The seams of life are beautiful

I have been wanted to write about this for some time now. I have witnessed something spectacular. The type of beauty that asks for your full attention; steals for your entire self for just a moment. Waterfalls has often done this for me, but recently I discovered - no recently I noticed - these small black birds, possibly Blackbirds, flying patterns into the sky. They move together in a wave, resting for a moment, then rising back up as a music note would if it were to move along with its song. Each bird flies it own flight, and alone, just a small bird in a field it would be. But together, as an entity of one, these birds are pure soul on a canvas. They beg me: get out of your car and come sit. Forget the commute; forget papers to grade; just come sit and see a piece of nature's voice. The black birds flying in formation.

But I don't. And my eyes only watch the road. Then today, Autumn's dying, Snow is pushy, soon to coming, and the cars are all zooming down the street where I'm driving. Wind was blowing and Fall's leaves in the streets are a bouncing. They're jumping and riding the gust from the wheels of the cars. To the rhythm of rush hour, they tap the streets - their own ensemble of pianos - a ta-ta-tah-ta-ting. And their colors, a sparkling, like Christmas a coming, say even the dead leaves in the street have a voice.

Saying breathing and driving, commuting and grading, are all fine and good. But look, stand over here. Hear the loud crash of water on shinny black rocks. Feel the mist of the falls; let it prick on your face. The voices around me, though silent they are, tell of the beauty that makes up the seams of life.

Update: Just got this picture from ma sista

Just got this picture from my sister. This is our kitten, Tigress, just chillin in a basket like a boss.

Instagram with Lives for Hugs: Egyptian Cat Edition

For over half a year, my sista, Annasophia, and I been sending each other a picture of the day. Basically it is like Instagram, revamped. We send each other things we are doing, or random things we saw, or we just hold up our phones and take of shot of whatever and press send. The ultimate compliment is when someone says "artsy" back. That means you took a pretty great shot.

But the other day, my sister sent me this picture:

Okay, what is going on here? I just keep looking at it too. I mean, that is what I do when I am bored, or stressed, or silly, I put a piece of bread over my head and talk like a robot. And it is interesting too because a few days before she sent me a picture of a cat looking in a puddle at its reflection which was a lion. So, is that cat doing that cat-thing, and trying to look like a lion? Because if he is, he has nothing on my cat, Tigress.

And so I just wanted to share this picture with all of you. When you are bored/stressed/don'tknowwhattodo, just remember, You are bread. Whatevs that means.

P.S. Sometimes I call my sister by her Indian name: She lives for hugs.

Oh and just for your enjoyment. We both get up pretty dang early. So one morning, I sent her a picture of me looking tired, and she responded with her tired picture. Featured below for your viewing pleasure.

Snakes are not my best friend

Remember this? Yes, I once put a snake around my neck, some sort of constrictor snake too. Call me a fool or an adventurer, you pick. I guess I did it because I am scared of snakes and because I wanted to experience having a snake for a scarf. Only guess what, I only recently found out that the museum-person was not supposed to let the snake onto anyone's shoulders. Why? Because it is actually super dangerous! Who knew? That constrictor could get mad and well, constrict me! And I heard you can't even cut through them once they do (but after trying to confirm this on the internet and reading about lots of snake attacks, I decided to just call it good and go by hearsay). So basically, what I am saying is that at my neighborhood friendly museum, I was almost squeezed to death by a snake. What is even crazier, is that I trusted that museum presenter. When she said, who wants to put the snake around their neck, I said, sure I'll try. Ew, gross, I hate snakes. I might even go as far as to say that they are the devil's animal, or at least a symbol of the devil. Which means that I barely escaped the snares of Satan when I let that snake rest on my shoulders. Boy am I thankful for repentance, aka I am never putting a constrictor on my neck again.

Blue House

So maybe I haven't blogged in a while because it is the end of the semester and my fingers are about to fall off from all the papers and lesson plans and unit plans I have been writing. And maybe last week at FHE instead of helping my group create an effective egg drop carrier, my roommate and I went and explored the basement of the old house where FHE is held.

It was one of the first houses built in Provo. Just think about all the people who have lived there; if walls could talk...Anyway, the basement was awesome. After swimming through some old camping stuff, we found about a ten by ten inch little cupboard door near the top of a sliding closet. It lead to all this extra storage space, full of cobwebs, and completely empty except for a solitary box. Such a great hid-n-go seek place, except really not. It was drafty and full of dust and who knows what sorts of memories. The box was empty though. Yes, we were brave enough to check.

Now I can't walk you through the whole experience. So let's fast-forward through Sarah and I stumbling on one piece of mysterious history to another. Until, we find the dungeon. Yes, under the house is a holocaust looking crawl space dungeon colored with mean rocks covering the floor that would suck the breath right out of you. These people, our FHE family, are maybe living over a dungeon. What was worse, was the little cupboard, under the stairs, opening to a huge shaft - probably the chimney because it was under the fireplace. And lying all cuddled up in the rocks was an sad, old, dead bird. That was enough for us. Back up to FHE where we threw some eggs out the window to see if they would break.

I mean, ya, it was creepy, but also, this house is pure history. Who built it? What happened here? Who left all this stuff and why? Some of my teammates used to live here, and now my FHE members, who else will throw things down the laundry shoot or open the ironing board cabinet, get their mail through the mail slot, throw things out the window, store their forgotten treasure in the basement?

Kind of cool.

And maybe I don't have a picture because I don't usually bring my phone to FHE. And maybe, well definitely, I am supposed to be typing about teaching, not about dungeon houses; and finishing my unit plan, not creeping you out with Provo history.

But just so you don't get bored: Here is me with a tarantula on my arm.
We found it in the basement  ; )

Sore Throats

I can stomp on sore throats like a boss, and it all started when I was sick in January and got a sudden desire to heat up water and add lemon and honey. I used to have hot lemon water with a little bit of sugar, but honey, I once heard, is actually a food medicine. I mean, I promise, I did think up this honey-lemon tea thing myself, but turns out a lot of other people did too, just google honey and lemon tea. But do a lot of other people have giraffe mugs like this? Not a chance.

Let me tell you why my favorite animal is a giraffe.

1. They are very gentle creatures. I fed them once, so I would know.
2. They are beautiful. How many animals have patterned coats? Well, a few, but not as cool as the giraffe.
3. They are graceful; it is beautiful to watch them run.
4. They have purple tongues. Okay so maybe that isn't that weird, but it was when I was ten.
5. Rumor has it that people can ride giraffes. Fine, I have never seen or heard of such a thing first hand, but there is evidence on the internet aka the source of all knowledge.


But if you aren't cool enough to have a dad that stuffed your Christmas stocking with a giraffe mug, then any ol' mug will do when you are brewing honey and lemon tea.

And yes, that is a little mini giraffe bathing in my tea.

Walking the Doggie

So maybe my roommate's parents are out of town, and maybe she brought her dog down for the week to keep an eye on him. Ya so maybe we have a dog shuffling around our apartment. His names is Puggs. He is pretty good, usually, but today when I got home, he was prancing off the walls. So I decided, maybe he needed a walk? Then, as I was putting his leash around the collar that was buried somewhere in all his fur, I realized: I have never walked a dog before. Wait what? Yes, I have never walked a dog before. So here it waz, me and Puggs, heading out to do whatever you do when you walk a dog. I mean it wasn't hard; it was actually pretty easy, but I did probably look like a fool when I jogged along side him so that he could trot a little faster. So what, I'm a runner, and he is a dog that needs to get some energy out of his system. Although, I am sure that is not what the girl across the street thought - looks like that little puppy is taking that girl for a one jog of a walk, was what she must have been thinking, or something like that.

The millennium

Well yes, I should be studying, researching, writing the three essays I have due next week. But first, I just want to say... I finished all six of my midterms this week, both of my quizzes, and my three papers! Just now, I turned in my timed Shakespeare midterm, and it feels soooooo good to be done (for the week at least). Let's just say, I felt like I had a snake around my neck all week.

Believe me, I know what it feels like ;)

One thing I do want to say is that I never could have gotten through this week without the strength of my Father in Heaven. His love is so perfect. I am continually amazing at how much He loves me as an individual. My relationship with Him is one of the most treasured things in my life. I brings me so much strength and happiness. One of my greatest desires is to share His love with everyone because I know he loves each one of His children more than we can imagine. I don't know were I would be without it. (If you want to know more, look into the LDS (or mormon) faith. It is God's way of showing us how to be happy.)

Halloween Caterpillar?

What would you do if you saw one of these inching along?

Saw this up Provo canyon today. Didn't even know it existed. 

Still not sure what it is.

Life, is like Never Before.

Each new moment is a surprise. Each new second is unlike the one before. What will the next moment bring?