music.

Here's a list of all my favorite artists--one for each letter of the alphabet.

Allred (but Augustana is a close second)
The Beatles
Coldplay (also check out The Continentals--a local band)
Death Cab For Cutie
The Early November
Franz Ferdinand
Graham Coxon
The Hoosiers
Ingrid Michaelson
Josh Garrels (also check out Josh Wilsher--another local)
The Killers
Love You Long Time
Mae (with Muse a close second)
The New Pornographers (with Noah and the Whale a close second)
OK Go
The Posies
Quietdrive (eh...)
Regina Spektor (I think it's a tie between her and The Raconteurs)
Someone Still Loves You, Boris Yeltsin (tied with Sherwood)
Third Eye Blind
(No U)
Valencia
We Are Scientists (with We Shot the Moon a close second)
(No Y)
(No Z)

ten things.

Ten things I want to do in 2010...



1. Go on a road trip. I just want to go anywhere! I want to take pictures of things, people, and places! Right now, it sounds like the most exciting thing to me.

2. Be an EFY counselor! The best times of my summers when I was a teenager was going to EFY, and being a counselor is 10x better! I just love it! I really hope I get the job.

3. Learn to be a better cook. I love cooking, and I can cook basic meals, but I want to be better!

4. Serve. When I was homeschooled, my mom would take me and my siblings to the DI and we'd help out there, putting together hygeine kits and whatnot. It was so much fun. She really taught me to love to serve.

5. Become who I want to be. There are some things I want to change about myself for the better. I just need to learn to be myself!

6. Throw a huge party! Well, maybe not huge, but awesome! I've been coming up with all these good ideas for themed parties, and I need to start using them!

7. Do fun things in the summer, like ride bikes, go swimming, and go on hikes. In the winter, I always daydream about doing those things, but when summer actually comes around, I never do them!

8. Become a better photographer. I love love LOVE taking pictures, and I want to be better!

9. Go to Brynn's wedding. I adore her and her fiance. They're perfect for each other.

10. Broaden my

school started.

I hereby dubs this post a short one, because I need to go to bed soon to wake up for my 9 o'clock class tomorrow. So here goes!
School has started already, and today was the 5th day into the Spring semester. Already I've partially rearranged my schedule before classes started, and then dropped my Trigonometry class after the 2nd day when I realized, "Hey, I don't have the SLIGHTEST idea of what my professor is teaching! And... I'm already finished with all the required math for my major." Goodbye, trig. Best decision ever.
I'm currently taking 13 credits--four classes. I really want to take one more class, but I haven't found one yet that is required for my major, which is Photography (oh, the lovely art of light writing). Let's see, there's my Sociology class (which I already LOVE), Spanish (I made a new freshman friend in that class), Latin Dance (I need to get my sexy on), and Art History (the professor reminds me of a wacky librarian who paints for a living). I'm also taking two Institute classes: The last half of the Book of Mormon, and Dating & Courtship. I enjoy all my classes so far, which is weird, because I've never had that happen to me.
We got a new roommate just over a week ago. Her name is Lisa, and she is AWESOME! She is the ideal roommate. I just adore her. So much fun!
Today was a good day. From watching FailBlog videos on the guy's laptop in front of me in my Art History class, to watching The Bad Girl's Club, and various MTV shows while laughing at them with my roommates, to going to the library only to find out that we couldn't get a library card just yet, and instead looking at old year books that we found on the library's book shelves, today put sunshine into my heart! And that's what I like.

new year.

Happy New Year! With a new year comes a new post, and it's about time, isn't it?

Last night was celebrated at Erin's and Autumn's apartment (just the next building over!), playing loud games, eating way too much food, and, when the clock struck 12 o'clock, banging on pots and pans with giant spoons and throwing snow balls into the cold night air.

After we danced for the first time in 2010, Autumn, Kelsey, Skot, Sam, Asian Dave and I went back to my apartment and played card games until 4 o'clock in the morning, but not before Kory from downstairs came over and told us of how he went streaking just moments before.

This morning I woke up to an energized roommate named Kelsey jumping on top of me. I vaguely remember this, but I think I might have tackled her in between the wall and my own body. When I finally got out of bed at noon, I walked out into the living room and was sucked into the movie Mean Girls. When the movie was finished, I got ready for the day! About an hour later, it started to get dark (what the heck?!). The semi-dark, cloudy sky was looking amazingly beautiful when I went out to get the mail, so I decided to put on my coat and boots, grab my camera, and venture out into the chili, January air and take some night-time pictures. My first photo shoot of the year!




These past few days as I've been focusing on my New Year's Resolutions, I've decided to take it seriously. Not that I haven't taken my new year's resolutions seriously in the past, but I've decided to put a lot of thought into my goals this year. Here are some of the things I would like to do at this year.

• Continue the goal of saying my prayers and reading my scriptures every night, plus say my prayers every morning, too.
• Serve at least one person at least once a day.
• Buy a new book each week (I want to have a library full of books when I'm older!).
• Take more pictures.
• Smile more often.
• Write in my journal once a week, if not more.
• Become comfortable OUT of my shell.
• Live to develop a greater love of and gain a greater relationship with Heavenly Father, and strive to gain a testimony of His love for me.

We are constantly changing, whether we want to think we are or not. The new year gives us an opportunity to take control of how we change, and decide who we want to become. It's a time for gaining things that are necessary for our future growth, and putting away the things that have taught us in the past, that we no longer need to carry around anymore. But we will always keep the memories, no matter how many new years we live to see. And that's one thing I like to think life is about.

Happy 2010 everyone!