renewed rebellion

Sundance 2010. lets recap (sticking with the "re" theme of Sundance, obviously)
-two very unique films
-driving down main street of Park City blasting "Paparazzi", looking for paparazzi and their poor subjects
-fresh humor
-meeting people in wait list lines and crowded shuttles
-discussing films with strangers from around the world
-art gallery, free tea bar, pretzel looking non-pretzels, talking with photographer Michael Fatali
-man eating a sandwich he took out of a trash can. i repeat, man eating a sandwich he took out of a trash can
-chips, dr. pepper, and fries
-realizing how grateful I am to live in the United States. and to have the moral standards that I do, not the world's moral standards
-using atms, haven't done that since Uganda
-beautiful mountains and moon
-driving in a snowstorm at night
-ice on the inside of the windshield
-family
-friends

two downsides: 1) getting my car towed. then running after it and watching it disappear around a corner  2) going to Mountain House to find it DOES NOT EXIST anymore and is now Bear Dance Cafe...we were blindsided by the tragedy. literally in shock

My camera and I are not getting along these days so I don't have pictures to prove it, but it was fun to see how this famous Sundance Film Festival works. People are so creative, it blows me away

friendship friendship, such a perfect blendship

A little cheesy, but today friends make me happy. Tonight was full of fun conversations with some of my favorite people. They make Provo really great. Hey friends,  

If you ever lose your mind, I'll be kind

And if you ever lose your shirt, I'll be hurt

If you're ever in a mill and get sawed in half, I won't laugh

It's friendship, friendship

Just a perfect blendship

When other friendships are up the crick

Ours will still be slick

"Friendship" from DuBarry was a Lady

 

  

  

j-rad's tour bus is behind us. you can't see it, but you can believe it

 

 

had to

 

sarah jane made some really good brownies yesterday. these are not the ones she made, but we probably enjoyed them just as much 

  

  

she bleeds red also. i appreciate that

Henry John Deutschendorf Jr.

Listening to John Denver during work. On liz's awesome iphone. Call us old school, but it made us both so happy. It took me back to my childhood doing saturday chores...I felt like I was at home dusting or washing the floors. (which you wouldn't think was a happy memory, but John Denver made it great.) Or cruising on the boat with the fam



 

reminds me of planet earth. greatest show ever

 

happiness is...

there's a song from Your a Good Man, Charlie Brown (favorite musical since elementary school, hey kristin chenoweth) that says everything that happiness is to each character. To the characters, happiness, among other things, is

finding a pencil

walking hand in hand

getting along

being alone every now and then

two kinds of ice cream

having a sister

singing together

playing the drums in your own school band

telling the time

anyone and anything that's loved by you.

I love that. Happiness is found in so many simple ways. We have SO many reasons to be happy, and I think we forget that a lot. I know I do. We control our own happiness.

Here's some background to this change of blog...when I got home from Uganda I was not happy to be in Provo. Not happy at all. I didn't want to be here, I thought the people around me were dumb and ignorant of whats out there in the world, I wanted to be with people like my Ugandan friends who really valued life, I wanted to continue living real life, not BYU world life. I hung on to my bitterness about BYU and Provo for a while, and then realized that I was being ridiculous. If the only thing I took home with me from Uganda was that I was now better than everyone else because I had seen a tiny part of the world, that was a change I did not want to have. While I thought about what to do to get my act together, my thoughts kept going back to one afternoon spent with Liz and Brooke exploring the dirt roads on the hill behind our house. We discovered a beautiful village (we were Mzungu novelties again, we caused quite the scene) and a school with little sayings painted on their walls and on tires scattered throughout the grounds. One in particular stood out to me, and kept coming back to me while I was pondering life: I choose to be happy.

That is what did it for me. Happiness is a choice. I could blame my anger on provo and other people, but I was the one letting myself get angry. If I choose to be happy, I will be happy because I will be doing things that coincide with a happy lifestyle. Who woulda thunk?!

So, let it be known throughout the world that on this day, the 25th of January of the year twentyten, I begin my happy blog. It will be kind of like a gratitude journal...just little things that make me happy. I'm just trying to remind myself of what makes me happy, and hopefully from it, be even happier. I hope it makes you happy too

ya know what makes me happy? You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown.

eskimos have it made

I have been much more sensitive to the cold this year. Maybe that severe reaction to the strong Ugandan sun that doxycycline caused turned my thick Coloradan skin African. My ears burn with cold the second I walk outside...pathetic, I know.

Nonetheless, this Finnish getaway is so appealing. Can you imagine how many STARS you would be able to see from those igloos?! take me here, please

Coolest place to stay and see the Northern Lights