The Boy Who Lived...and The Girl Who Survived

This week marked an end to my childhood in a way.  I being the voracious reader that I am devour anything with printed word.  That being said The Harry Potter Series did not escape my attention.  I believe I picked the first book up at around age nine.  It was a lovely birthday present from my aunt who shares a love of all things books.  Since that fateful day,  The Boy Who Lived has been with me for the past 11 years. So pretty much my entire life, or so it seems.  I was able to quickly read the first three books and then from that time forth had to painstakingly wait for the next volume to come out.  In my anticipation for an amazing new book or movie I would always read the previous ones to make sure I forgot nothing.  Every summer I would find myself delving back into the world of wizardry just as anxious as the year before.  These books were a part of growing up for me, as well as many people my age.  This summer was no different from the past 11 summers, except that I know it might be awhile before I again visit Diagon alley, Hogwarts, Hogsmeade, and all the other magical places.  This being the case my roommates and I felt that this experience needed the proper send off.  I personally reread all the books again, except sadly OChem got in the way of life and I am still finishing up the last book.  Once the books had been read we embarked upon the longest day ever devoted to The Boy Who Lived.  What did that entail you ask?  Just spending 21 hours in a dark theatre all day long watching ALL eight movies.  We arrived a little before 6 am in the dark hours of the morning after only 3 hours of sleep.  Once there the magic began.  Come 6:30am we were watching the scrawny boy find out he was a wizard.  By 12:30 that night we were anxiously preparing for The Chosen One to vanquish The Dark Lord.  It was so much fun being able to watch the entire story from start to finish.  I don't believe any other way would have satisfied saying goodbye to something that has for so long been a part of my life.  Is this truly goodbye?  No, but it will be a good while before I again pick up those novels.  So for now I say so long to The Boy Who Lived.

6 am and Posing with HP

Right before the 1st movie with my Awesome HP Loving Roommate

All 3 of us about halfway through (we changed T-shirts throughout the day)

Team Gryffindor!

3 am the next morning.  WE SURVIVED the 1178 mins.

And so marks the ending of an era, but not really, because as far as I am concerned Harry Potter will always be The Boy Who Lived and will continue to touch the lives of generations to come. 

Sizzlin' Summer

The title of this blog is a bit deceiving because until this week its been off and on chilly weather.  I do believe though that we have finally hit summer time heat.  Despite not always having sunshine I have managed to have an amazing summer full of fun.  It began with a week off of school during which I celebrated my awesome roommate Debbie's 21st birthday.  How did we celebrate?  It began with delicious homemade apple pie, spending the day dressing up, and then a night out on the town.  We ended the night by playing 21 of course.

The Delicious and Beautiful Apple Pie I made

My fabulous roommates (Birthday Girl on the Left) and 3 Candles for 21

Hannah did everyone's hair amazing.  

My roommates and I all dressed up 

We went to a restaurant that served non-alcoholic mocktails and they were awesome

My awesome winning hand in 21

Also monthly at our apartment we have what we deem as Dessert Nights.  We have one night a month where we invite all our awesome girl friends over, everyone brings fruit or something, and then we make fabulous dessert and play games.  The first time we made crepes, this month though we made dessert pizza complete with sugar cookie crust, cream cheese/cool whip topping, and fruit.

Most recently I threw my old roommate her bachlorette party.  She was late notifying people so it ended up just being her, debbie, and I.  It still turned out great though.  We took her out to dinner at her favorite place Costa Vida.  Then we took her mini-golfing and afterwards made ourselves sick on sugary pina coladas and strawberry daiquiris.  The best part was she had no idea what we were doing and we blind-folded her from place to place which was quite entertaining.

The beautiful bride to be with her first gift of the evening. Post-its!

When she moved out we put about a hundred post-it notes in her stuff,

she still finds them months later.

The blind-folded bride.  

Delicious Costa Vida

Mini-golfing. I managed two holes-in-one and Jessica got one as well,

which is good because she had to get a hole-in-one to get her next gift. 

Pina Coladas anyone?

And that has been my summer up to date.  It has also been a very long blog post, sorry about that, but this is really my only form of journaling right now.  Until the next big adventure...

Living on the Blue Side of Life

Sometimes I want to do something crazy and spontaneous just to challenge who I am as a person.  Nothing life altering, but something that makes people think and question it.  Usually though I am all talk and never action when it comes crazy and spontaneous.  Hence my problem, talking, which is the opposite of doing. Which is fine, because last time I checked I haven't changed my name to Hamlet.  For the first time though I did something crazy! What did I do you ask?  I dyed part of my hair bright teal blue.  This is a big deal.  Mainly because every time I've gotten my hair highlighted before I usually start hyperventilating and freaking out at the hairdresser.  Apparently I have an irrational fear of never being able to return to my natural hair color.  Which is stupid, I know.  Back to main point though is that this past week I dyed my hair blue.  In the process my awesome roommate also dyed her hands blue to match. Haha.   So here is picture documentation of my spontaneous process.

My beautiful brunette hair that I am so afraid of losing

The beginning 

Studying for OChem while I wait

My amazing roommate's hands

The main blue streak in my hair

Lots of Blue!

 And now I am living on the blue side of life, and its not much different from where I usually am.

The Beginning of the Bucket List...

So I have started the bucket list of my life.  I began it this year and have since checked off a couple of them from my list.  Right now the list is just sitting in my mind, soon, oh so very soon I will actually write it down.  I have also decided to document this bucket list as I complete it throughout my life.  Some of the items on my bucket list are simple, some will be more challenging.  Each and every item though is a part of life I wish to experience.  Here is a glimpse of the items on my list (in no particular order):

Read all of Shakespeare's Works (8 down, plenty to go)
Zorbing in New Zealand (google it)
Make a dress completely out of Duct Tape
Gondola ride in Venice
Discover Atlantis (Don't know if this will get checked off, but its on there nonetheless.  I will take becoming a mermaid as an acceptable substitute for this item.  In case you were wondering.)
Visit all 7 continents (this one might take awhile, seeing how North America is the only one checked off)

This is like I said a small glimpse of the list that I have begun creating for myself, on the other hand I have already started or completed some others on my list, including one I checked off yesterday.  Now follows the completed/sort of completed list (this time in chronological order):

Swimming in an Underground Cave
This was checked off the summer after I graduated.  My mother took me down to Riviera Maya for a Senior Trip.  While there we went inland and I swam in a cenote.  Which is an underground lake, they are everywhere in Mexico.  I also swam in underground river/cavern this december when I went again to Riviera Maya, Mexico with my family.  I have checked this off twice, but I would definitely do it again.

The Beautiful Cenote

Swimming in the Underground Cavern

Don't know what zip-lining has to do with swimming underground but it was fun!

See the 7 Wonders of the World
Ok, so I haven't really checked this off.  Truthfully I haven't even really began (remember haven't left North America).  I only put this on the list as a sort of completed because I have seen one wonder of the world and it was truly amazing.  This was also checked off on my awesome Mexico trip.  I was able to go visit Chichen-Itza.  I can definitely see why its listed as one of the 7 wonders.  After seeing it twice I am still in awe.  If this isn't on your own personal bucket list, add it now.

Own a Pair of Ruby Slippers
Need I say more?  I shouldn't have to but I will.  It is a common held belief of mine that every girl should own a pair a ruby slippers in her life time.  I just barely bought mine this winter while on a shopping expedition with my mother to the exotic store known as Target.  So I got my ruby slippers at target, and so what if they were only $3.  I can still say that this was checked off my list because I am now the proud owner of this lovely pair of shoes.

Catch the Bride's Bouquet
I put this on my bucket list after a conversation with one of my friends at the wedding of my dear friend Arielle.  It was after her bouquet toss that I decided to put it on my list.  Some of you may scoff at the easiness of this task, but let me tell you it is not easy.  First of all have you ever noticed how many girls are vying for that bouquet, the answer is a lot?  Second have you also noticed how aggressive girls can get?  The catching of the bouquet is still thought of as a time honored tradition and many girls still feel that it has the ability to predict the timing of their marriage.  Well, regardless of these facts  I was the one who caught the bouquet at my friend Amanda's wedding.  I seriously thought that this would take a lot longer than one wedding to accomplish, but luckily it did not.  Do I now believe I will meet the man of my dreams tomorrow, probably not.  Regardless I am still ecstatic that I caught it and now only regretting that I forgot to document said event with my camera.  Hopefully I can get the picture later.

So now I have unofficially documented the items I have successfully completed and look forward to conquering more as I live my life.

A Mermaid Struggling through Finals

So apparently making a goal to post once a month would have been a better idea.  At this point in my life I am just trying to make it through the last few weeks of the semester with out going insane. So far so good. Once Upon A Time... there was a mermaid that loved life and loved to learn.  She wanted to learn more of the world but the only things taught at the underwater University of Atlantis were underwater basket weaving, history of mermaids, and biological ocean life.  None of this held the slightest interest for her.  So she made the decision to go to land in order to expand her knowledge of the world.  Once on land she headed out to a beautiful university nestled in the foothills of a stunning mountain range.  Here at this amazing place she was able to choose to learn anything her heart desired.  She set her sights on mastering the art of potion making better known as chemistry.  Though she continues to enjoy her studies, she has found that obtaining knowledge is also very difficult.  Especially if she is trying to master the concept of integrals and taylor series.  Come the end of this month though she will never have to try and pound such mathematical equations into her head again.  This she looks forward to, so that she can continue her love of studying chemistry.  And for now the beautiful mermaid/human bids you adieu, because she highly doubts she will find the time to write again until her finals are done. The End.

Life in the Fast Lane

So I created this blog to give me the opportunity to write because I never seem to find the time.  Apparently life gets in the way of blogging as well.  I am recommitting now to find the time in my busy, busy life to write at least a little every week.  We'll see how it goes.  At this point in life I just spent my entire weekend giving henna tattoos, watching lots of movies, playing just dance, and getting very little sleep.  All in all a successful weekend minus the sleep deprivation.  At this rate I might be able to catch up on my sleep when I am 30 or maybe during a Sunday nap.  That sums up life for the moment, but I am sure that will change in an instant.

A New Year...

And so it begins.  A new year full of possibilities has begun, though the first few weeks have been squandered away already.  As with the beginning of every New Year, I as well as everyone else make what are known as "New Year Resolutions" and try my best to fulfill them.  Unfortunately if you were to ask me what my resolutions were last year I would truthfully say I have no idea whatsoever.  That being said I have made a resolution this year that I will try my utmost to keep.  And this is where the blog finally comes into play.  I have decided to create this blog for the sole purpose of writing.  This writing is mainly for my own benefit, but others are welcome to read and enjoy a glimpse into the chaos I call my mind. 

I am now putting forth some disclaimers regarding this blog for anyone who is daring enough to read it. First and foremost there will probably be no apparent theme to this blog, some posts might be updates on my life or I might use the space to write a book review or a short story of my own imagination. Therefore most likely taking the posts in a unified group, everything will seem kind of random.  The second disclaimer would be that though I hope to update this blog weekly that is no guarantee or promise on my behalf.  Third disclaimer would be that I know the blog looks kind of blah at the moment, but I will improve it with time, hopefully. Those are the only disclaimers that I can come up with at the moment though I am sure there are others to come.  

So now to truly begin my blogging experience I will give you a quick glimpse of who I am.  Right now I am majoring in Chemistry at the University of Utah and enjoying every aspect of it.  This year of schooling has been wonderful and very different from last year when I was majoring in a performing art which I also loved, but it wasn't for me.  Besides school I work, play, and study.  That's about all I have time for.  I love to dance with all my heart though I am not taking any classes at present.  I am also a connoisseur of books (if that's even plausible), better known as being a book worm.  That pretty much sums me up in a nutshell, a very tiny nutshell, for there are many more things I could tell you about myself if I felt the desire.  Overall  I love my family, friends, and most of all I just love living life!