Student Loans Forgiven??

So I was pretty proud of myself because I only managed to take out two student loans during my college career. I can thank my parents and uncle sam for that. When I got home from my mission who knew that all of the sudden when you turn 24, you no longer have to claim your parents on your FASFA forms and all of the sudden I would be considered in poverty level. Which is something I never understood in the first place. Why do you have to claim your parents on your FASFA form in the first place if they have no intentions on helping you with school. My parents always wanted us to pay for our education. I think they felt we would value it more if we paid for it ourselves. Which I think I totally do value it more. Well when I first came home from my mission . . . I didn't have a penny to my name. My mom insisted on having me go to BYU. They wound up paying for school while I was down there and to be honest that was a really hard pill to swallow because before my mission I was used to paying for everything myself. To this day I am eternally grateful that they did. Somehow I am going to make it up to them

Anyway once I turned 24 I no longer had to claim my parents on my FASFA forms and all of the sudden the most miraculous thing happened. Uncle Same considered me to be in poverty level and started giving me grants. Which was great, but it didn't always pay for everything. Needless to say I took out two school loans during my educational career. One was a loan done through the school and one was done through the state. Well the state one loan payments kicked in 6 mos after I graduated and the school one loan payments kicked in 9 mos after I graduated. It wasn't too bad. usually they were about $50 a month.

Well the other day I got a letter from the state loan offices. I didn't bother to open it right away because I just assumed that it was my bill that I get every month. Well today I finally opened this letter and I realized it wasn't my bill. It was a letter saying "We are pleased to inform you that the remaining balance of your student loan(s) listed in the table below has been forgiven as a way of thanking you for taking care of your loan obligation in a diligent manner. Within 2 to 3 weeks UHEAA will send you a document indicating the paid in full status of the loan(s)." Is this some sort of joke. I'm mean sure if you want to forgive them I'm fine with that, but seriously. What is the catch. I have paid around half of my loan back and that is just it . . . it is forgiven. I feel that is wierd in some way. But in the same sense . . . . great!! That is $50 I can use elsewhere

Tagged!

I've been tagged by my sister Kirstin, here's the tag:

My Pictures Folder

4th Folder

4th Picture

So here it is: It was my friend, Lisa's Birthday and we rented out a little duffy boat and cruised around Newport Harbor and had dinner on the boat. This is a picture of my friend Emily. Not very exciting I know. I'm tagging Cara, Jaclyn, & Mindy. Do if you would like. If not that is fine. It's fun to see old pictures.

You've Got Something Goofy Hangin Out Your Ear!!

Okay. So I have been thinking about this for a while and finally am deciding to write down my thoughts about this. I have always thought it was absolutely dorky and maybe a little ridiculous. It drove me nuts when I was working in retail because I would always think that people were talking to me when really they were talking to someone using their blue tooth headset. You don't always see it at first. In fact sometimes you may think that a person is talking to themselves. But earlier this year, California enforced a law saying that it was illegal to use a cell phone unless you were using a blue tooth headset or any other hands free device. Since then I have seen hoards of people walking around with their headsets in.

While this is fine and dandy . . . the point of ridiculousness sets in when you see people never taking it out. They could not be on the phone nor in the car at all and they still have it in their ears. At work it is getting to be all kinds of silliness. I see my co-workers walking around all day with their headsets in. It is like we have all become too lazy to pick up the phone and answer it . . . . or we are sooo attached to our cell phone that we feel we can't possibly live with out it. They are even making designer blue tooth headsets such as the the Armani one seen below.


But tonight I caught the all time point where I couldn't not say anything anymore. I was coming home from my friend Mindy's and I needed to make a quick stop in the grocery store to grab a gallon of milk. Mind you it is about 10:50 pm on a Wednesday night. I am at the back of the store where they store the milk and yogurt, and other such products and I see this guy, mind you he isn't some old fart, he is probably somewhere in his 20's . . . . and he is obviously taking his time because he actually has a grocery cart, which let's face it . . . . guys don't get unless they plan on buying a lot and don't want to carry it, or they are planning on taking some time. He is purusing the aisle when I look up and what do I see, the small little black device hanging out of his ear. WHO ON EARTH IS HE PLANNING ON GETTING A CALL FROM!!! Let's recap. It is 10:50pm on a Wednesday night and he isn't currently talking to anyone. This is seriously getting out of control. I mean I am attached to my cell phone just as much as the next guy, but I definitely do not need it littlerally glued to my head 24/7. If I miss a call, I'll call them back. Anyway that is all for my soap box for the night.

Short Little Fairy Tale

So one of my sister's friends had this up on her website and I thought it was funny and wanted to share.


Once upon a time, a guy asked a girl 'Will you marry me?' The girl said: 'NO!' And the girl lived happily ever after and went shopping, dancing, camping, drank martinis, always had a clean house, never had to cook, did whatever the hell she wanted, never argued, didn't get fat, traveled more, had many lovers, didn't save money, and had all the hot water to herself. She went to the theater, never watched sports, never wore friggin' lacy lingerie that went up her butt, had high self esteem, never cried or yelled, felt and looked fabulous in sweat pants and was pleasant all the time. The End

Dating

So I was talking to one of my mission companions yesterday, and I told her about my initial hesitation of creating a blog because I always felt that I should be married and have children and talk about all the funny stories about my kids, but the stories I have a single person is only about dating, work, and roommate dramas. She reminded me that sometimes those are the best stories to read about.

Being the ripe age that I am I have had my fair share of first dates, both good and bad. I went on another first date this last week and once again you go through the typical thoughts . . . Did he like me? Will he call again? Do I want to go out with him again? Did I do something incredibly stupid when I was with him? You know us girls . . . we tend to dissect it and over analyze it to death that you get to the point that you aren't really sure what to do any more. So the question is . . . . how do you just go with the flow and let things come as they come and not do the typical dissection and over analyzing of things.

I was talking to my mom today and her response was to keep myself busy with something else and let it go at the pace that he wants to set. Yeah right. Like I am going to be able to keep myself that busy that I can keep my mind from wandering and thinking about things.

The ironic thing is every time something comes a long I always think man this is a pain and it just complicates things. But then when they go a way after about a month you start wanting to go out on dates and have the attention. It is like you purposely give yourself amnesia of all the complications so you will continue to go out on first dates and then when you do start dating again not only does your amnesia go away you wind up having a crystal clear memory of all the previous relationships you have had and you start to worry about other stuff too. But at some point you have to get over yourself and just let things go. It is a vicious cycle but we all have to go through it. Otherwise where would we be as a population. =)

Gut Instinct

I haven't always been good about noticing or following my gut instinct. Sometimes I keep thinking that it will be okay even though my gut instinct is telling me that I shouldn't. Sometimes it winds up being okay, but other times it has come back to bite me in the butt. I hope this isn't one of those times where it comes back and bites me in the butt.

So today I feel I was painted into a corner by my roommates. Figuratively speaking, not literally. As you know I have been having a hard time finding a roommate to replace the one that left me high and dry. Well originally we had worked out an agreement where one roommate was going to move into the master bedroom at a discounted price because she couldn't afford the original amount and we were going to find someone to fill her room. Well today I find out that two girls really want to move in asap. One I am totally cool with. The other while she is a really cool girl . . . she has a really big flaw. She owns a dog. She promises that she nor the dog will be around much and that the dog is really clean because she is a dog groomer. Also it is supposedly the least allergenic dog that you can get. (one roommate is slightly allergic, but this same roommate is pushing for this girl to move in) so less dander and stuff. The dog is 11 years old and is really mellow. It is also blind. It is fully trained and it only barks like a few seconds when someone rings the doorbell. She promises that the dog won't go into the main rooms. While all these things are great, the fact is . . . she still owns a dog. Is someone getting something I'm not. Why are my roommates pushing for this since this was the reason one of my original roommates moved out about 9 mos ago.

While they told me that it was up to me . . . and she did say that if it wasn't working out feel free to kick her out. I still felt somewhat pressured and obligated to go along with this agreement. Hence the feeling that I was painted into a corner.

My gut instinct was telling me earlier today it wasn't a good idea, but being the pushover that I am. I gave in. Hence . . . I sure hope this isn't one of those times that it comes around and bites me in the butt.

Sean & Kirstin

Okay, so I have always told my sister, Kirstin, that sometimes when I see pictures of my nephew, Sean (my brother, Brett, & sista-in-law, Lydia's, little boy), that he looks a lot like her. While he does have a lot of his mom in him . . . I still think there is a lot of resemblance between the two of them. I wonder if they were twins in another lifetime. jk. You be the judge.

my sister, Kirstin, when she was younger

My nephew, Sean, playing in the sprinklers this summer.