The courtyard.

Today the air was chilly when I walked outside.

I liked it surprisingly.

My favorite thing to do on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays

is to sit in the courtyard outside the fine arts building 

and watch the yellow leaves flutter to the pavement.

Before they can settle they are swept up in the wind and tossed.

And right before my eyes a sea forms.

A yellow sea.

I close my eyes.

And let the sun drench my face with warmth 

as I listen yellow waves splash against the concrete court yard.

Oh, it is wonderful.

And now for some unfinished business.

TAGGing. I feel indifferent about being Tagged. I am always flattered, sometimes hesitant to participate, but hey they can be fun too- 

I was TAGGED by my friend Melissa and even though I won't continue the TAG on, I will tell you 11 things about me and answer the 11 questions she asked. After all this blog is all about me anyhow!

Eleven Facts about Me:

1. I love to get my dance on: in the shower, the kitchen, the car, walking to school- the list goes on.
2. I can't sleep at night, not because I don't want to.
3. I love to eat vegetables- broccoli, squash, sugar snap peas are among the top choices
4. I hate having dirty clothes in the hamper. I would wash my clothes everyday if it was feasible.
5. I have NEVER worn sweats to school unless I had to because our sports team was.
6. I am the only child in my family who isn't named after someone- I like my name though.
7. My birthmark is on my forehead.
8. I hardly ever sleep inside my covers- I just use a blanket, a beautiful, big blanket my mom made.
9. I loose my toe nails every summer.
10. When I get nervous my armpits get sweaty.
11. I write dialogue in my mind when people speak-- that is kind of weird.

Here are Melissa's Questions:

1. What is the most disgusting thing you have ever eaten?

     I had pickled cow hooves once. . . nasty!
2. If you could marry someone famous who would it be?
     Definitely Liam Hemsworth, too bad he is already taken.
3. How long can you get a piece of Bubblicious gum to last?
     Maybe a half hour-- large pieces of gum make my jaw ache.
4. What is your number 1 pet peeve?
     Pen-clicking during class. (click, click, click, click. . . )
5. Describe your mom in 1 word.
     Heavenly6. What is your favorite color crayon?
     Pacific Blue
7. Mac or PC?
     Mac
8. What music artist are you a secret fan of?
     Taylor Swift9. What is your favorite animal?
     Whales -- I'm not allergic to them. . . or smart dogs.
10. Are you good at poker?
     I'm a fabulous poker, but sometimes I leave bruises.  Nope.
11. What are 2 things on your bucket list?
     1. Rock climb a cliff side and do yoga on the edge
     2. Be an best selling author.

curly hair and pastel nails.

When I was growing up my brothers would tease me by saying that if you have curly hair then you must be boy crazy (they would then tempt to pull out my hair to see if it was curly)

I didn't have curly hair when I was little though-

Sure, there was a slight wavy to it I guess. . . but definitely NOT curly.

Then I moved to college.

I thought that my hair just got curlier because it is more humid up here in Logan.

However, my hair dresser informed me otherwise. . . 

In fact one of the first time she did my hair after moving away she ran her fingers through my hair and said, "Kels, your hair is changing- from the roots."

I asked her if hair did this often and she informed me that it does - IN PREGNANT women!!?!

Hold the phone! I don't now what my body is doing or why my hair is going curly but I know for a fact that I am not going to be having a child anytime soon!

Haha- I laughed when she told me that.

But hey, I welcome the curls, the body and the volume that my hair has now obtained.

It makes getting ready for school a lot easier and quicker!

On another note-

this morning I painted my nails. . . 

three different colors.

Yes, I am 20 years old,

and no I don't care for nail polish on my finger nails,

but yet they are painted.

I have now been up 5 hours- and it is only 10 o'clock.

Today is going to be a marvelous Monday.

Cheers!

make animated gifs like this at MakeAGif

Marvelous Monday you wonderful people.

Hey it is Monday.

Strangely enough I enjoy Mondays.

So even though today brought:

4 hours of sleep

the news of a completely failed quiz

long hours on campus

hunger pains (due to long hours on campus)

and

an overload of homework

today is still a wonderful day

Embrace it.

Trust me, this song will make your day better!



The countdown to summer has begun. . .

Three weeks left.

Pajama Party = success.

I have a simply marvelous life.

Cheers!

Work hard, but love harder.

I love having a plan and knowing exactly what I am going to be doing EVERY SECOND OF THE DAY.

Some days my planning is so compulsive that people could consider me as being OCD.

But I like it. I like having a schedule. . . most of the time-

Other times I rebel . . . like today.

I should be reading a lovely book called A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper


I could be getting ahead of my classes because this week is going to be wild to say the least.

However I find myself looking at pictures and contemplating BIG decisions.

In the back of my mind I am telling myself to be anxious and worried, but for some reason I am calmer

now than I have ever been in my entire life (not counting childhood) . . .

I don't have a plan.

And the plans I do have change constantly.

Yesterday during fast and testimony meeting my roommate bore her testimony and said,

"The only constant plan is the Plan of Salvation."

I like this eternal mentality.

Life is constantly changing and I can't predict one day from another, but I do know this.

The church is true.

Christ lives.

And Heavenly Father loves me more than I can even comprehend.

Indescribable, but so alive.  

As for tonight. . .

I am on a Spiritual-high.

I want to crawl out my window, stand on the roof  and sing songs of happiness.

I want to yell down to everyone who passes by and wish the a beautiful day.

I want to dance in a summer rain

And I want to climb a tree and sit there thinking about the world below.

Life is beautiful, marvelous and sweet.

I hope I never let a day go by without tasting all of its miraculous flavors.

Merry Monday to you all!

Work hard and love harder.

My Monday Morning.

This story is so good it doesn't even need a picture.

The following is my Monday Morning Marvels- catchy isn't it? Well I hope you "marvel" at how cool I am after you read this lovely post of mine. It is great I promise.

(I will write it in chronological order just so you get a feel for my life on this most recent Monday morning)

5:52 a.m.

I finally got out of bed after snoozing my alarm once and taking what energy I had to get out of the warm covers that protect my body through the night. 

6:03 a.m.

Exercise- it was an elliptical day.

7:07 a.m.

Return home. Shower- if I didn't shower now I was going to have to wait in line. Besides the earlier I shower the longer my hair gets to dry and the less time I have to spend blow drying it- BONUS.

7:34 a.m.

Homework. 

9:00 a.m.

The process of getting cute began. My hair was curled, make-up done, and my outfit was complete with a scarf, skinny jeans and I wore my sexy-boots (mind you they don't have the best traction).

10:14 a.m.

I left my house.

An amazing morning, wouldn't you agree? well now my story begins:

As I walked down the stairs of my apartment I could hear the Aggie Shuttle Bus pull up to the bus stop. The air was brisk and the snow that was fluffy and fresh last night has turned slushy. Logan is cold in November. . .scratch that, Logan is cold all the time. And today was no exception.

The line at the bus stop was long like it is most Mondays at 10:15 a.m. When I saw this I slowed my pace down some. The road that the bus stop is on is up a small but steep hill from my apartment complex. It is one of those "landscape" hills that are put in for merely design purposes. I walk up this hill every morning when I catch the bus so I started my trek up the slope.

My first step was slippery, but I gracefully regained my balance.

I continued on. . .

Second step wasn't so smooth- The line feeding into the bus had about five people left. Slight panic set in.

Third step in my slick, sexy boots was fatal. (I maybe exaggerating with my word choice here because I didn't die, in fact I am still very much alive.) I went down on all fours, and I wasn't even half way up the hill yet.

Gaining traction I stood up but I didn't dare move fearful of returning to all fours. I scanned my surroundings. The line was now entirely on the bus, but not everyone was seated yet. I still had time. 

I stepped to my side. Back to all fours- at that moment I became the master at the downward facing dog. 

I couldn't stand up and progress up the hill. No matter what I did or how hard I tried I couldn't do it.

The bus driver was looking at me, and I could see a few passengers press their faces against the glass to see what the hold up was.

By this point all panic was gone and the only thing I cared about was dominating this hill. . . but yet I still hadn't made it half way.

I began "stink-buggin'" it. . . Yes, I stooped that low. I dug my fingers into the muddy ground that was beneath the slushy sheet of snow and did my best to shove the toe of my boots into the ground as well to keep me from sliding.

Almost to the top.

The ground was frozen here.

I started to slide.

The bus driver smiled, I couldn't help but laugh at my situation.

I slide farther backwards. 

Determination masked by desperation took over. I stretched out for the bus stop sign in a last attempt to save myself. I knew that if I couldn't reach it I would slide back down the hill and I would be defeated. But it was my only hope.

I dove low for the sign's pole. My fingers slid against it's metal surface, but I latched on. By this point I laid flat on the ground. I could feel the slushy snow seeping through my clothing.

I stood.

"Glad you could make it," the bus driver said. He smiled.

I laughed and thanked him as I entered the doors of the bus.

Then there was an applause.

The passengers who had witnessed the show outside the bus windows were also praising me.

So, I bowed. 

Marvelous morning, wouldn't you say?

Monday Moments.

This picture is just beautiful and I wanted to share it. 

Monday morning: All regular classes were cancelled. 

So, I went to Institute.

I decided to sit in on my friend Matt's class, that he only has good things to say about.

I had gotten to the institute early, so I picked up the Statesman, sat down on a couch in the study and began reading. The study was busy, as usual, and on the couch next to mine there was a boy studying a financial book and a few girls giggling about something one of them had said. I am always aware of the people around me, this isn't creepy.

I flipped through the Statesman and skimmed the pages, but didn't find anything too appealing, so I started reading the comics. The boy who was reading his book, looked up at me, smiled. I smiled back and went back to reading my paper. I looked up again, this time he said hello. 

We started talking about the paper, then about school and majors. 

Our conversation lasted for five minutes and then Matt came to meet me and take me to class. I told the boy on the couch that I needed to go, he asked for my number, so I gave it to him. Matt watched. The situation was splendidly awkward. And I have laughed about it ever since. 

2:00 AM

Sometimes staying up until two o'clock in the morning is totally worth it.  Especially when it includes talking about past adventures, reading entries from my just completed journal, and planning out my "what if" life while my mother listens intuitively.
Don't get me wrong- waking up at six thirty isn't going to be pleasant with only three and some hours of sleep.  Working all day in the sun maybe a bit challenging as well, but I have loved being awake these few extra hours.

Have you ever been so tired that you can begin to feel your body shutting down?  I am beginning to feel that now. . . I definitely needed a Sunday nap this past afternoon. . . bum!

Hello Monday.  How are ya?

backdoor neighbors. . . forever-

Ashley and I had a sleep over.
It has been a long time coming, but most defiantly worth it!

Ashley was my backdoor neighbor growing up.  We did everything together- I remember spilling red fingernail polish on her bedspread, building frost in the hallway to play space travel, picnics, sleepovers, barbies, and climbing through hole in the fence that split our two backyards.  We fought over who got to be Pocahontas, who Tanner Q. loved more, and who's house we got to play at.  She has been there for it all.  Growing up we shared Chickenpox, popsicles, and adventures.  Ashley was most defiantly my best friend.

Then we grew up, but we stayed pretty close.  Ashley was a grade ahead of me.  I would wait for her at the bus stop, we would walk home together- then she had to go take a nap. . .More waiting for me.  Eventually Ashley and I became more and more distant, but our friendship was always there. 

High school came.  Ashley helped me prepare for cheer tryouts- I made the squad, then for the next three years we worked together as teammates, as partners.  Once again we were united as the best friends that grew up next door to one another.  She was my friend, my buddy, my ride, my back-spot, my spotter, and my captain.

This is a picture of our cheer/song squad my junior year.  Ashley and I were ride buddies- we are on the front row second and third in from the right.

Ashley moved nearly two years ago.  Leaving me.  She graduated and went off to college.  We would occasionally run into one another every now-n-again, but every time it was rushed and un-personal. . . Then her younger brother, Chase, graduated and once again we ran into each other on a very rushed bases.  I found out that she and her family is moving again, only this time quite far away.  

I borrowed this picture from Ashley's mom, Kelly's Facebook.

It was decided then and there that we were going to have a sleepover before she left.  And that is exactly what we did.  Kicking the night off with pictures, hot tubbing, plenty of catching up, then falling to sleep on the living room floor while Letters to Juliet played through a few times.

Even if she doesn't live behind me anymore, Ash will always be my backdoor neighbor forever-  BNF!  

Dedicated to my sunburn.

ya know, a lot of the time I write for those who read my blog, but today I could care less if anyone read this post.

I feel like I should be blogging about something deep and profound.  Probably because the only things I have been thinking lately have been deep and profound, but when I try to focus on just one thought I can't.  My mind has been going thousands of miles an hour that I can't hang on to any of it!
I am getting antsy for the semester to be over.  I want summer to come, school to be out, and well I want to move home.  Right before Christmas break last semester I got this same anxious feeling- only it has kicked in a lot sooner this time.
This week, and the next three to come, I plan on stowing away at the library.  It is time for this girl to buckle down and get some work done.  In high school I worked hard- One could classify me as a "teachers-pet" or even a "goody two-shoes" and to be honest I was okay with that.  College has been a whole different story.  I feel like all I do is mess around- probably because that is all I do. . . I am getting by with dissent grades, but doing the bare minimum will only hold out so long.

Today I did a lot of people watching.  I skipped my Crossfit class to study for a math test I had and found myself basking in the sun while I went of logarithmic and exponential equations.  I probably sat outside for a good two hours leaving with a slight sunburn and a wasp bite on my leg (yes, it was a wasp bite not a sting). There are so many people here at USU.  Sometimes I forget that small fact.  Everyday I see people I have never seen before- bewilderment!  SO MANY PEOPLE, I love and hate this fact.  Last weekend I went home- everyone knows me there.  I like that people know me.  They know who I am, where I come from, what I am like, my character, my standards- EVERYTHING- (this could also be a good and bad thing.)  Sometimes I wish I had that here.

I need to go to bed so that I can be alert physically, mentally and spiritually.
Life is full of checks and balances that keep us on our toes.  I like it.

I just caught one of my deep thoughts:

"The Lord will take care of the details"- Elder John Groberge, fireside April 10, 2011

oops. I did it again . . .

(notice: the haziness of the room, the black marks on the microwave)

 Before I left for college I thought I was a good cook.

Reality: I have a lot to learn.

Today I made fried ice cream. . . 

I ended up frying the house-

YES I STARTED A GREASE FIRE

I will admit it!

I have been taught how to put out grease fires before

I remember learning about it in my cooking/sewing class in middle school

. . . . .

Middle school was like six years ago.

Good thing I have Jordan.

 Now for the story:

Previous to "firing up" our kitchen

I made ice cream balls with a cinnamon and cornflake shell.

There were perfectly ready to stick into the oil.

I pour oil into a small-ish sauce pan

I figured it would be easier to handle that way

I was wrong.

I stuck my first ice cream ball into the grease . . .

and well the rest is pretty much predictable

FIRE

I was panicing!

I knew water was out of the question

(luckily I remember that much)

So, Jordan put flour on it.

The flames went down, but it was still flamin'

Mean-while the fire alarm is blaring

while Tami runs to get a chair to turn it off.

I was told to put the frying pan on it.

I did

It was still flaming

Then we realized the unit was still on. . .

Oops!

Jordan braved the flames and turned it off!

FLAMES- STILL!

at this point I had the pan of grease in my hand

sloshing it around. . . all over the floor. . . 

Jordan realized that the frying pan wasn't enough

She whipped out the heavy duty pan!

SUCCESS!

To sum it all up. . . 

I started a house fire

I COULD have died

and even worse

I could have had to pay for damages!

(okay, so maybe that isn't worse, but still)

Jordan is super woman and always ends up saving the day.

I always tend to make the fire alarm go off

. . . especially when we have guests

and

I smell like smoke.

The house smells like smoke.

There is a eery haze about every room

Ten minutes later. . . . Jen, came downstairs and asked what the commotion was all about.

If you would like to read the story from
Jordan's point of view CHECK IT OUT!

V for Valentine's.

I am somewhat ridiculous.  

February 14 is a holiday for sharing love.

. . . and I was always caught up in the holiday until this year.

Thinking about it I have had a Valentine for the last five years. . .

BUT 

Not this year.

This year I was alone-

and to be honest, it bugged me.

I wish it didn't but it did.

I was kind of having a "poor-picked-on-Kelsie" Day

That is stupid, I know

I woke up Monday morning not knowing how to take this day of love.

A hopeless romantic hopelessly alone

All day long I got messages from people back home asking me what my plans were

I didn't have any- nor would I have any. . .

Everyone responded with shock!  

which made it worse-

FAILURE!

REALIZATION hit.

Why was I acting this way?

I had had a marvelous day so far.

I slept seven hours the previous night

I had gotten up- gotten ready- and looked cute (at least I thought so)

I MADE THE BUS!

and I was on time to class (high five to me!)

Things started looking better

PERSPECTIVE

And then I came home from class 

There was a box on my porch. . . 

IT WAS FOR ME!

a box of flowers

TULIPS none the less!

(I love tulips they are pure flowers of happiness!)

My dearest friend Taylor Sirrine sent them to me.

They were beautiful!

Good friends like Taylor.

That Valentine's Day is for

To show that we care for someone.

To show our love.

It doesn't necessarily have to be a romantic love

BUT

a pure love.

a love that grows with each day

a love that forever blossoms.

Like tulips, love sometimes is buried in the ground

all winter long

Then it blooms and gives happiness to all around

Bringing joy into homes

and feeling the skies with smiles

Happy love day everyone.  

I know it isn't Valentine's Day anymore, 

but why can't every day be a love day?

not what it looks like. . .

. . . . okay so maybe it is what it looks like.
SUNDAY (after ward prayer):
This is my FHE (Family Home Evening) Pa, his name is Eric and he is painting my toe nails it is true.
He had never painted toe nails before so I asked him if he would do mine.
He did a great job! ha!  My toe nails are currently brown with red blotches on them (they are suppose to be dots!)
When he was finished with me it was my turn to do him.
NO I DID NOT PAINT HIS TOE NAILS! (I wanted to but he wouldn't let me. . . )
Instead I taught him, my FHE brother Joe P. and my roommates how to take care of their nails-
Ever since I was little my mom would sit each of us kids down and push back our cuticles and cut our nails and so that is what I did to them.
The boys were a bit hesitant - they claimed that no one even looks at their nails, I did it anyway.  They were surprised how great they looked.

MONDAY (after family night):
Eric and Joe both came up to me and said it was hard for them to focus because their nails were so shiny, the have never had shiny nails before "and they are so soft".  (they both told me this while looking at their nails)

TUESDAY (after waking up):
I got a text message from Joe P. that reads:
"I was helping a girl with her math yesterday when she noticed my hands and commented about how my fingernails were in perfect condition.  Perfectly round and shiny.  She finished with "You have nice hands."  Haha, if only she knew. ;)"
Oh Joe!  That made my day!

Lesson Learned:
Take care of yourself, people notice. . . besides our bodies were given to us, we should take good care of them!