Addiction

On Main Street in Mesa you can find one of my most favorite stores. I can't remember the name of it, but I could find it for you in an instant. It's a quaint little store with unfinished wood floors and a musty smell. Floor to ceiling shelves line every wall and fill the aisles. Shelves filled with books. Used books. Books that are worn, creased, and sometimes have been written in. Oh how I love used books. I am one of the rare people that prefer a used book to a new book. Take a look at my copy of A Walk To Remember and you will understand what I mean. In fact, take a look at any of my books and you will begin to see my love of having a book look worn and weathered; my love of reading a book over and over, even though I already know how it ends.

I have an addiction. To books. Seriously. I read multiple books at a time. When I am home in Arizona I have a book that I read in different areas of the house. I have a bedroom book, bathroom book, and living room book. See, I have a problem. Even when I am in the thick of a semester with midterms everyday for a week, I still set aside time to read my books. In the past week I have read two books, each over 300 pages. And I havetwo midterms this next week. See where my priorities are? But I just can't help myself. This past week I was thinking to myself that I should have been an English major and gone into publishing or something.

Did you know that in high school I told my dad I wanted to own a book store when I grew up (think of You've Got Mail) and my dad told me to be realistic?

But then I remembered something. I LOVE books. I love reading and getting lost in the story of people who aren't real. I love being able to escape from my world and learn lessons from experiences that I know I will never have. But I hate analyzing books. I hate having to find the deeper meaning in a book (unless it is obvious). I hated English in high school and loved Math. I still love Math. So obviously, Math is the right major for me.And my love of books is simply that. Not a career, just a love. A hobby. An addiction (a healthy one).

This week I ordered 3 books from Barnes & Noble - another favorite store, despite the fact all the books are brand spanking new. I ordered the following books. And I cannot wait for them to arrive. But until they do I am not beginning another book. Rather I am going to focus on homework. Oh who am I kidding, I will do just as much homework as before and find something else to fill my time!

In other news, So You Think You Can Dance started this week! I absolutely love this show! And anyone who has ever watched it with me or talked to me about it can testify that I am addicted to that show. Which is fitting considering the title of this post. With that I will leave you with this video to enjoy. If you are any fan of the show, you will understand why I chose this dance for this post.

Whirlwind

Chris and Jolyn got married this weekend!! It was a crazy day but so much fun! I flew into Phoenix at 8:15 Saturday morning, changed at my aunt and uncle's house, went to the Temple and didn't stop the rest of the day! Between doing hair (I did hair 7 different times that day on 5 different people), taking pictures, and eating we were super busy! Here are some fun pics of the day:

My new cousin Ethan! He is Chris' son and 11 years old. We are so excited to officially have them both in our family!

Kenzie came to the reception! She is in Arizona this term while I am in Utah, and next term we switch spots! We miss each other so much it is kinda crazy - but in 3 weeks we are going skydiving together!

Taya was so cute with the flowers I had to snap a pic!

The beautiful bride and I <3

My wonderful family! I love them so much.

On top of all the wedding stuff this weekend I was able to go work a dance recital for Dance Element. It was at 2:30 on Saturday, so it fit right into the afternoon! I was so excited because this would have been their first ever recital without me since they have been opened! I miss working for this studio and cannot wait to graduate and come home to work year round for them!

I was also able to finish Jane Eyre this weekend! I loved it so much more this second time around! I felt so bad for Jane in some parts of it and in other parts really hated some of the characters. Definitely a good read. I will probably read it again - purely because I want to!

Life Plans

I have been thinking a lot lately. This is something that some people [they know who they are] think I do too much of. And in a sense they are correct. I am a planner. I make lists literally everyday of what I need to do that day. I don't necessarily have to cross everything off my list, but I make the list. Sometimes I make multiple lists in a day. Seriously. I will make one in the morning, accomplish more than I thought I would, and then I make a revised one in the afternoon. I know. I have issues. But anyways that is not the point of this blog post. The point is, life is too unpredictable to have a plan.

Allow me to digress for a moment.

For Christmas I got a book called "BYU Speeches 2009-2010" and it basically consists of all the devotionals/forums/firesides given on BYU campus during the 2009-10 school year. I have slowly been making my way through the book reading a talk at a time. I have marked up the book like crazy underlining things and writing down my own thoughts. One of the talks that I recently read was given by Lynnette B. Erickson who is a BYU associate professor of teacher education. In this talk she said, "In our race to the finish line, we need to anticipate and be ready for unexpected events that may hamper us on our course and detour us from our goal."

Now back to my personal thoughts.

Up until a little while ago I had had a plan. A plan that spanned the next year and half to two years, with a vague idea of the several years to follow that. But then some things happened and as someone oh so kindly put it, I had the mother of all wrenches thrown into my engine of life. Now my plan is to graduate next April. And that's all I've got. I don't know what will happen after that. I don't know if I will go teach school down in Arizona, go teach somewhere else, get a job other than teaching, serve a mission, or none of the above. Who knows! I sure don't. But He does. By relying on Him, trusting in Him, and living righteously, I will come to know the plan for me.

So I don't have a plan right now. That's okay. I will just keep moving forward. I may be blind at times, but I know that eventually it will all work out the way it is supposed to.

Many important things will occur in our lives that we have not planned, and not all of them will be welcome...Even our most righteous desires may elude us, or come in different ways or at different times than we have sought to plan. [Elder Dallin H. Oaks]

The lesson here is to keep going, keep building the kingdom, keep improving yourself, stay worthy of His blessings and His love, and stay on course! [Sister Erickson]