Oh spring.

Today I had this stuck in my head.

All day.
But I loved it.
Mostly because it's spring.
but also because they are such a great band.

It reminded me of
that one time
when I happened upon them
at the Mason Jennings concert this past fall.
And fell in love with them.
And his incredible voice.
And their unique style.

I love memories.

happy.earth.day.

earth found here

how can you not love this?

So many things happen in my life
every day.
I'm a basket case of emotions lately.

And

I've come to realize
that one of my favorite things
that I do almost everyday is:
imagining my life as a movie.
when something is happening to me
I imagine what it would look like
if i were watching me.
what song would be playing at that very moment.
what would my reaction be to watching me.
how much better than any movie some moments are
and how pathetic other ones seem to be.

I feel like I have so many adventures.

all the time.

I have so much ahead of me
I can't wait to see what the future holds.
but until then
I need to get my marbles in a basket.
because they're a little scattered at the moment
and my movie has been looking a lot
like a box office reject.

photo via here and here

this was my weekend. what was yours?

It started off with Brienne's bridal shower.
I think I ate 50 mini cupcakes.
I just love my high school besties.
Every time we get together,
I can't stop smiling or reminiscing about all our memories.
I forget how much I've missed them.
I have the most beautiful friends in the world.

After running out of gas in Sardine Canyon at 1 am
(i'm such a fool.)
my weekend continued with these:


Closely followed by this:
Homemade hair and face masks.
Our Hair masks consisted of egg whites, honey, olive oil, some milk and mashed banana.
That mashed banana was the worst idea my hair has ever had.
I am still trying to get the chunks out.


But we had so much fun making a mess.
And our hair actually came out much softer
and shinier than before.
And here is the after:

The lovely Lindsey Wilson surprised our side yard with this
Hammock!
It is so great.
We love her almost daily surprises for us.
We borrowed our neighbors tree
and this amazing weather has got us
excited to give it a try.


On Sunday, the beautiful Ashlee and I ventured off to church.
When we got there, church wasn't.
We drove to the Stake Center: nothing.
So, we found a random building,
and intruded on a random ward.
It turned out to be fantastic.
The lessons and talks covered every topic that was on my mind.
Then our long lost friends just happened to be in that ward.
It was entertaining, hilarious, and spiritually uplifting all in one.
And best of all,
we came home and made blueberry pancakes.
They were delish!

After brunch,
we headed to the park to enjoy the
perfect warm weather.
Alongside a man on a mission with a metal detector and some Asian tourists,
I read this book:


and let me just tell you:
you have got to read it!

This old guy named Morrie:


Shares how to live while dying.
And how to make the most out of life.
I was laughing
and crying
and realizing all the ways I can improve.
Go read it.

I love weekends like this.

i am still happy.

I knew today would come.

And come it did.

“The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing, is nothing, and becomes nothing. He may avoid suffering and sorrow, but he simply cannot learn and feel and change and grow and love and live.”

-Leo F. Buscaglia

But I am still happy.

Even though I am sad.

Even though now he is Elder Landsaw.

Even though I have horrible handwriting and letter writing skills.

Even though I don't get to watch this anymore.

Or get surprise dinners here.

Even though I don't get these anymore.

Even though he chose Jesus over me.

I hate when that happens.

But really I should love it.

Because I have so many lovely things in my life.

And I made a short list of them.

My List of Lovelys:

1. My wonderful family.

2. My amazing friends.

3. The warm(ish) weather.

4. My almost full Cafe Rio card.

5. My Internship in New York City in 1 month.

6. My new job (today is my first day, so we'll see just how lovely it is after that).

7. The cookies sitting on my counter.

8. My leftover Easter candy.

9. My bike that is begging to be ridden.

10. All my new found free time I can give back to school and working out.

It all happens for a reason, or so I am told.

And whatever that reason may be, I bet it is a good one.

Call me biased but..

Today was the greatest farewell I've ever been to!

2 of my favorite people gave
2 awesome talks
(props included).
They looked great
their talks were great
the turnout was great
all in all:
it was so great.


Me and Kaycee's wonderful parents

This little rascal was out of control

The man of the hour

And the best part was all the food after!
You better believe there was frog eye salad,
65 pounds of pork, and treats for days.
My family and I were lovin..
so were all the rest
of the family and friends that were there to show their support and love.
It was the perfect way to celebrate the farewell to these two amazing guys.

look what i got..

Last night
someone
gave me this book he made for me.
And I love it so much!
At first glance it looks just like any other book would..

but then when you open it
it is full of pictures of us
on each page.
He is so creative. And thoughtful. And wonderful.
And did I mention how much I love it?

Today is also TOMS National day without shoes..
my beautiful friends
Ashlee and Alexandra
are proud supporters of the cause.
Everyone:
go buy some Toms.
Just do.



These two are an exception to the "No Shoes" festivities
because
today they are taking their engagements.

Let me explain the worst case scenario:
getting your engagement ring stuck on someone else's finger
right before your pictures.
My finger to be more exact.
Luckily, miraculously, I somehow got it off.
My knuckle is still suffering the consequences.
Like a proud mother before her child goes off to prom
I made Chris and beautiful Kait pose for me.
They both looked beyond adorable.
I love these two.
So much.


I can't wait to see how their pictures turn out.
I'm sure they will be
so lovely.

sNOw more snow.

Campus is a winter wonderland today...
and yesterday. And probably tomorrow too.
Which was beautiful, but wet. And cold.
And I just want to wear shorts and sandles.
But instead there is so much snow and slush which means
coats and boots.

But I guess it was good, because I got to watch some of this.



Which was a great distraction from doing anything I was supposed to be doing.
I can never pass up an opportunity to watch people hurt themselves..
I wish I had 5 ambulances on stand by in my daily life.
It's a shame that these days school keeps me so busy that the biggest risk I face is getting an Xact-O blade stuck in my finger.
And let me just tell you, one risk taker to another, the looks you get when buying more Xact-O blades with a band aid on each finger: are priceless.

At least I've never cut my thumb off or anything...

Anyways.. all day I've been coming up with great excuses to not do my homework.

But, I can only avoid it for so long.
So I guess I'll head up to the studio..
and try to get some things done.
I have so many things to get done.


P.s. I'm employed. Stay tuned for updates on that.

food.fashion

Today at the last minute I heard about this fashion show up the street...
but it wasn't your typical fashion show.
Designers used recyclable materials to create some uniquely wonderful outfits!
Everything from records to wallpaper was used...
these are a few of my favorites.
Don't mind the low quality photos.
(the fact that I was late didn't help the documenting situation either.)

Gown made of plastic bags

This wallpaper dress (made for only $8) was my favorite.. loved it!

Plastic bottle mane

Vinyl record shirt


This newspaper dress sat right next to me after the show.. it was fabulous.

The show was so fun.
Before I weaseled my way through the crowd for better seats.. this hair cut was sitting in front of me.
And call me crazy, but I was kind of lovin it.
Maybe someday I'll be brave enough.
Maybe.

Yes, I've turned into the crazy person who asks random strangers, "Hey could I maybe get a picture of you? Because I'm loving what you're doing."
Oh well.

i.love.easter.

Oh how I love easter.

And the spring colors.

And the warm(er) weather.

And my mom's homemade frog eye salad.

But I especially love trying to stay awake through conference and being reminded the ways in which I can improve and make life even better.
But I think I love the food just as much...
I definitely didn't get any domestic skills from my mom
(she doesn't exactly have that many to give)
but I love when my family can come together and somehow make a wonderful Easter dinner.


(doing the dishes is typically my contribution.)

I think Emily made me even more excited..
as I beheld my Easter basket that the Easter bunny always so stealthily delivers, she had pre-made sample piles of every item in my basket for me to try.
And if I didn't like what I had, she would adopt it for her basket.

My Grandma Lena sent me this lovely story that I hope you love as much as I did, here's a little reason for the season:

Last Spring on a Sunday afternoon we took one of our "nowhere" drives thru the country. My husband was quietly driving along some back roads. I was occupied in the front passenger seat watching out the window as the scenery went by.

I noticed out of the corner of my eye that my husband was straining to look out my window. This startled me, since his eyes should be on the road in front of him. I asked him what he was looking at out the windows, and he quietly replied, "Nothing. " He could have said he was looking for pine tree crosses for Easter. His eyes went back to the road in front of him.

After a few minutes, I looked over at my husband and noticed a tear running down his cheek. I asked him what was wrong. This time he told me, "I was just thinking about Pop and a story he had once told me." Of course, because it had to do with his Pop I wanted to know the story, so I asked him to share Pop's story with me.

He said, "When I was about 8 years old, Pop and I were out fishing and that's when he told me that the pine trees know when it is Easter."

I had no idea what he meant by that, so I pressed him for more information.

He continued on... "The Pine trees start their new growth in the weeks before Easter -- if you look at the tops of the Pine trees two weeks before Easter, you will see the yellow shoots. As the days get closer to Easter Sunday, the tallest shoot will branch off and form pine tree crosses for Easter. By the time Easter Sunday comes around, you will see that most of the Pine trees will have small yellow crosses on all of the tallest pine shoots."

I turned to look out the window and I couldn't believe my eyes. It was a week before Easter, and you could see all of the pine trees with the tall yellow shoots stretching to Heaven.

The tallest ones shone in the sunlight like rows of tiny golden crosses.

I hope everyone had as great of a day as I did...

Happy Easter!!

Bare Your Sole

I've been wanting to get a pair of TOMS for forever... but somehow always end up buying some leopard wedges instead. But I've finally found a pair I love, and I am always excited about putting money towards a good cause.

For any who don't know, TOMS is an organization that sells shoes and other great things.. and for every pair of shoes you buy, they give a pair to a child in need.
In fact, on April 8th they are hosting their annual tradition of going a day without shoes. I can't wait to show my support and bare my soles for the day. I encourage all of you to do the same...!