A Jolly Vindaloo Day To All!

Ok, so there is no such thing as Vindaloo Day, but I'm going to use it instead of saying Happy New Year because of my new favorite show, Outsourced. If you haven't watched it yet, DO IT!!!! It is so funny! The characters are likable and relatable, and each episode thus far has had an interesting and enjoyable storyline. So, again I say, if you haven't watched it, DO IT. It's awesome.

For a Potter update, I'm now about 150 pages into Goblet of Fire, and still loving my nightly dates with Ron Weasley. Also, my family doesn't do much actual "gift" giving, we usually just get money for Christmas so that we can go out and get the things that we want instead of returning things that don't fit or aren't the right color. So, with some of my Christmas money, I bought all six HP DVD's. Plus, I got them all on sale or clearance which was a total steal! I've watched a couple of them with my family so far, but I can't wait to have a huge Harry Potter marathon sometime this semester! I'm also super jealous of my Disney friends who all got to visit Hogwarts and drink Butterbeer (yum!) again this month without me :( I'll hopefully get back in April though, I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

I actually bought a BUNCH of movies with my Christmas money, ones that I've wanted for awhile, though. So, after adding the 6 HP movies, the 3 good Indiana Jones movies (sorry Crystal Skull, but Aliens, I mean come on?), Batman, Batman Returns, Batman & Robin, Batman Forever, Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, This Is It, and A Bug's Life, my DVD collection has now reached 121. Whew! I LOVE IT!

I'm sad to be leaving the beautiful south here in a few days, but I'm also so incredibly excited to get back to Rexburg and start a new semester living with my best friend and having games nights and studying in the Snow building and seeing all of my favorite people again! Having said all of this, I bid you all adieu, my next post will probably be about how sick I am of seeing snow and how cold my nose and toes are, but I'll be loving life, don't you fret!

Love,

A Southern Girl about to leave the South

Good news...

I'm finally home! Our flights were pretty good overall, but the day was excruciatingly long. We left Rexburg at 5 in the morning and touched down in Greenville at around 7 at night, so we travelled for about 12 hours total after factoring in losing 2 hours as we crossed the country. It feels so great to be home and NOT seeing a "winter wonderland" every time I open the front door! The forecast here is calling for sleet/snow on Christmas day, but I'll believe that when I see it. I feel like they are just giving the people of upstate South Carolina hope for a white Christmas, which is the absolute LAST thing I want.

Tomorrow we are celebrating Christmas with Grandmama and Papa, plus I'm finally getting my hair cut! Yay! It is very much needed as it has kind of looked like a rat's nest for the past 3 weeks or so. I'm excited for Christmas because we are going up to Tennessee to see Memaw and my cousins, which is always fun!

I finally finished reading Jurassic Park! It only took me about 3 months… In my defense I had an intense amount of reading this semester so it was hard to set aside time for pleasure reading. But I was up until around 3 am finishing it on Sunday night because I just didn't want to put it down. I thought it was great. I have always been a huge fan of the movie, so I'm not surprised that I really enjoyed the book that went into even greater detail of a story I love. Anyways, I definitely recommend it to any fan of the movie, or to anyone interested in a science-y/technological story about dinosaurs. There is quite a bit of technology stuff that, I'll honestly admit, I just scanned instead of actually reading, but I think it would have just confused me to fully read it anyways. There were a LOT of differences between the book and the movie, and I won't bore you like I did my family with every little detail, but I will point out that just about EVERYTHING that has to do with the kids is wrong in the movie. First off, Dr. Alan Grant is shown as a stiff, kid-hating man in the movie, but in the book, he really likes the kids and he's happy to talk to Timmy about dinosaurs and his research, and secondly, in the book, Timmy is older, around 11, and Lex is 7, so they reversed ages in the movie. If there was one thing I had to complain about in the book it would be that I wanted to punch that little girl in the face every time I read anything about her. Every time she opened her mouth to speak she was complaining or being a brat, I just wanted that T-Rex to come out of nowhere and swallow her mid-sentence. She was so incredibly annoying. But, like I said, overall, a great read.

Speaking of reading, that is my favorite thing to do over my breaks from school. Since I mentioned that we lose 2 hours when traveling, I should also mention that I get jet lagged really badly every time. I can't fall asleep until around 3 or 4 every night and then I don't wake up until noon. I go through this every time for at least 3 or 4 days without fail. However, the good thing about my predicament is that this is prime reading time. There's no distractions from the TV or video games or music, I just sit in my living room by a lamp, or the lights on my Christmas tree (a new personal favorite) and read. It's AWESOME. It's too bad my house doesn't have a fireplace because then my life would be the perfect cliche, a girl sitting alone reading next to a warm fire. Ahhh, how serendipitous. Christmas lights are good enough for me, though :)

Since I finished reading Jurassic Park, I had to find something new to read. At first I thought I might reread Wicked and Son of a Witch to refresh my memory before reading the newest book in the series A Lion Among Men, but I decided I wanted something that took far less thought, and I wanted something familiar. So, I ventured away from my own bookshelf and went to the one in the guest bedroom and hit the jackpot. I knew as soon as I saw them exactly how I would spend the rest of the late nights of my Christmas break. Two words. Harry Potter. After seeing Deathly Hallows Part One and visiting the Wizarding World of Harry Potter several times this summer, I'm excited to read the books all over and catch things I missed before and discover more about my very favorite book series. I already noticed something I didn't before and I'd like to share it with all of the other Potter fanatics out there. (and I know you are out there!) When Hagrid is first bringing Harry to the Dursley's house, Dumbledore asks him where he got the motorcycle and he said (and I quote), "Borrowed it, Professor Dumbledore, sir. Young SIRIUS BLACK lent it to me." I find this ever so delightful now knowing all that I know about Sirius Black, it makes sense that he would lend Hagrid his bike so that Harry could be delivered to the only family he had left. J.K. Rowling, you are good! I probably didn't even think twice about that name when I first read the book like 10 years ago. Lovely tie in, just lovely.

Well, now that I've bored you with my Christmas break plans, I'll bid you all farewell, because I have a date with Ron Weasley every night for the next 2 weeks. He's just such a dream boat :)

Love,
A Southern Girl IN THE SOUTH!!!!

Dear J.K. Rowling…

Ok, so I did something tonight that I've never done in my entire career here at BYU-Idaho. I intentionally broke curfew to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1. Before I talk about how much I loved it, I would just like to say to Harrison Ford, I am INCREDIBLY disappointed in you. Ok, so we could discuss for hours how Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls was an EPIC fail, but it can be summed up in one word…aliens. Seriously? Aliens, people? Anyways, back to Mr. Ford, his next blockbuster is entitled Cowboys & Aliens. My friend Mary and I are sitting in the theatre munching on some popcorn, when the previews finally start. We see Daniel Craig in the middle of the desert, but he has a mysterious metal bracelet/ tracking device thing on. I'm thinking to myself, "this looks interesting." Then, we see Daniel Craig thrown into jail, enter Harrison Ford. I then think, "Oh this has gotta be good, I love Harrison Ford!" The next thing I know…UFO's. Done deal. Not gonna waste my money on that one. It also has that intern that I don't care for, "13," from House in it, ya know the girl that mentions she has a degenerative disease EVERY EPISODE? And one last note on this film, Cowboys & Aliens? There was not ONE better idea for a title? I'm disappointed in you Universal Pictures.

Ok, but now on to Harry Potter. Oh my, oh my! I have to say in the past I've been less than impressed with the movies. I've read the books and it's true that the book is ALWAYS better than the movie, but I was just severely disappointed in most of the movies past "Chamber of Secrets." I gotta give props to David Yates. This film was phenomenal. I was enthralled the entire time. Also, it was so well written. It was funny when it needed to be but the serious parts were beautiful and at times, moving. I won't give anything away since some may not have seen it yet, but the ending was PERFECT. I hate to have to wait until July, but at the same time, the place they chose to split it was spot on.


Last, but absolutely, positively not least, I am in love with Ron Weasley. How he went from this insanely cute kid

To this hunk of burnin' wizard

is beyond me. In this movie he is his usual dopey, always slightly jealous of Harry, self, but he is so obviously in love with Hermione that it will make your teeth hurt. Every single time he was on the screen I'm pretty sure I let out an "I love him," or "he is so adorable," or just a sigh of admiration. Seriously, Hermione better watch her back!

Peace, Love, and Ron Weasley,

A Southern Girl in the Land of Potatoes :)

MY LIFE IS SO GREAT RIGHT NOW!!!

What a day! I went to class, came home, cleaned my room, had my interview to be a Disney College Program Campus Representative (more later about this), cleaned the kitchen…kinda, got an email offering me the position of Campus Representative (woo hoo!), went to my favorite place in the world (the Snow building) for theatre council and to see my good friend Katie tell such a fun story about her dad, then I went to the grocery store with Amanda and got 2 liter cokes for 79 cents (yeah!), and now I am sitting on my couch drinking said coke and watching The Proposal with my roommates.

Now for a rundown of the most crazy awesome part of my day! At 1:33 today I had a phone interview with the Disney College recruiter for BYU-Idaho, John, and he asked me all of the technical questions like if I could legally work in the US blah, blah, blah, then he asked me why I wanted to be a campus rep. I told him, that of course, I want to spread the word about one, well two, of the most incredible experiences of my life, but that I wanted to stress to the interested students that even though you may not make a lot of money, the experience you gain and the fact that you make friends from all across the world are just priceless! He asked me a couple more questions, then told me to email him within 24 hours if I was seriously interested in being a campus rep (I told him I'd probably email him within the next 24 minutes…haha), that I would hear sometime before December 4th whether I was selected, and that he sincerely hoped he would get an email from me and to be able to work with me next semester. So I emailed him and got an automatic "out of the office" response email, which made me worried! However, about an hour later I got an email offering me the position of Campus Rep! I am so incredibly excited for this opportunity and I can't wait until next semester to really get started! Now I have to figure out whether or not to go down to Florida to work a shift during Christmas to get my maingate pass, or just to be happy with my ID and getting only myself in for free. Decisions, decisions.

So on top of the amazing-ness above, in 2 count 'em, 2 days I will be in California with my best friend and twin for Thanksgiving Break! Ahhhhhh! I'm so excited!

Have a magical day!

A Southern Girl in the Land of Potatoes

One more week...

Ummm, I found out I'm not so good at this blogging thing. I'll try to be better. So, we've been so blessed with a lack of snow up until about a week ago, but hot dang did it come back with a vengeance! I feel like it snowed NON-STOP Monday-Wednesday! But anyways, I'm so incredibly excited! This time next week I will be in California with my best friend for Thanksgiving Break! It will be really weird for me though, because I've never had a Thanksgiving where I wasn't with at least part of my family. As much as I would have loved to get to go home for Thanksgiving, I knew it probably wasn't going to happen, so honestly, I couldn't ask for a better substitute. Having lived in the south all of my life, until I came to school out here in (now frigid and snowy) Idaho, the farthest west I'd ever been was Nauvoo, IL. I'm pretty jazzed about broadening my travel horizons and getting to finally see California. I mean, I love Soarin, probably more than most people, but lets face it, it's nowhere near the real thing :) We're going to go to Grauman's Chinese Theatre, which I'm totally stoked about (maybe it will make me feel like I'm at Disney World) and maybe go to the beach! The water will be too cold to actually get in, but I'm sure it will be beautiful nonetheless. Sure, I'll still have heaps of homework and reading to do over the week, but I get to do all of this fun stuff, and sleep in past 7:00 everyday and not go to class or worry about if I'm going to slip when I walk on a patch of black ice I didn't see. Most of all, I'm just so excited to spend a whole week with Alex! Can it just be next week right now?

Love,
A Southern Girl in the Land of Potatoes (but next week in the Land of Movie Stars! haha)

My First Ever Blog Post...

So I have succumbed to the rest of the world and created a blog. I chose a pretty great day to do it, too, because IT SNOWED TODAY. I am not excited. I am generally sitting in a comfortably warm apartment when the first snow comes to Rexburg, however, today I was oh so lucky to be pelted with rather large clumps of snow as I was walking to the Manwaring Center to work at the Blood Drive booth. Speaking of the Blood Drive, anyone in Rexburg who would like to be a blood donor, please volunteer! There is a booth set up for a few hours every day in the MC where you can sign up to give blood, or for those of you who are a little bit squeamish, just volunteer to hand out juice boxes, make sure no one faints, etc. So just do it if you can. The drive is Oct. 27-29 and Nov. 3-5.

Here are a couple of things that I have witnessed thus far in this semester that I feel like I probably wouldn't see at any other university.

1. I was walking home from studying in the snow building (shocker, I know) when I hear over the loud speaker at a football game, the following conversation:
"Hey everybody, I just wanna thank you all for coming out to the game today! (Thunderous applause, well as much applause as about 75 people can make) I just wanna ask my girlfriend to come down here for a second. (She proceeds to walk to the field from the bleachers) Hey, baby, how are you today? I'm so glad you could come to my game."
"I'm…good." (She is obviously embarrassed.)
"Well, baby, you know I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?"(Again with the "thunderous" applause and cheering and cue the wedding march)
I couldn't hear her answer but I assume it was yes, because in last week's edition of The Scroll, there was an article about it.

2.  3 of the most adorable little boys came to my door selling chocolate chip cookie dough. The little boy said with the most adorable lisp you can imagine, "Hi would you wike to buy thome home made cookie dough? It's just theven dowers a tub." The combination of his adorable face, adorable lisp, and Toy Story t-shirt had me hooked…and anyone who really knows me knows I don't even LIKE chocolate chip cookies! So, the moral of this story is, if you live in Rexburg and have cute kids, send them around to girls apartment complexes to get people to buy your cookie dough, because people like me, and most other girls at BYU-Idaho, can't resist adorable children.

3. I went to the DI the other day to find things I needed for my Halloween costume, and lo and behold, what do I find? The most hideously awesome vest of all time. It looks like "It's a Small World" puked out a vest. There was an entire rack devoted to vests only teachers and little old relief society ladies would wear, I was impressed.

and finally...

4. Today I was sitting in the Hinckley building trying so desperately hard not to fall asleep while reading a short story for my Contemporary Britsh and American Literature Class, when all of a sudden, this guy runs into the building and darts up the stairs. I swear it was Adolf Hitler. He had THE Hitler mustache, dark hair, just the right length and he was in a dark suit. Why did this person's loved ones not inform him of this extremely awful predicament he is in??

Gosh I just love BYU-Idaho! It is the best place in the world, no sarcasm intended at all. Everyone should come to school here. I don't know why it took me such a long time to figure out that this is where I belong.

To finish up this, my very first blog post EVER, I would like to express how incredibly excited I am for it to be Friday, October 29, at 7:00 PM. At that approximate time, my twin, Alex Smith, will be arriving at the Idaho Falls Airport to spend the weekend in Rexburg. I cannot express my excitement enough! So, if you wanna party with us, we will most certainly be having a good time, this weekend.

Thanks for reading, sorry if I bored you half to death.

Much Love,
A Southern Girl in the Land of Potatoes