are as a people and as individuals, but on the other hand it makes me really nervous that seeing one person's faults will led to new misconceptions about our religion as a whole.

The guy's name is Chet and although the other cast members have been giving him some crap about being gay due to his style of dressing and his friendship with another guy in the house, he's already come out as being a virgin, never masturbating, and as being the designated driver in the group. So far so good, I hope he can represent us well!

I do have one question though.... he's 23 and in some of the footage he's wearing a sleeveless shirt or a deep V neck, so is he not endowed?

So that's who does it

2009-01-12T11:40:00.002-08:00

So the other day I was sitting in my car in a parking lot just kinda waiting around and all of the sudden this middle aged women walked past my car on the ways to hers and totally spit out her gum in the middle of the parking lot. Can you believe that?!! It's soooo gross. People, if you want to spit out your gum you should do it in a garbage can or a bush, not where people are walking. Anyways, I've always wondered who it was that actually would spit their gum out where people would be walking and I finally got my answer.

Not just in the movies

2009-01-06T23:30:00.003-08:00

You know how in a lot of movies whenever there is water on the roads and people are on the sidewalk there is always a car that drives past and ends up soaking the people with water......well that totally happened to me today.

After class I was walking to my car with a friend and as we were walking and talking down the sidewalk a car drove past and splashed water all over my jeans. In a split second I was turned into a dalmation. It was hilarious! I'd never seen that happen to anyone in real life and let me tell you, if you've never seen it you should. I was just glad I was leaving school, not going to class. But then again, at least you'd have a funny story to tell everyone when you show up to class with wet spots all over yourself.

And as if that wasn't enough retibution for my hatred of this weather a few minutes after I was sprayed with water I ended up stepping in a giant puddle. Needle to say I got home with wet pants, socks, and shoes. It was a rough day for my clothes.

House to the rescue

2009-01-05T17:37:00.004-08:00

I hate this weather! I'm freezing and it makes me extra sleepy cuz I just want to stay curled up in bed all day. And I hate that every time I go outside the bottom of my pants get wet. I end up going through multiple pairs of pants each day cuz of course I change them every time I get home. Another weather complaint, the icy sidewalks. Although it's funny when other people are sliding all over the place I hate taking those little tight steps to help keep from sliding around or falling down altogether. In conclusion, I do not like snow or cold weather.

In other news, today was the first day of school for this semester. Luckily I only had one class today and after some errands I ran earlier I put on slippers and laid in bed watching House all day. I'm now halfway through season 3 and as addicted to it as ever. Is it bad that I'm slightly attracted to House in a totally gross, I know I have a problem kind of way? Regardless of that I'm still wanting him to hook up with Cuddy. They also have good clothes on the show. Cuddy's are my favorite, but Cameron usually has great shoes and House wears some sweet shirts (I hate his shoes though). Anyways, I think I may have rein in my House watching since school has started. Oh, the good news of today, my only Monday class, which is at 8 am, has been cancelled for the next 2 weeks. Yay for that.

Lastly, my sister Amber started a blog tonight, so welcome to the blogger world sis.

and the total is.....

2009-01-02T13:01:00.003-08:00

A few months back I wrote about a little skin condition I have called "I'm super moley". In that entry I had a total of 16 moles removed. Well add 3 more to the collection bringing my grand total of moles removed to 19. This morning while having a check up on the 4 moles I had removed last summer, I had another mole on my leg removed and then two more on the side of my face. I'm getting closer to my goal of having every mole removed! As of now I have four more that I'm hoping to have removed later this year, so I'll keep ya posted! =)

Best & Worst of 2008

2009-01-01T16:39:00.007-08:00

Happy New Years!

Since it's been a while since my last post I've decided to just do a year-end wrap-up of my favorite and also some least favorite things from 2008 and maybe some other random things as well.

*Favorite Movies - Mamma Mia, Twilight, 27 Dresses, The Dark Knight, Step Up 2: The Streets,

*Least Favorite Movies - The Traveling Pants 2, Tinker Bell

*Favorite TV Shows - Gossip Girl, Heroes, Lost, House, Grey's Anatomy, Project Runway (online episodes are the best)

*Favorite Books - Twilight Series, Those Who Save Us, The 5 People You Meet in Heaven, Life of Pi

*Favorite Music - Anything from Trevor Hall, "So What" by Pink, "I Don't Care" Fall Out Boy, Mamma Mia Soundtrack, Chris Merritt (especially live), Church music off YouTube, and whatever else is still on my playlist on here

*Favorite Restaurants/Food Places - Zupas, The Old Spaghetti Factory, Noodles & Co., Pizza Hut, In'N'Out, Little Caesars (that's right, I'm a little white trash), and of course table 21 @ Pizza Factory

*Favorite Pastimes - Painting my nails, "Grey's Night" with my nerdy accounting friends, 7/11 runs, lunch dates with accounting friends, tanning (stop judging me), staying up late watching movies after Nicole falls asleep on the other couch, roommate chats with Nicole and Monica (also fun when Rachelle was there too), Rollerblading and biking around Provo with Brenna, Chris Merritt concerts, talking Rachelle into spending the night at my apartment when my roommates were gone, online puzzles, chatting with George (my fish), getting Taia to say the word "diaper" cuz she says it really funny, hanging out with T during the summer, Freecell, Google Chat & Video (especially during classes), Sudoku, Friday afternoon movie dates with Meaghan, Sleeping

*Where I lived - Canterwood of course, with a ton of trips to St. George

*Where I worked - A server at Pizza Factory (I didn't work January-April while I was doing the Junior Core though)

*Hair Color - From super blonde to dark brown, but for this year at least the winner is dark brown

*Favorite Purchases - Buckle jeans (I love them!), George (my Beta Fish), the coolest jewelry case ever, super thick white leather Fossil watch, Chi straightener, anything used to organize my room

*Favorite Shoes - I love all my shoes, but my favorites are my Vans, Globe, Red Soda Wedges, and Black Bongo Heals

*Big Events -

-New nephews (Ryder & Khyri),

-I survived the Accounting Junior Core,

-Accepted into BYU's MAcc Program (Masters of Accountancy) and made it through a semester of that,

-Went on a flyout (first time on an airplane since 9th grade and first time flying and staying at a hotel by myself and riding in a taxi),

-Bought my first suit (which I hate wearing cuz it makes me feel like a man when I wear it),

-Both my brothers got married (welcome to the fam Dannielle and Whitney),

-2nd Annual California Trip with my mom,

-Was Relief Society President for the whole year (that was eventful)

So all in all 2008 was a pretty good year, fingers crossed that 2009 will be even better!

*Random things/place I want to/go do this year -

-Outdoor ice skating

-Nicklecade

-Classic Skating

-Ride the Heber Creeper

-Trafalgas

-Jump On It

-Ride Trax (one of my favorite things about Salt Lake, well the free area at least)

-Disneyland/California Adventure

*What I'm looking forward to -

-Hopefully more flyouts and an offer for an internship and a full-time position afterwards,

-More nieces and nephews,

-Finishing College,

-Moving out of Provo (bye bye snow!),

-Learning how to snowboard better (ok, I've only been once but I did pretty good & I loved it!),

-Summer

-Where I end up, basically my future life - house, car, family, friends, location, job

Brother's Birthday Celebration

2008-10-22T13:35:00.007-07:00

Two weekends ago I was in St. George visiting the family and on Saturday night we drove down to Mesquite, Nevada to meet up with my oldest brother and go to dinner for his birthday. After dinner we went over to the Virgin River Casino and went bowling. It was so fun. Ryder and Taia were running around everywhere and I was bowling pretty well. Taia and I played with the air that comes out of the machine and she even helped Amber push a ball down the lane. When we were done Taia and I made a game out of returning the shoes. It was so cute! She would grab someone's shoes and then follow me to the return counter where I'd lift her up and then the man behind the counter would say thanks and she'd run back to the group to grab more shoes until they were all taken back. Then Jon and I started like wrestling in the middle of the bowling alley. After a little while of wrestling we decided we should probably leave before security guards came and on the way out of the bowling alley we passed a security guard. I wish there were more pictures, but after we took a bunch of random pictures at dinner the batteries in the camera died, so there are no pictures of bowling which is sad.Only pictures of the parents.

So cute!

She loves me
Me and my sister
Yeah, this is my brother. He's special.
Mike, Dannielle, and Ryder (aka Rydie)
She was struggling with looking at the camera.
I love this boy.
Scared, cuz Mike was freaking her out
This is what he was doing.
Her and Mike are perfect for each other.
I am his favorite.This was the funniest thing to watch happen. Ryder's head is huge and so when he was falling asleep it was start to lean one direction and then it was so heavy it would make his entire body fall over and then he'd wake up for a second until it all happened again. So cute and sad!
Taia wanted to have pictures taken of her too
So she decided to pretend to be asleep too.

Pumpkin Carving Time!

2008-10-22T13:11:00.004-07:00

So this week for FHE we carved pumpkins. Nicole and I shared a pumpkin and when it came to my side I couldn't think of what to do. Luckily I had been working on a homework assignment for my tax research class right before FHE and so this awesome idea popped into my head.

Maybe it is to make us feel better about our nerdy major, but our teacher always tells us that tax is sexy. One day when we are in a room full of executives and they are all looking to us for an answer on their taxes we will realize how sexy it is to be the only one is the room that knows the answer.
A classic girl and her pumpkin picture
During the impromptu photo shoot I dropped the pumpkin. Rookie mistake.
Possible Halloween costume?
This isn't weird at all.

Women's Conference

2008-09-30T14:50:00.002-07:00

This past Saturday I was able to go up to the conference center in Salt Lake to watch the Women's Conference live. This was the first event I'd ever been to at the conference and it was awesome! I was always worried that with there being so many people all around me it would be hard for me to concentrate, but it was just the opposite. It was so fun and I learned a bunch! It made me so excited for General Conference next week!

"We are going to do something extraordinary!" ~ Emma Smith

Interviews

2008-09-30T14:41:00.004-07:00

Two weeks ago I started the interview process for next summer internships. What the firms want us to decide as we start the interview process is where we want to end up after graduation. I thought a lot about that this past summer and I was really only considering Las Vegas, Nevada or somewhere in Southern California. After a lot of thought I realized that I don't really want to live in CA, at least not now, maybe when I'm older. So I made my decision...... Las Vegas here I come.

Because of where I wanted to end up I picked 3 accounting firms to interview with: 2 big 4 firms, and a smaller one that is ranked high for working women. I met with Ernst & Young on the 16th, Deloitte on the 18th, and RSM McGladrey on the 23rd. As far as I can tell, all 3 interviews went pretty well. I was pretty nervous for my first inerview, just not knowing what to expect and wanting to do a really good job promoting myself. I'm a fairly talkitive person, so I was lucky to not be too nervous so that I could just be myself and crack jokes and stuff like that.

Now I just wait. I heard that the firms have a deal with BYU to not contact us again till October 2nd, because BYU is one of the first schools the firms meet with. Hopefully I will hear back later on in this week, so look for updates!

First week down!

2008-09-05T19:44:00.002-07:00

School started this week, and luckily it has been pretty uneventful. As of now, as I kinda expect the rest of the semester to be, this year is so much easier than last year. This time last year I was probably crying every night thinking that I was too dumb to be in the Junior Core, and that I should just quit. None of that this year - well, so far so good at least.

Tuesday school started way to early for me at 8 am. Was it a mistake taking an 8 am class... probably, but I didn't have any other options. So the day started with Operations Management. All I need to say about that class is first, that it's definitely not an accounting class, and second, I know the supply chain for milk. After a 3 hour nap, some fun reading, and running some errands, I had my second and final class of the day. In case you're wondering, there is 6 hours between those classes.... sometimes nice, but also maybe a little too much time in between. Anyways, after all that time I went to Organizational Behavior. Also not anything like an accounting class - no tests - but it seems like pretty interesting stuff.

Wednesday was a nice and easy day. Lindsay Owen - the girl from my group winter semester - and I rode up together to Aspen Grove where we had our MAcc orientation all day. It was better than having class, but it was soooo long! After a couple hours of listening to people we had a break for "activities". The activities they planned were things like miniature golf, volleyball,
ultimate frisbee, and other activities kind of like that. Luckily Lindsay and I had the same thought that all we really wanted to do was find somewhere on the grass to lay out and chat. Michelle Miller - a girl from my group this semester, practically the same person as me, as we decided later on in the day - and Jamie Albertson - who was in our classes last year - joined us for "girl talk." We found this awkward blue mat kind of thing that covered some rocks in between where people were playing volleyball and ultimate frisbee. We hung out there till lunch time were the girls, with a few more add-ins, all found a table together. Even the Director from the SOA came over and commented on the segregation he saw at our table. After joking that the few girls there are in the program need to stay to together, we finished lunch and then heading back to the afternoon meeting. Although this one involved some confetti, which I was finding all over the place the rest of that day, it was still pretty long. It was more enjoyable at the beginning due to Michelle and I laughing at everything that was happening during the first speaker. Good times. But after the meeting it was back to Provo with only a few pages of reading for class the next morning.

Thursday classes were pretty uneventful. Operations Management at 8 am, where my group decided that our task for that class was to escape the classroom in case there's ever a fire. This doesn't really make sense explaining it like this, but the assignment was to find something that was our groups mission, so to say, for that class. It was fun. The teacher said we could pick anything we wanted so while most of the other groups picked getting good grades or always being prepared for class, my group went for survival in case of a fire. Needless to say, I'm pretty sure I'm gonna love my group this semester! Later that day in Organization Behavior we had representatives from KPMG, Grant Thorton, Ernest & Young, and PriceWaterhouseCoopers come in and talk to us. There's been something I've wondered about a lot, and so I decided to ask a question. I asked if the firms looked at the fact -or even thought about - that as women, chances our we'll be starting our families in the next couple of years, and if there is any apprehension on the firms part when it comes to hiring someone who maybe won't stay in the work force for every long. Well, this question apparently hit home, because the recruiter from E & Y was tearing up as she said that is not a factor and she doesn't want any women to ever think of that as a hindrance to their careers. Then the women from KPMG said that she had just had a baby in December and that she was able to take 6 months off of work and that a lot of the firms have a flexible hour program to work with balancing both home and work life. It was nice to hear their answers, but I was kinda laughing at myself, because I am probably the person in the room that is least like to be starting a family anytime in the near future. I also felt a little bad about almost making the one lady cry.

Later that night we had meet the firms, where representatives from over 30 firms came to talk to us about the different opportunities and functions of their company. I know that I want to live in Las Vegas, Nevada after graduation so I was interested in talking to the firms that have tax practices in Vegas. I ended up talking to Deloitte, Ernest & Young, and a smaller firm called McGladrey & Pullen (who apparently has a great reputation for working well with mothers, balancing schedules). I was pretty excited about all the firms I talked with and can't wait to talk to them more. I hope I get an internship for next summer, that's the goal and I'm sending in all my applications by tomorrow, so fingers crossed!!!!

Today, Friday, was a pretty chill day. I had a tax research class this morning and my professor seems pretty cool. He does this little dance when he gets excited about whatever he's saying and it's pretty funny! Even though that will most likely be my most difficult class I also think it will be pretty fun. After that I had a lecture class where the chairman of the board for Deloitte & Touche came and talked to us about ethics. I thought it was a pretty good lecture, especially for something we have drilled into us again and again here at BYU. After that I worked on my resume, which after hours of work was accidentally closed without being saved - yeah, just a little frustrating. Anyways I'm about to redo it right now, but thought I should update my awesome blog about the first week of the MAcc program. All in all, I actually feel like I might actually fit into this accounting world, but then again, it is only the first week...

That's it.

2008-08-28T00:44:00.002-07:00

I'm done. No more thinking. At least when it comes to boys. I know that I've ended up at this decision before, but I'm thinking that if I post it on here for others to read that maybe this time I'll be able to stick this choice.

Here's the dilemma. When I start to think a guy's cute, I start acting all weird and say and react to things way different than I normally would. It really is a noticeable change that my friends can see and sometimes will tell me when I'm being weird. Why do I do this? I don't know. All I know is that once I make that decision, and especially if I vocalize it to anyone, even to myself, there's no turning back and awkward Genna is here to stay.

Then I always have issues with that whole, just a friend area. While I'm fine, and in most cases prefer, with keeping guys as friends I seem to get into trouble wanting more from them than I should as a friend. Is it bad to expect to hang out with someone multiple times a week when that has been the norm? And then what happens when those multiple hang outs go to not hearing from them for a while. Is it weird to feel a little confused or even hurt? It's not that it's a big deal or that I want more from them than just a friendship, but it's just weird when that's been the norm and then suddenly changes.

Anyways, I'm probably going to regret posting this in the morning. That just goes to show that people should blog at 2 in the morning.

Meet George

2008-08-27T22:00:00.010-07:00

Of course I had to get another fish. This time I decided it'd be best to just start over completely. (I'm blaming my past fish fatalities to a disease in the tank) So yesterday I stopped at Petsmart and found George. Apparently I was feeling a little homesick when I got him, because I named him George, like St. George. Anyways he's cute. His body is blue and his tail and fins are red. I decided it's cuz I went to Dixie High, who's color is blue, and I love the red rocks in St. George. George enjoys swimming all around the bowl quickly and come to the front whenever I get close to it. Anyways I'm excited to have a new fish and this time I put him in my room, which I'm kinda liking the new location better as well. Here's some picks, and his bowl is advertised as a giant brandy glass, sweet huh?! (I don't really know how that applies, but I was just thinking of it so I decided to type it.) I think it might be time to get a real life.....

Floating the Provo River

2008-08-27T21:32:00.003-07:00

That's right, I floated down the river today with some friends, and it was AWESOME! I've heard about people doing it for such a long time now, and I've always wanted to go to but I was usually either working or out of town when they went. But today I could go, so I did! Even though it was soooooo cold today (I had goosebumps almost the entire time) it was so worth it! I can't wait to go again, on second thought, I can wait till next summer so it's warmer.

Goals

2008-08-27T21:25:00.003-07:00

While I was driving back up to Provo after my recent trip to St. George I started thinking about the new school year. One thing I thought about a lot was somethings I wanted to change or start doing, aka goals. After careful consideration I decided on some goals that I think are not only important, but also completely doable. One of my big goals that I'm looking forward to achieving but am kinda a little nervous of the difficultly is getting straight A's this semester. I'm a good student in general, but I've never had a semester at college where I've gotten all A's. So that's one goal that I'm sure will occupy most of my time these next couple of months. Basically I'm planning on spending a lot of time in the Tanner Building this year, come visit me please so I don't die of boredom!