e.rhondeau//farewell // june 28 2009

Excerpt from talk:

The night before opening my call, I dreamt I stopped in at the BYU Bookstore to pick up a class-required Mission Prep manual. It's a slim volume, only a few dollars and all of sixty pages, yet by the time I arrived home the book was the size of a small elephant. This development, however, didn't seem to phase my dream-self until I opened the package and evaluated its contents, stunned. The thing was packed. I began pulling out skirts, shirts, dresses and shoes as well as books binders, notes and charts until things began to get even more metaphorical and I was reaching at slamming doors and absent investigators, difficult companions and alarm clocks set to six a.m. Panicked, I shoved everything back into the box and raced back to the bookstore.

The girl at the register listened politely to my predicament, but then informed me that a return was impossible. "But this wasn't what I asked for!" I explained frantically. "This isn't what I expected!" She smiled apologetically but simply pointed behind me to the box which, while now the size of a 4-door sedan, was also completely transparent.

Turns out my subconscious isn't all that subtle---I awoke to the sheer terror of it all: what on earth have I gotten myself into? The question was heightened that morning by the uncertainty of a future outlined in a white envelope, but I think quite a lot of us field the same panic every day, forgetting the counsel in Doctrine and Covenants 38:30:if ye are prepared ye shall not fear. And still this scripture might only bring about more questions. What does it mean, to be prepared? To be ready, to be strong? And what, in the end, are we preparing for? There are any number of spiritual surprises that strive to shake us. Yet these great things are made up of the small and simple, and the preparation I would like to talk about this morning is in the day to day baby steps of living; the steps that daily bring us closer to God and prepare us to become as followers of Christ.

In my very limited experience, I have found that this preparation is in knowing, doing, and being. First, we must seek to KNOW. This could easily be a list of the usual: go to church, read your scriptures, say your prayers. We know these constants and strive to live by them--- and yet by knowing these foundational principles, we are held to a higher task. To truly be prepared, we must actively search out truth, or as the prophet Joseph Smith said,

"[thy mind] must stretch as high as the utmost heavens, and search into and contemplate the darkest abyss, and the broad expanse of eternity---thou must commune with God."

dear family,

I would tell you how much I love you

but I don't think anyone's invented words
for something like the way I feel.

Except for maybe that
{ i love you thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiisss much }
and also
a hundred trillion swedish fish.

thanks for
teasing me when I'm too much drama,
hugging me every time I come home,
indulging my love of books + language,
growing peonies in the front garden,
learning the jai ho dance,
pretending that sometimes I'm funny,
and
taking care of my blog while I'm away.

{ eighteen months is really nothing, you know. }

I love you.
xoxo.
E.

the universe rings true

We played wiffle ball for my final Family Home Evening.
I am really not good at wiffle ball.

But my dad pitched until I hit it, and we even scored some points,
and the sunlight was just right and the grass was just green enough
and above us the clouds were lit in deep gold and silvers
and we were barefoot and laughing

and I think maybe I've never been happier.

{ oh happy day. }

cream colored ponies and crisp apple streudels

{ peonies are my perennial priority. image via etsy. }

There have been far too many pretty things to ignore these days, what with summer thunderstorms in the afternoon and Regina's new lyrics in my head all day. And as we head into the weekend and my final Friday here at home, I've collected a few favorites that are making my procrastination and panic a bit more bearable:

1. HEAR: Far, of course---especially Eet and of course Laughing With, but I'm a big fan of The Calculation and (when it's that signature Spektor vocal-play you're looking for) Dance Anthem of the 80s.

2. SEE: Brothers Bloom, one of those films that breathes beautiful inside+out and then gets absolutely no credit for the job. Brilliant performances, stunning set, and writing to run the gamut of intellect and imagination. An instant Top Ten in my books.

3. SMELL: Dolce+Gabbana Light Blue, bought as Liv's birthday present and stolen for today's dinnerandamovie.While it's not knocking my Burberry Brit off the shelf quite yet, this scent is seriously stellar in a range from citrus to floral. Definitely one to detour for the next time you're cutting corners through the department store and stop for a quick spritz.

4. READ: The Guardian, because when it comes to exclamation marks I tend to side with Fitzgerald, so this Stuart Jeffries article says it all. (full credit to saltbox girl for the heads-up on this one)

5. EAT: Rooster Dumpling+Noodle Bar. Might be biased, too, but I'm pretty sure the Thai Basil Rice would be top notch even if Ren didn't happen to work there. Top that off with their range of Boba bubble drinks and Rooster takes the indecision out of dinner dates altogether. Only two words left to say here: Go. Now.

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SEE ALSO: This pretty post over at Brunette Bombshell,
which made me nod and smile and think so true, so beautiful, so beautifully true.
The almost too lovely music from newcomer God Help The Girl,
which reminds me of the best of Lawrence Welk
and slow summer sunlight.

ribbit.

In an inside joke so storied and exaggerated we don't even know how it began, us girls of E.P.I.C. find frogs of the utmost importance. So it was only natural that we head on over to the Natural History Museum for a little look-see at their latest exhibit: Toadally Frogs.

Which was awesome. And inspiring. And actually completely educational. For example: Did you know that a group of frogs is called an army? Or that a Goliath Frog is about the size and weight of your average house cat? Or that in China they see the toad, not the man, in the moon?

I didn't. But now I do.

Also: an O-shaped aquarium. Hoorah.

driving down the 101

I took the wheel on this little California adventure of ours, and while sometimes stressful and occasionally downright obnoxious, I can't say these notorious California freeways were much more intense than Disney's Autopia.

Plus, those roads take you to pleasant places like Malibu for breakfasts on the beach and Bel Air for shameless stares and open mouths and The Getty for spectacular scenery and a healthy dose of art and architecture.

That being said, I loathe intensely Los Angeles traffic. But appreciate moments like the boy in the next lane over practicing his magic tricks in the standstill or the road sign for the Museum of Tolerance just as I was about to completely lose it.