I really will study...

I have a Spanish exam tomorrow.

Tonight I just haven't really felt like studying. So instead I ate dinner, chatted with my mom, looked at funny things on the internet, facebook-stalked, texted old friends, made banana bread.

About the banana bread, I have this terrible (or wonderful) habit of not being able to follow recipes. Not because I don't know how, but because I always assume I can make it better. My last few loaves of banana bread haven't turned out very good. For example, the most recent one was too dry. I think it is because I substituted things too much. Like whole wheat flour instead of white, et cetera. It actually didn't turn out too bad because I ended up making a really tasty bread pudding out of it. So I guess that was a win.

Anyway, I really want some good banana bread so I told myself that I would follow a recipe EXACTLY. And then I started the recipe and realized it wanted me to use THREE bowls (ridiculous). Ain't nobody got time for that. And then I remembered that I had been wanting to try something new (browning butter before adding it to the recipe) and then I just took a giant leap from there. Let's hope this loaf turns out well. That is what I am trying to say.

In other news, my profile is up on the site for the conference where I will be giving a workshop. I'm really excited (despite some typos/spelling errors). I hope I do well and don't embarrass myself.

I should be more focused on my Spanish exam. I want to write in Spanish, but I'm not sure how to add the symbols so I don't know how much it would help me practice.

How do you focus when you don't want to? How late do you normally stay up? Lately if it gets past 10:00, I'm out for the count. I don't know why but I turn into a pumpkin so quick. I sleep until at least 6:30, so I should be getting enough rest. I don't know what is going on.

Thanks for reading!

Chanda C.

Starting my career! (LRC320)

Kind of, anyway.

This past couple of weeks I have been asked to do TWO workshops.

Those of you that know me know that my one true career dream is to be a motivational speaker. I tell everyone this even knowing that the likelihood of it happening is pretty slim.

However, I am THRILLED to be able to do at least a little part of what I want to do in the future.

One of the workshops I will be doing is a motivational workshop for the SALT Center (where I am a receptionist). One of the learning specialists there knows of my career aspirations and, when planning the workshop, thought of me. I can't wait to be able to talk to students and hopefully motivate them to see and fulfill their potential! I'm so excited and I've already started working on what I want to talk about.

The other workshop I will be doing is for the LDS Single Adult Conference. I will be teaching  a workshop (possibly 3 times) to single adults about how to support their adolescents through their divorce. I am excited to share a little bit of my experience (being an adolescent when my parents divorced) and hopefully help parents connect with their children.

I seriously can't wait. I'm incredibly intimidated by the thought that I will have to somehow fill up 45 minutes talking about what teens want from their parents. It'll be great experience and definitely something I can learn from.

What did you want from your parents when you were an adolescent? How did they support you?
Also, what motivates you to do your best?

In other news, I decided to experiment with my old cookie recipe (my family calls them "Chanda's Cookies" because I always used to make them) and I would like to say that it was a lovely success. I wanted to increase the amount of oatmeal in them, and I did! So that is exciting. Also, the ones I made just now are half chocolate and half butterscotch chips...sogood.

What are your favorite cookies?

Chanda C.

So I'm taking this class..

Called LRC320: Technology in the Classroom (or something like that, I know it has something to do with technology and education and using technologies in classes as a teacher). It is an online class, which I have discovered I kind of hate. But I also have learned a lot.

For this class I made a website. You can visit this website (if you feel like it) at u.arizona.edu/~chandalc.
It is a work in progress (I recently learned that I am terrible with technology).

It took me like 4 weeks and a lot of tears to get that picture on my site. And it is stretched weird so I look fatter than I really am. But I got so frustrated that I haven't changed it.

Last night, Taryn, Roland, and I went to the Tournament of Destruction. It is a real thing. A monster truck rally. Roland and I got to ride in a monster truck! And we saw demo derbies (we made a lot of jokes that demo stood for demonstration and that they didn't make much sense... It was funny, trust me), and monster truck races, and motorcross stunts, and a lot of rednecks. I felt like I was back in Lakeside. The most embarrassing part of the whole night was that the program for the event had at least 3 typos on it. I want to post an ad to businesses everywhere,
"Proofreader: $10/two page document. Don't make your business/event look like it was planned by rhesus monkeys. Have anything that the public will see read by me first."

Anyway, I had a great time. Check out my Facebook for some photos. Or my Twitter.

Also, I have a Tumblr. I repost funny things. I don't make the pictures so some of them have bad words. Sorry about that. But you can check it out. My cool, sometimes questionable tumblr!

Also of note this weekend, GENERAL CONFERENCE!! (That is when the Prophet speaks to the world in a broadcast. If interested, click here! Or here for general inquiries about my religion.) It was so wonderful to hear inspired and uplifting words. I really enjoyed conference and I look forward to getting to read the talks and study them in more depth.
I noticed, however, that all women in conference speak the same. That Utah accent is sometimes more than I can bear...

Have a good day!

Chanda C.

2012 has been a doozy of a year

I've been busy. Really busy. Just a little update:

1) I got another job. That makes three. But one is very sporadic, so it practically doesn't count. But when I feel like making people feel sorry for me then I can say I work for three different places.

2) I am over halfway done with my undergraduate career.

3) I am selling my car. Because I can't afford insurance and I don't like driving. And Roland drives me most places because he is so nice.

4) I went to Disneyland with my roommates Sarah and Beth. Beth's family also went but we didn't spend too much time with them. Not because we were being snobby, but because we just didn't. They were very nice.

5) Next semester I will be finished with my ACE minor (halelujah). I really love it. But also, it stresses me out.

6) I'm still debating whether or not to get a Spanish minor. It is four more classes, reasonable. But I am just so bad at Spanish....

7) I live in my new house. 8 bed/7bath. It is so lovely. Luna has a dog door, which she sometimes uses to go outside and bark all night and sometimes doesn't use to go outside and relieve herself. For some reason she has an affinity to bathroom rugs. She can't help but do unholy things to them when she is in the same room for even a minute.

8) I have an honors awards assembly thing this week.. I'll get my honors cords. Which I think are used to hang yourself with after graduation when you realize you still have no idea what you want to do with your life.

9) I still have no idea what I want to do with my life.

10) I started volunteering with a program called Mentors for Moms. Now I won't have a car, so I'm not sure what will happen.

11) I still really like riding the city bus. I see this one guy a lot, he always has a weed whacker. I don't know why. But those kinds of mysteries are what keep me an avid city-bus passenger!