Finals Weekend

I hate my life and school and Exams and finals and IT'S ALL STUPID!

Okay, I'm good now. Thanks for letting me vent.

Emily and I had a party this weekend to get some stress off. Plus, it was our last weekend together (maybe) so we had to make it AWESOME! And we did. Saturday morning I had to work and I forgot my phone so we Emailed back and forth ideas for stuff to do once I got off. We ended up with a HUGE list! And, because we're us, we decided to try to hit most of it, if not all! No we did not end up doing everything. But we did quite a bit.

I got off work at 3, got back to the room, saw how life had changed on Facebook and we were off. Our first stop? DUH! FOOOOOOOOOOOOD! =D There is an amazing fresh baked bread shop downtown where you can get awesome samples for 50 cents so we grabbed some bread and hit the trail.

We've hiked through City Creek trail a few times, but this time we went further than  we have ever gone before. We focused mostly on the hike, rather than the pictures this time so we don't really have anything to show you. Sorry. One of the few times we stopped to take pictures.... Ha ha. Well.... Let me tell you! Sometimes I can be um... a little..... unaware of my surroundings. So I had stopped and crouched  in the middle of the trail to take this really cool picture and heard a faint noise behind me. I whipped around, nearly landing on my face, and saw two people standing there just watching me. THEY WERE STANDING LESS THAN TWO FEET AWAY FROM ME!!!! Who does that?! I jumped and tried not to show just how much they startled me and moved out of their way to let them pass. Emily just looked at me like "Really? Really Casey? We've been through this before. Pay attention." ha ha. Needless to say, I felt kinda silly.

After we hiked up the trail for an hour, we decided to head back. We turned around and I heard voices. I totally tried to James Bond it and spy at them through the bushes! Hee hee hee. =D But Emily wouldn't let me. I don't know why! =(

After the hike, we went to the mall. I found a pair of Capri and I was trying them on in the fitting room when I heard this little girl's voice. She couldn't have been more than.... 3? 4? And she started singing, "Do you want to build a snowman? Come on let's go and play. I never see you anymore, come out the door. It's like you've gone away! We used to be best buddies, but now we're not, I wish you would tell me WhHHHHHy. Do you want too build a snowman?" It was one of the sweetest things I have EVER heard in my LIFE! Emily agrees. Period. No arguments! Okay? Good!

A few months ago, right before Christmas Break, we went out to eat at IHop, and Emily has since fallen in love, so we went back this last weekend. They certainly didn't disappoint! It just made us look forward to eating homemade food again! YAY!!!!

Emily has also fallen in love with my three little cousins, Jaden, Ben, and Blake. (And I think they have fallen in love with her too. I think Ben would be totally okay if she took him home to the "Wild" with her. =D - Story time! So Sunday, after this all had happened on Saturday, we went to make real food at my aunts and uncles and one of the boys' friends was over and she asked Emily where she was from and Emily had said, "Wilder" So this little girl looked at Emily all wide eyed and said in all sincerity, "YOU'RE FROM THE WILD?!" She was so excited! ha ha) Anyway, so Emily has fallen in love with my cousins and so we decided to take them out to the park for the last few minutes of sunshine and then took them out to ice cream. It was awesome! =D And the boys had a blast!

To wrap it all up, we went home and sobbed into  our pillows to celebrate our last weekend together while we watched "our show", "Robin Hood" from BBC. I loved it. But don't watch it. It's sad! =(

It seems like all things good really do come to an end! =( But we're not entirely finished yet! You'll still see a few catch up posts from us on here and a few more from this last week. If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment and let us know what's on your mind!

I just want to say that I have been so blessed to have Emily in my life! She has been such an AMAZING example to me and it really REALLY stinks to say bye for the next little while. She has been an amazing source of strength and support these last few months and I can't imagine school without her gorgeous smiling and happy face!

This morning, when I tried to get out of bed, I stepped into my garbage can which was next to my bed from our packing party last night, and Emily laughed at me for a good five minutes straight. I might be able to survive without that part. ;) On the bright side, I made her life a few seconds longer.... Actually.... on that note, I did it on purpose! I want her to live longer! =D

Write to you all later!

Casey

A Few More Short Stories

Deleta

Kids are great! I LOVE kids! I used to work at a children's play center when I lived in Meridian and I loved it. The only thing about kids, is their coordination. Normally, that's not important. Occasionally, it is. Like when you are trying to rollerblade at the local roller-rink-area-place-thing and there is a mass exodus of tiny, ant-like, rolling wrecking-balls slipping and sliding through the rink. Those kids had proooooblems!

There were times I'd just being going along (and Emily agrees and attests to this!) and BAM! there's a kid right in front of me and I go "WHOA! I DON'T WANT TO HIT YOU!!!!" and I turn and hit the wall or the mini-wall which went a little lower than my ribs and surrounded the areas where people not skating were hanging out. I walked out of there with some SERIOUS bruises! Those little minions were crazy! And I wouldn't fault them, if they were in Elementary school or just learning to skate. No, these kids were pros. They were doing stuff I for sure couldn't do, they were just being meanie-heads while they were doing it! URGH! And I had the consideration to not smack them! Next time they're going down!

Okay, so another day we went, it was the first time I had skated in years! Well, it just so happened that I felt like falling. Now Emily was right behind me and  did some major ninja moves, barely stepped on me, and landed safely on the other side no worse for the wear. Seriously though, I want to know how she did that. We should have videoed it! It was LEGIT!

Princess For A Day

So, we're cool. And Emily, amazing, glorious, wonderful Emily, was homeschooled/online schooled and never got to go to prom or homecoming or dress up. I only went to prom once and never to homecoming. So we're cool and we decided to go out and be princesses! We invited one of our friends from the hall, Sarah, to join us. It got crazy fast! When doesn't it with us?!

We looked EVERYWHERE for princess dresses. But, because it's Pocatello, princess dresses don't exist unless it is legitly prom season. It was not prom season. (which is why we will be doing this again soon! Since NOW it is!) We walked into a dress shop. This was a REAL dress shop! She was actually closed, the only reason she let us in was because she was helping someone find a wedding dress and she thought we would buy something, otherwise we would have had more time to try on so many more gorgeous dresses! Anyway, it was SOOOO  much fun! Here are some of Emily's pics! We didn't think of taking pics while Sarah and I were dressing up!

Isn't it GORGEOUS on this Lovely Lady!!!!!??? It's floor length. You just can't tell in this pic

Subtle. Emily should be a model!

 The Tailgate and the Truffles

Just in case anyone who is reading this is still questioning our awesomeness, here's this story for you (not that it will actually resolve anything).

So Chi Alpha (the church ministry group on campus that Emily is actively a part of) and I have this sort of one-sided relationship. I don't go to Chi Alpha, but I might join in on a few of their fun events when Emily invites me (such as one of the above mentioned Deleta trips). Basically, I get to go to fun stuff where they get to watch me get fat, and I..... do nothing for them, like go to their main weekly Chi Alpha stuff. I don't know how or why they still put up with me! ;) But, several months ago (since we're WAAAAAY behind on our blog!) they had a tailgate desert bake-off. (This was early in our one-sided relationship, before it went nearly entirely one-sided)

I was thinking "Desert?! Bake-off?! Let's go!" But of course we had to bring something. The question now was what? Have you seen the dorms? No fridge (besides Emily's mini one that she is kind enough to let me share) No oven, no stove. We can't even make no bake cookies! Or, at least, we didn't think about it. Eventually, I thought TRUFFLES!!!!! =D And we made some AMAZING truffles on Emily's desk and bringing them in. Yep! We have pictures for you!

Don't they look amazing?!

I don't think this was all of them either! #TRUFFLEMADNESS!!!!

At the tailgate, I spent at least half an hour trying to remember everyone's names. That was intense. I was good by the time we left. I think I remember 72.0879% of them now. 

Frozen at Midnight

So because we're cool (yes, my excuse for all the weird things we do!) we were coming back from Winco a few weeks ago around 11:30. As we were walking back into the building, I glanced up at the pillars, four giant Greek-like columns that tower above campus behind our dorm and overlook a good portion of Pocatello. Now, looking at those pillars gave me a brilliant idea. Why not climb them?!

I mentioned this brilliant idea to Emily and a grin spread over her face. We were going up! We dropped our stuff off in the room, threw anything we had that needed to be fridged in the fridge and left. When we reached the top (me huffing a little) Emily's grin just spread wider. And she started to sing, "The snow glows white on the mountain tonight, not a footprint to be seen." And I joined in. "A kingdom of isolation. And it looks like, I'm the Queen." We struggled through the subsequent verses, running from one side of the pillars to the other, leaping over rocks and ledges to make the effect all the more dramatic. Our voices grew louder and louder until we were practically screaming the words for all of Pocatello to hear, letting them be carried away by the crazy Pocatello wind to places unknown. We know pubic safety must not have heard us since no one showed up to see why two lovely ladies such as ourselves were screaming ourselves hoarse over a Frozen song. Which, in case you've been under a rock or living in a hole, sounds like this (NOW CLICK ON THIS!!!!)

Yep, we're cool. ;)




I think we're almost caught up. Stay tuned for more little short stories!
-Casey

OpportuniTEA!!!!!

As ISU students, we get a LOT of junk mail in our Email Inboxes. Random stuff, junk stuff, and occasionally important stuff. As Honors ISU students, Emily and I also get updates from the Honors Program, Newsletters, and pleas for help.

A few weeks ago, there was a call out for volunteers for the OpportuniTEA, an event put on by the honors program that includes a Silent Auction, a raffle, tea, and treats. (like the British have with their tea. Salad and biscuits and stuff!) =D It was going to happen on a Saturday. At first Emily and I both ignored the calls and pleas for help. Someone else would volunteer, no big deal. And other people did. Finally, a week and a helf before the event, another Email came. "HELP! We need 10 more people!" Me: "URGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! FINE! Emily? Wanna volunteer with me?" Emily: "You know, I was  just thinking about it..." So I did the only thing  that seemed right, I impersonated Emily online, and signed us both us for the Tea!

The Saturday of the Tea, we got up and started getting ready. Of course, we had to be all dressed up, and so it took us (mostly me) FOREVER to get ready. We rushed to brunch and had about 20 minutes to eat. (Brunch starts at 10:30, and we had to  be at the Tea by 11:15.) It must have been entertaining to see two ladies, in dresses, shoveling our food in our mouths like cavemen. But we're not going to talk about it. We'll just leave it as we had little time to eat. Period.

We fit right in with the other volunteers in our fancy clothes. Emily and I were both assigned to the same activity (tea pouring- were was also registration, greeting, raffle, auction...) and we teamed up. There were two kinds of tea and we each took one of the two, going to each of our five assigned tables in turn to fill everyone's cups.

Pocatello Idaho.... is NOT a fancy town. So as the guests started arriving in fancy dresses and suits, gloves and hats, I could not contain myself, and I started pointing. Urgh! How rude! Emily had to keep reminding me to calm down. This is a picture from the ISU Facebook Page. These are modest in comparison to some we saw. For example, a bow hat that was similar to one once wore by Princess Kate! More gloves! and hats that entirely obstructed the view on all sides because their brims slumped.

LOOK AT THE LADY IN BLUE!!! (on the left) REAL gloves and a LEGIT tea hat!!!! And the woman on the far right and her hat! You do NOT see this is Pocatello! You Don't!!!!

The pink "Princess Table" was also one of our tables. Our "Princess Table"!!!!

All the tea pour people had to have white rags to lay over our arms to prevent "dribbling" of the tea on the table. I'll let you know right now, if you ever need tea poured, ask Emily. I kept making messes. It was horrible. It wasn't long before my white rag was covered in dark brown tea spots. It was quite attractive. I don't know how she did it (probably because she's awesome) but Emily's looked absolutely pristine! People went around taking pictures of the guests and their customized tables. For example, the pink table in the picture above is for the International Office on campus (hence the Eiffle Tower in the middle- even though I don't think we have any exchange students from France.........) But I don't think Emily and I were in any pics. How lame is that!

I also have to share this story. Since we knew we wanted to team up, and we knew there were two different teas, we decided at the beginning which ones we each wanted to have. I was going to pour the Queensblend tea and Emily was going to pour the Apricot Decaf. With that decided, Jordan Whithers, the guy in charge of the tea people, came around asking which tea we were going to pour. He knows Emily better so he asks her what kind she wants to pour. "Queensblend". Huh!?!?!? So I got stuck with Apricot Decaf. Emily is sneaky! I certainly wasn't expecting that!

Once we were done serving tea, we started the raffle. This required all tea pours to cease their duties and model. So we did! We teamed up, Emily would carry the "prize" of the raffle, and I had the tickets for that particular item. The guests would buy tickets and put them into a tea pot next to their chosen item. Each team of pours grabbed one item and one teapot at the end. The person who had the teapot dumped the tickets into a bowl and then selected the winner as their partner modeled. Emily was a great model! ;) She absolutely refused to carry the teapot. I have no idea why.

After the tea, we went to the store with one of our friends, Rachel, and we didn't have enough time to change. So we were still dressed up. And we thought about it for a moment and realized the last time we took pictures together was at least 6 months ago! (The hair pictures from Valentines Day do NOT count!) So we asked Rachel to take them for us.

Finding a place was an adventure. The first two parks we went to were PACKED!!! It was the first nice day we've had in a while and people were enjoying it. Finally, the third park we decided to go for it! There were still quite a few people, but not nearly as many as there were in the first two. We still got some weird looks though, and when I'm getting weird looks, I wave to people, much to the embarrassment of the people I'm with (Emily absolutely HATES it!) so I waved to a few people too. Muh ha ha ha ha!

Anyway, this is the final result:

We are definitely swinging in dresses! well... Kinda.

We're magical. Just sayin'

-Casey

Let's Talk Hair

Have I lost your attention yet? I hope not! I know we're talking hair here, but please try to bear with me for a moment.

I've been wanting to donate my hair for years! I've been trying to gather the courage to do it since my freshman year of high school. So.... it's been a while. Every time I get ready to go in to cut it, I would be talked out of it. So it never really happened.

Right before we came to school I decided to do it. I didn't want to cut my hair before school started, but I didn't  want to wait forever either. So I came down to ISU, met the BESTEST roommate ever! and get settled. A few weeks into the new semester, I got the overwhelming urge to donate my hair when I got back from church on Sunday. So, before I could change my mind, I called JC Pennys and set an appointment for that Saturday. I had a whole week. And I didn't want to tell anyone! I didn't want to get talked out of it. Of course, when Emily got back, I told her, and a few of my other friends. But no family knew. I think there were about five people that knew what I was up to including Emily.

When Saturday came around, Emily agreed to come out as moral support. I will admit, I could not eat anything I was so nervous! That morning I think I ate one cookie and almost got sick! It was horrible.

The stylist was really sweet. Her name was Natalia and she was from Russia so she had a cool accent. As we sat down in the chair of hair doom, I explained to her that I was donating my hair and expected it to fall to about my shoulders. I had not had my hair so short for about eight years! Of course, she had to ask when style I wanted to go with (huh? Style??) I had definitely NOT thought that far ahead! When I told her I had no idea, she brought me a few HUGE hair style books. As I went through them, I couldn't decide. I couldn't think past the fact that my hair was about to become half its length. She was observant enough to notice my discomfort, and kind enough to take the books away pretty quickly, injecting her opinion on style and making different comments about layers and length.

I felt myself nodding, and she went for it!

Emily was sitting in the salon station right next to me and took a few pictures and provided emotional support. =D I felt the hair pully-upers-things going into my hair (She had to use two to get all of it, so Locks of Love got two polytails of heavy, thick, crazy hair) and then the scissors. I was blessed with the fact that I didn't feel the weight of my hair leave, or I think I would have freaked right there in the middle of JC Pennys. Then she washed my hair, cut it and styled. To be honest, I don't remember most of what happened after we walked into the salon. I know we talked about stuff and I know she cut my hair. And I know Emily took pictures. That's about it.

Well, because no one knew what I was doing when I went in to cut my hair, I decided to give a little heads up to my parents. Walking towards the station before Natalia cut my hair, I texted my mom. "Hey, I'm donating my hair today. Let you know how it goes!" Then my phone went on silent and in my pocket. I looked at it a few times while we were there, and, no lie, it was actually kinda entertaining to receive my parents' reactions. Frantic phone calls, concerned text messages, my mom (who was at work) had called or text my dad and told him to figure out what was going on and he had actually thought I was cutting someone else's hair! (I don't trust myself with scissors, that would've been interesting!)

Because I was enjoying their reactions so much, I had Emily take a picture of the ponytails sitting on the counter and I sent it to them. Mwa ha ha ha ha!

Me and Natalia

Those horrible books and my ponytails

Two long ponytails. (This is what my parents saw in that picture I sent to them. =D)

Needless to say, their reactions were great! Finally, we finished and I left with this:

But I definitely would not have been able to make it out of there without my Emily! Today, about three months later:

I cannot believe how much it has grown! I really don't think I could have made it without my AMAZING roommate! We weren't half as close then as we are now and her willingness to support me and her encouragement throughout the week pushed me to make it that whole week and keep my desire to cut it. I don't know where I'd be without my Emily, but I know I wouldn't be  the same person and my hair would be longer. =) Love you girl!

Casey

Short Stories

Originally, these stories weren't actually short, but they happened so long ago, we have no idea what all actually happened. So we're just summarizing.  =D Hope that's okay. Basically, we're awesome, and that's the sum of all the stories. =D

We do lots of crazy little things. For example. Pillow fights! We had just finished watching a movie and the bed was still down (we pull my bed down to watch movies and shows and things) and neither of us really wanted to go to sleep. I also used to have a habit where I'd throw a pillow at Emily almost every night, so I threw one at her this particular night and she decided it was about time for her to fight back. The next thing we knew, we had a full blown pillow fight going! My glasses were on and she hit me so hard once that my glasses actually smeared my eye liner across my nose! Neither of us actually noticed how fierce we would be in a pillow fight, but it got to be pretty scary!

One of our crazy nights was a movie night. And of course you can't have a movie night without junky food! So we had gone to Albertsons and we were feeling rebellious, so we got SPARKLING CIDER!!!!!! Oh!

And popcorn and M&Ms to go with the popcorn, and Pumpkin choco-chip cookies!

OOOOOh! We bad! ;)

We were crazy, it is true, but it was a VERRRRRY fun night!

We've also gone rock climbing twice. I'd post pictures, but that's just embarrassing! But the story... So the first time we went, we had absolutely NOOOO idea what we were doing. It took us about twenty minutes to get set up and to have everything figured out. How to tie knots, how to belay, how to set the ropes up so we don't accidentally die or something. One thing is for sure though, I would not want to climb with any other person in the world! I trusted her with my life that day! Still not 100% sure why, but I did.

As I neared the top, I could see that there was just one more handhold to reach and I'd be at the top. It was still about four  feet above my head and I couldn't do it. I couldn't get myself to push up that much. It would require putting all my weight on my feet, and attempt to support myself with just one hand. I couldn't do it! So I told Emily I was coming back down and made it to the ground again.

Then it was Emily's turn. And while I question why I trusted her, I really don't know why she trusted me! Geez! She's brave! ;) She went up to the same point. And stopped. For both of us, this was the second time we had gone up the wall, and our muscles were sore and trembling. But, to be honest, I think she just stopped when she did to make me feel better about not making it up the wall either. Emily's sweet like that.

The second time? WE BOTH MADE IT ALL THE WAY!!!!! Whooo hooo! Maybe in a few weeks, we'll go back and I'll get pictures from the top of the wall. Wish me luck! If we do, I'll post them for you, along with Emily's reaction. Muh ha ha ha ha! ;)

So sometimes we have pillow fights, sometimes we have movie nights, sometimes we just sit on our beds and laugh for twenty minutes, sometimes we sit and take lots and lots of pictures! One night I think we took over fifty pictures. I'll post some of my favorites!

I feared for my life!

We're all minions!- except Emily. she doesn't know what's  going on!

We really did try for some good ones! Promise!

Ha ha. Yep! We're awesome!

In fact, we're so awesome, we have guys asking us out at the same time. The same guy. The same time. No names will be mentioned in the telling of this story.

So Emily and I were walking to dinner and I see this guy I know from some of my classes. He's walking towards dinner too and he's all dressed up. Suit and fedora. All dressed up. So we catch up to him because we all happen to be walking in the same direction (surprise right?). When we are level with him, I ask, "So why are you all dressed up?"

"Oh, you know? I'm just hoping to meet a girl at Turner. speaking of which, are either of you two single?"

"Um, we both are."

"Oh. And what were your names?"

I kid you not. He was more interested in knowing if we were single than our names. Um..... Of course he ended up sitting next to us for dinner and there were several times he said stuff that just left us going "Huh? Is this guy for real?" And when we looked at each other.... Well, Emily and I just couldn't do it, because we didn't want to be rude but we couldn't help ourselves from laughing when we made eye contact cuz it was just bizarre! He has since moved on. THANK GOODNESS! But it was THE MOST awkward dinner we have ever experienced! Even if it was kinda entertaining....

More stories later! =D

-Casey

Valentines Day

I don't know if you guys have noticed yet, but Emily and I are crazy! =D So with Valentines just a few days away, Wednesday we decided to have  a plan. We couldn't go out, that would be awkward. We didn't just want to homework the night away, that would be lame (I think Emily actually called it "productive", whatever that is, but I'm paraphrasing)! So we decided to just rock it! At some point we got an idea.

Don't ask where this came from. Most of our ideas are spur of the moment kind of things where they just happen. But we decided to do our hair, dress up fancy, and do a photo shoot, then watch a movie. Because we're cool though, we didn't want to do nice hair. People that go out on dates or something do nice hair on Valentines day. Forget that! We were going to go big, as big as possible, and we were going to revel in the great bigness of our hair as we dressed in fancy clothes and took pictures! Oh yes! And we even had a red carpet! We were kinda just a little excited. =D

By the time Valentines Day came around, we were mostly ready. I had rented Les Miserables from the library where I work and were set to go with that. At dinner, a friend of ours, Rachel, sat with us. She was going to homework it all night! Seriously!? Forget that! So we dragged her out with us. Well, we dragged her out to our dorm. Same thing right? :)

When we got there, we pulled together our hair things. Each of us were clueless. We don't do hair! Ha! I hardly bother with mine. Hair is just soooo time consuming and mine is ridiculously thick! When it was longer, it took almost an hour just to straighten. So not worth the effort. So we stood there, trying to figure out the best way to make this work.

Well, once upon a time ago in a far, strange land, I heard of this thing called mousse. Styling moose. I had no idea had to use it really and none of us had any. But it might work. Off to Albertsons we went! We got lucky. There were no couples... and we got style gel AND mousse! What could have been better?!

When we got back, I was volunteered to go first. The instructions on the back of the bottles talked about damp hair, so, of course, I drenched mine,  absolutely soaked. Then I stuck gel and moose in it. Emily dried it. Because my hair is so thick, it took her a good 10-15 minutes and she kept telling my how thick my hair is and how  her would have been done forever ago. I think she just secretly wanted to go first and she didn't know how to express her excitement. ;)

Rachel set to work on my hair. And let me tell you it got big!

Yes, I meant to make that face! - Me and Emily and she dries. Tell me: Don't we just look so EXCITED?! =D

Me and Rachel in the process.

Once they finished, Rachel was off. Then Emily. Neither of them got process pictures because it took both of the remaining people to do the hair. Mine took forty minutes and we were trying to cut down on time. These are some pictures from the fashion show though! =D

Told you Emily was excited! ;)

Yep, we're crazy!

I think I was meant to be a model! =D

We're so silly! heehee

Emily won

The three of us together

Friends forevvvvvver!!!!!!! =D

When we were done with hair and pictures, we took showers and got the stuff out of our hair. We put a lot of hairspray in our hair (I attacked mine with hairspray!!!!) and I can't stand the feeling of hairspray so we were all pretty eager to de-knot our hair and get all the random products out. That done, MOVIE TIME!!!!

When Emily and I do movie nights or watch shows together, we pull down my bed and sit on that with the laptop at the foot of the bed. Then we usually pull out the popcorn, chocolate, or pretzel bread, whatever we have and snack. With three of us, it was a little harder, but we made it work. Very well, with our skill. (Emily sat on the floor). We had brownies and popcorn and watched Les Mis. None of us had seen it before. I know I for one was not expecting it to be a musical! Seeing Russel Crowe and Hugh Jackman sing was so strange! (Emily hasn't seen Jackman in Wolverine, so she will forever see him as a nice old man with an amazing singing voice. He will always be Wolverine to me, but I was very much impressed with his performance! AMAZING!) And I was also the only one that cried at the end. Just a little though. It's okay.

We didn't get to bed until almost three (cuz we're crazy!) and we brought Rachel back home (I think she needed a break from our craziness) =D, but it was great and definitely worth it! Definitely a better night than those crazy people that went out or something. So cliche. ;)

                                                                                                             -Casey <3 =D

P.S. Sorry we haven't posted for a while. I got sick, and then we had finals, then we had Christmas break, and the start of the new semester... We'll try to update on our adventures as time goes on! =D

Organized Chaos

We have a bunch of adventures that are super fun (or weird) so we don't want to forget them, but that are short, small, or just don't need a full post to share the full story. Each story will be subdivided with it's own little title and everything (That way it doesn't feel left out from the rest of the blogs. These are in no particular order (And I doubt we actually could put all these adventures in order anyway). Here we go!

The Hands Say It All
A few weeks ago, we decided to go grocery shopping and Emily really likes Winco. So we're heading there, and the traffic is surprisingly horrible! There is one main road in Pocatello and Winco is on it. It had  to be Pocatello's form of "rush hour". It was much more difficult than expected to move over in the right lane to turn into the parking lot. Luckily, we weren't going at night and I didn't have to deal with  the whole light thing. Seriously though. There are three streets in Pocatello. Yellowstone, Center, and Clark. Winco is on Yellowstone. I would rather drive in Boise rush hour than Pocatello. No one knows how to drive! (No comments on that Fred Meyer adventure okay).

So we're walking around and we get stopped right outside the bread aisle by this old guy who is talking about my shirt. I'm wearing one of the many free ISU shirts because it's "Bengal Wednesday" and you're supposed to wear ISU gear.

"I like your shirt. Do you know when the next game is?"

"Uh... Thanks. We don't really go to any of the games. Uh......." I'm sounding very much the sophisticated college student. Can you tell?

So we talk about random ISU stuff that only this old guy cares about, as sad as that is, for maybe thirty seconds and then we leave. I don't really think about this whole exchange until we're walking out the door. And there's the same old guy. It looks like he's about to walk inside and he passes us, points at me, as says,

"I know you! You're the girl that's always talking with her hands!" At which point he walks away in to the store, leaving Emily and me totally speechless.

I have to say, he's very observant for having only talked to me for such a short time.

Soup Du'jour
In case you haven't noticed yet, we're a little crazy when we're together. Some might argue that I'm crazy all the time, but their opinions don't count. For example, I am entirely unable to write on this blog without Disney music playing. Which is were this story all starts: Disney music.

Emily and I LOVE it! And I have a ton on my phone. When we're in the car, that's what we listen to (sometimes). I have discovered that there are actual words that make sense in some of those songs. Emily is an even bigger Disney nerd than me and she can tell you all of it, verbatim, without a problem. "Be Our Guest" makes a lot more sense than I thought it did before I heard Emily sing it. One night, we're eating dinner and we notice they have Soup  Du'jour, and we both get really excited and guess which Disney song we're both singing in our heads now? Yep. Unfortunately, it doesn't stay  in our heads very long.

The two of us, to  the horror of our dinner companions, start discussing this song and then we go get the soup (I don't recommend it from ISU's dining place by the way. I don't want to call it a cafeteria but that's what it is) and we sit down and the next thing I know, we're singing out loud, Disney music.

I do the only logical thing. I pull out my phone and play the song. We need the background. We're both hopeless singers. It took  while, but I'm pretty sure I remember some of our companions joining in. Probably at the very end, but we were singing Disney music! And it was GREAT!! Enough said.


People are Weird.
That's the only thing I can really say to summarize this next "story". People are weird. Did you know we've been yelled at by people from their cars at least three times in a two week period? And we have no idea who they are. Here's a hint, if we know you, slow down so we can see your faces. It's dark. How are we supposed to tell who you are? From what we hear, you're a creeper. Slow down people. Or just don't scream out the window at us. It's weird.

All we can see/hear (and Emily concurs) is blurred heads and flailing arms and indistinct screams. What's going on here? Yeah. We don't know either. it was just weird and we thought that since weird things always seem to happen when we're together that it warranted a post.

Casey

Fro-Yo, Hurricane, Panda, and The Mall

It started like this. Emily said she had never been to the mall. Okay. She's been to Karcher Mall, but can that really count as a mall? Yeah, I didn't think so either. So we decided to go.

It was also an ice cream day. You know when you have those days where all you want to do is sit down and eat ice cream? It wasn't that bad, but the need was certainly still there! And there's a place in Chubbuck, right next to the mall, where my momma and I would always go for momma-daughter dates, and I haven't been in years. But they made these amazing milkshakes, where you could get one medium shake and it would end up being like three and they were absolutely fantastic! And their ice cream cones were unique too, where they would have some kind of fun color wrapped around it with the ice cream swirl. I was pretty sure they were still open. So we set out.

We went to the ice cream place first. We drove right past the mall to get there, and as we drew near I began to worry about it being closed. How could it be though? It was an amazing place and one of Pocatello's finest restaurants (which, admittedly, isn't saying a ton). As we drive steadily closer, I can pick out the sign that says, "Sundae". In my head, I'm thinking, Sweet! Not only are they open, they have a deal going on!

Can you guys see what's going on here? You probably already figured it out. I hadn't. It wasn't until I pulled into the decrepit parking lot (which really should have clued me in before) and looked into the dusty windows and saw the stripped interior that I realized: They were closed. I turn to Emily. "They have a deal going on. I don't know what this is. This is the best place ever to get ice cream. They can't be closed!" I don't know if it were more shock or denial. I pulled the car around to get into the traffic again and that's when I saw it. The other side of the sign. Asking for a final offer on the building by Sunday. They had run out of "y"s for the other side.

So I was trying to figure out a way to recover from this devastating realization. And then I had it! My uncle had taken me out for frozen yogurt when I got here to Pocatello! And I knew where that is! It's right by the mall. So I convince poor Emily and we're off. Of course, I don't know Pocatello THAT well.

So we go to the mall's parking lot. There's Panda Express, Red Lobster, the movie theater (both of them) Allstate, Home Depot.  Where is this Kiwi Loco place?! It was right here last week! Maybe it was in the Kmart parking lot. So we go across the street (the parking lot here was worse than that closed ice cream place and Kmart was still luring unsuspecting victims into its claws!) where there's still no Kiwi Loco. We drive around for a few more minutes and now I'm really getting annoyed. Poor Emily. I really don't know why she still agrees to get in the car when she knows I'm going to be driving! I try to call my uncle. No answer. My aunt. No answer. It's time for drastic measures. So we go to Panda Express.

When I was thinking this beautiful plan through in my head, I was thinking about this time we had gone to get ice cream with my family and we couldn't decide where to go. So my dad pulled up to Dairy Queen and asked for directions to Arctic Circle or something. The woman on the headset inside was taken aback by his audacity, stuttered a moment, and said, very vehemently into the microphone, "NO!" Paused a moment, "But we would be happy to serve you here." Funniest thing ever! So I pulled into Panda planning on recreating this moment. Nope. Drive-through was WAYYYY too full. We were going inside.

We walked in and it was a lot less crowded. We walk up to the order area and one woman walks up to the counter.  "How can I help you ladies today?"

I give Emily a look. She has learned to beware the look. When it comes, she knows I'm up to no good. That's when I asked. "Hi! We were just looking for Kiwi Loco and we can't seem to find it. Would you be able to ask us for directions?"

Her face! Guys! This was almost better than the faces of that couple in Fred Meyer's parking lot! Then she recovers herself, and I can see her thinking. I could see the thoughts moving in her head and I was starting to wonder if we'd get the cold shoulder like we did in the drive through with my family. Instead, she waves over another girl.

"I'm sorry." She told us. "I just moved her about a month ago. I have no idea where Kiwi Loco is." She turns to the other employee. "Do you know where it is."

Then woman #2 starts thinking. And in comes Woman #3. "What's going on?" She asked, more curious than anything. #1 and #2 explain this situation to her. We definitely had everyone's attention now. We warranted three people to help with a question. Both #2 and #3 start talking at once, reasoning out directions together. The people behind us pitched in and after being thoroughly confuzzled for a few minutes, we finally figured it out. Who knew directions to frozen yogurt could be so complicated!? Or needed so many people!

We finally found the place (and I started freaking out because Pocatello also has a Costa Vista! YES!!!! I knew there was a good reason to come to Pocatello! We come out, loaded with frozen yogurt a few minutes later and go directly back to the mall, eating our yogurt and looking around. There was still a problem to fix. Emily needed  to see the mall!

We walk in and maybe it was the yogurt. Maybe it was the thrill of finally taking Emily to see the mall, maybe it was just happiness that we were finally done with that stupid ice cream trip that took up half the day, maybe it was the joy to eat frozen yogurt or ANYTHING not served at the school for that matter. Whatever it was, I totally freaked when I saw Maurices in the mall! I had been told there wasn't one and it was a total let down and then I saw this!!!! (P.S. Guess where Emily and my next adventure to the mall will be once I have money? =D)

We walk around, stroll through some of the stores, explore the awesome smells of Bath and Body Works, ignore the Halloween costume shop, and Emily put up with me pointing out different places in the mall that weren't there 6 years ago, where that old bookstore used to be, where I got my eighth grade dance dress, and other things that I happened to remember.

Then I saw it. A hurricane simulator. I gave Emily my look again. She returned it with one of her own then she said, "really?"

I just grinned wickedly and headed over. I always thought those things were stupid when I was growing up, but really? We had to do the whole mall thing. We had disposed of our trash from the frozen yogurt much earlier, but still, squeezing both of us in there was crazy! Then I turned it on.

Our hair started flying wildly, doing some crazy things and we could feel the wind pushing against us and threatening us. I don't even want to think how idiotic we must have looked to the people walking by since the door was see through and we were totally visible! I did remember to take a picture, but it was after the wind had started to calm down a bit.

This was how fast the wind was blowing when I finally remembered to take a picture.

After that, we were done. At least with the mall. We have plenty of other adventures to share!
 
Casey

P.S. Sorry it's been so long since the last post. We've both been caught up in midterm craziness and I was sick too. YAY! =P But everything's starting to calm down again..

I See This Life Like a Swinging Vine

Inspiration mixed with a healthy dose of craziness seem to regularly hit our room at about 10:30pm or later on weeknights. For instance, a couple of weeks ago Casey and I were studying late in the library. Casey had a bunch of reading to do for her classes, and I was in the process of freaking out about my first anatomy and physiology exam of the semester. It was the next morning! (terrifying! :-O )After I had reviewed my notes one last time and Casey was finished reading for the night, we decided to pack up and venture out of the library to head back up to our room.

By this time, I am pretty sure Casey knew I needed to blow off some of the stress I had been feeling  the past few days due to the exam. When we got back into the room she unpacked her laptop and went straight to Songza to blare her contemporary pop station. All of a sudden, I looked up just in time to see her give a saucy flip of her hair and flash an expression of pure inspiration across her face. Then, she just busted out with some crazy dance moves, right there in the middle of our dorm room! I couldn't just let her have all the fun, now could I? So after I got over the initial shock of my roommate doing some nerdy moves to contemporary pop, (we still didn't know each other extremely well at this point, so I was a bit surprised to see this side of her) I jumped out of my seat, did a twirl or two around the room, and joined in with her!

As Casey and I spun, flounced, jerked, and jumped around the room to Counting Stars, Roar, and other rad beats, the stress I felt melted away like butter on a hot pancake! Pretty soon our dancing became very ungraceful as we laughed hysterically at each others attempts to keep from tripping over our own feet. We kept this up for at least forty five minutes! Even when it got really hot in the room we didn't let it stop us! We just turned my fan on, opened up the window, and got back to being the weirdos that we are! Impromptu dance parties are just one of the many reasons I love my roommate. Housing could NOT have done a better job of finding me the perfect person to room with for my second year of college.

So the moral of the story is this: When you're feeling a lot of stress before a test, just crank up the music, grab your roommate by the arm, and dance your worries away! Casey and I were able to bond in new ways by opening our crazy sides up to each other, and guess what! I did really well on my exam. :) So everybody dance!!!!!!

~Emily

Every Princess Needs A Drawbridge

YAY! We have pictures to post for this one!

As mentioned in a our last blog, we had a spectacular idea to decorate our door. And it was a surprisingly complicated process. (And if you're wondering why Emily hasn't posted yet since we are supposed to switch off the posts, it's because she is a ridiculously busy individual.... and I have no life. You will be hearing from her soon though!)

Believe it or not, what was the one thing we forgot at all THREE stores we visited for our decorations? Yep! Tape. Oops. We both dug through our drawers and I found some of that good, weird-looking tape. Then we were ready. It's a little more difficult to explain though, so now I'll just bring in the pictures. The back of the door has a math-related back story. I will be back!

This is our door!!!!!
Quick Disclaimer: It is Emily's artistic talent that created this minions. The most I can say I contributed is the eyes, hair, and the poster. Her level of awesomeness is beyond the ability to express. =D

One of my personal favorite features, the Harry Potter minion. 

Another of our favorite features. The gentle reminder that we are beautiful princesses every time we come back to our room!

Looking back, we totally should have added our faces over theirs just so we could be cool. Emily is Ariel and/or Cinderella depending on her mood. And I am Rapunzel!

We have my uncle and his office to thank for  the epic-ness of this poster. He was able to print it out for us. Together, Emily and I had edited it. The quote says, "Too many people grow up. That's the real trouble with the world. Too many people grow up. They forget."

Our door before we added the mini minions. It's also in better light than the next picture is even though it's not complete.

The finished front of the door!

So far, we were both liking our drawbridge. Of course, when we closed the door that night, it just looked depressing and totally LAME on the inside! We had mounted the mirror and all we had now was the mirror and the peephole. Really? After everything we had just gone through to awesome up the front door, all we had not was the mirror inside. Seriously?!

Emily and I looked at each other and she gave me her mischievous grin (Anyone who knows Emily well KNOWS this grin. And fears it), and I knew she had come up with something brilliant. "Let's make a big minion on the inside of the door!"

I thought for a second, studied the scraps of construction paper that littered the floor, and estimated just how much would be needed. I had everything planned out within seconds, looked back at Emily and said, "Okay!"

Her eyes widened. "Really? I was just kidding."

"Yep." (Looking back I'm noticing that once I get an idea in my head, nothing is going to get it to leave! Poor Emily.) I said, bobbing my head up and down in excitement, a movement that still can't quite be described as nodding. "We're going to do this!"

Once that was settled, we set the paper on the floor and tried to figure out how to get it from there to the door. With the mirror already up, we were going to have to work around that. We just stared at each other, totally clueless. Now what?

"We could just put the paper up and cut around it." Emily suggested.

I gave her a look (I don't actually know what the look expressed, but I HOPE it showed exasperation, because that' what I was aiming for). I didn't want to try taping up papers just to cut them out and have everything fall off because you just cut the tape off the paper and then having to try to tape it back up without messing up what you just cut out. Yeah. No thank you! But of course I was having trouble coming up with a better idea. Just as it started to look like we might just have to do something annoying and painful like that, I thought about math.

We're honors students. Which honors student would avoid doing math one week into school? ;)
So I sat down, measured the door, measured one of our finished minions, the mirror, and brought out some math, felt a little like a nerd, put Disney music on, and had Emily correct me more than once on my calculations. Then we had the dimensions for the minion mirror door and we began to lay the paper.

The beginning of something great! Can you see the measuring tape on the top and right side?

Emily, with her incredible artistic talent, drew and cut out the minion. I helped tape the pages together and then on the wall, and helped create the details like the eye and hair. It took a little while, but it was finally finished.

Unfortunately, the lighting is poor in these pictures too. In case you were curious, the first picture shows off my side of the room, and the second shows Emily's.

It was definitely a ton of work, but Oh. So. Worth. It! =D


Casey

The Adventure That Started It All!

After Emily moved in, I resolved to give her the same time to adjust back into the room that she had given me. Honestly, I think I might have been just a tiny, little bit intimidated by her. I don't know why, but I was. So I spent that weekend at my grandparent's house thirty minutes away.

As Sunday night drew to a close, I knew I was going to have to actually meet my roommate. I had spent only a few minutes with Emily on Saturday, after she moved in. I had attempted to help her unpack, which ended up being me forcing myself on her as she tried to put her things away and struggle to find me something to do. I hadn't wanted to annoy her, and the whole episode may have been what ended up really prompting me to spent the weekend away. Whatever it was, I was about to return to Owen #207.

When I walked into the room Monday morning, I discovered that she had already left, probably in her first class. Mine wasn't until 11, so I sat on my bed and tried to absorb the weirdness of having to share a room with someone. We fit in it surprisingly well. I was expecting cramped spaces, angry notes demanding the know where I had put something, my side of the room torn apart and searched, the horrible and dramatic embodiment of the Hollywood roommate. But it wasn't. I think that was the first time I began to think the whole roommate thing might not be as bad as the movies had led me to expect.

That night was back-to-school night that Fred Meyer put on. School supplies were going to be cheap, and I still needed a binder. When  Emily returned from her classes that night, I asked if she was thinking about going.

"Yeah, I still need to go pick up some things. I need a binder and some paper. I was going to take the bus." She said, referring to the shuttle bus the school had hired to take students back and forth between the store and campus. After talking for a few minutes and getting to know each other a little better, we agreed to go together on the bus.

We went to dinner together that night (the first night of a wonderful tradition), and on the way back, I had the brilliant(?) idea to take my car. After all, it would be quieter, we could get to know each other more, what could be better? It took me a few minutes to convince Emily, but then we were decided. We would take my car.

Then we had another brilliant(?) idea. We should decorate our door! YEAH! Why not!? That could be fun! Despicable Me and Disney Princesses.

The drive to the store that night was incredibly enjoyable. We listened to music, talked about our families, and just hung out. We got the things we needed at Freddy's. Binders, paper, construction paper, a mirror. But they had NOTHING princess related. SERIOUSLY!?!? Who does that?! Losers!

But I digress.

As we went to leave, well... Okay, before I say this, let me just point out that I have only been driving since graduation this year. I cannot claim to be the most adept at this magic called "driving". And it was at least 10:30, so it was dark outside, Okay. And I mean, yes I've driven in the dark before. I didn't get off work sometimes until 11:30 or midnight, so I did have some experience. I think it was just Emily throwing me off.

As we went to leave as we were making our way through the parking lot I realized, quite loudly, "OH! I need to turn my lights on!" Right in front of us was a couple (we were by this time in front of the doors of Freddy's) and they had stopped right in the middle of the road and were hugging or something. (Seriously!? Who DOES this?!) And that's when I decided to turn my lights on. However, decided might be too strong of a word. It was more like that's when my lights just happened to turn on, because I turned them on, because I just realized I needed them on. And I hadn't even recognized what it would mean if I turned my lights on right there. It kinda just... happened. oops. BUT THEIR FACES!!!!!! It was absolutely amazing! If I could do it again, would I? In a second just so I could see their faces again! Oh. My. Gosh! It was awesome! And Emily just looked at me and burst out laughing, and then I could barely drive after that couple had overcome their surprise enough to move out of the way because I was laughing so hard because Emily was laughing so hard. And every single time we attempted to leave the laughing behind, we'd look at each other and it would happen again. It was an... eventful ride home. Especially because I forgot to turn my lights back off when we got there. Oops! =D

We sat in our room for a few minutes and began to access our purchases. And we realized, we didn't have all the stuff to make our door pretty with.

"So now what?" Emily asked me.

And of course, I suggested the only thing that made sense. "Let's go to Albertsons!"

Emily gave me a look that can only be described as skepticism. It was warranted. I was wearing slippers. But her words didn't match. "This late?"

"Yeah! Why not?!" I looked at the clock again. It wasn't even 11 yet!

Her skepticism was replaced with anticipation and anxiety. "Okay." She said warily. "Let's go."

Of course, because, hey, it's my luck, I continue to have trouble with remembering to turn on and off my lights the rest of the night, leaving them on for a moment when we reached Albertsons until I remembered AFTER we had locked the doors, getting again halfway out of the parking lot before remembering my lights (but there were no weird couples there), and it was to continue. While we were at Albertsons, we found nothing, and decided to go to Walmart (even more anxiety from Emily. This time I understood. Who really actually WANTS to go to Walmart at 11 or 11:30 at night?! Ab-sol-freaking-nobody!). We needed to get the decorations for our door.

We were laughing constantly now, and enjoying every moment of our time together. I was even starting to overcome my roommate qualms and getting use to her. Even *GASP!* starting to LIKE her!

At Walmart, we were more excited about playing in the isles than actually finding what we were looking for and it was well past midnight before we reached our room again. But the fun had lasted all night, we had bonded, and we were so tired the door was left to wait for that weekend. But that is another math-involved story. =D

Casey

In the Beginning, The road to Roommate-dom

The thought of having a roommate scared me. I was determined to NOT have to deal with that drama. After all, what if she was scary, or a party-girl, or a snoop? What if she had no boundaries and went through all my stuff? What if we didn't like each other? And I definitely was not good with sharing a room! I haven't shared a room with anyone in years! It would be enough of a new experience just to leave home an go to college. Forget a roommate! It was with these thoughts, that I signed up for Rendezvous. After all, I was in the honors program. I was bound to get in!

A few weeks later, we had early registration at Idaho State. I walked through the doors to the student union building with my mom's final good-bye ringing in my ears. I walked onto campus alone and attempted to find where I was meant to be. After five minutes, I found myself in the Bengal theater where over one hundred other incoming prospective freshman sat, most with their parents, waiting to split up and register for classes. Within seemingly seconds, I was swept away with those other honors students, selecting my classes, and finalizing them in the ballroom. Inside, there were booths set up with computers which would allow each student to upload their classes, displays from some of the most prominent and important groups and departments on campus, and, of course, the refreshments. After I finished with the computer, I hunted down housing. They were sure to have a booth set up. And I was right. I sat in line for a few minutes, made it through to the front and was told, "Hi! You have a room in Redfield."

I could have cried. What was going on?! "I'm in thee honors program. Isn't Owen the next overflow area for the honors students?" I asked. For a moment the man I  was talking to looked confused, looked at the computer again, and looked back at me, his face still set in his weird, confused stare, but with some certainty in his eyes.

"Well. The housing has you in Redfield. But I'll put a note on our application about the honors program. I think you're right."

Fairly certain now that I would not be making it to Rendezvous, I was determined to see the dorm rooms. I set up a tour for the dorms, and called my parents. Five minutes before the tour was to begin, they hadn't shown and I was forced to go on the tour by myself and one other prospective student. When we reached the Owen/Redfield complex, where all the rooms are identical to the room I would be staying in, I couldn't believe it! This room was TINY! It was about the size of my room back home, and I had that one to myself! How could I be expected to share if i did end up having a roommate?!

I just hoped I made it through the waiting list for Rendezvous. There was no way I could handle it. Or at least get a single room. I could probably work with that.

As the weeks wore on, I thought little about my housing situation at ISU. I graduated, hang out with friends and family, got distracted with work, had some fun with Madisyn, and enjoyed my last summer of no responsibilities. Until THE Email. That brought me back to reality.

THE Email ruined everything back then. THE Email told me my roommate's name.............. was Emily Holcomb.

I was surprised. It sounded familiar. At the same time, I was sure I didn't know her. So, what did I do? Well... What would any self-respecting 18 year-old who is about to leave home and live with some random stranger do? That's right. I Facebook stalked her.

It didn't take me long. Within 30 minutes I knew the face and some of the interests of my roommate. She was Christian, an Honors Student, had a little sister, liked the outdoors, had already been to ISU, which would make her a returning student, and, well... Let's just say I am a phenomenal Facebook Stalker.

The last of my summer seemed to fly by. As the first week of school drew near, I decided to send an Email to this Emily and introduce myself. After all, she was not likely to be as skilled as myself at Facebook stalking. Her reply reinforced much of what I already discovered on y own, but it also added her major. Nursing. My mom went to school for nursing. Great. I'd have to listen to her nursing stories too. Now I was really excited to move in! On the bright side, I'd have a few days to myself before she actually made it in.

And soon that time was over. And SHE put her things in our room. I was nervous, I was anxious, and I was slightly dreading the experience. I will never get over how wrong I was.


Casey