"If you find a girl who reads, keep her close. When you find her up at 2 AM clutching a book to her chest and weeping, make her a cup of tea and hold her. You may lose her for a couple of hours, but she will always come back to you. She'll talk as if the characters in the book are real, because for a while, they always are." - Date a Girl Who Reads by Rosemarie Urquico

An update, of sorts.

I will never have a cute blog.

I don’t take enough pictures. I don’t use any cute instagram filters. My outfits are never put together enough to be shown off on the internet. My recipes are nothing out of the ordinary and never my own. I don’t own a house to decorate with frames and wallpaper. I don’t have any kids to recount silly stories or a horrible boss or my own business to promote.

Instead, my blog will be plain. And most of what I post will not be interesting. And it will never have a fancy header or a pretty background. I’ll post every few months, each entry becoming more vague than the last. My family will continue to be the majority of readers, my best friends will comment out of pity and all my opinions incredibly biased.

But, this blog will always be mine.

Double Deuces

Tuesday was my best friend Melissa Dean Connor's 22nd birthday.

I knew for a while that I wanted to write a blog about Melissa, but I wasn't exactly sure what to say. How do you sum up the best of times (and the absolute worst of times) with a few perfectly placed words and quotations that everybody can understand?

Well, it turns out you can't.

If I had to sum up Melissa and I's friendship in one way, I'd tell you this story: A few weeks ago we were both super grumpy, neither of us having a good day. I was all the way out here in Washington DC, and she was in LA. During my lunch break, I texted her to complain. Work is blah, I'm tired, so and so is annoying, I hate everybody, etc. And I don't know whose brilliant idea this was, but somewhere along the conversation one of us decided to list all the people we hate. So we did. For over and hour, Melissa and I texted back and forth names of all the randos in the world, and both our grumpy moods were instantly cured. What does this say about Melissa and I? Well, a lot of things. Go ahead and judge the fact that we both really need to at least pretend like we like people, but that's a different story. To me it's the ultimate act of friendship. What would I do without her?

There are thousands of other stories like the above, and most I would not be able to get though without laughing. As I thought about Melissa's birthday I thought a lot about all the things we'd done together, and I made the following list. These are 22 things that sum up my favorite part about Melissa and I's friendship:

1. "I need to stop, I've done enough telesital stuff for the day"

2. Once we called our friend to take us to get McDonald's ice cream at 3:00am. After he took us through the drive thru, he asked what we wanted to do next. We told him to take us home and we ate ice cream in our beds with the lights off.

3. During our freshman year at BYU, Melissa took BIO100 at the same time all of our friends went to lunch. She ended up retaking the class a few semesters later.

4. Melissa met a boy in a hot tub and we rewrote the song "Baby" by Justin Beiber to describe their relationship. I will never sing the original lyrics again.

5. We were hiking in Yosemite and one of Melissa's shoes fell off the side of the cliff. She hiked the rest of the way down in one sock like a champ.

6. She almost always orders fettuchini alfredo when we go out to eat, but nothing beats her homemade recipie.

7. Melissa knows all the words to Jay Z's "Empire State of Mind" and will rap them on the fly.

8. The two of us commuincate via dolphin noises.

9. In order to marry Melissa you must take her to Burger Supreme at least once a week.

9. We once googled "men in pulka shells."

10. Melissa has created some genius nicknames that include but are not limited to fairy girl, the white witch, beeker and the villian.

11. People don't like to hang out with Melissa and I because we have our own conversations on top of whatever everybody else is talking about.

12. One time Melissa and I were convinced that all the Chili's had been closed and we almost broke down.

13. Melissa loves Mormon Tabernacle Choir. She calls MoTab her "jam"

14. Once Melissa used my little sister's baby pictures for a presnetation about her own life because she couldn't find any of her own.

15. Melissa Dean Connor knows every single word to Aaron Carter's "Aaron's Party" and can sing them without missing a beat.

16. We both say "sorreh" like Gilly.

17. Sophomore year we made up a dance for the ward talent show. Ask Melissa about the Reindeer Click.

18. We once attempted to create a blog called The Legit Blog where we discussed topics of variying legitimacy including Heidi Montag, Twilight and Hawiian shirts.

19. Senior year, Melissa found a long green sock in her bed that didn't belong to anybody we knew. She threw it in the hall outside our apartment and it stayed there for weeks.

20. Melissa and I know more about Vegas than you do, and are more than willing to discuss our adventures in ~da club.

21. My junior year at BYU I was completely in love with a boy I studied with. One night I came home and found Melissa making a PowerPoint slidshow presentation which displayed his best pictures and were synced with the song "SuperStar" by Taylor Swift.

22. Melissa is Jay Z, and I am Kanye West.

If you could please convince her to drop out of school and/or graduate school early and move to DC that would be much appreciated. I can't go on for much longer without my best friend.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MELISSA. EEEHHEHEHEEHHHHH.

There is no eloquent or interesting way to say this, so welcome to the most boring blog post in the history of this blog.

I have a job! I've been working as the Administrative Assitant to the Finance and Operations Department for The Solar Energy Industries Association. SEIA is a the national trade association of the US solar industry and filled with incredibly talented, motivated and passionate people. I've been with SEIA for almost a month now and am very happy to be settling in. My office is located across from the International Spy Museum, National Portrait Gallery and the Smithsonian American Art Museum in the heart of DC. Yesterday I had lunch in front of the Peterson House, where Abe Lincoln died. I am a legitimate DC commuter who spends 3 1/2 hours a day hating on the Metro, swiping my commuter card and complaining about tourists (even though I was one just a few weeks ago. Irrelevant).

Because I have no creativity, I'll copy something I do frequently on my LJ.

Current Likes:

Water For Elephants by Sara Gruen

My brand new iPhone

Retelling hilarious stories from LeakyCon 2011

Current Dislikes:

Being 1,836 miles away from Provo, Utah

Until next time.

DC Adventures

In my currently unemployed state I've spent much of the last 3 weeks couped up in my new Virginia bedroom studying for the GRE and sending out a billion resumes. But, I have had a chance to explore DC a little and enough time to realize how different the east coast is. I've been all over the US, and this is definitely not my first visit to the DC area, but I've never lived here. You'd think that by this day and age we'd all basically be the same - we watch the same TV shows, read the same magazines, see the same movies and (for the most part) listen to the same songs on the radio. I was shocked to find out how different DC feels. So, throughout my first adventures in the area I recorded a few observations. The following list is the result:

- DC is "The District" to locals, just like San Francisco is "The City"

- American flags are everywhere. The Metro door, on every bench, hanging over the freeway, etc.

- I've always thought wearing a watch was kind of dorky, but it's super classy here

- Everybody seems very aware of their American heritage and what it means to live in or around our nation's capitol

- You've got to know your politics if you want people to respect you

- Lots of men and women in uniform, both on and off duty

- Fireflies are so magical, all the rest of the bugs are not

- The humidity can be brutal

- A lot of people smoke cigars

- There is this sense of regality that I can't quite put my finger on

I'm really starting to fall in love with the area. I can't wait to finally have a job and start really settling in socially. I miss Provo and California (especially the people who live there) every single day, but I'm quickly becoming a DC girl.

Land of the Free

It's not often that we get to enjoy a sense of pride and unity collectively as Americans, and tonight was one of those rare occasions. I could almost feel the eyes of the entire nation glued to their TVs as they announced the death of Osama Bin Laden, the sense of honor and reverence that lingered in the air as Obama talked about 9/11, reminding us that during those hours "no matter where we came from, what God we prayed to, or what race or ethnicity we were, we were united as one American family."

Once again, we can come together to be united in this way.

This is not to say that we should celebrate death or rejoice in the end of somebody's life, no matter how cruel and terrible a person. Instead, we should bask in the relief and sense of peace that has been delivered to those personally effected by Bin Laden, and be reminded of the sacrifice and power of the soldiers who keep this country free .

Let us hold on to this feeling of community and love for our country and fellow men.

Things I Know For Sure

During Graduation last week, a lot of people talked about what we learned throughout our education and the things we now know. Because I studied philosophy I mostly came out of class knowing that I don’t know anything. But, even though I’ve become accustomed to doubting anything that is “known” (thanks Descartes), there are a few things I know for sure.

I know about the couches in A101, or the Man Cave as some people like to call it. To me, it’s “the boy’s.” I know that their door is unlocked 74% of the time and my favorite blanket is hardly ever in use. I know which plug works best in the living room and that everybody can see through the front window when the blinds are open. I know a lot about best friends becoming family and that fort making is not just for 8 year olds.

I know about the fourth floor of the JFSB. I know the professors by name, first and last, and can point you in the direction of their offices. I know a little about philosophy and a lot about writing papers. I know that Kierkegaard got it right when describing how to be a true Christian and Kant is tough if you don’t know what to look for.

I know about Harry Potter. I know that Harry is a wizard and Dudley is a muggle. I know that Snape had to kill Dumbledore, that it was all part of the plan that was set into motion long before any of us even realized. I know that “lumos” means lights on and “nox” means lights off. I also know exactly what butterbeer tastes like, and what it feels like to be at Hogwarts with the people who’ve made my life magical.

I know a lot about Vegas. I know what it’s like to walk down the Strip in the middle of the night and how weird it feels to drive through during the day. I know which songs at the Bellagio fountains are the best and exactly how to get to each Panda Express. I can tell you what to wear if you plan on going to The Bank or the hot tub. And I can promise you that you won’t regret staying at the Best Western Mardi Gras.

I know what it means to be a believer, to be a Christian. I know a lot about faith and a little about God. I know about scripture and prophets and church and hymns. I can tell you exactly what it means to be Mormon.

I know a lot about college and Netflix and hiking and making the perfect grilled cheese sandwich, but I don’t know a lot about “the real world.” I don’t know what it’s like to have a real full time job that isn’t a student position or a summer temp. I barely know what it’s like to be 21 years old. I don’t know how to buy a car or what it means to have money in your savings account. I still get nervous when I have to call people on the phone and I’m not eloquent or elegant. But I guess that’s part of growing up, part of picking up and moving on – my “I know” list will continue to grow longer, and for that I'm excited.