Curl up and Dye

Growing up in my family saw many Saturdays of Mom cutting my brothers' hair. Every other Saturday it was a ritual-oldest to youngest and then everyone helped clean up. When I was about two years old, I thought I should try to help my Mother by easing her burden of so many hairs to cut. When she left with the boys to a scout activity after one such ritual of cutting hair, I took the scissors and snipped every long, dark curl off my head. When my Mom came home from the activity, she was mortified. She took me immediately to the hair salon where I got a perm and the lady fixed the haircut. It turned out to be one of my Mom's favorite hairstyles for me as a little girl.

After that and until the age of 14, I basically just grew my hair out and occasionally trimmed it. When I turned 14, I went to the salon and told the hairdresser to cut it off. She did just that. She cut my hair to my chin. Because my hair is very thick, it turned into an impossible-to-make-pretty poofball. I went home and cried. I determined to never cut my hair short again.

As many of you know, I just turned 21. Since the age of 14, I have only trimmed my hair and done occasional highlights. Two days ago all of that changed. I have never dyed my hair in my life. But, Saturday night, I dyed it. The whole head! My hair is now brown. DARK brown. The hairdresser also cut three inches off and gave me bangs. What a drastic change. I looked in the mirror and decided I loved it. I really do. I have never liked a drastic change in my hair before. But, I LOVE this change. Thank you, my dear sister, for the perfect birthday present.

Happy Birthday

Last night I went on a "date" with my roommate. We went shopping, she took me out to dinner, it was a wonderful time. Later, Audrey got a phone call on her cell phone that I answered. "You can come home now, there are people here." I thought that was strange. But I didn't connect a thing. Later Caitie called and said there were a couple guys at home who were awkward and they really wanted us to come home to entertain them. We hurried home. Crossing the porch to my front door, I noticed all the lights were out and the door was locked. Weird! I thought they were home. slowly I opened the door. The lights turned on and, "SURPRISE!!!!!" was yelled out by a ton of people. What a happy surprise! I have never been surprised on my birthday. It was such a wonderful night.

During the course of the evening, audrey and Tolkien Boy asked me what I had learned during the past year. I couldn't tell them right away, but it has caused some serious reflection in myself. What have I learned this past year? How am I different? How have I grown? One major difference this year is that I actually wanted people to acknowledge my birthday. Last year, I didn't want anyone to do anything. I wanted it to be forgotten. I realized that I have learned a lot about myself. I have learned to like myself. I am not afraid to be myself. I also found what kind of woman I wanted to become throughout my life. And as a result, I have goals and I'm excited to meet them. I know I can make a difference in people's lives and I want to help people. I love music and I'm finally in the music program at BYU. I'm learning things I'm excited about. I'm helping children learn to love music. I'm learning more and more every day how blessed I am and how much responsibility I have with the blessings I have been given.

I have learned that instead of just "getting through" life, I am going to conquer it and have a good time doing so. Life is good. Thank you everyone for the examples and love you have shown me. Everyone has made a difference in my life. You're all amazing.

I'll survive

I had a wonderful cuddle session last night. I'll survive. :)

Self Inflicted Torture

Last night I went on a great date. The guy was a lot of fun. I was laughing the whole time. We went to Comedy Sports and then out for ice cream. He's a biology major. I'm a music major. He's got a quirky sense of humor. I think it's hilarious. He opened the door for me in and out of the car. "Thank you for opening my doors." I said. "Thank you for letting me. Not many girls do." At the end of the night, I felt really good about the date. I thought he would say something about maybe doing something another night. I told him, "Thank you so much for the date, I really had a great time." He said, "Thank you. It was really good to meet you." Nothing about another date! Sad. It's been a while since I had a great time on a first date.

So as I type this blog, I'm watching Hitch. Great flick. The only problem is that there are some cute love stories in it. I've been all right for a while now. I have been grateful I'm not dating anyone. It would be much too stressful to date anyone with the schedule I have. But, after last night, I've been in the mood to date. We'll see. Sometime I will begin dating again. Until then, perhaps I should refrain from inflicting the torture of watching fake love stories unfold on the TV screen before my eyes.

The Awesomest Super-Woman Dive Ever!

Well my friends I am pretty much the coolest person ever. Have you ever known anyone to do a superman dive with a double back flip? Neither have I... until tonight. Well, I didn't so much watch it as I was a part of it. Ya see, there's this guy I was trying to show off for and I thought to myself, "I bet he would fall in love with me if I dove down the stairs." It was more like I fell for him. He better appreciate that! After I did it, I realized it wasn't the smartest idea I'd ever had of showing myself off. *sigh* What one does for love. Is love a fancy or a fool? In my case... I'd say fool. So much for a romantic night at the library. Actually, this was only the beginning of our relationship. I hear that boys tend to date girls that break/sprain their ankles. What can I say? I have weak ankles. ;)

I am a gimp. I'm not quite sure how this will pan out this semester. I have two dance classes and one exercise science class where I run and jump and do cartwheels and everything! After it happened, I realized it's probably a blessing because I've been running around too much this semester as it is. The Lord knew I needed some time to sit down. I'll be doing more of that than I'd like. Not dancing will be the hardest part. I love dancing. Feel free to visit me. I love visitors!

Happy, Happy and Happy!

My vocal technique professor told me I sounded really good today! It's the first time anyone from the music faculty has given me a compliment. And he's the head of the vocal department! He was walking around the group, stopped at me and was very pleased. He said, "do you realize how good that sounds?" *sigh* There is pay-off when you work hard. I left the class smiling my head off. Life is good. Life is very good.

Happy Day...

I got an A on my Advanced Clogging test today! No one ever gets an A in that class. :) What a happy day, eh?

Tables Turn

Well, after the blog entry of all the stupid things guys have said to my sister and me, I suppose it would only be fair if I told something stupid one or the other of us had said to a guy. This happened last night.

One of us had a date last night with a guy she had not known for very long. As she was introducing the boy to our roommates she said, "This is Cassidy and this is Audrey. Girls this is Ra.... uhhh I mean Jeff." *awkward silence* "I am soooo sorry!"

Needless to say, the girl felt pretty stupid. It was stinkin' hilarious though. Ahh.. Good times.

A Good Example

This past Monday, I was having a terrible day. Nothing seemed to be going right. I decided to skip one of my classes and talk with a good friend. While talking with her, I ran into my wonderful roommates, Audrey and T. Smiles all around! T had a class to go to, so we bade her farewell. However, Audrey was available to eat lunch with Becky and me. As I stood in line with my little bag of Cheetos for lunch, Audrey insisted she buy them for me. "Why are you doing this?" I queeried. "Because I want to." She replied.

Little did she know that was the beginning of a much better day. That little act of kindness moved my day into the right direction and helped turn it into one of the best days I've had this semester. It also helped me to think outside myself. Everyone is hurting for money. We're in college, after all. How selfless of her to see a need (small though it may have been) and act on it. That's only one of many instances that she help others when she "wants to".

Thank you, Audrey.

Side note

That blog is not meant to be as serious as it is. lol So, don't take it too serious. I'm listening to the churchy songs I'm learning in choir right now so anything I type may sound spiritual. :) Have a great day!

The tragedy/blessing

Sometimes in our lives we are faced with the loss of something special so that we can grow. I think I am growing. I have recently experienced the death of something very special to me. My cell phone. It's all right. I have tissues if you need to cry. I have been one of those "cell phone addicts". You've seen the kind. They walk around campus constantly talking on their phone. Even when they have someone right in front of them and their phone begins to buzz, they will pick up the phone and ask you to hold one while they talk to that little silver rectangle.

I think cell phones are a wonderful invention. They have brought people closer together. They let children form stronger bonds with their parents. They help those who are lost find their way (unfortunately, this has been me many times). And they give other people a sense of security just to have it around.

There is a problem with cell phones, however. This is something I have discovered only since being without mine for the past few days. Something that has been missing from my life for a little while is the alone time to think and gather my thoughts. Every time I have walked to school, I have talked to someone on the phone. Since breaking my cell I have spent a lot of time reflecting on my life and what kind of person I want to become. It has been a wonderful blessing to break my cell phone. It's a blessing I think Heavenly Father knew I needed at this time.

When it first broke, I thought it was a great tragedy. Now I know that it is a blessing. :) I will be grateful for my new cell phone when I receive one, but I have learned to take time to be by myself without a cell phone. It's a wonderful thing.

A Poem for a Cell Phone

Your short square shape,
Your silver lining,
Your wonderful face
That's always shining.

The sound of your tone,
The voice at the end.
The connection through which
I find my good friend.

And then there's the text
Such a joyful sight.
That no matter the weather,
You make my life bright.

I'll miss the vibrations
You bring to my day,
For when I can feel you,
The gray goes away.

And now my dear friend, goodbye.

And... another poem/song for any Nauvooers out there.

A Song for a Cell

And so, my cell, I say farewell to you,
With numb and aching heart, one last adieu,
And through my tears, I look to phones beyond,
Could ever I be fond of one as you.

One ringing song, one screen aglow,
You were my friend until I dropped you in the snow,
Where'er I'd go, you'd come along
And we would walk and talk all night,
Until the dawn...

And so you go, I cannot turn you on,
No one will hear my voice cause now you're gone,
This phone I leave I always will recall,
The calls, the texts, and all...
I love you soooo...

Farewell...my cell....Farewell...myyyy cellllllllll.

*sniff*

(New words by Joseph Marshall)

hmm... proofreading

So... as I read over the blog entry about dreams, I realized I really should have proof-read it before I published it. I mean, of course I practiced my songs in front of my roommates in clothes! What I meant to say was my nice clothes for the performance. :) There are several other errors I made as well. Just overlook them if you will. :)

Good news

I did have some wonderful news yesterday. Because I recently made it into Women's Chorus, I am going to be singing in General Conference!!! We are singing in the Saturday afternoon session. You can look for my brother in three of the sessions and look for me in the fourth!

Yay!

Dreams

As many of you may know, I've been a little stressed lately. I had make-up juries this morning and I've been practicing from 2-3 hours every day previously to prepare. For those who may not know what a jury is; it is when you perform your instrument in front of the music faculty and they judge whether you should continue as a music major or not.

Last night I practiced in my clothes for my roommates and even performed in front of a few friends. I felt fairly confident. Well, I thought I felt confident. I think my subconscious knew more about how I was really feeling then I let out externally. I had two dreams last night. One of them is kind of funny now that I think about it. The other one was just a typical nightmare one has when they are extremely worried about something.

Dreams:

I dreamed that instead of performing in front of just the music faculty, that the faculty had us all perform in the stadium in front of thousands and thousands of people. Everyone went before me and the crowd was having a wonderful time. You could see people laughing and ooing and aaahhing over my classmates voices. Then I went up to the mic. At first it was just silent. But as I continued singin, the people in the audience started yelling and then everyone got up and left the stadium. It was bad enough that they felt like they needed to leave! Is that sad or what?

The second dream was that I woke up about three hours late to practice the songs before the actual performance. I missed the performance and failed juries. *sigh* It was pretty tramatic.

As a result of those dreams, I woke up at 3 am and then at 3:30 and then 4 and 4:30. Needless to say, I didn't get a lot of sleep even though I went to bed at 10:00 pm.

How did Juries go you ask? Eh... I wasn't very pleased with them. In fact, I almost burst into tears right after they were done. I haven't sung that poorly in a very long time. I'm still wired from all the stress that was building up. My hands are shaking while I type this. I should probably take a nap. But alas, I will be on campus for another four hours before I can go home and collapse on my bed. I might feel well enough by then to be social.

Hey! Life is still good. I just need a minute to get over it! :)

Ya gotta love BYU

On Saturday my sister and I were going to go on a blind date. Yes, yes I know. I really should learn by now. But, I am still open to them. Ya never know when it's actually going to work out. I had talked to my date on the phone a few times and we had fun talking. We decided Saturday would work out best. He had a friend he would bring up for my sister. Wellll, Saturday morning rolls around and I get a phone call.

"Hello?"
"Hello! How are you?"
"Great! Are we still on for tonight?"
"Umm... actually Emilie, something kind of unusual happened."
"What's that?" (I was thinking that I was plum out of unusual things that could happen with blind dates.)
"Well, the guy I was going to bring up for your sister just got engaged last night."
"Oh! Wow. Ok. How long has he been dating her?"
"Well, he just got off his mission three weeks ago and he didn't know her before then."
"Oh! WOW!!!! (thinking, does he know how to say the word forever?) Well, congrats to your friend!"
"Yeah, so I was thinking I'll find someone else for a later weekend?"
"Sounds good!"

Needless to say, we didn't go out that night. That's the kind of story you only hear about at BYU. It's great to finally be a part of the story. And can I just say I love BYU? I do. I really do.

My New Crush

I'm obsessed. I'll admit it. I spend all hours of the day thinking about it. I stay up late thinking of what might happen next. I analyze every tiny detail. I ran over the typical "what if" questions. Will it be a pleasant experience? Do I really want to enter into a new relationship that takes up so much time? Am I supposed to go on a mission?

We both dance. We both love music. The thing is, my crush seems to have a relationship with every girl on campus! It doesn't really make me jealous. In fact the more people that have less to do with my crush than others, the more jealous I am. Does that make sense at all? And then there is the time commitment. I don't have enough time to have a crush! And yet I do. I admit it. I have a crush.

His name? .... Schoolwork. Last night I lay in bed thinking about today. I lay there for 2 hours before I fell asleep. My wonderful roommate Audrey finally brought in some herbal tea to calm my nerves. I kept thinking about the tiny details that needed to get done. I kept thinking about all the things I could not and would not forget. I kept thinking about how much better I am going to do this semester. I didn't do terribly last semester, but there is room for improvement. :) I have class every morning at 8:00 am. That's insane. My Sophomore year, I had 8:00 classes and I vowed I would never do that to myself again. And yet, here I am. I'm doing it again. I'm already tired and it's only the first day. I have auditions to go to. I have a TON of homework already. I'm going to help teach in a kindergarten class on Wednesday. There's a lot to do and not enough time to do it. Even if I don't sleep ever... I don't have enough time to do as much studying as we've been advised to do.

Life is crazy. But isn't it fun to have a crush again?

Reverence is More than just Quietly Sitting...

Tonight something not totally unusual in my family happened. We were at my brothers house for family night. We ate dinner, watched the sugar bowl, and then played trivial pursuit. By the way, if you ever want to feel like you don't know anything, trivial pursuit is the game for you! :) I think out of the 50 questions asked, I knew 3 of them. Hmm... back to the story.

My little nephew has a very bad cough. When he makes baby noises, it sounds more like a character right out of Alien. It's a very funny sound. Also, my family has been staying up consistently past 2:00 am every morning. So, we were all a little bit loopy.

Time for family prayer. I was asked to say the prayer. I knelt down and began, "Dear... We thank thee for the time we can spend with each other (Alien noises inserted here)" Right then, I started giggling. My sister in-law next to me started giggling. My brother next to her started giggling (it's a funny sound when my brother giggles). One sister in-law was laughing so hard she had to leave the room. We all sat there giggling for about five minutes before I could compose myself to finish the closing prayer. It was pretty hilarious.

I sure hope Heavenly Father has a sense of humor.

Welcome to Munchkin Land

I come from a very short family. I am 5'4", my sister 5'3", two of my bros are 5'7", three are about 5'9". The very tallest member of my family is 5'11"; he also happens to be the youngest brother. With that in mind, last Saturday, my family decided to play a friendly game of basketball. My brother Dave, invited his 6'6" brother in-law (Ken) to play with us. It was all going very well. The team opposite of Ken had to double team him and they still couldn't keep him down. He was scoring all the time. It was more like Ken was playing with a bunch of ten-year-olds than with full-grown adults.

At one point, my 5'3" sister got the ball. She dribbled enthusiastically down the court and looked up ready to shoot. There stood Ken. My sister, being completely taken aback by the fact that there was someone taller than 5'7" in front of her began screaming bloody murder. She dropped the ball and ran to the back of the court. The rest of us were rolling on the floor with laughter. She'd just never played with a tall person before. She was very terrified.

Later on, when she told Ken how frightened she was and that he shouldn't take offense he said, "You know, I really think you scared me more than I scared you. I had someone screaming in my face for no apparent reason." It was more like she was screaming at his abdomin, but still, it was a very nice thing for him to say.

The pick-up lines

About the pick-up lines from about 2 or 3 posts ago... as my brother did not believe they really happened, I want to again say they are 100% true. I even have another one to add to the list.

From a text message: "Remember I love you and also remember I'm still single"

hmmm...

The Best Feeling in the World

I have spent the last couple of weeks with my family. I have decided that nothing feels better to me than having my little nephews and nieces give me hugs and kisses good night. No prayer sounds better than a little child imitating his/her parents in a bedtime prayer. No kiss feels better than a slobbery kiss from a 1-year-old. No pat on the back feels better than a 1-year-old trying to imitate his parents patting him on the back to comfort him. Nothing sounds better than a child telling his/her Aunt Emmie or Auntie Em "I love you". No music sounds better than the sound of a 6-year-old niece singing to her 2-year-old brother and cousin songs she has heard her mother sing because she is trying to mother them. No game is more fun than hide and seek with two-year-olds who are still trying to figure out the concept of being quiet. "Farah! (Sarah) We'we ovuh hewe!" No laughter is as wonderful to listen than the laughter of a little boy playing tickle-stop. (The whole game is having him tell you when to tickle him and when to stop. He loves being "kickoed")

Nothing is more exciting or faith-building than talking to your 8-year-old nephew about being baptized. (His baptism is Saturday!) No wonder Christ wanted the little children to come unto Him. It's humbling to be so close to incredible people who have so soon been with our Heavenly Father. Children are wonderful. "How Dear to God are Precious Children"