Sunday Thought

Happy St. Patrick's Day everybody! Hope everybody wore some green today. But on a more sunday centered note, I taught in relief society today. While I was preparing, I was looking for videos and decided to watch My New Life, Stephanie Nielson's story about her crash. This video is an oldie, but a goody. I have seen it a bunch of times, but I still love it and feel the spirit every time I watch it. I decided to start her memoir Heaven is Here because I have heard wonderful things about it and so far its very engaging and uplifting. Her story reminds me of when we first watched it on journey which seems like forever ago. And I hope someday I can have a cute little happy family like her. But watch the video. Its one of my favorites. 

V-Day

Happy Valentine's week everybody! To celebrate, they have been playing lovey-dovey music in the Wilk, and today was jazz standards. They played Don't Get Around Much Anymore and I found myself singing along. It took me right back to the good old days in Premiere. I miss singing, especially jazz. So here's a tribute to some great girls and one super awesome bearded guy :)

 

Now Don't Get Around Much Anymore has been stuck in my head all day so I looked it up to listen to it and rid it from my brian, and I found this super cool music video from the 40's. Enjoy!

Rasputin

So today in Poly Sci we learned about Rasputin. And when I say learned about, I mean my Professor mentioned him for about 5 seconds in passing during a discussion about Tsar Nicholas. Anyway, he was a crazy, corrupt, pretend-monk, magic-practicing advisor to the Tsar. When I hear Rasputin, the villain from the movie Anastasia comes to mind (which, by the way, I can't believe they made a kids movie about an entire family being brutally murdered).

This is what I mean. How creepy is that dude?? When in fact this is the real Rasputin. Who is not much better than the cartoon.

So the thought train had started and I turned to the only place to find about random historical events:  Wikipedia. Because while kids' movies are awfully entertaining, they sometimes teach misconceptions about history. For example, Rasputin, however creepy he might be, didn't curse the Romanov's. It was the Bolshevik Secret Police at the order of Lenin (thanks, Wikipedia). And while we all love Dimitri, he either didn't exist or died with the rest of the servants in the basement of their prison house. So sorry to ruin Anastasia for you, but I think the historical account is pretty entertaining to. Fun fact: the last to die were all the Tsar's daughters because they had sewn 1.3 kilos of diamonds and precious gems into the lining of their dresses to keep them from Lenin, and the jewels deflected the bullets and bayonets. 

Sorry if this was a bit grim, but it fascinates me. So to lighten the mood, here is a video of everyone's favorite song from Anastasia. 

Les Miserables

So Les Mis is one of my favorite books and musicals. I had the privilege of seeing it last summer in LA and it was life changing. The message that showing compassion and kindness, and having faith that people can change can have never ending positive repercussions. Jean Valjean has been treated like a criminal his whole life, so he didn't fight the stereotype. A bishop takes him in and even after Valjean steals his one possession of worth, the bishop finally shows him compassion and that he can be a good man. He forgives him and lets him go on one condition:  that he become an honest man. In Valjean's Soliloquy, as a direct result of the bishop's compassion to turn his life around. "In His name, my task has just begun. I will see it done!" 

I didn't decide to just rant on how much I love Les Mis. Its back on my mind because I have know for some time that they would be making a movie adaption of the musical, and they just released the trailer. It looks like the movie is going to exceed my expectations. Dream the dream.

Party Hardy

So the other weekend I went to my first ever college dance party! It was a blast. There are a lot of dance parties here so they all have there quirk to set them apart. This dance was special because it was a foam party. They had foam coming down out of soap machines hanging from the ceiling. It smelled like dish soap so Kass was in heaven. It was quite the experience. We were dancing up to our ankles in foam as more foam dropped down on us from the ceiling. I have never had so much fun with soap.

Pre-foam. And for the record we don't know the skanky girl in the front. 

So fun!

We all got a bit crazy...

We have so much fun :)

Cinderelly

My friends and I decided to go old school and watch Cinderella. Surprisingly, we remembered the words to every song--even the mispronunciations and gibberish for words we didn't know as kids. It was just as magical as I remember it being as a little girl. 

Winnie the Pooh

So call me old-school, but I am hooked on Seventies music. It all started a very long time a go when I would drive with my dad in his truck and we would listen to James Taylor and John Denver. They will forever remind me of home and of my daddy. So, when I get homesick I like to listen to them as previously mentioned on this blog. But here's the catch: I don't have that many songs by either of them in my library so I decided to make a James & John Pandora (its very good, if you care to listen to it). For all you dinosaurs who don't understand Pandora, it chooses music for you based on the type of station you create. So, I ended up with a lot of seventies music. One of the songs it chose for me was House at Pooh Corner by Kenny Loggins. I love this song because it used to play on one of Lauren's lullaby CD's. It also reminded me of the Pencil and her obsessive love for all things Piglet and the little stuffed animals we would collect at Disneyland. Childhood was awesome. 

Digital Nativity.

Happy Christmas Eve everybody! Hope this holiday season has been just as merry and bright as you have always wished! And that all the hype and anticipation will be fulfilled tomorrow by the presents and fun. In the meantime, here is a Christmas video that I enjoyed.

I love the ending message: though the times have changed, the feelings remain the same. Have a Merry Christmas!

Yeah, I Know it's Late.

So yesterday was a very crazy day. I had to write two essays that were due today. It was very high-stress but I got them all turned in and everything was great. 


Today in my development class we were talking about self and identity development and all this stuff and my teacher asked us who we are and everyone said "children of God". Is it bad that I said my name first? Then he decided to compare genders and asked all the girls who we are and there was a mass recitation of the personal progress theme. It took me a while to catch on. I guess that shows just how out of practice I am with Young Woman's!

This picture is from pinterest. A web site that my roommate got me addicted to. One more awesome distraction!!!

Also, today I started watching the show New Girl with some girls on my floor. It is my new favorite show second only to Modern Family. It is so funny.

Watch it. Also I'm really excited for my parents to come in less than six days!!! Woo Hoo!!!! And on that note I have to go to bed so I can study for my four tests next week!!