Date #3

I guess technically it was a date, but it involved the following:

-trying to convince my roommates that between work on Friday night, ballet on Saturday night, cleaning checks, homework, a get-to-know-you breakfast at my study abroad director's house (yummy crepes!--not buckwheat) and all the trip prep stuff I had to do before I left, it wasn't worth trying to win the date contest

-my roommate Hope (not the crazy one, Tommy...okay she is crazy but in a different way :)...) convincing me that I HAD to win, that I COULD squeeze in a date, and that with the billions of boys she knows, she WOULD arrange it for me

-Hope contacting her ex-boyfriend via Google chat (that will forevermore make me think of you, Forrey), telling him about the contest, and asking him if she could give my number to one of his roommates

-said roommate, Tyler, calling me and asking if I wanted to do something (...well duh) and then a harder question, WHAT I wanted to do

-date coming to "pick me up" and walk me to the Malt Shoppe, a popular and conveniently-located local ice cream hangout (just across the parking lot, although we had to hop a fence)

-us getting to know each other between large bites of jumbleberry pie and pumpkin Oreo shakes, and thankfully, no long painful silences

-me paying for mine, since I really asked him...I guess that does violate Elder Oaks' definition of a date, though

-me learning a surprising lot about Tyler in the hour we spent together, such as he's the youngest of 9, from Montana, at his house they have more animals than I could handle, he's brave enough to do engineering, he's a violinist and music minor, and he is lucky enough to have a married sister in Orem that he babysits for

I glanced through his Facebook photos and there were no good ones of just him. Can you believe it? This was the best I could do in an effort to keep a semblance of following the picture rule. And it's a year old. You may recall that all three of my dates this semester have been blind...not the best circumstances for picture taking. Just pretend the girl is me. :)

The drought is over!

It's what you've all been waiting for! I know I'm a slacker and haven't posted in over a month. Don't worry, I'm still alive. I've actually had some very bloggable material since the last post but I've been enjoying everyone else's blogs so much that I feel like I can't compete with pictures of adorable children or exciting adventures in Germany. Okay so the truth is I just keep putting it off. :) I figured I'd better catch up at least a little before Thanksgiving when I'll have a lot more bloggable material. You can thank my roommate Natalie for encouraging me to have a blogging party with her. So without further ado, here are some of the things you've been missing out on:

exciting exciting classes: Doctrine & Covenants (first half), teachings of the living prophets, French 321, ASL 101, beginning ballet, music civilization 201, and my study abroad prep class

lots of exciting missionary letters, but not as many as I would like, because 3 of my correspondants are in Brazil and their mail takes about a month through the Pouch service

lots of other exciting stuff in the mail, like a Michael Buble CD from Forrey & Abbie and a 5lb box of Pirate's Booty from Mr. Lane

meeting up with two guy friends from last year before they reported to the MTC

the annual India fest at the Hare Krishna temple in Spanish Fork...there were lots of llamas!

very welcome weekly temple trips with my temple buddies Candice, Stephy, Jacqueline, and their roommate Courtney, after a long temple drought this summer

the same old same old at the MOA except for a couple funny things: an unexpected early-morning flower delivery for one of the custodians, and watching others of the said custodians try to clean a duck print off the glass at the main entrance. That's right, a duck print.

a yummy dinner at the Erdmanns'

my first time experiencing the horror/hilarity that is Labyrinth, a 1986 Jim Henson movie with an altogether scary-looking David Bowie wearing altogether too tight pants

going to UVRMC twice on Sunday evenings with some wardies to sing hymns to the patients...this kind of replaced tunnel singing for me, which is what I did last year on Sunday nights

awesome BYU devotionals/forums, with distinguished speakers such as Pres. Hinckley, Elder Perry, John Roberts, an astronaut (I don't remember his name...hopefully he won't read this), and author (and New Englander!) Nathaniel Philbrick talking about the Pilgrims (Pres. Monson is coming this week!)

*cough* interesting forum with Harry Reid

two dates (both of which were semi-set up) involving a fun soccer game and lots of Vietnamese food...but I already posted about both of them. Sad.

painting our window for the Canyon Terrace Halloween decorating contest

two sessions of conference in the conference center!

the best dollar movie night EVER--Hairspray, complete with smuggled popcorn, M&Ms, and 3 half-gallons of ice cream

having Dad come visit and come to the b's freezing cold and wet football game with us!

going to BYU-I to visit my friend Maria and dressing up as '80s aerobics instructors for a Halloween dance, with a little help from DI

awesome CES fireside broadcast with Elder and Sister Oaks (he is my new hero...the first half of his address he devoted to quoting from and reemphasizing his well-known fireside address from May 2005 about dating vs. hanging out. Hope and Kristin and I listened to it together and decided we should post a sign on our door: "Will open for individual dates." Some girls who live above us did that.)

spending Halloween night with my pals Jacqueline, Courtney, and Stephy making sugar cookies, singing and dancing to Disney music in French, laughing at ridiculously high decibel levels, failing in our attempt to get into a Halloween party, and enjoying a taste of Tim Burton's Corpse Bride (it was totally worth only getting 4 hours of sleep that night)

awesome stake conference and awesome stake firesides with Edward Kimball, son of Spencer W., and President Merrill J. Bateman, new president of the Provo Temple

way fun football games (with very different weather). BYU has now won 11 home games in a row.

multiple viewings of Monk, courtesy of Mr. Lane who sent me DVDs of this summer's episodes

a fun FHE which involved getting lost and taking an hour to drive to Spanish Fork, after which we arrived at the home of a bishopric member and had a lesson, activity, and yummy food

a $10 TV from Craig's List!
painting our window with hand turkeys for Thanksgiving

lots of culturally enriching experiences, like...
-the choir showcase featuring the Women's Chorus, Men's Chorus, and BYU Singers
-the jazz showcase featuring Synthesis, BYU Jazz Voices, and Jazz Legacy Dixieland Band
-my first experience with both the wonderful and the weird in World of Dance
-a concert featuring BYU Concert Choir, BYU Singers, and Philharmonic Orchestra
-a lecture from a French cultural attache about immigration in France (not a lot of which I understood)

lots of intense meals from my roomies, especially Hope who likes to be adventurous and make stuff like falafel (I just figured out how to add links...can you tell I'm having fun with it?)