It Wasn't Meant to BEE

It's Official. I can no longer use "I've never been stung by a bee" as one of my truths in the game 2 Truths and a Lie.

I love bees. They help flowers blossom. They are the instigators for the orange blossom aroma I can't get enough of. And they make honey. How could I not love them?!

But on Friday, while teaching swimming lessons, one landed on me (unbeknownst to me) and apparently I tried to take him under water while he was still on me and he stung me.

It felt like a shot at the dentist office that immediately started going numb.

All lifeguard training kicked in though: Do not touch the area until the stinger is removed, monitor breathing, look for signs of an allergic reaction and treat with ice.

Stinger removed and no signs of allergic reaction, I went after the helpless bee paddling frantically around the pool and I SQUISHED him. I was mad that he had betrayed my trust of bees.

Ever since then, the BEE song has been stuck in my head,

"I'm squishing up my baby bumble bee, won't my momma be so proud of me..."

All these summers in the pool and no bee stings. I am mostly disappointed my amazing record has ended. Darn you Bee!

Marshall Lake

On this hike to Marshall lake, I learned how to skip rocks.

Theme: The "Hills are Alive"

Snow on the Mountains in May...
Story: We were walking back on this trail....

....while belting out Disney songs. (There are SO many good ones!!) We saw tons of deer and lizards and birds and... then we saw an animal with a loooong tail and we all stopped dead in our tracks. Yes, we saw a mountain lion about 75 feet in front of us. It must have heard our lovely singing because it went and hid in the bushes by the trail. What did we do? (after the initial unbelief and panic?) we sang even louder, stayed in a close group and walked WAY around the trail to avoid any confrontation. Good thing we had been singing our hearts out or our greeting with this wild cat might have been even closer than that! :/ No worries though, all came back safe and sound!

Shhh.....

As I blog, I obviously always think of what others will think about what I write. I love this fact. It makes me actually try to sound coherent (unlike my journal where I am too tired to really care about whether my sentences make sense or not). But I also avoid telling some of the random/embarrassing things about me, and since I'm trying to be honest with my life on this blog, here are a few...

1. I still get in a pool and feel like I might maybe someday turn into a mermaid. My absolute favorite disney princess is Aerial and always has been. Being under water makes me want to sing my heart out like Aerial!

2. I am an absolute sucker for cologne! If a man smells good, it *almost allows me to bypass all glaring flaws to be close to him. (*almost being the key word)

3. My alarm goes off for almost an hour before I actually get up. Yes, I push snooze about 12 times every single morning. I tried to give my snooze button up for "lent". I got down to about 3 times... and then lent ended... I'm already back to my 12! :/

4. In my school classes, I am the quiet observer. I rarely make a single sound unless called on (this is a stark difference to the student I was in elementary school). Everyone thinks I am a go-with-the-flow kinda girl. HA! Little do they know... :)

5. I went to the University Health office last week to get my TB Test and misspelled my first name on my intake form. The nurse saw it and said, "I hate it when I forget how to spell my name" and then laughed. I proceeded to tell her how it was Friday and I had just taken a final in an attempt to justify my mistake (I think I was mostly trying to console myself). So what if I'm in grad school and I can't spell my name. I learned how in kindergarten and there are plenty of other things I can't remember learning in kindergarten! ;) Haha!

6. I don't leave the house without mascara on. I can bypass all other make-up without a second thought, but the only time I will walk out without mascara is if I just flat out forget.

7. I fall asleep saying my prayers a few nights a week and almost every morning (goes to show that I am clearly not a morning person). It's not something I'm proud of. But I dream about praying a lot... does that help my case a little bit?!?!

8. I still see a dog to this day and my brain goes into fight or flight and I can't make a single coherent thought outside of that until the dog is away from me. It's a pathetic fear but one I haven't completely overcome yet.

9. I dressed up like a Spice Girl for a birthday party we went to. We were in such a rush that day, that I didn't get to see myself in the mirror until AFTER the party. Good thing... because I probably wouldn't have left the house like that if I did get a peak beforehand! Haha!

Graduate Clinician Status

This set of finals has been the best ever known to my college experience. I don't know if they were just easier (I don't think this is the answer) or if I just am finally getting the hang of school (most likely the answer - only took me 16 years).

I finished my last final for the spring semester earlier this morning and I am now sitting in my school building supposedly "studying" information for our first summer clinic meeting that starts in a few hours.

Spring Semester ended at 9am.

Summer semester starts unofficially today at noon.

Cool.

Good News: I'm now a graduate clinician and I will have my own clients! :)

Bad News: I'M NOW A GRADUATE CLINICIAN AND I WILL HAVE MY OWN CLIENTS!! AH!

I do not feel like I'm ready to start working with clients yet. :/ But at the same time, I am so excited! I have already met one of my clients that I will be working with and I am SO excited to use the knowledge I've learned!

Yesterday, while buying new school supplies for summer (they are SO expensive when it's not actual back-to-school sales time!), I passed all the graduation 2011 party favors... party plates, cards, picture frames, scrapbooking stickers, etc.

I got all giddy looking at them!!

For the first time in my life, I am actually excited about graduation!

Maybe I'm so excited because this time around I will actually be finished with school, not just moving onto my next round of it.

Dear Graduation 2012 memorabilia, I will be buying ALL of you!! :)

One more year, one more year, one more year!

Priest's Draw

Our recent hiking adventures...

On this hike, we free climbed a few of the rock formations we came across such as "The Brain"

The rest of the climbing adventures were a bit much for me. (I don't trust my upper body strength enough to put my head at risk without safety equipment). So while my friends climbed...

I ran the never-ending trail. :) I passed so many beautiful things!!

As our traditional hiking jumping picture, we made a Power Ranger's pose after talking about this show among many others that we watched as kids (Wishbone, Magic School Bus, Sabrina, PepperAnn, Full House).

Here was our parting view...

Ahhh. Heaven!

My Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day... Was Pretty Funny

Awhile back, I had quite the day...

• My computer charged ALL night so it would be ready to put in its usual 6 hour day and I went to wake it up... and it wouldn't wake up. I almost cried. For real. (My computer is the closest thing to a pet I will ever have.) The battery died. It is 3 years old and puts in a hard days work every day so I wasn't too surprised! But a new battery cost $130!!!! Holy cow! Then they told me the soonest they could get it here was 4 days. That made me really want to cry! But the new battery came and we are back in business!

• I was going to lunch with a friend, and as we looked for parking downtown, a police officer started following me. I sat at the stoplight and we joked that they never have anything to do up here but pull people over for something ridiculous like turning too slowly. Not two seconds later, the light turns green and I turn left and... the lights go on. Yep, he pulled me over. Why? Because I have a tiny hole in my tail brake light that is "going to cause people to think I'm backing up." (Um... you cannot physically see the white light inside it unless you are looking at it from the far left side and BELOW the level of the light - yep, all those 4 yr olds on tricycles might be confused!!) He gave me a warning and told me I needed to drive straight to the store to get it fixed. $3.14 later, I slapped on a lovely piece of red duct tape and drove on my way... SHEESH!!

• When I got home, my roommate and I were greeted by a wonderful bubble of water pooling on our wall. Apparently someone stuck a nail through our sprinkler system upstairs and it was leaking into our apartment. The construction workers are now our friends, and after a week of having a drafty apartment (from the huge hole seen below), we finally are good as new!

The events of the day started out being very frustrating but by the time I was told to "keep an eye on our water bubble over night", I couldn't help but bust up laughing. (Yes Sir, if the bubble grows or moves, I will try and remain calm... then what?!?) It was a pathetic day, but quite entertaining!! And by the end of the day, I was reminded that really nothing went truly wrong and that like Sis. Hinckley said, "The only way to get through life is to laugh your way through it. You either have to laugh or cry. I prefer to laugh. Crying gives me a headache."

Happy Laughing!!