A Working Spring Break

The past two Spring Breaks have been very fun-- St. George/Las Vegas/Zions National Park in 2011, and an unexpectedly cool (and pretty) trip to Arkansas last year. This year, I have just a few things I'd like to do:

• Get "80%" of my thesis/presentation done.
• Clean my room.
• Work out every day.
• Start caring about what I'm eating again... :)
• Send Eric his early birthday package, it's gonna be cool!
• Study ahead for Price Theory.
• Apply to Hanyang... 
• Do whatever homework /reading before I get back to classes.
• Hang out with a few friends :)

If I could do all of those things, I'd feel pretty freaking awesome. I'm not someone who goes stir-crazy when I have plenty of obligations to keep me busy, more power to people who drove to Florida or where ever though. This year, I just want to get caught up so I can feel a little less stressed when classes start back up. It's been pretty terrible, I kept thinking I maybe wanted to drop a class (because it seems like waaayyy too much for me), but I realized once I complete this semester, I will be done with my Econ major requirements, as well as a Political Science minor. After that, just need an upper-level out of my division, and a "tier three" requirement class, which it would be fantastic if I could somehow take those over the summer and not have to go another semester... somehow, fill those requirements while studying abroad... Not likely, but I can dream, right? All I need is to get caught up in my econ classes enough to feel good about meeting with my adviser/professor, and say, "Yep, studied up for your classes, so can we talk about studying abroad stuff?" Anyway, those are my goals. This was a very unusual week. That is all.

--Sannah

I can't write poetry, but... (03-2013)

Another old draft... Not so much a fan of this one, but oh well.

I can put words into short lines, so I did that last night:


I wish I were a poet
To capture what I feel inside
To project it clearly
In a way where people understand and
Know me

I wish I were a musician
And could express my elation, my joy
The sadness, the confusion
In a way that people would hear and
Be moved

There's something very special
About hearing and being heard

Which is how I felt when I met you


 

Hoping for a snow day :)

So my little "Happiness Project" thing these days more or less amounts to trying to remember to keep a positive attitude. I don't really have any tips or anything this week. Um, my little sister Olivia just left for her mission yesterday, pretty crazy! I hope things go well for her. I realized that by the time she comes back, I will have been back in Utah for SEVEN MONTHS!! That is such a totally different life, I haven't even really thought about it much honestly. Like, subconsciously I feel like it isn't really going to happen. Weird weird weird.
So, I have lots of readings to do and all that for my morning classes, so I guess I'll be up super late-- I'm just hoping for a text in the morning that says "Classes are canceled", so I can go right back to sleep. After all, the public schools have already been canceled! I feel like the college just wants to hold off on making announcements because they want the students to get their homework done so they can just enjoy the snow day tomorrow... right? I wish anyway :)

Let's see... In other news, I've been eating more sugar than I should lately. I partially blame girl scout cookies-- since they're only around for a little while, I feel like if I don't eat them, someone else will and they'll just be gone! So whatever. Here's today's nice little picture:

Anyway, wish me luck on school and stuff. Until next time, peach out.

--Sannah

Happy Monday!

Over the past several weeks that I have felt increasingly overwhelmed by school, and it's only February! I realized this evening that I don't want the entire semester to be dominated by feelings of stress and frustration, and I am going to do a little "happiness experiment" of sorts. Every monday, I'll post a happiness tip that I will try to follow that week, and then the following monday I will report on whether it was a success or if needed to be tweaked.  Also, I'll post whatever picture makes me happy that day, things to be grateful for, or a quote I like, whatever.  I want to be happy for most of my life, and so I want to make that a habit even during times of stress!

Here's the picture that makes me happy today-- sort of stereotypical, huh? Whatever, I don't care! I like trails, and I like thinking about trails and being outside when I have a big pile of homework and books to read!

Good things that happened today/recently:

• I didn't have a quiz in Econometrics, and even though I hadn't read all of chapter three, I had read enough to sort of know what was going on!
• It was a pretty good day as far as the weather goes-- sunny, and I was able to wear my Utah State T-shirt without a sweater or jacket, which made me happy!
• I got a parking space that was close to the school.
• I had a good dinner, hamburger and onions, creamed corn from the garden and cucumber.
• One of my friends Nadine called and it was nice to talk to her!
• I had a nice chat with my parents and Olivia, especially Olivia last night. I talked to her about things I had been learning about from my politics in the Middle East class, as well as a lot of other things, we talked for hours! I love talking to her and Sarah (I love my youngest sister Laura too, we like to talk :), but it's just nice because we talk about things I think a lot of people would not be interested in or think was boring. It's just nice because if I read something and find it really fascinating, I know that generally so will Olivia, and she did. I treasure the conversations I've had with Olivia and Sarah. 
• I realized that I wanted to be happy! It's a good thing, I think awareness is really important... Hopefully it will make a difference and make me a better student and a better person! I'll update my progress next week!

Tip of the Week: Focus on one task at a time

I'm not going to rule out all multi-tasking. When I make breakfast, I tend to rush around, cooking eggs while putting a waffle in the toaster oven, getting the dishes and setting out the vitamins and on and on. Plus, I love to read the newspaper while I'm eating breakfast, and listen to a Daily Podcast from the Cato Institute while I put on makeup and get ready in the morning. But in terms of schoolwork, I tend to feel so overwhelmed by the volume and variety of tasks that I just end up paralyzed, doing a little here and there but never accomplishing much. I'm going to try to set clear, defined goals for each class, and one by one complete them, without getting distracted by the internet or snacks or whatever else. Focus on one thing at a time... not a great first tip, but we'll see if it works! I'll let you know. Until next week!

Happy Monday!

--Sannah

The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance; the wise grows it under his feet.  -- James Openheim
 

Happy Thanksgiving!

And indeed, I have a whoooollleee lot to be thankful for. Here's the short list (in random order):

• I love my family. I've been very lucky to have loving parents who are both very interesting people, and I get along with all of my sisters SO WELL. They are my best friends, we get each others' senses of humor, we love to talk, play games, etc. They are just awesome people, I love them. Matt too, he's a kind, talented and funny guy, I'm proud and happy that he's my brother-in-law! (First brother I ever had!)
• I'm grateful for a house! We had a water pipe break underneath the house, and so we went without a kitchen or laundry room for about a month! But you know what, we made do, and I'm just really happy to have a place to call home. 
• I'm grateful for our silly pets!
• I'm grateful for Christ's gospel, and the church organization I was raised in! I love it, I know that I am a better person because of it, and I know without a doubt that it blesses the lives of those who accept it.  
• I'm grateful for the opportunity to go to a nice school! I love it :) It's small, but I think it has a very nice looking campus. Even when I'm running late for class, I still can appreciate the beauty that's around, with the trees and all that. Plus, I've been VERY fortunate to meet and make a few friends, despite the fact that I don't live on campus. I've said it before, but I haven't met a mean person at school, everyone seems nice. Plus, the faculty and professors are very willing to help their students succeed if the students put forth the effort!
• I'm grateful for my work study job at the library... it's the easiest possible "job" in existence, but still. It's nice
• I'm grateful for Eric. To be honest, since about the one-year mark, I've felt more distant from him than ever. I wasn't anticipating that, I thought things would feel about the same as they had for the twelve previous months! It's probably a combination of school seeming more demanding, the fact that I'm sort of starting to make new friends, and just plain not seeing or talking to each other for a whole year.  It's ok, it's not "hard" or anything like that, it's just different and a little weird to notice that I'm thinking about him less and less... I'm sure once winter break happens, I'll feel more like how I used to. But yeah! This is a thankful bullet-point, so I'm really grateful that he's been healthy and safe! I'm so proud of him for wanting to work so hard and sacrifice so much to try to share Christ's gospel with others, like I said, it improves people's lives like nothing else! It's a very unselfish decision, and it says a lot about him that he was willing to do that. I still write frequently and send packages!
• I'm also grateful for Eric's family, I really love them and think they're awesome people. It's always neat to spend time with them, because it always feels very natural, and I'm always comfortable around them. That might be weird to say, but understand where I'm coming from-- a lot of women, even after they get married, they might not feel like they"fit in" or are very comfortable around their in-laws. Well, awesome for me, Eric's family has been extremely welcoming and accepting, and I feel like I've done many things with them without Eric (even though I haven't seen them as much this semester), and so in a way I gotten to spend time with them on my own, rather than only be around them if Eric was also there. I don't know if that'll make sense, but that's how I feel!
• Things happen for a reason-- I don't know how much I always believe that, but when something happens and I wonder "Why didn't this happen instead?", I think about it and pick out a few reasons why it didn't. "Why did I transfer back and forth, why not just stay at one school?" or "Why wasn't the mission-age change earlier so I could have conveniently gone at the same time as Eric?" etc. I'll never know what experiences I missed out on if I had just stayed at Westminster, or if I had decided to go on a mission, but I can sure as heck point to lots of wonderful things that have happened because I didn't do those things! In the first case, I got to experience life not being at home at a bigger university! I got to be with Sarah and Matt, and meet some of their friends, as well as some other awesome people in Utah! Yeah, I got to live in the beautiful city of Logan in the awesome state of Utah! And most importantly, I had almost a whole year of not long-distance relationship with Eric, just got to spend time with him almost every day. It was amazing, and I needed those memories and that time to be able to deal with him being away for two years... And in the second case, I got to make new friends, learn new things, go to a school that is sort of a better fit for me (the attendance policy is a good thing, and your professors know you, which makes me work harder to avoid looking stupid... great reason, right?) I also got to reconnect with some friends! So yeah, I'm thankful that things happen for a reason. 
• I am thankful for my friends, old and new. This includes those who I've talked to today or haven't talked to in months. (And that's not as bad as it seems, remember I haven't "talked" to Eric in months!) Thanks, everyone! I hate to be so generic, but I'm not sure who's cool with having their identity floating across the internet...

Anyway, that's my short list! I'm of course grateful for MANY other things (good food, good music, having the opportunity to do cool stuff like go to the KC Symphony, computers, good writers, old Christmas commercials, travel, but I have homework to return to!

So Happy Thanksgiving to all, and to all a good night!

Back to School

Just a quick update-- the fall semester started on the 20th, so I've been getting back into the swing of classes. The thing I'm probably most excited about it that I'm going to Institute, that's been awesome as always! :) Um, other than that, classes are going to be tough, but I'll be busy and the weeks have been going QUICK so far. That's all for now! Life is good :)

Why, hello again!

It's been quite a long time since I've written, and so I thought I'd update the world on current-life stuff:

• Eric's been on his mission for eight and a half months now, its been going swimmingly! I still have many self-improvement goals to finish, so no rush! (506 days left!) What goals, you ask? Well, I'd like to have a regular fitness habit going, I'd like to have earned some money, I would love to learn how to cook meat better, I want to be successful in my classes, I want to read all of the books on my bookshelf that I have not yet read (as tempting as new books are, remembering the ones I haven't even started yet is usually enough to keep me from spending more money...), and most importantly, I would like to be stronger spiritually! Two extra little goals: I kinda want to learn some great Christmas songs on the piano, as well as study at least one other language. I think it is toooo cool that Eric is fluent in Spanish!! I'm proud of that kid :)
• Mom's garden is looking beautiful this summer! Plus, we have fig trees, raspberries (my favorite), blackberries, and apricots galore. Seriously, we don't know what to do with all of these apricots! It's been awesome though.
• My best friend got married just a few weeks ago to an awesome guy! I'm so happy for them :) He's leaving for basic training in the air force tomorrow though, and so my friend will be moving in with us for the next little while! It'll be sad for her, but we'll try to have fun!
• I've been doing an internship in Jefferson City with a Congresswoman. It's been really nice, though it isn't paid, and so I'm still looking for a job. 

That's about it! Today I will be cleaning a lot! Anyway, there's your update. I'm sure there will be more to come.

--Sannah