Halloween Cruisin'

When you live in Provo, you go on lots of these things called "Group Dates". This one actually turned out to be pretty shnazzy. Definitely a tad bit on the ghetto fab side, but still way fun! 

So they have this entire place decked out with decorations for The Hallowed Eve. You walk through wide eyed and bushy tailed, until you reach the lake featured above in the bottom middle photo. THE LAKE LOOKED AWESOME!

They had all these lights strung above it, and some serious jack-o-lanterns lining the sides of the lake that meant business. These were not your average jack-o-lanterns. The jack-o designers must have spent weeks on those things. Impressive stuff. 

As we boarded our "cruise ship" we had a pirate tell us spooky stories while he "sailed us" down the lake, and by sailed I mean pulled us along, using the string above his head that ran along the length of the entire lake....Like I said, ghetto fab but surprisingly effective.

I'm thoroughly convinced that most of these "Group dates" are just an excuse for hormonal singles to get together and touch each other, which definitely happened for some of the other lovely couples that accompanied us on the cruise. Jake and I prefer to keep it classy so nothing past G rated of course.

After all, it is Provo. 

Full Moon Lift

So here's the skinny. Every Full Moon, Sundance opens up the Lift. You go allll the way up, and then allll the way back down again. It's actually a pretty extensive trip. Lovely view, good company, you would think it would be peaceful, right?

Wrong.

The two DoDo brains in our lift (Jake and I) couldn't figure out how to put the safety bar down, as we're going higher and higher up the mountain. I am freaking out at this point, holding on the bars behind me with a crazed look in my eves, every muscle in my arms is screaming for mercy, and I am one hundred percent focused on NOT dying, so of course there is no conversation. Poor Jake. But hey, there was no way I was going to fall off that lift. 

None. 

Eventually I lose it, slightly decrease my death grip and start pulling on every bar my arms can reach like a Mad Woman. The closest equivalent would probably be a blind gorilla, grasping for monkey bars above a pit of FIRE! I was not doing okay. Families, couples, groups of friends would pass by us and there bar was down! What was wrong with ours? Was it broken? I then start to holler at the people passing by..It started with belligerent accusations like "Who do you think you are with your bar down like that?"...and turned into pathetic pleading..."HELP US PLEASE!" On a side note, some of this may or may not be an exaggeration...it all seems a little hazy now...

That's right.

Things were getting serious. Something...probably divine inspiration, inspired me to look up. What do I see? The safety bar. Yep. Like I mentioned earlier two DoDo's were riding the lift so it shouldn't be surprising that we missed it. We pulled that stupid bar down and enjoyed the rest of the ride down which wasn't very much considering I spent 60% of the ride playing the raving lunatic. I captured this quick snapshot as we approached our landing. Super blurry, but I figured such a stressful event should be documented. Story of my life.

Ridiculous.

The Zombie Shamble

 These three Lovelies and I saw a random ad to audition for a Zombie music video. So of course we auditioned. Who doesn't have "Be in a Zombie Music Video" on their weird College To-Do list? When we got to the auditions, they had us do a Zombie, walk,run, shuffle, shamble...who even knows what a zombie shamble is? We sure didn't. They also taped us making a Zombie happy, sad and excited face. 
Did we know what we were doing? Heck to the no. We all just made it up as we went and surprisingly enough we made it into the video!! First we had our makeup done in a random art warehouse in Salt Lake. There were some hardcore Zombie fans there and some hardcore makeup artists as well. If you think Oatmeal looks gross in a bowl, wait until you see it mixed with fake blood and guts on someone's face. SICKNASTY! We then had our wardrobes cut and dirtied to sufficiency.

Unfortunately the goons in charge of this video had us arrive HOURS early. So we sat around for a few hours taking a bunch of Zombie Selfies until finally we started shooting the video which you can find here. Now we've officially checked "Zombie Music Video" off the list. 
Was it fun? Yes. 
Did we make some dang good lookin' Zombies? Yes. 
Will we ever do it again? I'm gonna say that's a negative ;)

The Chocolate

The Birthday Celebration is of course not over yet. Next on the list...The Chocolate!!

I feel like this place is kind of the Red Headed Stepchild off State Street. Instead of being in a posh building, it's set in this random house you can see from the main road. Weird, right? The inside is adorable though. Has this hometown cottagey, Momma's in the kitchen bakin' you some fritters kinda feel.

I always mess the name of what we ate up. It's either a Kazuki or a Kabuki. One of those options is an ancient form of Japanese dance...when I told people I was eating that, people were concerned. I can assure you I am not a cannibal, nor can I eat dance moves. Anyways, this dish was YumM! The bottom layer is half Chocolate Macadamia Nut and half Chocolate Chip topped with Vanilla Ice Cream.

In the end, we couldn't even finish it in all of it's fame and deliciousness. Super YuMm, but also super sweet. We topped what we could off with a glass of Milk and went on our merry way. It was a grand way to kick off the Weekend Festivities. You only turn 20 once right?

20 Years Young

Today marks the spot. 20 years young. My morning was kicked off with this lovely bouquet from Jake. He's getting good as picking these things out!

He then surprised me after classes with homemade mozzarella and tomato panini's, cheese and crackers, Martinelli's, chocolate eclairs, french bread and a chocolate Toblerone bar that he brought in a picnic basket and laid out on a blanket next to the duck pond. IT WAS DELICIOUS!! 

These ladies then surprised me! Fancy decorations, Happy Birthday Song, Fancy little straws from Zurchers and all!

They even had a Snickers Ice Cream Cake! YuMmO!

I then ended the night at the Provo Temple. Not bad for a 20th birthday, eh? 

Dining on Doughnuts

Here they are folks. The famous Bacon Maple Bars and Oreo Cream Glazed Doughnuts. They are not a figment of your imagination. They are very real and very delicious. I'm sure they're also very fattening, but.....I'm not gonna worry about that now. ;)

I'll never forget the time that I was eating a harmless brownie at a Youth activity. One of the older sisters briskly walked towards me with a frown on her face and told me "Remember Ana, one second on the lips, forever on the hips." Maybe one day I'll take her wise advice. Today is not that day.

The Fish Bandwagon

Recently we all jumped on the "Let's have a fish" bandwagon. Mckay and Nicole spent quality time hand picking specific fish for each of us to name, and raise as our own flesh and blood. After the trying naming process was complete, we found em all a bowl and excitedly started our new life complete with the additions to our little family. 

The next morning we wake up, and BAM!!!!! THERE'S A DEAD FISH FLOATING ON TOP OF THE WATER! Day after day the fish continue to die...one...by...one. At this point we start to get a little freaked out. What is the problem with these fish? Are we really just pitiful parents? Or is there a fish epidemic going around? Turns out Jeff (Kelsey's fish) is a fish killer. He mercilessly killed his brothers and sisters and didn't even lose sleep over it. Who knows what he will do next or what he is capable of. At this point, no one is safe. We had to take immediate action.

With this new light shed on the situation, of course we were forced to put him up for adoption and hand him over to a family that could better address his needs. We stuck him in a bowl, wrote up the classiest note we could muster and dropped him off at the most eligible parents house, Apartment 11. We are now able to sleep fully through the night. From this experience, we have all learned that the "Let's have a fish" bandwagon is NOT the bandwagon that you want to be on. 

Roomie Lovin'

Here they are Ladies and Gents. The lovely ladies in Apartment 8 that I get to live with.

It's crazy how six people from all over the United States, were meant to be roommates.

Meet Nicole Ophelia Bori. Less than five feet of party animal. This woman amazes me with her ability to organize. She will go and go and go, playing volleyball, working out, going caving, running Ragnar in Las Vegas, dancing the night away and who knows what else, and somehow STILL manages to finish all her assignments from school. Against all of her wishes, I have nicknamed her Ofetus, which came to me as inspiration from her middle name. She is 100% reliable, loyal, creative and always cooks us yummy foods. You can't go wrong with Ofetus.

Meet Chelsea Bartof Rouse. If you ever need to wake her up for something, you might as well go bury yourself in a ditch. This lady will sleep through the apocalypse and wake up in the next life wondering what happened. She just got in to the Nursing program because she is a BEAST! It's not every day that you meet looks and smarts all in one. She is one long legged Idahoan with a huge heart on the inside and a hand holding a full spoon of ice cream on the outside. I love her guts.

Meet Ally Boo Boo Holmes. She is the apartment Hipster, Ginger, Occasional Vegetarian or Vegan, Videographer, Gourmet Chef, Future for World Peace, etc. The list goes on and on. All cool points in this apartment would have to be from her. Ally Boo Boo has to be the most considerate lady in the world. If any of us need anything, she is always more than willing to drop everything that she is doing and lend a helping hand. She da bomb. She's attempting to leave us next semester to teach English in a foreign country. If she leaves, we'll miss her terribly :(

Meet Kelsey Rae Partridge. She can write one heck of a poem, leaving you in a thought provoking stupor with her perfectly crafted word usage and placement. She rocks. Kelsey Boo was actually the Wildcard of the apartment. She was the only person moving in that we didn't know beforehand. AND WE LOVE HER! She adds some flair to the apartment that definitely would have been missed without her. 

Meet Mckay Des Neiges Lindsey. A blondie from New Mexico. She is loud, and proud, quirky and smirky, and one heck of a writer as well. This past semester we all got to help her audition for Divine Comedy, a popular comedy group here at BYU. And of course, SHE MADE IT IN!! Mckaykay here is one fine lady who knows how to bake cinnamon rolls that will make yo' taste buds melt, and spike a volleybal that will make yo' eyes melt. She's a running machine and often kicks us all into shape, and who knows what we would do if we the apartment didn't have access to her straightener...it's quite possible that we would die a slow and painful death while sporting an horrendous hairdo. We all appreciate this lady.

And...then there's me. 

Bringing some opinionated sass and way too much stuff all the way from La Florida, with hair that cannot be tamed and a wardrobe that leaks into every open closet in the apartment. Appreciator of inappropriate jokes, instigator of awkward situations, and good for a laugh every once in a while when my jokes are on point.

Let's just say Apartment 8 knows how to party.

Doodle Junkie

I'll admit I am a doodle junkie. Every once in awhile these doodles are not too shabby. Something about pen and paper brings a creepily insurmountable amount of joy to my heart. Some people collect figurines, coins from around the world, taxidermy, toy planes, strands of hair from celebrities, etc. Not this girl. Pen + Paper = Happiness. 

Comedy Sports

Iiiitttt''sssss Date Night Baby!! Comedy Sports is this vintage little comedy joint in downtown Provo.

Basically you watch a show that consists of two teams of comedians competing against one another. They have different challenges that give them a certain amount of points. In the end the team with the most points wins the game, hence the name "Comedy Sports".They make the jokes, we do the laughing and everyone wins. 

Hiking Mount Olympus

The roommates and I decided it was time for a hike. Even though I am the worst hiker ever, I still love it.

To Mount Nebo we went.

Nicole, sportin her all black gear.

Me, Mckay, Ryan, Alex, Ally Boo Boo, Chris & Candace

Steph, Mckaykay, Nicole

What a view!

Halfway Up!

Minus the fact that Utah air is meant to suffocate poor Floridians like myself, the squad and I had a swell time. 

Waffleluv

 I kind of have an insanely HUGE crush on this Food Truck.

 They serve the most scrumptiously delicious melt in your mouth waffles you will ever eat. 

My life has changed for the better, because of you Waffleluv!

You da bomb!

If Waffleluv comes your way, take action immediately! Who needs a vacation when you can experience a mouth watering party in paradise from one stinkin' waffle? BAM!

Last Goodbyes in Cali

Before leaving Vista, we had time to go to Church at the nearest ward. Here's Jessica and I in our Sunday Best.

We fit in a walk along Carlsbad Beach,

and the water was gorgeous!

We also hit up Alber Tacos. According to Momma Frame it's a local favorite. It was delicious!

Finally we tearfully said our last goodbyes to our lovely weekend abode.

The Magical Land of Disney

Once upon a time, there were three adventurers who traveled long and far to the Magical Land of Disney.

They wore good shoes,

and took lots of pictures.

First they rode the Tower of Terror.

Two of the adventurers had a blast, but the third wondered why people pay to do this. 

Next they traveled to Cars Land.

They Saw Tow Mater's Bumper Cars

and waved to all the kiddos.

They ate at Flo's Cafe

and rode the Ferris Wheel. 

When they got hungry, they ate ice cream

and danced with Phineas and Ferb. 

After a long, grueling day of ferris wheeling, roller coaster riding, ice cream eating and parade dancing, the three travelers said their last goodbyes to the happiest place on earth. 
The End.