"Another Saturnalia Miracle!"

I'm deeply sorry about my lack of posts over the last few months. I would blame my incredibly busy schedule, but as it turns out, despite being a full time student and having a part time job, I have had entirely too much time on my hands. None of which have been spent blogging, however. So here I am, fully committing to at least one blog post a week during the new year. Yay resolutions!

I'd been feeling a little blue, because I had been having a hard time finding my Christmas spirit this year.  When I was little, the week before Christmas was the slowest and most exciting week of my life, because I was constantly counting the moments until the arrival of Jolly Old St. Nicholas.  It seems that every year since I stopped believing in Santa it has been harder and harder to find that same excitement.  So this year I decided to look deep down and discover what Christmas really means to me.

While on my search I heard people give the typical meanings of Christmas (The spirit of giving, charity, love...). And of course there is always that one person every year who seems to have a personal vendetta against the celebration of Christmas, who goes on and on about it originally being a pagan holiday, and how Christians stole it, and how we shouldn't celebrate Christmas because Christ is only a myth...blah blah blah... Scrooge, Scrooge, Scrooge.... Then it hit me one day, as I was listening to a classmate give a well rehearsed argument against Christianity, that Christ's birth was really what I needed to be celebrating this season. I have been through so much this year, and have gained such a strong testimony, it seemed almost selfish to not completely devote myself to the Lord this Christmas.

So this year, as I'm opening up my presents on Christmas morning, I will be thinking of the greatest gift I have ever been given. The gift of eternal salvation, given to me by my savior.  It's because of him that I'm where I am today, and I have so much to be grateful for this season.

XOXO

Taylor

New Hair!

Finally! It has been nearly six months since the last time I had my hair cut and colored, and it was needing a touch up something fierce. Never again will I let it get that bad. I had at least three inches of roots showing, and the ends were as dead as a doorknob. I'm much happier with my new cut. What do you think?

It's a lot lighter and very styled. I'm really digging all the layers!

I couldn't resist posting this. I'm such a dork...

XOXO

Taylor

Embrace Life: Always Wear Your Seatbelt

I posted this video earlier on Facebook, but I feel the need to spread this message as far and wide as possible. We were learning about auto collisions in my First Aid class, and my instructor started a discussion on whether or not we believed it should be illegal not to wear a seat belt. The majority of the class (including myself) were in favor of the law, but there were just a handful of students who were against the law. Not surprising, all of the students who voiced their disapproval of the law had been ticketed for not wearing their seat belts. One boy made the argument that he would only be harming himself, but what he failed to realize was that if he died from not wearing a seat belt during a car accident, it could effect so many other lives. We watched another video about a boy who chose not to wear his seat belt, and when his car collided with another car and rolled, he was thrown out of his seat and slammed into the other passengers sitting in the car. The impact of the crash didn't kill the other three passengers; the impact of his flying body did. Even if there was only one person in the car during a crash, think about the emotional trauma their death would cause. Especially if it could have been prevented by wearing a seat belt.

My instructor recommended that we go home and watch this commercial. It's called Embrace Life and it is one of the most beautiful commercials I have ever seen. I'm not sure who created it, I'm sure the credits are on the YouTube page, but whoever they are did a phenomenal job. I don't think any two and a half minute video clip has ever moved me so much. Just watch it and you'll know what I mean. I promise it will be worth your while. And if you feel as strongly about this issue as I do, post this on your blog or Facebook. I challenge all of you to spread this message, and make people aware of the physical and emotional damages not wearing a seat belt can cause. Not only to yourself, but to the people you love.

XOXO
Taylor                                                                           

Weekend with my sista' friends!

Don't you just love a good weekend with the girl's? I know I do; especially when you spend it in a place as fun as St. George! This trip was exactly what I needed. A nice long break from school and all the stresses that go along with it. We spent the weekend doing whatever we felt like doing. A movie, card games, swimming, hiking, and a little retail therapy.

We went hiking in Snow Canyon on our second day. Not our prettiest picture, but we figured why shower if we're just going to be sweaty and gross in a few hours?

We went to dinner at Iggy's Sports Grill for Diana's birthday dinner, and to watch the Utah vs. Wisconsin game. We won of course!

We had a waiters at Iggy's sing to Diana for her birthday, and they even gave her a free ice cream. Do you like her hair? Chelsi dyed it the night before, and we think it was a great success! How very spontaneous of you, Diana.

All-in-all we had one of the best vacations ever. I was really sad to go home after such a great time, but life must go on, and I'm ready to get back to reality.

XOXO
Taylor

Home Improvement.

I'm basically broke, so I've decided to re-decorate my room entirely with decorations I made myself. You might have read my earlier post about my recreation of the wall art in Anthropologie, and I'm proud to say that I'm nearly done with it! The bulk of the decoration is mounted on my wall, and I just have a few more pieces to finish before it's completely done.

The up close view

The far away view

As you can see, I've only completed one chunk of the entire project. I plan for it to travel further down the wall next to that painting, as well as further to the right of my bed. It will be sick!

My next project is going to be a mobile made out of branches from my old lilac tree, and paper cranes painted with sheer gold nail polish. Crafty, non?

Back to the house at Pooh Corner.

My emotions are in a frenzy right now, and I'm attributing a lot to the fact that it's two o'clock in the morning. I have way too much on my mind to sleep right now anyway. I've been giving way too much thought to what I want to be when I grow up. I know I don't have to decide anything right now, and my mom keeps counseling me to just take my time, do some more generals, and test the waters, but I'm just so anxious! I wish things like this came easily to me. Each time I get excited about a major or a career path, I start thinking too hard about it, and all of a sudden it doesn't sound like fun to me any more. So far the candidates are:

• Vocal Performance
• Interior Design (shot down because the U doesn't have an interior design program)
• Art Major
• Film Studies
• Philanthropy
• Social Work

All valid ideas, all equally suited for me, but I just can't figure things out. All I know is that I love to sing, I love children, I love volunteer work, and I want to do some thing BIG! Something really important, save the world kind of big. I was really effected when I saw The Social Network the other day. Mark Zuckerberg was my age when he invented Facebook. There are people my age doing amazing things, and feel so mediocre. I feel like I have the ambition to do something great, but I don't know how to go about doing it. I seriously need some guidance. I'm going to make an appointment with a career counselor once classes start up again.

I fully understand that every college student struggles with these same worries, and it's comforting to know that I'm not the only one with these fears. I guess it's all part of some greater plan, and we're not supposed to know what we were all meant to be, but it's hard to be patient and let destiny reveal herself.  I'm just going to have to trust that the Lord intends for me to do something meaningful, and pray.

XOXO
Taylor

Catching Up on Life.

Why do I always feel like I have 1000 projects I want to get done, and zero time to do them. I was never this busy when I was at UVU. Thank you University of Utah for sucking up so much of my life. Even though staying busy keeps me happy, I would like to not have to schedule time to hang with my best friend!

Frustrations aside, I feel like I have accomplished a lot this week. I earned some money babysitting (which will immediately be spent on the $90 speeding ticket I was fortunate enough to receive last weekend), I finished The Hunger Games and started Catching Fire, I cleaned my room, I got my institute parking pass, I went to the dentist, I finished all of my homework and got some serious study time in, I helped throw a fantastic birthday party for my dad, and I finally finished my wall decoration project! It turned out just as good as I'd hoped for (I'll be posting pictures once I actually have it hanging on my wall). Several projects down and about a billion more to go. It can be hard to keep track of them all, because once I get one thing done, five more get added to the list. At least I'm not bored out of my mind right?

Not only has this week been a week of catch up, it has also been a week of premiers. All of my favorite shows have started their Fall seasons this week. So far I've gotten to Glee, Modern Family, and Gossip Girl, then I have Big Bang Theory on Thursday and Supernatural on Friday! All three of the premiers I've seen thus far have been well worth the wait. *Spoiler Alert* I absolutely adore the new Glee boy! His name is Sam, Chord Overstreet, and he replaces Finn as the quarterback of the football team. What a hunk! I don't know if it's his boyish charm, or his dazzling smile, but I'm seriously hoping the rumors aren't true about him being brought in to play Kurt's new boyfriend. Even though it's not real, it would still feel like a blow to all us single ladies out there.

The best part of my week, however, was definitely my dad's B-Day party. He turned 49 this year, and even though 49 isn't exactly a mile-marker in a man's life, this year we had extra cause to celebrate. We realized this year my father wouldn't be spending his birthday in the hospital. For the past year and a half, my dad has been in and out of the hospital with two colon ruptures and about a dozen hernias. It's been a trial for my family, but we've kept strong, and now my dad is healthier than ever! We celebrated by inviting a bunch of our friends and family over for desserts and music. It was a huge success, and I got to see a lot of wonderful people I haven't seen in a long time.

That's pretty much it for this week. Hopefully I'll be better about updating more often.

XOXO
Taylor

I'm not sure why I think this is so funny.

I don't take credit for this picture.

Very Good Night!

Hello my beautiful readers! I am in such a good mood tonight! Sometimes I feel like life just gets so heavy sometimes, and every once in a while, Heavenly Father hands you a really great day to make up for it all. I definitely needed this. Here is a quick recap of today's events:

1. I was definitely lookin' fly today. Cute outfit, great hair, fab makeup, the works...
2. I was totally proud of myself for eating an apple after I got home from school, rather than something unhealthy.
3. I got to go to Costco with my Mamma, which is always an adventure.
4. My mom just bought The Hunger Games series for us to read. I've been wanting to read those books for about a year, and now I finally get to.
5. I got more work done on my room decoration project. Yay progression!
6. The Gossip Girl season premier was tonight, and I found out that Clemence Poesy (Fleur Delacour from the Harry Potter series) is a new character in the show! Why is that just the coolest thing ever you ask? Well, not only am I completely obsessed with Harry Potter, I just so happened to meet her this Summer when she was in Moab. I have photographic proof. It's on Facebook.

This may not seem like a particularly eventful evening to most people, but it was enough to brighten up my day, and that's what really counts right? Now I'm off to bed to get some shut-eye.

XOXO
Taylor

Future Room Decoration: Anthropologie Version

I'll be trying to recreate the small, multi-leveled squares on my wall, but in different shades of blues and greens. Wish me luck!

XOXO

Taylor

Labor Day and Such.

Hello again! My apologies for the lengthy gap between this post and my last. It seems like during the day (while I'm away from my computer) I'm constantly struck by blogging inspiration. There are so many deep, thought provoking topics I would like to discuss, but by the time I get home all I really want to do is watch eat, watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer re-runs, and go to bed. So now you're stuck reading about my Labor Day weekend, and whatever trivial aspects of my life I choose to share with you, because I honestly don't have the emotional "chutzpah" to write about anything deeper.

I you all had a wonderful Labor Day weekend, because mine happened to be both exhilarating, and productive. I chose to spend my time off of school in Moab, Utah. working a massive Labor Day sale held by the Moab Adventure Center. I figured it would be a good way to earn a little extra cash to help pay for the remainder of my school books. I'm swiftly approaching the depletion of my funds, and I completely emptied my savings account to pay tuition yesterday. Anywho... When I wasn't hard at work tending to the sale, I got to spend my time catching up with some of the greatest people on earth. It was very nice seeing my work friends again. It has been extremely weird going from being around this close knit group of friends 24/7, then moving back to Salt Lake and being alone most of the time. I was very grateful to have the opportunity to see them all again before we all become too busy. There were a few of us missing (Alison... This means you.), but that didn't put a complete damper on the weekend.

I was a little sad to say goodbye to Moab once more, but there has been no lack of projects to keep myself busy here in Salt Lake. I just completed, and successfully turned in, my first paper of the school year.  It was for my government class, and I chose to write about the Muslim mosque being built a few blocks away from Ground Zero.  I figured I would be condemned the least for my opinion on this issue compared to the other issues being examined today.

I've also been working on redecorating my room in the least expensive way possible, which means I will be making all of the decorations myself. Right now I'm trying to tackle a particularly interesting wall display, inspired by the Anthropologie store in The Gateway. I'll post the picture of the Anthropologie version of my wall decoration, so you can compare it to my version once I've finished. Keep in mind that they will be pretty different.  For instance, my version wont be gold or made out of small sheets of thin metal. Instead, my version will contain different shades of blues and greens, and will be made out of foam board, hot glue, and scrap booking paper. Hopefully I wont regret showing you the professional version if my version ends up being a disaster.

XOXO
Taylor

Horoscope.

This was my horoscope today according to my Google account:

You have your sights set on long-term goals now and you should be able to make a lot of progress if you don't expect too much, too fast. Your 10th House of Status is amped up by energetic Mars, yet you can still get away with being a bit too pushy. No one seems to mind your straightforward manner today as long as you also take the necessary time to listen to what others have to say, too.

Now I'm not saying that I'm one of those "Woo Woo Chicks" or anything, bu it's funny how these things are sometimes spot on isn't it? This pretty much sums up my first day of school at the U. It felt very different from the first days I've had in the past. I'm not sure if that is because that is what first days of college are supposed to feel like, or if it's because I have made tremendous strides in the maturity department over the last seven months. Either way, I am looking forward to this semester, and I feel like I can handle school/life in general on my own for the first time.

All of my classes are pretty difficult, but I have awesome teachers who are excited and willing to go the extra mile to teach their students. I haven't had my "Does ET Exist?" class yet, but I have high hopes. I really hope I'm not let down. If all else fails, at least I know someone in the class and we can wallow in our shared misery if the class totally bombs.

XOXO
Taylor

Back to School.

It's that wonderful time of year again! A time to shop for new clothes, purchase the necessary books/school supplies, drag my sorry carcass out of bed earlier, and drain the majority of my savings account to pay tuition. Sadly, as I say goodbye to Summer, I'm also saying goodbye to pretty much every last scent I worked so hard to earn over the last six months. I do not let this bring me down, however, because this school year is going to be different. I'm starting this year with brand new motivation and ambition. I have to admit, I am a little nervous, but not for the classes themselves. I'm more worried about me making it to each class on time. Not knowing the campus as well as I'd like, I hope I've planned enough time between each class to avoid tardiness. Tomorrow's schedule goes as follows:

10:45-11:35 US Government
11:50-12:40 1st Aid
2:00-2:50 Intro to Quantitative Reasoning (Algebra)

It shouldn't be too bad. I've got 15 minutes between my first two classes, and hour between the second and third.  Tuesdays and Thursdays I have Institute and a class called "Does ET Exist?" and there is about a 3 1/2 hour gap between the two. I know... I have to be one of the biggest nerds on the planet to be taking a class called "Does ET Exist?", and yes... it is indeed a class about  the existence of extraterrestrial life. According to the UofU's website, the class can take up to 100 students, but only 11 have signed up. I feel less lame knowing I have a friend in the class. Well, a friend of a friend, John, who is friends with my best friend, Travis. It's a 1080 class, and I've never been particularly good at science, so I hope the class isn't to difficult for me to handle. I'm realizing now that all of my classes are either science or math related. Oh goodness... what have I gotten myself into! I'm sure I'll be fine tomorrow. My dad gave me the annual 1st day of school father's blessing, a tradition my family has had as far back as I can remember.

I'm looking at the clock and the new, self-motivated, over achieving version of myself is realizing that the later I stay up, the harder it will be to get out of bed in the morning. So, like I previously mentioned, I will be dragging my "sorry carcass" out of bed promptly at 7:00 am to enjoy a hearty breakfast and head off to my first day of Fall Semester. Wish me luck!

XOXO
Taylor

Blogging.

Hello! My name is Taylor Merrill, and I have decided to start blogging. It's pretty much all the rage now, so I've decided to hop on the bandwagon. I'm not really sure what to tell you, or what to write about in future posts, but you can expect a variety of stories and random thoughts that occur to me throughout my day. Some might be funny, some might get a little heavy, but rest assured that you will be entertained no matter what.
XOXO
Taylor