An Accomplished Woman

things i did today:

woke up at 11am

ate 2 bowls of peanut butter cheerios

let my mother buy clothes and make-up for me

that pretty much sums it up. 

Month of May, It's a Violent Thing

the month of May has not been easy. the first 1.5 weeks consisted of studying for/taking finals and the last 2.5 weeks consisted of frantically studying for my PhD qualifying exam. bonus - in the middle of the month, M2 left for a 4 month internship in DC. (given my track record with long-distance relationships, that is basically a kiss of death)

 a summary of my last 3 weeks

BUT, i also have the most amazing friends ever. in the days preceding my exam i had 2 different people make me dinner, 3 plates of baked goods delivered to my house (one was even accompanied by homemade ice cream & berries!), and countless encouraging emails and texts. when i finished my exam this afternoon, another friend took me "victory shopping" (i bought a victory candle). and when i get back from TN next week, my home teachers are taking me to dinner. how great is my life? 

brownies from my culinarily-gifted neighbor

Dispatches from East Tennessee

a few weeks ago Boy had his wedding reception in Tennessee. i took advantage of the weekend to introduce my boyfriend (let's call him M2) to the entire family. we're talking parents, siblings, nieces, aunts, cousins, etc.  - the night we showed up there were over 20 people at the house for dinner. M2 handled it like a champ, particularly for an extremely introverted & quiet person. no one got to know each other very well in such a short chaotic time, but here's an overview of the post-visit reactions by my family:


the 'rents: omg, we love him so much. we're pretending like we don't care, but we want you to marry him immediately.


H&R: he's smart. and nerdy. so he breaks even. 


the nieces: who is that guy? he'll look at weird bugs with me? i love him. i don't know his name, so i'll just call him Aunt Brooke too 

M2 & the nieces look at bugs together

Boy: "before i talked to him, i gave him a 4 out of 10. after our 60 second conversation, i'll give him a 6"

Babes: "he was cooler than i thought he'd be"*

*i asked her what she had expected. she said, "brooke, all i knew about this dude was that he was homeschooled in utah, doesn't drink Coke, and doesn't watch R-rated movies. my expectations were pretty low." - understandable based on the evidence.

heartbeats

i have been a little bit in love with this website for a while. in honor of valentines day, enjoy this beautiful letter from John Steinbeck to his son about his son's first love:

New York
November 10, 1958

Dear Thom:

We had your letter this morning. I will answer it from my point of view and of course Elaine will from hers.

First—if you are in love—that’s a good thing—that’s about the best thing that can happen to anyone. Don’t let anyone make it small or light to you.

Second—There are several kinds of love. One is a selfish, mean, grasping, egotistical thing which uses love for self-importance. This is the ugly and crippling kind. The other is an outpouring of everything good in you—of kindness and consideration and respect—not only the social respect of manners but the greater respect which is recognition of another person as unique and valuable. The first kind can make you sick and small and weak but the second can release in you strength, and courage and goodness and even wisdom you didn’t know you had.

You say this is not puppy love. If you feel so deeply—of course it isn’t puppy love.

But I don’t think you were asking me what you feel. You know better than anyone. What you wanted me to help you with is what to do about it—and that I can tell you.

Glory in it for one thing and be very glad and grateful for it.

The object of love is the best and most beautiful. Try to live up to it.

If you love someone—there is no possible harm in saying so—only you must remember that some people are very shy and sometimes the saying must take that shyness into consideration.

Girls have a way of knowing or feeling what you feel, but they usually like to hear it also.

It sometimes happens that what you feel is not returned for one reason or another—but that does not make your feeling less valuable and good.

Lastly, I know your feeling because I have it and I’m glad you have it.

We will be glad to meet Susan. She will be very welcome. But Elaine will make all such arrangements because that is her province and she will be very glad to. She knows about love too and maybe she can give you more help than I can.

And don’t worry about losing. If it is right, it happens—The main thing is not to hurry. Nothing good gets away.

Love,

Fa

phantom magazinist

last week a copy of the Ensign showed up at my house, addressed to me as if i'd ordered a subscription. yesterday the same thing happened with Vogue. i think someone wants me to be both church-ier and more fashionable...

(but seriously, how awesome is it to randomly get magazines? my roommate and i both love it!)

the great gatsby

sell out with me, tonight

i finally got an iPhone. now i have so many questions. what kind of case should i get? what apps should i buy with my iTunes giftcards from Christmas? will it be the best friend i've always dreamed of?