Finals are Dumb

Well you guessed it. I am in the middle of finals. I have two more to do and I just wish I didn't have to do them. This semester has been the hardest so far and at times it has not been fun. Tomorrow after 6pm I will be done. Actually I have a band final tomorrow night at 7 but does that really count? I am going to wake up on Friday morning without any worry except packing because on Monday I leave for San Diego!!! I can't wait to be in sunny California. Being in the marching band has it's perks. It will be 4 eventful days and I can't wait!

Before then I have two more finals. I have to clean and pack. Not to mention treating myself this weekend with a much needed manicure and pedicure this weekend. So there's lots to do before Monday. 

Then next Friday I will be on a plane on the way to Oregon. I can't wait until I go home and spend Christmas with my family. I'm looking forward as well to the new year. I have some goals I want to try to achieve this coming year. I will blog about those later. Well as for now I have to go study. Tomorrow night I will go to bed without any worries about school. 

Home Sweet Home

No I am not home yet. I first have to go California then I will go to Oregon but I just want to take some time to reflect on home. 

The other day I had someone tell me they were jealous of me because I get to live in Oregon. They thought it was such a beautiful place and wanted to go back there someday. After that conversation I began thinking about good old Oregon. Oregon is not where I was born actually. I was born in Southern California and lived there the first 12 years of my life but I don't call it home anymore. Oregon is my home now. 

I remember when I first moved to Oregon I hated it and I just wanted to go back to California. I didn't take the time to appreciate the beauty that was around. Well thank goodness I grew up and realized the amazing place my parents dragged me to seven years ago. 

So what makes Oregon the best the place to in? I shall try to convince you but maybe you might have to go see it yourself....

Green EVERYWHERE
Well in the area I live in there is green everywhere meaning there are endless fields, trees (big and small), mountains in the distance and moss everywhere (even on the trees!) It does rain a lot in Oregon but then that makes everything green and beautiful! Especially after spring showers you get to see all the pretty flowers blossom. I didn't see that much of that in Southern California. It's really different than another place I have been at. I currently live in Provo, Utah and let me tell you Utah doesn't have anything compare to Oregon. I personally think that the mountains look ugly without snow and there isn't green scenery. If I wasn't busy with school and marching band I think I would be depressed from the view. I guess people would think that about Oregon because it rains there a lot and it's always cloudy that people get depressed. I never felt depressed living in constant rain. I actually love the rain! Well Oregon rain that is. Utah rain is just gross. I love the smell after it rains and how the air feels. If you haven't been to Oregon you should take a trip there to really experience what I'm talking about.   

Unique and WEIRD

Maybe you have heard but Portland is weird. And yes there is really the thing of "Keep Portland Weird". Have you seen Portlandia yet? Go watch it. It's on Netflex. It's really accurate on how weird and unique Portland is. I know I'm not from Portland but hey it's still Oregon and I love it. 

So while you are exploring Portland in the near future stop by and get some Voodoo! That is Voodoo doughnuts. They are basically the most unique doughnuts I have ever seen and the store is one of kind itself. While my older sister visited Oregon this past summer we stopped in downtown Portland to grab some Voodoo. You at least have to go once in your life.

Tillamook

When I came to Utah I had to have my Tillamook cheese. All the other cheese tasted gross to me. I eventually started to buy Tillamook ice cream, butter, yo gurt and even butter. If you haven't heard of Tillamook cheese where have you been? I remember growing up there would be TV commercials in Southern California about happy cows coming from California. Yeah don't believe that. Tillamook dairy products are much better. Oh and the Tillamook cheese factory is pretty awesome too! I love the free samples:) I love going to the cheese factory because they have every type of ice cream flavor. My favorite so far? Grandma's Cake Batter but sadly I haven't found any here in Utah. I did buy some Oregon Strawberry the other because I was feeling a little homesick. Oh there's nothing better than Tillamook ice cream. BYU creamery can't compare. 

   

Family 

But most importantly the reason why I love Oregon the most is my family. We are just missing one person in Oregon and that is my older sister. We all wish she was up there with us. Recently we had a new addition to our family, my baby nephew Jared! I'm just going to be honest I have the cutest nephew:) I miss my family the most and I can't wait to go back home to see them along with beautiful Oregon. 

It's Almost Over

Life has been crazy this past week. Classes ended yesterday but finals start on Monday. At this point I'm thinking "I want this to be over now!" These past two weeks since Thanksgiving has been the most stressful. This week I have written 3 papers and had some nights where I only got 1 to 4 hours of sleep. On Wednesday night I just crashed on bed. I didn't change out of my clothes. That's how tired I was. I honestly feel like I am going to explode from all the stress but thank goodness a week from today my winter break will start!

This winter break is going to be really fun and I can't wait! The marching band is going to California for the bowl game and we will spend 4 days in sunny San Diego. We went our the schedule last week and we to do so many things. It's going to be a very busy 4 days but  I can handle that. One thing for sure that will be an adventure is the night after the game. I get to spend the night at the airport with other band members who are flying out. Hopefully I can sleep that night. Not to mention my flight is not until Friday at 12:30 in the afternoon. 

One thing is for I can't wait until Christmas! I can't wait until I get to see my amazing family and see my baby nephew again. I will be spending two weeks in Oregon before the semester starts again and it will be a glorious two weeks where I don't have to do any homework or papers. Although I will be honest I'm already looking forward to next semester and all the crazy things that will happen. 

Well my fellow readers the times has come to part for now. Wish me luck on my finals. And remember as Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, "We are wiser than we know." (Finals are going to make us think other wise)