from down under...

first letter from australia.
yes, i have been anticipating this letter for a few days...
i sent a letter from dearelder back in january. i've been checking the mail ever since. cue to tuesday. tuesdays are known as taco tuesdays around these parts. meaning friends and roommates go and get tacos at cafe rio because they are cheap on tuesdays. in the midst of getting myself a drink (diet coke and vanilla coke mixed, yum) i received a phone call from my dad...and the first thing he said to me was, "you have a letter from down under here."
yes, i had a freak out in cafe rio.
okay, a mildly big freak out.
i think the first thing i said was, "why did he send it there!?!"
thankfully, the parents mailed it to me the very next day.
cue to today. lo and behold, there was finally mail in the mailbox for me.
i just stared at it at my kitchen table for a few minutes before even opening it.
have you seen this clip?
pretty sure i was running around an 8 on the scale.
i might have cried a little.

you know you're a college student when...

you know you're a college student when...
-you try to put off doing groceries until you realize that you have nothing to use to pack a lunch for tomorrow..or eat for dinner...so you begrudgingly leave.
-upon returning from said trip, the first thing you excitedly say to your roommate is, "I HAVE FOOD!!!!!!!!!"
-you're still putting off laundry.
-going to bed early is a reward.
-you try to figure out how many things you can buy with change i.e. pennies and nickles.
-highlighters are you're new best friend.
-when three exams in one week start sounding pretty doable. that or you're just trying to kid yourself. or you're in denial. let's go with the latter.
-when your teacher says you can bring one page of notes for the exam if you so choose...and your first thought is, "four chapters? challenge accepted."


yes, i now have carpal tunnel.

awkward plasma visit

If you read this other blog, then this post is exactly the same. Don't be hatin'...

As a typical college student, I try to spend the least amount of money possible and bring in as much as I can. Enter, plasma donation. While some people may consider selling plasma as being less than favorable because of the circumstances of selling something from one's body, I am willing. I would probably sell a kidney if it wasn't illegal... yeah anyways, I went and donated plasma on Tuesday and there was a whole round of tests and questions that I had to answer and complete before I could even start pumping the plasma.
Here are my thoughts from my donation:
-the finger prick hurts almost worse than the donation itself
-one gets asked the same questions over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over.
-the whole questionnaire part probably would have gone faster if I could have just said, "No, I've never done drugs, I've never had sex, and I've never been to Africa or exposed to AIDS/HIV." All the while, I was wearing my Institute tee-shirt.
-my two favorite questions were probably 1) "Are you ears pierced and currently open?" I was wearing earrings that day. Muahaha. 2) "Have you ever been pregnant or are currently so?" No sir. 3) "Are you breastfeeding?" Again, negatory.
-I was at the plasma center from 3:30pm-6:50pm.
-the needle that the physicians use is FREAKING HUGE.
-it's probably not a good thing when you're donating plasma and then guy sticking you with a needle says, "Oh, that's not supposed to be happening..." and then you look and see that your vein is turning into a lump the size of a quarter. Just saying.
-getting a giant ice pack taped to said arm from above and then having two immobilized arms.
-seeing an old boyfriend from high school whom you haven't seen for about five years. That's all I'm saying about that.
-THE CROWNING AWKWARD MOMENT OF THE ENTIRE VISIT: getting a male physician for the physical. Who happens to be cute and around the same age as you. And then that whole awkward moment when he has to listen to your breathing and heartbeat under your shirt. With his cold hands. No worries, there was a female physician in there at the same time. Oh and then when they're pumping blood out of you and BOTH your arms hurt and you're breathing in and out of your mouth so you don't cry/throw up, he happens to come from the front room and check on you. Awwwwwkward.

Also, gnaaarly bruise my friends.


Oh, and I'm going again today.
All for the money, my friends.

majoring in feline habitability...

Friends...my roommate Alisha and I were in Child Guidance today and we were watching a clip about the myth of over-population depicted by stick figures of sorts. So of course, it's talking about how many children each woman should have and then it goes into women who don't have children...they totally had a stick figure woman with cats around her stick ankles. I couldn't stop laughing. Really hard. Pretty sure Alisha and I were bent over laughing in our laps during class.
You see, it is a common inside joke around my family and friends that I self proclaim myself as possibly becoming a cat lady. So cat lady stuff is kind of my favorite. It's terribly funny to me. And then Alisha and I decided we could major in feline habitability. You know, be a professional cat lady with a degree. Think they offer that any where?
In other things, thanks for the kind words over my post below. I have not yet received a letter from my friend in Australia, but all is well. Just as a disclaimer, I am not formally waiting for this fellow down under. He is however, a good friend, a perfect gentleman, and the nicest boy I have ever dated. He also has a habit of popping back into my life now and then and throwing my mind into a tailspin, as evidenced below. I do not know what the future holds and I do not know who is in it, but I do know that my future is in hands much more capable than mine.
Also, feline habitability has a nice ring to it....
Just kidding...maybe.

thousands of miles, a few years...

You know how sometimes people say you don't know what you have till it's gone?
People are dumb. And sometimes right.
I wouldn't say that I'm a hopeless romantic.
Actually, sometimes I'm a little bit of a runner about commitment-it makes me nervous.
But once there was a time when someone came along and I realized that I really really really liked him.
I even wrote about him a few times. I didn't think that it would be anything that would last for a while. Then it came to the end and...
I was ready for it to keep going.
But we'd made a mistake. We'd given ourselves a deadline.
Looking back, things wouldn't have worked out at that moment in time but giving ourselves a deadline is one of the stupidest things I have ever done.
There are things I wish I could take back. There were moments that he came back into my life over the past year but among those times I was afraid, I was hesitant, I was focusing on other things and other people, I was convinced that I had found another boy that I liked even more.
And it wasn't till I really saw, till I understood, that I remembered. I remembered everything. The good, the bad, the ugly, the wonderful...all of it.
The summer nights, the laughing, the fact that he remembered things like my favorite places to go, when he would turn up my favorite songs in the car, how he made me laugh, the way he would pull me over to sit next to him in the front seat while he was driving, floating down a river in the rain, the way he'd reach over to hold my hand. And the times I cried because of the distance, because he was distant, the fact that he wasn't him when I would finally see him on weekends, the fights, the anger, the unkind things we'd said, and the very end.
Coincidentally, all this flashed into my mind when I saw him up at a pulpit giving his farewell talk to his ward.
There would be one more time that I would see him before he'd leave on an adventure for two years. I would choke and not tell him the things I would want to most. But I would get a hug that would last me for two years. And I would hear him say one last thing to me, "You go and get your degree." To everyone else, it may not seem like a great farewell statement. But to me, it meant the world because he knows me. He knows the things that mean the very most to me.
So yeah, you don't really know what you had till it's thousands of miles away. And you don't know if you can ever have it back. So you just hope, and wait....and check the mail every day.

2011

{via}
This may have been my personal mantra this past year. Remember last year's post? Man oh man. If 2010 Randi knew that this year was coming...she probably would have been like "No thanks, take that back and give me something else please". Cause that's kinda what my brain was thinking this year. Let's get it out there that I am a generally happy person, really. One of my greatest beliefs in life is that happiness lies in your own hands. You can make it or break it.
But I was not happy for the greater portion of this last year. That was a tough pill to swallow and this is my public owning up to it. It was hard. I had to ask for a lot of help. Things in my life changed, opened up, closed, and some things suffered. Like this blog. I found it very hard to blog when I felt that I had nothing to share. So I just didn't.
I thought I knew who I was. And really, I had only scratched the surface. And instead of hating this past year, I am so grateful for it. Did I cry alot? Did I feel like I had hit rock bottom? Did I get angry and tired and upset and feel like a failure? Yes.
But...
I had a family that helped hold my hand through it. I opened my heart and sorted things out. I prayed like I've never prayed in my life. I spent countless hours in silent pleas with my Heavenly Father to save me, help me, take this away from me. I grew in ways that I did not know were possible. And my relationships with many were strengthened.
If there's one thing that I hope comes out of the trials I was given, I hope that my trials have made me a stronger and softer person. I hope that I've become kinder and more patient. I know that I have become more faithful and trusting with my Father in Heaven and Savior.
2011 was like a refiner's fire for me. And I will forever be thankful for it. Here's to overcoming struggles and learning rough lessons.
Happy New Year

update.

Basically, I'd really like to update with some pictures but blogger is being incredibly lame-o.
Boo.
Oh December, how quickly you end.
I liked Christmas a whole lot. What about you guys?
We made away like bandits.
I get blessed a lot. It's kinda the best.
The roommate got married. It was beautifully sad.
I got to see all my other roommates though and that made up for things.
I have a nasty cold that's making me cranky.
And having the snow gone? That's complete weirdness.
Basically, this makes no sense.
Sorry, but not really.

O4 Christmas...

Merry Christmas! Wait, you didn't know it was Christmas today? Well, it's actually only Christmas here at O4. Alisha and I wrote this little poem to describe our O4 Christmas Eve/Christmas Day celebration...

Twas the night before our Christmas and all through O4,
Every creature was stirring, behind the closed door.
The mattresses were pulled from their stands with great care,
and then set down to soften each hard, narrow stair.
The event began, and they slid down with great cheer,
Yelling, "Yes! We love Christmas in here!".
After the slipping and sliding of each person was done,
They crawled into bed, and fell asleep one by one.
When morning came, Randi rose very quick,
She got the house ready, in the spirit of St. Nick.
The tree was lit, the music was playing,
But the other roommates kept laying and laying.
They finally awoke, and the gift-giving began,
Each person got presents, each and every woman.
Then into the kitchen to eat up some food,
The sticky bun biscuits were especially good!
More mattress sliding ensued after that,
Until, we fear, our mattresses were flat.
When all was said and when all was done,
O4 Christmas was incredibly fun!!

O4: Aubrey, Randi, Erika, Heidi, and Alisha


Aren't the aprons Alisha made us so fantastic?


Sticky Bun Biscuits. Thank you, Pinterest.


Mattress Sledding!


Snow! It's a Christmas miracle...


Merry O4 Christmas.

Happy/Sad

Dawn

I have 7:30 class just about every morning. And while it's an incredibly hard task to talk myself into getting out of bed and into the shower in the mornings, it brings me moments that I wouldn't otherwise get in the later hours of hustle and bustle in the mornings. I'll be honest, when I first get out the door and get hit with the first wave of cold air, the only thoughts running through my mind are, "Why am I voluntarily getting up this early to go to class? Why is it so freaking cold? My bed is still probably warm...WHY AM I EVEN IN COLLEGE?!"
But, as I start walking across the parking lot to the bus stop, I notice the stillness. The quiet peace with the morning light that is slowly peeking over the mountain tops. And just for those five or ten minutes before I get to class, my morning is quiet and still. I can take a chance to just be before I start going through my mental check lists of the day and the daily noise of homework, exams, and the crowds on campus. There's a little part of me that lives for that moment of my day just like the part of me that lives for the moment when I slip into bed. Make no mistake, I'm not planning on taking a another 7:30am class if I can help it, especially during second semester when the air is so cold it hurts to breathe and your eyes water. I'm just writing this little note to remember the days where peace comes early along with the sun and the world is just mine, just for a moment. Because in that early morning moment, anything is possible.

Lately...

Lately...
I've camped outside to get good seats for a game.
I've gone on a blind date to a formal dance and had the best time with my roommates and our dates.
I'm almost done with all my missionary farewells.
I'm ending my first semester.
I've eaten a pork taco every Taco Tuesday at Cafe Rio since September.
I've felt every emotion in the book.
And I've fallen more in love with this semester of college than I ever have before.

Mud and a Maze

Roommates and I went to family night with our ward last night.
Best thing about fall activities? Corn maze time!
It was drizzling and super muddy.
We kinda slipped around all over the place.
But we finished the maze in half an hour.
"I think we are ready to go pro."
Then we may or may not have gotten some refreshments...after we realized that it wasn't our ward passing our refreshments.
Oops.
(By the way, we have no idea who those boys are in our photo.)