The Power of a 19 Year Old Man.

Freakin' Al Fox.

           Wednesdays rock. As it stands, I only have one pesky music class until 9:00 and then I basically drive home to my bed. I waste no time climbing back into my needed slumber. I typically wear myself out from Monday and Tuesday and re-energize for the remaining week on Wednesdays. Which is a small problem because I stay up till 1:54 blogging. Problem.
            Anywho. By the time I rolled back into the real world, around you know, 1:00.  I have a tweet waiting for me mentioning Zupas and I want lunch. Naturally. I can't ruin my Zupas date with my girls so the next best thing is Cafe Rio. Half hour and parking madness later, the two biz men in front of me are picking up 12 salads, 4 burritos and who knows what else? So I was a little peeved that my one order wasn't finished. With a little extra time on my hands, I look around and there is Kay Hill. This is awkward, what do I say? Where's Chelesa? I found her at a little table in her scrubs. Looking like a scrub myself; with sweats, glasses, messy hair and nappy eyeliner, I wanted in and out and fast. I got to catch up and we talked about going to the Al Fox fireside.
             Now for the reason of this blog. Al Fox. She is the "the tattooed Mormon" and boy, is she inspirational. It was originally a youth fireside. Youth are in their teens and since I'm 19, I WILL be attending this fireside. Because seriously, AL FOX. Yet another inspirational lady I look up to. I walk in and instantly squint around trying to catch a glimpse of her. Chelesa sits on the side, but I want a good view of this gal, so I moved without Chelesa. I didn't care. I almost felt the Al Fox fire within and moved; even if it was just across the chapel. I had 'arisen' for something I believed in, it was something she would have done. Cheesy.
             You just add listening to her on to your bucket list because you will love her as much as I do. She is incredible. I was instantly impressed that she pushed the microphone down. She's gotta be cool. She had stolen my attention with a clip of one of her videos on the world wide web. Thank you, Facebook! Her talk was more than inspiring and for lack of time and my poor sleeping habits, this is her blog. http://alfoxshead.blogspot.com/  It is a must read.
             Al's Talk Highlights
bathroom sized apartment
worked at hospital parking services and she thought she couldn't be happier
seeing the missionaries for the first time and wondering who still wears helmets
telling the "boys" that she would only listen to them if they brought her a steak
praying a one-eyed open prayer with the guidance of the missionary pamphlet
the "boys" taking her to the "forest" in little known Palmyra where they prayed and she repeated the words
waking up at 4:00AM and calling the missionaries with no cause
screaming at them that she wanted to get baptized
being embarrassed she didn't invite anyone to her baptism, except her sister's boyfriend, Scott
receiving the Holy Ghost made her want to yell at all of New York to share her true happiness
people noticing how different and happy she was
her dad telling her at her 21st birthday lunch that she'd have to decide between her family and the church
sitting at home on Friday and Saturday nights writing church talks
asking Heavenly Father if she should serve a mission with the answer to move to Utah
planned to move in two months and nothing was falling into place
packing all her stuff into her two door car and driving without knowing where she was going to live
Chicago hotel with a call of a house for her to live in
driver's window broken, AC broken, cruise control broken in the middle of summer with a 70 pound dog breathing right on her face, driving 20 hours without sleeping
being amazed at the mountains
driving and see the most beautiful thing she had ever seen, EVER. (thinking she'll say the temple or something) she sees Cafe Rio
clutching a prophet biography and a man told her "you know it's pretty iron you look the way you do holding that book" and feeling laser eyes all around her, containing her anger to yell, "don't you know what I've been through?"
the blessings of the temple

I honestly was hanging on every word. I never wanted her to stop talking. At one point, she looked directly at me and spoke. It was piercing.

It's 3:07, I really must retire to my bed for now, but I couldn't not blog about a day so incredible.

To be continued, because the duration of this will not make sense if I proceed tonight.

Who'da thunk on my first day of blogging, I'd post three, count 'em, THREE blogs. While I get used to the whole blog thing, why not let it out. Here's what happened today.

 Conference. That rocked, no explanation necessary. Sister Dalton blew me out of the water. Again. And then she was released. I had to contain my sadness.

 The Tie. A short documentary about a boy who was converted into the Church with the help of his friends. It was nothing short of inspiring, and lets state the blatant obviousness that they were attractive with a capital A. Even better that they all served faithful missions and are still the best of friends. I was a smidge envious that I don't have a close knit group of friends like the hottie and my sister. It was very much something I wanted since I was a little tike. 

 We made a quick trip to the DI between sessions. I got some items with some real potential. Maybe I can blog the results. Stay tuned.

 Conference Part Two. Admittedly I paid less attention, which brought me to Instagram. (Curse you, smartphone!) I ran across Hailey Devine's post that said she was going to be at Tai Pan Trading at 6:00 and to come see her. This was my chance. I could meet one of my inspirations. I texted the people who would have made the least fun of me for wanting to go meet her. And I decided to make myself presentable. I wanted to look cute but not make it look like I tried too hard. There's my problem. I feel like when I try to look cute for the day, I end up looking like a doofy frump. But the days when I could care less and throw on whatever smells clean and goes together, I look cute. That's just my luck. Whatever. Chels and Jordan came over and we--well I--got a little too excited. Its always an adventure when someone sits in my backseat. You never know what you're gonna find back there. Like broken sunglasses and Seventeen Magazine perfume samples.

 

We blasted music white girls shouldn't listen to. A little too loud.

When we got there, we didn't want to seem too eager so we held back in the car while I rapped my best rap in the parking lot. All the while, getting dirty looks from middle aged ladies. Guess what? I'm young and have got too much time on my hands to learn ghetto raps.

We walked in, looking like complete idiots. Mind you, we've never even ventured into this Tai Pan store. Waffle Love the food truck is out front and of course, I am too scared to even step in line. Anywho. We wander aimlessly around the store. We found ourselves by the vases and these signs?

And there she is. Chelsea spotted Hailey. Oh and they made eye contact. I automatically look like a complete nimrod and giggle like a school girl. Yeah, I don't know either. So then to make stalking matters worse, I duck under the shelf to get a better look. Again, I don't know. She walks toward us and we dart inside the isle. We start rethinking about this whole strange event. She's gonna think we are complete freaks. Which, who could blame her? She takes pictures with some people and it was our chance. But our inner pansy takes over. So we pretend to look around some more, while all the ladies who know what they're doing give us crusties. I just wanted to meet Hailey, okay? Well, we found the jewelry in time to watch...Hailey walk out the door. I ditch the merch and we book it outside. Bye... I literally stomped my foot out of frustration. What better way to work through your feelings than to spend money. I bought headbands, two scarves, a ring, some two dollar necklaces and yet another pair of sunglasses. But hey, I got this free tumbler!

Please excuse Lebron in the back, Ben's room doubles as the computer room while we're in the devil apartment.

 I realize this is all a little weird and something that only I would care about. I promise, I'm not as creepy as a I appear.

Cue angry, rap music for the ride home. In disappointment, we take pictures like this.

 

Then we realize we are far too happy to come home without meeting our desired spectacle.

This brings us to now. I spend another weekend. Alone. On the computer. In this wretched apartment.
I know its only temporary and so many good things have happened in this apartment. Another day, another blog. To bring us full circle,

"Faith in God includes faith in His timing." 

One day I'll meet Hailey. One day we'll move into a real house. One day will bring all the happiness a girl could ask for. One day...

Yours truly, Julie.

 

Lets be honest, there are two people who inspired this mess of a blog. That would be Kara Jane Winter and Hailey Devine. Two avid bloggers who quite frankly, inspire me. One I know, well. And the other I've never met. There are mornings when I wake up and think to myself what would these two beauts do on a day like today? Both stunning daughters of our Heavenly Father with outstanding testimonies and rockin' lives. Both cute as could be. Both women I aspire to be. Along with countless other non-bloggers/closet-bloggers who I look up to. (Or down, standing a whopping 6 feet tall, there aren't many I actually look up to.) Most days I feel so inferior to so many, which I know is completely irrational. I've got a lot going for me, even if I need to convince myself of it. Most days I feel so uncool. Granted, I am. But some days I'd like to fool myself into thinking I'm as cool as the above mentioned ladies. Before things get worse...

Yours Truly, Julie.

What the Blog?

Well, here I am. I've decided to try my hand at the blog phenomenon. It may be my only attempt at keeping a journal, so here goes. What took so long, you ask? Well I have issues with over thinking the smallest of details. So when I came up with a halfway decent name for a blog and a background I could tolerate, I was all in.

Lets be honest, this blog is for one person. Me. I don't know what lies ahead of me and this silly blog. I don't know what will transpire or what kind of nonsense I'll spill while under the influence of blogging. But it will be 100% Julie Blake.

Yours truly, Julie.