Saturday, May 31, 2014

Saturday, May 31, 2014

New shoes!


Life is beautiful, especially when you are looking for the beautiful things that happen every day. 

Friday, May 30, 2014

The highlight of my day was when a good friend knocked on my door this evening for a quick visit before she goes out of town for the weekend. She said she "was just in the neighborhood," which is funny cause we only live like three blocks apart.

Life is beautiful, especially when you are looking for the beautiful things that happen every day.

Thursday, May 29, 2014

Thursday, May 29, 2014

I tried a new recipe today! It's coconut lime chicken. I liked it, but I think I'll have to try it again with a few twists to love it. 


Life is beautiful, especially when you are looking for the beautiful things that happen every day. 

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

I've been waiting for a package for about a week now. It came today! But so did another package I wasn't expecting for a few days! One of the packages contained a calendar with art by a popular religious artist. I intend to cut up the calendar and use it to decorate my apartment. 




Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

For one of my classes, each chapter has a little quiz I'm supposed to take after having read the chapter. It's pretty much a "see what you learned" quiz where I can take it as times as I need and it doesn't count for my grade. In previous chapters, I've had to take them a few times to finally get all the right answers. Buy today, I got all the questions right on my first try!

Life is beautiful, especially when you are looking for the beautiful things that happen every day. 

Monday, May 26, 2014

Monday, May 26, 2014

Because today is Memorial Day, I decided to go on an adventure to a cemetery a few towns over because I knew I had some ancestors there. After some internet searching, I figured out their names and exactly which plot they are in. When I arrived at the cemetery, it took me about 45 minutes to actually find the plot. Maps are hard, ok? But I found it!



There are eight headstones around this large one.


Sarah E Whiting is my great great great grandmother. She was married to Warren S Snow, who practiced polygamy. He's buried somewhere else.


Edwin M Snow was Sarah Whiting and Warren Snow's son, and he was my great great grandfather.


Frances E Perry was married to Edwin M Snow, and she was my great great grandmother.


Ruby Snow was Edwin and Frances's oldest daughter, and she was my great grandmother.


Jesse B Warren was Ruby Snow's first husband. They were only married for about nine years, then he became sick and died. 



Peter Jensen (his full name was Hans Peter Jensen, but he went by Peter) was Ruby's second husband, and my great grandfather.


Edwin Snow Jr was Ruby Snow's younger brother.


Reed Perry Snow was Ruby Snow's youngest brother. He only lived for a week.

That was a pretty neat adventure!

Also, today's post is the 300th post in this project! (If my calendar math is right...) I am so incredibly proud and amazed at this accomplishment!

Life is beautiful, especially when you are looking for the beautiful things that happen every day.

Sunday, May 25, 2014

I think my favorite part about Sundays is singing. I love singing, and I definitely do more of that on Sundays. And, it's a different kind of singing--during the week, I'm usually singing while I drive or clean or get ready for the day (or while I'm in the shower... Yes, I'm one of those people...) But on Sundays, I get to sing with the congregation at church and I sometimes go to ward choir. Other opportunities often arise throughout the day to sing my heart out. Often, by the end of Sunday, I've sung so much my voice is hoarse.

Life is beautiful, especially when you are looking for the beautiful things that happen every day.

Saturday, May 24, 2014

Saturday, May 24, 2014

Work was pretty slow today. Not only was there a lack in customers, but also the clock seemed to take longer than normal to reach closing time. But I found a good way to use my time! I made this delightful little caterpillar to go with the flowers!


Life is beautiful, especially when you are looking for the beautiful things that happen every day. 


Friday, May 23, 2014

Friday, May 23, 2014

I had the afternoon free, so I made some whole wheat bread! It's a pretty good batch!


Ps. I took pictures of those flowers from Wednesday... So they're in Wednesday's post now. 

Life is beautiful, especially when you are looking for the beautiful things that happen every day. 

Thursday, May 22, 2014

Thursday, May 22, 2014

I went on a hunt for some house plants today and found these adorable little succulents! I picked these particular ones mostly because of their names: left to right, string of buttons, sedum pork and beans, and echeveria "Allegra." I'm still on the hunt for the perfect pots to put them in, so maybe there will be another post about my plants when I find them!



Life is beautiful, especially when you are looking for the beautiful things that happen every day. 


Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Best part if my day was making some really colorful, bright flowers to decorate the office at work.




Life is beautiful, especially when you are looking for the beautiful things that happen every day. 

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

On my days off work, I can usually look forward to a phone call from my dad during his lunch break. I didn't get one today, and that made me kind of sad. I went to work for the second part of the day because I was subbing for a coworker, and didn't think any more about missing Dad's call. When I was almost done at work, I checked my phone to find a voicemail from my dad! He just said he wanted to see how I was doing, to let him know if I needed anything, and that he loves me. Made my day!


Life is beautiful, especially when you are looking for the beautiful things that happen every day. 

Monday, May 19, 2014

Monday, May 19, 2014

Coldplay's new album was released today! I feel like I've been waiting for this forever! 


Life is beautiful, especially when you are looking for the beautiful things that happen every day. 

Sunday, May 18, 2014

Sunday, May 18, 2014

Look at these beautiful cards I made this evening! They say "If I had a flower for every time I thought of you, I could walk in my garden forever," which is a quote by someone by the name of Alfred Lord Tennyson.



Life is beautiful, especially when you are looking for the beautiful things that happen every day.


Saturday, May 17, 2014

Saturday, May 17, 2014

Tom Hanks is my favorite actor. He's in so many of my favorite movies--Forrest Gump, The Polar Express, Saving Mr Banks, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, You've Got Mail, and of course, Toy Story. But now I can add another to that list: The Terminal. Really great story about a fellow who gets stuck in a United States airport transit lounge because politics in his home country suddenly make his passport invalid. It was so good!


Life is beautiful, especially when you are looking for the beautiful things that happen every day. 

Friday, May 16, 2014

Friday, May 16, 2014

At our staff meeting at work, my manager passed out envelopes for everyone, and I assume they were our bonuses for the year. This is what I got in mine, with a note from my manager saying how much he appreciated my hard work. That was nice of him! It feels good to be recognized for that. (It's a gift card to a movie theater.)

Also, tonight was the final match for the battle of the decades on Jeopardy! I'm so sad I had to miss it cause I was working. That's been a really great tournament to follow. 


Life is beautiful, especially when you are looking for the beautiful things that happen every day. 

Thursday, May 15, 2014

Thursday, May 15, 2014

This week is my fifth week in a row working extra hours at my job. Hopefully next week will be the last for a little bit because I'm feeling burned out. But, thanks to all the extra hours, I've been able to save enough money to get some repairs done on my car! I got a new mechanic about a month ago and after he did his first inspection of the car, he gave me a list of some things that needed to be done not urgently, but soonish. I feel so accomplished for having worked so hard to save that money and get one of the those repairs done!

No picture. I understand the basic concept of what repair was done, but I can't remember what it was called, let alone tell you where it's at in the engine. I don't speak car.

Life is beautiful, especially when you are looking for the beautiful things that happen every day.

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Since it's been warmer and sunny lately, I've been able to go for more walks. Over the past weekish, I've been noticing this cluster of toadstools/fungi and watching them grow day by day. I think they're kind of interesting. 


Life is beautiful, especially when you are looking for the beautiful things that happen every day. 

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Since it's spring, I've started to notice spiders in my apartment. Only a few, but that's a few too many for me! So, I asked management to send someone to spray the apartment. He came today! And now I'm not anxious about spiders. That's a relief!

I don't have a picture for this one... You can't take a picture of spiders that don't exist!

Life is beautiful, especially when you are looking for the beautiful things that happen every day.

Monday, May 12, 2014

Monday, May 12, 2014

I got a letter in the mail from Loveduck! She decorated the envelope with stickers and lots of inside jokes, and they made me smile. Her letter was full of stories about goings-on in her mission, complete with pictures and diagrams, and even a duck! (I was supposed to get it before Mothers Day but somehow the snail mail didn't work out that way.)



Sunday, May 11, 2014

Sunday, May 11, 2014

Since it's Mother's Day, my family got to Skype with Loveduck. It was so much fun so see her and talk to her! After the whole family Skyped, we took a break and ate some dinner. Then, I got to Skype with Loveduck by myself. In total, we talked for four hours today! I love that even though we haven't seen each other for quite a while (8 months exactly, today), we can still talk and talk for hours!



Life is beautiful, especially when you are looking for the beautiful things that happen every day.

Saturday, May 10, 2014

Saturday, May 10, 2014

I had such a fun day playing with Curley and Littlest Sister! We went for a walk right after breakfast. I brought bubbles for us to blow while we walked cause that's awesome. I was able to take a few cute pictures of Littlest Sister enjoying the bubbles. 


Life is beautiful, especially when you are looking for the beautiful things that happen every day. 


Friday, May 9, 2014

Friday, May 9, 2014

I thought the work day would never end! But somehow it did, and I made the drive to my parents' house. Littlest Sister loved her birthday gift and my mom loved her origami flowers! Littlest Sister already had a list put together of all the fun things we are going to do tomorrow. It's going to be a good weekend.

Life is beautiful, especially when you are looking for the beautiful things that happen every day.

Thursday, May 8, 2014

Thursday, May 8, 2014

I've got lots of happy things to share today!

I spent lots of my afternoon working on Littlest Sister's birthday present. I got the movie Frozen for her. I used my Christmas wrapping paper--which is blue and silver with snowflakes--to wrap it. Then, I used the paper to make a 3D snowflake for the bow. But that turned out a little big. Oh, well! 


Here's the back of the gift, with a little letter that's the birthday card. 


I finished another bouquet of origami flowers that I made for a friend of mine. 


And, my Bishop's wife sent my bishop to deliver some whole wheat flour to me! She is so sweet and so thoughtful. 


I finished off the evening with a movie night at my apartment with a few friends. Definitely a good day!

Life is beautiful, especially when you are looking for the beautiful things that happen every day. 
 

Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Wednesday, May 7, 2014

I tried a new ice cream place with some friends this evening. The sign where the line is supposed to start says "order happiness," which seems to fit in so well with my philosophies on ice cream! Also, it was pretty good ice cream! I'm pretty sure we'll be back to order more happiness. 


Life is beautiful, especially when you are looking for the beautiful things that happen every day. 

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

I found this area rug on the internet last week, and the price was unbeatable. It arrived this morning! I love it! I feel like it makes my living room a bit more complete. There is still room for more decorating, but I've got a few crafty projects up my sleeve!



Oh, and I finished the flowers for my mom's Mothers Day gift! They are so pretty! I hope she likes them. I'll have to make some for myself, but blue to match my living room. 


Life is beautiful, especially when you are looking for the beautiful things that happen every day. 

Monday, May 5, 2014

Monday, May 5, 2014

The best part of my day was getting my weekly email from Loveduck! She was even online during my lunch so I got to email her back and forth for a bit! I've been worried about her because there have been lots of tornadoes in her area lately, but it sounds like she's been just fine. That is certainly a blessing. 

Life is beautiful, especially when you are looking for the beautiful things that happen every day. 


Sunday, May 4, 2014

Sunday, May 4, 2014

Yes, this is a picture of my knee. 

See, I've had troubles with knee pain for a few years now. My left knee is worse than my right. The pain comes and goes. Sometimes it's just a little painful and sometimes it's unbearable. For the past few weeks it's been unbearable. About a year ago, I got a cortisone shot for it, and that really helped. I decided to get that done again last week. I received the shot on Thursday. Today, it finally stopped aching--you know the way you ache after getting a shot? Anyway, when I went to ward prayer this evening, it came time to kneel to pray, and I thought to myself, "oh boy, this is going to hurt!" But it didn't! I made it through the whole prayer and it didn't bother my knee at all! Modern medicine is amazing. 


Life is beautiful, especially when you are looking for the beautiful things that happen every day. 

Saturday, May 3, 2014

Saturday, May 3, 2014

I took my time today doing pretty much everything, and that was so relaxing! I wasn't completely ready for the day until 4ish, but somehow before that time I'd already baked a cake... I tried a new recipe this evening--one with quinoa in it--and it was pretty good! I had a few friends come over this evening to watch Frozen with me and eat the cake. It was a good, slow Saturday, and I feel ok that I didn't really accomplish anything in the to-do list!


Life is beautiful, especially when you are looking for the beautiful things that happen every day. 

Friday, May 2, 2014

Today, I'm grateful for good friends who understand life and everything in it, for long, long chats, and for really good hugs!

Life is beautiful, especially when you are looking for the beautiful things that happen every day. 

Thursday, May 1, 2014

Thursday, May 1, 2014

I spent a good portion if the afternoon working in my gift for my mom for Mothers Day. I'm half way done! And since I'm 98.2% certain she doesn't read my blog, I'll share a picture! So, these are origami flowers. I'm going to make some yellow flowers next, so there will be one dozen when I'm done. I'll put clear glass marbles in the vase so the flowers stick up a bit. I'm so pleased with it so far!



Life is beautiful, especially when you are looking for the beautiful things that happen every day.