AN EASTER MESSAGE

A BRITISH COUNTDOWN: 2 DAYS

It has been on my calendar for a month now. People are stopping me at church to share in my enthusiasm. And I've just found out there are recipes. RECIPES! No, I haven't confused my dates. I am fully aware that Wills and Kate are not getting married in two days. What I am talking about here is Doctor Who. He's back and I can hardly wait.

Those fantastic scenes were shot in my very own state of Utah. And I didn't even head out to the shoot to do some stalking. It is called restraint, my friends, an immense amount of restraint.

REALLY, REALLY BIG GAME

See, even our worstest enemies (I refrained from booing during a few particular bits) think so and are wishing us luck:

And please don't even think of trying to contact me tonight during the game.

IDEAS IN THE SHOWER

Okay, so I don't usually get ideas in the shower (I tried to pay attention today to what it is I do think about in the shower and it could mostly be summed by a list of what I'm doing and need to do next--as in what body part I'm cleaning and what body part I'm cleaning next--I do love a list) however I'm strongly considering having some (perhaps if I increased my shower time) so I could write them down here:

found here
spotted here

Dreaming of Moving

You know how life sometimes kind of gets in a bit of a rut? And people ask you what is going on and you literally can't think of a single thing to tell them--much less a single interesting thing? Well, of late, that has been me. Sure, I could have told you about how I am drinking 10 cups of water a day (well up from my 2 or so of 2 months ago). Or I could tell you how I've finally figured out how to get 2 fruits and 3 veggies into my diet on a regular basis--really shouldn't have been as hard as it was. Rather than dwell on these less than interesting things, though, I thought I would share a bit of a crush I have on this address stamp:

I am absolutely smitten. All I really need before I get one is a great address!

Found here.

Spotted here.

Remains of a Snowman

Could this possibly mean the actual arrival of Spring?

Reporting Day: March

I really don't feel like reporting in which is probably a really good indication of my need to report in--not that I wasn't reasonably good.

Year-long Goals:

1. Read 12 Nonfiction books: Read "How We Fight" by Dominic Tierney--a really interesting look at how we (Americans) fight different types of wars--why we accept thousands of casualties in a war against a state but relatively few against insurgents, etc. This puts me at 3 for the year. Right on track!

2. Read 2008-2010 to-read list: When I last reported I had finished the 2008 to-read list and was moving through the 2009 to-read list (I believe I had 2 books left on this list). Since then I started and stopped a nearly unreadable book and have checked out the final book on my 2009 list--all 900 pages of that book are still sitting on my bookshelf. (This was, of course, in addition to reading all the books not on my 2009 list) Will be quite happy if I get 2009 completed by the end of this month.

3. Read the New Testament: I'm into John now and right on track.

4. Attend the Temple twice a month: I absolutely didn't think I was going to get this one finished this month due to some very poor planning but then on the very last day of the month my afternoon completely opened up and I was able to make that second trip to the temple!

5. Go someplace new: Still haven't thought about this one much.

6. Write 12 thank you cards: Oh, I am bad!

Monthly Goals:

1. Drink 6 cups of water daily: I think I missed 2 days this month.

2. Eat 2 fruits daily: I think I missed 3 days this month--but I was feeling ill so eating wasn't a priority.

3. Eat 3 veggies daily: Same as the fruits. Also I would just like it noted here how, despite the missed days, hard I worked on this particular goal--as in there were a number of days that I was eating spinach as a bedtime snack. For the most part, though, I'm getting pretty good about getting my veggies in during normal working hours.

4. Exercise 30 minutes 3 times a week: I rocked this one!

And the end result: better looking skin, glossier hair, and I'm down 5 pounds. Not only that, four days into the new month and healthy eating is still a habit (I know, it is only 4 days but still...).

Goals for April:

May was going to be my clean/declutter/organize month but I've been bitten by the Spring cleaning bug so I thought I'd move this one up a month:

1. Go though entire wardrobe and try everything on and then get rid of everything that doesn't fit, make me happy, or perhaps has holes.

2. Organize closet and dresser.

3. Organize bookshelves--including catch-all boxes on bookshelves.

4. Clean walls, doors, baseboards, windows, blinds, and carpet of bedroom.

5. Organize pantry.

6. Flip mattress and wash pillows.

It Was So Sweet While It Lasted

I didn't blog last week because I was caught up in the build up of BYU basketball and figured you didn't want to be reading about this particular obsession and then I didn't blog because they lost and I was practically in mourning--although, with the exception of that horrible statement, "if only..." that continues to run through my mind, I really was pretty much recovered by Saturday night. Then this week I just haven't had/haven't made the time to sit and blog--very sad for me because I also haven't had the chance to read my favorite blogs.

I'm back now and, while you still may not want to read about my BYU obsession, I just can't completely move on without at least one more Jimmer post to say this season was just so much fun and to apologize for the few times I did cringe when you shot it from way out there--lesson learned, you can shoot it from there. So thanks Jimmer and best of luck to you (and Emery too).

And to all the haters that are jumping all over themselves of late, have you nothing better to do than to make personal attacks against a fine young man, with a great work ethic, who has been a whole lot of fun to watch, and never made any personal statements of grandeur? Here's hoping that some day in the near future you find yourselves Jimmered.

And now on to baseball (Yankees) and soccer (Real Salt Lake).

St. Patrick's Day

Cause I am lame (and consumed by basketball), here is the same clip I gave you last St. Patrick's Day:

Of course, my fondest and most sincerest best wishes still go out to you on this most important of holidays.

The Crack of the Bat

So perhaps this will just be one of those weeks when everything seems to revolve around sports. Last night I had the chance to watch a few innings of my first baseball game of the season. Hurrah! And while my team (the Yankees) did go on to lose to Them (the Red Sox), I think there is just about nothing as lovely as the sound of the crack of a bat.

All in all, it is probably good that I have baseball coming at me just around the corner because according to every single college basketball expert my picks for the tournament are completely and absolutely wrong.

And now for a short song to get us all in the mood:

Going Dancing

It's National NCAA Basketball Bracket Day (or something like that) and I thought I would get in on the act with my predictions. Ever the BYU optimist (and the supporter of the underdog--I've just noticed I don't have a single no. 1 seed getting into the Elite Eight and only one no. 1 seed getting to the Sweet Sixteen which realistically is just not going to happen), my predictions are as follows:

We'll see how all that goes (and sorry I'm just not quite computer literate enough to give you a better image).

What They Say Is True

You know how THEY always say that drinking water is good for your skin? And how I have really, really terrible skin. And how, even though I have often heard the advice about water being good for my skin, I have never really tried it out (or at least not for a long enough period of time to count)--cause I am a really terrible water drinker. Well, it turns out they were right: water is really good for my skin. Not, like, good enough to take a picture and post it or anything (cause I still have terrible skin--just not really, really terrible skin) but last night, as I was washing my face, I noticed that my skin does look remarkable so much better than it normally does--except that patch under my nose that is currently red and raw from the amount of tissues I have been forced to use of late.

And to add to my triumph: I only add to arise from bed once last night to visit the bathroom!!!

I know they are small, insignificant joys, but they are my small, insignificant joys.

Dreaming

So I have been having some fairly odd and just a little bit freaky dreams of late.  For example, in one recent dream I was sent down into the basement of my parents house (which was unfinished about 5 times the actual size) to use a toilet set up in the middle of the basement without any walls around it. It was all dark and creepy but I wasn't really bothered by that. As I was finishing up, my cousin (who bares no resemblance to any actual cousin of mine) came down to check to see if I was okay. I went back up stairs to find my mother freaked out because she apparently knew that there was some weird guy stalking me and that he was in the basement. Rather than do anything about we decided to go out to dinner (of course) and while out to dinner I decided that I needed to check my closets before going to bed. Well, after dinner I forgot that I was going to check my closets and just went to bed. At some point in the night I woke up and remembered that I was going to check my closets so I got up and checked them only to find that a whole bunch of my personal belongings had been stolen. I woke my family up and this time we decided to go down into the basement to find my stalker. We did this and found him clinging to the ceiling in a corner much like a spider. Then we were suddenly outside on a mountainside and my stalker who now resembled something of a gorilla was carrying a blond girl in a white nightgown. Then suddenly he jumped off the side of the mountain with the girl and fell hundreds of feet into a river. Then I woke up.

Now the thing that was really freaky about this particular dream was how scared I felt throughout the entire dream (as in really, really, sick-to-my-stomach scared).

Next dream: I am out driving around with my four-year-old niece when I realize that I need to have permission from her pre-school to have her during the day. So I drive over to her pre-school (which isn't in reality her pre-school) and find that the front of the building has been taken over by pygmy goats who begin to ram into my legs (it hurt enough in my dream that I was somewhat surprised that I didn't wake up with bruises). I left my niece outside with the goats (naturally) while I went inside to explain to the school that I had my niece but need their permission to keep her with me the rest of the day. They (naturally) decided that they would do an eye test to see if I was really her aunt and had permission to be with my niece. Then I woke up.

Last night's dream: I dreamed that I was blogging and put a video clip of Jimmer Fredette up on my blog. Then I woke up.

And as I have nothing else to really blog about I thought I might go ahead and make this last dream come true and hope the others never do:

Video found at www.jimmer32.com/

Reporting Day - February

So it is time to check in once again and report on my New Year's resolutions. And so far, I'm feeling pretty good:

Yearly resolutions:

1. Read 12 Nonfiction books: I've now read 2 and am right on track.

2. Read 2008-2010 to read lists: I completed what was left on my 2008 list and have 3 books left on my 2009 list

3. Read the New Testament: I'm into Luke

4. Attend the temple twice a month: did it! and didn't even wait until the last week of the month

5. Go someplace new: still thinking about this one

6. Write 12 thank you cards: wrote 3

Monthly goal: Prayer

Like I mentioned last month, this was a difficult goal to track but I feel like I accomplished what I wanted (more frequent and more thoughtful prayers) so I'm going to call this one good as well.

March's monthly goal: Health

This one is one I can actually track (yay!) and so far I am doing a perfect job of it!--okay so it is only day 2 of the month but still I'll take perfect even for just a couple of days:

1. Drink 6 cups of water every day (i.e. get to know my bathroom better)

2. Eat 2 pieces of fruit every day

3. Eat 3 servings of vegetables every day

4. Exercise for 30 minutes 3 times a week.