Jane Austen Dance :)

Because I've had a lot of questions about it, here's how it went down (ps, this is going to be very long):

So this weekend BYU held a bunch of ladies' choice dances--Jane Austen, Great Gatsby, Harry Potter, and Dr. Seuss
A bunch of girls in my ward decided to go to the Jane Austen dance as a group, and they talked me into it, and I apparently forgot that formal dances are so not my thing. It turns out I had a blast though :)

The dance was held at the Sleepy Ridge golf course club house, which was beautiful, and included a banquet, dance instruction, dancing, parlor games, carriage rides, and photographs. Formal or period wear was required. (I was floored by how much people really got into it and actually wore period attire. Especially the guys. There were bonnets and top hats and canes and cravats...)
So I asked a guy in my ward, and then agonized about it, because I thought that forcing him to take part in this girlish fantasy was a cruel thing to do to a man.
Oh well.
It was SO much fun. It helped that we had a giant group. The food was good, everyone was so funny, people were walking around and talking with British accents and saying things like, "pip pip, cheerio" and "jolly good, what?" and things that I'm sure Jane Austen's people would've thought were very strange.
The dancing was good, we learned the foxtrot and a waltz, and I stink at both, so I basically just let my date push me around.
In the parlor we played the Minister's Cat and a Jane Austen-ized version of Zip-bong and I haven't laughed so hard in a very long time. One guy in our group was hilarious to watch because he was crying and his face just looked so pained every time he laughed. Everyone's cheeks hurt afterwards.
Parlor games:



And then of course, as evidenced by facebook, we took a bazillion pictures.

Me and my date....and my excited face

The fiiiiiiiiine looking ladies :)

Our dapper dates

Arent' we an attractive group?

Ta da! The end. I love my friends. And I just want to say props to the guys, because they were SO much fun. And liked having their pictures taken even more than the girls did. Also, my date was hot. He loves me. Secretly.

Books...and being ADD

This week I discovered a wonderful thing.
If you have a library card, not only can you check out books at the library, but you can also download audiobooks online.
I don't know about you, but I love audiobooks.

Ever since I started working in the computer lab, where I usually had a textbook, a paper I was attempting to write, a solitaire game, a tv show, my gmail, my facebook, yahoo, and wikipedia all open at once, my attention span is shorter than yours.
It's a plague of our generation.
You've stopped reading already, haven't you?

When I sit down to read a book, it's only a few minutes before I feel the urge to check my phone, play the piano, talk to someone, work on other homework, or get on the computer.
It's so sad! I used to love to read!
Temporary solution: audiobooks on my ipod.
Thus I can plug in my ipod, listen to a book, and do the dishes or clean my room or whatever else I was itching to do.

I downloaded Walden, by Thoreau
And listened to it while I walked to and from school.
More on this book later.
Anyway, hooray for audiobooks!

Women

Every woman is a daughter of God. You cannot offend her without offending Him. I plead with the men of this Church to look for and nurture the divinity that lies within their companions. To the degree that happens, there will be harmony, peace, enrichment of family life, nurturing love.

The women in our lives are creatures endowed with particular qualities, divine qualities, which cause them to reach out in kindness and with love to those about them. We can encourage that outreach if we will give them opportunity to give expression to the talents and impulses that lie within them. In our old age my beloved companion said to me quietly one evening, “You have always given me wings to fly, and I have loved you for it.”

How thankful I am, how thankful we all must be, for the women in our lives. God bless them. May His great love distill upon them and crown them with luster and beauty, grace and faith. And may His Spirit distill upon us as men and lead us ever to hold them in respect, in gratitude, giving encouragement, strength, nurture, and love, which is the very essence of the gospel of our Redeemer and Lord.

I see their husbands, and I feel like saying to them: “Wake up. Carry your share of the load. Do you really appreciate your wife? Do you know how much she does? Do you ever compliment her? Do you ever say thanks to her?”
Well, you dear women, I say thanks to you. Thank you for being the kind of people you are and doing the things you do. May the blessings of heaven rest upon you. May your prayers be answered and your hopes and dreams become realities.
You serve so well in the Church. You think it is so demanding. It is. But with every responsibility fulfilled, there comes a great reward.

You are the Relief Society of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. There is no other organization to equal it. Walk with pride. Hold your heads up. Work with diligence. Do whatever the Church asks you to do. Pray with faith. You may never know how much good you accomplish. Someone’s life will be blessed by your effort.

Each of you is a daughter of God, endowed with a divine birthright. You need no defense of that position.

What a resource are the women of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You love this Church, you accept its doctrine, you honor your place in its organization, you bring luster and strength and beauty to its congregations. How thankful we are to you. How much you are loved, respected, and honored.

You are creatures of divinity; you are daughters of the Almighty. Limitless is your potential. Magnificent is your future, if you will take control of it. Do not let your lives drift in a fruitless and worthless manner.

For you, my dear friends, the sky is the limit. You can be excellent in every way. You can be first class. There is no need for you to be a scrub. Respect yourself. Do not feel sorry for yourself. Do not dwell on unkind things others may say about you. Particularly, pay no attention to what some boy might say to demean you. He is no better than you. In fact, he has already belittled himself by his actions. Polish and refine whatever talents the Lord has given you. Go forward in life with a twinkle in your eye and a smile on your face, but with great and strong purpose in your heart. Love life and look for its opportunities, and forever and always be loyal to the Church.

Of all the creations of the Almighty there is none more beautiful, none more inspiring than a lovely daughter of God who walks in virtue with an understanding of why she should do so, who honors and respects her body as a thing sacred and divine, who cultivates her mind and constantly enlarges the horizon of her understanding, who nurtures her spirit with everlasting truth.

All quotes by President Gordon B. Hinckley

Fasting

So, I tried one of those body cleansing fasts
Because I felt gross inside
It consisted of spending three days drinking 8-12 glasses of a mixture of lemon juice, water, maple syrup, and cayenne pepper
And as much water as I could handle
And since I'm a first-time faster, I could have vegetable juices or broth as well
(Luckily I have a superstar mom who made me butternut squash soup and miso soup, both of which are delicious)

And I did it!
I was so proud

For those of you who don't know, I have very very little self-discipline
Especially where food is involved
So if I can do it, you can totally do it

I feel so much better!
I have so much energy and just so much more excitement about life
Because I feel like I'm in charge
And I just feel clean, inside and out
I was going to keep fasting, because you can do it for up to ten days,
but unfortunately those pesky cheddar and sour cream potato chips have been calling my name for three days
And I just couldn't hold out any longer
See what I mean about the willpower?

Anyway, if any of you are needing a winter blues fix,
I recommend a fast
I'll send you recipes!
And be your personal cheerleader
Can you imagine anything better?

That's what I thought.

Saving the World-BOOYA

WELCOME BLOG READERS!!!
(This picture is here to warn you that this is not Chelsie posting but Jaime. Yes, I am sorry to say that Chelsie will not be speaking with you so my best advice is to not read any further and go find a more interesting blog to read)

However, if you feel like tormenting yourself I have a story. The other day I was sitting with Mark while he was doing his homework. As he "worked" he began to sing a song and I absentmindedly clapped along. The song was to the tune of "If you're happy and you know it" so naturally when Mark sang out clap your hands, I did. It wasn't until I walked out of the room that I realized what Mark had really been singing. He had substituted his own words in to say "to help your species to survive clap your hands" A strange sensation came over me as I realized that that night I could say that I had done any good in the world today. Yes ladies and gentleman the human race WILL survive. Because I clapped.
You're welcome.

Loves,
Jaime

Would you like you if you met you?

I'm still deciding.

:< B (that's me with my buckteeth smile and pointy witch nose)

I decided that my life should include more laughter.
I decided this after I found this blog and laughed myself silly reading it.
I don't know who that person is.
I found the blog after clicking on a random friend's facebook profile and seeing that one of her friends had posted a link to it.
Being curious and nosy, I stole the link!
And began to read.

I decided I like the girl.
She reminds me of my older cousins I always thought of as super stylish and hilarious and wonderful.
And maybe she really isn't that funny, but man,
I haven't laughed so hard in a waaaaaaaay long time.

You should ask my family about it.
I laughed so hard, I couldn't breathe
and I lost all facial control
I started to cry and maybe evendrooled a teeny bit.

And as soon as I finished, I decided I should be funnier
and laugh more
and find the funny in things I normally wouldn't.
Because life is a wonderful thing
And admit it, most the time it's pretty darn funny.

And I'm 20 years old.
So I can do what I want!
Also I figure if I'm funny, I'll attract a funny husband.
I've secretly-not-so-secretly always wanted one :)

Two Minds

I wish I could stay focused.

I sit in class on Tuesdays and Thursdays for three hours straight, and I love it.
We talk about social change, how it comes about, how to understand it.
We talk about the self and society, how people understand identity and originality and creativity.
We talk about big ideas and big words and we get serious and we get excited and we have fun.
I get pulled into the conversations. I feel myself asking questions and answering them.
I just feel this big, intellectual world opening up to me, I imagine myself joining the conversation running between all the books and great minds since the beginning of time.
I see myself making a difference.
I sit in these classes and feel that there is so much work to do. That even as a 20-year-old senior, I'm so behind. I wander the halls of the JFSB, talking to professors, and think, I want a PhD. I want an office. I want to teach classes and have these discussions and mold young minds.
I want to do research, I want to stretch and change.

Then I leave the classroom.

I walk around campus, I eat lunch, I sit at the computer and start browsing blogs.
I start thinking of springtime and shorts and night games and road trips and camping trips with friends.
I want to run through fields of flowers and giggle and feel the sun seeping into every little crack of my soul. I want to walk on a beach and squish the sand between my toes.
I don't want to study.
I don't want to be in an office.
I want to be outside, I want to live and love with my whole being.
So there isn't a particle of me that isn't vibrantly alive.

And when I start feeling this way, it's very, very difficult to return to the paper I was so ready to write.

Sigh.