Hello Giggles and Mona Lisa Smile

So I recently found this website called hellogiggles.com. Zooey Deschanel and two other women created it. Its amazing. Not only is it a website that swears off all negativity and destructive gossip; its actually an adorable website. They have everything from hair bow tutorials to cat videos to articles on why being called pretty isn't always a compliment to some girls. So cool. In the video on youtube discussing their creation Zooey says that she's a feminist who isn't a feminist. Which is silly to say yes I know but she explains that she believes in equality but she doesn't believe women or men should change their behavior. Be you! Just even the playing field a bit. When a girl does something amazing we shouldn't say, "wow, what a strong female. She is so awesome for a girl!" Sometimes I even think that myself. I know that sometimes we don't think that about every situation but it does still happen. One time I got invited to play basketball with some of my guy friends. Even though these were my close friends and I like playing basketball, at the moment I was really tired and simply not in the mood to play. We've all been there. Anyways, after I told them no and said that I was tired and not feeling basketball today, like good friends they kept asking me. Then something changed. They started saying that they would make it easy for me, or that it really isn't that hard to play, and things like, "we'll make it a girl friendly game." Thats when I got slightly offended. I knew they meant nothing by it and were only trying to get me to play. I said no again but went home pretty peeved. Why did they have to change the rules just for me to play? I have played sports with them many times and never had they said anything like that. Conclusion. There is still a slight hint of sexism out there. Obviously it can't be changed over night but a girl needs to be able to get up on stage and tell a joke and be called a comedian and not, "oh cool, a female comedian."

I recently watched the movie Mona Lisa Smile. WONDERFUL MOVIE! I highly recommend it. (its on Netflix right now ;D) This movie is set in the 1950s when all that was required of a woman was to get married and be a mother and a homemaker. What's wrong with that? Nothing at all if that is what you want. What is wrong is assuming that is what every woman should want and her path to get there should be exactly the same. At first the movie made me think "Yeah! I don't need a man! I can get a degree in whatever I want! I can get a job and support myself and do whatever I want!!! GO WOMEN!!" but then as the movie progressed I realized, that is what the movie is telling me I should want. It made the girl who got married in college look like the judging villain and the girl wanted to attend law school a hero. By the end of the movie it had changed. The only reason the first girl was more like a villain was because she was negative and judging and always put down others. It had nothing to do with her wanted to get married. And the second girl, while she wanted to attend Yale, she wanted to have a home and a family more. She was a hero because in the end she truly did what SHE wanted. And she shouldn't be judged for wanted to attend Yale, but aslo she shouldn't be judged for choosing a family over Law School. I like this idea of being a feminist but not a feminist. I don't have to change who I am. I can believe that for me and my life, I want a family. I want to be a mom. Most feminists would disagree. I believe that as women we shouldn't have to BE anything. We can be whoever we want, and get there however we like.

She & Him obsession.

So hopefully you watched this video before you started reading, but I just wanted to say how obsessed I am with this song, this album, this video, and Zooey in general. I also found this website recently called http://wwzdw.com/ which stands for What Would Zooey Deschanel Wear. Beautiful. I cannot wait for New girl to start up again. She has this classy, funny, beautiful humor that I simply adore. I can't get enough of her. I feel like I relate to her a lot being a second child myself. I mean it must hard growing up with a sister who is the serious detective in Bones. Not that I can relate to that. My sister is just about as serious as me as in we both have similar humor I think. But anyways, I feel like she has this awesome silly carefree confidence that I think I have too. Not that i'm no Zooey Deschanel, but my friend Chris did say that the first time he watched new girl all he could do was laugh because it was exactly how I was last summer when it was basically me hanging out with him, Nick and Travis, and the occasional Devon sometimes. Unfortunately we identified him as more of a Schmidt but honestly those boys are pretty hard to relate to actual people. I think my girly "New Girl" side came out after I worked at Disney for sure and especially after I roomed with Jen Allen from Disney. LOVE HER TO DEATH. I miss her so much. She is on a mission in Oklahoma and is about a year out now! Crazy time flies. ANYWAYS, I just love her. And here are a few more videos that I adore her in :D

all I'm saying, is I hope I'm as cute as she is when I'm 30.

and just this:

The Civil Wars CD of 2013

So, I've been waiting for this day for a long time. The day The Civil Wars would come out with a new CD. And let me just say I am more than impressed. I love their sound so much. Top favorite songs: Same Old Same Old, From this Valley, and Sacred Heart. Sacred Heart is in french and I looked up the translation in English and it is soooooo beautiful. Can't wait for Abby to get home so she can sing it to me in French :D here's the lyrics to these beautiful songs.

                                                              "Same Old Same Old"

I wanna leave you
I wanna lose us
I wanna give up
But I won’t

I wanna miss this
I want a heartache
I wanna run away
But I won’t

‘Cause do I love you
Oh, I do
And I’m going to ‘til I’m gone
But if you think that I can stay in this
same old, same old
Well, I don’t
I don’t

I’m gonna break things
I’m gonna cross the line
And make you wake up
‘cause you won’t

I’m gonna name names
I’m gonna call us out
I’m gonna say it
If you won’t

Do I love you
Oh, I do
And I’m going to ‘til I’m gone
But if you think that I can stay in this
Same old, same old
Well, I don’t

Oh I don’t wanna fight
But I’ll fight with you
If I have to, if I have to

‘Cause do I love you
Oh, I do
And I’m going to ‘til I’m gone
But if you think that I can stay in this
Same old, same old
Same old, same old
Well, I don’t
I don’t

"From This Valley"

Oh the desert dreams of a river
That will run down to the sea
Like my heart longs for an ocean
To wash down over me

Oh won't you take me from this valley
To that mountain high above
Oh I will pray, pray, pray till I see your smiling face
I will pray, pray, pray to the one that I love

Oh the outcast dreams of acceptance
Just to find pure love's embrace
Like an orphan longs for its mother
May you hold me in your grace

Oh won't you take me from this valley
To that mountain high above
Oh I will pray, pray, pray till I see your smiling face
I will pray, pray, pray to the one that I love

Ooh, whoa oh, whoa oh oh
Ooh, whoa oh, whoa oh oh

Oh the caged bird dreams of a strong wind
That will flow beneath her wings
Like a voice longs for a melody
Oh Jesus, carry me

Oh won't you take me from this valley
To that mountain high above
Oh I will pray, pray, pray till I see your smiling face
I will pray, pray, pray to the one that I love

Oh I will pray, pray, pray till I see your smiling face
I will pray, pray, pray to the one that I love

"Sacred Heart"

When I walk in the street

The street to the Sacred Heart

I remember the promises

In the name of love

I'll wait for you there

Will you come for me?

I'll wait for you there

only you

You can stand

Until the sun hides

And kiss me softly

Until he returns

I'll wait for you there

Will you come for me?

I'll wait for you there

only you

You may take the delay

You may have missed your train

You can not possibly forgive me

The shadows grow

And the crowds disappear

I'll wait for you there

Will you come for me?

I'll wait for you there

only you

Study Abroad, Art, Teaching, New Girl, Yes

So sometimes New Girl is my life and I love her. A lot of people pretty much know that I am tough and strong. But these are only the people that really know me, if not you may just think i'm an artist who loves Disney way too much for an adult who avoids confrontation maybe. But really sometimes its tough being an emotionally compromised woman in this world that expects you to man up! Anyways, in case you were wondering, yes I have toughed glitter int he last 24 hours and I also brake for birds but  like Zooey says, "that doesn't mean I'm not smart and tough and strong!" She preaches it like it is. I love being a girly woman who likes sparkly things and animals, and bows, and polka dots, and dessert and cute things! :D Takes me back to the days of apartment 92 getting frustrated about our majors or being a woman in general. Now let me just say that yes I am a feminist in the sense that woman should be taken more seriously in this world, but I am not one of the feminist who think the church is discriminating us... not at all. Frankly I think those are a bunch of really bored women who need someone to complain to about their unhappiness when they should really be focused on their own problems. I love being a gentle, girly, emotional, expressive, artistic, and lovely WOMAN! aww yeah.. thats all!

Jude Law and a Semester Abroad

So sorry I haven't posted in a while. So tired and crazy busy. I'll go back and add pictures when I'm done but for now let me just get it all written down while I still remember. Currently I am at the Heathrow Airport in England waiting for my flight at 10 am. And I've been here since 6 pm.. I finished filling up my Amazing journal Erin gave me for my birthday. I love it. I can't even close it its so full of tickets, post cards, pressed flowers and other junk. It's been crazy fun journaling.

Anyways, so we get to London and what do I do the first night there? See a show of course! After being in paris that morning, leaving at 6 am and taking the longest worst train ride ever to london, having to carry our suit cases up more flights of stairs that I knew I had the strength for. It was crazy.. so once we get in our hotel, some of us go to Leicester Square to see what shows were playing that night. We got really good deal on Singing in the Rain for that night so we bought them, did our assigned walking tour of London with my class, ran home and dressed up all fancy and went to a show! Longest day ever but it was 100 percent worth it. The audience in the first 10 rows got completely drenched from Don Lockwood's tap dancing and I sat on the balcony with Katie laughing at them with the binoculars I borrowed from Maddie. So great. More than worth it.

So we visited many of the famous art museums including British Museum, Tate Britain, Tate Modern, Wallace collection, Victoria and Albert museum, and of course the National Gallery. They were amazing. Sad to see some of the Ancient Greek stuff here in London though.. It belongs in Athens. GIVE IT BACK TO THEM! Anyways. So many amazing things to see. First of all I love my professor James. Not only was he super chill in London about time, museums, and journal assignments, but he made the museums extremely interesting and enjoyable. I love that he doesn't just tell us facts and random things we'll forget tomorrow. He gives us a reason why artworks are so important and has them relate to us now. Also he's hilarious. He laughed and congratulated me at the
British museum when he caught me fist bumping an extremely old Egyptian statue of a fist that I was
not suppose to be even touching. Also at the Tate Modern we came across a mobile sculpture and he had every one of us blow on it at the same time to see if we could get it to move. He's like a big little kid that I respect. A girl in our class named Angela even made a tally of every time he said the word "evocative" or started talking about a painting with "alright folks.." Haha so great.

Ok so I'm surprised I've gone this far without referencing a movie! Well first of all, this whole trip has felt like a movie. Can't believe it's over. Feels like Greece was a year ago. My professor James said at the beginning of the trip that every day will feel like an eternity but the end is coming like a train that can't be stopped! So true. That's how everything is. Working at Disney was the same! I cannot even believe that was two years ago. Feels like I was there just last summer.

Ok anyways. So I also got to see Phantom of the Opera and Les Miserables. I bought phantom tickets for myself because that was the one I REALLY wanted to see. Besides les mis of course. So I bought my ticket that afternoon and Caroline dropped me off and took a picture of me wearing my masquerade mask from Venice. And my seat was pretty darn good for paying so little. Christine's voice was perfect. Everyone was perfect. Never been so satisfied with everyone's voice in a broadway besides when I saw wicked for the first time. And then Caroline picked me up like a good friend and roommate and we went home together, with the condition that I wear my mask all the way home! Haha fun times with that chica. Got several stares and a few giggles on the tube. And of course Les Mis was a dream! We got to upgrade our tickets the night of the show and we had pretty good seats before but after we upgraded we were literally in perfect seats. And then when Maddie went to upgrade hers she got her ticket later she she originally had a balcony seat, she got to upgrade to FRONT ROW! She could see the tears on Marius's face when he sang Empty Chairs! And the fog machines were all around her. So cool. She was so excited haha. That was really cool. And we all dressed up with our new Dorthy Perkins Dresses. We looked HOT for wearing the same clothes for 40 days.. Haha.

Last super cool thing I got to do was Harry Potter tour!!!! This was the thing I wanted to do most and I can't believe I almost didn't do it. First of all, I cried. Jaime Christensen, the girl who can count on one hand how many times I've cried, cried in the Harry Potter tour. Now I didn't cry in the whole thing. Just the part when they showed the castle in its entirety that they use for the zooming out scenes of Harry Potter. So it's not actually that big in real life. But it's pretty big! They have this beautiful room all lit up and blue walls to show the different lighting they use to get the time of day correct. I didn't see it coming. We were walking through the real set of diagonal ally and then I go through to the next section and there it was.. BAM. And I cried and walked around it again and again. And I watched it turn from day to night 3 or 4 times. It was truly magic. So besides me crying, we got to see some pretty amazing things in this museum. The first part you walk through the actual doors of the great hall, see Harry's first set of robes, the first Dumbledor's clothes, Dobby, the Griffindor common room, the wands of everyone, moving paintings, Harry's first snitch, the horcruxes, the ministry of magic, the night bus, revolving staircases, private drive, Godricks hollow, hogwarts bridge, night bus, flying car, and even the chess pieces. And so so so so so much more. Like an infinite amount of stuff more. Once Maddie loads her pics I will put them on here. My camera ran out of space so we used hers haha. It was amazing.

So everyone's flight left that Friday morning except mine which actually left Saturday morning so I had a wonderful day on my own on Friday. Being with 30 girls an one boy 24/7 was great but I sure missed my alone time. So I woke up Friday, said goodbye to people leaving for the airport, checked out of my hotel, paid for my bags to be left in hotel closet, and headed for the city of London on my own :)  my main goal of the whole day was to find Jude Law. There is actually a pretty good song by Brand New called "Jude Law and a Semester Abroad" that John showed me before I left. Haha it also is pretty convienent that Jude Law is my favorite male actor/celebrity crush. So when I met all my friends while on study abroad I told a few people that I plan to celebrity stalk him when I get to London. Then my friend Katie told me that when she lived in London with her family she lived right down the street to him. And he sill lives there. So what was I going to do on Friday by myself in London? Walk up and down Jude Laws street/neighborhood. It was awesome. Didn't ever see him. Didn't look like anyone was really home but yes I did see his house. And no I did not take a picture because I felt too much like a creep. But it is forever in my memory haha. The rest of the day bymyself I spent taking a nap in Hyde park, going shopping a little for my family, and eating frozen yogurt at this place called Snog. Which had a giant sign in the front window that said "snogging is 100 percent all natural." And  not only was this Snog good, it was the best Snog I ever had! Plain yogurt with raspberries. So yummy. 

Headed to the airport that night around 6 and spent the night there laying on my suitcases with my eye pillow. Hearing construction workers work on something in the airport all night. For abou 3 full hours of sleep. Then I checked in that morning, got on the plain from London to LA. 11 hour flight. And now I'm home and my adventure is over but boy did I learn a lot! Best thing I ever did! I'm so gla I did it while I am young and not married. I've been so blessed in my life and I have pretty much done everything I want to do before I'm married so I guess that's the next thing on my list. Gonna have to work on that haha. Well, back into the dating world of provo :/ I hope I post more in the future about my life! Bye!

Paris holds the key to protestors and too many decisions

PARIS! So the trip to Paris took about 13.5 hours...when it could have taken about 8.. Our bus driver insisted on going about 50 mph the entire way there. The only thing I have missed about America is how much faster we drive. BUT the drive was INSNANELY beautiful. And I know I keep saying the drive to each place is beautiful but it really is. It's so much prettier than I thought it would be. In Germany and France there ae just fields and fields of canola flowers that line the horizon as bright as the yellow brick road and the greenest green fields and trees that look like a fairytale Forrest and little villages that look like Bell's village or Snow White's cottage and everything is so cute and whimsical it's amazing. ANYWAYS we get to Paris pretty late with my friend Brynne and I singing "Paris Holds The Key to Your Heart" from Anastasia as loud as we can. Love that song. We started singing it when we first spot the Effie Tower. So we start our first day on Monday just doing a walk around tour of Norte-Dame and go to the Spanish quarters and get SUPER good falafels and go thrift store shopping where I got these gorgeous real leather Anastasia like ankle boots for only €15. They still smell like an old man but I put some dryer sheets inside them and hopefully that'll make them smell nicer. Anyways, Notre-Dame was gorgeous! Kept singing the "God Help The Outcasts" in my head while I was in there. Did not realize how magnificent it was in person. Sooooooooooooo pretty. I REALLY love French gothic architecture I've decided. So after we get home from the day we find out that only about 3 hours after we left Notre-Dame there was a man who shot himself at the alter inside Notre-Dame. Scary! They had to evacuate everyone in the square and it made pretty big news.

So while in Paris we've seen a bunch of museums and churches including the Louvre, D'orsay, Pompedu, Rodin, Saint Denis, Sant Chapelle, and a couple of other museums and churches I don't remember the names of. Got to sprint through the Louvre at 10 at night to see the Mona Lisa with no one around it before it closed. That was a funny sight to see. The guards were laughing and cheering
us on as we were running haha. Another day at the Louvre we watched a funny Asian lady running
through some of the galleries taking pictures of every single painting she saw.  I wish I could show you in writing the way she ran up to each painting and without even looking at the painting snapping a quick picture and then running to the next one crashing in to people and running in her bright yellow 3 inch high 90's sneakers. I heard once that if you spend 30 seconds at each painting it would take you over 2 weeks to see everything in the Louvre. We only get 3 days but maybe this lady was trying to set some sort of record haha.

Anyways. Besides the museums and churches our free time is up to us on what to do.. So far I think I have just picked the wrong groups to do things with. Still haven't been to the Eiffel Tower, still haven't seen the Arch of Triumph, still haven't seen moulin rouge or the opera house, and I lost my chance today of going to Monet's garden becaus everyone that wanted to go flaked on me last minute. I was pretty sad today actually because I was looking at some of my old journals before I left and I wrote down a LONG time ago that said on my bucket list I wanted to see them so I told everyone that I was gonna go and I was gonna do whatever it took to get there. After getting to Paris and realizing
how difficult it was to travel there I realized that it would be very dumb to go alone especially with
what happened in Notre-Dame and how bad I am at directions and stuff so I knew others were planning on going Sunday so left my trust into doing it then. Sunday comes and after church and a museum and after asking everyone like 10 times if they were for sure going everyone bailed and said they were too tired. My heart sank as I realized I wouldn't be able to go. One of the girls even talked about just going the next time she went to Paris. Sorry, but I don't know the next time I will be going to Paris and I don't mind that nobody wanted to go but I'm just mad that I was so close to going and everyone flaked last minute. If there's one thing I try never to be its a flake. When I say I'm going to something I go or I try my hardest to make it there. Some of us may never get a chance like this ever again and I am very sad that I haven't been able to do anything I want to do really yet because people have changed their minds last minute or been too tired to do things. I'm probably being overdramatic right now but I am just upset. We really only have 3 full days left in Paris and 2 of those days are day trips to Versailles and Chartres so I pretty much have one day to do all the things I want to do. I may
just end up going myself on Tuesday. I'm tired of waiting for other people. The worse thing is is that
idk if I can go out anymore on my own though because today there was the biggest protest that Paris
has ever had in history (including the revolution) revolting against the passing of gay marriage in France. This also had to do with the man who commit suicide at Notre-Dame. Apparently he commit suicide to make a statement and so over 2 million peopled gathered near the Eiffel tower with family signs and no gay marriage signs so that he didn't "die in vain" but honestly him killing himself is breaking up his family so I feel like it was a little contradictory that they think gay marriage is breaking the family but killing yourself is ok, because he's a martyr or something. Anyways. Some girls in my group got stuck in the riots and were stuck there for a good few hours before some professor from a university here who knew English helped them get out. Glad they are safe. But now we're not sure if things around Paris will get worse. Some of the trains and metros were blocked off and closed too because of it too so that's also a different problem for us.

The one thing I did get to do though was of course the magical DISNEYLAND PARIS! After a day at the Louvre our professors told us that since we had some extra money we saved from the hotel because we squished 3 in a room instead of 2 we each got an extra €100 to spend on whatever! I really wanted to do Disney but I wasn't sure if I wanted to save for fun stuff like broadway in London or the Harry potter museum or other things but with the extra hundred me and some great girls got to go on Friday. It was amazing the day of the 20th anniversary so we got a discount on our tickets and because it was pouring rain we walked on every ride. It was amazing. Best day I've had in Paris. Hope I can do the real things I'm suppose to do in Paris before I leave. I of course have more to say about Disneyland Paris but I am tired and need to go to bed. So that's all for tonight. Only less that 2 weeks left! Don't wanna come home but at the same time I am exhausted. Bittersweet.

Austria and Germany and Childhood movies

So our first stop was Vienna. We were there for a couple days got some amazing bratwursts and hot dogs. So yummy! Got to have real legit Vienna beef! I didn't realize how many famous musicians came from Vienna including Mozart. Maddie told Caroline and me about these candies we had to find that we're these chocolate balls that had like nuts and marzipan inside of them. We finally found these "Mozart balls" and they were amazing! So I guess you could say that in Vienna we enjoyed some great wieners and some really good balls. ;) We saw some amazing museums that all have become a blur to me. Love the art but I don't remember which art I saw in which museum only because there was too much and we are seeing 2 or 3 museums every day. Also one of the best parts of Vienna was the hotel! I got to room with Caroline and our hotel felt like we were from Xenon! Everything was motion censored and we could control all the lights by the remote on our bed and the shower was in the middle of the room and clear all the way around but blurred in the right spots haha. Kinda awkward to shower but the best part of the shower was the shower head changed colors! So we had fun showering with the light off. It was awesome haha. Tried watching tv but everything was in German and English subtitles wouldn't work. Wieners, balls, and light up showers: I promise this is a BYU study abroad haha

Then we made our day trip to Salzburg which of course where sound of music is filmed!!! We got off the bus and walked right to where they sing the Do-Re-Me songs! We walked around what truly felt like the sound of music. We all couldn't help but sing the songs, I'm sure we all did not like the loud and annoying Americans that he Europeans know us as. Sorry not sorry.. Haha but we also got to walk up and hike our way to the top of the mighty Hohensalzburg Fortress! Too much money to go inside but it was pretty and fun to walk up! Got an amazing pretzel and walked into many lederhosen shops that they took very seriously. Felt like Rapunzel walking around the fun Shops and dancers right next to the castle. All i needed was a Flynn Rider to get a cupcake with..next time. We then got on the bus to go to our group dinner somewhere in Austria on the way to Munich. It was like a thanksgiving feast. They just brought out plates and plates of food kind of buffet style. So much meat and vegetables I was happy to eat them all. Sometimes on the road you feel so awful because your just eating carbs and sugar all the time haha. Little did I know that the best meat I ate was actually veal! Sometimes ignorance is bliss. If I had known I would not have ate it. But then they brought out dessert and I felt much better. There was like 6 different cake like desserts and we all just grabbed our fork and ate off all of them. Felt like I was a seven dwarf in Snow White. "What's wash???" Because maybe the last time we had washed was "recently" haha.  Thanks for anyone who understands these quotes from the movie. Everywhere I turned in Austria and Germany I was either seeing Snow White, Sound of Music, or Tangled haha




So after dinner we get back in the bus on our way to Munich. All I can really say about Munich is that the metro is the hardest thing in the world to figure out. First of all I'm not very good at direction anyways but if things are properly labeled and color coded then I can figure it out. This was not the case. After a very successful day of wandering around the main shopping area of Munich me, Maddie and Caroline start to make our way back which shoul take about 20 minutes ended up taking us about 3 hours. But the best way to figure out your way around town is to get lost. What I love and hate about study abroad is that our professors will give us a map and tell us where our hotel is and then say, "good luck! See you at this place tomorrow!" And then let us loose. In Venice when they did it it was kinda fun because it felt like amazing race. Like here's where our hotel is; see who can get there the fastest haha. But by the time I was in Munich I was done with getting lost. While we were lost though this random little man helped us and gave us directions. I kid you not, he looked like a gnome. he was little, had a beard, came out of nowhere, and had grass in his hair! I think that there are magical dwarves or gnomes in germany that help people because it was magical. He shows up and knows english and then like magic he dissapeared instantly. Very cute man. Still though after getting directions from the gnome we were still confused and lost. Luckily all of the metros have been much easier but basically the way we home was random king running into our professor and figuring out that we had the wrong written down for our hotel. Haha so once we got that cleared up we made it home in no time. Munich was beautiful though! Went to the worlds biggest beer hall and got water and yummy food haha we looked pretty silly but there were a lot of funny drunk people and especially giant groups of bachelor parties. Very fun to watch them, it was like dinner and a show. That's it for Germany though. Very green, very pretty, didn't like the metro

Christmas store with decorated eggs. This is only one little section of the store. Entire store was FILLED with these hand painted eggs