happy Sabbath!

some of my favorite songs to listen to, especially on Sundays :)

sex...

is all over the place in our media.

We never really talk about it in a good way, though. 

I wish we talked about sex in a good way. 

how bad do you want success?

thoughts of Gustav at 2 a.m.

So I can't sleep--and what do I do when I can't sleep?  Think about weird things.  Like names I love.

I happen to love male names.

My favorite right now is "Gustav."  I know, right?  You've probably only ever heard it on that movie "Ever After."  Also there was a hurricane in 2008 named "Gustav."  (I know because I googled "Gustav.")

Gustav would be a sweet name to name my first male child.  But I don't think that's gonna happen (can you imagine that?) so here are the names I would actually love to name my future children:

1. Gabriel
2. Peter
3. Ezra

All Biblical names.  I love the names "Gabriel" and "Ezra" because I love saying them.  I love the way they sound.

And I love the name "Peter" because of Peter in the New Testament.  He is one of my favorite people and I'm excited to meet him in the next life.

Yup.  These are a few of my 2 a.m. thoughts.

<3 peace, love, and sweet dreams

I want to know, for myself, what is real.

I want to know, for myself, what is real.

Do you ever think about that?

With all the lies they feed us, I should consider this more often.

What is true?

What is false?

Are "they" brain washing us?

And who are "they" anyway?  (I personally have many theories on this.  Good topic for a longer blog later...)

Thoughts?  Anyone?  Probably no one will respond.  (Don't worry.  One day I will have someone to converse with about such things.  Significant Other, where are you? jk jk.)

For now, a journal entry will suffice...

And of course, God always listens--and I'm thankful for that :)

one reason to do something good today: Karma

"whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord..." (Ephesians 6:8)

"But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done..." (Colossians 3:25)

entitlement

One problem with my generation is this attitude of entitlement.  We tend to want what we want, but we don't want to actually do the work it takes to get what we want.  


What a mucky attitude.

mustard greens in the green smoothie

Momzie bought mustard greens to put in green smoothies and at first I was a little scared to try them--pretty bitter--but my mom made up a good concoction that tastes fantastic!  Here ya go:

1 cup water
8 oz. greens (mustard greens + spinach)
1 cup frozen mangoes
1 banana
1 peach
1 orange
1 TBSP flax seed

Blend and enjoy :) mmmm!

Women of God

"Women of God can never be like women of the world. The world has enough women who are tough; we need women who are tender. There are enough women who are coarse; we need women who are kind. There are enough women who are rude; we need women who are refined. We have enough women of fame and fortune; we need more women of faith. We have enough greed; we need more goodness. We have enough vanity; we need more virtue. We have enough popularity; we need more purity."

MARGARET D. NADAULD

be a goddess

Artist Selina Fenech defined a goddess as:


"A woman who is in the process of learning to know, accept and love herself on all levels, Mind Body and Spirit. A woman who, because she focuses on personal growth and self awareness, experiences a life increasingly filled with peace, love, joy, passion and fun. A woman that understands she has unlimited capacity to make her life anything she wants. A woman who is inspired to give to those around her our of her sense of gratitude and abundance." 

I like that.  

a little early-morning coldplay

here's a little love to start your day.  one of my very favorite songs! <3
happy thursday!

happy independence day!

We had a fabulous 4th of July.  I'm home in Idaho for the summer so I spent the holiday with my family and also with Ariel, my dear friend and roommate at BYU.  I was so happy to have Ariel here and to be able to show her my hometown.  Idaho Falls is such a beautiful place and I love the people here.  

We went to the local parade in the morning; then we went to Rexburg to spend time with some extended family (including cousins who live in England that I hadn't seen in four years!! SO good to see them!); later my sisters, Ariel and I came back to Idaho Falls and met up with some friends for the fireworks show. I was told that our fireworks show put on by Melaleuca was recently rated #2 in the nation.  I don't know about that, but I do know every year Idaho Falls enjoys an incredible show and that this year's show lived up to its reputation! We were in awe as we watched 40 minutes of beautiful fireworks in the sky.  During the finale we listened to "Come Thou Fount" and I thought about how thankful I am not only to live in this free country, but also to know that Jesus Christ made all of our lives here possible. 


God bless America! 

before the fireworks

Mother Teresa: "Do it Anyway"

Mother Teresa: “Do it Anyway”

People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self centered;

Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish ulterior motives;

Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies;

Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;

Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;

Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, they might be jealous;

Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;

Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough;

Give the best you’ve got anyway.

You see, in the final analysis it is between you and God;

it was never between you and them anyway.

slowing down, finding peace

Did you ever think it would come to this? Information withdrawal?  Really? 

Let me back up here.

Over the past two weeks I've been trying to slow down because I feel like I'm in the midst of chaos so often that I've lost time to just "be still" and think.  I've been working to cut out the extra "noise" in my life and just "smell the roses."  I've been trying to live in the moment, appreciate what's around me, get more in-tune with myself, and most importantly, contemplate my relationship with God.  I've been doing simple things like meditating 20 minutes daily, going on walks and bike rides, sitting outside and watching the sunrise more often, staying in bed for a few extra moments in the morning just to listen to the birds chirp outside my window, reading books I want to read, making time to talk with people and be more aware of what they need.

It was hard at first, because since my junior year in high school I've been cramming things into my life--always trying to do more.  I think I believed, "The more I do, the better I'll be."  (wrong!) So of course slowing down was hard at first!  But after only two weeks of slowing down, I look back and wonder why I chose to go at such a crazy pace.  I now feel so much more peaceful because I'm more in-touch with myself!  I'm making time to contemplate what life's about, where I'm headed, and what God wants me to accomplish.  So slowing down and creating a more peaceful lifestyle has been quite an exciting revolution for me.

I've been doing a lot of thinking and praying about what I want to change in my life to become the person I want to be and to live the best life I can--cause here's the fact:  We're only living this life once, so we've gotta make it good!  I've been thinking about this talk by Elder Oaks.  In our personal efforts to come closer to Christ, we need to figure out the best things in our lives--and then choose to pursue the best things over the "good" and "better"options.

One last thought: When I'm more in-touch with myself, it's easier for me to be more in-touch with others.  Rather than becoming more selfish, I begin to look outward and to be a more giving person.  I think it's easier to love people when we feel inner peace.  

* * *

<3

"they were men who were true"

I'm tired of hearing bad news in the media about men who make poor choices (it's rather discouraging) so today I'm going to write about a fantastic example of men who made fantastic choices.

The Book of Mormon records an account of 2,000 sons of the people of Ammon who left their homes and families to defend their people in battle (time period = about 63 BC; location = somewhere in the ancient Americas in the land called Bountiful; commander = Helaman).   These men came to be known as "Helaman's stripling warriors," and they were men known for the strength God gave them for their faithfulness and diligence.

Del Parson's painting, "Farewell My Stripling Warrior," depicts one of the young men's mothers bidding him farewell. 

You can see more of his work here.

Mormon described them as follows:

"They were all young men, and they were exceedingly valiant for courage, and also for strength and activity; but behold, this was not all--they were men who were true at all times in whatsoever thing they were entrusted.  Yea, they were men of truth and soberness, for they had been taught to keep the commandments of God and to walk uprightly before him" (Alma 53:20-21).

Though I sometimes worry about things like this, I know there are also men who are choosing to be "true at all times," to "walk uprightly," and to live with courage and strength.  I know it because I know men in my life--my dad, other male family members, my professors, friends, leaders in my church and other churches--who exemplify what it means to be righteous men, even in a world where values like integrity, fidelity, and hard work are too often forgotten.

Now that is something to be happy about!  So I'll wear a big smile today as I remember the fantastic men in my life.  Thanks for your strength!

banana ice cream.

This tastes so much better than store-bought ice cream, and it makes ya feel good, too.  You could even eat it as a pre-run snack.  Now that's awesome.

Banana ice cream:


2 very ripe bananas, frozen.
1/3 cup almond milk.


Place the frozen bananas and almond milk in a high performance blender (like a Vitamix) and blend til smooth.  Mmmmmm! 

seeing who we are and who we can be

I've been sitting in on one of Brother Bott's famous classes this term.  He's taught me so much about learning to see who I am, and he's inspired me to consider my potential as God's child.  Perhaps the reason why Bro. Bott is so popular is because he's learned to love other people and see everyone on equal terms--more like the way Father in Heaven sees us--and he conveys God's love every time he teaches.  He's always reminding us of our inheritance from God--of our divinity--and how we just need to learn to see it!

A few of my favorite pieces of wisdom from Brother Bott:

“Why don’t we just accept the fact that God says we’re [inherently] good and then act the part?”

“You’ve got to see who you are.”

“You’re not here to prove it to God;  you’re here to prove it to yourself.”

“You were born to create and born to control…you need to step up to the plate and take control of who you are and what you do.  You’re not a puppet.” 

"That's the secret [to beating depression and negativity]: work, work, work."

"If you wanna go to heaven you better identify the things that aren't gonna be there and get rid of them."  In this lecture, Bro. Bott was actually talking about sulking--telling us not to mope around, but instead to have good attitudes--cause guess what: God doesn't sulk :)  There will be no pessimism in heaven.  

"We all go where we want to go. If you want to make it to the Celestial Kingdom, live the celestial law."

"If I don’t make it to the Celestial Kingdom it will not be because of what God didn’t do for me—it will be because of what I refused to do for myself."

"Life doesn't start to become fun until you learn to laugh at yourself."
-Brother Bott

acroyoga

I just heard of this thing called acroyoga, and I'm amazed.

There are no words to describe how insanely cool this is--so you can just watch josh maready's video (maready, by the way, also just so happens to be insanely cool.  Check out his photography--WOW).




See? Amazing!  I'd like to know how many years of practice and hours of sweat this kind of fitness takes to achieve.  I'm left thinking--as Oskar would say in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close--"What the?  What the what the?"

I am not always right.

One of my best friends and I keep touch by writing letters--yes, real snail-mail letters!  She's very dear to me and I appreciate her insight and wisdom.  As I reread one of her letters tonight, a few sentences stuck out as just what I needed to learn today:

"I feel like I've grown as a person so much in these short months of marriage, primarily in the departments of patience and biting my tongue.  I've learned I'm not always right.  There is always another way, sometimes a better way, to accomplish a task."

We all live, in great part, inside our own brains.  It's normal, of course, and it has to be that way.  But I need to learn to get outside of my own head more often and listen to what all these other awesome brains have to say!  We all have different talents and ideas and experiences and perspectives to help each other out. So cool.

This is what I wrote to put in my notebook of wisdom tonight:

I am not always right.

There are better ways to accomplish things than by my ideas alone.  Listen to others, respect their ideas and opinions, and be open-minded. Remember that God knows all truth and that we work together to come to know the truth He knows.  This is the beauty of working with others!  Each person possesses unique strength to contribute to the world—and unique talents that can teach and enlighten.  Wisdom means recognizing the truth that others have and then adding it to my own knowledge of truth.