Scattered

(Fair Warning: I've been wanting to blog for days, but I've been waiting for my mind to not feel so much like scrambled eggs before I made the attempt, but I guess it's not going to clear up in the super near future. So here are 10 non-cohesive musings from the last little bit on this sunny Monday morning. Good thing you love me, even when I'm in my personal crazy town!)

1. I've been on more dates in the last month than the whole year combined. Or at least that's what it feels like. It's actually making me really frustrated because I'm developing all these beautiful new connections and getting deeper into the souls and hearts of several of my closer friends RIGHT before I'm leaving for almost a year. GAH! I of course wouldn't trade the experiences I'm having for anything, but it's making me really really sad about leaving. But I know I have to go. It's the right thing....but...can I just take all my friends with me??

2. I went to the doctor for the 2nd time in almost 4 years to find out that I have tendinitis in my right wrist. So I'm now sporting an oh-so-fashionable brace and taking steroids for the next couple days to help it get better.

3.  I got my last haircut before I leave!! That's a bit of a scary thought: the next time I get my hair cut, it'll be an Italian wielding the scissors!

4. Forcing myself to go to work these last couple weeks is going to be immensely frustrating :/

5. My family is all going to our favorite summer spot in Idaho this weekend. It'll be the last time we're all together for quite some time, and I'm super stoked! It's called Island Park and it is basically paradise. I really need to remember to take pictures this year.

6. The other thing I'm going to miss the most besides my friends/family is dancing. I've been taking videos over the last couple weeks of me dancing with all my favorite people. It's been so bittersweet.

7. Julie Andrews is my idol. I just want to be her when I grow up.

8. Getting next-to-no sleep is always worth it to spend time with someone who fills me with so much light and peace. (But more sleep would be really great at some point.)

9. I get irrationally excited every time I get a new follower on Pinterest. Why is that so validating?

10. I'm a wee bit twitterpated for the first time in a long time and boy does it feel good, even though I know it has to be short-lived.

Happy Monday! Thanks for stopping by and wading through my tangled thoughts.

Journal Find

I keep a little thought book in my bag at all times; just a place to jot down random thoughts, quotes, Sunday notes, poems, or whatever's sparking my imagination at the moment. I recently got to the last page of my little book, so I went back and read it through all the way, which was really fun!

One of the little gems I wanted to share was an entry I made on my birthday. I'd gotten up waaayy earlier than I wanted to to catch a train up to Salt Lake to apply for a bunch of jobs, so I got to watch the sunrise over the mountains, and this came out:

The morning light is beautiful, almost white around the sun coming up over the mountains, then slowly fading into blue. The mountains themselves are clouded, as if seen through a frosted screen, revealing only shape, with no detail. On the ground, all the greens are bright, the yellow brought out in every shade. Everything around the greens is dulled by residual haze of the mountain mists. 

In the river running next to the train, the cotton-ball clouds are reflected and wrinkled as unseen webbed feet or tiny wings disturb the depths. 

(okay, it wasn't quite this beautiful, but you get the idea ;) )

A Leap of Faith

As we close in on 7 weeks until I leave for Panama/Italy, I'm finally starting to stress out a little (okay, a lot). It's actually sinking in that I'm going to be on the other side of the world for almost a year, away from my family, my friends, my language, my culture, my dance scene, and everything familiar. This must be how missionaries feel....except I get the comfort that I'll be able to talk to my family whenever I want and I'm free to actually have a life over there. Don't get me wrong, the excitement far outweighs the stress, but the stress is just a new part of the ball game for me now.

I'm trying to go with as few possessions as possible, so thinking about how to fit everything I could possibly need in a foreign country in 2 backpacks and a messenger bag is freaking me out a little. But I can't think of a more reasonable way to do it. I want to feel light, yet prepared, and I think the perfect balance will work itself out. This website has been super helpful in researching which kinds of backpacks are best, what to pack, and how to travel smart. Check this chick out!

In the midst of the stress/excitement, there is an immense calm. I have never wanted something so badly or worked this hard for anything up to now, and as the weeks go by I only feel more and more right about it. My housing is falling into place, the tickets are being purchased, and soon I'll have a passport. The more I trust that God has it in hand, the easier things get. He's so awesome that way :)

Anyway, I just wanted to take a minute to express how grateful I am and keep you all in the loop of how things are progressing! Thank you for all the love and support you've been sending my way, you have no idea how good it makes me feel!

Happy Friday!!

Also, just to make you a little jealous ;) this is where I'll be in 7 weeks:

And a couple weeks after that, I'll be here: 

Yup, be jealous. 

Summer Rain

It's been raining almost every day in the afternoon for the past week, and it has been glorious! It's the kind of driving, window-clattering rain that is accompanied by thunder that makes the walls shiver and lightning that illuminates the whole sky from horizon to horizon. Nature is truly a magnificent, untamed creature that is all at once exhilarating and terrifying and at times makes you grateful to be behind glass.

Right now it's raining incredibly hard, but everything is light. Against the gray sky, the light is almost white; it's such an interesting, beautiful contrast. As the rain dissipates, the ground will glisten with little puddles, the snails will make their tiny windy trails of goo across the sidewalks, and the air will be heavy and fresh. And maybe later today I'll get to play the game of watching the droplets chase each other across the windows of the car...admit it, it's your favorite rain game ;)

Happy 4th of July!

This year for the 4th of July, I didn't actually get to see any fireworks, but it was still one of the best 4th of July celebrations I've ever had. A group of about 10 of us went up to my friend Griffin's cabin up Provo Canyon, which his great-great grandfather built for his wife way back in the day. It is GORGEOUS! I want my husband to love me enough to build me a cabin someday....I guess we'll see ;)

We took a hike in the twilight hours up to this incredible waterfall:

It wasn't gushing or anything, but it was misty, green, and had such a pleasant sound. I don't know if you can see the couple in the top right hand corner (they're wearing blue and yellow) but I climbed barefoot up to that ledge, and then a little higher to get closer to the water and look back over the valley. It was seriously a view out of Lord of the Rings; it was simply breathtaking. I got covered in mud and it was glorious :) 

Here's the 3 girls after I climbed the falls (me trying not to get mud on Miriam)

And a shot of the front part of our little Fellowship trekking through the greenery:

We spent the rest of the evening eating tin foil dinners, laughing until we cried, watching Juno, snuggling, and having philosophical discussions about super powers, atomic physics, and mid-life crises, just to name a few. We stayed up a little past midnight, cleaned up and drove back down the mountain to our respective homes, spent and full of the beauties of the day :) 

Special thanks to Glen Hinkle for the photos! 

Where Did June Go??

Guys...I leave for Italy in 10 weeks!!! Also, did I mention I'm stopping by Panama for 12 days on my way? I'm so excited! I get to visit Chancy, who, if you remember, is teaching English down there for the foreseeable future. I figured it would be easier to visit on my way to Europe now rather than waiting a couple years and making a whole separate trip. Plus, from the beginning, he has been by far the most supportive and excited about my trip, so it seemed appropriate that he should be the one to see me off :)

The time is flying by, which is wonderful, and aided by the fact that work takes up most of my time. Someone asked me yesterday what I do when I'm not working and the first thing that came to mind was dancing, of course, but beyond that, there's not much else haha. If I'm not working, I'm either dancing, on a train, or sleeping. I have been sneaking in a little reading on my lunch breaks and when I'm riding the train to Provo on the weekends, and that has been a lovely luxury. I like being so busy, though, it really makes the time go quickly. I just finished Life of Pi yesterday, and if you haven't read it or at least seen the movie, I highly recommend both. The extent of human creativity never ceases to amaze me.

Speaking of dancing, my new favorite place to dance is at The Green Pig on Monday nights downtown. The music is live, made up of a hodge-podge of local musicians who bring their instruments and sign up for slots throughout the night, and people who have never even met play incredible, soulful blues as if they've been playing together for years. Here's a great photo from last night's shenanigans:

A Super Belated Birthday Post

I realized I never blogged about my birthday!! That whole month was such a whirlwind (hence, I only blogged once, for Mother's Day) that it didn't even occur to me. But let's fix that...a month late.

My actual birthday was not exactly orthodox, but it was definitely packed and productive. I woke up at 6:30am, which might I point out was the earliest I think I'd woken up all year, and caught the 7:50am train to Salt Lake, where my sister took me around to all the businesses around her house and I handed out resumes like free candy. I was so needing a full time job and wasn't finding one in Provo, so if I found one in Salt Lake, I would take it. (And as we know, those efforts were rewarded with an awesome job!) At 11 I caught a ride back to Provo to do my daily babysitting for the cutest little boy, Henry, who I'd been watching since January for a couple hours a day. Once Henry was gone, I ran to the store to get ingredients for dinner, came home and cooked with my roommate Amy to make a gorgeous birthday feast. We both showered and got ready for the evening and received our dinner guests: Aldo, his girlfriend and my good friend Kristin, and my brother Jared. We enjoyed a lovely omelette, mashed potatoes, green beans, with lemonade and Amy's masterpiece of a triple chocolate cheesecake! It was simply amazing. Then we all went dancing at our local blues/west coast venue and tore up the night.

The following Saturday was my actual party, which was at Keys on Main in Salt Lake, the dueling piano bar. If you haven't been there, you really should go! Those guys were so incredibly talented; the show was engaging from the time they started til well past midnight, it was amazing. Since it was my 21st birthday, it was my first time in a bar and it felt so good to finally be old enough to go out with all my older friends! Also, it being my birthday, the performers got to pull me up on stage and sing a very inappropriate, yet hilarious song to me, much to my friends' delight and my embarrassment. It was fun to sit on the pianos and show off my pretty dress though! My friend Glenn snapped these for me:

So there you have it, the birthday update! It was seriously one of the best birthdays I've ever had. It's so great to be officially an adult and on my way to big, exciting, adult things :)

I Live a Beautiful Life

I feel like everyone comes to this conclusion several times throughout life: My life is beautiful. I am so incredibly, unfathomably blessed. How can I complain about anything at all when there is such abundant, exquisite experience being had at every turn? That's how I feel today. Sure, there are struggles and minor set backs in my plans from day to day, from week to week, but in the grand scheme of things, everything is turning out exactly right and God is unrolling such a spectacular vista before me that I can't see the edges.

I am so thankful for my job, that it's interesting, pays well, is close to my house, and will serve me in a variety of ways for the rest of my life. I am thankful for my sweet sister who is letting me live with her for the remainder of the summer, at a more than fair price, and who is always willing to do whatever she can to support my social life. I am thankful for my bike, for the buses and trains, and for generous friends who help me get around to my various activities. I am thankful for the sunshine, for good books, and the freedom to enjoy them, to get lost in another world for a little while every day.

In essence, I'm just really happy to be alive and well with plans moving forward for Italy. Happy freaking Friday!!

For My Papa

(Sorry this is a few days late)

This is the only picture I could find with my dad in it, he's always the one behind the camera!

Of course, everyone says they have the best dad in the world, and mine is no exception! My dad married my beautiful mother (who we celebrated last month) and together they have raised 7 amazing children. Not only do we get our handsome genes from him, but we also were lucky enough to inherit his goofyness, his willingness to work hard, his fearless attitude toward big dreams, and his awesome people skills. From the time I was little, my dad has always been the biggest supporter of my dreams; he will do everything in his power to make sure that I am living my full potential and getting the best help available, no matter what it is. I always think of him when I give a presentation or go into a job interview, knowing his example is what gave me the ability to speak and present myself well. I value his guidance and his advice so much, and I know he loves me more than anything in his world. I am so lucky!! 

Happy belated Father's Day, Papa! You have my whole heart :)

--your special