Give me a time machine...

If you were to travel back in time three months and tell me what my life is like right now, I would probably laugh at you because it would sound so ridiculous. 

A new group of friends, helping someone close through a really difficult time but only being able to do so much, the possibility of someone I never thought would be a possibility and not knowing which direction to take with said person, knowing I'll be traveling around Europe alone without my best friend, losing my favorite co-worker/gaining the twin of my least favorite co-worker, finally figuring out what I want to do career-wise... 

it's all bittersweet.  And confusing, very confusing. 

I don't know what lesson God is trying to teach me right now, but I just hope and pray that I'll make the right decisions and do my best to help others along the way. 

I guess the only comfort I really have is knowing I'm right where I'm supposed to be and my journey will unfold exactly the way it should.

Life Lesson #35

Brody is turing 3 years old this Friday! I love my little guy ❤

He has become such an important part of my life and I honestly can't imagine my life without him in it.

I was a senior in high school when he became a part of our family. We were at my Grandma's house for our annual Christmas Eve party when my dad came down the stairs with a crate in his hands. Inside was the best Christmas surprise I could ever hope for! He was so tiny and so cute. I loved him the moment I saw those beady brown eyes.

Happy Birthday Brody!

I ❤ You

Crushin'

This made me smile :]

Life Lesson #33

And a few more things:

Getting a good grade on something you thought you bombed.

Daydreaming.

Finding old photos, letters and keepsakes you thought you'd lost.

Having a crush on someone and being excited to see them.

Cuddling with a sleepy puppy.

Writing silly notes with your best friend when class becomes too boring to handle.

A warm donut with sprinkles before class.

Those rare mornings when your hair actually does what you want it to.

Getting into your comfy sweats after a long day.

A hug from someone you love when you need it most.

And realizing that the majority of the best things in life aren't actual things.

What are some of the best things in your life?

Disneyland!

Last week I got to go to my favorite place in the whole wide world with my mom and my sister. It was SO much fun! Here's a video I made to prove it :]

Meaningful Pursuit Giveaway!!

To begin, my dear friend Catherine is amazing. I love her to death. And her blog The Meaningful Pursuit Amid Aimless Wanderings is equally as amazing as she is. In honor of her blogging for 2 years, she is doing an amazing giveaway on her blog! So pop on over (here), browse, fall in love, follow if you aren't already, and enter to win!

Aren't we just so cute in our Ute gear? 

Summer '11 in Review...

Words just can't describe what an amazing summer I had, so I made a video! Videos are more fun anyways, enjoy!

life opens up when you do

The reason I've been a bit off the radar lately is because I've really been trying to make this summer amazing. And so far so good! I've spent the past couple of months doing all things summery and I've loved every second of it. Hence the reason I've spent more time outside than on my computer.

I guess sometimes when things are going really well you have time to stop and take a good long look at life. So far I've learned that:

A. I have no idea what I want to do with major I'm currently majoring in. No idea.

B. Hence the reason why I'll only be taking Spanish and math the next couple of semesters until I figure it out.

C. And also because I need to save up for my month long excursion to Europe that I'll be taking next summer. Win, win.

D. After going to Europe I plan on re-applying for the Disney College Program and moving my butt to sunny California. I guess the one thing I really know I want to be someday is a Disney Imagineer. 

E. After the DCP (that is, if I get in), I'll hopefully know exactly which direction I want to go in at Disney, so I can go back to school confident in my decision.

So now when people ask me what I want to do with my life, although lengthy, I'll finally have an answer. 

Change is good, right?

Update of a lifetime!

Since my birthday, I have started 3 blog posts and ended up getting bored half way through writing them and didn't post them, one of those being a review of my 19th year and my 20 before 20 challenge (don't worry, I'll post everything once the craziness dies down). The past couple of weeks have been insane-in-the-membrane for some strange reason, but I have fabulous news that I just couldn't hold in!.....

I'm going to EUROPE!!

I won't be leaving until June 2012, but hopefully the long wait will make it even more worth while! I'll be heading abroad for a month in a place I have ALWAYS wanted to go with a college tour group and my bestie RayCray! Words can't even describe how excited I am! 

Here are some of the places I'll be going...

London, UK

Paris, France

Amsterdam, Holland

Heidelberg, Germany

Lucerne, Switzerland

Verona, Italy

Venice, Italy

Rome, Italy

Florence, Italy

The French Riviera

Barcelona, Spain

Madrid, Spain

AHHH SO EXCITED!!

Have you ever been to any of these places? What do I need to see, eat, do and buy while there? Any tips or advice? THANKS!

#13 Go to the Sundance Film Festival

Every January, Hollywood moves to Park City, Utah for the Sundance Film Festival. This year's stars included James Franco, Channing Tatum(!), Angelina Jolie, Kate Bosworth, Demi Moore, Toby Maguire, Kaite Holmes, Patrick Dempsey, Liam Hemsworth, 50 Cent, Lil John, the boys of MTV's 'The Buried Life', Oprah Winfrey, Elijah Wood... just to name a few.

Although I've lived 30 minutes away from Park City my whole life, I've never gone to Sundance! This year I did and I LOVED it.

A view of Main Street from atop The Bridge.

"We wear our stunna glasses at night..."

RayCray and myself.

RayCray and Sammy.

"No, Rachel! Don't jump!" haha

The Trolley cruising up Main Street.

RayCray stopped to smell a Banksy flower :]

RayCray puking over the rail... just kidding.

RayCray on the ice verison of Facebook.

We sat on glowing furniture in a VIP lounge, no big deal.

This made me LOL.

Yes, this is indeed a piano connected to a bicycle. The guy on the left wouldn't move, otherwise you could see it better. But it was pretty legit. 

Yes World, this is a man-thong made out of fur. It's called "The Duke". Be amazed.

Sadly, we didn't see anyone famous. (Unless you count the guy named Bill Murray who was in fact, not Bill Murray.) But we were mistaken for famous people twice. The first time was while taking the man-thong picture: we asked some ladies walking by to take our picture and I suppose since we had a big group of people surrounding us flashing cameras, people thought we were famous so they came over to investigate. But alas, it was just us lowly Utah girls, but we felt pretty cool. 

Then later that night we were just chillin' on some steps watching people pass by and drinking hot beverages and ice cream when some random film crew came by and asked if they could interview us. People stopped to listen to us, which was kind of awkward, but also cool cause they kept starring at us like they were trying to remember us from somewhere.

Other highlights of the night include:

- Calling the same parking attendant man four times because the parking meter was broke and we didn't want to get a ticket. He was very rude... and a liar.

- Walking around pretending to have British accents for the half the night. Eventually we couldn't stop.

- The hot Italian barista at Java Cow writing my name on my Carmel Spiced Cider cup the Italian way; Giulia. He was just as delicious as my drink.

- People watching. It was so cool to hear so many different languages and all sorts of accents as people passed by. It made the world feel a little smaller.

- And finally, the random group of hippies having a drum circle in the middle of the sidewalk. 

For your viewing pleasure: (sorry it's so blurry)

Quotes of the night:

"You won't. Get. A TICKET!!!!!"

JayMay - "What did they put in this drink?"

RayCray - "A bad English accent apparently."

RayCray - "I'm going to call him up and personally invite him to meet my fist!" 

(Referring to the rude parking attendant guy.)

*Way hot guy walks by, see's my hat and says...*

"Brighton!!!! As in the Boston Brighton."

*Bewildered JayMay*

"Uh... no... here."

*Jeep almost hits us while crossing the street*

RayCray (loudly) - "I'd rather keep my legs, thank you very much!"

JayMay (also loudly) - "Yeah, I'd rather not be in a wheel chair!"

RayCray - "My feet hurt."

*Cue the man with no legs*

I made a movie!

Last week I had the wonderful opportunity to celebrate my favorite holiday with my amazing family in Southern California. This was our first Christmas away from all our grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins, but being in Disneyland was a good alternative. We had so much fun on this trip, it honestly was one of my favorites, and I feel like we grew even closer and learned a lot about each other. Having to pack our bags and head back home to reality was heartbreaking. The last thing I wanted was to leave a place where we could all leave our problems hundreds of miles away and just have fun together. This trip will always have a special place in my heart and I wanted to remember every detail I could, so I made this little movie of our pictures and videos! I hope you enjoy it! It took me forever, but I had a great deal of fun doing it :]

PS- It's easier to see if you expand it to full screen ;]

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Procrastination Station

.... but I decided blogging was more important.

It is indeed that dreaded biannual time of the year! Finals week. Lucky for me I only have one more assignment due and then I have to take my last final and then I am FREEEEEEEEEE for a month! I hope I survive through this highly stressful time because I'm going to Disneyland for Christmas next week and I'd really enjoy being alive or at least somewhat sane for that. I guess we'll see.

Now back to studying... wish me luck!!

PS- This is for my girls RayCray and Sammayy!! 

We had to take our math final at the butt-crack of dawn this morning... literally, I saw the first sunrise I've seen in AGES while driving to class. Needless to say, it wasn't pretty. The test I mean, the sunrise was quite gorgeous, it reminded me of Trix Yogurt (mmm yogurt). 

I couldn't ask for a better ending...

As most of you have probably figured out, I am a die hard University of Utah fan. Born and raised. For 19 years it has been a tradition in my family to watch the Holy War (one of the most heated college rivalry games in the nation) together every November. But this year I had the opportunity to go to the game... in the MUSS... on the 3rd row! Basically it was the most exciting day of my life. 

In a sea of Utah red and black, there were a few patches of cougar blue *GAG*. Signs all over the place made references to Max Hall and beer pouring, religion, zoobies, ugly BYU cheerleaders, being classy, etc, etc. Here are a couple of signs my best friend RayCray and I made...

It was a very intense and cold game. We went through several packs of hand warmers but it was all worth it! BYU had the lead the entire game until a few minutes before the end of the 4th quarter when we made a touchdown taking the lead by 17-16. And with 4 seconds left on the clock, the cougars set up a field goal... this is what happened:

Everyone in the stands held their breath, some closed their eyes, but when Brandon Burton cut through BYU's defense and with an outstretched hand stopped the ball from passing between those goal posts, the crowd freaking exploded! Screams of joy and hugs with strangers were all over the place, and the crowd began to empty the stands and fill the field. It was one of the best feelings in the world knowing we beat our biggest rivals before departing from them forever as we both leave the Mountain West Conference (good riddance), us heading to the Pac-12, and them going independent.

SCOREBOARD!

Me, Alex in his snuggie, and RayCray after we stormed the field! 

Here's a video I took of everyone signing "Utah Man" after we won...

After the game we went to RayCray's house to re-watch the game because a bunch of our friends texted and called us during the game saying that we were on tv! 

So not only did we win the game, but we were also on tv! It was a wonderful, wonderful day!

This was the last game of our regular season, but we still have a bowl game to look forward to next month! I'm hoping me and my buds will be able to go! 

GO UTES!