I love you all. I got 6 fantastic uplifting, encouraging comments on that last post of mine, if only more than one of you lived near me. You helped me realize that I do have fantastic friends, they just don't all live here in San Antonio.
Last year I read a book, The Happiness Project, by Gretchen Rubin. She basically discusses that everyone has their own optimal happiness level. For each person it is different, and for each person different things can help them reach that optimal level. She spends a year doing her own Happiness Project, choosing different things to focus on each month, and measurable goals for each month.
A friend mentioned to me a few weeks ago (or was it a few months? I don't remember) that she had recently gotten the book and was reading it, which reminded me that I wanted to read it again. As I started reading it I compiled a list of things that bring me happiness and have been creating my own "happiness project." It helped me remember that there are all sorts of things that I want to learn how to do, or get better at, or just do more of, and that few of them have anything to do with how many friends I have that I can actually get together with. And it doesn't matter that I don't have friends at church.
I've got books to read, scrapbooking to do, want to do some canning, and really take the time to practice the piano more (just to name a few things from my list). I have some crafts I want to do that will be really hard to do when I have kids, especially some things that I want to have ready for whenever we do have kids. I do have friends that I get together with, and that is awesome. I can be happy doing things on my own when I'm not doing things with my friends.
2.29.2012
2.24.2012
to post, or not to post?
I wasn't going to blog about this, but then after thinking about it more I realized that my blog is really for me, so why wouldn't I want to record my thoughts? I love reading through old blog posts, especially the ones from before I went to college, and then the ones from my freshman year. It's fun to go back and remember things, both happy and sad, from the past.
Chances are if you are reading this post, I'm not talking about you in it.
This week we had a Relief Society Activity where after a lesson on missionary work we decorated cookies that we could use as a missionary tool to talk to a friend or neighbor. It was a great activity, except that something someone said to me really bugged me. A new sister moved into our ward about a week ago and I had never met her. She has a nine month old and she made the comment that "after I had my baby, I realized it was really awkward to hang out with people who don't have kids. I just didn't know what to even say to them. I just want to talk about my kid all the time and they can't related." When I introduced myself to her about 10 minutes later she asked how old my kids were and when I said "I don't have kids yet" her face kind of dropped. She realized she probably had offended me.
I understand her point. It's really easy to talk to someone when you have something in common with them. But ya know what? I have this little group of friends. There are 4 of us. The other three each have a little boy between 15-22ish months old. I love hanging out with these girls. I absolutely love their sons. And it doesn't bother me at all that when we get together we tend to talk about their kids. We don't make it awkward because we don't have to make it awkward. I know they get together without me to have their kids play and that doesn't bug me. People do that when they have kids, they have play dates and go to playgroups. The great thing about my friends is that we all also love to cook, so we talk about food and normally get together to make/eat delicious food together. We could get together and just look at the pictures and read recipes from America's Test Kitchen cookbook and all would be well, except then we would be hungry and have to make something tasty to eat.
When we moved into our new ward (it's funny that I still call it our new ward, we've been here 7 months already) I realized I needed to branch out and make some new friends. It hasn't been easy, it seems like everyone in my ward has that same mentality as the new lady-people with kids just don't hang out with people who don't have kids. Or at least... people in my ward who have kids definitely don't hang out with me, or really talk to me a whole lot at all unless we work together in one of my callings. I was excited to realize that there were 3 couples without kids. Then one of them announced she is pregnant, another I know is pregnant but hasn't announced it yet, and the third I'm starting to think may be as well.
Somebody else at this activity asked me why I don't just get a job... I am in school, and I get migraines at least once a week. I'm afraid that if I got a job I would end up losing it because I get such bad migraines and wouldn't be able to work.
At some point (hopefully this point isn't too incredibly far away) we'll start having kids and then maybe I'll be able to have friends again. Hopefully in the meantime I'll be able to keep reading lots of books and make some good progress on my schoolwork.
Chances are if you are reading this post, I'm not talking about you in it.
This week we had a Relief Society Activity where after a lesson on missionary work we decorated cookies that we could use as a missionary tool to talk to a friend or neighbor. It was a great activity, except that something someone said to me really bugged me. A new sister moved into our ward about a week ago and I had never met her. She has a nine month old and she made the comment that "after I had my baby, I realized it was really awkward to hang out with people who don't have kids. I just didn't know what to even say to them. I just want to talk about my kid all the time and they can't related." When I introduced myself to her about 10 minutes later she asked how old my kids were and when I said "I don't have kids yet" her face kind of dropped. She realized she probably had offended me.
I understand her point. It's really easy to talk to someone when you have something in common with them. But ya know what? I have this little group of friends. There are 4 of us. The other three each have a little boy between 15-22ish months old. I love hanging out with these girls. I absolutely love their sons. And it doesn't bother me at all that when we get together we tend to talk about their kids. We don't make it awkward because we don't have to make it awkward. I know they get together without me to have their kids play and that doesn't bug me. People do that when they have kids, they have play dates and go to playgroups. The great thing about my friends is that we all also love to cook, so we talk about food and normally get together to make/eat delicious food together. We could get together and just look at the pictures and read recipes from America's Test Kitchen cookbook and all would be well, except then we would be hungry and have to make something tasty to eat.
When we moved into our new ward (it's funny that I still call it our new ward, we've been here 7 months already) I realized I needed to branch out and make some new friends. It hasn't been easy, it seems like everyone in my ward has that same mentality as the new lady-people with kids just don't hang out with people who don't have kids. Or at least... people in my ward who have kids definitely don't hang out with me, or really talk to me a whole lot at all unless we work together in one of my callings. I was excited to realize that there were 3 couples without kids. Then one of them announced she is pregnant, another I know is pregnant but hasn't announced it yet, and the third I'm starting to think may be as well.
Somebody else at this activity asked me why I don't just get a job... I am in school, and I get migraines at least once a week. I'm afraid that if I got a job I would end up losing it because I get such bad migraines and wouldn't be able to work.
At some point (hopefully this point isn't too incredibly far away) we'll start having kids and then maybe I'll be able to have friends again. Hopefully in the meantime I'll be able to keep reading lots of books and make some good progress on my schoolwork.
2.23.2012
bad week for meals here....
This week has been slightly disappointing mealwise at our house. No, that's an understatement.
Baked Potatoes. Seriously, how hard is it to bake a potato? Apparently too hard for me. Our potatoes were disgusting, the chili didn't even make up for it.
Baked chicken and potato salad. This time I overcooked the potatoes for the potato salad, a little too mushy. The chicken was fine, although I'm not a huge fan of chicken with bones, too much bone and not enough chicken.
Chicken Pot Pie. I was happy with it, but my carrots didn't get soft enough so it was disappointing for Chris. I LOVE this chicken pot pie recipe. It's America's Test Kitchen with the savory crumble topping.
Mexican Rice Bowls with Cilantro Lime Rice. The problem was the rice... it was really mushy. A little too mushy for my liking.
This has been a week of a few bad migraines, which resulted in bad food because I didn't feel like cooking, or really doing a whole lot of anything. Here is to hoping that next week can be a little better in the culinary department here.
Baked Potatoes. Seriously, how hard is it to bake a potato? Apparently too hard for me. Our potatoes were disgusting, the chili didn't even make up for it.
Baked chicken and potato salad. This time I overcooked the potatoes for the potato salad, a little too mushy. The chicken was fine, although I'm not a huge fan of chicken with bones, too much bone and not enough chicken.
Chicken Pot Pie. I was happy with it, but my carrots didn't get soft enough so it was disappointing for Chris. I LOVE this chicken pot pie recipe. It's America's Test Kitchen with the savory crumble topping.
Mexican Rice Bowls with Cilantro Lime Rice. The problem was the rice... it was really mushy. A little too mushy for my liking.
This has been a week of a few bad migraines, which resulted in bad food because I didn't feel like cooking, or really doing a whole lot of anything. Here is to hoping that next week can be a little better in the culinary department here.
2.14.2012
Distracted
So I've been reading the Old Testament lately, and I find myself distracted all the time. Why? Because of the footnotes. It seems like every page in one of the footnotes gives at least one Hebrew translation.
This may sound strange, but hear me out.
In the footnotes Hebrew translations are shown as HEB followed by the translation.
The only grocery store in San Antonio (besides Walmart, Target, and places like Whole Foods) is called HEB.
As I read the scriptures all I can do is think about the grocery store. I told Chris this last night and he looked like I was ridiculous, but then he laughed.
This may sound strange, but hear me out.
In the footnotes Hebrew translations are shown as HEB followed by the translation.
The only grocery store in San Antonio (besides Walmart, Target, and places like Whole Foods) is called HEB.
As I read the scriptures all I can do is think about the grocery store. I told Chris this last night and he looked like I was ridiculous, but then he laughed.
2.13.2012
7
Last week I read 7 books. I literally read an entire book each day, except that the book I started yesterday I didn't finish until today because it was 500 pages.
I pretty much didn't do much else for the last week. I did do the laundry, and we did eat, and my activity day girls came over and made valentines, but that's just about it.
This week has already been more productive-I finished that 500 page book, I did 6 batches of laundry, swept our whole house (there is zero carpet, so vacuuming doesn't work too well), and started the 120 pages of reading I need to do for my first lesson for my new class. Then I got sick of reading (crazy, right?) so I cleaned our bathtub, like legit cleaned it. We had super tasty sweet and sour meatballs with stir-fry veggies for dinner, I wish I could include a link to the recipe, but it's an exclusive Our Best Bites cookbook recipe so they haven't posted it online. I loved the homemade meatballs, which were super simple, and the sauce.... holy cow it is my new favorite sweet and sour sauce.
I now don't have any books from the library, and it seems like I am bored with the books that I own, so hopefully I am able to plow through my class, although with all the reading it requires and the papers I have to write every other lesson it will take a bit of time.
I pretty much didn't do much else for the last week. I did do the laundry, and we did eat, and my activity day girls came over and made valentines, but that's just about it.
This week has already been more productive-I finished that 500 page book, I did 6 batches of laundry, swept our whole house (there is zero carpet, so vacuuming doesn't work too well), and started the 120 pages of reading I need to do for my first lesson for my new class. Then I got sick of reading (crazy, right?) so I cleaned our bathtub, like legit cleaned it. We had super tasty sweet and sour meatballs with stir-fry veggies for dinner, I wish I could include a link to the recipe, but it's an exclusive Our Best Bites cookbook recipe so they haven't posted it online. I loved the homemade meatballs, which were super simple, and the sauce.... holy cow it is my new favorite sweet and sour sauce.
I now don't have any books from the library, and it seems like I am bored with the books that I own, so hopefully I am able to plow through my class, although with all the reading it requires and the papers I have to write every other lesson it will take a bit of time.
2.08.2012
I did it.
I finished Pride and Prejudice. I really struggled with about the first 40-50 pages, but once I hit page 50 it was smooth sailing. I didn't even want to put the book down a few times. I'm so glad that I didn't give up, it was a great book! I even requested the audiobook from the library when I was struggling, hoping that maybe if I listened and read along it would help... but I didn't end up needing the audiobook at all!
I am so glad to be able to say that I did it! Now I can cross that off my bucket list!
My next class is being delivered to me on Friday, so I've got just a few more days of reading ahead of me... I have the last 4 Chronicles of Narnia books that I would love to read, plus a Shannon Hale (whatever the third book in the goose girl series is). I won't be able to read all 5 of those books, but hopefully I can make some good progress.
I am so glad to be able to say that I did it! Now I can cross that off my bucket list!
My next class is being delivered to me on Friday, so I've got just a few more days of reading ahead of me... I have the last 4 Chronicles of Narnia books that I would love to read, plus a Shannon Hale (whatever the third book in the goose girl series is). I won't be able to read all 5 of those books, but hopefully I can make some good progress.
2.06.2012
Confession.
Apparently yesterday was the Superbowl. I only knew this because of the grocery store and the annoying updates on Facebook about it from everyone I know, who apparently were all watching it (no offense if you were one of them). After church yesterday I took a nap, and then made dinner, then ate dinner, then FaceTimed with my sister, made Soft Pretzels, watched an episode of Life, then watched the two most recent episodes of House.
No football. No funny commercials (although we are excited to watch them online now). No halftime show.No football snacks.
And ya know what? We loved it. We love our BYU football, but professional? No way. I'm afraid to admit this to people at church, I live in Texas and it's practically a sin to not watch the Superbowl.
I still can't tell you who won the game, or even who was playing, although from facebook it sounds like the Patriots were playing (wherever they are from).
My favorite part of the Superbowl was that all the food blogs I love posted a lot of great snack ideas. Now we can have tasty snacks when we get cable again to watch the olympics, and again during next byu football season, and when we have friends over for games/movies. That's the best part of the Superbowl. Lots of great recipes.
And that is my confession.
No football. No funny commercials (although we are excited to watch them online now). No halftime show.No football snacks.
And ya know what? We loved it. We love our BYU football, but professional? No way. I'm afraid to admit this to people at church, I live in Texas and it's practically a sin to not watch the Superbowl.
I still can't tell you who won the game, or even who was playing, although from facebook it sounds like the Patriots were playing (wherever they are from).
My favorite part of the Superbowl was that all the food blogs I love posted a lot of great snack ideas. Now we can have tasty snacks when we get cable again to watch the olympics, and again during next byu football season, and when we have friends over for games/movies. That's the best part of the Superbowl. Lots of great recipes.
And that is my confession.
2.04.2012
The Last Few Weeks
The last couple of weeks have been glorious. I finished my two classes I had been working on and then gave myself a few weeks to catch up on my stack of books from the library. Best. Idea. Ever. I ended up reading 14 books in January, which is an excellent number.
Today I ordered my next class. Yikes. School is expensive. I figure it will take at least a week for my materials to all arrive, so this week I still have time to knock a few books out of my to-be-read pile. I'm trying so hard to read Pride and Prejudice which I have been meaning to read for about 5 years... but I'm struggling with it. Each time I've sat down to read it I've ended up asleep, which is so not what I want to happen! I want to read it and I want to love it, it's just a little more difficult than I thought.
I also had lunch with my friends, went to the zoo, got together with a friend who should hopefully be having a baby in the next few days, watched The Help, got caught up on this season of The Biggest Loser, and watched a few episodes of some other tv shows. Oh, and I danced my little heart out--I love Just Dance 3!
And for the record, in my attempt to read the whole Standard Works this year, I am a few days ahead of schedule. I just finished up Numbers today and am moving on to Deuteronomy.
Today I ordered my next class. Yikes. School is expensive. I figure it will take at least a week for my materials to all arrive, so this week I still have time to knock a few books out of my to-be-read pile. I'm trying so hard to read Pride and Prejudice which I have been meaning to read for about 5 years... but I'm struggling with it. Each time I've sat down to read it I've ended up asleep, which is so not what I want to happen! I want to read it and I want to love it, it's just a little more difficult than I thought.
I also had lunch with my friends, went to the zoo, got together with a friend who should hopefully be having a baby in the next few days, watched The Help, got caught up on this season of The Biggest Loser, and watched a few episodes of some other tv shows. Oh, and I danced my little heart out--I love Just Dance 3!
And for the record, in my attempt to read the whole Standard Works this year, I am a few days ahead of schedule. I just finished up Numbers today and am moving on to Deuteronomy.
2.01.2012
EFY Medley
Back in the day I attended EFY each summer (well, from 2003-2006). I could go on and on about how much I loved EFY and all the friends I made and things I learned. I could tell you about several great spiritual experiences I had, but I'm just going to tell you about one, because I was reminded of it tonight.
At EFY you learn a song, called The EFY Medley.(click there to be taken to a youtube video, oh, and I don't know who put the video together, you don't really need to watch it, just listen!) You sing it one of the nights, I honestly don't remember which night anymore, but I'm assuming it is Thursday night when you have your Fireside and Testimony Meeting. I recall one of those summers (I believe it was 2005) just absolutely being overcome by the spirit as we were singing this song. I KNEW that I was a child of God, that He loved Me, and that we, the youth of the church, were to be HIS missionaries. I remember looking at the group of 16/17 year old boys that were in my group that year and thinking how amazing it was that in just a few short years, they would be on missions, and I did end up writing letters to about half of them while they served their missions. It's had a really powerful influence on me ever since.
On Sunday morning I got an email from our Ward Music Chairperson asking me to accompany the young men and young women so they could sing a song at our upcoming Ward Conference. Imagine how excited I was as she asked me if I knew the EFY Medley. I quickly assured her that I knew it, owned a few copies of it, and absolutely love it.
This week I have been practicing away. Relearning the tricky parts, breaking down into just their parts at sections, and just loving this song. Tonight was the night we got together with the youth to practice the song for the first time. We taught the youth the parts, and the first time that we were putting the whole thing together, WOW! I was totally overcome all over again. I remember exactly how it felt standing in the auditorium at the University of Puget Sound singing this song with 400 of my best friends (or at least best friends for the week).
Listen to the song. It's one of my favorites. I kind of wish I was singing with the YW not playing for them... if I am overcome like I was tonight when we perform at Ward Conference it will be hard to finish accompanying them.
Also, as a bonus here is my other favorite song that I learned that summer at EFY, which also brought me to tears, and still does.
Let's just say that Summer 2005 was a life changer for me, between EFY and Girls Camp that year, that's the summer that I really figured out who I was and became the person I am today. This was before I had a digital camera, so while I have a ton of pictures from that summer, I don't have any that I can upload right now since we just got rid of our printer that is a scanner as well. On Facebook I do have some pictures from EFY 2006, which was my favorite group ever, although that's because half of them were in my 2005 group as well.
I am Marci, and I love EFY!
At EFY you learn a song, called The EFY Medley.(click there to be taken to a youtube video, oh, and I don't know who put the video together, you don't really need to watch it, just listen!) You sing it one of the nights, I honestly don't remember which night anymore, but I'm assuming it is Thursday night when you have your Fireside and Testimony Meeting. I recall one of those summers (I believe it was 2005) just absolutely being overcome by the spirit as we were singing this song. I KNEW that I was a child of God, that He loved Me, and that we, the youth of the church, were to be HIS missionaries. I remember looking at the group of 16/17 year old boys that were in my group that year and thinking how amazing it was that in just a few short years, they would be on missions, and I did end up writing letters to about half of them while they served their missions. It's had a really powerful influence on me ever since.
On Sunday morning I got an email from our Ward Music Chairperson asking me to accompany the young men and young women so they could sing a song at our upcoming Ward Conference. Imagine how excited I was as she asked me if I knew the EFY Medley. I quickly assured her that I knew it, owned a few copies of it, and absolutely love it.
This week I have been practicing away. Relearning the tricky parts, breaking down into just their parts at sections, and just loving this song. Tonight was the night we got together with the youth to practice the song for the first time. We taught the youth the parts, and the first time that we were putting the whole thing together, WOW! I was totally overcome all over again. I remember exactly how it felt standing in the auditorium at the University of Puget Sound singing this song with 400 of my best friends (or at least best friends for the week).
Listen to the song. It's one of my favorites. I kind of wish I was singing with the YW not playing for them... if I am overcome like I was tonight when we perform at Ward Conference it will be hard to finish accompanying them.
Also, as a bonus here is my other favorite song that I learned that summer at EFY, which also brought me to tears, and still does.
Let's just say that Summer 2005 was a life changer for me, between EFY and Girls Camp that year, that's the summer that I really figured out who I was and became the person I am today. This was before I had a digital camera, so while I have a ton of pictures from that summer, I don't have any that I can upload right now since we just got rid of our printer that is a scanner as well. On Facebook I do have some pictures from EFY 2006, which was my favorite group ever, although that's because half of them were in my 2005 group as well.
I am Marci, and I love EFY!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)