In the words of Webster's Dictionary...

FLUSY~ Not the type of girl that I am, but the type of illness that I have.

Apparently like 8 million germs thought it'd be hilarious to throw a flu party in my body the last couple of days. Things that being sick makes me appreciate:

• Freshly brushed teeth. Mmm...tastes soo good!
• A clean shower---also offering the side bonus of non-matted hair.
• My parents who are actually wonderful-to-the-max and still take care of their full-grown daughter when she's feeling under the weather.
• After just sipping nothing but 7-up for days, I found myself blissfully happy with existence of other beverages like Orange juice, water, Gatorade...mylanta the options!!
• NOT being a couch potato. There is nothing more annoying then being stranded on a couch for long periods of time. Definitely not going to make a career out of it. I walked through Target today and it was lovely. It's so nice to just get out and walk around.
• Being able to talk like and sound like a female. I had this awkward creepster male voice that was hardly ideal. Nice to be able to speak these days without the fear of freakin' people out with just the sound of my voice.

It's been a great holiday break. There is much to post about but I just barely found this draft and thought I'd post it cause those darling tanzanians in the post below me taunt me whenever I log in to my blog. haha Hope you've had happy holidays. A presto!

oh my heart

You know how sometimes in movies the main characters meet eachother in random ways but it's a really fun story? Come to find out, I have one. I came to Utah State not really understanding why, but just that it felt right. I was living with strangers, only knew 4 people on the town--2 of whom are married, one graduated, and the other in another complex. One of the first weekends here I was all alone (roommates out-of-town and unmarried friend home for the weekend) I decided to randomly text the one person in the ward that I knew and hang out with someone. To make a very long story shorter the two guys that I went to hangout with took me to a bonfire where one flirted the whole night with a girl named Bambie (I need to remember not to judge her...but maybe her parents for that name choice) and there were girls dancing around skankily to make the ambiance all the better. They later topped the night off by urinating in front of me and excusing themselves by saying, "I would apologize for that but...your husband will do a lot worse in front of you." Hmm...thank you. I had no idea an evening with you was a nightmare marriage prep course. The DELIGHT of the evening was I spent literally hours talking to this girl who had just returned home from teaching english in AFRICA.

We spoke the whole evening talking about our travels and our passion for the places we've seen, people we've met, what it's made us think and feel, and things we've learned. It was soo nice. I've really wanted to go to Africa for a really long time and so I loved every second of picking her brain about the experience. I then made the mistake of becoming her friend on facebook where I longingly gander at her pictures of these beautiful children and my desire to photoshop myself into these pictures...or just actually go there and help them myself.
Oh my gosh I just find myself laughing and almost crying when I look at these pictures. The children are beautiful, I want to hold them, play with them and take them home. Well I hadn't seen this girl for a long time--since the bonfire--but we'd tried to invite eachother to the different parties that we've had but one of us is always out of town or something. We finally met up on Sunday and then today for lunch. We just sat and talked for 3 hours! The places we want to see, ways we want to help, etc. I adore talking to her because we understand eachother in way that is almost weird. We get eachothers desires and dreams when it feels that not a lot of people do. She gets my feeling of restlessness and my strange love and longing for places that seem to be far away.

The problem is that she's moving to New York in January to be a nanny for a YEAR. I'm going to miss her an awful lot. Our conversations have been so satisfying to me. They're like a breath of fresh air. She gets me and what's important to me. I've loved it. While I am really not happy about life in Logan without her, we've talked about big plans for when I graduate (next december--also when she'll be done making bank in New York). Now I just need to find a poor mans version of New York nannying so that I can get enough money to do the things that I awkwardly long for. I love this girl. And I owe knowing her to the marriage prep peeing boys. Who'da thunk?!

Large quantities of time in the land of books

I just finished my LAST week of classes for the year 2010. woot-to-the-woot!! Unfortunately, I now have a quality week of residing here:

THE LIBRARY

because finals week is next week. I have a paper to write, 2 extra credit papers and 3 finals next week. I just finished a riveting 5 page paper this morning on gender inequality in the workplace. So...if you were wondering how women get discriminated against in the workplace, just ask...because I can tell you all about it.


I am excited out-of-my-mind that at the end of next week I'll be able to go home, be with the family, sip hot chocolate by our pretty christmas tree (seriously, my last two christmas' involved trees that were 2 feet tall. I know Christmas is not about the trees and decor but...it's sure pretty to look at.), playing with dear friends, watching White Christmas with the family and remembering how much I love and support the existence (perhaps past tense?) of Danny Kaye. Ugh, I'm just so excited. I think my heart just grew 3 sizes just thinking about it. See you soon!!

Fantasyland

Wow. I discovered the wonder that is etsy.com today. My sister and sister-in-law make some dazzling things that they sell on that site but I have never really taken a gander at all etsy has to offer. Online dream shopping falls under the category of "A thing or two I'd spend money on if Oprah gave me an unlimited credit card."...besides summers in Africa actually NOT being selfish with money. ANYWHO, judge me if you must, but here are some treasures that did nothing but please.

I l-o-v-e 40s and 50s vintagey swimsuits. Yup, yup. Who knew that instead of just feeling hawaiian printy and spandexy, you can actually look darling while splashing around?

I have recently discovered a strong lack of hatred toward dresses. Obviously there would have to be some modestification with these but...that's the story of a mormon girls life right? Aannd worth the effort if you ask me. Mmm...

I love harem pants. Sometimes there's just something appealing about looking a little...not-so put together. Can't explain it, but I like 'em.

Aaaannnd this little piece of art just made me laugh because I wouldn't be surprised if I've actually said something like this.

Just some funnies...

I love the funny/awkward conversations and situations that go down around me. Some make me laugh, roll my eyes, want to respond, or just blog about it. :) Here are some random, funny and awkward moments from life here at USU:

• My social inequality reading assignment for tonight is entitled, "Buddies or slutties". Really?!
• A couple of weeks ago, a girl in my social inequality class raised her hand and said, "I think everything would be easier if we'd just all assimilate and speak english." Awkward silence fills the classroom and the teacher looks puzzled....the pain intensified when she continued saying, "Like this one time when I was in Italy, I KNEW that the waiter knew how to speak english but he wouldn't speak it to me."
• My date asking me where we should go to dinner suggested, "We could go to Olive Garden. I've heard that is pretty authentic italian food."
• We were watching a film about the unrealistic of stereotypes of women in one of my classes and how models can never be skinny enough, they photoshop photos to make women look prettier/skinnier, and how these harsh stereotypes cause a large percentage of girls to develop eating disorders etc. They gave a random example of the DVD cover of "Pretty Woman" and said that it's not Julia Roberts body on the cover--it's a models and Julias head was just photoshopped on. Anywho, the documentary was trying to send a message but when my roommate asked what she'd missed in class that day, a guy who sits next to us said, "Well I didn't know that wasn't Julia Roberts body. I just thought she was blessed with an amazing bod." Wow...point missed.

I'm sure there have been more but those are just some of the ones off the top of my head. What have we learned this week? 1. Culture and diversity are unacceptable. English should rule the world. 2. Olive Garden is the bees knees of italian food. 3. Your connections with fraternities could leave you labeled a buddy or slutty--one of the two. Aaanndd..4. I can't believe that's not Julia Roberts body. Oh dear me. Good times

Amelie

When I went to BYU-Idaho I was introduced to a delightful french film called Amelie. I LOVE it. I love the colors, the piano music, the language, seeing the sights of Paris, the many random and unexpected moments, Amelie's awkward haircut but you love her anyway, all of the characters quirks, Amelie's less stereotypical ways of helping people, yep, I just love this darling french, not low on quirkiness film. As a side note, I would highly recommend you enjoy it edited because apparently the non-edited version has sketchiness. Anywho, here's a wee clip:

Ladies Night!

This weekend my high school girlfriends all got together for some play time. So many times during the night I thought, "Well my dear, I've forgotten how much I love being with them." Lots and lots of laughing and plenty of catching up to do. Stephanie hosted (because she has a house, her husband was out of town, and she was usually the host back in high school too. She's good at it!). She made homemade pizza, I made an "italian salad", then we somehow ended up showing eachother youtube videos. haha After so much time without playing, somehow we needed to show eachother random finds. Some things never change.


Mindy and I got home from our missions this year, Stephanie has gotten hitched, and Lindsey AND Steph both have their bachelors degrees. I look back at high school and it seems like we all were going through the same things because we had the same schedule. It's funny how different our lives have become from eachother since then. Here's another vid from the slumber bash. ARE we easily amused? You betcha. But I wouldn't have it any other way.

Late night talking, story telling, and can I just re-emphasize the laughing? I don't hate a thing about spending long periods of time with these girls. SO much fun. To post a video that is not a complete joke, here is a song and group that Mindy introduced us all to. Fact: I do not feel bothered having to listen to or look at these lads. So here is an audio snack for you:

Rugby = hard to watch but hard to stop watching.

Paris introduced me to many things. One of which is a sport that just so happens to make football players look like pansies. Did I think I was going to be introduced to something like this slash be the slightest bit interested when boarding the plane to go to Paris? No, no I did not. But alas, the Rugby World Tournament in 2007 just happened to be going on in Paris when I lived there. They had some pretty sweet places where we could watch the matches outside. Exhibit A:

Well I no longer live in Paris and therefore cannot enjoy the existence of the sport of rugby in front of the Eiffel Tower but...apparently Americans are trying to make this sport work for them too so Kori and I went to check out a rugby match. The BYU-Idaho yeties (not joking. Can we just have a moment of silence for that?) vs. Utah State

They wear zero padding, pretty much any sort of physical contact is free game. You wanna pull at their jersey and make loud grunting sounds throughout the game? Go ahead. You're a rubgy player. Push 'em, grab their arms, twirl them to the ground, YEAH that kinda stuff happens in pretty much every play! I think I spend most of the game asking myself how I can watch it and also...what's going on...but I don't get up and leave. It's intriguing.

Kori and I at the game. I just got done running for the morning so if I look the opposite of dazzling...that's why.

I heart Kori because she's one of the few people that I don't have to live in reality with. haha I can go off fantacizing about life and she 1. gets it and 2. plays along. It's so satisfying. Topics of conversation during the game: Our need to find an internship in Paris--for obvious reasons and/or in New Zealand--so we can watch the All Blacks. Also, trying to figure out how we can get in with Oprah. I have so many ideas to run past her and...if she feels like letting me help her work in Africa...that wouldn't make me sad.

Let's just take a gander at this for a moment. Do I know what's happening? Sure don't. But I think that just goes to show what an entertaining sport it is. You don't even have to understand what's going on. You can't stop watching. They're hard core. The players of this sport do not mess around. They're always coming off the field super dirty, usually bleeding, and at some time somebody's bound to get a concussion. I think Tide and Band-aid sponsor this sport. They just couldn't do it without them. Anywho, that's all for today. I guess I am a fan of other sports then basketball and tennis. Who knew? Thanks paris.

I heart Modern Day Revelation

This evening Elder Russell M. Ballard spoke during a CES Fireside. Mmm...I love hearing apostles speak. They are so wise and have such amazing advice. He talked about something during his talk that I've been thinking a lot about lately. Self-evaluation. Here are some questions that he posed us:

• Are you happy with the direction your life and your faith in Jesus Christ are going?


• Do you read the scriptures everyday?
  
• Are you being kind and thoughtful?

There were others but I've just been feeling within the past week the need to really see how I'm doing and where I could improve and be more of a benefit and blessing to the people around me. Random thoughts among many:

• I want to be better at voicing the compliments that I think in my head. Since when does positive attention do anything but help people feel better? Does any girl NOT want to hear that her hair looks beautiful, how kind you think she is, be thanked for a comment she made that made you think or that she has a wonderful laugh? I'm just sayin...Aaannd I don't know why I aimed all these compliments at girls but...the point of my thought was voicing the kind, positive comments that could make someone's day better.


Random pic. Just some people whose existence I appreciate a great deal. Yup, need to tell them that.


• Does the way that I use my time accurately reflect my priorities? Because of this, I'm doing a week long trial run of banning myself from my waste-of-time activities and I want to START the day with an italian hymn and italian scriptures.



• Now that my body is no longer grumpy at me from the half marathon, I'm excited to get back into exercising and showing Heavenly Father that I enjoy taking care of myself and allowing it to do things that it's capable of.
  

Anyway, there are still many goals to set and much to do but I was just so happy to hear a talk about something that I have literally been pondering for like a week. I love answers to prayer and moments when I understand how I can progress to be better and happier.

Little memories of Paris

While I lived in Paris I was introduced to the wonder of Tecktonik dancing. I remember my friends and I were hanging out at the Eiffel tower and there was a group of guys by us that was listening to tecktonik music and dancing. We were with our friend Gabriel and he showed us some basic moves. It's fun because it looks random--it's like organized chaos. haha I don't know how to explain it. I just love it because it reminds me of Paris and therefore makes me all kinds of happy. Happy Tecktonik dancing!!

Oh what a night...

Our ward does a pretty a-okay job at planning activites to keep us busy and get us holding hands. Yup, the bishopric is especially enthusiastic about activities that encourage the latter. haha Welcome back to Utah Mal. There has been much talk and publicity about the ward barn dance. I was torn about how it was gonna go down and whether or not I was okay with the idea. Things like this generally go one of two ways: Hilarious good time or...impeccably awkward. The only image that came to mind when I thought of a barn dance was this:Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. Classic flick. Who DIDN'T want to get in on this barn dance? Though I still had my doubts. This is a ward activity, not a scene from a charming old school film. If we're being honest with ourselves, there's obviously high awkwardness potential.

Final verdict: actually pretty fun. Lots of stepping on toes and people who took it way too seriously and found mistakes entirely unacceptable. My feelings on the matter were if you mess up, just clap, do-si-do and make loud enthusiastic sounds.

Not all in our group had a hilarious good time at the barn dance so we went to Angie's to "Clean the Sink". There are people all around town that have bumper stickers that say, "I cleaned the sink at Angie's". I have spent much time not understanding the pride in going to the local diner and helping them with spring cleaning. My roommate Whitney and her sister Tinille decided it was time for my friend Kori and I to understand what it actually meant.

This is the sink at Angie's. It is full of ice cream and we were supposedly supposed to "clean" it... with our faces or something. I apparently can't do anything without adding another element to it so I suggested we do something to keep us going and encourage us to do it. So...er...we hummed the beat to "Eye of the Tiger" and went around the circle having to take a bite to the beat. Yeah, I dunno. Apparently we find junk like that entertaining.

Did I wake up that morning thinking, "Hey I should go to a barn dance and then eat large quantities of dairy"? Negative. But that was our Thursday night. Hilarious, random, awkward, and very...us.

This day actually came...and went...and I didn't pull anything awkward

Well well where to start? What does the average festive american do on Saturday October 30 early in the morning? Probably not smearing dirt colored make-up on their face, putting on a ripped shirt and getting ready to run 13.1 miles. Nope, seems like a silly idea right? Well, that's what I did. I was nervous. What do I eat for dinner the night before? What do I eat for breakfast? How many times should I go to the bathroom before the race to be SURE I won't have to go during? So many questions running through my head and ...really nothing to do but put my hair up in a side-bun and just run.

I'm pretty sure I loved everything about having this experience with everyone (or most people) dressed up as something ridiculous. Lots of where's waldos, bumble bees, skeletons, nurses, indians, and...whatever those girls are in front of me in this picture--something cutesy and tutu-like. Well, maybe I just feel a need to go against the grain, but...I was a hobo and therefore finishing looking sweaty and dishelved only made me feel more in character.

I roped my friend Kori into running with me. She was dressed as an indian but apparently shed the costume as soon as she crossed the finish line. So...I didn't realize what a less-intelligent life choice I made until I was re-telling the story to Kori. I decided at the beginning of the race to run with a pacer--someone who runs at the same pace the whole time. That way I'd know how fast I was going and how long it'd take me to finish the race. Well...the first mile of the race I went a bit faster and was way ahead of the pacer. I thought, "Hey, I know. I'll slow down and wait for the pacer to catch up to me." So I did. And they didn't catch up. I kept slowing down and in the end...kind turned back to run with them. haha Probably should have been a sign that I could have run faster but...I know that for next time?

Adam and Camarie were amazin'. They went to several parks to cheer me on, give me a sports drink, and I even got Adam to jog with me for a wee bit. It was so nice to see them so much during the race because I thought (because the race was coming out of the mountains and on fast roads) that I wouldn't see anybody til' the finish line. Thanks so much guys. You are the wind beneath my wings. haha I don't know where that came from but I'm not going to delete it.

I was super surprised that the whole fam came out to see me finish the race. It was so nice of them to drop their Saturday afternoon plans to see a sweaty hobo hobble across the finishline. I love them. They're pretty much Websters definition of wonderful. Well the race is over. It took me 2 hours and 26 minutes (including going back for the pacers as if they were soldiers left behind). Not the speediest one in the bunch but I didn't walk, pass out, pull any muscles, turf it and cross the finish line bleeding, or...anything else awkward. It was so satisfying to do something that I'd worked for for 3 months. Loved it.
Aaanndd they got me flowers. Flowers=gorgeous. Family= so thoughtful. Thanks so much for being so wonderful and supportive. It was really a great great day. But now it's Tuesday. I'm already feeling stir crazy and it's only been 3 days. So...now what? Well, as soon as I can walk like a normal human being, I'm gonna hit the gym and start training for something else.

Half-Mara..whaty?

So a couple of months ago I thought it'd be killer cool to train for a half marathon. Well according to the countdown that laughs at me from the Half-marathon website...it is currently only 1 day, 9 hours and 23 minutes away. Permission to grab the nearest brown paper sack and have myself a right nice panic attack?

Perhaps it would've been wise to start small like...I dunno...a lil' 5k run. Or if feeling more adventurous...even a 10 k. What is that? 6 miles? Yeah, why did I not just start there? You know, just to break myself into the race scene. Well lets focus on the positive:

• When I finish the race I'll be able to say that I've done something that I've never done before. that's pretty cool right?


• It's a Halloween half-marathon so I get to run 13 miles in costume...so...seizing the day will be exactly what I'll be doing. And besides, perhaps my fellow racers will look a lot less intimidating to me if they're dressed like this:

• Free t-shirt. Who doesn't need another PJ shirt?
  
• I'll probably feel like this when I'm done...

Or maybe she's just starting the race...she doesn't look sweaty or in pain.

However because I'm awesome at coming up with worst-possible situations. Let me tell you one or two of my fears.

• I will finish very berry last.


• I will pull something incredibly awkward...like my groin. haha Okay so I don't think you can pull that...but that would be brutality right?


• Tripping and taking out fellow runners...kinda like the running version of Tour de France mishaps.

Well I really am excited. Nervous out-of-my-mind, but excited. Should be a solid good time. And as long as I don't need to walk or come in last place then I will consider it a romping success.