Happy Birthday Chelsea!

Photo Credit: Megan Heaps

Today is a very special day.

My very best friend in the whole entire world turns 22 today!

So in honor of this holiday,

here are 22 things I love about Chelsea Wilson:

1. She is hands-down the most talented person I know.

2. She really likes being in charge. Of everything. In a nice way.

3. Everyone is always envious of her hair.

4. She's a Southern Belle at heart.

5. She wrote me every single week of my mission. 

Except for the week she got hit by a car...

6. She's obsessed with her dog Marco.

7. She's in the top musical theatre program in the country. Go Wolverines.

8. Our first stage kiss was with each other for Thoroughly Modern Millie.

9. We're basically real-life adults and we still make each other mixes. On CDs.

10. Broadway is her dream but being an SLS IMT is her life goal.

11. We are 1,641 miles apart but still talk almost every day.

12. She's pretty much a big deal in St. George.

13. This video:

14. She always stands up for what she believes.

15. She is always kind but will still gossip with me. Ha.

16. She is my other half when it comes to music.

17. She believes in making things happen for yourself. (See #2.)

18. She is always down for a game night. 

Hand and Foot, Wacky 6, Boxers or Briefs, you name it.

This picture was taken roughly one million years ago.

19. Her love of all things Alice in Wonderland.

20. She is the perfect listener.

21. She really will change the world. Just you wait.

22. She is the best friend I've ever had.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHELSEA! I LOVE YOU!

Life as a PR Major

So, I never made any sort of big announcement on here

but back in October, I finally got a letter saying I'd been 

accepted into the BYU Public Relations Program.

Then I had to wait 2.5 excruciatingly long months

but I finally started the program this semester.

I know it's only been 2 weeks but
I can't say enough how much I'm loving my program so far.

While it's not as widely-known around campus
as some other majors, BYU has one of the
top PR programs in the country.

I feel so blessed to have the opportunity to
learn from such incredible faculty,
who literally wrote the book on public relations.
(I'm not kidding, some of our textbooks were written
by BYU professors and are used in PR programs
all over the country...)

This semester I'm taking four classes:
Strategic Communications Planning
(aka PR Campaigns and Case Studies)
Communications Law
Pop Culture and Media
Marketing Management

While I've already spent more days than I can count
writing papers, putting together campaigns, and
being buried under mountains of reading and homework,
I'm learning so much every day and
get even more excited about working in PR.

I know it sounds cheesy, but it's just such a great feeling to 

have found that place where you 'fit', 

where everything just sort of clicks

and you know you're exactly where you're supposed to be...

Basically, I love my major.

Life is good.

Paint Party 2012

This weekend was one for the record books.

First because I think this was the first three-day weekend in the history

of my college education that I didn't go home!

And the reason I didn't go to STG was this:

The Paint Party has been held in Salt Lake or Provo for 

at least the past few years, but this was the first time I'd ever gone.

This year it was at The Complex in SLC so after pulling together

a completely white outfit, I caravanned up with about 35 friends.

BEFORE

The actual paint fight didn't start until after 11

so we had over two hours to dance/get nearly suffocated by 

3000 sweaty bodies before the real fun started. I'm only half-kidding...

Eventually they started passing out water guns filled with the precious

glow-in-the-dark paint and things eventually broke out into

dance music-fueled, semi-controlled, multicolored pandemonium.

AFTER

Apparently Julia missed the memo that we were smiling ha

SO happy I got to see this girl for the first time in months.

By 1 in the morning we were absolutely exhausted but starving

so naturally, we waltzed right into Beto's for greasy Mexican food.

By the time we left, some people (or just Mickey) literally had to be carried out...

Charlie horse problems. Drink water, kids!

We finally rolled back into Provo around 3

and didn't go to bed until probably 5:30...

At least my first all-nighter of the semester wasn't doing homework, right?

Talk about a true college experience...

The Fifth Annual Christmas Reunion of The Six

Once again, it's been a month since I've written a post. And also once again, my excuse was that I am waiting for pictures to document my wonderful Christmas break. But basically I'm just the king of inconsistency when it comes to blogging...

In the years since I graduated from high school, one of the things I appreciate more and more about Christmas break is the opportunity it gives me to catch up with friends from home. And my favorite reunion each December is with the rest of The Six.

I met these five amazing people in high school, and during my senior year we all became close friends, thanks largely to the fall musical and Mr. Saxton's advanced theater class. After graduation, Karly, Cami, Taylor and I went off to college and Chelsea and Trent stayed in STG for their senior year. It was during that year that we started the infamous 'Thread', which was a Facebook message that we all posted videos on basically every day about our lives. One day we WILL make a movie out of it.

My freshman year of college was also the first year we had a Christmas reunion and we've done one every year since, in one form or another:
2007

2008

2009
PHOTO NOT FOUND
But I know they had one because I've seen it...
It just seems to have disappeared from Facebook/Karly's blog...
2010

2011

This year we were sadly missing Karly, James and Taylor
(and it was also the first year the party wasn't at the Staples' house)
but don't feel TOO bad for them:
Karly and James were enjoying Christmas with James' family in Hawaii

Photo Credit: Karly's blog
And Taylor - or should I say Sister Brown -
is serving a full-time mission in jolly old England

Photo Credit: Taylor's Mission Blog

However, we were also lucky to be joined by Trent's wonderful girlfriend this year:

So the attendance almost balanced itself out...

After hopelessly attempting to coordinate our schedules,

we finally settled on a late night at my 

parents' new house after Chelsea got 

back from skiing in Brianhead and before 

Trent went back to Ogden in the morning. 

As we sat and chatted over Cami's famous no-bake cookies,

I couldn't help but think about how spread out we all are

and how many great things my friends are doing with their lives:

Chelsea is living in Ann Arbor, Michigan

and is a senior in the musical theatre program at UMich.

This semester she's playing the lead in a student production

of the rock musical Next to Normal,

and will be moving to NYC after graduation this spring.

Cami is in her last semester at Point Park University

in Pittsburgh, also studying musical theatre.

Last semester, she directed a one-act play

 by Shel Silverstein called Click.

Right now, she's getting ready for her NY/LA Showcase

and will also be moving to NYC after graduation.

Trent is studying theatre education in Ogden at Weber State

and will be graduating around the same time as me in roughly 2050...

He's been dating Stephanie for 9 months or a year, 

depending on which one you ask... :)

He's also directing another show this semester

and is still teaching after-school at a local elementary school.

Photo Credit: Malea Ellett, Tickled Pink Photography

Taylor left on her mission to Leeds, England in September

and has been out in the field for about 4 months.

She's still in her first area (Durham) with her second companion

and has already had quite a bit of success.

So proud of her.

Photo Credit: Karly's Blog

Karly is living in Newport Beach, CA

working as a video producer for OC Metro Magazine

(and the host of the online daily OC Metro Minute)

The biggest news is that she and James are expecting 

their first GIRL at the end of April!

And I'm living the college life in Provo.

What was supposed to be a quick catch-up session

of course turned into hours and hours of chatting,

reminiscing, watching old DVD's from high school

and laughing till our stomachs hurt.

I'm so grateful for these five people in my life

and the impact they've had on who I am.

One of my New Year's Resolutions is to stay in closer touch with all of them.

But, it's so wonderful to know that no matter how far apart our dreams take us,

our lives will always be connected and we will always have each other.

That's what I call friendship.

Until next year...

90's Child

Last weekend was - as most weekends days tend to be - out-of-control busy.
With the semester quickly winding to a close, my friends and I seem to have
taken up permanent residence in the library.
(3rd floor. Snack zone. Feel free to come say hi.)
So by the time the weekend rolled around, we were ready to hit the town.
The perfect solution was to hit up the 90's dance party at the apartment complex down the street.
Of course we had to go all out and raided our closets to dig out
the best 90's clothes we could find.
As you can tell from the picture at the top of this post,
we basically looked like the cast of Saved By The Bell.
My favorite part of my outfit was definitely my neon pink MC Hammer pants.
If I could rock those pants every single day, I totally would...
We eventually got to the party and spent hours rocking out
to everything from old school NSYNC, Britney, and BSB
 to Blink-182, MC Hammer and Sir Mix-a-Lot.
The party was the funnest thing I've done in a long time
and we all left asking the same question:
Why did we ever stop listening to this music?
I've been on a serious 90's kick ever since.

The other highlight of the weekend was a quick trip to Salt Lake.

I've always loved Temple Square during Christmas 

and it had been years since I'd been there,

so it seemed like the perfect place and time for a double date.

First, Emily and I met Christopher and Nancy for dinner here:

And then it was on to here:

Photo via lds.org

We took so long enjoying dinner that by the time we got

to Temple Square, the lights were only on for about 15 more minutes. 

But despite the time limit (and the FREEZING cold)

we made the best of it and had a great time.  

I love this time of year and being able to visit Temple Square

made me feel especially grateful to live close to so many temples.

Now, with one week left of the semester,

it's on to finals and then Christmas break!

A Trip Down Extremely Recent Memory Lane

Life seems to be moving at light-speed these days. And with the semester quickly coming to a close (thank goodness), I realized there have been a few things I've neglected to blog about recently. There is just so much constantly going on, I am perpetually behind. But these are things I really don't want to forget, so just enjoy this stroll down (extremely recent) memory lane:

The Sunday before Thanksgiving break, Julia had a bunch of people

over to her incredibly spacious apartment (I'm still trying to figure out why

we don't spend more time there...) for a Thanksgiving Before Thanksgiving

aka Friendsgiving, since we would all be spending the holiday in dozens of places.

You weren't allowed in the door without food in your hands

so we ended up with a gigantic feast that included grilled chicken, ravioli,

casserole, mashed potatoes, WAY too many delectable desserts and so much more.

And of course, there was plenty of picture-taking...

Todd, Tyler

Jake and I

Julia, Michele

Boy Band

Nancy, Emily, Ben and Cory. With Andrew and Mark awkwardly on top of them...

Stuffed.

I was really glad I had a chance to celebrate Thanksgiving early with 

this crew because over the past six months, I've never been more 

grateful to have found such good friends here in Provo. 

A few of us also had the chance to go to the Lighting of the Riverwoods 

a couple of weeks ago. Even though it was before Thanksgiving, the event 

was a great way to get a headstart on feeling the Christmas spirit. 

The Riverwoods is one of my favorite places in Provo and all the lights, 

ice sculptures, music and shops made for an especially festive atmosphere.

John Schmidt even came to give a free concert, and of course with all

this Christmas music, we couldn't possibly keep from dancing. This

picture captures it kind of perfectly.

And finally...

Some pictures from the camping trip we took up Provo Canyon

way back in September were recently discovered and I

can't resist posting some of them...

We all look so tan! And strangely younger, even though it was only 3 months ago...

And now that this novel-of-a-post is finished...

It's on to the next adventure!

The perfect college experience? Yep, definitely having it.