Habla Castellano?

Working in a Mexican restaurant has spurred me to rent a Spanish learning disc set.......

Unfortunately, with my Italian grandma speaking to me all the time in her Italian accent, I have the HARDEST  time pronouncing these words the Spanish way!  I didn't even realize how much of an influence she had on me, haha!  I should probably just stick with Italian.  Language and me do NOT mix.  

Of Books and Art...

I have come to appreciate the Provo Library.  Not only is it a beautiful building, laced in history of the ancient BYU days before it was BYU, but inside you find some great things!

For one, I like going in and seeing the art!  I think these were some high school pictures.....I guessed by the content, as a lot of them were kinda dark and conflicted....but some of them were AWESOME.  I was impressed, and it made me remember MY high school art days:

This next one was pretty weird:

This one was so realistic, and I think they did it in pen:

Anyway, y'all should stop into the library and check it out one of these days.  And you are bound to see the homeless guy that hangs out in the front.  One day he told me that my Old Navy sandals (that are silver with little fake pearl looking beads on them) were worth a lot of money because they were real Mother-of-Pearl pearls, and he knew it for a fact.  haha....

UCSF Hospital ROCKS

My amazing and charming cousin/sister Christamae has been in the hospital forEVER as usual.....and the doctors told her parents to prepare themselves, as they said she would probably only have a few weeks left.

I got the news from my mom and scrambled to get this week off of work so I could go visit with her. It's GRADUATION week so talk about crazy..if you don't know, I work at a restaurant so its like asking to squeeze orange juice out of a pear....

My managers somehow had some miscommunication, and they scheduled me not only a full schedule this week, but the FULLEST schedule I have ever had.  CRAZY! I was so mad, and so hurt, and so upset, and so stressed out all at the same time.  I approached my manager on duty, and he told me to talk to the manager in charge of scheduling.  I didn't want to start bawling right there, so I just said okay and left.  In the meantime, the manager I had spoken to was running around the restaurant asking servers to pick up any shift they could.

My AMAZING coworkers picked up whatever they could, despite their finals and already full schedules, and made a way for me to go home! I could have cried!  And this manager has a reputation for being a big jerk...so to see his concern and efforts really made me look at him differently!

Then I talk to my grandma and my mom on Sunday night before I am about to leave, and some nurse at UCSF was able to put a PIC line in my cousin, which is a very precarious proceedure, and only ONE Nurse in the whole hospital was able to do it!  So she is doing MUCH BETTER!!!!!!!!  And so as a result, after much worry and what not, I am feeling confident enough and at peace enough to stick around here, at least for now.

Talk about a stressful week....I was worried all week that she wouldn't make it, we are like sisters prettymuch, and with all the pain she has gone through in her life, and all the medical problems, its always touch and go, but I am so grateful that this time she pulled through.  I am really praying that she gets to stay alive long enough to accomplish her desires to finish college and to be a benefit to mankind!! (though she already is a great power and strength in her family's lives!  As is her sister who suffers from the same disease)

The List.

Alright, so after analyzing a dating situation, and seeing some things that maybe wouldn't work out in the end (i.e., we didn't complement each other all that well), I decided to tell the boy that logically it just doesn't seem like its a good idea.  Boy decided to argue with me for an hour over it, to which I listened and yes he had some good points to make.  And yes I miss talking to him and hanging out.  And it wasn't so much of an argument as a discussion about my concerns and how he feels in response to those.   How much emotion is expected to be invested at this point of maybe 6 dates, and why am I feeling like I am a big jerk especially since his Facebook status since has reflected his innermost sadness...

I revert back to my "List".  This isn't the list created in Young Womens, oh no, this is the list collected after having several dating experiences and coming to realize what I want.  Anyone interested in reading it, I'll put it up here, feel free to ignore it if you want:

   Playful, yet able to settle down and be serious when the time is right
   Puts the Lord first
   Sense of humor
   Cares about me and really wants me to be happy.  Selfish? Maybe. But I think thats how it should be, and you should        both be more concerned about the other person than yourself.  
   Values his relationships with his family and with his future spouse as the most important relationships he will have
  Attuned to how he feels and how those around him feel, and able to handle those feelings in a mature way

·         Can separate his feelings from his thoughts and step back from situations instead of getting all heated about them

·         Friendly, warm, affectionate and outgoing

·         Responsible

·         Has passions in life and goes for them

·         Loves his mom and sisters and treats them well

·         Reaches out a hand to be a friend to all those around him

·         Tries to get to know people

·         Someone you can have deep conversations with without bogging you down

·         Has a positive outlook on life

·         Has a great faith in God and in the Atonement

·         High standards—but not the kind of person that judges others or can’t relate to others

·         Someone who will never have pornography problems and who keeps his mind clean and virtuous

·         Realistic and grounded

·         Sincere in all that he does

·         Humble

·         Someone who doesn’t seek attention for the sake of selfishness

·         ….Unselfish

So     Someone I could talk to for a long time, be myself around, and feel happier and uplifted and light when I'm around him

·         Kind

·         Honest in all things

·         Able to make and keep commitments and promises

·         Confident and decisive

·         Takes others’ opinions into consideration but has opinions of his own as well without being stubborn about them

·         Physically active and preferably stronger than me…haha J  

·         LOVES to LAUGH!  (not that annoying, constant, everything-has-to-be-a-joke, but how instead of worrying and groaning and complaining, he can laugh about things, laugh at himself, and laugh with others)

·         Has good relationships with his family members

·         Isn’t controlling

Go     Good at self control-very important, but not to the point where he becomes controlling of others and tries to control things that are out of his control.  

·         Knows who he is and is himself in every situation

·         Can pull me out of my shell because we are such good friends and I can just be myself around him without feeling guarded in any way.  

·         Manliness

NNow, call this list dumb, but you know you have one too!  I don't think my list is a bad list.  But at the same time sometimes I wonder how much my list interferes with my dating choices.  And sometimes I wonder what needs to be crossed out, and if this person even exists.  Logic versus emotion, the ever-going battle.  

Well, it is hereby way stinking late....So, I am going to get off of blogger now and be a good girl.  And I am also going to miss all my friends leaving! What a crazy day.  

3 Cups of Tea

I just finished reading "3 Cups of  Tea", by Greg Mortenson.  He was a mountain climber who decided to hike one of the highest mountains in the world, which he called "K2".  It is in the Middle East in a beautiful mountain range.

The story talks about him losing his way on his descent from the mountain and finding himself in a remote village with dirt poor, yet very happy and wonderful people.  He learns that these people have no school, and he makes a promise to build them one, somehow, someway, despite his complete lack of funds--in fact, Greg didn't even own a bed or a room of his own.

He ends up going through all kinds of things, yet he keeps his promise, and about a year later he finally has the funds to build this school.  To make a long story short, he was inspired to continue building schools and educating the youth of the Middle East, which ended up being a fight against terrorism.

I was just thinking, Wow.  If we all had some good cause we were passionate about, and wasted our lives away in making it possible, what a fulfilling and beautiful existence we would have.  I wonder sometimes as I sit at my laptop and scan my facebook friends and play on my blog and read books in the sunlight on my porch, What am I doing with my life?  Oh, just got a text from so-and-so, there's a party tonight.  Dang why won't my legs tan any faster...and I have to repaint my nails, they have been pink way too long....I wonder if I should keep those new running shoes, they don't feel quite as cushy as my last ones....Well, back to work in twenty minutes...great....I wish I could just sit here.....

We may not be able to do all Greg did, as I believe the Lord led him and prepared him for such things, however I believe it was because of his passion and his desire to do good that allowed the Lord to provide such opportunities. I hope I can find a passion like that!

Feeling Better about that...

I realized its okay, I just really don't have the feelings for that guy that I should at this point, so onward ever onward.

Not to mention, I am sooo happy being single.....I know, I know.  True happiness comes when we find the right person and we aren't really going to be happy until we make those sacrifices and have that commitment.  But at the moment I am just feeling at peace about my decision.

Oh, and I got new shoes and I LOVE the smell of new shoes.  When your running shoes start to look and smell disgusting, its just that time. ha :)

And another piece of info, I think I am going HOME Next week!!!! YAAAAYYYY!!! Don't tell my family--they never read my blog anyways.......

Am I Crazy?

Do you ever wonder why you do things?

Well, I did something today that was pretty hard to do. I have been feeling a lot of anxiety this week about a particular dating situation, and decided that anxiety usually means it isn't such a good situation, or it just isn't right.  I am sad that I made that decision, but would rather not be filled with anxiety about it.

The question is--is that anxiety coming from me or from the Lord telling me it just isn't right?

Ugh...such a girl. Ha!

Oh, Crap.

After spending about 3 hours on my blog, I ruined it.  RUINED IT.....I have to start all over! DANG IT!! ugh...get me off this computer....And it was just ONE LITTLE CLICK!! ....

President Uchtdorf, Welcome to Los Hermanos!

So the other day at work, on Monday, I was off and just waiting for who knows what, and I happened to be standing at the host desk reluctantly as a couple of women started to come into the building.  I looked down at the hosting paper and looked up, asking them how many.  I looked down as I wrote the number 4, and looked up again, and about a foot in front of my face stood President Uchtdorf, the Second Counselor in the First Presidency of my Church!!! The thought came to my mind...I just saw you on TV yesterday.  Your picture is on my WALL.  Uchtdorf.  President. Whoa..... I am sure my blanched face gave me away, as I looked down and I said, very shyly, "Okay...um...right this way."

I led President Uchtdorf down the aisles as I asked him, his wife and his daughter how their day was and if they would prefer a booth or a table.  His wife, brightly and smiling, asked "Oh! Can we have a table out there in that pretty area?"  We walked towards the doorway to the Garden Room, and President Uchtdorf spoke in German to his wife, pointed to a table right in the middle and asked if they could take that one.  Then he had second thoughts, as there were many people in the room, most of which were probably LDS and probably recognized him, and then he asked me very kindly if he could take a booth in a separate aisle away from the Garden Room. I led them to the booth and in my drunken stupor kept bumping into him.  I tried placing their menus and silverware and that's when I kept running into him as they were trying to sit down at the same time. Haha....When finally they were seated, I looked at them all, smiled, looked at President Uchtdorf, smiled at him, and he smiled right back.  I felt like he looked right into my soul, and at that moment I felt like I was doing alright, because I could look at a Prophet in the eye and feel as though I was in the temple, and I could with confidence feel comfortable in his presence.  What a great feeling!  And then I told them their server would be with them in just a few minutes.

And that is my experience meeting and having the opportunity to very briefly and in a very small way serve a very great servant of the Lord.  For the record, our manager didn't make him pay for his meal, and she thanked him for a talk he gave awhile back, and he thanked her and his server profusely, and gave our manager a big hug as she began tearing up as what he said meant a lot to her.

Come to Los Hermanos, you never know who might show up!

To the Sisters

To anyone that didn't get the chance to see Saturday morning conference--and maybe you did get to see it--Sister Beck gave a great talk to the ladies. I think that we all need to listen to it, take it in, and implement it.

A couple of things really stood out. For one, she basically said that we don't need to sit around feeling under appreciated for what we do--to suck it up and quit being babies that need patted on the back for everything we do. Ha! Loved it! She said some other things of prime importance as well, like keeping faithful and especially doing those things that will allow us to be in tune with the revelation that we desperately need as we put forth our labors in our homes and in the world around us on a day-to-day basis. Get to work, ladies, keep your priorities in order (namely, your families) and stop feeling sorry for yourselves! ;) I love it! Thank you Sister Beck!

I think that as we remember to keep our focus on what we are supposed to be doing, to keep our priorities in the right order, we will experience great joy because we won't be so focused on ourselves. It is refreshing to get correction, as oftentimes I watch our faithful Priesthood holders taking it like a man as they get corrected in nearly every conference talk directed towards them.