The weather outside is frightful.

OK...not really.  In fact, it could be much worse.  It's only about 48 degrees right now.  But it is not the perfect 70 degree weather I love.  Of course I still wear flip flops and sandals.  I won't stop until it starts snowing.  Also, occasionally I still wear shorts.  I tend to think that if I dress for warm weather, it might end up being warm outside.  Sadly...that is not the case.  But here are a few things that have been on my mind due to the not so nice weather.

First of all, my apartment is all about keeping utility bills as low as possible.  Meaning we have yet to turn on the heater.  The thermostat currently says it is about 65 degrees in our apartment.  Not too bad, but definitely noticeable.  In fact, last night I was drinking water that had been sitting in a glass on the table for multiple hours.  And it was definitely colder than room temperature normally is.  Maybe once water left in a glass on the table freezes we'll turn on the heater.  :)

One of my least favorite parts of cold weather is the fact that you need a jacket.  I do love my jackets, but it is just one more thing you have to do before heading out the door.  That is 3 extra seconds that I could spend doing something else.  And a jacket is just one more thing to match to your outfit.  And if you know me, I hate matching.  Actually I love matching, I'm just weird about it and not good at it.  So instead of 3 seconds, sometimes it takes me 7 seconds.  Also, BYU tends to keep their buildings exceptionally warm which is not necessarily a bad thing.  But it does mean you end up taking off your jacket when you enter a building.  And then you have to waste another 3 seconds putting your jacket back on before you go outside.  Boy...what a hard life I have.  Ha.  Just kidding.  :)  Also, if you are briskly walking to the library or some other unusually warm building, you have to take off your jacket or at least unzip it 30 seconds before you get to the library because if not, heat stroke is a very real possibility.  OK...maybe not heat stroke, but it is definitely way too hot if you don't take the previously mentioned precautionary measures.  P.S. That sentence was not conversational and thus not good for a news story.  And this is why I blog...so I can be as non-conversational as I want.  :)

Finally, I wish to talk about jumpsuits.  Why are they not in style?  They are INCREDIBLY convenient.  Matching is no longer an issue when you wear one.  What could be better?  Anyway, I bought a jumpsuit for a costume back in high school.  I used it freshman year for Halloween and I brought it out for a Halloween dance last night.
 

For uncreative people like myself, a jumpsuit is a must-have.  In fact I would have worn it last year for Halloween but luckily my roommates are creative people and manage to come up with costumes for me.  :)  And did I mention jumpsuits are super comfy?  After the dance last night, I curled up in a chair and slept for about 7 hours.  Shoes and all.  In a chair.  For 7 hours.  Sleeping anywhere in any outfit is a talent I possess and one I am incredibly grateful for.  :)

Anyway...here are my most recent stories in case you missed them.  Didn't the first one freeze on such a lovely frame?  :)

Did I mention it's college basketball season?  That's definitely up there on my favorite things about winter list.      Do something great today!

Microsoft Word 2007

I would describe myself as a PC person.  Don't get me wrong.  If someone offered me a Mac, I would gladly accept it and use it.  In fact, I'm sure I would love it.  But, unless someone else is paying or I decide to be a professional photographer, I don't expect to be using a Mac any time soon.  And, I do not believe the claim that a Mac can never get a virus.  OK...maybe it's true.  Who knows.  But that doesn't mean a whole number of other things can't go wrong.  All I know is whenever I hear about a friend needing to fix a computer, it's almost always a Mac.  Maybe it's just because people who own a Mac tend to care deeply about their computer.

Anyway...back to Microsoft Word.  The point of the entire previous paragraph was to explain that while I do not shun Apple products, I am the proud owner of a PC.  And with PCs comes Microsoft Word.  And currently I use the 2007 version of the program.  This version is great except for one thing.  And that one thing is the default settings of the program.  Every time I start typing a paper, the font is set to 11-point Calibri.  Who in the world would ever purposely choose to use this font?  Never have I had a teacher who requested that I type a paper for their class in Calibri.  And if I wanted to be creative, I would pick a font that looked much cooler than Calibri does.  And size 11?  What a random number.  I prefer 12.  And so do the majority of people I have met.  If the default font wasn't bad enough, Microsoft Word 2007 decided that your document should also be not double spaced, not single spaced, but 1.5 spaced.  How do you even say that?  Now I've had teachers want something single or double spaced so if one of those were the default I'd understand, but 1.5 spaced?  Also, the default makes it so every time you press enter, you get an extra space in between paragraphs.  I guess this might be useful for some people.  But not me.  

The truth is you can change these settings in about 30 seconds max and if I were more computer-savvy, I'm sure I could figure out some way to set the default the way I want it.  But for now, I am forced to change four things every time I want to type anything.  But life could be worse...much worse.  That being said, I am thankful for my computer, Microsoft Word 2007 (including its default settings), and life in general.  Happy almost Halloween.  :)    

More stories.

So here are my two latest stories.  One is about the supposed "rivalry" between Utah State and BYU and the other is about lighting the Y for homecoming.  I have to do a story every Wednesday so there should be a new one by Thursday of every week on elevennews.byu.edu in case you don't want to wait for me to post them.  Anyway, enjoy...

A Summer Summary

So...this is one of those flashback posts.  First of all, isn't that a clever title?  I feel like someone has to have used it before, but I liked it and will pretend I was the first one to ever think of it.  Anyway, I thought I'd post about some of my favorite things this summer.

Sailing:  I had some completely random summer goals.  And sailing was actually something I wanted to do, but didn't think I would be able to do this summer.  But, my dad knew this guy who likes to take people sailing on his boat.  So, we (my dad, two sisters, and I) went sailing on the Pacific Ocean.  So fun.  I might live on a boat when I'm older.  I even got to steer for awhile.  It was great!

Leah always makes pictures extra special.  :)

Surfing:  I learned to surf this summer.  Another one of my goals.  I have spent just about every summer I can remember in Southern California in relatively close proximity to the beach and I just now learned how to surf.  And it was a Relief Society activity.  What?  Yeah.  I have a cool Singles Ward.  A bunch of dads from the stake let us borrow boards, wetsuits, etc.  And they taught us to surf.  I stood up twice!

Grant loves me:  You may remember I had mentioned that another summer goal of mine was to get Grant to love me.  I am happy to report that Grant repeatedly said that he loved me by the end of the summer.  And I didn't even have to make him say it.  :)

Body Spray:  I am sad to report that I did not finish off the body spray I had left over from my tenth birthday.  But don't you worry.  It's here with me in Provo.  :)

One of the few pictures from the Ostler camping trip.  :)

Ukulele:  I also learned to play the ukulele.  Another summer goal checked off my list thanks to the Ostler family camp out.  I'm not good by any means, but it's amazing how many songs you can play with three chords.  :)  

I also decided this summer that when I have kids, they will not refer to my parents as Grandma and Grandpa.  Instead they will call them Bobushka and Big Papi.  Perfect.  :)

I also learned to count to ten in Hungarian this summer.  A four-year-old taught me.  The things you learn while babysitting.  :)

I went to multiple Dodger games.  What's new?  Ha.  I think they won a total of four of the games I attended.  And I attended more than 15.  A little pathetic.  But Clayton Kershaw has been AMAZING.  And so has Matt Kemp.  And looks like we might end up over .500 this season.  I hope I didn't just jinx it.  And they won the last game I went to.  It was a GREAT game.  We came from behind to win.  We scored a run on a balk (always fun) and James Loney hit a homer.  And then Matt Kemp was the next batter and he hit a homer too.  And with that homer he joined the 30/30 club (meaning he had 30 homers and 30 stolen bases on the season).  He's a stud.

Some of my favorite people.  :)

And last but not least.  McCall came to visit me al the way from Pittsburgh.  I like to pretend like she came all the way across the country just to visit me, but she was in a wedding.  But we still had some good times.  Beach trip, lunch at Philippe's, dinner in Beverly Hills, wedding reception, etc.  

Oh and Maddy showed up too!  :)

So there you have it folks.  I had a most excellent summer.  And this post doesn't even begin to sum it all up.  :)  Oh and just so you know, the events in this post are not in chronological order.  Until next summer...  :)

It's been awhile.

So...yeah.  I haven't posted since July.  Whoops.  I'll try to be better.  I have 3 drafts that will hopefully be up soon.  But in the mean time I'll just give a quick update.  

I'm back at the great BYU.  I was a little hesitant (to put it nicely) to go back.  Don't get me wrong.  I LOVE MY SCHOOL AND ALL MY FRIENDS UP HERE.  But after an entire four months of not doing much besides hanging out with the fam, watching cute children, going to Dodgers games, and going to the beach, it was kinda hard to convince myself that I wanted to start school again.  And who could leave my precious little siblings behind in California?!  Anyway, Provo is just as great as it was when I left.  In fact it feels like I never left.

I find myself INCREDIBLY busy.  All of the time.  It's crazy.  I can't even figure out why I seemingly have no time to do anything anymore.  But...it's all good.  Somehow I manage to get things done.  

I am the Eleven News (KBYU) Wednesday sports reporter.  It's fun but a little crazy.  That right there was the understatement of the year.  But I LOVE reporting on sports.  We went on air for the first time last Wednesday.  Crazy.  The entire state of Utah could have seen me.  I'm sure a total of about two people watched, but hey...it's better than none.  :)  I know my grandma saw me!  Here's the link to my first story for all you out of state people or for all of you who happen to be busy at noon on Wednesdays.  I obviously have LOTS of room to improve, but I like it OK?!

BYU is just great.  Everyone is super nice and happy.  Campus and the mountains are GORGEOUS.  And my professors are great!  They are so darn smart.  While I could pass on the schoolwork, learning is so much fun!

It's football season too!  So much fun.  My Cougars are 2-2.  We won't talk about their second loss.  But we beat UCF on Friday.  The game conflicted with a concert I was in.  Let me tell you...I almost quit choir because of this.  I'm not even joking.  But I got to go to the first hour of the game before I rushed off to my concert.  And I got to watch a little bit of the game backstage.  I got to see BYU score off of a kick return to tie the game right before I went onstage.  I also watch Bronco's press conference every Monday morning now that I'm a real sports reporter.  Technically anyone can watch it since it streams live online but, I like to pretend I'm cool.  Ha.  

Emily and Kellie live in my ward now.  IT'S SO MUCH FUN!  I almost always stop at their apartment before I go home.  Just like freshman year!  Presh.  And Kellie cut my hair!  Our news director says short hair is professional so all the girl reporters are supposed to cut their hair to about shoulder length.  Usually I hate my hair for at least a few weeks after a haircut.  But Kellie, my friends, is GENIUS!  I LOVE MY HAIR!  I don't know how she did it, but it could very well be the best haircut I've ever gotten.  Let's just say the other night I showered after an intramural game and slept on my wet hair.  In the morning I got up and did absolutely nothing to it (I didn't even brush it) and walked out the door.  Now that is a good haircut.  :)  And did I mention she did it for free?!

I'm in a volleyball class again and I'm playing intramural volleyball.  Gosh I love volleyball.  But let me tell you...my knees sure don't.  Right now we're at three dislocations since school started.  Two of which came in three days.  All my right knee.  The one I got surgery on.  Cool.  But whatever.  Something to look forward to when I'm resurrected.  :)  

Well, that's enough for now I'm sure.  The next few posts will probably be about stuff before school started. But enjoy your day!  Remember to smile!  Life is good.  :)

:)

This week has been slightly crazy to say the least.  And it's not over yet.  Here's a few things that have made my life great or at least interesting of late.

To begin with, Leah managed to fall through the entrance to the net around the trampoline and onto the cement.  This left a nice cut on the side of her head.  My parents had left on their cruise less than 48 hours before. Thus, Carrie and I got the privilege of accompanying Leah to the ER.  It was fun.  Quite the experience.  Four staples later and we're all good.  :)  We actually got to use the medical release note from our parents.  Definitely a first.  :)

The following conversation took place one day as Grant was leaving my room:
Grant: "See ya."
Bridget: "See ya."
Grant: "See ya Bridget."
Bridget: "See ya Grant."
Grant: "I love you."
Tell me he's not the most precious child on earth.  :)

Yet another Grant story:
Bridget: "Grant, how come you look so cute today?"
Grant: "Because I love you."
This kid is going to make an excellent husband.  :)

I was babysitting three little girls the other day who happen to moving to London tomorrow.  Lucky ducks.  Tangent:  Why are little kids so fascinated with stairs?  Especially when their in one's house.  These little girls were excited that their new house was going to have stairs and I also remember thinking as a little kid that having stairs in your house was super cool.  Now back to the point.  I brought two of my little sisters along to play with these little girls.  We decided to play a Toy Story Wii game (which is a great game by the way since it's super easy).  Anyway, it's comprised of a bunch of mini games in which you compete with people to see who can get the most points.  At the end of each game there is a screen that tells you who won the game.  The oldest little girl, who is 7, skipped past the score screen.  Wanting to see my score, I asked her why she skipped the screen.  She responded, "That will make someone cry."

While waiting to get staples in her head, Leah was talking up a storm.  She informed us that you can tell when she is sick because she doesn't feel like eating pizza.  Good to know.  No appetite for pizza is definitely the first way I know I'm sick.  :)

I was babysitting yet another family (can you tell I babysit too much?) and we were watching Sinbad (a DreamWorks animated movie).  The villain is this evil goddess woman.  At one part while she was being her evil self, the 5-year-old little boy said, "I wish I could call her the S-T word."  I'm pretty sure he meant the word "stupid".  Precious.  That's some good parenting right there.  :)

So obviously the majority of my time has been spent with small children lately and these occurrences is what makes it worth it.  Now on to the super good news:

My roommate from freshman year, Amelia Holt, is engaged!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Now for a bunch of pictures of us.  Yeah I should be posting ones of her and her fiancee, Seth, but I like these ones too much. :)

Fake contention I assure you.

I seriously am SO excited for Amelia!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Her fiancee, Seth, is an incredibly lucky man.  

That's about it.  Have the best weekend ever.

The sibs.

Today my 12-year-old brother, Justin, asked me what "fax" meant.  Made me feel kinda old.

Grant (3) is the best dinner helper.  My mom even lets him cut things.  The other day I turned around and he was cutting lettuce with a knife.  My mom trusts him a whole lot.

On another evening Grant was helping in the kitchen again.  My mom told him to stop doing something (I can't remember what it was) that he wasn't supposed to doing.  He came back with, "Mom! You're not older than me!"  What a nut.

I hate oil stains.  A lot.  They ruin perfectly good shirts.  And half the time you don't even realize it until after you wash them.  In order to prevent such stains, I often steal my roommate's apron when cooking with oil.  My birthday's coming up though and you could purchase this for me so that I don't have to steal my roommate's apron.  Yes I know it's technically for men who barbecue but it would suffice for preventing my clothing from being stained with oil.

My 6-year-old sister, Leah, has her wedding colors picked out already.  She'd fit right in at BYU.  :)  She says she's going to marry a "hot one" when she gets to college.

One last Grant story.  The other day I was pitching to him so he could practice hitting.  During this activity he announced, "You know Bridget, this is fun!"  Precious.  Perhaps this means he might actually love me.  :)