life lately :)

...has been pretty wonderful :)

those autumn leaves :)

my obsession

i have come to realize that i have a compulsive love for the mountains here; basically i can't walk past them without being awestruck by their beauty and taking a picture {or five.} :)

BYU :)

I am loving all my classes right now. I'm taking 16 credits, which sometimes gets a little stressful, but I love all my classes and I couldn't pick one to drop haha. Right now I'm loving how all of them are interacting and adding to each other. We talk about Platonic and Aristotelian philosophy in Classic Civ that goes right along with what I'm learning in my C.S. Lewis class, or we learn about Greek myths that go along with our discussions in C.S. Lewis and what I'm writing a paper on for Book of Mormon as Sacred Literature! My Old and New Testament classes are always interesting, and my History of Ancient Israel class is adding to my background knowledge. Basically, I'm just loving it. I'm getting such a good education, it's so interesting, and I'm just fascinated by all the new and awesome things I am learning that make me feel like a scholar, and are adding to my religious knowledge. Go BYU! :)

Inspired!

I love my New Testament class. It's seriously like efy every Monday and Wednesday! :) And I love my professor, Brother Smith. :)

Today we talked about the temptations of Christ and how they break down into 3 main categories:
1. Stones into bread {flesh vs. spirit}
2. Jump off the temple so that God will catch you {vanity vs. humility}, and
3. Worship me [Satan] and I'll give you the kingdoms of the world. {aspiration vs consecration}

Anyways, the part of the lesson that really inspired me was when we talked about how a lot of us want to consecrate our lives to God but are finding it really difficult... because we haven't mastered the earlier temptations like flesh vs spirit {um hello, I love sleep and my snooze button.}

How can we give God something that isn't ours? 

"The first and best victory is to conquer self." ~Plato.

So I'm going to work on self-control. Choosing spirit over flesh, and humility over vanity. & then when I've learned to be in control of myself, I can give myself to God. :)

Goal! :)

the more I learn the more I love!

I'm just really happy and excited today :) BYU... I just feel the Spirit super strong all the time and it's awesome :) I love my classes and singing and praying a bunch all day :)))

& the more I study the Gospel the more I seriously love it. It  is so good. and I love BYU for teaching me :)

{my Book of Mormon as Sacred Literature class is fascinating. Archetypes in 1st Nephi! Woo!} :)

You know how you believe it, but then you learn something more about it and you're like, "Wow! This is even good-er than I thought! It goes even deeper and even better! Yay God!" and your testimony is strengthened? That kind of feeling. :) It's awesome! The Gospel is awesome and true!! Hooray! :)))

the sun is shining! the grass is green! and we are getting out of --

Well today was unexpectedly wonderful.


Monday night I was unhappy because I had soOoOOO much to do and not enough time and everything was going to be so harddddd and take soooo longgggg and I didn't waannnttttt toooooo because I am a loooooooserrrrrrrrrrrrrr.


Um. It was not hard. It did not take long. And I am a champion at life.


I'm not sure why I always fuh-REAK out because it ALWAYS turns out fine. and if it doesn't, it ends and that's the end of it. So it's no. big. deal.


Today, it took me 4 hours to neatly collect 3 A's on my final exams. Thank you, thank you, thank you :) 
Way super easier than I expected. I love that. I feel like a bona fide genius. Go me! :) 


And alsoooooo when I left the house it was kinda rainy and kinda windy and kinda cold....  but now the sun is out and warm (but not hot!) and that beautiful spring smell is in the air again. So THAT is ALSO wonderful!!


And I saw my friend that I haven't seen in a superlongtimeeventhoughwegotothesameschool and I remembered that I love her. Again, wonderful :) :)


And basically, I am just a champion at life and all things life-related.


I am become Cecelia, the destroyer of finals. 

Notice my Samuri bun and excited face. 

wouldn't you know it...

this is me at my high school graduation, circa ten months ago.

this is me when I first started here at the university

and this is me, just a couple of days ago.

Wow. Weird to think that it's already been that long, and that in a couple of days I will be done with my first year of college. A year out of high school. A year of college complete. And where has it brought me? 

Umm...... gimme a minute. :)

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood :)

Today is a beautifully sunny day! Amazing what that does for my mood :) I grew up in one of the rainiest places in America, so I like the rain and it doesn't get me down. But today was the most wonderful spring day and it just put me in the happiest mood ever! I love the sun and not wearing a jacket and finally getting my capris out of storage and the lovely little breeze that keeps me from getting too hot. It's just a beautiful beautiful day. Like Utah is saying, "Stay a little longer, you'll like it here." :) Sorry... I prefer a Washington summer. But today Utah, you are just perfect :)

it was so lovely i wore my favorite yellow shoes :)

In other awesome news, my family is going to be here with me tomorrow. I'm so excited to see them! They are my best best friends :) :) aaaaaand we're going to conference! Which is going to be fabulous.

look at how pretty my school is today :)

Also, April Fool's Day is tomorrow, a holiday that ranks somewhere between Christmas and my birthday on my list of all-time favorite days :) And my lovely family will be here for that wonderful celebration. How exciting :)

And I finished my paper last night. My personal narrative. Even though I had no idea what to write about until approximately 2:45am. I wrote it, and it actually doesn't suck. It's not the best ever, but I'm kinda sorta proud of it. Just a little. :) Also I got an 'A' on my research paper. So I'm kind of feeling like a rock star today :)

Andddd it's the end of my school week, which means I have survived yet another week of school and am that much closer to being home for the summer. Even though I'm really starting to enjoy it here... still. It'll be good. Because life is so good :) and today I feel like a classy confident and capable college student who can do anything and is not a loser, but a winner. And you are a winner as well. You look great today, btw. :)

awkward walking-and-taking-a-picture-of-
yourself-with-a-cell-phone picture hahaha :)

And I actually did the hair and makeup thing today, so I don't look like a scrub and I kind of like myself :)

And I'm listening to music that I like. :) 

And I'm about to go to my favorite class ever.

And I just really like my life today :) :)

Aaaaaaand that's all I guess. It's just a beautiful wonderful day in the neighborhood. I hope you have a lov-e-ly day! :) :)

this picture is really awkward hahaha

elevator adventures

Elevators are weird. They're like boxes... that you get in... and then they move you. I dunno, does anyone else think that's weird? I think they're just really.... weird. 

Also, I always check for creepers before I get into an elevator. Just in case. 

I don't usually ride them. Unless I don't feel like taking the stairs that day. Which is usually the case if it's more than one flight. I don't like to get out of breath and sweaty when I could just ride up in a convenient metal box.

Anyways, normally I am alone in the elevator. But sometimes, I am not. And those are the times where my heart just stops whenever the elevator makes a noise - because how awkward would it be to be trapped in an elevator with a stranger? What are you supposed to do? Make awkward conversation? I am terrible at small talk. By myself, I would just text someone. But if someone else were there I would feel rude... and uncertain. 

And awkward.

did you hear about...?

This is a snippet of an instant messaging conversation between myself and my {non-BYU, not-yet-mormon, well-beloved} friend. I'm the one with poor capitalization habits. Cut me some slack; it was Facebook chat.

//

did you hear about brandon davies?

{byu basketball player}

Nah

oh

well he got kicked off the team for breaking the honor code

and i feel bad for him.

What'd he do? 

sex

... 

Why do you feel bad?

did you know 7/10 americans have lost their virginity by age 19?

i feel bad because everyone's talking about it.

it must be embarrassing to have everyone talk about your mistakes.

Everyone should certainly forgive him once he shows clear signs of repentance.

Dyou know the ted haggard story?

there's nothing for me to forgive him for haha.

no, i don't.

//

And then we moved on to other things. Specifically: Ted Haggard, forgiveness, decisions, agency, control, love/hate, the Wicked soundtrack, our mutual love for wearing pajamas, LDS temples, bibical name meanings, nonsensical words and sentences, menstrual cramps and what boys have that is comparable, the future, French grammar, and bedtimes and wakeup times. We interspersed a few insults for good measure, and said goodnight. Clearly we're very intellectual creatures :) 

If you want to know my opinion about Brandon Davies and the BYU Honor Code... here it is.

if there's one thing i've learned, it's that I have so much more to learn....

I am 19 years old. I go to a really great university with excellent professors and wonderful classes and I learn a lot of really great stuff. And the crazy thing is, the more I learn, the more I see how much more there is to learn. If that makes sense.

Sometimes when things are going really well, or when I feel like I've grasped a certain concept, I get this attitude like, "Wow, this is great! I have now Learned. I am now Mature. I Understand. I'm practically Finished, like, 60 years ahead of schedule! Must be because I'm part of that chosen generation."

And I think God must really think this is hilarious! I think He sort of laughs and says, "Oh honey. You're nineteen. You're a freshman. You might think you're an Adult, but you are still My Child, and I have so much more in store for you."

And then in His infinite love and wisdom something happens to put me back in my place. To humiliate me, literally! to make me humble. And He shows me how infinitely more there is for me to learn, and how far I have to go.

That's how life is I guess. We learn line upon line, precept upon precept. I have all these thoughts today, and experiences are going to happen tomorrow that will change me and teach me more, and they'll build on each other, and I'm never done! There is always more for me to learn. That's the beautiful thing about it :)

Life is a process of becoming, a combination of states we have to go through. 

Where people fail is that they wish to elect a state and remain in it. 

This is a kind of death. ~Anaïs Nin

to love the mountains here :)

aren't they pretty? :)

awkward moments of the day

-singing "i'm feelin like a star you can't stop my shine!" out loud (on accident) in the library and then having people stare.

-the pakistani man sitting next to me in the library falling asleep, then snoring, then drooling. while still sitting up in his chair. what exactly am i supposed to do in that situtation??!?

-the lady in the testing center saying "good luck on your test" and me replying "thanks you too..." then standing there awkwardly before running away with my test.


yep.

awkward moments forever. ♥

football game: the first

This game was par.tic.u.lar.ly exciting because we were playing the UW Huskies, my home state team and the school a lot of my friends were going to. We had been trash talking for weeks haha. Also the Huskies' coach used to play for BYU, and BYU's quarterback Jake Heaps had been offered a scholarship by the Huskies but chose BYU instead. So it was a pret.ty intense game :)

sooo excited!!

we had great seats :)

it was so hot! 

sorryyy washington :) 

so fun!