There’s been a murder….and you’re all suspects

October 20, 2014 — 2 Comments

Holy cow. What a weekend. What a life we have friends!

First of all, I got my first pair of Nikes. So clean..you can lick the bottom. So maybe I’m copying the Dubois tradition. It’s fine!

Feeling real lucky to have known Andrew James Dubois for a whole year. I’d be a totally different person if I didn’t know him. Thanks for being my best friend, adopted brother, and my person.

This weekend we had a murder mystery dinner. It was seriously one of the most fun things we’ve done this year! We had a murder mystery freshman year and it was amazing…and we decided we had to bring it back! We all dressed up, got scripts and character descriptions, ate food and got clues. It was a blast! If you want to know how to throw your own murder mystery party, comment below! It was SO easy and I’d love to help you plan yours!

Also, the pumpkin spice and caramel apple sparkling cider drinks they’re selling at Smiths’ right now…PRIME. So good. We also made some delicious food (when I say WE I mean my roommates did). Comment below for recipes for tomato cheese bites, apple dip and spinach dip!

My cute fam came down from home to spend the day with me! They even brought me a coke with my name on it…aren’t they the cutest?? We had gyros from my favorite truck, went to the MOA to see the costume exhibit, went to my work so I could show it off, and had my FAVORITE food for dinner…Sri Lankian at Banana Leaf! Then off to the football game…

Where they were able to meet my best friends! What an awesome day:) (Beth isn’t in the picture…she was busy meeting up with her friends!)

Last night we had a great talk with my group of friends. It was honestly so awesome. I’m just feeling really blessed with where I live and where I go to school, with the family I was given and the friends I found. I have some crazy decisions to make, but it’s so wonderful knowing that there are people who care about me and want me to succeed. What a lovely life!

Happy Monday everyone!

The Hive

October 13, 2014 — 2 Comments

This weekend was quite delightful. It entailed me going home and heading to two baby showers (I don’t have photo evidence…but I was there. Promise.) I love spending time with my family, it’s always way too much fun! They seriously rock, and my friends in good ol’ Kaysville are amazing. It’s always a treat to see them!

Then…there was hiking. I love the Stewart Falls hike, it’s not too hard, there’s a waterfall at the end, and the sights are beautiful! Add the changing fall leaves to that…’tis a perfect combination.

These great friends of mine rock!

This is us…how we really are.

Also. Let it be known that our apartment finally has a name! Heidi’s still a little reluctant about it…but we now live in The Hive. We’re like busy bees and as Liv puts it…it’s our Honey Home….like honey comb? Get it? Good.

For some reason the past few weeks have been stressful. Lots to do and no motivation to do it, people to visit and the feeling like I’m not doing enough to be a good friend, typhoons in Japan that make my stomach knot up, even though there’s probably nothing to worry about. But despite all of this stress and uncertainty, I’m happy. I have wonderful friends and people in my life, a religion that comforts and guides me, a family that I adore, and everything I need. I’m very blessed friends.

Happy Monday everyone!

Liebster Award

October 9, 2014 — 11 Comments

Yayyyyy for the Liebster Award! And yay for Sierra from Enjoy To The End for nominating me! I love my cute blogging friends and I love the Liebster Award as a way to get to make even more blogging friends! Just a YAY day if you know what I mean!

Rules: List 11 facts about yourself and then answer the 11 questions asked by the blogger who nominated you. Be sure to link back to the blogger who nominated you, and then nominate bloggers of your choice! Think of 11 questions to ask the ones you nominate.

So here are my facts (not just boring ones that everyone knows, but fun crazy ones!):

1. I eat half baked chocolate chip cookies for breakfast. Frequently.

2. I have dozens of half written stories in my head and on my hard drive. I should finish one someday…

3. Someday I dream of going to Disneyland and eating every single thing at the park, meals, snacks, everything.

4. I get really emotionally attached to movie, TV, and book characters.

5. Right now I’m working on being more kind to the people in my life.

6. I adore being busy. As much as I complain about it, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

7. In the past few years I’ve gotten less comfortable with touch. Like hugs sometimes are too much for me. It’s incredibly weird.

8. The most effective work-out methods I have include watching Netflix while I attempt to do sit-ups.

9. I miss being a ballerina more than I let on.

10. I love blogging for a million reasons, and it seems like some people will just never understand.

11. I have realized that I really don’t like wearing scarves that much.

Ok now on to Sierra’s questions:

1. What are your three favorite blogs? GAH this is hard. I love Willivia, Something Devine, and

2. What’s your blog name? I chose my blog name because I wanted it to stand out. There aren’t too many redheads out there, so I figured it was time to embrace it!

3. Favorite childhood memory? I have so many childhood memories that I love. One of my favorites is when my baby sister was born and we got to go see her at the hospital!

4. You’re on a desert island, what book do you bring? The Book of Mormon for a religious book, but for a non-religious book I would pick Gone With The Wind. It’s long, and it’s good!

5. What’s your profession? I am a student at Brigham Young University currently, with a part-time job at BYU Radio. I also am a professional eater, reader, Netflix watcher, sister, daughter, and friend.

6. If you could go anywhere in the world for free, where would you go? I would go back to Europe in a heartbeat!

7. Favorite blog topic? I love blogging about my religion because it’s so important to me.

8. Clothing staple? I am obsessed with blazers. You can’t have too many!

9. Why did you start blogging? I started blogging because I was bad at journaling, and then it evolved into so much more.

10. What is your passion? My passion is being happy, and helping those around me be happy too!

11. What’s your favorite hobby? My favorite hobby is writing, reading, or dancing/acting.

OK! Now I am nominating:

Polka Dots & Palindromes

Socks for Supper

and Practically Imperfect

Your questions are:

1. What’s your favorite book?

2. What’s the best thing you ate today?

3. What’s your favorite thing about yourself?

4. If you had a million dollars, what would you do with it?

5. What annoys you more than anything?

6. Favorite candy?

7. Greatest accomplishment?

8. Where will you be in five years?

9. Guilty pleasure song?

10. Why do you blog?

11. What’s something you want everyone in the world to know?

Ok girls, get cracking!

Thanks again Sierra for the nomination, everyone go check out her blog, she’s adorable!

And happy Thursday everyone

General Conference

October 6, 2014 — Leave a comment

Holy crow! General Conference has come and gone. And what an amazing, uplifting, wonderful weekend it was! I love getting to listen to the leaders of my church tell us what a God in Heaven wants us to know. Aren’t we lucky!

Here are some of my favorite quotes, and favorite talks from this wonderful weekend!

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http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1&isUI=1 http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1&isUI=1 http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1&isUI=1

James Birdsall took this picture and made this image. What a guy!

If you want to know what General Conference is, shoot me a message! I would love to explain!

This weekend truly was amazing. It just reminded me how lucky I am to know a loving Father in heaven who wants only the best for me. I am positive that he lives and he loves his children. I know that more than I know anything, it’s the one thing that I am sure of. I want to share my love of my religion with everyone, because it’s the only thing that brings me happiness in this crazy, messed up world.

Happy Monday everyone!

Octobering

October 2, 2014 — Leave a comment

October is always my month of being super reflective and thoughtful. Something about the colder weather makes me nostalgic.

October also makes me anxious. School is picking up, the holidays are approaching and there are so many holiday activities I feel like I need to do to really appreciate the season.

Sometimes I just need to write all of these feels out. It makes me whole in a way, to get all the things jumbled in my brain down into organized thoughts.

I really love who I am becoming. I have so much to work on still, so many things I need to do better. But in the past few years I have learned to love me. And love the flaws and love the chance I get to improve. I love that I just had to go to Smiths at 9:45 at night to buy a pumpkin candle. I love that I drove to Kaysville just for the afternoon to be with my mom and sisters for a lunch date. I love that I couldn’t help but cry during the General Women’s Meeting because of all the wonderful things that were said. I love that on a rainy Saturday I went to Scheel’s and ate cinnamon roasted almonds and took pictures with stuffed bears. I love that I love fall. I love that counting days is exciting and terrifying now. I love that I know the entire Noodles and Company menu by heart. I love that I have a love/hate relationship with my computer coding class. I love that I love boots and sweaters as much as I love sandals and shorts as much as I love blazers and high heels. I love that my five hour producing class feels like 45 minutes long. I love that I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true and that it makes me so incredibly happy. I love that I want to tell that to others. I love that there are obstacles, people who dislike me, things that get in my way, and things that make me worry. Mainly, I love who I am and who I am trying to be.

Octobering

I love blogging and writing and Octobering. And I love all of you, darling readers.

Happy Wednesday everyone!

Life isn’t fair

September 26, 2014 — 2 Comments

Life isn’t fair. But it’s not meant to be fair.

To make a long story short, because of the Affordable Care Act, I can’t be on the payroll of both KSL and BYU because they are owned by the same company. And other confusing things. And since BYU Radio is currently providing me paid internship hours for credit that I need to graduate, the choice was kind of made for me. I love both BYU and KSL, and I’m so sad I can’t stay working at both this semester. Hopefully, next semester I’ll be able to work out an unpaid internship (again) and be back at both places that I love.

But I know that Heavenly Father has a plan for me. I don’t understand it right now, but I’m going to be OK with the fact that things happen.

Not to worry, this isn’t the last KSL has seen of Madeleine Richards.

Happy Friday everyone!

What I learned at the BYU game

September 22, 2014 — Leave a comment

Friends. Life is good. Always busy (I write that every post, don’t I) but SO good.

This week has been a whirlwind of school, work, school, work sleeping, cooking, visits to the MOA to see the AMAZING movie costume exhibit (seriously, it blew my mind. And the Hindu art exhibit was also incredible. I learned that Devi is my personal deity. Who would’ve guessed?) an intramural game, being on the field before the BYU game to help deal with the media and the new recruits, meeting President Utchdorf while on the field before the game, also meeting Dave Rose, saying hi to Jimmer, watching BYU destroy Virginia, going to a slip n’ slide down a huge hill, went to an AWESOME Provo party where we danced like crazy, watched some awesome performers including Kenz Hall and Mimi Knowles, and actually met one of the rap groups, Tha Connection, then came home and downed two pazookies and formed the CC. Then today was the temple dedication, emailing my favorite missionary, and dessert night. Basically it was an awesome weekend.

Us and our good friend Justin “Jus A Fly Guy” Cooper from The Connection

Game day!

This is Rachel, exhausted after a long day with the council

One thing I want to share that I learned at the BYU game: we were sitting in the student section, and we were right next to the non-students. People who just bought tickets. And let me tell you, those were the rudest BYU fans I’ve ever sat next to. Grown men screaming in front of their kids. It was awful. They were ruder than any student I’ve ever been around. So just remember when you’re an adult, it’s probably best not to act like a kid. It was embarrassing.

Anyway, other than that I just want everyone to know I love temples, I love my friends, I love my family, and I am one happy blogger.

How To Succeed In College Without Really Trying

September 17, 2014 — 1 Comment

Ok, that’s a lie. The title is just a spoof of a popular show. Google it kiddies.

The reality is, you won’t succeed in college if you don’t try. It just won’t happen! So here are my foolproof strategies to succeed in college while not killing yourself and having fun!

1. READ. Teachers aren’t just assigning reading for the heck of it. It will show up on a quiz or test later. Or at the very least they’ll do one of those quizzes where you check YES if you did the reading, and get points for it. Don’t miss easy points because you were lazy!
2. Take notes. This seems obvious, but for a lot of people it’s not! Even if the power point slides will be online for you to access, I still say you should take notes. It will help you understand and retain the information.
3. Do your homework ASAP. Especially the first few weeks of the semester when there are no tests! Crank that paper or that project out when you don’t have too much to do! Also, don’t leave your homework for Sunday night, just do it when it gets assigned. I promise, you’ll be much happier.
4. STUDY. In high school you didn’t have to try. Here, you do. You actually have to study to do well. And if you don’t….well shame on you. Anyway the point is, set aside time to study for your tests and actually study, don’t just look at the page. Use flashcards, memorization techniques, or teach it out loud. Whatever it takes for you to get the information.
5. Go to class. Seriously. Just do it. There will be classes that you think are pointless, but I guarantee you’ll get better grades if you bite the bullet and go to the lecture.

Hopefully these are helpful. If not….well I’m sorry.

Happy Tuesday everyone!

Friends

September 14, 2014 — Leave a comment

I’ve been doing a good deal of reminiscing lately. And a lot of thinking. Dangerous, I know. I blame it on the fact that I spent the weekend in bed, fighting off a cold. You can only read so many books and watch so many hours of Netflix. It left me sitting and thinking, a lot.

I’m very lucky. I’ve been blessed with an amazing family who are my best friends. I’ve also been blessed with some incredible friends, my family away from home.

So here’s a huge thank you to the people who have been here for me, through the good times and the bad. You’ve put up with a lot, and I really appreciate you.

Ok enough sappage.

First home BYU game was AMAZING. And we had pretty great seats.

Ran into my person at the temple today. Goodness how I miss this girl.

Don’t take your friends for granted. One of the most important lessons I learned in college, is that relationships take time and effort. A lot more time and effort than you think. I’ve also learned which ones are worth the time. Super grateful for that today.

Happy Sunday everyone:)

How to have an amazing birthday

September 11, 2014 — Leave a comment

What a wonderful day of birth I had. I have to tell you, my friends and family are out of this world wonderful. They’ve made my whole life amazing, and they made my special 21st birthday awesome as well. Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes, and thanks to all the people who have made my 21 years on earth incredible. I’m very lucky!

Ok, seriously. My mom is wonderful. Barbie anchor set for the top of my cake!

This is a look of pure joy my friends.

Birthday Dinner: Chicken Alabam (aka, breaded chicken with cream and butter and onions and paprika) over pasta. Cakes at my birthday: Peach Crisp, Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Cool Whip Frosting, Lemon Bars. I’m the luckiest girl alive!

Awww sisters!

Snowman bag…I love it:)

Just modeling my new sweater…

This awesome guy bought me birthday breakfast on the actual birthday, plus threw me a party with all my friends the night before! I lucked out in my brotha from anotha motha.

My cute roomies (and ex roomie Linds) took me to dinner at La Jolla Groves the night of my birthday! I’m so lucky:)

We are cute:) I love my friends!