Between the Lilac Bushes

Summer of Bravery: Mabel Makes Me Face the Birds

2011-08-13T22:26:00.000-07:00

Let me first say that I wasn't planning on doing another bravery post. I thought the caving fully satisfied my need to test my safety boundaries, at least for the summer. Mabel had a different idea.

This week I'm visiting Mabel in Washington before she goes on an LDS mission to Brazil. So today we toured Seattle and she took me to Ivar's which is a restaurant on the wharf that sells fish and chips. Ordering itself is quite the experience because they don't have lines. Instead, you yell out your order and wait until your order is yelled back at which point you pay for it and pick it up. You can then choose to sit in a glass shelter or out on a pier. Obviously, a nice day in Seattle calls for pier seating, but it also means that seagulls will be joining you for lunch. Birds do not rate high with me and seagulls are among the lowest in that category, but Ivar's is famous for feeding seagulls; constant movement along the pier with seagulls swooping in for food. If it was not enough to be keeping an eye on the closest seagull (and boy, do they get close), there is a feeding rite of passage. Guess who had feed the seagulls?

Only after I stuck out my hand to let a seagull snatch a fry did Mabel tell me about the gash she got from doing this. Thanks Mabel!

Hipster Puppy

2011-07-17T23:23:00.000-07:00

You know how some girls get baby fever? Kinda like Tina Fey seeing babies everywhere in "Baby Mama"? Well, I get puppy fever and I've had it bad this last week. I'm going to blame Annie for this because she got an internship/ grew up and got a cat which made me realize that once I grow up and get a job, I can a get a dog.

So now I've been browsing the web, looking at different breeds. Honestly, I don't mind mutts. My favorite dog, Odie, was a mix between a chow chow and black lab and he was the best dog ever! But I happened upon another interesting mix: puggles. I'm not exactly fond of pugs or beagles, but puggles seem too freakin' adorable. Plus, they're a small dog that doesn't yap. That's a dream dog to me.

The down side is that they're apparently very popular among movie stars, at least according to puggle-dogs.net, but the breed is still fairly new and therefore, unknown. I'm pretty sure some hipster could say "it's a breed you've never heard of." And I just don't want a "trendy" dog. I want a good dog. What do you think? Should I get a hipster puppy?

Summer of Bravery: Take that Childhood Fears

2011-06-23T17:07:00.000-07:00

This last Saturday, I went caving. Probably my most recognizable act of bravery for the summer, although I'm pretty sure certain family members believe it lands more on the side of stupidity. Basically, I climbed up the side of a mountain, used climbing equipment to descend to the cave, scrambled around the cave (some spots I had to army crawl), and then ascended out of the cave and hiked/strategically slid down the mountain...during the night.

Considering I was the biggest chicken as a kid, I'm pretty proud of myself. I mean, I used to panic if my dress got stuck over my head and I crawled through a two foot door to get into the cave. I freaked when my brother used to do his golem impersonation and I laughed while I listened to another golem impersonation in complete darkness. Of course if anything had touched me, it'd be over like that, but still I'm feeling pretty hardcore right about now.

Always a Valley Girl: Rodeos and Cowgirl Tough

2011-06-16T21:22:00.000-07:00

My friends and colleagues are tromping around Central America and Europe while I'm stuck in Provo attempting to be productive. Not exactly thrilling. But I'm finding things here and there to keep my summer interesting and going to the rodeo is one of them.

Now I'm no cowgirl, but if you're a Valley girl in Utah, you go to a rodeo. And I'm not making this rule up. At the rodeo last night, I was not only there with two other Valley girls, but we recognized another girl from the good ol' SLV sitting behind us. That being said, my reason for choosing Pleasant Grove's Strawberry Days rodeo had more to do with my stomach than my heritage: cups of strawberries and cream. Heather and I got there early to save seats and to enjoy the strawberries and cream so no one would know just how many cups we had.

Still, I enjoyed more than the food. Heather and I have been friends since we were nine years-old so there was plenty of reminiscing about our childhood in the valley and commenting on other rodeos we've seen or participated in. For those who aren't familiar with rodeos, there's the funny/cruel tradition of sticking money to a calf and having kids chase it. Heather and I both have done it, but it was, of course, much more difficult when we were kids. For example, there were two or three calves when we did it so kids were running helter-skelter. At this rodeo, the poor calf was stuck in a corner while kids swarmed it.

There's also mutton busting; it's another event for kids where they see how long they can stay on a sheep. I've never done it myself, but Heather had. Before they started she predicted that a girl would win because they know how to hold on and sure enough she was right. The top two mutton busters were girls. It made us wonder if women could ride bulls too. We'd never seen it, but we figured that with a lower center of gravity, women might even have the advantage over men. I'm not sure if that's true, but there are female bull riders. These girls have to be tough and I can't help but admire that. Male or female, bull and bronco riders amaze me. They get jerked around and if something goes wrong, the consequences come fast and painfully, if not lethally. I'm trying to be braver this summer, but I see them and realize I've got a long way to go before I'm that brave.

Slightly less dangerous (only slightly) but seriously entertaining is wild-cow milking. A team of three has to catch and milk a cow. It was hilarious to watch, until this mean cow decided this hefty man was in its way and flat out bowled him over. I didn't get a picture of that, but I did manage to capture the more humorous attempts at cow milking.

And just for fun, pictures of horses because even if it's cliche, they really are beautiful animals.

Even if I don't agree with all the views of a country lifestyle (get me started on country music and you'll find out why, but that's a discussion for another post), I do admire how tough a cowboy or cowgirl has to be. If I've really carried anything over from being raised in the valley I hope it's the resiliency I see in rodeos--of not being afraid to fall because you can always get up and dust yourself off.

Going Green Update

2011-06-07T17:42:00.000-07:00

Despite popular belief, I don't have a black thumb. I don't know that I'd say I have a green thumb, maybe a flesh colored thumb is the best description, but the point is that it's not black. I offer these pics as evidence:

Geraldine is growing nicely. I was tempted to get another plant, but then I inherited a fish. It's a long, tragic story, but let's just say my roommate found she no longer had time to take care of him so now I have a betta named Lou. He's rather cranky (and camera shy so don't expect a picture), but I think he's warming up to me. So now I'm taking care of three living things and none of them have died yet. I just might be one of those nice ladies with a garden when I get old...or a crazy cat lady, but I think my distaste for cats will save me from that.

For the Love of Books

2011-06-04T17:44:00.000-07:00

My future looked bleak; I was questioning my love for reading. Since summer break started, if anyone asked what I was doing today, my answer would be reading. I've officially started working on my thesis and taking a theoretical discourse class on the post-colonial and subaltern studies which meant lots of reading, lots of required reading. Most days it was fascinating, but after doing the reading I was supposed to, I had to go do something else. I quit reading for fun, feeling like if I was going to read than I should be reading something for my thesis. I'm still excited for my thesis, but today, I got a needed reminder of my love for reading.

Today I went to the Utah Festival of Books. In truth, there were more activities going on than there were books (I pretended to be a newscaster and had my name written in cool calligraphy), but the activities focused on learning and getting people to read. I deal with books so often that I forget some people don't read them. Dare I say it? I've been too immersed in academia lately. It was great to see discussions on cooking, writing, and gardening or see kids work on reading activities. I remember being so excited for book fairs as a kid. If I got good reports from teachers during parent-teacher conference, and I always got good reports, then I got to choose a book. I'm not sure if that was sneaky parenting or me being a book worm from a very young age, but I loved it. Perhaps nostalgia enticed to me buy books (as if I needed an excuse), but I got three books today that have nothing to do with my thesis:

The Waste Land and Other Poems by T. S. Eliot- I foolishly sold back my Norton Anthology, plus there is something unschool-like in owning a thin book.

Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri- This might be a bit of a risk, but I read "Interpreter of Maladies" in high school and really enjoyed it.

The Lost Art of Walking by Geoff Nicholson- I'm most excited about this book because I like going for walks and was thinking there had to be a book that analyzes walking. This is that book. Besides, it's been too long since I've read about something just because I was curious.

I'll let you know if I come to any profound conclusions from reading these books, but it's refreshing to add some books to my library that have nothing to do with my schoolwork. Don't worry. I'll still keep trucking through my thesis, but at least I have some reading to remind me why I'm working on a thesis in the first place.

Summer of Bravery: Jello Cake Adventure

2011-05-09T21:34:00.000-07:00

The moment I heard jello cake, I knew I'd probably regret it. My roommate MK, kindly invited me and my roommate B to go to her brother's apartment to have some pudding cake. I envisioned a really moist cake or maybe a cake with pudding as filling, but upon entering the apartment, we heard that it was jello cake. My imagination had no way of making that seem good.

Out of the fridge came a mountain of jello cups covered with food-colored whip cream and twizzlers. It's fully possible that I made wary face. Then I found out that brownies and gumdrops were beneath the jello and that the "cake" had been sitting in the fridge for two days. I'm pretty sure the jello cake was oozing something. Why did I eat some? I honestly can't tell you why. All of us were talking about how disgusting it was while we were eating. Plus, I'm a texture person with a deep-seated disgust for soggy foods. While I tried to avoid the jello soaked brownie, it managed to cling to some of the jello and I gagged each time I discovered it. The best thing to come from that cake was seeing it flung off a balcony. I haven't laughed that hard in weeks. And for anyone who has seen me laugh, yes, that means I cried a little.

As we were questioning why on earth we ate even a fraction of the jello cake, one guy claimed bravery, not stupidity, was the driving force of our decision. I disagree. It was stupid and my stomach keeps reminding me it was stupid; however, it did offer a valuable insight for my summer of bravery. For as sick as I feel, I'm surprisingly not regretting eating that horrific cake. I had fun. I'm certainly not the first person to discover group stupidity is fun, but I discovered that my new roommates are good sports and that B is a superb jello-cake-flinger. She put the boys to shame (one guy hit a spot on the ceiling right above him). So while I don't recommend jello cake to anyone, I can say that who you share an adventure is half the fun.

Summer of Bravery: Going Green

2011-05-05T18:24:00.000-07:00

For some absurd reason, I keep thinking "this summer will be the summer before I grow up" (as if that's ever going to happen) and this summer is no different in that sense, and yet it is. Sitting on a plane back from my first real scholarly conference, I made the decision that I'm going to start living the life that I always imagined would start when I was done with school. But since there's the possibility that I'll be in school for sometime, why not start now by making it a theme for the summer? I liked the title "summer of bravery," but my friend Dave said it was more like the summer of responsibility. I rejected his title and decided to keep bravery. Make first decision of the summer. Check. While I have quite a few new things I'm implementing into my life this summer which will surely mean more blog posts, I'll ease myself (and you dear reader) into this summer with my experiment with growing plants.

I don't know why I never bought a plant for my apartment before, but this last school year we had a bamboo sprout named Mussolini (I don't know why we named him after a fascist) and I really enjoyed looking after him and to have some green in the house during the winter. So if a little green is good, more is better, right? Well, that's my logic for this summer break. I'm going to try to take care of some plants this summer and hopefully keep them going through the winter.

The first plant I bought was another bamboo because Mussolini went with another roommate. Trying to find a bamboo plant I liked was actually much harder than I expected. I almost gave up and bought an orchid, but after talking to the garden specialist at Lowe's, I decided that an orchid would be more work than it was worth. Luckily, I found this lucky bamboo plant. Of course I had to name her, it, whatever, and that was much easier than finding the plant. I guess I like to name bamboos after less than savory characters because I named her Eris, the Greek goddess of strife. However, she earned the name, having spilled a good amount of water on me while I getting her into and out of my car. Also, I'm the kind of person who talks to plants if you haven't guessed.

The other plant is actually three: a geranium and two ivy-type plants. If plants have personalities, this one is a sweetheart. I've had to bring the poor thing in twice already because of snow and the cold. The jury's still out on a name. My roommate suggested Betsy, but I just had a semester of 1950s housewife characters named Betsy or Betty. Still, an old-fashioned name seems fitting. I'm considering Geraldine because I keep calling it Gerry anyway.

These two are serving as my pets because I just don't have the room or money for a dog and so far, I quite like them.

Sidenote: I know I'm not growing these, but the lilacs are starting to bloom and that makes me all sorts of happy.

Because he forgot to mention my blog

2011-05-02T21:12:00.000-07:00

For Easter, I got to go home and see the fam and I brought my camera for a very specific purpose--to take a picture with my brother. For some reason, the only photo I had with him was from my senior year in high school and let's just say that makes it a less than current photo. So here he is my "little" brother:

After taking the picture, he gave me a list of places a where I'm not allowed to post it, but he forgot my blog. mwahahaha. So this blog is dedicated to you bro. You may tower over me now, but I can still beat you, even if it's just in the digital world.

On Becoming a Regular

2011-04-04T16:01:00.000-07:00

Mabel and I had another adventure Friday. We bought colors at the Lotus Krishna Temple and decided to try to find another hole-in-the-wall diner. A drive down State street and our stomach's preference led us to One-Man-Band Diner which, as the title implies, was ran by one man. We had a blast ordering from a phone in our booth and the general 1950's diner vibe, but the best part was that we knew we were at a local favorite. When we walked in, every customer looked over as if they were expecting to see someone they knew and as they picked up their orders, they greeted the cashier/waiter/cook by name. Maybe if I wasn't with Mabel, it wouldn't have been a big deal, but the great thing about Mabel is that she notices the same sort of things I do and so we talked about our dream to become a regular.

Even if I'm going on six years as a college student, my time here seems transitory (in Provo, but not of Provo). Lately, I've been reminded that the time is approaching when I must leave this town (and state, I hope) to make my way in the world. Where will I live? West coast? East coast? A foreign land? What will I be doing? I'm still trying to figure all this out, but when I go to a restaurant and see people recognizing each other and enjoying their favorite spot, I'm excited for the possibilities. I didn't like BYU until I found a community first at the writing center and then in the grad program, and it will probably take me awhile to like wherever I move next, but becoming a regular signifies finding a community, even if the only thing tying that community together is food. While the openness of my future is overwhelming at times, I'm comforted to know that I can look forward to interesting people, food, and experiences. So while Mabel talked about being a new age mom, taking her kids to their favorite diner, I imagined being a new instructor, trying all the restaurants until I find the one where I'll be able to say, "The usual, please."

Still for Walking the Line

2011-02-19T23:02:00.000-08:00

My apartment is known as the Bruno Mars apartment. Last semester, my roommates and I blasted his song "Just the Way You Are" so often that notes were left on our door telling us "You're amazing just the way you are." I took it as a polite way of telling us to shut up, but whatever the notes meant, it was clear that the song was an apartment favorite. One of my roommates even told several guys that the way to get a girl to marry you was to sing that song to her. I shared the song with a guy and he had different ideas about what that song was trying to get a girl to do. Basically, he disapproved.

While I can't vouch for Bruno Mars' intentions, I find the song a little more pleasing than my friend. More girls should hear that someone thinks they're amazing the way they are so you won't see me throwing a drink in the face of any guy that chooses to sing (or tell) that to me. However, there are some issues with the song that keep me from loving it:

1. Most of the things that make "the girl" amazing are physical attributes: her lips, her eyes, her hair that falls perfectly without her trying. Clearly, Bruno has never witnessed girls getting ready; even the effortless look takes effort. While the descriptions of "the girl" are vague enough to include a variety of girls, they are also vague enough to exclude the same girls. The focus on physical appearance, even if it intends to make girls feel beautiful, seems to say that a guy will only think you are amazing if he finds you physically attractive which doesn't help if you think you aren't attractive. To be fair to Bruno, most love songs focus on the physical and it's probably difficult to write a song about a girl's intellect, sense of humor, or determination so I'll give him credit for including her laugh.

Honestly, I could overlook the focus on the physical if it wasn't inextricably tied to my next issue:

2. "If perfect's what you're looking for, then just stay same." The song is built on the premise that he doesn't want her to change. Before you get blubbery about him liking her so much he doesn't want her to change for him, remember she will change. Everyone changes. The eyes, the lips, the hair will all change with time. And if she decides to get plastic surgery, she'll still be different. The song and the sentiment attached to it are temporary things because as the title indicates, it's the way she is not who she will be. There is no guarantee that he won't trade her in for the proverbial newer model.

"Just the Way You Are" is the musical equivalent to what Claire in Elizabethtown calls an ice cream cone: something sweet to make you happy, but melts in minutes. If you want an ice cream cone, then it's perfect. The problem comes when you expect that ice cream cone to last for a lifetime. Basically, all this has led me back to Johnny Cash singing "I Walk the Line." Still my favorite love song because it's about changing with someone which in its way is more permanent.

Birds and Empty Metaphors

2011-02-17T23:38:00.000-08:00

An idea has been fluttering around in my head all week: bird metaphors. More specifically, I've been thinking about why we use birds to symbolize emotional freedom. This all came about after I found a song by Laura Marling, Dharohar Project, and Mumford & Sons called Meheni Rachi. It combines Folk music with traditional Rajasthani music which I thought was amazing, but what really stuck with me were the first English lines:

Perhaps I'll be a bird one day, if I'm good enough

And I'll get up and fly away and give up all this stuff.

I listened to it over and over. The music and words made me feel light and well... free. I could almost imagine myself as a bird, gliding, the sun warming my outstretched wings. Free as a bird until I remembered I don't like birds.

For so long I accepted the bird metaphor. My ipod has at least three songs using a bird metaphor for the chorus and I can easily name a few more songs to add to the list, but why? I've never really liked birds and I admit that I'm biased--an ostrich pecking my heels and a summer of them swooping down at my head--but besides the whole flying thing, what about the bird is that appealing? I mean, do you really want to be like a bird? Molting, eating worms and other bugs, jerking your neck when you walk? Let's just say if I were an animagus, I wouldn't be the feathery kind. As far as I'm concerned, birds only represent disease and jerky movements. And that means I'm in search of a new metaphor.

To support my point:

Please Mr. Postman

2011-01-31T19:32:00.000-08:00

"Agent M, did you find the post man, is the package secure?"

This is just a sample of the text conversation Mabel (aka Agent C) and I have been having as we try to track down our mail. Thursday we received a notice that our mailbox was full and that we needed to pick up our mail at a secret location (the post office). Slightly embarrassed that we had ignored our mailbox that long, I made my way to the secret location to pick up "the package," but I was told that the carrier still had it. So I was faced with a new mission: look out for the carrier. A few hours into that mission, I decided that I have a life and quit waiting.

So today, after a full weekend of checking the mailbox and occasionally looking out the window to see if I could spot the carrier, I went back to the secret location to see if "the package" had been dropped off. Nope. I was given a number to call tomorrow before a certain time which doesn't help the whole secret-agent-on-a-mission thing that Mabel and I have concocted, but if that fails I have an equally fantastic scenario: my mail has been stolen because it was too awesome!

It's the only logical explanation. Why else would he or she hold onto something so boring as the ads that normally filled our mailbox?

Fortunately there are a slew of pop songs that describe my situation. Okay, so only two that I know of and even then, I had to do some tweaking, but be sure that I've utilized both for this post. As the Presidents of the United States of America sing "Some postman is grooving to all our love letters," or in my case, awesome letters/packages, but agents m and c will catch the mastermind behind this, or at least get our mail back.

Update: I had a chat with the postman. Turns out he's not an evil mastermind, but actually a pretty nice guy and we finally have all our mail. Mission accomplished.

Dinner at Kranky Franks

2011-01-24T16:53:00.000-08:00

My favorite adventures are the ones that find me on otherwise perfectly mundane days. Revise that. My favorite adventures are ones that find me when I'm with my friend who wishes to be called Mabel.

Mabel and I had to drive to a neighboring town so she could get a blood test. You see Mabel has decided to serve a church mission. During her blood test, the nurse asked Mabel a series of questions that seemed odd to her, but she went along with it anyway. It wasn't until the nurse asked who her baby doctor would be that she realized that she was answering questions for a pregnancy test. She quickly explained to the nurse that she wasn't pregnant, she needed a blood test to go on a mission. The nurse responded by saying, "Oh. Being pregnant might be awkward then, unless it was a Jesus or something."

Even though Mabel wasn't eating for two, we decided her experience warranted a meal so we stopped at a local eatery called Kranky Franks. Turns out Kranky Franks is a hot dog stand and I'm a hot dog philistine. Instead of ordering the famous dangerous dog with the works, I ordered a brat with a sauce on it and I only got the sauce because the man running the stand asked me three times if I was sure I didn't want anything on my brat. Mabel made up for my heathenism. We sat down, ate our brats and fries (amazing fries!), and talked to the notably cheerful man. He talked to us about school and what we want to do with our majors without the usual skepticism towards the English major. In fact, he gave me an encouraging tale of a friend who found a job right out of college. At that point, I wished I was one of those people who can get the life story out of complete strangers because he seemed like the kind of guy who'd have an interesting story to tell.

All in all, we were satisfied with our side trip, but thinking over our little adventure, Mabel and I decided we will return to Kranky Franks, mostly for the fries, but also to answer some important questions: Is there a Kranky Frank? Was the nice man serving us hot dogs Frank? And if so, why wasn't he cranky?

I Can Be Domestic

2011-01-04T21:05:00.000-08:00

My roommate jokes that I can cook, I just choose not to. I'm not saying I became Julia Child over Christmas, but I did happen to show a little more of my domestic side.

It all started with the Christmas tree. I put it together (our first fake tree), decided where it would reside, and decorated it all by myself.

Then I made fudge which I do almost every Christmas, but this Christmas I didn't make a practice batch.

Finally, I spoiled my Dad for his birthday by making him meringue. You might think big deal, she didn't make the actual pie. But I feel like this was the crowning glory of my experiment with domesticity, mostly because I made this meringue with my mom and both my grandmas looking over my shoulder. Talk about pressure! I made my Dad blow out a candle I put in the pie just so he'd appreciate my handiwork before it was sliced and served.

My Soapbox

2010-12-10T21:28:00.000-08:00

Every December church talks and tv specials focus on “The Spirit of Christmas,” and people talk about how we’ve lost this spirit and how Christmas has become too commercialized. Along with the pessimistic chatter come inspirational stories of charity and faith to remind us that there is good in the world and that we should take this time to stop and seek it. Every year I hear this, but I think this year is the first year I understand it.

These past few weeks my apartment has been the headquarters for a sub-for-Santa project which has turned my thoughts to charity. While I was working on a paper, I was often interrupted by the knock at the door which meant another donation for these two needy families. Smiles were on the faces of the donators and my roommates who accepted the donations. At one point my roommate came into the room, overcome with gratitude because someone had donated a $30 dollar jacket. I admire the time and money spent on this project and I’m sure that the families will be grateful come Christmas morning. Moreover, this generous spirit is greatly needed, but I think we run into a problem when charity is measured by the amount of gifts we give.

When I say charity, I mean the charity that Moroni writes about in the Book of Mormon:
And charity suffereth long, and is kind, and envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh not evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things…charity is the love of Christ, and it endureth forever. (Moroni 7:45, 47)

Although I cannot speak for the other donators, I found myself troubled because I thought I had done something good and was ready to turn back to my paper and the other cares in my life. But as I thought about it more, I realized the act of buying a toy for a little boy wasn’t charity. Did I do something good? Yes, but I could buy a thousand toys for a thousand boys and still not be charitable. I am not discouraging or critiquing the project I participated in, but rather, I’m asking that we each take time to consider charity and what it means to us. For me, it is taking the time and thought to care for another human being. Charity shouldn’t stop with a donation, but should extend to the way I treat my roommates, family, co-workers, neighbors, and even strangers I pass on the street. Charity is all the times I put aside my own agenda to help another person. This kind of charity can happen all year round. So while this season brings many beautiful opportunities to help out those who aren’t as fortunate as us, I hope that we won’t forget the little acts of service we can do all year round.

Procrastination

2010-12-08T22:59:00.000-08:00

One of the benefits of being an English grad student is that I get to write about songs like this:

A translation of the title is "May it Rain Coffee"; however, as I listen to it over and over again, I'm beginning to wish that it would rain completed seminar papers. Much more useful to me than coffee.

Past Basketball Photo

2010-11-13T15:57:00.000-08:00

Back when I was an official player...

and still a stick figure.

Always a Valley Girl: Smells Like Basketball

2010-11-13T10:04:00.000-08:00

I was walking out of school on one of those winter days that warmed up just enough so you'd remember that spring existed when my friend turned to me and said, "It smells like baseball." It's been our joke ever since. He texts me when baseball season approaches and I text him when it's time for basketball. Five years later, I think I finally know what he meant by "smells like baseball."

Saying that it's time for basketball or that I'm excited for basketball just doesn't cover it. The anticipation takes over all my senses, even smell. For eighteen years, my weekends between mid-October and mid-March revolved around basketball. And I mean eighteen years since my dad left during the championship game to be there for my birth the next day; the earliest birthday I can remember was in a hotel because it was during playoffs. I just assumed I'd be at every home game and at most of the away games because my dad coached and going to the games was how we supported him.

I couldn't even comprehend life without basketball until my freshmen year in college. No players I knew. No personal investment in the outcome. Don't get me wrong. I still love going to a game, especially in the Marriot Center with thousands of fans cheering for one purpose, but even that doesn't quite live up to the nostalgic sense of basketball I've built up from all the other games I've watched.

So when I walk out into the first chilly day of autumn, I take a deep breath and remember:

the warmth of microwaved burritos from the concession stand

my cheek bulging with a sucker my grandma brought so we wouldn't yell at the refs too much

falling asleep on the coat my mom laid on the bleachers

pretending to be sportscasters with my brother

covering my eyes when I couldn't take the excitement of a close game

the burnt smell of mozzarella sticks from the only restaurant open after the game

being the last people to leave the gym

chasing my little cousins around in the half-lit court while we waited

wearing green lipstick and nail polish--proof that I was a true Grizzly fan

the clean swish of a three pointer

the explosion of cheers after a dunk

spinning a basketball in my hand, my fingertips brushing over a thousand tiny hills

Saturday afternoons playing 21 with my dad and my brother

the sense of awe every time I walked into an empty gym and heard my own footsteps.

That is what I mean when I say "smells like basketball."

A Dose of Optimism and a Heap of Reality

2010-11-02T17:51:00.000-07:00

I feel a bundle of emotion is about to burst out of me. I can't tell if it's good or bad or both, but I have this sense of excitement with an underlying wariness of it. Why? Because of school work. Strange, right? But I find it thrilling.

I'm debating whether or not I want to get my doctorate and I'm starting to get feedback on my research ideas. I feel vulnerable. What if I'm not cut out for this? What if I'm pedestrian? But what if this is what makes me happy? What if I found my niche? I probably shouldn't put so much emphasis on schoolwork, but I want to write something that's actually saying something and I think I'm willing to risk my ego to say it.

I'm such a nerd. And a coward. Because in writing this, I'm also super afraid I'm setting myself up for a disappointment. But what the heck? I want to be daring, even if it's just admitting that I like being a student.

The Root of My Sassiness

2010-10-27T21:09:00.000-07:00

Too many times a guy has called me sassy. A year ago, any guy using that word to describe me would be automatically scratched off my potential dating list. Maybe that sounds rash, but I was so sick of guys trying to patronize me when they couldn't come up with a witty response and sassy was the word of choice. But maybe I mislead them.

Of late, I’ve been reminded of my lack of intimidation. The most recent reminder being two male colleagues likening me to a puppy—A PUPPY! Before you roll your eyes at what you think is another feminist rant, I will concede that it was kind of funny. They claimed that puppies are cute and people like them, but they aren't intimidating. I’m generally amiable and if I put my hair in pigtails, I think I could slightly resemble a cocker spaniel; however, if I thought these guys were serious, I would have chewed them out for trying to place me on a dog version of the Eve/Mary dichotomy.Still, they had a point. Not that I'm a puppy(I want to be taken more seriously than a puppy and I certainly don’t want to be patted on the head), but I'm not intimidating and for the most part, I don't try to be.

Being aggressive doesn't come naturally to me. Seriously, there’s a video of me chasing butterflies during a soccer game. Growing up in a sports family, the constant comment after my games were "You need to be more aggressive." I tried, but I'd hold back if I thought there was a risk of hurting someone. I have this tremendous feeling of guilt whenever I hurt someone, intentional or not. This holds true in social settings too. I observe the situation and get a feel of what is acceptable before I contribute to the conversation. I don't want to embarrass a guy I don't even know by calling him out on some ridiculous line he's trying to use to impress a girl, even if that girl is me. That's just not cool. I realize that this is problematic. There are certainly times in my life that I wish I’d spoken up or asserted myself more, but for the most part, I like this attitude. I get along with most people and live a fairly drama-free life.

I love to joke around and be sassy with people I know can take it. As some people get to know this side of me, they are surprised and I honestly like surprising them, especially when someone realizes that I'm semi-athletic. The only problem with keeping my sassy side kind of secret is that some people never realize that I'm more than a sweet, English nerd. Or in the case of the guys I won't date, they find out the cute, quiet girl actually talks back.

My Romanticized Literary Life

2010-10-23T00:06:00.000-07:00

There are some days that I all I want is to read and travel the world. I see glimpses of this imagined life.

A cozy flat in Hampstead. Walks in the heath with my Welsh springer spaniel named after a famous author like Tennyson. Breakfast every morning at my favorite café while I watch people walk by. On especially beautiful days, lunch in the churchyard. Trips to see the Taj Mahal, Alhambra, or any place that intrigues me. Hikes along coasts or up mountains just to take in the view. A journal and a book in my bag wherever I go.

That is my dream life. That's what keeps me going as a literary studies person--not really the details of my imagined life, but the idea that I can absorb and appreciate life in moments.

Always a Valley Girl: Colorado vs. California

2010-10-20T23:02:00.000-07:00

The Valley is like a vacuum--you can leave, but you'll always get sucked back.

I don’t know how many times I heard some form of that joke growing up, but my fear in high school was that I'd never leave The Valley. Just like in the movies, I was a small-town girl who wanted something more than the small-town life. I had to escape.

I can safely say that I feel differently now. Besides just growing out of my teenage angst and moving to a different valley, I’ve come to appreciate the landscape and culture that has influenced me even when I thought I was fighting everything it valued—i.e. wrestling and football heroes. I’m not saying this to be nostalgic (though nostalgia certainly plays a part) or because I want to move back (I DON’T!) but I have realized that I can’t and don’t want to escape the perspectives I have from growing up in The Valley. So the joke is true; I’ll never truly escape, but that’s okay. To celebrate my valleyness, I’m going to start a series in which I share my valley perspective.

To kick it off, I’d like to address the California controversy.

This summer, a few of my co-workers and friends were under the impression that I hate California because of the song “California Gurls” by Katy Perry. Let me make this clear: I don’t like that song, but I’m not totally against California. My mom was born there, my dad served his mission there, I have family still living there, and there’s a chance I will end up living there. So I don’t hate California…I just think Colorado is better.

I could argue over the climate, the landscape, or the people, but I’d rather argue over the songs. On California’s side, we have doll-like Katy Perry and “California Gurls” (the Beach Boys just weren’t specific enough):

California gurls, we’re unforgettable
Daisy dukes, bikinis on top
Sun-kissed skin, so hot, will melt your popsicle
California gurls, we’re undeniable
Fine, fresh, fierce, we got it on lock
West Coast represent, now put your hands up

I can appreciate feeling fine, fresh, and fierce, but the rest is a little shallow, no? I mean, I feel sorry for California girls if they are only described as being able to melt a popsicle.

On Colorado’s side, we have the folksy (and okay, not very well-known) Townes Van Zandt and “Colorado Girl”:

The promise in her smile
Shames the mountains tall
The promise in her smile
Shames the mountains tall
She bring the sun to shining
Tell the rain to fall

I don’t mind being represented by this at all. Having a smile that puts the Rockies to shame? That’s a pretty amazing smile. And he’s not even talking about brilliant, white teeth, but the promise, that something special, in a smile. It just makes me happy to be a Colorado girl.

So to me, the clear winner is Colorado, but don’t be sad California, I still think you’re okay.

In-the-Zone Music

2010-10-02T23:32:00.000-07:00

You know how athletes have a pre-game playlist to get pumped up? I'm creating on a playlist for homework and grading papers. I'm the kind of person who can't concentrate with complete silence, but if a movie's playing, I want to watch it, and if people are talking, I want to join in. So to get work done, I pretty much have to slip on my noise-reducing headphones and lock myself in my bedroom.

Then there is the dilemma of what to play. Wait. I'm getting ahead of myself. The music dilemma comes after I've cleaned my room and made myself a snack because those are my go-to procrastination excuses.

Okay. Now, what to play? Some hip-hop and rock might get me pumped up, but it's hard to focus on my reading when I want to dance to Kanye's "Gold Digger" and most of my pump-up music is just too strong to allow me to focus on a mental task. You might think that I must resign myself to easy listening or bluegrass, but that's being too extreme. Besides, I still haven't forgotten that bluegrass killed my first ipod-- that's a blog for another time. My compromise are bands like Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (suprise), the Kooks, and my newest find, Mumford & Sons.With these bands combined, I'm building my best playlist ever! Well, until next year at least.

Here's a sample:

So you might have noticed a folk vibe which is pretty close to bluegrass, but they're British so it doesn't count.

I'm also adding Bruno Mars because his song is an apartment favorite and well, I'm still a sucker for a cute love song.

Hopefully, this awesome new playlist will keep me from procrastinating or at least entertain me once I finally get to work.

A Morning Person

2010-09-11T15:42:00.000-07:00

By looking at my sleeping patterns, you'd never know I love to see the sunrise, but twice this summer I've been convinced to hike at insane hours just to see the sun peak over the mountains.

For this trip, I joined a rather large group of people to hike Timp at midnight so we could watch the sunrise from the saddle which is not the summit, but pretty close; We could see the valleys on either side of the mountain. It was a fun hike at first, (paved trail, a waterfall, and random conversations among the hikers) but around 4:30am I turned into a marching zombie and conversation had died unless it was to ask for a break. Finally, around 6am, we made it to the saddle where we huddled up and waited for the sun to rise. Take a look at these pictures and tell me it wasn't worth it.

Now if only I could convince my legs to quit complaining.

I'm a nerd...as if that's a surprise

2010-09-03T15:04:00.000-07:00

I'm beginning another school year for the 18th time and I couldn't be happier. Is saying I'm as giddy as a school girl too much? Okay, maybe giddy isn't the right word, but it's close. I'm talking about rhetoric and transnational lit in my classes and then (drum roll please)I'm teaching writing & rhetoric...to freshmen! I get to have office hours and a desk. Yes, I might have thought "I'm a big girl now!" to the Huggies jingle, but no I was not so excited that I needed their product.

At my mom's request, I took a first day of teaching photo. And I promise it was really at her request, but I happily complied.

I thought carefully about that outfit and had it approved by all the roommates. I hope you're picking up on my enthusiasm.

Besides teaching and having a desk, it's back to school as usual. I have homework to do, ward socials to go to, (My new ward is hyper-social. I'm talking 6 activities in one week.) and football games to watch. My roommates and I went all out for this first game. The only reason we didn't have blue hair was because we forgot.

So basically, I'm loving this semester and it looks like I'll continue to love it...until I have to stay up late consistently working on papers, but I'll deal with that when the time comes.

Writers Can Be Scientists Too

2010-08-27T21:12:00.001-07:00

I write like
Margaret Mitchell

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

At least, according iwl.com which will analyze paragraphs of your writing and let you know who you write like based on word choice. I tried it a few months ago and got Stephen King, but the same text today resulted in Margaret Mitchell so I wouldn't go around telling people you'll be the next Stephanie Meyer or Herman Meville.

Since it uses keywords to analyze and sort, I thought I'd see how genre affected my results. Putting my high school science education to work, I hypothesized that since my word choice and tone vary according to the rhetorical situation that my results would change according to genre. I tested a few some fiction pieces, blog posts, and academic essays and as predicted my results changed between the genres. My academic essays both resulted in H. P. Lovecraft and my blogs posts resulted in Cory Doctorow, but my fiction ranged from Margaret Mitchell to J.D. Salinger. Why? I'd guess because I'm still trying to find my voice with fiction while I have a set voice in my other writing, but it will take another experiment to confirm that.

Stifling Summer Unproductivity

2010-07-12T20:27:00.000-07:00

The beginning of every summer, I set goals to be more productive in non-school related activities. Summer time will be mine to use however I please (insert maniacal laugh here)! Time to write, paint, read, and be social. I imagine a magic summer of creative endeavors and nature hikes. Reality: sleep, work, game nights, movies, eating out, sleep, naps, and a little reading.

I'm not saying I haven't done cool stuff this summer, because I have...perhaps even more than my previous summers. I've gone camping, hiking, played softball and soccer, gone to a concert and about every ward social event they could come up with. My social life has exploded with new names and faces. The last time I made so many facebook friends so fast, I had just joined. Consider my goal to be social accomplished, but what about all the creative me time?

No novels started. No awesome watercolors of mountain landscapes. Not even a scrapbook page. I've been slacking with my blog too. I wanted to tell you about camping along the Colorado river and having moonlight shine through my tent, about hiking at 5 a.m. to see the sunrise at Delicate Arch, about my near death experience with backyard fireworks, or about how I don't like "Float On" because I was crammed in with a bunch of smoky, sweaty, drunk, people who were mostly at the free concert for that one song--I was there for two songs so I'm so much deeper...two times deeper to be exact-- but every time I thought about blogging, I got distracted by the internet or a movie going on in my living room. So half way through the summer, I'd like to say this will change, but it won't. Not that much at least. I'll probably read and write a bit more and produce a mediocre painting, but that's it. Oddly enough, that's okay with me because even for all my "wasted" time, I've had fun and I've received a few lessons despite not being in school--my consistent efforts to exude awesomeness and inevitably falling short being among those lessons.

Fortunately, cameras don't require much work, so I at least have some pictures from my camping trip to prove I did something with my summer.

The International Language

2010-06-13T23:54:00.000-07:00

I went to another wedding reception this weekend. This time it was for two people in my ward who went with more of a party feel than a reception which meant a live band and dancing. They played a lot of 50's/60's rock'n'roll, especially the Beatles. My roommate from Brazil who knows only a little bit of English would look at me, shrug and mouth "I don't know" for most of these songs. Then the band started playing "Mmmbop" by the Hansons and her face lit up with recognition. Really? She didn't know the Beatles, but knew the Hansons. Blew my mind for a bit until I thought about the lyrics. You really don't have to know English to appreciate "Mmmbop".

As Promised...

2010-06-10T17:21:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pics of me as a bridesmaid.

Jumping in those shoes was a bad idea, but I told you I lucked out on the bridesmaid dress.

This Town Grows on You

2010-06-10T17:00:00.000-07:00

For lunch today, me and Elis decided to try a local favorite that we've never been to, Sammy's. Trendy little diner, chicken strips, and an ice cold Pepsi. Blissful. And as we left Sammy's, it started to thunder and huge drops of rain fell on us--a quick summer storm--but we could see blue skies reflected off a glass building. It got us talking about how wonderful this town is during the summer and how different it feels since we moved here as freshmen. Not saying I want to live here forever, but for now, I don't mind calling it home.

Oh and my chicken strips were so hot they burned through the Styrofoam.

Photo fun Saturday

2010-06-05T23:11:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd take a break from my pondering and just show some photos from the day.

Becky's holding a mug full of hot cocoa fudge. Why is it in a mug? I have no idea, but it was good over ice cream. We also made delicious momo's which are like Chinese dumplings, but I forgot to take a picture before we ate them.

This is my typical Saturday morning.

Basically, I have the hair of a wild woman. Why didn't I live in the 80's when big hair was rad?

Song Association

2010-06-01T10:07:00.000-07:00

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. After watching a few music videos, I wouldn't be surprised if that band made you think mary jane or just plain creepy. Seriously, most of the videos I watched consisted of either a portrait shot of Tom Petty while the background changed or Tom Petty doing something creepy like filming people or dancing with a corpse. It's almost ruined my admiration for his music. Almost.

But I hear the first chords of American Girl or Free Fallin' (John Mayer should not have touched that song) and I feel grounded and safe. I remember my dad teaching me to sing "yer so bad", his black pick-up truck, and being asked if my grandpa's truck was better than my dad's. I think about summer and roadtrips and nights around a campfire. I wouldn't say that my life views are anywhere similar to Tom Petty's, but for some reason, I connect to his music.

I'm betting most of that connection has less to do with lyrics (I have no idea what a dance with mary jane would be like) and more with association. I associate Tom Petty and a lot of older rock music with my dad and since I generally like my dad, listening to that music makes me happy. It's not a new idea. But it made me wonder how much of my musical taste has been shaped by associating memories with music. Could my ipod be a history of my life? An autobiographical act? I think so, but then what story does my ipod tell? I'm still figuring that one out.

The Gym--the Final Frontier

2010-05-19T23:34:00.000-07:00

There's a good chance aliens re-wired my brain. Or perhaps it's just that ideas seem so much better at 1 a.m., but along with two of my roommates, I've decided I'm going to start lifting weights. And that means going to the gym. The Gym. Going running is weird enough for me and I'm even more shocked that I enjoy it, but running isn't really that athletic. It's more of a health thing. And more importantly, you don't have to be good at it. This is not to undermine competitive runners, because they honestly intimidate me and that kind of running is definitely a sport. However, everyone and their dog can go for a run without being "sporty." Going to the gym is a whole different thing for me.

Today I remembered why I've avoided the gym for so long. I walked in and two guys just looked at me. Typically, I don't mind the whole guys-looking-at-me-when-I-walk-into-the-room thing ('cause it happens all the time...NOT)but I had absolutely no clue what I was doing and the last thing I wanted was an audience. I walked around a little, trying to find a machine to work on. I didn't know what half the machines did. Once I found one that looked familiar, I started doing a few reps. The equipment is incredibly close together so that while I'm doing arm pulls there's a guy two feet away from me on some other machine; while my butt is in the air doing some leg lift, someone's right behind me doing a leg press. All I could think is that these people know my technique is all wrong and are laughing at my ridiculously low weight. Could this be my own insecurities messing with my mind? Yes, but how does everyone else get over it?

The old Kelsy, would probably have left and waited another 4 years before returning and then only under duress, but I'm being brave this summer. So I decided to make a study out of it. I'll keep going to the gym (hopefully, with a better plan of action) and see what I can learn about gym culture and maybe get in better shape while I'm at it.

But if I start taking protein shakes and flexing on my downtime, you'll know it was the aliens.

Feminism, the West, and Me

2010-05-11T18:37:00.000-07:00

A few weeks back, I was listening to my ipod on random and pondering the woes of dating when Johnny Cash's song "I Walk the Line" began to play. The man in black seemed the perfect voice to express my disenchantment with love, but while listening, I found strength and resolve instead of deeper melancholy. He sang,"Because you're mine, I walk the line." I decided that that line was probably the most romantic thing a guy could say. If a guy said that to me and really meant it, I'd probably melt. It would also be beneficial if that guy said it in a deep, Johnny-Cash-like voice, but let's face it, not every guy can be Johnny Cash. Anyway, I stored that line in the romantic dream compartment of my brain and continued on with my life.

I might have heard that song a few more times and each time I returned to the thought, I want a guy to say that to me
but it wasn't until after a discussion in my American Autobiography class that I even thought about why I found Johnny Cash and that song so romantic. You see, in my class we do talk about various American autobiographers, but we also discuss what makes an autobiography and how we perform autobiographical acts. That day, we had talked about how we write our own narratives and how those are informed by the world around us.

I often proclaim myself a feminist, but my feminism is different from another person's. My feminism is formed from the examples of strong women in my family and in the strong ranch women type that Western ideals have created. In other words, I think a feminist is a strong woman and a strong woman to me is someone who sticks to her beliefs and fights for her dreams. That does not mean she wants to be just like a man or that she necessarily wants to even compete with men. She can be a soccer mom or whatever else she wants to be, but that's the qualifier--a strong woman lives her life the way she wants to. I'm not physically very strong, but I am resolved to get my education and to raise a family according to my beliefs. So when I write in my journal or even on this blog, I write with the strong woman in mind. When I face trials, I think about being a strong woman. And to bring it back to Johnny Cash, when I decide what is romantic to me, the strong woman inside tells me that the man I want will work just as hard as I do for his dreams and beliefs.

Meet me in St. Louis

2010-05-09T16:57:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, I was a bridesmaid for my friend Sarah. It was my first time being a bridesmaid and fortunately, Sarah chose a bridesmaid dress that I can honestly say I'll wear again(I'll post a picture of it sometime). Sarah looked beautiful, her husband looked happy, and seeing them walk out of the temple made me want to cry for joy. Despite all the chaos getting ready for the wedding, everything turned out beautiful. Congratulations Sarah!

Hello Summer!

2010-04-26T21:30:00.000-07:00

Finals are done, I've graduated, and life is good. As far as I'm concerned, summer has begun and today was a great day to start.

I may not have been able to leave Provo and go on the great American adventure, but I did get to drive around town with my windows rolled down. I think eating in-n-out while listening to "Hotel California" is a decent substitute and things only got better from there.The evening included a kickball game, 24, a bonfire, a toast with cherry limeade, and an impromptu performance of "Lean on Me" (around the bonfire which makes it better). This is when I remember that I love my life.

Since I've declared it summer already, it's time to give this summer a name. Last year was the summer of nerdiness and with my currently single status, I was seriously tempted to make this the summer of flirtiness. It just sounds fun in the literal and metaphorical sense, but this summer means so much more to me than the potential for a fling or two. No, this summer is the summer of freedom. It kicked off with our ward's closing social being called "Wardstock" and me finally having a car (free at last from relying on roommates to go grocery shopping). How this summer ends has yet to be determined, but the possibilities look promising.

KC, Me, and Elis getting psyched for Wardstock...

...and a dance. They're a significant part of my summer plans.

I am an American Girl

2010-04-10T12:09:00.000-07:00

Right now I'm fighting the urge to jump in a car, roll the windows down, turn on some Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and just leave this town.

Isn't that what you're supposed to do when you graduate? Leave everything to have one last summer of freedom--to have your own adventure. Well, I decided to ignore it all and jump straight into school again. I should probably have my brain examined by a trained professional or maybe, just maybe, this is my way of having an adventure that is mine and not a simulated adventure that society tells me I should have.

Still, a roadtrip is tempting.

Refresh and Rewind

2010-04-01T22:26:00.000-07:00

Despite the snow today, I can feel spring coming and my resolve to end the semester at least decently and bring order to my life has been renewed. I've already started running which is shocking enough, but get this...I kinda like running. Corny as it sounds, I find it therapeutic. So I'm working on making it a habit. With a little more free time coming may way, I'd thought I'd make a list of other things I'm going to try, work on, or just enjoy more:
1. Read (not new, just haven't read for fun in awhile)
2. Work on a novel (I'm starting one for a class and I want to keep it up)
3. Play some ultimate frisbee/ whatever other sport that tickles my fancy
4. Cook more (I'm starting a recipe book, now I just need to plan my meals)
5. Just have fun (It's kinda my last summer without major responsibilities and I want to enjoy it)

So speaking of enjoying myself...

Let's go back in time to 2000. I'm a seventh grader sitting in my "literature" class and Mr. Smith puts on this ridiculous movie about ancient Greece from the 80's (I think)and some hilarious claymation special effects. Do you know what movie I'm talking about?

I'm going to assume you have random, weird taste and have been yelling at your computer screen "CLASH OF THE TITANS." And if I assumed right, then you're right. If I assumed wrong, don't worry. You probably have a life. The point is that 10 years later, I'm psyched to go see the new and hopefully improved Clash of the Titans. Finally, ancient mythology and action combine into what I hope will be awesomeness. Enjoy!

You'll notice Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes as Zeus and Hades. All the more reason for me to watch this.

Laughing isn't just for dolts

2010-03-20T22:20:00.000-07:00

This weekend I watched a Laugh Out Loud improv show on campus. Because it's improv, the jokes can be either really funny or just awkward. I thought overall LOL did a pretty good job. Sure, there were awkward parts, but it was kinda fun watching them trying to come up with something that was funny and BYU appropriate at the same time.

The friends I went with were cracking up which made everything funnier. I had one friend who was probably laughing louder and more frequently than everyone else, but it made me laugh to see all the things he found funny. He was a great audience member and they improv troupe needed that.

The reverse of that would be some of my classmates who were also at the show. As part of my American Comedy and Satire class, we were supposed to watch an improv show and I noticed them sitting behind me. I looked back a few times and every time they were stone-faced. I understand not finding something funny, but they looked liked aristocrats sticking up their noses at the peasants and their little games. I could just imagine what they were thinking about my friend who was laughing his butt off.

These two different reactions got me thinking about the politics of comedy. We talk in my class a lot about role reversal and the carnivalesque as elements that subvert the status quo in order to either reinforce roles or to work towards social/ideological changes. While I've certainly seen that in a lot in the texts and movies we've discussed, I also think that we've looked at comedy simplistically. We've assumed that every audience would judge these texts as successful comedies or satires. But think about math jokes. Only someone with that knowledge finds it funny. Comedy can be just as exclusive as any other art form, if that's how we use it.

Though I find my classmates to be very intelligent people, I do not think all of the jokes at the show were below them. But I do think the attitude of critic and reviewer would make it seem so. I say this just as much for me because I know I've looked down at a paper or performance because I'm analyzing it, but can't we all just not take ourselves so seriously and laugh a little?

So my most recent laugh was this clip about Twilight. Yes, I like the books/movies, but I also like laughing at them.

2010-03-01T18:48:00.000-08:00

The letter came in and I've been accepted to BYU's Masters program!

I promise I remember I have a blog

2010-02-26T08:30:00.000-08:00

What is it my Dad always says? Winners don't make excuses? Well, I'm going to anyway. I haven't blogged lately because 1) my camera is broken so I can't get pictures up, 2) it's been a busy semester, but I've been procrastinating, and 3) I've been waiting on replies from grad schools. See? 3 decent excuses. If I had to write a paper about it, I could.

So I'll get the boring part of my update done first. As of this morning, I haven't heard back from any grad school. I'm hoping that this is a good thing because they weed out the ones the definitely don't want first, right? Well, whatever happens there, I'll be sure to let you know when I find out.

School is going well, but I'm struggling to stay motivated. Last semester, I was working towards grad school and this semester I feel like I'm biding my time until graduation. Not the best attitude for getting homework done. But don't worry, I'm trying to buckle down and I've even managed to get an A on one of my many Spanish tests.

In social/entertainment news, I watched Leap Year last night and I think I've found my new favorite movie. London movie nights have turned into dollar movie nights (we watched all the movies we owned). Last week was Princess and the Frog which was good, but I was seriously laughing out loud during Leap Year. Let me list all the reasons I loved it:
lovely Irish landscapes
an even lovelier Irish romantic lead
hilarious scenes of Amy Adams falling
Amy Adams slipping down a hill that reminded me of our climbing adventures in Scotland
cheeky dialogue
an anti-materialistic message
and a way cute ending
Yep that's it and it didn't hurt that I was sitting next to Ashley who laughs at my reactions to movies and then I laugh at her for doing the same thing.

Well, that's it for now. Au Revoir! (or should I say Adios now?)

A Year Ago

2009-12-16T23:57:00.000-08:00

So a year ago from yesterday, I returned from London. I WANT TO GO BACK!!!! Thankfully, my wonderful London friends have kept me sane this semester with movies, updates, and plans to one day return to London. I can't believe it's been a year. I feel like I've known these girls much longer, but I'm so grateful we shared London together. I know we're all going our own ways (Goodluck to missionary sisters!)but we'll always have London and London nights in Provo. Love ya London friends!

I like Twilight but...

2009-11-06T07:47:00.000-08:00

So exploring the web this morning, I found this lovely advertisement.

Really? Do they think Twi-moms are so involved in the saga that they'll actually buy into this?

Being a Senior Again: a Little Different from High School

2009-09-25T07:12:00.000-07:00

September 2005, I walked around school with confidence because I was a senior. Four years later and I'm a senior again, except I'm not so cocky. As a freshmen, I thought the seniors had everything together. They lived in real apartments, knew a ton about their major, had friends outside of their ward, and they knew what they wanted to do with their life. Most of my assumptions were true. I do have quite of few friends outside of my ward and I do live in a real apartment, but for knowing what I'm going to do with my life, that's not quite as secure as I imagined.

I'm not stumbling around clueless about where I want to be in the next ten years. I want to be a professor which means grad school and I'm excited to go to grad school, but I couldn't tell you which one I'm excited to go to. I've decided to send my application to 5 schools: the University of Arizona, Arizona State University, Colorado University, Utah University, and BYU. I go back and forth about which one I want to end up at, but the truth is I'll go where I'm accepted and there's a chance I won't get accepted to any this year.

Taking this next step in my life, I realize I could be anywhere in ten years. Plan or no plan, things happen and I'll have to adapt. I'll admit this is a very scary thought. School has been a constant. In high school, I knew I'd go to college and that college would be BYU, but now I don't know where I'll end up, what obstacles I'll meet in getting my masters or doctorate, where I'll work, or if I will still be a professor. I've so many options right now.

Scared isn't my only emotion though. I'm ready to graduate and see what happens. It's like opening up one of those surprise gift bags; I really want to see what's inside, but I'm afraid it will be tacky knick knacks. Obviously, I have more control of my life than opening a gift bag, but still I don't have control over everything. I'm working hard to stay on top of my homework,I'm already thinking about my final papers, and I'm studying to take the GRE. Still, I wonder if it will be enough.

Until I know which school I'm going to, I'll be restless, but I'm also enjoying my senior year. London movie nights are going strong, I've been to so many beginning of the year socials I know almost every ice breaker game that exists, and you can bet I've been watching BYU football (even when it's painful). Right now my weeks are full of books and my weekends full of friends. I'm not the big woman on campus, but it's good to be a senior again.

The Summer of Nerdiness

2009-05-10T21:35:00.000-07:00

Two weeks into summer and I think I've gotten into the routine of things. A few people don't like me my calling myself a nerd, but according to a yahoo article, nerd is so in right now. Well, that's good news for me because a good number of my summer hours will be spent doing nerdy things. My summer job is working at the Harold B. Lee Library, shelving books. It is more physically demanding than I thought it would be. I walk all around my floor (2nd Religion) and around of the rest of the library for about 7 hours, only sitting while I'm sorting books or reading the call numbers on bottom shelves. I also time myself while I shelve books with the goal to reach 4 books a minute. I've enjoyed my first two weeks and I've had a chance to scope out some books to read this summer.

In addition to working at the library, I'm interning at the BYU Writing Center which with hopefully turn into a job for Fall semester. So far I've been observing peer tutors helping students with papers and, by the end of the term, I'll be doing the same thing. A pretty academic based summer, but I think it will be great. The best part is that I have no homework, leaving plenty of time to read. I've four books so far and my list is growing.

As far as social activities, it's been movies and bonfires every weekend. My roommates and I made a list of some creative date activities. Hopefully, we'll try them all.

To finish off my blog, I thought I'd leave you with some funny titles I've come across at work:

How to pray and stay awake

Can I have your number: Pick-up lines that don't work and gospel principles that do

Death and Dying A-Z

How to be well liked

Pure & Chased

If I find more, I'll be sure to share them. Since I find them shelving, I wonder who checks these books out.

Semester Wrap-up

2009-04-05T22:28:00.000-07:00

I'm sitting here waiting for midnight so I can sign up for Fall classes. Since I've accomplished the work I set aside for tonight,(quite the feat because I rarely do all the work I plan to do)I thought I'd share some photos from this semester. Certainly not as exciting as last semester, but I've had a few good times. These pictures are from my birthday, my trip to Denver to see my family, and from the Festival of Colors at the Hindu temple in Spanish Fork. They were all really good times. There really is nothing that can take the place of friends and family, even London.

Is Feminist a bad word?

2009-02-23T19:00:00.000-08:00

I've been surprised lately at my reaction to being called a feminist. My knee jerk reaction is "No I'm not!" but two years ago I would have said "Yeah, is that a problem?" with attitude. I have always been and will continue to be an advocate for strong women. Then why was I embarrassed when my roommate said my feminism is rubbing off on her or when she told a room full of people that I'd chose a feminist answer?

I've been mulling over the feminist label I've been given. For a bit I thought I had sold out my views. I thought I didn't want her blabbing to boys that I was a feminist and then there went any chance of dates this semester, but that was a stupid fear. Who wants a guy that's afraid of a feminist? Ridiculous. Then I realized it wasn't because I'd changed my views, but that I considered my views to be moderate. I just spent a semester in London learning about the "woman question" and realized that I owe the rights I enjoy now to some very intelligent and brave women. I owe it to them to consider my education, chance as a career, and respect from men as an intellectual equal as a right. No one, man or woman, can make me feel ashamed to expect that. If that makes me a feminist, than so be it.

So to in light of my revitalized image, I thought I'd let you in on a pattern that I've found in my Young Adult Lit. class. Remember J.K. Rowling? Of course you do. Well female writers who, like Rowling, write about male protagonist tend to use their initials instead of their first name. Why? Because then readers cannot make an automatic assumption on the sex of the author. As we've discussed in class, girls will read whatever they can,(perhaps because for the longest time we were only allowed novels) but boys have a harder time finding books they like and rarely pick up a book with a female protagonist. Boys are more likely to voluntarily read a male author than female author, so to make more money why not use initials so you gain male readers without alienating your female readers. Just a tidbit for you to think about the next time you pick up a book.

Readjusting to Normality

2009-01-16T23:34:00.000-08:00

A little over a month since my last post--the last post from London. Today it has been exactly a month since I left London. It cannot be true, but so my calendar tells me. I still feel like I'm adjusting to life in the States, particularly to life in one very special state, Utah. Colorado will always be home, so I felt comfortable as soon as I saw the sunset reflected on the snow. However, now that I'm back in school, I feel like a freshman again. I'm getting used to new roommates and classes. I'm taking French again and my Humanities 250 class feels a lot like my freshman English class (including the analysis of a Shakespeare sonnet).

In a way, I feel like I'm making a new start. I'm paying better attention in class and being more persistent in my readings, but most importantly, I'm finally looking at my classes with a goal in mind--getting into graduate school. I've found the purpose I've been lacking.True the goal for my education is to be able to go to more school, but it's still something to work towards. Still, I'm not repeating freshman year. My classes certainly demand more from me than my gen eds. For instance, I've a fourth of two text books, one of them being art philosophy. You know, Aristotle, Plato, and Kant, I've had a crash course in their philosophy every other day. I sit in class confused half the time, but then there are the moments of clarity that open up not only art, but human thought. This will be a tough semester, but I have a feeling that it will mold me into a real scholar.

Goodbye London Town

2008-12-13T13:30:00.000-08:00

Finals are finished and my time in London is coming to an end. Sad day. So here is a list of some of the things I'll miss about London and what I look forward to when I come back home.

What I'll Miss...
British Accents
Going wherever I want on the tube
Percy Pigs
Cute Sweet Shops
The Thames
Movies in the classroom
Treacle
Kensington Gardens
Whitechapel Ward
London walks
Art Museums
Going to shows every week
The view from the National Gallery
Big Ben!

What I look forward to being home...
real hamburgers
Mexican food
Toilets that flush
One faucet on the sinks
clean mountain air
being in car
my family!

Walk Among the Scholars

2008-12-07T11:23:00.000-08:00

Schools of Thought
1. Socialism
2. Classical
3. Pre-Raphaelite
4. School of Art
5. Darwinism
6. University of London
7. Peaceful Resistance
8. British Library

The walk among the scholars seemed a rather boring walk as far as sight seeing goes, but when I began thinking about all the studying and new ideas that originated in such concentration from these blocks, the lack of “sights” became nothing to me. I walked amazed and inspired by the studious endeavors of past and present students. Britain has held scholarly renown for quite some time and it is no wonder considering the works of Newton, Darwin, Rossetti, and Dickens which cover the bases of human ingenuity in science and art. The pictures and captions listed above are only a sample of the scholarly work in that neighborhood and an even smaller sample of London’s contributions to science and art. This semester, I’ve been walking in the footsteps of giants.

Versailles

2008-11-26T15:29:00.000-08:00

My first full day in France was spent at the extravagant Versailles palace and grounds. The palace was luxury and wealth to the extreme. The grounds looked magnificent, even during the dreary winter day. If I had come in the spring I think the blooming flowers and gold architecture would have overwhelmed me with its exuberance. A group of us girls had a blast though! We explored the grounds and found Marie Antoinette's hamlet which was a fairytale like village she had made to connect with the peasants. Yeah, well maybe it was more like a huge play village, but Marie Antoinette wasn't known for her thriftiness. We sure enjoyed the ideal village and loved the mill that looks like Belle's house. It was worth the extra hours and miles spent exploring.

J'aime Paris

2008-11-26T09:21:00.001-08:00

Ah Paris, the city of lights and lovers. Sometimes a person can dream about a place so much that its reality fades in comparison,an anti-climatic realization. My visit to Paris was not one of those times. All I ever imagined about Paris, the architecture, the art, and the food lived up to or exceeded my imagination. I really enjoyed the pastries and I mean REALLY enjoyed the pastries. Since we had to cram as much as we could see of Paris in 4 days there was little time to sit down and eat meals (that lead to some very sore feet) so around lunch and dinner and well anytime food sounded good, we stopped at a patisierrie. My favorite treat was a tarte aux pommes fine. DELICIOUS.
The museums and sights were also wonderful, but my favorite museums were the Louvre and the Orsay. Sam, Annie, and I went to the Louvre at night which made us feel like kids in a school at night. We had our deep intellectual moments discussing David's Raft of Medusa and Venus de Milo, but the best memory of the night was our speed walk through the Italian Gallery. According to Rick Steves, this gallery can be through in 58 seconds if you walk at a brisk pace. That is a lie. Almost running, Sam and Annie made it in 2 minutes and 50 seconds and I lagged behind for a 3 minutes and 10 seconds time, but before I could make it to the finish line/ doorway one of the security guards looks at me and with a heavy French accent says "you lose". I look back (part of reason for my horrible time) and he's straight faced, but all of us are cracking up. It was wonderful. My other favorite, Musee d'Orsay had impressionist and realist paintings in a railway station turned museum. I liked the relaxing feel of the museum that coincided with its art.
Of course, I can't forget the Eiffel Tower. I took about 20 pictures of the icon of Paris and it was then that I realized why I love the Eiffel tower; it is beautiful from every angle of the city. Paris will always be one of my favorite places and hopefully I'll be able to go back and savor all the city has to offer.

For Tanner

2008-11-23T13:43:00.000-08:00

Twice during my escapades I saw something that made me think "Tanner would like this". These pictures are for you Tanner. The first is a gargoyle from Notre Dame and the second is a leaf from Winston Churchill's garden. He might have given those plants steroids. They were gigantic!

Museum Walk

2008-11-22T14:23:00.001-08:00

Centers of Learning
1. Science Museum
2. Brompton Church
3. Brompton Oratory
4. V&A Museum
5. Imperial College
6. Holy Trinity Church
7. Royal Music College
8. Royal Albert Hall
As close as South Kensington there are several buildings of spiritual and intellectual growth. I did not fully realize how ideally placed the BYU London center was to some of the best museums in London. All around are these wonderful buildings for learning, most of which were built during the Victorian era. I thought the combination of museums and churches fit with great religious crisis of Victorian times. Both sides, science and religion, were represented by these centers of learning which seems to me that both knowledge and faith can exist side by side. Now I’m building and expanding spiritually and intellectually, so this walk seemed to fit me personally as well as the Victorians I’ve been learning about.

Little Venice

2008-11-22T13:34:00.000-08:00

Modes of Transportation
1. Little Venice Canals
2. Driving
3. Biking
4. Walking
5. Boating
6. The View from the Bridge
7. Canal Home
8. Canal Entertainment

Little Venice may not look like the real Venice, but it still had a waterway charm just in the English style. The boats along the canal were sturdy and rustic looking. After a few minutes in the cold November air I was jealous of how they seemed to be snug and cozy on the cold water. During the summer the canals are supposedly bustling, but now they just sat along the canals like ducks on a pond. Just a few streets away the city was moving, but Little Venice stayed calm. It reminded me of outer Denver with the cold day and the city nearby. As I looked around I noticed all the different ways to get around the neighborhood. One thing I’ve noticed about Britain in general is that there are plenty of ways to travel and Little Venice was a perfect example of this.

Walk Among the Superstars

2008-11-08T10:07:00.000-08:00

1. The First Star
2. Sir Lawrence Olivier
3. Oscar Wilde
4. Brahm Stoker
5. Keith Richards
6. George Eliot (Marian Evans)
7. Mick Jagger
8. Thomas Carlyle
The walk wasn’t quite the Hollywood tour where you drive by the homes of famous actors, musicians, and athletes, but an interesting walk nonetheless. I saw the homes of writers, philosopher’s, and—well okay—actors and musicians as well as real heroes, the royal army. It seemed amazing that so many great people lived in the Chelsea area. There were not that many memorials or beautiful landscapes along the walk and I felt a bit ridiculous taking pictures of doors, but there was a nice appeal to the walk. Instead of looking at monuments where historic events happened, I was walking the same streets as great people of the last century. It was wonderfully mundane—just a city neighborhood that happened to have famous people living there at one time.

Holland Park Walk

2008-11-08T09:12:00.001-08:00

1. Playing Shadows
2. Hillgate Street
3. Hillgate Pub
4. Lonely streets
5. Deep Red
6. Brilliant Orange and Yellow
7. Kyoto Garden
8. Crane in the Garden

Having been thoroughly impressed with Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park, I did not expect anything new from Holland Park and the surrounding area, but I was pleasantly surprised. What I found there was a previous luxury in London, quiet solitude. Granted, it wasn’t complete silence or solitude, but the closest I’ve been to it since I came to London. There were times during the walk when I couldn’t hear traffic and saw only a few people on the streets. The charming houses and Kyoto Garden were made more enjoyable by the fact that I didn’t have to dodge crowds to get to them. The fading light heightened the rich yellows and reds of the changing leaves and created shadows on the white washed houses. Autumn has been a long season and this walk was yet another walk that seemed to be made for a brisk autumn afternoon. Paris in the Fall—try London in the Fall—truly spectacular.

Bonnie Scotland

2008-10-31T18:23:00.000-07:00

TEdinburgh is a beautiful city, but the Scottish weather is even more fickle than Alamosa's. It literally took five minutes to change from sunny to rainy. Luckily, we were prepared for any weather and the cold only made the experience better because we braved it. Our trip started off slow...the train arrived in Edinburgh two hours late because gale like winds had damaged the railway (Scottish weather), but we made the best of it and even got reimbursed (in vouchers). The best part was the Scotch Broth and toast waiting for us at the home of a missionary couple. They made our trip. We were able to stay in their flat which is the closest thing to a home any of us have seen for a long while.
The next day we walked the Royal Mile, tried deep fried mars bars, and hiked to Arthur's Seat which looks over Edinburgh. It was a really hard hike with the wind and rain coming down on us and once we reached the top, the wind threatened to blow us away, but the trials were worth the view. Just a few steps on the way down and the sun came out and a rainbow crossed the horizon, but that didn't mean the trip down would be easy. I took a wrong path and had to back track up the hill to get back with my group and three of the other girls slipped and fell in the mud quite a few times. I laughed my head off mainly because Sabrina was the last to fall and she fell in the act of making fun of one of the other girls. That night we had really good Chinese food with the missionary couple and Sabrina and I warmed up with Hot Chocolate and a murder mystery. (Oh and the wonderful bed they had for us...we never wanted to leave.)
Our last day of the trip was consistently stormy. Umbrellas were broken, but we were smart enough just to bundle up. It was the perfect day for relaxing in a coffee shop, and that's what we did. We did what any Harry Potter fan would do. We went to the birthplace of our favorite series and wrote on the napkins while enjoyed steamers. Then we left to have another train delay, but not before I fell in love with Scotland.

The Rest of the North Trip

2008-10-31T18:12:00.000-07:00

So I keep getting further behind, but I'm trying. These pictures are the remaining pictures from our North trip and include the Preston Temple, the Lake District, Haworth, and Chatsworth. The scenery was amazing and it was an awesome trip. Stay tuned for Scotland, Canterbury and Chartwell, and of course Halloween. Cheers!

Catching Up ...Part 2

2008-10-26T10:36:00.000-07:00

I'm learning the hard way that once you're behind it's hard to catch up, but I'm still trying. So these pictures are from Liverpool where we stayed for the first part of our trip North. It was really fun and we got to go through the Maritime museum where we found out about how our ancestors left for America. I was very grateful for their decision.

Hampstead and Hampstead Heath Walk

2008-10-18T04:22:00.000-07:00

Flora of Hampstead
1. Graveyard Path
2. Willow in the Heath
3. October Tree
4. Autumn Afternoon
5. Where Ivy Creeps
6. Last Glimpse of Summer
7. Overgrown
8. Fall Treat

The walk book talked about how Hampstead was once a spa and good walk if one wanted a break from the city and I heartily agree. Though the walk took about six hours due to getting lost in the heath, it has been my favorite walk so far. The sunny autumn day and old brick buildings brought out the natural beauty that had started to change with the season. A walk in an old churchyard seemed the romanticized image of the overgrown and spooky graveyards of horror movies and the heath seemed like a forest where Ichabod Crane would run into the Headless Horseman. These spooky sites only added to the autumn charm. The brisk air and warm glow of the sun enriched the changing leaves. Add the crisp apples I bought from the backyard of the Fenton house and it was the perfect Fall day.

Catching Up...Part 1

2008-10-11T13:12:00.000-07:00

So I've been so busy these last few weeks. These photos are from Oxford and the Tower of London.

Walking Through the City

2008-10-04T08:34:00.000-07:00

Towering London
1. Classical
2. Coffee House & Spire
3. Lloyd Building
4. Great Gherkin
5. Le Bow
6. HSBC
7. Modern
8. Future
If there is one architectural theme that is true for most of London, especially downtown London it is tall buildings. Throughout its history, London has been a large and growing population, but there isn’t much room to grow out on an island so the city has grown towards the sky. It’s hard as a tourist not to look up the whole time you’re walking because not only are the buildings tall but beautiful. Even older buildings seem to pierce the sky with marble spires—like stark clouds against the blue sky. One cannot help but feel miniscule next to these structural giants.

Walking the Walls of Londonium

2008-10-03T10:18:00.001-07:00

Stone Memories
1. Remembering London’s History
2. Roman Walls
3. Memorial for Heroic Efforts by Ordinary Citizens
4. How the Walls Have Changed
5. Emperor Trajan
6. Memorial for Soldiers
7. Remembering Religion
8. Turkish Bath…now a restaurant
What was so interesting about the Londinium was seeing how London has grown since its beginnings as a Roman town and how buildings have been saved as a memorial to its past. Coming of the tube I saw the remains of the Roman wall and was almost taken back to the time when London was an outpost of a massive empire. I say almost because still the cars drive by and airplanes fly over head and the wall stays as a memory of the past. From there I go up to the bustling streets and find more memorials, these are for soldiers who died protecting their country. Again and again I see memorials-some explicitly for the memory of people, some to mark a time in London’s history, and one in particular, the Museum of London, to remember all that has transpired within the walls of Londinium.

Poet's Corner

2008-09-23T10:06:00.000-07:00

Yesterday morning as I was scrunching my hair, some poetic lines entered my mind. Why? Well I really do not know why, but I imagine it had something to do with a girl in my dorm reciting Tennyson and the day that lay ahead. You see, yesterday I visited the Globe Theater and Westminster Abbey. The Globe was not overly impressive --neat --interesting, but not awe-inspiring. Westminster Abbey, however, was so very ancient and full of the tombs and memorials of historical and great people that I was half-way between awe and a sickness at the idea of all the dead bodies. My favorite part by far was poet's corner--literary greatness gathered in one area. So to their memory or in spite of their excellent example here are the lines that came to my mind. (Please remember they are very much under revision.)

The very sight of he brought to my heart enmity.
Twas not a young lad fair that I did gaping stare... (to be continued)

Devon and Cornwall

2008-09-21T09:23:00.000-07:00

Monday we all gathered to hear about our "trip to the west," but to everyone's disappointment our professors kept our destination as to the west until the evening before. Then we heard the names of the places we were to see, but no real idea of the trip that lay ahead. Now I realize we could never have been prepared for the beauty we saw. We visited Stourhead which is a lovely estate that also happened to been the site for the proposal scene in the latest Pride and Prejudice. The next morning we just relaxed at a fairly secluded beach near Penzance that seemed to of come from a pirate novel. I never knew England could have such beautiful beaches. Then we made our way to St. Michael's Mount which was again beautiful. The next day was spent in Exeter and Lyme Regis. Both cities had their special charms, but I preferred the food and scenery of Lyme, especially since the best fish and chips I've had here were from Lyme. I really don't know if any of our other trips can surpass this one, but it will be fun to try.

South of the Thames Walk (Wild Side)

2008-09-20T03:14:00.000-07:00

Titles of Pictures (in order from top to bottom)

1. Modern London City (City Hall)

2. Old and Modern Neighbors

3. Monument of Old London (Tower Bridge)

4. Clean Lines of London (the Eye)

5. Some Things Remain

6. Always Entertaining (Globe Theater)

7. Underneath (skate park)

8. Lawn Chairs

During my walk the one thing I couldn’t help notice was how different the South Thames was from the North Thames. The museums, art galleries, and government buildings had a very modern style. They played with lines while at the same time giving the buildings a clean appearance unlike Gothic and Greco-Roman styles that are sometimes clutters with decorations. I had thought that South Thames was the modern side. However, I was both right and wrong in thinking so. Along with the modern buildings were older buildings like the Southwark Chapel and Globe Theater found on meandering stone paved streets. The South Thames wasn’t modern in the sense that it had all new buildings. I found it to be a hodgepodge of old and new that existed perfectly well together. This coexistence made it modern because it embraced new ideas without forgetting its history.

Hogwarts Express

2008-09-16T14:57:00.000-07:00

Recently a comparison of our trip to London and Hogwarts has been suggested. Ever since I read the first Harry Potter, I wanted to go to Hogwarts and it seems I'm getting my wish or at least the closest thing possible. I've had rock cake, visited Platform 9 3/4, and walked around London. But what is most like Hogwarts is my life here in the London Centre. I live on the 3rd floor even though there are 5 landings before it. As a matter of fact there are some days I think it moves like the staircases in Hogwarts. We have wonderful meals that await us each night (though they won't just appear when I'm on Kitchen crew). And finally, I live in a dorm full of other girls who often congregate in our drawing room (or common room). It's a wonderful experience just living here and add all the historic sites and beautiful English gardens and well I'm sure these next few months will be something I fondly remember the rest of my life. I am grateful to be here. Thank you Mom & Dad.

Second Half of a Busy Week

2008-09-14T15:08:00.000-07:00

So here are the rest of pictures of Bath and some random pictures from exploring. You'll notice two major London sites (Big Ben and Tower Bridge) and one famous Harry Potter station. My week has been crazy fun, but crazy long. This weekend was much needed. Now time to take a breath and start it all over again.

2008-09-11T16:07:00.001-07:00

Bath Water & Rock Cakes

2008-09-11T16:04:00.000-07:00

My trip to Bath was beyond enjoyable and stonehenge was equally amazing. I also got a rock cake. If you're not a Harry Potter nerd like me, that's what Hagrid often makes Harry and his friends. Let me tell you it was delicious. I'm afraid I don't have the picture in there yet, but I will soon. These are only some of the pictures I took. I'll get the others up whenever I can.

Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens

2008-09-09T13:24:00.000-07:00

Part of London Experience or homework is to take certain walks. Two of these walks were in Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens, so some of us thought it would be nice to get two of the closest walks done. Sabrina, Jenny, and I spent 2+ hours walking around these parks and it was amazing! I think if I ever find free time it will be spent in both of these gorgeous parks.

2008-09-09T12:51:00.000-07:00

Home London Home

2008-09-08T14:53:00.000-07:00

These are pictures from our flat and the Palace Court, our street. It is just simply amazing and I'm afraid even the pictures don't do it justice, but it's the best I could do. Oh and apparently a random picture from Hyde Park. The rest of the parks will have to be updated tomorrow because it's late and I still have reading to do.

Exhaustion in London

2008-09-06T12:37:00.000-07:00

Well I'm here, in London town. I've had about an hour of sleep in about 28 hours and I can't quite sleep yet without screwing up my sleep cycle. (As if it was normal to begin with). Getting around the airport was a little stressful since I couldn't find my group, but I eventually caught up with them and seriously wanted to weep for joy. From there the trip to palace court was a mixture of fatigue and excitement. My temporary home here in London is nothing short of wonderful. It's a townhouse right out of history. As my friend Sabrina said, "It's like a Jane Austen book with technology" and I might add without boys...well without boys we can date. I'll put up pictures as soon as I can. I have to get an adapter first. (Mom you'd love it!) I live in the Queen Victoria room which is right below the Charlotte Bronte and right above the Jane Austen room. Oh and did I mention I have 12 roommates! Luckily they're not all strangers. I found out that I know 3 of the girls here and recognize the faces of another 3 so it's not a total shock. As for the city London, well it's like U.S. cities on the main streets but the side streets are full of amazingly cute houses. I'm realizing I'll just have to put up pictures. Miss you all tons!

So Missing the Internet

2008-08-24T17:00:00.000-07:00

So it's been awhile since I've written and I blame that on my lack of internet. Not only is there not much going on in my life here, but I'm also disconnected because the internet I can access is through my grandma's house or at work. Thus that with the lack of anything exciting is my formal excuse.

Now for my updates. I almost won the longest drive contest in Women's League Golf, unfortunately one lady drove longer. I'm reading the 10th book since I left Provo, and the biggest news of all is I'm in the beginning stages of writing a book. It's not much right now, but thinking about it at work has saved me from boredom. So that's about it. Hope is all is going well! I'll write again when I'm in London. Cheers!

Just a Little Too Much Time on My Hands

2008-07-02T20:24:00.000-07:00

After an action packed weekend in Provo that included ice blocking, late night runs to Wal-Mart and Macey's, and well just plain silliness with Ashley, I'm feeling the slower days in Alamosa. It's great to be home, but there is only so much to do. So of course the first thing I do to fill time is start reading and that is basically the only news I have. I'm officially addicted to the Twilight Saga books. I know. I know. I've dragged my feet for so long, but after the first few chapters I was hooked. Next thing I know I've read all three and now I'm left wanting another book to not only fill my time but to also fill my thirst for a good story. Gah! I'm again anxiously awaiting yet another book, but what do I read in the mean time? If you have any suggestions PLEASE leave me a comment.

Finally Summer

2008-06-19T13:24:00.000-07:00

Freedom! I finished my last final today and I'm looking forward to a few homework free months. Best of all, I have a few free days in Provo before I head home to work. Can you say play? That's exactly what I intend to do...well after I finish packing and cleaning. Cleaning checks are the only thing keeping me from absolute freedom. Oh well. I'm enjoying my last days in Provo anyway.

The Christening of my Blog

2008-06-17T14:34:00.000-07:00

I don't know what you do to begin a blog and grand opening sounded too commercial, so please forgive the title because I had no other word for what this blog is.

So I've decided to make a blog because I am a horrible correspondent and starting in September I'll be living in London for a few months, so my return rate of emails may be slower than usual, or worse...unbelievably long. To fix that problem, I'll be writing everything that I experience here so I at least don't send novels in the form of emails. The other part of this blog is my thoughts. I'm an English major who usually writes as little as possible so I'm hoping this blog will help me become more loquacious. With that thought, I'd like to explain the title of my blog.

Many of my college friends know I come from a small town, well for five years when I was young, I lived in an even smaller town (about 1,000 people). My house there was basically the center of town. The post office was next door, the church was caddy corner, the school a block past the church, and the only store in town was right across the street. I loved that town more than anything because in my five year old mind it was paradise. The best part of the town though belonged to me. In our front yard stood two lilac bushes by the right fence. Me and my dog would crawl between them and sit, soaking in the smell. My memory has become blurry since then, but I do remember going there to think and being filled with an amazing peace. I don't know if those bushes are still there and even if they are, the memory of them would be sweeter than their actuality. So this blog is dedicated to the feelings and ideas that made those lilac bushes so special.