Helping Japan

Dear Reader,

As most of you know, I lived in Japan when I was young and since then I have felt a strong connection to the country. Since the recent tragedy there I have been wanting to find a way that I could help them. Luckily my friend dropped an opportunity right in my lap.

She was putting together a fundraiser to raise money to donate to the LDS church's humanitarian fund. Basically it works like this: You go around door-to-door with a plate of cookies and a jar for money. You ask for a donation from whomever answers the door (and roommates), generally just loose change or whatever they have lying around. Nothing big. And then you give them a cookie (whether or not they give you a donation).

Such a good idea, right? I mean, if you were selling cookies to raise money people would be all, "Oh, that's okay, I don't really need a cookie. . . ." but if you just ask for money and have cookies as a bonus people are all, "Oh, yeah, sure! Let me see what I can find!"

Interestingly enough, we had many people turn down cookies, they just wanted to donate to the cause. It was really cool to see how many people were willing to give to help the people of Japan.

Natalie and I hit up my ward, part of her ward, and a small portion of my sister's ward. About 3 hours later we had raised over 160 dollars in people's spare change (and some very generous donations of 5 and 10 dollar bills). Crazy! And it was so easy and so much fun!

Last week my friend said they raised 400 dollars and they're going to be continuing this fundraiser through the end of the semester. Hopefully with our powers combined, along with the kind students of BYU, we'll be able to do some good for the people of Japan, or whoever else the Church decides to help with our donation.

If you are able, please donate whatever you can to help Japan and others affected by disasters throughout the world. Never underestimate the power of a penny. They add up surprisingly fast. Every little bit really does count!

Also I went to Best Buy today with Natalie so she could buy Tangled. And I may or may not have walked out owning these two movies. I am so weak.

P.S. Natalie took the pictures of the money. Give credit where credit is due.

Man I wish I had a crystal ball.

Dear Reader,

I watched Eat, Pray, Love tonight and, as it always does, it got me thinking about life.

With the impending graduation (less than a month away) and no job prospects, no plans after BYU, I've been thinking a lot about my life and what on earth I am going to do with myself in it.

And it's terrifying.

I've spent so long in school that I don't even know how to function outside of it. For my whole life I always had a goal I was working towards, and now that I'm graduating I've reached the end of my planning. Now all that's left are transparent dreams and flimsy hopes that may or may not come true.

I'm just afraid of being stuck. I'm almost 23. Assuming that I live until I'm at least 75, I have 52 years left of my life to fill. How am I supposed to know what I'm supposed to do with the rest of my life? And how do I avoid doing all the wrong things until I figure out what I am supposed to be doing?

I just don't want to live with regrets. I want to try everything, go everywhere, and, at all costs, avoid becoming stagnant.

Parents always tell their kids to dream big, that they can be anything they want to be. It's nice to know that we have a fan club of at least 2 people, but honestly, how many people actually aspire to what they end up doing for the rest of their life? Our society needs people to work the less-desirable jobs, but what if I end up as a barista at Starbucks, or a greeter at Walmart for the rest of my life? I couldn't live like that--unhappy and barely making enough money to pay the bills.

Ah, and this is where the root of our problem is: Money. Of course. What everyone hates and loves. It runs our lives. Let's put it this way, if I had endless amounts of money I wouldn't think twice about moving to London and attending pastry school for a year, or traveling to every country on my bucket list, or getting a masters degree in children's lit, or opening an animal shelter, or moving to Paris to learn French and get fat on pastries, or opening a bookstore that only sells children's books (all things I want to do, by the way. Except for the getting fat part. I just want to eat tons of pastries and lose weight at the same time. As long as I'm dreaming, right?).

But in reality I will probably move home for awhile. Hopefully find a job and move out of home. And be stuck.

Hence, why I must move to an interesting city. I think I wouldn't mind so much what I do for a job as long as I'm around people I like and have fun things to do (for free!).

DC, anyone?....

That time we created a squirrel army.

Dear Reader,

Last week Natalie and I created a squirrel army. Clarification: a cookie squirrel army.

For Sister Sampson.

Because she hates squirrels.

They began as harmless clones--

--and morphed into demonic rodents.

Needless to say, Sister Sampson's reaction was quite brilliant, and everything I had hoped for.

StPatrick'sDaypinchophobia

Dear Reader,

I have an acute case of StPatrick'sDaypinchophobia.

It all began about 15 years ago. I was living in Venezuela at the time, going to school at Colegio Internacional de Carabobo (CIC), a private international school that had a surprising amount of not-international students (aka rich Venezuelans).

We had to wear uniforms. In the elementary school we wore navy blue bottoms and a white top. We had a badge sewn onto our shirts that had the name of the school and a palm tree. A green palm tree.

So I went to school my first St. Patrick's day at CIC, naive and unaware that although Venezuela doesn't really celebrate St. Patrick's day, the Venezuelans who attended CIC did. Ruthlessly.

I assumed that the GREEN palm tree on my shirt would protect me from the St. Patrick's day pinch. But, as I discovered the hard way, apparently the palm tree doesn't count. Seriously? Who comes up with these rules? It's green and I'm wearing it. Just saying.

But logic does not exist among first graders. I was pinched, and it hurt. Holding back tears I asked, "But why? WHY would you do this to me?"

"Because it's St. Patrick's day. The palm tree doesn't count. You wear it everyday," replied a little girl wearing green socks and green earrings.

And so began a day of terror and insecurity, all because of a stupid tradition and a stupid rule no one bothered to tell the new girl. I still maintain they just wanted to pinch the American.

The following years, in order to avoid reliving that horrible experience, my mom pinned a huge felt shamrock on my shirt. Classy? No. But it was like a forcefield against my classmates, so it served it's purpose.

So, moral of the story, I don't look forward to St. Patrick's day like most people. I throw on the one green-ish thing that I own (green really isn't my color) and if anyone even tries to pinch me, I take them out. Verbally or physically. I do not mess around when it comes to St. Patrick's day.

So don't even think about pinching me.

Of course, that being said, I hope you all have a wonderful, pinch-free St. Patrick's day! :)

Taking the good with the bad.

Dear Reader,

So apparently I've been sick with some form of the flu this week. Surprise! I didn't even know it. The crafty devil. I thought my excruciating headaches and random bouts of exhaustion were some awful side effect of school.

Well for once, homework, you get a reprieve. This was not your fault.

On a happier note: wasn't today beautiful??? I mean, 65 degrees? That's practically summer weather! I didn't even need a jacket. You just can't help but be happy on days like today.

Sparkler Wars

Dear Reader,

What do sparklers, college kids, and Harry Potter all have in common? They are all necessary ingredients for an epic night.

Last night Divine Comedy was filming for one of their hilarious short videos. I have no idea what it's actually going to be about, but a whole group of us showed up dressed Harry Potter-y, they gave us sparklers and told us to run around like we were in the midst of an epic wizard battle with sparklers for wands.

Pretty much it was amazing. I mean, who doesn't love running around with sparklers for an hour pretending to be a wizard? I'm pretty excited to see what the video looks like.