my (dream) christmas list

i don't really expect to get any of these, at least not from someone else, but these are the things i've been drooling over.


amazing rainbow glitter kate spade watch: $225

 i haven't even worn a watch in years, but i would go back for this kate spade masterpiece. i almost started a kickstarter campaign a few weeks ago to see if i could get my friends and family to donate to the cause of me getting this watch that embodies every thing i love about life. that one little sentence up there--"this item is currently not available"--breaks my little glitter-loving heart. find me one of these sold-out beauties and you'll have it forever.

one direction "our moment" perfume

i became a directioner this year, somehow. it just came on all of a sudden. anyway, i smelled their new perfume at macy's a month or so ago, and i'm pretty much obsessed with it. it reminds me of some scent i wore in my youth. so yeah, i really want it. i'll probably end up buying it for myself at some point. plus, the topper is a crown so...yeah, i'll be getting it.

TIME magazine subscription

i've been meaning to subscribe to TIME for over a year now--it's 30 bucks for one issue every week!?!--and it just hasn't happened. every time i remember that i want to do it, i think, oh, i'll start it next month. or, oh, i'll start it at the new year. so i just haven't ever actually done it. it's one of those things where i'll keep a window open on the subscription page for a few weeks and then eventually come to the realization that i'm not going to do it anytime soon and just close out the window. if somebody else got me the subscription, i wouldn't have to put myself through that mental anguish anymore. do it for my mental anguish, people!

one of these from society6:

can you sense a theme in what i like here? sheesh.

and...that's all i can think of right now. thanks in advance for your thoughtful gifts!

things that are making me happy right now

in the spirit of choosing happy:

slowly putting together my room. it's kind of amazing, actually, how closely it's coming to what i envisioned. and it's almost done, i promise.

having catered lunches at work. it's pretty great, you guys.

getting to know people around these parts.

new perfume. it's nice to have a new scent once in a while.

frozen. loved it!

do-it-yourself and crafting projects. this is related to getting my room all gussied up, but for other reasons, too. and it's really fun.

family time, which includes going home mid-week for dinner and just dance. i'm pretty lucky.

roommates who are involved and want me to be involved, too.

sisters.

two days off this week :)

finishing the old testament!!!

extra time thinking about the savior, his birth, life, death, and rebirth.

i really can't complain ;)

i'm lame.

i know, i know. you're all thinking it. you're all whispering it behind closed doors: wasn't courtney going to post everyday in december? well, things have been really busy, i'll have you know. but busy is good. remember how a few months ago my life basically had no purpose and i had nothing to wake up for ever and all i did all day was read and watch netflix? oh, how the times have changed!!

i know i'm repeating myself here, but i have a million posts i've been thinking about, but i always feel like i need to catch up on the here and now first, you know? like i should have written my christmas playlist post weeks ago, like back when i started listening to christmas music after halloween. but i didn't. listen people, i'm not a professional blogger, if you didn't already know. i've got a life to live. your expectations are too high! :)

but really, it's like every day my fingers itch to write and it just doesn't happen. and i know not many people are waiting with bated breath to see what i'm going to say about some random subject, but this dumb blogging thing does mean something to me, i guess. wow, this turned weirdly existential all of a sudden.

i guess i just wanted to check in with my blog and let it (and whoever's out there. probably only dad.) know that i still love it and will be better about  not neglecting it in weeks to come. i mean, it's almost resolution time!

okay, i'm back

so...i guess i took a three-day hiatus from that whole post-everyday thing, yeah? it has been a crazy crazy week! i feel like i've been running around pretty much non-stop. news from this week so far:

i went to my new ward on sunday and it was good. this was me:

except without any daddy warbucks-type character. though that would have been kind of cool.

my bed came on monday, which meant that mom came early to help me put up my pictures and such. this was me:

i actually really do love it though. i'll have to have a room tour post when it all gets done. i was excited to learn last week that the unparalleled tyler walke has volunteered his services in building me furniture for my new room. ladies, revisit this as soon as possible, please. how is this guy still single?

last night, i went to the foxhill ward christmas party at my old stomping grounds, the joseph smith memorial building. it has been seven years since that first summer i worked as a banquet server. crazy! how did i get to be so old?? anyway, the food was lovely, the program was lovely (if i do say so myself, since i had a role...)--it was a good time. it really has been fun to be at home and back in the home ward, even if i am still in that "i'm not a girl, not yet a woman" phase (so many multi-word/phrasal adjectives happening today!)

most exciting news of today: i got my salt lake county library card. it feels good to be a library-goer again. i feel like i've been doing barely any reading these days, and i was starting to question my own identity. who am i if i'm not reading. it's been something of an existential crisis. but now that's all solved, because i once again have a stack of books waiting for me, most of which i probably won't read but that's just that.

i have about a million posts planned that i just haven't gotten to yet. aren't you all just dying to read about my christmas list and my thoughts about one direction? well, be patient, my dears--there are still twenty more days in the month.

moving out/moving in

everything has been pretty close to the surface over the past couple days. i'm not entirely sure why--every so often i have a couple days where i just want to cry, and pretty much anything will make me cry. combine that with moving to a new place on my own and "leaving the nest" (again), and i've been having a rough go of it.

the good thing, though, is that i know it's going to be okay. even if i don't make a million friends right off the bat or become the social butterfly of the ward or even have everything figured out, things are going to be okay. remember how i have to tell myself that multiple times a day, still?

but overall, i feel pretty good. my space is coming together, and i love all of it. i'm sleeping on an air mattress for the time being (a very comfy air mattress, though) and there are still boxes surrounding me. but it's great. it's going to be great.

special thanks to my family, for so many things, as always: for being here to help me move, for being there to console me, for being the best.

so it's on to new adventures. this sounds so melodramatic, which it probably is. but it feels like a big deal to me right now. so bear with me. i'm sure it will be a fun adventure :)

and this for good measure

gotta love that anne shirley :)

it's been a tough day

things i like about winter*

*since winter is sometimes such a hard season to like

freshly fallen snow that glitters in the sunlight

christmas everything

family time

fires in the fireplace

hot chocolate

snuggling under warm blankets

winter church outfits that include hosiery

thinking about new beginnings/resolutions

my birthday is coming up

not as much sweating going on

crisp mornings (though i do prefer temperatures above 10 degrees...)

sweaters & socks

holiday meals

spending more time with the ones you love because staying in the house together is infinitely more appealing than the alternative.

i think winter sometimes gets a bad rep, and i'm at fault as much as anyone else. winter can be warm if i want it to be :)

thoughts on thursday

too many things swirling around in this brain of mine today to try to pare it down into one coherent post, so you get my disconnected thoughts today.

this week, i found the match to two different pairs of earrings. in both cases, i was overjoyed. there is almost nothing worse than losing just one earring--worse, even, than losing one sock--nobody cares, really, whether your socks match or not. and in some cases you can just buy another pair of the same socks and no one's the wiser. it's pretty weird, unless you're some alt-rebel-hipster type, to wear two different earrings. needless to say, i am glad my earrings are all back together.

driving in the snow=the worst. i'm glad i came out of the mess on tuesday with my body and my car in one piece. and my sanity, after it took me hours to get home.

i missed my post last night because i began the packing process, and because we made an exciting trip to hobby lobby to gather materials for my room. it's weird--for all of my college life i've had a lot of stuff to move around with me. tons of books, school notebooks that i save because i might need some random piece of paper or information again, that odd assortment of furniture that i collected as each new bedroom or apartment lacked some essential item of storage or decor. now, i'm obviously getting some different stuff, since this will be my own room and it doesn't come with any furniture, but i'm also trying to pare everything way, way down because 1) this is a time of reinvention, you know? and 2) i don't want to keep lugging it all around.

two movies i watch last night while packing and throwing junk away: monsters university and the way, way back. both were great. i've been waiting to see the way, way back for months and was never in the right place at the right time--it didn't disappoint, even though steve carell (spoiler alert) was kind of the villain. and you can never go wrong with pixar :)

i think i'm going to get this comforter set. i am insanely excited about it. things are happening!

tonight is my late night at work, so i'll probably get in another amazing, life-changing post today. in the meantime, more moving-day preparations!! (for some reason, i'm feeling an "insert-evil-laugh-here" kind of comment. insert as you wish.)

a new bedroom

today i bought a bed. buying a bed is not exactly what you'd think it would be. all the parts come separately. so what i really bought today was a mattress and a box spring, with a frame thrown in for good measure. what i'm left without, though, are the cute parts of the bed: a headboard, comforter, and pillows. i feel like i need to have a more sophisticated bed now, whatever that means. i guess i really want a sophisticated room, though, one that feels like me. a brand new bedroom is one chance to reinvent yourself, to create a sanctuary.

so now i'm thinking about what i can do to make my room awesome without breaking the bank. diy headboard? simple bedding with cheery accent pillows? vintage-y dresser? it all seems a little out of reach, especially when compared to the lofty goals and ideals of the pinterest monster:

need a cute antique dresser? do it yourself, it's easy! no practice or training required! just pick up some sandpaper, spray paint, and some of those one-of-a-kind drawer knobs from anthropologie and you're done! but that's not all: now you're an expert, too! 

somehow i think there's more to it :) we'll see how it all turns out. i have visions of collecting cool pieces over time, but the thing is, i'm going to need that furniture sooner rather than later. and i also don't have tons of time to go hunting all over creation for a dresser, for pete's sake. anybody know of any upcoming estate or garage sales that could be a possible gold mine for attractive and perhaps vintage yet affordable bedroom furniture? if so, let me know. in the meantime, i'll be adding to my new room board and trying my hand at furniture restoration and headboard assembly.

starting the season: the messiah sing-in

who am i kidding, though: the season actually started weeks ago. technicalities.

when i was a teenager, our stake in california performed selections from handel's messiah a couple christmases in a row. it was so fun learning the crazy choruses and then singing as a congregation about the birth and life of the savior. the messiah is an amazing piece of music, and i love hearing it performed.

a lot of communities host messiah sing-ins, where an orchestra or symphony plays and the audience sings the choruses, with performances by featured soloists. for years (seriously, years) i have been looking into the sing-in at abravanel hall, but i either miss it by a few days or we have some set-in-stone prior engagement that night. this year, even though the performance fell on the day we got home from an exhausting trip to disneyland, i convinced my mom and sister to come with me.

it was the perfect way to start the month. the music was beautiful, the setting was wonderful, the company was splendid. some of the choruses were new to us, but that was just motivation to learn them better for next year. in a nutshell, i will totally go again.

this picture taken illegally during the performance...

25 days of christmas

I'm going to try to do this thing where I blog more often than has been the norm for me over the past few months. I'm hoping it will be like a one-post-a-day thing, since presumably interesting things are happening in december :) I mean, I've already been to the symphony this month! So look to hear more from me in the coming days. happy december!