my finals... in haiku poems.

 

{nature, poems, stress. just breathe. found here.}

"A good meal and sleep

 will do you a lot of good!"

 I didn't listen.

Study and study

until your brain explodes.

At least it's over.

A freak out session

at midnight is never good.

Thanks, nice peers graders.

where have you been Hayley? you've been so quiet

Craziness! Craziness! If you knew how much I pack into each day, I'm sure you would leave some stuff behind too (blog included).

But, I'm learning so much. This is the time of my life to learn (yes, piano and all).

I have a few funny stories. Like how I asked a programming teacher to autograph my Javascript book, but other than other CIT/CS people who would want to hear that? To be honest, most of my hilarious stuff comes from my Web Design 230 class.

I'm glad to report that my mind has been blown several times a day both spiritual and mental. I've been on my fair share of dates. So my social life is alright. Been up and going in the church. I feel like I've gained so much insight this semester. Life is soooo good right now. But at the same time I think it's been so tough.

I thought before I came this semester that things would be easy and fun. Almost the opposite. 

Hard and rewarding, but I have to work for it.

If you are following me on Pinterest you can probably map out my activity a little better (some days I'm more into fitness than other days)

Sorry for the disappearance act. I don't have a boyfriend/husband, or a cute pet, or a baby to write about. All I have is school, and sometimes things are too deep to write up on here.

Nothing personal. It's me, not you. :)

major declared..?

I knew before it started that this semester was going to decide what I wanted to do in regards of my future career. I knew it was going to be a very important decision, and as this semester is close to ending I feel confident I discovered my future pursuits.

Web Design

(added emphasis on the "design")

For those that didn't know, there's a thing called Web Developer and Web Designer. And choosing between the two was tricky.

I love the code work behind the developer. The HTML5, CSS, PHP, Java Script, etc. They are lovely and expanding my knowledge on these things makes me feel smart. Not a lot of people understand the HTML language.

But, I love the creative aspect for the designer. To use Photoshop, make logos, play with typography, and make other graphic designs. It's more artsy than what I thought I was going to do.

I gave up on art in high school when I realized others' talents exceeded my own. 

But in college, I know now that there will always be someone better than you. Sorry to break it to you. It's the personal journey that counts. That's a hard concept to grasp, and I'm still trying to understand it. In my future I have to compete with others for positions, right? I do have to worry about other people.

Again, I still don't understand it. If you have some idea what I'm trying to say, or know how to explain my point better please comment.

The point of this post is that:

I would have never guessed I would be digging back into my artistic roots. But I still have to do some core classes that both the developer and designer have to do. Maybe I will change my mind and become a developer. Who knows.

But let it be known, I will be doing something with web sites. I'm so excited!

can someone explain this for me?

In Boise. In high school:

 Random person: "How old are you?"

Me: "I'm 18"

Random person: "Wow! I thought you were a little Freshman!!"

In Rexburg. College:

Random person: "How old are you?"

Me: "I'm 19"

Random Person: "Really?? I thought you were a Sophomore! You could have fooled me for 21."

Um. What's going on here? There's either a lot of shorty gingers (the freckles are my fountain of youth) in Rexburg, or the people in Boise don't know what a real baby looks like. I'm not sure which one is true.

when you ask Madi to take a picture... she'll give you more bloopers than serious ones

This week went well. Classes dragged on. Homework provided only an hour of entertainment. Piano practice is draining (you thought I given up by now? ha!)

One of my homework assignments was to take a couple of pictures (portrait, landscape, action, and field of depth). So I dragged Madi and Tiffany along to help me. Here are the results of the "action" picture:

 Madi was galloping, I caught it at the wrong time

 

Some jump shots!

 

My personal favorite. I told her to leap. This is how it turned out

Oh. And an outfit post (weren't expecting that now were you?)

{shirt, skirt, shoes: Old Navy, necklace: Cheerfully Charmed}

Thanks for taking my picture, Tiff!! And letting me borrow your camera :)

Now to pack for a four hour long road trip with strangers to go home then to head back to school for take two tests that await me... yup. I hope it goes well for me too. Have a good weekend!

an experiment to test my determination

So I've been busy. Duh. That's why I haven't been keeping up with these amazing blog prompts. 

I will tell you what I've been doing, that will hopefully make up for it:

So I have this class called Beauty and Creativity and right now we are at the music section.

Open up the reading assignment about the different kind of music sheet elements. Quickly scrolled through it. Stopped everything I was doing. Opened up to YouTube to find a simple piano tutorial.

{I have this reputation of being spontaneous at the most random times.}

So I download some piano apps on my iPhone and started to follow the instructions/notes. I was on my way to learning how to read music!

My roommate Madi walks in our room. Bursts our laughing; asking, "Ummm... what are you doing?"

My response: "I decided I'm going to teach myself how to play the piano!"

She laughs again. Madi doesn't question my motives. She knows better than to discourage me too.

MY GOAL

 Learn how to sightread music. Be able to identify the keys and play it on the piano. All by the end of the semester.

Ultimately I want to prove my sister wrong when she says "Hayley. You can't teach yourself. Wait until you come home so I can teach you."

Thanks, but no thanks :)

a great thing about spring semester: a sunny and empty campus

Day 9, Thursday: A moment in your day (this can be just a photo or both a photo and words)

what's vague, sarcastic, and awkward all over?

I'm not good with consistency. So blogging on a regular basis or a schedule of when I put stuff out is impossible. I like a little unpredictability in my life. If I blog, I blog. If I can't,... I can't.

But

I want to follow through with this challenge. Blogging everyday. Oh my.

The last time I did a month challenge thingy (via instagram) I couldn't last through 7 days. So I'm not sure how well this will go... I'm willing to try! I'll commit!!

I'm a few days late, so I'm going to make up the lost days right now and get it over with.

Day 1, Monday: The story of your life in ~250 words 

"A Very Generic View of my Life" 

by: Hayley

I was born in Logan, Utah along with my older brother. We shortly lived in Houston, Texas where my sister was born. My family is currently living in Boise, Idaho where my youngest brother Chase was born. All of my family is red-headed except for my mom and my lil' bro.

I looked up to my older brother a lot, hung out with him a lot, followed him around a lot (as most little sisters do, am I right??). So In elementary school the majority of my friends were boys... from resulting from hanging out with my brother so much. Middle School was some of the most awkward years of my life... I did enjoy 8th grade though. I met my best friend Madi (endearingly called Mad-eye Moody) in an Acting/Drama class in 7th grade. We stuck through it all the way through high school. Well. High school was when things started to click in place. I made so maaaaaaany friends whom I'm still acquainted with. At the same time, I made so many dumb mistakes that are what I considered lessons. You need those to grow, right? So as much as I hated the bad times, they improved me. Better in high school than in college.

Right now I'm attending my second semester at BYU-I in Rexburg, Idaho rooming with my friend Mad-eye. Loving life. Making big, tough decisions! That's what this blog is about! Right now I'm thinking of majoring in Web Design or CIT... but it's still to early to tell. I'm hoping to have it all figured out by the end of this semester.

Day 2, Thursday: Educate us on something you know alot about or are good at. (serious and educational or funny and sarcastic)

Let me teach you a little bit about the art of flirting.

>wink. A lot. It catches their eye. And if they give you a weird look it's working.
>be spontaneous. Screaming and speaking in a different language are my favorites. Anything to catch them off their guard. If you are unique enough, you are worth remembering ;)
>indirect answers. It gives a mysterious vibe about you. A good example: 
"Hi, what's your name?" 
"I can't say... but wouldn't you like to know" *winkwinkwinkwinkwink*
>If the previous tips aren't working, then maybe you should try for the snarky approach. Doing so will make you seem "hard to get" and we all know the fun of flirting is the chase. 
>when you think you have him/her in your grasps, physical contact is advised ;) Anything will do. A little slap on the cheek or hand holding. I usually do this after two minutes of flirting. By that time, if you are following my tips, the subject should be head-over-heals

***the above content should not be taken seriously. I only wrote this because I've been told I can't flirt for the life of me. haha. it's a old joke from last semester***

Day 3, Friday: Things that make me uncomfortable

Level 1 Tolerable:

+ Bad mannerisms. Eh, we are all humans, right?
+ I'm underdressed compared to everyone else around me
+ Catching people in the act of doing something secretive. "Oh I was going to return it after I was done..." "Oh Hayley I wasn't expecting to see you here..." I don't have a problem with this happening. I think it's funny/awkward seeing the other person so guilty.

Level 2 Ummmm... ok:

+ Country music. I grew up in a family that raised me to hate it.. so naturally when I hear a country-sounding song, there's a signal in my brain screaming "Get away. Get out." Just how my brain is programed.. nothing personal. But I live in Idaho. I do have to face the music
+ Called on/asked to read out loud or share my thoughts on the spot
+ When people know me, but I don't remember their name or how I know them...

Level 3  The Ultimate in Awkward (for me):

+Teasing. It's mostly do to the fact that I don't know how to react/respond to it. 
+ My brain is on go go go mode but I run into someone who wants to talk to me. And I always have to explain "I'd love to talk! But I have to get going!!" (This usually occurs when I'm running late, or I'm in the homework groove)
+ Asked "wait... how old are you?"so much. I guess that's what happens when you are short and freckled.

I accept the challenge!  Here's a good chance for you guys to get to know me more

You can find out more here from Story of My Life.

Join me, comrades!

Comment if you are doing it too! I would love to see what you guys have posted

first weekend

My weekend:

+48 hour texting sesh (not literally... we slept! But other than that it was back and forth)

+TENNIS

+ice cream at Scoop's

+My old buddy came back from the mission field! Welcome back!

+My current buddy is leaving for a mish. Prepare for a gospel storm that's about to rage through, Brazil!

+LES MISERABLES!

+decorating and spring cleaning of the apartment

My Sunday:

+meeting of the FHE fam

+fantastic Sunday school lessons

+my good friends makin me chocolate-chip pancakes (my fav kind)

+Mad-eye Moody creating dinner with me with her famous breadsticks

+inviting everyone I could to come over for some cake!

+lemon cake. love it.

+the random apartment 15 interrogating me. and once they found out it was my birthday they sang to me! I don't know who you are, 15. But I'm excited to get to know you!

+party-ish... more like a social gathering

+mafia

+aaaaaaaaaand homework. What better way to end a day, right?

Thank you everyone for your love and support today. All the birthday wishes! I had so many!! Even though I deleted my birthday off of FB, I'm still surprised at how many people responded/remembered (in person or not)! Ah! You guys are amazing!!

I haven't done one of these weekly updates in a while.... huh.

my college life (thus far) through pictures

I can't wait for the new adventures I will have. I'm already missing the old ones.

:)

 

things I wish I knew about before I left for college...

Looking at the calendar, I realized that I'm heading off for college again in less than three weeks (WEEKS! Not months!).

Time sure goes by fast

To celebrate an upcoming semester I'm going to put up some of my nooby college mistakes/smart decisions of last semester to get me in the groove of the next one.

So some little tips for you soon-to-be-college students and use-to-be's maybe you'll agree with me here.

>>1. Room with someone you know... my preference is a good friend

I understand why someone would want to make new friends.. Or maybe you are afraid that living with your best friend could be a horrible idea because... you might be ripping each other's throats out by the end of the semester. I had that viewpoint at first. But last minute I teamed up with two close friends. It made a world of a difference! It's true I could visit my friends, but college living was easier to have friends to vent to... who really know me within the same apartment. You know? All my older college friends told me their experience of how they went out into the world alone and the stories of horrible roommates still haunt them. So I'm always grateful for my friends who even saw me at my worse still continue to love me for who I am. Now that is a good friend. I command you to room with such friend.

>>2. Location location location!!

I'm so glad I made the decision to not live in the dorms. Not saying the dorms are evil structures and to avoid the people living there at all costs, but many commended me for not living there right off the bat. I can't really say why they are bad.... I haven't lived there before! I just hear they are filled with crazy freshmen. I could believe that. Haha.

Moving on. Instead of dorms I invested into an off-campus apartment complex that is literally right across the street from campus. It was located closer than the dorms were! So living near campus is a huuuuuge plus. And I'm a few blocks away from a grocery store. Niiice.

>>3. A car is ideal but you can get around on foot/bike

It's true that a car made life easier. I didn't bring a car, but I had friends who did. It's convenient. Not necessary. Can you image if the car had issues? Buying parking permits? Accidents? Crashes? Gas money? The potential of hitting/running over a pedestrian? Not worth it. I live so close to campus and the stores that it wasn't needed. There were several kids that got around on bikes around campus. But for me, a walking student, having a bike zip past me is kind of... frightening. And there have been times where the biker ran into a walking student. Haha... just be careful if you decide to go the biking path of traveling

>>4. Don't pack extra junk

If you aren't sure if you are going to be using something the duration of the semester don't bring it. For example I brought my old journals. Really? It's like I'm asking my roommates to find them and read my old stuff. But they never found them. Along the same lines, I brought a few books for leisure reading. After the first few weeks I never had the time to bother. And I brought a bunch of other unnecessary things that I didn't even touch. The same goes for clothes. My senior roommate told me that through the semesters she noticed she packed a lesser amount of clothes each time. 

Bringing decorations is nice.. but if they take a lot of room in your boxes don't make an effort. Some pictures of friends and family do just nicely :)

Since we are on the subject of packing, don't pack in those cardboard boxes that are used for moving. Ok? Yes they are easy to store away under your bed but it can be a pain to tape them up. Just my preference.

>>5. Don't be an ambitious student the first semester

Don't be that one student with 15-16 credits and classes that start at 7:45 or 8:00am everyday.

For one, that is a hecka' a lot of homework. That is way too much work for a college student who hasn't even experienced a real college class. It's what I call a train wreck waiting to happen.

Second, your sleep schedule will be the death of you. I told my family this: you are not in control of your own sleep schedule at college. When you live with five other roommates who might want to stay up past 12am each night... that will keep you up. And my roommate Madi had 7:45 classes and she hated it. Nearing the end of the semester it was hard to keep up. She had to skip classes because of lack of sleep. The poor dear :(

Just trust me, not worth it. NOT worth it. Do 12-14 credits at first and classes that start the earliest at 9am. For my first semester all my classes were in the afternoon.. 12-6pm ranging. In some ways it was good but in other ways bad. I'm a huge night owl so I preferred it like that... it was nice to sleep in :) But with that schedule it was so hard to fit in time for homework. I either stayed up super late or had to fit in time in the morning.

Who knows I might do a part 2 of these tips. If I think of more

What I can guarantee is more posts about my past semester. All in celebration of the new one coming up!

I hope you had a great Easter like I did :)

Be daring,

 

snow, snow, snow!

Here we go...!
 It's what we've all been waiting for...

Woke up the other morning and
BOOM!
Snow.

It was really pretty walking to class
with all the pretty snow in the trees (that still have their colored leaves on. Ha! That's what fall is like here)

My roommates and I built a snowman.
He's kind of lop-sided.

His name is Glenn Coco.

p.s. I don't know what's with the green lighting.
It's kind of tricky-looking though!

At first when I woke up to snow, I groaned. But you have to admit that this is a beautiful view! And it wasn't a pain to deal with since the pathways are all shoveled.

Here's a few highlights of my week:

+Snow, snow, snow!

+Sleeping-in for four school days. Bliss

+Getting together with some old friends

+Able to sit down with some hot cocoa and read a good book. Usually I don't have time for that stuff

+My writer's block is officially over!

{blurry picture of me in my snow gear}

I hope everyone has a lovely weekend! And enjoy the snow if you have it!!

baby, its cold outside

Try waking up and walking to class in 24 degree weather outside.

Yep. 24. Degrees. From here on out it's going to be below freezing in the morning. Unless we get a burst of sun in these next couple of days. Luckily it hasn't snowed it... yet. So sorry if the Christmas reference title isn't appropriate. 

{warming up to the cold weather}

I lived in Boise before attending Rexburg, so I'm a little use to cold weather. But even I was shocked at how cold it got so fast. It just turned October. 

Not ok, weather. Not ok.

I hope where ever you're at that you are soaking up the sun as much as you can.

Happy Friday everyone!

highlights of the week

I think I'm going to do this at the end of every week, start naming the pinpoints of why my week was so awesome or so weird.

+I've been listening to Up soundtrack music as I'm walking from class to class on campus. I feel like I'm back at Disney Land.
+My last class of the day was canceled on Friday. Partay!
+My roommates and I gathered all our mattresses off our beds and put them in the living room for a huge sleepover while watching Pirates of the Caribbean 3. And previous to that night, we've been watching the past two movies before. I forgot how amazing those movies are. Slap me thrice and hand me over to my mama.
+My first two exams this week. So far I've been scoring high! A good sign of things to come.
+First FHE on Monday, and it was super interesting getting to know the crazy people I get the spend the most time with this semester!
+Playing Mafia on Sunday. I dominated. After the fact I kept dying the first couple of games. You don't suppose they felt bad for me?
+Using the excuse "Sorry I'm just a Freshman"
+Talking to my cousin for two hours, telling each other funny stories. Flippin' awesome.
+Finally running into my old Boise friends around campus. Some in which I've been friends with since 7th grade. Could you believe that I am going to college with them?
+Climbing a balcony. With some help, of course. Along with other ninja skills. Hardcore anyone?

Because I didn't account for the last couple of weeks through this bullet-point system, I'll just do a short version of last week now.

+Scone party!! I've never seen so many people stuffed in my apartment at one time. There was seriously like 40 billion people there. I even invited my Missourian friends to join the shindig.
+Finding out that one of my roommate's missionaries serving in her hometown in California, was the prom date of my other roommate for senior year in Idaho. It's a small world.
+Making a paper chain and other decorations for the apartment. Only 79 days left in the semester (including weekends)!
+Having good weather so far. A true blessing.

Have a good weekend everyone!!!

let's Spaloosh!

Saturday nights are usually crazy around these parts. This particular night my roommate Katrina and one of her friends made up a game. It's legit.

It's called Spaloosh (or "Spalus" depending on how you want to pronounce it)

Clovers - questions
Diamonds - collecting items
Hearts - random (opposite gender)
Spades - physical activity

Jack - own choice
Queen - safe cards
King - ask someone a random question (opposite gender)
A's - double previous
Ace of hearts - ask someone on a date

It's an upside-down backwards flip-around of "truth or dare". Except you don't get a choice of what you want. And it's more funny.

I'll go ahead and explain this game. The Ace of Hearts is a special card. If you get it you have to ask someone on a date.
Clovers is the equivalent of "truth" in "truth or dare", people have to ask you questions. So if you drew a seven of clovers, then you get asked seven questions. And they don't have to be intense, you can ask them things like "what's your favorite color?", because this game takes awhile to go around the table.

Diamonds are fun. If you drew a.. let's say three of diamonds, then you have to go to a random apartment and collect three things that they don't want. They have to give the items to you. And the picture above just proves at some of the cool things we got from drawing a diamond. An ice cream scooper, that cucumber, an empty wallet, dog food, an old iClicker, joker, a square of toilet paper, etc.

Hearts are random. It can be really anything. But if it has to do with a person you don't know, they have to be of the opposite gender.

Spades are what would be the "dare" of "truth or dare". If you got a number you have to do the physical activity for that many times. For mine I had to climb up and down the stairs in front of the boy's apartment five times. I got a lot of weird looks. Or when Katrina's friend had to randomly enter into an apartment and do an x number of push-ups in the middle of their living room. The girl's reaction was priceless.

Jacks are self-explanatory. You get to pick which one of these you do.

Queens are the safe cards.

Kings you have to ask a random question to the opposite gender. My roommate Grace had to ask some guy "how do I kill a mockingbird?" and the guy laughed and gave her some random response. This one can be really funny.

If you pull an Ace you have to do double of what the previous person did. So if they had to do ten jumping jacks, then you got to do twenty.

That's what we did this Saturday night, plus a few other things. But it was super fun playing this game! We got some good laughs out of it. Katrina and her friend Ken are going to totally patent this game. And now you know another way to play with a deck of cards! Score

Until next time, have a good Sunday!!

Madi+Pedro=Marriage

To get this blog kicking off to a good start I'm going to share with you one of the funniest things that has happened so far, and only two weeks in.

Madi and Pedro.

All started with when Katrina's (one of my roommates) friends came over.

It was a Saturday. We went out to get some ice cream and returned to the apartment. It was a good time.

This was the night of an epic BYU game.

Katrina and Madi wanted to stargaze and invited anyone to come along. I stayed to watch the game, but two of Katrina's guy friends dashed out the door to accompany them. Uh-oh.

After 15 minutes when they left to "stargaze", Madi came back and said that she was going on a walk with... um... let's call him "Pedro".

So she left. To walk. With Pedro. She was asking for trouble.

And guess where they were heading?

The Rexburg temple.

By this time the game has ended. But where was Madi? And Pedro?

We were getting very suspicious. I decided to text her.

Me: Ummm what is going on?
Madi: Talkin
Me: Soo you like him?
Madi: No...
Me: Ummm why are you walking with him? Where are you?
Madi: Walkin
Me: Well his buddies left
Madi: Haha uh oh
Me: Come home?
Madi: Gettin there
Me: Does he like you?
Madi: Probably. Hope not.
Me: So he does?
Madi: Probably.
Me: Make good choices. Holding his hand?
Madi: NO!

So yes, Katrina's friends left, but Pedro lingered far too long.

We played games afterwards with him and the roommates and "our father of the apartment" (long story).

The next day. Sunday.

After our scone party (another long story) Pedro started to text Madi. Asking about how she was doing and how her day was. You see, she wasn't interested in him and lead him on. But unfortunately led him on without intending to.

She didn't respond.

Then he called her.

She didn't answer.

He left a voicemail wanting to study the next day. And again texted her asking about the studying. (very persistent)

Finally she responded to desperate Pedro. She told him through text that she studies better alone by herself.

He asked through texting if she still wanted to go out.

Madi said that she wasn't ready for relationship (she is only a freshman).

He begged for friendship.

Madi denied, because she knew it would end up the same place it was.

Quoting Madi: "He just wants me to be his wife. I can tell."

Isn't she funny? And that's the end of Madi+Pedro. I kind of feel bad for the guy, but he was picking the wrong freshman. She wasn't ready to commit.

With that said I'll see you soon with more story updates. (Yes, there are far more)

Have a good day!