yesterday was a large milestone in my life-- i turned 23. it wasn't really a big deal and i'm happy to say that as you get older, birthdays become less of a party and more of a relaxing day where people help you out more than usual.
as i was sitting in church yesterday i chose to reflect back on my year of 22. i realized that for 9 months of 22, i was in salt lake/wyoming serving as a missionary. oh boy, do i miss that more than ever. i reflected back to my birthday last year-- i was serving in salt lake by the U. it decided to snow (utah didn't really take into consideration that i was a california girl and maybe didn't want to be showered in snow on my day of birth) and we went about our daily business. we went from appointment to appointment, had wonderful teaching opportunities, and attempted to navigate emmigration canyon in our toyota corolla, which barely made it there and back.
22 reasons i loved 22
(1) it was the year where i learned that selfless service truly allows you to be the happiest you've ever been.
(2) taylor swift has an epic song about being 22, which i listened to yesterday. i also received the revelation-- she says, "we'll just keep dancing like we're 22", which makes me believe that she wrote this song about being 23+ and wants to go back to being 22. i'll take it.
(3) i met some of my greatest, lifelong friends.
(4) 22 was the year both erika and julia went on missions-- all 3 mahterian girls were out for 3 months at the same time. how's that for an unexpected miracle? also, 18 days until sister mahterian the second comes home. i'm quite excited.
(5) salt lake become my second home.
(6) wyoming tied salt lake for being my second home.
(7) i discovered the pie pizzaria -- gluten free/ dairy free pizza goodness :)
(8) general conference at the feet of the brethren? yes.
(9) baptisms. and conversions. lots and lots of conversions.
(10) thusfar in my life, i think that 22 was my happiest year.
(11) i was reunited with mama suze and popsicle after 18 long months of separation -- if you don't count S stalking me at GC...
(12) "when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God" (Mosiah 2:17) --> https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/mosiah/2?lang=eng
(13) my best friend had a baby and i OFFICIALLY became aunt ali.
(14) i learned to love those i knew very little about.
(15) you know, i think i finally realized that i'm worth something.
(16) i also learned that how others treat you is a reflection of them, not you.
(17) i also learned that being yourself will allow you to make a bigger impact on people, as opposed to being fake and telling people what they want to hear.
(18) i love being me.
(19) oh, 22 was the year of the "rawr" tic. can't really forget that.
(20) 22 was the year of loving others, being patient, growing immensely, and learning to just embrace the crazy that you are.
(21) true friends are those who you might not see forever but when you are reunited with them it feels like no time has passed.
(22) ben folds & JJ both were graced by my presence at their concerts. yessss
i really like lists. i think it's the ocd in me
revelation time: that list won't really mean anything to anyone, but it meant something to me. improvement and progression are 2 things we are desperately striving for in this life. looking at this list and reflecting back on the year of 22, i realized that both improvement and progression occurred in my life and in the life of those individuals i was fortunate enough to meet. guys, life is good and it's just going to get better. but for now, let's go eat some birthday taquitos and keep dancing like we're in high school, okay?
love, almost a quarter of a centry old ollie
Monday, November 17, 2014
Saturday, November 8, 2014
why i am the way i am
i am thoroughly convinced we are the way we are because of the situations in our lives and how we choose to deal with them
one of my mission companions wrote this paper on me for her english class. i want you to read it.
One Tic At a Time
“Rawr, hello. Testing one, two, three. Oh, you’re fine. Hello. Hello. Hello. We’re good. Hello. We’re good, right? Okay, we’re good.” I’d like to introduce you to Ali Mahterian a beautiful Armenian twentytwo year old college student from Agoura Hills, California. She’s a whiz at accounting, enjoys eating chips with salsa, and she has Tourette's. Tourette’s Syndrome [TS] is a neuropsychiatric disorder involving involuntary tics. Tics are physical movements and vocal sounds that are uncontrollable, like a muscle spasm. Ali explains it this way, “You know when you sneeze, how that’s just an involuntary thing you do? I have different involuntary things that I do that are different from anybody else.” As she says this, her eyes roll back, her head cocks to the right and her nose scrunches in an uncomfortable position. She’s sitting in the corner of the school’s cafeteria on a busy afternoon next to other college students who are cramming for midterms and loading up on carbs. It looks like she’s distracted by every stranger who walks past and every sound she hears, but when her almond eyes happen to stay still for a moment, they look sincerely engaged in the conversation. She has just come from taking an accounting test, so her hair is thrown up in a crown bun and she’s wearing her favorite pair of sanuks-- comfortable but always stylish.
Due to popular culture, when you hear the word “Tourette’s,” you probably visualize a person swearing uncontrollably. However, only about 10% of people with Tourette's have this symptomcalled Coprolalia. Unfortunately, Ali happens to be part of the 10%.The European Journal of Neurology states, “Swearing tics can be one of the most distressing and socially impairing symptoms of TS.” Ali’s mom, Suzy, laments, “She has it at various times, like in college she had it. She called me one day and told me that she had cussed and some guy said ‘Seriously? You’re at a church school.’ and she said, ‘You think I can help this?’ People are idiots.”
Dealing with this kind of reaction from others isn’t a new thing for Ali; symptoms started to surface during her fifth grade year. She began putting her hand up to her eyebrow repeatedly and flipping her hair back. Suzy said they were annoying mannerisms that caused her to ask Ali, “Could you just stop?” but she couldn’t. The doctors hesitated to diagnose her because, in Ali’s opinion, “sometimes when you put labels on things people get scared,” and according to The National Institute of Neurological Disorders, “TS is a diagnosis that doctors make after verifying that the patient has had both motor and vocal tics for at least one year.” When Ali was finally diagnosed in sixth grade, Suzy felt disappointed because she knew it would be difficult for her daughter. On the other hand, Ali didn’t know any different. “Like, I mean when you’re in fifth grade and you start having these movements you don’t know any different. Does that make sense? Like you think in your mind, ‘This is normal, this is what people in fifth grade are supposed to be having,’ but they’re not.” Fortunately, Ali’s parents had a very positive mindset about it. “You know your kids are gonna have challenges, you just don’t know how they’ll present themselves. You don’t know how to prepare yourself for it. It was like, ‘okay, so this is it.’ I’ve always been very matter of fact about it. The mantra in our house is, ‘Everyone has something, you just can’t always see it.’”
Everyone has something, but Ali’s something was very apparent. Bullying and social isolation became a problem in middle school. She remembers, “when you’re getting diagnosed with something that’s weird and people in middle school are idiots to begin with, and everybody’s super self conscious and ick, I mean, you feel weird. And I didn’t really like middle school at all.” Suzy recounts: "Middle school was horrific. She was really protective to not tell me things, but I knew there was more happening than what she’d say. She was a really good student but people were mean and she was a target. She was on medication that caused her to gain weight. You know, it’s the most vulnerable time of life and people took it out on her. It made themselves feel better...She had to survive. She developed an amazing ability to persevere through difficult times."
These trying times in middle school forced Ali to accept this condition as part of her life. She says, “it was kind of bad, like people judging you, and being rude, and being jerks...and I mean, you’re gonna live with this for like the rest of your life, so you kind of have to accept it and you have to learn how to deal with it.”
Something else that helped Ali deal with Tourette’s and accept herself was going to an allgirls Catholic high school. Ali’s parents made this decision together. “We couldn’t let her go to the public high school and crash and burn.” Ali shares how she reacted to their proposition, “My parents [were] like, “You need to go to this private high school,” and I [was] like, “I don’t wanna go!” and then I [was] like, ‘Why did I want to stay at a public high school with everybody who tortured me?’” So Ali was transferred to La Reina high school where she was loved and accepted by the students and faculty. Every year her class would go on a retreat and the girls would have an opportunity to share their life stories. Ali learned that each girl had something awful going on in her life like abuse, alcoholism, or death; even the beautiful and athletic girls had their own personal struggles. This authenticity created a strong bond between Ali and the other girls. Suzy remembers, “She was very beloved there in high school. I mean, they voted her prom queen because they loved her. She’s this kid who really struggled, and here she is the prom queen of her high school!” Certainly that wouldn’t have happened if she stayed at the public high school.
During these years, Ali also met Cameron. “We used to call each other ‘Tourette’s buddies,’ that was always our thing...We met [at a church activity] and made the connection that we both had Tourette's, which was really cool because there was nobody else that I knew that had it. It was cool to relate in that way.” Cameron and Ali especially liked to empathize with each other about the variety of medicine they consumed. Ali jokes, “I’m probably one of the people who keeps pharmacists employed with the amount of meds I take. Rawr. Rawr.” But Cameron quickly realized that Ali’s case of TS was much more severe than his. “One of the biggest tics that she had a lot worse than me was the constant eye rolling. You know, trying to look with the corners of her eyes, or shifting her eyes to the right. She would do that a lot and sometimes people wouldn’t understand. When she met new people and the eye rolling would start, they would be like, ‘What the heck?’” But Tourette's challenges Ali in more ways than one. “During her Junior year, she couldn’t get up because her tics were so bad.” Suzy recalls, “She literally could not function because she was so uncomfortable. We just told her to stay in bed so she slept for a week.” Repetitious muscle compressions can be extremely painful and exhausting, so the only option she has is to sleep. Ali explains that there are further complexities,“With Tourettes, you don’t just have Tourettes, you have OCD, ADHD, depression and anxiety, so like when I’m doing homework, it’s really hard to concentrate and focus. Like I attempted to do religion homework today for three hours and I didn’t get anything done.” In addition to homework taking longer, she also gets nervous about taking tests because she doesn’t want to disrupt other people. For this reason, She’ll take her tests in a separate room so she doesn’t have to worry that she’s bothering people.
Even though TS is inconvenient for her, she’s more concerned about others than herself she’s a true friend. Cameron discloses, “It was nice to talk to her and [I love] how positive and understanding she was. There were certain aspects of my life that I couldn’t even turn to my mom or dad to explain. But she would tell me, ‘You don’t even have to explain, I know exactly what you’re talking about, I’m there.’ ...That’s one big reason why I’m grateful for her.” Ali is someone you want around when you’re having a bad day because dealing with TS has blessed her with a compassionate character. Ali acknowledges, “I had learned empathy, and I learned sympathy and I learned like patience and I learned how to deal with difficult things.” Cameron believes that “Ali’s a classic example of ‘don’t judge a book by it’s cover,’” because her shifting eyes, random humming, and repetitious “rawr” tics don’t create the best first impression. Yet Ali is an example to many a natural leader.
“My mom would say I have learned to be resilient. And I think that’s probably, um, the greatest blessing that has come from this. I’ve learned to be resilient, and that...you can do it!” Suzy proudly exclaims, “She’s a hero. She’s an amazing kid. She gets things done...She’s learned that strength comes from adversity and that she is a stronger person because of the challenges she’s had.” Ali personifies this quote on her blog from Henry A. Kissinger, "Accept everything about yourself. I mean everything. You are you, and that is the beginning and the end. No apologies, no regrets." She truly does just that. Through social isolation in middle school and continued psychological challenges, Ali has become an inspiration. Elizabeth KublerRoss reflects, “The most beautiful people I’ve known are those who have known trials, have known struggles, have known loss, and have found their way out of the depths.” Tourette’s does not cripple Ali, rather she has used it to become an exquisitely beautiful individual. “People need to know that whether you suffer with anxiety or depression or OCD or ADHD or whatever, that you can be normal.” Better than normal, Ali Mahterian is remarkable.
why are YOU the way you are?
xoxo ollie pop
one of my mission companions wrote this paper on me for her english class. i want you to read it.
One Tic At a Time
“Rawr, hello. Testing one, two, three. Oh, you’re fine. Hello. Hello. Hello. We’re good. Hello. We’re good, right? Okay, we’re good.” I’d like to introduce you to Ali Mahterian a beautiful Armenian twentytwo year old college student from Agoura Hills, California. She’s a whiz at accounting, enjoys eating chips with salsa, and she has Tourette's. Tourette’s Syndrome [TS] is a neuropsychiatric disorder involving involuntary tics. Tics are physical movements and vocal sounds that are uncontrollable, like a muscle spasm. Ali explains it this way, “You know when you sneeze, how that’s just an involuntary thing you do? I have different involuntary things that I do that are different from anybody else.” As she says this, her eyes roll back, her head cocks to the right and her nose scrunches in an uncomfortable position. She’s sitting in the corner of the school’s cafeteria on a busy afternoon next to other college students who are cramming for midterms and loading up on carbs. It looks like she’s distracted by every stranger who walks past and every sound she hears, but when her almond eyes happen to stay still for a moment, they look sincerely engaged in the conversation. She has just come from taking an accounting test, so her hair is thrown up in a crown bun and she’s wearing her favorite pair of sanuks-- comfortable but always stylish.
Due to popular culture, when you hear the word “Tourette’s,” you probably visualize a person swearing uncontrollably. However, only about 10% of people with Tourette's have this symptomcalled Coprolalia. Unfortunately, Ali happens to be part of the 10%.The European Journal of Neurology states, “Swearing tics can be one of the most distressing and socially impairing symptoms of TS.” Ali’s mom, Suzy, laments, “She has it at various times, like in college she had it. She called me one day and told me that she had cussed and some guy said ‘Seriously? You’re at a church school.’ and she said, ‘You think I can help this?’ People are idiots.”
Dealing with this kind of reaction from others isn’t a new thing for Ali; symptoms started to surface during her fifth grade year. She began putting her hand up to her eyebrow repeatedly and flipping her hair back. Suzy said they were annoying mannerisms that caused her to ask Ali, “Could you just stop?” but she couldn’t. The doctors hesitated to diagnose her because, in Ali’s opinion, “sometimes when you put labels on things people get scared,” and according to The National Institute of Neurological Disorders, “TS is a diagnosis that doctors make after verifying that the patient has had both motor and vocal tics for at least one year.” When Ali was finally diagnosed in sixth grade, Suzy felt disappointed because she knew it would be difficult for her daughter. On the other hand, Ali didn’t know any different. “Like, I mean when you’re in fifth grade and you start having these movements you don’t know any different. Does that make sense? Like you think in your mind, ‘This is normal, this is what people in fifth grade are supposed to be having,’ but they’re not.” Fortunately, Ali’s parents had a very positive mindset about it. “You know your kids are gonna have challenges, you just don’t know how they’ll present themselves. You don’t know how to prepare yourself for it. It was like, ‘okay, so this is it.’ I’ve always been very matter of fact about it. The mantra in our house is, ‘Everyone has something, you just can’t always see it.’”
Everyone has something, but Ali’s something was very apparent. Bullying and social isolation became a problem in middle school. She remembers, “when you’re getting diagnosed with something that’s weird and people in middle school are idiots to begin with, and everybody’s super self conscious and ick, I mean, you feel weird. And I didn’t really like middle school at all.” Suzy recounts: "Middle school was horrific. She was really protective to not tell me things, but I knew there was more happening than what she’d say. She was a really good student but people were mean and she was a target. She was on medication that caused her to gain weight. You know, it’s the most vulnerable time of life and people took it out on her. It made themselves feel better...She had to survive. She developed an amazing ability to persevere through difficult times."
These trying times in middle school forced Ali to accept this condition as part of her life. She says, “it was kind of bad, like people judging you, and being rude, and being jerks...and I mean, you’re gonna live with this for like the rest of your life, so you kind of have to accept it and you have to learn how to deal with it.”
Something else that helped Ali deal with Tourette’s and accept herself was going to an allgirls Catholic high school. Ali’s parents made this decision together. “We couldn’t let her go to the public high school and crash and burn.” Ali shares how she reacted to their proposition, “My parents [were] like, “You need to go to this private high school,” and I [was] like, “I don’t wanna go!” and then I [was] like, ‘Why did I want to stay at a public high school with everybody who tortured me?’” So Ali was transferred to La Reina high school where she was loved and accepted by the students and faculty. Every year her class would go on a retreat and the girls would have an opportunity to share their life stories. Ali learned that each girl had something awful going on in her life like abuse, alcoholism, or death; even the beautiful and athletic girls had their own personal struggles. This authenticity created a strong bond between Ali and the other girls. Suzy remembers, “She was very beloved there in high school. I mean, they voted her prom queen because they loved her. She’s this kid who really struggled, and here she is the prom queen of her high school!” Certainly that wouldn’t have happened if she stayed at the public high school.
During these years, Ali also met Cameron. “We used to call each other ‘Tourette’s buddies,’ that was always our thing...We met [at a church activity] and made the connection that we both had Tourette's, which was really cool because there was nobody else that I knew that had it. It was cool to relate in that way.” Cameron and Ali especially liked to empathize with each other about the variety of medicine they consumed. Ali jokes, “I’m probably one of the people who keeps pharmacists employed with the amount of meds I take. Rawr. Rawr.” But Cameron quickly realized that Ali’s case of TS was much more severe than his. “One of the biggest tics that she had a lot worse than me was the constant eye rolling. You know, trying to look with the corners of her eyes, or shifting her eyes to the right. She would do that a lot and sometimes people wouldn’t understand. When she met new people and the eye rolling would start, they would be like, ‘What the heck?’” But Tourette's challenges Ali in more ways than one. “During her Junior year, she couldn’t get up because her tics were so bad.” Suzy recalls, “She literally could not function because she was so uncomfortable. We just told her to stay in bed so she slept for a week.” Repetitious muscle compressions can be extremely painful and exhausting, so the only option she has is to sleep. Ali explains that there are further complexities,“With Tourettes, you don’t just have Tourettes, you have OCD, ADHD, depression and anxiety, so like when I’m doing homework, it’s really hard to concentrate and focus. Like I attempted to do religion homework today for three hours and I didn’t get anything done.” In addition to homework taking longer, she also gets nervous about taking tests because she doesn’t want to disrupt other people. For this reason, She’ll take her tests in a separate room so she doesn’t have to worry that she’s bothering people.
Even though TS is inconvenient for her, she’s more concerned about others than herself she’s a true friend. Cameron discloses, “It was nice to talk to her and [I love] how positive and understanding she was. There were certain aspects of my life that I couldn’t even turn to my mom or dad to explain. But she would tell me, ‘You don’t even have to explain, I know exactly what you’re talking about, I’m there.’ ...That’s one big reason why I’m grateful for her.” Ali is someone you want around when you’re having a bad day because dealing with TS has blessed her with a compassionate character. Ali acknowledges, “I had learned empathy, and I learned sympathy and I learned like patience and I learned how to deal with difficult things.” Cameron believes that “Ali’s a classic example of ‘don’t judge a book by it’s cover,’” because her shifting eyes, random humming, and repetitious “rawr” tics don’t create the best first impression. Yet Ali is an example to many a natural leader.
“My mom would say I have learned to be resilient. And I think that’s probably, um, the greatest blessing that has come from this. I’ve learned to be resilient, and that...you can do it!” Suzy proudly exclaims, “She’s a hero. She’s an amazing kid. She gets things done...She’s learned that strength comes from adversity and that she is a stronger person because of the challenges she’s had.” Ali personifies this quote on her blog from Henry A. Kissinger, "Accept everything about yourself. I mean everything. You are you, and that is the beginning and the end. No apologies, no regrets." She truly does just that. Through social isolation in middle school and continued psychological challenges, Ali has become an inspiration. Elizabeth KublerRoss reflects, “The most beautiful people I’ve known are those who have known trials, have known struggles, have known loss, and have found their way out of the depths.” Tourette’s does not cripple Ali, rather she has used it to become an exquisitely beautiful individual. “People need to know that whether you suffer with anxiety or depression or OCD or ADHD or whatever, that you can be normal.” Better than normal, Ali Mahterian is remarkable.
why are YOU the way you are?
xoxo ollie pop
Tuesday, October 14, 2014
she's back. rawr.
alright guys-- i'm back. back in action. yay!
i've been contemplating for the past 2ish months on what this post should be about. considering i've been out of commission for 18 months, it's kind of a big deal. sort of like me.
recaps/updates:
[1] still at byu-i
[2] still awesome
[3] still studying accounting
[4] still awkward
[5] still hilarious
oh, and i don't swear. that's a big one.
i had a really tender experience today. it all started last week when i realized i had to study for my acctg333 class-- advanced spreadsheet application. it has a reputation for being pretty torturous. i can confirm that the reputation is true. we had our first test this week and i was freaking out. i'd done well on my homework and on monday i was continuing my study-capades. i put an hour on hold to go to FHE (family home evening) even though i was super stressed and didn't know if i had time to goof off with some peeps for that long. so worth it. i ended up staying up pretty late on monday night finishing the study-capade. tuesday morning rolls around and i wake up early with the intention of studying some more before class. didn't happen. i relaxed and read my scriptures. and i ended up being in the bathroom for 30 minutes due to stress/my morning sickness (don't worry-- i'm not pregnant. i just get super sick in the morning.) i was freaking out because i had woken up 3 hours before the class and hadn't gotten any study time in! but while in the bano i had this weird feeling come over me: "you're going to be fine. you've got this."
fast forward to the quiz. i did awful. horrible. probably the worst i've ever done on a quiz in my entire life. slightly freaking out, i re-worked every single homework problem. i set up camp in the lib and went to town, tackling 1-period, 2-period, and 3-period problems.
today was the day of the test. i woke up early to take my roommate to school. i drove a friend/mission companion to the store. i may or may not have woken a friend up and had him drive my roommate and i to class. but i felt calm. i went to the testing center and started my test. and two hours later the test was complete. and i got an 89%
i am convinced that everything in our lives happens the exact way it's supposed to happen. if i would have gotten a good grade on my quiz then i wouldn't have studied for the test. and in all honesty, i probably would have failed it. but since i bombed my quiz i was forced to study extra hard for my test. and as a result i did amazingly well.
guys- God is good. i cannot even begin to explain the feeling i have right now. i KNOW that God is looking out for us; even in the little things-- especially in the little things. does God really care about how well i do on my 333 test? yes. he cares about each and every one of us and that is what i've spent the last 18 months doing. i've been sharing this message of God's hope and love and awareness and desire to help us become the people we need to be! it's quite extraordinary.
whenever you're feeling lost and confused or something doesn't work out the way you had hoped/planned/dreamed, just think, "what does God need me to do as a result of this?" it will work out. i pinky promise you that God is 105% aware of you and loves you so much. so so so much.
God's timing > our timing.
okay. i'm out.
and i'm back,
rawr.
i've been contemplating for the past 2ish months on what this post should be about. considering i've been out of commission for 18 months, it's kind of a big deal. sort of like me.
recaps/updates:
[1] still at byu-i
[2] still awesome
[3] still studying accounting
[4] still awkward
[5] still hilarious
oh, and i don't swear. that's a big one.
i had a really tender experience today. it all started last week when i realized i had to study for my acctg333 class-- advanced spreadsheet application. it has a reputation for being pretty torturous. i can confirm that the reputation is true. we had our first test this week and i was freaking out. i'd done well on my homework and on monday i was continuing my study-capades. i put an hour on hold to go to FHE (family home evening) even though i was super stressed and didn't know if i had time to goof off with some peeps for that long. so worth it. i ended up staying up pretty late on monday night finishing the study-capade. tuesday morning rolls around and i wake up early with the intention of studying some more before class. didn't happen. i relaxed and read my scriptures. and i ended up being in the bathroom for 30 minutes due to stress/my morning sickness (don't worry-- i'm not pregnant. i just get super sick in the morning.) i was freaking out because i had woken up 3 hours before the class and hadn't gotten any study time in! but while in the bano i had this weird feeling come over me: "you're going to be fine. you've got this."
fast forward to the quiz. i did awful. horrible. probably the worst i've ever done on a quiz in my entire life. slightly freaking out, i re-worked every single homework problem. i set up camp in the lib and went to town, tackling 1-period, 2-period, and 3-period problems.
today was the day of the test. i woke up early to take my roommate to school. i drove a friend/mission companion to the store. i may or may not have woken a friend up and had him drive my roommate and i to class. but i felt calm. i went to the testing center and started my test. and two hours later the test was complete. and i got an 89%
i am convinced that everything in our lives happens the exact way it's supposed to happen. if i would have gotten a good grade on my quiz then i wouldn't have studied for the test. and in all honesty, i probably would have failed it. but since i bombed my quiz i was forced to study extra hard for my test. and as a result i did amazingly well.
guys- God is good. i cannot even begin to explain the feeling i have right now. i KNOW that God is looking out for us; even in the little things-- especially in the little things. does God really care about how well i do on my 333 test? yes. he cares about each and every one of us and that is what i've spent the last 18 months doing. i've been sharing this message of God's hope and love and awareness and desire to help us become the people we need to be! it's quite extraordinary.
whenever you're feeling lost and confused or something doesn't work out the way you had hoped/planned/dreamed, just think, "what does God need me to do as a result of this?" it will work out. i pinky promise you that God is 105% aware of you and loves you so much. so so so much.
God's timing > our timing.
okay. i'm out.
and i'm back,
rawr.
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
and that's a wrap.
it's 2013. and that's really freaking weird. but i had a spectacular last week of 2012-- and the last hours of 2012 were especially spectacular because i got to spend it with some of the coolest people alive.
first off-
we're going to take a little detour to showcase this perfect outfit. it's okay to ooh and aah.
what the last week of 2012 was like:
1. christmas
2. started working at the hospice again
3. dad's birthday
4. saw les mis
5. lots of movie watching with the boys
but how did i ring in the new year? funny you should ask, because i've got some pictures
first off-
we're going to take a little detour to showcase this perfect outfit. it's okay to ooh and aah.
what the last week of 2012 was like:
1. christmas
2. started working at the hospice again
3. dad's birthday
4. saw les mis
5. lots of movie watching with the boys
but how did i ring in the new year? funny you should ask, because i've got some pictures
you know, just looking attractive in the entry way.
classic ali pose.
coco is so sad that she couldn't be my new years kiss this year.
pre-party pics.
we're totes adorbs.
selfies.
and yeah, we slumbered in a 2 story bunk bed.
we went to a big party in san juan capistrano and had the best time ever. all 3 mah girls were there [christmas miracle/mission miracle] and it was such a fun night. we danced and drank sparkling cider and danced some more and erika showcased her new fur and it was probably the funnest party since prom.
so yeah, that's how i rang in the new year. and then right after the ball dropped and we drank some sparkling cider, we went to in n out. and THAT was the perfect start to 2013.
xoxo partied out ollie
the perfect year.
2012 was the perfect year. nothing major happened, like i'm not pregnant or engaged [or both]. but 2012 was just perfection. and here are some pictures to prove it.
this kid came home from his mission!
i got to spend a week in new york with my friend, christina
they're home!!! they're all home!!!
concert at the canyon club with the bests
finally got to see this BFFAEAEAE, after utah kidnapped her for a while
got to spend some time in north carolina before camp with steph
had the most perfect co-counselors for the most perfect week of the year
we all conquered our fear of heights by attempting [and completing] the high ropes course!
i got to see these 2 kids
visited this cool cat in montana
went to my first rodeo
roomed with this babe again
and got a new roommate who helped me survive the semester
got my mission call -- SLC here i come
visited sister for halloween and showed provo how the mah's party
celebrated my birthday with my favorite people [including this kid who came down from montana to help]
2013 can only get better.
xoxo happy ollie
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
i hope they call me on a mission
i got my mission call 2ish months ago. and i don't think a lot of you know the story behind it. so i thought i'd tell my most fav peeps.
i submitted my mission papers on august 30th. i got my call october 18th. that's a long time to wait for a little packet of information that tells you where you're going to be spending the next 18 months of your life.
the reason my call took so long? i'm on a bunch of medication for my tourettes. the missionary department categorizes meds in 3 classifications -- green [stable], blue [we'll watch out for you], and red [sorry, you can't go]. all of the red medications are anti-psychotics and usually people on anti-psychotics are on them for a reason. i'm on a red medicication for my TS, so i'm not psycho or anything. but since i was on this pill i needed to be cleared stable enough to serve a mission. so i waited. and waited. and waited. and in the middle of october, i think it was october 12, my stake president texted me and said "your call has been made". i freaked out and checked my mail box every day [including that saturday and sunday]. and it still wasn't there. and i checked monday and tuesday and wednesday. and nothing was there. so finally on thursday i was on campus taking a test and i found my 2 friends and they told me "it's going to be here today" so i brought them with me up to my apartment and we opened the mail box and boom -- there it was. spencer was the first to say "look! there it is!" and i thought he was playing a cruel joke on me. but there it was.
and i immediately called my mom. and of course she didn't answer. so i called my dad and i told him and i was freaking out. and i walked into my apartment and everyone screamed and told me to open it right then and there. but i couldnt because i had promised i'd wait for some people. and i was okay with that. and i totally thought it would be an easy wait. it wasn't.
the problem with looking in the mail box at 1:45 is that a lot of people wanted to be there when i opened my call. and i had a class at 3:15. long story short -- i told everyone i would open my call at 7. i went to class. longest 1.5 hours of my life. i came home and just started at that beautiful white envelope and thought "who decided it would be a good idea to wait until 7 to open this thing?" changed the time to 5:45. couldn't do homework. wandered around my apartment. tried to eat some food but failed because my stomach was in knots. and then the magic time arrived. and people started filtering in. and i got my sisters and mom and dad and annie on skype. and i opened my mission call with all of my favorite people in rexburg surrounding me.
that's my best friend kim in the grey shirt with the blonde hair. she was freaking out a little more than i was.
and i started shaking as soon as i opened the envelope. and when i read that i was called to the utah salt lake city mission, i was still shaking. i couldn't breathe. and i knew that was where i was supposed to be.
and then i had to sit down because i was so happy and shaky and it was a trip. and i had to document this perfect moment in my life because i don't want to forget it one day.
and i was talking to my friend a few days before my call came. he said his call took a long time to get to him too. and here is a little snippet of our convo:
A: sometimes things happen for reasons we may never know
M: yep and i guess it doesn't matter if we know or not.
it doesn't really matter why it took so long for my call to get here. my mom texted me a few days before my call arrived and said "the Lord is really testing our patience." our patience? lolz, suze.
and i'm going on a mission. i leave january 30th. and i am so beyond thrilled. i still smile when i look that these pictures. and i hope everyone can experience the joy i felt when i received my mission call. good things really do come to those who wait.
xoxo sister ollie
i submitted my mission papers on august 30th. i got my call october 18th. that's a long time to wait for a little packet of information that tells you where you're going to be spending the next 18 months of your life.
the reason my call took so long? i'm on a bunch of medication for my tourettes. the missionary department categorizes meds in 3 classifications -- green [stable], blue [we'll watch out for you], and red [sorry, you can't go]. all of the red medications are anti-psychotics and usually people on anti-psychotics are on them for a reason. i'm on a red medicication for my TS, so i'm not psycho or anything. but since i was on this pill i needed to be cleared stable enough to serve a mission. so i waited. and waited. and waited. and in the middle of october, i think it was october 12, my stake president texted me and said "your call has been made". i freaked out and checked my mail box every day [including that saturday and sunday]. and it still wasn't there. and i checked monday and tuesday and wednesday. and nothing was there. so finally on thursday i was on campus taking a test and i found my 2 friends and they told me "it's going to be here today" so i brought them with me up to my apartment and we opened the mail box and boom -- there it was. spencer was the first to say "look! there it is!" and i thought he was playing a cruel joke on me. but there it was.
the problem with looking in the mail box at 1:45 is that a lot of people wanted to be there when i opened my call. and i had a class at 3:15. long story short -- i told everyone i would open my call at 7. i went to class. longest 1.5 hours of my life. i came home and just started at that beautiful white envelope and thought "who decided it would be a good idea to wait until 7 to open this thing?" changed the time to 5:45. couldn't do homework. wandered around my apartment. tried to eat some food but failed because my stomach was in knots. and then the magic time arrived. and people started filtering in. and i got my sisters and mom and dad and annie on skype. and i opened my mission call with all of my favorite people in rexburg surrounding me.
and i started shaking as soon as i opened the envelope. and when i read that i was called to the utah salt lake city mission, i was still shaking. i couldn't breathe. and i knew that was where i was supposed to be.
and i was talking to my friend a few days before my call came. he said his call took a long time to get to him too. and here is a little snippet of our convo:
A: sometimes things happen for reasons we may never know
M: yep and i guess it doesn't matter if we know or not.
it doesn't really matter why it took so long for my call to get here. my mom texted me a few days before my call arrived and said "the Lord is really testing our patience." our patience? lolz, suze.
and i'm going on a mission. i leave january 30th. and i am so beyond thrilled. i still smile when i look that these pictures. and i hope everyone can experience the joy i felt when i received my mission call. good things really do come to those who wait.
xoxo sister ollie
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