the blur: what a week.

this has been an extraordinary week of people.  the first week of school is always a reminder of how much i simply love to see so many different kinds of people every single day (in hindsight that is).  you see, while i love being flung into that consistent byu culture, which feels more like a melting pot to me than it probably does to most people, it's also a week of unusual adjectives.

this week, i laughed so hard i cried; i ate the most glorious breakfast - twice.  i almost brought a hammer to campus just so i could smash the microwave (jfsb basement) that i could not for my life figure out how to use.  there was a day that made me so sick to my stomach that i sprawled on my bedroom floor for over an hour before crawling into bed.  i reconnected with a few potential kindred spirits (on that note, i think it's about time for an anne of green gables marathon soon, don't you?).  although a huge improvement from last year, i found myself almost entirely lost three times.  i made several chillingly large decisions, with only the threat of tears.  i realized the possibilities tied to the fact that my twenty-first birthday is in two months, and the potentials almost made me hyperventilate.  i experienced that knife-to-the-back sensation when you understand that no matter how much you want something, the obtaining is completely out of your control.  i scheduled an appointment with the internship coordinator for next tuesday - talk about scary!  i awoke to a quarter-sized black spider directly above my nose, and i probably would have died if beth hadn't come along.  oh yeah, and i ran four miles (yay, me!).

i think that gives at least a feel for the emotional roller coaster this week has been.  after all was said and done, i now know where all of my classes are (not to mention the indoor track and weight room).  luckily, there were a few blessed people that stabilized my week a tad bit:

sprint boy: we could never really decide upon an approximate age, but he was hysterical.  after natalie's subconscious made the choice to put her phone through the washer, we found ourselves sitting for nearly an hour listening to his bored ramblings (on a friday night).  i very nearly gifted the flower sticky notes in my purse after he asked for the needed number fifteen times.

julia:  meet the beautiful italian waitress (who, of course, works at olive garden).  she gave us way more cheese than was wanted or needed and i loved her for it.  she called us "my love" in italian (we think), "her pretties," and told us more than once to "enjoy life and hold on to our credit cards!"  truthfully, through her incredible accent and flamboyant eye makeup, i caught only about two-thirds of what she said.

allison: a new friend in my advanced family processes class in a very similar life situation with the portrayal of an entirely more firm grip on life than i can admit to possess this week.  a short little conversation after class and my motivation and confidence in my decision-making ability bounced back up to a little above normal.  don't you love when you need someone to just show you that it's possible to take the next few steps and they land right in one of your classes?  i do.

so that's the week!  and now that i'm slightly more settled in a routine, i won't be doing anymore week-long sum-ups {hopefully}.  now to conquer the world!  ...and do some homework.  :)

happy birthday blog!!

on august 30, 2009

my blog was born.

well, the first post at least.  i was sitting around the edges of our family room with my sisters for much longer than a day during the actual creation and naming process.

in honor of paisley's first birthday, i'll share the incident that created her name.

it all started with hailey.  we read aloud to each other often, all different sorts of books.

we were in the middle of the eragon series (which i'm sad to say, i'm not a fan anymore).

it was the height of tension: a man tied to a stone slab and about to be sacrificed to evil beasts.

and then suddenly,

"he was stricken with paisley!

palsy, actually.  he was stricken with a palsy.  but hailey didn't say that.  she clearly (and intensely) read

"paisley."

and that was the beginning.

we laughed so hard we cried and our sides ached.

the mental image of huge patterned paisley-shaped somethings shooting from the rocks around the poor almost-sacrificed man was too much to bear.

the phrase sat patiently on a sticky note (attached to a magnet board) for almost a year before it became the monument of my record keeping and a constant reminder of sisterly affection {not to mention the persistent reminder of the good laughing at a silly mistake can make}.

the phrase evolved, with time.  it's become a symbol of what life (especially in college) can do to people.

all those bright colors spinning around you, so many and so close that you can barely make sense of it.

but when you back up,

you begin to see that it isn't really chaos at all.

it's a pattern.

unique

brilliant

all your own.

and then you realize your pattern isn't the only one.

sometimes it weaves in and out, through others.  mixing colors, picking up polka dots or stripes.

and that's just the beginning of seeing the real big pattern.

because after all, 

we're all stricken with paisley together here, aren't we?

week one in number 103

wow!  in the chaos of moving, this little blog journal has been neglected.  this past week has been such a flurry; it feels as if i've only been in provo a couple of days, and at the same time it's like i never left.  there's two constants in provo: couples holding hands everywhere and a non-stop steaming of owl city in all the restaurants and stores.

it's been almost one week {tomorrow} that i've been back.  i've opened boxes, gotten bruises, opened boxes, hung pictures, opened boxes, grocery shopped, organized my closet, bought my books, almost cut my little toe off, opened more boxes, put together an end-table, moved furniture, and ran around like a headless chicken most of the week.  i still have an incredible amount to accomplish!

looking back, i realized that one year ago tomorrow, i started this blog to document my adventures while attending byu, as one who was not so certain this happy valley idea was her thing.  in memory of my first post, written the day before the first day of class {today}, i'm taking a little walk down memory lane -- and staring over this year's brink a little as well.

first, read my first post.  now, here's some commentary:

i live across the street from the second level, moderate-sized apartment of last year, in the building with the frills (which i have decided look convincingly like pineapples).  i love the old houses with the broken shutters next door more than almost anything.  as it turned out, the convenient parking garage located beneath the complex of little 205 was a more hospitable place than i realized.  periodic break-ins, scary looking skaters, and glass from shattered windows soon became no surprise in the garage.  luckily for me, my little green punky brewster car was never harmed, nor was i.  provo still seems larger than a medium-sized city, although not quite like new york or hong kong.  i'll admit freely, i am still capable of becoming hilariously lost.  but after nailing down the few main roads (and carrying a map of campus around in my head and my backpack) things became much easier.

although changed considerably from last year, i am still not ordinary.

california-girl-beth lives next to my frilly pineapple complex in a quaint yellow house.  na li, who was as mysterious the day she moved out as the first day we moved in, is around town somewhere, still finishing her chemistry degree and, i imagine, still having midnight solitary fashion shows with her roommate's full-length mirrors.  natalie is with me still, thank goodness.  i can't begin to say how grateful i am that we're still living together.  we are still attempting to keep each other sane, and a little more healthy this semester.

this year, we've added two more girls to our apartment ingredient list.  beth, or elizabeth, is a kindred spirit and long lost sister that served in the same mission as natalie.  the day that a small public bus broke down in uruguay was a fateful day.  you see, natalie and beth were both on that bus.  i awoke to her singing yesterday and it made my heart smile.  she loves to make almost-vegan cupcakes with me, and lets me cuddle with her. genny, or genevieve, is beth's younger sister.  with six years between them and five between natalie and i, if you lined up all our ages, we could all be one big sister-family.  genny is a saint.  she brings a beautiful, sweet, calm presence that i prayed this apartment would find.  she did my dishes this morning, and if you know me, you know that almost nothing makes my day more than finished dishes i didn't do.  it's going to work splendidly, i think, the four of us.

this is the brink.  the day before we all began classes.  i don't expect to get lost.  i'm not particularly nervous.  but i am expectant, excited, and quite curious.  i'm trying a lot of new things this semester.  i'm an incredibly new me than i was a year ago.  this is my last year, and i can't wait to see what's in store for me.

i miss my kitties, still terribly.  i have a thousand pictures to hang on my bulliton board.
and i really can't wait to see what tomorrow will bring.  it's like being at the top of a roller coaster, the part when you can't see over the edge, and that alone takes your breath away.
adventure awaits.

and class begins tomorrow.