When it Rains...

In the past week...

-I have received 3 rejection letters from all 3 firms I interviewed with for a summer associate position this summer (for which I missed 2 full days of classes for call back interviews in SLC)
-I did not make it past even the first round of the moot court competition (more than half of the 80 students who did it moved on)
-I got sick
-I tried to bake my first cake and failed MISERABLY
-And Reed just told me Texas lost (yes I had them winning the national championship on my bracket...and no that doesn't really matter to me but it's one more thing to add to my list of failures for my short little pity party).

I'm hoping all of this means something great is about to happen and it's only going to be greater in light of the recent failures :-).

Yes. I'm Polish.

SOLD!!!

I finally said goodbye to the old 1988 Beemer I have been driving for the last few years. It has been a good around town car but I needed something I could hop in and go to Arizona without worrying about being left stranded on the Rez. I had it on KSL for a few weeks and finally sold it.

Mom and Dad came up after the MWC Tourney and they helped me pick out a new car. Dad also helped me out a lot so I could get something nicer. THANKS DAD!!! Well here it is, the Honda Accord LX.

I was thinking and this is the first time I have had a car that was built later than 1990. The Carolla was a '78, the Jeep was a '79, and the Beemer was a 1988. Natali is happy to have a 2nd reliable car too.

CS Lewis

I read this quote the other day and thought it was good enough to share.

“We begin to notice, besides our particular sinful acts, our sinfulness; begin to be alarmed not only about what we do, but about what we are. This may sound rather difficult, so I will try to make it clear from my own case. When I come to my evening prayers and try to reckon up the sins of the day, nine times out of ten the most obvious one is some sin against charity; I have sulked or snapped or sneered or snubbed or stormed. And the excuse that immediately springs to my mind is that the provocation was so sudden and unexpected: I was caught off my guard, I had not time to collect myself. Now that may be an extenuating circumstance as regards those particular acts: they would obviously be worse if they had been deliberate and premeditated. On the other hand, surely what a man does when he is taken off his guard is the best evidence for what sort of a man he is? Surely what pops out before the man has time to put on a disguise is the truth? If there are rats in a cellar you are most likely to see them if you go in very suddenly. But the suddenness does not create the rats: it only prevents them from hiding. In the same way the suddenness of the provocation does not make me an ill-tempered man: it only shows me what an ill-tempered man I am. The rats are always there in the cellar, but if you go in shouting and noisily they will have taken cover before you switch on the light.”

- C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

What rats are in my cellar? If you sneak up on me suddenly then you might just find out...

One more pic

I just wanted to put a picture up of the whole EERI Seismic Design Competition Team. These guys did a lot of work and deserve a lot of credit.

San Diego!

Well I think most of you know that this last weekend I went to San Diego for a Seismic Design Competition. For the last 4 months we have been designing, building, and analyzing a balsa wood tower with a group of 15 students. We would go to the school two nights a week for a couple of hours and we would work on the tower. Before talking about the tower I want to talk about San Diego. It has been freezing here in Utah and it was so nice to walk on the beach in California. I actually came back with a little tan.




We went to the Children's Cove in San Diego and watched the seals flop around and bask in the sun. They are pretty weird animals.


I also got an acai bowl on the beach. I had been craving one of these ever since I got back from my mission. It wasn't exactly the same but it was the best one I've had since being in Brazil.

But we didn't go to San Diego just to hang out on the beach and eat Acai bowls. We went for a competition. Here are a few pictures of the tower under construction.



The main goal of the competition is to maximize your revenue. The revenue comes from floor area of the building. Higher floors get a higher revenue per square inch of floor area. Then we have costs based on weight, area of land it was built on, and seismic costs. the tower is put under three earthquakes and the seismic cost is determined by the drift and acceleration of the top of the tower.
After your revenue is totalled, there are then four factors that could act as multipliers for the final revenue. These are presentation, poster, architecture, and predictions. If someone had the best poster, their score would receive a 10% increase, 2nd best poster would receive an 8% increase, and so on for all four things.
Anyway, that stuff is all pretty boring. The competition consisted of 29 teams, including teams from Malaysia, Romania, and British Columbia. Then you had UCLA, USC, Purdue, Missouri, Nebraska, UC Berkley and many others. we had a guy that was really good with a computer program called Revit and he did some drawings for us. Here are a few of the renderings that he did.






Out of 29 teams we ended up taking 6th place. We wanted to do better than this but this isn't bad. We did have some penalties for certain reasons. I won't go into any detail about it but we got a 28% penalty for something that is not in the rule book. We talked to the judges about it, had the rules right in front of us, and when I asked him to point out what part of the rules we had broken, he couldn't show me. It was very frustrating. But... the experience was fun and we learned a lot.

Oh and the best part was that I got to see and hang out with Mark! (but I forgot to take pictures)... We got to watch the BYU game together, went to the comedy club and he watched me take a shower...I mean shake a tower. It was great to see him PLUS he fed me twice so that was really nice of him. I was way excited when I found out we would both be there at the same time. Great timing Mark!

On a side note...

Natali made some Banana Bread for the first time the other day and it turned out really good.
We have also been looking for some good French cheese ever since we got back from France and we finaly found some Camembert at Harmon's. Natali was REALLY excited.

Things I Love

Well I copied this post idea from my friends Leanna and Annika but it was just too great of an idea. Here are a couple random things that I love (not a comprehensive list of course)...

Of course, I love Reed. He is, by far, the best thing about my life. He is supportive, funny, positive, easy-going and kind...everything I need. And I can't get over how hott he is (and while I'm on the topic, I LOVE his jawline)

I love Sunsets. Even the worst day in the world melts away when I get a glimpse of one of these.

I. Love. Monk. If you have never seen Monk, it is hilarious. He is a crazy, quirky, OCD detective and he's awesome. Me, Reed and my brother Jared like to watch an episode every other night or so when I'm too tired to do anymore homework. And Monk is never wrong about anything. So I guess we have something in common ;-) haha. jk.

My new Kindle! It is so great! I read like 10 books on it over Christmas break! Now when Reed and I travel we don't have to bring a whole suit case just for my books :-).

BYU Law School. I know it's nerdy...but I love it (sometimes I hate it too...but it always invokes strong emotions haha). I love the challenge, the learning, the homework...And I love that all my hard work paid off with awesome grades for last semester. Seriously, definitely one of the best moments of my life was seeing last semester's grades.

Reed's guacamole. My husband is the guacamole king. Sometimes I wake up at 2 am craving this :-)

The Ranger's Apprentice book series. My mom introduced me to them. I LOVE them. Just enough fantasy to make for an interesting read but not too outlandish. I have read like four of them but have slowed down now that the semester is heavy underway

All things Apple. I have loved my Macbook from the day I set eyes on it. We are inseparable...unfortunately I am also inseperable from every document I've ever written and picture I've ever taken so I'm overloading my good friend. I think it's time for an upgrade:

I love Musicals. I love listening to them, watching them, or singing the songs from them. Especially Phantom. I have seen the Phantom in New York and London and hope to see it many more times (hopefully sometime with my husband). I love music in general but musicals are just amazing.

And lastly, I know Leanna posted this already but I had to as well, I love the MGs. I would say they are my best friends but I think sisters is almost closer to the truth. I seriously feel so privileged to have them in my life. They all are so unique, brilliant and talented...I have learned something from each one of them and each one is my hero in a different way. Really I would do anything for these girls.

Anticipation

Anticipation seems to be one word that describes a lot of my life. Right now I'm living in anticipation of the day I will get my grades back from last semester and I'm so worried about it I can't even sleep! Which is ridiculous because there is absolutely nothing I can do about it at this point. I tell Reed that as soon as I get grades back, I will be much happier because I will be able to stop living in worry and anticipation.

But...well I guess I told him that last semester when I was living in anticipation of finals. And hmmm...again before that when I was worrying about whether or not I would get into law school. And before that, while worrying whether or not I would get an internship in France...and before that when worrying about taking the LSAT, and before that when worrying about wedding planning etc...

So I think that's my one goal for the new year is to try to live my life in the moment rather than anticipating the day I will start enjoying my life. I have a tendency to say..."Well I just have to get through _______ and THEN my life will really start." But the fact is, there will always be something I can worry about, anticipate and spend all my time on. It would be such a waste if I realized at the end of my life that I missed all of my todays waiting for tomorrows.

I've actually never been one for New Year goals because I don't like doing something just because everyone else does it haha. So maybe that's why I have waited until January 17th to set a goal. Nobody sets goals on January 17th right? :-).

Anyways, everyone knows the only reason people read blogposts is for the pictures so I guess I will post a nice picture we took over Christmas so my blog isn't pointless :-).