Grandma Got Ran Over By a Reindeer. Santa was paid in milk and cookies.

This is how you should get into the holiday spirit!!!

[Disclaimer: not for the geriatrically sensitive.]

I'm behind schedule

By two hours and eight minutes.
And I'm not even at the library!

Sigh.

I've been getting more acquainted with the blogosphere lately (mostly wedding ones. turbly gorrrgeous) so that's how I've wasted my morning thus far. My stack of six books of Shakespeare literary criticism next to my laptop on the right, and on the left, my black mug of ice water, and directly in front of me my Word document peeking out from behind my blog sites-- I can sense my impending academic stress breathing down my neck.

But how breathtaking is the back of this wedding dress?

found here.
although I couldn't find this dress specifically to find out how mind-bombingly expensive it is. boo. i'd like to know.

AND I discovered the coolest engagement photo shoot concept.See the rest of the session go here.

attention:

For the average of 1.3 people per month who may peruse my blog (Jenna that means you) puh-lease don't take this as a sign that I'm getting marriage pangs or that I'm planning my own nuptials. An important disclaimer. Weddings and engagements and dresses and love are simply lovely.

Meltdown, Epiphany, Repeat.

I'm transitioning my way out of a period of despair:
I've been killing myself with school, and I finally realized what's wrong with that.

James 4:14~
Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.

from The Tempest, W. Shakespeare~
Our revels now are ended. These are actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits and
Are melted into air, into thin air:
And, like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made on, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.

4:17 Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.

Life here, right now, is miniscule.

Life is just too too too short to be wasting time doing things that aren't good and that don't make you happy-- and NOT doing things that make you truly happy. It's too short to be wasting it being miserable!

Life is too transitory, too precious to waste to not ALWAYS be LIVING. That's right, living. Enjoying life and having Real Life Experiences-- exercising and eating healthy and getting enough sleep and reading those books that you've always wanted to but never had time for.

Real Life Experiences like falling in love and it fading over time and falling in love and holding onto it for Ever. Real Life Experiences like spending time with a true friend and making time to really read the scriptures and getting to know your FHE family and being creative because dammit if you're not creating what are you contributing?

Forget needing to get straight A's, forget having to prove yourself! Forget petty ambition or fear of being cliche or of being vulnerable. Forget putting Real Life Experiences on hold because you just don't have time for it right now, you have to get through school first.

This is Your Life, right now. There is no other time for Real Life Experiences! It's time twelve years ago to start living.

Amy, be happy. Do what makes you the happiest-- and I mean True Happiness, not eat-a-whole-bag-of-Milky-Ways happiness that ends up feeling more like fattiness. I mean looking at life as the teeny blip on heaven's chronological radar that it is, and to start making it the best Experience that you can, today, right now, every minute. Making yourself the Best person you're capable of.

Balloon Dog (Blue)

Jeff Koons is marvelous.

"Isn't life a series of images that change as they repeat themselves?" -Andy Warhol

Word of the Day: Lucidity

Meaning: Realizing exactly what you want and being at peace with it.

Frosted cheerios baked in cake.

I wonder if that would work.

It is 2 o'clock in the morning and that is what I'm thinking about.
Not about the two 400-500 word essays I have to write tonight.
Or the fact that I will have to be at work in less that 7 hours.

Oh, no.

Instead, I listen to the Colbert Report and think about food.
Because that's just how I roll.

What keeps me going? What keeps me from throwing myself into manic despair?
In 12 hours, it's the weekend.
[Weekend = EDP. Shakespeare Festival. Sleep. Sleep. Sleep.]

On Tuesday night, I went up to Salt Lake for a free promo screening of Adam. I'd been looking forward to this for weeks and I was not disappointed.

I went up with the boy and last minute his sister decided to come too, but Fox Searchlight apparently has an incompetent tech department so she never got her RSVP email. I'm sure we can finagle [flirt] you into the movie, I told her, so don't worry about it.

We go up to the theater box office for our tickets:

[Window girl, seeing me and Jenna-- the boy was parking]: Hi, do you need 2 tickets?
[Me]: Actually, we need 3, but we only have a confirmation ticket for 2 because--
[Window girl, nodding slyly]: That's fine. [Hands me 8 tickets.]

Well. Guess we didn't have to worry about that one.



So the movie was adorable. Not only did it start off talking about The Little Prince, AND have 2! Joshua Radin songs in the soundtrack AND take place in New York City, it was fabulously well acted and deliciously endearing. Go see it when it's in general release! Unless you live in NY or LA, in which case you can go see it NOW and I'll be jealous.

After the movie, of course we went to The Pie. I think this was the third or fourth time that the boy and I have gotten Pie pizza in the past month or so. Not that I'm complaining. I'd just like to note that 3 weeks ago when I first suggested we go up to Salt Lake to see the movie, the boy had said,
Okay, we can leave as soon as I get home from work, eat dinner somewhere, then see the movie.
At the Pie? I asked knowingly.
No, he scoffed. There are tons of places to eat in Salt Lake City, we'll find somewhere new. Some type of food neither of us have had in a while. It's good to get a little diversity.
Yeah! Like Thai? Or Mongolian! Have you ever had Mongolian barbecue...

And on.

But it ended up that on the long-awaited day he got off work late so we didn't have time for dinner before the movie. But afterwards, we were hungry so he goes, with a twinkle in his eye,
I am in Salt Lake City. You know where we're going?
The Pie?
You know it!

Had he forgotten the conversation we had had several weeks prior? Yes.
Isn't it "good to get a little diversity"? I thought so.
Do I know Brian better than he knows himself sometimes? Apparently so.
The whole situation makes me smile. Because my green pepper and red onion side of our pizza was delicious, as always.

My new favorite starry-eyed romance.