The Quest to Find my Feminity

Today in Relief Society, the Bishop's wife spoke to us on.... DATING! I discovered that I am doing a lot of things that decrease my chances of marriage such as I hang out with girls and sometimes by myself, I am not feminine and I spend my Friday (and sometimes) Saturday nights studying.
Janet, my roommate took a quiz in one of her classes about feminine versus masculine and she gave me the same quiz a few weeks ago. My results declared that I am masculine. So in order to become feminine, I have to change a lot about me. Here are some things I thought I would try in the next week or so.
- Actually DO my hair every morning rather than brushing it and rushing out of the door.
- Wear makeup more often.
- Not wear sweats to class.
- Accessorize more meaning I actually have to plan my outfits!
- Let guys hold the door open for me.
- Help my roommates become more feminine.
- Have nicer manners.
- Talk to guys in my classes.
Man, this whole feminine thing sounds like a lot of work for me. It better be worth it!
So those are my ideas. I will be sure to report on how it goes. Any other suggestions would be MUCH appreciated!

Let the fun begin!

I have an assignment for the next few days and that is to become a person with a disability. For my Accessible Recreation class, we are given the task of becoming disabled in any way for a day. We could choose to not use an arm, leg, go on crutches, be deaf, mute or blind or any other physically-disabling condition. I have chosen to be paraplegic and got a wheelchair for the weekend. The assignment is to do it for only one day but I really want to do it for more to receive a better understanding of wheelchairs usage as it is most likely the population I will be working with. I think I will become "paraplegic" both on Saturday and Monday. I can't do it on Sunday because church is on campus and it would take FOREVER to get there. It might be a little tricky getting up to my apartment on the 3rd story (I may just be miraculously healed for a few minutes when walking up the stairs with my wheelchair). But all in all, I am sure it will be a learning process!

Here are some pictures of what I think I will try to do in the next few days:

Alas, It is Over

Winter break has come and gone once again and now I am back in Utah. Break was quite exciting this year as I did many things with family and friends. Some of the activities included:

- Getting and decorating a Christmas tree

- Seeing my niece Megan and playing with her a ton

- Visiting with my whole family over the holidays

- Seeing friends from high school

- Dominating the Obstacle Course on Wii

- Playing games and doing puzzles with my family

- Sledding

- Going to the dentist and getting a clean bill of health

- Sleeping in a little and taking naps almost every day

- Making Christmas Eve dinner for my whole family by myself- and it was very edible.
- Suffering in my house with the temperature at 55 degrees because the furnace went out with a power outage

Now that I am back in Provo, it is time to refocus on classes and all that jazz for the next few months. The perk of coming to Provo is that is a lot warmer than Wisconsin. When I left, it was -24 in Wisconsin and in Provo, it is the low 30's. I don't mind the warmth one bit!

Reasons NOT to exercise

Besides studying and cramming for the exams I have in a few days, I have been exercising. It gives me a break from studying, which is quite sad if you ask me but I have nothing better to do. Plus, this will make up for all the food I will consume in the next two weeks! However, I have found two very good reasons why I am directed to stop exercising. Nevermind the obesity rate in America (a whopping 64% currently), the warning labels on these wonderful machines inform me to stop exercising RIGHT NOW! And because I love my family and friends, I want to make sure everyone understands the dangers of such activity.

One warning label states that if you feel "short of breath" you must stop exercising.

Another warning label states that if you feel "pain," you should stop exercising.

Now according to these labels, I must stop exercising. It is the only option for me. I always am short of breath as I run and I do feel pain occasionally. So until my body magically stops feeling pain or being short of breath, I am resigning from the idea of exercising. What can I do to procrastinate studying now? Eat ice cream I think!

Thanksgiving Break

Thanksgiving is probably one of the best holidays of the year because family gathers without the hype of presents. I love it and as this was the first Thanksgiving I was not at home for in the past 20 years, I realized how much I love my family!
I am so blessed in this life with everything I have. During this break, I've thought of many things that I am thankful for.

- My family! I was able to talk to a lot of peple in my family while they were gathered at my Aunt's house. It was great, especially when I spoke with my 3 year old god-daughter. Megan kept asking where I was so I am anxious to see her at Christimas.

- Good entertainment. Amid the world filled with R-rated movies becoming more popular and music becoming more vulgar, I am happy when I can listen and watch wholesome entertainment (like A Christmas Carol with Jim Carrey).

- Friends! My friends are the best ever! They all encourage me to live better and I love that. Recently, I was able to spend time with my friend, Chelsea, from Utah State and it was so much fun.

- Service. The feeling that comes from serving others is simply amazing and I also enjoy the relief when others serve me. It is a great principle to incorporate into our lives and the blessings are endless.

- The Church- it is the greatest thing in my life and I am so happy to be a part of it!

Thanksgiving break was marvelous and full of friends, family and food. Tuesday night, I made holiday cookies with a friend's family and Chelsea. Wednesday, Chelsea and I hung out in Logan at Utah State. On Thanksgiving, I visited my friend, Anthony and his extended family in Farmington. It was a lot of fun and the day was filled with petting goats, playing ultimate frisbee, eating food, playing games and watching movies. We also went to "A Christmas Carol" in 3-D, which was scarier than I anticipated but good nonetheless. My plans for the rest of the week include working (where I am now) and going to the big game tomorrow! Pictures will come soon!

Wonderful World of Work

Today celebrates six years of being a member in the working world.
Here is a trip down memory lane:
Subway was my first job, which I started working at on November 11, 2003. I spent a solid three years there and made approximately 1,000,000 subs. Actually I don't know about that. But I did enjoy working with my brother and sister from time to time. AND... Now I only like to eat subs that I make myself. I became very particular in the world of sub-making.
As most teenage girls, I babysat a lot as well. My first babysitting job was for some neighbors who had two little girls. My favorite job was watching my goddaughter when she was born while her mom taught summer school. We spent many enjoyable mornings playing Peek-a-boo in her living room. Now, Megan is 3 1/2 years old and I can't believe it!
While babysitting and working at Subway, I started working at YMCA Camp Sturtevant as a volunteer junior counselor. Little did I know that the long hours stuck in a hot camp store would equate to a job for the next five years. It also led me to the career field that I want to enter- Therapeutic Recreation.
I also worked concurrently at the YMCA child care and was privileged to change several diapers a day, dry tears of crying children and pick up heaps of toys at a time.


My last job before graduating (mind you I held all four of the above jobs at once... crazy decision!), was working with AmeriCorps. I owe the ability to attend college to AmeriCorps. Above our pay, we also received a large scholarship for the community service we performed. Basically, AmeriCorps is a domestic PeaceCorps. I worked also at the YMCA and the camp in Wausau but did additional projects and work. One highlight of this job was free range to the Y Climbing wall! It was great to climb whenever I wanted to.


Last year, I worked at Utah State University in the Athletics department. It was cool because I got to meet a lot of the basketball stars and everything as I was the one who polished the floor they played on. They never outwardly thanked me but I know I have a high chance of being in their wills someday. :)
Now, six years into paying taxes, social security and the other wonderful perks of employment, I work at Wasatch Mental Health in Provo. I work in the Intensive Residential Treatment center where we have clients who live there 24/7. Often, they are individuals who are released from hospital care and still need the guidance and staff to learn and cope with their illnesses. If you ever really need to laugh and smile, come here because every day at work is a new adventure full of FUN!
With all this work, I hope I get some social security when I am old and wrinkly but I somehow highly doubt that happening.

The Humor of Family History

My ancestors had twin girls. One of them was named Marguerite Ivy and the other....
you guessed it: Marguerette Iva. My mom said the girls went by Marguerite and Iva to avoid confusion. Gotta love those ancestors!

Now back to listening to the eerie music playing in the library.