earth day, everyday

i saw this movie last night. i had to keep reminding myself that the vibrant colors and flowing movement was real, not animated. every living creature on the earth has a spirit. these animal have personalities and a purpose. the movie made my heart break.

i didn't know much about the oil spill before this and now that i know a little more i wish the focus would shift. because ultimately, it doesn't matter whose fault the oil spill is. what matters is that it gets fixed so the oil stops flowing into the ocean and destroying lives.

there is one part in "oceans" that shows how much pollution is being spilled into the ocean everyday from us. you don't have to be an activist by any means, but i do encourage everyone to try a little harder. turn off the lights. throw your garbage in trash bins. ride your bike more. and pray that this thing gets fixed fast. this is our earth and it's our job to take care of it.
peace+love

sometimes i feel sittin on trains...

and sometimes i feel my bestie getting married...it's true, the desperado sisters have gone from three to two--no, we're not kicking her out of the club...you can't just disown a desperado sister...but, she is married which sort of makes her a little less despo since she finally did "let somebody love [her]". anyway, not the point. the point is they got married on cinco de mayo, elder ballard (bj's g-pa) told me he liked my singing, katie and bj were the best looking couple since ever, we ate mexican food and had a pinata, and got down on the dance floor...i love you guys, my brown eyed girl and fred astaire wannabe. (click the collage to make it larger)

and here's the little ditty katie and i performed at the dinner for bj (the first two minutes is kate telling the engagement story)

peace+love

sad day

once upon a time (3 weeks ago), my hard drive crashed. aka pictures=gone. files=gone. worst of all--music=gone. my friend got a new hard drive and installed it for me. cause i have awesome friends like that. then, my iPod decided he was done being alive...he's not totally dead yet, but he's definitely on life support and it makes me very sad seeing as i have no $$$ for a new one and as far as i am concerned my iPod is more of a necessity than food...with the exception of choc. soy. even then, it's questionable.

anyway, because i've been so busy (hence the reason this tuesday's muse is coming 8 minutes before wednesday) and in honor of my bff/desperado sister's wedding TOMORROW (yes, mildly freaking out in my mind) i give you "can't help fallin' in love"....a playlist of some of my favorite love songs slightly incomplete and completely jumbled (i'm probably going to hate it tomorrow and think of all the songs i actually wanted to put on there--tis life:

peace+love

guess what? i'm human.

this week has been full of a mixture of emotions....stress, melancholy, sadness all jumbled in with happiness, giddiness, and euphoria. that's a lot to handle in one week. but intstead of discouraging you with details of my car problems, computer broken, failing a test, {worst cramps ever-tmi, i know} etc. etc. etc. i will dwell on the tales of happiness. for example:

-great friends. i have the best friends. they let me vent to them, keep me company, and make me smile. you know who you are--i love you guys. and will miss you immensely.-

-i won an almond rocha for my accompanist and i in my voice lesson this week...oh my teacher was on one but she doesn't make me cry anymore. she makes me laugh.-

-i've been wearing shorts all week...at least it starts out that way...then by about 4 it starts snowing...-

-the sun is shining today. which is good because today is "One Day Without Shoes". and that could get pretty miserable if there was snow on the ground.-

-i made dark chocolate brownies last night-

-um, right now if you are not a fan of LOST i feel very sorry for you. because the episode this week was beyond amazing and full of DESMOND DESMOND DESMOND! with a little sayid at the end...perfect-

-"having fun isn't hard when you've got a library card!" {click it, i dare you} i got a library card this week. it has dinosaurs on it. and i checked out a 750 page book of sherlock holmes' adventures. hours and hours of entertainment...for FREE!-

-today i'm listening to Mumford & Sons. what more do i need?-

welp, this is the longest post i've written in a while..and i've got to go repelling for my climbing class..pray i don't die. i love climbing. repelling frightens me, a lot. here i go to conquer my fears.

so, until tomorrow...

peace+love

elementary love

my love life was more exciting 9 years ago on this day (not to mention i was way more committed then, seeing as i liked the same boy for 2 years), so here is the Valentine's Day entry from the infamous 5th/6th grade journal:
"I am so happy. Colton likes me and the reason why I know is Whitney was being nice at our game, Sami was too & Sami told me that somebody said Colton gave me a Valentine. That's not true. Then she said all the 5th graders are saying that he likes me. Then Whitney hadnt heard Sami talking to me and she said I know somebody that likes you and I said who, she said Colton and I said ya Sami told me all about it.
I didnt flirt with boys at the ballet. We had to wait longer for the ballet to start then watch the ballet. The ballet was short but waiting was long."

what is your favorite valentine's day memory from elementary school?

peace+love

come on skinny love, just last the year

happy valentine's day!

things i love (in no particular order and not all things):

the moon
skinny jeans
ocean
TOMS shoes
skiing
fall
receiving letters in the mail
sending letters in the mail
kings of convenience
having my toes popped
npr
mountains
juno
warm rain
ukulele
climbing
zip-up hoodies
sunflowers
my iPod
dolphins
politics
summer
hiking
overcast weather
laughing
folk
family
winter
whales
pretty much all sea life
quarter sleeve shirts
walking in the snow all bundled up
quesadillas (i'd starve without them)
trees
spring
friends
life

What do you love? (name that movie)

also, happy birthday to this kid...
peace+love

breaking news

Once upon a time (aka 5+ years ago), in a land not so far away, there lived many princesses. They, with several princes, attended the "Holy Academy" (get it, woods cross) where they learned the skills necessary to become Kings and Queens. This is also where they fraternized, socialized, and caught each others eyes. I made a desperado princess friend in this land that we'll call Katie, cause that's her real name. She was very noble and beautiful, and the kindest of all the princesses. Many of the princes noticed her, but alas, they were intimidated by Katie's beauty, nobility, and kindness.
One day, a handsome, noble, and kind prince we'll call BJ (cause that's his real name) got up the courage to court Katie. He flattered and wooed her, and Katie grew fond of BJ.
But alas, the time came, as it does for all princes, to travel to a far away land to learn many things pertinent to his success. During BJ's absence, many princes sought after Katie, in hopes of winning her heart. I thought that these princes did not measure up. Which they didn't.

BJ returned taller, wiser, and handsomer (is that a word?). Katie was smitten by the prince. Do not be fooled, it was not easy to win her heart. But after more courting and convincing on BJ's part, Katie came to the conclusion she'd love nothing more than to spend the rest of the eternities with BJ.(sorry kate, this is the only picture i have with both of you in it..weird) Congrats my desperado heart! I love you and am so thrilled for you both!

peace+love

happy birthday, jesus

happy christmas
from our desperado hearts to yours
i hope it is a warm (on the inside) one full of pinching cheeks, ugly sweaters, lots of snow, slobbery kisses, and funny mugs.
but most of all, lots of love

peace+love

it's the most wonderful time of the year...

i don't care what the song says, the truth is october-don't tell anyone, but last night we climbed to the roof of the buildings on main street via a tree...i ripped my pants as we wandered from roof to roof very slyly and very at risk-the police station is directly across the street from the block of buildings we were on...then we carved our names in a wood wall where dirty words and gang signs were spray painted...

-we bought a new kite that will actually work once we learn how to fly it (it sure is harder than it looks)--our previous kite was missing a stick, so we whittled one from a twig...it looked great but didn't really function...

-last but not least, it is finally truly fall and i couldn't be happier! my allergies mostly blew away with the wind last night, the leaves are changing, i get to snuggle in a ball while i sleep with my window cracked open, my apartment smells of pumpkin spice, and i wore a long-sleeve today...at long last, time for the cute wardrobe and my constantly happy mood

...and soon it will be winter
peace+love

cowboy hats, football, night sitting and shakes

this day, the 30th of august, is dedicated to the birth of 1/3 of the desperado hearts--only the biggest, best hearts in the history of mankind--none other than katie sue clark...today, katie turns 20...no longer a teenager, not yet an adult...anyway, it is usually the case that if you know me, you know katie, so i will not give you her life story (fascinating as it may be) but i will give you a few of my favorite katie sue poo quotes:

"chuck norris met the devil." -that's the joke and the punch line





at baskin robins "you mean you can get two scoops of different flavors?"



this summer at the ripe age of 19 "the weirdest thing has happened to me this summer, it's like all of the sudden i notice boys"




the only reason this is amusing is because it came from katie, "kissing is just so addicting"




and my personal favorite:
9th grade, when asked why she pees her pants so much, "i can't help it, it runs in my jeans!"


to my best friend in the whole wide world,
i love you katie sue!

katie and me all grown up

a story

once upon a time, whilst wandering through the vast landscape of fred meyer (smith's marketplace for you noobs) i found a tent...the tent was simple- 2 man, small fly, easily assembled, and a mere $15...too perfect to pass up this purchase...a couple weeks later i saw the tent laying on my floor completely virgin-unused, unopened, untouched...do not doubt i did think to take advantage of this opportunity...5 minutes later it became my fort within my fort...i moved in bringing with me a good book, my i pod, my ukulele, and a pillow...and there i have been for about two weeks...
the end
peace+love

greetings from "the villa"

last photo of the trio...for a few months anyway

when i moved in this week i walked in through the back door, past the lawn of weeds and in the broken screen door. i walked down to my 70's yellow room and attempted to open the window...till i saw what was between the window and the screen and i decided against it.

i dropped some stuff on the floor then went to check out the rest of la casa. behind a storage cabinet i found a crawl space...that looked like it hadn't been crawled in since la casa had been built. no carpet on the closet floors in one of the bedrooms. the dryer sounded like it's going to explode. at least an inch of dust bunnies on the carpet in the space between my bed and the wall. a broken vacuum (which i learned the hard way, resulting in the smell of burning rubber pervading the entire house). no bedroom closet door. no dishwasher. no disposal. cobwebs in the corners. our electricity even got turned off. then, my favorite part of the house-the downstairs bathroom. above the shower is a panel laying on top of the rods to keep the pipes exposed above from dripping on whoever is showering. oh, and they turned off our gas so we have no warm water (i feel like i'm going to have a heart attack everytime i shower). it's been that way since wednesday (good birthday gift, i know)...um, i really don't know how else to describe my 4x4x2 bathroom shared by 4 girls, but i think patrick said it best, "you know when people in 3rd world countries take something ugly and crappy (in this case the water pipes--and half the bathroom) and paint it a bright color to make it look nice? that's like your bathroom." no, i'm not on a mission in a 3rd world country, i'm back in provo for escuela!

patrick, douglas (such good friends drove from salt lake only to stay for and hour and a half), me, katie (who also drove from salt lake but stayed a while)

despite the ghetto embience of my living conditions i actually really love it. i cleaned so i can open my window now, put a curtain in front of my closet, the gas will get turned back on monday, and i spent most of last monday cleaning the mildew from the corners of the bathroom and shower so it now looks descent (but still like it belongs in a third world country). i attempted to weed yesterday, but i have a feeling it will be a never ending battle...i'm just really hoping that by some miracle grass grows in place of the weeds i pulled. last night we had a bbq in the backyard complete with veggie burgers and a delicious watermelon i chose out myself.

matthew edwards (one of the newest members of the BYU football team), some guy, andrew angus, and dane

katie sue, me, brady heaps, jake snyder (who got home from el salvador on tuesday), and chris hallows

p.s. "the villa" is apparently the name of our house...whatever that is supposed to mean

peace+love