Moving Day

Yep, I'm moving! To a cute little one-bedroom downtown in the avenues. I'm excited about it, for many reasons that I will explain later. Right now I'm sitting in my packed-up room, getting ready to pack it all away. What I'm not excited about is the freakin' freezin' weather right now--18 degrees! Never move in the winter.

Pictures and more to follow.

Free Time, For Now (Good News Post)

My cousin Phaedra informed me that I have a lot to blog about. And I do. But I've been distracted. By a few things, and they're all interconnected to each other. First of all, my nights have been spent wrapping presents. And watching Chuck. Just like the last time I took a break from blogging, I've been sucked in by a tv show. Basically, I'm easily distracted by beards.

I'm not proud to say this, but I spent a good portion of my day Sunday watching Season 3 of Chuck. I just had to know what happened. And because my free time is a commodity I want to take advantage of right now before things get busy, I don't feel bad about it.

You see, I was officially accepted into the Masters of City and Metropolitan Planning program at the University of Utah. Exclamation point! Or two or three. It was super exciting news, dampened a little by the fact that they are still classifying me as a non-resident even though I've been living in Utah for over a year and a half. But instead of dwelling on that, I'm getting the proper paperwork submitted and am looking forward to the (slightly) terrifying and (completely) exhilarating prospect of starting school January 10th.

So I'm going to be busy pretty soon. And am trying to soak up all the free time I have, time that isn't burdened by the stress of school work and projects, but instead by 12-hour marathon viewings of Chuck.

Christmas

So Christmas was two days ago, and my last blog post was like a week ago. Why haven't I been blogging? I'll tell ya about that later. For now, let me tell you about my Christmas.

Christmas Eve we made snowflakes and decorated the wall.



Christmas morning was spent opening all of these presents:

Before

After

And most of Christmas day was spent eating, taking naps, and giving ourselves carpal tunnel playing Guitar Hero (which the kids got from Santa, or dad. I'm not sure, but in the end it's all the same :))

Ivy got the Rapunzel hair wig and wore it all day.

The best moment had to be when Ivy opened her present of a calendar of Robert Pattinson. Now that it was true joy and happiness looks like.

Christmas truly is a lot more fun with kids. They were so excited they couldn't sleep, but Mo knew that the faster he fell asleep the faster Santa would come. Too bad they woke up at five and Emily and Jojo and her kids weren't coming over until 6:30. They somehow made it through the two hours of waiting (Jojo was late) and we opened presents. It was pretty awesome. Hope all of yours was, too.

My Car the Racecar

My car is old. It was made in 1988. I gave it the name Afton after my 97-year-old Grandma. It's rusty in a lot of places. It's rather boxy like all those old cars are (which I love, I don't like sleek). So when I was driving to the movie theater with Ivy, Elliett and Moses, shifting the gears like a pro now (for the most part) imagine my surprise when Mo said my car sounded like a race-car. It put a nice big smile on my face that his cute little self, who sees things so simply, thought my car was anything similar to a race-car. I sure love him.

Christmas Goodies

My Sunday afternoon was spent slaving away in the kitchen, making all sorts of goodies for Christmas for family and friends and co-workers. It started Saturday morning when I made fudge, which turned out quite well. I finished it up with making Peppermint Brownies and Sugar Cookies. It was made all the better with the wearing of my Christmas apron, and completed with a viewing of It's A Wonderful Life.





I have a few more things to make, but I think I'm going to give myself a break :)

Tangled With Kids

Saturday afternoon I took my nieces and nephew to see Tangled. Since this was my third time seeing it, I decided to mix it up and see it in 3D (even though I generally hate 3D). I thought the kids would like it, and I must admit that there's a certain scene in the movie that I thought would look pretty awesome in 3D. I was not disappointed.

It was fun to see the movie with kids and how excited they got about the 3D images! There were numerous times when they put their hands out and tried to touch the images! I think Ivy started crying at the emotional scene at the end when you think someone has died. She and Elliett were enthralled by the love story, little Mo liked the action and Flynn (so possibly Disney was right), and we all liked the humor (which isn't over-the-top for-kids-only that makes you roll your eyes).

And Ivy, just like me, wanted her picture taken with some upcoming releases that she's excited about.

I Miss the Sun

It seems we're in the dead of winter right now, and as I drove home tonight, at 5:15 and in the dark, I thought about how much I miss the sun. It's barely rising when I get to work, and all day as I'm stuck inside behind cubicle walls I miss it. When I go on my lunch break I stare out the big windows in the breakroom, wishing it were warm enough for me to sit outside. When it's finally time to go home, the sun is already set. Some nights I get the last inkling of a nice sunset over the mountains. But tonight, nothing but darkness.

Tangled Thoughts

Today I saw Tangled again. Yes, I had already seen it on Thanksgiving. But my mom's work hosts a movie every year for their employees and their families, and since the grandkids are currently partyin' it up in Disneyland, and because honestly I really wanted to see it again, I got to go. I went even though my mom was sick and didn't make it.

It's hard for me to explain why exactly I love this movie so much (my only complaint is that I wish they had kept the title Rapunzel). For one, it brings back that Disney nostalgia from my childhood, when my sister and I would watch The Little Mermaid over and over. I really feel like a kid when I watch it. As I've gotten older, and more cynical, I've had a tendency to deride a lot of the Disney movies and their princesses, who seemed to only want to find their prince. To me, life should be more about discovering yourself and traveling and learning than finding your prince. The Disney Princesses seemed to be the antithesis of feminism.

What I've slowly come to understand, though, is that feminism doesn't mean the opposite of being that girl who only looks for their prince, the girl who wants to be a wife and mother. It's about having the choice to do whatever you want as a female, and to not be judged by other women for your choices. Being a wife, a mother, a working girl, a singleton are all roles we can choose to have, and all are important.

Rapunzel goes on this great journey (albeit in two days) where she fulfills her dream, saves the guy, and handles herself quite well. Does she get the guy in the end? Yes. And there's nothing wrong with that. There's absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to find your prince. I'm 27 and I'm looking for mine and my happily-ever-after. But I'm also traveling, learning, finding myself. These are the things I'm supposed to be doing. I think most people want to find their prince/princess, and we shouldn't have to feel sheepish about it. I love that Rapunzel is daring and optimistic, driven and kind, loving and fearless. She's entirely her own person with dreams and goals, and it's just a bonus that along the way she also met her prince.

In case my words aren't making sense (it's sorta late and I'm possibly tired) here's some dude's thoughts on it that I agree with:

I see what you’re saying about wanting to have the whole idea of Rapunzel finding herself and being a self-sufficient woman. However, her having the happy ending of being with the prince does not negate her realization of her making her own destiny, i.e. upholding the ideology of feminism. I think people get confused in thinking that the girl finding the right guy and getting married = the girl sacrificing her independence and being dominated by patriarchal societal norms. But that is not the case. Feminism isn’t about women dominating men; it’s about women having choices, and if a woman chooses to be with a man, the way Rapunzel chooses to be with Flynn/Eugene, then she is being true to herself and her desire. And her having that happy ending is not an anti-modern notion, the way people seem to see it today.

It's also nice that her prince is funny, and has the voice of Zachary Levi, who totally rocks the beard.

Forgiveness

Forgiveness is amazing. When it's done from the heart and with real sincerity, it can have so much power. I really believe forgiveness is most beneficial to the one giving it. For me, it has profoundly affected my life recently. For about four and half years I've been holding on to a lot of things from a past relationship. While I felt I was over it, I wasn't aware of how much I had still been holding on to it until I truly forgave. It wasn't something I was actively pursuing. Well, at least not recently. I remember going to General Conference a year after the incident and hearing Elder Faust's talk, The Healing Power of Forgiveness. It struck me so deeply, and I wanted more than anything to feel that healing power.

But forgiveness, at least for me, didn't come quickly or easily. I wanted it to come with a snap of my fingers. Maybe if I had worked on it more earnestly, it would have.

And then just the other night, it came. It was so sudden and out of left field, that I wasn't quite sure what to do with it. I truly felt in my heart that all was forgiven. And with that forgiveness came a huge freeing--of my troubles, my heavy heart, my fears, and my inability to move past it. It was so powerful that I couldn't believe it had taken me this long to finally feel that forgiveness. I let the other party in the incident know my feelings, and it was nice to know that both of us have changed for the better since the incident and are working on our flaws. Cathartic doesn't even begin to describe the experience.

Forgiveness comes when you are ready. Some times it's a few months, other times it's a few years. But it's definitely worth it.