Leap Day

EXCITEMENT.  That is the emotion for the day.  I even would say that is the emotion for this month.  I'm excited for March, because so many things are coming up.  Our choir, Sonous, is going on tour for 4 days to Seattle, and I can’t wait!  And then for spring break I’ll be going to San Diego with my family to see all of my mom’s family and spend my days lounging on the beach.  This month is going to be full of travel and fun!
Anyway, I realize it’s not March until tomorrow, but still!  Today is leap day, and this day doesn’t come around every year, so I figured I should post J
I’m also so excited for college.  I'm excited for classes, for new roommates and friends, for parties, for late nights, for adventure!  I will be sure to keep you updated on all of my upcoming adventures. 

           

I'm a cougar!

Life is good.  I am so happy to be alive.  As a dear person once said “I’m on a roller coaster that only goes up, my friends.”  This weekend has been of the best weekends ever.
On Friday afternoon, with trembling hands, I typed in my username and password for the BYU website to check my application status, and up at the top, under BYU Provo, it said one word: Admitted.  I clicked on the link next to it, and the first thing I saw was “Congratulations!” I could barely keep on reading the rest of the acceptance letter before I started screaming.  “MOM! MOM, COME HERE RIGHT NOW! I MADE IT!!!”  That moment was possibly one of the happiest moments of my entire life.  Everything had been leading up to this very moment.  BYU Provo is the only school I’ve ever wanted to go to, and I’m so grateful to have been accepted. I called my best friend who is currently attending BYU and told her the good news, and then I drove over to my other best friend’s house to tell her that I'm now a BYU cougar!
That night, I had one of the most fun girls nights with three of my best friends.  We went and saw The Vow, and sat up in the front so we could see the glorious Channing Tatum up close and personal.  Then we went to the grocery store and got cream sodas in bottles that looked like beer, and we went back to my friend’s house and sat on top of her car and we drank our cream sodas.  We looked up at the stars while we talked about college and marriage and that scary thing we call The Future.  It made me think about everything ahead of me, and to be grateful to just be living in the moment. 
Then on Saturday, it was a momentous day.  First of all, Saturday was February 18^th.  It may not seem like a big deal to you, but from that day, I have exactly three months until my last day of high school, and four months until my first day at college (I’m taking summer session at BYU).  Everything now seemed to be coming so close!
Also, I got to see three of my best friends that had left for college and were home for the weekend.  It made me so excited that in only a few months I would be going to college like them.  We all exchanged stories, talked,  laughed, watched a movie, and it was such a great night.
Monday, we had off of school because of President’s day, so it was a par-tay!  Sonous, the top choir at our school, had a get together at someone’s house.  This was the first time I was able to go one of these, so I was really excited!  We ate food, talked, play games, and had a ton of fun.  It was great to feel like I was a part of something awesome.     
Anyway, tonight marks the end of an amazing 3 day weekend J

This Road

It’s been a stressful couple of weeks.  Today though, gave me a new perspective.  We had a guest clinician come into choir today and he worked with us on our songs.  But it wasn’t the songs, or the technique, that I got out of it.  It was what he said to us.  He said “Where is your soul? Is it in a good place? What do you feel?” And that made me think, is my soul in a good place?  And then he also had us snap.  And he said, ok, that was the past, now let’s live in the present.  He talked about how we get so caught up with thinking about the past or thinking about the future, that we forget to live in the now.  We are reaching for the destination, but we forget about enjoying the journey, and the road we're on to get there. He talked about how we sometimes get worked up about what college we get accepted to and where we decide to go, but he said all that doesn’t matter.  It’s not about the place we go, it’s about the kind of person we are.  All of this hit home to me, because that is exactly what I'm struggling with right now.  I'm so focused on getting into college and worrying about where my future will take me, but I should be enjoying right now, living in the present.  I want my soul to be in a good place.  And if it’s not, then it’s up to me to change it. 

A song we're singing:

The Road Home

Tell me, where is the road
I can call my own,
That I left, that I lost
So long ago?
All these years I have wandered,
Oh when will I know
There’s a way, there’s a road
That will lead me home?

After wind, after rain,
When the dark is done,
As I wake from a dream
In the gold of day,
Through the air there’s a calling
From far away,
There’s a voice I can hear
That will lead me home.

Rise up, follow me,
Come away, is the call,
With the love in your heart
As the only song;
There is no such beauty
As where you belong;
Rise up, follow me,
I will lead you home.

Roller Coaster

There’s something I’ve learned in high school, and that’s that even though there are ups, and there are downs, it will all eventually lead back to middle ground, where everything is normal and safe, and you can catch your breath.  Sometimes the journey gets so rough, you just have to remember to breath.  And when life gives you those moments where it’s quiet and peaceful, you have take those moments to be grateful to be living, and to be, simply, you.
Ok, so the last week for me was kinda rough, but I’ve been doing better.  As far as college applications, here’s how it’s going… I’ve applied for three colleges now.  I’ve been accepted to one of them so far, and I’m still waiting for the other two.  I’ve also now applied to a couple of scholarships, because let’s face it, college is EXPENSIVE.  So a little while ago, there I was, writing this essay for a scholarship application, when my hand slipped up and before I even realized what happened, a message pops up on my screen and says “Your essay has been submitted” and I’m like WHAT THE HECK JUST HAPPENED?! I WASN’T DONE! This is terrible. What if they get it and they’re like, oh this essay is really good and then, wait, what happened, it just stopped. Well, we’re definitely not going to give a scholarship to this screw-up.  WHAT AM I GONNA DO?! Well, I just ended up re-doing it and hoping that they get that one instead.  Here’s crossing my fingers!

Continuing the countdown:

# of schools applied to: 3

# of scholarships applied for: 3

# of schools accepted to: 1

# of scholarships earned: 0