Birthday!

Yesterday was my birthday, the big 2-0. It was so fun! The first part was a bit uneventful. Having a birthday on Tuesday in the middle of winter semester isn't exactly amazing. It was also cold, which made me a bit sad. I went to my Family History and French classes and got a new ID card. When I came back to my apartment, I got a bit suspicious that something was going on inside. When I walked past our living room window, the blinds flew shut, and my roommate Jasmine stuck her head out the door and said "You can't come in yet!" So I was locked out and ended up just sitting in my car for a while.

Eventually they let me in, and they had decorated the apartment! It was so great! It was all green and yellow, my favorite colors. I had a gift from Jasmine sitting on my bed (a bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips included!). Then that night we had a party with my apartment and our FHE brothers. One of them, Ross, had a birthday a few weeks ago, so we had two cakes, one for each of us.

I'm hoping that, by starting a new year, I can set some goals for myself. I really want to focus on three areas, spiritual, academic, and physical. I made a list of things I want to work on, and I'm hoping I can stick with it!

And a month from today I'll be in London!

This was after Justin threw some cake in my face.

Success!

The birthday girl and boy.

Just a bit of the decorations.

Parents

In the past few days I've begun to see how really grateful I am for my parents. I think when we're younger and our parents try to give us advice, we tend to play it off that we know everything already. I know I did! However, once I got to college I realized that that definitely wasn't true. My mom seems to have this amazing ability to predict my future with choices I make, and the scary thing is she is always right! I've needed their advice and encouragement so much more in the past few months than ever before, and I'm so appreciative that they allow my siblings and I to come and talk to them about anything and everything.

I'm so glad that, while my parents are my friends, they don't try to come down to my level. I see so many moms who try to act and dress just like their teenage daughters, and it makes me so sad that they don't demand a level of respect like my parents do for me. Children need an authoritative figure in their lives, so it's hard to see moms and dads who are so worried about making their children hate them. They may hate you for a day or so, but in the end they'll appreciate the discipline. So, I've learned to listen to my parents, because I promise they really do know best!

Modernism

Today I was sitting in my English 292 class, and it hit me again how much I love British literature. We've recently started talking about the modernist movement in literature that followed the Victorian Period, and I love it. It's so interesting to me how each time period had its own style of literature. The modernists were influenced by change and by separating themselves as much as they could from the Victorian writers such as Tennyson, Browning, and Dickens. Currently we're reading James Joyce's "The Dead," which is such an interesting book because there are so many ways to interpret it. I'm so excited I'm in this class because I'm going to London for BYU study abroad in about a month and a half, and I can't wait to visit the places these authors lived and wrote. Once again I'm so glad I decided to major in English!

It was also so sunny today. Not quite warm yet, but still sunny. I love how happy I get when I can walk home from campus and not wear a jacket. Hopefully it'll keep warming up!

Recession Depression

We've all been hearing a lot about the recession our economy has fallen into, and recently I've become really interested in it. Especially because last week my hours at my job were cut in half. Not just mine, but everyone's. It's tough since I'm going to London in the spring and need some money! I read an article on Yahoo the other day that shook me up a bit. Warren Buffet, an economic mogul, said that our country has fallen off a cliff and that this recession could last another 3 years!

I was thinking about it, and this economy is affecting everyone in every little way. Every fashion magazine I've looked at is offering ways to dress well on a budget. As rough as it is, I think it's teaching us some good things. We're starting to learn how to live within or below our means. We can't have everything, and I think sometimes our country (myself included) believes that we have to. It's just about being smart. Brigham Young has a quote that my dad used to say to me all the time as a kid that I have come to have a new respect for: "Use it up, wear it out, make do, or do without."