Hermes.

 On tuesday, Jonathan gave me a bike to use for the summer--I fell in love the second I saw it.  It's thisrad old road bike from the 80s with tons of logos and little details. We are going to go in on it together and turn it into a fixie and have a custody battle for it at the end of the summer.  If i go foreign for my mission that will be settled really easily...
this dream that has been going strong for nearly three years will finally come true.

I named my bike Hermes.
He is the messenger God and also the God of travel and writing/literature.
 I thought it was fitting, considering what I want this summer to be about.

This summer has been amazing and just gets better and better.  I get to go to SEATTLE this weekend with my moms to go visit her friend Gretchen.

Something I have known for a while now finally clicked last night and it all made sense:

I spent so many years wishing I could have fun and hip people around me all the time so I could be doing fun and hip things with them.
Now i realized I can do fun and hip things all on my own and have cool stories to tell people when they ask "what did you do today?".

You really just have to take each day and make it great. realize this is what I am committed to right now--how can I make the most of it?
Learn to live a self-centric life and be your own source of energy and passion.
Don't waste your life waiting for someone amazing to come into your life and be the center of your solar system and think that everything will somehow get fixed...  Don't hold your breath hoping someone will come along and pull you into a better or more exciting orbit--just be you and do the things you want to do.
You can be the one to pull people in.
Take on new hobbies, goals and projects.
Don't sell yourself short and dont forget who you are and where you are going.

Life is short.
Don't forget to live it.


Here is the latest art the golden calf has cranked out:

Summer 2011: Be your own hero.

What started as a semester motto, has quickly become more of a life motto.
Be your own Hero.

In exactly one week I will be on my way home for the first summer since high school--I am so excited.  I can't wait to go running with Franklin, feed the geese, go to thrift stores, crochet, read, play in the sun, go on picnics, work on all sorts of projects, get my room clean, learn to cook, reconnect with old friends, and prepare to go on a mission for my church.
I know that sometimes having big dreams can lead to disappointments; however, I don't feel this is one of those situations where that caution will apply.  I think life is about making your own memories and making your own happiness.
All of the times I have been rejected, hurt, sad, or have come up short have all made me who I am today and have all helped me learn and grow.
Take a risk.
Live your life.
Learn from your mistakes.
[live and learn]
I am so excited!
I am nervous about the current state of my bed room, and am seriously wondering if my plans for converting it will work out in time.  I have a lot of things to get rid of...
I think painting it and decorating it will be super fun though and will let me use a lot of my time in  avery productive way.
Speaking of which.... I found new inspiration pictures:

 

If I can actually pull of the plans in my head, this will be the most magical bedroom ever.  I have had bunk beds since I was in grade school, and loved them, hated them, and now love them again--once I realized they are perfect.  I can make the bottom one into a fort, and leave the top one for a book nook.

I've learned a ton about my self and about life these past few years, and I am determined to make this summer a great one!
Look forward to tons of posts and pictures because this is going to be one summer I don't want to forget.


....just one more week.

I feel it is also appropriate to create a list of things to do this summer:

• feed the geese
• fly a kite
• cook dinner for my family
• go to the cabin
• wake board
• run each morning
• do abs each night
• have picnics in the park
• walk around town
• take more pictures
• write more poems
• find more secret spots
• visit my old secret spots
• redo my room
• learn to crochet
• finish my mission papers
• paint my room
• be happy every day
• get super tan
• get a flip flop tan
• finish the BOM and the student manuel
• read Preach my Gosple
• be in the sun as much as I can
• Skype Jane, Maddie, Kristina, and Sarah
• be infinite

Semester Mottos.

Starting with summer '08--my first summer in Rexburg, as well as my first semester living with Amy Doll--I have given each semester of school a motto to serve as a theme to try to live up to.  Although they are usually just as silly as they are serious, the tradition seems to have stuck.

I don't really know what it is that caused obsession with organization and direction to manifest itsself in this way when there is no physical (or even theoretical) evidence of organization or direction anywhere else in my life, but semester mottos have helped me stay on track, keep my head on straight, and push myself out of my comfort zone--which is apparently the only way we are even going to grow.

Last semester's motto was "Be Your Own Hero"--taken from Whip It!. Things last semester started off really well for me on my quest to be my own hero, and then kind of ended in a crash landing coming from a downward spiral--but hey, at least I stuck the landing. The truth is, you're going to fall.  You just have to be ready to run like hell when you hit the ground.  So, true to form, I hit the ground pretty hard after a series of unexpected events that transpired somewhere between Utah and Idaho and Thanksgiving and Finals.  

That being said, I think that the motto "Be Your Own Hero" is going to be carried over into this semester, and added to the already established motto for winter 2011 "Back To The Basics."