Run for your life

So, I have to brag a little here. (If you have already heard about this, please exercise patience-I know, I know, you've probably heard about it MORE than once too) Anyway, I have started jogging. Now, if you know me well at all, you will know that exercise has not been a part of my daily regimine for......well, ever-ok? there you made me say it. I have NEVER exercised regularly. But, about a month ago, I tried, just for the heck of it to jog around my block (which is just over .5 miles) Guess what, I could NOT jog the whole way around w/out stopping. And when I got back to the house, I nearly vommited. And really did vommit after a subsequent run. Well, this started me thinking about the health of my heart and lungs who would start to burn merely at the thought of running-I would wheez, caugh, sputter, gag, shake and feel light headed after .5 miles. So, I said to myself, "self, this is RIDICULOUS. You are a young, active, healthy 25 year old woman. You are at your prime-and THIS is all you can do? Man UP!" So, I am starting out small (1-1.5 miles/night). I know it's not much. My goal is to build up to where I can run at least 5 miles w/out stopping. But for now, I am pleased as punch with my steady progress in the ease of being able to run that one mile. I imagine the fat around my heart melting away as I jog. I have been very dilligent to run it EVERY night. And now, it's becoming a little ritual for me. An emotional release, where I can either talk to myself, sing, think or NOT think. I love it. I am feeling more balanced and confident in myself. I can do hard things. I just keep telling myself that. What do you guys do that you are proud of in your life that makes you feel like you can do hard things?

Tradition!

I've been thinking a lot about traditions lately and how important they are in building and keeping family/friend ties close. I think that there is something really neat about having a tradition that you do with your friends/family. It can be anything from going somewhere to eat regularly to playing games on Tuesday nights to gathering together to watch General Conference. Just anything to make you feel like you are a part of something special. I want to start making a special effort to recognize the traditions that I have and start a few new ones this season. Here are some of my favorite traditions both w/ my family and friends from over the years:

1. One semester of college, I made a new group of friends from a late night English class that we all had together. We were sort of an unlikely group of people, but somehow we bonded. And we started going to a restaurant called Coco's after class to have breakfast for dinner. It was a short-lived tradition, but really fun.

2. As a little girl, one of my FAVORITE traditions was getting to stay home from school to decorate the house for Christmas with mom. One day after Thanksgiving, mom would sneakily ask me if I wanted to stay home from school to help her decorate the house. Now, this was a VERY unusual occasion for her b/c normally if I stayed home from school-no matter how sick I was-I had to clean, just to be sure that I wasn't staying home to have fun. So, this one day a year when she let me off the hook, became such a fun day. We'd get out the Christmas boxes full of decorations, iron ribbons to hang on the tree, polish ornaments, hang stockings and listen to Christmas music to our hearts content. I just remember feeling like a little elf getting to assist my mom in the wondrous transformation that occurred when she turned our house into a winter wonderland. This is definately a tradition that I will keep up with my daughters.

3. Christmas Hike. Our family has the tradition of going on a hike on Christmas day after all the presents are opened. I never thought about how unusual this tradition is until Morgan pointed out that most places are way too cold/covered in snow on Christmas to go on a hike. So, that is a plus of being in Vegas for Christmas!

4. Emerald Salad. For as long as I can remember, a dish called Emerald Salad has been served ONLY at Thanksgiving time in my family. Now, I won't divulge the secret-passed-down through the generations-recipe for this dish, but sufficed to say, it is yummy. I look forward to having this each year and have actually inherited the Emerald Salad making duty in our family. (To all those who attended the JPM Thanksgiving, sorry it didn't set up-something went very wrong and it ended up soupy)

5. Monday Night Baseball. My senior year of high school, my friends and I had a tradition to play baseball in the fields near Sam Boyd Stadium every monday night after fhe. They boys were really good and serious about the game, but the girls were mostly there to socialize and have fun. The tradition almost always included a trip to Jack in the Box for a milkshake afterwards.

What are some of your traditions?

Mission Failed

I was less late. Doesn't that count for something? Ok, I have to admit that I probably earned a D+ on my last monthly goal to be ON TIME. I did however start to go to bed earlier and get up earlier in the morning. I was 5-10 min late instead of 10-15 with the occasional ON TIME/EARLY sprinkled in there. So, I guess I need to keep on keepin' on with that goal for December. Here we go again!

Resolutions November

ON TIME. Those two little words have plagued me all my life. As most of you readers are accutely aware, I am perpetually running late. I have this horrible disease called, underestimatehowlongitsgoingtotakemeosis. Sounds horrible, right? It really is. And despite my best efforts to counteract underestimatehowlongitsgoingtotakemeosis by setting alarm clocks WAY too early, setting clocks ahead, having OTHER people set clocks ahead, preparing things ahead of time, etc, I am STILL late. I have even gone through periods of time where I publicly proclaimed that I am not going to worry about this goal because I have way too many other things that are more important to work on first. But, alas, if I am truthful with myself, I know that it is important to be on time. And I am going to rally my efforts once again to counteract this dreadful disease. To all of you who I may have offended by my tardiness, I apologize. To all of you who may have had to partake in my shame because of my tardiness, I apologize as well. I look forward to reporting the progress I make in this constant battle. Please let me know if you have any helpful tips that you can share in how you have overcome this bad habbit.

I know it's late...but...

Just wanted to post some pics from my very fun Halloween in Delta. We dressed up, handed out candy to HUNDREDS of trick-or-treaters, went to two haunted houses, carved pumpkins and watched scary movies. It was the perfect weekend. Morgan dressed up as the Joker and I was Bat-Girl. Morgan's brother Steve and his wife Megan were a zombie dr. and her patient. They looked REALLY scary.

A kiss from an Irish man...

So there I was...at work...4pm on an average Friday...when all of the sudden, a friend called and told me that he and his family were eating at Super Mex and were sitting two booths away from Bono, the lead singer of my FAVORITE band U2! I grabbed John Paul and dragged him to the restaurant. When we walked in, I immediately identified that it was indeed Bono sitting in a booth eating with his wife. We sat down at a table and I tried to gain some composure and think of what in the world I would say to this person I've dreamed about meeting since I was 12.
I waited until he got up to make my move. I made eye contact with him before he put on his signature shades and asked him if I could have his autograph. He said, of course and began scrawling a picture of him in his "goggle" sunglasses and signed his name. He asked me mine and wrote it on the paper. I proceeded to babble on about how I am a HUGE fan of his and have been forever and that I was so excited to be going to their concert tonight. He thanked me for going and shook my hand. He turned to walk away, but then looked back and said, "thank you for being so descrete." and leaned in to give me a half-hug and KISS ON THE CHEEK!!!! he He then turned and walked away. I was stunned. I started shaking all over, and hysterically shouting, "Bono, Kissed my Cheek!" I have not stopped grinning from ear to ear since then.
On top of all this, I was able to attend their concert tonight with John and Gracie. we had a blast. And U2 did not dissapoint. They played a lot of their new songs and a lot of old goodies. I'm not really that familiar with their new album, and I confess, what from I've heard, I'm not too impressed. But, they put on one of the best shows I've ever seen. It was an awesome night.
And thank you Bono for making one of my childhood dreams come true!

Getting to Know Morgan...

Last Thursday, Morgan and I traveled out of town to go to his sister, Farrah's wedding in Wyoming. The weather was amazing. The scenery was beautiful and I had a blast getting to know Morgan and his family better. So, here are some juicy tid-bits about Morgan...and some really pretty random pics from the trip.


His hometown is Delta, Utah. Now, I've been hearing about Delta for months, but didn't know quite what to expect...so, here's my verdict. It's a really cute little town in the middle of NOWHERE akin to Overton (if it wasn't so close to Vegas).

Morgan played both Football and Wrestled for his high school. Above is the field...

Here are some really cool giant windmills we found on the way out of Delta. Morgan is very interested in alternative power sources and pretty much anything that will get him off "the grid".

Morgan is a bit theatrical.

Morgan is an animal person and above all is very patient with me and my love of animals-I made him stop SEVERAL times to pet horses on the way back...

This was a really cool bridge we found outside of Jackson Hole.

Morgan is an AVID scouter and mountain man. He often talks about building a cabin and living completely independent of society in the woods-and I think he'd do it if he could find a woman that would agree...

The Tetons-aren't they breathtaking?

Morgan LOVES his family and would do anything for them, including killing someone as he said in his wedding toast...
(this is his beautiful sister Farrah, btw)

Morgan is really good at accents. We talked in a Southern accent almost the whole day on Saturday because we decided to "go a little country"...

Morgan has one of the most beautiful smiles I've ever seen with twinkly eyes...it's hard to capture though, more often than not, he's purposefully scowling in pictures.

Morgan is a great friend and listener. He always asks me how my day was when he sees me.

Anyway, it was a really fun trip. Thanks to Morgan and his parents for inviting me and making it possible for me to come!

Introducing...Thoughts Come Tumbling Out

I wanted to introduce a new blog that I started called 'Thoughts Come Tumbling Out". (find it under my links section) The purpose of this blog is primarily for me to promote my artwork and document my creative process. The blog is just getting started, so you'll have to keep checking in to see new developments. I have some forthcoming projects that I am really excited about. So, I hope you'll click over and take a look from time to time. Please feel free to leave comments, critiques, suggestions and feel free to share the link w/ anyone you think may be interested. Thanks for your support!

The Anchor

When I get ready in the morning, I often listen to the last general conference on my computer. And yesterday, I chose to listen to a talk by Elder Holland. When I first heard it, it was immediately one of my favorites from this session of conference. And as I listened to it yesterday, I was again reminded of how much our Heavenly Father and Savior love us. They are with us at all times that we want/ask them to be. I was feeling a little lonely and down before I listened to the message. But after, I could not help but feel my Heavenly Father's love for me and peace in knowing that they are always there. They love me despite the fact that I am hopelessly flawed. They love me when/despite the fact that I'm pretty, ugly, skinny or chubby, sometimes mean or unthoughtful, bad at doing laundry, silly, lazy, kind, etc...They just love me. All of me. And even though I often feel alone in my life, I know that I never really am. They are close by-watching and protecting. I am so grateful for that knowledge. It has quite literally saved my life by penetrating through the darkness of despair.

"Brothers and sisters, one of the great consolations of this Easter season is that because Jesus walked such a long, lonely path utterly alone, we do not have to do so. His solitary journey brought great company for our little version of that path—the merciful care of our Father in Heaven, the unfailing companionship of this Beloved Son, the consummate gift of the Holy Ghost, angels in heaven, family members on both sides of the veil, prophets and apostles, teachers, leaders, friends. All of these and more have been given as companions for our mortal journey because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the Restoration of His gospel. Trumpeted from the summit of Calvary is the truth that we will never be left alone nor unaided, even if sometimes we may feel that we are. Truly the Redeemer of us all said, “I will not leave you comfortless. [My Father and] I will come to you [and abide with you].”" Jeffrey R. Holland 2009

Happy in Newport...

Morgan invited me to go to Newport Beach with his family and him this weekend. They had extra tickets to a Dodgers game on Saturday and a free place to stay with them in Newport Beach-so how could I refuse? I got to hang out with his brother Brian and his wife and his sister Hannah, her husband and their three cute boys.

We visited my favorite restaurant in Laguna Beach-had to eat on the roof, of course!

We visited some local art galleries, and Morgan found a friend.

Found an old fashioned telephone booth and had to snap a few pics...

For some reason, this archway fascinated Morgan, and he insisted we take some more pics

We rode bikes on the boardwalk (I am imitating Morgan's mean face that he often gives the camera)

Visited Coronado Island

Take 1

Take 2

Final Take

I had a blast in Cali this weekend, so thanks to Morgan and his family!