Life Goals

Yesterday at church the Young Women's leaders asked Dana, Courtney, Lindsay and I speak to the girls. We spoke about life goals and how we have used goal setting, and the skills we learned while in Young Women to succeed in life. Each of these girls are amazing!

Dana Blackburn: Amazing.

BYU: Archeology

Semester in Nauvoo, Jordan, Jerusalem

Be open to the spirit. Allow him to be a part of your life, decisions and goals. He will guide you to opportunities you've never dreamed of.

Courtney Petersen: Adventuresome

BYU: Anthropology

Internship in Nepal followed by a semester long research project in India.

Always remember the importance of social networking. Get involved, make friends and opportunities will come as you're open and network within your field of study.

Lindsay Petersen: Spiritual Giant

BYU: Human and Child Development

Recently Returned from the Carlsbad, California Mission.

Trust the Lord. Remember to always put him first. If we include him and walk in righteousness he will provide for us. It will be hard and we might not always want to do it, but it will work out. We need not fear.

Brooke Rodda: Looking for a J - O - B

BYU–Idaho: Communication

Distinguished Graduate; Newel K. Whitney Award

Decide what you want to study – and be the best at it. If you're going to do something do it right. Get involved. Set aside time to work on your goals each week and do not let anything get in the way.

I'm grateful we were able to speak to the young women. It made me think about what I want/need to do with my life. I have to set goals in order to succeed. I have done that my whole life and it has served me well. So thinking about all of these things, letting them marinate I need to make goals. So here is what I'm thinking:

Read the Book of Mormon at least once every year

Go to the Temple once a month

Join PRSA - the adult version of PRSSA

Exercise twice a week

Go to Australia before 2015

Do my visiting teaching every month

Have a job before March 1, 2009

Clean out my room!!!! . . . and keep it that way

Go on more dates

Go out with the sister missionaries

Go on a great american road trip with my besties

Go to all 50 states before 2020

Get a passport before the end of 2010

Read the bible cover to cover before 2015

Own a black range rover <--- I'll know I've made it if I can do this!

I'm a college Grad... what now.

So I did it. I made it through. I walked across that stage as they read 'Brooke Elizabeth Rodda, Communication'.

So yes, I have a degree. BUT what on earth am I supposed to do with that degree?

Any thoughts? I am open to suggestions. If you have any please forward them on to me... berodda@gmail.com

per craigs request

So tonight Craig 'demanded' that I update my blog at least once a week with the happenings of my life. Let me give you a little flavor of this week. I don't really want to study for my VERY LAST FINAL OF MY UNDERGRAD CAREER that I will be taking in the morning... I mean C's get Degree's right? So anyways back to the list of things to do:

Spend 24,000 hours with my boyfriend Jacob Spori, I sure am going to miss him when I'm gone

Cry.

Sleep very little

Pack

Laundry

Cry some more.

Say goodbye to my favorite professors, places, roommates, apartments. ect.

Make books

Parents come!

Go to the temple

Horkley's

Sleep over with my favorite people :)

Help craig apply for an internship in Indiana

Probably cry a little more – both happy and sad tears.

Favorite part of this week: Getting ready and then actually walking across the stage in the Hart Auditorium as they say 'Brooke Elizabeth Rodda' and I get my diploma cover.

I can't believe that my time in Rexburg is finally winding down. I remember thinking as a freshman I'M NEVER GOING TO MAKE IT! Well I've done it. I am actually going to graduate from college. I couldn't image life and especially Rexburg without Stevie, Katie, Mike and Craig. I've been with Stevie since day 1 freshman year in the dorms. I have never lived in Rexburg and

not lived with Stevie. SO enough with the sap before I cry...

Overall top 10 moments of my college experience

10. Random Dates

Nothing says Rexburg quite like coming home to ballon, streamers and secret notes just to be asked on a date for Friday.

9. Playing Dress up

Happened mostly freshman year, but you know you have good roommates when you've had a rough day and they come in your room dressed like this:

8. Pranks

I've experience my fair share of popcorn, eggs, balloons, syrup, water-towers and even so far as a dead squirrel in a pizza box delivered courtesy of Pizza Hut.

7. Idaho Falls Slumber Party

Slumber party at emily munk's house: pizza, pillow fights and paparazzi.

6. Veronica Mars

Oh Veronica. BYU–Idaho would not have been the same without you.

5. Food/Paint/Mud/Water/Jello Fights

College is supposed to be messy right?

4. I'm in Pocatello and I am PISSED

There is no one I would rather be stuck with. Best worst weekend of my life.

3. So were going to Provo

Rachelle and I meet Gleen Beck and then on a whim drove to Provo at 10 p.m. It was fantastic.

2. NYC Expeditions

Not only did I get to go to NYC once for $300 but twice. God Bless BYU–Idaho

1. The Rexburg Temple

Living so close to the Temple has changed my life forever

Rexburg,

Thanks for the memories.

Love,

Brooke

Veronica Mars

I don't know what it is about Veronica Mars. Maybe it's her smile.  Maybe it's her charismatic personality. More realistically it's her bad A way of putting people in there place.  But I really can not get enough of her. 

I'm currently re-watching season 1 and I've probably already watches this season 4 - 5 times. The excitement the mystery of who murdered Lilly Kane! Oh their just so sly I would have never guessed the murderer. 

1 2 3 4 Tell me that you love me more

It only happens ONCE a century. Today we celebrated 12:34:56 7/8/09. We had to have an office cookie cake to celebrate such a momentous occasion. 

The excitement is almost to much to bare! 

Ah where did Nicole go?

Brenda having a heart to heart with him.

Even little Stori was helping to balance the cookie cake from inside the tum tum 

My Trip to Sexburg

Sorry I've neglected you blog...

So I would say life has dealt me quite the hand in the past few weeks.

First Katie and I pulled off the surprise of the century! We made it to Idaho for our friends birthdays without anyone knowing... ok well Katie told a few people but I kept my mouth shut.

My life wold not be complete with out at least a few awkward things happening while in Rexburg.

1. My friend essential emotionally pushed me off a cliff because he said the other person would be on the ground to catch me... he wasn't. Thats ok. Love it when that happens.
2. Contracted diarrhea of the mouth... Brought up a time a semi-stranger touched one of my friends boobs over a year ago in front of said semi-stranger and my friend.
3. Made reference to the fact one of my roommates always wanted to be a teen mother by saying 'Stevie said she always wanted to get knocked up...any takers?' in a room full of people she didn't know. (I still feel bad about that)
4. Because of number 1 I spent several awkward hours not really sure how to act, but trying to play it cool... didn't work *See 2 & 3

Moral of the story, I had a great time and made plenty of memories with some of my favorite people on earth. I had a great time.

Kitty and I are so stealthy

Happy Birthday Craig

And Emily too!

I got to go to the Temple twice! I love you Rexburg :)

Then some friends I hadn't seen since freshman year took me to make sobe bombs in the country. PARTY! It was great. I miss German. Oh man and I didn't even get a photo with him. Lame. I know.

FINALLY! Stevie Katie and I were able to successful popcorn Mike and Craig's apt. It only took us a year and 10 lbs of popcorn to get it right.

And as fortune wold have it I ran into Sister Worthington at the airport, what a nice treat!

I <3 my internship :)

What is not to love about working in a creative atmosphere all summer?! I get to play with the Abode Suite, Plan Office Olympics, and even set up Scavenger Hunts.

Day 1: As a matter of fact, today while helping set up said scavenger hunt, I went with the other Comm Intern, Intern Sarah, to YATS in Broad Ripple. LOVE Yats. Anywho. I'm there I've already eaten lunch and thinking gosh this smells as good as a piece of chocolate cake to a fat kid! Do I get some to take home for dinner? Nah. I'll just go back for lunch sometime this week. Ok back to the real story. I walk up to the counter ask the man if it would be ok if we had people from work come and get Mardi Gras beads as one of their items. He politely says 'yes'. The man standing behind him looks me up and down and says 'oh honey, I can get you more than beads!'. I smile awkwardly and say 'oh thats ok, thanks though' and walk away.

It's shaping up to be a great summer. I can't wait for the adventures to begin. Especially when the other interns come in a couple of weeks.

Life Lessons

My friend Craig always yells at me for not writing on my blog... so here is a random sample of what's been on my mind lately. 

The past month has been interesting the last few boys I've dated have all either a. gotten a new girlfriend    b. gotten engaged    or    c. gotten married. Me, I'm not dating anyone. I'm def not engaged or married for that fact.  So this leaves me in limbo once again. All of the sibs are married. They're great, but sometimes its a rough life to be the youngest of 6 and not married. I love them. They mean well. But sometimes they don't know when to shut up about my romantic life or lack there of. 

For the past couple of weeks I have had the pleasure of watching 2 of my nieces, Summer 1 year and Ava 6 months. WOW. Talk about a hand full. These little girls are teaching me valuable lessons. 

1. You truly love the people you serve. These little girls depend on me to feed them, change them and  most importantly love them. I couldn't love them more. 

2. Oh my gosh, I really do want to be a mom. 

3. When you have to change a poopey diaper shove a little tp up your nose, kinda like you do when you're sick and have a runny nose, and it eliminates half the oder. 

4. I now know all of the words to the theme songs of Sid, the Science Kid and Super Why. Thank you PBS Kids. I'll remember these shows for when I have kiddies. 

5. Naps are fantastic. I thought they were good before, but it's even better when you can get Ava and Summer to sleep at the same time. :) 

Next week I get to be the Maid of Honor in one of my besties weddings. I am so happy for them. I'll never forget the first time I meet Sam. I was giving her then boyfriend a hug while she gave me the death stare... my how things change in 4 years. Needless to say Sam isn't marry that man. She is marrying Scott Tillett! Love them together. I knew Sam before she was a member of The Church and Scott before his mission. I wouldn't have paired them in a million years back then. Now = Perfection. It's all about timing. 

My summer internship starts on May 18th and I am oh so excited! I can't wait to get back to the madness. I love being busy and having lots to do. I've been a little bored the past few weeks. 

I'm not sure if I want to go to the singles ward here. It's awkward. Great for stories, but actually dates...ehh not so much. And besides that my partners in crime are off preparing to go India for all of fall semester (WHAT THE HECK COURTNEY!) or going off and getting married (Thanks a lot Sam) JK I love these girls. Seriously though, probably just going to stay in the family ward or to be asked the timeless question of 'sooo are you dating anyone?" 'Nope' "How old are you again?" '22' "oh so are you going to go on a mission then"  I have this conversation AT LEAST 5 times a summer. Not a joke. 

. . . Awkward. . .

Who doesn't love a few really great awkward moments? I know I do, and I personally have them quite frequently. Just so you know you're not alone out there. Over the years I have had several awkward turtle moments with friends, roommates, boyfriends, siblings, random people on the street, you name a situation and I've probably experienced something similar. Let me share a few of my favorites.

Top 5 Moments

5. Happened just the other night, I saw a girl I see quite frequently and she always has a nice ring on her left ring finger. It’s a large ruby with diamonds on the side. Understanding that not everyone wants a wedding ring with a diamond center stone I ask her, 'Oh are you getting married? I mean are you engaged?' Her response 'well... I am engaged, but I don't think were getting married anymore...' Cool. I just became that girl who brings up a situation you probably have no desire to talk about.

4. Once my roommate’s boyfriend was up visiting from BYU, he was getting ready to leave and decides he wants to give each of us a hug. I'm sitting on the couch wearing hospital scrubs. I stand up. He goes in for a hug. My scrubs drop to the ground. I swoop down in a fury to pick them up. He ends up giving an air hug with a confused look, while I pull my pants back up. Thank goodness for leggings. Once my pants were securely on my waist we shared a brief and slightly awkward hug.

3. I once told a boy that I hate previously dated, "you know I've liked you sine we were 17 (we were 19 at the time) and I'm just really awkward at showing it and I'm sorry for that" . . . silence . . . 'What did you just say?' STUPID BROOKE! I sheepishly say "you know what I said, don't make me repeat myself" . . . MORE silence . . . 'yeah, I think I already knew that' WHAT?! I think I already know that? That is worse than THANK YOU!

2. I have a KTD. Yes; A Kissing Transmitted Disease. All I'm going to say is don't make out with someone who has lived in Russia for an extended period of time unless you want your face to swell to the size of a grapefruit. Try explaining that one to your mother.

1. So, long story short I have a friend, we liked each other in high school. We went on random dates all the time. We then get to college and last year he tells me he really wants to make a go at things and see how it works out. I say sure why not. We went on a few dates and then had an awkward DTR. He was seeing marital status, while I was seeing single life as a cool drink of water in the middle of the Mojave Dessert. We had a bit of a falling out, and it comes to the end of the semester so I go to say bye to him. Come to find out he's been avoiding seeing me. To top it off when I ask him how he's doing, he gets slightly quiet and more awkward than usual. 'I need to tell you something' ... I'm thinking oh crap what's it going to be now... 'yeah, ok go ahead' 'well, I have a girlfriend. AND WE'VE KISSED!' Yes ladies and gentleman I was told 'I have a girlfriend, and we've kissed!'

Moral of the story: It's a MIRACLE anyone gets married; A literal act of God. Enjoy the ride getting to that point. You'll have some great stories to tell your children some day. And if you don't get married then you can share your stories with the 95 cats you'll buy when you become the creepy cat lady down the street. So next time something happens and you feel like you want to crawl inside of an animal carcass for protection, just think of the great story you can tell someone about it later.

Lead, Follow or get out of my way.

So tonight I went over to my friend Emily's house, we laughed, we reminisced and of course took the color personality test. Several years ago at girls camp Emily and I had a leader that was OBSESSED with the color personality test. It was doctrine to her. So she made all of the Youth Leaders take it. 

Yellow-Blue. Let me just share with you some of the traits of a yellow-blue: 'They can be footloose and carefree one minute, then suddenly turn very serious the next."  That was me. All play all day and then... oh crap my homework isn't done and I need an A.

Tonight I retook the test Yellow-Red. I was mortified half way through the test I realized that almost every answer I had chosen was for a 'red' personality. 'strong-willed, independent, assertive, aggressive' WHAT?! Me a Red. How did this happen? Emily and I used to make fun of people that were 'RED' and now suddenly I've become one? The rest of the night I was laughing because I would say or do something and then go oh. my. gosh. I am a red. I am. What has happened. Emily just laughed. 

Red-Yellow: The Red dynamically direct your life, while the Yellow charismatically invites others to enjoy your friendship. 

So if I see you around I might ask you directly and assertively to be a part of my life, but I promise you'll enjoy the ride. 

True Love

Over my yeas at BYU–Idaho I have had a number of loves that have come and gone and come back again. Among those loves are tennis, photography, walking to class and having my nose hairs freeze along the way (happened just yesterday in fact), prank wars, dance parties, public relations and a certain missionary that just didn't work out, but thats another blog for another day. The one love that compares to no other and that I find myself coming back to time after time: Jacob Spori. 

 He is just so darn irresistible. He does demand quite a bit of my time, but I am ok with that. I enjoy the time I spend with him. He is loyal. He is steadfast. He is immovable.  I never have to wonder where he is or what he's doing... and every time I see him, he invites me in out of the cold winters day or the summer heat to stay a while. Even when I am in a rush, and I want to, I just can't say no. It's so hard to refuse his advances. Over these past 4 years I have spent more time with Jacob than I have any of my roommates, friends, or boyfriends combined. Jacob Spori, I think I love you... will you marry me? 

Semester numero 8

Well, now that my 8th semester is underway I am feeling the stress levels rise. I am taking awesome classes, not necessarily hard but SO time consuming.

I spent 5 hours alone working on my graphic design project today. Pretty sure overall I spent 14 hours on that sucker. It's a real beaut though.

Book Arts is awesome! I love it. Our teacher is hilarious... direct quote Last Thursday... "well I teach primary. I hate it. Sharing time is so boring! I'm trying to get fired from God." This Tuesday... "well I got fired from primary! Now I teach Gospel Doctrine." It's a party every time.

I'm working for i-Comm for the 4th semester in a row. I love it. So much work, but it's rewording. I get to see the lights come on; students understand what PR really is and what you do as a PR practitioner. I worked previously as an Account Executive and worked directly with the students teaching them, managing clients and producing work. This semester I am the Project Manager for the agency. I do mostly office management, quality control and managing our agency's intranet. It's a little different than what I am used to but it's been a great learning experience.

This summer I plan on returning to Indiana and interning for Midwest ISO again. I worked there last semester and it was such a great experience. It was defiantly not what I was expecting. It was so much better! I did real work, meaningful work for the company. I was able to redesign the recruiting material, organize office Olympics, and so many other great things.