Florida

Hey all. I just got back from Florida. We had our biannual Howell Family Reunion down at Ft. Walton Beach. The ocean was beautiful and it was a blast to see all of my relatives (at least the ones on my dad's side). I pretty much just sat around all week and only went down to the beach in the evenings. It was hot!

Everyone seemed to have a fun time, which was good. And everyone got to come this time, everyone except my mom, that is. She's in Italy right now. And Dad is flying to France on Sunday to meet her. So for the next two weeks, I'm the mom in the house. Kinda a scary thought, huh?

I'm really excited about going to see Pirates of the Caribbean on July 7th. Yes, I know I'm such a silly fangirl, but I love pirate movies! I think it has something to do with playing The Secret of Monkey Island as a kid. That is pretty much the best computer adventure game ever. In my opinion. "Look, it's a three-headed monkey!" and "I'm selling these fine leather jackets..." and who could forget "You fight like a dairy farmer!" "How appropriate, you fight like a cow"?

Ok, well, I'm running out of things to write about, so I'll just sign off now.

Trip

Since Peter has complained that I haven't made a blog entry for awhile, here's what's been going on lately.

I'm currently at home in Alabama, but that will change on Tuesday when I fly back out to Utah to finish out Spring term. I'm not actually taking any classes. I just work. But my job is the most fabulous job ever! And keeping busy with that most definitely helps distract me from being depressed.

We got Jessica all married off just one week ago in the Washington D.C. temple. It was a beautiful, very long day. I'm really glad I got to be there though. Amazing how all of us roomies were able to come to the wedding!

So after the wedding, I got to fly down to Alabama and totally surprised my dad and my brothers by coming home for the week. Bryan graduated this week and that gave me an excuse to stay out East for a bit, instead of flying straight back to Provo. It's been nice, just taking a little break from work, but I'm getting to the point where I need to have something to do with my time again. I do like playing Oblivion on my brother's new computer though. Fun game! Except when I accidentally killed my horse and pressed the save button instead of the load button. Poor thing! But I'm anxious to get back to Utah and back to work and back to my friends out there.

Moved

Well, I'm all moved into my new fabulous apartment. I feel like a queen in this place! It's so roomy and gorgeous and so not like a dump! However, there are a few things I still need to retrieve from my old place. Good thing Kate and Amanda still live there.

Tonight me and Jamie (Lindsay's cousin who is now one my roommates) are planning on going to Walmart where we will buy some things we need for the apartment and also my medication. Yes, I'm gonna take antidepressants. I'm kinda wary about the side effects, but I've heard that Lexapro, which is what I'll be taking, tends to have less side effects. Well, we'll see what happens.

I'm way excited about my trip in two weeks! I think I want to buy a new outfit for Jessica's wedding, so I'll go on a shopping trip sometime before then. Jennica (a co-worker) and I are going flip-flop shopping tomorrow before our party for work. I really need some flip-flops. They're such a necessity during the summertime and I have only one pair. So I might splurge on a pair of cute ones while getting a pair or two of cheap basic ones. Well, hmmm, I've kinda run out of things to talk about, so I'll sign off now.

Two

Well. I have two things to share. The first is much more pleasant compared to the second, so I'll start with that.

We're throwing a bridal shower for my roommate, Jessica, today. I'm excited but a little sad at the same time. This shower kinda symbolizes the "breakup" of us as roommates. Jess is getting married, Amanda's staying in Liberty Square and then moving to a house in the fall, Kate's graduating. Only Lindsay and I will be living together this spring. I feel like I've lived with these girls forever, and I've felt that way for nearly the entire past two years. But at least this spring it'll be somewhat easy to keep in touch. We'll live pretty close to each other until the end of June. After that, I really hope that we can continue to be such good friends, despite the parting of our ways.

The shower should be pretty fun tonight though. We refused to tell Jessica anything about the plans for the shower. She's kinda stressed out by that and it's pretty funny.

Ok, on to the not pleasant thing.

About three weeks ago, I finally broke down (due to some encouragement from Lindsay) and went to the counseling center to set up an appointment to see a counselor. A week ago today, I went to my appointment. It was an intake appointment, where they just talk to you and figure out how to treat you. Well, the counselor I saw diagnosed me (is diagnosed the right word to use?) with moderate depression. So I'm going to have counseling this spring and this coming Monday, I'm going to see a psychiatrist to maybe prescribe some medication for me.

I feel weird posting this on a blog instead of telling people in person or over the phone or whatnot. But I know that if I tried to tell people those ways, I'd pretty much break into tears and get embarrassingly emotional. It was hard enough just talking about it at my intake interview.

So that's the unpleasant news. I kinda feel relieved. I don't feel like now that I'm gonna see a counselor and take medication that all my problems will just go away; I know that it's most likely gonna get harder now that I have to actually deal with everything instead of just shoving it deeper inside me. But I feel a great sense of relief that I've started something to get help. It's like there's an end in sight finally. Right now it feels an incredible, impossible distance away, but at least I can catch a glimpse of it. And that's a very relieving thought.

Plans

Well, tonight I'm going to Tucano's with Lindsay. It's her birthday on Sunday and she's using her Tucano's buy one dinner get one free gift card. I'm excited about that. So I'll be a carnivore tonight.

Tomorrow night we're having a party for both Lindsay and Jenna (Jenna's birthday is on Saturday). That should be fun. It's also St. Patrick's Day tomorrow, so everyone needs to wear green or they will be pinched!

Saturday, I'm working. And then I'm going to see the new Joseph Smith movie up in Salt Lake. I've heard that it's pretty good. And it's Jenna's birthday!

Sunday, I'll be teaching Relief Society. And it's Lindsay's birthday!

Well, that's pretty much what I'll be doing the next few days. Not too exciting, except for the Tucano's trip.

I wish the semester was done already.