Update Time

At Knott's Berry Farm

I know that this post is very long overdue, but the past couple of months has just been a crazy whirlwind of all these different events happening.  Since Spring Break ended (and that is when I last updated this blog), I have gone on many different adventures with my friends. We ended up spending the day at Knott's Berry Farm, going to an Anaheim Angel's game against the Oakland A's (yes, I was happy that the Angel's won!), had a future roommate photo shoot, and also ended up going on a little adventure to Venice Beach.  Talk about some interesting people there.  I was also able to go on tour with some of the most amazing young women I know.  We went to 7 different states within 16 days. If we calculated, that is approximately 3,005 miles that we drove. So now that you have a little idea of what has been going on in my life recently, let me break it down for you all and go into a little bit more detail. 

Future Roommate Photo Shoot

Knott's Berry Farm, Angel's Game, a Photo Shoot, and Venice Beach

Shawn and I at Venice Beach
(Plus our official "Third Wheel")

My friends and I have really enjoyed getting to know each other better day by day.  We enjoy just hanging out and playing games to sitting around eating a meal together. Eventually we make it off campus to go on a little adventure. We had a great time at Knott's Berry Farm riding all the different rides and also just having a great time. That even included watching a show about some cowboys! Yes, you can bet that Megan just loved it. 

As I look back, I realize what a crazy busy weekend that way. The next day we went to an Anaheim Angel's game to celebrate our friends birthday. Yes, the Angels won, and I was very glad because they were playing the Oakland A's. Coming from a San Francisco Giant's family, I wasn't going to root for the A's. It was fun being with friends and enjoying the game while snacking on some very yummy hot dogs and peanuts!

The following weekend, was again, another very busy weekend. My future roommates and I went on a photo shoot just so we could have photos we could have printed and the put in our apartment. Plus, we needed a reason to hang out and get dressed up. Let me say, although it was awkward at times because we didn't know what to do, the photos are hilarious! 

Link for the edited photos from the Photo Shoot: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150843649217792.469144.678167791&type=3&l=4e0cf0258f

Link for the unedited photos from the Photo Shoot: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150843658817792.469147.678167791&type=3&l=29d971eb93

The ladies who kept me sane over Tour

That same day, we decided that we wanted to go to the beach, so we all adventured over to Venice Beach. Now here's a funny side story. It was so hot in Azusa that we thought it would be the perfect day to go to the beach. Well, so did everyone else in the Los Angeles area. It took us almost 2 or 3 hours just to get to Venice. And by the time we got there, it was cloudy and starting to get a little cold. It was okay though because we still had a very good time tossing the frisbee around on the beach. 

Bel Canto Women's Choir Tour 2012 #bcTUBE12

53 Women, 16 days, 7 states, and 3,005 miles later, we had finally completed our tour. Now don't get me wrong, we had a great time and it was so much fun being able to get to know all of these young women so much better, but 16 days with all girls is a little long! By the time we finally were able to get off the bus when we arrived back in Azusa, I was so happy just to see other faces! 

It was wonderful being able to meet so many different host families in all of the different states we traveled to and it was also great being able to minster to many different groups of people. We even were able to go to the Mormon Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah. While in Utah, I even got to float in The Great Salt Lake! It really does work. You don't have to try at all to float. I even managed to somehow float on my stomach. That was also quite the experience.  But overall, it was such a great two weeks and if you want to see photos and get an idea of what tour was like go to Facebook and like our page: APU Bel Canto Women's Choir!

Shawn and I after my final concert
(Sorry it's a blurry photo)

We had our final concert in Azusa, and it was great seeing a good amount of my friends show up. We had a potluck dinner and we got to share about what tour was like and share all of our favorite songs from choir with our friends and family.  At the end of the concert, all of the members were acknowledged and were given either a flower, journal and flower, or mug depending on how many years they were in choir.  The graduated seniors also got a special necklace. It was definitely a night full of tears, but also happy tears!

Oh, and how could I forget!? 

With my roommates after they got Baptized!

Both of my roommates got baptized! And let me tell you, I was one happy roommate that night! God has been so good to me this year by blessing me with wonderful friends and roommates. I don't know how I would have survived this past school year without every single person that I interacted with this past school year. 

A Look into this Summer!

Well, this summer is going to be quite a busy one for me, and hopefully I'll be able to update this blog more often.  I am currently working, and I will also be cabin leading at Mt. Hermon, as well as going on vacation to Lake Tahoe with my mom's side of the family.  With all this going on, there are also a few family weddings getting thrown into the schedule as well as me trying to schedule time in to see all of my friends from home, as well as hopefully getting some visits from friends from school! 

So keep checking my blog for more updates from me!

As Spring Break Comes to an End...

Easter Morning with my cousin.
I will admit that I am wearing heels.

Happy Easter everyone! I realize that it has been such a long time since I've updated my blog, but I figured that since this was my last night home for Spring Break, I would do a little update.  Scattered throughout this post are a couple pictures from today!

Aside from the fact that I had a wonderful weekend hanging out with my cousin, and having a wonderful Easter dinner with my family, this past Spring Break/Easter Break has just been crazy!  Well, more specifically the past month. I could barely believe that February flew by, let alone March. How is it that it is April already?! I am going to be done with my second year of college in less than a month. That is just unreal to me.  

Easter Dinner!

Anyway, here is a short little update of what I've been up to the past few weeks.  I have seen The Hunger Games Movie, not once, not twice, but THREE times. Yes, I know. Many people think I'm obsessed, but I promise I'm not.  I just so happened to see it with different groups of people. This Spring Break I was also able to have the chance to finish up The Hunger Games Trilogy and although many may say that they didn't enjoy the rest of the books, I thought they were all very good.  Some parts were more confusing than others, but it is a book that keeps one reading, which I really liked.

This past week I also went to go see the movie October Baby. Later on I will do an official post about this movie, but since it may not be out in theaters for much longer, I just want to say that if you haven't heard of the movie or haven't seen it, look it up and go see it. It has a great message and I personally related because it was a movie about adoption.  Below is the movie trailer, so check it out!

"Call Me Maybe"

Some of my friends and I watched Justin Bieber's music video with his friends of this song called "Call Me Maybe". We thought the song was so catchy that we decided to make our own. It took us a whole week to make, but it was totally worth it! Hope you enjoy it. Share it with your friends too!

Book Review: The Hunger Games

Well, I did it! I finally started and finished reading The Hunger Games, and I really thought it was an amazing book. I definitely can not wait for the movie to come out, in fact, I'm going to have to pre-order my tickets for it tonight. I'm really glad that all my friends convinced me to read it.

About the Book: The Hunger Games is a novel written by Suzanne Collins about a sixteen-year-old girl, Katniss Everdeen who lives in a post-apocalyptic world in the country of Panem where the countries of North America once existed. The Capitol, a highly advanced metropolis, holds absolute power over the rest of the nation. The Hunger Games are an annual event in which one boy and one girl aged 12 to 18 from each of the 12 districts surrounding the Capitol are selected by lottery to compete in a televised battle in which only one person can survive.

What I thought: I thought this book was wonderfully written.  Throughout the entire book, whenever I thought something was going to happen, the book always took a twist and something else happened.  It was a nice easy read, and it's a good book just to read for enjoyment. I think that it is a great book for anyone who is in 8th grade or older.  It doesn't matter if you were preferencial towards a certain genre of books, because this book has a mix of action and romance.  This book was very well written because as I was reading, I could visualize everything that was going on.  

The Hunger Games Official Trailer

Cinnamon Challenge Accepted

What is the "Cinnamon Challenge"?  Well as many of you might know, the cinnamon challenge is when you take a spoonful of cinnamon and you put it in your mouth and you try to swallow it all.  Well tonight, my friends and I were sitting around watching YouTube videos, and we came across a video of this lady called GloZell doing the cinnamon challenge.  Well, after seeing that, my friends Chris and Kyle decided that they wanted to take on the cinnamon challenge.  So check out their video!

Movie Review: The Vow

I have now seen The Vow twice.  The first time seemed as if I was at a giant slumber party because I went to go see the midnight premier across the street from my school.  It seemed as if every girl from school was in the movie theater, along with some guys... the boyfriends who got dragged along to the movie.  

About the Movie: The Vow was about two people named Paige (Rachel McAdams) and Leo (Channing Tatum).  Paige and Leo were married and got in a very bad car accident which left Paige in a coma.  When Paige woke from her coma, she had no recollection of what had happened in the last 5 years of her life.  She didn't even remember that she was married to Leo.  In her mind, she was still engaged to her ex-fiance Jeremy and was a law student.  Throughout the movie, Leo works to help her remember what their relationship was like and what had happened in the past 5 years.  Whether she remembers... you'll have to go see the movie for yourself!

What I Thought: After seeing the movie two times, I thought that it was a pretty good movie.  Although many may say that they did not like it, I thought the message that the movie told was a very important message.  The quote "I chose to stay with him and to remember all of the good and right things he did, rather than leaving him for the one bad thing he did.".  I think that is one of the most important things to remember; to always remember the positive things about someone, rather than holding onto all of the bad things that one person may say or do.

Other Thoughts: My dad emailed me this article called "The Real Story Behind The Vow".  I really encourage everyone to take a look at this article because it is quite interesting to read about who the characters were written after. Take a look at the exert from this article.

"The Carpenters had been married only 10 weeks when their accident occurred. Krickitt was in a coma for four months, and when she awoke she had lost all memory of the past two years, including her entire relationship with Kim. 

“When I came round from the coma, I had no memory of this whirlwind romance,” said Krickitt in a recent article.   “My parents told me that I was married to this man, and they wouldn’t lie to me, so I knew that I must have loved him deeply. But I had no feelings for him at all, and as hard as I tried, I could not conjure up those feelings.”

Kim’s efforts to help Krickitt recover were hampered by her hostility and sudden mood swings—common aftereffects of brain damage. In their book, Kim wrote:

Unpredictable described our whole relationship. What was her real personality now and how much of it was getting to the surface? How well was she communicating what she thought and felt inside? Were we seeing the new real Krickitt?

Maybe she knew how to behave, knew how to act with me, how to control her anger, how to be affectionate and forgiving, but couldn’t put her knowledge into practice somehow because of her injury. Or maybe she had no idea about any of that. I didn’t know what Krickitt was like spiritually and emotionally anymore, and didn’t know whether her true self—whatever that was—was represented in her actions, or whether there was a disconnect between what she thought and what she did."

Movie Review: This Means War

About the Movie: This Means War is a great romantic comedy/action movie staring Reese Witherspoon, Chris Pine, and Tom Hardy.  Throughout the movie, you learn that FDR Foster (Chris Pine) and Tuck (Tom Hardy) are working for the CIA and are also best friends.  Through different situations, they both end up meeting a beautiful woman named Lauren (Reese Witherspoon).  Both FDR and Tuck end up slowly starting to like Lauren and so they decide to both date her but not let her know that they know each other.  Through the movie, you see them both starting to get very competitive, even to the point where they are using their resources as CIA agents to spy on the other person while they are on a date with Lauren.  Who ends up with Lauren you might ask? Well, you'll just have to go see the movie for yourself!

What I Thought: I am not the hugest fan of action movies, however this movie had a great balance of action and romantic comedy.  I was definitely intrigued during the movie and I was always wondering what was going to happen next.  It was a great "Friday Night" movie and I would definitely recommend it to any one of my friends!