Persistence

Hello there. I listened to the Prophet speak at Devotional on Tuesday. His summary of Heber J. Grant's life really impacted me. A lot. That man embodied persistence and diligence. I will now be embarking on a systematic review of his life so I can closely have a role model to follow in my quest for perfection. What a marvelous man. I loved these quotes, and then found some more to add. I hope you love them as much as I do:


Persist in all those things which are good and noble.
-President Monson, remember President Grant's legacy

Some men give up their designs when they have almost reached the goal; While others, on the contrary, obtain a victory by exerting, at the last moment, more vigorous efforts than ever before. - Herodotus

That which we persist in doing becomes easier - not that the nature of the task has changed, but our ability to do has increased. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

All our losses will be made up if we are faithful. -Joseph Smith (movie)

Road Trips

I was talking to a friend last night who made it very clear that road trips with a loved one somehow indicates that two people are destined to be together. I guess I am an anomaly. It worked for my sister.

The genius of the indigo girls

During the time of which I speak it was hard to turn the other cheek
To the blows of insecurity
Feeding the cancer of my intellect the blood of love soon neglected
Lay dying in the strength of its impurity
Meanwhile our friends we thought were so together
They've all gone and left each other in search of fairer weather
And we sit here in our storm and drink a toast
To the slim chance of love's recovery.

There I am in younger days, star gazing,
Painting picture perfect maps of how my life and love would be
Not counting the unmarked paths of misdirection
My compass, faith in love's perfection
I missed ten million miles of road I should have seen


Meanwhile our friends we thought were so together
Left each other one by one in search of fairer weather
And we sit here in our storm and drink a toast
To the slim chance of love's recovery.
Rain soaked and voice choked like silent screaming in a dream



I search for our absolute distinction
Not content to bow and bent
To the whims of culture that swoop like vultures
Eating us away, eating us away
Eating us away to our extinction
Oh how I wish I were a trinity, so if I lost a part of me
I'd still have two of the same to live


But nobody gets a lifetime rehearsal, as specks of dust we're universal
To let this love survive would be the greatest gift we could give
Tell all the friends who think they're so together
That these are ghosts and mirages, these thoughts of fairer weather
Though it's storming out I feel safe within the arms of love's discovery

Day One

Anyone see 500 Days of Summer? Well, today is my Day One, and because art imitates life and I will feel robbed if my life doesn't turn out like a movie, I am expecting today to be GREAT!! Today should bring lots of suitors, lots of chance meetings, lots of professional success, and lots of destiny determining my life.

Nevertheless, the last 143 days have been beautiful. Simply beautiful. Almost like a fairytale. And I will always remember them with a grateful heart and tender feelings...maybe a few tears.

Ring Shopping

Muffin made of stud

Fun of mountainous proportions

Sundance got a double dose of Sara recently. My good buds Will and Dan wanted to get together and take dates up to Sundance's outdoor movie nights. Without too much discretion or thought, I said yes. I took Carruth.




Will took Steph.



Dan? Well...


He took some chick that I had never met, and whom I will probably never meet again, knowing him. I don't remember her name. Soak up her image, folks. This will probably be her one and only cameo on my blog.



Well, it ended up being the wrong night. There was no movie. no people. no lights. nothing. So we just laid on blankets, freezing, talking about conspiracies and the inhabitants on other planets. Carruth and I left early because we only took three blankets and apparently up in the mountains you have to have an entire Bed Bath and Beyond store in order to stay warm.



[REDACTED]

Girl's Night

I am so blessed with spectacular girl friends. Most of them in Provo are old roommates or wardies. I'm so glad I got to reconnect with Katie after the mission and be her roommate. I look forward to another great semester as little Kate Spade's roommate.



Katie and I had a girl's night last week complete with soothing pedicures, a brief shopping trip, chocolate, and an all-out splurge at Carrabba's. YUM!!!



I hope to spend more time soon with my wonderful girls. I am so glad my best friend Meg and I have still been able to stay friends all these years even though we are so different in so many ways. She is so amazing and helps me through all the problems in my life. The Lord uses her to talk to me, for sure. I'm glad she came to my mission farewell. I am so blessed that we got to be in the MTC at the same time. I'm glad we wrote our entire missions, and I'm glad to live just two blocks away and that she doesn't totally hate me for not spending as much time with her as she deserves. She truly is a wonderful influence in my life.


I thought of Meg this week when we ran into this car...figuratively speaking:



Women talk women. tuesday nights at the flower basket. love it.

Fond Fond Memories

I was driving down 9th East, and I had to stop at the light just south of the temple. The temple was on my left, the MTC was on my right. I watched as a group of young-looking boys walked in front of my car. My eyes started to well up as I thought about how I felt some three years ago when I was in their shoes. These boys have no idea what is about to happen to them, I thought. No matter how prepared a person is, the mission will totally rock that person's world and change his/her life forever.



It changed mine. I prepared as much as humanly possible. I wanted to give back in service to the Lord for all he had blessed me with. Then the mission happened and I realized that the opportunity to serve a mission was the most wonderful blessing the Lord could ever bestow on me. It changed my life. These boys are going out into the world full of hope, knowledge, plans, and a testimony. They will come back men and will forever be changed. I hope I can do my mission justice by still claiming to be a representative of Christ in my words and actions even though my mission is done.

Brie and Peanut Butter

So...I have a confession to make. A week or two ago, I was eating one of my favorite foods--peanut butter--and we pulled out some Brie cheese (one of my favorite cheese) from the fridge. One thing led to another, and Bryce and I were sitting on the couch dipping the cheese into the peanut butter and eating it like that. Gross, I know. Bryce thought it was totally appropriate to tell that story about two minutes after I met the family. Really great. Anyway, now that they think I'm not that strange I decided to let them in on our little world of fun. We had a picnic Friday at Kiwanis Park and we introduced them to the brie and peanut butter phenomenon.



For those of you who are curious as to how one eats this delectable delicacy, I will show you. You first take the wheel of cheese, cut them into small triangles, and then tear a small portion of that triangle off. Then you dip it into peanut butter, and eat away. Sometimes, depending on what you're in to, you can suck off the peanut butter from the cheese and then dip the same piece of cheese back in the peanut butter. That's the method of choice for this boy:



I'm actually not sure if anyone, but Macy, tried our wonderful cuisine. But we definitely finished half the wheel of brie. Don't even worry.



It's cool, though. Marci suggested eating one of her favorite, interesting dishes: peanut butter and pickle sandwiches. I think I can live with eating peanut butter and brie in front of someone who likes the PB and pickle combination.



All in all, the park was fun. We had J-dawgs, chips, and diet DP. We rushed out of there for Bryce's physics class and then I went back to work where I researched more on the USA PATRIOT Act and how BYU must comply with it. Here's an interesting piece of trivia: Did you know that the Patriot Act isn't just a clever name? It's actually just a really long acronym for Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act passed only a couple months after Sept. 11. Very controversial, but it has not been overturned or repealed. yet.

This graphic is from The Onion, my preferred news source:



This summer is going great. I am on a pretty tight schedule; I have lots to do, but I also have lots of fun. I have wonderful, good friends to spend time with, and I'm really loving the fact that once I'm done with work, I'm done. I don't need to study or stress about tests, stare decisis, case holdings, or exceptions to rules. Although I love law school and I actually miss my law friends and going to class and learning, I can tell that when I graduate, I won't be too terribly disappointed. I think it will be nice to have a law job and to get on with life.