Gold Dinosaurs

This post is about an endangered species. 

Gold Dinosaurs. 

That's right, GOLD dinosaurs. Put another way, gold DINOSAURS. 

GOLD DINOSAURS. 

Get it? 

Not the gold you find in jewelry, and not the dinosaurs you see in a museum or Spielberg movie;

the gold dinosaur you see in this picture:

Still don't get it? (I don't blame you - I'm hard to follow)
Here's the story:

It was the first day of moving in to the new apartment. I was ready to start school, meet the roommates, get back into a routine, ready to meet people and make new friends, ready to room with Markie, and most importantly ready to UNPACK. I however, was the last person in my apartment to arrive, so everyone had already gotten their stuff out and in the open. And what do I walk in to see sitting in the front room?

Gold dinosaurs.

Hahaha, very funny new roommates. Plastic dinosaurs spray painted gold? Is this some sort of post-modern interior design scheme that incorporates prehistoric figures into the decorating scheme?
...Is this a joke?
Maybe one of my roommates has a younger sibling, and they left their toys here. Yeah - that's it.

But no, that was not it. The gold dinosaurs stayed. But not only that, they multiplied. And they all congregated in the front room.
I don't have a very red personality (see: the color code), so I decided to just see how things would play out.

First, I tolerated them.
 - I got used to them.
Then, I started to arrange them. 
I noticed that whenever boys came over, they played with them.
Next we took an impromptu photo shoot with them.
Then they got put away one day and the front room looked wrong. 
Then, I named some of them. 

And then I realized - I LOVE those dinosaurs!

After thinking about it, I came to conclusion that gold dinosaurs were going to be a theme for my life - I just didn't know it yet.
This whole semester has been gold dinosaurs for me.
Things I can't control, that I might dislike, but that I have to come to love. And I DO come to love.

So, this month I'm going to be talking about gold dinosaurs - and trust me, they're becoming an extinct species.

All my upcoming posts will be about experiences where I've found the good in weird / unwanted situations and life.

It's going to be an adventure :)

Megs

No Earlier.

Only 2 more weeks of being home. Am I happy about that? You bet. Am I sad? Of course.

But I really am ready to be back where all my friends are, and back to a scheduled life. 

My life this summer has been reduced to this in a nutshell:

Ok, I seem like a snob for putting that on my door, but people in my house wake up early - especially because school started this week. I am capable of waking up with the rest of the fam-bam at 6am, but my recent addiction to Pretty Little Liars, Drop Dead Diva, and How I Met Your Mother insomnia makes that a terrible experience. 

I just like sleep. And the internet. 

But don't you worry, I am working on getting up earlier so I won't be unprepared for the start of college classes. Junior year college classes. How weird does that sound? 

And how weird does the word weird look? Normally, if I write a word more than 10 times in a row, it starts to look a little funky. Like banana. Or ocean. Try it - you'll see! 

...But with the word weird, it just looks crazy all on it's own. It doesn't need 9 other duplicates. Weird. 

Anyways, here's a little of what my life has been: 

Listening: Safe by Britt Nicole and If You Wanna Go by Joy Williams. Both fantastic. Highly recommended. 

Watching: THE OLYMPICS! People constantly amaze me. And could Phelps get any more phantastic?!

Doing: sleeping in (obviously) and cooking. The occasional cleaning project, but mostly cooking.

Stalking: all my friends back in Provo. Their lives on Facebook are so much cooler than mine right now haha. 

I hope you are all having a great summer! Sleep in while you still can! 

Megs 

P.S. if you see that little astrick by 10:30 am, it's because it leads the reader to a small note at the bottom of the page. It says "I will hunt you down if you wake me before. Thank you, come again."

I am a sleep snob.  

Rainy Days.

What a day. {Sarcastic} I can count all the things I did on one hand:

1. Watched Pretty Little Liars (shout out to anyone else as obsessed as I am)

2.  Played in the rain

3. Finished a craft (featured below!)

4. Ate a chili dog

5. Wrote this blog post

What. A. Day.  

I'll have to say though, it was very exciting to see the rain come down in buckets. Monsoon season in AZ is insane. You can't fully appreciate it unless you've been through one and man - the rainstorm today was hard to beat. It completely filled the streets and covered the sidewalks. The park behind my house is now a lake. (really - people got inner tubes...)

Look! Picture proof! 

(That lake replaced my park, and that river replaced my street). 

That's a good 6 inches in the street!  

Alright, so maybe I'm too excited for the rain. But it hardly ever comes in Arizona! The day rain falls is the best day of the year! ;)

I'll admit, I only went outside once today. I played in the downpour, then kept myself indoors for the rest of the day. So, since I can only take so much drama from Pretty Little Liars, I decided to occupy myself with a project I've been working on. 

I was inspired by this picture from pinterest:

I've done tape things before! So I figured, Hey - I can totally do that! 

...

I might've taken too many creative liberties when painting, and I messed up. I didn't like how it turned out at all. 

Just gross. Don't look at it! I don't like it! (I actually hid it so my family wouldn't see). Plus, someone might've gone a little crazy with the paint and painted their hand purple and stuck it all over the canvas. Who does that?!? Not me! 


Ok. It was me.


Don't be like me. 


I was pouting about wasting a perfectly good canvas on impromptu finger-painting, and then I remembered seeing this picture and I thought - I could TOTALLY do that!!!  


So I grabbed it from it's hiding place in the bathroom, 
added a few colors, 

printed off some large letters, 
cut them out, 
and stuck 'em to my board! 

Then I spray painted it all over (after the rain stopped of course) and got this! 

It's not perfect, but I kinda like it that way. Reminds me to not sweat the small stuff. And, obviously, to laugh. Because life IS better when you're laughing! 

- Meg

Only time for funny...

Alright, so sometimes I lie and say that every Thursday will be a Pinterest Thursday. Sorry about that.
Also, sometimes I'm really immature (according to my mom) and laugh at videos like this:

and this:

I apologize if you didn't find those funny.

But I promise I will upload the pinterest crafts I did last week later today.
Only time to share with you some videos right now :)

Talk soon!

Pinterest Thursdays - Sailor's Knot

Well, after being home for almost a week, I've realized I am quite bored. I go to Quik Trip. A lot. Summer Tradition, I guess. 

Fortunately for my caloric intake, I am absolutely addicted to Pinterest. So I decided to actually make something I found on pinterest instead of just gawking at all the pictures!  

Wouldn't it be a crazy idea if everyone had a board on Pinterest entitled "Things I've actually done from Pinterest?"

I, for one, would only have 5 things on there. And they would all be desserts. Hahaha, so I decided to change that. Every Thursday is going to be a Pinterest Thursday for me! How does that sound? 

Today - I made a Sailor's Knot bracelet! Woo Hoo! 

Here's a picture and a link: 

Pretty nifty, right? I saw it and I liked it! 

The website said to use a can that was between 14 to 20 oz. 

I picked a 15 oz can, and it the bracelet actually turned out too large for me, so next time, I'll go smaller. 

What a lovely corn can!

This is when I started making the second round (of three).

Here's my finished product. Yeah...it didn't turn out the way I expected it to. But I still like it! 

There was just an ugly patch on the backside. 

So I fixed it! (sometimes my genius boggles my brain) haha

Just kidding about that genius part. Total lie. 

I don't encourage you all to follow my example, I have complete faith that you can all make a bracelet a million times better than mine. 

Hope you give it a try! 

Happy Pinterest Thursday!

(and if you have any suggestions about what other crafts I could try, please let me know!)

Waiting at the airport

It always seems as though during finals week my life becomes something like The Backstreet Boys. Let me explain...
When someone mentions the band, everyone just rolls their eyes like “oh, that whatever boy’s band from the nineties", but as soon as one of their songs starts playing, I dare you not to sing along (because you know all the words – we all do. No shame). In the anticipation for finals, I hate it because I don't want to go through it again, but I actually do like finals week. You can get everything done on your own time, and then you don’t have to do it again. Refreshing. (Just like the Backstreet Boys) haha

Here are some things I'm currently doing:

Listening – Ain’t no Other Man by Christina Aguilera. Don’t care what you say, girl’s got soul. 

Loving – sitting in this airport right now. Oh wait, no I’m not. **Got here at 6:45, flight leaves at 12:30** 

Hungry for – Café Rio. DID YOU KNOW THEY HAVE ONE IN THE SLC AIRPORT!?!?!? Is it socially unacceptable to eat lunch foods for breakfast? …and then eat the same thing for lunch?

Wanting – to be home. But to have all my friends there too. Is that too much to ask?

Needing – new earphones. And a ukulele. And ukulele lessons.

I’m sorry if none of that made sense at all. It’s 8 in the morning and I’ve been sleep deprived this whole weekend. (That’s when you know the weekend is good). I never get much sleep the last week of school. Too busy trying to re-learn everything I collected in my educated head, and then forget it again. It stresses the brain.

Random question – who likes those shirts about Dr. Pepper that say Trust me, I’m a Dr? You’re not a doctor because you drank it. Please. If drinking that makes you a doctor, then I am for sure a cutie, because I eat those little oranges like there’s no tomorrow.

Sorry about that random interruption. It's just how my brain works friends.

So, it’s almost official. Once spring term grades come out, I’ll be an official Junior. When did that happen?

I am amazed every time I think of what I was doing 2 years in comparison to now. So much has happened. In thinking about it all, I realize one of the biggest things that has impacted me are all my roommates.

In 2 short years, I’ve lived with 15 different people (crazy!), and I am so grateful for all the lessons I’ve learned from each of them. ABout cleaning dishes, kitchen food parties, the woes of life and how people handle stress, how I interact with others, selflessness, how to correctly make microwave popcorn, sleepovers in the living room, and the process of becoming best friends. Shout out to Markie, Laryssa, Tarryn, Shirley, Megann, Kyley, Cami, Brittany, Kristen, "my Alex", Bethany, Alex, Emily, Mariah, and Diana! Love you all! 

Well hey everyone!

I hope if you have finals they're treating you better than they are me!

Also, have you checked out this giveaway?!

Just mosey on over - it's definitely worth checking out.

Talk to you after finals are over -

Stay classy guys.

Burned out.

I’m burned out. This weekend began for me on Thursday, as I waited in choking anticipation for Alex, my roommate from last year to show up. She finally did, at 1am. Obviously, I didn’t get to bed until 3. It was great. Well, until I got to school of course. Lesson learned: Megan cannot function on 3 hours of sleep.

Currently I am:

Listening – Garden Walls by Mindy Gledhill. One of my absolute favorites.

Loving – being with my roommates and having Alex in the same state as me again.

Thinking – deciding whether or not to go to the 6am yoga class in the morning.
Wanting – more vegetables. But I want someone to cook them for me.

Needing – someone to play with my hair. It’s been too long.

RAK – doing the dishes tomorrow! (I think they’re multiplying)

Other items of note this weekend:

o Meeting Randy from Kid History at Target. He’s a definite celebrity in my mind.

oGoing to the “stake dance” on Friday – seeing all the couples on blind dates, having a great time with mine, and getting dressed up. It’s always a fun deal :)

o Going to lunch and yogurtland on Saturday. I’m slightly addicted to yogurtland. It’s bad.

o Getting the daylights scared out of me by two very sneaky roommates who were hiding under my bad and in my closet. (nice one guys, didn’t even see that one coming)

o Going to the BYU vs. Pepperdine basketball game! WE WON! Hooray!

o Hiking the Y on a spur of the whim. Then, shoe sledding back down over all the snow. Scary and SO fun!

o Staying up too late with roommates playing crazy card games and talking about boys. Haha, the stresses of a college girl’s life.

o An amazing Sunday. All the lessons and talks were fantastic! My ward is seriously the greatest.

Welp, this finishes up my third post for February! Stay tuned – I’m sure I’ll have something to write about for this Tuesday… And now you're interested ;) hahaha

Meg

Feb post #2

Today I got some doses of reality. Let's take a look, shall we?

#1: The first dose came from Mission Prep, which is a class I happen to love. We talked about "Personal Radiation" in class. Mainly that everyone has an influence that permeates and affects others.

"Man's unconscious influence is the silent, subtle radiation of personality - the affect of his words and actions on others...every man has an atmosphere which is affecting every other man...and by these qualities he will constantly affect the world." - David O. McKay

What a beautiful statement. And and alarming one. Every action you make is being watched by someone else, and every action makes a difference. Life is a state of radiation and absorption. What are you giving off?

Alright, that was dose of reality #1. Number 2 was less uplifting.

#2: you will be alone sometimes. I found myself with an hour to kill in-between classes when I wasn't expecting to be on campus. I bought me some lunch and then worked on a paper for english. While sitting alone at a table. I don't know what about that makes me feel so insecure.

You look around and realize that there are people sitting around you who are just as alone as you are, but all you really focus on are the groups of people at the table. Is it just me, or do they seem larger when you're by yourself? I think you only focus on them because they're the ones making all the ruckus. You feel annoyed at them for making so much noise during your quiet time, while still wishing you were joining in the din of laughter.

Bet you weren't expecting to read that, were you? Hahaha, don't worry. I'm not bitter or anything. It's a fact of life that you will be alone sometimes. For me, this happened to be between 2 and 3pm in the Wilkinson center today. It's ok, really.

#3: although there are lonely times, there are friend times, and hopefully those outweigh the solitary times. I got to reunite with 2 absolutely amazing girls yesterday and today for different lunch dates. It was wonderful! One of my favorite things is getting to know how people see the world, what they feel in specific situations, and what they're doing in their life. Mostly, I just love to listen. People have great stories to tell if you only tune out the noise and focus on them.

#4: My last dose of reality was at 7pm tonight when I realized that there were only 30 hours separating the reuniting of two best friends. Do you think I'm going to get ANY sleep tonight? I doubt it, although I hope so - because I sure won't be getting any tomorrow!

#5: I realized that I missed Modern Family SO much. I'm so glad that it was on again tonight.

Peace out!

Realizations.

I’ve had a couple of realizations these past few months, along with lessons learned from random events. Here are a few:

Your day will go the way the corners of your mouth turn. This is SO true. My day goes exponentially better if I just choose to smile when I’m faced with difficulty, instead of moaning about it.

You can find joy in the most unexpected of places. Instead of getting caught up in the monotony, it’s good to just take a step back and look around with fresh eyes and see the beauty in everything. You might see something you would’ve otherwise missed, and it might influence you in more ways than one.

Volleyball teaches life lessons. This past weekend, BYU was beat by Stanford in 2 different matches. Stanford played really well, and so did BYU. But it just wasn’t good enough. And that’s ok. In life you can’t win all the time, but you can be sure that there are those in your life who are cheering you on, and who are playing right alongside you; and you can learn together.

You can’t do things alone. Sometimes I like to think I’m invincible, but that is FAR from the truth. I’m so blessed to have wonderful girls in my life as roommates, who inspire me to be better, let me be myself, and are just all around amazing people who I am glad to call friends! It makes it easier to live independently when you have great people around you for support.

There’s nothing like a new scarf, or a random compliment to make a girl feel awesome. Need I say more?

Last one - My family is great. It's true. If you know them, you can attest. If you don't, then why don't you?!? hahaha. Also, my siblings are stinkin attractive. Just sayin.

Those are just a few realizations I've come to appreciate during the past little while.

Goal for February: 10 blog posts. (Now I'm accountable...)

Have an exceptional day!

- Meg