My Fellow Americans...

There is no doubt a division in this country tonight. Democrats elated at their victory, Republicans distraught over their loss. Both sides slinging mud and disparaging comments. And while I am on the "losing" end of this election, I hoped and prayed and voted for Romney to win this run, I am forced to face the reality that: Obama is once again our president. Now it's time to move forward. So, here's a list of the top ten reasons to hold on to hope, to unite as a country, and not to move to Canada.

1. No matter how bad things get here, Canada is always worse. 'Merica! Eh?

2. Resilience. How many wars have we fought? We claimed our freedom from the Brits, we ended slavery, and we came back flourishing after the Great Depression. This is a great country. We were the victims of terrorist attacks--an event that the hearts of the American people will not forget; an event that I personally feel brought this nation closer together than any tragedy or devastation or even victory since the Depression. We fought back. I know we can make it through the next 4 years

3. It is Better to Look Up. I implore you to read this talk. I have nothing more to add.

4. United We Stand, Divided We Fall. Truer words cannot be spoken. So let's come together as a country, as a people, as a nation, and pick up the pieces and stand together to strengthen these United States. The Founding Fathers established a land worth fighting for. "One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." So let's stand together.

5. You must be the change you want to see in the world. I don't believe in being a victim of circumstance. This country was established by the people, for the people. Don't sit idly by on your disinterested/unattached butts and complain that the economy, government, whatever is not what you want. If you feel strongly, do something. If you aren't making an effort to better your life, your country, your world, you aren't passionate enough. And if you aren't living passionately, you aren't really living.

6. This is what the leaders of the LDS Church have to say on the matter:

The First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints issued the following statement today:

"We congratulate President Obama on winning a second term as President of the United States.

After a long campaign, this is now a time for Americans to come together. It is a long tradition among Latter-day Saints to pray for our national leaders in our personal prayers and in our congregations. We invite Americans everywhere, whatever their political persuasion, to pray for the President, for his administration and the new Congress as they lead us through difficult and turbulent times. May our national leaders reflect the best in wisdom and judgment as they fulfill the great trust afforded to them by the American people.

We also commend Governor Romney for engaging at the highest level of our democratic process which, by its nature, demands so much of those who offer themselves for public service. We wish him and his family every success in their future endeavors."

See the statement on MormonNewsroom.org: http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/statement-on-election-result

And who are you to argue?

7. The true and living prophet President Thomas S Monson. He leads and guides us not only in this country, but to the far reaches of the earth. Put your faith and trust in him, because he is the Lord's mouthpiece, and he will not lead you astray.

8. Republicans maintain the majority in the House, so at least there is some balance.

9. A friend of mine (whom has a remarkable resemblance to Bradly Cooper. Babe.) had this status, and it's definitely some food for thought:

‎"A little rebellion now and then is a good thing and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical."

THOMAS JEFFERSON, letter to James Madison, Jan. 30, 1787

10. Obama=Batman. Nuff said.

and it starts, sometime around midnight

LESSON 8: THE HEAT OF ANTICIPATION

Alright, to be frank, this one isn't so much of a lesson. But it's something I've been thinking a lot about recently. So bear with me.

A few weeks ago (probably longer, sometimes my memory is bad) I was talking with a good friend of mine. This is a friend that loves country music, (which tends to be rare in Utah) that even took me to a country concert to see Sugarland..(which was awesome, (and my comment was taken wayyyyy out of context! I loved everything--the concert, the "couple," the drunk girl, the rain, and our seats. REALLY)) and as we were talking, he told me he wished his life could be like the country song "Back to December." ME TOO! All the country songs. Because I'm a sap. But his was about wishing a former love could realize how great he was to her (which is totally legit and not conceited  and I wish I could tell you how he's completely justified, but I don't know how he'll feel about me talking about him in this blog...let alone the really personal things he's done.)

Then, a few days ago, I was talking with another friend on our way back from Salt Lake, and he said how he wished his life could be like a country song! (Why are all my friends so attractive? #agirlcan'tgetthetimeofday) But, in a slightly more shallow sense, this song, which I agreed I wished my life could be like, is called Kissed You (Good Night). Now, it's not necessarily about the lyrics, but the concept. Over the course of my dating life, I have kissed my share of boys (by that I mean, I haven't kissed any boys. Ever. Daddy, I'm still your little girl) and have also had my share of failed attempts. And for the purposes of this post, I did go back and count, and I have denied about 17 (?) boys. I may have missed a couple no-namers, but you get the gist. (side note, the number of boys I have denied exceeds the number I have kissed. Now stop guessing. Because it's zero.)  WHAT THE HECK?! This is not about self infatuation, but if anything, about deprecation. Not cool guys. And these are not stemmed from misread signals (mostly) but from going on a date (sometimes) and sitting, talking, with a good feet between us, and he suddenly pounces! I'm like, "woah homeboy, back up!"

So, I guess there is a lesson here: DON'T NINJA KISS!

And even with boys I did kiss back, some of them were really great, but many of them lacked ...passion? for lack of a better word. Obviously I was attracted to the boys I kissed, and I wanted to kiss them, and one time a boy I was seeing kissed me in the rain (super cute) and kissing is great, (bad. don't kiss people.) but whenever I'm dating a boy, the kiss always comes at the same time. We'll go on a couple dates, we'll like each other, be gazing deeply into each other's eyes, slowly moving closer, making the triangle (eyes lips eyes, eyes lips eyes) and then, boom! Fireworks! Its all great, it's what's expected...but sometimes I just wish...he wouldn't kiss me. When the chemistry is explosive, when the moment is perfect, the temptation is there, I wish he wouldn't do it. Think of the tension, how sweet that long waited kiss will be! I don't know, maybe I'm a nut. But sometimes, I just want to wonder--are you gonna kiss me or not?

PS. the title of this blog had nothing to do with the post, but I was recently introduced to the band "The Airborne Toxic Event," and they are fantastic. I'm slightly obsessed. Sometime Around Midnight

it's time for another good idea, bad idea

LESSON 7: REALLY GOOD (and bad) DATES

First of all, if you understood the reference of the title of this blog (for which, I take no credit, it's all WB copywrited) make note of your superiority to the deprived kids who didn't have a childhood. In the nicest way possible. If you didn't, here's a link. You probably never went to Disneyland either.

Alright, I guess it's time for a little personal experience. I give all this advice about dating, and you may ask from time to time, "how does she know that? Where do these ideas come from?" Well, I mentioned before that I have been on a monumental amount of first dates, (and I'm still single? It must be them...) and while I've had some real doozies, I've also had some of the most awesome first dates that you all will surely be jealous of. Like that time a boy took me skydiving for a date. Nbd. However, the details of that date will not be included in this session. Sorry.

Now, let's discuss good date ideas vs bad ones. These are gems I've been on.

GOOD IDEA: Asking her what she likes to do, her interests, etc. and plan a date accordingly.

About this time last year, I was dating a boy. (Are you shocked? Because that's rude.) He was not only the funniest person I had ever talked to, but he was also the sweetest. All of our dates were awesome, but for the purposes of this blog, I'll keep it to one story. Now, over the course of seeing each other, he had found out these pieces of information about me: I walked to work at the University Mall from King Henry every day, which is about 4.5 miles, because I didn't(/still don't) have a car, I love frozen yogurt, I think all the art in the HFAC at BYU (where we went to church) is junk, and I love country music---One day on our way to Institute, he asked me what kind of music I liked. I told him country. He scoffed and said it was barfy, and asked why I liked it. I told him it just makes me happy, and reminiscent of summers past, and I felt like I could relate. To which he made fun of me and told me the songs were all about beer and tractors. I told him I have a tractor at my house and there is in fact a song called Big Green Tractor by Jason Aldean that is so obviously the story of my life, but for real it is one of my favorite songs.

So one night, he took me on a date to look at the art show that was happening at the museum. We walked around and spent our time making fun of everything, (sorry if you have art there, yes we did realize we were terrible people) and then we went to get fro yo and I got my cookie dough ice cream. So I'm pretty content by this point, because I am a girl of simple pleasures--it really doesn't take much to make me happy, when on our way back, he stops in a big empty parking lot. He drove a standard Jeep, and knew I didn't know how to drive a stick, so he told me he was going to teach me. I get excited, because I love trying new things, and as I sit in the driver seat, he pulls out his iPod, and turns on the Big Green Tractor song. My heart absolutely melted. And then he taught me how to drive a stick shift and told me I could take his Jeep to work because he had another one. Best guy ever, right? I'm pretty sure he's married now, and let me tell you, to a very lucky girl.

BAD IDEA: Not planning a date and being a total conceited butt wipe.

Now some background so y'all can get the full effect: there was a boy in my ward last winter, we'll call him J, who started asking me out in September of last year. Now, I was dating this other boy at the time (Big Green Tractor boy) so obviously I kept turning him down. Then, I still kept turning him down even after me and this other guy broke up, because J was so full of himself it blew my mind. At one point, J calls me and tells me he wants to take me out for some weekend, which I finally agree to, that he then cancels because there was a football game that night and he had season passes, and even though he went to every other game, he felt like he hadn't quite gotten his money's worth so he had to be sure not to miss one single game. Like, really? He asks me out for months and I finally say yes, and then he blows me off for football? Winner. So time passes, and we are still friends-ish, and he calls me one day in February and asks what I'm doing that Tuesday, and I usually had Tuesdays off, and I wasn't about to make up a lie, so I told him nothing. He informed me we were going on a date. I was like, whatever, I guess. So I get ready, and my roommates are all excited and talk about how great it was that I was going out for Valentine's Day. Woahhh, wait, it was Valentine's Day? My hatred for this particular holiday burns with the white hot intensity of a thousand yellow suns, ever since the 3rd grade. But that's another story. So for various reasons, I'm already not stoked on this date, but I resolve to be good company, because it's polite and courteous. He then shows up a half an hour late, (strike 1) and I get in the car, and he says "so, where do you want to go/what do you want to do?" Really, after asking me out for 6 months you didn't plan anything? Strike 2. We eventually decide to go to Texas Road House, and he tells me I can get anything on the menu, because money certainly isn't an issue for him. Okay, first, I'm sorry, but that kind of thing doesn't work on me anyways, shallow boy, and second of all, if you're going to try to boast about how fabulously wealthy you are, at least take a girl somewhere nice, like Sundance. That is a classy date. Then, for our entire date, he talks about how great and funny and good looking he is. He did not ask about me once, and then he was flirting outrageously with our waitress. At one point I asked if she wanted to sit down and take my place, and the two of them could have this date (which would have been a valid option, honestly, I'd be glad to get out.) Strike 3. Game over buddy. I ate as fast as I could and made him drive me home and told him I didn't want to go out ever again. Sadly enough, this isn't the worst date I've ever been on.

Moral of these stories: some guys are really awesome and want to take you out on super magical (I know, I'm a sap,) dates that you'll never forget because they are so wonderful and want to make you happy. Gentlemen, be like that. You will win hearts far and wide. Plus, every girl deserves to be treated like a princess. Ladies, those are the boys worth your time. Remember when President Uchtdorf said:

Be strong and of good courage. You are truly royal spirit daughters of Almighty God. You are princesses, destined to become queens. Your own wondrous story has already begun. Your “once upon a time” is now.

Be worthy of your happily ever after, and you'll find someone that will give it to you.