roommate christmas party! {and a birthday}

last night my roommates and i gathered in the front room of our apartment to have a little gift-giving christmas party.  genni and beth were leaving provo today, so yesterday was the closest we could get to the real thing.

we are tree-less in provo this winter, so my pineapple lamp did double duty {and didn't mind one bit}.

being poor college students, we drew names between the four of us.  it was a silly coincidence that our gift-giving ended up in age order.  natalie gave to beth, beth to me, me to genni, and genni to natalie!

natalie gave beth a spanish novel she's been wanting this semester, a beautiful necklace {which was worn immediately}, and a notepad from knockknock, one of my personal favorite places to give and get from.

genni gave natalie a bright yellow teapot to replace the one that rusted very early this winter.  this picture describes her reaction almost perfectly - she was tickled!

from beth to me: two pairs of fabulous tights, the a&e pride and prejudice, and little owl earrings.  it was perfectly splendid!

i was too busy watching genni open my gift that i forgot all about my camera!  i gave her two of my favorite novels in the whole wide world {little women and the princess bride} and a beautiful heart-rose necklace.

of course, we had to have a little treat with the gifts!  my mom had given me a few things to make some end-of-the-semester treats for our apartment.  the cheeseball was definitely a hit!

later that night, brant {natalie's boyfriend} came over after work for an early birthday celebration. since none of us would be around on his birthday we decided it was necessary to have a provo-birthday party.  after we started eating, two of his roommates came to join our dinner celebration.  

i discovered something last night while we were madly preparing dinner and making sure everything looked beautiful: i really love to throw dinner-parties.  i love the cooking rush before, the beautiful table {we were excited that no two plates, bowls, or glasses on the table matched}, the communal eating late at night, and the lounging around the dinner table after it's all over with.  truthfully, i don't mind the morning clean-up much either, granted i have loud energetic music and pajamas!

oh, and i almost forgot!  the four of us {beth, genni, natalie, and i} went to the mall in search of bride's maids dresses for beth's wedding.  sadly, the ones we found are out of stock.  so the search continues!  but we did get some pretty snazzy pictures of the three of us. . .

i must say, the shiny dress took us each about fifteen minutes to put on.  it was such pain!  but worth it for the ridiculous pictures, at least!

snow.

i opened my eyes.  little flecks of pale-blue light floated through the closed blind.  not summer light, the light of a new snow.  i opened my blinds a crack to find every limb and twig of every tree and bush covered in beautiful delicate white snow.  

i couldn't help myself.  it was so peaceful that i didn't want to get out of bed.  but knowing that my day was already in mid-morning phase {sleeping in a tad bit was glorious this morning with no homework looming over my head}, i sneaked into the dark kitchen, mixed up a quick warm glass of lemon juice and cayenne pepper and tip toed back to my bed to listen to ingrid michaelson and watch the snow.  the warm water fogged the window a tiny bit and nothing moved but the solar-powered plastic flower on my dresser, waving back and forth in excitement.  

yoga this morning.  in my bare feet with the windows cracked just enough to see the snow while i breathe.  

i love the first snow here, almost as much as i dreaded it before i knew what it felt like.  

someone's going to get a very large snowball thrown at them today, because i simply don't think i can help myself!

the end.

finished.

clicked send on my last final at 6:13 pm.

i'm tired.
but i'm reveling in the excitement of finishing such a demanding semester!

it's elating, and although i'm really quite exhausted i don't want to sleep for fear i'll wake up and realize i still have eight research papers due. . .
or something scary like that.

school has been all-consuming this semester, since that first day i came home from class and laid on the floor for four hours reading.  i don't think i've stopped reading {or writing} since. . .

the first day: {could have been every day}

i laid on the floor reading. standing, stretching, breathing every half hour or so.  several hours into the bulk of it, an outgoing {and slightly overbearing} boy calls me.  from the ward.  he'd gotten my number the previous day at a little "get-to-know-you" activity. don't we all love those?  i was flattered.  after all, more than a few girls had been eying him the whole night.  i was not, however, very interested.  i'm polite, but i had homework and was a little too emotionally overwhelmed to be a very pleasant date at the barbecue.  i said no. but thank you, and please ask me again some time!  he never called, and i was never disappointed.  as it turns out, i was very, very lucky.  eating cookies at his apartment about a month later, i heard the whole tale straight from his own drama-filled mouth.  dating three girls in the ward, stressed that he couldn't hide it much longer and distressed because he couldn't decide which one to choose.  i'm glad to say i didn't laugh {out loud}.

believe me, i do consider myself lucky.

and now i get to sleep.
and cook whatever i want, disregarding the amount of time the recipe takes.
and paint my end table.
and read sense and sensibility and eating animals and three cups of tea and total money makeover.
and drink hot chocolate in the morning in bed.
and run for an hour without worrying about the time.
and finish my christmas shopping!

happy end of the semester.  merry christmas to all!
and to all. . . a very good night!

weekend excursions

have i said how excited i am to be all the way finished with this semester yet? tomorrow. tomorrow is the day that it's all over with.

as a little break from all this finals studying, my sisters mindy and hailey came up to visit on friday night.  they just left this morning - it was a fabulous weekend.  christmas concert with the utah symphony, shopping with the sisters for christmas presents and clothes, lunch at one of the coolest healthy-urban-hippie-ish restaurants in salt lake (the oasis), and dinner at an all-time favorite: the bombay house.  who doesn't love indian food, right?

having my sisters up for a little escape to salt lake city was one of the best thing that could have happened this weekend! it gave me just the break to work up a little more stamina for my last two finals.  one in the testing center tomorrow that will determine whether i scrape by or come off with my all-time lowest class grade yet, and another that will only make me feel warm and fuzzy.

no matter the outcome, tomorrow night i'll be celebrating!  making myself and my sister wonderful balanced meals, running every day, and reading all the books i've been dying to read all semester long.  not to mention sewing, painting furniture, possibly doing something drastic to my hair (and i mean really drastic), and... well, doing anything and everything i want!  maybe i'll even find some willing boy and take myself swing dancing - something that this semester has had a shocking lack of.

this semester has been rather suppressing. . . and it's time for a little creative liberation.
in just about every way possible.

also, going to salt lake helped my seattle excitement to escalate.  i'm getting excited - really, really excited!  in fact, i started thinking about how sad i'll probably be to leave when the time comes.  i can't wait for the new sounds, sights, smells, and people.
i'm ready for adventure!