I'm Getting Paid for This??

It's a Wednesday morning, round 11:00.

I have 15 wild animals  staring at me from the wall, the floor, the mantle.

I have a pack of peanut butter M&M's and the promise of a magical home cooked lunch in the next hour.

I have access to every type of soda, candy, cookie and snack that you could possibly imagine.

I am in jeans, an Inca Cola t-shirt, barefoot and curled up on a couch listening to a bunch of runners hash out the best type of running shoe.

Later tonight, after a  steak dinner, I'll return to my very own hotel room where I'll carefully consider which  of the two queen sized beds I'd like to fall asleep in tonight.

Where am I you ask?

I'm at work.

And this has been and will be my routine everyday this week.

Oh, I could get used to this.

Ok, ok so it's not all fun and games , here's the lowdown.

I have the best internship ever. I get to do things, meet people and attend meetings and events that no other intern gets to. Instead of working in one little segment of the portfolio, I work with the entire  management team for my portfolio.

So this week, the management team is  spending the week offsite in Heber, Utah at an amazing cabin in the mountains. So even though we are eating way too much and way too deliciously, we  are indeed working. There are a total of anywhere from 12-15 people here everyday. Me, Julie  and Kazua are the only three women and instead of sleeping in the cabin, we get to head down the mountain every night and stay in  our very own (double bedded ) hotel  rooms.

          

           I am indeed the youngest here (I 'm guessing the average age is about 40… but I'm not sure), but it has been so fun  to get to know these guys! They are spending this time out of the office to make all their plans and  budget allocations  for the year 2013. This is heavy duty stuff and these guys are working hard, all day and all night. And I get to observe it all.

I'm learning so much, strengthening relationships with those I work with and finding out a little more about myself. 

Pretty cool eh?

Love, Noelle

Dear Rexburg,

Why must you torment me so? With your sunny skies, stalwart young men and sweeter than pie ladies? With your stunning I-Center, your rolling green hills of grass and perfect running trails. With your amazing  Saturday night fiestas with awesome food, volleyball and dancing? With your darling elderly follks  who enrich  the rooms of your resthome s and the boundless opportunities  to serve  you provide us with. By being the home of my dear brothers and dearest Peruvian sisters.

Scenes from this past weekend in Rexburg:

Oh Rexburg, you are so good and you have my heart it's true. But...now is not the time for you.
So Utah, you have welcomed me with open arms and odd living conditions… and I can't complain… too much :) But if you'd like to switch it up and be a smidgen more like Rexburg… yeah I'd support that.

Love, Noelle

Peru-nions

Have I mentioned lately how much I adore this girl?

Oh annnd don't even get me started on this gorgeous girl.

Blog, meet two of the ladies who have changed my life. Brittany Nicole Meyer and Abigail Anna Tucker.

I finally got to see them again after one whole month without them. We talked, laughed, reminisced, and got close to tears in Relief Society as Brit bore her testimony of the power of prayer and how we relied on it just about every second of every day in Peru. Or as I hugged Abi goodbye  with no promise of seeing her anytime soon.

But we did enjoy ourselves, we did. I made plans to rollerblade to the park with Abi, so as I was walking over to Clark apartments to meet her there to pick up our blades , I passed by a group of students who had just gotten back from backpacking… and then I spotted it. The green beanie and greyish jacket that had wandered the streets of Peru many of times. There was Brittany, right in the Stadium parking lot. She didn't see me so I snuck up on her and oh was she surprised to see me! Gosh I loved it. She had some studying to do and some showering to attend to, so I carried on with my venture to Clark to reunite with Abigail. And there she was, waiting for me with open arms. So I got to see them both  that day and catch up just a bit.

After one month back in the states

Sunday, things got good. We made plans to all attend Brittany's ward together. (Which just so happened to be my old ward, imagine my delight!  I had no idea and loooved being able to see so many people that I knew and loved!) After attending our meetings together for 3 straight months in Peru, it was magical to attend our meetings together for the first time in English! So great.

Side note that I don't want to forget but I'm not sure if it's appropriate to put on a blog: The sacrament was passed to me and I reached for a cup, but switched to a different one because I noticed floaties in the first cup. I then passed the tray to Brittany who unknowingly went straight for the floatie cup. By the time she had it in her hand and out of the tray… she noticed the floaties, but there was no turning back. So she looked at it good and hard… and then  drank it, floaties and all.  I turned to her and whispered "Boy Scout" (Only 3 of you reading this will get that.) But we just about died. So funny. But don't worry, we laughed about it afterwards, we tried very hard to be reverent at the time of the hilarity  :)

We then enjoyed a lovely Sunday School lesson together and then made our way to Relief Society where I was reunited with some love button friends that I just adore.  Next came our true blue Peru-nion. We went up to a grassy spot at the temple (surrounded by 100's of swarming bee's… esta bien!" and ate ourselves a little picnic with a few of our Peruvian favorites. We had wraps, cancha (peruvian… kind of popcorn stuff), apple slices and Peruvian "Mint Casino" cookies. Twas a feast fit for Las Tres Gringas.

Unfortunately, after just one month our chaco lines are fading fast! But maybe that's a good thing :)

Quotes to remember:
"Did you see that guy milking his baby?"

" I know… I just want to find a guy who's not attracted to girls like me.." Oh goodness.

Words cannot express how grateful I am to have these two amazing women in my life.

 When Abigail and I reunited, Hank said, "Aren't you guys sick of each other?  You just spent 3 whole months completely together" Our answer was a resounding NO!  Thank goodness because I plan on having these two as best friends for many, many years to come.

A Girl and Her MuMu

My Name is Noelle and I  shamelessly collect MuMu's.

Holly and I sporting my first two MuMu's on Christmas Eve 2011, all we had to do was unbelt them and then we were ready for bed ;)

**Disclaimer: MuMu is actually spelled muumuu... but I'm going to stick with my MuMu.

I've never really collected anything before. Not seashells or sand, not mugs or spoons, not  puppies or ponies. Nothing.

But I've always wanted to!

Now, my mumu collection is nowhere near legit status … yet. I only have 3 for goodness sakes. But  you've got to start somewhere right? Right.

So here's a little background behind my little  collection.

One day, my roommate Claire (she's so lovely!) and I rode our bikes down to Deseret Industries. I'm not sure if we needed anything in particular…. most likely we were just craving shopping and were too broke to go anywhere but DI.

In the D.I. Dressing Room

Anyways, we were looking through the clothing racks and cracking up at the oddities that we were finding. Where do people get this stuff??

Claire was  perusing the pajama section and pulled  out an extra large, silky blue MuMu. Laughing, she calls to me, "Bahaha try this one on Noelle!"

I turned from the rack of corduroy, maroon vests  to see what hideous creature Claire had crept upon this time. To my surprise, I was captivated by her capture!

"I love it!"

I think Claire thought I was kidding, but I indeed was not! I took it from her and sprinted off to the dressing rooms.

I'm so glad I captured my first MuMu moment !

Now, I had never tried on a MuMu before, but I was  not expecting to enjoy it so much! It was long, flowy and oh so comfortable. The moment I found out it had pockets, I was sold! I purchased a cheap little belt to wear around it and walked out of that store $3.00 poorer and feeling "FULFILLED" (10 points to whoever can name that CES fireside speaker).

I remember coming home and showing my roommates my cool new find. Some  ooo'd, some ahhh'd (out  of pity I'm sure) and most just laughed and said I'd never wear it. I think that Keri Rich was the only supportive one  :)

I wore it to church the first Sunday after I bought it!

I wore that MuMu at least a dozen times that beautiful spring semester. I wore it to church, to the temple, to devotionals and much more! I got comments galore on it too!  It was my first MuMu love, and it was a good one!

It came in super handy for my grandma halloween costume!

I'm hoping this isn't a projection of what me and my husband will look like on the dance floor in 50 years...

MuMu numba  two came into my life the next Spring semester I believe. I was with some dear friends (namely: Keri Rich, Abby Poston and Diane Polinkowski) doing our usual end of the semester DI pile rummaging. I think we were in the Mountain Pines lounge when this little beauty crossed Keri's path. She pulled it out of the rubble and said something along the lines of, "This has Noelle written all over it" and she was right! I didn't think I could ever love a MuMu as much as I loved my first one…Oh dear, I'm starting to sound like a MuMu mommy. Either way, I fell for this MuMu and it is currently my favorite!

This is Keri Rich, the founder of MuMu2

MuMu 2 Gets worn on only the specialist of occasions.. such as our first roommate dinner!

MuMu two happens to be my good luck charm when playing cards. I win everytime!

MuMu 2 on my first Sunday in Peru!

The mumu was perfect for the hot humid Lima/Chiclayo days.

MuMu number three came in South America. While in Peru (on my first grand travel adventure) I decided that I needed to start a collection of some sort so that when I'm old and grey, my grandkids can have a gay old time looking at Grandma's awesome collection of _____________ from all over the world.

And that's when it hit me. I need a Peruvian MuMu!! Long story short, we met the most amazing grandma in the world, we called her Mamita and seriously, she is so sweet, charitable and gosh darn adorable. She made all three of us gringas dresses out of yarn! We chose the color and the style and she made them for us. While contemplating what style of yarn dress I wanted... I realized that this was the perfect opportunity to get my Peruvian MuMu. So I explained to her what a mumu was (a little MuMu fashion show was called for at this time) and she agreed to make me a MuMu! (Unfortunately, due to my own fault **cough cough this is for you Abigail cough cough**, I don't have a picture of my Peruvian MuMu. It will come shortly!)

         

***Side Note: Some of you know that I like to visit resthomes on a regular basis... well I've actually found myself coveting certain resident's pajama clothing! Marge(see above left picture) has a rockin' teal and purple mumu that I'd give my eye teeth for... maybe I can convince her to write me into the will ;)

***Also, how cool of a grandma will I be? MuMu's and rollerblades? Ohhh yeah.
I know, I know... it's super weird that I'm a connoisseur of old lady pajamas, but we can't all collect mugs and magnets can we??


Love, Noelle

Life Lately

Oh where to begin. I don't even know.
Here are a few pictures I've snapped on my phone (gotta love the quality) these past two weeks..

So I'm sitting in a meeting at around 11:30 when the fire alarm goes out. Reminded me of the good ol days... in elementary school where we'd all line up by the backstops. Except for this was 1300+ men who know more about computers than I ever thought possible.

My dear brother Brandon has been so great! This car has been the death of me, and Brandon has trotted up here to Riverton every week so far to take a look at it and try and help me out. So grateful for "Brothers who know" and who are willing to help out their little sis.

I can't believe I made it through day one! On top of that I started off day two with this little gem on my desk, how nice!

How cool is my life?

Except for the days when you feel like your whole entire world is falling apart and everything you touch breaks, and absolutely nothing is working in your favor, and the fact that  you have a picture of batman and a woman drawn on your wall isn't helping.. (haha) and you just try and smile through the tears and sing Andy Grammar songs to keep from giving up on everything and moving home to die as an old maid in the depths of Overton, Nevada...

Just kidding. Sort of. Life is good. I'm learning way more than I even bargained for and I'm right on the career path that I want to be on. Not to mention that I'm learning life lessons right and left and I'm pretty sure that if you told me that my identity was going to be stolen along with all my money, I was going to lose all my hair in a freak accident annnnd I was probably going to marry a nerdy man.... I'd say, bring it on. Bring it alll on.

Love, Noelle

I Do Hard Things So That I Can.... Do Hard Things

Today, a girl in relief society said that.

And it stuck.

It's so true isn't it?

Remember my first week in Peru? It was HARD.

I was sick the entire time. I was exhausted. We had black mold carpeting our ceiling. I couldn't understand anyone. I shivered myself to sleep every night and woke up at least 6 or 7 times each night out of discomfort, frozen-ness or bugs biting me. We didn't know where or how to buy food. We didn't have a refrigerator or carpet. We didn't have washers or dryers. We didn't have hot water. We didn't have an oven. We didn't have family close by. Most of the days we didn't have running water or electricity. Gosh. It was hard.

At the end of that first week, I told my parents that I was booking my first flight out of there because this was just too hard.

Well, I stayed. And it was still hard, but it got easier. We learned to do with out and make do with what we had. We learned to love our living conditions and those around us. And after a HARD first week, I had three of the best months of my life.

That really hard first week and those challenging three months have prepared me for this next chapter of my life.

See if you can find the parallels.

I know nobody in Riverton, thus I was searching anxiously for a place to stay. Last minute, I found a family who was renting a room out of their basement. So without any further questions, I loaded up and drove to Riverton to move in.

I moved in and was put in a room in the basement...with carpet!! Looking good so far right? I have a place to live! Well not really. Because they weren't planning on having somebody move in so soon, so they weren't really ready for me.

I had no refrigerator to put my food. No oven or stove to cook my food. No sink to rinse my vegetables or wash my dishes. No counters to prepare my food on. No toaster, microwave, toaster oven etc. Essentially no kitchen. I also had NO money. I spent every last penny in Peru and couldn't even afford to pay the $20 bucks a month they were asking to use the laundry room. So I was without a washer and a dryer as well.

But guess what? This was nooo big deal to me! My mom  kind of wanted me to move out of there asap and find something a little bit more suited to my needs, or at least the needs of a normal person... but I had spent the last three months living in such uncomfortable circumstances that a few weeks with out any means to keep/cook/wash/prepare my grub seemed like cake. And it was!  Eventually, the so called "necessities" started popping up, a fridge here, hot plate there. I'm still without a sink or running water, but hellooo that's what the hose outside is for right?

I did those "hard" months in Peru, so that I could do these "hard" weeks in Riverton. So grateful for that prep.

Here's another one.

Remember how we shipped ourselves off to a foreign country where we did not speak the language? Yeah I do. Ohh how my head would ache as I'd desperately try and understand what these people were desperately trying to communicate to me. It expended my brain power like none other I tell you.

Well guess what. I just started a job in a building of 1300 people who speak a completely foreign language. Servers, Oracle, Beach Picture Apps, Remedy,Configuration Items... and don't even get me started on the acronyms! SM, DTE, NPS, EIM, KPI, DSA, CAB, COB, EDDI. Seriously, I almost wish that they were speaking Spanish.

Lesson Number One in ICS lingo

It's hard. But I was totally prepared for it by my time in Peru. I'm used to that "Oh my gosh, they're saying something important, and I'm trying really hard to understand it.. but I'm totally lost" feeling, and I know that I'm a fast learner and that I'll catch on to the language in time.

So everyday as a new "hard" thing comes up...(i.e. My car is a goner so now I'm living and working in this brand new city...with my two feet as my only means of transportation..) I know that I'm doing them in preparation for... more hard things. You can look at that as a downer... my whole life is and forever will be hard, or you can look on the bright side. Either way, the hard times keep on comin'.

So perhaps the fact that I have to wake up an hour and a half earlier than usual so that I can walk to work in the chilly mornings (tomorrow it's supposed to rain... not sure how that'll work out), is simply preparation for another hard time coming.  I'll be ready for it.

Love, Noelle

Why Aren't We Laughing?

Remember how on Pinterest the following saying was being posted like crazy? You may not recall, but I do. And here's why:

I remember it partly because I didn't like it, and mostly because I didn't get it. I can pretty much not relate to this quaint, little phrase one bit!

I've made plans my whole life. I remember at a young age (maybe 10 or so) hearing the word Valedictorian for the first time, and making a plan at that moment that I was going to graduate 8 years later with that title.

I made plans to get involved. To be an efy counselor. To work in the Kimball building. To memorize documents that are important to me. To learn Spanish. To get healthy.

Eight months ago, I made a huge plan that (to be honest) I didn't really think would follow through. I decided that I wanted to travel and do humanitarian work, and I decided that I wanted to intern for the church. These were two things that I have dreamed about for a long time, but they just didn't seem in my reach. 

But, I planned on them anyway. Lo and behold, those dreams became plans, and those plans became a reality. Here I am, living in Utah, interning for the Church after having just spent three of the best months of my life serving in Peru.

I have my graduation plans all lined up. I have a plan for another internship. I have plans for exactly where I want to work when I graduate. I have plans to marry in the temple and raise the cutest little family that you ever did see. I have plans to run a marathon. I have plans to make a difference. I have plans to see more of the world. Oh do I have plans....and I tell God my plans.

 And you know what.... I'm not hearing much divine laughter.

Love, Noelle

10-year-mark

Today, May 1st, marks the ten year anniversary of when I first got "sick". I remember it because it was the day we moved back into the valley from South Lake Tahoe, CA and the May-Day dances were being held.

That is the first day that I remember feeling "sick". Essentially, this means that I have been living with Stills Disease or Juvenille Rheumatoid Arthritis for the past ten years. Can you believe it? I can. In fact, it almost seems likes it's been longer. It's hard to remember a time when I was without this constant companion of mine.

It's hard to remember a time when I didn't worry about my joints deteriorating and becoming more and more mangled as I grew up. It's hard to remember a time when I didn't dread the rain storms and humidity that would surely cause my body to ache and stiffen.

But it's also hard to remember a time when I was miserable. While it's been surely been a challenge, it hasn't been unbearable. It hasn't been impossible. It hasn't been miserable. It's been fine. It's been great even.

Ten years ago I may have felt like I would not have a normal life and be able to do the things that I wanted to. Yet in those ten years, I have not ONCE been stopped from doing something that I wanted to because of Stills. I have climbed mountains, traveled, played sports, danced, served, loved, and carried on throughout life as happy as I possibly could be.

Ten years. Wow. TEN YEARS!

Time Flies.

Love, Noelle