Strong Girl, Raised

My parents had only daughters, 2 of us. Their motto and reference for thinking in raising us girls was "Raise Strong Girls". They taught me to be smart, capable, and about what matters. 

Be Smart: My parents placed me in an environment, culture, and society where knowledge really is power. Learn, simply for the sake of learning. Read poetry simply because it invigorates your mind. The Church values knowledge and learning. Through this, also introduced to me and taught by my parents, I learned to value knowledge. Love to learn. I was taught that I have been blessed with a brain, and with that I have a responsibility to fill and use it. Their parents taught them the same lesson, and it was passed down to me. My poetry book is the same as one my grandpa has. His is heavily worn, all the pages read, spine held together by duct tape. I watch him slowly turn through the pages, reciting the poems printed on the pages, but not reading them. He pulls them deep from memory, from a place deeper than he seems to be able to access for other information. This, these familiar, learned, beautiful words are what he remembers. What you know is a solace, a comfort, a friend when all other things leave you. 

Be Capable: I learned to be capable, be independent. My place in the world is wherever I want to be. I have chosen to become a teacher, but eventually to stay home with my family. I was taught that what I can do is important. I need to have the potential to be completely independent. Should I need to support my family, and myself; I need to have the skills to do so. Throughout college I have taken classes in electronics, robotics, woodworking, sewing, cooking, finance, parenting, nutrition, interior design, among others. I am learning skills that I can use to take care of my family, if the need arises.

Know what matters: I learned that friends may come and go, but family is where time matters. I will always have my family and those relationships are more important than anything. I was taught to stay close to family members, help them, even when it means sacrificing something that I want, or time that I want to use elsewhere. The gospel matters. It also is more important than anything. Whatever happens, I will always have my family, and the Church.

Here I am, as a strong daughter, Raised.

A few of my Favorite Things

1. Yellow- I love the color as long as it is the right shade. I love creamy, softer yellows, not like caution signs or Wal-Mart Smiley faces. I have lots of yellow stuff.
2. Sunsets- My favorite thing to do in the evening, especially in winter, is to watch the sun go down. I will watch the shadows get longer and the light turn more blue and then I know it is time to say goodnight to the sun for the day. I love simple less colorful sunsets as well as the vividly colored ones.
3. Good bread-By bread I mean good French bread, or sourdough. Crusty and wonderful with cheese. I am fairly picky as to which breads I LOVE versus the ones that I like, but I know my favorites.
4. To lie in bed doing nothing knowing that you don’t have to get up yet-the feeling of things to do—but not just yet. The mild suspense of a day yet to come, but able to wait a few minutes.
5. Watching people-People are all so different. It is so much fun to just sit and watch what happens. The best is when you can hear bits of conversations, but just watching is nice too.
6. Blogs- This goes along with my love of watching people. Blogs offer a snapshot into the writers life that otherwise would be unavailable. I love to read blogs of people that I don’t know. I get involved in their life and they seem to become one of my friends although they have no idea that I know they exist.
7. Photography-I love to take pictures. If I had all the time in the world, one of the first things I would do would be to better learn how to take great pictures. Being able to present so simply what I see is such an amazing thing
8. Photographs- Looking at photographs, especially museum quality ones, is a love I seldom get to experience. Photographs are like paintings, but of things that the viewer knows really happened, not something pulled out of the imagination of someone. The emotions that are easily shared through a simple image can be so varied.
9. Getting letters in the mail- Knowing that someone took the time to write something and send it as a little surprise for me to find later just makes me happy.
10. Looking at the stars- to quote the song by Switchfoot, “when I look at the stars, I feel like myself” Looking at something that far away that is still so beautiful here is amazing. Also, looking through a telescope at the things that are so beautiful if you are willing to work to see them. Empty looking patches of the sky are really full of stars.
11. Spending an afternoon with a book and a bowl of popcorn- Being able to leave this world and enter the world of the book is so relaxing yet energizing, and the popcorn doesn’t hurt either. Learning about how others think and such helps me realize more about my own life.
12. Watching little kids- Kids have a totally different view on the world than older people do. Everything with children takes more time than if it were to be done alone, but letting them do their own thing, even just walking on their own instead of being put into the stroller is so fun to watch.
13. Smelling books- Books smell good.
14. Playing piano-Piano is my way to de-stress. Sadly, I don’t really have access to one very frequently, so I have to find other ways to calm down. The best is having a piano while nervously waiting for a date to come. Having a few songs that I can just play while my mind wanders helps a lot.
15. Going places with my dad- Even if it is just to the hardware store to get a few screws, I love going places with my dad. He seems to know everything about whatever I am wondering. He can explain all about things on a million topics. I guess I love just talking to him more than being in these places.
16. Ending a run-The end means it is over, meaning I started at some point but don’t have to keep going right now.
17. The silent sound of snow-This is one time I understand the sound of silence. The world is muted through the snow, all sounds are dulled. It is a special kind of silence that has as much presence as music does.
18. Beautiful architecture-The thought that goes into a design of a building, to make it unique, but functional. It is like a functioning, practical piece of art.
19. Going places- I love to travel. I haven’t ever left the U.S. but I do love the places I have been. Seeing people that I won’t see again, and the anonymity of being just another person is intriguing.
20. Pasta salad-Pasta. Italian dressing. Cheese. Olives. Amazing.
21. Clouds-They are always changing, but always have some sense of what they are. They change shape and color but they are still clouds
22. Plants- I love plants and flowers. Anything that grows. I am happiest when I don’t have to weed the garden around them, so indoor plants are so fun. I love buying flowers just for fun and arranging them. I also love having something that is alive from outside inside my room during the winter when everything looks so dead.
23. Going home- The feeling of being at home is great. I am blessed to have a good home that I can go to frequently and be welcome there. I love knowing where everything is and all the little rules of the house, like don’t sit on the arms of the couches, don’t put stuff on the piano, etc.
24. Words- I love to write, but rarely do so. I love knowing words and talking. I tend to talk too much generally, but I love words. I have been a voracious reader nearly since I started to read.

Snow Shoes

I went snowshoeing for my first time today. I got snowshoes last year but the snow got rained on and I got busy, so I never had the opportunity to go. I am blessed to live in a place where a fifteen minute drive from home takes me where I can go enjoy the outdoors. I really liked snowshoeing; it was a lot easier than I thought it was going to be. I was expecting it to be as hard as backpacking or something. Granted, I was on a trail where other people (snowmobiles, cross country skiiers, etc.) had all been, so the trail was fairly packed. I was passed by a jogger who was just in normal shoes and he was doing pretty well. It did get harder when I went off the path and into the looser powder and scrub oak. Clothing wise I was pretty comfortable. I had jeans, borrowed gaiters, a long sleeved shirt, a hoodie and my new Gore-Tex shell. It was cloudy, but not too cold. 

Christmas Lights

General Conference

What a great weekend! Getting to sit and listen to the Prophet and others speak for two days is wonderful. Conference sessions can be found here. I found a blog with really good notes on the talks here. Can't wait until next conference in April!

Life's too short to have a boring umbrella

Due to a large storm starting late yesterday and growing into everything a storm should be, there were lots of umbrellas on campus today. Walking to class this morning there were those who had umbrellas, those who wished they had one, and those who weren't awake enough yet to realize that they needed one. Oh, and a few like me who had a waterproof jacket and whose roommates didn't and they needed the couple umbrellas in the apartment more than I did. That pretty much covers everyone.
As I was walking, I noticed one girl had an umbrella. A rather large one. She saw someone who had woken up enough to realize it was raining, but not until he was outside in shorts and a t-shirt. She ran up to him and walked next to him, sharing her umbrella. I heard her introduce herself and walk towards the building he was going to. As they reached the doorway, she said "Nice to meet you" and ran off to class. I think the guy smiled the whole day.
Later, as I was walking back to campus for a later class, I had an umbrella. I don't know where it came from, it just was here in my apartment when I moved in. It is one of the cool ones with the pointy thing on the tip and the curved handle. The best part about it is that printed on the cloth-ey part is this painting, Poppies at Argenteuil. Makes for a pretty bright umbrella. Noticing the looks I was getting from my brightly colored umbrella, I started looking at others. For the most part, they are terribly boring! Black and navy were the most common colors! Where were the neons? the pastels? the Anything-but-black's? As if rainy days aren't blah colored enough, at least get a colorful umbrella.

Stormy Monday

They called it stormy monday,but tuesday is just as bad
Oh, they called it, they called it stormy monday,
But tuesday, tuesday is just as bad
Oh, wednesday is worst and thursday oh so sad

The eagle flies on friday now, saturday Ill go out to play
Oh, the eagle, the eagle flies on friday saturday Ill go out and play
Sunday Ill go to church, and I fall on my knees and pray

I say, lord have mercy, lord have mercy on me
But lord, lord have mercy lord have mercy on me
You know Im crazy bout my baby
Lord, please send her back home to me