In case it's as blustery and cold where you are as Provo is now...

I got these today and their bright cheerfulness is making me happy, and I want to share that with you :)

I Jumped the Pond!

I'm obviously slow to post even my most exciting info. This past summer my mom and I visited Zan and Ben while they lived in London. Here's my post that's partially so I can feel like I've completed something from my to-do list and partially to reminisce. Thanks for indulging me :)

This trip of a lifetime began with a day in New York City. I love NY! Home of Broadway, Wall Street, and the best pizza! Mom and I had a great day touring Liberty and Ellis Island, enjoying front row seats to The Little Mermaid, and reveling in the excitement of Times Square. It made the sleepless nights at Newark airport so worth it.

[Very] early the next morning, we departed for London! Honestly, it scared me to fly over the ocean. But I must say, I much prefer international to domestic flights-- hands down, so much better. On the way, I saw an aerial view of the cliffs of Wales and Windsor Castle. We landed at Heathrow around 8:00 pm London time. We navigated the airport and London Tube and arrived at the Westmister station in time for a torrential downpour. Seriously, it was like a river into the Tube station. But I was super excited to see the quintessential sites of London and insisted we go out the furthest exit just to see Big Ben. I was not disappointed and happy my first sight of the city was an illuminated night scene. We were able to find Ben & Zan's ideally-located flat fairly easily. I have to say that between her great hospitality and keeping the idea of visiting London alive in my head, I totally owe this experience of a lifetime to Zan!

Day 1: Our first venture was to the half-price tickets booth at Gloucester Square (our priority was pretty apparent). Next was a walking tour of the royal gardens. They really are lovely! We caught a glimpse of the changing of the Buckingham Palace guard and then toured Westminster Abbey. The abbey really is spectacular. As a general observation, I have to say that everything in London is OLD. It truly makes our American antiquities look like babies. We did a fast walk-through of the British Museum. Our first day was topped off with traditional English fish and chips (underexceeded expectations) and a performance of Billy Elliot (far and away exceeded expectations). We took a chance in picking that show as neither of us knew much about it other than it won musical of the year, but I'm happy to report, we came out winners on that one :)

Day 2: I fondly remember this as "Jane Austen Day." While it was hectic and last-minute getting our transportion to the city of Bath, it worked out. We found available bus tickets, which afforded a much-needed and welcome sleep opportunity. Jet lag is rough. And we made it to Bath. It was different than what I expected-- I had envisioned a small, quaint village, but it was a bustling tourist hub. It still wreaked of Austenesque Enlish charm. Mom and I caught our tourbus to Stone Henge and enjoyed a narrated guide of the English countryside. Stone Henge is amazing. Seeing it is awe-inspiring (and might I add conspiracy theory inducing). Our tour also took us to Lacock Village where BBC's Pride & Prejudice was filmed as well as parts of the Harry Potter movies. I saw the house where Harry's parents were killed with my own eyes. My one regret about Bath is that I did not get to see the Royal Crescent or the Jane Austen visitor center. Guess that means I will just have to go back someday, right?

Day 3: Sunday in London. Zan, mom, and I enjoyed a walk through Kensington gardens on the way to church. The ward is located just south of the park. After church, we checked out the Vitorian and Albert museum conveniently located just south of the church and were amazed at the collection of furniture, tapestries, jewels, and artwork. I love museums.

Day 4: Zan & Lydia joined us for a great boat trip down the Thames to Greenwich. Even though it's a river, the Thames is a big character in several Dickens stories so I was excited to spend some quality time on it. The Thames really has been a lifebood throughout London's history, so there are many amazing and notable sites that can be seen on its shores. Greenwich is also a great location. I stood in two hemispheres at the same time on the Prime Meridian. I also loved the observatory view, Maritime museum, and olde-time candy shop. Oh yeah, and the meringue cookie that was as big as my head.

Day 5: The thought of flying over the ocean didn't thrill me, but neither did passing through an underwater tunnel, but I did. Mom and I took the Chunnel to Paris. This was mom's dream. I have to admit that I was fairly apprehensive about visiting France because of the stories I had heard about Parisians hating American tourists and because I knew exactly two French phrases (au revoir and bonjour). I guess three if you count the French lesson from Friends (je m'appelle Claude-- that would get you far!) :) But I was pleasantly surprised. The French people we intereacted with were all so patient, friendly, and helpful, even though we acted like silly Americans, I'm sure. My favorite thing was whenever we told a Parisian we were from Utah, so many of them replied, "oh yeah, I've been there before when I went to Las Vegas" I find it hilarious that Utah is a stop on the world tour trip to Vegas.

Day 6: Paris site-seeing. First stop had to be the Eiffel tower. When we were on the subway, I remember asking my mom if she thought the real one would be bigger than the Las Vegas version. Um, definite affirmative. Much bigger. We also saw Notre Dame, various [incredibly]old churches, botanical gardens, and the Louvre. Now one of my aims in this Europe trip was to see as many things on the 'Things to See Before I Die' list from my AP Art History class. I even lugged my notebook half way around the world. My funny Louvre story is that as I was intently focused on my map in the midst of Babylonian artifacts, I heard someone call my name. I look up and who should it be, but my fellow MPA'er, Heather Pack! Yeah, seriously, running into a familiar face in Paris-- Provo is a small world even outside of Provo.

Day 7: What is the best way to truly experience the French culture? I would argue watching Disney Channel in French. No, not really, but Mom and I took a much-needed morning of relaxation and slept in/lounged that morning. From French tv, I learned that two American things are bigger in France than they are in America: Hannah Montana and Obama. After checking out, we explored the area along Champs Elysees. We found a fantastic market and had a little French feast picnic with every quintessential French food we could find (quiche, cordon bleu, baguette, brie). We walked down the high-end fashion street, saw the Tour de France finish line, and gawked at the Paris Opera House before catching our return Chunnel ride. For the record, if you ever take the chunnel, it's so worth the extra 10 euros to upgrade the class. We did it only because they were the only tickets left, but wow, the ride was so much better.

Day 8: Tour of the Tower of London. One of the most haunted places as well the home of the royal jewels. Those were spectacular. We tried a traditional Enlgish meal of ale pie with mush peas. Surprisingly tasty. We squeezed in some last minute London sites like the Globe Theater, St. Paul's Cathedral (my fav-- I love Bernini's style), and a walk across the Millenium Bridge. When Ben was off work, we headed to Heathrow to pick up our rental car and drove to the Cotswolds. I didn't drive, but it was still an experience. Thanks to Ben's expert driving and the constant GPS reminder to stay on the left side of the road, we made it to our Bed & Breakfast.

Day 9: Awoke to a traditional Enlgish breakfast. Delicious, but it took me a minute to get over the fact they served baked beans for breakfast. I was not adventurous enough to try the "black pudding." We explored several Cotswolds villages with Rick Steves' writings as our guide. This was my favorite part of the trip. The Cotswolds is an area of villages that were once fluorishing wool industry cities. They are classically English. It was a lovely day with great walks, antique shopping, and another visit to an olde-time candy store. After the best day of the trip, we made the drive back to London.

Day 10: Mom and I were incredibly lucky to have the opening of the Buckingham Palace state rooms opening coincide with our last day in London. We were all over that. We had a fabulous experience touring the mews (where they keep the carriages and horses), Queen's gallery, and parts of Buckingham Palace. No photography was allowed in the palace, but just know that it is ornately spectacular. We celebrated with one last Cornish Pasty (favorite food in London) and stocked up on digestives before making our last Tube trip back to Heathrow and a flight back to Newark then on to Salt Lake.

Afterthoughts: I realized I'm wearing the same hoodie in like every picture. Nice. Mom and I went to London totally expecting warm summer weather. This just is not the reality. London is cold. And so rainy. While I remembered my umbrella, I impressively left my jacket on the driveway in Utah as I was rushing to get to the airport. Luckily Mom took two jackets on account of her propensity to always be cold. Thankfully she let me use one since I literally hadn't even packed a long sleeve shirt. Learn from my experience and when going to London, take warm clothes, even in July.

Ode to a Miracle Product

How miraculous, you ask? Miraculous enough that I am taking my break between class and homework to share my news with you-- even after realizing I still haven't posted my summer trip pictures yet!

The story begins last weekend when I had a finger nail polish disaster. Disaster is an understatement because you're likely envisioning knocking over an open bottle. It was a fiasco. I'm talking I went to shake the bottle, but the lid was not screwed on, so nearly half the bottle flew out in a long stream of dark, dark purple/red. All over me, clothes, table, and the carpet (shhhh). In a panic, I tried the age-old trick of finger nail polish remover, but it really did nothing except smear the problem.

I turned to the internet for help and found a forum post about a product called Motsenbocker's Lift Off #3. It's usually available at hardware stores, so I looked up the closing time of Lowe's and was relieved I had 20 minutes before closing (for future reference, it closes at 10:00). I rushed there. No luck. Rushed to Wal-Mart. Again, no luck. My last chance was Home Depot, but it was closed by then, so I went there Monday after class and finally had some good luck-- they had it.

As summed by the title, it's a miracle in a bottle. It took the smeary mess right out of the carpet. The jury's still out on my jeans, but I'll let you know the results.

So here's to you, Motsenbocker! Thanks for a great product.

Why Didn't I Think of That?!?

First day of school and I'm avoiding homework and work by blogsurfing.... I'm just proud to be able to say it's not Facebook Tetris-- that addiction is so last year :) Anyway, whilst checking friends' blogs, I had on of those "No. Way. moments."

As a preface, for several of my former roommates or friends who hung out at my parents house while in high school, you may recall a mildly strange/bizarre habit I had/have of playing in melted candle wax. When I moved to BYU and my roommate, Amy, had a candle warmer, I thought I'd died and gone to heaven-- an invention that provides greater access to melted wax without the pesky, burning flame getting in the way!

Anyway, back to the story, Stephane's post includes a trip to San Antonio and a trip to (duh nuh nuh nuh) a place where you go to make wax molds of your hands!!! Seriously, why did I never think of the business opportunities stemming from my favorite pasttime?!

Now I have just one question: who wants to go on a roadtrip to San Antonio to fulfill with me a life dream I never knew I had? :)

Hold On To Your Seats...

This is going to be a whirlwind.... lots of catch up, but I gotta get through this to get to my favorite post :)

* Made it to the half-way point in grad school! Amazing how fast it goes. One more year to go...

* At the end of the semester, I participated in the Utah City Managers Association case competition. UCMA releases the case, your team has two weeks to do a crazy amount of work and prep and you present to the case Board and other city managers. The BYU MPA team was amazing! Lots of collaboration and contribution and the happy news....

We brought home the trophy!

* June brings graduation and my youngest sister Natalie made that big leap out of compulsory education. For the family party, I wanted to make cupcakes. I don't get creative bouts very often, but I love how they turned out. I felt like Rachel, Suzannah, and Martha Stewart all in one (these are the domestic divas I look to in my life)

* Memorial Day (guess that's out of order as May precedes June, oh well). I made a last minute trip to Vegas with my mom and Michelle. The purpose of the trip: get away for the long weekend, but primarily to see The Lion King which just opened at Mandalay Bay. It is spectacular! I'm also happy to report that I no longer hate Las Vegas-- it's growing on me.
* June also brought a visit from Grandma and Grandpa Selin. Someday I may learn my lesson that when Grandma is town, stay away from the Quilt Shops-- better for my time schedule and bank account. However, this was not that day. I went intending to find some cute flannels, and instead fell in love (again) with a new Moda line.... and a pattern. Seriously though, I love quilting with Grandma. I love learning from the best. Here's my quilt top (still needs a red border-- I'll get to it someday)

* Summer brings internships. I have been interning for the State at the Division of Housing and Community Development. I have certainly learned a lot about affordable housing initiatives and assistance programs the State provides. I will have to post later about the many lessons I've learned. I also continue to do administrative assistant work, too. With everything that's happened this summer in Utah politics, it's definitely been exciting.

Tribute to my Grandpa

I know I have a whole lot of catching up to do, but most importantly right now, I want to pay tribute to my Grandpa Ossmen who passed away Monday night. At President Hinckley's funeral, I remember one of his daughters saying that her dad was a pretty cute old man. I have to say the same for my Grandpa. He was a remarkable person. I see his immense strength in the fact that he lost all of his family by the time he was 24, yet went on to be happy and successful. I think as a result of this, family was everything to him and over the last week especially, I've realized just how close my extended family is. We are a great support for one another-- something I think is directly attributable to my grandparents. I admire him for hanging in there so long to take care of my Grandma. My favorite pictures of Grandpa are the ones when my grandparents were dating and in so many he is looking so lovingly at my Grandma. My Grandpa was a great example of love, service, great work ethic and had a strong testimony of prayer and tithing.


I am grateful for the support Grandpa was to me as he and Grandma were there at every piano recital, every singing group performance, graduations, and school programs. He was also so encouraging of me in my education (my fellow Cougar fan!!). My favorite memories will always be of our great family parties and Grandpa reading the Bible Christmas story every Christmas Eve. I'll also always remember when I was about 6 years old and he said I was stubborn. In my 6-year-old mind, I thought this was like calling someone a bad name and took offense (thus exhibiting said stubborness). Now as I look back, I like to think my stubborness came, at least in part, from Grandpa :) We're just strong-willed. Grandpa, I love you and will miss you, but am so happy for the opportunity you have to be reunited with your parents and brother.

Catching Up on my Life

So I'm doing a little catch up. What else is new? Since my last post...

I survived my first semester of grad school! Hooray! I'm told continually that the first semester is the hardest, so it feels like an accomplishment it's done. This semester I had the privilege to be part of team Trofast (shout out, guys). Sadly I don't have any pictures-- actually I'm realizing I really do not have pictures of anything from last semester-- guess I didn't do very well taking my camera with me. Anyway, it was a great team and while we had our rough patches, we made it through. And what's more, we aced our final Econ project! (if you had told me that was going to happen earlier this semester, I NEVER would have believed you) Other memorable projects were taking pictures for our "Junior's Day" montage and hammering out our IHC project-- both of them-- literally right before it was due. I think more than our academic conquests, I will more likely remember the fun meetings in the "bat cave" (Scott's basement) and being inducted as "one of the guys"-- I didn't grow up with brothers, so that was an adventure! I'll also remember the hilarity that was Scott's stories... that made me laugh uncontrollably :)

The holidays were wondeful. And welcome breaks from school. Thanksgiving I spent with my mom's family. I painted a picture of a turkey for a game of 'pin the feather on the turkey.' I wish I had a picture of it... oh well. That did make me decide I need more creative outlet projects as I really enjoyed painting it and loved my little Tom Turkey. Christmas break was even better because I didn't have to worry about final projects. I also have no pictures of Christmas Day. None. Seriously, that's slacking. Early Christmas morning I helped with a service project with my family and we got home, spent about an hour opening presents and all went back to bed. This year does mark a milestone in my life-- the first year my mom did not videotape my sisters and me coming down the stairs on Christmas morning to see what Santa brought us. For the record, I'm 22 years old.

I saw another musical! The Light in the Piazza at Pioneer Theater Company. It was wonderful and had such beautiful music. It definitely made me want to go to Italy! I had looked at show tickets for about two weeks. Then the second to last day of finals, I looked again, saw five fantastic seats (one for each of my family) available, bought them, studied/learned everything for my last final, packed for Christmas break, took my last final, got the best score of all my finals, and made it to Salt Lake-- all in the space of five hours! Seriously, I was impressed myself :)

So I'm now two weeks into a new semester. I was sitting in class last week and felt really excited about what I was learning. You know, that feeling where you're learning something that's not particularly exciting (in my case it was performance measurement) but it just makes you happy inside because in some weird way, it's like the coolest thing you've ever learned. I realized it had been a long time since I felt like that. So I'm happy to be in classes again that I can get excited about.

I'm looking forward to the start of a new Legislative session where I get to help again (seriously, has it been a year already?!). I'm also looking forward to days of warmth. Anyone else sick of winter? I know we're barely half way through January, but really, I'm ready for spring :)

What a Ride!!

It's Thursday night and I feel the most relaxed I have literally for weeks! I have a few pending assignments, but no pressing deadlines-- which hasn't happened since the beginning of October. I'm enjoying the break. I know another reason for my relative stress-free time is that elections are over!! Since interning at the Utah Legislature, I have worked for Rep. Greg Hughes doing administrative stuff; it has been a great few-hours-per-week job-- until the beginning of this month when trumped up ethics charges were brought against him (as an aside, I now think of the word "ethics" as profanity-- I seriously hate that word). Since the middle of October, this election has all but consumed my life. I don't know what I thought campaigning was, but I assure you it isn't what I've been doing for the past couple weeks. As a little glimpse, I have:

- Hand-addressed around 600 envelopes
- Stickered around 1,500 door hangers
- Walked 5 neighborhoods
- Stuffed and stamped hundreds of letters
- Gone 42 hours with getting only two hours of sleep (thank goodness for Diet Coke)
- Worked out of the back of a truck in a parking lot in West Valley at night to continue stuffing and stamping letters to be handed to the post man as he’s walking to the door so they would go out the next day (that was actually an adventure I will never forget…)

And I assure you my efforts significantly pale in comparison to those of many. Needless to say, this campaign has been a whirlwind education. I am so grateful for the opportunity, however. I met and worked with so many truly great people. I learned so much about what goes into a campaign-- both the good and bad. I gained a sincere appreciation for anyone who is willing to put their neck on the line and run for office. While it's been a great experience, I am glad it's over. It was nerve-racking on election night as we watched the numbers come in, but also the sweetest victory as we saw that all of that work payed off!!

Update

I will make this a combination of things I've been meaning to post on. First of all, I need to get this tag thing done that Linz made me do. It's actually been sitting in my email since I wrote it up during my summer job, but the one time I tried to post it, my computer literally died right before I went to hit the 'post' button. So here it is: (btw, these survey things are my favorite... yeah, not so much)

Joys:
(1) Learning. Be it by reading, lectures, travel, experience, example, personal relationships—I find learning invigorating and I love it.
(2) Nature. Especially looking at the stars. Which actually reminds me of a funny memory... looking at stars for Linz's astronomy(?) project at Rock Canyon Park and almost being run over by a giant tractor tire... sorry for the tangent, but good times :)
(3) Nielsen's Frozen Custard. If you haven't ever tried it, it is a must before you die. I recommend a concrete with cherries and almonds, but that's just a personal preference-- anything you choose would be delicious.

Fears:
(1) Failure. I would guess that this is not a unique fear, but succeeding and approval from others I think is one of my most motivating factors.
(2) Aliens. I have still never seen the movie ET because it freaks me out. Stories, shows, and movies involving extra terrestrials give me nightmares and still make it so that I have to fall asleep on my back so that I'll be able to see anything that could attack or something.
(3) Driving on Mountian Roads. When roads have a steep drop off to one side, I always feel like the car is going to fall off and roll down the mountain. Needless to say, I like it when DOT puts up guardrails.

Goals:
(1) Make it through grad school. While I am absolutely loving the MPA program so far, it is getting a lot more rigorous and crazy.
(2) To travel to all 50 United States. I think I've been to about 25 so far... so I'm like half way there.
(3) I have a terrible habit of always twirting my hair or playing with my earrings. I think it's becasue I always need to be fidgeting with something... but it is my goal to stop.

Obessions/Collections:
(1) Organization. Those who have lived with me will attest to this. I love organizing and getting rid of stuff—even other peoples' stuff. When I was in high school I semi-dreamed of being employed by the tv show Clean Sweep.
(2) Okay, I'll admit it. I love literary period dramas (usually BBC). Jane Austen, Elizabeth Gaskell, Charles Dickens, George Eliot—I love them all. It may be my feminine sensibilities shining through, but who wouldn't love great entertainment filled with romance, intrigues, and subtle (or not so subtle) critiques of social problems?
(3) I don't really have collections of anything [see first Obsession], but I guess you could say I collect charms as that's often what I buy from the places I visit to add to a charm bracelet my grandma gave me years ago.

Surprising Facts:
(1) I am not an outwardly confrontational person, in fact I generally avoid confrontation. But by nature I think I am very argumentative. While I don't usually don't engage in outward confrontation, inside my head is an entirely different story: I am always formulating debates, analyzing arguments, and rethinking conversations.
(2) I'm addicted to talk/news radio. I have been ever since I discovered the amazing radio feature on iTunes where you can listen to radio stations from all over the country. My favorite is the Washington Post channel. I'm not sure it's entirely helpful to hear the traffic reports from the beltway, but I love it!
(3) My latest topic of research has been food storage and survival. I have been reading a series of books, The Great and Terrible, that tell a story of the last days and some actually very plausible things that could happen in the US. The thing it makes me think of the most is how I would be prepared for such a situation. So if the US is ever attacked and terrorists knock out all power and computers in the country, stick with me. I can build a solar water still to purify drinking water cuz I learned how to by watching videos on YouTube :)

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The other thing I want to post about is my birthday. I know it was a little over a month ago, but look at this amazing cake Linz made for me. It's a fire! Seriously, how cool is that?!

July!!

Finally! Yep, I know that's just what went through your mind :) I finally updated my blog-- but would like to point out, I'm still within the once-a-month range :) It has been a very busy summer, so I'll list some of the highlights:

1. First time in Vegas! Went with my family for the 4th of July and to see the musical, Jersey Boys (absolutely loved it!). It was hot! (110 degrees). The first night, I wasn't in the best mood and didn't like the city. I believe the thought that was going through my head was, "great, a homage to gambling, sex, and alcohol-- just what this world needs." The next night when I wasn't so hungry, tired, and ornery, it was a lot better. However, I decided it is a good thing I don't live in Vegas because I believe I have the potential to be a slot machine addict-- I had a fun late night with my mom. This also brings me to the 4th of July-- the best holiday of the year!! We decided not to stay in Vegas-- too hot and way too many people. We ended up in Cedar City at the Shakespearean Festival and instead of watching fireworks, enjoyed a great rendition of Taming of the Shrew. The play was great, but just not the same to celebrate the 4th with the Bard as to watch great fireworks.

2. I started a salsa class! As in the dance, not the Mexican condiment. It's been a lot of fun and while this is my first attempt at learning dance, I feel like I'm gradually getting the hang of it. When I move back to Provo in a month, I'm hoping to find a place that teaches lessons and/or just has a fun place to do salsa. If you know of any, let me know.

3. Also began an LSAT prep class. Law school has been a dream/goal since I was in high school, so I'm taking the beginning steps to get there. I don't know exactly what the future will bring, but I'll be able to say I don't have any regrets that I didn't try. And I love my class! It's a lot of fun and i actually look forward to it during the week! My favorite sections right now are the games and reading comp. sections. Over the past few weeks, I've been doing better and hopefully will continue to do so as I'm working to get faster.

4. The movie, Mamma Mia! came out last week! Listing this as a highlight of my summer may justify my obsession with Broadway shows. But this has been one of my favorite shows since I saw it in high school, so I was very excited. I must say, they did a good job. A lot of fun and if you like the music of Abba, I would totally recommend it!

5. I've also been on somewhat of a craft/cooking-spree lately. While surfing the links on Rachel's blog one day at my highly productive job, I found a pattern for the cutest baby dress. I immediately wanted to make it and luckily have one friend, Suzannah, who has a newborn baby girl. Luckily Lydia is still small enough that the pattern fits and she is adorable! This is a picture of how the dress turned out. There are a lot of other little projects and recipes that I found and would love to do-- if I get to them, I'll post more pictures.

Back for a Utah Summer!

This weekend I went on a YSA camping trip at the Heber YW camp. It was a fabulous time. There was a campfire and I learned a new pyro trick using corn starch-- enough said, it was a good time :) Saturday morning, however, we woke up to this:
The bottom picture say "June 6." It was good packing snow, not good write-with-your-finger-in-it snow. Ahh, Utah weather!

GRADUATION!!!

Thursday and Friday of this past weeek were graduation!! And I'm thrilled! I ran into a friend after Commencement who told me I haven't bee n a student for like a year; I told him I was a full-fledged student up until Tuesday when I found out I passed my Indepent Study class from hell. But it's done, yay! It felt great-- as I was sitting through the ceremony I was remembering how high school graduation didn't really feel like a big deal and realized this graduation felt a lot more significant. I feel like I'm glutton for punishment as I'm heading back in the Fall, but for the summer at least, I'm relishing in the feeling of no homework/papers/exams/whatever!




The classic BYU grad shot










Beautiful flowers sent by my grandparents in Atlanta who weren't able to make it out to Utah.

All's Well in the World

So I feel like all's well in the world again because I have a set direction and life plan for for the next little while. Yesterday I found out I was accepted to the BYU MPA program. It was a little nerve racking because I got an email from the Marriott School saying I should have received a message regarding my application status, but I hadn't. So I called the program advisor who told me this is going to be really anticlimactic, but they will send a letter saying 'congratulations, you're accepted' tomorrow. Oh well, I was just glad to find out because it's been like Limbo waiting for the past month. And I get to return back to my home sweet home, the Tanner Building. Yay!

New Beginning

As I type I am sitting in the Utah State Capitol on the last night of the session (and therefore my internship). It's been an 18 hour day, so I'm exhausted, but thoroughly grateful for the experience I've had working here. I'm also amazed at how quickly 45 days passes! I think more than anything, working at the Capitol has reaffirmed my love for government. I find the legislative process utterly amazing-- and even more amazing that bills are passed through and governmental progress is made. I've had more insight into the process of law making than I could have imagined, and it's incredible. I feel sad that just as I feel like I'm getting the hang of working here, it's over. But that's how most things are, I guess.

As this experience ends, I'm also pretty reluctant to realize that this is it. This is the final part of my undergradute experience and that feels really strange to think I'm done. It's kind of like in two hours I will enter the "real world" -- (though I always hated when my professors used that phrase in classes). I'm sure it's no different than a birthday when you wake up and are another year older, but don't feel significantly different. Regardless, it's the turning of a page in life. So tomorrow begins a new stage (...ie looking for a job... joy).

[isn't the Capitol beautiful?-- picture is of the rotunda]

Update for the New Year

So I happened upon Ashley's comment a few days ago, and it's true, this update is *shamefully* overdue. It even took me a while to remember how to make a new post (I know, bad). But a quick summary since the last post: I stayed on at my internship over the summer at the Dept. of Ag in DC which was so great! My biggest feat there was getting the signatures of 13 ageny heads on a project-- while it seems relatively simple, that was by far the hardest thing in my eight months there. I traveled to the Hill Cummorah Pageant in Palmyra, New York City when my sisters visited me in DC, Boston to visit friends and ended up having a fantastic side excursion to Maine, and Atlanta to visit my family there. I then came back to Utah to finish my last semester of classes at BYU and had a crazy busy, but great time. Overall, 2007 was an utterly fantastic year! Last week I quit my job at Independent Study a day early (extreme happiness for me!) and my mom, sister, and I went up to Rexburg to go through the temple open house (picture). It was absolute beautiful! I've since moved back home (still adjusting) and I'm looking forward to an internship at the Utah State Legislature starting later this month... I'll for sure post pictures from that!

The Big Easy

In May I got to go on my first ever businesss trip to New Orleans. I went down with a group of co-workers for a couple days of conferences at the National Finance Center. It was such a great learning
experience as well as fun to see the city and try the fantastic food they have there! These are some sites from Canal Street, where we stayed. One of the most interesting things to see down there was the damage that is still there from Katrina. Driving on the highway, you can still see devastated neighborhoods that are uninhabited. They're like modern ghost towns-- it's very weird. On the drive home one day, we saw a neighborhood that flooded just from one afternoon of rain; it was a very humbling sight.

These are some sites from the famous French Quarter. St. Louis Cathedral with Jefferson Square in the foreground and an example of classic New Orleans architecture. The Quarter was a really cool place to see with all the shops and restaurants. I didn't dare wander down Bourbon Street by myself, but the rest of the Quarter that I saw was very neat.

Home Again, Home Again

I was able to make it home for a few days to visit people and take care of some business at school. It was a quick trip, but wondeful to be home :) I was lucky to be home the same weekend as my friend Charlotte's farewell talk in her student ward. After her talk, I wet to see Temple Square and the flowers were so beautiful.

Probably the highlight and my favorite... fire in Provo Canyon. We built that baby with no lighter fluid!! I picked up a few skills at Girls' Camp :)

Barlowites in Provo. From the look of my face, Aaron just said something incredibly shocking and D Scott either ate something sour or just hates the flash. Lindy's thinking hard about the roasting job she's about to attempt :)
Aww, keeping warm
An attrocity of the worst kind... cinnamon bears are better than that.
I like to call this 'el disgustingo.' Combination s'more, roasted cinnamon bear, and Starburst. Proud of ya, Stephane.

Whirlwind Tour of the East Coast

At the end of April, my mom came to pick me up in DC after my internship ended (well for the semester anyway, as I'm now continuing it through the summer). We had a wonderful time seeing the sites of the East from the fields of Amish country and Palmyra to the opposite end of the spectrum, NYC. The monuments of the National Mall by night... stunning.

Our next stop was Lancaster, PA, home of the Amish.
Monday must be wash day; there were lines of clothes everywhere that made for colorful displays of traditional Amish colors.
We enjoyed a nice ride on part of the beautifully restored Pennsylania Railroad.

My mom in our Amish buggy ride (and our guide who was so adorable)
Couldn't pass up a tour of "Chocolate World" in Hershey, PA!
Beautiful Niagara Falls, still with a lot of ice. Also my first time setting foot outside of the US (I'm on the Canada side here, quite exciting!)

We also made a stop in Palmyra, NY to see the church history sites. What a wonderfully amazing place!
Me and my mom in the Whitmer cabin, where the first meeting of the Church was held. It's amazing to think that room is where it all started.
Umm, yes, we're in NYC and this is what we do for hours... gawk at the American Girl Doll store. Yes, I'm 20; yes I had to wait in a line of 8 year olds to get my picture taken; and yes, I bought a new dress for my doll... which she looks pretty darn cute in, if I do say so myself.
Love of my life, Broadway. We were able to see Disney's production of Tarzan and it was amazing!! Needless to say, I loved every minute!