tights and ox's

yesterday was definitely a fall day. leaves under my feet. and full of the most wonderful fall colors. i think that maybe fall is a good season for me. it has my favorite colors of late. and all my best outfits are for fall. my hair looks better in the fall sun. ya know....me and fall go together.

mustard yellow tights with oxfords? or burnt orange tights with oxfords? my new favorite thing. 

h&y

Have you ever heard of hoops and yoyo? you know-the little characters from the greeting cards with super high voices and crazy personalities? ok, they look like this.

still don't know who they are? well if so, thats just sad. maybe try watching this. now you know who they are! well last night was one of the big halloween parties here in small college town, so jace and i dressed up  as none other than hoops and yoyo. complete with squeeky high voices.  i am elsa and i am recovering from a helium overdose. (just kidding. that's only partially true). 

what do you think? we were a big hit. and i do mean to brag about that. we were told many things about how wonderful our costumes were. people even wanted pictures with us. thats what happens when your personalities match your costumes. 

anyways, my most favorite place, sammy's, is having a costume contest and the winners get $200!! We think we've got a pretty good chance or winning. But we need your help! Please go to this page and "like" the picture of me and dear yoyo! the picture that gets the most likes, wins! So tell your mom! And your cousins, your neighbors, anyone you feel would like to help us out! We would GREATLY appreciate you and your help! here's a little video to give the full experience of the costume :)

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=269220413116031&ref=ts

love, hoops&yoyo

lets just read

i love the smell of books. don't you? its fresh. it makes me feel smart and philosophical and artsy all at the same time. hence (one of my favorite words), i love barnes and noble. soooooooooooooooooo much. we spent about 2 hours there. looking and feeling smart. and i spent a good chunk of that time reading this fabulous book. birthday anyone?? mom??

And there were lots of books about london. LOTS. even ones about knitting london people. its a sign. 

and there were journals. ohhhhhhhh how i love journals. nice new fresh and crisp journals with their binds that have not been broken in and their pages haven't been crumpled. they smell fresh and clean and new. they almost feel warm, like they've just come off the printer. and then they get all fat and crumply because of the things i stuff in it and the vigorous writing that occurs. oh how i love a new journal and afresh set of pens. and they had this harry potter journal. and i couldn't help it. i had to. 

yes. i wrote in barnes and noble merchandise. do you know anything about the chamber of secrets. i couldn't help it. and now i can't believe that i did, but i did. yes. harry potter is my life and essence. along with traveling and barnes and noble. it was such a great and fabulous day.

ps-you should have seen adi's face when i told her i wrote in merchandise that i didn't buy. it was priceless. 

creative?

Yeah, in case you can't tell, I have not been feeling creative when it comes to my blogging lately. So its just going to be boring updates of my life. In list form, yet again. But i'll make it a little longer cause its been a couple days. Sorry mom.

1. New phones. yep, my phone was broken, so t-mobile gladly sent me a new one (and upgraded) for FREE! gotta love it. His name is leonardo. cause he looks sleek and fancy.

2. Hidden mustaches. There's a total of 9 mustaches throughout various parts of my room. Its a game of find the mustaches when you first enter the lair.

3. Izze sodas. Sparkling pomegranate to be specific.

4. Friday Night's Alright for Fighting. Best Gilmore Girls ever.

5. Still going strong on the cookie dough.

6. Jenna ninja vanishes underneath a table at the crossroads. Classic and excellent move.

7. Learning about portraiture in photography. A very entertaining lesson indeed.

8. Conversation magnets for the fridge. Thanks mom!

9. What? Its already Thursday??

10. Jenna and Jace days.

blahhh

in my complete lack to think of anything creative to write yesterday, i pushed it off and have now decided to just make a list. so here ya go, my non-creative list for yesterday.

1. big tubs of cookie dough. its become an addiction.

2. decorating our room. its a work in progress. pictures will definitely come later.
3. cheesy funeral potatoes. no offense dad, but i think i found a recipe better than yours.
4. ninja vanishing to take out the trash. it went somewhat like this.

5. Wild Thing by Misty Miller. its about where the wild things are.

why did the hipster burn his mouth?

because he ate the soup before it was cool. brother noah told me that one. and though i should be offended, i thought it was hysterical. i laugh at myself often.

the best place to get good hipster music AND good food here in little college town is sammy's.  it is soooooo great.

mustache mondays. here at sammys, if you wear a mustache, you get a grilled cheese for 75 cents! yay for us poor college students who just want to have some cheap fun and listen to good music at the same time.

mustaches provided by: jacelyn and courtesy of hobby lobby.

oh and its fun to put the mustaches on the back of your phone once you're done letting them itch up your face.  sometimes it looks like a person.

(look carefully-its on there!)

reasons why i love weekends at home

-waking up saturday morning to this cute face peeking through the door

-hobby lobby hour long visits....the things you can find!

-big ego trucks?

-$5 tights at target in fabulous shades of our favorite things

-babysitting these crazy kids and seeing this cute girl

-hoops and yoyo

-lots of time with mommy dearest (she is the best), my favorite boys, and this twin of mine!

visiting for the weekend is always so fun. i loved it so much!

bangles

something happened last night at about 12:14. which is my birthday and every time its 12:14, i think, hey thats my birthday! anyways. sorry about the tangent. i do that a lot. it was impulsive. a little scary for a second. and after about 19 minutes it was done.

new bangs. i like them. no. i looooooove them. jace cut them for me. she's pretty good at it!

i only had bangs like this one other time. it was in 6th grade and i parted my hair down the middle and tried to look like lizzie mcguire. with glasses. it was so bad. but i like these bangs. a lot. 

on another note, i love talking to my mama on the phone. it always makes me feel good. the weekend is tomorrow. hallelujah. 

footsies

You know something I love so much and makes me so happy?

Socks. Yep, doesn't take much to please me. But seriously. I love socks. Short socks. Long socks.  Thick socks. Patterned socks with bright colors. Thigh high socks. Toe socks.  

Its always really cold up here in little college town.  And after last year, I decided that I really need some wool socks. Normally I'm pretty picky about the kind of fabric that my socks are-and wool is not one that I prefer. But once you step in a pile of slush when its -12 degrees outside, you don't question wool socks. 

REI has great wool socks.  I bought 5 pair. Yeah, its a fetish.  Anyways, they are so wonderful that I have not taken them off all day and I am currently wearing them with my gym shorts. They are the most comfortable things my feet have ever been graced with.  They make me feel all cozy and and soft like a towel.  I don't think I will ever buy a different pair of socks ever again. REI, guys. REI. 

the mean reds

i love the cute boy with clark gable hair that i walked past on my way home today.  he had on skinny jeans that were the perfect shade of steel gray and a dark red barn shirt.  his shoes were classy and his hair-oh his hair.  he had the most wonderful sandy and dirty blonde clark gable hair.  i have a crush on him and his beautiful clark gable hair.

i feel he has impeccable taste in clothes and we would like the same kind of music.  he probably smells so wonderful and talks just like george peppard in breakfast at tiffany's.  and when he forgets to shave, he'll look handsomely rugged with all the scruff, like robert redford does.

i love good old fashioned men with clark gable hair, george peppard voices, and robert redford scruff.  they are so handsome and dashing. they are scarce in little rexburg, so one must watch breakfast at tiffany's, drink fabulous izze soda, and walk around saying wonderful things like 'i must do something about the way i look' and call people 'darling'.

looky here!

Yes, thats right, we live in the same room now, so we can be even more joined at the hip.  Things have been getting freaky. I could name all the things that we've found are the same about us, and trust me-it is freaky (I mean the same music and clothes was weird enough, but then to have the same vein patterns on our arms??), but that might just seem exclusive.  

What the heck-let's just make this a bit more wacky and live in the same room. Why not?? Sometimes it scares me how alike we are.  It shouldn't, because this literally happens when we discuss almost anything: 

"What?? No way!! You too?!"

Again, its this thing called fate.  Eat your words Elsa.  

It is a blessing. Not to get all chesse-tastic. I normally try to stay away from that kind of stuff, but every now and then, you gotta do it.  I love being her friend and having her as a friend. 

Friendship is born at that moment when one person says, 

"What?! You too?! I thought I was the only one!"

-CS Lewis

I think CS might have written this for me and Jace. Maybe not, but I like to think it was. 

Those chinese know a thing or two...

Fortune cookies are fun.  I've heard so many different things about them.  You have to eat the whole cookie before you read your fortune or it won't come true.  Read it and say certain phrases at the end of every fortune.  Keep it with you everywhere you go and it comes true faster.  Well, whatever it is that I've been doing, it clearly works.

I am not a believer of fate, destiny, or anything like that.  I believe you create your own life and you control it.  It looks like I have to eat my words. 

Remember the post about my traveling fortune and my twin? That fortune is already happening.  Today I was cleaning and found two old fortunes from this summer. 

I remember getting both of these fortunes. I thought nothing of them at the time.  But whats this? They've....come true...? Freaky, right?

1. Watch for a stranger to soon become a friend. Hel-lo! That would be roommate and twin Jace. I did not know her at all and in a month, we've already become such good friends and it feels like I've known her for forever. 

2. You are an artistic person-let your colors show. It may seem a bit of a stretch, but I feel like it fits perfectly with my decision to be a photojournalist. That takes an artistic sense and vision.  And to be honest, it kind of is something that totally scared me before.  I thought I could never be good at photography.  That takes truly creative and artistic people.  I just make dinky crafts for fun.  I don't create art.  But I know its what I'm supposed to do, and I could not be more excited about it!

Call it what you will-fate, destiny, the universal pull of the planet.  I just call it divine intervention.  Each time I think I'm totally and completely in control of my own life, I step back and see that very little of what has happened was my doing.  I know I have a Heavenly Father that puts things right where they are supposed to be or changes my opinions and views so that He can help guide me to what will make me happiest and what will help me thrive the most.  I am so grateful for that. Life is good. It is so good.  And I am so happy. 

I'm gonna walk a hundred miles

Traveling. It's my thing. I have a lot of places I want to go. Lately, its been London.  Jace and I want to study abroad in London next year.  It's just one of those perfect things where everything about it makes sense and works out perfectly.  So I know it will happen.

Today is a London day.

I'm going to have tea and crumpets, watch Harry Potter, listen to Adele, wear fabulous fashionable clothes, and pretend its raining.

It's my goal to fill up my passport before I die. And London will be stamped on there! One stamp down, hundreds more to go.  I can't WAIT!!

Let's get those great big plans rolling!

I have plans. BIG plans.  I'm going to be a photojournalist.  I'm going to travel the world and get lost in it.  All that jazz. I am so excited about it and I'm willing to work hard to achieve it, because its what I know I'm going to do.  But sometimes, I get a little lazy. And I don't work as hard as I should.  I justify my laziness.  I'm sure we've all done it once before.

Yesterday, I kicked my laziness right in the pants.  We have devotionals at my school every Tuesday at 2.  The university dresses in their Sunday best and everyone takes a break from classes to be spiritually enriched.  Yesterday, we happened to have one of my favorite women ever give the devotional: Sister Elaine S. Dalton.  I absolutely adore her.  She emanates true beauty and virtue and glows with a greater sense of life and the gospel, all while speaking eloquently of most amazing things. 

Yesterday she spoke of three things: 

1. Dream Big
2. Step out of your comfort zone
3. Go forward with confidence

I could go on and on and on about the things she told us, but all in all, she motivated us to work harder than we ever have to achieve the great things we dream.  And now I will.  And I am so excited about it. And then, something great happened. Jace, friend Diane, and I got to meet Sister Dalton. Again, she is so great. 

It was such a great day.  And, to add to the excitement, best friend Annie, met my favorite artist (who's lyrics I used to name my blog), Mindy Gledhill! So so jealous! But really exciting, because she has great big plans too.  

Top Five

I love making lists.  Checklists, lists of things I’ve done, lists of things I want to do, grocery lists.  Sometimes when I write in my journal, I just make a list for the day.  This is my list for today.

Top Five Good Things From Today

1.  Wearing new clothes. Its always fun to have new clothes.
2.  Grocery shopping. I had been eating stale fruit leathers and popcorn as meals.
3.  Walking home in the rain.
4.   Talking on the phone with my best friend Annie!
5.    Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zero’s Home with the Gulu Choir. Favorite song ever. Even better that its with Africa. 
6.   Thigh high socks.

Yes, that’s 6 things. But I’m just really loving my thigh high Halloween socks today. They are cozy and comfy. 

Who do I miss?

These little boys.

I miss when they wipe my kisses off their face.

I miss when they act crazy and we call each other Doofenschmirtz. 

I miss when Leo comes in my room and says, "Um can we just like hang out or something?"

I miss when they get all excited to talk to me about Harry Potter. 

I miss when Gus tries to trick me into taking him to McDonalds. 

I miss when they say things that make me realize they are growing up and they are not little boys anymore. Seven years old is too old. Please stop growing up while I am gone twinner boys.  And please always remember I always always miss you.  

My Man

Don't be alarmed by the title of this post.  I don't have a man. Although, it would be nice.

Last night I watched gLee with Jace.  It was super fun.  Rachel Berry, whose voice I covet, made us cry with her rendition of My Man.  Its a lovely song.  Have you ever heard the song before? Here's Barbara's original.

We like to sing along to it dramatically.  I decided that I will play it at my wedding.  That's far away though. 

It's kind of a funny story...

I changed my major today.  And my life.

It’s kind of a funny story.

Being a sophomore at school, almost everyone around me knows what they’re doing.  They have a major and a plan and they’re already going after it.  It’s kind of intimidating, especially for little Elsa who does not know what she will do. 

It’s been a bit of an adventure.  Originally, I was a sociology major. Wherever that gets you.  So I thought about changing to Psychology.  I like listening to people. I like talking to people.  It was pretty great in my mind, but I could never get myself to actually change it.  And then I thought about International Studies.  I do love traveling and I would love to travel for my job.  But it never felt right either.  You have to know that I am someone who firmly believes only in doing something if it feels right. I pray about it and think about it.  And oddly enough, I just forgot about the whole issue. 

I’m currently taking a photography class. It’s just for fun.  We were assigned photographers to learn about.  Irene Abdou. She does photography for humanitarian groups.  I thought, whoa that would be awesome.  Then I had to do a paper on photojournalism for another class and I loved it.  I loved everything it was about.  So I checked it out online.  And I researched what classes to take. I figured out my major and my minor.  So I went to talk to a counselor and just like that, my major was changed.  It was like watching dominoes tumble.  

I am so glad that I know what I'm doing now.  It's crystal clear.  I may not be a stellar photographer (hey I'm still learning!), but I know its something I can really work on and become good at.  Everything that never made sense before, now makes sense now.  And I love that it does.  

It was a good day. 

Coincidence...? No.

This is me.  And my roommate Jacelyn.  We've decided we are twins, just like roommates Adi and Ami. We have a lot of things in common.  Sometimes it freaks us out. 

Have you ever seen The Parent Trap? The newer one with Lindsay Lohan? It was my favorite movie when I was 8.  Sometimes I would sit and wish I was a twin like Hallie and Annie were. 

My twin here has the same dream as me.  To travel the world. We've been talking about going on a study abroad together.  And then last night, I remembered a fortune I got this summer. The conversation went as follows:

Elsa: "Jace! Want to see my most favorite fortune I've ever gotten?"

Jace: No. No. No way. No. Just you wait. 

 Elsa: We’re going to have one of those twin moments right?  Like in Parent Trap when they stick their two pictures together and everything in their life changes?

Jace: Look at this. I got the same fortune this summer!!

Elsa: Are you serious? No. Like are you for real? This is freaky. 

Jace: Yeah!! Check it out!! 

Both: This is just to much. 

Elsa: I gotta breathe. 

Jace: I gotta run outside. 

It totally and completely freaked me out. But I totally and completely loved it.  We are supposed to be roommates.  We are friends. And twins.  And I love it.