Sallie Says.

Sometimes I am convinced that the world is out to get me; cue pity party and the tiniest violin.  It really baffles me why people do so much to make other's lives harder. Although this could entail many things and many people, the subject of this post is Sallie Mae. I am in school. I have been in school since 2010. I have never stopped being in school since I enrolled.  There is a school clearinghouse that is IN existence for the sole purpose to inform loan companies that you are in fact attending school. Without fail, every 6 weeks, Sallie Mae begins calling, not just me, but my mother.  They call at 8 am on Saturday and Sunday and call until 9pm at night. They are ruthless. I have called them and said, "Hey look, I am in school." These little boogers however do not care.  It is like they feed off of calling people at all hours of the day for no reason. Today I call them up and inform them, "Peeps, I am in school, I have been in school since 2010, please register it." "Well, were you in school on December 22?" "I am sorry, did you not understand my previous statement, I am in school, I have been in school since 2010, that includes December 22, 2011."  I then had to fill out an in-school deferment form, yet again, fax to my school, yet again, and have them fax to Sallie Mae. The lady threatened me to be turned over to collections! You do that lady, I double doggie dare you, I am NOT LATE, I HAVE NOT FORGOTTEN TO PAY YOU, I AM IN SCHOOL.

The end.

Wicked.

About a month ago my wonderful friend Kat had asked if I was interested in seeing the show, so we decided to take the hefty ticket plunge and see it. I have seen it a few times before and I absolutely love it, so there really wasn't much thought that went into my decision.  Last week, my beautiful friend Marissa, called me up to let me know our friend Kevin from high school was IN Wicked and asked if I wanted to go up on Wednesday (yesterday) and see the show and have dinner with them. Duh.

I got off work a little early so I could meet them over around 5:30. We all had dinner together and some little neighborhood grill, met Neil Labute, who is a pretty well to do play writer but somewhat of a weird individual, and headed back over for the show. After the show Kevin put us on a list, we felt important, and we got to go backstage, see all of the set, the extravagant costumes, and learn a little bit more about the play. They transport the ENTIRE stage in semi-trucks. Fun. I am excited to go back on Saturday and see Kevin work his magic on the stage yet again.

1:23

For the past three nights I have been waking up around 1:23 and I can't fall back asleep, it is incredibly annoying. I fall asleep at a reasonable time, am asleep for a few hours and then it is like this internal clock that goes off and tells me I NEED to be awake, I need to spend worthless time browsing the Facebook news feed and playing Words with Friends, because at that hour, there is nothing else to do! When I finally fall back asleep, my real alarm goes off and it is time for work and that my friends is the story of my life.

but...

Prior to falling asleep last night, I met with the Stake President and he gave me the green light on getting endowed on February 11. I was excited before but now that I have the official ok and my recommend, I am ecstatic. I went over to the bishop to give him my thumbs up and I told him I wanted to celebrate with pizza. The whole bishopric was in there as well as my friend Brian and they made a joke about me ordering a few extra for them. I was in the giving spirit so I went over to a local pizzeria and came back with two celebration pizzas!

Best friend flies in town in 16 days!

"Just a Small Scratch"

Saturday night was one of the most amazing weddings I have ever been too, it wasn't the location, or the food, or even the amazing cake, rather it was the love between Jon and Melinda that just couldn't be denied.  It was at the Marriott in Marina Del Rey- on top of the helicopter pad, totally awesome! (you can find the photos on my photography blog http://npriestphotography.blogspot.com/)

Anyway- while leaving the hotel at 3 am, I get my car back looking like this:

Upset because that obviously wasn't the way I turned my car IN to the valet, I wanted something taken care of and quick. I have never, EVER, in my entire life, experienced such rudeness and tackiness at a hotel.  Although Marriott claims they are a separate entity than the valet, that valet sets an image for their hotel.  The valet denied all claims, said my car was damaged when it came in and then in the claim description for wrote: Just a small scratch, told my brother to "eff off" when he asked to see the cameras, and had pure incompetence from the manager on duty. 

After calling the parking manager for 2 days, leaving 3 messages with no return, I decided to call the manager of Marriott to track down this guy Aidan who is supposed to be contacting me regarding my car.  Once he finally contacted me, he stated they did not do the damage, the camera shows that my car came in with the damage. Of course I asked for screen shots of the video (since I couldn't just get to Marina Del Rey that fast)  and the photos looked edited.  I replied asking to see the actual photos of me walking OUT of the car, to which he sent and there was nothing on my car but a reflection. 

and my favorite photo of the hour is my expression when I saw my car: 

I understand accidents happen, but own up! He then stated that he would go ahead and agree that my experience had been tacky, but they would not admit to the damage.  Well Mr. Aidan, I just sent all your photos and a 9 page letter to Corporate Marriott, take that and perhaps even your loss of a job you little stinker!

Eternal Families.

There is never really anything good to say when someone passes away- there is no words or condolence that is going to bring that person back so it is always rough trying to figure out what to say or do. As I sat in the funeral for my aunt I constantly thought about how grateful I am to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, that I KNOW where I am going and that I WILL see my family, that they all have the opportunity to come unto Christ, even after death. I also sat in excitement. I am pulling out my endowments in less than a month and I cannot wait to serve those that have passed on, those that haven't had the opportunity to receive the blessings of the fullness of the gospel. As everyone was being sad, I got this glimmer of happiness because I know what is in store for her, I know the blessings that she can be a part of and I am so incredibly grateful for this gospel that I know is pure truth.

Too Late.

Would have, could have, should have.

My aunt passed away on Saturday around 10:30pm and of course a state of shock set in, followed by doubt, and then sadness.  Memories run through your mind as you come to grasp that they are in fact gone. I decided to go through pictures throughout the years and put them together because I knew they would be desired for the funeral service or at least after.  In my mind I had loads of them but when I sat down to get pictures, I noticed there weren't really that many after all. I had only taken one picture of her at Christmas, ONE. It suddenly hit me how precious and valuable pictures really are and how excited I am to be involved in photography. People would stop and reconsider spending money on a photographer because it is not in their budget but once people aren't around to take pictures, all they do is wish they had taken more pictures. I am making it a point to take pictures at every family gathering- even if people don't want them taken, I want them, and I am selfish :)

Captain of your Ship; Master of your Destiny.

With it being the new year and of course new resolutions and goals, this quote really got me to think about things.

No one else can live your life.  You are the Captain of your ship; the Master of your destiny.  Before you set sail, be sure you know where you are heading. Plot your course accordingly, even if you can't see it, it is there just on the horizon.  Even when you have no energy for things, you have energy... you cannot not have it, you would be dead otherwise.  Perhaps you are already dead... dead to the old way of being you, and if this is so, say "goodbye" and dream a new dream, a new life.  For after all, no one else can dream your dream, or live your life.  It is in your hands... so go now, go grab it with a blind faith in yourself that all will be well.

A lot of the time people, myself included, think that someone or something can make their life better.  If I could just have this... things would be better.  As awesome as that would be to have everything fixed by something or someone, we need to fix ourselves and make our own changes or as soon as that something or someone is gone from our lives, we will be right back where we started with the same issues and the same problems. Makes me think of why Heavenly Father should be number one in our lives.  A lot of people may disagree and say, no, your spouse should be number one.  The thing is, people will fail you, there will be times when they don't meet our expectations, or hurt us more than imaged but our Heavenly Father is a constant in our lives and will always be there for us, he will never fail us. I guess what I am getting at, is make your own goals, have your own dreams, that doesn't mean they can't include other people, but don't depend on someone else to make your success or be your happiness.