Bye World!!!

In about 4 hours I'll be on a plane for Tokyo followed closely by a plane for CHINA. So, once again I'm off to the world of internet censorship, which includes blogger. When I get back I will already have been set apart as a missionary, so this is it folks! I'm so very excited (and a little nervous) for this opportunity. This summer has really made me think about if a mission is what I want to do with my life, and every time I've felt like there really is nothing better in this world that I could be doing. I'm so very humbled and thrilled at the same time that I've been given this opportunity to share the things that are most important and dear to me with whomever I have the chance to work with for the next 18 months. This really is going to be the adventure of a lifetime.

My Mom or my Aunt will be posting my weekly letters here to this blog for all you who want to read. I would love more than anything for you all to send me tons of letters (but if letters don't come then just send prayers my way, I'll take those too) however, I'm a little nervous about putting all of my contact information here for the whole world to see. So, if you want to write me my contact info is on my Facebook profile. If you aren't my friend on facebook and still want contact info on my leave a comment and either my Mom or my Aunt will try to get back to you in a semi timely manner.

I think that's all of the housecleaning. I hope that I'm able to get on here once or twice more before I am set apart because I'd like to do a few more posts on all the fun I've had since finishing school, but if not, just know, I had tons of fun.

I'm really not much for goodbye's, and anyways, this isn't really goodbye. I'll be back in 18 months, and you'll probably actually see more consistent postings while I'm gone...

BYE ALL!!!!

TEXAS

My first pre-mission, post-school trip was going down to Texas to surprise Amber for her wedding. She had asked me way back when she got engaged to come to her wedding and be a bridesmaid but it was too expensive and I'd already spent my airline miles on multiple other trips, namely going back home to Michigan and going to visit my Grandma Judy in Arizona. So, I told Amber it just wasn't going to happen. However, about three weeks before the wedding I heard back from Trent that since he can't use his miles for the next two years, I could put them to good use.

I decided after buying the ticket that it would be way more fun to not tell Amber that I was coming and just show up. Her family was absolutely awesome in helping me pull it all off. When I got to Texas her aunt picked me up and took me back to her house where Amber was waiting for Matt to come get her to run some more pre-wedding errands. When I walked in she got the world's most confused look on her face, and finally after a moment launched herself out of her chair at me. Totally worth it to come.

It was a absolutely beautiful wedding, and in typical fashion I made a point of bringing my camera and didn't take a single picture. Whoops. But here's one from her open house in Provo. Aren't we precious?



Lastly the reception was way fun, and our friend Lee, from last summer in Paris, came for the wedding with me. Although, since we both are probably the two best looking tall people around, naturally everyone thought we were married. *chortle*

Oh, and Houston made me incredibly grateful that Arizona has dry heat. Saturday was one of the hottest days of the year, and I thought I was going to die. It was so muggy and miserable. I've decided that when I get married I'm getting married in the dead of winter and Amber's gonna be a bridesmaid and she can wear a summer dress. Because being in an all black bridesmaid dress in tons of heat and humidity was pretty painful.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaand last but not least. I'M LEAVING FOR IDAHO TOMORROW MORNING!!! Next time I'm back in Utah I'll be Hermana Okeson!!! 30 days left!

De-Vadered!

Remember about 3 weeks ago when Tia and I decided to grace Megan's door with Vader... or at least a lipstick version of him. Well, three weeks later he was still gracing Megan's door, and many a nay-sayer claimed he would grace that door forever. Oh ye of little faith. That door is beautiful, and clean, and only after a hours work. Take that world. Comet is probably my new favorite thing ever. And now I feel perfectly fine vandalizing more doors since now I know how to clean them. *grin*

So Long, Farewell

I have 3 days left in Provo. Officially that is. I'll be back for a few days next week, but really after Thursday evening I'm officially homeless. Bizarre. I've been surprised with how much I feel like I am leaving a home. It's only in the last week or so that I've really realized that I've lived here in Provo for 3 years. I'm not sure how that happened.

So what is going to happen over the next 37 days? Well, I'd hate to spoil any surprises or the anticipation you all feel about reading my blog, so we'll just say that in 37 days I will divide my life between 4 states and 2 countries. Pretty impressive. This should be awesome. Nothing like being a traveling fiend before going on a mission and being stuck in a teensy geographic area for 18 months.

Other points of excitement. Currently in my mostly packed apartment the kitchen is in Tia's room and the living room is in the kitchen. In all sorts of brilliance that I am mostly not bitter about my apartment complex decided that kicking us out absurdly early wasn't enough, they were going to clean the carpets before we leave. Ridiculous. Isn't carpet cleaning why complexes feel justified making poor college students homeless for a whole entire week?! Yeesh.

Finally, exciting news, but not my own. The favorite missionary brother leaves for Manchester on Monday. I don't think that kid could get any more excited. Oh, and he informed us the other week that in Mandarin Elder translates back as one other thing. Jedi. Freaking awesome. My little brother gets to be Jedi Okeson. It's settled, he has the most awesome mission language any boy could get sent to. What 19 year old boy doesn't want to be called Jedi for 2 years?

Saying Goodbye

Things in life that make Nicole cry:

~beautifully written symphonies.*
~stubbing my toe for the bajillionth time.
~too many hours in the practice rooms.
~too few hours in the practice rooms.
~packing away all of my beautiful books for the next 2 years.

Seriously. I felt like I was packing away my best friends and they sat there looking all lonely and sad in that box. I'm not scared of many things for a mission, but saying goodbye to my family, my flute, and my books is really gonna be tough. I always knew I had a bit of an attachment to my books, but tonight I realized perhaps someday I ought to get it looked into... lol. I think when I get home from my mission I'm going to unpack those books, go become a hermit for a week and give each one of them the TLC they will be in desperate need of after 2 years.

Saying goodbye to Johnathan is really gonna be a party.





*Currently Mendelssohn and Sibelius are the winners, but just about any classical music leaves me in a puddle of melancholy right now since I'm heading into 18 months of hymns and EFY music... EFY, really? I firmly believe EFY is a good thing, but it has a place, and that place is with pubescent teens looking to fall madly in love during a summer camp and not with stressed missionaries. So, I'm listening to all the classical music I can. Last night I was in Wagner-land, and it was marvelous, mostly because it is my belief the Wagner is someone you appreciate when you know you will only get so much of him then you will have time to purge... because lets face it, Wagner is like a rip-tide, one toe in and next thing you know you're sucked in and no one will ever see you again...

Ps. I have 42 days left until I go into the MTC... Yikes!

Clever

Today I was putting the finishing touches on a paper for my religion class. In an effort to expedite the citation process I went to the ever favorite easybib.com to come up with citations. Most of them were easy until I got to the Proclamation on the Family. I decided to try using the auto-citer because I had no clue what to do.
Here's what easybib came up with for me:

Divine Design. "The Family: A Proclamation to the World." The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Web. 03 Aug. 2010. .

I particularly like the author spot. Sometimes these websites are more intelligent than we give them credit for.