This Girl is Almost a College Grad!

Last week I finished my final 2 classes for my undergraduate degree at Brigham Young University! I feel so fortunate to have been able to attend such a wonderful school and will always love it here. I have two finals to take and will continue to work on an internship until March 1st, which is when I will need to find a job :) Then it's graduation in April! Who would have thought it would take me 5 years, but time really seems to have flown by. One day you are a scared freshman trying to figure out how to find your classes on a huge campus and the next thing you know, Utah Valley is the most claustrophobic place you have ever been. Yes, sometimes I do want to run away and find a job in a big city but I think I will stay put for now.

I have really been blessed in the last six months to find a boy that I can't imagine ever living without. He's funny, smart, unpredictable and basically more than I could have dreamed him to be. I know that he sacrificed a promising internship to stay in Utah to be with me and it means to world to me that he loves me enough to not put our relationship to chance. I believe that in life you must be intentional. Meaning that if you have a goal, you need to take steps to get there, not let the world hand you what it wants. Having a purpose associated with each thing you do can make a huge difference. Especially in the relationships you have, whether romantic or not. In short I guess I'm saying that loving this boy makes me more excited than graduating college... which is saying a lot!

My quest for self-discipline starts soon....

The past semester has been one of my most stressful by far. I have had 18 credits worth of classes that all had heavy work loads. Many things in my life have suffered. Namely, my sleep schedule, my waistline, and my motivation. Now that I only have a few more finals, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel and I have decided I need to run for it. Thus I have made the rash decision to attempt a 28-day cleanse. I know, I know... It sounds stupid and it probably is. But the whole theory supporting it is to help regulate your body and put it back on track and help retrain your brain to stop using food as a fix-all. It's not a crazy juice cleanse where the only thing you consume is lemonade with cheyenne pepper (YUCK), it's whole foods with no dairy, meat or gluten. I plan on starting next Monday, and I'm going to follow it to a 'T.'  All I really want to do is prove to myself that I am capable of making hard decisions and sticking to them!

I've never been on a diet and I'm not the type of person that it always obsessed with their weight. I like to stay active but how I feel is more important to me than those pesky numbers starring up at me. I love food and sometimes I don't care what it has in it. Other days I read the labels on my go-to-foods and realize that I'm getting absolutely nothing from them but chemicals, but dang those chemicals taste good! So starting Monday and for the next month, if you see me eating anything that I did not make in my own kitchen, steal it. And after I yell at you, I'll say thanks because you are a true friend.

To Whom It May Concern

Dear Taco Bell:

Today I decided to give you a second chance. I came in for the $.88 Crunch Wrap and it was anything but Supreme. Had I not gotten my beloved Baja Blast, you would have ruined my entire day

I thought the point of your new campaign was to convince me that your food is delicious, but under the limp lettuce, soggy chips, barely pink tomatoes and cheese sauce that was reminiscent of a broken glow stick, I could hardly taste the single ounce of meat. And while you claim it is 80% "real meat" the 20% secret recipe is the part that makes me nervous...

So thanks for nothing, except the Baja Blast.

Yours truly, 

Nicole

P.S. If you ever stop serving the best soda on earth, you may come to find your restaurants burned as crisp as your chips are not.