4 blog posts all put into one:

#1. The ceiling underneath the kitchen table.

Last weekend, Max and I decided to re-create our own version of the Sistine Chapel ceiling underneath the kitchen table by taping construction paper and lying on our backs to draw a masterpiece! I am proud to say that our artwork turned out to be something that would make even our (potential) children's children proud. Combining that with Italian music, French phrase books (no Italian language books lying around unfortunately,) and eating eclairs... Am I allowed to take credit for all of it? Because I'd like to. For some reason, eating take out pizza underneath a kitchen table was about as romantic as any five star restaurant that I've ever been to... and I hope it always stays that way.


#2. Life books.
No Sunday afternoon should ever go by without working on a life book, listening to golden oldies, followed by a long afternoon nap.


#3. The Cooking Corner.
After three attempts, I mastered the art of cooking on a George Foreman Grill. Since this discovery, Max and I have made at least 3 of our cooking shows we like to call: M2K in the Kitchen. This past weekend, we decided to go with Japanese cuisine (Max's choice) and since I terribly dislike sushi, we created dessert sushi rolls by using Little Debbie Swiss cakes, cutting them in half, and putting a Swedish Fish on top. Voila! And then I bought cupcakes.

(no pictures were taken of the following event... thank goodness)

#4. Quadruple Date Night.
I've learned that the once beloved classic skating (and the even more beloved: "snowball") is now only for forty year old men re-living their glory days and people who most likely do drugs. One more sad unfortunate truth is that all 10 of us young able-bodied adults get tired after only 30 minutes of impossibly trying to skate like we used to in middle school. It was kind of pathetic, but Michael Jackson and the YMCA made it worth it.

#5. The disease.
I have cytomegalovirus. Another word I like to use for mono. The doctor advised that I should forgo caffeine, which will make my parents all too happy to know that the diet coke (or what they refer to as "cancer-inducing-chemicals") sitting in my fridge has remained untouched for four days. That's a miracle.

a sunday recipe.

The recipe for a perfect Sunday:
- 1 bag of chips + salsa
- 2 baby turkeys (only $2.50 at walmart! scorrrrrre.)
- 24 pack of diet coke in the fridge
- 1 90s chick flick movie. (and being able to guess all 90 minutes: annoying girl rock band? check. some bad boy transformation? check. silver eye shadow? check. (my detest for this 90s fashion fail knows no bounds.) and finally...the entire plot revolving around the senior prom? check.)
- 1 love plant still in bloom

And last but not least: this talk is absolutely amazing. Holy smokes amazing. Have I emailed it already to friends and family? Yes. Have I read over it three times since yesterday? Yes. Nothing better than all of the above, and reading over the quote below:

"Anne Morrow Lindbergh wrote of the need to “shed my Martha-like anxiety about many things, … shedding pride, … shedding hypocrisy in human relationships. What a rest that will be! The most exhausting thing in life, I have discovered,” she said, “is being insincere. That is why so much of social life is exhausting."

Elder Maxwell is always worth reading; he is so eloquent and so, so smart -- but something about this talk really impressed me and encouraged me to be better.

And that's about it. Because on Sunday, as Kylie says, we deserve to treat ourselves like royalty. And I guess with a whole week of school ahead, and Monday in the morning, I'm more than okay with that.

my favorite class.

Although it might not be as great as Professor Walker and his kissing assignments, and his take on love, and his weekly readings of ee Cummings -- it's still a favorite this semester: Comms 411.

So far, some of our assignments have been: watch a scary movie and take our pulse throughout the film; observe others playing video games for an hour and notice any behavioral differences; explain if and when the "birds and the bees" talk came from an incident involving the media (thank you Friends) and the list goes on and on, and I love it. You might think it sounds easy, but we have two essays a week. Which to some of you might still sound easy. And it might be. But if you're taking Sociology 300/Stats at the same time, it's not. I love this class. So if you're at BYU - take Comms 411: Media Effects/Professor Thomsen. Amen.

Back to why I'm writing about this though: Our next assignment asks us to think about what influenced our idea of romance, before actually dating. I've said it before: A Walk to Remember takes the cake -- because as a seventh grader, that movie might as well be called: The Greatest Love Story Ever Told.

I thought about any other experiences that might have shaped any of my own ideas growing up, and this is kind of a tangent, but I remember in the fifth grade when one of my classmates told me he had kissed another one of our classmates for five hours! Five hours? I think that is humanly impossible, especially for a fifth grader. But I believed it, and probably even thought that was romantic, too.

Anyway, the final part of the project is ask others where their idea of romance came from? I've already bothered classmates in my other classes today, so since I'm working on my essay at the moment, I decided to get online and ask anyone who may still read this blog of mine:

Where do you think you you learned all the information you know about dating and romance? What had the biggest impact on what you think is normal?

If you really take the time to answer, you're my new best friend.

PS.
Speaking of Romance...
Shout out to my friend Jalene who I adore, and her photography I adore just as much. Be sure to check out her latest contest here and enter to win full wedding day coverage from an amazing photographer! If I happen to be planning a wedding one of these days (and I just might!) this would be a dream come true. So be sure to check this out!

PSS.
thank you, THANK you for all your responses/insight! i appreciate it so, so much. thank you!

currently reading:

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

"He shall never know how I love him: and that, not because he's handsome, Nelly, but because he's more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same."

Reading this again. And then I will again and again and again. I first read this the summer after seventh grade during a family vacation, and can still remember sitting on the couch those summer afternoons unable to tear myself away from the mysterious Heathcliff and his beloved Catherine. This. book. is. so. good. And Kathleen Kelly (kindred spirit) said she'd read it every winter with a rose as her bookmark... Can I please do that and pretend I came up with that idea on my own? I love it.




The Infinite Atonement by Tad R. Callister

"Contemplate for a moment the magnetic pull when a little child sees her father on bended knee with arms extended. The invitation is irresistible. The reaction to return is automatic. There is no intellectual analysis. It is like reaching for a blanket in cold weather, turning on a light in a dark room. Some things are not mind-driven, but heart prompted. These are natural yearnings of the soul---the need for warmth, light and love. Likewise, our Father in Heaven is extending his arms with the intent to entice us home. How irresistible those arms are to those who seek his warmth, his light, and his love."

Words won't be enough for my love of this book.
I had started to read Jesus the Christ about a year ago, and got through maybe a chapter in a month and then decided to take a break... which I'm still on. It took at least 20 minutes to decipher each paragraph, and I found a lot of it difficult to understand... although one day, I really plan on finishing. However, this past Christmas I received The Infinite Atonement (as a present to myself!) and I cannot tell you how much I love it. Basic doctrinal truths I've learned all my life are explored not only in a way I understand, but Elder Callister explains everything as so profound and inspired, and every sentence, every word, is entirely uplifting.


And then I take a look at this. What is this? Snow for forever, that's what it is. Reading through next Friday (at least) sounds fine with me.

"if i could be asleep right now, i would be."

Sleeping is, hands down, the best thing I get to do every day. From the time I get up, I can’t wait to get back to sleep. Going to bed is amazing. It’s like the foreplay of sleep. I love everything about it. I love lying down. I love blankets. I love pillows. I love pajamas. I love reflecting on the day and planning for the next one. If I had my way, I’d be in bed as much as an unemployed baby with clinical depression. Except my diagnosis would be “clinical living the dream.” - via

Truth.
Truth x a million.
Truth x infinity.

(and just an fyi, the article above is worth reading)

There are a few things I've come to the conclusion to, since being 22:
1. I love sleep. SO much.
2. I have no more time for sleep. Or anything else for that matter. Where did this time go?
3. Errands. Errands take a whole lot longer than I ever thought possible. My mom used to spend all day running around getting things done, and I thought it was ridiculous that it took a whole 24 hours! Figured out why. Driving. Driving to run errands takes for-ev-er.
4. An idea of a fun weekend does not mean going out anymore.
5. I plan my life in my head at night while lying in bed, all the way up until my retirement. That whole "making lists" thing? I do it.
6. Finally, and maybe the most depressing one of them all: my calories catch up with me now. High school lunch meal (every day my senior year) = 2 lunchables, 33 cent candy bar (usually a Reeses) and a bottle of water (grand total of $2.78! Thank you Maceys!) If I ate that these days, I'd die.

And since six is my lucky number, I will end there.

fashion budget

I had read about Jason Wu exclusively designing lower priced items for Target, but didn't think much about it until I saw his collection here.




I plan on sticking with my budget this year... after February 6th.
Promise.

more like a friday.

Flowers and sticky love notes make Mondays feel more like Fridays, and Fridays feel more like a holiday, and every other day after that pretty great, too.

the bookstore is my friend.

A boy doesn't have to fight a war to be a hero, he can say he doesn't like pie when he sees there isn't enough to go around.
Edgar Watson Howe


My favorite part of our trip to the bookstore last night was looking over the book The Art of Manliness. It was worth purchasing alone for the list, "100 Books Every Boy Should Read" in the very back, but after I read the quote above, I was won over -- and all it read after that was: buy me.

Other books purchased:
Skeletons at a Feast - by: Chris Bohjalian
Mrs. Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children - by: Ransom Riggs

I bought both of these after reading only a few pages (so I'm keeping my fingers crossed!) but I always feel the need to purchase books that I'll actually read after spending money on textbooks that I'll probably only use once this semester.

And now with the falling snow, (you're three weeks too late and not necessary anymore in my humble opinion) I plan on keeping company with my new books and my desire to do anything but get out of bed until I absolutely must.
Happy weekend!

image via

birthday cake pop.

Starbucks and steamers,
Two birthday cake pops,
And three of the people who I love the most -
especially the boy sitting right next to me.

you jump, i jump, remember?

Going back to school/work/reality this past week wasn't so bad after I made the following list:

12 Things to Look Forward to in Two-Thousand-And-Twelve:

1. A new President.
2. Valentines Day thanks to Pinterest.
(And throwing all originality out the window.)
3. The end of the world. (December 21, 2012)
4. The morning after.
5. The new Rocket Summer CD.
(please be like everything but your last CD?)
6. The return of Modern Family.
7. Turning 23!
8. Wallowa Lake next summer, and New Zealand (with significant others) next Christmas.
9. The Hunger Games, of course.
10. Titanic 3-D.
11. Titanic 3-D.
and
12. Titanic 3-D.

Now if there was anything I loved more than Mr. Dicaprio (besides Dream Street, BSB and JTT - in that order) it was Celine Dion. I remember a sleepover with my best friend Cassie in the third grade and all we did was sit by the radio to listen for Celine Dion singing My Heart Will Go On. No seriously, that's all we did. I remember that was the night we both heard the song including dialogue from the movie (which we still weren't allowed to see) and we went to school on Monday telling our friends that we had basically seen the whole thing after hearing this:




Cassie and I vowed we'd see the movie together one day when our mothers would actually let us, and when it happened, Titanic did not disappoint. So Titanic in 3D 15 years later may be one of the many reasons 2012 could never be a failure... and why starting life after two weeks of bliss wasn't all that bad, either.

2011/2012

I will always be grateful for 2011. Sometimes I can hardly believe that 2010 was just the year before last, because so much has changed. We kid around, but we often make the joke that this year we were forced to grow up. I kind of think it's true.

I am grateful for a year that brought so much change, even for the parts that weren't perfectly perfect or what I was planning on (at the very least...) Because seeing my best friend after two years, and petting kangaroos and koalas with two parents who became more like two best friends was worth all the up and downs in between. Learning more of who I
thinkbelieve I am through friends, family, school, chances and opportunities (missed or taken) and understanding life better by bike riding and forgetting our cares, or sitting with those same friends realizing that life just got so much bigger than ourselves... and then knowing that although any of it may not get any easier from this point onward, it definitely gets more and more rewarding, and I only become more and more grateful.

I am most excited for 2012, though. I have been for a few reasons, but I decided that if the world is going to end anyway next December 21st (just like it was last May 15th?), I better make the most of it.

So cheers to a wonderful and magnificent, exciting, imperfect but perfect and happy year! And cheers to another 365 days beginning... now.