Some Things Are Worth Remembering

I used to be an avid writer. I have pages and pages of old school notebooks that were filled with things I liked to call "Ramblings". I'd sit at school, watch people, listen to people and write essays about whatever was on my mind at the time. While looking for something entirely unrelated in my filing cabinet, I came across a folder containing some of these pages that I had ripped out. It occurred to me that these chosen pages contained ramblings that I wanted to remember.

I must have been feeling ambitious this particular day when I wrote down a list of things I would do if I knew I could not fail. Here's what I came up with that day:

- Find a cure for cancer.

- Graduate with 4 minors, a double-major, and a 4.0 GPA. Just for fun.

- Sing opera at the Met.

- Record a CD.

- Write 100 songs that I was proud of.

- Paint portraits.

- Raise horses.

- Be a Concert Pianist.

- Make and Donate Substantial funds to struggling 3rd World countries.

- Write weekly publications in a community newspapers.

- Try everything.

- Climb Everest.

- Build my kids a treehouse.

- Restore a 1960's Woody Wagon.

- Create new computer programs.

- Fund Healthcare programs for deserving families.

- Adopt.

- Sail everyday.

- Dance on Pointe.

- Ace the LSAT and pass the Bar for fun.

- Be fluent in Spanish, Latin, Italian, French, and Mandarin.

- Own a flat in Barcelona.

- Participate in an Olympic sport.

- Read the 100 Greatest Novels, then compile my own list.

- Have a farm that was capable of sustaining a comfortable life with my family.

- Take my kids wherever they want to go abroad.

- Share the Gospel at least once a day.

- Live to see every element of my Patriarchal Blessing realized.

- Write a novel.

- Design an amusement park.

- Create an organization dedicated to showing each visitor how lucky they are to be alive.

- Have an orchard.

- Grow acres of sunflowers.

- Love freely.

- See the Seven Wonders of the World...and then discover the 8th.

- Know enough to write a delicious, gourmet cookbook.

- Know enough to write an Encyclopedia.

- Install rescued wood floors.

- Spoil my grandchildren.

- Make my own clothes.

- Be the best at making everyone feel happy.

While some of these very well could come true, most are things I will never do. I think that the beauty of fantasizing that your life will be everything you want it to be is that you can see just how amazing your life has already been.

I'm just looking forward to the next 22 years.

i figured it was time

here's an update. it's been awhile.

: summer of 2009 meant seeing the world. (or at least a good start). heaven smiled upon me and sent me on a wild 2 and a half weeks in spain, italy, and paris. jamie and i rode planes, trains, and automobiles along the way, (crashing 1 of the above), ate a healthy portion of margarita pizza, a more than healthy portion of gelato, loved the museums, rode the bikes, spoke the languages, and ultimately fell in love with being on the road. i couldn't have asked for a better partner in crime.

: the ushering in of a new year meant the start of my final semester here at byu. i am taking 2 classes, both of which i could have taken as a freshman. more often than not it is painful to go to class, and more often than not the lack of

parking on campus means i turn around and go home.

: i am still fully-employed by magleby's grill, a place i have come to know over the past 4 years. i seem to be a jack-of-all-trades and wait tables, manage the restaurant, help with scheduling, and as of last january, i am the wedding catering coordinator. tasting after tasting and reception after reception, i feel as if i can ably say i can coordinate the dickens out of any catered event. i will miss that place when i am gone.

: i have accepted an internship with amorology weddings based in oceanside, california.

this

means i will be invading the lives of my favorite minis, eden and charlie, and living with my overly-generous sister and brother-in-law. i couldn't be more excited to make the move right after graduation this april.

: i am, without a doubt, seriously digging my boyfriend. couldn't ask for a better mannish.

would it be all right to say that life is exponentially better when he's around? because i think that's pretty on point.

approaching each day knowing that things just keep getting better has made these last 6 months fly by, and it shows no signs of stopping. i don't mind that at all.

here's to a belated new year full of those moments that make everything worth it.

xo,

c.

amis je t'aime

i decided i like blogging

plus d'images

destroy everything you touch

So it's been awhile and although I wish I could say that I've been up to excitingly new things, I cannot. It's been the same-old, run-of-the-mill stuff like work and school that have been keeping me busy. 

However! Things are on the up and up. We're moving to a great little house that is owned by a more than decently talented music artist by the name of Joshua James and his wife Ashley, both of whom are the nicest people. It's a fantastic house and we can't wait to move in. 

Other than that, Finals are in full swing and I'm doing everything in my power to remain sane and remind myself that yeah, school is important, but ultimately not worth getting frustrated about. God bless my penchant for being laid-back to a fault. 

Other noteworthy news: I love my niece and nephew. God bless Eden and Charlie too. Gigi's 80th birthday party was a success and it was so good to be able to see the entire family in one place. Here are some pictures from the events. (good food, Anasazi petroglyphs, and salsa dancing...of course).

Venus In Furs

The weather right now is in its absolute prime. Nightly walks have never felt so refreshing! I hope I go on walks every night until I am dead. I would say every night until I’m too old to walk, but even then I think I would make someone wheel me around the block. Getting old terrifies me. I go back and forth between thinking that dying at a relatively young age is better than dying when you’re too old to remember yourself any other way. I suppose I’ll just have to find out what happens. If I could choose how and when I was going to go, then: a) I would be around 75 years old. That way my kids would all be old enough to have their own children, and perhaps I’d have some great-grandkids too. I’d have the satisfaction of knowing that my kids had successful families of their own, and my old mouth would smile just thinking about their successes. They would all be well taken care of and life would be going swimmingly for each of them; b) I would die in my sleep dreaming of stick fences and tall grasses in the wind. Or I’d be dreaming about all the incredible things I got to do during my lifetime. I’d remember lake trips, bike rides, horseback rides, the smell of saddles, eating peppers and hummus, climbing trees, building fires at the cabin, the color of the water in Kauai, the sound of my Dad’s voice when he was singing, all the best books I read, tennis games with Mom, catching tree-frogs, Penelope the chicken and Gato the cat, Gus and Gertie, kayaking on Christmas morning, dance class, and hopefully the sound of my kids laughing; and c) I would die in my huge and deliciously comfortable bed that had more pillows on it than anyone really needed, that had the softest white down comforter, and was placed on the exquisitely large porch off the back of my ranch-house, where I could feel the wind on my cheeks while I slept outside. If you think about it that way, dying isn’t such a bad thing after all, is it?