Hello World. It's Thursday. My Favorite Day of the Week.

In high school, I helped with the morning announcements every day. And when it was Thursday, I would say, "Good morning Provo High. Today is Thursday, my favorite day of the week."

I said it every week, every Thursday-- without fail. And I think every Thursday, every student at Provo High wanted to trip me in the hallway so that I would stop being so giddy about life.

Have I ever told you that I really dislike winter?

I have one word for you:

Snow.

Okay, actually I have three words for you:

Snow in London.

Make that many, many more words:

So much for this Fall being the warmest Fall ever to occur in London. Tonight, it's snowing outside. No, I'm not kidding. Mr. Sky is sending down little white things. And Mr. Sky did not ask my permission before sending winter down in little white droplets to kill this lovely Autumn I've been enjoying.

My Vintage Clutch

When my grandma passed away, I found a leather clutch bag in the basement. No one really wanted it, but I did. And so I took it home with me. Then, a couple months later, I brought it to London with me. Here and now, this leather clutch comes with me everywhere. And today I thought I'd give you a glimpse into its insides. It holds more than you'd think:



a dark brown coin purse that has "genuine leather" printed in gold on the outside of it-- this is necessary in London, they use so much change here

a black pilot pen, extra fine, 0.5 thickness, product p-500-- I always have one of these on me, this one was given to me by a friend while we were sitting in the library, it was a happy moment in my life

streetwise london centre city map-- very detailed, very necessary

sticky note with my schedule for tomorrow-- leave for the train station at 1:00 pm

a list of paintings to see

my eurostar train ticket-- yes, i'm going to germany tomorrow, visiting my sister, and then i'll come home to london, what a lucky girl am i, london is my home

my passport

my local london library card-- yes, i got a library card for the local library, and yes, i already have a fine

my driver's license-- i have really short hair in this picture, it's above my ears, a solid pixie cut

shakespeare sonnet 146

a london popout map

american first credit union chapstick with sunscreen

a purple plastic spoon

five pound note, 12 pennys-- british style, 1 penny-- american style, 15 five-pence pieces, 7 ten-pence pieces, 3 fifty-pence pieces, 4 two-pence pieces, 6 twenty-pence pieces

my temple recommend

an international student identification card

my debit card-- and no, i'm not going to tell you where it's from, i've dealt with identity theft already once in my life

my panasonic dmc-tz4 camera with case

moleskin london notebook given to me by my sister-- i use this for everything: doodles, restaurant reviews, maps, lists and i carry it with me everywhere

Images

Ten Things I Love About You: October Edition

September is my favorite month-- the first day of school, scarves, my birthday, and apple season. But October is suddenly becoming one of my favorites. This is a big deal, this has never happened before. It's almost as monumental as Wednesday gaining popularity against Thursday.

Here's why October is great:

1. For some crazy unexplainable reason London is still quite warm in October (well, at least this October). Rumor has it, it has been warmer in these last few weeks than it ever was in the entire summer. Today, I spent the afternoon outside. I had a sweater on. That's all. Well, actually, that's not all I was wearing, but you know what I mean.

2. The leaves celebrate October too. Those leaves have got some great special effects going on in Hyde Park.

3. October has more O's in it's name than any other month (i.e. it almost rhymes with octopus).

4. The great art of pumpkin carving reaches its height in October. And I love pumpkin carving. No seriously, I really like it. If I was in second grade, I would express this love by saying that I want to marry pumpkin carving. And actually, I'm not in second grade but I'm still going to say that I want to marry pumpkin carving, because that's how much I love it.

5. England's National Poetry Day happened on October 9th. The best part about it was that I was at Wordsworth's Lake District Cottage on that very day. And I began to recite, "I wandered lonely as a cloud..." It was romantic, as it should have been because he was a Romantic era poet.

6. Chocolate Week is in October. It's this coming week. And all of London's chocolate shops are celebrating. Including Cocomaya. I feel really good about that.

7. I saw Chatsworth in October. This is the estate that Mr. Darcy's Pemberly is based on. In fact, the Pemberly in the Keira Knightly Pride and Prejudice was filmed here. There was a sculputure of Darcy in the sculpture room. I felt really good about that too.

8. I discovered the Bookart Bookshop in October. Click here. You'll be so glad you did. Then, write down the address so that when you come to London you can go visit it. It'll make you happy. I promise.

9. The Mormon Church, my church, held their semi-annual General Conference at the beginning of October. It was inspiring-- as it always is.

10. A girl named Rebecca has a birthday in October. She has an obvious bias towards October and she came up with many of these ten perks because I couldn't think of enough things I loved about October all by myself.

I love that noise.

When I was nervous that I wasn't majoring in the right thing, someone brilliant said to me, "What do you think about all the time? Like, when you're not thinking about anything, what are you thinking about? And whatever it is that you're thinking about, that's what you should be doing." And then I thought, Wow. This is a recipe for success. It's simple. All I have to do is figure out what I think about when I'm not really thinking about anything. And then, that's it-- I'll just major in that.

Well, the past couple of weeks, I've been going through a major crisis. And I mean that quite literally; it's a crisis because I'm worried that I'm not majoring in the right thing. But I have a plan: all I have to do is identify what I think about and then I'll just major in that.

And this is what I thought today when I was walking into the tube and I wasn't really thinking about anything:

Oh goodness, I love that noise. When I stick my magnetic card against the sensitizers and the doors swing open and slam. It's a good slam noise. And when the shower turns on in the morning, I really like that noise too. But mostly, I just like eating breakfast in the morning. Those omelets were so good. I wonder what kind of cheese she used, it was a little sharp. It was just like the cheese we ate on the train when I was in Germany when that guy in the green kept making eye contact with me. His sweater was a really great color of green. The combination with his skin was amazing. And I wonder where he was from, his skin was a beautiful shade of dark-ish brown, but not too dark. I think he was probably from somewhere exotic. I want to be from somewhere exotic, but I wonder what I would look like with darker skin. I don't think I would like it. White skin compliments my dark hair. That's why I like wearing mustard yellow too. The brown hair and the yellow is very good combo. The girl next to me is wearing those colors. Her daughter is wearing even better colors-- her striped tights just make me smile. Or maybe it's the fact that she's stepping on and off her mother's shoes and her mom just keeps staring straight at the ads on the wall, completely unaffected by her daughter who is now dancing around her. She stares at really good advertisements. Like the one that I saw yesterday. A successful ad. It was just a round boy, standing still in swim trunks on a black background. The colors were dramatic and there were no words. That's the best part about art. Communication without words is difficult, so when someone does it successfully, it's impressive. And it's a good ad strategy. Everyone looked at this particular advertisement (I think it's art), as they walked by. I wanted to know what the ad was for, and by thinking that I was thinking exactly what the advertisers wanted me to think. I hate proving them right. But, then again, I kind of like being predictable. Like when Michael knew that I was a half red, half blue personality. Shoot the dog, if he knew I was a red personality, maybe that means I'm a really obviously outspoken person like red personalities are. He's right, I am too outspoken. When I get on the tube everyone knows that I'm American, because I speak three decibals above everyone else around me. It's kind of embarrassing, but I get on the tube anyway, because I just love that noise when I put my tube pass against the sensitizers and the doors slam open. Slam. What a good noise.

Now you know why I'm having a major crisis.

Portraiture

I'm not really a fan of queues (lines). I just can't stand being in one place for so long. Every time I get in a queue, I feel like a 10 year old on the bench at church. I just can't sit still. I need crayons to color with, or cheerios to snack on, or someone to play tic-tac-toe. Anything will do, so long as I don't have to think about how long my feet have been in that one spot and how I'm starting to lose all will to live if living means standing still and wondering if the 360 degree view that I currently see will be the last thing I ever see because I met my end while I was still waiting in my spot in the queue. Anyway, the point is, I need a distraction when I stand in the queue, but I don't have crayons, cheerios, or a friend to draw x's while I draw o's. So, I take portraits. We stand in so many lines-- for plays, for museums, for dinner, for the toilet. And while we do, I zoom my camera into people's faces to take their portrait.

The girls here say that it is kind of creepy. But I disagree. I say, you'll be grateful someday when you have pictures of yourself for future generations. If I wasn't taking your portrait, how would grandchild Sally prove that she has her grandma's big eyes and plump lips?

But today, I'll agree with them. This could be kind of creepy. Today, I'm going to post some of the portraits right here, showing them to the universe.

I'd like to introduce you to the people I live and play with-- all of them are my favorites.