The New Roommates

Meet my ROOMMIES!

Bachelorette Number 1: Ken!

Isn't she a GEM? Ken and I had a class together last semester, so I already knew her a little before she moved it. She is addicted to all of the same TV shows as me, and is also a homebody! We've bonded over the Bachelorette, Gossip Girl, Modern Family., ect. and over the fact that we both love going home!

so overall, we are really healthy for each other :) 

And I debate stealing from her closet on a daily basis. 

Bachelorettes Number 2 and 3: Court and The Mrs!

I introduce these two together, because they are always together. 

Like peas in a pod.

 So i've yet to get a picture of them really separate from each other. 

The Facial hair is NOT natural. Promise. 

Court and the Mrs. are ADORABLE. The make me laugh on a daily basis, hence the pictures of them as boys. They are super sweet. They both sing like little angles, which they do, all day long. so it's a good thing we have the same taste in music. :) They always share their food, and movies, and jokes with me. I like them quite a bit. 

Court, has a lovely blog that I stalk as well, feel free to join me. 

http://tothegirlwiththepearlearring.blogspot.com

And you all already know Barbie, so no need to reintroduce her. 

Soon you'll learn to love them as much as I do. 

Not so Bloggy

I haven't blogged in awhile now.
And I am sure you are all eager to hear the details of another week at school,
but I'm just not feeling very bloggy.
And when you're not feelingy bloggy, and you blog anyway, it's usually pretty boring for everyone.
So I will try to summarize quickly...

I am now addicted to Sudoku. 

I stayed my 2nd weekend ever in Logan.

I made some new friends.

My ipod broke, but I got myself a new one, I'd like to think because of my undeniable charm. John said even though my warranty expired, he would give me one anyway. Lucky me! I would like to try out my "charm" theory on a cop one of these days, see if I can get myself out of a ticket. But I am just too good of a driver, never been pulled over once folks.

I wrote my second paper in my college history. 

Hopefully it's better than my first.

I am beginning to miss my blonde hair.

I started sleeping in till noon every other day, even though I think it's kind of disgusting and tell myself every night that tomorrow morning will be the day I am up at 10. It never is.

I am missing my mom, dad, sister and dog. 

(sorry whiskers)

I also miss Braden. 

Thats all. 

here's hoping I find some blog motivation this week. 

Better

School is only getting better.

(minus that dumb research methods class)

I HONESTLY love my roommates. 

My dad called me the other day and said that he saw that I wrote I loved them on a previous post but was wondering if I was just being polite. 

So let me clarify.

I love them. From the bottom of my heart. 

We are kindred spirits. They complete me. 

When I get some good pictures of them, and some spare time, I will formally introduce you. Fake names and all.

(Don't be creeped out Court :)...)

My classes are more interesting.

But I can tell you now that I'm definitely going to finish this semester as a feminist, and probably a liberal. It's really not debatable anymore. 

But my mom says I was never really a conservative to begin with anyway... oops. 

I hope you all still love me. 

I got myself some cute hats, and some ear warmers. So even my walks around campus are looking up.

But as GREAT as school is, home is pretty darn great too.

And I am home this weekend with all of my best girl friends! 

SURPRISE! 

But even Barbie came down to visit good old Orem City this time. 

So basically it's my life in Logan, temporarily relocated to the O.C.

Completely different and worth the gas money, I swear. 

:) 

And here is a picture of Big Red's legs to keep you all aesthetically pleased.

Happy Weekend

The classes

Let's talk about my classes shall we?

1: Marriage and Family Relationships.

I walked around for a good 10 min trying to find my classroom before I realized I was in the wrong building...

So I was 20 min late to the actual class, but by the portion that I was there for I think I am going to like it. Yes, it probably isn't the most challenging class I have ever taken, but I can tell I will find it interesting. I hear is the best way to earn a good grade. (which I need)

2: Jcom [media smarts]

Well I am pretty sure my teacher is a NUT. 

She is liberal, eco-friendly, full blown feminist and gay activist. 

She hates conservative radio and Fox news. 

She married the head of the Jcom department, but refused to take his last name because "She wanted to keep her own identity".

Although none of these things makes an individual a nut, screaming, blasting the song "we didn't start the fire" and asking us to all dance definitely does.

she is definitely going to force me to have an open mind. 

The class sounds challenging, she will be challenging, but also a lot of fun, and interesting. 

3. Women and Gender Studies

Undecided about this one. The teacher rambled on and on about the syllabus today it was hard to be interested... But I have it with my roommate, Barbie, so that will be nice. 

I am pretty sure this class, along with the class above, is going to have a little bit of a liberal agenda. Gay rights, transvestite rights were both topics that she mentioned we would be studying. Think I can maintain my conservative beliefs and get an A in my classes?

Heaven forbid I graduate as a DEMOCRAT right?!

jokes.

But seriously, this isn't BYU folks. 

4. Jcom [communications research methods]

Hate.

This is going to be Statistics all over again... meh.

But because it is too early in the semester to have such a bad attitude, I will just say some positive things. 

It's a really small class, I like my professor, and it will probably be at least a little easier than Stats.

Thats all. Sounds easy enough right?? I can totally do this...

Zero pictures today. 

This post was mostly for Mom and Dad anyway. If more of you found it even slightly entertaining that is just a bonus. 

P.S. 

It is FREEZING. like -5 degrees outside today. I was pretty sure my ears were going to fall off.

 

Back for Spring

I'm back!
I spent my first night of the spring semester back in Logan last night!

Moving back in was the absolute worst. I came back with a huge suitcase I didn't leave with...
so. much. stuff.

The whole process of moving in with Hillary and Lindsey was pretty dang funny.
3 girls, 3 loads of stuff, and 3 inches of packed snow does not go well together.
If my hands weren't so full of stuff, and I knew which bag my camera was in,  I would of snapped some shots.
You'll just have to use your imagination.

Also, next to blow drying my hair, hanging up clothes is my absolute LEAST favorite thing to do in the world.
It took me like 4 times longer than the rest of my friends.

Now on to the good things :)

I met my three new roommates!
I am in love with them.
They moved into our room because they had some drama with an old roommate.
I can't imagine why anyone didn't like them, honestly.
I clicked with all three of them so fast. I can already tell this semester is going to be better than fall.

So with our new friends, and of course my old USU family, we had some dinner and game night!
Typical.

I am already loving the social.
now my classes start tomorrow, and we will see about the whole academic part :)

the game circle. a little crowded.

USU Buddies!

Ready to Learn

Yesterday was the boyfriend's first day of college!
And since Utah State doesn't start till the 10th (suckas!), I was here to take part in the event.

Braden started at BYU today. He loved it.
I'm pretty sure...

Here is a picture of me picking him up at school after his first day :)

It made me excited to start school again myself. 

This may come as a shock to some of you, but I actually like school and love the whole learning thing.

You probably think I am lying, like I think everybody who says they LOVE running is lying, to themselves and everybody else. Freaks.

Buuut I am telling the truth. I love to learn. 

Sometimes I have to remind myself of this halfway through the semester... but that doesn't mean it's not true.

The longer this break lasts, the more I feel the need to get back to Logan. 

I know, that last part really does make me a freak.

And this whole post basically contradicts my last post, but I am a woman, and I get to change my mind whenever I want.

My 2010

So it's the end of a decade.
I can't even believe how fast time flies.
It feels like yesterday when my dad bought me a quarter collection board for all the United States coins.


(Yes, for awhile I collected coins, and to this day I still check the back of quarters, okay?!)


He gave it to me in 2000, and the last year the quarters would be released was 2008. I remember thinking how far away 2008 was, I would be 16 by then!
It seemed like that day would never come and here we are already finished with 2010.

Lets review some of my highlights shall we?!

I attended my first festival of colors! I had been wanting to go for years but for some reason always missed it. This year I finally went, and it is a memory that will stay with me forever. I even got a picture of me crowd surfing placed in the newspaper! (above) Which my dad ordered and framed for me :)

Braden won his lacrosse state championship! Not only did Braden and I start dating in 2010, but I also learned to love lacrosse. (a seriously underrated sport in this state) I went to every game, once I started dating him, and each one was so much fun. But the state championship was obviously the best game of the season. :)

I turned 18! A legal adult now, enough said :)

This is a picture of my birthday lunch with some best friends.

I graduated from high school! That was definitely a bitter-sweet moment. High school was actually a lot of fun for me, of course it had it's painful parts, but  I mostly only have fond memories. I am happy to be done with those 3 years of my life though, and moving forward to whatever comes next.

I went to GREECE! This is more like a highlight for not only this past year, but for the rest of my life! I am so lucky to have had the opportunity to travel to such an amazing place. My experience in Greece will definitely be one I will never forget. The trip also inspired a desire to travel more; I hope have another opportunity.

I went to DisneyWorld for the first time! Some might say I am a little to old to enjoy a trip like this, but it was actually a blast. I also got to bring Braden on this vacation, and he was a lot of fun to have around. 

Justin Beiber concert with CC. Another highlight that needs no explanation :)

I had a little scootering accident in the Provo Canyon... This may seem like it shouldn't make the highlight list, but I am probably going to have these scars on my knees and foot for my whole life. I want to remember how I got them.

I got accepted into Utah State, moved out of my house, moved to Logan into this lovely building you see here. Being in college is exciting (and kind of boring), I am happy to be onto the next stepping stone in my life. I can't wait to really learn, grow and become the adult I think I can be. I can't wait to discover and fall in love with a career. 

John Mayer/Owl City concert. Absolutely AMAZING. 

not really the Owl City part...

I died my hair brown. BIG DEAL. But I already wrote about this, if you would like a reminder, go read my thoughts on my Brown Hair entry.

I think that about sums up my 2010.

Longest blog entry ever right?!?

All in all, a perfect year.

I'll miss you 2010.

Christmas Summarized

Christmas is over.

Surprisingly Christmas is the day I probably take the least amount of pictures.

I decided I think Christmas should just be lived in the moment, since the joy of christmas is over so fast, and the best moments are in the anticipation before the actual day anyway.

so I don't worry about bringing out my camera in the morning to try and capture all the moments. 

But christmas was GREAT! 

on Christmas Eve we saw our traditional movie.

This year choosing the movie brought all sorts of contention and drama, but we finally all settled on "How Do You Know?"

The Latest Reese Witherspoon movie. I'm ashamed to say this was partially my idea.

The movie was TERRIBLE.

Seriously.

But on the positive side, Reese looked good.

Christmas day was good too. Opening presents with my family is always special. We had a lovely Borup side of the family breakfast, and then we went over to my Hirschi side and ate dinner and opened presents again, Braden was able to come too.

The whole day was perfect, I really loved spending all of that time with my family and other loved ones. 

Here are some pictures that I did take over the holiday...

The Borup side nativity. Yes I am Mary.

The family at PF Changs

Me and B on Christmas night

I hope everyone had a fabulous holiday! :)

Negative Blog

These days I feel like the only way to have a blog worth reading is to be, in some form or another, negative.

A long while ago I was talking to a friend of mind, who happens to write/perform VERY good music, and I said to him, "You are one angry kid." Cause he was/is.
and he said "Being angry is the only way to write music."
It sounds less profound now that I wrote it out like that... But I think it is relatively true.

Except I don't know anything about music...
so I am applying it to blogs.

The blogs I most enjoy reading involve either making fun of others, making fun of oneself, being extremely sarcastic, or just being plain mean.
(Never towards me the reader of course.)
This might say a lot, and nothing good, about my character...

but I think it applies to more than just me out there, don't be ashamed to admit it people!

In the real world, I am almost embarrassed to say, that I fit most of these requirements quite a bit of the time.
(I tell myself people find it endearing.)
But the point is,
In the blog world, I continue to fail at succeeding.

Probably because I am happy, and I try to be a nice person.
And my desire for comments and followers isn't going to drag down my integrity!

So whatever. Don't comment on my not funny or interesting blog.
It's FINE.

Beth Borup

Today is my Mom's birthday.

Isn't she pretty??
Remind you of anyone... :) hehe

My mom is absolutely amazing, I don't even know where to start.

She is the most generous person. She is willing to give the clothes off her back to anyone who needs it. She has given whatever she can for my sister's and my happiness.
Not only ours, but ward members, Braden, my friends, and even strangers.
She once paid for a strangers hotel room, who was down in Florida while BriAnne was, when he didn't have a place to stay that first night. No one asked her to do that, but it wouldn't surprise anyone who knows her that she did it anyway.

She is so smart. She has dedicated her life to education. Graduating from BYU with a masters degree and going on to be a professor there herself.
It is because of her example that I have come to love, and really value my education. She is the reason I graduated from high school, am going to college with a scholarship, and will one day graduate with a masters degree of my own.
I hope :)

She is also one of my best friends.
I am so blessed to have a mom that I can talk to. I love laying on her bed at night and talking to her about school and friends, or sometimes crying about trials and hurt feelings. I know that although she has high expectations for her children, that if we ever failed she would be there to catch us and love us just the same.

She is a perfect mom, and wife. She is selfless, a hard worker, funny, strong, kind, smart, independent, talented, and beautiful.

I get told all of the time that I am JUST like my mom.
Well I don't think so.

But I can't think of a higher compliment.


Some moments with Mom..

Mom, 

I love you so much. 

I hope you have a good birthday! 

I am glad I could be home from school to celebrate with you.

One day when I have kids of my own, I hope I am truly just like you. 

Thank you for everything you do for me and our family.

Brooke.

Bri vs. Brooke

Clean, clean, clean.
Pack, pack, pack.
Move, move, move.
Study, study, study.
Sleep, sleep, sleep.

That is all I do these days.
(notice I didn't mention shower... I don't)


It's time to go home.

But,
Me and my sisters blogs are in a bit of a fight.
I do not want any snow until thursday night.
But my sister wrote a letter to utah on her blog asking him? it? her? for snow and I look out my window and everything is white.
Bri- 1
Brooke- 0

I think utah likes her more because she wrote them a formal letter.

Utah,
I like snow and all around christmas time, but here's the thing, I need to be able to make it home safely to my loved ones in Orem. I will be making my trip Thursday midmorning/afternoon. So if you would keep any sort of precipitation to a minimum until Thursday evening, I would appreciate it. "The best snow on earth" doesn't have to apply to the whole month of December, just kick it up a notch like a week before Christmas. Thank you!
Brooke

The Historical Weekend!

Yep, that's right, I actually stayed the whole weekend.

I know you all doubted me. 

I've managed to stay in Logan for what will be almost 2 weeks when I finally go home to Orem. And not only did I stay, but I actually really enjoyed myself. 

Friday I went and cleaned the sink with my USU family. It is an aggie tradition to go to the local restaurant Angies and order this sink over flowing with ice cream. If you complete the task, you get a sticker. We were pretty proud :) We then played some karaoke, and of course some cards.

Saturday I went to the basketball game. It was my first USU basketball game ever, and let me tell you, I was a little startled. 

We are so MEAN! I was almost embarrassed by our lack of good sportsmanship. 

We turn our backs when the names of the opposing team players are announced. When someone fouls on one of our players we chant "you you you you you you SUCK!"'; thousands of students dressed in blue screaming that at you has throw off your game. 

My personal favorite part is when "crazy Bill" dresses up in a costume to distract the other team when they make free throws. He does a little jig and we all chant "You like Bill, You like Bill" This game he dressed up as a fireman. The time before that he was Winnie the pooh..

And somewhere in between being up by 20 points at all times, and the crazy student section, my embarrassment turns into school pride. 

That would be Bill. HAAWT.

Sunday was church with a lovely christmas program, studying, cards and movies with my best friends. 

It was such a fun weekend, I am so glad I decided to finally stay. I hope that I will be able to do it more often.

BUT, after all the fun, I am more than ready to be back home!

Finals week could not go any slower...

I Want to Go Back

Sometimes when I talk to my sister on skype I want to go back here...

Oh mykonos..

Or maybe finally go here..

Nice, France. I dream about you.

You would have to know Bri to understand. 

Or maybe it's just because the weekend is over, and finals start tomorrow...

I miss Greece. 

This Week

Classes are OVER!

I never have to go to another statistics class in my life, or any other math class!

There are few things in this world that make me as happy as that sentence. 

Although now I have to prepare for finals, which is a little stressful, classes being over trumps finals any day.

Technically today is the day that I begin my first weekend here, but I consider my weekend starting last night. I had fun dressing up in christmas sweaters, eating cookies and pizza, and playing cards with my friends all night; without having to worry about waking up for my classes the next morning! It was a good start to what I am hoping will be a fun weekend.

The best friends

My 4th floor gang

Don't worry Braden and my parents, I will be studying too. I've been studying a little bit at least everyday. And I plan on really buckling down Saturday, Sunday and Monday. The roommates have also talked about having Skipper's fiance coming over and giving all of us blessings for finals week. 

Along with preparing for finals, and having a good time, room 404 has 4 roommates moving out, 4 new roommates moving in, and I am trading rooms. So we have a lot of moving out and in to do. And before anyone can move in or out we have to DEEP clean our dorm. Housing rules. We had to do this earlier in the year and it was some serious cleaning... I am a little stressed about getting that all done in time for me to be out of here, as soon as possible, so I can start my christmas break!

So wish me luck and keep me in your thoughts this week!

I am addicted to blogging so I am sure I will be updating you as I go. 

You are all on the edges of your seats I'm sure. 

Bridal Shower

The Ladies of room 404, plus Nikki, had a little bridal shower for Skipper yesterday.
It was a huge success thanks to Barbie's hidden party throwing skills!

It was so much fun. We made her a dress out of toilet paper. Which we all took very seriously, or maybe that was just me...
Although I didn't do a great deal of actual taping and toilet paper constructing, I would like to give myself a great deal of credit for some "say yes to the dress" worthy design suggestions. Being a bit of a dictator is a characteristic I fail to hide very well, but apparently I've done a great job of keeping my clothing design skills secret.

Those are little flowers on her train

The finished product with all the girls!

We did a newlywed 20 questions game with her fiance, typical of course, but very adorable. We ate lots of skittles and starbursts. We opened slightly inappropriate gifts, and had slightly inappropriate conversations. Then we went on a slightly inappropriate scavenger hunt/dare night.

It was full of tender roommate bonding moments :)
And of course, I would now like to be married and have multiple bridal showers thrown in my honor.

all 6 roommates

The cutie opening her gifts

                                      

  

Me and Skipper.

 I will missing having her around but I am so excited for her!

I wish Skipper and her future hubby the best!

Proof

Just a quick photo my Dad took and sent me to prove to my sister, and anyone else who doubts me, that I did eat at PF Changs :)

Firsts

For the first time since I moved up to Logan, I didn't take a single picture this weekend. 

I ate at P.F. Changs with my parents and Braden, and for the first time ever I really enjoyed it. Chinese food, me?! 

I went to the first Bridal shower of my recollection. Congrats Poe!

I watched 8 episodes of Avatar; the Last Air Bender for the first time. Give it a chance people! 

And drum roll please...

For the first time ever I am going to STAY IN LOGAN this weekend!

Now I have said this so many times before that when I told my dad he just laughed at me. But I'm tellin you, it's really gonna happen this time. 

I'm determined. 

Feel free to be impressed with me and all my firsts.

I'm awesome. 

Me and Ang probably fighting the fire nation

Summary of Two Lives.

Disneyland was a success! After my night of rest, I woke up ready for the best day of disney yet. I had such a good time with my family. I am thankful for my dad for taking me and my sister for all the sweeeeet hookups :)

Braden was sweet enough to drive me up to Logan, since I had to wake up at 5 and endure a 10 hour car ride moments before I faced what I thought would be another 2 hours in the car, in the dark, in the snow, all alone, back to USU. Instead, Braden saved me and the drive was fast and safe.
I had so much fun having him up here for a little while. I was excited to have him see a little of my life here in Logan and have my friends in Logan see a bit of my Orem life. I introduced him to my roommates and friends, and showed him around a little bit. Everyone loved him, DUH! :)

Now that he is gone I am just having fun with my roommates and friends all week. Nikki is subbing as my roommate for a few days since Lysha checked out on Wednesday. We have had a good time getting into the christmas spirit around here and decorated our little dorm to the nines. It is practically oozing christmas spirit. We have hours of girl talk and watch ABC Family or the CW endlessly.
I also got to meet two of my new roommates that will be moving-in in January. They were so sweet and cute, it made me excited for the next semester.
The friends and I are planning on another fun night tonight, maybe sledding down old main hill, or dinner at Angies!
Weeks like this one remind me how much I love my life here at USU.

I am also excited for this weekend home. And more than this weekend, I am excited for my Christmas break! I still love being in Orem too.


You know what they say, two is always better than one...
Two homes.
Two families.
Two little lives :)
I'm Lucky to live two perfect lives, my Orem life and my Logan life.
I wish there was an easy way to combine the two into one, but I can't really complain.
I have it good.

LOGAN

 

Orem

Im impressed if you actually made it to the end. I realize that was long and boring, but it's MY blog OKAY!?