Halfway Point

We are halfway through the year and this is how I am faring with my goals:

1) Half Marathon - Running another half marathon on Monday. Done and Done. Note: This will be a SLOW half marathon but 13.1 miles is 13.1 miles. 

2) Triathlon - Hmmm, so far, I haven't really progressed on this goal, but I might replace it with the St. George Marathon that Darren and I got into!!! Whoo-hoo!

3) Learn Spanish - Okay, I am actually doing really well in this department. Better than before. I can somewhat be understood (because I am surrounded by kind hearted women who understand why I am TRYING to say). But I can always improve. A lot. 

 

4) No Soda in 2009 - I am almost done with May and am happy to report I have not fallen off the wagon (though there have been some temptations). I do and always will love carbonation. I think it is a Hatch thing - all of that Mexican soda or something but it really really makes me happy. So 6 more months, I can survive and then I will get a HUGE big gulp to reward myself. 

5) De-clutter - This comes in waves. In some ways, i am way more organized. Not so much in other ways. I am getting a little more organized but the paperwork! Why is there always papers around? Ones that I can't throw away?

6) Photography - I haven't done much in this department. I am signed up for Wendy Schultz class but the assignments have not started yet. I need to take a photoshopping class BEFORE I get into Wendy's class. Hmmm, I might just need to bite the bullet and take another class. 

7) Reupholster -  I am actually looking at various thrift stores for such a chair. One I can recover. And not be bitter because I wasted a lot of money. It is a start. I am not finding a community class that has a 4 week course. That would be ideal. Not expensive and short. My kind of class. 

8) Slow down - This is a work in progress. I have been gradually just been letting things go. Oh well, they don't get done. That is hard for me to do. I try to do EVERYTHING. But lately I have been happy with things the way they are. And slowing down gives me more quality time with the man friend. I like that. 

9) Travel Somewhere New - Okay so we are going to Maui in 2 weeks. That is someplace new and it is like a foreign country because we have to go across an ocean to get there. Haha! I am so excited.  I think we are staying in the US for our travels this year. We are headed to Dallas and Austin in September (I have never been to Texas, sad but true). And there is talk about a New York City trip in the fall. So I can wear a cute coat and pretend I am a local. Not sure about foreign travels but Darren and I are always on the hunt for a new trip. 

10) Family time - I don't think I can make it to the reunions this year but I have been seeing a bit more of the family. I think an AZ trip needs to be on the horizon. See all of my peeps down there! But i have seen a lot of my family. In Utah, Vegas and California. And of course, I see Darren every night. It has been lovely. 

11) Spiritual Health - I think the thing that has helped the most in this department has been slowing down. It has been nice. Something that has helped has simply been not watching TV on some nights. Which is easier in the summer, I don't have as many shows. :) I feel like I am making progress. Temple, calling, personal, family. It has been a nice year. 

12) Piano - Due to a territory change, I haven't been able to take lessons, but I have been able to get a uber- simplified hymn book and practicing a few times a week on the keyboard that Stephanie and Jon lent us. I actually don't have to play for church because they called a lovely woman to come and help us. But it is nice just to practice reading the notes. It has been fun. 

See? I am making progress. Maybe not as much as I want in some areas but I still have 6 more months. 

Mosaic Me

I am following Jenny's lead.

If I was a mosaic, I would look like:

want to make one of your own? 

step 1: go to flickr.com

setp 2: in another window open http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/mosaic.php

step 3: choose 4 columns, 3 rows

step 4: answer the following questions in the search bar of flicker. pick your favorite one on the first page and paste it into your mosaic

1. What is your first name?

2. What is your favorite food?

3. What school did you go to?

4. What is your favorite color?

5. Who is your celebrity crush?

6. Favorite drink?

7. Dream vacation?

8. Favorite dessert?

9. What you want to be when you grow up?

10. What do you love most in life?

11. One word to describe you.

12. Your nickname. 

What do you look like?

Valentine's Day 2009

Valentine's Day has been perfect. Not really in the sense of something huge and romantic - Darren and I are not Valentine's Day people. Maybe a small gift and card. I didn't really want anything but I gave Darren a card that looked like this:

I stole the idea from Oh Happy Day. My message said a little something different but that is personal. 

Our day was simple. Clean the house. Mostly cleaning up my messes. I literally stayed in my PJ's all day. We played a rocking game of Monopoly in which Lexi and I won (we were a team and we owned the orange and red properties - of course we won). Then Lexi and I made sugar cookies and went to the night session of Stake conference. Pretty sexy Valentine's Day, huh? Actually it was perfect. 

I love the night session of stake conference but this was needed. Elder Richard Hinckley was there and looks and talks quite a bit like his wonderful father.  He shared some stories about his Dad. He read from one of his father's notebooks and gave us the advice we needed. I am going to paraphrase his message but he mentioned that general authorities of the church are encouraged to not to write talks. They are supposed to show up and let the spirit guide them. 

He talked about how we are living in a time when it is not popular to be a member of the church. That standing up for what is right is sometimes very unpopular and the noise around proposition 8 has affected the church worldwide. He referred to it as a sifting process. He said that as time goes on, it will continue to be difficult but beautiful things can come from adversity (he was referring to Joseph Smith and his words from Liberty Jail). But that we as members of the church treat others with dignity and respect, no matter what their beliefs or their actions against us. We should embrace diversity. 

He said that missionary work is important, we were able to hear the testimony of a recent covert and he focused on us sharing the gospel. We have approx. 57,000 missionaries (he had the exact number but my memory is not as sharp as his). 

And one of his messages that resonated the most was me was something that Elder Uchdorf and his father said, "Do the best you can." Put your family first, serve diligently in your callings and do the best you can. Which is exactly what I needed to hear. Sometimes I seem to be overloaded and I am trying to do too much. Which results in a lot of things getting halfway done. Then I get more frustrated. It is just a simple nice reminder.  Elder Hinckley said that his father was the king of short answers. He shared the message "do the best you can" and one of the brethren told him afterwards that they needed to expect more from the saints, that doing "the best you can" simply wasn't enough. The next time President Hinckley met with the group he told them to do the "VERY best you can." Brilliant. 

So I am going to get back to our Valentine's Day. I think the All-Star dunk contest is tonight and we have it recorded. Don't ever think that married life isn't exciting ;) 

Happy Valentine's Day! 

Dropping like flies.....

So many people have been getting sick!!! My husband, sister, sister-in-laws, co-workers, neighbors - I am scared it is only a matter of time until I drop as well. This respiratory season has been terrible and from a business standpoint I love it. I sell antibiotics. I could make a killing. But as I was sitting in a doctor's office waiting to peddle some drugs, there were people hacking up lungs all around me. This particular office had a pediatrician practice as well and there were soooo many little people running around coughing on everything. Including me :) I am not typically a germophobe, but this season has kind of turned me into one.

I am now a freaky hand washer. Correction, I have always been consistent at washing hands, but now I have now taken it to a level where my hands get chapped more often than not. Every time I see one a container of hand sanitizer, I instinctively reach for it. On average, I am in 9 offices a day that doesn't even include the mini spray bottle of hand sanitizer in my car. So I am washing on the upwards of 20 plus times a day. In hopes I can kill those little guys before they take me down.

Wish me luck!

My newest best friend:

Love that

Let's talk about a few of my newest crushes. Anyone who has seen me in the last 2 weeks has seen me sporting some of my new birthday presents. And I heart all of them.

First my sweetheart bought me this:

A huge bottle of my favorite perfume, Stella. The great part is that I had just ran out of my tiny bottle and was complaining about it. He heard and he bought - I LOVE that he bought it and I LOVE that he listened carefully.

Then I got together with the girls for sushi and was presented with two great presents.

1) Jo Malone Perfume
2) A gift card for Tory Burch, which allowed me to buy these:


Hmmmm - I am a lucky girl! After this treatment, I might want to celebrate birth-month! Thanks again girls!!!

Love this

So I am posting a few of my loves. Seeing how this is love week and all. Of course there are some loves that everyone knows about - husband, family, religion (all in the number one spot) but I want to talk about a few of my favorite things. That maybe everyone might NOT know about.

1st love - Books.

And I mean any book. Whether it be scripture or children's book, cook books, fantasy, sci-fi, romance novels, magazines, instruction manuals - I simply love words. It is rare (or a terrible book) if I don't finish a book within a day or two. It helped that my parents are reading junkies as well. In fact, I don't think I have every seen my Dad without a book in his back pocket.

For every reader there is one book in their past that lit the passion for reading. For me - it was "Little House in the Woods" by Laura Ingalls. I was in first grade and I still remember how exciting it was to imagine the story of a little girl in the Wisconsin woods. From there I was a junkie.
Does anyone else still read children's books? (Harry Potter does not count - but I read that too) I still have a slew of them in my bookcase that I will crack open to read my favorite parts again. Some of my favorites from my little years:

- Anne of Green Gables series
- The Little House on the Prairie series
- A Little Princess
- A Wrinkle in Time
- Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing
- The Little Lame Prince
- The Great Brain series
- Holes (okay I bought that as an adult - I still buy kids books. No judgment please)
- Summer of the Monkeys (simply amazing)

As I have gotten older, I have found some authors that make me chuckle from their clever compilations - Bill Bryson, David Sedaris. Some that leave me in wonder - Hyrum Andrus.

I am going to recommend a book. Probably one of my favorites - at least top 10 but one of the clearest books solely based on the craft of writing. Don't judge the author:


Yeah - that is Stephen King. Creator of some pretty scary stuff. However, he is the creator of some pretty great stories like - The Shawshank Redemption. Trust me, he has a gift - but a lot of the time he uses it for horror. But one book in particular was so fascinating. I loved it. I have owned probably 6 copies and lend them out, never to come back. But I know I could buy it again:
With On Writing, A Memoir of the Craft - you see who Stephen King is - where he gets his ideas, his flaws, his inspiration and most importantly the craft that he loves. Spoken so clearly you wish he wrote more books that didn't leave you with nightmares.

What is your reading love?

PS - there is some language in this book. Just have to give that disclaimer.

Remembering

Last night Gordon Bitner Hinckley passed away at the age of 97. He was the Prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Is it strange to say that I miss him already? I didn't know him personally but have admired and respected him since I was 17. For me, he has been the prophet of my adult life. With his example, tireless energy and constant direction to the members of the Church, I have listened, laughed and tried to be a better person. He was a valiant servant to the Lord and I am grateful to have been an adult member of the Church during his lifetime. When I look at the things he has accomplished in his lifetime, I know I need to work harder.
There were two things that I loved about President Hinckley. The first was his humor. I often found myself chuckling when he would speak because his humor was so abundant. He had a sharp mind and endless energy, and when asked about his longevity, he would reply with a comment such as this, "The idea I try to follow is to go to bed every night and be sure you get up in the morning."

The second thing I adored was his relationship with his wife - Marjorie. When he spoke of her it was with honor and I believe their relationship was real and full of humor. One of the most touching talks I ever heard him deliver was called The Women In Our Lives, soon after he lost his beloved companion. The love and respect between the two of them was very apparent and it was beautifully stated in this comment,

"As I held her hand and saw mortal life drain from her fingers, I confess I was overcome. Before I married her, she had been the girl of my dreams, to use the words of a song then popular. She was my dear companion for more than two-thirds of a century, my equal before the Lord, really my superior. And now in my old age, she has again become the girl of my dreams."

His later stated that, "In our old age my beloved companion said to me quietly one evening, “You have always given me wings to fly, and I have loved you for it.”

His relationship with his sweetheart is one of many examples of his humility, character and love. He was truly an example for all of us and I will miss his sweet spirit.

Happy Birth-Week to Me!!!!!

It is my Birth-week. I started celebrating this holiday about 7 years ago when I realized that my well-meaning family would probably forget my birthday. Unless I took measures to remind them - like email them on my birthday and tell them they have 7 days to respond. Since this helped dramatically, it has become a habit.

In defense of the Brown family, we are all somewhat lame when it comes to remembering birthdays. With 11 kids in our family, I am grateful when I remember half of their birthdays. I would remember them a lot more if they sent out emails - hint, hint!

So I am the big 3-0. And I feel great. I am going out to eat with my husband tonight and the girlies tomorrow night. Low-key and lovely. Sounds like the beginning of a perfect week.

PS - That is a picture of Darren's birthday cake and it has the best frosting in the whole wide world! If you want the recipe, let me know....