spring has sprung in my heart

Four weeks from today, i'm donezo with my undergrad forevahhh. I was sad, but now I'm excited. Today a friend from class asked me how my senioritis is. I was so embarrassed to tell her that a) I love school, and b) working hard is engrained in my brain and I have not slacked off even one ounce. Go me.

Girls camp planning is well under way. I am getting so excited. Raise your hand if you ever thought you'd hear me say I'm excited for girls camp! No one? Oh yeah. This is happening.

So I'm interning at an assisted living place, which I love. I'm in the Alzheimer's and dementia unit, and let me tell you, it is a hoot and a half. For example, let's consider three events that have happened in the past week:

1. The activities director Linda is trying to help a man sit down in a chair. She turns around for thirty seconds. The poor man got his chairs mixed up and failed to see the tiniest, frailest old woman sitting beneath a blanket. So he sits on her. And she just kind of wails, "Oohhhh!" in a very tiny, frail voice.

2. A woman calls me over yesterday. "How are you doing?" she asks. "Wonderful!" I reply. She lowers her voice and whispers, "How's your bottom?" Ummm. My bottom is fine, thank you?

3. Sometimes the residents get really angry that we "don't have the key" to let them out the front door. A lot of them have very important things they need to do, such as meet their parents (so sad) or return a walker to their son. So after a while, they get very frustrated. Yesterday one of the residents said to a CNA, "Well, fine. I hope you feel good when my mother and sister die because you didn't let me out." I'm so sure that will keep the CNA up at night.

Waiting

Everything's just a waiting game right now. Waiting for the end of the semester (twwwwo weeks). Waiting for finals. Waiting for the last term of my undergrad. Waiting for the weekend. Waiting for a trip with my parents in three weeks. Waiting to find someone, anyone, to hire to replace me in this office. Waiting for an email in my inbox. Waiting for clarity on future career/education/life plans. Waiting waiting waiting.

On Saturday we invited Jason's brothers over for pumpkin bread and then went to the BYU spring football game. Oh man I love those boys. They are the best and it was such a fun morning. Jason was so giddy to be at a game. Also the pumpkin bread was bomb so that's always a pleasant surprise because it means maybe the general conference cinnamon rolls I'm going to make on Saturday morning will turn out, too. :)

Monday and Tuesday were a bit of a mess because I was busy making up for the homework/papers I didn't do over the weekend. But by Wednesday my week calmed down and Brianna came over for dinner and we chatted for a few hours and the three of us went for a walk and it was picture-perfect-beautiful weather and I went to sleep a happy girl. I am a happy girl. Even if it means waiting.

juice and work and weddings

We've been drinking juice a lot lately, twice a day. I've gotten my juicing routine down each evening. My PR is 30 minutes from the time the fridge opens to the time the counter is wiped clean.

My boss posted my job on the student job board this week. I get six or seven emails a day with resumes. It's weird to think about somebody else in this job.

My cousin is getting married tomorrow. Jason and I took the day off of work, and I excused myself from class. It's our first self-imposed three-day weekend since the summer, I think. On Monday I woke up and said, "Only three more days of waking up this early!" On Tuesday I woke up and said, "Only two more days of waking up this early!" ...then I found out we're picking my parents up for the wedding, so I have to get up that early on Friday anyhow. It made waking up on Wednesday and Thursday a difficult task.

Being married is nice. I'm constantly on the lookout for peanut butter desserts to spoil my husband with. It makes him happy. I don't even like peanut butter that much. But I sure like to eat it with him.

I got to head up Bingo at the assisted living home yesterday. It was the highlight of my week.

Jason and I have been making puzzles a lot lately. I mean, we've made two in three weeks. That's a lot, I guess. We always intend to finish it by Sunday but it never gets done. Which means it sits on our coffee table for the entire week and makes the whole house look messy. I guess that's what happens when you live in a tiny apartment. But, it's fun and I like it a lot.

life.

I ran five miles yesterday for the second time in two weeks. I'm working up to run 20 miles a week. I miss training for a half marathon. But it's nice to have some running goals after almost a year of lifting weights and doing cardio and not focusing on running. I love running.

Sometimes I think we're too smart with our money. We've been juicing for a month now. By juicing I mean making a smoothie and then straining it through a sieve. It takes a long time and I sometimes wish I was a whale so I could strain the baby chunks out through my teeth. Finally we decided to buy a real juicer. Unfortunately that means waiting for a textbook to be shipped to Amazon so Amazon can buy it from us and give us an Amazon giftcard so we can buy our juicer. Huurrrrryyy, UPS truck. It's only one juice a day, just for lunch, but it gives us a lottt of energy and a lot of nutrients. We like it a lot.

Today is one of those days where I didn't realize how stupid my outfit looks until I got to campus. Embarrassing.

I have very mixed feelings about graduating this summer. On one hand, it's pretty exciting and what I've been working towards for the past four years. On the other hand, I like knowing what I'll be doing six months or a year from now. I like staying in my comfort zone, and school is my comfort zone.

On the bright side, I was basically offered my dream internship last night, so that's something to be excited about. And I'm job-shadowing a girl at an assisted living home who is giving me full reins of the art program. Secretly I'm nervous but I'm also excited.

I run out of things to cook for dinner. My number ones are taco salad (okay that's always my number one. Favorite food right thurrr), bbq chicken salad, Indian haystacks, and crockpot chicken. Sometimes I feel like we mainly rotate between those four meals. I get tired of them. So I make goals to make something new every week, and I do for a while, and then I stop again. I'm in a "stop again" phase. So I gotta get on that.

miscellaneous

I am one hundred percent skeptical of any workout that claims to fix anything in "just five minutes a day!" Pinterest is replete with these workouts. I have never pinned one. I will never pin one. ( I just checked my fitness board to make sure I wasn't lying about this. I wasn't. )

Yesterday I made strawberry freezer jam all by myself for the first time in my entire life. This morning I ate some on some toast for breakfast. It was heaven and I was happy. This afternoon I ate some in my Greek yogurt for lunch. It was even better and I can't stop thinking about it.

That being said, I would take chocolate over fruit any time, day or night, regardless of what food it is. Aka, I happen to know Jason has a brownie in a ziploc baggie on top of the stove at home. The chances that I will eat that at some point tonight instead of some strawberry jam are almost certain.

Writing about chances reminded me of statistics, which I took last fall and which Jason is taking this fall, which reminded me of what classes I am taking, which reminded me of the letter my business finance teacher sent out yesterday. It included this phrase: "In order to enhance your [financial] hero potential, we have much do to. We need to start fast and run hard." One simple sentence, and I hate the class already.

Last night Annie and I went to Smart Cookie and ate some cookies. Namely cinammon sugar cookies with a fat layer of frosting on top. Umm delish? Why did I never think to make cinnamon sugar cookies? It's like a snickerdoodle, only a sugar cookie, and with frosting. Hello!!

I like blogging again right now. It's kind of nice.

I am in dire need of a dress to wear to the wedding tomorrow. We have to be there at 7:30 tomorrow morning. Aka, I have about two hours tonight to make a mad dash to the mall and find a dress. I hope it's successful. I'd really like that.

Family and family and more family

Last week, Jason and I had the uniquely glorious opportunity to spend the weekend at Lake of the Ozarks state park in Missouri. There are a few words I can think of to describe this experience. They include hot, very hot, sweaty, and hot. And fun. We had our Jensen family reunion (my mom's side), and almost every family was able to come. It was in the low 100s, with about 99% humidity, I swear, so I'm not exactly sure it could have gotten hotter if it tried. We spent most of the days in the lake, swimming by the dock, which my poor sunburnt cheeks weren't too thrilled about after a while, but which I loved. Working 40 hours a week hasn't left as much time for playing in the sun this summer as I had hoped.

 

I think this picture makes it fairly evident how hot it was... and  Paige, please don't be mad I still have/wear your  John Meyer shirt...love you!!!

 

Anyhow, I was  absolutely thrilled we were able to go to the family reunion and see my aunts and uncles and cousins and especially my parents and baby sister. I had the best time.

Jason's younger brother Bubba left on his mission yesterday. It absolutely broke my heart, especially when Jason and Bubba were saying goodbye. It is going to be so weird without him around for the next two years. He is the sweetest brother in the world. When I couldn't eat gluten, he would regularly buy me ice cream or gluten-free pies to eat after Sunday dinners. What 19 year old boy even thinks to do that?! He is the best and I am so proud of him.

Tonight is my sister-in-law Whitney's bridal shower and Jason's brother Mike's bachelor party, and Saturday is their WEDDING!! I can't believe it is finally here, after all the months of their engagement. And I am so so so excited for them!!! Now that I don't have to think about/plan/stress over my own wedding, I looovvee weddings. They're so fun. And Jason's sister Annie is home from Virginia from the wedding with her absolutely adorable baby, which I am really excited about. This week has been so family-filled and I have loved it so much. Hooray for summer!


Also p.s., I think reduced-fat Oreos are a joke. That's all.

I like showing off

Today I was in the mood to shake things up on this blog a little bit. Not a lot, mind you, just a bit. So I decided to make a nice little sidebar for this blog. And I thought of some things I like and I thought of some things Jas likes and I wrote a little sidebar, and then I kinda decided, "Maybe I will ask Jason for his input." So I texted that boy and asked, hypothetically speaking, if he had to name a few things that he really, really likes, like, for a blog, for instance, what would he say? And this is what he said:

And I laughed a little bit because all of that is very true. Very, very true. I cannot even tell you how many times I have heard Jason say, "Hey, Amy! Watch this!" and then do some really cool trick. "Hey, Amy! Wanna come watch me throw some football in the backyard?" "Hey, Amy! Wanna see me chug this waterbottle really fast?" In fact, the other day as he was leaving for work, he did a sommersault in the living room for me. Like, what the!! It's charming and it makes me want to pat his head and tell him good job and then give him a big kiss.

So that's what I do.