donchya wish your best friend was hot like mine

DONCHYA.........DONCHYA

DONCHYA WISH YOUR BEST FRIEND WAS A FREAK LIKE MINE

DONCHYA....DONCHYA...

(i'm not just being weird it's a song i swear)

tonight me and some of my hot bffs (maddy[not pictured] and mariah) headed out to snow canyon to take a few pics and we had a dang good time (that is until we got pulled over haha heh).. as you can tell by the graininess of the pictures, we made it just in time for the sun to go down hahahaha.

but really, isn't mariah hot??

xox

goodnight, jealous girls of the world

p.s.
some you might be wondering how mariah did her hair so i put together a quick hair tutorial:
#1 don't brush hair for three days
#2 lay in the sand to give it a nice texture
#3 tousle for volume

and there you have it.

sunday thoughts #2

Savior may i learn to love thee, walk the path that thou has shown,

pause to help and lift another, finding strength beyond my own.

Savior may i learn to love thee, Lord, i would follow thee.

who am i to judge another when i walk imperfectly?

in the quiet heart is hidden, sorrow that the eye can't see.

who am i to judge another? Lord, i would follow thee.

i love love love this hymn. 

do yourself a favor and read it again, and again and maybe again... especially the second verse.

i know not eveyone who stumbles acrossed my little corner of the internet might not be mormon, or even religious for that matter, but i think we can all take something from this hymn. 

  too often i find myself caught up in MY problems and that i forget that there are so many people that may need my help or comfort. it could anything from the simplest hello to inviting them to a movie.

i am no saint, and i'm not writing this because it's something i'm perfect at, but something i want to work on.
but i do have a testimony that if we will listen to the holy ghost, he will lead us to those that need our genuine love and attetnion. i had an experience like this earlier this year...

i won't go into much detail for sake of privacy, but earlier this year and i noticed a that a usually cheerful girl seemed didn't seem to have the same happy glow that she usually did. i casually asked how she was doing and she said "fine"... but then i asked how she was doing... and she immediately broke into tears. turns some horrible things had happened to her that, well, shouldn't happen to people.
i knew i wasn't oprah, but i did have a listening ear and a few kind words to offer, and throughout the next few weeks, i was able to be a listening ear and a shoulder to cry on for her.

the moral of the story is "in the quiet heart is hidden sorrow that the eye can't see."

so let us be kind.

cheers.

one year down, one year left.

this looks like one of those mini cakes that new moms give their little one year olds to stuff their face with HAHAHA

exactly one year ago today, my big brother ben left to go on his mission to tampico, mexico. 

so naturally, being the good little missionary family that we are, we had to celebrate.

this has been the fastest year of my entire life. i'm happy so about it because it means ben will come home sooner, but i'm also sad because, i mean, psh... who wants to grow up?!!

elder powell is straight killin it (preachin it?) in the mission field, and he recently became a trainer, as well as received the assignment to open a brand new area in the mission!

love you bin pal. keep takin all those churchy opportunities. 

PARIS

*cue love lockdown by kanye*

up close and personal with the ghetto of paris. still pretty if you ask me.

my cute family and crazy cousins

the real reason why we came to paris^^^

this is the weirdest thing to be writing about i went to paris…

BUT IT'S REAL. IT HAPPENED.

let me tell you about it:

first of all, i think sometime people think that paris is a bit overrated especially after this
paris room deco/paris wedding theme/white girl obsession with paris surge. ya know.

but paris is SOOO not overrated. paris was everything that years of watching monte carlo and chickflick abc specials made me think it would be. our day in paris was probably the best day of my little life so far.

HAHAHA but taking a step back here… when you're in a beauty pagent and the interviewer looks at you and says "describe your perfect day".. you probably won't say "well first i'd wake up at 4:00 am and eat digestive biscuits for breakfast.. and maybe halfway through the day while i'm in the most photogenic city in the world i'd like to run out of space on my memory card(true story)"

ok so ya, maybe the day did have a few bumps.

but whenever things got rough, the best way to pick myself up, i found, was to look some poor tourist straight in the blinkers and yell "WE'RE IN PARIS"

that still works as a method of cheering myself up to this day.

anyway, back to dreamy touristy stuff…

first stop in paris was notre dame cathedral… i didn't catch any of the --- moving but it was still a interesting and beautiful cathedral… also, a pristine spot for people watching, may i add. i witnessed the police chase down a band of gypsy eiffel-tower-keychain-selling kids. the gypsy kids won, obviously.

is it weird that i was digging this statues hair??? whatever.

next we went to an art museum and although i'm not real familiar with art, i saw a lot of familiar paintings and statues and such. i mean i'm not a real art critic, but i actually kinda grew to love some of the artists especially manet and monet. oh and da vinci had some cool sketches too. me and him would be pals. i would be his nude model HAHA JUST KIDDING EVERYONE. but really, french artists do enjoy themselves a nice nude painting…ew. #fightthenewdrug #akafightfrenchartists

next we went to the one and only….EIFFEL TOWER
i climbed it guys
(elevator tickets are too expensive for poor tourists like us, obviously)
all 94583058 steps of it.
actually, if i ever live in paris, i think i'll climb that thing on leg day.

but even though the steps seemed to go on for eternity, it was worth it because with each step the view got better. i mean, paris is dreamy from the ground, just imagine how it looked 900 ft above ground? not to mention there was a slight drizzle which gave the city a nice foggy/dreamy/mysterious look. it reminded me of this song… skip to the end, you'll see what i mean. i feel you regina spektor.

when you're trying to take a cute picture but it's too windy

and there are too many tourists and so while you're waiting for them to pass you find your inner model

but then you finally give up and take it from the back

THE END

after the eiffel tower and lunch, (crepes, of course) we went on a bike tour of the city, which actually ended up being my favorite part of the day. maybe cause we had a hot australian tour guide, maybe cause i got to explore paris on a red beach bike…. maybe both.. who knows.

riding around paris actually kinda felt like a movie. at some points i was so happy i was on the verge of tears, which is actually kind of hilarious now that i think about it.
but guys.
A RED BEACH BIKE IN PARIS
does life even get better then that?

i've never felt more alive. it's the most amazing feeling when you dream about something for so long, and then it becomes a reality.
euphoria, you could say.

p.s. HAHA even though our guide was hot.. he overused the phrases "too easy", "nailed it", "no worries", and "good stuff".  i remember them all? well ya. that's how much he overused them (insert laugh emojis and maybe a heart one for good measure)
but it's ok, he could totally pull it off cause he was a hot australian man with gorgeous hair and a cool accent. plus he had all the koalafications. HAHAH (get it cause he's from australia) HAHA (insert more laugh emojis and a bunch of annoyed readers exiting their browser)

ok sorry i swear i'm done.

au revior

xx

AMERICA

when you trying to be patriotic but you can't even spell usa…

even the sky turned in to cotton candy to celebrate america

ask me if i like weird firework bokeh.. cause the answer is obviously yes

if this hat doesn't scream "america" then i don't know what does..

when i was in ireland, i asked my irish friends what the stereotype for americans was.. they said that americans are fat, loud, and they sue everyone.

yep, thats about it.

but since i've been posting so much about other countries, i decided it was time, in honor of the fourth of july, that i write a quick ditty about my favorite country, my homeland, my love, the one and only, land of the free, home of the brave:

AMERICA

*fireworks explode, eagle screeches in the distance*

i love america because it's a FREE DANG COUNTRY

(well not like all the way free.. like not like the purge or something, that'd be super freaky)

i love america because i have the freedom of speech. aka i have the freedom to write whatever the heck i want on this blog and you have the freedom to read it.

i have the freedom to not use any capitol letters MUHAHAHA

i have the freedom to double post on instagram.. or heck, TRIPLE POST!.

*instagrammers around the world gasp in horror*

i have the freedom to tweet taylor swift lyrics and revine kylie jenner.

i have the freedom to be the grammar police every time disrespectful unruly teenagers spell "america" like they were too lazy to write just one more "a" on front. we do not live in "merica" we live in "AMERICA" (but then again, you have the freedom to spell it like that, so you do you.)

i have the freedom to stuff my face with as many little debbie oatmeal cream pies as i want, so that eventually i'll fit in with the rest of the population.

and finally.. i love america because on friday night when my friends call me up and ask "are you free tonight?" i can say "yes, yes i am" 

*waves mini american flag, sheds tear*

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

as well as being the fourth of july, we also celebrated my grandma powell's 80th birthday. gosh i love that woman. oh, and i loved seeing all my cousins, they're hilarious. we're hilarious.

since i'm really poor, instead of giving my grandma a physical present, i decided to make her a little video of her birthday so she could remember her birthday and being surrounded by her beautiful family whenever she hits "play". it's not amazing quality, (cause i was way too busy partying obviously) but it's something. 

love you grandma powell!

password is "80"

    

  80th on the 4th from Katie Powell on Vimeo.

I SAW LONDON I SAW FRANCE

 

just in case, ya know

kings cross station in london

going to london really brought out the harry potter geek in me. i'm not gonna tell you if i tried to go through the wall or not...

i caught harry potter going through the wall under his invisibility cloak!!

when you're trying to selfie in the middle of the busy streets of london but people keep running into you..

there was so many different kinds of sodas in europe.. this was my fav

endless wildflowers... even in front of westminster abbey

when there's not enough benches so you just sit on the monument..

i spy the queen! oh wait thats just me.. HAHAH 

"when a man is tired of london, he is tired of life; for there is in london all that life can afford"

-samuel johnson

whoever the heck samuel johnson is.. he sure knew his stuff. london was one of the most diverse places i've ever been.

i always imagined london like a little proper place where people drank tea and watched parades of their queen, but london is actually a big city. like a BIG city. almost like more charming version of new york with older buildings and cooler accents and no baseball or hot dog stands. (although i have to admit, we did manage to find probably the only hot dog place in the whole city to satisfy our american cravings haha)

there were all kinds of people and languages and germs in that city, it was insane. the whole city is buzzing with tourists: pouring out of their red double decker tour busses, taking pictures with their selfie sticks..

it was kinda hilarious, really.

although, i have to say, i fit in quite nicely with all those tourists. my eye was constantly glued to the viewfinder of my camera.. that is, until my memory card filled up (*audible wails from tourists and photographers around the world)

pretty sis^^

we got lost a lot and spent way to much time trying to figure out subway maps.. its ok, its just part of the experience, right??

speaking of, i love the adventure of traveling. sometimes it's scary, though. i mean you could say booking it to terminal 5 through a foreign airport surrounded by smelly europeans is a bit nerve racking, but then again, it's also irresistibly exciting in a weird touristy way.

we only had 2 days in london, so that meant we were constantly moving, waking, riding, or touristing, and i was just fine with it.

the tourist life is the life for me.

the first day, we started with heading to downtown london.

seeing big ben in london made me miss my brother big(little?) ben serving a mission in tampico, mexico. we  sure missed him, his spontaneous war facts, his allergy to pictures and his sense of humor on this trip. he's my favorite brother.

near the big ben tower is westminster abbey.
westminster abbey is a giant beautiful cathedral with hundreds of years
of neck ringing history (LITERALLY). the whole place is like a giant indoor graveyard for royalty and famous poets (get it- neck ringing history... lots of dead people.. HAHA ya that was bad)

the tour guides could tell you about the history of that place forever, but my favorite part about it, as well as the rest of the old cathedrals we saw on this trip, were the giant stained glass windows. they're absolutely breathtaking, especially on a sunny day.

also, the hallways in westminster abbey looked exactly like hogwarts! i swear thats where they filmed parts of harry potter cause it looks exactly alike..

later that night we went to see "matilda" the play and it was sooo good. going to proffesional theatre shows always makes me want to quit school and head straight to brodway.. or like start a band or something. unfortunately, it's not that easy. stay in school kids. i'm secretly a musical theatre fan. oops.

london day 2 was filled with mandatory tourist activities and museum hopping.
we saw the magna carta, the rosetta stone, and a bunch of other important and famous things that i can't remember.

then we headed to the thames river to see the london bridge, the tower bridge, the london tower and the london eye.

oh and we went on a river cruise.. we were busy little tourists!

veiw from the top of st. paul's cathedral


dear fergie: the london bridge is really lame:

you should write a song about the tower bridge instead.. it's cool:

then we returned to our hotel and i cried myself to sleep (not really i was too tired) cause, i mean, how often do you get to go to LONDON?
i hate leaving cool places right after you fall in love with them.. it's like falling in love at first sight with a french boy on his moped and then he winks at you, but then the light goes green and your mom is yelling at you to catch up so we don't miss the train but then you just want to go jump on the back of his scooter but then you tear away from eye contact and fate.. never to know if your paths will cross again (true story). wow that was a novel.

i will miss london.
i left a piece of my heart in that city. (as well as my charger, brush and socks haha)

LONDON from Katie Powell on Vimeo.