What's the perfect way to spend a Sunday afternoon? A picnic in the park, of course! Chicken salad sandwiches (or wraps), pasta salad, chips and salsa, grapes, and brownies. Beautiful.
Sunday, May 20, 2012
Friday, May 18, 2012
The Blog- Forgotten Friend
Don't go judging me now! I haven't actually forgotten any friends. But a few have gone unmentioned on my blog in quite a while. A year and a half ago I didn't write a post without talking about Whitney...now I don't remember the last time she was a part of this blog. You're time has come, Whitnast!
Even though it's not stated quite as often, I still love this girl more than blogposts can say. She's one of my best friends!! Don't take this the wrong way, but I need to hurry up and get married so I can see her again! Weddings do wonderful things for long distance friendships :) Alas, if I don't get married soon (which is also perfectly okay by me) I think I'm going to try and find an internship in Mesa for the winter so I can be near her. It would be the best winter ever. Well, maybe not as cool as living in Peru, but a close second.
I'm so happy she's happy. Even if we don't ever get to live near each other again we're planning on having neighboring mansions in heaven. Maybe we'll share a backyard and have barbecues every Saturday. (Are there days of the week in heaven?) We're also planning on watching our life movies. Especially the funny and embarrassing times that we shared. It's going to be one big party! As great as heaven will be with this girl, I'm pretty happy with earth-life...even if I don't get to see her as often as I wish.
Here's a few pictures to remember the good times :)
Oh, and here's a few links to some of the better blogs about our adventures:
My Trip to Seattle
A Shower Surprise
Awkward Moments
Whit's Wedding
I'm so happy she's happy. Even if we don't ever get to live near each other again we're planning on having neighboring mansions in heaven. Maybe we'll share a backyard and have barbecues every Saturday. (Are there days of the week in heaven?) We're also planning on watching our life movies. Especially the funny and embarrassing times that we shared. It's going to be one big party! As great as heaven will be with this girl, I'm pretty happy with earth-life...even if I don't get to see her as often as I wish.
Here's a few pictures to remember the good times :)
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| Whitney's wedding in Mesa. |
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| Rehearsing for the talent show. |
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| Baking...what brought us together. |
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| I liked to wear her glasses... |
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| Trying to be each other in a picture. |
My Trip to Seattle
A Shower Surprise
Awkward Moments
Whit's Wedding
Monday, May 14, 2012
Perunion
One month after separating from my Peru buddies, we were finally reunited!! Sunday consisted of going to Breet's ward, having a picnic up by the temple, visiting some of Noelle's old friends, and having a Rust family dinner. Oh, it was a great Sunday!
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| Our picnic view. |
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| Disappearing chaco lines :( |
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Confectionery Midterm
This looked so much better in person...the lighting is really weird in the pictures. The base is made of candied orange peel held together by pulled sugar with a sugar cage glued on top by more sugar. Inside are caramel hazelnut truffles covered in colored white chocolate. Pulled sugar curl on the side.
Sadly, right after these pictures were taken, part of the sugar cage broke. I guess things like this are meant to be enjoyed and then destroyed!
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Candied Orange Peel
I know you all have missed my food blogs. Heck, I've missed food blogs. So here we go. This semester I'm in a class entitled "Confectionery" and it's a blast! I LOVE learning how to make truffles and caramel and all sorts of deliciousness. The only problem is....I'm TERRIBLE at it. I have not had a SINGLE thing turn out the first time I've made it. It's kind of a downer haha And it's even more stressful because it's just a block class, so I have to do all the work in half the time. But at least it's fun :) Here's a recipe for an easy (although slightly time consuming) treat.
Candied Orange Peel
2-3 thick skinned oranges
3 cups sugar
1 1/2 TBSP orange extract
1/2 TBSP water
1) Cut the ends off the oranges and then cut into eight slices
2) Cut the center part out of the orange, leaving about 1/2 inch attached to the skin.
3) Cut the chunks into thin strips and put in large pot of water.
4) Cook over medium heat and bring to a boil for five minutes. Strain, and then repeat twice more with cold water.
5) After third boil, strain oranges and peel off anything still attached to the skins.
6) Put the skins in a large skillet. Add 1 1/2 cups sugar, extract and water. Mix well.
7) Cook over low heat for about an hour.
8) While cooking, prepare a pan or sheet of waxed paper with other 1 1/2 cups of sugar. When peel is done cooking, pour onto sugar and mix around, separating the peel individually. Lay on waxed paper to cool.
9) Optional: Dip ends in chocolate...which is never a bad idea.
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| This pic stolen off the internet...all others are mine. |
ENJOY :)
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Promoted
Well, a long time ago I promised a post about my new job...I'm sick of studying for the night (but still kind of want to hear what song the library will play to kick me out in 20 minutes) so it seemed like the perfect time!
As you probably know, I've been an employee at the BYUI Admissions Office since Fall '09 and it's been a HUGE blessing in my life. Not only am I able to bring in some dough, but I've also met some fantastic people who happen to be some of my best friends, and I have a whole family while I'm at school. I love how well everyone gets along and how the adults in the office (okay, we're all technically adults so I mean the non-students) are so friendly and willing to listen to us and joke with us. Enough about that though. I have whole other blog posts about it. This one is about my new job.
Until this semester I worked at the front desk. This entailed giving tours to prospective students and manning the phones. I answered general questions about application types, deadlines and the like. When people had unusual circumstances or I didn't really understand their question, I would transfer them right over to one of the counselors. Well, you guessed it...I can no longer transfer the calls as I am now one of the ones receiving the hard calls with no good answer.
Now, I deal with all students who are looking for an exception to university policy. Sometimes they have legitimate reasons and sometimes...not so much. I get to listen to the student's side of the story and hear out their situation. If they submit an appeal, I represent them in the appeals committee and present their case. This committee is basically all of the full-time admissions counselors. One of them was talking to us the other day about how cool it is that we get to be a part of that committee. And it really is! I've only gone once so far and I won't lie, it's intimidating. After hearing the case, we get to vote on the appeal and I have just as much of a vote as anyone else in that room. That's big time pressure!!!
Most of my time is spent receiving appeals and talking with students and/ or their parents on the phone trying to figure out the best options for their situation. The hardest part of the job is when you want to help someone, and you just can't. There just aren't good options for them. Or, if you have to tell someone their appeal wasn't approved, or that they were denied to the school, or that they can't come back to school for whatever reason. It kind of sucks, to put it lightly. I don't enjoy being the bearer of bad news.
Sometimes it gets a little chaotic. We are talking to people who walk into the office, taking phone calls, live chatting online, and answering emails. When there's a lot going on it's hard to remember each person's story and give everyone the attention they need. I feel bad when I neglect a live chat because I get a phone call. Some people are really good at doing both but I canNOT focus on two situations at once and try to type one thing while listening and absorbing another on the phone. It just isn't going to happen.
The transition isn't as hard as I was initially expecting it to be. I still double and triple check what I have to do because I don't want to be the one to ruin someone's chances for BYUI, but I'm getting the hang of it. I'm sure that in a few...months, I'll be just as good as when I worked front desk! Oh, and I still give tours because they switched the tours from front desk to counseling last semester. I'm glad I don't have to give those up completely, but it is one more thing I have to worry about.
OH WAIT! One more thing. In a few months, when applications are being turned in at a higher rate, I might get to help process those and actually admit students to BYUI. My job just keeps getting cooler.
UPDATE!!! 5/9-- So today I actually was promoted!! Pay raise and everything :) I am now a "lead student." When I asked my boss what this meant he said he wasn't quite sure yet, but he'd find some stuff for me to do. Sounds good to me!
As you probably know, I've been an employee at the BYUI Admissions Office since Fall '09 and it's been a HUGE blessing in my life. Not only am I able to bring in some dough, but I've also met some fantastic people who happen to be some of my best friends, and I have a whole family while I'm at school. I love how well everyone gets along and how the adults in the office (okay, we're all technically adults so I mean the non-students) are so friendly and willing to listen to us and joke with us. Enough about that though. I have whole other blog posts about it. This one is about my new job.
Until this semester I worked at the front desk. This entailed giving tours to prospective students and manning the phones. I answered general questions about application types, deadlines and the like. When people had unusual circumstances or I didn't really understand their question, I would transfer them right over to one of the counselors. Well, you guessed it...I can no longer transfer the calls as I am now one of the ones receiving the hard calls with no good answer.
Now, I deal with all students who are looking for an exception to university policy. Sometimes they have legitimate reasons and sometimes...not so much. I get to listen to the student's side of the story and hear out their situation. If they submit an appeal, I represent them in the appeals committee and present their case. This committee is basically all of the full-time admissions counselors. One of them was talking to us the other day about how cool it is that we get to be a part of that committee. And it really is! I've only gone once so far and I won't lie, it's intimidating. After hearing the case, we get to vote on the appeal and I have just as much of a vote as anyone else in that room. That's big time pressure!!!
Most of my time is spent receiving appeals and talking with students and/ or their parents on the phone trying to figure out the best options for their situation. The hardest part of the job is when you want to help someone, and you just can't. There just aren't good options for them. Or, if you have to tell someone their appeal wasn't approved, or that they were denied to the school, or that they can't come back to school for whatever reason. It kind of sucks, to put it lightly. I don't enjoy being the bearer of bad news.
Sometimes it gets a little chaotic. We are talking to people who walk into the office, taking phone calls, live chatting online, and answering emails. When there's a lot going on it's hard to remember each person's story and give everyone the attention they need. I feel bad when I neglect a live chat because I get a phone call. Some people are really good at doing both but I canNOT focus on two situations at once and try to type one thing while listening and absorbing another on the phone. It just isn't going to happen.
The transition isn't as hard as I was initially expecting it to be. I still double and triple check what I have to do because I don't want to be the one to ruin someone's chances for BYUI, but I'm getting the hang of it. I'm sure that in a few...months, I'll be just as good as when I worked front desk! Oh, and I still give tours because they switched the tours from front desk to counseling last semester. I'm glad I don't have to give those up completely, but it is one more thing I have to worry about.
OH WAIT! One more thing. In a few months, when applications are being turned in at a higher rate, I might get to help process those and actually admit students to BYUI. My job just keeps getting cooler.
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| The Kimball building. My home for 15 hours each week. |
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| The inside...my office is down the stairs and on the right. |
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| I love BYUI! (And if you look reeeeally close, you can see Whitney and I at the bottom of the U) |
Saturday, May 5, 2012
I Hate Pretzels
I really should be doing homework right now. I'm already going to be up until midnight as it is. Why do I enjoy procrastinating so much? Well, this story needed to be told, so here goes.
While in Peru we attended a birthday party for the grandson of one of the ladies we worked with. As a gift, we printed out some pictures of the baby and mother to give them. In order to do this, we loaded pictures onto my flash drive and then took it to a shop in Cajamarca. The store owner charged me wayyyyy too much for the pictures and, as a result, Ricardo got into a little heated argument with him and told him we were never coming back to their store again. That's all great, except about a week later I realized I left my flashdrive at the store....crap. I figured it was long gone and the angry store owner probably snatched it for himself thinking "stupid American girl...muahahahahaha."
About six weeks passed and one day, while we were near the store in Cajamarca, I decided to go back to the store and check to see if, by some miracle, my flashdrive was still there. It has a few things on it that I really wanted, though nothing of so much importance I'd die without it. To my utter surprise, the store owner had kept my flashdrive for over a month hidden behind a picture frame in the store!!!! WOW. I was soooooooo happy to have that little thing back.
Fast forward to today.
I'm sitting in the library, grimacing about all the assignments I need to finish and tests I need to study for when I go to get my flashdrive out of the bottom of my backpack. Usually, I keep it in my purse, but sometimes I throw it in the front pocket since it's just as convenient. I go to slide it open and put it in the computer but it's stuck. It's usually a quick slide out but not even a strong push is doing anything. I take a look inside and see a few little salt grains. What the heck?! So I start shaking the flash drive, thinking that I can shake out a few grains and everything will be well. WRONG. I practically shuck out an entire salt shaker of salt! I got it to the point where I could slide it open and shut, but I could hear it grinding the grains inside. If I hold it up to my ear, I can hear salt flying up and down.
Where, you might ask, did this salt come from? I think it's from the pretzels I've been snacking on the past week. There must have been a hole in a bag one day and the salt all went and sat at the bottom of the pocket, right next to my flash drive. I must have sounded pretty funny to the computer help desk people when they asked what they could help me with....
So now I have to take it to a store in town and see if they can salvage any of my information. After all that I went through with it in Peru, a baggie of pretzels has to be it's downfall?!!?
My life is so awesome.
While in Peru we attended a birthday party for the grandson of one of the ladies we worked with. As a gift, we printed out some pictures of the baby and mother to give them. In order to do this, we loaded pictures onto my flash drive and then took it to a shop in Cajamarca. The store owner charged me wayyyyy too much for the pictures and, as a result, Ricardo got into a little heated argument with him and told him we were never coming back to their store again. That's all great, except about a week later I realized I left my flashdrive at the store....crap. I figured it was long gone and the angry store owner probably snatched it for himself thinking "stupid American girl...muahahahahaha."
About six weeks passed and one day, while we were near the store in Cajamarca, I decided to go back to the store and check to see if, by some miracle, my flashdrive was still there. It has a few things on it that I really wanted, though nothing of so much importance I'd die without it. To my utter surprise, the store owner had kept my flashdrive for over a month hidden behind a picture frame in the store!!!! WOW. I was soooooooo happy to have that little thing back.
Fast forward to today.
I'm sitting in the library, grimacing about all the assignments I need to finish and tests I need to study for when I go to get my flashdrive out of the bottom of my backpack. Usually, I keep it in my purse, but sometimes I throw it in the front pocket since it's just as convenient. I go to slide it open and put it in the computer but it's stuck. It's usually a quick slide out but not even a strong push is doing anything. I take a look inside and see a few little salt grains. What the heck?! So I start shaking the flash drive, thinking that I can shake out a few grains and everything will be well. WRONG. I practically shuck out an entire salt shaker of salt! I got it to the point where I could slide it open and shut, but I could hear it grinding the grains inside. If I hold it up to my ear, I can hear salt flying up and down.
Where, you might ask, did this salt come from? I think it's from the pretzels I've been snacking on the past week. There must have been a hole in a bag one day and the salt all went and sat at the bottom of the pocket, right next to my flash drive. I must have sounded pretty funny to the computer help desk people when they asked what they could help me with....
So now I have to take it to a store in town and see if they can salvage any of my information. After all that I went through with it in Peru, a baggie of pretzels has to be it's downfall?!!?
My life is so awesome.
Friday, May 4, 2012
Dating and Diamonds
Tonight I went on a roommate date with Brittany to a Diamond Rio concert. They were SPECTACULAR. They were spot on the entire time and I loved every minute of it. I did realize something though. I'm glad it was a roommate date and not a real date. I don't think I like real dates to concerts like that. Here's why. I'm not a screaming, jumping, excited person at concerts. I love them and I love listening to the music, but that's it. I'm perfectly content to sit in my seat quietly and listen. I don't care if other people want to scream and wave their arms, but I generally won't. I feel like when I go on real dates to concerts, they probably think I'm not having any fun...but I really am!...well, at least I'm probably enjoying the concert, no promise that I'm enjoying the boy :P
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| We had great seats! Well, as great as you can get in the bleacher section....they were against the wall. |
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