I'm always sad when September ends

...but I really do love October. October is such a yummy, plummy, mysterious kind of month. All the trees explode into color and the air gets crisp. People wear sweaters and hoodies and drink hot chocolate, and no one wears short shorts or sandals anymore. I never feel like the world is dying when autumn rolls around, like some; I always think of it as getting ready to wrap itself up in the chill, white blankets of winter snow and falling asleep. I sympathize. I love bedtime! I love getting into my jammies and snuggling down in my bed under my blankets. I love breathing in the cold air in the room, and the contrast between it and my lovely warm self. I love jackets and peacoats and hats and mittens and crunchy leaves and all that comes with autumn!

I need a haircut

I haven't had one since a couple of weeks before I left Korea. Not that you can really tell, since I mostly wear my hair up, but it's the principle of the matter.

Since I wrote my last post, I turned 23 (ack!) and went back to the pottery studio twice more, last night and this afternoon. Last night another woman came in, not to throw a pot, but to wedge some porcelain she's going to work with. She's obviously a lot more skilled than the rest of us; we had a nice little chat as we worked, and I found out her husband is doing his residency here, so their family is here for just a few years. She needed to find a studio where she could pretty much come and go as she needed to, but that was also adequate for her purposes, and here we were! She gave me some great tips about how to work with the clay, too, that really helped me to center it a lot better than I'd been able to previously. See the fruit of my efforts today:

It's a recognizable (and mostly completely round) plate!

Sadly, this little beauty didn't make it off the wheel; when I tried to cut it off with the wire, the wire tore through the bottom of the plate, thus making it useless. But I hope to make a complete place setting for four (dinner and salad plates, bowls, and mugs at least) by the time I get out of this class. I'd have the beginnings of a dowry! And it would be so satisfying to eat off them, knowing that I made them with my own hands. Assuming they didn't have flaws that my perfectionism would continually bother me with. But anyway.

I'm off to seminar now, I just thought I'd offer this little picture. Sorry for the quality; I took it on my phone, lacking a better camera.

My First Adventure in Throwing a Pot on the Wheel

"The desire to create is one of the deepest yearnings of the human soul. No matter our talents, education, backgrounds, or abilities, we each have an inherent wish to create something that did not exist before."

Nothing I can do looks remotely like this.

I've always wanted to be able to throw a pot on the wheel. When I was younger, in middle school, I took a sculpting class, but we only did pinch pots and the like. Our teacher did a demonstration on the wheel for us, but we never got the chance to try it ourselves. Over the years, I've done other projects in clay, and I think it's always been my favorite artistic medium.

This year, in an effort to broaden my horizons and gain a little more depth I've decided to stop saying no to all the opportunities that come my way. So when I got an email about the Continuing Education and Fine Arts program on campus having a pottery wheel class, instead of just saying to myself, "Oh, I'll never get in, there're only a limited number of spots," I printed out the form and filled it out. And now here I am, on the other side of my first time throwing a pot.

"Everyone can create. You don’t need money, position, or influence in order to create something of substance or beauty. Creation brings deep satisfaction and fulfillment. We develop ourselves and others when we take unorganized matter into our hands and mold it into something of beauty."

It was definitely a lot harder than it looks. When you see someone really good do it, the clay just seems to flow into the desired shape with no more effort than a stream parting around a hand placed in its waters. The reality is a lot different. It takes a lot more strength than you would think, but even if I still can't manage to correctly center my clay or put the hole in the exact center of the pot, it's still very rewarding to see something forming out of an amorphous blob of clay and know that your hands did it. I'm excited to continue growing as I learn more. :)

I definitely do not look this cool while making my pots. Or this clean, for that matter.

"The more you trust and rely upon the Spirit, the greater your capacity to create. That is your opportunity in this life and your destiny in the life to come. [T]rust and rely on the Spirit. As you take the normal opportunities of your daily life and create something of beauty and helpfulness, you improve not only the world around you but also the world within you."

--President Dieter F. Uchtdorf

This is why...

...I have the cutest little brother in the whole wide world!

Heidi's Wedding: One Down, Seven to Go

OR

WHY I WILL RUN

AWAY AND ELOPE

and save myself the stress of a wedding and reception

My little sister Heidi married her fiancé Doug in the Nashville Tennessee Temple on 5 September 2009. What follows is a visual record of the occasion (well, at least the seemingly happier parts of it). Thanks to Meg and her mom, Miss Jean, for the pictures.

The bridesmaids: (l to r) Lizzie, Dominique, Meg, and me

"Becca, let me give you some advice: don't make me wear red at your wedding".

Boredom is a scary thing (waiting for Heidi and Doug to come out of the temple).

They're married.

Don't they look so happy?

All the bridesmaids and the junior bridesmaids. My sister Becca is on the far left; his sister Paige is on the far right. That's my youngest sister Marianne in the middle. I'm the one making the weird face.

Showing off our shoes and bouquets! (Those shoes hurt!) Mine is the pretty big red rose.

Saving a space for our brother, Stephen, who's on a mission in Hong Kong.

His and hers families

Nathan, bored with it all and tired of being forced to smile for pictures, takes a phone call from Grandma Saunders.

Marianne takes a break from all the heat and humidity in the shelter of the temple's porch.

The absolutely ginormous cake - it would have fed a reception four times the size of Heidi's. A friend of ours in our ward generously made it as her wedding gift.

...and the infamous bouquet toss. Guess who caught it?

AnnMarie...

...now has a bona fide brother-in-law.

*ponders this*

Weird.

I love September!

Besides being my birthday month (only 1.5 weeks left!), September, along with October, are the most beautiful months of the year. Summer is definitely not my favorite season, and while winter and spring have their own charms, I shall forever be an autumn girl. And it almost seems that the weather itself is celebrating the advent this most lovely of seasons -- for the last few days it's been pleasantly cool, with a playful breeze keeping the beaming sun from being too hot. Pretty soon the leaves will start to change colors, and it will begin to get cool and then even cold and we'll all be snuggled up in our jackets and sweaters and get to drink hot chocolate.

Oh, I love fall. :)

thanks to this website for the photograph