an early celebration.

Last Monday we held an early celebration for Ms. Kensie's birthday. Giggles, shenanigans, and caloric overexposure ensued.

First was sushi...what else?

My best friends are models. It's NBD, really.

 Followed by some Sub-Zero ice cream (frozen with liquid nitrogen).  Cake batter vs pumpkin.

Inarguably the best picture ever taken. For so many reasons.

What better way to finish the night than a healthy midnight snack, missionary cookie-making, and condolence-note writing?

grateful for my girls.

all my love.

ok, I changed my mind.

Forget the lust list.

all I want for Christmas is a puppy.

pleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleaseplease.

thanksgiving.

a happy Thursday at Grandma's.

3 kinds of pie

cousins

I'm not sure you can appreciate how funny this is.

a nice nap.

and phase 10, a classic.  brings out the worst in our family.

hope your Thanksgiving was wonderful!

all my love.

coming home.

Thanksgiving break looked a little something like this:

candle-lit family dinner

mushrooms, asparagus, fingerling potatoes, & mahi-mahi with pineapple sauce

spending some time with this stunner, Shelby Ann. 

pumpkin waffles



the beginnings of Christmas decorating

some Gene Kelly 

card-addressing. 

& dinner with an old friend;

it had been a while.

He's bred from country club people

--three thousand dollar watches, white leather interiors--

he even let me have the last bite of chocolate soufflé. 

we all need an occasional dose of indulgence.

& a little Sylvia Plath.
rested & refreshed.
Hope your break was as lovely.
all my love.

count your blessings.

giving my thanks on Thanksgiving

for being more blessed than any person should be

[go ahead. call me cliché]

"what if you woke up tomorrow with only what you thanked God for today?"

I am grateful for the significant blessings He has given me.

I'm grateful for

a father who protects me

a mother who laughs with me

a sister who is wise beyond her years

a baby brother who loves me unconditionally

a supportive extended family

the opportunity to get a great education

living in this privileged country

the gospel & the comfort and light it brings

old friends that stick around

new friends helping me to grow

the financial security of my family

feeling surrounded by love

the answers I get from the Book of Mormon

the men & women that fight for my freedom

hard experiences that refine me

literature, art, and music that speak the unconveyable

....and the more flippant ones, like

Google (wouldn't last two days without it)

crime shows that let me feel like a thrill-seeker

dry shampoo

Ryan Gosling

ethnic food

Netflix

the love affair I have with my MacBook Pro & iPhone

girls' nights

Grandma's homemade rolls

onesie jammies

classes that don't start till 11:00am

boys that wear sweater vests and allow me to ogle 

and all the many, many more blessings 

too numerous to count.

all my thanks.

all my love.

a thank you to the strangers

Well, this isn't what I had originally planned to post today, but I'm feeling exceptionally lucky and want to share the positive vibes.

I managed to have a crisis before 11:00am last week (usually it takes until 4 or 5pm to work up to it) when I lost my iPhone. Which, naturally, I am incapable of surviving without.  SO, I freaked out. Naturally.  I Facebooked all my roommates, asking them to search my room. my bed. the bathroom. my kitchen cabinets.  nothing.

Incredibly, somebody had already turned it in. Man, sometimes I really love going to BYU. THEN, that same afternoon I left my backpack in the Wilk after eating lunch. An hour later? Still there, untouched. (I really lost my head that week.)

THEN I stumbled across this too-beautiful-for-words post 

by Ayley, and it tied right in.

So, I would like to send some shout-outs into the universe for the random acts by wonderful strangers. Chances are..well, one could say slim, but that would be an overstatement...that they will ever see this, but still. Getting the vibes out there.

Thank you to the stranger who returned my life to me in the form of an iPhone.
Thank you to whomever left a cookie in my basket...cause I had just filled the dishwasher with soap.

Thank you to the honest people who left my backpack where I forgot it.

Thank you to Cj from Spanish 205 for telling me I look "great, as always," even though I left the house with my hair dripping this morning.

example A.

Thank you to the sweet FedEx man who let me turn left on the busy street.

Thank you to the kind boy who hit on me when I was in my sweats.

Thank you to the lady at the passport office for making it a quick and painless process.

Thank you to the two cars of nice ladies who helped Claire, Kensie Jo & me when my car decided to die in the bottom of a parking garage.

Thank you to the random girl in the elevator who asked me how my day was and seemed to sincerely care.

Thank you to the girl in my building for telling me I seemed "put together" even though I feel like a mess.

p.s.  does anybody LOVE this show as much as I do?? Is Jess not the most relatable TV character EVER?!

all my love.

Tanzania & Zanzibar part II

we like to call ourselves cultured.

A few Saturdays ago my practically-soulmate-friend Kensie and I attended Diwali at our local Hindi temple.

It was a blast!

She blogged about it HERE.

Check it out! Cause I'm pretty proud of my little video.

And follow her; welcome her to this wonderful world of blogging.

Cause she's my favorite, and you guys are my favorite too. 

So it just works.

Aaaaand this is my favorite picture of the day.

He's a cute guy. rabid, though. that was unfortunate.

curiosity killed the squirrel? 

Happy November!

all my love.

insomnia.

i can't figure out my aversion to falling asleep early. the thrill of being swathed in cool sheets and letting go of the past day.

but i think what i love more is being the only one awake in what seems like the whole world.

well, my whole world. my small, bounded world

a space for only me

and my thoughts

and God.

like he tore off a strip of time from that day and stored it away for me to have.  to relax and reflect. not even on things profound or eternal. whatever i feel like, really.

but it's still a precious time

for only me 

and my thoughts 

and Him.

i hear these words on repeat. repeat. repeat. 

i feel the beat, the beat, the beat, in my head.

I felt a Funeral, in my Brain,
And Mourners to and fro
Kept treading – treading – till it seemed
That Sense was breaking through –  

And when they all were seated,
A Service, like a Drum –  
Kept beating – beating – till I thought
My Mind was going numb –  

And then I heard them lift a Box
And creak across my Soul
With those same Boots of Lead, again,
Then Space – began to toll,

As all the Heavens were a Bell,
And Being, but an Ear,
And I, and Silence, some strange Race
Wrecked, solitary, here – 

And then a Plank in Reason, broke,
And I dropped down, and down –  
And hit a World, at every plunge,
And Finished knowing – then – 

-emily dickinson 

and we will time travel.

“If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.”   - albert einstein 

hello, love.
    one day
       i would like a library 
                   a whole library, in our very own house.

I've already started collecting, you know
(things like that take a lot of planning)
books, i mean. collecting books
from second-hand bookstores and thrift shops.
floor to ceiling to floor, the room will have books
and millions of golden threads leading from the pages, 
connecting our little corner of the world to the rest of it.
to London in 1854, and Iran in 1990, and India tomorrow.
we can walk into our library any old time
and amble right on through to...well, anywhere.

mom didn't like to buy me many books as a child

oh, yes, she taught me the importance of reading

we read every day, and for that i owe her my life.

but we didn't buy them

books, i mean

because i'd read them too quickly

a day or two, maybe

and so we used the library

want to know something nerdy?

i was probably the only nine-year-old in the city 

to have the library card number memorized,

all fourteen digets. 

did you know they max out at 30?

books, i mean.

30 books at one time.

We will read to our children every single night. we will act out the stories; we will help them see that the stories are just as alive and breathing as they are. you can be Peter Pan, and i'll be Frances Hodgson Burnett's Sara Crewe.

and when they are old enough, they will read to themselves every day as a chore, like making their beds or unloading the silverware. hopefully they won't see it like that, like a chore. hopefully they will become addicts. they will sneak flashlights into their rooms and read underneath the covers after bedtime every night.

but we'll never ground them for that.

instead, we'll take trips to the library

and teach them how to dream.

all my love.

it's a me day.

because I probably don't deserve it

but I feel like I can

I gave myself a me day.

after forcing myself to write two essays this morning 

and go to at least one class

and study on a Friday, heaven forbid...

I indulged in all sorts of addictions,

among them being:

authentic, homemade Mexican food (shout out to my girl Yussi)

going to the gym 

-which I've always loved, but haven't really made time for lately-

until I felt like a noodle.

best. feeling. ever

studying.... at the gym

multitasking ability is a blessing & a curse

writing 4 letters to missionaries across the globe

starting on Richie's Christmas package

(which needs to be sent like...last week)

& finishing off the night with a few crime shows

that's certainly a lot of ONES.

What I did on this day.

I spent it with this girl.

At this concert in a little coffee shop called Muse.

I kissed my phone at the magic moment.
cause. you know. we're involved, my iphone and I.

We let our inner pyros shine through...

...and then we proceeded to buy ourselves flowers at Walmart..

and watch a realistic chick flick

while snuggled in my twin bed.

Truly, I wouldn't have had it any other way.

I love my girl Kensie Jo and our weekends.

Hope your 11/11/11 was exciting! 

all my love.