tale.

This evening around 9:13 I was sitting in my bed, lounging, watching Season 3 of Gilmore Girls (A Tale of Poes and Fire, to be exact-the episode where The Dragonfly Inn catches fire, oh the irony), when I heard a really loud rush of water. The first thought that went through my head was, "Hmm...that new tub the roomies have is awfully loud," and went back to watching the two Poes battle it out in their rendition of The Raven (my life is very exciting). About 30 seconds later I thought, "Wow, that is really loud. Reminds me of that day the construction man turned my shower on full blast with the door open." 1.3 seconds later I realized, "Hmm...they didn't put in a tub, they put in a shower downstairs..."

The following events transpired in about thirty seconds:

Scared of what I would find, I opened my door and gasped when I saw water seeping from underneath my bathroom door onto the carpet. I threw the door open and screamed when I saw about an inch of water rushing out on my bathroom floor. Initially I thought the toilet might have been the source of all of the water. However, the mirror was fogged, the room steaming hot, and I frantically threw open my shower door, yet that also was not the source of the flood. I then realized it was coming from my sink. The faucet was off, I yanked the two cabinet doors open and water poured everywhere. About 12 different things ran through my mind including: "How am I going to stop all of this water, oh my gosh my hair products, where is this water coming from, my flat iron, there's so much water, what's going to get ruined, I seriously cannot see, AH SO MUCH WATER.

Oh, and I said a couple of things I shouldn't have and now I feel badly.

I quickly grabbed the basket that contains all of my hair products (brushes, bottles, cans, etc.) and all of my somewhat pricey styling tools, threw them into my room, grabbed my phone and THAT'S when the smoke alarm went off. Despite the monsoon of water and the piercing scream of the alarms, my mind remained remarkably clear. I immediately left my land lady a message and then ran back upstairs to figure out how to turn the water off. With all of my things out of the way, I was able to see that the hot water hose had somehow broken apart from the knob and the water was going everywhere. Being the completely ignorant woman I am, it took a moment, but then was able to turn the knob, shutting off the water.

Soaked to the bone, I still had the truly unearthly, awful sound of the smoke alarm...which was odd considering we didn't have a fire. My cute roommates and I quickly laid down all towels we own to try and soak up all of the water, but we couldn't get the alarm to shut up. After a quick phone call to my dad (dads are the best!), we realized that water was seeping through my vent into the smoke detector, causing it to short.

Well, the end of this long story is Denece, our land lady, finally arrived around 9:30, got the smoke alarms off, and tore up the carpet revealing some water damage, but not as much as we had originally thought.

The positive points:

+My spring cleaning has come early this year.
+I shared some great bonding experiences with my roommates.
+I reacted fairly well to the massive gushing of water.
+A banana cream pie milkshake from Cameron.
+A boring evening became the most eventful I've had in MONTHS.

Who knows what would have happened if I hadn't been here. Seeing how some of the water seeped into my room, my stuff would probably have been ruined, including all of the electrical equipment plugged in and currently on (TV, computer, light, MY PIANO). Shoes ruined, clothing ruined. Life ruined.

I'm just grateful, that's all :)

Nothing better than a great flood to bring excitement into my life.

purity.

this is rumba in what I believe to be its finest form. oh if only they still danced together. It's love, respect, and total devotion. I have never seen those things more beautifully performed than in this piece by Slavik and Karina:

skin.

Come springtime, my dear, darling dad has this great affinity for convertibles. By June, he appears to be of South American descent, rather than our fabulously fair and olive Norwegian roots. Unfortunately, a harsh reality has come about. For some time he had this weird, bubble-like, pimple-esque dot on the very tip of his nose. After a few months of constant prodding from those that care for him, he went in to a doctor and they discovered...you guessed it, skin cancer. He had some weird procedure done which resulted in some black thread stitched onto his nose for a week or so and today, they finally extracted cells from his nose. They had to remove a lot more than they thought, but thankfully results came back completely positive, and he is just fine.

We admittedly tan quite well in our family, our skin is quite suited to the sun's rays. There is no doubt that I've been addicted to the natural vitamin d, it's hard not to be. The sun makes you happy (example: it's sunny today and don't you feel great?!), you look skinnier when your, ahem, skin is darker, limited make up is needed during the summer months (giving your skin a break is fabulous). The energy boost you feel is fantastic and the self-esteem boost is even better. I have always felt better about my looks when I have a rich, deep color.

However.

Skin cancer is very real, wrinkles are very real, and quite frankly, I don't want either of them.

Pageants (ballroom included) aren't exactly kind to the pale. I blame my many visits (and far too much money) to the tanning salon on the harsh stage lights, the pressure to look like a "healthy" person, and the bad tanning creams, lotions, and sprays that simply did not deliver as the bottles promised. A recent study also showed that of those 25 and under polled, over 80% feel more confident and attractive with that bronze glow (how many references to "tan" do you think I can come up with?). I confess that I am definitely a part of that 80%.

Again. Skin cancer is scary stuff.

In November I competed for Miss Wasatch Front without stepping foot in a tanning salon and instead relied on a lotion I've used for years, but now I look back on the photos and AHH!! The flash made me look orange, and *gasp*, my hands are WHITE! Not a pretty look.

Since my dad discovered the button of cancer on his nose, I've been much more aware of my skin's health and what I can do to keep it looking young. At a recent function, I ran into some old friends and was shocked to see this middle-aged woman suddenly look like an over-processed raisin at the young age of 52. My family is blessed with youth--when I was younger, friends always thought my mom was about ten years below her actual age (the compromise is that we get peach fuzzy jowls...the perfect look for a sweet grandma!). Until a few years ago, people thought my almost 60 year old mother was in her early forties, but too many harsh chemicals and too much exposure can hurt the natural firmness of the Bacon skin.

Looking at magazines can make it hard to love the skin you're in (yeah, I stole that one), celebrities and models seem so perfectly bronzed and perfectly skinny and disgustingly perfect. But recently, rather than looking at that picture with awe and desire, I've noticed the orange hues that aren't as attractive. The fake February tanning they obviously went through looks, well, fake. It's not as pretty or desirable anymore. Instead, I've noticed those that sport their natural hues and that look is so much more becoming on a woman. It's taken a few months, but I have finally embraced my olive/fair skin. I've realized that with the right shade of powder (I hate foundation) and the right eyebrow wax (still waiting on that one...), I feel just as confident as I do in mid-July. I've learned to put away the bronzer and to pull out the soft blush instead. I'm beginning to love my natural skin tone.

From now on, I wear sunscreen outside. I've bought lotion and makeup that contains 30 SPF. It's funny, but I even feel more responsible and like an adult for thinking about the damage I could be doing to my skin. Your 20s are the most important years for your skin...and I really don't want to look pre-maturely old and leathery! It's a vain endeavor, but it's healthier, too.

True there's still the fact that I do like how I look tan, and I'm still competing in ballroom and in pageants. Come summertime, I'll be lathered up in sunscreen when pool-side, and I'm sure my easily tanned skin will still get some color, but my hours in search of the perfect glow spent underneath sun, real and fake, are over. I'm currently on the hunt for a good cream or lotion that can provide a nice, natural bronze, sans the orange wrist and white hand look. Airbrush tan has finally come to Utah and I know I'll be utilizing that service. All the while, I'm going to remember that while I may not be as naturally brown as some of my friends, but I will be saving my body's most vulnerable organ!


/end rant.

beautiful.

finally I have joined the 40% of smart phone users in what is one of the most innovative pieces of technology in this world.

And it sure is pretty :)

change.

The air has changed. It might be cold for a few more weeks, but there is a definite shift.

Can you smell it?

I can :)


p.s. I fell asleep at 3 a.m.!! First time in almost 3 weeks...Yay for an almost full night's sleep!!!

te amo.

And since it's supposedly the most romantic day of the year, I figured I could celebrate that which I think is most romantic. I'll be back with that a little later!

awwww, look at his cute face!!



These little babies are french bulldogs and I WANT ONE.



Since I don't plan on being a mother anytime soon, can I please please please have one of these babies? Awww look at their cute ears!



I definitely want a dark one, though. They shed, which is a downside, but as long as you groom them regularly, shedding isn't as bad. The research I've done indicates that they're fairly low maintenance, and they're just adorable beyond all reason. How could you look into this face and NOT melt??

tag.

5 Television Shows I Wouldn’t Want to Live Without:

Gilmore Girls

The Office

One Tree Hill

Grey's Anatomy circa season 2

Seinfeld

4 Books That May Have Actually Changed My Life:

Pride & Prejudice

A Tale of Two Cities

Hamlet

Believing Christ

7 Albums I couldn't live without: (let's be realistic. I need the complete catalogues for these kids)

Zeppelin 4 (and Physical Grafitti)

Muse, Absolution

Rachmaninoff Complete Piano Concertos (1-4)

Compilation of favorite John Mayer songs.

Joshua Bell, Tchaikovsky Concerto in D

Queen, Greatest Hits? Or all of them.

Coldplay, Rush of Blood to the Head. OR

Norah Jones, Come Away With me

7 Movies I go crazy for!

Love Actually

Children of Men

Sweeney Todd

Center Stage!

Casino Royale

Pride and Prejudice

She's the Man

BONUS — 7 Things You May Not Know About Me:

When I was 6 months old, my parents would stick these massive headphones on me and turn on all sorts of classical greats. After a few times doing this, legend has it I started waving my hands in time to the music in a "directing" fashion. I probably just liked the music... But what responsible parent lets their 6-month old listen to hard stuff like Mahler?! :p

I probably waste about 2 hours of my life away online, not counting studying. Blogging, reading blogs, facebook stalking, catching up on celebrity gossip, following election coverage, looking for TV spoilers, watching youtube videos. I have a problem.

Most of you know me to be pretty OCD about appearance, but from the time I was 5 until about 9, I rarely bathed, washed or brushed my hair, or brushed my teeth. I hated it all. I was such a nasty child. I definitely have a complex about it now as an adult.

I have a difficult time letting go, be it moving on, getting used to a TV show being canceled, or letting go of past mistakes. I still kick myself in the spleen and blush at the thought of stupid things I did when I was 7 years old.

There are some days that I really like Justin Timberlake.

My four brothers have given me a complex. They assume I know nothing about, well, anything, and now I have an irrational need to prove them wrong.

I'm scared of the dark (I think I might have posted this before). When I see a scary movie I usually run up the stairs to my room because I get the heeby jeebies and think someone's chasing me. I have to check in my closet, under my bed, and in the attic space before I can sleep. There have been nights when I've been so freaked out, I turn on the Mormon Tabernacle Choir to try and calm down. Yes. I'm a freak.

ahem. 8. I'm supposed to be studying.

good morning.

the sun's on track to rise in about 20 minutes. It'll be the first sunrise I've seen in a while and I am extremely tempted to throw on some warm clothes and quickly drive somewhere peaceful to watch it. But here I sit.

John Mayer has a song called 3x5 that describes the desire to capture the perfect moments, but in the end photos just aren't going to cut it.

The last sunrise I remember was in late May of 2005 and it was magical. Embarking on a new journey is scary, but life's not so scary when you have shades of purple, red, orange, and yellow to guide you along the way.

Here's to hoping today's hues are invigorating enough.

Hmmm, here it comes now.

No colors today, only shades of grey. Oh well.

Maybe tomorrow.

you should have seen that sunrise with your own eyes, it brought me back to life

i|heart|tunes

The arrival of a new band is kind of a scary one because I have a hard time leaving my "safe" musicians. It's not that I don't like to find new music, it's just easy to become comfortable in your listening habits. New music in itself is always hard, primarily because of the expense, but even more daunting is coming into a musical institution that's been around for a few albums. My insomnia as of late has given me a little extra breathing room and quite obviously a lot more time to listen.

Yesterday I managed to acquire about 650 new songs from some bands I've been mildly interested in but didn't really know where to begin. As my little survey showed, I have much more music than I know what to do with and obviously most of it goes unnoticed, except in a few novel situations. Scared my new music was going to fade into obscurity within my iTunes folder, I decided to just PICK ONE.

The complete catalogues I received: The Arcade Fire, The Cure, The Flaming Lips, Foo Fighters, Kings of Convenience, LED ZEPPELIN (AH), Mae, Modest Mouse, Muse, Ozma, Pedro the Lion, The Postal Service, Radiohead's new album (I have everything else already), The Rentals, The Shins, Superdrag, and Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

See what I mean?

Daunting.

Which would I choose? The potentially over-hyped (Mae, The Shins), the most critically acclaimed of 07 (Arcade Fire), quite possibly the greatest band in history (Led Zeppelin)?? I knew little bits of just about everything, but I realized the one band I was completely and totally unfamiliar with: Muse.

Discovering new music is a delicate art. I know I'm a bit obsessive about this, but my life has a soundtrack and to ruin a potentially great addition to that soundtrack would be frustrating at best. The love for Coldplay was cultivated without pressure and in pure ignorance, but that was only one album and Muse has several. It must be done right. A trip to the group or person's wikipedia page (as Michael Scott would say, it's the greatest thing in the world) is essential, I read up on history, influences, album order, and little snippets of reviews. Enough information to formulate a slight opinion so as to find a starting point, but not enough to really bias my opinion. After reading their page, I knew I was going to stay away from their most critically acclaimed album, Black Holes & Revelations until a good sense of their sound had been established. Instead, I start with their second album, Origin of Symmetry.

My first impression is intrigue. Then I recognize the Radiohead comparisons. But there is something a little bit different. Now genuinely curious, I listen in a way I haven't for quite a while. And then it comes. The song Space Dementia opens with classical piano played surprisingly well, leading to the swelling of the bass and drums. I am no longer listening for sappy, love struck lyrics, or melodies that remind me of a boy. Song after song keeps my interest, including the unique vibe of Screenager. What in the world is this band? How have I not heard them before?

3:40 a.m. hit, sleep still far away, and while re-reading their wiki page a slightly familiar song comes out of my little powerbook's speakers.

Feeling Good? Really?! Buble's version is a favorite, but is in danger of losing to this unique twist.



The album ends with the hauntingly stunning Megalomania and I can't wait for the next one.

Absolution, their third album begins powerfully and rather than browse the internet, I choose to read the lyrics alongside the album. This is definitely an apocalyptic album, but it's stunning! Stockholm Syndrome is nice, but doesn't compare to the one that follows it, Falling Away With You, with its lush chord progressions and Blackout proves a nice respite from the album's intensity.

And then, in an instant, everything changed.

This all seems so dramatic and far too complicated for something as easy as a few songs, and ordinarily I would say you're right, but every once in a while something hits you and leaves a mark. In Repair by John Mayer is one. Coldplay's Parachutes in 2002, another. The discovery of the incomparable Joshua Bell.

The song Butterflies and Hurricanes drew me into Muse's spell and the interlude solidified what I had suspected: at this moment I don't care what they sing about. I don't care who they are. The power is in the notes and the brilliance with which they have been crafted and the beauty is in the sheer artistic talent Muse has proven to be. Matthew Bellamy's phenomenal technique on the classically driven piano interlude not only caught me off guard, but sealed the deal. It's obvious he took a few cues from Rachmaninoff.

Please forgive my gushing. I know they've been around for 9 years and that I'm one of the last to "discover" their music. You probably don't even like them. But for the first time in years, I have been inspired by sound.

I later listened to their first album, Showbiz, and while good, it didn't have the strength of the other two. Give me another week and I'll work up the courage to listen to their latest. If I'm already in awe, I can't wait to see what else there is.

This is a youtube clip of their live performance of Butterflies and Hurricanes. I highly recommend listening, but if you can only spare a few seconds, then start the clip at 3:30 to hear the romantic era-inspired piano interlude before they return to their roots of prog rock.



Most of all, if this is only the first band, how many more entries am I going to be inspired to write?

What in the world would I do without music????

sick day = blog spam!

This is worth it, however.  Please please please watch this video. 

Most of you probably know that Robin Roberts of Good Morning America has been battling breast cancer.

Today she took the leap and walked the runway without her wig, and her bold, bald walk is new inspiration for me.  Maybe it's my hormones today, but I cannot help but tear up at this kind of strength.

So please, watch this.

everyone has an ailment.

Erika, my dad, and C are pretty much the only ones that know about this, but I have chronic migraines of the most painful kind. The only way I can describe it is absolute pain from every sense--sound, sight, smell. I can't eat, I can barely swallow water.

I woke up this morning around 8:30 after about 3 and a half hours of sleep and within fifteen minutes it had come. Immediately I called Louis to cancel my hair appointment. There was no way I was going to make a trip up to Ogden with a fledgling migraine, spend two hours in a busy, well lit salon with a full fledged migraine, and then have to drive back home.

I've spent the last 2 and half hours or so with a wet cloth over my forehead and eyes. Let's just say I spent about 20 minutes on my bathroom floor (which I hate...throwing up is the worst side affect). The three extra strength migraine capsules are starting to kick in slightly, so the absolute worst of it is almost over (hence the blogging, albeit with my screen light turned almost completely off), but I'm going to spend the rest of my day in bed thanks to the still fairly bad migraine.

However! This is not my reason for posting. Let's just say that there is a song that I'm able to listen to because it is so unimaginably amazing that I can't help but listen . Or perhaps I should say it's a band.

And it deserves its own post. So give me another half hour under the wet cloth and I'll be back.

still an insomniac.

Music Meme

Number Of Songs Total: 6885.
Total Length Of Songs: 19.3 days.

Sort By Song Title
First Song: The A-Team [Televisions Greatest Hits of the 70&80s lol]
Last Song: ! [Pato Fu, Toda cura para Todo Mal] SO NOT KIDDING

Sort By Time
Shortest Song: 0:00 There is a blank song on John Mayer's CD Room for Squares. But I won't count that.
0:01, Email [Homestar Runner lol]
Longest Song: 29:27, Symphony No 9 in D, First movement, Mahler.

Sort By Album
First Song: Come Together [Abbey Road, The Beatles]
Last Song: She Loves You [1962-1966, The Beatles]

Top 10 Most Played Songs [this is embarrassing. he's not my fav, just these songs.]
01. In Repair [John Mayer] x157
02. Dreaming With a Broken Heart [John Mayer] x147
03. Not Myself [John Mayer] x130
04. 3x5 [John Mayer] x102
05. My Skin [Natalie Merchant] x84
06. Transatlanticism [Death Cab for Cutie] x77
07. Piano Concerto No 2, Second Movement [Rachmaninoff] x74 (but this is skewed because I always turn it off before it's done.)
08. Jesu, The Very Thought is Sweet [Mo tab!!] x73
09. Warning Sign [Coldplay] x72
10. My Shepherd Will Supply My Need [Mormon Tabernacle Choir] x71

First 10 Songs On Shuffle
01. Hotel California [The Eagles]
02. Pride and Prejudice, The Militia Marches In [soundtrack]
03. Steamroller (live) [James Taylor]
04. Jolene [Cake]
05. Copycat [Quarashi]
06. Applause, Concerto no2 in B flat [Beethoven] yeah I know...
07. Piano Concerto 4, third movement [Rachmaninoff]
08. Cry Freedom [Dave Matthews Band]
09. Down South [311]
10. New York State of Mind [Billy Joel]

Search - How many songs come up for each term?
"sex" - 38
"love" - 180
"you" - 553
"death" - 86, but without Death Cab, it's 9
"hate" - 8
"wish" - 27

There was an important birthday yesterday! My dear friend Whitney turned 22. So here are some reasons to love her!

1. Similar fashion sense is ALWAYS a plus in a girlfriend. Imagine my surprise when I discovered she and I had bought the same boots, except hers are black and mine are brown. Sorry Whitney!

2. She mentioned this, but I have to as well. If there's an obscure or odd movie I want to see, Whitney will be right there by my side. We both love odd films and quirky storylines. 

3. A mutual love of the beauty that is Alan Rickman. Voice like buttttaaaaaah.

4. We weren't friends in high school, despite the fact that we shared a choir folder for a semester. I find this quite funny, but it also confirms how much we have all changed and grown since our Timpview days. For the better.

5. This girl has a listening ear that puts up with my whining.

6. Dark purple nail polish is an addiction we both have. It's not goth...it's en vogue!

7. Her movie collection boggles my mind! So fantastic.

8. Whitney's sarcasm and whit = hours of laughter.

9. This song, for SO MANY REASONS WHICH WILL GO UNNAMED. 

10. The ten minutes we spent in front of the drink refrigerator at Albertsons, both waiting for the other person to decide, not realizing neither of us wanted anything.

11. She's a smarty pants. 

Happy birthday Whitney!

music woes.

*DISCLAIMER: I'm ever so slightly ashamed of the illegal activity displayed in this entry...*

One of my greatest desires is to have an even greater and more well rounded music collection than the fictional Peyton Sawyer. Unfortunately I don't have a birth mother that suddenly appeared out of nowhere. And said non-existent birth mother doesn't have what appears to be several thousand actual records to give me once she dies from breast cancer.

I'm dying to be a collector of amazing music--oldies, hair bands, new alternative, jazz, completely unknown, the entire classical world. I have 400+ years of music to catch up on, with the past 50 years proving a daunting task. How am I going to do this? If I had a million dollars to blow anywhere, I would probably buy a few Jimmy Choos, an Hermes bag, and a few other articles I've been coveting and then I'd spend the remaining 985,000 dollars on music.

Any ideas? Life was really good when myTunes existed. My finest hour was ripping the entire Radiohead catalogue in about 5 minutes in the Harold B. Lee library. Second finest was transferring about 3,000 songs or so from Drew's computer the night before his mission. But apple finally wised up and figured out how to kill myTunes and now Drew is stealing music from me.

Every time I use LimeWire I have momentary visions of paying up thousands of dollars in fees, but then I remember how much I was dying to have Fiona's cover of Across the Universe and I click anyway. But LimeWire isn't exactly the greatest source of quality, as my stolen copy of Maroon 5's new album proves (half of the songs are AWFUL quality).

I guess I could always BUY the music, but let's be honest here, I don't have that kind of money and if I did, it has to go to my Miss Utah wardrobe.

Ughhhhhh what am I going to do?

Confession: I love everything mac/apple related. I used to be a hater (although my old friend Maclaine softened me up), but then I received the lovely gift of my PowerBook a few years back and I am truly converted.

With commercials (and products!) such as this, how can you not love it??

At dinner last night I explained to Cameron that the guy in line talking on the iPhone was automatically cool in my eyes. I can't help it. So naturally I love this song.

Some Thoughts.

It's 2:17 a.m. and I am so far from sleepy.  My body is a strange one, and it somehow decided two days ago that day is night and night is day-a phenom that happens about once every 5 or 6 months for a week or so.  I'll never understand my ability to somehow change time zones involuntarily, but I'm beginning to be at peace with the reality.

There are a few bright spots in this annoying habit of mine:

1. I can stay up all night watching season 4 of One Tree Hill.  5 episodes in a row. Oy vey.

2. I finally organized my bedroom.  Unfortunately I am one of those people that HATES unpacking after a trip.  Never mind that I just barely unpacked my suitcase from my trip to Vegas...

3. The extreme quiet calls for classical music, which then gets my mind moving in several different ways.  Tonight it chose recent memories.  

There are so many little things I've been dying to blog about, but I've been so discouraged by my inability to write eloquently.  If I can't convey how beautiful it is, then I don't want to ruin it with nasty words.  I hate to mar things that deserve great praise.

Tonight's blog is not about my lack of polished writing skills.  All of this junk you've been reading (or mostly likely NOT reading) thus far is just my fingers trying to talk my brain and my heart into blogging about one of the most important things that has ever happened to me.  I'm just scared that I'll ruin it's beauty.  Well...here I go.  This is long, but if you read anything of mine EVER, please read this.

In my small re-caps of Peru, I mentioned a 10 year old boy we met one evening while at dinner.  here is that story.

In the Sacred Valley, there was one restaurant we liked, and one restaurant only and it served the best meat dishes I've ever eaten.  Leo and his family took quite a liking to Cameron (I'd put myself in there, but really I'd be lying.  They only liked me because of Cam) and asked us to join them for dinner this particular evening.  I had my heart set on this one restaurant for the third night in a row and the phrase, "Peruvian Chinese food" had been thrown around.  Uh-uh, no way.  We arrived at the teeny, tiny, chinese restaurant and I was extraordinarily hesitant.  

An hour and a half later (service wasn't so great that night) our food came, along with the realization that we had ordered enough food for dinner the next night, as well.  Just heaps and heaps of food.  And surprise!  It was quite tasty!  The fried rice is the best I've ever had, even with authentic rice from Yoshie (although, her's is Japanese, so they're probably not the same).  At the other table, Leo's daughter Emily and his nephew Juan Carlos were watching Ratatouille on Mandy's iPhone, despite the fact that neither really understand much english at all.  

I looked over and through the window, saw a boy laughing at the movie and then eyeing the tables covered in delicious looking food.  I instantly felt a pounding in my heart, and we asked Cameron to take something out to him.  He clearly was starving.  About 5 minutes later, the boy returned.  Again, he was given a few more wontons, and then skipped off.  

10 minutes later he returned and Leo, Van, and Cameron went outside to speak with him.  Van returned and shared his story as Cameron and Leo continued to converse with this boy.  He was 10 years old and from a neighboring town, sent to Urubomba by his mother to look for work to help support his 10 brothers and sisters.  He had been there for 3 days, but was unable to find work, had slept on the streets, had not eaten in those 3 days, and he had no money to get home.  He was truly starving.

Silently, tears began streaming down my face, shame swept over me, and I felt immensely humbled as I saw this child standing out in the street.  Just days previously I had been given gifts that could have fed his family for a year.  Never before had I felt so spoiled.  Quickly my shame turned to pain for this little boy.  Cameron mentioned how polite he was.  He wasn't begging for anything; he was just very, very hungry.

We looked at our tables of unwanted food and realized we had several boxes worth to give to this child.  Leo found a cab driver he was friends with (if not, the boy probably would have been robbed), and along with the food, gave the boy more than enough money to get home.

Later that evening I could not stop sobbing.  I kept asking Cameron why.  Why does God allow this kind of thing to happen to his children?  Why is He letting these beautiful little souls go without food, water, education, a home, a bed, clothing, the bare essentials that we don't even consider?  Why are these children being punished for the mistakes of their parents?  Why are they forced into becoming little thieves at the age of 5, just so they can eat?

Even now I struggle with this reality.  It breaks my heart to know that right now many little children are curling up to rags somewhere on the streets, not having eaten that day.

I learned a lot that evening.  I have lived such a sheltered existence, complete with extravagant comforts and all the lessons and opportunities I could ever want.  To see a world where children starve because their parents cannot care for them is an eye-opening and an extremely humbling experience.

Not only did I become grateful for the life that I lead, but I now have such a firm desire to do all that I can to ensure that one day children will not go hungry at night, ANYWHERE.

I now understand that there was probably a greater purpose for our eating at that chinese restaurant that evening.  And to be honest, I kind of (and selfishly) wonder if it was partially for me and my ignorant eyes.  

The Lord does not ask us to give everything.  However, we have been entrusted to do all that we can to help His children.  I'm not sure I know of a more beautiful calling.

Tribute.

My baby brother Scott called me Sunday night around 8:30, sobbing, saying, "I just wanted to tell you that I love you". We spent a few moments sharing memories and stories about this amazing man that we both loved so dearly. It's strange to feel as if you know someone so well, someone you've never even met before, but his kind nature and loving spirit made it hard not to. I am going to miss his laugh, his wisdom, his counsel, his presence, and his jokes at General Conference. 

That's why it is so easy to smile through the tears when remembering our dear Prophet.

What a great perspective we are so blessed to have!

He's with the one he loves most. And that makes me very, very happy :)

So here is to a great man whose witness and testimony will always be burned within me, and more importantly, here is to a love that gives me faith and hope.

Vegas!

Whew, what a fun few days that was! I really enjoyed hanging out with Camille and Erika and I loved bonding with Lyle and Stefanie. There were some chaotic moments, but for the most part it was enjoyable.

Highlights:

+Meeting Katie Harmon. Favorite Miss America!
+Iowa's talent the first night. I feel so sad for those of you that couldn't see it on TV because she is absolutely phenomenal.
+Lauren Nelson's final song Thursday night, For Good. The best I've ever seen/heard her perform.
+O, Cirque de Soleil. The most amazing thing I've ever seen! As Camille and I kept saying, where the heck do these people come from??? And can I take some of the men home with me??
+Jill's push-ups. haha...only Jill!
+Meeting Miss Washington. She has a light about her, that's for sure.
+Trying on dresses and realizing that our vision is too specific. I didn't say these highlights had to be good or fun!
+CARY AND DAVID FROM REGALIA. Can I please be best friends with them?
+Me in a two-piece swimsuit? What? Not sure if I'm going to go there, but Lyle definitely got a photo or two...
+Seeing the friends I've made over the past few years. Going to Miss America is kind of like a great, big, family reunion. I've been so blessed to have gotten to know so many amazing individuals from all over the country. Not only are they supportive, but they are the heart and soul of this program.

I think our new Miss America is going to be really fun for the program! Her platform is great and so relevant, especially for the young age that she is at (can you believe she's a year younger than I am???). She speaks well and she walks like a Victoria's Secret model! I love it.

Some photos. Oh, and Camille, post photos!








Two of the reality show judges...


Lauren and Lyle!


Louis is one of the Miss America body guards--we became pals a few years back. LOVE HIM.

So Sad...

I just got a call from my trainer Kelly. He got me in shape for Miss Utah last year, helped me get a little bit in shape for Miss Wasatch Front, and I was excited to get working with him soon here. He's going somewhere else! I can't work with him anymore! I know this might not make much sense, it's just a trainer, right? He and I had such a great relationship. Not only was he able to push me through the tough stuff, he made it a lot of fun, and his positivity really helped calm my nerves. Oh, and the fact that he knew exactly how to get me into the shape that I needed to be in.

I'm going to miss him :(