Habitually Roaming

You Probably Didn't Know This About Me

2011-05-29T18:20:00.000-07:00

1. I once wrote a paper on saving penguins in Antarctica. And then I made a shirt with a baby penguin on it urging others to care. I wore it for a week, and then promptly gave up.

2. I broke my foot twice, both by jumping stupid distances. You'd think I'd learn

3. I just had a dream that I was Kate Middleton's best friend. It was pretty awesome.

4. Biggest pet peeve? Sharing air with people. When people breathe/blow on my face its so gross!

5. I want to be a cake decorator but in general I don't like to eat cake. It's a pretty boring dessert most of the time.

6. I've been to 8 countries. But never Canada or Germany.

The end.

Home

2011-03-07T17:48:00.000-08:00

When I first graduated high school I was so I excited to move out for the very first time. I had all the freedom in the world but I was still a short 8 minute drive away from my parents house. My home. I moved back for about 6 months but then have been living away for about a year and a half. Even though I've lived in 3 other places besides my parents house I've never truly felt like I was ever 'coming home' except at my parents house. It was the house that I spent most of my time growing up in. It was my shelter. I grew up there. I practiced my dance in the kitchen and family room on the tile for years critiquing myself in the reflection of the T.V. I made my first attempts at baking and cooking there. I spent hours, in the living room, trying to hang out with my sisters friends that I thought were so cool, who would eventually become my friends as well, and some such a big part of my life. I broke up with boyfriends on the front porch, cried after teenage arguments with my parents in the bathroom, played with the family dogs and best friends in the back yard, spent hours studying for tests, writing papers and applying for colleges in the library. I watched tons of movies and episodes of the OC while procrastinating homework with my cousin Jacob who became a brother to me. I became a pre teen, teenager and woman behind those walls. I discovered my own self worth, created my own unique personality, formed my ideas about politics and more surrounded by the walls of that house. I love that house. And my parents over a year ago put it up for sale. At first it didn't bother me too much because I was off living my life and trying to make new places my home. But a couple months ago we moved my parents into their new house and when I pass their old house every day it has started to make me sad. It was my home. I know that I will eventually create a house of my own, hopefully surrounded by my own family. I will grown into it and make new memories but until then, I will miss not being able to feel like I am going home.

Molly Hunter Photography

2010-06-24T18:03:00.000-07:00

Molly Hunter is a local photographer in Provo UT currently at BYU studying photography. I think she is incredibly amazing and so does everyone I talk to! Here are some of my favorite pics of hers. Check her out her blog or facebook.

My Never Going to Happen Birthday List

2010-06-21T12:34:00.000-07:00

PEACE

WELSH GORGI
href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_o_nQqlBRwdA/TB_CbqHAk_I/AAAAAAAAAts/Mpr-WJ1KMIs/s1600/teddy_welsh_corgi_01_w450.jpg">
BAKERY

alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5485316651576497138" />

iPHONE 4

alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5485316089378363250" />

iPAD

alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5485316081741684210" />

GETTING RID OF GLEN BECK

alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5485316069111915618" />

APPLE STOCK

Crazy Week!

2010-06-13T23:16:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! Sorry I haven't blogged in a billion years. I've been kinda crazy busy as an example here was my week. keep in mind my traveling to and from places was mostly on my brand new bike.

On monday I babysat my sisters 2 kids most of the day while my mother was in St Louis. It was crazy and started at Cabella's and ended with my 10 year old nephew finding a turtle on the side of the road. After I helped Warren tear up the rest of the floor in his parents bathroom (technically his brother Austen's bathroom but It is in his parents house).

On Tuesday I worked. It was a hard and late day but I got to work with Morgan who is an amazing fun baker:) Then helped with the bathroom.

Wednesday I baby sat again. Then I went shopping for shoes for a reception and a birthday present. Went out for sushi with my brother and father and helped with the bathroom some more.

Thursday I worked. It wasn't fun. Then I had a bridal shower at night. Somehow I was able to squeeze in a 30 minute nap somewhere in there. That is probably what saved me. Then I worked on the bathroom.

Friday: Work. Then bachelorette party and then a friends birthday party.

Saturday: I was a bridesmaid up in SLC all day then drove home to get to barnes and noble and borders with warren and then over to one of my great friends Griffin Taylor who just got back from his mission.

Sunday: I went to a homecoming talk, made a cake (That I shared with Marie, Nate, Warren and the rest of the Daynes and little Burts) and read my book.

Tomorrow I plan on reading and sleeping and recovering from this crazy week. Take 1/2 a day for yourself too. You have no idea how good it feels!

Over and out

No More Sobes in Plastic Sobe Bottles

2010-04-01T19:08:00.000-07:00

Recently Sobes have been changed to be in plastic sobe bottles and I want it back. I made a facebook group and you should check it out!

No more plastic Sobe bottles!

If you could support my silly efforts it would be awesome! Thanks!

Dear Apple

2010-03-26T00:51:00.000-07:00

Dear Apple,

You are amazing. I have been in love with your computers, phones, stores, customer service, apps, iTunes, etc for a very long time. I will always be extremely committed to you. But I need to tell you this, you have really been confusing me lately. The iPad is SO cool but I feel as though it doesn't fulfill any of my needs or wants. You say it's supposed to fill in the gaps between the two things you have already given me (macbook and iPhone) but I don't feel that it is so much better that I need it. So dear Apple, don't be mad that I wont be purchasing a iPad from you, but understand that I know that you are great and I'm encouraging you to do better, and maybe next time throw in Flash :)

forever yours,

Linds

Cake! Need I say more?

2010-03-06T18:46:00.001-08:00

So I know I already posted about this pic on my other blog, Cake Caught Your Tongue, but I was just so proud of it I wanted to share it again. So I hope you enjoy it!

Did you know?

2010-03-03T20:32:00.000-08:00

There is a cool app on my iPhone called crazy facts. It's pretty awesome. So....

Did you know...

Every year the sun loses 360 million tons
In China the bride wears red
The Cashew nut is a member of the poison ivy family
M&M's were developed for soldiers to eat chocolate w/o getting their hands sticky
The only wild camels in the world are in Australia
Half the world's population has seen a James Bond movie
Numbering houses in London streets only began in 1764
only 4 percent of babies are born on their due date
A snail's reproductive organs are in it's head

...Crazy huh?

My New Blog!!!

2010-01-22T02:51:00.000-08:00

I am SO excited! This year I have decided to create a food blog. I really wanted some place to share all of my fun experiences, great recipes, pictures and more. What better way to do it then on a blog! So I toke my blog Habitually Beautiful and turned it into...

Cake Caught Your Tongue

I really hope that you all go and check it out! There is going to be some really great stuff on there and I plan on updating and adding pics as much as possible! Thanks so much! I love you all :)

All I Want for Christmas...

2009-12-11T00:23:00.001-08:00

Every year for Christmas I make 2 lists. One of material items such as clothes, books, etc. and the other is of non tangible things. Here is just a little list of some of the more important and non tangible things that I want for christmas this year. Enjoy:)

1. For Political Extremists to calm down a little (yes on both sides).

2. More people (including myself) to become less close minded and judgmental of those who are different.

3. For everyone in the world (who can) to step outside and look up at the snow falling and realize that not only is it a pain it is beautiful too.

4. A closer relationship with those that I love.

5. For people close to me who are struggling to talk with me and let me help.

6. To get back the way everything glittered and felt warm on Christmas when I was younger.

7. (I know everyone says this but it honestly comes deep from my heart and is so important to me) Peace.

What are somethings on your list? Merry Christmas and I love you all:)

Winter Wonderland

2009-11-18T00:21:00.001-08:00

Fist of all I wanted to apologize for being such a crap blogger lately. I have not been posting recently and commenting on other people’s blogs. I am oh so sorry and hopefully I can be forgiven now that I have decided to become fully committed to dear relationship with the internet and blogging world (again).

Now, most people, as the weather gets colder and the nights darker become grumpy and upset about the winter. I have a tendency to be cold, and tend to bug the ears of those around me for being this way. For which, I apologize and plan to not do as much this year. But, besides the cold that I, like everyone else, have to suffer through, LOVE winter. It has always been so nostalgic and beautiful to me. I love the snow falling down onto my face (however polluted it may be). I love bundling up in large coats, jackets, hats, scarves and all sorts of other winter clothes that no mater how cute they are make you look silly with the whole extra ten pounds of fabric around you protecting one from the cold. But most of all, I love the warm things that bring people together and closer during this cold season. Food out the oven, hot chocolate, fires in the fire place, huge blankets that can cover 10 people, all of these are things that make us warmer along with bring us closer. It’s so easy in the summer to be headed off in one direction or another to go do an assortment of outside games, activities and just about anything. In the winter, it’s a lot harder and there is less to do and it’s more frustrating to go out into the snow and cold so people stay close. I always loved when my father would build a fire and we would both sit and read our books in front of it. After a while, my dogs would come cuddle with me and my mother and sister would make there way down stairs and circle around the fire with us. We would sit like moths staring and enjoying the warmth of the fire (of course not actually diving in and dying as I assume moths would do) until the silence was broken, normally by a dog eating someone’s cookies or drooling on a book. We would sit talking and laughing and enjoying warmth. As Mary Hopkins would say “those were the days my friend. We’d thought they’d never end”. But unfortunately the eventually did end. As we became busier etc moments like that don’t happen often. But this year I can try to create another moment like that. So what about you? How do you feel about winter and is there any great moment that sticks out in your mind?

Some of My Top Songs of 2009 (so far:)

2009-10-30T02:36:00.000-07:00

Here's the list! Want to know the best thing though?! Click on each one and it will take you to the youtube video. I figured I'd make it easy if you wanted to check them out because you should! Yet again it's really in no order.

1. Love, Save the Empty- Erin McCarly
2. Days Go On-Greg Laswell
3. Everytime-Lincholn Hawk
4. Somebody More Like You-Nickel Creek
5. She Doesn’t Get it- The Format
6. Your Call-Secondhand Serenade
7. Let it Rock- Kevin Rudolf ft Lil Wayne
8. One Last Song- Josiah Leming
9. Down-Jason Walker
10. Stand in the Rain- Superchic(k)

Crying Men

2009-10-27T00:03:00.000-07:00

"The photographer (Taylor Wood) asked the actors to produce real tears for a series of images which she hopes capture the vulnerable sides of the movie stars. She is particularly proud of pictures of the Cold Mountain hunk weeping in a fetal position and a portrait of Reservoir Dogs star Michael Madsen betraying his hard-m an image by crying hysterically.

Taylor-Wood explains, “Some of the men cried before I even finished loading the camera, but others found it really difficult. People can decide for themselves which they think are the authentic tears and which they think are fake. It’s about the idea of taking these big, masculine men and showing a different side"

Ben Stiller

Woody Harrelson
Steve Buscemi

Sean Penn

Sam Shepard

Ryan Gosling

Tim Roth

Robin Williams (one of my fav)

Michael Pitt

Paul Newman
Michael Madsen

Laurence Fishburne

Kris Kristofferson

Judd Law

John Leguizamo

Hayden Christiansen

Gabriel Byrne

Forest Whitaker

Ed Harris

Robert Downey Jr.

Dustin Hoffman
Daniel Craig
Willem Dafoe

Benicio del Toro

My Photo Shoot

2009-10-17T03:53:00.000-07:00

Hey! I'm sorry I haven't updated my blog for a while! I've been pretty busy job hunting lately. Yesterday/today Warren came over with his new Cannon 50D camera to take some pics of me for possible model and spokesperson jobs that I wanted to apply for. I just loved them SO much I wanted to post some of my favs on here.

What Obama Said About Winning the Nobel Peace Prize

2009-10-09T22:38:00.000-07:00

This morning, Michelle and I awoke to some surprising and humbling news. At 6 a.m., we received word that I'd been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009.

To be honest, I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many of the transformative figures who've been honored by this prize -- men and women who've inspired me and inspired the entire world through their courageous pursuit of peace.

But I also know that throughout history the Nobel Peace Prize has not just been used to honor specific achievement; it's also been used as a means to give momentum to a set of causes.

That is why I've said that I will accept this award as a call to action, a call for all nations and all peoples to confront the common challenges of the 21st century. These challenges won't all be met during my presidency, or even my lifetime. But I know these challenges can be met so long as it's recognized that they will not be met by one person or one nation alone.

This award -- and the call to action that comes with it -- does not belong simply to me or my administration; it belongs to all people around the world who have fought for justice and for peace. And most of all, it belongs to you, the men and women of America, who have dared to hope and have worked so hard to make our world a little better.

So today we humbly recommit to the important work that we've begun together. I'm grateful that you've stood with me thus far, and I'm honored to continue our vital work in the years to come.

Thank you,

President Barack Obama

Clip From My Life

2009-09-25T16:09:00.000-07:00

Warren: I always mess up those words; sarcophagus and esophagus.

Lindsay (me):What does that mean again?

Warren: Esophagus? You know, it’s the gullet. The entrance for eating that...

Lindsay: No sarcophagus. I can’t remember.

Warren: Serious? It’s like a tomb or whatever where people are buried when they die and...

Lindsay: Oh yeah! I remember now. I just forgot because I’m not used to hearing it aloud, because I read it all the time.

Warren: (Laughs at me for at least 5 min and finally regain voice between fits of laughter) What kind of books to you read that sarcophagus is mentioned frequently?

I am still wondering that to this day and also why that was my response.

Mix Flour, Sugar & World Wide Web

2009-09-23T04:13:00.000-07:00

Due to my extreme love of food I find myself frequently browsing the internet and finding amazing food websites. Here are just a few from my very often visited list. Just click on the title and you're there! Enjoy:)

1. Foodgawker.com
2. Cooksillustrated.com
3. Lottieanddoof.com

Randomly Delightful

2009-09-18T03:01:00.001-07:00

Tonight wasn't exactly one of my favorite nights in the world but it had it's moments.

It started out helping Warren make a Korean dish called 김치보끔밥
(Korean provided by Warren who says there is no English way to spell it) . I have never made Korean food before so this was an awesome experience.
We headed over to Grandview Elementary to play Ultimate Frisbee. Only 3 other people showed up besides me and Warren but I was so excited to see my friend Heather. She's an amazing person and it was just great to see her.
We started throwing the frisbee around and the color of the sky made everything look like it had a tangerine pink glow to it. It was beautiful and felt amazing mixed with the soft sprinkling rain.
Warren and I met up with a bunch of friends (Rich, Owen, Aaron, Presten, Gib, Bonny, & more) to play poker. We all had a really fun time and enjoyed ourselves.
Presten gave me 3 bars of fancy chocolate! It's so good and made from coco beans found around the world.
Spent the rest of the night helping Warren clean silver (from 12-3:30). It can be a very great way to get some instant gratification. Well, except for the one mishap and the really hard stuff to get off.
It's such a great feeling to come home to a whole basement to myself.

This was such a normal night but I just thought I might share. I feel so blessed to have such simple pleasant nights all the time and be able to always enjoy myself.

You are...

2009-09-01T02:14:00.000-07:00

Beautiful.

I just wanted to remind you of that.

<3

Happy Birthday Warren Daynes and Marie Daynes Burt!

2009-08-23T01:59:00.000-07:00

Earlier this week was Marie’s birthday and today is Warren’s birthday. They are both just great and amazing people that I just wanted to dedicate a blog post to them. Here are just a few facts about the both of them...

1.Warren and Marie are amazing siblings. They are super close and love each other a lot. They love to hang out and talk to each other all of the time and keep in close contact. It really is incredible to see how close they are and inspires me to become closer to my family members.

2.Warren and Marie are both very passionate about things. Warren is really passionate about everything he loves and he loves sharing it with people around him. Because of him I have been to Zion, Yellowstone, Escalate and more. I have a orange tree that I am attempting to bonsai and more. Marie loves money saving and using coupons along with gardening and more. Whenever she goes to the store she normally always saves more money then she spends. This is so amazing to me!

3. Warren and Marie both have iPhones. It’s so great to see the both of them with them and checking out different things. Marie is always reading classic books and Warren is always listening to music, checking out stocks or facebook. It also makes for a great pic to see them on them sitting next to each other.

4. Warren is an awesome driver. Some people may thing that Warren is a crazy careless and super fast driver but this is pretty much not true. The reason that Warren can drive so fast is that he is the most aware person on the road. He always has complete control over the car and always knows exactly where everyone on the road is. Plus, he knows where every cop hangs out.

5.Marie is an amazing cook. She makes the most amazing banana bread, sour dough bread and many other things. She’s very talented and creative. She also made an amazing and fancy dinner for a New Years/Christmas dinner party. It was wonderful from appetizers to dessert!

6.Warren is really funny. He ALWAYS makes me laugh. I can be crying, yelling at him, in massive amounts of pain or he could just be making fun of me, but he always gets me to crack up. He’s a really funny person and full of witty remarks.

7.Marie is the most loving person in the world. If you know Marie (which I am assuming you do if you are reading this post) then you know how much she loves everyone. She is so sweet and kind to everyone and she always let you know that she loves you and that she is there for you.

8.Warren is a great person to talk to. I am a very emotional person and sometimes when I am dealing with things I get too caught up in it and Warren is the perfect person to get me to cool down and help me realize what is really going on. He is a very rational and logical person.

9.Marie is an amazing mother. If you have met Marie’s two kids then you know that they have such a good mother. Marie loves her kids so much. She is also a very good teacher to them. They are both very sweet, kind and great at sharing (most of the time:). This is very impressive to me. It’s so easy to see her love and kindness towards them.

10.Warren is a great friend to everyone. When Warren gets a friend he keeps them. He is constantly doing nice things for all of his friends. He loves to leave candy and notes on their doors, buys new plants for friends when theirs dies, tapes huge funny pictures on garage doors and much more. Anyone who wouldn’t want Warren as a friend is a fool.

I could continue with this list forever. I love Warren and Marie, and I hope they know that, and have had (and are having) the most amazing birthday in the world. Thank you so much for being my friend! You guys are really great! Any comments on their awesomeness are totally welcome. Thanks for reading.

In Memory of Cathleen Washburn

2009-08-12T15:27:00.000-07:00

~Cathleen Washburn~
(1969-2009)

When I was 2 years old my brother and I were adopted into my current family. My birthmother and father were very young and not able to take care of us. They let us go and gave us away to a family that would be able to support and care for us. My birth mother’s name was Cathleen Washburn Thurston. She had named me Jade Ariel Thurston and my brother Forrest Richard Thurston. Our names and lives changed when we were adopted and sealed to our currently family, but not one day goes by that I do not think about Cathleen. He willingness and bravery made it possible for me to have a happy and great life. She hadn’t really been in my life until about 8 months ago when she found me on facebook. I wasn’t sure what to do but I am very glad that I reached back out to her, and we began to learn and share things with each other. Unfortunately, she has been suffering from diabetes since she was 9. She had both legs amputated, open heart surgery, dialysis and lost the battle with diabetes last week. I am so glad to have been able to talk to her and learn more about her the last 8 months. She was a very enthusiastic and sweet person. I know that she is happy and glad to be healthy now. Although I don’t know her that well, I will always love her and be so grateful of the life she gave me. Thank you for everything Cathleen, rest in peace.

Greg Laswell Concert

2009-07-29T23:32:00.000-07:00

If I could go through all of the millions of songs I have on my computers to see the most played ones, Greg Laswell’s songs from his C.D., Three Flights from Alto Nido would top the list. I was introduced to Greg Laswell by an awesome friend (Tucker) who for every birthday and christmas buys me a C.D. from a band I’ve never heard of before. When I first listened to his music I was drawn in right away. Greg Laswell’s voice parallels the the emotions of his lyrics perfectly. It was so great to see him in person tonight. This was the first time that I had even been to a concert where everyone was completely silent when slower and more emotion packed songs were being played. It was almost a respect for the power of his lyrics and his piano/guitar. It was a great trip and a really fun experience. It’s so much fun to see the music of a band you love playing in front of you. You can feel the passion that the musician intended everyone to hear originally, but is not as effective when recorded, and played on a C.D. or as a MP3. So thanks Greg Laswell and the awesome band that opened for you, Elizabeth and the Catapult. I had a swell of a good time.

Simple Moment in Life

2009-07-23T11:11:00.000-07:00

A little girl game up to me about one week ago and asked if I could play with her. I told her I couldn’t to which she asked “Why?” She continued to say why over and over again until finally I ran out of answers and ended up telling her, “Just because”. She jumped back on her bike and said, “Okay, I’ll stop by tomorrow”. I stayed on my porch finishing up the blog post that I was working on. No more than five minutes later she drove past again on her bike and parked in my driveway. She asked if I could play just for one minute. I had no idea how to answer this very persistent redheaded blue dressed girl. I had to leave and I didn’t know if I had a daughter of my own would feel if I saw some stranger playing with her, so I told her no again. She gave me a very angry look and said, “Well fine. I’ll play with someone else”. She jumped on her bike and then shouted back “I’ll see you tomorrow”, and zoomed around the corner before I could say anything. This was so great I decided I needed to share.

Her Morning Elegance by Oren Lavie

2009-07-18T16:42:00.000-07:00

I know I posted this on my other blog but I love it so much I decided I needed to post it here too. This is such a amazing video. Please take the time to watch it:)

Anime

2009-07-16T23:34:00.000-07:00

Many people have very different opinions about Anime. Most people when they hear the word Anime the automatically think of some weird nerd who collects swords and spends his day playing World of Warcraft and Dungeons and Dragons and watching tons of anime movies. I have found that Anime is a very beautiful and great art. In fact, it originated in 1917, and not only did japanese film makers play with it but so did film makers in France, Germany, the United States, and Russia. Anime movies can be very strange and silly but the art in a lot of them are amazing. What do you think? Do you like Anime?

A old friend of mine drew this picture of me and Warren about 8 month ago

Great Piano Songs

2009-07-16T10:19:00.000-07:00

There are so many things that really move me. I think from dance and learning to express my emotion through movement I have really come to depend on and appreciate music. For some reason the most powerful music to me is just someone playing the piano. So I just wanted to make a short list of powerful piano tunes for you. Some have lyrics and others don't. I suggest you check out a couple of them because they are amazing. They are also in no particular order.

1.Max Veron- Pastels. This is a very beautiful song that talks about the hardships of life but how you don’t have to be alone.

2.Yiruma-The River Flow in you. This is my favorite song ever played on the piano and I hope one day to be able to play it (even if I can’t play anything else).

3.Before Cologne-Ben Folds. Ben Folds is an amazing Pianist and this piece shows he doesn’t need any vocals to improve it.

4.Dijurido-Artist Unknown (on cowboy bebop soundtrack). This is a soft and sweet piece that makes me so happy.

5.Almost Lover-A Fine Frenzy. This is a very melancholy. It is my favorite song to play when I’m blue.

6.Everyday-Carly Comando. Warren introduced me to this song and I have been in love with it ever since. It is so stunning in it’s simplicity and elegance.

7.Clair de Lune. This is song is so beautiful and touching. No wonder it's famous.

8.Leaving Netherfield-Pride & Prejudice Soundtrack. This is one of my favorite soundtracks. It is so exquisite and there is no way to describe it.

What it Means to Me to Believe

2009-07-11T00:00:00.000-07:00

Frequently I have been having a hard time with things that I believe in. This is not because I have a hard believing in certain things, but because I sometimes it makes others upset, mad, or they look down on me for these things. Now, I’m not going to tell you what my opinions are on these matters (you can ask me later) but, to be less vague some of these things include homosexual couples adopting, global warming, gay marriage, gun control, and more.

I was having a conversation with one of my friends a while ago and was telling him how I felt guilty for the way I felt in my heart. Everyone around me feels so discussed and angry at something, and in my heart, I know that it is not what they think. He told reminded me (as he always does) not to get upset and emotional because it’s okay to think the way that I do. It’s times like these that I know how it feels to be overwhelmed by the world and give up in what I believe. I know that this is not the right thing to do though.

If all of us gave up on what we believed in, no matter how small, nothing would be great in this world. No one would ever be happy, or enjoy life. There would be no passion, art, books, good food, love, and more. It is this that keeps me going and makes me continue to believe in the things that are hard. Someday, I know that I will be glad for listening to my heart and not falling into the world. I encourage all of you to continue to believe in the things that you do. It makes us all who we really are.

Habitually Beautiful

2009-07-06T03:30:00.000-07:00

Hello amazing readers! I just wanted to remind you all of my second blog Habitually Beautiful. Check it out here. I haven't been posting a lot of pics on it recently because I've been very busy lately but I promise that has changed! It only takes ten seconds to look at and i'll be updating it about every other day. I just want to show you things that I find beautiful, inspiring, life changing (at least for me) and more. I would love to see what you think too, so leave a comment! Thanks a ton.

~Lindz

The 4th of July

2009-07-03T16:39:00.001-07:00

Reasons I love the 4th of July

1.Camping out- Every year I get a group of my friends together and camp out for the 4th of july parade in front of Provo High School. We spend all night playing games, reading books out loud to each other, eating thousands of pixie sticks and then leaving in the morning before the parade starts to go home and watch it on T.V.
2.Jake coming down- My cousin/brother comes down every 4th of July no matter what. I love him so much and spending time with him is always the best thing!
3.Seedless Watermelon- Do I need to say anything more?
4.Watching the fireworks from my grandmother’s house above the temple.
5.Tons of people coming into town- although the traffic sucks I love seeing new faces everywhere!

Reasons I hate the 4th of July

1.Political Arguments- Whenever you get my father and his brother’s together they spend about 8 hours a day having different versions of this conversations...
“Dave, Bush is a moron! Did you even listen to what he said about ______?”
“Rick, you know Bush is right! Glen Beck said _______!”
2.Jello Salad-I believe only certain things should be put into multi colored gelatin and that does not include the entire contents of your fridge.
3.The tinny boppers that come to sing at the Stadium of Fire in Provo. Do we really need to give pre-teen girls more reasons to freak out and scream?
4.Flags everywhere- I think it’s great to be patriotic but do you need flags covering your windows so you can’t see when you cut me off? Do you need them in paint all over your body? Do you realize paint just makes your skin a different color and it doesn’t actually cover things we don’t want to see?
5.Not being in town for the fireworks- I’ll miss it this year.

France Log 3 (The last of my travel posts)

2009-07-03T09:50:00.000-07:00

Sorry It's messed up some how it will only paste all messed up.

Day Ten-Isola 2000

7/1/2009
Wednesday

Another day spend hiking. It was so amazing. I climbed almost to the top of a huge
mountain and sat there breathing in the fresh french air. I brought my note book and
wrote down a ton of great ideas and things that I’ve been thinking a lot about on this trip.
This trip has been a great way to figure a lot of things out. And somehow it also has
made me feel a lot more confident about feeling confused and scared about the future.
I have now been converted to going to the mountains to think. I’m glad that I’m
surrounded by them at home. I keep looking up at the mountains and think that I
am already home. Good thing I still have 4 more days:)

Day Eleven-Nice and Monaco
7/2/2009
Thursday

Nice (pronounced Niece) one of the best places to visit in France. It is located on the
Mediterranean coast and super beautiful. It’s kinda over populated, full of miniature
poodles, and run by the mafia but it’s once you get there it’s flaws turn more into cute
perks because one is overcome but the awesomeness of it. The street that parallels the
coast is called the Pramenad de Englaise and is full of all the french who are not skinny
and feel no need to cover any of their bodies with any kind of fabric, unless (and only on
occasion) it is spandex, bright and very very small. The shops by the coast are all a
tourist trap but if you go back a few blocks you can find amazing small little cafes. We ate
at the X Treme Cafe and had an amazing meal while MJ played softly in the background.
After, we went to the Musee do Beaux Art or the Museum of Fine Arts. It was a blast to
see great works of art by hundreds of french artists. After that we headed towards
Monaco to see that famous Monte Carlo Casino. My father was slightly disapointed to not
see any of the hundreds of Tour de France bikers there, because the race starts from
there on sunday. We drove around enjoying the view for a hour or so and then headed
home. It was great and fun and I plan on spending at least a week there next time I come.

Day Eleven-Isola 2000
7/3/2009
Friday

Today was another day spent in Isola 2000. I hiked around a little bit but the weather
allow much exploring so I spend most of the day inside. I’ve been packing things up,
organizing souvenirs, and bonding with my mother and sister a little (which means
watching Gilmore Girl’s on my laptop). It’s been a nice day and a nice way to wrap up my
trip. We are leaving for Frankfurt tomorrow, a 8 hour drive and then staying at nice hotel
for the night until our flight on sunday. I’m excited but sad to be coming home. I’ll be really
excited to see my friends again, bake and cook some amazing food, eat meat (my sister
and now mother are vegetarians which makes every meal meatless), play cards and wear
shorts. I’m also kinda excited to go back to a messy room. It’s kinda sad to leave too
though. I’ve learned so much and experienced so many great places, people and things.
Two weeks was a perfect amount of time to be gone but later in my life I want to come
back and experience more. France and Germany are two great places that I hope
everyone can one day go to and experience.

France Log 2

2009-07-02T14:36:00.001-07:00

Day Nine-Isola and St Saveur
6/30/2009
Tuesday

Driving around in France is amazing! I am so glad that we have decided to stay up the the alps. Although we may not be near enough to Paris to visit (one of the things I want to do in my life is to there) we could have not chosen a better place to stay. It is so beautiful here. The streets are tiny and every building is so old! The thing I love here is that people do not change there house and rebuild it they just do things to accent the beauty of it’s age. We stopped at St Saveur and walked around the small town (population 200) and went into the old churches one was completely dedicated to St Anne (Mary’s Mother). After we drove up to Isola (not Isola 2000 where we are staying but a town down below it) to have lunch at a little local cafe. Although it was very small, slightly dirty and smelled a little odd it had one of the best sandwiches I have ever had. It was just a 3 cheese sandwich, but it was three cheeses that I can’t pronounce, have ever heard of or will ever forget how good it was. They melted it in a piece of french bread (panini style) and it was amazing! We also ordered a salad and it literally looked like it was a sandwich without the bread. Whole pieces of cheese tomatoes and more. After we drove up the highest drive in Europe. It was so beautiful! It was also raining with tons of lightning and thunders. In fact, it was striking so close we could literally smell the smell of fire and burning when ever it struck. It was incredible and surprisingly not very scary. I was more awestruck than anything. Oh there are so many people I wish could have experienced this with me!

France Log

2009-07-01T14:25:00.000-07:00

France-Alpes-Cote d'Azur,

Day Seven-Isola 2000
6/28/2009
Sunday

After a long 13 hour drive our family decided (well everyone but me) to spend a day relaxing and resting. I took a few walks around enjoying the amazing mountains. We are staying in small resort located in a small ski town. It is all mostly just hotels and restaurants here but I can’t imagine more than 50-100 hundred people living here. The mountains take my breath away and I can’t wait to hike them tomorrow!

Day Eight-Isola 2000
6/29/2009
Monday

I slept in until eleven after having a crazy dream. I hadn’t slept in so late since this trip. I woke up took a quick shower and didn’t even put on make up or let my hair dry before rushing out the door to hike the amazing French Alps. I searched around the mountains forever finding tons of trails but one caught my eye. It was mostly covered in grass (which is very odd for a mountain trail) and decided to follow. I had brought my iPod with me and was listening to classical music as I hiked along looking at all the beautiful trees, failing to name which kind they were. I guess the tree tour and I did early this summer with Warren didn't stick. Anyway, I climbed over 3 fallen trees and on the last one looked up to see an amazing waterfall. About 75 yards away from that was this amazing stone bridge covered in moss that crossed the beautiful stream. It was so remarkably beautiful. It was a place I will never forget. I sat there for almost an hour just thinking and basking in it’s glory. I love France.

Germany Log 3

2009-06-30T04:53:00.000-07:00

Day five Trip to Nurnberg
6/26/2009
Friday

Day five of our trip was my birthday! We decided to go to Nurnburg. When my father was 17 he took a trip and stayed with a family in Nurnberg as a exchange student for 3 months and was very excited to return. He felt that this place held a lot of great memories and is where he really learned to love to travel, which is now such a major part of his life. The Hauptmarkt is a market in front of the amazing church, Frauenkirche, and the Gothic Schoner Brunnen (beautiful fountain). The fountain was originally supposed to be put on the church as it’s steeple but the architect was never paid and so he left it in a square and turned it into a fountain.
After we went to Albrecht Durer’s house. I was extremely excited for this because I have wanted to go ever since my freshman year german class when I did a huge project on Albrecht Durer. I love his work and it was great to see his house. He lived in this house from 1509-1528. On the three-hundredth anniversary of his death the town bought his house and it has been slightly reconstructed. It was still great to see a printing press from that town and a woman who demonstrated how he would have engraved things.
While in Nurnburg we also went to Kirche St Sebald, one of the oldest churches in Nurnburg built 1230-1273. We also drove past Dkumentationszentrum Reichsparteitagsgelande (say that 3 times fast) a unfinished building from the Nazi era. Nurnberg was beautiful fun and for the first time since i’ve been here warm!

Day six car ride to France through Germany, Italy, Switzerland and Austria.
6/27/2009
Saturday

On our way to France we drove through many places. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to stop long at any of the places such as Neuschwanstein. Neuschwanstein is the magnificent fairy tale castle built in 1i869-86 by the crazy Bavarian Kin Ludwig II. It is located halfway up a amazing mountain looking out over the Schwansee (Swan Lake). I’m glad we were able to see it but I had really wished to go in.
We also drove past Dachau the concentration camp. It brought up a long conversation about how the Germans reacted to Hitler and WWII and such. Dachau was hardly on the outskirts of town and people would have walked by it everyday. It’s hard to think how it would feel to live so close to something so horrible and not know how or what to do and believe.
We also drove through Austria, Italy, and Switzerland. It’s so beautiful and here. The mountains remind me of Utah and the forests remind me of New Hampshire. I love it here and the drive, although very long, was miraculous. It felt as though two weeks was plenty enough time here but it feels as though I’ve hardly seen anything. I’m so grateful for the opportunity to see it now even if it feels like no time at all.

Germany Log 2

2009-06-29T14:11:00.000-07:00

Day three trip to Strabing
6/24/2009
Wednesday

This day my mother’s hip was hurting her a lot and so we decided to go the the Staubing Zoo. It was lots of fun. As we went through my mother was very excited to see the tigers. We were about 3 feet away from them and when they went inside to eat one put his paws up on the glass and pawed it at us. I got to pet some of the goats and do the falamaco with the flamingos. It was a good relaxing and fun day.

Day Four trip to Dinkelsbuhl and Nordlingen.
6/25/2009
Thursday

This day my mother and sister were feeling sick and so my father and I decided to head out by ourselves and go up to Wurzburg (one of the three places on my list to go). Unfortunately, we never quite made if because we spent too much time im Dinkelsbuhl but it was still a great trip. Dinkelsbuhl is a old Fraconian town and one of the best preserved medieval urban complexes in Germany. There are walls that surround the whole city. They have many towers but the 4 most famous are Wornitzer, Nordlinger, Seringer and Rothenburger Tor. Dinkelsbuhl also has an amazing house called the Deutsch Haus which is across from St. George’s Church dating back to 1500. This is an amzing and picturesque town. Before we left, my father and I stopped into a small cafe for lunch and a street dog ran in and came running up to us. Eventually the owner came over and took him out, but not before we could give the wet beast some love.
On our way home we decided to stop at Nordlingen. It was a free town during the Middle Ages of the Holy Roman Empire and is in the Reis Basin, which is an immense crater formed millions of years ago by a meteor strike. My father and I walked around the intire fortification walls that surround the entire city. It was 15 towers, dating from the 14th to the 15th centuries. It was a blast but I especially loved spending the day alone with my father.

Germany Log

2009-06-28T13:30:00.000-07:00

I am going to be updating my blog about everyday with the places I've gone and things I've done in Germany, France, Italy, Switzerland and Austria. It's more of a travel log than blog posts but I really want to share it with you guys. Some are kinda long and most are dull and I do not expect anyone to really read them all. I'm more posting them more for myself. I'm going to start with the first couple of days and move from there to now. I hope you enjoy!

Germany-Bavaria

Day one trip to Passue
6/22/2009
Monday

Passue is surrounded by tons of old Gothic walls. It includes and amazing tower called Schaiblingsturn, build in 1250. The town of Passue, like most european towns, are busy and modern, but everywhere you go you can see remainders of old churches, houses, bridges and more. My family spent the majority of our time at the amazing Dom St Stephan, or St. Steven’s Cathedral. It was built by and amazing Italian architect Carlo Lurago to replace the original Gothic structure that was destroyed in the 17th century but a fire. I find it very sad that many of these great buildings were destroyed, at least partially, by either fire or bombs. We also visited Altes Rathouse, the old town hall dating from 145h-15th century with it’s large Neo-Gothic tower. It was a great town to start my trip with!

Day two trip to Bamberg
6/23/2009
Tuesday

Bamberg is amazing! Our day started out at the Bamberg Cathedral. It was very large and very early French-Gothic. It was built in 1211-1237 but the cloisers were built between 1399-1457. It holds the only papal grave in Germany, where Pope Clement II (who had be the local bishop) rests. This cathedral holds a very famous statue the “Bamberg Rider”. It is a very simple statue of a man on a horse but is famous for being the first statue in German cathedrals to be 3 demential, an accurate size, and it was nature and realistic looking. The Bamberg Cathedral also housed the amazing Tomb of Heinrich II and Kunigunde. It has stories from their life carved on the outside of their sarcophagus. One tells of a time Kunigunde was giving wages to workers and one took more than he earned and it burt red hot in his hand and he was forced to give it all back. The Marian Altar by Veit Stoss and the Marienpforte (stonework that adorns the main enterance with images of the Last Judgement) are also amazing things in the Bamberg Cathedral.
In Bamberg there is the amazing Neue Residenz und Staatsgalerie built in 1695-1704 created by Johann Leonhard and holds amazing artwork by Melchior Steidl. It also has one of the most amazing rose gardens I have ever been to.
Bamberg also has many great ice cream resurants that have odd flavors like cinnamon and chili truffle. A great day and beautiful place.

Bamberg

2009-06-28T03:02:00.000-07:00

I was born in Bamberg Germany on June 26th 1989. It has been 20 years since then and revisiting it was an incredible experience. As we entered the town I felt like I should experience some sort nostalgia or anything. I guess I wasn’t so surprised when I got there to feel nothing but excitement (as I do with every new European town I visit). In fact, it was probably my father, who has been to Bamberg before, who was the most excited and nostalgic. We had a hard time finding our way around (mainly because our GPS sucks) but we were able to make it to see everything we wanted to see. The Bamberg Cathedral beautiful and full of amazing sculptures and wood carvings. The most amazing thing to me was that there was history popping out everywhere. For instance on our way to find myself a necklace (a token of remembrance) we passed Hegel’s house surrounded by 3 churches. I’m so glad to have gone and checked off one thing off my list of things do to in my life time.

Woman vs World

2009-06-20T00:48:00.000-07:00

(Thank you Warren for the title)

As most of you know right now I should be on a flight to Germany right now, but due to weather problems I was not able to make my connecting flight because my plane from Salt Lake to Chicago was 6 hours late getting into the air. I have been so stressed and freaked out (mainly because I don’t have a way to get in touch with family in England that I’m supposed to meet at the airport) but I think it will be okay. Thanks to a very nice travel agent I am staying in an amazing hotel instead of sleeping next to the hundreds of people sleeping on cots in the airport free. Also, thanks to Warren I am still going. Warren has been so much of a help and has been talking me through this stressful time. After my flight was delayed he stayed with me in Salt Lake for hours and made sure that my flight and everything was correct. He is my messenger to my family with all of my flight info and everything and really is my hero forever. If it wasn’t for him I think I would have got the next ticket to Salt Lake and come home. Thank you Warren and wish me luck tomorrow! I now have to go from Chicago to LaGuardia NY, to JFK NY, to London Heathrow and then finally make it to Germany on Sunday morning.

Oh My Gosh!

2009-06-18T00:31:00.000-07:00

Oh my gosh! I'm leaving so soon! I am so excited but so worried at the same time. For those of you that don't know what I'm talking about it's my trip to Germany, France and Italy that I'm going to on Friday. I seem to have so much to do and really hardly anytime to do it. I'm leaving for 2 weeks and it seems so short but so long at the same time. There are going to be so many things I will miss but I'm also glad to take a break. Almost every day for the past month I have spent outside helping with sprinklers, cutting down huge trees and working on a flagstone path. I don't know if i'll be able to sit still for my 21 hour trip to Germany! In any case, goodbye and be expecting postcards!

Some of My Favorite Movies!!!

2009-06-13T01:21:00.000-07:00

Favorite Horror Movie: Drag Me to Hell
Favorite Drama: Vanilla Sky
Favorite Romantic drama: The Painted Veil
Favorite Sluth Movie: Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
Favorite Comedy: Orange County
Favorite 80’s Flick: Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
Favorite Shakespeare Movie: Much Ado About Nothing & Hamlet (Kenneth Branagh
Favorite Play to Movie: The Importance of Being Earnest (2002)
Favorite Action: Cowboy Bebop The Movie & Angles & Demons
Favorite Oldie: Funny Face
Favorite Cult Movie: Fight Club
Favorite “WTF” Movie: The Fountain

A Little List of Things I Love #2

2009-05-31T20:10:00.000-07:00

1.Seeing the sun and the moon and the same time in the sky.
2.Figuring out how to do something manly by myself. Even simple things like fixing a computer problem or adding oil and/or gas to the lawn mower.
3.The great feeling of knowing I baked and/or cooked something amazing that others will love.
4.The static you feel in the air right before a storm hits.
5.Getting a complement from a complete strange. It sometimes feels more genuine because they don’t know you and aren’t biased.
6.The cute look my dog gives me when I’m eating food on the couch.
7.The annoyed look my dog gives me when I wont give him more than one chunk of my food that 8. I’m eating on the couch.
9. Conversations that last a long time at the door or trying to say goodbye to someone. You’re just so wrapped up in it time disappears.
10. Watching a classic love movies like Funny Face or The Way We Were.
11. Painting. Even though I have no idea how to.
12. Creating something beautiful that you can share. Such as, a cake, pictures, painting, scrapbooks and more.
13.Looking into my cupboard after shopping. My old roommate and I used to do this all the time and compare our awesome cooking and baking stuff to our other roommates roman noodles and hamburger helpers.
14. Costco. No need for explanation.
15.Saving my orange tree and watching it bloom and now grow oranges!
The light that fills the sky right before the sun comes up.

Hoping For a Green Thumb

2009-05-24T00:38:00.000-07:00

Every year I realize I love new things. I am constantly forcing myself to do things that I hate, and very often fall in love with it. For example, I have hated running as long as I can remember. I even refused to run a mile in my high school freshman P.E. class, even though I knew it would drop my grade to an B+. When Warren asked Marie to go running with him about 8 months ago I didn’t want to be left out, and I also wanted to prove that I could do it. I ran a mile nonstop and was completely shocked by how easy it was for me. I then began running everyday for about 3 months (I still go 2-3 times a week) and on average ran about 3 miles. Also, I used to hate cooking and baking until forced to when I was around 12. I soon fell in love with it and anyone who knows me, knows that I cook or bake something almost every day. The new thing that I have decided to change is my passionate hate and dread of gardening. Ever since I got my first bonsai tree (and then killed it) and my first orange tree (it survived!) I have been growing more interested in plants and gardens. My goal this summer is to attack my side garden and make it beautiful (or at least not as ugly as it is now). I will include before and after pictures as soon as possible. Good luck to me!

Things I've Learned From College

2009-05-12T13:25:00.000-07:00

Here is a short list of very random things that I have learned in my first year of college and living away from home:

1. If you want to make a guy leave you alone, make him feel self conscious by staring at his hair line while he talks to you. (Thank you for this Warren, it really works and has helped me out many times)

2. Do not leave any food you want to eat in the sight of other girls. Especially if you write “Don’t eat! Lindsay’s food” on it.

3. Don’t bring Chanel boots to an apartment. They will only be ruined by mold.

4. The point of a apartment manager or landlord is not to help fix problems but charge you for not cleaning off the stains on the kitchen wall due to the leak they still haven’t fixed.

5. Even though you are considered and adult the landlord wont listen unless your parents complain. (My landlord didn’t do anything about our leak until 3 of my roommate's parents called to complain and my father showed up to make sure something was being done).

6. No matter how many times I try to think otherwise, most (if not all) male dancers look gay.

7. Do not take teachers that know who your father is. (Unfortunately 4 out of 5 will).

8. Do not add anything that even shows you are slightly liberal, into any paper, unless you know your teacher is too.

9. No one understands how you can date someone for more than 3 months and not be engaged, so don’t even try to explain it.

10. Conversations that begin with someone hitting on you and then asking for your name are common. To avoid these, stare at his hairline.

My New Blog!!

2009-05-09T02:02:00.000-07:00

Okay, I am way excited to introduce to you my new sister blog! It is called Habitually Beautiful and I plan on filling it up with the most beautiful things to me! I have hundreds of pics that I have saved up to eventually post but don't want to overwhelm the people who come to read this blog. Habitually Beautiful will be filled with many pictures, music and more but it will not have any writing in it. If you want to get inside my head to find out what I'm thinking come to Habitually Roaming. If you want to see what I see and find beautiful and fascinating check out Habitually Beautiful! Thanks and I hope that you like (maybe even love) it!

Habitually Beautiful:

www.lindsayscake.blogspot.com

Can You Clean too Much?

2009-05-02T15:13:00.001-07:00

Whenever my father leaves and goes out of town I always get a little worried. My dear sweet mother loves him a lot and stresses out easily. The absence of my father (the peacemaker and logic in our family) has caused my mother to stress out a ton. She even admits she is extremely stress, but she says she doesn’t know why she is like this. My sister and I figure the reasons for this is her Aunt from Cape Cod is coming to stay with next week, it’s time for spring cleaning and my father is in London. So, what better way to take out your emotions than on all the dirt in the house? Now, I am not exaggerating when I say this, I have been cleaning an average of 7 hours a day for the last week. Most of the cleaning has not been usual house cleaning jobs such as washing walls and vacuuming. I have almost been bitten by a black widow (well at least I saw one 3 feet away from me and assumed it wanted my blood). My mother called me up last night at 9 when I was over at Marie and Nate’s house (playing cards and baking Samoas bars) to try to convince me to come home to clean my room. Right now I have escaped for 30 min while the person she hired to help even more, cleans the floor. And yes, that is right. She hired someone and I’m doing this pretty much for free. I love a clean house, but when is it too much? I guess we’ll see when I can see my reflection on the walls, floors, toilets and probably dog. Well I’m off to scrub down the kitchen chairs and fireplace brick. Wish me luck.

What I Think About Twilight

2009-04-27T15:14:00.000-07:00

Alright here it is. What I think about the book Twilight.

I believe literature is a reflection of the interests of the people in the time period the book is written. It is written with skill and with a purpose. There have been many arguments on what makes good literature and what makes just a bad book. Right now there has been a lot of talk about if the book Twilight by Stephanie Meyer is considered good literature or not. Although I would not say Twilight is intellectually on the same level as other romances such as books written by Jane Austin or funny romantic plays by Oscar Wilde it is a great reflection of what our time wants to read right now.

In my senior year of high school my A.P. English teacher put on our summer reading list Twilight right between The Scarlet Pimpernel and The Catcher in the Rye. At first I was very offended by this and I could not understand why on earth she would put a vampire teen romance even on the same page as these amazing classics. But then I began to realize the importance of this book is not in the skill or intelligence; it’s in the importance it is to the people. Stephanie Meyer created a story that spoke out to everyone and became a world-wide phenomenon.

In the story a regular teenage girl (Bella) meets this amazingly good looking, wealthy, smart and witty vampire named Edward. They fall in love and have to go through some hard times to stay together. I do not think that it is only the obsession with Edward Cullen that draws people in, but the idea of an eternal love and someone to be with you and care for you forever. I believe we live in a time full of romantics and Stephanie Meyer wrote the perfect book for the time. The book is not particularly well written or very deep but it does deal with emotions and that I think is a very important part in a book. The reader in any book needs to be able to connect, at least on some level, with the main character in the book and be able to feel some of the same emotions or at least see where they are coming from. Stephanie Meyer creates this relationship between book and reader very well. The main character and narrator of the book, Bella, is a very realistic person. She is easy to understand and feel for. I do not think that I would consider Twilight as a great piece of literature and eventually considered a classic, but I do believe it has made a name for itself and will be remembered for a long time. So my hats off to you Stephanie Meyer.

Create

2009-04-24T19:00:00.000-07:00

This is an amazing video. It's clips form Dieter F. Uchtdorf's talk about creativity. It's phenomenal.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhLlnq5yY7k

Or

http://www.mormonvidz.com/video/40/Dieter-F-Uchtdorf--CREATE

Blast From the Past

2009-04-22T00:14:00.000-07:00

There is a weird feeling I get every time I am about to see someone who I haven’t seen for a long time, and have been close to in the past. It’s almost like the quite static and complete peace you feel before a storm hits. It felt exactly like that today when I was walking over to visit an old friend. We were very close a few years back but now things have changed dramatically. Talking to them felt very familiar and it still flowed the same way as it used to, but it also felt awkward. It was nice to see them again because I missed how much they smiled. At the same time though, the level of comfort that they talked to me with made me feel uncomfortable. It seemed as though they didn’t want to warm up before diving right into how it used to be. Now that I’ve seen them again, I know I will probably see them more (mostly because they are moving block away from me). I don’t know how ready I really am or if I even want to. I guess all I have to do is step back, breath and think. Is this a friendly ghost or a demon of the past? I guess well see.

Pink

2009-04-21T00:20:00.000-07:00

There are many words that describe the color pink, but the one that I think is used most often it girly. I think too many people look at the color pink and think this. I agree that it is more of a feminine color and by all means I am not saying dress the men in it. What I am trying to say is have we been underestimating the power of pink? Did you know that bright pinks stimulate energy and can increase the blood pressure, respiration, heartbeat, and pulse rate. Pink can also encourage action and confidence. Pink has also been used in prison holding cells to effectively reduce erratic behavior. Crazy huh? Also in Japan, the color pink has a masculine association. The annual spring blooming of the pink-blossomed cherry trees (the Sakura) is said to represent the young Japanese warriors who fell in battle in the prime of life (the Samurai). I find this amazing! So good luck to you pink!

Man's Best Friend

2009-04-18T17:43:00.000-07:00

Kalif our current dog

Haskins and Shoki our first dogs

Bronte our dog that passed away about 6 month ago

There are so many things in this world that can lift you up and make you feel good. For me one of those things are my family’s dogs. Over the years my family has owned a blue and gold macaw, 3 hedgehogs, 1 rabbit, 2 guinea pigs, hermit crabs, countless numbers of fish and more. But the one animal that we have had that is unlike any other is our dogs. There are many reasons for me to dislike dogs, from the scar on my upper lip from 5 stitches from a dog bite, to the many chewed up pairs of shoes I have had. But, none of that maters when you’re looking into a dog’s eyes. A dog doesn’t care what you look like or how much money you make. They don’t care about the stock market, the economy, or politics. A dog doesn’t even care about how many friends you have or where you work. A dog only cares about love. A dog loves love. They crave hugs, pats, scratches and someone to care for them, and when you give that to them, they return it in as many ways possible. Some people might get sick of the drool, the hair everywhere, the barking and more but they more than make up for it in so many other ways. When I come home our huge German Shepherd Kalif is always waiting at the door, pounding his tail against the wall, ready for me to be home. There is nothing comparable to the love I feel when I walk in the door and see my dog waiting and so happy to see me. There is nothing to compare to the feeling I get when I am laying on the couch watching a movie and my dog comes and puts his head on my lap and looks up at me with his huge eyes or the way he follows me around the house from room to room when i’ve had a bad day. Dogs are always there for you. They live to love you. I am so glad that I have grown up with dogs in my house. They are one of my best comforts and I am so glad that I have had the experience and privilege to care for an animal so kind-hearted, tender and compassionate. There is no other animal quite like the dog, and I hope everyone has the experience of being loved by such a selfless creature.

Attraction

2009-04-17T05:23:00.001-07:00

There are many millions of things in this world that I am afraid I will never understand. I believe one of those things to be attraction. Why are certain people attracted to other kinds of people? Why are we all drawn to certain characteristics in people of the opposite (or same) sex? Is it just a natural instinct to be attracted to someone who is in better shape or may look better than others because we want to pass on good genes? Could it be that people like others that are more aesthetically pleasing just for the luxury? Why do we all like certain things? And why are we also sometime attracted to the exact opposite of what we are? I think at least some of the reason for this is excitement and thrill. I believe most of us don’t like to be with someone who is exactly like us. This takes away some (or a lot) of the excitement. If you had everything in common you really wouldn’t have anything to talk about. For example, I am a dancer and I have dated other dancers in the past and found it much less exciting talking about anything that even remotely related to dance with them. I much prefer telling someone about dance who doesn’t know that much about it, I prefer it even though they might not appreciate how many awards i’ve won or my accomplishments. I believe they will look at it with an eye not tainted by bias or/and an annoying large amount of knowledge about dance. I think that’s what we all want. We all want a someone like a very complicated and amazing book. Once we have it and have read it we understand it for the most part but we keep finding new things through out the book that keeps us coming back for more. Now feel free to correct me if I’m wrong, but I think we all want a little spontaneity in life.

Being Green

2009-04-12T21:03:00.000-07:00

There are many different ways to be green, also know as being eco-friendly. I have decided that every once in a while I will be writing short posts on how to be more green. They will include things from growing green to making homemade green cleaners and more. Today I just wanted to write about a T.V. show called Stuff Happens. It’s a fun show where Bill Nye explains what happens when we use things and where it goes when we’re done with it and the impact it has on the environment. In this show Bill goes through different rooms in the house and how we can change small and large things in each room from what to look out for in toothpaste to how you can recycle jeans and use as insulation in your walls. It’s a great show and is found on Planet Green a network owned by Discovery Channel. Another show on that channel that I love and will write more in detail about later is called World’s Greenest Homes. They are both great shows that give amazing ideas on being green. I hope you check them out!

Songs That Remind Me of You

2009-04-09T01:13:00.000-07:00

1.I’ll Follow You Into the Dark by Death Cab for Cutie

Warren Daynes-I made this our song when I was 16 and you had to remind me a month or so ago. What a great song. Thanks for reminding me.

2.I’m Shaken by Rooney

Amy Patten: My awesome cousin took me to their concert when I was obsessed with them and the O.C.

3.Blue Light by Bloc Party

Amber Ziegler- I was totally in love with this song one night and you burnt it for me when I think we both should have been doing homework.

4.The Compromise by The Format

Breanna Taylor: You put this song on a mix for me once and now they are one of my favorite bands. Thanks!

5.Jimmy Eat World- Hear You Me

Richard Knudsen: I remember many times sitting and talking to you listening to this song. What great days.

6.Flower of Scotland- The Corries

Cheryl Duerden (my mother): My mother explained the amazing story of this song to my family while driving through Scotland and everyone in my family cried while listening to it. I will never forget that.

7.Remember to Breathe by Dashboard Confessional

Eric Duerden (my brother): He dedicated this song to me and would always write lyrics from it at the bottom on each letter he sent me when he was at a treatment center for a year.

8. Falling Slowly from the movie Once

Tucker Samuelsen: Although there are thousands of songs that remind me of Bucket this one I think is possibly my favorite. We were so happy when it beat Enchanted!

9.Flightless Bird by Iron and Wine

Heather Bolton: Because I think she might love it as much as me and we played it at least 10 times tonight.

10.The Call by Regina Specktor

Marie Daynes Burt- I love singing this song with you, especially when Warren starts complaining and says, “Who sings this song? Because we should keep it that way”.

11.Your Call by Secondhand Serinate

Chelsey Larson: I remember on my 19th birthday when you took me out for breakfast we went back to my house and I played this song for you because I loved it so much and wanted to share it with someone who I loved:)

12.Little Red and Wolfie B by Seve Vs. Evan

Cherie Gallagher: She never complained when I played this song over and over and over again at our apartment and ranted about how great the band. She also was the one to give me enough confidence to wear my seve vs. evan shirt with a smiling lobster on it.

13.Believe by Yellowcard

Scott Knudsen: This was another song that I picked when I was 15 or so to be my song with Scott. What amazing days!

14.Forgotten by Avril Lavgine

Jessica Morgan: This song should remind me of sad days but it reminds me of a great friend who helped me through a hard time.

15.Zombie by The Cranberries

Nathan Burt: Because it was fun to listen and sing to it while we kicked trash in spades.

My Photo Portfolio

2009-04-06T21:16:00.001-07:00

For my Humanities Class end project I decided to create my own photo portfolio. I took hundreds of pics that fit into different genres of photography and here are just a few of the many that I liked the most and wanted to share! Thanks!

Outgoing vs. Shy

2009-04-05T14:25:00.001-07:00

outgoing? or
shy?

Most people try to categorize people in two different groups. One is the shy, and the other the outgoing. One of my friends mentioned the other day that he was a very shy person in high school and didn’t make any friends. He then told me that he also really disliked outgoing people because they look down on the shy and are very conceded. I find this funny because a lot of my friends who are outgoing look at shy people and think of them as very narcissistic. So where is this coming from? How are we misunderstanding each other so much? After talking with a bunch of friends who are shy and outgoing, from what they said shy people might look at the more outgoing and view their confidence as self absorption and that the outgoing, look at the shy, and believe the shy to think they are too good to socialize with others. It may seem so “high school” but, in every circumstance people always join and befriend people and groups who are similar to themselves. I do not think that this is out of pride but out of comfort. We are more comfortable with people who look similar to us, and act more like us. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't mean to put people into only those two groups. Everyone is different and it's different for each person. So my goal for this next week is to jump out of my normal comfort zone and befriend someone completely opposite to me. Wish me luck!

P.S. I hope you like the new look of my blog:)

Most Amazing Things

2009-04-02T16:38:00.000-07:00

Here is just a short list of 5 of the most amazing things this week (at least for me)

1.Food: Asiago Bagels with Strawberry Cream Cheese.

It sounds really gross but it’s so amazing! Best mistake I ever made

2.Book: The Love Letters of Robert Browning and Elizabeth Berrett

Really great book full of Robert Browning and Elizabeth Berrett’s love letters written back and forth during there whole lives.

3.Song: I’d be Lying by Greg Laswell

won't you let me give you a hand
i have an extra I'm not using
won't you let me lighten your load
i mean after all your legs are shaking

and i can understand
all i need is your hand
oh won't you take the fall
it is me after all

I'd be lying
if i ran away
I'd be lying
if i ran another way
and so I'll stay

Amazing song! Such great lyrics! You should really check it out.

4.Amazing Story: Bella the dog and her best friend Tarra the Elephant. Take 2 min to watch it’s amazing!

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/01/02/assignment_america/main4696340.shtml

or

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjyb0t5Jm44

5. Clothing Item: Skinny Jeans!

They can really look great people just don't know the right way to wear them. You're not supposed to wear them skin tight unless your size 1 or smaller.

My Amazing Nephew

2009-03-30T16:00:00.000-07:00

There are a lot of reason of why I love my awesome nephew Liam Duerden. Here are some of them:

A couple of months ago we went to the Bean Museum at BYU and there was a cougar and a wolverine next to each other (like BYU and UVU). Liam turned to me and said "Isn't that ironic that they are next to each other like that?". Remember this kid is 9. After I asked him if he wanted to go to BYU or UVU to which he responded " I want to go to Harvard to study egyptology Lindsay. Didn't you know that?"
He always comes up to my room just to hang out with me in my room when I'm doing homework.
I still get in trouble fooling around with him at the dinner table.
Metalica is his favorite band.
He knows all of my friends and their names and asks about them every once and a while.
Rocks out to Cake with me.
He lets me put moose in his hair. Afterwords his mother (my sister Shannon) always treatens to put my future children in flannel if I continue to do that. I told her I don't mind as long as it's Armani or Gucci.
At a vigil we went to last year he wrote 'peace' on the sidewalk outside the courthouse.
He's always making up jokes of his own.
When I told him I was writing a paper about sculptures and had to pick me favorite he said "Why don't you do The Thinker? That's supposed to be good."

Do Something!

2009-03-30T00:26:00.000-07:00

Today could have been a very bad day for me. My cell phone will no longer hold a charge and my charger is broken! That means no cell phone until I have time to go and buy a new one! Which could be tomorrow, Wednesday or maybe not even until Friday! I I feel all are way too far away. Along with that my cable isn't working and I was not able to DVR tons of programs tonight that I was going to watch throughout the week. Instead of just giving up and heading off to bed I decided to make myself feel better by making a new skirt. This was perfect because I plan on wearing skirts (along with shorts) all summer and needed some more. So why not make one out of other clothes I'll never wear instead of buying them all new? I think Stuff Happens ( T.V. show on making your home and other places more eco-friendly) episode on the closet and recycling clothes might have also helped influenced me. This was the end result and it turned out better than I thought it would. What do you think? And how do you beat away your stress?

Things that Kept Me Going this Week

2009-03-27T15:47:00.001-07:00

Homemade Blueberry Muffins

Text Messages

Good Friends

Stumble

New Music

Late Night Car Rides

My Ballet Class

My Photo Project Idea

What a Fun Weekend

2009-03-23T20:42:00.000-07:00

I have a very fun weekend! On Friday Warren and I went ice skating with Marie, Nate and their kids, Sofie, and Ryan. It was so much fun! The kids were very excited and it was just nice to have fun. After Warren and I went over and played cards with Marie and Nate (like every Friday or saturday night) and Warren made chocolate chip cookies for us all.

Fun just skating with Nate

Hitting the ball around with Ryan

Sofie being super cute as always

Pushing Sofie around on the ice

Warren is such a good uncle!

The girls just hanging out

Sofie with brownie on her face

Three boys just chillin

On saturday I spent around 5 hours shopping and baking for an amazing dinner! I made Saag Gosht (beef with spinach and tons of different spices and an amazing sauce over rice), Saag Roti (flat bread with spinach) and an amazing chocolate and lemon ganache tart. It made my kitchen a mess and took tons of multi tasking but in the end it was all worth it. I love making food for my friends and family.

Yesterday was like every rainy sunday. I cuddled up with a blanket and a book for most of the day and then went over and watched half of Shawshank Redemption with Warren while he did homework. Over all it was a pretty good weekend. I’m so glad I was able to spend it with the people I love most and make other people happy. I hope you all had as good of a weekend as I had.

A Little List of Things I Love

2009-03-18T14:51:00.000-07:00

Full Moons (no matter how cold it is outside)
The feeling of cold rain on your skin when you are sitting in the hot springs!
The feeling of a clean sheets and a perfectly made bed after getting out of the shower.
The smell of old books.
The accomplished feeling of finishing a book.
Fire Topaz, Emeralds and Jade.
Long hugs with good friends.
Late nights when deep conversations flow easily.
Sobe Nirvana
New writing books, completely blank and full of possibilities.
Looking through cook books and baking books.
Making something new all out of scratch.
Telling someone how I really feel.
Making people laugh.
Going to local shows, museums and cafes.
New pictures with old friends.
My family sitting in my living room and laughing at how absurd we all are.
Helping someone who really needs it.
Black and White movies.
Trying food I’ve never had before.
Sharing something funny with a good friend.
Gossiping with my mother.
Singing “You’re nobody til somebody loves you” By Dean Martin at the top of my lungs.
Awesome bookmarks.
Ripped jeans and worn out converse.

How Much is Too Much?

2009-03-15T23:47:00.001-07:00

There are so many things in the world that people allow themselves to become absorbed in. For some it’s books, drugs, money, arts, food, shoes and relationships. I once had a friend who was so obsessed with herself that she destroyed not only her looks but also every single relationship she had with anyone close to her, all in an attempt to fit into those size 2 jeans. Another example of this is a family member of mine who loved alcohol so much that he had to leave his pregnant girlfriend to go to jail for over a year. Another one of my friends loved his school, career, and money so deeply that he is now living in a huge house all alone. I see this time and time again and it’s always made me wonder that if you love and care about something too much, can it only turn around and stab you in the back? I don’t think so. But I do think that there should be an equal balance in all things. It’s just like a diet, you need to eat more than just fruits veggies and water. You need to balance it out with grains, meats and more. I think in life we all just need to look at what we love and realize are we loving the wrong things too much? So tomorrow, a new and great day, I am throwing away half my clothes and asking my sister out to lunch.

Be Creative!

2009-03-10T16:58:00.000-07:00

One thing that I love more than anything else is being creative. Now when I say creative I do not mean create a sculpture or write a symphony I mean being creative in everyday little things. One way I love to do this is by making brand new desserts that i’ve never tried before and inventing my own special ingredients. For example 2 years ago after being inspired by Food Network and my cousin’s constant nagging for me to make him something I created for the very first time, my own recipe for an amazing dessert. It was 3 different kinds or tarts. The first was a blackberry raspberry tart, the second a apple and cinnamon tart, and the last and most famous was the pear and lemon tart. It’s such a rewarding feeling to bake something out of scratch and to see the beautiful treat placed on perfect little plates, but my favorite part is to share what I made with others. I think that is one of the reasons why I do creative things, is to share them with others. I began this year making homemade cards and that’s the perfect was to be creative and share. So in remembrance of that great day and my love of all things warm and edible tonight I will create something new! Keep updated, I will post pics asap!

Fondant Birthday Cake I made for my friend last week

Sit, Stand, Walk, or Sprint?

2009-03-08T23:45:00.000-07:00

Sometimes things just end. They may do this for the better or worse, but in the end you have to make a decision about how you are going to deal with it. This past weekend has been very emotional for me and I have been trying different things and keeping busy in an attempt to figure things out for myself, or maybe to avoid having to do so. I have tried listening to music in an attempt to wrap myself in nostalgia, throwing myself into groups of friends, sitting alone with a book that I can’t seem to ever get through a page, running until I almost collapse and driving around for hours. The more I sit and think the more I am forced to think and deal with myself and my emotions. But I know that the world is constantly moving and if I just stand still I will be continually falling behind. So do I sit, stand, walk, or sprint?

The most beautiful place I have ever been to.
The Redwood Forrest

Today

2009-03-07T16:35:00.000-08:00

Things never turn out how you expect them. Life is changing all time time. Today I feel like time is moving uncomfortably slow. I find that every song I listen to today has lyrics that match my life. The weather outside is beautiful and it makes me want to say or do something profound to change the current views of the world. I know that there is a spot open for me to fill when things in my life finally begin. This excites me, but the process of finding my grove in the world scares me more than anything, because I don't know if I can make it, and I don't know if I'll be happy when I get what I think will make me happy. I don't even know what makes me happy. I guess it would be to be surrounded by people who I love and love me. I wish I could see my future and then I would not be as scared. But I think I'll survive. We all do if we try.

Molten Lave Cakes and more!

2009-03-01T21:20:00.000-08:00

I love to bake and lately it feels like I've been baking more than usual but I love it so much. These past two weeks I have made (all from scratch) Cinnamon rolls, Chocolate Chip Cookies, Apple Cinnamon muffins, Samoas Bars, Molten Lave Cakes and more. I love baking, but I also love to cook. Today for dinner with my family and Warren I made an amazing Pesto Cilantro Lemon with chicken and noodles with aged cheese on top. It was amazing! Now I am sorry to keep bragging but here are some pics I took for my cookbook scrapbook I am making. Enjoy!

Inside look of my Molten Lave Cake

Molten Lava Cake

Homemade Girl Scout Cookies: Samoas Bars

P90X

2009-02-26T14:04:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago Warren saw a infomercial for a home fitness training program called P90X. He decided that he was going to do it and the more and more he talked about it the more intrigued I became. I decided that I would do it with him and so we have been preparing ourselves to start. Last night Warren and I did the fitness test and wrote down our scores and such to keep track of our progress over 30, 60 and 90 days. This morning I took pictures of myself in different poses so I can also see the progress. I am very excited for the P90X and I hope that it goes well! So wish by Warren and I luck!

My Orange Valentine's Day

2009-02-19T22:38:00.000-08:00

If you read my blog before on Valentine’s Day you might think that I seemed slightly negative towards the holiday, but this Valentines day was very amazing.
For Valentine’s Day this year I decided to make a fancy dinner for Warren and me. This included china, candles (the kind that doesn’t drip wax which was great because both Warren and I hit over one) flowers and yes I even pulled out multiple forks.
For the appetizer I made french onion soup. Knowing that Warren loves french onion soup this was quite the hit and it turned out great. For the main course we had Orange Roughy cooked in coconut, rice pilaf, and simmered lemon artichoke heart and stems.
Although this was very good what I was most proud of was the orange and chocolate tort that I made. It took a couple of hours but it was totally worth it.
After the movie Warren took me out to go see the movie The International. If you don’t know already it is a action movie where Clive Owen tries to take down a corrupt bank. Also, return for this Valentine’s Day feast Warren gave me a Orange tree! I have been wanting one for a very long time and even trying to convince him to get one. I love my new tree and I’m excited to put it next to my sweet plum bonsai.
So thank you Warren for the amazing tree and the first Valentine’s Day I have ever enjoyed. Thank you also Marie and Nate for letting me barrow your table. I hope you all also had an enjoyable Valentine’s Day.

My Orange Tort!

My Amazing Orange Tree!
(Warren is holding the Orange that fell of the tree during the shipping)
The Tort Tasted a lot Better Than it Looks

Family.

2009-02-16T01:47:00.000-08:00

There are so many reason of why I want to pack up and move away from my family and never look at any of them again, especially tonight. They make me angry, sad, depressed and even self conscious. But I love them. Even though they are all insane (except my father, as anyone who knows him can agree) I have learned so much from each of them.

My father has taught/forced me to be more independent and become a harder worker. My mother taught me how to cook and clean and care for others. My sister Shannon taught me to think outside of the box while my other sister Annelise taught me to recognize the world around me and not just Provo, Utah or even the U.S.A. And last of all my brother Eric. My brother, who literally saved my life has taught me to love. That seems so silly because he seems like anything but a loving sweet sensitive guy now but when we were younger after experiencing hard times together we became inseparable. For years we would only sleep in the same room, eat together and even had to be in the same kindergarden class for a year. He was so kind and so protective it made me want to reach out and let others feel that same comfort and joy I felt with him.

I love my family. I am so glad I am sealed to them. The future for our family is looking very crazy right now. But like always, we’ll stick together.

My Family is Anything but Normal and Here are Some Reasons Why

2009-02-09T21:44:00.000-08:00

My mother is obsessed with cleaning. Everything has to be spotless and if you leave your dishes every once and a while she will put them in your bed.
My sister Annelise will not wear the color pink because it ‘clashes with her aura’.
My sister Shannon believes one should be able to get an Ecclesiastical endorsement from a tree.
My brother believes murder to be a perfectly appropriate topic to discus at the dinner table.
My father has a dog bed in his office at BYU.
My mother spends an average of 5 days cooking in preparation for any holiday.
My Aunt is convinced my mother tied her to a tree when she was ten and if you ever bring it up they start arguing and sometimes fist fight.
I just found out that vacuuming everyday and moving the furniture is not normal.
The only reason we have cable is for Animal Planet.
I am the only one in my family to not have read the complete works of Shakespeare at least 3 times.
Over half of my immediate family teaches English.
We have a show dog named Kalif and he normally gets more in his Christmas stocking than any of the kids.
My sister Shannon dreams of living in a tree in the middle of the Amazon.
My father is 53 and can bike 200 miles in 2 days.
My father and nephew wore kilts at my sister’s wedding and her husband wore a cowboy hat.
We have all been to Europe 5 times and never been to Disneyland.
We have had pets by the names of Kalif, Shoki, Bronte (yes like the sisters), Baldrick, Sargon Lord of Septic Death, Ein, and Varmet.
My brother has worn bright girls fisherman rain boots everyday for the past month.
My mother doesn’t allow us to dip our cookies into milk in public.
The first time I ever ditched school was to go see the Prophet.

Laugh Because You Feel Like it

2009-02-05T01:07:00.000-08:00

Recently I have been thinking about how I am such an emotional person and deciding on whether or not I need to care less or become more logical because if one day I don't want to explode or if I am just like everyone else. As I think about it I have come to realize that I do everything in my life based on my emotions.

I went to BYU because I feel so strongly about becoming better educated. I became a dance major because I love to dance and it makes me feel good. I am dating Warren because he makes me feel amazing. I am friends with Marie, Nate, Heather, Tucker, Cherie, Cami and more because they make me feel good about myself and I love them all so much. I love watching old black and white movies because they make me feel nostalgic. I love to cook and bake because of the rewarding feeling I get when I’m done. I love to clean because of the instant gratification it gives me and I love to wear cute clothes and do my hair and make up cute everyday because it makes me feel better and more confident.

I could add on to this list forever, but it was exactly this list that made me realize we are all emotional in our own ways. It is our emotions that grab us by the hand and leads us through life. You can look at things logically all of the time but even then it’s based on emotions. You could want to go to school because you want a good job, and logically that makes perfect sense but if it wasn’t for you feeling that you need a good job you wouldn’t consider it. I believe that it is the same with every choice you make. It will always be slightly influenced by emotion. Otherwise why would you even be needing to make a choice?

So maybe there isn’t anything wrong with crying in a good movie, singing along to sappy songs and smiling, yelling at inanimate objects for existing just for me to trip on or laughing out loud at myself. Don’t get me wrong I think it is very important to be logical but let’s also embrace our emotions no mater how zany or odd they may seem and stop being so scared of others reactions. Today lets call up an old friend, go cliff diving, run 3 miles, write a ridiculous blog, or kiss someone you love all just because you feel like it. Be emotional. Life seems so much more fun when you let go.

Valentine's Day You've Got Potential

2009-02-01T14:35:00.000-08:00

There are many stories about howValentine’s Day came about. There's the story of a martyr and a bishop by the names of Valentine but there was nothing romantic in their lives. Perhaps the holiday was named after the Saint Valentine who after being rejected by his mistress cut out his heart and sent it to her. Although it’s a interesting story, it doesn’t explain how the holiday turned into a pink doily covered lovefest.

I think Valentines day has the potential to be a great holiday but like always, the world has changed it into something else. In this case a gushy romantic holiday. Now I might be slightly biased because I had such a horrible Valentine’s day last year but I think Valentine's Day could have some improvements. Valentine's Day should not just focus on the couples and those in love. I think on Valentine's Day, everyone should show their love towards everyone they love. Sure you can focus on the one you love the most (husband, wife, boyfriend/girlfriend, fiance, etc.) a bit more than the others, but I think you should let others know you care too.

I also think there are so many different things that you could do to express their love for someone that doesn’t consist of anything pink, glittery, lacy, covered in hearts or even chocolate. For instance, one of my friends gave his wife a bonsai tree for Valentines day instead of flowers. Another one of my friends gave his girlfriend some of the classic books she loved that were not overly gushy Twilight romantic. Some of these books included The Ideal Husband by Oscar Wilde, and The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy. Last year I watched my cousin take his girlfriend to the Zoo and an art gallery, then found a very small random but cheap Indian restaurant to have dinner. He also bought flowers not only for his girlfriend but also for me and my mother. I look back and think how much better that was than the dinner at Chef's Table--the one everyone else is doing. I think Valentine’s Day is a fabulous holiday as long as you consider who you really should be sharing it with, rather than what the rest of the world is doing or what is considered 'traditional'.

Perhaps this year, we should all relax, breathe, and not not stress like we do about every holiday. Let’s enjoy Valentine’s Day.

BYU Newspaper The Daily Universe

2009-01-30T14:46:00.000-08:00

I just received this email earlier today and was glad to think I was not the only one who thought the same about The Daily Universe's constant bashing on Obama. I am glad that my friends in the BYU democrats club agreed with me at least a little bit about the negativity and I would like to here what you think.

Viewpoint: Choosing to hope

By Hyrum Salmond and Steve Pierce

Jan. 20, 2009 will go down as one of the seminal dates in American history. The inauguration of Barack Obama as our first African-American president is a landmark moment for a country once stained by the dark mark of slavery and subjugation, regardless of one's political preferences. The American people should be rejoicing in this moment; in fact, many across the country are doing just that. Yet, for some reason, such cheer and optimism has not been on display at BYU, particularly in the pages of The Daily Universe.

We could not help but notice that the "Voice of the Brigham Young University Community" has been singing a decidedly minor tone of late. For example, take Jeff Nielson's recent diatribe of acid-tongued faux optimism. Mr. Nielson would have us believe that President Obama is a real-life "Manchurian Candidate," created and fostered by a vast media conspiracy, who will undoubtedly show his true colors and destroy our country within moments of taking office. (Miraculously, we are all still here.) Likewise, numerous other items in recent editions of The Daily Universe have been cool to the president (at best), while always adding a hasty and seemingly insincere postscript of "hopeful support."

For these naysayers, we have only a few questions: Why so blue? Why attempt to cut the man down at the knees before he even takes his first steps? Shouldn't we allow the man to make a few decisions before proclaiming certain doom for all humanity? All American presidents win their fair share of critics: it is the nature of the position. When one man is given the responsibility of making so many tough decisions, some people are bound to be disappointed and even downright angry. However, is it really prudent (or fair) for us to hamstring the man before he has the opportunity to either delight or disappoint us?

For a relevant analogy, imagine yourself newly married: the certificate is signed, the vows exchanged, the cake consumed. Now imagine waking up on the morning after the wedding, rolling over to face your spouse in bed, and promptly informing him/her that you think the marriage is going to be a complete and unmitigated disaster. When your spouse, obviously taken aback, asks in bewilderment what he/she has done to warrant this prognosis only one day into the marriage, you respond by saying that you find him/her simply incapable of carrying on such a relationship. When asked why you feel this way without any correlative evidence, you can only respond with a juvenile variation of "Because I said so."

Apply this marriage analogy to our new president: He has been in office for one week. He has not yet passed any major policy initiatives, issued any highly controversial executive orders or probably even flossed his teeth. In short, he has not been given the opportunity to actually do anything to merit criticism. And yet, we still have our own personal chorus of cynics predicting political Armageddon in the pages of a student newspaper. The question remains: Why?

The real truth is that cynicism is easy. Optimism and faith, by definition, require hard work and perseverance. The naysayers simply aren't willing to make those sacrifices. It is far easier to sit in a dingy dorm room and contemplate fantasies of imminent destruction, regardless of rational proof. It is harder to hope: to get out and do your part, to believe that you can make a difference and that things can (and will) change for the better. These things are difficult and they take time, but they are ultimately rewarding. We choose to believe in these principles, to hope for a better tomorrow and, in so doing, to believe in America. We hope that our fellow students will join us in this belief.

Hyrum Salmond is president of the BYU College Democrats. Steve Pierce is the vice president.

Crown Apartments

2009-01-29T13:57:00.001-08:00

Over the past six months or so I have been living in Crown Apartments #2. It has been one of the best and worst experiences of my life. This has been my first time living out on my own and not staying with my sometimes overly emotional and strict parents and not being under their roof has been a little nice and relaxing. Another great thing about living at crown was that I had the opportunity to live with one of my best friends Cherie. Everyone warned me about living with a friend but if there was anyone I could have lived with it would have been her. We had a great system to everything from food, to clothes to bathroom time etc. It was also really great to watch her meet Brenden her new husband and spend hours at night when we would get back from hanging out with Warren and Brenden and just talk. But once Cherie moved out and the magic of freedom from my parents wore off I began to realize how crappy of an apartment Crown really was.

Most people would say that all student housing is bad but Crown is so bad that they lost their contract with BYU and now most of the girls in the complex are moving out. The management is horrible to try to get a hold of unless you bring your scary father and have him yell at them and tell them to do something. And even then they only just put down a plastic sheet over a huge leak. So here is my evidence of the horrible condition Crown Apartments is in.

Pic of my door that does not close due to the water it has absorbed (the bathroom door doesn't close for the same reason)
This is a pic of the huge bubble that popped and drops mold on you when you shower
Hole in the wall that they just cut to see if there was mold in the walls. Guess what there was in every one of the 3 holes they made.
Some of the floor that is soaking wet from the leak that has been there for 3 weeks now and they still haven't come to fix or even come to look at it for over a week now.
Now I did not include pics of the mold spores growing on the walls or the yellow wall in our kitchen or the many many more things at the apartment but i'm sure you've got the point. And I can't wait to move out.

Queen Klutz

2009-01-26T20:37:00.000-08:00

(Pic of Cut on my face from falling into a wall)

The other night having a conversation with Warren I started thinking about myself and how I am very klutzy. Warren was nice enough to put it as “I don’t think you’re a klutz, I consider you just as very unlucky and if you slowed down you would be fine”. It made me think of how inconvenient it really has been to always be falling, tripping, dropping things, running into innocent people, inanimate objects and more. So, today I have started really paying attention to this and realized all of the things that I have to do in order to make sure I don’t hurt myself on a day to day basis.

It began in the morning on my way to work. I had to take a longer way around my apartment to avoid the ice because I always slide around as always, and walking up the stairs I had to hold on to the bar and focus on every step If I looked up I was for sure going to face plant. While at work I had to make sure I always had to double check my footing when washing the floors and pick my feet up extra when walking across the textured carpet (And yes I do trip on textured carpet as pathetic that may seem). This continued throughout the rest of the day from having to make sure I had something to hold onto when stepping up on a chair to get something just incase I lost my footing (which I did) to checking my shoe laces every ten minutes while walking around campus. I had never really noticed that I naturally took so many precautions.

Honestly I didn’t even notice that I was very klutzy until I started dating Warren about 8 or 9 months ago and he would always point out my numerous “spills” where as everyone else I knew would normally not even think twice because it was so frequent. I noticed that I did trip and stumble more than the people around me but I never really noticed that it was so much more than normal.

So, in conclusion I have made it one of my goals for this year is to become more coordinated. This seems so silly being a dancer and all and not being graceful except for when in dance shoes but I think with enough determination I can do it. So please wish me luck, because I will need a lot of it!

Random Observations

2009-01-21T12:39:00.000-08:00

In my life I have met hundreds and thousands of people and I love observing them all. There are so many things that I have picked up on by watching--my favorite is to find out things my friends will do. I have one friend who loves to tell me stories and I can always tell what is going on in her life because the stories she tells become more descriptive the closer they parallel her life. It's also true with the parts of the stories that come with explaining how she feels. This has always fascinated me.
There are though, certain people who abuse that they can see other’s weaknesses. After leading them on and gaining a trust with you, they begin to talk as a friend to you, giving you advice in such a way that is really just one insult after another. I'm sure this is weak attempt to build themselves up. I once gained a friend who did this to me and I am glad I realized it before he hurt me too badly emotionally. He instantly drove into our friendship asking me personal questions that didn’t push me away but made me believe that he sincerely cared for me.
People truly fascinate me. The way everyone reacts differently to a same situation, the way people present themselves to others, the way that one forms an opinion-- it all maddens my imagination and I love to think and figure out how everyone works.
Right now I am sitting at a table across from someone who fits the BYU pretty boy stereotype perfectly. Great gelled hair, an fashionable Aeropostal shirt, jeans with perfectly placed holes--obviously purchased that way. He just got off the phone with someone and it seemed like a very serious conversation. Now he is sitting silently listening to the piano playing in the background and staring off with his arms crossed with a completely blank look on his face. I cannot tell if it is sorrow, remorse, worry, anger, or just lack of interest that makes him so taciturn. It is people like these, along with the eccentric and overly flamboyant people, that make me want to write millions of novels.
I find myself looking at strange people much too often and telling those with me that I want to write about them. This often freaks them out and I hope I haven’t done the same to you in this blog. I love people! I wish there were more to see, remember, and capture in my mind.

Beauty

2009-01-05T18:49:00.000-08:00

What makes someone really attracted physically to others? I know that there are all of these things that draws people to the beautiful, but what really creates that desire to be around those who look 'good'? Why is it so import to want to date, be seen with, become friends with and marry attractive people? Is it really about the aesthetics or is it embedded with pride?

I understand that people enjoy looking at the people they are with, but other than that, why do we crave to surround ourselves with the most perfect looking people? Why do we spend millions of dollars on looking 'good'?

The average American an will spend $130 per month on clothes alone. Now I am not really one to talk when it comes to buying clothes because I do like to look good. (Again, who doesn't?) But there's no way I spend that much on clothes.

Sometimes I get the feeling that people think of me as trying to look good because I am trying to prove something to others--like I'm just trying to impress everyone. The truth is that when I feel like I look good, I feel good. I actually spend a little more time getting ready before I take a test. It gives me an extra boost of confidence and makes me feel good. Because of this, I'm more apt to understand why people like to look good. I don't, however, think I could ever come up with a good of enough reason for why people are so addicted to beauty and why we obsess over it.

All I can hope for, is that one day I won't ever become obsessed and driven by the need to look beautiful or surround myself with those do. I do hope that the world will realize how in love they have become with something that changes every season. I know it won't (I'm not that naive). The best I can do is to not become a beauty monster myself.

Blissful Christmas

2008-12-15T23:36:00.000-08:00

Every year I feel the magic of Christmas gradually fading. It makes me sad because I have a love for the magic season. I love Christmas more than I love dancing, books, clothes, and almost more than boys (sorry Warren). I love everything about Christmas: the tacky lights, the over sized homemade ornaments, fires, eggnog (which, by the way, is the only thing I can drink until I get sick and then go back for more), mistletoe, Santa stories, generously frosted Christmas cookies, claustrophobic kitchens and even the snow (we are are really good buddies now).

For an unknown reason, the magic of Christmas was beginning to come back to me this year.

I was determined to figure out why I originally lost a lot of the Christmas magic, I realized I think I was trying too hard to feel it in the first place. The magic of Christmas just has to come natural to you. If you pull on it too hard and want it too bad, then you’ll have a hard time surrounding yourself in its rich nutmeg smelling warmth. Don’t pull on it too hard, or you may not get it.

Perhaps it could also be partially due to the fact that this will be my first Christmas living away from home. Of course I’ll be driving the 2 miles to my parents house every day during the holidays, and doing such I’ll be listening to the sweet Christmas joys of the Duerden household. Typically, these include the arguing of my mother wanting my father to stop being such a Scrooge and my father retorting back that he needs to get his grading done, otherwise next year there will be no Christmas. Then my mother telling my sister Shannon and her husband that they can’t smoke in the front yard anymore because the neighbors are walking by. Maybe the fact that I have been away from all the Christmas preparations so far, I can finally begin to feel the excitement and magic. Up near BYU all there are right now is stress from finals and excitement that comes with the end of the semester. There are decorations here and there, but mostly all you hear are people being hushed by others all over campus by students trying to memorize every fact about existentialism, excretion, endoplasmic reticulum—the basic college stuff.

Could the reason for this newly found excitement be that now I am becoming less crazy and wild? Maybe now I can finally focus on the good and wonderful things about Christmas.

Whatever the reason is, I’m just glad I feel it’s here. This year I can feel Santa’s laugh and I know I am happy for the holidays. What a great excuse to spend a great time of year with the people you love.

Isn't Love Lovely?

2008-12-08T00:17:00.000-08:00

Seeing my roommate and one of my best friends get ready for marriage has made me really start thinking about love. My roommate met her now fiancé at church and a short 5 weeks later became engaged. After a two-month engagement they’re finishing off the final touches to their wedding taking place in a couple weeks. After knowing this guy for two weeks, my roommate seeking advice (after she concluded that she was in love with him) as to how she could find out if the feeling was mutual.

Now I have dated my fair share of guys and so I believe that was the reason she was asking me this question, but honestly there is no answer to that in my own opinion. Saying I love you should never be taken lightly. However, I think that if you are in love it should be easy to say and not something to stress about. Of course, every relationship is different and there really is no right answer.

One thing I find amazing about love is how many different kinds of love there are. I remember when I was little my brother, mother and I were sitting in the car and driving away from the airport. We ] just dropped off my father to go to London for 3 months. My mother seemed very sad and my brother picked up on this. He asked her why she was so sad? He didn’t understand because he loved my father too but wasn’t as upset as her. My mom explained to him, “Eric, there is a difference between loving someone and being in love with someone”.

The feeling of love is different in every circumstance. Think about all the people and things you love and the different ways in which you love them. I love my father, my bonsai tree, friends, macaroni and cheese, Shakespeare, black and white romance movies, dancing, running, Depot Bay Oregon, my freedom, recalling happy memories—and all of these I love with very different feelings. I think one needs to be careful not to fall in love with anything or anyone too deeply to the point of irrationality. A friend of mine told me a couple of weeks ago, “You should be in love if you get married, but you shouldn’t get married just because you are in love”. There are so many things to think about and consider when it comes to dealing with love rationally. In my opinion, love is the most important emotion and is powerful enough to fully engulf you. One needs to be careful and not let it take control of your logic.

I may be what some people call a ‘romantic’, however I think that there should be certain precautions when dealing with something as fragile as love. To find love, you should seek it out in every way possible. I’ve found that when I surround myself in and with love, then I find everything and everyone loving me back.

2008-12-03T19:04:00.001-08:00

View all Provo events at Eventful

Fhrenheit 451 and Stinky Salmon

2008-12-02T13:07:00.000-08:00

So this might be mostly fiction but enjoy.

My family loves each other. We most likely always will. However, my mother’s attempt one summer to bring our family all together by going on a two-week trip could have pulled us apart. You see, my family is not your average Provo Utah Mormons. We are very mush the opposite of the conservative ridiculously large in numbers, Bush-loving republican hunters. There are one of the only things (outside of basic human needs) that bring us together.
I was excited to get way from Provo and take a nice trip to the Oregon Coast but my sister Annelise started changed that we I started walking down the stairs.
“Is it really necessary to wear make up, do your hair all cute and dress up nice when you’re planning on spending the day in a car where no boys will see you?” I had known it was coming as i had knows it would be coming every morning, but the repetitive and obnoxious manner in which she nagged me bothered me nonetheless.
“Sorry, just a habit now,” I said too tired to explain that just as she preferred to wear no make up (because she believes it exploits all woman and gives more of a power advantage to men over us) i prefer to wear it. Annelise, who had gone to Palestine and tagged the wall with Langston Hughes quotes translated into perfect arabic preferred to “save the world” and writing poetry and novels.
“Lindsay, don’t listen to her,” I heard my brother say, jumping to my rescue from behind the living room doors we stood in front of, “I think you look very sexy today.”
“Why thank you”, was my reply and I opened the door to see him sprawled out across the largest couch, with his moccasins, grey skinny jeans, tight blue t-shirt with an underground indie rock band name and a dinosaur on it and one inch gages in his ear. He resembled the exact opposite of my sister standing next to me, now with a frown on her face.
My mother running down the stairs and into the kitchen said, “Eric that was very inappropriate. Don’t refer to your sister as being “sexy”, of anyone in that case,” she said with a revolted look on her face. “But at least good job at being positive, although Lindsay, your sister is right, I mean you didn’t need to bring more than your father, sister Eric and me in luggage”. I thought that was no fair since Eric was bringing his guitar and all of this art supplies.
And then with my sister’s smile returning to her face i replied in a sarcastic tone, “Well, I had to bring me stilettos just in case we fun into Brad Pitt and he asks me out for dinner.”
Although I had to admit I did pack a lot, but my bags were not full of large amounts of clothes but C.D.’s, movies, a personal DVD player, a journal, writing book, sketch pad, about eight books ranging from poetry to science fiction to How To Do Ti Chi, four fashion magazines, who Ipods, and absolutely anything else that would keep me distrackted and enertained while on the two-week long trip.
Normally our family goes on trips to England and fills up our time wth castles, catherals, plays, the Shakespearean houses and more, my father guides us through it all reading the original Latin plus Middle English as we go and translating it to us correctly (unlike the signs that are often so very incorrect). But this yearit was my mother’s idea to finally have a vacation where we were to do absolutely nothing. We might go out and go whale watching and maybe shopping but there was no real need to so anything at all.
Trying to avoid another obnoxious conversation I sauntered into the kitchen to see if I could help my mother with packing the snack basket. I could tell when I walked in by her slumped shoulders and teary eyes that this might not be a good idea. I’d just seen my father leaving with big paw prints on the shoulders of this favorite King Lear shirt to take the dogs to the kennel. My mother loved our two German Shepherds so much that I though she was going to explode when my father told us that we had to leave them behind because the resort did not allow pets of any kind there. She did not only love the dogs, although she’d written articles on how to save them, and of course gone out and done just that. We have had numerous pets from a blue and gold macaw to hedgehogs, and she frequently told people about how the only reason for having bable was ffor Animal Planet although no other animals could match our dogs. Quickly turning on my heels and leaving her to mourn alone i walked back into the living room where my second sister Shannon now sat on the coach opposite my brother.
I could not see her face from behind the Quantum Physics book she was holding up to her nose but could imagine her thick glasses and slightly squinted blue eyes concentrating hard on the pages in front of them. Her shirt read “Heisenberg might have been here.” After I had repeated her name a good four times she finally recognized my existence and smiled at me for a brief second before popping back down into her book.
My father pulled into the drive way and I was finally able to have some task to keep myself busy and not think about the melancholy trip that was about to take place. After loading the car and piling into it I put my head phones on and tired to ignore the sounds of my brother’s snoring, my sisters deep conversation on Bush’s empty efforts to prevent global warming, and my mothers yelling at my father because he had not noticed her telling him to stop and pull over because there was stray dog in the road because he was too absorbed in his book he was reading while driving.
When I woke I could feel the sun shining brightly on my face. I looked up to see my reflection in the window of the car and the scenery passing behind it. Everyone was peacefully asleep or reading quietly. Peace warmed me and i fell back into unconsciousness. We stopped three times to take bathroom breaks and eat meals at some local cafes. I could tell we were getting closer by the rising amount of fish on the menus.
We finally stopped at a hotel to rest after ten hours of driving and we all fell straight into bed. There were not even any arguments over turning the lamp off because someone was reading and Eric had stopped saying outrageous things just for the sake of shaking things up. Sitting in the car all day and doing nothing for some reason had strangely exhausted all of us.
The only change in the nest day form the last was that we all switched seats, and it felt as dull as ever until we finally reached it-the ocean. It was wide and dar the cloulds lingered closely aboive it waiting until the sun went down to mesh with the waves and the currents. My mother insisted on opening all of the windows so we could smell the fresh sea air and when we finally reached our resort she insisted on leaving the windows there open too, making our little apartment about fifty degrees and everyone freezing but smelling the ocean breezes.
We all stayed up quietly watching the ocean rock our minds land imaginations to sleep. It was peaceful and careless. The ocean did not care about war, the president, the Middle East, or any politics for that matter (except maybe global warming). It didn’t care about books, German Shepherds, Quantum physics, or even “Branjolina”. We all fell asleep on the floor next to each other depending on the other’s body heat.
The next morning while eating our cereal my father came in from the balcony coughing.
“The neighbors on the porch next to us are smoking cigars and blowing them, I think purposefully at us into our open windows.” He seemed a little shocked that someone would be so inconsiderate. But my brother, two sisters and I loooked at each other and smiled. It was the beginning.
“Mum, you don’t happen to have any perfume with you do you?” said Eric after he had peeled his eyes away from ours.
“No Eric, you aren’t going to spray them down with my perfume!” my mother responded as she frowned.
“I swear I wont spray them. I will just spray it in their direction. If the wind is blowing in the right direction it will carry it..”
“ERIC I SAID NO!” But we weren’t done trying yet.
“Um. Mum, I was wondering if you brought in that fish from the store last night. I wanted to thaw it for tonight. You don’t mind if I cook for you today do you?” My dear sister Shannon was always great at getting her way and being brilliant at it too. My mother of course was not a stupid person and could see the truth right away but just smiled and went into the freezer and pulled out two cod and one salmon.
“Thank you, just make sure that you open up the package a little and place it under the sun on the patio table closets to the neighbors. I think it will thaw better there.”
We all rushed outside, and placed it exactly where she said and waited until we hear their complaints, and still left it there. Shannon explained the thawing process and what biological breakdown was occurring to cause the release of the chemicals causing the odor.
Soon they were blasting music and so we decided to play karaoke and have a pillow fight and dodge ball with the wall we shared with them. At this point mother, father, sisters, and brother call joined in and planned what was to be our last and final attack before they checked out.
My sister having visited the used bookstore had found an old copy of Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 for fifty cents and when our neighbors left to go swimming Eric and Shannon distracted them on their way our by saying that there was some animal in the dumpster and thought it had bitten one of them. While trying to move around my family members and ignore what we knew they would think of as a brank, my other sister Annelise and I slipped into their room and jumped into the coat closet behind the door as they began to shut it.
Annelist with book in hand walked over the microwave and I rushed over to the balcony to watch the pool. We waited a few minutes, hearts pounding and adrenaline rushing, as we waited for them, and then I saw them, large white balls splashing water everywhere in the pool and then float almost helplessly.
“NOW!” I whispered loudly to Annelise and she placed the book in the microwave and turned it on high for three minutes.
We were forty three seconds into when Annelise’s cell phone began to vibrate, she was about to turn it off when she noticed it was my mother and picked it up so fast that she almost dropped it.
“Foury five seconds and counting Mum...yeah..it’s already on fire. The smoke’s covering the room. I know you said no but I can’t really stop that now..what?! Good frick! Yeah, were coming now!”
We both ran out onto the porch, praying that we didn’t get caught and hopped over the small fence and ran safely inside our apartment. Right as we closed our porch door we heard the beginning of the screaming.
And as our family sat together watching the ocean and reading our books in peace an quiet except for my mother’s interruptions on occasion to explain the vibes of the whales n the ocean, I realized, I love them. It was on odd feeling to be so happy and content with being a part of a crazy democratic, Shakespeare watching, anit-war family sitting all together with our individually, pre-ordered from one thousand miles away, copies of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. And I knew as I know today that even something so simple as a old copy of Fahrenheit 451 can bring a family as strange as ours together.

Leftover make up and nostalgic nights

2008-11-30T13:50:00.001-08:00

In the morning (or afternoons, lately), when I wake up, one may tell what happened to me the night before by mere observation of time and appearance. If I wake between the hours of 8am-10am, this means I had a very boring night and retreated to bed early, due to lack of happening events. (This happens very infrequently). If I wake between the hours of 12pm-2pm, I had a really great night full of friends, lots of exercise, good food, and any illegally obtained movie on the internet to put me to sleep when I get home around 3.

Now the time of when I wake up gives subtle indicators, but the biggest giveaways are my hair and smeared makeup. If I have a good night where I stay up long past the time I naturally would have fallen asleep and exhausted myself, I wake up in the morning looking exactly the same way as I did when I hit the sack. I am normally so tired that I don't move at all in my sleep. It's the smeared makeup on my face and pillow, as well as my messy, unpredictable hair that gives away a restless and uneasy sleep.

Nighttime seems almost magical to me. Deep conversations flow easily and emotions seem to float effortlessly in the air. Most people find my nocturnal habits peculiar, but I find them very suiting to me. I love the feeling of knowing most everyone around me is unconscious and dreaming. It's not that it gives me a sense of power or loneliness, but it makes me feel like the world has just naturally created a time for everything to sleep and me to think and write alone when everything is peaceful. This sense of nirvana is what I love and I find it awaiting me every night when I come back to my apartment. It feels like the nostalgia you get when thinking of your first kiss (the foot popping one), the first snow or summer nights with your friends.

Thanksgiving+Family=Bleached Burned Fingers and Inappropriate Jokes

2008-11-26T15:35:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving+Family=Bleached Burned Fingers and Inappropriate Jokes:

My least favorite part of every holiday is the preparation. For those of you who might know my mother (which I am sure is a lot due to her teaching Jr. High and High for for many years) might have seen a little glimpse of her obsession with cleaning. Now I love my mother but I do see that she has a slight problem with wanting to see her reflection in everything from the table to the floors to to to dogs. She loves everything to glitter and smell either like Mr. Clean or bleach at all times. Whenever a holiday comes around the cleaning begins.

Now most people when cleaning a house will vacuum the house, wipe down the counters, put everything away and make sure that the bathroom that will be used by quests is clean. This is very normal, but for my mother this isn't even close to clean enough. All furniture is moved cleaned and cleaned around, windows are removed and cleaned, spices are re-alphabetized , the tile is bleached down and brushed multiple times with at toothbrush, all the rooms are scrubbed clean (even the garage), all walls are washed from top to bottom, the dogs are shampooed 3 times and conditioned twice, and more. Now this might seem like I am exaggerating but I have done all of these chores in my life, preparing for the holidays.

This holiday season, although I still do not live at home I have still been asked to come and help clean, which I am more than willing to do. So on my way to my parents house I made sure I had a full stomach, gloves to protect my fingers from the bleach (my mother didn't believe me I am allergic too even though it always makes me throw up), my iPod with full batteries and a smile on my face ready to spend at least 5-6 hours helping out.

After all of the cleaning is when my family can finally relax. My oldest sister Shannon normally sit and talks about her exciting chemistry, biology or math glasses or explaining how one should be able to receive an ecclesiastical endorsement from a tree, while her husband Ken tells inappropriate jokes or talks about the latest Quinton Tarentino film. There son Liam normally just plays on his own (Liam who once asked me when I took him to a museum at the age of 9 if i saw the irony of a cougar and a wolverine sitting next to each other and then when I asked if he wanted to be a cougar and go to BYU or be a wolverine and go to UVU like his mother to which he replied "Lindsay, I am going to Harvard to become an Egyptologist") or sits and listens to my father talk about politics (this year I believe it will hold more of a blissful note than the previous 8). My other sister, Annelise normally sits and voices her opinions along with my father and tells of her experiences in Palestine while my mother putters in the background finishing the 9 pies she is making for 13 people that will disappear somehow in 1 hour of finishing the feasts regardless of the extreme pain our stomachs are all experiencing. My brother normally sits next to me with his tattoos and gages pulling them out of his ears and trying to force other to smell them. We then argue until we are either separated or one of us locks the other in bathroom, but then they get to avoid doing the dishes.

All in all holidays are very eventful and full of many surprises. Although, my family is wacky and crazy I can not help but love the warmth of their love and laughter every holiday season. I am very thankful for them all and love them all dearly. I think if it wasn't for my family I wouldn't know how to bake amazing tarts, write better than a 3rd grader (at least I hope), swear at inanimate objects because they have failed me yet again, properly clean ceilings, care for animals weighing over 100 lbs and read Shakespeare for hours without ever getting bored. I love my family and I think that this Thanksgiving we should all take a break to look back at all of the reasons we love them, regardless of their political stances, tattoos, obsessions and their excessive amounts of emotions on insignificant matters.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!