Christmas Wish List

I don't really want much for Christmas. So here's just a little list that I'll add on to if anything catches my fancy...

-Black dress from target (Merona Neck Pleat dress- black)

-Perfume- Miss Dior Cherie

- Jane Austen Collection (it's one big book/ green with gold scroll on it... it looks old fashion)

Music Makes the World Go Round (and Christmas come faster!)

I love the iPod. it truely was one of the most genius inventions in this century. Here's a list of my favorite artists on my iPod at the moment...

-Mates of State

-Vampire Weekend

-The Weepies

-Billy Joel (He totally started the fire ;D)

-Sting

-The Police

-David Bowie (he makes dance magic)

-The Beattles

-ABBA

-Arcade Fire

-Louis Armstrong

-Edith Paif

- Postal Service/ Death Cab for Cutie

- Snow Patrol

-Billie Holiday

-Bette Midler

- The Fray

-Third Eye Blind

-Josh Groban (CHRISTMAS!!!)

-Bing Crosby

I can go on and on. I'm am really getting into my christmas music at the moment. Here are some of my most favorite Christmas songs...

-Go Tell it on the Mountains (the Nylons)

-The First Noel (Nat King Cole)

-Santa Baby (Eartha Kit)

-I Saw Three Ships (Nat King Cole)

-It Came Upon a Midnight Clear (Josh Groban)

-Santa Clause is Coming to Town (Fred Astaire)

-I'll be Your Santa Baby (Rufus Thomas)

-The Christmas Song (Natalie Cole)

-White Christmas (The Drifters)

-Santa Baby (Eartha Kit)

-Run Run Rudolf (Chuck Berry)

-5 Pound Box of Money (Pearl Bailey)

-Winter Wonderland (Aretha Franklin)

-Santa Clause, Santa Clause (Louis Jordan)

-We Want to See Santa Do the Mambo (Big John Greer)

-Baby its Cold Outside (Ann Margret and Al Hirt)

-Merry, Merry Christmas (Koko Taylor)

-I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm (Billie Holiday)

-I Got My Love To Keep Me Warm (Dinah Washington) --- Sounds JUST like Mrs. Pickering!!!

-I'll be Home for Christmas (Fats Domino)

-I'll be Home for Christmas (Josh Groban)

-Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas (Judy Garland)

-Christmas Story (Doris Day)

-Joy to the World (Aretha Franklin)

- Happy Holidays (Bing Crosby)

-Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree (Brenda Lee)

-Happy Holiday (Johnny Mathis/ Cece Winans)

-It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year (Johnny Mathis)

-Angels We Have Heard on High (Josh Groban)

And a good thanksgiving song... "Thankful" by Josh Groban

College 'Lympics

After a Stake Dance, I came home and needed to stretch, so I did some 'Lympics on my bed.

This is Maura's 'Lympics


I felt very stretched!

H8te from Proposition 8

Proposition 8 has been a very big deal here at BYU-I. There are tons of rallies and service projects trying to pass prop 8. If you don't know what it is, its a law they're trying to pass in California to legalize gay marriage by clarifying the meaning of marriage between a man and a woman. The LDS church has put a TON on money and effort into helping this law and because of this, the church has received a huge amount of persecution, even on TV. This is one of the horrible ads that was aired...

Home Invasion- Mormon Missionaries

Holder Wedding

Today was Mitch and Jessie Holder's wedding. For a favor, I did the flowers for Mitch's mother Debbie. I'm so proud of myself! My mother taught me well...

The mother of the Groom, Debbie Holder. She's my favorite!

The table setting arrangement. I didn't actually make THIS one, there was a girl who helped and this is the one she made. It was the closets so I took a picture of it, but mine were better!

The centerpiece of the bridal table. I didn't actually make this one. It was bought from a florist who did a HORRIBLE job. So I gutted it and put in ALL of the yellow roses, so I did most of it!

The bridesmaids Bouquet

The Brides Bouquet!

Halloween!

Mrs. Incredible, the mermaid, the cowboy, the American Girl-doll, and the show girl

I drew mermaid-y stuff on my face

my delicious ghost cookie

Mermaid vs. Madonna

Anna, Maura, Me, and Chelsea in our Halloween-decorated window

This Halloween was so much fun! I went as a mermaid. I hung out with Sarah and Jess while they got dressed up as Madonna(s). Then I made Halloween cookies with some friends before we headed out to the Halloween Dance on campus. It was pretty sweet. It was me (the mermaid), Mary (Mrs. Incredible), Jojo (Molly the American Girl-Doll), Katie (the cow girl), and their roommate that show girl. It was pretty sweet. The dance was pretty lame (not many people danced) but it was still fun to go out and get dressed. And thankfully the only scary thing that happened that night was when a guy dressed in a gorilla costume jumped out at us from a bush!

From the Mouth of Babes

I just got this e-mail from Shelly. It's a very distraught Susanna, after finding out that I had to kiss a boy for a dare (thanks Gabe... good one). Here's the e-mail...

"Susanna sat behind me in the car on the way home from school, just DISPAIRING!  Here's a ver batem recap:
 
"Poor, poor Auntie.  I am just so disappointed of her.
She kissed a boy.  You know, THAT boy!  
And now she has to marry him.
She HAS to marry him!  HAS TO!"
 
Let me know when the wedding will be!  HA HA"

I guess I'm just going to have to marry Thomas now. BTW here's a link to the incident in question...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DB9v_VSYoqs

Boys Do NOT Read

Today was a really exciting day. Mary, Sarah and I went to WALMART!!!! I know, really lame when going to Walmart is your only source of entertainment but it's true, there really is nothing else to do here. So I bought a birthday present for Joe and some necessities. One of which was a bra. I have lost enough weight here at school, that my bras no longer stay on my body. So I bought ONE bra to last my until at least Thanksgiving. Thank goodness Walmart is so cheap. It was only $7, but the BEST part was the fact that it is... LEOPARD PRINT!!! I was so excited about it. Pretty bras always make me feel pretty when wearing them. I'm not worried about posting this, because I still know that the only people who look at this are family and girl friends, so no panicking...

My Babies, But not really

My Big Man- Scotty (Future James Bond of dancing)

My Little Man- Luke

Sweaty-Head Susanna (AKA Dancing Machine)

One thing that makes up for the fact that all Hallmark children have big heads is that we make stinkin' cute kids. They are always a huge source of entertainment. Whether Susanna's singing, Scott's knowledge, and Luke's talent for yelling like Tarzan. I love these kids so much. I remember after Shelly and Jon adopted Scott, and they were pregnant with Susanna I thought "How can I love this baby as much as I love the one we already have?" "Will I be able to love her as much as Scott?" The answer is YES! Then we got the news that Joe and Stacey were expecting; I thought to myself "I can't imagine loving another baby as much as those two kids."
But as it turns out, I CAN! In fact I love those kids more and more each year. It just truly amazes me that the capacity of the heart is ever growing, forever loving.

"Sisters... Sisters... There were never such devoted sisters..."

I was driving home for a weekend at Provo, Utah. On my journey back to Rexburg I saw a sign that said 'Shelley Ave.' It reminded me of my sister Shelly. If you haven't met my sister (which most of you have since pretty much only family reads my blog), she's my +15 years- Twin. She's the reason that the rest of us Hallmark siblings have no talents because she sucked up all the creative genes. She's the world's best cook, the most awesome sower, the fastest reader, most creative scrapbooker, and she always gives the coolest presents (known fact). She was there on the infamous first trip to Disneyland. And for ever other amazing experience that has ever happened in my life, she's pretty much been there... making it ten times for fun. We're completely different but she's one of my best friends. I love you Shelly!

Dreaming of Disneyland

I once read that "dreams are wishes in your subconscious". If that is true, then my subconscious wishes to be in Disneyland. Ding ding ding! When do I NOT want to be in Disneyland?!

Last night I had a dream. I was in Disneyland with my best friend Gabrielle Murphy. We were sitting in the Victorian Restaurant watching a parade. Suddenly I remembered that I was supposed to be in that parade, so when I saw the Little Mermaid float, I jumped on. Then I told the Ariel (who was my friend Sarah from 325) that I'm there and she needs to leave, from there I pushed her off. I then proceeded to sing "Part of Your World" then I noticed that my sister was supposed to be there so she could sing Aquata's part of the song. There really is no part for Aquata in that song, but my subconscious wished it so there was. I looked down into the crowd where I saw Shelly waving in the crowd. So using one hand I strongly pulled her up were we both continued to sing together. I looked up and Gabrielle was dressed as Sleeping Beauty and gave us a thumbs up for our singing.

That was only the Disneyland portion of the dream. The rest continued on and was completely random. But the point is that even though I'm not in Disneyland, I can always go there in my dreams- to the Happiest Place on Earth!!!!

Photo by Gabrielle Murphy

Mother's Weekend

Me, Mother, and our favorite treat, Arctic Circle :D

This weekend has been the most fun since school started. My mother flew down from Seattle for Mother's weekend. There were a ton of things going on and seminars. But we decided we were too cool for those (we already know how to be "Exemplary Women"... it was one of the seminars). So instead, we spent the whole weekend hanging out and watching movies and shopping at Walmart (it's all there is here). We watched 'Phantom of the Opera', 'The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning', 'Muppets in Space', and 'The Importance of Being Earnest'. We also went to the ONLY movie theater here and saw the movie 'Eagle Eye' with Shia LaBeouf. It was SO GOOD! I won't spoil it for you because you must go see it yourself.

We slept in, painted nails, ate out, and talked. It was completely relaxing and fun. We even got to play in the snow a little bit. I was extremely sad to see her go. But Thanksgiving is coming soon! (44 days today Mom!)

Snow Buddy-Bunnies

Me, Mary, Sarah, Chelsea, and Brooke
Me and Mom standing in the falling snow
Proof that I really am there... in the snow

This weekend was Mother's weekend. And of course, it snowed! It was pretty nice because mother and I got to see it. But it is so nice to have a warm cosy apartment to stay in and watch movies,

"Appreciate" What Others Wear

So Sarah, Mary, and I were at the cafeteria for lunch. While we were sitting enjoying our meal, I noticed a very nice looking young gentleman. He was wearing very stylish black thick-rimmed glasses, a nice collared shirt and a sweater over the top. He was 'fine'... so I asked my friend if I should go over and tell him how nice he looked. Foolishly she told me to go for it. So even more foolishly, I did... I walked up to him and said, "I just wanted to say, I really like the way your dressed." He smiled at me and thanked me. Then STUPIDLY my mouth threw up and said "Yeah, I really appreciate it." APPRECIATE IT?!?! He looked at me like I was a freak so I turned around and beckoned for Sarah to follow me as I made a hasty escape. URG! (Or in the words of Sarah... YARG!) I was so STUPID! TOTALLY blew my chances. So that's my idiot action for the week, stay tuned for what Holly will do next week...

Dang You! I Said NO!!!

Well, my previous blog about snow must have truly jinxed me. Yesterday I was walking to lunch with my friends Jessica and Sarah when we noticed that small white flakes were falling from the sky, but it quickly turned to rain so we thought we must have been imagining things. But then, those imaginary white flakes turned to soft white clumps of cotton. By this time we were walking out of Cold Stone, wondering why the heck we were buying ice cream on such a cold day anyways (BUT IT WAS WORTH IT!!! Ghirardelli chocolate ice cream ;D). But no worries, it didn't stick thank goodness! But soon, I can just smell it in the air!!!!

No, Not Doctor Hallmark... NURSE HALLMARK

So thanks to my mother forcing me to learn first aid and to the doctor-genes I have from my father. I am prepared for any bumps or bruises on the way through life; both mine and others. I was able to use my skills on behalf of Mary (with her graceful fall in relief society) and Brooke (with her gutsy moves on the field during the Ward soccer game). Life, bring it on!

Mary's wrapped ankle
Me in the process of wrapping her ankle
Brooke being a chicken. You'd think I was pouring acid, it was just Hydrogen Peroxide!

Say No to Snow!

So the wards here have intramural sport. My friends Jessica and Brooke and then one of my roommates Liz are in the team for our ward. So I went with Mary and Sarah to go support them. We have gone to the other games and they had been really fun. But not tonight, especially since I couldn't see any of it. I was too covered with blankets... It was almost 25 degrees! This afternoon, the high temperature was a scorchin' 35 degrees. I was so cold!!! WHAT AM I GOING TO DO WHEN THE TEMPERATURE GETS UP TO THE NEGATIVES!!!! 

Why College is so fun...

So there is a ton of construction all around campus, all the time. It is such a pain. But when Sarah, Jessica, Candace and I were walking to get lunch we saw this sign in the construction area. So we ran out to it (even though it said construction only :D). We were just goofing around.

FREAKY MOVIE!!!!

This was the freakiest movie I've seen in a long time! So last night, we had nothing to do. Sarah, Jess and I were going to watch "Hot Rod" with a friend named Miles. But all of the TVs were in use, so we weren't able to. So We called up our friend Brooke who was watching some scary movie called "The Descent" with some friends. She invited us over, so we headed to Somerset apartments to watch it at some guy's apartment from the ward.

I was scared out of my pants! Not literally though... The movie involved a group of friends (all female... bad sign right there) who decided to go caving in an unknown cave (HELLO?! Smokin' boots!), in the cave they got lost, then stuck because a part of the cave collapsed (ofcourse...) and then, how could the movie get any better without mutant human-eating people! Miles throughout the whole movie kept saying "I hate to be in this situation" or "this situation just can't get any worse!" No kidding Miles.

Anyways, I wasn't too freaked out because I didn't actually see most of the movie. I had my face covered most of the time, watching through my fingers. And I don't know how it happened, but in the end of the movie, pretty much Brooke, Sarah, and Jessica all ended up on top of me, so I wasn't afraid of being the first one to be attacked if the mutants happened to be real, especially since I completely surrounded.

And then, to make matters worse(!) all of my roommates were not home. Some had left to go to Salt Lake for conference and the others were sleeping at friends. There was NO way I was staying home alone after that! So instead I slept over at 365. Ofcourse it didn't help that Sarah kept hearing mutant noises (oh man I got them good when they sent me after one of those mysterious noises! Hahaha!). But needless to say, I survived without any encounter from any mutants... 

My Domain

My Resting Ground
My Family Wall (they look more crooked in the photo)
My Desk/ Home Office/ Movie Theater/ Dining Room
My Bulletin Board and favorite birthday car of Pepe the King Prawn

This is my beautiful room. My haven, my home away from home. It's small but really comfortable, and my roommate's hilarious. her name is Maura Millard and she refused to comment or be photographed on the basis that she was not showered, more to come in the future...

The Real Deal Meal

The Genius at work

The masterpiece

Thumbs up from Mary

Brooke is also very happy

Holly is EXTREMELY happy

My dear, sweet, amazing friend struck a bargain with me. If I drove her to Walmart a couple times, then she would cook for me on Sunday. Well, I must say that I could die happily right now. She made the most amazing enchiladas that were so quick but so beautiful that not even angels could be compared to them! Just a warning though, the side-effect of this exaggeration could be from the fact that I have been living off of crackers with cheese and salad for the last three weeks. Let's just say, it is possible to loose weight on crackers and cheese...

The best thing about college... drinking straight out of the carton!

Me and my chocolate milk

That's right, straight from the carton

I needed to treat myself. So when my friends Brooke and Mary asked me to take them to the grocery store (in return I get a home cooked meal!!!) I bought myself a carton of chocolate milk!!! I was so excited. But because of my college-given laziness, i wasn't willing to get a perfectly clean cup dirty just so i would have to clean it again. So the genius thought occurred to me that I could just drink it straight from the box. It was genius and very fulfilling. Sorry Mom.

Room 365

Me, Mary, and Sarah
Me, Sarah, and the HR's daughter

So, I don't really remember how I met them, but I made friends with them. Basically we've gotten close enough that I can just pull a "Lisa Tracy", meaning that I don't knock when I come in. They joke around that I was the stray cat that was adopted. 

-Mary is the one that refers to herself in third person and enjoys doing interpretative dancing to Disney Music. I love our conversations, her random sayings have covered our famous quote-wall

-Brooke is the beautiful hispanic girl who can dance better than Shakira and is the Relief Society President. She's fun to hang out with, we've had some awesome times. She's my workout buddy.

-Candice is the heart of the group. She's the one who keeps us in check by constantly reminding us how lame we are. She also humors us with her presence and her unique sense of style.

-Sarah is my adorable friend. She has an amazing sense of style. She laughs at everything I say and seems to be a source of great hilarity for Mary.

-Jessica is the transportation provider and the dance-party organizer. She is most famous for her giant pink pepper spray on her key chains. The same pepper spray that almost blinded me when myself and a friend of Sarah's went after a mysterious noise in Sarah's dark room.

I just love those girls!!!

My 19th Birthday

The delicious meal at Apple-Bees!
My roommates Anna, Maura, and Chelsea (minus Liz)
Me, Mary, and my Twinkie birthday cake

Mary, Me, Brooke, Candice (Jess and Sarah are MIA)

September 18th was my 19th birthday! So for my birthday I went out to dinner with all my roommates and my newest friends from Apartment 365. We went to Apple-bee

s, it was SO amazing to have an actual MEAL!!!

Afterwards we came back home where I opened my presents from my family and had my marvelous cake. Because we couldn't bake an actual cake, my Mother sent me a box of Twinkies with candles and matches. So we constructed a cake-like tower of Twinkies and li

t up the candles. But don't tell the Head Resident, because we're not allowed to have candles. It was so much fun!

A New Start

I, following in the footsteps of many of my friends, have decided to create a blog about the goings-on in my life. In this blog I'm going to document the awesome times of which I'm having here at BYU-Idaho.

I have made some amazing friends here at BYU-I Do. Shout out to room 365! But I totally miss my home. Strangely I haven't really been homesick. True, I cried once while talking to my dog on Webcam, but thats just because I miss my boy! It hasn't really sunk in yet that I'm here at college. Or the fact that I'm not living at home. But I'm totally comfortable in my cute little room. I'll post pictures soon. 

Have a happy Holly Day!