The Spirit of Christmas

Do you remember when you were younger, Christmas and your birthday were the two greatest days of the year.  You could hardly sleep because you were thinking about the presents, delicious food, and fun that was going to come the next morning.  When the sun rose, you would jump out of bed and run into your parents room begging them to get up so you could open presents.  It was the most joyous, wonderful, marvelous time of year.  As you grow older, birthdays become less and less exciting and they often sneak up on you.  Christmas stays exciting, but becomes more and more important.  We more fully understand the true meaning of Christmas and significance of the birth of the Lord, Jesus Christ.  We recognize the importance of that sacred day when the Savior was born.

This Christmas has been a little different for me.  One of my pet-peeves has always been attitude changes during the holidays.  I LOVE the spirit of Christmas, but I don't like how that spirit dissipates when the season is over.  I wish the world were benevolent, loving, and joyful all year long - not just during December.  This year, as the holidays approached, I found myself frustrated with church lessons on the Spirit of Christmas and Thanksgiving.  I would scowl inside when comments were made that began, "especially this time of year..."  I was almost rebelling about feeling the spirit any differently during the holiday season.  If I didn't already have the spirit with me all year long, then why should I be privileged to have it now.  Instead of being grateful for the spirit that I had, indeed, been carrying with me all year long, I had been driving the spirit away.  I didn't realize until now, why this Christmas didn't feel like Christmas.

There is a reason the world seems brighter during the holidays.  We are brought back full circle to the purpose of life, and why we are here.  We are reminded of the Savior, Jesus Christ, who sacrificed his life for us so that we may live again.  We are reminded of his mercy, his love and kindness, and of our responsibility to treat others with that same kindness.  We are reminded of the humble circumstances through which he came, and are grateful for the conveniences and luxuries of our lives today.  Unfortunately, the world doesn't always remember the true spirit of Christmas. After the presents are opened and the parties end, many people go right back to their individual lives.  I wish the spirit of Christmas would last all year long.  But instead of feeling bitter about the world's lackadaisical attitude, I should be doing my part to keep the spirit of Christmas alive.  I should be reminding myself constantly of the blessings I have been so generously given.  I should be sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ and helping others to feel the spirit, just as I do.  I am truly grateful for the Savior, Jesus Christ.  He is my Lord, my redeemer, my brother.  He has provided me a way to return to our father in heaven.  He loves me with all his heart.  The Spirit of Christmas is the Spirit of Christ.  And it is my hope that I never again let the spirit of Christ(mas) dwindle within me, "...especially at this time of year."

Because I've been lazy {Thanksgiving 2011}

I haven't had time to update this thingymabob.
You didn't even hear about my Thanksgiving!
I'll share the rest some other time.
But for now,
check this out.
 

 

Thanksgiving 2011 - Orange Beach, AL from Ali Fredrick on Vimeo.

20 things that make me happy.

1.   Alabama

2.   warm weather

3.   sleeping in

4.   my puppy

5.   weddings

6.   babies

7.   family

8.   a certain boy

9.   reunions with friends

10.   Christmas

11.   music

12.   good books

13.   unexpected phone calls

14.   home cooking

15.   new shoes

16.   crazy dreams

17.   family basketball games

18.   movie marathons

19.   facials

oh. 

and this picture.

as of late...

Happiness.

Sometimes,

 just when you think the road is going nowhere

it curves around and surprises you :)

truth.

Learners

Great learners welcome corrections.
Great learners make and keep commitments.
Great learners work hard.
Great learners help others learn.
Great learners expect opposition and work to overcome it.
-Henry B. Eyring


This is why I love stake conference.
They say exactly what I need to hear.
More thoughts to come soon.

they think they're wise ;)

War Tide

For my History of Creativity class, we were asked to write an epic patterned after the Aeneid that tells a story of the US. The point was to capture the core values and customs of the country.  

Naturally, 

the United States was not cool enough for my epic. 

I decided to focus on the customs of the South, 

Alabama specifically. 

So that's what I did. 

At 1:00am this morning I began writing. 

I only wrote for an hour, 

so don't kill me for improper usage of literary devices, okay?

I'm pretty proud of it :)

It makes me laugh. 

So I've decided to share it with you. 

War Tide.

It was Autumn. Ivy watched golden brown leaves fall from the oak trees in her large New England backyard. “We’re moving to Alabama,” her mother said. Ivy spun away from the window to face her mother; mouth wide open in shock. “We’ll move in to the new house just before Thanksgiving. It’ll be an adventure.” Ivy couldn't believe her ears. Alabama?, she thought, Yeah that will be an adventure for sure.

A few weeks later, Ivy rode down the windy roads of Mountain Brook, Alabama. She watched as large oak and pine trees whipped past the window; occasionally a big, beautiful antebellum or Tudor style house peeked into view. As she looked closer at each house, she noticed flags hanging from the balconies.  From all houses hung the beautiful Star - Spangled Banner, but there were others: white flags with a red X, crimson red flags with a white cursive A, and a variety of orange and blue flags hosting paw prints, tigers, or the letters AU. How strange, she thought, who would decorate such beautiful homes with tacky flags? Little did she know this was just the beginning. Every license plate matched one of the flags; she saw t-shirts, baseball caps, sweatpants, car magnets, car flags, cups, coolers, nail polish, purses, sunglasses, and even house slippers decorated in these same orange and blue or crimson and white. She heard strange sayings like, “y’all” “Roll Tide” and “War Eagle” and the names Burns, Saban, and some indian Bear Bryant in nearly every conversation. What kind of land have I journeyed to?

Monday. Only two days in the school week before Thanksgiving, and boy was Ivy ready for delicious food and some normalcy with her family. So focused on reading the school map, Ivy nearly ran into another student walking into her first class. “Pardon me, ma’am. Ladies first.” She looked up to see a cute boy staring back at her wearing an orange shirt with “Auburn” written across the front. “Oh, uh.. yeah,” she mumbled and awkwardly walked through the door. Ma’am? Ivy had just slipped off her backpack and taken a seat when the boy turned around,
“Who do you go for?”
“Excuse me?” she said.
“I’m sorry, my name’s Parker. I’m kinda a big fan and I’m just curious, who do you go for?”
“I’m sorry, I’m not sure what you mean. Who do I go for?” 
“You know, the Iron Bowl this weekend. Which way are you pulling?” 
Luckily, Ivy didn’t have to answer that strange question, as the teacher then began to lecture.


Later Ivy had P.E. As she walked into the gym, a divide became apparent: students in red and white stood on the left-hand side of the court, while orange and blue clad students congregated on the right. She glanced down at her own attire. Red vans and a blue shirt, great. A girl ran up to her,”Hey I’m Anna Margaret. I noticed you look a little lost and thought you might could use some team attire. I have an extra hat if you’d like to borrow it.” Ivy gratefully accepted the hat and joined Anna Margaret alongside the orange and blue players. The borrowed hat was neither orange nor blue, but green camouflage, and sported the same “Auburn” word across the front. As she placed the hat on her head, Ivy heard the whistle blow and dodgeballs went flying. Before she even had time to think, a ball whacked Ivy in the shoulder and she was sent to the sidelines. Ivy watched as the game went on. The team in red and white was good; strong, quick, but a little cocky and pretty poor sports when one of their players was hit. The orange and blue team was not quite as strong; but they worked together to outsmart the red and white players. It was a really close match, and the bell rang for the end of class as the last two players stood on the court. The coach blew her whistle, calling the game a draw. Parker, the boy she nearly ran into that morning, was the last man standing for the orange and blue team. Impressive, she thought as she left the gym to head for the cafeteria.


Ivy walked in to the cafeteria and saw the divide in full force. The lunch lines were colored differently. One line served all orange and blue food; orange hamburgers with blue buns, orange vegetables, macaroni and cheese, blueberries, even the cake was orange and blue. The other side served the same foods, but in red and white. “Sweetheart, you might want to pick your side wisely.  It’ll stick with ya until the day you die” a lunch lady said as she handed Ivy a tray. You can’t be serious, she looked back at the woman. The lunch lady was dead serious. Ivy briefly considered what she knew about each color combination. She thought about Anna Margaret and her generosity, Parker and his courtesy and good sportsmanship. She thought about the dodgeball game and how genuinely the orange and blue team played as compared to the over-confident red and white team. Well, orange and blue it is. As Ivy walked over to that colored line, she saw Anna Margaret and Parker wave to her from a little farther down. She quickly grabbed her food and caught up with the two. “Looks like you’re rooting for Auburn, huh?” Parker said. “It’s a wise choice. If you haven’t already noticed, football is kind of a big deal down here.” “Football? This is all about football?” “Not just any football,” Anna Margaret said, “S-E-C football. Plus, Auburn/Alabama is possibly the biggest rivalry in the nation. The game is this Friday.” “Oh duh, I knew that…” Ivy responded. NOT. She was learning, though. Alabama was a foreign world to her, full of strange sayings and customs.  Ivy kind of liked the crazy traditions, and now she could go home to tell her parents all about the epic adventure she’d had that day; her first experiences with southern hospitality and an obsessive love of college football.

Just over two weeks away. 

War Eagle. 

What have you been doing lately?

I haven't been so good at updating lately, huh?

School consumes my life. 

Truly. 

Here's a quick update filled with lots and lots of pictures :)

Major event #1

SWE Conference - Chicago

Chicago deep dish pizza... 

 

Incredible networking and workshops...

 

HUGE career fair

complete with drawings for iPads, KitchenAids, and even...

A COMPUTER ENGINEERING BARBIE!

I won. and it made my day.... 

Saw the city...

  

 

 

and enjoyed delicious food at the keynote speaker luncheons and banquets!

Honorable mentions for the trip:

Ate Armenian food with some of the coolest Armenian girls in existence, 

Lindsay's *now fiance* came to Chicago to pop the question,

she said YES!
possible life-changing internship offers,

SWE dance party, 

late night Dunkin Donughts runs, 

H&M...

need I say more?

Since SWE conference I've been playing lots of catch-up with my school work 

But I've managed to make time for 

picnics...

 

I love my roommates :)

A ward trip to Cornbelly's corn maze...

 

A Harry Potter party...

and even some Halloween festivities!

 

 

Other sporadic moments of excitement

were spread throughout the past few weeks or so:

a few sushi trips with Kelly, 

Latin dancing, 

some incredible research,

pumpkin carving...

I just forgot to document them with pictures :)

I've got two midterms tomorrow so I should probably sleep now. 

Happy almost daylight savings time!

First breakdown of the semester.

This is cool.

I found this.
and it is awesome.  

Bittersweet

I took a little trip to the windy city.

After the week/end of a lifetime,
full of incredible opportunities
and wonderful memories,
it's hard coming back.

I'm playing catch-up,
and working to get back ahead.
After being around girls
who are in the same place as me,
sharing similar passions
and ambitious goals,
it's weird coming back to normalcy.
Not everyone understands.

It's hard.
But that's what makes the world go round!

More pictures to come :)

even though they taste gross...

Who's ready for an all-nighter??

Me.
Remi.
Caedm.
All night.

181st SemiAnnual General Conference - "Remember, it's better to look up..."

It's conference time again!
It's been fabulous so far.

President Monson arrived to conference a little late, so his short address took place after the morning session's intermission.  I loved his "oh, hello!"

PROVO TABERNACLE = 2nd PROVO TEMPLE?!

"Memorizing scriptures is like making new friends.  File them away so you can have them on hand whenever you need them."
- Elder Richard G. Scott

"You young kids are being raised in enemy territory"
"You suffer temptation because of your physical body, but you also have power over the adversary because of your body"
"The outcome of this battle is not unknown.  It was decided in the pre-mortal existence. Lucifer will loose."
- Elder Boyd K. Packer

"The most powerful being in the universe is the father of our spirit.  He does not see us as merely human beings; we are heavenly, divine beings with infinite potential in his eyes"
- Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf

The Mo-Tab's arrangement of "Press Forward Saints" was one of my favorites.

"Remember, it's better to look up..."
- Elder Carl B. Cook

Did anyone else think the primary choir in the Saturday afternoon session was adorable?

"Repentence is a gift and should put a smile on our face"
- Elder D. Todd Christofferson

"We, the mormons, are now more visible than ever...we can share who we are"
1. Be bold in our declaration of Jesus Christ
2. Be righteous examples to others
3. Speak up about the church
- Elder L. Tom Perry

Visit mormon.org :)



How are you liking conference?

my secret love affair.

I've been seeing a lot of this lately. 

Some think I'm out with friends, 

others think I'm already in bed. 

But the real fact of the matter is..

I'm with the one I love. 

The caedm lab. 

We have lots of fun together on the 4th floor of the Clyde. 

It's here for me all night if I need it, 

and never closes its doors.

It even lets me bring friends to join in the fun! 

Our relationship has grown much stronger these past few days, 

and now,

 I don't know what I would do without it.  

Caedm, 

thank you for being a loyal friend to me. 

How can I ever repay you?

Stewart Falls

if you haven't hiked it.
you should.
its beautiful.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bending over backwards

and it's only Monday.

on the bright side, 

I've already made a complete fool of myself 

by skidding my bike on the way to school 

and completely biffing it in front of a couple dozen people.

no biggie. 

I just have a 5 inch wound down my forearm, 

and a couple holes in my right foot.

Oh well.

I'm sure I made people laugh. 

and it is a pretty day outside.

What's going on outside?

this comic came from a place called PhD comics.  

It's one of my personal fave's
AND
it reminded me of something that happened today.


SO
3:00 rolls around and it's time for my 3 hour signal processing lab.
I sit down at my computer,
log in,
and wait for the rest of the lab section to show up.

people trickle in
then WHAM
the lights go out.
(okay so maybe it didn't make a WHAM noise, but you get the idea)
We're all a bit taken aback.
After a couple minutes of talking,
we decide to go into the hall
with the security lights
and work on homework
until we figure out what's going on.

Then the TA remembers,
"Crap, this happened a couple years ago
when the construction crew hit our main power lines.
The fume hoods in the Chem E labs stopped working
and everyone had to evacuate the building
before the gasses leaked.
Let's go ahead and evacuate now just to be safe..."

We exit the Clyde,
and see it is a beautiful, GLORIOUS day.
We sit out front the building
where lots of other engineering classes,
as well as classes from other buildings (who apparently also lost their power)
congregated, continuing on with their lectures.

The other classes seemed so happy to be outside,
enjoying the beautiful sun.

We stood there squinting.

I don't think we quite knew what to do with warm sunshine,
and a bright sky...

most of us enter the Clyde around 8 am,
and don't exit until around 7 pm...
As cliche, stereotypical, picture perfect as this may sound.
It was so true.
I'm sure we looked crazy.
Just standing there squinting.
We honestly didn't know what to think of non-fluorescent lights.

And just to add to the humor,
today was a HUGE engineering career fair
with LOADS of recruiters interviewing students for jobs and internships.
The Wilk lost power too.
Which means all the recruiters were standing outside as well.

For an hour or so,
it was a giant nerd convention all over campus.
Guys dressed all fancy in their suits and ties
talking about C++, micro-processing, biotechnology...

It was a sight.

Long story kind of shorter,
the power came back on a little over an hour later
and everyone went back into the windowless Clyde
to continue on with their studies.
We weren't able to do lab 3,
so I'm not quite sure how we're going to make up for that.
But I did get a lot of other work done.
Stayed in the CADEM until 8:30!


Man,
I love being an engineer.

give a man a fish.

We've all heard the saying,
"Give a man a fish, you feed him for a day.
Teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime..."

Similarly, when you are baptized, you are clean for a day. If you receive the Holy Ghost and listen to it, you can be clean for a lifetime.

To campus, or not to campus...

not to campus. 

Can't believe I forgot to share. Hilarious.

(I hope you don't mind my fragmented story telling skills.  I'm a math/science person.  Elaborating is not my forte)

SO
Last Wednesday night.
Ward temple trip.
Kelsey, Kelly, Rinna, and I drive over.
Can't find parking right away,
so we decide to just head to Mt. Timpanogas temple instead.
We turned too early,
and took the long way around...

Get to the temple,
fairly crowded in the baptistry,
but still better than Provo.

After changing,
we sit in the chapel.
A long while later,
we're called to do confirmations.

As we're walking out of the chapel,
a temple worker comes up to us,
"Could you ladies write your names down again on this slip of paper?"
We do so.
"And could you put your numbers there too?
There's a young gentleman here who is interested in every one of you girls."
Say what?
There was a pretty cute guy working the baptistry that night.
But seriously?
You get another temple worker to ask us for our numbers?
While at the temple?!

So we agree, then head to the confirmation room.

Just under a dozen people later,
it's our turn.
The cute temple worker comes in,
"Do you girls ever giggle in sacrament meeting?"
Uh, what kind of question is that?
"When we were little?"
"Okay, because there's a family coming in with some pretty funny names.
The youth doing baptisms couldn't control themselves"
Okay, these will be some really cool Irish names or something 
Not at all.

A family comes into the confirmation room.
Not knowing what to expect,
I fold my arms and listen.
Then the names came.
Pretty Hips.
Lips.
Suzie Medicine Boy.
Flaming Tail.
Respects Nothing.
We did all in our power not to bust out laughing.
I'm pretty sure I snorted once.
Some confirmations had to be repeated because the reader couldn't get them out.

There were a few other random things that happened that night,
it was such an unusual visit.
But hey, it was a good time.
We helped with the Lord's work,
and had a good laugh at the same time.

:)

Boolean algebra and the Gospel

As we all know, I am a nerd.
I received this text from a friend the other day and thought it was hilarious.

"I'm such a nerd. I was studying my scriptures and thought that life was like Boolean algebra, sometimes if you add more of the gospel you can simplify it more."

And there goes a drop.

Do you ever walk into a room full of people you know, and feel like a complete outsider?  Everyone else is engaged in exciting conversations, and you're left standing there?

Thats how I feel. 

Every day. 

I say I enjoy sitting back and listening to other's conversations, 

people watching is one of my favorite pasttimes, 

but I would like to be included in the conversation every once in a while. 

I sit down at a table with friends, 

they're already conversing with one another. 

I say hello, 

try to engage,

then, with no avail, pull out my books and study. 

But now, because I'm studying, 

I "turn people off"

and they don't want to disrupt me. 

So what do I do. 

Sit at a table 

talking to no one

staring around the room

looking like a complete loner

and wasting my time?

Nope.

I return to my desk. 

In my empty office space. 

And work in quiet. 

"We're gonna have a good day!"

love that song.
The Click Five.

Auburn beat Utah State. 

Shave ice to celebrate. 

War Eagle. 

Here we go.

So the semester started. 

I'm super excited. 

biked this morning 6:30 am.
class at 9:00, 10:00, 1:00, 2:00, and lab from 3:00-6:00.
run this evening 7:00 pm.
homework.
reading.
shower.
bed.

class starts

tomorrow.
my schedule is laid out.
books are organized.
pencils have new lead and erasers.
TI-89 has new batteries.
agenda is new and crisp.

tough classes coming my way.
I'm excited for the new knowledge.
first semester REALLY living in the Clyde.
the plan is to keep school work at school.
I'll work in my office
in the step down
or the CADEM Lab.

but if I can leave school every night having completed assignments
and not take any work home
*even if that means leaving at midnight every night*
then I might be able to keep my stress level down
and avoid more back pain ;)

Who's ready for the new semester?