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.