Graduation

Well we did it. We walked, and we got our pictures taken, and we threw hats.

Broadcast people - before the majestic climbing of the walkway.

We also ate a lovely dinner and enjoyed the company of friends and family.

Magleby's -- they catered our wedding, it's only fair
we have graduation dinner with them too :)

I'm going to miss the Heaps!

Last silly time with Haleigh for a long time :(

Elder Oaks

"The mark you receive as a BYU graduate is neither involuntary nor self-imposed. You sought this mark, and it is put upon you by proper authority. After today you have more than a new line on your resume. You have been marked. As a BYU graduate, you are, as we say, a marked man or woman.

...

“We all have marks or labels upon us. Our names and many characteristics of our appearance, such as family similarities, are marks. So is our speech. These marks are involuntary. Other marks are voluntarily assumed, like religious symbols that various faiths use on their apparel, which we honor, and tattoos, which we discourage. Our Savior is the model for the self-imposed mark of the utmost significance.”

...

‘You all have a mark upon you after today — you will be known as a graduate of Brigham Young University, which is part of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The people who know you and see you will judge the Church by you. Your great mission is to hold the banner high.’"

Just striking a pose, you know

I did it Ma!

Where's Andrew?

That's Master Andrew to you!

Brother Curtis, News director extraordinaire

And best of all: we graduated!

"Are we done taking pictures yet?"

No way! Yay pictures!

Oooh shiny

Just in time for the holidays:

Nothing like new nail polish

I know some pretty fashionable people

One of them is my little sister. (Of course, I taught her everything she knows but she won't admit it.)

But check this out from her blog:

Beauty isn't a question of size or weight. Beauty is charm and posture; self-confidence and courage

Pretty insightful for a teenager.

Sometimes things turn out not quite the way you expected

By the way, this is my new dress that almost turned into a train wreck. It worked out though, after a bit of stress that Jourdan can attest to...

and a failed dye job that actually turned out to be pretty cool. So I kept it that way, even though I slightly remind myself of a high school senior photo backdrop...

Wrap watch

I'm thinking it would be really easy to make your own version of this.

I have an old watch with a similar face that has a dead/broken strap, so all I'd need is to find some good leather and hardware and there you go: a new watch!

Also, as I dropped Andrew off at the airport for a 4-day trip and mentioned that I needed to get something out of the trunk of the truck (It has a separate lock and only one key, so I don't really go in there often), he was forced to tell me that my birthday present is hiding there... You have no idea how torturous that is.

A while... and a rant (but a rave first)

It's been a while since I've blogged, but I've just been working and enjoying life with my husband before school starts, bringing with it the inevitable end of life as we know it. That, and trying to make major life decisions that don't result in our being haunted by the ghost of Spencer W Kimball. It's so good to be back and be settled in. I love our new apartment, and our neighborhood. South of Center Street was... kind of ghetto, I'll just say that. Now when we go on walks there are gorgeous, ancient trees to give us shade with little children playing in sprinklers, lovely little homes and a perfect park right next door. And my sewing corner is now in our bedroom which gets gorgeous sunlight in the evening, so I have my own corner of heaven. This really is the ideal place to end our time at BYU. I'm sad now that it seems so close: it's been a good life here in happy valley. Did I mention we now have amazingly fast internet? I love it!

So here's a funny story. The other day I saw this girl who looked vaguely familiar. I remember thinking how overdressed she looked (massive heels, too many bracelets, an overly sophisticated hairdo...) The image of a little girl that got into her mother's closet came to mind. Later this week I realized she was a friend of a friend on Facebook and I remembered how I knew her. Minimal Facebook-stalking later and ta-daa, she has a blog. But it gets better: it's a fashion blog. And here's the thing: there were a lot of nice outfits and all, but it just felt... overdone. And there was a "shop" page were she sold old clothes she didn't want anymore. What?

All of this to say: I'm not quite sure what to make of all these so-called fashion bloggers. I follow a few that I like, but I get the impression that these days everybody and their dog is a fashion blogger and writes "what I wore Wednesday" articles and "outfit posts". Meh. You have to have a killer sense of style to venture into that... and an interesting personality. (Also, how are student newlyweds affording an entire bookcase-full of designer shoes? It kind of screams credit card debt--not cute.) For example, I love this girl because she's just really funny. Not taking yourself too seriously is important, especially if you're launching yourself into something as... well, artificial, as fashion blogging.

I'm not a fashion hater; in fact, I really enjoy getting dressed up. I even blog about it every once in a while. But I have little sympathy for fashion victims. There's a problem when what you wear gets in the way of "you." The whole point of wearing clothing (well, apart from covering your nakedness) is to look good, right? But when you're overly trendy or your accessories get in the way of your mobility... you just look like you're trying too hard. I still remember these wise words from a girl in my freshman dorm: "I want the clothes to make me look good, not the other way around."

By now you're probably thinking "how do you get away with being such a style snob?" No credentials, but I do have a trump card: my country basically invented fashion (and after a summer in Paris, I can tell you that middle-aged french women are the classiest ladies ever). I also spent a good amount of my teenage years learning from trial and error. I'd show you photographic proof, but I'm pretty sure my parents were too ashamed of me because we mysteriously have very few pictures from my teenage years...

I didn't think I was a stripe kind of girl

But everyone can find their match. And this color combo was just yelling "wear me Lydia!" from the hanger, so being the kind person that I am I obliged.

Also, I FINALLY finished these pants. You wouldn't believe how long I had this fabric... then the time it took me to finally cut the fabric. A month later, I started sewing, but didn't have the proper thread. Then, it turned out the pattern was ridiculously over-sized and they looked like clown pants, so I had to rip apart almost all the seams and redo the entire waist/belt section... at which point I sewed them too tight and had to rip apart the side seams and re-position the pockets, and by that point I just gave up for a while. But this time... perfect!

(insert adjective here) Wednesdays

So I think I want to start a "thing," you know, something sort of predictable. We'll see how long that lasts, but in the meantime here is the first installment of "(insert adjective here) Wednesdays". I can't think of anything witty right now (any ideas are welcome - no, Wordless Wednedays doesn't work cause I'm not good at not using words. Also, I realize it's not quite Wednesday yet, but it's pretty close so that counts. Hey, maybe it'll become Saturdays or something, whatever). 

I plan on it being about anything I want to link to or post pictures of, as long as I don't have to come up with a major part of the content myself. Sometimes I'll share what I've been reading about, or just pictures I've been drooling over. I am feeling inspired, thanks to Pinterest (I'll invite you, just give me your email!) so here goes:

I'm thinking of combining this:

via pinterest

With this awesome idea:

via Pinterest

(Ohmygosh the dress is incredible!!! swoon. Aaaaand I realize I just sounded like a 12-year-old.)

To make the perfect duvet cover. I still haven't found the one (that's anywhere in my price range at least), so I'm thinking I'll just make it myself. Some color of linen (navy? taupe? who knows) with a big section covered in doilies (they don't all need to be perfectly white either, a mix of off-white, white and natural could work nicely) and maybe cut off the section with some of the ruffled detail from the top picture. 

In completely unrelated news, anybody have some doilies hanging around they'd like to donate for a good cause?

Also, I've had autumn on my mind lately (don't judge, I have a history of anticipating seasons way too far in advance. Quick segue: there is a diary entry from when I was 13 in which I pumped myself up for my first day back to school and I may or may not have written: "look out world, here comes the new Lydia")

Anyway... I'm thinking this is a nice back to school outfit. Or maybe that girl just has such an adorable smile that I'm instantly sold just because.

via Pinterest

That's it for today

Paris in the... wind? rain?

It can't quite make its mind up.

That being said, it's lovely either way.

I got to go meet up with Gab (Gabe, Gabriel, whatever) today. He is well, in case you were worried :) It's kind of funny to think we met over four years ago in Provo, and here we were sitting on the steps of the Louvre, just chatting in our native country (and language. duh).

I also had to get a photo of his awesome man style

Too much sun? 

Also, a bride was taking pictures outside the Louvre pyramids.

And I like my new dress/tunic. Yay for soldes (you see, in France there are two times a year that are government-designated for sales, and stores go pretty crazy... which has helped me expand and re-europeanize my wardrobe as of late) It doesn't actually make me look this chunky, it's just an optical illusion, I'm pretty sure. You know what? I don't care, I like it!

I happen to be one of those people who sometimes really like a certain item because it'll be such an awesome pregnant dress/shirt/outfit... (not an announcement, calm down) Anyway, this dress is comfy and has room to stretch. And I'm done saying silly things.

See? I like it.

Hypocrisy... I'm good at it

Sometimes I feel like a total hypocrite.

For example, ideologically speaking I can’t stand girls who just care about fashion and worship their husband and dream of being the perfect homemaker. And yet I secretly enjoy shopping (or should I say, I enjoy to have shopped. I kind of can’t stand big crowds most of the time) and feel so unfeministic about  it. Deep down, I don’t actually want to be a big tough working girl… I don’t think I’ve got what it takes. Also, those girls often seem like the most blissfully happy people.

And then there’s the dumb people who have DSLRs and wear them like they’re an accessory… but I would kill to get my hands on one (figuratively speaking of course).

Oh and my undying hatred for rich people (sorry rich kids), but really… sometimes I wish I had grown up with a daddy that got me everything I always wanted on a silver platter. It’s not that I’m a socialist, I just kind of wish I were born in one of those fancy upper classes of society. Then again, I'm grateful for my artist's daughter upbringing and how many places we've lived. My dad was definitely more fun than yours, hands down. (No offense)

Anyway, that’s enough of my hypocritical self for today. Hey, at least I own up to my hypocrisy every once in a while, that’s gotta count for something right?

Finally! An internet!

Phew! We are in Bordeaux now, with my papa and Amelia. Just a few more pics of our place though, because it really is crazy:

The plethora of cat books just cracks me up:

Our little room. I like our window, and what's really funny is the lady that helps school kids cross is outside our door every morning, so we have at least one friend :)

Our sweet 70s wallpaper.

For the back story: the lady who owns this home will be 101 years old next month. She lived here as a girl, her parents built it in 1924 and then when they died she took it and lived there with her own family--she finally moved out to live with her daughter last September. I imagine these stairs were starting to be too much...

Our room with the flower power wallpaper was that daughter's room in the 70s. And this daughter is married to the president of the France chapter of BYU Alumni (who incidentally never went to BYU); they've been so nice with us, taking care of us and setting it up for us.

Anyway. Back to the tour. Here's the Narnia wardrobe in our roommates' room.

They're super nice too, they're one of the BYU couples that had signed up for the internship and miraculously managed to find something else the next day. The funny thing is we've really barely seen them, what with staying at my uncle's, going to Bordeaux, and all that. I'm sure we'll do more stuff with them once Andrew starts his internship for good. Which brings me to that: Andrew showed up for orientation on Monday and got the rundown, met everybody and his boss, and then before noon they told him "Ok, well we'll see you next Monday then!" So he just came on down to Bordeaux with me this week. It was definitely a nice surprise.

It also turns out my dad was doing a concert in Paris last night, so he got us two tickets to go see him. It was a concert representation of an opera, so the opera minus the costumes and staging and all.

Theatre des Champ-Elysees

I thought at first it might be pretty lame compared to the real deal but it was seriously awesome--the soloists still played a part and told a story, and the music was fantastic of course. We met my dad for dinner first and had something good at a Lebanese restaurant nearby, and then walked over to see him sing. Incidentally, apparently you have to tip the ushers in Paris. It was pretty awkward when I realized she was asking me for money for having showed us the 5 yards to our seats... The opera was Il Trovatore. It was sad (no surprises there!) and beautifully performed (duh, we're in freaking Paris. Side note: Andrew was flipping through the program and said: "wow, there's a lot of really awesome concerts and famous artists this summer" and we just looked at each other like what did we expect--we're in the cultural center of the world!). The two female leads in particular were fantastic. Leonora was played by a superb soprano -- she had such beautiful clarity and the way she went from filling the hall with her voice to the softest pianissimo was gorgeous. I may or may not have teared up a few times... And then the gypsy mother was fantastic, very imposing and terrifying at times... quite the diva too. In the end I didn't feel like decor or costumes were even necessary--they told the story plenty enough as it was. Ah, I love opera! I missed it so much!

And by the way, check out the five-star hotel next to the theater… 

We just sat there eating chocolate and watching rich diplomats come and go in their fancy cars.

And the cerise sur le gateau was the Eiffel Tower when we came out: it was sparkling!

As an aside, my cat is a snooty brat. But I should have expected that.

Also, I found the suit of my dreams. It’s only 600 Euros! 

Yikes, that’s more than what I paid for my plane ticket! But seriously, can you imagine me in that on my own show… oh boy. I’ve thought of making it, but we’ll have to see if I can find A) somewhat comparable fabric and B) a good enough pattern: it is perfectly tailored.

And that's all for tonight--we're off to have dinner with my aunts!

By the way

I'm on Pinterest.

It's a pretty cool site where you pin photos/links on various boards (i.e. "home inspiration," "fashion," etc.) It really helps me keep my email drafts under control :)

Come check it out!

Wow.

This whole leggings thing has gotten a lot of comments, on Facebook as well as the original post.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels this way, but I also hope nobody misinterprets my words either. I didn't meant to be harsh with the columnist, and I'm not trying to be rude or self-righteous either. I'm curious to see if my letter even gets published. My real motivation behind responding to the column is that there is danger in focusing on outward representations of personal/religious beliefs. If my studies in journalism have taught me one thing, it's that you don't know the whole story so sometimes it's better to just be quiet and listen. I used to be a lot quicker to judge as recently as last year. But after a lot of good reading, discussions and listening to people with very different lives, I'm learning to hesitate before expressing judgment or being stubborn in my opinions. There's always something I don't know about a person. I'm still working on that, mind you, but I'm trying.

The most dangerous thing about judging people's clothing, Jimmer-love, hair color, etc. is that we are pushing our personal interpretation of right and wrong on others. Growing up in France, I knew two types of Mormons: the ones like my family and all the other pagan ones. Ha! When I came to BYU, I started seeing a little bit more nuance: believe it or not, there are a lot of different ways of being Mormon. There are the hippie tree-hugging Mormons, there are ultra-feminist Mormons, there are Idaho boy Mormons, there are Book of Mormon-thumping Mormons, there are Coke-drinking Mormons, there are dyed-in-the-wool Republican Mormons, there are Liberal Mormons, there are Mormons who watch movies on Sunday, there are formerly southern-baptist Mormons... and the truth is they're all good Mormons as long as they are trying to be like Jesus and keeping their covenants. And even if they aren't, that's for their bishop to deal with, not me.

There's a reason the Gospel is simple, and that's because we have agency. We are given to chose how we will interpret the principles God has given us. We're not "giving a helping hand" to anybody when we pass judgment on their actions, even if those actions were specifically condemned in the For the Strength of Youth pamphlet (which leggings are not, by the way).

You know what's really ironic: I wrote to the DU  about immodesty as a freshman (at the time though, people's early version of leggings was cropped tights, which definitely couldn't pass for pants...). My opinion hasn't really changed, I still believe if you're LDS you should stick to the standards of modesty you've agreed to--I try to. There are still things and attitudes and people that annoy me. But now I'm not afraid to change my mind or admit I'm wrong. It's ok to give people some time before passing judgment. (I have more to say about this by the way, but that requires a post of its own and I haven't had time to write it yet. Soon, I promise.)

And the biggest thing that bugs me in all of this is the sheer hypocrisy of it all. We're writing in and complaining about the whores of Babylon walking around on campus, but some of the complainers go home and neglect their families to play video games. Some of them haven't been to the temple in months. Some of them lie to their employers about their hours worked, but their choices aren't as obvious for the world to see, so they can still sit smugly in church and look down at the women in leggings. And of course, I'm slightly irked that some men think they get to dictate women's wardrobes, not to mention the perpetuation of the stereotype that men can't control themselves and therefore women are the sole guardians of chastity.

Incidentally, I talked to one of my teachers today about this in class, and he said when he was at BYU the big scandal was men not wearing socks. GASP! And before that, it was women wearing jeans, and before that it was women wearing pants at all... and these were all explicitly mentioned in the honor code too.

Leggings too will pass, and someday we'll look back at old editions of the DU and laugh that anybody ever cared enough to write about them. Leggings aren't even all that new to begin with, remember these?

source

And yes, Jen, I was talking about you in the letter. Thanks for the support :)


Anyway, this subject has been exhausted and has gotten far more coverage than it deserves, so I'm done now. Thanks for listening to the crazy that writes letters to the editor more than once a year.

Wishful thinking

I feel like a new woman right now.

All my midterms and papers are handed in. Dancesport is coming up and the dancing is feeling good, despite the fact that we only started practicing last week. (It helps that Andrew spends a ton of time practicing already, I just have to jump in and follow him... although I could definitely use some more work.)

And most importantly, spring seems to be creeping up on us. Which means that

1) Soon I won't have to lug around my enormous coat that leaves feathers all over my clothes, especially the dark ones (although I am very glad for the warmth it provided all the freezing winter long)

2) General Conference is next month.

3) Easter is next month. Easter may almost top Christmas on my favorite holidays list. (Unfortunately, due to my current dietary goals it will not be as calorie-filled as past years. I don't know if I dare make an exception quite yet.)

4) Soon I won't have to wear a million layers anymore. And I can wear summer pants, and skirts, and short-sleeved t-shirts, and make lots more clothes.

5) We'll be in France in two months!

Of course the minute I post this it's going to start snowing again or something, but the weather can't get to me now--bring it on. I'm going to France.

And maybe I'll take my sewing machine, because I want to make these:

Also, I'm thinking of some good khakis.

Sylvia

Turns out my one sister actually has been doing some modeling :)

You can check out more on the photographer's Facebook album