Just Me

I'll probably put another post up in a bit, or tomorrow about my life. But for now I just want to elaborate on some thoughts recently. I miss posting just random thoughts and opinions. Maybe that is what I am missing in my life, I no longer spontaneously bust out dancing, make weird noise or faces (as Hannah and Lizzy would know). I have almost lost my randomness outside of my interesting earrings. In honor of this sad loss, and to regain it, I think I may dance around my apartment all day and start randomly hugging my friends here.

I MISS HUGS! People rarely hug here and aaaaaah hugs are SOOO happy and fun! I love hugs and expect many when I come home. xP

My other thoughts lately have been on friends. What makes a true friend? To start, someone who cares about you. I don't mean just asking about your day or something. I mean sincerely care about your feelings, problems, thoughts and opinions. True friends are hard to come by, at least for me anyway. Though I may seem outgoing, I am still quite shy and trust very few people. Out here I have struggled somewhat because most people here just seem like fair weather friends. They ask you about your day but don't actually care unless you say something positive and let us face it, not every day is a happy one. But pondering on these thoughts, I started to realize who I counted as true friends and those that I honestly care about. it opened up my mind to questions of why I care about these people. Some are a given, family and my closest friends. But then there are others that I care about yet I am not always sure why. But that is the nature of friendship, you never know who you are going to meet.

Another thing is peace and solitude. Last night my roommate stayed over at a friends and for the first night in awhile, I was completely alone. I ended up staying up for hours just thinking and embracing the quiet serenity of night. Not that my roommate makes much noise to start, but something about that aloneness. Here you are NEVER alone, except to shower pretty much. There is always someone in the next room, talking away. And so I enjoyed my few hours of me time. Not to sound selfish, but you never realize how important alone time is, until you never have it.

My last thought for the night, is laughter is the best medicine. I laughed more and harder today than any other day, since I've been in Idaho. Maybe it was because we got lost, stuck in the sand dunes, ate pizookie (pizza cookie), played mario party until 1am, or just hung out. But maybe it was also because there is a bond between Alisa, Cacia, Rachel and I (the other 2 are gone for the weekend). Our silly freshmanness, or just honest goofiness connects us to each other. These memories we make are vital to our friendship. They connect us and make a bond that may last a life time, or maybe a few more semesters. But we will always remember the fun times of trying to push Rachel's car out of the sand, or riding over the bumpy dirt road, while muddy water flies up over the car. Or hanging out on Alisa's bed quoting Madagascar, even playing Mario Party and failing miserably due to Alisa flying through the directions so we have NO clue what on earth we are supposed to do. But all this is worth it for the laughing until you cry and your sides hurt and you hit your head against the window only to laugh even harder.

So enjoy your time, don't be scared to laugh. Do dumb things, make happy memories and connect yourself to those you care about. Because at the end of the day, your friends are a part of who you are and will become.

"Horses and 'like' horses live there too"
Meg

Lighting with clouds

I love how the ONE week that we have a lighting assignment, it starts raining and snowing and there is not any sunshine except for the random 5 minute periods when you're in class...

On the bright side (heh not meant to be a pun but yeah...) I got creative, sorta. He said he could do reflection of light and so the mirror reflects and lightens the grass.

I actually kinda like this one =D Just good contrast and set up. =]

Then I just did diffused lighting through the lamp shade. Not as cool but oh well.

But beforehand, I caught Glen on his way out and we ended up chatting for a bit about photographic stuff, ha yay photo dorks =D

Now if I can get everything done tomorrow, I will be happy! =D

Attack of the blender!
Meg

Spooky ookie kookie! I want a cookie!

Okay so our ward Halloween party was Monday night and it was pretty cool. It had the classic karaoke, doughnut eating, cake walk and all the fun stuff. We had the COOLEST/messiest game ever though! Where you fill up lines of cups with water and have to blow a ping pong ball across the line to the end. It made a HUGE mess but it made for lots of great laughs =] But the real party starts when the camera is brought out...

I was a pirate and it cost me $0 =D The eye patch was made of a papertowel roll, construction paper and floss (didn't have string)

Alisa ans Cacia are CRAZY! Love Alisa's outfit =]

Alisa wanted a piggy back ride, Cacia thought she could handle it...she couldn't...

This picture is just SO cute!

Pretty dead girl?

My tongue was pink from the cotton candy!!! =D

Keely was a hill billy! I wish I had a picture of Rachel, she dressed as a guy, and pulled it off! I'm pretty sure some girls were checking her out...just kidding maybe? It was hilarious!

Just silly Cacia! She had a blast with these pictures.

PRETTY!

She added more make-up for fun

Cacia and I! It was a blast and we had some gooooood times with this =]

Yeah I have (fake)blood on my lips, doesn't it look so good?
Meg

Weekend

Sorry it's taken me so long, CRAZY busy this week, not so much homework but just so much to be done. On the bright side I did get laundry done Monday! And I made Arizona Skillet dinner tonight =D It wasn't AS good as mom's but still pretty good, everyone liked it. (We made it because we're out of meat...) Plus I've been DYING to have it!

But I'll let the pictures do the talking for this weekend =D

This weekend I got to see some AMAZING people!

Catherine and I went to the Cocoa Bean and got the most amazing cupcakes ever!
Raspberry Chocolate Cheesecake & Better Than Whatever

Got got yummy Frappes!

My cute sister!

We painted our toes crazy colors!

And watched Confessions of a Shopoholic

Catherine curled her hair since I brought her straightener to her.
Then I went to go see Rachel White =D

She had Cheerwine, I hugged it for at least 5 minutes! Sadly we forgot to drink it =[

We wanted to make cookies, Rachel is short so she had to climb to get the sugar =]

Rachel and Kelsey! And the most amazing Double Chocolate Chip Peppermint Drop Cookiedough! It was better than the cookie! So we ate it!

But it kinda looked like poop....

But we still ate it because it was the yummiest nasty looking stuff ever!

Dinglehopper!
(If you don't know what movie that's from....you make me SAD!)

We made pazookie =D

And Jared and his friends came to visit and eat pazookie! =D

Then I went back to Catherine and Jesse's apartment and we carved pumpkins!!!!

Jesse carved leaves, I carved a sun! and Catherine carved rain drops!

Then we made Lava Baby Cakes!
(Chocolate cupcakes with creamy fudge inside, with strawberries and powdered sugar)

Another look because they just looked like pure heaven!

And my sister is SOOOOO crafty that she makes bowls out of magazines!

And pictures out of buttons and paper!

Not sure what this is, but it looks cool!

She stitches too!

Crazy awesome!

More basket things!

Cute huh?

Stricklan <3>

It looks like a flower =D

All her CRAZY homemade awesome jewelry! And the little bowl thing is the cutest!!!!

Little stars! She made me some for my apartment! Some of them got knotted though =[

And magnets! She made me some too! =D

So yeah my sister is pretty much amazing and this weekend was fun! =D =D =D

Get of town!
Meg

NEWS FLASH

GUESSSSSS WHAT!!!!!!!
IT'S FRIDAY!
DO YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS?!?!?!?!?!?
I GET TO SEE MY SEESTOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
AND YOU DON'T!
HA!
HA!
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA
HA!!!!!!
SO YAY FOR ME!!!!!!
I LEAVE SOON!
LIKE IN AN HOUR!
BUT MAYBE LESS!!!
BUT I AM GETTING SICK OF THESE PASTEL COLORS
ROCK THE GREEEEEN!!!
AND SKY BLUE!!!!!
HECK YES!!!!!!!!
HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY DAY!!!!

SO GO HAVE FUN BECAUSE TODAY IS AWESOME BECAUSE I GET TO SEE CATHERINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I love you all! Have a fabulous day because each day is a gift from God =D
~Meg~

Random thoughts of Megan

I am quite happy with today so far, and here are a few reasons why:

1) I slept in! Now before you get mad at me for skipping German, I know for a fact I didn't miss anything important because now we are moving on to verbs, which are REALLY easy and also I NEEDED IT! All of my roommates get at least one or two days during the week in which they can sleep until their hearts content. But not me =[ I am up by 8am Monday through Thursday and then 7am on Fridays! So I needed it and it seriously made my week better already =]

2) I actually kind of learned something in photography! I guess I probably already knew it but it was a great review that I actually needed on lenses and focal range.

3) Devotional was on Temple attendance today which is good because I have yet to have gone so I need to get on that. But it also reminded me of this one time this past year when we went with the youth. During that time I was able to do the work of an older woman for her grandmother and great grandmother and afterward I was able to talk to the woman and she thanked me for doing their baptisms. It was a great feeling knowing I was able to be a tool in the Lord's hands to do the work for this woman so that her family may accept and enjoy the blessings of the gospel.

4) Also during devotional I saw the smallest, cutest baby girl ever! She was probably a few weeks old, with dark thick brown hair that stuck out in all directions. Her mother wasn't much bigger than me and the baby's head was not much bigger than my fist. She was amazingly quiet during the talk except for one or two little moans of sleepiness. It was so quiet I barely noticed but man, I swear EVERYONE within 15 feet heard and all turned to look at this tiny baby!!!! And being all kind-hearted softies, we all sighed and awed at the little thing. For some reason, that made me happy, maybe it's because most of the people I knew back home never want to have kids and that is sad. =[ Where as here, if there is a baby, we all just oogle at the darling little thing and are secretly dying to hold it and touch it's tiny hands and feet. Let's face it, everything tiny is CUTE, except for when it's candy (bite size is not "fun" size, fun size is as big as your head!) then tiny is just dumb.

5) I got to talk to Aaron after devotional and I got to hear ALLLLLL about his awesome day! I love hearing such news especially from Aaron since he doesn't usually say very much about his life.

6) My dear, sweet mother sent off a package to me today, even though I only barely asked her last night. And now I am going to have my warm fuzzy fleece blanket that I have been missing terribly! But not as much as I miss my dear mother and father and Aaron!

7) I came home to a clean kitchen! Alisa and Cacia did the dishes and mopped the floor. They did the dishes because they knew it would make me happy not to have to do them! And it did! =D =D (When I woke up this morning, we had NO cups, bowls or spoons. We had 2 forks and 3 knives. Seriously.) So I am EXTREMELY grateful to them for doing that! =D =D =D =D

8) We have banana pudding, I ate some for breakfast and it was HEAVENLY!!!!

9) I got to chat with Jared Hall for awhile last night, it was fun and I am going to see him and his family this weekend in Provo =]

10) Speaking of Provo......I GET TO SEE MY SISTER ON FRIDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!! (If you missed my last post.....let's just say that saying I am excited to see my sister is an understatement....)

11) I found my ipod!!! Surprisingly behind my bed since I never have it on or anywhere near my bed....but oh well. =]

Cleanliness is next to Godliness =]
Meg

I'm so excited and I just can't fight it!

OKAY SO I AM JUST WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY TOOOOO EXCITED FOR MY OWN GOOD!!!!!!!! TODAY MY TEACHER CANCELED CLASS ON FRIDAY SO I DON'T HAVE TO MAKE IT UP AND THEN I GOT THE MONEY FOR MY RIDE DOWN ON FRIDAY TO PROVO AND NOW I AM BEYOND EXCIIIIIIIIIIITEEEDDDDD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I GET TO SEE THE MOST AMAZING SISTER IN THE WHOLE ENTIRE WORLD AND SHE JUST SO HAPPENS TO BE MINE!!!!!!!!!!! BE JEALOUS! BE SO JEALOUS! BECAUSE I GET TO SEE HER AND YOU DON'T! SO HA! TAKE THAT! I WIN!!! MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
(Why yes I went to bed late last night, why do you ask?)

Anywho, yeah so uh I can't wait for this weekend =] =] =] =] =] =] =] =] =] =] =] =] =]

True Friends, True Hearts

Findings:

I've been in college for around a month and a bit now and I would like to share some lessons I have learned in college.

1) Set at least 3 alarms every morning due to being deft. And even though your alarm may be blaring and wake up everyone else within a 50 foot perimeter, you may still never hear it. Also, it is good to have a roommate that sleeps even harder than you, therefore she does not get mad at you for waking up at 7/8am every single day.

2) When you are literally down to your last pair pants, just wear them all again. (As long as you don't go roll in the dirt or there are no visible stains, they are still good)

3) You know you have enough clothes when you DO have to do laundry, that your basket is as TALL and as heavy as you are.

4) Having roommates is about give and take. (I am not a great cook, so I leave it up to mainly Cacia and Alisa. In turn, I do the dishes about 95% of the time.)

5) I actually like doing dishes and they make for a great stress relief. =]

6) You can never have enough curling irons, straighteners and blow driers. (Between the 6 of us, we have about 20 of all of those....no seriously...)

7) Flats are your friend when church is up the ONE hill in Idaho. Then you can change into your cute heels once you GET to church.

8) Wind is evil.

9) When you are bored enough, you will be amazed how EXTREMELY creative you can get (hence whipped cream, giant cookies, cereal, barrel rolls, and the "haha" game)

10) You can take naps regardless of where/when or for how long, as long as you wake up and do something productive afterward.

11) Music makes walking more enjoyable.

12) Calling people is a great way to catch up with people.

13) Spiritual growth is just as important as social and mental growth.

14) Pray sincerely ALWAYS, even for meals, it makes a world of difference.

15) Learn to talk in person, communication is VITAL in all things.

16) Don't be scared to try new things, you might actually have fun.

17) It is never too late to work out, shower, or sing songs as long as you are not disrupting people or have class early the next day.

Well I think that is MOST of what I have learned...there's probably tons more but I can't think of them. But these are the most important ones. =] I hope you enjoyed these. Test them out, you might learn something too.

TALKING IS VITAL
Meg

Bragging rights are in order!

Okay basically I have the COOLEST friends ever! Or at least Brent is the coolest guy ever!!! If you haven't seen my recent album on facebook, you're in luck, I'm posting some pictures on here as well.

The assignment was to shoot motion, still action and blurred action. And Brent, being the crazy kid that he is just happens to be good at everything (though he is too modest to say so). He skateboards, long boards, wake boards, snowboards (apparently he's REALLY good at that, I haven't seen yet though), clogs, plays soccer, you name it, he does it. And he also happens to be able to one AMAZING barrel roll. I asked him how he learned and he said "I just thought it looked like fun and I wanted to try it, so I did" (He can also do lots of amazing tricks on the trampoline) He's crazy, but awesome.

Here is a recap of today:

Brent doing a barrel roll over a barrel!
You say I'm a good photographer? Well I couldn't do it without having a good friend with AMAZING skills!

Whenever he does a barrel roll, he does the same thing with his hand EVERYTIME, no joke. I took another picture almost exactly like it and his fingers were the same! Weird huh?
Brent: "I wonder if I do that with other stunts too..." (If you're wondering what he sounds like, he sounds like Crush from "Finding Nemo" no joke. It's awesome!")

Like I said, he skateboards too. I think I'm going to use this one for part of my project.

Another really cool shot! He's rusty, but still good. He could still ride the railing too!

The other one I think I might use for my project.

Or this one!

That's pretty much Brent's look whenever he's having fun.

I told him he could do whatever he wanted so he sat down and rode it. I think this picture is just kind of funny! He kinda tried to teach me to ride. It's not hard but scary when you go fast. I did not appreciate him giving me a boost, so I jumped off and the board kept going but we chased it down before it got too far.

Background on this mailbox, it came up to my armpit. He had never jumped anything that high before. He's around 6'3" and that is probably why he could do this.
Brent: "I'm probably not going to make this. But if I do, you BETTER get it on the first shot!"
And I did, and he landed it. So he got really excited and said
"Okay now shoot it from the bushes so you can get the front of me!"

And I did. There's that finger thing again. All in all, Brent is pretty freakin awesome and I had lots of fun doing this assignment. =]

"You have to learn how to crash"
Meg