true story

i have to write my scholarship essays.

and i don't like them one bit.

also it's confusing when you are doing french homework but are listening to spanish music.

this is the song that just came on hahaha

but this is what i should be listening to:

 

that is all.

i can't turn my brain off

it seriously won't shut up. all i want to do is go to sleep, but i can't. i keep thinking about everything and nothing, all at the same time. gah. so here are some videos that i love and are distracting my brain and keeping it quiet for now. enjoy!


video 1: our roadtrip to california. steph made this.

video 2: starburst flavor morph STREETS commercial. i die every time.

video 3: this is, and will be, my life.

http://vimeo.com/18886355

and read this blog post because i want to be a missionary and i love it:
http://drippingwithpassion.blogspot.com/2009_09_01_archive.html

that is all. hopefully now that these thoughts are out i can fall asleep.

the best saturday

today was the best saturday in a loooooong time. here's what i did:

• got up and went to stake conference
• after stake conference i went straight to the physical science lab
• went to macey's and got some groceries
• went to the fête francophone that jim hosted in his apartment
• there were four us us, but then one had to leave haha
• we ate crêpes
• we ate cheese melted in a raclette
• we watched le petit nicolas
• we talked about france and we spoke a little bit of french
• i went to zupas with heather and karen
• i ripped my pants
• heather's car dragged the parking thing all the way across the parking lot (see photos below)
• i went to the french and german club's mardi gras dance party
• danced crazy with jim and just didn't care - sometimes i'm strange because i really don't care what other people think about me...i just don't feel comfortable being completely crazy. does that make sense?
• saw alison mercer and her roommates at the mardi gras party
• went to in-n-out with alison and her roommates shelby and jenny
• laughed so hard
• went to macey's with alison, shelby, and jenny
• saw and talked to natalie dayton for a few minutes
• and now i'm going to bed!

self, good day again.

see? this thing. what are they called?

you can see where it should have been if you look closely at the one's in the back of the photo...funniest night of my life.

the best friday

yesterday was the best friday in a looooong time. here's what i did:

• went to the temple at 6:30 am and was called "sister huggies" (see previous post)
• got to french class EARLY
• had une fête (a party) for my french teacher's birthday
• ate cake, oreo truffles, and cookies at said party (annie made the cake! it was great.)
• studied with kara in the library
• went to physical science (not really the best part of the day, but i understood what we were talking about, which was AWESOME)
• got help for my upcoming physical science test in the ps100 lab
• talked with two ta's (whose names i don't know) for like an hour
• one was from fairfield, ca and she knew about "mystery science theater 3000"
• one served his mission in paris so we talked about my study abroad and his mission for a while
• at one point he referred to quebec as the "red-headed step-child of canada," which made me laugh
• i feel like i understand the concepts in this test better than the last one...that's good.
•  went to the international cinema showing of "l'illusionniste" with like my entire french class
• came home and decided to go on a date with steph
• we ate thai food and went to target
• painted my nails
• and went to bed

self, good day.

i'm not a brand of diapers...

this morning heather and i got up super early so we could go to the temple before class. it was a fantastic idea, because let me tell you, there is no better way to start your day than at the temple. i love it there!

but one funny thing did happen...

i got called "sister huggies."

can we just discuss real quick how gross it is to call diapers "nappies?"

not really sure how the guy got that from "hughes..." but it works. i guess.

as long as everyone knows that i'm a big girl now (and have been for a long time).

that is all.

interesting things i saw slash overheard today

-a guy walking across campus with a pillow and a jug of apple juice

-a guy in the eyring science center with a fro, a beatles tshirt, and really tight bell bottom jeans

-a guy in the eyring science center saying, "you should be a teacher! you have a booming voice of fear!"

and i wondered about all three of these. i wish i knew more.

what i found today

this post was going to be about how i bought frozen pizza for dinner but then found out that liberty square is selling fresh pizzas tonight for $5...

but i just found amber and lindsey in the library. well, technically, they found me. on accident.

serendipity.

dear mom and dad...

today i spent 11 hours on campus.

remember how i'm leaving tomorrow so i can come home for the weekend?

well...i was going to do some laundry today...but...

the whole 11 hours thing made it so i didn't have time. and i won't have time tomorrow either.

so...i guess what i'm trying to say is this:

i hope you don't mind that i'm bringing all my dirty laundry to wash at home.

love,

syd

laura the missionary

today my friend laura became an official missionary.

she reported to the mtc and is on her way to preaching the gospel in raleigh, north carolina.

i told her last night on the phone, but i don't think i could ever tell her, or you, how much i adore her. ever since bse 2008 (best summer ever 2008) in england, she has become one of my closest friends and one of my very favorite people. she is such a good person, and when you're with her, you can't help but smile. she radiates happiness. she is funny and clever and kind. she'll be the best missionary.

i can't wait to read her letters and emails about her life as a missionary. i have no doubt that she will love every minute of it, and that she will work her hardest while she's out there.

laura dear, i am so very happy and excited for you! see you in 18 months!

bse 2008 - toast me up, toots!

right after she opened the call. don't worry, it's not the worst picture any of us has ever taken or anything (mike included).

"all i need is pizza, soda, the moon, and someone to share it with." -kevin malone, the office

happy valentine's day :) 

 

more valentine's day stuff that i found and loved:

"i like your long bottom" and "be my horcrush" hahaha

a commie valentine's day party.

eye doctor-esque

the avett brothers

this one cracked me up

and last but not least, my very favorite. "i love you like old people love soup"

  

enjoy!

scatter-brained and california bound

ahhh today.

i don't really have a whole lot to say, except that i am counting down the days until i am back in california. did i mention that steph, karen, and i are driving out to calistoga? no? oh. well we are. and i am SO EXCITED. i can't really even stand it.

i went to my french speaking lab today, and the lab assistant that i worked with said the following:

amandine: "i don't really have anything to say to you."

me: "uhhh...ok?"

amandine: "in a good way! i think you're the most prepared of any student i've ever worked with."

so it turned out to be good. haha. i thought i was in trouble or had done something wrong but i guess not!

also, when i got home, jalyn checked the mail per her usual routine, and found that i had a wonderful package from my aunt lisa who sent me a stuffed pig (i collect pigs. i love pigs. it may be a slight obsession.). how cute of her, right?!

another good thing is that i got a package from my family on saturday, which i somehow neglected to mention. i got some dark chocolate sea salt caramels (YUM), my france magazine, a letter from elder kevin wood (happy day!), and some magical unicorn valentines. that make me so so soooo happy i can't even handle it. it's so great.

so i guess you could say i have the best family ever. period. no one can win this argument. :)

for fhe we got to go to brother reece's house (he's in the bishopric) for dinner. it was some sort of curry chicken salad on a croissant. it was very yummy. i enjoyed it very much. especially the grapes haha.

another good thing that happened is that my really good friend david bingham now has a mission blog, which means i get to read some of his emails home. for those of you who know david know that he is one of those people who has a knack for writing, and i love reading what he has to say about japan and the people he is working with. it was a happy discovery when i found the link to his page on facebook.

so yep. i have three more days of class before i get to run away to california. three more days. thursday night we are driving to elko, nevada, and then friday we're driving the rest of the way. as long as the weather is good. which reminds me.

everyone pray for good weather, because i would really like to go home, please and thank you.

sorry if this post is very scatter-brained. i can't quite keep my thoughts straight today.

i hope everyone else had a great day!

from sunday

so i've perfected these few things the last couple of days...

1. the art of falling asleep on the couch
2. the art of eating sugar cookies
3. the art of procrastinating
4. the art of drinking lots of water from my new water bottle (thank you, santa, for the target gift card that let me buy the water bottle after i lost my old one)
5. the art of singing with a lisp with jalyn and steph

cool, right?

i also feel super accomplished this evening because i finished my take home test *celebration* for mission prep.

and i submitted 2 batches at the indexing party tonight.

they congratulate you when you finish a batch. so kind.

at the indexing party tonight, jim started saying "whoo!" so i tried to ask him if he submitted a batch. it came out like this: "jim, did you just submit a bass?" i cried i laughed so hard.

and i made a thank you card for the elder's quorum for making the relief societies breakfast yesterday morning. everyone in our relief society signed it.

AND I HAVE THE BEST HOME TEACHERS EVER who just came over and brought me warm chocolate cake and vanilla ice cream. just because. and that is exactly why they win the best home teachers award.

good day.

heather sleep talks

so apparently heather talks in her sleep. and it is hilarious, let me tell you. she's never really done it before...so at first i was a little creeped out, but then it just got ridiculous. let me tell you about my thursday night because, trust me, it will make you laugh.

2:07 am (yes, i remember the time)
heather: "asdlkjfgdouwqrksahxvckjroquweksdghj"
me: (in my head) "she sounds like an alien. this is so creepy!!"

then i fell back asleep after putting in my ear plugs.

5:27 am
my ear plugs were no longer in. i couldn't find them anywhere in my bed. i was very sad. and then!
heather: "that's why i picked this one."
me: (in my head) "which one of what?"
heather: "i like the neutral dress better"
me: "that answered my question..."
heather: "sydney help me!"
she proceeded to say my name a few more times.

so...i didn't get a whole lot of sleep on thursday night...but i was thoroughly entertained the whole time. in the morning i found my ear plugs, neatly placed on my desk. i must have taken them out in my sleep.

SIGNS from the cannes film festival 2009

ok. my mom sent me the link to this video.

it is seriously so cute and happy. take a few minutes to watch it.

you won't regret it.

i wish this happened in real life...haha.

sometimes i'm a twin...

heather and i didn't even see each other this morning...

but somehow we both ended up wearing pretty much the same outfit. 

weird.

see?

i finally found the words: the st. helena branch

i have been searching for years for words to describe the st. helena branch to my friends. i haven't been able to find them until today.

for those of you who don't understand the basic set up of the church of jesus christ of later-day saints, each meeting house where we attend church services is split up geographically. where i live in calistoga, my family and i happen to attend a "branch," or a very small meeting house for smaller groups of people. there are also wards, which are the larger groups that meet, with sometimes over 500 people. but a branch is where i grew up, going to church with about 50 or 60 people each sunday.

at byu, people are often shocked to hear that i didn't go to a ward. almost everyone here met in a ward growing up, and they always want to know what it was like to grow up in such a tiny branch.

many words come to mind:

intereseting
different
entertaining. highly entertaining.
small
cozy
family
love
home

and that's what i could think of. i could think of thousands of stories to tell people, some of them happy, some of them hilarious, some of them spiritual, some of them tear jerkers.


all of the stories are great, but even through those experiences, i have never quite been able to get across the point that the branch is the best place in the world. it really is. i've been in wards before, and don't get me wrong, they have all been fantastic (i really have loved my wards!), but the branch has a very special place in my heart.


today in my foundations of education class (with the crazy professor, remember? it's #4 if you feel so inclined to look at the post), we were privileged enough to hear the conversion stories of dr mayes and a girl in our class, jamie. ("conversion stories" is mormon lingo for the story of how a person was converted to the gospel of the lds church.)


while jamie was talking, she told us all about the branch she was a part of in upstate new york. she said something to the effect, "i think that the celestial kingdom will be like my branch."


it made me stop. it made me think. and then came the tears (tenderheart...). she is so right. my branch is exactly how i picture the celestial kingdom. not the hijinks and the entertaining moments (though i think that things will definitely still be funny in heaven...), but the close-knit nature of all of our relationships and the deep love that we have for one another.


let me explain a little bit. take a group of 50 people. they meet together every sunday for 20 years. they share their joys and their sorrows. they become your family. everyone in this family is vastly different, with a wide range of backgrounds, a variety of lifestyles, and many different senses of humor. but you love everyone for their differences, as well as the similarities - the main one being the shared love of the gospel and for our father in heaven and his son jesus christ.  going to church on sunday feels like a family reunion. it's where all the people you love are. it's where you go to grow closer to your heavenly father and your savior, and to do that with your whole family? it's indescribable.


i think that we have this idea that only a certain type of person can get into the celestial kingdom. but why would we think that? we are all so different, and that's what's beautiful about us! god does not make mistakes - and he made us all different on purpose, so that we can learn from and grow with each other. i think that is what will make the celestial kingdom such an amazing place. we will have learned how to live with and appreciate and truly love each other's differences.

it is going to be one big patchwork quilt of humanity.


just like the branch. on a larger scale.


so now do you understand a little bit of just why i love the branch so much? i love it for the family and the home that it is. i love that i grew up there and that i was able to grow up with isabel, olivia, and cammie, that i had the chance to perform in the primary production of "goldilocks and the three bears," that i was able to be in the young women's program with my mom as my teacher and that we could heart attack people on valentine's day, that i had seminary in sister kenworthy's living room and painted scenes from the old and new testament every friday morning, that i was able to go to hoedowns at the garate's and pioneer day activities with donna morgan's biscuits and chili, that i was there for all of the baptisms of the little children, that i got to listen to brother malin give his famous "jumping mouse" talk, that i was able see the flowers that sister cross brought to church every sunday, that i was present for the telling of the "hoo hoo" story (michelle and sebastian :) ), and that i was a part of it all. i wasn't just someone sitting on the sidelines watching this big family. i was an active part of it.


i am so glad that i finally have the words to describe the st. helena branch. thank you, jamie, and thank you, dr mayes, for telling me your stories and helping me to say what i've been wanting to say for all these years.

this is me, sending all my love to my family back home at the branch.

love,
sydney

isabel, me, cammie

goldilocks and the three bears. i was mama bear, cammie was goldilocks.

sorry these are so small... i don't really know why.

ninja of love in safeway.

the girls watching persuasion.

seminary at buttercream bakery in napa.

beirut concert

the little ones carrying on the tradition of the heart attacking

happy birthday, corky ♡

the morgan girls and i this past summer

i am pleased to announce

i have mastered the art of roasting marshmallows over the electric stove.

see?

okay, so this one is not the best looking one i've ever roasted. but you get the idea.

OTHER THING TO ANNOUNCE

i have discovered how to put music on my blog. so just so you all know...

there will be music playing now!

ok and i just had to share this meme

i gave my cookie to a homeless woman and steph gave her a buck

saturday was just a good day in general. all around. wonderful.

so saturday morning, i slept in a little, got up, did some homework, and showered.

then we went to lunch at tucano's. haven't heard of tucano's? it's basically a brazilian steakhouse. there is an endless salad bar, and all the waiters walk around with mass amounts of meat on skewers. they ask if you want some, and they'll just plop some on your plate. it's wonderful.

my three favorite parts were the grilled pineapple, the fried bananas (who knew? i don't like plain bananas, but i'll eat them fried!), and the fact that karen's parents paid for the whole thing for her birthday!! whoo! the five of us, and karen's brother robbie, and his wife cammie all got free lunch at one of the best restaurants in provo :)

then, steph and i decided we wanted to go to h&m in salt lake (ok, it's not really salt lake, but it's somewhere around there...). so we went. it was wonderful and i got myself a light coat. it's great and comfy and i like the color and i like that i can layer sweaters underneath it or wear it just plain...ok enough about my wonderful coat.

then we went to a couple other places so steph could look for longer length dresses and skirts because she's going to jerusalem this summer!!

when we were done with that, we went to paradise bakery to get cookies. it was a very smart move on our part, because those cookies were DANG good. we each got two cookies. steph got a ginger molasses and a chocolate chip. i got a sugar cookie and a chocolate chip. we each ate one in the bakery and then saved the other for on the way home.

on the way home, i was driving because steph was having coughing attacks and she didn't want to crash and die. i didn't really want to either. ha. anyway, so we pulled up to the stoplight before the freeway entrance. steph had already eaten her second cookie, and i was just reaching my hand into my bag when i looked up and saw a homeless woman on the side of the road.

steph said she watched the whole thing play across my face. the realization that i had to give up my cookie. the realization that i was giving away my COOKIE. but i really wanted my cookie. but she needed it more. but it was my COOKIE. let me tell you, it was one big internal struggle.

in the end, i gave her my chocolate chip cookie and steph gave her a buck. i don't know if she found shelter for the night, or got enough money to buy dinner or something, but at least she had my cookie. because we all know cookies are the best way to show someone you care :)

then because we were all so tired we decided to go to bed somewhat early-ish, but i ended up watching "that thing you do!" on netflix while i was snuggled in my bed. it was a good movie, and i was very warm and comfy.

and then i went to bed right after heather got home. i was mostly asleep so i didn't really understand what she was saying about her date, but she had a good time. and then i fell asleep.

it was a very nice day.

POST OF EXCITEMENT

OK EVERYONE.

here's the thing.

i went bowling friday night and i got my first strike ever *without bumpers.* i am so excited. i then proceeded to get three more, and one was even with my opposite hand. wahoo!!

here are some photos of the evening.

tom, me, and tommy. yes they are friends, and their names are tom and tommy. hahaha.

i'm mario. look at frame SIX. also i got a strike in frame one, but it only counted as a spare. pshh.

no one wanted to cooperate for photos so i made a face.

cutest roomies evah.

fruit tarts

yesterday was great. sundays are golden. here's why:

1. sleeping in
i don't have church until 1 pm. that means we get to sleep in a little bit, eat a real breakfast, take our time getting ready, and do some reading before church starts. i love it.

2. dinner with my aunt maryn
yes. love these days. we went to chili's for dinner and i ate as much of my food as i could and i was a happy girl. i brought home all my leftovers and i can't wait to eat them when i get home.

3. fruit tart
my aunt maryn is a wonderful person. because i got accepted to go to paris, she got me a HUGE fruit tart to celebrate! it was delicious. we pretty much ate the whole thing yesterday. she also got me a travel guide book to paris, and i have been looking at it non-stop. it's wonderful.

4. pillow talk
one of the things i am going to miss the most this coming summer and fall is pillow talk with heather. i know, i know. we're such girls. but we're such good friends. we talk about anything and everything. sometimes we are ready for bed by 10 pm (cause we're old women), but actually don't fall asleep until like 2...oops.

5. the rain
the rain does interesting things to my hair, but i really do like it. it reminds me of winter at home. it just doesn't make sense in my head that when it is sunny, it's freezing cold. it works better when it is cold and grey and rainy. that makes sense.

6. ice cream
tonight i tried to make a shake. it didn't work out quite as well as i had hoped...but it was still good. i sure do love ice cream.

7. flashcards
i have this application on my computer called iflash where i can make flashcards quickly and easily. i love using it, especially for my french vocabulary. i've been using it today for physical science, since i have a vocab test tomorrow. excellent.

**so i just found that i never posted this. whoopsie :) well, here it is! (none of these things happened this week, by the way. it's all from last week haha.)

behold the beauty.

yes, i did eat a piece this big. don't judge.