F.Y.E.

1. Name three types of people who should qualify for forced labor camps.

What kind of question is that?? I'm just gonna go with anyone who, if not in a forced labor camp, would be going on mass murdering sprees.

2. What was the last thing you ate?

Carrot soup and rolls made by my amazing Grandma. It was delicious. She's here taking care of the house now and I'm kinda sad that I don't have housework as an excuse for not doing homework anymore.

3. What’s a goal you have?

To get accepted to grad school at BYU. Cross your fingers...

4. What do you think of entertainment awards shows?

Um. I'm not sure what they are.

5. How do you want to die?

I'm kinda hoping to just be alive when the 2nd Coming comes so I can kinda just be sucked into the sky. Otherwise...I'd like to go while heroically saving someone else.

6. What is your favorite vacation/get-away spot? Where will you be traveling next?

I love love Hawaii. Otherwise I also love Waterton, Alberta. I have no exciting travel plans. If any come up, I'll let you know.

7. How do you pronounce “gyro?”

Hero?

8. What have you found entertaining lately?

Oh man. Jaime and I found this photo thing, it's hard to explain, but it scrolls through the photos really fast and feels like a rollercoaster. We just kept scrolling back and forth and making roller coaster noises until we realized how idiotic we were being and stopped and just laughed.

9. Do you follow any blogs of nondescript people who you don't know? Why do you follow those blogs?

Oh man. So many. Mostly I follow them because I think they're inspiring, or fun to read, or I want to be like the people who write them.

10. What would you use a time machine for?

To work harder in high school to get a scholarship for college. I'm so broke right now. Also to make more friends. I was way too shy back then.

11. What are your favorite restaurants?

Hmm. Ruth's Chris, Olive Garden, Chili's...

12. What actors should be barred from acting?

Bad ones. There are people who just make you cringe and ruin movies. I can't think of any of their names right now.

13. What’s the last book you read?

Probably "What the Dog Saw"by Malcolm Gladwell. I love love love his books, I was so excited when I saw this new one at Costco. I promptly snuck it into the cart.

14. What’s the last movie you enjoyed?

I had a movie marathon on Saturday while I was folding laundry. One of the ones I watched was Amazing Grace. I LOVE that movie. It made me cry a little glistening tear.

15. Reveal something that really bothers you.

Judgmental people. And yes, I am one of them. But how dare they judge me?!

16. What will it say on your gravestone?

Here lies Chelsie; Mother, sister, daughter, wife, and friend. She was freaking awesome.

17. Put your iPod on shuffle and list the first three songs that come up, then explain yourself.

Dun dun duuuun. Ok, 1) The Impossible Dream, from Man of La Mancha. That song is just pretty much super amazing. That one and Into the Fire from Scarlet Pimpernel are two of my favorite songs right now. 2) Party in the U.S.A, by Miley Cyrus. I heard this for the first time last monday when I was with Aubrey, and thus by default it's a good song. 3) Nearer My God to Thee, BYU Vocal Point. I love Vocal Point more than words can say. Don't worry, I bought tickets to their concert (Nov. 21st!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) back in August. And this song is just beautiful.

18. What is the biggest mistake you have ever made?

Let's not even go there...

19. What kind of toppings do you generally request for your pizza?

I like 'em big, I like 'em chunky.... Yeah I pretty much love it when they have everything on them. With the exceptions of pineapple, anchovies, and mushrooms.

20. Who/what would you love to have complete control over?
My grades. That would make my life so much easier right now. Ooh, or my income. Even better. I take back the first one.

21. What does your ideal Saturday consist of?

Getting up really early, a temple trip, a bike ride, a good fall thunderstorm, hanging out with all my extended family, laughing til my ribs hurt, eating lots of good food, painting, BYU football (when we win, anyways...) a movie night, no homework, and no guilt about not doing homework. Perfect day.

22. What is one skill you lack completely but wish you could master with the snap of your fingers?
Playing some sweet instrument really well, like the guitar or the saxophone. Or the piano.

23. What's something you live in constant fear of?

Discovering that I've screwed up beyond hope.

24. What was the first album you listened to non-stop, over and over again?

I think it was Newsies...back in high school, that was my pre-swim meet music.

25. Have you ever seen a live, wild rat? How about a dead one?

One time the wood pile on the side of our house was infested with rats, so we had to put poison in there. And one time, dad was trying to kill one of them and he scared it through the open front door. Announcing to my mom and siblings that a rat had just run in, and watching them all simultaneously leap onto the couch? Priceless. Scaring the rat out of the front room curtains with a broom? Mildly terrifying.

26. What thing have you most aggressively promoted?
I'm anti divorce. So I suppose I promote un-divorcement... yeah, that sounds right.

27. Is there a band or musical trend you would love to see erased completely?

Rap. Or really any of that dark, loud, angry screaming noise they call music.

28. If you had to describe yourself using 3 words, what would they be?

I hate this question. Um, passionate, self-absorbed, and funny.

29. Where is the last place that you'd see yourself living?

Anywhere where they get any more snow than we have in Utah. That's pretty much my limit.

30. What was the last video you enjoyed on the internet?

ABC's Brothers and Sisters. I like that show. But I have a tendency to watch it while I'm supposed to be multitasking.

31. What is your favorite smoothie combination?

Oooh, anything fruity. My absolute favorite Jamba is the Carribean Passion.

32. What is the worst thing that has ever happened to your car?

Well when I'd owned it for about three months I cracked the transmission....and ever since it's just been sitting in the driveway, so lonely, because I can't afford to fix it.

33. What album have you been listening to most?

The Scarlet Pimpernel, and the music from Glee. I think. I listen to a dang lot of music. Also I listen to conference talks a lot.

34. What clues you into a person's idiocy?

Oh man. Yeah I don't know. People surprise me all the time. But usually it's when they talk. Some people just open their mouths and it's like, here it comes, time to tune out....

35. What is your favorite store to wander through?

Costco. That place is so great.

If you made it all the way through all of those, consider yourself tagged.

Dear Future Me,

How's it going?
What are you doing with your life?
Do you like it?
Is there something I should change now, before it's too late?
Do I make it through this part okay?
Do I really have to apply for internships and scholarships and take the GRE and become chummy with all my professors and get glowing letters of recommendation and get A's in all my classes and apply for student loans and do research...
all while trying to date and make friends and be a good friend and good sister and good daughter and good visiting teacher and good stranger and good student and occasionally paint and even more rarely practice the piano and sometimes clean my room and try to read my scriptures and say my prayers and go to the temple?
Is it all required? Will it pay off in the end?
Are there things I'm worrying about that I shouldn't?
Do I ever find the love of my life?
Is he everything I dreamed?
If so...how did I convince him to marry me?
Should I go on a mission?
Should I apply for grad school?
Which school? Sociology or Marriage Therapy? Or something else entirely?
Do I have talents I haven't discovered yet?
Am I a better person when I'm you?

Write back soon.

Love,
Your 20-year-old self

Beautiful

There are people and moments that are sometimes too beautiful for this earth
They are the ones that make it impossible not to believe in God, and celestial things
They are the ones that make your heart hurt with happiness

Like the time I held my baby brother Christian for the first time.
He was perfection itself, and as I looked him over I thought,
There is a God. Only he could have created such a thing as this brother of mine.

My beautiful, wonderful friend Sarah is one of these people
She's so constantly bubbling over with love and joy, I don't know how she does it
She was one of my best friends when we were tiny, and I haven't seen her much since
but today I went to her farewell
(She's going to be an amazing missionary)
And when I talked to her afterwards, she treated me like I was the most important person there
Like her day was made because we finally reunited
And I watched her treat everyone else the same way
My heart hurt with the joy and the love I wanted to express to her
She has a gift for it
And I'm crazy lucky to know her at all.

People of Fort Lauderdale, you have no idea how blessed you are.

Dear Future Husband,

I should probably warn you

That when I clean, and sometimes at other times too,

I like to play the music really loud

like, feel-it-in-your-bones loud.

And I like to sing along.

Equally loudly. And sometimes not in the same key.

And I like to dance.

Actually, it's technically probably not dancing.

It's more like sporadic awkward movement. With lots of leaping.

Sometimes I try to look like a real dancer.

It's at those moments that Jaime (you know her, the one you thought was me that one time...)

mocks me. You can too. As long as you don't stop me.

Anyway, be prepared.

You can just plan to hang out with the guys whenever I declare a cleaning day,

that way when you come home you can pretend that I'm still adorable and charming, and that I don't do any of the things we both know I do while you're gone.

Thanks for loving me anyway.

And on the upside, at least I like to clean.

Also, I love you.

Hyper

"Hey Mark, wake up."

"Hmm?"

" I pretended to punch you because your eyes were closed, and my fist was like, this close to your face."

"mngh."

Pulls the covers over his head as I dance away...

Yes, I'm 20 years old. Stop giving me that look.

Autumn

"Autumn is the eternal corrective. It is ripeness and color and a time of maturity; but it is also breadth, and depth, and distance. What man can stand with autumn on a hilltop and fail to see the span of his world and the meaning of the rolling hills that reach to the far horizon? -Hal Borland

"Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns." - George Eliot

"It was one of those perfect English autumnal days which occur more frequently in memory than in life." - P. D. James

"Then summer fades and passes and October comes. We'll smell smoke then, and feel an unexpected sharpness, a thrill of nervousness, swift elation, a sense of sadness and departure."- Thomas Wolfe

I LOVE the fall. With every fiber of my being.

I love everything about it
I love the air that's just cold enough to remind me of how much I appreciate my toes, and fingers, and the end of my nose
I love the bright colors on the trees and in the mountains
I love how blue the sky looks, and I love the gray windy days
I love how everything is so beautiful, it makes me want to paint
I love how I always seem to have paint under my fingernails these days
I love wearing sweatshirts and jackets
I love how it's still early enough into school to still be excited about it
I love finding a big window to study by on campus, and just holing up there
I love going to football games and cheering myself hoarse and singing the fight song
I love thinking that Thanksgiving is on it's way
I love thinking of christmas trees, and Temple Square all lit up, even though it's early for such thoughts. I simply can't reign them in.
I love the smell of the heater in my car in the mornings
I love doing bonfires with friends
I love watching people play at the intramural fields
I love driving around, and trying to find music majestic enough to go with my surroundings
I love thinking of pumpkin pie and gingersnaps
I love that so many of my friends are going on missions, and getting married
I just love the excitement, the anticipation
Coming off the Conference weekend high, all these crazy colors in the air, the holiday season just around the corner, it just feels like there's something exciting coming
Life is beautiful
and fall is my absolute favorite
Fall fills my veins with soda pop and my heart with hot chocolate and my head with fireflies
And I can't help but love everyone and everything
Fall makes me want to go back to Boston. Boston is the perfect place to enjoy the fall.
Fall makes it easier to talk to God


I've been getting lightheaded, dancing and singing around the house as I clean
and thinking of this time last year, when my roommate and I would get the two cute guys from a few apartments down to go play basketball, and then make breakfast together
And then go study in the library
The good old days


Oh fall. Please stay forever. Love, me.


"October's poplars are flaming torches lighting the way to winter."- Nova Bair

an Impossible Dream

To dream the impossible dream
To fight the unbeatable foe
To bear with unbearable sorrow
To run where the brave dare not go

To right the unrightable wrong
To love pure and chaste from afar
To try when your arms are too weary
To reach the unreachable star

This is my quest
To follow that star
No matter how hopeless
No matter how far

To fight for the right
Without question or pause
To be willing to march into Hell
For a heavenly cause

And I know if I'll only be true
To this glorious quest
That my heart will lie peaceful and calm
When I'm laid to my rest

And the world will be better for this
That one man, scorned and covered with scars
Still strove with his last ounce of courage
To reach the unreachable star

~Man of La Mancha

Dear Sir,

You know who you are.
Quit telling me my blog is boring and all fluff.

If you don't like it, stop reading it.

Sincerely,

Me