mission posts moved to new blog!

I've moved my posts from my mission to this url :

 http://hermanamillerinargentina.blogspot.com

It's been almost two months since I've been back, and I should update this thing! 

 I'll just say that initially, being back was a "beautiful mess" as Jason Mraz would say. 

And though I still find myself in situations that make me think one of the following: "This should be normal but I feel so weird"  "Is this what it's like to have amnesia?" or "Woaaa.. technology.."  I am embracing the amusing process of "normalizing" and just going with it. 

wave hello again

By the time you read this I will have been set apart as a missionary. 
Gosh, that sounds so surreal and far away from now... it's really only three days from when I am now writing this.  


After Sunday, August 28th,  I discovered that I hate goodbyes.  I choose to use that word sparingly. I don't hate a lot of things in life, and it's comforting to know that I am sure I will not be able to find a decent human being who would love saying goodbye to the ones they love.  So I will say it again:  I hate goodbyes. And doing it over, and over, and over again on Sunday evening and again on Thursday evening and this weekend was really hard for me.  


I may or may not have scripted my desired goodbyes in my head; crafted careful phrases to express how I feel about those who helped raise me, helped teach me, loved me, shared adventures with me... 
and those choice words flew right out the window when the moment arrived.  I could not manage to form any other words except, "Thank you" or "I love you!" or "I will miss you SO much" and I may or may not have said more than once, "I want EVERYONE here to come with me to Argentina!" 


SO. In my efforts to redeem myself from my sad inability to express how I feel when I wanted to, and to wipe away the tad feeling of possibly not sounding genuine because I was lost for words when I last saw you, I am solving everything by not calling these moments "goodbyes".  They are what I will call "momentary partings."


In many cultures where Spanish is spoken ¡Adios! {literally translated to mean "Go with God." Cool, right?} is used less often than ¡Hasta luego! or ¡Hasta pronto!, or my favorite ¡Chau! which mean "Cya later", or "Cya real soon!"  or "Ciao."  

And that is how I feel about all of you.  This is just a momentary parting, not a goodbye forever.


"And if you never stop when you wave goodbye
You just might find if you give it time
You will wave hello again"




I ran on the San Clemente beach while listening to this and I couldn't help but post all of the words.
And no, I did not come up with a reason just to be able to mention my favorite John Mayer.  Nice try.  

Wheel by John Mayer

People have the right to fly
And will when it gets compromised
Their hearts say "Move along"
Their minds say "Gotcha heart"
Let's move it along
Let's move it along

And airports
See it all the time
Where someone's last goodbye
Blends in with someone's sigh
Cause someone's coming home
In hand a single rose

And that's the way this wheel keeps working now
That's the way this wheel keeps working now
And I won't be the last
No I won't be the last,
To love her

And you can't build a house of leaves
And live like it's an evergreen
It's just a season thing
It's just this thing that seasons do

And that's the way this wheel keeps working now
That's the way this wheel keeps working now
And you won't be the first
No you won't be the first
To love me

You can find me, if you ever want again
I'll be around the bend
I'll be around the bend
I'll be around,
I'll be around
And if you never stop when you wave goodbye
You just might find if you give it time
You will wave hello again
You just might wave hello again

And that's the way this wheel keeps working now
That's the way this wheel keeps working now

You can't love too much, one part of it (repeat then fade)

I believe that my life's gonna see
The love I give
Return to me
I believe that my life's gonna see
The love I give
Return to me
I believe that my life's gonna see
The love I give
Return to me 

sundays are the prettiest days

Today I 

Saw a huge rainbow while driving home from church 

Laid down on the grass in the backyard and watched the clouds 

Danced in the rain with my sister 

It was a sunny kind of rain - but the sun was setting, so the clouds were bright pink and orange! 

There was another rainbow, amazing! 

My last Sunday home. What a beautiful day! 

Laura & Austin - wedding video

Check out my last project before I head off! 

On August 13th my friends Laura & Austin got married in the Newport Beach temple and had a beautiful reception at the South Coast Collection.  I probably will never see another wedding like it!  Everything was perfect, from the weather to the location to the food and music - but especially the two happy families that were constantly having fun and laughing throughout the day. 

Enjoy! 

1st camera & editing - hillary nicole

2nd camera - lars lindstrom 

mission prep 101.7 - music for the soul

I have recently acquired a nice little pile of CD's that I will be taking along with me on my mission. 

{Courtesy of my buddy Jake}  Included is a wide spectrum of what may or may not be allowed for me to listen to while I am serving {some mission presidents are more strict than others}.

I have yet to listen to all of them, but so far I have discovered that I now possess songs from: 

The Mormon Tabernacle Choir - beautiful! 

The Prince of Egypt Soundtrack - chills 

EFY music - memories 

Josh Groban - so talented! 

Spanish Hymns - ¡para practicar! 

And I just now rediscovered one of my favorite gospel albums while browsing on my dad's old MacBook.  That's right gospel. As in Hallelujah! gospel. 

I may or may not burn a CD to listen to on my way to church next week. OH and bring on my mission.

Once upon a time, before my rock solid video iPod died, I would listen to Gladys Knight and her choir on Sunday mornings.  And usually these listenings were by myself, so I was free to sing as loud as possible with my wannabe gospel choir voice.  I do remember having my roommate Alyssa listen to it while we got ready for church in the morning, and I think she liked it! She very well may have just been trying to be polite. I will never know.  The best connection I had with someone else and this album was while studying abroad in Italy.  The back of our bus was the grooviest thanks to these soulful songs. 

Crossing my fingers that my president will feel the same!  Whether or not, you should consider listening to this album.  Especially Come Come Ye Saints - it's like MoTab meets The Lion King! 

enjoy the little moments

These past few Sundays have been really great ones.  I don't know if it is because we had incredible speakers and testimonies or if it's me trying to hold on to everything about G7 before it escapes me. 

Last Sunday during Break the Fast I received some really valuable missionary advice from my friend Charan.  He told me there will be hard days, no doubt about that. He said he got stuck in a rut at one point and his companion helped him turn his attitude around once he started to enjoy the little moments. He said time will fly and you will have a blast as long as you find fun one day at a time. 

I am a huge fan of that mentality!  

I have a newer notebook where I write down the little beautiful things that happen everyday. 

Some of my favorite small moments as of recent: 

people watching at the South Pasadena Farmer's Market

watching my friends learn the Lindy 

Riding a mustang at Griffith Park with my family

holding little Callie in church 

I also had videos from my dad's iphone to post here, but they didn't work. (help?!)

what makes me happy? swing dancing

Tonight I went swing dancing (east coast and lindy hop) with a whole bunch of friends from my ward at a place called Lindy Groove in Old Town Pasadena. 

Let me tell you - I was beyond excited to go because it had been two years since my last visit and I was looking forward to see how my friends would like this different scene. 

Long story short, they are hooked.
Glad they finally understand what I have been loving all of these years! I must admit, I have been keeping this love tucked away for awhile with my recent work schedule and my other love for temple nights and salsa dancing.

Cat, you missed out!  And all you other G7 readers... you're next too.
You may get bit by the jitterbug and like it. 

I will never stop loving the groove of the lindy hop.

We were also privileged to see this amazing performance: 

{The video was filmed earlier this year at Camp Hollywood}

Dancing makes me happy. 

Dancing to old music makes me happy. 

Dancing with cute old men who have great style makes me happy. 

Dancing with guy friends who are just picking up Lindy Hop makes me happy. 

and watching my friends get caught up in what feels like a time warp back to the 40's makes me really happy : )