Masquerade

Last night was the best night I've had since my Thai birthday dinner. Seriously. Want to know why? Of course you do! Last night I attended a MASQUERADE BALL!

My amazing mask!

Let me tell you why I was so freakin' excited about this ball. My family and I first went to Italy when I was seven or eight years old (I'm pretty sure I was seven, but I don't really remember...Chelsey and Heather would remeber). The last part of our trip was spent in Venice. Venice was definitely not my favorite part of Italy (my favorite part was definitely Il Burro in Tuscany), but the one thing that really caught my attention in Venice was the venetian mask.

Cassandra and her date, Sterling.

For those of you who know me really well know that I am a hopeless romantic and I love everything from the 1800s and early 1900s. I attribute this part of my personality to my two older sisters who love all things Jane Austen. I've been reading Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte, Lucy Montgomery, etc. since I was about ten, I have watched movies like Pride & Prejudice and Anne of Green Gables more times than I can count, and I love everything about the 1800s and the early 1900s. So a masquerade ball was perfect for me. I got to dress up in a beautiful fairytale dress, take vintage dance lessons, and--best of all--wear a real mask! I loved every second of it.

This was my date, Geoff.

Cassandra in her beautiful dress and mask.

Take my breath away

Apart from my birthday (which was fantabulous!), these past two weeks have been a pretty low point, for reasons I will not disclose here. Anyways, I went to see a friend in a play tonight (the play was really good, by the way). When I left my apartment at about 7:00, it was snowing REALLY hard. I was completely covered in snow by the time I get on campus, where the play was. I didn't leave the play until about 10:00, and I figured that the snow had stopped. Boy, was I wrong! It had snowed for the entire three hours I was inside, and it was STILL snowing when I left the theater.

As soon as I stepped outside of the theater, my breath was literally taken away. The campus was GORGEOUS! I'm being completely serious when I say that the sight of a completely snow-covered campus was absolutely incredible.

It sounds ridiculous, I know, but the snow made my heart light. It thrilled me that something so ordinary as stone buildings and dead trees could be transformed into a literal wonderland. The blanket of snow made the night peaceful, and I basically floated home.

19

It's birthday time! This year is proving out to be a really good one, yet again, and my birthday has been really fun too. It's been a whole birthday-tastic weekend. On Friday, I went home to play games with Heather and Danny, which was really fun, and I stayed over at the house for the night. Saturday was amazing, since we had a gourmet Thai dinner. Dad, Maddie, Hannah, and I cooked our little tails off last night, and created a fantastic seven (yes, I said SEVEN!) course meal. It was absolutely PERFECT! Thanks so much, Dad.

I got back to my apartment at about 12:30 a.m., only to discover that my amazing roommates had completely covered the apartment with streamers and balloons and had written "Happy Birthday, Ashley" all over the apartment. It was awesome. They were so cute about everything. My actual birth-DAY has been great too. We're going to make quiche tonight and then have Devil's Food cake with cream cheese frosting (my favorite!), and play games, and just have fun together. Tomorrow, we have a FULL schedule, and it will be epic.

I love being able to spend time with my family--cooking with my dad, having long talks with my mom, playing games with my sisters and brother-in-law (and wishing Chelsey and Aaron, who live so far away, were with us!), and spending time with all my friends. This weekend has been an amazing one, and I think I will always remember what a wonderful 19th birthday I've had.

Christmas toys bring great joy

Ok, first I wanted to say that I missed the first anniversary of the Blog--and I was to write a special annivesary post--and I'm very upset about that. Anyway, the past is the past, so we'll move forward.

How was everyone's Christmas? Mine was amazing, thanks for asking! One of the best parts of my Christmas was the fact that my sister, Chelsey, her husband, Aaron, and their three kids came up from Albequerque to be with us. That way, the entire family was together, and that always makes me VERY HAPPY. The second best part of the Christmas season was my BRAND NEW COMPUTER that I received on Christmas Day. It's beautiful, and fast, and I love it! My last computer was on the verge of committing suicide, so it really is a very good thing that I got a new one.

I'll have to tell you about the Christmas movies we saw: The Princess & the Frog and Sherlock Holmes. I love all things Disney, and this new movie from Disney lived up to their reputation. It was so much fun and Kiera and I really enjoyed going to see it with Heather and Danny (my second oldest sister and her husband). The story was awesome, the songs were fun, and it was very visually pleasing--just as all the Princess movies are. I'm going to have to say that Beauty & the Beast is still my favorite--as it always be--but The Princess & the Frog is definitely my second favorite of the Princess movies. Now, Sherlock Holmes was the complete opposite of The Princess & the Frog. It was definitely a hardcore action movie, and I absolutely loved it! Oh yes, I can love both cheesy Disney movies and hardcore action movies. I'm just a little strange that way. Anyway, Robert Downy Jr. and Jude Law make the perfect Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson team. Of course, Sherlock Holmes holds a special place in my heart, so I probably would have defended it no matter what. But it really was awesome, so I don't need to defend it, and I can't wait for the sequel, which will clearly feature Professor Moriarty.

I hope that everyone had fabulous Christmas, wherever you are, and I hope the New Year brings hopes and wishes and dreams that will be fulfilled.

Could this weekend get any better?

So...this weekend was simply amazing. Want to know why it was so amazing? Well, besides the amazing dinner we partook of on Thursday...WE WON THE GAME AGAINST UTAH! Nothing gets better than that, let me tell you.

I have always been an avid fan of Cougar football (even though I still have trouble following the rules, but I am getting better at it!), and every season I anxiously await this game. This game is very important. We don't wear red for at least a week prior to it. That would be unthinkable. So you can imagine how excited I was that this year's BYU/Utah game (my first ever at college) was a home game, and I had a ticket. Granted, my seat was at the very top of the stadium, but at least we had a good view of the entire field. Watching that game was so much fun--my friends and I were standing and screaming at the team the entire game; my thought hurt afterwards, and I sounded like I had been sick for weeks. Good times, good times.

My roommate was amazed at how deep the hatred runs between the two schools. She's from Alabama, so she didn't grow up with it like I did. I guess it is pretty shocking. Take Max Hall for example. Who would have thought that this nice senior would so vehemnetly bash Utah in post-game comments? ("I hate Utah. I hate everything about them. I hate their program, I hate their fans, I hate everything." --Max Hall) Of course, Max Hall did have some pretty rough experiences with Utah fans, which could explain his attitude toward them. Anywas, my point was that this rivalry isn't just some rivalry. It's The Rivalry. It's The Holy War, as my friend Levi Selway put it. It's the be all and end all of the Utah football season. And I got to be there for it. I think the look on my face says it all:

This picture was taken right after Andrew George made the winning touchdown, and just about every fan ran onto the field in celebration. The field around the 30 yeard line was pretty clear, so we decided to take pictures.

In the words of Cassandra Ball...

..."Happy Turkey Day!" (I know it was yesterday, but give me a break; I was helping with dinner) Yesterday was amazing, partly because of the DELICIOUS food that Dad cooked up. Let me just break down the menu: smoked turkey, cheesy mashed potatoes, rolls, artichoke dip, green beans, sweet potato casserole, a cheese roll, shrimp scampi, tri-tip steak, Waldorf salad, Caesar salad, and home-made cranberry sauce. And for dessert: strawberry pie, pumpkin pie, apple pie, pecan pie, and turtle cheesecake--all home-made, of course. Can you say YUM?!

While it was delicious, Thanksgiving wasn't just about the dinner, and I wanted to give my thanks. First off, I am incredibly grateful to my parents. I owe them basically everything. I'm grateful for their support (both emotional/spiritual and monetary, ha ha) in everything I do, especially in my schooling decisions. I am grateful for my sisters--I know that they're always there for me. I'm grateful for my amazing friends, especially Hannah and Maddie. You guys are practically my sisters, and I wouldn't be the same without you. And, most importantly, I'm grateful for my knowledge that the gospel is true. That knowledge changes my life every day, and I know it changes me for the better.

So that's my short list of what I'm most grateful for. What was on your mind this Thanksgiving? Let me know.

College

http://lorien.ncl.ac.uk/ming/Dept/Fun/jokes/college.htm
I'm sad to say that sometimes I feel like this is true.