Well thank heavens for almost-perfect days :)

That last post was fun to write, because it has influenced me every day since; I now ask myself what can I do to get each day near to ideal. Today, I busted out the blue striped bowl that I normally save for special breakfast occasions... just because! Today, instead of a boy text, I got an hour of this:

which is, you know, as good if not SO much better!!! Look at that beautiful face. Baby O loves her Aunt Lindsey :)

I chose to brave the cold with Cobb yesterday (who WAS in a happy mood when I came in) and we explored the Library of Congress, my favorite building in DC. Dang it, I forgot to take a picture of it to send to dad. I'll cheat just this once and lean on the internet to help, here's a good shot of its interior magnificence:

DID go to class tonight and learn stuff, DIDN'T eat dinner with friends. DO have things to look forward to tomorrow. That's the beauty of this little exercise. There's always tomorrow... :)

Describe your ideal day- Ok I'll play.

PS Above is my most favorite header I've had in a long time: Doug Wheeler, light installation artist, everyone. Mmmm.

Above the Clouds at Sunrise. 1849. An early Frederic Edwin Church painting from his days when he still retained traces of religious symbolism in his landscapes (Notice the vague cupping hand shape of the clouds). Ever since I first saw it two years ago, I have wanted a poster of this painting to wake up to every morning. Simultaneously tranquil and majestic.

(The following is yet another inspiration from the girl who writes Healthy is Always Better.)

My Ideal Day

-Wake up warm, rested, and headache-less at sunrise

- Reese's Puffs mixed with Cheerios in my blue striped bowl. While sitting in bed. Listening to General Conference talks.

- Put on a skirt.

- Cobb's in a good mood and runs to hug me when I come in.

- Text from crush in the morning. Because, let's face it... crushes are the second thing I think about after I wake up.

- Drive Cobb around in my boss's sexy Land Rover and pretend for a second that it's mine. Then remember that I am getting PAID to drive said car, and subsequently cherish my own life all the more.

-Text someone I think could use a bit of encouragement, renew a friendship as a result

- Get off work early and metro to GWU Library, where beautifully illustrated books from InterLibrary Loan sit waiting for me, holding in their new glossy or old delicate pages tons of fascinating information that supports my budding thesis topic perfectly.

- Good workout at the GWU gym with a friend who is only slightly better than me to motivate me.

-Walk home from metro in the sunset (Preferably 68 degrees or warmer, this is important :)

- Get all gussied up while listening to my muse, Alicia Keys

- Go out to eat at one of the new and fun restaurants in the area with friends/boy; intensely thoughtful or side-splittingly funny conversations ensue

-Stroll around DC/VA neighborhood in which restaurant is situated. Find a cute piece of architecture and take a picture of it to send to dad.

- Say focused prayers and then go to sleep with much to look forward to the next day

Men in tights

UPDATE: pic of us attendees, thanks Lauren!

Went to see a ballet by Les Ballets Trockaderos de Monte Carldo company last night with a bunch of ward girlfriends (groups pics to follow shortly on THEIR blogs, links forthcoming). There's something a little funny about these dancers, see if you can spot it:



Yep. All male. All en pointe. It took about 30 minutes to get used to seeing MEN in tutu's, but you got over it as soon as they started really getting down; these fellas/ladies/fladies can get DOWN!This has to be the best ballet I've ever seen, not only for the sheer technical spectacle and athleticism of the dancers (Assisted extensions! By a GUY!!!!!!! GAAAAAH!!!) but also their ironic and funny performances and characters, which really livened up what is often otherwise a too-serious sport. See: the following solo,



I know the one thing we were all wishing for after it was over was to see the dancers up close (some of them were REALLY beautiful, and it was only the lack of uh, cleavage, that made us remember from time to time that they were men), so here, for everyone's edification, is a mini-mentary of the company. Enjoy. And watch out for them to come to your town, they're well worth your time and money!

Hey does anyone know how to change my default font to Papyrus?

It is a truth universally acknowledged...

(I will give $10 to anyone who can find me an American Mormon female between the ages of 12 and 65 who doesn't know the end of this quote) Everyone say it with me now:

... That a single man in possession of a good fortune MUST be in want of a wife!

-Jane Austen, prophetess.

I feel like her statement is in fact the only truth left in the world that may lay claim to universal acknowledgement, and that only because of its trifling consequence (good luck to all those single rich men out there. Your life is hard, wah wah).

Every where I turn I see truths of much greater import acknowledged only by sections of the population. Some of the most important truths-- when life begins, the existence and character of God, the efficacy of corporate taxation in economic improvement-- are hotly debated.

The more I thought on these debates tonight, the more I became aware of another fairly inconsequential universally acknowledged truth: all art either professes to reveal truth, or delights in rendering a fantasy.

As always, I began to run down my mental timeline of Western art history to find favorite pieces that would help substantiate my theory. Here are some of the world's most famously truthful artworks, followed by equally famous works that delight and amaze us through their impossible, imaginative, other-worldliness. Feel free to fight me on any of my classifications; in fact, I could use a good art debate and I have deliberately chosen artworks I had to think carefully about before I relegated them one camp or another.

TRUTH

The Parthenon: truth in proportions (Golden ratio, Da Vinci Code, anyone?)

Leonardo: truth in anatomy (a truth punishable by death at the time, as examination of corpses was blasphemous and forbidden in Italy)

Courbet: Truth/Reality in choice of subject matter. At a time when Parisian art was a little heavy on the naked nymph side, Corubet chose to examine, across HUGE canvases, the life of the poor and uneducated of France.

Jackson Pollock: Truth in gesture. Debated about this one for a while, but he goes on the truth side, for now, despite his misogynistic personality...

Andy Warhol: Truth in irony. I found myself recently explaining Warhol's repetative working method to a missionary recently (random!)

FANTASY

Paolo Uccello: Fantasy in three dimensions (look how fastidiously he drew lines clashing here and there, especially on the ground, to give you a sense of a great, deep arena of battle!) Also, fantasy of power. Uccello was one of the many masters under the thumb of the Medici. Here he pays homage to his patrons and subtly exaults them via symbols such as the orange representing the Medici family.

Boucher: Fantasy of the French bourgeois Utopia. I think we can all agree that this is NOT an accurate depiction of every day life for the majority of seventeenth century Frenchmen and women.

Van Gogh: Fantasy of emotions. He paints emotions as if they had the ability to alter the world, when in fact it is the other way around.

Jacque Lipchitz: the fantasy of futurism. Modern life breaks up movement and the centrality of forms and bodies into confusing alternations between nothingness and weightiness. (aaaaah modernist mumbo jumbo- the ultimate fantasy that probably only 10% of the viewers buy into).



Jenny Holzer: Fantasy of truth in the mass media. I have so much to say about Jenny Holzer. Another day. Cliff notes version: She creates scrolling lightworks that spell out messages that don't make sense, and often contain jarring, threatening allusions. She does so to make us realize how much we are conditioned to believing what we read in the media.

Sightless friendship

Found this in the introduction to this year's RS manual, about the teachings and life of George Albert Smith (President of the LDS Church from 1945 to 1951). Already I love this book. I learn best by watching the examples of others, and this man was truly a saint. Nearly blind his whole life, he was a zealous advocate for the blind in Utah in addition to his calling as a General Authority. This is a poem of gratitude and friendship a member of the Society of Aid to the Sightless wrote for him to honor his service:

When Life beats hard with stormy hands,

And bitter teardrops fall;

When friendless Winter chills my soul,

And empty echoes call—

’Tis then I turn, with eager hope,

My steps though spent and lame,

To find an understanding heart,

Where burns a friendly flame—

A heart where gentle Wisdom dwells,

Compassionate and kind,

Whose faith in God and man has taught

A like faith to the Blind. …

Although his tender loving face

From us is shut apart,

We see the gracious wisdom

Of his understanding heart;

We feel a peace within his soul

And know a peace our own;

We hear his silent prayer that tells

We do not walk alone;

His faith in us will give us strength,

As unseen paths we plod;

Our souls uplifted by a man

In partnership with God.

As I have mentioned many times, friendship is one of my favorite things in the world. It has the capacity to reduce trials, color grey days, and enliven and enlarge one's soul. This is the level of friendship I will strive to show to others!

4.0 and 2011

Breaking news: I NAILED my classes with another 4.0 and I DO feel like being braggy about it. I worked so dang hard, and had to deal with some MAJOR personality clashes in one class. I literally poured my sweat, tears, and thousands of dollars into finals week this semester (the money, fyi, went to buying myself a new laptop and paying for the repairs of a second, borrowed laptop that I also ruined during finals... long story). Phew.  The image of grief I posted at the end of my first semester of grad school (here ya go) flickered to mind after I turned in my final paper a week ago, but I'm happy to report that I'm not as wrecked as I was that first semester, which was, amazingly, two whole years ago. I can't believe how long this master's is taking. TWO SEMESTERS TO GO!!!!!

2012's gonna be good. Gonna be a game changer. This scares me a little, I've actually grown to enjoy DC this year, more than I have in years past, when I've merely tolerated it. Visions of moving to the West Coast still dance around in my head, but for now I'm just going to leave my moving/career plans to fate and faith.

I don't want to make resolutions. I DO want to ruminate on what's just happened this year, though. Some years go quicker than others; this year was a long, slow haul with lots of mini-mile-markers that resulted in gradual progress and change in my life.

Biggest surprise of 2011: my job nannying Cobb, which came out of the blue in March and was a 1,000% improvement over my previous job managing the bakery. Cobb is a delightful little 2 year old, and his parents are absolute joys to work with. They love their son so much and support me in anything I want to do to help him develop into a happy, healthy, smart young man. I've really appreciated this job because, among its many, many great aspects, it has helped me realize how intellectually stimulating and rewarding the act of raising children full-time can be. I've had reservations about that in the past. But now I know I can do it, do it well, and absolutely love it. (Please oh please let my future children be perfect angels like Little Man is!)

Clearest memory of 2011: Running the last five miles of my first half marathon in November at full speed :)

Best unexpected answer to prayer: this is random, but a few weeks ago, coming home from one of my finals, I started to feel an unreasonable amount of anxiety about my train. I think I'd seen some sketchy guy with a pink suitcase on the platform or something. At any rate, by the time the train reached the bridge over the Potomac on its way into Virginia, I was convinced that death/an explosion was imminent. I know this sounds dramatic but it's true, and inexplicable. I don't do anxiety like that hardly ever. I started to pray. More earnestly that I had in a long while. I recognized the change in humility and intent with which I now spoke to my maker, and I acknowledged that I was not, in fact, where I would like to be should I really truly meet him in the next few moments. As the seconds wore on and the train chugged forward, my prayer turned to one of pleading for my family in case they were the ones in danger, and then, heart rate slowing, I began to thank Him for the many wonderful aspects of school, friends, and work that had been blessing my life lately. I thanked him for the gift of his son, Jesus Christ, who has been teaching me how to have faith and not fear all year. I told Heavenly Father about my plan to recommit to him and to use the atonement in a more dedicated manner to be who I want to be. I also told him that I have been thinking about actively trying to be more grateful to him, which plan I was going to implement immediately. :) As my train pulled safely into Pentagon City, I wondered why Heavenly Father caused me to have that weird near-death feeling (I knew it wasn't my own doing). I even said a prayer to him; "Well, that was weird, but I trust that You will tell me why You allowed me to feel that soon enough!" A mere three days later (a Saturday :) I found out I was teaching a lesson the next day on the second coming. I knew as soon as I saw my topic that Heavenly Father really wanted me to KNOW the urgency with which He wants us to prepare ourselves, our families, and the nations, for His Son's return. I needed to have some experience in this area in order to best give that lesson to my Relief Society sisters. So there you go; an unexpected answer that was actually given before I'd knew I'd had a need. I really appreciate these types of small reminders that Heavenly Father actively watches over our days and minutes.

Favorite purchase of 2011: The Red Dress :) ----seenhere----->

Love-life triumph: a fun, brief love affair with the most confident, thoughtful question-asker I've ever met

2011 Low Point: a poorly-timed visit from an ex. :)

2011 High Point: visiting my very pregnant best friend Jessica in August and then getting to meet her little daughter only a few days ago. Whatever makes Jess happy makes me happy too, so we were pretty dang happy this year!!! I'm so grateful for the enduring and enlightening power of eternal friendships.

College BFF Jess, bebe Olivia, me, bebe Jence, HS BFF Breann

Things that happened in 2011 that I want to repeat in 2012: 

Finish a half marathon, 

get straight A's,

make/save a lot of money,

see a musical (Les Mis at the Kennedy Center),

Things that didn't happen in 2011 that I want to do in 2012:

eat at Virtue Feed and Grain in Alexandria,

get a Master's degree,

get a job with business cards and a 401k,

visit Florida and Harry Potter World,

fall in love with a boy that is NOT 2 years old

Two things tangentially related to OWS...

Source

I AM THE 8%, and SO THANKFUL!

No more finals = the ability to think and be thankful for random things once more.

I'm thankful that finals are over. I'm thankful even though TWO computers died right out from under me during finals and left me sensationally bad-tempered for a day and a half (LOOOOONG sad/hilarious story) I was able to semi-resurrect at least one of them and finish my paper nevertheless. WOO!

I'm thankful that I still get to participate in this kind of care-free life when I'm playing with Cobb:

Their costumes remind me a little bit of OWS protestors, hence this video's appearance in this post. Its youtube page tells us that the kids in the video are all related to the filmmaker, and that they worked for pizza :) The whole video cost $150. I love the fact that beautiful and moving things can still be created by the little guy.

Why I'm never, ever late for movies

1. I love previews, like, as much as whole movies.
2. I love titles sequences; they're like artistic microcosms of whatever movie I'm about to see. I MUST be on time to the movies, because the critical analysis side of my brain gets a free 3 minutes of free-for-all dissection-- "why did the director choose to show this? Why that font? Imma have to buy this soundtrack! Ooh I like that shot!"-- before settling into good old fashioned American movie-zombie mode.

I loved this video, it showcases some of the most famous title sequences by the brilliant Saul Bass. Watching it, I really get a sense of how cutting edge each of these graphics must have appeared when they premiered. What an amazing career. The list of movies corresponding to these clips is found here.


The Title Design of Saul Bass from Ian Albinson on Vimeo.


Of course, the most celebrated title sequence in recent memory is this one (you know you haven't seen it a while, let it blow your mind again):



What are your favorite opening credit sequences? I know I'm missing dozens of good ones... I'm thinking Hitch first of all, oddly enough. It's just so cute!!

Just for kicks, here's the greatest ending  sequence I've ever seen. Pixar must have an art history major on staff. I kicked back in my seat til the end of these credits, shouting out the names of each artist as they came along and laughing my head off. Isn't there anything that Pixar CAN'T do??



I wrote them down for you. It's a slow lunch.

Lescaux cave paintings

Egyptian hieroglyphics

Greek funerary vase paintings, the Black-Figure period

Roman/Pompeiian mosaics

Leonardo’s sketchbooks (he sketch the movement of falling water)

Michelangeo’s St. Peter’s Basilica blueprints

Venetian nautical paintings (highly celebrated for their ethereal sunlight and water)

Pointilism! Georges Seurat, everywhere!

Expressionism, vag Gogh- Look at those sunflowers!

Faith and pain

I wrote a comment to a blogger who has decided to set out on a life path that no longer includes membership in my church, but I can't bring myself to send it to her. It seemed a little selfish. So I decided it belongs on MY blog, where everything is already presumed to be about me, me, me, and my experiences. A little primer: it's about a spiritual low point I once went through.

I'm so sorry. I've been there, not for as long as you have though. I felt like a canyon had opened up in my heart, I walked like a zombie through church, hearing the same words I had heard before but just letting them all drop into the giant crevice.  

I am happy to report, though, that, through counselling and a good bishop and sheer force of mind, that rift healed over. It did not disappear. I keep the scar hidden, but I know I will have to show it to others some day who also struggled. I accepted the idea of having a shelf to put my questions on. I found answers or at least balm, little by little, which was most certainly extended to me in answer to sweet prayers uttered on my behalf by loving family members, and maybe a little in response to my own strangled prayers. Most importantly, I stomped down on feelings of guilt about certain choices I had made and refused to ever let them spring up again. I go to church and, the much more effective spiritual act for me, I go to the temple. That is my point of rest.

I wish you the best. I don't have anything to say like "Keep trying" or "Have you tried this or read that?" It sounds like you are thoughtful through it all. I hope you feel the love of your Heavenly parents. I have to believe they listen and watch intently. Again, best of luck, and life, and thought. And peace.

One of the most miraculous proofs of the atonement, to me, is the complete erasure of the memory of the pain I felt at that low point. I know I was miserable, I never want to go there again, and Heavenly Father has given me the gift of being UNABLE to go there again. I literally can't remember that pain anymore. Once, I heard a Relief Society president relate almost exactly the same experience, only she was referring to the pain of being single (she was giving her last lesson before getting married. She was 29). Maybe we all reach these low points. Hopefully we all get delete keys pressed for us by a higher power.

I'm so thankful for the sweet gift of deletion. I plan to show that thanks by looking people in the eyes and helping them in their points of pain, if they will let me.

In celebration of Mom

I got to go home and surprise my parents for Thanksgiving and hang with my hilarious cousins. The surprise was a complete success (see videos on Facebook... mom cried for a LONG time, she's so cute!!).

And we shot skeet, learned the Virginia Reel, feasted, hiked, attended the cinema, feasted some more, played an intense game of two-hand touch on the arc of a baseball field (weird), and goofed to our heart's content on the Strip. And through it all, I observed something:

My sweet mom worked tirelessly, without question, without complaint, with joy on her face. For us. For me! What an amazing example of service. She was everywhere in the kitchen on Thanksgiving, simultaneously carving turkeys, mashing potatoes, whipping up gravy, and setting the tables. She somehow LIKED cooking the chili dogs and arranging snacks the next day while we peppered the Dry Lake bed with shotgun shells.  This afternoon, upon popping through Grandma's front door after hiking Lone Mountain, we discovered a large assortment of turkey sandwiches spread along the counter waiting for us, because she knew we'd be hungry. I can't say I'm at her level of automatic serviceable-ness yet. I still want to run around and have fun.

BUT.

 I really want to learn to be like her someday. She makes everything so beautiful.

That is all.

In case you, like me, need the occasional reminder that your problems are small

All images from the NASA Goes Pink Flickr Set. Enjoy!

our ultraviolet sun

Ok this one's not from NASA- I got into a fight with my roommate because I said this is the person I want to meet first in heaven when I die:

I'm sorry I'm not spiritual enough to meet Jesus first. I just think I'll need a primer for His level of majesty, and I happen to think Gene Kelly is the most majestic MORTAL who ever lived and would fill that role marvelously. I stand by my statement!