A Summer of Reading

Alas, I can feel the season of summer upon me!!!!

I'm so happy to be finished with classes until August, and long ago decided that I would devote my summer to writing, reading, and my piano studies.

Now that leadership class is a fond memory as opposed to a time-consuming reality, I'm rededicated myself to my art and my true loves. I plan on completing a draft of my novel , as well as reading at least one book every week between now and when classes start at the end of August.

Since the creative juices are flowing for Lindsey, Not Perfect, I decided to hold myself accountable for my reading goal by, of course, making a list. I will not only read a new book each week, I will do a blog post about what I took away from the book, characters I admired or dismissed, and my over recommendation for whether or not I think it's worth the read.

Those who know me well will know that I don't just select any book to devote my time to, therefore I had to do a little research to even make my list. I had created a board on Pinterest a while back called Good to Know: Books specifically with this purpose in mind. So I perused my pins and from many many lists of good books for twenty-something females, I not only had a great start, but a schedule to boot!

So here are the first few on my list:

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
He's Just Not That Into You by Greg Behrendt & Liz Tuccillo
Girls in White Dresses by Jennifer Close
Adulting: How to become a grownup in 468 steps by Kelly Williams Brown
Bossypants by Tina Fey


Obviously there are more, but if I said all of them right now, I might get the idea that I don't need to read anything else. I'm hoping that by the end of May I will have discovered even more literature gems to add to my list. Currently there are 11 books on my schedule, with room for 7 more. I will have read 18 new books by the time classes start. I promise!

5 Fun Facts for April

1. I LOVE Jason David Frank (aka Tommy the green/white ranger from Power Rangers). I got to meet him at FanX for Comic-Con this month. Afterwards, I purchased the 1995 Power Rangers Movie and have been reliving my childhood dreams of one day marrying him and having martial artist children.

2. I've recently discovered a band called The Cab, and I'm beyond obsessed with their songs "Lovesick Fool" and "Living Louder."

3. I seriously think I have an addiction for purchasing DVDs on Amazon.com. In the last 6 months, I've bought The First Wives Club, Heathers, Ever After, Save the Last Dance, The Sound of Music, Frozen, The Power Rangers Movie, Can't Buy Me Love, Bring It On, Drive Me Crazy, A Goofy Movie, and Pride & Prejudice.

4. I plan on making an original painting this summer, it is one of my goals.

5. I'm determined to finish a complete draft if my novel Lindsey, Not Perfect by the time my first class begins in August. Once I've got a draft, I will distribute it to a few people and get their feedback.

Highlights from ELP 6520 and the Leadership Expo

This is who we are: 

the future leaders in higher education

Our class on the first night, we're a very colorful group are we not?

This is a photo of most of us with Barb Snyder.
She came and spoke to us about her role as U of U Vice President and what leadership means to her.

*What I learned from Barb Snyder is that it is possible to rise to a prominent leadership position in higher education and still have a family. I know that this sounds random, but so many female leaders have come and spoken to our class during our 16 weeks, but none of them have really addressed the challenges of being a high-profile leader and being a mother. I was so excited when she brought it up that I had to ask her privately how she pursued her PhD immediately after having her daughter (seriously, she decided to get her PhD while she was on maternity leave). She said having a supportive husband is what made it all possible. I don't feel like I have to choose one over the other anymore because she has demonstrated that you can have both and be good in both areas.

She also helped me understand that I shouldn't pigeon-hole myself and only settle for one type of opportunity. Part of me wonders how much of her presentation inspired my switch from the U over to Westminster. All I know is that following her presentation, I felt more courageous and more inspired as I made potential career/education choices.

This is what we do: practice being leaders

Group Project: Profiling Leaders on Campus

Brainstorming session, who did we want to profile as a leader on campus? Naturally, I suggested Tom Hurtado since he is so awesome and a true leader in my eyes. Lucky for me, everyone was on board with my suggestion.

Joan, Erica, myself, and Colton.
Joan had asked Tom what he thought leadership tasted like, and he said Lemon Cake, therefore as part of our presentation we included lemon cupcakes (Joan is amazing at whipping up homemade treats!)

*What did this project teach me?

I learned that good leaders own their actions, they don't make excuses. Ever since Tom told us to own our actions, I own up to all my mistakes. I ask so many questions to clarify expectations before I make a decision, but I know how to defend my choices.

Everyone brings not only different strengths to a group dynamic, but different perspectives. What I think is insightful might be completely different from what Colton or Erica think, or even Joan. We all pick up on different things for different reasons, and recognizing those differences make us a stronger team.

 Leadership Expo: Final Project

My leadership puzzle; left side 'What is Leadership?' (theory); and the right side 'Who am I as a leader?' (practice)
Each piece had a visual or textual representation of leadership, as well as three different colors of acrylic paint.
I received a lot of positive feedback on how I chose to display the pieces, as well as how creative the overall idea was.

One of my favorite pieces: 

"Being positive in a negative situation is not naive, it's LEADERSHIP."

*This class taught me many things, but one of the most important lessons I learned was how to combine resourcefulness, creativity, and make an incredibly general concept relatable to everyone. My parents attended the expo and asked me to explain my project, which I did several times throughout the evening. I explained it to persons whose education ended after high school, community college, a bachelor's degree, and master's degrees, and they all made sense of my content in one way or another because at least one puzzle piece resonated with them.

Life certainly doesn't work out the way you plan for sometimes, but a great leader overcomes those obstacles and still manages to move forward in various ways. There is no one right way to be a leader, we are all different, and we are all amazing.

Becoming a Griffin, and life with the nerds

This week was a major milestone for me. I actually ventured away from the University of Utah and began a new life at Westminster College. I won't go into detail about how CRAZY different everything is, so I figured that if a photo is worth a thousand words, I'd let the images speak for me.

For example, who'd have thought that nerds are actually funny! I've spotted many quirks in the last few days.

Exhibit A: a little story on the whiteboard in the research lab.

Exhibit B: a sign on a door in the basement.

Exhibit C: an etching on the door to the Copy Center.

Exhibit D: A very creative Lost & Found

Secondly, my new office space. It is commonly referred to in my building as "the fishbowl" because everybody can see me (all the time!). I almost didn't know how to adjust to so much surface space, but I think I'm getting the hang of it.

Spider-pig has a new home!

Lastly, I've really enjoyed the walk to work the last three days. I guess that's the perk of living only six blocks up from work, am I right? I thought about driving, but then I decided that I would have to buy a new pass at the end of the summer anyway and therefore should walk every day until school starts in August. It works out because by then I will have grown accustomed to walking, and will only want to drive on the days where I have night class (only two nights a week!).

I still can't believe this is my life now. I walked through the campus during my lunch today and thought, "I attend a private college. Oh. My. Goodness. When did that happen? Seriously, am I going to wake up in a minute and will this all have been some wonderful dream?" During our lunchtime phone call, my mother assured me that good things happen when you work hard, and if you work for something then you get what you deserve. She repeatedly told me that I deserved this amazing opportunity, and that I would continue to do great things.

All that's left to do is purchase a Westminster sweatshirt and I think I will be officially converted!

What does it mean to be a Leader?

I've been taking a leadership class this semester for grad school, a class taught by my now former boss but current role model.

I was asked to make a project answering the two questions: What is Leadership? and Who am I as a Leader?

I immediately began going to work on constructing my project, and I made a beautiful puzzle to answer each of the two questions. As I finished making my creation, I felt pretty proud of myself, very in the know and so sure of myself. I was so certain that I knew the answers to those two questions.

Then training happened. Mine and Anne's replacements started at the office on Monday, and we began a week of intense training. Long story short, I truly understood what it meant to be a leader by the time we made it to Friday.

I'm a leader because...

I am approachable,

I take the time to explain myself,

I ask people if they have questions,

I demonstrate a new task and then ask someone to demonstrate it to me,

I take the time to get to know people,

I go above and beyond to help people feel welcome,

I genuine care about people.


I never would have understood the full extent of my own leadership qualities without the opportunity to be a leader this past week. I am confident that I can do amazing things, and that I am a competent leader-in-training.

In Five Weeks...

Over the course of five weeks, my life did a 180.

Even I'm surprised about some of the changes that are coming my way.

Anyway, I'm going to recap my timeline of the last five weeks with all my thoughtful insight:

Thursday February 27
Received Rejection email from the U of U ELP Graduate program

Tuesday March 4
Randomly applied for a job at Westminster College.
Why, you ask? I was depressed and figured, 'Hey, I meet the qualifications, so why not?'

Wednesday March 5
Received a phone call from Westminster and was asked to come in to interview for the position.

Also, showed interest in a graduate program on the Westminster website and requested more information.

Wednesday March 12
Met with an admission representative to talk about the steps to apply for the program and submitted pieces of the application.
Interviewed for the position.

Thursday March 19
Received a phone call about coming back for another interview for a different position, and promptly set up another interview time.

Monday March 24
Mailed in the last piece of my application materials.

Tuesday March 25
Interviewed at noon, was offered the job at 3:30.

Thursday April 3
Was accepted into the Master's of Arts in Community Leadership program.

*I will begin my new position mid-April, and I will begin my graduate studies in August. I'm still sitting here, looking at the dates in which these events played out, and thinking "What just happened?"