By popular demand

And, by "popular demand," I mean "The demand of my sister."

To all you Facebookers out there, I apologize. You've probably already seen this. But my AWESOME sister Jenny isn't part of that world, and she said she loves "25s" and requested that I put it up there.

Since I've never had a post request before, I'm totally honored. And obliged.

25 Random Things About Me:

1. I'm the youngest of six kids
2. I really like going to the gym
3. I have 18 nieces and nephews. That's more than pretty much everyone I've met at college.
4. I've worked for the Scroll since I started college and was editor-in-chief when I was 19. Sometimes people think I'm a super-senior because I'm still around, but I'm really a junior.
5. I look a lot like my mom and act a lot like my dad
6. My eyes have no real color — they're, like, blueish-greenish-grayish with yellow in them. I wanted to get colored contacts when I was younger but my brother Kendall told me he thinks my eyes are pretty and I've never wanted to change them since.
7. I've played the piano since I was six
8. I'm a total Daddy's girl
9. My sister is my best friend, and we're 10 years apart.
10. Ryan (my boyfriend) and I share cousins, but we're not related. We're on opposite sides of our cousins' family ... get it?
11. I have a REALLY high forehead, but I'm not balding. I was born that way.
12. I use to have really dark hair, but my dad said I looked "kind of gloomy," and he offered to pay to have it lightened up. He said he needed to "keep me marketable." Good thing I know he loves me. :)
13. I have the AP Stylebook pretty much memorized
14. I'm a closet bubble-gum pop music fan sometimes. My iPod has a bad habit of coming out with a Jonas Brothers or Taylor Swift or, sometimes, Miley Cyrus song. Don't judge me.
15. Sometimes I write stories in my head while I walk to class. And headlines.
16. I obsessively clean my ears. It's not unusual for me to do it at least once a day. And yes, I know that's not necessarily healthy.
17. I could eat string cheese and drink Viva chocolate milk with every meal and not get sick of it for at least, I daresay, a year
18. I really like reading. And it's a good thing, because I'm reading about a novel a week for one of my classes.
19. I've been to Hawaii twice
20. I choked on a penny when I was a year old. My mom slapped me on the back and it came flying out. Apparently you're not suppose to do that because it can lodge it deeper, but it didn't that time. I'm glad.
21. I played the violin in orchestra all through high school and, looking back, it's one of my favorite memories.
22. My favorite roommate just got married and I miss her sometimes
23. I've never seen Mary Poppins
24. I'm going on the MesoAmerica Tour for study abroad this summer.
25. Brown is my favorite color.

10 things you really want to know about

I have about a hundred million things I want to write about, but I have a mid-term tomorrow and about a million pages of political science/The Great Gatsby/Media Law cases to read before the weekend, so I'm going with the classic random list of what's in my brain/life as of late:

1. First and foremost, my friend Lindsay Law and I (both of us are former Scroll editor in chiefs) were given the FANTASTIC job of producing BYU-Idaho's firstever student-produced magazine, Bride's Guide. The Bride's Guide has been a special section of the newspaper in the past but we got all fancy this time with glossy pages and all that. We sent it to the printer yesterday and it will be next to the Scroll on racks across campus by Feb. 12. But if you're like me and just can't WAIT to hold it in your hands (try to contain your excitement, please), here's a teeny tiny sneak peek of what the cover might look like:


And an inside page/"my favorite thing I designed" might look a little something like this:

Keep your eyes out for this fantastic little piece of journalism.

2. I've been thinking a lot about the First Amendment and freedom of speech and all that because I'm in a Media Law and Ethics class this semester. It really is a total double-edged sword — the same thing that protects me from being arrested for going to church protects stupid people from being arrested for saying REALLY stupid things. Sometimes it's hard to live with it, but we most certainly can't live without it.

3. I got a new phone today. :)

4. You know how everyone makes a big deal out of missionary's shoes? How they're all worn out when they get home and everything? Well I have this pair of shoes that I bought for my high school graduation, and I'd put them up against ANY missionary's shoes. I wore them to Chicago in Summer 2007 when I worked at a camp for inner-city youth. I wore them to Washington, D.C., for a journalism conference that fall. I wore them through weeks and weeks of EFY counseling this summer. I wore them at the Hill Cumorah pageant. I wore them to school nearly every day — they've walked HUNDREDS of times from the Spori to the Ricks.

Anyway, I literally WORE A HOLE IN THE BOTTOM OF THEM. I was walking to the Smith last week, and I felt a wet spot on my sock. Another step, and it spread. More and more water came into my shoe, and by the time I got there the entire bottom of my sock was soaked. Yeah, I know. Pretty impressive, yeah?

5. Have you tried Burger King's Ketchup & Fries Flavored Potato Snacks? As far as we can tell, they're ONLY sold in BYU-Idaho Bookstore. Ryan Kunz found them and I'm hooked. They taste EXACTLY like ketchup and fries, but they look like Fritos. Whoa.

6. Have you ever noticed that love and hate are kind of the same thing underneath? We just finished the short story unit in my Fiction class and we all voted on our favorite and least favorite stories. Interestingly enough, Mark Twain got second place for "favorite" and won "least favorite." How many people do you know that are honestly neutral when "Twilight" comes up? Everyone has an opinion, whether it's good or bad, and as far as I can tell, they're often pretty similar when you really look at it. (i.e. "I hated Twain because he didn't describe enough!" "I loved Twain because he said exactly what he meant without any fluff!" See what I mean?)

7. I still love (OK, live for) The Office.

8. I REALLY need a new camera. Just a little snapshot camera. Any suggestions?

9. I'm totally getting into this Family History thing. SO cool. I highly suggest it.

10. Confession: I'm taking a internet design class (i.e. html and CSS coding). And I LIKE it (Sandlot, anyone?). I'm a total nerd.