my first day

It's official, this girl is employed. No, seriously. I got a job.

I started my first ever "real" job this Wednesday as a writer for a health company in Salt Lake. It's quite the commute (hello two hours on a train every morning and evening), but I think I'm going to really like my new office. It's a great company, everyone there has been very welcoming, and I mean, I'm working as a writer in a city, how cool is that? 

On the left is my office building (I'm a little bit obsessed with it). On the right it my first day of work outfit... (excuse the mirror selfie--fashion blogging is clearly not what this is all about).

My first day may have been one of the most overwhelming and terrifying days of my life. We happened to have a ton of meetings that day, and I sat in every single one really wanting to contribute but having no idea what anyone was talking about. I also kept getting the question, "Where were you working before this?" Oh, what? You mean that you all aren't fresh out of college babies like me who have no idea what they are doing? The thought that I kept repeating to myself all day was everyone has had a first day. I just wanted to remind myself that even though I feel lost right now, that every single person in that office had been in my shoes before and hopefully they understood exactly what I was going through.

I know that it's going to be really hard being gone every day from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm, and that I am going to spend a lot of time at work being swamped and overwhelmed, and I no longer get summer breaks or long holidays (enjoy those all you kids still in school), but as one of my friends reminded me on Thursday, not many people can say that they are doing something they love (writing) and actually getting to use their skills that they worked so hard in college (bye all you haters who asked me what I was going to with an English major). 

Mmm I do love my little walk from the TRAX to my office. SLC is beautiful on fall mornings!

Thank you to those who were so supportive in the job hunt process (especially my parents who let me play all summer). I couldn't be more grateful that I took the time and waited until I found the right position. There were a few times that I started questioning if my dream of being a writer was out of reach, but here I am. I feel amazingly blessed to have this opportunity, and I can't wait to see where it takes me.

peace. love. and employment.

my last semester

I was going to clean up my room to avoid doing homework, and then I thought hey why not avoid that too. So, now I'm blogging. Oh hey. Anyways, I have just finished the very last week of my very last semester at BYU, which is quite possibly my very last week of school forever. Really this is the most insane thing ever to me. I fluctuate between: Don't make me leave; where will I go? to Can I graduate right now please?

Since I do a run through of my classes every semester, I might as well keep the tradition alive while I still can. I am taking a few classes this semester that feature literature that I have not really loved in the past, and I am doing this on purpose. It's possible that it was a foolish idea, but I actually feel very confident in my decision. I really wanted to explore some areas of literature that would be foreign to me and to develop an appreciation for them. Hopefully even if I don't necessarily love all the reading, I think I will be able to develop a respect for some literature that I have previously avoided. Why not finish off boldly? So, here are the classes that I am taking this semester.

1. Eighteenth-Century Poetry in the Age of Macroanalysis
Woof. Quite the title eh? But, it actually seems like a pretty cool class. We are studying 18th century poetry (ok, I guess that part is pretty clear from the title) but with an emphasis on using digital methods to analyze literary history.

2. Literature of the New Negro Era
This is my senior course. For the first half of the semester we read a ton, and for the second half of the semester we write a ton. Should be interesting. We are focusing on African American literature. Once again, should be interesting...

3. Young Adult Literature
This just kind of sounded easy to me and maybe like a nice break from all the heavy books I read all the time for my other classes. But, we have to read 30 books for this class. AHH! 15 of them are assigned and 15 we get to pick ourselves. I know absolutely nothing about YA Lit, so if you have any YA books that you have read and loved please tell me about them so I can add them to my list!

4. Editing for Publication: Stowaway
For my editing minor capstone I am working on BYUs travel magazine Stowaway. I love to travel, I love to edit, I love to write. It should be an all around good time, but it is also known for taking an incredible amount of time, but I mean clearly I have tons of time with this very light schedule I have..... If you want to see some existing editions of the magazine, which are actually pretty cool, you can go to www.stowawaymag.com.

5. The English Novel
Only one presentation and one project and a couple of reading journals and other than that just reading really good books and chatting about them in a class of only 9 people. Woohoo! It is a ton of reading, but it seems like it is going to be a very rewarding class where we will read some truly fantastic literature, and where I can focus on reading and enjoying rather than analyzing to death (but with some theory thrown in. uhg). Classes like this though are sometimes the ones that make me most glad that I am an English major. Have fun with your textbooks while I read beautiful novels. (Of course, you can be the one to laugh when I am poor, dangit. haha.)


I really do love my major, and I wouldn't have picked anything else if I could go back and do it all again. It is more challenging than many realize, but also so much more rewarding than I could have ever realized. It is a heavy load with four English classes and my capstone, but with roomies like these ones below to help em through I am positive I will thrive...ok maybe at least survive?

peace. love. and English.

my thoughts on being in my early twenties

      I am aware that I am in my VERY early twenties right now, twenty-one actually...ok twenty-one and a half, so I'm hardly an expert on the subjects. But, maybe because I've been reading a lot of articles on Thought Catalog recently or maybe because warm weather makes me feel pensive, but I've been thinking a lot about my stage of life right now, and I've come to the conclusion that your early twenties are just a weird time of life. And don't get me wrong, I don't mean weird in a bad way....just in a weird way. It pains me a little to do this, but I'm about to quote Taylor Swift in a blog post where I am trying to be kind of serious, but it's true, we are "happy, free, confused, and lonely at the same time. It's miserable and magical."
     I don't think I'm alone here when I say that there is a lot of confliction in the life of an early-twenty-something. You are making major life decisions and expected to act like an adult, but you still feel like a little kid most of the time; you aren't worried enough about important decisions like what you are going to do with the rest of your life, but you are really concerned with the number of likes on your most recent instagram post; you are in a state of nomadism so nothing is ever permanent; you want the comfort of a relationship, but the freedom of singleness; your mind changes constantly about what you think you want; some nights everyone you have ever met will want to hang out with you and other nights you will sit on the couch watching old episodes of Gossip Girl hoping that someone will text you, cause everything always happens on one night and no social events ever spread themselves out properly; you feel this weird mixture of being very social and exciting and being really lonely and boring; at 4 p.m. in the middle of your class you are pretty positive that you have never been this tired in your entire life, but when 12 a.m. rolls around and you think it would be smart to go to bed, you have never had so much energy, and so on and so on....ok, so I think you get what I am saying. Everything is a little out of whack. But, I guess this is what makes being in your early twenties that awesome mix of "miserable and magical."
     I seriously feel like a constant jumble of crazy, but really in the best way possible. I have been really trying to learn to enjoy everything not being perfect, which is somewhat hard for someone who is very controlling. When I was young, people in their twenties seemed so old and so responsible. Now that I am in my twenties, I realize that we are not. We are confused, excited, anxious, impatient, happy, free, and really just trying to figure it all out. And, my guess is that whatever the next stage of life is really won't be much different, I'm not sure if life ever completely sorts itself out....but, thank goodness that in my early twenties I have decided the answer to most of my problems is Diet Coke...so thank goodness for the early twenties metabolism too. I'm not gunna trade that for anything.

peace. love. and twenties.

my filling in the gaps

Recently I've had a lot of people ask "what do you like to do?" A question that I find absolutely ridiculous. I never know what to say. Ever. And then I just feel awkward. Obviously I like to do things...but I just really like to do everything. So I guess here is a bunch of the stuff that I haven't blogged about this semester, stretching back to the beginning and filling in some of the gaps that I have left. I suppose you could say that this is the stuff that I "like to do"...

Reuniting with my friends was glorious and a half. Can you believe that I was lucky enough to find this huge group of perfect girls to be friends with my freshmen year and we have all stayed together? Neither can I.

 Naturally with a group of friends this big, there is always something to be celebrated. Like one of your friends birthdays (Anna's birthday dinner above) or the marriage of one of your cute friends (remember I blogged about that one. Picture from Gretchen's bridal shower below).

 Of course going to BYU games is always a must. Gotta support the team. Eh?

And once it's fall, you have to participate in classic fall traditions like the corn maze....

 And driving up the canyon on the Alpine Loop to experience all the incredible fall colors (since fall only lasts for like 3 weeks when you are in Utah).

For one night we even kicked it back to the Freshmen year dance party days. Mostly so we could see Neon Trees play for free. I mean, wouldn't you go?

This is what happens when you start a tradition of doing a massive group blind date. It explodes into the most biggest group date you have ever seen. At this point I think it's actually just a party with even numbers... but hey it was fun.

And, most recently. Me, Hil, and a couple friends went to see Starf'er in concert (I apologize for their odd name, but there music is clean, chill, and fun. I promise). This concert was actually unreal fun. Way good live. 

Well, those are a few of the gaps that I have left this semester when blogging. I suppose now you know what I like to do. And perhaps I have a better idea now too...

peace. love. and junior year.

my sleep deprivation

Today after 32 lovely hours of being awake I finally got to take a nap...that pretty much turned into a sleep coma. So is the college life. Or at least the college life of someone who heavily procrastinates. Didn't realize quite how long one of my essays was going to take me so I had to pull a bit of an all nigthter last night. At around 2 a.m. a desperate redbull run was made (I was seriously desperate. I'm not usually an energy drink fan, that stuff tastes foul). So a redbull, two diet cokes, quite a bit of advil, and a 5 a.m. craving for pasta (yeah weird, I know) and I made it through the night. But, what is most important is that I got all my assignments in on time (quit judging me mom and dad...). Anyways, that is also why this post is late. Things have been rather hectic!! But, this week should be a tad bit slower and I am greatly looking forward to a tiny break between all these essays and midterms. 

bonus: Mama and Papa C are coming to town this weekend and I can't wait to see them!!!

peace. love. and sleep.