Can I just say...

I love running. Today and yesterday were nothing but stress, stress, and death and I didn't have time to run, which resulted in me feeling icky and tense and just in need of some form of exercise! Tonight after my astronomy lab ended at 10pm, my head was jammed full of all sorts of things and I just wanted to go to sleep. But my crazy cross-country shoulder angel thought otherwise. And I caved. Off I went for just a quick half-hour. And it was marvelous. Just what I needed to clear my head. I'm in a good mood. :]

So I'm kinda pining.

Exams are stressful. That's not news to anyone. And when I'm stressed I usually go into no-human-interaction mode. Withdraw and collect myself then plow through whatever it is that needs to be plowed through. Probably not the best, but it's just natural. And back at home I could always depend on my cat to tolerate my need to snuggle with something warm that didn't want to just talk a lot. I know that sounds totally anti-social but come on... we've all had those days. Right now I am totally and 100% pining for my kitty.

I am most definitely a cat person. Our personalities just kinda mesh. I love that cats are quiet, independent, and polite. They don't jump all over you or slobber, and they're neat & clean. I love their random mood swings from frisky and silly to completely lazy. I love how content they are to just sit on a windowsill for an hour and watch the world go by. They appreciate the good things in life (sometimes just as simple as curling up in the sun [: ) and nothing ruffles them. They are the best cuddlers on the planet (sorry boys) and above all, the purring is just the best sound in the world, no lie. I'd say people could learn a lot from cats. [: (Except the purring part... that'd be a little weird.)

So this is to my kitty, who's been my best buddy for the past eleven years of smooches and squeezes and hearing me call her things like muffincake, poopsie, fluffykins, chubbster, & pudgemeister. I miss her to bits! Though she's probably enjoying my absence. [:

Pure and utter joy on that face. [: Yep. We're besties.

Geological humor

I'm taking Geology 101 this semester. The material itself is enough to make it my favorite class. I'm in love with rocks and volcanoes and just Earth in general. Period. [: But on top of that, my teacher is simply hilarious. Every lecture is solid stand-up comedy. He is the best professor I've ever had. This guy can get 100+ students totally psyched about what most people think of as boring lumps of dirt.

Some of the things he says are just too good to let go by, so I write them down in the margins of my notes. Here are some of the best ones so far:

Explaining how nothing can really get in the way of lava:

  "Lava plus trees equals lava. Lava plus houses equals lava. Lava plus you equals lava. The basic point here, class, is that lava plus anything else equals lava, unless the 'anything else'... is Chuck Norris."

       “The Earth is hollow. How many of you knew that? The opening is somewhere around the North Pole. But no one’s found it yet. Why? The government is hiding it. It’s a government conspiracy. Because they all know that if we found the opening to hollow Earth, we’d all want to go live in the hollow Earth. Yeah. No sales tax down there...”

Talking about earthquakes:

  "There are quite a few things that make the earth shake - faults, dinosaurs, and: my mother-in-law."

While showing us a government-produced list of three things you should do if an earthquake occurs:

  “I love this number three - 'If in a moving vehicle, stop as soon as possible.' NO WAY. If I’m driving down I-15 and there’s a 7.0, I am puttin’ it to the floor! How many chances like that do you get? That’s the closest you’ll ever get to flying a TIE fighter in your life.”

Okay, tell me honestly, why would you NOT take a class from this guy? Look at him. He is the epitome of awesome! Geology is the epitome of awesome! [: Oh dang my life is good.

Halloweening!

First off, a recent discovery: Halloween gets so much hype in college. I don't know, maybe I should have expected it, but people were partying about a week before Halloween. For example, on Thursday night there was a dance party being driven in circles around the dorms on a huge flatbed truck. Creative, no? [:

Anyway, here are some of my Halloween adventures!

On Friday there were some pretty fantastic costumes on campus. For instance, I had an encounter with a hobo outside the science building.

I also got to see my Geology teacher as a prison inmate (complete with arm and neck tattoos) and my Astronomy teacher as Professor Dumbledore. Perfect [:

What good is Halloween without a few haunted house thrills? I went with some friends to one in Salt Lake that was voted best in the nation. It. Was. Terrifying. I will admit, I screamed/almost cried/covered my eyes/jumped out of my skin/did all the other things wimpy people do. And I did them a lot. In my defense: I was at the back of the group, so I was always the one who got picked on by all the friendly haunted house people with chain saws and bloody axes. Luckily I had a buddy to hold on to during the 35-minute nightmare, and I was really quite impressed when he came to school the next day with his arm fully functioning. I'm pretty sure it received no blood supply during the entire thing due to the death grip I maintained.

This was just walking around while we were waiting in line outside! Horrifying!

Everyone was alive afterwards [: so we made a Denny's trip to celebrate.

I, like a Boy Scout (and a broke college student), believe in being thrifty. Therefore, here is my completely free and somewhat lame Halloween costume. But I was a happy lioness just the same.

Rawr.

I had such a good time with some friends at a "Minute to Win It"-style Halloween party on Saturday. After some ridiculously funny challenges like "Face the Cookie," "Bobblehead," and "Elephant Walk," Team 2 was victorious. Huzzah. [: We finished off with pizza and a movie.

P.S. Some of these pictures are from Kirst- she got some good ones!

Bobble those heads, boys! [:

May I have your attention please...

One of the buttons fell off my peacoat today. So you know what I did?

I sewed that button. Right back on that coat.

All by myself.

Hey, it may not be that big of a deal to most people, but to a college student who is still getting the hang of not having mom around, this is truly a momentous occasion.

I'm quite proud.

It's not every day you turn 19!

This weekend was AWESOME.

In fact, it was so awesome that I didn't get a speck of homework done. And that never happens in my life! I'm usually holed up in my dorm during the weekend, reading textbooks and plowing through heaps of assignments. This weekend? Not so [:

It was party time.

Friday: I hung out with some girls from back in the good ol' MV. We had dinner at Panda Express, and then the adventures began. We spent the rest of the night doorbell ditching random rooms in Heritage, playing pingpong with our hands because it was too late to rent paddles, jumping in a massive pile of leaves, putting said pile of leaves on somebody's car, going to a park to play Hot Lava Monster with some random boys, and then at about 11:30pm when we thought it was time to call it a night, we got invited to go ice blocking. We had so much fun. We came up with all sorts of ways to slide down that hill! Trains, sliding backwards, doing 360's, and eventually we figured out how to get all three guys and five girls on the three ice blocks. We're just extreme like that. [:

Saturday: Mallory's parents were in Provo and they took Mal, Shydi, and I to dinner at an Italian restaurant called Tuscany. The restaurant was beautiful and the food was amazing. Dessert was even better. [: It was creme brulee for me, something I've never tried before. I have been converted. I'd say that stuff is nothing short of sensational, to be honest.

On the way home, Kirsten called me up and invited me to hang out! So I got dropped off at the restaurant where everyone was meeting up and soon we were all squeezed into a booth downing burgers and french fries. Then Kirsten let me borrow some of her clothes because I didn't have a bathing suit, and it was off to the Midway hot pots!

The drive to Midway was an adventure in itself. We were following some people who claimed they knew how to get there, but it soon became apparent that they were a tad bit mistaken. [: We drove all over the place and turned around a few dozen times, but eventually we found the hot springs. And the name doesn't lie- they were HOT. Almost too hot to stand in! And... a little smelly thanks to the sulphide. But we had a great time. It was the perfect way to spend my last hours of being 18!

Sunday: I had been receiving all sorts of boxes and envelopes in the mail in the days leading up to my birthday ( I love mail! ) AND all sorts of virtual mail! All throughout the day I got texts and phone calls from friends and family. It made me feel quite special [:

After church, I came home to some beautiful flowers outside my door from Danica! Which are now on display on our windowsill. David, one of my closest friends, had sent me a package and we Skyped while I opened it. He did good. Perfectly, actually! [: The box was stuffed with my favorite snacks, candy, some special memories, and all sorts of other wonderfulness. It made me so happy. He's the best!

Later in the evening Danica picked me up and took me to Nate's apartment, where Dani and her friends had made an amazing pasta dinner, with cinnamon rolls and ice cream for dessert. It was perfect! I felt so loved [: We played games and I opened the rest of my gifts from my family back home- jewelry, some money from my grandparents (they know what's up [: ) a gorgeous yellow peacoat, and a three-barrel hair crimper from my brother. Oh and my cousin Matt and his girlfriend chipped in a three-foot-tall poster of Taylor Lautner. Can't argue with that!

After the festivities, Matt dropped me off at my dorm and to my total surprise, Devan and Kirst were there waiting for me and I was dragged into the dorm lounge where half my ward sang Happy Birthday to me and I was presented with a (delicious) chocolate cupcake. No better way to end a birthday than with a best friend.

I am a very happy 19 year old.

[:

Excursion to Idaho

This past weekend was pretty fantastic. Kirsten and I spent Thursday through Sunday in Rexburg visiting Dani and Amber. It was so much fun to be back together again! BYU Idaho is beautiful. It was my first time on the campus and I found myself really enjoying the feeling there. I went to a few classes with Dani and Amber, which was totally fun. When classes were out of the way, we had Wii dance competitions, movie/slumber parties every night, and just plain had a good time together. Coming back to school was not a pleasing prospect. I'm hoping to go up there again sometime!

The current project: putting the ART in pARTy

HOMECOMING WEEK. It was such a blast! There were so many fun things going on every day. AND... we won the football game against San Diego State. Very satisfying victory! [:

I was asked to one of the dances by my friend Eli. Props to this boy for some pretty fine creativity. He asked me in the neatest way! It was about 10 p.m. one night and I was in my dorm studying, when I got a text from a number I didn't recognize. It said: "Hannah- Go to the library. Walk past the circulation desk and enter the elevator on the left. Go down to the first floor and follow the signs, then move shelf 63 to the left."

So I dragged Tasha out the door (she didn't really have a choice; I wanted company if I was going to obey directions from a stranger!) and we were off to the library. We followed the signs down to an enormous room where the bookcases run wall-to-wall and can be moved left and right electronically. On the pad of buttons on the 63rd shelf, I pressed the "Left" button and several different things happened at once. The enormous shelf started rolling to the left, I screamed and kinda ran away [: (don't judge me) and Tasha shouted "I KNEW IT!!!" When I came back and peeked around shelf 63, there was Eli and a great big sign stretched between the 63rd and 64th shelves! I was so surprised!

The dance was epic. It was held at Club 600 in downtown Provo. Everyone wore black and white and had free rein to a big table loaded with face paint, markers, spray paint and all sorts of other colored wonderfulness. When we were properly decorated, we went into the club and danced the night away under black lights and neon spotlights. It was pretty much the best night I've had in awhile [:

Catching up: Conference weekend

So I had a few visitors over the weekend. Lydia and my mom came down to Provo for General Conference! I was ecstatic to have them here! We hiked the Y (an activity Lydia wasn't exactly thrilled about, but she was a trooper!), repeatedly stuffed ourselves at the Cannon Center, and went to two sessions of Conference in Salt Lake City. I can't explain how good it felt to have my mommy and little sister down here with me, even if it was only for a few days! [:

This is us waiting for the Sunday morning session to start!

Two of my greatest friends ever also came down to Provo for a visit that weekend! Dani and I got to hang out for an evening and then had a sleepover. We had a great time catching up. I had missed her a ton! I also got to spend about an hour with Amber before she left for Rexburg. It wasn't long, but hey it was better than nothing! [:

The definition of Dani and Hannah.

The current project: surviving college exams

It's hard for me to believe that I'm in the middle of my sixth week at BYU. I'm starting to like it more here. At first, this whole place just felt too big! I felt lost in the crowd. I think I'm starting to find my place and get into the swing of things. It's getting better!

That being said, I've never been so busy in my life! There is always, always, always something to be done. I'm starting to like the lifestyle, but there are some exceptions. [:

Last week was definitely a learning experience for me. I really don't think I've ever been so stressed. I had five exams that I had to study for and take, while still going to my seven classes and completing my normal load of homework. I also had a sacrament meeting talk to prepare, an eight-page paper to write, and my very first ever home-evening lesson to plan.

I remember sitting on my bed the Sunday night before that week, looking at my day planner with all my stuff crammed into five days, and thinking for sure that there was no possible way to get through the week without plenty of mental breakdowns, several all-nighters, a couple bombed tests sprinkled here and there, and lots and lots of NO SLEEP.

Turns out I was right on just the last one! I made it to the end of the week! And I learned some valuable lessons along the way:

1. Procrastination is death. Why can't I ever learn this!?
2. It's a bad idea to study in bed. Or at my desk. Or anywhere in my room. One word - LIBRARY.
3. The music room in the Testing Center is the most fantastic thing ever created.
4. Do not sit at that one desk in the corner under the air vent in said music room. Taking a test while one's fingers freeze off just doesn't work.
5. No matter how I rationalize, getting enough sleep is just plain more important than studying. So is taking a break to eat a square meal.
6. Don't ever neglect daily scripture study. It's the world's best textbook!
7. My roommate is awesome. Laughing is the best stress reliever.
8. My day planner is my best friend.
9. The only difference between having an awful, crazy, stressed-out day and having a wonderful day is the way I decide to look at it!
10. Say a prayer before every exam. Always, always, always.

I'm surviving! I might be getting the hang of this college thing. [: