Coming home.

It's been one of those weeks.

One of those weeks when your idea of a break is sneaking in a photo shoot between classes, work, and planning your future.

One of those weeks when you bomb a French quiz but decide to forget it about it and spend your night watching your friends compete for homecoming queen.

One of those weeks when you spend two hours wandering around campus learning the names of statues and the location of Grandma's Living Room.

One of those weeks when you only have one class on Tuesdays and Thursdays but you're still on campus until sundown, working, doing homework, and spending hours in the Welcome Center stuffing envelopes.

One of those weeks when you get a call when you're at a concert and have to fight your way out of the mob to cover a breaking news story.

One of those weeks when you go to True T-Bird for the free chapstick.

One of those really great weeks.

That being said, it's also been one of those days.

One of those days when you leave your apartment at 7:00 am and don't return until 8:30 pm.

One of those days when Thor fills out your race registration form for you.

One of those days when you're running on four hours of sleep, wake up at 6:30 am to run a 5K, then be in a parade, then go to a tailgate, then a football game, then go grocery shopping, and then take your roommate out to dinner for her birthday.

One of those days when after doing all of that, you think you're going to go to a party, but instead end up asleep in the fetal position on your couch for an hour and a half.

Then you take a shower and realize there's a lightning bolt sunburned onto your face.

Still, one of those really great days.

Homecoming 2012.

A glorious reappearance.

Remember back in the days of France when I basically survived off of crepes? Well, let me tell you a story.

Once upon a time, a few months ago, about the time I returned from France, I had dreams of owning a crepe maker. So I got myself two jobs and slaved away all summer in the heat in order to earn money to make my dream come true. My hard work eventually paid off, and a few weeks ago I bought something that looks like this:

Let's be honest, I didn't know what I was going to do with it. I don't know how to make cereal, let alone crepes. But I was determined to figure it out!

So, over the past few weeks, I began to accumulate the ingredients I would need. First milk and water, then salt, then eggs and butter, and finally, flour. They sat on the shelves of my pantry (except the milk, eggs, and butter, which sat on the shelves of my refrigerator) waiting for the day that I had time to cook something other than Easy Mac.

Thursday night, the time came to attempt to make crepes.

There's nowhere to keep my beloved crepe maker other than on top of our cabinets, so it began like this:

My first crepe was a fail because the crepe maker was on the highest setting which is obviously not where it should have been. The second crepe was a fail only because the recipe was not expecting me to be using a professional crepe maker and clearly underestimated my skills. Luckily, I corrected both these issues myself and finally created this masterpiece:

I know this is not the dainty, rolled crepe with chocolate drizzled on top that you're used to seeing at wedding receptions. No. This is the real deal: loaded with warm Nutella and a whole banana, folded in thirds like it should be. And it was amazing.

Basically, the first time making crepes was a huge success. I have dearly missed eating these while walking the narrow streets of the Parisian Latin District, or beneath the lights of the many Montparnasse theatres, or sitting by the Eiffel Tower. One day I will return to France, but until then...

While you're still young.

I found this on Tumblr and I kind of like it, so I'm sharing it with you.
Courtesy of January Nelson on Thought Catalog.

25 things to do before you turn 25.

1. Make peace with your parents. Whether you finally recognize that they actually have your best interests in mind or you forgive them for being flawed human beings, you can't happily enter adulthood with that familial brand of resentment.
2. Kiss someone you think is out of your league; kiss models and med students and entrepreneurs with part-time lives in Dubai and don't worry about if they're going to call you afterward.
3. Minimize your passivity.
4. Work a service job to gain some understanding of how tipping works, how to keep your cool around assholes, how a few kind words can change someone's day.
5. Recognize freedom as a 5:30 am trip to the diner with a bunch of strangers you've just met.
6. Try not to beat yourself up over having obtained a "useless" bachelor's degree. Debt is hell, and things didn't pan out quite like you expected, but you did get to go to college, and having a degree isn't the worst thing in the world to have. We will figure this mess out, I think, probably; the point is you're not worth less just because there hasn't been an immediate pay off for going to school. Be patient, work with that you have, and remember that a lot of us and in this together.
7. If you're employed in any capacity, open a savings account. You never know when you might be unemployed or in desperate need of getting away for a few days. Even $10 a week is $520 more a year than you would've had otherwise.
8. Make a habit of going outside, enjoying the light, relearning your friends, forgetting the Internet.
9. Go on a 4-day, brunch fueled bender.
10. Start a relationship with your crush by telling them that you want them. Directly. Like, look them in the face and say it to them. Say, I want you. I want to be with you.
11. Learn to say "no" - to yourself. Don't keep wearing high heels if you hate them; don't keep smoking if you're disgusted by the way you smell the morning after; stop wasting entire days on your couch if you're going to complain about missing the sun.
12. Take time to revisit the places that made you who you are: the apartment you grew up in, your middle school, your hometown. These places may or may not be here forever; you definitely won't be.
13. Find a hobby that makes being alone feel lovely and empowering and like something to look forward to.
14. Think you know yourself until you meet someone better than you.
15. Forget who you are, what your priorities are, and how a person should be.
16. Identify your fears and instead of letting them dictate your every move, find and talk to people who have overcome them. Don't settle for experiencing .000002% of what the world has to offer because you're afraid of getting on a plane.
17. Make a habit of cleaning up and letting go. Just because it fit at one point doesn't mean you have to keep it forever - whether "it" is your favorite pair of pants or your ex.
18. Stop hating yourself.
19. Go out and watch that movie, read that book, listen to that band you already lied about watching, reading, listening to.
20. Take advantage of health insurance while you have it.
21. Make a habit of telling people how you feel, whether it means writing a gushing fan-girl email to someone whose work you love or telling your boss why you deserve a raise.
22. Date someone who says "I love you" first.
23. Leave the country under the premise of "finding yourself." This will be unsuccessful. Places do not change people. Instead, do a lot of solo drinking, read a lot of books, have sex in dirty hostels, and come home when you start to miss it.
24. Suck it up and buy a Macbook Pro.
25. Quit that job that's making you miserable, end the relationship that makes you act like a lunatic, lose the friend whose sole purpose in life is making you feel like you're perpetually on the verge of vomiting. You're young, you're resilient, there are other jobs and relationships and friends if you're patient and open.

Side note: I do not personally drink or have sex in hostels. It's a copyrighted work, what do you want me to do?

Stressed.

I would love to just have a completely unproductive day. It's only the third week of school and my life is so hectic. I never get stressed, and I am stressed.

Things I have accomplished so far this week:

• Going to all my classes
• Writing four stories for the Journal (I still have two more to write)
• Grocery shopping
• Reading three chapters in my textbook
• Doing my French homework (twice)
• Taking two quizzes
• Writing a press release for my online class
• Sending a package
• Cleaning my apartment

Add to that: spending all of Saturday night in the ER with Marissa (kidney stones, don't fret), driving to Draper for high school tour, dealing with (boy) drama, and not feeling too healthy today, and I am about at my rope's end.

Luckily, there have been a few really fun things thrown in there to keep me from completely losing my mind.

• Hiking Kanarraville Falls: Freezing cold water and treacherous ladders but oh so fun. Made even more fun if you for some reason decide to do it in flip-flops. (Not. Don't do that.)

• Hanging out with Spencer at Draper Park for a night.
• Watching Mean Girls and The Cheetah Girls with your roommates.
• Going to Sand Hollow for an awesome party: Cliff jumping, playing ultimate frisbee, shoreline dance party... etc.

• Watching Hot Rod under the stars.
• Being serenaded by three random boys when they stopped by our apartment to vacuum and take out our trash.

Like I said, it's been hectic. This weekend I'm headed back up to Draper for Jake's mission farewell and hopefully some relaxation. Until then, I'll be working on the newspaper some more and trying not explode. Over and out.

Welcome back.

Well, I guess it could be time to update you on my life.

I've been back in my favorite place, Cedar City, for two weeks now and have officially begun my sophomore year. It's been interesting to say the least!

The first week I was here was the week before school started. I'm a Presidential Ambassador this year, so I had to come down early for the retreat. This was where I met a bunch of really great people that I will be working with, played lots of volleyball, and got vacuum sealed into a garbage bag.

I'm also working as a reporter for the University Journal, which means as soon as I got back from the retreat I had to rush to the newspaper office to begin Workshop Week. This was where I met more great people that I will be working with, played with Nerf guns, and learned how to write news stories.

That Saturday Marissa and I went to a cute parade down Main Street that consisted of little kids dragging wagons that they decorated to look like storybooks. We got snow cones and walked to an art display, went shopping, played soccer, and ended the day with my cousin's gorgeous wedding reception.

Sunday I drove back home to go to Cort's mission homecoming. It was almost surreal. I can't believe it has been two years!

This was also the day the last of my roommates finally moved in! My roommate is Katey, and we also have Marissa, Dylan, and Keiranne. I'm sure you remember them all from last year (except Katey, who is a freshman. She was in my ward at home).

Monday, school started! I must say, I'm not sure I was prepared for everything that was thrown at me at once. This week stressed me out and I realized I might have been a little too ambitious when I decided to take 18 credits, have a job, and do PAs. So I downgraded my class load and now everything is wonderful.

Welcome Week is one of the best weeks of college, in my opinion. This one included free food, casino night, a tailgate and movie, a mentalist, and a crazy dance party.

Casino Night

After the paint dance

Overall, a pretty solid first week of school.