back in business

 

so! it has been a loooong time since my last post. like almost 2 years haha. so i decided to update ya'll about my life as a mature (and almost married) woman. it was really hard to take the missionary tag off after a year and a half and come back to speaking english every day. but i am happy to report that i have once again integrated into the north american culture. . . although sometimes i still make people uncomfortable by going for a hug and kiss at socially inappropriate times and circumstances. sorry if you are one of my victims. it's a lot harder to quit cold turkey than you might think.


i am currently living with my parents and siblings. it's good to spend time with them... it's definitely a full house. i live in a loft. it does the job nicely and not having doors or walls doesn't bother me much at all; except that it is nearly impossible to take naps, and in the morning people wake me up before my alarm (which is one of my biggest pet peeves). but happier napping prospects are on the horizon in 12 days! i have two jobs right now. i work at in n out again and i also work at state farm as a receptionist. i have two great jobs and i feel so blessed to have them. my totally dreamy fiance and i are going up to utah at the beginning of the year to go to school at byu! nathanael is officially a cougar which i am very proud of :) i just feel like issue after issue is just resolving itself and things are just falling into place. it's great. the lord truly blesses his children who serve him.

so after almost 3 years i am finally back with my bff! nathanael and i are catching up for lost time that's for sure. i have seen him every single day since i have been back and it's been great to pick up right where we left off :) i think it was the day after i got back that he was already helping me with things like clipping off dead skin off my toes. if that isn't true love i don't know what is! i can't even describe to you how excited i was to see him when i got off the plane. it was insane! it was so silly though because i got in at like 10:30 and i could only give him handshakes until i got released at 5:30. at first i had major separation anxiety (understandable, right?), but we have been having tons of fun just being together again. it's always the highlight of my day when i finally get to see him after work. we definitely wasted no time and got engaged 17 days after i got home. i am so happy. it's been a long time coming. he helps me stay sane with the wedding planning haha. the big day is november 24, 2012 so be there or be square! be prepared to dance lots. it's going to be the best day of my life, i know it.


welp, that's all for now folks! i hope to be better at this when i am officially a little wifey homemaker haha :) t minus 17,040 minutes. . .

satan's tryna git me!

a few days ago i took a lovely stroll to the mailbox, minding my own business, when this monstrosity popped outta nowhere!





notice that the day i am to report is a week after i am to report to the mtc. so that's it. i'm postponing my mission for jury duty. i always knew jury duty was of the devil. haha just kiddin. i talked to an oh-so-friendly woman on the phone who told me to write a letter. hopefully she knew what she was talkin about.

also, today i got free pancakes at ihop. :D there are very few things i love more than free things. and i learned today that ihop actually stands for the international house of pancakes. i'm cool :)

bored and underscored

soooo . . . guess what?? three and a half weeks, less than a month, or 25 days! pick whichever sounds shortest, that's what i do :) it may sound like a very short amount of time, but this past month or two have seemed like an eternity. if the days insist on slowly creeping by like they have been, then, according to my calculations, the next few weeks for me are going to be equivalent to about 5 months in normal (non-pre-missionary) time. i am sure anyone who has served a mission will understand what i mean. the wait is rough!

to fill my time, i have resorted, but not limited myself to the following: building forts with my siblings, watching boring netflix movies, reading seven books, attending the temple 3 or 4 times in a week sometimes, spending waaay too much time on facebook, making medicine bags for scout day camp, sleeping ten hours a night, going to bunco night with mom, practicing piano to the point of annoying my whole family, buying a bajillion things on my missionary list, going around with the sister missionaries in our stake whenever i can, and dying my hair darker out of desperation! see?


some of the things in the above list have some value to them, but sadly, a lot of them don't. needless to say i will be welcoming the transition into missionary life! although i am a little worried about some things. i mean, it's taking a lot of faith to believe that 6:30 a.m. even exists anymore. i haven't seen it in so long. i'm sure the hour will seem all too real soon enough.

i am trying my best to enjoy this time i have, but i am constantly looking towards that blessed day: march 23! it's definitely gunna be a birthday to remember!

¡voy a ser una misionera!

longest. 24. days. of my life. after many let downs and approximately 47 trips to the mailbox, i finally bagged the golden goose on january 7, 2011. behold:

isnt' it one of the most beautiful things you have ever seen? what was inside was even more beautiful. the waiting was sooo worth it because i am going to the best mission ever!

the argeninga rosario mission! yay yay yay! and i report to the provo mtc on march 23 which is my 21st birfday! definitely the best b-day present i could have asked for. everything was absolutely perfect and i knew right when i opened it that it was a call from the lord. i haven't smiled that much in a long time. the past 3 nights i have actually been losing sleep because my brain won't stop thinking about everything! it's getting a little out of hand. it takes me over an hour to fall asleep. i really need that to wear off soon.

here are some pictures of the city:

anywho, if you can't tell, i am elated :) i have lots to do to prepare with the passport and visa and everything, but in just a few short months i will be hermana kastigar! aaah!

i hope they call me on a (real) mission

i'm finally done with finals and back to my favorite place on the planet: az baby! i feel like i drove back in time a couple months because the weather is sickeningly wonderful! i really enjoy the chance i have to spend time with my family, but i am really going to miss all my great friends in utah. it hasn't quite sunken in yet that i am not going back after christmas. it's going to be a sad day when it finally does.


but on a lighter note, my mission papers are officially in! they went in last tuesday, so my call should be coming in a couple weeks at the most . . . maybe before christmas if i am a really good girl. we'll see! lots of people have been guessing where i'll get called and everyone asks me where i want to go. every time someone asks me that i go through an internal struggle because i actually do have an opinion and i know i shouldn't! and i am afraid of what must be happening to my chances every time i tell someone my real opinion. i'm sure i have cursed myself plenty already, so i guess there's no harm in posting it. alright i'll just come out and say it . . . i don't want to go to a visitors' center. for the most part when people ask i tell them that and then just smile and we move on. i behave myself pretty well. but sometimes when people try to convince me that i'm wrong for not wanting to go there, i get pretty animated in explaining why i'd rather take ice cold showers than get facials on p days. one time it got pretty bad. i internally cringed after i declared to someone, "a visitors' center mission is not a real mission!" i'm really not trying to tempt god i promise. i repented of that one don't worry. i definitely see the need for sisters there, and i'm overjoyed that there are girls out there that want to go there, but i just don't feel like it's for me. which, yes, i realize is completely bad.

so, where do i think i am going? . . . salt lake city utah temple square. bring it on.

get a tude

k so it's officially thanksgiving season and it's time to evaluate our attitudes. we have so much to be grateful for. seriously. god is so good. i'm going to start a daily gratitude journal in the spirit of the season and just to be happier too :) i recently discovered this blog about an inspirational woman who lives in provo. if you need help finding some gratitude glasses, check her out.

lookie how pretty!

lately it's been so refreshing to stop and look around at the beautiful fall colors! i have found myself taking the long way home after school to have more time outside. ahhh :) right now, i love where i live. ask me at this time next month, and the answer might be slightly different. hehe.


the boy who lived is making is way back into my life again. my friend and i are preparing for the ninth hp movie by reading all the books by November 19 (this trailer gives me goosebumps every time!!!!). i started reading the sorcerer's stone five days ago. is this a wildly unattainable goal? absolutely. but i'm gunna shoot for the moon.

p.s. this is a bit late, but here was our apartment's halloween experience. most of us had never been anything dead before but we turned out pretty dang frightening i'd say.

things i'm grateful for today: preach my gospel, red starbursts, uncontrollable laughter, daylight savings, bananas.

Neglect

okay wow i don't know what happened but i just totally stopped blogging altogether. it's seriously been a year and a half since my last blog. how lame. i am going to fix that!

well, i am a junior at byu now and i am living with awesome girls, some of my very bestest friends. we live at a nice little place called heather cove which is five minutes to campus on foot (my roommates might tell you otherwise but that's just because i book it to school every morning. yeah. i value my sleep a lot) i love the fall weather for the most part, besides that weird snow we got this week. i am going home for turkey day which i'm super excited about. Also, today i applied to the business school and i will hear back from them next month.

in other recent news, i am working on my mission papers right now and i can turn them in on december 13, which i am going to do! that is definitely the most exciting thing on my horizon right now. i'll get my call either right before or right after christmas and i will hopefully leave in march or april of next year. yay! it's something i have been saying my whole life i want to do. and, my whole life, i have heard lots of doubters. but, it's happening! hah! :)

well, i have to go take an examen de español, so i will have to write more later!