i made it

logging on to the blog website was rather interesting, everything was written in hebrew, luckily the color coded stuff is universal, so i remembered that the orange button meant publish post! the flight was exhausting to say the least. Four different flights, layovers, but, above all starting at 4:15 was the most lame. on the bright side i got quite the aerial view of europe from vienna, through bulgaria, greece, and then seeing the coastline of Irael as we landed in tel aviv. this whole thing is so surreal. this land is incredibly foreign and unlike anything i ever expected. except, the way the old city is set up reminds me of aladdin! by the way, we have been pronouncing aladdin the wrong way, it's pronounced ala-DEEN. the movie sounds even more exotic when you pronounce it the right way. there is so much going through my mind right now i don't even know where to start. i can't believe i'm here!

Israel in FOUR days

Watching the Mummy has given me overly romanticized expectations for Egypt. It's not too much expecting Rick O'Connell to rescue me if needs be, right?
Oh I am SO anxious for this summer!

on a side note: it is a beautiful summery gorgeous sunny day in Yorba Linda. I love California. I should clarify-Southern California. A coastline of beach is 20 min away and as i'm driving there i can still see some snow on the mountains. California is the best of EVERYTHING.

After living in Utah for 3 years I've come to appreciate the mountains, and the way the Utah landscape looks at dusk during September- it's straight out of western movie. But there's no argument here. Living in California is completely, totally, and devastatingly more attractive.

hello, world

as soon as i turned 20 last July i envisioned how this brand new decade of my life would be filled with unbelievable adventures. maybe that's just wishful thinking, but there's this sense of newness and beginning associated with a new decade of life that i love. i feel like there is so much world out there and it's just waiting for me to find it.

putting behind my teenage years was pretty easy. not to say that i had a hard time in high school. quite the contrary; high school was both a dream and a breeze. but, i ended my teenage years on a lower note. 18 and 19 were pretty rough years; moving out of CA and up to UT, living alone for the first time, living in the snow, and dealing with everything that college brings when you haven't quite figured yourself out yet. 18 and 19 were BIG growing years. I wouldn't trade them, but i wouldn't want to repeat them. EVER.

birthday's are funny. you simultaneously feel nostalgic and anticipatory. is that even a word? regardless, i am always way more excited to go into the future. the unkown can be intimidating, but there is so much opportunity to be had! there is so much life to be lived!

i don't remember where this quote came from, but it is so apropos

"too many people are thinking of security instead of opportunity. they seem to be more afraid of life than death."

Four months in the Middle East starts in six days!

come gather round

The FM radio is seriously lacking any taste in music. the contrived voices, oh, the contrived voices. don't even get me started on nickelback. they have THE all time worst music. i would rather listen to musicals and broadway music than listen to their stupid stupid music, which is saying alot. i don't even like musicals.

I would have to say my most embarrassing moment was 7th grade. The whole year was one big embarrassing moment for a myriad of reasons, but mostly because i was really into nickelback. i even sent an e-card of one of their songs to my friend, page, one time. i remember thinking i was so cool because i was all up on the technology with my ecard that had a such a good song too. obviously i had no taste in music.



Thankfully my music preferences have drastically upgraded, so I want to talk about my favorite high quality tunes. It makes for a much better conversation

Noah and the Whale.
Their music makes me happy. One time i played their song, Give a little Love, for an acoustic night- there were only 10 people there, which was almost too many for my first time playing for crowd, if you could even call it that- and the next day i got laryngitis. but, i still love them

noah and the whale

Another one of my favs is Jay Jay Pistolet (pronounced like Pistolay for all those not inclined to the French language)

Jay Jay Pistolet

Last, but certainly not least, Cat Stevens. When he was still Cat Stevens.

cat stevens

British musicians are so talented.

be warned that i don't spare anyone's feelings on this blog

My dad is a genius. He's the most loving, forgiving, supportive man. I could go on and on about how much i respect and love my dad. in fact, I think I should write him a nice long letter.

Before i really get into this let me warn you that i will not be sparing anyone's feeling on this blog. so if you get offended by anything i say, you should quit reading. i'm the kindof person who is really open about my feelings, almost to a fault. Also, i believe that selfconfidence is key. ok, back to my original train of thought.

In light of current tragedies: FINALS

my dad left a great message where he reminded me

"...nobody wants a straight A student...except Harvard, Yale, Berkeley and about a hundred other schools... but the rest of us are content to have you as you and all that you contribute..."

and that is indeed so true. Every time I hear about someone who has a 3.8 or a 4.0 I will admit I get a little jealous. I mean who wouldn't? Because I feel like I try just as hard as they do, yet my GPA isn't anywhere near those scores. But then i remember that i'm prettier and i have better taste in movies and music. That's so unbelievably arrogant and petty, I know. but, you should try it. i promise it makes that bad grade more of a scratch than an impailment. and then you can go give service after if you feel really guilty for loving yourself so much

pretty sunday

The moment of that kiss contained every happy moment I had ever lived.

-Paul Coelho

Look at history. Everything we have, every great achievement has come from the independent work of some independent mind.

- The Fountainhead

Friends of my youth, a last adieu! Haply some day we meet again; yet ne'er the self-same men shall meet; the years shall make us other men.

-Richard Francis Bacon

I will have poetry in my life, and adventures, and love. Love above all. No, not the artful postures of love, not the playful and poetical games of love for the amusement of an evening. But love that overthrows life. Unbiddable, ungovernable, like a riot in the heart and nothing to be done, come ruin or rapture.

-Shakespeare in Love

going on impulse

i would love to be able to tell a story and not give away the ending too soon, but I'm so excited that I have to tell you the ending now and then the story. except, i'm not even a good story teller, those genes were given to my older brother, brett. But, i just thought you should know.....

I WAS CHOSEN TO BE AN ANATOMY TA FOR THIS FALL!!!!!.

I'M SO UNBELIEVABLY EXCITED, HUMBLED, ANXIOUS, AND HAPPY!!! WOW, LIKE REALLY. WWWWWOOOOOOWWWWW. I CAN'T BELIEVE I WAS PICKED. ok, i'm not using caps anymore because they sometimes annoy me, but just because i'm now in lowercase does not mean my excitement level has decreased. I actually can't believe i applied because i have such a phobia of speaking in front of crowds. like, it stresses me out, but for some reason i felt like i needed to do this.

I decided to apply like 20 minutes before the application was due. Talk about being impulsive. I gave a little presentation on embryology and the heart and I practiced so much before that lauren can also teach you all about babies and how they come from three layers. It's pretty cool stuff. So after my interview this morning they said they would let me know later today if i got it or if i didn't. About 3 hours after my interview i got a call saying i got one of the five lecture TA positions for fall semester. OH MY GOSH, I STILL CAN'T BELIEVE IT. I'm going to need to study while i'm in JErusalem this summer. This is going to be such an amazing experience and i'm so, so, so grateful for this opportunity. FAll will be SUCH a cool semester!!!

Brett and Courtney. this picture has nothing to do with the post. i just like to show off my family.

Color Field Painting/Abstract Expressionism

Morris Louis
Mark Rothko

art history is sortof my thing.