A Little TV Never Killed Anyone

Throughout my time in college I never watched much tv.  I guess I just didn't have time and didn't ever find anything that interested me.  Well, there were a few shows I liked but not very many.  But let me tell you, ever since this Nate guy and I started dating I have watched more hours of TV and movies than the rest of my college career combined.  It doesn't help that I don't have homework in the evening so I spend more time than I should in front of the ole tube.

Here's what we've been watching recently...

White Collar

Probably my favorite show right now.  I started season one at the beginning of spring semester and Nate waited until the beginning of this semester or me to catch up three seasons so we could watch season four together.  I loved the movie Catch Me If You Can and I just felt like this was the continuance of that movie.  An ex-con man helping the FBI solve cases.  Yes please.  I'm addicted.

Suits

This is the car ride TV show.  We watched the entire first season on our way from Idaho to Ohio before we got married and the entire second season on our way back to Idaho.  We've got plans to watch the third season on our trip to Arizona for Thanksgiving. 

Project Runway

I don't know how I got started watching this show but it's the only "reality" show I really watch.  I love just seeing all the creative ideas they come up with!  I've even swayed Nate into watching it with me.

Nashville

This would be my guilty pleasure.  Honestly, it's not as good now as it was at the beginning...I'm not quite sure how I feel about the direction of the show but it's still got country music and drama so I'll keep watching. 

Masterchef Junior

This show is already done but you should go WATCH IT RIGHT NOW ON HULU.  Seriously, these kids will amaze you beyond what you thought you could be amazed.  See that kid in the front row with the yellow shirt and big smile.  He was my favorite.  He should have won.  

And then we watch pretty much any good cooking competition show we can find.  IronChef America, Cutthroat Kitchen, Guy's Grocery Games, Chopped etc  We're addicted...I'm addicted.

Pizza X2

Last night was a stay at home with a movie and eat pizza kind of night.  If you know anything about us you'll know neither of us are good at making decisions...especially decisions that aren't really that important.  Like what kind of pizza to get, and where to get it from.  So we did what anyone would do...buy two pizzas from two different places.  We got a $5 pepperoni from Broulims and a pineapple and ham pan pizza from Domino's.  We had a coupon for a $4.99 2 topping pan so we got both pizzas for less than the price of one Pizza Hut stuffed crust pizza.  Score.  While we were waiting for the Broulims one to cook we perused the store and found this great ice cream deal so we got two for less than the price of a normal one.  We don't get ice cream very often and $3 for a half gallon isn't too bad.  And that was our Friday night.

Oh yeah, and then our "movie" for the night was The Starving Games, a parody of The Hunger Games.  Can't say I would recommend it, but there were definitely a lot of funny parts.  It was our cheap version of going to the sequel in the theaters.

The Internship

No, not the movie.  This is the real deal.  This semester I'm almost acting like a real adult and doing a 40-hour a week internship.

It's kind of a long and crazy story how I ended up getting this specific one but let's just say, it's been a huge blessing and I am very grateful things worked out how they did.  I am the Student Wellness Coordinator at the BYU-Idaho Health Center.  It's just me, myself and I that I work with so some days it can get a little boring as I'm used to the chaotic Admissions Office.

Sooooo here's my desk...I get to look at that beautiful plant all day, every day.  But it really isn't that bad because my desk is on a corner so people walk by all the time.

Now that you've had the tour, here's a little rundown of some of the things that I do :)

Worksite Wellness- My emphasis is actually called Community and Worksite Wellness so this fits in perfectly!  The whole internship does actually...  For worksite wellness I design monthly challenges for a few departments on campus.  The semester I did it for the Health Center, the College of Language and Letters, LDS Philanthropies and the Admissions Office (big surprise there!).  I'm actually SUPER excited about involving Admissions because I do it for the students, not the full-time employees.  In future semesters, I hope the interns will recruit more student offices and have competitions between them.  Challenges I designed this semester included a Fall Food Festival, Fitness BINGO, a Thanksgiving Tree and a spiritual challenge called Anxiously Engaged about doing service for others.

There are actually even more leaves on the finished tree since I took the picture!

Wellness Events- There were three events I was/ am in charge of this semester.  I organized a Women's Walk at the beginning of the semester.  This was a walk around campus for women during the priesthood session of General Conference that focused on the divinity of women by showing video clips from prophets and apostles.  On December 13th we are doing A Walk in the Life of Christ which is a similar event but it's for men and women.  There will be five stations participants will go to, each one focusing on a different aspect of Christ's life.  At the end of the walk we are going to have artwork by BYUI students depicting Christ's life as well as live harp music and hot chocolate!  The last even I put together was the Men's Premarital Forum.  Basically all I had to do for this one was reserve a room and coordinate the date with the speaker.  With all the events I am in charge of finding volunteers, getting supplies, reserving rooms, creating advertising etc.  Both of the walks have only been done 1-2 previous times so there isn't much information on them and I have flexibility to change what I want to change.  Here are two of the posters I designed which I'm pretty proud of!  The pictures on the Forum one are all done by using shapes in Publisher...you can't really see how awesome the little bride is from this far away but she's my favorite part.

Diabetes Support Group- One of my favorite things to work on has been the Diabetes Support Group.  Last semester they really struggled to get people to meetings and we have just rocked it this semester.  Our last meeting had 26 people there!  (most of them  weren't diabetic but that doesn't even matter!)  I am most excited for next semester's group.  I have been working with another student who is really interested in the group and we've come up with a plan to have a more stable and structured group.  On Wednesday, we met with one of the school administrators about this expansion and he's very supportive and even offered to give us a budget!!!  We have so many ideas for the group and I wish I was going to be around next semester to see what happens.

Patient Education- I am able to talk to patients about a variety of topics here at the Health Center.  Mostly, I do Stimulant Education for those who take medication for ADD/ ADHD.  It's really easy, I basically just go over the agreement they have with the health center for using the medication.  To date, I've talked to 123 people about this!  The second most prevalent topic I talk with patients about is just an introduction to wellness and the services on campus offered to students regarding their health and wellness.  At the beginning of the semester I wrote a blog about all the things we offer: Campus Health Resources. I also talk about sleep hygiene, stress management, nutrition and a few times I've had to talk to patients about the drug Accutane and do some education with them before they can take it (it's a very strong acne medication with a lot of really serious side effects).

Blogs- Speaking of the above linked blog...I write posts for two blogs each week.  A Wellness Blog and a Women's Wellness Blog.  It's fun because I get to write about whatever is interesting to me.  I usually just read a few articles on a subject and try to condense them into an article applicable to college students.  It's not hard core research as that's not my favorite thing to do :)  The blogs used to look a lot more bland so I jazzed them up and am very proud of how they turned out.  There isn't a huge reach for them quite yet but they average 10-100 views per post usually.

Misc. Meetings and Such- I work with Wellness Activities a lot and have weekly meetings with the rest of their leaders.  This is a good opportunity to learn what else is going on on campus for wellness.  A lot of times when I talk to patients I am able to direct them to these other services on campus that are free for them to use.  It's amazing how many people have no idea what's available to them.

Well, that's a rundown of what I've been doing all semester!  It keeps me generally busy and I don't even want to know how many emails I've sent over the last few weeks.  I've already hired my replacement for next semester and we begin training shortly.  I will be sad to leave but it's been a great experience.  Below is my binder of everything I've done so far this semester...and there's still three more weeks to add to it!

Our First Christmas Tree

Christmas time is here!  And it's been here for a while in this Smith home.  We've been playing Christmas music on Sunday's for weeks.  I remember right after Nate got home from his mission we went to Cedar Point together and listened to Michael Buble's Christmas album...it was August.

So Nate researched Christmas trees and boy are they expensive.  With his love of Christmas decorations, there was no way we were getting a Charlie Brown tree.  He found one on ebay that was a sweet deal so we bought it!  Here's a lovely "before" picture of the plain tree.  I'm actually pretty impressed with how thick it is!

Yesterday for fhe we went shopping for decorations.  Let's just say...it was an adventure.  We literally spent over an hour looking up and down aisles.  First at Michael's where we got the flowers and ribbon and then at Walmart where we got the ornaments.  We went back and forth on colors, what flowers to get, what size ornaments, how much of each color...everything.  BUT I do think the tree turned out PERFECT.  I really can't even imagine it looking any better.  It's a good thing I married someone with an eye for decorating because there's no way I could have done something like this on my own.  To my credit, I did pick the colors and the snowflake ornaments.  Now we just have to make one that looks this good every year....

Awkward Art

Sometimes, awkward moments happen.  It's okay, it happens to the best of us.  This post is dedicated to two awkward pieces of art I have recently come across.

This first one is in a building on campus.  Every time I go by I think to myself "that is the most awkward picture I have ever seen."  I don't understand it.  The horse creeps me out.  I don't know why it hangs in one of the most walked through buildings.  I would be just fine if they decided to take it down one day.

This second work of art hangs in a Mexican restaurant we visited in Salt Lake this past weekend.  It's a woman inside a giant taco, wearing ruby red Dorothy shoes, surrounded by a running train.  However, it reminds me of a scene from Harry Potter when the lady is hanging in thin air above a table with all the evil wizards.  So it's creepy...and awkward that it's hanging in a Mexican restaurant.

See what I mean???


Awkward.

A Missionary Farewell

Sunday we headed home from Utah and I remembered last minute that Aleksi was having his mission farewell in Murray.  Who's Aleksi, you may ask?  Aleksi was one of our saving grace's in Peru.  He was living with his sister Liz, and her husband Miguel and we ended up living with them for six weeks.  He helped us a ton with the kids and spent time helping us get around the city.  Even though he is younger than all three of us we definitely relied on him for protection.  Basically, he's awesome!  I even wrote a whole blog post about him in my Peru blog: Ode To Aleksi.  He's off to the California, Redlands Mission on Wednesday and will do great!

Don't judge that we weren't planning on going to church so we could drive home and ended up having to go in jeans....

The Blind Chef: An Inspiration

I was in a meeting for work last week when someone showed this clip for a little inspirational thought.

I loved it!  (As a side note, she went on to win the entire competition) I loved it so much that I shared it for an inspirational thought in the Health Center's morning meeting the next day.  This is such a good reminder for all of us that we can't always "see" our potential.  We can do our very best and we may not see the results right away but we are capable of so much more than we think we are.  And while we don't know our own potentials, our Heavenly Father does.  He knows what our weaknesses are, but he also knows how to comfort us and how to encourage us to be better.  We all have different challenges and not many of us are literally blind...but I believe we are all blind to our own abilities on more occasions than we wish to admit.  So let's remember that we are capable of so much more.  That we can do great things.  That we will feel inadequate all the time and that its a good thing because it means we're going to grow into a better person.  I am grateful for a Heavenly Father who knows what I am capable of and I am grateful for a husband who expects me to be better than I am and who loves me enough to stick with me through all the inadequacies and trials I may face.  They both make me want to be better.

Date Day, Date Night

As with most Saturday's ours began with sleeping in.

We hadn't gone to the temple in a week so yesterday we decided we needed to go today.  It was really a fantastic experience.  We both were reminded of the covenants we made with each other and with God when we were married.  I am glad for the opportunity to go because in all honesty, I couldn't really remember what was actually said when we were married.  I am thankful there is a temple literally on the same street I live on.  Not many people can say that!

In the afternoon we made a trip to Idaho Falls to run a few errands.  At Target, we found some candy cane oreos and snatched those babies right up.  THEN, at WinCo we walked in and the first isle had my very favorite chocolate chips on a mega sale!  In Rexburg, they cost like$3.89 a bag...here they were $1.88!  Soooooooo I bought like six :)  Oops.  Once we got back home I combined our two purchases and made white chocolate covered candy cane oreos.  Tell me you wish we were friends and lived close to each other.  If you actually fall into this category, hit me up before they're gone.

Dinner was a fancy evening at the Outback Steakhouse.  We had a giftcard so it only made sense.

You can't really tell from the picture but I ordered my steak medium rare and it looked even rarer.  I'm growing up.

This is my husband.  Isn't he handsome?!

Mini Whitney

Today was a fantastic day.  Mostly because I got to spend the majority of it with my handsome husband, but also because I got to see one of my best friends, Whitney, and meet her adorable six week old, Valerie!  I feel it was truly a blessing to have her in town for the weekend and even though I only spent an hour with her and her family, it was great.  It'll be quite a while before I see her and her baby again but I am counting down the indefinite amount of days :)