North Carolina State Fair- aka Fried Food Heaven.

Tonight Jake and I went on an adventure to the NC State Fair, otherwise known as the heaven of all fried food. Please enjoy a picture journey of some of the things we saw.

A variety of fried food options...

I love how they have simply "fried dough."

We tried the red velvet oreos...

they were pretty good but didn't taste much like red velvet. And I was tired of them after one.

50 cent pickle (probably my favorite thing I ate) and this cool waterfall. 

We enjoyed a lot of people-watching. We especially liked this guy's mustache. 

We watched pigs, goats, and ducks race. This was another highlight of the day. The goats stopped in the middle of the race and tried to turn around. They were really cute. :)

For the Ettinger clan.....

We saw some really cool carved pumpkins. They were in the middle of the garden exhibits, which were GORGEOUS. That was my other favorite part. 

We also saw this HUGE pumpkin. The one in the middle is 800 pounds!!

 There were lots of other cool vegetables too. There was a watermelon that was 250 pounds.

And for you health nuts out there, don't worry, they had fresh vegetables too...

We had a lot of fun at the fair! Our favorites were definitely the gardens, flower arrangements, and pig races. And in my case, the pickles. 

Tarheels!

Once again, I slack on my blogging. This week has been pretty great. My tennis class is awesome, I finished a paper, AND....ACCEPTED UNC'S OFFER to grad school!!!!

That's right. I'm going to be a Tarheel. And I'm SO SO EXCITED!!!!!!!! :)

procrastinating.

I'm procrastinating reading papers for my readings in biotechnology class. I don't care about biofuels or the genetics of rice. I don't want to read about you!!

I found another "sometimes" post. So I'm doing that instead. Enjoy.

Sometimes...

It's hard for me to read papers I have no interest in whatsoever. (biofuels and plants!!!)

I'm reminded of how much I love my friends when they don't think I'm insane when I turn into my crazy, late-night, exhausted self. 

I feel self-conscious when I lead the music in church. 

I am mildly dishonest when I hide what I really think about some things.

I can't imagine a world without summer. I can't wait, I'm so done with winter. 

I'm surprised that I still have hope for some things. 

I get a little too easily wrapped up in checking my email for news from schools.   

I indulge in guilty pleasures like watching Once Upon a Time and eating far too many treats.  

I wish all things in life were as wonderful as a sunny day with the whisper of spring in the air.  

happy feb 18!

Today has been a great day. I worked on my talk for church tomorrow and played ultimate. I also had a ton of fun with friends last night.

I've been feeling pretty lucky the last month. (Minus the four days this week where I was a complete and utter stress case). Here's why:

• I got a scholarship from Myriad genetics. Keith nominated me and I had no idea. Here's a picture they sent with the thank you letter:

• I went to Michigan and got to see Chelsea, play whirlyball, and experience my first interview weekend (I got rejected but, oh well)
• I went to New York City. I interviewed at Columbia and didn't like it AT ALL. But, I hung out with Brittnee, went to Mary Poppins, went to the Met, ate NY pizza & cheesecake, and took in the wonder of NYC.
• North Carolina. I LOVED UNC! The campus is beautiful, the people are nice, the apartments are reasonably priced and nice, the research and faculty are awesome, and there are a good number of church members. Now, if they could just give me their admission decision, that'd be great! 
• Boston. Our hotel had rubber ducks. AWESOME. I wasn't super impressed by the program at Boston University, but I met some awesome people.
• I was awarded an ORCA grant.
• My friends are amazing.
• I am increasingly grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ in my life. I know it is true and I cannot imagine life without it. 
• My brothers are the best missionaries out there. 
• My parents are an amazing strength to me. I'm so glad they are always there to listen to me and calm my stressed mind. 
• I can run, play frisbee, eat, and I live in a safe place with a roof over my head.

What else can a girl ask for??

sometimes...

This is the new blogging trend...you copy the bold parts of the following sentences and fill them in. I'm kind of in love with this idea. And, I hardly ever blog anymore. And, I'm avoiding writing the prospectus I need to do because it is making me massively frustrated. So, sometimes....

I get weirdly excited about my roommate's art on etsy (pending). She is seriously the most amazing artist and everyone should see it. (Don't worry, I'll post a link as soon as it's up)

I feel overwhelmed with gratitude when I remember how lucky I am to be interviewing at grad schools with some of the smartest people I've ever met. 

I can't stop thinking about this HUGE decision I'm about to make, about grad school. 

I just want to eat fruit sours all day, every day. 

I am kinda a bad person and don't pay any attention to the presidential campaign. 

I wish I could dye my hair ...I don't. I love my hair color.  

I just don't understand the allure of The Bachelor. My roommate watches it and I just don't understand why people watch 20 bratty girls make out with 1 guy. Or why girls would put them in that situation. 

I can't believe how close I am to graduating. Less than 3 months. Eek. 

I strongly consider spending a lot of money on forgetting grad school and traveling the world.  

Now it's your turn! :) 

ugly tree.

So, after Thanksgiving my parents and I went to cut our Christmas tree, just like we do every year. I didn't want to have to drive all the way to Cedar (especially since the short way was blocked by a landslide) and trudge through the snow to find a tree. So, I suggested we go to Pine Valley where there is no snow. In Pine Valley you can only cut Pinions and Junipers. My mom hates Juniper trees, so we were on the hunt for a Pinion. We found one that looked decent, and brought it home. (Well, my dad had to dig a lot to be able to cut it first) We got it in the house, and oh boy...it is UGLY. It is a round, flat topped tree:

So, we put an entire nativity on the top...

My dad had the tree undecorated by 2:00 Christmas day and outside our house by 5. It left sap ALL over the floor and was just a terrible mess. Lesson learned: never get a pinion pine for a Christmas tree. 

On Christmas Eve, dad rode his bike out to Zion so mom and I went to pick him up; we had to walk up to weeping rock and see if it was frozen. It wasn't as frozen as it has been in other years but it was still really pretty. 

Me and the parents:

It was really fun to talk to Ames and Kyle on Christmas. They are doing awesome and loving their missions!! If you want to read their emails you can HERE.

lazy.

I'm really lazy.

Here are some pictures from Japan. Go HERE. When I get my dad's pictures I'll post some of his that I like.