Well everyone I'm done with my Spring Semester and I'm officially a Junior!! Well technically I was a Junior at the beginning of Spring but whatever.
This semester really kicked me where it hurts but it was also a great semester. My classes challenged me intellectually but not so much to where I didn't attain any information. While I didn't pass with all A's like last semester I did manage to pass with two A's and two B's! So I will take it!
While I learned a lot academically this semester, I also learned more about myself. Most of you know that I took a Feminism and Religious literature class and that's where I had a lot of self discovery. Going in, I thought the class would be relatively easy and it would just be a bunch of girls all agreeing about feminism. Boy was I wrong! While a lot of the girls and two guys had similar insights, what made the class difficult for me was the perpetual attack on my beliefs, both religious and feminist. The first couple of times it happened, I didn't know how to cope with it and I just dreaded going to that class everyday but thankfully I wasn't alone, which was extremely comforting and made my attendance easier to bear.
Something I want to address is how others would see my faith and connect feminism with it. Along with that I want to explain my side of the oppositionary (yes this is a real word) views.
The first thing that was repeatedly brought up by one of my classmates was the fact that "The Church" isn't accepting of those who are either built differently or have a different sexual preference and they'd be right. The Church is made up of people but there's a difference between "the Church" and the "gospel". The difference is change. The church will always change, that's why we have new missionary ages, why we no longer participate with the Boy Scouts of America. That's the church, that's not the gospel. The Gospel never changes, God never changes and He says this repeatedly in the Bible, Book of Mormon and other passages of scripture.
Continuing on this address of "The Church"; like I stated previously, the "church" is made up of imperfect people. It's been said in multiple talks, Ensign and New Era articles that the Church is a Hospital for Sinners. The people within the church are just as imperfect as you and while it can be trying and disheartening at most times don't forget that not every member of the church is a cookie cutter copy! From my personal experiences of being in not one but three separate Utah wards and being an out of state ward I've seen the differences and I can understand why some people leave the Church. What I'm about to say isn't aimed to offend anyone but if it does, look in the mirror and ask yourself, if what I say holds any truth in your personal life.
Because Utah has one of the most populated amount of LDS Mormons they categorized to be living in a bubble, which they are and most of the times it's because they're surrounded by "like minded" people that they relax on their beliefs and obviously, this isn't every single Utah Mormon and I am just basing this off of what I've seen and experienced so keep that in mind. In the four years I've lived in Utah I've seen LDS people go to R- rated movies, listen to music that would make my momma have a heart attack and heard people I go to church with gossip like a southern grandma sitting on a porch and sometimes I have caught myself participating but I'm constantly trying to better myself. Anyways, this can sometimes result in members judging those who are slightly different from them. I, myself have felt this judgement from my family's ward in Manila. I try not to hold them to be saints or demons because some of the ward members are nicer than others but some can just be cruel and I have witnessed this cruelty. Since it's not my story to tell, I'll refrain from exposing the victim and guilty party. Utah culture is the problem, not the LDS Gospel. Not Christ's Gospel.
Christ spent his whole earthly life to show that Love is the answer and while we shouldn't condone sin it is not our place to gossip, to tell an individual that they are wicked and need to repent. I'd also like to point out that it isn't just Utah that does this my own ward in Dayton, Nevada has done this but it further proves that the people within the Church aren't perfect but the Gospel is! The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the most perfect thing we have but imperfect people trying to be perfect is never going to work out. We try and we grow. So if you have personally been shamed out of your Sacrament meeting room then I apologize and I'm sorry you went through that but I pray that you know that God knows and loves you despite anything that you've done or despite anything you currently or previously or will believe in.
So what I learned religiously, from that class is that isn't just me that feels negatively judged every Sunday when I walk in with my big hips, flabby stomach and red lipstick. I'm grateful for the friends I have within my ward who make me feel less judged and for those who are judging and know they are. STOP IT. That isn't what Christ taught and if you aren't sure if you're judging then during the Sacrament, look around and feel the love that Christ feels for every single individual in that room.
Finally, the last thing I learned that semester is that the word "feminist" is an umbrella term! It's not one thing or another, it's multiple and I'm proud to call myself a Feminist. I believe in Women Power, women's rights, equality and great number of other things that would take up too much time to mention but I just want you guys to know that it's possible to be a devout member of the LDS church and a feminist because I'm doing it and others are doing it as well.
I love you all and I hope this has helped you in some way. If you have any questions and aren't friends with me on Facebook, feel free to email me at Bookssingingandwriting@gmail.com
I hope y'all have a good summer and please remember...
Have Courage and Be Kind.
~Allanah
Thursday, May 25, 2017
Sunday, March 26, 2017
Fan X 2017!!
Hey y'all!! It has been a WHILE. Anyways, this post mostly covers last week and the weekend before last!!
So if you haven't seen my pictures on Facebook, I went to Fan X (Downgraded Comic Con) with my sister and I had a dream fulfilled!! I got to dress up as Belle!!! It's literally my favorite thing! Thanks to my Great Aunt Roberta, who made the dress, and my sister, Erin, who not only bought my ticket but helped me with my hair!! Seriously lemme tell you!
I had to order hair extensions because my hair is too short and too fine to replicate Belle's main ponytail style. So I just ordered a 18" inches of hair and it's amazing! When put in correctly, I look awesome with long thick flowy curly hair! XD Anyways....
Thursday night, the night before Fan X, Erin and I did a run through of my hair and it looked terrible. I'm not exaggerating either. It looked like I let a ten year old try and make my hair look like Belle's. It was so bad that I cried in the shower because I was worried that it would look like that the next day. Friday morning rolled around and my hair looked a lot better, not perfect but definitely a huge step up from last night.
The first day of Fan X wasn't really exciting because there weren't a ton of people there (because it was a work day) but it was still fun to see all the people who dressed up. I think the one exciting thing that came out of the Fan X (day 1) is that we saw Peter Pan and he saw me and in the middle of a conversation with someone else eh waved at me and called out "Hey Belle!" to which I responded with "Bonjour Peter!" It was perfect.
Though let's be honest... for me the real highlight of Friday was seeing Beauty and the Beast after waiting for three years. Yeah, you read that right.. three years. So you'd think that after waiting that long I'd be at the theater an hour early. Nope. In fact we missed twenty minutes of the movie. The first four songs. I don't know what happened, I could've been dyslexic on my ticket times but I'm convinced that the theater changed times and either didn't email me or my email put in the spam file... Either way we missed twenty minutes of precious movie time and there were people in our seats. Thankfully, a really nice security guard helped us out and gave us a free ticket to another movie! It was super nice of him! The movie though (the parts that we saw) was AMAZING. I cried so many times. I can't even. Hopefully I'm going to see it again on Tuesday so I can watch the whole thing without missing stuff.
Fan X day two (Saturday) was a lot more eventful! Quick Side note: For those of you who don't know, I struggle with Anxiety and Depression. I have meds for these so it makes living a lot easier. This fact is important for the story.
Anyways, there were a lot more people. Erin and I found a better hair tutorial, which made me look more like Belle and it took us literally five minutes.. I was both happy and irritated that we didn't find it yesterday but it's all good. Like I said, it was really crowded and there were a few spots where I had almost gotten an anxiety attack just because there was so much and I guess my brain couldn't deal with it but thankfully a full blown anxiety attack didn't happen! The highlights for the day were: Meeting James Roday (Sean Spencer from Psych) and getting him to sign Dad's copy of Psych. Along with that we got him a Chuck badge, which he loved! The other highlight was when a little girl walked past me and said "Hi Belle!" My heart just melted and I said hello back. Finally the BEST highlight of the day was as we were leaving.
Erin and I were headed towards an escalator but the up wasn't working and I've got a knee problem so we decided to go to the other end and use that escalator. We're almost there when I feel a hand on my shoulder. Turning, my eyes grow wide at the sight of someone dressed up as Beast! It's so well done as well. He's panting so I can tell that he had to run and he was struggling to speak a little because of it. So I ask him if we can take a picture! It's funny because my goal was to find a Gaston and take themed picture but I ended up finding a Beast instead (haha). Anyways, he nods and gets out that that's why he was chasing me. Apparently he'd been taking pictures with all the Belles' (should I be jealous? lol). So we took the picture (displayed here)
After we'd finished we got to talking a little bit until a girl asked if she could take a picture. I'm thinking she wants a solo one with just the Beast but then she says that she wanted me in it as well. So I position myself back into the picture and after she's done. A few more people just took regular pictures of us together. Literally we were standing there arms around each other for five minutes as people took our picture and wanted a picture with us. It's was amazing.
After that we left, caught the train back to Orem, met up with Mom, packed my things and went home for Spring Break. Spring Break wasn't really eventful, I read my first pleasure book of the year! I was surrounded by my family and my cat, so it was a good break!
I hope you're guys' week is amazing and I hope you know that you're loved and that you're important. Also I'm going to start ending these things with my mantra which is... "Have Courage and Be Kind" (you win if you know the reference)
Anyways... Have Courage and Be Kind...
So if you haven't seen my pictures on Facebook, I went to Fan X (Downgraded Comic Con) with my sister and I had a dream fulfilled!! I got to dress up as Belle!!! It's literally my favorite thing! Thanks to my Great Aunt Roberta, who made the dress, and my sister, Erin, who not only bought my ticket but helped me with my hair!! Seriously lemme tell you!
I had to order hair extensions because my hair is too short and too fine to replicate Belle's main ponytail style. So I just ordered a 18" inches of hair and it's amazing! When put in correctly, I look awesome with long thick flowy curly hair! XD Anyways....
Thursday night, the night before Fan X, Erin and I did a run through of my hair and it looked terrible. I'm not exaggerating either. It looked like I let a ten year old try and make my hair look like Belle's. It was so bad that I cried in the shower because I was worried that it would look like that the next day. Friday morning rolled around and my hair looked a lot better, not perfect but definitely a huge step up from last night.
The first day of Fan X wasn't really exciting because there weren't a ton of people there (because it was a work day) but it was still fun to see all the people who dressed up. I think the one exciting thing that came out of the Fan X (day 1) is that we saw Peter Pan and he saw me and in the middle of a conversation with someone else eh waved at me and called out "Hey Belle!" to which I responded with "Bonjour Peter!" It was perfect.
Though let's be honest... for me the real highlight of Friday was seeing Beauty and the Beast after waiting for three years. Yeah, you read that right.. three years. So you'd think that after waiting that long I'd be at the theater an hour early. Nope. In fact we missed twenty minutes of the movie. The first four songs. I don't know what happened, I could've been dyslexic on my ticket times but I'm convinced that the theater changed times and either didn't email me or my email put in the spam file... Either way we missed twenty minutes of precious movie time and there were people in our seats. Thankfully, a really nice security guard helped us out and gave us a free ticket to another movie! It was super nice of him! The movie though (the parts that we saw) was AMAZING. I cried so many times. I can't even. Hopefully I'm going to see it again on Tuesday so I can watch the whole thing without missing stuff.
Fan X day two (Saturday) was a lot more eventful! Quick Side note: For those of you who don't know, I struggle with Anxiety and Depression. I have meds for these so it makes living a lot easier. This fact is important for the story.
Anyways, there were a lot more people. Erin and I found a better hair tutorial, which made me look more like Belle and it took us literally five minutes.. I was both happy and irritated that we didn't find it yesterday but it's all good. Like I said, it was really crowded and there were a few spots where I had almost gotten an anxiety attack just because there was so much and I guess my brain couldn't deal with it but thankfully a full blown anxiety attack didn't happen! The highlights for the day were: Meeting James Roday (Sean Spencer from Psych) and getting him to sign Dad's copy of Psych. Along with that we got him a Chuck badge, which he loved! The other highlight was when a little girl walked past me and said "Hi Belle!" My heart just melted and I said hello back. Finally the BEST highlight of the day was as we were leaving.
Erin and I were headed towards an escalator but the up wasn't working and I've got a knee problem so we decided to go to the other end and use that escalator. We're almost there when I feel a hand on my shoulder. Turning, my eyes grow wide at the sight of someone dressed up as Beast! It's so well done as well. He's panting so I can tell that he had to run and he was struggling to speak a little because of it. So I ask him if we can take a picture! It's funny because my goal was to find a Gaston and take themed picture but I ended up finding a Beast instead (haha). Anyways, he nods and gets out that that's why he was chasing me. Apparently he'd been taking pictures with all the Belles' (should I be jealous? lol). So we took the picture (displayed here)
After we'd finished we got to talking a little bit until a girl asked if she could take a picture. I'm thinking she wants a solo one with just the Beast but then she says that she wanted me in it as well. So I position myself back into the picture and after she's done. A few more people just took regular pictures of us together. Literally we were standing there arms around each other for five minutes as people took our picture and wanted a picture with us. It's was amazing.
After that we left, caught the train back to Orem, met up with Mom, packed my things and went home for Spring Break. Spring Break wasn't really eventful, I read my first pleasure book of the year! I was surrounded by my family and my cat, so it was a good break!
I hope you're guys' week is amazing and I hope you know that you're loved and that you're important. Also I'm going to start ending these things with my mantra which is... "Have Courage and Be Kind" (you win if you know the reference)
Anyways... Have Courage and Be Kind...
Wednesday, December 28, 2016
Dear 2016....
Dear 2016,
I desperately wish I could say that this was the worst year but since I'm only 21 years old I'm unable to say so because I still have many years ahead of me. Having said that this year definitely wasn't easy. So many things went wrong, a lot of sad things happened but on the other end, good things happened to. I learned a lot about myself.
I learned that there is hope for those who suffer from Anxiety and Depression. I learned that my Savior, Jesus Christ, has suffered through the same thing. It was something I had been taught in Church but sitting in those dark moments where I would sit in my room and cry for what seemed like hours I realized that Christ really knows how I feel and he has been through what I went through and He's went through what you've gone and are going through, seek Him out in prayer or simply in thought and He'll listen to you. It's not easy especially when you already feel so alone but you aren't.
Another thing I learned, doctors aren't all the same. If anyone knows me they know how much I hate going to the doctor - for literally anything but like I stated previously I've been struggling with Anxiety and Depression. I've had it for a long time but didn't do anything about because I didn't think there was anything to be done but it got significantly worse over the summer. I relayed on the power of the Priesthood to help and sometimes it didn't but everything got so bad that I wanted to be stripped of all emotion because it was so tiring. Thankfully mom was inspired to take me to the doctor where I was diagnosed for a problem I wasn't aware I had. So I took care of that problem and my anxiety. I've been on antidepressants for three months and I haven't felt this good in such a long time. So.... as much as I dislike doctors not all of them are terrible.
I'm thankful for the reminder of mortality. A lot people who I thought were untouchable from Death were taken to him. Starting with Alan Rickman. As my roommates know, I was bawled for a long time. Another person's passing that heavily affected me was Carrie Fisher. I didn't bawl for as long but it still made me sad. For some reason I hold people like the two above in such high esteem that they seem like can always escape hands of death but that's not true, we're all going to pay a permanent visit to Death when it's our time. That's something I forgot, so thank you 2016 for that reminder.
2016, thank you for hard lesson of letting go. Letting go of friends and letting go of people who want to be let go. Letting go of the past to make way for the future. Change was a big theme this year. One of my old roommates got married and it was hard to see that chapter of her life end, the chapter that included me and the rest of us roommates. I am so beyond happy for her and her husband! Four of my roommates (old and current) decided to go on missions. Two of them didn't really affect me in anyway but Alison and Savannah's did. There were tears when they left on those Wednesdays. A feeling of loss entered my system. I hate to use this metaphor but I feel like each of my close friends are kind of like Horcruxes (Harry Potter reference) and whenever one leaves me I feel like one of my Horcruxes have been destroyed. I know they'll be back but the feeling of being left behind is what hurts. I love them so much and I know they'll be back.
This may come as a shock to some people mostly because I haven't talked about it - like at all. 2016 taught me what love is. I, the ice queen, fell in love with someone. Unfortunately it wasn't meant to be and it was a difficult thing to realize but now I know what it feels like and what to look for next time it happens. Don't ask questions about this experience.
So in short, 2016 had its ups and downs. Though the downs exceeded the ups, I've learned so much this year. They were lessons that I needed to have in the way they were taught. I'm so thankful for everyone who has stuck by me this year, I'm thankful for everyone who has blessed me with their example and the friendship. I'm thankful for this year of growth. Hopefully next year I won't have to grow too much, ha ha.
And so 2016... Good Bye and Good Riddance!
With Love,
Allanah Staggs.
I desperately wish I could say that this was the worst year but since I'm only 21 years old I'm unable to say so because I still have many years ahead of me. Having said that this year definitely wasn't easy. So many things went wrong, a lot of sad things happened but on the other end, good things happened to. I learned a lot about myself.
I learned that there is hope for those who suffer from Anxiety and Depression. I learned that my Savior, Jesus Christ, has suffered through the same thing. It was something I had been taught in Church but sitting in those dark moments where I would sit in my room and cry for what seemed like hours I realized that Christ really knows how I feel and he has been through what I went through and He's went through what you've gone and are going through, seek Him out in prayer or simply in thought and He'll listen to you. It's not easy especially when you already feel so alone but you aren't.
Another thing I learned, doctors aren't all the same. If anyone knows me they know how much I hate going to the doctor - for literally anything but like I stated previously I've been struggling with Anxiety and Depression. I've had it for a long time but didn't do anything about because I didn't think there was anything to be done but it got significantly worse over the summer. I relayed on the power of the Priesthood to help and sometimes it didn't but everything got so bad that I wanted to be stripped of all emotion because it was so tiring. Thankfully mom was inspired to take me to the doctor where I was diagnosed for a problem I wasn't aware I had. So I took care of that problem and my anxiety. I've been on antidepressants for three months and I haven't felt this good in such a long time. So.... as much as I dislike doctors not all of them are terrible.
I'm thankful for the reminder of mortality. A lot people who I thought were untouchable from Death were taken to him. Starting with Alan Rickman. As my roommates know, I was bawled for a long time. Another person's passing that heavily affected me was Carrie Fisher. I didn't bawl for as long but it still made me sad. For some reason I hold people like the two above in such high esteem that they seem like can always escape hands of death but that's not true, we're all going to pay a permanent visit to Death when it's our time. That's something I forgot, so thank you 2016 for that reminder.
2016, thank you for hard lesson of letting go. Letting go of friends and letting go of people who want to be let go. Letting go of the past to make way for the future. Change was a big theme this year. One of my old roommates got married and it was hard to see that chapter of her life end, the chapter that included me and the rest of us roommates. I am so beyond happy for her and her husband! Four of my roommates (old and current) decided to go on missions. Two of them didn't really affect me in anyway but Alison and Savannah's did. There were tears when they left on those Wednesdays. A feeling of loss entered my system. I hate to use this metaphor but I feel like each of my close friends are kind of like Horcruxes (Harry Potter reference) and whenever one leaves me I feel like one of my Horcruxes have been destroyed. I know they'll be back but the feeling of being left behind is what hurts. I love them so much and I know they'll be back.
This may come as a shock to some people mostly because I haven't talked about it - like at all. 2016 taught me what love is. I, the ice queen, fell in love with someone. Unfortunately it wasn't meant to be and it was a difficult thing to realize but now I know what it feels like and what to look for next time it happens. Don't ask questions about this experience.
So in short, 2016 had its ups and downs. Though the downs exceeded the ups, I've learned so much this year. They were lessons that I needed to have in the way they were taught. I'm so thankful for everyone who has stuck by me this year, I'm thankful for everyone who has blessed me with their example and the friendship. I'm thankful for this year of growth. Hopefully next year I won't have to grow too much, ha ha.
And so 2016... Good Bye and Good Riddance!
With Love,
Allanah Staggs.
Tuesday, December 27, 2016
Mission Accomplished!
Hey guys! Merry Christmas! I hope everyone had a great holiday!
I first want to start off the this post by saying that eight hours of consecutive studying has PAID OFF!!! I checked my grades and saw all A's!!!!!! That seriously hasn't happened since my first semester of college! It was a great feeling knowing that my hard work paid off!!
Next thing I want to talk about are the events leading up to the reveal.
First things first! Savannah , my roommate and friend, went into the MTC (Missionary Training Center) and I had the privilege of watching her get set apart. The spirit was so strong and I couldn't be more proud of her. I was also proud of myself because I didn't break down until I saw her empty room. Thankfully my roommate Sydney was able to make me feel better but I miss her everyday. My other friend, Alison, went into the MTC! I love those girls so much and I am so beyond proud of them.
Finals week was both stressful and fast paced. Like I stated above I studied for eight hours straight. My finals consisted of three papers, one project and one real exam. So the eight hours were me switching from studying for the exam and working on a paper. It was long and difficult but it all paid off and I am so thankful for the opportunity I have to go to school.
Mom came to get me with Dad and Joseph, which was nice but the drive home was a little stressful because of the snow and the fact that Joseph drove part of the way but he did a good job not killing us.
The first week home was so blissful because everyone had school and work but me, so it was nice to have that peace and quiet. On the 23rd we all went to Salt Lake City to see the lights at Temple Square. We also saw Rouge One, I was disappointed mostly because it seemed like every other war/action movie that's out there. Nothing took me by surprise and for the first time in my life I actually played on my iPod because I was so bored but don't let my opinion keep you from watching it - a lot of people enjoyed it. The lights were gorgeous, it was cold but not as cold as it could've been.
Christmas Eve was spent lounging around but for mom and I it was spent cooking and baking. I made SWIG cookies and helped mom when she needed it. We listened to Christmas music literally all day and it was the best! That night we had a beautiful Ham dinner with mash potatoes, Funeral Potatoes, Pasta Salad, Corn salad and of course sparkling cider. Later we had a Christ centered evening filled with music that Dad put together then afterwards we watch A Christmas Story then went to bed!
Christmas Day we all woke about 5:30 and played with Santa Gifts. I got a plush Beast from Beauty and the Beast, a necklace that takes the shape of an infinity symbol with a little mickey in the corner and one of my favorite Walt Disney quotes outlined it. "Laughter is timeless, Imagination has no age and Dreams are forever." Then a bunch of chocolate. We got ready for church and it was a really nice program. I sang in the church choir and good thing too because out of six sopranos only me and another lady actually showed up but it was nothing but music and it couldn't have been more perfect.
The presents were nice everyone seemed really happy with their gifts and I loved watching others open their presents.
I just want to take this time and share how grateful I am for each of you. I am so thankful for the Christmas season we have to celebrate Christ, I try to keep Him as my center but I fail everyday but everyday I keep trying because that's what life's about - not giving up. I hope that the rest of the holiday is good for all of you and everyone stays safe.
The next post will be my letter to 2016
I first want to start off the this post by saying that eight hours of consecutive studying has PAID OFF!!! I checked my grades and saw all A's!!!!!! That seriously hasn't happened since my first semester of college! It was a great feeling knowing that my hard work paid off!!
Next thing I want to talk about are the events leading up to the reveal.
First things first! Savannah , my roommate and friend, went into the MTC (Missionary Training Center) and I had the privilege of watching her get set apart. The spirit was so strong and I couldn't be more proud of her. I was also proud of myself because I didn't break down until I saw her empty room. Thankfully my roommate Sydney was able to make me feel better but I miss her everyday. My other friend, Alison, went into the MTC! I love those girls so much and I am so beyond proud of them.
Finals week was both stressful and fast paced. Like I stated above I studied for eight hours straight. My finals consisted of three papers, one project and one real exam. So the eight hours were me switching from studying for the exam and working on a paper. It was long and difficult but it all paid off and I am so thankful for the opportunity I have to go to school.
Mom came to get me with Dad and Joseph, which was nice but the drive home was a little stressful because of the snow and the fact that Joseph drove part of the way but he did a good job not killing us.
The first week home was so blissful because everyone had school and work but me, so it was nice to have that peace and quiet. On the 23rd we all went to Salt Lake City to see the lights at Temple Square. We also saw Rouge One, I was disappointed mostly because it seemed like every other war/action movie that's out there. Nothing took me by surprise and for the first time in my life I actually played on my iPod because I was so bored but don't let my opinion keep you from watching it - a lot of people enjoyed it. The lights were gorgeous, it was cold but not as cold as it could've been.
Christmas Eve was spent lounging around but for mom and I it was spent cooking and baking. I made SWIG cookies and helped mom when she needed it. We listened to Christmas music literally all day and it was the best! That night we had a beautiful Ham dinner with mash potatoes, Funeral Potatoes, Pasta Salad, Corn salad and of course sparkling cider. Later we had a Christ centered evening filled with music that Dad put together then afterwards we watch A Christmas Story then went to bed!
Christmas Day we all woke about 5:30 and played with Santa Gifts. I got a plush Beast from Beauty and the Beast, a necklace that takes the shape of an infinity symbol with a little mickey in the corner and one of my favorite Walt Disney quotes outlined it. "Laughter is timeless, Imagination has no age and Dreams are forever." Then a bunch of chocolate. We got ready for church and it was a really nice program. I sang in the church choir and good thing too because out of six sopranos only me and another lady actually showed up but it was nothing but music and it couldn't have been more perfect.
The presents were nice everyone seemed really happy with their gifts and I loved watching others open their presents.
I just want to take this time and share how grateful I am for each of you. I am so thankful for the Christmas season we have to celebrate Christ, I try to keep Him as my center but I fail everyday but everyday I keep trying because that's what life's about - not giving up. I hope that the rest of the holiday is good for all of you and everyone stays safe.
The next post will be my letter to 2016
Sunday, August 21, 2016
Here We Go Again...!!
Well hello fellow blog readers! So possibly the three of you that actually read this and are most likely to be related to me.. HI!
Anyways, so summer was hard and I don't want to talk about it because this isn't a summer blog... it's a school year blog! You know what that means! SCHOOL IS STARTING! AH! ON MONDAY! It's alright, everything is alright. I've been wanting school to come for a few weeks and now that it's here I kind of want two more weeks of freedom. Since school is starting that means a few things..
1) Homework
2) Stress (more than usual)
3) Actually leaving the apartment. In addition to that it also means that I now have to wear clothes.. No more trotting around in my underwear - er I mean pjs.... I never trotted around in my underwear..unless I did... I guess you'll never know!
4) NEW ROOMMATES!
That's right I've got three new roommates that I know nothing about! I know their names, majors and where they live. So first we have Amanda who is a Business major, (I'm not going to say where these girls are from seeing as I don't have consent and probably don't want to the three people who read this to know where they live.. anyway). Next is her roommate Jane, (side note.. I'm a little bummed her name is Jane because I can't make any Tarzan references without it getting weird... but I'll live.) her major is Photography. Next is my roommate Sydney, who's is studying Nursing! Then you've still got Bethany and Savannah (for now). From what I've witnessed, they all seem nice, I just pray that it stays that way. I don't think I can handle anymore girl roommate drama. It's boring and gets old real fast.
I need more guy friends. I hear they have less drama.
SO SUNDAY!
Oh my stressful but amazing! So the last few weeks we've had about three rows of people in our ward and today we had to open the overflow! It was crazy! Like seriously. It felt a little overwhelming but we had a couple of AMAZING talks so it's alright. Then we went to Gospel Doctrine where we couldn't even fit everyone in the room so that was insane and extremely stressful but it's all good. Then in Relief Society came and we.... talked about marriage.. surprise surprise. (quick tangent). It's not that I'm against marriage, far from it, it's just that it's so repetitive and I get that people learn from repetition but come on.... if anything we need to be taught what marriage is like and how to live as a married person, but for the twenty minutes I was there I enjoyed it.
After church nothing real exciting happened, I searched for a spiritual thought. I got the feeling I should've been talking about service and let others serve you but I literally couldn't find anything to go with that thought but I know that there are things that go along with it anyways I finally settled on 1 John 4: 8, 11-12 and it talks about how when we love we're closer to Christ. Ward prayer came and I felt uncomfortable the whole time because I'm an awkward uncomfortable person but whatever. I gave the thought and shook the whole time because anxiety and such but I got through it and people seemed to enjoy it even though I sort of sounded like a hippie! Afterwards I awkwardly left because I needed to get away from people. Honestly I wish I was an extrovert, it gets old being an introvert and when I do try to be different it feels wrong and I stop feeling like me... gah first world problems. Anyways, my roommates are great, my ward is even better. The first of day of school should be interesting and I'll try to write about it! Wish me luck! I love you all and hope you have a blessed week.
God Bless You and Protect You
Much Love,
Allanah <3
Anyways, so summer was hard and I don't want to talk about it because this isn't a summer blog... it's a school year blog! You know what that means! SCHOOL IS STARTING! AH! ON MONDAY! It's alright, everything is alright. I've been wanting school to come for a few weeks and now that it's here I kind of want two more weeks of freedom. Since school is starting that means a few things..
1) Homework
2) Stress (more than usual)
3) Actually leaving the apartment. In addition to that it also means that I now have to wear clothes.. No more trotting around in my underwear - er I mean pjs.... I never trotted around in my underwear..unless I did... I guess you'll never know!
4) NEW ROOMMATES!
That's right I've got three new roommates that I know nothing about! I know their names, majors and where they live. So first we have Amanda who is a Business major, (I'm not going to say where these girls are from seeing as I don't have consent and probably don't want to the three people who read this to know where they live.. anyway). Next is her roommate Jane, (side note.. I'm a little bummed her name is Jane because I can't make any Tarzan references without it getting weird... but I'll live.) her major is Photography. Next is my roommate Sydney, who's is studying Nursing! Then you've still got Bethany and Savannah (for now). From what I've witnessed, they all seem nice, I just pray that it stays that way. I don't think I can handle anymore girl roommate drama. It's boring and gets old real fast.
I need more guy friends. I hear they have less drama.
SO SUNDAY!
Oh my stressful but amazing! So the last few weeks we've had about three rows of people in our ward and today we had to open the overflow! It was crazy! Like seriously. It felt a little overwhelming but we had a couple of AMAZING talks so it's alright. Then we went to Gospel Doctrine where we couldn't even fit everyone in the room so that was insane and extremely stressful but it's all good. Then in Relief Society came and we.... talked about marriage.. surprise surprise. (quick tangent). It's not that I'm against marriage, far from it, it's just that it's so repetitive and I get that people learn from repetition but come on.... if anything we need to be taught what marriage is like and how to live as a married person, but for the twenty minutes I was there I enjoyed it.
After church nothing real exciting happened, I searched for a spiritual thought. I got the feeling I should've been talking about service and let others serve you but I literally couldn't find anything to go with that thought but I know that there are things that go along with it anyways I finally settled on 1 John 4: 8, 11-12 and it talks about how when we love we're closer to Christ. Ward prayer came and I felt uncomfortable the whole time because I'm an awkward uncomfortable person but whatever. I gave the thought and shook the whole time because anxiety and such but I got through it and people seemed to enjoy it even though I sort of sounded like a hippie! Afterwards I awkwardly left because I needed to get away from people. Honestly I wish I was an extrovert, it gets old being an introvert and when I do try to be different it feels wrong and I stop feeling like me... gah first world problems. Anyways, my roommates are great, my ward is even better. The first of day of school should be interesting and I'll try to write about it! Wish me luck! I love you all and hope you have a blessed week.
God Bless You and Protect You
Much Love,
Allanah <3
Sunday, May 15, 2016
Well Ladies and Gentlemen.... That's a Wrap!
Well friends, I've completed my first full year of school at UVU! This whole school year has made me incredibly grateful for having the sense to start out at Snow College because if I had chose UVU at the beginning I would be a wreck! This post is mostly going to be about the things I've learned this school year and I'll briefly go over finals week and future plans!
So I'll start with finals week. Finals week is the one week where some students, myself included, begin to stress. Everything I've worked for rides on these tests, for those extremely smart individuals, this is not an issue but for me. I needed to pass or I was literally screwed! I was put on "Academic Probation" because I did poorly last semester but I didn't know that I was on probation until the day I tried to sign up for fall semester. I had to go through all these hoops and eventually got rid of the probation but let me tell you, it was super stressful. The only two finals I was really stressing over was my Critical Introduction to Literature class and my dreaded math class. I mostly stressed over math because it was my second time taking the class.
I studied for hours for my Critical Intro to Lit class and when I got to the test I started out confident but then realized that my professor had put in things from the very beginning of the semester, things he said wouldn't be on the test, things I didn't study for but I tried my best and left the class feeling like a failure but hoping it would be enough to pass. Math was a different story. We had to finish going through people's last project, my professor said it would only take 30 minutes tops and I felt like that was fine. I could study more but it ended up with us only having 30 minutes to take the final. I shook throughout the whole final, nervous and feeling anxiety coming into play. Leaving the class I wanted to cry but since I was in public I held it in. My Modern American to Literature final was absolutely no stress. All I had to do was write an essay about the class and how it has changed me then vocally paraphrase the essay in class. Creative Writing was also easy. All I had to do was read a story then dissect it. No Problem.
I am happy to report that I am successfully PASSED all of my classes, including math!!! When I saw my score I couldn't believe it, I had to refresh the page just in case but I passed Math with a B!! Let's just say that there were tears of joy and squeals of glee! I still can't believe that I'm actually done with math forever!! I'm waiting for my counselor to tell me that I actually have to take one more math class or something haha, let's pray that doesn't happen!
So now the plan is to get a part time job, hopefully serve a service mission, still waiting to hear from Bishop on it but I suspect it'll be any day. That's my plan. I've learned to not make any too detailed plans because it's hardly ever the same as the Lord's plan and when I find out what I'm supposed to do next it's always conflicting so I'm keeping my plans super vague until further notice.
So this school year I've learned that I'm really good at tolerating people and situations. I won't provide any real examples for people because it's actually not a new thing I've learned I knew I had a tolerance for certain individuals since my first semester of college. Situations though were another story. My first semester at UVU was really hard. I didn't want to be there, I didn't like any of the classes I was taking and I was the oldest girl in my apartment. The only reason I was at UVU had been because I know that's where the Lord needed me to be and I'm still needed here, I don't know why but I'm here. I didn't really care about creating a bond with my roommates because I was a couple years older than most of them and after what happened with my last roommates I just felt like it was pointless having a relationship with them because they were going to leave anyways but that semester was quiet, boring, and a little lonely because I literally lived in my room. Things changed in November and December because I was tired of being bored and I allowed my roommates to get to know me a little more. In addition to that I figured that the Lord didn't need the cranky, feet dragging, antisocial Lanah at UVU. He needs the nice, sarcastic, sassy, spiritual, and sometimes funny Lanah at UVU. The one who is empathetic, compassionate (well tries to be) and it made me feel bad that I wasn't living up to my potential and I kind of felt like I was letting Him down. I kind of felt like he had this attitude of " hey you need to go UVU and be your fantastic self. I can't tell you why you're going to be there but you're needed there!" In which I responded as any child who doesn't want to do what their parent wants. I kicked my feet, dragged them to Orem and was very cynical and it made me feel bad so once I kind of saw that I made a switch. I'm still working on the social aspect of it but I can tell you with confidence that I am a lot more social here than I was in Ephraim haha.
Another thing I learned this school year is that asking for help is not a bad thing! I've always been prideful when it comes to asking for help - ask anyone. If I can't do it myself then I don't need it that bad. The Lord knows I have this issue and is trying to teach me a lesson. Literally every single month this school year I have received at least one blessing. April I had three and it's embarrassing. The thing I have learned about receiving multiple blessings is how powerful the Priesthood is. Seriously guys, I love the Priesthood, it's helped me through just about every kind of trial you could think of. I've gotten blessings for sicknesses, peace, comfort, because I had the worse head ache! Each time I asked for help I've felt weak but after getting the blessing I would feel the opposite. Not that anyone who's given me a blessing this school year is going to read this but if you are, just thank you so much and sorry for bothering you!
Most importantly this school year I learned that emotions aren't a form of weakness, they humanize you. I'm still working on this but I've covered a lot of ground since last August. I've always been the person who has striven to be the strong one because I'm the oldest, I have to be strong and somewhere down the road I think I forgot that it's alright for me to be somewhat emotional, when appropriate. I have cried more this school year than I ever have in my whole 21 years of life. Nothing traumatic has happened but it's just something I've learned through my roommates and experiences I've had in the temple. One experience I'll share is when my roommate Myra and I went to the temple and I was talking with my Heavenly Father about some things, fears and stuff like that and one of the things He told me was not to fear my emotions but to embrace them. It kind of struck a chord with me because it isn't something I'd think He'd tell me but He did and I think that's when I realized that I had a problem being non emotional. I've cried a lot more since then so I suppose that's good... or not, I guess it depends on your own opinion.
Yeah, anyways, this school year has definitely been about spiritual growth and I'm just so grateful for my Heavenly Father, my parents and my roommates! I hope you guys have a good summer! I'm not sure if I'll post a lot during the summer but if not I'll see you when school starts again.
Love y'all
~ Allanah
So I'll start with finals week. Finals week is the one week where some students, myself included, begin to stress. Everything I've worked for rides on these tests, for those extremely smart individuals, this is not an issue but for me. I needed to pass or I was literally screwed! I was put on "Academic Probation" because I did poorly last semester but I didn't know that I was on probation until the day I tried to sign up for fall semester. I had to go through all these hoops and eventually got rid of the probation but let me tell you, it was super stressful. The only two finals I was really stressing over was my Critical Introduction to Literature class and my dreaded math class. I mostly stressed over math because it was my second time taking the class.
I studied for hours for my Critical Intro to Lit class and when I got to the test I started out confident but then realized that my professor had put in things from the very beginning of the semester, things he said wouldn't be on the test, things I didn't study for but I tried my best and left the class feeling like a failure but hoping it would be enough to pass. Math was a different story. We had to finish going through people's last project, my professor said it would only take 30 minutes tops and I felt like that was fine. I could study more but it ended up with us only having 30 minutes to take the final. I shook throughout the whole final, nervous and feeling anxiety coming into play. Leaving the class I wanted to cry but since I was in public I held it in. My Modern American to Literature final was absolutely no stress. All I had to do was write an essay about the class and how it has changed me then vocally paraphrase the essay in class. Creative Writing was also easy. All I had to do was read a story then dissect it. No Problem.
I am happy to report that I am successfully PASSED all of my classes, including math!!! When I saw my score I couldn't believe it, I had to refresh the page just in case but I passed Math with a B!! Let's just say that there were tears of joy and squeals of glee! I still can't believe that I'm actually done with math forever!! I'm waiting for my counselor to tell me that I actually have to take one more math class or something haha, let's pray that doesn't happen!
So now the plan is to get a part time job, hopefully serve a service mission, still waiting to hear from Bishop on it but I suspect it'll be any day. That's my plan. I've learned to not make any too detailed plans because it's hardly ever the same as the Lord's plan and when I find out what I'm supposed to do next it's always conflicting so I'm keeping my plans super vague until further notice.
So this school year I've learned that I'm really good at tolerating people and situations. I won't provide any real examples for people because it's actually not a new thing I've learned I knew I had a tolerance for certain individuals since my first semester of college. Situations though were another story. My first semester at UVU was really hard. I didn't want to be there, I didn't like any of the classes I was taking and I was the oldest girl in my apartment. The only reason I was at UVU had been because I know that's where the Lord needed me to be and I'm still needed here, I don't know why but I'm here. I didn't really care about creating a bond with my roommates because I was a couple years older than most of them and after what happened with my last roommates I just felt like it was pointless having a relationship with them because they were going to leave anyways but that semester was quiet, boring, and a little lonely because I literally lived in my room. Things changed in November and December because I was tired of being bored and I allowed my roommates to get to know me a little more. In addition to that I figured that the Lord didn't need the cranky, feet dragging, antisocial Lanah at UVU. He needs the nice, sarcastic, sassy, spiritual, and sometimes funny Lanah at UVU. The one who is empathetic, compassionate (well tries to be) and it made me feel bad that I wasn't living up to my potential and I kind of felt like I was letting Him down. I kind of felt like he had this attitude of " hey you need to go UVU and be your fantastic self. I can't tell you why you're going to be there but you're needed there!" In which I responded as any child who doesn't want to do what their parent wants. I kicked my feet, dragged them to Orem and was very cynical and it made me feel bad so once I kind of saw that I made a switch. I'm still working on the social aspect of it but I can tell you with confidence that I am a lot more social here than I was in Ephraim haha.
Another thing I learned this school year is that asking for help is not a bad thing! I've always been prideful when it comes to asking for help - ask anyone. If I can't do it myself then I don't need it that bad. The Lord knows I have this issue and is trying to teach me a lesson. Literally every single month this school year I have received at least one blessing. April I had three and it's embarrassing. The thing I have learned about receiving multiple blessings is how powerful the Priesthood is. Seriously guys, I love the Priesthood, it's helped me through just about every kind of trial you could think of. I've gotten blessings for sicknesses, peace, comfort, because I had the worse head ache! Each time I asked for help I've felt weak but after getting the blessing I would feel the opposite. Not that anyone who's given me a blessing this school year is going to read this but if you are, just thank you so much and sorry for bothering you!
Most importantly this school year I learned that emotions aren't a form of weakness, they humanize you. I'm still working on this but I've covered a lot of ground since last August. I've always been the person who has striven to be the strong one because I'm the oldest, I have to be strong and somewhere down the road I think I forgot that it's alright for me to be somewhat emotional, when appropriate. I have cried more this school year than I ever have in my whole 21 years of life. Nothing traumatic has happened but it's just something I've learned through my roommates and experiences I've had in the temple. One experience I'll share is when my roommate Myra and I went to the temple and I was talking with my Heavenly Father about some things, fears and stuff like that and one of the things He told me was not to fear my emotions but to embrace them. It kind of struck a chord with me because it isn't something I'd think He'd tell me but He did and I think that's when I realized that I had a problem being non emotional. I've cried a lot more since then so I suppose that's good... or not, I guess it depends on your own opinion.
Yeah, anyways, this school year has definitely been about spiritual growth and I'm just so grateful for my Heavenly Father, my parents and my roommates! I hope you guys have a good summer! I'm not sure if I'll post a lot during the summer but if not I'll see you when school starts again.
Love y'all
~ Allanah
Sunday, March 27, 2016
The Best Weekend of my Adult Life (so far anyway...)
So this weekend was literally one of the best weekends of my life. Fan X, Metatron, Kylo Ren, Charlotte, Shaytards, Youtubers, Vocal Point and tears all embody the reason why this weekend was the absolute best.
First Fan X. Basically Fan X is a down graded Comic Con but it's still awesome! Back in December my good friend Charlotte and I had decided to attend because a villain from our favorite TV Show "Supernatural" was going to be there. That villain is called Metatron and no he isn't a Transformer that's Megatron. Metatron is a lot of ugly words I won 't say but I would be lying if I said I didn't love some of his one liners... Anyway, we split the photo op fee and anxiously counted down the days until we would get a picture.
Fan X has arrived and we couldn't be more thrilled! Upon arriving the first person I see is my old Young Womens' leader's Twin and I was very confused because I thought it was her for a while but after calling out to her and getting no response I kinda figure it was the twin and we kept walking. We met Belle and Tiana who just so happen to be friends of Charlotte so that was pretty neat. Walking around we noticed George Taeki and we asked a security worker if we could say hello and he said YES! So we got in line and we shook his hand then proceeded to tell him that we admired him. She liked him from Psyche and I from watching Star Trek with my Dad, he told us thank you and we left. It was really fast but still so exciting!!
We got pictures of a few cosplayers (A person who dresses up - sometimes professionally as a character.). Two of the cosplayers were Kylo Ren and one of the times they let me hold a light saber, and not a plastic cheapo one - a heavy expensive one!!! It was the biggest thrill ever! I wanted to hug them but refrained because I'm a 20 year old adult and don't need to be hugging people in costumes unless I'm at Disneyland.
Finally the time of our photo op has come, after much confusion on where to go we get in line to see Metatron. Charlotte and I are freaking excited we can barely contain it. We are then lead to another room, the only thing separating us from the punk angel is a piece of cloth... so naturally we're shaking with excitement. We get in line and go over our request. We're going to ask to pretend punch him in the face, hoping he'll comply! Suddenly we pass through the sheet and THERE HE IS!!!! ALL 5ft and 4 inches of him!!! Yes he's a short man but who cares! Everything is happening so fast, soon enough it's our turn and enthusiastically he greets us and Charlotte quickly mutters our request and he says "Absolutely!" Quickly getting my grin off of my face by reminding myself that his character drained my favorite character of his grace (It's complicated so don't ask unless you REALLY want to) and my face goes to Bad A-- face mode. The picture is taken, Charlotte steals a hug as do I and we leave, shaking even more from the excitement. We get our picture and fan girl over the perfectness of it all.
Walking around some more we see another character from Supernatural (one we actually like) and notice that we're allowed to go to talk to her. Thinking it's going to be just as swift as George Taeki we get what we want to say gathered in our thoughts - well I do at least. She gets up walks past Charlotte and I then a few minutes later comes back. We gather courage and walk up to her and then proceed to have a 5 minute conversation with her, much longer than I thought would happen! Erica Carroll is such a nice human being!!! She talked to us like we were her friends, she pulled out her phone and showed us few pictures of past cast members and talked about her acting career and asked us our names and side note.... she said that mine was "Lovely" haha mom was thrilled to hear that someone appreciated the name she picked out for me.
Fan X was a success and it was GREAT. I would do it all over again the only thing I'd do different is maybe get a photo op with Dean Cain (Superman). At the end of the day my feet were exhausted and so was the rest of my body but I had a big day the next day....
CVX Live... Is Utah's only Youtube Convention, it's kind of like a Comic Con for Youtubers as well as a help guide to future youtubers. One of the youtubers that was there were the Shaytards. The Shaytards are an LDS family who film their lives and put it on the internet. They are so good, funny, inspirational and nice people. I got to experience the "Superfan experience" which basically means me and 20 other people asking questions. The previously night I had written out exactly what I wanted to say. Anyway, I sat in the room for a while and then got the courage to raise my hand and got called on. Standing up I introduced myself and told them my story and I got choked up but got the gist of it out. In the process of my blubbering Colette (the mom) came and hugged me while I apologized for crying. She put both of her hands on the sides of my face and told me that crying was an okay thing and to not feel bad. She went back to her seat and I was about to sit down and someone yelled "You should hug them all!' After cautiously asking if that was allowed I went up and hugged all five of them and then got chased down by their 5 year old because I forgot him ahha. After the hour was just about up we got in line to take pictures. When it was my turn I got into position and the person took my pictures I turned to them to say thank you but then Shay grabbed me and say "Hey come here" and he wrapped me in the best hug and then told me how much he loved and appreciated my story. I took out my paper that had what I written the things I needed to say and handed it to them. I told them that they could throw it away or keep it and they told me that they were going to keep it. I said thank you and walked away from the greatest experience of my 20 year old life.
Afterwards I walked around, met Vocal Point, got them all to say 'hi' to my friend Darby because she LOVES them so she was happy to receive those texts. I saw Studio C from a distance and this one guy on youtube who plays the piano named Jason Lyle Black and talked to him. He seemed super surprised that someone recognized him because he didn't have a booth or anything. So I complimented his piano skills, he asked me my name and then remembered me from Facebook because I've left him a few comments and we got some pictures. He's super nice.
Something I've learned from this is that people aren't as mean as I think. A lot of the people I met this weekend were amazingly nice and down to earth. I would like to point out that I did this by myself, which is a big thing for me. I'm proud of myself and I'm so thankful that I had the opportunity to do these things.
I posted my thoughts about Easter on facebook but I'm going to post it on here as well:
Christ has Risen and he loves you. I pray that each of you know that in some way.
~ Allanah
P.S ALL PICTURES ARE ON FACEBOOK.
First Fan X. Basically Fan X is a down graded Comic Con but it's still awesome! Back in December my good friend Charlotte and I had decided to attend because a villain from our favorite TV Show "Supernatural" was going to be there. That villain is called Metatron and no he isn't a Transformer that's Megatron. Metatron is a lot of ugly words I won 't say but I would be lying if I said I didn't love some of his one liners... Anyway, we split the photo op fee and anxiously counted down the days until we would get a picture.
Fan X has arrived and we couldn't be more thrilled! Upon arriving the first person I see is my old Young Womens' leader's Twin and I was very confused because I thought it was her for a while but after calling out to her and getting no response I kinda figure it was the twin and we kept walking. We met Belle and Tiana who just so happen to be friends of Charlotte so that was pretty neat. Walking around we noticed George Taeki and we asked a security worker if we could say hello and he said YES! So we got in line and we shook his hand then proceeded to tell him that we admired him. She liked him from Psyche and I from watching Star Trek with my Dad, he told us thank you and we left. It was really fast but still so exciting!!
We got pictures of a few cosplayers (A person who dresses up - sometimes professionally as a character.). Two of the cosplayers were Kylo Ren and one of the times they let me hold a light saber, and not a plastic cheapo one - a heavy expensive one!!! It was the biggest thrill ever! I wanted to hug them but refrained because I'm a 20 year old adult and don't need to be hugging people in costumes unless I'm at Disneyland.
Finally the time of our photo op has come, after much confusion on where to go we get in line to see Metatron. Charlotte and I are freaking excited we can barely contain it. We are then lead to another room, the only thing separating us from the punk angel is a piece of cloth... so naturally we're shaking with excitement. We get in line and go over our request. We're going to ask to pretend punch him in the face, hoping he'll comply! Suddenly we pass through the sheet and THERE HE IS!!!! ALL 5ft and 4 inches of him!!! Yes he's a short man but who cares! Everything is happening so fast, soon enough it's our turn and enthusiastically he greets us and Charlotte quickly mutters our request and he says "Absolutely!" Quickly getting my grin off of my face by reminding myself that his character drained my favorite character of his grace (It's complicated so don't ask unless you REALLY want to) and my face goes to Bad A-- face mode. The picture is taken, Charlotte steals a hug as do I and we leave, shaking even more from the excitement. We get our picture and fan girl over the perfectness of it all.
Walking around some more we see another character from Supernatural (one we actually like) and notice that we're allowed to go to talk to her. Thinking it's going to be just as swift as George Taeki we get what we want to say gathered in our thoughts - well I do at least. She gets up walks past Charlotte and I then a few minutes later comes back. We gather courage and walk up to her and then proceed to have a 5 minute conversation with her, much longer than I thought would happen! Erica Carroll is such a nice human being!!! She talked to us like we were her friends, she pulled out her phone and showed us few pictures of past cast members and talked about her acting career and asked us our names and side note.... she said that mine was "Lovely" haha mom was thrilled to hear that someone appreciated the name she picked out for me.
Fan X was a success and it was GREAT. I would do it all over again the only thing I'd do different is maybe get a photo op with Dean Cain (Superman). At the end of the day my feet were exhausted and so was the rest of my body but I had a big day the next day....
CVX Live... Is Utah's only Youtube Convention, it's kind of like a Comic Con for Youtubers as well as a help guide to future youtubers. One of the youtubers that was there were the Shaytards. The Shaytards are an LDS family who film their lives and put it on the internet. They are so good, funny, inspirational and nice people. I got to experience the "Superfan experience" which basically means me and 20 other people asking questions. The previously night I had written out exactly what I wanted to say. Anyway, I sat in the room for a while and then got the courage to raise my hand and got called on. Standing up I introduced myself and told them my story and I got choked up but got the gist of it out. In the process of my blubbering Colette (the mom) came and hugged me while I apologized for crying. She put both of her hands on the sides of my face and told me that crying was an okay thing and to not feel bad. She went back to her seat and I was about to sit down and someone yelled "You should hug them all!' After cautiously asking if that was allowed I went up and hugged all five of them and then got chased down by their 5 year old because I forgot him ahha. After the hour was just about up we got in line to take pictures. When it was my turn I got into position and the person took my pictures I turned to them to say thank you but then Shay grabbed me and say "Hey come here" and he wrapped me in the best hug and then told me how much he loved and appreciated my story. I took out my paper that had what I written the things I needed to say and handed it to them. I told them that they could throw it away or keep it and they told me that they were going to keep it. I said thank you and walked away from the greatest experience of my 20 year old life.
Afterwards I walked around, met Vocal Point, got them all to say 'hi' to my friend Darby because she LOVES them so she was happy to receive those texts. I saw Studio C from a distance and this one guy on youtube who plays the piano named Jason Lyle Black and talked to him. He seemed super surprised that someone recognized him because he didn't have a booth or anything. So I complimented his piano skills, he asked me my name and then remembered me from Facebook because I've left him a few comments and we got some pictures. He's super nice.
Something I've learned from this is that people aren't as mean as I think. A lot of the people I met this weekend were amazingly nice and down to earth. I would like to point out that I did this by myself, which is a big thing for me. I'm proud of myself and I'm so thankful that I had the opportunity to do these things.
I posted my thoughts about Easter on facebook but I'm going to post it on here as well:
People celebrate Easter in different ways. For me, it's a celebration of the life of Christ, it's reminder of what He has done for me. The great sacrifice. It wasn't until recently that I gained a personal testimony of the atonement and its power. I know that power of the atonement is real and with it I can be forgiven and clean of sin. I know that my Heavenly Father loves His son, me, you and everyone no matter what they've done. I know that my elder brother Jesus Christ is my savior and that he loves me enough to go through ultimate pain that none of us can fathom. I know that people I've lost in this life are safe and happy and even better I KNOW that I will see them again. I love my Savior and my Heavenly Father and I strive everyday to be worthy to one day go back to my Heavenly Home. Happy Easter everyone, He is Risen.
Christ has Risen and he loves you. I pray that each of you know that in some way.
~ Allanah
P.S ALL PICTURES ARE ON FACEBOOK.
Monday, February 15, 2016
Merry Christmas, Happy New Years, Happy Valentine's Day AND Happy President's Day!
Oh my it's been a long while since I've posted! First off... Merry Belated Christmas and Happy New Years! Hope you all had a safe and Christ centered Christmas (unless that's not your jam then I hope Santa was good to you!). Mine was good, got to be with my family, sang in church, it was a really pretty Christmas medley. I made Swig sugar cookies (if you've never been to SWIG you've got to fix yourself... it's one of the best things!) and let me tell you... THEY WERE SO GOSH DARN DELICIOUS! I was honestly surprised that they turned out so well. Not that I lack in cooking abilities but because mock recipes don't usually taste as good as the original.
It's a new semester and that means knew classes and more money gone... for my education! I started out with 14 credits and I was super proud of myself for doing so, especially since I managed to get all of my classes on Monday's and Wednesday's so that I can work. As I mentioned a sentence ago I STARTED with 14.... I am now at 12... What happened was that I had two english major classes, one fun class and my last two general ed classes, Math 1030 and Personal Health and Wellness... First day of school I'm in my Modern American Literature class (with my insane teacher...) and she goes over by five minutes leaving me five minutes to get from the top far side of the LA building to the bottom floor of the science building (it's about a five minute walk). That sounds like no problem to a normal person but someone who suffers from anxiety, it's literally the most stressful thing with the exception of all the other stressful things that go down on a first day. So I hurry to my class and when I go in front the door, I see A) how crowded it is and B) I'm late. So I start pacing by the door, debating whether or not I should go in and my mind begins to race and smack with me with all the bad things that could happen if I walk in that door. My heart races, my breathing becomes a little ragged and trembling like so instead I run to the bathroom and cry for a little bit and decide that I'm going to drop it and take it next semester (which I fully plan on doing).
Again with a new semester that means new changes (I refuse to call them 'goals' I hate that word). By new changes I mean I decided to cut guys off. I got super distracted last semester and my grades paid for it. I was not going to let that happen again. So I if I had any crushes from last semester (that information will remain disclosed) I cut off my petty feelings and focused purely on my school work. I am successful for the first few weeks and then... it happens. An attractive male had caught my interest. He didn't just merely pique my interest no no.... he freaking body slammed me with unwilling attraction. It really wasn't any kind of fair, I tried to not like him but nevertheless here I am, completely infatuated with an individual (who's name will NEVER be released unless by some rare chance in the future that we're together... but like I said.. RARE). This time will be different, I refuse to get distracted, I'm still extremely dedicated to my homework!
In other news... after almost 6 months of searching I finally got a job!! I work for the school-ish... It's all kinds of complicated but it's called "America Reads". I basically go to their office and to another school and tutor elementary kids to read. Teaching isn't my usual scene but kids are. I'm excited to see what this job brings me and I even more excited to more self reliant! I've got practice now for when I'm living alone with my plethora of cats.... I won't really have a plethora... just like two..... with maybe a batch of kittens... maybe a dog.... Get a great dane and call him tiny... or pipsqueak haha... Wow I'm awkward and this is why I'm so single dear readers, not that anyone really reads these... I most do this out of my pleasure haha.. wow okay.
The downfall of my job is that since it is connected to the school I can't work the job into the summer... so I only get to work there for two months, which will help but in April my roommate and I are having a job search party for the summer, since I am staying in Orem...! I'm excited to stay in Orem and work and be independent but at the same time I really wish I could go home but there's literally nothing there. I've got my family, my cat, and a house with it's contents. I have no friends and can I be honest? I hate Manila, it's a small town, people are constantly judging me for being single (which is more aggravating than anything else) and people gossip like we're at a hair salon in the south. It bugs me, granted, there ARE some nice people (there must needs be opposition in ALL things) but overall, I can only stand being there for a few days before I want to start yelling at people... Wow sorry, I did not mean for that get all negative and a little derogatory but it's how I feel. I'm thrilled that my parents and family are doing well there and that they like it!
So like I said I am staying in Orem over the summer and that means this summer I am celebrating my 21st b-day with my roommate but it's okay we're going to have a BLAST!
Last thing I think needs mentioning is the most dreaded holiday of the year... Valentine's Day.... I've disliked the holiday for about 6 years and not because I've been single for every single one of those years. I'm serious, that's not the reason why. I hate it because I think it's stupid to commercialize love. I think it's stupid that we need a holiday as an excuse to show affection to those we care for. I do understand and realize that some people need that holiday and I'm not saying we should ban it because that's not right but I'm explaining my abhorring feelings for it. Anyway, so Church. Valentine's Day. AWKWARD. We're sitting in Relief Society and at the very end the Elder's Quorum comes in, each has a rose in his hand. They crowd in and then they serenade us with "Love One Another" and then they all pass out a rose to a girl. It really was a sweet gesture but man did I feel awkward. My ears were burning and I can only imagine that my face looked the same. Savannah and I have our roses in a vase filled with water so that's good and they are pretty I just really wish I loved flowers but I don't BUT I STILL REALLY APPRECIATE THE ELDER'S QUORUM FOR WHAT THEY DID! I'M NOT HATING ON IT I PROMISE.
Ok I'm done...
Hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's Day
Hope you have a great President's Day
To UVU students who won't read this... Have fun with no school tomorrow as well.
God Bless You All
~ Allanah
It's a new semester and that means knew classes and more money gone... for my education! I started out with 14 credits and I was super proud of myself for doing so, especially since I managed to get all of my classes on Monday's and Wednesday's so that I can work. As I mentioned a sentence ago I STARTED with 14.... I am now at 12... What happened was that I had two english major classes, one fun class and my last two general ed classes, Math 1030 and Personal Health and Wellness... First day of school I'm in my Modern American Literature class (with my insane teacher...) and she goes over by five minutes leaving me five minutes to get from the top far side of the LA building to the bottom floor of the science building (it's about a five minute walk). That sounds like no problem to a normal person but someone who suffers from anxiety, it's literally the most stressful thing with the exception of all the other stressful things that go down on a first day. So I hurry to my class and when I go in front the door, I see A) how crowded it is and B) I'm late. So I start pacing by the door, debating whether or not I should go in and my mind begins to race and smack with me with all the bad things that could happen if I walk in that door. My heart races, my breathing becomes a little ragged and trembling like so instead I run to the bathroom and cry for a little bit and decide that I'm going to drop it and take it next semester (which I fully plan on doing).
Again with a new semester that means new changes (I refuse to call them 'goals' I hate that word). By new changes I mean I decided to cut guys off. I got super distracted last semester and my grades paid for it. I was not going to let that happen again. So I if I had any crushes from last semester (that information will remain disclosed) I cut off my petty feelings and focused purely on my school work. I am successful for the first few weeks and then... it happens. An attractive male had caught my interest. He didn't just merely pique my interest no no.... he freaking body slammed me with unwilling attraction. It really wasn't any kind of fair, I tried to not like him but nevertheless here I am, completely infatuated with an individual (who's name will NEVER be released unless by some rare chance in the future that we're together... but like I said.. RARE). This time will be different, I refuse to get distracted, I'm still extremely dedicated to my homework!
In other news... after almost 6 months of searching I finally got a job!! I work for the school-ish... It's all kinds of complicated but it's called "America Reads". I basically go to their office and to another school and tutor elementary kids to read. Teaching isn't my usual scene but kids are. I'm excited to see what this job brings me and I even more excited to more self reliant! I've got practice now for when I'm living alone with my plethora of cats.... I won't really have a plethora... just like two..... with maybe a batch of kittens... maybe a dog.... Get a great dane and call him tiny... or pipsqueak haha... Wow I'm awkward and this is why I'm so single dear readers, not that anyone really reads these... I most do this out of my pleasure haha.. wow okay.
The downfall of my job is that since it is connected to the school I can't work the job into the summer... so I only get to work there for two months, which will help but in April my roommate and I are having a job search party for the summer, since I am staying in Orem...! I'm excited to stay in Orem and work and be independent but at the same time I really wish I could go home but there's literally nothing there. I've got my family, my cat, and a house with it's contents. I have no friends and can I be honest? I hate Manila, it's a small town, people are constantly judging me for being single (which is more aggravating than anything else) and people gossip like we're at a hair salon in the south. It bugs me, granted, there ARE some nice people (there must needs be opposition in ALL things) but overall, I can only stand being there for a few days before I want to start yelling at people... Wow sorry, I did not mean for that get all negative and a little derogatory but it's how I feel. I'm thrilled that my parents and family are doing well there and that they like it!
So like I said I am staying in Orem over the summer and that means this summer I am celebrating my 21st b-day with my roommate but it's okay we're going to have a BLAST!
Last thing I think needs mentioning is the most dreaded holiday of the year... Valentine's Day.... I've disliked the holiday for about 6 years and not because I've been single for every single one of those years. I'm serious, that's not the reason why. I hate it because I think it's stupid to commercialize love. I think it's stupid that we need a holiday as an excuse to show affection to those we care for. I do understand and realize that some people need that holiday and I'm not saying we should ban it because that's not right but I'm explaining my abhorring feelings for it. Anyway, so Church. Valentine's Day. AWKWARD. We're sitting in Relief Society and at the very end the Elder's Quorum comes in, each has a rose in his hand. They crowd in and then they serenade us with "Love One Another" and then they all pass out a rose to a girl. It really was a sweet gesture but man did I feel awkward. My ears were burning and I can only imagine that my face looked the same. Savannah and I have our roses in a vase filled with water so that's good and they are pretty I just really wish I loved flowers but I don't BUT I STILL REALLY APPRECIATE THE ELDER'S QUORUM FOR WHAT THEY DID! I'M NOT HATING ON IT I PROMISE.
Ok I'm done...
Hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's Day
Hope you have a great President's Day
To UVU students who won't read this... Have fun with no school tomorrow as well.
God Bless You All
~ Allanah
Saturday, November 21, 2015
O Remember Remember the... month of November!
Hey y'all, how's it going? I hope it's good :)
November has been a pretty uneventful month so I'm just going to give you the highlights, like I usually do.
I got a job interview with Deseret Book and I got so nervous that my home teacher graciously gave me a blessing and it definitely silenced a majority of my anxieties. So I woke up put on my shorter skirt and my shirt and my flats come to find out that it is snowing!! I love the snow but not when I have a job interview for Deseret Book! The interview went fine but I didn't get the job but I'm not stressed out about it. People in my Spanish class tell me it's easier to get a job during the spring... we'll see!
I got a "beautiful" lesson from Heavenly Father about my Pride habit. After my first blessing, I spoke to my roommates about weak it made me feel to ask for help and how I like to solve my own problems and crap like that. I'm pretty sure Heavenly Father raised an eyebrow and went "Like to solve your own problems eh? We'll see about that!" skip to Wednesday, waiting for my math class to start. I get hit with a massive head ache! I'm thinking "oh I haven't drunk enough water" so naturally I down my water bottle and fill it up before class starts. Six hours, three Ibuprofen and five bottle of water later and the headache worsens. It gets so bad that I can't concentrate on my homework, can't even wear my glasses. It's making me upset because now I'm going to have to miss Life Prep because I just can't handle this stupid head ache. I decided to google "types of headaches" come to find out that I was experiencing a tension headache. Not fun. So in the midst of my pain a thought entered my head. 'You could always get a blessing' and you can bet I shut down that idea so fast. 'No way! I'll be fine tomorrow!' I would argue. A little after 8:00 a couple of guys from our ward came over, and started talking to me and my other roommate who was in the living room. It was just casual talk until he asked. "Is there anything we can do for you?" without a filter I blurted. "Do you know how to get rid of headaches?" I explained the whole thing and one of the guys goes, "well we'd be happy to give you a blessing." After all my big talk about how I can handle it, on my own came crashing down in that single moment. I knew I couldn't handle but I really didn't want another blessing. I have had so many this semester it's been crazy. I fought against it but then consented and I kid you not the moment those guys walked out the door, my headache vanished. Talk about a humbly experience.
I came home for a weekend to see Robert's Play, I won't give my honest opinion because this is public but if I'm being honest Robert was the best part.
OK so fast forward to last night. Mom picked me up from school around 3 and we did her shopping ate at Culvers and went to SWIG before her presentation called "Stand and Deliver" from 3 Key Elements by Kirk Duncan, it was basically a condensed public speaking class. We could stay for a short amount of time because we parked our car on a 2 hour parking spot. The whole time we were there I felt like I had to go to Deseret Book by Temple Square but I didn't want to go by myself for one thing and I knew mom really wanted to see this guy so I kept my mouth shut. Around 8:30 we got up and left and waited for the TRAX. Getting on I sat by the window and we passed the Deseret Book, inside was a gorgeous Nativity display... and a rather big group... plagued with curiosity I focused more closely and standing inside the store was none other than my absolute FAVORITE apostle, President Uchtdorf. Surprised by my discovery I screamed and began to bang on the window. My poor terrified mother asked me what was wrong and I told her who I saw and said that we had to get off. Slight side note: It's my dream (and on my bucket-list) to meet Uchtdorf and express my love for him and tell him how his "Forget Me Not" talk changed my life and I saw an opportunity to do so on the TRAX.
So we waited for the next stop, jumped off and literally ran to the bookstore in the blistering cold only to find that we were too late. Disappointed but thankful for the walk we decided to just walk the rest of the way to our van. We got it and started driving home. It's been fine, mom ran over an already dead deer's chest, which was disgusting by the way but we're having a nice conversation. Now we're about 15 minutes away from the house and in the middle of the road is a buck! It's too close to us for mom to even remotely slow down. I clamp my eyes shut and begin to scream and a thud goes under our car. Mom hit her first deer... it was a little traumatic on both ends... Not even a mile later we almost hit ANOTHER BUCK! LIKE WHAT THE FLIPPING HECK?!? Thankfully, we moved out of the way so we wouldn't hit that one too. Now the front of our car is just about busted but we made it home safely.
I'll probably post another entry for Thanksgiving and stuff. I hope everyone has a fun and SAFE weekend.
Love y'all
Allanah
Sunday, October 4, 2015
The UVU Chapter
Hello friends! It has been a while since I've posted on here, mostly because all summer I was working for the Girls Scouts of America as a Kitchen Assistant at Trefoil Ranch. I had no internet all summer and close to no phone contact either. It was quite the experience, from that I learned new things that go on in a Kitchen, that my children (if I should have any) will be angels when it comes to manners and patience, also I loved being called "Belle" all summer, I think that was the highlight ahah. I am thankful for the people I met and befriended whilst in the mountains for those 10 weeks.
I've been a UVU for about a month and it's not anything that I expected it to be. I live in place called "Village On the Parkway", which is a nice place. There's a shuttle that takes its residents to and from UVU and on Friday's it'll take you to Walmart. The people I've met on the shuttle have been kind and nice. There's one girl, called Alana (Uh-LAN-Uh) and she's super nice but it's peculiar meeting a person with the name that people have been calling me for years only in the wrong way. Allanah (Uh-Lawn-Uh) and Alana (Uh-Lan-Uh). There's another girl I met, her name is Charlotte and we both have a love for Supernatural -BAM instant friendship haha.
My roommates are fantastic and BEAUTIFUL girls, there's Savannah, Myra, Bethany, Ellen and Regan. They are all younger than me, leaving me to feel like an old spinster but they make me laugh and they go to church with me, which is more than I asked for so I'm truly blessed.
My classes are a little challenging this time. I'm taking Ethics and Values (not the hard class, just incredibly boring). I'm taking Spanish I (learning a language is hard no matter what but my teacher is fabulous). I'm taking Math 1030, this potentially is the LAST math class I'll have to take but I may have to take it twice because my teacher kind of stinks and teaching and I always end up leaving class with confusion and no hope but I'm still trying hard to pass! Finally, I am taking my first MAJOR (the class that actually deals with my major) and that is American Lit. It's a little boring and a few of the kids in the make me upset but I love listening to the conversations we have. I am also taking an institute class, which is the just the best thing ever! It's called "Foundations of the Restoration" with Sister Heapworth and let me tell you, it is one the best institute classes!! In addition to that I'm taking a "Life Prep" class on Wednesday nights at my church building and oh my gosh that class is the just the most amazing blessing I've received since coming to Orem. It's just a good glass that helps me improve myself and how I can be better and better those around me. I could literally write an essay on the benefits I've gotten from that class alone. It's amazing.
My Ward is pretty cool, it's fives times the size of my ward in Ephraim, I think they said that there are 200 members? The best part is that for once the guys outnumber the girls, not that'll help me find a boyfriend any quicker but that's alright, I'm not really looking for a relationship, I'm too focused on my schooling. The nice thing about my ward is they actually care about home teaching more so than my other YSA wards. I've already asked for a blessing from my home teacher and it was a good experience and you could tell that they were really happy to do it, which makes me happy.
Still jobless but have applied to several jobs that are relatively close and may be able to fit with my schedule and it's definitely stressing me out. So if you're reading this would you mind praying that I find a job that's nearby and fits with my schedule? It'd be much appreciated, thanks.
Back to staying positive!! I have some news, which for me is the most exciting thing to happen since I graduated high school. For the first time since puberty.... I HAVE A CLEAR AND PIMPLE FREE FACE!!!!!! I literally can't express to you how happy it makes me to look at myself in the mirror and see a clear face, it's like "oh that's where you were hiding!" It's definitely a confidence booster and I have Doterra and my mother to thank for that, because if my mom weren't involved with the oil company she wouldn't have found that face wash and then I never wouldn't have used it and would still be suffering from a pimply gross face!
Not sure what else really happened that is of significance, OH I WENT TO COMIC CON AND IT WAS SO AMAZING EVEN THOUGH WE ONLY STAYED FOR 2 1/2 HOURS!!!!! If you haven't seen my "Comic Con" photo album on Facebook, check it out and you'll see how awesome it was! Besides that nothing has really happened, I just feel blessed and though I'm still single, jobless and struggling with classes I'm thankful that I listened to the prompting that I got and came here even though it's still not where I want to go. It just goes to show you that blessings happen when you listen to God and the revelation He sends.
I love you all and I'm thankful for those who read this blog, I'm sorry I'm not out having exciting adventures but I'm sure I'll have a blog for that when it happens. God be with you and bless you. Love you all :)
~Allanah
I've been a UVU for about a month and it's not anything that I expected it to be. I live in place called "Village On the Parkway", which is a nice place. There's a shuttle that takes its residents to and from UVU and on Friday's it'll take you to Walmart. The people I've met on the shuttle have been kind and nice. There's one girl, called Alana (Uh-LAN-Uh) and she's super nice but it's peculiar meeting a person with the name that people have been calling me for years only in the wrong way. Allanah (Uh-Lawn-Uh) and Alana (Uh-Lan-Uh). There's another girl I met, her name is Charlotte and we both have a love for Supernatural -BAM instant friendship haha.
My roommates are fantastic and BEAUTIFUL girls, there's Savannah, Myra, Bethany, Ellen and Regan. They are all younger than me, leaving me to feel like an old spinster but they make me laugh and they go to church with me, which is more than I asked for so I'm truly blessed.
My classes are a little challenging this time. I'm taking Ethics and Values (not the hard class, just incredibly boring). I'm taking Spanish I (learning a language is hard no matter what but my teacher is fabulous). I'm taking Math 1030, this potentially is the LAST math class I'll have to take but I may have to take it twice because my teacher kind of stinks and teaching and I always end up leaving class with confusion and no hope but I'm still trying hard to pass! Finally, I am taking my first MAJOR (the class that actually deals with my major) and that is American Lit. It's a little boring and a few of the kids in the make me upset but I love listening to the conversations we have. I am also taking an institute class, which is the just the best thing ever! It's called "Foundations of the Restoration" with Sister Heapworth and let me tell you, it is one the best institute classes!! In addition to that I'm taking a "Life Prep" class on Wednesday nights at my church building and oh my gosh that class is the just the most amazing blessing I've received since coming to Orem. It's just a good glass that helps me improve myself and how I can be better and better those around me. I could literally write an essay on the benefits I've gotten from that class alone. It's amazing.
My Ward is pretty cool, it's fives times the size of my ward in Ephraim, I think they said that there are 200 members? The best part is that for once the guys outnumber the girls, not that'll help me find a boyfriend any quicker but that's alright, I'm not really looking for a relationship, I'm too focused on my schooling. The nice thing about my ward is they actually care about home teaching more so than my other YSA wards. I've already asked for a blessing from my home teacher and it was a good experience and you could tell that they were really happy to do it, which makes me happy.
Still jobless but have applied to several jobs that are relatively close and may be able to fit with my schedule and it's definitely stressing me out. So if you're reading this would you mind praying that I find a job that's nearby and fits with my schedule? It'd be much appreciated, thanks.
Back to staying positive!! I have some news, which for me is the most exciting thing to happen since I graduated high school. For the first time since puberty.... I HAVE A CLEAR AND PIMPLE FREE FACE!!!!!! I literally can't express to you how happy it makes me to look at myself in the mirror and see a clear face, it's like "oh that's where you were hiding!" It's definitely a confidence booster and I have Doterra and my mother to thank for that, because if my mom weren't involved with the oil company she wouldn't have found that face wash and then I never wouldn't have used it and would still be suffering from a pimply gross face!
Not sure what else really happened that is of significance, OH I WENT TO COMIC CON AND IT WAS SO AMAZING EVEN THOUGH WE ONLY STAYED FOR 2 1/2 HOURS!!!!! If you haven't seen my "Comic Con" photo album on Facebook, check it out and you'll see how awesome it was! Besides that nothing has really happened, I just feel blessed and though I'm still single, jobless and struggling with classes I'm thankful that I listened to the prompting that I got and came here even though it's still not where I want to go. It just goes to show you that blessings happen when you listen to God and the revelation He sends.
I love you all and I'm thankful for those who read this blog, I'm sorry I'm not out having exciting adventures but I'm sure I'll have a blog for that when it happens. God be with you and bless you. Love you all :)
~Allanah
Wednesday, May 6, 2015
The End of a Chapter..
Well that's a wrap on Snow College. I passed all of my classes (including Math, so excited!) and actually ended up graduating Institute but only because my bishop had asked me and I couldn't really say no to the bishop but he assured me that I could continue taking Institute! The thing I want to focus on in this blog post is about all the things I learned during my year and a half at Snow.
1) I learned to be patient and tolerant of people, who I don't get along with. It's incredibly important to try to love those who don't love you. I can tell you from experience that having my first roommate was the first challenge and it was the hardest challenge but I'm sure that there are many bad roommates to come.... hit me with your best shot...
2) God is our shoulder, our anchor. I lost a very special person that first semester of school and it was the hardest thing I had to go through so far in life and for the longest time I thought I was going through it by myself because I didn't have friends at school to cry to, to listen to my pain (not that I would have told anyone anyway..) but through that trial I learned through going to church, institute and my own personal scripture reading that God is there when we are hurting, he wants us to talk to Him when we are in pain. He loves us so much.
3) Opening up to people has always been a trial for me, I think it will continue to be a trial but last fall I learned that not all new people are nice for the sake of being nice or because they have to be. Sometimes there are people out there who do genuinely care and it's okay to let them in. Not all at once but little by little.
4) For being perpetually single (by choice) I found out that I give pretty good guy advice! I have four people (who will remain nameless but you know who you are) who have come to me and either laid on my bed, sat on their floor/or chair, in front of the Bistro or just on the phone and asked me about some guy advice! So in the future when I'm ready to immerse myself in the dating scene I should be pretty ship shape haha (not...)
5) Marriage isn't that bad! Not that I'm close to getting married anytime soon, I no longer resent when people in church talk about the importance of marriage and it's something that I want, one day... I don't cringe nearly as much when the topic in conference is marriage. I'm still rather terrified of the concept but I know that if my future spouse and I keep Christ in the center of our marriage we should do okay... hopefully!
6) God has a plan for us! A lot of the times it isn't going to be the one we want. For a while my plan, my set plan was to finish at Snow then go to SUU and if that didn't plan out then I was going to rejoin some of my friends in BYU-I but for some strange reason it isn't what God wants me to do. I struggled for a long time comprehending with the fact that god wants me to go to UVU, a school I never had any interest in, I was avoiding that place because of certain people I desperately want to avoid (they shall remain nameless as well). I learned that I need to trust God more and that's the reason I am going to Utah Valley University with an open mind and blinded footsteps.
7) Love is hard and most often it hurts, especially when you have to say goodbye to the first best friends you made since moving to Utah. Most of the times you can get so caught up in the happy memories, the hilarious nights and the entertaining days then forget that one day it's all going to end. One day you're surrounded by a fantastic group of girls who make you feel loved in a way that you hadn't felt in over two years. They're always there to listen to you and you're there for them as well. It's not easy to find a group of friends who make you feel special, valued and encourage you to love yourself and to follow your dreams. As of now, I've got a group of friends who are like that in two states but the one thing they have in common? They are so far away.. I hate goodbyes, I've always hated them. Leaving on May 1st was the hardest thing. To walk through the door and to my mom's van, knowing or not knowing rather, when I would see these people again had broken my heart. Now I just feel like a hollow shell, doing what I have to and nothing else.
The year and a half I spent at Snow College was the best and hardest days I've lived so far and the way my life goes I count on plenty more hard days ahead...
Thank you to all who contributed to my journey. Let's start another one this fall!
Sunday, August 17, 2014
There and Back again... SEMESTER TWO
HELLO! So here we are again, well here I am again! I'm all settled in my room and so far I haven't seen life of a roommate.... I hope that changes! I've met one other girl, Darby, she seems nice and I hope I get to know her better. My room is decked out this semester with pictures of Jesus, The Enterprise, Beauty and the Beast, a MormonAd and the The Family: A Proclamation to the World then Two pictures of my passe back in Dayton! Not much going on besides girls moving in and getting situated.
FAST FORWARD TO THAT NIGHT!
So that night there was a dance that I wasn't going to go to but one of my roommates was going and so was Ashley (from last semester) so I figured I should go and I'm sooo glad that I did!! They mostly played fast songs(which meant that I didn't have to slow dance) and they played GOOD music!! It was fun to let loose and just go crazy! When I got home that night.. I still didn't a my roommate and even now as I'm writing this the other side of the room is EMPTY... I hope I have a roommate!
FAST FORWARD TO SUNDAY!!
So something new and exciting happened! ALL OF MY ROOMMATES (that are here..) WENT TO CHURCH! Last Semester only Ashley went with me and that was fun but I felt envious of the groups of girls that all came together because they were all roommates. I'm still in the same ward, that means 1:00 church, which is the best thing and there's even a cute guy in my ward! Sooo Yeah! Tonight is the waffle thing and I'll talk about that more in the next blog because I think I want to post this before everyone goes to bed! We've got a really big stake this year and I'm really excited to get to know everyone! Another exciting thing, a girl in my ward from last semester is in my ward now, I can't really remember her name, which is fair because she couldn't remember my name but we were excited to see each other nonetheless! SO YEAH!
Thanks for reading the blog, it really means a lot! That's it for this week, I'll try and post weekly, if not weekly then at least monthly! BYE!
~ Allanah <3
FAST FORWARD TO THAT NIGHT!
So that night there was a dance that I wasn't going to go to but one of my roommates was going and so was Ashley (from last semester) so I figured I should go and I'm sooo glad that I did!! They mostly played fast songs(which meant that I didn't have to slow dance) and they played GOOD music!! It was fun to let loose and just go crazy! When I got home that night.. I still didn't a my roommate and even now as I'm writing this the other side of the room is EMPTY... I hope I have a roommate!
FAST FORWARD TO SUNDAY!!
So something new and exciting happened! ALL OF MY ROOMMATES (that are here..) WENT TO CHURCH! Last Semester only Ashley went with me and that was fun but I felt envious of the groups of girls that all came together because they were all roommates. I'm still in the same ward, that means 1:00 church, which is the best thing and there's even a cute guy in my ward! Sooo Yeah! Tonight is the waffle thing and I'll talk about that more in the next blog because I think I want to post this before everyone goes to bed! We've got a really big stake this year and I'm really excited to get to know everyone! Another exciting thing, a girl in my ward from last semester is in my ward now, I can't really remember her name, which is fair because she couldn't remember my name but we were excited to see each other nonetheless! SO YEAH!
Thanks for reading the blog, it really means a lot! That's it for this week, I'll try and post weekly, if not weekly then at least monthly! BYE!
~ Allanah <3
Wednesday, April 23, 2014
Soooorrry...
OK so this is Paige, my roommate, and this is also my new Hair color! As you can obviously tell in the previous pic and compare to this one, it is DARKER! Just the way I like it!
We had a Facials night - SUPER DUPER fun! My pores felt EXTREMELY CLEAN!!!
SO Paige brought me some British food, I don't remember the EXACT name for it but basically, it's an egg wrapped in Sausage and let me tell you... IT'S THE BEST THING EVER!! Much like the roommate who brought it to me!!!
So this pic is a little old but I let Paige, crimp my hair and took a pic of it at the best angle possible!
So yeah, I'll probably do a summer blog but just extend it through this one, so I don't have to create a whole other one... or maybe... I will... I don't know yet, tell you later. GOOD NIGHT!
~Allanah Staggs
Sunday, February 23, 2014
Week Seven
Hello everyone!! Before I begin.... a BIG thank you to those who read this!! It's really nice to know that I'm not wasting my time writing this!!!
Monday was Presidents' Day so... NO SCHOOL!! Made me very happy! What did I do?? I sat in my room... and did homework, whoopee. Then I watched an excessive amount of Netflix then went on walk. It was also the day when all the roommates came back and I'm not going to lie, while it is nice to have them back, I kinda miss all the quietness, not saying they're loud but I miss being able to blast my music with no complaints. Oh well, I'll live. I also studied a bit for my first GNST's test. A vocab test. I have to memorize words like "Procrastination", "Self Esteem" and "Value".... oh yeah... definitely a tough test.
Tuesday, we went through the Monday schedule, so instead of just Math and Dreadful English. I got to go to GNST (well not really because I had a test instead) but I had Theater, Math and Institute! Best part is that... I get to have it again tomorrow!!! ONLY ONE DAY OF DREADFUL ENGLISH THIS WEEK!!!! So happy. Not that I don't LOVE english, because I do.. I'm just bored because everything we're learning, I already learned my Junior year of high school and not to mention my teacher is a complete and utter psycho, I'm not even going to get into that... The Vocab test was pretty easy, hopefully I get a good grade on it! Theater had been spectacular!!! I so wish there was a logical career that involved Theater (Don't say Drama teacher, I completely and utterly refuse) and me acting! Our Shakespearean project is getting along quite nicely, we're hammering memorization, which is vital! Institute was amazing - as usual!! So we get institute tomorrow too!!! EEK! I can't wait!!! I wish I could just have my Monday and Wednesday schedule everyday... to put it short.. I wish I could drop English, but alas, I cannot!
Wednesday was just as amazing as Tuesday! Again... probably because I didn't have English.. but I do tomorrow along with a Math test! Thankfully I can take it either on Thursday or Friday.... I'm going with Friday, more study time! I have a story about today!! If you didn't see it on Facebook then here you go!
So there's these couple of prissy popular girls in my theater class and I've never paid them any mind and they've done the same. In Theater we're doing this game thing that involves focus and the whole game is rather complicated so I'm going to skip the rules.. But the subject of Disney came up. For those of you who really know me, know that I'll know some things but won't attest to being "specialized" in it. Disney is my specialty. I don't know everything there is to know about Disney but I know about 95% of it including all of the Disney Men names... This girl tried to tell me that "The Prince" was Cinderella's Prince's name... and that Snow White had "Prince Charming"... for those of you who watch Once Upon a Time, I'm with you! I've seen it! I know they call him Prince Charming BUT that's because they couldn't go around calling him "The Prince"! Do you understand how confusing that would have been?!? So they switched them and when she said that, I doubted my knowledge (like I tend to do) and said nothing plus, I really didn't want to get into an argument over it. It wasn't worth being hated over. When I got home... I looked it up, just to double check my Disney Knowledge. I AM COMPLETELY RIGHT!!! Snow White's Prince is known as "The Prince" and Cinderella's is known as "Prince Charming"!!! DON'T CHALLENGE ME WHEN IT COMES TO PRINCE'S OR PRINCESSES NAMES! Gah! Really annoyed me because she said it in a way that was supposed to make me feel stupid like *high pitched annoying girl voice* "Duh, everyone knows that Snow White has Prince Charming and Cinderella has The Prince".... No... Just... No....
Besides that, the day was good and uneventful!
Thursday... not as good as Monday through Wednesday! English was insane and boring, math about the same hahaha! Nothing to really report!
Friday! Got the test back from GNST and I still got an 'A' but I missed the first two questions but it's all good. We're learning about Money Management and the only thing that ever comes to mind when I think about Money Managing is my dad trying to teach me little kid me who could absolutely care less about managing money but I'm learning it now.. My partner and I performed our Romeo and Juliet Scene and apparently... I just wasn't whiny enough or as my teacher put it "Pissy" I was angry enough either. I take that as a compliment but I thought we did pretty well. I also took another Math test on Friday, hoping that I passed. I don't care what the grade is as long as it's passing...!!
Saturday I woke up at eight in the morning and didn't get out of bed till noon... I was watching a movie! After the movie, I spiffied up in my room, got dressed and walked to Walmart with my list. Got everything I needed and it was within my budget!! I had $61 in my wallet and part of me wanted to splurge a little bit but I told myself not to go over twenty five dollars... The total amount?? Twenty Three!! Hooray! The weather had been nice too! That night, I watched "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" in my room while attending to some laundry. Didn't get to bed until midnight! The movie was good, slightly anti climactic but pretty good!
Sunday! At church we got a new bishopric and I felt a little bad that I didn't cry.. Girls all around me were sniffling and I just sat there like. "Ok, bye, nice knowing ya!" Probably because I barely knew them but I like the new bishopric already, they seem nice. Going over to the counselor's house for Waffles tonight (Yay look at me being social!)
Can't wait to take on next week's challenges! I love you all and thank you for reading my blog, truly means a lot to me!!
Monday was Presidents' Day so... NO SCHOOL!! Made me very happy! What did I do?? I sat in my room... and did homework, whoopee. Then I watched an excessive amount of Netflix then went on walk. It was also the day when all the roommates came back and I'm not going to lie, while it is nice to have them back, I kinda miss all the quietness, not saying they're loud but I miss being able to blast my music with no complaints. Oh well, I'll live. I also studied a bit for my first GNST's test. A vocab test. I have to memorize words like "Procrastination", "Self Esteem" and "Value".... oh yeah... definitely a tough test.
Tuesday, we went through the Monday schedule, so instead of just Math and Dreadful English. I got to go to GNST (well not really because I had a test instead) but I had Theater, Math and Institute! Best part is that... I get to have it again tomorrow!!! ONLY ONE DAY OF DREADFUL ENGLISH THIS WEEK!!!! So happy. Not that I don't LOVE english, because I do.. I'm just bored because everything we're learning, I already learned my Junior year of high school and not to mention my teacher is a complete and utter psycho, I'm not even going to get into that... The Vocab test was pretty easy, hopefully I get a good grade on it! Theater had been spectacular!!! I so wish there was a logical career that involved Theater (Don't say Drama teacher, I completely and utterly refuse) and me acting! Our Shakespearean project is getting along quite nicely, we're hammering memorization, which is vital! Institute was amazing - as usual!! So we get institute tomorrow too!!! EEK! I can't wait!!! I wish I could just have my Monday and Wednesday schedule everyday... to put it short.. I wish I could drop English, but alas, I cannot!
Wednesday was just as amazing as Tuesday! Again... probably because I didn't have English.. but I do tomorrow along with a Math test! Thankfully I can take it either on Thursday or Friday.... I'm going with Friday, more study time! I have a story about today!! If you didn't see it on Facebook then here you go!
So there's these couple of prissy popular girls in my theater class and I've never paid them any mind and they've done the same. In Theater we're doing this game thing that involves focus and the whole game is rather complicated so I'm going to skip the rules.. But the subject of Disney came up. For those of you who really know me, know that I'll know some things but won't attest to being "specialized" in it. Disney is my specialty. I don't know everything there is to know about Disney but I know about 95% of it including all of the Disney Men names... This girl tried to tell me that "The Prince" was Cinderella's Prince's name... and that Snow White had "Prince Charming"... for those of you who watch Once Upon a Time, I'm with you! I've seen it! I know they call him Prince Charming BUT that's because they couldn't go around calling him "The Prince"! Do you understand how confusing that would have been?!? So they switched them and when she said that, I doubted my knowledge (like I tend to do) and said nothing plus, I really didn't want to get into an argument over it. It wasn't worth being hated over. When I got home... I looked it up, just to double check my Disney Knowledge. I AM COMPLETELY RIGHT!!! Snow White's Prince is known as "The Prince" and Cinderella's is known as "Prince Charming"!!! DON'T CHALLENGE ME WHEN IT COMES TO PRINCE'S OR PRINCESSES NAMES! Gah! Really annoyed me because she said it in a way that was supposed to make me feel stupid like *high pitched annoying girl voice* "Duh, everyone knows that Snow White has Prince Charming and Cinderella has The Prince".... No... Just... No....
Besides that, the day was good and uneventful!
Thursday... not as good as Monday through Wednesday! English was insane and boring, math about the same hahaha! Nothing to really report!
Friday! Got the test back from GNST and I still got an 'A' but I missed the first two questions but it's all good. We're learning about Money Management and the only thing that ever comes to mind when I think about Money Managing is my dad trying to teach me little kid me who could absolutely care less about managing money but I'm learning it now.. My partner and I performed our Romeo and Juliet Scene and apparently... I just wasn't whiny enough or as my teacher put it "Pissy" I was angry enough either. I take that as a compliment but I thought we did pretty well. I also took another Math test on Friday, hoping that I passed. I don't care what the grade is as long as it's passing...!!
Saturday I woke up at eight in the morning and didn't get out of bed till noon... I was watching a movie! After the movie, I spiffied up in my room, got dressed and walked to Walmart with my list. Got everything I needed and it was within my budget!! I had $61 in my wallet and part of me wanted to splurge a little bit but I told myself not to go over twenty five dollars... The total amount?? Twenty Three!! Hooray! The weather had been nice too! That night, I watched "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" in my room while attending to some laundry. Didn't get to bed until midnight! The movie was good, slightly anti climactic but pretty good!
Sunday! At church we got a new bishopric and I felt a little bad that I didn't cry.. Girls all around me were sniffling and I just sat there like. "Ok, bye, nice knowing ya!" Probably because I barely knew them but I like the new bishopric already, they seem nice. Going over to the counselor's house for Waffles tonight (Yay look at me being social!)
Can't wait to take on next week's challenges! I love you all and thank you for reading my blog, truly means a lot to me!!
Monday, February 17, 2014
Valentine's Day Weekened!!
Since nothing really happened last week, I'm most going to focus on the weekend!! It was a great weekend!
So on the Fourteenth of February is commonly known as "Valentine's Day", where loved ones get chocolates and flowers for their significant other. My significant other is a million miles away and doesn't even know that we're supposed to be together... ah the life of a fan girl... There are other girls like me so I've changed the name from V-Day to "Single Awareness Day" and I'll have you all know that I've been calling it Single Awareness Day for about four years... since High school... Anyway, I digress...
I have been looking forward to this particular weekend because that Sunday I got a phone call from my parents and they told me that they were coming to Visit!!! Made my day. The week that followed wasn't the best but I'm not going into that.
Friday finally comes and I handed out my little Single Awareness Day treats to my roommates and went to my two classes. Theater got out a LOT earlier and my parents were due to come get me an hour and a half later. So I spent that hour tidying up a bit while pinning my significant other on Pinterest. I got the call that they were here, so I walked outside and greeted my parents! Showed them my apartment and the campus, which they seemed impressed with. We got back to the apartment where they surprised me with the fact that I would not be coming back to my room until the next day!
Clumsily I packed an over night bag and off to Provo we went. I blabbed the whole way and of course they thought it was a twinge annoying but I bet they missed it! We ate dinner at a Pizza Buffet place, I don't remember the name (sorry) and I had about four pieces of small pizza and was stuffed. We walked around a LDS bookstore that wasn't Deseret and found perfume called "Pink Chocolate" and I was tempted to ask for it but decided against it. We drove around BYU and UVU mostly because we were looking for the Pizza Place but it made me thankful for my own school because there would be no way that I would go to a school that huge. Never.
After Dinner we walked around a mall, which had a Hot Topic and it was beautiful! When I say 'beautiful' I mean, I love all there Doctor Who, Disney and Harry Potter stuff but besides that... the store gives me the creeps. We also saw... A DISNEY STORE!!!!! Next to the late 'Borders' the Disney store is my next favorite! In the Disney store I was fortunate enough to get a Minnie Mouse t shirt that actually looks good on me! We also Pre ordered Frozen and got some snazzy looking pictures, which are hanging up in my room as we - you read this.
After that we left and journeyed to Heidi Alldredge's House where we all talked for about four hours then mom and I talked for another hour before we went to sleep. It was great to listen to them all talk about their college days and it also made me feel better about having pervy friends... Won't get into that.
Next day we went to Old Navy, where I got some much needed clothes! This includes another Minnie Mouse shirt!! Then we ate ourselves sick at Chuck o rama! We drove back to Ephraim, stopped at Walmart and came back! When they had left I learned that it was only Ashley and myself in the whole apartment... not going to lie.. It was absolutely HEAVENLY! Didn't have to worry about being judged! Ashley's cool with me singing in my room (at least I think she's cool with it.. hasn't complained) and I'm cool with her playing her clarinet!
Ashley and I both went to the combined church meeting on Sunday and for once the girls outweighed the boys and we both thought that we got the short end of the stick when it came to males in our ward. The weather was nice, all the snow finally melted so I went on a walk and Monday I've been attempting to do Homework....
Thank you all for reading this blog!! I love you all!!
~ Allanah Staggs <3
So on the Fourteenth of February is commonly known as "Valentine's Day", where loved ones get chocolates and flowers for their significant other. My significant other is a million miles away and doesn't even know that we're supposed to be together... ah the life of a fan girl... There are other girls like me so I've changed the name from V-Day to "Single Awareness Day" and I'll have you all know that I've been calling it Single Awareness Day for about four years... since High school... Anyway, I digress...
I have been looking forward to this particular weekend because that Sunday I got a phone call from my parents and they told me that they were coming to Visit!!! Made my day. The week that followed wasn't the best but I'm not going into that.
Friday finally comes and I handed out my little Single Awareness Day treats to my roommates and went to my two classes. Theater got out a LOT earlier and my parents were due to come get me an hour and a half later. So I spent that hour tidying up a bit while pinning my significant other on Pinterest. I got the call that they were here, so I walked outside and greeted my parents! Showed them my apartment and the campus, which they seemed impressed with. We got back to the apartment where they surprised me with the fact that I would not be coming back to my room until the next day!
Clumsily I packed an over night bag and off to Provo we went. I blabbed the whole way and of course they thought it was a twinge annoying but I bet they missed it! We ate dinner at a Pizza Buffet place, I don't remember the name (sorry) and I had about four pieces of small pizza and was stuffed. We walked around a LDS bookstore that wasn't Deseret and found perfume called "Pink Chocolate" and I was tempted to ask for it but decided against it. We drove around BYU and UVU mostly because we were looking for the Pizza Place but it made me thankful for my own school because there would be no way that I would go to a school that huge. Never.
After Dinner we walked around a mall, which had a Hot Topic and it was beautiful! When I say 'beautiful' I mean, I love all there Doctor Who, Disney and Harry Potter stuff but besides that... the store gives me the creeps. We also saw... A DISNEY STORE!!!!! Next to the late 'Borders' the Disney store is my next favorite! In the Disney store I was fortunate enough to get a Minnie Mouse t shirt that actually looks good on me! We also Pre ordered Frozen and got some snazzy looking pictures, which are hanging up in my room as we - you read this.
After that we left and journeyed to Heidi Alldredge's House where we all talked for about four hours then mom and I talked for another hour before we went to sleep. It was great to listen to them all talk about their college days and it also made me feel better about having pervy friends... Won't get into that.
Next day we went to Old Navy, where I got some much needed clothes! This includes another Minnie Mouse shirt!! Then we ate ourselves sick at Chuck o rama! We drove back to Ephraim, stopped at Walmart and came back! When they had left I learned that it was only Ashley and myself in the whole apartment... not going to lie.. It was absolutely HEAVENLY! Didn't have to worry about being judged! Ashley's cool with me singing in my room (at least I think she's cool with it.. hasn't complained) and I'm cool with her playing her clarinet!
Ashley and I both went to the combined church meeting on Sunday and for once the girls outweighed the boys and we both thought that we got the short end of the stick when it came to males in our ward. The weather was nice, all the snow finally melted so I went on a walk and Monday I've been attempting to do Homework....
Thank you all for reading this blog!! I love you all!!
~ Allanah Staggs <3
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