...Busy Busy Busy...

Between starting at the Clerk's office full-time and having to go between two offices now (the actual courthouse and then the remote office off Sharer road, an extra 15 minutes from my house) combined with church, missionary work, and trying to be a good friend, I am busy busy busy.... that has also made me get behind in the blogging area... that alone makes me want to cry, so I promise (and I write this as more of a reminder ot myself then as information to the reader) to blog about my weekend with Tiara and her neices, my trip to Utah for conference, my new job, and also the temple trip to Orlando this last weekend... Its sad when you have an addiction that you can't spend all your time on... sucks when you become a real adult and have to spend all of your time working instead of going to school for 6 hours coming home and doing barely any homework and watch Deadliest Catch while you sit on the computer and eat (ahhhhh the good ole days).... nope instead I get to deal with waking up at the crack of dawn driving to work and working with angry customers all day then drive home to go to church and then to drive back home and crash... but hey, its my life, and I wouldn't trade it for the world!

..."Real" Adult...

Today I read my friend Eric's blog... he posted something that really made me think and re-taught me a lesson.... A person that he was not very close to, but knew passed away and on her blog she posted about how time has a different meaning once you realize the amount of it you have left... you realize the things that are really important in your life, like flossing? Is ti really that important when you realize you only have four weeks left? So much in life is like that... For instance I have no clue what I would do with my time... I think I might quit my job and sell all of my stuff and (since I have life insurance now) not freak out about what my parents are going to do money-wise... I probably would just go around the US seeing all of my distant family that I probably don't even realize I'm related to.... I mean once we leave this life, they are all we have left... I probably would make my sisters Lindsey and Amber take off school and go with me... I think I'd try to convince my brother Tommy to do it too... I think I take them all for granted...

Basically, life is full of hindsight... I mean take today for instance... I became a "real adult..." what makes you a real adult you might ask? Well according to this almost 20 year old, its when you have to pick out your health benefits and doctors that YOU are now paying for and then you realize that you also get life insurance just in case you croak and you have to pick people who get your money... INSANE! but today I had the hindsight of wishing that I was force to take a class on becoming an adult once a year in high school instead of gym once a semester... Hindsight.... but then I just realized... maybe becoming an adult is when you have to tough it out through these life decisions that you have no clue how to make... that's what really makes you a real adult... if not you would be skating by and kind of living life too easy... I don't want that either... So here I am... an real adult who now needs to rethink what time really means to her and the things that she should really be doing with it.... so far three things are on this list: 1. Serve the Lord more... 2. Spend more time with my loved ones... 3. Be a positive impact im more peoples lives....

Ready? Lets get started!

...Free Conference!...

I am getting he opportunity to go to conference in Salt Lake this weekend... it was kind of last minute and I'm very excited... best part.... I'll barely be spending any money! Got to love when the Lord blesses you! I'll be sure to blog alll about it later!

..Pure Domination...

A couple of weekends ago was the much anticipated BYU v FSU game... well it was much anticipated at least for us Saints who live in Tallahassee.... Most of us were torn... who to root for?! I had NO problem picking my team... I was going to stick with FSU.... everyone laughed at me, literally laughed! HOW MEAN RIGHT?! I knew we were going to loose, but come one, you can't just be a fair weather fan... no, if you pick top be a team fan, you pick to be with them through thick and thin....

Game day rolls around and almost exactly from the moment I woke up I started to get texts from my BYU friends talking up the pure domination that they would have over us "poor Lamanites," and that they, "the Lord's team," wouldn't loose... I mean they didn't loose at all last year... I took this all with a smile and decided that if I was going down today like I though, BYU 80 FSU 0, then I was going down in style... I put on all my garnet and gold get up and went to the Bachelor pad to watch my fate... I seriously think even out of all my friends in Tallahassee I was like 1 of 5 FSU fans that watched the game at the Bachelor pad... I'm pretty sure there ended up being like a good 40 people there....

Then magic happened... we scored within the first few moments... well then I was really nervous... BYU now has the ball... and they are going to smash us! NOPE! they lost the ball... yes they LOST it! Freak yeah! I'm pretty pumped at this point! Pretty much my FSU Seminoles were dominating and they had the ball almost the entire first half of the game... UNSPEAKABLE! I was pumped and amazed and so excited.... I was really worried that by the second half BYU would come back and murder us... after all BYU hasn't lost a home game in like either 20 years or 20 home games (I can't really remember, but either way).... NOPE! We continued to dominate! Pretty much made my life to smack talk back to all my BYU friends... they eventually stopped texting me back, but serves them right.... I guess the "Lord's Team" needed some humble pie... I mean sometimes the Nephites had to be humbled by the Lamanites... just saying :) FSU 54 BYU 28

btw... We won't even go there about the FSU v USF game.... DON'T GO THERE!

... Moving on Up...

Many would think going from a house to an apartment would be downgrading, but on the contraire! In my case it a very good upgrade... one its saving me money which I am in dire need of, and two, I get to live with my best friend in Tallahassee, well one of the but probably the most awesome!, Tiara... So now within the year I've lived in Tallahassee, I've lived in a dorm, then a house, and now an apartment! I'm a well rounded liver now I guess... I really loved living in the house I was in, but over the past few months things there have gotten hectic with one roommate getting married and then one bailing last minute I felt like I needed to move somewhere else, plus I am wanting to save money so I can start cosmetology school and maybe move elsewhere eventually... It was a MUST NEEDED move for sure...
I packed up my house in less than 2 hours and Elder and Sister Bowcutt (my surrogate grandparents and best buddies) came and helped me move in only two trip across town in their truck... I am soo grateful for their love and willingness to ALWAYS help me out... they are THE BEST! I love living with Tiara... She seriously has been placed into my life for a reason and at the perfect time... The Lord knew I needed a good friend and one to help me out of my funk when Justin and I broke up and man she was perfect for it... Being her friend and seeing her positive attitude daily is a great reminder that when you place your trust in the Savior and our Heavenly Father, every thing will work out like it is supposed too and there is no need for having a down day! She is beautiful on the inside and out and I'm so grateful that she is my friend! Sad thing is, is that people are always asking us both what the other one looks like and we don't ever have a picture top show them! We need to get one when I have my house warming party or something! Honestly though, the best way to describe Tiara, is beautiful, amazing, positive, and the best person I know! did I mention gorgeous... yeah she's that too :)

...Walter...

The other night I decided to have a date night with my roomie, Tiara (who still has yet to have her picture or our place on this blog, but no worries, they are coming soon!) and we went to see "Love Happens"... now Tiara is the best movie buddy ever because she likes to sneak food into the movie theaters too (her Louis V. carry on has become part of our movie going experience because it is big enough to hold our take out in) and because she also isn't overly into Romance movies like me right now, but sometimes can too, so its almost always perfect.... (I don't know if that last bit made sense, but to me it did)... Well I was pretty excited about the movie "Love Happens" because I knew it wasn't going to be your run of the mill boy meets girl, they fall in love, and its cute the entire movie kind of romance... I knew there would be more true to life drama and love in it... well it exceeded my expectations! The movie in my opinion was fantastic... a really good story about the struggles people go through in their lives and especially the mourning process...

Enter Walter.... Walter is a character from the movie... Now I'm not going to tell you a lot about the movie, but this touched me so I'm going to share.... I don't want to spoil anything... The main character in the movie, Burke, is a Grief Counselor who has his own self-help line of seminars and books... Walter happens to be a man that lost his 12 year old son in an accident at his construction site... Walter his a big manly man from Montana, and really is having a hard time letting his son's death go, and has let his grief ruin his life (he lost his job and his wife left him)... Walter used to be a contractor and could never go back to a construction site nor a hardware store without it affecting him so he just avoided it... In the movie, Burke convinces Walter not to leave the program and Walter stays.... he still struggles though and won't open up... well as a group, Burke gets the entire seminar group to go on a field trip, Walter included, and to Walter's surprise it is to the hardware store... At first Walter won't even get off the bus, but thanks to Burke's encouragement, he does and decides to face his fear and cope with his loss... It was amazing to see how this big man's heart was changed and how he was able to heal with the help of all of his peers... They walked around the hardware store and picked out all the tools necessary for him to become a contractor again... It was so touching to see these people who had suffered great losses also to help this man, and to see his face light up and know that he was loved and that he can go on and remember his son... To be honest I cried, as I'm sure the entire theater did, and it really spoke to me... I turned to Tiara and told her that, "Walter just needs the gospel! I need to find him and share it with him!" of course Walter is a fictional character and that I won't really share the gospel with him, but I did think to myself there are many people I know that have suffered losses, be it family, friends, or other things in their life, and need the gospel in their lives! It is the answer and the cure! The pure love of Christ has the power to heal and we posses it and need to share! Just like Walter's peers reached out to him, we need to reach out to those in our lives... I for one was touched by Walter's experience and had a change of heart towards those I come into contact with daily... I'm so grateful to know that I can be with my family for eternity... They are truly amazing!

...Aunt Jodi...

The other day I was looking at my aunt's blog and she had a picture of her and my aunt Jamie and my sister Lindsey... I wrote her a little comment and told her that I was jealous that she didn't post a picture of me or blog about me... well what do you get for being smart, or rather, a
smart aleck? well usually you get out smarted and look silly.... that is exactly what happened in my case... my aunt quickly replied to my comment with an email that had a link to a blog post from the pervious May when I was graduating... It was a really touching little post about how she can't believe I've grown up so fast and about the woman I'm becoming.... I forgot all about the post and I felt a little bad for having teased her when she wrote something so nice about me... so I told her I needed to blog about her instead...


Here are my top 10 memories of my aunt Jodi:

1. Calling me KayKay

2. Driving me to Tallahassee with her to visit aunt Jamie when I was in middle school and she bought me my favorite cd (still to this day) the All American Rejects and we jammed out to it the entire drive home.

3. Seeing her cry at my orientation because all of my schooling was payed for by scholarships.

4. Having her make me my graduation video

5. Babysitting her kids in Lakeland for a week during the summer and watching her sit up every night to sort through old papers.

6. I don't really remember what it was for, but I remember going over to Grandma's house and being so excited to see aunt Jodi because I'm pretty sure she was back from Rick's College.... It was when she had her curly hair.

7. Helping me mov into my dorm and her helping me put up my princess curtains.

8. Eating at Momo's for the FSU v. Miami game

9. Her being the only person that was super stoked when I called to tell them I got into FSU... she started doing the Tomahawk chant.

10. Her being scared crapless to go out on the ledge and take this picture with me...

I love my aunt so much... She is kind hearted and is one of the best mothers I know, and I hope to be like her... Her voice is amazing and I've always tried to copy it when I sing, and She has been through many similar things like me... I know she's the one to call when you want the pity party.... I love her I love her I love her!

*Soon to come: my blog post on my aunt Jamie*