memorial day

I love three day weekends! This Memorial Day was a blast. If Utah weather would ever cooperate it would have been even better. For some reason this year the weather has been ridiculously cold. There are a few warm days every now and then but then it just rains and rains and rains. I am pretty sure Provo is close to just floating away! Here is a recap of a great day!

Swimming outside during a hail storm

watching a real life version of the sexy sax man but guitar style

Having a great potluck with friends

Playing croquet in the rain, wind, and sunshine

Making caramel popcorn

learning how to fire breath!

I love the random nature of college life. There is nothing that is too outrageous to try in one day! I hope your day was as great as mine!

xoxo-Jessica

Happy Birthday Sister of Mine

This is going to be us in fifty years!

Kortni Kay White, Happy Birthday to you!!! My little sister is 19 now! I can not believe that she is getting old and getting married! Kortni and I have been best friends since the moment we met! I couldn't ask for a better sister! I found this quote and it describes perfectly how I feel about our relationship:

"A Sister is God's way of proving He doesn't want us to walk alone"

Author: unknown

This quote says it all! I have the most loyal sister in the world. There has never been another person more dedicated to listening and helping. We know exactly which buttons to push and how to get the other to react. It has been a blast having her as a sister and I wanted to wish her a very Happy Birthday!

Saving the World... one loaf of bread at a time

The summer is getting off to a great start! Being back in Provo is a dream. I have had to make some adjusts back to college life but it has been well worth it. On Monday, I started my new internship! I am now officially an Americorps member working at Community Action Food Bank in Provo, thank you very much! My first day was quite a shock, to say the least. So my boss, well he is sort of in charge of me, wasn't going to be there on the first day; no problem, right? Well...problem. I had no idea what I was doing. So another boss that I have named Bruce { insert the song "Don't Bring Me Down"} was the very first person that I met. He is not the most friendly of people told me that I couldn't wear the sandals that I was wearing. I am a pretty prepared person and had some tennis shoes in my car which I put on, not to mention with skinny jeans. So now I can start my job, terrible fashion statement and all. My first assignment: go through about one billion (but who is counting) boxes of bread and put them in another box. I did this for FOUR hours! Literally that is all I did. box-bread-box-bread-box-bread-box-bread-etc. During this whole time I come to learn facts not mentioned when I took the position. The other people that are there are not interns like me, they are ex-convicts sent by the courts to do community service. I learned very quickly you do not ask people what they are there for, it is never a pleasant story. I also learned that I am going to get seriously swoll after this summer. I was lifting huge boxes around and dare anyone to challenge me to an arm wrestling match in three months! After the four hours of bread sorting, I got upgraded to organizing cans. So heres how it goes: large box of all sorts of food - person - four smaller boxes divided into: cans, dry goods, wet goods, hygiene. I did this for about two hours! I left that day and literally wanted to cry. I had no idea what I had gotten myself into. I didn't know if I had signed up for slave labor when all I wanted to do was make a difference in my community!!!! I am happy to report that this organizing bread business is not all that I do each day, every day. I have now been trained to take new clients and see if they qualify for assistance among other things. There are some times when it is so rewarding like seeing a family really in need get the help that is so desperately sought for. I could fill a whole blog with the crazy things that happen there though and I am sure this will be a source of much laughter for me this entire summer! The pictures on this post are from a 5k that I volunteered at because I love fighting poverty!

This video is how Megan and I felt at the 5k! sorry it is sideways, I thought I would make my blog more creative by making you turn your computer on its side!

xoxo-Jessica

The Full Nelson

The Full Nelson is brought to us by the epic Brittany Nelson from notwofish! We had both been eyeing these antique shops on Center Street and decided to try them out. So we set out on Friday evening ready to get our antique on.....but to our dismay all of the stores were closed! So being the optimistic people that we are, we decided to try out this super yummy milkshake shop called Sammy's! Hands down it was the greatest milkshake ever. I ordered a chocolate cream oreo pie shake. It came with real pie pieces...I know yum, huh? It got even better when we found out it was band night! So we stayed and supported some local bands. I must say that I love live music. It is so much fun to listen and relax. I had a great evening with my dear friend Brittany or known to me as Brittanica! Can't wait to go to the stores when they are opened!

Oh by the way, I made the dress that I am wearing. I have had so much fun sewing lately! I will put a picture on my craft page for more information!

Weekend Warrior

My sewing project is complete! I made the "Weekender Travel Bag" by Amy Butler. It definitely was the most difficult sewing project that I have done. There were some points where I felt like I was sewing a saddle because I had so many layers! With all of the crazy things that went into this bag I finished it! Check out the my craft page for the pattern and pictures!

Snapshots of Life

I am now residing in 801. It has been six months and a six hour drive since I have lived here. I am excited to start some adventuring with old and new friends. Before I left Mandy and I went to the temple and it was such an amazing morning. Not only being in the temple but the weather was so nice. I find myself writing a lot about the weather when it is gets warm. I love sunshine! Don't get me wrong though, I can be the first one to the chairlift on a powder day but something about the summer brings me to life. I love waking up in the morning and knowing it is going to a beautiful day. As much as I love summer, I love my family. They are so wonderful. After the temple I went to worked on a sewing project with my grandma {wait until you see the final project, I am pretty proud} I love my grandparents. They are so much fun to be around. I think I have one of the cutest grandpas in the world. They are coming to visit me in a couple of weeks and I can't wait! Here are some snapshots of my day:

BoDo

BoDo= The hip name for downtown Boise

Oh, how I love downtown Boise. It couldn't get much better than amazing weather, lunch on the patio, a chemistry final done, and good friends! Isn't that dreamy?

Sarah and Mandy were showing off their sexy feet to me. First Sarah with her Bronco blue toes and Mandy with the rocking socks!

To Be 6 and 9 Again

The Christensen clan came over for a visit a couple of Sundays ago. I had so much fun playing with Krew and Avery. It was wonderful to have a good time in the sunshine! Being with Krew(6) Avery(9) really made me miss my summers as a little girl. They were always filled with lots of stubbed toes and bikes rides. Snow cones and my awesome goggles. Freckles and sandboxes. They smelled always like a mix of chlorine and sunshine. Even though I miss the my childhood summers, I am so excited to be back in Utah for the next four months. Stay tuned for the summer bucket list!

P.S. check out my vintage dress find! I love it!

The End and My Thoughts

I have made it through this semester and it is a wonderful feeling to be all done! I have thought a lot about what I wanted to type in this post. I thought it was time for me to write about what has been on my mind this past week. I can not believe that the past four months have come and gone. It is amazing to look back and see how much I have learned this winter. Not only have I learned academically but personally as well. I have grown more at this time in my life than I could have ever imagined. I started out this semester at ground zero. I am not joking when I say ground zero, I had nothing left, I was a car with no gasoline. I had no idea what in the world I was going to do with my life or myself. Now here I stand four months later, still learning, but so much further ahead than where I was. What used to drive me crazy was when people would say that trials make us stronger. Things like that are so easy to say but the worst to hear when you are trying to survive. I have got the awesome opportunity to think truly what it means that our trials make us stronger. So I turned from wanting to punch those people in the face to really trying to apply that to my life. I have to admit it is so true. So here I go saying it myself, trials make us stronger. They do, they really do. We are not alone in dealing with the ebbs and flows of our journey. We have so many angels in disguise and helping hands. My family and friends have been the greatest source of support ever! There we go, I am so glad that I could share my real thoughts and feelings. I think it is so important to share with others the things that make us human and not just puppets dying to impress. I love putting exciting things that happen to me on my blog but there is so much more to life than just the image that you portray. So heres to being me, the real me and the real you too!

Sun Tanning the the Library?

It is finals week! Yay...well yay for almost being done with all of my

tests! Just one standing between me and the sweet freedom of outside.

So while I was being a very good student the library today I just happened to look over

and you will Never believe what I saw.............................. this kid

had his shirt

off,

lying on the floor of the library right in front of a large window with the

sun pouring in!! I seriously almost died! I tried to take a picture but he was too far away and while I was entertained, I didn't want to be a creeper and just run over and take a picture! Oh, dear old Boise

State! Being here for one semester has taught me so much. I can not even

begin to describe how much I have learned about life besides my classes.

I could fill up a whole blog with just the moments I have on campus.

For example, I found out that the world is ending. It is ending soon too if you didn't know!

So get ready for May 21,2011 that is judgement day! If I was not at BSU I would have had no idea!

Each day I would walk around and find something that inspired me or just

flat out entertained me. So here you go, Boise State at it's

finest:

I found this banana when I walked into my chemistry class just sitting on the seat next to mine, for some reason I thought it was hilarious!

This is collecting sediment from the Boise River at seven thirty in the morning for my chemistry lab! This picture was taken before I learned that we would have to watch water filter through dirt for two hours. Do not get me started!

This is my physics study group! I have never had so much fun taking a test before!

This lady made my day! She was riding this bright blue motorcycle and was completely decked out in gear, I mean the fringe and everything! I felt very inspired to become hardcore just by looking at her!

I saw this scooter and wanted to go for a ride. This thing is the like the buick of scooters, or maybe giant spaceship!

Ok, I can do this one more test and then I will be free as a bird ......until then!

Defying Gravity

This has got to be one of my most excited posts ever!

My mother and I went to see Wicked this week when it came into Boise and man

was it AMAZING! Anyone who has seen it has to agree that it is seriously so

great! I would recommend it with my whole heart! The

music and choreography just melts me! Holy

Cow, I am glad that I have got that out

of my system!

Then

after the play we went to Fanci Freeze! They have the world's greatest

chocolate malt! This night could not have gotten any better!