ASU Founder's Day 2010

College education cost: sleep + social life (I had to earn those scholarships baby). Keeping those grades up: rest of life. Eating dinner at the Biltmore in the same room as His Excellency Sultan Saeed Nasser Al Mansoori '88 B.S.E., Minister of Economy for the United Arab Emarates? PRICELESS!


I can't believe I was chosen to be a part of the festivities this year! Each year some of the Medallion Scholars get to go and help out with the event. And by "help" I mean minimal stuff such as greeting people at the door, collecting name tags, directing people to their table, etc. And eating with some VIPs.

I sat at the LRG table, and they do licensing for all the ASU merchandise (that Sparky stuff of yours? They licensed it), and manage the bookstores too. The founder of the company was there, and he was such a sweet older man with kind eyes, and a firm handshake.

The dinner itself was pretty fancy; it was the kind where the waitor seats you himself and puts the napkin on your lap for you. He pours you bottled water, wine, and coffee! Choices, choices. And he puts the salad dressing on for you as well, because both hands are full with the salad fork and knife- (I had never eaten a salad with a knife before!) because it's tied up with a cucumber bow. Wow.

President Crow was there of course, as well as my favorite school official- Dr. Christine Wilkinson. As well as being the Vice President of ASU, she is also the President of the Alumni Association, and thus is around for many of our scholarship- related activities. She even hosts a backyard BBQ every year, at her own house. She's sort of taken a liking to me, because she was an English Lit major too. One last thing- she's also the one who nominated me for Fiesta Bowl Queen this past year. So, in short, I. Love. Her. Such a neat and inspiring lady! My role model.

Anyway, back to the dinner. My table was at the very front of the room, and so I had a great view of the stage and the screens. Several awards were given.

The Sultan received one, and I think one of the coolest ones went to an alumnus who is currently working on metal- air batteries, and trying to make them rechargeable. If he can, then it could potentially change our country big time! We would see cell phones batteries that had to be charged only once a month, and laptops would last a week! Cars are a huge field of exploration too, because with that kind of battery power our dependence on foreign energy would be significantly reduced.

So yeah, there were a lot of really, really cool people there who are doing amazing things. I am so incredibly glad I got to be a part of it!

** I wish I had pictures, but I didn't have my camera and it was too dark for my phone cam to work (I tried). But there are some other ones people took, so I'm waiting to see 'em!! :)

Busy Busy... Busy? And 2009 in Review!

I have to confess, I've been a bit of a slacker lately. I have so much going on in my life that it's hard to find time to write on this blog! I write a lot throughout the day... notes in class, hard- copy journal, electronic prayer journal, and I'm trying to work on a book, too. Not to mention papers, and homework.

Anyway, I realize that a ton of stuff happened to me this past year, and I didn't write about a lot of it on here. So to recap, here is a list of stuff that happened- that I can remember off the top of my head, anyway:

Medallion Scholars Board
Crazy lunches with Mom & Grandma, and date shakes
First major boyfriend
First major break- up
Nominated for Fiesta Bowl Queen by ASU's VP
Cappuccinos with Katie
Cracker's breakfast of the best french toast in the world with Nikki
Teaching my cousin a piano tune
Building my first Gingerbread House
Cousins eating said gingerbread house
Long walks with the dog
Breakfast with Sandra Day O'Connor
Inducted into NSCS
Becoming an Awana leader
Getting 100% on a leadership test!
Crocheting blankets
Starting a club at school
Friday night Bible studies
Adding another major and a minor (I'm crazy)
Painting with Lindsay
Discovering I have an owl obsession :)
I had a dream in all Hebrew
Being nominated for a prestigious study abroad program
Not being able to go :(
Basketball with my brother
Learning guitar
Playing piano at someone's wedding
Work injury
Really, really, REALLY bad summer
Making tons of new friends
Being chosen as a CLAS Ambassador
Speaking engagements
Dean's list
Helping out with church nursery & Sunday School
Holding my NT professor accountable
(he wasn't counting on anybody actually knowing Greek & Hebrew hehe... oh that was fun...)
New songs I composed
Being paid as a percussionist
The Mayor of Gilbert applauding my sweet bass drumming skills (long story)
Coldstone with Colter
Naomi and baby Silas
Cousin Larissa and Godiva chocolate excursions
Boys & Girls Club, and reading books to little kids
Chili's appetizers with new friends
Lots of volunteer work
Being a peer mentor, and Kimberly
Learning to sew, finding I LOVE it
Lots of new, good books (the BEST thing sometimes)
New Book of my own


Well, that's a lot, and yet strangely inadequate. I need pictures, my blog doesn't have near enough pictures. I'll go see what I can find. :D

Schoooooooool

Here I am again, back on the hamster wheel. 17 credits, which, granted, isn't terrible- but I could use another week on break! So far, Hebrew has been interesting, Linguistics is simply fascinating, Greek History is marvelous, and I haven't even been to all of my classes yet!

Happy Wednesday everyone!

Today

Today was just the best day.

I spent it with my lifelong best friend, Naomi, and her little boy Silas. Ah!!

I hardly ever get to see her anymore, and that is why I STILL had her little guy's Christmas present under the tree. Well that had to change, so I decided to take it over to her apartment. Silas loved opening his present- it was a farm with these little clicky farm animals. So cute. Except that their heads turn all the way around, which is kind of freaky. But hey. :D

Then, it was lunch time so we headed over to Chandler Fashion Square mall (she pretty much lives right next to it), and had a yummy Paradise Bakery lunch. Silas loved eating part of a chocolate chip cookie... it was fun watching him get all excited and squirmy every time he got a piece. After that, we headed over to the Godiva chocolate store. Naomi had never been there, so I got her a milk chocolate with caramel chocolixir drink... and she about died and went to heaven! Then I signed up to get a free piece of chocolate every month... hello??? Free chocolate?? I think so, yes please! I got the dark chocolate decadence drink... MMMMM. I think I might have actually asked for an IV of it out loud, I don't remember haha.

After that we just sat around and enjoyed our drinks. Silas loved watching the escalator, so I held him and we played with my keys and wallet. Simply the best.

This is what I love about breaks from school- I get to see the people I love and actually enjoy them, without worrying about what I should be studying for. How cool is that? I love her and her little guy so much. I really wished they lived closer. :(

Oh- by the way; if you haven't had one of those chocolate drinks from the Godiva store, I strongly suggest you go get one. Oh. My. Gosh. BEST THING YOU'VE EVER TASTED!! Beware of the chocolate coma to follow!

Gingerbread House!

Once upon a time, I was at Wal- Mart and saw this Gingerbread kit for $7... and bought it. I felt kind of dumb checking out, because the cashier was a teenage guy and he gave me this look I sometimes get from boys that says, "You are such a girl," but oh well. I just pretended to look for something in my purse haha. Whatever.
Two days go by and I get a call from one of my band buddies from high school, who invites herself and two others over for an impromptu party at my house. Ok, fun! I don't mind that... but I really don't have much to entertain with. So I decided that we could all build this thing together. It worked! We laughed for about two hours, it was great.


This is Ashley, left, and Celeste, right. Ashley was in Pit with me, and we were roomies in Ireland. Celeste plays the flute and is an AMAZING photographer- later she had fun posing us for pictures. You'll see one later.

The icing was difficult to work with at first, so I ended up taking over and doing the roof (Oh and by the way- Ash & I are wearing aprons we actually made; I love mine- it's reversible).

See, the roof is better compared to the windows... but I was not going to be OCD about it. The whole point was to have fun, and we did.


This is Diana, and she was also in Pit with me. Yes, I was trying to get a shot of her working on the house, but I really wanted to capture her hair... she has Kate Gosselin hair from Jon & Kate Plus 8!! See! :D

Here she is from the front. But you can't see her hair very well.

When we were done, we had to carry it, and I almost dropped it. That would have been so sad, and yet so funny. *I said, "Oh no! Not the gumdrop buttons!" in a really high- pitched voice, and we almost dropped it again.*

Ah yes, here we are. All done! And safely on the counter. I love this one.






My mom wanted to get us by the tree, so Celeste posed us (she works at JCP in the photo department), you should see the gazillion pics I have of us laughing at her trying to move us. Oh goodness, I was not used to having people "draped" over me!

And here is the tree, the one I had to decorate all by myself this year. They are a lot of work, but I think it's worth it! I did have help with the lights though. When we were done we sat around it and had some girl time. Good stuff.

And there you have it, the tale of the first gingerbread house I ever made. Now I can cross it off my bucket list!

Oh, Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree...

Tonight, I made my grandma a teeny- tiny Christmas tree. Like super- tiny, complete with little ornaments and everything. I made it for her because she wasn't able to put up a tree this year, and she was telling me over breakfast one day that she really missed one. How could I not try to help?
My grandparents live in Globe, and they buy old run- down houses and fix them up to resell. The one they have right now isn't far enough along for a tree yet, but I think this one will fit just fine...

I LOVE the little ornaments I made, like the little cameo:





And the boots (my grandma reads a ton of westerns) and lights:


And the garland is little snowflakes and pearls. I think she'll get a kick out of it. :)


And some have been asking to see the blanket I made, so here it is. They are not the best pictures, but oh well.

This is my Neopolitan blanket, because I used what I had of brown, cream, and strawberry pink. It's kind of a pattern, but not really- I wasn't sure how much yarn I had so I just went with it.





Keep in mind I made this in like three days; I can do better. I take a lot longer on the baby blankets I make.

Hello again, I guess it's been a while since I've been on here. A lot has happened recently! Talk about busy. I am now a college ambassador, and tonight I am helping with the Finals Breakfast ASU hosts every year. I get to work with the massage people- lucky me!

I also had a birthday recently (yesterday, in fact), and now I'm 20! No longer a teen. FINALLY. My mom says I've been "20" since I was 14 haha. Hmm, I feel kind of old. It's an interesting age; no longer a teen, but still too young to drink. Not that I want to, I just think it's funny. It's also interesting because about a third of the girls I knew in high school are married now and having kids! It seems like every time I get on Facebook, I'm looking at someone's bridal pics or baby sonograms. Some even created a profile for their unborn babies... kind of creepy, huh? Haha.

I have a job interview on Tuesday- yay! If I get it, I will be working with ASU's Alumni Association as a secretary. One of my scholarships is through the Alumni Association, so I know a lot of people there already. I'm excited! It sounds like the perfect fit for me.

I'm almost done with the semester... last finals are on Monday! I can't wait to have a break. I'm looking at 20 credit hours next semester, so that should be fun. Whoo. But hey, like I always say... sure is a good thing I like school! I am looking forward to it because it will be my last semester of Hebrew. 2 whole years of it, and I will have accomplished my goal. I can now read the Tenak (Old Testament) in it's original writing!! I have learned A LOT about the Bible in general and about Jewish culture from this class. And my professor is amazing- simply the best I've ever had. Really. She is so amazing, that she offered to do a 499 or special topics class with me! That will be fun, I know it. The rest of my classes are prep classes for Greek... I'm taking two years of that starting next fall. I know, I know... I'm a little crazy. But hey.

I finally got the Christmas tree up with dad's help... only to discover that a section of lights in the middle (it's a pre-lit tree) won't light up. And of course, we can't find the stupid box of lights... ugh. Guess I'll be tearing apart the garage later. Know what else I want to do this Christmas? Build a genuine gingerbread house. I've never done it, and it looks like it could be fun.

Well, I have to get going on these last few projects due... and tests... so bye for now!