Tender Mercy Tuesdsay - 41st Edition

This is going to be quick because I am uber busy and swamped at work, plus my external activities have me stressed to the nines (you DID see my crazy schedule yesterday right? if not, it explains everything. Look below.) Anyways, I was at Family Home Evening last night with people from my ward and we went to our stake's Family History Library. There we learned about the importance of Indexing and how to do it. Now, I already knew how to do it and after Elder Bednar's talk on the importance of it, I knew I wanted to recommit to doing it more frequently. Well, last night I did a batch while at the library and I plan on doing at least one batch a month. I can handle that, right? It was so calming, relaxing, and spiritually uplifting for me that I really need to remember to be doing it on a more regular basis.

And today, that's MY tender mercy.

Also, because I LOVE Chelsea and I haven't participated in Ten on Tuesday in AGES I thought I would take the time to do it today. ( I know, I know, I said this was going to be quick) I couldn't pass it up because it is the 100th week of T o T!!! (You should totally go participate. T o T is so much fun!)

1. How do you take your coffee?
I don't drink coffee. In fact, I don't even really like the smell of it. :P

2. Do you prefer soft or crispy chocolate chip cookies?
straight out of the oven - ooey, gooey, mess of a cookie. That's the best way to eat a chocolate chip cookie, in my opinion.

3. Do you wear a belt everyday?
Not at all. I've recently been converted to more  belting of various types...but I by no means wear one every day. There is only one pair of jeans that I really like wearing a belt with, other than that it's no belt.

4. What is your favorite color combination?
hmmm...I love the look of cider/burnt orange with just about anything. Also, I love Black + Red and Pink + Teal or Green. sigh...I just like color.

5. Do you like sour candy?
I love it. I thrived on it as a kid. The Lemon war heads? Yeah...I could totes handle those w/out puckering. :o)

6. How often do you do laundry?
usually every 7-10 days. It depends on if I need something that's dirty or not. I don't love doing laundry.


7. Did you ever wear braces?
nope. should i have? probably. Will I? Probably not.

8. Are you good at Roman Numerals?
yes, actually. I am. Once, when I was in D.C. with my dad and brother we saw this old building with a ton of Roman Numerals on the outside and I totally figured out what year the building was built. I rock.

9. What is your favorite form of social media?
hmmm. This is hard. I really only use blogging, Twitter and Facebook. Sometimes I love Twitter more than Facebook, but I have more friends on Facebook.

10. How do you feel about chin dimples?
um...cheek ones are cuter, but dimples are dimples yo.

Tender Mercy Tuesday - 40th Edition

Yesterday was a very good day. It was filled with my favorite things - a quick work day, good food, a great workout and flirting at FHE. PLUS as an added bonus there was a bonfire and s'mores! Lovely!

Today....today is not a very good day. at all. I am struggling to be positive, to stay happy and focused. Part of me just wanted to skip over the Tender Mercy Tuesday, but then I remembered things that happened this last week and I couldn't skip it, no matter how terrible of a mood I am in.

You know how hard it is to think of something that has blessed your life when you're having a bad day? It's REALLY hard. It's so easy to focus on the hard things on life and to let that rule your emotions. I try so hard to not let this happen, but sometimes my emotions get the better of me. le sigh.

Anyhow, I mentioned this yesterday, but it is worth mentioning again because it has had SUCH an impact on me. President Uchtdorf spoke to the women of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Saturday evening and it was the most marvelous message. His thoughts were things that I had been thinking about a lot as of late and have been praying for guidance on daily. I am constantly amazed at the ability for one talk to touch SO many lives and answer questions for people in all wakes of life. This is a message that I know I'm going to return to time and time again.

And just like that the sun is shining just a tad brighter in my life. Here's hoping it continues to grow brighter.

Tender Mercy Tuesday - 39th Edition

well, it's the 11th hour over here in Alishka-land. I should really be in bed right now, but I had to watch the season premier of Castle. I love that show.

Anywho. Moving on.

Like I mentioned yesterday, I got to go see the film 17 Miracles yesterday. What an amazing film.

I realized something yesterday. I am truly blessed to live the life I currently live. Seriously. I don't have to go digging for my dinner, search for buffalo chips to cook said dinner on, and I definitely don't have to worry about freezing to death in my sleep. I am blessed to live in a day where the fullness of the Gospel has been restored. Where I have the comforts of a roof over my head, a car that takes me places I want to go, and the internet to help me stay connected with people far away from me. I am so blessed.

And I'm going to try to never forget that.

Tender Mercy Tuesday - 24th Edition

Hello there!

Today's tender mercy is simple (aren't those the best ones?) and that is the fact that I got asked to give the spiritual thought last night in our Family Home Evening activity. I love getting in front of people and I was excited when I was asked to present the thought. I planned out a thought from the talk by Elder Russell M. Nelson "Face the Future with Faith." I didn't realize how much I needed to really read and study that talk until after I had given the thought and I was overwhelmed with peace and the knowledge that what I had shared was TRUE. It was a good moment for me. :o)




P.S. Percy called me last night and we actually connected on the phone - a lunch date had been set for tomorrow at 1pm. However, he called me today and had to reschedule because of a rescheduling of surgery for his dad. (a totally legit reason!) So the lunch date is now on Friday.... I'm rather excited about it!!! :o) I'll be sure to post and tell you all about it since I'm sure you're just dying to find out.

Tender Mercy Tuesday - 23rd Edition

Here we are friends. Another Tuesday.

I apologize for not posting yesterday. I had thoughts to make a post, but I just wasn't feeling it. Today I am grateful for the prompting I had to get myself out of my house and to my ward's FHE activity. I had a lot of other things I could have done last night - things for the show and the wedding that really have to get done very soon, but I put them aside and went to the Monte L. Bean Museum with my ward. It was great fun!! I made new friends and just had a blast. I have new friends and people to hang out with and this makes me really excited. Not that I have time to hang out right now, my life is so super busy!!! However, I'm excited to be getting to know people in the ward and what not. Makes my heart happy.

I'm not so happy that it is raining again - we had what feels like just a brief moment of sunshine. One moment in which I got VERY sunburned. I'm still in pain and it is no fun at all. I believe we're supposed to turn sunny again tomorrow but with more rain destined to arrive this weekend. I keep wondering if we'll ever see the sun for more than a few days at a time!!! sigh. Hope your week is peachy!

Tender Mercy Tuesday - 21st Edition

Here are dear friends. Another Tuesday. Yesterday was a not so fun Monday at work. I was swamped with purchase orders and going crazy with everything else being piled onto my desk. sigh. It's never ending around here, ya know?

Anyhow, I had the most splendid weekend. I went hiking and got sunburned. I had adventures in Salt Lake and losing my purse (it was found, but not after lots of deep breaths and holding back tears). There was an awkward first date from a guy from the internet, hair practice for the wedding and ballet rehearsal. I painted my nails bright pink, wore shoes to match on Sunday and made cheesecake and hung out with Leviticus on more than one occasion. Speaking of Leviticus he is a great friend. I've decided to not stress about it going anywhere, because honestly, it does not matter right now. I just want to have fun and play. The end.

Anyways, my tender mercy comes from losing my purse. I freaked out, but not too bad...Leviticus was very calm about the whole thing and helped me think about where it could have been left. Too bad the chick at Panda Express really didn't look where we told her it could possibly have been....it was found with no repercussions and I am SO blessed. :o)

Last night I went to FHE up the canyon. We had a bonfire and roasted the normal bonfire types of things. I had so much fun meeting people, talking and....I ended up giving my number to two different boys. I can't remember the last time I gave my number to a guy in such a situation. It was definitely a confidence booster. :o)

Here's hoping the rest of the week goes swimmingly...I have fun plans with different friends all week long and I'm very excited to play!

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Dating Battle Stories: a boy named Leviticus

PREFACE

Last Sunday, the 24th of April was our 2nd Sunday as a "new"-ish ward. (this is the Sunday after Fryman kissed me) I was standing in the hall after church talking to my friend Rocky (who was new to the ward, but we grew up together) and there were a few guys standing there too. Some from the ward from before and some new peeps. One of the guys, Leviticus, was there (he's new) and he was a friend of Rocky's. Anyways, we got to know each other a little bit and as I left the group (because i was SO hungry and i needed lunch) Leviticus shakes my hand and says, "Alishka, you have the cutest personality, it was great to meet you have a great Sunday." I thanked him and went home. Then the whole Fryman thing went down.

FAST FORWARD….

Saturday, April 30th. I had no plans that evening. In fact, I had just gotten home from visiting a friend and her newborn in the hospital and was cleaning my kitchen. I decided I wanted to do fun things so I texted some of my guy friends asking if anyone wanted to go out and do something exciting. Well, no one wanted to, in fact I got ignored and rejected. It was sad times. So then, fast forward like 20 minutes and I'm sitting on my couch checking facebook when I get a message from Leviticus - and it says "Hi!"

I respond in kind and then proceeds the FUNNIEST conversation ever. There was mention of secret training, secret bowling alleys, and covert signals for seeing each other. It was awesome.

So yeah, THAT happened. We went bowling and I had the best time ever. It was a blast. :o) THEN we were just sitting in the bowling alley talking and we somehow got talking about moose and elk and which was bigger and why and we decided that we should go find out...without the internet. So off on adventures we went...we ended up at the BYU HBLL (the ONLY library still open at 9pm at night on a Saturday...ha ha UVU was closed because they just had graduation) So we decide to try not to use the computers to look anything up. We make our way to the science section and find some encyclopedias and look up stuff on moose and elk. It was hilarious. Then Leviticus decided we should do yoga in between the shelves. So...we did yoga in the HBLL. Then he gave me an assignment to find a book on a subject to learn something, and I did the same to him. We both ended up with books, sat in a collaborative area in the HBLL and learned new things together. It was awesome. After that we went and got taco bell and sat in the parking lot talking until 2 am. It was awesome.

THE NEXT DAY

Sunday, May 1st. It was so hard for me to get up that morning. We have church at 9 am...and I had a meeting before church...so I only got like 5 hours of sleep. I got ready and went to church. Now, because we're still transitioning, I've been doing my calling AND leading the music in sacrament meeting (I volunteered to help them out). SoI'm sitting up on the stand and while leading the music I don't see Leviticus. Well, after church I’m out in the hall and Leviticus is there! He slept in, but he was there to catch the tail end of our meetings and then was going to a different ward that afternoon. So we’re standing there talking and he asks how I had slept. I hadn't slept extremely well, about 30 minutes before my alarm went off that morning my smoke detector’s battery started to die and started beeping every 2 minutes. I have 12ft ceilings in my apt and could BARELY reach the smoke detector while standing on a chair and books to get the battery out. So I tell him this and how I don't have a battery and he's all, "Alishka! What if your house catches on fire and your smoke alarm doesn't work!? You need a battery! And a ladder!" So then he proceeds to tell me he thinks he has a battery.

Later that afternoon I wake up from a really deep sleep of a nap and look at facebook (trying to wake up) and I see this facebook message from Leviticus: "I have a battery that may or may not have power. Do you want a battery change service?" I respond in the affirmative and he comes over after saying "we'll send a technician right over." He came over, changed the battery effortlessly and then stayed to chat. Then he left because he had something else to do that evening, but he accidentally left his phone (it escaped his pocket) so I sent him a message and 30 minutes later he comes back and STAYS until 11p or so. We had the best time chatting and such. Also, on Saturday I told him about how I'm working on family history and on Sunday he asked me to show him what I have and what I'm looking for right now. So we spent a couple of hours together, on the couch just looking up stuff on my laptop for family history. Amazing.

AND MOST RECENTLY….

Monday night for FHE we had a ward BBQ. It was awesome. Leviticus sat at our table, along with a whole slew of other guys. It was awesome. I floated around, met new people, talked, played volleyball and ended up back at the table Leviticus was then sitting at.

It was decided to go to my place to watch a movie (my roommate, a good friend and major flirt of mine and I decided this) I convinced Leviticus to come.

We hung out and colored in coloring books. It was awesome.

My flirty friend left about after the movie. I was a zombie at this point because of my fried brain from work. Leviticus stayed until 11:30 or so...and at one point played with my hair (he did that Saturday too now that I think about it). We just hung out and talked and stuff. It was very nice.

So there you go. My very long story about a boy named Leviticus. I think we shall have many an adventure this summer. :o)

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