NSO: beyond the free stuff.

As mentioned earlier, last week I was a part of NSO for freshmen at BYU. My good friend Madi and I volunteered because we wanted free t-shirts and ice cream. We did indeed get our freebies (and many more beyond those, including a free planner that is currently rocking my socks off and some excellent potato salad), but my honest-to-goodness favorite part was working with the kids in our group. 

We really had a stellar group, and I'm not saying that because I'm biased. (Well, I might be a tad biased, but I don't know of any other groups that still had more than half their group for the whole second day of activities!!) Lots of kids sluff NSO because it's optional and exhausting. However, we happened to have a bunch of kids who really did want to learn how to succeed in their first year here, so they were enthusiastic about coming to activities  and asking questions and making new friends and such. At my own NSO, I thought I knew it all and I was not very friendly, so what an example they were to me! I think that's my favorite part of any form of leadership: the chance to work with and learn from really awesome people. We have awesome people at my school and I love it.

Anyways, the following are some pictures of a few activities.

We made paper airplanes to symbolize goals and flew them around the Marriott center:

My success story: it flew flawlessly all the way to the blue chairs in the background.

Madi's, um, success story.

We walked around campus:

We witnessed a lovely sunset from the stadium, and fireworks, and another lovely sunset from the Tanner building lot:

We watched a lot of freshmen dance in really large circles:

And we ate free ice cream and celebrated free t-shirts:

It was nice to be reminded before jumping back into my school routine of the privilege it is to be at BYU and the years of sacrifice that have led to what we have access to today. I remember feeling the significance of getting a BYU education in NSO devotional last year, a moment which started my habit of saying a little prayer of thanks every day for the chance to be at this school. That habit has remained, but the significance was lost somewhere between then and now. Last weekend, I found it again, and I am just ever so grateful for the opportunities I have by being here, now. Here's to another year of spiritually strengthening, intellectually enlarging, character building experiences that will lead to lifelong learning and service! 

First day of school

[Subtitle: Sometimes I'm an accidental creep.]

So I go to this place called BYU, and it's really great. School started today, and I'm kind of nervous for this semester because I am taking a million math classes. And one religion class. Oh and also choir, but that's not really a class in my book. 

Anyway, today while I was walking from my car to my class, a boy behind me struck up a conversation, just out of the blue. It was lovely. We chatted about all the normal stuff: where are you from, what class are you going to, what's your major, what do you plan to do with that, etc. We did not exchange names. Then we both went to class. I love my school because this is a normal sort of happening, and it makes me happy. 

The end. 

Oh wait. NOT THE END. Because then, two minutes ago, I was looking through an album BYU posted on Facebook of pictures taken around campus today, and HE WAS IN THAT ALBUM. The album of random students with only about 20 visible faces. I talked to 1 student in 35,000 today and that same student showed up as part of 20 (out of 35,000) tagged on Facebook. It's super weird! Is that super weird? I think that's super weird. I had to stalk his Facebook profile, natch, and I even considered friending him (since he has over 1000 friends..), but I decided that would be letting my spontaneous creepiness get out of hand. But I just thought that was a super weird coincidence, and I had to share. Also, I feel like these are the kinds of stories that seem to end in marriage when you go to BYU, so don't be surprised if I marry him. But then again, do be surprised, because he seemed like a hipster. 

Ok the end.


But while I'm here and celebrating a new semester, I also just wanted to say that I really love being in school. I love being at BYU specifically. I love my major and the people that I know in my major and the professors that I interact with in my major. I love walking around campus and seeing people I know and saying hello to people I don't know. I love learning. I love growing. I love getting back into the swing of a daily routine. I love college. 

Go cougs!

The end. 

NSO: that one time when we all became ants.

There will be pictures and words in the near future, but look at what we did last night during New Student Orientation:

Do you see me? Do you?? Because I am in there and I'm surprisingly easy to find. Here, I'll give you a hint.

See, I knew you recognized me. It was the orange shirt that gave it away, huh. 

Anyways, I'm completely exhausted so I'm signing off. See you tomorrow, or the next day, or never, depending on whether or not I recover from these crazy two days. 

Have a lovely Saturday!

A visit from Japan

Aren't they such an adorable family?

Last month we had these lovely friends--Yuki, Rena, and Toshi--visiting from Japan for a few days. And oh my heavens, we had a blast! How bout a complete picture overload to document our time together? Sounds great.

On the first day, we started bright and early in Salt Lake City for breakfast at the Lion House, which was AMAZING. I could probably drink that cinnamon syrup. We ate outside and were the only people out there, so we chatted a while and took pictures and such, just because we could. 

Toshi is always game for funny pictures, which, coincidentally, is one of my favorite traits in a human!

We wandered around Temple Square for a while, and then we checked out the loverly brand new City Creek mall, where we splashed in public water features and shared caramel apples. We had so much fun that all I got were a few scenery phone pics:

Before going home, we stopped to visit my grandparents' in the SLC cemetery. They are really our original connection to Yuki, since she stayed with them as a foreign exchange student in high school. She calls them Mom and Dad, which I absolutely love, and it was a tender moment for us all to visit their graves.

We also made one other SLC stop before heading home, and it was specifically for Rena, who absolutely loves High School Musical. Yes, that's right folks, we visited East High. It was a little dead without Troy and Sharpay (not to mention that it was summer time), but we [read: they] took some great outdoor shots. Go wildcats!

Later that day, Mariah and Rena had a little nail party, and we all went for a jaunt around the neighborhood. Proof:

Then it was the next day. This day was mostly filled with thrift stores and hiking. Yuki and Toshi teach English classes in Japan, so they wanted to buy easy reader books in English to use for practice. We visited two D.I.'s and found lots of great, cheap children's books. I'd call it a success story. The hiking came in later, after the hot summer day started to cool off. We decided to hike the Y, which is a short but steep hike that basically goes like this: 

It makes me ashamed to say this, but despite living here for my entire life, that was my first time hiking the Y. It was awesome though! And I'll definitely be back soon. But it was especially fun to have company with us. They sure were great troopers at getting up that mountain. I think Rena thought it was a race because she took off like a bullet! What a cutie.

Oh look, it's my school.

We were there at a great time and happened to catch sunset upon arrival and city lights on the way down. Both were lovely, but I am a sunset lover 4lyfe! (for life.) 

And there you have the highlights of our time together! There are so many things to learn from culture to culture, and I loved just talking with Toshi and Yuki for these few days. Toshi commented a lot on the mountains, which made me grateful all over again to have them here, but it also really made me want to visit Japan! I also loved making frownies with Rena, which I forgot to mention, but it happened and she was a great helper :) Really it was just a fabulous time all around! Now I just need to find a way to get myself across that lovely Pacific to visit them...hmm.... 

New dress!

Not that I think I'm a fashion blogger or anything, but I have to show you all this dress I bought today.

I am dying of excitement over it. 

Eeeeee! 

Seriously, I'm so in love.

The first picture is poopy phone quality, but the dress is really more navy than it looks in the second picture, so I put both. Or maybe I'm just vain. Either way, isn't it cute? Plus it gets even cuter when I remember that it was only $18 from Gap. 

And while I'm bragging, I'll just mention that I also bought $17 jeans from J.Crew. Based on every other price I saw in that store, I am inclined to believe that this was a steal. Word.

We can thank my mother for these finds due to her persistence in shopping. When I go shopping, I'm more of a glancer, but she digs deep into those clearance racks, and we don't leave until she's satisfied that there are no more gems waiting to be found. It's an admirable quality; I hope to take after her in time. So thanks, Mom! Also, thank you Jenna for inviting us to join you in Park City today. 

And now I go to sleep all happy because I'll be thinking of this dress. Wahoo! 

Songs to sew to

Tonight I stayed home and worked on my latest project, which is a super easy quilt. It was good times, but my favorite part was by far this playlist that I created and named "this is what i sew to." I was kind of in a mix of moods when I created it...so it's SUPER WEIRD. If you judge people by their music choices (cuz I feel like people actually do that sometimes), don't use this as a basis to judge me. Because this is not my norm; rather, it is my "weird," if you will.

Anyways...
Hey did you know that "anyways" isn't actually a word? I don't think any of us can be surprised by that since it just sounds like awful English, but I also don't think knowing this new fact will stop any of us from using it if we already use it. Then again, maybe I just speak for myself.

So anyways.

You can listen here.
Or you can just see this list of songs:

Loving You Tonight :: Andrew Allen

Oh Darling :: Plug In Stereo feat. Cady Groves

Feel So Close :: Calvin Harris

Don't Wake Me Up :: Chris Brown

The Spirit Carries On :: Dream Theater

September :: Earth Wind and Fire

Storm :: Lifehouse

Broken :: Lifehouse

Come Away to the Water :: Maroon 5

End of May :: Michael Buble

We Are Young :: Mika

Lullaby :: Nickelback

Rainbow Veins :: Owl City

Shooting Star :: Owl City

Dementia :: Owl City

Gold :: Owl City

Take It All Away :: Owl City

Kiss Me Slowly :: Parachute

Hold My Heart :: Sara Bareilles

Say You're Sorry :: Sara Bareilles

The Light :: Sara Bareilles

Breathe Again :: Sara Bareilles

Between the Lines :: Sara Bareilles

City :: Sara Bareilles

One Sweet Love :: Sara Bareilles

Bright Lights and Cityscapes :: Sara Bareilles

T-Shirt :: Shontelle

Wow if you actually read through any of those, congrats. Because that's an obnoxious thing to post, but I'm recording it anyway (for my posterity). Also, I put it on shuffle so that I wouldn't listen to too many Sara Bareilles at a time and start crying or anything. If I had to pick a wild card to recommend you take away from this post and YouTube, it'd be "The Spirit Carries On" by Dream Theater, unless you like super happy music, in which case I'd say to go look up Owl City's latest EP. (Their new radio one is meh, but I like all the others just fine.)

So there you go. A sewing playlist, in case you needed one. Take it and run, fellow bloggers.

A true confession of my guilty obsession

Hello, my name is Alyssa, and I am a Jewel Quest addict.

Yikes, what an awful thing to admit.

When my grandparents passed away last year, we took into our care Grammie's old computer because it wasn't really that old and still had plenty of use in it. [Tangent: my dad kinda hoards computers. I can't remember a time when we didn't have more computers than people in this house. We did not need another computer, but we also couldn't say no, apparently. Not that I'm blaming anyone for my addiction or anything ridiculous like that. End of tangent.]

It sat unused for a long time due to the craziness of the era. When we finally started using it, we discovered Jewel Quest and Jewel Quest 2 pre-loaded and ready to play! Turns out she, too, was a Jewel Quest addict. Who knew? 

[Ok, we all did. But that's beside the point.]

On one exceptionally boring day, I started my own username and played a few levels. (Ugh, I'm talking about usernames and levels.) And then I kinda just kept going anytime I got bored. It's not like things ever got out of hand and I procrastinated homework or anything like that...right? Right! It was never a problem. Never ever.


Not even 180 levels later.

Oh gross. 
Yes, I played that much Jewel Quest.
The good news is this: it took me all summer! So I definitely wasn't spending all of my time on all of my days at it. 
The bad news is this: that doesn't include Jewel Quest 2.

I've toyed with the idea of moving on to the second game, but I probably won't. This first round has been the best of two worlds: 1=listening to music is one of my favorite activities, but I have to have another activity to pair with it or I get bored, and 2=when I know I'm stuck at the computer, I can listen to new music without buying it via sites like Grooveshark and YouTube. To others, it looks like I'm wasting time, but really it's the ultimate de-stresser for me to have music and a puzzle of some sort. I could do stuff like this all the time and never get tired of it (hence my love for jigsaw puzzles, sudoku, etc.). However, looking to the future, I think this will be a terrible time sucker when I have other, more important things to do.

Anyway, today was a victorious day for me because it marked the end of my quest. So let's celebrate.

See? Do you see all that victory?? I know it says "Play next level?" at the bottom but what it really means to say is "YOU WON EVERYTHING. Now go get a real life." Please note how that lovely X in the top right corner is all filled in, and how the final rank, Researcher, is highlighted. Word. Also, please feel free to read the cheesy journal entry quote in blue; the whole game is very themed and, um, it's an interesting story line.

That's right: "The End." And I am seriously, honestly, not-even-kidding-you-right-now, dang PROUD. My secret summer goal is complete, and I can now bid farewell to the game that has occupied my thoughts in these recent months. 

Adios, Jewel Quest. 

It's been real, it's been fun. 

It's been real fun. 

But please, never come back.

Sincerely, 

your addict, 

Lys.

I've just had an apostrophe! (Name that movie)

Well now that Downton is over (I'm crying), I have time to explain a new blogging philosophy that I've come up with.
Ok, it's really not a "philosophy" but we'll just pretend it is.

Ready?

Instead of catching up on events a month after they come and go, I shall write about them as they happen. 

Whew. That's it.

There are a few personal reasons driving this [very original and novel] idea. First off, my blog has unfortunately become more of a journal lately than my actual journal, and I just don't want to miss stuff. Also, I'm tired of telling myself every day that I need to edit and explain those one pictures from that one activity with those one friends. Whenever I do that, I feel like I can't blog other stuff in the middle, so I just don't blog, which takes us back to my first reason. And finally, school's starting soon, and if I don't set new rules now, I'll let these nasty habits run amok in no time at all and before you know it, I won't have posted for a semester.
And I'd hate to leave my devoted fans alone for so long because they might cry.
Oh wait...

Anyways, it's not quite as exciting as all that, but I very much admire those bloggers who say they're going somewhere fun and why, and then promptly post the pictures and whatnot upon arriving home again. I admire those who find a current event and comment on it the day it happens! I also find it fascinating that people can plan their blog posts a month in advance and have them drafted and ready to post when times get busy. I do understand that it's mostly people who blog for a living who do that. However, I'm just trying to blog my living, if that makes sense, so that's close enough.

Remember how I was going to "think. create. record." this summer? Well, I've been thoughtful and creative, but I haven't recorded it all because I've procrastinated. No more of that, now! (I'll share in an upcoming post my overall analysis on how well I feel I achieved my early summer goals. And for reals, I will.)

It really shouldn't be very difficult to keep up on my own life, wouldn't you think?

So here I go again, with new blogging goals, new blogging ideas in the works, a new blog layout, and a new blogging philosophy. Wish me luck! And call me on it if I don't blog for more than a couple days. Unless it's finals week, I'm probably telling myself I need to blog but refusing to just do it, so it will be immensely helpful of you to bring it up.

Oh and real quick, before you go, here's a fun fact:

Shortly after 2:29 [yesterday] afternoon Eastern Daylight Time, the press release says the U.S. population clock hit 314,159,265. 

Can I hear a woot-woot for pi population??

Pretty cool, even if you're not a math major. #amiright?

Thanks Mom for sending me this link.

Tidbits

This weekend I went down to St. George to party it up with some loverly friends. It was good times; I shall tell you about it later because I forgot to bring my camera with me to the place I am currently sitting and I am lazy.

Oh wait, look, I can steal one from Alyssa's Facebook:

Brett, Taylor, Michael, Alyssa, Alyssa, Callie, Matt

Anyway. 
For now I just wanted to say a quick blog hello and mention a few other random things, such as:

:: I checked my schedule for this upcoming semester yesterday and needed to change one thing, which led to changing another thing, and so on and so forth until everything had changed. Usually this is a frustrating process, but not this time! I got better teachers and better times in every class I changed, and I'm just really really happy about it. Hurrah.

:: I have approximately 28 hours to watch the whole of season two of Downton Abbey, and I'm starting as soon as this blog post ends. Bring it on.

:: Today I went to the temple and saw a bunch of people that I knew. Normally, I see at least one person that I either recognize or say hi to, but today I think I knew more people than I didn't know. I just thought that was cool. 

:: Today I also participated in the following extremely productive activities: blog-stalking, showering, laundry (ugh), pizza-making, letter-writing, wearing of new pants, and my personal favorite--eating of fresh peach shakes from Taco Amigo. Heavens, my life is oh so busy.

:: I really really really enjoy going to plays. They make me feel cultured.



These are phrases I like to use as of late:
"on the morrow"
"ack!"
"bless you, for coming out in public" (from Emperor's New Groove?/Alyssa from above)
"okes dokes arts-chokes"
and anything else obnoxiously abbreviated.
Oh and I like to call people "bossy."


Ok, weirdest blog post ever. Signing off. See you tomorrow probably.

A thanks and a change

Well I just can't thank y'all enough! 
Usually when I ask for help with a trivial decision at my house (such as "What should I have for lunch?"), I get a few groans and a few mediocre suggestions. We really do love each other; we just don't care about each others' lunches.
So obviously, this has been great fun across the board.

I took the overall most voted result and have now made the change! One flower, moldy goldy stripe. Not sure I have the right moldy goldy cuz this one does look a little more moldy than goldy, but I will keep working on it. Also, if I don't fall utterly in love, I am liable to change it up simply because if I don't enjoy how my blog looks, I don't feel like blogging. Call it pride or vanity cuz you're probably right, but it's the truth. 

A picture, for those who use Reader. You're welcome.

Wahoo! It looks great. 

Thanks again for your opinions, everyone! I very much appreciate you, and you, and you (and so on).

Have a lovely day :)

In which we discuss gifts

Today I gave my first lesson in Relief Society. (ACK! It was kind of scary, but not a lot, but enough for me to mention it apparently.) Thanks to lots of comments from lots of amazing women, it went quite well. Actually, I'd say it went better than quite well...probably like it went great.


Anyway, since it was the presidency lesson, I had the opportunity to choose the topic. After days of thinking and praying and studying, I had an epiphany of Olympic proportions. Ok, I don't know if the Olympics can actually define a proportion, but it was clever phrase because I incorporated them in the lesson! We talked about gifts of the Spirit. Everyone is given a gift, and everyone has the responsibility to develop and share that gift (and to continue with more gifts as they come). In addition, we each need to develop the gifts of faith, hope, and charity, regardless of other gifts we may have or want. And eventually we can all become gold medalists for God. That was the basic gist of it (much over-simplified, mind you).


But what I really would like to share is a talk I studied while determining the topic and planning this lesson. "There Are Many Gifts," by Marvin J. Ashton, is worth a read for anyone who may not feel they are gifted, or for anyone who would like to develop more gifts, or for anyone who would like assistance in seeing the gifts of others, or for anyone. I used a couple of quotes from this talk, so in case you don't have time for the whole thing, you can at least see what I took from it:

"Let me mention a few gifts that are not always evident or noteworthy but that are very important. Among these may be your gifts—gifts not so evident but nevertheless real and valuable: the gift of asking; the gift of listening; the gift of hearing and using a still, small voice; the gift of being able to weep; the gift of avoiding contention; the gift of being agreeable; the gift of avoiding vain repetition; the gift of seeking that which is righteous; the gift of not passing judgment; the gift of looking to God for guidance; the gift of being a disciple; the gift of caring for others; the gift of being able to ponder; the gift of offering prayer; the gift of bearing a mighty testimony; and the gift of receiving the Holy Ghost."

"We must remember that to every man is given a gift by the Spirit of God. It is our right and responsibility to accept our gifts and to share them. God’s gifts and powers are available to all of us."

And then I really liked the gifts he chose to emphasize: to ponder, to look to God for direction, to hear and use the small voice, to calm, and to care.



I've felt the need at this time in my life to work on the gift of not passing judgment and the gift of caring for others, and I always need more charity. I was so grateful to give this lesson not only because I had the chance to study more in depth on this topic that I happen to love, but also because it helped me realize a bit more the possible reasons for this new calling. What better place to learn to have charity and care for others than in the Relief Society? And as it currently stands, there's no way I could ever judge any of these amazing girls. I'm not saying my personal challenges are all solved, but I do know this is exactly what I need at exactly this time, and that eventually I'll come out better on the other side.


I should be used to this feeling by now, but I don't think I'll ever cease to be amazed by how perfectly my Father in Heaven knows me. And He knows you perfectly, too! Go ask Him what your gifts are if you're not sure, and He will let you know. It's true. Happy Sabbath.

Signals or noise?

I follow this site (blog? not sure) that basically sends me an inspirational poster every day. Woot. (Confession: I really follow along because I am superdy-duperdy interested in graphic design even though I don't really know what all "graphic design" actually means, and it would be my major if I was gifted in the visual arts. So I stalk anything that seems like my idea of "graphic design." Moving on now.) I am not one to get off on inspiring quotes and such because...well, because I'm not and we'll leave it at that for now. But I did like today's quote a lot, so here it is.

Send signals. Don't just make noise.

[via]

A change is gonna come!

Hello. I know you're wondering why I've brought you here today. Let's speak some truths for a moment.
:: My blog is probably the most boring thing you've ever looked at. 
:: You probably don't care much, if at all. 
:: I care. 
:: I am kind of wanting to get rid of these dynamic views, but I just can't make myself do it.
:: (That's because I'm a geek and an early user and prideful.) <--- tough truth.

So yeah, blog makeover in the works. I know it's a hassle to comment, and you couldn't care less what my blog looks like because you just read it in Google Reader anyway (or am I the only one who does that?), BUT I need help because I stink at decision-making on trivial things. 

We have two things to decide, people. 

1) background

2) accent

This is the first background option:

One blue flower, top right corner.

This is the second background option:

All the blue flowers, everywhere

And then we need an accent color. The first option is a navy like you see above on both background displays. Or we have:

#2, teal

#3, royal blue

#4, chocolate brown

#5, moldy goldy

What do you think?? I like them all for different reasons that I won't explain cuz this is already boring, but I just wanna know what you guys think. Also, I should mention that moldy goldy is not called that because I think it looks moldy, but rather because I like to rhyme. And one more thing: the accent colors are all with full flower background because I was too lazy to make double the "snips," as Windows calls them. But they all look equally fabulous with the one flower background, if you like that better (which I think I might). 


Thanks for your help, if you choose to offer it. I appreciate you.




PS: I decided while I wrote this that I won't hate you if you don't comment cuz I'm a big girl and I suppose I can choose on my own. But I definitely will love you if you do comment. Also, I'm sorry for addressing you all like we're a team and this affects us all because I would hate it if someone did that to me over their own dumb blog decision. (Unless you want to be on my team, in which case I say welcome!)