12 Things That Remind Me of Summer

1 - White Citrus from Bath & Body Works

 2 - Aloe Vera ( to treat those pesky sunburns & help turn them into tans!)

3 - Rainbow (Flip Flops) Tan Lines

4 - Bright Pink Nail Polish (did you know it makes your skin look more tan?!)

5 - Fly Away by Tim McGraw (the song that converted me to country!)

6 - The Beach of Course!

7 - My Red Wild Rivers Swimsuit

8 - Long Hot Summer by Keith Urban

9 - Girls Camp Cheers & Songs ( I miss being a YCL!)

10 - Any Music by the Beach Boys

11 - Bonfires

12 -  And The Smell of this Sunscreen! ( used it almost everyday last summer!)

Lucky Me

So I have to say yesterday was pretty great! I am pretty lucky to live in such an awesome place where there are so many things to do! My brother has been begging my to take him to the beach since I got home and I just couldn't say no! I mean how could you resist this kid?

Plus, it's pretty hard to resist a day at the beach! Since the weather was so nice yesterday, Christian, Amanda, and I took a trip to Dana strands! I was brave and ventured into the freezing cold water so I could keep an eye on Christian and also teach him how to boogie board! I loved watching the little guy catch the waves! I wish I had a water proof camera so I could get his face!

 

He was always so stoked whenever he rode a wave all the way into shore! haha the question of the day became should we ride it or jump it? haha Oh ya and I taught him how to jump over the waves with his board so he wouldn't get pushed back to shore as much haha. Amanda also had her own little adventures at the beach, while I was tending to Christian out in the water, Amanda saw a seal pop up 5 feet in front of her! Crazy stuff, right?! I wish I could have seen it! After freezing out butts off in the water, we got out and Christian and Amanda got working on a sand castle while I laid on my towel and kept an eye on them. Amanda also managed to capture a sand crab while working on the castle!

It's kinda hard to see but it's at the top of the frisbee right on the edge of the shadow. We spent almost 3 hours there and it was a great Saturday afternoon! Funny side note about our little trip, we all had the same style of sunglasses haha Amanda wouldn't pose for a group pic though, so I got one of just me and Christian haha

Saturday evening, I ended up going to LA on a spur of the moment kinda thing with my friend Noelia. We met up with a friend from Junior high, Nicola, who now goes to UCLA and her friend. After picking them up we went to the 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica and ate at the Crepe Cafe.

If you have never been to the 3rd Street Promenade before, you should go! Because it is way nice and a cool outdoor shopping experience! It's just a unique place and all the stores a pretty big! Also, the Crepe Cafe was delicious and I enjoyed an Applesauce, Banana, & Cinnamon Crepe! Pretty healthy and not to desserty! So haven't broken my no sweets yet! That won't happen till I go to Diddy Reise on Tuesday. After eating, we walked over to the Santa Monica Pier and rode the ferris wheel! I can check going to the Santa Monica pier off my check list! haha Going there really made me wanna go to California Adventure though since Paradise Pier was designed to kinda resemble the Santa Monica Pier. I sure miss Disneyland, a whole lot! Especially since I went there ALL the time my last 2 years of high school! I guess I am just a lucky kid that has been blessed to have grown up in Orange County where there's Disneyalnd and so many other things to do, as well as live with in decent driving distance of LA and San Diego! I guess all I can say is thanks mom and dad, and lucky me :)

Beach, Burgers, and the Little Bro

I have always been a native Californian but I got to hit up the beach yesterday and I totally felt my California-ness rekindle! haha The sand, surf, and sun were so refreshing and it felt to awesome to just lay out and relax! Despite the fact that it rained the night before and all morning, it cleared up and was beautiful at the beach! Not too hot with the perfect breeze to keep us cool!

I could completely relax because had no where to be and I was in good company, aka mi amiga Brooke!

I totally love this girl and I am so glad I got to hang out with her before she leaves for all her summer adventures! It was great to catch up with her and also get working on my tan! haha After the beach we went to In 'N' Out, which I hadn't had since winter break. Oh my heck, I forgot how much I love their burgers! I was in heaven! I had an animal style burger for the first time and I honestly didn't notice a difference, but I just know that it was a delicious burger, like I have always remembered haha I didn't give into a Neapolitan shake though! My no desserts/no sweets thing is still going strong! It's almost been a month and a half! Also, I think I have corrupted my brother because he wants me to take him to the beach this weekend, and one of his reasons is because he says he "needs to tan." What have I done to this kid?!? He is nine years old and worrying about his tan! I keep telling him that he does not need to worry about it and that he is fine! And he just replies, "I just need a little more color." or "I just want to get a shade darker." Heaven help us all. What have I instilled into this kid's mind! haha I am not going to take a nine year old to the beach just so he can tan! If I am taking him to the beach, I am going to bring out my inner child and we will go boogie boarding and build sand castles. None of this laying out and just tanning for three hours. That won't fly with me. haha Hopefully I can reverse his thinking and get him not to worry about his skin tone or else I will be very disappointed in myself!! Today I had my first job interview, and I will find out Monday how it went! I also went to a birthday dinner with a really good friend of mine and her family. It was great to see her and I am glad I was home from college in time for her birthday! Unfortunately, the rest of the weekend is pretty uneventful as I am still on the job hunt and everyone else is in school haha Well that's a wrap for today, peace out :)

My First Day of Shadowing!

Today was my first day shadowing my old pediatrician, Dr. Shannon. I would love to go to med school, but it is much more practical for me to go to PA School and since (I think) I want to be a pediatric PA, he is letting me shadow him since his nurse practitioners are too busy to be shadowed anyway. I learned a lot about basic well checks/physicals, Vitamin D, and Magnesium, but mostly Vitamin D! He is totally for everyone taking Vitamin D because it helps prevent cancer, heart attacks, and people with higher Vitamin D levels seem to get sick less often. Some homework he gave me to research vitamin d and here's one of the websites he gave me if you wanna check it out yourself!

vitamindcouncil.org

 Besides all of that Vitamin D stuff, I learned that I am pretty sure I definitely wanna work with kids! Kinda just contradicted my self with "pretty sure" and "definitely", but whatever! haha They were so cute and I would way rather work with them rather than adults! Kids are just way more fun! I am excited to go back next Wednesday and continue to learn! He said that he is going to start pop quizzing me soon so hopefully I can remember everything he tells me!

This afternoon I took my brother to basketball and I ran into one of my old high school volleyball coaches there. Apparently Mission Viejo Volleyball Club practices at the same place as my brother's basketball team, so Coach Tim was at practice with his club team. It was fun to see him and catch up a little. But seeing all those girls practice sure made me miss volleyball! I just wanted to throw on some knee pads and spandex and start practicing with them! I hope I can get some playing time in this summer because I can't go very long with out being on the court! I also had to turn down my first job offer today..Why? Because they don't give Sundays off. So unfortunate. Hopefully a better job offer, or at least an interview, will come up soon because I am serious so tired of job hunting! Who knew it would be so exhausting! I have applied for 8 different places/companies and a total of 22 different positions because of the different store locations I applied to! I am officially tired of not having a plan for the summer! I love lists and plans, and not having a plan is driving me crazy! I need a work schedule ASAP so I can start hanging out with my friends around my work schedule! Everything is just up in the air! I am just hoping that I can get my summer rolling soon because thats when I will be relaxed, earning money, and able to actually enjoy my summer! and that's about it! so peaceee :)

The Coolest Bike Rack Ever!

This is gonna be a short post because nothing really exciting happened today, just another day of being a taxi driver for the sibs and being on the hunt for a job! But I ran up to Long Beach with my Dad this morning so he could ride in the carpool land and at the harbor there was the COOLEST bike rack I have ever seen!

Ya, it's basically legit. haha I thought it was the coolest thing ever! If you want to see it in person just go to Pier Point/ behind the Long Beach Aquarium and you will find it! haha That was pretty much the most exciting part of my day. kinda lame, I know haha  I also ran an errand for my Dad down in Dana Point and it totally made me miss going there every Monday to intern at the Ocean Institute! I just love beach towns so much and PCH is just such a great highway to drive on haha I hope to go visit OI sometime and say hi to all of the people I worked with and maybe explore the tide pools behind it a little! Tomorrow will be way more exciting though! Why will it be more exciting?? Because I start shadowing my pediatrician!! I am totally stoked for that! The office I will be shadowing at is in San Clemente so I get to hit up another beach city tomorrow! Woohoo!! well that's it! peacee out :)

Life Back in Southern California

So I am officially back in Southern California and summer has started! What am I going to do this summer? I have no clue! haha My job this week is to find a job! So far I have applied to PetSmart, PetCo, Camp James, SeaWorld, and Nordstrom. I am feeling kinda stressed since I don't have a plan for the summer yet! My first full day home was Saturday. I spent the entire morning cleaning my sisters room so I could move in and unpack my clothes! After that I went to Nordstrom Rack! My mom just knows me too well; she knew exactly where to take me my first day home! haha I have missed that place so much! I got 2 new tops and a pair of pink Hunter rain boots! They have kinda made my week! haha (see pic later in post) Yesterday, I went to my new singles ward for the first time and it was kinda weird. Not gonna lie, but they had a munch 'n' mingle after so that was kinda cool haha Hopefully once everyone from the Y gets home and starts going it will be a lot better! I can't believe I am gonna be in that ward for 4 months...a whole semesters worth! I just gotta have a positive attitude and try to get to know people since I will be there for so long! Overall it was a relaxing Sunday though, especially since I didn't have any school work to worry about! Today has definitely been interesting! I woke up to rain..woof. Why is it raining? Seriously. Only good thing about that was I got to wear my new rainboots today.

Also, there was a 3.99 earthquake this morning..nbd haha It only lasted about 5 seconds but it felt stronger because the epicenter was in San Juan, only 15 minutes from my house! Crazy Stuff! That is definitely the closest I have ever been to an epicenter. This afternoon I resumed my role as taxi driver and picked the sibs up from school. I just love how my brother is actually excited for me to pick him up now! He told me all about what happened when the earthquake hit and how everyone in his class reacted to it! haha He used to get bummed out and didn't really wanna talk when it was me picking him up instead of Mom, but now he's excited to see me! so that's good! haha For the rest of the day I am just gonna do some work for my Dad, hit up the gym, and read Hunger Games (gotta work on my summer bucket list!) Oh and I already checked one thing off my bucket list... buy a new pair of vans!

Hopefully I can continue to make good progress with my bucket list and have a successful, productive summer!

Shooting Stars and Saying Goodbye

So this week I had to say goodbye to BYU and all my friends! It was definitely sad to say goodbye to everyone! Especially all the boys who will be leaving on missions for 2 years! But I know they will do great! I said goodbye to friend Sam with some good ol' food at the cougar eat!

I am definitely gonna miss this kid! I wish we could have had chem 106 together because we had some great times in chem 105.  Thursday night was my last night in Utah, so I had to do something epic with Christian and Hunter since it was the last night all 3 of us would get to hang out for like 2 and 1/2 years!In order for us to do something epic I had to plan it haha so first, we ended up going to the Mt. Timp Trail head and just stargazing! It was so scary getting out of the car because there was no one else up there and it was so dark! I was super scared! But once I got out of the car and looked at the sky I was so amazed at how pretty it was my fear was kind of covered by the beauty of the night sky! And the snow capped mountains just made it even better and contrasted with the sky! We saw Mars and I saw 3 shooting stars! It was soo cool! The second shooting star was big and was way awesome! It kinda looked like this...

It was by far the coolest shooting star I have ever seen! Mind that I haven't seen many shooting stars, but still! After being out there for about 40 minutes we heard a weird nose come from the woods behind us and quickly got back in the car. After being in the car for about 5 mins we heard a weird sound/ something vibrated the car and that was our sign to leave haha  We followed our stargazing adventure with a trip to IHOP. I also whipped out my black beanie and Hunter and I were twins haha

I wanted a picture on my camera of our matching beanies but my camera died! So I opened the battery case to switch the batteries around and try to get more power, but one of the batteries came out to fast and landed right into my water!

It was soo funny! haha I had only taken 2 sips from my water too, but obviously I didn't want to drink any water out of that glass haha Christian got the batter out of it for me and then asked for a new glass of water for me because I couldn't ask with out laughing or feeling embarrassed haha. Eventually we got our pancakes! Christian and I both got double blueberry pancakes!

 

Christian was kinda mad because I dumped all my whipped cream on his pancakes and then they weren't pretty anymore haha Hunter got the cinnastack pancakes...

...and they were super delicious! Basically tasted like a cinnamon roll!  It was a great night at IHOP! The next morning they came out and said goodbye to me before I hit the road for California! Totally forgot to get a group pic at IHOP so we got a group pic that morning.

Considering that I was crying and that Hunter and Christian had woken up right before coming out, this is a pretty good picture! haha I am going to miss hanging with these guys! I just wish we had hung out more during semester! Too bad we can't change the past, we can only make the best of today and the future! anyway that's it! peacee :)

Animal Restraint - Ya, It's a Real Class

So I took my last 2 finals today - Animal Restraint and History 202. Yepp, Animal Restraint is a real class haha I never got to post about the cool field trips we had for that class so since it's the end of the semester I figured I would sum it up in one post! The first half of the semester we went on a couple field trips but they weren't too great. We went to the BYU vet clinic twice - once to work with cats and another time to work with dogs. We also went to an exotic vet clinic in Draper and learned about how to restrain different types of birds. Unfortunately we didn't get any hands on stuff because he didn't have any birds in that day, so it was lame and we only had a powerpoint presentation by the vet. The last month of the semester was when we started going on the cool field trips! The first cool field trip was to the Church's Dairy Farm in Elberta. We saw how all the cows got, milked saw some newborn baby calves, and even watched a cow give birth! That was pretty nifty haha I will probably never see that happen again!

yepp, that calf is about 5 minutes old!

 After seeing all of that, we went to a section of the dairy farm with head stocks and once the cows were in the head stocks we put halters on tem and learned how to correctly tie them up as a form of basic restraint and way to hold cows in order to give them oral medications. 

  

The next week we went to a goat farm and helped the owner draw blood from all his goats to test for parasites and microbes. It was definitely kinda frustrating and rushed and my least favorite field trip. Also the field trip went way to long and I just wasn't digging the whole goat thing haha The second to last week of class we went a vets land/ stable/ barn and learned about horse restraint. I helped pick out the horses hooves and also gave the horse an IM injections (intra-muscular)! So now the horse won't get west nile virus all thanks to me!

It was definitely a unique experience! I tried to put the needle in carefully but the skin was so thick it wouldn't go in! Apparently you just have to stab the horse haha so that's what I did! We also saw some cute little sheep in the lot next to it and they were freaking adorable. There were these little black lambs that would frolic across the field and it was kinda the cutest thing ever!

Our last field trip was to the Sri Sri Radha Krishna Temple in Spanish Fork and learned about Llama restraint techniques! We learned how to corner llamas, halter them, and sheer them. We also took the llamas on walks! It was cool :) haha I really wanted to watch the Emperor's New Groove after hanging out with all the llamas!

 There are more pics with the llamas on someone elses camera but unfortunately I don't have them! But anwayyy, those are the coolest parts of Bio 270 aka Animal Restraint in one blog post! Oh, and it's officially summer! WOOHOO! :)

Floating Lanterns!

So I know I already posted today, but I did the coolest thing tonight and I couldn't wait to post about it! After our last ward prayer of the year, our ward set off floating lanterns! Just like the ones in the Tangled!

Unfortunately we didn't have as many lanterns as were in Tangled, but I am pretty sure I had the same facial expression as Rapunzel during the whole lantern scene because I was just so awe-struck, amazed, happy, mesmerized, etc. haha anyway, here's what the lanterns looked like before we lit them. They were a lot bigger than I thought they would be!

After we all got our lanterns, we walked over to the law school parking lot and started lighting them!

After they began to fill with hot air we were able to let them go and watch them float away!

It was such a cool experience to light my own lantern and watch it float up into the sky and join the other lanterns! A whole portion of the sky was filled with them! People started showing up from all directions to see the lanterns and a lot of cars drove up and just watched us set them off. I heard the Daily Universe even showed up; maybe our ward will be in the news! So that's pretty cool! I wish we had more lanterns because I could have set those off all night and just watched them in the sky! The pictures don't even do the event justice! Doesn't help that I took the pictures on my phone either.. Oh well! Even though we didn't have as many lanterns as in Tangled it was still amazing and so pretty to see in person! What a great way to end my Sunday/ weekend!

Movies, Pancakes, and a Pretty Lengthy Day at Church.

So last night I went and saw the Vow at the dollar theater with whole bunch of people from Maeser and Gates Hall. I realized it was the third weekend in a row that I saw a movie at the dollar theater! haha I rocked my new black beanie thanks to my "beanie stylist" Hunter! I cannot put beanies on for my life so he always has to put it on for me haha but we had some difficulties putting it on at first...

Christian called me a hopeless hobo...no big deal haha Luckily we got it fixed and thanks to 2 wonderful bobby pins I got it to stay in place. After the movie we hit up Denny's and I finally got the pancakes I have been craving every night for the past month! haha They tasted soo good, especially since I had been wanting Denny's pancakes for so long! It was a pretty great Saturday night and a nice way to get my mind off of finals!

Today was the last day of church with the good ol' 51st ward..it was definitely bitter sweet and 4 hours long! Since we have sacrament meeting last, it was no big deal if we went over haha so our sacrament meeting was 2 hours and 15 minutes. I definitely feel accomplished making it through, but it was a really good meeting so it wasn't awful to sit that long. Except my stomach did start growling so I had to whip out my snacks to keep it quiet! My roomies and I all came prepared because we knew the meeting would go over!  Overall though, it was a great last Sunday with my awesome ward! I am sad to be leaving it, and I can't believe next Sunday I will have to go to a non-freshman singles ward....not cool. At least I have some friends to go with that will help make the singles ward at home bearable and hopefully enjoyable! so ya that's about it.... peace out :)

Buses and The Biebster

So yesterday I ended my post with one of my song obsessions, but I just have to post my other song obsession because it's so great.....

yepp I am totally in love with the biebster's new song and I listen to it like 25 times a day. Shout out to Christian and Hunter who got me addicted to the song. Almost every time I have stopped by their apartment this past week or so it's been playing...and now I am addicted to it. And I kinda like how he says swaggy and buzz lightyear in it...makes me laugh, smile, and giggle haha Also, I rode a public bus for the first time today, well almost the first time. I rode the bus in Hong Kong with my family when I was 10 but that doesn't really count haha Celia and I hit up the nail salon, DownEast Basics Outlet, and Roxy/Quicksilver Outlet. It was so exciting to ride the bus haha but I probably would prefer just driving my own car. However, the bus works great when I am a car-free college student. In addition to riding the bus and pampering myself, I also took some finals...Microbiology and Book of Mormon. 2 down, 3 to go! I am almost half way through! Woohoo! In one week I will be home and unpacking! So exciting, yet bitter sweet! Oh, and lastly...I hate this weather...rain rain go away. come again another day...when I am no longer in Provo haha  peacee out!

Reading Days

So posting this is one of my little breaks from studying for finals! I have definitely learned some things these past 2 reading days! Okay first of all, I am super grateful for them. I definitely could not go straight from classes into finals...how did I ever to that in high school? haha Also, I learned it was possible to study 13 hours in one day. yep. definitely did that yesterday. Got up at 6:45am and went to bed at 2:30am. Why was I up so late...because I was at the library until it closed with miss Annabelle (Marcel left the study sesh early). I have never stayed at the library studying until it closed haha I kinda wanted to have a mini dance party as I was leaving thanks to the lovely Journey that was playing. I also learned that I hate when people talk really loud in quiet zones at the library!! Especially when there are signs on each table that say "FINALS WEEK - thanks for being quiet!" These people were speaking French so loud at the table behind me and then this RM at the table next to them just had  to join their conversation because he served his mission in France! They were talking in normal voices in a quiet zone for half an hour! Rude - I know. We all finally moved and as we walked by their table Marcel dropped one of the quiet signs on their table haha I hope they got the message! Anyway, same thing happened today! I isolated my self in one of these fancy little cubicles....

I was about 5 feet from a study room and these 2 girls were giggling, screaming, and all excited/nervous about their new found, hopeful love lives haha. It was kinda funny, but definitely got old as I was trying to memorize the pathogenic mechanisms of Staphylococcus aureus and other ridiculous microbiology things. So just know those study rooms aren't sound proof!

Among all of this studying I have managed to hit up the pool these past two nights! It was my first time working out at the pool and I learned that I could never be swimmer competitively because I can't swim very straight haha Tonight, after I hit up the gym and swam some laps, my roommate Rachel and I taught our roomie Celia how to swim! Actually, let me rephrase that, Rachel taught Celia how to swim and I was the cheerleader/ assistant swim teacher/put in my 2 cents here and there! haha She did great! I would not have guessed it was her first time swimming and let alone her first time treading water in the deep end. Afterwards we hit up the sauna, that was also a first for me! haha It was a nice way to dry off and get warm...but I can honestly say that I would prefer it to not be a dry sauna...oh well I can't complain! But you know what I can complain about? The construction outside my window! Wakes me up every morning at 7am with loud crashing, banging, and earthquakes. And they like to start at the corner right out side my window, therefore they like to wake Penrose Hall up every morning...it's kinda ridiculous haha Hopefully they start a little later tomorrow so I can sleep in a little bit before I go take some of my finals! Since I don't have any good pics for these last couple days, I'll share my latest song obsession... Carrie Underwood's Good Girl

 Yep I kinda love it! haha probably have listened to it 15 or 20 times today! Gotta love some good ol' country and you just can't not love Carre Underwood! If you don't like Carrie than you can just leave.... haha anyway that sums up the past 2 days!! peaceee out.

Finals? Bring it on!

With finals coming up it's definitely safe to say that I am kinda stressed! I still have one more exam this week before I can really start focusing on finals...thanks a lot Chemistry! I have some goals for this next week in a half to keep myself on track! I promised myself that I would pray and read my scriptures every morning before I start studying. That way I will start my day off right! Also, I am going to keep my no sweets thing going! I am actually at 3 weeks today and it feels great to have made it this long! I have made it 4 times longer than I did during No Sugar November.. ya that only last about 5 days haha Also I am going to try and stay somewhat physically fit during finals week! Meaning I will go to the gym at least twice this week and twice next week! If I can balance nutrition, physical exercise, spiritual wellness, and studying I am hoping to have a productive finals week! Starting Thursday I am not going to even worry about packing! That is going to have to stay off my mind until I finish my last final! I just have to keep calm and focused! If all else fails, I just have to remember that once I get through finals its SUMMER!

Keep Calm, It's Almost Summer! Yep..That is definitely gonna help me get through finals week! Good luck to all of you taking finals and we got this!  It's time to conquer finals and bring on the summertime!!

CORN

For my History 202 class we had to do a reading about the power of corn from a book called "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan. Sounds kinda dumb right? but I found it totally interesting! It brought back memories of watching King Corn in Anatomy/Physiology last year during our nutrition unit. It's kind of ridiculous how corn is such a huge part of our diet and we don't even realize it. Corn has shaped the food industry! That's right this little vegetable...

...has shaped a large portion of our food industry! Corn is a great material with lots of starch and can now be produced in large masses with chemical fertilizers and farming technology. High fructose corn syrup was a miraculous invention and a lot of our food turns out to be just a clever re-arrangement of corn. In fact, a lot of those random, obscure additives in our food are one of those corn re-arrangements!

Even our meat comes from corn because cows, pigs, and chickens are now fed corn because it is cheaper and fattens them up faster, which increases production and allows the price of meat to be lower. That's good for us, right?! Only sad thing is that the corn isn't good for cows and many of the animals have had to become adapted to eating corn. I'm not an animal activist or anything, I just think it's super interesting the role corn plays in our lives. So moral of the story, eat more fresh fruits and veggies and next time you get processed/packaged food from the supermarket, look at the ingredients and see much of it is made from corn! You will be shocked, I know I was!