So these questionnaires have been going around on blogs and I thought it would be fun to answer some of these questions! 
~If you could travel anywhere in the world where would it be? Rome
~What was your favourite Saturday Morning Cartoon? Arthur
~Snow or Sand? Why? Sand because it reminds me of summer and warmth and relaxation
~One word you constantly say? um...
~What's one thing that made you smile today? My physical science teacher, he's hilarious
~Favorite quote? “When we put God first, all other things fall into their proper place or drop out of our lives. Our love of the Lord will govern the claims for our affection, the demands on our time, the interests we pursue, and the order of our priorities.” -Ezra Taft Benson
~Why do you blog? To express my feelings and talk about what goes on in my everyday world here at college. Also to get away from facebook!
~Future? Excited or Nervous? Both! Excited because I know there's so much ahead, Nervous because I don't know what's going to happen
~Best date you went on/planned? Ferry ride to Vashon Island and back, and Frisco Freeze!
~A day that will go down in history in your books? Graduating from college!
~Your hero? my mother
~Favorite Food? pasta
~Your favorite place you've traveled to? Too many to choose from. England, Paris, Seaside, Disney World

~Your favorite 'era' (ex: 1920's, 50's) and why...Whenever Pride and Prejudice was written. Love the language, the clothing, the simple lives, how everyone was proper and acted like ladies and gentleman

~Your favorite Disney movie? I love them all but my favorite princess is Cinderella

~The one thing you can't live without is __books_____. 

~Where you see yourself in 10 years? Married with a family

~Early Bird or Night Owl? Night owl for sure

~If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be? the East Coast, probably Boston

~Favorite book? I've never not liked a book I read..

~Favorite restaurant? Zuppa's

~Favorite time of year & why...I love all the seasons for different reasons but probably fall. I love the crisp air, going back to school, football games, sunshine, changing leaves 

~The last time you smiled and the reason...I smile ALL the time!

~What was your favorite thing that happened today? One of my classes got cancelled!

~What did you always want to be 'when you grew up? Elementary School Teacher, that's still what I want to be!

~How would you describe love in one sentence? Love is choosing the highest good for the other person

~What is your favourite colour of nail polish? I'm not a big fan of nail polish but I think I'm a pink kinda girl

~What is your favourite band or artist? Right now I always have Elephant Song Medley from Moulin Rouge and I See the Light from Tangled stuck in my head!

~Short or Long Hair? Why? Long hair, because you can do more with it and I'm jealous of all the people who have thick hair and it looks so gorgeous!

~How Many Kids do you want? 5

~What is the ideal date? I think it depends on who you're with and not what you do

~What Is your Dream Car? Volkswagen Jetta

~What is the last thing you said aloud? Somebody asked me how I was and I said good!

~What is your favorite tv show? why? Once Upon a Time, it's clean and super cute and I love Disney!

~Do you have a new years resolution? what is it? Drink more water

~If you could go back in time, where would you go? Colonial America

~If you could be anyone for a day, who would it be? a princess at Disneyland

~Who inspires you? the prophet, Thomas S. Monson

~What makes you happy? my wonderful friends, family, and choosing the right

Hopefully you got to know me a little bit better and understand why I love life!

YUM!

Last Sunday I made myself a great meal. Definitely the best all semester haha! It consisted of teriyaki chicken, rice, green beans, and strawberry kiwi crystal light. SO good!

Then today I really wanted to use my new Christmas present....a blender! There's tons of good healthy smoothie recipes you can find online and I decided to try one out. And I'm so glad I did. I think I'm going to be using this recipe a lot! 

Oatmeal Smoothie

• Ingredients
• 1 cup ice
• 1/2 cup frozen raspberries
• 1/2 cup plain lowfat yogurt
• 1 banana
• 1/2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 cup coconut water (or other liquid, such as juice) I just used crystal light that I already had made

Directions

1. Place ice and raspberries in the bottom of blender, and all other ingredients on top. Whir until completely smooth. Serve.

So awesome! And you can't really tell in the picture but the smoothie is the prettiest color!

Definitely a success. Can you tell I'm proud of my work in the kitchen this week? :)

Hi, My Name Is...

Random student in New Testament class: Hi, what's your name?
Me: I'm Mary
Student: OH! You're Mary, the piano player
Me: Um...yeah

This little scenario right here happened to me about 4 times today. No joke. Is that what I want to be known as? Are people defined by their talents? Will I forever be doomed to this "calling" for the rest of my life? Probably. It's definitely not a bad thing and I'm so grateful for my talents but there's so much more to me! I have a personality and I have many other talents and interests besides music. Now don't get me wrong, I love sharing this with others and it's nice to be recognized but especially in the church there is always a need for music people. So I face a life of being involved in anything and everything music related. Fun, stressful, important, but there's so much more...

What a Morning

Well it all starts out last night when I stayed up kinda late finishing a paper. When I was ready for bed, I proceeded to set my alarm. I always set the real time about 5 min. fast just in case but I accidentally set it about 9 min too fast. Then was I was trying to set the alarm time I was really changing the real time. So it ended up being about 14 min. too fast. I finally set the alarm for about 8:30 (which would really be 8:15). Complicated, I know haha!
This morning I hear the alarm, turn it off, and roll over. Only to wake up at 8:45! Class starts at 9 and I still had to go print out my paper in the library! I put my hair in a ponytail, kept on my sweatshirt and sweats that I had worn to bed, brushed my teeth, and ran out the door at about 8:51. I reached the library at 8:57 and printed out my paper as fast as possible. I made it to class at 9:02, right when they were turning in the papers. Success! Now I'm back at home to actually get ready for the day haha!
 Lesson learned: Don't Procrastinate and Be Prepared. Also have control over your body and get out of bed when your alarm goes off!

I wish I was a more eloquent writer. Some people are just so talented and can really express their mind and make sense. I am definitely not one of those people. I've read so many books, articles, and quotes throughout my life and I've come to understand that the written word is a way for people to really connect. There's nothing that compares with reading something that just makes sense. Like the author is speaking directly to you. I guess the only way to acquire this skill is to practice. Maybe someday I will become the type of writer that I so long to be. I always have so many thoughts running through my head and everything I say comes from the heart but it often doesn't come out the way I want it to.

Getting Old

It feels like the 90's were just yesterday and I can hardly believe that 1992 was 20 years ago! Where has the time gone? Some of the highlights:
-Backstreet Boys/NSYNC
-Brittany Spears
-Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
-Saturday Morning Cartoons
-Wonderful World of Disney Movies on Sunday nights
-Harry Potter
-Ice Ice Baby
-Full House
-Gel Pens
-Puka Shells
GOOD TIMES! So what brought about all of these great memories? An "I Love the 90's Dance!" Our fabulous outfits...

Greta and I were just wearing pretty much normal clothes (jeans, white t-shirt, v-neck, hat backwards, windbreaker) and Emily was supposed to be the little girl from the Welch's grape juice commercial!

I think they look pretty similar. Especially when you look at a picture when Emily was little. SO cute!

It was a really fun night and we definitely danced the night away bringing back our childhoods! Also it finally snowed but still no major sticking. I had a fabulous sunday. Noteworthy items:

President Monson's ABC's to Living An Abundant Life

Attitude

Believe in yourself

Courage

Now I'm ready to conquer this next week. Time really is going by so fast! and I think that's a good thing...

Hair Experiments

I found this blog with cute and super creative hair tutorials. And the girl that does them has about the same hair length as me so I thought it would be fun to try some out. Today I tried "loose curls" and "the tucked away french braid". She makes it look so simple and of course her hair turns out perfectly. Mine not so much ha! But it was still worth the effort and I think it was still okay. I do look forward to trying more fun things though! I feel like my hair is so boring all the time so this will be entertaining!

Content

"We women have a lot to learn about simplifying our lives. We have to decide what is important and then move along at a pace that is comfortable for us. We have to develop the maturity to stop trying to prove something. We have to learn to be content with what we are."

~Majorie Pay Hinckley

I really liked this quote. I feel like life can become a competition quite often or that we can feel inadequate but it's important to just be yourself. Normally when I think of the word content I think of not wanting to change anything and being happy with where you are, but this quote helped me see that content can mean wanting to be better and learning and growing and changing but loving yourself along the way. Becoming mature and being our best self is a journey but if we keep it simple and put Heavenly Father first, then everything else will fall into place.

Thoughts

I'm trying to move away from facebook and just use my blog more. So everytime I think of a status I want to put on facebook, I'll just wait till I can put it on here.
So #1... today I made the dreaded walk to Wyview in 10 degree weather. I'm so grateful I don't have to do that everyday anymore! I definitely don't miss the walk.
#2...I can't believe it's snowing more in Washington than it is here in Utah. And even if we did have snow we would definitely still have school. So even though I love BYU, it would be kinda nice to go to college in WA where we could get out of school for snow days!
I'm looking forward to making one of these soon...

Today was very productive. It started off with New Testament. Probably my favorite class and something I look forward to twice a week. Brother Smith used some quotes from President Uchtdorf's talk "Continue in Patience". I decided that I need to work on being more patient and to not make decisions based on emotion. I then went to devotional and sat by my friend Ben Pearson. I'm excited to sit by him each week! Today Sister Beck was the speaker and it's always exciting when church leaders visit BYU. Then Greta and I went to the temple. It's my third time in the past 6 days! It was the perfect time to go because there was barely anyone there and we got to do about 5 names. That's a record! Although it was sunny today, it was freezing and it took a while to take off all the layers at the tempe. I did look very cute today though haha! That's always a plus. I studied, watched a show, and then headed over to my first intramural basketball game. So fun! It felt good to be back on the basketball court after 2 years. We killed the other team 47-7. And we decided on a team name...Rainmakers, since over half of our team is from Washington! It was definitely a successful day.

My Motto

My weeks definitely wouldn't be the same without it. I am so grateful that the temple is so close!

Spring?

So many people have been commenting on the weather but it's been the weirdest (is that even a word?) thing! Washington and Utah have definitely switched roles. Snow, ice, and cold in Washington and rain with 50 degree weather in Utah. Really wishing I was at home making a snow man, having a snow ball fight, sitting by a fire, drinking hot chocolate, admiring the beauty, reading a good book, playing games, and watching movies. But no, I still have to get up, go to school, and do homework :/ It does feel nice not to be freezing though!

Create

Mormon Messages are the best! This one is going to help inspire me to do my project for my History of Creativity Class haha! I have come to believe that anyone can be creative if they just try.

Grateful

Tonight I had my first orchestra class. I haven't been in orchestra for 6 months so it was fabulous to be in that atmosphere again. But it just wasn't the same. First of all, 2 of the 4 pieces we're playing I played in high school. That just goes to show that I was in an amazing orchestra and that we were capable of doing college level music! Proven by our first place wins at every single competition we went to, even on a national level! How awesome it feels to be part of something that awesome. Although everyone had different levels and some people may not haven't wanted to be there we always did our best and since there were so many of us we had a fantastic sound. Plus we respected Mr. Westgaard so much. He is probably the best conductor on the planet. Music is his life and even though he probably wants to retire he never does! He's there for us 100% of the time and he has trained us so well. In my new orchestra we sound fine and we can sight read and everyone in it wants to be there. However, I never realized how important leaders are in an orchestra. Although our first chairs may have been annoying sometimes or acted like they knew it all, they really are talented musicians and were really able to help us. They were so confident in their playing and it seemed like they never made mistakes. They helped guide the rest of the sections and keep us together. Tonight while I was playing I realized that there are no leaders yet in this new orchestra. No one really stands out and no one has a powerful sound to help carry the rest of us. What a difference that makes. I know it will only get better from here but it really made me think about the experiences I've had with orchestra in the past and I'm so lucky to have had them. Memories made and lessons learned that I will never forget.

Eww!

So last night I was putting away my toothbrush and it slipped out of my hand and landed in the toilet...how sick is that? It felt like a movie where I was fumbling with it and then finally lost control. And then after it happened I didn't really know what to do so I kinda just looked at it. Dreading the moment where I would have to fish it out. I finally quickly grabbed it and immediately washed my hands. Luckily I went to the dentist a couple weeks ago and had an extra one!

"Back Home"

Although Provo will never compare to U.P., I've found a home away from home in Heritage Halls. I've only been back a week but it's already night and day difference. I love being so close to campus, I love having a roommate I can talk to, I love being with freshman, I love having my best friend Emily so close and I love new starts. I'm really glad I made this move and I look forward to the rest of the semester and all the things I'll get to do and people I'll get to meet.

I've already met a ton of people. And it can be really difficult to try and remember everyone's names. But I've been trying really hard. I often find myself meeting people and not really paying attention when they say their name, thinking oh I won't really talk to them again or it doesn't really matter, but it does! It's such a big deal and I've definitely improved on my name remembering skills. Brother Smith told me today that it is so important and that it really helps you make connections with people and lays a foundation for communication and relationships with people. And it's so true! He also told us in class that the Lord is really interested in names so we should be too. Think about it...
-We receive a name and a blessing when we are first born
-In the record of the First Vision, Joseph says, " One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other - This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!"
-And I know there's several other examples in the scriptures!

This semester I'm taking some great classes...mostly GE's and after this semester I'll be done with them. Yay! I'm turning in my application for the Elementary Education program tomorrow and I'll get to start in the Fall. I'm cramming a lot in but that's kind of how my whole life has been. I always want to do everything I can and I'm definitely determined to do it! The plan is to graduate on time (April 2015) with the El Ed major and double minor with the required TESOL and also Music which I'm really excited about. I also hope to study abroad next spring in London and when the times comes and it works out, I would love to serve a mission!
I love having a plan and I'm really excited to continue in this journey!

So the classes I'm taking...
-History 201 - World Civilizations to 1500, It should be an interesting class. Probably not going to be my favorite but I've always enjoyed history so it can't be that bad. Plus I'm pretty sure I learned some of this stuff in like 6th grade
-History of Creativity 202 - From 1500 to present, I really enjoy this class so far. I definitely don't think of myself as the most creative person and we have to do this creative project at the end of the semester and I have no idea what I'm going to do! I'm not a big fan of open-ended projects. I like being told what to do. Anyways, right now we're learning about Florence and Rome which really makes me want to visit Italy! There are so many amazing pieces of art there and the history is fascinating. Our teacher always tells us the best places to go, how to get there, which hotels to stay at and everything. One guy I sat next to said that he felt like he was in a travel agency haha!
-Physical Science 100 - not a big fan of science but I don't think it's going to be that hard and I love my teacher! He's really funny and he's from Belgium so he has an accent. It's great. I also think one of my favorite parts of the week is going to be my lab on Thursdays. My TA is hilarious and she loves what she does! It can't get better than that. I love people that can make me laugh and when someone loves what they do that automatically helps them be a better teacher/mentor.
-Music 190 - Music Fundamentals, Might be really easy but my teacher is really funny and knows what he's talking about. This is the first class I'm taking for my music minor and the coolest part about it is you can take an exemption exam and if you pass it then you can get the class waived which means more credits and I can fit in another class!
-New Testament - The Gospels, I'm really excited about this class! Religion classes have been my highlight at BYU so far. I think because I've learned so much and I've done really well in them! I've had two great teachers and I look forward to another semester with Brother Smith and learning more about the life of Christ.
-Music 321R - Orchestra! I've really missed having music be such a big part of my life and I can't wait to play again! It's going to be pretty simple. We're even playing some of the songs I played in high school but I know it will be a great experience to play in an orchestra again!

The other day I was writing in my journal all the things I love about BYU and a lot of them were church-related things but I think that's good. It's definitely having a positive impact in my life and I'm grateful for all my spiritual growth. I mostly excited about continuing my tradition of going to the temple and devotional every week. They have both been a great experience and truly make my week. Something to look forward to that takes away from the stress of school and everything else!

CUTIES

So I'm pretty much obsessed with clementines! They are the perfect snack and they are healthy...yay! They really are "cuties" being so small, so I definitely try to savor every bite. I could never have enough of them though. I remember when I was in Jr. High, I used to collect the little stickers on them and put them on my agenda but they don't have very creative ones anymore :(

2011

What a great year! I've been thinking about all the fun things I've done, the adventures I've gone on, the memories and friendships I've made, and all the great books I've read and movies I've seen. Some highlights included....
February: Getting accepted to BYU
April: Going to Disney World for the second time with choir, band, and orchestra
June: Graduating from high school and starting school at BYU
July: making new friends!
August: Ephrata, staying at the cabin in Sundance, and starting school again!
September: BYU football games
November: surprising my family for Thanksgiving!
December: doing absolutely nothing for two weeks!

Movies:
Harry Potter
We Bought A Zoo
The Help

Books:
Anne of Green Gables - Lucy Maud Montgomery
Les Miserables - Victor Hugo
Sisters Everlasting - Ann Brashares
The Help - Kathryn Stockett
Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins

I'm super excited for 2012 and for new beginnings...
-a new dorm
-a new semester
-a new ward
-new goals

It's crazy to think that I've been in college for six months now! I'm grateful for all I've learned in school, at church, about being on my own, and about life and friendships. BYU is the best place to be and I've definitely had a ton of fun. I can't wait to accomplish my goals and I'm determined to do so. It's not going to be easy but I know it's gonna be worth it!