Party in the USA

I am trying to see if I know someone in or from all 50 states:

1. Alabama Jill Fleming
2. Alaska Zack Stout
3. Arizona Kara Kartchner
4. Arkansas Uncle John
5. California Madison Carver
6. Colorado Brady Smith
7. Connecticut
8. Delaware
9. Florida
10. Georgia Saychelle Rincon
11. Hawaii I had a class with a girl from Hawaii once....
12. Idaho Dallin Weeks
13. Illinois Kara (Old R.S. president)
14. Indiana Amy Doll Marie Benkenstein
15. Iowa Jennifer my old roommate
16. Kansas
17. Kentucky Alli Bennet
18. Louisiana
19. Maine
20. Maryland
21. Massachusetts Tlyer
22. Michigan Monica Fix
23. Minnesota My Family
24. Mississippi
25. Missouri
26. Montana The Winn Twins
27. Nebraska The new neighbours across the street
28. Nevada Alicia
29. New Hampshire
30. New Jersey Diane
31. New Mexico Shela
32.New York Jane Amadu
33. North Carolina Tutu
34.North Dakota
35. Ohio Drew Grella
36. Oklahoma Zach Gibson
37. Oregon Maximilian Simnitt
38. Pennsylvania Meredith
39. Rhode Island
40. South Carolina Kendal
41. South Dakota
42. Tennessee Alex Fisher?
43. Texas Brit
44. Utah Mason West
45. Vermont
46.Virginia Sara Cabrera
47. Washington The Brooks
48. West Virginia
49. Wisconsin The Buxtons
50. Wyoming

Riddle me this...

How come we always take advantage of our time with people until they are out of our lives for a very long time?
How come I never clean my room even though it's a disaster?
How come home feels less and less so the older you get?
How come sometimes you cant get through this week/semester/year fast enough, and other times you just want the moon to stop in the sky and let you live in the moment a bit longer?
How come Narnia doesn't exist when it's 4 am and you have hours of homework ahead of you and all you want to do is go to Narnia so you can sleep and not waste any time in the real world?
How come when books or movies move us it never last longer than a week or so?
How come we can't take responsibility for our own downfalls and sorrows and DO something about it?
How come we put faith in people who let us down time after time?
How come James Franco will never be in my address book?
How come 20 can feel so old and so young at the same time?
How come I have never been on a road trip without my parents?
How come Europe has to be 30 hours away by plane?
How come we can't have dogs at school?
How come I am crazy enough to have fits of depression, but not crazy enough to have a dog at school?
How come taco bell doesn't exist outside of America?
How come we even use the phrase "how come" when logically and linguistically it kind of doesn't make any sense...?
How come Pinkerton is 3 states away?
How come Oliver will never trust us?
How come people abuse animals?
How come five months seems like forever and nothing at all?
How come Cupcakes are so grood?

Bucket List

This weekend I did major damage to my bucket list....

-I rode a Segway
-I played Fugitive
-I Ghost Rode the Whip

Sometimes i really worry that I am getting old and boring.
This weekend breathed a little bit of life back into me.

GHOST RIDE IT.
Ghost ride the whip!

...Don't worry mom, this is about how ghost we rode it

Foma

Monster

why are you so far away from me?

I need help and you're way across the sea.

BFFL

I know I like to play the victim card and pretend that I have had just the WORST friends ever in my life (it's true there have been some terrible ones).  However, it is also true that I have had some of the most AMAZING friends there could be for someone like me.  Ones that will stay up all night with me and then go watch the sunruse in porter park, ones that let me pull the car over to get out and look at the stars even if its freezing and its already close to 4 am and were in the middle of nowhere utah, ones that will look at picture after picture after picture of animals with me and not tell me they are bored, ones that can handle me when I get into my funks, ones that can handle me when I get crazy, ones that truely love me for ME.  I am not sure I would be the person I am today without them...

FIRST, there is Amy Doll Marie Benkenstein, and she is my best friend.

Her name says it all--she is a doll.

She is getting married very soon, and even though that means I have to share her with Jeff now I am glad to do it because I have never seen Amy this happy.

We met in a class out first semester.  I awkwardly broke th

e ice by telling her I liked the vans sticker on her notebook.  A few days later we went on our first bestie date, and pretty much have been BFFL ever since.  

NEXT is Maximilian Simnitt.  He is a very cute boy.

Communication with him is a little rough since he is on a mission right now, but he was my first example of a boy who cared

 about the church as much as he cared about having fun.  He cares just as much about fashion, music, and animals.

His favorite dog is a bulldog, he is in Hawaii right now, I don't write him as often as I should, and letters from him are a high point.

He gets home in five months.

Christine Leigh Fleming.

Dubbed "Beaner" by those who know her best after confusion over her race and ethnicity, she is one of the greatest examples to me I have ever had.  We fought a lot when we were younger, but I think that is pretty normal.  I am only here at BYU-I because of her and I am only going on a mission because of her.  She is the light that leads me without even trying to be.  

She is also on a mission right now, and will also be home in five months.

Five months from now will be an exciting

 time in my life.

Me and Cody met out first semester when we lived in the dorms together, we then lived together for two semesters in Colonial.  We have had some pretty good times and some good talks.  She is an example to me of strength and faith.

Monica was my first roommate in college.  Even though we were about as different as oil and water, we got along and had a lot of fun together.  She help me get over some issues I didn't even know I was having!  She was my first friend in college, as well as one of the first solid friends i have ever had.

There have been more, and more entries are bound to come later, I just feel like i need to express--even if it is just to the universe--how greatful i am for good friends.

mission accomplished!

I'm almost embarrassed.... but I like it.  It's just WAY different.

But i over slept so I couldn't fix it even if i wanted to, so...

Hello world.

YouTube

I have recently come to the conclusion that you can learn how to do anything on youtube...

I found a tutorial the other day about making better curls with sponge rollers.  Pretty much all you have to do is start wrapping it at the root instead of the ends.

I'm goin for an afro...

we'll see what the morning brings...

With a little bit of gold and a pager.

It's not that the air is different over there.  The clouds aren't made from different molecules and the grass is essentially the same color green.

There is something very different about places other that home, but it's not physical.  

It's emotional.  

It's spiritual.  

I tend to think too much, and often too fast as well.  I just do; I always have.  Sometimes it's very unhealthy and I get caught in spirals that go downward very fast.  Sometimes it's just funny things I remember from my past, or interesting things I want to do in my future.  Sometimes I make lists in my head--things like "People I am Glad Are Not my Mother" or "Things I Will do When I Get to Heaven and Have Eternity".  These lists are fun to make but rarely consist of bullet points with greater importance than "that lady who is screaming at the waiter right now for bringing her the wrong kind of water" or "learning to sing like a broadway star".

Lately something has happened to me...inside, and the best part is I did it to myself--with the help of my Heavenly father of course.  I think my alarm has gone off, and I finally didn't hit snooze.  I can see the beauty in a grey sky now, and the way they hold a rainbow so perfectly between the white clouds.  I can find patience to deal with people I would usually just add to certain lists in my head.  I can love myself for who I am because I know heavenly father made me this way for a reason.  I can let go of the people who hurt me and realize at least I got to grow because of it.  I can close my eyes and dream about Paris and Italy and then open them and the magic isn't gone because it's not a dream but a memory.  It's something real.  Something I did.  Good noises I put on the wind.  I can look in a mirror and smile because I finally love the girl looking back.  She's happy, and not because her inbox is full or because she has a boy with hands to hold.  She's happy because she is almost 21 years old and can go on a mission soon.  She's happy because she knows no matter what the world thinks, the value of a master piece is determined because of the artist.  She's happy because Katie and Katherine both finally feel like home.  She's happy because she learned how to keep moving forward while still looking backwards at the places she's been.  She's happy because her scrapbook and plans for the future are starting to merge.  

Most of all she's happy because it's not worth being sad anymore.  Sad people miss out on life.

Wear Sunscreen.

This is one of my favorite things I have ever seen.  I think Amy might have been the first one who showed it to me,.  It was either her or my cousin Maria.  I don't really remember....

I listen to it every once in a while when i get stressed out, and it always makes me feel like things are where they belong again.

I'm listening to it right now, and I guess I was just thinking how lucky these kids were.  What a way to enter the real world.  

Anyways, I found out it was Kurt Vonnegut that gave it.

Vonnegut is one of my favorite authors, so it makes sense that I would love it i guess.

My favorite line?

DONT BE RECKLESS WITH OTHERS PEOPLE'S HEARTS AND DONT PUT UP WITH PEOPLE WHO ARE RECKLESS WITH YOURS.

But it's all really good, and something I want to start listening to even more often.

love

This too shall pass

life wishes.

Mose trap was always my favorite game as a kid because i loved building the.... structure? I dont know what to call it, but I loved it.
Since I am an adult now (and really because most of the pieces are missing) i have always wanted to make a similar contraption that takes up a whole room, warehouse, ect.

like this

Katherine Ann Fleming

I don't Know how to develop my own film.

I don't own an SLR camera.

...I don't even know if those are the right letters.

I'm not the center of attention.

I'm not funny to most people.

I'm SHY at first.

I second guess myself a lot.... but usually follow through anyways.

I am not an art major.

I don't know half the bands you talk about.

I don't spend my money on gas to get to utah and tickets to get into shows.

I probably don't use the right kind of paint for the projects I do.

I can't afford canvas so i paint on cardboard.

I'm not that creative--but i can mimic and mix and match.

I pay attention differently.

I never took art classes in college

I can't spell without spell check

I have never been in love

I have never been asked out

I am not the number one pick to hang out with on the weekend

But I know how to nurse a baby bird back to health and watch him fly away one day.

I know that it's okay to break up with friends.

I can quote all of A Knight's tale from memory. Including the words on the screen before the movie starts.

I can saddle a horse and put a bit in the right way.

I can clean their hooves so they don't get thrush.

I like Bright eyes and Ludacris.

I remember your favorite books and movies even when you forget mine

I know how to take care of a sick pony at the fair

I can stay up for 36 consecutive hours

I love con artists, but i don't play games with people's emotions

I've been hurt more that I have hurt

I avoid confrontation

I know I can get over it, but I dont know what other people's hang ups are

I'm pretty different than the people I have been friends with in the past, which usually results in me not being their number one, but I am okay with that now.  Most of the boys from my past aren't worth it anyways and a lot of my "friends" from the past are rude and inconsiderate of other people.

There's nothing wrong with me--there never was.

I have my own talents and they and theirs.

Sometimes you have to go thirty hours across the ocean to see who you are and figure out what kind of life you want to live.

Life Plan.

My mother dearest once told me it’s a good idea to make a life plan for yourself and then readjust it as people come into it.  She said it’s important to keep your options open if things come up, but it’s also important to have a plan and a timeline you are living by.  After having the opportunity to go to Europe and get a taste of traveling, I have made some changes to my life plan and this is what it now consist of:

 

-Serve a mission

-Graduate

-Work for an orphanage in India

-Work for an animal orphanage in Costa Rica or Australia

-graduate school in France or England

Usually I would be offended...

If a celebrity look-a-like generator told me I looked like a BOY!  But, since it was Conor Oberst, I can deal.

Good News.

In the past 24 hours I discovered two WONDERFUL facts:

-They are making Eat Pray Love into a movie, featuring James Franco.

-They are making the Perks of being a Wallflower into a movie.

Eat, Pray, Love.

These past two semesters have been kind of hard for me--mostly because of my own stupidness or faith in unstable people.  woof.  However, something good always comes with the rain: I learned a LOT though these past few months, and it all kind of set me up to really appreciate and LOVE my dream trip to europe. bonus.

In a lot of ways, this trip has been my own version of eat pray love. 

 I ate--oh, i ate:  Pastries, carbs, pizza, gilatto, more carbs... and nutella on it all!  I loved and felt loved; I prayed and had just about every prayer I sent up to heaven in the last year returned, answered.

The truth is simply: I'm glad that I live in this beautiful world, Heavenly Father created for me :)

And I am very thankful I got an opportunity to see a little bit more of it.

There are going to be a LOT of changes in my life in the next year. (12 month year--not calendar.)

1. my two bffls are getting married to their soul mates for time and all eternity on the exact same day!!

2.  My baller of a big sister will return from her mission

3. Tons of my guy friends from freshman year will also be returning from their missions.

4. I will put in my mision papers and hopefully enter the field.

IT'S ABOUT TO GET REAL

When you are impatient...

This seems like a really cute, easy, and fun solution to waiting for hair to grow out....

I gotta be strong, because I know ultimately I want this more:

Party in the USA

home from europe:  not happy.

After 21 days in a dreamlike state, I finally am back home in America.  I have been home for just over 24 hours now, and part of me feels like i never even left--and the rest feels like I will wake up tomorrow and be in some new country and going to some cathedral or on a walking tour of some ancient civilization's ruins...  

I bet coming home from a mission has got to be one of the weirdest things ever.

I knew from the moment we touched down in London that something inside me was about to change, but I couldn't have guessed how big it would be or even fathom half of the prayers that were answered on this trip or any of the impressons that came to me.