Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Spring, spring, spring

"Its beginning to look a lot like Rexburg!
Snow on all the trees,
Take a look at women and men, frozen once again,
With icicles and frozen toes galore!
Its beginning to look a lot like Rexburg!
Spring is lost from sight,
But the prettiest sight you'll see 
Is the tiniest patch of green on your own front lawn."


Thank you, thank you! Yes I am going to publish that and make millions : )
As happy as I am about my latest stoke of genius, I'm not happy that there is snow on the ground and it is the second day of Spring...
All I have to say is that Spring (or maybe I should say Summer because I think Rexburg skips Spring) better be BEAUTIFUL to make up for all this miserable weather.   I have great hopes for Spring semester...the best part is that two of my room mates and I are moving into a house!


Isn't it cute!
Look at our porch!

Speaking of Spring this is my schedule!


CHIN 101 (rock on!)
SW 260--intro to Social Work
PSYCH 111
REL 112--Book of Mormon pt. 2
BIO 264--Anatomy and Physiology (this will be the death of me!)


Any guesses what my major is?...SOCIAL WORK! Ah I'm so excited : )  I really want to minor in International Studies but I don't know if I can...I will just do a little persuading I guess.


Ok so I'm officially starting a new tradition called Tunes Tuesday! So every Tuesday I will post a new song from artists that strike my fancy...I hope you are all excited as I am because I have pretty awesome taste in music if I do say so myself...then again maybe I'm just biased : )


Here's the song of the day:



Ta ta for now! Much love,

Nichole


Comment and let me know what plans you have for Spring!

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Acting on Impulse

This week I have two confessions.
1) I bought three boxes of girl scout cookies.
2) Friday I didn't go to bed until 5:30 in the morning.
Yeah college!

Earlier this week I went to Wal-Mart for groceries and there were the cutest little girl scouts selling cookies, so of course I had to buy some!  The Thin Mints were a must, but then again I love the peanut butter and chocolate ones, ooh and the straight peanut butter ones are good too...and that is how I ended up with three boxes of Girl Scout cookies.  Besides, it was for a good cause right?  When I got home I cracked open the Thin Mints and ate half the box. Ha! I just had no self control that day and I am perfectly ok with that!
Tempting little buggers!
Ok so confession number two...on Friday night my room mates came home from a basket ball game at around 11:30 and had magically obtained a pizza which looked so dang good we decided to bake it.  So there we were eating pizza at midnight until we felt sick.  PREFACE: my room mate Shayla (for reasons unknown) decided to take a job doing a paper route in middle of no where Idaho at two in the morning...every night.  Her friend on the basketball team, Ally, who is crazy and never sleeps decided that she would go with her to help out on the paper route.  Then on Wednesday night my other room mate Allysa decided she would join in the fun and go too.  On Friday Shayla's sister came to spend the night and also decided to go on the paper route.  I, being completely dumb and not wanting to miss out, decided to join them on the adventure.  After eating pizza we sat in the living room cracking jokes, goofing off, and killing time until we left at 2:00 AM.  When the time came we all hoped in the car and headed out to the barren waste land called Ashland where there was still a good 4-8 ft. of snow on the ground.  We put on N'Sync and jammed to that while singing at the top of our lungs.  Wow good memories of the 90's...anyways after about two hours the fun wore off very quickly.  I was so tired and the pizza we ate was doing funny stuff in my stomach.  I dozed off for a while but remembered thinking that it would never end!  To my relief, we got back into Rexburg at 5:30 Saturday morning.  We were all so wasted that we ran to our beds and were out before our heads hit the pillow.  It wasn't until noon that I emerged from my bedroom to find my other two room mates also just getting out of bed. 
P.S. that is the end of my confessions.  Feel free to read on to hear more about my oh so exciting weekend...if not, I thank you for making it this far : )

For breakfast/lunch we made German pancakes, which were delicious by the way!  We then went to the BYU-I center to shoot hoops and watch a boys basket ball game.  On returning home we watched more basketball!  We all got online and streamed the march madness games on our computers.  I must say that the BYU game was awesome!! I, just like everyone else, was expecting them to be crushed by Gonzaga but they pulled through in flying colors.  It was so refreshing to see them play as a well rounded team with better offense and not only rely on Jimmer to carry the team.  Anyways, after the BYU game in which they threw off everyone's brackets (muahaha) we returned to the BYU-I center to watch Allysa's basketball game at 8:00.  (And yes at this point I was a little basket balled out.)  Because it was just out of the question for her to eat dinner before the game, we got dinner at Subway after the game at 10:00.  To be honest, I don't know where the time went between then and midnight, but it wasn't until midnight that we started a movie, which was Stomp the Yard in case you were wondering.  And that my friends is how I stayed up until 2:30 last night.  Thank goodness for 1:00 church!

Ok, ok, so now I have had my rebellious fun and I promise this week I will be a more responsible adult : )  

Cherio! Much love,

Nichole

Sunday, March 13, 2011

ALFREDO

Ok so the alfredo sauce we made for our dinner was sooo delicious I thought I would share it with everyone!  Trust me, it is the best alfredo sauce you will ever eat!


8 oz. cream cheese
1 cube butter
3/4 cup parmesan cheese (grated)
1/2 cup milk


Combine all ingredients in a sauce pan and stir until melted.  Enjoy!

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Nostalgia

Hello! Guten Tag! Jambo! Aloha! Ni hao!


So yesterday, two of my friends came over to my apartment to make dinner. We decided to make pasta with delicious alfredo sauce, french bread, salad, and fruit.  Knowing me and my cooking record, burning something was inevitable...


Besides that, it was wonderfully delicious dinner and here are the pics for your enjoyment : ) 



Our cupcakes that didn't turn out very good...
Moral of the story: don't experiment with a recipe you've never made : )
So after dinner we watched the movie I.Q.  If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend watching it!  So adorable : )

Well that wraps up Friday...

Today being Saturday meant grocery shopping, yeah!  In Wal-Mart there is a shelf with little plastic putter and bowling kits that I've had my eyes on for the past few weeks.  Soooo today I got a little golf kit! Silly I know, but it was five dollars and I just couldn't pass it up.  Maybe I was feeling nostalgic for the good ol’ days when I was a kid or something, but I also bought one of those cups with the straw handle.  

Haha yes I am 6 years old...
So then, on the way home from Wal-Mart we stopped at a clothing store called Panache so Julie could buy some jewelry.  And this is what I did while we were there...
Coolest. chair. ever.
Well that wraps up my Saturday!  Oh yeah my roommates and I also watched the BYU game but that was just sad so I'm not even going to talk about it.  But, hypothetically speaking, if I were to talk about it I would say that BYU needs to round out their offense and not rely on Jimmer to carry the team. 

The end!

Much love,

Nichole

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Sometimes I take my umbrella to school...

Hello? Testing, testing...

Monday it was actually warm in Rexburg! Exciting right? So then Tuesday morning I was feeling rather optimistic about going to class, and then I stepped outside...it was as though Rexburg was in its own little snow globe and the god of humor decide to give it a really good shake...
In 500 Days of Summer there is a scene where Tom is riding the bus and hears the Smith's song that reminds him  of Summer and he yells, "I HATE THIS SONG!"  So then everyone stares at him and he is asked to leave the bus.  Sometimes while walking to class I imagine myself yelling, "I HATE THE WIND!" and watching everyone stare at me and give me funny looks...I feel like writing a book called "Nichole and the Horrible, No Good, Very Blustery Day", in which I talk about how I am going to move to Africa.  haha.  
Ah I feel much better now that I got that all out...it really isn't that bad, I'm just a big baby. 
Haha the only difference is that he has a cleaner room than me : )
It is common knowledge that I really don't like math.  Fortunately for me I have a really funny math professor that makes class enjoyable who also teaches in a way that I understand.  It has been a really helpful class that has taught me a lot about finances, mortgages, and the probability I will win the lottery, hence the name Math For the Real World.  I wish I would've written down all the goofy things my professor has said in class because they just crack me up!  Oh well.  But, I did remember some things he said in class today and I would like to share them.

Bro. Goodwin: "Sometimes I bring my umbrella to school with me...even when it is not raining because it makes me feel cool..."

Bro. Goodwin: "Bed, Bath, and Beyond.  Hmm, that is a really romantic name for a store if you think about it..."

Bro. Goodwin: "We can't divide by zero, but Chuck Norris can.  But seriously, please don't try and divide by zero...it is in direct violation of the honor code."

Ok well it's time for homework, woot. Ta ta for now!

Much love,

Nichole

Monday, March 7, 2011

Back to reality

Well for all of you who don't know, I went home to Utah for the weekend and it was fabulous! I love being home with my family and doing anything and everything.  
Lets see, my weekend consisted of
sleeping 
being silly
75th birthday party
vegging (aka doing nothing)
eating
The Adjustment Bureau 
errands
I'm trying to make it sound interesting, but it was rather uneventful...all that matters is that I got to spend the weekend with my family with not a care in the world!  For any who are interested, here are a few photos from the surprise birthday party we had for my grandpa:


The women hard at work getting the desserts ready
She was being a pest and wouldn't put her hands down!
Aw how precious : )
Haha this is Heather's favorite thing to do!
We make such a great pair : )
Sadly I didn't get a picture of his face when he walked in,
but he was sure surprised!
This doesn't even show the HUGE amount of dessert we had...
haha too bad you can't see Chad's face very well, he is making the
funniest face! 
Allyson, Bryce, and Camille
Ah good times...I can't even tell you how much I didn't want to go back to school!

Well anyways, I'm sad to say I didn't keep my promise to post a new video everyday last week...
So it is your lucky day because you get three for the price of one!

Oh and one more thing...I'm still discovering my blog "identity" and how I want it to look so there might be some fun changes here in the future.  I want to do some revamping to make it a little more...interesting for lack of a better word.

Ta ta for now! 
Much love,

Nichole

This one is ten minutes long, but so worth watching!

Always been my favorite

Such a great message!

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Woot

Today was one of those days where you stare at your closet, and you think 'I have nothing to wear.'  And so you try everything on and nothing works.  So then you just settle on something because you can't spend all day playing dress up.  If you are a girl you know what I'm talking about.  So while I was doing my hair I stopped and thought, 'wow how lame am I?'  Here I am starring at a closet full of clothes complaining about having nothing to wear when there are children in Africa who have maybe two things to choose from; a ratty old shirt and pants or their school uniform.  We have so much to be thankful for! Don't ever take your life for granted.


Well I don't exactly have anything clever to say but as far as good news goes it was "warm" today in Rexburg which means it was above freezing!  Instead of icy, everything was wet and grass is starting to show!  Woot.


So long story short, a few weeks ago I met a lady, Trisha, at a ward's service project sewing reusable pad kits to send to Uganda in which they had me talk and help out.  So last night I babysat her kids and it was so much fun! I started babysitting when I was about eight and that continued until I was about seventeen.  I absolutely LOVE kids and it was so awesome to babysit again! All I can say is that I can't wait to have kids of my own : )  Anyways, I babysat the four youngest boys and besides the baby screaming for 25 minutes strait after the parents left, we had fun acting like cowboys, doing crafts, and dancing around the basement.  (By the way, the secret to kids is they can't cry forever, so you just have to be patient and wait it out.) Ah it was so good to be around kids again since I'm constantly surrounded by people my age.  The beauty of kids is that they don't pass judgement are full of innocence and curiosity.  


Well besides that, nothing terribly exciting has happened in the past 24-hours so I guess this is ta ta for now!




"'Someday I will' can be a thief of the opportunities of time and the blessings of eternity."  Do not rob yourself.


Much love,


Nichole

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Catch some Z's

Well good morning/almost afternoon everybody!
Currently I am situated quite comfortably in a chair doing "homework" in the BYU-I Center.  It's so peaceful and quite with plenty of lighting from the large wall of windows...its amazing I didn't discover this earlier.  I wasn't up late last night, I just had to get up early today and I am feeling the effects.  I had the hardest time paying attention in my science class and it is equally difficult to focus on my studying.  
So...I decided to take a break and write about how tired I was! Perfect solution.
Speaking of the I Center, last night I volunteered to help clean it.  (For all of you who don't know what the I Center is or what it looks like click here---> BYU-I) It is HUGE!  It is a scaled down version of the Conference Center...which means it two hours to help clean.  I was assigned to the vacuuming group which meant vacuum backpacks!!  I do have to admit we looked pretty cool with our packs and went around humming "Ghost busters" 
Lets just say the fun of being a "ghost buster" didn't last very long...

Anyways, I really need to get back to studying for my science test, but as I promised her is one of my favorite video clips that has a little something for everyone!



Lots of love,

Nichole

P.S. Who you gonna call?...Ghost Busters!

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Inspiration

Ok it's confession time.
So the last few weeks I have just been coasting; not doing anything great but still getting by.  I have slacked off on my scripture reading, been staying up too late, and poorly managing my time.  Yesterday I just got so sick of this laziness and pathetic behavior.  I happened to be on youtube looking at some stupid video and the Mormon messages came to mind.  I got on to lds.org and the first thing I saw was the colorful and beautiful picture of a performance for the Kyiv Ukraine temple dedication.  As I watched the video and heard the testimonies of the members in Ukraine I was overcome with the spirit.  It was a much needed wake up call. I continued to watch more and more of the Mormon messages and before I knew it the clock read 1:00 AM.  The peace I felt from watching those videos was so addicting that I could've watched them for hours.  It is truly a blessing to having living prophets on the earth and modern revelation that makes it possible to come back to Christ when we have been lost.  Because these messages meant so much to me and were so uplifting, I wanted to share them with you!  Every day this week I will post a new video that has inspired me and given me the strength to be better. 


Oh and because I missed yesterday, I will post two videos today : ) Enjoy!




Much love,

Nichole

Monday, February 28, 2011

Blustery Day

I hate the wind in Rexburg!! 
Ah I feel much better now that I got that out...


The End.

The last two weeks in 5 minutes...or less...depending on how fast you read!

Top of the evening to you all! 
(I don't know if it counts to say that unless it is the morning...)  
Well I apologize that I haven't posted anything in well over a week, not that anyone really cares but I will apologize anyways!  See this is exactly why I don't keep a journal because I have a hard time being consistent in writing.  But that is besides the point...

So lets start with Valentines.  Well because all of my room mates and I are single we decided to have a girls night and just enjoy ourselves.  We went to Ramirez (a Mexican restaurant) for dinner and ate ourselves sick.  Then we decided dessert was a must; therefore we drove to Broulim's and got peach pie, ice cream, and lots of Martineli's : )  We decided against a typical chic flick and watched Charlie St. Cloud instead.  When we got to our apartment we all slipped into comfy clothes, popped the pie in the oven, and began passing around the bubbly...well here's what followed...


For some reason we then decided to do our best impressions of being drunk... I'm kind of regretting this now...haha but nonetheless here are the pictures for your entertainment : )


Shayla's face is my favorite!! If looks could kill...

Yeah for Martineli's!
I feel a little embarrassed that I only have pictures of us drinking...

Then there was the long weekend!  Yeah for Utah, home sweet home : )  It was awesome spending time with my family and catching up with friends.  That Friday the Global Outreach Foundation had a super fun Valentine's dance fundraiser.  Thank you, thank you Kyle Longhurst and Danny Davis for DJ'ing the dance!!  And thank you to all that came and supported GOF! 

On Saturday we decided to go see a movie as a family and guess what we saw?

Justin Bieber! Haha yes I do admit I am a bit of a Bieber fan now but don't worry girls he's all your's...a little too young for me : )

Creepy stalker story.  Feel free to read or skip to more pictures further down : )

Well fast forward a few days to Tuesday the 22nd and you will find me studying in the library. While I was studying in a little cubicle, a guy sat down next to me and I just looked over and smiled...well it all went down hill from there...he started talking to me for about five minutes at which point I had to cut it off because I had a ton of homework.  For the next hour or two while I was there he would occasionally lean back to "stretch" and look at what I was working on.  Creepy right?  So then when he got up to leave I breathed a sigh of relief, but then out of no where he was standing next to me saying, "it was Nichole right?" Oh dear... at this point he proceeded to ask me for my number which I gave him because I felt bad saying no.  As much as I wasn't interested I gave him props for having the courage to ask.  But the story doesn't end there!  So then the next day after I was done studying for my test and was on my way to the testing center I happened to see him.  I panicked because I didn't know what to do so I whipped my phone out of my pocket and pretended to answer a call.  Lame, I know!  I quickly walked out of the library and pretended not to see him.  I hoped that being on the phone would deter him from trying to talk to me (which most well mannered people wouldn't try to talk to someone in the middle of a phone conversation, not him!)  During my "conversation" with my imaginary room mate, I said I was going to take a test and that I would join her at the game later. I continued to babble on about other things because I didn't want to get off the phone until I was safely inside the testing center.  When I got to the door I saw in the reflection that he was still behind me.  (For all of you not a BYU-I just know that the library and testing center aren't exactly next door neighbors, so he followed me quite a ways.)  I rushed up the stairs and got to the counter at which point I "hung up" the phone and gave my I-card to the clerk.  I thought there was no way he would actually follow me up to the counter when I was going to take a test.  But once again he proved me wrong!  Out of no where he was standing next to me waving to get my attention while I was trying to quickly get my materials and get in the testing room.  I was so flustered that when he asked me to have ice cream sundaes with him on Sunday I said that my FHE brothers had already invited my room mates and I over for dessert and games.  I know, its horrible that I lied and rather childish but I panicked!  Now I am forever paranoid to go in the library...I will keep you posted if anything else happens.  But out of curiosity and because you all must think I am a total loser now, what are you think about what happened?
Not my best week...

On Friday after my room mates and I went to a basket ball game or two, we came home and decided to make french toast.  Best midnight snack ever! The key is to put on lots of syrup and lots of powdered sugar and BAM you have heaven on a plate : )


At some point during the weekend we whipped out the whipped cream and had a little fun trying to catch it in our mouths.  Its all fun and games until someone gets it all over their face and shirt...

We love whipped cream!
Then we get to Sunday...well we had a little deja vu in our apartment. If you remember, the first time was a little something like this:




Lo and behold the toast I burned horribly.  Not only did I burn it to a crisp, but this time I set off the fire alarm!  So much for my attempts to have a delicious Italian dinner of salad, pasta with Alfredo, and...toast...




Disclaimer: dearest future husband, I promise I am a good cook and only burn things occasionally : )

Well I hope that gave you a good laugh!  Have a wonderful week everyone!  Find beauty in the simple things and refrain from judging others.  I leave you with two songs, one I discovered this week and the other an all time favorite!   






Much love,

Nichole

Monday, February 14, 2011

L is for the way you look at me...

Happy Valentines everyone!  For all you lovers out there have a fabulous day...for all the singles don't be a baby, don't whine about being single, enjoy this day and do something nice for someone else! In honor of Valentines (and as a little "how to" for the boys) here is a scene from the greatest love story, Pride and Prejudice : )



Wow. It's been a long time since I last posted...mostly because I am lazy and partly because I've been busy, but that is besides the point.
A word of caution before I proceed, brace yourself (maybe grab some popcorn) because I have a lot to spit out and some fun/pointless pictures.

First and foremost, THIS FRIDAY there is going to be an awesome Valentines Dance Fundraiser for The Global Outreach Foundation. Here is the flier:


Please bring some friends to support this great cause and have a good time while doing it!

Well last week was the Super Bowl and boy it was a blast!  We had a break the fast/Super Bowl party at a guys apartment in our ward.  The menu was:
1) Cookies
2) Chips and salsa
3) Soda pop
4) Super chocolatey brownies
5) Fries 
6) Pizza
and last but not least
7) Chicken wings

Don't judge.

After the game we played Nintendo 64 (awesome right!) and I totally lost at Mario Kart...but 007 was  by far my favorite : )
Liking the bowl is my specialty!
Shayla loves Asians so Allysa pretended she was one...
...I guess Jake is Asian too...
A little harmless vandalism in the boys parking lot after the game : )
Boy I'm going to miss football season...

So last week my room mate had a bag of potatoes that were going bad; her solution was to peel all of them and make good use of them.  When I got home from the gym I found mashed potatoes, funeral potatoes, and potato cake (don't ask...).


I love my room mates!  

Well I think that about does it for today, have a supercalafragalisticexpialadocious Valentines Day!

Oh by the way, this is the best song EVER, enjoy : )