Winter in its Fullness

The past few days have been the epitamy of Christmas. I wasn't mentally nor emotionally ready for Christmas (I think college threw me off) but so many wonderful events have transpired recently to get me in the holiday spirit.

Like on Christmas Adam (the 23rd) I got together with my wardies! I grew up with these wonderful young ladies when we lived in Fruit Hts. We've gone our seperate ways (all five of us go to different colleges and one is still in High School, but is going to still a different college.) Anyway, we sat in Doug and Emmy's for two hours.

Later that day we made gingerbread houses. Mine did not really turn out as cute as I wanted, but life is never what you expect. My little 2 year old cousin was with us and she made it so fun. We had to keep her from eating too much candy though. The one on the left is Annie's house.

Christmas Eve was busy, and we celebrated with extended family at my great-grandma's house. This annual tradition is practically amazing. We eat food, do a talent show, a nativity, and experience a visit from Santa himself.

Christmas Day is lovely, we opened presents of course. I got a camera and tickets to see the Lion King (among other things). We ate tons of food and gathered with the other side of the family. My grandma got an iPod, and so I had to show her the ropes. Super funny.

The Day after Christmas= sledding! My cousins from Texas came up and we sled and drank hot cocoa. More eating and presents. My other grandma got a laptop, and that is also super funny. We're showing her the ropes. If she figures it out she'll be able to actually read this blog.

To top it all off we had an improv night.

Merry Christmas! Happy Birthday Jesus! You rock! -M

Holiday Kitchen Mishaps

You can't experience Christmas without goodies, and you can't experience goodies without baking some yourself, and you can't experience baking without some mishaps along the way.

Tonight my sister and a friend tried making Hootnanies (aka German Pancakes). We are out of flour, so they used wheat flour instead.

The concoction turned out like this:

Keep in mind that German Pancakes are supposed to look like this:

They didn't rise, so they weren't light and fluffy; instead they were thick and heavy. Gross.

Mishap No. 2-- the Almints

We were trying to make after-dinner-mint candy. Everything went well until we tasted them. They were very salty and not very minty. After examining the flavoring bottle, the culprit was found. We used almond flavoring instead of mint. Holy whoa they are nasty.

Tomorrow we're making gingerbread houses, so we saved the almints anyway. They look alright, after all. (Exciting blog post to follow about that adventure!)

-just little old me(g)

Technology

When I rule the world, I'm going to make all technology compatable. Like seriously.

I take a video on my phone. I use a Micro SD converter to get the file onto my computer. For some reason it's a Quicktime file. Okay, whatever.

But when I upload that to the internet or youtube- it doesn't work. I can watch it on my compy but I can't show it to other people. The audio is completely off. I can't import it to Windows Movie Maker so I can't change the format it's in, either.

I gave up on that.

Okay, so I want to be total nerd and play Civilization III. I install it on my computer, and for a while it looks like everything is good. Wrong.

Apparently, I need to get Civilization IV or V because Civilization II is just too old to work with Vista. So I either have to play downstairs on our family's slow as molasses PC while shivering in the basement or waste hours playing Spider Solitare on my laptop. (As if Civilization wasn't a waste of time.)



On Wednesday I was traveling home to Salt Lake via frontrunner and trax. I wasn't traveling alone, but my mom still wanted to know whether I had caught the train.

But she couldn't text me because of a network error. Luckily she could still call me. The three hours I couldn't send any text messages were the three longest of my life. No joke. The next morning my phone was back to normal.

Technology makes me so angry sometimes. But I guess it works more often than it fails, so I should be glad for that.

-M

10 Things I want to do during winter break

1. Enjoy a Holiday Mint Blast from Sonic

2. Scrapbook like a mad-woman



3. Collage (It's not college-- that's what I'm escaping. I mean collaging: a technique of composing a work of art by pasting on a single surface various materials not normally associated with one another, as newspaper clippings, parts of photographs, theater tickets, and fragments of an envelope.)



4. Learn a new piano song



5. Read a good book



6. File all my notes from this past semester in my note-filing box that I've filled with notes from classes ever since I ever started takin notes in classes. I understand this behavior is OCD, but I love the feeling of having a myriad of knowledge right at my fingertips. As if I'll ever look at those notes again.



7. Play (speed) scrabble with my sisters and hopefully my cousins.



8. Sleep in.



9. Play in the snow.



10. Write a play or two.

-M

Megan's Worst Photos

After I recieved my glorious laptop, I spent the summer uploading pictures and sorting them. I noticed that I had some good ones... and some 'orrible ones of me. At first I was going to delete them from the cyber world. Then I thought, (especially after seeing the worst one of all), "These are actually kind of funny." So I started making a slide show of them. I was bored tonight, so I put on the finishing touches and posted!

I'm not emo or depressed. I just can laugh at myself. I really do have good pictures, but they're so very tedious compared to the ones where I look just plain ugly. Enjoy the ugliness here.

-M

Clean-Shave Christmas

Okay it took a lot of gall to put up this picture! But it is proof that I held up to my promise. I lost a bet, so thus I was forced to participate in "No Shave November." This is November 30. It's gross, I know. Trust me. At least I saved myself some $$ by conserving shaving cream, right?


My friend Missy went to Bingham High, and I obviously went to Syracuse. When our alma maters played each other, we made a bet: If the Miners won, I had to refrain from shaving in November. If the Titans came out victorious, then Missy had to shave her left eyebrow.

The outcome was not positive for me. Dang it, all my sports teams are loosing when it counts!

But as of last night, I am cleanly shaven! Yay!

-M

Wild Weekend

What a weekend!


Thanksgiving was yummy. I did actually make a dish. That is a miracle. I really don't like cooking very much, but my parents insisted. I concocted a yummy sugar-free jello salad.



Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. Everyone came to our house. I adore decorating the house and setting the table with our best china. My mom's china is the set she got at her wedding. She hasn't broken a single piece yet! Everyone's really careful with it.



My mother's jam is ambrosia.







My mom, my aunts, my cousin and I went Black Friday shopping. It was very scary, but I love going every year. I would never go alone! Working as a team works best. I don't want to go into to many details about what we got. (You never know who reads the blog... I can't be spoiling anything now, right?)





I was exhausted the entire time. I couldn't sleep so I watched "Glee" and ended up falling asleep around 1 a.m. Not a good idea if you have to wake up at 2 a.m. to get good deals! Most of the experience is foggy in my memory because I was so sleep deprived.





I am always amazed at how people can be jerks. There were jerks on Friday, but Saturday was the worst. I'm so upset about Max Hall's comments about the University of Utah after our loss. I'm pretty offended, but I'm trying to be forgiving. I just hope people don't associate him with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Saints. BYU is a church owned instition, but some cougar fans were obviously not keeping that in mind. Utes are children of God too!

I would be amiss if I didn't acknowledge what a good time at Improv Friday. Thanks JC! I love my friends back at home.

-M

My Thankful List

Some things I am thankful for:

I am thankful for Jesus Christ, His atonement, His Gospel, and His light, enough said. If you want to learn more about what I believe click here.

I am thankful for my family, because we have fun times while being somehow involved in fifty thousand extracurricular activities at once.


I am thankful for my friends who support me, make me laugh, and tell me that I am too crazy for my own good.

I am grateful that I can go to school, even though sometimes I want to quit because it is expensive and difficult. I’m so lucky to be able to go to college. It really is a wonderful opportunity.

I am grateful my ancestors that sacrificed so I could have a good life. I’m a wimp. I can’t barely walk to institute three blocks away, let alone walk across the plains.

I am thankful to be alive and healthy.

I’m so grateful for the countless times I’ve lost some belonging of mine and some kind soul honestly returns to me.

I am grateful for nature and beautiful things because life would be dreary otherwise. They remind me that the world is a good place, overall.

I am thankful for Ramen Noodles because they are easy to make and always satisfy.

I am thankful for the Beatles, whose music makes my soul very happy.

I am thankful that my fish, Cyrano de Bergerac, is still alive and swimming after all the involuntary fasts I have unintentionally put him through.

I am so glad I have a computer (and the internet) that allows me to be addicted to Facebook and other such sites and that help me procrastinate.

I am grateful for grammar because even though it seems complicated, it makes it so we can understand each other. It is also a tool used by English teachers everywhere to strike fear in the hearts of their students. I’m so glad it’s my obsession.

I’m grateful for my phone. I love texting and calling people.

I’m thankful for my Titan Blanket. I can sleep anywhere as long as the SHS Titan blanket is around me.

I’m thankful for Harry Potter and all the amazing fans I can count on meeting where ever I go. The other day my friends and I formed the Dumbledore’s Army of Utah. You can join the group on Facebook if you want.

I’m so grateful to the kind souls who drive the shuttles around campus. As I mentioned before, I am wimp, and the campus is pretty much a city of its own.

I am so grateful for socks! They’re miraculous. You put them on your feet but they make your entire body warm.

-M

4 am Bedtimes

What a crazy weekend! That’s all I can say. Tasha and Curtis came up to the U and hung out with Paul and me. Can you say blast off?

Stayed up until 4 a.m. Friday night watching Star Trek and Little Women (The version our high school did last year). This is epic considering Tasha and Paul had a pretty steamy few stage kisses.

The next day we made a music video and took many pictures. (Thank you Ana for letting me borrow your camera)! The link to the epic show will be forthcoming, fear not dear fans.

I do love this picture of me. (A rare good one)

Paul! Such a goof ball!

Tasha! So daring and dashing and independent!

Curtis! Such a happy guy.

Thanksgiving is just around the corner! I’m so glad.

-M

(Edit) Here is the link to the video we made. Or look on the side bar. That works too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNvMaVey9Iw

Shuffle

So I had my iTunes on shuffle the other day. I was jamming to “Life in Technicolor” by Coldplay one moment and then suddenly I was listening to “Endangered Love” from the VeggieTales 10th anniversary soundtrack. I had a fleeting notion to quickly change the song, because my roommate was in the there and it is a little weird that I was listening to a children’s show soundtrack.

Then I realized--

I don’t care!

VeggieTales makes me happy, and the songs are pretty funny. My sisters and I spent endless hours watching the videos and singing along with the music. We even had Jonah: a VeggieTales movie memorized. No joke, we could recite it word for word.

Ana and I do listen to a pretty varied music selection so I shouldn’t have been surprised when she didn’t poke her head in from the bathroom and exclaim: “What are you listening to?” Nope.

She just kept doing her thing. I love that strange music doesn’t faze us.
After all, you get everything when you listen to musicals, and we’re musical kind of people.


Examples:

Rap-- “In the Heights”

Opera--“Phantom of the Opera”

Pop--“Wicked”

Big Band-- "Hairspray"

The term "musical" is pretty open. There isn't just one type of music in musical theatre.


We recently discovered iTunes Home share. Amazing. We’re practically family so we didn’t feel guilty about exchanging our eclectic selections over the wireless network. Now I can jam to all sorts of random music and so can she. Because besides musicals, I'm into all sorts of other stuff like folk, classical piano, choral, random alternative from obscure bands, and even a sprinkling of techno. And of course--VeggieTales.

Why listen to top 40 when there is so much out there?

-M

Change

This weekend has been a busy one for sure. Theme of the weekend: the only thing constant is change (and God). I’ve decided that change is something that must be embraced. Change should not be dwelt upon. The best thing to do is to keep moving forward and live in the moment.

Like tonight. My roommate, our adopted roommate Daphne, and I made turkeys out of construction paper by tracing our hands. That was so much better than homework, or dwelling on the fact that my life feels like an endlessly rotating kaleidoscope.

Earlier this evening I performed with my beloved Women’s Chorus of the University of Utah. I wasn’t too thrilled about having a show on a Sunday, but it was unavoidable. However, the music was very uplifting. There is nothing quite like singing in a choir. How is it that on stage I can focus impeccably but not in yoga? Maybe it’s the bright lights and the pressure of the audience in the dark expanse beyond--but I think that it’s the music.

My favorite song tonight? (or perhaps EVER) Weep No More by David Childs. The text is taken from the first stanza of a poem by John Keats.

Shed no tear--O shed no tear!
The flower will bloom another year.
Weep no more—O weep no more!
Young buds sleep in the root’s white core.
Dry your eyes—O dry your eyes,
For I was taught in Paradise
To ease my breast of melodies—
Shed no tear

I love my girls in Women’s Chorus! There is nothing like participating in inspiring music with amazing people. (Like Katie, the amazing accent girl!)

-Just Little Old Me(g)

Lessons from College

In high school, if you sit alone at lunch, then you’re considered a social outcast.

But in college, it happens all the time, and it isn’t that strange. At least, I don’t feel awkward. I like that about the colligate life.

Some other things I’ve learned from the university:

1. How much I don’t know. I’ve learned more in this first semester than my entire public education, but I’ve also realized I really have only licked the iceberg.

2. How to get addicted to Facebook. You can’t really blame me for this habit though. So I move away to big university and leave 99.9% of all the people I know back in my little hometown. Girls are getting married, boys are leaving on missions, men are returning, and girls are having babies. I need to keep up on all the social happenings. FB is how I connect with my peeps back home. I honestly wonder how teenagers survived without this powerful networking tool before now.

3.How to not procrastinate. If I had a dollar for every time someone told me college was going to sink me, I’d be rich enough to pay for my entire higher education experience. My terror of college was so great that I was actually compelled to get stuff done. I mean, if I save something until the night before, I’m a nervous wreck. Which is weird.

4.How to wake up on time. So I had a few scares the first week, which made sleeping quite difficult. I’m so paranoid about sleeping in that I just don’t sleep at all. I got bed late and wake up early.

5.How to be very tolerant. I used to want to go out of state for school. I don’t think I needed to—I’m getting a culture shock here. I’m meeting the whole spectrum of people. Gays, granolas, Germans… you name it.

Forget and Not Slow Down

A few weeks ago I did something I rarely do: buy an entire album on iTunes. I'm the kind of person that likes to just pick and choose my songs. But when I heard that Relient K had come out with a new album, and I knew I could rely on their music, I caved and bought it.

Forget and Not Slow Down

Relient K

I loved it. I'm a poor college student, and let me tell you that $11 was well spent. I walk around campus with my headphones stuck in my ears, and it was so refreshing to be serenaded with the fresh sounds of the classic band. They've matured a lot since last I heard them. My favorite song on the album? "Candlelight."

This album really made my whole week. (And it continues to make my weeks.) If you buy it, remember to listen to the songs in the numerical track order first. After that, just listen on shuffle with the rest of your tunes.

Hello Again!

After lying dormant for about 18 months, this blog is being resurrected!

Yup, that's right. You heard correctly.

Meg is doing a blog again.

So that is pretty exciting. I have new ideas about doing things around here because lately I've been reading other people's blogs. I hope ya'll stay tuned

As a disclamer: I am a linguistics major and o I'm kind of obsessed with grammar. I do make mistakes though. Just know that I am as horrified as you are when I make an error.

-M