Monday, June 30, 2014

I tried a new recipe for dinner tonight. I love almond poppyseed muffins/bread, so when I found a recipe for almond poppyseed pancakes, I had to try them! So good!

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

Sunday, June 29, 2014

I did a special musical number in church today! I sang a duet with a fellow in my ward. We sang an arrangement of "I Know That My Redeemer Lives" with a non-traditional tune. I got so many compliments on it! It felt to good to share my talents and my testimony. 

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

Saturday, June 28, 2014

It's kind of sad that this is what made me happy today, but here goes. The grocery store I shop at gives rewards at their gas pump based on how much money you spend each month. Today, I got a .60 per gallon discount on my gas! Worked out to be just under $3 per gallon!

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

Friday, June 27, 2014

I took my first midterm test today! I don't know yet how I did, but I think I did ok. It just feels so good to have reached that milestone.

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

Thursday, June 26, 2014

A friend brought me this pretty flower tonight! I love flowers! 

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

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Celery and peanut butter make a pretty great getting-ready-for-bed-time snack!

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

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Look at this fun card I made for Loveduck today! I think she'll really love it cause she likes the mustache thing. 

Oh, and a duck on the back, of course!

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

Monday, June 23, 2014

As the temperature outside has been getting hotter and hotter, I've come to realize that all the clothes I got for the new job way back when are winter clothes. And they won't be so comfortable when it's in the 90s outside! So, I did some internet shopping cause I'm good at that. These were on my doorstep when I got home today! Love them!

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

Sunday, June 22, 2014

I gave a talk today in sacrament meeting, and I am so pleased with how it turned out! I was so so nervous the whole time. I was shaking so much! But I had a lot of confidence in the words I said. I know that the stories and scriptures and principles I shared were inspired. I received so many compliments, and that feels so good!

But, just so I can share a picture, I made a nice Sunday dinner today--chicken and wild rice soup and dinner rolls. Have I mentioned yet that I make the best dinner rolls ever?

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

Saturday, June 21, 2014

This has been a long Saturday, and I feel like I haven't been able to accomplish everything I would have liked to, but I'm trying to convince myself that I did enough.

I've been asked to speak in church tomorrow, so I spent most of today preparing my talk. Twelve minutes seems like such a long time! I'm so nervous, but I feel confident that I've put in enough time and effort that it will be fine. So, today's happy thing is that I was able to set aside my anxiety about public speaking and focus on writing it.

These are the links to two talks by general authorities that I found while studying. I really liked these! Here is a talk by John H Groberg about the sacrament, and here is a talk by John S Tanner about the sacrament prayers.

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

Friday, June 20, 2014

A little over a month ago, my supervisor at work submitted an application to corporate so I could get a promotion. Usually those take two weeks to process. After the usual two weeks were up, there were lots of hints that told me I'd gotten the promotion, including a pay raise in my paycheck. But we had to wait for this certificate to make it official--before I could legally exercise responsibilities/privileges associated with the promotion. Turns out the certificate got lost and had to be reordered. It arrived last week, but since my boss was on vacation, I couldn't have it because he had to sign it first. That was torture. Guess what?! He was back today, and I got the certificate!

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

Thursday, June 19, 2014

One of my aunts has been wanting to put together a care package for Loveduck for a while--send her some clothes and whatnot. Well, since Loveduck is not only my sister, but my best friend (and my Loveduck), I should know her tastes pretty well. So, my aunt asked me to tag along on a shopping trip. It was fun to try to shop for someone else and not myself, and we found some fun things! I think she'll like them! Oh, and I found a new cardigan for myself, which was super.

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

Wednesday, June 18, 2014

I found a new song! Comes and Goes (In Waves) by  Greg Laswell. I really like this one, but no matter how many times I listen to it I can't figure out exactly why. I think there are elements that would normally make me cringe and skip it, but for some reason I can't stop humming it today. 

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

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

You know what my favorite part of summer is? So many fruits and vegetables are in season! I found some cherries today and they are so yummy!

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

Monday, June 16, 2014

Mondays wouldn't be so lame if they started later in the day. I know that's true because today is Monday. It started out pretty lame, and slowly got better. The highlight of the day was when it ended! Ok, the highlight wasn't that it ended. The absolute best part of the day just happened to be the last item on the schedule. A few friends and I are preparing a special musical number for sacrament meeting and we practiced for the first time tonight. I had such a good time singing tonight!

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

Sunday, June 15, 2014

I was leaving my apartment to go play games with some friends this evening, when I was surprised with this little gift on my doorstep! It's a couple of lemon bars and a sweet, anonymous note from a good soul telling me how wonderful I am! That made my week!

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

Saturday, June 14, 2014

For about six years now, I've kept a water bottle full of water in my fridge simply because I think chilled water tastes a million times better than water straight from the tap. I dropped my water bottle one night last week when I was getting a drink in the middle of the night. It cracked a little, but only so much that it has been leaking just a tad throughout the day, but a few tads if it's on it's side. This has been annoying enough to me that I bought a new one today. And I love it! It has this nifty button mechanism that makes the spout pop out, then you push the spout down and it clicks back down.

Oh. But I put it in the dishwasher before I took a picture of it. I don't really want to stop the dishwasher for a picture. Maybe I'll update it tomorrow...

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

Friday, June 13, 2014

I went to see the movie Maleficent this evening. I thoroughly enjoyed it! I thought it was an ingenious twist on the traditional story of Sleeping Beauty. Also, Elle Fanning plays Aurora, and she's one of my favorites! Since I had a gift card, I didn't have to pay for it, but I think this is a movie I'd pay to see. 

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

Thursday, June 12, 2014

On most days that I have off work, one of the first things I do in the morning is write a to-do list. Maybe I should call it a hope-to-do list, just cause I rarely finish the whole thing. But today, I did!

One of the items on the list was to finish this project. It's been a work in progress for weeks now, just taking up space on the living room table. I'm so glad it's done!

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

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

I generally don't sleep well. It takes me a long time to feel tired enough to go to sleep, and even after that, a long time to actually fall asleep. It's been a few more than a few days since I slept well, so tonight, I'm happy because I am falling asleep early! Early for me, that is...

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

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

I found a pot for my plants today! It looks so pretty. 

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

Monday, June 9, 2014

There is nothing so terrible in this world that ice cream--or maybe custard and Italian ice--can't make a little better. Order happiness? Don't mind if I do!

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

Sunday, June 8, 2014

This is the air conditioner in my apartment. The only air conditioner for the entire apartment. We are best friends during the summer. My bedroom gets so hot I sleep in the living room. The nights have been getting hotter this week, and I know it's almost time to start camping out under the AC again. Today, though, after driving back from my parents' house, I was pretty much melting cause this summer the air conditioner in my car decided not to come out is hibernation. I turned on this itty bitty AC unit, lay down on the floor, and took a glorious nap. I felt lots better when I woke up! You know what's funny, though? I grew up in a little farm house that didn't have air conditioning. Summers were torture in my upstairs bedroom! But I didn't know any different. Now, having lived in apartments that have AC, I think I've been spoiled. 

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

Saturday, June 7, 2014

The highlight of my day was going to see The Fault in Our Stars with Curly. I loved the book, and the movie was an incredible remake. And I like spending time with Curly!

Aw, man! The picture is blurry and I didn't know till just now. :(

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

Friday, June 6, 2014

I've got a few little happy things for today, but no pictures cause I was working all day, then driving all evening. 

Today is National Donut Day. Don't ask me why, but I happened to know this before today. Since today wasn't my turn to bring refreshments to the work meeting, I was just hoping someone would bring donuts. Guess what?! They did!

I was exhausted after work and I didn't want to drive cause I was so tired, but somehow I made it to my parents' house safe. That's certainly something to be grateful for. 

My dad liked his Father's Day present!

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

Thursday, June 5 2014

Today's project was my Father's Day gift for my dad. I'm going home tomorrow, so I want to just take it with me to save on postage. Since I'm 98.3% sure he doesn't read my blog I'll share my little creation! I made a cute little book of things I love about my dad. Every page has one or two paint samples glued to it. The book is called "Just a Few Samples of Why I Love My Dad." Then, I made a fun little gift bag that looks like a shirt and tie. 

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

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

There's something about a new tube of mascara. I love my eyelashes, and I love it even more when they look amazing!

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

Tuesday, June 3, 2014

My boss asked me to decorate these wood letters to go in our office. The word "now" goes with the company's theme for the year. Every office has them, and was instructed to decorate them. Here we are, almost half way through the year and it hasn't been done! Since I'm the creative employee in the branch, I got the job. It's been fun to work on painting them today, but honestly I have no idea what I'm going to do with them, so I'm a little nervous about how they'll turn out!

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

Monday, June 2, 2014

When I woke up this morning, it definitely felt like Monday. I felt groggy and achy. I'm so grateful that today wasn't to much of a "Monday." See, I feel like lately at work, I've had a lot of customers complain and become angry or upset about things that aren't in my control--things that are company policy, or even governmental policy that we don't always understand but have to follow anyway. And those customers make me sad and scared. But, today, so many customers complimented my beautiful smile and thanked me for being so helpful! That made me feel so good!

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

Sunday, June 1, 2014

My older sister had her baby this morning! She's beautiful!

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