In Which I Am Alive

My brother is home. I have friends who make me grin just talking to them. My research group was selected to present at a conference in Portland this October. I was offered an assistantship at a children's choir camp for the last week in June. Today was my last day of class until September. I'm going to Disneyland next week. I leave for Scout Camp in less than a month. Oh, and did I mention that my brother is home? Life could not get much better.

I know a hobby is going to stick when I start finding metaphors for life in it. It's obviously woven itself firmly enough into the way I process existence that I can use it as a mental filter to help me understand other experiences. This past weekend was about as beautiful as a weekend could be, with the perfect balance of activity and lazing, new adventures and bursts of nostalgia, old bosom buddies and new friends. Also, there was plenty of cheesecake, and a new baby joined my extended family (can't wait to meet him!) Today was my little brother's birthday. This kid is amazing, you guys. He speaks Spanish like a native, plays basketball like a pro, and cuddles like the best teddy bear you've ever known. Now that he's old enough to date, I think the ladies will be flocking to him right and left. And how could they not, eh Gus? One of my best friends is getting married this weekend. And I really thought I was going to go when all of the sudden my plans drop...

They said the world would end this week, So I went sledding, and hugged my family, and sang a lot Spoke my love to the ones who have my heart And stopped worrying about the future, because why worry about something that doesn't exist? However, just in case the world didn't end I learned and felt and lived, saving up knowledge and ideas and memories for later I continued to create, as if someone would be left to see the results. I made plans, no...I spun dreams. They said the world would end this week It didn't. But who knows about next week?

It's been two months since I last went to class.  The summer solstice was nearly two and a half weeks ago. In recent months I've wandered Europe, lounged on a beach in the Caribbean, and logged enough hours at my job at the pool to give me a permanent odor of sunscreen and chlorine.  And yet somehow, it's only been in the past couple days that it's hit me: summer is here.  Maybe it was the nights this week that were spent sitting in the patch of cement in front of my apartment, the patch of grass in front of Panda Express, and the grassy knoll behind my complex's pool. Have you noticed how real summer nights have a different quality than any other kind of night? Not only is the air warm, the light is different somehow...dark without really being dark. And something about it feels not quite like night. Which might be why I've been doing my share of staying up "wayyy past midnight." Maybe it was wakeboarding for the first time this summer. Or lay...

Um....hi. So, I'm going to the other side of the world again tomorrow...I'm beyond excited. And also I feel a little guilty...what kind of spoiled brat gets to visit Europe twice within a one-year span? This one, apparently. I've been very very blessed with these opportunities to travel, and it wouldn't have been possible without the help of many other people. Parents and grandparents who have offered me financial and emotional support, professors who have helped me prepare academically, Uncle Sam for giving me a fatty tax return, ORCA for giving me a grant...I am one lucky girl.

Finding the very perfectest gifts for the very bestest people in my life. Hearing my two favorite Christmas songs on the radio. This cover of "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" and this version of the 12 Days of Christmas. Good day, eh? Going to the Carl Bloch exhibit. Building a gingerbread house. Actually, a graham cracker trailer park. But I digress. Losing the gas cap to my car. Playing Ticket to Ride with an astoundingly awesome person. Deep-cleaning the Cannon Center...I think I got high off of degreaser...multiple times... Free pie Wednesday!!! And catching up with awesome friends from high school. Hittin' the powder at Sundance with my siblings. My sister vastly improved my technique with one simple phrase, "Karissa, lead with your shoulders, not your hips!" She is wise. Reading all my favorite children's books that I'd forgotten about. "The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey," "Babysitter's Club," ...

I love my life. Today I was visiting taught and home taught, both for the first time in months. And I love my visiting and home teachers so much already. My visiting teachers especially are such wonderful examples of kindness and going the extra mile. I want to be just like them when I grow up. =) And it's raining. RAINING! I love rain. This is fantastic. I get to go hear my little brother give a talk today. I get to go play with all my cousins. I love my major. My homework this weekend was: write in the chords for about 15 children's songs and then figure out how to play them on the ukulele. Do a full chordal analysis of "Summertime" from Porgy and Bess. Practice Bach and Mozart for hours on the piano. And do some sightsinging. Yes please! (minus the sightsinging assignment of death....) I also have the world's greatest roommates, who I can laugh with, cry with, and work on my Beyonce dance moves with. And....my boyfriend's pretty rad too. I...

There are so many things I want to blog about...so many thoughts and ideas bouncing around in my head crying for freedom. Unfortunately, I'm mortal and subject to time (curses) which pretty much means I get to do my homework, practice piano, do my calling, and sell my soul to Homecoming Spectacular instead of blogging this week. But I had such a wonderful weekend that really opened my eyes up to how great my life is. I just had to take a second to focus on all that I'm grateful for. 1st: My family, both immediate and extended. I have pretty dang exemplary parents, awesome little sibs, adorable cousins, and aunts, uncles and grandparents who are both fun and inspiring. 2nd: General Conference. Mostly I just like spending an entire weekend on my couch (Oh, and also in Salt Lake for a little bit). Laziness aside, I love the opportunity to hear God's word and am constantly amazed at the way He gives me answers through their talks. I feel spiritually refreshed and r...

Today I was in my kitchen, chillin' out, maxin', relaxin' all cool....when my 8 year-old sister suddenly appeared right in my face and yelled out, "SHOES!!!" After an initial blank pause, I asked, "Um...what about shoes, babe?" "You're wearing them," she stated with a smile. Yep, that kid's definitely related to me.

I will never understand why the days in which I have the "free" time in which to, y'know, be productive and stuff, tend to be the days where I sit around all day, do absolutely nothing and then feel like a lame bum. Case in point: Today was Sunday. I don't have church until 2. My family has church from 11 until 2. I usually wake up around 10:30 0r 11, leaving me 3 to 4 hours to fill. I usually get realllllly bored. Today I decided to counteract said boredom by drawing up a list of objectives, a "to-do list," if you will. Here it is: 1. Read my scriptures. 2. Make a training plan for my half-marathon. 3. Put my missionary letters in the mailbox (they've been written and sitting on my nightstand for a week). 4. Make cookies for my dad for Father's Day. 5. Write my dad an awesome, artistic card. 6. Balance my checkbook. 7. Get in a good hour of piano practicing. I even woke up at 9:30. That's really early for me! Somehow though, all ...

Hey look, my blog's all different now! It needed a change. Yes, I know it looks like a frumpy sweater but...its a cute frumpy sweater, yeah? Today for Memorial Day, I went with my parents, siblings and grandparents to the Pleasant Grove Cemetery to visit the graves of some relatives. There was remembrance hanging heavy in the air today, some sorrow, some grief, and somehow...it felt peaceful, restful and quiet. I sat by the grave of my great-great grandparents and listened to my grandfather tell stories about his polygamist grandfather living in the Mormon colonies in Mexico. I felt a connection to these people I'd never met, that somehow they are inextricably a part of my life in every way. I felt, not like an individual, but like a single thread in an enormous tapestry of my family. We also went to visit Brandon's grave. My cousin Brandon died when he was 6 years old, 6 years ago this Saturday. I was 13 years old when he died. I remember feeling such intense e...