a tall personality

"Some people use higher education like a sports car that goes 220 miles per hour...driven slowly at 20, so everyone can see you.  Use your education to it's fullest potential, drive it 220 miles per hour, use it for what it's for, make it matter that you were here." -Wes Moore (paraphrased) "Everyone's destiny is an important to the long term safety and development of our community as ours own." I got to hear an INSPIRING speaker today.  Wes Moore.  He wrote a book that parallels his successful life with a death row inmate's.  The kicker is...their beginning circumstances were shockingly similar.  It explores the relationship between the individual and the community and is pretty darn amazing.  I haven't finished it yet but I already recommend it.  It's called The Other Wes Moore. I like his book, but I really liked him as well.  During his book signing he made a true and honest point to make eye contact with each of us, shake our hand

A few weekends ago I went ice climbing!  It was one of the most fun weekends I have had in a long time!  And one of the greatest lessons I learned was...you don't have to actually shower to make your hair look like you showered that day! I was introduced to DRY SHAMPOO You guys gotta try this stuff. Today was kind of crazy.  I went running, had the busiest day at work in the world including making a few people more upset than people normally get with me, running into someone else's car, staying late at work, and going to two birthday parties for awesome friends. I have been trying to make an effort to go to things like birthday parties or random gatherings that I could probably skip and not be missed.  I have been thinking a lot about what it means to be part of a community and how that's one of the most effective ways to enact change in yourself and in the world around you.  It makes the organization of my and many other churches make sense.  It's

Today is my half birthday! So naturally I went to my first Jazz game!  It was pretty cool, I mean the NBA is a big deal and sometimes I watch them on TV but I was there for reals! AND the backpack that I'm actually going to keep (4th one) arrived in the mail!  Gregory Jade 70.  I love it.  And it's called Jade.  And my wilderness name is Jade Eagle...I'll explain that in a forthcoming post I think. Ok grateful things 1. I was kind of afraid about supervision I had this morning.  I kept thinking of hard questions my supervisor would ask and what I would say.  But it was more of just "hey how are things going?  Tell me about your clients so I can give you encouragement and new ideas!"  Which was just what I needed. 2. I thought the chicken I had for lunch today was pretty darn delicious, and usually I am less than impressed with cafeteria food.  It reminded me of chicken my mom used to make.  It wasn't quite THAT good, but definitely a

My friend and I decided to have a competition of who could spot more Alaska plates.  Obviously I am going to win as I am very skilled at this task.  But it will be fun for him to try :) So this is the only picture I have to share from my phone today Grateful things: 1.  My friends.  Today I felt pretty sad, but I have a couple of super super wonderful friends who don't have to try very hard to create an environment that washes sadness away.  Including a motorcycle ride.  That works every time 2. My kitty cat Mika and how she comes when I call her and she follows me around outside like a puppy.  It's adorable.  Also, if you want some new running/dance music try Mika- Stardust, Tah Dah, and Origin of Love.  My cat is named after one of my favorite artists. 3. My sister is going to have her baby any day now!  I feel a special tie to this baby since she is in my same place in the family (girl close in age to an awesome older sister).  I'm so excited to meet her and s

Grateful things: 1. It was sunny and I got up and ready early enough to walk to work 2. My new backpack came in the mail (third one is the charm hopefully?) 3. Frisbee is tonight :)  I really have come to love my friends I play frisbee with.  At first I was very intimated by the fast-paced games Monday nights but now I just love it. 

This weekend I have been pondering how so much of my behavior is driven by fear.  I have found other reasons to explain and justify it but ultimately I think I'm just afraid.  The list of my primary fears looks like a pretty standard list I would say.  It still shocked me to admit this to myself because I thought I did not have these fears in me, or that I had already rooted them out.  Upon further investigation I found that they actually control many aspects of my life. 1. I'm afraid that other people will think that I am not valuable, or not as valuable as someone else. This explains why I can be kind of a know it all, and why I sometimes find myself withdrawing from groups where I am not a focus of attention in some way.  I think I have fed and nurtured this fear and let it grow wild in the past few years. 2. I'm afraid of not having control in relationships that could be hurtful I always thought I was mostly "avoidant" in relationships...but in thinking

This is kind of a corny thing to do but it fulfills several purposes 1. I have been wanting to get into the habit of writing more every-day things on here and not taking months and months to perfect a post 2. My work offers health incentives, one of them is keeping a gratitude journal, 3 things a day for a month.  They give me money for being grateful, and I am grateful for that! 3. I have heard doing this actually increases your quality of life!  Maybe that should have been reason #1....or maybe this was a countdown to the most important reason.  Tricked ya. 1. I'm grateful for Lillian going to the REI garage sale to look for gear for me while I was at work 2. I'm so incredibly grateful to have a job that I don't mind working on Saturday that much.  Last summer was unemployment, a million job interviews, close calls, near misses, hopes up, hopes crashed, messed up shoulder and then finally A JOB.  It sounds simplistic to say getting a job solved all of my problems.

Last week I had the opportunity to go to open house for the LDS Gilbert Temple with a bunch of members of my family!  This was really special for me, I had never been to a temple open house before!  It meant a lot to me that members of my family expressed interest in seeing it too.  I don't expect people to be interested in my church, even casually or out of curiosity.  But it means SO MUCH when they take the time and care to ask their questions.  That was my favorite part of the whole thing, answering questions. Which has led me to reflect... Dear Everyone, I want to make this short so people will read it because what I'm about to say is really really important to me.  I hope that any family or friends who ever have musings or questions or hear "facts" about the church know that they can use me as a fact checker!  There is A LOT of bad information out there about the LDS Church, lots of good information too but it hard to tell them apart sometimes.  Al