Good Old Romans

I've come across a couple of good quotes from ancient Rome recently, thought I'd share a few.

"Carpe diem, quam

minimum credula

postero.

(Sieze the day,

put no trust in tomorrow.)"

-Horace

"A home without books is a body without soul."

-Marcus Tullius Cicero

"Outward looks are not enough,

Beauty is not common stuff-

Of merriment it is compact,

Playful grace in every act,

Witty laughter, laughing wit:

These are things that go with it."

-Petronius

Dreaming of a Happily Ever After

I have been having very vivid wedding nightmares. Like, my subconscious pounding on the sides of my head at night yelling: "hey CRAZY, this is all going to be a disaster!" Anyway. One night about a month ago I dreamed that on my wedding day my dress was delivered and it looked something like this:

I think it had something to do with the fact that one of my wedding colors was goldenrod yellow. How it got to be a jumpsuit I have no idea. If it helps, Christian was wearing old pajama pants with holes in the crotch, so at least we still went together.

NEWSFLASH: Weddings make people crazy. I'm not saying we shouldn't do them, I'm just saying that if you seem me running around the streets in tattered clothes yelling something about flower arrangements and tulle, blame Martha Stewart.

Good Gracious and Holy Heavens

Well folks, I did it! I just turned my thesis and honors portfolio in. IN. Just like that. Bing bong boom. All 45 blasted pages of it and that massive 3 inch binder are out of my hands and into those of the three fates. I have spent the last year slaving over the blasted thing and now it is done done done.

And now I am going to Phoenix where I will revel in the sunshine and in the babies and in Angelica (and maybe even a little bit in Ryan). And on Sunday I will be 21 years old. Which is old enough to do a lot of things I'm not supposed to do anyway.

I feel strangely at peace with the world.

The cosmos and I have reconciled. In fact, minutes after I turned my honors stuff in I walked past a man wearing a brown shirt, brown pants, and carrying three bottles of chocolate milk. I somehow feel that this is evidence of cosmic harmony. Thank you world, and thank you chocolate milk man.

Story Time

Greetings readers, it certainly has been awhile. Not that anyone is waiting anxiously by their computers trembling in anticipation for my next post, but I nevertheless feel the need to apologize for my lack of regularity. Finals, etc. I guess.

So, the real reason for this post is to officially leak my engagement into the blogosphere--in case you don't have facebook or haven't talked to me in awhile. So it's out there, I'M ENGAGED. To be married. . . in case that wasn't clear. I suppose you'd all like to hear the story now? No? Well, the title of this blog is story time so you'll just have to hear it anyway; it's fairly simple so don't go getting too excited.

First, we went to a very fancy restaurant in Salt Lake called Faustina's--me and my fiance that is (Christian if you haven't already gathered). It was just fancy enough to serve a dessert with lavender in it, and yes, I ordered dessert. After that we went to see the Utah Symphony perform Haydn's Creation at Abravanel Hall, which, by the way, was fantastic. Once our taste buds and ears had been sufficiently entertained, we decided to walk around down town and treat our eyes to some Christmas lights. We walked first around the outside of temple square (the square itself was closed), and then around the downtown streets.

By this time I was freezing cold and getting a little sick of all the drunk folks hanging out downtown. Luckily for Christian I have no sense of direction so I thought we were headed back to the car when he wanted to sit down on a bench at the Gallivan Center. Really? A bench? I'm freezing my toosh off. But I sat down anyway and cuddled up to him only to turn and find him giving a little speech and holding out a ring. After gawking for a good fifteen seconds I managed to say yes and then quickly yanked my gloves off and squealed at him to put the ring on. I have to gush for a moment and tell you how beautiful and sparkly it looked with all of the Christmas lights reflecting off of it. We reveled in our love for a moment (not a very long one, it was still cold), solicited a couple of slightly tipsy people to take a picture, and headed home. When I arrived home I found a dozen white roses on my bed (good thing I had made it that day) and a very sweet note. Nice move on Christian's part in case I had started to doubt myself already ;) .

So there you have it. The story of our engagement. No definite date yet, though it's a tentative May 1st. I will know for sure by tomorrow so hold on to your boots.

10 Reasons to Love November

1. Pumpkin chocolate-chip cookies

2. Pumpkin pancakes

3. Pumpkin bagels

4. Pumpkin cream cheese

5. Pumpkin cheesecake

6. Pumpkin pie

7. Pumpkin casserole

8. Pumpkin soup

9. Pumpkin seeds

10. Pumpkin cheesecake Ice Cream

I may or may not have consumed all of these things within the same two week period.

The American Way

There are times in life when you just have to stop and appreciate the ridiculous conveniences that surround us. Sometimes it's when I get a freakish craving for french fries at two in the morning; today it's the wonders of late night grocery shopping. It turns out that I much prefer this kind of shopping. There are no crowds. There are good parking spots and available carts with non-squeaky wheels. I can compare brands for as long as I like without feeling someone breathe down my neck or hearing the impatient tapping of toes. I can stop in the middle of the aisle to review my list and stand on my cart. I can even stare confusedly at the frozen meats for as long as I want without feeling slightly embarrassed. It's actually relaxing. Grocery stores frequently stress me out, but not at 1am. At 1am I just breeze up and down those aisles, sometimes even singing along to the grocery store radio. Thank you America.

For the beauty of the earth

So, I know that I have already posted my share of I love fall pictures, but that doesn't change the fact that today is beautiful. Things are feeling stormy outside and as I walked home from campus the wind was blowing hard and the world was raining leaves. And it was wonderful. And as I stopped and stared up into the beautiful oranges and yellows falling all around me and staying on my shoulders, I wanted to share it with all of you. Especially with Angelica because she lives in Phoenix and doesn't get to see this. She does get to see Layla and Weston every day though and for that I am eternally jealous.