Weebly.com

Hey, friends! Need a quick and easy (and especially FREE) website for yourself? Check out weebly.com. I wanted a website for my teaching career (even though no administrator really has the time to look at them), something simple both to create and to view, and as far as free websites go, this one isn't bad. I'm sure there's better out there, but I'm not sure where to find it. Also, disclaimer, my website is under construction, so if something doesn't show up, it's probably because nothing is there yet. :) Anywho, check it out HERE!

Luke Christopher Darland's Baptism!

My last little brother got baptized this morning. It was a sweet event. Even better (okay, not really, but still awesomely cool), my step-grandmother inspired me and now I want to make a 13 Articles of Faith quilt...y'know, when I eventually get around to learning how to sew, and have kids to make it with. I think it would be fun to try to pass them off as a family and then decorate a quilt patch with words and symbols for each one when you've done it (even just with fabric paints and markers)...then assemble all 13 together into a quilt as a Primary graduation gift. See why I should be a teacher or mom or something? Seriously. I have a bajillion ideas and no idea when I'll ever get to use them. Maybe Paul and I will just make our own. :) That could be a good FHE activity for the next few months...

Anywho, back to the baptism. Lukey got to pick his songs, and despite poking and prodding to pick baptismal-related songs he chose "My Country 'Tis of Thee" and "How Firm a Foundation." Still rocked. It was fun to have so much of the family back--Carri from Iraq, Dad and the boys from California, Kate from other places in Indiana, and Caida from North Carolina--and have so many family members under one roof again. Still not the whole family, but realistically that may not happen, so it was pretty neat.

Now for the good stuff...the pictures! Practicing and posing with Dad:

With brother Ben and niece Caida:
Luke looks more like his dad every day! Here's him showin' off his new suit and scriptures, along with that just-made-perfect smile:

And here is Ella (Caida's "Ella friend"), Luke, Ben, and Caida:

Congratulations, Lukey!!! Everyone, especially our Father in Heaven, is SO proud of you today!

P.S. On a totally unrelated note, feel free to play with the fish up in the right...they're fun to feed (just click the mouse and watch them follow you)!

Oh, July...

July is always a busy month, and this is no exception...already we've celebrated my brother's birthday, seen a movie in the theater (a real treat for us!), traveled to and from Chicago for Emilie's graduation party, rushed home to teach our first primary lesson in almost a month, and cleaned (almost) the entire house from top to bottom since returning from out vacation. I went to Tropicanoe Cove with my mom and sister to beat the heat during the heat wave, and have actually been swimming and taking Obi for walks almost every day (no small feat considering the immense physical pain I've been in the last few weeks!). We did some family history, especially adding several names on Paul's side of the family (those Filipino histories are apparently hard to come by!). Tonight is our weekly family dinner with my mom, but even though Paul picked up an extra shift so he can't make it, my sister and her boyfriend and daughter will be there!!! They moved back to Indiana on the 3rd, so now we're only about an hour and a half or so away!!! I'M SO EXCITED! I love my sisters like nobody's business, and I especially love my niece like crazy. To have them NOT in North Carolina anymore is way exciting news for all of us. All this and we're only just over a week into the month! Here are some of the things I'm looking forward to later in July:

Tomorrow: My little brother Lukey's baptism!!! The last sibling to do so! And I still have to practice the piano for it. :)

July 17: CPR/First Aid certification training all day...okay, not too excited about an 8-5 shift of learning this stuff, but it's important, and after I get my stamp of approval I can finally get my teaching license!!! Then, of course, I have to look for a job in a place that just laid off over 800 teachers...so we'll see how useful this diploma I have here actually is...

Sometime around July 22-23: Kidnapping Emilie and getting started on our "bucket list" of crafts and fun! We LOVE having her with us!

July 24: Christmas in July party! Even though almost no one will be there, the friends that WILL will make it a fun event!

July 28: Charissa's birthday! We're hopefully going to the Dunes sometime around then...and Paul and I got her one of the coolest birthday gifts ever...I can't wait to see how she likes it!

Of course, there are all the daily little things I DON'T look forward to that fill up the days in between...like cleaning, constantly fighting my body for dominance, arguing with companies over our bills, worrying about jobs and my portfolio and Paul's schooling, being sad about still not being pregnant, missing Ya-Yas, dealing with the usual family drama, and being generally bored during the week...but who wants to dwell on THAT when I can look forward to fun things instead? :) I'm also hoping to finally have some people over this summer, especially other young couples who like to be fed, so let me know if you'd be interested in a Friday night dinner/family fun night with me and Paul, our treat! P.S. that goes for our single friends, too. :)

Emilie's Graduation

LOVED this shot! Especially edited (with Picasa 3...it's free!).
With the family.

Charlie's Angels-ish...

Some floral centerpieces I made for her party...I especially liked the kind below!

The actual people pictures are on another camera and I can't find them...probably on Emilie's, actually! Oh well.


And here's a video/slideshow of her life that we made for the party:

Congratulations, Emilie!!!

Utah with the Ya-Yas

My BYU roommates (and best friends) and I had planned a reunion in 2010, and while we didn't have it in Disneyworld, our trip to a beautiful family-owned cabin in Sundance, Utah, was certainly a fun and cheaper second-best (the Ashton family, not mine!). If Mel and Shirley could've made it, it would have been the perfect 10-day vacation. :) Even better, we got to bring along Emilie for the ride, which was a ton of fun! (Even though I graduated high school almost a decade ago, I remember the ups and downs of teenage years well and I especially love being involved in my new sister's life!) I discovered how to change my facebook status using my phone, which allowed me to keep a travel log of sorts throughout our entire trip...so I'm going to basically rehash all of them, add a few of my own comments and pictures in the middle, and hope that this satisfies anyone's curiosity. And to the Ya-Yas: if you want me to send you any pictures (especially those of your kids), just email me and let me know which ones. That way you can have the real file and not some tiny copy online. :)

June 17 at 12:27 pm: Celeste is cleaning, packing, and getting ready to spend three days in a car...to party with old friends!

June 18 at 11:13 am: Goin' to Chicago, then on to UTAH!!!

June 18 at 5:27 pm: First time at six flags, caught in a thunderstorm with wet jeans and sweatshirt and no rides open...still having fun doing the wave with strangers!

After the rain, we discovered that torrential downpours and tornado warnings make for REALLY short lines at Six Flags! Also, I discovered that when there are signs for rides that say you shouldn't go on them if you have back problems, you should heed them...
June 19 at 9:41 am: Survived the thunderstorm and tornado warning and finally got dry and warm enough to fall asleep...but waking up was hard to do!

June 19 at 1:03 pm: Finally got the rental car squared away, and now we're finally on to UTAH!!!


June 20 at 1:39 am: Tornado warning and no open hotels in sight...
Yes, the tornado-y weather followed us almost to the Utah border! We were pleasantly surprised by the sunshine and warm (but not hot) weather in Utah after several days of grey!

June 20 at 3:48 pm: Is 5 miles from the Utah border, and resting for the evening! A short day of traveling tomorrow and then the real fun begins!



June 20 at 5:54 pm: Only on this trip: someone backed up into us in the WalMart parking lot...right after we splurged on ice cream! Thank goodness for liability insurance at Enterprise!



June 21 at 9:45 am: Up early...but that's probably because I fell asleep WAY early! Ten-eleven hours of sleep feels SOOOO good! And now, packing, eating, and on to Sundance!

June 21 at 4:10 pm: Just ate some yummy gyoza at University Mall in Orem, UT! Now, what to do for the next two and a half hours 'til we can hit up the cabin?


June 22 at 1:52 am: Is staying in the cutest, biggest cabin ever! And loving seeing Erin and Jamie again and meeting their kids! Clair, come soon! Mel and Shirley, we miss you!
Okay, "cabin" is just what they called it...I consider it more a mansion in the mountains...here is Paul and my room (Emilie got a separate one, as did each of the families present, and there were rooms to spare...that's how huge it really is): One angle of the cabin, which doesn't even show the part that shoots off behind it into several bedrooms... This deer, which we oh-so-cleverly named "Bambi," was much closer before we got the camera ready!

June 22 at 4:32 pm: is hanging out with roomies and ANNA BANANA!!! And in a place that looks like heaven! Life is good. :)

June 23 at 11:16am:Even waking up with a bloody nose every day can't get me down. :) 8 adorable children under the age of five + 4 Ya-Yas (1 via video chat) = fun times!
These 8 children belong to my 3 roommates that made it up/down/over to Utah...adorable lot, aren't they? We loved being the cool aunt & uncle, and we loved bringing Emilie as our "child". :)

June 23 at 10:44 pm: Went to Thanksgiving Point and Temple Square...thought of so many good memories with even better people! I wish vacation lasted forever!

Right before the cow licked Emilie. :) Yeah, my roommate's husband's family owns Thanksgiving Point...so we got in for FREE! (Free is my favorite number!)



June 24 at 2:23 am: What to do in Provo tomorrow? So many ideas, so little time!
While we planned Thursday's activities, Emilie and Paul got to hike Stewart Falls...my hip was acting up enough I couldn't go, but I LOVED the pictures they took! I felt like I was actually there!


Here's what we ACTUALLY did in Provo...walked around on campus a bit (including meeting up at the Cougareat with the roommates for dinner!)... Went to Trafalga Family Fun Center in Orem, where we played arcade games and drove go-carts...
And played with the animals at the Bean Life Science Museum (where Paul bought me a giraffe and Emilie Puppyopoly, which we played in the hotel on the way home and LOVED).

June 24 at 11:35 am: Dear Indiana,
Please grow or steal or make some mountains. Or else...I may not come home ever again. Just sayin'.
Love,
Celeste
Seriously, with views like this as you drive up Canyon Road, can you blame me for wanting these beautiful views everywhere?

June 24 at 11:21 pm: One more busy day ahead of us, then the dream is over and it's time to wake up and go home... :(
We were blessed to visit (and meet, in my case) President Jacobsen, who was the mission president that taught and baptized Paul and his Dad...he hadn't seen Emilie since she was 2, and every time he looked at her he just giggled with delight. This picture was taken from his porch. He lives REALLY close to the Provo temple, as he is a sealer there now. It was SUCH a joy to meet him! But because we visited him instead of going with my roommates to a quiet outdoorsy area nearby...

June 25 at 1:39 pm: Triggered the alarm at the cabin and doesn't know how to turn it off!!! Where is everybody when you need them?!


June 25 at 2:01 pm: Got it figured out. :)

June 26 at 10:24 am: is packing, cleaning up, and heading out...I'm gonna miss Utah! And the Ya-Yas, of course!



June 26 at 1:56 pm: I feel like I'm in "Goodnight Moon"...goodbye, mountain. Goodbye, speed bump. Goodbye, lake. Goodbye, YaYas. Goodbye, babbling brook. Goodbye, zillion churches.

June 26 at 3:30 pm: envies Paul's and Emilie's ability to sleep in the car! Please, Mr. Sandman, make me sleepy when I'm NOT driving so I can be awake when I am!


June 26 at 5:16 pm: 50 cent cones at Little America!


June 26 at 10:47 pm: is staying in Laramie, Wyoming, for the evening.

June 27 at 10:25 am: Up, up, and away! Today's goal: somewhere in Iowa. But not before we have a nice continental breakfast. :)

June 27 at 5:54 pm: Dear drivers: the left lane is for passing, not trapping eager travelers behind you for miles and miles. Thanks.
Side note: this is a personal pet peeve of mine, especially if the drivers drive semis. It's the one thing that makes me road-rage-y-esque. :)

June 27 at 7:14 pm: Dear Nebraska: you are unnecessarily long. I am not sad to see you go. Just sayin'. Love, Me. We're in Iowa.........NOW!
I should interject here, Paul and I (and now Emilie) have a tradition when we travel that sort of spoofed off a Brian Regan bit. Whenever we see one of those "Welcome to ____" signs, we say "We're in _____....NOW!" and shout, "Now!" as loud as we can the second we pass under the sign...it's a favorite tradition of ours. :)

June 27 at 8:57 pm: Stuart, Iowa! Only about 330-ish miles to go ('til Chicago, anyway...)!

June 28 at 9:32 am: Boo on mornings! Today's quest: back "home" in Chicago before the sun sets...easy peasy. ;)

June 28 at 7:11 pm: is in Chicago for the evening...then home at last. And already there's the dark cloud that accompanies the end of a fantasy vacation...I don't want to be home!

June 29 at 9:04 am: The last of my trip journal series of status updates: off to return the rental car and then rushing home for work and puppy...the end!

June 29 at 10:23 pm: Obi only destroyed 2 of the 4 rooms available to her...and only found one stash of chocolate...could be worse!
Seriously, as soon as my sister gives me the pics of the bathroom, you'll see just how much damage hurricane Obsidian did while Mommy and Daddy were away!

And that's it! It was a blast...WAY more fun than these pictures and snippets can really tell. Seeing my friends for the first time in 5-6 years was a blast. Seeing them as parents was even more entertaining. The weather and landscapes were amazing. Even starting off with the tornadoes, it was all an adventure and a fun story to tell. I can't wait for the next reunion...hopefully sooner than 2015! For more pictures of the trip (not all the ones we took, but still a LOT!), click here and check it out!

Bored

I have no right to be bored. I have an entire apartment to clean, a portfolio to put together, flower crafts to do, and a new subscription of Netflix to explore. We have a new garden. We have a dog. I have a piano, flute, and guitar that need dusting off. I could always write something. I could always COOK something. I'm about three or four YEARS behind in scrapbooking. I need to plan a somehow-absolutely-free graduation party for myself and a few friends since I'm not walking on Saturday. And my library somehow grew larger than I could keep up with this semester, although I don't remember buying so many books...

All of that aside, I'm bored.

So this is what I did this afternoon. I was inspired by my friend Kerstin's new logo...I thought to m'self, "Self, I need me one of those!" So I played around until I found something that was meagerly satisfactory. This is, of course, assuming I ever actually pick up the flower business thing, which is a BIG IF at this moment in time...Anywho, I'm not claiming it's my final pick, but it's better than the other two. Maybe I'll make a new one every day for a week and then let you folks vote on which is the best! Or maybe I'll get bored of this quickly and move on to the next thing. :)

Fanfic

Fanfic [fan-fik]: noun: "fiction written by fans of a TV series, movie, etc., using existing characters and situations to develop new plots."

My love for fanfic came about as a young teenager, in the wake of Touched by an Angel episodes and my parents' divorce. I used it as a self-therapy of sorts. I could create people who had problems far worse than mine, then use the "easy fix" formula of the show to have the simple words "God loves you" make everything all right for everyone. There was always a tease of romance in everything I wrote. And always the dove flying somewhere nearby to remind us of God's constant presence.

Fanfic is a beautiful thing because you don't have to do any of the hard work. The characters already have a history, and if you're writing it it means YOU'VE got a history with them. There are personalities, relationships, settings, and formulas already in place, and your only challenge is to come up with new numbers to crunch into that formula...and solve it, of course. While you have to battle the hundreds or thousands of fans who are crazy enough to follow the show so closely that they point out every discrepancy between your timeline and theirs, or your characterization versus their history with the same characters, it's still easy writing, light writing, like a salad with a light vinaigrette on a summer evening.

Then there's real writing. The steak-and-potatoes stuff. And everything's made from scratch. I have done very little of this kind of writing in the last decade, and what little I have done has been short (poetry) or I have killed it (because it was awful). School, family drama, illness, marriage, and school again, compounded with that darned companion Writer's Block, have pushed this out of my world for a while.

No more! While I may never be published or heralded as anything other than ordinary, writing is a passion that I have neglected for too long. I ache for the days of my kindergarten masterpiece, "The grl hoo at a apul" (The girl who ate an apple, for those of you non-teachers out there not used to deciphering children's spelling!).

This book was incredibly amazing. It was written boldly in fuschia marker, the pages went from right to left, I taped the binding with masking tape, and almost no words were spelled correctly. The story centers around our heroine, "the grl," who ate grapes morning, noon, and night and had lots of clothes in her drawers. She eats an apple and decides that she can eat those, too...so she eats apples AND grapes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Amazing tension and dramatic flair, no? :) And yet, I was ridiculously proud of this, my first story. I read it over and over. I made a library card slot for all the people I was sure would want to read my book. I had confidence in my abilities and I loved, loved, LOVED the whole process of imagining, creating, and sharing a story in my own words and by my own hands. Maybe that book (which I still have in my memory box, if anyone ever wants to enjoy it with me) will never win me a Caldecott or Newberry award, but it continually serves as a reminder of the childlike passion we should have for the things we love--and it makes me wonder what has happened in the twenty-two years since then to strip me of my confidence as a writer and as a person. I want to rid myself of the fanfic mentality--I want to be my OWN fan!

Today's challenge: Go grab a piece of paper, a hideous marker, and some masking tape, and see what you can make of it!

Breaking Up is Hard to Do...

So, I started a facebook writing club, and one of the prompts we could respond to recently was "Write a breakup letter with writer's block"...so here is what I wrote! It's ridden with cliches, but that seemed fitting under the circumstances...enjoy!


Dearest Writer’s Block,

We need to talk. We’ve been together quite some time, haven’t we—I think nearly seven years now! You’ve been there through it all, through the good, the bad, and the ugly. We’ve become so well-acquainted with one another that sometimes it scares me.

You are the only constant companion I think I have had in all of those seven years. The truth is, you’re “marriage” material, and I know that if we were to stay together, it will be a long-term relationship. I’m just not sure I’m ready to commit to you for the long haul.

The sad truth is, dearest, I lied to you. I never really WANTED you in my life. Who you are is killing who I am. I can’t keep up this charade anymore! I don’t want to hide from the world—and stringing you along would be utterly unfair to you and to me.

It’s not you, it’s me. You are a constant-- you know me so intimately that in my times of greatest joy, sorrow, or inspiration you’ve inevitably come around. I never really appreciated what you did for me. I know that there is someone out there who can appreciate what you have to offer her. I, however, need to sow my wild oats—I cannot keep up the pretenses any longer. I think we’d be better off as friends. No, not even that—I think we need a clean break, a fresh start, a new beginning. Don’t call, love. Don’t write. It will only make things harder for the both of us.

I’m sure that, someday, you will see where I am coming from, and perhaps you’ll even thank me. I think this breakup will make us both stronger. I will forever treasure the time we spent together, but in the end it was all a fairy tale, and we need to go our separate ways and start living reality again. I’d like to think that I just need some time, but the truth is I’ve got this fluttering in my chest when Inspiration comes around, and I just have to see what wonders we could create together. I do wish you the best, in everything. Please, don’t cry for me. There will always be a piece of you that is with me, every day.


Gratefully,
Celeste

Great Expectations

One of the things I hate most about myself is that I have high expectations. I'm an idealist. Now, don't get me wrong--this is one of my great strengths, as a teacher, a friend, and a person. But it's also quite likely my single greatest foible, and will probably be the downfall of my story, of my happiness. The REALLY sad thing is that I know this about myself, but I have no idea how to stop it from happening.

Our happiness in life, I believe, depends greatly on our hope. Hope in a Savior, faith in people, belief that there are things out there worth waiting for and that somehow I, who have done nothing of great importance in my life to date, deserve to take part in all those good things. Perhaps it's because I live in the age of entitlement, or perhaps it's because I've seen people far less obedient and patient than me reap rewards I envy, or perhaps it's from one too many romantic comedies I've watched in my life. Maybe it goes deeper, into the very fiber of my own being, and this hope for the very absolute best is just something I would never be able to live without. I'm not really sure.

I DO know this--that hope is a double-edged sword, slicing happiness and promises in chocolate-cake form to me some days, and cutting right into my heart others. I know that much of my own unhappiness is my own doing, because I expect things to be the way I imagine them, and, really, does that ever really happen? Yet every time the disappointment deals a steady blow, and I actually feel the weight of the world crushing me in a very literal way.

I wish I knew how to have hope without having great expectations. I wish I knew how to love selflessly and to feel deserving of that love back without ruining it with my girlhood fantasies. I feel myself start to look around me sometimes and want something more--something I've seen, maybe in a friend's life, maybe only in my dreams--and in that moment I most hate myself.

I don't know if any of this makes sense to anyone who cares to read it (and there are few enough of you anyway that I don't really care). I'm just putting a rhetorical thought out there in the hopes that maybe it'll make it make more sense to ME. I'm tired and I feel a twinge of regret and disappointment almost daily and I have no one to blame but myself, and I just really, really hate it. But tomorrow's a sunny new day...and a part of me can't help but hope it might be better.

64 Ways to Say IT!

So, for a story I'm working on, I was googling cute ways to say, "I love you," and I happened across this list that I liked far better than the rest. In my story, I actually need to create that moment BEFORE those words are said, but still...anyway. Instead of just listing a hundred different ways to carve the three words into your world, this list had some thoughtful responses. I'm not always good about following them, but I want to be. I can't imagine how much richer a marriage would be if a couple focused on improving one thing from this list every week. I think that's exactly what I'm going to do!

Well, enough about me. Without further ado...64 ways to say, "I love you":


64 Ways to Say "I Love You":
1.Don't compare them to anyone.
2.Be courteous at all times.
3.Embrace the present moments without fear or guilt.
4.Live by the Golden Rule (Do unto others as you would have them do unto you).
5.Give your full attention when talking.
6.Become their biggest fan and cheerleader!
7.Toast each other over breakfast or dinner to say I love you.
8.Tell them how they bring love to your life.
9.Laugh about kids quotes on love or events.
10.Talk about your day during mealtimes.
11.Read books aloud together.
12.Say you're sorry.
13.Recall good and bad memories.
14.Let go of the past to say I love you.
15.Do nothing together.
16.Encourage health in all its forms.
17.Trust your partner enough to cry together.
18.Act silly together.
19.Be lavish in praise.
20.Ask questions about opinions, feelings, thoughts.
21.To say I love you, forget about labels.
22.Encourage adventures and risks!
23.Show your joy when they come home.
24.Bake cookies.
25.Leave stress at work to say I love you.
26.Use flannel sheets in the winter.
27.Solve problems together - such as crosswords or Suduku.
28.Show your gratitude for them.
29.Be a good sounding board.
30.To say I love you, take pride in them -- and show it.
31.Compliment them in front of others.
32.Spend time with them.
33.Listen.
34.Ask for hugs and kisses.
35.Take vacations together.
36.Tell the truth to say I love you.
37.Use pet names to say I love you.
38.Practice self-acceptance.
39.Hunt for treasure together.
40.Be interested in their interests.
41.To say I love you, let go of jealousy.
42.Accept their weaknesses and flaws.
43.Ditch work or responsibilities to play with them.
44.Be yourself.
45.Share chocolates, ice cream sundaes, milkshakes.
46.To say I love you, ignore slights.
47.Pray or meditate together.
48.Practice forgiveness.
49.Watch classic movies together.
50.Leave notes or send letters.
51.To say I love you, buy a "for no reason at all" gift.
52.Don't gossip or judge.
53.Give the benefit of the doubt to say I love you.
54.Give space when they're in a bad or sad mood.
55.Learn something new together.
56.Go dancing.
57.Keep your promises to say I love you.
58.Make them laugh.
59.Consider their feelings.
60.Learn ways to rekindle the romance.
61.Hide a treat in their lunch.
62.To say I love you, make home a fun place to be.
63.Let them make their own decisions.
64.Say what you mean when you say I love you. Say why

(taken from http://psychology.suite101.com/article.cfm/60_ways_to_say_i_love_you)