asking for it

life fact: if you own a garden gnome,

it will be kidnapped and held for ransom.
multiple times.

group hug

I like the world. A lot.

peace love and happiness

This is Ren.

She is cute and funny
and basically my everything.

But she is also now completely officially a film major
{ !!! }
And I mean we knew she'd get in all along
but there's still plenty to jump
and squeal about.

happy, happy day!

everything hopeful

I do not like endings very much. They make me feel a little bit broken. And they're worse when you're not really expecting it. I mean, you are, but then suddenly it's The Day and oh, hi, see you later?

This has happened twice today, and my stomach hurts. I hold on to things, remember? But I really thought I'd become better at this, after Wales and Italy and just 2008 in general, and here I am back at Square One. It makes sense, though. When there's this much good why would you ever want to say goodbye?

Today I packed up my car.

Tomorrow I'm headed home.

July I leave for the MTC.

And September I'm gone to Indonesia.

Oh. Right. Because the future's all the better. And if you're still not entirely convinced (it took me a while, too), I entrust you with this little blessing and, as a final post from Provo for a long while yet: goodbye. (See you in Salt Lake!)

{ love lights via irene suchocki }

go. return. begin again.

Was it glorious? Did it work? Were you cute? And did you fall in love? Oh, I knew it! Spring has that way about it, you know. The sun comes out and life falls into place. And while I didn't exactly fall in love (and the cute's debatable), this week's been golden in its own right. In the past seven days I:

:: held an oscar
ken darby's for the music of Camelot, 1968. that little gold man is heavy.

:: wrote a 10-page paper
with 9 hours to spare before deadline. which has maybe never happened before. was a little bit a lot proud of such spontaneous self-discipline.

:: finally understood german
in a world-shattering moment of epiphany at a morning review. accusative? dative? that's what that means?! probably would've helped earlier in the semester. just glad it happened before the final.

:: sang in the rain
and then nearly cried in the snow. earth, it's spring. remember? update: yes, yes it did remember. now I am sunburned.

:: talked to ren. a lot. as always.
What about the cup of noodles? Did you think about the cup of noodles, Ren?---You're the one that likes to leave dairy products out on the table overnight!!---Well, I live on the edge, okay?---And obviously never got your food handler's license.---No, no I did not. What the?---I am a pony!---{ yes. this is all one conversation. }

:: wrote a short story.
called mild acts of mayhem. it was terrible. wish it could burn. instead, it's in a box somewhere on campus, waiting for the grade.

:: talked to animals
pushme-pullyu, anyone? a round of 'my friend the doctor?' what about william shakespeare, then? dr. doolittle was a favorite long ago and just as lovely as remembered. am glad a childhood happiness can retain its magic so well. incidentally, was up for best picture the same year darby took the above oscar. commence discussion

:: discovered the sweet tooth fairy bake shop
because the apt was full of dinner groupies and we needed an escape. strawberry, cookies+cream, s'mores. we ate them in an empty parking lot with a view of the mountains and the storm all around us. we talked about deep things, like life, and love. enriching in every way.

:: fell a little bit more in love with quite a lot of things
green foothills and grey skies. macey's bread. fiction writing. collage. the glass family. snail mail (to send+to receive). a boy. provo in the springtime. poppy red paired with a tiffany blue. indonesia. shannon hale. spontaneous adventure and far-off fantastical places. bare feet on green-green grass. open doors. empty shelves. countryside. space. reading under the covers after lights off.

Isn't it wild, what a week can hold? And I didn't even mention the midnight photo shoots, spontaneous music videos, a birthday in Africa and another in Brazil. Hope yours was just as lovely---and here's to final finals, the end of semester, and another beginning.

end goal.

REN: I am going to be cuter and more in love.

{ I'm not usually much of a goal person, but this sounds about right. }

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bagpipes is now on official hiatus for the next seven days
due to final projects and other general chaos.

in the meantime

be cute.
fall in love.

See you on the flip-side.




{ image via le love }

alleluia, alleluia!

Happy Easter.

We've gone co-op on a chicken coop with our neighbors,
and these little darlings are here to stay.

Melba :: Winnifred :: Edith :: Delilah :: Jacqueline :: Ramona

I am sure we never read the same

{ or not with the same feelings }

I like how, on days when a million trillion things go wrong, there are another million trillion things that go right, too. Life is pretty great like that.

{ TODAY }

I still need to catch up on thirty-six days in my writing journal,
but I found a new favorite book.

I didn't have a spare second to eat today,
but I had the time to make a new friend.

I was late to my last Writing Fellow conference,
but on time to work in the lab.

I worked a four-hour, crazy-customer shift,
but boy brought chocolate and we talked JD Salinger.

I had to make a ten minute movie in German,
but I got to be bit by einen kleiner Vampir.
And then stage an epic death/fight scene.

{ yes. in that order. }

It took three hours to film,
but I snuck up to visit Suzanne afterward.

It is past midnight and those last million things have yet to be checked off the to-do list, but tulips were on sale today at Smith's (which, incidentally, is only one listen of Demi Lovato's Don't Forget away). You see? Everything keeps a balance, after all.

just like them girls in vogue

My apartment has this dinner group that we're not invited to.
So we packed a picnic instead.

: : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : :

Skippy could probably pay us for this kind of promotion.

And these are the shots we live for.

We even caught Ren being serious,

and Mel was all hot-stuff, as usual.

Even I was there.

{ plus plenty more to peruse here }

carry a blanket maybe a basket

This weekend was General Conference weekend for my church, which means that I am feeling full and uplifted and really rather quite blessed. It also means that, on Saturday night, all our boys were called away for their Priesthood Session. Cue the girl time.

First, we made a sign
that said

And then we made a fort.

That was held together by extension cords, paper chains, and my Oi! buttons.

Which was awesome.


: : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : :

Alyssa ordered pizza.

And I brought the Angus, Thongs, which also happens to be
the story of my life.

{ Georgia, do you think we're sad? }
Sad?
{ Because we're the only two without boyfriends? }


: : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : :

We spent a happy two hours uninterrupted
until Mike got home + we let him in over the threshold because
Melanie says he meets our one exception
{ and we'll take her word on that }

Our fort should probably have a password, though.

: : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : :

Later, Ren+I played Jenga.

And I built a wee Roman temple.

: : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : :

Then we slept in our fort

And woke up to orange rolls and a prophet's voice.

Life was so good this weekend that
I almost forgot about how I might fail at school.
Almost.

perchance to dream

{ everything is better in miniature. via suzanne clements. }

I was dreaming about a tall ship and the East Coast when Ren woke me up last night. "Elizabeth!" she whispered, persistent. Then, "Iz!" I swung over my top bunk to look down at her.

"What? What's going on?" I was still remembering riggings and sailing knots, with no sense of the time or even really where exactly I was.

"Why are you awake?!" she asked, annoyed.

"Um, what are you talking about?"

"Why are you awake?!"

"I wasn't. I mean, now I am, but I wasn't before and what are you on about?" I looked at her, wildly confused, my eyes only now adjusting to the dark room. She flipped over onto her stomach, mumbling.

"You're so annoying," she said, suddenly asleep. I rolled back up onto my pillow and felt for my cell phone, flipping it open to check the time. Maybe my alarm had gone off, and I didn't hear it? Maybe someone had called and woke Ren up? The bright screen made my eyes water; I squinted in the sudden light. 2:38 a.m. Yep. Ren's just crazy.

: : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : :

We haven't been getting a lot of sleep around here lately, and it shows. Yesterday it took me about twenty minutes to write a ten-line email, and last night Ren tried to spoon risotto on my dinner plate and more or less failed. Something's gotta give, but I doubt it will happen anytime soon. Finals are the worstest worst.

But I have finished my BritLit paper and the half-a-page introduction to my Humanities research project. So, you know. Things are looking up.