Best of days.

Okay. I always thought having my birthday and Valentine's Day so close together was a curse. But it turns out it just makes for a really great week!

You already heard about Sunday and Monday with me getting pranked and my mail and whatnot, so fast forward to Tuesday - Valentine's Day.

Tyler took me on a way sweet date! We doubled with Daniel and Sarah and began our evening with Texas Roadhouse and eating way too much food, as always. At least Tyler ate more than me this time and it didn't even include a salad! Then we went mini-golfing at Fiesta Fun, and I'm pretty sure their course is rigged because I didn't get a single hole-in-one. We made a bet, so whichever couple lost had to jump in the freezing cold pool at Daniel's uncle's house. Of course Tyler and I won, but then all four of us ended up jumping in the pool anyway. So that was pointless. We also went in the hot tub for a while before getting shakes at Iceberg and then watching Star Trek. As far as Valentine's Days go, it was the best one I've ever experienced!

Wednesday and Thursday I didn't do much, other than watch Footloose on Thursday night at the school. Marissa whispering "Take your shirt off" to the main character was probably the best part.

Friday was also a fantastic day. My awesome friends threw me a little party down in St. George at Dylan's grandma's house. We ate dinner and went to Dixie Rock with the cake, where I had a lot of random people telling me happy birthday and singing. Then we went swimming and played "PEAS" and went hot tubbing and made s'mores and roasted starbursts. We finished it all off with a quite hilarious game of Truth or Dare, my favorite.

Saturday we just slept and relaxed all day, until going to Panda for dinner. Dylan and I went to a littlebigheart concert that night, where of course Lance had to sing me happy birthday in front of everyone. Loved that! We came back and made some hot chocolate and watched Lost to end one of the best weeks I've had in a long time.

Basically, the moral of the story is, I have the greatest friends ever. Thank you guys so much for everything, I don't know where I would be without you! I love you!

Sardines.

Things that have made me oh so happy as of late:

• GHA Reunion. Friday night Mike and I headed out to Jared's house in Enoch to reunite with our old friends from the summer of 2010. Not that we don't already see most of them most of the time because we all go to school here, but it was way fun to sit down and have a conversation! It's a luxury that is not often available in the busy student life. Also, a game of Apples to Apples was in order. Even though I had zero good cards and had to play "baked beans" for "refreshing".

• A short trip home for the weekend. I made my way up to Sandy on Saturday morning and as soon as I arrived, I went out on an extravagant birthday shopping trip with my mom, which included lunch with my grandma and stops everywhere from H&M to Barnes & Noble. Then my family treated me to a dinner at my favorite restaurant, Asian Star. I can never get sick of that place! I just relaxed on Sunday until I made the treacherous drive home last night. But, I'm alive, so I can't complain.

• Pranks. I love when I risk my life on I-15 and then walk in my door, exhausted, to find this:

All I have to say about that is - It's on, Tyler (and Marissa).

• Mail. Today was the greatest day ever when it came to receiving mail. I got an email during English telling me that I had a package, and I had no idea what it could be! Upon picking it up, it was from Cort! And upon opening it, I found it contained Easy Mac, vienna sausages, spam, sardines, and a Virginia Tech snuggie complete with Cort's face glued onto the box. I don't think I could have ever gotten a better present. Or one that would describe Cortland so well.

• Mail continued. I didn't think it could get any better, but I checked my actual mailbox before going to institute, and lo and behold I had a valentine from my dog! He is so thoughtful.

It's been a great start to this week if I do say so myself. And my birthday is on Saturday! Even better.

Get creative.

Sunday is blogging day, judging from my homepage on Blogger and my Facebook news feed. So I figured I should join in the rush! Plus the Superbowl is on right now and it bores me. I'm just here to cheer for the Giants so I can get some free sushi!

This week has been all a blur. I don't even remember the first half of it at all. I probably just spent some time at the gym and on homework. Oh, and watching the same episode of AFV like 50 times. It definitely did not get funnier. Just saying.

Friday, Dylan and I went down to St. George to party it up at her grandma's house. We visited a hidden gem of a restaurant known as Benja, where we devoured some delicious sushi and received excellent customer service. I would recommend it for sure. I should get paid for all the advertising I do on here.

We then went back to the house and planned out our video that we wanted to make. This included making a long list, changing into costume, and risking our lives for a couple of baseball caps. Was it worth it? See for yourself:

Hot tubbing for an hour finished off our night quite nicely, before crawling into bed in the "Gypsy Suite" and sleeping like a log. The next morning, we made a quick run to Dixie Rock so I could take some pictures for my photography assignment, and the bookstore so I could buy my new favorite thing: A Wreck This Journal. 

Basically this is a journal that gives you instructions about how to destroy it. The instructions are, of course, open to interpretation, and the main idea is to expand your creativity and think outside the box. Lately I have been feeling like I need more creative outlets (thus the tree on my wall, constant guitar playing, and my obsessive redecorating of my room) so this should be perfect. I can't wait to start on it!

Last night I was privileged enough to go on a date with Tyler and we doubled with Mike and Dylan. It was super fun! We went to Pizza Factory for dinner, where I should have started an eating contest because I out-ate everyone without even trying. I think it's more embarrassing for Mike and Tyler than it is for me...

A game of Cranium proved that Tyler definitely made the right choice in asking me on this date, since we succeeded in guessing everything the other did, including making a trombone and a kilt out of clay, drawing a high five and a scooter with eyes closed, defining "schmutz" (thanks dad), and acting out bra shopping. All of these things combined produced a win for team Shannon and Tyler!

Krave was next, followed by a screening of In Time. Now I just want a tattoo of 13 zeros on my left arm so I can literally be the walking dead! 

In other news, I am thinking about starting a style blog. Not of my own fashions, necessarily, but it's up in the air. Thoughts? Collaboration requests? I'm open to ideas. Also, I added a page for my bucket list on here. It's mostly just for me, but if you're interested, the link is on the side right under my bio!

It's now halftime and my chances of getting sushi could go either way. Only time will tell I suppose! Come on Giants!

Ghosts and guns.

I guess I will keep up my habit of writing every ten days and crank out a few more stories for you before January is over. 2012, almost one twelfth gone.

I think I left off two weekends ago, so hopefully I can remember that far back! If I remember right, the night of the day I wrote my last post was the night of the BYU gymnastics meet or something like that, which we lost, but it was still fun. After that we went to the food fight dance for a little while and then played some blackjack in Tyler's room. It was fun, but I gambled away all of my chips so after that it wasn't that fun.

The next day I slept all day, hit up the Pizza Factory for dinner, and then went to the basketball game. I'll be honest, I'm not a big fan of watching basketball, but it was still pretty sweet. Also, it was basically a GHA reunion so that was cool too. After the game, Mike, Dylan, Marissa, and I went to Denny's for some smoothies, then Mike ditched and the rest of us went to an awesome party. We went back to Mike's after and talked for a few hours before hitting the hay. That was one of my favorite days in college, I think.

That Sunday was the usual: church, indexing, brunch, followed by "family night" in the evening. We went to Mike's that night to play Family Feud and make cookies before coming back to get our weekly fix of Modern Family.

I don't really remember what I did this past week. A few trips to the gym, some homework, and movies. On Thursday I went with Dylan and her roommates to the St. George temple to do baptisms. It had been a long time since I had been to the temple, at least since last summer. It was definitely what I needed this week.

We also went to Texas Roadhouse while we were down there, where I ate way more than I should have, but I couldn't stop. It was too good. Then we visited the cute little mall that basically consists of a Pac Sun, American Eagle, Buckle, and an Asian Gifts that's going out of business. But I did use that to my advantage to buy this elephant statue 50% off. It brings good luck if it faces the door. 

Dylan and I also found fur hats that we wanted to buy, but they were $35. So we contented ourselves with taking a picture.

Friday night we had a ton of time to kill starting around 5:30, so Marissa, Dylan, Tyler, and I played a few (last) games of Family Feud (because that game is a letdown) and Halo, which I am terrible at. We went to "Pie an RA" and played more blackjack, but then we wanted to check out the Institute dance so we left early. That turned out to be less exciting than expected, so we ended up at Mike's again for a movie. Upon leaving Mike's house, we were being followed by some unknown white car. However, thanks to my driving skills and the experience of the Darth Evader (that's my car's name, by the way), we lost them and our lives were spared. Tyler and I watched Facing the Giants after all that, which we were surprised to find was a somewhat cheesy Christian football movie. It was still good though!

Saturday was a super fun day. I slept in while Marissa went running because I had already worked out my four days that week (I'm so on top of my new year's resolutions it's ridiculous), and then Tyler took us shooting. It was my first time ever shooting a gun and let's just say i don't have the most skill. It was super fun though! Especially watching Marissa try to throw the clay pigeons.

That night we had a Paranormal Activity marathon, which was not the best idea because my back was extremely sore the next day from sitting on the floor for five hours. I did manage to scare Tyler when he came in the door once though so it was worth it. We finished off the night with a game of mini golf on the Xbox, where I came in second only because Tyler has probably played that game a million times. 

Sunday was just another normal day where I procrastinated my homework, played some games, and watched some MF. I didn't waste all my time though - I spent two hours of my day constructing this tree on my wall.

It still needs birds flying out of the cage, but I'm quite happy with it. 

Goodnight friends.

Loving your tie.

I just learned a cover of a cover of Super Bass on guitar, and I can't stop playing it! Or I just can't stop playing guitar period. Thank you Drew Tabor for your inspirational YouTube channel.

Lots of fun things have happened since my last post, so I thought I should make an update at least for my own records. It starts right where I left off: Last Wednesday, casino night.

I do not play card games, ever, because I am incapable of playing them without making a fool of myself. But I did want to go to casino night so I forced Marissa and Tyler to teach me blackjack on Tuesday. Of course I forgot it by the time I got there... but I remembered it quickly and managed to make $500 more than what I started with!

I didn't win anything in the raffle, but seeing Starms freak out and run up to claim his bag of Jolly Ranchers was almost as good.

Thursday was the club fair, nothing too exciting other than some free candy.

Friday I got out of my photography class at 4 and ran into Lance, and then ended up spending the entire afternoon playing Hanging With Friends (which I am incapable of losing) with him before going to the gymnastics meet. We lost, but it was still sick! I love those meets!

Later that night was magician Mike Super as part of Welcome Week. Honestly, the best part was when he drew a picture of a card and before we even knew if it was the right picture, someone said "Oh my gosh!" like it was the most amazing thing he had ever seen. Then Marissa, Tyler, Dylan, Jennifer, Marcus, and I watched Fired Up and Sydney White before hitting the hay.

The next day we slept in and then got up to go running. I didn't realize how much I missed running on the track! I only ran for my sophomore and junior years in high school but I forgot how fun it really is. The weather was perfect, too. Amazing. That night we went to the "Unbirthday Dance", which was super fun too until a metal pole fell on Jennifer's head. But she was okay and went to watch a movie so we went back to the dance.

Sunday was full of interesting things, including Marissa bailing on the stairs and face-planting into a wall at church, playing Game of Things, and watching Modern Family late into the night since there was no school on Monday.

We woke up semi-early (ten o'clock) on Monday to go running again, and then I went to visit my great-grandparents that live just around the corner from me in Cedar. My great grandpa will be 94 this year and they just celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary. Needless to say, every visit is a new experience.

This week, apparently they had been getting calls from numerous scammers that told them they were eligible to win some large amount of money. My grandma had been getting more and more frustrated with each call (I think there were three of them), so by the time the third guy called she just answered by saying "Go blow it out your ear!" and hung up. I was dying laughing when I heard this story, and it gets better.

I was telling them about how Christmas was, and how school was going and everything. Honestly, I didn't even think my grandpa could hear/was listening to what I was saying, but all of a sudden he pipes up with "Oh, to be young again. I would love to be young again just for a little while."

Grandma: "Yes, but what you have to think about is - would you live your life the same way, or would you change anything?"

Grandpa: "Oh, I don't know. Maybe I would become a polygamist."

Grandma: "What?!"

I literally was crying at this point it was so funny. I'm pretty sure he was joking. Hopefully Grandma knows that...

That night Tyler, Marissa, Dylan, and I went over to Mike Lee's house for a game of Curses, which just never gets old, and Ice Age. ("You better watch your back... because I'll be chewing on it.") Since then I have just been playing guitar, bowling, watching YouTube videos, and doing homework. It has been a good couple weeks for sure though, and now it's the weekend again! Yes. More great things to come.

Tuesday.

I am currently sitting on the floor, surfing Tumblr, and eating a bowl of Reese's Puffs.

Some people like to judge me because I don't drink the milk out of the bottom of the bowl when I'm done. I think it's gross. Bite me. Who wants to drink peanut butter flavored milk?

Spring semester has started and so far it is just fantastic. The lineup includes: Communications 1010, English 2010 (Writing about Big Brother. So excited.), Photography, Human Sexuality, and of course French. But I'm sure you are beyond tired of hearing me talk (Or watching me write?) about French so I'll spare you. Oh, and I have the next University Whatever one. I'm pretty excited about my classes though! I thoroughly enjoy them so far.

Keiranne and Soojin, unfortunately, moved out of our room. It was a sad, sad day when Marissa and I found out our dear friends were no more to be called "roommates". I will fondly remember the days of Vegas trips, door decorating parties, and startling late night rendezvous.

However, I have a cool new roommate that goes by the name of Jennifer! She had already seen the movie "The Roommate", so my genius plan of watching that movie together and then acting like a schizophrenic psychopath for the next week to freak her out was a fail. But, we still watched that movie and ate some popcorn, and it was still fun, so I guess it's okay. We just played a game of Boxers and Briefs during which I found out she doesn't like clowns, so I can hatch another evil plan if I want.

We're also getting another new roommate, but who knows who she is, where she's from, or when she's moving in. I guess we'll find out soon!

Anyway, so far what I have done since returning to Cedar includes:

• unpacking
• eating at Subway
• watching "The Roommate"
• going to class
• reuniting with my friend Dylan
• eating at bread and soup night
• listening to great music
• visiting my good friend Mike Lee
• going to class, again
• eating a brownie at a tea party
• going to the Red & White gymnastics meet
• joining the RHA Senate
• playing Boxers and Briefs
• eating Reese's Puffs

It's been pretty solid so far, and from what I hear, this week is supposed to get even better.

Before you go, make sure you listen to the song "Ain't No Reason" at the bottom of the page. It's my new favorite!

Beginnings: 2012.

It's the first day of 2012.

A new year has always been a symbol to me of a new start, and a chance to improve myself. I have never really made resolutions in the past, but I decided to give it a try. They say it helps if you write down your goals, so here goes.

• Work out for 30 minutes or more, at least four days a week.
• Don't drink soda, ever.
• Visit my great grandparents once every two weeks for at least an hour.
• Be more outgoing and take more risks.
• Be positive and nice to everyone I meet.

And most importantly,

• Take chances. Never settle. No regrets.

Here's to hoping that this year will be better than the one before. That it will be a year of firsts, and of lasts. That it will teach me things I need to know. That there will be new friendships, and continued old ones. That it will be a year of life, love, and opportunity. Here's to the faith that 2012 will change our lives for the better.

Happy new year, with love overflowing.