never gives up.

No Man is an Island

No man is an island, entire of itself
Every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main
If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friends or of thine own were
Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind
And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls
It tolls for thee. -John Donne

These beautiful words were brought to my mind by the realization, not for the first time, that we never stand alone in humanity no matter what we believe our place is. A very great effort would have to be made for a man to never impact a single soul in his life, in fact, I believe it is impossible. I realize that every effort I make in this life is either to make connections or break them. Our efforts can add up to the greatest realization of happiness we will ever feel, but only if we reach out to others. I truly believe that hell is being left without "root [or] branch" (Mal. 4:1). I realize over and over again that my place is to form relationships that will help me return to Heavenly Father along with my brothers and sisters. I can't work for myself, that is impossible if I am trying to do what is right as well as realize the joy that is available here on earth. There are many factors that complicate the "simple" task of caring for each other here on earth while maintaining an eternal perspective, and I know that is a significant understatement too. We cannot comprehend the pain and struggles of all mankind and sometimes we believe that others cannot understand how we feel. In my self-pity I often like to believe that no one could possibly understand my situation, that I am too special to have the same problems as another, but in reality the difficulties that we face in mortality are incredibly common. I have discovered this by listening to other people. What a concept. I don't claim to have more insight about our human condition than another person might, but I just want to express in this small way that I know we all need each other. I am glad that we do. I know that life's problems are both large and small and life's joys as well. We aren't expected to carry them on our own. We need to share them with each other both to cope and to rejoice. So often I believe this is the way that the Lord can put his arms around us while he isn't here, he has someone else do it for him. I know my place is to never give up on myself or my brothers and sisters. I have a duty and a desire to care for them, this is becoming more and more apparent to me. This is where my New Year's resolution kicks in (a couple days early)...

I have one goal this year: to serve others without judging them first. This isn't the kind of thing I can figure out in one year, but I want to make a more complete effort to reach out and stop trying to imagine anything about a person except that they are worthy of being understood and cared about.

is glad she's 25.

I am glad that I didn't post what I was intending to post two days before my birthday. I started to write another rant about how I felt my life wasn't working out the way I wanted it to, and thank goodness that it didn't work out the way I thought it would. I realize over and over that we can't expect life to turn out any certain way, but we should expect happiness because we're promised that life will be good if we do what is right. That's what builds our faith and leads to many happy surprises on the road of life. Last weekend included two of the biggest surprises of my entire life.

1. A surprise birthday party. It was incredible! My best friends put it together for me and I had absolutely no idea. First we went to go see Christmas Around the World, which was great, and afterwards we watched a movie. Then my friend Aleks disappeared. For some reason I was gullible enough to believe that she simply decided to go back to her apartment to help her roommate with some key problem and when we got there, the moment I stepped in the door, everyone shouted surprise! Wow. I honestly felt an incredible amount of love from my friends. I was so humbled by the fact that they would do that for me.


This is a picture that was taken at the party. Check out the sweet Victoria's Secret gift card they all got me. What else could a girl ask for?

The next surprise was even more incredible. 2. My other best friend, Erik (the one next to me on the couch) asked me to be his girlfriend. The details of the story are almost too perfect to blog about, but I'll indulge myself and post them here for you. It has been almost a year that we've known each other and about ten months since I decided that I liked him, a lot. I didn't find the courage to talk to him about the situation until October and at that point he told me he wasn't interested. This detail isn't meant to be embarrassing to me or him, but to show the importance of timing. I'll admit that I was crushed, but we continued to be friends, even better friends than before. I went about trying to move on in various ways (and never actually did it) , while he started thinking. I don't know the complete process that he went through to decide that he wanted to date me, but I know that it was incited in some way by our questioning friend Aleks who asked him something like "if you don't want to date her, what are you looking for?" He planned to talk to me on the weekend of my birthday, no better timing in my opinion, and I was floored. On the way to his former roommate's wedding reception he brought up the subject as we were driving. It was deja vu (in a good way) for me because he began in a very similar way to how I had initially talked to him; with no introduction he said, "So I need to talk to you about something..." and I haven't stopped giggling since.

This is Erik and I at Jonathan's wedding reception. Remind you of Prom? Yeah, we love it.

Life is surprising and wonderful. That's all I really wanted to say.

is thankful (well, I try to be)

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. When I tell people that I usually hear the question, "but what about Christmas?" In my mind, Christmas and Thanksgiving both exist for the same purpose: to spend time with your families and eat! The difference is, Christmas has presents. I am not as concerned about the presents; if given the choice between presents and a turkey dinner, I would probably choose a turkey dinner. So, here is a list of things that I am thankful for:

1. My car works! (It actually drives backwards and forwards now... Incredible!)
2. I made it home to Oregon
3. I have a wonderful family (and dog)
4. There are only a few weeks left in the semester!
5. My birthday is in a week
6. Great friends
7. A new haircut (Whoo!)
8. Turkey
9. Russian poetry
10. Dance Dance Revolution
11. Egg nog
12. The scriptures
13. The temple (don't worry, this list isn't in order of importance... don't judge me!)
14. Enrique (you know who you are)
15. New sexy black heels
16. Vicki's
17. Sleep
18. My queen bed (sadly I have to leave it in two days)
19. Dancing
20. Diet pepsi (it saved me on the way here)

What are you thankful for?

is behind in school!

Entering whining zone, take caution...


Well, I knew someone would notice sooner or later. I am a slacker. I just got an email from one of my teachers because he suspects that I am discouraged about my test score and all the reading I've missed. I have skipped too many of my classes and I'm behind in the reading. Am I becoming apathetic about my studies or am I really just not a good student? I worry about myself, but probably not enough! I have so many big questions in my life right now: 1. Why am I studying Russian? 2. Should I minor in Editing? 3. What do I want to go to grad school for? 4. Why aren't things working out dating wise in any way? 5. What do I really need to improve on in myself? They don't sound big, but they are big in my mind. I just hate not knowing what to do. Aside from these things I know I need to decide, I also have a list of secret wishes that I have to be content with just wishing for right now: 1. To be a good dancer. 2. To be a good Russian speaker. 3. To be in love. 4. To lose 15 pounds. 5. To take either the GRE or LSAT and do REALLY good. 6. To graduate with honors. 7. To be published somewhere awesome (and prestigious). 8. To have my homework done every time I go to school. 9. To get 8 hours of sleep every night.

Um, I am a whiner and a self-pitier and I hope that you don't actually take this post too seriously. I just hate it when people notice that I am not like everyone else and I actually am doing worse than everyone in class. I know it, but do they have to know it too? *WHINE* Alright, I'm done.

knows what she wants.

Crud. I had this really excellent post all ready and then firefox froze! Grr... I think I have a virus. Anyway, I was just getting ready to rant about who my perfect man would be (a cross between Antonio Banderas and Alexander Pushkin) and then it gets deleted. You know what? I think it's a sign. There isn't a perfect man. I'm just a sentimental junkie and I'm sure that some men are getting a little annoyed with my expectations. I still want a gentleman, but it isn't so much in looks, it's in his actions. He doesn't have to wear a suit or take me ballroom dancing, he doesn't even have to bring me roses (I think that's tacky anyway, roses are such default flowers when guys don't know what to get). I don't think it's too bold to ask for someone who actually takes time for me, though. That is so important. Just someone who wants to spend time with me and who has the courage to show me that he likes me. I have put my neck on the line repeatedly and it hasn't been the most enjoyable experience every time, but it has been beneficial. I feel stronger now. I don't need someone, but I want to care about someone. I think Pushkin said it best:

I loved you once: perhaps that love has yet
To die down thoroughly within my soul;
But let it not dismay you any longer;
I have no wish to cause you any sorrow.
I loved you wordlessly, without a hope,
By shyness tortured, or by jealousy.
I loved you with such tenderness and candor
And pray God grants you to be loved that way again.

It's not that I am tortured by any love that was lost or never happened. I just love Pushkin's attitude about the whole situation. When you truly care about someone you wish the best for them even if it doesn't mean that they will be with you. Eventually there will be someone. 99% of the time you have to move on and that's okay. I guess my point with this is it seems like there are too many guys who are afraid of losing. I don't know if it's apathy or fear. I just see a lack of chivalry. I don't know what happened to men. While women are becoming increasingly independent and bold, men are shrinking. What can women do? Maybe the problem is we are always thinking about this question and we are facilitating men too much. They need to take risks too. Pushkin took risks and he married the girl of his dreams. Maybe this isn't the best example because he died in a duel because of her, but I think this shows that he was willing to act. Men, we don't want you to die in duels for us, just open the car door once in a while and call us for no apparent reason, except to talk.

stays up until 3:00 am.

Last night I stayed up until 3:00 talking to one of my best friends in the world. When she dozed off, I started writing an article for Insight magazine. Which I should be writing as I am posting this, by the way. It's about the joy of dancing and I just wanted to share some quotes that I found for the article. Enjoy:

Dance is for everybody. I believe that the dance came from the people and that it should always be delivered back to the people.

Alvin Ailey

What is dance? I am dancing all the time. Every gesture, the body line of every pose, the way I get from place to place, the movement in the acting-none of it would be the way it is if I weren't a dancer.

Ray Bolger

When you dance, your purpose is not to get to a certain place on the floor. It's to enjoy each step along the way.

Wayne Dyer

Think of the magic of that foot, comparatively small, upon which your whole weight rests. It's a miracle, and the dance is a celebration of that miracle.

Martha Graham

We learn by practice. Whether it means to learn to dance by practicing dancing or to learn to live by practicing living, the principles are the same. One becomes in some area an athlete of God.

Martha Graham

Dance is the hidden language of the soul.

Martha Graham

Every dance is a kind of fever chart, a graph of the heart.

Martha Graham

We look at the dance to impart the sensation of living in an affirmation of life, to energize the spectator into keener awareness of the vigor, the mystery, the humor, the variety, and the wonder of life. This is the function of the American dance.

Martha Graham

When people start dancing, they dance like they don't know they are doing it.

Nusrat F. A. Khan

To dance is to be out of yourself. Larger, more beautiful, more powerful. This is power, it is glory on earth and it is yours for the taking.

Agnes de Mille

doesn't want to write her paper

I have absolutely no desire to write my Russian paper on the comparison between Tolstoy and one of the main characters from Anna Karenina, Levin. It's not a bad topic, as I was able to choose it myself, but now that it's due tomorrow, I suddenly don't want to write it anymore. I have too many things to do right now and for some reason it causes a traffic jam in my brain and I can't do any one of them. So, I am eating too much sugar and thinking about boys I don't even like. Well maybe I do. I can't decide right now. Today was such a wonderful day, though. I loved the weather and the things that were said in church. My lesson went well too. I love talking about the atonement. It was so nice to hear that the sisters in Relief Society enjoyed the message I shared with them. After church I went out to enjoy the weather and asked one of my friends to go on a walk. I'm glad that he went with me. We haven't really talked much lately, probably because there hasn't been much time for just hanging out. This is all really random, but that's how I'm feeling right now. I swear I have ADD. I probably won't get much sleep tonight. Just to end on a good note I will end with a list of things that I am grateful for and a fake wedding announcement.

I'm thankful for:
1. Testimony meeting
2. Oatmeal cookies
3. Talking with my mom
4. The view from rock canyon park
5. Warm spring days
6. "My shepard will supply my need" -such a beautiful song!
7. Good friends to chat with
8. Flippy hair
9. Random Rumba moments
10. A new blender!

Poka!

spills her fresca in class

I don't even hate the cloudy weather today. It reminds me of Oregon. Today was a Wednesday like most Wednesdays. I went to dance class, danced the Paso. I still can't growl. I fell asleep in Doctrine and Covenants and then I went to my Tolstoy class, which would be excellent if I could just keep up with the reading! And I ate a gigantic cranberry, white chocolate, macadamia cookie. I don't regret it. Now I am going to work to be with my wonderful missionaries. They are in their 10th week and about to head off to Donetsk, Yekaterinburg, and Vladivostok. I will miss them. Tonight they will be teaching the 3rd lesson and I hope it goes well.