An update, kind of

I spend A LOT of time with this little man these days. I love EVERY minute of it. Even when he's telling me he hates me and I'm not his aunt anymore. Because I know he'll follow that up with a hug and apology.

A little while ago, I was visited by my favorite Katey before she went off to start her adventures in Hawaii! We went to Hollywood, saw the Chinese Theater, and saw Craig Ferguson live. We went to Disneyland and saw World of Color. Went on a walk at the beach. Went down to San Diego and walked around the Hotel del Coronado. Pretty much it was awesome.

I'm just waiting, waiting, waiting till I hear from the County of San Diego to start working. I haven't worked in almost two months! I'm going crazy!!!

I am officially back in at BYU, I'm pretty sure I know where I'm going to live, I'm figuring out what classes to take. I can't WAIT to play with all my friends again! The snow and ice and classes? not so much...

I miss Florida like CRAZY! All my friends, being able to live in the magic, even the big blue box a little {ok, a lot}. I keep telling myself I can wait till 2012 to have that again... we'll see.

I own a car. It's beautiful. I love it. He doesn't have a name yet.

I've started to realize that what I want for my immediate future is not exactly what I've always wanted for the FUTURE. For right now I want to finish my degree. For right after that I want to live in my own condo and decorate it, all by my self. I want to live in Europe for a while. I want to be successful in a career. Sure I've always wanted an education, and living by myself is sort of an extension of living with my future husband by ourselves. But a career hasn't really been in the top of what I WANT, just what I thought I should work towards until mr wonderful comes along. But I do NOT want to get married. Not until I figure other stuff out.

I'm a pendulum

OKAY, I know this is my bajillionth time changing my mind and updating my life plan, but if I were someone who could be consistent in their life goals, I would not be me, and this blog would not exist.

So, I've had a bit of time to reconsider things with a level head and realized that throwing away a more than half finished degree was not a good idea. When I hear stories of people leaving school with only a year left I've scoffed at their foolishness, don't they know how close they are? Don't they know how important this is to succeed in a career today? But then, isn't that what I am doing? ... Oops.

Last week I got to spend the better part of a day with my dear friend Josh and his friend. It gave me kind of a jolt because I hadn't had to deal with the sorrow of being away from my friends from Provo and that whole life there. Within an hour I figured out how many more classes I need to graduate {in total? a class shy of 50 credits}, when I would take them, and found a way to get back into BYU {they take you back if you have better than a 2.0 GPA}. I have three semesters and a spring term left. That's all. In less than two years from now I should have a bachelors degree. And the best part? Fiscally possible! It all makes sense in every possible way. Except one. I am just not feeling it. {That is until about 3 hours ago.} Especially since I was planning this big wonderful adventure abroad.

I can't explain to you when/how I accepted this newest plan. I've been feeling rather morose about having to go back and do the whole BYU thing again, but I've been going through the motions since last week trying to make it work. And then, tonight, after watching Eat Pray Love with my family, right before I broke the news to Katey, who helped me plan my France adventure, it just clicked. It feels right. And some how I'll be able to fit in a little adventure in there {I do get a whole summer term off!}. That's important.

Sooo, stay tuned! Because I might be able to get everything I want! Thats all for now though ;)

Familial Gatherings to Walt Disney World, Part 1

A little while ago, one of my most favorite people in the world came to visit me!!!!!! My dear cousin Kelsey came to Florida!

She flew in on a Wednesday night. We stayed at the All Star Movies Resort and got the Disney dining plan. There was sooo much goood food and fun conversations.

Wednesday night I ate the BEST meatball sub I have ever had in my life! While I waited for Ms Kelsey to arrive on the Magical Express from the airport. We chatted and it was FABULOUS!

Thursday we slept late, played at the pool, then went over to Animal Kingdom Lodge, looked at the animals and ate at Sanaa. It was really yummy with indian/african foods. Then, Kelsey had to call in for The Everything Film Show {she's part of a film blog... isn't that AWESOME? how cool is this girl?} and we watched Whip It. Which is a really fun movie, about doing what you love... why wouldn't I love it?

Friday: HARRY POTTER DAY!!! We went to Islands of Adventure with my {non}roommate Ica. Her fabulous roommate gave us a ride. Then we waited for SEVEN HOURS to get into that part of the park. Spending that much time in a theme park without actually going on a ride or playing gives you A LOT of time to analyze the way the park is run. And basically, if I am going to spend eighty dollars on a theme park, I'm going to spend it at Disney, not Universal.

That being said... HARRY POTTER IS AWESOME! If you get the chance, go there.

Saturday was another quiet day. We went to see Toy Story 3 {sooo good!} and ate at Earl of Sandwich. We couldn't decide what to do about dinner and we eventually ended up at Trails End which was a bar be cue buffet and alright, but definitely not worth however much it normally costs.

Sunday: All four parks: one day! We were EXHAUSTED by the time we got to Magic Kingdom that evening. We ate at 50's primetime in Hollywood Studio's {meh} and Crystal Palace in Magic Kingdom {Yay Winnie the Pooh! But disney needs to get better at buffets...}. It was sooo much fun! The fun that was had is indescribable! I wish we had had more time in the worlds showcase. But we did sooo much! And it was so fun to do all the things I love with my dear Kelsey!

Monday, we ate at the Grand Floridian {my favorite!}  at the Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious breakfast with Mary Poppins, The Mad Hatter, Alice, Pooh and Tigger again. This buffet was MUCH better than the others. But probably because it was breakfast. Then we had to get back to All Star and get Kelsey on a bus :( No worries! We'll play lots when I'm back in California!

Whats on my mind.

So I've been trying really really hard to update about when Kelsey was here. but for some reason I always reach a wall and can't focus anymore. So that is coming! I promise!

But for now:
Here are some of the things swirling around in my brain.
1. At work I started thinking about a trans-Canadian train trip. Especially with a couple of stops in Quebec. I'm still not 100% sure why this is my newest travel interest, but it is. This trip will include a stop in each of the lower provinces {cities: Vancouver, Calgary, Regina, Winnipeg, Toronto, Niagara(?), Montreal, Quebec}. I've found a couple of different ways to go about it: a. guided train tour {with hotel reservations and train trips planned out} b. buying a rail pass for approx. 500 US$ with 7 trips on it for 21 days. Plan b is more preferable, but I'd still have to plan out the rest of the trip, plan a I wouldn't have to plan anything else. {Anybody want to go travel Canada with me for 21 days next april/may?}
2. I'm def flying out to Hawaii to visit Katey. I'm planning on February for a week.
3. I need a job in California. Disneyland...please?
4. I hate school. Why am I doing this thing I don't love to acquire a piece of paper? Money. I hate money. Maybe I will go to pastry school. In France. That way I can live in France and make awesome food. I could open a bakery in the kitchen in the apartment I'm going to share with Kelsey... Or I'd come back and marry the oldest son of the rich family my father works for... oh wait, that's the plot line to Sabrina... not my life.
5. All of these things involve locations... can i get paid to travel the world without having to get a degree first? Travel channel?

No Gloom in June!!!

I feel like you might understand that more if you knew more about May.

May was definitely a gray month for me. It had its ups, but by the end of it, things definitely felt more down than up. Not necessarily because of outside forces, but I think my insides were less than thrilled for life. Especially being soo far away from family with Grandma being sick, and missing Lucas' fourth birthday. Soooo... that was May. It was gray.

You might better understand the "gray" and "gloom" if you knew about the San Diego weather phenomenons called "May Gray" and "June Gloom"... basically the name says it all.

So back to June...

It's been phenomenal so far! My roommate Ica arrived on the first! Ok, she's not my roommate anymore... but we still have fun like she is. I didn't see her till the fifth, but we made plans and were texting all before then, so it felt like I had seen her. We made plans to play at Magic Kingdom before I had to work. Ica wore a red shirt... which wouldn't normally be remarkable, but it was Gay Days so anyone who fits into that category or supports that category was also wearing a red shirt. There were a lot of red shirts. We started in Adventure Land and worked our way around to Fantasy Land. Then we got hungry and headed to the Columbia Harbour House for house, which is a pretty good option for Quick Service {they offered more than just the regular burgers and chicken nuggets}. After lunch we jumped in line for the Haunted Mansion where we found my good friend Jarrett Randelle Jones. We spent the rest of the afternoon with Jarrett and his friends who were all celebrating Gay Days, so Ica fit right in, though I stuck out and made us all look like Christmas with my green shirt.

The day was really magical, and I'm soooo grateful to have Ica here in Orlando!

Sunday I went to Church! {YaY} And when I got home my Cousin Kelsey called me with exciting news!!! She's coming to see me on the 16th! I set up a reservation for us at the All-Star Movies Resort and signed up for the Disney Dining Plan! We will spend one day at Disney and then one day at Universal. The rest of the time we're going to fill with pool time and really good food :) {You can read all about it in about two weeks. But you should know I'm filling my free time from now until next Wednesday evening planning where we're going, what we're doing and what we'll be eating.}

Monday was unremarkable... just work at DisneyQuest. After work I was feeling a little sick of testosterone {especially after the car ride home consisted of talk about professional fighting} so I found the most go to girl movie, the Notebook, and watched it. I felt much better after.

Today! I didn't really do much earlier on. I had to run an errand in the afternoon and when I went outside I realized I had wasted a BEAUTIFUL day. But the day was not over! One of my fellow cast members took my shift for today so I could go enjoy the peace and beauty the temple brings to my soul. It was MUCH needed. There was some kind of mix up, so the temple didn't know we were coming, but they still let us do baptisms anyways! We had to wait almost 2 hours, but it didn't feel like that long because Ica and I wandered around the temple grounds contemplating life, and talking about marriage. Funny how that was our main topic for the evening... But that is what the temple is there for. Eternal families. On the drive home we both realized we were hungry. And it took us all of two seconds to decide where to eat. Which may not sound like a huge achievement to you...but to us... THAT'S HUGE! We do not make decisions easily.

Last night, I decided to use my night off to look up different schools that I want to go to after I get an associates. I started with Cal Poly Pomona. I didn't get any further. I didn't want to look any further. It felt right. I think that's my new goal. Get to Pomona.

Then I got a text from my sister. My grandma had another stroke. I don't think its a coincidence I decided to move back to California right before I got that news. From what I know right now, she's in the hospital for the next few days. But I think everyone expects a positive recovery. I thought I would feel more alone being all the way out here. but I don't. Not because I have a huge support system out here, but because I know Heavenly Father has a plan and I know, no matter what, I'm going to be with my grandma for the rest of eternity. Everything is going to work out. And now I'm just bidding my time waiting for the next text or phone call to give me an update. These are the times I'm especially grateful to have the plan of happiness in my life.

April Showers...

Last night there was an epic thunderstorm raging outside. Like tornado warning epic. I didn't know about the potential tornado's until half way through when my roommates came home because I had the day off and got to sit next to the window and finish The Friday Night Knitting Club while the lightning turned the sky purple.

April was kind of a rough month for me. Lots of drama, lots of issues I had to work out with myself and the Lord. But I've learned a lot. And I'm growing, so in the end it'll all be worth it. April strengthened my resolve to not date until I'm home in August. It also made me explore my options on what I want to do and most importantly the kind of person I want to be while doing it. I kind of lost myself at the end of March/beginning of this month. And in my newest search for "me" I'm making some adjustments and learning things I didn't realize before. Such as:

• I really REALLY REALLY want to travel. Not in the way I used to, I legitimately am going to make plans to leave the country in the next year. Not just wait for a good opportunity to come up, because it's not going to happen if I do that.
• I love Disney, the company, a lot. Even when I don't. 
• I really need to keep in contact with my Provo friends. I'm not moving back. But they {you, in case you are one of my friends from Provo} have been there for me a lot and helped me get through so much that I can't just let those friendships fade away.
• Keeping up with the Church and staying at the level of spirituality you can attain in Provo is DIFFICULT outside of Utah. But I'm going to try to get there. Because I can. I just need to be an active participant rather than a bystander when it comes to my faithfulness.

April Showers bring May Flowers right? Using that logic, May is going to kick butt. I can feel it!

PS in case you're wondering how planning my life is going...I've decided to give up on planning everything at once. For now, it'll just be in small blocks. Like I have up till August 6th planned out. I'll be here. In Orlando, living it up Walt Disney style. {And you are more than welcome to visit!}. So while I'm here I'm only going to be planning out August -December {ish, depending on what I decide}. Currently, it looks like I'll be moving back home {hmph} to finish my AA and look for the next stage of my life. Probably a four year university. My dad thinks it'll be in California... I'm hoping it's not. So if you know any schools with an awesome Hospitality program that aren't UCF, BYU-HI, or in California let me know! Especially if it's abroad...