but seriously.

what are you supposed to do now that christmas is over?

i mean, this is something that we plan for and count down to practically all year. christmas candy starts to hit the shelves sometime after halloween and the music is all over the airwaves by thanksgiving. we are bombarded by the ringing of salvation army volunteers' bells every time we go grocery shopping in december and you can't go to the mall without seeing long lines of screaming children waiting to tell santa about how great they've been all year. and then there's all the hype and excitement directly leading up to it...the last minute christmas wish lists, the 12 days of christmas, the holiday vacation time and christmas specials on the hallmark channel that run 24/7 throughout the entire month.

then christmas happens.

and then it's over. no letting yourself down slowly and carefully...it's just gone. after all of the anticipation and excitement, you are left with the little bits of wrapping paper that you forgot to throw away and some leftover apricot-glazed ham (YUM, by the way, if you've never had it) and not much else.

it's all so abrupt. jarring, too. but it is what it is.

christmas was good this year. here's to an awesome next year too.

twas the day after christmas.

...now what?

"best" buy.

i went to best buy today. i've been there a few times so far over christmas break and can safely say i have bought at least 80% of my gifts there. it's a great place. and today...i found some things that knocked my socks off. let me show you. first of all...
^ they sell fridges at best buy? who knew?!
^ i love seeing things that are upwards of $80 in the impulse-buy aisle as you're getting ready to pay. like, oh yeah, maybe i needed that automated wine chiller but i just forgot. THANK GOODNESS ITS IN THE IMPULSE BUY SECTION. ka-ching.
^ speaking of ka-ching...since when is a bag of pretzels $3?
^ i saw a guy in line in front of me with everything i could have ever hoped for at christmas time. the wii fit plus. a jillian michaels workout dvd (omg love her). some wii fit accessories. and 24 AA BATTERIES YESSSSS. exactly what i wanted! (please tell santa) too bad i need a wii first. are those expensive?
^ ahaha. also saw the hsm 3-disc collectors edition. love it.
^ and lady gaga's new cd for just ten bucks. o. m. g.

well, i'm just about done christmas shopping and it feels good. time to give away all this stuff and hope everyone likes it. and if not...it's back to best buy for me ( :

voices.

i'm in ohio and i love it. i get to be at my news station every day and work with awesome people and do stories about salvation army guys playing the harmonica and people giving away houses and finding bodies in the bottom of frozen ponds. what's not to love about getting a job like this someday?

over the weekend i was watching one of my station's newscasts while i made dinner. that's the great thing about the news on tv: you don't really have to watch it and you can still just listen and take peeks every once in a while and know what's going on. it's funny, because as i listen, i can tell who worked on a particular story, even though i haven't seen any of them for about four months. i can tell just by listening to their voice and the way they write.

it's funny how that works. you get to be familiar with some people, whether it's in real life or through being a super-fan and watching all their movies (yes, robert downey jr, i am talking about you) and even if a long time has passed since you've seen / heard from / talked to them, you can still recognize it. there's something so comforting about that voice you're used to hearing. this is especially the case when it comes to names...someone saying, "anna," means something totally different if i hear it coming from my brother, or one of my very close friends, or a total stranger. it has it's own connotations and innuendos (innuendo (n): an indirect or subtle implication) that wouldn't mean the same any other way.

so...what's in a name?

i guess it just depends on who's saying it.

adventures from slc, or how impossible it is to be healthy at the airport.

i got to the airport a little early today and i was hungry for lunch. so i went on a hunt for something to eat. i wanted a bagel so i started my hunt for something yummy and healthy. starbucks was the first place i walked past, so i thought i'd check.
they didn't have bagels. also the people there were mean. boo starbucks. so i kept walking...found something promising: a place that sold yogurt...a "YOVANA."
too bad their yogurts are like $6 a pop...overall, no thanks. the trip continues. i am still thirsty.
^ aha! perfect.
^ free. healthy. and good for the environment. water...check!
...still hungry though.
^ ever notice how everyone is trying to exert minimal effort at airports? i realize that there's a long way to walk between terminals, but also you get to SIT ON YOUR BUTT AND DO NOTHING FOR LIKE HOURS ON END. i prefer to walk...thanks.
^ another health food store..."the grove."
^ apparently, their idea of "healthy" food is debatable...
but i found something good...the "lover's delight." ONLY $4.99 per half pound (yikes!)
^ dried fruits, nuts and other awesome-ness.
a bit expensive, but sooo good ( :
^ was tempted to get one of these yogurt things, but seriously? $5. i hate the airport monopoly and how they can charge whatever they want and there's nothing you can do about it.
^ sort of wanted california pizza kitchen...but not for $10. also probably not the healthiest thing to eat. still looking for a bagel!
^ burger king was a definite no...
^ ...even if they do have apples.
^ another way to be healthy in the airport? ride a bike!
^ the great american bagel company...FINALLY!
found my bagel place. and my yummy multi-grain bagel with cream cheese. time to find my plane.
^ thing i liked best about the slc airport? that the lights above the walking area are totally out. it's only lit above the moving walkways. coincidence??

slush.

i like when the weather outside is a direct reflection of me.

through most of last night and all day today: it's been slush.

it snowed on friday night, but ever since then, it hasn't really been cold enough to make more snow. but there's precipitation falling from the sky and it's making everything (especially in my neighborhood) into one giant puddle.

it's not pretty. it's not gentle. and it's not even very nice to look at. but it is what it is -- a halfway attempt at the sky trying to make (more) snow happen in utah during my last few days here.

and lately, that's kind of me. i have two finals to take this week (for spanish and pogp) and then some work to do on my new play (it's called, "they shoot horses, don't they." and it's fabulous). plus finishing my portfolio from "children of eden" (my giant lighting design from this semester) and writing a 20-page paper (OMG) and finalizing things for my internship next semester. and i am working on all of these things but everything feels like slush.

i keep telling myself that in a few short days, i will be back in ohio and i can go to work at my old station and everything will be awesome all over again. just gotta get through the next few days of craziness and get out there.

oh. and i made pancakes today. YUM. they were so good.

super-villians.

"an awkward pause, then what's my line?
there's nothing left to say this time
and what would you say to a bad guy who's not there?"

i have so much music. i love when i re-discover something, like this song -- "sell, sell, sell." ever since getting my new computer, i've been chipping away at the 21.6 days (insane, right?!) of music and listening to everything for the first time all over again. maybe i'm a total nerd, but i think it's fun. whenever i think i want to buy a new cd, i think about all the days worth of music i haven't re-un-earthed yet since august (when i bought my computer).

i'm still working on a name for my computer. my car's name is lex (like lex luthor). i'm still trying to think of a super-villian that i really like that i can name my computer after, but i'm coming up blank.

i named my car, "lex," to remind me that bad guys aren't always bad. i think this goes the same for people in general. are there mean people in the world? sure. but i don't think anyone's really trying to be awful. even evil dictators and crazy terrorists truly think they are doing what is right for themselves and for the world. in their heart of hearts, they are just trying to get by. no one wants to be the bad guy.

...at least that is what i like to think.

My super-villian results:
You are Mystique

Mystique 72%

Sometimes motherly, sometimes a beautiful companion, but most of the time a deceiving vixen.

Click here to take the Super Villain Personality Test

snow day.

remember when snow days used to happen?

...not so much in the college.

but luckily, having to go to school made me grateful for some things today. here they are.

1. the byu swim team. i have a class at seven a.m. and it's terrible waking up that early to go to a class every single day. depending on where i park, sometimes i will walk through the rb and see the swim team, already doing their laps and working hard. i love that they are always there before i even have to be at my super-early class. they give me hope on days like today when it is snowy and i haven't slept much and i just want to go back to bed.

2. the byu grounds crew. sometimes it looks like they are trying to shovel snow, but mostly they just hang out and don't do much. but it's the thought that counts, right?

3. snow plows in general. i think i saw two today...tops.

dear city of provo.
did you think winter wasn't coming this year and you could let all your workers quit to work at in-n-out instead? bad move. now all our roads are yucky and full of snow. okay thanks.
with love from anna.

4. the byu daily news. duh. i work there so it's awesome. our show today was a little rocky, but it was still pretty great. i will miss mondays here (except for how i will be here mondays next semester too, but for reporting instead). mostly i'll miss the fun people who i won't see so much anymore or who are graduating (sad day). but that's a part of all of this, i guess.

5. having people i work with who i also enjoy hanging out with outside of the newsroom.

6. my testimony. i know my pogp class isn't the best ever, and i probably won't get the best grade ever because of it. but i know its true and i'm not crazy and angry at god like so many of the people in our class (which is kind of really depressing, but that's a whole different story).

7. minimal levels of self-control. em and i are trying to eat healthier and i was offered so much candy / junk food / etc today during classes and otherwise and turned it all down. the things we do...

8. nice boys who help clean all the snow off your car ( :

9. coming home from school and having my fav roommate come home (she was gone all weekend). emily made us a yummy dinner and helped me clean our house and put up christmas things tonight. and by, "put up christmas things," i mean that we left a ton of it up from last year (slightly embarrassing, but way more time-efficient) and put the rest of it up today and it looks sweet.

10. the "christmas season," which reminds everyone of what they were supposed to have been doing all year long anyways -- being nice to other people.

pumpkin chocolate chip muffins.

^ i made a bunch today.

and how many did i eat?

zero ) :

...what's my secret, you ask?

i gave them away super-fast so i couldn't think about how awesome they probably were.

i am going to make SO MANY pumpkin chocolate chip muffins next month...

lunch.

it all started this weekend when emily and i decided to branch out and try new food. we bought this healthy cookbook and it has meals for every day. yesterday was not bad at all -- a turkey wrap with yummy things inside (lunch) and moroccan chicken with wild rice (dinner).

today: a salad with artichokes, tomatoes, olives, fennel (look it up...it exists), garlic, red onions and some crazy vinaigrette.

...and no lettuce. yeah...one of THOSE "salads."

but it's okay. it's making me drink more water and that's always a good thing. and even though i'm making a big deal about it, it's not so bad. fennel tastes kind of like black licorice so that's the main flavor of the "salad" and plus we're getting to try some new foods that we've never heard of before.

so buckle up...it's time for an adventure with food.

december.

apparently the year is almost over. who knew?

i would say that it seems like just yesterday i was ringing in the new year in downtown columbus with some good friends, but really...it seems like it was a terribly long time ago. and it was. funny how things can change so much in a year.

not even just a year. as evidenced by my life (and the ridiculousness throughout), i have seen different aspects of it take a turn for better or worse within a matter of weeks...days...hours...minutes, even. life is constantly changing all around and for the most part, there is nothing you can do about it. so you embrace it...you take pictures, write down stories and try to remember the things that made you happy for a time before you can't anymore.

i have a terrible memory. there are things i swore i would never forget...and yet, i have. not necessarily on purpose, but perhaps not accidentally either. there aren't many constants in this life, so you just have to cling to the things you have and be willing to let go of whatever you can live without.

sometimes i wonder how my life would have been different if i hadn't made some major decisions last year. i wouldn't be a broadcast journalism major. i wouldn't still be in provo. i would be living in total bliss (ignorance?) somewhere, doing something else and everything would be...not quite right. i'm definitely a lucky girl.

i wonder what the new year will bring. it's still a few weeks away, but i'm excited for the potential of new things to come. i don't have many set plans after april, so it will be interesting to see how everything pans out. it makes me nervous but also excited. i can do whatever i want. it sounds simultaneously awesome and scary.

but for now...two papers to finish for spanish. grumble, grumble.