America America

Last weekend I went hiking and camping in Moab, UT with two of my lovely friends, Halley and Sarah. We went to Arches National Park and then did some hiking in other nearby areas (BLM land that Halley taught me about!). It was glorious!

I needed that trip. It is so good for me to get out of Provo. And especially out of my office and into some of the beautiful natural places that are so close to me here in Utah.

While we were in Arches, we stopped into the Visitors Center and came across these awesome posters from the 1930s and 1940s that were promoting travel and tourism in the United States (see examples below). I bought a few postcard versions, because they were gorgeous. And they made me feel really lucky to live so close to some of America's great treasures--her mountains and valleys and canyons.



I have only lived in two states in my life, but within those two beautiful states there are so many incredible gifts of Nature to explore! Arizona, the Grand Canyon State, home to one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World!; and Utah, with Bryce Canyon and Arches National Park and Zion's and Capitol Reef and so much more (that I hope to explore a bit this summer!). I am a lucky woman. And while I love getting to visit other parts of the US and other spectacular places across the world, where there are more incredible marvels to witness, I would be quite ungrateful if I didn't pause to wonder at the beauty of all that I have right here at my finger tips!

I love it!

I'll take the side aches

... as long as they come from excessive amounts of laughter (or possibly excessive consumption of chocolate.. but that's another story*.)

Now, what you may or may not know about me is that I have an exceptional sense of humor. In fact, if you say something and I don't laugh, I can pretty much promise you it wasn't funny and never will be. And I feel bad for you, because I find most things funny.

I also really enjoy funny people. I have quite a few really hilarious friends (and I love them SO MUCH!). Just today I read three clever blog posts in a row (1,2,3), and I thought, "Gosh I'm lucky! I know so many funny people who make my life super great!"

But then I started getting a little depressed. Because while I am quite proud of my spectacular ability to appreciate humor, I also rather bemoan that fact that I don't have quite the same talent for creating laughter that I witness in my wittier friends. And I'll be honest, I hate them a little bit for it....

But anyway, the point of this post is, whether I am lucky or lacking, I love laughing! Thus, I'm sharing with you what those witty women wrote (see 1,2,3 above) and I hope you enjoy it (if you don't, I feel sorry for you)!

*Also, the real reason my side hurts is because
I bought a large bag of peanut butter M&M's for lunch today
because I was in a hurry,
and also, I really wanted them,
and I've eaten almost all of them over the past 4 hours.

Ooops.

What are you asking me for?

As I'm approaching yet another "turning point" in my life, I have a few decisions to make. You know, simple things like where to live, what job I want, what I want to study in grad school, who I am, where I'm going and essentially the entire course of my future. It should be easy.

One good thing about me is that I'm great at making lists. So I've listed out all kinds of future paths. I used to do this all the time my freshman year of college--you could pick up these class planning sheets outside of the counseling offices (and also lists with class offerings for all of the different majors and possible schedules in which to take these courses). I routinely grabbed stacks of these planning tools and filled them out in my spare time (i.e. instead of reading my text books). I had all kinds of plans to complete all sorts of majors, with a few slight variations-differences between taking English 215 in the Fall or Winter or between studying Social Work or Environmental Science; Creative Writing or Geography, etc. Each plan was perfectly scheduled-- and they all got me through college in a neat four years with a fairly well developed skill set.

Another thing about me is that I'm much better at listing and planning than I am at actually sticking to plans. (For evidence, please see my college transcripts.)

Now, I feel that this makes me sounds slightly aimless. And maybe there is some validity to that. Yet, on the other hand, I might just be really good at and interested in so many things it makes it hard to choose. It's just really hard to know which it is... maybe?

Anyway, I don't know about anyone else, but this is kind of how I feel about my life:

Or maybe, possibly kind of like this:

I'm not sure yet.

Wish me luck.

Je-ju

Somethings are just meant to be.

Jen also wanted me to tell everyone about our delicious dinner (that accompanied this picture):

We made falafel and tzatziki sause and ate delicious pitas. And also clementines and wheat thins. It was fabulous. If you want the recipes, try Google (that's what we did. But then, of course, we didn't really follow any recipe exactly, because that makes cooking too boring for me!).

Disorganization

is NOT a crime. But it can be an inconvenience.

Nevertheless,(after a week of searching) I found my Netflix movie! So all is well, even if I still haven't finished unpacking (or even moving my stuff from my old house into my new apartment) and my room is in a state of horrific disarray.

And tomorrow I will finally see "Turtles Can Fly."