TDF. For real.

This artichoke dip recipe courtesy of my ever fabulous Aunt Kathi.

This blog post especially for the dears Erin Despain and Kaitlin Hansen.

1 one pound can of artichoke hearts (cut up)

1 cup mayonnaise

1 cup Parmesan cheese, grated

Dash of garlic salt

Mix everything together, place in casserole dish.

Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

Eat with crackers, tortillas chips, etc...you will not be disappointed!

Hi, my name is Natalie...

...and I'm a teacher.

I cannot tell you how gratifying it is to say that I'm a teacher (I know, I know I'm not an actual teacher yet--but I have been teaching the past few weeks, and I've learned a ton!! Mostly that I want nothing more than to have a class of my own). I love going to the store and buying supplies for my lessons, and telling the clerk, "I'm a teacher".

The thing about teaching is that it has been my dream for years. A few months ago I was not very happy, and I was praying that I would be happy even though my "school girl dreams" weren't coming true, and then I realized--my school girl dreams are coming true. I am doing everything in my power to become a teacher (which I want more than anything), and it makes me happy that I'm working on achieving my goals.

Yeah, I'm just happy about this.

Dating Don'ts: Part 1

I think it's safe to say that I have had a lot of awkward dating experiences (don't get me wrong--I have had tons of amazing dating experiences as well, but for some reason the weird one are the most fun to remember--after time has passed, of course...). I could totally write a book on dating do's and don'ts. Maybe I will include a list in TSY...or maybe the experiences in TSY will speak for themselves. Anyway, I will now begin a list of dating don'ts. All my rules are put in place from personal experience. I know what I'm talking about.

1. In general, if you don't even know someone's middle name, you should not be kissing them.

2. Do not date your TA.

3. Do not tell your date she's "a lot more normal than you thought [she] was gonna be."

To be continued...

Obscure guys I like

Ahhh....the Winter Warlock. Remember the part when his heart melts like ice? I love this man.

Tidbits

Hmm. I know that nobody really cares for the useless blogs I post, but actually--I care about them! Because two years from now I'll read this post and think, yeah, that was a fun weekend! I'm so glad I blogged about that so I can remember it.

So on Friday we went to Ruby River. It's connected to some hotel, so while we waited for our table we sat in the hotel lobby. Don't worry, the whole BYU football team was there. Bronco even made an appearance. We tried to take a secret picture but it was a little too obvious. But a football player's wife called us 'nothings'. A little baby tried to wander into the area we were sitting in and her mother said, "Oh sweetie, there's nothing over there" to which my friend replied, "Oh yeah, we're nothing? Cool. Cute baby though." It was pretty fun...except for the part where I had to go home and finish a paper that was due at midnight. Sent it, forgot about it, and all is well!

I guess the only other item of note is that Friday I wore jeans for the first time all week. It felt oddly comfortable.

Oh,and I'm cutting my hair tomorrow. Does that surprise you? It shouldn't, if you follow my patterns of behavior. Perfectly normal! I cut my hair at the funniest intervals. Ha. I guess it's typically been once a semester, actually...for my whole college career. Huh. Funny!

Must read

The Lump of Coal by Lemony Snicket.

"Perhaps I should just bury myself and become a diamond after thousands of years of intense pressure."
--The Lump of Coal

The highlight of my day

Kinda lame when the highlight of your day comes at 6:30 in the morning, but...you take what you can get, right?

I laughed for like 5 minutes after I read this in an email. I know it probably isn't that funny, but to me, at 6:30....it was hilarious. Plus the author is British, which for some reason makes it even funnier.

"But hey, there's lots of cool things happening soon, like Christmas and the...Millenium?"

Great. Now I really have something to look forward to.

Practicummmmmmm

It's true that the only thing younger grades can reach is your backside. So, to get your attention...it's like poke, poke, poke... Um, excuse me?! Definitely something I need to get used to, because it's weird.

Also, I taught today. My teacher observed. At the top of her observation sheet, she wrote "Natalie's 1st lesson=Fantastic!" Okay so hello, can it get better than that? She said I was way above passable. Thank goodness. I'm good at something! Unless it was a fluke. That would be bad.

One more thing: my class has a Monson. Jenaca's class has a Hinckley. Too funny.

We are...the Barnett Bulldogs!!! (It's from their school cheer that I don't know, but had to lead today. Yeah, that was awkward)