I Know How You Love a Good Adventure

Today, I realized I had the following in my car:

• tarp
• blanket
• jacket
• car emergency kit
• running clothes and shoes
• climbing clothes, shoes, and harness
• temple clothes and pencil skirt

What can I say? Just being prepared for any adventure that comes calling.

Being Productive

Yesterday during church, I started writing down all the projects that were sitting at home waiting for me to start and/or finish. Yes. I was bored at church. Actually, it wasn't so much boredom as something the speaker said got my ADD mind off on a tangent. I realized that sometimes I'm pretty lazy when I get home from work because I could do so many different things that I don't know where to focus. I hate feeling lazy. Don't misunderstand me. I like relaxing. I like not rushing from one thing to the next. But I dislike how I feel when I have wasted away the evening. So now I have a list. A list that has everything from doing my taxes to planning my 15-year high school reunion to reading John Adams to upgrading my Macbook to Lion. (As a side-note to my fellow Mac friends, I'm really excited for Mountain Lion.) I also created a separate list of different blog posts I want to write. I have 15 ideas! So my goal this week is to get those all written and schedule them for your reading pleasure. But now I'm off to Park City to take advantage of the holiday sales. Happy President's Day!

Never Say Never

I remember being naive and making ridiculous comments like "I'm never going to do...", then fill in the blank. More often than not, I have ended up eating my words. Here are a few:

• I finally got out of Provo. I'm never moving back to Provo. (I said this when I left for Phoenix.)
• I'll never like broccoli...or green beans...or asparagus...or spinach (I like all of them now.)
• After ASU graduate school..."I'm not moving back to Utah." (Ha ha!)
• I'll never date some shorter than me. (Um...first two guys I dated in college.)
• I don't like running. You'll never see me running for fun. (Right. How many half marathons have I done?)
• I hate mornings. I'll never be a morning person. (Now I prefer to workout and read my scriptures in the morning.)
• I'll never enjoy yard work. (See post.)
• I'm moving from Utah after I graduate from MBA school. (Love my job! Still here!)
• I'm never teaching again. (I teach a class once a week at BYU. Oops!)
• I'll never learn HTML. (See my unordered list?)
• And finally, the reason for this post...I'll never live with a dog. (Guess whose new roommate has a dog? Yep! Mine! But I made the choice knowing full well she had a dog.)

I figure we say things like "I'll never..." because we don't know any better or realize how many good things we would miss out on if we stuck to those assertions. I've had some incredible, faith filled, uplifting experiences by not listening to my "never" words.

Knowing my life, I'm going to have many more opportunities to do things I thought I would never do. And for that I am grateful. Grateful that my ignorant comments have not held me back from the joys that life has offered to me. Grateful for a Heavenly Father who knows better and doesn't listen to my "never" comments. Grateful to others who have overlooked my simple-minded words and given me another chance.

Quick Update

I've been MIA from my blog recently. Here are a few reasons why:

1) Moved. Last night I unpacked the last box. Just a few more to take to recycling and DI and my new place will be in order.

2) Maintenance. I've been coordinating different contractors to fix problems at my parents' duplex. Finally finished!

3) Yard work. Getting the yard in order at my new place. I still have a few more bushes to plant but the weeding is almost done.

4) Work. I work 9-10 hours a day. I'm mostly on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook. Not really in the mood to be on a computer once work is done each day.

5) Running. Work has supplied me with lots of good food. If I don't run, then I gain weight. I took a couple of weeks off from the half marathon. Bad idea. Work food caught up with me. Time to lose the weight. I'm planning on running another half marathon this July with my brother and sister-in-law. By the way, moving has been great for finding new running routes.

6) Sleep. My goal is to get 8 hours a night. Lame I know. But I can't function at work if I stay up too late. Plus I am working out in the mornings now.

7) Family. I've tried to spend some time with my nieces and nephews. I've become quite the influence on the twins. One came up to me the other day and said, "Thamina. No touchie." And yes she does know it comes from a movie. The other I have taught the Apple logo. I now have an iPhone, iPad, and MacBook. He sees the Apple logo and now says, "Thamina's Apple iPhone. Mommy's Apple computer. Daddy's Apple iPad." One day he may know Windows exists.

8) Traveling. I'm planning a few trips for the future. Going to Chicago for business at the first of June. I am taking a few days after the conference to spend time with my sister, her husband, and my cousins. I'm heading off to Paris in July. I believe Europe is a great place to make life changing decisions.

9) New car. No I don't have one. I need one. My transmission needs to be replaced. I'm going to sell my car and buy another one. Until that time I am using my sister's old car which is 3 years older and has 30K more miles. Oh! It also doesn't have air-conditioning. Going to be a fun summer!

10) Being me. I'm taking time just to be me and enjoy life. It is easy to get swamped by work and other obligations. I'm making sure I take time for me and to be social with my friends. That includes weekly softball games and BBQs. Already starting to be a fun summer.

Fun All Around

My nieces and nephews bring such joy to my life. Gratefully two of my sisters live nearby so I get many opportunities to spend time with them. Here are a few things I love about my nieces and nephews:

* My niece grabs a spoonful of peanut butter, places chocolate chips in the mass, and begins eating it. A girl after my own heart.
* The twins who joyfully scream my name whenever I enter the room.
* My nephew who jumps out of bed, even though he is supposed to be asleep, and runs to say hi because he hears my voice.
* Stretching out their muscles with me after I have worked out on my sister’s treadmill. The four year old could easily touch her nose to her knees. Me…not quite there.
* Making and eating a batch of Scotcharoos. For those who don’t know this divine treat, it is a mixture of corn syrup, peanut butter, and sugar mixed with Rice Krispies, then topped with a melted butterscotch and chocolate chips. Like eating a bit of heaven.
* Being invited over to “babysit” even though the oldest is twelve.
* The two-year-old twins jabbering away telling me about their day. I know that is what they are doing because I hear things like bath, book, train, toys, etc.
* Getting text messages from my niece who is using my sister’s phone.
* The twins fighting to sit on my lap and reading stories.
* My nephew who makes pictures for me.
* Being called their second mom by many of them.
* Snuggling up to me when watching a movie together.
* Being silly together.
* Big group hugs.


At a party last summer, all the girls wanted to sit with me.

The boys wanted in on the action too.

Taking One Day at a Time

Recapping the wins and losses of the morning.

Win: I learned that setting an alarm does not fully wake me up in the morning. Turning on my lamp when I hit snooze is more effective at getting me moving than an alarm alone. Of course this makes sense now! Light wakes me up!

Loss/Win: Forgot my lunch that I had prepared last night. Had a package of instant oatmeal in my cubicle at work which took care of breakfast.

Win: Reading scriptures before I go to bed is an epic fail. I enjoy the time to ponder the scriptures after closing them and I miss that in the evenings. Waking up on time helped me have a more effective scripture study. Much better morning.

Loss: Forgot my key card that gives me cheap parking and access to the backdoor of my building. I had taken it out of my car because I was supposed to take my sister’s old car for the week while maintence was completed on mine. That didn’t happen and I forgot to grab the card. Now I am paying for all day parking in down town. Good thing I don’t live in San Francisco or Chicago.

Win: All the family calendars are now finished! I have to mail one more today and drop off the other on my way home from work. Good to have that project completed!

Win: Remembering the counsel and advice of Elder Christofferson: Take it one day at a time and it is day-by-day that we achieve our goals.

What Am I Going To Do?

My last final ended last night at 8:30PM. I had been there for almost three hours and had typed over five pages of material. When I left, 2/3 of the class were still there. In a 58 hour period, I was in finals almost 12 hours, had a little over 12 hours of sleep, and studied almost the rest of the time. I did take a study break and Andrew helped give me some semblance of sanity. Finals are now over! I survived my first semester of MBA school and am amazed at the changes and growth that have occurred in me. As a side note, I love self-reflection. It brings such peace realizing how the Lord has helped me accomplish difficult tasks that I didn't think I had the capacity to complete. Such a humbling thought.

Now on to the real reason for the post. I was laying in bed this morning, enjoying not waking up to an alarm or having somewhere I had to be, and created a list of all the things I needed/wanted to do now that I didn't have to study for classes. Here is my list:
1. clean my room
2. clean the house
3. organize and file my notes and assignments
4. balance my checkbook (I have been keeping track of my finances but haven't taken the time to balance my checkbook since October.)
5. write my Christmas card
6. decide what to buy people for Christmas and actually go buy it
7. go food shopping (In July and August I built up a food storage because I had the impression that I was going to need it. I thought it was because finances would become tight. No, no. I didn't have time to run to the grocery store. I think I went twice after school started. Now, I went to Costco every few weeks to get milk and a few other essentials, but never made it to the grocery store.)
8. drop off items at the DI that have been sitting in my closet
9. organize the piles that have built up (this is not part of cleaning room because the piles need to be filed in the folders in the basement)
10. start creating the family calendar
11. organize emails (I take emails I write to people and put them in my journal)
12. write on the backs or pictures and put them in an album (In September I went through my 2006 pictures and had Costco print them. Well, they have been sitting in a box on my floor since then.)
13. search companies that do not recruit at BYU and look for a summer internship
14. read a book Andrew lent me about Hugh Nibley and the 101st airborne
15. read other books that I am not assigned to read
16. actually talk to Suzy on the phone (She has called me a few times the past week and I just couldn't talk when she called.)
17. clean out my car (However, it is snowing outside and this one may have to wait)
18. take a nap (I think I deserve this one)
19. venture out into the real world and meet people outside of the Tanner building
20. go to the temple

And that is the list I came up with this morning. I don't expect to do this all today. Just my list of things I can concentrate on now that final are over. Happy day!