December came and went. Frankly, I'm glad. I loved that I got to see my aunt and uncle that live in Japan, my grandparents, and my cousins, but the second Christmas without my mom was much more difficult to get through then the first. On top of the day, Christmas day was a sad day, as the Lakers lost to the Heat. =(
I also did not love the amount of snow that I had to deal with. In case you don't know, this is my first real winter. I am a spoiled California girl. The weekend that my Aunt DeNece arrived in Salt Lake I went up to their condo in Midway, which is about 45 minutes up Provo Canyon. I intended to leave on Monday morning as I had to work at 3pm. Mother Nature had a different idea. Half way down the canyon an oil rig had tipped over due to the ice on the roads, spilling the oil over the two lanes. According to the police officer the roads would be blocked four at least six hours. So, I turned around and went up the icy roads of the canyon back to Midway. My cousin, Charity, was at work so I stopped by the hotel she worked at and picked up the keys. Now, the condo is up a somewhat steep hill and steep mixed with ice equals scary. I wasn't sure what to do about that so I decided to drive down the road I was on a little longer. I think by this point there was at least a foot of snow on the ground. I could be exaggerating. All I know is there was A LOT of snow. So I'm driving down the road which quickly turns into driving up the road as I began a steady incline into a neighborhood of homes. I don't think I made it halfway up before I got stuck. My back end was fishtailing and I couldn't move forward. A nice, generous man with a snow plow got out of his car and told me I would be able to go in reverse and back into a driveway and turn around. I indeed was able to do that. I decided to brave the mini mountain that my family's condo was on, as one of the two roads to get to the condo was open. When I arrived at the condo, I sat in the living room and asked myself, "Why did I move here, again?" My Aunt DeNece, who made it down the Provo Canyon before the oil spill, arrived a couple of hours later. There are two ways to get to Midway. If you are coming from Orem/Provo and surrounding areas it's fastest to take Provo Canyon. If you are coming from the Salt Lake Area it's fastest to take that canyon. I'm not sure what the name of the canyon is, but I will just call it the "Salt Lake Canyon". My Aunt DeNece had a variety of errands she had to run so she started in Provo and made her way up to Salt Lake, so by the time she was ready to go home she was in Salt Lake and was able to take the "Salt Lake Canyon", which was not affect by an oil spill. I ended up spending the night at the condo again and the three of us went to an activity at Charity's church. On the way back to the house, we attempted to conquer the mini mountain that the condo is located on with no such luck. The car actually ended up spinning on our way back down to the bottom of the road. It was quite scary. I think I aged about ten years...
January was a difficult month for me. As most know, my little brother, Richie, passed away on January 1st. I went home for the funeral two weeks later. I can honestly say that was just as difficult if not more difficult then losing my mom. Not to say that my mom being gone is ever easy, but it was comforting to know that I was an orphan in good company, as my younger siblings and I were experiencing the same loss. With Richie passing away my family had been cut in half. After suffering that loss, I was also struggling with some boy issues. Man, I'm glad that month is over.
February came and went, nothing much to report there.
March came and I was 100% ready for Spring Break. My roommate and friend (she complains that I always refer to her as my roommate, which is "so immpersonal"), Dianna, and I decided to go to Orange County for the five days of Spring Break, which a stop in Las Vegas each way. Dianna, who is the reigning Miss Beaver County America and will be competing in Miss Utah this summer (GO MISS BEAVER COUNTY!!!!), had a friend competing in the Miss San Diego pageant, so we did make a quick visit to Poway, which is in the San Diego area. Unfortunately her friend did not win, but it was a good show. When we got back to our house in Utah we realized that we basically had one month of school left. Unlike Orange County, colleges in Utah start the semester at the beginning of January which means we get out at the end of April.
So now, April is here. I have three weeks left of the Spring semester, I get a week off, and then Summer semester starts. I decided to take summer courses because I only took three classes this semester and I need to catch up. Two of the courses are online, though, and they are pretty easy courses. I'm not too concerned about them. I am also taking a half semester course that starts in May and ends at the end of June, so I will still have almost two months of summer when that's over.
I don't think I mentioned this before, but I did move into a new house at the very end of November. It is literally right next to my school and with the weather being as nice as it's been (except for today), I'm definitely going to start walking to school. I also have two fabulous roommates. I didn't have the best experience with roommates in California, but I also lived with people who were at least ten years older then me, so this has been the first time I have lived with girls my own age. Originally, there were five girls in our house but due to some legal matters there are now only three and it will stay that way until our contracts end.
We generally spend our time staying up until 3am watching Youtube videos and funny movies and talking about life, and then complain the next morning how tired we are and how much class we've missed because of staying up so late and how we vow to not stay up so late... that has yet to happen. We go out to dances, dinner, the mall, basketball games, etc. It's been fun living with them.
This past school year has been such an experience! I have made some great friends that I hope to keep forever. I have learned so much about myself since moving here and I don't regret one moment of it. With that being said, I am itching for a new adventure. I'm not sure what that means or where I will be headed, but I figure while I'm young, in school, and single I need to explore the world as much as possible. I am going to work updating this blog monthly, so stay tuned to find out what my next adventures will be!!
p.s. I am transitioning back to blonde. =)
