i'm not together, but i'm getting there

I haven't blogged forever because I have pictures to post along with the blog posts. I'm moving this week so I packed up everything and moved a lot of it yesterday. Including my camera cord. Oops. So here's a very basic, picture-less update of what's going on. I'll have to do a picture post once I finally get settled.

1. I'm not going to Spain. I've posted before about how I was questioning things and not really sure what to do. I was still on the fence until a couple of weeks ago. I was talking to Jaime about things and how stressed I was about everything. Then it hit me. Spain's a no-go. Even if I were to get the required paperwork done in time (which is looking even more impossible now than ever before since I still haven't received my background check from the US that I was expecting at least two weeks ago), I have no money. There's no way I could live for a few months without getting paid. So I made the decision and started looking at options for this fall, which brings me to number 2.

2. I'm moving. A few friends and I found this great house in west Provo. It's not BYU-approved but getting approval hasn't been too hard. And the lack of BYU approval makes it way cheaper. Friends. This is a legit house! Like with a yard and fence and everything! Once we get in and settled, I'll post some pictures of our cozy home. I'm living with one of my current roommates, Aubrey Shuler (going on three years living together!), Jaime, and Jaime's current roommate and our friend Whitney Ehlers. We're super pumped. I'm just super excited to be done with moving. Definitely on my list of top 5 things I hate doing.

3. This move has been especially stressful because on Tuesday night, I'm leaving with some friends to go to southern California for five days. I've never been to California, so I'm whoa excited. (that was for you, Jaime) I said that in Relief Society today and everyone looked at me like I was crazy. I'm from Indiana, people. We don't go to California. We go to Florida. Anyway, going to California isn't the stressful part. The stressful part is that I have to be out of my apartment on Thursday, which is two days after we leave. We can get into our new house also on Thursday. Two days after I leave. So I have to be completely out of my current apartment before I leave for California but can't move in to my new apartment until after I get back. We finally were able to work it out so we could move most of our stuff into the garage, since the people who still have the lease there aren't even living there anymore. It's still been hard, though, because we had to move most of our stuff on Saturday, but then I had to leave out things for these next few days, then I had to leave out a suitcase for California. It's like packing for three different things at once. Lame. But the worst part is over, and I made it.

4. If you'll remember, my car broke down about a month and a half ago. Inconvenient, yes, but not the end of the world since I was moving to Spain in a couple of months anyway. Can't really drive to Spain. But....now I'm not going to Spain. So that meant I had to get a new car. After several weeks of agonizing car shopping (agonizing because I hate researching and searching for things almost as much as I hate moving), I finally bought a car on Tuesday. It's not anything fancy, just a 1999 Honda Civic. But it works for me and it was even a little less than what I'd been hoping to spend so I'm happy about that. AND this means I am now 100 percent independent of my parents! I was doing ok before, but they still owned my car and paid for the insurance. Not no mo. It only took me 25 years to get here, but man, does it feel good. And man, is it expensive. So now I just need to get rid of my other car. Does anyone want a 1998 Ford Contour that needs a new transmission? You just let me know and I will hook you up.

5. Two of my good friends, Aubrey Morrill and Jason Gillespie, got married last week. I was able to go to the sealing, which was a fabulous experience. They're both wonderful people and they've definitely put in the work to get to this point. I've lived with Aubrey the last few months, which has been a lot of fun. I was worried about living with an engaged girl, but she was anything but a bridezilla. She was actually impressively calm and did so much of everything herself. Even made her own bouquet. Amazing. I'm so proud of them and really excited for their future.

6. This fall I'll still technically be a student at BYU. I was able to work things out to keep my job at the MTC through December and to count that as my internship so I can still graduate in December. That means I only have class for an hour a week and I can only work 20 hours a week since it's an on-campus job. That means I'm going to have a lot of free time. I'm hoping to find another job that's only 10 or 15 hours a week and that's pretty flexible so I can work around my very strange MTC schedule. Any suggestions?

To sum up, I'm still living in Provo. Still a BYU student. Still poor. Someday I'll graduate. And someday I'll get to go home and see my family. Someday.