It was a lover and his lass...

"Springtime, the only pretty ring time, the birds sing a hey ding, a ding, ding... Sweet lovers love the spring."
Willy Wonka may have sung it, but Willy Shakespeare said it first.

Oh if only...

This morning I woke up to neither love or springtime, but I feel dangerously close to both. Well, maybe not quite the former, but spring is undoubtedly right around the corner. My first thought when I stepped off my front porch into a wind-whipping snow storm was, "Ha ha, Mother Nature. You think you are SO funny." I couldn't even enjoy my Oatmeal Squares out of a milk-heavy ziplock because I needed my hands to keep the slapping wind from blowing the hood off my head and bits of snow into my face. Hmph.

In the love category, we have a new candidate who will undoubtedly fade into the ever-burgeoning array of guys who don't quite make the cut for one reason or another. We didn't have a cinematic meet-cute: he's in my ward and I befriended his brother before I even knew he existed. But he's a down-to-earth cowboy,  passionate about country dancing, pole-vaulting, and Patrick McManus (and it doesn't hurt that he's cut like a Bernini). But as it is with nearly every other guy in whom I develop interest, there's a slew of complications and the pragmatics just aren't quite there. However, there is something to be said for a guy who can get me to listen to country music and actually like it. Dang him, that little raspberry.

Okay, okay.

I kind of stink at blogging. Not kind of--really. So I'm setting a goal to do better and to be better. Not just with my blog (which still feels completely alien and thus, my aversion to it), but with my life. These last couple of months have had a lot of ups and downs. Mostly downs. In an effort to combat them, I am going to make some improvements in my life, starting (somewhat superficially) with my blog. I'm also hoping that if I publicize my goals, it will help me maintain them. We'll see.

• Let go. Whether it's destructive relationships, material possessions, or regrets--let it go.
• Allow ambition. Life is unexpected, but it's never too late to believe in your dreams, cheesy as it sounds.
• Truly follow your heart (and the Spirit). It's not a foreign concept. Have faith and trust in the Lord.

I'm graduating next week and it's time for another new beginning. I'll be honest--I'm scared. The future, previously mapped and predictable, is now my past, chartered and finite. I couldn't have predicted the outcome to which I am now subjected; it's intimidating and unfamiliar, broad and unnavigable. The options are endless and the opportunities are overwhelming. But as I delineated, faith is the key, and the only firm thing onto which I can hold.

The universe tends to unfold itself as it should...

I've been doing a lot of reflecting lately. Life is a crazy thing. I don't think I have been keeping up with it as well as I used to. I don't think it has to do with apathy or exhaustion or anything dramatic like that--just my inability to keep up. I've witnessed my friends grow up and turn into adults at alarming rates. But somehow, I still feel like I'm getting left behind. Maybe that's not the right way to put it: I'm just on a different road. It seems like most people I know are all driving their sedans on the same straight stretch of road. Their cars are different colors or makes, but they're all on the same road, cruising along at approximately the same speed. And I feel like I'm in an SUV, off-roading the unfamiliar. I'm not in any hurry to get anywhere. I think my main goal at this point is to make sure I live with no regrets. (Not that I believe in regrets to begin with. I actually think they're a waste of time.) I just want to do the off-roading before I get back on the main stretch of highway, in my black sedan, like everyone else. I have a lot more to learn before I settle down. I'm not impatient anymore--just curious. A good friend of mine told me last night, "You are great. Don't let anyone make you think any differently. It'll all be ok... The universe tends to unfold itself as it should." Coming from someone who has seen a lot more of this crazy world than I have, not to mention has a few more years of it under his synthetic blue belt, I think I'll trust him.

Hello! Ciao! Hola! Bonjour!

Ta-dah! So here it is. My new blog. I’m afraid of the monster that this is inevitably going to become because I’m a very passionate person and I have a tendency to jump in with both feet. I should probably learn to start by just dipping in a toe, rather than diving off a cliff…head first…into the rocks…with the sharks. But I guess that’s just synonymous with everything else I do with my life.

Oh, my life. Yeah. I guess I’ll start by introducing myself. Hi, my name is Elisabeth, but I actually go by “Lili.” It’s a nickname I acquired as a baby. My brothers used to call me “Little Bit.” Then “Lilla Bit.” Then just “Lilla,” which became “Lili.” My mom chose to spell it that way because she thought it would be the easiest for me to learn how to write. Cause a line and a dot is easier than a long line with a short one (“Lily”). ☺

A few things about me: I love my family. Gosh, I love them so much. I also love horses, especially my precious horse, “Halo” (more on him later). And of course, I love my religion. I hate shopping, spiders (but I still try to avoid killing them), arrogance, wasabi, and manipulation. I love nail polish, clean sheets, good books, seasons (especially fall), traveling, down-to-earth people, desserts, Chap Stick, flowy dresses, beaches… oh, I could go on forever.

Halo. ☺ All I can do is smile when I think of my horse. He’s gorgeous. I always joke about how hard it is finding the perfect man in a different species. He’s tall, dark, and handsome. He’s funny. He’s smart. He’s athletic, He’s fun. And he’s sweet. It sounds so cliché, but every time I ride him, I forget about everything—whatever problem I’m dealing with or whatever stress I’m managing—it all just disappears. He’s my best friend.

All right, I guess I’ll call it a day. This will have to be enough to go on for now.

And what did I tell you? A monster.