I'm Paula Dean, Y'all!

Y'all. I'm like the art version of Paula Dean. I want art in in all my creations, in all its forms, in everything I breathe. Instead of butter, I need art. I'm Paula Dean, y'all. 

So...I've got another project in the works, and it's all about art. Bet you didn't see that coming.

Utah County is sorely lacking in art lessons, so I will now be offering private art lessons and children's art parties to awesome people who love art. I'm super excited! And I made a blog, so just hustle your butt over and check it out.

2013 Bucket List Challenge: Get Something Published

This post is a part of the 2013 Bucket List series, in which I tell the whole world my goals so I have to complete them. You can read the original post here. Here is an update on one of my 2013 goals:

If you lived in Provo, and were looking for some sort of Provo-related news and entertainment, you could go to provobuzz.com and most likely see an article written by me.

That's right, ladies and gentlemen! My semi-life-long dream of being published somewhere has finally come true. I realize that I write for this blog all the time, but there's something so validating about having an actual website tell you you're allowed to contribute. It's a great feeling. 

Just in case my mother is worrying at this point about my ability to make a living like a real adult, I'm not quitting my day job for this. I'll be contributing one article a week. But hey, it's something. And I get to write about the town I have lived in for seven years. I know this place like the back of my hand...literally. One time Matt blindfolded me and drove me around the city so I wouldn't catch on to his romantic anniversary plans, and I could tell where we were at every turn. 

Anyway...

Writing content for a website that people actually read is a little daunting. I feel like I can write almost whatever I want on here because the readers are mostly people I know and love. This is not the case for Provo Buzz, and I'm worried that I'll get some hate mail at some point. Until then, I'm loving this image:

My year of the Bucket List Challenge is shaping up to be pretty awesome. 

Balter

I have this personality flaw where I'm always wanting what I can't have. When I was single I spent way too much time wishing I weren't. Now that I look back on just a few years ago, I miss things that only could have happened while I was living in an apartment full of crazy awesome girls.

Example:

One night we decided to go clubbing...

In Provo that means finding a place where people your age are trying to look cool by dancing self-consciously to radio music. It was a pretty normal night out and we were having a great time.

Then we noticed this girl dancing next to us who had us transfixed. She was beautiful in that way that makes you want to hate her but you can't...because she looked awesome. She was disheveled but clean, cared but didn't care, and probably liked to sneak into swimming pools and could convince complete strangers to do so with her. She's the kind of girl that all guys want to date because she's the perfect mix of girly +  boyishly laid-back.

The way she danced literally made me stare at her, because I had never seen anything like it before. Her head was down, her eyes were closed, her knees were kind of bent, her arms were in raptor mode, and no matter how fast the song was, she always moved her body slowly with the smallest movement imaginable, and the most movement came out of here fingers. She looked like she was playing an imaginary piano with her eyes closed, and she did not give one **** as to who saw her. I was transfixed.

Ever since, my friends and I have perfected that dance and have spread it like butter. Even more liberating than the Harlem Shake.

And now I have a word for it.

My 2012 in Review

What's that? You want a re-cap of everything that happened to me this year? Okay!!

Check out highlights of this year after the jump...

Pants

I'm sure by now you have heard about the renegade call for LDS women to wear pants to church this Sunday. I have read a few articles about it (go here for more context. I especially loved cJane's take on the subject) and I don't entirely know how I feel about the whole situation. This is what I do feel...

I believe that church is a time to worship God, learn more about the Gospel, and build community with fellow LDS members.

I believe that God does not care about what we wear to church as long as it is our best and we are fully clothed.

I believe that pants are not the thing that make men and women equal.

I enjoy femininity and the spirit that comes with being a woman. (edit: I'm not saying that wearing pants to church makes you less feminine. I'm just saying that I enjoy being feminine, and I also enjoy being a strong woman, and those are not mutually exclusive.)

Skirts are more comfortable than pants. Pants can be just as dressy as skirts. Neither alone will secure my place in the Celestial Kingdom.

Women and men were created to work together as partners. Men are not above women. Women are not above men. We have equally important roles, and clothing does not change that.

What do you think? Just as on my Facebook, I welcome all opinions as long as they are respectful and in a spirit of discussion, not bashing.

And whatever you do, please just don't wear these to church...or ever:

Friday Favorites

It's Friday! Why is Monday so close to Friday, when Friday is so far from Monday?

Our best friends got married to each other this weekend! Other than that, we have spent the entire week detoxing from Thanksgiving. We have been hitting the gym way more than usual (easy, when the usual is never lately), cooking healthy meals, and overdosing on all things Christmas. This weekend we're going to see the lights at Temple Square (I'm a sucker for twinkle lights) and doing a temple session. Lesbehonest, a good portion of this weekend will also be spent on my rear.

Here are some of my favorite things this week:

Provo Christmas Bucket List

Guys. December is crazy. There are so many things to do, and yet somehow, I still end up sitting on my butt at home watching Christmas specials on TV. Love me some TV, but there are so many things to do in Utah during the holidays! I have compiled a list of the most exciting things happening in Utah Valley during the month of December. This is in no way an exhaustive list, but I did a lot of curating for you. For more complete calendars of events in Utah Valley, go here + here + here + here.

Weekend Update

Waiting

Today's lesson in Relief Society was about waiting on the Lord. We talked about having patience and faith in the Lord's timing while hoping so desperately for a specific thing to happen in our lives. The whole hour, I wanted so badly to raise my hand and comment about my most recent experience with waiting; to stand up tall and pontificate about the wonderfulness and the despair that comes with waiting. I wanted people to see that I had a trial that was very hard for me, and I feel like I learned to endure it with faith and grace. After all, my trial was literally to wait. In waiting for a missionary, I put on hold a temple marriage, children, and a more comfortable life (because he has yet to start college). I'm a pro at waiting! I was the perfect example of waiting! So why did the Spirit stop me from raising my hand and sharing my story?

I don't really know. But I have a guess.

Because my story of waiting, no matter hard it was for me, was not that hard.

Standing up and sharing my story of literally waiting for a missionary while others are quietly waiting for children to bless their homes, or enduring life after their spouse died, or surviving cancer, or waiting for a wayward child to return to the Gospel, seems trivial. I waited for my blessing for two years, but others wait lifetimes for theirs. 

Yes, I waited in a literal sense, and I used the Lord to get me through it. I had faith that I was doing the right thing, and I turned to God in times of doubt and weakness to lift me up. I waited on the Lord. But there are other, more significant ways to wait on Him. And supposing that my trial trumps all the other ones in the room is not fair. 

So I formulated what I would say if I were to stand up and give a speech, and then I listened to others tell their stories. 

I learned so much more by listening than by speaking.

Friday Favorites

What even happened this week? Here are a few of my favorite things from my life + around the Interwebz. Czech it out! 

(Friday Favorites will be a weekly thing from now on. Go here to see the first ever Friday Favorites post!)

Thanks to Pinterest, I am already planning ways to be a BOMB MOM. 100 ways to be kind to your child.

This girl has great style and a gorgeous face. She knows how to rock those curves.

When I have my imaginary children, I'll probably do this to help them remember far-away family members.

I was brave this Halloween and dressed up. I am not a huge fan of Halloween. Don't hate me. The 50 best costumes of 2012.

This guy  had a sister getting married, but didn't know what to get her. He made a list of ways he blew his previous two marriages to help her keep hers intact. Love it.

Remember how my BFFL was going cray producing Deep Love: A Ghostly Folk Opera? Well, we went to the last night at the Covey Center yesterday, and had a blast! I got so caught up in the music and emotion, and Matt was digging the changes in musical style from one song to another. It happens every Halloween in Idaho, Utah, and hopefully Washington, soon. Don't miss it next year!

My latest goal is to listen to the Book of Mormon while I get ready for the day and on my commute to work. It's so much easier for me than reading it, and I feel awesome when I get to work! There's an audio function on the LDS Gospel Library app that is super convenient.

I would like to go here, please...

Speaking of being a Champion of Truth, Gandhi is an OG.

This bird makes me so happy.

Christmas is coming! I am determined to start our own family traditions for every holiday. What's your favorite Christmas tradition?

I am trying to be a better teacher and teach the way children learn.

 Going to the gym is SO HARD this week. I don't think I went once. Oops...

 I had a dream last night that we owned a home and the mafia came barging in and took everyone hostage. Who's everyone, you say? Us and the Kardashians. They were just sitting in a corner saying things like, "O.M.G. I can't believe the MAFIA is here" and whatnot. I woke up terrified. The doorbell rang and I ran into our closet until I was sure the perpetrator was gone! Oh boy...

Lesbehonest. I'm doing preventative measures now to make sure Matt and I stay married forever :) Don't want to ruin a good thing! Here's some good advice that I will probably be taking in the next 65 years.

Matt and I want a dog so bad, but we just don't have the time or the space for one. I grew up with daschunds and just swoon every time I see a picture of one.

Look at that face!!!

Matt and I will be spending our weekend watching our nephew, Charlie. We're going to the dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point with C and the Johnsons, and then I have a bridal shower for future Mrs. Johnson. And hopefully, our friend Amy will have her baby! 

What did you do this week?

The 8th Wonder of the WORLD!

The first time I heard about the Kennecott Copper Mine, I was 19 and had probably never been anywhere in Utah but Provo, St George and downtown Salt Lake. Every couple of months, Matt would say, "We need to go to Kennecott Copper Mine," and then spew of a bunch of facts about it. I would utter some platitudes, and he wouldn't bring it up for another few months. I honestly had no idea what the lure of a big hole in the ground brought, and I avoided it like the plague. Who knows why.

Luckily, Matt went on his mission before I had to go! I thought the subject was tabled until he started bringing it up every few weeks. Matt finally decided he wanted to go for reals, and turned it into a double date so he could trick me into going! Little did I know, he tricked the other couple into going by saying, "Kellie REALLY wants to go see this." That little trickster!

He kept saying, "Kennecott Copper Mine is the only thing besides the Great Wall of China that you can see from SPACE! Space, babe. Space. I'm pretty sure it's the Eighth Wonder of the World." 

Alright...

(By the way, it's definitely not. But you can def see it from space.)

So yesterday we drove out to Herriman to see the mine. It was honestly a lot cooler than I thought it was going to be. Yes, it is a huge hole in the earth. But we have been watching Gold Rush a lot, and I've been getting excited about finding little specks of shiny stuff in millions of pounds of straight dirt. There was even a video explaining the mining process that was probably made in the 90s, seeing as the host's pants were basically up to her belly button (the higher the waistline, the older the pants). The hole is over a mile across! And the trucks they use to haul the dirt are bigger than Optimus Prime!

While we were there, I finally figured out why Matt cared so much about this hole. He loves digging! Give him a shovel and patch of ground and he would probably dig until he got to China. I don't know why, but he does, and I love that about him. I love that he cares so deeply about something that most people would not care about. That man's got passion in spades.

He's honestly the most endearing person I know.

So now I can say I've been to the Kennecott Copper Mine. If you have small children, or a husband who loves digging, just do it. And yell something awesome into the hole for me while you're there.

Stay-cation

As I mentioned in the last post, we have been stay-cationing a lot lately. If you are like me (obsessed with travel, but the extravagant bucket list in your head exceeds the lifestyle you can afford), stay-cationing is a great way to explore the world around you while staying within budget. I get restless if I don't travel, so I have tried to be a tourist in my own state. Here are a few things I have done to ease that wanderlust on my art teacher salary:

 Re-live past vacations

I feel the wanderlust, but really, we just went on our honeymoon to Mexico four months ago. We stayed at a resort for a week. I got to go to New York for work in February. And I lived in Italy a few years ago for two months. Matt just got home from two years in the Philippines. We've done our share of traveling. I was smart enough to blog about every single day of my study abroad (thank you, past self). Thinking about good memories helps the wanderlust subside.

The old bridge in Florence, Italy where we lived. 

My 20-year-old self at the top of the cathedral in Florence, Italy.

The David at the top of a hill overlooking Florence.

A water taxi ride in Venice, Italy.

On our honeymoon in May 

At Central Park in NY in February

Times Square!

Plan a vacation a year in advance

Ever since we started dating, Matt has wanted to take me to see the California Redwoods. I know, I know...I'm from California, but I've never been there! We are already planning a road trip for next summer. Planning so far in advance means that we can save up every month instead of having to find the money all at once. Plus, the excitement of our upcoming trip will probably keep me happy all winter long. The longer we wait, the more excited I'll be when we get there! We're going to rent a motor home and drive up the coast of California. I can't wait!

Do touristy things in your state

Last weekend, we took a road trip down to St. George and hiked The Narrows at Zion Nat'l Park with some mission friends. We stayed in a hotel the night before (can you say 13 people in 3 rooms??), hiked in for a few hours, and had a bonfire on the red rock that night. It was only 3 hours away, but that's all I needed to get my mind off of work + real life.

Before we left! 

The water was SO COLD! 

We hiked a few miles and turned back.

Take advantage of your town

I hate the question, "What are we going to do tonight?" Usually, it ends up being nothing because we have to spend all night planning! I have started using utahvalley.com and my personal google calendar to flag events up to 6 weeks in advance. I put any activity that sounds fun into my calendar, and when we're bored, we look up what's going on that night! We never use everything I save, but it's nice to have events at our fingertips when we need them.

My roommates and I used to host parties to get to know people in our ward. This party's theme was Cowboys and Alien.

Hiking in Springville! 

Springville Art City Days

Sometimes I go on walks by my house...

and see awesome things like this old house! 

Riverwoods Chalk the Block! 

Daydream on Pinterest

Sometimes just looking at pictures of other places helps me feel better about being stuck at home. I have a Pinterest board devoted to travel, and look at it anytime I need a mental vacation!

What do you do to take a mental vacation?