I Want It All

"Chic"

I've kind of fallen in love with artist Ashley David. Her pieces just seem to have such honesty and sophistication. I seriously want to buy all of her stuff...

I am buying "Chic", it's only 6.99 on allposters.com. I think it's my favorite of her pieces, although all of them are utterly fabulous!

"Fashionista I"

"Grace II"

"Lady in Red"

"Enticing"

"Couture"

Loss of Thought

I think that in today's world we have far too many distractions. Cell phones, iPods, the internet, television, the movies, the list could go on forever. It seems that we have to always be doing something. We can't just be alone with our thoughts. It's as if the idea of cutting out the interference and actually contemplating scares us.

I forgot how much I enjoy sitting on the couch and just looking out the window. No TV on, or music playing. Just me sitting on the couch enjoying my own thoughts. It's an amazing thing to sit in silence and just ponder. I love the feeling of relaxation it gives me. I'm open to thoughts and experiences that I am not when I am distracted by the technology of today.

I had a chance to ponder yesterday on my walk home from class. After conferencing with a TA about one of my papers I started the uphill walk home. Being Rexburg,ID it is freezing outside in the winter, below freezing actually, and I usually distract myself by listening to my iPod. But today I had left my iPod in my backpack and I didn't want to remove my gloves to retrieve it and turn it on.

So I walked the 12+ minute walk home in silence, contemplating the wonder that is this world. As shown by my last post I have been thinking a lot lately about where we came from. I wondered what the pioneers would think of this city they founded. Rexburg was founded by Latter Day Saint pioneers as well. It was prophesied that a great university would be built, and now I attend that university. I wonder if they would marvel over that which they started all those years ago. Would they exclaim over the library and all the books of learning inside? Would they stop before the temple and stare in wonder at its beauty? Would they praise the inventor of the car, an invention that allows us to stay warm and travel in the winter? Would they find the drive-thru a curious thing?

I find these kind of moments enjoyable. Moments where I am able to dialogue with myself and just ponder. I'd like to think that the pioneers would stand in wonder of all of the worlds' progression. There have been some amazing things going on since their time.

Take some time to just talk to yourself, it's something that the world needs, but rarely does.

In Remembrance

As a student at Brigham Young University-Idaho, I have the amazing opportunity to take a Church History class. When I first added this course it was because I had dropped my insane online World Civilizations class and I needed to replace the credits with a class that didn't screw up my schedule too much.

Church History was that class.

I didn't go into this class thinking about the people I would be learning about. The people whose very existence are the reason for my own. These incredible pioneers. These saints on earth.

As I was reading my assigned chapter for next class I was hit hard with the spirit. It threw me off at first. I'm ashamed to say that I am out of practice and was not expecting to feel much of anything. But after reading of a 10 year-old girl's feet being amputated because they were frozen, and the heartbreak of a father who had to leave behind an infant in a grave on the plains, only to return for the body to find that the wolves had gotten there first, I was humbled.

All day today I have been complaining about how much I hate the snow and slush that seeps into my shoes while I sat in a heated car that takes me wherever I need to go. The early pioneers didn't have cars, and many didn't even have shoes for the slush to seep into. They were entirely at the mercy of the elements and had to rely on themselves to get where they were going.

I'd like to say that from now on I'll never forget what luxury I have, but the likelihood is that I will. Just for tonight though, I want to honor those that have come before us and helped build up this incredible Gospel. In comparison to their sacrifices, nothing I will ever do can possibly compare.You are better than I can hope to be, If I ever have a quarter as much faith as you did to leave your home and travel across the frozen plains to a place sight unseen, I will be blessed beyond measure. I love you and thank you.

Random

A college staple...

In Love With the Past

I have this fascination with things old. Old photographs, old jewelery, old clothes...the list is endless. I've always dreamed of living in a manor like the homes read about in Pride and Prejudice and Mansfield Park. It could be a minor estate, I'm not looking for extreme grandeur, just a little bit. I can just picture myself reading a book in the rose garden and writing masterful pieces of literature in the library.

Just think of all the history and character a house like that has, all the scenes those walls have witnessed. The politely snide comments from the society ladies, the children escaping from their tutors, and the local gentry waltzing at the weekend ball. I love it.If I ever get uber rich, like ridiculously, disgustingly rich, after I pay off all my schooling, and put aside some money to take care of my family, pay tithing, and maybe buy Katie a necklace or something, I'm going to find me a house like that, or build one.

It's one of my new dreams, along with losing 80 million pounds and marrying a hottie with a rockin bod and a sense of humor. All the change that I collect in my Something Pretty jar is going to go towards this house. I mean, can you think of anything prettier?

How to Get Free Clothes

In this post I will proceed to teach how to get new clothes with out actually paying for them, and no this is not a five-finger discount tutorial.

Step 1: Plan to shower
Step 2: Take clothes off in preparation for shower
Step 3: Remember that you left something on the bathroom counter
Step 4: Think about how your only other roommate home is in the living room with friends and shouldn't be walking back to the bathroom that she doesn't even use
Step 5: Open door to grab said something on the bathroom counter
Step 6: Notice that it's only your sister getting ready out there
Step 7: Start to say something to her and be interrupted by a scream
Step 8: Make eye contact with the unrelated person in the bathroom before diving behind the door with pleas of death and a hole opening up beneath you.
Step 9: Poke your head out the door amidst extreme laughter and apologize for subjecting anyone to the sight of you naked
Step 10: Sleep on it
Step 11: Receive free clothes from the flashee in the morning.

Note: Please don't actually go around flashing your roommates. Unless your roommate is your spouse, then have at it, that might be fun :). Another note, flashing may not always result in free clothes from the flashee. After all, not everyone has a rockin bod like I do.

Ugh!

Do you ever have those days when you just want to stay at home in your pj's and relax and not have to get dressed and prettify yourself? I am smack dab in the middle ( I don't think I spelled that right) of one of those days. I woke up this morning around 10, that's not too early, I rolled over and my heart broke. Class at 11:30, homework to do before said class, slept through shower time, no cute clothes,sister had taken cute black shoes.

I was distraught to say the least, but I told myself to suck it up and get moving. So I did my homework, and I tried to work with my hot mess of a hairdo. I even put on some clothes. A pair of cute black bootcut jeans that kind of make my butt look fantastic, but even they were not enough to shake off my Ughness, because cute pants can only take you so far. The shirt, shoes, and accessories are equally if not more important.

So, I'm pretty much declaring today a wash. No matter what I do, today is just going to be an Ugh day. So to comfort myself during this trying time, I skipped my first class. You might think that I would be able to drag myself to class being as my first one is at 11:30, but therein lies the deception. You think you have all this time and then it just creeps up on you. All of a sudden BAM! It's time to leave for your 15 minute walk to campus in the snow.

Education-wise today won't be a total wash, as I am going to my 12:45 class. Which means I should probably go and salvage myself so that my classmates aren't completely horrified.

So, a toast to you,Ugh Days. May you die a slow and painful death, all by yourself.

New Obsession

I love Flightless Bird, American Mouth by Iron & Wine. I can't stop listening to it. I just listen to it over and over again, and feel it wash over me. It's inexplicable. I'm in love with this song.

I Whant Thaaat( Sound it out...)

I want this apron bad, like really bad! Or one that's cute and sweet and semi-dress like. This one's from Jessie Steele, and kind of pricey. I thought about making my own while I was home, but my sewing skills are zero and my patience even less. So alas here I am at school with tons of fun recipes and cook books, with no apron. Sad day, sad day indeed.

Body Laughs

Do you have those friends that whenever you are with them you can't help but laugh? The friends that just being around them makes you giggle? Not just giggle either, but like deep belly laughs, laughs that make your whole body shake and your eyes water.

I do.

Two of my good friends from San Jose came to visit me and my sister last week and it was the bomb.com (I'm bringing it back ). I never realize how much I've missed them until I see them again. I mean, part of me always misses them, but being reunited makes you think about all the times you miss by not being there.

They just know me and think I'm funny(I only surround myself with the best and brightest) and make me laugh...a lot. I've tried my hardest to get them to transfer to BYU-I, but it doesn't seem to be working.

When we get together we don't have to act like the almost non-teenagers that we are. Well two of us are in our final teenage year, while the other two have waved goodbye to that thrilling era of life. We play with stick on earrings, make trashy looking characters on Rock Band 2, watch and sing a long to the fabulous if slightly naughty(but not really) Dr.Horrible's Sing Along Blog, and basically pig out on anything and everything.

Friends are good. I think I've said this before, but it needs repeating. Friends are good.

And A Happy New Year!!

Julie, Katie, and I post-dance party

So this post may be a little long (as all my posts seem to be) as I want to pay tribute to a fun New Year's Eve and a beloved cousin who turned 21 today.

After a fun Mexican dinner at my Aunt Karen's house with the rest of the family. My sister Katie, Julie(the beloved cousin) and Chris ( the boyfriend of the beloved cousin) went to the YSA New Year's Eve dance. We made a late appearance and only danced for an hour or so, but it was a lot of fun.

At said dance the clock struck midnight and new year's eve turned in to new year's day and Julie's 21st birthday.

Some of my best new year's memories growing up were made with Julie. For many years growing up Katie and I would spend New Year's at Julie's house, sleeping over for her birthday party. We would get treats and all curl up in the living room beside Aunt Shelly's piano and watch Grease on the little TV that was brought out about once a year.

It's amazing when I watch Grease as an adult, all the things that didn't understand as a child. I had no idea what a hickey was or why Rizzo would be getting one from Kinicke.

After the musical finished we would play truth or dare and when the clock struck 12 we would run around her court outside screaming and banging on pots and pans heralding the new year. We would try to stay up as late as we could and giggle into the wee hours of the morning.

It's been some time since we have been able to spend new year's together, and times are noticeably different. Instead of giggling about boys in Grease, we are talking about the boys in our lives( or the lack thereof in my case) , and about how scary the future seems sometimes. We grew up talking about how we wanted our weddings to be, and the events that seemed so far off as a child seem to be more likely in the coming future. It's a different dynamic to our relationship, but it seems like a natural progression.

We were blessed to be born so close together in age, and to be fast friends as children. I've always counted Julie as one of my best friends and favorite people. I'm glad that she has such great people in her life and hope that she has a fantastic birthday! I love you Julie!!!.

Katie and I

Me, Julie, Chris, and Katie at the dance

Picking up Chris and Julie

Our eyes look rockin, I had to post it...