and I'm back

Thanksgiving was amazing. Emily and I went home on the 22nd and just got back today. I love being able to go home for such extended periods of time. I had a paper to write and a bunch of reading to do and some worksheets. Did I do any of it? . . . Nope. This is what I did instead.

I'm alive!!

So, I'm alive--I miraculously survived the week preceding my journey home. Phew.

I'm surprisingly out of a blogging groove, but I'll try and work my way back into one. It's uncharacteristic of me to not post for a week and a half.

Needless to say, I'm home, I'm happy, I'm well fed.

I'll try and find my blogging zen and get back to you.

another first date

Last night I had another first date--I've had many many first dates. Last night's first date was with a guy from my New Testament class; his name is Luke. (Ha!) I didn't really know what to expect, but I ended up having a great time! We went up to Thanksgiving Point and went to the dinosaur museum, saw the ocean 3D movie there, and then went out to dinner at Chili's. Good activities, good guy, fun conversation, home by 10:00. (I hate it when first dates are marathon dates--getting me home at a decent time is a great idea.)

I was thinking that this would just be a first date, but I think that if he asks me out again that I'll for sure go. I'm going to feel this out, because I see potential. :) It's nice to have a good first date.

ode to a favorite pair of jeans

I love jeans in general, but I do have a favorite pair. They used to be my dressier jeans, but after countless times of wearing them, they're now my Saturday jeans.

I first got them when I was in high school. The dad of one of the girls in Young Women was a truck driver, and he was delivering a shipment to the GAP, and some of the boxes spilled and the merchandise fell out. The store couldn't sell it, so he got to keep it. I was over for an activity and left with a really nice, way cute pair of GAP jeans.

I love them. Every time I wash them and then put them on again, they fit perfectly. The boot-cut is ideal, the length quintessential. I wear them all the time. Now, they're pretty worn, and because of the hole in the knee, I call them my rocker jeans. I only wear them on Saturdays or on days when I dress up and come home needing to be comfortable. Even though they're holey Saturday (ha) jeans, they still look cute and can give my otherwise grubby look a certain nonchalant, casual flair.

Just last time I washed them, I noticed a fraying patch in the nether regions--distressing. I think I'll take them home with me in **6 DAYS!!** and see if Mom can prolong their life just a bit longer.


It's been at least four years, so it would be about time to toss them. I just can't. I need a pair of worn, nonjudgmental, loyal jeans--I'm not ready to give them up yet.

Okay, this is pretty hideous

I found one aspect of editing that I found hideous--like really hideous. Indexes. Ew. I love pretty much every facet of editing: I love the commas, the vague pronoun challenge, the small caps, the ins and outs of the possessive; but I hate indexes. It's the most tedious thing ever, and I loathe it. Half of our last test was editing an index, and I marked so many things and caught so many mistakes, and yet, I still miss enough to give me a high C for a grade.


It really is hideous.

last Sunday's project

Complete with pumpkin bread and Gilmore Girls.


10 days until we're home :)

an attempt at comment reciprocation

I am excited to have had comments from several members of the Woellhaf (that was a haphazard guess at the spelling--you'd think I could have that one down by now) clan; however, I cannot reciprocate because your blogs are private! I would love to be able to read your blogs and subsequently comment, returning the commenting done on my blog. If this be okay with you, just shoot me an email: charlottejane17@hotmail.com. Thanks! :)

my Sunday morning

Before:




After:

a starchy, splendid Friday

Here is my splendid Friday night all to myself:

Yes, I do starch and iron my jeans. I know. I'm serious. I love how they fit after such an iron and starch, I love how they smell, I love how crisp they are, I love how they make my butt look. ;)

How better to spend a weekend night in your apartment that you have all to yourself? Read some Jude the Obscure, read a Conference talk or two to speed along the psychological recovery from reading Jude the Obscure, pop in a disc of Gilmore Girls, iron your freshly washed jeans, and top off the evening with a hearty bowl of Dreyer's mint chocolate chip.

Voila: starchy and splendid.

not ideally beautiful

In my novel class, we just finished reading Middlemarch by George Eliot, and at the end of the book is one of my favorite quotes ever. I have countless favorite passages from countless books, and this one I daresay is my favorite of them all:

Certainly those determining acts of her life were not ideally beautiful. They were the mixed result of a young and noble impulse struggling amidst the conditions of an imperfect social state, in which great feelings will often take the aspect of error, and great faith the aspect of illusion. . . . But the effect of her being on those around her was incalculably diffusive: for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs.

Certainly those determining acts of my life are not ideally beautiful. Some of them are, and for those, I am truly grateful. Determining acts that are ideally beautiful are true blessings, but I think we can all agree that many--if not most--determining moments in our lives are not ideally beautiful. And that's okay, and we can push through our not-so-ideal moments.

This reminded me of my word for the year: become. My own becoming moments won't always be ideally beautiful, but they will be becoming moments. And in the process of becoming, I can take comfort in the idea that perhaps the growing good of the world is partly dependent on my own "unhistoric acts," my goal to "[live] faithfully a hidden life."

America

My absentee ballot never came. Because I registered when I lived in my last apartment, it went there over the summer and just slipped through the cracks. (The hairy couch in that place probably has it, actually.) I requested a new absentee ballot, which never came. So yesterday I donned my USA shirt and red patent leather headband to show my support for the election. I wanted so badly to vote and was initially pretty upset that I couldn't, but my not voting was in no way because of my lack of trying. Oh well. The election is what it is, and I am just grateful to live in a country where we have a say and where we have our freedoms. I prayed a heck of a lot yesterday for various issues and hoped that Heavenly Father could cast my ballot for me. Regardless of my political preferences, I do feel peace about the results, and I'm just glad to know that I don't have to be in charge of making sure that everything works out.

Katie sneaked an "I Voted" sticker for me since she knew I was sorely disappointed that I couldn't vote. I felt dishonest wearing it, but I did put it on my computer. :)

productivity miracle

As I'm sure you can gather from my couple of posts from last week, school has been crazy lately. I feel as if I'm drowning in reading assignments, papers to write, and sleep deprivation. I had lots to do for Friday's classes, and Thursday night after class, I felt so overwhelmed and inadequate. I saw such a huge and looming pile of responsibilities that I thought there was no way I could ever fulfill. I knew I needed to get started on everything I needed to do and decided to read my scriptures before I got started.

I took out my copy of Preach My Gospel and flipped to where I left off last time I studied from there. The section I read was about faith, and it had some scripture references at the end, so I looked them up. I read all of Ether 12. A few verses resonated with me:

verse 6: "I would show unto the world that faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith." I couldn't see a way that I could do everything, so I needed to exercise some faith.

verse 27: "and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them." I just felt so weak physically, mentally, emotionally--I don't have to feel that way.

verse 41: "And now, I would commend you to seek this Jesus of whom the prophets and apostles have written, that the grace of God the Father, and also the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost, which beareth record of them, may be and abide in you forever." I needed to seek Christ in my time of need.

After I finished reading, I knelt down and prayed that I would be able to accomplish what I needed to. I expressed my feelings of inadequacy, exhaustion, and state of being overwhelmed. I prayed for power, for a miracle.

When I sat down to start everything, I had the impression to take out my internet cable and turn off my phone. The night from then on out was amazing: I knew how much time I should spend on everything, when I should tackle each task, what to write. I finished everything I needed to in record time, and I was ready for bed before I had to register at midnight.

It was a true miracle. There was no way I'd ever be able to complete everything that was on my to-do list by myself. With Heavenly Father's power, I was motivated, inspired, and uplifted. My sour, pessimistic mood dissipated almost immediately. I felt strength from a source completely outside myself. I was able to focus, synthesize, and produce good work.

It was a miracle.

the fruits of my labors

After 5 1/2 hours in the library:

I wrote two papers and completed a take-home essay midterm. Phew! Thankfully, Emily happened to come to the place where I was studying, so we studied together while swapping Facebook messages alluding to our planned excursion to "High School Musical 3." (HSM3 was stellar, by the way.)

Unfortunately, 5 1/2 straight hours in the periodicals killed my brain so I wasn't able to finish my regular homework and assignments for Monday. Oh well. I wrote 14 pages of essays and tests, so I call that productive. And those hours just made me all the more excited for Emily's and my trip home in a mere 20 days from today!!

this is not my calling

I decided to apply for a summer internship with the Denver Post, and the application is due today. For the application process, I had to have the internship office send a test to the school that would be proctored for me. I took the test on Thursday. I felt pretty good about the first page, because it was just grammar and usage. Then I turned the page.

The whole second page was current events fill-in-the blank. No joke. I had to fill in the blanks on a myriad of current events. Some were easier: The Summer 2008 Olympics were held in _______. Michael Phelps won eight gold medals in ______. But then there were questions like this: Maksydfikasldf resigned as president of _________. Emansdfkasdf stepped down as prime minister of _______, although the two incidents were unrelated. I filled in maybe half of the blanks.

Then I got to the third page. One part had a bunch of people in the political limelight right now. I match up the people or events (e.g. the Republican 2008 National Convention) with the state where they're from or happened. Not regular matching, mind, but a blank map and I had to put numbers in the specific state. I think I only got a couple right on that one.

The second part of the third page had a list of six people who have passed away in the past year. Then there was a column with four slots of achievements. I had to match the "legend" with what made them famous. Because there were only four achievement slots, I couldn't play the process-of-elimination game. The only one I knew for sure was Charleton Heston

Needless to say, I think I'll look for other summer internship opportunities, ones that don't involve having to read the newspaper.