I'm grateful for...

Southwest Airlines, who free-of-charge (actually, put me $20 in the green!), gave me an extra 2 days of Thanksgiving holiday when I impulsively decided a few hours before my Sunday evening flight that I could not leave California just yet...

And among many other things, Courtney aka Sandra (as in Day O'Connor), for turning in a paper for me today.

I even thought up a short ballad parody about her yesterday, to the tune of that African song WASPy folk (me included, of course) pass off as elementary cultural experience:

Day O' [as in Sandra Day O'Connor]

Me say Dayyy O'

Deadline come and me wan' stay home.

Concrete jungle part deux

As if PART I wasn't enough of a love song!

I like this one's softness...

20 points if you spot the yarmulke

This is something my church did, interviewing people on the streets of NYC about what they are thankful for.

Intertwined is a snippet of a 'General Conference' talk by one of our leaders Dallin Oaks, who happens to be a relative of mine and I love that he made a Fiddler on the Roof reference- he would. haha.

If you believe in a God and even if you don't, you can gain happiness from counting the blessings and positivity in your life.

Happy Thanksgiving!

God Save McQueen

I LOVE Alexander McQueen.

The timeless tailoring, military inspired aesthetic, just the right amount of ornamentation to still be classic is utterly fabulous.

He went on sale on GILT yesterday...(I am only a member of it to swoon)....and it felt like standing in a V&A gallery.

Sorry I screen captured the prices...only to show how great of a sale it is for such high-quality textiles and intelligent construction (not to mention it's in $ not £).

And it looks like the garments would be well cut for a long-limbed person as myself.

I would wear this skirt forever. It's timeless but makes a statement too!

And this dress...

And this dress to some spectacular event. Love the navy/cream.

A more feminine version of what British politicians wear...in delicious cashmere...whoa.

Navy blue at it's finest!

Just liking this whole ensemble. Just the right amount of frill.

Detailing I love so much on those first skirts...but in a high waisted pant!

Sleek with a nautical feel. win-win.

Le sigh... someday...someday... :)

Chicka chicka boom boom (pow?)

Can't wait to see this little* chickadee tomorrow!

*6'2" ... turning 17 in a couple weeks.

Twi-hard case in point

Remember how I think Twilight is grossly overrated?

Thank you, Val!

Haters back off!

So my roommate showed me this outrageous girl "MirandaSings08" on YouTube.

of course, because I am a pseudo-journalist, I had to find out WHO she really was...after a little clicking around turns out she's an actress in the L.A. Broadway community and 'Miranda' is her fabricated YouTube persona.

She basically rips off people who record themselves and think they're famous because of their homemade videos. Genius.


She Wolf. I watch this daily...judge me.




I told my roommate to consult this one for Spanish help...



And this is her in NYC. She explains how to hail a cab around 1:30...SO funny. haha!



I laugh out loud every time.

And here's her (Colleen Ballinger) singing for real.

Hilarious. Ok, I need to go do some sprints or something...I'm clearly crazy.

Am I the only one?

...who is NOT seeing New Moon?

...who did NOT like Twilight (book #1 & movie- I gave it a fair chance!!!)?

...who thinks Edward is frustratingly elusive, a disjointed conversationalist, utterly strange, and ultimately, NOT romantic?


...who thinks this whole pop culture vampire kick needed to die maybe a year ago?


...Buehler??

Coloring my world

In efforts to thwart my Provo boredom and numb myself from my undesirable situation, I've been spending lots of time with new people met in random ways. (For me, happiness here takes work.)

It's been really wonderful, and even though I won't be here for much longer, I'm one of those people who always wants to keep in touch with people I have come to love here.

I'm remembering when I felt and looked like this over the summer, and right about now I wish I were in New Hampshire playing tennis, waterskiing, and listening to Stevie Wonder on repeat...ah, summer days of yore...

Anyway, thanks to friends old and new, near and far, for coloring my world vibrant.
I love you all.

photo via here via siovhan

Miming the law

I'm going to miss giggling about 'prudery,' 'blushing' and M's new stand-up miming career...
"Your hand movements need to be sharper," he said to me as I laughed my way through imitating him.

...while Dr. Ed rambles on about voyeurism (?) ...

(My laugh sounds like chalkboard fingernails. sorry.)

Ga-Ga (a-a-a)

NY mag is right, I just can't get enough.





BY THE WAY:
NY Mag Recaps ... and 'Recap Recaps' (with selected user comments) ... will change the way you Gossip Girl.

Check the Web site Tuesday morning- it will have you laughing out loud. Like this one.
Full recap coverage HERE.

Can I get an amen, Skynyrd and Tara?

"xoxo"

Spending sabbatical...

is over!

Procrastination is now taking on the naughty form of online shopping...

I can't help that, on UrbanOutfitters.com:

A) The prices were right...

B) I haven't bought anything but DownEast V-necks since August...(brilliant for the long-torso-ed, by the way...)

C) Free shipping...

D) Plus another 10% off if you use the promo code "MERRYHAPPY" at checkout (like the Kate Nash song).

Colorblock navajo dress. precious with a little cardigan.

...some tunics with bad ass zippers. here and here.

Harem pants...because I also think they're such a fun, bad-a trend...
not to mention they're perfect for tall people!

(Don't worry, I also got these pirate wench lovers...had to!)

Plus I'm not big on accessories...but to complete my Punjab from ANNIE look (yes, the little orphan)... I just had to have this little friend!

stretch turban headband

Naughty naughty! :)

11/11

Happy Veteran's Day.

And no, it's not a coincidence that this is posted at 11:11 on 11/11.

I am a lucky girl to be living in such a country, to have been born in the family I was (even though it's challenging to deal with some members of it).

Thanks Amy, for summarizing exactly what it means to live abroad -- to see your home country more imperfectly and perfectly. For me, that means America.

It hit me lately, harder than it has ever before, that around 250 years is NOT a long time for a country to be around. It's really our duty to ensure the rights, privileges, freedoms and honor those who have put their lives on the line for the cause of democracy.

Even though I've become pretty politically apathetic over the past little while (I am BECOMING my DC-burnout parents! ahh!), I hold respect for those who do find purpose in it. And I'll never take for granted the privilege of voting itself, however acrimonious I may find it most of the time.

Freedom is not free (neither is quality journalism, but that's another story. pun intended!)...ok, rambling...

Thanks Grandpa, and all others who have fought for my freedoms.

And the star-spangled banner,
in triumph shall wave,
o'er the land of the free
and the home of the brave.

Glückwünsche Germany!

In case you forgot, yesterday was the 20th anniversary of the Berlin Wall fall.

There was some uber-great coverage on NYT with which I was enraptured...

So happy for them and all the rest of the former USSR...not to be trite, but really, they've come so far.

Danke for letting me indulge myself by posting some Deutschland pictures.
(It's on my (very long) list of places I want to live.)

Relics of a dark era, Sachsenhaussen Concentration camp, just outside Berlin.


Arbeit Macht Frei - "Work Will Set You Free." The gate all prisoners passed through.

We probably walked around for 4 hours with our audio guides...
Call me a masochist or a born history junkie, but I had been looking forward to going to a concentration camp since oh, about kindergarten (maybe not that young, but I couldn't stop myself from using another Germanic word hehe).



I'm glad Andrzej (below) agreed with me about the necessity of such an experience...
this was the plaque at the front of where the gas chambers are.

Still wanting to hit Auschwitz in Poland...who's coming with?!

Bike riding through the East German country...



Potsdam.
An uber-cute town, and of course, where this happened.
The compound with the old and new castles reminded me a lot of Mount Vernon/Williamsburg, Virginia, actually...

'Old' Castle

New Castle

At the Brandenburg Gate (Berlin) with German Anna (and Sarah).

A portion of The Wall.

And just for giggles...

Germans are neurotically hygienic, which I love...and I would: back in the day (when I was about 4), I told my mom I could not continue my ballet career because I couldn't stop thinking about how unsanitary the "public" barre was.


I think I was the only one who noticed-slash-was a little amused that we stayed on 'Karl Marx Allee' a couple nights. Don't worry, mom, East Berlin is totally safe now!
(The only time when I wish I were a man: so I could travel wherever I wanted - solo even - without people worrying about me.)

Plus none is the best number!

I don't know why I feel preempted to tell you to hang tight! a blog redesign is in the works! My previous template malfunctioned!...

but alas, here I am, in stark white 'Minima,' telling you.

(Amazing what self-restraint and also obligation I feel on this medium, despite it originally being my place to vent some more negative thoughts and ideas.)

Transitioning...


I need to get into Ugly Betty. I tried to one time, but it made me dizzy with all the sets constantly looking like pop-art, like an even more tricked out version of the spaceship in Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century ... (but maybe that was the time I was semi-addicted to narcotics. OK.)

Does anyone else remember this?! By far, my favorite Disney Channel Original Movie...



ALSO: "The Galaxy is Ours" from the Zequel ... YOU ARE WELCOME.


Anyway, Tara posted the following clip, and I think it is fabulously empowering and fit for yet another Monday. Cheers!

Feeling all warm and velvety inside

THIS makes me so so happy...

Why can't all revolutions be as peaceful as The Velvet?

Vaclav Havel jamming on drums? Sounds like a party to me!

Probably the most brilliant line of foreign policy ever:
“We Czechs and Slovaks have a tradition of dealing with various issues in the pub rather than on the battlefield.”

You know I'll drink some sparkling cider to that!

photo via NYT

Mind blowing

Too often recently, I've gotten bogged down by how competitive our world has become.

Then at a family dinner this past weekend, words came out of my mouth from nowhere how excited I was at the unlimited possibilities in front of me.
(A lesson in attitude.)

The stream of facts in this video are mind blowing.
I know, I say a lot of things are 'mind-blowing' but seriously, this time I'm serious ;)

The future is overwhelming, but oh-so exciting!



Thanks to the cutest scientist in the world, Krystyna! xo


In other news, I received 2 blog awards from my new Provhoe girl crush, Meg.


I recall a post I read once (can't remember where! dang) that questioned where the H blog awards come from and what their purpose serves...
but you know what, it's still midterms time and I will take any positivity I can get! Thank you sweetheart!

So do I pass them off or something? Ok...

1) To Chelsea Talks Smack...because she's clever and angst-y, and I dig that.

2) To Turralurr...because Chipman Hall 3219 is where it was at 4 years ago. One of my first great memories was when she, an upstate NY native, properly stymied my excitement at the first snowfall of Fall 2005, as she fell over laughing at my "Is this a blizzard?!" query.

3) To Alli- my very first friend down when we lived at the beach...(I had a CHARMED childhood). When she was at NYU, she worked at a really swank hotel, once delivering a steak to Snoop Dogg's room at 3AM. Now she courageously chronicles her battle with cancer.
Please send her love and prayers.

4) To Courtney Elle...we were actually baptized together on the same day way back when (along with Kristen who is serving a mission in Mongolia)...and we're going to live in Hawaii together next year. Love her!!!

5) Paige. Because she's the definition of precious with her ample use of the word 'precious' and I feel terrible I haven't been to two of her parties this semester. AH.

6) Martha. We've kind of woven in and out of each others lives since fall of freshman year, when she was living with my beach volleyball buddy friend Tresa. I like her mind.

And all of my Comms friends (@courtney, @kate, @sponge, @mle, @rica, @yecart, @lumanizer, @siovhan, ETC), consider yourself also knighted.

Actually, everyone who is still reading this post, please feel free to take! I hate excluding people. XO

One man's mission to promote peace

Here's a link to the Greg Mortenson forum that occurred here at BYU last week.

WATCH/LISTEN/LEARN.

The man is miraculous.

Poker Face

On Halloween, I don't go for themes of 'skank' or 'scary,' but rather hilarity.

Por ejemplo, remember last year when I was Sarah Palin? or when I was a COMPOSER circa age 7? (The link at the end of that post proved an interesting foreshadow to this year's costume- what with the 'popping')


And this year, it was Lady Gaga, naturally... her getups are made for Halloween replication.
I was surprised I didn't see more...

(Blonde wig situation didn't work out... I'm not bitter or anything...)

I'm aware my face looks utterly ridiculous, but I believe part of costuming requires getting into character, hence my fun with Palin's accent last year via self-Method-ing Tina Fey, and this year's GaGa 'thizz face' of sorts...

Bubbles still intact at this point (it proved to be more high maintenance than I envisioned), with with my legit basketballer roommate Mackenzie as GI Jane (anyone who posts videos of Shaq & Dwight Howard dance-offs on my Facebook wall has my strait up respek'...)


Stopped by SpAly's party...they were McCain/Palin last year, and an old married couple this year. I can't wait to see them when we're 70...dressed like 20-somethings again!

The bubbles were falling off at this point, and hair getting static-y.

Yes, I drove in this. I had to recline my seat all the way down to fit in. I could only steer the wheel in 4 inch increments. Kids stared. I felt like a marshmallow (or the gauche version to the Carrie Bradshaw limo wedding dress moment). Rad.

And shout out to Amanda: I'm sad I missed you! And Criz, you too!


Then home after a rollicking time (poker face) on the town to watch the end of the Yankees/Phillies in my leotard.


How much longer until Thanksgiving? ;)

Brand new and inspiring

No explanation needed!

MoZella

No it's not a new version of Mozilla Firefox.

She is my new music obsession. Check it out.

I am guilty of watching The City (NOT The Hills). After they played the song "Manhattan" last show, I found myself promptly downloading her two albums.

I think she sounds like Natasha Bedingfield meets a pre-Timbaland Nelly Furtado (the "I'm like a bird" days).



Also digging...Four Leaf Clover, Let's Stop Calling it Love and her Weezer cover of Say It Aint So.

Magic already sounded really familiar (maybe from a Verizon commercial?)...the video is infectiously delightful...enjoy.