randomness

Hello!!! I have been a terrible blogger, but oh well :) This post is going to be a little of everything because I have lots of random, worthless things on my mind that I feel the need to put on the world wide web so I can stop thinking about them :) This week are two of my midterms!! WOOT WOOT!!!!! Come on, cheer with me ;) so it'll be a pretty crazy week and what am I doing? Blogging... oops. It's ok though because this can be my outlet so then I can be rejuvenated to study right? ;) I usually don't like these very much, but this one made me laugh inside a lot and described me quite a bit I feel like...

So, this past week was full of giggles and laughs due to our road trip to St. George! It was so much fun- recap and pictures to come (because I know you were dying to see them of course)

Here are some of the songs I've been loving lately. Enjoy!
This first song is just really pretty and kinda soothing in a way- strange- I know.

This next one kinda relates back to my post on the American Dream and lots of my other posts about dreams :) I am a firm believer in plunging head first into anything you hope for whether it be scholastically, love, an incredible career, etc. My Nana (grandma) used to always say to my Father, "what's the worst that can happen?" I've tried to live by that- after getting hurt quite a bit I felt like I shut down for a while and decided to not hope for things too out of the ordinary to protect my heart and lately I had a very heart-breaking experience, but it made me so happy, because I realized I had learned to hope to again, and the worst that can happen is our hopes don't come true, we are hurt, grow stronger, and find something way better farther down the road than what we had hoped for. So, in reality, the worst, really isn't all that bad :)




This next one I just love and think it's cute :) sorry, there's a swear word in it and the music video is a little strange...



I have always loved this song and looked up the music video for it today and it almost ruined the song for me- I wasn't sure whether to be frightened or laugh- so don't ask me now why I'm showing it to you, but I sure hope he was kidding...Anywho, the song is still really pretty

Is it dead?

This is one of my favorite semesters of school I have ever had! Life is so great right now I can't even believe it, but yesterday I was in one of my classes and we talked about something that is one of my passions...the American Dream. First off, let me just establish my major is American Studies, so obviously I have some pretty strong opinions on these subjects ;) "The American Dream" is something that is quite often discussed and something I have always loved, however, oftentimes when it is discussed, I feel like people scoff and say that the American Dream is a myth. In my class yesterday the class basically came to a consensus that the American Dream is dead. I disagreed and explained my reasoning, but no one sided with me, but that wasn't what bothered me, what bothered me was trying to figure out is it just me? Am I naive? Is it dead? And here is what I decided...

First, to analyze this, we have to establish what the American Dream is in our minds- since I'm the one doing the talking here, I think I'll establish what it is to me ;) To me the American Dream is the possibility that if you are willing to work hard, you can rise in your station, that you do not have to be what your parents or grandparents were whether that is monetarily or emotionally, it is the belief and the hope that we can change. After a lot of thinking I decided, if this kind of thinking is naive, I will take it and I hope to be "naive" forever, because if I ever lose this hope that I can be/do whatever I want if I am willing to put in the work , then what is the point of work?

Above are some of my heroes. The first picture is of my family way back when, and I don't have a picture of my Dad's parents on my computer so, I just showed the product of them- my family! :) and the second picture is of my Mom's parents. These people in large, are a huge reason why I am so adamant about the American Dream. My Dad's parents (first picture representation), were alive in the Depression. He fought in World War II and she took a job spotting fighter planes on the beach, they had nothing, but worked their way to the top. The second picture, my Mom's parents are amazing as well. My Grandpa was born in a log cabin, literally and decided he wanted church and education in his life, so he became active in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and went to school. He married the love of his life, provided for an ever-growing family while a student in college, then he went and received his masters. Right when he was born, someone could have looked at him and predicted where his life might go and predicted that he would never get an education, etc. however, they would be wrong, because he was willing to fight for this dream.

I shared that story in class and my teacher said, well does anyone have an example of the opposite? I thought about it, and decided I know lots of people who work really hard and choose to have a good attitude despite all the things that happen to them and therefore, they are happy, yet I know many who try and then bad things happen to them , so they give up and decide to be miserable, therefore, obviously, happiness is a myth- correct? Of course not, that is absurd. I need to clarify that I know many people work extremely hard to rise in their station of life and are not able to because of unfortunate circumstances- I do not wish to downplay that or claim that they just did not work hard enough, because I do not believe that at all, the people I am addressing are the ones that say we will never get there, therefore we will not try and the American Dream is Dead. Is it dead because it's impossible or is it dead because notions of hope and hard work are dead inside of us? We live in a day in age when if we have to walk a block, we are really upset about it and if we have to cook something on the stove which may take ten minutes rather than 2 in the microwave- we are so upset. I think maybe the American Dream is dead because we no longer know how to work like our grandparents and we have allowed media and cynicism to turn us into a pessimistic people who have no hope. I believe, however, if we are willing to work and hope- we can be/do whatever we want that God sees fit for us in our lives and that, to me is the American Dream and is most definitely not dead.

"The Help"

I just watched what is now my new favorite movie.... 

I listened to this book last summer during my long runs and was SO excited for it to come to theaters, but somehow I never went. This past week my dad bought it on tv and let me watch it. OH MY GOODNESS!!!!! It was incredible. I sobbed (which is saying a lot for me because I'm pretty sure the last time I cried was two months ago and it wasn't really crying and can't remember the last time I really cried before that...) Anyway, the point of that all is- it was amazing- if you haven't watched it yet.... do! I love movies about independent and strong-willed people who do not care what others think but will do what they believe to be right, even if it's at the expense of "fitting in". This movie re-emphasizes the knowledge that there is something special inside every one of us and if we allow it to work and work for it, we can accomplish great things. 

When I grow up....

So, I was reading this blog and found....
 idea. I want to do it SOOOO bad! You can find instructions here. I want to do it this year, but something tells me my mom would be upset with all the confetti all over the floor after all the presents have been piled ;) so, this is how I want to wrap presents for my future family and I think I might do it for my roommates this year.

On another note, I had to share with you my latest obsession. Apparently everyone on the earth knew about the "tim tam slam" but me and my roommate Kate and other roommate Ashley. Ok, story time... So, Ashley had a friend show her the tim tam slam and she couldn't do it- tragic. Then, it was our friend's birthday and to celebrate he did the tim tam slam (his favorite). So, our friend showed Kate and I how to do it and we were SOLD. We did the tim tam slam almost every day for a week (went through about 1 1/2 boxes per day), then we decided we were going to get rather large if this love affair continued, so we had to put a stop to our obsession, but before we did, we made a movie for our dearest Ashley to show her how to do it...Ps: don't judge- I have a rough time keeping a straight face for more than 1 1/2 seconds and it was a bad hair day, but just go with it...

"It's Better to Look Up"

I am a very level-headed person. I do not get overwhelmed very easily, but when I do, I am very overwhelmed. Last night I went to bed around 9:15 and layer in bed until around midnight. It felt like everything had combined against me and I just felt overwhelmed. (It doesn't help that it's finals week). I felt like I had failed at school, wondered if I would be able to achieve my dreams of attending law school (BYU's law school hopefully), and many personal things in my life seemed to be falling apart right now. Some people I love very dearly are not doing what they know they should and it is breaking my heart. As I was laying there thinking of how I could ever help these people I love so much, accomplish everything I hope for in school, succeed in my job (if I'm going to succeed in school), and of course just wondering what life holds for me after I have done all that I can. This was so overwhelming and luckily about two hours into my little crisis, my roommate came home and just listened to me vent for about an hour.

My Nana (grandma), who is one of my heroes, has a saying of a good nights rest, a good meal, and a good work out can brighten any situation. When I woke up today, I felt a surge of motivation- I knew I could still achieve my dreams of school and law school if I was willing to work for it and felt so much better. I had a very long study of the Bible, and then read two talks by authorities of my church. This talk made me feel so much better and do you know what I realized? Life is hard- Duh. THIS is why I am here- I KNEW that life would hold it's challenges, but with challenges brings great growth. This is a great part from the talk We will not feel incapable of doing what we are called to do or need to do. We will be strengthened, and our lives will be filled withpeace and joy.³ We will come to realize that most of what we worry aboutis not of eternal significance—and if it is, the Lord will help us. But wemust have the faith to look up and the courage to follow His direction.
 I know that we will encounter difficult times and there will be times when we wonder how we can accomplish all that our heart yearns to accomplish and how we can fulfill what we are called to do, but I know that we can. I know Heavenly Father asks things of us beyond our capacities so that we can turn to Him and so we can grow. He would not ask anything of us without knowing how we can accomplish it. In the Book of Mormon one of the ancient prophets said, "I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them." (1 Nephi 3:7). I know this to be true. I am grateful for challenges above what we can accomplish so we can turn to our Father in Heaven and accomplish them. 

Ok, I just had to say that, but now I have to get back to studying for finals. Yay!

Ours

finals week!!! Therefore, I can't really blog for long, but I heard this song the other day and LOVE it- listen- it's great!

Daydreamer

So, I've always been a pretty hardcore daydreamer, but lately I've been feeling a little panicky like I'm doing enough to progress towards them or I'm going to forget them. I have the craziest dreams and that's alright with me as long as I am willing to progress towards them or they are replaced by dreams which mean more to me. Soledad is one of my favorite songs about dreams-listen you'll love it. Click on the link, then click on Soledad and you can listen :) So I have a bucket list on my phone, computer, and in my head, and in my journal but none are completed, so I'm going to put part of my bucket list here to compile those lists- but I'll leave some things out that are too personal :)

• Get married in the temple and be so in love beyond what I thought was possible
• Have a family (these first two I recognize will never be completed but I want to progress towards them and constantly be striving for it)
• Run the Boston marathon 
• Read biographies of all the Presidents
• Move outside of Utah (Hopefully to the east or south :)
• Read all of Jane Austen's books
• Start a non-profit organization
• Learn to play the guitar 
• Practice piano and get to the level where I can play on the spot
• Overcome my awkwardness of singing in front of people that are important to me and be able to sing on the spot 
• Get season tickets to the Yankees (I realize this one is a little far-fetched but a girl can dream right?;)
• Continue on to some form of graduate school 
• Learn how to paint

• Haha this is a painting I did for a class today as a replica of Pollock's painting but don't worry I wasn't serious haha, but I really want to learn to paint because I REALLY love it- paintings move me so much more than photographs so I would love to participate in that.
• Run the cliff to cliff or whatever it's called across the Grand Canyon
• Read biographies on all the prophets
• Do triathalons 

I have many more on my bucket list- but I won't bore you :) Anyway, hope you have a great day! And good luck with finals!