Top 11

So the year is coming to an end and looking back, I have had a pretty amazing year! It was an expensive year, but well worth all of it. I loved all of the experiences that I had and, let's be honest, I think this next year is going to be even better! But before jumping into 2012, I wanted to document the top 11 things of 2011 - and I am doing it in chronological order, so the ones at the top aren't necessarily at "the top" of my list, just keep that in mind :]

1. Auditioned for So You Think You Can Dance

Us at the audition - the only pic I have since cameras were not allowed

2. Got my first speeding ticket

3. Ran a half marathon

Finishing! I look gross.

4. I went skydiving!

5. In the studio audience (again) of SYTYCD

6. Chopped my hair OFF

Before and After

7. I turned 20! No longer a teenager :]

8. Ran a Ragnar Relay

Our whole team - we're pretty cool

9. Went to San Francisco/Napa Valley (I think this deserves it's own number separate from Ragnar)

10. Finished my second to last semester of college!

11. Went to Disney World in Florida!

Yep, it was a big year! But this next year is going to be even bigger. I will graduate from BYU with a B.S. in Mathematics (minor in Sociology), turn 21, and so much more! :] It is going to be a fantastic year - I just have to figure out what to do with my life!

Oh and just any case any of you 2 hard core dedicated readers of mine care, I officially finished my 20 before 20 list - it was just a couple months late :]

3 1/2 Months in the Making

After 3 1/2 months of planning, waiting, and wishing the time finally came! The semester came to an end (I survived...barely - and only one more semester to go!) and off we headed to Walt Disney World!! Emily, Kenzie, and I all headed off last Thursday and met up with Kaitlyn in Orlando for a long weekend of fun! 

We started off Friday by going to Magic Kingdom and seeing Fantasmic in Hollywood Studios. Saturday was spent doing everything else in Hollywood Studios and then the future part of Epcot (with a stop in England for some fantastic Fish and Chips). Sunday was our "lazy" day and we went to Blizzard Beach (yep, I have officially been on the tallest water slide in America - 120 feet tall and a near vertical drop, someone may have peed their pants at the top) and we went to Downtown Disney for dinner and some shopping. Monday was our last park day and we started it off with Animal Kingdom (which was surprisingly really cool - I loved Expedition Everest and our African Safari) and ended the trip with a tour around the world in Epcot, including England, France, Italy, Mexico, and a bunch of others I can't think of! 

Tuesday we slept in and hung around the hotel until it was time to head for the airport. It was a super fun trip and I am so glad we got to go and spend time with Kaitlyn (who comes home in 8 days!!) Thanks for the fun Kaitlyn! There is no way we could have done this without you!

Magic Kingdom! This castle was so pretty all lit up for Christmas!

Aladdin's Magic Carpet ride in Magic Kingdom - if you want to be thoroughly entertained on this ride make sure you ride it with Emmas and she is serenading you with "A Whole New World"

Tigger and Eeyore in Hollywood Studios!

I think Kenzie slightly questioned all of our sanity by how much we love this movie and MJ - well, mainly MJ.

Tower of Terror! If you can't see our faces find this pic on facebook and blow it up - Kenzie's and Emmas' expressions are priceless!

M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E! Yep we were happy to be there!

Tree of Life! It was pretty legit with all of the carvings on the trunk

Jungle Book! We were the first ones in line to see these characters and had a lot of fun with them - yes we were 5 years old half the trip

England!

Sorry for the picture overload but this trip was seriously so much fun! We all had a blast!

O Christmas Tree

Having a truck definitely has its advantages. When I go home for holidays, I am not limited in what I can take back and forth. For example, this year I packed to go home in garbage bags and I took only dirty clothes. I hadn't done laundry in about 3 weeks. Free laundry. Thank you parentals. Coming back up gave me a different advantage: I had room in the back to bring up an extra 7 foot, pre-lit Christmas tree and two boxes of ornaments. Merry Christmas to my apartment. This is the first Christmas tree I have had in college and let me tell you it is pretty legit. 

I have been so excited for the day when I would have my own Christmas tree because I have so many ornaments. I was curious to see whether or not I would be able to fill a tree with just my ornaments. Yep. I most definitely can. And it was so fun to be able to tell my roommates the story behind a lot of the ornaments. The biggest shocker to me though was that no one had heard of the pickle ornament! I was so surprised! One of the best Christmas traditions. But anyways, I love Christmas and love that I have a tree. Makes me happy!

In Memory

Literally the day after my high school graduation I was able to fly out to New York with my parents, Kaitlyn, and a number of my family members on my dad's side of the family. This was a very special trip for a couple of reasons. First of all, I was able to see one of my older cousins graduate from West Point Military Academy. That experience in and of itself was amazing. To see all of the cadets assembled together and their dedication to their country was just amazing. I am so grateful that I was able to witness that and have that experience.

Following his graduation we all made our way down to Washington DC and met in Arlington National Cemetery on Sunday evening. This was probably the best part of the whole trip. I loved seeing the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and walking the grounds of that sacred memorial. But the best part of Arlington, and the reason we all chose to meet there, was to see Grandpa Rogers' headstone. I had never seen his headstone before, and neither had my dad nor a lot of the rest of the family that was on this trip. It was such a special experience to be there with so many descendants of this amazing man, whom most of us have not even met in this life. 

I am so grateful for my grandpa and his willingness to serve his country. I look up to him so much and am so grateful for the example he has left behind. A couple of weeks ago I was sitting in stake conference and the thought came to me that I have never seen anything related to my grandpa's funeral. I know that is kind of a weird thought, but since then I have really been wanting to see pictures of it or read the talks that were given or listen to the talks or just be able to have access to whatever might be available. I want to get to know this man who I love so very much, but I know so little about. 

11 of the 25 grandchildren of Russell Rogers

I am so grateful to all of those who are currently serving or have served this country in the armed forces. They are the true American heroes. 

La Cucaracha

I think I just might have the best roommates ever. Seriously.

Peeing Your Pants

A couple of weekends ago it was one of my wonderful roommate's birthdays.  To celebrate we went out as roommates to dinner at Thai Ruby (one of our most favorite restaurants in Provo and it is conveniently right around the corner from us) and then a bunch of friends joined us for cake and an adventure to the Haunted Forest. I wasn't going to go to the Haunted Forest for two reasons: 1) It cost $20 bucks and in my experience that did not seem worth it for a haunted house and 2) I had been in a horrible mood that day and wanted to sit home and cry (not really but kind of - it was a watch Charly sort of day). At the very last minute I said forget it, lets have fun tonight and I joined in the fun. And honestly I am so glad I did!

At Thai Ruby!

The Haunted Forest is in American Fork and it is legit! There are people out in front in character already scaring the crap out of you before you even get inside! One of my friends called my name and this creepy girl heard it and was following behind me saying my name. Great fun. So we get inside the first house and it wasn't too horrible. I was smashed between two of my friends (they were my protectors) but most stuff really didn't scare me in there because it was machines and machines just remind me of Disney. So then we get out of the house and stand in another line while music is playing and we just have a good time. Then we got to the Haunted Forest. And that's when the night became fantastic.

So the Haunted Forest is literally a forest of trees (or at least as close to that as you can get in Utah) and it is seriously a mile long. From the time we started the first house to the time we left the forest we had been there over 2 1/2 hours. A lot of the people in our group were really jumpy. Including me. So at first I wasn't too bad off. I was holding onto one of my roommates and had a guy in front of me and it was okay, I could get past things. But then the chainsaws came. I don't know why but I cannot handle chainsaws. I honestly do not know when I have ever screamed so loud and high pitched in my life. It got to the point where one of my guy friends was like holding me because I couldn't take it (but then he turned on me and scared me himself at any chance he got). At one point in the forest they have a bunch of scenes from different scary movies (ie Friday the 13th, The Ring, etc) and Freddy Krueger would not leave me alone. Seriously. I could not escape him and that man is scary! We finally made it through the forest, after getting chased out by yet another chainsaw, and I realized I had had so much fun in there. I was near tears a time or two, one of my roomies may or may not have peed her pants, another roommate punched our friend in the face when he came up behind her, but it really was a fun experience.

The whole group at the Haunted Forest!

After this trip to the Haunted Forest though, we have all become extremely jumpy. Case in point: On Saturday I was standing by my bed with my back to the door, I turned slightly and all of a sudden my roommate was standing on top of me. I hadn't heard her come in at all and she scared me so bad I screamed, which scared her and she screamed back at me. The following day, walking home from church, I had left slightly after my roommate but caught up to her. I thought she had seen me though so I got right up behind her. Apparently she hadn't seen me because she screamed and pushed me into the street (she's the same one that punched our friend). Yep. We are all a little jumpy right now - but it's Halloween, so bring on the scare!

Motivation

This summer my family became addicted to Friday Night Lights. best. show. ever. It was a bad addiction. I remember one Saturday in particular at the beginning of this craze where I told Taya she could watch one show and then I would watch one show, and we literally did that the entire day (6 episodes in one day). Little did she know that my show was more than twice as long as her show. I'm gonna be so great at deceiving my children when the time comes. Anyways, only seasons 1-4 were on Netflix this summer. Today my day was made. I discovered that Season 5 (aka the FINAL season) is available on Netflix. I now have new motivation to do homework:

Tim Riggins. Only problem: he is currently in prison. BUT only because he is a good person. Not gonna lie, I find him really attractive - my mother is concerned about this. Now I have a reason to write my paper this weekend...but let's see how many episodes I watch before then.

Run. Drive. Sleep? Repeat.

For the past 3 nights I have slept in a suburban. It's been great fun but I am so looking forward to my bed tonight! Thursday night I headed off with my team to San Francisco to run in the Napa Valley Ragnar Relay. (If you don't know what it is, look it up. Just kidding - it is a 12 person 200 mile relay race. Yep.)

I would go into tons of detail about it, but I am tired and in all honesty....who really cares? People just want to see pictures. I will share the highlights and if you want to know more about it, ask me! I will gladly give you all the details! But for now, enjoy the pictures and my favorite moments! :]

Highlights:

• Running 16.5 miles total (in 3 legs - 7.3, 5.6, 3.6)
• Driving over the Golden Gate Bridge (twice!)
• Driving/running through wine country (gorgeous!)
• Sleeping in a suburban for 3.5 hours and calling it a good night's rest
• Eating real food in a bakery in Napa Valley Saturday morning (best oatmeal ever)
• Showering at a member's home in Calistoga (The Church is true. Even complete strangers take you into their home)
• Driving through the night (twice)
• Chinatown!
• Fisherman's Wharf (I LOVE shrimp.)
• Ghiradelli's Square
• Being up since 3:30 am this morning
• Fun people and new friends!

Kenzie and I before the race...if you squint you can see the bridge in the background.

During the race - at this point I think we had each run once

Beautiful wine country where the race ended. This does not even capture how beautiful and amazing it was!

Back in San Fran we hit up China town!

Where I got my delicious shrimp

Alcatraz...aka my view while eating my shrimp

Walking along the bay to Ghiradelli's Square

Best friends in San Francisco!

Yep. I was happy to be there!

M-I-C-K-E-Y...

...M-O-U-S-E!! Oh how I love that mouse and the magic of his home. My family used to go to Disneyland literally every single year. I feel like it started out being at the end of April to celebrate the end of tax season but then it got to the point where we were going 6+ times a year. Yeah, I know. We were addicted. But in the last couple years we haven't gone nearly as often. In the last year and a half I have been for one day. I haven't gone on the new Star Tours or the new Little Mermaid ride nor seen the new show in California Adventures that is on the water. I still do not know when I will be able to make it back to Disneyland, but I do know this - come December 15th I am headed to Orlando, Florida and going to DisneyWORLD!!

Kaitlyn is working at Walt Disney World this semester as part of the college work program (check out her blog here to see what she is up to - although she very well may kill me for putting that link) and as of this afternoon I officially have a flight booked to spend 5 glorious days in Florida going to the parks! Not only will she be able to get me into the parks for free (and two people who will hopefully be coming with me) but we also get 50% off at the amazing resort she works at! Seriously, when will I ever get to do a trip like this again? It might be pricey for my poor college student budget, but it's FLORIDA and DISNEYWORLD and I am getting an amazing deal!

This is also our first time ever not living right there together though and not gonna lie it is kinda weird. I am super excited to go spend a week with her and have fun over on the other side of the country. Well, that's my big news. Oh and since I will have a layover in Denver, I can count this as going to two states that I have never been to before.

Now if only there was a way to make 31/2 months go faster...

Summer Reading

I have discussed my love and addiction before, so I will not bore you with another rant on that topic. Rather here is a photo of all the books I have purchased this summer - this does not include the many other books that I read.

Here is a list of the books pictured above with my opinion on them [keep in mind I am very easily entertained]

1. Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay - This wasn't my absolute favorite, but it was a good read. Explored a topic that I personally did not know very much about and had me near tears several times. Had some language to it but overall it was good.

2. Left Neglected by Lisa Genova - LOVED this book! It was a fast read, clean book (which isn't the easiest to find), and it really makes you think about what is important in life and where your priorities should be.

3. Born to Run by Christopher McDougall - This was another book that I absolutely loved! This is a nonfiction book about runners and why humans are designed to be runners. After reading this book I wanted to get a pair of barefoot running shoes...but I haven't been fully converted to that yet!

4. Blink by Malcolm Gladwell - I haven't actually read this one yet (I just got it for my birthday) but I read another book by Gladwell earlier this summer and love his style so I am excited for this one.

5. One Day by David Nicholls - This was another book that I was just satisfied with and not overly enthused about. It had some language, but was a very unique book (each chapter was a year apart showing a single day in the friendship of two people). I was disappointed with the ending though, it was kind of depressing, which left me simply satisfied with it. Although I am planning on seeing the movie!

6. Room by Emma Donoghue - I started this book today and so far I love it. It is told from the point of view of a five-year old, so a very ugly situation is portrayed through an innocent mind. And from what I have heard about it, this will probably be a tear jerker.

7. Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks - I have not read this one yet either - another birthday present - but it is Nicholas Sparks. I love his books. Granted they are predictable (stranger comes to small town, has a secret, falls in love with someone from the town, they secret comes out in inconvenient circumstances, but they get through it and live happily every after), but I love a good romance. I'm a sap.

8. Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell - SO GOOD!! I loved this book! Very interesting and gives you a different perspective on why people are successful and why some are not. I would recommend this book to any one. It is a sociological sort of book, but it is written in a very entertaining manner. This is probably my number one recommendation right now.

9. 127 Hours by Aron Ralston - This guy's story is incredible. I got this book because I had seen the movie and wanted to read the real story. The book is great, but while reading it I kept thinking he had it coming because he was always in life threatening situations. This one had language too, but then again he had his arm pinned to a wall for 127 hours too soooo, I don't blame him there.

10. Charlie St. Cloud by Ben Sherwood - Have you seen the movie? It's almost exactly the same. So I was kind of bored reading it since it was so similar, but it was good and there were some differences. I enjoyed it and I am sure I will read it again.

Teenage Dream

Welp. My teenage years are over. Just like that I have left behind my teen years and am entering the world of adulthood. Yikes. Haha, just kidding! I know this is super ridiculous but I already have fears of getting older. Hence the reason behind the 20 things to do before turning 20 - I needed something to get me excited about being 20. And let me just say it definitely helped because I am so ready for this 20th year and what it might bring!

There are a couple of things on my list that I wasn't able to finish but by the end of the year I should hopefully have them done. I am planning on going to Florida to see Kaitlyn at the end of this semester (she is going to be working at Walt Disney World and will be able to get me into the parks!) and then I am going to be driving across the Golden Gate bridge in just a couple of weeks because I am running a Ragnar Relay in San Francisco and part of the route sends us right over the bridge. I can play through Nearer My God To Thee but I am super slow with it so I won't pass it off just yet. Since starting this I visited the Las Vegas Temple and Draper Temple, but wasn't able to make it to any other ones that I hadn't already been to - but hopefully I will make it to a few more this semester! The last thing on my list was expressing emotions, which is something that is hard for me to do (I just keep everything in and then something dumb will happen and it will be the straw on the camel's back that makes me burst into tears and I end up sobbing uncontrollably - it drives my dad crazy) but I have definitely been getting better about it, though I am not crossing it off yet cause I just feel weird doing that! So yeah, I did everything else on my list and had an absolute blast doing it!

My summer break is just about over, but it has been a great summer! Just one year left to go and I will be a BYU graduate! Woohoo!!

Livin The Life

Or not so much. But either way I have been having fun and am happy to be home for a little while! As soon as I got home for the summer I started teaching dance again at Dance Element. I can't say enough how much I love this studio and how well they treat me. I missed the first two weeks of the summer session but they gave me 3 classes and plenty of subbing hours anyways. I got to teach Taya too which is always fun. She is getting to be a good little dancer, picks it up really fast and is going to be taking a lot more classes in the fall!

The last day of class my family literally picked me up from the studio and we headed off to California for some beach time with the Hatch family. We were bummed we didn't get to go with the Rogers crew this year, but next year we will be there!

This is Wyatt, our cousins Marlee (Wyatt's age) and Pyper, and Gideon (Wyatt's friend who has become an adopted cousin on that side).

The always needed game of bocce ball. And I bet Noah won that game even though he was the youngest one playing.

Hyrum and Jake - some of the cutest little boys you will ever meet!

Here is Taya in Kaitlyn's sunglasses and our dad's t-shirt that she got out of his closet and packed for herself without any of us knowing until we got down to the beach and she pulled it out as a cover up after having played all day.

After a week of reading some great books including One Day, Sarah's Key, and this wonderful treasure I discovered, getting some color into my new Utah sun deprived skin, and trying out a paddle board for the first time (and trying to dance while on it!) I am now home getting ready for a last few adventures before heading back to school. On the list:

• A weekend in Prescott with Kaitlyn and maybe some other siblings (if they are nice to us :)
• My 20th Birthday!
• A week in San Diego
• Finishing the SYTYCD season (I am rooting for Melanie!)

It has been a pretty good summer so I can't complain, although I am ready for some structure back in my life. I have a few things left on my list that I would like to accomplish and maybe this weekend I will knock one of those off by making this delicious Pollyanna-esque cake!

I'll Admit It...

I am obsessed. I have officially auditioned for the show and been in the studio audience twice. I have to watch the show every week and can spend hours watching old dances on Youtube. It's a problem.

Monday night I got an email saying I had tickets to So You Think You Can Dance again! This time I went with Wyatt, his friend Gideon, and our cousin Marlee. I had to teach dance Wednesday night though, so I got the tickets for Thursday night. We left about 4:30 am Thursday morning, drove to LA, stood in line for like 3 hours (and got sunburnt), and then finally got to see the show! We had great spots to stand - right next to the judges and right where the dancers came off the stage as they were told whether or not they were safe. And the judge we were closest to was the guest judge - Debbie Reynolds! I absolutely love her and was so happy to get to be so close to her. Anyways at the show we got to see LMFAO perform Rock Party Anthem with Quest dance crew dancing backup - but this was actually filmed and done aboout 40 minutes before the show started and not 40 minutes into the show like it is on TV. It was so much fun to go to the show again though, but if I get tickets again I want to go to the Wednesday night show cause it is super depressing to leave the studio after a bunch of dancers have gotten kicked off and all of the dancers are bawling their eyes out. So much fun though!

After the show we had to take Gideon down to Oceanside area of California to meet up with his family who had driven over there that day as well. But guess what is right between LA and Oceanside? San Clemente! So for dinner we stopped at Pedro's Tacos and then took it down to Calafia beach! It was like 9pm at this point though so we only stayed for about 15 minutes but it was wonderful to stand on the beach and put our feet in the water. And Pedro's. Mmm. Love that place. By the time we dropped Gideon with his family it was about 10pm and we still had to get to Yuma. Finally at about 1:30am I was able to go to bed - after having been up 22 hours and close to 12 of those hours were spent driving.

In total I was gone about 30 hours - 17 driving, 6 sleeping, 6 for SYTYCD stuff, and the rest eating/San Clemente. Exhausting trip - but for So You Think You Can Dance it was worth it.

Bellybutton. Breathe. Banana.

These are the directions we were given in how to jump out of an airplane. Lead out with your bellybutton, breathe through your teeth, and arch your body like a banana. Great instructions right?

Kenzie and I went up to Tooele, Utah - or near there - to skydive this morning! It was the one day we would both be in Provo and we wanted to do it before our birthdays and so off we went this morning! It was exhilarating! I absolutely loved it! On the ground, Kenzie and I were all smiles and super excited for this experience. We weren't nervous yet, but knew it would probably hit us on the plane ride up. When wefirst got there we had to watch a 20 min instruction video and told us if we died, we weren't allowed to sue them. And we had to sign something that said that too. Several different papers that said that. Basically we had to sign away our life and all desire to live. Comforting. Then we suited up in our awesome blue jumpsuits and headed to the planes!

The plane ride took about 10 minutes and we reached an altitude of 13,000 feet- about 2 miles above the surface of the earth. We started off all smiles on the plane and just enjoying the view. But then my instructor began strapping me onto him. I had to put on goggles. The door opened. My instructor told me to go towards the door. Kenzie was already out. I think my face below says it all.

Happy on the plane...

Scared out of my mind on the plane...

I had to go all the way to the edge of the door - with my toes over the edge. 2 miles above the earth. What if I wasn't hooked on right?! What if I fell out and my instructor didn't?! I had no chute on me! But next thing I know he's telling me to put my head on his shoulder and we are out the door! I am upside down looking at the ground! We did a full backflip and then we are free falling stomach down at speeds of up to 130 mph! It was amazing! We were going so fast - my cheeks were flailing, I could barely move my arms, I couldn't hear a thing, but it was fantastic!

After about a minute of free fall our chute opened and we were floating in the beautiful Utah sky! It was absolutely gorgeous. Using the cord things we did some fun spins and then my instructor and Kenzie's instructor steered us towards each other so we could yell to each other and talk. We had a great landing, I got all unhooked, and it was over! I was ready to go again. So much fun!

After Kenzie and I both got our picture CDs, we headed to the nearest food - McDonalds - and had a picnic in the grass. We pulled out my laptop and put each of our disks in laughing hysterically at our petrified expressions before we jumped out of the plane. This was such a fun experience and I can't wait to go again! I am so glad I had someone with me though that I know because it made it so much more fun to have someone to talk to about it that experienced it. We were talking about it while driving and decided that the adrenaline rush isn't when you are falling - but in the plane getting ready to fall. So fun though! Loved it.

13.1

My day today started out at 2:45am. Do you know how ridiculously early that is? It's like 3 hours of sleep early. After quickly getting dressed and eating some breakfast, my roommate dropped me off over at the Provo Towne Mall. I was lucky - or perhaps unlucky - enough to get on the first bus headed up the canyon. We headed about two miles north of Vivian Park which is a total of about 7 miles into the canyon. Upon our arrival we all exited the buses and there we were to stand for two hours. Why the buses run only from 3:30 to4:30am when the race doesn't even start until 6am is beyond me. So I got to the starting line a little more than two hours before the race even started. And I was already exhausted. Thank goodness they had fires going for us that we could stay warm next to - however the smoke coming from them soon became unbearable; going into our eyes and making us all smell just fantastic. Eventually I ventured away from the fire to go to the bathroom and wouldn't you know it, it was pitch black outside and no sort of light in the port a john. That was a great bathroom experience. At about 5:30am I headed down to the starting line to stretch and try to keep warm without the fire, and at 6am sharp the Provo mayor sent us on our way.

This was a beautiful run - very scenic and the weather was fantastic, but I need to saysomething here. I have a run a half marathon before. September of 2007 and it was in Disneyland. Disney goes above and beyond for everything - including its races. I think I definitely got spoiled on that race. Water and Powerade at every single mile, bathrooms at every mile, people cheering you on the whole way. It was a fantastic race and I felt kind of jipped while running this one. But alas, it wasn't scorching hot like the Disney one so I can get over only having water every other mile.

Before the race my goal had been simply to beat my previous half marathon time, which was 2:30, however I was hoping for somewhere in the 2 to 2:15 range. My goal was met! My end time was 2:01! Crossing that finish line felt so good - and my knees were screaming the hallelujah chorus. Somewhere in the middle of the race my knees started to ache, but once I stopped running my knees started to kill. I went and got a free massage at theend of the race and she worked around my knees, but the pain is bone not muscle. Hopefully in the next couple of days my knees will forgive me and let me go run again.

Speaking of running I have a couple of things I need to address. First of all, I am going to San Francisco and going across the Golden Gate Bridge - but it won't be until after my birthday in September. The reason for this being that I was running the Napa Valley Ragnar Relay! I am super excited for it and can't wait for the race. That being said, I know right now that there are a couple of things on my list that I won't be able to do before my 20th birthday because of costs. I will do what I can though and will keep the list and do the things I can't in the hopefully near future!

Addiction

On Main Street in Mesa you can find one of my most favorite stores. I can't remember the name of it, but I could find it for you in an instant. It's a quaint little store with unfinished wood floors and a musty smell. Floor to ceiling shelves line every wall and fill the aisles. Shelves filled with books. Used books. Books that are worn, creased, and sometimes have been written in. Oh how I love used books. I am one of the rare people that prefer a used book to a new book. Take a look at my copy of A Walk To Remember and you will understand what I mean. In fact, take a look at any of my books and you will begin to see my love of having a book look worn and weathered; my love of reading a book over and over, even though I already know how it ends.

I have an addiction. To books. Seriously. I read multiple books at a time. When I am home in Arizona I have a book that I read in different areas of the house. I have a bedroom book, bathroom book, and living room book. See, I have a problem. Even when I am in the thick of a semester with midterms everyday for a week, I still set aside time to read my books. In the past week I have read two books, each over 300 pages. And I havetwo midterms this next week. See where my priorities are? But I just can't help myself. This past week I was thinking to myself that I should have been an English major and gone into publishing or something.

Did you know that in high school I told my dad I wanted to own a book store when I grew up (think of You've Got Mail) and my dad told me to be realistic?

But then I remembered something. I LOVE books. I love reading and getting lost in the story of people who aren't real. I love being able to escape from my world and learn lessons from experiences that I know I will never have. But I hate analyzing books. I hate having to find the deeper meaning in a book (unless it is obvious). I hated English in high school and loved Math. I still love Math. So obviously, Math is the right major for me.And my love of books is simply that. Not a career, just a love. A hobby. An addiction (a healthy one).

This week I ordered 3 books from Barnes & Noble - another favorite store, despite the fact all the books are brand spanking new. I ordered the following books. And I cannot wait for them to arrive. But until they do I am not beginning another book. Rather I am going to focus on homework. Oh who am I kidding, I will do just as much homework as before and find something else to fill my time!

In other news, So You Think You Can Dance started this week! I absolutely love this show! And anyone who has ever watched it with me or talked to me about it can testify that I am addicted to that show. Which is fitting considering the title of this post. With that I will leave you with this video to enjoy. If you are any fan of the show, you will understand why I chose this dance for this post.