Things I'm loving...

the darling Rasha at And this is what She said posted a little post this morning called "Things I'm loving" and I thought it was simply beautiful that I decided to copy her.

So, without further ado, just a few things:

• late night phone conversations with Soldier Boy
• the sweet spirit that was in Relief Society yesterday
• the dear sister who paid me the most sincere compliment that I really needed to hear
• the color green
• cooperative hair
• cute scarves
• my gym trainer
• meal plans
• crock pots
• dark chocolate Hershey kisses

Thursday Shenanigans

Hey dears! It's Thursday! Also, there are less than TWO weeks until my birthday. Luckily for you, you still have plenty of time to get me a birthday present. ;)

In other news, I have plans to be extremely productive this weekend. I know I've said that a lot in the past, but I really believe that to be true. So...without further ado: some Thursday Things. (aka SHENANIGANS!)

• I was fairly tame in college. No extreme late nights, no crazy parties. It seems that I might be making up for that now. This is difficult because I'm older and my body needs sleep more than it did as a 20-year old co-ed. ha. Life is fun.

• Solider Boy is the sweetest future boyfriend a girl could ask for. I'm so glad he's my friend right now.

• I danced in the parking lot in the rain last night. It was amazing. :-)

• Tonight I get to go to Blue Tango. I LOVE Blue Tango. Seriously, if you're anywhere close to Cougartown and have a love for dancing, then you need to get your butt there pronto. It's great fun.

• Tomorrow I get to go to Ft. Douglas. I've never been there!

• Also tomorrow I'm going to the temple w/my bestest roommate, Roommate R! :o) I'm rather excited to be there with her tomorrow.

• I went to a really good Thai restaurant last night. It was nummy. 

• My trainer is pretty fantastic. He has made me find muscles I didn't even know existed. My inner thighs? They are sore. :P

• My hair is getting REALLY long and I LOVE it. :o) It's great.

• I already have an idea of the epic summer adventures I'm going to have - it's going to be one GREAT summer. :o)

• Finally, here's a list of everything else I'd like to get done (there's a TON more I WANT to get done, but I'm trying to be realistic here)

• clean off bottom of night stand
• clean out and clean off cedar chest
• clean bathroom (maybe. still debating this one. ;) )
• Update St. Patty's day wreath for door.
• Decorate for St. Patty's day
• Start to make (maybe do the whole thing?) my new bag for Disneyland
• Make a spring table runner
• clean out fridge
• clean out pantry - organize it!

• Sounds do-able right? right. :o)

Have a great weekend everybody!

Tender Mercy Tuesday - 51st Edition

Well m'dears. The fact that I haven't posted in a week should be a testament to how busy I really have been in the past week. Since last Tuesday I have:

• gotten my hair done - it looks fantastic! I'm in love with it.
• Played volleyball
• Hung out with Monkey Man countless times.
• Made pumpkin bread and white chocolate popcorn as gifts.
• Done my visiting teaching.
• Collected sub-for-Santa gifts from people in my ward
• Sung in my ward's Christmas program
• Hung out with Truit + Husband. They met Monkey Man. It was good times.
• Went to temple square...again. :o)
• Went to a wedding reception
• Caught the bouquet without trying. (seriously. It fell into my hands. No jumping required for this girl!)
• Had roommate Christmas
• Have my bags 75% packed (checked bag is 99% packed, carry-on and personal item are almost done)
• Checked into my departing flight :o)
• Taught several ballet classes
• Went to they gym and worked out with my trainer - twice!
• Worked on my day off. :(

It's been a very busy past seven days. I still have a few things to take care of this afternoon/evening. But once my ballet classes are taught I should be go to go and then I'll get to hang out with Monkey Man all night and have Christmas with him. :o) I'm excited. I'm also sad to be leaving him for so long. Thankfully there is plenty of technology to help us stay in contact for the 9 days I'll be gone.

This is not the point of the post  - the main point is to tell you about the most wonderful tender mercy I had this past week.

Life has obviously been really, really busy for me and I've been very stressed - especially the past couple of days. However, I have had times when the spirit of Christmas has been so strong and has blessed my life and reminded me why I do what I do at this time of year.

I've had the wonderful opportunity to help organize a sub-for-Santa for a couple of families in the home stake that feeds into our single's ward. It has been a wonderful experience to see people from my ward step it up and shower these families with generosity. These families that weren't going to have any kind of Christmas are now going to have a wonderful Christmas filled with love and laughter. There are so many wonderful people in the world and I feel so blessed to be able to know so many of them.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Today has been....

officially declared "stupid people day." At least, at my place of work it has been. Today has been ridiculous when it comes to stupid people and their stupid requests.

ANYWHO. The good news is that today is THURSDAY and I just love Thursdays. (I think I say that every week, but it's so very true that I'm okay with saying it every week. :o) )

onward and upward!

• Not only is today THURSDAY, it's my FRIDAY. My weekend starts as soon as my company class is over tonight - 8pm. I can do this!

• I am sleeping in tomorrow. My Friday schedule is a little different than past Fridays and that includes sleeping and sleeping until  I can't sleep no more. Or 9:30 am. Whichever comes first. ;) 

• I'm going to the temple with a dear former roommate (Roommate LZ) on Saturday morning. I'm so excited to spend time with her in the best place ever!

• I haven't been serious grocery shopping in WEEKS. That is being rectified tomorrow. I even have a meal plan for several crock pot meals to make this next week. I'm excited. I hope they turn out...

• I have a post in the works about my gym trainer. He's a rock star (literally) and I can't wait to tell you all about him.

• Speaking of the gym...I'm going tomorrow AND Saturday. I'm just that cool.

• I also get to practice being a mime on Saturday for a show in April. Again...I'm just that cool.

• Monkey Man is adorable and I'm quickly falling head over heels for him...and yet I'm very calm about it. (most of the time) It's a very interesting ride and I couldn't be happier. 

• I love Greek yogurt. ESPECIALLY Greek yogurt by Yoplait. mmmm....yummy.

• Thanksgiving is only 3 weeks away! WOO HOO! I love holidays.

• the pile of sticky notes that have been used this week is ASTOUNDING. It has been so super busy this week. ai yi yi

• I played volleyball last night and at one point I chest bumped the volleyball. It was AWESOME.

• There was A LOT of laughter at volleyball last night. SO MUCH FUN. I loved it.

• Sometimes being a Relief Society President is hard. I do love it, but it's HARD.

• I have some fitness goals to share with you...but they're not completely finalized yet (which is bad of me...but deal with it.) I'll probably share them in the near future. Get ready for THAT awesomeness.

• I just realized the year is drawing to a close and I'm noticing how many things have helped me flourish this year. I need to start brainstorming a word for the year for 2012. 2012 is going to be good....I can feel it.

I feel like I'm forgetting something...but this has been a very long Thursday Things already, so I think I'll be done. For now. Until next time my dears, STAY HAPPY!!

Random Thursday Things

Here we are guys. Another Thursday. This week has felt rather long and arduous to me, but maybe that's just me. I'm rather excited that it is the weekend and I'm even more excited because fun things are happening. Let's get this party started shall we?

• I'm leaving early tomorrow afternoon to drive to St. George with Chilly and friends to go see The Little Mermaid at Tuachan. I am SO freakin' excited for this! I have been looking forward to this event ever since I purchased my ticket. woo hoo!

• I am also looking forward to getting some much needed sleep. I have been so exhausted this week and Alishka needs her beauty sleep!

• My trainer....is insane. He is kicking my trash. BUT I like it. Not going to lie. He's fabulous. I did my very first bench press yesterday. Granted, all I lifted was the bar (45lbs) and not even by myself, BUT! I did it!!! I feel really cool now. :o)

• The General Relief Society Broadcast is this weekend. I LOVE this broadcast. It always rocks my world. (someone else that I just discovered blogged about this too...her blog is AWESOME. go read!)

• I have noticed the leaves changing on the mountains...I think it is time to take a drive up the canyon! woo hoo!

• I am in a mood of anything fall. I think I need to make some fall-type foods and desserts. mmmm...yup.

• Remember how I was doing my challenge? Yeah. It is going SO well. I feel like I have more time to get things done and I don't just lounge around and read tv. Also, this will help me to read more. 

• I have been in a slight reading slump lately and as I visited Angie last night I picked up the randomest collection of books to read in the next few weeks. Definitely in a weird little reading mood.

• I have a new favorite band - Florence and the Machine. I realize they aren't that new, but I have recently discovered a love of their music.

• Also, I discovered this blog one day and totally went through and did the suggested things to my closet, MINUS a true remixing of outfits. I think I'm actually going to do a 30 for 30 Remix Challenge. I won't have prizes or anything, but I think I'll do it here - publicly showing my outfits and such. Maybe starting in October? Thoughts? Anyone want to tackle said challenge with me?

I think that's it for now. Wow. So many things happening and going through my mind! I'm pretty sure I missed a few things...but I'm tired of thinking.

Tender Mercy Tuesday: 38th Edition

So, today's Tender Mercy directly relates to my challenge post yesterday. I didn't turn on the TV yesterday. AT ALL. I was tempted to, but I never did. Instead, I read a book. Yup, one book in its entirety. I didn't plan on staying up late last night, in fact, I WANTED to get to bed early, but instead I stayed up reading  this really good book entitled, "Birth Marked" by Caragh M. O'Brien. Now, right now I'm wishing I had gone to bed and not stayed up to finish reading sid book, but at the same time I'm really glad I did. Here's the reason why: I feel completely justified in living up to my challenge this week. See, last week I would have just turned on the TV in the evening and probably stayed up just as late, but just laying around watching some random show. INSTEAD, after I got out of my shower from my workout I read a good book. I need to read more good books. I forget how much I love to read until I start doing it after a dry spell. So this is me, committed to my challenge and hoping it continues to bless my life like it did last night. :o)

In other news - I did assisted pull-ups on the Assisted Pull-up machine. I really liked that part of my circuit last night. :o) I don't think I mentioned it, but I got a gym trainer with my gym. He's great. He's really pushing me to become a better me and that makes me excited. :o)

And finally, I saw this today on Pinterest and I have decided that it is going to be my motto for the rest of the year. I think it pairs nicely with my word of the year. ;)