How is it the end of July!!

I almost decided to ignore that I had a blog and never ever write again. There is too much to catch up on and I dont even want to start. But its late... and my new "roommates" are in bed, im not tired... and naturally that means its time to blog. By now I probably have lost the 2 followers I once had and I'm just writing for myself. O well. Soo how to go about all the up dates? a list. of course.

1.) I made it back to Lethbridge safely after a few of my favorite southern kids brought me home. It was so fun to have them here. We did a fury SO AB tour. Its weird to live at home again. yesterday my dad tried imposing a 11 o clock weeknight curfew. Im embarrased to tell anyone. But its been fun to be home, Nicole is a crack up these days. Probably one of the top 5 funnies people I know. Dont tell her that.
2.) As many know I am kind of an EFY-lifer. But this paid off because I got to spend the first 2 weeks of July in the Maritimes. The session was in Sackville New Brunswick-woot. and then I spend a week driving around soaking in the Atlantic life. It was so fun to see such a different part of Canada... it made me love it even more and i met a ton of sweet folk. I leave saturday for 2 more sessions in Calgary.
3.) This may seem too ridiculous to be true. But it is true. Tiffany has met a boy. Weird... I know. Hes fantastic though. I have too much fun with him and hes super duper sweet to me. Yay :)
4.) I LOVE summer. As each one comes I think I love it more. I would be as happy as a clam if I lived where winter didnt exist. Ya not very Canadian of me... but its true.
5.) FINALY..... Haliaka and Sarah came to visit! They werent here for long but it was a blast to show them around what I havent been able to shut up about for 4 years. I love them so much. We went to waterton, the Stampede, Ridding(thank you Nathan), Sea Dooing(thank you Nathan), Floated down the river, and Visited some Huts in East Raymond.
6.) Updates on my quest to be a teacher... I spend June in a Grade 2 Class and loved it. I think if i did do teaching I would want to be in a High School... but those kids were so adorable! So I apply to the U of L teaching program. I apply to the U of A teaching program. The U of L rejects me. The U of A hate talking to me and is super slow. The U of L decides to put my application through again.. I find out Thursday the final decision. If I get it in really will be a miracle. The U of A still wont talk to me....

7.) At the same time I apply for like 5 jobs a day... why does no one want a 21 year old unexperienced Economist!

This was supposed to be in some sort of order.. its not really. Life is going super good. And to my suprise didnt fall apart when I left Provo. But I do miss things down there a lot.. and probably will more when September comes around.

Time is Sprinting

My theme of April 2010- Life goes by fast. Very very fast. Enjoy every moment.

Nothing stands between me and a degree but a few finals. I am usually very bitter by this time of year and feeling angry towards my tests. But not this year. I feel like I could spend the next 3 or 4 months studying for them and that would be ok as long as I could continue living in my bedroom at the end of the hall in 201. BUT no such luck.

I had a blast with my family here for conference. We got a extra ticket for both sessions we went too. It was a great Smith Family Memory.Nicole came to class with me a few times which I love. Its surprising to a lot of people that we are as close as we are and 4 years apart. I'm relatively immature and she is more mature than her age gives her credit for. It works out really nice. We saw a man in a gorilla suite get arrested on campus. That was neat.
My mom brought down all of our childhood home videos to but them on DVDs... we spent all night one of the nights watching them. It was hilarious... and kind of sad. Sometimes I wish we could rewind a bit back to a when I had inch-thick bangs that started at the middle of my head, and Nicole couldn't say her R's.

Haiti. I was ready to go, had my parents 95% of the way talked into it and was getting all sorts of excited. I called my health insurance last week and they said I cant go because the Embassy in Haiti says it is too dangerous for me. REALLY? how are all those other people there? nope, no Tiffany Smith. I have continued to work on it and try to get insurance from anywhere I can.. but it looks like Haiti may be added to Tiffany's List of Failed Plans 2010 Edition. (Along with Provo EFY which has officially been ripped from my grasp).

Haliaka and I drove on campus last night. One huge check mark on our list of things to accomplish at BYU. It was just as glorious as I have been dreaming it would be for the last 4 years. We went to Sammys and got real pie-shakes and sat at the bar for a long time. I loved it.

Before I know it I will be back in Southern Alberta and that is kind of scary. I have been blessed with fantastic friends and oppertunities in Utah. 4 years ago I hated this place. And now I dread leaving it. Weird how that happens. For the last 2 days I have brought my camera everywhere with me, every review session, library visit, lunch with friends, and class.... just in case. I want to soak it all up.

Its an exciting time with all sorts of change. The scary is kind of hiding the exciting though.

Procrastinator

Yay the ugly pink is gone :)
Stick me in a computer lab for hours on end,
give me a history paper to write after I have been doing math papers for 2 years,
and send all my friends away for the weekend
THEN I will take the time to figure out blogging basics.

Good or Bad news first?

Good News

• My family is coming Friday and staying for over a week :)
• We have conference tickets to 3 sessions!
• All applications for the Teaching grad program are DONE.
• There are only 3 weeks of school left.
• I have a ton of friends coming down to Utah this weekend. I love visitors.
• The finance test I thought I failed... I actually got a 93. That never happens to me.
• Its my dad's 50th birthday while they are down. I haven't been with him on his birthday for 3 years.
• I am working on a development project with "Sustain Haiti" and things are starting to come together. The first crew will be on the ground in a month.
• Tickets have been bought to go to "Stadium of Fire" with Carry Underwood
• I went to the Jason Aldean and Luke Bryan concert. I won backstage passes to meet Luke. I freaked.
• I have been going through my room and throwing a ton of stuff away. It feels good to clear stuff out.
• There is only one more FHE left that I am in charge of. I am about out of ideas.
• I have run into Jimmer at least once a week for the last month an a half. Today it was a very close encounter. Hes probably following me hey?
  

Bad News

• For all 3 conference sessions we only have 3 tickets.
• There are issues with my American EFY paper work.
  
• I do not have a back up plan if EFY doesn't work.
• There are only 3 weeks of school left.
  
• I have pink eye.
• Rylie and Courtney are going to return home this weekend with tans worthy of envy.
• I need to scrounge up $2000 to go to Haiti.
• I just got a stack of 25 grad notices to mail out.
• After almost a week of gorgeous spring weather I was hit by a snowflake or two today. Stop playing with my heart.
• I have started packing.. which means the end is near.
• My Ipod has been out of commission for about a month, my computer is on its death bed, and Dug (my car) is showing signs of illness.
• I have a term paper looming. Topic: Canada's Economic History. Maybe my dad will assist in the process this weekend...
  

None of the bad news is really that BAD. I have a lot to be grateful for and some fun adventures to look forward to.

Time Flies... When Your Sick

1. I am sick. And sick of it. This might be the end of me.
2. I have applied to U of L, U of C, and U of A for "after degree teaching programs" I have decided Math teaching might be my calling in life.
3. I have a new favorite song: http://popup.lala.com/popup/432627045464169055
4. The fact that it is the middle of March scares me.
5. I am going to see Jason Aldean and Luke Bryan on Friday. I love them.
6. After studying for 2 days and doing really well on my first two finance mid-terms ... today I did terrible on the third.
7. I have started working with a "Sustain Haiti" project through BYU, I hope to be going in May.
8. I miss my family very much. But I am counting the days until they come down :) (15)
9. I got a kick out of some St. Patrick Day participants today. Top hats, Kilts, Bandannas, and Man-shawls were all spotted on BYU campus today.
10. I have a plan to drive on campus with Haliaka. Its been a few years in the works and we will be executing the adventure any day now.
    

Allison

Its late sunday night and all my roommates are in bed (well except rylie because she never actually sleeps, but shes hibernating in her room) and I'm up... which means its time to blog.

I thought I had the rest of my life planned this week. I am told I need an internship. I know I want to go a remote third-world country. I think I am too young to have a big kid job.

Early last week I found something that would solve all of my worries. A International Development Internship. Its threw BYU so I would have to put off graduation until December, but thats ok because I dont really want to graduate yet and I would graduate with another minor. So I run over to the kennedy center and frantically try to track down someone to talk to about my internship. I meet Andrew. He knows everything about these internships. He explains how I will have to work very hard to get everything in on time but he gave me the contact info of the girl over the Pacific Internships (Fiji is the goal) and tells me its very do-able to get in on time. Our little meeting leaves me feeling higher than a kite and all of a sudden ready for the future. Andrew has saved the day. I say "K bye Andrew thanks so much". Andrew says "No problem Allison, well see ya around".

That was weird. My name isn't Allison. Or sound remotely close to that.
O well.

I email Fiji girl.. she doesn't respond. So after class the next day I figure Ill just drop by the office and see if she is in. She isn't. I'm talking to the secretary about how to find her. I hear " O hey Allison, how are you doing?" Whaaaaaaaaat. "Hey Andrew, good expect I cant find ...." We go to try and find fiji girl. In the meantime we learn that the application deadline for the Fall semester is the next day. Dang it. But everything is ok... Andrew assures me of it. He starts pulling some strings. As he is pulling these strings I meet 4 or 5 people in the international office. All of them think my name is Allison. Each one is more important than the next. And each time it becomes more awkward but more necessary for them to know my real name.

Andrew writes notes with ALLISON... underlines on the top of the page.

The time is approaching for me to provide my email address. which happens to be my name. my real name. I have a few different ways of handling the situation. I settled on telling him that Allison was my middle name and thats what I have gone by since I was little.

The head-honcho of BYU international development happens to come in. By now I have 4 people in the office running around trying to get different papers and crap together for me. He wants to know what the tisy in his office is about. Andrew once again incorrectly introduces me and tell him the situation.

Long story short... I got shut down. Mr big wig told me it was impossible to go.
He was squishing my life dreams so easily and had no idea.
He didn't even know my real name.

I left the office mad, sad... but also a little glad that the awkwardness of the name correction would have brought.

There was one more thing on the to-do list that day. Order a cap and gown for graduation. I went around 5. No one else was there... it was a weird experience. The old people in robes were very helpful... but I really didn't want to be dealing with them.

For some reason the mix of having my perfect plan destroyed and being violently slammed into my future combined into a deadly explosion.

I called my mom... and BYU campus witnessed a Tiffany Allison Smith break down.

I'm over it now. Life is good. We aren't supposed to have the rest of our lives planned out.
And honestly it would be a very boring life if we could.

Yay! Tiffany learns to post a picture. K so I hadn't been to California since I was like 13. And it was time. We stayed at a friends house in southern california.... dont worry because my mom called his mom to make sure it was alright.We load up the car and the girls of 201 head south. Rylie and I have a common love for doughnetts. This summer while we were selling they were a daily treat. And we decided to indulge again during our journey. 10 hours in a car with Justin Beber and some crazy things happen. (videos to come soon hopefully).


Half way = Vegas. ( I cant get rid of this dang underline. Im the worst) K so I try hard to like Vegas because everyone else does but I just can't. I have only ever really experienced the strip and I hate the strip. Its a dirty nasty place. Right before this we ran into a scuzy dude dressed as elvis who tried to get 10 bucks from us when we took a picture of him and his pink cadi. But I put on a good front for a little roomy photo op.


We get to James house in Thousand Oaks super late and first thing the next morning get our white little buts to the beach. Super exciting. For the first few seconds the smell of the beach always kind of grosses me out. I get used to it quick. And then I start to love it again. The water was freezing but it was like 80 degrees. Its February. That's hard for a Canadian girl to wrap her head around. It was fantastic.

I did not surf. I posed. But I did boogie board, without a wet suite. Kind of a big deal.



We were there from thursday night until monday morning. It was fast, furious, and fantastic. Most of our time was spent at the beach which is exactly what I wanted. I fell in love with California... and honestly think I would be very content living in Hidden Valley in the home currently owned by the owner of FOX. We drove past it on the way home from church and it actually gave me tingles. It was gorgeous. We were super sad to leave and get back to the midterms that were in Provo waiting for us but it was one of the best memories of the year.