The Daily Universe:

I totally forgot about being interviewed for this article in BYU's daily newspaper and then it donned on me today! I feel slightly awesome to be quoted. I only hope this isn't my Warhol 15 minutes. That would suck.

http://universe.byu.edu/index.php/2011/11/18/students-learn-diplomacy-through-model-un/

Hello friend,

I'll be seeing you and your ultra expressive eyes tomorrow night.

The "M" Word:

Just because I say I don't believe in marriage doesn't mean that I don't believe in marriage. And it doesn't mean that I don't sometimes spend late nights looking up wedding dresses or diamond rings for way longer than is healthy. And it doesn't mean that I don't have a secret folder on my computer full of photos and documents about my perfect wedding. It doesn't mean that I'm not a girl with girly hopes and dreams. However, it does mean that it is not a priority right now. I'm barely 20, I still have about 20 child bearing years left, I am in no rush. I don't need a man and a ring on my finger to feel like a successful Mormon woman. That being said, if/when I get married, I'm wearing this:

My Perfect Life:

I wrote this one day during a particularly insignificant day in D&C. Inspired by Lauren.

1. We will live in an English manor in the countryside.
2. I will marry a tall, dark, handsome man who has a good job and makes lots of money.
3. If England doesn't work out, then I will live in the Pacific Northwest, New England, or Northern California.
4. I will work for the Church International Office in London... or the CIA.
5. I will attend graduate school or law school on the East Coast, preferably New York City.
6. We will travel to France as often as we can.
7. We will have four children and they will have nice, classy names that were not originally surnames, are not made up, and are spelled completely normal. Names from the Bible are always good.
8. Everything I wear will be from Anthropologie.
9. Most things in my house will be from Anthropologie.
10. My house will have lots of pretty things that won't necessarily be coordinated. I will not decorate in the cliche "Mormon family" way, ex. there will not be life slogans or scriptures in stick-on letters on my walls.
11. My house will have a library full of history books and classic literature.
12. We will have lots of parties with good family friends and great food cooked by me.
13. My husband and I will have hot, steamy sex all the time, and it will never become boring.
14. Our family will have Saturday morning chores with loud, obnoxious music.
15. Our family will have "our row" in church.
16. My kids will be forced to participate in sports.
17. I will have a pearl and diamond engagement ring.
18. I will make my boys wear three-piece suits to church for as long as they will let me.
19. My husband and I will be wealthy and important and attend formal parties and charity events where I will have to wear a fancy dress and he will have to wear a tux.
20. We will take our family on many trips to the beach.
21. We will go on couple vacations and leave our children with our parents.
22. We will take advantage of any opportunity to live overseas.
23. We will have two cats that will stay indoors and one big dog that will stay outdoors.
24. I will take a ridiculous amount of photos and have a million photo albums.
25. We will send our kids to private schools where they have to wear uniforms.
26. I will never get fat.
27. We will have funky Christmas traditions that our kids will roll their eyes about, but secretly love.
28. We will get married in the Portland temple in the summer.
29. We will live happily ever after.

You Know You're Back in Portland When:

1. The airport toilets have a water conserving flush option.
2. Every man ages 20 to 35 has either scruff or a beard.
3. Every other car on the highway is a Subaru.
4. Every other Subaru is mud splattered and the driver thinks it's bad***.
5. It's been three days, and you still haven't seen the sun.
6. The flannel shirt section of H&M is completely picked over.
7. People downtown ask you to sign a petition to legalize marijuana.
8. It's raining outside, but no one is carrying an umbrella or seems to care.

Welcome back to the PNW.

Things I am Thinking About Today:

1. To the men at BYU, boxer butt is bad enough, but garment butt is 100 times worse. Please pull your pants up.
2. I think I speak for the women of BYU when I say that I am really glad that November is over.
3. I ruin everything when it comes to relationships. I am like a parasitical infection that devours and consumes any potential of happiness.
4. I really want to make fudge, and then eat the whole batch.
5. Next semester when I'm gone, I will probably get really depressed, not talk to anyone, and then lose the ability to tactfully communicate with people. I'll probably acquire Asperger's.
6. I think PMS affects me a lot.

Dear Family,

I really miss you today. I want to be home for Thanksgiving. I mean, extended family is great and all, but I really like you guys. I like how all of us pitch in and help cook, even Jim. I like how Beth and I watch an insane amount of movies until our eyes want to bleed from staring at the television/computer screen. I like all the food we make that isn't necessarily traditional. I like Dad's pumpkin pie. I like how we sometimes go Black Friday shopping because it feels like an after Thanksgiving requirement, but we always regret it. I like going to Portland and watching the tree lighting the day after Thanksgiving. I like hanging out with you guys.

I wish I could be in rainy Camas with you.

Also, I miss the cats.

Love,
Debbie

On Not Dating:

My mom told me that boys don't ask me out on dates because
a) I'm not blonde,
b) I'm short,
and c) I don't smile enough.

Perfect.

On Staying Active:

I hate running. I'm a swimmer, not a runner. You would think that if you were good at one that you could potentially be good at the other. However, the endurance doesn't transfer at all. Whenever I run, I feel like my internal organs are going to slip out of my body. Maybe if I worked on it, I could build up running muscles and come to enjoy it.  Although, why would I do that when I could just go swimming and enjoy it right away? Swimming is better for you anyways.

Anyways, the other day something possessed me to go running around the lake. It was probably all the junk food I ate on vacation and consequential flabbiness feeling. It was also one of those rare lovely, sunny days. So I went. I actually kind of liked it. I mean, not the running/dying/uterus bouncing part. I liked being out on the trails. The lake was gorgeous that day, I saw lots of wake-boarders face plant in the emerald water as I was panting along. Blackberries are just coming on here, so all along the path plump blackberries were ripening quickly in the sun and dangling dangerously over the trail. The air smelled like blackberries. Among the blackberry bushes, scattered wild blueberries were struggling their way to the surface. It was lovely. Oh, and there was this hot indie, bearded guy running without his shirt on. Mmm. Maybe running isn't so bad. And maybe I'll go again.

View of Lacamas Lake from the trails. A little piece of paradise only three minutes from my house.

On Relating to Madonna:

I am pretty sure that I have achieved a whole new level of coveting and materialism. There's this gorgeous dress at Antropologie that costs a little more than a month's rent at my new albeit a little run-down apartment in Provo. It's pretty pathetic, but I have now dreamed twice about this dress. So, my priorities are a little out of whack, but it's so, so pretty. Oh, what I would give.