Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

This picture is from the Thomas Family party on Friday night. I bought this wig for my mom to wear. I thinks she is totally rocking it. Everyone was supposed to be giving their best "zombie" face.

Between Now and December 31st

I decided today that between now and December 31st I will read the Book of Mormon. Cover to Cover. What a great way to end the year.

Interesting Fact #14

Interesting Fact #14 (about ME): I name my plants. This is not a secret and most of you probably already know this.

Above is one of my plants at work. His name is SPIKE. When I first adopted SPIKE he was just barely poking above his home. Now look at him! SPIKE is a giant!

FYI #1 The plant next to SPIKE is named DEAN. I received both of them in a planter when DEAN passed away.

FYI #2 I love plants and I love them more when they have names!

FYI #3 Someone once told me that I have awful taste when picking names for my plants. That person was wrong and basically and idiot. I love my plant names.

Just in Case

Just in case you didn't know...I have a freckle on my finger.

And I like it.

A lot.

It's just one unique thing about me.

Just in case you didn't know...

Good Advice

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” Steve Jobs [Stanford commencement speech, June 2005]

I needed to read this today.

3 Things

3 things that I am excited about this week:

1. UTAH FOOTBALL! Did you know I love all sports if I get to play them or watch them live? Season tickets to Utah Football is one of the best decisions ever. EVER.
2. Getting my hair did by Cody. I just like Cody.
3. Eating a sno-cone. I am determined that I will eat a sno-cone this week. Yum!

Sno-Cones

Sno-Cones = HEAVEN ON EARTH.

Seriously.

Friends, I went with my new friend Tiffany (from my ward) to get a sno-cone tonight.

It. Was. AWESOME.

It's the sno-cone place in the parking lot of Rite-Aids in Bountiful. YUM. And cheap! Best combo ever! (and they will be open until September 17th!!)

Here is the best part. I got a cherry mango with 3 creams. For $1.95. Amazing. I knew the girl working and let me try her...

Wait for it...

Wait for it...

Wait for it...

Ready? You are not going to believe this...

CINNAMON with CREAM sno-cone. Kind of weird. DELICIOUSLY weird. I am so getting it next time.

Ahhh...Sno-Cones.

Weird

After school adjusting is weird.
I find that I don't really know what to do with myself.
And that I am a little overwhelmed with the things I placed on "hold" and now have to start doing again and thinking about.

I am kind of regretting placing somethings on "hold".
Darn it. I should have organized my time a little better while in school.
I could have done it all, right?

Anyway, this is a weird place for me to be in.
I feel a little out of sync with my life.
Not quite in the groove

Are you picking up what I am putting down?
(That phrase always makes me giggle.)

Let's hope this doesn't last too long.

Just Call Me Master

Tonight is my very last MBA class. I thought I would feel different than I do.

The best word to describe how I am feeling is: Bittersweet.

Don't worry, I will soon get over the "bitter" part so I can enjoy the SWEET!

After School Reading List

I am so excited for school to be done so I can do some of my very favorite things. ONE of which is reading. I am starting a list of books that I want to read after school is over. Here is the list so far:

1. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
2. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
3. The Awakening by Kate Chopin
4. The Portrait of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde
5. Walden by Henry David Thoreau
6. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
7. The Scarlett Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
8. Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
9. Middlemarch by George Eliot
10. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
11. To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee (I have already read this, but want to read it again)
12. Hatchet by Gary Paulsen (I have already read this too)
13. The Island of the Blue Dolphin by Scott O'Dell
14. The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling (I have read these a million times but want to read them again)

Anyone have any other suggestions of books that I should add to my list?

Personal Ethics Statement

Have I told you lately that I love my Ethics class? Well, I do.

The classes I have loved most, these last two years, are the classes that make me think. And think. and think. And then make me want to have conversations about what I am thinking about.

I love a good conversation.

In my Ethics class one of our assignments is to write a personal ethics statement. I have been struggling with this assignment. I have googled it, thought about it, asked colleagues about it, and asked a friend who took this class earlier if I could read theirs.

And I am still struggling to write a personal ethics statement. So, I came up with a list of questions and topics to help me know what to include and what issues I want to address.

Family
Friends
All who I come in contact with
Business dealings
Financial responsibilities
Health/Wellness
Is it okay to use the word or feel hate?
What motivates me?
What values do I hold close?
Who do I answer too?
What actions need to be present?
What actions should never be present?
How do I define: Honest, Truth, Just?
How do I speak to others?
Am I kind? Compassionate? Do I act like my Savior in all aspects of my life? Who is my "gauge" in life?
How do handle, think about, fulfill my religious callings and duties?
Where do my priorities lie? With church? God? Work? Family? Friends? Myself?
What do I stand for?
What is my social responsibility? Locally? Globally?
What about my commitment to my country?

These are the questions that I will be answering before I write my personal ethics statement this weekend. Wish me luck!

3 Things

3 things I love about Monday nights:

1. I get to do math. Just good old fashioned algebra and geometry and I am in heaven.
2. I am learning new tricks I never knew about! I mean seriously, why didn't teachers ever teach us these SUPER EASY tricks to figure out math problems?
3. I feel closer to Dean every Monday. My dad had a passion for math and especially for the number 1 & 0. Each Monday as I study and then work through problems and explain them, I picture him watching me with a huge grin on his face. I can also hear him telling his friends and family in heaven, "That's my daughter, isn't she great!"

Did I tell you how much I enjoy Monday nights?

Thoughts From Dinner

I had the opportunity to go to dinner with a dear friend tonight, Jenn, whom I met when I went to China. We don't see each other often, but each time I am with her I remember why I love her.

We talked a little bit of fun stuff and of important stuff. Here are two things we chatted about that have been on my mind a lot lately.


And I mean A LOT.


1. We both have callings in our church that allows us to be with the Young Women. I was telling her my concerns about how do I help the young women in my ward know, and I mean KNOW, that they are Daughters of God. How do you help someone realize such a concept? I have been thinking back on my days in Young Womens and I can't put my finger on the exact day it happened. The day when I knew to my very core that I was a Daughter of God. That knowledge has sustained me through some really rough times and helped my self esteem tremendously.


Jenn shared, and I tend to agree that some people are just born with the gift of that knowledge and others have to learn it while they are here. Because, I think this is so important I have been praying to know how to share my testimony of this fact with the Young Women in my ward and to create an environment where they can gain this surety also.


2. We talked about our time in China and the people we were there with. I went when I was 23 and Jenn went when she was 19. (I know I was OLD compared to 19...so what of it?). The purpose of my going to China was to decide who I was going to be for the rest of my life. I didn't go with someone I knew, I went alone. This was one of the hardest things for me to do, but I am SO grateful I did. When I was in China, I got to be anyone I wanted to be. No one knew who I was before China so I wasn't held to any standard. To be quite honest, I thrived. I became the person I wanted to be. Which was just a better, more honest, refined version of the person I already was. I didn't change all by myself, I had some really great friends that I met in China. People that I hold close still today (ahem, Jenn) (and, of course The Circle...but not just them exclusively). People that I spent the majority of my time with and several important people that I spent just a small about of time with. They really helped by just liking me and being so much fun!


That's what I love about life. The older you get, if you work at it, the better you get. For me, some of the stuff that used to be important has faded away leaving room for more of the "true" me to shine through. Comparing who I am today vs who I was before I left for China makes me shake my head in amazement. It also makes me realize I have a long way to go still...


I love getting together with good friends and remincing about the past and sharing what is current in our lives. It reminds me that Heavenly Father really is in the details of our lives and that people are in our lives by chance, but placed there by divine sources.

(((OPINION POLL))): How Do You Decide?

One of the classes I am taking this semester is Business Ethics. Although, to discuss any type of ethics, you also have to discuss personal ethics or just ethics in general.

During the lecture the professor had this question:

How do you decide what is RIGHT and what is WRONG?

This is something I have been thinking a lot about, even before the lecture. So, my question to you is...How do you decide what is right and what is wrong?

Summer of Numbers

TEN weeks of classes
FIFETEEN classes I have to attend
TWO presentation to be given
ONE take home exam
SEVEN cases to prepare
TWO papers to write
FORTY THOUSAND dollars (well actually more than this) paid to get me to this point
ONE HUNDRED FIFTY NINE classes I attended
TWO years of my life spent getting more education
ONE MBA diploma earned

NINE days until I fly to see the Koreans
ONE new(er) car to pick up while visiting and drive back to Utah
THREE days and nights of play
ONE HUNDRED SEVETEEN times I will hear "Como Nellie, can I play your iPod?"
TWO birthdays (potentially) to celebrate while there
TWELVE hours to drive back, unless I can do it faster like I did last time
ONE pretty excited Aunt getting to see some cuties!

TEN weeks of prepration until until girls camp
ELEVEN weeks until girls camp
TEN Sundays to get to know the girls
FOUR dinners at girls camp to figure out
TWO activities before girls camp
TWELVE girls that could go to girls camp
TEN girls that I am pretty sure will attend
THREE adult leaders going for sure (including myself)
ONE really excited/nervous me!

SIXTY FOUR days until the Joseph, David, and Frank (oh and Joe and Misun) come to Utah
TWO cute nephews staying at my house to play with
ONE crazy weiner dog
FIVE days to play with the Koreans
SEVENTY NINE the age Ardell will turn on her birthday while the Koreans are visiting
TWO things to celebrate at the party we will have while they are here
ONE MBA graduation
ONE birthday party
FOUR HUNDRED THIRTEEN the estimated number of times David and Joseph will ask to play the ipod
THREE the current number of different kinds of meats being served at the grad/birth party

ONE exhausting summer
ONE goal accomplished
ONE amazing academic experience completed
ONE week spent at girls camp helping the YW recognize and feel the Spirit and strengthen their testimonies
ONE absolutely amazing summer planned
ONE really excited me!

Needed: New(er) Vehicle

I was thinking the other day that it might be time to purchase a new(er) vehicle. The CORROLLA is 12 years old. I have had her for 9 years.

NINE YEARS!

Can you even believe it? I can't.

Corrolla has been a good car with very few problems. She has gotten me where I needed to go and taken all my abuse and lack of keeping her in spic and span condition.

While driving the other day I found a possible replacement for Corrolla.

Features of new vehicle:

1. Bigger than Corrolla. I could have more friends ride with me and WAY more room to haul stuff.
2. It would be easier to keep clean since I could just turn on the hose and wash him down.
3. I would definitely have the "party" vehicle.
4. I would never lose my car in a parking lot or forget where I parked.

What is this new AMAZING vehicle? Well, check this baby out! And is a GREAT deal at $7,995!


So, what do think? Should I purchase?

EXCITED!

Just so you know...I am pretty excited to see David Sedaris this week. If you don't know who he is...well...you should.

What a humorous guy!

I Can Hardly Believe It!

I see the light at the end of the tunnel.

AND...I can hardly believe it!

Being 6 credits away from completing my MBA seemed like an impossible dream just a short while ago. I remember during the first semester thinking "this is going to take FOREVER" and it felt like I would never be done.

BUT GUESS WHAT?

I'm almost done!

Here is the real question: What am I going to do when I am done?

SERIOUSLY.

What goals should I set?
What is my next move in my career?
Where should I live?
How should I celebrate?
What is the next big thing to tackle?
Will all of the people I have practically ignored for the last two years ever talk to me again?
Is it time to get rid of the corrolla? (Okay, this has nothing to do with graduation...but is a real question.)
What trips should I go on?
What habits do I need to break?
What habits do I need to start?
And this list goes on and on and on...

But let's not lose focus here...

I AM ALMOST DONE!

How Did I Get Here?

Choices.

I have been thinking a lot lately about choices. Specifically, about the choices I have made that have gotten me here.

Here. Where I am now, in every aspect of my life.

For some of the "here's" I can trace specific choices back to find what seems like the "original choice" that led me here. Other "here's" are much more tricky, and for them, I have no clear concept of how I got here.

After I contemplate how I got here, I think about what choices I made and what if I made a different choice. Where would have that different choice gotten me? What would I have gained and what would I have missed out on? What "here" would I be living?

I do know this, that with out FAITH and TRUST in my Savior I would have less peace and more anxiety. I would have less happiness and more fear. I would be less.

Is "here" where I want to be for every aspect of my life? Maybe, maybe not. But together with my Heavenly Father, through prayer, I know the "here" I am moving towards will be more right than where I am now.

New Technology

This Christmas Santa gave me a really great fun present...a new iTouch!!! To say that I am obsessed is putting it mildly...I love it.

There is this really fun app called PocketBooth that helps you re-create the awesome experience of cramming all of your friends into the photo booth to take pictures.

I am sharing a few of my favorite "photo sessions" with you...you lucky, lucky, LUCKY people! (By the way all of these pictures were shared WITHOUT the permission of the people in the pictures...I am nice like that.)

Of, COURSE there is a strip of just me taking pictures of myself. Why wouldn't there be?

If you would like to have a PocketBooth session with me...just let me know!