Well! I have now officially moved in to the Heritage Halls dorms here at BYU. My roommates are all very nice, and so far we are getting along quite well. I have settled in nicely; our kitchen and bathroom get cuter every day and my room is adorable.
Our ward seems good, today was my first Sunday there, but I love our presidency so it is grand.
I have also gotten used to using the accommodations here: I did laundry a few hours ago, bought food at the Creamery, used the printer in the Central Building, and have found refuge in the piano room. I already have my favorite spot on campus (the benches behind the ESC and HRCB).
The only thing left to do is begin classes. This is where the fun stuff starts. I sadly quit my modeling job because I had too many hours between that and the transcribing job (which starts tomorrow as well). Here is my schedule for tomorrow:
8-9:15 Intro to Interiors
10-10:50 Anthropology 101
11-11:50 WORK (Transcribing Archaeology and the Bible)
12-12:50 Honors English
1-1:50 WORK (Transcribing Biology)
2-2:50 WORK (Transcribing Contemporary Theory)
3-3:50 Intermediate French
Then I have FHE that night. It is a little crazy, yes, I know. But it will be grand. By the time I graduate I will be ridiculously rich. And more tired than I can possibly imagine.
I'll let you know how the first day goes!
Love,
Lizzy ;)
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
best of SYTYCD!
This season of So You Think You Can Dance is over, and here are a few of my favorite moments:
This is Jeanine and Phillip's first routine on the show. It is a hip-hop piece to Mad by Ne-Yo, choreographed by Tabitha and Napolean.
This is danced by Kayla and Kupono to Gravity by Sarah Bareilles. It is a piece about addiction choreographed by Mia Michaels.
Jeanine and Brandon do a Louis van Armstel Paso Doble to "Tetsujin" from the Matrix Revolutions soundtrack.
This is Jeanine and Phillip's first routine on the show. It is a hip-hop piece to Mad by Ne-Yo, choreographed by Tabitha and Napolean.
This is danced by Kayla and Kupono to Gravity by Sarah Bareilles. It is a piece about addiction choreographed by Mia Michaels.
Jeanine and Brandon do a Louis van Armstel Paso Doble to "Tetsujin" from the Matrix Revolutions soundtrack.
Saturday, August 8, 2009
back from Colorado!
Well, my mom, Edward and I have returned from a random and crazy, but overall fun, visit to Denver, Longmont, and Minatou Springs, Colorado. Pictures to come (see Facebook).
Also, BYU has given me $6,000 more in grants. So that was nice.
Also, I move out in 17 days. That's barely over 2 weeks. Holy. Cow. I am really excited, and almost ready--I bought towels and dishes, it was weird--and I'm really looking forward to my classes. I've been ordering my textbooks, and I am freakishly excited by them. This is such a weird/crazy transition, I almost can't believe its really happening. Like, I will have an apartment and roommates and health insurance. I will be a real, live, adultish person. How odd.
I decided to turn down the animal caretaker job, but I'm going to continue to model during the fall. I really enjoy modeling, it is a weird but oddly fun job, so I figure I'll keep doing a couple hours a week like I have been. I will also start my transcribing job, which I'm a little nervous about, but I've been training for months and am almost ready to start. That job pays $13 an hour, too, plus I get paid an extra hour for every class I transcribe for. So the money is awesome.
My best friend is going to be my roommate, so that's really nice, and there will be 4 other girls in the apartment. I am looking forward to getting to know them.
Things with Edward and I are still going strong and awesome. He leaves for an LDS mission in January, and I'm nervous about that. But right now, things are really ridiculously great. :)
Overall, life is great!
Love,
Lizzy ;)
Also, BYU has given me $6,000 more in grants. So that was nice.
Also, I move out in 17 days. That's barely over 2 weeks. Holy. Cow. I am really excited, and almost ready--I bought towels and dishes, it was weird--and I'm really looking forward to my classes. I've been ordering my textbooks, and I am freakishly excited by them. This is such a weird/crazy transition, I almost can't believe its really happening. Like, I will have an apartment and roommates and health insurance. I will be a real, live, adultish person. How odd.
I decided to turn down the animal caretaker job, but I'm going to continue to model during the fall. I really enjoy modeling, it is a weird but oddly fun job, so I figure I'll keep doing a couple hours a week like I have been. I will also start my transcribing job, which I'm a little nervous about, but I've been training for months and am almost ready to start. That job pays $13 an hour, too, plus I get paid an extra hour for every class I transcribe for. So the money is awesome.
My best friend is going to be my roommate, so that's really nice, and there will be 4 other girls in the apartment. I am looking forward to getting to know them.
Things with Edward and I are still going strong and awesome. He leaves for an LDS mission in January, and I'm nervous about that. But right now, things are really ridiculously great. :)
Overall, life is great!
Love,
Lizzy ;)
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
facebook update
Okay. On Facebook, there are now the following albums:
Harry Potter 5 midnight showing
Washington, D.C. trip
Riggs babysitting.
If you are interested, go and see!
Love,
Lizzy
Harry Potter 5 midnight showing
Washington, D.C. trip
Riggs babysitting.
If you are interested, go and see!
Love,
Lizzy
Friday, July 17, 2009
how I got my grades: part 2
This is another actual assignment that was indeed turned in and received a score of 100%. It was supposed to be an in-depth literary analysis on an AP-approved book read in addition to our classroom reading. I chose to "read" Emma by Jane Austen.
Emma: A Really, Really Good Response
I'm going to be very frank here and say that I was not exactly reading Emma for literary analysis. I was reading Emma because it is fun. I believe in reading for fun, and while the public school system is very much against me on this, I'm trying to find ways to evade its evil clutches. So I read something that was on the precious AP list, but also fun to read, and thus satisfied everyone. Except you, because this response isn't actually an analysis.
Why am I writing this, anyways? Is it to prove I've read the book? Because no offense, but a response is a very poor way to assess that fact. I could quite easily read Spark Notes, come to some conclusion involving the words "social commentary", "Jane Austen", and "Victorian", and call it good. I would be right, and I wouldn't be plagarizing, but I wouldn't have proved that I'd read the book, either. Just that I'm really good at reading Spark Notes.
Because my ethics do not allow me to spend time engaging in anything that is irrefutably pointless, I belive I've given you a good deal more information in this response than any of my wonderful classmates, who, while possessing a great deal of intelligence, are woefully inadequate at individuality. They are, in fact, quite content to be prodded in any which way, like cattle. But I am not a member of the heifer species, and thus, you are smiply going to have to trust me when I say I read Emma. As you would have if I'd written an in-depth literary response that was entirely faked. As, I assure you, are many of the responses you receive. I trust this response was just as thought-provoking as the deepest of those so-called literary analyses you get. I, personally, believe my way of responding to be a good deal more...educational. :)
Note: The way this response started was that I sat down to write it at least five times, but couldn't come up with anything at all to write. So I just starting spouting off, and ended up turning it in. My teacher wrote "50/50 100%" on it in enormous letters, and included a very large and sadly misshapen smiley face.
It was the weirdest day of my life.
Love,
Lizzy
Why am I writing this, anyways? Is it to prove I've read the book? Because no offense, but a response is a very poor way to assess that fact. I could quite easily read Spark Notes, come to some conclusion involving the words "social commentary", "Jane Austen", and "Victorian", and call it good. I would be right, and I wouldn't be plagarizing, but I wouldn't have proved that I'd read the book, either. Just that I'm really good at reading Spark Notes.
Because my ethics do not allow me to spend time engaging in anything that is irrefutably pointless, I belive I've given you a good deal more information in this response than any of my wonderful classmates, who, while possessing a great deal of intelligence, are woefully inadequate at individuality. They are, in fact, quite content to be prodded in any which way, like cattle. But I am not a member of the heifer species, and thus, you are smiply going to have to trust me when I say I read Emma. As you would have if I'd written an in-depth literary response that was entirely faked. As, I assure you, are many of the responses you receive. I trust this response was just as thought-provoking as the deepest of those so-called literary analyses you get. I, personally, believe my way of responding to be a good deal more...educational. :)
Note: The way this response started was that I sat down to write it at least five times, but couldn't come up with anything at all to write. So I just starting spouting off, and ended up turning it in. My teacher wrote "50/50 100%" on it in enormous letters, and included a very large and sadly misshapen smiley face.
It was the weirdest day of my life.
Love,
Lizzy
how I got my grades
I have noticed that some of you are under the impression I got my grades by hard work or actual intelligence. I am here to tell you that is not the case, at least for the whole of my senior year. I got my grades mostly by my hair-flip, but I also possess an unusual gift for writing.
Here is actual, original paper I turned in to prove it. And yes, it got me an A.
I strongly believe that I deserve an "A" in your fabulous journalism class. I know that I have not actually completed my newspaper reading in...well, ever, but I assure you, I make up for my negligence in this area in my reliability and excellence in many others. My articles have always been thorough and on time. I have spent countless hours running random errands for editors in the journalism lab, indeed, enough to warrant the special title of "J-Lab Minion" (see Jenna). I am the go-to gal for nearly any journalism need, and am forever being assigned more and more stories, and then having them taken away half the time, because I have too many to begin with. I am quite commonly found in the journalism lab at 5 in the afternoon, coming up with original headlines for a wide range of editors, including Jenna Ritz*, Millie Coquette*, Marie Bunboy*, Casey Queen*, Janelle Poosli*, Bo Elizabeth*, and Hilary Salmoner*. I can claim credit for editing work, rewrites, and leads in over twenty stories, have taken at least fifteen photographs, have written headlines for over twenty stories, distributed sixty polls, and sold three ads. I have discovered three exclusive stories and written one cover page story.
In short, I am alarmingly astoundingly amazing, and to give me anything less than an "A" would be blasphemy!
* names have been changed
Note: the role of this paper in the changing of my grade has been exaggerated for the sake of humor. However, it was truly and honestly turned in, and did receive an A.
Love,
Lizzy
Here is actual, original paper I turned in to prove it. And yes, it got me an A.
A is for Alarmingly Astoudingly Amazing
Dear Mrs. Alison Verr Corgan*,I strongly believe that I deserve an "A" in your fabulous journalism class. I know that I have not actually completed my newspaper reading in...well, ever, but I assure you, I make up for my negligence in this area in my reliability and excellence in many others. My articles have always been thorough and on time. I have spent countless hours running random errands for editors in the journalism lab, indeed, enough to warrant the special title of "J-Lab Minion" (see Jenna). I am the go-to gal for nearly any journalism need, and am forever being assigned more and more stories, and then having them taken away half the time, because I have too many to begin with. I am quite commonly found in the journalism lab at 5 in the afternoon, coming up with original headlines for a wide range of editors, including Jenna Ritz*, Millie Coquette*, Marie Bunboy*, Casey Queen*, Janelle Poosli*, Bo Elizabeth*, and Hilary Salmoner*. I can claim credit for editing work, rewrites, and leads in over twenty stories, have taken at least fifteen photographs, have written headlines for over twenty stories, distributed sixty polls, and sold three ads. I have discovered three exclusive stories and written one cover page story.
In short, I am alarmingly astoundingly amazing, and to give me anything less than an "A" would be blasphemy!
* names have been changed
Note: the role of this paper in the changing of my grade has been exaggerated for the sake of humor. However, it was truly and honestly turned in, and did receive an A.
Love,
Lizzy
red velvet cookie recipe
This cookie recipe is requested by all. So because I'm really, really nice, I'm giving it to all of you. Free of charge :)
Red Velvet Cookies
Ingredients
Makes 3 dozen amazing cookies. Both the dough and baked cookies freeze well (but not frosted). Store in the fridge if it is hot, otherwise your frosting will melt. Everyone always loves these, be forewarned you cannot eat "just one", you will end up eating 10.
Notes:
*Do not use wax paper. Whatever anyone says, your cookies will taste waxy.
**Do not eat the butter/sugar/brown sugar mixture. If you eat "just a little bit", you will be like me and eat loads of it, and then you will throw off the ratios of the cookies.
***Sometimes I only use 2 cups of powdered sugar. For some reason it depends on the day. You can stop adding at 2 cups if the frosting tastes good to you and is nice and thick but spreadable...about the consistency of soft butter.
Enjoy!
Love,
Lizzy
Red Velvet Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, at room temp.
- 2/3 cup brown sugar
- 1/3 cup white (granulated) sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 large egg
- 1 tablespoon red food coloring
- 3/4 cup sour cream (when I wrote this recipe down, I put "sour scream"...haha)
- 2 cups flour
- 1 cup semi-sweet or milk chocolate chips (whatever floats your boat)
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line 1-3 cookie sheets (depending on how many you have and how many batches you're doing) with parchment paper.*
- Melt baking chocolate in the microwave (it takes mine about 90 seconds). Stir until smooth and set aside to cool down a bit.
- Combine butter, sugar, and brown sugar in the mixer**. Beat on medium speed until smooth. Add baking soda and salt, beat on medium until incorporated.
- Add the egg, beat until smooth (NO lumps!!). Add red food coloring, beat until the batter looks red (about 3o seconds).
- Scrape the bowl down, add melted baking chocolate and mix well.
- Scrape the bowl down again, add half the flour (which would be 1 cup). Mix in the sour cream. Then add the rest of the flour.
- Beat it until everything is all nice and mixed up. It will be wet and sticky and heavy.
- Mix in chocolate chips by hand.
- Bake at 375 degrees for 9-11 minutes, until they rise and are firm. They will not change color because of the food coloring. Be careful not to overbake--they should be very soft when you take them out (they will firm up as they cool). Put them on a rack to cool and then frost them with this...
- 1/4 cup butter, softened
- 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- 2.5 cups*** powdered sugar
Makes 3 dozen amazing cookies. Both the dough and baked cookies freeze well (but not frosted). Store in the fridge if it is hot, otherwise your frosting will melt. Everyone always loves these, be forewarned you cannot eat "just one", you will end up eating 10.
Notes:
*Do not use wax paper. Whatever anyone says, your cookies will taste waxy.
**Do not eat the butter/sugar/brown sugar mixture. If you eat "just a little bit", you will be like me and eat loads of it, and then you will throw off the ratios of the cookies.
***Sometimes I only use 2 cups of powdered sugar. For some reason it depends on the day. You can stop adding at 2 cups if the frosting tastes good to you and is nice and thick but spreadable...about the consistency of soft butter.
Enjoy!
Love,
Lizzy
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