Windy

Today has been a windy day. Daniel and I went out to lunch together today, and I just about felt like I was going to get blown over. The wind has been howling outside my window all day and the lights have been flickering. This reminds me of Rexburg. The wind wasn't too bad in the summer, but it made the winter that much colder. One of my favorite memories of life in Rexburg was the very last semester we lived there. It was summer, and we were broke. More broke than I can really believe, even now. I was graduating and we were moving back to Washington in a couple months, and we were doing everything we could to make the time go quickly. The days were hot, but when it cooled down, it was a perfectly comfortable evening. My favorite thing to do on those long summer evenings was to go for a walk around Smith Park, which was conveniently only a block from our apartment. We'd time the walk perfectly, right after the sunset, and we were surrounded in twilight. Sometimes we'd play on the swings, or sit on the bleachers by the baseball field, but usually we'd walk a few loops around the park, dodging sprinklers, and talking about the possibilities of the future. We'd dream of our upcoming move, babies, houses, anything and everything. It all seemed so far off, and impossible at the time. All we really cared about was the fact that our future held a lot of potential. It still does, but back then it seemed so simple. So while I sit here, listening to the wind outside my window, I remember happiness despite the struggles we were going through. I loved those simple walks on a warm summer night, holding the hand of the one I love. I really believe it is the small simple things in life that make all the difference. Right now I'm grateful to have good memories of our time in Rexburg, and on this cold blustery afternoon, I'm longing for summer, with long evenings and walks during the magical, dusky twilight.

picture from www.rexburg.org

Journaling

I found these journaling questions on a random website that linked them back to Oprah. I don't watch Oprah, but these are some interesting topics.

1. What would you do if you knew you could not fail?
After thinking about this question for quite a while, I don't know if there's a lot that I would do differently. The main thing I'd want to do is get a Masters Degree in Occupational Therapy. I've toyed around with this idea before, but the closest program is at University of Puget Sound, and would cost about $60,000 to complete. That price tag makes it really impractical, but still a dream. I'm not concerned about failing in a program like that, but it would be good to have a guarantee that all that time and effort put into it would pay off and be the best choice.

2. What do you love about yourself?
I love my hair. I love the color, how it has natural red highlights in the sun, and that I can wear it curly or straight without too much work either way. It's nice to have one feature that I don't have to worry about whether it has gained weight, or needs to be toned, etc. That is why I love my hair.

3. What would you do if money was not a concern in your life?
I love this idea. If I had a money tree, the first thing on my list would be to have a baby. Then I'd make sure Daniel could go to school for as long as he wanted, and I'd buy us a house, not just any house either, I'd love to live in the neighborhood by the Portland Temple. Then I'd be a stay at home mom and make dinner every night and take care of my family. I hope to do this someday even without a money tree. Right now however, I am the money tree, and I like to think of myself as just a sapling.

4. What did you love when you were a child?
When I was a child, I loved playing Little House on the Prairie. There were several girls in my neighborhood around the same age, and we'd get together and we'd each pretend to be a character, and we'd imagine ourselves living like Laura Ingalls Wilder, or her sisters. My brother Nathan would tag along and he'd get to be the dog. We had so many fun afternoons spent crossing the plains between the play fort in my back yard, and the one next door. I had a lot of fun playing make-believe when I was young. Sometimes I wonder what has happened to my imagination.

That's all for now. I know this isn't the most exciting post, but it was fun to think about these questions. If anyone else wants to do these, they can be found here.

Green

Happy Saint Patrick's day to all. I love this day because I love green. Maybe because Green was my last name for all but the last two and a half years of my life, maybe because it is so fresh and springy...or maybe I just love green. Either way I have an awesome outfit on today with a new green sweater. Regardless of the outfit, I've been feeling very off today.

This morning I woke up and I was still very tired, I hurried to get ready, ate a quick breakfast, and ran out the door. I wasn't late, but I wasn't as early as I'd hoped to be. I'm always early when Daniel comes with me for his classes, but he's on spring break this week, so I was alone, and running late. As I got out of the car I grabbed my lunch and book, but couldn't find my purse! I couldn't believe it, but I left my purse at home this morning. I never imagined being one of those people who couldn't function without a purse, but here I am, half way through my day and I'm still feeling off...just because I'm purse-less. Not only does this mean no drivers license (oops) or money (good thing I did remember my lunch), it also means no chap stick, no mints, no gum, no music during the day (my mp3 player is in my purse right now from the gym last night), and no cell phone. I can handle most things that get thrown at me during the day without music, mints etc...but this lack of chapstick is just about to kill me.

A few things I've been thinking about lately:

If I were to ever have twins, a boy and a girl, I would name them Oliver and Amanda. This is important, because my favorite books when I was a child were the Oliver and Amanda pig books. I loved them. I'm not pregnant, and I don't ever hope to have twins, but if this were to happen, I have a names!

I went to a relief society birthday last week and the topic was about "personal journeys". One of the talks really stuck out to me. The lady spoke of how things in our lives happen to us, to draw us closer to our Heavenly Father. I've been thinking about that, wondering what I should be learning from the events in my own life, and if I'm responding the right way. Am I letting myself be drawn back to my Father in Heaven?

I want so badly to go on a vacation. Even just a mini vacation like our train trip last year. Really though I found an awesome cruise this summer and we're currently trying to line up our schedules to go on a fabulous Caribbean adventure with our best friends from BYU-I. I really hope this works, it would be such a nice getaway. If not, I'll plan another long weekend away by train and pretend it's an exotic trip!

I've decided to join the book club for relief society. This month we're reading the Count of Monte Cristo. So far I love it as much as I liked the movie...although I'm still in the middle of it.

Also, what's with all the snow we've been having? I'm beginning to think that some global warming would be nice right about now. I'm ready for spring!