You've Got Mail

My all-time favorite movie that I could watch over and over is You've Got Mail with Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks. The music is classic. The characters are perfect. The quotes are memorable. I was thinking about my favorite quote and looked it up on IMDb - the Internet Movie Database.

"Don't you love New York in the fall? It makes me wanna buy school supplies. I would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address."

So, using my favorite quotes from my favorite movie, here is an overdue update of what's up.

"People are always saying that change is a good thing. But all they're really saying is that something you didn't want to happen at all, has happened."
Here are the changes for me that I wasn't so fond of - new (used) car, new ward, new school year, new morning shift at work.

"I have you to thank for it. For the first time in my life, when confronted with a horrible, insensitive person, I knew exactly what I wanted to say and I said it."
This is why I like Teresa as a roommate. She's not horrible or anything, it's just that I can be totally honest with her.
 
"I'm going to get some eucalyptus candles 'cause it makes my apartment smell moss-ay!"
Haha. I just love this quote. 
 
"Sometimes I wonder about my life. I lead a small life - well, valuable, but small - and sometimes I wonder, do I do it because I like it, or because I haven't been brave?"
I'm thinking of coaching lacrosse in the Spring and I'm also training to be a docent at the BYU Museum of Peoples and Cultures. Both are volunteer positions, but I think it's time I start getting some new experiences.

"You think this machine is your friend but it's not."
My computer hates me sometimes.

"When you read a book as a child, it becomes a part of your identity in a way that no other reading in your whole life does."
And no reading can ever compare textbook reading. Ugh.

"You poor, sad, multimillionaire. I feel so sorry for you."
Haha. I love being a broke college student. Frugality takes on a whole new meaning.

"Do you ever feel you've become the worst version of yourself? That a Pandora's box of all the secret, hateful parts - your arrogance, your spite, your condescension - has sprung open? Someone upsets you and instead of smiling and walking away, you zing them? "Hello, it's Mr Nasty." I'm sure you have no idea what I'm talking about."
Yeah, this only happens around my family. Why do I feel obligated to zing them?


"The odd thing about this form of communication is that you're more likely to talk about nothing than something. But I just want to say that all this nothing has meant more to me than so many somethings."
This is how I feel about reading my cousins' blogs. It's nice to stay connected and know what's going on with everybody.

My Poor Car

My car is basically done for.
All the king's horses, and all the kings men, aren't going to pull this Humpty Dumpty back together again.

It'll be sad when it eventually gets hauled to the wrecker. I mean this car is a veteran. It went through our neighbors and their son Mark. Then Mark left on his mission, and my dad bought it to be passed from Steph to Corry to Jake to Teresa to me. It has been one of those classic, undependable teenage cars. Really, if you think about all of the parts we've replaced on it, it's basically brand new.

Not to get all sentimental about a hunk of metal, but so much of my teenage life was lived in that car. The trunk was always filled with lacrosse stuff and goalie gear. The backseat was like a second clothes closet. On the rear-view mirror I put up two solid promises that came out of fortune cookies. "You will soon achieve perfection," and "You will reach the highest level of intelligence." I'm gonna miss looking up at those before changing lanes.

The funniest thing is that much of my meager progress in high school came from a habit of praying before I turned the ignition. The thing is, I am a terrible driver and am not afraid to admit it. When I first got the car keys I thought I would be the death of some poor pedestrian, so I started praying before pulling out. That one habit made all the difference in high school.

Here is my car after Melissa got to it on my 18th birthday.

Here is a lovely view from my window after some kind person practiced aiming their BB gun while I was at the church.

Teenage cars, like childhood friends, are hard to let go of.

Well I just had the Scariest Adventure

As I sat here at my desk, ringing the water out of my hair, my friend Megan popped up on Facebook chat. She asked me what was up. This was my reply. Well I edited it, a bit.

I have been riding my bike between Orem and Provo for work since my car is dead...

Tonight I procrastinated until after dark to ride back home to my apartment. I was wearing black which wasn't smart, so the whole way across Orem I was being extra cautious. Then I reached the hill between 800 E. in Orem to that shopping plaza below, in Provo. There were NO lights alongside that section of university parkway. I found myself riding into a black abyss being hit by high-power, invisible sprinklers.

So I cried out a desperate "WHY?!" to the universe after getting a face full of water. I immediately felt foolish for hollering like that. But Oh well. I'm alone, right? Nobody heard me...

Just then I pulled alongside two other bikers, as my yell was still dying out of the air.

They laughed and exchanged the sort of pleasantries that made me realize that these folks were the scary type of hobos on bikes, smoking who knows what.

So I was nice but rode on ahead.

However, I couldn't really ride on ahead because I really couldn't see. I had to stop because the passing headlights were blinding me over the dividing wall, making the trail pitch black.

So then these nice scary hobos let me ride in the beam of the flashlights attached to their bikes. Because they were smart enough to have flashlights attached to their bikes, and they informed me that a person could be ticketed by the Provo Police for not having one. This was news to me, but I see the wisdom in it.

They offered to ride with me to my apartment, but I declined and declined and declined and declined. They weren't being pushy; I just get the feeling that whatever was wafting through the air from the end of their smoke was confusing them a little. The conversation was a little redundant and repetitive and redundant again.

Well my new friends and I parted ways, then I continued on to my comfortable, dry apartment and to a satisfying "The End."

Bridal Veil Falls

In Honor of the Holiday

 I could share some of my thoughts on patriotism, the American War for Independence, appreciation for military, or even just the importance of learning our history. However, I think that might bore you to tears, so I'll just share this wonderfully enlightening video.

Too Late to Apologize: A Declaration

What Cute Kids!

Mama's Apron Debut

Have you heard the rumors of my mom's aprons? Well they are adorable and their debut will be soon. Lucky you, you get a sneak preview. These are a few of my pictures of Benjamin modeling the boy version of her aprons.