Quick response to last post:

CURSE YOU NETFLIX!!!

Why must you put such amazing period drama romances on Watch Instantly just as I'm going back to school and wrote a whole post about avoiding them??

This is a very real trial to me.

Sympathize, please.

The Dangers of "Austentatious" Living

Dear readers,

As you probably know (or could guess), I am a Jane Austen FANATIC.

I've done little to keep this a secret. In fact, at times I have literally squealed my love of Jane Austen, her novels, and their excellent movie adaptations to the world. Here's a small sampling of my credentials for writing this Austen-centric post:

-I've read Pride and Prejudice at least a dozen times.

-Collin Firth emerging, dripping, from the lake puts me in real danger of hyperventilation.

-I cried the last time I watched the end of Sense and Sensibility (1995).

-I have taken numerous "Which Jane Austen heroine are you?" quizzes. (Elizabeth Bennet or Emma Woodhouse, if you must know.)

The list most certainly goes on (and on... and on...), but I'll spare you since there really is a point to this post.

Last night, as I lay in bed feeling a bit sick on New Year's Eve, I watched the four hour Emma (2009) BBC miniseries. At one point, Mom popped her head in to check on me, and as she left made the comment "Just think of all the women who have been comforted by Jane Austen's stories."

Yes, thought I, BUT: Her stories might just be the reason we're so unhappy in the first place!

To prove my point, I've created a rudimentary flow-chart explaining my thought process every time I enter an Austen obsession. (See Diagram 1) This chart also helps explain why last night in my dream I married an attractive young man (who kissed like Mr. Thornton from North and South) and became mistress of a VERY large and beautiful estate in 18th century England.

Diagram 1.

Why it is that I, an intelligent, happy, not-unhandsome young women have still never had a boyfriend, never held a boy's hand, and never been kissed? Well, I'll tell you why. Because every time I've had the opportunity to go for something like that, and every time someone has been interested in me, I compare him to an Austen hero.

And that's just not fair, for either of us!

The boys (while they could learn a lot from the charming manners, witty conversation, and flair for fashion demonstrated by most Austen men) should not be held up to such a ridiculously high standard of perfection.

What's more, we girls should be free from the idea that life sucks and we're deficient if we're not being invited to balls and house parties, receiving well-written love letters, and being proposed to at 18 by ardent and smolderingly attractive gentlemen.

As a way of acting on the momentous realization that it MAY be possible to consume too much of Jane Austen's works, I've made a goal:

This semester, I'll be working on increasing the fun I have and the schoolwork I do, while reducing the number of chick-flicks I watch. In this way, I hope to be a more accomplished, intelligent, witty, and happy woman when the right gentleman comes along.

... And be perfectly content in the meantime if he takes his sweet time getting here.

Yours truly,

Libby

Parental Perspectives

Last night as we were falling asleep, my roommate, Kyla, and I discussed our parents: the way they raised us, their family cultures and how they passed those on to us, and the way they share advice. As I talked about my parents, I realized that they give advice in very different ways. However, when combined, their advice allows me to get the best perspective possible of the situation.

Possibly due to my exciting emergency trip to the Optometrist's office today (which resulted in my eye being examined under a black light, a goody bag full of lubricating eye drops and gels, and an eye patch vaguely reminiscent of a rakish pirate wench), I found that I could best explain my parents' advisory styles with an Optometry metaphor. So here it goes:

MOM: Nearsighted Advice (Specific, relevant, detailed)

When I come to my mom for advice, I get sympathy, discussion, and answers. This is "nearsighted" advice which allows me to focus my thoughts, map out my course of action, and make the changes or do the things that will help me fix the situation troubling me. Take, for example, school work:

Libby- Mom! Help! I'm so overwhelmed with school, have so much to do, and three big essays to write in the next three weeks. Oh... and I haven't even started them yet!

Mom- Oh, I'm so sorry! Here, sit down next to me on the couch and I'll show you how to add tasks to your google calendar and work with you to map out your paper writing for the next few weeks.

Libby- [Feels relieved because she knows her work will get done . . . somehow.]

DAD: Farsighted Advice (philosophical, theoretical, calming, focus on perspective)

My dad has a much different way of offering assistance. In our metaphor, he gives farsighted advice. Though often woefully lacking in sympathy, maturity (ex. making puns out of every distressed word that escapes my lips), and immediately applicable advice, he is the one person who can consistently manage to calm me down and direct me in a good direction. Here is an example of "Dadvice", in response to the exact same rant posed earlier to Mom:

Libby- Dad! Help! I'm so overwhelmed with school, have so much to do, and three big essays to write in the next three weeks. Oh... and I haven't even started them yet!

Dad- You haven't started yet and you want sympathy? Well, schoolwork is important, but it isn't everything. [Begins quoting an article he has read in the economist about Chinese schools and how they do so well on standardized tests but often struggle with real-world skills. This morphs into an animated discussion about American values and whether we're all we think we're cracked up to be.]

Libby- [Leaves conversation feeling like even if she does badly on the papers, life will be fine, because there's more to life than her Political Science and Sociology classes. At the same time, after this educated discussion she feels smart enough to take on any paper college could possibly throw out. ]

TOGETHER: 20 / 20 Vision (or at least clear enough to get by!)

I consider myself so lucky have such wise and caring parents helping me through the difficulties in my life! By combining their perspectives, I've been able to have a clearer idea of what I can do to reduce my stress and successfully navigate through problems.

To finish, here's one of my favorite Robert Frost poems that I feel deals brilliantly with the idea of switching between perspectives:

The Vantage Point

If tired of trees I seek again mankind,

Well I know where to hie me—in the dawn,

To a slope where the cattle keep the lawn,

There amid lolling juniper reclined,

Myself unseen, I see in white defined

Far off the homes of men, and farther still,

The graves of men on an opposing hill,

Living or dead, whichever are to mind.

And if by noon I have too much of these,

I have but to turn on my arm, and lo,

The sunburned hillside sets my face aglow,

My breathing shakes the bluet like a breeze,

I smell the earth, I smell the bruisèd plant,

I look into the crater of the ant.

Robert Frost

A Sample Platter of BYU Life

Dear Kind and Wonderful Blog Reader,

It's been a while since I've posted... (It seems like all my posts begin this way.) You'd think that by now I would have stopped apologizing for this fact, but apparently not!

Anywho. Life's been so busy over the last few months, mostly because [drumrolllll...]

I'M IN COLLEGE AT BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY!

Life here is so much more extreme, in both good and bad ways, than I expected. The first couple of weeks were crazy (who knew that six girls in one dorm could cry so much?), but it's all leveled out a bit now, and I'm able to appreciate so much more of the BYU experience.

So now, for your dining pleasure: a sample platter of my life at BYU!

Dish #1: ROOMMATES!

This picture isn't quite right, because it's missing my incredible roommate Loretta, but it's the only one I have with most of us. My roommates and I have become closer than I ever imagined friends could be. We've danced together in the kitchen at midnight, poured milk into Talia's eye when she rub jalapeno juice into it by accident when boys were over for dinner, made delicious magic blueberry muffins, and watched General Conference together in our tiny kitchen.

Despite all the fun things we do, we're so much more than just best friends. We've also got a sisterhood and sense of family. We spent a night crying about the overwhelming first few weeks at BYU, and ended up all sleeping in one room on the floor. We have roommate prayers when any of us are struggling. And when one roommate decides to go on a walk at 11:30 at night by herself without telling anyone, sans cell phone? Yeah. We've got all the girls out on a search party, with the library security involved. And then we celebrate her not being dead by drinking hot chocolate and having a long talk about apartment rules.

We've got each other's backs. (We also have a ridiculous amount of fun.)

Dish #2: FHE FAMILY!

One of the things I love about campus wards is that they recognize how lost you can feel when you don't live with your family anymore. Since it's so important to have people to trust, spend time with, and support, the ward divides itself up into Family Home Evening groups, or families.

My roommates and I lucked out BIG time. Our family is spontaneous, funny, supportive, crazy, spiritual, talented, and loving. Not only are we a family, we're getting to be really good friends. We see each other Monday nights, go to devotionals together, have random campfire and s'more parties at night in the middle of Heritage halls, and go tunnel singing on Sunday nights.

I'm so grateful for the fun and friendship we all share!

Dish #3: LONG STUDY HOURS...

Neither of these people is me... but I've definitely been there lately. (My favorite napping spot is the top floor of the JSB, on those comfy couches, in the sunlight, looking out the massive floor to ceiling windows at the testing center and Maeser building. 'Case you were wondering.)

Something I was not prepared for was how much STUDYING you do in college! Sure, you have fewer classes, but you make up for that by studying SIXTEEN hours in one week for a midterm in Political Science... and then doing horribly... not that this scenario actually happened.. *cough* Moving on.

Dish #4: COLLEGE HUMOR

(We tried to get the base off for a long time, but couldn't get it off. Solution? Slap this sign on there, and hand it to boys passing by the apartment. Worked like a dream.)

(Sometimes my roommate needs to use my scarf to cover her curlers. And sometimes we wrap it like a turban. And take pictures.)

(Talia dressed up as the snake in the Garden of Eden for family home evening.)

(One of my co-workers and I have war going on. I hate the desktops she chooses, so I retaliate, and we go back and forth like that. This one was mine... )

(Posted outside of the testing center during midterms. What a happy campus!)

Dish #5: BYU'S GOT TALENT!

This Wednesday I got to compete in the campus talent show. Everyone was so amazing, and it was great to see everybody's different skills, from a girl who could sing exactly like Adele, to a boy who created dialogue in a fake foreign language and acted out a dramatic love tragedy! I ended up winning FIRST PLACE in the competition with my original song "Boys and Bicycles", based off of a quote my dad used to always tell me when I'd complain about boys. "Remember, Libby. A girl needs a boy like a fish needs a bicycle." It was SO fun to get to perform in front of everyone, and an amazing feeling to have an entire crowd laughing and cheering during the song, and then screaming for me in the voting at the end. I was high on adrenaline at that point. :)

(Painting/drawing by my FHE sister ReyLynn)

The best part was having so many family members and friends show up to cheer me on. I don't think there's anything better than looking at the front row and seeing a huge line of friends holding signs and pictures and smiling at you while you're on stage! It gave me so much confidence to know that I had people there who cared about me and believed I could do a great job. Thanks so much for everyone who came or wished me well!

So there you have it. My life so far at BYU summed up in a single blog post.

I'm working on trying to be more diligent with blogging, so we'll see how that goes. Be on the lookout for more exciting college exploits soon!

Love,

Libby

Hoping For a Fairytale... Sort of.

Lately I've been thinking of fairytales... but not the Disney kind, with flawlessly beautiful princesses and static, unattainably perfect princes who waltz off to a happy ending.

I'm thinking about the darker fairytales, where nursemaids sometimes try to kill off their little wards so their own ugly daughter can marry the prince, and the prince trying to save Rapunzel gets his eyes scratched out by the rose bush. Gruesome? Yes. Morbid? Sometimes. But I find the stories much more applicable to life than frilled, bright, happy movies with a catchy musical score.

When my Dad used to tell me the story of Cinderella, the wicked stepsisters cut off their heels to try to fit into the glass slippers. Looking back, I find it funny that my Dad told that version of the story to an eager 5 year old. But I'm quite glad he did, because there's a dark truth about that part of the story. Sometimes people will do terrible things if they want something badly enough.

In the Hans Christian Andersen story, The Little Mermaid, the young girl doesn't long to go to the surface so she can "stay all day in the sun" or be part of a handsome prince's world. Rather, she had heard that humans had immortal souls, while merpeople merely turned to foam on the ocean tops. The story doesn't end happily for her. But in the story, she displays great human characteristics of hope, courage, and honor, traits which the perky and flirtatious Ariel of Disney fails to impress upon her viewers. When the story is finally told, which will have a more lasting impact? The dazzling redhead who claimed her prince and lived in a palace happily ever after? Or the yearning young woman who sacrificed her immortal soul to save the man she loved?

The dark fairytales offer a more complex and balanced view of life, acknowledging its struggles and imperfections while proving that it is possible to find happiness, though it may not be in the way we expect.

So when I say I hope my life will be a fairytale, please understand me.

I don't ask for a handsome prince to find me combing my long, golden tresses while singing. (Though to be honest I wouldn't complain.)

What I hope for is a life filled with oddities and mysteries, unexpected twists, and complex characters. I know that there will be moments of darkness, and I may at some point (metaphorically!) cut my heels off to try to fit a glass slipper. But in the end I hope to be the strong woman who emerges from the gloomy forest where the wolves lurk, confident in my ability to save myself.

Lady of Athens

In our Creative Writing class we're completing a unit on mythology, and our final project involves being assigned a god or goddess, dressing up, and briefly giving a presentation on them. Needless to say, there's been a lot of drama about who got assigned what, which god had an affair with who, and planning of costumes.

Most of us were quite satisfied with our assignment. But not one. My friend Lauren (witty, sarcastic, and sworn off of men for the foreseeable future) got assigned the goddess Aphrodite. Now obviously, the teacher only assigned her this to see her squirm and watch her protest loudly that she should have been the great huntress Artemis. However, I don't think he quite realized what he was getting himself into. She still hasn't stopped complaining. If you need more proof, pop on over to her blog and find out for yourself.

As for me? Well. I got Athena, the Lady of Athens herself. Besides being the goddess of warfare and wisdom, she became my patron goddess a couple of years ago. She may have been pleased with the fact that for Halloween in 8th grade I marched about the halls of my middle school in a flowing toga, bearing a homemade shield constructed of cardboard, duct tape, and tin foil. Maybe she chose to support me because I read every Percy Jackson and the Olympians book obsessively, several times. But it could also be that I have an owl (her special symbol) collection to rival anything you could find on mount Olympus. Anyway. Among lots and lots of other things I do to pay homage to my favorite goddess, she just decided that she likes me... which is probably why I get to represent her in my presentation.

After the assignments were given, we marched across the hall to the computer lab to do a little research on our characters. Let me paint the scene for you:

------------------------

Me: "Hey Lauren! Look! It says here that I'm also the goddess of "civilization, strength, strategy, crafts, justice and skill"! How cool is THAT?"

Lauren: "Aughhh!!!! I can't even find a picture of me wearing clothing!"

Me: "Wait, you knew that Athena wasn't born, right? That she sprung out of the head of Zeus, clothed in full armor?"

Lauren: "... *Insert death glare here*... You don't even want to know how I was born. "

Me: "Woah. Says here that your nickname is "She who comes at Dusk". Gee, I wonder why you come at that time?"

Lauren: "Shut up. Just SHUT UP, alright??!!"

-------------

Not gonna lie, I was totally goading her on purpose, but it's kinda hard not to gloat when you get the coolest goddess in all of mythology to represent.

But Aphrodite: If I ever have some time in between directing wars, imparting wisdom, and tapestry weaving, and if you get sick of dating all those attractive heroes? Show a little love and share 'em with your good friend the virgin goddess of Athens, yeah?

...AND we're back!

I'm aware I haven't written in a while. And that's fine, since I'm fairly sure no one has checked up in a while in blogo-land, so I don't feel terribly guilty!

However, I feel like I've been in a rut with cooking lately (school does that to a person), and so in an attempt to get back in the groove, I'm going to write more.

Today I will share with you my very favorite website for helping me to think of things to cook. May I present:

Foodgawker is a website where bloggers from all over the world can post their beautiful food photography. The most delectable looking food in the world is available for your viewing pleasure... this very instant! The best part? Click on the picture, and it takes you directly to the blog, which usually has the recipe on it!Even if you don't choose to follow the recipes exactly, it helps a TON with giving ideas on what to cook!

My favorite features of the website require you to have a username and password, but just do it. It's free! Once you are logged in, you can click on the tiny heart in the lower right-hand corner to "favorite" an item. You then also have the opportunity to write notes about it, or tag it (ex. meat, dinner, quick, easy). Then, at a time when you may be strapped for time, or looking for something to do with a specific ingredient, just go to "Favorites" up at the top, and click on the tabs to find what you saved!

I've found Foodgawker to be intuitive, interesting, and EXTREMELY helpful! I hope you pop on over for a look!

http://foodgawker.com/