day 21: My favorite TV program

There's this show called Community and I love it.  It's about a mishmash group of people at a community college who met by forming a spanish study group.  The characters are hilarious, the situations they encounter are ridiculous, the school is very much like a community college...it's just a good time.  I love it.  I bought the first season on DVD for super cheap on amazon.  I recommend checking it out.

Day 20: A letter to someone who changed my life

When I first started this whole 50 Days thing, I saw that there were several letters to be written and I thought nothing of it.  Now that it's actually time to write those letters, I struggle.  I can't seem to find anything I want to say.  My mind goes entirely blank of people who fit whatever category it is.  It's silly, I know, because there are several people I've encountered that have changed my life.  I feel as though my life is constantly being molded by the effect others have on me.

After having that previous paragraph written for over a week, I finally realized who I ought to write to, so here it goes...

Dear Heather,
You've been my best friend for nearly four years now.  We've helped each other through rough patches, had some of the greatest adventures, and survived living together.  You are awesome.  Because of you I feel as though I've had someone to lean on, someone to laugh with, someone to pick me up when I feel like I've hit rock bottom.  You don't judge me when I do stupid things or cry over boys or mess up pretty bad.  You've listened to my concerns about life and in turn trusted me with your secrets.  I'm lucky to know you, to be friends with you, to have developed such a good relationship with you.
Becoming friends/roommates with you was one of the best decisions of my life.  Thanks for being my best friend.
Love youuuu!!!
Amanda

Then

Now

Day 19: Share a Goal

I make a lot of goals for myself.  They're usually simple, like keep my room clean or go to bed early 3 times this week, but it always feels good to reach them.

Lately I've experienced a little slump that cause me to make a new goal for myself.  It's one I can renew every day.  Be a little happier, smile a little more, live in the moment.  For the most part, I've been doing alright on this. I've found little things to make me enjoy life more and bad things aren't getting me down as much.  It's an easy goal, but it makes such a difference.

Be happy.  Love life.

Day 18: Whatever tickles your fancy

I'm swapping day 18 and 19 because I feel like writing about what I want to write about right now.

Carpe Diem.  Seize the day.  It's pretty much the motto of my life.  I'm the type of person who acts on impulse, so if something sounds good and I feel like doing it, I put all my energy towards doing that one thing.  I'm not sure if this is a good thing because I feel like I often times change my mind halfway through powering towards one goal in order to pursue something else.  But eventually some things get done and it feels awesome.  For example...culinary school!  Road trip across the US!  Skydiving!  Getting a job at the bread basket!  Things work out.

My latest fiasco (fyi-fiasco is the word of the day.  I've used it at least seven times) started last Tuesday.  My mom suggested to me that I move to Idaho in the Spring instead of waiting until the Fall and I became obsessed. It felt like a great idea, I haven't had any luck with finding a job out here, and I'm simply ready for a change of pace.  I need new faces and new scenery.  I spent forever looking into apartments out there, figuring out which ones still had rooms open for the spring, which ones I could afford, where people I knew were staying...  I found an apartment, I got all the papers ready to be sent back with the deposit...but then I was told I'm ineligible to even live in BYUI housing until I have a track assigned to me.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with how BYU-Idaho works, there are three semesters: Spring, Fall, and Winter.  When you apply, you are assigned two semesters to attend (your track) and then one semester to have off (your off track.)  This enables the school to have many more students than it's capable of having on a normal school schedule.  It worked out great for me before because I was on the Spring/Fall track.  I attended school in Idaho April-December and then went home January-March.  No cold Idaho winters for me!  However, I'm now in a rut because I have to be reassigned a track since I took so much time off.  I can't live in BYUI housing until the semester I'm accepted to starts.  I don't find out for at least another two weeks. If I'm moving into this apartment complex that I want, I need to sign a contract pretty much now or it'll fill up.  It's an awful situation to be in and the housing/admissions offices aren't helping at all.

But I was saved!  I got a call today from a grocery store I applied to a couple months ago.  I applied for the bakery, but they had a position in their Starbucks open up and they liked my availability.  I went out there and interviewed and they offered me the job on the spot.  35 hours a week, Sundays off, great pay.  I start training on Wednesday.  BYUI will have to wait until September.  Bittersweet.

So, carpe diem.  It might be my saving grace, it might be my demise.  For now, it's making things hectic, but so good.

You may call me The Mormon Barista.

Day 17: A photo that makes me sad

I don't get this.  Why would I want to post something that makes me sad?  Really, WHY?  This past week has been so full of ups and downs and pains and hurts and good cries and bad cries and simply not wanting to move, I beg the question WHY?  Can't I post something that makes me happy?  I mean this is my blog.  I should get to make the rules.

This is my cat, Buckle.  This picture makes me happy because this is the coolest cat ever (except for maybe Jello.  He had a sweet mustache) and he loved me probably as much as I loved him.  When I went away to college and my mom put my bedsheets in the laundry room, he curled up on them and slept there.  She took a picture and sent it to me, but I can't find it anywhere.  That picture is one of my favorites.  

This picture makes me sad because he died a couple years ago.  He just never came home a couple weeks before I came home for Christmas.  I was devastated.  I still am.  I drive my mom crazy with how often I ask for a cat. 

Day 16: Five Celebrity Crushes

This is a post I can get excited about.  Thinking of my celebrity crushes wasn't hard for me at all, so without further ado, here you go.

1.  John Cusack (mostly the young John Cusack)

He's a babe in Say Anything and completely adorable in Better of Dead.  I even love more recent movies of his, like Martian Child. 

2.  Lee Pace

Um...have you seen the show Pushing Daisies?  Or the movie The Fall?  Yeah.  He's fantastic.  And gorgeous.

3.  Andrew McMahon

Despite being all tattooed up and having a pretty foul mouth, this dude has mad talent.  He plays the piano and he plays it well.  His song writing/piano playing is why I love Jack's Mannequin and Something Corporate so much.

4.  Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Fell in love with him with 10 Things I hate about you, still in love after Inception and 500 Days of Summer.  

5.  Daniel Craig

Yeah, he's James Bond.

Day 15: A Letter to Someone I want to meet

Dear future husband,

I picked you to write this letter to because you give me hope.  I find that at times like this, when nothing seems to be going right, I remind myself that you are actually out there and you're looking for me.  It helps lighten the mood.  I'm sure you're great.  Here's hoping we cross paths soon, but I don't mean that we need to get married soon, just that I hope we meet soon.

And I hope you like cats.