“Happiness can be found in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.”- Dumbledore

     So yeah, I know I just made the title of this post a quote from Dumbledore but you'll just have to excuse me because I grew up with Harry Potter and Dumbledore is one of my literary heroes that I somehow create into a real person in my head. Anyways, I really like this it correlates very well with my new idea which is choosing to be happy. (Yes, this did slightly stem from this talk by Uchtdorf because let's face it, every realization of mine usually stems from his talks.) Okay, I promise I am done talking about Uchtdorf except to say that I think I am going to write him a letter telling him how awesome he is/tell him to hook me up with one of his grandsons. That wouldn't be weird, would it? Anyways, back to the happiness project (well actually, we were always talking about happiness because we were discussing Uchtdorf...) My mom recently decided to try and do this happiness project based off the book. I have not read it but I decided to do something kind of like that. In my marriage prep class, my professor told us that we should make a goal to wake up and have the first thought in your head be positive. The first day I did this, I received a text message from Michal that went a little something like this *disclaimer I did not save it because my phone is ghetto, so I am just parapharsing here* "I totally just had a weird dream that you had your first kiss with *insert awkward boy who will remain anonymous here* and I was there." So first of all, this made me really happy because at least I get kissed in someone's dreams beside my own and second of all I love the fact that Michal can dream about how this would be like because she knows me so well. Needless to say, my "positive thinking in the morning" project started off as a success.  Like it says in Uchtdorf's talk (okay I SWEAR that this will be the last time I mention him)"Some feel that their entire future happiness depends on whether or not a golden ticket falls into their hands. In their anxiousness, people begin to forget the simple joy they used to find in a candy bar. The candy bar itself becomes an utter disappointment if it does not contain a golden ticket." I have decided that I want to be thankful for the "candy bar" of life. So far, I have been pretty well about focusing on my current happiness instead of complaining about my happiness in the future.


Anyways, now onto some highlights of the very strange life I lead:

• The games we play-  In our our apartment, some of us (I will not disclose who due to privacy reasons/ they would kill me if I put their names in this) come up with "games" to play. This all started out when one of my roommates convinced us to play MMM (meaning Murder, Make out, Marry). To play, someone gives you three people and in this example we will use Gilmore Girls men (Jess, Logan and Dean) and you have to pick which one you would murder, make out with and murder. So in this example I would marry Logan, make out with Jess and murder Dean. Anyways, this game gets REALLY addicting especially when you play with celebrities or really unattractive people where you want to murder ALL of them.  Since this game has been instituted, we have created new games including:sorting people (sometimes people we don't even know) into Hogwarts houses, stealthily viewing creepy relationships, and the classiest one of all, opening the doors with our toes. Yes, you read that last one right. This past Monday we had one of those typical BYU FHE's where you go and play human Battleship. Except it was massively snowing and I was grumpy so my one of my roommates and I only stayed a little bit. We went home and one of our roommates (again I cannot name her) told us she was a champion at opening doors with her toes. So we commenced to have a timed competition. Let's just say she won by a lot and was not exaggerating her skills. One other 'game' we play is called name your memoir. The title of my supposed memoir has changed various times but is currently "You Belong with Me and Other Short Stories About How Taylor Swift Writes About My Life." Other past titles include "True Friends Drive you to the Airport" (if this doesn't make it as a title, then it will be a chapter) and "My Life in the Bathroom." I think my favorite is one we came up with for Marisa which is "Life Without a Laugh Box." Haha Anyways, it's a very fun life here in my apartment. 

• Getting my passport- So my grandparents are taking our extended family on a Disney cruise to the Bahamas. (Which is what instigated my whole eating more healthy foods/working out more thing) which means I actually need to get a passport. For someone who is looking forward to traveling the entire globe when she is older, getting a passport is like Dorothy stepping onto the Yellow Brick road for the first time. Except that happy glowing feeling was quickly sucked out by the U.S. Postal Service. Let's just say that I have this extremely awesome, considerate friend named Michal (whom you should know a lot about because I talk about her ALL the time) who took me to go get my passport. I had to leave my Brit Lit class early because I did not know if we would have time to get everything before my next class. So we're all happy jamming what I am pretty sure was Handel's Messiah but I am not sure. We get to the post office, our faces aglow with happiness only to realize that apparently we were five minutes too late. And they decided to close for lunch from 1 to 2:30. Yes, an hour and a half LUNCH!!!! In order to be positive about this, I am just going to say that man, I wish I worked for the government. So we decided to go to this glorious place called Gandolfo's. In order to describe this to you, just picture an underground, slightly sketchy sandwich place. Michal introduced me to this place last year, but we recently discovered that one of the professors that work there has a sandwich named after him. As a lover of Subway, I was extremely jealous and thus had to try to it because how flipping cool is that? After that we went to the Utah courthouse and marveled at marble. Yep, and then we had to go back to that grey place aka the Post Office where they did not open the office until 2:34. Anyways, yeah for finally getting my application in!
• Weekend of weirdness- This just happened this weekend. On Friday, Madison convinced Mitch (one of our FHE brothers) take us to Chipotle. One of the missionaries that served in my home ward, Tyler Bond, came with us!! It was a lot of fun until we decided to go to the Chocolate and get a cazookie. Yeah, we ate a burrito and a cazookie within an hour of each other. Also, we totally saw our Book of Mormon teacher and he said hi to us. It was a tad awkward but whatever. Then on Saturday, Madison, Marisa and I decided to work out for two hours because we were such fatties the night before. Madison and I were supposed to to go on a girl date but she totally ditched me. It's totally okay though, I forgive her because she went on a date. Anyways, that's how I ended up watching over 10 episodes of Parks and Rec with my roommate Courtney. It was soo fun! On Sunday, we went a little crazy. And by a little crazy, I mean Marisa, Madison, Sam and I ended up singing Disney songs at the top of our lungs for over an hour. Then Sam had this great idea. We would drive around in her convertible without the top pretending to "paddle" screaming out "Just Around the River Bend" from Pocahontas. So of course we did. Around Helaman halls. It was pretty classy and it was REALLY fun. Later, we watched 17 Miracles which seriously made me sob. Like hard core. For many minutes. But that's only because Church History really pulls on my emotional strings. Anyways, I would recommend it to anyone!
• Madison, Mitch, Lindsey (my roommate) and Spencer (one of Mitch's roommates) went to a basketball game last Thursday. It was sooo fun! I forgot how much I LOVE basketball players and free throws. (I like the free throws because we all say "Cecil" when it goes in and in turn he gives us double thumbs up. For those of you who don't know, Cecil Samuelson is the president of BYU)
• I am the tool patrol. Yes this means that I am in charge of going around and telling our classy ladies in the apartment whether guys are tools are not. Marisa even made me a t-shirt that has a classy logo with a hammer and a screw-driver in an x formation. On the back it says "Tools, consider yourself screwed." It's pretty fantastic. 
• going to a Cocaine Anonymous meeting. Yep, that's correct ladies and gentlemen. My friend Casey had to go to an AA meeting for her drugs and substances classes. I told my dad this before I went and he said it would smell like cigarettes and coffee. That was so true by the way. Anyways, it's pouring rain and stupid Mapquest was wrong. We finally get there (late) and it smells exactly like smoke and coffee. It actually was pretty inspirational when a woman who has been off Coke for 2 years gave a speech. Needless to say, it wasn't that bad and was pretty informative. 

• Crepes/Glow in the Dark Spoons- So once upon a time, we went over to our FHE/Home Teacher's apartment and made crepes. It was great because the only thing I had to do was melt the butter which I am fully capable of. We then play Ultimate Spoons with glow in the dark sticks and that was really fun/crazy/awkward when we ran into people. But mostly it was just really fun! 
• marriage prep. Seriously LOVE this class. My teacher literally says everything I need to hear. I am pretty skeptical of marriage but my teacher has literally been the BEST!! And ironically enough, his last name is Brooks. Recently, when we were talking about the Fall and how it works personally in our lives, he said "Another blessing that will likely come to you is a deeper understanding and appreciation for the Atonement. There is probably no other mortal experience that is so much like what Christ did for us than bringing children into the world. You will literally lay your life on the line to bring life into the world. You will, thereafter, devote your heart, might, mind, and strength to doing everything you can to bless your children. Your abilities to sacrifice and consecrate will be tremendous." How cool is that? Doesn't it make you want to have children like RIGHT now? haha but really though...

• Guy walking in a sweater smiled at me. So this one time I am walking home from school jamming to a little Spice Girls when I stop to let a car turn into the parking lot. I look up, and there was a gorgeous man in a black sweater smiling at me. It was probably the single greatest moment of my entire life. Yes, this is pretty sad that this was the epitome of my existence, but it totally was. 
• Reading Bossypants in the store. So being a poor college student and related to my Dad, I don't really like buying books. So when I walked in and saw Bossypants on the shelf I decided that during my next few lunch breaks I would sit in the bookstore and read it. So I did and it was one of the best parts of the last few weeks. I would highly recommend this unless there is an uppity employee suspiciously eyeing you while you do it for the third day in a row. 
• Spanish. Yes, I actually like my Spanish class. The first girl I met was from Fort Collins, so this probably helped shape my opinion on the matter. However, everyone in my class is really fun and we get along great, so it's way nice. I am glad that I made the right decision!
• Gilmore girls. So my roommates and I try to watch an episode of Gilmore girls every night. And we are slightly obsessed. Anyways, we took this quiz to see which character we were and I got KIRK!!!!!!!! So basically I had to jump of a bridge because he is THE weirdest person in the show. This was one of those "you know you have hit rock bottom when..." moments. But it's okay because it's still totally a bonding thing! :) 
• Also we are playing Assassins with Liberty Square which means that I have to carry a spoon around with me. (Basically everyone has someone they have to "kill" with a spoon). So I am in Spanish class yesterday and apparently my spoon fell out so my teacher asks me, in Spanish mind you, if that was my spoon. I sat there looking awkwardly all around trying to figure out what he was saying until he pointed at the spoon. At this point in time, everyone in the class is looking at me and I had to awkwardly explain why there was a spoon in my pocket. This ranks as embarrassing as the time I pronounced Gustavo like Goo-sta-vo. Which is wrong by the way. But other than that, I am really excited to still be playing on day four! Woot! 

Also as a random tidbit, I freaking love my roommates. We have some great, awkward, classy times together. Seriously, if these girls could be any more awesome I would be astounded. Also, as another aside, our apartment has two words that we use almost constantly: klassy (notice how it's a k) and tool. Klassy can be most readily defined as being sarcastically classy. An example is when we opened the doors with our toes. Tool is defined as a "jerk guy whom we absolutely loathe/kind of maybe don't like but is still extremely attractive." Because that would not fit in the dictionary, we just narrow it down to "attractive jerk." Anyways, if you hear us use any of those words, then you'll know what they mean.


Now a brief look at how I am doing on my trifecta of goals. First of all, I am slacking a bit in the spiritual department. I have tried to read my scriptures every day, but I am only in 1 Nephi 16. Don't judge me!! As far as the physical part goes, I have been a LOT better about working out and eating more healthy. Please don't remind me that two weeks ago, I had three crepes in the same week. Anyways, yeah! As far as "emotionally shaking it out," I am very happy to report that I am making progress. That does not mean I do not have my moments where I literally sob my brains out while Madison awkwardly sits next to me not knowing what to say. But, I am deciding not to focus on all my sad moments because my happy ones totally outweigh everything else! 


I am so thankful for everything I have and how much I LOVE (most of the time anyways) being at BYU. I am also thankful (yes, this might seem random) for my Young Women's leaders because they instilled in me a very deep testimony rooted in the fact that I am a daughter of God. Because of this knowledge, I am more confident in myself than most girls here at BYU. Anyways, keep calm and eat a cupcake because you DESERVE it!