i don't want a lot for christmas, there is just one thing i need

well hey there. we all now know that sonja is officially the worst blogger in the history of blogging, but she doesn't really care, she's gonna blog anyways. and will eventually get better at it and will have thousands of readers someday. promise. and yes, talking in third person is the new cool thing to do. :)

anyways! since i suck at blogging and haven't really blogged all semester, i figure theres no point really in talking about whats happened and all, just that its been really really long and difficult. but, i'm deciding to look past that and get excited for the new semester just around the corner! i just have to survive through a couple more weeks of class and finals, then i'll be freeeeee for christmas break! which brings me to the whole meaning of this post....my christmas list!!! 

now, i'm serious, there really is only one thing i really need for christmas. all the other things i just want, and could live without. probably. haha. i've had to go through three semesters of college with a computer that barely even works sometimes. and i'm afraid the old thing is at the end of its rope. most of the times i just wanna throw it off my apartment's front porch and let it crash on the parking lot below. so to save my laptop of this cruelty and to save ME from pulling each and every hair out of my head due to frustration, i would like a macbook pro for christmas. since i'm a photographer, this computer is the best. my life would become so much easier and i would be able to get things done in half the time it normally takes me to on my craptop (for reals, it took me eons to just finish this one silly little post). now, mom and dad, you don't want your beautiful daughter to become bald do you? i didn't think so. (i've told my mom that i would be 100% okay with getting that and only that for christmas) but just in case someone wants to get me a little something else, {wink} heres the list:      

1- Macbook Proooo!!!!

2- Mossimo Supply Co. Kaden Tall Buckle Boots (Tan), Target, $34.99, (size 8) here 

3- Just one...or two...or all three skirts haha, from left: Bed of Roses Skirt, $38.99, Tiny Tiers Skirt, $34.99, and Tea Time Skirt, $32.99 all from Downeast Basics (medium) here 

so yup. there ya have it folks. also, a couple other things i would like, and that are definitely a bit more practical, if you will, are a memory foam mattress (or just any foam mattress really) for atop the cruddy mattress of my bed in my apartment in the burg, and a pot, because i have almost everything else but that and i always have to use one of my roommate's (not that thats always a problem, but sometimes one isn't clean or is in use or whatever). and hey, anyone is always welcome to help buy my textbooks for winter haha. 

i go back to rexburg tomorrow morning! i've had such a wonderful and relaxing week at home (besides the fact that i figured out i'm allergic to our dog, even though i've been around him for a decade) but i unfortunately have to return. i got to actually sleep, give my little sister bunches of kisses, get surprised by my roommate who i haven't seen in what seems like forever (only about two months) and another good friend, eat tons of yummy thanksgiving foods, see my little brother get baptized, and watch the traditional anne of green gables marathon with my sister. and that was just the overview of my break....post with pictures to follow shortly! 

what do you want for christmas/how was your break and thanksgiving? 

mumbo jumbo

Well this is probably just gonna be a bunch of mumbo-jumbo since there are quite a few things on my mind lately it seems.
1. The fact that Rexburg is getting colder. What the heck? Fall is meant to last longer than a month for goodness sakes! Yeah I’m from a place where it rains like 9 months out of the whole year (nonstop) but fall still is extremely pretty in Hillsboro, Oregon. With all the gorgeous colors on the trees: bright red, rich brown, firery orange, and sunny yellow. The air is especially crisp because of the rain that falls often. But when it isn’t raining, the sky is bright blue and the sun is shinning. But here in grand ol’ Rexburg, this happy time only lasts for barely any time at all and then the snow is falling and the air is so freezing that without proper protection, you very well could die while walking to class. Yaaay. I’m so excited!
2. Boys are stupid.
3. Seeing good friends of mine go through hard things makes me really sad, because I feel their pain. I am an extremely empathetic person and therefore, what they feel, I feel. Well, at least some of it. I don’t think I could possibly ever understand exactly what they are going through, but I know that I can at least relate. And most of the time I feel the need to help them, but a lot of the times don’t know how and just have to hope that me being there for them will make a difference in their trial.
4. I really need to stop eating candy. My plan to be healthier is not really working out right now…haha…
5. I must already be having a bad week because all I want to do is sleep. And that isn’t always good (and I know it) because it means I’m in a bad mood or sick or cold or just plain too tired of being around people. Sleep is like my drug/addiction. I tend to overdose on it sometimes without even really realizing it.
6. Turning 19 is very un-monumental or exciting or life changing. I feel no different at all. Now if I were a guy, I’d most likely feel different because then I could go on a mission but nope I gotta wait two more years. But at least I can submit my papers in a year and a half, and I suppose that really isn’t any time at all.
7. Which brings me to the thought I’ve been having lately that time seems to be going by very very slowly yet awfully fast. And I don’t know which one I’d rather it be.

Sorry to be all lame and depressed and no fun and not positive like i usually try to be. its just a weird week. But of course it can always get better, not worse. :)

keep on keeping on

so, right now all i care about is keeping on! things have still been rough: in the last two weeks i've been to the doctor like 5 times and got my blood drawn twice!!!!!! but i just found out today that my results came back normal so thats a relief. today i took a 4 hour nap or something and woke up way surprised that i slept that long.

and right now i'm watching history as the chilean miners who have been underground for 3 months get rescued. its amazing that they've lived that long, with eating a tiny piece of bread and a sip of milk every day. so far 3 have been rescued. it simply is a miracle! and their strength gives me strength! if they can survive for three months underground, i can survive another week of college, with food to eat (even if its the classic ramen) computers to use, bed to sleep in, and friends to help me. :)

also, watching this rescue and the reporters covering it reminds me why my career that i'm working towards is so important to me. i want so badly to be there, letting the world know what is happening by the minute and using the story and experience to inspire people.

anyways, i had the blessing of going to utah not this weekend but the one before for conference! i wasn't actually able to go inside the conference center when i was in salt lake sunday because i didn't have a ticket but that was okay with me because i got to watch the sunday afternoon session with cal who i haven't seen in months in the joseph smith memorial building :)
but most of all i was happy to see mis padres and my mormor! they picked me up from my twin's melanie's apartment in provo saturday and we spent the day in provo together and had lunch with my cousins christer and karl and karl's cute wife socorro! i also got to see haleeeey badaley!!! i've missed her. we walked around university mall together saturday night with every other lds woman and their dog since priesthood session was going on.

conference was great and i learned so much. i also appreciate President Packer and his talk. he is completely right. our Heavenly Father would never make someone be born with something that goes against his laws, especially since He loves us. the Church also released a response to the HRC petition.

"The Church’s doctrine is based on love. We believe that our purpose in life is to learn, grow and develop, and that God’s unreserved love enables each of us to reach our potential. None of us is limited by our feelings or inclinations. Ultimately, we are free to act for ourselves."

i really like this quote.

here are some pictaaaas from conference!

mels and i! i heart my sister.

my mama!!! at the reflection pool temple square

cal and i :)

my minolta! i got some great shots of the temple and developed one for my photo class and i'm pretty proud of it. i'll eventually scan it and upload it here.

anyways i'm gonna go make some toast or something so peace out! and keep on keeping on! :)

faith

I did this for my free choice journal entry in my english class, and realized that it is pretty much my testimony. So I felt like sharing it and remembering it. (I also posted it on facebook hehe)


What is faith? In primary I was always taught that faith was like a little seed and if planted it will grow. In young women’s I was taught that “Faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true.” - Alma 32:21

And it means so much more to me now. I have learned through my experiences so far in life that faith is drastically more important to me than I might have thought before. When I look back on what has happened to me, two completely different things enter my mind: that those things were extremely hard, but yet that there are many other people, even people that I know, that have been through worse. I like to think that my gratitude for the things I have been through is because of my faith in my Heavenly Father.

However, sometimes I feel inadequate to have faith. When a challenge is really hard to face, sometimes the faith needed to overcome that challenge is even harder to come to terms with. I worry that I do not have enough faith to go through it.

But, as I have recently realized, I will never be inadequate of faith. It is not something that I need to deserve in order to have. If I plant my faith firmly, it will grow, even if it seems like there is not enough sunlight for that little seed to sprout. Yes, it isn’t easy. Yes, even my very testimony in my loving Savior Jesus Christ will be threatened with challenges that need faith. Faith that knowing the sun will rise and brighten each new day. Faith knowing that I will be able to get up every morning.

When I again look back, I also realize that maybe my faith has been more than adequate. So far I have been able to get through challenges and I’m still breathing. At the same time, I have been incredibly blessed with many miracles. And I truly believe that this is because of my faith in Christ. I think that every time I tell myself that everything will be okay I am saying a prayer to my Father in Heaven asking him to bless me with faith. I wouldn’t be able to ask for faith and receive it if I didn’t have faith that He would give it to me. Faith, no matter how much or how little, I will always have.

blessings!

okay so the seven week break was long but good, and now there has been like three weeks of fall semester! survival rule #12: count your blessings.

so even though i've been enjoying this semster, its been a bit hard at times. for instance, pretty much NOBODY has gotten their loans yet, including me....even though that kinda has to do with the fact that my mom and i didn't complete the fasfa for this year quick enough...but still. so i have no money. and a computer that sucks. BUT. i know i say this a lot but you really gotta count your blessins. so i try :)

so here is a list of exciting things that have already happened/are soon to happen so far this semester!

1. my roommates are fantastic (heres a couple of our roommate pics! chyaa i took them again hehe...i rock)

2. i'm busy. which can sometimes be a bad thing. but its good.

3. i'm workin on my health

4. i'm learning how to shoot with film!!

5. i feel like i'm surrounded by amazing people with amazing testimonies (especially in my ward)

6. my teachers are way bomb. and unique. more on this later :)

7. i'm in utah at the moment visitng my twin and i get to go to conference!! and see mis padres!

8. life is good

9. the weather is freaking rad at the moment...warm!

10. its almost my birthday :)

yeah so i'd say i've got some pretty great blessings. and the Lord loves me! i realize this more and more each and every day.

and oh, i caught our kitchen on fire. :)

the camera stays around the neck at all times.

survival rule #11: don't ever let go of your camera!

haha so today i had my very first voodoo donut!!!!!!!!! voodoo donuts is this way popular place downtown portland known for its crazy donuts, like maple-bacon bars! but i just had a raspberry romeo, which is basically just a jelly filled donut. and it was delicious. and even though we had to wait in line for a long while (or so it felt) and even though i ate it in like 2 seconds, it was way worth it!

sooo soo i was in downtown p-town because my crazyawesome friend katy asked me to do her senior pictures! (along with the rest of the world). and she wanted to do them someplace cool where we could find original places....and lots of brick walls....and i was so happy because i love love love doing that! taking pictures at the park all the time can get really lame and you can only push your photographing limits so much at a park. haha. so we rode the max and walked all around downtown! it was awesome and i ended getting some really great pictures! and we have some funny/crazy/wayscary stories now too....

like, for instance, katy and i were just chillin, takin some pics up agaisnt a wall of some sort, and this dude (long scragily hair and beard ish face, worn out pants and tshirt, beer bottle or something in hand, you get the idea) comes up way close to us...and we were in a parking lot or something and there weren't a ton of people around but thank goodness there were enough...and he asks us if we had 50 cents and we said no and he pretty much freaked out on us! he couldn't understand what we were living on if we didn't have 50 cents and then he was like what are ya doing and we were like oh we're just taking some pictures and i could tell katy was getting nervous and i know i was! and then he was still kinda angry and was like "well can i take a picture of the both of you" and i was like ppppppppppsssssssssssh no son you aint getting this camera! haha no, not really. but i did say no, thats fine. and then he started swearing in our faces and rambling on about sharing and crap haha and continued rambling as he walked away. and then katy and i were laughing from being so scared and it being so ridiculous. mhmm lets keep portland weird. lets just say i'm glad my expensive camera was around my neck. never let go of your camera folks, especially when theres an angry 50 cent-wanting old man in your face. and especially when your camera is your main form of getting money that you oh so very much need to live in school!!! :)

well, time to go to bed on the mattress in lydia's room and hope i don't wake up with her on my face again (which happened last night). we have a japanese exchange student staying with us for like a month so my parents made me move out of my room already even though i still had a good week and half ish left at home! grr haha. but the girl, misaki, is way nice. (just like all the other japanese exchange students we've had before).

i go back to the burrrrrrrg in exactly a week now!!!! and pray i don't die from taking-too-many-pictures-disese! loves!

you make me smile.

survival rule #10....? i can't remember. haha. anyways. rule #10: always smile. even if you have bad teeth. always smile when a kid says something cute. today in sacrament meeting, mid arguement with brynn, eli looks up at me and asks "how did God make eyeballs?" of course i had to smile. even though that kid can definitely get on my nerves on a daily basis....he makes me smile. and thats what i love most about my little brother!

whenever you're having a bad day, a smile can, and should, always make it better. i know it sounds cliche ish, but its true!

sooo something that i'm smiling lots about....going back to school!!! fall semester starts in like 2 and a half weeks! and for some reason i'm way excited. i'm pretty sure i've got all the classes i want, roselanni is living super close, i'll have a new computer within a month, and i'm starting a new, better chapter in my liiiiife!

i've decided to change some things. i want to be healthier, so i'm goin on a diiiiiiiiiiet. not necessarilyyy because i need to lose weight, (even though i do...sonja's freshman year wasn't very good to her in that department) but also to just be happier! its called the mediterranean diet...look it up!! (i'm too lazy to put a linky here. you know how to google...use that skill!) i'll probably be bloggin about it. and i'm gonna do what my twin melanie suggested i do....20/20! which is exercise for 20 mins and then read scriptures for 20 mins. and its gonna be awesome!

now, i promise i'm not vain....i'm quite the humble person :) but i'm also a photographer, and i find that i learn ways to take better pictures by taking/editing pictures of myself. my mom, sisters and eli and i went hiking this last week in vernonia for just a bit...and there was this cool building so i jumped at the opportunity!

but i made brynn take the pictures.

which was actually not as easy as you think, because (sorry brynn) she's not the best photographer....well i mean...she doesn't see things the way i do. so i had to kinda direct her and be the model at the same time....rough. haha. and we ended up with these! after i edited them :) and i love them!

speaking of photography....i haven't updated my photo blog in forever...but this is changing!!! i'm gonna be a busy busy sonja these last two weeks that i'm at home. i have a couple senior shoots scheduled for this week and will probably do a few more. and its so great cause i'm earning money from it. and quite the good amount i might add :)

and on friday i took pictures of darling baby asha!! isn't she the absolute cutest?!?! i'll post more on my photo blog when i'm done with them. ps...i could hold this baby all day. no joooke.

so as i'm preparing for all my shoots, i like to do some 'studying' and get some ideas on how to make my pictures better, more fantastic. and i stumbled gracefully upon this very helpful blog about posing! i adore it! i repeat, very helpful!

i'm so excited.

accchhhhooooooo

survival rule #9: always have benadryl on you. at all times.

so the semester is over (has been for like 2 weeks...)

and i officially kinda suck at blogging.

but i'll get the hang of it.

summer semester ended fantastically! even though it was kinda sad...leaving all my favorites. but i lived.

i'm not sure how long that will last though, because this

is me right now. its awfuuuuuul!!! i think i have some kind of curse, because whenever i come home to oregon my allergies flip out on me. and i don't like it. right now i'm suffering painfully from itchy eyes, itchy throat, itchy nose, itchy!!!!! also, mind you, itchy eyes = watery eyes. blah!

but other than that, being home has been....okay. i love spending time with my fam and my friends, but i must say, i miss rexburg. strange?

also, everything is just super stressful because my little brother elijah broke his arm the DAY AFTER i came home, and so now my parents have to fork out another $1,000 that we don't have. but. the important thing is that he's okay. he even had to have surgery, poor guy. his story isn't even that cool. he fell off our front porch's railing...onto the porch.

and i was already stressin about money so now its even harder to breathe.

but i shall not complain!!!

i could, but i'm not gonna.

my parents have been trying to help me figure out ways to get more money, esp since i NEED a new laptop. since mine is a big piece of poop.

and i was lucky enough to help out my friend's mom at her daycare all this week, and so i'm gettin like 200 bucks from that so thats niiiiice.

and!

our family had a garage sale last weekend.

:)

we got a good amount of money from that too, and a bunch of the stuff that we couldn't sell is going to the massive garage sale for risa that's goin on this weekend. (by the way, some of MY pictures of risa are going to be in the oregonian tomorrow!)

well, i'm out.

i would post more pictures...esp more from the semester....but i kinda hate blogger's photo uploading job. it kinda sucks. i will soon though.

oh yeah, always carry benadryl on you, cause well, you never know when the evilness of allergies will come upon you. it has pretty much saved me these past 2 weeks.

fight with honor

survival rule #8: fight ALL of your battles with honor.
so, this past week has been interesting. just alright/really awful at times, and quite amazing at others. highlights: a pretty frickin amazing LIGHTNING STORM, and the most epic waterfight ever known to man. my fhe brother, ford, has been planning a campus wide waterfight (called the epic waterfight war: battle of porter park) for months and it finally happened on saturday! it was so much fun and absolutely hilarious. campus was split into two sides, east and west. east was red, west was blue! and we were the east :) a couple of my roommates and i painted ourselves with red war paint....it was so fun. there are wayyyy too many funny things that happened during battle to blog about. thats how awesome it was. however, i do think that the westside had more than one advantage, because they have more people and they had all the water because they were on the side of the park where all the water is. and THEY think THEY won just because they stole a flag of ours, yet they didn't even HAVE a flag. stupid westside. and we all had so much more spirit and fought with so much more honor than they did.

me with my war paaaint! i especially like this picture :)

me and the roommates! kim and lisa!

more war paint!!

we are eastside!!!! "ahhhhhh woooo!!!" yeah. we really all did go alllll out {pretty rad.}

after the fight!! lisa, kim, me, and cal. almost all of our paint had washed off by then. :) it was intense.

yep, this is what my school does on weekends.

(ignore the westside biasness of this above video) there are so many pictures and videos of the fight being posted all the time! my friend kevin told me tonight that he is going to make a super cool one. i'm excited. and now everyone's profile pictures are red haha. ford is already planning on another battle in a few weeks.

porch party watching the lightning storm friday night! a very good weekend i must say. even though i got sunburned from the fight and its not comfortable at all. and even though its been so super hot lately! {but i'm not complaining.}

soooo awesome!! i was actually able to get some pretty decent pictures.

it finally feels like summer has started. even though its almost july...haha. and i come home in 4 weeks! happy happy. fight with honor and you will survive!

affirmations!

Survival rule #7: daily affirmings of yourself. Okay so theres like a billion things i could say today, but this is pretty much all i can muster. And this sums up how i would like to feel about my life right now. definitely workin on it :)

drive with the windows down and the music up

survival rule #6: roll the windows down while driving. seriously. it will make you happier. and with the music up. tonight we had fhe in IF at Bro. Blatter's, and today was FINALLY so nice and warm, we could drive with the windowns down and not worry about freeeeezing! plus, i love that feeling. that carefree feeling of the wind blowing your hair around all crazy like, even though sometimes i gotta close or squint my eyes or else my contacts might fly out haha. anyways. so that made my day today. and i had a pretty good photoshoot today with these super cute sisters!! so that was fun and the weather was perfect. almost too perfect. believe it or not!

also, there was one of the most gorgeous sunsets i've ever seen in my life on the way home. i wanted my camera so bad! but i couldn't have possibly captured that. it was too amazing, i wouldn't have been able to do it justice, and i don't even know if any photographer could. it was pure beauty. and it reminded me of a conversation i had with kristin earlier. she had been telling me about how she had to stick her hands in a dead person today in her human anatomy class. and that it didn't really gross her out. (and i was like, pssh, no way jose would i have done that or ever will i....cause i would have been like "raaaalllllppppphhh") the reason why it didn't gross her out? she was fascinated. she said that it strengthened her testimony so much because it got her thinking, there is no way in heck that some big boom could have created this. and i completely agree with her. looking at that sunset, how could you not believe in God? also. that conversation with kristin reminded me of another conversation i had with a random girl in the library on saturday as i was working on my visual media project (thats on risa, by the way). she came up to me and sweetly asked if she could ask me a few questions, and i was like, sure! and she asked me, "in your opinion, what is a rational reason to believe in God?" and that kind of caught me off guard. because honestly, i've never really had to think about it in that context before. a rational reason to believe in God. what is rational? what isn't rational? there shouldn't be any rational reason...because everyone should believe in God....these were all thoughts going through my head as i was trying to say an answer that would actually make sense. then i knew it, a rational reason to believe in God is that by believing in God, i recieve hope. And not just any hope, hope that i can't get anywhere else. it is special and it is strong. then she asked me what an irational reason to believe in God would be. and i was like, well for one thing, this doesn't really apply to me because i DO believe in God and i've had him in my life all my life, but, an irational reason would definitely be faith. A lot of people don't have faith. they think it is irational to believe in something they cannot see. so, can you see the realization i've come to?! God is good, and He is real.

my back hurts so i think it might be time for bed, and i think i used waaaayy too much energy today and i need to rest easy so i can have a good week (even though by the time i get in bed or go to sleep or whatever it'll be 2am) since i've been feeling cruddy lately. stresssss. but God is good. :)

and oh, i almost forgot! google kept me entertained for quite some time this evening when i decided hey, i miss google pacman! and so i googled google pacman! play it and you will get addicted.

picture of the day by roselanni- cuteness personified! yes, personified. hehe. {gasp!}

go on adventures!

survival rule #5: always always always make sure to go on an adventure at least once a day. today, was a very interesting, full of discovery type of day. i went to bed late last night as always (following my weird and unhealthy as can be sleep schedule: wake up on days i have class, come home and sleep or take a 3 hour nap later in the day, go to bed at 3am. days i don't have class- sleep in until afternoonish, go to bed at 3am. sometimes 1 or 2 if i'm lucky. authorities confirm i am a vampire) and woke up as roselanni was getting ready for class but only for like a second, but was rudely awakened at 11:3o when people were banging on the floor beneath me! nobody is living underneath us this semester because there was something wrong with the apartment so they've been fixing it. and for some crazy reason, excessive pounding and all sorts of annoyingly loud noises have to be going on whilst i am trying to sleep! so instead of sleeping more, which very well could have happened if the opportunity had presented it, i laid in bed until the pounding stopped and then was wide awake. hoooooray. and then i proceeded to begin my plan for the day which had been to wake up eventually (done) eat something, get things figured out for my visual media project (which included putting some pictures on my jump drive) and go to the library for the rest of the day. i then discovered that i reallyyy needed to clean up my computer and delete some photos to do it. so as i was cheerfully doing so, rosie came home from class and wanted me to come to the store with her to get things for jb's birthday tomorrow and so i agreed. lisa came home and we asked if she wanted to join so she did! and we had an adventure. we wanted to go to snoasis and taco bell and since rosie owed me like 3 bucks from when we went to the pita pit the other day, she bought my snow cone :) and it was delicioussss. i had a coconut and vanilla with ice cream on the bottom. sooooo yummm. and then we went to taco bell and then we discovered the rexburg farmer's market! right behind taco bell and next to the tabernacle! alas, there are things to do in rexburg! so we had a glorious time walking around looking at things and tasting food! i was soo extremely happy because it made me kinda feel like i was at home! back home in hillsboro there's the best farmer's market ever!! not too big, but definitely not small. :) they have it every tuesday night and saturday in the summer. and my family and i have been going to it since i was little. so i think i have found a new love here in rexburg, idaho.

so even though it looks like this:

Instead of this:

(above photo courtesy of google!)

It still made me happy! And there were kittys there! they were so so cute.

And then our adventure continued as we went to broulim's. and we saw jamba juice banana man! so even though i didn't get any of my project done and it will have to be done tomorrow....on a saturday...since its due monday morning...it made for a pretty decent day.

{loves!}

too blessed to be stressed

survival rule #4: no matter how bad things are going, tell yourself that you're too blessed to be stressed over and over and over again until you feel better. it helps. my life has been feelin soo crazy lately, i can't even explain how crazy. but, i don't really want this to be a sonja is just complaining post and blah blah so yeah. i am too blessed to be stressed.

i have a hero. and her name is Risa Melody Whitaker. she is changing my life and i don't think i even realize how much she is changing it. i promised i'd post pictures of her and her sisters so here! I think this was the most amazing experience of my life.

The Whitaker sisters from left: Rebecca, Railee, Risa, Rachel, and Reana.

They are definitely a crazy bunch. and i love them all so dearly. they truly are a wonderful example of what love is. And here i am with two of my best friends in the whole wide world!

And i'm not joking when i say that this was the most amazing experience of my life. Read the full story and see more pictures here. you can also see more pictures on facebook.

So i should really be more grateful for the life i lead, and that i have the opportunity to go to a fabulous university such as BYU-Idaho :) so whenever ya'll see/hear me freakin out or being ridiculous, yell in my face that i'm TOO BLESSED TO BE STRESSED! or slap me, or ya know, a hug could probably work too.

and oh! to end this not-a-rant-at-all, i just wanna say i love my roommate. she always manages to make my day-or week! whether its in the form of a youtube video or a late night talk as we're both trying to fall asleep or whatever. so these are the things that have made my week, courtesy of my gorgeous roommate, rosie.

this is hilarious. it will blow your mind.

i know right?! i posted this on my wall on facebook and it happily spread like wildfire between my friends and the rest of the world. whoever created this masterpiece, be thankful for the 20 billion new views you have now received.

and okay, rosie has a strange owl fettish. which has kinda rubbed off on me. she surprised me with these two lovely photos earlier today:

We like sending owl pictures to each other. or pictures of other weird creatures we discover. i finally cut a picture of a cute owl out that i found on a ceral box tonight and taped it to her vanity mirror. i look forward to her reaction.
{and heh} the fettish continues. she saw prince of persia with her fiance last night and this was one of the commercials.

pretty steller if i might add.
well, that was a hearty post. i hope it brightened your day. remember: too blessed to be stressed!!! {smile!}

try something insane once in a while

survival rule #3: always find some time to try something absolutely insane once in a while. my friend tina from back home and next door neighbor here in rexburg texted me last tuesday asking if i wanted to come home this weekend. i was like, "YES!!!!" and then she told me that she had just decided last minute and was going to surprise her family so thats what we did. we drove alllllll night thursday with another one of my friends, jane, and had such a party. well i was sleeping most of the time....but it was still a party. since we had to stop a billion times to pee haha. we made super amazing time though! we left around 11pm and got to tine's house at like 9:30am.

Portland!

It was so much fun surprising everyone! my whole family was shocked, especially my dad! almost every single one of them asked me, "what are you doing here?!" it was so great.

however, the main reason i went home was because one of my best friends, risa, (tine also knows her, tine's younger sister jess is another one of my best friends and they are all super close because of the private school they all go to- PHA) has cancer. its been so hard. we all just recently found out after she got her biopsy results back that she has the cancer pretty much all over. it has reached her lungs, liver, lymph node area, ovaries, and her whole pancreatic area is full of it- the doctors couldn't even really tell what was cancer and what wasn't on the results. i cried for like two hours straight once i found out and its been really hard for me to sleep and concentrate all the time when she, my darling risa, is always on my mind. and its hard also because i'm in idaho and she's back home in oregon, what am i supposed to do? pretty much all i can do is pray, fast, and love her. and let her know that. risa is as perfect as any mortal person can get. she loves everyone and is so kind. anyways, so PHA had their graduation friday night so i was able to go and see jess and risa graduate. and that was a huge blessing and something i will never forget! i have realized so many things about my life and future these past couple weeks.

and then on saturday my family and i went to the beach! i soo needed it! even though it exhausted me. and the weather didn't even end up too bad. and i have now decided that i'm a master at building huge sandcastles and that green apple is the best saltwater taffy flavor. i must get moooore.

my little brother eli and i and our bomb sandcastle! we had a battle of the sandcastles with my other brother joel, this was what it looked like before being destroyed.

cloudy but beautiful cannon beach!

And then the rest of my weekend was spent watching the blind side (such a good movie!) going to my home ward, taking a glorious super long nap, taking pictures of the whitaker sisters, (pictures will be up soon!) and going to my mormor's house and spending time and eating foood with my wonderful family. i adore my family. especially my cousins. :) they are the cutest things alive, no joke!

"i'm going to die without her!" -leah saying goodbye to me

All in all, the trip was so very worth it.

no matter how much danger you are in, never leave your cell phone out of sight.

Survival rule #2: seriously, never lose sight of your phone. last night as my roommate roselanni and i were having a teabag fight (yes, teabag fight), my other roommate krisitn decided it'd be cool to give rosie an advantage and they teamed up and cornered me and somehow took my phone. so as i threw the teabag at rosie's face and she threw it back at mine and we both ended up with slimeyyy herbal tea leftovers stuck to our faces, my phone had disappeared. and i didn't even realize it until kristin was already in bed. i madly looked all over the apartment, ripping the couches apart and ransanking my room as rosie was falling asleep. little did kristin know that i had visual media in the morning and had a project due. so she just kept my phone with her the whole night and i did not get it back until after i had slept through both of the extra alarms i had set (since i didn't have my trusty cell phone alarm to wake me up) and missed handing my project in and will now get 20% taken off of my grade because its late even though i had finished the project the day before!!!!!! fetch. apparently krisitn thought it would be cute to put my phone in my cupboard, thinking i would go in there for a snack before bed. nooooo. grrrr. but, i am a kind and forgiving person and love my roommates dearly no matter how funny they think it is to pick on me, so its not as big of a deal as it most definitely could be. :) and i shall remember it forever and will never let either one of them touch my phone again. ever. i know they love me, as they are saying "its a form of looooove" suuuure. haha. ♥

my lovely roommates and i at the beginning of this semester!! D5 girls are the best.

name change.

So, i decided to change the name of this so called blog. :) it was named Life in Technicolor after the song by Coldplay, but i discovered that i liked the zombieland rules so now my blog is called Sonja's Survival Rules. and every time i post from here on out will most likely have a new rule as the theme of the post!!!! yadigg???

enjoy the little things

Okay soo, I finally decided to do this blog thing. :) I have a blog for my photography, but I figured it was about time to have one just for the daily happenings of my life, boring or excitinggg, for my thoughts, and just for fun. And it doesn't really matter if no one reads it, because the fact is, it'll be there for me to read! Since i'm all about keepin my memories :) plus i have a few friends who blog all about their lives in college, and i think quite a few of my family members would enjoy hearing about everything that goes on in my college life.

So, me. I am going to Brigham Young University-Idaho, and i love it. Even though it can get awfully boring at times and the weather can be dreadful, i am very blessed to be surrounded with amazin people to keep it interesting. And to keep my feet on the ground but on my toes at the same time. I'm majoring in communications and minoring or whatever in photography. Photography is my way of expressing myself and i love doing it because i love inspiring people and filling their lives with color by capturing their moments and preserving their memories.

Anyways, so last night i watched zombieland with my lovely guy friends (who i just so happen to spend quite a bit of my time with) and i love columbus' zombieland rules to live by #32: enjoy the little things. So, here are some of the little things i enjoy, that make my life the way it is.

1. Cheez-its.

because if i had only one choice of food to eat for the rest of my life, cheez-its would be it. and they remind me of my best friends. :)

2. Napolean Dynamite.

i do quote him/it everyyy day.

3. Crest Vanilla Mint Toothpaste.

I seriously cannot brush my teeth without this toothpaste. its kinda like an OCD thing i guess. but this toothpaste just makes me happy.

4. Cute little monkeys.

If i could have a pet monkey, i would. and it would be this one. his hair matches mine! i just wanna hug him.

5. Sorry, Twilight.

I don't care how many people think it is stupid. and psh, team edward all the way. jacob is only there to create problems. don't get me started. ha. plus, i'm kinda a vampire, thank you very much!

6. Vanilla Milkshake Poptarts.

They are the best out of all the poptarts. and pretty much the only ones i will eat. i kinda love vanilla. :)

7. Hand Sanitizer.

i mean, who wouldn't love hand sanitizer? really now! it can solve sooo many problems!

8. Sweden!

I take great pride in my swedish heritage. anddd i wanna live there someday. jag skulle alska det sa mycket!

9. Elvis Presley. If this man weren't dead, i might marry him. there will be future references to him in this blog. trust me.

10. aaaaaaaaadventure time!!!!

because its the best show on the planet! watch it.

11. Going to the Temple.

Because here is where i feel peace.