DAY 3- A SONG THAT MAKES ME HAPPY

It's been a wonderful day. Tongan musical number in church, BBQ veggie burgers, the idea of Nathan changing his last name to Beckstrom in a non-conventional move, and many rounds of 'delmudi' with the adult fam. And tomorrow starts the dreaded graduate school placement exams. Even the idea of 8 hours worth of music history essay questions makes me want to bang my head against the wall. Wish me luck.

In lieu of that, I'll make this entry short so I can get some good pre-exam sleep. A song that has been making me happy for a long time is called MERRY HAPPY by Kate Nash. Something about the brittish accent, appreciation for good bums, and ending phrases with "doot doo, da doot doo!" make me merry happy. :)

A song that makes YOU happy?

DAY 2- MY LEAST FAVORITE SONG

Remember how the CD player and ipod adapter were stolen from my car last spring? (jerks!) Well, I used the insurance money to buy my awesome bike, and was lucky enough to have a car friend help me install a new tape player from the junk yard. And since I discarded all of my most awesome tapes in ... maybe the 4th grade, I've been listening to lots of radio in the car. That is the major component in the selection of my two least favorite songs, tied in first place for the songs I would least like to hear ever again any time soon. Your Love Is My Drug by KE$HA and also California Gurls by Katy Perry. If simply listening to them isn't enough to drive you out of your mind, imagine turning on the radio every day and having one or both of them playing on at least one radio station. And then again 20 minutes later. And again. And again. And again. It's enough to make a girl drive around in silence! Fellow Utah Cd-less drivers- Do you know of any radio stations where I can find solace in some Ingrid Michaelson, Nick Drake, or Iron and Wine? And also, what's your least favorite song?

It's All About The Music!

I'm completely stealing this idea from Adrienne, but I like the sound of it. Music is kind of a big deal for me, so this should be fun. And ya might learn a thing or two about me in the meantime!

"It's the 30 day music challenge. Everyday for the next 30 days I'm going to dedicate a post to a certain song, according to this list:"

Day 1 - Your favorite song

Day 2 - Your least favorite song

Day 3 - A song that makes you happy

Day 4 - A song that makes you sad

Day 5 - A song that reminds you of someone

Day 6 - A song that reminds you of somewhere

Day 7 - A song that reminds you of a certain event

Day 8 - A song that you know all the words to

Day 9 - A song that you can dance to

Day 10 - A song that makes you fall asleep

Day 11 - A song from your favorite band

Day 12 - A song from a band you hate

Day 13 - A song that is a guilty pleasure

Day 14 - A song that no one would expect you to love

Day 15 - A song that describes you

Day 16 - A song that you used to love but now hate

Day 17 - A song that you hear often on the radio

Day 18 - A song that you wish you heard on the radio

Day 19 - A song from your favorite album

Day 20 - A song that you listen to when you're angry

Day 21 - A song that you listen to when you're happy

Day 22 - A song that you listen to when you're sad

Day 23 - A song that you want to play at your wedding

Day 24 - A song that you want to play at your funeral

Day 25 - A song that makes you laugh

Day 26 - A song that you can play on an instrument

Day 27 - A song that you wish you could play

Day 28 - A song that makes you feel guilty

Day 29 - A song from your childhood

Day 30 - Your favorite song at this time last year

DAY ONE- MY FAVORITE SONG

Hmmmm. This is ALWAYS always a hard question for me to answer. My favorite song right now? My favorite song of all time? My favorite song by my favorite Regina Spektor or James Taylor or the Beatles? ... or maybe my favorite Bach or Shostakovich? I'm going to go with my favorite song TODAY. The Bird and the Worm by Owl City. It's so happy, and silly, and reminds me of everything sun and summery. And lately I feel silly and happy and in love. Plus, this adorable video is where I first heard it. And I'm so excited that this guy is going to be our wedding videographer :)

At the end of these music posts, leave a comment and tell me your "song of the day" pick. I'm always up for awesome new music ideas. So... what's YOUR favorite song?

Wedding Sneak Peaks

Ok, ok, I know that Nathan and I aren't getting married for an entire 4 and a half more months, but here's the thing: Life has been pretty same old same old around here. There's not a whole lot to blog about, besides to tell the world that life is good and all is well. Nathan and I have been doing a fair amount of wedding planning- trying to get everything arranged before school starts and life gets crazy again. Also, best friend Katie is getting married TOMORROW (woo hoo!), so I've got wedding on the mind. Here's a little sneak peak:

We're getting married on December 18, 2010, in the Salt Lake Temple.

That night, we're having a dinner/reception for family and close friends at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building.

Since we're getting married on my Grandparents anniversary, we're incorporating elements of 1940s vintage.

Our colors are black, white, and red.
These are the shoes that I love!
Our cake might end up looking something like this:

This is the veil I chose, and I'll probably do my hair something like this:
We're going to use red calla lillies and hypericum berries

Cute little Caroline and Brecklyn might wear something like this:
And the centerpieces at the dinner will probably look something like this:
I've also been doing a lot of "marriage prep" kind of reading, since the wedding is just one day out of the rest of our lives together. May I recommend "Before You Plan Your Wedding, Plan Your Marriage" by Dr. Greg and Erin Smalley. And also "The Newlywed Handbook" by the editors of thenest.com.

Status Updates

You're probably all familiar with the spot on Facebook that asks "What's on your Mind?" Now, there are some Facebookers who are fanatical about giving the world a play-by-play about what they think, what they're up to, or what's going on in their universe. I'm not really that kind of Facebooker. But today, I think I could be that kind of blogger. Here's what's "on my mind."

Jamilyn is tired of housesitting big slobbery dogs for no pay. Three more weeks??

Jamilyn is happily studying theory and harmony for Doctoral Entrance Exams. geek.

Jamilyn wishes that registering for UofU classes was as fun and easy as registering for wedding gifts.

Jamilyn is excited to finally go to a school with a football team worth cheering for!

Jamilyn would like to find an apartment in the avenues for less than $500 a month before December. Likely?

Jamilyn loves Nathan's new Toyota "Cororra." Hip hip hooray for dependable cars!

Jamilyn successfully baked a blueberry cheesecake- from scratch.

Jamilyn is getting excited for Katie's wedding. But more excited for the bachelorette party!

Jamilyn is experiencing her first sunburn of the summer. Blast this pale skin!

Jamilyn is having a hard time justifying $90 wedding shoes. But she really wants them.

Jamilyn just passed her two year anniversary of living a (mostly) vegetarian lifestyle. Woot to feeling great!

Jamilyn misses cashew curry hummus from the Kzoo People's Food Co-op.

Jamilyn is excited for new audition music to learn! Bring it on, Brahms!

Jamilyn and Nathan took a self-guided tour through Anniversary Inn. Ha ha ha ha.

Jamilyn particularly likes the "Mysteries of Egypt" room. :)

Jamilyn wants to go running. But fears she would die of heat stroke.

Jamilyn is excited for Glee to start again.

Jamilyn thinks Inception is STELLAR! "an idea is like a virus..."

Jamilyn remembers when she had 60 free movie passes. Good gig.

Jamilyn is proud of her lover for doing so well in school this semester. mwah!

Jamilyn thinks teaching cello is great. But she misses performing. Quartet soon please?

Jamilyn likes teaching students who practice.

Jamilyn thinks it's SUPER lame that Michigan has a summer full of amazing thunderstorms directly after she leaves.

Jamilyn LOVES thunder!!

Jamilyn thinks it would be rad if no one ever had to work, and we could all hang out outside together all day long doing adventurous things.

Jamilyn is free as she'll ever be!

Blog friends, Please feel free to "like" or comment on any of those that strike your fancy. :)

In the Life of J and N

A weeks review in pictures:

Pool party at Em and Dave's.

Pizza

Homemade Salsa

Blueberries

Family

Hale Center Theater

The Wedding Singer

Celebrate 25 years in Utah

Broken Stage

Free Concessions

Happy Birthday Terri

Future Mother-in-Law

7 BBQ steaks, 1 BBQ fish

1/2 game of "Dominion"

I won!

Jordan River Parkway

Beautiful Summer Night

Huge Family of Ducks

And Ducklings

Figuring out the Future

Glee

on www.cucirca.com

Season One

Almost Finished

Major Gleeks!

Girl Talk Concert in Liberty Park

Dancing, Sweaty, Beer and Pot Pipes

Toilet Paper Guns

A Billion People

Flip Flops were a Bad Idea

OTHER THOUGHTS:

Still House Sitting

Not a big dog kind of girl

Maybe it's just THESE big dogs...

Love Cello Teaching

Wedding Plans

Everyone is Engaged Here

Hot Sunshine

Lipsmackers at Target :)

School Soon???

Doubts, Love, Independence, Happiness

So it's been a week since America (or at least Utah) celebrated Independence Day! But more exciting and significant in my little life, it's been a week since Mr. Nathan Morris

asked me to marry him!!

I'm sure it's no news to most of you. And we've gotten a lot of "it's about time" kind of responses from friends and fam. And what with it being so close to him coming home from his mission, and since I wrote to him the whole two years, and since we've been dating since we graduated from high school, and since we live in Utah, I guess the whole thing is kind of trite and expected. And I usually try to steer clear of trite and expected.

But in this case, I'm thrilled!

Believe me, I've thought through plenty of doubts- We're still so young, I don't have enough good wife skillz, we don't make enough money, he still has a lot of school to finish, I'm just starting a time consuming doctoral degree, we're not ready. But the more I tried to come to terms with that, the more I thought -- it's absolutely true. We're not ready. We're young and poor and inexperienced. But when will I ever feel ready? If you know me, or have read my blog for any significant amount of time, you know that BIG life decisions like this are absolutely not easy for me to make. Deciding to get married is a leap of faith into the scary unknown. Not just scary, but exciting and wonderful and adventurous, and BIG. And I can't think of anyone I'd rather make the jump with than my best friend in the whole world.

And so, on July 3, I was woken up by unexpected knocking on my bedroom door. I got up, and a trail of rose pedals led from my bedroom to the bathroom, where Nathan had set up a wonderfully romantic bubble bath for me. After the bubble bath, the rose pedal path had changed, and now led to the kitchen, where Nathan had made my favorite breakfast- blueberry cherry smoothies. After breakfast, we spent the rest of the day just having a blast together. We played some Wii Mario Kart, ate Cafe Rio in the canyon, went on a fun little hike, browsed IKEA, went swimming at a water hole with a rope swing, had a BBQ, and then went four-wheeling up into the mountains at sunset. When we got to the top of the mountain, we had a gorgeous view of Utah Valley. Nathan pulled me aside and got down on one knee. As soon as he got down, in my typical Jamilyn fashion, I said "is this how you're going to do it?" And he said "YES this is how I'm going to do it!!" Then he said some really sweet things, asked me if I would marry him, and I said YES! He slipped the perfect ring on my finger, and I kissed him. Then, from the top of the mountain, we watched 4 different firework shows, including Stadium of Fire and Thanksgiving Point. Fireworks are my absolute favorite. It was gorgeous.

On the late drive back from Payson, with a new ring on my hand, and a new fiance in the seat next to me, I couldn't help but think how ironic it was to get engaged, what many might think of as a loss of independence, on the very night that the country celebrates independence. But since then, I've realized this: marrying Nathan will never equal a loss of my independence. He respects my thoughts and goals and wishes and wants to help me achieve them. He knows me better than to try to dominate me or control me, and it's not even in his nature. I know I can survive and be happy on my own. But having him around sure enhances happiness. And I think that I probably enhance his happiness too.

And that's what I want. Commitment to independently enhance each other's happiness, support each other's dreams, and witness each other's lives. Not dependance on each other, but fidelity and loyalty to each other. Forever.

And so I'll marry Nathan Morris. On December 18, 2010. (Same anniversary as my Grandma and Grandpa M) in the Salt Lake Temple.

♥