What we do instead of homework

Some of you may have seen this post on Instagram recently:

I had a lot I needed to do that night (namely, read a 240 page book that was due the next day), but I was too lazy to cook dinner, so I went home. When my mom brought me back, I convinced her to buy me a bag of chocolate chips so that I could cover the strawberries she had just given me in chocolate. Reeann eagerly agreed to help me, so to get us started, I put the chocolate chips in the microwave for 1 minute. For those of you that melt chocolate, you know that is NOT what you do. The chocolate burned, and we had to melt the rest of the bag, which I had hoped to make cookies with. We had a bowl of burned chocolate left, and I got the bright idea to use it as war paint and paint lines on Reean's face. (Notice my little sister's comment above - "Mom goes and buys u chocolate and that is what u do... *crying smiley face* *crying smiley face*" You bet I did!) Once I painted Reeann's face, she graciously agreed to do mine. And then we took pictures.

 Here, while we were flexing with our chocolate war paint, "I'll Make a Man out of You" from Mulan came on the Disney Pandora station I had going. Perfect.

So, next time you need to waste some time, you have a lot to do, or you need stress relief, paint your roommate's face with burned chocolate and take pictures. #itsthecollegelifeforme

When tomorrow comes, my body might collapse.

It's almost 3:00 in the morning as I write this. You would think I would have learned by now that "going to bed" at 9:30 with the light still on will not result in sleeping through the night. I was falling asleep as I read my book for my history class, so I thought, okay, I'll just go to bed now and get up around 5:30 in the morning and finish it. The next thing I know, the light's still on and it's only 20 minutes later. Hence, my wakefulness right now. 

I'm supposed to get up and go over to the Marriott Center by 8 so that I can buy tickets and sell them for the BYU ballroom dance concert. Then I'm supposed to go to classes and work and not get home until 5, get my cleaning assignments done for our cleaning check, and go to the temple (which I'm excited about). *sarcasm* Good thing almost all of my classes that require me to be in class for credit are tomorrow. *groan* Tomorrow/today is going to be lots of fun. Who knows if I'll even fall asleep before it's time to wake up.

Since I'm awake, I thought I'd put my time to good use and do my weekly BOM post, seeing as it's due tomorrow/today. 

I learn the coolest things in that class. There's so much to learn, and it definitely helps if you have an instructor who knows and loves what they're teaching and if you're willing to work and learn. We talked about 3 Nephi 24 on Tuesday, and about tithing. It's kind of the same principle as the sacrament. God doesn't need our sacrifices; in fact, He's completely fine without them. He does it because we need them. Think about this story:

Two boys had a picnic basket that they took to a river, followed by a mother cat. The mother cat had recently had kittens, and because no one wanted the kittens, the boys were sent to drown them. One boy reached into the basket, pulled out a kitten, and proceeded to throw it into the river as the mother cat anxiously watched on, ready to jump into the river to save her kitten. As the next boy pulled out another kitten, a man came by and asked if he could buy the kittens from them. They agreed, the man rescued the first cat from the river, and took both kittens home. He created a comfortable bed for them and fed them. The next day, the man had several important guests over for a meeting. As they all congregated in the living room, the mother cat walked in holding a freshly caught, juicy rat. She walked right up to the man, gently laid the rat at his feet, and rubbed up against his legs. 

The man didn't need the rat, and probably didn't even want it. Yet it was the mother cat's way of saying thank you for what the man had done for her. It works the same way when we pay tithing. Our Heavenly Father doesn't need the 10% of our income. He isn't scrimping pennies to build temples, but we give our money to Him in gratitude for all He's done for us. We give it to Him because He asked us to, because we love Him, and because we want to be like Him. The blessings we receive from sacrificing and paying tithing are so much more than anything we will ever give up. He promises us in 3 Nephi 24:10 "Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse...and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of Hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it."

We will be blessed for paying tithing and sacrificing when the Lord asks us to. We may not see it now, but the blessings will come. Mother Gothel at least had one thing right when she said "All good things to those who wait." [Even though she was entirely misguided and misguiding when she said it.] My challenge to you this week is to watch for the blessings in your life that come when you sacrifice, whether it be your time, talents, money, etc. 

Be Like Hermione Week!

This week, my hall has been issued a challenge. This week, I am no longer at BYU; I am at Brigham School of Wittcraft and Wisdomry. This week, I have been challenged to be like Hermione.
Let me show you a few wonderful things I've found on Pinterest:

from bforbel.com

 Isn't this just the best? And did you notice the choices are to send an owl or use Felix Felicis (I'm Feeling Lucky)? Love it!

from imgur.com

from 30.media.tumblr.com

from snitchseeker.com

Aren't they just fabulous? She's one of my favorite characters ever.

I was given a list today of about 40 things to do this week to be like Hermione. Now, I understand that some of you who are reading this (if anyone is haha) aren't in college, so I'll modify this list of things, but I would encourage you all to do at least three things!

How to be like Hermione:

• organize your planner/get a planner
• Facebook fast for one day
• write down the dates of all tests and major assignments for the semester
• spend four hours in the library/studying this week
• turn in all assignments early this week
• talk to one of your professors/instructors
• get at least 2 days ahead on your homework
• try doing at least one Sunday without homework
• do extra credit work
• help someone else with your homework
• participate in a study group
• try a new method to read your textbook
• attend every class this week
• be on time to your first class every day this week
• start working on a final project (if you have one)
• begin a study session with 5 minutes of scripture study and a prayer
• develop your own study guide
• review your notes within 24 hours of taking them
• make flashcards
• make an outline or flow chart of main ideas discussed in a class or lecture
• take an online test to discover your learning style (auditory, visual, kinesthetic)
• color-code an assigned reading
• get 8 hours of sleep 
• learn a new word
• make a comment/ask a question during class
• use at least 2 colors to take notes

Shout out to my wonderful RA and her hall council who put this list together - I definitely didn't! But I am going to take them up on the challenge to be like Hermione, and I invite all you lovely people to join me! Because, hey, who doesn't love Hermione?

Happy Hermione-ing! 

More pictures, life, and a Sunday thought.

For the sake of your reading, I've decided that I'm going to condense my posting and weekly Book of Mormon posting into one post. So considerate, right? I knew you'd appreciate it. Let's hit up some highlights, shall we?

I dragged Reeann and Rachel with me on a Wendy's run, which meant walking from the very east side of campus to the very west side of campus and beyond. They were good sports about it though, them being the kind souls that they are.

Remember my roommate who made an appearance in my post last week? Well, I edited some of the pictures I took, and I'm so excited about them that you get to see a few here, if you haven't already on Facebook.

I also get to take some pictures at the reception this weekend :). I would love to be a photographer for weddings and things like that. Just a side note. Now on to the spiritual thought I've got for you guys.

In Book of Mormon this week, we discussed two of my favorite Book of Mormon chapters - Alma 34 & 36 (especially 36). More specifically, we talked about the Atonement and prayer. Of course, there's the spiel about prayer in Alma 34:17-27, and there are some amazing verses at the end of the chapter (take a look at 40 and 41), but I love what Alma the Younger has to say Alma 36:
"[verse 3] I do know that whosoever shall put their trust in God shall be supported in their trials, and their troubles, and their afflictions, and shall be lifted up at the last day...[verse 27] And I have been supported under trials and troubles of every kind, yea, and in all manner of afflictions; yea, God has delivered me..." 
Remember Alma's story? He tried to destroy the church with the sons of Mosiah until an angel came and told him to stop, which led to him being in some sort of coma for three days, during which he felt the pains of his sins and was ultimately born of God. When Alma tells us that he has been supported in his afflictions, he knows what he is talking about. He experienced the Atonement firsthand. He tells us that he was "harrowed up" by the memory of his sins and "racked" with the pains of a damned soul. Only when he calls on Christ for mercy is he released from his pain. The Atonement makes it possible for us to be forgiven of our sins, to have them washed away. I loved the way my professor said it - "Let Jesus own your sins." He felt the pain that comes from the sins of every single person in the world . That means YOU! Not only did He suffer for our sins, but He also felt our punishments, the stupid things we do, the embarrassing things we do, our weaknesses, failures, depression, sicknesses, etc. That's what I love about the Atonement; Christ has personally experienced everything I have felt and will feel. He's ready to take it from us, we just have to give it to Him. How to do that has always confused me though. How do we give our pains to Christ? When I asked my professor, his response was very simple: Pour your heart out. Talk to Him in prayer, and then He will start shouldering the burdens. Notice, however, that verses 3 and 27 don't say that He will take them away, but that we will be supported. He won't necessarily take the burden away (although He can and occasionally does), but He will help carry it because we cannot do this alone. No matter how hard we might try or think we can, we can't. It is okay to rely on the Savior, and a lot of the time He will send friends and family to our aid. I know this is true with all of my heart. I have received support in my trials, and I know that the help I have received has come from my Heavenly Father every time. I encourage you to try this out for yourself, and I promise that the Savior will not fail you.

Just a little break.

You guys. I know I'm supposed to be doing my poster for my research paper (I know, I have to do a poster on my research paper), but this is too great not to share again (because it's already on Facebook. But I just gotta keep spreading the love, ya know?).

Here I am, working on my poster, which is about high school football concussions, and I think to myself, I need a picture of someone getting hit in the head with a ball. So what do I do? I google it. And this is what I find.

     Unfortunately, I can't figure out how to show it on my blog. BUT, you can click right here, and it will take you to it. PLEASE watch it! It will totally make your day, I promise. Or at least get you through the rest of the week.  Happy Tuesday!

Love,
Racquel

101 Ways to Use a Frying Pan

1. Self Defense.
2. Baseball (using an apple of course)
3. Smashing watermelons
4. Pumpkin smashing
5. Frying an egg
6. Procrastinating your homework
7. Playing Name that Movie
8. Hiding your face
9. as a hammer
10. 50s photo shoot
11. Tangled fandom party
12. Getting rid of creeper boys
13. Getting rid of unwanted boys  (In Reeann's words, "There are creeper boys that you want?")
14. Decoration
15. Storage
16. World class toe stubber
17. Knocking people out
18. Midnight karaoke parties
19. A tracer for a circle
20. Frying an egg on a side walk
21. Stir fry
22. Carrying things/playing Little Red Riding Hood
23. Putting it in your purse so that you can whack people trying to steal it ("Who needs a brick, right?!"
24. Dads intimidating their daughter's dates
25. Sword fighting

To be continued...

(P.S. Reeann and Rachel get 12% of the credit for this blog post. Name that movie!)

You might be at BYU if...

...the amount of guys in your stake is 564 and the amount of girls in your stake is 1,357; with the ratio being 2 1/2 girls to every guy (not exactly sure how that one works out...)

...you're on a dance team with married couples. With babies. Juuust a little different from high school. (but their babies are super cute! from what I've seen anyway)

...seeing any kind of couple, married or dating or engaged, is the norm (even at stake firesides)

...drawing on the windows of other halls is perfectly okay

...you don't have to cook dinner two Sundays in a row because guys in your ward keep making you dinner (no complaints whatsoever!)

...Hercules music is blasted at 11:45 in the library to wake all the students up and kick them out

...you can use religious references in all of your papers if you so desire

...the reading assignments you are given for some of your classes include reading church talks

...you have completely adapted to living with five other girls and enjoy it

...any free minute is, like, the best thing ever

...you use a man backpack and feel like a boy scout every time you leave your apartment

...you watch The Dark Knight Rises movie clips in your American Heritage lab

...the actual spiritual teaching portion of sacrament meeting in your student ward (for the first month) is cut down by at least 20 minutes in order to take care of all the new callings

...your FHE group has 4 rooms of girls and 1 room of guys

...bedtime? what's bedtime?

...curfew? what's curfew?

...you have to do really grown-up things, like budgeting, grocery shopping, and cleaning the oven

Also, for your reading pleasure, I've included some quotes from the first two weeks of college life.

"You're still good friends even after they stole your water?!"

"You do not have to be drunk to do it well."

"This is not 'bag on Oliver Cowdery' day."

"We fork, but God doesn't fork."

"I croaked that deer." 

"or go out with that cute boy. Well, that's kind of limited."

"What if I wanted to skateboard down the iron rod?"

"Can I please, please, please introduce my husband?!"

"There's never been more fun than watching [my girls] fall down." 

"I love you. I want to be your grandma. I'm rich! We can go shopping!"

"I learned some interesting things tonight. I learned that [my wife] is rich. I'm so glad she's rich. I'm going to take advantage of that." 

"And if he doesn't, he's an idiot! And enough said!"

"What am I going to do with you?" "Just love me."

"We're inseparable. Except for when we're separate."

"You can't blame my face for your problems!"

"I'm the mom!" "Well I don't listen to my mom!" "Then I'm the dictator!" "I'm the rebel!"

"Men in the lobby! Men in the lobby!"

"May 15th. It's like Cinco de Mayo...but not."

"Just chillin' on the edge of my bed...like a row boat!"

"There are 2 1/2 young women to every young man. Young men, get busy."

"Young men, you are in dating heaven."

I have amazing roommates, an incredible ward, and the firesides are just great. 

Love, Racquel

"education is gthe only area that Americans pay for and almost hope to be cheated"

College life? One of the best things I've ever done. Seriously. Go to college. Especially BYU. I never thought about BYU being how it really is. I never thought I'd be reading LDS talks for homework, or be on ballroom team with married couples, or see women with babies walking around campus, or share a room with the relief society president. I am so excited to be here, and I am absolutely loving it. Admittedly so far, the hardest part has been going to bed before two o'clock each night (but we're getting better!) I love love love my roommates. We do crazy things like stalk our RA while she's across the street at a friend's apartment, or have guys come cook Filipino food for our Sunday dinner (yep, that totally happened today). In sum, this has been the last week.

• Start classes. I love my classes so far (even American Heritage isn't looking so bad! Of course, I've only had a grand total of one class and one TA session, so we'll see how it's looking around midterm). My absolute favorite though, besides my dance classes, is my honors writing class. I can't wait for the rest of the semester, and it makes me so sad that I only have it twice a week! "You've been a writer for a long time...there's power in being able to write." "If you care about your writing, that will make all the difference in the world." "We are all writers whether we like it or not." AH! So excited!  (Oh, did I mention that one of the first things we did was to write the alphabet on the lined paper that you use in kindergarten? So fun!)
• Relating everything back to the gospel. I'm finding things in the scriptures that go along with my writing class (Ether 12: 23-27), with American Heritage. I never thought that learning by the Spirit can apply to secular learning as well. Of course, here we use spiritual learning to attain a higher level of secular education to further our work in our Father's kingdom.
• Going to the BYU women's soccer game against the UofU on Friday. So crazy! I have never seen so many bad calls in my life! We won though, from a penalty kick in the goal box because the U goalkeeper shoved one of our players back down after she tripped. We also beat the record (set the previous week) of the number of spectators at south field: 5, 402. Go Cougars!
• Getting next to no sleep. My roommate, Megan (one of the anyways-we have 2 Megans! Crazy right!), and I both dance, and we completely hit it off right away. I joke a) that 1/3 of our time is spent watching dance videos, 1/3 of  our time is spent talking about dance, and 1/3 of our time is spent actually dancing. We've both vowed that now that classes have started we'll go to sleep earlier.                                              

• Studying. I have 3 books each for two of my classes. Fortunately, for the sake of my back, I don't have to have them in class unless specified. Combine all the books with my dance bag and walking the RB stairs (among others) multiple times a day, my back deserves a break!
• Celebrating a birthday. Emily's birthday was on Thursday, and by the time I got home from work, my roommates had made her a cake! The funny thing? They didn't realize that it was a brownie mix and were very shocked when the "cake" came out of the oven and it was brownies! We frosted them anyway though, and when Emily got home we took her outside to light the matches, since we didn't have any candles and no open flames are allowed in our building.                                                                                                                                                             
• 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
                                                                                                                                                     Didn't the "cake" turn out so good though?! Rachel, another roommate, apparently has awesome marbling skills, and it turned out amazing.
• Going to, then leaving, the first home football game of the season. We decided to decorate our faces.      
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
                                                                                                                                                           This was before the storm: (believe it or not, these pictures were actually taken within minutes of each other. The second one was just taken with an iPhone and edited.)                                   
  
  
  
  
                                             This was right before the storm hit:
  
  
  
  This was visiting my high school ballroom team after the storm hit and soaked us:
  
  
  
  
  
   This was three of us after we ran/walked home from the game. Guess what? We didn't go back. Call us quitters, but we were soaked to the bone!
  
  
  
  
  Before the storm started, I actually go to go visit my team! I have to say I don't miss working concessions! It was awesome to see everyone though and to hear that I was missed :).
  
  
  • (Blogger is being crazy and not allowing me to do what I want, so I guess I have to deal with it, and you do too.) Today the RA for the boys hall in our ward made us dinner! He broke a deal with Emily, and the result was dinner. Guys, I actually tried Filipino food. Be proud of me! I didn't eat the stir-fry, but I did eat the potatoes & pork (it had a fancy name, but I don't remember it) and the rice.                                                                          
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
  We also just had an epic battle with a spider that decided to crawl out of a hole in our ceiling. The other Megan smashed it, and Rachel and I vacuumed it up. I also vacuumed the ceiling, just to be safe. Oh dear! Betcha can't wait to see what adventures happen next week!

I had a really good title and now I can't remember it :(

Guys. It's official. I'm in college now! Okay, so technically not I guess, since classes don't start until Tuesday, but I'm all moved out and going to freshman orientation and everything. Technically not going to orientation either :). Both my roommate and I have been around campus for a long time, so we ditched all of the tours and stuff to wander around on our own. We both do ballroom, so a third of our time has been spent watching dance videos, another third talking about dance, and the other third actually dancing (I went and practiced with her last night. Don't ever go an entire summer without wearing your dance shoes. You'll end up with almost dime sized blisters on your pinky toes and it will hurt to wear shoes of any kind except for flip flops and sandals). Maybe not quite that much, but we've done almost everything together. It's going to be an awesome semester.

I love that we have devotionals every Tuesday and that there's such an emphasis on feeling the Spirit, learning by the Spirit, and focusing on the gospel. And of course, what would BYU be without dating and marriage? Only at BYU can you go to the convocation and have the president of the university encourage the students to find their eternal companion. (Hmm...someday I'll have to do an "Only at BYU" post :). Betcha can't wait for that one, huh? I sure can't.) Oh and uh, did I mention that my dorm has the highest amount of freshman marriages in the area I'm living? Yep, there is an average of 7 freshman from my hall that get married at some point during their first year. (Don't worry, that WILL NOT be me!)

I love living in my dorm too. We have six girls, and we're working getting everything organized and such. Take a look.

 My fun little shelf with tons of books, pictures, wood blocks, and knick-knacks. This also includes my Polly Pockets, but so you don't think I'm too weird, read the stories :). And just so you know, I do not play with them. They're just for decoration :).

 This Cinderella Polly Pocket was a gift from my grandma when I got my wisdom teeth out. I could change her dress if I so desired, but that hasn't really ever been a deep, burning wish of mine.

 Cinderella and Prince Charming were a gift from Kenna and Tay on my birthday last year. Cinderella is supposed to be me, and Prince Charming is, well, my Prince Charming!

 

Rapunzel and Pascal were a graduation gift from my incredible coach, because she knows how much I love Tangled (I even have a cast iron frying pan!).

 

I love college life! :)

One of my roommates bought a tub of BYU mint truffles for us all to share. Megan (my roommate-roomate) and I have eaten so many, that today we decided to buy more so that we can keep eating them :). That's my freshman 10 right there!

Another roommate and I were discussing stuff to discuss at our "Roomie Meeting" that we're having on Sunday, and we both agreed that our table needed flowers. So, we hopped in the car and picked up some fake flowers, a vase, and fake leaves from the dollar store! We bought others that are perfect for fall, so once it is actually fall, we will swap them out :). 

Classes, here I come!!

Love,

Racquel