BLOGGER TEMPLATES AND TWITTER BACKGROUNDS

18 July 2012

paper pushers

I cannot focus on writing a paper without a good playlist.
Maybe you can use this playlist for a more summer-y/fun activity.

1. "Sleeping at Last" by Turning Page
2. "Neighbors" by Theophilus London (I mean, what a name!)
3. "Like a Drug" by Hard-Fi
4. "From Now On" by The Features
5. "Cider Sky" by Northern Lights
6. "Cold" by Aqualung and Lucy Schwartz
Michelle! Enough with the Breaking Dawn Soundtrack already!
Fine.
7. "To Darkness" by Mumford and Sons

What do you think about "Both of Us" by B.o.B. ft. T-Swift?  I think I like it.

Peace and blessings, y'all.

05 July 2012

4th of July Holiday according to the pictures I took.

Overnight French Toast Casserole w/ creme cheese (click for recipe: it's not the one I found online and used, but I think this other one will be more flavorful, from my experience)

I have never seen anything like this aside from tent protests in bigger cities.  Provo each year camps out the night before the 4th along University Ave.  I mean EVERYONE does this. Families with children, single college kids, high schoolers. It's so they can have good seats for the parade.  I live on University Ave and this is the view outside our window from the morning of the 4th.  We didn't camp out (well, we moved our mattresses to the living room away from the street so we could get some sleep), but we walked out and had a perfectly fine view in the morning.  I don't really understand it, I mean, I did it last year for kicks and had a miserable time getting 2 hours of sleep on the ground like a homeless person, but it's part of the culture.  Like a big community sleepover.

Stephanie Nielson was the Grand Marshal of the parade along w/ her cute family.  She's our local celeb due to her blog and her book (I follow the blog and have read the book, so it was fun to see her in person!).

Tasha-Kimberly-Hilary-Me-Meagan @ dinner @ Deidre's place before fireworks time

fireworks from Stadium of Fire that we watched from by the baseball fields

Annnd you should go see "The Amazing Spider-Man"!!! I loved it!

Happy 5th of July!

being grateful

One of my biggest pet peeves of people is when they think they are entitled to have/be something or when people are ungrateful.  What happened to "thank you?"
Off of that soap box and on to another.
I am so grateful for being born in America.  I'm grateful that I am a woman living in America.  And I hope that you are, too (man or woman), and here is why.  I am currently in a women's culture course for my English capstone and I am loving what insights I've gained.  I have known about the troubles in other countries or cultures, but I haven't read much from a personal point of view.  Right now we are reading Reading Lolita In Tehran, which is about a woman professor who taught at the University there in Tehran.  She relates her life during the Revolution from her perspective as a woman, professor, and lover of literature.  It is written looking back on the times that she spent with a group of women she hand selected from her past courses to participate in a sort of book club where they read and discuss literature that has been banned from their country.  Like Lolita and The Great Gatsby.  It makes me furious and heartbroken at the same time to realize what these women have to go through.  Head coverings used to be worn by choice and religious fervor.  Now they have to wear them because hair is too sensual.  They can't wear pink socks because it is too sensual.  Nail polish. Make-up. Women are beaten, jailed, and killed for participating in these so-called "sexual" practices.
That's not the worst of it.  I am grateful for being a woman in America because I am (almost!) a college-educated woman who wasn't married off when she was 15.  Women were kicked out of professional positions and political offices during this tumultuous time and behind locked doors just because they were women.
I'm so grateful for the men and women who put their lives on the line so that I can have these freedoms and live comfortably in a country that promotes these freedoms.  We owe our lives to them, but they don't want anything in return but knowing that their work is appreciated.
Thank you! God bless you!


Happy Independence Day!