elegy of an uprooting

My computer hasn't been letting me on my blog these last few days, claiming there was malicious software stored in the html add-ons. Basically, my blog crashed. I simply had no choice but to alter the format and make it like new! These last couple of hours have been dedicated here. I hope you like the way things look now. :)

On another separate and dissonant note, I leave the dorms in ten days. Next Saturday. What's funny about that, is I'm not sad to see it go. I'm not afraid of all the goodbyes I'll have to give. I'm so ready to get out of here, even though it's been way good to me. 

I live in the towers on Utah State's central campus. Here, we have required meal plans and a daily janitor, which means two big things: I don't own kitchen equipment or any household cleaning supplies. Not to mention, I have no groceries, not even cereal. I've been relying on the school system. This means I will be needing to buy a boatload of, Everything, once I move out. To make this more convenient, I don't even have a car! Last August upon moving in here, I brought 5 pieces of luggage filled with my life, and then proceeded to get two Walmart shopping carts full of more stuff. Haha - this is going to be fun...

I've got some help from a few friends and Benjamin, but to be honest I've been stressing about the location switch a lot lately. My small towers dorm is bursting with my things and I can only hope to God that I can manage to pack up and organize it all, manageably. I'm not even worried about juries or finals anymore! But I haven't been practicing flute or keyboard hardly enough, at the same time. That's not normal, is it?

c'est belle

I've been keeping a collection of paintings I love, via iPhoto. If I could have anything in the whole world right now, it would be an original oil-on-canvas work of art. Oil is sublime; watercolors aren't too shabby either, I suppose. Here are just a few of my favorites. 

...aand we're back!

Hello, blog world. 

Lent is over, and here I am.

I'm really looking forward to blogging again. I'm not going to challenge myself with deadlines and subject restraints anymore :P even though it was pretty gratifying, knowing I successfully completed the 30-dayer. These last couple of months, honestly, haven't been very eventful. Just lots of school and music and boyfriend. Lots of happiness, with a good amount of stress, too. But I won't go into the mundane details.

So. 

Tonight I used up the last of the products I snagged at Sally's back in February. It seems like everybody evacuated the towers for the weekend, or at least for Friday night. I got home after dinner, settling in to another calm evening, when I spontaneously decided to do my roots all by myself. I've had my hair blonde for almost 5 months now.. wow. Recently, a lot of people (including my family) have been criticizing my unnatural color and pretty much begging me to go brown again. I was getting so much flack, that I almost did what people told me to do. I was planning on rounding up a box dye at Walmart tomorrow when Ben and I go for easter egg supplies. But here's the thing: regardless of what people say, even if it's mama, I hold dominion over my own life. I have plans for my blonde hair; I've had them ever since I spontaneously bleached it in the first place. I wanted to be blonde for a semester, and I promised myself I'd go natural before band camp in the fall. So screw it, opinions on my facebook wall! And I love you, family, but you're going to have to live with a platinum for a little while longer. 

Not only did I do my hair by myself, but I did a great job on it, too. And I've decided to make this a night of self-pampering, which has been lovely. Hair, check. Exfoliating body & taking a bubble bath, check. Nails & blog post, in progress. 

I have finals a week from Monday, and juries in six days. Soon my freshman year of college will be over, and I'll have another four months of mostly down time, in Logan. I got a couple part-time jobs with the University, after months of persistence. But neither of those employments will keep me very busy. I'm not used to free time! Instead of lazing away this summer, though, I really want to focus on self-improvement. I want to get organized, healthy, and centered. Not to say that my life is in chaos, because I'm seriously so happy right now. I'm in love and I'm on track for my dream career and I'm settled right into the Utah lifestyle. However, there are certain things I've noticed, especially throughout the end of this semester, that needs improvement. For example, I've let some of my friends take advantage of my generosity by being passive and accepting, and I feel like I'm being walked on and disrespected. I need to create a pattern of assertiveness in my life, without coming across as a biotch. 

Anyway, I have to get to bed. Writing this evening has been way refreshing! All it's missing is a good, memorable picture. I found this one last week on StumbleUpon, and I couldn't stop laughing. The caption to the photo was "dog picks bad spot to lay down - what dog could possibly resist a bundle of sticks?" Enjoy below... ;)

so long, and thanks for all the fish

30. A picture of yourself this day and 5 good things that happened since you started the challenge.

I started this blog [challenge] on February 3rd. Since then, A lot of amazing things have happened to me. I have so much to be grateful for. Let me count the ways...

- Valentine's Day! I dressed in all pink, white, and red, and my valentine dressed up for me, too. We went about a normal monday school day without seeing each other, but he called me awake and called me all day after that, leaving me sweet voicemails and cute texts. I finally saw my love before wind orchestra, briefly, and I could hardly contain my excitement. After class we exchanged gifts and then went to an early dinner. It was so simple and perfect.

- Summer job offers. This summer we've got a couple of options, which is great. I don't feel nervous about my near future at all, financially speaking that is.

- Reconnecting with my grandmom. Before I wrote that post about her, it had been several weeks since I've spoken to her. And before that, I would talk to her almost every day. Being able to hear her voice again was such bliss, I forgot how terribly I missed that woman. Since that blog post, I've been talking with her much more often. It's been just like back in the day, and I plan to keep it like that.

- Solidifying my priorities a little better. I've always had them pretty disorderly in my youth, even though I knew what I wanted out of life and what I needed to do. This semester, and more specifically these last 30 days, I've put my self sermon into effect: with balancing le boyfriend, instrumental practice hours, personal time, and study time, I have felt more satisfied than ever before. Not to say that things have been flawless, no no no. But now I'm pretty sure my conscience has been pleased with my decisions on a daily basis. I feel more in control than ever before. And that's a pretty good feeling.

- Understanding and experiencing the notion of true love. Life has been so incredibly happy and fulfilling ever since I got back together with Ben. Never would I have believed this would be our turnout. I am so in love! And I'm so comfortable. and grateful. and lucky. Before this very colorful college relationship of ours, I had a preconceived notion of what love was. I thought I knew, but I had no idea. 

Okay, so there's my five good things, and that's me today around 1 o'clock. Goodbye for now. I'll write again sometime after April 23rd. I promise to keep away from here until then!