my spring summer transition

Well...I'm back in Georgia. It is definitely bitter sweet. I had a few moments of wait, why am I leaving?? when I was packing up my apartment, but I think that once the whole family gets together and I start getting my summer plans figured out, I will be a little more reassured of my decision to come home (hopefully). But, at least I had a perfect week to send me off for the next couple months. So a couple of the things that made it so great...

I am so glad that I was in Provo to send off my cute friend Rachel Farnsworth on her mission to Kiev, Ukraine. I still remember meeting her freshman year outside of the Canon Center. Rachel was one of the very first friends that I made when I came out to BYU. I am so grateful for her friendship, but so bummed that I won't get to see her perfect face for a year and a half. She is going to be an incredible missionary, and I am proud of her for her willingness to go on a mission and dedicate a year and a half to serving the Lord. I have so many friends on missions right now. I miss all of them a ton, but I know that they are doing great things. I have incredible friends.

Another exciting thing? I dyed my hair!

Not all of it, just the last few inches, but I absolutely love it. My sweet hair stylist roommate helped me out by bleaching the ends of my hair and then dying them a dark red. (It looks a little more purple in real life than in the pic, but it gives ya a good idea.) I told my roommate that I wanted my hair to have a fox tail look when I put it up in a pony, and she did a perfect job. (If you've read my blog before you know foxes are my favorite.) I figure this is perfect. I get to have a little fun with my hair (which I think more people should do), but when I get sick of it I can just chop off all the dyed parts. But, I don't think I am going to get sick of this anytime soon. I keep forgetting that the ends are dyed and randomly I look down, remember, and get a little bit happier. Haha. 

Well, at first I was nervous about spring semester, and now I can't believe I had never stayed for spring before. Thanks to everyone who made spring so lovely. Stay classy Provo. DON'T FORGET ABOUT ME WHILE I'M GONE!

peace. love. and summer at home. 

my positive outlook

     I've been really happy the past few weeks. Really happy. Maybe it's all the free time I've had to hang out, the joy of a new job, or quite possibly all the sunshine I've been getting. But, really I think what's most important is that I have been looking up lately, and I have been trying to see the best in everything and everyone. This is something that I have been really working on for a long time now. A really long time.
     Few people know how difficult my junior year was for me. I started my fall semester depressed after leaving India and wanting to be absolutely nowhere in the world except for Thottonoval Village with the kids of Rising Star. It was physically painful how much I missed India. It got easier after time, like all things do, but I still felt like a fish out of water after being away from BYU for 9 months (since I had spent my winter semester on a study abroad). So much had happened without me. I had changed, everyone I knew had changed, and I felt like I was constantly playing catch-up, and all sorts of negatives felt like they were being hurled at me at once. I started to feel a little more normal with the help of some of my close friends, but it all fell apart for me again when my best friend Kari left on a mission. It's been difficult to not be able to tell her everything all the time and instead having to rely on the incredibly slow Costa Rican postal service and emails to let us get in touch. But, at one point in winter semester I realized that I had to stop being sad. I had to stop carrying around a negative energy with me and be positive.
     As I have tried to emit a positive energy myself, I have started to become more aware of the other energies that people give off. I don't mean this is some sort of obscure holistic way, just that we all give off a mood weather sad, happy, apathetic, excited, or whatever you may be feeling, this is the energy that you are emitting, and your energy effects other people almost as much as it effects you. This is why I am trying so hard to be positive. Because if I see the best, I will feel my best, and hopefully my energy that I give off will help others feel their best too. It's still ok for me to be sad sometimes, for me to miss my best friends that are gone for the summer and on their missions, and it's ok for me to send my heart away on my wished for journeys around the world even if my body is here in Provo for the summer.
     We are told so often that happiness is a choice, but how often do we let ourselves choose it? On the best days when there is a lot of positive energy to absorb it's pretty easy to give off a little yourself, but on the worst days you just have to look for the little things that can remind you everything is ok. If only you will grab hold of the positive outlook on life and maybe be just a little brighter. Emit the happiest energy you can today. Allow yourself to absorb all the positivity of your divine and infinite potential, and let it make you happy too.

here is me at my peek positive energy potential. 

driving around, windows down, music playing. oh the joys of spring time.

peace. love. and happy. 

my missionaries

The end of the semester is always a happy occasion, cause you know...I'm done. I was especially ready for this semester to be over, but what I have not been ready for is to say goodbye to so many of my wonderful friends who are heading out on their missions. It is going to be WEIRD next semester to have so many people gone, especially these girls who were some of the first people that I became friends with at Brigham Young and even some girls that I only met just this semester, all of whom I have grown to love x 1000. I am so excited to see so many young girls anxious to serve the Lord and spread the gospel of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints But, that doesn't mean that I'm not feeling a little selfish and wishing that they were staying with me. So, thanks to all you wonderful diligent girls going to serve the Lord, even if you are leaving me behind.

...and thank you for making it so that I am one of the only girls left in Provo to date...just kidding (sort of. ok yeah. not really kidding at all.)

Guess I will be writing a lot of letters next semester and also hearing some very incredible stories (I've already started getting letters from my friend in Costa Rica and I love it). To give you an idea of where some of my friends are going...

Paris, France

Lyon, France

Costa Rica

New York, New York

South Korea

Jamaica

Vancouver, Canada

Boston, Massachusetts 

Santiago, Chile

Lisbon, Portugal

and those are just a few of the ones that I can think of right now!!

Just in case you were wondering, I do not have immediate plans to serve a mission, but it is something that I will continue to reevaluate as time goes by. I feel that choosing to go on a mission is a personal decision between me and Heavenly Father. The only thing that I am positive of right now is that we both have big plans for me, but I'm still discovering what those are.

To learn more about the missionary work that my church is doing, check out some of these articles!

         Who are the missionaries? & How to meet with them!

         Recent changes to the age requirements for missionaries


peace. love. and missionaries.

my twenty one years

I TURNED 21 THIS WEEK!!!! Oh boy!! Being Mormon, turning 21 doesn't really have the same significance as it does for a lot of people, but  that doesn't mean that I wasn't really excited that it was my birthday. November 14th is one of my favorite days of the year and it certainly did not disappoint this time around. Here is the run down of how I celebrated my lovely day of birth...

Ate Einsteins in bed while watching "Scrubs"

Went to my classes (uhg not the fun part)

Found out that my cute roommate/best friend got her mission call to Costa Rica

Rented the cutest puppy in the world (yeah, renting a puppy. it's a real thing)

Had people come over and play with my rented puppy

Went out to dinner with a few close friends

Invited the whole gang to Yogurtland for a little birthday yogs

and finished off the day where I started, curled up in my bed watching "Scrubs" 

I would say that it was a pretty successful day. Wouldn't you??

 Here is the sweet puppy that I rented! He was a lab mix named Bentley and he actually crawled in my lap and fell asleep. I miss him already. And on the right is my roomie Kari with her mission call to Costa Rica. Can't believe she is leaving me next semester. I'm gunna miss her like crazy!!!        

And here is me with a few of my friends at dinner. I am so lucky to have such great friends. 

I unfortunately don't have a pic from Yogurtland, but I am super grateful to everyone of my friends who came to support me and felt so loved by the turn out.

Seriously though, I felt the love in mounds from all my friends an family. You all have no idea how much it meant to me to receive all the well wishes, hugs, cards, facebook posts, tweets, instagrams, snapchats, phone calls, and texts. I am 1000% grateful for all the people in my life that made my birthday so incredible. And can't believe that I am so lucky to have so many great people in my life not only on my 21st birthday, but everyday of the year. Here's to many more birthdays that are just as fantastic as this one. 

peace. love. and birthday.