Thanks Giving

Yes indeed, it is that time of year. I just love Thanksgiving. I have been quite horrible at having an "attitude of gratitude" for a majority of this year so far. I suppose that is because this has been quite a hard year for me in a lot of ways. But maybe one of the reasons it has been so bad is because I haven't been grateful for everything that I really have been blessed with. So here is my attempt to really look at this year and remember the good things that have happened.

1. At the beginning of the year, I still lived at an apartment complex and was in the best ward ever, at least in my opinion. I am so grateful for the relationships I was able to create with the bishopric in that ward specifically. The 1st counselor became my dad away from home, and for that I am truly grateful. And the bishop became very close to me as well. Last semester is when I felt my life was crashing down, and these 2 men never grew tired of my breaking down and were always more than willing to give me a blessing at a moments notice. I could talk to them about anything and everything, and I will never forget them.

2. I am SO grateful for my job. The guys that I work with have been just so fun. I've been able to do a lot of fun things (for free!) thanks to my job. Not only are my guys great, but all of my coworkers are so great as well. I have really been able to create some amazing friendships there, and I don't know what I would do without it!

3. I have been taking the 1st half of the Old Testament this semester and wow has it been amazing! I tried reading the Old Testament on my own at one point, and I just wasn't getting anything out of it. But now it's like all of these new truths have been opened up to me, and it's been awesome!

4. So background real quick- McDonald's used to have these plastic chicken nuggets with halloween costumes on them for their happy meals toys every year for halloween. My mom thought they were SO cute and therefore decided to collect them all. My brother and I would always want to play with them, and my mom pretty much forbade it. We did it anyway of course... but she would always get on our case about playing with them because I guess she thought we would lose them or something. So I know it sounds silly, but the halloween nuggets are a special little halloween thing that our family has. This year, to my utter surprise, she sent me a package for halloween, and in it was the nuggets! I couldn't believe it, and it actually brought a tear to my eye. haha. For that I am grateful

5. One of my best friends, Justin, moved down to Arizona a few years ago. It was very sad for me, but we still stayed in touch and I always looked forward to our phone conversations. Well as of a couple months ago, he is back in Utah! Yes, it's SLC instead of Provo, but I am still so excited to be able to spend time with him on a regular basis as opposed to having to make due with phone conversations. He is the most happy, upbeat person ever, and I just love being around him for it! So as you can probably already tell, I am very grateful for Justin.

6. I moved into a new place in the fall. I was a little afraid because the girl I was supposed to be rooming with decided to drop out, which left me living with 5 strangers. I haven't had the best of luck with random roommates in the past, but it has turned out to be a great living situation. All of my roommates are awesome and we all get along really well. For that, I am truly grateful.

7. So yes, this is probably silly to a lot of you, but I am very grateful for my iphone. I've had it for a few months now, and it has truly changed my life! I have all information literally at my fingertips. I can keep track of my finances, look up movie times, get directions to anywhere, etc. It has truly been an amazing thing to have.

8. I am very grateful for my personal journal, for it keeps me sane on a regular basis. Without it, I would probably be in an institution. :)

9. I decided to subscribe to TIME magazine a month ago or so, and I am very grateful for it. I feel like I actually know what is going on in the world, and it has made me more educated, therefore making me a better conversationalist. I often find myself tying what I read in TIME into daily conversations.

10. I am very grateful for my friend Tasha. She is so amazing. She is the most loving, caring, selfless person I know. And I can learn so much from her example. I am very blessed to have her in my life.

Well there's my ten of 2009. More updates to come!

November is HERE!

2009 is quickly coming to an end... and I'm not sure how I feel about that. This year has gone by really fast, and yet I feel like I haven't accomplished much of anything. If anything, it hasn't been an awesome year at all. I suppose some years have to be like that. It's not that this year has been oh my word awful, it's just been kinda blah. I need to be better about being more productive with my time, and I mean really! Now that I've got that little tid bit off my chest, onto more important things. This past week has been ok I supposed. The weekend, however, was interesting to say the least. I went on this blind date- long story. And boy was it awkward! It was with this guy that is 27, in the military, drives a jeep, etc. I don't think the conversation could have been more forced. I know I'm not the most outgoing person in the world, and I know that in general I have the tendancy to be extremely awkward in social situations. This being said, I feel like I have the right to harp on this guy and his utter lack of being able to have a conversation at all! The date was in Salt Lake, meaning that we had close to an hour there and back to just be by ourselves, talking. I guess my main problem is that he did not ask ONE question about myself. Not ONE!!! Isn't that how conversation works these days? I mean, it wasn't filled with a bunch of awkward silence. But that's just because I had to wrack my brain constantly for questions to ask him, and it quite literally drove me nuts! There's only so much you can ask a person if they won't give you something to go off of, right? Oh well, I guess not all dates will be awesome. I'm just extremely disappointed that there are people out there who haven't figured some common sense things out... haha

On another note, I have decided to start a card making business! I have been making homemade cards for friends and family for a lot of the holidays for the past few years and I have realized that I really do have a talent for this. So why not make profit? I'm not usually very confident in my talents and abilities, but in this I am. So I have already started to make some Christmas cards. It takes me quite a while to come up with a concept and then make the card, so I figure I'll be ready to sell cards in 6 months to a year's time. But I'm really excited about this because I just think it could really work out, if I'm willing to put the time into it. So yeah, that's what has been on my mind as of late. Hopefully more to come soon!