Life Lessons, Courtesy of Candy Crush

So. Yeah. Just take this post at face value. Yes I am a Candy Crusher. I'm not even sure anymore if I feel the need to justify my penchant for playing this not-as-mindless-as-you-think game. Plus, I was playing bejeweled long before the Candy Crush revolution (yes, you read that right), so I feel like I'm good.

Ahem. Life lessons from Candy Crush. They are vast, let me tell you. I don't quite understand what it is about that game that turns my mind to pondering the complexities of life, but there it is, every single time. It's actually kind of distracting, to tell you the truth. Can't I just crush my candy in peace? Sadly, no. So with that said, here is my list of life lessons, courtesy of Candy Crush:

-Life is complicated. But you'll probably do a lot better in life if you plan your next moves and think things through carefully. Sometimes impulsiveness pays off, but more often than not, you have to plan for those five-in-a-row moments. 

-Sometimes you miss opportunities. And they are gone. And you should've looked more carefully at your options. And not been so hasty. And thought it through a bit better. 

-Sometimes things just fall into place and things go your way without your having done anything! How many levels have we all passed by virtue of luck? Most of them.

-You're going to fail. A lot. And life tells you,  very unapologetically and often enthusiastically, that you've failed. And that's just how it is.

-WHEN you fail,  you generally get the chance to try again.  

-Sometimes all you can do to advance in life is wait it out. Sometimes (like when you're trying to go to sleep at night and you're just waiting to run out of lives) having to wait isn't such a bad thing. Gives you some perspective.

-Sometimes the things that seem to be the best actually aren't. I will never fail to be disappointed that the wrapped candy switched with a striped one seems to crush more than a striped candy switched with a sprinkled one. I mean, what the heck?! 

-Sometimes when life seems to be going great, things come out of nowhere to mess things up (not bitter against the chocolate squares that take over the board. Not bitter). That's life. Things pop up that are stressful. You just have to keep your cool and handle issues one at a time. 

-There are always things to celebrate in life. If nothing else, celebrate the little victories. 

This is by no means an exhaustive list. I mean, I'm only on level 65, so how could it be? I anticipate many more life-affirming epiphanies on my sweet ride through the addictive adventure that is Candy Crush. 

Crush on! 

The internship of all internships

So my summer of US-lovin' finally came to an end. It was a bittersweet ending, though. After visiting 19 states in 3 months, I was ready to finally go home and sleep in my bed again. However, I do sometimes still wish I lived in a hotel. It's so convenient. But alas, life goes on. 

My next internship rivals my last on the cool factor. I'll have to hold off a final judgment until after this one is over, but so far, it's giving my zaggternship a run for its money. 

Say hello to my new place of work: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Office Building. It just happens to be the second tallest building in the whole state of Utah. 

I love getting to be on temple square every day! It's so great!

I am working as an editorial intern for the Church's magazine, the Ensign. So far it's awesome. I've been able to write quite a few articles that may or may not be published starting mid-to-late next year. Sometimes I do random little research projects, sometimes I edit or proofread articles. Lots of source checking. Ah, the life of an intern...

Here's a picture of my with a kitty that someone brought in. I could hear murmurings from all those allergic-to-cats people, and I felt sad for them. Here's one of the kitties trying his best to jump out of my hands. I won. :)

A few of the other interns and I went down for adopt-a-plant day. It only comes around once a month, so we had to take advantage. Here's Nichole with her new plant, Spike. I'm obsessed with it. 

So far as I know, Ryan hasn't named his plant yet. I'll double check though.

My  pretty plant. It looks pretty fake, I'll be honest. Name suggestions?

I have since ruled out any kind of future as a gardener....

I don't know what I did to it :(

Here is Nichole and I at our desks. Yes I'm wearing my lu'au outfit. It was the BYU/Utah game, and that skirt is one of the few BYU-blue items of clothing I own, so I kind of had to. Right? 

And here's my desk. So exciting, huh?

Granted, there are days when I feel a lot like this... 

Bored much?

But then there are the days when we go walk around the temple on our lunch break and have to ask elderly people to take pictures for us. And then we are late getting back from our lunch break. Haha.

I was oh-so-happy when someone kindly pointed out to me that this little board thing under my desk was, in fact, a heater. Who would disguise a heater to look like a random piece of wood? I ask you. 

So, there you go. A few little tidbits about my internship with the Ensign! 

Amish country

Let me just start by saying, I love pretty much everything about Philadelphia. Including this man:

Two words: Amish country! Is there anything better? I would say no. So one thing I love about traveling by myself is how people just think my life is so exciting. Which, I guess it really is, but whatev. I make a lot of new friends by being by myself, and it's great. For example, I went on this cute little buggy ride, but while I was waiting in line, I met a couple from Belgium! Yay French. Unfortunately, they didn't make it on the same buggy as me, but there was a cute family, an older couple, and two older women there. After an hour buggy ride together, one of the older women gave me her phone number and told me to call her if I was going to be in her area of North Carolina, and she'd show me around. So nice! I love seeing how much goodness there is in the world. People are the best. We did take a group shot from inside the buggy, but somehow that picture got deleted. Oops.

You better believe I wore that sticker for the rest of the day. Proudly. 

Only in Amish country, right?

It turns out that everything you've heard about the Amish is true. The farms, the cooking, the wood-working. I love when stereotypical things are true. It's my favorite. (However, I probably shouldn't be so superficial in my judgments of the stereotypical things I saw. After all, I don't want people to believe every stereotypical thing they hear about Mormons, unless those things include being friendly, hard-working, family-oriented people. In which case, it's all true! :) )

And yes, I drove around and then creeped on people with my 50x zoom camera. I just find something so fulfilling in that zoom. 

Cows. That's the life, eh? Haha. This is inside the farm that we visited. 

These pictures are in all sorts of wrong order, but oh well. Another plus about flying solo: shotgun! Can't beat that view, huh?

After my buggy ride, I had a real-life dutch Amish lunch, which was delicious. And the rain that started off the day went totally away. It was perfect! 

I definitely recommend checking out Pennsylvania's Amish country. It's a good time.