From East to West...

I love California in August, because... 

1. The Padres win.

2.  We are avid horse racing fans for a day.  

3.  We see more crabs than people. 

4.  We stay in head stands until all the blood rushes to our heads.

5.  The San Diego temple shines in the sun.

6.  It means family time and no school. 

Southern Girl.

My roommate was homeward bound as soon as finals finished, and I found myself in Tampa sometime after that in July, and it was a beautiful week.  It may have something to do with our immediate stop for our sushi fix, or the fact that her house was beyond a country-home dream.  Or maybe it was so beautiful because she got me addicted to Downton Abbey, and I found myself waking up early (earlier than Kels) to finish the season, or possibly because her quilts were folded with love, and Dade City was so welcoming to a Utah grown girl, or the fact that the beach was so close and frequented that week with our after beach fish tacos and the satisfying Dairy Kurl (Not to be confused with Dairy Queen).  I think it was beautiful because I came home a happy girl with 51 hand-found sand dollars… and possibly 51 little ghost sand dollars that Kelsie said would haunt me.  I think I had such a great time because I stood on the beach during a the-sky-is-on-fire-kind-of-thunderstorm and felt absolutely invincible.  I think perhaps it was so beautiful because I convinced Kelsie to do everything a good Floridian should do like going to Disney World and Alligator hunting in your neighbor's swamp, and running at the hottest part of the day (I couldn't get her to do the last for the three, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone Florida native or otherwise).  Possibly it was because Tampa made me a Rays fan for the night when they won in the 14th inning. I think it reminded me of a simple life where I could wake up at twelve and nobody would care and nothing would change. But mostly I think it was so beautiful because I had my Kelsie back, and we didn't even have school! 

 Made to order. 

Jane Eyre and Airplanes

I’m a reader.  The kind that takes two years to finish one book – restarting each time I pick it up. I’m the kind of reader that falls asleep mid-sentence and who owns an entire bookshelf full of someday-I’ll-read-these novels. That reader that makes her roommate read her psychology novel out loud to her. I’m the kind of reader that’s a horrible kind of reader.

But I am a reader.  And I've held onto every word from Ms. Bronte’s Jane.  Jane Eyre.  She's accompanied me to the coast, overseas and on many many airplane flights.. Many more than I'd like admitting.   

"You never climb the same mountain twice, not even in memory. Memory rebuilds the mountain, changes the weather, retells the jokes, remakes all the moves."    

--  Lito Tejada-Flores --

He walked the whole mountain like this.

I'm done with being Organic.

I've officially finished all my organic chemistry requirements (mmk besides an advanced organic lab?!) :) But for now, I'm done… as least with any classes coinciding with pre-med/pre-dent students, which is weirdly a relief, mostly because I'm done being asked, "what [I] got on the test?" In a way I was flattered to be somebody's standard for success? But mostly, not really… I wanted everyone to do well (in the beginning), even though most didn't want anybody to do well, and I didn't want my success to be based off the failure of others, but the pre-professionals bred that, and I found myself not wanting anyone to do well, or to do slightly worse than me.  So my malicious attitude has been reformed, and the competitive cut-throat personalities are out of the Benson (or at least my classrooms).  I'm half-way done with my college career now, and I still feel like a baby, luckily two years is a long time… or at least long enough.

Speaking of time and passing years, my dad had a birthday this past month and not just any birthday.  This was his 50th! That's half a century!  I'm tempted to say he's old, but he can still out bike me on any mountain and help me with my college level homework, so maybe aged would be a better word choice. aged to perfection.  Because my dad truly is almost perfect, and I can't wait for the adventures in the next 50 years. 

In celebration of finishing finals - (not having any commitments in Provo) my mom and I headed up to Park City for a few days.  We laughed and laughed and laughed like we were children! It was beautiful.  And I think I'm going to own the Montage, or Stein Eriksen Lodge someday… or at least a cabin up in the middle of nowhere, because nothing can surpass its purple mountain majesty.  It screams America, or at least my kind of America, and I like it a lot.     

Let's get married in Vegas

Beautiful Laurel got married a few weeks ago in Vegas.  I met Laurel in London in the fall.  I seriously loved her from day one because she showed me where the best gelato was on Bayswater and took me with her to the dry cleaners.  She went with me to Denmark and taught me all about the preservation of food… apparently it can last for… a long time. :) Over Thanksgiving break she flew to New York City to visit her family, and Jordan (the love of her life) surprised her with a ring on the top of the Rockefeller Center.  This is the second Londoner to get married (in Vegas).  She was a beautiful bride, and I'm so happy for her and Jordan.   

They respectfully cut and ate the cake?.. But really.  I kind of hate the "let-me-shove-this-in-your-face-and-and-blame-it-on-spontaneity" trend. 

Laurel is obsessed with bows. 

In London Maggie and I got the nickname "PTA moms" because we would stay up late into the night talking and talking and talking just like PTA moms?.. Either way I love this girl.