{soft foods diet}

Life on a soft foods diet has been pretty monotonous to say the least. My current diet consists of:

Soup, Jamba Juice, potatoes, yams, soup, protein shakes, pudding, soup, oatmeal, soup, pasta, soup, and soup! I can now proudly (or maybe ashamedly) say that I have had every soup flavor on the Zupas menu (multiple times).

Don’t be too jealous.

Though I’m tempted to complain, I really can’t because it’s all going to make me better in the end, right?

Confession: I attended my first physical therapy appointment with the secret hope that the doctor would bring out a ginormous hamburger and say “here, try biting into this”; or perhaps a plate of cookies which would require me to practice a little chewing. Turns out I hoped in vain...I can dream can’t I?

But I do have my soft foods diet to thank for bringing out the slightest domesticity I have in me. This week I pulled out my apron and decided to get a little creative. I homemade my own applesauce. I was a little skeptical during the process but it actually turned out rather well. And by rather well, I mean delicious!

Hurrah for adding a new food item to my lovely list of soft foods,it makes life so much more exciting...

hibernation

Well, I didn’t think I would make it through this week, but 4 exams and 1 project later, I am happy to report that I survived! However, I probably got the amount of sleep this whole week that I should have gotten in one night; I looked and felt like death; I lived at the library; and I almost lost my mind. I guess when I say “survived” I mean it in the loosest sense of the word…

Speaking of surviving, it appears that winter has graced our presence early this year. While I’m still hopeful it will warm up and autumn will get the time that it deserves, I’m also aware that this notion might be incredibly optimistic. Darn. Amid this dismal weather I’ve already thought many a time about never leaving my apartment again—at least until the temperature isn’t comparable to the North Pole and the clouds stop spitting horribly cold moisture at me—therefor I bring you this list:

What I need for hibernation:

-a fireplace (but a space heater or heated blanket would do just fine)

-butterscotch chips

-a good book (I’d be fine with reading Gone with the Wind again)

-a visitor or two

-musica

-hot chocolate, or any kind of chocolate for that matter

-slippers

-a few movies (“Sense and Sensibility”, “Confessions of a Shopaholic”, and “Finding Nemo” will do just fine)

-sweats

-a pillow

-and Sophie (aka my dog)

Yup. The above items would definitely get me through; but here’s to hoping we see some sunshine soon! Until then...

Oh My Testing Center

On Friday afternoon I made my way to the Heber Grant Building to take my first Exam of the semester and the line of students was unreal. It came all the way out the doors and wrapped around the JSB. For those of you unfamiliar with BYU campus, picture a 25-long car line at a drive-in window, and that was the length of the line--the line just to get inside the building. It was like Labor Day weekend at Disneyland, only instead of hopes and dreams being fulfilled at the end of the line, all you got was a nasty exam. Hardly worth the wait.

30 minutes of anxiously waiting in line was only followed by a couple more hours of more anxiety inside the testing center: A room so silent it seems loud, scratching pencils, stress oozing off everyone around you, clocks ticking, nail biting, wheels turning, thoughts processing, finger drumming, hair pulling, erasers scrubbing, pages turning…the list could go on. Aside from looking around the room and appreciating how many different tests were being taken with the eclectic combination of knowledge being acquired around campus, I truly dislike the Testing Center; which is why I can’t wait to spend more time in there this week! Sarcasm anyone? 3 exams…hmm. I may or may not make it through the next few days.

I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.

Before I lose my life to studying however, I would like to say a quick Happy Birthday to my sweet Grandma! She hasn’t always been my Grandma but she has definitely taken me in as her own and I love her so much for that. She’s the sweetest, most caring person I know, she’s a vision in purple, and she’s the best commissioner around. Thanks for everything Grandma…I love you so much! Happy Birthday!!

{Luck}

Sometimes I am amazed that I have survived college this long. I haven’t been put on probation for grades (yet) and I’ve kept my sanity (well, some of it). It is an understatement to say I am impressed with myself.

Throughout my oh-so-long experience here at BYU, I’ve learned something that I’m sure many other students have also become familiar with:

Everything seems less important in the morning.

Here is the typical scenario:

It is mid-term week and your checklist is 5 miles too long. You spent hours at the library working on a paper or reading or researching, and can even proudly admit to minimal facebooking (a tremendous feat indeed). Upon your return home you realize that another assignment slipped your mind and just so happens to be due at 9:00 in the a.m. the following morning. Shoot. Begrudgingly you open your text book and begin the assignment as any good student would. A few moments later your eyelids begin to feel unbearably heavy and you realize you’ve read the same sentence 20 too many times. What is wrong with you? What is wrong with you, is the clock is about to strike 2 and no sane human being should be up at that hour doing homework. Right. So you decide you will finish the assignment in the morning. The alarm is set for 6 o’clock and to your relief you finally go to sleep.

BUT when 6:00 rolls around and your alarm rudely awakens you, you can’t seem to remember what you were thinking when you set your alarm for such a horridly early hour. The assignment that seemed crucial to your grade just hours before, suddenly seems extremely insignificant compared to the sleep you'll lose if you do it. After all, the assignment won’t take that long. So your fingers which are all too familiar with the snooze button take action and before you know it you’ve fallen back asleep.

Its 8:30. Oh no. How in the world did that happen? You jump out of bed, throw on a sorry excuse for an outfit, brush your teeth way too quickly, and bolt up to campus. In the moments before class begins, you frantically do your best to finish said assignment. The teacher walks into the classroom, you turn it in, game over.

But wait! A week later you check your grades and to your pleasant surprise you passed—with flying colors (or maybe just colors, haha). How did that happen? You somehow managed to do a better job on the assignment in just minutes than you would have if you had spent the supposed hours it required.

To those of you who don’t believe in luck, I say to you: it exists; and I’ve been experiencing it for almost 4 years now.

Thank heavens.

supercalifragilisticexpialadocious

On Saturday night I went and saw the Broadway play “Mary Poppins” with the fam. And it was, to steal a line from Mary herself,

practically perfect in every way!

I couldn’t stop smiling the whole night and I still can’t seem to get the songs out of my brain…not that I want to. In fact, I feel rather like eating a spoon full of sugar, flying a kite, and maybe even sweeping a few chimneys.

On a different note...Caramel Tootsie Pops have changed my life. I felt rather like the owl on the commercials while eating one (I couldn't exactly fit it in my mouth...darn jaw) and i now know: it takes a lot of licks to get to the center of a tootsie pop.

But it was worth every lick.

mmmmm

sunglasses

Yesterday, while at the BYU football game, I noticed one particular individual several rows below me. Why did I notice him you ask? Because he was wearing his sunglasses on the back of his head. Not only is this a trend that I completely do not understand, but I think it’s totally creepy. It feels like some human-like (human-like because they are lacking key human features: eyes, nose, and a mouth maybe?) thing is staring you down. I don’t like it one bit.

Anyway. What made said situation particularly uncomfortable was that I blurted out to my sister:

“I hate when people wear sunglasses on the back of…Gasp”

My hands went flying to my mouth as I realized the individual sitting directly in front of my sister was also wearing his sunglasses on the back of his head. Woops.

I am so awkward sometimes. Scratch that, all the time.

Hope that guy wasn’t too offended by my blunt comment.

On the bright side, BYU pulled off the W.

GO COUGS!

the week in replay

Somehow, more than a week of my life passed by already and I don’t remember much of it. I suppose that’s a good thing, when the last week has consisted of...

-Instacare

-the ER

-Morphine, steroids, and more pain killers

-seeing an ENT

-having “surgery” on my dang jaw

-lying in bed, staring at the ceiling, and repetitively trying to open and close my mouth

-Oh and watching the BYU game which in all honesty was just as painful as my jaw problem

Despite everything that has happened this week, the one word to sum up how I am currently feeling is grateful. Yes my jaw still hurts, and yes i'm not going to enjoy living on a “soft foods” diet for 6 weeks, BUT it could be a lot worse. I mean, at least I have a jaw, right?!

Sometimes when I’m walking on campus and I pass someone I don’t know, I wonder what kind of trial they are currently going through or have gone through. There are so many silent sufferers out there and recognizing that makes me aware that I’ve got a really good life; and this jaw problem of mine is really not that big of a deal.

I just want to send out a big thanks into the void to all those who have helped me the past couple weeks. I couldn’t have done it without you. seriously.

And now…a few pictures since I haven’t posted pictures in, well, weeks!

Having a class with my brother and sister is...the BEST.

I miss my cute little cousins like crazy and wish i could spend more time with them

Attempting to be crafty at Color Me Mine. It obviosuly didn't go so well, seeing as i quit after 2 stripes

Rascal Flatt's concert with this cute boy. And of course, Rascal did not disappoint

Saying goodbye to my roommate who left on a mission to Detroit!

Welp, that's all folks!