Probably in too many words...but today was the BEST DAY EVER!!!

Ever had one of those days where everything seems to be absolutely perfect and you think that life couldn't possibly get any better?  And then WHAM!!!!!  God reminds you how mortal you are and how carnal, natural, and misguided you can be at times, but in the kindest, most loving way possible?  Kind of like when your mom is so happy that you're getting along with friends, doing well in school, doing everything a good little girl should and then she finds that little corner of the wall that you drew on when you were bored one day about a month ago (that you forgot about, but never completely) and you get severely scolded, but not as bad as if you were doing so many other things wrong too.  Yeah, that happened to me today.

I've had an AMAZING day!!!  I seriously LOVE Mondays now!  I love having to start school earlier than any day (it's amazing what a great start to the week that is).  I had a great voice lesson to start the day off.  I love my teacher!!!  This is her last semester teaching because she is retiring so she and her husband can serve a mission.  She is so incredibly talented and I'm so sad that I can't study with her for longer.

After that I had a great (and I mean GREAT...as in my pen hardly ever left the paper great) lecture in my Music History and Literature class.  It was an introduction to 20th century music.  I have been looking soooo forward to this for a semester and a half!!!  I can't wait to learn more so I can better appreciate it (like modern art...I hated it till I learned about it, now modern art is my absolute favorite and the more abstract and revolutionary the more I ADORE it...usually).

Later today I had Art History (the class I, without fail, always enjoy).  We've been in Abstract Expressionism for two days now, and today we got to study Jackson Pollock...he pretty much IS A.E.!!!  I always love that class, so it's no surprise there that it made my day wonderful.

Another great thing...well, I've been using my time on the bus to study my scriptures.  It's not the most ideal place, but I personally believe it's perfect!!!  With my bus ride to school I have a half hour scripture study automatically scheduled into my day, and depending on how many times I'm on the bus, there's another half our of study.  Well, today I read Alma 26 and FELL IN LOVE with it!!!!  Ammon is my favorite!!!  I especially love the very quintessential sibling-y conversation you see in v. 10-11....that made me smile sooo big!!! (Isn't Ammon just totally AWESOME!!!!!?!!!?!)

Me with a bunch of UCAS kids...I'm the one on the far left...

with ther really light hair (wow!)  We were getting ready for yearbook pics 

for the yearbook people and Student Government.

Well, after going home to get the DVDs I forgot to take with me to school so I could return them and getting back to school to return them I ran into someone from UCAS...this is where mom found that little corner that I drew all over the wall paper and then forgot about but not really.  As I said, I ran into a kid that I knew, but not very well, from my good ol' UCAS days.  I went over and talked to him.  He'd been home from his mission for a few months and was going to school and working at a high school and life was good for him.  Well, then, after talking with him for a while about various things we'd been up to like his mission, my schooling, Maine...well after all that, the bad news came in the form of the inevitable conversation piece between to first year UCAS students: UCAS.  I typically LOVE talking about high school.  I had a bunch of friends and knew nearly everyone in the school, I was super involved in a bunch of stuff, and ended up being one of those people who had quite a few pictures in the yearbook.  High school was pretty good to me and I got out of it relatively whole.  I'd had an amazing bestest best friend (Ruthie), I dated all the time, and I had was happily friends with a majority of the kids at school.  But apparently I'd never talked to him in high school (or gone out of my way to be nice...oops).  Also, he knew a bunch of people that thought I was kind of mean and really stuck up.  And last of all he was best friends with a guy I wasn't exceptionally kind to.  Yeah, three strikes.  I felt terrible.  It's always a little painful to see yourself from the eyes of someone outside your circle of friends (no matter how large) especially when it doesn't paint you in the best light.  But we talked and he left thinking I wasn't as bad as my high school self would have him believe...so that's pretty ok in the end!

After that I decided to stick around and get some much needed studying done, and was approached by this girl who told me about a meeting with President Holland (UVU's president) so I went to that and was able to be in this open discussion with about 10 other students and President Holland about our concerns and comments about the University.  It was pretty much awesome!!!  I was happy that I was able to personally thank him for all the support he's given to the Music Department and the School of the Arts.  He told me a lot of the plans they are making for the progression of the School of the Arts.  It was really cool and I'm really grateful that I had to go back to school and decided to stick around and study in the library!

I then went home and was home for no more than a few minutes when my FHE family came over (reminding me it was Monday...a fact that I had previously forgotten).  And we all went to the Bean Museum and that was fun!

Now I'm home after a great day (with a new, not so fun, perspective on the person I was in high school) and I still have quite a bit to get done on my "to do list", but I had a terrific day!

~Manda