i love pres. hinckley

I haven't been able to fully wrap my brain about what has just happened. I have experience with death. A lot of experience...more than I would like. But the blow is never diminshed despite how many times you have seen death.

Pres. Hinckley, the beloved prophet of my church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) passed away today at the age of 97. While I have loved every prophet that has presided over the church, and have respected their work and have gained a testimony of the principles that they taught, Pres. Hinckley has always been my prophet. I have loved him from the very beginning...and even before that. As a young child I remember dreading the fact that we had to watch all 8 hours of conference. But when Pres. Hinckley spoke, I was all ears. For some reason I was just drawn to him, his words, and his love.

I guess I could launch into a schpiel about all of the wonderful things that he has done for the church, over his lifetime, for me personally--but I won't. I guess I just wanted to say that I love him and that I will miss him. I am grateful for the way that he has influenced me and for the things that he accomplished in his lifetime. While I am sad at the loss (and it is great), I am happy to know that he has been reunited with his sweet wife. Any time apart from the love of your life has got to be terrible. I am grateful for the principle of eternal families and of life extending beyond the grave. I feel blessed to know this. I feel blessed to have a deep and abiding testimony of this.

And so as we welcome in the new prophet (President Monson) and his counselors (Pres. Eyring and Pres. Uchtdorf) let us pay final tribute to Pres. Hinckley by being a little kinder, a little more compassionate, a little more loving and forgiving. Let us attend the temple more frequently. Let us donate a little more generously. Let us stand a little taller and be the best that we can be.

enchanted

I don't know what it is about this movie, but I just love it. Enchanted is definitely one of those movies that will end up in my rather extensive DVD collection. But more than being just a part of the collection, it will be revered. Perhaps it will reside with the "special collections". Not that I have a special collections, but maybe I should create one.

A few reasons I love this movie:

1. Patrick Dempsey--I know, I know. I feel like a sell out. Doesn't everyone love him? Otherwise known as McDreamy, Patrick has captured the hearts of many a lass. I don't watch G.Anatomy but can appreciate those stellar blue eyes just as well as anyone else.

2. James Marsden--Just as dreamy as Patrick but has a voice that can melt you. Granted his character was a little, well, brainless but that is just fine by me. His intentions were good. (This does not transfer to the real world.)

3. Amy Adams--she did a fabulous job playing a princess totally out of her element--brilliant, really. AND, this is the best part, she was in The Office and got to play Jim's girlfriend. (Jealous!)

4. The music--I loved the music. I still love the music. I even bought the soundtrack and am shamelessly listening to it right now.

5. Laughter till it hurts--I laughed my head off the first time I saw this movie and did the same even the second time. So clever.

Congratulations, Disney! You done good...

in heat

Housing in New York has a life of its own. Not only is it a pain in the bum to even find housing, but it is also a bigger pain in the checking account--and sometimes that pain can become life threatening. But aside from any monetary woes I may drone on and one about and despite even the harried adventures of living in my particular building, there are some things that continually nag at me and send my temperature through the roof.

UTILITIES--heat in particular

For the first two years of living in New York, my former roommate and I took every conceivable measure to conserve heat. We never turned the valve on. We put plastic over our windows. We did all of those "conserving energy tips" found in those free utility booklets narrated by a friendly light bulb. Try as we might, we just couldn't get that bill down. Come to find out, we weren't paying for heat. It comes "free" with the building, "free" with our overpriced rent payment. So despite our great efforts to save, our cold mornings and freezing appendages were in vain (in regards to saving money). The minute we realized our folly, we cranked that baby up.

How lucky I was to have that type of control because now I have ZERO. My new apartment comes equipped with hissing and rattling radiators, but no valve. I canvased every inch of those things, but my search was futile because I never found one. On a particularly warm day when the radiator was radiating in all of its glory, I decided to dismiss my pride and ask my super the "dumb" question about where to find the valve. He told me that he controls the building's heat so there is no valve. He turns it on when he thinks it's cold.

The words took a moment to sink in and when they finally did, they sank to the bottom of my stomach and landed with a thud. I couldn't control the heat? That was the most ridiculous thing I had ever heard! Given that my body temperature always seems to be 10 degrees higher than anyone else's, I knew--I just knew, that I would somehow whither up and die.

Four days ago, the temperatures outside were pleasant enough to wear a light jacket, yet the radiator blazed on. Windows were open and I slept with a sheet because the dumb thing didn't shut off. Five months ago, the same thing happened. But that was August! Now, it is just cold enough outside that I can't tolerate the chill that the outside brings so the window remains closed. The radiator is hissing now and the temperature in my apartment is close to comfortable. I pray that it will continue on this way. I hate being in a fight that I can't control.

sarah, sarah, no time is a good time for goodbye

So my dear friend Sarah just came back from an amazing, 3-month, African adventure. Needless to say, I am completely jealous. Jealous of her experiences, jealous of her bravery, and jealous that she is just cool enough to do something like that. This girl went with a solid plan that lasted about 3 weeks and then just winged it from there. There is no way that I could do something like that even if I tried. I would have surely ended up dead or stranded and you would have never heard from me again.

Anyway, on her way back home (Washington state), she made a short pit stop to the city. She told us of her adventures and showed us some amazing pictures. It was so good to see her. It was like she had never even left. That's when you know someone is a good friend...when you can just pick right up where you left off and things are just like they have "always" been. Aw, Sarah, I miss you!