Summertime Update

So, I've realized that I have neglected this blog slightly while I have been focusing more on my other one. I knew it would get confusing to start another one...but it's too much fun! Check it out if you would like. In All Things... It has been fun writing about fashion, music, travel, etc. but I intend to keep this Megna Doodle blog for my own personal thoughts and writings.

So what have I been up to lately? Not much. I did just get back from a fabulous trip to Las Vegas though! It was my first time ever going and although it was quite odd and...interesting, I still REALLY enjoyed it. Our main reason for going was because it was my 21st birthday and I had been dying to go see Donny and Marie's show down there, so I went with my mom. We had a blast, especially at the show. It was just very hard to come back after a vacation. I don't know what it was, maybe the fact that I have a steady, real job now (different than the retail jobs I've had in the past) and I'm getting ready to start school again in a few weeks, but it was extra difficult this time. So I'm even more grateful for my choice of career when I finish school, because being a teacher will open up my summer to the possibility of traveling and I don't know if I could do without it! :)

The best thing I learned from getting over the feeling of being down after coming back to reality was that the gospel is literally always there to uplift me. When I was having tough days this week, I listened to general conference on my iPod. I got through two whole conferences! It was so calming to listen to and I'm grateful for the spirit I felt listening to the words of the prophets.

Other than having a hard time coming back from vacation, I've just been working and making a list of the last few things I want to accomplish before the summer is officially over. Here's what I have so far:

• Revive a thrift store dress (i.e. like Sarah from Wearing It On My Sleeves)
• Finish 3 books (I think I've decided on "The Importance of Being Earnest," "The ABC Murders" and "1776")
• Put together a recipe book
• Go to the Karaoke Cafe with the girls!
• Clean and organize my bedroom
• Listen to online lectures to get ideas for my capstone course paper this fall
• Finish writing the song with Tatiana (Oh, did I mention we're writing a song??? :) It's coming along quite nicely)

So, hopefully the end of this seemingly short summer will be productive and enjoyable! Because school and an overwhelming daily schedule will be here all too soon.

Oh, memories...

So today marked the beginning of some crazy reminiscing that will only grow the further we get into this coming week. My brother will be graduating from high school on Wednesday and I really feel like my graduation was just yesterday. Tonight we went to his seminary graduation and it brought back memories from when I was on the seminary council and seminary graduation committee my senior year. This year's committee had the same adviser that I had and everything (the program, refreshments, graduation plaques, senior gifts) was the same. I really felt like I was getting old because this was all for my little brother. Graduating? What? But yes, I guess soon enough I will be sitting on my porch in a rocking chair telling my grandchildren about the good ole days. :)

{This is an old pic I found that I took on my graduation day! (June 3, 2008) Not the best picture, but that's okay.}

Fashion{able}

So I'm not exactly sure what it is, but today I had the sudden urge to become super involved in fashion. I suddenly wanted to revamp my entire wardrobe and completely dedicate this summer to becoming more fashionable.

It all started with a visit to Plato's Closet. I was with my friend, Edie. And we were talking about our fashion style, because I always tell her if something is so..."Edie." You know how sometimes you can just tell? Well, I can definitely tell when something is her style. After joking about it some, I realized that I wanted to have a style that was so..."Megan." So that is now my quest.

I've been finding and following Mormon fashion blogs and I<3. If you're interested too, check this out.

So now, I really want to go shopping. I want to find great deals on adorable clothes that are totally..."me" and I also really want to buy cheap, ugly clothes and make them beautiful. One of the entries I read today showed the remarkable feat of a girl named Sarah. She bought a dress at a thrift store for an extremely low price and made it adorable. Seriously. Look at it right here.

Anyway, I now have this obsession with classy, fabulous fashion that I can add to my list of changes I'm making this summer. I am beyond excited :)

P.S. It has been raining like crazy here in Utah for the past couple of weeks and it finally stopped (although I love the rain, so I would be fine if it never stopped...). But anyway, now that it is no longer raining I got the sudden urge to get yellow rain boots. Hmmm. I want. They have some for an amazing price at Target, so I will definitely have to check those out.

Tuesday Night Thoughts

I thought I'd quickly write about a few things that have been on my mind recently. Don't get too excited, because they aren't very deep or revealing things. Haha.

First, I just want to say that I absolutely LOVE Norah Jones. How haven't I become obsessed with her years ago? I adore her music. It puts me in my happy place and makes me feel like...me. If that makes sense. Anyway, that type of music (Jazz/Chill/Acoustic) has definitely proven itself to be my favorite in the past few months. I could live off of it for the rest of my life. :)



(This one is a classic, but I've grown to love basically every single song she has ever recorded. Remarkable.)

Second, I'm looking forward to a very healthy, fitness-filled summer. I've already started trying to eat healthy foods. I don't really want to get into counting calories or any of that nonsense, but when I go to the store I only buy things that are good for me. It forces me to eat well and I think it's working. There's this salad that I've been making to take to work most days and it is absolutely delicious! If you're interested, I just tear off some romaine lettuce, put it straight into a tupperware container, dump in a little corn and black beans from cans I keep in the fridge to last all week, then I put in a bit of salsa (hardly any calories!) and finally a tiny bit of "lite" southwest ranch dressing. It is amazing and pretty healthy too! But yeah, there are great options out there to eat well. I have definitely been avoiding buying packaged goods lately, which is usually to the dismay of the cashier at the grocery store when I pile on the bags and bags of produce that she has to key in... Oh well! I also signed up for a membership to the local fitness center. I get a discounted membership through my job, which absolutely made my day when I found out. So now I'm going to go to spinning class, yoga and Pilates this summer!

Well, that's about it. I also have made a resolution to go to bed earlier. I need to put an end to this "staying up until all hours of the morning" business. So it is 11:48 p.m. right now and I intend to go to sleep very soon, but we'll see how that goes. A valiant effort couldn't hurt. :)

Cupcakes, Anyone?

It is late and I am tired. But I still wanted to write something. So I went to my new job for the first time today! Mostly just to fill out paperwork, but it was still so exciting! I go in again tomorrow.

Also, I love cupcakes. That probably sounds random, but my roommate and I went to the Cocoa Bean tonight and it was delicious like always. But that also reminded me that I was going to post pictures of the cupcakes that I've been making recently.

I made cupcakes that looked like apples for a group presentation in one of my teaching classes last semester. I think I had too much fun making them. :)


Close up!


Then I got on this kick of making spice cupcakes. The cake mix was super cheap and all I had at home was cheap vanilla frosting, but it turned out to be so good! It tasted like super fancy cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, but it cost me less that 3 dollars to make two dozen...


So delicious...I got a bit obsessed and had to take a break from baking so many cupcakes.

I also made pastel cupcakes for my family at Easter, but I don't have a picture of them.

Anyway, so there was my little plunge into the world of cupcakes. I also got really into watching Cupcake Wars and shows like that. I was already obsessed with cake baking after watching Cake Boss all last summer. I even made my mom's birthday cake last July using fondant and everything! It's very fun and I would bake tons more if I wasn't trying to eat healthier. Today was a lapse in self-control for sure, but hopefully I'll be doing myself a favor by laying off the cupcake baking for a while. :)

Change

So spring is here, officially. Today is gorgeous. When I walked to the mailbox in my shorts, flip flops and "I heart NY" shirt, I could even feel the warmth of the sun! Utah weather is a sporadic thing, so that's saying something.

Spring is a time of change. And change can be good or bad. I've already had my fair share of both this spring. Change is always hard, but there is always good to be found in it. I won't give any details at this point in time, but last week was not a great week for my family. However, this week has brought many wonderful and exciting things into my life and I'm very grateful. It's funny how things seem to work out that way sometimes.

With warmth in the air and change on the wind, I feel like I'm moving into a new stage of life and I think it's already underway.

Embracing the Blogosphere

I have spent more time than is normal on blogging today. I woke up very early (for me) to get ready for my 8:00 a.m. class and get there on time. It was Instructional Technology in Teaching and we already learned how to write some basic html codes. Never thought I would learn that, but I did! It was pretty fun too.

I went straight from that class to a surprisingly engaging Korean history class. I think I'm actually going to enjoy this face-paced, condensed spring term. But anyway, we are also required to start a blog just for that technology class and so I spent way too much time designing that blog. If you feel the need, you can check it out here :) {And yes, I did just implement my awesome html coding skills right there.}

So basically I spent a ton of time figuring out the design for that blog, revamping this blog, and helping Tatiana figure out how to spice up her current blog so that she can use it to document her adventures in Spain. I am certainly loving and embracing the world of blogs.

I also spent a good chunk of my evening cooking dinner (and advance preparing my lunch and dinner for tomorrow). I have been super into cooking and baking lately. I went on cupcake rampage a few weeks ago. I made cupcakes that looked like apples, 2 rounds of spice cupcakes, and some awesome pastel Easter cupcakes too! I'll post some pictures later of my recent baking endeavors, but I think I'll be laying off the sweets for awhile. Not just because I overdosed on sugar in the past few weeks, but also because I'm really wanting to eat healthy this summer! I think I got off to a good start today.

Megan's mini menu of the day--Total whole grain cereal with strawberries and 1% milk, chicken nachos for lunch using shredded cheese made with 2% milk and tomato (surprisingly more healthy than you'd think and very filling too), baked meatballs for dinner. I used extra lean beef, egg substitute, 1 slice of whole wheat bread and some onion. Everything was delicious and so much better for me than fast food, junk food, or any of that packaged garbage that is usually a staple in a college student's diet. Plus, it gave me a great opportunity to roll my sleeves up and get in the kitchen. :)

Later, I watched Step Up 3 with my roomie. Afterward, we had a dance party in our kitchen. It was pretty legit too. It was so amazingly fun though and it was a serious workout. We are planning dance parties all summer.

Okay, well that's pretty much it for now. But before I go, here is my...

New Love of the Week: Ingrid Michaelson's music

Yep, more html code...It's more enthralling than you think.

Its times like this when I really miss playing my euphonium.

Winding Down

Overall, today was a good day. It was the last day of classes this semester and I have mixed feelings. It just seems like this semester went by far too quickly...but I guess I shouldn't complain. I had my last Adolescent Development class and it made me realize how much I actually learned. It was also completely entertaining because we got to sit through more presentations about the Up Series kids.

In case you aren't aware of the Up Series...it is a documentary series that follows individuals since they were age 7 and they track them down every 7 years to do another installment. The latest version is 49 Up. We were assigned in pairs to basically become an expert on one of the Up kids. Thus, my fascination with Nicholas Hitchon. Apparently he is a professor at the University of Wisconsin. He is just the cutest thing ever, even now. Maybe it's just the British thing.

I guess it's kind of creepy that I have such feelings of endearment towards a man who is probably around 55 years old, but I can't help it. I mean, look at his face for goodness sake! I cannot wait until the next installment in the series comes out and if my calculations are correct, that should be next year!

Anyway, moving on...I did the dishes during my break after Adolescent Development while jamming to Billy Joel's "For the Longest Time" and then watched some more of the Up Series with my roommate, Bree. But that was cut short due to my 5:00 Living Prophets class. Back to campus. I really enjoyed that class though too, so it was somewhat sad to leave it forever.

After I came home I decided to watch The Last Song and proceeded to become an absolute mess throughout the rest of the evening because, even though I love tear-jerkers, I just can't handle all of the depressing sadness and I end up crying hysterically. It was a good movie though for the most part, aside from the fact that I can't stand Miley Cyrus' acting.

Also I have to mention that Liam Hemsworth has the most dashingly handsome good looks I have ever seen. Check him out!

For the past hour I've been looking up an intense assortment of blogs...from fashion blogs to my friends' personal blogs to strangers personal blogs to wedding blogs and so on. So of course I felt the need to tend to my own blog. Sorry this has been a rambling session, but I realized that I do need to get better at documenting my life. After I talked to Tatiana tonight about how she and Andrew first started dating (because I realized I didn't even know the entire story) and trying to remember details with her about our band trips to Seattle and San Diego, I came to the conclusion that I do not want to let future details of my life slip through the cracks like I have allowed in the past.

But that's all for now. Voy a escribir pronto.

P.S. We did end up remembering that we stayed at the Embassy Suites in both Seattle and San Diego (Bellevue and La Jolla respectively).

P.P.S. I was randomly searching YouTube and I found clips from the Matthew Broderick/Kristin Chenoweth version of The Music Man and now I'm sucked in. It's getting late, but oh well! No classes tomorrow, right? hehe. Goodnight my someone... :)

Mental Notes on the Last Day of March

Today is an absolutely gorgeous day! I woke up bright and early this morning to pick up Hilary and head over to Orem Junior High to do some observation. I seriously love that school, and surprisingly really want to teach middle school/junior high now more than I want to teach high school. Who'd a thunk?

Anyway, so I'm trying to get motivated enough to finish my electronic session for multicultural education. But it's about policies and programs, which is quite possibly the most confusing thing to ever exist on the earth, so you can't really blame me for wanting to sort out my mind first.

Also, I'm very excited because I'm going to go home tomorrow and take pictures! Yay! I'm going to try my hand at senior pictures and my unfortunate brother is going to be my guinea pig. Tatiana also wants to tag along so I can take her picture too. So I guess if anyone else wants to join, be my guest! haha. But I'll post some of those later...if they actually turn out okay...

There was one more thing I wanted to mention, but I cannot for the life of me remember what it was...boo. Somehow I feel like it was the reason for this post in the first place. Hmmm...

Oh, yes! Wow, it's not as momentous as I'd thought. I just watched the episode of The Office where Michael proposes to Holly and Oh. My. Gosh. Adorable? Absolutely! That was so amazing I can't even get over it. Also, the look on everyone's faces when they realize that Michael is leaving. Priceless. Amateurs don't write this stuff, people. I love The Office and I love Michael Scott. So, inevitably I am heartbroken at this moment in time. Haha.

Well, I'd better finish my assignment on education policies for ELL students! Have a lovely, beautiful, sunny day.

hehe...

So if you haven't already figured it out, I stopped doing the photo blog challenge. I could have kept going but I realized that no one was probably even looking at them and it was taking forever to find good pictures, not to mention I was beginning to lose the feel of the challenge. They were either too easy or stretched to cover the topic. Anyway, I'm out on that one. Maybe I'll do a different challenge over the summer, but it will most likely be me posting my photography because I plan to throw myself into that one all summer. I can't wait! But as for now, yeah, no more photo challenge pictures. But have a lovely day!

I just woke up this morning to drive my roommate to school, because she's on crutches due to a broken toe. :( So now I should read the chapter in my adolescent development book about social development, but I think you might be able to understand when I say that I'm not dying to crack that book open. It's a Monday for sure.

Day (10)

One-tenth of the way there! Yayyy!

I really like today's post...my favorite food! It's very hard to decide, but I had to go with my favorite meal at the moment: Zupa's Honey Bacon Club, New England Clam Chowder and a chocolate-covered strawberry. Oh. My. Gosh. I want to go there right this second.



I also really enjoy egg rolls and smoothies. Not necessarily together.

Day (9)

Eck. I do not like the idea of posting a picture of my bedroom in its current state...but I'll do it anyway.

I'll admit I tidied up a little... :) (but just a little, I promise!)

Day (8)

A picture of a talent of mine, huh? Okay, well. I LOVE music, if you haven't already figured that one out. So, this is one of the weirdest senior pictures I had taken. Mostly just because my face looks so intense and awkward, but I really like that it's a picture of me and my lovely instrument!