i'm melting...i'm melting...

If ever there was a definition for sweltering, today would be it. 

I can't wait to see what the rest of the summer brings. Insert sarcasm [here].

a day in the life

:: On days that I work:
7:00 - 8:00 am : wake up, shower, eat breakfast, get ready
varying times : go to work
lunch happens in here somewhere
3:00 - 5:00 pm : come home


:: On days that I don't work:
7:00 - 8:00 am : wake up, shower, eat breakfast
9:00 - 11:00 am : lounge and check up on email, Blogger, etc.
11:00 - varying times : lunch, housework, errands, plan meals
5:00 - 6:00 : Husband comes home


:: Things that happen every day:
cook dinner
hang out with Husband
watch tv or read books
possibly go on a date
11:00 - 12:00 : bed time

It's a pretty normal life, but it's ours. And I love it.

12. Describe a typical day in your current life. | thirty things

pet peeves

people who smack their food

people who are late

saying you'll do something, and not doing it

taking your shoes off in public*

closed mindedness

invading my personal space

poor grammar

when people mistake me for a teenager

people with dirty/grimy hands

complaining about something you have no control over

11. Describe 10 pet peeves you have. | thirty things

*excluding public places where it's normal to be barefoot. e.g. the pool, the beach, the park, etc.

how embarrassing.

I had to think for a long time about any embarrassing stories involving myself. I guess that I'm not one to get embarrassed easily. That, or I've just repressed every embarrassing thing that's ever happened to me. There's a story my husband likes to tell about the time our cats knocked our curtains down onto our faces while we were asleep and I woke up screaming. I don't like it when he tells that story. Or there's the time at BYU when I fell down the last two stairs in between the Wilk and the library as I was walking back to my apartment. Or the time that I tripped going up the stairs (yes, up.) in the Wilk to get to the main floor one morning. Apparently I have issues with stairs; but in my defense, BYU is the land of awkwardly spaced stairs. Nothing terribly embarrassing. Let's keep it that way.

10. Describe your most embarrassing moment. | thirty things

inspired people

in no particular order:

mom + dad, parents of me

dr. cronin, english professor at byu

j.k. rowling, author of harry potter

dick winters, commander of easy company, 101st Airborne

toni morrison, author and nobel prize winner

jonathan larson, composer and author of rent

sylvia plath, poet and author

mr. price, high school band director

9. List 10 people who have influenced you and describe how. | thirty things

'passion is never enough; neither is skill. but try.'

reading :: music :: british culture :: carolina sports :: le tour

8. What are 5 passions you have? | thirty things

it's the most wonderful time of the year (again)

image found here.

The countdown begins! Well, it officially began at the end of last year's tour, but to save you the grief of reading things like, "Only seven months, two weeks, and four days until the Tour!", I've waited until now to announce it. We've got one week and one day, people! That's right; the best three weeks of the year begin next Saturday. I can hardly wait to spend my mornings watching the drama unfold while listening to the best sports commentators on the planet who say things like 'car park', 'he's a crack descender', and 'schloops+schmangies'. Get ready for the crazed fangirl version of me who isn't going to shut up about cycling for the next three weeks. Maybe I'll even put up a picture of me in the yellow Tour hat I wear while I watch. The magic begins in eight days. Get excited.

technical difficulties

Apparently when you add pictures to your blog, they are automatically saved in albums by Google+. Apparently when you delete them from the Google+ albums because you don't need them there and you don't want them all saved on your phone because your phone is an Android and automatically syncs with all things Google ... inhale ... they get deleted. From everything. Including your blog. Naturally, I didn't know this. So you can imagine the mild heart-attack panic-induced state I found myself in when I checked my blog and almost all of the pictures from recent posts were gone. In their place, black squares and rectangles in the same sizes of the pictures that were once there. Ghosts of their former selves. Thankfully, I was able to restore all of the posts from the most recent months. So unless you're digging through my archives, you won't see any of the sad black boxes. Let this be a lesson to all of you Google+ users: don't delete the pictures if they might be on your blog. You're welcome.

"Now she had to be content with the company of the person she prized most of all --- herself."

Home | Toni Morrison

seven - to sleep, perchance to dream

I wrote a post back in April about my ultimate, albeit extremely unrealistic, dream job. So for a dream job back within the realms of reality, I give you:

 image found here.

ASL Interpreter. 

I've written about this before too. It's something I love, and what I want to do. Simple as that. 

7. What is your dream job, and why? | thirty things

six - the difficult things

images found here, here, here, here, here, and here.

(just a few of my favorite buildings on campus. two of the library because it is just that amazing. don't believe me? just check out this mural on the fourth floor.)

BYU was difficult, not academically, but because it was so far away from home. 2,101 miles away to be exact. One of the more difficult things I've done was deciding to go to school here. I wasn't thrilled with the distance or the stigma of what I thought going to school there would be like, and for my entire youth abhorred the idea of attending school there. I guess you could say I had some trouble realizing that this really was the place for me to go. But I figured it out, and it was the greatest decision ever. 

6. What is the hardest thing you have ever experienced? | thirty things

five things

 husband : rural south carolina : my family

morrison's latest masterpiece : the temple

5. What are the 5 things that make you most happy right now? | thirty things

click + clack

image found here.

Devastating news. Car Talk is going off the air in September. The boys are retiring. I guess that's something you get to do after thirty-five successful years on the radio. Now I need to find something else to do on Saturday mornings. Any suggestions are more than welcome. Thanks in advance.

to speak to the past

Dear Alyssa,

You just turned sixteen, and can finally go on dates with your boyfriend, but you can't see the situation - and the fact that you won't ever actually go out anywhere with him - and really, this never was a good idea. You will meet your husband at BYU; you know, that school that you never wanted to go to? (yeah, you'll end up there). 

BYU will be a wonderful experience, even though you think right now that it's the most ridiculous place in the world. You will make the most amazing lifelong friends there who you can always count on, and who will remain just as amazing after you all go your separate ways. You'll also meet a teacher in your major (which will be English, by the way) who will change your life. 

Don't worry about the silly high school things that are happening right now. None of it really matters in the long run. Keep working hard in school (but nobody really needs to remind you to do that). Several of your good friends will carry through to your adult life, and they are great. Don't worry about what will happen next in your life because everything is going to work out exactly as it's supposed to. And you'll love it.

Love,

Alyssa

4. List 10 things you would tell your 16 year-old self, if you could. | thirty things

three

My relationship with my parents is good - always has been. They prepared me for life, and I always knew that they'd be proud of me as long as I did my best. They parented me, but it wasn't forced. I never felt like I was being smothered. I was always allowed to be my own person. I guess you could say that we had a typical good relationship growing up. My dad would take me to get french fries and milkshakes every Wednesday night, and my mom and I would go shopping together. Now, as an adult, our relationship is still good. They are still my parents, but we're more friends now than anything else. It's a wonderful situation to be in. 

3. Describe your relationship with your parents | thirty things