Reading--It's an addiction.

I would like to state that I Katie McLelland had a problem. I am a readaholic.

It's true. But let's face it, I've had this problem for a while (though I swear it's gotten worse over the years). Take for example this week. I was on the second book of a trilogy at the beginning of the week and finished up the third one on Tuesday. I then, wanting another book, didn't have time (or maybe the will to drive down the mountain) to go to the library. So I decided to just pick of book from my slightly limited collection (I'm a poor college student so buying books is a rarity for me.) and reread something. What to pick though? Pride and Prejudice? No. I just reread that a couple of months ago for the who knows what number of times. Mistborn? No. If I started rereading that I know I'd get sucked in and be even more antisocial then I already am, and I wanted something a little more light hearted. So what do I choose...? Twilight. Yup. You heard me. Twilight. I've already read this book I think 2, maybe 3, times in the past year or so. Ridiculous. Seriously. But I thought in my head "It's an easy read--perfect for in between library stops". And I've read it a few times already so I shouldn't get sucked in. I finished it in a day. Again. Even with school, work, homework, and So You Think You Can Dance to deal with. Seriously folks. Ridiculous. But I love it, as ridiculously 'teeny' and cheesy as it may be, I still love it. Though it does make my current situation, of waiting for my boyfriend, not one bit easier. La sigh. But I supposed I brought it on myself.

So since I finished Twilight so quickly I was still out of a book until I could get to the Library. Now most of you might be thinking, well just go a day or two with out a book. Sadly, I can't do that, cause as I stated at the beginning of this pointless rant, I am a readaholic (or a bookaholic if you will). So I, again, go to my collection in my closet--nothing really jumps out to me. So I go to my brothers collection in his closet. And try to think of something I haven't read too recently, when I spy it. At first I quickly looked away, but my eyes are drawn back to a certain book. I shudder on the inside that I am even considering the idea, but it was too late. I could already tell my mind had made itself up before I even knew what was happening. The Wheel of Time. 11 books long and 3 more to come, not even finished and so convoluted that no one knows where it's going. And on top of all that, the Author is now dead, so the remaining books are being finished by a different (though to be honest, in my opinion better) author. Really? This was the book my subconscious wanted to read? These books that have already taken so much of my reading time (I've read book 1 through 9 around 3 times already--don't ask me why)? Now don't get me wrong, I do like this series (Minus book 10. Death to book 10), or else I wouldn't be reading it again. This was actually the series (apart from Lord of the Rings) that got me into my fantasy reading. But still, I think I'm crazy. Sigh. I keep telling myself that I'm just going to reread the first one, but I'm not sure how that really will go...

So I am here today, to admit to myself and to the blogging world, that I Katie Lynn McLelland, am a ridiculous person and a horribly addicted reader. But--I love every minute of insanity, so what'cha gonna do? ;)

Till next time. :)

So. Freaking. Delicious.

So lately in life I've be even more obsessed with the Food Network Channel then normal. And for some reason I've seen a lot of talk shows with Bobby Flay on them, and he is always making the most amazing looking burgers. That man can grill! So after seeing all these amazing burgers on TV, I decided that for this memorial day I wanted to have a good BBQ. So I started to confer with my brother in law Tom and we made up some plans.

So when memorial day came along and it was time to start the cooking this is what we did. First we of course got all the good stuff to put on the burger. Tomatoe, lettuce, bacon, guacamole, pepper jack cheese, etc... Mmmmm, burgers. Then Tom, with the help of Ryan and his awesome fryer, made homemade onion rings.

So freaking delicious. Seriously they were some of the best onion rings I've ever had, they were especially good on top of the burger. Mmmmm. Way to go Tom. :)

Then we also had the grilled fruit. I have done grilled pineapple before, but decided this time to also try peaches. And oh boy were they divine. So. Freaking. Delicious. We put a little lemon juice on them and then sprinkled some brown sugar on top and plopped them on the grill.

I think they turned out really well. :) And then to top off everything we had some roasted marshmallows and cookies for dessert. Perfect.

All in all it was a great day spent with the family! I have the best family in the world and I'm so lucky to have them in my life!

Anywho. Hopefully you all had a great break as well!

Until next time! :)

Dance Photo Shoot

So in a post awhile back I talked about my sister's upcoming dance concert in July and how I was going to be taking the pictures for her for the posters and such. Well we had the photo shoot! It was a blast to work with all the dancers, they are such a fun group and so full of life. It was also fun to take pictures of movement for a change. All in all I think we got some good shots (we better since I took over 700 pictures) and thought I'd share some of them with you.

I realize that if anyone actually DOES read this blog, they are probably my facebook friend, so you probably have already seen these since they are all on there (I have yet to get ALL of the pictures from Robin so they are the same ones). But just in case I have some blog stalker out there that I don't happen to be facebook friends with , here they are:












The poster my sister made.

That's all for now folks! Go outside and play, run, move, and dance in the sun, it's good for the soul! :)

Mahna, Mahna.

I have this song stuck in my head:



Gotta love the muppets. :)

On another note, I haven't blogged for awhile. What else is new, right? So I thought while I was here spreading muppet joy, I'd give a little update on my life for those who actually read this blog (which very well likely is no one).

Finals are over. Halle-frickin-lujah. I'm still waiting to hear about my grades, which is super bothersom. But I think they all went well, so hopefully I pass them all! Either way it's been super nice to have a few days off to relax and more importantly let my brain recuperate after it's over-use the past few weeks. Sad news though is that I start school again... tomorrow (yippee). Worse news is that I have a class at 7:30 in the morning, which means I have to leave my house around 6:30. Three days a week. Even worser (it's a word I swear, says the math major) is half the class is taught by my lovely ODE teacher, Jun 'Michael' Ling. And when I say lovely, I mean spastic, horrible and hard to understand. Fabulous. But one up is that the other half of the class is taught by my favorite teacher that I've had so far in my college experience, so hopefully that will make up for it. I'm also going to be taking another class at 5:30. It's the latest class I've ever taken and I'm already not looking forward to it. It's called 'Statistics for Behavioral Science' it's a psychology class, and the only reason I'm taking it is cause it's an upper division course and I need some more upper division credits. I'm not really worried about it. In fact I'm hoping that attendance isn't part of the grade cause I have a feeling that this will be one of those classes that's pointless to actually show up for the lecture. Especially since I've gotten really good at learning from a book (thanks for something Dr. Ling). So we'll see how that goes.

In other news, I'm looking for a job. Again with the yippee. With my weird schedule with school driving back and forth from Orem to Midvale and the fact that I can only get around 20 hours a week at my current job, is just not gonna work out so well. Especially since my schedule gets more crazy in the fall. So I'm searching for jobs somewhere in the Utah Valley, and at this point I'll take almost anything that is full time and pays at least 10 dollars an hour. So if you see anything, or hear of anything, let me know!

So let's see, what else is new in the life of Katie? I'm still MC-ing (emceeing?), for And...Go! and loving every minute of it. It's such a fun, positive, non-dramatic, hilarious, awesome group. Seriously guys. And surprisingly enough I've found out that I love to MC (emcee?). Hopefully I'm decent enough at it that they'll keep me around for the long haul. :) Also in And...Go! news, we have a new Web Site, done by our very own Clint! It's www.andgoimprov.com go check it out! We've been doing a ton of performances lately and most of them are free, so (warning: shameless plug) if you want something fun to do over a weekend (it would be a fun date night!) check out the website, or our blog (andgoimprov.blogspot.com) or just ask me and I'll keep you posted on upcoming shows! :)

Something else happy, for those that care, is Braedon only has 5 months left. :) I'm extremely ready for him to be home. Hopefully with doing school during the summer these last few months will go by fast. Sigh. I love him and I don't care how cheesy that is or who knows it. :)

Welp, I guess that's it for now. :) Peace out, rock on, and shoe laces. :)

Life As I Know It

So, I need to be a better blogger. Yes? Yes.

Life is going good. Really it is! It's been busy like always... school and homework keep me occupied most of the time, but one day I'll be done with school (Hopefully next Spring! Yay!!!) and all this hard work and long days filled with studying will pay off. :) And in the mean time, I still love Math, so that's a good thing! :)

On to other news of my life! (I know it's surprising that I even have other news about me besides school! But don't worry... there isn't a ton else. ;))

I've started to MC for a local Improv Troup called 'And... Go!'. It's been a lot of fun to go to the practices and get to know the group better. They are some funny guys! For those of you that don't know what improv is it's like the show 'Who's Line Is It Anyways', or 'Laughing Stock', it's very funny, at least in my opinion haha. And we have a performance this Saturday if you want to come and watch! And best of all, it's free! Lets be honest, we are all struggling with money these days and looking for fun stuff to do for cheap, well what's cheaper then free! So come on down to the performance this Saturday (March 28th) at 7:00 pm at the LDS Chapel on 365 East and Vine St. in Murray. For more info go HERE. It should be fun, you know you wanna come! :)

Something else exciting is Braedon comes home in 6 months! :) Yay!! Though that still seems like forever sometimes... but at least there is a little light at the end of the tunnel. It's been a crazy year and a half while he's been gone and I can't wait to have him home. :) Sigh. I miss him. :)

And, while I know this is a way's off I'm still excited about it. My wonderful beautiful and talented sister is having a dance concert in July at the Rose Wagner! It should be an awesome concert! And she has asked me to take the pictures for all their posters and what not! I'm so excited! I love taking pictures and it will be fun to add some different stuff to my 'portfolio'. I'm not sure when we will be doing the shoot, but I'll post some pictures when we do! :)

Annnnd... I guess that's all for now! :) Life is good and it somehow finds a way to keep going even when it's not. I hope all of you are well out there in blogger land! Till next time! :)

Factoids

I did this for facebook cause I was bored, and thought I'd post it here too. 25 random facts, habits, thoughts about me. :)


1. I have three main facts/rules about myself (okay I'm sure their are more, but for now just the 3).

2. Fact number 1, Katie always wins, or it's at least ties.

3. Fact number 2, Katie will laugh, a lot of times at herself or at you. ;)

4. Fact number 3, Katie will go to bed early whenever possible. :)

5. I work at a computer, and get bored a lot, so really I'm not a TV junkie, I'm an internet show junkie.

6. I love the song 'Lovebug' by the Jonas Brothers. Don't you judge me.

7. I say that I have a slight 'Lesbian' crush on Hayley Williams from Paramore, but I really don't, it's more of a 'jealous that you are in an awesome rock band and can sing like that' crush.

8. I love to read. I am the epitome of a book worm if you will. Honestly if I could I would be reading all the time. Always.

9. I have feelings, struggles, pains too (shocker I know, but it's true), even though I may have a hard time talking about them.

10. This one time, I are armpit hair. Yup, it's true. My cousin's infact. I didn't enjoy it, it was quite nasty actually but I won tons of free stuff, so deal with it.

11. I love Moab. So much. If I HAD to pick one place to vacation for the rest of life, I would probably pick Moab.

12. I always have candy in my purse. Once I was at a performance and a man sitting behind me had diabetes and was going low, my candy saved his life. Okay so it didn't SAVE his life, but it helped him. :)

13. I always have a book in my purse. You never know when you might get some reading time (see number 8)

14. I enjoy school. Yup, I said it. While it may stress me out and I have my days where I'd rather not be there, I really do enjoy it, and sometimes even enjoy homework.

15. I love math. (see 14)

16. I have one of, if not THE best family in the whole world. I love them, all of them. :)

17. I talk to Chelsea almost 24/7. Literally. We talk alot. About nothing, and everything.

18. I have a dream, almost EVERY night. They are more creative then I actually am, and extremely detailed. Seriously, I'm even thinking about writing them down and making a book of short stories. Ask me to tell you one sometime.

19. I will almost ALWAYS be early. Even when I try to not be early, I still am, but just 5 mins early instead of 10. It's a sickness I swear.

20. I love potatoes. In any form. Hash browns, mash potatoes, cheesy potatoes, funeral potatoes, potato chips, fried potatoes. Potatoes, potatoes, potatoes.

21. I've seen the movie Clue too many times to count and I can quote it pretty much word for word at this point. Sad? Maybe. True? Very.

22. One day, I WILL go to Ireland. Just you watch me.

23. I would never trade the experiences that I've had, even though some of them where really hard. They have made me who I am today, and I kinda like me. ;)

24. I was social from birth apparently. When I was little I would go up to strangers and start talking to them and wanted to be friends with them. Apparently my mom was always afraid I would get kidnapped. Haha.

25. I AM worth it. :)

Keep on rockin.

Till We Meet Again.

Wow, this has been a long week. For those of you who don't know, my amazing Uncle Mike passed away this past Sunday very suddenly from a heart attack. It took the whole family by surprise. He was a great man and a great, though goofy, Uncle. I loved him a lot. I am so grateful for his example of optimism, laughter, respect, and love. Anytime we would have family parties he would always make me feel welcome and that I was important. He would always make sure and catch up on what I was doing, how I was, and even how Braedon was doing on his mission. He was always laughing and always smiling and always wanting others to be doing the same, and I'm sure he still is now. I hope I can learn from his example and always try and spread a smile around.

Sunday night was probably the toughest for me. While I love Mike and I will miss him and his caring nature quite a bit, I just kept thinking of Cher and my Cousin's that would be most effected by this. I can't imagine the pain they are going through and I just kept thinking and wishing there was a way to take it away. It was at this point that I understood the Atonement in a different way. I know that this is how Christ felt for all of us. He loved all of us so much that he did suffer for us. He has gone through all my pains and sufferings because he loves me. I am so grateful for the Atonement and for the knowledge of eternal families. I know it is the biggest support to all of us at this time. And while I wish I could take the pain away there is something that my cousin Dave said at my Uncles funeral that stuck out to me a lot. He said that when people say to him that they wish they could take all the pain away he replies back with "I don't, cause if you took all the pain away, you would have to take the love away too". This thought struck me hard, because it is so true. I am blessed with amazing people in my life, especially my family. And I realize that there will be painful moments in my life, whether a death or something else, but even with that knowledge I would never ever change what I have. All the pain in the world wouldn't stop me from loving my family and friends as much as I do.

Though it was a straining week, the funeral services, in my eye, could not have gone better. It was filled with love, touching stories, hilarious stories, and some good advice. I know that Mike was there in spirit and that he was smiling away. Me, my sisters, and my dad sang at the funeral and luckily we all got through with out cracking. My cousin Kelli, Mikes daughter, sang as well and I'm not sure how she managed, but she did an amazing job and I know that it made Mike proud. The whole service was not so much a goodbye, but more of a tribute of Mike's life and a 'till we meet again' occasion. Cher closed the talks with an amazing speech of forgiving others, smiling, laughing, and loving those you come in contact with, all things that Mike practiced daily. Cher is an amazing person. She is a so caring and so strong and I am lucky to have her example of strength in my life. Then to close the services Cher had the accompanist play a favorite of Mikes, a Halloween Themed classic (Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor). It was perfect and so fitting and made me and the rest of the family laugh, while the Bishop looked a little shocked. I couldn't think of a better way to finish the services.

While this week may be over I know that the grief and pain are no where near over, especially for Cher and my cousin's. I am grateful though for the amazing family that I have and know that we will all be there for each other and especially Mike's family. Again I am grateful for the knowledge of eternal families and couldn't imagine a more wonderful and crazy family to spend forever with. I know I'll see Mike again and I know he would want us all to keep smiling and keep laughing. I am grateful for the gospel of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and for Christ's love for me. I would not be able to handle life with out it. Thank you all for your love and support and the all the hugs, you know who you are. :)

Laughing Corner Part 2

So, I was bored at work again and thought that I would do another laughing corner. I know things in the world are a little crazy right now and I think that everyone could use a good laugh, so hopefully something on here will get something out of ya. So sit back, relax, and enjoy the latest clips, comedians, cartoons, etc that have made me laugh. :)

1. Big Bang Theory. Yup, it's on top this time. I honestly laugh so much while watching this show. I highly recommended it to anyone in need of a good laugh.



and



"I'm Batman!" Hahaha, love it. :)

2. Chuck. Again another TV show that just makes me laugh. It doesn't take itself super serious and it's just fun. Again, highly recommended. :) There aren't as many clips of Chuck on youtube that I could find, but here is some Captain Awesome for ya!



3. Jim Gaffigan, a comedian that I personally find funny, hope you do too.

Cake Anyone?


And how about another...

Hot Pockets Anyone?


4. The Office. Honestly my favorite parts of this show are all the pranks Jim pulls on Dwight. Like this one for example:



and all of these ones too



5. Scrubs. I'm excited to say that the new season is up to par with the older ones. :)


and how about another



and why not one more?



6. Marcus. Another comedian that I find hilarious. Not a ton of videos on youtube again, but here ya go!



and just for fun, look at this trailer for his DVD. Anyone who spots me gets a gold star! :) (To help out, it's within the first 30 seconds of the video)



7. Batman vs. Superman. This has always been a major discussion between my friends, and Chelsea one day fell upon this video and of course shared it with me. It's pretty dang funny. Enjoy.



8. Jeff Dunham. I know I did a lot of his stuff on the last Laughing Corner, but honestly, he just makes me laugh. So this time I have some Peanut for ya. And if I did the same video, sorry, but it's still funny!

Part 1:


And Part 2:




9. Scale of 1 to 10. My sister Robin sent this video to me once upon a time and me and Chelsea where actually talking about scaling people on a 1 to 10 the other day and it made me remember this clip that Robin had sent to me. I thought it was hilarious then, and think it's hilarious now.



10. Random Crap I found on Youtube. I couldn't think of something for number 10 so I typed in 'funny clip' into youtube and here is what I picked.




Anywho. There you have it! Hope you all had fun! Until next time! Keep laughing!

New Year, New Blog.

I haven't written on this as well as I should, so I thought I'd do a little update on the life that is Katie's.

It's now 2009, as I hope you are all aware, which is crazy to think about for me. Though there are days, or weeks, or even months that seem to drag on, time still finds a way to fly by.

School has started back up again, and it honestly feels like I never even stopped. It's kind of funny how you can get so used to a routine that you just fall right back into place with out losing a breath. I'm only taking 9 credits this semester, and I'm still a little weirded out by that. It's funny to think when I started college I first took 18 credits, then 17 credits, then 14 credits, then 12 credits and now I'm to 9. Haha. See a pattern? I actually would like to take more credits so I could get done faster, but sadly with prerequisites and and some classes only being offered once a year that isn't possible. Oh well, I'm already starting to enjoy the slower pace and I think that this semester will be a little less stress for my brain, so that's good. :) The three classes I'm taking this semester will still take a lot of work though, so I'm not expecting it to be TOO easy. I'm taking Abstract Algebra, Ordinary Differential Equations (and my teacher is Chinese, and I can only understand about half the words that come out of his mouth... :S), and Complex Variables. Luckily it's to the point where you know almost half your class in each class, so we can all help each other out! Anyways, that's pretty much my update for school.

I've finally got my car. For those who don't know I got in a car accident on December 30th. Someone T-Boned me. Super fun huh? Ya not so much. But no worries, no one was hurt... well besides me with some major whiplash. But I've gone to the chiropractor a few times and it's getting better. :) But my new car, a Subaru Impreza, is a manual! I, for those who don't know, have never driven a manual. So my brother Taylor took me out for about an hour last Saturday and taught me. He was a really good teacher and I'm grateful he was willing to go out with me. So now I can drive my car, and that's happy! Though I still kill it every once in a while, but what are ya gonna do? It will get better with more practice. Or so I'm told. ;)

With the New Year I find myself like everyone else thinking about the past and the future. There is always something a little exciting about a New Year, and I'm not really sure why. I actually made some goals, or 'resolutions' if you will, this year. Usually I hate the idea of making resolutions each new year, my thoughts being that if you want to change something about yourself, why does it have to be on January 1st? But I was thinking about my life the other day (so technically it was about a week after the New Year, so I don't feel too bad about it) and what things I would like to be better at. And I decided on 3 main things. One, is to go to the temple at least once a month. Cause let's be honest, we have plenty of temples around us and I know that I take them for granted sometimes. So going at LEAST once a month shouldn't be that hard to do. Second, is to bear my testimony out loud for often. I realize that this isn't that hard or fancy of a goal, but I just think I could share what I know more often. Third, is to be more service oriented. Whether that is being there for a friend, or helping someone with homework, or just little acts of kindness to people. So there you have it, hopefully I stick to them!

Anywho, I think that's about it as for updating my life. Not super exciting I know... but it's my life none the less, and I still love it. :) I still have my downs, like everyone else, but for the most part I'm doing good and I still can't believe how blessed I am. :) I hope you are all doing good out there in blogger land (or that grand total of maybe 2 people that might actually read this). Have a great week!

. . .

And after that last post, I would just like to restate my love for Chelsea. I honestly love her, she is my best friend and an amazing person that I look up to so much. I am so glad we are still friends to this day, and that we still talk like crazy. I love you Chels! Thanks for everything! You are simply amazing. :)

-Katie :)