Swing Away

I really just need to avoid swing dances at all costs. This time it was a church function, so I thought I would be safe. I just can't get over the awkwardness of it. I'm holding hands with some guy I've never met before. If I want to try and talk to him I either have to get real close to his ear and have no eye contact, or I try to make eye contact at kissing range. I can never hold a gaze for more than 5 seconds.

So, this time I danced a couple then graciously backed out of the room. I then proceeded to grab a cup of water and head to a loft area that overlooked the dance floor. I talked and sipped, and talked and sipped, and then talked some more. At this point I forget that there is still more water left in my cup that I've half crumpled in my hand (Yep, it's that obvious what is about to happen). So, as I'm leaning over the balcony, I let me hand drop, and that water drops down right onto some poor girls head. She got a good look at me and was able send one very nasty glare my way as I panicked and shouted 'OH MY GOSH, I'M SO SORRY!!! HOLY SOMETHING!!!' I then dived to the ground for cover. It took awhile for the witnesses to recover from the spasms of laughter that overtook them. So, yeah, I'm that girl who dumps water onto unsuspecting girl's heads. Her poor hair-do.

A Few Good Things

I got some furniture!!!
My new awesome roommate gave me a desk she was going to get rid of, and is letting me use her bed, which is now currently stacked on top of the old, gross bed, since I haven't figured out how to get rid of it yet. I also splurged on an Ikea office chair so that I can actually sit at my desk.

There is something so fulfilling about creating something myself (*pat myself on the back*).

Functions as vanity and desk.

I feel like the Princess and the Pea! 

Except it would more likely be a dead fly, we've had this horrible infestation...we're starting to keep a kill tally.

I also have some really great news. I got a paid internship!!! Yay!!! A friend of mine hooked me up, and I will be the new Communications Intern for Development Gateway. They are all about better information tools, data, and transparency in the development world. I'm really excited about this opportunity. While a part of me has a hard time that I've seemingly taken a step back into becoming an intern, it is also a step forward into the international development arena that I really want to become involved in. I will start in a week, so I'm going to try and enjoy this last week of no job but as much as I can!

Hello, Meet My Soul

So, I know I already talked about A Blog About Love and how awesome they are. But I couldn't help but share the same Ted Talk by Brene Brown they posted earlier this month, because after watching it today I realized that my fear of vulnerability is the Beast that I have to conquer in order to be Me to the fullest extent. To be able to love the way I want to, the way Christ loves. So first, you should watch it if you haven't yet.

When we truly represent ourselves, there will be those who reject us, which can be oh so painful, but those who receive us in our true and imperfect form, will truly love us. Not who I wish I was, but who I really am.

So, now I have to figure out when I'm not being true to myself. Are the times I'm being quiet really a part of who I am, as a people watcher, or am I just being guarded? Where is that line between being too open- where people start to squirm (TMI!), and being refreshingly bold? How do I continue to set goals for myself without becoming critical of who I am? What should I want as opposed to what I think I should want out of life?

Can I have yo' number?

So, I did it. I took the step into utter darkness and moved across the country without a job to depend on. Just myself, two checked bags, a carry-on and a personal item bursting to the seams. I also wore a ridiculous amount of clothing. My neighborhood is full of rows and rows of homes that look like this:

I love it. It's beautiful.

My roommates have been super nice and helpful. So nice, in fact, that one of them took me swing dancing with her Saturday night! There was a live band that was really great, and played a lot of classic songs that if I was more cultured I would recognize. My dancing was pretty horrible. Probably should have taken that intro to social dance class instead of the beginning tap dance class that I did take (I knew I wouldn't have to hold any sweaty hands in that one at least). Several of my dance partners laughed at me as I twirled when I wasn't supposed to, and stood still when I was supposed to. Although there was one that was quite taken with me. However, I was not quite as taken with him. When he asked for my number I was unprepared and forgot how to say no. So I started saying my number, and then changed the last number so that he would end up calling someone else...cowardly I know.

I did not expect him to call me right then. While I was dancing with him. So that I would kindly have his number too.

I knew I would have seconds before someone else picked up or the answering machine for some dude started playing. And I would be right there, "Yeah, I totally just lied to you and gave you a wrong number...should we finish this dance?" I didn't like the sound of that, so in my panic I come up with, " Oh! You know, I actually just changed my number, totally forgot, it's actually..."

The fact that it was only a digit different didn't through him off at all. So now I have to figure out how to respond if he actually calls. Suggestions?

On Being a Davis

I have always felt that being a Davis was an extremely special thing. I am one of the lucky ones. I treasure my memories of uncles doing Star Wars and Napoleon Dynamite impersonations, and have stood in front of them all with my immediate family wearing billy-bob teeth telling redneck jokes. You wish your family was as classy as mine.

Laughter. Laughter and food pervades when we get together.

Not only did they once gather a large cash pool when my aunt challenged me to find a guy to kiss at midnight on a New Years long past (he had to be a stranger, and it had to last at least 3 seconds), but they actually paid up when I did it. My grandparents even wished me luck as I headed to the dance to find some loose boy. I learned that I prefer kissing guys I know and like, but it was totally worth it to win the bet.

Speaking of my grandparents, I want to know how they did it. How they have raised a family such as ours. From what I've heard, living in that house was cramped and money was tight, but the good stories abound. I love my grandfather's steadiness. His creativeness in the kitchen (garbanzo bean pancakes anyone?). The way he throws his head back when he laughs and how he folds his arms across his chest making our lighthearted conversation feel important and intimate. His pace is different from my grandmother's whose get-up-and go attitude and ability to get things done right then astounds me. They are united in their ability to care for and love everyone they come in contact with. They are constantly serving, working, giving, caring. They are true disciples of Christ.

Of course there are opposing personalities as you would expect in a large family, but there is so much love, it is easy for me to overlook the clashes.

2011 was full of family for me. I visited my grandparents three times, including our family reunion. Which was awesome since I missed the last family reunion, and I got to spend a lot of time with my younger cousins that I don't usually get. I crashed my aunt's family in Colorado for the first time while job hunting-she has such an awesome sense of humor, and have appreciated the support from many of my aunts and uncles and cousins this year. My brother came home from his mission, and I've loved getting to spend time with him and laughing together. My family has been all together several times this year, including his homecoming, my mom's birthday, and the holidays. I am lucky my sister lives only three hours away. Not to mention the fact that I've been living at home for a while now and so I get to interact with my youngest brother and parents in a way I haven't for a long long time. Honestly, I've loved the time I've gotten to spend with them all. The older I get the more I realize how lucky I am to have the parents I do. The things they have taught me and continue to teach me have been critical in the decisions I've made and how I live my life. They are supportive and wise and still learning.

I know it seems like I'm ignoring where the other half of my genes and personality comes from, but that will take a separate post. But I want to thank all my family (since you guys are pretty much the only ones who read this, and a few friends) for being so awesome, especially this last year. Here's to 2012 and eternity.

Eleven.Eleven.Eleven

My beautiful mother turned 50 this year on 11.11.11. She wanted to have a big party to celebrate based on the magical date. I decided I was going to help make this happen since I'm the only one with so much free time, and my mother doesn't ask for much. She definitely deserved this party. She is such an amazing woman. The theme was 'Make a Wish on 11.11.11' since you're supposed to make a wish when the time is 11:11. This is going to be a lengthy post, but it was a pretty awesome party and thus warrants lots of pictures, all done by my wonderful sister Brianne. See more of her awesome work here!

I frayed the black streamers, which I felt gave them more of a punch and less 'eh', an idea I got from Oh Happy Day although I did it a tad different, and then hung gold and silver stars we cut out from sparkly paper. My hope of putting them together was to make it look like a night sky, to go along with the make a wish part of the theme, you all know the Disney song, "When you Wish Upon a Star".

This was my secret project. I got a number of relatives to send me memories of and notes to Vauna and then went through all of our pictures and picked out my favorites of my mom, made them black and white for consistency, and then hung them all on ribbon with mini paperclips. There was a station for people to write notes to add to it. There is subtle theme-ing here...I hung them in 11.11.11 fashion. I'm pretty sure I'm the only one who noticed or cared, sometimes I get a little carried away. It was so neat to see what people had to say about my mom, and to see the pictures of her over the years. I hope to age as well as my mom has!

Now for the food! The chocolate cake above was my dad's project, a recipe based off of Magleby's chocolate cake, which is my mom's favorite, and was the only non-vegan food at the party. Can you tell he's excited? (When he saw the picture he was upset with what ever he's doing with his jaw, I had to tell him he actually makes this face from time to time, and dubbed it a 'Mike Davis face' I think it's one he makes when he's excited).

Surrounded by four different types of chips and crackers is the best Hummus recipe I've ever had. Seriously so good. I believe it's roasted red pepper. I'll post the links to those I found online, this is one you should definitely try if you're a fan of this chickpea treat.

Olive Tepenade and Bruschetta, we slathered this on toasty slices of baguette. We took a shortcut and bought the bruschetta pre-made from Costco. Not bad but I felt there was kind of a bite to it that took some of the enjoyment out of it for me.

These Pinwheels were sooo good! We used Tofutti cream cheese, which I think is pretty dang good personally.

Cucumber Slices with Chickpea Puree and Thyme. I got the recipe from the Whole Living website. These were pretty good, although the puree wasn't quite as smooth as I would've liked, and I needed to add more salt. I enjoyed them, especially the cucumber, but not my favorite thing at the party.

Seriously the best ginger cookies I've ever had in my life. Soft and chewy, sweet and the perfect amount of ginger. Delicious. We made the dough ahead of time, refrigerated it and then cooked them the day of.
Coconut Pumpkin Bread. I could just eat and eat and eat this. These are two of my most favorite flavors, together. It's a union to celebrate.

Herb Roasted Mixed Nuts. Quite tasty.

Some pretty good punch from Paula Deen. I tried making a batch and then adding a second, but I didn't prepare the second batch of boiled sugar water, so I was just adding in extra water to not make it so strong. Super good recipe though. Next to it you can see the peanut butter balls, they aren't a really sweet treat, but make a great snack.

Guest took home "Eleven Goodies" choosing from a delicious selection to put in their goodie bag with closure stickers (address labels :) with 11.11.11 printed on it. We had way too much candy left over, which my mother, as health conscious as she is, has hidden...and now can't remember where she has hidden it. You KNOW this is driving me crazy. All that goodness laying around feeling unwanted!

The party ended with a 'Wish Release.' Throughout the evening people wrote their wishes on these sky lanterns (we had eleven total, surprised?) that we lit and released at 11:11 pm. It was absolutely beautiful. Most people had to leave before it got that late, but it was really something to see them all float up into the sky. I ordered them online from this site (looks like they have a deal right now too), and I was pleased with them! I chose all white in three different shapes. I think they were really cool, and an awesome idea that my dad had (I had been planning on releasing a bunch of balloons that people attached their wishes onto, he made the astute observation that at night we would only see them 5 feet up into the air.) This was so much better.

Hungry for What?

Yes, after re-reading the Hunger Games series last week and watching the new trailer about ten times yesterday, I decided to dig through all media attached to this awesome series, because my appetite was not satiated. And now, I'm officially a citizen of Panem, District 5...we're in charge of the country's power...They are now holding elections for each districts Mayor. I decided against running after considering if I could put that on my resume. I decided it probably wouldn't help, and would more likely be detrimental.

Obviously what I'm really hungry for is something more productive to do with my time. My testimony for work has grown exponentially. While I was crazy busy during my college years with a full course load and always working a part-time job, I dreamed of having down time to pursue some nice hobbies. Now I have all the down time I can dream of and dream of classes, having a job to get up for in the morning, meeting new people, using my brain cells. Apparently what my parents always told me is true, having a break after working hard and getting 'the job done' is much more satisfying then just playing whenever. Work is satisfying, it stretches me, shows me what I'm capable of. I like working hard. I like knowing that I can do hard things. I like achieving. I feel this is true with all of us. We are creative beings who gain fulfillment out of creating/building/doing. It is important to our well-being.

I've found that when my schedule is wide open I get much less done then when it's packed full, if that makes sense. So I made a schedule for myself that I stuck to for about a week...then I got side-tracked. So, I am taking suggestions/comments/ideas on how to make a day feel fulfilling when you aren't getting graded or paid for your performance. Hopefully I will soon get back being paid, but there will always be free time, and I want to do a better job at doing purposeful things!