I'm angry! I'm wonderful.

When I feel mad,

I like to throw things.

Correction:

I have to throw things,

or it doesn't go away.

(Maybe I should have been a pitcher?)

Sometimes I get so mad

that I start to laugh.

It's okay to feel those feelings,

and it's funny.

Once upon a time,

one of my friends told me that

I reminded her of Princess Giselle in this clip:

(You can start at 0:43--and please end at 1:50 before the chest hair part...)

I didn't see it before,

but now I do.

"Faultless in spite of all her faults"

There's just something about Jane Austen novels.

Every girl knows which of Jane's heroines she is.

For instance,

I am Emma.

A few years ago,
before I realized the supreme superiority of Emma 
over Pride and Prejudice,
the question was always
Elizabeth or Jane?

And I always wanted to be Jane.
I already understood Elizabeth.

But Jane had something worth envying
in her agreeableness and beauty.

Being an Elizabeth is fun, 
if that's all you can manage to amount to.
You get to be intelligent and sassy.

But if you're good enough,
it is better to be a Jane.

The world is made for Janes, I thought.

Elizabeths just aren't quite there.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
I am not a Jane.
And I cannot be a Jane.

I am an Emma,
and I make mistakes a Jane would never make.

But it's not just a Jane's world.

Emma can be obnoxious.
She doesn't read as much as she should.
And her opinions are often misguided.

But I like her.

Perhaps it is our imperfections

that make us so perfect for one another!

Aspirations.

My greatest aspiration is to be somebody's wife,

Ezra Taft Benson & Flora.

and to be someone's mom.

Cornelia, mother of the Gracchi

When I think of the sweetest part of life,

I think of being close to people.

I want to be close to people

and help them

in the most personal way.

I want to decorate the house for Thanksgiving,

and make it warm

and help them feel like the world is exciting and good.

I want to sit at the kitchen table and listen.

I want to pack lunches.

Life is hard enough;

I want to make it softer and brighter.

There is more substance to you when you live for other people.

I hope that in these desires you will find me beyond reproach.

That has made all the difference.

Yesterday, the weather forecast called for rain.

And I was glad!

It don't rain much here,

so it's a welcome relief from endless sunshine.

Who likes that?

The best thing about rain is these:

Rain boots.

Galoshes.

Puddle boots.

Wellies.

They instantly make any outfit better.

So I had on ma boots,

and started my walk to school.

Rain turned to hail

and hail turned to snow.

People started grumbling

and then came the incensed facebook statuses.

But I felt happy all day long.

I stomped and trekked wherever I wanted,

all the while my feet remaining dry and warm,

without a reason to grumble or update my status.

And I was free to get taken away by the stillness

and the wonder

and other feelings that sound trite when you write about them,

but which really happen.

And I attribute all those good feelings

to my rain boots.

They really made all the difference.

Take a little extra time.

Yesterday, I sat down on a bench on campus

and tried something new:

The bench by the trashcan in the middle of the picture,
to be exact.

doing one thing at a time.

Somehow I hadn't caught on to this,

but I guess not everyone multitasks

all

the

time

like I do.

Weird.

But it was a hard day,

so I just decided to eat lunch.

Just eat lunch.

No work

or homework

or even friends to talk to.

It was nice outside,

and the leaves were blowing around.

Let's pretend BYU looks like this.

I practiced looking at each person that walked by

and saying,

"Everyone is just as good as everyone else."

And I thought of this:

"It may seem odd to think of having 

a relationship with ourselves,

but we do.

Some people can't get along with themselves.

They criticize and belittle themselves all day long

until they begin to hate themselves.

May I suggest that you

reduce the rush

and take a little extra time to get to know yourself better.

Walk in nature,

watch a sunrise,

enjoy God's creations,

ponder the truths of the restored gospel,

and find out what they mean for you personally.

Learn to see yourself as Heavenly Father sees you--

as His precious daughter or son

with divine potential."

President Uchtdorf

"Of Things That Matter Most"

It really worked.

O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!

Today is a great day!

 

It's Election Day.

 

I'm sporting an Eisenhower t-shirt

and, of course, my LBJ button,

 

 

a red bow and a red cartigan,

 

and blue jeans, blue earrings, and blue shoes.

 

I tried really hard to dress bipartisanly.

 

 

Four years ago on election day,

 

I covered a large wall in my house

with the names of famous politicians--

 

democrats on the left

and republicans on the right.

 

No matter what happens today,

I love America!

 

And I love that we can vote.

 

That is all.





This guy thinks he's "Captain Knots."

Today I fully realized how deficient I am at tying bows.

I could never recreate this:

My little girls are already doomed.

Say what you need to say.

"If you have love in your heart,

let it show

while you can."

Avett Brothers

Sometimes I say dumb things.

But in my defense,

I'm just doing what President Monson says.

"But I [know] that these things must surely be made known,

and that all things which are hid 

must be revealed upon the house-tops--"

Mormon 5:8