A Historic Event

As much as I like to open my big mouth.. I just want to say that I am proud to be an American today and excited to see Obama as president. This is a huge historic event, and I feel blessed to be able to witness it. I have only been able to see part of his speech from this morning but am excited to see it in its entirety.

I finally got a car. I shouldn't say finally since I was only looking for a couple of weeks. But wow, I am relieved to not have to shop anymore. I made the great mistake of test driving a Mazda 6. It was smooth and fast, still zippy and sporty. I felt at home behind the wheel.. and the dealer thought I was a sucker. When he tried to get me to pay $1000 over sticker price I laughed in his face, and kept on hunting. I drove a few Hondas. A Corolla. Even a few American cars... nothing compared. So I found myself a 2005 Mazda 6 and am loving every second of it. What power!

Recently, I discovered a fun little fitness website called sparkpeople.com. It is a social network, and a nutrition/fitness site. It's cool because you can log all of your food and exercise, read message boards, post pictures, etc. I have been doing that for about 2 weeks now. I am following a low fat (30% fat )diet, not eating sweets, counting calories, etc.. So week one I was down 5.5 pounds, and now at the end of week 2 I am down another 3. That's 8.5 pounds so far this year. I am feeling great, and really enjoying the gym. Except for that darn stair climber... I freakin hate that thing, but put in my 30 minutes a day regardless. I am thinking about running a half marathon in September. I am looking for people to run any races with in the meantime, so let me know if you're interested.

People

I have had a lot on my mind lately, and it's hard for me to sort out my thoughts. I've been doing lots of journaling of my own, and felt like blogging my thoughts tonight. I have been (and still am) so caught up in trying to buy a car that I haven't even slowed down to do anythign else. So here I am, test driving a car tonight.. I have the dealer in the back seat, my most wonderful friend Alan in the front seat... and I'm rambling off about my ipod, the laptop I just purchased, and it clicks to me how many "toys" I have accumulated lately.

I have recently been rereading my favorite book, "What Happy People Know." I live by this book. I practice what it teaches, and try and share what it has taught me with everyone. I am constantly recommending it to clients, friends, and family, and even gave a copy of it to one of my friends for Christmas. It's great, pick it up when you have a chance. I've been recognizing how many people use some thing to fill voids in their lives. For some people it's something more destructive like drugs or alochol, others it can be something wonderful like love, affection, and companionship. And there is most definitely those of us who fill our lives with things.. clothes, toys, make-up, etc.. At some point I think all of us have used at least one of these things to "heal" us, without ever trying to fix the problem.
So what's the point? Here we are, our ultimate goal being perfection, aspiring to be like our older brother Jesus Christ. How is a new purse, or a large serving of chocolate cake, a new house, a new boyfriend, a new tv, going to help us achieve that?

I am so greatful for the incredible people I have in my life. Mainly my mother, who I have never known to really want anything. Okay, so that is an exageration, but honestly I can't ever think of anything big that she's ever asked for or expressed desire for. When we ask her what she wants for anything, her response is usually, "I want a clean house." Only ever replaced with the even more selfless, "I want my children home with me," or "I want my daughter to be happy." I would say that no matter what the circumstance my mother has been an incredible example of being genuinely happy. I am so lucky to have such a great family.

Neva has been on my mind a lot lately. I keep thinking of all of the funny things that she said to me throughout the years. Or how she would take naps in the break room, or her car, or wherever she could lay her head. How she about scared me half to death my first week of work telling me that if I didn't do my share of color bowls everyone would hate me. I still miss her presence every day. Peri had a client today who told her that since she had been in last she lost both her son and her husband in a car accident. When Peri told those of us in the back room we all gasped in unison, and I think our hearts broke all in the same way. After recently losing such a great friend, I can only imagine how she is feeling. How dare I complain about not having anything to wear, my grown out roots, or missing my favorite tv show? The Lord has blessed me with so many great things, and more importantly, so many great people.

car shopping

How frustrating. You would think in this economy, dealerships would be giving cars away.. I have been test driving, haggling, and I am totally burnt out. I found a car that I love, but the dealer just won't meet me at a reasonable price. He's definitely missing out on an awesome sale. So everyone cross your fingers that I will find something awesome and get a great deal on it.

2 of my very favorite shows started this week. The Biggest Loser is on Tuesday nights, and Real World is on Wednesday. There's nothing like watching a bunch of overweight sweaty people get yelled at by their overly athletic fitness coaches. The first few episodes are kind of hard to watch for me, but I love seeing everyone change over the 10 weeks. It's very motivating for me! And who doesn't love The Real World? Drama, drama, drama. This season there are 2 people from Salt Lake (they both went to East High), one is Mormon and one is not. I think they thought that would cause more drama than it probably will, but it's hard to tell so soon. Oh and American Idol starts on Tuesday! The auditions are always hilarious, and it's fun to guess which of the good people will make it through to the top 12(?). And a little birdie told me that a dear friend of mine makes it through to Hollywood. And no, that friend is NOT David Osmond. Just wait, she'll knock your socks off I'm sure.

This is random but I gave up sweets for the new year. If you know me, you know that I am a chocoholic.. but so far it's going really well! No crazy cravings, other than seeing a lot of recipes that I would love to whip up. My original plan was to only eat them on holidays and vacations, but I am in a little bit of a competition with a friend, so we will see how long I can go.

2009

Christmas came and went and I didn't even tell you all about it. Mostly because if you read this, I probably shared part of the holiday with you. I love being able to see my family, and I even enjoy being able to do their hair for them (despite of complaining about it). I really enjoyed spending time with loved ones, and catching up with old friends. I guess I will be back in a few short months of Chase's farewell... and then I am vowing to take a break from Utah. I need real vacation, so you will all have to come see me until I can't handle my Cafe Rio cravings anymore.

The new year is here, and I love that it is an opportunity for new beginnings. I am great at making and keeping goals, but my only resolution this year was to work on keeping my goals. So rather than making year long resolutions, I made a lot of short term progressive goals.

I'm not going to lie, 2008 was tough and I'm not sad to see it go. Some great things came out of the year- Harper being born, some weddings, Victoria moving in, work going well... I definitely recognize all of the many blessings that I received. But it was definitely the most trying year I've had. I had a lot of challenges that I still don't really know how I moved through. I made some stupid decisions, I had friends make stupid decisions, and here I am trying to move through the rubble and have a postiive attitude. I am a firm believer that the harder the trial, the greater the lesson. Wow, what amazing things I learned last year. In 5th grade I grew from 5'1" to 5'7". 6 inches in about 9 months. Talk about about growing pains. That was 2008 for me in the emotional sense.

I am vowing to make 2009 a great year. I am so lucky to have amazing people in my life. I am not worrying about people that don't worry about me. I met a friend a few months ago who told me he only had a few friends, but those friends were people he'd do anything for- and would do the same for him. I was talking to him right before Christmas and told him that I've realized how much I envy that. I would like to think that I would do ANYTHING for any of my friends, but I wasted a lot of time in 2008 that would certainly not do the same for me. Here's to strong relationships, real friends, and an amazing family.