Apostrophe

Finals are almost over!

I've survived my first semester of college!

I get to go home to see my family in ten days!

...

I'm getting married! Whoa! So many wonderful and exciting things!!!

I've just been sitting here thinking, if you asked me five years ago where I thought I would be now, I would definitely not have said here haha! because I could never have guessed that my life would be so blessed. At the age of fourteen, being in 9th grade (the height of my social life), I would have said that five years from then I saw myself at USU studying to be an English teacher, maybe preparing for a mission, working as a receptionist or something in a big corporate office. At that point in my life I was convinced that I would never like guys since they were all dumb and had cooties :P Just as so, I thought I would never get married because guys don't like girls like me. I'm way too picky, I'm not twig thin, and apparently (or so my family tells me) I'm intimidating. I most DEFINITELY never expected myself to end up at BYU of all places, and I could only have dreamed of working at Deseret Book.

I am so grateful that the Lord has blessed me and guided me to where I am now. I don't think there is a better or happier place I could be. Despite my best efforts, I'm at BYU :) and I'm so glad that I am. Deseret Book is fantastic! I've worked there for just over four months now, and I still love it. Tyler and Karen are so amazing to let me live with them, especially with everything they have to deal with now (me being all mushy and everything lol! I'm pretty sure they don't really like seeing me cuddle with my fiancee!) There are no words for how grateful I am for Dustin. It took a lot of hard work to get to where I am, and through most of that journey I somehow felt like I was heading where God wanted me to go, not necessarily anywhere near where I had planned. If I had been stubborn and trusted in my own strength rather than the Lord's, I shudder to think where I would be now. I've been blessed with an amazing life now, and I can glimpse a little bit of the amazing future I have ahead of me. I'm so grateful to be sharing that future with Dustin, and I'm so grateful for the unexpected twists and turns that God graciously guided me through to get me here to be with him.

I am so blessed, and I am so grateful!

(P.S. Just as a side note, for those of you who don't know, Dustin hasn't officially proposed, that will happen in about two weeks, but he already bought the ring, and we've set the date for May 25th 2010 at the Oquirrh Mountain Temple, so, it's about as official as official can get!)

Okay, so I'm weird...

Katie :P

Dustin!

Tee hee hee hee hee :) This one is my favorite!

Gimme a break! I'm entitled to be mushy and cheezy and excited :) Dustin and I wanted to take some pictures together, so we went to the Oquirrh Mtn. Temple for some awesome scenery and then back to Tyler and Karen's condo for a couple more. I just wanted to post a few of my favorites :D

Hooray for the Holidays!

I have time!!! It's a beautiful thing that's sorta been absent from my life recently! College is kicking my booty! Just before the Thanksgiving break, my teachers all decided to give us papers and tests galore! I've barely had time to eat! Just so you all know what I'm taking, I'm in a total of 6 classes equaling 14.5 credit hours. Honors English 150, Honors Music 201, Freshman Academy, American Heritage, Book of Mormon, and Humanities 101. Most of these classes are great! American Heritage is really boring, but not bad overall. Humanities is my FAVORITE! I've actually reconsidered my major (though I'm still officially undecided, I was most likely going into an English major) now I think I might do a Humanities major :) The one class that I'm having the hardest time in is my Music class. It's not really music. We've been learning a ton more about art, architecture, literature, and philosophy than we have about music. And my teacher kinda just rushes through all the info during class, avoids our questions because he has to cover all his material, and creates killer tests where if we haven't memorized the textbook, we're going to fail. It's awesome! The test format usually goes like this: 60-80 multiple choice questions, then 3 short essays, 3 medium essays, 3 long essays, and then 3 really long essays. :) They generally take me about 3 hours and I have to hurry through them because I have to catch a bus that'll get me home before midnight!
Work is great! I love working at Deseret Book! It's essentially my dream job :) The people I work with are amazing too! When I first started working, it was pretty slow which was a really good thing because it helped me learn all the product and the store's layout without being a nuisance. Now it's really picking up! We've been super busy lately with all the seasonal shoppers. I love feeling useful when someone comes in and is looking for this specific book and I can take them straight to it or even if I can't take them straight to it, it's awesome to just be able to look it up in our system and find it fairly quickly. I've only had a few incidents with rabid customers. For the most part, I think my favorite part about working at Deseret Book, other than the amazing atmosphere, is how many people I see! I've run into so many family members and friends from the wards way back when! I'm really happy with work.
I think the biggest excitement in my life right now is something that won't surprise any of you :) Yesterday, I guess (though it sounds really really REALLY cheezy to say it) was Dustin and my two month marker. I've never been happier in my life. He is truly an amazing man. I still have a hard time thinking that I'm old enough to be dating let alone dating seriously. It's hard for me to realize that I really am nineteen, and I really am in college, and I really am eligible. And I have an even harder time comprehending how much we care for each other. We've seen each other at least every other day for the past month and a half. And I still want to spend every minute possible with him. I'm really excited that he's coming home with me for Christmas! Thank you so much to Mom and Dad for offering! We're totally excited! He is stoked to meet my family, and I'm ecstatic for him to meet them and for them to meet him :P I met his family on our second unofficial date and I spend lots of time with them now, so it's only fair that he gets to spend a week and a half under the heat with my family right?!
Anyway, I'm super happy, and even with all the stress and absence of time, I don't feel it as much as I would if I didn't have the Lord on my side. I'm really grateful for His mercy toward me. I know it's a miracle that I'm out here, that I'm living with my wonderful brother and sister-in-law, and that I'm spending my time in such spiritual and elevating places. He is watching over me, and I am so grateful this holiday season that I have His love with me wherever I go. Thank you to all of you who have given me added strength through your prayers and support. I love you guys!

Oh my gosh...

I have a boyfriend... AHHH!!!!!!!!

Going to get shots... for a date?

Okay, so it didn't end up being a date really. That was last night. Karen, my oh so eager sister-in-law, was the mastermind, matchmaker, you name it but what it boils down to is that she set me up on a blind date with her cousin. Of course Tyler helped, but still. His name is Dustin, just in case you were wondering, and he was supposed to come over at about 5:30 or 6:00 for some pizza and games with Tyler and Karen and me. Naturally, he got here at 5:15 whilst I was still rushing to put on my makeup and Tyler and Karen were gone to get the pizza. I was thoroughly embarrassed, and what do you say to a guy you've never met before when he's early for a date?! I locked myself in the bathroom, finished my makeup, and dawdled until Tyler and Karen got back. Shwew! We chatted while the pizza was baking. Then we ate. Then we went downstairs to play a game. Then we played the Wii. Then we watched Hercules and sang along (YES! this happened to be my favorite part). Then we all said good night. At least, that's the short version. The longer version just includes details about the inner mechanisms of my mind, particularly during and after the goodbye :) All in all, the date went pretty well, considering it was a first date and a blind date, which is just a recipe for awkward. Dustin is a student nurse at the U of U, and he mentioned that he was going to be administering flu shots today. This is where the intriguing title of this blog plays in. I HATE shots. Probably the only thing I hate worse than shots is getting sick. So, I'd been thinking about getting a flu shot anyway, but then he said this, and all of the sudden I had a greater motivation to go get a flu shot :D So Karen, Tyler and I all went to the IHC to get poked, and... how convenient! the shots were for the employees only! So I got to see him again, without the pain of a needle! Hooray! Though, this does mean that I'm going to have to get a shot anyway, and it's not going to be nearly as pleasant or informative. Anywho, in other recent news, school and work are draining the life out of me, but I'm surviving, and I am still in pursuit of the ever elusive right ward. I've found my home ward and gotten my temple recommend and everything I needed from there, so now I'm off on the hunt for a good singles ward. Oh! And I got to go see the Scarlet Pimpernel at the Hale Center Theater today!!! It was fantastic!!!!! Amazing! So that's that, and I'll inform you on any other significant matters in the near future :)

New Student Orientation

So today was the third day of new student orientation (NSO.) I... am... sooooo... exhausted! School hasn't even officially started and I'm dead on my feet! Wednesday was my first Freshman Academy meeting. Freshman Academy is a VERY nice little program specializing in poor little, daunted, out-of-water freshies. It's divided into communities, and you pick the community that most sounds like something you would be interested in (ie. I picked Varieties of Human Expressions because I love the arts and all sorts of means by which people express themselves.) Then you apply, and once you're accepted, you pick what they call an "envelope" of classes, which is a group of 3-4 classes you take as a bundle. Depending on the envelope you choose, you'll be put into those exact classes with the other members of your community, so there will be about 15-20 people you know from your Freshman Academy community in 3 or 4 of your classes. So, basically, Freshman Academy is a means of easing freshman into the enormous setting of college by placing them in classes with people they've met; an instant group of friends. Thursday was a whole lot of hooplah. Informational meetings and tours and speeches and dinners... that dinner was good though :) All in all very tiring. By this time, my hip was killing me. (I have a hip issue from a about a year ago from just sitting funny.) Karen and I decided that since she didn't have work until ten and we both wanted to sleep in that I wouldn't bother going to the meetings until about ten since those were the only really important ones. So today I got there just before ten and went to sign up for Choral auditions, which turned out to be pretty much pointless since I can't fit it into my schedule anyway. They have bad info on the web. I went to a couple presentations for the different colleges, namely the college of fine arts and the college of humanities. I got a free t-shirt, met a couple new friends, earned myself a good amount of sleeping in time tomorrow, and a huge headache from the amount of information they tried to cram into my wee noggin (oh, and the aforementioned pain in legs and especially hip.) Not to mention they drained my pocket book from books, UTAPass, and tuition... But other than that I had a good time :D And the fun continues tomorrow (though luckily tomorrow it only goes from 4-11 or something like that.)

The Most Ridiculous Interview Ever!

On Monday, I had an interview at the CougarEat at BYU, and this is about how it went.
I got there with fifteen minutes to spare. I sat down at a table and side glanced at a group of new employees getting their uniforms and being taken on a tour. I determined that I'd go talk to whoever was in the office five minutes before I was actually supposed to be there. But, that plan was undermined by a girl who came to ask a question. That question took the better part of ten minutes. Finally, she left and I went to talk to them, but just as I was getting there, they decided they were going to leave. I said, "Um, hi, I'm here for an interview," and they said, "Oh, uh..." and the one guy turned to his partner and said, "Maybe, do you think Janalee could..." "Yeah, call Janalee" So I waited while they called over their little walkie-talkie "Janalee, could you come take care of an interview?" "Yeah, just a minute" Finally, they turn to me and say, "If you wanna just take a seat, she'll be with you in just a minute" I smiled and said thank you. As they were leaving one of them turned back and said, "Oh, what's your name?" "Katie" "Okay" And then they left and I waited. And I waited. Janalee finally came over and said, "Hi Katie, I'm Janalee, let me just go get something" She ducked into the office where the men had come from. And I waited. And waited. She came out carrying three enormous binders. She sat down and asked me, "So, have you already filled out an application?" Duh, I thought and said, "Yes." "Oh, let me go find that." So she went back into the office, and I waited. When she came back she said, "So, tell me a little about yourself." "Uh... in reference to what?" "Anything" "Well, I'm excited to come to BYU, especially for the spiritual aspect. I love music; I've been singing for as long as I can remember, and I've played the piano for thirteen years. I like reading and writing..." "Good. So is this your availability?" she asked pointing to my application. Again, duh, obviously. "Yes." "Okay, tell me a bit about your work experience." Well, if you just look at my application, it's all right there. "I acutally started work when I was fourteen as a janitor..." and I proceeded to tell her monotonously about every job I'd had since then. "Okay, let me ask you this. What does 'customer service' mean to you?" Finally a real question! "Well, it means that the customer is always right. It means you do everything you can to ensure their satisfaction..." and she kept staring at me like she wanted more... "and it means you do everything you can to make sure the customer knows you care." "Good, good." She then informed me that here at the CougarEat they aim to give "legendary" customer service. She pulled one of the enormous notebooks entitled "Fall Semester" to her and opened it asking me, "So, where would you like to work?" I told her that I'd probably like to work at the Sugar&Spice because it was pastries. "Oh, well, here at the CougarEat, we are all one entity, but Sugar&Spice does its own hiring, let me go see if they're available." And she left me yet again to wait. She came back and said, "She's actually not here, so is there anywhere else you'd like to work?" "Anywhere available" "Alright" Then she started looking through the notebook. This took a really long time, which this time, I was waiting for a good reason, so I didn't mind. Except the fact that she kept getting side-tracked by talking and joking with friends. Finally, she looks me in the eye and says, "I'm thinking Taco Bell." wow... "Sure, sounds good." Then she started writing down times which I finally realized were shifts. "Oh, just for information, I commute from Draper every day, I don't live on campus." She continued writing my name into shifts. Now, I had an interview of a much higher calibur at Deseret Book, where I actually want to work on the Thursday prior to this and they actually offered me the job, but I told them that I had this interview that I had already committed to being at, so I asked if I could call back. I started freaking out because it looked like the CougarEat expected me to take the job simply because I applied. "Question: does this mean I got the job?" "Oh! Oh, yeah, yeah." "Um... I actually had an interview last week, and I'm thinking it will probably be more convenient based on location, so can I call you back with a decision?" "Oh, okay, you'll need to give Holley a call. Here's the number." "Thank you so much, I really appreciate it." "Yup" and she stood up and left. She went into the office, so I wasn't sure if I was allowed to leave because she didn't shake my hand or say thank you or anything that indicated my excuse.
Yeah, needless to say, I won't be working there.

Updates

So, just to make sure everyone knows (though I hardly believe this is letting anyone know anything since Karen is the only person who bothers to check her blog regularly) I am living with Tyler and Karen in Utah now. I moved here to attend college at BYU. I've visited there several times over the last couple of weeks to ask various questions and put in several job applications. So far, I haven't learned a whole lot from BYU about BYU, but I have two job interviews scheduled. One this Thursday the 6th with Deseret Book (YAY! I'm excited for that one) and one with the CougarEat on Monday the 10th. Well, I don't really have a whole lot else to update you on, just that I'm here, I'm happy, I'm stressed, and I'm busy :D

The Peanut Butter and Jelly Appreciation Club (aka the PBJAC)

This is Karen's fault. Here's how the story goes.
Last night we had FHE here at Tyler and Karen's place. Luke and Mickel Politis were over, and they brought a new couple, Chris and Jessie. We had our little spiritual thought and then Chris and Jessie taught us how to play Beyond Balderdash. For those of you who don't know how to play, one person draws a card and reads either a vocabulary word, a date, a movie, a person, or an acronym based on the number rolled with a die. Everybody then writes their own definition, or explanation for these. For example, one acronym was the ASSB. There were several guesses as to what it could be, such as the Agricultural Society for Success Bureau. (That was my bogus answer, I had no idea) The real answer was the A (we don't remember what the A stood for) Society for Second Bananas. Weird right? Well, Karen was telling me later last night that she wished there was an acronym CAS and then told me the story of the CAS. Long story short, CAS stands for the Corndog Appreciation Society.
This morning, I decided that since I'm now off at college and away from my family in Georgia, I should create my own blog. Karen and I were trying to come up with a name, and she suggested I call it the Society for Second Bananas. I said "NO!!!" then she said that I should call it the CAS, and once again I said "No!!!" In my head I was thinking, "Man, I don't even like Corndogs or hotdogs in general for that matter. No, if I were going to make an acronym or something out of this blog name, it'd have to be the Peanut Butter and Jelly Appreciation Society because I actually like those, and I'll certainly be eating a lot of them as a starving college student." So there, that's how we came up with the name. But I never ever would have done it unless Karen told me I had to :) Hence the creation of my new blog at http://www.pbjac.blogspot.com/