A Spoonful of Orange Juice or Champage?

When that's the first thing the flight attendants ask you, you know you're in for a good flight. I was expecting 6+ hours of uncomfortable chairs, crowded legroom and below par microwaved meals, and I can't even express how happy I am that wasn't my experience. You see, when AirCanada had to reschedule my flight for the next day, they were forced to place me in business class for the international section of my flight. I didn't find out about this until I was at the check-in desk in Toronto, trying to check in my second piece of luggage, because it hadn't fit the overhead bins on my last flight. A little frazzled and upset at having to pay an extra 50 dollars for my bag, I was more than happy when they announced I was booked in business class, and because of that, they would check my other bag for free. I was still getting over the joy of not having to pay more when I boarded the plane to my own little nook, complete with a fully-reclinable chair, and flight attendants ready to wait on me hand and foot. I almost cried out of happiness, I'm not kidding. Have you ever used a warm wet towel before? They are simply envigorating when you're on a plane for more than 4 hours. You know that scene from The Wedding Singer when Adam Sandler has to book a flight in first class going to Las Vegas and he has to watch the other first class passengers to figure out what to do with it? Yeah, that was me, but with every little luxury they had. It was absolutely foreign...but in a good way.

The meal came in courses, salad and bread, a delicious main dish, cheese, and options for dessert. The little packets they have for each passenger in business class are neat too. They have socks (?), an eyemask, and toothbrush & toothpaste. Honestly, guys, I thought the flight was too short. And I'm considering upgrading to first class for all of my international flights in the future. Okay, maybe I don't have the resources for that kind of luxury, but I can still pray for bad weather before all of my flights, can't I???

A Spoonful of the Middle Class

You may think that being a part of Divine Comedy assures you all that is privilege and luxury. I'm here to dispel that belief. We are solid members of the middle class for now and possibly forever. I mean, we get fed a lot, and yeah, we get noticed, but we get all that at the sacrifice of our time, our semester grades, and sometimes our sanity.

Don't get me wrong, I would never trade the experience of being in Divine Comedy for anything, but I don't want people to get the false idea that we are the upper class at our school, you'd have to see the athletic department for that.

Anyway, we met at the HFAC at 5:30 in the morning before heading to the airport where we split up into two groups, one group to arrive 2 hours earlier than the other. I really wouldn't have minded being in the later-to-arrive group except that we didn't get to the hotel until about 8 after having traversed all of Times Squares with our suitcases. Not too fun. Then besides being hungry, I was just incredibly tired and my allergies had decided to act up so I also felt less than up to exploring. I think I spent my first couple hours in New York sleeping.

This tale probably makes it seem like my first night in New York was terrible and it kind of was, but I did end up getting real New York Pizza. and I think I'm sleeping these allergies out of me. Lots of things to be excited for, but right now I just want to sleep!

A Spoonful of Decisions I Can't Quite Make by Myself

Here's the deal. I'll have basically all my weekends free while I'm in Paris, which means I will have plenty of opportunity to do some travelling to other cities/regions of France. But I'm having a difficult time deciding where to go, because let's face it, there are a lot of amazing places I could go! Then I decided that I wouldn't decide, I would let my informed readers decide. You should be pretty proud because that means I trust your *collective* decision-making abilities!

This is how it'll work, below I have listed 5 options I came up with all on my own, because I don't want you to think I didn't do anything. Place your vote in a comment. But get this, if you have a suggestion you think is better than one of the ones listed, tell me all about it and why I should go in. Write-in candidates will be considered. The place that gets the most votes will be the first visited (though I'm not sure I won't visit more than one of the places). But wait! There's more! If you mention a place in one of the places that I end up visiting, you win! ...something. I haven't figured that part out yet, but it'll be a pretty sweet prize, believe me.

And now for the nominees:

1)Perros-Guirec, Brittany- a beach resort city on the northwest coast of France. Check out some pictures here
2)Strasbourg, Alsace-close to the border of Germany, known for it's mix of French and German cultures
3)Reims, located to the west of France-noted for its cathedral
4)Lille, Nord-Pas de Calais-they have a zoo!
5)La Rochelle, Poitou-Charentes-on the coast, connected to a really cool island with a modern bridge, AND there's an aquarium.

Let the voting begin!

A Spoonful of If I Ever Were to Advertise for My Blog, It Would Look Something Like This

I leave soon for New York and not long after I will be in Paris. This post is in warning and anticipation of the days to follow.

Maybe you aren't planning on living your dream this summer, but that's okay, because you can share mine with me! Right here! Join me in my adventures as I traverse the crowded streets of New York City and then Paris. I'll be taking pictures, sharing stories, and just generally keeping you updated on my daily activities. I don't know how often I'll have access to the internet, but I'm going to guess less than now, so first priority will be posting here because it's required for one of my classes.

You may be jealous that you can't be with me eating crêpes and éclairs and walking l'avenue des Champs-Elysées, but I hope maybe reading my blog will inspire you to do what you want to do, whatever it is, and I hope to hear about your awesome summer adventures too!

A Spoonful of the Shirt Off My Back

One of the biggest things I've been noticing as I get older is that life requires sacrifice if you want to progress. That's the general principle, at least. If you wanted to be more specific, being a mother, a good mother, requires a lot of sacrifice. I think people forget that with all the convenience of epidurals, surrogate mothers, and nannies. Yes, all these things are options, and sometimes the only options you have, and I respect that, I really do, but not as a first choice. I feel like the birthing process was divinely designed to require physical sacrifice from the mother because our God knew that such sacrifice would lead to stronger emotional bonds and would set a precedence of sacrifice for the other areas of our roles as mothers.

I didn't really mean to spend this entire blog post speaking of childbirth and what it takes to be a good mom, though it is an interesting discussion, isn't it? I just noticed today that I have this tendency to be super eager to give what I have to others, but only certain others. Particularly others with whom I have no blood connection. When my brother lived with me, I found it incredibly hard to want to give him things or do things for him just because he asked. I begrudgingly got my brother water and shared my baked goods with him. Why is it so easy for me to give to people outside my family, but not to those witin? I think it's definitely something to consider. I hope to be the kind of person that if anybody asked, stranger or family member, for the shirt off my back, I wouldn't hesitate to give it away. This is all figuratively speaking though--I endorse modesty. ;)

I hope you are surviving finals! If you're taking them, of course, and if not, I hope you are enjoying your life!

A Spoonful of Spring!...no, Freedom!...no, Anticipation!

Weather today and yesterday? Amazing.

Things left to do? Finish papers and take finals.

Days left until Paris? 16.

Things are looking up. Somethings I want to do over the summer are:

1) Catch up on reading.
2) Have an old movie marathon.
3) Keep this blog updated with my conquests in NYC and Paris.
4) Eat a lot of French pastries.
5) Learn how to make French meals.
6) Discover some more good music.
7) Make some good music.
8) Go home to AZ.

These aren't unreasonable, are they? Don't think so. Finals week doesn't actually look like death week, just extreme mental and physical pain week. Bring it on.

A Spoonful of Opening Doors

I don't know what it is about me, but I love being able to open doors. And no, this isn't an anti-chivalry rant--feel free to open the door for me whenever, young men. This is an extension of the symbolism of open doors as expanded opportunity.

I thought of this topic as I was walking around the HFAC working. I was inner-commenting on having access to a lot of rooms in the building thanks to my work, when I reflected on gaining access to one more locked door and how much I liked it. It's not like I get much utility out of the specific room that I gained access to, but I do get utility from being able to open that door.

What is it about a newly opened door that excites the pulse and brings a smile to my face? I guess a bit of it is the power that accompanies it, power feels good when it doesn't bring with it concern or worry. It also means I have more options, and I like options. I think the best thing is having doors open that I thought were forever closed to me, like Latin dancing and culture, or like song-writing.

You know what I think? I think there are some doors in your life that you're wishing would open and maybe you've been waiting for a while for them to open to you. And you know what? Sometimes you just need to knock. Heck, sometimes you need to ram the door down. Somethings are that important. I just would be careful with the ram--sometimes there are people on the other side. ;)

A Spoonful of Just About Everything

This week has been awesome in so many ways. Let me count them:

1. Theater: Our performances of Tristan & Yseult was this Thursday and it went so well! Seeing the finished show allowed me the time to reflect on what I've learned from the show. You wan to know what that is?? Of course you do, you're reading my blog.

Have you ever fallen for a broken person? You come to love somebody who tells you beforehand that he has baggage and despite knowing this, you still want to give him all your love, for the small portion he has to give you? If you can relate with any of that, you know how much it sucks. Such is the plight of Whitehands in the play, and her lines, "Some wounds just will not heal, and love's wounds are the deepest. Some wounds just will not heal," mean so much in context. Everybody with a whole heart deserves to be able to give that whole heart and receive one in return.

2. Work: I really like my work and on Friday I got to work Area 3 which basically means I just did a lot of random tasks and I loved it! Plus I got to see Logan Magnusson so that was a bonus. And I won triv-wizia. Oreos are the best selling brand of cookies in the US, deservedly too.

3. Ward Reunion: So I'm not a cool RM who can go to cool mission reunions, but instead, I had a cool ward reunion I went to on Friday. It was at my former Bishop's house, which is beautiful and I got to hang out with some neat, neat people. My brother shouldn't be counted in that number. Jk, jk.

4. Midnight adventures: I had two of these and both were great. Friday night I bought grapes and went to my friend Chris' apartment. He wasn't there, but I was invited in nonetheless and we had a great grape-eating, dating-discussing time. Chris eventually did show up and added to the fun. Saturday night after hanging out with Claire and Brooke, I stopped by Tyler Smith's apartment to say hi. We enjoyed popcorn and awkward conversations. Eventually Xander and Alex came home and Alex invited me to go dancing with him. At midnight. Yeah, I went. I don't regret it at all.

5. Girls' night: We went to Stan's and to see "Beastly" and because of our feminine natures we loved it. Well, liked it. I thought it was good, where it could have been great and a nice piece of art where it could have been a masterpiece. And that was ambiguous.

6. Latin dancing: Bachata anyone? I love latin dancing and I had a great time at Salsa Chocolate last night. I wish I were more Hispanic than I already am, because then, maybe, I would be able to get this hip thing figured out better. I'm somewhere in between a white girl and a latino girl and nowhere near a Polynesian. With time, I'm sure.

7. Latin culture: A hug and a kiss on meeting somebody and when saying goodbye is the norm and I had a very quick introduction to this last night. I met some really neat people and they were all super welcoming, even to somebody as white as me. I really want to go back. Anybody else up for some Latin dancing and culture?

8. Conference: It's already proven to be a spiritually-uplifting and hope-renewing experience for me. Only one sesh left! Better make it count.

9. Interpreting/Translating: Kind of on the same page as Conference, I listened to the Saturday sessions in French which was a great decision because it even more convinced me that interpreting/translating is something I would like to do in the future. I'm even contemplating it for grad school.

10. Social life: Now this is probably the worst and best thing. I love having a social life. I love meeting new people. Yet, an increase in my social life at the most academically crucial time period is probably a terrible idea. What to do?

I don't know if you made it through this entire post, but if you did, kudos to you. I'm hungry. I'm going to go eat.