Dear August,

I am so grateful I have a mom with a love of adventure.

I mentioned to her that I wanted to go to Savannah, Georgia while I was home before I head back to Utah, but we never really decided on a day to go.  Yesterday, the thought of going just had me itching to go right then and there, so I asked her if she would be up for going today.  She said yes.  We went.  It was fantastic.

Savannah is one of my favorite places in the universe.  It is rich with so much history (one of my favorite things) and life (another favorite).  Each building is so unique and the greenery sweeps me off my feet with its beauty every time I visit that magnificent place.  There is something for anyone and everyone.  I learn (and sometimes relearn) something new every time I go and it is always a fantastic treat.

Part of Flannery O'Connor's childhood home.

One of the many awesome boutiques.

This time around we took a different trolley tour than we usually do.  It was great to get a new perspective, then my mother indulged me (as she always does) and we went to Flannery O'Connor's childhood home and got the grand tour.  There were some similarities between Miss O'Connor and myself, which left me a little unsettled, but our tour guide was so nice (like everyone in Savannah).  Since it was just my mom and I for his audience, that actually made it even more fun.

We got to just kind of do our own thing once the trolley tour was over and it was magnificent.

Mickey Mouse boat?

If I could, I would probably stay in Savannah forever, but for now I'll just dream of that day.

Love,
Jazmin

P.S.

I'm five years old.

Y Chromosomes and DQ

So, I just successfully cleaned my room thoroughly for cleaning checks tonight.  Not only did I successfully complete this task five hours earlier than I expected, I also only locked myself out of my room once.  In my world, that's a sign of a good day.*

I know I said I'd write about the rest of my awesome-tastic weekend yesterday, but I need to get some work done before that infinity long post.  As a little taste of my BYU experience as of late, though, I guess I could tell you about my yesterday evening.

I was putting off doing homework like no other and I was feeling a tad bummed about certain things that will remain between my journal and me...and probably my mom since I tend to tell her everything.  I just planned on laying low and cuddling up to my book** and doing laundry that desperately needed to be done.  On my way down to the basement*** laundry room, I ran into Carolyn (my fall roommate), Vicki (Carolyn's summer roommate), a few other girls from my floor, and my RA. Judging by the giggles, the copious amounts of blushing, and the consistent use of the pronoun "he", they were obviously talking some serious girl talk.  I just passed by because judging by the bits and pieces of the conversation that I heard, it sounded like a level of boy crazy was going on that I don't really care to engage in.****

After stuffing my clothes in the drier and heading back to my room, the same group of gals were now sitting in the hallway looking like they were ready to embark on some adventure.  One of these lovely gals, Micaela invited me to tag along.  The adventure entailed Dairy Queen and oh, was I excited.  I've only had ice cream once since being in Utah and I haven't had Dairy Queen-level ice cream since weeks before I left Florida.

We made the little walk to that beautiful haven and it was just what my sore day needed.  Apparently, I wasn't the only one who was having a bad day, so it was nice to just let go of it all with other people having equally crappy days.

I don't understand why it is physically impossible for me to take a normal picture.

Our walk back included almost getting run over by a car that sped through a red light, and dancing like completely wonderful idiots to Micaela's ipod.  It was exactly what I needed.

I ended up getting back and having to do another cycle of my clothes in the drier, but that allowed me studying time.  I didn't get to bed until about 1AM, but it was so worth it.

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*Not that I'm constantly locking myself out of my room, but with my luck, it probably should have happened at least two more times as I made my travels to the cleaning supplies closet.

**I finished The Princess Bride!  Well, I actually finished it just before my 1pm class, but I was reading the extra stuff at the end about Buttercup's Baby while performing my even procrastination ritual.

***It's still super weird for me to say the word basement.  It's such a foreign concept to my Floridian mind.  I still think of them as something mythical like Mordor or Narnia.  Okay, maybe not Narnia.  We all know that's real.

****Not that there's anything wrong with girls that are boy crazy.  It's just never really been something I cared too much for.  Since being at BYU, though, it seems that's how girls here bond.  So, I've been somewhat more boy crazy than I like to admit, but on this particular night I was not feeling up to the energy required to giggle and scream about those who possess Y chromosomes.

Wonderful Weekend (Part One)

Holy cannolis, Batman!  This weekend was pretty spectacular.  It has been by far the most social butterfly-esque weekend since I left home.  My weekends are usually filled with me stuffing my face in a book all day, then hanging out with Miry and her roommates in the evening hours.  However, I decided to switch it up a bit this weekend.  This mostly had to do with the fact that my brain felt like mush from all the studying I was inflicting upon it.

SO, FRIDAY.

After my one class in the morning, Isabel, Mariangel, Ashleigh, Miry, and I had an incredibly delicious breakfast at the Scoreboard Grille.  I cannot express to you how amazing it was to eat a real breakfast for once.  Real, meaning not a Nature Valley bar or Trailmix.  After that wonderfulness, Isabel, Mariangel, and I hung around until our meetings with our writing teachers.  We were all pretty delirious from lack of sleep, so that was pretty entertaining.  Okay, maybe the deliriousness was just me.

After that, Isabel and I hung out at my dorm.  After about two hours of watching YouTube nonsense, we made our way to the library where we were to meet our Y group and have lunch with them.  After only four of us showed up, we decided to make our way to sustenance.  It ended up being pretty fun.  Miry showed up a little later, which was a wonderful surprise.  After feasting and conversing for quite a bit, we went our separate ways.

I spent some time with my books and then the back of my eyelids (a nap was desperately needed).

After my slumber, I texted Miry to see if she still wanted to go to the gym.  She called me and declared, "IT'S RAINING!"  Now, as a Florida native, it's kind of hilarious to me to see these landlocked westerners cease to function when a few sprinkles fall from the sky.  After a few minutes of trying to convince her that she would not melt if she went outside and made her way to the gym with me, I realized it was a lost cause.

We decided to have another movie night instead (we had one the previous weekend).  After quite some time of deciding which movie to watch, I suggested we watch She's All That.  Deanna and I were apparently the only ones who had ever seen it.  My generation sickens me sometimes.

It was mainly Ashley, Miry, and me who watched the movie with frequent visits from Maren and Deanna:).

After the movie, Lindsay, Ashley, Miry, and I talk some girl talk and then we interrupted Maren and her Skype call to her manly friend.  It was around that time that I got a call from one of my Y group leaders, Bryan.  There was a dance the next night (Saturday) and he called to ask if I wanted to go with him.  Of course I said yes:).  It was pretty nifty.

After the girlyness ensued, Deanna brought some of her guy friends over and we all played Uno until 12:30. We got in trouble, though, because boys are not allowed in their dorms past midnight (or somewhere thereabouts), so we made our way to the activity room where they are allowed until 1:30.  We continued with our festivities.  It was one intense Uno game.  One of the guys, Seth, also showed us some pretty sweet magic tricks.  After the 1:30 mark hit, the boys convinced us to go hang out outside for a bit.  It was still "raining" so that didn't last long.  We decided we'd hang out the next morning at an all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet nearby.  We ended up staying up until about 3AM, so that didn't happen, but it was a fun idea nonetheless.

I ended up deciding to spend the night, but I needed to go back to my dorm to get the essentials (i.e. panties, toothbrush, etc.).  Once we arrived at my dorm, I realized I forgot everything back at Miry's dorm, which meant I had no ID card to get into my locked dorm building and no key to get into my locked dorm room.  It was about 2:30AM by then.  This is where I become the worst person on the planet.  Brace yourselves.

After trying to call my roommate, Blake about a bajillion and five times, I called Vicki (my dorm neighbor).  That wonderful gal woke up and was more than willing to come down three flights of stairs to my undeserving self.  Just as she said "K I'll be down in a second," a girl that was sitting in a car outside the dorm building offered to let me in with her ID card.  She let me in, and I felt terrible for waking Vicki up.  She deserves an infinite amount of chocolate from me.

The next step was getting my dorm door unlocked.  I called and texted my roommate a bajillion and five more times to no avail.  I knocked on the door with an obnoxious pitch of loudness that echoed throughout my dorm hall, which made me feel even worse.  After about ten minutes of the call-text-knock combo, that beautiful woman opened the door.  I am the worst roommate/human being ever.  After packing all my goods, Miry and I made our way back to her dorm, Facebook stalked a bit, and sojourned to the wonderful land of dreams.

This post is entirely too long.  I will post about the rest of my weekend in another.  I commend you  for reading all of this.  You have an incredible attention span.