Oh, how things have changed...

Um....long story short, since my last post I have met and started dating a guy, got engaged to said guy, graduated with my Bachelors of Science in Biology, and I'm getting married in, oh...3-ish weeks. Yup. Things have been crazy.

Oh, I'm sorry. You mean you don't go camping for your class?

This semester I took an Ecological and Wildlife Techniques course. I have to say, it was easily my favorite. The entire semester I think we were actually in the classroom a total of maybe 5-7 times? The rest of the time, we were out and about, birding or practicing radio telemetry, and well, camping.

About a month into the semester, we went to the Curlew Grasslands and camped there overnight, then woke up ridiculously early in the morning to do a bird survey. This was a pretty great trip. We brought tin foil dinners, but got our fire started late enough and then the coals didn't seem to be cooperating, so we didn't actually eat until around midnight. I think we retired to our tents around 1 or so, and had to get up by 5. But seriously, I had a great time.

While the other girls and I were getting situated in our sleeping bags (there's 8 people in our class, so all 4 girls shared a tent), we were joking around and somewhere in there was a remark about James Franco, followed by a quick voicing of opinions about him, then we moved on to something else which resulted in a laughing fit for all (honestly, I don't remember what on earth we said) and we finally went to sleep.

In the morning we split up into groups (guys, girls, professor) to do our transects. Somehow we wound up with 17 points (the most out of anyone). We actually trekked all the way to the sign for the grasslands. By which point it was long past the time that our Professor had said we should finish, but we hadn't heard anything on the radio (each group had one), so we figured we'd keep going. As we walked back to camp (a good...3 miles? or so), we lucked out by the appearance of the Game and Fish officer, who gave us a ride back. Upon our arrival we discovered that the guys had finished and been back for at least half an hour, but there was no sign of our professor, so the G&F officer went off to find him.

But I digress.

We had thought nothing of our little laugh fest from the night before, but apparently the guys thought it was a hoot. They had really been entertained. Also, we learned that we had all been out of range of the radios. Such a shame, as the guys had been making smart remarks in reference to our tent talk for a good portion of the morning. Also, they'd clearly been hard at work making sure our radio communication was aided by appropriate names. In attempting yet again to contact our absent professor, this was the radioed message, I kid you not:

"Breaker, breaker. BroCo, this is Man Clan and the James Franco Fan Club."

I just about fell off the stump I was sitting on when I heard that.

Anywho, our professor was finally found, alive and well, about two hours later and we finally piled in the vans and headed back to school (around 1pm. Btw, we were supposed to get back around 11 or so. It's a three hour trip.).

Oh! I didn't tell you my favorite part: the post-apocalyptic bathroom. Shortly after we had arrived, one of the  other girls and I ventured to the shed that was the bathroom. It was just getting dark at this point. As we approached, we saw that the door looked as though it had been boarded over, then attacked by a bear. This turned out to be the Men's side, so we went around to see if the Women's was any better. If by "better" we were looking for something that looked like it could be part of a crime scene, then yes, it was. The Women's door was not only broken in various parts, panels peeling, but was also ripped off the hinges entirely. We opted for the Men's. Truly though, it was something I could easily picture in a zombocalypse. I thought it was great.

Men's

Women's

The pictures really don't do it justice.

That was actually our only legitimate camping trip, legitimate being defined here as use of tents and questionable bathrooms. But we did stay at the school lodge in Island Park on two different occasions, once for snag survey, and once doing grids of the trees on the property.

Nice property, huh?

And the school lodge? Awesome! First of all, it was huge. So many rooms to explore (which I'm always down for).

But it gets so much better. Our professor takes us down this staircase to the basement, and under the stairs is a hole suitable for Harry Potter, so we're already off to a good start.

See?

The basement walls are lined with shelves and our professor walks over to one, pulls it, and there's a secret room! How cool is that?! But wait- we go to the back of the secret room, and THERE'S ANOTHER SECRET ROOM!!!

I don't think I can adequately express just how ridiculously cool this was for me.

Also, both of these rooms were very, well, disaster crisis-post-apocalyptic-y. I know I'm using that a lot, but it just seems fitting.

I have a problem.

This is something I've come to utter on a semi-frequent basis these days, usually after I've eaten something very unhealthy in excess or done something odd (like meowed for a couples minutes straight). In this case, however, I'm talking about a semi-legitimate problem: my compulsion to not sleep.

It's not that I'm an insomniac- I would have no trouble falling asleep, none at all- it's that I don't want to sleep. Which I don't quite understand, either. I mean, I have nothing against sleep. It's wonderful! And I'm very fond of naps. But often I hit these stretches where regardless of how late it is, and sometimes even how tired I am, I just don't want to sleep.

There's no one else up, there's nothing going on, and I'm certainly not doing anything particularly worthwhile, but here I am. Go figure.

But I do recognize it's a problem, and that's the first step, isn't it?


That aside, here's my minor excuse for nearly six months of nothing: laziness. Yup. That's what it boils down to. Ok, maybe not entirely. Probably more along the lines of distractedness. To be honest, I'm pretty certain there was a while there that I forgot I had a blog.

Schoolwork aside, last semester wasn't really all that busy. However, that school portion did take a fair amount of time. I wasn't taking Plant Systematics, by the way. I was actually taking Evolutionary Survey of Plants, but kept calling it Plant Systematics and eventually confused myself and my roommates so much about what I was taking that anytime I referred to it I wound up going through three different class names.

I also took Technical Writing, during the course of which I became considerably knowledgeable about Dyson, Patagonia, Tom's, Burt's Bees, and Nalgene. Or, at least, some of their products and policies. At the very least, I'm pretty much an expert on the Nalgene MultiDrink.

Digital Photography was very time consuming (as photography frequently is), but I learned so much. I'm actually relatively decent at Photoshop now, so that's kinda cool. At the very least, I'm pretty darn adept at layers.

New Testament was wonderful. I took it from a professor I've had before- 3 times- and really enjoy. I really liked the way he scheduled it: we read through each book in order, but as soon as we'd come to the last week of the Savior's life, we'd go on to the next book. Then, at the end of the semester, we read the accounts of the Savior's last week, but we read all the accounts of each event at once. It was really interesting and provided some good insights.

Lastly (though, honestly, I keep feeling like there's another class I had that I'm forgetting- oh. Got it.) So not lastly. Marine Biology was awesome. I learned so much from that class- possibly because we read the entire textbook. But really, the way my professor organized the class really helped me learn. We'd have our reading assignment, and our homework for each class was to come up with at least 3 questions we had from the reading and at least two "Oh, wow"s- things we found interesting. In class, each of us had at least two days that we were discussion leader. So our professor would start class with a spiritual thought, give a brief overview of some of the trickier parts of the reading, then whoever was leading the discussion for the day would take over. We'd ask and answer questions to each other to the best of our knowledge, and if we really weren't sure, then our professor would fill in the blanks. It was very effective. We also had to read a book of our choice from a list of previously approved books and write a review of it. I chose "Sex, Drugs, and Sea Slime: the Oceans' Oddest Creatures and Why They Matter." Very interesting book. Seriously, you may want to check it out. I found it fascinating and frequently read excerpts out loud to my roommates.

The class I was forgetting (I knew I had another one!) was Teaching Techniques of Social Dance. Yup. I'm basically qualified to teach social and beginning ballroom dance now. But seriously, I actually could do it now. I had previously thought about offering lessons back home during my off-track or something like that, but there were various things that I was dubious about. Now those are all cleared up. I know what I'd need to do, I know how I'd need to do it. I know what I'd teach, how I'd teach it, what music I prefer, and lots of other important things that I'm not going to list.

Right. So long story summarized after the fact: school went well.

Katelyn came home with me for the break- it was awesome. We chilled out, met up with Thea for a day out and went to the zoo, lunch, and saw Mirror, Mirror. - If you haven't yet, watch this movie. It's clean, and funny, and I fully intend to buy it once it's out and watch it repeatedly. I actually watched it again tonight at the cheap theater with my roommates.

Kirsten got engaged the Friday before our semester break. We (the other roommates and a friend) actually had a pool going as to when he'd propose. We kept it friendly- just a dollar each or less. I won, by the way. But anyway, we've got that to look forward to and get ready for. Which will make wedding number four for the year. We had one back in March, then went to Amy's reception right after we got back from the break, then had another just a couple weeks ago.

It's kinda weird when all your friends are getting married/are married/having kids. Especially when that still seems miles away for you.

Well, at this point I'm going to stop, as sleep is catching up with me and who knows what I'll start typing next if I go unchecked.

Wed:
Genetics quiz
ILP info meeting (helping)

Thurs:
Birding or radio telemetry
Jogging

Fri:
Temple
Weekend stuff?

Slacker

Yes, yes I am. Rats, and I was doing so well, too.

My excuse is that it was Christmas break, so I was reveling in all that, then I was in transit back to school, then I was starting the new semester and such. But here we are again.

Things have been going quite well, new classes are awesome. New apartment rocks- so thrilled to actually have a washer and dryer in the apartment, and we have a peninsula in our kitchen! It's been awesome to be back with my normal group, to have everybody here, and our new roommate fits in well, too. So we're off to a great start.

I'm also proud to say that we've picked up pretty well where we left and have been having consistent apartment prayer and yesterday was our first temple trip of the semester, w/ many more (hopefully again on a weekly basis) to come.

We haven't had too many adventures thus far; the weather's been really weird for a Rexburg winter. It's snowed maybe twice, mostly raining or plain overcast this last week.

Over the break I did a lot of sewing, most recently on a skirt I'm converting to a pencil skirt. Unfortunately, I've faced a slight hitch in that the shape's good and everything but the zipper (which was already in the skirt and along the side) bubbles oddly, so I'm thinking I'm going to need to take it out, then put it back in again. We'll see how it goes. I'll post pictures once I'm satisfied. Which reminds me, I've got a few back projects that I need to post. My bad.

Now, because I want to, I'm going to briefly mention the last few movies I've seen.

First, Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows:

Picture courtesy of Sherlock Holmes 2 movie site

Yes, the picture is Watson and not Holmes, but that's because I love Watson and it's my blog.

My mom and I went to Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows a week or two after it came to theaters. It was an interesting mix, I think. Some aspects of the movie seemed darker than the first Sherlock Holmes, but there was also a fair amount of humor thrown in, and I thought the placement/timing was good. The effects were great and I really loved some of the scenic shots, and I'm pretty sure they were computer generated. But they were still awesome. One thing I did miss were the sequences when the shots would slow and Holmes would break down the situation and moves used to neutralize his opponent, but they cropped up again later on, so I was satisfied. There were some parts that blew my mind and were absolutely brilliant; I'm not going to say more than that because that would spoil things. MINOR SPOILER: we meet Holmes's brother, Mycroft, and oh my, is it fun. Oh, and yet again, a marvelous soundtrack.

Anyway, I really enjoyed it and my roommates and I all plan on seeing it when it comes to the cheap theaters in the next week or so.

Next, The Adventures of Tintin:

Picture courtesy of Adventures of Tintin movie site

Ok. So I won't deny, when I'd seen trailers for Tintin, I wasn't amazed. I thought it'd probably be fun, but I was totally content with just Redboxing it or something like that. However, my aunt had some movie tickets and so New Year's weekend we went and saw The Adventures of Tintin. And you know what? I'm quite glad we did. It was so much fun! The music was good, there was lots of action; I had thought it would be much more kid-ish. I say kid-ish because childish doesn't quite seem to be what I'm looking for. However, I don't think it was at all. It's definitely great for kids, but I think it can be just as much fun for adults. And the animation was so amazing! There were many times in the movie that I found myself zeroing in on and marveling at the detail: the fibers of Tintin's sweater, armhair on a thug, and this one part with a camel that I would've thought was real had I not known better. 

But yes. Very pleasantly surprised. I'm a fan.

And last, but not least, The Muppets:

Picture courtesy of The Muppets movie site

This is Walter, and he's adorable.

I'm already a Muppets fan; Muppet Christmas Carol is a December tradition and Muppet Treasure Island is presently on my DVD shelf (actually, I rather want to watch it now). Quotes/songs from the Muppet Movie are certainly not unheard of in my home. And this movie was no different. It was so much fun, so cute, so funny!

Kirsten and Jessica had already seen it, but Kirsten really wanted to see it again and Sean and I hadn't seen it, so the four of us saw it at the cheap theater the Tuesday night before school started. Now, I'd already heard bits and pieces of one or two of the songs, courtesy of Kirsten playing one of them on Youtube and seeing a few clips on the Disney channel, but it was only the opening musical number and Kirsten, Jessica, and I were all singing along under our breath. We've decided they really ought to have a sing-along option- it would be awesome. Anyway, yes. The songs were so much fun and we laughed throughout the entire movie. 

Totally marvelous. And yet another soundtrack I want. So catchy.

Right. So, now that that's done...

Things going on this week:

Mon-
First Digital Photography assignment due tomorrow
First Home Evening with our new group (did I mention I'm Co-Leader?)

Tues-
Tests! Crud. Plant Systematics and Marine Biology
Maybe a movie?

Wednesday-
Swing dancing 

Friday-
Ballroom dancing
That whole 'weekend' thing

Hmm....seems like I'm missing something else. What could it be? Oh, maybe the fact that Elder L. Tom Perry is going to be our devotional speaker this week!!!!! So excited for that. It's always such an amazing blessing and opportunity to listen and be taught by an apostle of the Lord.

So, yeah. Good things to come.

You say "cheap," I say "innovative"

Yeah, that pretty well describes a lot of what I do/have done.

In today's case, I'm talking about reusing/upcycling things to use as vases instead of buying real ones.

I mentioned planning to do this a number of posts ago. Anyone remember?

I took some Simply juice bottles, like so:

Cut off the top where the lid screws on, sanded the edges....ok, I may have actually filed them with an emery board, but it worked and as we all know, I'm on a budget. Moving on, the rest is paper and Mod Podge.

This is one of the smaller bottles, about 1/2 as big.

This one's full-size and was my first attempt.

Also, after seeing a few ideas on Pinterest for coloring mason jars w/ Mod Podge and food coloring, I thought I'd try it out with something different.

Like a Sobe bottle.

Terrible shot, I know, but I'm assuming you know what a Sobe bottle looks like.

And the results...

In process of drying

This doesn't do the color justice.

It's certainly not a perfect process, or at least, I haven't perfected it. And as I said, the pictures really don't do it justice, which is a shame. It's such a beautiful, rich green, like a nice green glass. I'm very happy with it.

Stuff:

• The Sobe bottle was outside drying upside-down for at least 3 days, with me periodically rotating it to change which side had the most sun.
• As you can see in the first picture, it doesn't look like it's drying evenly. However, by the time I deemed  it finished, it had all evened out pretty well. Under closer scrutiny, there are a couple minor issues, I suppose, but I think it's great, especially for a first attempt and since it'll usually have flowers in it.
• I probably used a bit too much Mod Podge, actually. The coloring happens because the Mod Podge forms a layer over the inner surface, then it dries clear, but for the color, making it translucent. 
• I haven't tested this with water inside (hindsight is 20/20, right?). Oo So we'll see how that goes. I'll let you know.
• I also keep one Simply bottle around for mixing concentrated juices in. Saves having to use a giant pitcher that takes up too much fridge space. It's really a handy size; I know exactly where on the bottle to add water to mix it just to my liking and I can just screw on the cap and shake it up instead of having to dirty a mixing spoon.

Versatility

I know it's off-center. It makes the composition better technically.  So there.

I know what you're probably thinking, "Sara, whatever would possess you to post a picture of a jar of pickles?"

I'm glad you hypothetically asked that. First, take another look. Yes, it's a pickle jar, but it's not a jar of pickles. Well, mostly. There is a pickle down at the bottom.

Here's the deal: you finish a jar of pickles and you're left with this jar full of pickle juice, which most people toss out. Such a waste. Instead, buy some cucumbers, slice 'em up, put them in the jar, and swish them up a bit. Ta-da! Instant pseudo-pickles. 

Really, I don't know why more people don't do this. Or maybe they do and I'm just the last one to hear about it.

Anyway, I say pseudo-pickles because the cucumbers don't get fully pickled (fermenting? is that what pickling does? Sorry, I've completely had a brain lapse of my Food Science class right now). I suppose they could if you leave them in the juice long enough, but I typically go through these in a couple days, so they're still basically marinated cucumbers.

Other things you may or may not want to know:

• The big reason why I like this idea is because I really like bread and butter pickles. A harder flavor to do on your own, and kinda expensive to be buying jar after jar. Über cheap alternative.
• As aforementioned, the cucumbers basically just get marinated. It makes me feel like I'm eating a tad healthier snacking on them than on legitimate, vinegar-altered pickles. (Right? Isn't vinegar a main component?) Please note, I did say feel.
• One jar will last me about 2-3 decent-sized cucumbers before the pickle juice gets diluted from the cucumber juices. Not a bad deal, I'd say.

As for my title, I'm talking about the jar of pickles, of course. Reuse the juice, reuse the jar. I don't think I need to start talking about the numerous uses of jars. And also versatility in the sense of the word "pickle." It's a verb, two different nouns ("Have a pickle!" or "I'm in a pickle."), an adjective (well, pickled). See? Versatile.

I love Christmas!

I love the music, I love the decorations, I love that everybody seems to be happier or have a generally better attitude. I love the baking, I love that the whole month just feels magical, and I certainly love Christmas itself, that celebration of the birth of our Lord.

While I was home I was able to enjoy the beginning symptoms, the telltale signs that it's that season: the day after Thanksgiving, I woke up to the sound of The Forgotten Carols blasting from the living room, and the house was filled with the sound and smells of my dad making his Christmas candy (which he's basically famous for throughout our town). I brought some fudge he made back with me and I can say that he's acquired a lot more fans.

But come back I did, and before we returned, my roommates and I were collaborating over text what decorations we could bring to festive up our apartment.

And may I just say, we're awesome?

This thing alone is about as bright as our main lamp.

I brought my miniature Christmas tree and nativity set that I've had forever as well as a couple other nativities my mom lent me. Kelsey's parents brought us a full-size, pre-lit fake Christmas tree, Sara's parents bought some ornaments and Sara made a paper chain garland for the tree as well as a few origami stars and flowers. We made a bow out of some glittery ribbon Taylor had leftover from the Masquerade Ball for our tree topper.

And I made a wreath, like I did in China, but with a few more options. You have no idea how excited I was for this wreath. It's simply a coat-hanger bent into a circle, with strips of plastic bags tied around it. I spray painted it green, and used a red plastic bag for the bow. 

And I'm so happy with it; I've gotten a lot of compliments thus far and I think we're the only apartment in our complex with any sign of festivity visible from the front door.

Doesn't that look inviting?

And just because I most adore the sight of a Christmas tree when all the other lights are off: