I'm not as young as I was, I'm not as brave as I thought

Hello there blogosphere! Currently I am writing to you as a woman who has 1 more day (1!) of high school left forever. Isn't that crazy? Tomorrow is my last day of school! I guess life is getting on pretty fast! I'm not sure exactly what to write about finishing high school, so I will let you in on my moving on to bigger and better things playlist:

1. Be Gentle with me: The Boy Least Likely to
2. Tell the World: Eric Hutchinson
3. I will survive: Gloria Gaynor
4. Good to be Alive: Regan Rindlishbacher
5. Hello Goodbye: The Beatles
6. Afterlife: Ingrid Michealson
7. Borders: Feeder
8. The Brightest Lights: King Charles feat. Mumford and Sons
9. Movie Loves a screen: April Smith and the Great Picture Show
10. No Matter Where you are: Us the duo
11. Lifting the Sea: The Hunts
12. Light outside: Wakey!Wakey!
13. A Wink and a Smile: Harry Connick Jr.
14. You're only Human: Billy Joel
15. Bet on It: Zac Effron

I'm kinda a fan of it. If I had more space on my cd's I would probably add, like, all the other High School Musical songs, but I guess that kinda defeats the purpose of a playlist for the end of high school...

So I guess I should finish this up with some kind of narrative with a good moral that everyone can take into their lives (you can totally tell I've been watching too much girl meets world), so I wanted tell you the most important thing I learned in high school:

"The greatest thing, you'll ever learn is just to love, and be loved in return"
ok, ok, so that's not from me, it's from Moulin Rouge! But it is my plan to write it somewhere in the high school to leave my mark (insert maniacal laugh here).

I guess the most important thing I learned in high school is to be kind, love others, and feast on the knowledge presented to you on a free public school platter. Love to learn, but more importantly, learn to love. Find a place in your heart for Christ-like-love for everyone around you. Don't compete, help each other, but don't stop taking care of yourself to make others happy. Forgive readily, and don't forget that being nice makes you cool. Don't fake who you are to please the people who are acting fake, and always carry emergency lady supplies.

Anyway, adios for now blog, I guess I will let you know how it is to step off into the unknown;

Power pony-tails and some goals

Hey there blog! So I have to be honest, this year, 18 is kind of a weird one. I'm only in high school for a few more months, but then I am too young to leave for my mission, so I just have about five months that aren't high school or summer or mission. I know I can't start college, but it's such a weird amount of time to start and then defer. Anyway, although this is a weird year, and basically I'm just ready to be 19 and go serve the Lord, I want to make it a great year, so I'm gunna makes some goals. Usually I do this on a piece of paper and put it in my wallet, but with my 17 goals to do as a 17-year old, I lost my wallet and thus have no idea whatsoever what I planned to do, so we're just gunna shoot my goals out into cyberspace and hopefully they'll still be here when I'm no longer 18. Here we go!

18 goals for my 18th year of life:  

1. Let the Lord be my best friend. 

2. Drink more water.

3. Dress well, modestly and with care.

4. Get ready for a mission!

5. Let people talk about themselves.

6. Get pictures with all the temples in Utah. 

7. Don't ever be ashamed of being sad. 

8. Care more about being kind than funny

9. Seek after virtuous, lovely things.

10. Chase what I love. 

11. Just sit in the sun sometimes. 

12. Learn to cook well and not poison myself!

13. Have more patience and faith in others. 

14. Think fondly of my past, look forward to the future.

15. Invite others to be confident in Christ.

16. Always be gentle with myself.

17. Mourn with those that mourn. 

18. Be happy and help others do the same. 

February 18th

Fifteen things I learned from being fifteen:

1. If you would rather not be around someone, then don't be around them.

2. Never loose your identity because you're trying to be someone else.

3. If you let Him, God will take your burdens and make them light. 

4. There is nobody that is going to do your work for you. You're challenges were made for you to face them. 

5. Sometimes it's ok just to sit down and take in the world as it is. 

6. Change is hard. But so worth it. 

7. Driving is better with good music playing. In fact, everything is better with good music playing.

8. You shouldn't give up on dreams. But you also shouldn't let them become your reality. 

9. Every person you meet has something worth while in them. It's just harder to find with some people than others.

10. You cannot have an adventure unless you go out and make an adventure. 

11. Sometimes you just need to make a decision and jump. 

12. Too much of anything will kill you. Even too much of the good things.

13. You're never too old to climb trees. You're never to little to climb mountains.

14. If things are coming to an end, it's only because other things are coming to a beginning.

15. Life is hard for everyone, but those who do not choose to find joy in the ordinary have it harder than anyone else. 

Reindeer are better than people.

Please enjoy just a few of my Christmas ramblings:

God gave me Goat Santa so I would avoid Santa at Christmas time and instead think about Christ. 

Goat Santa is from a show called "Grim" which I shouldn't have watched because it freaked me out and gave me an irrational fear of Santa Claus. I may have boycotted Santa a little this year, and without him I finally realize what a huge symbol of Christmas he is. That is something I think is dumb. I think Christ should be the biggest symbol of Christmas out there, not Santa, and certainly not Goat Santa.

I like to sing Frozen songs and plan on building snowmen I will never probably never build. But if I did build a snowman he would have a drink in his hand, and his snow up against the burning sand, probably getting gorgeously tan in sumer! Wait what? Did I just quote Frozen again?

My favorite Sherlock Holmes is The Case of the Blue Carbuncle. It makes me think of Christmas eve nights making puzzles and cooking the Christmas breakfast for the next day. It hardly even has anything in it about Christmas, but I will forever think fondly of memories of Christmas. "My name is Sherlock Holmes, and it is my business to know things that other people don't."

I hope you enjoy Christmas as I do. I hope you don't let Goat Santa get to you and distract you from the true meaning. I also hope that you don't let petty things distract you from important things like singing Frozen songs and Christmas traditions, Satan tries hard to stop family from making good memories. I don't think that there has been any Christmas where he didn't try something. I hope you have the strength to ignore it. Merry Christmas.

Swag makes me gag

I decided that "swag" is a drug, that everyone is secretly taking. I am not interested in drugs, I keep the word of wisdom. Back off swaggies. The word "swag" actually has three informal definitions:

A) Money or goods taken by a thief or burglar.

B) Products given away for free, typically for promotional purposes.

C) Marijuana. Typically of a low grade. 

 Did you know that in the United States, 97 people die a year from "swag"? Ok, so I just made that up, but at least 97 swaggies are probably murdered a year by the folks who find them obnoxious. Swag is deadly. I just want to let everyone in on a little secret now, "swag" is not a synonym with "cool". It is a synonym with "cheap marijuana". In case you are suffering a bad case of "swagvocabitis" I have a few suggestions for you on some new words to describe yourself that are actual synonyms with "cool":

-Lover of family

-Subject of a black and white photo

-Owner of a nice camera

-Online shopper

-Watcher of "My Cat From Hell"

-Late sleeper

-Kind to others

-Close to the spirit

-Player of Nancy Drew

-Reader of good books

-Open minded

-Hard worker

-Lover of the light

-Shakespearean enthusiast 

-Kindred spirit

Well, now that your vocabulary consists of more words than "swag" and "yolo", I hope you will start to change the world, one synonym at a time. Now go out, take chances, make mistakes and (most importantly) be cool and not swaggy. 

February 18th

14 Things I learned from being 14:

1. The quickest way to unhappiness is to compare yourself to someone else

2. When a friendship is mended it is stronger

3. Change is hard. Liking it is harder

4. Of all the places in the world to be, home is my favorite

5. Happiness is a choice. A hard choice, but an important one

6. Friends will come and go. Crying over that is just stupid, understandable, but stupid

7. Confidence is easier than the world will ever let you know

8. What you worry about today you will have forgotten in a year

9. Having cool shoes makes every day a little brighter

10. Do what makes you happy

11. The only flakes I want in my life are the ones in a cereal bowl

12. I like being alone too much. 

13. An awkward life is a happy life

14. Attention is scarce. You can either try and get it, our give it.