Come What May & Love It

The way we react to adversity can be a major factor in how happy and successful we can be in life.

I have learned that life takes you places you never think you will go.

In whatever happens, learning to love what comes is key.

Allred 11

This is my life...

Serious Distraction

I am seriously distracted right now.

I have just about one million things to do this week and there is only one thing on my mind.

You see my mom sent me a little Easter package.

I get a package once a year from my parents. It comes around the time I need new contacts. Last year Valentines Day. This year Easter.

I received a couple of treats to accompany my contacts.

Among the treats were two boxes of fresh Peeps. Peeps are a classic Easter treat. But I do not like them fresh. So upon arrival three days ago I immediately opened the plastic that covered the Peeps in a desperate attempt to let those little guys harden up. Well it takes longer than you think folks. Or maybe just longer than you want. I have checked time and time again, still soft as ever.

So the serious distraction comes as I sit here wondering how long it will take until I can enjoy those Peeps in all their glory?

If you know, let me know.

Then I can get back to my million things I have to do.

Happy Spring.

What Matters Most

Happy Sunday Afternoon.

This is probably my favorite mormon message of all time.

I love it so much. Probably because I get so caught up in life so easily. There are always a million things I could do, should do, want to do, ect. Finding a balance can be so hard. And learning what matters most can also prove difficult. I feel like these college years of my life are a particularly selfish time. I am in college, in my own classes, figuring out what I want to major in. I love my friends but in the end what I do is a lot about me. It has been a transition point where I am taking charge of my own life. It is a starting point of a new direction, figuring out what I want for the rest of my life. I feel selfish at college sometimes, because in the end I have to figure out what is best for me. With that background this mormon message has taught me a lot about not getting caught up in myself. Each time I watch it I realize that this time in my life is not what I had previously considered it to be. I did not make this journey to this point in my life alone. Countless people have helped me to reach where I am today. Countless people help me everyday to continue to pursue a path that I want make this journey on. What I do is a result of their love, because they have learned what matters most. They have learned service, they have learned love, and they have been able to show that to me.

Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved.

I believe that. I love that idea. And this day and everyday I am trying to learn to incorporate that lesson into my life.

Manuel Andres Zamora

Manuel Andres is NOT a roommate. I repeat Manuel Andres is NOT a roommate.

Roommate week is over.

Luckily my roommate Vivian Danella has an amazing brother who we see often.

Manuel. He has kind of become an adoptive brother to Allred 11. Thus deserves full recognition on my humble blog.

Manuel Andres is attending the University of Utah. Which I totally approve of. He is pretty much a genius to has high expectations and ambitions for his life.

When he first came home from his mission a little over a year ago he was probably the most awkward person I had ever met. Luckily one day when he came to visit Viv in room #316 she wasn't home, thus he was forced to become friends with Ash and I. Ever since the awkwardness level has dropped significantly, I would even say we are great friends with Manuel Andres.

He is really a go to guy when Allred 11 needs help. He is full of wisdom and knowledge. He also knows how to make stuff up for us.

Like a good brother he also finds a way to tease us all.

His style is probably better than mine. His hair looks good long. Sometimes I tell him it looks great when I haven't even looked at it. He is musical. And a little nerdy maybe.

Manuel, you are a great friend and older adoptive brother to Allred 11. Come anytime. Come all the time.

(Adoptive Brother)

(For Real Brother)

And I like your hair right now :)

Cassandra Teresa Rindlisbacher

Cassandra Teresa is the fifth and final roommate.

Her initials are CTR. Which is awesome.

Except her middle name really isn't Teresa. You see she doesn't have one, and I just can't do that. So we made one up. Teresa. Yes please. Someday when the luckiest man in the world finds this girl and drops to his knee her middle name will be Rindlisbacher. Then we can drop the Teresa. But until that day the made up middle name will stay.

Speaking of marriage and men, if you know a man who wants an incredibly talented, creative, crafty, strong, musical, compassionate woman to stand by his side for time and all eternity, let me know and we can set him up with Cassi. She is all of the above and more. I am continuously amazed by her.

She is also a wise wise woman. If I ever need real life advice for real life situations and I want depth and truth, I go straight to Mama Cass. She has a wealth of knowledge.

If you are ever sick, her chicken noodle soup works miracles. I have never tasted something so delicious in the midst of dying.

Cassi is an incredible piano player. Sometimes she comes to allred 11 and plays for hours and I love listening to and singing along to her vast selection of songs. Cassi plays super mario brothers (I think that is what it is called), and she helps Katie overcome every level (I don't have video game vocabulary). Also Cassi has the best laugh. For real.

In the end Cassi and I do not have a picture together. Not alright. But true. I am sure that will change soon enough.

Wait a minute. I found this treat, did a little cropping job. Yep Cassi is looking good. I on the other hand... well not so much. I am at least giving the thumbs up.

I have five incredibly wonderful roommates.

Allred 11 is a place where we gather as roommates and live our lives as best friends.

Ashley Marie Burgess

I was never too nervous about meeting Ashley Marie.

Before we moved into Wyview for our freshman year of college I emailed her and asked her to send a picture of herself. She also told me a few things about herself. I saw her, read through it, and had confidence that we would get along. And we do.

I feel like we are very similar in our thinking.

Her and Viv combined is like the ultimate interrogation. She has a knowledge of what I am thinking so she knows what to ask, and Viv knows how to phrase it. That is when all the real secrets come out.

Ash loves math, and is really good at it, but that does not define her. There is so much more to her. She follows her dreams and writes messages to missionaries with cups on fences. She had the idea of the Visible Light Spectrum for a halloween costume. She love soccer. I enjoy watching her games. I love to play racquetball with her. We eat ice cream together. We just have a great time.

She is my room roommate. We have matching bedspreads. Which was definitely not on purpose. I think we knew we definitely needed to be room roommates the first day we met. Mostly because we have matching bedspreads and it would be cute to have matching bedspreads in the same room. And let me tell you it is.

I love ash. She is one of my best friends, for life, forever.

Vivian Danella Zamora

I would say I am a pretty reserved person. And if you really want to know something about me that is out of the ordinary or even sometimes just in general, you must ask. And you can't ask a general questions if you want a specific answer because I will give you a general answer if you ask a general question. I am also really good at avoiding questions and changing the subject. I would even go as far as to say that it is a talent of mine not to answer questions I don't want to answer.

How does this have to do with the next in line roommate Vivian Danella, well she is the exception to the above statement.

Vivian Danella and I were roommates, and bunkmates, freshman year of college. We didn't know each other but instantly hit it off. Friendship for life. Early on in our bunkmate experience as we were falling asleep I could tell Viv was different than anyone I had ever met. She has this way of asking certain questions in certain orders that ended with me telling my life story. I honestly hated it at first. How was it that she was able to get all this info out of me. My deepest secrets, untold to anyone, were revealed. I don't think it helps that I was falling asleep or laying down while she was strategically coming up with a question for me to answer (I always tell more than I want when I am laying down). Vivian can still get the secrets out of me to this day. But it is not so bad anymore, I like that I have someone who knows how to ask specific questions so I can answer them specifically.

Vivian is also loud. Which I love. She is funny. She stays up way to late. She watches the bachelor with me. She frequently calls me durning the summer months when we are apart.

And she has awkward hands.

Katie O'Brian Golding

I would say my roommates and I are pretty tight.

On occasion though we can't help but be awkward. I mean there are situations where you would watch our interactions and think we didn't even know each other.

Prime example #1- It was my birthday and my roommates were going to make me dinner. I was doing my visiting teaching and came home where the dinner was ready on the counter. I was clueless and didn't even see it. And they didn't tell me about it. So they were just being awkward and wouldn't tell me they had dinner. I finally had to ask why they were being so awk. Then we had dinner :)

Prime Example #2- Sometimes when we run into each other on campus and we are not expecting it we say hi in a most awkward fashion. Which is exactly what happened to Katie O'Brian Golding and myself today.

Katie O'Brian Golding comes next in the age line. (Well really it is Stacey, Me, Katie, but let's not talk about me).

Katie was the new girl this year. Only maddie kind of knew her when she moved in. My first memory of Katie O'Brian is when she was moving in her stuff for the first time Ash and I were in the kitchen eating. She walked in, said hi, walked to her room, walked back out, said see ya, and left. She didn't even wait for a response. I don't even think we made eye contact. It was a really great start. We make eye contact these days. And say a whole lot more to each other.

Katie is loud. And I LOVE that about her. She is always telling us a story or about her day or about someone else's day or about something random. I am not very good about that, but I love hearing all of her stories. I love when she comes home from dates because you do not have to shine a spotlight on her and interrogate her (unlike me). She will just let you know.

We are a lot different in the above ways.

But we are also a lot the same.

It's like a perfect balance.

I sure love Katie O'Brian. I am pretty glad she was the random roommate in Allred 11.

Katie also really likes Yams. Like everyday of her life.

Stacey Ann Johnson

I have five incredibly wonderful roommates. Two of them technically do not live in Allred 11, but they are basically over all the time, and once the wall that separates us comes down, all will be well.

Anyways I sure do love my roommates. And this is why.

Let's start with Stacey Ann. (I have a love for middle names.)

Stacey Ann is the oldest.

Once upon a time we decided to take a little road trip to my home in Idaho Falls. It was just the two of us and the open road. After a quick stop at Burger Bar, a hamburger place she saw on the Diners Drive Ins and Dives, we made our way home. This was our first bonding moment. We really didn't know each other all that well. But it was GREAT. Ever since we have become even closer. She has gone where no BYU fan dares to go. A University of Utah football game. (My family had an extra ticket). She even wore a little red, and we had a great time.

Stacey is so happy all the time. She has the biggest smile. And the cutest laugh. I love her Wisconsin accent. She is kind and considerate. She is always helping others. She is a hard worker. I love when she makes her way over to Allred 11.

Like I said I have 5 incredibly wonderful roommates.

Stacey Ann Johnson included.

Dear Grams and Gramps,

I have the greatest grandparents.

I love them.

This weekend was a real treat for the three of us.

Mallory Hazel Vivian Danella and Katie O'Brian.

3 roommates.

And the grandparents. In 1507. That's the presidential suite.

Baptism. Dinner. Shopping. $2 sparkly shirts. Photoshoots. Swimming. Sauna. Hot Tub. Room Service. Toasts. Les Miserables. The beds made out of clouds from heaven. High pressure showers. Music and the Spoken Word. Breakfast with Grandma. Love chats with the waitress. Temple Square. North Visitor Center. Joseph Smith Movie. South Visitor Center. President Hinckley. SLC love.

Thank you Grandma and Grandpa. We sure do love you and all you do.

Here's to the best weekend ever.

And our Spring Break 2011.

Ching Ching!

Love Mallory Hazel, Vivian Danella, and Katie O'Brian

Addicted.

I am addicted to blogs.

I love them.

I love reading what other people think about. I love reading what inspires other people. I love catching a glimpse into the lives of average people.

I especially love short posts and pictures. Keeping it simple keeps me interested.

Anyways in the midst of observing others blogs I found this cool quote.

"Understand that fear comes and goes, but realize the times you have courage, fear is there also. Work hard to overcome the fears and cowardice, because the older you get, the more you are expected to be strong then when you were young."

I really like this. Mostly as a half answer to my courage question. The stronger you are the more courage you have. And strength comes from exercising courage. It is kind of a circle. They build on each other.

"Courage is doing what you're afraid to do. There can be no courage unless you are scared."

Looking to the Sky

One of the most awkward things in life (at least in my humble opinion) is when you see someone that you have met before, maybe only once or twice, and you totally remember them, but you have no idea if they remember you.

This happens to me frequently on campus.

I am not one to say hi, but I also don't want to be rude. So I usually look to the sky. Actually I immediately look to the sky. Some people pull out their phones but I am not quick enough for that. The great thing about the sky is that it is always quite available for these tricky situations.

Sometimes I am indoors so I look to the ceiling. Today a crazy thing happened. I was in the SWKT, which is where I have church, so I am quite familiar with it. I had a run in with one of those people I have definitely met before but I was not about to say hi. So I looked to the ceiling. The light fixtures were so interesting. I couldn't believe I had never seen them. It kind of made me smile.

I am Mallory Hazel, and I look to the sky to avoid the awkward hi.

What do you do?

Real Excited.

What to know something I am really excited about.

St. Patrick's Day.

Like what a random holiday right.

I mean for me it has always just been wear green. No leprechauns have ever crashed my school or house. No pots of gold. No rainbows. Just green.

When I was in kindergarten I remember having a green sweatsuit. Awesome, especially for St. Patty's. So I rocked that outfit. I also put on a lime green shirt underneath and made sure I put on my green underwear and shoes. Then I had to go stand in front of the class and they had to point out what green I was wearing. No one could see my green shirt so I got them good.

Anyways I am pretty excited for St. Patrick's Day.

No particular reason. I am just a random person.

Thought Provoking Question of the Day:

How to you exercise courage when you don't have a lot of courage?

Deep In Thought

Have you ever had an experience when you are having this deep discussion with a roommate, friend, sibling, spouse, ect and then whatever you are deeply discussing emerges out of no where.

I don't even know if I have a good example.

Let's pretend you are talking about someone random from high school. The situation above would go a lot like this.

Me: Hey you remember Bryan Duffy?

Friend: Yes oh man remember when you had the biggest crush on him in 5th grade.

Me: How could I forget. Oh how times have changed. That one didn't last long. Woosh.

Friend: Wonder what he is doing these days.

Me: Shmi Shma lalala

Friend: ect ect.

The conversation continues.

Then you go to the grocery store that night and who is there? Your 5th grade crush Bryan Duffy. And it is the CRAZIEST thing because you were just talking about him randomly moments before.

Now this particular situation hasn't happened to me. I did not run into BD last night at the grocery store. Nor have I talked about him for a long while.

But the basic format of this situation definitely happened to me.

And it blows my mind.

So do you believe in mere coincidence, or do things happen for a reason?