The End is Near…

Today I had to clean off my desk at The Daily Universe.

This is officially my least favorite part of every semester, but this time it was even worse because I know I won’t be back in the fall. I’ve been at the DU for 2 1/2 years now, ever since I got back from London. I just love everything about each of the desks I’ve had there – the people, random celebrations, responsibility and even stress that came with them.

This college ending thing is still incredibly surreal to me. I know it’s not the end quite yet since I still have a paper and two tests to take, but the past few days have included a lot of lasts, like my last lecture, so I can’t help but be a little reflective. And I regret nothing. It’s funny because you don’t think about it too much while it’s happening, but I’ve really come a long way since I graduated from high school and started at BYU. I’ve done a lot of things that I thought were just dreams that weren’t actually realistic, like working at The Daily Universe (or even just majoring in journalism) and going to London and other countries on adventures and doing Washington Seminar, and so many other things. Even going to intern for the senate this summer. I can honestly say I regret nothing. Nothing at all.

There are some awesome celebrations that come with the end though, and while they’ll be continuing through the next week I’ve been able to enjoy a couple already. (Prepare yourself for a lot of pictures. I’m feeling nostalgic)

Namely, the end of winter semester Daily Universe BBQ:

And the Washington Seminar reunion/most of us are graduating celebration:

(points for knowing what we’re doing in this one)

I’m so excited for the future! But there are definitely some things I’m going to miss (mostly people. You know who you are, and you are hereby required to come visit me in DC), so this last week in Utah has officially been dubbed “savor being here” week. Maybe I’ll get around to actually taking some finals too, but I make no guarantees.

*Song = My Only Offer by Mates Of State (I can’t remember if I’ve done this one already or not, so if I have – tough)

Birthday Post!

Hey look, I’m posting about my birthday in a timely manner! I think that’s a first. It’s just going to be pictures though, since I’m lazy. It was an excellent 22nd birthday.

First, after class, I went to lunch with my lovely Sam to Tucanos! I forgot to get a pic there (my bad), so here’s a pic of us later:

Then, I went to work, where I celebrated my third birthday at The Daily Universe. Which is always magical. And included a banana birthday cake made by the ever wonderful Kaye!

After work and another class the fabulous Andrea took me out to Costa Vida for some more tasty food and happy chatter:

And then there was a little get together at my place with lovely friends (the rest of the pics will be on facebook, don’t you fret):

There were also lots of delicious cupcakes involved:

Song = Make Me Smile by Chicago

3.14

I absolutely detest math. Because of this, you may be surprised to hear that I observe pi day. And that I even look forward to it with great anticipation. This has a simple explanation.

You see, sophomore year I had the great privilege of living with Christy “The Pie” Witt. She happens to be a pie making extraordinaire. So imagine my surprise when March 14th rolled along and she began to make decadent pies of every variety. Once pi became associated with pie, needless to say I became a huge fan.

Today was the first 3.14 I commemorated with a pie I made made myself for our wonderful pi day celebration at the Daily Universe… we celebrate every random holiday (bread day anyone?), and this was no exception! My lunch today consisted purely of lots of different kinds of pie. I made banana cream. Christy would be proud!

*song = Muse’s Time is Running Out. Has anyone else noticed there’s only five weeks left of school? I just did.

So… the picture up top might actually have been the banana cream pie I made for our ward Halloween party. But I’m wearing my favorite hat in this picture. And it’s the same pie I made for today. So it counts.

Christmastime in Utah

I have no idea where I’ll be next year at this time, but I’m going to go ahead and assume I won’t be here. So I made a list of some things I’ll miss about the Christmas season in Utah.

#1 The lights at Temple Square. They’re just so beautiful! Annie and I went last weekend because it’s a requirement for this time of year. (We went on a big excursion that also included a basketball game, shopping and dinner. Such as that we almost missed the lights, even though that was the whole point of our trip haha)

#2 Christmas parties at The Daily Universe. (Plus every other obscure holiday we celebrate)

#3 Celebrations with fabulous friends. (Although I secretly hope they’ll all just come with me wherever I go)

Get Out the Vote!

Because I am a total nerd, I absolutely love elections. I always have. So today is a really exciting day for me, and since I’m one of the metro editors I’ll be spending it all in the newsroom. Which is magical. We have the deadline pushed to around 11, so we’ll see how many results we can get in before then! Oh I am so excited. Check The Daily Universe tomorrow for our coverage.

I mailed my Oregon ballot last week, but I have to say that it wasn’t nearly as exciting as last time. While most may assume I say that because it isn’t a presidential election, I actually attribute it to the fact that my mailbox was way less cool. In 2008 I got to stick my ballot in an awesome London mailbox on my awesome London street. This is me mailing my ballot last time:

This year my mailbox was next to a construction site. Not as cool.

Now, the moral of the story is that you should all go and vote right now! Although it’s probably to late to use a mailbox, so do it in person.

The Left Behind

For some reason even though I’m doing awesome things all the time (for example, memorial day weekend I headed up to New York to stay in Chelsea Warren’s awesome apartment and play with other lovely Daily Universe people), I am in a blogging rut.

So, I will once again discuss my love of my Converse. I couldn’t possibly justify bringing all of them with me to D.C. Only the the newest light bright blue ones won the trip.

Here they all are together. They are the best shoes. I want every color ever.

This is my first most favorite pair. I acquired them sophomore year of high school. And I still wear them. All of the time.

I also miss this.

I’ll write about something more substantial soon.

The Belated Birthday Post

Since it’s been almost a month since my 21st birthday, I figured I’d post some pictures of it on here because I can. It was a lot of fun. My sister was in town, and after school and work and such I got to go to Communal (which was delicious) with a lot of cool friends.

Birthday at work at the Daily Universe. Always fun.

Birthday on the way home from work. Also important.

Birthday with sister.

Birthday at Communal. Delicious.

Birthday cake with Sam.

The end.