Finish it already!

I've decided something: catching up on the blog takes EVERY SINGLE OUNCE of fun out of blogging. I like to blog on things that are happening right now, rather than things that have happened weeks/months ago. So, I've decided I'm just gonna put it all in a mini size nutshell and get on with it. :)

Pretty much, I got home, got my job back at Ingles, and I got a job at Spine Care and Pain Management in Athens. I get there at 8 AM Monday through Thursday, sit in a desk in a really dusty conference room, and scan paper patient charts all day long, until I leave at 6:30 PM. It's extremely boring and it's making me fat because I sit at a desk all day long. NICE. But, I do get a lot of hours, and I get to work with some members (Dan Bryant and Steve Weidler [Emilee's brother in law]) and we spend a little bit of time talking about missionary stuff each week. It's great fun to hear mission stories from them. It makes me excited to go.
I work at Ingles on Fridays and Saturdays, usually for a combined total of about 11 hours.

Yup. That's what I've been up to. I'm going to run out of charts sometime in the next 2 weeks though, so I'm going to have to find another job. I've got connections with another place in Athens though (Checkit Books), so I'll just mozy on over there. Also, that job would be really fun because Mom is thinking of possibly getting hired there with me to work a couple of days a week. Which would be fantastic. :)

Hooray. I'm finally done. I've been dreading this post for a loooong time. Now I can finally get back to the fun kind of blogging. Which makes me happy.

the end.

Things 2 and 3

First things first: the plane ride home from San Diego.
For some reason, the assistant band director (Art Young) got the band to pay for my ticket home. I have no idea why, but hey, I'm not complaining. So I ended up with a free direct flight to ATL from the LAX airport. Simply divine.
I ended up sitting in the very back row in between a middle aged man and an enormous black woman who smelled like cigarettes. She was really nice, and let me read her magazines she'd gotten from the airport because she was asleep (and snoring) the entire trip back down here. Then when we got off the plane she gave me and the guy next to me a piece of gum, so she could "get back in touch with her southern hospitality." Hooray!
Christmas break was a blast. It was SO nice to have a break from college. So very nice indeed. Seeing the family again, visiting the grandmas, playing basketball outside, the pavillion, jumping on the tramp... it was all just fabulous.
Then came thing 3: I decided to go on a mission!
I had a dentist appointment on the 27th of December. While I was sitting in the chair having my teeth cleaned, I was thinking about nothing in particular when all of a sudden, it hit me- I want to go on a mission. I should go on a mission. There's no reason not to, and there's nothing but good that can come of it. I can just stay home this semester and work to save up the money. Let's do it.
When I got home, I told mom my thoughts. She was really excited for me, and informed me that she had been wanting to talk to me about staying home to save up for a mission all break long, but she was too afraid. Nice.
Anyway, long story short, I started my mission papers! The only thing left if my interview with the Stake President. I've been waiting for them to call me so we can schedule an interview with President Bradley, but they're taking FOREVER. Hopefully I can get that taken care of lickity split so I can get my papers all the way submitted. Ahhh exciting! I'll be sure to keep you all updated on that process.

I don't know how to end this, so I'll just close with one of my personal favorite quotes from Phil Dunfy (from Modern Family):
"When life gives you lemonade, make lemons. Life will be all like WHAAAT?!!"
bahahahaha :)

Who has 2 thumbs and is a slacker? Beginning of catching up.

Not me! It just so happens that I've been EXTREMELY busy as of late. Since the last time I blogged was the beginning of December, this is going to take a while. You have been warned.

Thing one: The Bowl Game!!!
The San Diego State v BYU game was probably my favorite one of the entire season. The entire trip down there was awesome. The band all met in the parking lot we usually practice in at 5 AM on December 17. We loaded all our stuff, ate the breakfast they had for us, and left. I can't really remember, but we got to our hotel in San Diego pretty late that night after driving all day. It was on that bus ride that I decided that a desert sunrise is one of the most beautiful things in the entire universe. The sky was light blue on the horizon, then orangey-pink, then blue again. Gorgeous.

At some point in the bus ride IN San Diego. That boy is Daniel. He's cool and has a lemon tree in his yard.

While we were in San Diego, we did a lot of stuff. The night we got there we had to march in a parade through some of the main streets in San Diego, and that was a lot of fun. Well, as fun as a parade can be, that is.
Then we went back to our super nice hotel/bungalow things, and slept in fancy beds. I was rooming with three other girls in the trumpet section: Jessica Bollwinkle, Alynne Hendricks, and Julie Hall. It was great! We had many a late night talking about everything; from boys to the gospel to if we were going on missions to boys  to music to our families to boys... you get the idea. It was great fun.
I don't really remember the order of anything else, but we had a ton of long practices, played on a giant aircraft carrier where a Pearl Harbor Veteran (who had wanted to be a band director before he was drafted at like age 16 or something and forced to fight in WWII) conducted the fight song for us at the end of a very long, loud, and epic "Battle of the Bands" with San Diego's marching band. Awesome.
At some point we went to the beach. There were sea lions and ginormous waves. And the rocks we were walking around on were VERY slippery... I may or may not have fallen and gotten my pants covered in mud.

Almost the whole section!

Our little bungalow things were BEAUTIFUL, but I didn't take a picture. However, there were ducks EVERYWHERE who woke up at around 4:30 every single morning and felt it necessary to scream at the top of their lungs until around 8:00. Every single day. Sometimes they would walk up our door and hit it with their beaks. Me and Jess were eating pizza by the pond one day and 6 ducks walked up and started trying to eat it! Right out of our hands! After a long and loud fight, we FINALLY got them to stop eating it. But they stayed there and stared at us the whole time we ate. What pumps.

We went to Sea World! We saw this AWESOME show with whales and dolphins and really cool acrobats. Then we saw Shamu, (I have no idea how to spell that) which was also incredible. I sat in the soak zone for each show, but I only got soaked at the dolphin one, lucky for me. It was freezing cold. They actually had these giant dryer things there where if you paid a dollar you could just stand in it and be warm. Crazy.

I don't really remember anything else. In fact, I don't even remember if we won the game. I just remember it was REALLY intense and fun and loud. 

Trumpet girls! I'm not really that much taller than everyone. We were on a hill.

After these cool kids went to lunch at Subway. In our white pants. We're so awesome. :D

Before the bowl game:

After the game, Clif threw his shoes up into the tunnel in celebration of his last ever game:

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(I think that link'll work...)

Anyway, it was a fun time. I've got to go to work soon, so I'll finish this up later.