More writing

So from this, it may seem like I write a lot of poetry, but in reality, I don't. I usually wax poetic when I'm feeling most intensely emotional. It's usually very sloppy, and I never really go back to edit it at all. I don't put the work I put into other writing into poetry, it just kind of slips out, which makes for a lot of rubbish poetry saved in random places.

In any case, I wrote this one night when I was looking at some pictures and thinking of friends I haven't seen in a while.


I realized today
I have begun
To forget things.

The way you walk,
The color of your eyes,
The sound of your voice,
The things you wear.

I held back tears
As if each one
Held a part of you there
Reminded me
Of those things
I've begun to forget.

I worry if I shed them
They will slicken
The part of you I keep,
And from me
You will be lost.

If the time goes quickly,
When they drop,
You will be there
And catch them,
The things I forgot.

Secret writings from my notebook

I keep a notebook on me constantly; it's a writer thing. My notebook is a bit of a hodgepodge of list, schedules, reminders, timetables, and random writing. I was flipping through it the other day (it's been so long since I went grocery shopping for myself and I couldn't remember what I eat on a regular basis, so I was looking at old grocery lists) when I came across a poem I wrote a while ago. So here goes:

My sister
        Makes beautiful things
        Of wood and paper and glass
Spun colors and
         Balancing lights
That inspire awe
        like the sea in July
       or birds in the spring
Or a London street
       at twilight, glow of lamps
      on the rain.

Beauty and resource,
      everyday ease and
      the type of things
      that make a home to envy.
She takes
      the pictures of her mind
      and gives them life,
Shapes them until
     they become like Pandora,
     Perfect and purpose.

I create
     something from
     black on white,
     struggle and scribble,
And hope to somehow find
     The kind of color she beams:
A story with some beauty,
     Some use.

Adventures in Driving

Welcome to summer! Well, my summer, which is basically composed of working, Netflix, and working on various writing projects.

Something new this summer though: I have a car! Thanks to Mom and Dad, I am now mobile! Rory is a Chevy Sonic. He's gets awesome gas mileage (usually between 40-50 miles/gallon) and gets me where I need to go. He's also dark blue, and that combined with the model (Sonic) and the fact that he might not look like much but I think he's perfect, naming the car after one of my favorite Doctor Who characters just makes sense.

Meet Rory!

It's been two years since I've driven (a good old 2001 Chevy Cavalier I named Apollo got me through high school). I've also only ever driven in California. And I never really had to drive on the freeway at home. Needless to say, driving in Utah is a whole new experience.

First of all, it seems that speed limits are more like speed recommendations. I routinely drive down a certain road that has a posted limit of 50 mph. I usually have to go at least three miles over that just to not have someone riding my tail. And then there's the freeway. Apparently, 65 means 80 here (yeah, it was terrifying the first time I was driving there and semis where passing me).

However, my biggest pet peeves when driving have been people who hit the brakes going down hills or into/out of corners. Why can't people just take their foot off the brake and coast? There are two particular spots on my daily commute that this happens all the time, and it drives me crazy.

I like to think I'm a decent driver (I know I'm not perfect, let's be honest). And I love driving, so these things bother me in the moment, but it's not that big of a deal. Most of all, it's nice to be behind the wheel again and to be able to get to places that are outside of walking distance.

And so Rory and I are off on more adventures, including an upcoming trip to Idaho for my friend Rachel's wedding! (And we are so excited for that, trust me!)

And please be a good driver for me and Rory. Or I may have to use "the horn of righteousness" (I've never honked at anyone before, btw).

(Also, Pinterest is the best for finding funny things.)

In which I catch up on posting

(Sorry, things were busy. Didn't have much time for blogging.)

Pictures always seem the best way to remind me what to write, so here goes:

After our adventurous North trip, we continued to explore London, including heading to Greenwich, where the Royal Observatory and the Prime Meridian are.

We got to Greenwich via river ferry, and I had fun snapping pictures of the city from the Thames.

Standing on the Prime Meridian

A few days later, we took a day trip out to Dover Castle. I wish we had a lot more time there. It was beautiful, but we didn't see much, as we spent quite a long time debating whether we wanted to pay to go into the World War II war tunnels. We didn't end up going, so we just wandered the grounds.

The White Cliffs of Dover

That same day, we also went to Canterbury Cathedral

The spot where Thomas a Beckett was murdered, making Canterbury a popular destination for pilgrims, which inspired the famous Canterbury Tales.

Back in London, we went to visit Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. It was pouring down rain and the theatre is open air, so that was fun, but it was so interesting to see the recreation of perhaps the most famous theatre in the world.

We also spent a day indulging in one of our other literary favorites: Sherlock Holmes!

We had lunch at Speedy's Cafe, which is featured in BBC's Sherlock. The black door is the door to 221 in the show, the home of the consulting detective and his army doctor blogger and best friend.

We stopped by the actual Baker Street for the Sherlock Holmes Museum

"Sherlocking" in a deerstalker at the Sherlock Holmes Museum. These ladies across the room were laughing at me, it was a little embarrassing.

We also had the opportunity as a group to go to the London temple. It was so wonderful to go, even across the world!

Our final day trip took us outside England again, this time to Blenheim Palace. Honestly, this one wasn't really all that interesting to me; it just seemed like another fancy house. 

And then, Oxford! I was so excited to get there. I loved the atmosphere of that town. There's so much literary history there, and everything just seemed so...smart. I loved it. 

Plus, Harry Potter filming sites, including this one, where they filmed the hospital wing in several of the movies and the dance lesson in Goblet of Fire

The Hogwarts staircase leading to the Great Hall!

In my continued effort to eat in every famous literary/television place, we ate lunch at The Eagle and the Child, the pub where the Inklings literary group met. Both C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien were members, and the first drafts of Narnia and Lord of the Rings were discussed in this pub.

Back in London (again) we hiked all the way up to the top of St Paul's Cathedral and had a great view of the city beneath us. 

And at St Paul's, I met up with a special someone: my mom! She came to spend about a week with me in England after the program ended. It was a very busy week. We started by hitting as many of the museums as we could in about a day and a half. We got quite a few in: the British Museum, the National Gallery, the RAF Museum, and more. It was quite the day.

The National Gallery

\

There were so many different planes at the RAF Museum; well worth the trip out there!

We also went and saw Wicked. It was my first time seeing it, and I loved it! I've wanted to see the show since I first listened to the soundtrack years ago. The music sounds so different when sung with a British accent though!

We took a day trip out to Cardiff, Wales, to stop by the Doctor Who Experience. I, if you haven't heard yet, love that show. Mom has never seen it. She was a little confused.

The Eleventh Doctor's TARDIS from the 50th Anniversary special! You weren't supposed to touch the exhibits...I might have touched the handle. 

Cardiff was a really beautiful place, and I can't wait to go back and explore more!

We went to the Harry Potter Studio Tour. My third time, and I still love every bit of it!

My houses (Gryffindor and Hufflepuff) are the ones represented in the shop window for Quality Quidditch Supplies in Diagon Alley. It's a great thing.

We went to Stratford-upon-Avon and took a quick tour of all things Shakespeare, including his birthplace

This clever poster lists every prop you would need to perform all of Shakespeare's plays; surprisingly, not that many!

My favorite barn owl at the Mary Arden Farm; still convinced I should have just taken it home.

We went back to Oxford and wandered around a bit.

And we ended the trip by visiting Windsor Castle. The flag on top of the tower means that the Queen was in residence there when we stopped by!

Eight weeks ago, I sat in a Tube Carriage in Heathrow, waiting to beginning this great adventure. Fifteen years of dreaming became a reality. I wasn't prepared for how much I would fall in love with that country. I wasn't prepared for the friends I would make or the experiences I would have. It seems like so long ago we were dragging our suitcases through the streets of South Kensington, gaping at everything we saw. England has become a second home to me, and I left a large part of my heart there. I am counting the days until I get to go back and experience it all again.

Narnia and the North! I mean...er...Scotland and the North!

So, we didn't go to Narnia (I keep looking in wardrobes, but no luck so far), but we did go to the Lake District and Scotland last week! So here's a quick recap of this whirlwind of a week.

We started by stopping by Preston and the Church history sites there. We also stopped by the Preston England Temple. It was beautiful.

(it was really bright outside, and I'd been in a bus for hours, and I couldn't see at all)

Finally, we reached our destination for the night: Ambleside in the Lake District. I fell in love immediately. We stayed in a (surprisingly nice) hostel right on the lake. All I wanted to do was be outside by the water. The sunset was gorgeous, and it stayed light out until at least 10pm. It was just so peaceful there, with the sound of the water lapping on the shore and a soft breeze and sheep in the distance...it was just such a happy and restful place. 

Enjoying the evening! (and avoiding some bird poop on the wall)

The view from the hostel

I could have stayed here forever. 

The next day, we jumped back on our bus (with our terrifying driver...we almost died multiple times. I mean, she ran into a brick wall in the middle of a street...) and headed up to Grasmere and Dove Cottage, the home of the poet William Wordsworth. 

I took about a million pictures because the gardens were just so lovely. I can definitely see why Wordsworth wrote so much about nature. 

We also had the opportunity to do a workshop with the Wordsworth Trust, looking at some of the inspiration for Wordsworth's poems and some original copies. I got to pull down some old books off a shelf. My friend Abby was the lucky one though. At one point during our workshop, the director told us that they had several first editions of classic Romantic literature, and Abby asked to see Frankenstein. The director carefully pulled out a box, had her open it, and there it was:

Abby then got to read from this first edition. She started crying, and it was such a crazy experience. We all took a bunch of pictures, and it was crazy to think that this was how people first read that now iconic story. I was shaking.

And then, the director handed me Wordsworth's personal first edition copy of Milton's Paradise Lost. Wordsworth had it bound with extra pages so he could include notes. I was shaking so much, I'm surprised I didn't drop or break anything. Two of the best poets of the English language, and I was right there. I really don't know how else to describe it. 

That afternoon, we went to visit the home of another childhood author: Beatrix Potter! Her home, Hill Top, was beautiful and just...charming. It was fun to recognize parts of rooms or the garden that she drew in her books. 

The garden gate

A real life Peter Rabbit!

The door to the garden

The next day, we hopped on that terrifying bus again (the driver earned the nickname "Crazy Tracy" from all of us, and we're hoping she is never our driver again). And before we knew it, we were crossing the border into Scotland! 

Edinburgh was breathtakingly beautiful. It was an interesting place. On the one hand, it feels like a city, just like London does. But on the other, it seems almost...stuck back in time. Maybe it was the rain (it poured all day), but something about it felt different. It didn't feel as hustle and bustle as London can. 

We took a tour of Edinburgh Castle and then went to a wool factory where they make tartan, but then came what I was waiting for the most: 

There is a small cafe on one of Edinburgh's streets called The Elephant House. It has bright red paint and for the most part looks very normal. It's not. It's a magical place. Why? 

Because J.K. Rowling started writing the Harry Potter books here! So of course we had to go. And I absolutely adored it. Surprisingly, it's still very reasonably priced, and the food was delicious. We went twice in the day we were there, if only for the hot chocolate. I was in heaven. 

I'm pretty sure that this is what it would feel like to hang out in the Gryffindor Common Room. Good friends, good food, couches, and a fireplace.

A rather poetic picture of me, contemplating how one story written here changed the world and sparked my imagination like nothing else has. Also, enjoying hot chocolate. And my friend Olivia is great at taking and editing pictures.

And then, someone opened the bathroom door, and I started laughing. The bathroom is covered in writing/tributes/notes for JKR, for Harry, for future generations. It's the first and last time I graffitied anything.

It's on the back of the door, if you ever go, you can find it.

I spent a lot of time staring out the window at Edinburgh Castle and the town. It was absolutely magical. I wish I'd had a notebook and more time so I could have sat there and written for a while. There was something about that place that inspiration just seemed to bleed from. This is also the view that JKR had while she wrote the first books. It was beautiful.

That night, we took a hike up Arthur's Seat. I thought it was going to be a short little hike up to a nice view...hahaha. Yeah, not quite. It was cold and windy. We pretty much hiked into a cloud. And it was cold and wet and windy.

This was the last picture I could take before my hands got too cold and I put my camera away.

Freezing and windy at the top. We were hanging onto each other for dear life, because we were sure we were going to get blown off. The view was worth it though. From up there, you could see the whole city and out to the Firth of Forth. When the clouds cleared, it felt like you were on top of the world. 

We didn't spend nearly as much time as I would have liked in Edinburgh, but the next day we were off to more adventures!

We stopped first at Hadrian's Wall, the northern border of the ancient Roman Empire. Now in ruins and surrounded by sheep, it was kind of amazing to see. Except for when I slipped in the freezing rain and fell down a hill. That wasn't fun. 

Fountains Abbey, the ruins of an abbey destroyed during the reign of Henry VIII, was next. They were a little creepy, but it was interesting to see nature reclaiming the stones. Moss and lichen covered the walls, there were mud puddles on the pathways, and the stones were crumbling.

Next was Haworth and and the Bronte Parsonage. Let's just say the darkness in Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights makes a lot more sense when you realize that these sisters spent their whole lives in a very isolated town in an isolated house behind a graveyard that was poisoning the drinking water and caused their whole family to die. If you grew up hearing names chiseled into gravestones, you'd probably write really dark characters with little to no redeeming qualities. They're just going to die anyway, right?

Our final stop, however, was absolutely beautiful. Chatsworth is an old mansion, the seat of a duke, and also where they filmed Darcy's house in Pride and Prejudice. It is absolutely gorgeous. Of all of the castles, mansions, and other fancy houses we've been to, this is my favorite. It just seems more...habitable. The rooms aren't tiny, there are more windows, and it's beautifully decorated without being overwhelmingly grandiose. This wallpaper was my absolute favorite, and I want it replicated in my future home.

We also went through the statue hall that Elizabeth Bennet stands in in the film.

The pink pedestals were weird, and we're not sure why they were so violently pink.

And so we ended this trip with me being disappointed that Chatsworth's stables didn't actually have horses, but I found a hat that fit my head, so that's a bonus. 

To round out this week, I got to spend Saturday at the Harry Potter Studio Tour again, this time for Wand Week! It was great fun. I got to open the doors of the Great Hall, they gave me a replica of Harry's wand (of which I am still in shock about), I got to see the beautiful castle again, chat with some wand designers, and see the whole wonderful experience again. It never gets old. In fact, I think it was better the second time! 

Walking down Diagon Alley