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“Wrinkles should merely indicate where the smiles have been.” 

                                                                                                                         Mark Twain

a GREAT announcement to beat the Monday blahs.

first off, let me tell you:

today I feel like I belong in an 80s rom-com.

I'm not quite sure why...perhaps a combination of the poofy pony,

retro Y sweatshirt, and keds that I'm sportin'.

(gotta love sweatshirt Mondays, am I right?)

I feel like all I'm missing is John Cusack and a boom box.

But ANYWAY.

That's not the fantastic news.

remember when I had an interview, but failed to mention for what?

well. here it is!

guess who's spending this fall traveling through Paris, the Loire Valley, Normandy, the Netherlands, & Belgium....only to settle in London, with trips to Stonehenge, Bath and Dover,  Stratford-upon-Avon, the Lake District, Yorkshire, and Edinburgh?

can't even describe how stoked I am!

you have permission to be jealous.

I met a lot of people in Europe.  I even encountered myself.  
                                    James Baldwin

Brian Regan

Friday my family went to a show for the comedian Brian Regan.

He was a riot-- it's nice to be able to count on an act to be clean.

And it was, as ever, wonderful to spend time with the fam. 

we ate at blue lemon...remember my obsession?

turkey burger & hummus

butternut squash soup

Jack has grown into his very own sense of style,

one that I find particularly adorable.  It happens to include a variety of suspenders and many a bow tie.

(Note the piano suspenders.. yep. My Christmas gift. What uppp.)

The beautiful Claire.

No better way to spend a Friday, I say.

Hope your weekend was splendid!

you've got mail-- wait, no, I'VE GOT MAIL!!

I hadn't received a letter since 

mid-OCTOBER.

How were you surviving? you may ask yourselves.

Well, I wasn't really.  Ask my roommate. Erratic disfunction is the best way to describe my emotions as of late.

Skipping classes just to check the mailbox.  Days spent entirely in sweats.  Having to take down pictures simply to be able to focus on what people were saying to me.

Thankfully, I finally received another long-anticipated letter from my missionary!!!

(you know how I use syntactic sentences of the exclamatory variety very infrequently, so that triple-decker goes to show the excitement dug into my very core)

His wonderful mother forwards me the weekly family emails, but personal communication is much less frequent, as we aren't allowed to email directly.  At times this is difficult to the point of being painful.

But there's something terribly romantic about hand-written letters.  It's old-fashioned, a dying art.  It reminisces of a time when the men left their sweethearts behind to go to war.

As hard as it is to have him gone, I'm grateful that he's serving.  

I wouldn't have it any other way.

[side note:  His english is starting to fail him, thanks to the complete immersion in the culture.  Unlike anyone else's grammatical errors, I find them endearing-- darling, even.]

 "I am just lovin’ life right now--you couldn’t  have wiped the smile off my face yesterday, no matter what you did.  It seems like this week we finally saw results from our efforts.  I feel so blessed.  There were literally miracles every day—some days felt like everything just fell right into place."

Glad to see his eating habits haven't changed much.

"It really is just sooo amazing to see people change--I love it, and it sooo addicting.  I have to admit that  I have changed alot, and I would say that I am a little weird,  but I can honestly say that I have never been so happy ever in my life."

"The Lord really is blessing us so much.  It feeling indescribable and excitement inside when you hear from investigators say that they know the church is true and they understand what you are teaching and they are excited to get baptized-- absolutely indescribable!"

it was a letter full of deeply personal matters.

sweet writings and tender promises.

he's a special boy.

stretch your lungs.

i'm not a fan of running into old acquaintances.

old friends are a different matter; friends are lining for the soul.

but acquaintances..

once i walk out on a chapter of my life, i'm sure to shut the door.  i lock the deadbolt and brush my hands of the matter, turning to head for something new.
new scents to breath.  new scenes to see.  a new me to be.

few things irritate me more than having chapter 4 tromp into chapter 7,
acting like they own the place.
excuse me,  i say,  but i think you may be lost.  i left you back there.

oh darling, they cry, is that really you?
no, i think.  it's not the me you thought you knew.
yes, i politely smile.  it's great to see you.

and the you of chapter 7 is elbowed to the side

as their illusion of chapter 4 snatches the spotlight.

they rehash memories, and you let them live in their nostalgia,

flawed as it may be.  

but then apathy turns to anger.

you're tired of their looking.  you want them to see.
you want to scream. at them. at the world.
not to slap them with your ire, but to press the concept upon them,
"i'm not that girl anymore."  and was i ever, really?


a scream to exhaust all emotion, full of frustration at the persistent past and yearning for a future chance.


one that rips off the paper they've wrapped around you, paper scrawled with judgements and assumptions and blotches of past mistakes.  inhale, stretch yours lungs, and scream a scream until the paper rents and tears.


then

you will calmly step through
one leg, then another.
you will emerge
unmarked.

and nutella for the win.

Friday we wandered up to Salt Lake to spend some time with a few U of U boys.

A night of shy introductions, the "what if" game, and crepes.

the lovely Zoe

Oh, and plenty of nutella. on most anything.

Turns out they're not half bad, those Utes.

blue lemon

Man oh man, am I ever excited for the new City Creek Center to open in downtown SLC.
I'm glad that the people behind all the construction decided to give our capital a little lovin'.
(Many thanks to whomever you may be.)

Skybridges, Nordstrom, a spotless parking garage...
it's gonna be hoppin', folks.

A little trip downtown last weekend with Kensie Jo & Kenz C
is to thank for my new favorite restaurant, blue lemon.

Healthy, low-priced, & delicious?
Uh-maze-uh-ing.

little trip to the new Deseret Book. Look at all the languages of the Book of Mormon! Neat-o.

dreary.

ever had one of those days where the pop in the colors seems to have drained?

maybe it's because you forgot weren't even aware of a huge assignment for your ELANG223 class
(thanks, disorderly syllabus)

or because you had to throw away a used-to-be perfectly good, well-purchased zucchini

because it no longer was perfectly good.

maybe it's because you just said goodbye for 24 long months
to your best friend of seven years.

if you have, I'm certainly sorry.
for I never have.

organic roasted red pepper soup

There must be quite a few things a hot bath won't cure, but I don't know many of them.  

                                                 ~Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar

fictionist

They're pretty rad, I must say.

Provo born & bred.

The crazy-good lead guitarist happens to be the Hum in Hue & Hum, by the way.

Having just been signed by Atlantic records, they're working on their first full-length CD.

Check them out!

(I happen to be especially fond of Blue-Eyed Universe and Strangers in the Dark.)

smudge of peanut butter.

“I don’t want to drive up to the pearly gates in a shiny sports car, wearing beautifully tailored clothes, my hair expertly coiffed, and with long, perfectly manicured fingernails. 

I want to drive up in a station wagon that has mud on the wheels from taking kids to scout camp. 

I want to be there with a smudge of peanut butter on my shirt from making sandwiches for a sick neighbor’s children.   I want to be there with a little dirt under my fingernails from helping to weed someone’s garden. 

I want to be there with children’s sticky kisses on my cheeks and the tears of a friend on my shoulder. I want the Lord to know I was really here and that I really lived.”

-- Marjorie Pay Hinkley

a weekend away.

Last weekend we headed up to Hotel Park City  for a girls' weekend.

It was a beautiful, stately venue with rockin' customer service.

Took full advantage of the free cocoa bar.

Sarah, Tabitha, myself, Kenzie, & Kensie Jo

A concert by the fabulous Kaitie (she just debuted her CD! check her out!), 

accompanied by Sarah.

hiding without seeking

Indian cuisine 

a little knee injury at dinner

finished of with a cutthroat nice game of scattergories in the wee hours of the morning. 

(Shout out to Erik for putting up with us all night like a champ.)

Couldn't have needed it more.
Now...back to the grind.

Hope your long weekend was as great!

all my love.