The Waiting Place

Ladies and Gentlemen I'm afraid that I've run at a break-necking pace off to a very useless place. The Waiting Place. What is the Waiting Place? Well I should probably let the Dr. explain himself

(From Dr. Seuss' "Oh the Places You'll Go")

The Waiting place...

...for people just waiting.

Waiting for a train to go

or a bus to come, or a plane to go

or the mail to come, or the rain to go

or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow

or the waiting around for a Yes or No

or waiting for their hair to grow.

Everyone is just waiting.

Waiting for the fish to bite

or waiting for the wind to fly a kite

or waiting around for Friday night

or waiting, perhaps, for their Uncle Jake

or a pot to boil, or a better break

or a string of pearls or a pair of pants

or a wig with curls, or another chance.

Everyone is just waiting.

(As a disclaimer "Oh the Places You'll Go" is a personal favorite, I refer to it often. Do not be shocked if it makes multiple appearances on this blog)

So, I'm in the Waiting Place. What am I waiting for? I'm waiting for school to start, and then for school to end. I'm waiting for life to happen, but not quite.

I'm not making much sense, am I? Maybe that's the point. I'm not really sure what the point is, or what the point is supposed to be even.

All I know is that right now I live at home, and home suddenly doesn't feel so homey. Though that is mostly due to the fact that everyone went back to school and work this week, and I'm still here...sitting. BUT I start heading back for Idaho on Saturday.

So, specifically what am I waiting for? For Fall Semester 2010. I am waiting for something productive to do with my time. I'm waiting for classes, homework, paychecks, a student ward, for an internship offer, and for graduation.

Less specifically, I'm waiting for the rest of my life. I know one phase of my life is quickly coming to an end, and another will soon start. I just don't know what the title of the next chapter is yet. To say I'm terrified is an understatement. Family and close friends have expressed a lot of confidence in me, I sure hope it's not ill-founded.

I guess it's just a waiting game. (Sorry, that was my best attempt at being punny.)

It's a Wedding Charlie Brown

Actually, Charlie Brown had nothing to do with this wedding; and considering the way his life generally works out he probably wouldn't have been invited either. But enough about Charlie...

A couple weeks ago my lovely little sister married a silly boy named Blake, who I love dearly. I know by this point you've stopped reading and scrolled down to the pictures. They had a wonderful photographer, Kim, you should look at her site.

Now that the oohing and awing is over I can say that the wedding was a dream. Lots of wonderful food, music, and the most wonderful people to share your time with. I had to give the toast, which was the scariest part for me. Luckily, those are the type of things that people forget about the moment they're over. Phew. I even caught the bouquet, second one this summer actually. Though don't be expecting any announcements from me in the near future...well at least not any that involve matrimony.

Anyway, now the happy couple is wed. Since that time they have spent a week long honeymoon in Mexico, came home and hung out with the families for a week, decided that they are done with BYU-I, and are currently on a road trip to Idaho and back to fetch all their belongings they had left behind. Upon their return they will be taking a semester off to work and save money, then will move to Gainesville, FL to get back into the schooling shindig. Just in case you wanted to know what they are up to.

As for me? Since the wedding ended and I have officially dropped the "maid of honor" title I have done very little. I'm just trying to enjoy my time off before going back to school where I have two jobs, am president of an honor society, and a full time student. One more semester won't kill me, right?

Something that I have done though, is visit the Georgia Aquarium. Basically it's one of the coolest places on earth, and I even got in for a discounted price. THAT my friends is what I call happiness. If you have the time, you should go.

Summer Sunshine

I just realized today that my summer is more than half over, and I've barely documented any of it. So here it is in the brief :

I went to Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize for a Travel Study program. Basically the coolest experience of my life. Some highlights you ask? I hiked a volcano (it erupted two weeks later), snorkeled in a torrential rainstorm, got stopped by some Zappatistas, hand fed a howler monkey, zip lined over one of the seven wonders of the world, saw lots of ruin sites, parasailed with an old man....and a million more things

Then I headed back to Idaho, threw Annalee a couple bridal showers, visited Timber in Oakley Idaho and hiked in City of Rocks, hung out with Bruce, reunited with a few of the 206 girls and ran a million errands. It was lovely.

Then I headed off to Chicago to be with my Disney friends Courtney and Israel who I hadn't seen in a year and a half, plus I'd never been to Chicago.

And now I'm in Florida. It really hasn't been that interesting since my return. I've seen a couple friends here and there, but mostly I've just bummed around the house. I went to Kansas City to see Annalee complete her term as National Post Secondary President of the club SkillsUSA. That was a fun trip, and it was really cool to see all the hard work that she has put into that organization, and how empowering of a group it is for those kids.

The most recent of my adventures has been EFY, a church camp for youth from ages 14-18. They spend a week in the care of young single adult counselors; during the week they attend religious classes, play games, go to dances, and basically just have a rockin week. I was able to be a counselor, I was over a group of 10 girls most of which were 16-17ish. My co-counselor, Matt, was amazing! He was over 10 boys who were the same age as the girls. As a company we played, laughed, learned, and taught together. I was able to share my testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ (more information can be found here) and help build the testimonies of these youth. They were amazing, and SO energetic. I loved every minute of my week, and would give ANYTHING to get to do it over again!

An Update

I haven't sunshined in a while tons has gone on, life is crazy, I still write like a see spot run book.

-Gus-gus the Nissan is undergoing surgery. He's getting a new engine. This is happy.

-I participated in the Model Arab League, I did really bad. I did, however; learn a lot about Saudi Arabia and parliamentary procedure AND went to Montana for the first time ever. Cool.

-I've been homeless. For over a week now. It's getting old. I slept on a park bench, and am currently mooching off the kindness of my friends and their willingness to give me beds to sleep on and good food to eat. I hate mooching. I hate not having a home. This is not fun.

-I leave for Mexico in a matter of 4 days...I also do not know where my passport is. It's ok though. All will be well.

-I have been visiting abandoned houses. They make me happy.

-I like to swim, I have friends who like to swim, we went swimming.

-Hamburgers, they just rock house.

I've been doing lots more, but my brain is mush and I have class in 10 minutes, so this is all for now.

Bad Karma, Good Weekend

I'm all out of luck. This past week I had the bright idea that I would pack up all my things and start to move out of my apartment. It had been sunny for pretty much an entire week straight, so I figured I would be set packing up everything, including winter clothes. I was terribly wrong. As soon as I got ready to take things to the storage unit I found out it had been snowing lots, great. So now all I have is a little zip-up to keep me warm, that's fine. At this point I also had the bright idea to get my oil changed, seeing as it had been awhile and I was headed to Utah the next day, I thought it would be smart.

So I came home, a little unhappy with the weather gods, but life goes on. I got ready for a Pi Sigma Alpha event, went out to my car and lo and behold, it wouldn't start. So now I was bare-legged, in a skirt, walking through the snow. Awesome.

Turns out that there was something wrong with my battery and I got it fixed the next day before leaving for Utah. All was well. Until I got to the Salt Lake Airport, and after picking up Annalee, Blake, Adam, and all their luggage started to hit the road again. Before even getting to the freeway all the lights on my dash flew on, the power steering went out, and the car shut down.

So a tow truck, car examination, rental car, and four hours later it was determined that the oil changers forgot to put a drain plug in; and now my engine is blown potentially totaling my car.

So that was plenty to put me in a bad mood, and even though Annalee keeps telling me that I wasn't, I know I was a pain in the butt to hang out with the rest of the weekend, but I did have fun.

While Adam and I were waiting to hear about the car we explored the Pep Boys store, got into a sword fight with wire brushes, tried on biker helmets, and tried not to get kicked out. When the four of us all got back together again we went to chipotle, and ate yummy food. We were pampered at Ranae's. We were able to see Randi and Devin, and Jordan and her boyfriend Ammon. We even got free strawberry shortcake. We went to the Saturday afternoon session of conference, which means we were there for Elder Holland's talk, which was awesome. It was just nice to be with family, to not have to do school work. It was great. I love Annalee, Adam and Blake so much, and thank them so much for putting up with me this weekend. I needed it.

Unwilling Sunshine

Today I just want to be in a bad mood. I'm incredibly disappointed with myself and certain situations going on. It's just a blah day and has been a blah week. However, that just gives me all the more reason to look for sunshine, right?

1. I like these shirts, this program, and everything about it. This week I was able to facilitate interviews for new student volunteers. I forgot how much you can feel the spirit in those interviews. I forgot how much my heart swells with a knowledge of my Savior and his love for all of us, and how he would have us serve one another. It was a lovely reminder.

2. Turns out I can write in spanish. In fact, I wrote an entire essay in spanish. It makes me laugh every time I look at it, I feel like I just let my fingers stroke the keys and produce a bunch of gibberish. Not that spanish is gibberish...it looks cool, that's all I'm trying to say.

3. Richard Alpert has a sweet love story. I want to share the gospel with him. I want him to know about sealing power, and celestial marriage, and eternal families. True, he's a fictional character and so really none of that matters to him, but I think he would appreciate the gospel.

4. Pi Sigma Alpha is doing really well. We had another event this week and had a great turn out and great discussion. I'm so glad that this society is getting back on it's feet.

5. My todo list has lots of pink lines crossing out things. This is happiness.

6. The Devotional DVD is all done. It's beautiful. I am so grateful for the testimonies that were given in it, and the invitation that it extends. It's powerful. It's done. It's time to make a difference.

7. Rexburg is pretty. I've been walking all over it just loving how beautiful everything is with the sun shining and the birds singing. It's great. I love you, Spring, even if you make my nose run.

8. I cut off my hairs, and I didn't even cry. (excuse the funny face, I don't know how to take myself seriously)

I guess you wouldn't call it short, but it's definitely not as long as it was.

Sunshine

It's spring time. The sun is out. I write my blog like a "See Spot Run" book.

Really though, I don't require much to be happy when the sun is out. But hey, it's been a good week and deserves to be noted.

1. I have a wildly unhealthy addiction to LOST. I cancelled a date so that I could sit home, alone, and watch it. Close friends of mine have come to terms with the fact that in order to be able to understand me in conversation they should probably watch the show, and one friend has even dedicated himself to getting completely caught up. Right now he is in the midst of season 4 and should be caught up in time for Tuesday bliss. I know it's stupid, and silly, and ridiculous how much I love this show. I also don't care. It will be ending soon and then I will return to a normal functioning pattern...or I'll start flash forward...whichever.

2. Contrary to popular belief, I'm a good cook. This week was evidence of that. My favorite concoction was the banana bread, and really why wouldn't it be? But yes, I like to cook. I like it even more when it distracts me from doing homework. Yep.

3. Todo lists. They bring peace into my life. I have 25 todo's left on my list for the semester. I think this is accomplishable, we shall see.

4. I have an awesome mentor partner (we will be training student leaders together at the beginning of next semester). He made me dinner this week on a night I thought I was going to go hungry. This made me happy. He also has a lot of insight as to what we should teach our students, I love working with him. I'm lucky to be surrounded by such awesome people.

5. Timber makes me happy. She and I had necessary girl talk this week. Complete with reading through middle school journal entries, and more junk food than any person should consume on a Thursday night.

6. Pi Sigma Alpha (the Political Science Honor Society) is finally up and running! I love that I am able to be a part of this. I love my major, and I love being president of an organization that caters to my major. I love that we finally have guest speakers scheduled. I love that we finally have events planned and are executing them. I love it. I hope it lasts.

7. The devotional promotional DVD is finally finished. We filmed our last segment on friday, the editing should be done sometime in the middle of this week. I am SO excited to see the final product. So many people have put so much work into it and I'm so glad that it's finished and ready to be seen!

8. Only 20 days until the end of the semester. Only 34 more days until I leave for Mexico. I CAN'T WAIT!!!

9. I'm planning the most epic trip ever for this summer, and I have awesome people on board. This might actually happen. I am stoked out of my mind.

10. I hit an awesome sale yesterday, and now own a headlamp, a camelbak that I've had my eye on for months, and some chacos. I am ready to adventure!

11. For the first time ever I finished a Sudoku puzzle all by myself! It's taken a while, sure. But I'm proud of myself!

Banana Bread and the People Watching Place

So, I'm all about having good things to look at while I study. I generally try to find a good window to sit next to and prop up the laptop...then I usually fall asleep and no homework gets done. All the same, I like having good scenery, I'm not one to be locked up with just white walls to look at, no fun. So today I found myself a cushy chair that overlooks one of the main walkways of campus, why I haven't known of this place before beats me. Anyway, So I started to think about doing my homework but then decided that people watching was much more fun. So here I sit, eating my banana bread, looking out the window (which the bars kind of make it look like prison), and photo-documenting the whole thing. Creeper status?

Now this random underline just showed up and I can't make it go away...awesome. In other news, I was talking to one of my more favorite professors today and mentioned my frustration with my grade in religion class. I said that I was getting graded on my testimony, and that the teacher gave me a C-. My professor started laughing hysterically and then just walked away. Life fail.

Sunday Sunshine

Imagine that, Sunday Sunshine on a Sunday!

1. There are only 4 weeks left in the semester, that is manageable.

2. Alexie Lawson sent me a care package, it seriously made me smile and laugh so hard. And I got some much needed chocolate! I adore that girl, I'm excited I get to see her in a little over a month.

3. I can see the floor of my room again.

4. I started using stickies so that I don't have to write on my hand as much, there is still a blackish/bluish hue there...maybe another week of washing will make it disappear completely.

5. Ryan Bruce started watching LOST and is catching up fast! Which means I'll have a Rexburg LOST buddy soon. This makes me smile.

6. Breakfast study parties, it ALMOST makes having homework fun, it definitely makes it more tasty.

7. Going to bed early, I managed to get 8 hours of sleep every night this week. Happiness.

8. I finished all my makeup work from when I was in Florida.

9. Oh, and I was hired as an EFY counselor. I'm DYING to find out which sessions I was accepted for, but I'm glad I was hired, the paperwork is in, now I just wait some more.

In a state of SUNSHINE

Monday through Thursday of last week are pretty insignificant to me. I woke up, I did homework, I ate, I spent time with people I love. They were days, they were good days, but they were in the way of something much more exciting. . . a mid-semester trip home!

Friday afternoon I boarded a plane, read a wonderful book the whole flight, and 6 hours later was picked up by one of my most favorite people in the whole world, Brandon. We talked, listened to good music, got food, and then met up with Drew and Blake. I love all of these boys. They make me laugh so hard. They make me think. They make me realize my potential. I really would be completely lost without each of them and am so grateful for having them in my life.

Then, the main event!

My mom is my hero. I absolutely love her and am so incredibly proud of her. She has worked over a year preparing for this half marathon. Her sister flew out to run it with her and I am so impressed by both of them. They are wonderful women, and will always be examples to me. Annalee is also an awesome lady, and she ran too.

Rochelle and I were given the honored roles of cheerleaders. We yelled "caw-caw" as loud as we could and dutifully followed our runners around the disney parks to cheer them on. We even got cool shirts. I couldn't have asked for a better cheering buddy. I learn so much from her every time we talk. I hope I can emulate her. Really my mom and aunts are some of the best women to walk this earth.

The finish was kind of emotional. Annalee and Char did terrific! We are all so happy and proud of both of them. Mom, after all her hard work, got a stress fracture. She was picked up after pushing through a little over seven miles. I am still so proud of her, and I love her stubborn nature and that she wasn't giving up with out a long hard battle. She's going to keep training, and next year I'm running it with her. She'll do it, I know she will. She is strong, beautiful, and determined. Nothing stands in-between her and her dreams. I admire her for all that she does, and that I've learned from her, and all that she inspires me and others to be.

The rest of the weekend was spent enjoying the beautiful sun, napping, long wonderful chats with family and friends. AND I got to go do wedding shindigs with Annalee, I have pictures. . .but I'm not sure that I'm allowed to post them. Let's just say that the girl was made to wear a wedding dress. She looks like a princess in every single one. I am so excited for her and for this new step that she's taking in her life. She is smart, beautiful, and so full of life and Blake is lucky to have her. We love Blake too, and are so happy to have him as part of the family. So without further adieu, I present the first Santos Family picture that includes the Russ addition.

Sunshining

It has been a hard week, there is evidence of it in the messy and disorganized state of my room. However, there have been lots of mini accomplishments, lots of things to make me smile.

1. I am so so so so SO close to being done with the Devotional Promotional DVD, I will be so excited to see the final product. Probably not as excited to watch my bad acting, but still.

2. I'll be home in 6 days. In Florida. Surrounded by people I love. The weather forecast is good. 6 days!

3. I keep getting little phone calls from home. Some from my mommy when she gets home from a run. Some from my sister while she's driving. Some from bud when he has something cool to say and I'm the one he wants to tell. Daddy, who calls me on accident a lot, but then ends up having things to talk about regardless. Even from Blake, who really is practically family anyway, making sure I'm alive and rubbing in things that I miss out on. I love them all. I love our miniature through out the day conversations.

4. Not miniature conversations. Annalee and I talked for 2 and a half hours Wednesday afternoon. Neither of us had much motivation to do anything productive, including shower, so we just sat and talked about everything from China to our little house back in Belleview. It was great. I miss that little one.

5. I finished so much homework. I gave two, hour long political science presentations, gave a 20 minute presentation in Spanish, put a rather large dent in my presidential paper, did an annotated bibliography for my population control paper, read 3 short stories in Spanish and did write ups on them. . . I did a lot of homework. AND I never have to do another presentation in Winter 2010 EVER again!

6. I ate delicious Mexican food


7. I was summoned from my bed on Friday night to hear happy stories from two of my favorites, Kallie and Bruce. Being around them makes me feel like I can conquer the world. They're great

8. Went on a field trip of the Kirkam and Snow buildings. . .BYU-Idaho has cool stuff. We also played some intense elevator tag.

9. Family Dinners! Randi and Devin, Jordan, Blake, and I have been slacking this semester. But we finally got together on Wednesday night and had family dinner. We laughed at Blake's story, talked about why dating is stupid, and made Randi tell us all about her pregnancy. I love family.

10. Brazilian birthday party. I had forgotten how much I simply adore the loud music, louder conversation, and good food complemented with good company. It was a rather nostalgic evening, but I loved every minute of it.

11. Sunday hikes

I'm terribly excited for this coming week. I'm excited to
watch Lion King in Spanish, to eat yummy food with dear friends, to talk and laugh, but mostly to board that airplane and go back to the sanctuary I call home!

Napping Procedure

So, I don't get enough sleep at night, ever. This is fact. It is due to this fact that I can often times be found sleeping in random places on the campus of BYU-Idaho.

This week you may have seen me in the Taylor Chapel, completely sprawled out on a pew during an organ recital. These recitals, might I add, were successfully interrupted by my obnoxious stretching and lip smacking when I decided it was time to wake up.

Didn't see me there? Well, maybe you saw me curled up underneath a row of desks in the library. I would be the girl clutching/cuddling my laptop and muttering in my sleep. Some kind students decided it would be fun to see how close they could get to me without waking me. Another group of people decided to start a loud debate as to whether or not I was actually sleeping out in the open like that, as if I were being indecent or something. Napping is a necessity, people!

Still no luck? Well then maybe you're one of those kind souls who thought I was a nice stranger to sit next to during devotional. If you are one of these wonderful, sweet-hearted people, I apologize for ignoring your need for personal space, for nuzzling your shoulder, and for possibly drooling on you. It wasn't intentional. I just cuddle in my sleep, I don't really have control over it.

I'm trying to work on my napping procedures, and choice of locations. Who knows, maybe one day I'll be really ambitious and actually sleep at night so that I'm not tired through out the day. Until then keep an eye out, I could be seen sleeping anywhere, or on anyone...'s shoulder that is.

Sunday Sunshine

1. First and foremost the Olympics are back! Which means that I sit down with a bag of chocolates to ooh and awe over the amazing athletic ability of these people. I love the representation of sportsmanship. I love the running of flags and playing of national anthems. My heart is full of joy when I watch someone accomplish their goal, and breaks when I watch a crushed dream. I love the torch lighting, the commercials, the stories, the perfect anatomy of the athlete. I have never made it all the way through the games without shedding a tear, I don't mind that too much.

2. Family who lets me come over and sleep in a comfy bed, and eat homemade food, and go see movies about Queen Victoria. Aunt Rochelle's house is definitely one of my happy places and this was a very timely visit.

3. I had my EFY interview this week, and even though my mind was freaking out the entire timeI feel like I did fairly well. Even though the interviewer was intimidating and never smiled I said exactly what I wanted to say, that's the best I could hope for. Now it's just a waiting game.

4. Bruce gave me half a loaf of homemade bread. I am eternally grateful. That is all.

5. Kallie Johnson and Timber Muhlestein make my heart smile. I'm so glad that I was introduced to "Male Prima Donna," that we had girl talk until the wee hours of the morning, and that we have plans to do triathlons and hike the narrows. These girls inspire me, remind me of my strengths, and make me laugh really really hard.

6. I saw Sunshine tonight. I love her, and had missed her a lot. She makes me feel so good about myself, so inspired, and so loved by both her and my Heavenly Father. I hope to amount to half the miraculous woman that she is.

7. My ticket to Florida has officially been purchased. I'm coming home for a weekend in March. I get to cheer on Mama Santos as she runs her half marathon. I get to see sissy, and little brother, and daddy, and mama. I get to see Blake for the first time in over 2 years. I get to enjoy the humidity. I'm just super super stoked!

8. LOST. Claire is alive, but she's not herself. I think that she has the same "madness" that Rousseau's people had. I don't know. I don't know how I feel about this, and I'm starting to wonder if Jacob is the bad guy.

9. I'm really busy. I have lots of flattering opportunities. Planning the Pre Professional Conference, helping out with Get Prepared, maybe getting elected as president of Pi Sigma Alpha. I just stinking love it!

This week has been really busy. In all honesty, I don't even remember a lot of it. But All is well.