Weddings

I have decided that when I get married I want Grace Kelly's wedding dress. It's beautiful, timeless, and very me. Yes?
Maybe not the top part of the veil...

Valentine's Day

Here is comes! Are you ready? I'm not. I keep thinking about last Valentine's day and how wonderful it was. Can this year really compare? Probably not. I am planning to get a pint of Ben and Jerry's and all the Jane Austen movies I can find so I can wallow in my misery. Doesn't sound so great, but you are welcome to join me. At least the movies will have happy endings. I am currently still searching for mine.

It's amazing how fast our lives can change.

I was reading Nienie's latest post, and I was struck by the thought that this isn't going to last forever. Everything that I know could end today. So it left me wondering, what are the constants in my life? And what are the constants in yours?

Embarrassing Moment of the Day

I was at work today, and I was vacuuming the stairs while Jody worked on alterations and little Garrett took a nap. Their vacuum has this cool little attachment that you put on the end of the hose, and it's like a little mini that works great for the stairs and other weird places that must be vacuumed. Well, as I turned to lift the vacuum to the next step, I somehow vacuumed up my hair. All the way up, like, two inches from my head. And we all know how long my hair is. It took me a second to find the off button, and then I struggled for a minute, but to no avail because I cannot see the top of my head. So I had to swallow my pride and ask Jody for help. It took her a full 2 minutes to stop laughing hysterically so she could think straight enough to find a screwdriver and take apart that cursed little attachment and slowly unwind my hair.
Who in this world vacuums up their own hair? The hair is fine, but my ego is bruised.

P.S. Jody makes the cutest little aprons. Anyone interested?

Reading

"You are well aware of the Harry Potter books and movies by J. K. Rowling. One of the reasons the books are so popular, I think, is that they show children victorious in battle against dark forces. They give readers hope that, even in total darkness, there is that spark of light. Despite the powerful evil arrayed against them, they know they can defeat the darkness.

"But fundamental to the message of the Harry Potter books is the idea that children don’t — indeed, can’t — fight their battles alone. In fact, the one gift that saves Harry over and over again is the love of his mother, who died protecting him from evil. Without any question one of those best “defenses against the dark arts” — to use a phrase from the Harry Potter books — is close family ties. Parental love, family activity, gentle teaching, and respectful conversation — sweet time together — can help keep the generations close and build bonds that will never be broken." --Elder Jeffrey R. Holland

Oh Elder Holland. Just another reason to read Harry.

25 Random Things About Me

So this has been going around Facebook, but because blogs are way cooler, I am doing it here instead.
1. I hate yellow squash.
2. I am madly in love with Superman. And there are so few people out there who agree with me on the whole Superman vs. Batman.


3. I have always wanted to be a pirate.
4. I could eat raspberries and cherries all day long every day for the rest of my life and never get sick of them.


5. I am so so so scared of the dark. Okay, so you already knew that.

6. I love tulips. If you want to date me, bring me tulips.


7. I am obsessed with Australia!

8. My laptop is red, but I wish I had gotten pink, even though that would make me kind of Legally Blonde.
9. I wish I was Jane Austen. Or at least one of her characters.

10. I have this giant James Dean poster in my room at home.


11. I have been through 4 majors already: Biology (for Marine Biology), Physiology and Developmental Biology (for Pre-med), International Relations (so I could be like James Bond), and my current one is Humanities with and emphasis in English (no, there are no career choices for this one...)

12. I love mirrors. They add so much to a room. Especially the ones from Pottery Barn!


13. I love candles.
14. I have two pairs of warm, fuzzy slippers that are exactly the same.

15. I have 5 pillows on my bed.
16. My house has over 5,000 books in it.

17. I like to wear hair ribbons even though they make me look like I am 5 years old and headbands even though they give me a migraine.
18. I am lactose intolerant, and I can't even eat cream cheese without wanting to throw up, although I do it anyways.

19. I had plastic surgery when I was 5 because I ran into a brick wall and busted my head open.

20. I have a mysterious scar on my chin. It is quite thick, but no one in my family knows where it came from. I think it was aliens.

21. My birthmark is white.

22. I prefer dresses to pants any day!
23. I don't really like meat, but I will eat tofu raw and cold. Yum!
24. I love Origins!
25. I got into a car wreck over a month ago and I still haven't told my parents.

Cleaning Checks

Yup, it's that time of month again. That little slip of paper floats into your apartment Monday morning, and you don't think of it again until Saturday morning at 10:00 am when you are regretting staying up until 2:00 am watching a dumb movie with your friends (Eagle Eye? Not so great.) And the checks are at 11:00 am. But that crazy nit picky lady hasn't even shown up yet and it's 11:45. Also, I think that our new roommates are a little bit more stressed than we have ever been. They were up at 8:00 making sure it was all perfect.
Also, we stole a vacuum from the boys at 103 (at least, I think it's 103) and we have used it almost every day for the 2 weeks that we have had it. They just tried to vacuum today with the broken vacuum that we gave them in return and sent Jonathan to retrieve the good one. Isn't that kind of gross? That it took them two weeks to discover our deviousness? Also, this is the 2nd time that Jonathan has come over and I have looked like a truck. I feel sorry for myself.
Also, this is what our vacuum looks like, only it's red and grosser looking.

Mauricio (Say it like Maui, the island. Maui-ricio)

I went to my Spanish 101 conversation lab today, and it was great. The guy who was teaching it was a student from Mexico who spoke 5 languages! Arabic, Spanish, English, Italian, and Portuguese. I think he is amazing. And cute. Are you allowed to have a crush on your lab teacher? He is only like 3 years older than me, and still an undergrad. And, like I told mom, Tavi babies!


Who could resist? Not me.

P.S.

Jessica needed me to tell you that she beat Tyler in leg wrestling. This is quite the feat, because Tyler is someone that tells you how amazing he is at things, so it was great to see Jess beat him. Highlight of my week. Thank goodness he doesn't read my blog.

Book of the Week

I'm reading The Scarlett Letter again, and it is marvelous as always. If you haven't read it, this is a must. Sin, repentance, and redemption are themes that only a master like Hawthorne could possibly weave into such a mesmerizing tale. It is a powerful reminder of the destroying authority that sin can have in our lives when we let it take hold of us, yet I am always left with such a strong reminder of the power of the atonement.

The Adventure of a Lifetime

Last night Tyler and Jessica came over and after we were finished leg wrestling, Tyler told us about the trip he is planning for this coming December that will take him back to his mission in Cape Verde. He wants us to come with him, and I think I am going to.


Who could resist these beautiful beaches? And a mountain that you can bounce down on aloe plants? (Yes, just like Mario.) And the beautiful, beautiful people? I am there. I don't think this is something that I want to miss.

qUoTAbleS

"We write to taste life twice,
once in the moment and in retrospection."
~Anaias Nin

Nienie is BACK!!!!!

Who else is as excited as I am? Stephanie is probably one of the coolest people ever. In case you don't know her story, she is a mormon momma who has 4 beautiful children. She has such a fun blog that I have enjoyed reading for quite awhile now. Just last August, Nienie and her husband were in a plane crash. They survived, but Nie was in a coma for quite awhile, and they both sustained pretty serious burns. But thanks to much prayer, Nienie is ok. She is home with her children and she is blogging again. Hooray!


The Nienie Dialogues

Spiders and Plumbing Monsters

You know how I like The X-Files? Well, we were watching them Saturday night, and it was really late. Heather fell asleep, and when it was over and I went to bed, I tried to get her to come to. I don't like sleeping alone. But she wouldn't come because of the sea monster in the plumbing. At least, that's what she said. But that was like, 3 episodes back. And it's not like we have a bathtub in our room. So she stayed on the living room floor all night and I wound up sleeping with the light on and the door open. Not because I'm scared of the monsters in sexfiles (our name for X-Files, not porn or a human sexuality movie) but because I would rather sleep in a room with a million spiders than sleep in a dark room alone. Yes, a million.

P.S.

I love Mulder.

Northern Lights

Have I told you of my current fascination?

The Northern Lights

What are they? What causes them? Is it just a natural occurrence, for which there is no explanation? Or is it something more? Something bigger, more real than anything we have answers to. Philip Pullman likes to think of them as gateways to Other Worlds. What worlds? One's we can only imagine. I don't have a theory yet, but I will let you know when I do. In the meantime, isn't this a powerful image?

New People

We got another new roommate today. I hope she isn't crazy.








Well, more crazy than us, I mean.

To my future boyfriends (yes, there will be more than one of you...)

Dear Future Boyfriend,

I can't wait to meet you, for you to be a part of my life. However, there are a few things you should know about me before we start dating.

1. If you want to date me, you are going to have to chase me
I am not so good with going first. I need you to express interest, and then I will be all yours! Depending on if I like you too, of course...

2. I am Miss Independent
Don't call me every day, don't text me a million times, NEVER call after 10:00 pm or expect to see me every day. Also, the only person who can call twice in a row, unless it is an emergency, is my mom, Dawna, and Talana. After a couple months, you might get that special privilege too.

3. Don't touch me in public
You can hold my hand, and kiss me good-bye on the cheek, but anything more is embarrassing to those around us.

4. I am not an arm rest.

5. Let's try not to make our roommates uncomfortable
We don't have to be together every minute of every day, so lets not bother every one around us.

That's all I can think of for now, but I might add a p.s. later.

Lots of love,
Reyna

p.s. Can we go pair-a-sailing?

2008 at a glance

January

Leaving home. Tears. Ice and snow. New friends and new adventures.



February
Valentines. Lots of cookies. A perfect night. A perfect person. More snow and ice.



March
Heartbreak. Tears. Creepy Produce Man. Early mornings in the library with wonderful friends.


April
Finals. Painting. Forts made of mattresses. All nighters and The O.C. Moving a truckload of stuff to the basement. A 2 1/2 day drive back home. Screams of excitement.



May
Mariposa.



June
Mariposa. Beaches with beautiful friends. Birthday!



July
Fireworks. Cheating lovers. Tears. Hate.


August
An engaged ex-lover. Tears. A beautiful baby Reefy. Tears. Airplanes. More tears. Back to school!



September
New roommates. Old roommates. Roman Ruins. Little eff heads.



October
Boise, Idaho! The Pumpkin Patch! Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus. Dance party!


November
Gropey McGee. Rexburg, Idaho. Milking a cow. Rhubarb pie. Funny faces. Holiday tea. Mission call to Scotland!


December
Las Vegas. Hot hair. Finals. Snow and ice. Slippery car! Knocked off hubcap. Airplane. Christmas!!!! Missionary phone call. Beaches.



Good-bye 2008!

P.S.

I want to live here. Click on it.

New Year's Resolutions

I'm a little late on this one, but I feel like it is worth writing about. I always make goals at the beginning of the year, but I am never very good at keeping them. But this year I am determined to be different. So I came up with 3 things that need improvement.

1 Read my scriptures and pray every day.
I will admit, I forget to do this. I love my religion classes, because they remind me what I need to be doing, and I am determined to make my relationship with my Heavenly Father closer than it is.

2 Get straight A's.
Tyler and I were talking today about how horrible our low GPA's are right now. We were always 4.0 students, and yet here we are with 3.1's. I blame my modern dance class (which I failed because I got sick half way through the semester and couldn't make it to 3 classes). But I have no excuse not to do wonderfully this semester, for all my classes are wonderful.

3 Be healthy
This means not skipping meals, drinking 70 oz of water, getting all my fruits and veggies, and EXERCISING! The dreaded word! I feel I am very skinny for one who likes to lay around reading and avoiding any sort of physical activity. But that's not the point. I may not be overweight, but I am certainly not healthy. So I am going to spend the summer doing this.

Hippie Stuff (Part 1)

Heathen called me a hippie the other night. She said she was surprised that I shaved my legs with all the stuff that I believe in. (P.S. the spelling was not a mistake little roommate)
You see, there have been a couple things on my mind lately. Most of you know that I intend to go to the MCU for grad school and become a midwife. Some of you have not been keeping up on current events and might be thinking, "A midwife? Like in pioneer days?" My little friends, midwives are not dead. Nor are they backwards, backwoods old grannies who have little or no medical knowledge. Midwives have been around for centuries. They have helped women through childbirth when there were no hospitals to go to (by the way, women only started to go to hospitals to have babies around the 1930's). Midwives are regaining popularity and many women are choosing a more natural route as they bring their little ones into the world.
So there are a few things related to natural birth and parenting that have been on the news and have been on my mind.

1. Breastfeeding
My mother has been involved with La Leche League, her two best friends are leaders, and she has breasfed each of us to past two years old. Some of us to three, four, and five. This is a new idea for some. It takes some getting used to. I am not trying to convert you to my ways of thought or belief. However, I have a very large problem with those people who choose to tell a nursing mother that she is disgusting and should only breastfeed in the bathroom. (Excuse me? You go eat in the bathroom! Gross!) I have a problem with Facebook, which has chosen to delete photos and cancel the accounts of proud breastfeeding mothers on the grounds that a picture of a nursing child is obscene, perverse, and pornographic.

2. Home birth
The AMA (American Medical Association) has put forth a statement proclaiming that “the safest setting for labor, delivery, and the immediate post-partum period is in the hospital, or a birthing center within a hospital complex, that meets standards jointly outlined by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and ACOG, or in a freestanding birthing center that meets the standards of the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care, The Joint Commission, or the American Association of Birth Centers" (find this here)
I am not okay with this. It is a woman's right to have her child wherever she may please. I certainly believe that hospitals are a wonderful place, and that any birth with complications needs to be there. But don't try to take away my right to a home birth. I love this statement by Laura Shanely: "I felt like I'd touched the eternal, when you look back at your baby and your hands are the first to touch her." I got the chills when I heard her say this here (not the greatest video, but what do you expect from ABC? I reccommend The Business of Being Born for a btter outlook). Haven't you touched the eternal? Because that first time, your child is eternal. There is nothing more holy, sacred, or so close to heaven than a baby that has just been born.

Okay, this has turned into a super long post, so I will continue some other time.

I just don't know how well this plan was thought out... I like warm weather, and it is 9 degrees!

It is days like today that make me wonder what the heck I think I am doing. It is 9 degrees out. 9! That is incredible to me! I have never felt anything so bitter in my entire life. If it keeps this up, I might just transfer to somewhere a bit warmer.

P.S. Snow is only pretty the first day it falls. For all you lucky Florida people who don't really know this, they shove it up in piles that get dirty and yucky and it is ugly. Just thought you ought to know, just so you can shove all those romantic ideals concerning snow right out of your head.

I'm going to look like this poor beech tree before the week is out. Thank you global warming for the pretty picture.

Book of the Week

My Cousin Rachel

by Daphne Du Maurier

Have you read Rebecca? If not, get going! One of the best books ever. So when I saw My Cousin Rachel sitting on the bargain bookshelves of Barnes and Noble, of course I couldn't leave the poor book there! It promised mystery and romance--two things which I cannot live without--and it certainly delivered both and so much more! My lust for beauty was successfully fulfilled in the writings of Daphne Du Maurier. The best part? She never really fully unravels the mystery, but leaves it to the reader to decide. I thought that might drive me crazy, but I found that not ever knowing the name of the narrarator of Rebecca upset me more.

Excuses Excuses

What excuses do you make for yourself when you don't want to do something?

You know, some people don't have excuses, and they agree to all that is asked of them. Others of us are just full of them. I realized the other day just how young we are when we realize that if we come up with something else we have to do, we can get out of just about anything.

Tavi is 2 1/2 years old. He began taking swimming lessons this year, but he dislikes the part where he has to go underwater. So, he comes up with every excuse he can muster. It sounds something like this:
Oh no! Tito [what he calls himself] mimi's! [Short for dormir, which means sleep in Spanish] Ummm...Tito poopoo! Tito agua! Tito chi chis! [This means he wants to be breastfed] Cheese! [His favorite food]
These are his main excuses that he uses for everything. (Yesterday though, he ran away from me at the beach, and his excuse was "Poppy!" He ran to my dad to try and escape punishment, but it didn't work.)

And it made me think, What excuses do I make to not have to do something?
I use the homework excuse a lot on poor boys who wish to monopolize my time. And I always tell myself that I am too sleepy to do my dishes, or write that paper, or wash my face. Hmmm.... How can I fix this? No more excuses!

Tavi about to run at the beach