Eatting Out: Brick Oven

I'm interpreting the month long break from the blog as a sign that I have a lot of adventures, so many that I have very little time to tell you about them! In the spirit of Valentine's Day I've decided to wait to tell you about those and share one more in line with the holiday.

Last Friday, my valentine took me to the Brick Oven. During the week before Valentine's Day their 12" pizzas are heart shaped!

Our delicious, pepperoni-sausage-bell pepper, heart shaped pizza

I think they are darling! What a nice way to celebrate love! So if you have a valentine, or a few single friends you want to celebrate with, go to Brick Oven and get a heart shaped pizza! (While you're there, don't forget to try the root beer!)

Happy Valentine's Day!
Love,
Becca

Game Night: Liebrary

Friday morning I got a text from the PizzaPieCafe that offered a coupon for the new Express location on Freedom next to Yozone. Buy one pizza get one free. Perfect! All I needed was a reason to buy two pizza's. So I texted a lot my friends in Provo who I still have numbers for and about eight of them could make it. I went to get the pizza's (which was an adventure in and of itself, what did I expect in a college town for $2.50 a pizza). Let everyone know they could come over, and Liebrary soon entered my life.

My dear friend, and former roommate, Genevieve brought it along with her. Liebrary is pretty much like Balderdash. One person reads the title of a book and the author, then everyone else is supposed to write down the most convincing lie of what the first line to that book would be. The first person reads aloud everyone's first lines and the real first line of the book. Then you try to guess the real first line. Hilarity ensues. According to the rules the person who is it is supposed to read aloud the plot as well, but we tried that once and decided its way more fun to not know what the book is about.

These kind of games are super fun whether or not you know everyone else very well. I don't do so well with them, and the last three rounds I played all I could think about was baking cookies, so I did while everyone else finished the game. (Typical Becca.)

Once Liebrary was over I still wanted to play games, so we played a game called Signs which doesn't require anything other than yourself (those are sometimes the best games). Maybe if you come to my next game night I'll teach you how to play!

Eating Out: Carrabba's

After our looong drive up to Provo, my dad, Robert and I were all ready for food that didn't taste like we were on a road trip (no fast food) so we ended up at Carrabba's. If you've never eaten there, you are missing out. If you have been there before, why did you not tell me about this place?!

(I don't know where this is, but it's cheerier than the snow covered restaurant we went to)

Here's the break down: (Oh how I wish I had taken pictures of the food...)
We ordered Risotto Poppers for an appetizer (we were starving)
They give you bread with a yummy olive oil and herb dip
I got the soup of the day and I think the men got salads...(tehe)
THEN our food came...
Robert ordered the Chicken Bryan (with goat cheese, yummy!), which the waiter said was amazing and he was right.
Dad ordered the Penne Franco with Shrimp. It has artichoke hearts, which is usually the deciding factor (I <3 me some artichoke hearts)
BUT they had Pollo Rosa Maria (Stuffed with fontina and prosciutto, topped with mushrooms and a basil lemon butter sauce) DELICIOUS. Seriously.
We all tried each others dishes and exclaimed about how good everything was. I think mine was the best of the dishes.
If we weren't SO full of delicious food I probably would have asked my dad to get us dessert, next time for sure!

So for your future adventures Carrabba's would be a wonderful date. I would be super impressed if a boy took me there. It's on the pricey side, so I would refrain from going there a lot. It's definitely a special occasion place. Like when your parents are in town and they will pay for you! Buon appetito!

New Adventures

I'm back in Provo! Classes have started, I've already worked two shifts with concessions, I've played with some friends and I'm making plans to play with more (or trying to...). I'm sooo happy! I'm pretty sure I've been smiling since classes started because I HAVE THE BEST MAJOR EVER. Tuesday, in my first class we played Simon Says then talked about how people define leisure and what it means. That night in my Social Recreation class we played games and discussed how people play and socialize and how wholesome recreation brings people together. My Outdoors Leadership class plays a lot as well, and this semester we will go cross country skiing, scuba diving and camping!!! Seriously. This is my life.

I've decided I'm going to take a different twist on this blog. I am going to go have adventures in and around p-town. then I will blog about it so you can go and have those or similar adventures. I will keep it kind of journal-ly but mostly the stories here will be to tell you about fun adventures. Ready?!

Here's what this semester is going to look like...

SEVEN Classes (16.5 credits)

• Beginning Ballet (0.5)
• New Testament (2.0)
• Comparative Literature 202  (3.0)
• Outdoor Skills Leadership (2.0)
• Leisure in Contemporary Society (3.0)
• Social Recreation Leadership (3.0)
• Public & Not-for-Profit Finance (3.0)

15 Hours (max)/Week of Concessions

Disney Campus Rep Stuff

About 15 hours/week outside of sleeping and Sundays of none scheduled activities... (Oh, and finish the online history class I should have already finished...) Yes, I am a little bit crazy.

A rundown of my life in the last year is in the works... Because I know you CAN'T WAIT to hear all the stuff I wrote about in "some day". If you're lucky, maybe I'll add some fun facts...

Dear Provo

Are you ready to give this another shot? Maybe starting in January?

Love,
Becca

THE END

I left Provo on Wednesday.  I'm pretty sure forever.
The night before I left Susan and I went to get gelato like we did this summer, but our gelato shop was closed, so we went to the frozen yogurt place under Alpine Village. We had the best chat! We've both left Provo at this point, so it was really bittersweet. She's going to Spokane Washington on her mission and she reports to the mtc in February, so she'll be away from Provo till 2011. I on the other hand probably wont live in Provo again, whether or not I get my bachelors from BYU. But no worries Susan, we're going to be friends for a long, long time. You were exactly the kind of friend Heavenly Father knew I was going to need and I'm so glad we've been able to be there for each other!
Wednesday was a crazy day! I had most of my stuff packed up in boxes but still had my cleaning stuff to do. I got up three hours late and ended up failing my cleaning check (oops...). Then I had to sell my books back ($160!) and I made sure to grab a power bar because the last time I shipped all my stuff home I didn't eat anything until about 6 pm after running between my dorm and the bookstore all day (not good). When I got back to my apartment I had about half an hour to get all my stuff packed and into Kabria's car. Luckily my wonderful visiting teachers (Katie and Karissa) and our new Relief Society Pres (Jessica) came to my rescue! Jessica cleaned my refrigerator for me (Bless her soul)! And some boys came to help take my boxes to Kabria's car. Long story short I got all 6 of my boxes shipped and by the time I got to the airport I just barely made it through security and walked straight no to the plane. Ouff! It was pure insanity! And then I left Utah. Hello California!

4 more days

Not even four... 3.5.  Huzzah! I can't wait to get out of Provo!  I can't wait for the next part of my life to begin! Disney and then Pastry School!  Oh what a glorious feeling!  I was at a shin-dig last night sharing some tartlets and people loved them! I love making tartlets!  I love when people love the food I make! I love when people tell me I'm making the right decision by going to pastry school.

To celebrate my last four(ish) days in Provo, here are four things I learned on Thursday (I was going to make a longer list that day, but I wrote the first three at about 2 pm, after that things sort of went down hill) :
Computer Science Majors are and (judging by their professors) always will be really nerdy.
The people who work in the music library watch [and love] Bollywood movies.
If you go on the Disney College Program you will hold Disney second only to the Gospel for the rest of your life.
Kaitlynn is not the only one who has a hard time eating when she gets broken up with.

Melancholy

So I said "see you sometime..." to a few friends today.  It was nice chatting with them, but when I think about the fact that I could very well not see them ever again...well, it wasn't my favorite feeling.  And considering they were friends I don't see all the time, I don't know how I'm going to deal with saying see you to those friends that I hold most dear.   All I can say is THANK GOODNESS for technology!  Facebook, e-mail, texting, calling...I'm this close to getting skype.  

I can't believe I'm leaving Provo in a handful of days.  It feels SO unreal!  On the topic of leaving Provo, I'm starting a new blog that will be applicable to my life not in Provo.  It's still under construction but I should have it all pretty and ready for reading by the time December 16th comes around.


I'm done with classes.  Now, all I have left to do is pack, bake, and play with friends...  Ugh, sorry this is such a sad post! I promise there is happiness in my life right now!  For example: Last night, FHE was a success!  And to top it off I have about 20 pages of Christmas themed coloring pages to color in.  Trust me, that is happiness enough!  (though not all)

So...there's this boy...

and, in case you hadn't heard, I like him.

On a slightly different note...
I bought a duffel bag today.

This means I have to start packing for thanksgiving, which means I need to decide what I can live without for the few weeks after the break.  Just another reminder of my impending departure from Provo.

When I separate myself from recent events in my life, I'm ecstatic.  When I don't...I have to remind myself of the blessing/huge opportunity it is for me to be going to intern for Disney.  I know going to Florida is the right thing for me to do.  I also know that life is funny and I was silly thinking that I could leave Provo without a hitch.  Because life doesn't work that way.

To deal with the small stress this has caused me I have been baking.
Yesterday, I made some banana bread for my apartment, and really yummy chocolate cookies for this boy.
Today I started working on a delicious cake for my friend's birthday party.  Basically, it's a cheesecake wrapped in a chocolate cake covered with butter cream frosting. Yummmmy  Thank you Paula Dean for the cheesecake recipe/idea (minus the liqueur).

Ladybugs

So I have this theory that one of the ways Heavenly Father likes to cheer me up is by sending me a ladybug.  It hasn't happened often enough to be entirely sure, and it is definitely not his only way of reminding me of his love for me, but I'm not complaining.  I love ladybugs.  They're such a sight for sore eyes!  I can think of three specific times I have "received" a ladybug in return for a particularly trying time in my life.  They usually come when I'm not even thinking about all my problems.

1. Freshman Year - It was around finals time.  I was probably stressing about all the end of the year stuff: finals, packing, etc.  Then one day I was studying with my good friend outside the BNSN and I found this beauty crawling around on the grass.  It kept me entertained [distracted] for some time before it flew off.

2. Spring term - I was walking home from campus and I looked down to see a cute little hitchhiker on my shorts.  At the time I was probably most stressed about my future plans, and I remember being really grateful for having something to distract me from my tomoltuous thoughts.

3. Tonight - So this is the most bizarre of the three.  I've been having a bit of a rough week (not related to my previous post).  I got home really late from chatting with some friends and then remembered I had to remake my bed.  I (being the rude roommate I am) turned on the light to see better, and as I was stretching out my bottom sheet what should I find but a ladybug!  Seriously, I am still confused about where it came from.  I thought about keeping it until the morning to show my roommates, but decided to not risk waking up to a dead ladybug.

I cherish these times I am reminded of Heavenly Fathers love.  For some reason these little guys remind me that life goes on and the hard times I'm having are only temporary (much like my time spent with the ladybug).

ps I think this might be a little sappy/incoherent but it's almost 3 in the morning...what do you expect?
pps I'm really serious about my rough week not being related to my previous post.  The latter came out of exasperation from not having (or eavesdropping on) a single conversation that did not somehow get turned to dating and marriage.

Dating...

I'm sick of hearing about it, talking about it, thinking about it, praying about it... Hmmm, probably didn't help that I watched Vivah.  However, instead of ranting, I will sum up how I've been feeling over the past 48 hours (ish):
I am ready for a break from Provo and all its Provo-ish tendencies.


But I will [happily] return next fall!

Guess who's fulfilling their childhood dreams starting in January

So yesterday was not a very fun day for me. I got three hours of sleep.  All of campus closes down for devotional/forums.  I got kicked out of the location I chose to nap through the hour for "repairs". I spent 11 hours on campus and still had more homework to finish before midnight.
But there were definitely some good things that did happen.  I finished all of my block classes.  I watched a movie in history class.  Oh and, I got into the Disney College Program.  OK, that's probably not a surprise to you if you're reading this.  But I am so excited!!!  I'm going to be working Attractions at Disney World.  I get to Florida January 20th and the program lasts till August 6th.  Its a long program, but I feel so good about going!  I feel kind of silly taking time off of school since I have so much time left to get through my major, but I've rationalized that: a) this will actually help me in the long run (I want to do their professional internship for my senior internship), and b)if I'm here for a long time, I might as well make it a tiny bit longer and get out of Utah.  Needless to say, since I became aware of the fact that people actually work at places like Disneyland it has been my dream to work there.

Now all I have to do is focus on school and figure out what to do with all my junk here in Provo. Ha, like I'll be able to focus on school.  I couldn't sleep till 1:00 am last night despite the lack of sleep Monday night.  I don't think I've ever been this amped to work in my life.

This weekend

Just in case you were wondering how my weekend went, here's a brief synopses.
Friday:
I went and saw Where the Wild Things Are (precious).  Then we played Truth or Dare Jenga which provided plenty of fun and slightly awkward moments for all (well mostly me).
Saturday:
Worst Date I've Ever Been On.  I had nothing in common with the poor boy.  He was the same height as me and slightly awkward.
Sunday:
I made (wormy) apple crisp with my friend Susan.  Then we watched Hercules! "Who puts the glad in gladiators!"

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

So, obviously, I have changed the web address for this blog.  Why?  I'm not one hundred percent sure, but I'm pretty sure its mostly because I hated my old one.  I also feel the new one is more fitting, I like describing things as being adventures (examples: baking adventures, dating adventures, movie-going adventures, etc).  I've also decided to take a different route with the way this blog is going.  I'm going to try to update about anything and everything that is the tiniest bit interesting.  I'm also not going to leave out things that might be uncomfortable (like dates or my testimony).  But I'll try not to offend or embarrass any individuals.  I feel secure in this because, at the max, maybe 6 people actually read this blog. Though, I'm going to start telling people about it, so maybe that number will grow? doubt it.  I'll still include recipe's sometimes, in case you were worried about that or something.

On a different note, last year I discovered that not everyone, in fact, knows how to make muddy buddies.  This utterly confused me.  I made them today because I've been meaning to for almost a week now. Here are the instructions. Enjoy :)

New Favorite Song

Michael Buble - Haven't met you yet.



There are some really obvious reasons for this being my new favorite song, but really you should watch the video, its super cute...just make sure you watch the whole thing :)

Also:
California - Hawk Nelson (Thank you Pandora!)
Owl City in general is wonderful.

K - back to home work

Fantastic Thursday!

So despite the post before this, I had a fantastic Thursday! Really it was just a normal day, but for some reason by the end of the day I was insanely happy with the way the day had gone. Everywhere I went I saw someone I knew (not only did I know them, but they were people that I like but haven't really been able to catch up with). I was more productive than I have been in the past two weeks of school. I made plans to go to Humor U on Saturday. And cannolis on Sunday. :)

Really?

First off, last night, my neighbors decided to have a really loud dance party. It didn't end until 11:30 pm on a Wednesday! I was pretty upset about it since I had made plans to be in bed, asleep by 10 on the dot. I even bothered to walk over to the next complex to procure a pair of ear plugs. Alas, alack, by the time I got back to my apartment the party had just about ended. As you can probably tell, I was not pleased with my neighbors' decision to hold a dance party for really no reason at all. That is until I found out that it was to celebrate 9/9/09. Had I known that, I probably would have gone over for a song or at least been more pleasant about it. (Don't worry I didn't go over and tell them to end it, I was waiting for it to be midnight to do that.)

Secondly, today, with the promise of a free brownie, I went to check out Women's Services on campus. I expected to find things on preventing/copping with violence/abuse, eating disorders, etc. Then they handed me a list of their support groups, workshops, and activities. The support groups I felt were valid. Eating disorders, eating right, and depression are all things that people need support with. Then I got to the workshops: Finance/Coupons, Haircut How-To and DATING! The first two while helpful, are more something I would expect from an Enrichment Night or something. Before I comment on dating, let me tell you, three of the six activities/events they are sponsoring this semester are Speed Dating, a Dating Conference, and another Speed Dating. Really BYU? That's what you consider to be appropriate for Women's Services? I'm stopping now before I ramble... But before I quit let me point you in the direction of Cal Poly SLO's Women's Services Activities, where you can find things such as stopping the violence, Women's HERstory and an entire film festival of short films made for/by/about women. And nothing about Speed Dating. Don't get me wrong, I love BYU, and I love potentially finding a spouse, but the place I would go in the case of rape or abuse is not a place I would want sponsoring Speed Dating events.

Sorry, this was sort of negative, so to make up for the negativity I'm combining the two and giving you nine reasons I love being a woman. (They are not necessarily the top, nor are they in order)
1) The knowledge that I am a daughter of my Heavenly Father, 2) Long Hair, 3) Babies, 4) Crying is more socially acceptable, 5) Being a nurturer, 6) Wearing the color pink, 7) Not having to marry a woman, 8) President Uchtdorf's The Influence of Righteous Women, 9) Getting to be a mom someday

Scratch That: Can I just stay home to bake AND play all day?

I love having all of my friends back in Provo! This weekend was full of good times with friends, old and new.

Friday - After bumming around all day I dragged myself to the temple with Alyssa. It was wonderful being there and I am definitely upping my attendance this year.
Saturday - I baked some chocolate chip cookies. That night the bollywood gang came over and we watched a movie (Bunty Aur Babli) similar to Bonnie and Clyde. Also, BYU beat Oklahoma 14 to 13...I watched the last five minutes.
Sunday - was super busy! The highlights? Dessert with Sus, and Nerts.
Monday - Labor Day hike to a waterfall with new roommates Ica and Megan, and company. Discovered "A Very Potter Musical" on YouTube. I saw Miss Peets and heard all about Asia. Finally, I played Rummikub with Josh, and new roommates Megan and Julie.

It was a very fun, but very not productive weekend. I need to get better at time management. That or drop all my classes and spend my days working, baking, and playing.

Can I just stay home and bake all day?

Soooo...fall semester 2009 started this week, and, to say the least, my life is definitely the most hectic it has been ever.

Here are the various area's of my life that are/will be stressing me out:
1) Work: I am now working two jobs on top of taking a full load of classes. I can work up to 20 hours a week (not including football) so if I make it through this semester alive I will buy myself a car and quit one of the two. Concessions is still the same...I have a love-hate relationship with that job. I love how much I make working there and the friends that I have. I hate almost everything else about it (mostly the hours, and the events). My new job, Catering has been/is/will continue to be a huge learning experience. I'm glad I get the opportunity but doubt I will keep it past this semester. It doesn't pay as well as Concessions and I have to be there MWF 8-12, yuck.
2) Lack of funds: Because of my insignificant amount of work this summer I had barely enough money to pay for books this semester. It didn't help that they were twice as much as I've payed any other semester. Then my dad told me he would pay for my rent this month! I don't think I can express my gratitude for this gesture enough.
3) School: I changed my major officially the week before school started! My new major is now Recreation Management Youth Leadership: Leisure Services Management with a Commercial Recreation emphasis. Yes, I have had four majors in my five semesters at BYU (IR, Economics, double majoring in French, and RMYL: LSM), and if you count the dropping out to go to Pastry School idea, I could be five for five. Also, my class load is huge! It's only 14 credits, but that ='s 7 classes, not including my on-line religion class I HAVE to finish by November.
4) I am living with complete strangers!!! We get along, and I like them so far, but I can't help but think about how much less stressed I would be if I knew them already. It'll be okay...they're wonderful people and we'll be great friends by the end of the year.
5) Socializing/My dating life...

Here's the way my week looks:
Monday: 8-12 Catering, Work on on-line classes (Organizational Effectiveness/Rel A 211) til 430-530 Inclusive & Special Recreation: for persons with disabilities.
Tuesday: 8-915 Accounting 200, 930-1045 American History till 1877, devo/forum, 1205-1255 Careers in Recreation, Accounting Homework in the afternoon, technically I could go to my Excell/Powerpoint classes 610-820pm but I don't foresee any problems with the homework so it shouldn't be necessary.
Wednesday: 8-12 Catering
Thursday: 8-915 Accounting 200, 930-1045 American History till 1877
Friday: 8-12 Catering

Throw in some concessions hours and tons of homework every Wed-Fri afternoon and probably far too much socializing... Actually, I'm going to DOMINATE this semester. It will be awesome!
(On a completely random note: I'm listening to nickasaur do a variety of covers [Coconut Juice, Bleading Love + The Great Escape]...interesting)