Stress Week!!!

I decided that they need to change the name of finals week to stress week... although for me it is more like stress month! Somedays I hate being an art major... you start working on your final project the beginning of November and that month flies by and before you know it finals week is here and you have to turn it in! I still have 4 other classes! AH! Ok rant over... other then that things are going good. I have been having a great time with my friends going to corn mazes, costume bowling and making homemade carmel apples! I love the creative things we come up with! Next on the list... Brenda's 21st birthday! Its going to be a blast! We are going to the Secondhand Serenade concert and I am so excited! I am looking forward to Christmas break.. it will be nice to kick back and relax for a few weeks before school starts up again...

Nothin Better!

On most days I find my self running around like a chicken with its head cut off. School is keeping me immensely busy and I struggle to find the time in balancing my school, work, and social life. But then again, what college student doesn't. In addition to work, and school I was also called to be the Relief Society secretary for the University 47th Ward. At first I was worried, not knowing what to expect or what to do, feeling like I was completely inadequate and in no way worthy enough to serve in the presidency. For the first week after I got my call I stressed, worried and about every other emotion that can happen. I was worried that I would not be able to handle the school and work load that I already had in addition to a such a wonderful calling. Now I find my self looking back on this past month and realize that I would be completely lost with out this calling. I am working with the most wonderful presidency in the entire world. I find my self amazed at the opportunity I have to work so closely with such an amazing group of girls, I have learned so much from them and feel truly blessed to have gained such amazing friends and sisters. God really does know us and knows what we need in life to survive. As each day passes more homework piles up and other obligations come up but I find my self completely content with where my life is. Despite all the struggles of everyday life and the worries of a college student I am happy, and there is nothin better than that.

Scotland Exhibit

Yesterday I was able to be featured in an Art Exhibit put on by Utah State University. As you know I was able to go to Scotland during the summer as a participant in the Scotland Photography Study Abroad Program. Upon returning we were informed that we were going to be one of the Exhibits in the Tippetts Gallery. So I had eight of my Photographs in the exhibit titled "From the Lowlands to the Highlands, Views of Scotland" It was a pretty neat thing to see my prints up on the walls of a Gallery. One of my prints was also featured in the newspaper along with a quote and a blurb about me. It was pretty cool. I had family support as well as friends join me at the show. A shout out to Mom, Lys, Katie, Raegan, Jordan, Dad and Judy for driving up to Logan to see the show! I really appreciate you guys being there! It made my day! Also a special thanks to Deborah and Jordan for being the best friends and roommates ever and also supporting me in the show! it is pretty neat to say that I have been featured in an exhibit. I look forward to hopefully being in a few more before my graduation from USU!

Scotland!

Well seeing how I have been in Scotland for two weeks I suppose I should up date this here blog! So far I have had an amazing time! We jam pack so much into one day that it sort of feels like I have been here forever but in a good way. I am glad that I have been able to see as much of Scotland as I have! It has been an excellent and I still have two more weeks to go! So far I have tried a ton of Scottish candy and it is super good, but I must say that I miss my peanut M&M's! We have gone on a few hike up to random Loch's and river's and gone to some pretty cool Cathedrals and churches. It has been a cultural experience as well as a huge history lesson. There is so much to learn here! There is also so much to eat! Our Chef here at the castle that I get to live in while I am here is simply amazing! The food has been delicious and dessert is to die for every night! I have even tried Haggas which is the Scottish novelty I guess you could call it... Well I don't really know what else to say there is just to much to sum up to fit on this page! Enjoy the very few pictures I have posted, I have to shoot my pics in RAW format which makes them very very big so here are a few JPGS that should fit!

I don't want to think of a title...

So it has been a while since I have updated my blog, not much has happened but an update is still good. I finished my third year of college, this past semester went by so fast it felt like all I had to do was blink and it was over. I did really well in all my classes, and even survived my photo II class, I know, photo II, doesn't sound like it would be a hard class but from what other photo majors have told me that are farther along than me, it is the hardest photo class in the program, I learned so much, spent hours upon hours upon hours in the black room developing film and hours and hours in the dark room printing all my prints. It was the best feeling walking out of that final critique! I also finished up my drawing classes, I am not a big drawer but I actually liked drawing II, we mostly concentrated on drawing portraits and it was a good experience to broaden my art horizon. Sing Language proved to be the easy "A" that I expected from it, I thought I knew sign language pretty well but taking it again proved that I still had a ton to learn. 2D design was probably my least favorite class of the semester but I made some good friends from that class, we had a blast working on our projects together and turning what would probably be the most boring 3 hour class into a barrel of laughs every day! During this past semester I was officially accepted into the BFA Photography program, they only accept about 10 students a year and over 35 applied, I was way stoked to get in, it is such a relief! I should only have about one and a half to two years left of school depending on how things go. Moving out of the apt. was an experience in it self. I don't understand how your stuff can multiply so much in just a few months! It was sad leaving my roommates but we are all living together again next year so it wasn't as sad as I thought it would be. My Summer is turning out to be pretty much like last summer, working 56 hours a week at 2 different jobs and stuffing in as much play time as I can in between. One major thing that I am doing this summer is quite different than last summer, I am going to be spending a month of my summer in Scotland! I am going over for a Study Abroad Program through Utah State and I am super excited to go! It will be such an amazing experience! I will be updating my blog a lot more while I am over there to keep in touch with everyone and mainly to let my family know that I am alive so there is something to look forward to. Well that is pretty much my life in a nut shell at the moment. But in 27 days it will be much more exciting.

My 21st Birthday!

Well the time has finally come! That time being that I am finally a legal adult... as Alli so lovingly told me on my Birthday, " hey Taisa you are 21 now, you can go to a federal prison!" :) The day started out by me pretending to be asleep while I listened to Deb run around frantically trying to decorate the Apt. Every time she or Jordan would walk by my bedroom door I would close my eyes and pretend to be dead asleep. I have proven to be a pretty good actress because neither of them had any idea that I was awake! Eventually I made it known that I was awake and Jordan wished me Happy Birthday on her way out the door to class. Deb also went to class while I stayed in bed and played on Debs laptop. To my surprise Deb came home early from class and made me breakfast! It was so delicious! After breakfast I started to get ready and Alli surprised me by showing up to spend the day with me! I have amazing friends! Once I was ready Deb and I took Alli around Campus and went to the store. After that we came home and had lunch and played an exciting game of clue! Alli become the master detective and won the game! While we waited for everyone else to get out of class so Deborah could put her secret birthday party bash into action we watched a movie. Once everyone showed up they took me to dinner at Firehouse Pizza, A local place here in Logan. It was delicious and we had a ton of fun! It was so fun to have everyone there! Kim even came back up for the night to join in the festivities. After dinner they took me bowling! If you know me at all I LOVE bowling and we had a terrific time! Alli had what was probably the best game of her life and beat Me, Deb, Jordan, Kim and Brenda! After bowling we went back to the apt. and had cake and dipped strawberries, kiwi, banana's, and marshmallows in chocolate! It was so good! Deb also made virgin Pina Colada's! They were also way good! After that I opened my presents! I got a ipod speaker system from Deb, along with the 1st season box set of Gilmore Girls! I got an Aggie T-shirt and a two pairs of long socks from Jordan, from Alli I got P.S I love you, a target gift card, some scrapbook stickers, and a card that plays "girls just wanna have fun!" After that we just hung out and talked! It was a fantastic 21st Birthday and I can't Imagine it being any better! Thanks guys for everything you did for me! You are AMAZING!!

Ouch, Ouch, Ouch!!!!!

On Saturday our student ward went on a grand adventure to Beaver Mountain! The bishopric had reserved the entire mountain just for our ward to go night boarding/skiing, I have only been Skiing once in my life and did not enjoy it very much so, I decided to give snowboarding a try. I figured, it has to be like wakeboarding right? I can wakeboard so I should be pretty decent on a snowboard! WRONG!! My butt saw more of the snow than my board did. At least the first few times down the mountain. One if the girls in my ward was teaching my roommate Jordan and I and at first we were doing pretty bad. But after a while we got the hang of it.We both finally made it down the mountain without falling and I have to say I was pretty proud of my self. After a while the hardest part for me was getting off the lift. I would get off and be standing and the next thing I knew I was on my butt trying to get out of the way so that the chair wouldn't smack me in the head. I don't know why but for some reason I couldn't stay standing once I got off the lift. As the night progressed I was doing better and better,and Jordan was doing pretty well herself. My last two runs down the mountain proved to be the most difficult in the fact that my legs and arms were so tired from trying to push my self up that when and if I fell I had to wait a few minutes and let my body have a break before I could progress down the mountain. It was then that I decided that I liked wakeboarding better, the boat does all the hard work in pulling you up, all you have to do is make sure you stay upright, it also doesn't hurt as bad when you biff. I would much rather fall in the lake and suffer the occasional wedgie then fall down a mountain of hard snow. Deb proved to be a pretty good skier and I was impressed with her skills, she had only been once before about two years ago but she still seemed to handle it pretty well. Except for when she was standing on flat ground... or when she suddenly started going backwards down what was probably the smallest hill on the entire mountain. So despite the fact that I woke up the next morning with a very sore butt, shoulders, arms, back, and legs the adventure was worth it and I would gladly go again!