Giverny.

Our first group wide excursion was to Giverny, Normandy, the home of Monet. As you can imagine, it was beautiful. We started off at Monet's house where we were able to explore his gardens and his home. Monet's home 1. Is incredibly colorful and thus, magnificent and 2. Full of his paintings and thus, breathtaking. Walking into Monet's parlor, you are confronted by so many pieces of his art that it seems hard to breath. So many famous, beautiful, pieces of art hanging there, just as he had them when he lived there. I wish pictures were allowed inside his home, but they aren't, so these pictures from the garden will have to suffice.

After the morning in Giverny, we headed to La Rouche-Guyon, one of France's top 100 most beautiful villages (because that's a real competition in France). Let me tell you, it really was beautiful. Located right on the Seine, it has a massive old manor that has a keep nestled into the hillside. This manor also has quite the history since during WWII it was used by Nazis during the occupation of France. Also housed inside the manor are some incredibly scary tunnels that we explored. The tunnels take you to the "time machine" but we're all convinced that said time machine is really a torture device because it was freaky. But boy, oh boy, was the view from atop the keep (after about 500 stairs) beautiful.

I have two favorite parts of the manor: 1. The library, of course. 2. The random assortment of couches in the courtyard that aided in producing my favorite picture, thus far, of the trip. Note that Jared is surround by 6 girls and yet looks completely unentertained. Oh, Jared, how we love you.

Indeed, it was a wonderful day excursion. This coming week, we are headed to the beaches of Normandy and I cannot wait. It should yield many a memory and an abundance of pictures.

Love always,
Ems

Sundays are the Best Days.

I love Sundays in Paris. Even though they make my head hurt because I'm concentrating so hard on understanding the meeting (three hours in french with various accents is a struggle sometimes), it's a wonderful feeling to know that the gospel is the same all over the world.

After our first day of church, we went to Notre Dame because it's about two blocks from the church building (i know, right?).  The inside of Notre Dame is magical. I wanted to sing "God help the Outcasts" the entire time; however, mass was going on, so I couldn't do that #disappointment.

After, we wandered up the left bank to discover the Sorbonne and the Latin quarter, which, deceptively means Latin as in the language, and not Latin as in Latin-American; that was confusing for an Arizona girl like me. Regardless, it is a beautiful part of Paris, and full of a history of things like revolts, angry students, professor/student affairs, etc. Very French. Not to mention that there was an accordion player in the place de Sorbonne- can you get more French? 

We proceeded up the road to the Pantheon, got sad that we couldn't go in since it cost money and it was a Sunday, then marveled at the beauty of the building and the crazy ceilings. I have this new love for ceilings so I'm going to have to have an album of just ceilings in my iPhoto soon. 

 We concluded our wanderings at the Luxembourg gardens, basking in the sun and watching all the adorable French children push their boats around the fountain while some nonadorable French 7 year-old tried to wreck all the ships with his electric boat. Those electric boat people, they think they're sooo cool.

Aren't my friends cute? Anyway. We finished the day off with a welcome fireside at the bishop's house, which was beautiful. He thoroughly convinced me to come back to Paris and live. Sold in one minute. We also were fed delicious salads and treats including CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES which essentially, do not exist in Paris. This is a problem because they are only my very favorite dessert in the entire world. I'm a girl of simple pleasures, and chocolate chip cookies are one of them. 

You could say Sundays in Paris are lovely. 

Love always,

Ems

On Communities.

There are a lot of things I love about being Mormon. But one of the things I love the most is the way that Mormons join together. When people talk about ward families, it's not just the group of people you go to church with everyday, it really is an extension of your family. The picture above is of my ward family on the night of our seminary graduation; I can honestly say that they are family to me. We've grown up together, been awkward together, and stuck together through thick and thin because that's what we do as a ward family- we stick together.

I was recently thinking about this because I joined a group on facebook that's a little support network of girls who have missionaries (I know, I'm one of those girls now). I was so not going to ever do this because...Well, I'm not really "waiting" as is typical in mormon culture. I've been dating, enjoying life, and heck, even got really close to marriage with a boy! So I thought, "Can't join that community. I'm not one of them." But the thing is, I got over my pride, joined, and instantly found people in my same situation. It was amazing. With welcoming arms they let me into the group and I started enjoying feeling like I was part of a community again; we all have different "waiting" situations, but there is overlap in our experiences that make it possible for us to reach out to one another (plus, with the year mark rapidly approaching, I feel like a "wise one". ha!).

I think that it's great to have any sort of community. For me, I am lucky enough to find it in my church. For others, it may be through their blogs. And for still others, it may be in their actual community. Any way you find it, it boils down to this: we need each other. We can't just mosey through life alone. There's a reason we come to this world in families. There's a reason we find friends and stick to each other. There's a reason why we, as Mormons, are organized into ward units.

It's almost silly how common sense this all seems and yet it was like this huge realization for me this week. Communities rock. The end.

Love always,
Ems

A Best Friend.

Today, I need to give a little shout out to one of my best friends- Zac Velarde.

You see, at the time this picture was taken, Zac and I were almost and practically dating. At the time that I'm writing this, we're no longer dating, but we're still best friends. Sometimes we won't talk for months and then I'll need some good, solid advice on boys, and I immediately text Zac- my ex-boyfriend. Funny, isn't it?

Recently, I've been in need of a lot of advice from him, and he has been incredibly willing to help me out, calm me down, and make me realize that it's not the end of the world or make me realize that I'm not imagining things when I think someone is into me. Thanks, Zac, you're a true friend.

Anyway. People always wonder at how and why I'm still friends with all of my ex-boyfriends. I usually say, "I dunno... I just am. It was just easier..." but when I really think about it, I realize that I would be a total dumbo not to keep the boys I've dated as close friends. They know me better than a lot of my friends and some might even know me better than my closest girlfriends. They understand why I'm crazy and in what ways I'm crazy, and they care about me enough to stick around. I guess I've always been lucky to break up in a way that is easy for both of us and keeps our friendship and closeness intact. I'm really so grateful for that.

So today, I just want to say thank you to Zac Velarde. Heavens knows I'd be a crazy-head if I didn't have him to calm me down these past few days.

Love you, friend!

Love always,
Ems

A Little Video from the Weekend.

We made a very good life decision and left snowy Utah behind

 to spend President's Day weekend in sunny California. 

It was a really good life decision. 

I'll make sure to tell you more later, but for now, enjoy this little video I made.

 We've already watched it multiple times in this apartment. 

Love always, 

Ems

Oh, Life.

Happiness.  That is how I would describe this fabulous thing called life. Happiness amidst all the crazy cold and snow. Lemme tell ya, I'm not a fan of the snow and after the dry winter of last year, I'm dying. Snow and cold weather are a serious problem when your closet mainly consists of skirts and dress.

Weather rant aside, this semester has started off like a firework. It's been full of excitement, changes, amazing classes, and of course, some budget office craziness- life isn't complete without some budget office craziness. Have I ever mentioned how much I love my job? I love my job. Also, craziness of the month (well, part of the craziness of the month) was realizing that Jacob's uncle is a professor in the Physics department! Say what? Why I didn't piece this together sooner is a mystery to me. Other notable events from the budget office include: another brownie failure (it's officially the guillotine of the office), another hundred pieces of fruit being polished, and pushing Melissa around the 4th floor on the scooter-cabinet-file-mover (we are professional). 

The changes in life have come in break ups (it's ok, we're still friends), decisions to go to Paris, becoming party animals (seriously, we are at a party every weekend- say what?), making lots of new friends (and becoming their friends by playing Keys...oh my), deciding to go off sugar for a month with Sophia (why we picked February, we'll never know), oh, and trying to figure out where I want to live spring/summer (too many options). 

Things to look forward to this month: warmer weather (a girl can dream), CALIFORNIA with the six amigos, Alex and Becca's birthdays (!!), starting my study abroad class, and maybe surviving the guillotine of the office by successfully making brownies for Nan (assuming she unbans me from brownie making). 

Favorite things of the moment: Valentine's Day lovin', Pitch Perfect CD, Keats's poetry, Dr. Walker's class, Frankenstein, my Poem a Day book, Taylor Swift, snuggies, The Gentleman's Game, and Kara's RIPPED class (Sophie and I can hardly move after her class). 

People, life is so incredibly wonderful. I'm feeling extremely blessed over here. 

Love always,

Ems

p.s. I apparently have a new thing for parentheses? 

On Having Classy Friends.

This weekend, we had quite a fabulous time. Friday was full of The Bachelor (thanks boys for enduring it) and a private dance party in our apartment with finger lights (thanks DeAnne for supplying such a fabulous entertainment gift). So maybe we weren't the classiest that night; however, that's not the point of this post.

Saturday night, we were able to go and celebrate Christopher's  birthday at his "Kennedy Administration" themed party. We all dawned our Black Tie, 60's apparel and headed out. My oh my did we have a fabulous night full of good appetizers, fake cocktails, and The Gentleman's Game. It was quite the evening and a very wonderful opportunity to make new friends and feel oh so sophisticated.

It's good to know that I have classy friends. Granted, I have always known my friends were classy, but you should have seen some of them play The Gentleman's Game- impressive, to say the least. Class is something that I really appreciate in a person which is why Christopher and I get along so well. Not to mention that those two boys up there have made our year so fabulous. Honestly, I could not ask for two better guys to be our closest friends. They are always willing to help us out with whatever we need, and they're just fun. Plus, we're all pretty sure we would never leave our apartment during the winter if it weren't for Chad, his fabulous winter-weather driving skills, and his sweet snow-tires that contain mini shards of glass. Aside from that though, they're just two of the nicest people you will ever meet. I adore Joey and Chad (Joey is on the left, Chad is on the right).

Also, it would be ridiculous if I didn't mention how blessed I am to work with such great people. The amazing thing about our office is that we are all friends- and not just we-are-nice-to-each-other-in-the-office friends, but real life, let's-hang-out friends. It is a blessing that few people can claim. Thankfully, they're all very classy people too. We just regret that not all our work friends joined us. I love you, Sophia, Blake, and Christopher!

Love always,
Ems

Reflections on my Time at Disney.

 Recently, I've been suffering from something I've coined, "Disney Depression". My dad freaked out a little bit when I told him I was suffering from it because he thought I hated my time spent in Florida. He would be wrong. Today, I would like to shed some light on my time spent at Disney and why I'm suffering from Disney Depression.

Disney was an absolutely amazing experience- one that I would not trade in for the world. Working for Disney and being part of the Disney College Program has ALWAYS been one of my life goals. In fact, I remember when I first heard about the Disney College Program and began to realize that being a part of the Disney cast was an absolute possibility- I had a mini freak out inside. The career counselor at Mountain View told me about it and how her daughter had gone twice and loved it. From that moment, I knew I would be applying to the program in the future. 

When I got accepted into the program, I was ecstatic. I could not contain my happiness. I immediately printed out the acceptance letter and hung it up on my wall. There were lots of bumps along the way of getting to Florida but eventually, it all worked out and I flew across the country to start an amazing part of my life. 

Once in Florida, I was blessed to have 5 amazing roommates who I will forever love and cherish. We were all the same age and all excited to finally be working at Walt Disney World. We got along (for the most part) and had Just Dance parties up the wazoo. Honestly, they were so great and such life savers- all of them.

Actually working for Disney was wonderful. I had great people I worked with and interacted with the most adorable kiddos every day. It was easy to go to work because there was a group of us "Mormon girls" that the entire cast of Typhoon liked, respected, and found adorably innocent (go figure... it happens).  It was nice to count on Marisa, Riki, Emma, Megan, and Brooke to have as wing-women (and Adam was always a great wing-man). Together, we spent countless hours sweating in the ridiculous Florida heat trying not to die of heat exhaustion. 

The part that was hard for me was the relationship that I got into down there. Which, granted, had I listened to my mom or remembered how much a certain boy living in Morocco meant to me, would have never happened but, I was an "adult" living on the other side of the country- clearly my mom didn't know what she was talking about (boy was I wrong about that).  Ultimately, I think that the relationship ruined my happiness at Disney. Church, which was once my safe haven from the craziness at Typhoon, now became a place where I was glared at with animosity as I sat trying to enjoy services. It was stressful, saddening, and depressing. I almost always came away from church on the verge of tears. It's amazing how much one person can hurt you.

Luckily, I had roomies who loved me and alway had my back plus, Mr. Rick Dekers came into my life and became a cherished friend and body guard (haha. The body guard part is only half a joke... half not). Between my roomies, my Dutch friends, my Australian friends, and some really kind and caring people at church, I was able to mostly keep my head up. However, when my family arrived in Florida and picked me up from work, I couldn't hold back the sobbing. Finally, I had my dependable safe haven back. As it turned out, my mom had to use to my ticket home to fly to Utah because my grandma shattered her ankle. This meant I had to curtail my time at Disney and drive home with my dad and brothers. Looking back at the state I was in towards the end of my program, this was a huge blessing in disguise. 

Now that I've gone on for probably a lot longer than needed, let me tell you why I am suffering from Disney Depression. Disney is hands down the most magical company in the world. People always ask me if working in the parks ruins the magic and I always say it doesn't lessen the magic one little bit. There is just a happiness that Disney creates that stimulates those happy endorphins in you. It's contagious. I would go back to work for Disney in a heart beat. Seeing commercials for Disney Parks every time a commercial break comes on during The Bachelor (yes, we are addicted in Apt. 25) is like a pluck at my hear strings. The happiness that they portray in those commercials is 100% authentic. 100%! That is what I adore about Disney. Sure, I don't miss standing out in the 100 degree heat with 90% humidity, but I do miss the magic of the parks. The laughing kids meeting the Mickey, the little princesses prancing around in their dresses- each a real live Belle or Cinderella. I miss the smiles of cast members and being able to relate to them when they say they're on overtime right now. I miss the parades, the music, the dancers, the costumes, the fireworks. 

There is just nothing in the world that compares to Disney. 

That's why I will suffer from Disney Depression for my entire life.

It's incurable and yet, it's so special. 

So thanks, Mr. Walt Disney for providing something that nobody can recreate nor capture adequately in words- you've touched millions 

(if not billions) of people with your magic. 

Love always, 

Ems

Riki and Rick Can Get Confusing.

Here's the thing about this Disney life.
I live in an apartment of six girls.
In that apartment, there are precisely 2 Emmas, 2 Katelynns, 1 Rachel, and 1 Mary.
Normally, there is also usually 1 Rick and 1 Riki.
So, obviously, it can be pretty confusing when names start getting thrown around; you say Emma and two people whip around. Say Rick and usually Rick and Riki will turn to your attention. Apparently though, we can just start calling Riki Rick because that's what her name was on the rotation at work today... Let's just add to the name game, Typhoon.

Regardless, my roommates and I have spent some quality time "stalking" Rick at work. Saturday we warned him we were coming and so we went to Boardwalk and talked to him and then went to Yacht & Beach for Ice Cream. Tuesday night, we spied on him and took stalker photos. There is a possibility we need something more to do in our lives past the 10 o'clock hour.... 

Rick also stole my glasses only to deem that they make it harder for him to see... Mind you, they are total hipster glasses, but he still insisted they made his vision blurry.... Maybe it's a Dutch thing. I guess we will never fully know. 

Life keeps moving along, happy and busy, with magical moments every day- it's a Disney thing.

Love always,
Ems

The Disney Life.

Well, folks, life over here at Disney has been wonderful. The best part about working for Disney is that we can go into the parks everyday and so, if we only want to see the fireworks one night, we just hop on the bus and walk into the Magic Kingdom! Which is just what we did one night. Well, we saw the fireworks and stuffed six people in a Peoplemover car... It was cozy, to say the least. 

Last week, we were able to go to Break the Fast, where Riki and I showed our mature side by making pretzel faces. 

We've also spent a vast majority of our evenings (read 11 pm-1 am) playing Just Dance with our Dutch friends. This makes for wonderful memories and lots of laughs because the Dutch are apparently very serious about their Just Dance... And Rick always beats everyone, no matter what. It's this strange thing none of us can figure out. 

Sunday was an eventful day filled with home made oreos, and the most terrifying thunder storm after church. Welcome to life in Florida. Every day I think I'm going to get stuck by lightening... 

Also, missionaries letters are the best surprise a best friend can receive! I miss my good friend Zachary so very much! 

Life is going great. I love it so very much. 

Love always,

Ems