im falling in love

again. with Jason Castro. From like Day 1 of American Idol two years ago I was in love with the awkward guy with dread locks. And so its a good thing that Ive got Taylor--my music guru--to fill me in on the latest happenings in the music biz. When I was informed that "my man" Castro was gonna be in SLC, i just couldnt pass it up--especially with tickets at 10 bucks. I downloaded his new songs and then my new and awesome roommate Aubrey and I hit the road to be serenaded. Little did I know that the venue, Kilby Court, not only was on the most sketch street ive ever been on but was also an intimate venue! I was about to get an up close and personal show! Before the concert started Aubrey and I noticed that outside the venue was two other small shacks, which we quickly determined to be "back stage." Next thing I know, Jason Castro is opening the door and walking literally 10 feet away from me. With all of this excitement I naturally began to jump up and down, hyperventilate and although I cant exactly recall, Im sure weird noises were emanating from me. Jason Castro came out second to play and of course I nudged my way up pretty close so that only like 3 people were standing in between Jason and I. He was so great! So adorable and funny and really good live. He sang probably about 7 songs, the ones off his new EP and two songs that he sang at American Idol. I obviously was super giddy during his whole show. But just wait. It gets better. After I saw him before the show I swore that I had to walk away from this concert with a picture with him. Sure enough after the show he went across the way to where they were selling his album and he waited inside there and took photos with everyone that wanted one and signed autographs. So happy! Seriously, best $10 Ive ever spent.

are you the new SAC lady??

Yes. Yes I am. I am a SAC lady. I get asked this frequently at my new school, much to my dismay but to the pleasure of my roommates once I told them this. Its not the most lovely term, but it is kinda endearing. Its nice that the students already recognize me and hopefully like me. As I pull into Oak Canyon Jr High in the morning and sit in the classes that I sub in, I cant help reflect back on my time at Wilson High and miss it oh so much. As i got a tour of the school the other ladies commented that "these faculty bathrooms arent as nice as the others" Oh you dont even know about the saloon doors that I endured at Wilson. I dont have students named Princess, Kamal, Tavon or Trayonna anymore, instead I have to put up with the freakin Utah names like Ryker, Kilee, Keanna and Tallen. Instead of hearing the F bomb drop like 10 times a day, I over hear conversations about ward activities, comparing house sizes, and spoting CTR rings. Before, during lunch my roommates and i would chat about the ridiculous things that happened in class or how we couldnt understand our students or the outlandish acts of ms oats-the old black PE coach. Now during my day I look at photos of my co-workers grandchildren and overhear them discuss the difficulties of reading restaurant menus without their glasses. Like wait, what? are you for reals? it is definitely a different environment, one in which i am totally not use to. not saying i dont like, so far I love my job and I am so grateful to be employed. But really, its weird. And i dont like all of these white people.

Back in P-Town

Well it officially had to end. I am no longer livin the DC life. As of two weeks "livin the life" has changed again for now the 4th time. I contemplated many different variates including "livin the adult life" and as my family suggested, "livin the unemployed life"--oh wait, that life changed as of yesterday! I interviewed and accepted a job as a Teacher's Assistant at Oak Canyon Jr High in Lindon and couldn't be more excited about it! Even though I wont be teaching I am just excited to be back in a school and working with students. I miss Wilson so much because I miss going to school everyday and working with my kids. So I cant wait to start working and purchasing an Oak Canyon sweatshirt is first on the agenda! Go eagles! So since I will be entering the workforce as of Monday and as of today my degree was FINALLY posted on BYUs website I think its fitting that my blog is "livin the college grad life" So far being a college grad is great! Being back in Provo has been a little bitter sweet. Its been great to have my friends to hang out with, have a car to drive around and be back in my comfort zone, but it sucks when I tell people that Im graduated and their response is: "why are you back in Provo?" I just dont know. But now that I have a job it will makes things a bit more legit. Ive been here now for two weeks, been able to hang out with pretty much all of my friends, eaten at J Dawgs, gone to Ogden and then peaced out of p town for a few days and went to Vegas.

Vegas highlights include:

walking the strip.

dancing out in front of the Bellagio water show.

conquering red rock.

eating the best steak ever at Bon Ami at the Paris hotel.

having my first energy drink and getting really wild.

making inappropriate comments whilst drinking said energy drink.

dancing like WOAH at Zowie Bowie.

watching an 80 year old drunk women attempt to dance at Zowie Bowie.

dancing on stage with Zowie Bowie and falling in love with him.

walking the strip again.

laughing and snapping photos all weekend long.

oh and its my birthday. happy birthday to me! my sister wrote a little tribute post to me, including many great photos of us....

2009 in review.

At church today pretty much everyone bearing their testimonies said that 2009 was a rough year for them. Which made me think, what did I do in 2009? and realized it was GREAT! here is a little recap.

January.

Started out my last semester of college classes at BYU! Had some kinda hard classes at BYU but had a terrible schedule! Went through some major and interesting issues with boys that I was not expecting to happen. In the beginning of the month I made the decision to apply to DC! I got my dream job of working as a TA for History 201, World Civ and loved it! And most importantly, celebrated my GOLDEN birthday!

February.

Went to Vegas with the Lanai Crew over Valentine's Weekend. Im sorry, no valentines date.

March.

The Lanailhilators dominated in BYU intramural soccer! I started my teaching practicum at a middle school. Went to Spring Training with the fam and LOVED escaping the cold, being in the presence of legit fans, watching the dodgers. and oh ya, getting my photo taken with Clayton Kershaw.

April.

Started the month out with snow. Yuck. Endured the last month of school. Went to at 1920's party with Trent Hope during Finals Week. Had my last day of college classes and barely studied for finals. I finished finals in like two days and partied the rest of the week. Went home for a week to attend my best friend Jennalyn's wedding. And ended college with getting the best grades I have ever gotten in school. yayy!

May.

Stayed in Provo and worked as a substitute in the Provo School District and loved it. Got paid to hang out with little kids and watch movies. Lost my two best friends to missions but gained a new best friend by having Allie Barker move in with me at Lanai! Allie and I apprehended a bike at Lanai, lots of bike rides to the park and library ensued. I loved my bike! Became an aunt again, and then nine days later became an aunt again. And loved meeting Kate right at the hospital and being a mom to the other kiddies for a few days. Went to like three concerts.

June.

Sometime this month I discovered that Desperate Housewives was played on Lifetime at 10 and 11 in the morning, and yes, I did jump out of bed every morning at 10 to watch and sadly some days missed the episode at 10. Started to count my pennies to attend the Stadium of Fire with the Jonas Brothers! Literally, counted all of my coins. Once I got free tickets from Taylor, I cashed in my coins for a season pass to 7 Peaks to work on my tan!

July.

Brought out my inner tween and saw the Jonas Brothers! and LOVED it. Had THE best time in Provo celebrating the 4th of July. We strolled Center St, partied at 7-11 and then had a dance party in the rain at like 3 in the morning at Lanai. Spent a week and half in CA for my best friends Whitney's wedding in Newport, then a few days at home. Then joined by the Lanai gang for the best weekend ever!! Dodger game, swimming at the pool and Coldplay!! Oh and continued to go the Peaks like everyday.

August.

Started out be leaving Lanai and Provo and crying the whole drive home to California. But it got better by going to the YSA conference my first weekend back. Spent my first week eating hot dogs at Dodger Stadium. Thats right, 4 games in 5 days. Three of which were dates with different boys. yayyy. Spent a weekend in SD with the fam. And then...off to DC!!

September.

Officially living in DC. Enjoyed the sites and touring before we had to worry about school. Got away without teaching for the whole first month of student teaching. haha. Went on lots of dates! Saw the Dodgers play the Nationals.

October.

Started teaching World History everyday at the beginning of the month. Loved my class but kinda hit a wall towards the end of the month. Went on even more dates, pretty much on a daily basis. Began to teach US History everyday at the end of the month. Mom and Dad came to visit me over Halloween weekend and loved showing them around the amazing city that I got to live in. Did not party for Halloween and was super bummed about it. Got over my teaching difficulties and began to love it again.

November.

Kurt came to visit and we had the BEST time! Such a great weekend. Had a great Thanksgiving break hanging out with Jessica and the Barkers even though my family didnt love me enough to fly me to Utah.

December.

Chanel began to teach with me in my classes. We had so much fun! Had lots of drama with my situation at school. Left DC and was terribly sad to leave everything about it--my roommates, apartment, ward, friends, the sites and especially my students. Came back home and hung out with Laura, Mia and Chase everyday. Christmas!! and of course, partied for New Years with an awesome party that Alyssa and I planned in a day.

Evidence that this was a great year!! I had so much fun and did A TON of amazing things!! This year seriously went by too fast. Last year I had a plan--i knew what was going to happen for me. This year, i have NO idea what is going to happen in my life. This is the first year in my entire life (not counting the first like 3 years of life) that I have not been in school. Weird. I dont know what kind of a job I am going to get or where I will be living. But nonetheless, I guess Im excited.

Sidenote--sorry this is kinda long, but it was kinda fun for me. and Taylor, Im sorry there are no bullet points.

im a hiker. wait, what?

This past week my Dad had a great idea for a family activity--going on a hike to the local Three Trees. I have lived in Granada Hills my whole life and had never done this hike until this summer when I went with the GH kids. Although I am not an outdoorsy person by any means, for some reason I have developed a "like" to hiking on well maintained paths and relatively easy terrains (think back to my biweekly hike of the Y over the summer). So with this, I was all down for hiking Three Trees with Mom and Pops. We went this past Tuesday, December 29. Freaking last week of December and I hiked in shorts and a t-shirt. Why am I leaving California to go to the snow? It was such a beautiful day in Southern California. There was even some beautiful Valley smog out in the air, which allowed for only the outline of downtown LA to be seen in the distance. Nevertheless I LOVE the view from the top of Three Trees. It was a great family hike, although Dad immediately left us in the dust and Mom complained the entire time.

This is my attempt at my picture of the day--although I have already failed as I am posting this days after the fact.

gaga oh la la....

Anyone that knows me, knows that i LOVE to dance. and what better music to dance to then Lady Gaga. A few months back Taylor texted me and asked me if I wanted to go to the Lady Gaga concert in San Diego in December, I immediately said yes. There was no way I was going to miss out on seeing Gaga in all of her craziness. My roommates especially know that i like the song "Bad Romance" OK. Lets be real. IM OBSESSED!! Jessica made fun of me because I pretty much played it every single day. No joke. Well this past Saturday I was able to finally see Taylor and go to the concert! Taylor and I were able to meet up in Anaheim. Our day started with a much needed catch up conversation and then made our way on a mini road trip to SD.

We made a stop at the San Diego Temple.

Since we got to San Diego pretty quickly we also toured around downtown for a bit. Taylor and I loved it! It was super fun to drive around downtown with no real destination (besides Petco Park of course!) and just explore.

Then it was back up to the arena to get in line for the concert. Now Taylor and I knew that the concert was going to be crazy cause Gaga is crazy. But i didn't really think about the fans--wow. Now they were CRAZY! The most interesting group I literally have ever seen. At one point I walked towards the front of the line--to see how long it was--and i was literally scared. ha.

After the long wait outside, sitting on the floor, getting pushed by crazy girls, GAGA finally came out. Accidentally called San Diego, San Jose but she was crazy and beautiful. Sang all of her big hits, including the new ones and danced like crazy. It was so much fun!! And for the encore she came out and sang Bad Romance. Needless to say, I went crazy. I was so excited!! It was a great show, I have a girl crush on lady gaga and continue to love her.

"Monster"

"Speechless"

"Paparazzi"

Thanks Taylor for a great trip--filled with great driving skills by you, good jams in the car, a great sleep over in Murrieta, and of course going deaf after the show and continuing to the next day. for a great review of the concert, check out Taylor's blog, in which shows that he really needs to be in the music industry!

here are some videos from the concert! not too shabby if i do say so myself.

imma let you finish but uhhh...

This weekend has been so bittersweet. Although I have been so sad to leave, its hard to be too sad because I have had the BEST weekend ever. So great to leave DC with a bang. All weekend long I have been so happy, all I could say to my roommates as we were going around town was how incredibly happy I have been. As I expressed in my last post, Friday was my last day at Wilson High. And although I was incredibly sad to leave my amazing students, it was hard to be too sad because Friday was just so great!!! I wasnt too sad to leave 1st Period, that class is full of a bunch of punk kids. But there were a few girls in there that I love and will miss. Now 2nd Period. This class I love them. I have been teaching them from pretty much the beginning. They are all such great kids and i cant even begin to express how much fun we have together. So I stayed up till about 1 the night before and made a ton of cookies for their class (none for 1st period suckers!). I did the usual in the class--reading "Today in History" which included "Dec 11, 2009- Ms. Robins' last day" Ha. they thought that was funny. Then i went on to read all of the horoscopes for that day. I usually only read one a day but since it was my last day, I read them all. And it was SO fun. Some of them applied so well to the kids that we were laughing so hard. Then we ate cookies and had a legit dance party in class. That was the only thing on the agenda for the day. I took photos with so many of my students. They are so great and so many of them all wanted their own picture with me, which made me so happy. We just laughed and danced and had a great time. My favorite moment of the day was towards the end. I called every ones attention to the front and just started to tell them how much I loved them and how I was going to miss them. I told them that they are all so great, to keep working hard and to go to college. At which point someone yelled out "group hug" and before I knew it my whole class mobbed me into a group hug. Its like we are a family in that class and I loved that there was no hesitation from any one of them to come and all of us be huddled together. As the bell was about to ring each one of them gave me a hug and told me they would miss me as they walked out the front door. One student, Dwight, even came back in after he left class cause he didn't get a chance to give me a hug. I also told them to add me on Facebook. Ive had about 10 friend requests. ha. So i was so sad, and i will miss them, but moments when we are all taking photos together and having fun, it was hard to be too sad.

First Period: U.S History

Second Period: World History. i love them!

Kamal. Seriously, my favorite student.

Friday night we went and saw the Christmas tree at the White House. WOW. I WAS SO HAPPY. Jessica was getting so mad at me cause I was literally running around on the streets of DC. It was just incredible to be right outside the White House looking at beautiful Christmas lights with the Washington Monument and Jefferson Memorial in sight. I dont want to leave this! Im pretty sure my roommates and I couldnt stop laugh the entire night either, which helped fuel my happiness. Good thing we were able to capture my death stare on camera. Which immediately put us in a complete uproar of laughter and a demand to make it my profile picture. Which it is.

Saturday was filled with other great moments that continued to make me so happy. We finally got breakfast at Eastern Market! Blueberry pancakes! Yum! And I was finally able to buy some good photos/ paintings of DC. I cant wait to hang them up in my apartment right next to my London photos. Next stop Ford's Theater and the Holiday Market. The best part of the day was singing and dancing alongside my favorite metro singers. These guys are always outside the Crystal City Metro stop singing A Capella and i LOVE them. Another thing that makes me so happy everyday as I come home from school. On Saturday we saw them at Metro Center and I couldnt pass up on the photo opp. And dont worry, we caught it on film too. Then the Air and Space Museum (or is it the Aaron Space Museum? Jessica's not sure.) This museum was great! Im glad we went. Chanel was so thrilled to explore the Wright Brothers exhibit. Next was a little photo opp by the Christmas tree at the Capitol. Seriously, how can you not be extremely happy looking at Christmas things right by the amazing sites of DC?? Then off to Georgetown one last time with Allie, Amber and Kim. We got Georgetown Cupcakes. So good!

The only way to sum up my weekend was that I was just so happy. Which is weird since I'm leaving, but Ive just loved every moment that I have been here.

I just need to give a little shout out to how great my roommates are and how much fun we have had together. I remind Jessica often of how much she is going to miss me, but in reality Im going to miss these girls a lot too. We laugh so hard together, are constantly mocking each other and love it when each other run into walls and doors. Chanel pointed out to me yesterday how they helped me discovery how quirky I am. Finding out the following about me:

1. Ive got a speech impediment. I end all my words with an A sound. Im sorryaaaa alright!?

2. I give "laser eyes" or the "death stare" which i do A LOT. but never been called out on before. my roommates love it.

3. i make so many weird noises!! whenever something crazy happens you can depend on me to give some EEKK noise or something. ive always done this, never been called out on it before! so freaking funny. and my roommates are gonna miss this.

alright, so here is a little insight into the dance party we had in class on friday. footage of me doing the jerk in class. "go ms robins"

this post could have gone on and on. but its been a great weekend. i have SO many more photos that i cant wait to share.

imma let you finish but uhhh....im a college grad.