A Letter to My Brother

I've been contemplating how to share this information in the blogosphere and it seemed to me that this letter I wrote to my brother would be the best way.  This has been one of the most spiritual and poignant moments of my life. It is taking me in a direction that I had never planned for myself. It has been a few weeks and everything is coming together so well! I'll be updating more about the process as I go but for now, here is the story of how I realized that I was on the road to serving as a full time Sister Missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints: 


James James James. 
I have a story to tell. 

So it has been my plan since graduation to stay in Rexburg for a while and save money to start Cosmetology school in January. I changed my start date to October because I didn't want to put it off longer than I needed to, but that didn't work either. I'll be going home for Christmas in 5 weeks and school would start as soon as I got back and I felt totally unmotivated to get ready.  

On Tuesday this week I just thought to myself, Elle, why are you doing this? Why do you even want to spend so much time on doing hair and crap and have to go into debt for it when you already have a perfectly good education? I was thinking about moving to Provo. I was thinking about going home and living there and going to the hair school in Eureka. But none of it was right. 

One of my co-workers suggested that I call my home teacher and have him give me a blessing. I texted him right away and we made plans for him to come over as soon as I was off work.  Jonnie and Brian showed up right when I got home and I just started sobbing as I explained how lost I was feeling and wanting to know what the Lord wants from me.  They were understanding and it was a relief to have a few people to talk to.  Jonnie gave me a blessing and in it I was told that I am on the right path and that Heavenly Father will continue to bless me as I am diligent in following the commandments. I was also given a blessing of peace and comfort. They left and shortly after I headed upstairs to read my scriptures.  

D&C 60: 2 and 13. That was my answer. Immediately.  You need to read that section as soon as you can because it is my motivating force for the next year and a half. That's right. As soon as I opened my scriptures and started reading that verse (I had a note I took at a meeting that I wrote the verses on and just turned to it) I had the strongest most overwhelming feeling that was "Here it is Elle. This is what you must do as soon as possible or you will lose everything you are working for." 

I am meeting with my Bishop tomorrow (Sunday) afternoon to start mission papers!!!

The first time that I considered a mission it was just a good idea. It was a step in the right direction.  I felt that it was necessary for me to begin preparing myself and I think that preparation made me ready to accept the revelation when I was explicitly told to go.  I still tear up every time I have explained this story to someone close to me.

I am pretty sure that I won't be leaving until you get back because of the time to get papers done and everything, and yes. You get the car back. Lucky you! Ha ha! I'm so proud of you for setting such a good example to me of being a dutiful servant to the Lord. I've seen you grow up through the letters you've sent and I can't believe I'm going to have that experience for myself! 

Love you,

Elle

Motivation

I finally got a copy off this print at a little shop on Main Street. Mine has a green background although I really wanted the traditional red. For those of you that are unfamiliar with this poster it is a British Propaganda poster from World War II. Apparently it was never used as it was created in anticipation of a Nazi invasion in Britain. My life isn't exactly WWII, but I like the reminder. It's going up in the new place as a reminder that life goes on. I know that it sounds cliche but it really helps me to have reminders up for myself. I'm not really into the vinyl wall words and cheesy brass stars kind of girl. Thinking of the historical context really puts things into focus.

Busy As A Bee

It's final week and that means lots and lots of things are going on, but there is no time to share any of it. So a list of what I hope I can blog about in the future:

1. 20's hair and makeup

2. Finishing my Jasmine quilt

3. Also finishing my T-Shirt quilt (that has been in the closet for years)

4. Almost done with making a dress pattern for spring

5. Creating Audrey Hepburn wall art for my NEW APARTMENT NEXT WEEK!!!

6. And probably something about the things that I made in ceramics

So yes, hopefully it will soon be time for show and tell.

But first...finals and graduation!!!!!!

This Is Why I'm Hot

Or in other words; This is why I've been too busy to write any blog posts.

1. It's my last semester of College
2. I've been ridiculously sick and have missed a lot of class, so I can't exactly be on the computer can I?
3. Mr. Diego, the computer in question, has been malfunctioning and needs to be replaced (want to send me a free computer????)
4. No motivation
5. I've been doing so many projects that there isn't enough time to share anything about them!
6. Our school's production of Macbeth is in full swing and I do makeup backstage several nights a week
7. My ceramics class is in project overload and I'd rather be on a wheel than a laptop
8. I'm not sure that I care about writing everything out for the world to read. Hey world! Want to hear about the guys that I made up to look like 50 year old me?! So exciting I'm sure ;)
9. I'm venturing into home decor projects and having more fun than I expected
10. Remember #1? It's so stressful!!!!!!

So now that the list is out it's time to make a confession and share a few other things.
Confession time: I never did that January challenge. It kicked my trash. I'll blame it on the malfunctioning computer because I never even printed out the score sheet. But I've been given new goals! I'm in a women's weightlifting class with one of my best friends and it has done WONDERS for our triceps! Take that flabby Relief Society arms! So our teacher is this adorable little old man who sings us Michael Buble songs as we bust our guts doing crunches and then tells us we need to be lifting more, more, more!!! (In other words, my shoulders have absolutely no strength and he was disgusted at my wimpyness). So Mr. We-Don't-Actually-Know-His-Name gave us a challenge today: No sugar or fast food for the next month.

The fast food part really won't be hard to tackle since I don't go out much to eat and when I do it's usually because I'm craving a Blizzard from Dairy Queen (Why don't they make Blizzards with nerds candy in them anymore? Those were my cocaine on road trips as a child). The sugar will be harder. Its just something that is so easy slip up on! I just went down to my kitchen cupboard and poured my cinnamon sugar into my roommate's container of it, split up the remaining Twilight Sweethearts that I bought for Valentine's Day (Don't judge. They were cheaper than the normal ones and also really delicious!), and realized that I'm seriously going to have to pay attention to what I eat. Not like this wasn't news to me. Hello you're talking to the girl that is addicted to popcorn and cheese & crackers! (Crunching a Keebler one as we speak...)

So, that's the crap. No Ben and Jerry for me. Sorry guys. I'm seeing someone else. He's Jolly, he's green, and he's larger than the average human. Carrot sticks and raisins here I come.
Can't you just hear my enthusiasm?!!!

Resolute.

Somewhat Simple is a new blog I have just become a huge fan of and I am taking up the new challenge for the month of January. It is based on a point system and ten goals that will be posted next Sunday on the site. I'm never very good at keeping up on my own goals, so being part of a group where I am required to check in weekly and have the opportunity to win prizes would be most beneficial.

I think I'm speaking a little oddly because of an over exposure to British literature and film. Yes, Wuthering Heights is coming along quite nicely I'm now on page 260 of the Penguin Classic version with the Ruben Toledo cover. That is the picture I used on my post a while back and I just realized that I didn't mention anything about that cover. I think it quite stunning and I'll admit that it is probably what was the final motivation in my reading the novel.

I have also found a new podcast that I am infatuated with, Classic Poetry Aloud. The reader of the poems has such a soothing voice that I have taken to falling asleep to the sound of Wilde, Longfellow, and Browning. Sweet dreams to the sound of verse!

I Heart Books

The BBC believes most people will have read only 6 of the 100 books here. How do your reading habits stack up? Look at the list and put an 'x' after those you have read. Highlighted are the ones I want to read. I'm about three chapters into Wuthering Heights and my plan is to finish it over Christmas break, along with about 3 other books...

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen X
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte -
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling – X
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee - X
6 The Bible – X
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte -
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell -
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman - X
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens - X

Total: 6

11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott -
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller -
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare -
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier -
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien - X
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk -
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger - X
19 The Time Traveler’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger -
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot -

Total: 2

21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell -
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald - X
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens -
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams -
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky -
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck - X
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll - X
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame -

Total: 3

31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy -
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens -
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis - X
34 Emma - Jane Austen -
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen -
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis - X
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini -
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden-
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne -X

Total:3

41 Animal Farm - George Orwell - X
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown -
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez -
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving-
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins -
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery- X
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy-
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood -
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding - X
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan - X

Total: 4

51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel - X
52 Dune - Frank Herbert -
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen -
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth -
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon -
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens -
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley -
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night - Mark Haddon -
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez -

Total: 1

61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck - X
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov -
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold -
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas-
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac -
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy -
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding -
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie -
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville - X

Total: 2

71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens -
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker -
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett -
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson -
75 Ulysses - James Joyce - X
76 The Inferno – Dante -X
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome -
78 Germinal - Emile Zola -
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray -
80 Possession - AS Byatt –

Total: 2

81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens - X
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell -
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker -
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro -
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert -
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry -
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White -
88 Tuesdays With Morrie - Mitch Albom -X
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle -
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton-

Total: 2

91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad -
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery - X
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks -
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams -
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole -
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute -
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas -
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare - X
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl - X
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo -X

Total: 4

Total Total: 29

Learn to be your own best friend.
Love yourself!!!
Click here to sign the treaty

Remember that the sun will still rise tomorrow even if I had one too many slices of pizza or an extra scoop of ice cream tonight.
Never blame my body for the bad day I'm having.
Stop joining in when my friends compare and trash their own bodies.
Never allow a dirty look from someone else to influence how I feel about my appearance.
Quit judging a person solely by how his or her body looks — even if it seems harmless — because I'd never want anyone to do that to me.
Notice all the amazing things my body is doing for me every moment I walk, talk, think, breathe...
Quiet that negative little voice in my head when it starts to say mean things about my body that I'd never tolerate anyone else saying about me.
Remind myself that what you see isn't always what you get on TV and in ads — it takes a lot of airbrushing, dieting, money, and work to look like that.
Remember that even the girl who I'd swap bodies with in a minute has something about her looks that she hates.
Respect my body by feeding it well, working up a sweat when it needs it, and knowing when to give it a break.
Realize that the mirror can reflect only what's on the surface of me, not who I am inside.
Know that I'm already beautiful just the way I am.

See you at Adventure's Edge!

If the thought had occured to me today I would have gone into a wooded glen to punch dance out my rage. Instead I hit the elliptical for an hour and a half and read a fashion magazine.

You know that saying about life giving us lemons and making lemonade out of them? Well I've also heard that the lemonade sucks if life doesn't also hand you sugar and water. Life gave me a nice fat lemon today in the form of being fired. The sugar and water: I was planning on quitting anyway. Guess that takes away the stress of making the decision! I am now free from the anger, frustration, and complaining that was taking over my life. Don't get me wrong, I liked the job and I was extremly happy to have the extra work, but it was not ideal. Especially the management. Oh well, I may have been disposable to them but I am not a disposable person and they'll regret that decision when the new girl hired to take my place (before they told me I was getting fired) can't tell the difference between nylon and wool. Ok, so she's probably bright, but I'm trying to make myself feel better remember? I'm gonna miss those crazy boys I worked with that always smelled oddly hungover and delicious at the same time and especially my little religious back corner buddy. Luckily friendships can outlast poor mangerial choices. Later skaters!

Here's the song:

Click Clack Moo

First day of Winter Semester 2009!

Luckily my roommate Kami has a 7:45 religion class, so we were both up in time to trudge up the slushy hill to the Taylor this morning. I started the day with mission prep and I know it is going to be so great. It's sure going to be a ton of work, but that's what it's all about. Some of the class goals are to memorize D&C 4 verbatim, recognize all 100 scripture mastery verses, memorize the 13 Articles of Faith, and the names and seniority of the 12 Apostles and the First Presidency. I guess that those things aren't going to be impossibly difficult because I'm familiar with everything, but memorization is not one of my strengths! Monday, Wednesday, and Friday are my gap days, meaning there are breaks in between my classes so I can go to the library for short times throughout the day. Obviously I don't really need to be there today or tomorrow since my homework load hasn't really started yet, but I did a lap through the McKay for good measure, you know, see if my regular desk was as effective as it has been in the past. I did get some reading done for my American Lit class, which is a good thing.



My biggest goals for this semester are to have regular personal scripture study and to stay on top of deadlines for assignments.



The third class of the day was Children's Literature. I've been anticipating this class since I signed up for it because I've had the teacher before. Brother Grant is the type of teacher that wants his students to learn for themselves. He says that the biggest accusation made of him is that he is too vague. And yes. I agree. He is a very vague person. But I learned how to harness my creativity and use it for class through his assignments. Our booklist for this class is about 15 children's picture books and novels and for each one that we read for class we are required to create some type of teaching packet. That is the only instruction.

Our intro assignment today was based off of the book Zoom . Each page of the book was cut out, laminated, and lying facedown on the floor in the center of the room. Our instruction was to each choose a page and not show it to anyone else in the class. From there we described our pictures to each other and tried to assemble ourselves into some kind of order. Success!
I've actually done this exact lesson in a different class at the end of the semester so it was interesting to watch the class interaction. Our topic of discussion was perspective. I don't want to give too much description of Zoom because it is so unique and once you know what the connections between the pictures are the activity becomes so obvious. So I can just suggest you go find this book at the library.




Finishing up the class period Brother Grant vaguely reviewed our syllabus for the semester and announced the packet assignment, our first one is to be based on perspective, to "create a powerful vision of possiblity". Click, Clack, Moo Cows That Type was our first assigned reading and we applied our discussion of perspective to it as well. I hope to keep up on the books we're reading and other assignments I work on this semester through blogging. As I've been writing this it has been a great review of my day, and so I guess I can count it as studying notes. Ha ha! Bonus!

Oh, and since I'm music obsessed:
Here is the newest song I'm obsessing over,
Silverstein-Apoligize
And I've got my desktop wallpaper set as quotes from the infamous "Lazy Sunday" so I sing it every time it comes on.

jumbled

the world's most unofficial thought train post:
i'll probably think about reorganizing and or restating some of these things, but for now i just want them out there.

free patterns from burda style. join today because you know you'll use them.
some cost a few dollars, but only get them if you know what you're doing.

i'm working on state patterns

christmukkuh-my favorite episode of season one.
i'm trying to incorporate the word "minty" into my everyday language.
i can't see the movie goonies sitting up there on my shelf without thinking "seth cohen starter pack?"

add my goals in life to this blog, be official.
mark off the ones that are done? are any done?

working on a bag
but i'm stuck in a rut.
i hate it when good ideas go badly.

dance battle. start watching at 50 seconds. fall in love. wish you were a sick break dancer.


completion of that prairie skirt


need to make chocolate chip banana bread but there is kaluha pork in the oven.

i had a case of the midnight munchies because i've been pretty terrible at eating when i should. work schedules and busy lifestyles tend to mix things up, and life only gets more hectic! so here's the deal, for some reason the pita chips i ate were beyond wonderful. they made me feel warm and delicious inside.

Just Another Manic Monday

As I was sitting in the break room at my minimum wage commercial "bullseye" store today I overheard some guys from the electronics section joking about the company's blogging policy. I remember back in the days when I worked at Borders there was a policy and I just never really cared about it. Do I now? thinking....no. I really don't. So here's the juicy cashier drama: nothing happens. But I did talk to a super cute boy today, with a snake bite piercing. Mmmmmm!

I used to make lists with my roommates of goals in life. Ileana would always say "My goal in life is to....see an opera...date John...clean the toilet." You know, pretty much everything :)
I came up with a list of serious goals I have for myself, and we'll get there in a minute, but back to Mr. Snake Piercing. Another roommate, Lindsey, and I added "kiss a boy with a lip piercing and tattoos" to our lists. If I don't find one soon I might resort to something drastic, like stalking John Vesely of Secondhand Serenade. Here's his latest song, but the video is kind of annoying, why would he have a half naked girl in it when obviously all of his fans are girls. We're just here to see/hear you John!
Enjoy it anyway :)



In other news:

For the past few nights I've had very obscure vivid dreams. The sort of dreams that blend in with what's been going on during the day. The subconsious kind. Freud would probably be proud of me for paying attention to them and trying to figure out what they mean. Not that I completely agree with Freudian thinking. While we're on the subject, of Freud that is, I'll share a little family story.
As I know it my Great Grandmother was having tea one day at a little shop and Mr. F comes up to her and asked if he could share her table. They had tea together and he told her that she had beautiful eyes. How's that for a compliment?

As I was sewing a felt dinosaur for the collection today I turned on the first season of The OC. I got the whole season from the library and I've been debating if I should start watching it. If I start I'll have to finish. One disc down and 5 to go.

I love Seth Cohen.