I have decided to start blogging again. I love writing, as I should, since I am an English teacher. It is something that has always come fairly easy to me, and as such it is something that I enjoy doing. Blogging is always slightly stressful to me though because the world is your oyster, and then it becomes a little overwhelming. However, I have been thinking a lot about one of my dearest friends, Bethany. There is so much that I owe to her friendship, and have decided to write a blog to commemorate and celebrate all of the fabulous things that Bethany has added to my life.
Our friendship began when I moved out to Utah. She was one of the first people that I met that was also from Dallas, so naturally she was fabulous (even if she was wearing nike's with her khakis, a fashion faux pas she would never dream of doing now). She hired me to work at Gymboree because I was from Dallas, and she actually didn't really like me too much at first. She thought I was too stressed about folding clothes, and not stressed enough about selling clothes. To be fair though, the Gymboree I had worked at in Lewisville was very slow, and so when I would come in to work at night, that is all that they wanted me to do. The store that I transferred to in Utah was much busier, and generally Bethany doesn't like new people (a common fact that I now know), and being new didn't help my cause. To be perfectly honest I was a little intimidated by her. However, we became friends after I stayed at work until 2 or 3 in the morning getting stuff ready for a big sale.
My first memory of really hanging out with Bethany, was getting pizza (mushroom I am sure, a love of mushrooms is yet another thing we boned over), and watching Pride and Prejudice. I remember grudgingly watching it, I had previously tried to watch Emma, and Sense and Sensibility. I had wanted to love both of those shows, but always regretted trying to watch them as I found them boring, and hard to follow. Bethany insisted that I watch the 1995 BBC version BEFORE I could watch the new Kiera Knightly version. Bethany explained everything that was going on, all of the nuaunces that make Pride and Prejudice a classic. I fell in love with the movie(s), and the book. I LOVE Pride and Prejudice. I just finished watching the 1995 version, and was reminded of the beginning of our friendship. I have watched it so many times that would could definitely sit and watch it, and quote lines from it.
My favorite Mr. Darcy quote.
Bethany has also influenced how I decorate my home. I remember going over to perfectly shabby chic bungalow, and admiring her decor. When we first became friends she had been married for a couple of years, and I was a freshman in college. I would go to her home, and think one day I want my house to be decorated like this. One of my favorite things about Bethany is that we would hang out and show each other things we wanted to get for our homes. She introduced me to Restoration Hardware, and I convinced her to love Pottery Barn again. Pottery Barn should really thank me because she had a couple of bad experiences with them, and was a firm believer that you should never buy anything from there.
My mom and sisters are always talking about my photo walls and how much they love them. However, I basically copied Bethany's. I remember helping her put together her photo wall, and loving it so much that I decided I needed to do the same thing somewhere in my home.
Bethany taught me to love art. I am most appreciative of this. Art used to stress me out. I liked it, but I am way too anal, and it would stress me out that I couldn't make things look the way they looked in my head. When I decided to not be a dental hygenist because I LITERALLY COULD NOT survive another science class, she encouraged me to take an Art History class. I fell in love. I just love studying the humanities. I believe that things that become a classic have some sort of universal truth to them. That good literature, art, and music stand the test of time because people of any time period can relate or be inspired by that piece of art. The humanities are what make us human, and therefore we should study them carefully, and learn all that we can from them.
Pilgrimage to Cythera by Antoine Watteau. Beautiful rococo style painting that shows the three stages of love.
She made me into a feminist. One of my first large papers I had to write when I became an English major was a feminist manifesto. Speaking of the injustices suffered by women through out history. In writing this paper I became obsessed with Marie Antoinette and the negative image that has been placed on her. She is really an exquisite woman, and she overcame so many obstacles, from being sent away from home to live in a foreign land, to trying to make the best of a marriage where her husband didn't love her, to losing one of her children, and all that we remember of her is a saying that she didn't even say. "Let them eat cake."
Bethany is also my favorite foodie. I miss having her around to go try new restaurants and foods with. I never dared eat duck until she made me try it, and it turns out that I love Chevre cheese. Bethany taught me the importance of good stationary, and now I am smidge bit of a stationary snob.
Above all else though, Bethany is like an older sister that I never had, and was so kind to me while I was an annoying college freshman. She would patiently listen to my boy woes, and we would discuss at length whether or not the boy I was crushing on at the time liked me. She would help me compose witty texts, and analyze text messages I got back in return. You know all the annoying things that singles do. I love her so much, and I am so happy that she is happy now (even though she lives way too far away now).
