Fashion Tip

When you're dressed the same as a two-year-old, you know you look good.

He totally pulls off the untied-shoe look :) For the record, I'm pretty sure I got dressed first that day. Actually that's not true at all.

Going with the Flow

I'm heading back up to school next week! It's definitely giving me some mixed feelings (what doesn't?), and causing some definite reflection on the year so far. I'm tired, broke, and completely happy. This year widened my concept of the word home and put new places permanently in my heart. And I can't think of any of them without remembering the beautiful rivers I spent so much time around.

The first time I saw the River Thames I had to fight an urge to plug my nose. Then I stopped fighting, and did. It's a little bit nasty, there's no denying it. I stood on the bridge under the shadow of Big Ben, surrounded by tourists and excitement, and looked down at the murky flowing water. An abandoned Christmas tree floated under me. I tried to think of a word for the color of that river the whole time I was there, but I decided it's an endearing shade of whatever. Nothing makes me miss London more than when I remember how beautiful it looks during a late night walk, with Big Ben, Parliament, and the Eye all reflecting in it. I hope I see it again someday!I had a short, but sweet, relationship with the River Seine. Paris was exhausting and wonderful, and every night we crossed one of the 37 bridges over this river and sat under the Eiffel Tower with a crepe. I loved watching the groups that were there for the first time each night, and listening to their screams of delight when they caught their first glimpse of the tower. It was especially fun if I didn't even know what language they were speaking because I still knew exactly what they must be saying. My favorite kind of excitement is experiencing something new, and this river will always remind me of that feeling.

The Tiber River in Rome is a definite comfort, it was about the only thing I could count on recognizing on a map of the city :) Rivers are always more dependable than roads -- they can't suddenly change on you, they keep the same name the whole time, and you don't have to worry about looking both ways when you cross.


This was a river I've been waiting to see my whole life. The Potomac River was so much fun to see; maybe it was because I'm obsessed with history, or maybe it was just fun to finally see something beautiful with my parents and my sister :) We'll go with both. Once we all stopped arguing about how to say the name of it the right way it was a lot more fun to admire. Washington D.C. had the friendliest people, I just loved it there.

Oh Boston. The Charles River is always going to have a special place in my heart. I crossed it every Sunday to get to church, every day to go nanny...sat beside it on the 4th of July and watched reflected fireworks...even accidentally saw way too many skinny-dipping college boys in it once. Gross. There are always sailboats, kayaks, canoes, just so much going on up and down this river. It may be a little toxic and nasty (didn't stop Ali from swimming in it last week, still waiting to see if she has any side effects from that experience), but I just love this river. I'm pretty sure I'll see Charles again, and what a wonderful day that will be!

And finally...the Provo River. Bless its heart. It really is good to be back in Utah, even if I can't breathe when I run or figure out why the roads are a million times wider than I remember. But it's good to be home! Utah has my family, mountains, and stars...man I missed those things! So now it's back to BYU :) Third time's a charm, right?

C-Town

I'm in love with this place...and super excited to be here a little while before school starts! I'll post more soon, but after just 2 short days in Cedar I'm taking off to Delta with my mom. Yay cows! And cousins. And I'm sure my grandma will say many quotable things in the next 2 days.

Little State

Last weekend in New England! We went to Waterfire in Rhode Island. Lots of music, fried dough, people, and fire. On water.

Lots of fires line the river in Providence and people walk from food booths to concerts, and watch performers and PDA. This is where we listened to some delightful jazz music.

I'm gonna miss being able to change states in extremely small amounts of time! But I'm not going to blame the West for large state sizes, it's nobody's fault. Well I guess someone somewhere decided it...but it's in the past.

Another Day, Another Dollar

My Hebrew Rehab friends! I worked here with Ali for a month as a Recreation Assistant. I went to a few different floors doing activities with the residents every day, and spent some time on Ali's floor as well. Ali has loved her job for over a year now, it was great to be able to work with her and get to know all of her cute residents.

Ruth is a genius, we tell her all about everything. She's just like a grandma :) I'm going to miss my talks with her!

Margie is my cute boxing friend from Brooklyn. She swipes her nose and puts up her fists and thinks everyone is a doll.

The Lillians! Above and below. Love them both. Ali seems to always put them next to each other during groups, so then both of them answer when you try to talk to one. It can make for some pretty funny situations if you don't realize it's happening.

Julia is so adorably confused. She has a classic one-eyed squint, I love it. If you start her off with "My Country tis of Thee..." she'll take off and fill in words of her own. It's different every time, never gets old, hehe.

Christos! My greek friend. He has one of the best chuckles I've ever heard.

Celia. She has the best dramatic attitude, it was fun to argue with her about young girls travelling.

I always had fun talking to Edna -- she ends most of her sentences with "doo-da-lee-doo-da-lee-doo" and I'm not really sure why haha.

These ladies are the bingo and poker champions of the whole place, Fran and Florence.

Janice is so sweet. And we share a deep love for ice cream :)

Sue is one of my favorite people I've ever met. She can barely see or hear, so you have to put headphones on her and talk in a little microphone. It makes her jump every time you say your first word into it, so cute. I'm determined to be like her when I'm older, she has the best attitude.

The ladies on the third floor! I did most of my activities with them, they're great. Eva is next to Sue, she's 108. She's super stubborn, it's hilarious.

Sisters! Two pairs. Little ones on the left, older sisters on the right. Reva is on Ali's floor, and Ida is a couple floors up. It could possibly be our future :)

Oh Freda... she's very expressive. She gets mad at the other residents if they don't dance at the weekly concerts or show their emotion haha.

I'm gonna miss them all! It was so fun, and I loved working with my sister.

#24 and counting...

Summer is winding down! So I'm finishing off the checklist. Maine was the last state I needed to go to in this corner of the country, so Ali and I took a little road trip on Saturday.

"Maine: The Way Life Should Be"
Cute little slogan.

We saw boats! But no lighthouses. We saw lots of fresh lobster places! But didn't eat any. (It's gross, don't judge me.) And Alison thought a dog was cute for the first time in her life, that was a lot more exciting to me than it probably is for you. So that's that!
I'm open to suggestions about where to go next :)

This is my last week of doing Recreation Therapy at Hebrew Rehab with Ali, I'm so sad! The residents are my favorite people ever. I'll post about them soon, they always keep me laughing.