RIP 1451 Uintah Circle

I guess I never really knew that there were murderers living in my sweet innocent SLC neighborhood. But they are there... and they committed a massacre today. They murdered beauty, history, and nature. The home of my childhood was demolished in 4 hours. It took only 4 hours to destroy a significant link to my past. I was always planning on driving my kids and my grandchildren to Uintah Circle and saying, "Look over there, that's where I grew up. See that tree, I always parked my car under that tree. See that playhouse in the backyard? That's where my family would run to, in our swimsuits December 23rd every year. See that grape arbor? That's where me and my friend had a big black and white party. See that window on the second story? That was my room. I grew from a little girl to a college student in that room. That room was my world for so many years."
But now we'll drive by a tan stucco monstrosity, stuck in a gorgeous circle, with no trees. And I'll shudder and tell my descendants, "If you look to the right, you'll see a tragedy."

Love

Valentine's day used to be my favorite holiday. Weeks before February 14th, my dad and I would actively draw up plans for my Valentine's box. Hours of our lives were dedicated to this one-time-use masterpiece. My dad was a Valentine's day box genius. He would come up with the idea, and pretty much make the box, well I sat at the same table, writing valentine's to all of my classmates. But Valentine's day has evolved from that innocent day of fun (two days before my birthday!) to a dreaded, lonely, odious day.
Recently I've come to believe that Valentine's day solely exists to emphasize the fact that I'll be nineteen in a week, and I've never had a real boyfriend or kissed anyone. It's something that's hard to escape at a school where most people can't walk to class unless they have a hand to hold on to or where 90% of the people in my cooking class are married. Marriage and family and love are emphasized everyday. Professors joke about dating and marriage to try and relate to the students. I feel like every joke is a painful reminder that I participate in neither at this time.
Yesterday I read A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens. It made me cry, and I vowed that I would live life to fullest. I saw that in order for the characters to live life to the fullest, they just wanted to be with those they love. Coincidentally on an episode of The Simpsons I watched that night while doing crunches with Natalie, Homer eats a poisonous sushi dish, that may or may not kill him in the next 24 hours. He makes a list of everything he wants to do before he dies, and ends up spending the day with people he loves. He ends up not dying and pronouncing to the world that he will live his life to the fullest. Ironically the next scene shows him sitting on the couch, watching tv, and eating popcorn.
So last night I was lying in bed, thinking about what living life to the fullest really means. From both of these stories, I found that you should spend time with people you love. I thought of my family and friends back in SLC and I thought, well how can I spend all my time with them and still go to school. Then it hit me. In order to live life to the fullest I need to spend all my time with people I love, so why not make the people that I'm with the people that I love?
So today begins a new journey for me. I'm going to try, to the best of my ability, to love the random kid who is sitting next to me in the library, and the girl who sits behind me in Book of Mormon, and the bagger at the grocery store.
It's not about being with your loved ones, it's about loving the ones you're with.
So Happy Valentine's Day! Don't forget to love!

View from on top

(The first picture is of me and Karen, hanging out with Steven Spielberg, the other two were the view from our seats)
We called today, "Cinderella day." I'm not sure what was more surreal, Getting picked up by a police escort, driving through the streets of DC with people scattering out of our way and taking pictures of our police van, walking through the underground tunnels of the Capitol building, sitting in better seats than Oprah, sitting two rows in front of Leonardo Dicaprio, John Cusack, Magic Johnson, and Arnold Schwarzenegger, bumping into Steven Spielberg, hearing that my family saw me on CNN, being 150 feet from Obama, looking out into a crowd of about 2 million people, watching my uncle escort Obama and Bush onto stage, or seeing people in the USA actually supporting and striving for change. Today was magical. I can't believe that a normal person like myself experienced any of that. Now that it is midnight, I'm back to being a nobody, but it was fun for just one day to pretend I was important!

College lessons

Since living on my own I've learned a ton of things about life, oftentimes from my own mishaps. I would like to pass along this knowledge in hopes that you won't make as big of a fool of yourself as I have.
1)If you want to keep your pancakes warm in the oven while you get ready for school, make sure that the plate you put them on isn't plastic.
2)When doing your laundry, check the pockets for pens
3)Also when doing laundry check to make sure you paid for the right washer, because it sure looks dumb to come back an hour later to see that you paid for a laundry machine to do a load of air while your clothes are sitting there, still waiting to be cleaned
4)If you feel sick, DON'T GO TO CLASS, unless you want to vomit in front of everyone
5)Make sure the guy you are thinking of hitting on isn't related to you
6) If cooking something on the stove, make sure all plastic cooking tools are no where near the flames, unless you want to start a fire.
7)You can never have too much Top Ramen.
8)Go to everything that advertises free food
9)The best place to sleep is usually in the girls' bathroom- they have couches in there
10) Try very hard to avoid poles when you are walking
11) If a stranger offers you a ride, say "Absolutely!"

Ode to Jane Austen

For those of you who sadly missed Miss Austen's birthday, it fell on December 16th. In honor of her genius, I would like to tell you about what I've learned from Jane Austen.
1) If you drop something next to a boy, he'll pick it up and that will create a perfect opportunity for an introduction
2) Don't marry for money
3) Love finds you when you're least expecting it
4) Letters are the best form of communication
5) Men are hottest when they wear tight pants and a cravat
6) Enjoy those random characters in your life... you could turn them into a pretty great novel
7) Go on long walks... perfect opportunity for lovers to profess love
8) Sisters are about the best thing a girl could have
9) Start out hating a guy, then slowly learn to love him... it's way cuter that way
10) Don't underestimate the importance of Balls, gatherings, tea, and dances
11) Empire waist dresses are the way to go
12) If you find a Mr. Collins, roll with it... they come with the best stories!
13) If you stick to your morals, everything will work out in the end
14) Don't flirt with men who are secretly engaged to someone else, they are no fun
15) Life is funny, don't forget to laugh at it

CHANGE

I would just like to take a few minutes and gloat a little bit. Yes after defending my candidate over and over again for the past few months, I've finally come up on top! I don't think I've ever been this happy.
Tonight I sat in a room full of BYU students rooting for Obama. Yes, they do exist. We shouted with every blue state! We played a prediction game and ate a cake with Obama's face on it!
But never in my life have I been happier than when CNN counted down and we all stood up, held our breaths, and felt change in the air. The screen changed into just a shot of Obama's face, and a caption "Obama, elected President of the United States of America" and the whole room erupted. With tearing streaming down my cheeks, I hugged everyone around me, screaming at the top of my lungs!
Never before have I have felt more alive as I ran through the Wilkenson Center, along with hundreds of other students screaming at the top of our lungs "YES WE CAN! OBAMA!!" over and over again. Or the silent victory as we marched through the library with our Obama shirts and posters!
All those dirty looks and rude names mean nothing now! Nothing can ruin my happiness!

Some Churchy-ness

I don't really want to think about elections right now, which are really stressing me out. So despite the scarcity of my posts you won't be hearing much about my life; I just want to share a bit of an article that really inspired me (at least for the day) to improve my life. My dad shared it with my sisters and me last night at FHE. Sorry I'm going all churchy on you, but this advice is just so simple and straightforward and all applies to things I need to improve. It's from the October Ensign, titled "Preparing Yourself for Marriage." But it's a good article even if you don't want to think about marriage. I'm just copying and pasting the sections that I thought were the most prevalent to making us better people:

"Become Productive
In looking forward to marriage, do not assume a wait-and-see posture. This is not just a period for marking time or treading water. Seek to become a happy, productive person in your own right. If you have been unsuccessful in love or hurt or betrayed or ignored, break away from complaining and self-pity. Fill your life with all the things that will improve the head, the heart, and the hand.
Read out of the best books, beginning with the scriptures. Get to know the great and noble human spirits in history and literature. Reading will open the world to you and make your mind a repository of things you can draw from later. Enjoy the beauties of the earth, of nature, and of the arts. Engage proactively in Church and community service and in social activities. Exercise to improve physical and mental health. Fill your life with journal writing, acquiring new job skills, creating through hobbies, composing music or poetry, missionary work, and family history. I promise you that every gift you develop now will be a valuable asset when you have a family.

Be Happy
Cultivate a cheerful attitude and the ability to laugh, even at yourself. A sour face and grumpy disposition are truly a gruesome burden to impose on roommates and others. Get a handle on your moods. Learn how to act better than you feel. Some might ask, “Isn’t that hypocritical?” Certainly not. You might not be able to choose how you feel, but you can choose how you act.
To those who have not seen a lot of happiness in marriage around them, who perhaps come from dysfunctional situations, don’t despair. You can be a cycle breaker, the pioneer who, through faith in Jesus Christ and covenant keeping, cuts a new path of goodness and stability. You can create a legacy of righteousness for your posterity.

Develop Friendship
Learning to be a true friend is a perfect preface to a happy marriage. Become expert in friendship: respectful, loyal, and fun. Be quick to lift others and to forgive offenses.

Create Order
As you prepare for marriage, develop a sense, even a passion, for order in your life. Regardless of what else is going well or how patient your future spouse might be, a careless attitude toward order will weigh heavily on your relationship. For example, making your bed each morning is the beginning for order and peace in your universe. Taking a mere 35 to 45 seconds to do this can help produce a whole day of tranquil benefit."

Maybe this article won't apply to or be as interresting to others as it was to me, but I just had to share it because I haven't been so motivated to improve in a long time! I needed that! Sorry I'm such a bore.