Fall breeze otherwise known as worrisome wind and a dress on Campus, 

well, it just wasn't good people. 

I'm trying to think of it as a Marilyn Monroe moment. 

I'm trying to hide my embarrassment. 

I was just laying on the grass stood up to get my stuff and right then the breeze just blew up my dress,

wanna hear what was worse? 

Class just got out in the SWKT

(or for you non-zoobies, the Spencer W. Kimball Tower)

So mass people much? Yup. 

Oh and thank goodness, at least I was wearing spandex.

I just smiled and laughed, thank goodness others laughed with me. 

Awkward moment of my day, yes  indeed, so go ahead laugh a little. 

I know dear followers I've been a little skimp on the blog posts lately. 

Well, that's because I was doing Chemistry for three hours yesterday, 

and lack of sleep due to said homework have left me with little time. 

So they might be getting shorter, 

but I'm still here :) 

With love, 

Emma 

They start each class out with a prayer. 

They define science with a scripture. 

You need to know your standard works to answer questions in Statistics. 

And in the library the most prominent pieces of art feature LDS subject matter. 

It's odd. 

I love it. 

The spirit here is so strong and everything goes back to the principle of how much God loves us. 

So...maybe, I'll be back later. 

Right now, what am I doing?

Chemistry homework in the honors reading room -- in complete and total silence. 

College, ah so beautiful. 

I'll admit it, it's been rough. 

Amazing!!

-- but really, kinda rough. 

Lots of walking with a broken toe was awesome - not. 

Two days of NSO, woah, woah, crazy!

[NSO = New Student Orientation]

I'm kind of terrified for my Chem 105 class - we have homework already, what?!?

I need to get better organized. 

I have to go and talk to a million people and not get lost. 

Overwhelming already? Yup, it is. 

And my mind is caught up in school, work, church, lots of stuff. 

It's all so crazy insanity. 

Plus, I'm trying to figure out how to actually "journal" not just a blog. 

Plus, boys, oh silly ridiculous boys. 

And I just keep thinking

IF ONLY, IF ONLY

Also, this new environment - ah?!?

Everyone is nerdy and smart and service oriented, 

how in the heck am I going to be different and set myself apart from them?

So I'm struggling, just a bit, already. 

I can do this though, I can do this.

At least that's what I keep telling myself....

moving day, not sure it's really a day I've dreamed about all my life but it was coming whether I liked it or not
 and I had to get all of my stuff ready between all the crazy other adventures I was having. 

It was scary and exciting and did I mention scary? All at the same time. 

Also, I don't think you realize how much stuff you have in your home or how many things you'll need for a house.
 It's a little strange waking up in the morning, thinking, oh ya we can't have eggs in the morning because we don't have a stinkin' frying pan yet. 

Guess  whose gonna be eating oatmeal and berries for the next three days 'til we get a frying pan?

That's right ME!

So, I'm sure you're all staring at the stuff thinking, 

So, let's be honest I was terrified about this moving thing, 
but him AND my wonderful fabulous roommate Rachel

She is basically the cutest thing since well, since anything. 
I love her a lot...and I was SO excited for her to be here. 
We moved in together and it was grand. 
You should see our cute matching bed spreads....it's ridiculous. 
I love them SO much






So I guess this, for your eyes only, is what home looks like. 
Feel free to Skype me to see it :) 
EmmaMarie242
Erm...ya, Jessica Skype call..fantastic
It's kinda of weird having a different bed again.
Those are all my photos, 
and OF COURSE being the camera fiend that I am...
well there are four different cameras. 
Oops. 
My bendable man is 
"running to give me a hug"
you know just in case I need it. 
The pillows are blue silver and black
and THERE WILL be a purple one to come. 
So stay tuned people. 
You're gonna wanna see my amazing fantabulous sewing skills. 
Just watch. 












So WELCOME HOME...at least for the next semester, 
Oh my goodness I didn't even tell you the best news I've heard. 
Well....they're getting rid of the old Heritage Halls, 
so Winter Semester....welcome to New Heritage. 
Moving twice, I'm not sure how I feel about that...
but I'll take my ninja printer and signs with me. 
Yes, just in case anyone visits that's a ninja we have an emergency exit plan for them too


Well, I guess it wasn't so scary after all....
And you know, that bestest friend of mine -
well he sat here and made silly faces with me, just to make me smile.
So that, I could laugh and call this home. 
Really I'm just happy and laugh and feel at home, because he's around. 
Woo that we have Stats together! Party! 
And for your viewing pleasure I will now share some of our ridiculousness....


[feel free to laugh, actually, it's encouraged]

This week is going to be one of the biggest weeks of my life. 

I have to move out. 

I have to go to college. 

I have to grow up. 

I have to be an adult. 

I have...OH NO. 

Okay, let's not remind me of all those again. 

I'm terrified. 

I'm so scared that I won't be good enough. 

That all the fears inside about not being pretty enough, not being skinny enough, not being smart enough, not being nice enough, not being outgoing enough, not being hard working enough, not being kind enough, not being brilliant enough, not knowing the right answers enough, not cleaning enough, not cooking enough, not saying hi to people enough, not having time enough, not being like everyone else enough, not fitting in enough,  not seeing my family enough, not laughing enough, not running enough, not losing weight enough, not smiling enough --

that I simply won't be good enough.

And I'm afraid some of those fears might be true. 

What do I do?

And I keep trying to settle my uneasy thoughts, 

but I can't. 

I know it as a design term. 

It's what you leave blank on the page to let the eye relax

and to unclutter the design. 

In life, it's to unclutter life. 

And you know, it kills me every time.

I die a little inside when your name comes up on my cell phone screen 

and I can't answer it. 

I keep thinking, 

I hope white space is a good idea.....

You know, 

I had this whole long post written out about tonight. 

About having the guts to finally say, exactly what I needed to say to someone, at the right time. 

I basically wrote a noxious novel, trying to prove I was better than someone had said. 

And it hit me, that's not who I am. 

For those of you wondering, 

 he will go on and we'll  both be happier. 

And I guess all I have left to say to him is Thank You.  

BAM. 

Do you know what this?

Do you know what that envelope is?

I bet you don't. 

Well I'll tell you. 

It says: Diploma DO NOT BEND. 

Good news, I didn't bend it! 

Better news, IT'S A DIPLOMA!!!

Yes, ladies and gents I graduated from UVU. 

I guess that makes me an associate of science?

Emma thee Associate of Science, 

So, Seminary Graduation-check. Timpview Graduation-check. UVU Graduation-check. 

Next goal?

Emma thee Master of Neuroscience, 

after that?

You'll just be calling me Dr. Smith. 

Ba-da-bing, ba-da-bomb, it's beautiful!

Just thought I'd share the happy, joyful, exciting news. 

Here is my dilemma, 

I'm going to college you see --
(wait for me to finish ha ha)

and I'm creating a collage/quote board type of thing. 

The problem is that I have lots of these cool photos of people,
and lots of cool photos in general.
[that's a fair statement right?]

So, this prompts - a challenge for you!

1. Go find your favorite photos on Facebook of mine ~ pick one, pick two, pick red, pick blue?
2. When you find it or them or they or whichever, comment with your favorite Harry Potter character.
3. And your done....

 Ready, Set.....GO!

Never in my life have I thought the words "country roads take me home, to the place I belong" 

Now, this may not be West Virginia, but it's just north of heaven. 

And looking out at those skies. 

[and yes for all of you wondering, that is Bronwen]

Today, I had the opportunity to stand in the middle of a field at sunset and take photos. 

Oh my, it was gorgeous. 

I never understood why my dad wanted to move to the middle of nowhere. 

Now I do. Country roads take me home!

[Yes, that was a John Denver song reference.]

I couldn't believe how absolutely lovely it was, seriously, I was dying. 

So here are some photos for you. 

Just to see what I saw tonight. 

Thanks Steph & Bronwen for having me along of the adventure!

Seriously girls, absolutely stunning. 

I'm just in awe and how wonderful you both are. 

And just to end with, who else is waiting for Mr.Darcy to walk across THIS field towards them?

I am. 

You know those times where you're trying to tell someone that it's semi-vitally important for you to do something with them but you are too nice to really say, hey we really need to do something even though you're not super pumped about it, so you're just passive about it and say okay we can do it another time but on the inside you are holding it against them to not realize you're vague hints at the importance of said activity and somehow you figure that if they knew you well enough they would sense your inner turmoil and know that you really need to do something so that you could solve some concern you have because really this thing you're doing is just a ploy so that you can talk about the inner grumblings of your soul and so you're really hoping that they realize this but then you know that they probably won't so you wait around noting each minute pass by until the hypothetically deadline that you yourself set up for them as the last moment that you could actually do something but really it doesn't exist because they could say hey let's do something at almost any point and you would drop everything and say yes and you also realize that your subtle hints are extremely subtle so it may take them a few extra moments to realize that it is in fact vitally important for you to do something with them right at the moment you set up because really you're not sure when you're going to have any other time and you're sorta sick of dropping everything when they have something wrong in their life so you're just sorta waiting for them to be there for you in yours so you just keep hoping that maybe they'll realize this and you can do something because you left your whole night open so that you could do something and therefore to not think about said activity that isn't going to happen you blog about it?

.....And that's when you realize, sometimes you just need to let people go for your sanity. 

Whether you're a girl or a boy back to school does not just mean finding what classes to take and putting them in the right order, but finding what in the world you're supposed to wear for all those crazy adventures you're going to have this year, on a budget.

Yes, I'm sure you're aware that you all know what I'm talking about. That's right - it's back-to-school shopping time. The problem comes when you have to ask, what in the world do I buy? And how to I do it economically?

I'm currently pondering this question myself. For those of you who have ever gone back-to-school shopping (which I presume is most) you realize that this may in fact be your only opportunity to splurge on whatever you want. This is due to the fact that you're mother is willing to buy you just about anything because you "need" it and admit it to yourself, it's tempting to ask for everything because she may buy it. Granted, the issue becomes - how much money do you spend?

Now call me crazy, but for this I'm prepping a list of what to get in an attempt to avoid those ever so tempting sale signs in neon colors that are just begging me to look at that item of clothing I'll never wear. Yes, after my many years of back-to-school shopping I have finally realized that if I want to get something specific I need to search for it. So again, what do you buy? Do you go for the pants? The jackets? The shirts? What you need? What you want? What you feel like is in fashion? How do you get all of this without completely milking the cash cow?

It's problematic.
So what do you do to find the deals?
Let's go through five steps to finding the best.


Step #1: Clean Out, Keep it Simple, Get Set to GO!

The first step, empty your closet of anything that is unwearable. This is anything that doesn't fit you right anymore, or that doesn't fit with you anymore. Granted, you should keep this "getting rid of clothes" phase to a minimum, do not get rid of everything in your closet, just because you want new clothes. The idea here is to save money. If those pants still have a few good swing set jumps in them? Or, did your pants become floods because you grew a few inches?
Keep what you'll wear, get rid of the rest. And when I say get rid of, I mean send it to DI if it's still wearable, life is about helping others!After you do a bit of DI-ing and unload a few heaps of trash items, analyze what you still need.
Keep it simple, take a list of basics that you want and have a budget.
As every successful person knows you must have a plan to achieve the end result.

When going to the store, make sure your budget is something that works for both you and your parent. This doesn't mean you should share you list because, let's be honest, then they start picking items that they "think" fit your list and...sometimes that doesn't work out so well. It just leads to your parent buying you unwanted items that you ultimately won't wear anyways, aka a waste of money.

Here comes the hard part, you enter a store list in hand with a budget in mind -- where do you go first? Seriously, the sale section (it's usually in the back). The idea is to cross off everything on your list, if you can stay under budget your parental will love you.

Step #2: Navigating a store-start at the back, work your way forward.

Stores know that the first thing you're going to see is in the front (hence while it's called the front), they want you to see what is "NEW", "HOT", etc. because naturally, it's more expensive. The store wants you to spend more money. Therefore the more expensive items are at the front.

For those of you who are reading right now going, well I want those "NEW", "HOT", etc. items, that's fine. I'm not saying you can't, I'm just saying that your whole closet shouldn't be "NEW", "HOT" items every season. The key is to find the things you love.

So, you find yourself in the sale section, what still looks good? What looks good on you? What is going to be functional and goes with multiple things? The key to a wardrobe is to have several basic pieces that you can pair to make multiple outfits, styles, etc. For some stores, the sale section has what I've named the "it doesn't fit because" or the IDFBs. The thing is - is that an IDFB for one person, may not be an IDFB for another. The beautiful thing about you, is that you're unique. So no matter what body type you have just because it's an IDFB for them, doesn't mean it's an IDFB for you.

  Step #3: Buying -- check for the four F's (Find, Fit, Feel, Fabric) 

First, you find the item. If it looks good to you, then you've got the first step down. Next, try the thing on! How does it fit? Does it bunch? Does it pull? If so, don't buy it. Next question, how do you feel in it? Do you feel cute? Does it look nice? If so, it's good. How about the fabric? Can you stick that sucker in the washing machine? Is it gonna rip the next time you wear it? If you can feel good about the answers to the four F's it's probably a good piece to buy.

Step #4: If you have enough time, double check your answers, just like the ACT


Okay, before you go to the check-out line, double check what you got. Double check your answers to that list of yours. Is this really what you want? Could you find something better somewhere else? Can you actually see yourself wearing every single item you have in your hand/bag/cart/carrying device.
The most important question: If you leave the item here, will you think about it next week?
If yes, and if passes all the other tests, you should go ahead and get it.
[Tip: Check on a stores return policy, before you leave the store, just in case you do find something better]

Step #5: There IS Life After THAT Store

The thing about shopping, is that most times you have to go to more than one store. You're not going to find everything that you want for your budget at the same store.
So keep looking.
Don't buy anything you really don't love, won't wear or are just buying cause you might like it later. The truth is, you probably won't like that oversized t-shirt that makes you look like an elephant anymore in two weeks when you're rushing to get dressed in the morning. That's just how it goes.
So go on, find more stuff, keep to your list, stick to your budget and you'll be set.

Just a quick recap on what you should do to spend less on back-to-school shopping, summed up in five simple steps.

Step #1: Clean Out, Keep It Simple, Get Set to GO!
-Go through your closet get rid of what doesn't fit or feel right anymore
-Prepare your list of what you need
-Set a budget that works for you and your parental

Step #2: Navigating a store-start at the back, work your way forward.
-Find the sale items, cross off what you can from your list
-Remember the stores object is to make money

Step #3: Buying -- check for the four F's (Find, Fit, Feel, Fabric) 
-Find the items that look good to you
-Try on the itms and ask, does it fit right? Do I feel good in it?
-Test the fabric, will it wear out quickly?

Step #4: If you have enough time, double check your answers, just like the ACT
-Do you really want this item? Is it worth your money? Are you going to wear it and still want it two weeks when you're getting ready to go back to school?
Make sure you have want you'll wear and what you want.

Step #5: There IS Life After THAT Store
-If you don't find what you want at one store, keep looking, there is more out there


So, there you have it -- the five steps to spending less on back-to-school shopping.
Good luck and happy savings!


If this was helpful and you'd like to see more guide posts like this
 LEAVE A COMMENT 
Tell me what'd you like advice on or want a guide for. 

This is my cat, his name is Jac-Jak, now call me crazy, but he is apart of my family. Now, before you all go up and decide that I'm a cat person, really I'm not. This cat comes when you call him, sits on your lap, sleeps on my feet, and licks my face in the morning at 7:22, without fail. He is pretty special. He sleeps with me when I'm sick, he cuddles with me when I cry and he has woken me up in the night when people were trying to come in through the windows. Really, he is that special. He is one really smart cat. Oh, and yes, at my old house I did successfully take him on a walk -- so there. I'm not sure what I'm gonna do without this cat. He seemed just as lost as I was after my dad died. My sister had sorta forgotten about him, so I took him in. I bottle fed this little guy, I'm pretty much his mother and I'm not sure what I'm gonna do when he isn't there anymore. It's really one of the hardest things about packing up, knowing that in eleven days I'm leaving this little guy; who really he isn't all that little anymore. 

So buddy, Jac-Jak, I'm gonna miss you. 

Call me sappy, but I'm leaving my kid-cat, dog-cat behind. 

Gonna miss you bud. 

Love, 

Emma 

And just for you those of you that may be light paint illiterate 

This message says:

"Welcome to the Blog this is a special edition brought to you by: Aubrey the button clicker and Emma the light paint. Thank you for being here, I want to be honest about something. I want to say this, just because there is darkness does not mean there can be no light. Be more open-minded. So do not judge the darkness in people and find the Light of Christ in them. Love the sinner, not the sin. His light is in all of us, so love all. So...this is it, this is nighttime on the blog. ♥ Emma."