Thinking it's time for a happy blog post! :)

Happy, Joyful, Quite Content

Yep, at the moment, I am feeling all of these things! There are numerous reasons for my feeling such joy.  Some have to do with school, others family, and there are a few quite random ones.  But first, a little anecdote for you all!

So last week, I had made plans with some friends from school to meet up in Salt Lake to go ice skating and enjoy the lights on temple square.  Can I just say we picked the wrong night to go?!  They told me to bring friends, so I got two guys from my ward, Jon and Chase, and a friend from Belgium, Greg to come with me.  They were driving from Stansbury so we would just meet up in the city.  We left at 4:45 ish.  Usually it takes me 45 minutes to drive from Orem to Salt Lake.  I understand that I left right about rush hour time, but I did not anticipate THAT much traffic.  Believe me, it was a ton of traffic! I got sick of it about the time I hit Sandy so we got off thinking we could just go on a backroad to SLC.  Unfortunately for us we were not the only ones with this idea.  There was a lot of traffic off of the freeway as well.  We finally got back onto the freeway and got off the exit into SLC at about 7:15.  No joke....2 and a half hours.  It took us a good half hour to find a parking spot in the city too.  Darn David Archuleta and his gorgeous voice.  By the time we got situated, Em and Coco had been ice skating for a while and were ready to eat some dinner.  We met up in temple square and walked to the Lion House Pantry.  Sadly, that closed at 8 and we arrived at 8:10.  We made our way to some Trax and hitched a ride to The Gateway to eat in their food court.  After that we seperated and made our way back home.  Let me just say, I was exhausted by the time I got home.

Now, onto the reasons for my good mood.

Numero une (number one, for those of you who don't know french): Pretty much ecstatic about my grades for my first semester of college.  All of my grades were up by last Thursday.  By last Tuesday I could see that I had earned A's (and a passing grade (as in, it was a pass/fail class)) in Chemistry, Chemistry Lab, University 1000, and Orientation (p/f).  That left English 1010 and Calculus II for me to worry about, and let me tell you, these were the only ones I was worried about in the first place.  I was sure I was getting a B in my English class.  All of my papers had earned solid B +'s.  Calculus II was great up until the end.  I got a 93% on the first two tests, but series and sequences killed me and that test got an 86%.  I was skeptical of how well I did on the final, too.  But once it was over, I was just glad that it was.  You won't believe how excited I was to see my grades on Thursday.  Yes, an A in English and an A - in Calc II.  A 3.9 GPA for my first college semester?! Not too shabby. (My mom was pretty happy, too)

Dos: I have been at home with my family for almost two weeks now.  And I get to spend another two weeks with them after this ones up! I love my family so much, that this is pretty great!  On Saturday, I got to go play at Chuck E. Cheese's for my little brother's 8th birthday party!  It was super fun.  This Friday (Christmas Eve) is his actual birthday, and I can't wait to spend it the way we usually do.  We have a big party with my cousins and grandparents! It's kind of a big deal!  Then we will open our Christmas pajamas, take TONS of pictures (I literally mean tons, you don't know my grandmother...) and sleep the night away until CHRISTMAS! I am pretty excited.  I can't wait to see how my grandpa likes his present! It's pretty awesome, if I say so myself.  Then New Year's Eve is spent up in Sandy with my cousins, and New Year's Day my brother is getting baptized! CRAZY!

LAST REASON:  This is the random one I was talking about.  A little back story.  I listen (religiously, while I am in Utah County) to Mix 107.9! It's my favorite radio station.  Pretty much last week I was sitting at my computer and I was pretty bored.  I went to their website and turned on their live feed of music.  I was browsing their contests and came across a Reese's Perfect Playlist contest.  All I had to do was say what five songs I would put on my "perfect playlist" and then give them my info.  Up until now I had kind of forgotten about this, didn't even remember I entered the contest really until this morning.  I was going to work listening to the radio and heard someone win for this contest.  I told my sister I had entered and was sad that I hadn't won.  Little did I know, right?  I got a call at about....precisely 9:22 p.m.  I almost didn't answer because I didn't know the number.  Conversation went like this:

Me: Hello?

Wes: Hey, Katrina this is Wes from Mix 107.9! How are ya?

Me: I am good.

Wes: That's great! I am calling to tell you that you just won a $100 iTunes gift card from the Reese's Perfect Playlist contest!

Me: NO WAY!

Wes: Haha ya! And you are put in a drawing to win the huge iPod Prize Package!  Now, what station is making you a winner tonight?

Me: MIX 107.9!

and then there was some blah blah blah stuff...but basically, I was on the radio (too bad no one heard it, that I know of) and I won a contest.  I never ever win contests!! I am kind of joyous right now!

But like for real...I am kind of happy right now and I am afraid I am going to jinx it....

(Katrina Marie)    :)