Watch this video of me clogging in my ward talent show! I said, "Whoa!" because most of you know that I am not a very good dancer. This was a dance that I learned for a test in my class a couple of weeks ago. I didn't do so hot on the test, but I can proudly say that this video is the best I've performed it, so I am happy about my progress. Clogging is hard at times, but overall it's fun and good exercise! I received a lot of compliments after the show and people thought I have been clogging for a lot longer than I have, so that's good, right? I tried to post the video directly on here, but it's giving me problems, so just go to this page:
http://gallery.me.com/shell_belle/100272
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Monday, March 9, 2009
Mid-Semester Madness!
This week I ordered my cap and gown for graduation!! I also had an ingenious idea! I decided that I want to start scrapbooking again! I haven't scrapbooked since my freshman year in college and so I decided to scrapbook college highlights and put my diploma at the end of it. I didn't realize how hard it would be to narrow down the pictures. There are so many good things that have happened each year. It has been a lot of fun looking through pictures and revisiting things that have happened, though.
Good news!! I am hired to work for APX Alarms! Because there are so many people getting hired, for now I will have to take only 20 hours a week, but I am on a waiting list for full-time. I was just told that I am the next person on the list should someone drop. I have been hired to do data entry for them. I probably won't stay there forever, but it is a good job for now. It's something at least!! I plan to start the week after I graduate and I have training on April 13th. I am also considering volunteering as a mentor at the residential treatment center which is right next door to APX.
Last Friday I went on a date to BYU's Hunger Banquet. It's purpose is to increase people's awareness of the poverty in the world and encourage people to help. The theme for the night was literacy, so they told us facts about education as well as telling us about what is going on. Basically, everyone buys a ticket for the same price, but they are randomly put into three classes, lower, middle, and upper--just as we are when we are born. When we came to the event, those with lower class tickets are seated on the floor that is covered with cardboard and newspaper. They are fed last and have to eat a bowl of rice, beans, and chips shared between five people. Sixty percent of those who bought tickets were placed in this class. This is the percentage of those in this class in the world. Middle class was 25 % of the guests and we (I was in this class) sat in chairs with no table and really close to one another. Middle class is living on the edge (anything bad happening could take them down to poverty) and they have only a little bit of education (we could read one sentence in a paragraph they gave us). We were fed second and we ate a slice of pizza and a hot dog (a really, really good one from a place called J-Dawgs). High class was fed first, a three course meal, including pulled pork, spaghetti, salad, mash potatoes, and ice cream. They were seated at tables and had servers. They were 15 % of the guests and educated. We, at BYU are a part of this 15 %. Before people were served, they asked those with stars on the back of their tickets to stand up and move over to the high class tables. These were all from lower class and they represented the few who manage to do something great to get themselves out of poverty. In addition to this, there were two people who went around named "greed" and "corruption" that did different things throughout the night, mostly showing off their food and stealing food. There were also two really funny people acting as tourists do in third world countries. It was interesting, funny, but kind of sad, too. As we were eating they had a bunch of performances and then a speaker who talked about a local program to help adults who are illiterate.
Last Wednesday I went with my ward to the Draper Temple open house. It was amazing! It was so beautiful! The last open house I went to I was a junior in high school, so this time it meant so much more to me. I felt the spirit greatly while I was there. Going to the open house made my desire to go to the temple to receive my own endowments (and be sealed for eternity) increase tenfold. I could feel the power that was there and sensed how that power and the blessings could effect my life. The rooms that impressed me the most were the Celestial room and the Sealing room. The first thing you do when you walk into the Celestial room is look up at the huge, beautiful chandelier that hangs in there. It causes you look up at the really high ceiling that is decorated really nice, too. If you don't look up, you miss so much. The room looks kind of plain, but if you follow the light of the chandelier and look up, you take in everything. It made me think about how it is important for us to "look to God and live" and to "look up" like it says in the scriptures. If you don't, you miss seeing the beauty and blessings that God has to give. The tour ended at the sealing room. This temple has the largest sealing room of all the temples in the church--it can seat 85 people. In a couple of weeks, I will have the opportunity to watch the temple dedication at my stake center. I am very excited to see another one.
One last thing. A group of friends and I have a new tradition of going tunnel singing every Sunday night in the tunnel by the Marriot Center. I hadn't done tunnel singing since I was in Nauvoo. I think it may be a freshman thing to do because it seems like it's mostly freshman that go, but it has been a lot of fun. Afterwards, everyone comes to my apartment for hot chocolate.
Here you can see the lower class on the floor, high class at the tables, and middle class in chairs.
Good news!! I am hired to work for APX Alarms! Because there are so many people getting hired, for now I will have to take only 20 hours a week, but I am on a waiting list for full-time. I was just told that I am the next person on the list should someone drop. I have been hired to do data entry for them. I probably won't stay there forever, but it is a good job for now. It's something at least!! I plan to start the week after I graduate and I have training on April 13th. I am also considering volunteering as a mentor at the residential treatment center which is right next door to APX.
Last Friday I went on a date to BYU's Hunger Banquet. It's purpose is to increase people's awareness of the poverty in the world and encourage people to help. The theme for the night was literacy, so they told us facts about education as well as telling us about what is going on. Basically, everyone buys a ticket for the same price, but they are randomly put into three classes, lower, middle, and upper--just as we are when we are born. When we came to the event, those with lower class tickets are seated on the floor that is covered with cardboard and newspaper. They are fed last and have to eat a bowl of rice, beans, and chips shared between five people. Sixty percent of those who bought tickets were placed in this class. This is the percentage of those in this class in the world. Middle class was 25 % of the guests and we (I was in this class) sat in chairs with no table and really close to one another. Middle class is living on the edge (anything bad happening could take them down to poverty) and they have only a little bit of education (we could read one sentence in a paragraph they gave us). We were fed second and we ate a slice of pizza and a hot dog (a really, really good one from a place called J-Dawgs). High class was fed first, a three course meal, including pulled pork, spaghetti, salad, mash potatoes, and ice cream. They were seated at tables and had servers. They were 15 % of the guests and educated. We, at BYU are a part of this 15 %. Before people were served, they asked those with stars on the back of their tickets to stand up and move over to the high class tables. These were all from lower class and they represented the few who manage to do something great to get themselves out of poverty. In addition to this, there were two people who went around named "greed" and "corruption" that did different things throughout the night, mostly showing off their food and stealing food. There were also two really funny people acting as tourists do in third world countries. It was interesting, funny, but kind of sad, too. As we were eating they had a bunch of performances and then a speaker who talked about a local program to help adults who are illiterate.
Last Wednesday I went with my ward to the Draper Temple open house. It was amazing! It was so beautiful! The last open house I went to I was a junior in high school, so this time it meant so much more to me. I felt the spirit greatly while I was there. Going to the open house made my desire to go to the temple to receive my own endowments (and be sealed for eternity) increase tenfold. I could feel the power that was there and sensed how that power and the blessings could effect my life. The rooms that impressed me the most were the Celestial room and the Sealing room. The first thing you do when you walk into the Celestial room is look up at the huge, beautiful chandelier that hangs in there. It causes you look up at the really high ceiling that is decorated really nice, too. If you don't look up, you miss so much. The room looks kind of plain, but if you follow the light of the chandelier and look up, you take in everything. It made me think about how it is important for us to "look to God and live" and to "look up" like it says in the scriptures. If you don't, you miss seeing the beauty and blessings that God has to give. The tour ended at the sealing room. This temple has the largest sealing room of all the temples in the church--it can seat 85 people. In a couple of weeks, I will have the opportunity to watch the temple dedication at my stake center. I am very excited to see another one.
One last thing. A group of friends and I have a new tradition of going tunnel singing every Sunday night in the tunnel by the Marriot Center. I hadn't done tunnel singing since I was in Nauvoo. I think it may be a freshman thing to do because it seems like it's mostly freshman that go, but it has been a lot of fun. Afterwards, everyone comes to my apartment for hot chocolate.
Draper Temple
Adam and I eating middle class pizza.
Jared, Stephanie, Lynnae, James, Me, Savannah, Janelle, and Jon.
Monday, February 16, 2009
SAD Day!
Valentine's Day around here is often called Single Awareness Day (SAD). I had the best Valentine's Day ever. For this Valentine's Day I decided that I would make myself up and look nice just because I could. Lynnae, Savannah and I were going to take "glamour" shots", but things happened (which I will explain next) that prevented it. So here is what happened. It truly has been a SAD day. Our plan was to go to Walmart to get groceries and stuff to celebrate V-Day. We got into the car and it wouldn't start, so we asked a friend to jump it for us. We did that and started on our way. Not even half way there, we hear a thumping noise and realize that we got a flat tire! So we pull over as fast as we could. Because of how bad the tire was and how the street was, we couldn't pull completely off the road. The battery was still weak, so we couldn't put our hazard lights on. We got out of the car and saw how bad it was--bad. We checked to see if we had a spare, and fortunately we did and it was a full-sized tire. Meanwhile cars are trying to avoid hitting us as they want to turn. A man pulled up besides us (with his wife) and asked if we could use some help and we told him yes. Thank goodness!! He changed the tire for us. Oh, an important detail I forgot to mention is that it was snowing and really cold. It snowed about four inches while we were there. Anyway, as he was changing the tire, I stood at the back of the car to try to direct the cars so they would not hit us. They came so close to me and car sometimes that it was really scary. We had a few others ask if we were okay, but we also had some others yell at us to move or turn on our hazard lights... impossible. After the tire was fixed and the man left, we were about to leave when Savannah said she couldn't find her keys. Even before this happened, I was laughing. I thought the whole thing was a bit funny and thought, "Bring it on!!" Savannah and Lynnae did pretty well to keep their cool, although Savannah did swear at a couple drivers who were really rude to us. We looked all over for the keys but couldn't find them. We each were saying silent prayers to find them. Keep in mind that every 2 minutes or so a large flow of traffic would come and have to slow down for us for seemingly no reason. Finally, Savannah called her brother, whose car it is, and asked him if he had a spare key, and fortunately he did. As we were waiting we had a lot of both positive and negative people talk to us. It was not so fun especially since we were freezing. I decided that I would go into the car because I was cold and knew that the keys had to be in there. I looked around and decided to look in Savannah's purse although both Lynnae and Savannah had looked in it. And I found the keys!!! Just before I found them, one of our other roommates drove by and stopped in front of us because she recognized us. When we got in the car, the other drivers were being horrible, but fortunately nothing happened and we were able to leave. This is not the end to the tale though. The spare tire was going flat, too, so we had to find a gas station. The first station we went to had a air pump, but it was out of order, so we had to drive further to another one. At first it wasn't working, but then one of the gas station workers came out and helped us. As we were driving to the gas station Savannah noticed that the emergency break wouldn't come off, so we were driving with that on, too. The engine light kept coming on and we could tell the the battery was still weak because other parts of the car that are electrically run were going really slow or not working. Scary! We decided that we would change our plans and go to Macey's instead. Lynnae and I went inside to get food while Savannah drove the car around for half and hour. It seemed to work and everything went well from then on. I was still tense from it all, but we got home safe. I was only tense after we left the side of the road because I was so sure that worst possible thing that could happen next is to hit another car or be hit by another car. Luckily that didn't happen.
A couple of weeks ago my roommates Savannah, Lynnae, and Monique made Valentine's Day predictions for everyone in the aparment. Mine were the following (neither of which came true): Michelle: Will get a job interview and effectively forget it's Valentine's Day until 9:17 p.m. She will then come out into the front room to discover that a secret admirer has left her a bouquet of lilies and white rosebuds.
Michelle: Will head to the Library for some dedicated studying around brunch-time. While there, she'll turn a corner and crash into somebody. Her books will fly everywhere, and her stranger will help her pick them up. In a romantic gesture never before seen in the Harold B. Lee, they'll reach for the same book and their hands will meet. Eyes will follow, and for the first time, Michelle will see the handsome, glowing young man with whom she collided. He'll introduce himself as a BYU grad student and grandson of a general authority – an apostle. They'll talk for a while, which will turn into a date. By the end of the night they'll know they are meant to be, and Michelle will have a ring on her finger before I go into the MTC.
However, one of the prediction made for Monique, who will be leaving for her mission to Nauvoo in a couple of weeks, came true (with the help of her roommates and some good humored guys). Here is what hers was:
Monique: Seventeen guys, whom she may or may not know, will propose marriage, presenting a real quandary. How can she possibly have gotten seventeen marriage proposals!?! O_O She's going on a mission for Pete's sake! How can she tell seventeen guys that no, she can't marry them?! She will politely refuse each one, then tell her brother about it, who will follow her around with a shotgun, just waiting for someone else to try it. No, make that an AK-47.
They managed to get 17 guys to do it!! It was really funny to see how the guys did it. Our close friends did it in person. We recorded two of them. James proposed to Monique by giving her a rose made of foil and had music playing in the background. She said yes and hugged him, thinking that he didn't expect that, which he didn't. But she didn't expect what came next, either. Loud music came on and Lafe, a really funny guy in the ward who is in my fhe group, came out of a closet with a stick to duel James over Monique. James was defeated and Lafe proposed to Monique with other music playing in the background. Later Jared proposed to her with two rings. He left us when we went back to the apartment, but later came back with a letter written to Monique professing his love and explaining to her why he had to leave her right then. It was so funny. Later we all listened in on a phone proposal. This guy was so long winded and wouldn't let Monique talk. He was saying so many funny things. The the phone disconnected right when he proposed! She called him back and said yes. Then he actually set a date for two years from now, since she is going on a mission in a couple of weeks. He is the only one who did that. To see the video, look at my photo gallery by clicking on the recent pictures link.
After that we went to the tumbling gym that I went to on my birthday (where I sumo wrestled for the first time) and then ended the fantastic day with a toast (non-alcoholic Sparkling Wild Berry) to being single on Valentine's Day. We also enjoyed some tasty strawberries dipped in chocolate. Once again, if you want to see more pictures, click on the link.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Michelle "Maverick" Kelly
For FHE we played a game where we wrote something about the person whose paper we had and added a part to a drawing of them. It was really fun. Here is mine. By the way, I've never played poker and don't plan ever plan to. I think it was just to be funny. Oh, and on the back my fortune was "Beware of Japanese waitress giving out Chinese Fortune cookies."
Sunday, January 25, 2009
So Far So Good
Two weeks into winter semester and things are going very well. For those of you who don't know, I am taking 14 credits: Moral Foundations of Family Life, Western Literature II, Clogging, Basketball, Choir, ASL, and Introduction to Teaching Seminary. I love all of my classes! My schedule and work load are the best I can remember ever having. It is really nice to be able to sit and read Harry Potter or another book and not have to worry about procrastinating homework. I don't know how long this will last, but I've enjoyed it so far.
A couple weeks ago we had a ward snow fest where we played capture the flag. My team's name was Big Birds Army (like Dumbledore's Army, but not). We had a lot of fun, but we lost. I am still the activities committee co-chair. Fortunately, this semester's activities will not be as stressful as last semester's activities.
As for the ward, there are lots of new people in the ward, which is really nice. There is a small group of us that go tunnel singing on Sunday nights after ward prayer, which I haven't done since I was in Nauvoo. I've been asked on two dates already this semester, so I am feeling good about that area of my life right now, too. There isn't much more to report than that.
A couple weeks ago we had a ward snow fest where we played capture the flag. My team's name was Big Birds Army (like Dumbledore's Army, but not). We had a lot of fun, but we lost. I am still the activities committee co-chair. Fortunately, this semester's activities will not be as stressful as last semester's activities.
As for the ward, there are lots of new people in the ward, which is really nice. There is a small group of us that go tunnel singing on Sunday nights after ward prayer, which I haven't done since I was in Nauvoo. I've been asked on two dates already this semester, so I am feeling good about that area of my life right now, too. There isn't much more to report than that.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Remember Lot's Wife
This was an amazing BYU Devotional given this past week. I felt like he was speaking directly to me. I am so grateful I could hear this talk. Listen to it, it's amazing!
http://speeches.byu.edu/?a
http://speeches.byu.edu/?a
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Pictures in the Park
The day after Christmas we took these pictures at a park nearby us. So you know, I am back in Provo starting my final semester at BYU! I am very excited, needless to say!
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