The time I carved a pumpkin till the witching hour on all hallow's eve.

I hadn't carved a pumpkin in over 4 years, so I had to make sure that whatever I carved this year was LEGIT. I stuck to my roots and carved a Día de Los Muertos inspired pumpkin. It only took me like 3 hours to do. Thankfully, I had help from JoJo's brother Joeal with some of the carving. & yes I did stay up till 3am this morning (Sunday night?) finishing it off.

Totally worth it though...

Highway to Hale 5k.

i hate running.
It's because I hate running that I'm on a quest to love it.
I'm not there yet, not even close.
I'm still awaiting the day when I crave a good run;
When running 2mi is more of something I can't wait to add to my daily checklist
instead of something I can't wait to check off.
There's nothing appealing to me about gasping for air,
feeling mucus caught in the back of your throat,
and having lips that are cracked so badly it hurts.
acquired taste maybe?
Something I haven't quite learned to appreciate.

This is why I run races. To motivate me.
To make running fun.
I ran the Highway to Hale 5k today in support of the Hale Center Theater.
Cara & Chelsea (5k virgins) ran the race with me!
I ran the race last year & guess what? I beat my time by 3 minutes!
that simple joy right there kind of makes me have a crush on running.
just a little one though. :]

Next race: Oceanside Turkey Trot 8k (5mi)

Reason #2 why I love the hood: Name Pronunciation

I applied for graduation on Tuesday.
It sent me into a frenzy. a good kind of nostalgic but also adventure-seeking frenzy.
I'm officially getting my diploma June 2012, but walking across the stage April 2012
My counselor said she could still remember the first day I walked into her office.
Not surprising.
I'm sort of a meticulous planner.
I had a graduation plan set by the end of first semester at BYU.
*granted, I was supposed to graduate last April BUT felt like I was getting gyped of my collegiete experience & decided to add 3 minors to the mix.

As part of walking across the stage early, I had to fill out a fancy form.
On this fancy form, I had to write out my name as I would like it printed on my diploma & how I would like it pronounced.
Lauren Marie Flores.
simple enough right? thank goodness my parents didn't name me something like:

Rosario Xitlali Jimena DelaCruz Vasquez Flores

(why yes, I did just write down the first 6 Spanish names that popped into my head)

Imagine my surprise then when my counselor pulled out a hot-pink/magenta post-it and wrote down the following after she heard me say my name...

"Loren floor-ez"

Because apparently Utahns don't know that the correct way to pronounce my name is not "lAr-ren" and they haven't had enough contact with Mexicans to get Flores right.
.
.
.
figures.
oh the woes of being ethnic.

Murder at Manavu Estates.

We had our ward activity this Friday. Best ward activity ever!
Roommate Katie was in charge of the entire thing.
We all headed to Manavu Chapel Estates dressed in our best '20s swag.

We had six honorable guests present: Professor Plum, Mrs. Peacock, Colonel Mustard, Mrs. White, Ms. Scarlett, and Mr. Green.
Mr. Body was murdered and so we split into groups and tried to solve the murder.
We had to solve riddles to get "pass cards" and run all around the estate making accusations on who-done-it.

The ward really got into it.
Jesse & James dressed up as newsies.
Meredith set her hair in amazing pincurls.
& Tessa, Whitney, and Audrey helped me solve riddles.

In the end it was:
Mrs. Peacock, in the ballroom, with the candlestick.
of course.

why my room currently smells like smoke...

15. Bonfire in the canyon

...

caramel apples making.

on friday, I hosted a freshman year ward reunion. almost half of the boys are back from their missions so it was high time we start catching up. there's nothing that says fall quite like caramel apple making. we had all sorts of yummy toppings (oreo cookie was my favorite!). i really was surrounded by some of the best people freshman year and it's so nice to see some familiar faces back at school!

i promise i go to school and don't just host parties all the time.

just a thought.

"We cannot become what we need to be,
remaining what we are."
— Max Depree
"Be the change you want to see in the world."
—Mahatma Gandhi


My BYU planner had two quotes of the week instead of one.
inspired?

probably.
Also,
I bought an amazing pumpkin pie scented candle for my townhome during a shopping trip to Walmart this past weekend.
My nose is really happy right now, and my heart is warm.

a tailgate party.

I've moved to a new place every year since being here at BYU. With every move comes a new ward (church congregation). The ward I'm in had a really high turnover this year and the first couple of Sundays it seemed like no one was talking to each other. My roommates and I came up with the great idea of throwing a little fiesta. Because the homecoming game didn't start till 8:15 (!!!) we shifted our party from a dance party to more of a homecoming tailgate.

we kind of got really excited and ran with our theme: this involved a lot of Daily Universe collecting... We also kind of purchased 160 hot dogs (we're still trying to finish them) and tons of buns (luckily we got to return those). It really was such a great success and we really got to know a bunch more people from our ward. Yay for making new friends!

anyway, here are a few photos from our party...


we all came together and collected copies of football issues of the Daily Universe for a month to use as wallpaper. My lovely friend Briana also happens to be the football team's secretary so she was able to hook us up with some sweet posters. we were lucky enough to snag a few pom pom's from our team's first home football game to use as decor too. Katie & I made our green tablecloth into a football field after being inspired by this party picture on pinterest.

huzzah for fiestas!

Homecoming Spectacular.

Last week was crazy-madness for me.
I had three performances & one dress rehearsal,
leaving only Tues for me to get any real work done.

Performing in homecoming spectacular was such a fun experience;
it really did help me to get excited about football again.
We all danced a Samoan Sasa along with a dance using lapa lapas.
We saw some footage of our performance in rehearsal yesterday,
and can I just brag real quick and say
dddddddaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnngggggg
we lookin' good.

I was feeling a little lonely though because over half of the people in our Natives section went to perform for ambassadors in Washington, DC.
(they're that cool)

Highlight though was definitely getting to dance for President Uchtdorf!
I'm bummed I didn't actually get to meet him though. :[

pretty polys.

lone natives.

lovely latinas.

Chocolate night.

Remember how I put together a really cute invite for a RS chocolate party? It was so much fun & we had a better turn out than I expected. Everyone brought a favorite chocolate treat to sample (chocolate overdose). We played a little get-to-know-you-game involving M&Ms, a chocolate taste testing game, and made chocolate face masks.

sweetest RS activity ever.

Hey, it's homecoming!

I didn't have a football team in high school

so I'm making up for it here at BYU.
tailgate at mi casa!

Law Symposium.

I had my first performance as a Living Legend on Monday. We packed up our costumes, accessories, and props and made our way in awesome BYU vans to Thanksgiving point for BYU's Law & Religion symposium. We were able to meet so many wonderful people from all parts of the world.

Honestly, the one lesson I keep learning here at BYU is that we are all SO connected. It's truly amazing. I happened to sit and have dinner at the Symposium with a couple living in Guatemala who knew my Tia Maria and Tio David really well while Tio David was serving as a mission president there.

Probably the most surreal and trippy experience though was when I found out that two of the people in Living Legends (Carlos & Daniela) went to my high school. No one knows about my high school. People from back home don't know about my high school. It's a magnet school and I only got to go there because my mom works for LAUSD. I was always so sure that I was the only member of the church at my school! It's really strange for me to comprehend that Carlos (who's my partner for the Yupik dance we do) and I went to the same high school but only realized this because years down the line we just so happened to be in Living Legends together in the Native American section together.

Who do these things happen to? seriously?

Carlos '06 and Daniela '04,fellow Bravo Knights.