I'm a 23~year~old carefree, happy person. I am a full~time college student & a part~time Computer Technician.
This is my blog and it is mainly just my life, according to me ~ through my eyes. I love to write about my family, friends, boyfriend, my addiction to Flamin' Hot Cheetos. I love pictures and often incorporate them with my stories. Some of my topics may be random or off~the~wall, but that's just me!
I have two basic rules I live by, and that's do what makes you happy, and living every day to it's fullest, because you never know what tomorrow will bring.
I have so much homework to do this weekend, I don't even want to think about it. But I found this adorable video that I had to share. Something to make you smile.
My education: although it's caused me a lot of grief, stress, and complete madness, I am very grateful to be able to get an education and very soon, start my career. (6 more months!)
Teaching: I never expected I would love teaching as much as I do. I teach at the best school, with the best staff, and have the best 5th graders you could imagine.
Family: They are always here for me and love me unconditionally, no matter what. To always try and be the best parts of ourselves that we can be, even though we don't always see eye-to-eye, or agree on everything. Even when two of our pies got completely ruined on Thanksgiving, the best part was laughing it off afterwards. Those are the memories that will stick with us.
Friends: I seriously have the BEST friends anyone could ask for. They are always there for me when I need it most, willing to drop anything to be there for me, and I'm so lucky to have them in my life. (This especially goes out to Natalie, Danielle, and JoJo. I love you girls!)
Robert Pattinson. No explanation needed. Raawr.
A fantastic car, a roof over my head, and my basic needs met. Although it's so innate for most of us, seeing how some people have so little and have to struggle to have these needs met makes me extremely grateful that for the most part, I don't have to.
The Arts: I think as I've gotten older, I've come to appreciate the arts even more than I did before (which I didn't think was possible). I am in love with music first and foremost. I can't stop browsing through iTunes and Last.fm for artists that are just truly amazing. Latest obsession? Bon Iver. Absolutely beautiful stuff. Also there are so many great films that I've seen and have a greater appreciation for. I'm always trying to find a good, indie movie. They truly are the best kinds. And of course, books. I am loving reading and as soon as I finish a book, I am immediately looking for a new one. For someone who thoroughly hated reading as a child, I've grown to love it so much as an adult.
I've always admired my ability to always look at the life and situations with an optimistic attitude and I'm honestly grateful for it. There are so many people that just enjoy being miserable and can't look at the good in life and can't share what they have to offer with others... I am glad that even though I have many flaws and insecurities, I can still focus on the positive and what I hold within me that is of value and worth.
The bad experiences I've had in life, which, in turn, has made me stronger. My family had quite a bit of hardships while I was growing up and I've had some down-right horrible things happen in my lifetime, but I know that these instances have made me stronger and I'm grateful for that strength.
God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, Courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.
That New Moon was absolutely amazing. I hope everyone has had a chance to see it, or at least will get a chance.
You know what else?
I don't care how awesome Taylor is (trust me, I know) my loyalties have and always will be with Edward. And Taylor does have a great 6 pack, but I still prefer Rob shirtless... Much sexier.
That little balance board is not as innocent as it looks
Friday, May 08, 2009
During my time at SLCC I had a very nice, easy schedule that worked into every part of my life. I was able to work a lot more hours, I was able to find time for friends and family, and I was able to work out for FREE. (Yes, for FREE!!!) I could work out any time of day at the schools gym. I was also lucky enough to have "work out time" fit right into my schedule.
I remember I was looking great, feeling great, everything was great.
When I started up at the University, it was MUCH more hectic. I tried to workout at their free gym too, but it only lasted about a month, because every free moment I had, I was doing homework. I never had time to work out. And I was stressed. And tired. And busy.
I got my Wii for Christmas and I immediately knew the first thing I'd buy to go with my Wii. I've had my Wii Fit for about 4 months now, and I have loved it. At first I was working out just about every day on it, but when this semster really started to pick up (I had 18 credit hours. AND I worked. Seriously, it was the hardest thing I've ever done.) I didn't have time to breathe, let alone work out.
I've gained about 10 pounds since last year, an although I'm still in the "Normal" or "Ideal" range on the BMI results for the Wii Fit, I want to lose the 10 pounds I've gained, and more.
Now that I'm out of school I've been working out each day, instead of just once in a while like I was before. I'm on my 5th day, and I am so sore. I can't believe how much the Wii fit can kick my butt just by doing it every day. At the time you're doing the exercises, it doesn't feel like you're doing anything, but the next day you sure do FEEL it. It's quite an amazing little device, if I do say so myself. I think this is just as good as a personal trainer (ok, maybe not EXACTLY, but you get the idea), because you do 90% of the exercises on the balance board, and it calculates the way you're standing and if you're moving too much, and it shows you and tells you where you should be, so you know you're doing the exercise right. It's pretty awesome.
I've stopped doing the BMI tests because I got sick of it telling me I gained a pound or two. It messes with my head. So I just do the workouts and maybe in a few weeks I'll do the body test to see how much weight I lost. I just don't need it screwing with my motivation. At least I'm doing the damn exercises, right!
So it's been a while since I posted something that wasn't Twilight related.... because honestly, my days are far too long and far too boring for anything remotely interesting to talk about. So Twilight is safe and easy. Not to mention I heart it tons.
I've been busting my butt (seriously, BUSTING it) in school this entire semester. 18 credit hours, plus work, plus practicums equals one extremely over-worked, over-tired, and under-interesting girl.
It's been a living hell. Many tears have been shed.
But luckily I have only ONE Final left and that's on Monday. I have NO school tomorrow, and I can't tell you how amazing that feels. I won't know what to do with myself. I'll get to sleep past 7:00 am (which, believe it or not, that's sleeping in for me... I'm usually up by 5:00 am, if not earlier). I might end up cleaning the entire house because I really won't know what else to do.
I am not quite sure how many weeks I have off because I really don't care just yet, but I know it's around 2... maybe 3. But don't be fooled into thinking I will get to relax and enjoy those few weeks. I have a LOT to do to prepare for Fall semester (not to mention Summer Semester).
But until then, I will be trying to enjoy the little time I have off. Or taking care of things that I have put off for months. I have been needing to get a cavity filled since I found out I had one nearly 7 months ago, but have been so busy haven't had a moment to call to schedule an appointment, let alone actually go in for an appointment. It hasn't bothered me much until these last few weeks. Now it's starting to ache. My car is a mess that I need to clean out, badly. I cleaned it right before Vancouver, but needless to say, when you're in a care for over a week period, it gets messy again. I still have crumpled cookies on my backseat.
I also want to spend more time with friends and family, and do some things that I either haven't done in a while, or have never done before.
Problem is, I'm so used to not having time, I don't know what to do with it.... any suggestions?
Ok, so I've been putting off writing anything since coming up so disappointingly empty handed a few weeks ago, and I was waiting for an opportune moment when I was pretty much over it, but the truth is, I don't think that will happen any time soon. So I figured I'd better post eventually.
When Twilight was being filmed, it wasn't the huge phenomenon that it is now. It was something that had only a cult following. I had been a huge fan of Twilight for some time when they started filming the movie. I hadn't really posted anything here or talked much about it, mostly because I figured no one would know what I was talking about. But I was very much aware of everything Twilight.
Like I said, at the time, no one really knew much about Twilight, so it wasn't super duper hard to find out the right people to talk to and to find out where they'd be filming, hence the reason we got so lucky not only finding out where they would be, but being able to meet a lot of people involved with making the movie. We were welcome onto the set, we were able to talk and meet with the cast and crew. It was very relaxed and kick back, especially because we weren't psychos who went around screaming and trying to violate anyone.
We kept in contact with a few people the time getting on the Twilight set, but Twilight became a HUGE phenomenon and well.... Summit knew they couldn't make it as accessible for fans to find out where filming would happen, and especially to get onto the locations. We were able to find out where some of the shooting was taking place, but because Summit was super hush hush on a lot of details, not to mention they hired a lot of new crew, it was ten times harder to find out anything.
But we decided "what the heck" and went out on a limb anyways. We knew one location for sure, and knew the cast was in Vancouver, had been for a couple of weeks. So we took packed up the car with clothes, Twilight merch, and bread, peanut butter, and honey and left.
Our first stop was in Forks because HELLO! You can't go all the way up to Canada and not stop off in Forks when you're that close. And I have to say, I absolutely loved everything about Forks. It was exactly how I pictured and it was so tranquil. After our eventful day in Forks, we drove to Port Angeles which was also how I pictured it. We got to find Bella Italia, a dress store close by that we believed was the dress store that Bella, Jessica, and Angela went to to find Prom dresses, the book store that Bella almost went into, and they movie theater that is infamous in New Moon. Afterwards we drove up to Bellingham, Seattle which is about an hour outside of Vancouver. We stayed there the night and the next day, crossed the border into CANADA!
At first I was just in shock of how ginormous Vancouver is. There are buildings and people EVERYWHERE. Then I was overcome by the beauty. The bridges, water... everything was beautiful. My favorite part? Everyone there is so fashion foward. Everyone dressed just.like.me. I loved it! If I could just stay there and shopped for days and days, I probably would have. But that's not what we were there for.
We stopped off at a Safe Way (which we don't have in Utah, so I've never seen one before) and tried to figure out a game plan. I realized that I no longer had AT&T service, it had switched to some carrier named Rogers and when I contacted AT&T, they said I had internation rates now, which were $.75 per minute and $.50 per outgoing text message.
Great.
So no phone. We figured out the conversion rate and realized our American dollar was worth about $1.30 Canadian. We exchanged some money for parking and other expenses (thank goodness for Visa debit cards!!!) and then we tried locating a hotel which was an absolute nightmare. Everywhere was super expensive, even after the conversion rate. We drove around for hours and hours trying to find a place that was reasonable. It was getting late. We were tired. We were hungry. We just wanted to go to sleep. We ended up asking one of the super pricey hotel people for help and the suggested going to a hostel.
So we continued to drive around and found a decent place that was still pretty pricey, but knew it was the best we'd find for the night.
The next day we headed to the filming location and found absolutely nothing, except for people cleaning and preparing. We were confused, so we go attempt to get a hold of some people, do some researching, to find out that at the last minute, Summit decided to send the cast to various parts of the country for DVD promotions.
NO one was there. No one would be filming there for a few weeks.
We were bummed.
SUPER bummed.
So we decided to drive to Seattle where we could find an extended stay hotel that was much cheaper, until we could figure out what to do.
We tried contacting everyone we knew (which wasn't a lot of people) and even contact others. All people told us the same thing. They had planned on shooting that week, but plans had changed. No one really knew what was going on. We were running out of money, and fast. We had been living on peanut butter and honey sandwiches, and I was terribly home sick.
So we came home.
Now that Twilight is such a huge phenomenon, it's going to be nearly impossible for anyone to get near the sets, if you're even lucky enough to find them. They have hired huge numbers of bounties to protect the sets and keep people off of them. This was NOTHING how Twilight was. We literally walked right onto the set, no problems. No security, no one had a problem with it. We hung out with the cast and crew. It was totally fine. Now because of how huge it is, it's not going to be like that for anyone and as happy as I am that the film is doing so well, I am a little sad that it's changed so much for us die hard fans that were fans from the beginning.
We were lucky enough to meet Rachelle Lefevre who plays Victoria in Twilight when we got home. One of the places that Summit decided to send an actor was here in Utah, so we were excited about that much. She even gave us a hug when we told her that we had just gotten back from Vancouver, trying to see them all. She was really sweet.
Honestly, at this point, I just want to be able to meet Rob. I want to be able to get a picture to put with my Kristen, Taylor, and Stephenie pictures. I don't really care about trying to find the sets or other actors... I just want to meet Rob. I'm hoping some day I'll be able to because he's the only person left that I want to meet in my life time. I've met all the rest.
So there's the disappointing story of my New Moon road trip. I can't be too bitter, though. I did get to go to Forks. I got to leave the country for the first time ever. I got to see Vancouver and all of it's beauty. I got to know what a loonie and a toonie was. I got a lot of great things from our trip and even though it didn't turn out exactly how I wanted, I still had a great time. It's something I'll never forget.
Then does it surprise you that two days ago, my mom and I packed up the car and headed out to try and get on the set of New Moon? No. Definitely not.
We have already gone through Forks, Washington, gone on their Twilight tour, and it was absolutely amazing. I absolutely love Forks.
We also saw some amazing spots that any Twilighter/ Twi-hard would immediately know, like this one.
We've also gone on a Ferry ride, you know, the kind where you put your car on it and it carries you along? Which was freaking amazing. And it saved us around 2 hours of driving.
We're currently in an awesome town called Bellingham, just outside of the border of Canada, where they are filming New Moon. Vancouver is only an hour away! And we can't wait.
I'll do my best to keep everything updated here.
You can also follow me on Twitter, which I'll be doing much more often. twitter.com/christar. :)
