December from Miranda

Here was my December according to Miranda (my iPhone...all of my electronics have M names).

my family likes food

I was rear-ended and Liesel was totaled...RIP my first car :(

Allie came into town so, we hit up the Portland scene=Voodoo and Powell's

Allie's cute picture that I snagged.

double rainbow action on the 205!

YSA stuff and Christmas parties

Sam's violin concert

skiing at Mt. Hood Meadows with Tommy Allen

fancy Christmas nails with momma

and, of course, getting ready and packing for DC (THIS THURSDAY!!)

Now we are off to the beach house for New Year's Eve/Day. 

Christmas!

Does anyone else get a little bit depressed the day(s) following Christmas? Cuz I sure do.
I hope that New Year's will be a good enough pick-me-up for ya!

Christmas Eve/Sunday before we have a tradition of putting up a stocking for Jesus--since, you know, it IS His holiday.  We put pieces of paper inside with our names and what we want to give to Jesus that year, i.e. "I want to be nicer to my siblings," etc.  We usually watch a Christmas movie like "Elf" or "Grinch."  Buuutt this year we ended up watching a scary movie, which was different haha.
Christmas morning, we did the usual: stockings, breakfast, presents.  I dropped by my nanny house for an open house lunch.  Those boys are so cute!
But the most bestest part of Christmas this year was talking to Elder Ericksen for two and a half hours.  I can tell he has already matured and is learning valuable lifelong lessons.

I hope your Christmas was great!

I Found Christmas

I am constantly in shock with the reception of my poetry.  I'm not trying to toot my own horn here.  I do it mostly as a joke or as a filler for something, yet people end up liking my stuff! I think I will keep posting things, if you guys will let me!
Like today.  I gave a talk in my ward about Christmas and I was supposed to talk about my feelings of Christmas and Christ.  I had a section written out, but it was under time, so I decided to look for a story or poem to throw in there about Christmas just for fun.  But I couldn't find anything good, so at 11:30 on a Thursday night, I whipped out a poem about Christmas to fill space.
After I gave the talk today, people didn't come up and say that they were impressed with my tie-ins of Christmas with lots of good scriptures from Isaiah and the Book of Mormon, which I had really thought out this week.  Instead, they were like, "Hey! I liked your poem a lot! I want a copy!"  What? Thanks? What?
So here is my filler Christmas poem. Enjoy!

Where Is Christmas?
By Michelle Ericksen

Where is Christmas?

It is December’s holiday,

Some Christians may say.

But others may complain

And forget about the name

Of the man who is Emmanuel

Because correctness is political.

Where is Christmas?

It is lost in the all stuff,

And in St. Nick’s bearded fluff,

The songs about the reindeer,

And whose heart goes to whom this year

I found Christmas.

In the Salvation Army ringers,

And the door-to-door singers,

The increase in happy greetings,

And the big family meetings.

I found Christmas.

In the words of a devotional.

In the love so emotional.

Surrounded by more charity

And reflective new year clarity.

They found Christmas.

In the sky late at night,

‘Neathe the star shining bright,

With the sheep grazing near

Under the angels they do hear.

They found Christmas.

In the arms of Mary

In a place contrary

To the birthplace of a King,

Of whom the angels sing.

There is Christmas.

two holidays and a vacation

Sorry about the hiatus, guys--it's actually been productively busy! I'm zeroing in on my new apartment in DC and I have some leads for jobs there, too.  All I can say is that God knows me better than I do and He is patient enough to wait for me to get my act together.  Things have just been falling into place TOO well for it to be coincidence, you know?  I'm starting to get more and more excited now that things are becoming more real.  Especially since someone who also interned in DC recently pointed out that there is a good chance I'm going to be working in The Castle!

Is this real life?

As for the updates, let me jump back to, erm, Halloween. I had carved pumpkins at FHE and with my sister and on the day itself I was a vampiress and made about 100 cupcakes.  That's just about it.  Oh, and my family kept up the tradition of watching a bunch of scary movies the whole month and decorating the house super spooky.  A little neighbor girl came up to my mom one day and said, "I like your grapeyard."

the pumpkin that the Bigelow sisters mostly carved while I cheered them on.

my zombie pumpkin

mummies--my first time attempting pumpkin cupcakes

the graveyard--chocolate cupcakes with dark chocolate frosting

Then this one came into town, so we ate Mashitas, went shopping, and watched Breaking Dawn, Part 2.

my fortune at the mall: "Joy will come with the return of a good friend." awwww.

"the flash is too bright!" and so was vampire Bella.

For Thanksgiving, my family actually went out to California the week before Thanksgiving since my dad and I had to work on Thanksgiving.  Saturday, the first order of business off of the plane was going to In-N-Out.  That night, we ordered pizza and watched the BYU game.  

Sunday, the girls went to a baby shower for a family friend.  Then we had Thanksgiving dinner with the whole family and also Anna Peterson.  Yayyy Anna Petersonnn!!! I ended up driving back to Anna's in Santa Monica so we could have a girls' night and party.  Whenever a friend comes into town, her employer is always like "go out clubbin" or "go have some fun on the town" and we are always like "ok" then we run back to Anna's and get into sweats and watch Vampire Diaries.  That's why I love that girl!  

Monday, the brave ones went to Universal Studios.  I was excited about the rides but not excited about the Jurassic Park ride.  But, you have to admit, I'm brave because at least I face my fears and go on the Jurassic Park ride, every time we go, anyways.  This time, I was feeling more confident because, well, I'm not 12, and also because I knew what was coming so I could close my eyes if needed (I'm not 12...).  But then they changed the ride. So I DIDN'T know what was coming and I was 12, again.  I hate Jurassic Park.

We got to go on the new 3D Transformers Ride, which was epic and I hadn't been on the Mummy ride, either, which was epic.  And I survived Jaws and King Kong on the studio tour. So, all in all, a pretty awesome day.  That night we watched "The Birds" in honor of the references to Hitchcock's movies during the day (we also survived Norman Bates on the studio tour).

Tuesday, we ate breakfast at my most favorite place on earth, the Egg Plantation.  Seriously, you haven't lived until you have tried their strawberry stuffed french toast.  I crave that stuff every day. Then, some of us went shooting.  That made me feel pretty BA.  Wish I had taken pictures.  That afternoon, the ladies had high tea at The Tea Gardens, which is beginning to become a tradition for us.  My grandma is British and she still drinks tea religiously every afternoon, so we decided to make it an outing for the girls.  

herbal raspberry tea for me, please!

our individual teapots.

Thanksgiving Day, we were back in Oregon hiking and eating.

The day after Thanksgiving, I co-hosted Annie's baby shower.  It is so crazy that she is due this month! BABIES.  

Lindsay---Annie and baby girl Kunz---me

I made that.

Besides that, I have been hanging out a lot with these people:

And babysitting a lot of little people.

Christmas Time is Here

And here is how I know:

SPIKE
SNL Christmas Song
www.spike.com
Spike Full Episodes Spike Video Clips Spike on Facebook

And here:


And my personal favorite of all time:

on to the next adventure

"Life is either a great adventure, or nothing." -Helen Keller

I get restless.  Some might say (like my mom) that it is boredom, but it's more than that.  It is me being the type of person who is always ahead of my own life.  I have a hard time living in the moment and so I am always looking for what's next, which is usually laid out for me.  That's what I had the hardest time with when I graduated.  I was stepping into the darkness and looking ahead into a grey blur.  No plans.  Plenty of opportunity, but what to do?

Graduate school? A logical idea and one that I was planning on.
Marriage? Well...need a certain ingredient in that recipe.
Work? That would improve my savings account!  

...Internship? Is it paid?

No, but I'm going anyways!  I found out last week that I was accepted into the marketing internship at the Smithsonian Association in Washington D.C.!!!! Exclamation point!!!  I honestly applied with no expectations of even getting an interview.  But I did and now I'm moving to DC in January!  


It turns out I do get another adventure.  God is good and knows me well.


And speaking of DC, good luck to Mr. Romney this week! I hope that we become neighbors!  #romneyryan2012 

I'm real excited to eat at Nando's, like, every week.

music music muuu-SIC!

Good thing I found this music because I was getting bored of my current music situation!

1. "I Can Only Imagine," David Guetta (ft. Lil Wayne and Chris Brown)

This is my jam right now.  We do it in Zumba and I just rock out.  Chris Breezy is my go-to for dancing.  Just ask Anna. Also, why does all of the credit go to David Guetta on these songs?

2. Taylor Swift came out with her new album, "Red."  Still working my way through it, but I hear it's good! It has even converted a few people.  I like "Begin Again" partially because she filmed it in Paris!! And the boy is so cute!! And I love her clothes!! Love. Love. Love.

3. "Ghosts That We Knew" and "I Will Wait," Mumford and Sons

People have been raving about their new "Babel" album.  I sometimes have a hard time swallowing some of their stuff, but I like these songs.

4. "Runaways," The Killers.

Long-time lover of these guys. "Battle Born" came out last month, so check it out!

5. "Hurt Me Tomorrow," K'naan

This has been out for awhile, but it's cute.


6. "Hall of Fame," The Script ft. will.i.am

7. "Stay Awake," Example

Anna showed me this song after she heard it during her Europe trip.

That should keep us busy, right?
Happy October, everyone!

you make me feel like I'm living a teenage dream

My family has a crawl space storage underneath the house.  The summer before the fall when I left for college, my parents reminded me that my brother was in need of my room when I moved out, so I had to not only pack for school, but pack up my entire room.  I was OK with that because I was ready to move out and move on.  My crap is now in that crawl space under the house.  Now that I have myself and my things all in one place, I decided to organize my things yesterday.  WOW what a walk down memory lane!!!! T-shirts from girls' camps, knick knacks from grandma throughout the years, books.  I found my tassel from when I graduated high school and my senior year yearbook.  And ooohhh the pictures. Pictures, pictures, pictures.  But one thing that made me laugh out loud was finding my old CDs and one CD in particular.

Let's go back to the seventeen-year-old Michelle.  Involved heavily with the music department at Tualatin High School: the pit in a musical, top instrumental ensemble of the school, Encore outside of school, piano competitions, etc etc.  In wind ensemble and we were performing a piece where, instead of my usual spot in the front with the flutes, I got to sit at the piano near the trombones in the back.  I liked this set-up because I got to flirt with the boy who played stand-up bass, who also sat near the back with the trombones.  I thought he was the cutest boy in the band and, therefore, I didn't have a chance.  Or so I thought.  I found out later that he would move the piano closer to him before class started so that we could talk during rehearsal.
A few months and a band trip later, I was convinced he was in to me, too.  But he was moving SOOO SLOWLYYY and I was getting to the point where I was like, ok dude let's do this thing.  We had gone out for the first time a few months earlier after we discovered that we both were craving ice cream at the exact moment while we were chatting on MySpace (may it RIP...).  Since our ice cream trip, we had established a tradition of watching "The Office" each week.
One week, he turned the TV off at the end of an episode and turned to face me on the couch.  That night, I (finally) had my first kiss and left my first boyfriend's house.  I was smitten and boyyy did he make me feel soooo good.  Nearly every time I saw him, he would call me beautiful or cute.  I would sometimes catch him looking at me and he would say something like: "Sorry, I just really like you."  I mean, easy on the cheese, nacho man!  But I loved it and I loved him.
To top it off, he was in a band.  Seriously, every girl's dream.  To this day, I really think he's a great musician--that's my unbiased opinion.  I was his little local band "groupie."  I went to all of his shows and hung out with the bands afterwards at Shari's.  He would introduce me to the other cool musicians as his girlfriend and would not be ashamed to kiss me in front of them.  After school, I would go to his house and he would sing to me and we would play guitar hero.  His band, Finding Lenny, never took off after high school (or so I think), but they saved up and carved out a record.  I still remember the day he showed me the album for the first time and he said, "Read the 'thank yous' section."  It reads: "I thank...Mom, Dad, and Rachel for their love and support, my girlfriend Michelle, our families, Jon Foreman, and Matthew Thiessen."  Guys, I beat Jon Foreman and Matthew Thiessen and that's a big deal in our music world!!!
Smitten.
This brings me back to my day in the crawl space.  I laughed when I re-discovered my eclectic taste in music, particularly in high school.  I also laughed with glee because I found my copy of "Nursery Rhymes for Modern Times," by Finding Lenny.  As I re-uploaded the CD (I deleted the CD soon after this relationship ended because my dramatic teenaged self was too torn up to just hear his voice!), I remembered the times at Shari's, the weekends when I would wait until the last possible moment to leave his house before I was too late for curfew, the lunch dates.
You were my teenage dream.

los angeles

As I said earlier, I was a sub-nanny in LA for my awesome friend Anna while she celebrated her birthday in Europe.

view from street, south side

if it was dark, you could see everything all lit up

different day, view from street, north side

The first week, I took a little trip to the Getty Museum in Malibu.

inside courtyard

If I had one color to describe this trip, it would be blue.

Then, a trip to Santa Clarita.

Then, a trip to San Luis Obispo, with the nanny family.  The kids didn't have school on Monday and so their mom decided that she wanted to take a short trip up north to check our this little town.  We stayed in this hotel called Madonna Inn.  It is the love child of an architect who married an interior designer whose favorite color must have been pink.  EVERYTHING was pink: the walls, the soap, the key cards, etc etc.  And each room had a theme of some sort, like a safari room where everything was animal prints.  We stayed in a Sir/Knight room.

So it has a feel of an olde English home.

We ate at the restaurant that night and it was a yummy steak house with an explosion of pink.

huge pink flowers and cupids

the kids goofin in the huge pink cushioned chairs

surrounded by pink pink pink

The next day, we swam in the pool and then explored SLO.  It's a cute little college town that also caters to the tourism.  It has a gum wall alleyway like the one in Seattle.

me and the kids

It was a cute town and it made me miss my undergrad days.

Anna came home Tuesday night and we played when we didn't have the kids.

Wednesday, we went to Century Mall on Santa Monica to see "10 Years" and then talked about what it would be like at our 10 year high school reunion over Pinkberry.  

Here's what we were trying to figure out:

1. Who would be the one who was popular/a party-er in high school, but then went on to be a nobody?

2. Who would marry their high school sweetheart?

3. If you had the chance to "hook-up" with any guy from high school, who would you pick at the ten year reunion?

4. Who was the "one that got away," or the friend from high school you'd like to connect with?

Anna and I graduated from the same high school and same graduating class, so it was fun trying to remember the people we went to high school with and stories from those days.  I can't believe our reunion will only be in 5.5 years.

Thursday was the dad's birthday, so I made a cake and Anna made dinner.  

that kid just cracks me up.

Thursday night, Anna and I people-watched on 3rd Street Promenade and then saw "Premium Rush" (we like to watch movies...).  And then I wanted to pick up and move to New York.

Friday, we hit up the beach (which, if you couldn't tell, was a 5 second drive away from their house).  The water was awesome, even though I was afraid of getting eaten by a shark and we enjoyed ourselves even though Anna was afraid of all of the pigeons.  

I love the beach mostly because I love being warm. And so this day was perfect :)

you can see LA/Santa Monica in the distance

I was so so so so so sad to go and I can't wait to go visit Anna, again!!! 

that one time I graduated college

It's been awhile, but I'm a college grad! 'sup!
My family got into town Thursday afternoon and we ate at Which Wich, which is a sandwich place by the University Mall where you can choose from many different types of 'wiches!  It's yummy!  My sister and I also staked out the competition at Sweet Tooth Fairy (it's a tough place to beat...).
That afternoon, I had Commencement, so I waited in the hot sunshine to go inside, fidgeting with my stupid collar and worried that all of the water I was drinking would make me need to pee in the middle of the ceremony.  Our speaker was David Beck, a leader in the LDS Church.

Me ~ Mars (aka Margaret from my study abroad program) ~ Jenny

That night was my official graduation celebration dinner with the fam at Texas Roadhouse.  My family is so thoughtful and I'm so glad that they were able to come out to support me and celebrate with me!
Then, of course, we watched the Olympics.
Friday, we got up early to hike the Y.  Conquered that mountain.  Then we did the BYU thing: visiting the bookstore, eating at the Cougareat, etc.

That afternoon was my Convocation and I got to be a part of the ceremony as the musical number, so that was a great time!  I went early for sound checks and, while I was goofing with the tech guys, they showed me how the grand Steinway in the Marriott Center is signed on the inside board by John Steinway, himself! And a bunch of other legit pianists.

Here is a sample of the piece Justin and I played for our Convocation.

my comp's being funky, so I'll upload the full video soon.

Also because I was performing, I got to sit onstage, which was pretty cool.  

(third from bottom=that's me!!)

My parents treated me and my roommates to Bombay House that night. Yum!

My roommates then gave me a 224 send-off of a lifetime.  I miss those girls :(

Saturday, I drove from Provo, UT to Portland, OR with my dad. I didn't think it would be so hard to leave Provo, but that's because I was leaving my life for the past 4 years.  That mainly means leaving those great people I got to enjoy my time with during my stay in Utah.  I hope to see you guys soon and that we can stay in touch :)

YAY GRADUATIONNN!