eye doctor & new glasses

So I went to the eye doctor the other day. It was a different one than the one I went to last year. He was a lot better than last year's, who pretty much blinded me with a light for 10 minutes (it felt like forever).

Well, the good news is, my eyes haven't gotten worse at all. No change for the past two years, which is good because I am pretty blind.

I did get new glasses. I haven't had glasses for at least 7 years now...just worn contacts. I will still be wearing contacts...the glasses are more of a backup and to wear at night when my contacts start bothering me.

It took me about 30 or 40 minutes to decide on which frame to go with. I didn't remember it taking this long when I was a kid, but then again there was only one section to choose from: "Kids." Now, as an adult, I have three sections to choose from: Simple, Classy & Feminine (glasses with bling), and Bold. Those are the exact category names, but pretty close. I immediately stayed away from the glasses with bling and tried the bold at first. Normally I would go with the simple, but I decided to try something outside of my comfort zone. Well, bold ended up staying outside my comfort zone.

So I went to the simple section and tried on a dozen or so frames there. There were actually a few I liked. The lady who was there was very helpful. She chose frames that would fit my face shape and coloring...if she had not helped out, we would have been there all night trying on frames. She soon had to go help another customer, and I continued putting on the "simple" frames and put the ones I liked in a little tote.

Just for the heck of it I wandered over the the Classy & Feminine glasses. I tried on a few and fell in love with two of them (I know, shocker!). The gal came back an agreed with my choices for the classy glasses (which did have some flowery bling on them).

Eventually I narrowed down my tote from 6 frames down to 2 frames. One was from the simple and the other from the classy. The simple equalled professional, sophisticated, mature...which is a good part of my personality. The classy equalled fun, playful, with a little of sophistication. I ended up choosing the fun and playful...which is the side of my personality that I want to show off the most.

I am very happy with my choice, though it feels weird wearing glasses again. I'm used to seeing at least 180 degrees of vision, not the 90 or so from the limited frame of glasses. I keep misplacing various limbs of my body by an inch or two when I'm wearing the glasses. Hopefully I will get used to them.

So going to the eye doctor always reminds me of the comedian Brian Regan. He does a segment on going to the eye doctor, and it's just hilarious! Here is the video from his eye doctor segment. Enjoy!

graduation party

Because there were several of us graduating within a month of each other, my aunt Wendy and uncle Ingolf decided to throw one party for us all. My cousin Skylar graduated from BYU at the end of April, and his younger brother Dayton graduated from high school at the end of May. And as you all know, I graduated at the end of May as well.

We had the dinner at the aforementioned aunt and uncle's house. The dinner consisted of some really great food! I mean really great food. We always joke that they should start their own catering business because their food is so good. Just thinking about it now...yummy!The dinner consisted of tri-tip, rolls, various salads (funeral potatoes, a berry yummy strawberry and poppyseed dressing salad) and some really disproportioned rolls (some were small, and other were bigger than my hand). And to drink was fresh made strawberry-lemonade (they squeezed lemons and mixed it with real strawberry puree...so delicious). As you can probably tell, I never say no to a dinner invite to my aunt and uncle's house. You will never starve there.

After dinner we had some "after dinner mints." They were great! My aunt had taken a thin mint, a Reese's peanut butter cup, and an M&M (each the color of our school colors) and put it together to make a graduation cap. Very ingenious, and very yummy as well!

Then we all played a game of croquet to give us time to digest that fabulous dinner. I, unfortunately, lost both games...and I always got out at the same hoop. Sabrina won the first game (out of luck), and Courtney won the second game. My uncle Ingolf was the most aggressive player and probably got the most people out, but in his celebrating kept getting himself out when he was poison by going through a hoop.

After games we settled down for cake. One was this kind of eclair-type cake (it tastes just like a giant eclair and is the one presented in the picture below). The other cake has apples in it and you pour this very sugary syrup over it...also very tasty.

I, of course, thanked them very profusely for the delicious dinner and dessert, as well as the good times. They gave me a card that made me laugh so hard. In it they said they hoped I enjoyed being in their "testosterone filled home" as much as they enjoyed having me over (their family is all boys minus my aunt). I told them after spending over a week with them in Hawaii I was pretty used to all the testosterone. :)

out to lunch

On Wednesday I went out to lunch with my aunt Tiffany. That was a much needed day out.

We ended up going to Tony Corino's (spelling?), a great Italian restaurant. I love Italian food, so this was a treat. I had never been there before, but their food is amazing!!! They have the best bread I have ever tasted...even better than Olive Garden's. We ate at least three loaves by the end of lunch.

We both got this fettucini (SP?) pasta that had olives, tomatos, and artichoke hearts in it. It also came with grilled chicken. The sauce had somewhat of a garlic flavoring to it and was really good. To top it off, it was on the "healthy eats" menu...so we were eating tasty and healthy.

We talked about me being done with school, my job hunt (which really hasn't started), and other random things like how bad our breath is going to smell when we get home. We had lots of garlic with that lunch...I mean a lot. But hey, we both love garlic, and it is supposed to be good for you.

Afterwards we went back to my aunt's house and talked for a couple hours (her moving, us possibly moving and me not wanting to). We laughed and joked around, too.

All in all, it was a good day to go out to lunch. Thanks, Tiffany, for the day out!

graduation--part 2

Now for part two of graduation. We were all back stage just talking, waiting for the graduation processional to start (that was a long time to wait...and I was wearing heels, ugh). We were talking about school and trying to figure out what the different color cords meant (still didn't figure all of them out). Then we were told to line up: Bachelor of Arts in one line and Bachelor of Science in another line. The we waited....and waited...and waited...

And then...the bagpipes! Yeah, that's right. Bagpipes and guys in kilts. The bagpipes led the processional, followed by the faculty. When we walked in the faculty were lined up on the side and we got to say hi and we walked past. I was lined up so I could sit next to Ashley, which I am glad because I needed someone to keep me awake for the rest of the ceremony. We got to our seats and sat down.

The student speaker was Hans Romo...his speech started off good, but then he got off on how it is our responsibility to distribute the wealth that we earn to people who don't earn it...I'm sorry, but a graduation is no place for a political speech...I was wondering if he had been endorsed by Obama's cabinet to say what he did. Eh, what do you expect when you go to the most liberal school in the state of Utah?

The Commencement speaker was Congressman Jim Leach...and sadly, I could not tell you what he said. I was dead tired by this point, it was warm, and he was talking in a very monotone voice with no animation or personality whatsoever. I'm sure what he was talking about was interesting (the few words I caught) but the way he talked was not uplifting at all. I think I dozed a couple of times. Ashley received a text from a friend saying to get on to the passing out of the diplomas already! I just laughed.

Finally, he was finished and it was time to pass out the diplomas...all 800 of them! At this graduation they not only do the Bachelor degrees, but also all the Master and nursing degrees. That was a lot of people to go through.

Our row finally got to go up. While walking up I was totally afraid that I would either trip on the stairs leading up to the stage, or the ones leading down. I passed the first set of stairs with no problem. My name was called and I walked up to receive my diploma (or diploma case I should say), posed for a picture and then headed for the dreaded steps off the stage. Thankfully, I did not fall on those either :)

After the passing out of diplomas we heard from more speakers. The Welcome Class of 2010 speech by Tofi Ta'afua (Alumni class of 2001) gave the most uplifting speech of the whole ceremony. Then, the ceremony concluded with a prayer (awkward). There were three of us there betting on what time the ceremony would end and the time I guessed was the closest. The winner got a hug...so Ashley gave me a big hug at the end of the ceremony just before we began to exit.

The bagpipes started, and we walked out as college graduates! We walked through the faculty and I realized this was probably the last time I would see them. Just thinking about it now...I'm going to miss school.

I walked outside, got some more pics with the Comm. students and then proceeded to search for my family. I did not have my cell phone on me (dumb decision on my part) so I had no way of finding out where anyone was. Eventually, my sister found me. We got some more pictures in front of the E-Center and then I turned in my torn gown and got my real diploma.

Afterwards we went to one of my favorite Chinese food restaurants called China Chefs. I was so sick from being dehydrated and hungry that I inhaled the food. It was really yummy! My grandparents, mom, sister, Matt, Karynne, Tiffany and her family, Wendy and Ingolf were all at the restaurant...all of them were at the graduation ceremony minus Tiffany and her family, plus Karynne (who she was watching).

After that, I went home and polished up my talk that I would be giving in the church the very next day. The talk was on the hymn "I Know that My Redeemer Lives."

So that was my graduation. It was a very long day (a 12-hour day to be exact). But I made it. After four long and hard years of working my butt off, I made it through college. The first girl in my immediate family to graduate from college. Now off to the next adventure!

graduation

So, I just recently graduated from college. I graduated with a Bachelor's in Communication from Westminster College. My GPA was 3.979, and I graduated with the following honors: Summa Cum Laude, and Alpha Chi.

Graduation day was May 29, 2010. The day started with a brunch at the college campus. It was freezing!!! But the food was good. Scrambled eggs, sausage, french toast, muffins, fresh fruit (I just love breakfast foods). As mentioned, it was windy, somewhat cloudy, but very cold (the brunch was outside, in case you were wondering). There would be moments when the wind would stop and the sun would come out, then it was somewhat warm, but those moments were few and far in between.

I had invited my mom and my grandparents to come to the brunch. They talked about what a beautiful campus Westminster had (I agree). I walked around, got some pictures with other Communication students and faculty. While walking around I got to thinking: "This is going to be my last day walking this campus as a student...I'm really going to miss it."

Feli Ann, Lindsay, Stefan, and Me (all Comm-ies)

I really am going to miss school. Don't get me wrong...I'm glad it's done, but at the same time I wish I was saving up to buy textbooks for fall semester (even though I won't miss spending money on the over-priced textbooks that you read twice...curse those classes). I will miss the people I've come to know in the Comm. major (you really don't get to know anyone else); they are great people, and most I will probably never see again. It's going to be strange not having looming deadlines and due dates for homework assignments or massive projects. It's going to be strange not being a student. I don't think I know how to not be a student. I've been a student for most of my life. I've been a student for at least 17 years (including Kindergarten). It's strange to see myself as something different.

Me, Kim Zarkin (Comm. advisor), and Ashley (I love that gal!)

Well...that was a nice tangent...back to graduation day.

After getting some pictures with fellow classmates I was convinced by my family to put on my gown and get some pictures of me in front of Converse and other Westminster "landmarks." For some reason, I hate being in pictures. I'm so used to being the person behind that camera that I'm somewhat reluctant to be in front of it.

Me on the steps of Converse Hall

Me and mom in front of Converse

Celebrate!!!

One of the pictures was taken of me sitting on a stone sign with the name Westminster College carved into it. Well, to get myself on top of that stone I had to jump a couple feet. In the process of jumping one of my heels caught the gown. I didn't think much of it then. After pictures were taken I got down, and lo and behold I had a hole in my gown. I had always known heels were evil, but this was ridiculous! Luckily it wasn't too bad, but it was still somewhat noticeable. After having a canary about my gown tearing we made our way to the E-Center for the graduation ceremony.

Once there I parted ways with my family and went back stage to get ready for the Commencement. I put my gown on and hoped no one would notice the hole I had placed in the back. I checked in and had to ask for help with putting the cords on. I then searched out my fellow Comm. classmates. We joked about our lovely apparel with one of my classmates (Julie, I think) said her mother said we wore these things to "humble us." Nice. If you think about it, the graduation apparel is somewhat absurd...who came up with it?

We got some pictures...and shockingly I did not have a camera on me, but I was able to swipe some from friends off facebook (thanks Sarah and Lindsay).

Lindsay, Ashley, Sarah (up front), Kaeleen, and Me before the Commencement Ceremony.

Lindsay and Ashley...some cool chicks!

This post is getting kind of long. The Commencement and afterwards will be described in another post.