Life Lately

It's now August and summer is coming to a close. Fortunately for me, I'm a fall kind of girl. Summer has never been my favorite. I enjoy it for the first couple of weeks and then I'm ready for fall. I really enjoy school (especially college), changing trees and cool weather. I like wearing sweaters and scarves, drinking hot chocolate and cuddling ;)

I finished up my summer job a couple weeks ago. I enjoyed working there and it's about as good as it gets as far as summer jobs are concerned, but I sure was glad to be done. They had a lovely little going away party for me, complete with this cake:

{The union jack and a double-decker bus! I almost died}

There have been lots of weddings in the past month. I think like 9 or 10 weddings of people that I know. that are around my age. weird. Some were acquaintances and others were extremely good friends of mine. One I new in my elementary school days, another I have only become close to in the past year. I am so incredibly happy for each of them. They made for some gorgeous brides and handsome grooms.
I was only able to actually attend one of the receptions and it was wonderful to be there to celebrate with them.

{love these guys :)}

Every time I get on Facebook I am bombarded with statuses about BYU and getting back to Provo and it makes me just the tiniest bit sad. I am so excited to go to Paris and London and to travel and learn and grow. But this little part of me almost wishes that I was going back to Utah. RA training was last week and classes start next week and I'm still here feeling like I should be there.

Speaking of Paris and London...I'm leaving in three weeks!!! The only thing that stands between me and my study abroad is...duh Duh DUH...packing...*horrified gasp*. It gets worse. We have been advised to pack light, lighter than we ever have before, ultra ultra light. gah. So basically the next three weeks will be spent packing. I kid you not. I'm sure I will pack and repack and change my mind and pack again. It's a process. a really long process.

And some sad news. My chucks have finally kicked the bucket. They have have been my faithful sole-mates for the past three years but when the hole count reached four and the sole was starting to crack a bit I decided that it was probably time to replace them. So it was with a heavy heart that I went to the mall and picked up a brand spanking new pair of my beloved grey converse low tops.

Because we have a garden I've been doing more vegetable-y cooking. Especially with kale. We have so much kale.

{gnocchi with butternut squash and kale}
[delicious]

{sweet potato, kale, and sausage hash}
[I know, it sounds weird but it was actually pretty good]

I also made these brownies. They're zucchini brownies. Yes, you read that correctly. They were some of the most delicious brownies that I have ever had the privilege of ingesting. They had chocolate icing on top that kind of soaked into the top and made them all gooey and delicious. true story.

And for your viewing pleasure:

How to make a guy like you- Disney Princess style

#5 is my favorite for sure :)

Faster, Higher, Stronger

I'm not much of a TV watcher. Except for during the Olympics. I have watched more TV in the past two weeks than I have in the past two years. I just can't help myself.

It's crazy what these athletes are able to accomplish and what our bodies are able to do. After I watch, I always feel inspired to work on myself; to make myself a little bit better. Then, of course, I actually have to do something about it.

I'm really trying to get back into running. I love running, but it's hard. I often forget about that first part and focus on that second part. Many times "it's hard" translates into "I can't". But that is not the case. It may be difficult and painful but I can.  I can run. Every time I feel like I can't I just have to remind myself that I really can, that I have an amazing body that is capable of doing it.

{Sunday was Nike's 'Find Your Greatness' day}

Never underestimate the power of dreams and the influence of the human spirit. We are all the same in this notion:  The potential for greatest lives within each of us. 

– Wilma Rudolph, American 3x gold medal runner

Make goals. Take action. Find Your Greatness

Home

Two weeks ago my family and I were busily packing up our house, getting ready to move. For those of you who don't know, I despise packing. Packing just isn't my thing. I would 10x rather unpack than pack. I thought I disliked packing before, but this move certainly took the cake.  Packing up an entire house is way beyond packing up a 19' x 8' room (and I could barely handle that). So...you can probably imagine how much I enjoyed the week leading up to the move. My schedule= sleep, work, sleep, pack, sleep, repeat. I ended up taking two days off work to help get everything packed up and over to the new house.

The new house is quite different than what we're used to: it's much smaller, old (c.1890ish), and a little dark. But I must admit that I like it better. The house is in dire need of some redecoration (which I'm pretty stoked about) but other than that it's quite lovely. Some of the floors are original wood plank and the floor in the kitchen is brick. I like that it's smaller because we end up being together more as a family (or at least in the same room :P). It sits on a beautiful acre of land.  We have "real" trees. My puppy has plenty of space to run around without being on a leash. There is a garden that the previous owners planted that is bursting with delicious produce. We're going to build a firepit so we can make s'mores  :)

We're still in the process of unpacking boxes and moving things around but it already feels like home to me.

And that is what makes a house a home :)

If I Had Words

I watched Babe the other week and this scene never fails to put a smile on my face.

Farmer Hoggett is the best :)

Hill Cumorah Pageant

Last weekend I had the wonderful opportunity of going up to Palmyra, NY with my family to see my brother in the Hill Cumorah Pageant. We left early Saturday morning to begin the 5 hour drive. On our way we stopped at Watkin's Glen state park to have a little picnic and hike. Watkin's Glen is a gorge that has been cut by a river running through it. It is a sweet place to go and provides a great workout (there are like a bajillion stairs).

{in a cave :-o}

We arrived in Palmyra mid-afternoon and went straight to the Sacred Grove. It is sweet and lovely and breathtaking.  The feeling that I feel there is unlike anything else I've ever experienced.

"So it was with me. I had actually seen a light, and in the midst of that light I saw two Personages, and they did in reality speak to me; and though I was hated and persecuted for saying that I had seen a vision, yet it was true; and while they were persecuting me, reviling against me, and speaking all manner of evil against me falsely for so saying, I was led to say in my heart: Why persecute me for telling the truth? I have actually seen a vision; and who am I that I can withstand God, or why does the world think to make me deny what I have actually seen? For I had seen a vision; I knew it, and I knew that God knew it, and I could not deny it, neither dared i do it; at least I knew that by so doing I would offend God, and come under condemnation." -Joseph Smith History 1:25

{giving the grove some love}

From there we went to see the Palmyra temple.

We headed over to the Hill Cumorah to get our seats and take a look around there.

{the stage}

Daniel and I had the great idea of walking up to the top of the hill. Yeah, so, it's super steep. Hello workout. But it was totally worth the view. 

{my brother the Nephite warrior :)}

{show's about to start}

{Christ's visit to the Nephites}

After the show we helped stack the 8,000 or so chairs and then got on the road for our journey home.

It was a weekend well spent :)

If you would like to learn a little more about Joseph Smith's first vision and the significance of the Hill Cumorah this is a great video to watch: The Restoration. 

Life Lately

Life is really getting crazy now.

Next week we are moving. It's only two miles away but we still have to pack everything up and move it. And that is a lot to do. I'm sure I'll get it done eventually... I'm pretty stoked for our new house. It's an old farmhouse from 1900 and has the original plank and brick floors. It will take a bit of painting, but I think it will turn out well. The back yard is quite lovely with a garden and a prime spot for a hammock :)

Plans for my study abroad are coming along nicely. So far we're going to see two operas in Paris (one in the old Palais Garnier and the other in the Opera Bastille), two ballets in London (Swan Lake and The Nutcracker!), a Shakespeare play in the Globe Theatre, and a musical in London (hopefully Les Mis!!!). The more they tell us about it, the more excited I get. This semester is going to be amazing!!!

Some of my most recent baking adventures:

{New York Times best chocolate chip cookie}

{banana cake with cream cheese frosting}

{chocolate-coconut rice krispie treats}

{blueberry pudding cake)

Now that I have short hair I feel the need to be accessorized all the time: headbands, bows, earrings, whatever. I just need something. I found some instructions on how to make felt bows on pinterest and now I'm kind of addicted to wearing them.

{I have a couple different kinds pinned here}

It felt like it would never come, but it's been over a year since I said goodbye to my best friend as he left for his mission. Starting the count down. Thank goodness.

I discovered this jem today: The Lower Lights. They have 2 albums of their lovely renditions of hymns. They have a very folky, organic sound and are a joy to listen to. So if you want to listen to the hymns in a new way, I highly recommend them. A taste: Be Thou My Vision

On haircuts, sweatpants, and being me.

Big news people!!! As many of you may have seen on Facebook, I did it, I cut my hair!!! And I actually like it, like a lot. It's weird because it's very...me. I look in the mirror and it just looks normal, like my hair has always been this short.

Many people have asked me why exactly I decided to cut it. Or they just assume that I cut it because it's summer and it's hot outside. I usually just tell them that I figured...why not? That's part of it but there's a 'deeper' reason to it. For much of my life I have struggled with the 'not good enough' problem. I have always been very self-conscious about how I look and what I do; always afraid that I wasn't enough: smart enough, pretty enough, spiritual enough, fit enough, etc. Short hair was one of those things that I felt I would never be able to pull off. I thought to myself 'surely, I'm not pretty enough/whatever enough to be able to make that look good'. The same thought was applied to other things, such as sweatpants. I was sure that I didn't have the right body/fit enough body to ever look good in sweatpants. Yes, this is truly what I thought. This year I have really started to embrace myself and love myself just the way I am. A few months ago, I decided that I was going to buy a pair of sweats and I was going to wear them for a whole day, to class and everything. So I marched myself over to the bookstore bought some sweats and wore them the next day. I don't know if I have ever been so uncomfortable wearing something as I did that day wearing those sweats. Every ten minutes I thought 'oh my gosh. I'm wearing sweatpants...ahhhhhh'. All day long that thought went through my mind. But I had a point to prove to myself. I had to show myself that I indeed  looked fine in sweatpants. That I was enough. And I did it.

It was the same deal with the hair. I had thought about it but then I was just like 'girl, forget it. you could never pull it off.' My hair had always been a kind of security blanket for me. If nothing else, I usually liked my hair. It was comfortable and safe. But the more I thought about cutting it, the more I wanted to do it, but that fear kept creeping in. You're not pretty enough, it wouldn't look good. Then I decided that it didn't matter. It didn't matter that guys don't like short hair cuts. It didn't matter if it didn't look the best on me. I was going to do it and that was that. I made my appointment at the salon and I was committed. I did it and I love it.

I feel like I'm in a much better spot in life, now that I've really started to love myself for who I am and not comparing myself to others. This year I've really learned to be grateful for my body. For the fact that it works, that I can do the things that I enjoy. That I am able. Do I weigh 5 or 10 pounds more than I would like? sure. Does it affect my worth or value? absolutely not. My body is far from perfect, but I have one and it works.

To leave you with some food for thought:

So do something that scares you, be brave, have courage. 

You are beautiful. You are enough.