Hooray! (for reals)

My mission call came! And I have been called to serve in the California Riverside mission! I leave June 5th and I am speaking English!!!!! I am so excited!

After I knew that my call was here I kind of started freaking out. I just started thinking about how there are so many things that are hard about a mission, and what if I went somewhere that made it even harder? Somewhere far away, somewhere new, somewhere where I don't know the language, the culture, the people..... I got scared. But after reading I was going to California (where I was born and raised)... I felt so comforted. It was like Heavenly Father was letting me know that He knows me and knows what I can handle and that I'll be able to serve my mission, even though it will be hard.

I am so excited to serve a mission and I know that Riverside is where I am meant to serve. I can't wait for June!

Hooray! (not)

As anyone who actually reads this blog probably knows I've put my mission papers in!

And I've been anxiously awaiting the arrival of my assignment! (alliteration is always amusing)

Today was the earliest day that I could have gotten my call and at the end of my classes today I saw I had a text from my mom that said: "call today! You were right!"

My response was something like...

OH MY GOSH! IT'S HERE!

Uh-huh, oh yeah!

It's at my house!

I have to go RIGHT NOW! (at which point I literally ran down the hallway of the McKay Building)

BUT!!!

             then I noticed that there was another text from my mother... the first part of a two part text which added together actually said: 

"Oh, no call today! You were right!"

So that happened. And it was horrible.

But then it was kind of funny...

And then it was really funny...

So no call. But to make this even more stressful/unreal/why is this happening to me? I ran into my Bishop and his wife and she said since it was a holiday on Monday it will come a day late a.k.a tomorrow....

So maybe I'll have more news tomorrow.

P.S. I'm slightly obsessed with GIFs (if you couldn't tell)

What I Got For Christmas

I'm a nerd. Not the "I saw the Hunger Games movie" kind of nerd. The "I can answer random trivia questions about Harry Potter like it's an autobiography" kind of nerd. And this Christmas I got visual proof of my nerdiness:

My Star Wars candy dispenser(from Carly)

My Hobbit collectible cup(from the theater) and trading cards(from Denny's) 

The complete 8-film collection of Harry Potter(from Santa) and a chocolate frog from the Harry Potter  studio in London(from Danielle)

A Parks and Rec T-shirt(from Rochelle)
{Explanation}

My Les Miserables ticket(from the Christmas showing), 25th Anniversary Concert on DVD, and the soundtrack from the film that I've already listened to for hours on Spotify

Basically I am feeling overwhelmingly nerdy and I love it! So I thought I'd share.

That's all.

Tragedy

I know a lot of people have been talking about this but I felt like writing down my thoughts on the horrible events that have happened in Connecticut and China.

I had so many thoughts running through my head, like "How sad" and "What kind of sick monster would do such things"... honestly I was heartbroken.

And then I started thinking about how scary this is... I am an Elementary Ed major and one day I will be working in an elementary school and I started thinking about how hard it would be to have that happen. Not because I'm scared for my own safety, but because I will be responsible for students just like those who were needlessly attacked today.

Then I got to thinking about how one day I will be a mother and how hard it would be to send your child off to school, just like every other day, and to never see them again....

I've been trying to think of something that we as a country needed to learn from these events... but all I can think is that this is tragic...

That's all.

Today was a long day

Bad Things that Happened:
#1) I had to wake up at 6 am. I haven't woken up that early in months and last time I did it was to go to Disneyland!
#2) I didn't go to Disneyland. I went to finals. I had three and due to lack of sleep I was not as focused as I would have liked... hopefully I did ok anyways.
#3) I had to return my Autoharp. So that's tragic.
#4) I had a minor emotional breakdown... I sat down in a meeting, was asked how I was doing, and immediately started crying... it was very embarrassing.

Things that Made the Bad Things Not so Bad:
#1) One of my finals was a project presentation and my teacher didn't collect any projects EXCEPT for mine! She loved it so much she wanted to keep it in her office. Also I got 100%!
#2) My roommates. Sure they are weirdos, but I sure love them!
#3) I came home for the night and my mom made me dinner and my dad made me dessert and I am currently cuddling with my puppy... I love being home :)
#4) I met with my bishop to start my missions papers.... hooray!

That's all.

Wait! Look at this horrible Christmas card Maddie made for us.

We Dowds are a classy people.

I Just Want a Chili Dog

Today I was grumpy.


Sometimes when Dowds are simultaneously angry and hungry we get what we like to call "Hangry".


After a long, frustrating day I was getting pretty hangry so I decided to make myself a chili dog.

HUGE MISTAKE!


While trying to open the can of chili I cut my finger... really bad.
It was bleeding a lot so Erika put a band-aid on me...
but it bled through the band-aid...
for about ten minutes.

Then Megan came home (she's very medically savvy) and she said I might need stitches.....


...but then she put on a butterfly bandage and it stopped!
   


So I''m not dying... but I feel like an idiot. Particularly this idiot...

...especially since I didn't even end up having a chili dog!

Ugh, I hate finals week!

*Sigh*

This is an Autoharp. At the beginning of this semester I was assigned to learn 10 children's songs on the Autoharp for my Music class (music for elementary teachers). At first I was not too excited because I am not very good with instruments... they take a lot of work and dedication and I am not good at those. However, I quickly fell in love with the Autoharp because it is essentially the world's easiest instrument (not counting the kazoo or triangle).

I am basically just like this crazy old lady....

I went far and above the 10 songs assigned; I currently have 100+ songs bookmarked that I can play. I play and sing all day long Georgiana style (P&P reference).

Unfortunately this semester is almost over... meaning my Autoharp must be returned. Which is making me very, very sad. 

The end :(

Maybe this will cheer me up