My Higher Education...

I've been here at USU for about 2 and a half months now, and I've learned so much! Some of my classes are really tough, like Econ 1500 and Business Stats 2300, but I also love some of my classes, like my Words of Isaiah institute class and my Zumba class (so basically the important ones;)). I really wanted to share one of my projects I worked on with my friend Wryn for our Econ class. Our professor gave us the class the options of either taking the exam planned or we could make an educational video that taught 2 economic principles from the exam chapters. Of course, Wryn and I made a video! Let's just say this is the result of putting Psychology and Marketing majors in the same group haha :) I'm loving the college life so far...hope you all enjoy the "educational" video we made! 

Video: "Insert Title Here" By: Kaitlin and Wryn

The Generals of Conference

Hey, everyone! So this weekend was General Conference weekend, but if you don't know what General Conference is, let me fill you in :) General Conference is the event that happens twice a year (every 6 months) where the prophet and apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints deliver messages with guidance and counsel from God that will bless our lives. This weekend was especially inspiring for me since, a week ago in Relief Society, I wrote down 3 questions that I had. I prayed to receive answers to these questions this weekend, and I definitely received the answers I was looking for. Below are some quotes that I really enjoyed and took to heart from the messages that were shared in the past 2 days. This first quote is by President Uchtdorf, who is my favorite speaker of all time:)

This is a quote by the prophet, President Thomas S. Monson. He is always such a great speaker and is so inspirational while teaching us important gospel principles!

Technically this quote is from the General Women's Conference that occurred 2 weeks ago, but I still love this quote!

And last but not least, from one of my favorite talks of the entire weekend from Elder Bednar:

I had so many more favorite quotes that I would love to share, but now you have an excuse to go and reread these and many more excellent messages when the conference Ensign comes out! I strongly encourage you to explore these messages from our modern-day prophets and apostles and grow your own testimony like mine has this weekend! 

<3, Katie

Happy Sunday!

     I hope everyone is having a great weekend! Today, I got the chance to go to the Ogden Temple dedication. I couldn't go to the actual dedication but what happened was the live dedication was streamed to the LDS Institute building next door, so I was able to go to that. In order to go, I had to get a yellow temple dedication ticket, which involved showing a current recommend to a bishopric member. The only way you could get into the church was if you had your ticket and showed one of the men at the one of the 2 open doors, everything else was locked. The reason that you had to have a ticket and only were able to go in through certain doors is that since the dedication was being streamed to the institute then the building was an extension of the temple. It was a great experience! The temple matron and president both spoke, along with 3 other general authorities, and then President Monson spoke and gave the dedicatory prayer. After that, there was the Hosanna Shout, which is done at every dedication and you have to have a white handkerchief for it as well. I've never been to a temple dedication before, so this was a really awesome experience for me :) If you ever have the opportunity to go to a temple dedication or an open house, GO! I have never been to an open house, so that is next on my bucket list :) If you want to see what temples are in the building process and how far they are along in construction, you should check out this link to see all of the temples in progress, their locations, and they also have pictures showing what they will look like, which is pretty cool, too. Anyways, happy Sunday, and I hope ya'll have a great rest of your weekend :)

<3,
Katie

What's up?

     Hey, everyone! Sorry it's been such a long time since I've posted. It's been just barely over a month that I've been at Utah State now, and so much has happened since I last posted. I have tons of pictures that you can check out on my College Pictures page!
     It's been great here at college :) I have great roommates: Emily, Emily, Maggie, Erica, Emma, Summer, and Catherine. So far no issues have occurred in our room about dishes or cleaning the bathroom, so that's good! There are also so many awesome people in my dorm building. I live in Honors House, where people who are in the Honors program can live if they choose. Not everyone who lives here is in the Honors program, but they are still taking challenging classes and participating in some of the Honors program criteria. Anyways, the 1st 2 floors of my building are Honors House, and let me tell you, it is a party! It's funny because other people who have lived in Honors House before have mentioned that it's always boring and the common room is empty and no one really socialized. But, this year, the Honors common room is the place to be. There's always someone in the common room and everyone is always hanging out, chatting, playing Swedish Twister, or making something in the kitchen. It's super fun! There is a program the 1st 2 floors do where every week, one of the apartments hosts a kind of open house where people in that room plan an activity and then everyone on 1st and 2nd floor can come and have fun and get to know who all is in the apartment. My apartment hosted the 1st one, so we just had a relaxed ice cream social where we provided ice  cream and toppings and made posters to advertise that said things like, "I scream, you scream, the cops come, it gets awkward" and "BYOBAS: Bring Your Own Bowl and Spoon" :) It was great! We got to just hang out in our living room hanging out and talking to everyone. This week though was awesome. A room of guys downstairs hosted a "Black Tie" event. Their posters were great; they started out the invitation with, "The gentlemen of room 101 cordially invite you to a black tie event." The event happened last night. What happened was everyone was told to wear "Better than Sunday best" and to bring their own bowl and spoon again. We went to the guys' room and 2 of the guys were wearing sunglasses and earbuds acting like they were communication devices and they were the bouncers asking for your ID to make sure you were actually a member of Honors House. If you weren't, you weren't allowed into the party. We ended up moving the party out into the common room because there wasn't enough room in their living room. The invitation mentioned a fancy dinner, which turned out to be a HUGE pot of Ramen and some amazing chocolate and raspberry dessert or peach cobbler!!! Then we went outside and were having our own little dance party by the fire pit. Those were some of the best things our building has done so far.
     Another great aspect about college so far is church. I am LDS and my ward meets in the LDS Institute building that is literally 15 feet from my apartment building. I love my new ward so far! There is ward prayer every Sunday at 8 where you can come and if there is something you want to be said in the prayer you write it on the board and it is added into the prayer. Another interesting thing that has happened with church while I've been here is I have been called as 2nd Counselor in the Relief Society (there are 2 for our ward: 1 for buildings A and B and one for my building C just because there are so many women). If you don't know what Relief Society is, it's the women's organization in the LDS church. I'm super excited about working with all of the amazing girls in my building!
     Now with some of the other random things that have happened in the past month:
1. I learned to ride the bus system so I could go get food (a plus!)
2. I haven't had to pay to get back into my building because I forgot my key inside *thank you roomies
3. I only got lost once and that was trying to find the Library the 3rd week of school
4. I haven't gotten run over by bikers yet
5. I haven't become a True Aggie yet (darn it!) (if you don't know what that is, Google it)
6. I haven't missed any classes yet
7. I actually made friends! It's funny how talking to people actually helps you make friends! (who knew?!?)

     So those are some of the things that have happened in my first month of college. Next post won't be so long because I'm going to be a lot better at keeping up on posting. I haven't gotten homesick yet, but that is still a possibility.
Anyways, hope you enjoyed hearing about some of my experiences, and I'll talk to ya'll again soon!
<3,
Katie :)

The Clock is Ticking...

It's the final countdown! Today is my last Sunday at home before heading off to USU :) I leave on Friday and move into my new "home away from home" on Saturday. It's so exciting and nerve-racking at the same time! Luckily I'll be home at Christmas and the summer for work. Anyways, last night I went to the Fair with my best friend :) Danie and I are so alike that it can get pretty weird...but I think that's why we are such good friends. We don't CARE about how weird the other person is because they put up with us too! We had a great time getting dizzy, eating food that was in no way good for us, and trying to take pictures on the rides without dropping the phones. Also last night, we went to see the Train concert! It was SO COOL; I love the group and it was just so fun to be able to listen to awesome music and see a great show with my best friend :) That's one of the hardest things for me now that I will be moving away...I won't be able to see Danie except for breaks and the summer. No matter what we are doing, we always have a great time, so I guess in a way I will appreciate our time together even more over the breaks. Thank goodness for email and Facebook! Friends are a huge impact on who you are going to become, so I'm glad my best friend has always been just that...the best :)

If you want to see more of our pictures from last night, click here :)

$10 Amazon Gift Card Giveaway

Want an extra 10 bucks to spend on Amazon.com? If you said yes, today is your lucky day. The Diva Dorm is giving away a $10 Amazon.com gift card to one lucky winner! All you have to do is complete the rafflecopter widget found on The Diva Dorm Facebook page under  the "Giveaway" tab to earn 5 entries into the drawing. The goal is to reach 50 total likes on The Diva Dorm's Facebook page as well as build the blog's audience. The giveaway begins today and concludes next Saturday, August 9th, at Midnight. Good luck!

You've Got Mail...

So, there is a website that I found yesterday called moreloveletters.com, where their goal is to bring sunshine and love to those who need it. On MLL, I found a letter directed directly to college freshmen! This love letter to college freshmen was beyond words for me. It talks about all of the challenges and exciting parts of college life, from homesickness to long-distance friendships to embracing the college experience and opportunities. I hope, if you are going to college in the near future, that you take the time to read and appreciate this "love letter" and gain some helpful insight from it. For those of you who aren't in the college stage of life (whether way past it or still traveling towards that stage), please share this letter with someone who is in college or a friend who is away from home and needs some encouragement. Even though the letter is directed towards college students, there are many pieces of advice given in the letter that can be applied to any stage in life. So please, read, share, and enjoy your "love letter" :)

Welcome!

     Welcome to The Diva Dorm! I thought I would introduce myself first before I start posting about my life at Utah State University.

     First off, I am Kaitlin. I graduated this past June from high school!

1. I have a twin sister, Emmalee, who actually has her own college blog called A Cup of Ramen, so check it 

    out :)

2. No birthmark

3. My favorite color is SPARKLES (as might be obvious by this blog's background)

4. I hate wearing socks...and being touched by sock feet...and wearing close-toed shoes (except heels)

5. Lastly, I can speak in a "Stitch" voice (as in the show "Lilo and Stitch)

     Other than that, I'm not really sure what else to tell you. I'm addicted to romance novels, and my favorite TV shows are Downton Abbey, Rising Star, and any "Hallmark" Christmas romance special features :) I will be moving into my dorm at USU on my birthday and will be studying Marketing while I figure out exactly what I want to do for a career.

     Finally, I am soooo very excited to post about my experiences! Hopefully, by doing so, I can help others when it comes to moving into the college stage of life while I also learn from my experiences :) Thank you and Enjoy!