"Simple Gifts" - Mormon Tabernacle Choir

I'm blogging with the hope that this keeps me away in class. I only have to wake up for my 8 o'clock class 3 more times. I can do this. I can do this. I can do this. Every time this class rolls around I sleep in longer and longer before getting out of bed. Thank goodness I haven't been doing this my whole college experience. Es no bueno.

Obviously this is a little overdue but the way I see it we should be Thankful all year round not just around November. So anywho my apartment decided to have a thankful wall where we wrote the things that we were thankful for.

One of the biggest things I was thankful for this year was for the FIRST TIME EVER I didn't have to worry about weather when driving to and from Utah. It was sunny, warm, clear. NO SNOW. After it messed up my entire week last year I feel like it was repaying me this year. But I am seriously so grateful that we had great weather. I didn't spend the whole week worrying about what the drive was going to be like.

Being back from Thanksgiving is fun. I only have 7 more days of classes including day left. I have a total of 7 finals but I took one yesterday, 98%, and so I only have 6 left. This week everyone has been complaining about no motivation and not wanting to do anything and I didn't really feel that since I haven't really had to do any assignments. Until last night when I had to take a quiz. And then I understood. But once again I have no homework so weird so I guess I should start studying for finals? Or I could just keep all caught up on my sleep now that way I'll be well rested for finals :)

"Prelude in G Minor" - Sergei Rachmaninoff

So I have been spending a lot this semester with this guy.  He's Russian. You've probably heard of him. He's name is Sergei.  Last name of Rachmaninoff. The time I would have spent with a boyfriend this semester I spent with him. I broke up with Rachmaninoff last night.  I decided that I needed a break from him for a while. I don't know if it was a mutual agreement but it was for the best.

I picked to do a Rachmaninoff piece this semester without fully knowing what I was getting myself into.
Rachmaninoff has some crazy large hands and I have crazy small hands. 

But somehow I was able to pull it off in my recital yesterday.  I can't play the piece to tempo but I am pretty dang happy with how it turned out. If you wanna listen to it I uploaded it to youtube so watch it here

I have loved being able to spend as much time as I have on the piano this semester. Even though I was doing it for a grade I'm lucky that I got to spend my time on something that I love.

"Live Like You Believe" - EFY 2006

Within the next five days before Thanksgiving I have 2 labs, 2 tests, a piano recital, a reunion dinner on Sunday, 2 quizzes and laundry and I'm probably forgetting about something else that I need to do. I am so upset that I won't be able to make it home to do all of my laundry *sigh* Rightfully so I am having a hard time focusing. Especially today since I have no classes. Which would seem like an awesome thing right because then I have all this time to be productive right? Well no. Because I don't really have to leave the apartment until later tonight to go practice piano and so then I just have this lazy personae and feeling of wanting to sleep all day. I would probably clean the apartment but surprisingly enough it's pretty clean right now.


So what is this blog post really about? I haven't decided yet. I figured as I started typing something would come to me. I've had lots of ideas for posts and just haven't quite decided which one to tell you about yet. Soooo let's go with...President Monson! President Monson came and did devotional a couple of weeks ago. Last time he came to BYU for devo was the day that Dallin was flying in from his mission so I was in a car on my way to the airport. But this year I had no classes before devo so I got to go early and get some awesome seats!!

Because we were sitting off the the side the light was hitting him just right that made him look all white in the pictures.

President Monson gave an awesome talk. And my favorite thing he said, along with probably everyone else at BYU, was when he quoted The Lion King.

"You are more than what you have become. Remember who you are."

How blessed I am to be at BYU where I can go and see the prophet and apostles in person :)

"I'll Be Missing You" - Puff Daddy

Life is good. 

Life is great.

Life is wonderful. 

These last couples of weeks have been pretty amazing. yes I'm still alive. Life has just been good. Even though I have no idea what I am doing post-graduation next April I'm not gonna worry about it. Why should I waste my time worrying about the future instead of enjoying the day I am living? 

The subtitle of the blog says "Living life with no regrets". I went on a blind date and we went out for chinese, and that is a story that I am not going to be sharing tonight :),  this weekend and my fortune said this:

It made me smile to think that this fortune could not have been any better for me. I can honestly say that since adapting this life motto I have no regrets. I may not have been happy with everything that has ever happened with me. But I know that for some reason it needed to happen and there was something for me to learn from it. 

On a less serious note Diane and I had a crazy night on Sunday. She kept asking me if I was writing down everything we were saying but sadly I was not. The only thing I can remember is "I do not talk to the devil." 

On a sadder note Vocal Point is no longer on The Sing Off. ok I am about to go on a short rant here and then I'll stop. But then again this is my blog so I can say whatever I want. Here are my issues with VP being out of the show. 

1. Vocal Point has been at the TOP from the BEGINNING. They deserved to make it to the TOP 3. 
2. Their worst performance was when they sang I'll Be Missing You because THEY WERE SINGING A TRIBUTE TO BEN'S DAD WHO HAD JUST, seriously just, PASSED AWAY. ARE THE JUDGES HEARTLESS?!! THEY HAVE EVERY REASON TO BE EMOTIONAL. Good gravy even I was getting emotional watching that performance. If you wanna watch it clicky here 
3. When Shawn said last night that sometimes "emotion can override perfection". He wasn't saying that a few weeks ago. (Thanks Diane for pointing that out.)
4. Along with that, up till last night that was the first time that Vocal Point received any real critisim. 
5. I have a problem with shows like these in the way that the point of the show is for groups to take a piece of music and make it THEIR OWN. Change it, recreate it to be something awesome and amazing. So when a group decides to do a Whitney Houston song (a few weeks ago) and was NOT able to pull it off but did not get any criticism about it then that's just stupid. BUT when Vocal Point takes a song and MAKES IT THEIR OWN, you know how they do every week because you know the whole time on the show the judges have been talking about how every group needs to create their own sound which Vocal Point ALREADY has, and then all of a sudden the judges start telling them it's not like the original and then KICK THEM OFF. **NEWSFLASH** THAT'S WHAT THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO DO. 

Okay I'll leave it at that. I could go on but I'll save you from an even longer rant. I've come to terms about what has happened even if I don't think it's fair and the whole show is all about politics. But I will now be a devoted Pentatonix's fan. And if they don't win then I have no hope in America.

On a happier note I made an awesome dinner for Rachel and I tonight. Parmesan Chicken Bake with noodles and peas. It wouldn't be a cousin dinner without peas.  :)

"Not Over You" - Gavin DeGraw

We only have 18 days left of classes this semester.  I can't believe that I am almost done with my last fall semester!

Some things I will miss about BYU:
Sitting in the WILK and listening to random people sit down to the piano and start playing. Today I heard music from Tangled, Zelda, Super Smash Brothers and Phantom of the Opera.
Being on campus when billions of little kids are on field trips here.
      Just now a bunch of kids walked through the Wilk and one said "There are so many laptops!! They're all   on laptops!!"
The HFAC. Man that place is awesome.  I love sitting there or walking through a hallway and hearing 10 different instruments.
Starting class with prayer.
Hearing the bell tower play awesome music.
Divine Comedy.
Dance classes. I have no idea why I did not start these classes earlier in my college career.


and a bunch of other things which I can't think of because the nagging thought of working on my paper keeps entering my mind.  Guess I'll have to be nostalgic later.

"The Beauty of Your Dreams" - Joan Szymko

"I will make a prayer.  I will make a prayer to ask what I can do,
I will make a prayer to ask for courage to follow the light as it is given to me.
You gain courage and strength every time you look fear in the face.
You gain strength you gain courage and strength,
You gain courage and confidence every time that you are forced to look fear in the face.
You must do the thing you think you cannot do.
I will make a prayer.
Life must be lived! Life must be lived.
Cast out fear, we must cast out fear and face the unknown,
Face the unknown with courage and integrity and a high heart.

You must do the thing you think you cannot do.
I will make a prayer
Believe in your dreams, believe in the beauty of your dreams
The future belongs to those who dream,
To those who do believe in the beauty of their dreams."
-adapted from the words of Eleanor Roosevelt