You say it's your birthday.

I love celebrating birthdays with Sister Lyons. Not now, of course, since she ditched me ;) But I love it because, no matter the person, we always exclaim to them, "It's your biiiirthdaaaay?!?!?" in Kronk's hilarious voice. And they'd usually give us this look in return. 

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Ok, not usually. But I always imagine this picture when I say the phrase. It's hilarious. Try saying Kronk's line. I know you want to. And it will make you smile. 

Then, while looking for the above picture, I suddenly realized that Disney has some awesome birthday lines in their movies. Like this little gem from Cinderella. 

In case you were wondering, my children's childhoods will include Disney movies. 

In other news, yes, this is a birthday related post, because it's my birthday. My home teacher came running over just a while ago to drop off flowers for me. He bursts through the door and asks me in an accusatory tone, "Why didn't you tell me it was your birthday?!?!" As if I had committed some grievous sin by not announcing to the world about my special day. I think it's weird to do that. But since only a few people read this blog anyway, I thought it would be fine to chat about the big 21. Gah. 

My day was wonderful. It included rides to and from campus, awesome packages in the mail, surprises on the kitchen table from my mom, and lots and lots of free food. What more could you ask for?

My mom always gives me fresh flowers for my birthday because she says it means spring is just around the corner. Ironically, it snowed for the first time in a long time today. Everyone was complaining, but I loved it. The fresh blanket of snow all over campus was magical. 

Tonight, my roommates and I celebrated with a giant chocolate cake from Costco, raspberries, and sparkling cider. 

 We even had a toast!

Thanks for all the birthday wishes!

wait? you live here?!?

....I guess the above question is bound to come up when you've spent the past three weekends at home and not in your Provo apartment or ward. But I was still a little surprised while cooking dinner in my apartment tonight when some guy visiting my roommate asked if I lived there. Um, no. I just thought I'd walk into a random kitchen and start cooking my dinner. Seriously? The more appropriate question I should have asked is what are you doing here?!? But the mixed look of surprise and shock on his face when he found out that yes, I really did live here, was priceless.

a "monday" that really is tuesday, and kinda feels like a wednesday.

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Here at BYU, someone decided to change around the days of the week. So while the rest of the world was happily celebrating Tuesday, us students were experiencing our second Monday in a row. I'm not quite sure how the rest of you feel about having two Mondays in a row, but besides the fact that the crossword is really easy on Monday, I can't think of any other reason to inflict such torture. So I spent today (Tuesday) continually reminding myself that it was "Monday" and all the time it really felt like it was Wednesday. Well, I guess I'll also get to repeat Wednesday tomorrow. :)

In other news, I randomly stumbled across photo booth on my mac, a feature that I had all but forgotten existed. I was like a kid on Christmas morning. Just ask my roommate Jaci. Who knew taking pictures on your computer could be so much fun?

Have a happy [Monday] Tuesday!

shout out to the beatles.

I've had a Beatles song stuck in my head alllll day. 

Which I guess is a ok, considering it's Valentines Day 

and the song was written by the all-you-need-is-love foursome. 

Then I remembered that there's an awesome version of the song 

on the movie A Hard Day's Night. 

So I looked it up on youtube, and sure enough, there it was. 

[Hooray for modern technology!]

I've posted it here for your enjoyment. 

Seriously, watch it if you're a Beatles fan. Or if you like beautiful music.

Or if you're avoiding homework.

1:56 is my favorite part. Paul McCartney singing straight from the heart.

[I may or may not have had a crush on him since I discovered the Beatles.]

I hope you had a brilliant Valentine's Day. 

I've just been smiling all day.

Here's a quote I found the other day. I really like it. And it's kind of Valentine-y. That's all.

my monday night at the provo police department.

Before I delve into the police department story (don't worry, I didn't do anything illegal), 

let me tell you about my weekend. It was great. (Hence happy Calvin.)

First, I got to go home and chill with my family. 

Second, I didn't do any homework all weekend long. Not quite sure how smart that was. ;)

Third, I went skiing with my cousins at Deer Valley. (Dear Snow, why didn't you come one day earlier?)

Fourth, I ate real food cooked by my mother.

Fifth, I drank hot chocolate on a snowy day. 

Sixth, I watched a movie with my family...

Which, by the way, was hilarious. Not the movie. Actually the movie was intense and slightly creepy. I got it because the names Jude Law, Matt Damon, Kate Winslet, and Marion Cotillard were all on the box. Sounds good, right? The movie was about some crazy pig-bat disease (don't ask) that starts spreading around the world like a modern-day outbreak of smallpox. Anyway, back to the funny story. Earlier that day Matthew got sick, so when we went downstairs to watch the movie, we found him dying on the couch. Halfway through the movie we're all freaking out because everyone's dying of this infectious disease. Suddenly I realize that Matthew's sick, too. I yell, "Oh no! Matthew's contagious!" Then Peter and James are like "Stay away from us! We don't want to get sick and die like Kate Winslet." Then my dad realizes he's sitting on Matthew's t-shirt so he jumps up and rushes to the bathroom to wash his hands. The whole rest of the night we'd occasionally yell "contagion!" (that's the name of the movie) and look at Matthew with terror. He just rolled his eyes. It was awesome. 

..................................

Now, on to my crazy night at the Provo Police Department. 

Last week in the mail I got all the visa stuff I need to fill out for my mission. And I discovered that I also had to get FBI cleared (including fingerprinting). I'm not quite sure why. Anyway, I realize today that I need to get the FBI application in the mail asap because it takes them 6-8 weeks to process the information and if I don't get it done in time, I'm delayed entering the MTC by 6 weeks. Which would be super lame. So, I looked around the interwebs and discovered that I can get my fingerprints done at the Provo Police Department. I rush over there at 5:30, thinking it wouldn't take to long. Hahahahahaha.

I arrive at the police department, and can't even find the door to go in. That should have been the first sign. Eventually, I find the door and walk in. To the right of me, I see this little reception room surrounded by glass with at least 10 people squeezed in there. And some of them look scary. I'm like, "That couldn't be where I get my fingerprints." So I walk down the hall until I find the receptionist desk and ask her where I get my fingerprints done. It's right back in that waiting room where I didn't want to go. Of course.

So, I go back in there and everyone just stares at me. I go up to the desk and the following conversation follows.

Officer: "What can I do for you?"

Me: "I need to get my fingerprints taken."

Officer: "Ok. I need some ID."

Me: "Here you go."

Officer: "Thanks. What's the reason for the fingerprints?"

Me: "FBI clearance."

Officer: "Ok. One second." [Leaves to go fill something out.] 

Random guy behind me: "Are you joining the FBI?!?!?!"

Me: "Um....nope."

[awkward pause]

Random guy: "So what are you doing??"

Me: "Going on a mission."

Random guy: "Oh, cool! That's weird that you have to get clearance."

Me: [courtesy laugh] "Yeah, I guess."

Then, I went and waited. And waited. And waited approximately 1.5 hours to get my fingerprints done. Fortunately, people watching in the police department kept me entertained. Here are some things I observed.

• A very mad guy complaining about the line. And I don't even know why, because he was ahead of me, people. Seriously.
• Some woman talking to an officer about this lady wanting her flat screen TV back. But the woman wouldn't give it to her unless she personally came to get it, because apparently there was a warrant out for the TV lady's arrest. Yes, it was a very confusing story. But it kept me entertained for 20 minutes. 
• A boy came up to me after getting fingerprinted and asked if I was going on a mission. I told him yes and then we both said where we were going. He was so happy and his happiness rubbed off on me and then I wasn't so impatient about waiting in the long line because, hey! I'm going on a mission. :)
• And finally, my favorite moment. A mom came in with her little son and they sat down next to me. The little kid sat there all quietly and then suddenly he starts singing at the top of his lungs, "Baby, baby, baby, oh! Baby, baby, baby, oh!....you'll always be mine!!!" His mom tells him to be quiet. I was shaking with laughter because how often do you hear a 3 year old break out into Justin Bieber? Personally, I thought he sounded better than Bieber. It was hilarious.

And that was my adventure at the Provo Police Department. Hopefully I won't have to visit there anytime soon.

triple-a monday. (a day late.)

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Sooo, walking on campus today I saw the last "a" encounter I needed for my triple-a Monday blog/post/thingy. And even though I'm a day late I thought, why not? (That phrase reminds me of an awesome movie you should see. Check out the trailer here. Impressively clean, inspiring message, excellent script, Matt Damon. What more could you want?)

Anyway...

Awkward:
Walking past a guy with skinny jeans skinnier than my skinny jeans. Uhhllll. Seriously, if boys need help with how to wear pants, I suggest they check out Ryan Reynolds in The Proposal.

Annoying:
Going to my favorite place in the library, only to find it overrun with a bunch of random people. Where did you all come from?!?! Now I have to, *shudder*, share a desk with another person. ;) And in case you were wondering about rules of the BYU library, here's an interesting one. Once you sit at a desk to study, the next available seat on that desk is the one in the opposite corner, as far away from you as possible. Once someone sits there the desk is full. No discussion. Unless the following exceptions occur:

• Couples. 2 seats are still used and then the table is full, but the seats are on the same side of the table. Positioned as close together as possible. Obviously.
• Groups. 2+ seats are used, and it doesn't matter where they sit, because they all know each other. But these people usually find a study room so they can be noisy. 
• Finals week. ALL 4 SEATS CAN BE OCCUPIED. I know. It's crazy. This strange phenomenon occurs because students start stressing about upcoming tests and race to the library to suddenly become an excellent studier. 

Awesome:
Spending the week with this girl. So. Much. Fun. It's like Jerusalem all over again. Only in Provo, with normal food, and normal clothes.
Also, adding avocado to my BLT. Brilliant idea. I thought about calling my sandwich a BLAT, but that just seemed to degrade the awesomeness of the sandwich. So, it will remain BLT + avocado. Try it.

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Hope you've found some ordinary little moments in your day that can thrill you, too!

c'est la vie.

Pure torture: waiting through 2 hours of library study, 3 hours of work, and 8 hours of classes, all the time knowing that my call has arrived.

Ultimate happiness: driving up to the Provo Temple with my family while it's snowing, opening the big white envelope and reading these words-->

"Dear Sister Searle,

You are hereby called to serve as a missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You are assigned to labor in the France Paris Mission."

That's life! Experiencing highs and lows, ups and downs. Sometimes in the same day. ;) But you just have to hold on and smile. And right now I'm grinning from ear to ear. 

Seriously? Paris, France?! I was shocked to read those words. I never thought of going to France; I've never spoken a word of French in my life. But the more I think about it, the more I realize it's the perfect call for me.

How did I not see it coming? Here are some weird connections I have to France. Coincidence? I think not!

Visiting France with my Uncle and cousins two summers ago and falling in love with the beautiful city of Paris. 

That's me on the Eiffel Tower. Yes, my hair was super short.

Loving impressionistic art, and the paintings of French artists Corot, Delacroix, Degas, Manet, Monet, Renoir, van Gogh, Seurat, and Matisse.

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Having crepe night every Friday during freshman year. I still think a crepe with straight-up nutella is genius and the best.

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Eating treats from Leslie's French Pastries in Holladay ever since we lived there. Oh, and my mom brought some French pastries down in the car to celebrate. Without knowing, of course, that I was going to France. That, my friends, was awesome!

So, if I start posting a ton of French-related stuff over the next few months, you'll know why. :)