English 218

I was so excited for this semester for two reasons: 1) there are far less people on campus during Spring/Summer than there are in Fall/Winter and 2) this was the first semester that I could take the first Creative Writing class. I love writing, and I really wanted to take this class because I felt that I needed a little help to make my writing the best it can be.
We do writing exercises almost every class period. We have begun studying poetry, and for one of our writing exercises we had to write a poem entitled "Happiness". This is what I came up with.

Snuggled deep under the duvet,
I hear the noisy whispers of my
nieces and their brother.
I peek out and see them
coming in. They crawl to
the very edge, peering and giggling--
sometimes they dare to poke the
sleeping bear that is their aunt.
As stealthy as giant tractors,
they climb onto the bed frame,
test the ocean on top of me, and finally
they leap.

My nephew stares at me,
the stare of a little wise-man.
I have tried everything--he
blinked at peek-a-boos,
yawned at tickles, and
turned away from silly faces.
The boy still stares, boring holes
into my soul until
I am ready to tell him my sins
and weep on his shoulder.
I smack my lips together,
and there it is--the soft smile
that turns him back into a babe
of six months.

There they sit,
the oldest sisters,
crowned by their families,
the glow of motherhood surrounding them
like dust shaken from angel's wings.
As they chatter about diaper brands,
potty training, and baby food,
I ache to belong to that secret circle,
while my younger sister begs me to play.
They turn and smile,
inviting me, and even the youngest, in.
We all four laugh together,
recounting memories from
far away places and
long ago times.

Our giant, our protector--
the man who could crush a hopeful
young man merely with his presence
even as he lovingly carries little ones
on his shoulder--bellows a lion's roar
from outside. Suddenly we are
ants scurrying from here to there,
patiently waiting for
the picnic to be set.
The sweet smell of smoked meat
is tantalizingly strong, and
our father stands amid his
smoldering kingdom.

With a the grace of a swan on a lake,
Mother glides around the house.
Upstairs and downstairs she goes,
gliding from kitchen to living room,
living room to back porch and
back again.
The glow of motherhood does not
simply surround her. She is
steeped in it; it comes from her very pores.
She is benefactress, counselor, wise woman,
comforter.

I am curled up in the armchair,
a blanket tucked around my legs,
an open book in my lap.
Everyone is gone, and
I am encased in silence.

So that's it--that's my poem entitled "Happiness". I've decided that it could also be called "Fourth of July". Tell me what you think!

What a Week!

This week has been pretty crazy. It's midterm time, so that means lots of tests to stress out about and a few papers to procrastinate. Also, we don't get a spring break here at BYU so that's doubly hard. Our last holiday was Martin Luther King Jr. Day, so all the students are either going crazy in the classrooms, or just plain skipping classes (you can guess which group I'm in).
The weather this week (and most of last week) was gorgeous! I was wearing T-shirts all week, and the one day that I did try to wear a light jacket, I had to tie it around my waist because I was getting hot. And then...last weekend it snowed Friday night and all Saturday. Today it tried to snow--but it failed miserable. Now it's just INCREDIBLY windy.

Weather aside...it's been a pretty normal week. Until Wednesday night that is. On Wednesday night, right before I went to bed, the bottom lid of my right eye started to hurt. I didn't think too much of it because I was really tired and I thought my eye was hurting because of that. By Thursday afternoon there was a lot of pressure on the tear duct area and it had become red and slightly swollen, so I started to freak out a little. Today, I went to the doctor and found out that I have a sty in my right eye! That was pretty crazy. So now I'm "nursing" my eye back to health.

There is some other exciting news. My sister, Chelsey, called me today and told me that she is getting a greyhound on April 9! I'm so excited for her. Now both Heather and Chelsey get adorable dogs, and I get to play with both of them. Good times are up ahead, my friend, good times.

Summer Plans

Guess what Ashley's doing this summer.








No, I'm serious. Guess.








Go ahead. I REALLY want you to guess.








Ok, I can't take it anymore. You guys are too slow at the whole guessing game.








ASHLEY'S GOING TO GUADALAJARA THIS SUMMER!








(Excitement prevails, and everyone is happy)

Masquerade

Last night was the best night I've had since my Thai birthday dinner. Seriously. Want to know why? Of course you do! Last night I attended a MASQUERADE BALL!

My amazing mask!

Let me tell you why I was so freakin' excited about this ball. My family and I first went to Italy when I was seven or eight years old (I'm pretty sure I was seven, but I don't really remember...Chelsey and Heather would remeber). The last part of our trip was spent in Venice. Venice was definitely not my favorite part of Italy (my favorite part was definitely Il Burro in Tuscany), but the one thing that really caught my attention in Venice was the venetian mask.

Cassandra and her date, Sterling.

For those of you who know me really well know that I am a hopeless romantic and I love everything from the 1800s and early 1900s. I attribute this part of my personality to my two older sisters who love all things Jane Austen. I've been reading Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte, Lucy Montgomery, etc. since I was about ten, I have watched movies like Pride & Prejudice and Anne of Green Gables more times than I can count, and I love everything about the 1800s and the early 1900s. So a masquerade ball was perfect for me. I got to dress up in a beautiful fairytale dress, take vintage dance lessons, and--best of all--wear a real mask! I loved every second of it.

This was my date, Geoff.

Cassandra in her beautiful dress and mask.

Take my breath away

Apart from my birthday (which was fantabulous!), these past two weeks have been a pretty low point, for reasons I will not disclose here. Anyways, I went to see a friend in a play tonight (the play was really good, by the way). When I left my apartment at about 7:00, it was snowing REALLY hard. I was completely covered in snow by the time I get on campus, where the play was. I didn't leave the play until about 10:00, and I figured that the snow had stopped. Boy, was I wrong! It had snowed for the entire three hours I was inside, and it was STILL snowing when I left the theater.

As soon as I stepped outside of the theater, my breath was literally taken away. The campus was GORGEOUS! I'm being completely serious when I say that the sight of a completely snow-covered campus was absolutely incredible.

It sounds ridiculous, I know, but the snow made my heart light. It thrilled me that something so ordinary as stone buildings and dead trees could be transformed into a literal wonderland. The blanket of snow made the night peaceful, and I basically floated home.

19

It's birthday time! This year is proving out to be a really good one, yet again, and my birthday has been really fun too. It's been a whole birthday-tastic weekend. On Friday, I went home to play games with Heather and Danny, which was really fun, and I stayed over at the house for the night. Saturday was amazing, since we had a gourmet Thai dinner. Dad, Maddie, Hannah, and I cooked our little tails off last night, and created a fantastic seven (yes, I said SEVEN!) course meal. It was absolutely PERFECT! Thanks so much, Dad.

I got back to my apartment at about 12:30 a.m., only to discover that my amazing roommates had completely covered the apartment with streamers and balloons and had written "Happy Birthday, Ashley" all over the apartment. It was awesome. They were so cute about everything. My actual birth-DAY has been great too. We're going to make quiche tonight and then have Devil's Food cake with cream cheese frosting (my favorite!), and play games, and just have fun together. Tomorrow, we have a FULL schedule, and it will be epic.

I love being able to spend time with my family--cooking with my dad, having long talks with my mom, playing games with my sisters and brother-in-law (and wishing Chelsey and Aaron, who live so far away, were with us!), and spending time with all my friends. This weekend has been an amazing one, and I think I will always remember what a wonderful 19th birthday I've had.

Christmas toys bring great joy

Ok, first I wanted to say that I missed the first anniversary of the Blog--and I was to write a special annivesary post--and I'm very upset about that. Anyway, the past is the past, so we'll move forward.

How was everyone's Christmas? Mine was amazing, thanks for asking! One of the best parts of my Christmas was the fact that my sister, Chelsey, her husband, Aaron, and their three kids came up from Albequerque to be with us. That way, the entire family was together, and that always makes me VERY HAPPY. The second best part of the Christmas season was my BRAND NEW COMPUTER that I received on Christmas Day. It's beautiful, and fast, and I love it! My last computer was on the verge of committing suicide, so it really is a very good thing that I got a new one.

I'll have to tell you about the Christmas movies we saw: The Princess & the Frog and Sherlock Holmes. I love all things Disney, and this new movie from Disney lived up to their reputation. It was so much fun and Kiera and I really enjoyed going to see it with Heather and Danny (my second oldest sister and her husband). The story was awesome, the songs were fun, and it was very visually pleasing--just as all the Princess movies are. I'm going to have to say that Beauty & the Beast is still my favorite--as it always be--but The Princess & the Frog is definitely my second favorite of the Princess movies. Now, Sherlock Holmes was the complete opposite of The Princess & the Frog. It was definitely a hardcore action movie, and I absolutely loved it! Oh yes, I can love both cheesy Disney movies and hardcore action movies. I'm just a little strange that way. Anyway, Robert Downy Jr. and Jude Law make the perfect Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson team. Of course, Sherlock Holmes holds a special place in my heart, so I probably would have defended it no matter what. But it really was awesome, so I don't need to defend it, and I can't wait for the sequel, which will clearly feature Professor Moriarty.

I hope that everyone had fabulous Christmas, wherever you are, and I hope the New Year brings hopes and wishes and dreams that will be fulfilled.