Scalp to Chin: The "blessings upon my head"

My dear roommate Maddie told me not too long ago that her sister had to write an essay describing her face for a creative writing class. I thought it sounded like fun so I decided to give it a try. I ended up extending it to talking about my entire head, rather than just my face.  As I wrote this piece, in addition to having a blast just writing for the sake of writing, I came to a greater appreciation for the beauty in Heavenly Father’s creation of the human body, and specifically that of the head, home to our brains and central nervous systems. (It’s got some pretty important stuff in there!) 

I’m impressed not only by the sheer genius of said creation, but also the perfection of it. No, I am not saying that my head is perfect. I mean let's face it, I’m pretty doggone pretty, but I sometimes get acne and greasy hair, just like everyone. What I am saying is that God knew what He was doing when He made it. Each part of my body -- and each part of my head -- has served a specific purpose and helped me do things that, without it, I would be unable to do. Some of these things are silly things I do for fun, and some of them are essential to life. Through living life, finding confidence in myself, and writing this piece I have even come to appreciate the “imperfections” that riddle my head. That's what this essay is about.

"And verily I say unto thee, thine heart is now right before me at this time; and, behold, I have bestowed great blessings upon thy head.” (D&C 39:8)

My Father in Heaven truly has given me many blessings, and some of them are quite literally upon my head. For the first thirteen days in October, I am going to post one paragraph from my essay, each telling about a different part of my head. I hope that you, dear reader(s?), will enjoy it. I invite you to think about what you would say about your own head-parts. What do you like about your nose? What does your chin do when you get nervous? How do you make your funniest face? What makes you self-conscious about your ears? Most importantly, how has your head been a blessing in your life?

Tomorrow's paragraph: Hair.

Boberries. Banoffees. Boy oh boy.

Highlights of recent life:

Two weeks ago: first attempt at making banoffee bread. Recipe still needs tweaking, but it was still quite delicious. Loved it. 

Last Sunday: Joey and I made homemade Boberry biscuits. Or "Boberry biscookies," since we couldn't roll them out very well (too doughy). We just plopped balls of dough on the cookie sheet. They didn't look like much, but man oh man they tasted just like the real thing. Maybe I can woo some men with them. 

We had a ward talent show this past Friday and everything came together really nicely. (especially the nose-recorder and nose-kazoo playing that Maddie and Debra and I did. We won the "Bless Your Heart" award!) Can I just say that so far I'm absolutely loving working with Kevin (the other co-chair) and our committee members?! Blast and a half. 

My organ skills are still quite lacking, but they're coming along! I have to go to school really early to practice tomorrow, though. Zero fun, sir.

My family is moving out of the house this week. I'm not doing too well with that, so it's not exactly a highlight . . . but it's an important piece of info I guess. I'm just gonna miss it, that's all. 

Yesterday was the General Relief Society Meeting and we got to go up to Salt Lake and watch it in the Conference Center! We had great seats and I loved being there with Maddie and Debra. They are so good to me. Also, I still marvel at the Spirit that is felt in that building (or any building) when the Prophet walks in. I know that he is a man of God and speaks to us not only from his heart, but from the heart of our Father. He and the other leaders spoke to me about things I needed to hear, truths that I needed to remember. I love this gospel. 

Speaking of the house and of that wonderful meeting reminds me that I have been feeling all of my emotions very deeply lately, and it's kind of hilarious. I cry a lot. Not sad cry, but happy cry. I never just cry, though . . . I do my whole "laugh my head off and cry really hard at the same time" thing. Whether it's this Google ad (and this one too), Remember the Titans, that blasted song from Little Women, or finding out what my niece's name is going to be (!!!), I just can't contain my emotions sometimes! It's a little bit crazy, but Debbles joins in my cry-fests so I don't feel like such a baby. Mostly I just end up feeling very rejuvenated and a little bit silly. I kind of enjoy it. 

In sum, life is still beautiful. And I'm finding new reasons to love it more and more each day! 

Today, the reasons are stretchy pants and a little baby named Penny Jayne.

Labor day weekend

Can I just say this weekend was fantastic? Because it really was.

Highlights:

Friday: I stayed up late with Maddie and Debra, watching movies and such. Then I stayed up until 4 AM reading The Hunger Games. I couldn't put it down until it was done.

Saturday: Maddie and Debra and I tried to go the whole day without quoting Nacho Libre. See, Nacho works his way into our lives with almost every sentence that we hear or speak. So people thing we don't know a buttload of crap about anything besides Nacho, but we DO. . . . Needless to say, we failed pretty miserably. Debra and I were going to go get pedicures, but they were booked up. So we have appointments for this Friday! I am so excited. I read the first 1/3 of Catching Fire and only put it down because I wanted to spend time with the girls.

Sunday: Fast and testimony meeting. The Spirit taught me some really amazing things about myself and my goals. Some uneasiness that I have felt about my post-college plans was alleviated, and I was reminded again of the love my Father in Heaven has for me. I also got called to be one of the Activities Committee co-chairs in my ward. Especially since I have more time to be social this semester, I already love my calling and I can't wait to serve in that capacity and hopefully expand my creative outlet and have some fun. After church, we had a break-the-fast, then my good friend Matt Street came to visit. The last time I saw him was almost three years ago, and it was a blast to be with him again! We spent the evening laughing, catching up, and cooking food with my roomies. We made enough food for us to eat semi-healthily throughout the week without having to spend time cooking every night. Also, I discovered that if you season chicken with cinnamon, your barbecue chicken will be nothing short of bangin. I started reading Catching Fire again around 12:30 AM and read until 5 AM. I couldn't put it down until it was done. I should learn to be less obsessive about books, yeah? (I refuse to start Mockingjay until all my homework is done for the week. We'll see if that works out . . .)

Monday: Labor day. Oh, and my birthday. :) I woke up around 8:30 and dilly-dallied around the house. Debra refused to let me make my own birthday cake, but I helped a lot anyway. The cake was AWESOME. Let's just say that we wanted to make tie-dyed shirts for my birthday, and I felt like the cake and chip dip would have felt left out if they didn't get tie-dyed too. So they did. I'll post some pictures once I get them from Maddie. We went to the park and made shirts that turned out awesome! Then Debra treated Maddie and me to Wendy's. I gotta hand it to Debbles, she puts up with a lot from the two of us. We were pulling faces and making weird noises and stuff, but she handled it with her usual grace and poise. And she loved watching us make fools of ourselves too, I'm sure. ("I looked like a fool last night!" -- Nacho) Later on we had FHE, where we played a few get-to-know-you games. And I held hands with two boys. At the same time. Boombaby! Happy birthday to me.

You know those times in life where you just feel so good about everything? When things are going well all the time? And even though there are things that you wouldn't mind having happen in your life, you're so happy about the good stuff that the bad just doesn't matter as much as it could? Well that is how my life has felt pretty much all the time ever since I came back to Provo, but especially this weekend. There have been some frustrations and uncertainties, minor disappointments and stresses, but the good elements of my life have been so stinkin' gratifying that those other things don't phase me. I know that my Heavenly Father has blessed me in unimaginable ways for me to feel this way. Now, I'm no stranger to happiness, but I feel like God has truly blessed me with joy here lately. I think that, through all the doubts I've had about various things the past few months, this joy is His way of telling me that He is proud of me, and that I am where I need to be. It's an addictive feeling; I want to feel like this forever! I'm so glad to know that I can.

Happy due date to me!

I think it's very appropriate that I was late for class today, because if you'll remember waaay back to the time when I sleep-blogged, I blamed Mama for my being late everywhere since she had me five days late.

In other news, I informed a couple of my study abroad friends that Monday is my birthday, and they got really excited. I then announced, "Yeah, and today is my due date!" Right afterward, a girl walking in front of us turned around and looked right down at my belly, probably hoping to see a really cute pregnant lady. Well let's just say that my belly ain't tiny, but it ain't no baby bump either. I think she was disappointed.  Someday, sentimental girl. Someday.