I Should Really Stop Observing People...

...but it's far too fun.

If you've been following my blog since the beginning, you know that I'm changing my major to Sociology and from day one of this school year, I knew that this was the major for me. I spend my time thinking, and not just about what I'm going to eat or wear tomorrow. No, I dig deeper. I'd like to take some credit and say that, based off my surroundings, I observe and form opinions about people, society, and the world around me. And let me just say, currently, I do not like what I see, which normally makes me kinda depressed after I spend a whole day thinking, aka, today.

(A word of caution: This isn't really a happy post. These are my thoughts based off the people I see around me.)

The major thing I've observed is how people interact. For me, I was raised to ask people how they are and, here's the catch, I really care. There has never been a person that I have inquired how they are and not cared. Sure, I might not have remembered to this day how they felt on the 10 of August but I'm not one to go through the motions. So I just don't understand how others can't care about something like that. If I walk through the door, gone all day, why don't I get asked how my day was but someone else does? Why does someone come home and their name gets shouted like the Hallelujah Chorus but I walk in and no one notices? Maybe I'm no one special or maybe everyone just automatically thinks I'm alright when I walk through the door with a smile on my face. Maybe I was the only one who grew up with a mother who was anxiously waiting to hear about my day the second I came home. Whatever the reason is, I don't understand how society has lost the ability to care about the little things. Since when did we get so busy to not care about the people around us, even if they aren't our BFF or our significant other??? 

Another thing I have observed is people take things for granted all the time. I noticed this a bit last year, when we had one driver in my group of friends. It was natural just to assume she would drive all the time and I don't remember how often I thanked her. I realize that I need to take the time to thank people for the little things, even if it's their job or their place to do so. For instance, we have a chore chart in our apartment. Even though I might not agree with it, it works well but how often do I take the time to thank my roommate for cleaning the bathroom, even though it was her week to do so and expected of her? Not very often, that's definitely something I could work on. But what astounds me is how little people care when they go out of their way to do something nice for them that they didn't have to do. Or what's worse--when person A decides to do an act of service for person B and then person B complains the whole time/tells person A they are doing it wrong. I see this ALL THE TIME. I don't get it. If a boy wants to be nice and make food for a girl, why does that girl sit around and complain or say stuff like "that's not how I would do it." Really? Have some COMMON SENSE. That boy doesn't have to invite you over and make you some food. He didn't have to be nice to you. But seeing as he decided to, you better sit there with your mouth shut and, if you must speak, say something like "What can I do to help?" rather than "you're doing it wrong."
Society, please, I beg of you. USE YOUR BRAINS. Don't you still have one? I'm starting to think you don't.

My last rant of the evening would go to those who are LDS. Living in Provo, majority of the people I interact with here are LDS. If our main mission of the Church is to share the gospel with the world, we are doing a POOR JOB within our apartments, classes, and interactions with each other. In order to share something as precious as the gospel with others, we need to first change ourselves. If you can't follow the examples of Christ and the apostles, how can you expect others to want to hear of the gospel? If we can't follow the simple commandment of "love thy neighbor as thyself" or "love thy fellow church member even if they're a bit different or not perfect," how can we be true followers of Christ? How can we call ourselves Christian if we can't even love our fellow ward members? How can we expect to be true followers of Christ when we get frustrated and can't do a simple act of service for someone else? How can we go to church for 3 hours and come home and forget about how to be a follower of Christ? Those questions are the ones that truly haunt me at night.


To sum up, the real reason behind these random thoughts of mine? Use your brain. We're smart. We're all living our life and trying to figure things out for ourselves. But if one stays with his narrow mind and doesn't open up to new opportunities, how will one grow? How can one learn if he stays with his own opinions and don't consider someone's? Kindness and consideration go a long way, even if you don't agree with what's being said. You can be polite and disagree. Just go back to preschool and think about how you'd want to be treated. I guarantee you don't want to be kicked the curb. I guarantee you want to  be loved, respected and considered.

Eye Contact

I've been thinking about this for awhile now. I'm not really sure when it started.
I'm taking a Student Development class right now, not required for my major. Basically, I took it for an easy two credits and I decided to take it without much thought. Oh man, I am SO glad I took it. It's been the best class. There's about 30 of us, probably not even that much, and so it's a small class which allows you to get to know mostly everyone rather than my huge 200 count lecture class, which I hate, by the way.
Anyway, the Student Development class is called "Life Plan and Decision Making." Perfect for me, as I'm switching up my major this year and not to mention, I'm a horrible decision maker. My professor is a psychology major, which is sorta similar to sociology so I find that the class goes into why people think the way they do and different ways people mess up in talking to one another. Basically, the class is fascinating to me, perfect for my new major, and I look forward to it every Monday and Wednesday.
Well, I sit in the front of this class, so naturally the professor is always right near me. In my small classes in high school, I never wanted to sit in front- I didn't need to because I have good eyesight so I put myself near the back. Being in college, I realize that when you sit in the front in huge lecture classes, not only do you hear better but the mindset is different. In my first history class of my freshman year, I sat near the back and didn't know anyone. I'd fall asleep almost everyday because my professor would turn off the lights and it just wasn't working out. But the kids in front used their laptops, so I started bringing my laptop and sat in the front. That was a huge change! But I digress...
So, front of my student development class, and there's about 30 of us, right? So naturally, my professor and I make eye contact a lot. In years past, that was SCARY to me. Eye contact with a teacher means he's probably going to call on you or he can tell if you're paying attention.
Not anymore.
My mindset about eye contact has totally changed. Every time this certain professor and I make eye contact, it seems like I can understand her better. Is that weird? I don't think so.
See, I think most people in this world are afraid of eye contact. Watch the next time someone talks to you. Do they look you in the eye? When they took, do you look them in the eye?

I believe that having eye contact is not just a courtesy, it's a necessity. I mean, the eyes are the gateway to the human soul, right? Just experiment next time you have a conversation with someone. Eye contact doesn't just mean that someone's confident and able to look you in the eye, it means that someone is really listening to you and honestly cares to the words coming out of your mouth.

The Perfect Woman

Well...it's been a week or so. I've had about the busiest week of my life since school last year, ha. But I realized I'm changing the purpose of this blog. It used to be about my everyday life/feelings and yeah, they'll be some days where something super special awesome will happen and I'll blog about it. But the purpose of this blog is changing to just my feelings. I'm a sociology major; I spend A LOT of my time analyzing and just plain thinking-and most of the time, it drives me crazy. I think that's part of the reason why I've been feeling kinda miserable this week-I think too much and most of the time, I keep these thoughts to myself.
So from now and hence forth, I will be using this blog as a way to control my thoughts. Somedays, I'll rant. Somedays, it might be just a simple thought that got me through my day. And somedays, it'll be more of an analysis of those around me, that I watch and interact with 24/7.

Soooo....my comeback blog post....
I titled this "The Perfect Woman." I want you to think about this for a second. When I say "the perfect woman," who comes to mind? My guess would be a woman who is skinny, wearing lots of beautiful makeup, fashionable clothes, smiling and definitely hot. Right? Don't tell me you were thinking something different, because if you were, you're an outlier (blog post coming soon...). Most of us tend to think of a hot, sexy, skinny woman who most would claim is "beautiful."

So today, in my sociology class, we talked about the effects of the media. Ohhhh, the all powerful MEDIA. Scary. Really, it is. The first video clip we watched was enough to make me a little bit frustrated with the media....

Really? Ha ha ha, media. Yes, while it is true that women drivers are not the best (I'll admit, I feel more comfortable driving with a man than a woman....and to this day, I'll sit in the front seat if it's a man driving rather than a woman), really? I found this pretty degrading. Being a woman, I grew up and still get the women jokes, the "make me a sandwich" boyfriends, and even the Mormon outlook that I should be an excellent chocolate chip cookie maker (I am, by the way).

But why does the media continually push society into thinking this way?

In addition, in my sociology 111 class, we watched this AWESOME documentary. I don't exactly recommend it, because my professor had to edit it out for us (and told us that if we felt uncomfortable watching PG-13 movies we didn't have to come to class) but it was inspiring. I cried (yeah, I'm a crier so it was probably expected) but it was honestly really inspiring. It's called "Miss Representation." It was entered into the Sundance Festival and it's all about women and how media's effects are harmful and degrading.

One aspect of the media that it focused on is women in movies. Movie directors were interviewed and explained that when making a movie, they realize that they will get the most audience from these strong male influenced movies (Iron Man was featured quite a few times, think action packed with hot girls hanging onto a millionaire's arm) because all men will want to go see it...and bring their girlfriends. On the other hand, a strongly influenced female movie (such as Eat, Pray, Love) will bring a whole different audience, mostly women. So movie directors will continually put out movies like Iron Man, where Tony Stark can do whatever the heck he wants, with whoever the heck he wants, because he's a millionaire.

Is "real life" like this?
NO.
So why, WHY do we as society buy into this!?

The same goes for the flip side--chick flicks. My wonderful "inspired" friend Cortney posted this article to my Facebook wall yesterday (which was actually kinda inspired, as it led to my thought process for sociology today) that talked all about chick flicks and how life IS NOT like this. (If you care to read the article, here's the link, sorry it's not entirely language appropriate.) Let's take the classic example of The Notebook, which I only saw last year. My initial reaction was....what? This main girl cheats on her fiance to go back and find the love of her life? Really? And that's exactly what the article talks about!

So, let's take chick flicks and see what "Miss Representation" says about them. In the documentary, it talked about how in click flicks, even though the protagonist is a woman,  the woman still lives in a man's world and tries to find her knight in shining armor to take her away and provide for her, because clearly women can't provide for themselves. But (and here's my main point, it took me awhile to get to it...) how does this woman protagonist find said knight in shining armor?

By being "The Perfect Women" and fitting the media's ideal image of a woman. If you notice, majority of click flicks/movies/tv shows, the beautiful skinny girl wins the date.
SO...what is this telling women of my day?
I have to be perfect size two model with beautiful straight blonde hair and dazzling blue eyes to thrive in this world.
If you haven't seen this video, you must have been living under a rock for a few years. Every time I watch this, I get chills...

See? This is what I STRONGLY WISH women/girls/my friends would understand. There is no humanly possible way to be as perfect as the way media portrays women. There's no way. Stop trying. You won't succeeded. I'm sorry, but unless you have a way to mess with brains and photoshop yourself, you can't reach media's level of beauty. So why do we as women focus so much on the media and trying to fit into a size 2 pair of jeans? I don't have an answer. I just urge our society to become "media literate." As it said in "Miss Representation," “we need media literacy as much as we need to learn how to read.” And I'm not guiltless. I need to do better in realizing that a perfect body isn't necessary for success, recognition, or just being overall well liked. Why would I want a guy out there who is as shallow as to judge me because I don't have the perfect size two body? I don't. 

As an ending note, I leave with you the words of Elder Holland in a talk entitled "For Young Women." (Again, we watched it in my class and it made me cry. Here's the link if you want to watch the full talk, which again, I urge you to do).

"I plead with you young women to please be more accepting of yourselves, including your body shape and style, with a little less longing to look like someone else. We are all different. Some are tall, and some are short. Some are round, and some are thin. And almost everyone at some time or other wants to be something they are not! But as one adviser to teenage girls said: “You can’t live your life worrying that the world is staring at you. When you let people’s opinions make you self-conscious you give away your power. … The key to feeling [confident] is to always listen to your inner self—[the real you.]”

Tender Mercies

I'm feeling really grateful right now at 6:30 PM on a Friday in September.

• I'm grateful for an amazing roommate who woke up to make me breakfast and pushed me to work out today.
• I'm grateful for my working body, who doesn't quit on me and is healthy and able to take what I give it.
• I'm grateful for the boys at Riv (Cortney, Swanson, Jordon, Greg and Kuan-Yew), who always let me come over and chill...or "crash" at their place (crash meaning come over unannounced).
• I'm grateful that Liberty Square's maintenance came and unclogged our showers, so now they drain (YAY)!

• I'm grateful that I don't have school on Fridays, so I can get laundry done, workout and just take a break from my crazy school life.

• I'm grateful that my family, especially my mom and I, are so close and call me often. I'm really really glad that I repaired my relationship with them over the summer.

• I'm grateful that I have a bed, even though it's extremely high and I have to use a ladder to get into it.
• I'm grateful that my roommates have cars and will willingly take me to the grocery store so I have food to eat.
• I'm grateful to go to a church school, surrounded by awesome people who have the same standards as I do.
• I'm grateful to be living among friends who love me and appreciate me.
• I'm grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and that I'm apart of something so wonderful and beautiful.

I'm grateful to be alive. :)

A Call For Self Worth

This one is for the girls. I mean, boys, please read on but this is another "review" of my gender.

Self worth. A synonym for self esteem. A term used to reflect a person's overall evaluation or appraisal of his/her worth. Self worth is a tricky thing to talk about because I believe it greatly differs from one person to the next. To share my thoughts, I'm going to limit this to again the society I find myself in (BYU, 18-20 year old girls) but I feel like my feelings goes across the board as well.

What I find very interesting is as human beings, we love praise. We love it. When we achieve something spectacular, we look for praise. When we receive an "A", we want everyone to know. When we lose weight or go to the gym, we update our Facebook status to show our success. When we cook something, we share that food with those around and expect praise.

I noticed this in particular at my FHE. We were asked to say our names, where we were from, and one interesting thing about ourselves. Trying to appear humble, I said I'm decent at guitar. It's true. I'm not the best but I'm just alright. My roommates rush to praise me, saying I'm awesome, and I have a great voice (thanks ladies :). But if I feel that I do have a beautiful voice and I'm really good at guitar, why didn't I just say so? Where did we get this idea that bragging is so wrong?

Now, let's get to my point. In my humble opinion, most girls around here get their self worth from a couple of things; baking, schooling, homemaking, etc.

But there's one major value of self worth I didn't mention and it needs to be addressed.

Boys.

Now, my faithful readers, you're going to think that I just sit around and think about boys and girls and relationships all the time. True. But the reason behind my thinking is that it's a huge concern for everyone around me (and yes, I include myself in that) here at BYU. I come in contact with females and males every day and I spend my free time analyzing those I come in contact with (No one is safe...ha ha ha, just kidding).  Especially on Tuesdays/Thursdays when my classes are very theory based, socially based, and I find myself thinking a lot about society.

Back to the topic at hand...

I simply do not understand this mindset we have where we need to have a boy to tell us to feel good. Where, when, and how was it started, because I wanna give the creator a piece of my mind. Where in society did we get this idea that we have to have a man to feel good about ourselves? To feel beauty? To feel important? WHY?
The girls I'm seeing today has this idea that if they are single, they are of no worth.
Wait....so the way this mindset goes....seeing as I'm currently single, I'm no good to society and should go live in a mountain colony on top of Timp because I'm a shame to society.
WRONG.
Girls, I'm single and I've never had more fun in my life. SURE, relationships are awesome, I mean, I love having a boy tell me I'm beautiful, I'm fun to be around, and he really likes me. Same goes for boys. And if you out there don't like having someone else tell you how awesome you are and how awesome you look, there's a problem.
But why, whyyyyy, do we take another's view of us and base it off our own self worth? Why do girls feel like if they are still single, they have no worth to the world of men?

Ladies, stand up for yourself! Don't be vain but understand that you are awesome even if you are still single! You are beautiful even if you don't have a boy texting you saying you look gorgeous today. Understand that self worth comes from yourself. You have to be happy yourself before you can make someone else happy.

If you can't find joy, happiness, self worth from yourself, maybe you can from this quote.
"Did you know that [God] knows you personally--by name? You may not have heard the Lord call you by name, but He knows each one of you and He knows your name. Elder Neal A. Maxwell said. 'I testify to you that God has known you individually for a long, long time. He has loved you for a long, long time. He not only knows the names of all the stars; He knows your names and all your heartaches and your joys!" - Elaine S. Dalton.
There is a God in heaven looking down on each and everyone of us who loves us more than we can comprehend. He loves us, cares for us and hurts with us. He is much more important than those around you and He never stops caring.

All I'm saying is self worth can come deep from within. We shouldn't base our happiness on those around us or from how much praise we get. I shouldn't base my self worth on how many of you read and visit my blog. Instead, I need to realize that I am a capable human being who is loved by a Heavenly King. 

Refocusing On What Matters Most

I don't have church until 1 PM. Talk about late! So every Sunday morning, I try to listen to church music, piano music (Jon Schmidt is my favorite, look him up) or recent talks/Mormon Messages in order to start my day off right.
I love Mormon Messages! They are definitely not just for members of our faith, they are beneficially to everyone! I encourage you to look up "Mormon Messages" on youtube during any hard times. They really help me out.
Well, this morning I was listening to Jon Schmidt but I decided I needed a little more spiritual boost for my morning. I've had a rough couple of days and I feel that my spirit needs some encouragement. I was listening to "Have I Done any Good in the World Today?" by Alex Boye and Carmen Rasmusen Herbet (watch that here). I switched over to my very favorite Mormon Message called Moments That Matter Most (video shown below).

Hopefully, you took 3 minutes and 11 seconds to watch it because it's my very favorite video of all time. It makes me cry every time. The little girl on the swing reminds me of my little sister Lauryn and the older grandparent couple/young couple getting married gives me hope for my future. The girl scoring the soccer goal reminds me of my support team of friends and family who are rooting for me. The mom giving her son a welcoming hug reminds me that I have family back home who love me and miss me dearly. The women standing at the grave reminds me that families can be together forever. The man in the car looking at the sunrise reminds me that the Lord created this beautiful earth for us to enjoy. 

But what does this video really have to do with me today? I love this quote from it: "We would do well to slow down a little, focus on the significant, life up our eyes and truly see the things  that matter most... Diligently doing the things that matter most will lead us to the Savior of the world (Dieter F. Uchtdorf)."

I think the most of the time, we live our busy day to day lives without giving much thought to what's out there and what our purpose is. We try to remember that we are children of our Heavenly Father and that our Savior has done so much for us but often times, we only remember that on Sunday or when we hear talks or attend church. We need to take the time to slow down and remember that "simplicity is the ultimate sophistication" (Leonardo da Vinci).  How many times do we get caught up in the to-do lists, simple chores, and other extra activities and how often do we remember our friends and family, having a heart full of love and service and praying to our Heavenly Father?                                          I bear testimony that when we take the time to slow down and realize what's really important, our lives will turn out the way we want them to. Instead of taking the time to Facebook or text or even watch a movie, how different would our day be if we went out of our way to do the dishes or make a roommate's bed? Not only would we make others around us happy but we will find happiness within ourselves. By refocusing our lives and putting Jesus Christ at the center, I know that I will be a happier, more pleasant person and will not be offended by the little things people may do. I know that things will work out for the better and my life will be more positive.

I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the true church on the earth today. I know that I am a child of a Heavenly Father who loves me and knows me. He knows my faults, he knows my weakness, my strengths and my joys. He is there for me when no one else is. He loves me more than I can comprehend. I know that the Savior died for me and suffered for my sins so I can live with God again. I know that Thomas S. Monson is the true prophet on the Earth today and he speaks words of truth and comfort. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. 

A Little Bit of Bragging...

Disclaimer: This post is not about marriage. This is gonna be me taking a second to brag.

Well, sometime over summer, I became obsessed. Totally obsessed with working out. I don't really remember when it happened but all the sudden, my life was full of nannying and exercising. I would go to the YMCA like every day and run about 3 miles, depending on the day. Part of it was influencing from my extra healthy roommate (and her posts on Tumblr) and other was talking to Cortney, we said we were going to motivate each other. I didn't really eat healthy but I was working off. 

Well, in August, I decided I was going to work out every single day except for Sundays.....my plan was good until the week I left to come up for school.
However, the day that my family left, I told
myself, I gotta do this. Running is a release for me, it really makes me happy and feel better about myself. I might not be the best at it but it's just all about me when I run.

Anyway, I've been pretty consistent at working out at least everyday. I've missed two days, hiked for one and walked around Provo for the other. I also have given my hand at lifting weights. I'm by no means amazing (I can bench press 50 lbs....still got a ways to go...) but I LOVE it. I get such a high from it, I'm obsessing. In fact, I haven't lifted today and even though I'm exhausted, I feel incomplete by not going!!!!!! Ah!


So...onto the bragging....since coming up to Utah, I have officially lost 10 lbs! I might not look it but I feel accomplished!!!! I love the new me. The only "junk food" I own right now is nutulla, one 1/2 pint of ice cream, and tortilla chips. No more Nilla Wafers w/ frosting like last year! I'm not perfect by any means, but I love eating healthy. Fruit is the BEST, eat it!! I love it. I love being healthy. Ahhh! :)

We'll see what happens in the near future but for now, I'm doing pretty well :) I STRONGLY encourage any of you who are unhappy with their life right now to just start working out. It doesn't have to be hard. Even like a 10 minute run makes a difference. Even 10 crunches! I promise you'll feel better about yourself. <3

A Sociological Approach To Yesterday's Post

Hello readers. If you’re still with me, I’m impressed, especially after my rant on the world yesterday (Thanks for so many views, your comments and support—it’s something I’ve been thinking about for awhile). 

Well, interesting enough, my Tuesday/Thursdays are full of theory and picking apart my brain and those around me. Nevertheless, I’ve been thinking A LOT about the society structure of the university I find myself and my blog post on marriage yesterday.

Here are just some of my thoughts.

#1. I probably shouldn’t have been so harsh on the girls my age.

            What you say? Boys out there reading this are probably shaking their heads, saying I was totally justified in my opinions about the boy-crazy girls I interact with. I’m not entirely sure I was (yes on the boy craziness, maybe no on the marriage). I mean, everyone is entitled to his or her own opinions and yes, this blog is mine and I don’t expect you to agree with me 100% of the think. But one of the things we talk about in my sociology class is the social influence pushing on individuals within that certain society. If we take the society I find myself in (a practically white, middle class, LDS university), I suppose I shouldn’t be so surprised that everyone is marriage obsessed. And if I’m being honest, I’m not even surprised. I knew in coming here that marriage would be in the back of everyone’s minds. Every boy is told after the mission to go out and find a wife and begin a family. 

The social influences pushing on each and every one of us here at BYU is a mind set of “if I don’t leave this university married, I’m going to end up in an “older” single’s ward for the rest of my life and probably end up with a fair few cats.” Yikes, sounds scary right? Dating is a huge part of this university and you can’t cross campus without running into a more than a handful of couples, sometimes almost literally. I suppose, being at this university, I’m just surprised at the boy-craziness environment I find myself in. In high school, sure, everyone wanted to find a boyfriend and I myself found myself in a few of those relationships. Girls also find themselves in a particular frightening situation, as it is “socially unacceptable” for a girl to ask a boy out on a date, a hand in marriage, etc. I guess after taking a step back, I now see the social influences behind this crazy marriage, boy obsessing attitude I find people in.

#2.  There is a social or a personal way of looking at every said problem.

            I’ve never thought about this. Take the economy and the current rate of unemployment. I’ve been guilty of this but when you think of poverty and the welfare system, most of the time thoughts go to “Oh that’s their fault, they need to get out and get a job.” But have you ever consider that maybe the society problems are influencing them? I didn’t until today.

Now, let me apply this to my current view of this marriage problem. In terms of this being a personal problem, I’m observing boy craziness with RMs, I’m seeing the obsession to find a boyfriend, and I’m watching girls rely on boys for their self worth. I’m watching that the cause and the solution to this problems lies within each individual girl, that is, it is their choice to be boy crazy and obsessive.

Now, let me apply this as a social problem. Socially speaking, girls at this university start to feel inferior if they never date, if they’re not married by the time they leave and heck, even more so if they’ve never been kissed. From the society of BYU, it does make sense for girls to be boy crazy. The way this college is set up (FHE groups, wards, home teachers, etc.) it is nearly impossible not to come in contact with members of the opposite sex and I think you have to work at it not to become friends with the people you come in contact with. I mean, even the teachers joke about marriage and assign certain activities to get us to start dating. Now, I’m not allowing the boy crazy behavior (I still think it’s completely and utterly obnoxious) but I’m providing some possible sociologically speaking reasons behind this behavior.

#3. Just because I think the society is dumb doesn’t mean everyone has to think that way.

The more I sit in sociology classes, the more I begin to think about society and the problems within. Every time I sit in a class and a point is made that society influences us to think that way, I shake my head.  It never fails. Now, I might not be totally “march to the beat of her own drum” as some, but there are definitely some things I believe in.  Again, you may judge me and say, “Megan says she does stuff like that but I remember a time when Megan didn’t act a certain way.” Do you remember the end of my last post? We’re all HUMAN. There is no possible way for anyone to be perfect. As human beings, we are not perfect nor do we have the ability to be less judgmental. You can judge me all you want but that won’t make me stop doing those things I believe in.

In the case of my post yesterday, I believe in friendship, regardless of how “unpopular” it might be for a sophomore girl to be friends with boys who haven’t gone on missions yet because of their age. I believe it is incredibly stupid to be completely boy crazy but I understand that I even have the tendency to be so because of my environment, those I surround myself with, and the place I find myself in society. And I believe that when the time is right, I will find the one for me who probably won’t be a knight in shining armor, but pretty close to that as humanly possible. ;)

I’m not making amends for my post, because I honestly believe those things I said. Inside, I’m taking a sociological approach to my marriage obsessed post. 

The Obnoxious Disease At BYU

In the words of Princess Bride, "Marriage. Marriage is what brings us together today." Let me explain...

First and formost, I AM NOT ENGAGED. Gross. How could you think that of me!?!?!?! I wouldn't explain that in my BLOG (Although, I do really like looking at engagement pictures....not gonna lie!).
Second and secondmost, I am not even close to dating. Ha, again, funny!

So, my first year at BYU, I lived on campus in the dorms. In doing so, I was in a freshman ward which had girls my age and boys my age. The boys my age were all "pre-mi's" aka not yet 19 and had not yet served missions. It was a great year, full of fun shenanigans and crazy late nights. I had an AWESOME group of guy friends and I honestly wouldn't trade them for anything. But, because most of them were pre-missionaries, not a lot of steady dating happened, which honestly was fine by me. Sure, every girl dreams of finding their companion throughout life, but I was 17 last year. Way too young for all that commitment...


Well, now here I am, my second year. My roommates and I (mostly me) decided to stay at Liberty Square, aka the Sophomore Spot (we're not called that, I just made it up...). At this new location, there are girls my age (sophomore girls) and the boys here are fresh off their mission. Aka RM's (returned missionaries). Sure, RM's are great, future mates in the BYU/Mormon language. They are normally more mature, as they are at least 21 and have the tendency to be more spiritual, etc. Sounds like a dream right? Sure, they are dreamy and all but there's boys. Just the same as most boys all over. Just sayin'. It's nothing new...

Thanks Chandler, couldn't have said it better myself.

ANYWAY, it seems like the sophomore girls here are D-E-S-P-E-R-A-T-E. Like honestly. The other night, girls in the apartment next me screamed out, "JUST DATE ME. CALL ME UP, DATE ME, AND KISS ME LIKE THERE'S NO TOMORROW."

If that's not desperate, then I don't know what is.

At that same time, girls, the semester JUST STARTED. It is highly unlikely that you will find your mate for time and all eternity in the first two weeks of school. It's even more unlikely that you'll fall in love within the first two weeks of school, no matter who you are, what your circumstances are, or how you meet! (Yes, I know there are exceptions to the rule, I've seen "He's Just Not That Into You," trust me. I am the exception to most rules!) Heck, it's MORE unlikely that you will find that group of boys that you can even be friends with. C'mon. Last year, it took us till October to find our set group of guy friends. Give it timeeee!

Also, most of us are NINETEEN. Now, again, everyone learns and grows at their own pace, but heck, for me I'm not ready to make life changing decisions. I can't even decide what I'm going to wear in the mornings!!!! Maybe that's just me, but I feel like *most* 19 yr olds definitely aren't ready for that full commitment. Most of us get distracted by that feeling of "true love" and that idea of finding the perfect boy. No flaws are seen. Hey, uhmm...ladies...in case you haven't noticed, we're all human. Your perfect prince charming isn't out there. It's the truth. Sorry to break it to you!

I mean, I understand that in the Mormon community if you don't get married and you're out of college, it's like shame to your name. But still, it's gonna be okay. There's a scripture somewhere about a time and season to everything. It's true! Like girls, you need to CALM DOWN and not worry so much about boys! Frankly, it's obnoxious and I don't think the guys around here like pushy girls either! Actually I don't think boys anywhere like pushy girls (Boys, correct me if I'm wrong...).

We're SOPHOMORES IN COLLEGE. Date around, get to know other people and have fun! That's like my one wish for everyone I know right now. Don't desert your friends, even if they haven't served missions yet, because they are still great guys. Don't desert your roommates, just because you're obsessed with the new love of your life. Don't have all these little inside jokes because someone wasn't around when you met so-and-so. Don't become soooo obsessed with finding the one. We're young! We're suppose to make mistakes, learn what heartbreak is, and figure out what we actually want in a companion! Don't get blinded by the idea of your own Prince Charming. He's out there, but he's not as perfect as you want to believe. He's human and has flaws, just like you and me.

Just, be smart. Because there's this obnoxious disease in the water here at BYU and some girls are a little too boy crazy, marriage obsessed, and desperate for love.

Exhausted

It's 11:28 and I'm blogging. I need some serious sleep but I just had the longest bestest day of my life!

I SAW ALICIA LIZZIE ELIZABETH MALLOY!!!!!!!!!

It was great :) But, that wasn't the best thing haha.

So Tuesday is my late day, so I slept til 11ish. It felt lovely. I went to my Soc 112 class (my favorite class BY FAR). I sat next to this nice girl who will be my partner for an upcoming project (more on that when it happens ;) and after that I noticed Swanson is in my class!? What are the chances!? That'll be fun. Well in my next Soc class, we had to make our groups for our huge semester long project (ahh!) and I literally don't know ANYONE in that class. So I sat next to some nice looking girls, which wasn't hard, this is BYU, everyone looks nice. And I ended up working my way into their group! We're all Facebook friends already, the joys of technology haha. I'm super excited for that group project too!
Well, during my 2 hour break, I was actually REALLY productive! I finished my New Testament HW and Student Development, I felt proud. My history class was bor-ing, I was having a hard time staying focused and awake.
I also got an email from the sweet little kids I nannied this summer :) Pretty much made my day!

After that, Shelby was kind enough to bring up my workout stuff and dinner for me and we went to WORK OUT. I feel really proud, I've missed one day since I've been up here at school and I'm noticing a difference!!!!! More on that later as well....

After that, I sat up on campus and ate my mac n cheese and met up with PEARLY. It's funny how I never see her at home but I always make time like at least once to see her up here haha. We walked over to her place and then....MET UP WITH LIZ AT FROZEN YOGURT. It was GREAT to see her!!!!!!!!! Ahhh, I'm still so happy I finally saw her :)

Anyway I'm finally home and dying to sleep, so off to sleep I go. Love you all <3

Blessed

Man, am I blessed or what? I go to a beauty and awesome university, I have amazing friends and met amazing people every single day!!!!!!!

Kirt got bite by a bug....

Last night (Sunday evening) us girls were sitting around watching Single's Ward, pretty bored out of our minds when two boys showed up at our apartment. We shared Shelby's famous oreos with them (Kirt and Jeremy) and talked for the rest of the evening with the normal shenanigans. It was fun to just randomly meet them and their roommates/friends. :)

Crepes!

This morning was probably one of the best Labor Day's I've ever had. Devin, our fearless leader, organized it all. At promptly 9 AM, Devin arrived, ready to cook! He made us homemade crepes and they were DELICIOUS. We all ate to our hearts content and then decided to burn off the calories, lol.

Scared out of my mind..
hence my straight face!

We jumped in Janel's/Emily's car and headed off to our favorite--Provo Canyon. I seriously LOVE it back there! We headed up near Janel's cabin for a "hike" to Steward Falls. It. was. beautiful! I don't know if I just stay in home all the time in California, but I have a certain love for Utah outdoors. Even though half of it is the desert and it's not the prettiest in winter....it's gorgeous in the fall when the leaves change color (we don't have seasons in Cali...unless you count fire season a season (which we do)).  Anyway, the water fall was super pretty too. We hiked up to one level...apparently I don't hike much as I had a lot of trouble. That needs to be fixed haha. But as my dad would say, I'm not scared of heights--I'm scared of FALLING from heights. For instance, Whit's camera went over a cliff (it was a miracle cause it still works!?) and I just started picturing myself.....ahhh.

Bucket list!!!

Also, I got to cross off another bucket list entry :) Go under a waterfall. Yay! So far, it's been every week to cross one off! As Devin said, next week, SKYDIVING!....just kidding Mom and Dad ;)

Our group :) 

We messed around for awhile and there were tons of people there. But still, it was a beautiful time out in nature and away from the cares and concerns and technology of this world. I found it so peaceful and I felt overwhelming blessed to have the friends I do and live in a beautiful world which God created.