Fordpride

You guys.   There is a big night coming up here.  The York Ball (aka big mormon dance).  Friday. (Ah! So nervous!  What if no one wants to dance with me!!!) I have a killer dress.  But the question of how I should do my hair has been stressin' me! My bangs (or fringe as they call it here) is at a confusing length.  They are fine most of the time, but they're getting a tad too long.  Which means I touch them a lot.  Which means they get real gross real fast. SO.  Do I trim the bangs/fringe?  Because we all know Imma be busting a dance move on Friday night meaning I'll be swooping them back meaning I'll be extra sweaty meaning I'll have real nasty hair at the end of the night. OR do I grow my bangs/fringe out and just put my hair back for the ball?  And when considering this option, lets not forget the bald spot aka my forehead .  (also, here is another story of my forehead.  i should be...

Saturday I had the chance to hop on a bus (or coach, as they call it here) with my fellow church peeps to go to the Preston England temple.   So good.  So, so good.

This happened.  There's nothing more to say.

This year I spent Thanksgiving here.  In York.  Well, actually, I went over to the city of Harrogate and hung out with my friend Duncan.  This is what we looked liked:  (the black and white makes it seem like we've been friends forever.  which isn't true, it just feels true) Duncan has lived here his whole life so he knows the ins and outs of the town and we spent some time exploring this little forest (I wish I lived next to a forest) and he showed me this little perfect spot for sitting.  It was a pleasant day and while it wasn't the typical Thanksgiving experience, it was exactly what I needed in my life.  And I have to soak up as much Dunx time as possible before he moves to another country! (who does that, btw?!)  We also saw Tin Tin , which was surprisingly enjoyable.  Tin Tin is legit. Turns out my family also had an enjoyable Thanksgiving back home.  There are certain moments I wish I could've been a part...

Its 12:27 am on Thursday, which technically means its Thanksgiving! Soooo, HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!! But also technically, Thanksgiving doesn't exist for me this year.  Because its kind of an American thing (kind of), and right now, I'm not in America. But also, that doesn't mean I can't be grateful.  While I'm not in the great country of my birth, I am in a great country.  And I have a lot to be grateful for. (enter the standard 'i'm grateful for' post...but better; i'm in a weirdly reflective mood, so bear with me) Oftentimes in my life, I've felt perfectly inadequate and confused and worried about my decisions.  I've been hit with concerns of where I should live, with whom I should surround myself, what I should study, and many other seemingly life-altering decisions.  I've often felt like what I was doing wasn't good enough, or worth it, or I'll be honest-normal.  I have wished to be more of a typical Mor...

London last week was...fantastic.   I went to an academic conference on Wednesday, making my trip down there FREE.99!  The university paid for the train tickets and luckily I don't have any classes on Wednesdays or Thursdays, so I stayed until Friday morning and it was great.   First off, can I just say that a trip to the British Library to see all the old documents is totally, totally worth it.  One of the highlights of the trip for sure.  I don't know if I'm just a big nerd, but I'm weirdly obsessed with illuminated manuscripts and they have some good stuff there.  And, you know, the Magna Carta.  No big. There was also some awesome stuff at the British Museum.   And the Tate Modern is one of my favorite museums.  As much as I appreciate and love classic pieces of art, I have a soft spot for modern stuff as well.  It's like a work out for a different part of your brain.  I'll take it. Oh and don'...

(sorry i was a bad blogger last week.  like, foreal bad blogger.  embarrassing) You guys. So much love in my life right now. I found this.   Because sometimes, all you want is a Mountain Dew...am I right!??!   Also, I finally figured out which professor with whom I want to have a torrid affair.  From his accent I gather he is from Scotland and he is kind of fantastic.  We'll call him Joseph.  I hope Joseph and I have some good stories later.  And he's not even that old.  Totally doable. (aww yeah) I also had my first real day at work today, and the IT guy had really pretty eyes.  So he's another option in my list of 'people i could love but that would create really awkward situations'.  So many good things happening.  He had to email me about gaining access to the library system, so I'm trying to come up with a good reason to email him back (i.e. "can you help me set up this printer?...in my room?") ...

Can we even believe that its already mid-November!?! I sure can't! The only thing helping me through this time is Justin Bieber.   You know, I am one of those people who is strictly against Christmas music before Thanksgiving.  But they don't have Thanksgiving here (I am not grateful for that) so I have been confused as to when I could start!  And then JB started sharing his Christmas spirit.  And you know what?  I've looked up his tunes and I've listened to Christmas music.  I've done it.  It's a very bizarre feeling but I find myself appreciating this early Christmas spirit in my life.   But it does make things a little more complicated.  I don't know what to think anymore.  I don't. Also, if I buy juice and it needs to be refrigerated after its opened, do you think its ok if I just leave it on my windowsill in front of the open window?  Because that's probably just as cold as the fridge?  Your thoughts...

It finally happened.   I'm getting old!  Beth and her mum and dad were oh so sweet to me today.  They invited me over for dinner and they sang to me and they made me such a lovely cake!  I am really grateful for them.  Such a perfect birthday. And my parents! They sent me these balloons!  Balloons never get old! Neither do exclamation points! And then some of my flatmates came and surprised me with a cake and singing tonight. Thank you to the best people in the world! Seriously though.  It's been a great day.

I couldn't get over this place that night.  So blasted beautiful!

First off, I found this on the little site Pinterest the other day and it perfectly fits all my current needs.  How do I get one of these?  Seriously.  I need it.   (birthday idea!)  (actually probably don't get this for me because i would be too ashamed to  openly display my loneliness in public)  (actually i probably wouldn't be too ashamed) Also, I got a job. I was in London all weekend, with my train arriving back into York on Monday morning.  The interview was set up after I had bought my tickets and as I tried to change the time, it was impossible to do so.   I wasn't really worried, because my arrival time was a full hour before my interview was to start, so I was confident in my ability to make it happen. What I didn't expect was the 30 minute train delay.  Blast! Still, we made it back and I told myself I'd just go straight to the library, luggage and all.  I was a little worried when the ...

This past weekend I hit up a little town by the name of London. It was good. Thanks to Mikelle and Nate for letting me stay at their place and just taking such good care of me! I had only been to London once before for a brief albeit memorable trip with some of my BFF's, so it was nice to just kind of take our time seeing some things I hadn't been to before and enjoying life.  You know, like we're supposed to be doing.  Love life.  Even though its hard. I know, this video has long pauses of silence but my music additions were not really working.  So it just gives you some time to think about if you were a wax figure, how would that make you feel? Fo shizzle.

 Remember just a few days ago when I posted my utter disappointment in not being noticed by Mr. Tom Arnold himself? I take everything back.  EVERYTHING. And I throw an ugly punch at Gmail. Gmail, who has been so good to me over the past few years.  Gmail, whom I have come to know and trust.  Gmail, who for some reason, decided to filter out some very important messages and send them into my Spam folder. Gmail.  Today, I am not happy with you. TOM ARNOLD WROTE ME BACK!  AND I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW!!!  And he caught my sarcasm even though I was a little bit serious!  And he wants to come to the UK!  Well, probably not foreal but he at least pretended!   DREAMS DO COME TRUE. I am so ashamed and disappointed in myself!  But I am SO happy!     + =Twitter relationship I'm freaking out!  I'm sorry I ever doubted you, Tom.  Real sorry.

Pre-England life was good to me.  I miss it! So I shall revisit some bomb.com things that happened before I made my way over here. One. The circus. It is awesome. Somehow three other people wanted to join in on these shenanigans, and I was real happy about that.   Because having four of us there made it was less weird.   I'm pretty sure we were the only people there without children.  Creepers. Before the show they had a ‘meet and greet’ kind of thing where you could hang out with the clowns, watch the elephant paint, and try on costumes.   And we did all of the above.                 This clown was my best friend.   We danced to Lady Gaga together.  Oh. Another bonus.   Clown noses.   Sold.   I’m in. There were some crazy happenings under that big top!   I’m not complaining.   But I am admitting to bein...

I've been making some goals for my time in England. One of them is to go sheep-tipping, then work my way up to cow-tipping. I made a failed attempt this past weekend (there were sheep roaming on a hill right behind where we stayed.  lets just say a couple Chinese girls and i made quite a scene chasing the surprisingly fast sheep) Also, these are really ridiculous pictures of me.  You're welcome.   (Don't mind the hair.  or the face.  or the shoes/dress/coat combo)

This weekend was spent in the middle of nowhere. Seriously.   We slept in a renovated barn.  That had moldy smelling rooms and brown-yet still drinkable-water.  It was next to one other barn.  Next to only hills, sheep, and an occasional stone fence. It was fantastic. There was a 'fancy-dress' party (aka costume party), games, abseiling (aka repelling), a zip-line, and constant party time.  And lots of British English vs. American English.  Its so hard being the minority.  So good so great so lovely.