oh heyyyy there!

I thought I probably owed you all a photo-montage of spring.
Life here is always happy during spring, and rain never lasts long.
Long enough to curl up and read a book...maybe enjoy some hot chocolate...
Then the sun comes out and you can ride your bike to school and just sit and bask in sunshine.
New sunshine, warm sunshine- not hot sunshine.
Fountains glimmer and frozen treats come to play.

This spring I've especially loved the freedom of it all.
Having everything to do all the time, but choosing whether or not you want to do anything at all.
Realizing that you are secretly 17 at heart when you buy multi-colored pens to stock up for back to school.
Getting large groups of people to go with you everywhere... even if it is just the gym.
Sitting in an empty library to study while you wait for your next class.
Eating dinner together on your bedroom floor... because you can.
Going to weeknight, latenight dinner with the boys just for fun.
Riding in the beds of trucks and on the back of motorcycles.
Receiving a new "spanish name". alter-ego anyone?

a list today

Spring flings and happy things

picnics on the floor

back roads and country music

late nights

windows down

crystal light. so much crystal light

books

two people in an apartment for four

volleyball

warm days 

stargazing

bike rides 

spontaneity

wild hair

bare feet
sunrise

and this girl.... ohhh yes, this girl. 


 

A Room of One's Own

"And thus by degrees was lit, halfway down the spine,
which is the seat of the soul, not that hard little electric light which we call brilliance,
as it pops in and out upon our lips, but the more profound, subtle, and subterranean glow,
which is the bright yellow flame of rational intercourse.

No need to hurry. No need to sparkle. No need to be anybody but oneself. 

We are all going to heaven and Vandyck is of the company- in other words,
how good life seemed, how sweet its rewards, how trivial this grudge or that grievance,
how admirable friendship and the society of one's kind, as, lighting a good cigarette,
one sunk among the cushions in the window seat"

A Room of One's Own

Virginia Woolf

Straight out of Urban Dictionary

One time I had a guy friend send this to me because he thought it was so spot on.
I giggled so hard I nearly fell out of my chair.

"A Taylor is a fascinating girl. You may hear blondes are the best, but you heard wrong. Brunette Taylor's are the one's you wanna meet. Characteristics of a Taylor are usually funny, outgoing, sarcastic, nice, and can be jealous at times, but not often. They would take a bullet for their friend's in a second. They also have a way of leading boys on, so be careful...But if they really like you, cherish it. Taylor's don't fall for boys easily. And don't let a Taylor get away, whether it's a friendship or something more, you will regret not having a Taylor in your life."

in his words:
"...........pretty close, eh?"
Do you know me well enough to say?

Still chuckling every time I read it,
Taylor Ann

lonely and alone are two different things.

I am house-sitting for sister,
while her and the hubby are in Boston house shopping.
We won't discuss that further, because I'll cry that she's leaving me.....
Moving on.


Buuuuuuuutttt, that means it's all about #1 over here these days.

And it is the best thing of my life.
There has been lots of content, quiet moments.
And studying with a puppy curled up by my feet.
There have been lots of dance parties in the kitchen with said puppy.
...Maybe some wooing boys by letting them play with Watson [ok, not really, but kinda..]

And walking around with the doors locked and less than appropriate amounts of clothing...
because I can.

Studying my brains out
& loving the solo life,

Taylor Ann


[also, to clear up the confusion over the last post... there is no boy, just a boy. just a friend, who happens to be a doll and make me food when he flys into town from across the country. I lucked out in the guy-friend department, eh?]

A typical Saturday

Saturday morning I heard my phone go off at 9:06.
Oh my gosh.
The text message read "ding dong".
I had, naturally, fallen asleep on the couch.
in my clothes.
and boy was here to make breakfast before he went back to Wisconsin.
Too late to even scramble. I rushed to my door in...
would you know it?
My nineties outfit from the party the night before-
I wasn't even in normal clothes!
Shoot.
Thank heavens for sweet souls who let you go change while they make breakfast.
And seriously, best breakfast ever.









I thought it was a great way to kick off finals week ;)

He is risen

I think as a person develops faith and testimony, there are certain things you just love.
They are what, when you strip it down to the basics...
they, these parts of your faith, these pieces of your testimony,
are what remain to keep you planted on solid ground.
They are the things that help you remember what you already knew.
Like who you are or why you're here, or why you do the things you do.
They are the things you love to ponder, and love to study.
They are the things you know with assurance.
Without a shadow of a doubt-
they are true.

Mine is Christ.
I bear testimony to you of his reality.
I know He lives, I know he walked the Earth.
I know He loved the widow of Nain.
And Mary.
And me.
Little me.



He is the reason I am. He knows me and loves me.
He is the reason I can. He is my hope for a better world, and a better future.
He is my truth and my light. He is alive. He is risen.

It is simple, this testimony of mine, but it is true.
Happy Easter, world.

let your dreaming be your guide.

"I believe in fairytales and serendipitous encounters"

True Story.

Love Always,
Taylor Ann

i-da-ho...

General Conference included a trip to a real home. 

Not an apartment...

A home... with real-size bathrooms,

and parents who believe college kids should not pay for food, 

and real mom-cooked meals, 

and candy bowls, 

and in the house were real-sized beds, 

and everything was clean.

We slept. 

and we ate.

and we ate.

and we ate.

then we slept.

We played with the six year old sister, 

and took a stop in mama's hometown on our way back. 

Burley: where the only thing that blows harder than the town is the wind.

That was rude- I secretly love that dinky town.

I love it for giving me my senior prom dress,

and three weeks of bonding time with mama while grandma was sick, 

and bonding time with grandpa.. when he wouldn't stand for any grandchild to be there but me.

I love Burley for making me cry the hot, embarrassing kind of tears,

for making me cry in front of a boy for the first and only time.

I love it for the Snake River,

and being serenaded by that boy on its banks.

I love it for the dinky movie theater, 

and awesome cinnamon rolls.

I love it for the nursing home, 

and the people who loved grandma as she passed from one side to another.

From the outside, she had been gone for a long time,

but she was still my mama's mama.

I'll never want to lose my mama. 

Never never. 

But when I do, I hope my kids are old enough to understand that no matter who she is then,

She was mine. She rocked me to sleep [when I let her].

She cooked for me, and cleaned up after me.

She taught me how to figure me out.

And when I cry hot tears when she's gone,

I hope they understand.

And maybe that's when they'll be forced to sit in my dinky hometown for three weeks.

And maybe, maybe, they'll like it too.

Love Always, 

Taylor Ann

day, day, go away.

Today I am a mess.

"drowning" as I not-so delicately put it to my mother.
Sometimes, irrationally, it seems the world is ending.
And however rational or not it may be counts for nothing because that's how you feel.

Classes are beyond difficult, which you realized in your lecture that went over your head today.
Every assignment seems to be due at precisely the same moment.
Your skin goes prepubescent on you and you are (well...) broken out.
You have to take a test 3 hours before you planned... when those three hours were your only studytime.
You get a call that a leadership position you wanted on a trip was taken by a mom of a participant.
You can't hang out with your sister when she's sick because you're so over your head in schoolwork.
You accidentally opened someone's wounded heart when you should have let it be.
You can't possibly take the time off to go home for Easter.

...and your jeans have a stain, because you sometimes can't keep your food on your plate.

and all I want to do is sleep. 
never fear, this too shall pass.
I know I'm not the only one.
I really am a blessed soul.




"I told you to be balanced and I told you to be kind"

Love Always,
Taylor Ann