Christmas Decorating :)

Usually I'm not huge on decorating my apartment all out for christmas..I don't like to spend money on decorations and usually I am able to go home for a week or so for Christmas break so it just seems a little pointless to me. This year I'm feeling a little different though, maybe because I am only going home for a few days...but I got some fun Christmas decorations and me and my roomy Chelsey decided to make our apartment very festive..It turned out great and I love it!

Me

“I am Me. In all the world, there is no one else exactly like me. Everything that comes out of me is authentically mine, because I alone chose it -- I own everything about me: my body, my feelings, my mouth, my voice, all my actions, whether they be to others or myself. I own my fantasies, my dreams, my hopes, my fears. I own my triumphs and successes, all my failures and mistakes. Because I own all of me, I can become intimately acquainted with me. By so doing, I can love me and be friendly with all my parts. I know there are aspects about myself that puzzle me, and other aspects that I do not know -- but as long as I am friendly and loving to myself, I can courageously and hopefully look for solutions to the puzzles and ways to find out more about me. However I look and sound, whatever I say and do, and whatever I think and feel at a given moment in time is authentically me. If later some parts of how I looked, sounded, thought, and felt turn out to be unfitting, I can discard that which is unfitting, keep the rest, and invent something new for that which I discarded. I can see, hear, feel, think, say, and do. I have the tools to survive, to be close to others, to be productive, and to make sense and order out of the world of people and things outside of me. I own me, and therefore, I can engineer me. I am me, and I am Okay.”

-Virginia Satir

Virginia Satir is one of my fave marriage and family therapists! I'm studying her theory and contributions to the marriage and family field in one of my classes and came across this quote of hers and really liked it.

Free Jazz tickets anyone??

So thanks to Uncle Boyd and Matt at Mckesson (the pharmacy's drug rep), I scored some free tickets to the Jazz game this weekend..I took my friend Brittany and then our friend Riley had some free tickets so we had a few others join us as well..We went up a little bit before and hit up Gateway and did some dinner at california pizza kitchen. Such a fun night! I love jazz games, they are always a blast to watch and we had some really nice tickets (way to go mckesson)!

Snoop Dog

A few weeks ago a girl that lives next door to us threw a huge "Katy Perry" party....She likes to throw big themed events and is a huge Katy Perry fan, so she meshed the two..I was a little big sketchy about going because I just thought it would probably be dumb haha, I like Katy Perry but I'm not like so huge a fan as to throw a party themed around her. So since all of the girls were dressing up like Katy Perry, me and Chelsey wanted to be different so we dressed up like Snoop Dog who sings the song California girls with Katy Perry...Lets just say Gen-X is the best store to go to if you want some gangsta clothes, I especially like the blue flames on my pocket..It was actually a really fun party and there was a ton of people that showed..I would have to say that we actually got quite a bit of attention over the snoop dog look versus the katy perry look that most of the girls were rocking..nice :)

Sri Sri Radha Krishna Temple

One of the statue set ups that they pray to

This is the chant that they say quite a few times every time they meet

This is the statue of their leader Krishna..they bow before this guy and pray to him

This is their temple..looks like a castle to me, and there is a bunch of llamas and animals on the outside that they take care of.

So I'm in a cultural class right now and as an assignment we had to have a multicultural immersion experience. Basically just be around people of a different culture (could be religion, racial, or even social class) and write a paper about the experience. I chose to visit the Sri Sri Radha Krishna temple which is in Spanish Fork. It was quite the experience. When you first get there, they have you take off your shoes to walk around the temple (I'm sorry, but this was disgusting to me because the temple was not the cleanest place in the world). They talked to us for a little bit and answered questions that we had about their religion and then just let us loose to look around their temple and anything we wanted. It was very interesting to see the kinds of things that they believed in. Definitely different from what I am used to. They had a million of the statue things like the pictures that I showed above and they chant and pray to these statues regularly....I felt bad thinking this, but it was all somewhat creepy to me. It was overall a good experience, I enjoyed learning about how other people view religion and spirituality and to see how other people worship. I would definitely say I'm in kinda LDS bubble because I don't really branch out and see what else is out there..Because I know that its true :) However, I think it's good to know what else is out there and be educated on other religions and cultures..especially because as a counselor I will be meeting with people who have different views than myself and it is important to validate what they feel instead of disregard it because I don't believe the same. This class has really helped me to see the importance of knowing, understanding, and validating what other people are feeling especially those who are different than myself.

Life in Provo

Went to sushi night with some friends last night...this was a big step for me..I HATE fish and all sea-food pretty much. I've never tried sushi, but pretty much swore that I never would because it looks so disgusting and the thought of raw fish makes me want to vomit..For some reason though, I was feeling a little crazy last night. How can I say I hate something if I've never tried it right?? I was actually very surprised that I didn't mind it, in fact there were a few kinds that I even liked. I'm not saying I would crave sushi, but if people wanted to go eat there, I don't think I'd be mad.
Been spending alot of my time hanging out at this place and doing homework :)...school is taking over my life, which is pretty much what I expected so its ok. The hard thing is that I have some weekend classes...so 6 Saturdays out of the semester I am in class from 8-5, 8 hours of class is rough going. The Saturdays when I'm not in class, I have to work all day because I have to take the time off for class, so basically I don't have a free weekend for a long, long time...I'm not sure when I'll be able to go home next, but hopefully atleast a day for Thanksgiving! I am just trying to be greatful that I am getting a good education and working at a good job, who needs a life right??

look who landed a job here? i just started working this week at Macey's Pharmacy, which is like 2 blocks from my apartment, so nice! I am working part time and they are so flexible with my school schedule, which is AWESOME :) I really like my boss he is a really nice guy and somewhat reminds me of Uncle Boyd..especially when he brought to work cucumbers and tomatoes from his garden haha..It will take me a while to get used to their system and the way that their pharmacy does things, but I feel confident that I will have it down in no time! Such a relief to get a job, I was getting nervous I wouldn't find something. Count my blessings :)

Provo in General: When I first moved here, I was wondering why I had. I moved up a week before school started so I could start job searching..so pretty much for a week, I didn't have a whole lot going on while everyone else was working and in school..Made me feel like a big loser even though I knew I was going to be start doing the same thing very soon..Now That I have started school and got a job I'm wishing I had more of that free time haha...Funny that your never satisfied with what you have, right? Now that I'm more settled in and started doing things, I feel alot better about Provo. It has been a lot of fun here, I have very cute and fun roommates. Our apartment is really cute and has a very homelike feeling to it. My ward is HUGE, biggest ward I've been in by far, but I should have figured that with being BYU's 202 ward haha..but I have met quite a few people in the ward already and it everyone is really nice and fun. School is taking up alot of time, but I wouldn't change that because I love it..Its such a good feeling when every class you feel so good that you are making the right decision. Being a therapist requires alot of time building empathy for other people. I am taught in every class how to love and understand ALL people. This is so good for everyone, not just therapists. How can I hate a field that teaches me so much love and understanding? I LOVE it! My job is really nice as I talked about above and I'm so grateful that I found such a good atmosphere to work in. So for right now, life is good and I am doing really well!

Tan Fan Makes a Return

We didn't want Tanner to think that just because he is graduated and no longer playing sports that we weren't his biggest fans anymore. So when he came home late one night from playing with friends, he found this in his bed.