blue ornaments everywhere

Today, I am thankful for books organized by color, and Aaron's discovery of ornament hooks in the ornament boxes. 

I am thankful for leftover orange rolls and candied nuts from Thursday's feast. 

I am thankful for Skype and Facetime so we could feel like we shared Thanksgiving with our families 2,000 miles away.

I am thankful for good people in our branch and the opportunity to give a talk in church about...what else...gratitude on Sunday.

I am grateful for the Pandora Christmas music station.

Mostly though, I am thankful for people: Aaron, family, friends, and God.

Happy [late] Thanksgiving!

for purple mountain majesties

So, not Independence Day related per se, but guys, how awesome is the Gettysburg Address? I'm planning on making Aaron drive out to Gettysburg with me when we get to Pennsylvania so we can stand on that hallowed ground:

"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

(emphasis added)

As American citizens, we have such a huge obligation to those who've sacrificed their lives for this country. It is up to us to make sure they didn't die in vain.

Happy 4th of July everyone. God bless America.

(mild annoyance: sometimes blogger's html gets really messed up by trying to format in the compose tab, and it drives me crazy!!!!! thank goodness for neopets for teaching me basic html so my post has a consistent font and size...)

to you, dear readers:

I meant to say this earlier, but thank you for all of your comments, encouragement and advice on my "I'm freaking out about moving" post. I think I'm feeling better about the whole thing. I even started meandering through Craigslist St. Louis the other day for housing. And thank you for all of the congratulations on my "I'm freaking out because I got into a chemistry PhD program" post.

In fact, thank you for bothering to read my blog at all, with all of my silly posts. You guys are great. :)

Happy Saturday.

thankfulness

I'm a day late, but this year, I'm really grateful for this guy, for the fact that he asked me to marry him, and for the fact that we can be together forever.

They say it's your birthday...

Soo....as of March 3rd, I am officially 21! (and officially without a valid driver's license...uh oh.)

Many thanks for all of the texts, calls, facebook messages, etc. You guys are great!
My roommate Natalie, photographer extraordinaire, took a bunch of photos from our roommate trip to Spark that fully captured the essence of what a birthday is supposed to be about:

Laura made me a chocolate cake from scratch! It won the best-chocolate-cake-I've-ever-had-hands-down award.

Tastes as good as it looks...mmm....

I also went out to lunch at India Palace (chicken tikka masala, heavenly) with my mom and Becky. From my family I received all three seasons of "Avatar: the Last Airbender". You know what this means, right? Weekly marathons. I think yes.
Perhaps the best present though, was getting that dang thermometer fixed! That's what working in the lab on your birthday does for you! :D

Oh, and, I have a little announcement.
That I've known for a while, but was so scared someone was going to email me and say, "Just kidding, we really don't want you," but this week was the first prep class and no one's changed their mind yet, so:

I'm doing an internship in France this summer!!!!! AHHH!!! I get to spend May 28th through the end of August in Europe!!!! AHHHH!!!! So excited!

Anyway. There's the update on life.
You should all come play lasertag with me tonight at 8:00, for a triple celebration of my birthday, my fixing skills, and my future summer in France. :)

illuminated

Today, I am grateful that places like this exist.

And that, finally, after ten years of dreaming, I am going there.*

*Okay, so technically the photo is of Perigord, France, which I probably will not get to see. But when I saw a similar picture in my French class, I almost cried. Silly, huh? But it just hit me all of a sudden, that France is real, and I get to go see it for my self this summer. Wow, wow, wow.

karma

Today I am grateful that I am not a widow and that I do not live in India.

I think you ought to watch "Water".

That's all.

colors of the wind

This is a day late, but I am thankful for:

The Gospel.
Where would I be if I didn't understand who I was, where I came from, the purpose of life, what happens after I die, and how to achieve happiness? How grateful I am to know these things! How grateful I am to a God in heaven who knows me as an individual, is concerned about my well-being, answers my prayers, and blesses me with all the other things for which I am thankful. I am so grateful for Jesus Christ and for His atoning sacrifice, for the fact that I can be forgiven of my sins and return to live with God again.

My Family.
Yesterday all of my mom's side of the family got together at my grandparents' house for dinner and games. We went around and each said three things we were thankful for. I was having a hard time keeping back tears, because I love these people so much. They have been such a tremendous support and example to me in my life. I can't even begin to express how much my parents have done for me, and how grateful I am to them for the way they've raised me.

School.
I feel so blessed to be attending an excellent university and to be studying the subjects that I love. I am so blessed to have so many opportunities! I get to work in a research lab, I get to learn about quantum mechanics and French literature, I get to learn everything from how to problem solve effectively to how to dance the samba properly. It just blows my mind by how much knowledge there is out there to be gained, and how readily available it is to me.

Friends.
I could not ask for better people to associate with. I look at the people my friends have become and what they are doing with their lives, and I am just amazed. I know that you will all go on to do great things with your lives, and I feel so privileged to have been a part of that. Thank you all for your encouragement, your advice, your willingness to do crazy things with me, and everything else. You are amazing people.

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!
What are you thankful for?

It's that time of year again...

Greetings from Bakersfield, CA!

Tour has been a lot of fun so far. Everyone on team is really nice and pleasant to be around, so that is always a plus. I had forgotten how fulfilling it is to perform for people who don't have the opportunity to see our kind of show very often. I think I had forgotten how much I love being on the tour team.

I've been taking mental snapshots in my mind during rehearsals, getting ready, performing, etc, all of the little things that go into being a part of this. Setting up the light trees, taping down mats on the stage, unpacking thousands of dollars worth of costumes, slicking our hair, putting on shockingly red lipstick, waiting and watching from the wings in the dark, rushing to make quick changes, getting annoyed with the lights for not coming on fast enough in the latin medley, spraying costumes with alcohol to kill bacteria, finally finishing it all off with "Show Business", mingling with the audience and taking pictures with little kids, cooling down onstage, striking and back coiling cables (I am so proud of myself for being able to do that), repacking costumes, removing lipstick, this is all part of being on the team.
This is what we do, night after night after night. Sometimes we get bored with it all and resort to telling pirate jokes while laying on the floor in the middle of "Pirates" or yipping really obnoxiously during the mambo, or seeing just how far away from the standard pink and brown eye shadow we can stray (blue? how rebellious!), and sometimes we get tired and ornery, and it is not so fun.
And then we get to talk to the audience, and shake their hands, and see their gratitude for performing for them, and it is all worth it.

I would not trade this experience for anything in the world.

Today I am grateful for:

Sunday game nights with friends*rain*hair that stays curly overnight*lessons with pros*quick French homework*a mom who brought me food because I didn't have time to buy it myself*a job well done at World of Dance*mechanical pencils full of lead*new books to read*kudos granola bars and cherry tomatoes*flowers*slowly starting to speak more French with the rms and not feeling quite so stupid*learning new lab techniques (TEM)*getting an 88% on my multiple choice section of my o chem test with the little prep that I had*scriptures and missionaries*an office on campus*study groups*not being sick*getting my o chem binder back (thank you thank you thank you Lance)*good friends*good roommates*a good life*

I'm sorry that I oscillate so frequently between despair and joy. I promise I'm a pretty even-tempered person for the most part. The extremes are what drive me to write though, so that's why you end up with so many of them on my blog here...