Blogging

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This blog may be taking a vaca for a few days while I finish up my degree. Friday is the last day of classes and then next week is finals week. After that I will be back on the blog to share with you some details about fun things I am doing, like the office in a pouch project, my coffee table, my living room makeover that is currently in progress, my cute husband and more about life. In the meantime, keep reading After Hello for book club, we will discuss it the first week of May 2014. And I may pop in on Saturday with a quick little project that I am working on, to give myself a little break from studying.

XO

Caitlin

Motivation/ Inspiration

For my project photography which I talked about here I had to take a photo of what my inspiration/ motivation was today. This is the photo I took for Instagram:

Yes that would be my graduation cap and gown! This is the only thing motivating me at this point. Two weeks left! It is so crazy how fast it came, and how fast April went. It's already gone and in two Fridays from now I will be wearing this and receiving my diploma. It's exciting and nerve racking and stressful. The doctor said I had high blood pressure when I went yesterday, go figure right? Who doesn't at this point? 

I need work on my photography skills you guys. I am seriously the worst photographer ever. 

I mean the lighting, location and everything but me is terrible in this photo. I look really cute, so that's good. And got to love that picture on the left! 

And one more of my cute face. Well friends that is my motivation/inspiration for today. Graduation. I can't wait for it to come and of course more pictures will follow. Thanks for reading.

XO

Caitlin

Project Photography

I am terrible at taking pictures everyday. I have heard (from many sources) that pictures are the best way to grow your blog. Well this blog of mine hasn't had a lot of pictures because I'm not too good at taking them quite yet. So I have decided to start a project. This project is dedicated to all things photography. I have been thinking about investing in a DSLR camera for the future but before I do I need to show myself that I am committed to growing this blog and taking pictures.

To start it off for the month of April I am going to do an April Photo a Day challenge that I found on Pinterest. There is a bunch of these challenges out there and I just picked the one I thought I would like the best and that would keep me motivated to keep it going.  Here is the challenge I am doing. I think it will be fun to connect and see who else is doing this challenge in the world. 

(VIA)

If you want to join in on the fun that would be great too. I am starting tomorrow with my inspiration, first I have to find it, ;). So stay tuned for photos everyday this month as I try to become a photographer. 

XO

Caitlin

Inventory

Wishing> This semester was over already! Two more weeks
Thinking> I should still be doing homework instead of blogging
Wanting> To go camping. It's been a while.
Hoping> I like my new job, it will be a new experience and I am looking forward to it
Reading> Anthropology books on the brain, they are so hard to understand
Eating> Lots of chicken and rice lately
Watching> Dancing With The Stars Disney Version, my favorite!!
Loving> My husband, more than ever. More on this later
Improving> How I spend my time. I am trying to be more productive
Well that's it for now.
I may get a little deeper with thoughts on the blog for my next post, since I have had some more issues with infertility this month. I think its important to share our experiences of hardships, because life isn't always happy. Although there are always things to be grateful for, its nice to know we aren't alone when hard times happen upon us. Until next time.
XO
Caitlin

Tips For Writing Your College Final Paper

I have noticed that some of my most popular blog posts have been the ones on college and sharing tips and tricks with you guys. So here is one that I know you will all love!

1) Start Early. This is crucial to your success. I have two papers due at the end of this semester, both are about 15-20 pages long and both require a certain number of sources. This takes a lot of time. About two weeks ago I started the paper for one of my classes and it took about 3 days to get 3 pages of the rough draft written. Imagine if I procrastinated until the last week of school? This happens all the time, unfortunately and professors don't appreciate that and will dock a lot of points off your grade. Make sure and start early so you can write a complete rough draft and have time to proof read it through at least twice. Once this rough draft is done, turn it into your professors, even if they say you don't have to. Ask for feedback and then start rewriting based on their comments. Starting early will save you loads of time in the end.

2) Use a flash drive. Another very important tip. I organize my folders on my flash drive by classes so when you first open the drive you see the class list and click on the class you want. Then I organize the class into sub folders for research paper, assignments, etc. All articles you come across while browsing for your research topic, you should save the PDF format and put it in the folder you labeled for that class. This helps with future organization and when you sit down to start writing the paper you already have a bunch of sources right at your finger tips.

3) Read the grading rubric. Do this before you begin step two, maybe I should move it around? Anyway, this is a very important step. Your Professor will most likely have a grading rubric on how they want the paper formatted and how they want citations to be cited (basically if you are using MLA or APA format). Periodically, throughout the process of researching and writing your paper, refer back to the rubric to make sure you haven't forgotten anything and that all the points and steps are covered.

4) Write your literature review section first. This helps me the most. I always do my research and write the lit review first, then wait a few days before I start the other sections of my paper. All my professors have required a lit review on the paper at one point in time. This is the section you are getting your thesis idea from. You are stating the background information, pulling in other authors and scientific research that has been conducted on your topic. This section should clearly answer the "So What?" question for your readers.

5) Spend at least an hour a day working on your paper. Whether you have two or three papers due, spend a consecutive hour on your paper each day writing your thoughts out. After I do this I tend to go back and look at what I have written, and re-organize my thoughts to where they would best fit in the paper. Then I revise it all and turn that in as my rough draft. By the time I have actually handed my professor my rough draft, I have read through the paper about 4 times checking for errors, etc. This is just what works for me, but try it, you may be surprised at what you come up with.

6) Have a friend in class proofread the paper for you. I used to have outside sources proofread my paper, however that was ineffective because they didn't know what to look for. If you can find someone in class who will take the time to proofread your paper, you will be much better off. This person knows what your professor is grading the assignment on. You might offer to trade papers and both be benefited by this exercise.

7) Take breaks. I take a lot of breaks while I am studying, it just helps me focus, and internalize what I have just written. It also helps to look back at my work and see what needs to be changed right off the bat.

8) REVISE, REVISE, REVISE. You can never edit your paper too much. From my experience I have gotten the best grades on papers when I revise the paper at least 5 times before turning in the final copy. I know that feels like a lot, but what if it made the difference between a B+ and an A paper? I have had this happen to me and I am so glad I followed through and did revise as much as I could.

Well there you have it. Some of my best tips for success in writing your paper. I might do a part 2 later, as there is just so much that goes into writing. What tips do you have for those writing final research papers?
XO
Caitlin

To Quit my Job or Not? That is the question

Right now I am hating my job. It was good, then my old company got bought out and we transferred to a new floor in draper. Since that time my life has been miserable. Going to work everyday has been awful. I have to drag myself there and then when I am there, I am engulfed in an environment that I don't like. I get belittled at work, texting me things that I am doing wrong and it just isn't working out. I have been debating for a few days now if I should quit my job. I finally decided that yes I am going to.
In the end, no matter how many of my coworkers and friends I have there for me to be miserable all day isn't worth it. Work just has made me so angry lately. Then I come home and I am angry at Zack, which he doesn't deserve. I have been treated horrible lately, when I am the one who stays until 11:00 pm when I don't even have to. For my best interest, it will be better off to quit.
Now I have a few things in the works. I am starting up music lessons again, so if anybody is interested and lives in Utah County, let me know. I have plans for a full time job to start in three weeks and will teach lessons after work. Things are looking up and its going to be great. I love playing the flute and piano and look forward to continue playing and teaching others.

XO

Caitlin

General Conference

This is weekend is General Conference. It is one of my favorite things about being Mormon. Growing up I hated it. Just sitting around for 8 hours doing nothing but listen to people talk, I could never get anything out if it. I started loving it when I was at Utah State. Before I get into that, I just want to say that in the LDS church we have a general worldwide meeting for all members of the church every six months. They always happen during the first weekend of April and October. The leaders of the church pray and fast in preparation for the messages that they will give us, they are not assigned topics but rather listen to what God would have them say. Then we gather in front of the TV and watch the live broadcast. It is a great way to hear the Prophet of the world speak to us and I invite anyone to click here who would be interested in listening.
Back to Utah State...
I was a freshman and had a great group of friends. There was about 10 girls and 2 boys who we hung out with all the time. When conference came around we gathered in the basement of our dorm room and had a big party. We all actually took notes, this was the first time I had EVER done this. I don't remember what I got out of the meeting that month but I do remember having the feeling of looking forward to the conference that would be held in April.
I kept up this excitement and then it grew exponentially when I was a missionary.
Being a missionary isn't all that glamorous as some people may want you to think. After a few weeks of being in the field, I was tired, exhausted more like it, hot, and kind of getting grumpy with my situation. I had different expectations of what the mission would be like and I was finding out very quickly that those expectations weren't entirely true. I needed a break and General Conference offered that to me.
I remember sitting in the chapel of our ward and hearing Elder Jeffrey R. Holland give this amazing talk here. I cried, thinking he must know how I am feeling. I decided then that no matter how bad the mission would get, I was going to stick it out. I committed to be there for 18 months and I was going to finish. I can proudly say that I did finish and it was one of the best experiences of my life.
Since that time, conference has always had a bit of inspiration for me to look forward to. We all have questions in life, what to do about certain situations, if we should move apartments, if we should quit our jobs, whatever it is and I can tell you that the spiritual instruction we receive at conference can help answer your questions.
I hope that you all have time to watch a little bit of it, even if it is one talk or a musical number. The Mormon Tabernacle Choir is great to listen to and have beautiful hymns that help us worship the Savior. General Conference has always been a great break from the world for me, and I am so glad I get to share it all with you.

How awesome is that choir? Can't wait to hear them this weekend. 

XO

Caitlin

Lists

Thinking> That I should be doing homework instead of blogging
Changing> My job. I've had enough (more on this later maybe... but really I am getting tired of it and fast)
Hoping> I can have some new flute students soon, that would be the best thing in the world.
Loving> Time spent with Zack. These days are busy for us and anytime we get together I consider to be precious moments
Excited> About General Conference this weekend. I need some inspiration.
Reading> After Hello, for book club of course
Happy> That school is almost over. 24 more days folks.
Thankful> For my husband, and that he is willing to go get potatoes at the store at the last minute, even though he really doesn't want to.
Marveling> At the fact that I have kept both my Beta fish alive for over 3 months. It's a new record.
Listening> To "Let It Go" on repeat lately, can't get enough of it
Watching> Survivor, Once Upon A Time, Once Upon A Time in Wonderland, Drop Dead Diva, The Office re-runs, maybe The Big Bang Theory
Playing> Frogger on the Nintendo 3ds, hoping I get Yoshi's New Island soon
Liking> My clean closet, and that it has stayed clean
Wanting> A goldendoodle puppy. We are moving in the Fall and I can't wait so I can finally get a puppy
Enjoying> getting my nails done, I haven't been to much of a girly girl when it comes down to it but I really like having nails
Making> Cute pages in my Erin Condren planner, which I still love
Obsessed> With Cheetah print lately, who knew?
First> Time I ever tried Diet Coke was this month. I went 26 years of my life without every trying it before... don't know why
Needing> A Harry Potter movie marathon. Whose with me?
Feeling> Anxious. I want to make sure I pass all my classes this semester, so I get pretty anxious about it
Wishing> I was better with finances, I really am the worst
Needing> A puppy. Can we move yet?
And just for fun:

(source)

I really need one don't you think. Good thing I finally got Zack on my side. 

XO

Caitlin