Wes Stoddard saved Christmas.

Becky Lawrence. Many of you know this girl as, "that fiesty blonde that first dominated South Side 8th, and has now taken over the North Shore 3rd Branch" or "BL". I know her as my good friend, confidante, and bedmate. I'm lucky to know this chick.

So the Friday after Thanksgiving, I was spazzing out per usual, and racing around in front of my boss's home down the street, when I stepped off a curb wrong, completely dehabilitating myself for over a week. Becky had lived with me for a total of 72 hours, and seriously exhibited such great acts of charity and service towards me that I feel I will be forever in her debt. My loyal factor for her went up about 200%. She owns my soul.

Now, for many of you who know and love BL, you have been blessed with knowing Blue Betty. This is the awesome little blue Pontiac that Becks drives. Blue Betty may have seen better days, but never has she seen happier days. Her life with Becky is filled with laughter, overcrowded seat belts, Top 40 hits, and a lot of dance parties. Unfortunately, her life had jumper cables attached to Wes's car on Tuesday night.

Seriously, there are a lot of things I could say about Wes. He's an excellent driver. Home teacher. Pancake-maker (No... seriously, he's the BEST.) Hunter. Comedian (whether intentional or not). This time, Wes outdid himself. At approximately 12:45 at night, Becky and I realized we had left Blue Betty parked in the tow zone downstairs hours before with her flashers on. In the frigid, 4 degree weather, Becky jumped inside, started her up... and backed up into the middle of Halsted St, where the little engine sputtered to it's death. Something about leaving the flashers on for 4 hours will kill your battery, apparently. Becky ran upstairs to get me, to maybe push the car into some sort of spot NOT blocking both south bound and north bound traffic. Haha, to no avail (see previous injury two weeks before. walking boot. the worst.)

Enter Wes Stoddard. Here I thought chivalry is dead, and then he entered our lives. On a whim, I called Wes to see if by chance, somehow, he'd be awake (you never know with this kid.) He was awake and willing to drive over from the west side to save us! He's the BEST! The BEST! The BEST!

How do we know so many amazing people? I know a lot of good men, but not necessarily all of them would do what Wes did. We owe him big.

Court and Kim

In honor of it being the month of good-will, giving, and general cheer, I am dedicating today's post to my little sister, and her best friend, Courtnee. They're faithful little followers of this blog, and while I don't write often on here, they still read my rantings anyway. While I've never met Court in the flesh, my best friend and her share the same name, so I can easily deduce that they are equally legit.

While many people may say a lot of bad things about Facebook, I can say that the site has successfully made my sister and I so much closer. Social networking via the internet has allowed us to not only express our personal style through keywords and stolen phrases, but it has allowed us to stalk the heck out of each other and get involved in aspects of our lives that before Facebook, were impenetrable. You're right, I'm making this sound like a bad thing. But you have to know my sister... Kim has a tendency of leaving details out of our conversations... for instance, I never would have known she attended a nerd party if this little gem on our left hadn't shown up on my minifeed...

Courtnee, on the other hand, seems to be a different beast. Her mantra is, "People should be themselves fully and unapologetically". And live this, she does. Never in my life, have I seen so many amazing pictures of someone living life to the fullest (yep, thank you again Facebook, for making stalking that much easier.) I totally want to be BFF with this individual. (Sorry in advance to Courtney Nay, and Kim Fortna). I know she would for sure be part of the polar bear bridge jumping society (Rexburg Chapter) and probably be okay with skydiving over the Alps with me. The best part about Courtnee is is that she is really tall. She could always find me when I get lost in crowds. Which happens often. Because I am 5'1". Welp, there goes my supermodel career...

Kim and Courtnee may be a lot of things. Kim B. Clark stalkers. Horkley's Addicts. Party Animals. Mormons. But to me, they represent "The Good Life" that Kanye's always spinning about. They laugh when crap gets bad. They party when they've got finals in the morning. They eat when they're broke. Shoooot they probably know the secret recipe for World Peace. Miss California, step down, because we just found two contestants that can actually keep their promises, and do on a daily basis (Thanks BYUI).


Anyone that knows and loves me, knows that I am pretty obsessed with my sister. But there's a reason. Or rather, several reasons. Kim Fortna is the loveliest individual I have ever encountered, on the inside and outside. She lifts me up when I am down, and makes me laugh when the only thing I want to do is sob broken-heartedly (rare... but it happens). I have no doubt that she is the person she is, because of the friends she hangs out with, and the good influences she keeps in her life. Thanks for making me laugh consistently, girls. Love you both.

We lead a rock star existence, my friends.

Wooooooo.

Welp. It's Thursday. I've officially gotten about 5 hours of sleep per night since Last Friday. I'm desperately wanting Friday night to commence so that I can sink into my bed and pass out until whenever I feel like on Saturday. I'm really good at sleeping. Like REALLY good.

Last Saturday was our annual Halloween party out in Naperville, Il. We partied like rock stars until about 3 am, and then promptly crashed. It's always so awesome to be surrounded by all the people I care about most, and dance it up until we drop. We ended the night with our obligatory trip to IHOP (complete with pigs in a blanket and chicken strips) and then drove the hour home.

IHOP. So gross and yet sooooooo good. I really go there only on one occasion: when I am coming home from stake dances. Not sure why IHOP seems like such an after party place, but it's seriously perfect. I have never laughed so hard, or had so many awkward thing happens in a small amount of time as I have in IHOP. Seriously, I am not sure if we just feel reckless (IHOP's always seem to be located in the HOOD in Chicago) or if we are all just so tired by the time we get there that we're delirious.... but I am thankful for good friends that do it with me every year anyway.

These people are like family. And I'm not just saying that because Emily is dressed like a mobster.

I came to dance, dance, dance.

There are a lot of things that make me really happy. I love kids, laughing, singing, and good oldies music. I love soaking up the summer sun, and I love riding my bike along the lakefront. But few things bring me greater happiness than dancing! I love to dance. My mother really instilled in me the importance of living my life with a passion, and for me, it has always been best expressed on the dance floor. My first class began at the age of three, in the living room of a family friend, Nuria King. Nuria was a beautiful woman of an undetermined age, that had come from a boarding school in Spain at 18 to study at Boston Conservatory. I spent my youth on the bar, perfecting my rondejambes and attitudes, expressing whatever I was feeling on the smooth wooden floor.

It became apparent pretty early on for me that I would have to work extremely hard to keep a body that a ballet dancer would be comfortable having. I started competitive cheer leading summer before I started high school, under the careful tutelage of Coach Nichols-Stock, who taught me a lot about the character I have today. I loved that cheering combined the movement and energy that I adored so much in dance, without me having major image issues, and none of that raw energy needed to be suppressed.

After graduation, I went from class to class, trying to determine where I belonged. I consistently fell back to ballet through college, where I was comfortable, and familiar with what everything needed to be feeling like. I loved how free I felt in my modern and hip-hop classes, but my heart was in ballet.


It wasn't until I really moved to Chicago, and began to see the extremely talented dancers on the floor at clubs and other places, that I realized how much passion I could still put into dance just free styling it. Many people think I am a total nerd because of it, but I LOVE AND ADORE YSA STAKE DANCES. I don't know why. People are fabulously awkward, nervous, and sweaty there. But can I be outrageous? Yes. Can I jump up and down and have it look completely normal? Yes. Can i get a little eighth grade flashback when someone asks me to dance? Yes. Here's to Saturday night. Cheers.

Seattle adventures and my family!

It's always hard for my family to get together... with all of us spread over three time zones, and at limited times in our careers, the five of us are all really only able to be together at Christmas time. This fall, we got the opportunity to all be together in Seattle, because of a memorial honoring my great-great aunt Verge, who just passed away last May. While it was essentially a funeral service, it was all in good spirits, (Aunt Verge was 104 when she passed away... she definitely lived a good and fruitful life), and it was so much fun to connect in a place other than home.


The vacation was bittersweet as well, as Kim wouldn't be returning back to Chicago with me. What a summer we had though! We were able to travel to both Kirtland and Nauvoo and see the Church's historical sites, we had the opportunity to go to St. Louis and see the Mississippi and the Arch. We had to hide out during a tornado watch in some crazy podunk town... and we went through a lot emotionally, and spiritually as well. I went back to the temple the last week of August for the first time in ten years, and I am so glad Kim got to be there with me for that. It makes the future really exciting to know we have both come so far.

My Aunt LeeAnne got to come with us to Seattle and see us as well, while we were there, and it is always such a pleasure listening to my mom and sister, and the other women of the family relaying the family stories. Crammed in my Aunt Betty's (Aunt Verge's daughter) apartment, and reliving the scandalous stories of the past made me miss my grandmother so much. She would have loved to revel with her cousins and daughters and grand daughters that night, laughing and honoring my aunt Vergie's memory. I am so lucky to come from the family I do, with such strong, beautiful and talented women.


I'm also grateful that my religious beliefs contain a belief about our family staying together after this life, as long as we consistently seek to be the best we can, and truly desire to attain perfection. It makes these sensitive things, such as a beloved family member passing away, really so much easier to bear.

I can't wait until Christmas when we are all able to be together again!

2010 Happenings :)

SO MUCH HAS HAPPENED THIS SUMMER. Hahaha, it is unreal how much my life has changed completely in a few short months. Kim came out to live with me, sort of unexpectedly at the beginning of this summer. I am so lucky to have her in my life. No matter what we are going through, we always work together for the better. She is my inspiration and joy, and we have had an unforgettable summer, tinged with laughter, joy, tears, and heartache. Oh, and a LOT of traveling.

Some places we have gotten to see this summer include:


Our Nauvoo group in Carthage, Illinois.

At the YSA Dance that we ROCKED in Kirtland, Ohio


Kim, Will, Wes, and I at the St. Louis, MO Arch.

Hopefully, we will have a few more travel destinations under our belt before the summer comes to a close, and Kim runs of to Rexburg to finish her last year at BYUI.

In addition to positively owning the midwest in travel this year, Kim and I have been fortunate to really find out a lot of things about ourselves as well. The weekend of July 11th, my good friend Maria got married. We had the opportunity to use Kim's knowledge of floral design, and my knowledge of how to stay on task in the workplace to the absolute limit, and we pulled off a very successful assortment of wedding flowers, ranging from the brides bouquet, to 17 centerpieces, to bouts and corsages. I had made a few bouts in my day, and cut some flowers, but to spend 15 hours working intricate bridesmaids bouquets was well beyond my realm of knowledge before this weekend. While I learned that I can, in fact, make exceptionally beautiful floral pieces, I also learned that Kim and I have a unique partnership in the workplace because of our amount of respect for one another, and because of our trust we have in each other's integrity. It's really amazing what we are able to create with one another.

Here are a few examples of the work that we did for Maria!


FLOWERS Everywhere!!! We completed all of this in the Hilton :).
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Kim in her element... packing the multiple centerpieces we'd created.

Kim with the bride's bouquet (which she created), checking the size of the toss bouquet (which I designed!!!)


Congratulations Maria!!! (Kim completed the bride's bouquet solo)

We have been crunching numbers for a few weeks now, and it has been decided that we will be starting our own floral design and events planning company, and opening doors September 2011 here in Chicago! More to follow!

Chicago Cares Service 06/12/2010

Today, we got the opportunity to participate in Chicago Cares National Day of Service. Chicago Cares is the biggest non- profit organization localized here in Chicago; and it has hundreds of service projects each year. Their National Day of Service benefits many inter-city schools, and common areas for children and seniors.

8,600 of us piled into school buses where we had various assignments on what today's activities would be. As we rode to our particular project location, our bus captain briefed us on what to expect in our service location, including stats on the safety of the location, and what an average school age child's life was like at our destination point. My singles branch was assigned to Hedges Elementary school in the Back of Yards neighborhood on the south side. This neighborhood was made famous by Upton Sinclair's book, The Jungle... and is so named The Back of Yards, because it was originally the place polish immigrants lived that worked in the union stockyards in the mid 1800's. It is one of Chicago's poorest neighborhoods to date, and although a revival in the 1970's made the area livable, today, it consists of some of the most dangerous Mexican- American and African- American gang wars in the United States.




I couldn't help thinking about the children that walked the halls on a daily basis. The school is beautiful... hundreds of years old, and to me, it was a work of art. However, the facts read plainly that this was a disintegrated neighborhood... the classrooms are very overcrowded, the paint was peeling off the walls, and I would be very surprised if this building met earthquake or fire codes. There were 6 large classrooms for 990 children Pre- Kindergarten through 8th grade. We learned that 97% of the population of the children that attend this elementary school come from single mother homes. 90% of the children that come from single mother homes have fathers that are incarcerated in the federal prison system, most incarcerated for gang related homicide.

How different my childhood was. I worried about my neighbor down the street bringing hostess cupcakes to school; these children worried about their neighbor down the street bringing guns to school. I went to school counseling when my dad got hurt in a work related injury; these kid's school programs couldn't provide counseling... even though their fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters were dead because of gang violence. There was no security system to even provide the slightest protection for these kids, because the Chicago public school system did not even have the means to provide the paint that we used to paint the walls.

Who will remember these kids? We served 39 different elementary schools in various inter-city areas on Saturday, painting, sanitizing, and organizing... but is it enough? No. A fresh coat of paint will not wash away the blood that these walls contain. The flower boxes we built and filled with flowers will not stand guard to protect these innocent children, born into circumstances they cannot control. What choices will they make tomorrow? What kind of situations will they find themselves in, in the weeks to come?


I need to volunteer more so that I can remember where my heart is. My heart is not in dating the BYU football player, or having my picture in the society pages of Chicago Social, although that has been done too. I have paid $250 for a stupid pair of shoes... where may the money have been better spent? I know that if I can lose myself in service, that is when I can truly also find myself and lose my natural man that so wants to be developed at times.