"Maybe the most any of us can expect of ourselves isn't perfection but progress." Michelle Burford

So I am just going to come straight out by saying, I got my first ever C. Yep, you read that right. A C!!!!! (It was in Biology, in case you were wondering). I found out at work. So logically I am sitting there trying to not bawl my eyes out RIGHT there. So I 'discreetly' called my dad. And proceed to cry about what a failure I am. But it totally ended up okay because my dad provided the following three quotes which I absolutely love: 

"I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed." Michael Jordan 

"If you're trying to achieve, there will be roadblocks. I've had them; everybody has had them. But obstacles don't have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don't turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it."- Michael Jordan. THE basketball man. If Michael Jordan, arguably the BEST basketball player, has struggles and has worked through them, then so can I!

"The essence of life is not being perfect, impressing people, or succeeding at everything. The essence of life is simply making mistakes, and learning from them, surrounding yourself with people that love you when you’re being yourself, and getting through the failures so that you continue improving."- I can't find the original source on this one.

Needless to say, I have added more quotes to my bulletin board. Also, I have survived receiving a C. But just barely! haha. Anyways, I am super glad that this semester is over! It has been QUITE busy. It's all good because I survived. 


Now that the sappy part is over for a little bit, let's move onto pictures!!

Madison, me and Marisa all doing the joy face! :)

My roommates (minus Sam who had to work!) at the Gateway Mall in  Salt Lake.

Hmm. Yeah, I was a bit hyper...

Michal and I at her cousin's wedding reception. I totally crashed it haha

Now onto some great times recently: (there are not in chronological order)

• Danny painting my nose with nail polish. Yep, you just read that right. Danny was at my house yesterday and I was painting my NAILS because you know it's almost New Year's Eve. So I am sitting there and he comes up with this great experiment upon seeing this peachy orange colored nail polish. He wanted to see if he wanted ONE of my freckles with the color if you would be able to see it anymore. So he attempted this and was so successful that he decided to paint my nose. I literally have NO clue why I let him do this. But needless to say, five minutes later, Danny is scrubbing my nose really hard (because my nails are wet and I cannot do it myself). It turns out nail polish on skin does not necessarily come off with just water. So he proceeded to scrub it off with nail polisher remover, while I am tearing up because in case you didn't know nail polish remover on skin BURNS!!! The sad thing is that this depicts our friendship perfectly. Yesterday was just a great day. I also had the opportunity to go see Sherlock Holmes with Clarissa, Camille, Mason, Brevan, Danny and Madison. It was great! :)
• Random good times with Michal. Perhaps my favorite is when I decided to crash her cousin's wedding reception. I was sick at the time and didn't feel too well, but it ended up great! We ended up going to Zupas!!! (Seriously, Colorado NEEDS one of these restaurants!) It was really great to see how incredible the reception looked. By the time her mom was done with it, the reception did not even look like it was in a church! Michal also graciously put up with me telling her nearly every ten minutes how excited I was to go home/GET OUT OF UTAH!!! So, that demonstrates how great she is. She also drove Madison and I to the airport RIGHT after she took her accounting final. Yeah, she's a true friend and I LOVE her! I am looking forward to continuing to work with her next semester/finally making her watch 27 Dresses with me. 
• The random Gateway adventure I went on with my roommates. So all of my roommates, minus Sam who sadly had to work, ended up going to the Gateway/Chipotle. It was a GREAT bonding trip minus the fact that I decided to wear Toms which have no traction. This would have been fine except I totally slid outside and got the whole right side of my body wet because it was snowing. However this was quickly cured by a Starbucks' steamer. 
• Christmas break. So I literally have done NOTHING this break but eat and watch movies. Seriously I have been to Chipotle twice, Noodles and Company, Texas Roadhouse, a delicious Mongolian grill place and a couple of trips to Good Times. I have literally watched at least two movies every day and that does not include how many episodes of Psych (I received the first two seasons from Cassie for Christmas and the third/fourth also from Santa) I watch daily. So yeah, I am probably going to need to be rolled into my apartment when I get back. 
• Randomly going up to my Omis.So the day before Christmas Eve we were trying to figure out what to give my grandparents when my mom came up with a great idea! We would take them out to dinner. But of course, my gracious grandparents also wanted us to stay the night so my Papa could make his legendary banana pancakes (and quite frankly, I am glad they did!) Anyways, we went to a Mongolian Grill place which was really good minus the seriously spicy soup I had (woah inadvertent alliteration!) We then watched Santa Claus 2 and had a delicious breakfast in the morning. After breakfast we finished watching a video my Papa put together about their adventures in Iran and other places. Let's just say that after watching this, it has been 100% confirmed that I am my mother's child. She was such a klutzy spaz!!! Seriously people. CRAZY! Anyways, it was a great day and our whole family loved it! 
• Christmas! Usually my mom makes us sleep in later than seven before we can open our presents. So we agreed to this again. Imagine our surprise when my parents woke us up at 6:30!!! Yeah, it was WAY surprising but also very awesome! We opened our presents and headed to church where my sister rocked her talk. Seriously, she's so dignified when she speaks. :) 
• Watching Miss Congeniality! So the last day of finals we celebrated by watching eating pizza and watching Miss Congeniality/ getting Fro-Yo. It was a GREAT last night of the semester and one that I enjoyed immensely. Plus, I REALLY love that movie because Sandra Bullock is the woman. 
• Creating my "Cheesy Love Song" playlist on Spotify. First of all, I LOVE Spotify. It's an application where you can listen to a full song for free and make playlists. It is seriously great because I can access my music anywhere. Anyways, I was listening to Sting's "Fields of Gold" on repeat when the idea came to to start a cheesy love song playlist. People in my office also contributed and it was great. Let's just say that the list includes both Michael Bolton AND Savage Garden. You can't get cheesier than that! 

• I also found a great new song that expresses my feelings. It is posted at the end. It's called "Shake it Out" by Florence+Time Machine. Have you ever heard a song that is just so completely therapeutic that it was written from your own heart? Well, this has happened to me during numerous occasions but not perhaps as potently as has happened while I was listening to this. If I could write a song, I am pretty sure that this is what it would sound like! (Well, if I had the incredible singing talents that she has, that's what it would sound like haha). Anyways, I absolutely love the theme of this song. (yes, I do realize that I am about to get all English major on you!) But seriously. I absolutely love the fact that she admits she has troubles and now is just going to shake it out. After I first listened to this song (let's face the facts, I've listened to it on repeat for the last hour) I decided to have a shake it out party. By myself. In my living room. Luckily everyone is downstairs right now. I seriously stood up in my new Christmas pj's shaking out all my troubles and cares. Who cares that I am going to get a lower GPA than I would EVER have expected? Who cares that I have to take 20 credits of another language? Who cares if I cannot figure out how to graduate in three years? It was almost as therapeutic as doing yoga. It reminded me of the final scene in Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat Pray Love (which I JUST finished. Also as a side note, I freaking LOVE this book. Like I could read it every day for the rest of my life.) where she says she goes to her tiny little island of Bali and just confronts everything- her fears, her shame, her embarrassments,etc. So in a weird way, me having a dance party was just like that. It was very therapeutic. And as my brother Colin just told me, "Your whole life is a spaz moment." 

 From this song, I have come up with my New Year's resolution. I have decided that I need to 'shake it out" spiritually, emotionally and physically. To spiritually 'shake it out," I will read the Book of Mormon three times next semester and attend the temple more frequently . Emotionally shaking it out for next year means that I will continually choose to be happy. My favorite quote from Eat Pray Love is about just this. Elizabeth Gilbert states (well technically it's Richard from Texas that says this)," “You need to learn how to select your thoughts just the same way you select your clothes every day. This is a power you can cultivate. If you want to control things in your life so bad, work on the mind. That’s the only thing you should be trying to control." So to emotionally shake it out, I am going to work on controlling my thoughts. And now.... physically shaking it out. I know what you're thinking. You're thinking that I am just going to have random dance parties every day. Let's be honest. That probably WILL happen. But I want to be more specific. I am going to get fit!! Part of the new year will bring making wise decisions on what I am putting into my body. IThe main reason behind this? We are going on the Disney cruise to the Bahamas and I have to look hott!! Marisa is going to be my buddy during this detox. It's going to be great. I want to feel one hundred percent my best. So anyways. I know this was way long. I commend you for reading it. Just wanted to let everyone know that I am so thankful for them in my life. As Florence sings "It's hard to dance with a devil on your back, so I'm gonna shake it out." It is my time to shake it out and get a fresh start. Love you all.Thank you for putting up with all my tears, my complaints and random mood swings. All I have to say is, bring it 2012! I am ready for you!