Birthdays & Brunches

So, my birthday was last weekend. Most of you who know anything about me know I absolutely, positively LOVE birthdays.

Any excuse to throw a party, am I right?!

Well, this year's birthday will go down in the history books as one of my most favorite of celebrations.

I had a fairly quiet weekend planned. My best friend Emily was set to come up from Monterey, and I had a few things with friends on the books. A night out on the town, a birthday brunch, and a Sunday night soiree were all on the agenda for the weekend. Plus, it was Stake Conference.

WELL, I came home Friday afternoon, braced for a quiet evening with my besties, and none other than Andrew Harvey, my most favorite Canadian came knocking at my door to surprise me for the big day! He and Em had been planning the coo for weeks and I nearly fainted when he appeared at my house in the woods.

What a WONDERFUL present! If we'll recall, Andrew is my pal from BYU-I that I run the Lulu Lemon Half Marathon with every year. He is totally hilarious, incredibly kind and adoringly perceptive. I love him more than life.

So, we kicked off birthday weekend with a small group and headed to Tacko in the Marina, followed by a showing of The Great Gatsby. I am obsessed with both, as I love a nautical-themed Mexican restaurant and any all things related to the 20s, Zelda Fitzgerald and Leonardo DiCaprio. We traipsed up and down Chestnut Street until late into the night, only to come home and enjoy some cupcakes and champers.

Saturday morning dawned bright and early, as we made our way to lower Pac Heights for an official birthday brunch with the roomies + Em, Andrew and honorary Presidio girl Steph. We, as so many San Franciscans do, enjoyed an incredible brunch as Sweet Maple, filled with exhilarating conversation and the best bacon west of the Mississippi.

Brunch was followed by a stroll down Fillmore and an afternoon of chatting and catching up. It has been almost a year since Em, Andrew and I have all been in the same room together, so we had a lot to cover.

Sift (off) Fillmore. Amazing.

In the early evening, we journeyed across the Golden Gate to Marin, where we shopped away the evening and worked up an appetite before heading to my favorite seaside joint, Guyamas, in Tiburon to dine on the water and watch the ferry head into the city.

On the way back, I got a call from two of my favorite people with some of the most exciting news of the summer! My best friend Justin proposed to his girlfriend and they are getting married in September. I've been friends with these crazy kids since the beginning and I am absolutely so thrilled for their fall nuptials--I already have my dress picked out. Duh!

I die. Congrats J + L! 

On Sunday morning, a hole was punched in the time-space continuum as Andrew and Steven finally met! As you may or may not know, Steven has been my best friend for many, many years and Andrew is like his twinner! Not only are these two of the boys I love the most, but they have the same birthday and rival each other for the tallest men in my life. It was so awesome for them to finally be in the same room.

9th birthday together!

After we finished up a lengthy brunch at Stacks, we barreled back into the city just in time to see the remnants of one of the most famous races in SF, Bay to Breakers. We hung out in Alamo Square people watching, chatting and enjoying the sun.

Chaos.

Tired a little sunburnt, we made our way back to my apartment to prepare for the evening we had planned with my wonderful roomies! Carlee and Carrie donned their domestic goddess aprons and prepared some of the most amazing southern desserts ever for an evening of fun with the peeps in the ward to honor Carrie's big move to the Presidio and my 26th.

This birthday was probably one of my best, rivaled only by the one I spent gallivanting around Paris as I prepared to head home from studying abroad. A huge shout out and thank you to those who came for all the fun and made it such a phenomenal weekend. I am so blessed to have such incredible besties. I love you so much.

xoxo

things i love: my ward

i feel like my posts have been a bit intense lately. i've been making my way through a few things that i am sure will make me a stronger, more confident and compassionate young lady, but that have been trying to my heart, mind and soul.

that said, i was just reflecting on how much i love my ward here in the city. i've said it before and i'll say it again, my ward is amazing! i started going to the sf young single adult ward when i moved into the city in sept  2011 and have been in love ever since.

as most/all/some of you know i wasn't the most avid church goer when i lived in chico, but i went back when i moved down here and it was probably the best decision i've ever made. there was no better ward for me to be a part of. the thing i love most about the singletons here in sf is that there is such a sense of love, acceptance and inclusion.

but it's more than just the ward as a whole. it's the friends i've made that really make it special.

for the first time in my life i have single, straight, mormon male friends that i love more than life. as we know, i've had guy friends over the years that were at least a few of those things, but never all of them at once. i've been incredibly blessed over the years to have wonderful gay friends that i wouldn't trade for anything, but it's been so wonderful to have some straighties in the mix! you know who you are.

when i was going to byui i had some of the worst roommates, ever. it was horrible. except for a few, you ladies know who you are. but it put a bad taste in my mouth re: being friends with the sisters in the church.

however, these days i am friends with the best of the best. almost all of the women i consider to be a best friend (which is not a person it's a tier, as we all know) are those whom i attend my regular sunday meetings with. those whom i run with on wednesdays, brunch with on saturdays, spin with on tuesdays and text all hours of the night and days of the week.

i love my ward. period. it's made up of some of the most incredible people i've ever known. their testimonies of the gospel strengthen me, their senses of humor make me laugh out loud and their compassion amazes me every day.

cheers to the sf ysa.

xoxo

Weekend in Chico

In the rare case that you have been ignoring instagram completely, you probably know I've been in Chico all weekend!

I love being in Chico. Especially this time of year.

The weather is perfect, the students are out in full swing and all kinds of memories always come flooding back as I traipse the streets of this small town I love.

As most/all/some of you know, I spent three of the most wonderful years of my life loving this town. I learned some of my most valuable lessons there (mostly outside the classroom) and made some of the most incredible friends.

One such amazing gal pal is Sarah Best. You've likely heard me talk about her as she is one of my most favorite friends from up north. Well, good news, she got engaged! In a similar fantasic fashion, she asked me to be a bridesmaid!

I love weddings. I love love. But that's another post.

To celebrate her engagement, I decided to head to Chico for a weekend of wedding planning and catching up--it had been too long!

So, Friday morning I jumped in car and crossed the bay bridge to make my way north. I arrived in Chico in just under four hours and met mumsy and grand mumsy for lunch at our favorite dining establishment, one Sierra Nevada Brewery.

Grand mumsy was in town visiting from Colorado Springs, so it was just such luck I happened to be coming up!

Lovely Hansrote ladies!

After lunch, we sauntered downtown to hit a few of our faves, like Tom Foolery, Made in Chico and Betty's on Broadway. We enjoyed the warm sun of the valley and chatted, as the gallerinas so often do!

After our wonderful afternoon, I got an incredible massage and ran to campus to meet one of my study abroad pals, Kirby, and we hit up the Naked Lounge for some delicious iced tea and a catch up session. She has been working as a student advisor in the Study Abroad Office and LOVES it. 

Duh! 

Okay so I don't have an actual picture of just me and Kirbs, but here she is at orientation a few years ago when we worked at the office together

After I left downtown, I met up with Sarah and we hit up one of my two favorite Mexican places in Chico, Casa Ramos. All I can say is: obsessed.

Two hours and a frozen yogurt later, we were at Sarah's apartment laid out on the couch watching Bridesmaids to prepare for the day ahead of us--picking out the bridesmaid dresses!

Saturday morning dawned early and after grabbing a Diet Coke, we were at David's Bridal for our 10 a.m. appointment. All my favorites were there! Meghan came up from Fairfield, and the lovely and pregnant Stephanie came down from Magalia. I also finally got to meet the fabeled Stacey (Sarah's friend from elementary school) and Sarah's financee's sister, Sara.

I'll save you the gory details, but we ended up deciding on a dress that Sarah had originally picked out for the maids of honor only. It looked great on all of us (Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, much?). Plus, it will make for easy altering when I get sleeves added underneath. Easy, peasy!

For some historical reference on these lovely ladies:

Steph's bachelorette party in 2010: final fling before the ring

Sarah, Meg and I in Tahoe the same summer

 And the beautiful bridesmaids now!

Planning & parties

Anyway, I love these gals more than life and am so glad we decided on a beautiful dress and were able to knock that out of the way. Love the color. Love the design.

After the fitting, we went to one of my favorite lunch spots in Chico, T Bar. Again: obsessed.

But the day wasn't even CLOSE to over. We still had our murder mystery dinner to attend at the brewery, and we were totally in for a treat! The food was amazing, the entertainment was fabulous, and it was an awesome evening. Plus we like, totally figured out who did it and Steph won tickets to another show!

Murdered by the Mob

Babes

My fantastic Chico weekend was topped off Sunday morning with breakfast at Mom's and a stroll through Bidwell Park. I can't imagine a better way to finish off my perfect weekend. 

Beautiful day at One Mile

The thing I love about being in Chico is that it helps me realize that going back to where you've been helps you better understand where you're going.

I am so excited to continue the planning, and of course for the big day: October 4, 2014!

xoxo

*A huge thank you to Sarah and Nader (her finacee! Eeek!) for letting me lounge on their couch all weekend and watch endless amounts of  "Say Yes to the Dress." And for putting up with me in general.

desire is not enough

I am a total night owl.

When I was just a little gal, my mom used to call  me little miss party girl, because I loved to go to bed late and wake up well after the sun had risen. I totally get that from my Dad. I grew up with him watching TV quietly in the living room until after midnight and leaving for work around 8:30 a.m.

As we well know, the world loves the early bird. Which is so dumb. I don't even like worms, you know?

Anyway, this post is not about how I love to stay up late.

It's about desire.

I want a lot of things. I've always wanted a lot of things. Did you read or watch The Berenstain Bears growing up? I hope so, because they taught me A LOT about life.

 I will never forget Mumsy reading "The Berenstain Bears and Too Much Fun," to me time and time again when the child version of my now extrovert self was over-stimulated to the point of a good solid meltdown.

Even the most social of us all need a little quiet time, you know what I'm saying?

Anyway, in one book, Sister Bear finds herself having to choose between being girly and liking dolls and playing on the baseball team with Brother Bear. She sings herself a little song, and it's called, "I want it all."

I want it all. Yes every bit.

Every single bit. Of it.

Hmmmm. Could the Berenstain Bears have singlehandedly created a generation of Millenials who simply think because they want it, they can have it? And not just have it, but have it ALL?

Probably not. But it does bring me again back to the point of this post. Desire, and getting what we want.

I think it's hard as a twenty-something to come to the conclusion that sometimes, even if you work hard, make the best choices you can and be the best version of yourself, you still come up a little short. You can do absolutely everything "right" (which I put in quotes due to its subjective nature, in this case) and still miss out on something--or so it would seem.

How does that happen? Why does that happen? Shouldn't it be enough to just want something, ask for it nicely, and get it?

That's like, how it works, right?

I was recently reading one of my favorite conference talks by President Uchtdorf (swoon) entitled, "Your Happily Ever After." Any general authority who kicks off a conference talk with a story about Disney princesses is okay in my book, am I right? Anyway.

The talk is basically about the fact that yes, things worked out for Cinderella, Snow White and Belle, but not until the end. Homegirls had to deal with lost slippers, moody dwarves and literal beasts before their stories were finished. Until they got their happily ever after. He say this:

"Isn't that what we all desire; to be the heros and heroines of our own stories; to triumph over adversity; to experience life in all its beauty; and in the end, to live happily ever after?...But such a blessing does not come without a price. It is not given simply because you desire it. It comes only through understanding who you are and what you must become in order to be worthy of such a gift."

And may I add to that, "what you must become in order to be worthy and ready for such a gift."

So you see, it's not just about desire. It's about wants and needs colliding with personal worthiness, readiness and the greater plan for you and your eternal family.

We also cannot get what we want right away, because we might not appreciate it. Dieter also says this about my beloved princesses:

"Sandwiched between "once upon a time" and "happily ever after," they all had to experience great adversity. Why must we all experience sadness and tragedy? Why could we not simply live in bliss and peace, each day filled with with wonder, joy and love?"

He goes on to answer:

"In stories, as is life, adversity teaches us things we cannot learn otherwise. {favorite part, PAY ATTENTION!} Adversity helps us develop a depth of character that comes in no other way. Our loving Heavenly Father has set us in a world filled with challenges and trials so that we, through opposition, can learn wisdom, become stronger, and experience joy."

So it's true, you can't always get what you want.

But you will always eventually, get what you need.

xoxo

on the things we wish we didn't do

ask for forgiveness, not permission.

this has long been my mantra in life.

 i've always been the kind of girl who unabashedly does whatever she wants. when i was little, i used to insist that i dress myself, and then would come out of my room and look up at mumsy and ask if i had everything on correctly. she would laugh and either tell me yes or no.

i didn't want any help. and i still don't.

i don't take advice well. and if you tell me what to do, i will do the opposite just to prove that i can. it's like a thing with me.

however.

the thing about doing whatever you what is that it has consequences. even if you think you are ready for them, you often aren't.

sometimes you think you have to do something. you think if you don't, the "what ifs" will eat you alive. you'll think that looking back you'll feel like, if i had only done this, things would have been different.

but what if nothing would have changed? if someone told you beforehand that your actions wouldn't change anything, would you still do them? would you just take their word for it?

i so rarely regret doing what i want. i want to look back on my life and say, "i always did what my heart told me to. i seized every moment and i have no regrets. i took every risk. i jumped on every plane. i replied to every email. i commented on every instagram. i loved everyone i could. i did it."

occasionally, i do do something i regret. occasionally i say things i wish i could take back. not because they were untrue. not because i didn't mean them. not because i said them without thinking.

mostly because i was woefully unprepared for the consequences of those words coming out of my mouth. remember how people warn you of those and you boldly tell them you would happily trade that outcome for your current predicament?

#whoops.

xoxo

on the things that dissappoint us

One of my favorite blogs posts I wrote in college was entitled, "How getting the small envelope can change your life, too." I wrote the piece a few days after I found out I got my first choice internship with Fleishman-Hillard and I decided I was moving to Sacramento to start my new life in food & wine PR. It seemed silly that I would write a post about not getting what I wanted only a few days after my post-grad life was falling into exactly the place I needed it to.

At the time, instead of all my successes flooding into my brain, I couldn't help but think about the times I had gotten the small envelope, which was what the post was about. Starting with my rejection from BYU, all the way up to my getting wait-listed for their program in Paris two and a half years later. Also including, but not limited to, that one random year I didn't make the cheerleading squad and the time in sixth grade where I didn't make the basketball team (which was insane. I am SO tall!). 

The point is, as it was then, all of these things forced me to choose something else. Made me pick up the pieces of my broken heart and put them back together with something else. 

Instead of BYU, I went to BYUI and made some of the best friends that I still have now and love more than anything. Thank goodness I didn't go to Paris, because I ended up living in the South of France for a year and getting a double bachelor's in French and journalism at Chico State. It was also living in France that I met a soul sister that taught me more about love and acceptance than anyone else.

If I had made the basketball team that year, I would have never tried cheerleading, and if I had never been emotionally devastated over that same pep squad three years later, never would have known how much I love tennis. 

We often think we know what's best for us, and what will make us happy in the end. We decide we want something, and often expect that desire is enough.

But it's not. And it never will be.

It's about all of the things we want and need coming together in a way that is no coincidence. It's about divine intervention making things happen the way nothing else can. 

Sometimes the best thing someone can do for us is to tell us no. This opens the door, for someone else to tell us yes. 

xoxo

I Love to See the Temple

I had quite the weekend. 

My parents came to visit me together for the first time in a year and a half. 

My best friends came up from Seattle and Monterey, respectively.

 I hosted like three dinner parties.

But most importantly, I went through the temple! After I posted some adorbs pics of myself and my gal pals outside on the gorgeous grounds of the Oakland Temple, I got a barrage of text messages from college and real-life friends and colleagues asking about my day inside this sacred building. 

I was a bit unprepared for this, to be honest, and was at a loss for words at first. Which, if you know me well, you know is fairly rare! I wasn't sure how to explain why my weekend was so special.

Naturally, my millennial tendencies kicked in and I turned to Google for some assistance. I jumped on Lds.org (please note this and Mormon.org are the only reliable resources when researching the Mormon church) and started searching around for information on the temple, and found the perfect way to explain it! 

See below.

What Happens in the Temple?
"In the temple we are taught, we make covenants, and we are promised blessings. We receive ordinances that enable us to live in the presence of God.

One ordinance we receive in the temple is the endowment. The word endowment means “gift” or “bestowal.” As part of this ordinance, we are taught about the purpose of life, the mission and Atonement of Jesus Christ, and Heavenly Father’s plan for His children. We gain a glimpse of what it will be like to live in His presence as we feel the peaceful atmosphere of the temple.

Another temple ordinance is the sealing ordinance, in which husbands and wives are sealed to each other and children are sealed to their parents in eternal families. This means that if we are faithful to our covenants, our family relationships will continue for eternity.

In addition to receiving these ordinances for ourselves, we can receive them for our deceased ancestors. In this way, people who died without receiving essential ordinances such as baptism and confirmation, the endowment, and sealing have the opportunity to accept these ordinances." --Lds.org

So, as I'm sure you gathered from the above notes, the temple is of the utmost importance to members of the church. It is a place we can go to get away from the hustle and bustle of the world and worship God to increase our spirituality and gain precious blessings.

Thanks to all who made it a wonderful weekend, and especially those who traveled from afar!

xoxo