Delectable December

So we thought November was going to be crazy with Sel's three interviews, but we best be bucklin up for December. Here is list of what is happening this month just in case you were ultra interested.

December 1st: My soon to be sis-in-law's bridal shower, birthday dinner in Logan with the beautiful girl below, and seeing Brian Regan with Kit & Kat

December 2nd: Festival of Trees delivery

December 3-7th: Crazy busy work week and last week of classes for Sel

December 8th: Potentially Sel's Birthday Party

December 9th: Homecoming for a really fabulous family friend

December 13th: Sel's 25th Birthday

December 14th: The Hobbit!!!

December 15th: Brian's Bachelor Party

December 18th: The best sister missionary that has ever lived gets back from Romania

December 19th: My adorable nephew and bootiful sister in law fly their way to the West :)

December 20th: Lovely Anna goes through the temple

December 21st: Rehersal Dinner/ End of the World according to the Maya (Should this occur, the other below events will of course not be happening..)

December 22nd: Brian and Anna become BRIANNA & Melting Pot in honor of Brianna's marriage

December 23rd: I GET TO SEE AND HUG AND KISS LYS in TWIN FALLS (SO SO SO EXCITED!!!!)

December 24th/25th: Idaho Falls for Christmas and LES MISERABLES!!

December 26th: Brianna's Idaho Open House. Leave that night for Ptown so I can work the 27th and 28th :/

December 27th: Warden Family Christmas Party in SLC

December 29th: Leave for Seattle for Brianna's Washington Open House

January 1st: Brianna's Washington Open House

Whew, December is about to get craaaazy! So in case you didn't quite pick up on that, from Dec 22nd to January 1st we will only be staying in the same place for a grand total of three days. Let the festivities begin!

We Heart Philly

My head is still spinning from having one of the best weeks in my short life. It wasn’t looking like that was how it was going to turn out Tuesday night after our tired selves got dropped off at midnight in front of the Penn Tower. There Sel and I stood with all our luggage looking groggily up at the building that looked very much like a hospital and very much not like a hotel. We finally navigated our way into the building only to find out the “hotel” consisted of two floors of ten or so falling apart rooms. Since there were some random mistakes with our reservation, we also had to twin beds to make us feel like we stumbled into an episode of “I Love Lucy”. In true fashion of my very calm and nondramatic personality, I flopped on the bed and declared my hate for Philadelphia and my desire that we never return.

The next day was Sel’s interview with UPenn (he wore that Mikey Mouse hoodie pictured here). He was looking extra sharp and handsome in his newly tailored suit and a lot like he was about to dominate every single other interviewee in that room. He actually had to get to the interview through the floo network, hence him climbing in this fireplace.

 

While Sel spent the next seven hours proving what a stud he was, I spent the next seven hours getting lost in Philly. I explored the beautiful campus for an hour or so and WOW! The architecture on these building is unbelievable. Modern architecture is a joke compared to the buildings of the past. Buildings with enormous amounts of detail instead of the bare minimum for time efficiency. Buildings meant to last hundreds of years instead of until we are forced to rebuild. Anyway, after finding out how beautiful campus was I headed out walking in a direction that looked promising. Luckily, it led to some pretty amazing stuff. I walked 90 or so blocks that day plus however long I was on the waterway (that Rocky ran along mind you). It was really helpful to have thrown myself into the city so the next day Sel and I could properly explore it.

Sel’s interview went beautifully and he held his own against the Ivy undergrads. Our new joke from the interview comes from a conversation Sel had with a girl from Massachusetts. Sel asked where she was from and after she responded she asked him the same question. When he told her he was from Idaho all she said was “Random!” and stopped talking to him. Should we move to the East Coast I will seriously enjoy laughing at some of these types of people. After Sel’s interview we stayed in the College District and found some Ah-maz-ing food at a place called the Hummus Grill. Their falafel was perfect, their pita bread was some of the best we’ve ever had and the hummus was delicious. The next day we got our history on and walked to Independence Hall. We watched a video about the signing of the declaration, took pictures with a giant group of Asians in front of the liberty bell, and took a tour of one of America’s most famed buildings. Our tour guide was a dime. He reminded me a lot of my high school AP History teacher. We even got to go to a room most people don’t because there was a lag in visitors while we were there. Want to hear something ironic? The only big celebration that was ever held at Independence Hall was in 1760 for the coronation of King George III. We loved that little tid bit. After Independence Hall, we booked it up to Christ’s Church (where a whole bunch of revolutionaries went to church back in the day) and Elfrey’s Alley. Both were beautiful and definitely worth the visit. When I told my mom that night how wonderful it all was she exclaimed, "See! This is why history is great!" I was a bit offended considering I lurve history and when I told her that she came back with, "Well, you don't love it as much as I do". Oh, we will see about that muter dearest. (But in all reality my mom is a boss at history. It is freaky to sit next to hear when she watches Jeopardy cause she knows ALL the answers. For reals though. I only remember one episode where she didn't know one of the answers. Still don't know why she isn't on there so she can win and pay for Sel and I to take a year long trip to China, Japan, Africa, India, Romania, Transylvania, Galapagos Islands...)

One of my new favorite quotes about history

Mimicking Ben Franklin's Senior Pic



Elfrey's Alley (Oldest in tact Neighborhood in the Nation)



Elfrey's Citizen honoring the wrong country...

Looking studly in front of the Lib Bell

How we felt about waiting in line

 AND THEN WE WENT TO THE BEST PLACE IN THE UNIVERSE! I have been mildly obsessed with Edgar Allan Poe since I was in middle school. The first thing I remember reading from my pal Poe was his most notorious The Tell Tale Heart. After that, I was a goner. Poe’s house is on the complete opposite side of PA from Independence Hall. Sel was such a good sport to walk such a long way and in some mildly sketchy areas. The house was better than I could have imagined! We went on a self-guided tour and I got to salivate over all the rooms Poe would have walked around in, wrote in, loved in, and cried in. We got to read “Annabel Lee” in the very room that poor Virginia withered away in. I almost cried. My favorite part was the cellar. One of my all-time favorite shorts from Poe is The Black Cat. If you haven’t read it, then you probably don’t appreciate brilliant literature in the slightest. It is all about a man who hates a demonic black cat and how his hate of it destroys his life. In the story, the man buries a body (not telling you whose just in case you haven’t read it) in his brick cellar. This part is the pinnacle of the story and he based the cellar off of his very own! The cellar didn’t have any lighting, it was very low, and there were more spider webs in the rafters than I could have handled if I wasn’t so excited to be there. At the end of our tour, we got to sit in a parlor fashioned off of a satirical article he wrote mocking those who were trying to appear wealthy. In the parlor, we got to listen to a dramatic reading of one of Poe’s poems. Gah, the whole thing was a dream come true. I’ll never quite understand why I love freaky things. I would rather visit Transylvania than Paris. I would rather spend a day in Poe’s old home than in Disneyland. I would rather grow carnivorous plants than roses. I would rather read Dostoevsky and Poe than Dickens or Austen. I was always a tinsy bit afraid the man I married would wake up one day after we were married and realize how odd I was. Sel isn’t obsessed the way I am, but he understands more than he lets on. When we were going around the rooms and I was drooling over Poe’s works Sel knew most of the references I kept making. Yay for marrying someone that at least tries to understand what goes on in this head of mine.

Bahahah, Sel's scared face before we went into the cellar



Being the Black Cat while standing next to where the main character buried the body



Sculpture in honor of The Raven

We finished off the day exploring China town and finding one of our new favorite places in the universe. The Reading Terminal is an indoor market manned mostly by the local Amish community. Sel and I were in heaven! We love the eclectic and the unique and this was exactly that. This place alone would be a huge swaying point should Sel get accepted to UPenn. We could have spent days in there!

Reading Terminal

We had to be up at 5:00AM the following day for our flight and we were a bit bummed about leaving. Philly was so different than what I was expecting. Every single person we met was so kind and friendly. People smile at you as they push along the crowded streets. The city itself is the perfect combination of past and present. The food was ridiculously delicious. Walking and biking are the norm instead of the anomaly. Oh and the diversity. You know you’ve lived in Utah too long when the lack of white faces excites you more than it ought to. I counted 9 blondes the entire time we were there. Nine! And one of those was Sel…OH! And there are so many Asians! Which if you don’t know, I wish more than anything I was Asian. Despite being such a big city, I felt safe the entire time. I even felt safe the day I wandered alleyways by myself. I passed a XXX theater when I was extra lost and the guy selling tickets even smiled and waved at me when I walked by (and shockingly not in a creepy pervert way). We really loved Philly and are so grateful we go to see so much of it in our short time.

 

Addictions

I have some seriously sad addicitions I have been trying to overcome lately. Here are some of them in no particular order

1. Lemons

2. Chocolate

3. Water

4. Running

5. Josh Groban

These don't sound so bad, do they? False. An addiction to anything as I am discovering is not good.

Let'st talk about lemons. When people find out I am obsessed with lemons, they picture me squeezing lemon juice lightly in my water. This is not an accurate picture of what I actually do. I eat lemons. I cut them open and eat their delicious, mouthwatering flesh. I also eat them out of bowls so when I am done eating all the flesh, I can sip up all the lemon juice that leaked out into my bowl. Whenever I go to restaraunts and they bring out the little cup of lemons slices for you to daintly squeeze into your water, it is ALL I can do to not eat all of them. In fact, I don't think I have actually been able to completely resist this before...Lemons actually have some great health benefits BUT they should be consumed in moderation. I am currently eating one to two lemons a day :( Sel is a tinsy bit worried and made me buy the baby lemons at Winco instead of the normal sized ones. I am trying to cope with the downsize in my favorite fruit. It is really stinkin hard. just finished my lemon of the day and am trying to convince myself I do NOT want to sneak to Smith's later tonight and buy more.

Chocolate. This has been addressed before. As it is genetic, it is not entirely my fault. Sel brought me back Merci chocolates from his interview (cause he is the best freaking husband in the WORLD) but it only took me 48 hours to finish the whole thing. Granted Sel helped, but there was a whole bunch of chocolate in the pretty little box.

Addicted to water? Not a real thing, right? Everyone is addicted to water. If we weren't, we would all die. I, however, am clocking in at about a gallon of water a day. Guess what that means. I have to pee every 22 minutes. My desk job has allowed me to accurately track this with a standard deviation of +/- 3 minutes. It is seriously an issue as my coworker and boss get to hear me get up ever half hour and run down the hallway. They probably think I am addicted to crack or I am hooking up with the janitor or this friendly, yet supremely creepy man who brings me my daily dose of water.

People always act like this one is made up. I have recommenced my running regime at full force and it is having it's previous consequences. I spend half my day looking out the window thinking about my run and the other half of the day looking at my computer thinking about my run. I get super stressed at the thought that I might have to do social things that would interfere with my running schedule. It has become even more of an issue as of late since I only have about 30-40 minutes of daylight after work to get my run on which is not enough time to get in six miles (yet...someday soon when I am a speedy beast I will be able to do six miles in 45 minutes).

We have Pandora on our TV and I have it on my phone. I tried to be hip and add a bunch of different stations last week while Sel was gone so I had more than the Josh Groban, Mo-Tab, PSY Gangman Style, and Halloween channel. It didn't go well. Blast that man for having the voice of an angel. My boy Josh actually has a Christmas CD and that is pretty much all I listen to over Christmas. I will never tire of my fav musician, but poor Sel has to listen to him ALL the time. I feel a bit okay about it though because I sometimes catch him humming JG songs unexpectedly or even singing them out loud when he is trying to not fall asleep while doing homework.

I was reviewing all my addictions and kept thinking, well, at least I am not addicted to crack or heroine or LSD or porn or eating my own hair follicles. Not all of them have dire consequences...right? Also, anyone know where you can buy lemons in bulk?

The Time Two Men Determined My Worth in Ten Minutes

The other day I got to hear two men evaluate every detail of my face. It was interesting to say the least. It was one of those experiences I had always been curious about. Haven't we all at one point wondered what others truly thought when they looked at us? I wrote a post about trying not to care about this quite recently. The timing of my post and this encounter with such beauty critics was mildly ironic.

I was eating and staring very intently at my phone the other day. Two men came and sat at the booth over from mine and began talking about their daily normalities. I didn't really pay attention and continued to look at pictures on Instagram. After a few moments, one of them leaned over to the other and told him to look at the girl in the red coat. I quickly snuck a glance around the restaurant to see if their was another girl wearing a red coat and alas, it was only me.

They then commenced one heck of a critique on what parts of me they deemed beautiful. Here are these two random dudes evaluation of my physical appearance.

* The bone strucuture of my face is very pretty and seems to indicate it won't be too altered for the worse should I get fat.

* My lips are somewhat full, but would probably do better with a little bit more plump. I would probably need to get botox injections as I got older.

* My skin is exceptional, but could do with a bit more color. Because it is so pale I probably look not too hot in the mornings cause you would be able to see bags under my eyes. This also somehow indicates I would look horrible hung over

* My nose is pretty decent in relation to the rest of my face.

* One really wished my hair was a shade or two darker, the other liked the color it was now. Since I had it in a ponytail they spent time musing over what it might look like down and how long it might be. They thought I had sideburns though and pondered on whether or not I was hairy other places.

* They really liked my eyes and had a lengthy debate about whether or not I was wearing make-up. One of them finally got it right and said even when girls don't look like they are wearing, make-up they probably are. They liked the shape and the color of green reminded one of them of the brand John Deere.

* They thought my body looked healthy, strong, athletic and I had nice legs. Both determined I probably looked good naked (My face was burning with embarrasment and increased anger at this point) I am still at a loss as to how they determined all these things about my body considering I was wearing my coat the whole time, knee high boots, and a scarf. Not much of my body shape was apparent under my bundling, but their imagination was, erg, interesting.

I became VERY intrigued with my food as they neared the end of their evaluation. The overall conclusion,

they would both might ask me out if I wasn't married, but they weren't sure cause they thought I had a look of snobbiness about me (sighitng specifically my boots and scarf choice...what?) and might not actually be either of their types. Both agreed they would really like hooking up with me even if it were for a one night stand. When they left, that one of them made eye contact with me and smiled. I glared and grimaced back.

I just sat there for a few minutes stunned that anyone especially two men took so much time to rip me apart detail by detail. It wasn't necessairly negative and parts were at least reasonably flattering, but also a bit demoralizing that these two strangers felt the need to spend their lunch discussing my face. I am still curious as to whether or not they knew I could hear them...

I have been debating whether or not to post this, but I figured it warranted note. I know I size up a person's physical appearance regularly, but I honestly try not to. And I would NEVER talk about someone in such scrutinity with them being so close. These two dudes could have spent the time talking about how each part of me was repulsive and how much they hated looking at my face while eating. On the few quick judgements I also made about them, I wouldn't put it past their personalities to completely destroy anothers confidence intentionally or unintentionally. I was left mostly infuriated and I couldn't figure out why for a while. Again, it wasn't like they thought I had the face of Quasimodo, but I felt as if they majorly invaded my privacy. It felt as if they were looking over my shoulder as I looked in my bathroom mirror and whispered in my ear everything I was and would ever be. It is MY right to so deeply evaluate my features not two people I have nor ever will meet again. Ridiculous, right? I felt as if  these two should have asked permission to look at me. I was also angry that they took all of what I am as a person and put me on their "one night stand bang able  list". Again, they weren't overly crude, but just so heartless, so matter of fact. I think I was also feeling overly sensitive that Sel wasn't there to...I don't know, deflect their comments? In the end, it just strengthened my resolve to care a little less and talk a lot less about others. A lot lot less about others. Also to have the courage next time someone is talking about me to turn around and tell them to keep it to themselves, positive or negative. If I ever see them again, I will have to fight the urge to knee them between the legs...

Ways to Make Medical Schools Want Your Body

My husband is a-freaking-mazing!!!  He interviewed with "The" Ohio State college of medicine today and ROCKED IT! I am bursting with pride over here for that Scottish stud! Applying to medical school is time consuming, expensive, grueling, and a whole bunch of work. Wow! It is a lot of work. A lot a lot a lot of work. Should you be contemplating such a feat here are a few steps you will need to take

1.  In elementary school, steal homework as a kindergartner because your five year old self is two years ahead of your classmates

2. Also in elementary school, be really competitive. When you see other kids going to the gifted program, do everything in your power to get into it too.

3. When you get into junior high and high school, continue to be academically competitive. As in, you not only need to be acing all of your classes, but you should probably be ranked first or second in every single class you are in. You should probably give the graduation speech too because you took high school, bent it over your knee and spanked it till it obeyed your every command.

4. Also, be competitive in athletics and maybe win a few wrestling state championships.

5. You also need to get involved in everything you can while in high school. Student council, multiple sports, service and joining the "I am a freaking super hero" club

6. When you get to college, you should probably be one of two or so freshman on campus that do so well academically, they actually earn all the scholarships the rest of the freshman lost during their "college is much harder than high school but who cares cause we can stay up all night long and eat ramen" phase.

7. Ace all the prerequisites to get into a competitive major and then continue to ace all your classes in your major

8. Ace all of those ridiculously challenging science perequisites for medical school

9. Ace every. single. class you take in college. If you don’t, be prepared to offer an amazing reason as to why you did NOT ace those classes to explain to those nazi medical schools that will scrutinize every single grade you got in college.

10. Be involved in a trillion service groups. Be an intern with the Volunteer Health Care Clinic. Volunteer at Headstart. Volunteer at the mental hospital. Volunteer at the American Fork hospital. Volunteer with community clean up. Volunteer until you spend more hours volunteering than attending classes

11. Also, you need to be involved in leadership activities. Why not volunteer to be the program director of Headstart?

12. You also really need to learn another language. Maybe you could live in Germany for two years and then minor in it and then obsessively love it for the rest of your life

13. You should also continue your streak of sportsmanship you started in Jr. High and get involved in intermural sports. You should probably do intermural tennis cause you probably look dang good in all white and you really, really should do Rugby. Cause that brunette girl that has been checking you out from day one will probably stalk you and force you to marry her when she finds out you play one of the toughest and most entertaining sports ever created. (You might be able to skip this one if you aren’t into stalkers) You might have time to do collegiate athletics, but probably not considering the above things you need to be doing.

14. You also need to be involved in research. Your pick. Neurological research might be right up your ally. Make sure you start doing research as early as your Freshman year though.

15. Hey, while you are over there acing all your classes, don’t forget to befriend your professors. Go to their office hours, offer to do research in their labs for them, eat dinner with their family. Just make sure at least six of your professors and you are B.F.F.’s so they can all write you amazing letters of recommendation. Added plus from point numero 15, you can form lasting relationships with some of the most interesting people aroundJ

16. You probably don’t have time to make money, but since you are already pretty freaking brilliant, why not make that work for you? Tutor for a little extra cash. Apply for any and all scholarships. Also, it might help to marry that crazy stalker girl so you can qualify for federal funding. It could help you out a lot as a poor college student. You never know, she might even grow on you and you could potentially enjoy being married for the sake of being married.

17. The MCAT. One of the most challenging graduate examinations out there. Buckle up sweetheart. This one is going to take roughly a year or more of dedicated studying. You will probably have to take a prep course on top of your 16 other credits of class. This will be expensive. You will also need to spend months before this wicked exam taking all the practice tests you can get your hands on. This will probably be one of the most stressful times of your life as so much of your potential as a physician rests on those four-five precious hours you will spend taking this one test. Use your study time wisely and you will triumph gloriously.

18. You are going to need to spend countless hours constructing a personal statement, filling out your primary application, getting letters of recommendation, and so forth. You might spend the majority of your summer break taking classes and filling out this endless paperwork documenting every breathing moment of your past ten years.

19. This one is a toughie, but you should probably try it out. Find a buried treasure chest. Or win a million dollars. Wait, maybe a billion might be a safer bet.  Most people know medical school is very expensive. What they don’t know, is that you are going to have to pay for that not so cheap primary application and every single secondary application you send out. Thinking about applying to 18 schools? You do the math. Roughly $80 per application. Also, any interview you fly out to will all be on your dime. You will need to buy the plane ticket, pay for transportation and lodging. You should probably develop a budget when you are in third grade and start to build your financial portfolio while you are at it.

20. Practice interview questions for a month before your interview. You probably are already pretty comfortable talking about yourself, but you need to perfect the balance between confidence and humility. Maybe ask that crazy stalker girl to grill you on questions over every meal, whenever you are in the car for longer than two minutes, and right before bed every night for the weeks leading up to your interview. You might even consider having that mildly intimidating pop-in-law ask you interview questions over that summer that you are applying.

21. Be attractive. Be really attractive, in fact. This will be an easy one for you cause you are probably already ridiculously handsome. It might also help to look like a Greek War God specifically. I hear those are always the types getting interviews and getting accepted to medical school.

22. This one could be the easiest or hardest on this list. Be a minority. You will automatically become more attractive to all medical schools because then they can snap pictures of you studying, load them on their website, and convince most people applying to their school that they are like a mini UN and they only have one white person attending their school. Doesn’t matter what minority you are, just be one. (Below picture might indicate there is more than one white person going to this school. Do not be decieved. The girl in the back with glasses is actually Hispanic)

I am SO impressed that Sel has done all of these steps and it is finally paying off! We will know November 27^th whether or not Ohio really does want our bodies. Sel and I fly to Philly next week for his other interview and he will be flying to Missouri the week after that for his third medical interview. GET IT!

Thankful Day 1 (Selface)

I noticed a whole bunch of peeps did this writing activity last year and I enjoyed reading what everyone was thankful for.

So now you get to read about things I am thankful for. Well, at least a small portion. I have so very much to be grateful for!

Assuming you have read my blog before, you know I am a tinsy bit obsessed with my husband and how spectacular he is.



Proof he is world's most adorable human or animal for that matter



He is the most adorable, kind, loving, patient, interesting, thoughtful, selfless, hilarious, fun, brilliant, handsome, wise human being to ever walk the planet. He is so perfect for me and such a remarkable husband in all aspects. Every blessed day I get with this sweet man is the best day of my entire life. (Here is a giant smattering of pictures of Sel being world's best human)



I love this one SO much! I married such a STUD!



I have been reading a blog lately called Single Dad Laughing and am struck by how lucky I really am. The blog writer talks a lot about what went wrong in his past two marriages. I know a lot of people have struggles in their marriage for one reason or another. I know a lot of people told me marriage would be the hardest, but best thing I would ever experience.

Since meeting Sel, life is easier, sweeter, and better in all ways. I know we have many years ahead of us and trials will surely come, but I am thankful I will have my best friend with me to make life beautiful no matter what it throws at us.