Hobbits, and Elves, and Dwarves, oh my!

Christmas this year was pretty low-key.  I enjoyed it, especially since the only thing I was motivated to do after studying for boards was play xbox, or watch Lord of the Rings.  Actually that has become my personal, not to mention super-lame, Christmas tradition.  I just finished all three extended editions of LOTRs last night!  Now I don't even want to think about them for at least another year...  However, I'm pretty excited about the new Hobbit movie that apparently the same director is making.  Yay!

http://youtu.be/G0k3kHtyoqc

It looks pretty good, and I'm excited to see they got the same actor for Gandolf, and the sets appear to be the same.  Get excited, although if I get one more movie to add to my LOTR fest, I might just die.  That is way too much TV, even for me!

Also, my little brother Mitchell just came wandering in.  He had been out on the four-wheeler all morning, and he was completely covered in mud.  Anyway, the first thing he said was "look at my hobbit feet..."  Really?  The mania has spilled over into my entire family, including my mom!

Christmas Boards

Okay guys, I know I said I took my last final ever, which was true, but today I finished Dental Boards part II.  Now I'm really done!  (Assuming I passed... urg...)  This was quite the experience since it was a 500 question, 2-day test spanning everything I have learned in the last four years.  That's right, FOUR years.  Studying has not been pleasant.  Then there is the whole testing environment which is anything but inviting.  Seriously, they make you leave all your earthly possessions outside, provide two forms of ID and a fingerprint, then they search you with a metal detector.  (Sounds a little bit like the airport...)  However, I made the best of it, and wore my pajamas!  There's nothing quite like being able to wear sweat pants to a school-related event when I haven't been allowed to do that for three years!

Needless to say, I was a little bit euphoric when I finished today's section, completing things for good!  Then I had to go home and attempt to put into order what was once my house before flying off to Utah for Christmas.  Yeah, I was a little bit ADHD as I was wandering from room to room packing, cleaning, doing laundry, and shoving away my piles of study materials.  And then, all I could think of was the question I got on the board that day about ADHD.  I still can't remember if ADHD is more common in boys or girls!  Yeah, it's time for a break...  Also, because I was in a slightly altered state of mind when I dropped by the mall today, I bought a really crazy pair of earrings that I most likely will be returning (maybe)!

Anyway, it's official, my holiday has started.  I'm celebrating by hanging out with hundreds of strangers in Denver.  Awesome, huh?

Merry Christmas!!!

Cello envy

My mom sent me another package this last week to help me survive studying for Boards.  (Seriously, I think that's her new hobby, that and finding ornaments for my tree!)  Among other things it contained a CD featuring Steven Sharp Nelson.  He's this awesome cello player whom I love.  Anyways, he and John Schmidt film some sweet music videos, and in the spirit of Christmas, I thought I might share.



These two guys also put on concerts, and I was jealous because my mom went to their Christmas concert yesterday.  She said they even got to go up after and meet him!  Yeah, stupid Boards forcing me to stay in Omaha and study...  Oh yeah, and I really enjoyed this one because, let's face it, I'm a nerd who likes Star Wars!


Seriously, I am really good at finding things to distract me.  I'm currently wading through a bunch of crap on pharmacology... ugh.  Wish me luck!

Obsessions

I recently was made aware of a little problem I have.  Apparently I have an obsession with cheese!

Check this out, I've got five different kinds of cheese happening here!  Mozzarella, cheddar, provolone, cream cheese, and brie...  I even managed to use 4 of them in my enchiladas.  Yum.  (Not the brie, it's too fancy!)  Really, it's an off week when I have less than three cheeses in my house.  If you want a killer grilled cheese sandwich, come on over.  We made some last week, and we managed to stuff five kinds of cheese on those babies!

Speaking of obsessions, right now I'm addicted to techno music.  Judge me if you will, but I love it.

DONE!

Today I took my last final - EVER!!!!

That sounds really weird, especially since I've been in school almost my entire life.  I'm having a hard time grasping that after this May, I'll be completely done with formal schooling.  Okay, I'll be honest, the work isn't over.  I still have to pass my written Part II Boards next week, then I have clinical Boards in April.  Maybe my celebration is a bit premature.  Whatever, I don't care.

LAST FINAL EVER!!!

That felt nice.  Thanks for listening!

Blaming winter

Snow is silly.  I'll tell you why.  It has been the culprit in several stupid things I have accomplished in the last week or so.  Actually, I do stupid things all on my own, but I'm totally going to blame winter if I can!

• It has been freezing, so I've been layering up like nobody's business.  I like it, but then I try to do something useful, and I realize I can't because my arms are like three times bigger than usual.  I tend to knock a lot of stuff over...  

• Driving sucks.  Luckily no people or vehicles (or animals) were harmed, but I did a 720 on the freeway last weekend, and one of my friends did a 360 driving home tonight.  Dangerous!  
• Walking has become hazardous.  Because it's cold, and because I have the most awesome boots, I wore them Sunday to keep my legs warm and dry.  Mission accomplished!  However, because my walk was covered in snow, I missed a step and nearly fell over in my front yard in a dress.  Yikes!  (Did I mention these boots have 4 inch heels?  My bad...)
• Getting out of cars is hazardous too.  There is literally a pile of ice right next to my driver door in my parking space.  Instead of getting out of my car the other day, I just slid from the seat directly to the ground!  At least I was a little closer to the ground, right?  Haha.
• I'm probably going to have a bruise on my forehead tomorrow.  Why?  I got distracted opening my car door and hit myself in the face.  So..... I probably can't blame winter for that.  In fact, this story is so embarrassing I'm considering removing it...  

Now you all know how clumsy I am.  I hope you all got a good laugh out of it, I know I did.  Happy Thursday!!!

Winter time

Winter has officially happened in Nebraska.  More like walked up and slapped me in the face...  Anyway, it snowed, and I'm officially inconvenienced by scraping ice off my car while still attempting to sleep in as much as possible.  Seriously, my ability to push the snooze button has reached epic proportions.  I hate driving in the snow (I may have had a little run-in with some ice, and one of those poles in the median), but even I will admit it's beautiful.

Winter Quarter's temple.

This year my Christmas came out dangerously early.  Well then my awesome mom sent me a package full of extra ornaments for my tree.  Awesome, right?  Too bad I had already decorated, and I'm only slightly OCD about where the ornaments go (ask the old roommates), which made new additions a bit challenging.  I think it turned out pretty well, but if I wanted to use all the ornaments, I need a bigger tree!  Now I have this random montage of red, white, and black on my tree.  Don't worry, it is fully equipped with 6-inch red balls, black and white icicles, random red feather stick thingies, black snowflakes, and a bunch of Utah gear!  (Now do you get the red, white, and black theme?!)

My little Utah Nutcracker!

Speaking of Nutcrackers, I got to go see the Nutcracker last week with my friend Zach.  Creighton put on a performance, and one of the girls in our ward was in it.  I loved it!

 In the meantime, I am supposed to be studying for finals and Boards right now.  Yuck, right?  You know, it's probably a bad thing that the only snack food I find appealing right now happens to be my orange gummy vitamin Cs.  I'm probably going to need to make a serious munchie run this weekend before I overdose on ascorbic acid and diet coke.

Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving I spent with my friend Zach, the missionaries from our ward Elder Wilky and Elder Overson, and a wonderful family here in Nebraska.  They were kind to take in some strays for Thanksgiving.  We had all kinds of delicious appetizers, all the traditional fixings, and a never-ending supply of Diet Coke!  I even went home with leftovers - yum!

Saturday I drove to Des Moines with Zach to see the musical Wicked.  It was amazing!  Have I mentioned how much I like random road trips?  All-in-all a very nice, very relaxing Thanksgiving holiday.

Back in Utah, my parents went to Zion National Park to celebrate with the Brown family.  My mom's birthday was on Thursday, so I called to apologize for not sending her anything.  She told me it was okay, then said it was pretty low-key, and even my dad didn't get her anything.  She then revised her statement, saying he had gone to the store to get her Diet Coke and Cheetos!  I guess that's a pretty good birthday when someone will go to the store just to get you DC and Cheetos.  Love ya, mom!!!

Too early?

Due to Thanksgiving holiday, I only had class on Monday and Tuesday.  Naturally by Tuesday night I was already bored.  Guess what I did?  That's right, I pulled out my Christmas decorations!  I had been holding off till Thanksgiving, and to be fair I'm not the first person in my neighborhood to bust out the decor.  Far from it, actually.  Anyway, I was slightly excited because I got a bunch of new ornaments at the end of the season last year that I didn't get to use until this year, plus I added a bunch of black and red "Utah" ornaments to my repertoire.  Yay for my red and white Christmas tree!

You know I was hardly in the Christmas spirit when I was putting this crap up.  I'm nowhere near ready to listen to holiday music - on the contrary, I was listening to my Pitbull Pandora station whilst decorating my tree (is that too anti-Christmas?!).  It's strange, I really just enjoy the ambiance of Christmas lights.  That would probably explain why I have a string of white lights hanging over the window in my bedroom year round.  

Seriously, I found it oddly cathartic to lay under the tree and look at the lights - something I'm told I did when I was a child.

I will admit that I am an avid Grey's Anatomy watcher.  This reminded me of a particular episode.

http://youtu.be/G9xQAn1cHwk

Skip to 3:05.  (This is really only for those friends of mine who I know watch this.  It's just nice to know that I'm not the only person who has ever thought of this!)  So if you are having a bad day, come over to my house and we can lay under my tree and look at the lights.

New hair

I realize I haven't put anything interesting up for a while.  So here you go!  It's been getting cold around here, and despite my extreme dislike for driving in the snow, I have to say that I love it when it gets cold.  It is Thanksgiving holiday for us, and I decided to just hang tight here in Omaha instead of going home to Utah this year.  We were off school today, so I celebrated by going to the movies, sleeping in till noon, making a stop at the homemade candy shop, and getting my hair done!  I've been growing my hair out, and I was extremely tempted to do something drastic and chop it off today.  However, I just got some color.  Yay!

Seriously, it's like one of my favorite things to do.  Besides, I think this is about the only time when you will see my hair curly.  I'm just too darn lazy to do it myself.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!

Running hot and cold

I had a conversation tonight that went something like this:

"Do you have a pillow that is not an incubus of viral plague?  Do you have a functioning heater?  I'm freezing, please turn the heat up."

~About 5 minutes later after offering a blanket and letting the heater kick on~

"It's too hot in here!  Turn the air on!"

Sometimes you just can't win...  In the meantime, no oral pathology was learned.

Mayhem

Okay, I don't have Allstate, but I have to say, they have some of the best adds I've seen in a long time!


Seriously, there is just something entertaining about seeing a grown man in a suit behaving like a child...

Completely Bonkers

 Yay for Halloween!  I got excited and went for a Depp-inspired look.  In case you guys haven't seen the movie, I dressed up as the Mad Hatter from the new Alice in Wonderland.

Since it was on a Monday night, Halloween was pretty uneventful for me.  However, the ward did throw a party for FHE.  This is one of my friends who is my hero for going all out!  She was the she-Hulk, and had painted her entire body green.

You can't tell, but my coat has some pretty sweet tails.

I made a last-minute run to Wal-Mart to stock up on candy for the neighbor kids.  While perusing the Halloween isle I discovered, among other things, fake eyelashes, and black tooth paint.  Being the dentist that I am, I fixate way too much on teeth, and was all too aware of Johnny's diastema.  My artificially created gap added the perfect touch of crazy.  However, I think I was scaring the trick-or-treaters when I was handing out candy!  Also, since several of the parents in the neighborhood are fellow dental students, I got a lot of comments.  I guess I should just be glad no one offered to fix it for me...

I had this whole crazy costume, and everyone fixated on my diastema!
My orthodontist would be horrified since I just spent about a year getting rid of all my spaces...

This was my very favorite part of the whole costume - the makeup!  My regular eyeshadow now seems incredibly bland.

This was my first experience with fake eyelashes.
Hopefully I'll find an excuse to use them again in the near future!

I did have some misadventures with the orange eyebrows and the fake eyelashes.  Especially removing them at the end of the night...  I was tempted to just leave it and go to clinic looking like this!

Holiday Spirit

This week I've been having a bit of a Halloween fest.  I decided, somewhat last minute, what I was going to be for Halloween.  For those of you who don't know, when I dress up I go all out.  I will post pictures when I get all decked out for it.  Plus, I've been telling people it's a surprise!

I arrived home after school this week to find a box labeled "live plant" on my porch.  Turns out my mom had mailed me a "Halloween Plant."  That actually meant I got a normal plant, but it came in a cute little jack-o-lantern pot.  Yay!

Friday my friend Mark and I went to Vala's Pumpkin Patch.  I had been dying to go since it seems everyone in Nebraska goes there during October, and I wanted to know what all the fuss was about.  Turns out Vala's is basically a mini-Halloween theme park.  We ended up finding some friends at a bonfire, wandering through a corn maze, and taking a little hayrack ride out to the pumpkin patch.  We didn't end up picking a pumpkin, because I had already bought one.  At that point we decided it was getting a little nippy, and we retreated to the car...

On the hayrack ride.  Mark was cold, if you can't tell!

I found this awesome pumpkin tree, and for some reason there were these random life-sized tick-tack-toe games in front of it.  Yes, I am holding a toilet seat.  Apparently they were the "O" game pieces.  I thought that was hilarious!

Saturday we carved said pumpkin.  I also realized there is a reason I became a dentist... and why some other people are not dentists.  Haha.  I am way too detail oriented, even when carving a stupid pumpkin!  We showcased our creation on my porch.  Hopefully the neighbor kids will wait until after Halloween to throw it in the street...

That one neighbor

I have become that neighbor on the street who always has holiday crap all over their house!

I feel like the caution tape has taken it to the next level...

Happy Halloween!

Phantom Orchestra

It's October, and since I love Halloween so very much, get ready for a bunch of Halloween-related posts!  For today's post, I would like to share a little video my mom sent me.  She plays the cello in the Orchestra of Southern Utah, and this is them playing Phantom of the Opera.  However, this must come with a little explanation.  Last year I actually attempted to put together a collection of Halloween music.  I was trying to prove a point for all those who like to pull out their Christmas music way too early and just skip over Halloween entirely.  I determined that Halloween also deserved its own soundtrack.  However, it was surprisingly challenging to find enough Halloween music to populate a CD that wasn't sound effects.  Anyway, Phantom of the Opera was one I deemed acceptable.



Back when I was in orchestra in High School, we used to play this for our annual Halloween concert.  I was a first violin, and it was actually pretty challenging, but ridiculously fun to play!  Anyway, I'm very proud of my mom.  She is sitting first chair in the orchestra (the cellos closest to the director) and she's 1st chair (the cello on the inside).  Love ya mom!

Fall Break!

This last week the dental school was gracious enough to give us a couple of days off.  However, they only gave us three days, and our break was the week before everyone else.  That meant I couldn't plan anything fun with my non-dental friends, and instead was left mostly to my own devices for entertainment!  Don't worry, I had a good time.  I managed to do all kinds of constructive activities like rearrange my living room furniture, and relocate my giant 8' x 8' surfer poster (which apparently made my living room look like a "surf shop").  Haha.  I also did some other home improvements.  However, the most exciting thing I got to do was go shopping!  Seriously, I very rarely go shopping, and even then I know that I have a very limited attention span.  However, I love shoe shopping!  Don't worry, I found myself a totally awesome pair of new shoes.  It probably bordered on an impulse purchase - okay, it was - but I haven't bought new shoes in a while.  Yay!

Me in the store attempting to convince myself
that I did, in fact, need these shoes!

Yes, these are my fabulous new boots!  Funny thing is I didn't realize just how tall they made me.  My over-6-foot friends who normally tower over me were nearly eye level.  Woah!  I kinda liked it...

Also, this is what happens when you hang out with a household of boys who like to show off their manliness by picking each other up.  It was a total crap show with me screaming "no," Ben yelling "yes," and Mark yelling that he needed a picture.  Really, why did none of the neighbors call the cops?

Muffled sounds

So I'm sitting in my room studying last night, and all of a sudden I hear a rather familiar tune come from my neighbors who share my back wall.  It was so funny, because I totally recognized the song, even though it was a little muffled.  It was that new Maroon 5 song.  It made me laugh, because it's one I've been listening to a lot lately.  It also made me wonder what my neighbor may hear on her side of the wall...  I'll be honest, I make some interesting noises, mostly because I think that no one can hear me!  (Singing, laughing, screaming, you get the picture!)  Anyways, I've brought back the playlist, just so you guys can experience the musical fun I have at my place!

Sleep easy

This week has been rough.  Mostly because we've had a bunch of exams, and I've actually had to study!  I was getting too complacent with our awesome schedule as Seniors...  Whatever.  By the end of the day I am usually exhausted, and unfortunately this has led to me falling asleep in the most random locations.  It's both good and bad that I don't live with anyone.  It's good because no one cares if I fall asleep in the living room with lights still on, but then again, no one turns the lights off or wakes me up when that happens!  Instead I wake up around 3 am, totally disoriented, and then wander drunkenly into bed.  Hmm, let's see if I can actually make it to bed on the first try tonight!

Spider Wars

Those of you who know me probably know that I do not get along with spiders.  Unfortunately this year I haven't got along with Omaha, since there have been giant spiderwebs and giant spiders all over the place!  Seriously, I saw a spiderweb stretch from a 6 foot branch down to the ground...  One night I was over at my friend Qi Qi's, and I nearly ran face-first into a giant spider that had built it's home right in the middle of the walk-way going to her front porch.  I told her I would not be visiting until that situation was taken care of!

Anyways, I've been battling the spiders who keep trying to take up residence on my porch.  There was a big web right above my porch light, and I kept knocking it down with a stick.  Unfortunately I never could find the spider, so it kept rebuilding it's web during the night.  Finally I caught it one night and me, being the chicken I am, sprayed it with killer instead of squishing it!  However, it freaked out, and started swinging around on it's spider thread.  I freaked out and I ran away actually afraid to go into my house since it was right over my front door!  I actually went over to my friend's house for a couple of hours...  The next morning I found it curled up and dead on my mail box.  Seriously, it was the size of a quarter!

Tonight I had yet another encounter with an eight-legged friend.  It was chillin' out in my basement, and luckily I had a guy at my house who was kind enough to kill it for me!  (It wasn't quite as big, but it was black and scary looking!)

So to say that I don't get along with spiders is quite the understatement.  They just plain freak me out!

Utah man am I!!

Saw this on a friend's Facebook.  I just had to share!



Seriously, living here in Omaha where a good share of my friends / neighbors / ward members went to BYU, I really have to stick up for myself.  Last week's slaughter just warmed my heart, and I found myself doubly proud of the giant red Utah flag hung in my front window!  Although, I'll be honest, I was a little bit scared of hate crimes...

GO UTES!!!

Bright colors, I'm intrigued!!

Okay, I have an obsession with bright colors.  Seriously, I've been called into question for the strange colors I paint my walls that apparently don't match.  They are blue, and they used to match my bedspread.  Too bad my winter bedspread is purple, so now it's just an unorganized plethora of colors.  Hmm, I guess it matches my colorful personality, or something!
I revamped my eyeshadow collection recently, and I'll be honest, this is what happens when I get bored!

Whatevs.  Also, I found these super sweet earrings at the Mall of America which I purchased precisely because they are about 7 different colors.  Apparently they are also totally in style, which was entirely by accident on my part!  Haha. 

Mall of America!

This phrase was totally overused this past weekend, because we drove all the way to Minneapolis just to go to the Mall of America!

We were pretty excited when we finally made it.  I went with my two good friends Zach and Mark, and we had a total blast.  Really, we decided to go because we just needed an excuse to get out of Omaha for Labor day weekend, and this seemed the best option!  We left early Friday morning, and came back Monday afternoon.  We managed to spend about 5 hours at the mall alone, and then we hit up a bunch of places that just aren't available in Omaha such as Chick-Fil-A, Jamba Juice, and IKEA!  

On the way there.  It was about a 5 1/2 hour drive.

 Minneapolis skyline.  A very pretty city.  I would totally live there, except for the winter...  No thanks!

 Of course we had to find the St. Paul temple.  This is me and my friend Zach.

 We went for a little walk around St. Paul, and found a bunch of bridges over the Mississippi.  I'm a big fan of bridges, and water, and taking pictures!

 

This was at our hotel.  My bed happened to be directly in front of the vent, so I was constantly freezing.  Anyway, I decided to snuggle up on the bed, and before I knew it Mark had taken a picture and posted it on Facebook...  Not sure why Zach didn't stop him.

Our last day we stopped at the St. Paul Cathedral.  It was beautiful!  We were hoping mass would be over by the time we got there, but we caught the end of it.  However, we were able to enjoy the beautiful acoustics!

Has anyone in this family even seen a chicken?

Of late I've become obsessed with Arrested Development.  This is probably my third time through the seasons, and I'm still bummed that they quit airing them after season 3.  Just for funsies, here is a little clip!



"Chicken's don't clap!"

Goodbye summer

I'm still in denial that summer is over.  I guess it's still August (oh wait...) and it's still ridiculously hot here.  Either way, I'm back in school, which equals game over for summer!  However, I'm still clinging to my bad habit of staying up way too late, and I don't even want to touch studying yet.  Haha.  Also I've become addicted to Icee's from Bucky's.  I'm like the worst dentist ever, because I'm pretty sure that crap is just straight sugar.  Luckily I have some awesome plans for Labor day weekend.  Maybe after that I'll feel more like getting back into school!

Adventures in California

Disneyland!!
Yeah, my family and I drove out to Aneheim and enjoyed the magical world of Disney for a couple of days. It was pretty sweet. Here's me and all the brothers waiting for Space Mountain. There were two cameras, and I was looking at the other one...

The teacups are one of my favorites. However, we only ride them late at night like right before the park is about to close when almost no one is there. That also means we go like three times in a row - yeah, I was about ready to puke!

No child got as excited to see Mickey as I did when I saw R2-D2! I made my brother come over and take a picture with me. It was like the real one - he was driving around and beeping all by himself. We were trying to figure out who was controlling him, and we decided that there must be a midget inside controlling him!

My very favorite ride - Space Mountain!! This is pretty typical behavoir for the brothers and I. We had way too much fun!

We took a break from Disneyland and spent the afternoon at Newport beach.

Lounging at the beach with Mitchell.

Blake at the beach.

We had tons of fun in California, but I was glad to get back home. We were all pretty tired, especially after eight hours in the car together!

Finally, as promised, more pictures of Lake Powell!

Honestly, I love an excuse to wear a swim suit and ride around in the boat for two days. It was awesome!

Rainbow Bridge. Pretty sure it was about 110 degrees out. I thought I might die...

Blake holdin' it up!