MT SUC

This blogging thing.... time consuming... I should try to do it more often.

Today was a very frustrating day. I woke up early to get to class only to find out that I had been dropped from ALL of my classes due to "non-payment." What I came to find out was that Mt SAC decided to implement a new policy that means you have to pay for your classes within 72 hours... However, they failed to mention this to a large population of students. There was no Flashing red light or bold print that said "hey, by the way, you should probably pay for your classes so I don't kick your butt out of school..." yah, it SHOULD have said something like that... Instead, I received a very helpful email, to my student account (during summer holidays) that informed me I had been dropped due to non-payment. lovely.

So, I spent all day waiting around trying to get some classes and ended up with ONE class... Chinese. Fabulous. Good thing I need 4 to stay in the country. Way to go Mt SAC!

Anyway, that was a pain.

Australia Tonight!

I am certain that one of my least favourite things to do on the whole earth is pack a suitcase. I just hate it. I put it off forever, and then I ended throwing random things into a suitcase because I hate taking the time to figure out exactly what I will need for 16 days in advance! No one wants to do that... no way. I thought by now I should be an expert at packing, and maybe I am, I mean I d0n't usually show up with out everything I need, so I must be okay right? Anyway, I am packing because tonight I am leaving for a 16 day choir tour of Australia!! We are going to Sydney, Nelson Bay, Brisbane, and Port Macquarie. Beside the fact that it's winter over there, this trip is going to be amazing and I am ver much looking forward to it. We have a few activities planned other than our many performances at Australia's National Choral Festival. We are going Camel Riding on the beach, whale watching, and the Australian Zoo! If I see a blue whale, my life will seriously be complete...

Other than that life has been pretty normal. Cam has been in China for the last week or so, and now I leave, so total it will be about a month that we haven't seen each other. That is a long time, and I am not a fan. We will get back around the same time though, so that will be good.

As for the wedding plans, I have a dress officially, and am just finishing up the last odds and ends that need to be done in advance. Everything else can wait until I get back.

I'll have my laptop in Australia, so I'll keep you all posted on my adventures over there :)

Wedding Prep

I just had such a great day with my soon to be mother-in-law Beth. She is so great. She drove me all over to town to try on dresses and look at decorations and eat lunch and all that wedding jazz.
ANNNNNDDDD

I think I found "The Dress" It's amazing.

I am on summer holidays now officially, with only one and a half weeks left til Australia baby! This is wedding finalizing time. I want everything mostly decided by the time I leave, so I will be a busy bee this next week. If anyone has some suggestions on wedding anything, I am all ears ;)

Cameron left for China yesterday on business and won't be back until after I am in Australia, so we won't see each other for a whole month! I am not excited for that...

Reese and I cleaned our whole apartment, donated a bunch of stuff to DI, and went grocery shopping like real adults haha. We never have time for that. Now our closet actually fits most of our clothes. It's pretty sweet. That hasn't happened since we moved in haha.

cool blog

Go to 12foot3.com and go to the Taiwan section if you want to see where I'll be living in 6 months!

Exciting Adventure

I forgot to mention a crucial part of my marriage plan.

Cameron got a full ride scholarship to Jinwen University of Science and Technology in Taiwan! This means that we are moving to Taiwan in January and living there for two years! I am so excited it's ridiculous. I am going to teach English and pick up Mandarin, and maybe take some classes too. We will be living in Xindian for the first while, and then taking it from there. Cameron served his mission in Taiwan and speaks mandarin, so he knows some people and knows how to get around, thankfully. If he didn't I might be a little more nervous, but I am definitely way more thrilledd than nervous.

Too Long

It has been way too long since my last post! This is definitely because I have been so busy with living life, I have forgotten to write about it!

First things first, I am ENGAGED!!

I am getting married October 9th, 2010, to the wonderful Cameron Miller!

I still have to upload the pics form my camera, so those will be soon to follow.

This is the secret that I have been posting frustrated blogs about randomly. Cam and I have been semi-secretly engaged for maybe a month and a half now, but we couldn't tell anyone of course, until he asked my dad for permission, that was a must. Soooo we waited and waited until the third week of May rolled around and my dad came down to see my final concert. He took him out for lunch, and everything ran smoothly. We all went to Disneyland a couple days later and he fits in with my family just great.

Now, all I had to do was wait... and wait... and wait some more 'til Cameron "officially" asked me.

About a week later, the day before we were both making a trip to Canada to see my sister graduate high school, Cameron and I have a date planned. I am definitely expecting something to happen today so I made sure to dress cute and put on some makeup haha.
Cameron and I drive to downtown Fullerton for our date at Angelo and Vinci's, a fun little Italian restaurant. He makes me park really far away randomly and says we should go for a walk... ok?

So, we are wandering around, I have no idea where we are going, but I'm pretty sure there's some secrets going down. Anyway, he finally stops me on the corner somewhere near AnV's and we sit down on some steps to a building. He says he has something for me... he stands in front of me and gives me the little love schpeel, you know, and then gets down on one knee and proposes. Of course I said yes! (I let him off the hook way too easy, haha, all he had to do was ask me a question he already knew the answer to....)

We continued our walk to AnV's and when the waitress led us upstairs, a huge roar of "Congratulations!!!!" is yelled at me! There was about 40 of our friends and family there for a big engagement party! It was so fun! So we all just talked and ate and hung out. I got to show off my fabulous ring; it really is stunning, I love it.

We had a great little party, and then called all our family and friends to fill them in on the news...

Now it's planning time... so much to do.

Concert Weekend

I had my final concert at Mt SAC with the chamber singers on Saturday night! It was a little weird because usually this is the last time we all sing together, so it's an emotional experience or something, but we are going to Australia in a month, so Mr Rogers just treated like any other concert... which was a little weird. Anyway, it was cool. Cam and his mom came to watch and my dad and Beth and Kylee came down this weekend to see my concert and do the Disneyland thing. It was a great weekend, my family and Cam and Reese and I all went to Dland on Sunday and had a fun, exhausting day. A secret lunch date was had... I will just have to wait and see the results of that... I will post as soon as I can for that one.

Cam and I are flying up to Canada on Thursday and i am extremely excited for a little break! Karina is graduating, so I am going to see her for that. I can't believe she's graduating, that means I have been out of high school for tooo long! haha I am very proud of her, especially for getting into the CIA (Culinary Institute of America for all those who were confused...)! She is moving to NY in the spring and is off on a fabulous new adventure.
Oh, yesterday I went to my Psych class and my prof said even if I got a zero on the final, I would still get a 4.0 in the class, soooo guess who doesn't have to take her Psych final!? ME!! So nice! 9 days of class, 1 concert, 3 finals, and then I'm done at mt SAC!!!! finally.....

I think that is all for this weekend, all that I can disclose at least...

AHHHH!!!

I hate when timing doesn't work out. Sometimes I am just a brat and want things to go according to my timeline... is that so hard to ask?? Oh well.... I will just have to wait...

Dissections

This is a Dogfish Shark that I dissected in my Bio class! So awesome.
See, these are its babies :) Poor little babies...

Senioritis....

You know in high school in your last semester and you know it's nearing the end and you just kind find the will to get out of your house and actually go to class? Can you have senioritis in college? I'm beginning to think so.... It's my last semester here at the SAC and I honestly have to force myself to go to class... it's so hard!!! I'm a little burned out of this school and am ready to move on to the next part of life... the part that doesn't include so many weird junior college kids who don't even care about school or grades. It's seriously the weirdest thing... Yah, i'm feeling the end nearing and I just want it to be over right now!! bahhhh haha, I have 4 weeks left of class but everyone else is already out, or will be next week!! dang Mt SAC and your weird schedule! What college goes all the way until June 10th and doesn't even get a spring break?? It's seriously crazy. Anyway, I feel like I have taken every single class available at this school... okay that's not true, BUT I have managed to take about 130 units in a mere 3 years, and keep my GPA up there at a 3.8... needless to say, it's been a tiring experience and now that it's almost over it's seriously difficult to want to try anymore lol. BUT i don't want to waste all the hard work I've already done and screw it up in the last semester, sooooo I just have to suck it up and hold out trying for another 4 weeks.

I do like my classes this semester. My marine Biology Lab class is honestly the coolest class I've ever taken!! (this is good considering this is my major... haha) We've dissected a shark (mine had babies in it!!), a sea star, a mussel, a clam, a fish, gone to study tide pools, been on a boat in the ocean at dana point, done otter trawls, plankton tows, seen literally a thousand dolphins swimming alongside our boat, and just learned so much! It's the greatest class of life and I want to keep studying it forever!! The ocean is such a fascinating place, and we honestly know more about the surface of the moon than the bottom of the ocean.... so, that leaves a lot of room for me to discover all sorts of great things. Look out Ocean... haha

I'm at a pretty interesting point of life right now... a pretty big transition once again. I feel like it's graduating high school all over again, you know, so many choices and opportunities... I got accepted to the University of Victoria's Marine Bio Dept, so that's pretty sweet. I'm also going to Australia in July to headline a National Choral convention, I'm singing with people such as Harry Conick Jr, Diane Reeves, and Chick Corea at the September 2010 Monterey Jazz Festival, Singcopation just found out that we won the Downbeat Magazine award for Outstanding college performance which is a huge honour, and I happen to be dating an awesome guy right now. Soooooooooo I just feel like there's so many great things going on and so many possibilities unfolding. I am very grateful for everything I have and am still working on my plans for next year, so stay tuned....

New Home

I am now moved into my new very little home with Reese. We share a one bedroom apartment in Pomona now. Although it's small and I haven't had to share a room in years, I am actually enjoying it. I love that I am only 15 min away from school, and 15 min away from my boyfriend and just closer to all my friends. Not saying I don't miss the lovely Glendale, but this is great also.

I've started going to the gym! dun dun dun... and you know what? I actually like it! Dang, I've only been going for a couple weeks but I can already feel the progress. I run at least mile every time I go and it's getting easier and easier and I can run it faster every time. So, the gym = great, and I never thought I would say that.

What else.... haha my life is hilarious, and exciting, and full of secrets, and I'm happy all the time. Seriously, life could not get any better right now, I am very thankful.

My dad is coming down in 8 days, that is exciting news. He's coming with Beth and Kylee and doing the Disneyland thing and coming to see my final Chamber Singers Concert! Wow, I can't believe it's been 3 years already that I've been down here singing with them. It flew by! It's been one heck of journey but ultimately I have made some great friends and some great memories.

AHHHHHH!!! I hate secrets.

That is all...

Moving

Again.... I am moving into a new apartment. I can tell you one thing, I sure am sick of moving!! I haaaaate packing more than perhaps anything on earth, seriously, packing gives eating worms a run for its money... Anyway, I am moving (sniffle) out of my lovely apartment in beautiful Glendale, to a baby apartment in Pomona... The only consolation is that I get to move in with my great friend Reese Ho! So, that will definitely be an adventure haha.
I really wish I could just buy a house or afford my own apartment and just stay put without having to pack up and go somewhere else every 10-12 months. yuck, it's seriously no fun at all. Buuuut, I have seen loooots of Southern California, so that's a plus.
I'll post some pics of my new apartment next week once I'm semi settled in.

General Conference

This month for Easter I had the awesome experience of getting to go see general conference in the conference center in Salt Lake City. Cameron and I drove up on Friday, and stayed in South Jordan at his aunt and uncle's place. The weather was great, we had just a little bit of snow, but mostly sun. We were lucky enough to get tickets to the Saturday and Sunday morning sessions and the afternoon we watched in the tabernacle which was also great. It was such a cool experience to be in the same room as the prophet. As soon as he walked in the room I felt such an overwhelming feeling of the spirit and just such a testimony that this man is really a servant of God. It was so great. The speakers were amazing and I loved being there with so many friendly and smiling faces. It was such a happy place to be and everyone was so friendly, minus the guy dressed up as Satan.... I had a great time talking to the sister missionaries and talking to them about the work they do. I really want to be out there with them in the next few months, so it was cool to get a chance to talk to them about it. I also got to see some good old friends from Lethbridge as well as my cousin Tyanne who's living in Ogden going to Weber. Overall it was a fantastic way to spend a weekend and to celebrate the ressurrection of Jesus Christ on the Easter holiday.

Here's some pics of the trip:
Driving to Utah... 11 hours !!
Temple square :) so pretty.
The Conference Center and the Mormon Taberancle Choir.

Guitar

So my new project for the semester has been to learn to play the guitar. Thus far, this has been going really well and I have calluses on my fingers to prove it. I'm taking a class at school to learn the basics, and just the other day I learned a real live song. I was pretty proud of myself, so I decided to show Cam. Little did I know that the sneaky kid was videoing me on his iMac. What a dork. Anyway, this means I have a video of my first attempt at a song. It's a little rusty because I'd just barely learned it, but here you go:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTkkt6qQhEo

So, seeing as it has been a few months since I have blogged, I fail! Man, I have been a total slacker at this. These two semesters have been crazy busy, so I have completely forgotten to update it. I'll do some real posts and some pictures ASAP, but this is just a reminder that I'm still alive haha.

for my sister :)

This one, though a little late is for my sister. I figure it is acceptable because today is still the first day of my blog.
On January 7th, 2010, my little sister Karina Christine Roerick entered the realm of adulthood, if you can really call it being an adult, by turning 18! I am so excited for her! This year marks a year of tons of changes. She's about to graduate from high school and then head to the Culinary Institute of America in New York to become the world's best pastry chef. I couldn't be happier for her and look forward to all the fantastic baked goods she's going to make me :)
Anyway, this is pretty much just a shout out about how wonderful my sister is and how immensely talented and great she is, and how she is going to rock the world for sure.

Happy Birthday to my Best Friend :)

Here's some pics of us!
We are pretty ridiculous and I love it !!

new year, new semester...

I officially vote 2010 to be the best year yet. If not the best, then certainly one of the most influential as to where my life will take me for the next few years at least. As the new year starts I enter the last half of my final year here in sunny southern California. I am absolutely thrilled to be finished with this phase of life and on to a new one. Only one problem, what is this next phase?
So far I have narrowed it down to a few options: transfer and continue my degree, or go on a mission. Though this is still quite broad it is a far cry from the list of ten or so things that I originally was trying to decide between. So, this is my pared down list of options to choose from. I have currently applied as a marine biology major to the University of Hawai'i at Manoa, University of Victoria Canada, and USC. There's a couple more I can still apply to as back up. One of these schools could very well be where I am headed in Fall of this year. My top pick was of course hawai'i, but now I am considering how nice it would be to move back to Canada, especially for my wallet, since I would actually be able to get a job without a social security number, thank-you America. Also I would be much closer to my lovely family and friends, which would be fantastic. My other option being considered is to serve a mission, in which case I would just move back to Lethbridge, work my booty off for a few months to pay for it, and then head out in the end of October.
As of right now, I am 100% certain that I have no idea what I will actually end up doing! So, for now we will just see how life unfolds and enjoy the ride (while of course continuing to be a crazy busy student here in Cali).

Hey :)

So, I have to decided to join the world of the bloggers! I'm not entirely sure how to do all the fancy schmancy profile stuff yet, so if you have any hints or tips feel free to let me in on 'em.