Nineteen Till I Die?

I turned the big 1-9 on Friday.

19 is really an under-appreciated age. Everyone celebrates the 16th, 18th, 21st, and 40th big, but what about 19?!
It's the last year of my teenage years and that is slightly depressing and a BIG DEAL people!

I have never been one for big, fancy plans for my birthday. I usually let them come, and go without too much of a fuss, but this year I wanted to celebrate!
And I did.

Before I left for the trip to St. George I mentioned prior to this post, I was surprised by my parents with another birthday gift besides my little road trip.
4 tickets to TAYLOR SWIFT! Tswizzle, if you will.
I could not have been more surprised, and I could not be more excited about this.

Go ahead and judge me for my taste in music. She's mainstream, I didn't discover her at some indie venue, she's country, She dances awkwardly and is tall as a string bean, but I LOVE her. Her cheesy, adorable, catchy songs could be the soundtrack to my life.
(and every other teenage girl)
I appreciate an underground band, with an oddly handsome lead singer, who's voice stands out from the rest of the crowd as much as the next girl, but I love me some Taylor Swift and I am not afraid to say it.

So a big thank you to my Mom and Dad for surprising me with this PERFECT present!




Back to the vacation at hand, St. George.
I left thursday morning with my besties, Hillary and Lindsey. 4 hours of straight rain, and 1 dead bird later, we arrived!
Unpacked in our lovely little condo, and waited for the boys to join us from Zion.
waited, waited, and waited.
They arrived relatively late and we hot tubbed and swam while we could before the pool closed for the night. Then after we all cleaned up, Lindsey made me a delicious angel food cake with strawberries at midnight to celebrate my Bday!
Sleep.

Hot tubbin 

My Strawberry Cake

Next day we woke up, made a yummy birthday breakfast of french toast and fruit that we ate on our cute little balcony. Then we made our way to the pool. Where we laid out, and procrastinated jumping into the pool. Darren thought our concerns about diving into the water were so entertaining he decided to video the process.
(working on getting that posted)
After hours at the pool, we came in, cleaned up and headed out for my birthday dinner and movie. We ate at Outback and saw Thor, which was kind of weird, and cheesy but it made me laugh and anxious for The Avengers.
Home, sleep.

The Big Breakfast

Nothin Better

My ABSOLUTE Besties! 

Saturday we were supposed to wake up and hit the pool around 10, but nobody wanted to wake up. Instead, we all slept in and rolled out of bed around noon got ready for the day and decided to make a mini trip to Vegas! 

We walked the strip for awhile, went inside Caesars Palace, visited the little aquarium, the shops and ate some dinner at The Cheese Cake Factory. We also made a trip to the outlets and did a little shopping.

Drove back to St. Geezey that night with the windows rolled down and music blasting, feeling perfectly content.

Sadly, when we got back we hung out for a little over an hour and then the boys had to drive back to Zion and the girls went to bed. 

My FAVORITES in Vegas

Cheese Cake

Caesars Palace

Shopping with the ladies

The boy enjoying the warm wind

Nasty girls goin to sleep. Wait, what what?

Sunday was simply pack up, clean up, drive home. 

It was a perfect birthday :)

I'll be impressed if you actually read through this instead of skimming and looking at pictures, I realize it was a rather lengthy entry. Sorraaay. 

Marriage??

Sometimes when it seems like everyone and their dog are engaged, or already married, I wish I was too. I start day dreaming about a big old diamond and a cute husband to take adorable engagement pictures with. 

That's when I try on fake wedding rings at Target and make my sister watch me try on my mom's wedding dress and take ridiculous bridal shots in the living room...

Then I really think about it and... NAAAAAH!

Not for me, not right now. 

I am too busy bein' young and silly. 

{Note to all the married readers out there, Congrats! I am very happy for you, hopefully you'll pray that one day I reach the same maturity level as you. Cause let me tell ya, it's not lookin' good.}

Celebrating My Birth!

I am turning 19 in 4 days. 

Because my parents love me, my gift this year is a little trip to St. George with my besties, Hill and Linds! 

And I am one lucky girl because, my boys from USU, Devon and Darren, are working at Zion's Ponderosa Resort this summer as recreational guides, and they are taking the weekend off to celebrate my birthday with us too!

We have rented an adorable little condo for the 5 of us, and I could not be more excited. 

The trip honestly consumes my thoughts 20 of the 24 hours in a day, including the time I spend sleeping.  

I know St. George isn't really anything too special, and I have been there a million times, but it doesn't even matter. 

I can't wait to simply sit in the sun, play games, talk, and laugh with my favorite people. 

It could rain the whole weekend and even that wouldn't get my spirits down. 

A quick reminder of who the birthday crew is...

DEVON!

Darbear!

Lindsey Lou!

HillBo!

The fun begins Thursday morning at 8 o'clock sharp!

2 1/2 days and counting people. 

Love, Love, Love

I love the sunshine.

I love shorts and tank tops. 

I love open windows.

I love loud music. 

I love sleep. 

I love best friends, and old friends. 

I love road trips. 

I love green. 

I love celebrating my birth :)

I love tanned skin. 

I love leisurely literature.

I love home. 

I love SUMMER.

And you will find me loving summer everyday for the next 3 months.

I need to Shiwver!

Blogging, oh how I have missed you this past week!

Here is a quick run through of the Logan goodbye I had no time to write about.

It was very tender.
Initially, I was looking forward to going home, and wanted to check out as soon as possible. My car was packed up, and my room was emptied by 11:30, yet somehow I didn't get in my car to actually make the trek home until 5:30...

It turns out saying goodbye to my Logan family was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be. I hung out in the boys room, casa de 101 as they called it, for hours helping the boys get the room clean enough to get it checked off, because it turns out, boys are gross.
I stayed long enough to see every last one of them off.
And if I am being completely honest, some tears were shed.
{most of them by Devon, but a few from me too}

I know everyone says this, but I have every intention of seeing every member of my USU family this summer, multiple times. This lovely idea is the only thing that allowed me to hold it together, and not leave Logan as a complete emotional wreck, so don't crush my summer dreams.

When I finally arrived home, I unpacked my car, went to dinner with my adorable parentals, and was back on the road to Logan so I could make it in time for work.

Yep, you read me right, WORK.
I, Brooke Borup, got a job. A rather fabulous job deep cleaning college apartments.
Everyone's ideal profession.

I had to work 10 hour shifts of manual labor for four days, which is a pretty typical work week for most people, slammed into fewer days.
I have cuts on my hands, broken nails, destroyed cuticles, and greasy hair.
In the end though, I really enjoyed myself. I got the job with three of my best friends, and we danced and laughed our bums off while we cleaned. They are amazing, special people, and I wouldn't trade the time I get to spend with them for anything, even if the time is spent scrubbing toilets.

I also learned a little bit about myself.
I can do hard things. I enjoy manual labor more than I enjoy sitting at a desk sorting keys, even if they keys are easier. I like to be able to see the result of my hard work.
And I learned that I can stick my gloveless hand down a toilet.

Here is a little glimpse of a day in the glamourous custodial industry:

Workin' our cleaning supplies

Hanging out a two story building, just the dangers of the job

Dancing with my Lindsey

Hillary smacked me in the face and made me bite my lip. And yes, I looked like this every day. 

Lindsey's gross chemical rash. bless her heart. 

Before and After. Goo be Gone is a miracle. 

Dirty girl hands. 

Nikki was apart of this little adventure as well, F.Y.I, but just didn't appear in any of the pictures I've chosen to share. I love her all the same though :)

PS, Im not exactly sure where I am going with this blog now that I am out of school and home for the summer, but stayed tuned. 

Hillary Ann Bodey-Bode

Hey everybody, THIS is my friend Hillary.

And yesterday was this little treat's birthday!

It has become somewhat of a tradition on this little blog to do birthday shout out's to my loved ones. And let me tell ya, this girl is LOVED. 

This gem is near and dear to me. We have been friends since we were little girls in Joy School, we became best friends in the last couple years of high school, but things got real serious second semester up here at Utah State. 

I wouldn't have survived this semester at school without her. 

When Alysha moved out to get married, I was positive the rest of the year was going to be misery.

Hillary is one of a few special angels I'm convinced were sent to USU for me.

She is absolutely beautiful. She is talented. She is an amazing friend. 

Those who don't know her very well usually think she is quiet, and often mistake her sexy, cold stare for a dirty look. 

But those lucky enough to really get to know her get to see how silly, hilarious, sensitive, and fun she really is. 

Nothing can make me laugh harder than when the real Hillary comes out of her porcelain shell :)

She basically created happiness for me these past 5 months.

Happy Birthday to my Hillary Ann.

Nothin but Love for this Bestie, Nothin but. 

Forever & Ever.  

Cheers

School is out for the summer folks.

Cheers.

Yes, I really did come home from my last final and drink my martinellis out of the bottle. 

The Hearts Cure for the Perma-Grumpy

So I have been stuck in perma-grumpy mode since friday afternoon.

Don't ask my why, there is no reason someone as blessed as me should have any reason to wake up on the wrong side of the bed, yet sometimes I do.

And at the worst of times, I stay on the wrong side for days.

Then my friends really love me...

But I found the cure today.

The sun was shining, like 60 degrees out shining. I pretended I knew how to play volleyball and football with my best friends for hours. 

Darren told me my football toss was the 2nd girliest he has ever seen, which I took as a compliment. 

And after a couple of hours, Im pretty sure my toss was the 6th girliest. 

Progress people. 

Then I went to lunch with the girls. 

Which was followed by watching Gilmore Girls, my go to quick fix.

And ended with me letting go. I just relaxed. Stoped worrying. And did whatever my heart told me it wanted.

She has a mind of her own sometimes. For those of you who know me, I am definitely ruled by the logic of my mind.
Well actually I've always been a heart on my sleeve kinda of girl. It runs in the family.
But you know those decisions where your heart screams to do one thing, yet your mind is telling you the exact opposite. And you KNOW your mind is right this time.
Somehow the heart's desire still wins, despite your best efforts.

That doesn't happen to me.
In that situation, my mind always wins. I've let the heart win one too many times in my younger years, and I learned my lesson the hard way. Lead with your head girls, not your heart.

But how unromantic, uninspiring, and opposite of spontaneous is that?!

So tonight, I didn't listen.
(lets hope that doesn't come back and bite me in the butt later)

Who knew finally letting my heart win would cheer me up?

I guess you can't always depend on the brain to come up with all the right answers. 

The conclusion is, Perma-grumpy is gone.
Now I can focus on the much needed SUMMER that starts in a week!

A summer with these head-bunned, and make-up-less beauties 

Can't Wait. 

Pure Perfection

Tonight was easily the best night I have had up here at USU, so it's just perfectly coincidental that it landed on the last weekend of the year.

USU had one of their better ideas when they decided to pay for Sean Kingston to come give us a little concert. a FREE concert.
They shut down the main road on campus, and set up a stage in the middle of the street. The turn out was huge, we definitely had to fight our way into the middle of the mosh-pit. Lucky for me, I have years of Rocket Summer concerts that have made me a regular old pro at getting in, and staying in the pit.

After Sean preformed, we are on a first name basis like that, the pit turned into a dance floor. And that dance turned into the best dance of my life, and the combination of both easily turned into one of my favorite nights in my life.

It's nights like these that make me want to cry when I think about this year ending. I wish I could put into words how it makes me feel. There were moments where I clearly remember looking around at the falling snow, campus, and my grinning best friends and thinking "Tonight is something special. Tonight is something I will remember"
I only wish there was someway I could really capture the euphoria everyone was so obviously feeling. I didn't, but I did try.
With photos of course :)

Before the sweating really started :)

The Pit! and that blur on stage would be Mr. Kingston

The best friends, and the sweaty hair. mostly mine. 

I love nights like these that make me really appreciate all my blessings. I'm young, life is fun, probably easier than it should be, I have amazing people in my life, and awesome opportunities that become perfect memories. 

I have realized and come to embrace the fact that sometimes I have to put the camera down, stop thinking, and just be in the moment. 

Perfection can really only be captured in memory, and thats the way it should be. 

David's Bday

I appear to be one of the only people on the blogosphere who didn't watch the royal wedding last night. Not that I'm not curious, I am, and I will probably watch all the programs on E! that are associated with it.
But it was a special occasion for my Logan family, so I couldn't tune in live.

Today is Dave's birthday!!!
So naturally last night we went over to his apartment right at midnight with two, perfect homemade cakes. We continued the celebration by dragging out the mattresses onto the floor and having a slumber party with the gang.
We talked, watched movies till 5 in the morning, and then continued to crash in the family room.

It was a worthy occasion to miss the wedding, but now I must spend my day catching up on the nuptial activities I missed last night.

The Cakes.

We love Davey

The Slumber Party with the Family!

Easter Weekend

For some reason I have been avoiding going to Orem for weeks.
I guess I was pretending I was some cool college girl who doesn't miss home.
I'm not.

My mother convinced me to come back for easter sunday and I have never been so thankful for a weekend home.
After weeks of a rather tiring back and forth with the boy, I decided it was time to end the redhead fetish phase. And nothing gets be back to my normal self again faster than a few days in Orem with the family and friends.

The only missionary I know that I actually wrote came home last weekend!
So I got to spend the weekend spending some QT with Elder Decker.
Nothing more entertaining than watching a missionary fresh off the field try to adjust to real life again.
He forgets to speak english instead of spanish, and marvels at simple grocery stores and it gives me a good little giggle. I also enjoy beginning to introduce him to every movie worth watching that came out in the last 2 years.

I also discovered that hiding the eggs for the annual easter egg hunt might be more fun than actually finding them. And watching the most adorable cousins in the world try to find them, is the most entertaining of all.
And when I tell you they are the most adorable, I mean it. You might think you know cute kids, and I am sure you do, but I hate to burst your bubble, unless you know my cousins, you haven't seen a thing.

So my little weekend was wonderful. So wonderful I find myself feeling less anxiety and more excitement about moving home for the summer.

TWO weeks people!

The photos...

Sunday Walk with friends, didn't mention it, but it happened. 

Me and the Tis

the MOST adorable child ever. 

Dont you wanna squeeze her!!!

Happy Easter. 

An Afternoon Alone

My apartment has been vacated for Easter weekend except for me!

I dont know why I refer to this place as an apartment, but a dorm doesn't really fit either. Plus, apartment sounds cooler, and makes me sound older. Am I right?

I had my own room for the first time this semester last night, and I am loving it!

Not that I don't love my roommies. I love all of them dearly.

But now I can sleep in till noon without worrying about the judgements, which are all in my head. Most importantly, I can dance around to my music in whatever clothing, or lack there of, I would like. Which I have been doing for the past hour. 

Avril and Ke$ha have been serenading me as loud as my laptop will allow, while JB watches from the family room. 

So my morning, which is really afternoon, looks a lot like this.

Yep, I'm rocking the sweats and the bun hair at 2 in the afternoon. Not ashamed. 

Boring but It's Looking Up

I have 25 followers now.
which is nothing compared to the hundreds other blogs have, but to little me, that number is pretty flattering.
So I have been feeling the need to blog to my 25 followers.. as a thank you for following?

The problem is, there is nothing to blog about.

Im trying to think of any kind of story to tell about my life the past couple days, and I've got nothin.

The boy dropped off of the face of the earth for a few days, he does that sometimes.
School. blah blah blah.
Group meetings. Everyday.
I registered for next fall, which is a very boring story.
They are all relatively boring stories really.

But stay tuned for the weekend. It is bound to be more exciting.
and if somehow I had 26 or 27 followers by saturday, I'd promise to make it even more exciting.

Pillow-fight dances, true aggie night, and a wedding. (unfortunately not mine)
just to wet your appetite.


[Dad it's been awhile since you offered some great blog ideas. just saying]

Rain Rain, Go Away.

The cure for rainy day blues?

Listening to my roommate Missy sing her heart out to Adele in the shower. 

It literally puts a smile on my face. 

I think I will have to go sing in my own shower now. 

I dare you to go do the same :)

Del Taco and 80's Night!

I can't believe another weekend has come and gone!
I could of sworn I was just barely blogging about my last weekend, and here I am about to do it again.

Well I had another perfect weekend in Logan.

Friday I spent some time quality time with my besties, and then Dave decided that we needed to make a late night run to Del Taco at 1 in the morning.
You see, Del Taco is a very special place for us Orem kids. It is a consistent craving of mine and pretty much my only complaint about Logan.
They don't have a Del.
But when you need some Del, you need some Del. So we got our Logan family together and drove to Ogden to get me some hard tacos.
And let me tell ya, it was worth every second of the little trip.

Saturday I went to another frat party. Who knew those things were so fun?!

This time is was 80's themed, so we dressed up, got the gang together and spent another night dancing our bums off. Seriously, we were there form 10:30 until 1. 

Im pretty sure I dropped 5 pounds on that dance floor. It was too much fun. 

We grabbed a late night snack after at Taco Bel. (notice the mexican food addiction) and called it a night around 4. 

My 80's Besties for Lifey

All the girls. We actually made new girlfriends, its a miracle. And we love them. 

Sunday, I got my patriarchal blessing.

Ah, what an overwhelming and extremely cool experience.

There really isn't much I can share about it, but trust me when I tell you it was amazing.

It was also amazing to have my parents and sister apart of the whole thing.

How lucky am I that they would drive all the way up here just for little old me?!? 

The weekend was PERFECT. 

I am a lucky girl. 

More Than Ready For Summer

Yesterday the temperature reached about 50 degrees in Logan.
These rare days are very near and dear to us Aggies hearts.
Without a doubt you will find groups of freshman out on what I call, our mini quad. Girls laying out on the grass with their friends, people playing sand-volleyball in short shorts, boys playing football or frisbee with their shirts off can be seen from every window.
Somehow the sun draws the pale students out of their dorms, and makes us act like its 80 degrees out instead of 55.
It's a Logan thing, and I participate in it whole heartedly.

I also participate in the head bun whole heartedly, which is probably a mistake. 

And now I am burnt, and loving it. 

Not Another Word, CC

On this little blog, I have always made it perfectly clear who the most important people in my life are. I mention how much I love them, and why I love them on a blogly (yes, I just made that word up.) basis.
But I'm ashamed to say it has been brought to my attention recently, that I haven't dedicated enough time to a certain person...

Catherine Camera Almeida

How have I not rambled on about this girl sooner??

CC, as she is called on the streets, is my best friend. 

I've known her since I was a little girl, but we really bonded by junior and senior year of high school. Alysha, CC, and I became inseparable in those two years, despite how annoying everyone else thought we were. 

CC never fails to make me laugh, I can't ever spend more than a few hours with her without breaking out in laughter. Her laugh is very contagious. 

She was also always there for me. some of my hardest times in high school, which all seem very trivial now, I got through because of this girl. 

She also knew how to put us all in our place.

She might be the youngest out of our group of friends but you'd never know it.

Anytime we were doing something, or saying something that CC didn't think was right, she could make us feel guilty with one look. One eye brow raise. 

She made us better people, or at least she made me a better person. 

Now that I am in college and CC is in her last year of high school, our relationship has changed a bit.

She found some lucky new friends, and we all moved forward in our lives. 

We don't talk on the phone everyday, or text every detail of our lives to each other, cause we don't need to.

Every time I come home to this girl, it's like things never changed. 

In-fact, most of these reunions lead to happy tears, which is a little bit ridiculous, but thats us. 

I know that girl will always be here for me.

And I can't wait for her to be up at USU with me in the fall!!!

love love love Miss Catherine Almeida. 

Some precious moments we've shared together... 

The End is Near

School is ending and this means a few things for me...

1. My last group project for my Media Smarts class.
I am surprised I haven't blogged about these projects before, because let me tell ya, they have slowly consumed my life. And as this last project's due date gets closer, the time I spend in the library get more and more ridiculous.
6 hours of straight ridiculousness to be exact.
But I love my group, we have bonded over all those library visits.
so I count myself lucky.

Alex is my favorite. You can't tell by this picture, but he is dreamy :)

Ill almost miss these nights when the semester ends.

2. I will find out about my princess future! I occupy lots of my time by checking my e-mail constantly. But Bri says they will torture me and probably not let us know till Friday... Rude. 

3. I am trying to soak up every second with my USU loved ones before I have 4 months of separation, or in some cases 2 years. Everything lately seems to remind me how little time we have left. 

Sometimes I feel like I am the only one who is completely stressing out at this thought! Aren't you stressed?!?!

4. I am losing some motivation for my classes... or rather one class.

You all know what class I'm referring to.

That is what I look forward to most, the END of that class and the misery it brings into my blissful life. 

But we cant really talk about my true feelings about this class cause my parentals read this blog and I will receive one unhappy phone call...

School is so much fun Mom and Dad, I love it soooo much :)

So one of the biggest chapters in my life is coming to an end. I can't believe how fast my first year in college flew by. Even though I am stressed, and heartbroken to see it end, I am excited for what comes next... 

whatever that is. 

Waiting For The Fairytale

So I found a picture that sums up my saturday and my sunday...

Ken and me ogling Mr. Ryan Gosling.

The only bad thing about dedicating 1 1/2 days to watching movies, is now Im completely unsatisfied with my life being anything but exactly like The Notebook. 

Not to mention, my husband has to look as fabulous in a trench coat at dusk as Mr. Darcy does. 

Is that too much to ask for?

Till then you can find me waiting here for my fairytale to fall into place; 

at my kitchen counter, in my PJ's at 12:30, wishing we had some milk. 

And Then There's Saturday

Saturday =

one good nap.

5 great movies with the roommates. 

Epic deleted scenes. 

One tender roommate bonding discussion. 

 3 rounds of karaoke. (which we caught on film, but I will not be sharing) 

And 0 pictures.

Somehow all that nothingness took us till 4 in the morning to finish. 

and I enjoyed every second of it. 

404 you complete me.

The Weekend!

This weekend will be the first all semester that all of my friends will be here!

We haven't made it one weekend where at least two of my roommates were gone, so needless to say, I am very excited to spend one of my last weekends in Logan with everyone here. 

We started it off right tonight by going to see a hypnotist show and tomorrow we will go to the Logan temple for the first time to do some baptisms. 

I'm not sure what else the weekend has in store but I am so excited to find out! 

Stay posted people, there will be pictures.