Another year:

On Monday, I begin my senior year at Brigham Young University. It's weird; I feel like I've just arrived. However, I'm excited. There have been a lot of changes this past year and I cannot wait for this new start. It's another year, but it's also a new complex, new friends, a new job, new goals, new roommates, new everything. I couldn't be happier with the way things are in my life. I still have worries and trials, but I also have a great family, great friends, and great faith in the Lord. There are a lot of things in store for this year: good and bad. All I can say is BRING IT ON.

Panc news:

Oh look at my ultrasound! If you look closely you can see a head and some toes! Okay, just kidding guys, this is an ultrasound of my pancreas and my cute little tumor that I have recently named Georg.  On Thursday, I had my fourth, and definitely not final, endoscopic ultrasound and the pictures show that there has been no change in the last six months. This means that I can delay my surgery for awhile longer; hopefully, until next summer or after I graduate. We'll see. The tumor is the paisley-shaped dark colored shape with the x's around it in the top right quadrant. D'awhh Georg, what a pain you are to me!

Anyways, that's the panc update. Thank you all for your constant prayers and concern. It means a lot.

Also, I am apparently the most polite sedated person ever. According to my mother, as I was coming out of anesthesia, I shook the hand of and thanked the anesthesiologist three times and professed my undying gratitude to my gastroenterologist. I mean, I am normally a nice person, but I guess drugs make me unable to hold back my oozing kindness.

Fittie of the Week:

Joseph Gordon-Levitt: he just keeps getting better and better. As a girl, I fell in love with him as the shy and sweet Cameron in 10 Things I Hate About You and as the adorable alien in Third Rock from the Sun. A few years ago I fell in love again when he played the heart-broken, disheveled Tom in (500) Days of Summer. And he did it again as Robin in Batman: The Dark Knight Rises.

Whether he is playing a hero, a troubled drug addict, or a cancer patient, Joseph Gordon-Levitt makes you fall in love. You can't help it. He's the cute boy next door. The cute boy next door who needs a friend. You watch Joseph Gordon-Levitt on screen and you feel like you know him. Who didn't want to punch Zooey Deschanel in the face as she breaks up with him in that shockingly fluorescent diner? You're seriously talking about pancakes right now? I was bitter at her for months thinking about what a jerk she was to use impressionable, beautiful Joseph Gordon-Levitt as a place-holder until someone "better" came along. I swear I boycotted She & Him music for at least six months. Joseph Gordon-Levitt: he may not be chiseled Tom Hardy or hotter than hot Christian Bale, but that's what makes him perfect.

Sigh No More, Ladies:

Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more,

Men were deceivers ever;

One foot in sea, and one on shore,

To one thing constant never.

Then sigh not so,

But let them go,

And be you blithe and bonny,

Converting all your sounds of woe

Into hey nonny, nonny.

Sing no more ditties, sing no more,

Of dumps so dull and heavy;

The fraud of men was ever so,

Since summer first was leavy.

Then sigh not so,

But let them go,

And be you blithe and bonny,

Converting all your sounds of woe

Into hey nonny, nonny.

- William Shakespeare, from Much Ado About Nothing

Short girl problems:

At the airport today:

TSA Agent: "Are you an adult?"

Me: "Umm, yeah. I'm 20. I'm just really short."

TSA Agent: "Oh, you could totally pass for 12 if you wanted to."

Me: "Uhhh... thanks?"

A Man's Man:

Mad Men is my new obsession. I can't get enough of their greased back hair, tailored suits, chain smoking, debonair charm, and blatant chauvinism. Don Draper is a god. I mean, if it weren't for his explicit infidelity, I would marry him. That charisma and perpetual five o'clock shadowed face, mmm. One look at him and you turn to putty. One look and he can make anyone: man, woman, dog, ferret, do anything he wants them to do. It is so attractive. I may be a feminist, but I  have to admit that I am also a sucker for the traditional, in-charge manly man. A man who has so much confidence that it almost borders on arrogance. A man who can control a room. A man who knows how to take initiative. A man like Donald Draper.

This show has caused me to decide that I want a man who wears a suit to work, who can fix things around the house, who is socially competent, whose work requires my attendance at occasional black or white tie cocktail parties, who is an impeccable father, who makes bank at his posh, Manhatten job, and who smokes two to three packs a day and still looks hot doing it.

Fittie of the week: (From la Belle)

This is a post from my dear friend and fellow blogger, Belle Robinson. This man has been a hot topic of conversation between us and it was only a matter of time before one of us posted about him. Unfortunately blogspot doesn't have a "reblog" function, so I'm relying on copy and paste. All credit goes to her:

The Olympics are well and on their way and fitties from all across the world are on our television setts for hours each day. From gymnastics to swimming, diving to mens volleyball we have been watching fine crafted abs and ripped biceps intently, but one fittie in particular caught our eye!

The fittie of the week goes to Ryan Lochte!

Ryan Lochte, aged 27, has had hearts racing everywhere over the past couple days. He won gold in 400m- individual medley and has put up a good fight in his other races too. The competition is rough but Lochte seems to be dealing with it pretty well as helped the U.S. team when silver in mens 4x200m freestyle relay. We want to see this baby blue eyed man win more golds, if only just to see his amazing smile. His boy charm has us captured and wanting more. Lochte is driven and focused on the Olympics and winning those shiny medals for the U.S. This means good news for all the ladies out there, Lochte is single. His demanding training schedule leaves little time for a girlfriend but maybe if you play your cards right you can take a swim with him.  If swimming wasn’t your favourite event before it just might be your favourite now thanks to Ryan Lochte.

Mmmm thanks Belle. And I would just like to add that I would join him in swim practice any day. Especially if he practices in speedos or those tiny and tight drag suits. In fact, I may just start professionally swimming again just so he can be impressed by my perfect breaststroke. Oh and, here's another photo. I couldn't help myself.

If you would like to read more of Belle's blog, especially her fitties of the week, her url is: http://izsie11.wordpress.com/.

Thank you for reading and admiring such manly beauty, enjoy the rest of the Olympics! Make sure to check out diver Tom Daley, he's another one of our favorite fitties.

Ode to Isabelle:

Four months ago, we were strangers.
You thought I was cool, I thought you were cooler.
We bonded over Jude Law, Britcoms, the Kooks, and words like knickers.
In a day, we were as close as Fry and Laurie, as French and Saunder.

We laugh, we tease, and we vex MTed with our humour,
We know where Malta is, we can beat Nephi at the capital game,
We eat chocolate, and when men are playing basketball, we gander.
We're so close it's a wonder we don't share a surname.

Did you know each other from before?
No, we say, neglecting to mention our friendship in heaven
When we made a promise that we wouldn't ignore.
You are my main squeeze, my favorite roommate, my woman from London.

Ray LaMontagne: Empty

Oh my, why is this song so pretty?

Weekly/Monthly Thoughts:

It has been a month and a few days since my last post. I guess this is a post to update you, my lovely readers, on my life. This is mainly for those of you who wish that I called you more often. I am seriously a failure at communication. Well, good thing I'm taking Communications 101 this term! Maybe my returning phone calls skills will improve.

1. School is busy! I love it and I hate it. I'm taking polysci 200 this term. For those of you who know polysci 200, know what I'm talking about. It's an advanced writing course, which means ten papers in seven weeks. If I'm dead before August, you'll know why.

2. I work for a non-profit called H2O International! My friend Logan founded it and I help run it. It's a lot of work and no pay, but such a good cause. I couldn't help getting involved. We sell water and do other fundraising locally and all our proceeds go to buying water filtration systems and then installing them in villages in poor countries. We're going to Guatemala and Nicaragua next spring. We already have two villages picked out. Obviously, the company is more complicated than this, but that's the basic overview. However, some personal things I need to do before next spring: 1) find money to buy plane tickets and 2) re-learn Spanish! Any wealthy philanthropists want to sponsor me? Okay, that would be great.

3. I feel old and young at the same time. I feel like life is flying by and one day I'm going to look in the mirror and be fifty and not know what happened in between. Although, at the same time, I feel so young and inexperienced. There is so much I don't know, so much I want to do with my life, so much I want to be. I feel like a baby in the world of possibilities.

4. Why is everyone trying to set me up with their friends? Honestly, it's nice and all, but am I not capable of meeting people on my own? Okay, I'm probably not. I suck at dating. However, I don't really like blind dates.

5. Can I just say that this is my favorite picture from this past week? The Dalai Lama with Prince Charles on his visit to England. What an inspiration. The Dalai Lama is one of the best people alive in the world today. I know Heavenly Father has a spot saved for him in the Celestial Kingdom.