marching on

will i ever get a handle on time? it feels like i'm always behind, always wondering how it has gone by so fast. how did it get to be the end of february? this semester is halfway over, and i still have so much to do.

truthfully, though, i don't think it'll ever get easier. i can't imagine being more on top of things when i eventually have a family: kids to shuttle off to various activities and meals to prepare and callings to fulfill and everything else that i can think of. so, i guess this is just practice for later in life, when time will be more precious than it is now, when my biggest worries won't be thesis and homework.

bring on march, i say!

if you were wondering...

my ice cream fast is still in effect (affect? i think it's the one with an 'e'), so if you wanted to get me a treat, belated birthday or otherwise, this is a really good option.

nothing bundt cakes, chocolate chocolate chip with regular petal frosting. i've been craving this for days, and i'm about to take a trip up to sandy for the sole purpose of buying one of these delectable cakes.

gotta satisfy my sweet tooth somehow.

days of my life

so, nothing super momentous happened on my birthday. i forgot about my birth moment while we were at dinner, i just stayed home and watched a movie after dinner and dessert, and no party or anything, which was kind of how i was feeling. it was a good day, though. it made me think (again, just two months after the new year) about the things i want to do better at 25.

birthday dinner at bombay house. always delicious and always a good time.

i've had a cold building for weeks now. it hasn't been too bad, just enough to keep my energy level a little bit lower than usual. but yesterday (the day after my birthday, luckily), the real cold hit. runny nose, stuffy nose (how can your nose be both runny AND stuffy? i don't get it.), slight fever, headache, sore throat, cough. so that's fun. i stocked up on day/nyquil and nasal spray (is nasal spray gross to other people? it's always been a staple in our house. also, am i feeling especially parenthetical today?) to get me through the weekend.

last night bergen, meredith, and i went to the cougarettes concert. i have loved the cougarettes for a long time, probably because they are so beautiful and i wish i had lovely dancing skills. my freshman year, i took a dance class, and one of the assignments was to go to a dance performance and write about it. so, naturally, i went to see the cougarettes perform, my first time seeing them outside of athletic events, where they are still awesome, but not quite as awesome. anyway, i was blown away. the dancing was so beautiful--there are pieces from that concert that i still remember. i've tried to go the concert every year since then, even if that means i have to go by myself because no one else can go with me. last night's concert was also amazing. so amazing, in fact, that i convinced mom to come down tomorrow night to see it with me again. lame? maybe. do i care? nosiree.

all in all, life is still pretty good. happy friday!

truly random spewings about movies and dvd players

for my birthday, meredith bought me (at my pleading suggestion), a new dvd player, since ours, a relic from my belmont days, has been out of commission since the summer.

so, last night, i set up the new machine for to watch penelope, which was basically why i wanted her to get the dvd player on my birthday--i really wanted to watch that movie.

i love movies, but i don't think i'm a movie snob. i like art films--sometimes i'll want to go to a movie like that, but i know meredith would be so bored, so i just go by myself--but i also like some of those cheesy, fun, moralizing movies that aren't about to win any awards. ramona and beezus is one of those; penelope is another. (there are obviously some movies that i really, really don't like--last year's horrid depp-burton collab dark shadows comes to mind. and, i'll get flak for this, a walk to remember. can't stand that movie.)

but anyway, we watched penelope and i had forgotten how great it is. at one point i said, i actually really love this movie.

well, this became more random than i thought it would be. i guess mostly i'm excited to have a machine to watch dvds on besides my computer, which we had to hook up with a special cable borrowed from tyler and then i couldn't work on my computer and it was kind of a hassle. and this is all pretty insignificant, really. but, that's it for now.

you know it's a good day when...

you walk to campus wearing (a skirt and no tights) + (a cardigan and no coat) + heels.

you eat leftover salmon for lunch.

your birthday is tomorrow.

your afternoon snack is frosted cheerios.

today is basically thursday because you only have one more day of class this week.

two years have flown by.

there's an extra episode of the bachelor on tonight.


it's a pretty good day.

although, i haven't had ice cream in a week and that is pretty much all i want as a birthday dessert. do i fudge for my birthday or stay strong? i'm in a quandary.

a grateful day

i don't know if it's the remnants of love day or what, but i'm feeling grateful today and thought i would put it out there.

i'm grateful for:
--my family--parents, sisters, brother
--sunshiny days in the winter when i can sit on the balcony and read
--the temple and smiling temple workers (and seeing former students in the confirmation room...only in provo)
--health insurance
--netflix
--relief society
--neighbors
--comfy couches
--hair bows
--zebra snuggie
--grilled cheese and tomato soup
--girl friends
--clean dishes and an empty sink
--the savior
--missionaries
--phone calls
--zumba
--warm coats
--new friends in dinner group (and dinner group itself :))
--the office
--blogging
--my talents
--sibling group texts
--all the things that make me laugh
--a car that works and has heat
--school/classes that are interesting
--loose curls
--good things to read
--the prophet
--good health
--the beautiful earth
--the internet
--provo, this wacky and awesome place to live

there are so many things i am grateful for. life is good!

on creation

i found this on a newly discovered blog the other day:

We each have to say to ourselves, What will I create of my life? My time? My future?

First, go where the Spirit directs. Be still and listen. Your Heavenly Father will guide you as you draw near to Him. Immerse yourself in the holy word of the prophets, both ancient and modern, and the Spirit will speak to you. Be patient, ask in faith, and you will receive guidance in your creative efforts.

Second, don’t be paralyzed from fear of making mistakes. Thrust your hands into the clay of your lives and begin. I love how Rebekah of old responded to Abraham’s servant who came in search of a wife for Isaac. Her answer was simple and direct, “I will go,” 3 she said.

Rebekah could have refused. She could have told the servant to wait until she had the proper send-off, a new wardrobe, until she lost a few pounds, or until the weather was more promising. She could have said, “What’s wrong with Isaac that he can’t find a wife in all of Canaan?” But she didn’t. She acted, and so should we.

The time for procrastination is over. Begin! Don’t be afraid. Do the best you can. Of course you will make mistakes. Everyone does. Learn from them and move forward.

Third, support others along the way. Every person on this earth is unique. We all have varied interests, abilities, and skills. We are each at different levels physically, spiritually, and emotionally.

Finally, rejoice. Creation isn’t drudgery. Creation flows from love. When we do what we love, we rejoice along the way.

If you are unhappy, if you are feeling weary, troubled, or disillusioned, may I ask you to try something? Instead of dwelling on your troubles, focus instead on creating something remarkable, something of eternal significance. Nurture a testimony, strengthen a relationship, write a family history, go to the temple, serve. 

Mary Ellen Smoot, "We Are Creators"

pretty great, right? create something remarkable today! 

late night text

last night at 12:49 am, i received this text message from a 213 number:

hey mark, here is the site i was telling you about last night http://nbcnewson6.com/work. i've already made $340 so far today. see you saturday.

 i get texts from solicitors every so often because i (stupidly) gave out my information in order to get a $500 h&m gift card. but this one was creepily personal, and don't text me at 1 am, please, nbcnewson6. thanks.

also, today is the first day of lent. last year, i gave up facebook. i've already done that this year--i was spending WAY too much time stalking--so i'm trying to figure out what i should cut out for the next six weeks. ice cream would be a good one...but could i do it?

and, in other news, the emails with special birthday offers are starting to roll in :) yippee!

a new outfit for my little blog

so, i just reformatted my blog. i guess i've been wanting to switch things up for a while, but i'm not super html-savvy, and it freaks me out a little. it's not exactly what i want. maybe i'll google how to fix some things in the next few days. and, since i changed the font of my blog description, i realized that the first set of quotation marks is backwards, but, of course, for some reason i can't change it. if it bugs you as much as it does me, i am truly sorry :)

i wanted a grey and white chevron background, but then i couldn't figure out how to get rid of the solid color background at the top by the blog header. that was annoying. so we'll see how long i keep it this simple.

meanwhile, i've just spent the last hour schvutzing around while i should have been doing homework. ah well, the night is still young.

(p.s. schvutzing is a word, right? i tried to look up some yiddish sources, but nothing definitive came up. maybe people spell it a different way? whatever. using it anyway.)

ward talent show

tonight was our ward talent show. i haven't been to one of those for a couple semesters, and i forgot how thoroughly entertaining they are. some highlights: female roommates engaged in post-date breakdown, performed in true shakespearean fashion; a couple amazing hip-hop routines (one jazz-based, one tap-based); and, my personal favorite, one of those awesome upside-down-chin-singing acts, sung to a javert-valjean selection from les miserables. those things are always hilarious--bravo, dan and david.

i wanted to write about the talent show when i thought that a girl in our ward was going to get engaged right in front of our eyes. her roommates told her to come up on stage as their "special guest," then they went offstage for a second. instead of the roommates, though, her boyfriend came out, holding a guitar and wearing a tuxedo. oh man, we were thinking, this girl's getting engaged! he said some cute things to her and sang a really cute song, and all along we're like, this is leading to a proposal, right? i mean, if he doesn't propose at the end of this, i am going to be really bummed. and i was getting really anxious for her and a little teary because the song was pretty cute (although i think i would be horribly embarrassed/awkward in the same situation). the song ended...and it looked like he wanted to do something else.

but then they just stood up and kissed in front of all of us and that was it.

and we were like, huh? what just happened there?

so before the disappointment, when i still thought something awesome was going to happen, i was thinking to myself, this will be a sweet story for the blog, especially during love week. after the disappointment, i guess i still wanted to share it, since it still is a demonstration of love. and i'm sure someone else i know will get engaged this week :)

because it is love week, after all.

thoughts on saturday

i think my feet have shrunk over the past year or so. is that normal? i mean, it's not really a problem, but it's kind of weird, right?

who would have ever thought that i would watch, much less love, pretty little liars and the vampire diaries? i was a firm non-believer and facebooker-scorner. but, although they are pretty dumb sometimes, they are both actually pretty awesome, too. i mean, how do we still, after three seasons of pll, not know who A is (i've only seen up to the end of season 3 because hulu plus and abc family apparently don't like each other all that much)? and why is the vampire thing still happening, and i'm into it? and boone from lost is actually really hilarious and great?

i have a bunch of posts half-written because i haven't wanted to finish them because i know it's going to take a while. so...yeah.

this semester, all of my classes and work overlap. the things i'm learning about in my classes come up in my research, which is cool. too bad i can't really make a project out of all that, though.

it's almost valentine's day, which is one of my favorite holidays. more on that later.

i've used my all-sports pass more this year than i have any other year. men's volleyball=so awesome. have i said before that volleyball players have the most attractive physiques? they are tall and muscly, but not too muscly. anyway, that's all i have to say about that.

in winter

winter can be hard. you are mostly confined to the great indoors, since it is typically frigid cold outside, and there really isn't much to do inside that doesn't involve a couch and netflix. and hey, i love my couch and i love my netflix. but it can get old pretty fast.

sometimes winter makes you sad. sometimes winter makes you feel lonely. but that will pass, just like the cold always gives way to the beautiful warmth of spring and summer.

for me, fall is harder than winter. the long lazy summer days are still fresh in my memory, it keeps getting darker earlier, everyone's front doors start to stay closed. fall makes me sad. fall makes me feel lonely.

winter is crisp mornings. winter is my birthday. winter is sososososo close to spring. and we're almost there, people!

but in the meantime, let's not completely skip winter.

purchased, finally

as of tonight, we are going to taylor swift in june.

and it will be amazing and epic.

thanks, nana!

watch these: lincoln and lars and the real girl

i've been watching a lot of good movies lately, both old movies that i've been meaning to see forever and new movies that i knew i would love. these two each fit one of those categories.

last weekend, emily asked me if i wanted to see lincoln, and my answer was a resounding YES. i am a sucker for historical drama, and i'm especially fascinated by abraham lincoln, since i have realized that i really don't know much about him as a person. the movie was awesome, and now i'm obsessed with daniel day-lewis (if you want to know more about him and his process (which you do), read this great article from TIME.) his portayal of lincoln was thought-provoking and eye-opening. being the President in a time of peace would be hard enough; how impossible would it be during wartime, not to mention civil-wartime? all of the acting was great, with bonus joseph gordon-levitt, and lee pace of pushing daisies fame! obviously, les mis is amazing and groundbreaking in terms of movie musicals, but i'm all about lincoln and daniel day-lewis come oscar time.

we are still without a dvd player, so our home-movie-watching capabilities are limited to netflix these days. last night we decided to watch lars and the real girl. the premise is pretty wacky--lars (ryan gosling) is very socially awkward and lonely, so he buys a "real doll" who becomes his girlfriend. the reactions from his family and the town are hilarious, but even more endearing was how lars treated "bianca," a wheelchair-bound brazilian missionary. who makes up a girlfriend in a wheelchair? ryan gosling is great; he's adorable and lovable and you just want him to be able to make something happen with someone real.

so, those are my two new recommendations. see them as you will!