OSSO Reunion....almost.

I don't know how this happened, but all of the Fab Four from Ecuador managed to disperse themselves across the country in a way that makes reunions extremely difficult. 

Olivia is in Utah. 

Amber was in Texas. 

Sara is in Alabama. 

Kelsey is in Wyoming.

Amber decided to be a nice friend and move to Provo...yahoo! I went to the airport to pick her up on Friday, and to be honest I teared up a little bit when we first hugged. Really though, who's actually surprised by that? I cry about everything. Coincidentally the next day Kelsey came to Utah. So naturally we met up at Cafe Rio and played The Bean Game. I am sad to say that we had to read the instructions to remember exactly how to play. You would think that after playing it almost every night for a month and a half (maybe even more) we would remember the rules of the game. Nope! We tried to call Sara to leave her a creepy message, but were unsuccessful when we found she hadn't set up her voicemail. Grrr Sara. We'll just have to resort to creepy facebook wall posts. It was funny how even though we've been apart for four months, everything was back to normal as soon as we saw each other. I guess that just goes to show that we really are best friends!

The Frivolous Four minus Sara. 

Freedom!

Alright peeps, the finals are FINISHED!! 

Every time I reach the end of a semester I experience that awkward hesitation when someone asks me to do something that is not studying/school-related. "You want me to do....what? But....that doesn't involve books, or notes, or scantrons, and I don't think we can do that in the library...I don't understand" - - Yes, Olivia, you are now free to do things that involve being social. Now don't worry your little buns, it will sink in soon enough.

Unfortunately, the end of the semester comes with the oh-so-lovely job hunt. My managers at Tucanos said I can come back if I want to but...well I don't want to. Hopefully other restaurants will be hiring and I'll get to be a waitress again this summer. If not, I'll stick it out at Tucanos until I can work at a gym because I'm officially starting my fitness certification!

My home study materials arrived in the mail a few days ago. Needless to say I was very very VERY excited, although I will admit that it was quite daunting in the moment, as the last thing I wanted was more studying to do. Now that finals are over, I am so looking forward to studying about the human body and exercise and nutrition and muscles and teaching and cycling and and AND AND...!!!

Ten deep breaths Liv. Chill. 

We know one thing is for sure: if I don't get hired at any gyms once I'm certified, it definitely won't be because my lack of energy.

Happy Summer!

Discoveries

You know how sometimes you get so used to the way something is done that every other way seems ridiculous? I have recently discovered that I do that, you know...I have been raised doing things a certain way and that's just how it is. Fortunately for me, I have made some discoveries (with the help of roommates) that have quite literally changed my life.

1. Swiffer Mops

I won't lie, I didn't give these a chance at first because I simply didn't understand how they worked. I know I know...just put a mopping pad in the little poky circles on the back of the mop, clean your floor, then dispose. Easy. For some reason I thought that filling a bucket with water/cleaner and wetting an overused, dirty old mop to just spread the dirt more evenly across the kitchen floor was a good idea. Gross. Swiffers get the job done quite efficiently, plus it dries WAY faster.

2. Minute Rice

I've always loved rice. Even after eating it every single day in Ecuador, I'm still not sick of it. I always boil twice as much water as I want rice (and I ALWAYS end up making way too much) and then add the rice. The bottom of the pan is always stubborn and difficult when I want to wash it, and the rice never turns out to be that sticky. Or cooked. Bless my heart. On top of all that it always boils over and leaves the stove awfully messy and smelling like burnt rice. I also LOVE love LOVE soy sauce. Rice is a definite essential in my diet. Although Minute Rice is actually 5-minute rice, I still want all those boxes of Minute Rice out there to know how much I appreciate them. You are truly underrated. Thank you for enhancing my life with the carbohydrates I am greatly lacking because of my gluten intolerance.

3. Beef Jerky

There is something about beef jerky that slightly grosses me out. I think it's mostly the really strong smell it leaves so pungently everywhere it goes. I can only remember having beef jerky on the Pioneer Trek, and it was unbelievably delicious at the time. I'm sure anything would have been. When BJ asked me if I liked beef jerky, I responded with a confident "no!", along with great efforts to portray as accurately as possible my pure disgust via text message.  His question sent beef jerky floating through my brain, so when I walked into a gas station to buy Peri a water and passed the beef jerky, I HAD to get some. I didn't have a clue what flavor to get, and actually didn't know that different flavors existed until this very experience. I think I picked teriyaki steak or something. I gnawed on that beef jerky the whole way home and you know what I decided? As long as you don't actually think about what you're eating it's really not so bad.

Looking Forward To....

Finals are almost almost ALMOST over. I can practically taste the freedom of summer sun, rollerblades, otter pops, and picnics. I'm excited to be able to go for runs outside, especially up the canyon. All of my coats will be put away in storage, right where they belong. I'll be able to spend an hour on Pinterest without feeling guilty for not accomplishing the homework that is constantly nagging at me. I'll go with BJ on his scooter (I'll probably be good enough to drive on main roads by then) to the Farmer's Market and buy strawberries and peaches that were actually grown right in the middle of heaven, and then I'll eat them at the park while I'm swinging on the swings in my gladiators and denim cut-offs.

...sigh...

This summer really does hold some great potential. The family's got a Disneyland/beach trip planned at the end of June. I'm more excited for the Disneyland part, which in fact is the happiest place on earth. I have a few different opportunities to go to Lake Powell, all of which I will take if my work schedule allows it (ugh....not having a job has been kind of really super duper sort of nice). AND Seven Peaks season passes are looking extremely inexpensive at the moment...hmmmm....Elizabeth and Russell will be here for quite a while after they graduate from college, and after that they'll go home to Las Vegas instead of Indy. They'll finally be just a quick drive away. I'm going to help Natty get ready for her upcoming freshman experience at the good ol' BYU by finding some cute dorm decorations. Peri and I want to hunt for unique boutiques around Provo/Orem (do you know of any?) so we can buy things that make us feel like classy New Yorkers. Hopefully we'll have some rainy days where we can play mud football. I want to organize a food fight, which I will have you know is a lot MORE fun and a lot LESS structured than it sounds. I'll rollerblade/longboard/bike/skateboard with my brothers to Center Street where we can snack on gelato from Gloria's Little Italy. Of course....it's tradition. 

I'm sure the summer holds even more happiness than that for me and all my buddies. The promise of a really awesome summer is....well it's going to be what gets me through finals. That'll be my motivation to just study and push hard for one more week and finish everything up, with good grades, of course. Wish me luck!!

#96 Build a fort

Back in February we built this fort. We slept in it for two weeks 

and when it had to come down we were EXTREMELY disappointed.

Buddy played AWESOME in his Junior Jazz basketball game.

After Buddy's game. What an athlete.

#19 Do a 1000 piece puzzle.

I ended up doing a 1500 piece puzzle. What what?!?!?

I finished my puzzle and glued it into a frame....

then hung it on the wall! I also got some new decorations for the apartment, 

including some pillows and that cute decal that says "Give yourself back to the world each day." 

I went to Hobby Lobby for the first time in about...7 years. Bad bad BAD idea.

Bonfire

The sun came out and we had a picnic in the park one Sunday afternoon. 

The family went to Denver to watch BYU play. 

Jimmer can speak Russian.....in French. 

FREDETTE ABOUT IT!

Go Cougars!

Playing at the park!

Although the weather has been ridiculously bipolar, 

I still appreciate the good days SO much.

21st

Even though it was almost an entire month ago, I'm finally going to blog about my birthday. It was.....SO fun. I have some pretty great friends. I woke up to an apartment that had been decorated with balloons and a happy birthday banner. They're still up because I think they're cute, but the balloons have one by one passed abruptly to the next life. My best friends of Windsor 2 took me to Red Robin for my birthday dinner. They are such good friends. The next night Peri took me out to dinner. We ate at, you better believe it......the Cheesecake Factory. My best friend is so great. During the hour wait I almost decided what I wanted off the menu, and at the end of the meal we took a trip to heaven when we tried their banana cream cheesecake. I don't think I have words for how incredible that single piece of cheesecake was.

I went home the next Sunday to do a joint birthday celebration with Emily (since hers was later that week). My family got me some REALLY cute presents, including a pair of yellow rain boots that I'm absolutely in love with. We ate a gluten free dinner with lots of strawberries and finished it off with creme brulee, which is without a doubt my favorite dessert in the whole world.  I might've finished Emily's and Buddy's because they didn't like it.

Peri and I at Cheesecake Factory

We all got cute new hats for our birthdays :)

My new rain boots!! I think I'm in love.