Who Says

1. raise your hand if you think JLo should stop recording music. I see that everyone's hands are raised. (I bow).

2. I am not ashamed to admit that I listen to "Boyfriend" on repeat daily. I haven't synced my ipod to my itunes in a couple of days, but the play count just in itunes is 36. The song is 4 minutes long. that's a lot of bieber time.

3. One direction. Have taken over and consumed my life, in a really great way. I never thought the boy band would be super cool again (at least for a really long time), but I was very wrong. One Direction has it all. And I am in love. with their whole album. and their cute little 18 year old faces. love them. Go to vevo.com, type in "one direction," and watch all of their videos. You will not even be able to hear the music "over their gorgeousness" (glozell).

4. See future post for my weekend in St. George--- a couple weeks ago. I have realized that my stg weekends are the most eventful recently... I hope that means it's just getting close to finals and all my friends who are students are occupied and that once summer starts my social life will start to get fun agan. I hope i hope i hope i hope. Because I miss my friends.

5. I just finished reading Mockingjay again. And it is so beautiful. I enjoyed it a lot more the second time-- I mean, I still have my complaints. But that's because the book is about a war. It's not going to end neatly and perfectly, exactly the way you want it. It's about pain and struggle and suffering, and somehow, it feels very real. Suzanne Collins gave the world a gift. And I hope people realize what she is trying to teach us. I love the way she paints life, imperfections of humanity, painful hope for the future, and how overwhelmingly, there is always something to live for-- even in the most desperate of situations. People go on living. They survive. And it's beautiful. It's colorful and dramatic and anxious and real.

6. When I read those books I have dreams about them all night--- for days. And it's not pleasant, but I like it. I feel like, if I have dreams about something, it means it has really left an impression in my brain. And that's cool. I want to be able to do that for people one day. Teach what I want them to know--- so that they think about it hard enough that it pervades their mind in sleep. But how do I do that? That, my friends, is the lifelong pursuit. Finding a way to make an impact on people. Teach them what I know. And I'm not talking about brainwashing, obviously. I'm talking about inciting crucial critical thinking.

Excited for real now.

So... about a week ago I got a new job. A dream job. The exact job that I wanted, actually.

Drumroll please.

Starting on Monday, I will be working at the Church History Library in Salt Lake City.

notice: this building is kitty-corner from temple square and directly across the street from the Conference Center. Excellent location.

I COULD NOT BE MORE EXCITED.

I first saw the posting for this job in March, late one Saturday night (when I say late, I mean like 1am), and I knew instantly: this is my job. MY JOB. 

So I applied, and within a week I had a phone interview. The interview went okay... but there were some timing problems. They needed me to start before graduation, and I wasn't even going to be back in Utah by then. 

I was actually a little bit relieved because I hadn't wanted to start working full-time immediately after student teaching. I needed a significant break. And a significant break I have had (try 2.5 months), during which I had great anxiety about getting a job and supporting myself. It's hard to carry out your big plans when you have no money. Seriously.

So I tried to get other jobs. Any job really....But one of the jobs I finally did get was at the church Vault in Little Cottonwood Canyon. I was really excited about that one. BUT. The guy at the library called me last week (before I was supposed to start at the vault) and said he had another spot open up that we wanted me to interview for. So I did. And I got the job. 

Dreams come true.

This is my testimony. Things will always work out. They can be stressful and confusing and give you great anxiety, but the Lord always provides a way. I'm just so grateful that everything has worked out this way. I have loved my time off, but I'm excited to get back to a schedule and start working. And you know what? I think I'm going to love this job.

The Ring

I'm posting this now, just so you all know. This is my dream engagement ring. The band will be thinner, though.
Just to avoid confusion in the comments: this is for when I get married, very, very, very far in the future.