Eating my Words.

I started working at Brick Oven as a Server!

I make twice as much money and do a lot more. 

As an Expo, I was asked to bring out food which included: 

food ordered, and the sampler

Like Schpeal: 9-10 pizzas brought to the customer's table which include BBQ chicken, Hawaiian, all the down to Combination with a few specialty pizzas.

It's super good, super filling!

Now that I am a server (and Leah can kick my butt because I asked her one time, what exactly server's do......I have eaten, digested, and popped my words out)

I have to take care of:

Regular drinks (Coke products, Water, Juice)

Specialty Drinks (Frozen Raspberry Lemonade, Rootbeer Floats, Smoothies, Brown Cow)

Salads

Soups

Ordering their food 

Refilling drinks

Making sure they are happy with how quickly items come out, how it tastes, and at least make them laugh once. 

Pre-bussing their tables to reduce clutter

Taking time to talk to every table

Desserts 

Check 

More Bussing

Start Over

It's a lot of work.....here's me eating my words:
(And yes, this sentence below is grammatically incorrect, wish I could say I did It on purpose...I'm just tired, it just adds to the stupidity of the statement I once made) 

So, I'm loving my job and you should text me and let me know when you are coming in so I can serve you! 

Peace!

Fantastic Advice: Do what YOU want, do what makes YOU happy.

There is a woman who gave 12 habits to Happy living.
This is the traditional way of expressing the "absolutes" for happiness, but I like her take on it.
If you want to read the "un-edited" versions you can go HERE. If not, I have edited it for you, for those who want her wonderful advice but not the language, even though the language gives a lot of emphasis to what she is saying. Consider yourself warned if you do click the link.

If not,
Here is the edited version of her great advice.

Twelve Habits of Happy, Healthy People Who Don’t Give a **** About Your Inner Peace

(The links will actually take you there)

Every **** time someone in my facebook feed posts something like this, I click it. Every **** time.

We all have this facebook friend, right? People you genuinely love and admire. People you like hanging out with. People you invite to your birthday parties. You know. Actual friends. Until you’ve clicked links exactly like this again and again and again. For YEARS. And all of a sudden, you start to wonder if this is some elaborate hoax, if you’ve actually just been reading the same article over and over.

It’s not like I have anything against happiness, or success, or meditation, or yoga, or being nice, or smiling more, or eating healthy, or losing weight, or being your best you, or embracing the day with a positive attitude. Those all sound great. Honestly, they do. And there are some really smart, simple truths to be found in all of those articles. There truly are.

It’s just that I have a problem with being told to do all of those things by skinny blonde ladies laughing on a beach wearing yoga pants.

Don’t believe me? Take the challenge. Next time you read one of these articles, I dare you not to play Inspirational Photo Bingo:

I can’t ***** remember the last time I pranced around a tropical island paradise waving a white scarf around my head as a professional photographer snapped a picture, but I bet if I did, I’d be a whole lot happier too.

Below please find my version of this article, that I want to share with you, the internet. May it bring you all the inner peace you can cram into your backpacking gear right before downward dogging it atop that mountain at sunrise.

1. Do whatever the **** you want.
2. Do whatever the **** you want.
3. Seriously, do you want that burger? Then just ****** eat a burger. Don’t be gross about it, and don’t eat a burger three meals a day. But I beg you, women and image-conscious male humans of the world, stop beating yourself up about it and just eat the ***** burger.
4. Do whatever the ***** you want.
5. Have good friends. Call them. Complain a little. That’s what friends are for. Return the favor. Don’t be a  [crappy] friend.
6. Learn how to laugh about farts. Fart more. Laugh about it.
7. Be incessantly curious about the world around you! Experience art, science, beauty, and nature! But stop beating yourself up on those nights when you just want to sit your  [butt] on the couch and watch reruns of Friends. 
8. Smile when you feel like smiling. Laugh whenever you ***** feel like laughing. Pro tip: Being told to ‘laugh more’ is not going to make you laugh more. Being told to ‘smile more’ is not going to make you smile more.
9. Make time for yourself. After you’ve run that 5K, started a load of laundry, harvested your organic vegetable garden, run to the bank, paid the bills, dazzled everyone with recipes that are cost-effective, healthy, and delicious, thought of something witty and clever to share with your social networking site, caught up on current events and politics, and cleaned all of the house, that special hour set aside just for you is so critical to your well-being.*
   10. Do whatever the  ***** you want.
   11. Don’t care what other people think. Unless they’re right. In which case, ***** humble yourself enough to listen to them.
   12. Do. Whatever. The  *****. You Want.

Do what you want. Be your  ***** self. Don’t be a terrible person. Be nice to others. Be supportive of your friends and allow yourself to give them the benefit of the doubt when they want to try something new, like rescuing shelter dogs, or making performance art in the nude, or dating terrible people. They’re your friends and you love them, and if they suck, stop being their friend. Show up for work. Pay your bills. Find some  ***** purpose in your life, and figure out a way to share that purpose with others in a way that isn’t sanctimonious and doesn’t involve a picture of a woman laughing at an empty beach. Smile because something makes you smile. Laugh because you’ve surrounded yourself by people who make you laugh, and they’re funny ***** people, and you’re happy to be with them. Dance because you’re drunk at a big dance party with your friends and Michael Jackson is playing, not because ‘no one is watching.’ Everyone is watching. We’re at a  ***** party. That’s how parties work.

Do whatever the  ***** you want.

And the next time one of you has the kind of spare cash around to take a prancercise vacation to a tropical island, for the love of all that is holy please bring me with you. I am excellent at waving scarves around but even better at buying drinks with tiny umbrellas.

***********

So, that being said from this hilarious woman: Do what YOU want, do what make YOU happy. 

Good bye Google reader

I hope you stay connected with me, like I want to keep connected with on bloglovin.com.
Let's be friends till, shall we?
Love you, let's keep reading and keeping up to date with one another. There are some I only get to stay in contact with because of google reader.
Hope to see you there.

My cousin, Ashleigh

My cousin, has this fantastic sense about the gospel. She has been through so much and has dealt with much doubt and confusion. She has had some recent but continuous health problems that had left her feeling alone and unknown to God. She wrote this fantastic blog post about her walk through doubt into the loving arms of God once again and I would like you to read:

The link to her blog: HERE

Life; An Arduous but Beautiful Journey
by: Ashleigh S. 

Life is definitely a journey with ups and downs, switchbacks, and sometimes much pain. But life is also filled with much beauty and tender mercies. It is amazing how when you focus on the negative, all you notice is the negative; but when you take a moment to notice the beauty around, then the negative dissipates and doesn't matter as much. It it still there, but the beauty all around matters more. 

I've been in a negative place for the past couple of months, but have slowly been pulled out of the negativeness by someone more powerful than me. My Heavenly Father and my Savior. It just shows me how much they love me when they send little tender mercies my way to help me change my negative perspective. 

I have been in a lot of pain for quite some time now. Mostly physical pain, but the physical pain has also caused emotional and spiritual pain. It is hard to be in pain every day and not start to question if God really does love me. My physical pain has caused me to question even the very existence of God. It has caused me to question how a loving Heavenly Father could watch me suffer every day of my life and not do anything about it. How someone all powerful couldn't step in and just ease the suffering just a bit. It caused me to ask the question why me? Why so much pain? Why no answers? Why, why, why? I was so frustrated I became bitter with God. I was bitter that He wouldn't give me a simple answer. No answer of even the cause of my physical pain. I was frustrated that I had so many limitations and nothing I could do about them. I have been completely helpless. It has been quite frustrating many days. 

As I have been slowly moving towards more despair, pushing God aside, questioning his very existence, I have had many tiny tender mercies happen that have slowly brought me out of despair without me even noticing. As I now look at the tender mercies in my life, I see that God truly is aware of me and wants to help me. He knows me and knows what I need. He knows what I can handle and will help me conquer anything thrown my way if I let him. 

Evidences that God is aware of me: 

God has put specific people in my life to help me along the journey.

 Heavenly Father has placed Brianna Jean Call in my life from the day I was born. We were born 6 days apart but have not been apart much at all. She is one of the biggest blessings in my life! I know we are family, but we are more than family! I KNOW we were with each other in the pre-existence and I am sure we promised to help each other get through the arduous journey of life. I don't know if I have been much help to her, but she has definitely kept me going! She has one of the most positive outlooks on life despite difficulties that come into her life. She knows who she is and she knows where she is going. I am so lucky to have her as my bestest friend, cousin, and soul sister!!!

A couple of weeks ago I was really struggling with some doctrine in the church because of all the questioning I was doing. I was so grateful when a friends mom text me and invited me to dinner. We talked and eventually I was able to tell her all of my struggles and concerns.I had missed a couple of weeks of church and didn't plan on going the coming Sunday. She said I could go with her to her ward if I wanted. I kind of shrugged it off and then felt a push to ask if I really could go with her. Of course she said yes. So I went to church. It was just a normal day at church, nothing exciting. After church she invited me to their house for dinner. I went to their house and talked with her husband while they were preparing dinner. We talked about many things that was wrestling with. He was able to help ease my mind. This family has been a MAJOR blessing in my life. More than they could ever imagine. 

I have a great friend, Connie. She has also helped me SO MUCH. Just the other day I was really struggling. It was late at night, and I had no one to talk to. So I sent Connie a facebook message saying: Question? If God is all knowing, all powerful, and all loving... then why does he allow us to suffer so much... especially with no answers...(the pain I am going through with no answers) She replied with the perfect answer for me. She said: Because there must be opposition in ALL things. I think he hates to see us suffer and wishes we didn't have to. Sometimes we do things that make us or someone else suffer, but there are also times we don't do anything to cause our own suffering. Can you imagine how much Heavenly Father suffered when He watched His son die? He didn't get out of it. He suffered the most pain of all. The last statement made me think the most. It changed my perspective. Yes, I am suffering, but Christ suffered more than anyone will ever suffer because of his love for everyone. His love for me. God watched him suffer and did not step in. 

God knows what He is doing with me. He knows what I need to suffer to mold me into the person He knows I can become. He knows my potential. I don't. Why would he step into stop my suffering when He knows the type of person the suffering will cause me to become. He is the refiner holding me into the refiner's fire. He didn't just throw me into the fire. He is holding me in the fire, watching me and making sure I don't get damaged. He can see the impurities and knows exactly how long I need to be in the fire. I just need to trust him and remember that he is holding me and watching me every second. He WILL NOT fail me. 

Heavenly Father knows I love his creations. I love being outdoors and stopping to smell the roses. Last week my car had a gas leak so I took it to get fixed. I had to walk home. On my walk there were beautiful gardens full of all sorts of flowers and plants. There were magnificent rose bushes that had the sweetest smell I had ever smelled! Despite the negativeness of my car needing a repair, I was able to enjoy the beauty of Gods creations. I was able to stop and smell the roses. 

These are just a few tender mercies in my life. As I recognize and focus on the tender mercies in my life, I still suffer with pain, but I also live in BEAUTY and recognize more MERCY in my life. Having pain allows for more mercy to be manifest in my life. If I didn't have pain and darkness in my life I wouldn't be able to recognize and appreciate the LIGHT and STRENGTH I can have through my Journey through life.

Life is an arduous journey, but there is beauty all around

STOP AND SMELL THE ROSES!!!

Making Strides

Yesterday I decided I would actually use the sewing machine Matt bought me for Christmas. 

I have had, for awhile, a board on Pinterest called, "Soon to be Sewing"

And I hadn't used it yet. 

So I decided, for a few minutes, to peruse through the various links that I had pinned and after a time I came across a cute Maxi skirt pattern that claimed to be super easy. 

I took up the challenge, took my measurements and headed to the "Cotton Shop" on Freedom Blvd.

There I found a gorgeous yellow fabric that I decided would be my skirt in a few hours time. 

I rustled home and sat down at the sewing machine...

.....20 minutes later, after figuring out how to thread the darn thing, 

I was sewing!

Two hours later, with a little bit of help from my friends Sarah (Thank you sweets!)

It was complete! 

My first ever real sewing project! 

Do you like the yellow thread used on the black elastic? haha! 

Plus my super hippy/hipster headband and picture stance. 

I am all of the hip today. 

If you would like to make a skirt of your own, this is the website I used.

HERE

Great tutorial!

***********

I have told you that I plan to run a half-marathon with my friend Leah in September

This morning she invited me to run 3 miles on the Bonneville Lake River Trail.

I was thinking, "Sure, I can do three miles easily on pavement, this should be easy...ish"

Turns out it wasn't. It was like doing a hike double timing it. 

I was dead last 1/4 mile behind everyone the whole time. 

After we ran the 1.5 miles out to the pavement end, I was thinking that this may be too hard, that I wasn't good enough and that I couldn't do it. 

Funny thing happened.

Justin Bieber and Will.I.am saved me. 

Haha,

Their song, "That Power" came on my pandora and suddenly I could go farther
cause I had THE POWER! Haha, don't judge.

Plus Leah was helping me keep my spirits up and giving me compliments of even finishing, she was very helpful. 

But you know what? It was hard, but I did it.

Me, the lady who would rather have walked the mile in Junior High at a whopping 16 minutes.

The woman who has told herself over and over that she isn't a runner. 

I'll be honest, 

I'm not.

But! I am a jogger, and I can run three miles easily. 

Take that Junior High mindset!

The Small Things

I love walking to work and feeling the wind against my face. 

I love sitting in the same room as Matt. Myself, on the computer and him tinkering on his air soft gun. 

I love the humming of the planes outside and the drifting breeze that flows through the apartment.
I love the small message board we have on our fridge that invites the messaged conversation of passing lovers.

I love my husband's hair.
I just love him.

**********

Today I was at work for seven hours. 

3 1/2 working as an Expo: 

taking out sampler, putting dishes into the dishwasher, running around like a chicken with its head cut off

1 hr. lunch with Leah

3 hours rolling silverware over and over. 

600 pieces of rolled silverware later, I sit on my bed thinking about life.

**********

My life, more specifically, as a member of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

I have so much to be grateful for. 

My Savior gave his life for me, which enables me to have so much more than I could create for myself.

He has set in motion commandments which, if followed, are a cemented act of our love and our willingness to sacrifice. 

Why do we have the Word of Wisdom?

Yes, it is to keep our bodies healthy.

Why do you have the commandment to pay tithing? 

Yes, to be able to help the church grow.

Why do you make covenants with God in the temple?

Yes, it is to follow the crowd and do what we are told. 

All of these are good answers but after a conversation with Matt and I know there is so much more and a deeper reason to the things, we as members of the LDS church, are asked to do. 

We are asked to sacrifice for these things. 

To pay tithing is give a whole 10 percent of what we earn, that is a lot where money is tight. 

To follow the Word of Wisdom is give up the pleasures of alcohol, coffee, and other stimulants and also use things within the correct means. 

To make covenants with God, we sacrifice the easy road and take the more difficult one, to live a higher standard of living. 

God sacrificed His Only Begotten Son, therefore he asks us to sacrifice also. 

Sacrifice, over time, creates holiness. 

It creates a true being who is able to stand before God and understand, at least a sliver of, what Christ sacrificed for us. 

The small things we are asked to sacrifice, are really bigger than we sometimes realize. 

Steve-irina...

Recently I have been into running, painting, cooking, reading, and creating.

Of those things, many great and wonderful things have been born. 

I have found that I love to create, I love to see the beauty that my hands, my own hands can create. 

I painted a doodle that I drew: 

I decorated a cupcake that I didn't bake:

I was innovative and created a clothes line when our dryer at our apartment complex died, and it was laundry day:

And the most yummy, I made a really good chicken:

I love chicken:

**********

When I wake up early enough and have time to go for my run (which I successfully ran 3.1 miles this morning) I find I have more time and the frame of mind to see the beauty that is growing all around us:

**********

Life is so good you guys.

Matt and I both LOVE our jobs. 

We both feel that there are so many doors opening and waiting to be opened.

We have so much promise and yearning for a good future. 

We are so blessed and so loved. 

We have so many blessings, it is hard to count them. 

**********

I have recently been reading a ton! 

I have loved getting to know these characters. 

The Lucy's, Susan's, Edmund's, and Peter's. Tris', Al's, and Estauce's. 

I have loved reading quickly and seeing their adventure unfold with each passing page. 

**********

I want to be a mom you guys. 

There is this hard and deep yearning in my heart to be a mom.

I want to be a mom so badly, it hurts, really hurts. 

Last night, I broke down. 

I cried over my want to be mom and of my fears about it possibly not happening. 

Every "what if" was running through my mind, every question without answer.

I have a hard time with the unknown. 

What if...pregnancy only goes as far as a miscarriage?

What if...we don't get pregnant for years?

What if...a pregnancy results in an ectopic baby?

What if... if I never have my own children?

What if...I am never a mom?

What if...

What if...

After a good cry, I felt better. 

Although, I think fairly, I secretly will always have those fears till I have babe in arms. 

**********

We bought a puppet at the summerfest on Saturday:

His name...is Steve:

While the husband was away, I made Steve-irina? Sing "Opera" 

Roasted Chicken

Tonight Matt and I had Roasted Chicken for dinner.
I bought two large 7lb chicken's at Smith's for less than 10 dollars. That is 14 lbs of chicken for less than what you usually pay for just chicken breasts.
I took my sturdy and oh so welcoming crock pot and placed about 10 balls of aluminum foil on the bottom, so that the chicken's backside wouldn't become wrinkles from it's sweaty juices.
I washed the chicken bare skin off really well, threw away the giblets (which you could keep if you like giblet gravy and such) and proceeded to place the chicken inside the crock pot, on top of the foil.
Dashed with a little Paprika for color and Herbs Provience for taste and stuck the lid on for 8 hours.

Let's just say it turned out awesome! 

It was super moist, fall off the bone delicious. 

I believe next time I'll try injecting this bird with some juices or butter. 

It was meant to be...

Go make yourself a chicken!

Sometimes my friends and I make music videos

My friend Leah and I have thoroughly enjoyed this song by Sara Baraellies and have wanted to make a "music video" of us being silly to this fun tune. This is the result. I hope you like it! 

Now go make your own music video!

Right Now

1. I'm sitting in our cluttered den looking around at the things we haven't picked up. It says a lot about the kind of people we are. There is an unfinished birthday calendar project to my right, with its brightly colored papers with my Grandma Joy's birthday on top, she died 4 years ago this September. There are two bags left open from the previous night; tortilla chips with lime and cinnamon apple rings. There is a yearbook laying on the ground from which Matt was reading a few nights ago trying to pinpoint a familiar face at work. I've begun drawing. My sketch book is sitting on my 60 year old chest that holds my dear memories of yesterday's past. And a empty cup with a silver spoon resting just above my wrist while I type from the small breakfast I had this morning, before going running with Leah. I'm trying to write more, can you tell?

2. I have been reading "Jesus the Christ" what a fire hydrant of knowledge that book contains. It takes me a good 10 minutes to get through one page of his writing, slowly reading each sentence until I absolutely think I have grasped the concept. I have felt a newer spirit enter my daily rituals now that I take time to read this book before falling asleep at night.

3. I have been reading through The Chronicles of Narnia series and I have loved getting to know these characters and what they have been experiencing. Before summer had started, I sadly had forgotten how much I truly love to read. I love to meet these new people and as a bystander live what they live, feel what they feel, and grow as a person from their experiences whether true or "made up".

4. I'm going to see one my best friends today, one I haven't seen since I had gotten married. I am so excited.

Strangers are just family we haven't met yet.

During the school year I have time and time only for the reading of textbooks, articles, periodicals, and writing about them. I have no time for the leisure reading that takes me to other worlds, helps me meet new people, and cry, laugh, and experience things beyond my life; I had strangers needing to be met, needing to be read, and have their lives be experienced.
 

This summer has been great for many reasons so far, but one of my favorite; I have been reading! 

I have been reading so much! 

While being planted in my rocking chair facing my two huge second story windows, I have met and followed Lucy, Edmund, Peter, and Susan.

 I have met a man named Eddie and seen his life, his defining moments as a person,

 through others eyes.

 I have met Shasta and Aravis, Whin and Bree. 

Also all the creatures that reside in Narnia.

 I have learned more about the advent of Christ and his pre-mortal foreordained mission on this earth, to give all the way to eternal life AND salvation.

 I have just met Prince Caspian, who sounds quite like a fellow, who is dashing and yeah...he's cute. 

I hope to come to meet many new characters and creatures throughout my heavy reading summer.

I've become addicted to reading again, what fun this is! 

Also, if you want to follow my reading escapade, here is a link to my summer book list. 

You are more than welcome to suggest a book for me to devour this summer! 

I would be so happy if you did. 

Really, I would.