Reflections & Resolutions

As I've reflected on the last year and thought about what is coming in this new one, I cannot help but feel overwhelming gratitude for my life and all the love in it.

I knew being married to Austin would be good, but I had no idea how good. It's one of those things that you don't know you are missing from your life until it's in it, and then you have no clue how you lived so long without it. Like avocados or cafe rio, but infinitely more. Austin is so kind, thoughtful, funny, intelligent, hard-working, caring, adoring, and absolutely adorable. He makes every day better and never fails to help me see the good. On top of that, he also does all the laundry, most the cleaning, and half the cooking. So really I am winning BIG TIME over here.

With my new marriage, I have also discovered a whole new level of love for my Savior. Don't get me wrong, I have always been grateful for the atonement and always understood that without it, I could not live with my family again in Heaven. But it was not until I was sealed to Austin that I fully appreciated the atonement meant I could live with HIM forever and ever, and spend eternity becoming perfected, creating worlds, and just loving him. And oh my goodness how my perspective has shifted. I cannot imagine life without Austin in it. I would not want any life or existence that did not include him quite honestly (sounds dramatic, I know). I am so grateful for my Heavenly Father and Savior who provided a way for me to truly have Austin for forever. What a blessing. I can tell you one thing is for sure: I do not deserve it. God really is good.

I am not quite sure what this post is about, but I wanted to start keeping a blog again. Being February, I thought it was appropriate to talk about love as it has been on my mind a lot lately. As cliche as it is, love is what makes the world go round! I think it should be a part of everything we do.

I have also been thinking lately about what changes I want to make in my life this year. The one I keep coming back to is just being more kind. Not that I am a mean person, but I do not want to become a complacent person. I want to actively do good. I want to seek out opportunities to serve, rather than wait until one falls in my lap. I want never suppress a generous thought and just give all I have to give. Because let's be real: I have more than I need, and as Anne Frank said, "No one ever became poor by giving." *mic drop*

So from me to you, Happy Valentines and Happy New Years! I hope you take a moment to appreciate all the goodness and love in your life, I hope you realize where it originates form, and I hope you go find someone you can serve. Whether that is texting an old friend to say hi, making treats and door-belling ditching them, paying for the person's food in line behind you, giving someone the Book of Mormon, donating to the refugee efforts.. there is something YOU can do. How lucky are we that God trusts us enough to serve His children?! Personally, I believe it is one of life's greatest joys.

2017, I am ready for ya.

Love Always, Aimee

I Know That My Redeemer Lives

I know that my Redeemer lives
oh sweet the joy this sentence gives.
He lives; He lives who once was dead. He lives, my ever living head.
I lives; my kind, wise, heavenly friend.
He lives and loves me to the end.
Oh sweet, the joy this sentence gives.
I know that my Redeemer lives.


I am so grateful to be blessed enough to know that I have an elder brother, Savior, and Redeemer who not only died on the cross for me but rose again and broke the bands of death. He paid a debt I never could have and gave me--and the entire human race--reason to live, reason to hope, reason to feel joy. There is life after death; it is through the gospel of Jesus Christ. I love my Lord. He is my light and my strength through every day of life. I am so grateful for His loving arms that are continually reaching out to save me. Without His great infinite and eternal sacrifice the whole human experience would end in nothing. But because of his act of pure, deep, and unconditional love for each and every one of us, death will be the only thing that truly dies in the end. That is the most beautiful irony of all. We will live forever with our families and Savior. All He asks is that we come and follow Him.

I truly stand all amazed at the beautiful grace Jesus offers me.


Love Always, Aimee

the Aftermath.

where has your backpack been?

(obviously) Everyone keeps asking me, "How was London?!" and I keep on saying "good!" or "great!" or "amazing", etc etc, you get the picture. But one word could never convey everything I saw and experienced in my four months there or the ways I grew and changed as a person. In fact, I am not certain any amount of words could accomplish that. I have managed to put my finger on a few small lessons London taught me that will stick for the rest of my life, and that is what I would like to share.

Most importantly, I learned that it is people who make things meaningful and important. 

I saw a lot of incredible places, that cannot be ignored nor should it be, but they would not have meant half as much if I had not been with amazing people. Just like Centerville would not be home without the people who live in it. Elder Bednar said, "The most important things in life almost always involve the people around you" and I am not sure if truer words have ever been spoken. 

That being said, I also learned a lot about service. 

I lived in very close proximity with 45 people. My room alone had 15 girls in it. FIFTEEN GIRlS ranging from 19 to 21 in age. That is triple the amount in my entire apartment last year.  It would have been really easy to become annoyed at any number of them or have silly problems, etc. It was almost expected. But we didn't have any. Honestly, next to no drama. Why? Because we all just acted selflessly to the other girls around us. We all were so willing to give anything to help each other out or listen to each other. There seemed to be an unspoken agreement to lift and love those around you that was so special to me. One of my favorite sayings is to "Never suppress a generous thought". I think London was the first place I consistently lived that way and I absolutely loved it. We know that every good thing comes from God; therefore I believe any generous (good) thought we have is a prompting from the Spirit (from God). So not only did I learn about service, but I learned to listen more to the Spirit and recognize it, which I am so grateful for. I hope it is a habit I can take with me for the rest of my life.

no one has ever become poor by giving; and because I have been given much I too must give.
And I would give anything to these girls.

I learned about how the Church works outside of Utah/the US. 

The members in my ward were so pure in heart, accepting, loving, and so wonderful. Not that members aren't wonderful in Utah -- the Church is the same no matter where you go -- but there was definitely something different. I was the racial minority; everyone else was from Jamaica or Ghana or Portugal or Spain or Brazil or Wales or who knows where else around the world. Many were converts or were inactive for parts of their life and they knew how important it was for every member to feel welcome and loved. They knew that everyone had a history and fell short of the glory of God and they didn't care. They loved you anyways. Tattoos? Great. Drinking problem? We'll help you. Divorced and have children? What can we do for you? Need a lift to the activity this week? Want to go to the temple this weekend? Really. They have nothing to give but they will give you anything. 

home is where the heart is and England has mine completely.

I learned more about who I am and who I want to be as a person. I learned how to be happy in any situation and love any place. I learned to see the world as new and beautiful and to appreciate all that was in front of me. I realize I am in love with London and just completely enchanted by every aspect of it. But to be honest, a good part of that stemmed from me expecting to be. I looked for the beauty and found perfection through the imperfection and 'ordinary' parts of it. I am trying to take that home with me as well so I can see everywhere I am as beautiful and exciting. Because it all is. This life is just one big beautiful adventure and I am so blessed to live it.

I was incredibly blessed to have the opportunity to study abroad in London. As cliche as it sounds, it truly changed me and my life for the better in ways I will never be able to explain or describe further than this. Although it feels like a feeble attempt, I still had to try. I owe that much to my dear city of London and the impact it had on me. 
London, thank you from the bottom of my heart; I will love you forever & always. 

when you hear Big Ben again, that's when you'll know (you're home).

Love Always, Aimee 

#cheerstoyoulondon

Paris, je t'aime

I will just be honest and tell you all that I had relatively low expectations when it came to our trip to Paris. Judge me if you will, but Paris was never one of my dreams like every other typical girl. I had heard the city was dirty, theft was bad, and guys were creepy. What about that sounds appealing?

However, I have come before you today to tell you that I was horribly wrong.
Paris is as enchanting and beautiful as you hear. It now holds a very special place in my heart.

Just take a look at the view from the top of Notre Dame and try and tell me you don't wish you were there. I have this theory: Paris is better from above. It really is. All my favorite views were from high up. I actually have several conclusions and bits of advice concerning traveling Paris, so I will give you my top ten must-do's of Paris:

1. Climb every set of stairs you can if it means you get a killer view. ((Besides, more stairs climbed = more calories burned = more food you can eat, right?))
Refer to picture and paragraph above. It is worth every step! Most are not even too bad, but you need to go the Champs Elysees at night at least once. At least. Head up about fifteen minutes before the hour once it is dark so you are at the top in time to witness the light show of the Eiffel Tower. Honestly, it was pure magic. It goes for the first five minutes of every hour after dark and she just sparkles.. It might be super touristy, but that did not make it any less wonderful. We all just stood atop the arch, held hands, and silently watched it as our hearts swelled with so much love for each other, our adventures, and the beautiful moment we got to share together in the city of love. Cliche, but I can't describe it any other way.

     

   

Notre Dame is also a must; go visit Quasimodo and his gargoyle friends in the bell tower. Make sure to go inside after! It is one of my favorite churches we have gone in. Props to Disney for making the movie interior and exterior incredibly accurate. To be honest, I could not help but walk around and hum "God Help the Outcasts" as I went. (speaking of which, props to Disney again for a fantastic song)

     

   

We saved climbing the Eiffel Tower for our last morning as a sort of farewell to Paris. It was a good end to a nearly perfect trip. I can't lie though; we actually took the lift up and stairs down... It was only a few euros more, and while I was totally down for climbing 700 stairs other girls were very much opposed. If I go again I definitely want to take the stairs just for the sake of bragging rights and saying "I climbed the Eiffel Tower." 

view from the glass second floor

oh hey Paris; 

we love you. 

2. DO A BIKE TOUR. (shout out to Ash for suggesting it). 

It was all of our favorite thing we did. Best 28 euros spent thus far. We went through bikeabouttours.com and they were so good! Our guides name was Paul and he was the bomb. For three and a half wonderful hours he took us through the backstreets of Paris and let it's local magic come alive for us. We stopped ever fifteen minutes or so for him to point things out, tell us stories and history, take photos, etc. It was the perfect way to see the real city fast and with someone who actually knew what they were talking about. He spoke perfect English because he was actually from New Zealand! He moved to France 14 years ago for school and never left. I am a strong advocate of bike tours now and will definitely look them up in every city I go to from now on. 

Guys, I just can't say how much we all loved it enough. He also took us to a fab sandwich cart for lunch and gave us suggestions for shopping and dinner. Such a homie. 

    

     

I've got a talent for taking photos while riding a bike. Just appreciate that.

Notre Dame in the background

    

     

Have my pictures convinced you yet of the bike tour brilliance? It wasn't until we did this that we went from thinking Paris was okay/cool enough to falling in love and believing it was magic. Really, it was the turning point for all of us.

3. Eat the best food of your life. 
Bread fresh from bakeries. Cheese like you've never imagined. Pastries you don't regret afterwards. The biggest pears of my life. Blessed and beautiful macaroon's. And, of course, crepes.
Now. I will let you in on the best kept secret of Paris, which is where the BEST CREPES YOU WILL EVER HAVE IN YOUR LIFE are. Are you ready? These came through recommendation of our Centre facilitator who spent some time living in Paris and searched out the best crepes. Here's how you get there:
       1. Take the pink metro line south to "Place Monge" stop.
       2. When you walk out up the station steps, turn left and walk up the street a block. At the top you will hit a "Comfort Inn" (note: it does NOT look like an American hotel; you have to look for the sign. It's just another flat/building from the outside).
       3. Turn left again and walk maybe twenty feet down the street until you see a hole-in-the-wall crepe stand. It's called "Paradise" and you will see it and question me with this recommendation. Just trust me. The crepes are pretty big, go very hungry or split them. And if you can only get one, get the savory. It is just all sorts of wonderful. Though, I have to say, the sweet one was amazing too. The guy is so sweet and will basically make you whatever you want. You just ask and he says, "okay.. it's okay.." in his thick french accent." So I got one with applesauce, cinnamon, coconut flakes, and sliced banana. And now I am drooling thinking about it's warm, gooey, flavor overload of goodness. Everyone needs one of these crepes in their life. I have to warn you, it could potentially ruin your experience with all other crepes for the rest of your life.

4. Go to as many museums as you can, but do them on your first day in Paris because they are the least exciting (don't tell my professors I said that).
The Louvre is obviously required. It is the largest museum in the world and full of many masterpieces. You will get overwhelmed, so know ahead of time what you want to see. We mostly looked at the impressionist works and that was perfect. We still spent several hours there but we saw a lot and felt good about our life decisions. Obviously we saw the Mona Lisa as well, how can you not?

After discussing it with our Professor, we decided the Mona Lisa is basically the Kardashian of paintings. It is simply famous for being famous and it doesn't make a lot of sense but that doesn't stop everyone from obsessing about it. I mean, it's a nice painting. But.. not the best in the world by any standard. I am partial to Claude Lorrin, Claude Monet, John Constable, and Joseph Turner though. 

   

    

     

 

we did experience some technical difficulties with the umbrellas.. But we got it under control. Eventually.

My favorite museum was the Orangerie because it has a room designed specifically to house Monet's Waterlillies paintings. Perfection in a painting. I could have sat in there for a substantial amount of time just admiring them. 

The grounds between the Louvre and Orangerie are beautiful to walk through, even in the rain and especially in the fall. 

I seriously love all these girls so much.

Which leads me to my next travel tip...

5. GO TO PARIS IN THE FALL. 

-no crowds or lines or people swarming everywhere; you have the city practically to yourself 

-not as many tourist shops and annoying guys trying to get you to buy things

-more "local" life

-IT IS GORGEOUS STILL

I mean, just look at it. 

The photos from above are from the grounds at the Palace of Versailles, which is number 6. 

6. Spend a day at Versailles. It is incredible. I've gone to a fair number of palaces and castles here in the UK, but they pale in comparison to Versailles. It is unreal. It makes the french revolution make complete sense. What king could live like that while his subjects starve and think it will be okay? 

    

    

7. Go on a night boat ride down the Seine. Our buddy Paul hooked us up with some student tickets, so we spent our last evening cruising down the river and eating some macaroons. So yes, it was brilliant.

The Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame; two of my favorite views in the world now. 

8. Visit Saint Chapelle

It is about a 4 minute walk from Notre Dame and has the prettiest stained glass I have ever seen. It was so powerful and awe inspiring to stand inside of it. 

9. Shakespeare and Company bookstore.

It's been visited by essentially every famous author after Shakespeare and is literally across the street from Notre Dame. It is 100% worth going in for a little if you love books at all. It is so quaint and full of books. It's incredible to imagine the writers who have come before and left their mark in the shop. I loved it. 

10. See the Eiffel Tower every day. 

Sure, people who live in Paris can go months or years without seeing it. That's not the point. She is beautiful and represents so much of what Paris is; the city of love, the place I spent four days walking up and down every street with my favorite people, somewhere you can get some of the best food (and shopping and perfume) in the world while enjoying the best art and outstanding history. It just is symbolic of everything brilliant about the city. It's worth seeing every day from different views. 

Other than that.. All I can say is see as much as you can, remember that the more stairs you climb the more food you can eat, and go with people who are willing to go hard all day long. Miles and miles of walking just mean you saw more amazing places and experienced the beauty that is Paris. 

Love Always, Aimee