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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C'est ma vie maitenant.

• I started my internship this week. I'm back at City Hall, doing all kinds of exciting filing, typing, and turning unused rooms into storage. (But mostly filing.) Turns out I'm being paid after all, and I can't describe how grateful I am that that is the case. 

• Pottermore. I adore Jo Rowling's wizarding world and the imagination that she put into it. Hurray for getting MORE of it. 

Yep. I'm in Slytherin. I'm okay with it. They have a bad rap because the story was told from the point of view of a Gryffindor, but I'm clever (or I like to think I am) and ambitious. It fits.

• Today I had an encounter that made me want to go home, watch (500) Days of Summer, and cry. Instead I slept until 8pm. Now it's 1:20am. I'm feeling better, but we shall see what kind of adventures I'll have while I get myself to try to sleep again before I get up to be at work at 7:00.

• In the meantime, I'll take a page from Liz's book and tell you what I'd do if I had won $640 million in the recent lottery. 
• Pay off my debts, and then my parents'. 
• Put myself and my brothers through school. They'd be on their own for mission money.
• Get myself a car. Nothing too fancy, though. Probably something like my "first" car. 
• Get myself a nice place in Upland or Claremont with at least one room lined with bookshelves.
• Buy my Pinterest closet. 
• Open and run a charter or private school for girls. 

Lessons We Learn from Disney Princesses

Lessons based on a conversation with Beth, Noelle, Laura, Summer, and Amanda. Pictures by Annie Leibovitz for Disney.

Pocahontas:

 Listen to your grandma. The right path is not always the easy path. And stop being racist, doggone it!

Belle:

Beauty is on the inside. Read.

Ariel:

Learn from your mistakes.

Snow White:

Kindness is more important than beauty.

Aurora:

Prince Charming can be Prince Charming, no matter what his name. Also, don't be naive.

Jasmine:

Just be yourself. Women are not objects to be won.

Cinderella:

Hard work and kindness will always pay off.

You Have An Adopted Liver, Honey.*

I went incognito today with some pink lipstick. I like how it looked. 

It's been a crazy, semi-nocturnal, but still somehow wonderful and productive week. 

And then it started raining tonight. Pouring down catch-a-cold, melt-the-snow, pretty-sounding rain. Did I start jumping up and down and screaming with joy? Did immediately look for an excuse to leave the apartment?

*This was actually said in a real conversation I had this week.

Lists and Letters

Things I Hate, but Have a Morbid Fascination With

1. Jersey Shore

2. Snow

3. Economics 

Dear Cadbury,
     I will be eternally grateful for your having created the Caramello. Keep up the good work.
                         Love, Brooke

Reasons I Think the Federal Government Hates Me.

1. I never got my birth certificate back when I got my passport.

2. The Social Security Office has my birthday wrong.

Dear Summertime,
      I love, miss, and desperately need you.
                              Love, Brooke

Awesome Things I Did This Week

1.  Read de Tocqueville

2. Learned John Lennon's middle name was Winston

3. Made beautiful and delicious cookies.

4. Listened to Adele almost nonstop.

21

I made a post a few weeks ago about how I'd found a song I could listen to over and over again--"Someone Like You" by Adele. Last night,  the album it came from, 21,  was (finally) available in the United States! Okay, I waited until it was midnight on the east coast and immediately downloaded it. Beth and I are in love  in obsessed with it. In fact, we're listening to it now.

Adele has this rich and soulful voice and great control over it. Sometimes there are little squeaks or growls or she'll edge over her break less than gracefully, but Beth made the point that those imperfections in her voice make it even more beautiful. I'm (maybe) starting to get to the age and maturity where I can actually really understand a love song, and hers are complex and sweet and powerful. They get you thinking about what "having it all" means, what it is you want out of a relationship, waiting on a second chance, heartbreak, and (since we're just out of our teens here,) keeping up with rumors.

Overall, this album is my new favorite. I highly recommend it.

Paradise Lost: Shadows and Wings

I'm not a huge fan of techno music.  Or of opera. But Eric Whitacre, one of my favorite composers, mashed them together with the traditional musical theatre tradition to create Paradise Lost: Shadows and Wings.

The story is not based on Milton's Paradise Lost, but is actually about a tribe of angels whose parents hid them away and took their wings as children. An odd concept, true, but so is the music. It's a really beautiful and unexpected fit--like bacon in ice cream, or Bollywood and Jane Austen.

You can hear excerpts of the music by clicking here. I strongly suggest that you do.  I'm slightly addicted to "What If," "Sleep My Child," "Forgotten" and "All Alone."

"Tap On My Window, Knock On My Door, I Want to Make You Feel Beautiful."

Day #2: She Will Be Loved by Maroon 5

This is the only version I listen to. I'm also slightly biased toward this group because they're from Yale (my sister-brother Chris's alma mater). 

February is Lovely.

I love February. Love is in the air, chocolate is on sale, and winter is just that much brighter because of it. I may be chronically single, but I loved Valentine's Day even in high school. The choir would do singing valentine grams and I'd get out of class for the whole day to just sing about love and friendship and be with my beloved choir family. So in honor of that tradition, I'm posting an a cappella love song every day this month. I'm excited. If you're not, that's okay, because it's not your blog.

Song #1 Can't Help Falling In Love by Elvis Presley

It's the first Valentine Song any UHS Choir member learns. It's sweet and simple and will always make you smile. This arrangement is by The Staff from University of Florida. Maybe not the best recording, but definitely the best version I could find. 

Dude.

I'm writing this post on an iPod Touch. I love technology.

It's A Good Kind of Obsessed, I Promise.

Okay, I'll admit it. I'm kind of obsessed with my family. I talk about my brothers all the time and it probably bugs people but I don't care. I think my parents are super cool (even when things like this happen) and call them whenever I have a question about anything. 

But it's not just my immediate family.

This is my great-great grandmother (on my Opa's mother's side) and her children. I love doing family history research and finding out where my family comes from. (Fun fact: The Barkowskis came from Russia!)

But it's not just my ancestors. 

I don't have adequate pictures, but let me put it this way. I'll just use my dad's side of the family as an example. My dad has four older brothers and a sister. Between all them, I have twenty cousins--twelve older, eight younger. Few things make me happier than catching up with my cousins. One of the highlights of my summer was having the longest conversation I've ever had with my cousin Lauren. I ADORED having cousins close by earlier this year, and I love that all my older cousins keep getting married to cool people (some of whom I still need to meet in person)! My newest cousin-to-be Jessica just arrived in the States this week from Brazil and I'm so excited for her and Andrew to get married next month. I'm even considering going to Denver next summer because I'll have cousins there.

I'm going to stop now before I go overboard. My family is rad.
Let's leave it at that.

Saturday is a Special Day!

It's the day Lyndsey and I had a photoshoot in downtown Rexburg! Here are my favorites out of the pictures we took of each other.

Saturday was also special because we celebrated Halloween! I was Lady Gaga, and Beth and Chelsea were my backup dancers. Beth made our amazing costumes. 

 (Chelsea does not like having her picture taken.)

Five Words.

Lyndsey and I watched the movie in preparation for this Tuesday. We loved it. The trick is to just take it for what it is--campy and fabulous.

       

 As it turns out, there's a lot more to photography than your average point-and-shoot will lead you to believe. Real photography involves so much control.  You really have to know what you're doing.

My first two assignments had to be film. Shooting film isn't too bad. It's exciting to not know what's going on or how the pictures will look.

      The real pain  comes in the processing. You lock yourself in a small room. Once you arrange your tools, the lights go out. They don't come back on until the film is wound on a small stainless steel spool, and the spool goes into a lightproof container. That's the worst part. If the film isn't wound just right, some of the negatives won't turn out. You won't know until you process the film, which involves all the fun bits of chemistry class.

      Developing is fun, too. The the red lights in the darkroom make the world go black-and-white. It's a fun experiment with light. It's a lovely process.

Digital is fun, too. It allows for more control, but printing isn't as fun. I don't have any of the prints I've turned in back yet, but I've posted the first two digital prints that I'm turning in tomorrow. 

I'd Like to See You Try.

How in the world am I supposed to do homework when my screen looks like this? 

I guess I could just wait 5 minutes for the desktop to change into something less irresistible. 

My Favorite Things, Part I

As much as I hate (repeat: HATE) being cold, I love fall. For me, new beginnings happen in October, not January. We're finally into the swing of things at school, opportunities crop up to dress a little more warmly (i.e., nicer). Now is the time for General Conference and Halloween. I'm not sure how to explain it, but there's just something in the air that makes everything a little more special.

Of course, this all points to...

Candy corn. My favorite. They're finally selling it at the grocery store, and I plan to get a bag in my next grocery trip. Or I might just pick up a few baking/cooking things and try this recipe for homemade candy corn I found here.