we jumped into a postcard.

or at least it seemed like it. every street in venice was postcard-picture perfect.

the whole time we kept saying "is this even real"? the city of venice was enchanting.

so different from anywhere we've been.

& we fell in love with it.

latest update: we just survived an 11-hour night train to vienna, austria and now all we keep singing is "the hills are alive with the sound of music...."

so far, so good.

made a wish today.

in rome.

at the fontana di trevi.

wish i could say more but this is all for now...

ciao! xo

notes from spain.

dear little sister,

i bought you the cutest thing yesterday. i tried it on & loved it too much so i had to buy one for myself as well. i thought i could just get one for you & then borrow it but then that isn't a very nice thing to do with a gift (plus i just might move out again.... someday) so i bought two. luckily the summer sales here in spain are muy bueno so i didn't feel too guilty.

dear humidity,

after spending another summer with you, i am still not a fan.

dear camera, 

you are a trooper. you have been by my side since my sophomore year of high school and have always done your job. but i'm starting to feel your 6.0 worth of megapixels just ain't cutting it for me anymore. or maybe its just that no pictures can do this island in spain justice. either way, i kind of really want an upgrade. santa claus? :)

dear car, 

i miss you. although i'm getting a lot more exercise here, i realize now how much more i appreciate you. sorry for taking you for granted. i hope the family is treating you well (or else!).

dear speedos, 

i used to be grossed out by you. but now i'm just thankful that some european men put at least something on in the first place. so thank you for providing the small cover that you do.

dear bed,

the second i jump onto you i might just never get up again.

dear autumn,

i see all these fb statuses, blog posts, etc. that you are on your way. but i don't have any sign of you here on this never-changing island. however, i do look forward to meeting you soon. along with my fall attire.

xo,

lulu

european lifestyle.

i would be completely content to walk home on a small cobble stone street every day.

to open my shutters to the morning air.

to hang my clothes out the window to dry.

and to drink tea on a balcony filled with potted plants and flowers.

 oh, and i wouldn't mind having this cute little european car either.

tea time with lovely ladies.

i'm always up for an excuse to dress up and spend time with some of the best ladies in my life.

and we found the perfect excuse:

a tea party in honor of the royal wedding.

(which was actually a goodbye party for jessica.... but let's not bring that up. sad face.)

and the food... well that was lovely too.

 the 20-layer crepe cake i made from this tea party website. it was delish.

and we may have had a little too much tea because the party ended up with a royal wedding by us. but it was loads of fun. check out the video here.

dear jess, 

first off.. thanks for taking all the pictures of the tea party that i stole from you.

and most importantly, thanks for being such a fun cousin. i look up to you in so many ways.

you are the cutest mama & i look forward to following you through your adventures via blogging (thank goodness for blogs). but don't forget, i'll be visiting you in saudi arabia as soon as i can :)

love you & wish you and your cute little family the best!

cheerio darling (said in british accent)!

love, lulu

spring on the slopes.

My dad, devin, tyler, anthony, jake, jamie, and I all hit the slopes at Snowbird last week. It was gorgeous and we couldn't have asked for a better day. It reminded me how much I love spring skiing. 

My dad packed us the best lunch. Or maybe it was just the fact that we had burned any calories left in us on the slopes. Either way, we all agreed that was the best tuna sandwich we'd ever had.

We had so much fun & luckily we still have one more day at Deer Valley ahead of us.

So happy to be apart of a family of skiers!

p.s. click on the pictures to view them better.... the collages didn't fit on my blog right so i had to make them small.

"To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket- safe, dark, motionless, airless--it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable." 
— C.S. Lewis (The Four Loves)

*picture found here

brunette.

the new year called for new hair.
i know blondes have more fun but so far being a brunette ain't so bad!
i think i'm gonna like this.... til summer comes around anyway :)

a very merry christmas.

christmas was wonderful.

it was spent with family & friends and i don't know how it could have been any better.

we acted out the nativity story on christmas eve. 

it was fun to have a real baby jesus this year (actually two baby jesus'... so we had two mary's as well)

a big smile from brielle

& a cute pose from elise

christmas morning in our pajamas

dustin & i at his parents house

i feel so blessed this holiday season.

i hope you all had a very merry christmas as well!

little notes.

dear snow, 

you made me so happy when i looked out the window this morning. & i'm dreaming of a white christmas so please keep coming. 

dear best friends, 

i can't wait for our eighth annual christmas party tomorrow evening. i love how long we have been friends & that we are all here to celebrate.

dear elise&brielle,

i'm so excited you will be here for your very first christmas. i've heard you are sitting up by yourselves now & i can't wait to see your cute little faces. 

dear boyfriend, 

i reeeeeally wish you would tell me what you got me for christmas. five days is just too long to wait. 

dear chamomile tea,

how i love a hot, steaming cup of you in the mornings. you ease my sore throat & make me feel all warm inside.

and most importantly....

dear sickness,

please go away. this is absolutely the worst time for you to be here. please just leave & never come back.

xoxo 

lulu

sunday inspiration.

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.

Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.

It is our light not our darkness that most frightens us.

We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous,

talented and fabulous?

Actually, who are you not to be?

You are a child of God.

Your playing small does not serve the world.

There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other

people won't feel insecure around you.

We were born to make manifest the glory of

God that is within us.

It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone.

And as we let our own light shine,

we unconsciously give other people

permission to do the same.

As we are liberated from our own fear,

Our presence automatically liberates others.

—Marianne Williamson

all i can do is keep breathing.

this was absolutely the longest week ever. 

           and it still isn't over, oh dear. 

tonight is lovely though. i took a bubble bath with the lights out and listened to pandora on my phone. (amazing. i should do this more often.)

now i'm in bed & going to sleep at precisely ten-thirty p.m. (i don't remember the last time i went to bed this early) and i will not wake up until precisely nine a.m. (yes, that is over ten hours of sleep.) 

i will then utilize the universities oh-so-kind "study day" and then welcome the weekend with open arms because everything will be okay again.

inhale. exhale.

i am almost to the end. just a few (or several) more things to check off my end-of-the-semester-to-do-list. 

christmas festivities.

 dustin & i at the festival of trees.

there were plenty of cute/creative gingerbread houses too.

 and you can't really tell but santa is surfing and the blue trees curled over him are the waves. creative, eh?

a day of giving thanks.

thanksgiving was wonderful.
it was especially wonderful because i had two thanksgiving dinners. one with dustin's family and one with my family. i love that thanksgiving gives us a day to be with our families and eat a lot of yummy food & pie. 
and even though we all act like we don't want to do the talent show every year... i really enjoy watching everyone perform (the ones who still have talents anyway). so thanks for starting that tradition grandma, it was so fun to skype you. it sure makes me thankful for technology this year as well. 
i went black friday shopping yesterday with dustin for my first time ever. yep, people are pretty insane. but i actually don't mind the crowds, just maybe not the lines. we got what we went for though so that made it all worth it. 
and right now i'm really thankful that thanksgiving break isn't over just yet! i still have the rest of today & tomorrow to enjoy. its already been so lovely too.  


p.s. sorry i don't have any pictures from the wonderful day. guess i was distracted this year.

so much love.

i don't know if anyone has noticed but i use the word lovely a lot.
i just think it's a lovely word. & it has a lovely meaning. no better way to explain it.
and what i have been thinking about lately is how much i hear about why this world is pretty much going to hell.
there is so much talk about how evil the world is becoming and i see it sometimes too.
but even through it all, i still see SO MUCH good in it too. it is still full of so many amazing people with so much
love to give. every day i'm in awe of the beauty of this world & how many wonderful people i encounter every day. whether it's someone who holds a door open for me, someone in one of my classes who helps me when i don't understand something, someone who smiles at me as i pass them on campus, someone who lets me have their parking spot in that packed school parking lot, or someone who lets me cut in front of them in their lane. i could go on & on. most of them are strangers who don't even know me but are still so kind. then i have my many friends & family that make my life truly worth living. i'm just grateful for all the loveliness that i see in this world daily. because it really is a lovely world & i'm so blessed to have the opportunity to be apart of it.

goodbye october.

it's been breathtaking.

p.s. HAPPY HALLOWEEN

*pictures from camping over fall break

lovely & not-so-lovely.

lovely things about lately:
-i got eight hours of sleep (that is rare these days)
-i registered for spring semester & realized how close i am to being done with general classes (just 2 classes away) and getting into what i really want to be doing.
-i had a fun night on the town in slc with savannah&alicia.
-i have been spending time with a special someone :)
-i am currently baking chocolate chip pumpkin cookies again & blogging while they're in the oven.

not-so-lovely things about lately:
-it snowed already.
-halloween is this weekend & i still don't know what i'm going to be.
-homework. but is homework ever lovely?

anyway... for the most part; life is just pretty darn lovely right now.

*picture via photobucket