An Ode to Things

I know that "the most important things in life aren't things," but that doesn't stop me from being grateful for and excited about a few things now and again. Right now those things are:

• Sweatpants.  I love dressing up for work, but starting my day early takes its toll and I'm always glad to be able to come home and effectively put on pajamas. 
• Earplugs. Now I can more easily ignore everyone else's video games and shouting and Lost marathons so that I can get homework and sleeping done.
• Smash Books. It's a nice little way to get my creative juices flowing as I ease back into making things again.
• The car I'll be buying this month--a green 1995 Ford Taurus. (I'll be paying for it this month, but will pick it up in Utah on my way to school this fall.)
• The  the new Heber J. Grant scholarship that will help with my tuition for my last three semesters!
• My books. I have lots and have decided that I'd probably rather re-read my old stuff for the next little while rather than looking for old stuff. I haven't read many of my books since high school (so it doesn't count). 
• Spotify. It saves me so much money and disc space. 
• Gifs. There is seriously one for every situation.





































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On Clothing and Style

So I've been reading a lot since I've been home...mostly Vogue, because my subscription gets sent to my parents' house and I had three issues waiting for my return to California. This, of course, has me thinking a lot more about clothes than I normally would. Trends, silhouettes, colors, eco-friendliness...there's really a lot to it. I don't like most of it. I read Vogue for the journalism, the photography, and the perfume samples. Many of the looks I see are as unattractive as they are impractical--and so expensive! No one should ever need to pay $850 for ugly shoes. I live in jeans and t-shirts during the week and love dressing up for Sunday and other special occasions--I'm always on the lookout for new skirts and dresses. I always want to look nice, but I've never paid more than $45 for a dress...and that was the time I bought fabric for a prom dress my grandma sewed.

 No matter what stage of life I'm in or how much money I end up making one day, I probably won't spend much more than that per article of clothing. I've thought a lot lately about the Book of Mormon's description of the proud and wicked. Several times it their "costly apparel" is brought up. The righteous, on the other hand "did not wear costly apparel, yet they were neat and comely." Not fashionable. Not icons. Neat and comely. That's I'd like to be. I don't have to pour money into the pockets of fashion houses (which seem more like abstract artists and less like designers of clothing every day) or overhaul my wardrobe every season to look nice.

But this is still a concept I'm working on...in some of dreams I wear Oscar de la Renta head to toe.

Multipurpose Everything.

All my pillowcases mysteriously disappeared over winter break. I slept on a bare pillow for a while, then it occurred to me--tee shirts work just as well, and I have more than enough of them. Sometimes I'm just smart like that.

Also--VERIZON iPHONE. I didn't post about it earlier because I was too busy talking about it all the time. I'm really excited because I'll finally be able to have my phone and my iPod be the same thing (which is the important part to me) without leaving my network. (Apps are just gravy, BTW.) It will probably take me forever to actually get one, but the possibility makes my heart happy.

The Headscarf

My attempt. 

I think it came out more Chava...

...than Hepburn.

Other contenders were just not as fun. 

"It was more babushka than Breakfast at Tiffany's."

"It was more Russian than Roman Holiday."

"Someone told me I looked Jewish."

(That one is true.)

But it's warm. I'm going to keep doing this.

Want.

I never thought I'd envy a member of Hillary Clinton's staff. Then I saw Huma Abedin's wedding dress in The September Issue of Vogue. (You always capitalize The September Issue. ALWAYS.) I love seeing clothes on real women instead of models--they're prettier because they're more reasonable--a real outfit instead of a mood board on a person. I like Oscar de la Renta clothes for the same reason. Ladies, grab your fashion magazines or pull up google. Compare an Oscar de la Renta ad to a Rodarte ad. Which one would you rather buy and wear? Yeah. That's what I thought.

MMMMM Prepositions

I bought new t-shirts on-line the other day. They came this week, and I could not be more pleased with them. My parents think I'm nuts, though. 

What say you, people who have to look at my clothes when I wear them? 

(If you're looking at my clothes elsewhere,  you're kind of a creeper. Get out of my room.)

I have no formal post. Just captions for pictures.

 This is my dad fixing the pipes. They're partway through redoing the kitchen, and it's going to look great!

 There's a clothesline in the backyard of my new place. 

 I plan to take unnecessary amounts of pictures of my clothes drying this summer.

 I actually plan to take unnecessary amounts of pictures in general, because now I have a real camera for the first time since November! I bought a Canon EOS Rebel XSi for my photography classes. Huzzah.

I was home alone with nothing to do tonight, so I got started making chocolate hazelnut gelato. 

 Side note: I made the bacon ice cream earlier this week. It was really, really good. My family loved it, too! (See? I am neither pregnant nor crazy.)

I wore an apron and everything!

It's not finished yet, though. It has to chill for a lot longer before it can go into the machine. But it'll be worth the wait. 

"What if were agreed that 'proper' meant wearing a codfish on your head? Would you wear it?"

Yesterday was all about dresses. First I saw Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland. 

I. Loved. Those. Dresses.

And the White Queen's hand gestures.

All this fabulous dressness reminded me that I'm running low in the Sunday clothes department. That was a CRAZY modesty quest.  And my intensely picky taste didn't help either.

 But it worked out.

Top Ten Reasons that This Week was the Best.

10. J'ai trouvé ma cloche!

I finally have the coolest hat in the world back. I lost it in my French class on the second day of class and didn't see until yesterday, when Sœur Passe-Carlus said she had it in her office.

9. Hair Color Fades!

My hair is a normal color! But I did turn the towels pink at the temple...

8. Nutella Cupcakes!

Found this recipe while stumbling around the internet on Thursday and couldn't help but trying them. And they are DELICIOUS. We ate them for breakfast. (Since they're self-frosting, you can totally pass them off as muffins.) I will definitely be making them again in the near future.

7. I've finally seen The Dark Knight all the way through!

When my family rented this when it first came out, no one ever told me when they were starting. So I always came in the middle. Then last semester I started it with the guys, but we only got halfway through before curfew. Then we watched it last night because their new roommate is just off his mission and hadn't seen it yet. Hurray for 1am curfew on Fridays!

6. I finally found a good place to study!

I have a hard time focusing on homework when Sven the Mac's 20-inch screen offers so many other options. And I don't like the library--too many people. But there is a lovely little secluded place in the Ricks Building (pictured above) perfect for reading and studying. This should increase my productivity by infinity.

5. The Hello Kitty Coloring Book

My mom sent a bunch of crayons up with me after Christmas Break and I had nothing to color! In my determination to remedy this, I bought a 288 page Hello Kitty coloring book. I almost got the Star Wars one, but it was part of that crap Clone Wars franchise. I am not ashamed of my new hobby. You're just jealous. 

4.Endless Jam Sessions.

My roommate Jenna the Music Ed Major brought an acoustic guitar up with her. Now we're both using it to teach ourselves to play. I remembered a few things from back when I actually practiced Francesca (my guitar that's been sitting lonely in my room for the past three years). My fingers are sore and covered in band-aids, and Jenna's thumb has turned funny colors from strumming with it. But it's way fun. Since Thursday, we've spent at least three hours a day taking turns playing. 

3. Getting things worked out.

Don't you worry your pretty little head about the details.

2. Hearing from two members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

Elder Russel M. Nelson gave the devotional on Tuesday and Elder. M. Russell Ballard More will be on my Rexburg Blog.

1. Getting my family's temple work done.

Unless I'm completely mistaken, this is my great-grandmother,(my mother's mother's mother) Margot. I was baptized and confirmed for her and for my great-great-aunt, (my mother's father's mother's sister) Anna. I'm so excited to keep tracing my mom's family line and getting their work done, too!

Scatterbrain

I'd really like to see (500) Days of Summer.

Yesterday I made a Nutella and bacon sandwich using Eggo waffles instead of bread. It was delicious.

Then today I found a recipe for Candied Bacon Ice Cream. Something may be wrong here.

photo courtesy of the Telegraph

Look at this dress. It has special pockets for markers to create the colored pattern. How clever! 

I'm tempted to not go to my American government class on Tuesday because I know something more horribly sexist than usual will happen in the name of an object lesson.

50% of Haitians agree with Pat Robertson about the deal with the devil thing.

Mari Winsor is officially my arch-nemesis.

Barbershop or Jazz?

Polka Dot Legs

These socks help me keep warm in this cold, cold weather. But they leave that pattern on my legs. It's fun stuff.