Final Statement

Hey guys, I promised one last post before I go, so I'm coming through on that. I did have a plan for a final post, but I decided not to go through with that. Instead I'm going to just leave a final statement.
I know that God lives. I know He is our loving Heavenly Father. I know He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, so that we all may be saved if we repent. There is so much LOVE in God's plan. He prepared a way so that everyone could be happy.
I know the Book of Mormon is true. It is the word of God. The Book of Mormon and the Bible go hand in hand. They are best pals; they perfectly support each other.
I know Jesus Christ's church was restored by Joseph Smith many years ago. Joseph Smith was a prophet called of God and we have a living prophet still today, Russell M. Nelson. Heavenly Father will always provide us answers if we ask for them, and living prophets is just one of the many ways He helps and guides us.
I am so excited to go to the California of Los Angeles mission and invite others to come unto Christ. I am scared out of my mind. It's intimidating to have to do something different and not even really know what's going to happen. But there's nothing I want to do more. This is exactly where God wants me to be.
I will not be keeping the blog updated every week about my mission endeavors. My personal Facebook account will be active while I am serving my mission, so after reviewing the guidelines regarding that, I didn't feel comfortable having the blog active. It would go against the rules of my service. However, I love ALL OF YOU and I don't want anyone to be left out of news on what I'm doing if they don't want to be. If you want to receive weekly update emails about my missionary service, you can sign up for that here.
I also made a California Los Angeles Mission playlist featuring a bunch of songs about the cities in my mission! I think it's adorable so if you guys are looking for some jams about the LA area, I've got you covered.
And since those songs are about the place I will be serving and not about the purpose of my service, I also made a worship playlist for you guys to enjoy as well.
And one more thing: my mission has an Instagram account! Follow the California Los Angeles Mission @clamgram16 on Instagram to see what me and my fellow missionaries are up to.
Thank you all so much for the love and support. I am so happy to be doing what I'm doing right now. I love you so much, and I'll see you in a bit!
--Elizabeth Day

My Mission Q&A

Hello everyone!
Um, the only update I really have is that I saw Dear Evan Hansen and it was absolutely incredible. It's a life-changing show and in the words of that one guy in "You Will Be Found", "Everybody needs to see this."
This blog post was very unplanned. Many of you saw that I posted a really big video project yesterday, "The Jumpstart Documentary", where I finally told the full story of what I did my freshman year of college. I really enjoyed making it and I hope you all enjoy it too!
Normally I wouldn't post a video and a blog post two days in a row, but something very unexpected happened last night. I've been preparing to serve a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for about a year now. This required an application process which was pretty long for me. I submitted my application to serve in October. Church leaders seek revelation from God and I am assigned a location. Well, yesterday I was given my assignment! I received my mission call and I couldn't be happier. A lot of you have had a lot of questions regarding my call. I've tried to give some of you some short answers, but I thought it would be better if I fully explained everything here for you all. Here's the things about my call that people are the most eager to know.
You got a mission call?! Yes I did! I've been assigned to labor in the California Los Angeles mission for a two-transfer mission. I report on the fourth of March.
What's a two-transfer mission? If you don't know, most missionaries serve a full-time mission, which for sisters is eighteen months long. Two-transfer missions are to make sure that a missionary is prepared to serve full-time. I had to complete a lot of counseling and evaluations to submit my mission application. My circumstances were taken into consideration in my application so I will be serving a two-transfer mission so that we can be sure I am ready to handle missionary life. The two-transfer mission means I will be serving a mission in the Los Angeles area (yes, I go directly to Los Angeles!) for three months. In the last of those three months, I will have to go through more evaluations on how well I am doing in missionary life. Once the three months is completed, there are a few things that could happen. If it is determined that I am unable to handle serving as a missionary, my mission will be complete and I will come back home. However, if they find that I'm doing well in missionary life, I will be able to serve the remainder of a full-time mission, so fifteen more months. At that point I will go to a Missionary Training Center, which most missionaries go to at the start of their mission, for two to eight weeks. Then I will either go back to the California Los Angeles mission, or I could even be assigned to serve somewhere else for the remainder of my mission. So there is still a lot about the future that is unknown! But we at least know where I will be starting my mission and where I will be until, in the words of Dear Evan Hansen, "end of May or early June".
How do you feel about it? I am overjoyed. When the call was being read to me (It wasn't under exactly normal circumstances that I received my call, but then again my entire mission application process was pretty abnormal), I couldn't stop thinking about how perfect it was. Every detail, the two-transfer mission, serving in the Los Angeles area, my report date not being too soon or too far away, it all felt so perfect. I have been waiting a very long time for this but I know it was all worth it. My assignment was definitely inspired by God.
Are you excited? Absolutely! I know one reason this question was asked was because just under a year ago I said that I knew I didn't want to serve a mission in LA, haha! As you can see in "The Jumpstart Documentary" in the link at the top of this post, I spent some time with Jumpstart in the LA area for a few days in our second semester. What I didn't know at the time was that I was literally in my mission, in the place I would be serving a year from then. The areas we were in, like Santa Monica and Universal City, are within my mission boundaries. It was on that trip while we were driving through the beautiful night on our way to our hotel that I realized I would never want to serve a mission there. (In the place I would be serving a mission. I just can't get over that.) But the reason I said that is because I have such a strong desire to live in LA. I think it is so beautiful, I love big cities, and I want to work in the film industry. So I didn't want to serve a mission there because I didn't want to serve a mission somewhere that I planned on living in the future. So yes, while I said I don't want to serve a mission in Los Angeles, I am ecstatic! I can feel that it's right, I love it there, and I'm certain it's going to be amazing. Plus I've wanted to serve a mission for so long. Now that I know when and where I'm going to be doing that, now that it's really time to go, how could I not be excited about that?
Are you nervous? Absolutely! All the worst things and all the best things always make me nervous, and this is definitely among the best things I'll ever do, so I'm undoubtedly terrified. However, I don't think I'm nervous for the reasons that most of you think I'm nervous for, haha. Either way though, the fact that I'm nervous doesn't really matter to me at all. Because what am I gonna do? I can tell that this is a part of my life purpose. This is something very important to me. Something very important in general. Being nervous doesn't change that, and it doesn't have to affect how I work and what I do either. Being nervous is just a feeling. I acknowledge that I'm nervous, and I move on. Anything's possible to work through with God on your side.
Can I receive your emails? No you can't, but not because I'm being a jerk. Let me explain. If you don't know, us missionaries are told to update our family and friends once a week on what/how we are doing. Most people send out a weekly update email to all of the family and friends that ask to receive them. I won't be doing that. Instead I will make sure the blog is updated every week with my missionary adventures. You will be able to stay informed on my mission life right here! Which is great not only because it keeps a record of my time serving God but also because not all of my readers know me personally, so you guys will be able to stay up-to-date too. If you want to contact me personally, you will be able to do so by emailing me at day.elizabeth@myldsmail.net. I'll be able to respond to emails once a week.
I am so excited for this next chapter of my life. Considering it takes a lot of preparation, I'm going to be taking a break from the blog for the remainder of my time in the Las Vegas valley. I have a lot of things I need to do to get ready to serve and just some loose ends that I want to tie up in my life before I go for eighteen months. I'll do one more post before I leave, and after that the blog will be updated weekly on how I am doing.
Thank you all for the love and support. I am incredibly happy about all this and excited to see how everything goes. I love you all.
--Lizzo

What Stops Us From Progressing?

Hello everyone!
As for what I've been up to, I've mainly been attending my brother's various concerts and performances that he's been doing for the Christmas season. I was lucky enough to have my sister and niece with me for a few days, and I've finally started really going out to view the films I want to see before I serve a mission. (Bohemian Rhapsody and Mary Poppins Returns were great, by the way.) I'm doing well and I hope you all are too.
Today I'm writing about something I have given a lotttttt of thought. I think we would all be agreed that a major purpose in life is to progress, to get better every day and learn. The reason this has been on my mind for the past year or two or three is because it's something I've had to realize so that I would be able to get better. There is something that paralyzes many of us and stops us from progressing entirely. I know it's been a roadblock for me during many times of my life and on occasion still can be. There are surely multiple answers to this question, but I honestly notice this frequently among a lot of people. What stops us from progressing?
A lot of the time, the answer is perfectionism.
Which to get more specific also means immediate perfection. We have an expectation in our minds of how we're supposed to do something, something that we are undoubtedly falling short at. So we say, "Okay, I'm going to do this. This is exactly what I'm going to do." And that's a great thing! It's good to have an end goal. The problem is, I so often see people expect immediate results. They get up the next day, try to accomplish this goal immediately, and when they aren't perfect at something that they haven't been doing for quite awhile, when they can't be perfect that very second, they hate themselves. They consider themselves a failure. And they give up. They decide there is no longer any hope for them. They're never going to get better.
Guys, it's not going to work that way. That's never going to happen. Being perfect in a day isn't going to happen. Being perfect isn't going to happen. But improvement is going to happen, and getting good and great and wonderful is going to happen. But it's not going to happen in a day, more than likely. It's surely going to take a lot of time. Progression takes time. Days, weeks, months, years. Forever. And that is not a bad thing. Constantly trying to be better gives our lives purpose.
As should be done with just about every big "project" of sorts, outlining the steps is important. I've found when I want to get better at something, I have to think about what I'm going to do every day. And at the end of the day, I evaluate myself. Did I improve from where I was yesterday? Where did I fall short? What can I do tomorrow to make sure I do better at the things I did poorly today? And I do them. And little by little, I start to get better at the things I want to be better at. By not being hard on myself, by showing myself love and kindness and patience, I actually get better. Back when I used to expect perfection right away, my life was at way more of a standstill. I genuinely improve myself this way.
For example, in 2016, as many of the people that know me very well and personally are aware, I had an identity crisis. And I mean a major one. It was pretty messy. It got to the point where within that year I asked myself what I wanted, yes me, a person who's always been wildly ambitious, and I had absolutely no idea. I was surviving day by day and it was the worst year of my life. That's not to say absolutely nothing good happened that year because that's not true, and it's not to say that that year was not at all constructive because that is in no way true as well. But it was a really devastating time of life and a lot of things contributed to that. One of the things was my absolute self-loathing in the beginning of the year. I realized how bad that was, and I knew I should not hate myself, and so I decided not to. I thought about how many times a day I said "I hate myself" every day. It was an overwhelming amount. So one day I was like, "Okay, I'm going to stop."
Breaking bad habits is not easy. That day, I had only been awake for about two hours and I had already said I hated myself around six times. I realized I failed. I didn't do what I wanted to do.
My heart broke. I cried pretty much that entire day.
When my mom got me from school and something was quite obviously wrong, I told her what my goal was and how I hadn't been able to do it. I was so sad. And that's when she told me that yes, I shouldn't be saying that to myself. But it's hard to get to the point where you are able to love and be kind to yourself. So I shouldn't have expected myself to be perfectly kind to myself after just one day. I just needed to keep working on it. Eventually it would get better.
And it was true. Whenever I was unkind to myself, I would just be like, "Hey, stop that." I started writing a list of things I liked about myself, just one thing every day. And over time I got a lot kinder to myself. I started showing myself a lot of love and respect, or at least as much as I was capable of. When I started showing myself patience, I started actually getting better.
As even more of you know, I saw a therapist this summer as a step in submitting my mission papers. That included doing a few tasks that would change and better my way of living, to not go into too many details just yet. A lot of the time it was really hard. And a lot of the time I didn't do as well as I hoped I would. I had progressed to the point in my life where I was no longer paralyzed and devastated by not being perfect, but still a little disappointed, and scared to how my therapist would react when she heard what I hadn't been able to accomplish. But when I went back for another counseling session and reported on what I had done, she was happy with my work. Because I hadn't been perfect, but she also told me that I never would be because being perfect can't happen. But she could tell that I had gotten better at what I was trying to improve on. I had completed the objective without even realizing it. The point wasn't to be perfect, it was to be aware of myself, which I had done.
Accepting that not everything you do is going to be perfect is essential to doing better. Things don't grow without patience and love.
Something else that I've noticed that has to do with perfection and happiness. This will really make you significantly happier, seriously. Not only are you not going to be perfect, but your life isn't going to be perfect. Bad things are going to happen to you, and you're going to feel negative emotions such as sadness, anger, and fear. All of this is fine, and let me tell you why. I'll start with why it's okay to feel negative emotions.
A lot of people think they can control their feelings. And by that I mean that they can control what they feel. They can't. Sometimes you are just going to be sad. (That's okay, but I'll get to that in a bit.) Because of that, they're afraid of feeling, because they think that means the feeling owns them, and that they have to react to a negative feeling in a negative way. That is in no way true! Who is possessing who? You own the feeling, not the other way around. It can't do anything on its own. So if you feel a negative emotion, that's fine! You don't control what you feel, but that doesn't mean you have to let it control you. If you're feeling sad, get some work done and do something special that makes you happy. If you're angry, take a walk and do some journaling exercises. If you're scared, pray and read a book. If you still feel negative, it's okay! It's just a feeling! It doesn't define you! You don't need to be devastated because you're not perfectly happy all the time. When I have a bad day but want to have a positive attitude, I don't pretend everything is fine. I say, "Yeah, I'm having a really bad day, but I'm not dead, so that's a good sign." Because the feeling isn't controlled but the attitude is. Attitude is just how you react to feeling. So you can be sad and still have a positive outlook! They are allowed to coexist! In fact, I've found that in the long run people that never admit they feel sadness or any negativity usually end up sadder in the long run. Tell the truth. Say, "Yes, I do not feel well today, but that is not going to kill me and I'm still going to do my best today."
I was out with my dear friend James last night and we were talking about this concept. I told him that I often use negative emotions to do positive things. How I've been feeling a lot of fear this year. But I'm not going to be able to control the fear. So instead I choose how I react to the fear. I use fear as an opportunity to have faith. I pray. And when I pray to God I say, hey, I'm really freaking out right now, but I know that You are in charge of what's happening to me so I'm going to just let You have control right now, even though I am very scared. I use the negative emotion to do something positive.
Now I'll tell you why it's okay to have negative things happen to you. It's kind of the same thing. Negative things are not going to stop happening to you. We are mortals living in a crazy world. I'm not here to discredit your pain by saying this either. I know a lot of hardships have come to you all. I just have noticed that I have felt a lot happier when facing my problems with this concept.
A lot of the time bad things happen to us that are not in our control. And while that can be devastating, we can't be owned by the bad things that happen to us. Because bad things are never going to stop happening. We deserve happiness in spite of this. I'm not even saying to say that everything's fine. Again, telling the truth is okay! Saying that things are hard is okay! As long as we keep trying. Progression and happiness happen when we are patient and keep trying. When we accept that negative things are going to happen to us. When we say, "Okay, this is not good, but I am still good, and my life is still good and can be good, I just need to keep doing my best."
To better explain, I'll give you an example. This is something I admittedly really hate that a lot of my friends do. Most of my friends don't participate in this in the way that I hate. But this evil thing that I so despise is the concept of Finstas.
For those of you not in the loop, a Finsta is an Instagram account that is typically much more private than your main account. The average Finsta that I've seen has less than fifty followers and posts about every day, while their main account, primarily used for photos of themselves and other aesthetically pleasing things, is open to the general public and posts at the most once a week.
A lot of people I know use their Finstas as a way of documenting their life, and I get that. Not everyone wants to be obnoxious (@ you, Lizzo) and have their life as an open book for the world to see. Some people really like photography so they want to have an account dedicated just to that. I get it. The problem with Finstas, however, is that a lot of the time they are used to separate a person's life into good and bad. Their pretty life from their real life. Their perfect life from their messy life. And these people frequently end up very sad because they are not able to live up to the expectations they made for themselves. Life is very messy, but their Instagram self demands that everything be perfect and beautiful.
If you follow me on the blog's various social media accounts (I'll post references to my social media at the bottom of this post for those of you that want them), you already know that my posts are pretty messy. I do what a lot of people don't do. I talk about the good and the bad. The very beautiful and the very ugly. I don't see why I shouldn't tell the truth. When I say that something bad happened to me, I'm not saying my life is over and that I'll never be happy again. I'm just saying that something bad happened to me. But it's fine, because that's not going to kill me. I'm okay with the fact that good things and bad things are going to happen to me in my life. I know that life is never all good and all bad. The lows and the highs balance each other out. I am always going to have a mix of positive and negative experiences in my life. And that's awesome. I possess the capability of being okay no matter what.
I wasn't always like that. In previous years of my life, when I was like fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, I would worry so much over so many things. And I don't mean so many things at once. I just mean when something would resolve itself it always seemed like something new would come up that had me stressed again. I would so frequently say to myself, "If this one thing would just resolve itself, then everything would be great. My life would be perfect."
I can't believe I ever thought not only that my life would ever be perfect, but also that I could only be entirely happy if my life was perfect.
I thought that way until right before my senior year of high school when I received a priesthood blessing. I was told that just because not everything was right didn't mean that everything was wrong. That phrase has stuck with me ever since, and the past three years of my life have undoubtedly been the happiest because of that. I realized that having problems didn't need to devastate me. I would just continue to work through them when they needed work and ignore them when they could be ignored, and continue to love the good things in my life, and continue to know that I am wonderful and I am okay. I have tried to live my life by that phrase ever since.
I so frequently see people say that whenever something good happens to them they don't let themselves feel happy because they know something bad will happen that will ruin it for them. This thinking assumes that anything will ever be perfect, and it won't. It also assumes that negative occurrences and feelings have to dictate how we live our lives. Bad things happening to you doesn't mean you can never be happy, just like good things happening to you doesn't mean you can never be sad. Negativity isn't going to kill us. We just need to be patient.
To conclude, you're all really loving people. You show a lot of care to others; I know this about you. Start doing the same for yourself. Why should you expect perfection out of yourself and no one else? We are all just trying our best, and if we keep doing that we're going to get better. That's the good news. If we just keep trying things are going to get better.
Perfection isn't a possibility. We see our friends without makeup on and tell them they're beautiful but when it's us we swear we're hideous and no one could ever like us this way. We put a filter over our photos because there's no way we look good enough without one. We all see the fake aesthetic homes on Instagram, we all go to each other's houses, we all apologize for our home being a mess, we all say it's okay but don't believe it's okay when it's us. I'm so tired. I'm so tired of all the wonderful people around me being so mean to themselves because they are not instantly what they think they should be. In the words of Thomas Sanders, "Even a little progress is progress."
Thank you so much for reading. Keep this all in mind. You're doing you're best, you're getting better, and that's awesome.
I love you endlessly.
--Lizzo

Disney Princess Series: Merida

Hello all!

I am an aunt now! My beautiful niece Brook was born about a month ago and she is the love of my life. I was lucky to spend Thanksgiving with her, my parents, and all of my siblings.

I also got to help my high school choir program with this wonderful show they do called Cabaret Night. They have a dinner before the show and then the students put on a beautiful theatre revue show. I got to help with the choreography and blocking, and they all did a fantastic job.

In other news, I got to see Vocal Point live in concert which was super awesome (As well as Basic Academy's Take Note! Great job kids!) and I've even been on a couple dates, which probably wouldn't normally be a super huge deal but I hadn't been on a date in a year and a half HAHAHA so that was pretty exciting.

Today is a big day, being our final post in the Disney Princess Series! I don't have any spicy introductory facts for you this time. I'll just come out and say I'll be featuring Merida today.

Truth be told, it took me a long time to be a fan of Merida. I don't really like Brave. (I also don't really like Disney's gross one-word film titles that have nothing to do with the film--Brave? Tangled? Frozen? I mean, I'll give Frozen some credit because I guess it is about frozen hearts and frozen land and whatnot. But other than that, I'm literally disgusted. The titles are lame and irrelevant. That was a really dumb and borderline random side rant, but I feel pretty strongly about it.) I'm not sure I've seen the whole thing because I think there are a few scenes of the film that I know of but can't quite recall seeing, and have a little bit of a hard time remembering the details and chronology of the story. It does have a fun plot line, I'll give it that. But that's not just because the film is generally unavailable to me, but also because I don't like it enough to want to watch it whenever. The tone of the film just isn't my style. That's kind of the point of Merida, if you read up on the creative process behind her, that she doesn't have the same tone as the other Princesses, but I really enjoy the tone of the other Princess films, so I suppose that was kind of problematic for me. However, I was really determined to find something to like about this lady, not just because I want to have something I like about each of the Princesses, but also because I'm a women support women type of gal, and I think we gotta stick together no matter what, whether we vibe or not. So while I don't really have any super specific plot points that make me admire who Merida is, I do have some things about her character and personal development that I really love.

First of all, seeing people in their element and doing what they love is the most beautiful thing in the world, so when we get to see Merida out and about and climbing mountains and whatnot, and being so joyful, and seeing what a free spirit she is, that's just awesome to me.

Also how Merida takes control of her situation and fights for what she wants. Being the prize in a contest is definitely not ideal. Merida really wasn't really wanting to get married at all, much less like that. I think it's totally cool that she competes for herself, taking control of her situation in the best way she could, winning herself her freedom, which at the end of the day is all she really wants. Kind of similar to my own favorite Princess. Plus, she totally showed off her talents in the process, and that's awesome.

A really bothersome thing about the film for me was how when Merida's mother turned into a bear, because Merida gave her a spell, Merida kept saying over and over that it wasn't her fault. Like, girl! Stop trying to take the blame away from you! You literally did that to your mom! But that was really unfair of me. That's something very unfair that a lot of people do frequently. Expecting a character to have no flaws is pretty much the worst. Like, where's the human quality there? (Although, sometimes as people we don't even allow real humans to have flaws, so that's not good.) But in the reality of the thing, that attitude of Merida's was really good for the beginning of the film because it brought about a favorite plot point of mine. Pretty much all of the problems in the film come from Merida and her mother, Elinor, just not understanding each other. I love how Merida took the time to be with her mom, to let her mom take care of her and to take care of her mom in return, and how it allowed them to see a little more eye-to-eye, to do what's best for them both, to help their relationship grow and help them genuinely show love for each other, and be able to feel love from each other.

And can we talk about this woman going through everything she did to save her clan, and to fight Mor'du, it was so beautiful to me. Such determination. Absolute fearlessness. Wonderfully fierce. So beautifully brave.
I really have developed a love for Merida. She's wildly original, unashamed of who she is, a very bright and beautiful lady, very loving.

I hope you enjoyed this post, and I hope you enjoyed this series as much as I did! I'm a huge Disney fan (even after all this time of writing and posting about it all the time I'm still not sure whether or not that's closeted information), and the Princesses have always been a favorite of mine. The displays of grace, kindness, courage, joy, and fierceness are great examples to me and women everywhere. I simply love them.

And I simply love you.

For your reference, if you're interested in reading the rest of the series again or for the first time if you're new or if you missed it, here are the links to the posts introducing the series and featuring Snow White, Cinderella, Aurora, Ariel, Belle, Jasmine, Pocahontas, Mulan, Tiana, and Rapunzel.

Thanks and much love!

--Lizzo

Me and Bonnie and Clyde

Hey guys! Let's catch up with each other real fast before we get started.
Lately I've really been enjoying life volunteering at the high school and hanging out with the kids. The youngsters are simply fantastic.
About three weeks ago my mission papers were submitted. Under normal circumstances I would probably have a call by now, but there was a small setback so it took a little longer. However, that was resolved today so the next time I write for you guys, I will likely have a call! When I know more, I'll let you know.
Today's blog post was requested by my cousin Steph. Earlier this year (which I'll talk about more in a bit) I went on a family vacation, the first part of which involved seeing the Bonnie and Clyde death car. Many of you know this has been a dream of mine for about two years, and she requested that I write a piece about my origin story and relationship with Bonnie and Clyde, about how I came to be so obsessed with them.
Because I am in fact obsessed with Bonnie and Clyde.

If I had to note my very first run-in with Bonnie and Clyde, it wouldn't be a significant one. I was at the youngest twelve years old, but no older than fourteen. I was doing some research on my favorite actor, Jeremy Jordan. On occasion I go into these researching sessions, where I just look up information about topics that interest me, sometimes with a purpose in writing and sometimes out of curiosity. I was studying up on Jeremy that day and looking at all of the acting work he's done. It was said that his two most notable roles were as Jack in Newsies and as Clyde in Bonnie & Clyde. I was already very familiar with Newsies. That's how I became familiar with Jeremy, and as you all know it is my favorite musical. I wasn't familiar with the Bonnie & Clyde musical, or with Bonnie and Clyde at all. All I knew about them was that they were an iconic American duo.

Yes. I'm absolutely serious right now. I did not even know who Bonnie and Clyde were.

And I didn't give it a lot of thought for many years.
During the late summer of 2015, my sister moved out of our house. I was sixteen years old and it was really important for me because I felt like I relied on Emily for a lot, and I kind of needed to figure out how to be my own person. So it was a really good time for me, but also pretty sad. Like, I wasn't living with my best friend for the first time. We still messaged each other frequently, though. As you guys know, my sister is a performer; she's a wonderful actress and singer, so she's very interested in the theatre community. One day, I think she was visiting us over winter break or something, she told me about how she's been listening to Bonnie & Clyde and it was actually pretty good, something I think she'd mentioned before as well over text. I was familiar with this musical by name, but had never heard any of it. She played a song for me, "This World Will Remember Us". I already knew that Jeremy Jordan was leading in the Broadway production, but starring opposite Jeremy was Laura Osnes, another incredibly talented singer and actress. The music was indeed phenomenal. But I still didn't actually know the story of Bonnie and Clyde.

It being winter, I was busy with my choir singing Christmas songs all over the valley. There had been one very long day where I not only sang with my choir at the Henderson Winterfest, but my color guard had also marched in the Winterfest parade, so it was a long and exhausting day of performing. We got home and we were just finishing praying as a family, and me and my sister were talking more about this Bonnie & Clyde musical. And my dad said, "What? Whose idea was that? Like, '*singing* let's go rob a bank and kill people'?"

And I responded with, "What?"

In that moment in December of 2015, I realized I had no actual idea who Bonnie and Clyde were.

I had been familiar with these names and talking about this music with my sister, but I actually knew nothing about Bonnie and Clyde.

My family was shocked that I didn't know that Bonnie and Clyde were American outlaws, that died in a brutal police ambush. It was honestly pretty devastating. Not finding out that they were outlaws, but realizing I knew nothing about Bonnie and Clyde. I was incredibly tired, it was past midnight, and I was genuinely shocked upon learning who Bonnie and Clyde were and becoming aware of the fact that I had no concept of who they were or what they did, so we were all in the middle of my family room with only one small lamp on about to go to sleep and I could not stop crying. It was just the craziest thing to me; it really hit me. I knew nothing about Bonnie and Clyde.

And once that realization was made, I dedicated myself to knowing everything about Bonnie and Clyde.

I don't know, I just felt so strongly that I had to learn who they were and the details of their lives. And I honestly learned a lot. And after dedicating that much time and energy into learning something, you kind of become attached; you can't let that go. I found the story really fascinating. And my sister continued telling me about and sending me the music of the show, and I researched that as well. Comparing the theatrical version of the story and the facts of what actually happened was really interesting, and seeing where the writers drew inspiration from. As I learned more about what actually happened with Bonnie and Clyde, and their lives as individuals and their lives with each other, I realized that people really romanticize them and make them out to be really cool, but the true story is way more pathetic than cool to me. Committing crimes is wrong, kiddos.

So I got more involved in learning the history of Bonnie and Clyde that spring. That's the time when I learned that the Bonnie and Clyde car was in Primm, Nevada; only about an hour away from my house. It became my dream to go see the car. When we drove by Whiskey Pete's (the hotel/casino where the car resides) on our choir trips, I would tell all my friends, "Guys! There's the Bonnie and Clyde car!" And they were actually super supportive of my obsession... whether or not that was a good thing, haha. I even did my final project in history class about Bonnie and Clyde. I still have the poster from my presentation.

I also became more invested in the music of the show. My sister continued sending me songs from the musical and telling me things about it. I remember her telling me to listen to the song "Picture Show", the opening song, and I remember hating it because by that time I had learned a lot about Bonnie and Clyde and it has pretty much no historical accuracy, at least none that we can prove, save the fact that Bonnie Parker did have an obsession with the movies. But it shortly after came to be a favorite of mine. I remember the day I finally listened to the full soundtrack. The songs are genuinely so good.

For those of you that don't know, Bonnie & Clyde did run on Broadway during 2011. It had thirty-three previews then opened on the first of December. Bonnie & Clyde only lasted for a month on Broadway, though, its last show being the thirtieth of December. It's not really a question of why that is to me, though. The music is wonderful, but the lyrics are an absolute tragedy. In the song "Raise a Little Hell", Clyde is contemplating his first murder, and I remember the first time I heard that song and watched the scene I literally laughed out loud. The text was hysterically amusing, but the scene was supposed to be far from funny. It's not shocking that it closed. Still, it got rave reviews from audiences, and from watching clips of the show, there is no question why that is as well. The talent was there, the music is outstanding, it was a fun interpretation of the story in my opinion, and the sets, costumes, lighting, and makeup work were absolutely outstanding. So while it didn't last long and isn't necessarily a fantastic piece of art, I still have a deep love for it. The music is genuinely beautiful and moving. And while I had previously hated "Picture Show", it became the song from Bonnie & Clyde that all of my friends could sing because I sang it all the time, the main reason I was so excited to see Alcatraz when the chamber singers visited there on our tour of San Francisco (the musical version of Clyde has an obsession with the infamous Al Capone), and it became a go-to duet for me and Emily. (She was always Bonnie, and I was always Clyde--I always found it super interesting and not at all shocking that we so easily identified our characters that way. Her dreaming of being a performer, me ambitiously fantasizing about being in power and respected.)
I had an interest in the history and in the artistic interpretations, but Bonnie and Clyde also kind of became my friends. When I was sixteen I honestly had a major identity crisis. I didn't know it at the time, but I was suffering from situational depression. That's why I hesitate to say that my relationship with Bonnie and Clyde was healthy, because most of the time back then I'd say it wasn't. When I was listening to Bonnie and Clyde, I wasn't lonely, not even sad. I was just nothing. It kind of took away the feeling for me. I stopped feeling anything. I consumed myself in my interest in them. I think back then I needed to care about something because this is something I struggle with constantly, but especially back then because I didn't even understand it. I associated myself with the things I took interest in, because I didn't yet see myself as a whole person that was interesting on her own. So when I was upset, I would sing Bonnie & Clyde to myself, and then I wasn't upset anymore. The first time I saw the photos of Bonnie and Clyde's bodies after the violent police ambush, it was so heartbreaking that I nearly cried, not just because seeing any human in that condition is devastating, but also because I felt like they were friends of mine. "Dyin' Ain't So Bad" was kind of my theme song back then, which I'm sure you all can guess was definitely not a good thing.
It wasn't good. But even still, when I think about it, when I hear a Bonnie & Clyde song, it's nostalgic to me. I think about how great that time of life was and wish to go back for a second. Even though it really wasn't good. But I had made such a deep bond with them that it feels that way. And even though I'm better now, once you develop that relationship with something like that, you can't really erase that.
Even long after that time when I was in the middle of that obsession, I still feel such a deep love for Bonnie and Clyde. Not for what they did, because that was wrong, but just the relationship that I have with them. Since 2015, I've been really drawn to them.
Over the past year Bonnie and Clyde have stayed very dear to my heart. One time I was talking to this guy at a church gathering in Cedar City, he got me talking about how I enjoy theatre, and he mentioned that he got to see a show on Broadway once. I asked which one. He tells me it was Bonnie & Clyde. What?!?! You can imagine that I freaked out, because no one has seen Bonnie & Clyde. It only ran for a month. I believe he said that it was the show they could get tickets for that day so they didn't really know what to expect. I think he thought it was weird. Both of those things are understandable. Anyway, I'm not really one to enjoy talking to a stranger at a social event, and especially not a man, but once he mentioned Bonnie & Clyde I was absolutely beaming after that; he couldn't get me to stop talking about it. When he introduced me to some other people there after that, he said, "This is Elizabeth. She likes Bonnie and Clyde." Shoutout to you, Daniel from the YSA ward.
When I was at college in Jumpstart (I think you guys will be hearing about this in some upcoming Jumpstart content) we had to give, I think, a ten minute speech on a topic we researched. You already know your girl gave her speech on Bonnie and Clyde. It was really awesome to further expand my knowledge on a subject I care so much about, especially since this time I had databases to look at. I loved researching Bonnie and Clyde further.
My latest run-in with Bonnie and Clyde was on the fourth of July this year. We were heading out on our family vacation to Disneyland, and on the way there, we finally got to see the Bonnie and Clyde death car. It was absolutely wonderful. Pretty exciting and emotional for me, as it was something I've wanted to do for quite awhile now. Getting to be there with the car I've seen countless pictures of, plus all the other cool stuff they have about Bonnie and Clyde, like the newspaper articles, a documentary about them playing on a screen, a bunch of stuff Clyde made (the thing I remember best is the mirror he made for Bonnie--staring into that was soo spooky and cool), and the shirt that Clyde died in (so many bullet holes--it's absolutely tragic), it was just so fascinating and incredible to be a part of. It was a life-changing experience and I can't wait to go back. I'd recommend it to absolutely everyone, but I'm afraid they won't take it as seriously as I do, and it's really important to me. But I'm going to have to take a chance on people paying attention to the things that matter to me sooner or later. So seriously, go check out the Bonnie and Clyde car. Go study up on Bonnie and Clyde.
Thanks for reading, thanks for supporting, and thanks for the love.
--Lizzo

Disney Princess Series: Rapunzel

Hello family, friends, followers, fans, and fandomeers! I'm very happy to be returning to the blog. Thanks for the patience. Let's catch up before we get started.
For starters, in more or less a month my niece will be born! I can't wait to meet her.
Emily did great in her performance of The Music Man. You've never seen a better Marian. She got rave reviews all around.
I went on an incredible vacation this summer with my family! I still get so excited when I talk about this, but I finally lived my dream of seeing the Bonnie and Clyde car. It was a wonderful experience witnessing even more history behind the people I have studied so much about. Hoping to go back again someday (especially since I had the audacity to not sing one single Bonnie & Clyde song while I was there?! Unthinkable.). We spent two days at Disney California Adventure and Disneyland which were absolutely fantastic and so fulfilling. For those of you in the loop, it was during that crazy heat wave, but still super awesome. It's always a great day at the happiest place on earth! So glad I got to make my return to Disneyland after three long years of being away from my fave. We stopped right outside the Seven Magic Mountains on our way back. The best time with the best people in the best places.
This summer I was enrolled in an institute class at UNLV, Pearl of Great Price A. I went with some awesome friends and it was a great time. Very socially fulfilling and it was fantastic to be able to study the gospel there every week. I learned a lot.
I recently just lost my job because my employers work from home and have just moved away. I'm spending some time at home and getting our lives organized before getting a new job.
Now to address the subject on everyone's mind. How are the mission papers coming along?
As I said I was going to in the previous post, I made a return to counseling. It took me about a month to get into one but I'm honestly so glad that it did, because I saw someone that was able to help me a lot and I learned so much. It was a really great experience.
I'd like to also thank everyone that was so supportive during that time. I had a sort of confession moment on Instagram (@itsanadventur) before my first session about what was really going on with me and you were all so supportive of what I was about to do and very kind. You guys were all calling me brave and I have never really thought of myself that way before. Thank you all for those of you saying I'm awesome for what I'm doing, and supportive of this work I'm putting in to serve a mission. It is more comforting and encouraging than I will ever be able to express or you will ever be able to understand. Thank you.
I finished counseling at the end of August and then went forward to do the pre-mission evaluation. It took longer than I thought it would but it went very well. I am now in the final stage of submitting my mission papers. They are all completed. I recently submitted them to my bishop and had an interview with him. I now will have two interviews with my stake president. My mission papers should be submitted in about a week.
If you have any questions about how the process I'm going through works, feel free to ask! With that said, the personal details of my mission application process have been very costing. Someday I'm sure I'll write a whole blog post just about this, so someday the full details will surely all be yours. But it's quite honestly too soon. I'm very excited to serve a mission. It will be happening very soon. And once I have a mission call I will be more than happy to talk about it with all of you! But while we're in this waiting game I won't be wanting to talk about my mission very much, since I don't even know what it is yet. This has been a very slow-moving process for me and once I know more about my mission I would love to discuss it with you all. Thank you again for your continuous support and love! And thank you for understanding.
Today, guys, we're back to talking about our favorite ladies, the Disney Princesses, and today's princess is Alan Menken's return to Disney Princesses (with lyrics by the marvelous Glenn Slater), the (as far as I remember) fiftieth film to come out of Walt Disney Animation Studios, an absolute cutie and fan favorite. She's Rapunzel and we absolutely love her. I'm weak for her story, honestly; Tangled has a plot that really gets me going every time.
Okay, so can we talk about how efficient Rapunzel is with her time?! Not usually the sort of thing I highlight when we're talking about why we love the Princesses but seriously. This woman wakes up at 7:00 AM, sweeps til the floor's all clean, polishes, waxes, does laundry, mops, shines up, sweeps AGAIN, and all in fifteen minutes?! I mean, how?! We love and support a hard-working woman.
Rapunzel's super well-rounded too. The amount of random tasks she does in "When Will My Life Begin?" is incredible. This girl can do it all. The Nancy Drew of her generation.
Sadly, though, Rapunzel is an abusive situation; Mother Gothel has her trapped in the tower and convinced that the outside world is dangerous. Maybe if Rapunzel hadn't taken up candle-making, Mother Gothel wouldn't have had as much power as she did in "Mother Knows Best" with all those spooky effects. But it was a jam while being simultaneously tragic and comical so we'll allow it. The interesting thing about this is that Mother Gothel and Rapunzel obviously frequently have this argument, about Rapunzel going outside. We know that Rapunzel is a strong believer in fate and destiny (while Flynn is a strong believer in horses) and that is a contributor to why she so badly wants to go outside, especially to see the floating lights which come out on her birthday every year. There is no way that's a coincidence, right? Rapunzel's also a reader as we find out at the beginning of the film. I really think this contributes to her dreamer quality and her intelligence. Like, you can tell she isn't quite buying into all these things Mother Gothel's saying. They don't make sense to her. That's because she knows better. She's a dreamer and an intelligent one at that.
Those qualities can get you just about anywhere. How incredibly strong is Rapunzel? Wow, she's absolutely fantastic.
Because she's so intelligent, Rapunzel was quick-thinking with her frying pan when Flynn broke into her tower and thoroughly questioned him with the help of her loyal chameleon friend Pascal before placing her trust in her one way out of the tower and to see the floating lights. A deal was made, and our princess used her powerful mind to get out of the tower and into the world she's been waiting for years to see.
And she loves it!
But like all of the best things in life, it's not all smooth sailing when you first get out there. Rapunzel was overjoyed to get out of the tower, but then she freaked out a lot, and honestly that segment where she keeps going back and forth about whether or not it was a bad idea to leave is way too relatable. It honestly used to always remind me so much of band camp. When you get home after a long day of marching and you're all like "I am never going back!!!" Only to wake up the next morning to say, "I have to go back."
I think it's really important to note here that strength is not the absence of weakness. That was a really crazy and scary thing that Rapunzel did. Flynn even tried to convince her to go back. But Rapunzel knew what she wanted and nothing was going to stop her from getting it. No ruffians or thugs were going to get in her way. In fact, she bonded with them. She used her dreamer quality to connect with people that were very different from her, because she saw that they had human hearts in common. Wow, she's so brave.
*in the voice of that guy who narrates the Pokémon TV series, if you know you know* Our story continues as a royal guard catches up to Flynn, who has recently robbed the palace of the crown that Rapunzel is holding hostage in her tower so Flynn will take her to see the lights. The pair is chased into a cave which begins to flood with water and leads to the tragic death of Rapunzel and Flynn... if it weren't for Rapunzel's quick thinking.
After a quick confession between the two, Flynn reveals that his name is actually Eugene, while Rapunzel says that oh yeah by the way SHE HAS MAGICAL GLOWING HAIR. Which lit up the cave and allowed them to escape. Thanks for coming through with those problem-solving skills, Rapunzel!
As the next series of events unfolds, our princess displays hopefulness and courage as she not only develops her relationship with Eugene, but stands up to Mother Gothel once and for all, and while she's scared of giving Eugene the crown (WHICH MOTHER GOTHEL BROUGHT TO HER JUST TO BE LIKE "HE DOESN'T ACTUALLY CARE ABOUT YOU HE JUST WANTS THIS CROWN"), she goes through with it and it ends up working out for her! We love and support a gal who faces her fears and finally lives her dream of seeing the lights. What a wonderfully positive woman.
However, tragedy strikes as Eugene's former partners in crime, the Sabbingtons, capture him, say he escaped with the crown, and then try to kidnap Rapunzel only for Mother Gothel to rescue her. Rapunzel goes back home to the tower, devastated about how she was wrong about everything.
(BUT SHE WASN'T. SHE WASN'T WRONG ABOUT EVERYTHING.)
Shortly after her return to the tower Rapunzel realizes her TRUE IDENTITY. She is the lost princess. She confronts Mother Gothel about the matter (we love and support this brave princess), but is bound and gagged in her own tower. Meanwhile, Eugene escapes prison (thanks to their friends, the ruffians and thugs of the Snuggly Duckling) and travels to Rapunzel's tower to save her!... where he is attacked by Mother Gothel and slowly dies.
But not before Rapunzel shows her courage in the face of evil one more time, and agrees to stay with Mother Gothel forever if she is allowed to heal Eugene. Wow, we are so impressed by a loving and brave princess! It's a super tragic moment, especially when Eugene displays that love and bravery right back and cuts her hair off before she can heal him. Wow. We're crying. And so is Rapunzel, because Eugene (her new dream *insert many tears*) dies.
Did you guys know crying is a gift? Being able to express emotion and release negativity is difficult, and a talent. And it especially came through for Rapunzel today, as her magical tears healed Eugene! Mother Gothel fell to her death, Rapunzel was reunited with her family, and all ended well.
We love Rapunzel because she faced her trials with love, honesty, positivity, and courage. In the words of another princess we all know and love, "Have faith in your dreams and someday your rainbow will come smiling through."
Wishing that for all of you and sending you all my love.
--Lizzo

Happy Five Years!

Hey guys. It's been a hot minute. We have some things to talk about.
Since the last time I talked to you guys, I finished my first year of college! The main reason I haven't been able to get my life together to write a post. Jumpstart was an absolute blast. I learned so much, experienced great things, and made a ton of awesome friends. Highlights of the last few months were our trip to LA in which a LOT of awesome things happened, and our big movie-making project. (You can watch our movie here.) More details to come once I finally release the Jumpstart content I have planned. I think you guys are gonna really love it, just like I loved Jumpstart.
In the second half of the semester, I started taking another class alongside Jumpstart, math, and my voice lessons. At SUU we have a program called the EDGE program that is required for graduation. The EDGE program centers around planning and completing a project in order to make us career-ready. I took the first class for the program, "Becoming an Engaged Learner", which is pretty much just about becoming familiar with the EDGE program and how to be the best college student you can be.
Lots of great things have been happening in between. Saw lots of concerts, operas, recitals, and plays whether they were at Basic Academy or SUU. Had a lot of character birthdays. Went to the first ever Jumpstart reunion where all the Jumpstart classes past and present met together for a nice evening. Had a nice Oscars-type ceremony for the Stage and Screen Jumpstart where we got to show off all the movies we made and be with each other for one more night. Got to talk to ALL THREE of my guys on Kyle and da Boys Day, since it was on Carter's p-day. Spent a bizarre amount of time with Emily and Josh.
SPEAKING OF EMILY AND JOSH. I am excited to officially state on the blog that I am going to be an auntie!!! Emily and Josh are having a baby and I am way happy about it. I can't wait to meet him/her.
Emily is also starring as MARIAN PAROO in Cedar City's community production of The Music Man! I could safely call it one of the best musicals of all time and Emily's wanted to be Marian forever. So happy she gets to live this dream. The show opens on June 1! You can find a link to buy tickets on her website, emilydimond.com.
So, now that I've finished my first year of college, I've moved back to Henderson. We're not entirely sure how long; I'll just be staying here until I leave to serve my mission. I got an excellent job as an assistant for my friend, who sells Lularoe. I feel totally blessed to be there. We're already enrolled in an institute class and taking trips to the temple every week.
And I told you guys I would keep you updated on it last time, and it's been a long time since then, and a lot has happened. How are the mission papers coming?
I finished counseling after three weeks. After meeting with my bishop I was able to start my papers. I was getting them done pretty well and was excited to turn my papers in on the twenty-eighth of April, the soonest I would be able to submit the application. To be so honest, I was really naïve and hopeful about the whole thing. No problems in being hopeful about life, not at all, but I didn't really know what I was doing as much as I thought I did. I met with my bishop a few days before that day, and he said I would almost definitely need a pre-mission mental health evaluation. I went to do that just over a week ago, and the news we got was definitely unexpected. Long story short, based on the past year, if I submit my papers now I will most likely be dismissed from service. However, if I take the appropriate steps and wait longer to get my evaluation and submit my application, I will be ready to go. I will be going to counseling again for more or less three months and will soon after that be ready to submit my application. It will be in sometime between August and November, just depending on how long the process takes.
That's a lot longer than I expected, but that's honestly so okay. I felt really at peace with it just a few minutes after I found out, and I am so grateful for the Holy Spirit because I was able to calm down and realize that this is truly a blessing because of that gift.
So what will I be doing now that I'll be staying in Henderson a little bit longer? I'm going to continue to work. To go to institute. To go to the temple. To enjoy my time with my family and even my friends. I'm going to continue preparing to serve. And now I'm going to be volunteering at my high school, with my choir and theatre (I promise Mr. Calkins, theatre is my love too! I'd be happy to be there and help if you ever want me to be) and hopefully my band (if I ever talk to Mr. Kase about it). I might even read some books. Close my open draft for Story 3. Write some music. I'll be here with you guys for a little longer for sure. I'm gonna thrive and I'm going to follow God's plan for me, because that's why this delay is happening. There's a plan here. Thank you to all of my family and friends that have been supporting me during this change and reminding me that the Lord is on my side in all of it.
So I make a return to the blog for a very special occasion.
Because DO YOU KNOW WHAT DAY IT IS. DO YOU KNOW WHAT IT IS.
We are celebrating five years of It's an Adventure!
As I reflect on the *casual cough* last five years at this time, I am filled with gratitude.
Within about the past year and a half of the blog's life, it's honestly kind of exploded. I met so many new people, and writing has been a big part of my identity for my entire life (like literally, my entire life), but suddenly I was talking about it way more, and people were really supporting me in the idea. Guys, the number of views I get on posts now is way more than I ever would've thought I could achieve with my small audience of great family, friends, followers, fans, and fandomeers, and I can't believe how supportive you guys have been of this small piece of art I'm giving you guys. I really feel the love from everyone. Thank you for reading and thank you for liking it. It means so much.
It's been a really humbling year. I've always had a really big ego and a really strong need to do things alone. Living on my own for the past year, it was a really grounding and strengthening experience. Every one of my family and friends have been so supportive and helpful. I've learned that love really runs deep, because a lot of my relationships became stronger than they've ever been this year, and nothing really stops that love from existing; love is truly not about seeing a person a lot and even talking a lot. I'll message you when I think of you because I promise I think of you, and I probably write about you all the time, and the love is always there no matter what. I've come to realize even more than I already knew that I would work endlessly to get the things that I want. I'm always happy but I'm never satisfied. Happiness is a simply great way to live; I'm really just trying to live my best life, and I've realized more than ever this year that as a person that thrives on honesty I need to be honest with myself most of all, because I am always more free and a happier person when I accept what is happening in my life and then give myself time to mourn so I can move on and be happy again as quickly as possible. But to me being content is like giving up. It's like settling. I can't imagine a world where I'm not trying to get somewhere better than where I am. Especially being as young as I am. Being satisfied is where progress stops, and I never want to do that to myself.
I learned a lot about writing this year. And even about singing, as I continued studying that a little as well. I realized how much there is for me to learn in this world and I can't wait to create more and more content for you guys day after day in various forms. I've learned about my Savior Jesus Christ, and how His purpose is to not only save us but to also strengthen us. I have felt that strength and I find it unbelievably awesome and am filled with a new sort of amazement and gratitude thinking about it. I feel so excited to spend a coming year and a half helping other people find that knowledge and feel that type of love.
I'm just all around grateful right now. There is so much love around here on so many levels and I am so happy that this is my life and that I get to do this for people and that people have done so much for me.
I think many people thought I would study music when I went to college, and music has blessed my life in so many ways. On an intellectual level and a soul level. I could talk about that all day, but that's a subject for another time. However, I can't imagine a world where I am both pursuing a future that isn't writing and totally happy. But when they find out what I'm really doing they know it's right, they love it, and they support it.
Thank you.
I appreciate the love you give the content, and that you give me. I appreciate the patience you guys show me, urging me to put my life before the blog's life. (Even though, as they say, blog IS life.) I appreciate the conversations we have about the content here. And I'm so glad that when I share what I have to say, you guys give yourselves permission to speak as well. It makes it all good and worth it.
In the words of the great lyricist Jamie Houston from High School Musical 3: Senior Year, "It feels like forever. What could be better?"
I've said it before and I'll say it again. I love you guys.
--Lizzo
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