monday, oh monday

well, small college town has officially decided to begin the short fall and then transition to winter. yikes.

i've been expecting a certain letter for over a week now. it is frustrating beyond belief. 

my name is elsa and i am two weeks sober. off soda, that is. 

i'm just barely finding that balance between work, homework, and a social life. 

now that i have to add my tv shows starting back up, i don't know how that will balance. #firstworldproblems

sometimes my roomies and i hang out with the freshman across the hall. actually, we do it all the time.

i'm in a class that is strictly nerdy things. for real. we code websites and talk about html.

where have all the good wholesome movies gone? all the imdb trailers i keep seeing are either disgusting, or rated r. it's a really pity. 

sundays are now for naps. because 9 am church is just a crime. 

but really, i just want the fall leaves to come in already. 

i've thought a lot about change lately, 

and how it is always evident in our lives, 

yet most of the time we still fight it off. 

but i've learned that my life is a life of change, 

and the gospel is a church of change.

we should always be changing. 

why wouldn't we want it to? 

it seems like something so simple 

and it struck me across the face today with its profoundness. 

embrace change and let it rule life.

mondays turn into tuesdays sometimes

I successfully survived the first week of school. hooray!

expecting three packages and a letter in one week is probably the greatest thing to happen to a college student and their mail life. 

I love making new friends. 

I go hard at dances and sometimes I don't even know who I am when it happens. 

I had a dream the other day that I went to London and never wanted to leave.  That's probably why I haven't gone yet. 

This whole One Direction thing is starting to get a little out of hand. 

Back at home, every Monday is taco night. I miss taco night. 

When I have to concentrate on my homework, I blast the score to Downton Abbey into my stolen iPhone5 headphones. 

Its kind of dumb that people can't seem to hand out without their wingman. Like, did you think that I would date them too? Did you think we would all get married?

I threw a rockin' ward party yesterday. 

Also, sometimes I want to kiss Liam Payne. Actually all the time I want to. 

a letter to my best friend

dear best friend,

i miss that we would both stay up on our computers before we go to bed and say things like "did you read courtney's blog?" or "go look at what i just pinned".  i think i took for granted and forgot just how alike we were. i didn't realize how much the same we were until i started living with people that don't do the same things as us, and that makes me sad. sometimes i listen to your starred playlist in the morning because that's what would be playing if you were here. the mirror is in a new spot and its finally hung up on the wall like it was supposed to always be. did i tell you that jason lucas said hi to me in the hall in the spori? i think he recognized me from all my insta's that he keeps liking.  making egg salad sandwiches isn't that great anymore, because one egg isn't enough food, but two eggs is too much, and i find myself at this awkward stage because i don't know what to do with it all. i told you it would be a hard transition to learn how to cook for only one person. wasn't the new score for downton abbey so good? poor poor mary makes me so sad that i want to cry and only downton can do that do a person, don't you think? last night, i just wanted you to be here so we could eat cookie dough and watch something sad like we do when things just aren't the way we wished with boys. but I really just missing staying up really late. I'm so proud of you for getting so good at painting your nails on your own too. the other day a really big semi honked its horn by my room and I yelled "Brody's here!" nobody got it. will you come visit me soon? then we can make no bakes and you can buy me ice cream because you owe me BIG for that. and i guess i'll buy you some too.

Called to Serve

my friend was so kind to let me take her pictures before she left on her mission. 

it was raining the whole day before the shoot and i was so worried that it wouldn't work out. 

but the sun came out and gave us the most gorgeous lighting just in time. 

as my mother always says, "you're true!" Brikelle! 

You will be a fabulous missionary! 

wait, did i really do that?

i met the cutest boy yesterday. it was sprinkling outside and as i left the building, and made eye contact with this hurried and good-haired boy, he said, "hey hows it going?" and told me and my friend about his over scheduled, unorganized, and busy life. it was brief, because he ran into his next meeting. literally, he ran. but then (somewhat prompted by my friend), i very uncharacteristically wrote my number on the back of a mcdonald's reciept and said "this is for the organized part of your life" and stuck it under his windshield wiper and left. i'd like to think that it was partly the guts of doing a spur of the moment act that motivated me to follow through, but i also think it might have been the fact that he had really great clark gable hair.

bus·y - actively and attentively engaged in work or a pastime:
mul·ti·task - to perform two or more tasks simultaneously.

two things my vocabulary involves right now, and its only the second day of the semester. i hate that professors slam every single thing that you'll ever do the entire semester on you the very first day of class and then confuse you by making you think its all due the next time. i also hate that i'm already this slammed and its the second day. i've definitely been thrown back into the swing of things, and it looks like dark late nights in front of the computer for me. but if there's something that i'm going to teach myself this semester, its the principle of sticking through things and hard work.  because i think we can always learn to work a little harder, and thats what i'm going to try to do. 

monday

i started school again yesterday. it was how it always was. but it was also really great.
with the new semester, i have lots of new things. i'm working this semester. and i'm working out with coach jaylene. there's a lot of whining involved with both.
i'm also not going to have soda for a month. we'll see how it goes.
sometimes i wonder what it would be like to live in a foreign country.
i decided that i want to travel to asia now. i didn't want to for a while, but now i do.
that process of making myself forget has began. and i'm not sure how i feel about it.
i saw the one direction movie yesterday and it turned me into one of their new fans. i love them.
i'm waiting for my hair to fade back to the red that i want it to be. i hope it happens soon.
some days i just want to watch smallville all day with jenna and jace.

34/52

270. sleepy toes

271. i sit on the counter to get ready

272. packing is the worst

274. i love little treats from friends

275. decorating my room

276. i live here now

there was an irresistible urge to do all of the wonderful things in the world. and that was the romance of summer time.

Most have moved on into fall with school, but today is my last day of summer, as tomorrow I move back to small college town. This summer has felt like an eternity, in all of the good ways of the meaning of that word.  I am a summer lover, but not the usual lover that idolizes and over talks its greatness.  I am a usual appreciator of the balance of a good break with a good stretch of hard work.  But this summer has left me as the usual summer lover that you find in teenage high school passionates-the ones that can’t seem to function without recalling all of their adventures and constantly reliving it all.  I have never had such a wonderful summer as I did now.  Maybe it has something to do with the fact that my life becomes more and more enriching the older I get, but I’d also like to think it had a lot to do with circumstance.  The blessed circumstance of opportunity.  The opportunities to travel to the very places that I had always dreamed of and be enriched more than I could have imagined by experiences about my ancestry that left me learning so much.  The circumstance of an over scheduled life, and trying above all else to plan and execute something so wonderfully great for these awesome teenage girls, so that they could come to love camp as much as I always have.  The circumstance of blessings beyond measure.  And mostly, the circumstance of becoming more myself with each step of the way, and having the whole world notice it too.  I had always said that last summer I had learned who I was.   And that much is true.   But this summer I became a better version of myself that I could have imagined the summer before.  And I think that’s the beauty of having a period of time when you can focus on you as a being, and not as you as a student.  Because I believe now, that you can always become a better version of yourself.  And that is the real gift of growth that I learned this summer. I had heard a story once that related life to a hallway of doors.  And as we make decisions, for good or bad, the doors open and close, depending on the consequences.  And right now, I feel as if all my doors are open. They had been shut, and I know that there will be times when they will shut or open, but as for right now, I couldn’t be more blessed that they are all open. 

this one time, in africa

i kissed a giraffe. 

and i got some pretty bad rug burn from it. 

you know, i think there is still something there. and i think there might be for a while.

excuse me while i gush about harry potter some more

let me just start off by saying that there have been rumors circulating about the possibility of an 8th Harry Potter being written by JK Rowling and I was one of those very naive and very upset fans that believed its truth. it was a little crushing, I will admit that. but I also will admit that a small part of me felt a teeny bit of relief that I wouldn't fail out of my classes at school if the book was released while I was at school (though, it was a tiny part).  but I also read this article today (Everything I Need to Know, I Learned from Hermione Granger) and it was so true in every way possible. So you should read it. Because Hermione is probably the person I wish I could be most. And every time I watch the last movie and Harry is about to leave for his death, and Hermione jumps around Harry and cries, "I'll go with you!", I die a little inside and cry, because I'm a big Harry Potter nerd.

la luna

i love when the moon is this beautiful color. 

and i love to take pictures of it too-with little l as my helper, 

turning on and off lights, and making sure that everything is the way that i need it.

sorry i have slacked on my 365 project the last few weeks. 

so much has gone on, but i'm crossing my fingers this week will be better. 

its almost 2 am

i don't normally post on saturdays, because no one reads on saturdays, but i didn't post on friday, so i thought, why not post on saturday? because i had a rockin good time on friday and its something worth spreading. but really, it was sucko for a while. like real sucko. like super upset, then super stressed, then overwhelmed put on a stupid call for work that i wasn't even prepared for so i looked super stupid, then super sad, day. that's probably too many unnecessary supers. but it gave me sick knots in my shoulders. i mean, they're like, wicked. and it hurts man. i'm gonna need a strong male friend to get those bad boys out. anyways...but what do i do best other than escape from the suckiness of a day by calling up my pals and doing whatever possible to distract myself. and that i did. there was a concert (one in which I had always wanted to attend, but never did), and a sighting of my favorite mindy (i mean, we sat behind her family. and it was awesome). and there was a silly walmart trip and long chats while we dyed my hair. i've always wondered what it was about wanting to change my hair when something happens that i'm not happy about it. maybe its because i can control that kind of change. and then there was some form of chips and dip and yummy treats and a movie that was of the nicholas sparks genre. and now my hair is way too dark. its definitely a lana lang raven instead of the usual medium cherry red that i usually use. so thats going to have to be fixed.

monday on thursday

i took a small break. i've been a little preoccupied.
i had my last day at work last week. wahoo for breaks!
i also have been nannying all day long a few days this week and my mac and cheese intolerance has boosted through the roof.
my love for ikea has only grown as i get older and need more things of the house and home related genre.
is it bad that i will probably never be sick of cafe rio?
i can't help but think maybe nick miller isn't so chicken for moon walking away from things.
school is still around the corner. and now that its closer, i have mixed feelings.
my favorite color lately is bright electric blue. and emerald green.
i need someone around me to have a baby.
the thing about me that i can't seem to ever change, is that i can never go to bed when i say i will.
Something good happened last week, and I was like Scarlett O'Hara in my freaking curtain dress.

things my brothers tell me, part two:

G (to the neighbor's dog): Quiet now, Mrs. Bark-a-lot.

L: You're looking pretty fly for a white guy.

G: These are the three words I used to describe myself: really good farter, smarter than a lot of people, and good at basically anything Chinese.

G (upon watching the Bachelorette preview and seeing Des cry): Maybe that Brooks guy from Utah dies.

G: I wonder why fire is hot.

Mom: L, if you can't stop, you'll have to have a time out in the hall.
L: Mom, I'm 8. I don't do those any more.

G: Did mom get my text yesterday? It was really long.
Me: Whose phone did you use?
G: The house phone.

L: Mom! I know what we can do to have more conditioner when we run out!
Mom: What?
L: Just fill up the bottle with water!

G: I hate Chick-fil-A! If I had to get anything from them, I would get NOTHING!

L (to our family friends): Hey, if you guys stay the night here, we can have cake for breakfast.

G: Justin Timberlake is already married, you can't marry him. Stop living in your dreams.