End of the day

MMy FAVORITE time of day.  It was a stressful day.  It usually is in some way or another for each of us, but I think it's the worse for Melissa (crazy things happen to Melissa). We drink tea. We LAUGH.  We talk. Somehow life doesn't seem so hard when I end the day this way.  THANK HEAVEN for Emily and Melissa.

My Favorite Christmas Song

Chrissy the Christmas Mouse

What I learned in Kindergarten

I like this-I think mostly because now, more than ever, I want to be back in kindergarten.

Most of what I really need to know about how to live, and what to do, and how to be I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate-school mountain, but there in the sandbox.
These are the things I learned: Share everything. Play fair. Don't hit people. Put things back where you found them. Clean up your own mess. Don't take things that aren't yours. Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody. Wash your hands before you eat. Live a balanced life. Learn some and think some, and draw and sing and dance and play and work every day some.
Take a nap in the afternoon. When you go out into the world, watch for traffic, hold hands and stick together. Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the plastic cup. The roots go down and the plant goes up, and nobody really knows why, but we are all like that.
Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the plastic cup--they all die. So do we.
And then remember the book about Dick and Jane and the first word you learned, the biggest word of all: look. Everything you need to know is in there somewhere. The golden rule and love and basic sanitation. Ecology and politics and sane living.
Think of what a better world it would be if we all had cookies and milk about three o'clock every afternoon and then lay down with our blankets for a nap. Or if we had a basic policy in our nation and other nations always to put things back where we found them and cleaned up our own messes. And it is still true, no matter how old you are, when you go out into the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together. [Robert Fulghum, "We Learned It All in Kindergarten," Reader's Digest, October 1987, p. 115]

Misfortune Cookies

Last weekend my roommates threw a Chinese party.  I don't remember where we got the idea from but we did it and it was a lot of fun.  I think the point of it was to show that three conservative returned sister missionaries who work at the MTC know how to have a good time and a good time we had.

We ate fried rice and pot stickers, played chopstick games, and made MISfortune cookies.  Yes, from scratch.  Not only were the fortune cookies the most delicious we have ever eaten, but the misfortunes were hilarious.  These were some of my favorites:

"Surprise!  You're pregnant!"

"Unfortunately your liposuction surgery went array and all your fat will now relocate in your left thigh."

"It will be a party every day when Miley Cyrus moves in next door."

That's all I can remember right now and I'm thinking that maybe you had to be there.  In any case, it was a fun activity and I recommend it if you need a good make-you-laugh-so-hard-you-cry laugh.

Here is a picture of the fortune cookies.  Apparently they are quite difficult to make but we did it!  Here is the recipe if you want to try it.

And then there was light!

The light/ceiling fan above our kitchen table has been broken ever since we moved in. But not anymore! One night last week we were feeling ambitious and decided to install a new one (this is just after finishing painting our apartment). Our land lady brought over a new one about a month ago and told us that someone would come by to install it. They never came and we were tired of it being dark. So we did it! All by ourselves. Not a single boy helped us.

It took a lot longer than we had anticipated and, as you can see in the picture, it took quite a few of us to do it-there were a lot of screws and it's hard to work with your hands when all the blood has settled in your shoulders. Well, after a couple of hours of us reading the directions which kept warning us about getting electrocuted we turned on the breaker. Luckily I waited until after Melissa wasn't touching it anymore because when I flipped the switch there was a minor explosion. At that point I understood why there were so many warnings. :) My roommates thought it was hilarious and I tried to laugh, but deep down inside I was devastated. So much time and we ruined our ceiling.

I was so devasted that I couldn't sleep. While I was going in and out of consciousness I realized we had forgotten to pull the switches on the fan and it turns out that we didn't ruin anything! The light and fan both worked and we haven't any explosions since.

The moral of this story: Don't let the fear of being electrocuted stop you from doing anything.

Early Morning Runs

Today I woke up at 5:45 am to go running with Natalie, my running partner. It's not always easy prying my eyes open and leaving my warm bed (we haven't started using our heat yet). I just remind myself that 1. I will feel better when it's over 2. I'm getting a head-start on the day and, therefore, will be ahead of everyone else (since life is a competition, you know) and 3. This is the only way that I will ever have nice legs.

So, I leave my apartment reveling in my insanity, knowing that it takes a unique person to go running at 6 am on a cold November morning. I am unique...well except for Natalie... and all those other people we pass....

We love talking about negative splits and running hill repeats and running up stairs. I can't just talk to anyone about that. We also love talking about life, in particular our most recent breakups and how we are coping. We talk about graduating, being alone, and not knowing what we are going to do or where we are going to go.

We pass people because we keep a pretty good pace. Did I mention that Natalie was on the cross country team the last 3 years? I feel honored to be her running partner.

The reality of it is that I think I enjoy talking to Natalie more than I do running. We finish, tired, yet refreshed. And that's how I start my day.

The Problem of Pain

"My own happiness is something like this. I am progressing along the path of life in my ordinary contentedly fallen and godless condition absorbed in a merry meeting with my friends for the morrow or a bit of work that tickles my vanity today, a holiday or a new book, when suddenly a stab of abdominal pain that threatens serious disease, or a headline in the newspapers that threatens us all with destruction, sends this whole pack of cards tumbling down. At first I am overwhelmed, and all my little happinesses look like broken toys. Then, slowly and reluctantly, bit by bit, I try to bring myself into the frame of mind that I should be in at all times. I remind myself that all these toys were never intended to posses my heart, that my true good is in another world and my only real treasure is Christ. And perhaps, by God's grace, I succeed, and for a day or two become a creature consciously dependent on God and drawing its strength from the right sources. But the moment the treat is withdrawn, my whole nature leaps back to the toys: I am even anxious, God forgive me, to banish from my mind the only thing that supported me under the threat because it is now associated with the misery of those few days. Thus the terrible necessity of tribulation is only too clear. God has had me for but forty-eight hours and then only by dint of taking everything else away from me. Let Him but sheathe that sword for moment and I behave like a puppy when the heated bath is over-I shake myself as dry as I can and race off to reacquire my comfortable dirtiness, if not in the nearest manure heap, at least in the nearest flower bed. And that is why tribulations cannot cease until God either sees us remade or sees that our remaking is now hopeless."

C.S. Lewis
The Problem of Pain

My name is Kuh-Risssseee

I've just moved to a new ward. Any of you who are familiar with BYU know that it is somewhat custom to change wards at least once in a 12-month period. This is my third ward this year and seventh here at BYU.

I want to first say that I really enjoy people and making friends. However, to get to the point where I can be myself with someone and feel like there is some substance to the relationship requires time. I really struggle with introductory conversations, which usually go something like this...potential new friend (pnf):"Hi, what's your name?" me: "Hi, I'm Krissy" pnf: "Kristy?" (The latest misunderstanding of my name is "Kissy") me: "No, Krissy...no "t" pnf: "Ah. What's your major?" me: "Dietetics" pnf: "Diuh...what?" me: "diatetics...it's like nutrition" "Oh, cool. Where are you from?".....and then it goes on. I think I've had this conversation at least 2o times today and heard everyone else around me having it too.

I suppose I see some necessity in getting to know the basic information about people, but it is such a tedious process for me sometimes. I long to be able to get to the point in a relationship with someone so that I can share all of my insides and they can do the same with me. I LOVE that. I hate holding it all in. I don't feel real when I do that.

In conclusion, I'm wondering how to make these intro-converstations more meaningful. Do I just need to change my attitude? Do I need to ask better questions? Any ideas (to the two of you that read my blog)?

Graduate School

I was notified today of my acceptance to graduate school at the University of Utah. But I'm not sure I'll be going there after all. Other options include a dietetic internship starting in January followed by graduate school in the fall either at the U or BYU. I'm not really sure what I want to do yet, or rather what I ought to do. I should probably decide soon, though. It's a little overwhelming sometimes to think about the future, but I guess that's what makes life exciting. So, we'll see!

When I say 'no' I feel guilty

So, I checked this book out about a week ago to help me be more assertive. For years I've been getting feedback from supervisors, bosses, classmates, etc. about how I need to be more assertive, so I decided to start working on it a little bit. The book was called "When I Say 'No' I feel Guilty". I actually didn't read much of it, which is why I'm writing about what I'm about to write about. I think I still have a lot of work to do.
I completely overbooked myself this week. I felt like a chicken with my head cut off, and probably looked like one, too. Every hour of every day has been filled with some sort of activity, mostly social engagements. Tonight, for example, I planned 3 separate activities for the evening. How I thought I could manage that, I'm not really sure. When I say no I feel guilty, I guess. At first it was great to be so busy and to have fun with friends. As the week has gone on, though, I've been getting more and more exhausted and have recognized that it is possible to have too much fun.
My goal for the next bit is to say no. I'm starting with tomorrow. I don't work until 1pm and have committed myself to nothing. I think I will just sit and I'm not going to feel guilty about it.

What I do when I can't sleep

Sometimes I can't sleep. These past few weeks have been especially difficult due to a sickness that I called the man-flu (not to be confused with the swine-flu) which was characterized mainly by a deep, raspy voice, large amounts of phlegm (it was no wonder no one asked me out), and an annoying cough that conviently started right around bedtime. In addition to that, my budding social life often leaves me either excited or anxious, both of which are not conducive to sleeping. And then sometimes my imagination runs wild and I get excited thinking about tap dancing and winning races I'm running this summer and getting married and all the fun I want to have in my life.

Last night I had no problems falling asleep, but this morning I woke up at five and instantly my mind started racing. Then, I realized I had to go to the bathroom and then I was thirsty and then I was hungry. Once I went to the kitchen I knew there would be no hope for me going back to sleep soon because the kitchen was dirty and apparently I have a hard time sleeping when I know the kitchen is dirty (a result of the perfectionism, I think). So, I cleaned the kitchen, ate an early breakfast, and now I'm trying to figure out what to do with my life (like that's going to help me relax).

I got online and started talking to my mom and my friends, Emily and Spencer. The only reason they're up is because they live on the east coast and have real jobs. My mom (aka my life coach) and best friend, Emily, gave me some encouragement for my most recent social challenge. I feel better for the time being, but worry that I'm going to be socially awkward for life while hoping that that's how everyone is (this is the part where you all comment and assure me that you are socially awkward, too.)

I still don't know what I'm doing with my life. I've told everyone for the past several months that I'm starting grad school in the fall. When the University of Utah misplaced my letters of recommendation due to confusion with my name I started to think about starting in the winter. And one thing lead to another and I'm not even sure I should go to grad school anymore, even though that's what I really want to do.

So, that's what's on my mind right now. I have about a half hour before I was supposed to wake up. I think I'll try sleeping again.

Happy Birthday!

I turned 24 this past Thursday. It was probably one of my most favorite birthdays. Even though birthdays aren't exciting as you get older, there's still a little something magical about your birthday. Here are the highlights of my 24th birthday (these are in the order in which they happened so as not to show favorites):

1. Waking up to balloons at the bottom of my bed from my friend (and roommate Tiffany) and a message from my dear mother


2. Going on a long bike ride and talking on the phone to Libby



3. My roommates made me pancakes for breakfast



4. My coworkers brought me cupcakes



5. My missionaries gave me a card and a little treat



6. My childhood best friends, Katie and Holly, both called me



7. Clark brought me a "Get Well" balloon and chocolate



8. My friend Spencer sent me flowers



9. Going on a picnic with my favorite people and eating communal style and laughing till I cried



10. Visiting with Kendall, who gave me bread pans and a garlic press...just what I wanted!



11. My dad called and left a message of him singing "Happy Birthday"



12. Kelley, my older sister, sent me a really nice card telling me how much she likes me.

So, that was my day! I just feel really lucky to have so many people that love me :)

Oh yeah, and I graduated

My posts are a little out of order and this one is a little misleading. The truth is that I haven't officially graduated. I still have one more class to take, but I celebrated with the rest of my class. I decided to have a party, which is not usually my style, but I wanted to have my favorite people over who have helped me get through these last 6 years. It was a lot of fun! I even laughed till I cried and got a cramp in my shoulder (that's how I can tell that I'm really having a good time). Well, here are some pictures of the evening.

Take Me Out to The Ball Game

A favorite family tradition of ours is to go to the local minor league baseball team, the Mudcats. I'm not really sure if anyone in my family really likes to watch baseball except for my brother. I think the rest of us just pretend or go for the food. This time was especially fun since the new addition to our family, my soon-to-be brother-in-law, Jericho, came. (see picture above, this is us on the way...there are a lot of us so we had to squish)

The engagees.


The folks.








On the way home. Since I'm the youngest I always get stuck in the middle.

It's time for a new post

This blog hasn't quite fulfilled the purpose that I intended, but then again, one of my rules of having this blog was that I didn't have any rules. Otherwise, I would just look at it as one more thing to do. This entry is just to get rid of the Christmas post that is definitely getting a little stale.

As far as what's new with me....I'm about to graduate from college, I'm applying to graduate school, and I joined a tap ensemble. The last of these is my absolute favorite. It has always been one of my dreams to be some sort of dancer. I tried ballet and gymnastics (I know, it's not really dancing, but it's related) when I was little, but quit. I also tried learning how to swing dance, but that also didn't stick with me. I resorted for many years to just dancing around the house thinking that I had missed my chances. But then I got to BYU and tried out tap dancing and just fell in love. Even then I didn't think I would ever do anything really fun with it. But then, I had this opportunity and encouragement from a dear friend (we'll call him Tim) and decided to go for it. Now I'm a happy member of The Foot Poetry Tap Ensemble (we even have fancy jackets). I'm pretty sure it's the coolest thing I've ever done.

Anyway, that's really all I have to say at this moment. I hope to write more, but then, I won't commit because I don't want to stress myself out.