Super Taster

Okay people. I'm learning about the body, and oh is it fascinating! Get ready to take notes people. This is some pretty cool stuff.

So your tongue... It is pretty much amazing! You know those bumps on your tongue? Those aren't taste buds... Sorry your whole life is a lie. They are papillae, which contain the taste buds. Then each taste bud has about 50 taste cells, and it gets more complex. There are 5 general categories of tastants, which cause the taste cells to recognize a change: sour, sweet, salty, bitter, and umami (savory).

Anyway, the amount of papillae on your tongue changes your sensitivity to tastants. In my class, we dyed our tongues blue to see the different papillae, and measured a small circle, about 1/4 inch wide. Then we counted the papillae within these circles. There are three main categories of "tasters": nontasters, regular tasters, and SUPER TASTERS.

 If you had between 5-15 papillae within the circle, you are considered a nontaster. Nontasters need lots of flavor to taste something, and usually dump salt or sugar on their food. Nontasters can handle super spicy foods, and find most foods bland. If you had between 15-35 papillae within the circle, you are considered to be a regular taster. You can handle most foods, and can sense most flavors without a problem. People with over 30 are considered to be fairly sensitive to tastants.

Then there are the super tasters. Super tasters have at least 35 papillae within the little 1/4 inch circle, and can taste things without excessive amounts of tastants. Super tasters had the biological advantage back in the dinosaur days, as they were sensitive to bitter plants that ended up being poisonous. Now super tasters are just considered to be picky eaters. Which leads to me. Guess how many papillae I had? 38! That was the class record. It was kind of awesome, people were super surprised that somebody could have twice as many as most of the class.

I'm sorry if you found this post boring, but I thought it was so cool to learn something that explained part of the way I live! I'm super picky, and super sensitive to spicy foods or super sugary foods. It is just so incredible to learn the little things that you didn't think had a logical reason! Anyway, I hope y'all have a great day, and maybe learned a little something about yourselves. Tudles! 

Rocky Road, Batman, and Coldplay

Well, it's one of those weeks where I'm not so great at finding joy in the journey. It's more of a listen-to-sad-music-and-eat-lots-of-ice-cream week, and it's only Tuesday. I've never been a super huge fan of ice cream, but apparently I am this week. I got my Breyer's Rocky Road, and let me tell you about it. Super good chocolate ice cream, marshmallow swirl, and chocolate covered almonds. Pretty much all one needs when life isn't going the way you want it to. Okay, maybe not all you need. But chocolate releases endorphins, and endorphins make you happy, and happy people don't kill their roommates. (Name that movie! Not that it is exactly the same...)
 
This is what it looks like, just in case you are having the same kind of week I am.

I think the best part of this week is that I'm starting my pajama pants for my Clothing Construction class... and holy cow. I got the coolest fabric ever. ON SALE!

Check it out.

I think it speaks for itself. I win!

And lastly, I've been listening to slow Coldplay songs on repeat. I can't tell if they make me sadder, or happier, but I love them either way. They haven't made a music video for their best song, so I'll just post a weird video posted by some stranger.

 This is Til Kingdom Come... It was in the new Spiderman movie, but I liked it way before that. Just in case you were wondering.

So that's my life this week. Rocky Road, Batman, and Coldplay.

Finding Joy in the Journey

I don't know about you guys, but when I was 12, I wanted to be 16, and have a car, and go on dates, and be cool. And when I was 16, I wanted to be 18, with no curfew, going to college, and being on my own. And now, at almost 20 (how did that happen?) I wish I was four, with a designated time for napping and tons of coloring books.

I have been thinking about this a lot. And I realized that with more freedoms, comes more responsibilities. It sounds like a no-brainer, but it is crazy how true it is! Most of the time, it feels like there are ten times more responsibilities than there are freedoms. It is often easy for me to pout and whine about life, and bum around with a negative attitude. But I remembered this quote this week:

And how true it is! So I began to think of the blessings I have, and focused on the great things I got to do as an adult.


For example, this week, I had an assignment to make a pillowcase. It was frustrating, and I definitely stabbed my fingers with pins a few times, but at the end, I loved it!

Pretty dang cute, if I do say so myself. (the trim is supposed to be purple blackberries, in case you were wondering.)

I am still sick, and thought that I should make soup, so I did.

What is this deliciousness, you might ask?

This is my aunt Barb's Tomato Bisque. And it is delicious. I had some dough for rolls that I had frozen last week, so I got those ready, and had a pretty great meal!

So as frustrating and overwhelming as adulthood can be, there are so many wonderful things that come with it, such as developing talents in sewing and cooking wonderful food, or acing my Epidemiology test today. Whoop whoop!

Big Girl Weekend

This weekend my roommate Holly, friend Chelsea, and cousin Nick and I drove down to Provo for the three day weekend to escape the miserable place called Rexburg, which has weather I wouldn't wish upon my worst enemy. And it was great! We got there and back safely with no problems. And I even wore a sweater outside and didn't die from exposure like I would here. Hallelujah!  The only misfortune we came across was the fact that we didn't document our adventure at all, which makes this a boring post. Wait, that's a lie. I took some of people dancing to Just Dance, but I swore to not post them. BOOOO.

I got to Provo on Friday night, and had dinner with Nick and my cousin Cameron. Yay for Pizza Pie Cafe's oreo pizza!!! And then I crashed on Allyson's couch. So good!

Saturday was... good. Allyson, Chelsea, and I met up with a friend for lunch, which was a little awkward. But the pizza was great! (It is called Slab Pizza, for any of you Provo-visiting people.) Then we went to the mall, and used one of my Gap gift cards from Christmas to get a shirt. I actually look like an adult! I think. But it was an exciting event. After the mall, Allyson and I went to the BYU basketball game! It was fun, but really weird because it was my first time going to a game since high school... So two years! Crazy stuff. Then we were lame college students and did homework. Woo.

Sunday was good, just a lot of time being with Allyson, Chelsea, Nick, and Cameron. We visited my aunt Sue, which ended up being a whole lot of eating chocolate chip cookies. Yum!! And the Wii Just Dance party of course, which let me tell you, is embarrassing and exhausting. But so much fun!

On Monday, we had Kneaders for breakfast, and just walked around the mall. And I finally washed my car! That was super exciting, because it was so dirty from Rexburg. We had In-n-Out for lunch, and then drove back to Rexburg. That was it! Three days of being with great people and just having fun. Now I'm in freezing Rexburg, lying in bed sick. I blame the people of Provo. Sorry this was so boring, I just didn't want to forget this great trip!

And the worst blogger of 2012 goes to...

Me.

I was pretty busy in Portland. I worked 40 hour weeks, and ran lots of errands and did other stuff that won't really excuse me from taking forever to blog. Oh well.

The sad part of it is that I'm blogging when I should be reading about the eye... It is just SOOO BORING! So many layers of mucous and other disgusting stuff. However, I did learn that the purpose of eyebrows is to stop sweat from dripping from your forehead into your eye. I guess you learn something everyday!

So, for those who I don't talk to pretty regularly, I am back in Rexburg studying my heart out... Kinda. Actually, I've been pretty good these two days about reading and homework. For those who care, this is what I'm taking this semester:

• Anatomy and Physiology 2 (MWF 7:45-8:45 am): that is really early. But the teacher is pretty cool, and seems to really like people. Sometimes I think teachers just don't like anyone, but he seems to care, which is nice to have for such a fast paced class. I've already studied at least five hours for this class this week... and it's Tuesday. 
• Clothing Construction (TTr 8:00-9:30 am): Also early. But it seems like it will be fairly easy... I hope. We will have to make a pillowcase, pajama pants, a shirt, and a skirt from patterns. So exciting. 
• Epidemiology (TTr 3:15-4:45 pm): I'm definitely excited for this one. It has to do with patterns and the way diseases attack you. The teacher is pretty funny, and works as an Epidemiologist for the govt. I learned that 100,000 people are killed from receiving the wrong treatment from doctors. Not from the disease that they had, but from being misdiagnosed. So I guess we should just get rid of all of the doctors to prevent bad things from happening. (That was my jab gun laws...)
• Family Foundations (F 9:00-10:00 am): This is a hybrid class, so it is mostly online with one class discussion a week... I haven't gone to it yet, but I have high hopes.
• World Foundations (Online): I'm actually pretty excited for this one, even though I HAVE to take it and it has nothing to do with what I am studying. It has to do with ancient Greek, Roman, and Egyptian cultures. And for those who didn't know this about me, I actually really enjoy studying Greek mythology. (Romans are just copy cats). 
• Understanding DNA (Online): This sounds okay. I don't really know what I think about it yet.

So that's my life. Studying the body, sewing, diseases, family, ancient cultures, and DNA. With a little Pinterest on the side.

Oh! And I made a New Year's Resolution of running... I won't say exactly what it is in case I miserably fail, but I did go running and cycling today. Needless to say, I'm exhausted.

Sorry for the rant, I just needed to catch up. Hopefully, I will be better this year. Maybe. 

Life in 97035....

So... I live in Oregon now. It's kinda cool, but nothing particularly exciting. I have been here for three weeks as of today, and these three weeks have been crazy!!!

Unpacking wasn't too hard, and getting used to the area wasn't all that hard either. The hardest part to adjusting here is the driving! The speed limit here is usually 35, and only 55 on the freeway! There are a gagillion lanes, tiny parking spots in ridiculously packed parking lots, waaaay too many cops, lots of freeways, and I can't even fill up my own gas! It makes me miss Idaho driving, where if you were going 55 mph on Highway 55, you were going too slow.

The shopping experience is... interesting. I love the Costco here, not that it is different from any other Costco. Look what I found in the produce section: Baby, organic, mixed baby me!!

Don't I look so cute??

But Baja Fresh is soo close! I pretty much eat there a lot. And since Brooke works at Jamba Juice, my Razzmatazz is becoming an addiction. Except I don't like Brooke making mine... she adds extra orange sherbet on mine because she wants me to get fat. Her words, not mine. Here she is, caught red-handed:

And there are shopping malls/outlets EVERYWHERE!!! Such a temptation. Here is me with my new "Administrative Assistant" shoes, and enjoying a free massage experience at Brookstone:

Speaking of work... I'm the Administrative Assistant for my uncle's company, A1 Installations NW. THe company has contracts with all of the Lowe's, Sears, and Home Depots in NW and central Oregon, as well as SW Washington to install all major appliances. That means that our installers are the ones that install you dishwasher, washer/dryer, shower door, microhoods, ovens/ranges, cooktops, sinks, faucets, toilets, etc. The list goes on forever. So my job is to help communicate with the suppliers, customers, and our installers, letting them know what our schedule looks like, and figuring out where products are. It's hectic. On average, we have at least 150 appointments for installations or details a week. So I call the customers, which can be CRAZY! You would be surprised how angry people will get over their dishwasher installations. I deal with the paperwork, and I usually talk to 20 different Lowe's stores multiple times a day talking about products, appointments, and angry people. It's just a lot of Excel work, paperwork, and phone calls. But I like working with family! Most of the time, that is.

I also hang out with my family a lot, and go to places where I grew up. I went on a little trip down memory lane the other day and found some stuff which made me miss my childhood:

This is my treehouse! My grandpa made this in his backyard. From scratch. I was 8 or so, and it took him all summer, but I sure loved this thing! He even put old rocking chairs and bean bags inside, with a bird feeder on the side, and there used to be a net underneath the rope swing, if you can see it. We could swing on the rope and fall down the net, or climb the net and crawl through the window to hang out in there. I have a pretty awesome grandpa, and was sad when they moved. The new owners haven't washed it, but when I asked to take pictures of it and told them my grandpa built it, they were amazed. I feel pretty lucky to part of the generation that playing outside was what kids were expected to do, instead of staying inside to watch tv or play the xbox.

And this ugly thing... Haha. In the 3rd grade, we were given clay squares, upon which we were to make a self portrait, or whatever you call it. Then they put them outside of the main office at the school. Only the students of that year made them. So it is still there, 12 years later. I think it was supposed to be of my along my grandparents' pool, and they always had leaves fall in... I don't know. But it was pretty cool to see it up there, like there was still a piece of my childhood forever cemented in a place I loved so much.

That's about it. I live at Maria's condo, where I am only there to sleep and change clothes, as I work 10-6, and usually just eat dinner at Barb's. I go window shopping with Ney and Brooke, hang out with Eric, and go to Isaac's soccer games. It's a simple life, but it's good!

Except this week is crazy. Barb and Curt are in Hawaii, so I've been here watching the kids. So stay tuned to see if I survive this week, that is if you weren't bored to death by this super long post.

I can tell that we are going to be friends...

Well, I hope you sang that in your head, because that is a great song.

Anyway, last night, I hung out with my bestest friend for the last time until Christmas. It was so fun! We went to go window shopping (the only thing we actually got was See's Candy. YUM!), looked at Pinterest for a fair amount of time, talked, and looked old pictures of ourselves.

Including this one!

This was the summer of 2009, when we had our first adventure together. We went on a road trip to Oregon for a rafting trip. It was so fun! This is us at Old Navy trying on huge clothes... We look so young! Since then, we have had many adventures, including a band/choir trip to California, a road trip touring schools senior year, GRADUATING!, and the fun day to day things. Like "running", making cookies, going to midnight premieres, and talking for hours on end.

I'm so grateful to have such a wonderful best friend, and I will miss her while she is at school!