This is the first post in what I expect to become a regular feature, which I will call "Why I love blank." The blank will change. I think you get that. Anyway.
I have had a decently long relationship with running. I ran distance in junior high, which was the best of times and worst of times. Mostly the best. I grew up going to countless track and cross country meets and marathons and Ragnar relays and half marathons and I've seen the very best and the very worst of times in the faces and bodies of others. I left running for a while, meeting up again only on the Fourth of July and Thanksgiving mornings to run spontaneous 5Ks and 5 mile runs after which I usually threw up. I've been running and wanted to throw myself in front of a car (or at least onto the ground to never move again) and I've finished running feeling the incredible and surprising runner's high after which I feel like I want to run forever for the rest of my life. And I'm just now getting back into it, inspired by a fresh start with new goals and a desire to be as healthy as can be.
And honestly, some people might say "You're doing it wrong." But the great thing is: I don't care.
I've decided to apply something I learned in yoga to running: One of the instructors I had last semester told us to use yoga as a time to let go of all expectations we had and just be. Almost everything else in our lives is structured and outlined with expectations and goals, which of course is a good thing in a lot of cases, but it is really great to have an outlet with none of that (sitting on the couch and watching a season of Community also fits that category, but with a decidedly different type of satisfaction). Maybe this is how most people do it anyway, but I've decided not to count or plan the miles or time that I run. I just go out and run and see the world. I run up in the Avenues until I don't want to anymore, and then I come back and run down South Temple until I don't want to anymore, and then I run home. And so far, I've just wanted to keep going—it's a great stress relief especially after sitting in classes all day. I don't go very fast or probably very far but the fact that it's hard, especially the uphill, makes me think that I've got to be getting at least some physical benefit from it.
The great thing about running is it is kind of infinitely personalizable. Which is not a word. But anyone that can physically run can call themselves a runner, in my opinion. You just do what you can and maybe each day you do a little more and if you keep at it there is really no way that you can not benefit from it. (Injuries aside. But that is a different story.)
I may not get a kick-a girl boxer body (my secret dream) or gain muscle like I want or ever lose weight with this approach, but it makes me happy and feeling good about life and myself so I think I'll just keep going with it as long as I can.
And maybe now it's time for that O-chem homework I've been putting off.
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Monday, August 27, 2012
I am so infatuated with this forty year old man right now
It's not even funny.
Just look at this face:
Just look at this face:
Does he ever smile? Maybe not. Actually, he does when he's singing (and it's a cheeky, devilish smile, wah wah [I hope you read that sound as it was intended. If it weirds you out pretend it isn't there]). I just have this thing where there can be a guy who maybe shouldn't be attractive to me (read: Jack White) but when I see them sing it just makes my heart love them. Anyway.
Before last week, I really only knew his She and Him music and only casually heard his solo stuff, never really sought it out. (This is M. Ward. If that was unclear.)
But ever since I saw him live, this three-song playlist (by no means a definitive collection of his works, just my current favorites) has been running almost nonstop through my mind:
- This cover of what is apparently a classic that just had me grinning with joy at the show.
- This song.
- And of course this song, which is presented live here for your viewing pleasure! Or maybe just my viewing pleasure.
Maybe it was just the mood I was in, because I was totally feeling DeVotcKa too, body and soul, who opened for him, and I just wanted to dance to their music forever. And maybe it was just because I had no real expectations. But this show made me remember why I eat drink breathe live laugh cry music. Not that that was a lesson that I needed or anything. It wasn't even one that I had really forgotten. It was a just a good moment, one of those where you just soak it in and think "I live for this."
College.
Saturday, August 25, 2012
Some People Just Walk In the Light
And then there's my family. Now, I want to make sure that you know I realize that things could be a lot worse, but I just would like to let off some steam without having to punch anything.
There's a quote that Steinbeck used for his novella Of Mice and Men from the poem "To A Mouse." It says this: "The best laid schemes o' mice an' men / Gang aft agley." (or, in my words, "Sometimes we think we have everything planned out perfectly, and then life happens.") When I went to bed last night, I thought to myself, "Those words are the theme song for the day we just had."
It started off with a whole lot of sparks. And those sparks came from the collision between my 16-year-old sister's car and another's on her way to school. Luckily, there were no injuries (except for the one to my sister's mental state), but it resulted in the car being towed to a shop so someone could figure out how to fix a smashed left side.
The day took a turn for the better just a couple hours later. My sister finally found a car to take to college with two days to spare (I don't know if you can fully understand what a miracle that was without experiencing the stress that situation has caused in our house for the last 4 months. It was a BIG deal.) Then later, a friend of a friend came to check out the car that I badly needed to sell, seeing as I had bought a new one for myself and was the owner of both of them. Even after telling this girl all of the problems I had had with it, including one where it doesn't start in cold weather, she and her dad decided they wanted it, for some reason. This is the part where I thought, "Wow, the Bennett luck is finally turning around!"
Three words: GANG AFT AGLEY.
My sister asked me to run her to the bank to get money for her new car, so we got in my car. As I went to back out, something was terribly wrong with this car; the one I had bought less than a month ago. The power steering was gone and the A/C wouldn't work. We were pressed for time, so after a little bit of swearing inside my head, I ran inside and grabbed the keys to my parents' car and told myself that it would be fine, I just needed to have my dad look at it and say, "Oh, I can fix that," like he always does.
So, we got back home and my sister and the nice couple she was buying from rushed to the DMV to make it before the 4:00 closing time, and as soon as they walked in the door, the woman selling the car realized she had forgotten her driver's license. Her husband raced home and got back just as they were closing the doors. The DMV worker put everything in and was about to assign my sister the title when it was discovered that the car had never actually been registered to the couple selling it. They were confused, my sister was confused, I think there was probably a whole lot of confusion up in that place. So, scheme #1: phlbblthtdlfo (that's the sound I would make if I was really telling you the story and I wanted you to know that it just went to crap).
When she got home and told me the story, I sat there for a minute and then said, "The only thing that could totally ruin this day would be if that girl decided not to buy my car."
Fast forward a couple hours, to when this girl was on the way to my house to pick up her new/my old car. We got the title and bill of sale all filled out. I took the license plates off, handed her the keys, and said my goodbyes to my first car. As I walked back toward my house, I heard the sound that had haunted my nightmares since I first heard it last winter, when my car refused to start for me. I thought that after all the bad news we'd heard that day, I couldn't be shocked any more. But I literally said to myself, "Is this real life?" I turned around to see my car still sitting in my driveway, not starting for the girl who just bought it from me. I don't usually fell embarrassed, but it's like all of the awkwardness that's evaded me for 20 years pounced all over me at once. We apologized, and tried to play with some wires, then we apologized some more. They, for some mind-boggling reason, said to let them know if we got it running and they'd bring me my money and take it off our hands, while I was honestly holding back the tears that had accumulated throughout the whole day.
After they left, my dad and I kinda sat there, and then he said, "Do you want to go see a movie." Then I said, "Okay." We headed over to the theater to see a movie that I'd been itching to see all week, and about halfway into it, we both fell asleep ha ha. But, the weird thing is that, at the end of that unrealistically, unbelievably weird day, all I wanted to do was be around my family. We're getting tougher with all this stuff we have to deal with, and I hope that holds true for forever.
Today, I woke up and realized (again) the power of a night of sleep. It kind of waters down emotions. Sometimes, it's a bad thing (like when you had an amazing day/night previous, and you want to keep reliving it over and over). But in the case of August 24, 2012 in the Bennett house (which I will probably refer to as the Day the Cars Died from now on), it was an amazing 6 hours of sleep that allowed me to wake up and laugh, just a little but, at our strange luck.
So, if you're still there, I have just one more thing to share. “The great thing is, if one can, to stop regarding all the unpleasant things as interruptions in one's 'own' or 'real' life. The truth is, of course, that what one regards as interruptions are precisely one's life.” --C.S. Lewis
I once told myself that this would be my life motto, and luckily it came to me while I was reviewing yesterday's events. So, yes, all of my human-made plans crashed and burned, and then the ashes of that spontaneously combusted and were then flushed down the toilet. But, it is nice to know that the one guy who is in charge of all this (and by this, I mean the lives of every person ever to live) does have a plan that can't go wrong. I guess now's the part where I wait until the day where I can look back on the Day the Cars Died and say, "Oh, I sure am glad that happened." Which will be a weird, weird day.
There's a quote that Steinbeck used for his novella Of Mice and Men from the poem "To A Mouse." It says this: "The best laid schemes o' mice an' men / Gang aft agley." (or, in my words, "Sometimes we think we have everything planned out perfectly, and then life happens.") When I went to bed last night, I thought to myself, "Those words are the theme song for the day we just had."
It started off with a whole lot of sparks. And those sparks came from the collision between my 16-year-old sister's car and another's on her way to school. Luckily, there were no injuries (except for the one to my sister's mental state), but it resulted in the car being towed to a shop so someone could figure out how to fix a smashed left side.
The day took a turn for the better just a couple hours later. My sister finally found a car to take to college with two days to spare (I don't know if you can fully understand what a miracle that was without experiencing the stress that situation has caused in our house for the last 4 months. It was a BIG deal.) Then later, a friend of a friend came to check out the car that I badly needed to sell, seeing as I had bought a new one for myself and was the owner of both of them. Even after telling this girl all of the problems I had had with it, including one where it doesn't start in cold weather, she and her dad decided they wanted it, for some reason. This is the part where I thought, "Wow, the Bennett luck is finally turning around!"
Three words: GANG AFT AGLEY.
My sister asked me to run her to the bank to get money for her new car, so we got in my car. As I went to back out, something was terribly wrong with this car; the one I had bought less than a month ago. The power steering was gone and the A/C wouldn't work. We were pressed for time, so after a little bit of swearing inside my head, I ran inside and grabbed the keys to my parents' car and told myself that it would be fine, I just needed to have my dad look at it and say, "Oh, I can fix that," like he always does.
So, we got back home and my sister and the nice couple she was buying from rushed to the DMV to make it before the 4:00 closing time, and as soon as they walked in the door, the woman selling the car realized she had forgotten her driver's license. Her husband raced home and got back just as they were closing the doors. The DMV worker put everything in and was about to assign my sister the title when it was discovered that the car had never actually been registered to the couple selling it. They were confused, my sister was confused, I think there was probably a whole lot of confusion up in that place. So, scheme #1: phlbblthtdlfo (that's the sound I would make if I was really telling you the story and I wanted you to know that it just went to crap).
When she got home and told me the story, I sat there for a minute and then said, "The only thing that could totally ruin this day would be if that girl decided not to buy my car."
Fast forward a couple hours, to when this girl was on the way to my house to pick up her new/my old car. We got the title and bill of sale all filled out. I took the license plates off, handed her the keys, and said my goodbyes to my first car. As I walked back toward my house, I heard the sound that had haunted my nightmares since I first heard it last winter, when my car refused to start for me. I thought that after all the bad news we'd heard that day, I couldn't be shocked any more. But I literally said to myself, "Is this real life?" I turned around to see my car still sitting in my driveway, not starting for the girl who just bought it from me. I don't usually fell embarrassed, but it's like all of the awkwardness that's evaded me for 20 years pounced all over me at once. We apologized, and tried to play with some wires, then we apologized some more. They, for some mind-boggling reason, said to let them know if we got it running and they'd bring me my money and take it off our hands, while I was honestly holding back the tears that had accumulated throughout the whole day.
After they left, my dad and I kinda sat there, and then he said, "Do you want to go see a movie." Then I said, "Okay." We headed over to the theater to see a movie that I'd been itching to see all week, and about halfway into it, we both fell asleep ha ha. But, the weird thing is that, at the end of that unrealistically, unbelievably weird day, all I wanted to do was be around my family. We're getting tougher with all this stuff we have to deal with, and I hope that holds true for forever.
Today, I woke up and realized (again) the power of a night of sleep. It kind of waters down emotions. Sometimes, it's a bad thing (like when you had an amazing day/night previous, and you want to keep reliving it over and over). But in the case of August 24, 2012 in the Bennett house (which I will probably refer to as the Day the Cars Died from now on), it was an amazing 6 hours of sleep that allowed me to wake up and laugh, just a little but, at our strange luck.
So, if you're still there, I have just one more thing to share. “The great thing is, if one can, to stop regarding all the unpleasant things as interruptions in one's 'own' or 'real' life. The truth is, of course, that what one regards as interruptions are precisely one's life.” --C.S. Lewis
I once told myself that this would be my life motto, and luckily it came to me while I was reviewing yesterday's events. So, yes, all of my human-made plans crashed and burned, and then the ashes of that spontaneously combusted and were then flushed down the toilet. But, it is nice to know that the one guy who is in charge of all this (and by this, I mean the lives of every person ever to live) does have a plan that can't go wrong. I guess now's the part where I wait until the day where I can look back on the Day the Cars Died and say, "Oh, I sure am glad that happened." Which will be a weird, weird day.
Thursday, August 23, 2012
It Just Makes Sense
The similarities, of which there are many, are striking.
This also may explain why I've been wanting to watch Jaws for the past two days.
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Monday, August 20, 2012
Saturday, August 18, 2012
To Be Myself Completely
Well, the start of a new school year deserves the traditional "insights and evaluation of myself and my life at this point in time" (read: I'm about to cliche the crap out of this post). Luckily for me, it's a very positive one at this point. Although the summer has been one of a multitude of mixed emotions, activities, outlooks on life, and so on, things are just going as right as they should. So right, in fact, that I wonder how in the world I qualify for all this right. I'm back at the school I love taking classes about subjects I genuinely care about and am hungry to start learning more about, as tough as I know it will be. I have a job that I actually really like and is a pretty perfect fit for me. I have a great new apartment within walking or public-transporting distance of people and places I love, which is also helping me along on the path to self-sufficiency. Best of all, I am full of a sense of calm and happiness which is deeper and fuller than any I've ever felt because it stems from a sense of self-worth that has previously been so elusive, slipping in and out of reach throughout my life in an ongoing internal struggle, but that I now feel I have a firm grasp on. I feel that I know who I am and who I want to be stronger than ever before, and that has made all the difference.
Today was, in a word, relaxing. I slept in till ten, lazed around a little, then went shopping with one of my new roommates, spending more than I should have on some new clothes and getting to know her better. After that, I crashed on the couch for a few hours, which was followed by some heavy-duty clothes ironing and watching Stranger Than Fiction. Then some yoga, a well-balanced dinner of half a box of mac and cheese, half a cinnamon roll, a whole ear of corn roasted in the oven like a champ, and some raspberries, while I read up on some laboratory animal procedures, and finished up with a midnight hike to Ensign Peak with some friends of my roommate. It was a Friday about nothing, but for some reason (and I am actually really embarrassed to admit this because I'm not used to saying stuff like this out loud or even to myself, and it might make me sound narcissistic, but I'm telling the story like it happened ) at one point during the night I looked in the mirror as I passed it and the thought came into my mind "I will be loved one day" (which of course has resulted in the Maroon 5 song getting stuck in my head ever since). It was kind of startling, out of nowhere, and kind of a weird thought to have, but then I realized I had it because I looked into the mirror and liked what I saw. I looked without finding all the faults and the flaws, wishing I could change what I saw, without avoiding eye contact with my reflection. I guess I thought that I will be loved because I could finally see what there is to love—not suddenly all that moment, but throughout the time I've been putting in to become the best me that I can be, just coming together at that moment. And because I have been feeling more than ever that there already are people who love me; my family who I have always known love me, and my friends who I have learned to trust that they do as well without negative thoughts clouding the truth. And although I know this will continue to be a life-long process, I feel that I'm one step closer to reaching my maximum lifetime happiness level.
In conjunction with this self-realization, I have decided to solidify something I have been thinking about for a while, inspired by something my sister told me about called "The Happiness Project." One idea from this wonderful lady, to which the link will take you, involves creating a set of commandments for yourself. The idea seemed like a good one, and has stuck with me in the back of my time for around a month now, almost subconsciously assembling this list. And to put my own personal twist on it, these commandments have been inspired by and/or augmented by song lyrics (surprise surprise). I'm guessing these will evolve and be added to as I live, but I thought I might as well give it a go right now.
1. To Be Myself Completely. From this Belle and Sebastian song of the same name. (To be honest, it's the only line I know and they are usually deceptively cheerful sounding songs that turn out to have dark lyrics, but it's whatever.) I have always brushed off sayings like "Be true to you" and so on because I didn't really get them, but now I think I do. I want to be me, 100%, and do the things I want to because I want the consequences. I'm done with doing what I think I should want to, or what I think other people want for themselves, and I'm ready to be myself completely.
2. I'm starting a new beginning, suspiciously like the old one, only this time I'm ready. Good old Typhoon, they always know what to say. And I know I've blogged about this song before. In my life, there really hasn't been a lot of drastic anythings. So the changes and new beginnings that I've had have often been suspiciously like the old ones. But what I have learned, and I need to keep learning to avoid frustration, is that it is never too late to start over, or start anything new. The trick is just making yourself. And that is what is great about life, the constant promise of fresh starts that are there if you'll only take them.
3. I'll Take Care of You: If you ask me to. Or if you don't. This commandment kind of has two parts. First off, I need to take care of myself. To function optimally as a human being, there is a certain amount of focus I need to spend on myself, from eating healthy to exercising to sleeping enough (no amount of sleep is ever enough, to be honest) to flossing and on and on. But I also want to make it a goal to take care of those around me as much as is in my power. We all just need to take care of each other, I think, and I'll try to do my part. Service and happiness make a joyous cycle and I want to jump in.
4. You're Not Obliged to Swallow Anything You Despise: The Shins frontman James Mercer is a man a consider to be one of the greatest lyricists that I have had the pleasure of listening to. This line has come into my mind at somewhat surprising times, usually having to deal with my moral standards. Or any kind of standards. If I have a problem with something, I need to fix it, or distance myself from it, or fix my own outlook on it. There is no reason for me to be swallowing anything I despise. We all need to do things we don't want to sometimes, but I think the distinction is that most of those things have a long-term consequence or benefit that we want. But dwelling on negative thoughts? Not going to help anything. Ever.
5. I won't let love disrupt, corrupt, or interrupt me anymore: I know I've blogged about this one before. But guess what? I've got a whole new outlook on it. Before, I was taking it as rebelling against, or maybe sticking it to love, because I didn't need that crap messing up my life. But that right there was the problem. I ended up letting "love" mess me up by messing up love myself. From now on, my new policy is to love everyone—I may dislike a lot of people, but I can love them all the same, no matter what they do. And my goal for this semester (besides "get good grades" and "everything else I've been rambling about for pages" I guess) is to find love. That will more than likely not mean "fall in love and be fallen in love with" but I just want to find love in everything I do. It's crazy how loving things is a self-perpetuating cycle, a positive-feedback mechanism for those more medically-minded (for those that aren't: examples are childbirth, blood clotting, and lactating; once they start, the product or action they create or cause in turn stimulates the original process to increase and continue. Did I just want to show off some knowledge there? Well, yeah. It's not like I get to bring that up very often in daily life. Sue me.)
I'm ready to love you, world.
6.Just Be Patient, and Don't Worry: Enough said.
Well, those are the commandment I have so far. I will most likely be posting more if I create them, these are just the things that were on my mind that I genuinely wanted to change about my life and do better on. New school year resolutions, I guess.
Hopefully this time I'm ready.
Today was, in a word, relaxing. I slept in till ten, lazed around a little, then went shopping with one of my new roommates, spending more than I should have on some new clothes and getting to know her better. After that, I crashed on the couch for a few hours, which was followed by some heavy-duty clothes ironing and watching Stranger Than Fiction. Then some yoga, a well-balanced dinner of half a box of mac and cheese, half a cinnamon roll, a whole ear of corn roasted in the oven like a champ, and some raspberries, while I read up on some laboratory animal procedures, and finished up with a midnight hike to Ensign Peak with some friends of my roommate. It was a Friday about nothing, but for some reason (and I am actually really embarrassed to admit this because I'm not used to saying stuff like this out loud or even to myself, and it might make me sound narcissistic, but I'm telling the story like it happened ) at one point during the night I looked in the mirror as I passed it and the thought came into my mind "I will be loved one day" (which of course has resulted in the Maroon 5 song getting stuck in my head ever since). It was kind of startling, out of nowhere, and kind of a weird thought to have, but then I realized I had it because I looked into the mirror and liked what I saw. I looked without finding all the faults and the flaws, wishing I could change what I saw, without avoiding eye contact with my reflection. I guess I thought that I will be loved because I could finally see what there is to love—not suddenly all that moment, but throughout the time I've been putting in to become the best me that I can be, just coming together at that moment. And because I have been feeling more than ever that there already are people who love me; my family who I have always known love me, and my friends who I have learned to trust that they do as well without negative thoughts clouding the truth. And although I know this will continue to be a life-long process, I feel that I'm one step closer to reaching my maximum lifetime happiness level.
In conjunction with this self-realization, I have decided to solidify something I have been thinking about for a while, inspired by something my sister told me about called "The Happiness Project." One idea from this wonderful lady, to which the link will take you, involves creating a set of commandments for yourself. The idea seemed like a good one, and has stuck with me in the back of my time for around a month now, almost subconsciously assembling this list. And to put my own personal twist on it, these commandments have been inspired by and/or augmented by song lyrics (surprise surprise). I'm guessing these will evolve and be added to as I live, but I thought I might as well give it a go right now.
1. To Be Myself Completely. From this Belle and Sebastian song of the same name. (To be honest, it's the only line I know and they are usually deceptively cheerful sounding songs that turn out to have dark lyrics, but it's whatever.) I have always brushed off sayings like "Be true to you" and so on because I didn't really get them, but now I think I do. I want to be me, 100%, and do the things I want to because I want the consequences. I'm done with doing what I think I should want to, or what I think other people want for themselves, and I'm ready to be myself completely.
2. I'm starting a new beginning, suspiciously like the old one, only this time I'm ready. Good old Typhoon, they always know what to say. And I know I've blogged about this song before. In my life, there really hasn't been a lot of drastic anythings. So the changes and new beginnings that I've had have often been suspiciously like the old ones. But what I have learned, and I need to keep learning to avoid frustration, is that it is never too late to start over, or start anything new. The trick is just making yourself. And that is what is great about life, the constant promise of fresh starts that are there if you'll only take them.
3. I'll Take Care of You: If you ask me to. Or if you don't. This commandment kind of has two parts. First off, I need to take care of myself. To function optimally as a human being, there is a certain amount of focus I need to spend on myself, from eating healthy to exercising to sleeping enough (no amount of sleep is ever enough, to be honest) to flossing and on and on. But I also want to make it a goal to take care of those around me as much as is in my power. We all just need to take care of each other, I think, and I'll try to do my part. Service and happiness make a joyous cycle and I want to jump in.
4. You're Not Obliged to Swallow Anything You Despise: The Shins frontman James Mercer is a man a consider to be one of the greatest lyricists that I have had the pleasure of listening to. This line has come into my mind at somewhat surprising times, usually having to deal with my moral standards. Or any kind of standards. If I have a problem with something, I need to fix it, or distance myself from it, or fix my own outlook on it. There is no reason for me to be swallowing anything I despise. We all need to do things we don't want to sometimes, but I think the distinction is that most of those things have a long-term consequence or benefit that we want. But dwelling on negative thoughts? Not going to help anything. Ever.
5. I won't let love disrupt, corrupt, or interrupt me anymore: I know I've blogged about this one before. But guess what? I've got a whole new outlook on it. Before, I was taking it as rebelling against, or maybe sticking it to love, because I didn't need that crap messing up my life. But that right there was the problem. I ended up letting "love" mess me up by messing up love myself. From now on, my new policy is to love everyone—I may dislike a lot of people, but I can love them all the same, no matter what they do. And my goal for this semester (besides "get good grades" and "everything else I've been rambling about for pages" I guess) is to find love. That will more than likely not mean "fall in love and be fallen in love with" but I just want to find love in everything I do. It's crazy how loving things is a self-perpetuating cycle, a positive-feedback mechanism for those more medically-minded (for those that aren't: examples are childbirth, blood clotting, and lactating; once they start, the product or action they create or cause in turn stimulates the original process to increase and continue. Did I just want to show off some knowledge there? Well, yeah. It's not like I get to bring that up very often in daily life. Sue me.)
I'm ready to love you, world.
6.Just Be Patient, and Don't Worry: Enough said.
Well, those are the commandment I have so far. I will most likely be posting more if I create them, these are just the things that were on my mind that I genuinely wanted to change about my life and do better on. New school year resolutions, I guess.
Hopefully this time I'm ready.
Thursday, August 16, 2012
Sunday, August 12, 2012
Things people have said to me that I think were supposed to be compliments
"You remind me of Adele. Sorry."
"Holy calves, Shae!"
"Don't take this the wrong way, but you seem like you're high all the time."
"It doesn't matter if you think your hair looks good, you have to do it like you always do it; it's what you're known for."
This man liked my address when I posted it on a girl's Facebook wedding invite (I was actually mostly creeped out by that one).
"You are more powerful than a lot of guys I know."
"When did you become photogenic?"
"When did you become photogenic?"
"Your outfit looks very... artistic."
"You have a very proportionate body."
I just decided to assume the best in these situations.
I just decided to assume the best in these situations.
Friday, August 10, 2012
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That Awkward Moment...
...when you overestimate yourself, purchase a pair of non-stretchy exercise pants without trying them on, rip the tag off, put them on, and the effect is something like this:
...in regards to pant-tightness. Minus any and all of the physical strength and muscle definition.
I guess "in order to fit into my exercise clothes" is as good a motivation as any to start working out.
...in regards to pant-tightness. Minus any and all of the physical strength and muscle definition.
I guess "in order to fit into my exercise clothes" is as good a motivation as any to start working out.
Sunday, August 5, 2012
This is Not An Announcement...
...But I think it is the reason girls have a Pinterest. And now I see why. My sister and I just spent a lovely afternoon outside planning our weddings (both of which are far off in the distant land of happy dreams, I think/hope). And since this is a selfish blog, and mostly for me, here is a tour through the wedding I would like if I had my way, at this point in time. Some of these things may happen, some of them will probably not, but hey, its all for fun.
The Announcements
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| I like announcements with single pictures. Just one big, solid, beautiful picture. Maybe something like this. I also found a ton of cool, artistic ones, many of which reminded me of concert/band posters that I like. But there were too many and it made me really tired so maybe I will just stick with this one-pic idea. |
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| However, this is adorable. So maybe something like this, and then a really good picture for the whole backside. Or maybe I just turn it over to one of the graphic designers in my family. |
All of these have pretty considerable sized rocks included with them. I have piano fingers and am pretty easy to please and would be happy with much smaller diamonds.
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| I'm a big fan of circular diamonds with side stones. So shiny... |
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| The design on the edge of this one is super pretty, also. |
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| But this one. This. I love love love this one. I didn't know how dangerous it would be for me to do this, because I feel I have fallen in love with a piece of metal and rocks. Let's look at some more angles, shall we? |
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| For some reason I just feel it's so perfect. I already gave my little sister the task of showing it to any man who in the future may want to marry me. Don't let me down, B-Town. The Dress So I watch Say Yes to the Dress sometimes. Doesn't everyone? I'm not ashamed. It's actually helped me to realize that my perfect wedding dress is an ivory lace mermaid with a sweetheart neckline. You know, nothing too specific. And maybe something like this: |
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| With some modifications. |
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| Same modification problem. And a bit different than what I previously describe. But I find this stunning. Surprise! This comes from a shop about ten minutes from my house... |
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| Maybe some material also under the lace would be necessary. But the idea is still there. Put it all together, and you get: |
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| If this is my dress, I'll be working out before the big day. Hardcore. But it just might be worth it. |
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| I doubt I'll get my ears pierced, but I love pearls and would love something like this in the necklace department. The Venue I'm thinking about starting things off in someplace like this: |
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| This will be beautiful when it's done. It could be the one for me. |
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| Bountiful is always a classic, though. I'm not 100% set on any temple yet. Maybe even the new guy, Brigham City. I feel like it might be like having your own personal temple. And I like the idea. (Why is there no picture of this temple? Because I am lazy, and blogger makes it difficult to order picture. You've got the power of the Google, though.) In my wedding fantasy, the next move is to a little place I love called Red Butte Gardens down in the SLC. It is so beautiful and peaceful, I could seriously live there. The beauty is kind of intoxicating. And there are so many gorgeous places to have a reception there. Let us take a little tour. |
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| See how much love they are feeling out in the beauty of nature? I just want some of that. |
The Colors
I'm pretty picky here. The colors I would love to have are a deep, deep plum and a pale, pale yellow. I think that could go terribly if the shades are off. But I also think it could go so, so wonderfully if it goes right.
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| I love both of these flowers, dahlias and hydrangeas. Perfection. |
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| I think this dress would be a good one for my sisters to wear, especially since it's long enough, and maybe with the addition of a jacket. |
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| Men that I am not marrying could wear a tie such as this, with a deep plum flower thing that you pin on. The name escapes me. |
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| My man in a grey three-piece suit. Mm mm mm. With the substitution of this color of tie: |
The Song
I have too much music that I love, and making a list here of songs in general to be played at my wedding would take too much time. But there are two songs that just mean wedding to me:
1. Till Kingdom Come by Coldplay. Ever since I was a sophomore in high school, I have thought of this as a perfect wedding song. Props to Marc Webb for also finding meaning in it and using it, albeit somewhat awkwardly, in the latest Spiderman movie.
2. First Day of My Life by Bright Eyes. Music is important to me, as I think I have made evident thus far on this blog, and I go through days and weeks of songs that I just can't get enough of. Sometimes it seems too hard to pick a favorite. But at the end of the day, for several years now, I have always gone back to this one. I sing it in about every other shower that I take, I doodle its lyrics, I love the music video, and someday I hope someone sings it to me. If that doesn't happen after a certain amount of time, I'll probably just tell someone to. Love it.
The Groom
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This is one piece of the puzzle that has yet to be decided. I've got plenty of time, a few billion possibilities, and plenty to do in the meantime, so here's to living life to the fullest and happy surprises in the future!
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Friday, August 3, 2012
Yeah. Can we just all stop getting all up in each other's business? Everyone needs to calm down. If everyone just loved everyone else just for being a fellow human being and tried to make the best world possible for everyone around them, I think this world would be a much better place. There you go, Earth. I just solved all of your problems. Now who's going to take me up on it?
People are entitled to opinions. I don't particularly like mullets, or agree with excessive soda consumption, but I think I would be ok selling sandwiches to a Coke-guzzling redneck if they wanted one, without feeling the need to first publicly denounce them. Call me crazy. I honestly just don't understand why he felt this was an issue that Chick-fil-A needs to have a position on. I don't know.
Jesus said love everyone, treat them kindly too. When your heart is filled with love, others will love you.
Thursday, August 2, 2012
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