I hope you don't mind

"My gift is my song
And this one's for you
And you can tell everybody
That this is your song
It maybe quite simple
But now that it's done
Hope you don't mind
I hope you don't mind
That I put down in words
How wonderful life is now you're in the world

Sat on the roof
And I kicked off the moss
Well some of the verses well
They got me quite cross
But the sun's been kind
While I wrote this song
It's for people like you that
Keep it turned on

So excuse me for forgetting
But these things I do
You see I've forgotten
If they're green or they're blue
Anyway the thing is well I really mean
Yours are the sweetest eyes I've ever seen

And you can tell everybody
This is your song
It may be quite simple
But now that it's done
I hope you don't mind
I hope you don't mind that I put down in words

How wonderful life is now you're in the world
I hope you don't mind
I hope you don't mind that I put down in words
How wonderful life is now you're in the world"
- Bernie Taupin

Pretty happy

Yes, I am pretty happy. It hit me today as I was making dinner. This is the life. I was watching a program on tv just now and I realized that my life isn't nearly as complicated or awful as it could be and even though I don't have everything figured out, at least I'm doing pretty well. I don't have a house full of jealous girls talking about me behind my back (at least none that I'm aware of), I wasn't beat up and/or killed by an Irish mafia-man (I didn't even know such a thing existed, I guess you learn something everyday. Thanks Castle!), and I am happy being me. What more can I say? Well, I can tell you that this time yesterday, I was not happy just being me. I had to go back to the gulag and get back into the joy of school (which is nothing like the joy of cooking, or any other joy of books or websites (check out joyofsocks.com for one of my favorite joy of sites)). Not fun. But now it doesn't seem too bad.

So, part of my happiness comes from the fact that the exterminator came this morning and fogged my apartment, so even though there's a little bit of a strange smell and I may die from the fumes (hopefully not, I aired out the apartment for a good hour or two) I am happy to know that there are no living bugs in my apartment. There weren't any before, but now we know for sure. So that made for a very busy MLK day. We boxed up all the dishes and all the food and took everything off the floor so the pest guy (turned out to be a nice guy in the end) could do his thing. Then we left for a few hours and I practiced the flauta (whom I love, yes, the flauta has a distinct personality and so can be referred to as a whom). Then we came back and cleaned all the surfaces in the kitchen and bathroom and unpacked everything (almost everything, you can't just fling things around you know). And then grocery shopping to restock the fridge. So, now I have food and snacks and am ready for school to start. And now it doesn't even seem like a gulag (more like a semi-self-inflicted purdah, but that's another story). Anyway, life is good and for the moment I am happy to be here in this moment.

Happy Blogging!

I'm getting a little light headed, so maybe I didn't do such a good job airing out the apartment. The fans are back on and the doors open, so hope it works out. It's a little chilly, but not too bad. Crisp and refreshing!

Jealous Much?

Okay, so I was chatting on-line with my lil' sis and after telling me about Waffle Wednesdays in her ward she asked, "Jealous much?" Now, I've heard this many times before, but I swear I heard it on a movie or tv show recently (like a rerun or whatnot) and I just can't place it. I want to say Friends, but I'm not sure. If I'm remembering correctly, then the insert many different words in place of jealous. Oh my gosh! Okay, I just remembered. It was on the King of Queens. I watch it sometimes when I eat dinner and the character Doug was talking to his wife and being really annoying. It was pretty funny. Okay, well I feel better. Anyway, let me know times you've heard/said "Jealous much?" that were especially funny/interesting!

Have a good one!

I suppose apologies are in order

I would like to apologize for offending anyone with my "boring blogs" comments. My friend Meleece makes a very good point, as she often does. I am dreadfully like other people. Which is a good thing, because that means there are people who are dreadfully like me! I don't mean to be egotistical, or maybe I do, but it seems that we are all more alike then we think sometimes. That being said, I have some boring news for those select few of you who read my blog.

First off, I'm impressed that at least four people read my last post because four people commented on it. Also, what I said obviously hit a nerve because I had more responses than normal to a post. Furthermore, since you are most likely reading this (how else would you know I'm writing something unless you came to the sight and are reading it?) you will have noticed my new features including hangman and calvin and hobbes. These are for your site-visiting amusement, in case the posts themselves are lacking (undoubtedly they will be/are).

I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed Meleece and Jake's playlist on their blog. Please give me a comment that shares your playlist knowledge! I think I listened to "Into the West"? from Lord of the Rings 15 times while writing my paper the other day. Awesome song.

So to spice things up a little bit tonight/day I'll try adding some photos. These will most likely be a potpuri sampling of photos from different occasions throughout my photographic history. Enjoy!

Oops! Technical difficulties prohibit me from posting pictures at this time. Please check back at a later time, as I'm sure you undoubtedly will. Peace out!

Suddenly I see this is what I want to be.

So I should be working on my paper for my Creative Writing class. Well, I should be asleep. I'm waiting for my laundry to finish drying (I hate wrinkled clothes because you left them in the drier all night). I was checking out the blogs of the people I know. It's funny how interesting we all think our lives are. They're really not. I mean they seem that way to us, but we're living it. When we start to tell someone else about it, it just gets boring.

It's kind of hypocritical, then, that I would be posting more to my blog. Yeah, perhaps. But I think that my life really is just that much more interesting than yours. Just kidding. No, I'm completely bored.

So I had an epiphany that's been years in the making this last week. I played in a master class on Friday by one of my teacher's classmates from Juilliard, Amy Porter. She is an incredible player and teacher. She had some really good comments and suggestions for me. The stuff she said is similar to what my teacher has been telling me for the last week or so, but it finally clicked. Then in my lesson today, I finally got what she's been trying to get me to do since I started here. Perhaps what Dr. C-money was trying to get me to do all through my undergrad too! It was amazing! I sounded awesome!

Later tonight I practiced again and tried to recreate the phenomena to great success. Suddenly its like, "Wow, I can play the flute. This is what its supposed to sound like!"

I guess that's not that interesting, but I was really excited. So I'm getting ready for my recital in November and things are going quite well.

There's nothing more to report, I guess. My whole life for the past few weeks has been the flute, and flute events, and flute studio outings (to a D-backs game, which we won, which was AWESOME!).

I've also been writing some short stories for my creative writing class. Some of them are pretty good, I think (my teacher says so too), but I think I will keep those embarrassing exercises to myself for now. All I can say is that taking that class has been a great release from music and an incredibly entertaining and educational experience in completely unpredictable ways.

Well, that's it for now. No cool pictures, funny stories, or witty anecdotes. You'll have to come back again later.

I was just reading my sister's blog, which if you haven't read it yet, is fascinating stuff. It made me think about all the inspiring things I experience and neglect to blog. So in place of something perhaps more inspiring, I will cop out and follow my sister's example.

My favorite things:
-Victoria Secret Scents
-yummy foods
-travel
-taking pictures
-airports
-Airline magazines (surprisingly fascinating in so many ways! I recently read the most interesting article about where to find the best pistachios when visiting Athens!)
-songs on the radio
-John Jay and Rich on the way to school
-sleeping in surrounded in warm, snuggely blankets and pillows (Mmmm)
-Everyday Foods magazine
-Funny (or at least somewhat funny) jokes (ie: "Why did you leave your last job?" "It was something my boss said." "What did he say?" "You're fired!" or "I went to the 30th reunion ofmy preschool. I didn't want to go, because I've put on, like, a hundred pounds.")
-hearing my mom quote the office

My not so favorite things:
-being woken up at 5-ish by the planes flying over my house (I live 15 min. from the airport).
-creepy roommates (not that I have any creepy ones now, nor have had any creepy ones in the past per se, but I'm just saying)
-soreness without a good reason (ie: having worked out)
-the sun in my eyes when I'm driving

Well, nothing too inspiring here, but it's just a glimpse into the world of me, which is the whole point!

Peace out!

Christmas Break!

So in this picture we can see that LeeAnne was excited to go on the U-haul-iday. We can see that in the smirk that is almost imperceptible on her left side. Wait! . . . no . . . that's only her nerve damage.













LeeAnne as the Winged Victory in Vegas.













This is one of the only pictures I have in my new home town. This is the Super Walmart that's just a few blocks north of my house. I love it!Yeah, that's kind of sad, but it's life.
















This is a picture of an art piece at the Pompidou Museum in Paris. Actually, it's not, but it could be. Actually, we bought some self-constructed furniture for my room and LeeAnne was incharge of separating the screws etc. This was the result. Very artistic, though, I think.













This is us on our way to Becki's wedding. It was beautiful. She grew up so fast!

Anyway, that's about all for now. Hope everyone is happy and healthy and . . . yeah. Peace out!!!