i'm grateful for mothers

i wasn't able to go home to ohio for thanksgiving, but i was able to spend a couple days in utah with some really close family friends who might as well be family.  

while i was there surrounded by their children and grandkids, i realized how lucky i am to have so many amazing examples of really good moms in my life.

my mom, these family friends i spent time with, my grammy, and my sisters are all so selfless; they do so much for their children and are just awesome in general. they rarely fly off the handle, are so caring, and give up so much time and energy to raise their kids right.

here's a fun little snapshot about a couple of my favorite mothers:

 this is dixie, my grammy.  she is an insanely good cook, absolutely hilarious, and she has sacrificed so much throughout her life for my mother and her sisters.  she's been through some hard times, and because of her i know a young mother can accomplish anything.  

(from left to right)

-emily is really smart, an amazing cook who is always trying new recipes, and she's super thrifty, and that's something i need to learn from her.  

-kaylea is a total babe, hilarious, super giving, an amaaazing baker, and is really calm all the time.  when baby gus is being a pill she's super chill; i hope i can be like that.  

-georgia (my mom :)  is most likely the best mother on the face of the planet; she is also an amazing cook, baker, caretaker, and is so selfless. she also doesn't look old enough to be my mom, yet alone the mother of my 29 yr old brother.  while talking with her recently, i realized she had to bite her tongue a lot when i was younger as to not say exactly what she wanted to.  (i imagine she might have wanted to say "oh my gosh, you idiot, stop making terrible decisions all the time and giving me anxiety attacks.") yet she was patient and gave me loving advice instead. she's so patient, loving, giving, and forgiving; i am insanely grateful for her.  

Diwali 2012

last week end, my rommate tasha, our friend mark, and i went down to spanish fork, utah to go to a diwali celebration.

diwali is the hindu festival of lights. 

saturday night at the hindu temple at spanish fork there was dancing by a troop from los angeles, food, fireworks and music/chanting

we arrived a little late (we kinda got lost) but it was so much fun.

the best part was at the end when we all made wishes on little lanterns and then put our lanterns in the little pond next to the temple.

 at first, we were a little imtimidated by the two llamas, especially since one of them was freaking out anytime someone came near. but the other one was more friendly.  

 once we realized how insanely calm the second llama was, we had a fun little photo shoot with us loving all over him. tangerine (we think that was his name) may look unamused, but he loved it, i promise.

 on sunday morning we went to a baptist church in provo with danita, who graciously let tash and i crash at her apartment.  it was fun; they had a band and the bass player was super adorable.  the singer sounded like the guy that sings for green day.  he had a speech impediment that made "k"s sound like "ch"s.  so, "come worship" became "chome worship". it was a hoot.  

 after church, tash and i napped on danita's couch, and then we picked up mark and headed to salt lake for diwali festival #2.  

before the festival, we went to the cathedral de magdalene just south of temple square and caught the tail end of spanish mass. it was insanely gorgeous inside! it was green and pink and lovely.  

 then we walked down to temple square. i've always felt like the salt lake temple, while gorgeous, was a tad overrated since everyone always gets married there, which is lame, since it has so much history and took 40 years to build.  but now that i've visited it a few times in the past few years i've been out west for school and have learned more about its symbolism, i really appreciate it more.  i mean, it's definitely the prettiest lds temple.

so, diwali festival #2 wasn't as cool, since the hindu temple in salt lake looks like a nursing home rather than a Mughal mansion.  the cultural celebration was pretty much exactly the same as the spanish fork one; all the workers and the dancers were the same. all the workers were white, so we couldn't decide if they were actually hindu or just volunteers. there was a singer who we didn't hear at the spanish fork festival. he was pretty good, but he only played for like 15 mins instead of his allotted 30; we're not sure why, but there seemed to be some drama involved.  so, the above picture was of the skit/play thing they performed.  i guess it was suppose to be really funny somehow, but i guess i don't get hindu humor? it was one of those plays where the voices are pre-recorded like the plays at sea world.  

in conclusion, it was a super fun weekend filled with like 4 different religions!

i am gigi.

one of my favorite movies of all time is he's just not that into you.

 i'm starting to see how now that i'm 21 and am slightly more involved in the dating scene then i was in high school 

-when the drill was "oh, you're cute and we like each other so let's date super exclusively until i don't like you anymore"-

this movie is where i look for go-to dating advice.

multiple times a week while discussing boys and dating with my friends i quote this movie.

a certain few lines from he's just not that into you currently mirror my life:

gigi: So what now? I'm just supposed to turn from every guy who doesn't like me?

alex: Uh. Yeah!
gigi There's not gonna be anybody left. 

oh gigi, we have so much in common.

isn't that so sad, yet so true?! there are usually a few scrubs that you keep in your life just because having no boys at all in your life is no fun, but if none of these boys really like you you're kind of wasting time.

oh, and this quote especially:

"If a guy doesn't call you, he doesn't want to call you." 

soo...if i boy ends a phone call with " yeah, k, i'll call you later this week" yet he never does, i should call him, right? and the second that thought creeps into my head i think of alex and gig's conversation. no, if a boy wants to talk to me, he'll call me. it's easy advice to take until no one is calling you, but i'm starting to realize it's better to just let go and move on.  besides, at the end of the movie alex and gigi get together and they're the cutest couple ever. so, i'll just keep waiting for my alex.