Projects Projects Projects

Here are some recent projects that I am pretty proud of.


1. The cake I made for Belinda's wedding.




2. The cake I made for my aunt's birthday (it was delicious)





3. The quilt I made from some of my dad's old t-shirts




3a. And the quilt on the guest bed.

Roommates

There are roommates that eat your food, steal your boyfriend, even stop talking to you for months on end. And then there are roommates that do the dishes, empty the dishwasher, and take out the trash. After I had a roommate of the kind that completely stops talking to you "Because [She has] nothing to say to you" I swore off roommates. However, for the past 3 weeks or so, my sister Megan has been living with me. She is the best kind of roommate. We talk, laugh, do things together, and do things apart. She always buys milk, does the dishes, takes out the trash, checks the mail, and does all sorts of other nice things for me. Earlier this week she brought me the conference issue of the Ensign. She's amazing. I think I'll really miss her when she moves out. But maybe then I'll make another roommate exception for a certain boy that I kind of like a lot.

A little bit nerd

My sister Kristin is always reporting her nerd habits. Today while talking with her, I realized that I am a bit of a nerd too (truthfully, I did not JUST realize this, I've known it for a while). We were talking about how she has some cakes to make this weekend for various birthdays and other celebrations, and I actually feel jealous that she has reasons to make a cake and I don't. I love making them cakes!

Update of Everything

I guess it's about time to update my blog again. I was hoping to stay at the top of Kristin's list, but I am not very good at it. To get back into the spirit of things, I'll just give a brief update of my life:

1. Work: Even as I write this, my students are taking their final exam. This means I am almost finished with my SECOND school year as a professor at BYU. That hardly seems possible, I still feel so new. For the most part, I really enjoy my job. I feel stupid and unqualified 84% of the time, but it is still a good job. This summer I am going to Venezuela, Vancouver, and hopefully Boston for various conferences and work.

2. Church: I am still working in the Primary. I am the second counselor in the Primary Presidency and I love it. Primary makes church go by so much faster. Plus, I think the kids are so funny. One Sunday I was conducting so I was sitting in the front with the children that were going to give talks. They were being kind of rowdy so I said "Let's play a game. Let's see who can be the most reverent." One of the kids looked at me with disgust: "That's not a game!"

3. Family: My sister Megan is graduating this week. This means that all of the girls in the family have managed to graduate without getting married. This makes me proud (I'm sort of kidding about that). She is going to live with me for a month or so while she looks for a job. My Dad is still not doing well, and that is worrisome for all of us. He is a good example and tries to be positive. I hope that he can get better and back to 100% normal. He is the best father ever.

4. Social: I have met some very nice people here in Utah. It isn't my first choice of where to live and work, but there are nice people. I have a friend named Elizabeth Smart (but not THE Elizabeth Smart). She is one of my favorite people that I have ever met. She works in the library and I just think she is a great friend to have. I also have been dating this boy, Frank, since the beginning of November. Because of him, I've been able to cross several things off of my life list, including ride in a helicopter and have a boyfriend on valentine's day.

5. Physical: I just had one of the worst performances ever on a half marathon. I ran the SLC 1/2 this past Saturday. It took me just under 3 hours. I had not trained well at all. But I have some other things planned for the summer: 1/2 marathon in Colorado in July, 1/2 marathon in Provo in August, Sprint Tri in American Fork in May, Olympic Tri in Idaho in July. I am also training for a Marathon in Ireland in October and a marathon in Myrtle Beach next February. Hopefully I can be more proud of my performance in these upcoming events.

6. Family Again: I am in charge of the Neeley Family Reunion at the end of June. Since we are going to Aspen Grove, mostly this entails just organizing the t-shirts and other family events (recipe exchange, book exchange, etc.)

Those are the highlights.

There are only two things I hate...

...heights and jumping from them. Does anyone know what from movie that line is from*? I decided that I wholeheartedly agree with that line. One of the stupidest I ever did on my mission was give in the peer pressure of the Elders. My zone was all doing service together at an unfinished home. I can't remember what we were doing exactly, but I do remember that outside the door of the house there was a huge pile of gravel rocks. Some of the Elders were jumping from the roof of the house into the pile of rocks and they were trying to get the whole zone to participate. I think (sadly) that I caved before my companion and climbed to the roof (which in my defense actually was a fairly short one-story roof) and jumped off into the pile of rocks. The disastrous consequences were that I landed wrong and somehow gave myself whiplash. I could not move my head for the next three days and it was pretty painful.

This semester, I have been taking a swimming class. (A side kind of funny story is at the beginning of the year the teacher was calling roll and after he called my name, one of the other students said to me, "Neeley? Are you related to a statistics professor Neeley?" I responded, "I am a statistics professor." To which she replied, "Oh, I'm in your statistics class. You look different in your bathing suit." Awkward.) A few weeks ago our teacher "made" us jump of the 15 foot platform. I'm sure if I would have just plain refused, it would have been fine, but as we know from the previous story, I don't resist peer pressure well. So I took the leap, and it was again with painful results. It's not as easy as you might think to keep your body straight and so I hit the water at a rather painful angle. Furthermore, water rushed into my sinuses and my ears hurt very badly for the next several hours, so badly that I thought I might have broken my ear drums. I swear it took me 2 days to fully recover. The lesson that I've come away with is I do not like jumping from heights.

*The line is from the movie "The Muppet Christmas Carol" and it is said by Rizzo the Rat.

A Memorable Quote

"Signals are like nuts: mixed is better. Who wants all the same kind, right?"

-Olive Snook (from Pushing Daisies)

Moving Club

Not only am I in the "Trip of the Month Club," I am also in a club called "Let's move at least once a year!" I have been a member of this club since 2000, (earlier if you count my mission) though, I did not pay my membership dues in 2005. Here is a list of my participation, counting my mission (I just checked with the club president and he said it is okay to count my mission):

Jun 1998 - Aug 1998: MTC
Aug 1998: California for two weeks
Aug 1998 - Jan 1999: Babahoyo, Ecuador
Jan 1999 - Mar 1999: Portoviejo, Ecuador
Mar 1999 - Sep 1999: Ancon, Ecuador
Sep 1999 - Dec 1999: Manta, Ecuador
Jan 2000 - Apr 2000: Stadium Terrace
May 2000 - Aug 2000: Cleveland (I lived in two apartments this in these 3 months so I got bonus points here)
Aug 2000 - Apr 2001: Stadium Terrace
Apr 2001 - Aug 2001: Cleveland
Aug 2001 - Apr 2001: Foxwood House
Apr 2002 - April 2003: Condo on 3rd West
Apr 2003 - Aug 2003: The Sienna
Aug 2003 - May 2004: I can't remember the name of the apartment complex but I lived there with Jacqueline
May 2004 - May 2006: Park Lakes (I made it TWO whole years here!!)
May 2006 - May 2007: Archstone
May 2007 - Jun 2008: Condos on Holly Hall
Jun 2008 - Jul 2008: with Heather Jones
Jul 2008 - Jul 2009: By Provo Cemetery

Even though I missed 2005, there are 19 places on that list! 19 places in 10 1/2 years more than qualifies me for the club.

And now, like a faithful club member, I am moving again. I am moving this time up to the Riverwoods part of town in Provo. I'm excited about this move. Although my apartment will be smaller, it fixed everything I don't like about my current place including: no good place to run, only one full bathroom, cheap covered parking, no outside storage. Still moving is a pain, and this is certainly a club I hope to get out of very soon.