I have basically zero time to be writing this, but I'm going to because procrastination is my specialty and I want to keep this as updated as possible during this little break from school that I am loving.

First off, Florida is moist.  I hate that word, but there is just no other way of describing my home state.  When I got into bed my first night home, the sheets were damp.  It was the weirdest thing of my life.  To think I had been sleeping in what felt like a pool towel for eighteen years and not realizing it, kind of blew my mind.

The plane ride was perfect.  No hiccups.  I did have to switch planes in Denver, which was a minor change (I was supposed to stop there, but stay on the same plane), but I made it to the other side of that massive airport with plenty of time to spare.  I also sat next to the cutest elderly couple on the way there, met an old bishop and his wife from my home stake who happened to know my mom, and I met the most flirtatious baby of my life*.  I have no idea why people hate planes so much.  You get to freaking fly, people!  Is that not as awesome of a thought to other people as it is to me?

We went to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party the next night, which was wonderful, but I'll have to tell you about that and St. Augustine some other time.  I've got an end of the world party to get to!

*OHMYGOSH SHE WAS SO CUTE.

Taming a Beast

FINALS ARE OVER I CAN LIVE AGAIN HALLELUJAH GOD BLESS YE MERRY GENTLEMENEDGNJSDNGJSMORGANFREEMANEGNWNEG;WGW;RGB;.

Sorry.  I needed to get that out of my system.

I now have blessedly beautiful time to do more important things like read for six hours straight or blog about things that happen in my life that only my mom wants to hear about.

I leave for the 904 (Florida) tomorrow afternoon and it still hasn't hit me completely.  As much as I have missed home, I am going to desperately miss waking up to this.

That's right, my love affair with snow is still in full swing.  We've had some kinks in our relationship (I have fallen twice), but we've worked through those rough patches and our love has become stronger because of it.

My weekend consisted of snowmobiling for the first time, putting up the Christmas tree at my aunt and uncle's cabin, and reading more than two pages at a time of Les Miserables.*

Snowmobiling was quite the experience.  I went with two experts -- my uncle and his brother-in-law -- during a trip to my aunt and uncle's cabin.  Luckily, I got the chance to warm up to the beast that is the snowmobile the night before when there was too much snow to drive up the mountain any other way but the snowmobile way.

What made the "warm up" a tad stressful, though, was the fact that it was at night and I had no idea where the road ended and my imminent death began.  I did get used to the sensitive gas clutch eventually, which made the thought of death fade and brought excitement about the next day's 'mobiling trek to the surface.

While it did take me an hour to get used to the tricks of taming the beast and my arms are now drenched in soreness, I had a gloriously awesome time.  I got to absorb the beauty of the mountains covered in snow and the gorgeous animals that inhabit its crevices.  I also got to experience family, which was a wonderful thing in and of itself.

I'm sure my lack of mountain knowledge and my getting the snowmobile stuck a million and five times annoyed my Uncle Ken and my Might-As-Well-Be-My-Uncle Brett more than they let show**, but I'm glad they were there to annoy.  I haven't got to see much of family since Fall Semester started, but it's so nice to have them so nearby and so willing to include me in all of their adventures, even if I can rarely make it.  I am so fortunate to have some family and family-in-law-ish so nearby when I am so far from home.

*This semester has consisted of me attempting to read three books and finishing exactly none of them. At most, the number of pages I was able to read in one sitting probably amounted to six.

**I also flew off once*** and flipped the monster of a machine on a separate occasion from the flying one.

***This is not an exaggeration.  I literally flew, ladies and gentlemen.

Walking Contradiction

As previously mentioned, I keep a gratitude journal.  I've been looking back on some entries.  Stereotypically-speaking, judging by my handwriting and these following entries, you would think I possessed a Y-chromosome.

12/7/12: I am grateful for the free donuts that happened at Wyview this morning.

12/6/12: I am grateful Wendy's has a dollar menu.

12/5/12: I am grateful that I now have clean underwear.

12/5/12: I am grateful that I finally got to watch Bourne Legacy...

12/3/12: I am also grateful that we discovered that Burgers Supreme is not that awful...and for their incredible cheese fries and Oreo shake.

11/30/12: I am grateful for the free pizza at work.

11/28/12: I am grateful that my ghetto stitching job I did on the hole in my blanket is holding up.

11/26/12: I am grateful...that we got to eat with Isabel and Mariangel right after I got off the bus.

11/25/12: I mean, how many roommates hold your hair back while you're puking?  (Well, if it's not a frat party.)

11/22/12: I am grateful for the food.

Yet, just after you're picturing a beer belly and a hairy chest, I say something way too girly for comfort.

12/2/12: I am grateful...that we got to watch Dear John...

12/1/12: I am grateful for how adorable he is.

11/30/12: I am grateful my girls helped me choose an outfit...

11/29/12: I am grateful I had the money to get the Revlon lipstick I've wanted to get for a long time.

11/26/12: I am grateful I got to sit next to (insert boy's name here) on the bus ride to campus.

11/26/12: I am grateful that I got to see...creamery guy twice tonight...

11/20/12: I am grateful I got to paint my nails.

11/18/12: I am grateful that Amelia did my eyebrows and that Mariangel let me borrow some nail polish.

Ladies and gentlemen, I am a walking contradiction of gender stereotypes.

An Angel

There are a lot of women in this world that I aspire to be, but there is one on the other side of the veil that I can only dream of becoming anything like.  A year ago today the most beautiful daughter of God I have ever met returned to her home in Heaven, from from the illness that was a part of her entire life, but that she never let define her life.

I often think of her on my dimmer days; I think of how she quite literally lit up a room.  She was and continues to be the most genuine and caring human being I have ever met.  I cannot even eloquently describe the impact she had on so many in her tiny life here on earth in her tiny earthly body.  It was a privilege I will never truly deserve to have had her in my life to inspire me and to show me what potential I have and how important each and every one of us are.  Her compliments came often and were never insincere. Her laugh was contagious and her testimony was inspiring to say the least.  Sometimes I still go back to my old journals that have notes from her lessons and I cannot help to cry, not because I am saddened, but that I am grateful to have known an angel.

I know she is bringing about her Heavenly Father's work on the other side, just as she did on this side of the veil.  There are days when I miss her so much and I just want to talk to her about everything and nothing all at once, but I know she is safe and I  know she is so very happy.  Heavenly Father blessed me more than I will ever deserve by placing Robin and her husband in my life.  Yet another thing I will be forever indebted to Him for; yet another reason I have to be grateful.

"And Jesus listening can hear,

The songs I cannot sing."

Hallmark Card

It's always a bright and shining moment when you're making a snowman on your roommate's car to surprise her and she and her boyfriend walk out of your dorm, thinking someone is trying to hijack her car.

Yes, my beloveds.  It snowed today.  The first real, non-slushy snow.  Not only did it snow today, but it snowed ALL day.  No stops for nothin'.  It was like all my dreams had come true (plus, I saw Brave for the first time, which means all my dreams did come true).  I got hot chocolate mix just as the grocery store was closing and I called my best friend back home.  He described what I was expressing as an "elated rapture" of sorts.  That is exactly what took place.

As previously stated, Christmas is my absolute favorite of the holidays.  It has a magic and a unique beauty to it that no other holidays quite express for me.  The only piece of Christmas that I have never been able to experience, though, has been that wonder that is the floating ice that dances across the sky and makes its way down to earth to cover it with a glistening white blanket; each stitch filled with a gentle joy.  Snow.

(I feel like I just wrote a Hallmark card.)

The only other times I have ever experienced snow have meant slushies of water, but this was different.  This was completely different.

I saw it.  I literally frolicked in it, and -- I promise you -- woodland creatures were singing as I did so.  It was incredible.  I am five years old and it was incredible.  It took everything within me not to plop down and make a snow angel right then and there.

As I stood ankle-deep in snow for an hour or so tonight, just marveling at this heaven-sent wonder, everything was beautiful in the world.  It was illuminated with a comfort.  All was well.

Lead, Kindly Light

This song is ringing true to my heart today.  Our Heavenly Father's view is always greater than ours.  If we just trust Him and put our life in His and Christ's hands, they will lead us to the place that will bring the greatest peace and an amount of joy that is incomprehensible to our mortal view.

My favorite version:



1. Lead, kindly Light, amid th’encircling gloom;
Lead thou me on
The night is dark, and I am far from home;
Lead thou me on
Keep thou my feet; I do not ask to see
The distant scene—one step enough for me.

2. I was not ever thus, nor pray’d that thou
Shouldst lead me on.
I loved to choose and see my path;but now,
Lead thou me on!
I loved the garish day, and, spite of fears,
Pride ruled my will.
Remember not past years.

(3. So long thy pow’r hath blest me, sure it still
Will lead me on
O’er moor and fen, o’er crag and torrent, till
The night is gone.
And with the morn those angel faces smile,
Which I have loved long since, and lost awhile!)

6 Weeks, 3 Days

I love holidays in general by an abnormal amount.  You can usually find me on Valentine's Day wearing blinding amounts of red; my Halloween costume is usually planned about eleven months in advance; and I may not pinch you on St. Patty's day when you're not wearing green, but be prepared for some traumatizing scolding.  Of all the holidays, though, Christmas is my absolute favorite.   I just feel this sense of magic once December roles around and the world is alighted, literally and figuratively.  It's also a celebration of one of my favorite people to ever exist, the Savior of the World.

However, Christmas takes on a whole new meaning this year.  I will have been away from home for six months (HALF A YEAR) almost to the date as I fly in to Jacksonville's airport.  I will be reunited with my childhood, and the best part of my childhood: my best friend, my mom.  I will be reunited with the wonderfully awful humidity and the sounds of the city.  I will be able, for a brief moment in time, to escape from the realities of "growing up" and become the me that I was for seventeen of my eighteen years.  I will be able to see friends and family that I haven't seen for an eternity.  I will be able to hear terrible grammar and be fond of it. I will be able to walk into a real WalMart where I fear for my life.  The street crossing buttons won't be weird and I will have the smell of the sea just a few miles away.

I am living for that day, six weeks and 3 days away, where I will be reunited with home.  My home.