I hate to be a hopeless romantic...

but this is adorable:

Look how excited she is! And his hair-pulling desperation! 
They're made for each other.
[Which is funny because, technically, they were made for each other. You know, via animation.]


I swear I don't believe in love at first sight, but I will never complain about Disney's insistence on spreading the myth. 

Quote for 27 January 2013

“Learn to hold loosely all that is not 

eternal.”

- A.M. Royden 

I'm loving this one today for a couple reasons. First is because I've been feeling a little materialistic lately (true story). I got some dang cute stuff for my birthday and I'm very grateful for it, but I just need to remind myself that clothes aren't everything and neither are comparisons. Could I give all of that up for something of eternal significance? I need to increase my willingness to sacrifice my possessions and my pride for a greater end.

My other reason for loving this is because I'm realizing that the unstated side of this quote is equally important: hold dearly all that is eternal. I believe that, when we die, we take with us our knowledge and our relationships, and that's just about it. Therefore, my life should be one continuous search for things to think and people to love. Education of my mind and of my heart is what matters. Relationships with people matter. Relationships with my family matter most. Families are the most eternal of eternal things, and I need to remember to hold them dearly.

I like this quote.

Maybe I'll share some quotes

Ok first of all, remember how I'm not a quote person? I really don't fall in love with quotes very easily because I think a good quote should be simple, and profound, and true for everyone yet simultaneously aware of those for whom it is not true, and utterly inspiring toward change or action, and meaningful both on the surface and deep deep down, and if it evokes some serious emotion that's nice too.

So basically, very few things fit in that category. I'm a quote snob. Even though one of my "things I'm working on" is to let myself be inspired by all different sources, I'm still a quote snob.

That being said, there are a few out there that I've found and loved, so I want to share them on here every now and then, starting now. But look for it in my next post because I don't want this disclaimer to be at the top of my very first quote post! That would be embarrassing. 

Also, while I'm disclaiming: I get my quotes from a few different sources (read: BLOGS), and then I put them all in one document on my computer...without links and without validating that the quote and the author actually go together in real life and not just on somebody's Tumblr. So. Let's just not get mad at me if I get something wrong because, let's be honest, those words hold significance for me whether or not that specific person actually ever said them or even whether or not they said them first. If I find something to relate to in the words of someone else, I'm going to like it regardless of who said it, probably. I tend to focus on the words more than the author.

And I don't quite know what else to put here to wrap this lil thought up, so....I'll just trail off now...

Ice rain. It's a thing.

I just want anyone who doesn't live where I do to see what we're all living today:

This is real life. All of campus looks like this.

Also, I'd like to blame the inversion. Because it's actually a valid blame claim. [Accidental rhyme.]

Whoa, word vom.

(vom: n. abbreviation for "vomit")

Ok, apparently I lied about my family history project because apparently someone thought it'd be a good idea to go and fix exactly what I planned to research over the weekend!! URGH I'M NOT FRUSTRATED AT ALL. 

Sorry to yell there, just had to get that out. I really am not frustrated though because guess what? There's an even bigger mess to clean up if I just go one generation back! So naturally I'll be fixing that instead during this semester. And now I'm super pumped because Mom revealed to me a great secret (not really secret): we have a family genealogy book which spans 8 generations of Woolleys, which means a whole lot of biographies and pictures and other excellent sourcing material. So "holler at your boy," as my friend Tenery says.



But still. Curses on whoever fixed that glitch. And curses on their posterity. 

...oh wait. I take back the posterity bit. 

Hahaha I kill me.





OH and while I'm here! I have a cool story and it's called "one time I went to my classes on Tuesday and all my teachers canceled all my homework for Thursday so I have nothing due until Saturday now and my life rocks." Just raising the roof over here.

And I'm sorry that this blog post doesn't really have anything to do with anything but not really sorry at all. 

This post is much more representative of how I actually talk in real life than usual, and I think you should know that for some reason. Okbye.

Sharks say boom.

I need to post pictures from that one time I went to Cancun, but they're not all edited and sorted through yet (halfway there!!), so instead I'm going to tell you a funny story or two. 

(1)

Once upon a time, my family was watching Jaws. At the exact moment when the shark is shot in the water and there's blood everywhere, my 2-year-old nephew walked in. To downplay the scarring factor, Nana said, "Oh look! Shark went BOOM! Look at the pretty colors!" Or something. And I think he liked that idea.

And so now whenever you ask, "Emerson, what does a shark say?" he proudly answers, "BOOM BOOM!" 
It's truly adorbs.

(2)

A couple weeks ago, I was looking through my family history line on FamilyTree and found the following:

It was a little disconcerting, to say the least. I knew instantly that I wanted Alice's parents and siblings to be the family I would research. However, I also wanted to make sure that it's not just a bug in the system or a common mistake among amateur family historians or whatever before I plowed right into the research itself. 

So I went up to my professor after class the next day and said, "There's this part of my family tree where it shows two married people as having come from the same parents. Is that some sort of common occurrence?" (By which I meant all those possibilities for error that I listed above.) And she responded, "Well, no. It's illegal and incestuous." And I thought that was hilarious because she totally knew what I meant but decided to pretend otherwise. Needless to say, I like her.






In other news, my life is one big ball of emotional turmoil as of late, so that's fun. I don't want to go into all the deets and I'm not asking for sympathy (because sympathy is always always always the worst thing to offer me under pretty much any circumstances), but if anyone ever wants to get ice cream for any reason, I'd be down with that.

Because I finished my paper before midnight

Today I have for you all 2 great time wasters. I know because I have tested them myself on other late homework nights.

Number 1 
and 
Number 2


And honestly that's it for tonight because I have, like, some other stuff to do before I go to sleep. Sorry for the lamehead post. Much more betterness on the way, I promise.

Today's my birthday!

And if you asked me how my day was, I would tell you it is definitely in the running for

"The most perfect day ever lived."

First of all, I should tell you that I hardly ever actually celebrate my birthday. Like, in my growing up years I more often than not opted to just skip my birthday party. And in high school, my birthday always fell right at the end of term, so I was mostly just stressed out. And in college, my birthday falls right at the beginning of the semester, so that's stressful too. I don't mean to complain; I'm actually quite fond of my birthday and I think it's the best day of the year to have one for some reason. I'm just saying that the general rule is that if I ever celebrate, it is minimal and usually not on the actual day of my birth.

This year I learned how fun it can be to just celebrate your birthday and forget other stuff. Seriously guys, you should all try it this year!! And if you can afford to, might I recommend beginning your celebrations a day early? It's a good idea.

So anyways, yesterday was fun because I bought myself a present and then learned that Shaundra was going to buy it (via gift card), so then I returned it and re-bought it and instead of paying ten dollars, I earned one cent. #winning Also, I had lunch with Shaundra and Mallory, which included delicious soup and perfect gifts. My friends love me and I love them.

Yesterday was also good because we had our Women's Chorus retreat for this semester and although those are usually exhausting, I mostly just felt very uplifted because it is such a great opportunity to be a member of this group of 180 amazing girls led by 1 amazing woman. Totally changed my WC attitude for the semester, which needed to happen. 

And those were lovely things that happened yesterday, but today really took the cake (BIRTHDAY PUN), so let's talk about today.

Today I woke up at the perfect time for a birthday sleep-in (9:30), and went upstairs to meet the best breakfast of my life. I requested to have pancakes/French toast/anything else that could serve as a vehicle for our extra yummy syrup, but what I didn't expect was cream cheese in my scrambled eggs and LEMON CURD on my French toast. Oh my gosh, I am so in love with lemon curd (probably in my top 10 foods), and that was the best idea anybody ever had for a toast topping because it made my tummy sing songs of pure joy. So thanks be to my mother for thinking of it. 

After breakfast I practiced for my piano solo in church tomorrow and worked on chores. This was not even a bummer because it felt nice to work hard before playing hard for the rest of the day. Then I took a nice long shower and listened to Imagine Dragons and ate cake batter.

Then Shaundra picked me up for lunch with her and Mallory....AND Madi and Brittany and Carolyn, which I totally did not see coming! Sneaky, sneaky Shaundra. It was lovely to have everyone there because as I said earlier, there's a lot of friend love there. My friends are the best. Plus, we ate at Malawi's, which is always wonderful. Three cheers for the ranch chicken pizza and that heavenly peaches and cream pizza.

When we came back to my house after that, Jen and her mom were just pulling up to come say hi and drop off a gift, which was one of my all-time favorite books, These Is My Words. It is always fun to receive a gift from that Jennifer because she gets SO excited about it and I just love her. Also, her folks really know how to give the perfect thing.

The rest of the day was pretty much spent with Shaundra and my family because Shaundra and I had an impromptu SMASH party but really it turned into following Emerson around the whole basement and playing trains. And then we played my favorite games (Nertz and Bananagrams). And then I opened presents and we ate cake and ice cream and homemade hot fudge. And I didn't touch or look at homework all day long, which rocks.

I realize it may be difficult to gather just how perfect today was by the play-by-play I've offered, so lemme just mention a few keys for having your own perfect birthday:

First, you need to eat all your favorite foods. I ate cake instead of dinner, and I am fine with that. You should be too. 

Second, you need to get perfect presents from everyone. This may sound difficult to orchestrate, but the secret to success here is wanting nothing specific. Literally everything I received for my birthday this year was exactly the one thing I wanted most, and that's impossible but true.

Third and most importantly, you need to spend it with people you love, and you need to love the people you spend it with. You can even get away with forgetting the first two keys if you follow this one. (True story.)

I feel like I need to include a picture of my current self, so this is my most recent self-taken photo. It was taken on a beach in Mexico so that is why I have beach hair and a fantastic sunburn.

Thank you times 17,000,000 to everyone who made me feel loved today. Especial thanks to my family (with an especial especial thanks to Mom and Dad) and to Shaundra who was behind the whole lunch party. I am so grateful for all you lovely people and I can't even express how great you made this day for me. I LOVE YOU ALL.

Something tells me this next year of life is going to be wonderful. Bring on the 20's!

Semester run-down, Winter 2013

My birthday is on Saturday and it kinda snuck up on me this year and so now I'm just really excited! Also: just barely learned "snuck" is not a word because it has a red squiggly line under it. "Squiggly" is a word, if you were wondering.

One of my 2013 goals is to floss my teeth every day. Here is a fact for you: I hate flossing with at least 98% of my total hate. IT IS THE WORST THING EVER. I'm convinced of it. I've never been good at flossing my teeth on a regular basis except for one time after I graduated from high school. I had my 6-month cleaning and was told I should floss more (sounds like every other dentist trip in my entire life) and I decided to just do it this time. So I flossed every night for the next 6 months and then I went back to the dentist feeling very proud of myself... and I had my first cavity!! I was so ticked. So then, out of spite, I deliberately did NOT floss for the 6 months afterward, and I didn't have a single cavity then or since. I've pretty much convinced myself that my theory about how sticking string between your teeth every night is actually just a great way to open up more spots for more sugar to take up residence is completely true. But I'm flossing in 2013 anyway. Joy.

A picture for Mattea, since I am going to discuss school now:

This is my family at Swiss Days because I never blogged about going to Swiss Days.
So I am killing two birds with one stone here by blogging a picture from Swiss Days.

So yeah, what I really came here for is my semester pre-judgments (a favorite tradition). This semester we have:

:: Theory of Analysis. After last semester, I decided to calm down the amount of math I try to learn at one time, so I have this one to be my hard class and then one other math-y class that is easier, and that's IT. But that doesn't mean I'm not scared for this one. But also I really like my professor's sense of humor, plus I know him a little bit from my junior year of high school when we were both involved with Special Needs Mutual, so it's fun to see him in a new context. No, he doesn't remember me. I wish. BONUS: I am far enough in my major that I know like half the people in the class! 

:: Family History. This class very well may kick my heinie. (Heinie is not a word. Heiny is also not a word.) However, it is my one-class-per-semester which is completely unrelated to my major, a "for fun" class, if you will. So I can tell myself that when I am in the middle of researching and it will instantly become fun and interesting. And I like my professor. AND I can finally feel like I am doing something to act on my ever-present family history guilt. Ok it's not guilt, but you know what I mean?

:: Task Design and Assessment. At least, I think that's what it's called. Nobody calls it anything but MTHED 277, so whatev. This class is at 8 AM and lasts 1.5 hours instead of 50 minutes, so I better learn to be a morning person real quick here. Wish me luck.

:: Survey of Geometry. This class is another 1.5 hour thing and it's right after the last one and it's in the exact same room. UGH. But the professor's a little more captivating! So that's a nice feature. Also, I enjoyed the activity we did in class today. This is my easier math-y class, if you're wondering. It's math-y and not just math because it's technically a class from the Math Ed dept, so we learn more than just math, but it's way more math to learn than any of the other Math Ed classes. It's a bit of a fence-sitter, if you know what I mean.

:: Women's Chorus. Well, I think I should keep my mouth shut for another little while here on this one. We will make great strides of great progress in the very near future, I'm sure of it. Also, did I mention that I might could sing in the next General Conference?? No I didn't because I'm trying not to get my hopes up. But I could, so that's cool. 


Also, I have another class but I haven't been to it yet. So maybe I'll mention a blurb about it, or not, after class tomorrow night. And I know I've given you too much to swallow already, but guess what embarrassing thing I did today?? I totally went to the WRONG 2 hour class! Hahahahaha ok it's not THAT funny you can stop laughing now. (Sorry for the run-on.) I actually realized it within like two seconds of class starting but I have to take that class anyway so I thought I'd just sit and see if I wanna just take it and get it over with this semester. Still haven't decided. But that was definitely an interesting moment (or hour, I mean whatever) in my day. 

Ok, that's all for now folks. Despite my sarcastic remarks here, I am genuinely excited for this semester to get going. I really do think I'm going to enjoy it a lot, and I don't have to spend all my time in that building that always smells like lasagna, so WAHOO.

One more picture for Mattea:

kloveyouallbye.

Blogosophy

I know I said I was working on a 2013 post, and I am working on it, but I'm not positive I'll actually end up posting anything. Once I wrote down my goals and my reasons for choosing them and my thoughts and feelings I realized everything about my entire life was in there. Kinda. It's probably more accurate to just say it was very personal. So then I freaked out a little bit and decided my blog probably wasn't the right place for all that. Maybe I'll revise, maybe I won't. Either way, I'm sorry that I told you such a heartfelt thing exists and then refused to share it.

To make up for it, I figured I'd share a bit of my blogging philosophy. Because I can totally understand how someone might think I'm being ridiculous or "not myself" on my blog if I don't feel comfortable posting something simple like my goals for the new year. After all, I can blogstalk with the best of 'em, and I suffer from my fair share of nosy, so I hate it when someone holds back. Allow me to explain.

For what I consider to be obvious reasons, I refuse to post things like my address and my phone number on my blog. Adding an email address to my "About" page was pushing it. This is called common sense privacy, I think.

In addition to these things, I have a brief list of topics that I have promised myself to never discuss on my blog. Some of them are relevant now, some of them have to do with my future (children and husband and such), but all of them will simply never be breached on here. If I feel the need to write on these topics, I go to my journal. 

The reason this list of topics is necessary for me to have is simple: they are the dearest parts of my life. If I'm going to post everything about me online, I either have to limit who can read, or I have to limit what I write. I dislike the idea of limiting who can read my blog because I don't want to write for a specific audience, a few people whom I have hand-picked. Part of the wonder of having a blog (for me, at least) is writing something that might just strike a chord with someone out there I've never even met. And even if it never happens, I still like the idea enough to do the upkeep on a public blog, which means limiting what I write.

The challenge, then, is to still provide a comprehensive glimpse into my life and my being without breaching the forbidden topics. I feel like I hear a lot of noise from bloggers about how there's such a problem with "other people" portraying perfect lives on their blogs and they don't want everyone to think they live a Pinterest-perfect life, so they'll write this post on their flaws and show that picture of their dirty dishes so they seem more "real." But I think there's still a problem with that way of thinking! Because although it's true that I don't want my readers thinking I live a life of perfection, I also don't want to deliberately tell them the parts that stink every now and then just for the express purpose of...exploring opposition? complaining? making others feel better about their own imperfect lives? That doesn't even make sense! I mean, I love you guys, but if your happiness depends on my dirty dishes, then maybe you need to read a different blog. And I'm sure this isn't always what bloggers are thinking when they post "imperfection stuff" but sometimes it comes across that way. If you have a blog, you needn't worry about telling me how you're imperfect because I shall assume it anyway.

Ok so that was a soapbox thing, obviously. Sorry.

Anyway, I do generally try to avoid that type of post. The comprehensive view I aim for is not so much of "cutesy parts vs. ugly parts" or even just "the good alongside the bad," but rather all the stuff in between both extremes. Some days are awesome and some days are poopy and some days are just meh, but most days are actually a combination of all those, so that's what I want my blog to be. "A Little Bit of Lys: Sometimes awesome, sometimes poopy, sometimes meh, mostly combinations of the three!" 

The good news is that it is totally possible to create such a blog without breaching the forbidden topics. So that's what I try to do and that, in a nutshell, is how I try to blog. I try to use my corner of the internet for things that are relevant and important to me at the time I post them, while still staying within the bounds of comfort and privacy. I try not to worry about the degree of life-changing-ness or the amount of imperfection in what I publish. I try every now and then to post something which challenges me, but that's really just for my own personal growth and to add a little variety. And it still doesn't have to involve things I'm not comfortable posting about, which rocks.

Finally, the really, really nice part about the way I blog is that I don't ever feel like I have to post or not post an idea. If I write up a big long essay and then decide I hate it, I don't have to post it. If I think of something others are going to disagree with and say it here, I don't have to worry about repercussions [too much]. I try not to offend, but I don't fret when I accidentally do because, hey, that happens in real life sometimes too. Essentially, if, for whatever reason, something doesn't feel like I need or want to put it on the internet, I just don't.

So. To bring this long thing full circle, I decided not to post those goals tonight simply because a) they verged on a breach of forbidden topics, and b) by the time I finished writing them, they weren't really what I had hoped to post to begin with, and BONUS) they gave me an excuse to rant about my thoughts on blogging, which I've been considering doing for a while anyway. #winning

Thanks for listening to my blogosophy.
And yes, that term was totally inspired by Phil's-osophy.

A belated 2012 wrap-up

Last year I set some goals:

1) To be more grateful, and to express that gratitude where it is due.
2) To be more adventurous, even if it kills me.
3) To make a new friend for keeps.
4) To prioritize by good, better, and best, and then to choose "best."
5) To be happy.

I think I should hold myself accountable for these before I spill the beans on all my new ones, so:

1) I believe I've become a more grateful person because of my ward, which has been a huge blessing for me, and I delivered more thank you cards and texts this year than ever before. Check. 
2) I ziplined through the jungle a few weeks ago (upside down!!), so that "adventurous" thing seems to have worked out. And if that doesn't count, then we can talk about how one time I climbed a tree in a skirt. Check. 
3) I definitely made more than just one good friend this year. More importantly, I realized that I can keep a lot of good friends around at once, and people who don't know each other but do know me usually get along just fine. Cha-ching. 
4) I'm not sure I always chose "best" in everything I did, but I sure did try! I think this will have to be a lifelong goal for me and I knew that when I set it and I should have mentioned it then. Check? 
5) And finally, I was definitely happy in 2012. Big fat CHECK.

Ok and I have to share a few extra goals I think I met:

:: I blogged really consistently! With the exception of December and when it's all averaged out, I had approximately one post every few days. This rocks because I didn't expect to use my blog as a journaling method, but now I know that I really can do it! I really can make this little guy into something for posterity! Also, I'm proud of the variety I have on here from post to post. Anyways, that's enough of my blog pride.
:: VISITING TEACHING. I told myself I would just make it happen every month of 2012, no matter what, and I totally did that guys!! The best part of this is that I really feel like it's become a part of my testimony. Learning to care for one person at a time has always been a struggle for me, but I have witnessed the miracles and therefore the value of doing so. Also, I know that few endeavors bring us closer to Christ than service to others. VT has now become a lifelong goal/requirement for myself.
:: I've made some headway on my procrastination issues. At the beginning of last semester, I became really swamped really quickly because I insisted on leaving my homework until the night before it was due, which meant I didn't have enough time to think about it (ya know, in the shower and stuff), which meant I didn't understand half of my two hard math classes. But I wised up pretty quick, and by the end of the semester I was doing my homework the day it was assigned, asking questions the day before it was due, and discussing it with peers in between. Homework (and everything) is far more valuable if it's not crammed into the smallest amount of time possible.


Overall, I feel really great about 2012. I have [of course] been looking through old social media and journals and whatnot, and I see progress. I see how 2012 was better for me than any year before it. And one of my lifelong goals is to make every year better than the last. In that regard, 2012 was yet another success story.


And now I'm going to go write another post about this year's goals. I'd include them all in the same post to save on internet real estate but...I just don't want to, so whatev. 

Picture for funsies (because it's from the same day I climbed a tree in a skirt):