The Joys Of College.

Today, I finally got sick of showering with a 5" puddle of water collecting at my feet.

Normally I would have taken care of it immediately before it reached the + inches mark but I was hoping that my roommate would take care of it. {You can pinpoint the culprit easily just by looking at the color of hair that seems to always being 'hanging out' at the bottom of the tub}. It's now been a week and I know she knows it is her hair.

I got sick of waiting.

I grabbed a bobby pin and decided to venture down inside the drain to hopefully unclog this water from building up any higher.

I wouldn't be so disgusted if it was my own hair.

Oh it wasn't mine alright.

It was long, and black.

And tons of it.

I'm going to go throw up now.

Spilling my Baggage.

It has been said that an individual could learn about a woman by looking at the contents in her purse. I think I would like to prove them wrong, rummaging through my purse you can find my snakeskin wallet, iTouch, phone, SoftLips chap stick, house and car keys. How can you possibly know who I am through my purse besides searching through my electronics? You can't. I did learn however that you can learn a lot from the contents of a decorated brown lunch bag. Surprising I know. Being an RA (Resident Assistant) I am required to go to a weekly PEC staff meeting ~PEC standing for Eccles, Ponderosa Terrace and College View apartments~ which can sometimes be very heavy in the 'housekeeping' department. At the end of a very long and interesting meeting about red and green lights, Kate, my boss, gave us a brown bag and asked us to then "Spill our Baggage" and bring it to our next meeting. Meaning that with this paper bag I would have to decorate the outside of it with things that people knew about me and then in the inside I would disclose things that people wouldn't necessarily know about me. How do you decorate the inside of a bag? A lot of RA's put objects inside of their bags, for me I was a little more creative with my bag. So I would like to take the rest of this blog entry to spill my baggage with you. So this is me spilling my baggage...let's get close and personal!

Well, not that close. This picture just looks plain creepy of me. Yes, my nose isn't that big. Thanks for noticing.

Let's just get close enough for a good outlook into this life of mine a.k.a my baggage.

This last weekend Sam, Kandace, and I were watching Kennah and Kenyon (such an adorable couple) make cupcakes~that tasted awesome!~and I began the design for my baggage. Wanting to think outside the box...well actually wanting to decorate less space....I came up with this design with the help of Kennah.

Things I let the world know:

~I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

~I love listening to music!

~I like being involved.

~I am extremely organized and stay on top of a lot of things that are going on at the same time.

~My new favorite color is purple. Should be evident between my purple car and the watch Jamison bought me for Christmas.

~I love eating chips & salsa. Yummy!

~I love smiling.

~I love blogging!

What the world views me as: {according to my roommates}

~calm ~organized ~outgoing ~Jamison ~yellow {my blog!}

~sunshine ~apple juice ~anti-chick flick ~focused ~fun to be around

Things I don't broadcast to the world: {until now}

~When I'm upset or have a lot on my mind I go for a long drive, preferably with someone where we listen to music really loud and then spill my guts about what is going on. I really like to drive on the freeway from Cedar to Kanaraville and then take the back roads back to the city.

~I don't wear socks. It is all my little sisters' fault, they play softball and will take my socks wear them and return them all covered with red dirt stains. I was sick of paying for socks that would come back stretched out and splotchy red.

~I have a multi-colored ribbon decoration that I got in China Town in San Francisco when I went there when I was ten. I still to this day have it hanging in my room, my room being the room in my apartment! It gives me a sense of being home.

~I have always blushed with just about everything. I'm called on in class...I blush. Someone asks me about Jamison...I blush. Teasing about marriage possibilities...I blush.

~I love sunshine. If I open up my blinds in my room and warm sunshine is shining through. I will do anything just to be in it. I have set a blanket on my floor to do homework before because the sun happened to be there. I love it.

~My favorite place to go when I am at my house is to be on my front porch, mostly in the summer. I can sit there anytime...all day if I could. I can't get enough of that sunshine and the beautiful sunsets!

~I love Lake Powell, I wish I could live there permanently.

~I secretly am shy. I promise. People from high school wouldn't believe me with all the crazy things I had to do in front of people. {dressing up like a can, wearing fake body builder muscles, wearing a gingerbread costume when it wasn't Halloween.} I'm not shy when I have a purpose... but when I don't have a specific purpose...I hide.

~I love listening to Coldplay, it's one of the best ways for me to calm down after a long and stressful day. {They are the band who plays the song Yellow, which happens to be my favorite song.}

~I love the stars, I find a certain fascination with them and the beauty they have. It makes me wonder what's really out there and how amazing I am even here.

~I have a hard time being away from my family. I try not to show it, but I really do miss them a lot. I love my family. I love calling my Mom when I can and to chat with her. I like the random texts that I get from my Dad reminding me about a time of his life. I also love the moments when family members stop by to visit on their way to somewhere fun. I also love the little moments that I get to talk with my neice Jade on the phone. I miss my sisters. I'm excited for them to come to SUU next semester.

Although you can't necessarily tell who a woman is by the contents of her purse...you now know to ask her to decorate a brown bag. It sounds ridiculous but just imagine the things you'll learn about them! During staff meeting I learned a lot of amazing things about the people I work with each and every day. If you don't ask them about their baggage how would you know things that you'd never know about them any other way? Trust me. You'll learn a lot about the people who analyze bags with. So now it's my turn to ask you... what's your baggage?

Learning Lessons With a Chance of Flowers

Living in Utah you quickly learn how unpredictable the weather can be, for example, this last week the forecast predicted 2" of snow every single afternoon and yet we didn't seem to be getting any snow...just plenty of ugly clouds freezing the earth. Yesterday afternoon came around where the forecast was no longer predicting a snow storm of any kind then the clouds exploded and gave us 6" of snow! Looking for the forecast tonight we have a chance of snow showers and a slight chance of a thunderstorm this evening. Snow and lightning, that should be interesting. Only in Utah.

Just as the weather is unpredictable, our lives and the events that take place during it is unpredictable as well. I feel that life is tagged with the same lines from a forecast report, "a slight chance of rain" "a category 4 hurricane" "hail the size of golf balls" "earthquake!" and my personal favorite "sunshine". Yesterday was one of those days that I came home emotionally exhausted after experiencing what it felt like an earthquake. I never thought I would be prepared to handle the situation that I did.

Being a Resident Assistant I am sometimes caught in situations that I then have to mediate or take control of a specific situation....some being more extreme than others. From this particular situation I had the opportunity to learn another of life's lessons by witnessing it take place with some of my residents. I would like to take a second to share what I learned from them. I learned that life once again is too short and to not take it for granted. I also learned that we should have compassion, love, and respect for those individuals who we either live with, are friends with, or are acquaintances with. Each individual is a person, regardless of their race, and along with them they bring different things and elements into our daily forecasts. I'm proud of the girls and for their new willingness to learn and grow while handling this new situation presented to them. It is never too late to remodel our thinking. So although I had a rough day, the forecast still predicted...

a chance of flowers!

I love Jamison, he seems to know when I need a pick-me-up.

What a great way to end an emotionally exhausting day!

Two Nerds Or Two People In 3D Glasses?

This last weekend Jamison and I went to the 3D movie Avatar, which in my opinion was amazing! At first I was skeptical at the commercials when I saw naked blue people running around in a jungle...but to popular demand from my friends we thought we would take a chance and see if it really was that good. My response? Avatar is awesome! I wouldn't go calling me an Avatar nerd but I thought that between the graphics and the story line that it made it a great movie to go see. Having this be my first 3D movie experience I was shocked to find out that my eyes adjusted well to the 3D glasses, which was a relief. That would have been a super long movie if you couldn't watch it because it gave you a headache. I thought it was interesting how the Avatar's hair would be their connection to so many things, especially with the animals. Also it was cool to watch the unity of the Avatars and that when they were all connected as one that they could make things happens and produce miracles. Just imagine if the world got together and banded with one another, what miracles could we bring about?

So back to the question, nerd or chick in 3D glasses? For now, let's stick with both.

~Ice Ice Baby~

I can never turn down an opportunity to go dancing, especially themed dancing! It's not so much that the dances are particularily fun...it is the dressing up that makes it all worth it!

Don't be confused by my amazing abilities to dress as an aerobic instructor. My secret? I'm wearing a one piece swimming suit with black leggings! Although I was born in the 90's I was conceived in the 80's! That's right! A true blue 90's chick can rock out to 80's garb just like the rest of them!

Kandace and I were some serious aerobic instructors...oh and don't get confused with those twigs holding up our bodies...they are our legs!

And how can I forget my partner in crime a.k.a Richard Simmons with Vanilla Ice hair?!

To make if more fun I found out that Kandace and I weren't the only one's getting ready for the 80's dance on my floor! McKenna and Jen's outfits were sweet, especially Jen's...her outfit came with a cup holder on her fanny pack! It was awesome, it was even more funny to watch her drink out of it while it was still attached to her fanny pack!

To make it an even better night, Kandace, Jamison and I went out for Dairy Queen Blizzards ~an ice cream joint I hardly ever go to anymore~but it is official. The French Silk Creme Pie Blizzard is the best! Period. And McKennah was right, once you try it the first time you can't turn back to any other blizzard flavor! All in all between the lame dance and the 80's dress up, I figure that this night was an absolute success!

A Letter To You

Dear fellow blogonians,

I felt that I should introduce one important man in my life and ~for those who just look at the pretty pictures~ he is the man who happens to be in almost every picture in here. So to stop any confusion that may result with pictures of close encounters with one another this is Jamison Garner. I love him! Some say we are an adorable couple, others say we are two peas in a pod, personally I like to think of him as the peanut butter to my jelly sandwich...but you are right, that is too weird. For correct classification however, this is a teeny shout out to the Garner family who helped create the name... Jamison + Auburn = JaBurn. Although, for your information we still like being known as an adorable couple...just so you know.

Just hugs and kisses for now,

auburn

All Things Yellow

I cannot believe that ~as of today~ I am a 19 1/2 year old, moved out of the house, full pledged college woman! With my own life in my hands and thousands of adventures at hand it is finally the time that I shared to the world what I have to bring to the table. Fear it. Love it.

Why 'and it was all yellow?' Yellow is the color of sunshine. It's joy. Light. Happiness. Intellect. Energy. Yellow is warmth. Friendship. My blog will express the love and joys of my life. Join as I embrace it.