All over the place...life your mom.

So first I should start by getting a few things out of the way.

I really botched up the 14 Days of Valentine's this year. What did I do, 2 or 3? But you know what- my whole year has been about loving myself and others. Since I got my calling last spring as the Compassionate Service Leader in my ward I've tried to focus on serving others- and it's made me so happy!
I mentioned healthy things for my first couple of Valentine's activities, and that's been a big focus for me the last few months. I've got a Wellness Coach (she helps me make goals and keep track of them. She also helps me talk things through and look at my victories and find ways to challenge myself) and a personal trainer. I go running 2-3 days a week...well, I'm working my way up. I started only being able to run for 1 minute intervals, with 3 minutes of walking in between, but now I can run for 11 minutes straight! It's exciting to see my progression and push myself. I always wanted to run, but for the first time in my life it's happening! My personal trainer is helping me with strength training, something I've never really done before! At first I thought it was awful, but now I see how wonderful it can be. I weight train 3 days a week. I feel myself getting strong and hey, I've lost 10 more pounds! I also like to toss in pilates, and I tried yoga- I need to make myself go back more...it's SO hard! And this week I'm trying out lap swimming!
Some of my long term goals include running some 5ks this summer, buying some nice jeans, and hiking that #%m@$! waterfall hike all the way to the top!!!
Spiritually I've been trying to improve myself too! I've been listening to LDS talks all year, but more recently I started listening to Hugh Nibley talks! Hugh Nibley is amazing and he says it like it is. Sometimes it's tough, and the truth hurts, but I just love him!
As important as it is to be physically fit, it's even more important to be spiritually fit! BUT! I think to be our best spiritually, we have to be strong physically, and in contrast to be our best physically we have to be strong spiritually! Our bodies and spirits are SO connected, it's ridiculous!
Hmm let's see...I've also purchased a guitar and I'm attempting to learn how to play. Let's just say...it's a slow process for the rhythmically and coordination-challenged.

I'm also trying to get ready to do my Masters in Education project, apply for jobs in the fall, and learn to garden and bake bread...so LIFE IS AWESOME! Did I succeed to presenting regular blogs in the last few moths, no. Is life moving along anyway, yes.

So, I meant for that to be a brief note...but I'm Laura. Originally I was going to list my turn-ons and turn-offs, basically repeating this post I did: http://lauraconsistentlyinconsistent.blogspot.com/2010/01/so-i-was-driving-through-campus-and.html SO, I got this far:

"Turn-offs:
Picky eaters. I want a man who will eat what I give him. I want a man who likes to try new food. I want a man who will eat any flavor hummus I concoct. I'm not saying he can't have a few dislikes, I don't like peppers or rye bread, but let's not get crazy.
Swearing. Okay, now here's where I get really hypocritical. I've definitely done a lot of swearing in my life. Most especially in the 7-8th grade (My mouth was dirtier than a 20 year-old latrine boiling in West Virginia). BUT! I can't help it, when I hear a man swear I cringe and think, "Ick, really?" Now I don't swear as much these days, but I slip here and there. So I guess I should be more forgiving of men who occasionally slip too. Hmm, maybe. I'll be honest though, a certain man I find very attractive said the "D" word, and maybe one or two other little ones in my presence, and I got over it. So maybe this turn-off is a secondary one. I'd prefer it if swearing wasn't a regular occurrence, but if you slip here or there, or throw in a "D" word- I'll probably forgive you. But as a general rule, swearing is stupid!
Showing off your underclothes, tramp stamp canvas, or happy trails. Don't get me wrong, one day I might want to see your manscape- but save it for the honeymoon. Now you might be thinking, "Hey baby, I'm just giving you a preview." But guess what, it's more like the when I saw the trailer for RENT. I knew I didn't want it 39 seconds in. The best preview you can give is clothing that fits. Jeans, pants, suits, shorts, onesies- bring them on! Okay...so I don't want to see your crack, lower back, or...well, anyway, I don't want to see it. But even more, I don't want to see your LDS garments. Garments are a personal and sacred thing, and there isn't a whole lot more that turns me off than seeing your personal business hanging out the back. Oh and ps, we can see your bum through them. So A. I feel uncomfortable for seeing your sacred undies, and B. I can see you bum. Lesson: Cover up! For now...bwahahaha.
Liking lame bands. If I ask you, "What kind of music do you like? Specifically, which bands?" And you answer, "Nickleback, Creed, Atreyu etc." You've just been tested, and you FAILED.
Being too beefy. I'm not saying you shouldn't work out! Do, it's wonderful for your health! I can see how it would get addicting to, weight training I mean, but take back a few notches. If you can't have your arms parallel to your torso, you've gone too far. If your arms are wider than my thighs, you've really gone too far. If you have cleavage that exceeds an Olsen twin in a push-up, you may have gone too far. If you have more than 6 visible ab muscles, you've gone too far (I count 8 here, he's gone too far. Plus, eww.)If I can't see your Adam's-apple because your neck and shoulder muscles swallowed it, you've gone too far. Let's all be healthy, but let's not be obsessed. Moderation in all things guys!"

 AND THEN...I realized it was a dumb post. How can my life be so busy and wonderful, but my mind still finds the time to obsess about men? Curse you men and your mind control! I'm not looking for someone perfect...usually I'm not even looking. But always the thinking...always the analyzing...always the wishing...and then usually the feeling pathetic about it. HA. I know just how Wolverine feels.

Life is too wonderful to clutter your mind with necessary things. For example, here are a few good things I've experienced:
The Punch Brothers live at the Egyptian Theater in Ogden, Utah. I was continually smitten by all of them.

Change of Sunday Meeting House! We now meet in the building right behind my house so I can walk to church, and we went from 9 am to 1 pm until further notice!
Working for the school district to help with evaluations. It's been great seeing all of the schools, teachers, and classrooms! Also...money is nice.
Finding two new roommates! Jernae and Charity are moving in at the beginning of June!
Coming Attraction: MY MOM VISITING ME!

Holi Festival!
Kid History 4
So life is good...and men are too...but that doesn't mean I should think about the latter all the time.

The Second Annual: 14 days of Valentines!

Remember the great event?! It's on again! 14 Days of appreciating love, Laura, and life! Here's a link to last years celebration.

As Shelly said last year, "A 14 day celebration of all things lovely and a countdown to the holiday d'amour! Everyday we are to complete some romantically exciting task. If you are single or have always been indifferent or perhaps even bitterly loathed V- Day, that is ok. You can take this as an opportunity to fall madly in love with yourself."

So, in an effort to skip redundancy I'll just start in on this year. If you want to read up on the description, or last years events- read the old blogs. 

Day 1, 2011: For day one I was good to my body and spirit. I discovered a great liking for yoga at FHE and taught a lesson on gratitude and service. Here is a clip from said lesson:

"Julie B. Beck said in the March 2008 CES fireside:  “The…young adult years are usually times of great self-interest. There are so many decisions to make, and it is easy to be turned inward. The first thing I…would encourage you to do is forget yourself. You should probably be participating in fewer activities that are meant merely to entertain when you could and should be finding ways to make life a little easier for someone else. The quickest way to find friends, to find happiness, to feel grateful, and to have the companionship of the Spirit is to get on your knees and ask the Lord, “Who needs my help today?” and then begin helping.”

I know we’re all busy and we have work, school, homework, facebook, whatever- but we can always find time to serve. We don’t have to plan elaborate service projects to help other children of God. Service can be as simple as picking up trash on the street, smiling at someone, inviting people to play games at your house, heart attacking a friend, making someone a card, participating in church activities, or limitless other things. Service isn’t always about toil and time (though service that involves those things can be incredibly rewarding). Service is about love and friendship and sharing that with other people...

Sister Beck continued, “You could serve as individuals or prayerfully organize yourselves in your callings with your single-adult groups, ward and institute groups, and Relief Societies and priesthood quorums; together you would be able to make a difference for good in the world. Most service opportunities are found very close to home, within your families and wards. You are now old enough and mature enough to lead out in planning and organizing these types of activities. You also know how to receive answers to prayers to learn what the Lord would have you do. As you look outward, the Spirit will be with you to guide you in all the life-changing decisions you are making because the Spirit always accompanies righteous service. You will not have any trouble finding places to serve. While you serve with your peers, you will form good friendships and have meaningful social experiences."

After giving the lesson we made cards and listened to a mix cd of mostly classic rock. Overall, I'd say the evening was a success and I felt an appreciation for myself and my body.

Day 2: Tuesday was all about my well being. I went to a wellness coach and made 3 month goals with her. She also set me up with a personal trainer, and that evening I "got my sweat on" on the treadmill.

Day 14: SUPER AMAZING!

I am so happy I did this 14 days of Valentine's blog and celebration. It's really hard to blog about what I love about me- real hard. After day two I was like...uh, I have no idea what I love about me...so I'm glad that this forced me to look at myself and see the good. You know, something I'm discovering is that if you want to be attractive, you have to act attractive. Don't complain about your life, your face, your body, your anything! Life is beautiful and wonderful and all of those crap days make the small good things BIG good things. No one wants a Debbie Downer- I'm talking to you girl who would hopefully never read my blog ;) Bwahahaha! Besides the benefit of being attractive to others when you behave attractive, you become more attractive to yourself! And as awful as it may sound, hearing a certain girl complain about herself has made me realize how much I love me! Not because I take joy in her pain, but because it makes me think about the whole self esteem canoli. I love Laura, Lora, Lara, Lawra…whoever I am!

Laura tree I painted for Christmas :)

Today’s love activity was pretty easy- I went to church. I love church. I love my new ward. I love the Gospel of Jesus Christ! People talk about love all the time, like it’s something so casual or base, and often it is, but I love real love. I love a love so great that it loves pill bugs and baboons and pebbles! I love a love that would suffer any conceivable pain to save us all from eternal pain! I love a love that allows us to experience pain and suffering (sometimes for years and months) so that we become stronger, more interesting, more attractive, more humble, more beautiful, more fit to be gods and goddesses! Woah, this is getting too intense and personal for a blog, TMI! But who cares! I want to shout it from the rooftops! I didn’t have a SUPER AWESOME Valentine’s because I sent out Star Wars Valentine’s or because I watched romantic movies- My Valentine’s has been super because God loves me. Dig it. “That’s all” (I always love to say, “that’s all,” like Miranda Priestly from the Devil Wears Prada in my head!)

I love toothpasteforedinner.com cartoons!

So what do I love about me, me. All of it. I love my frizzy hair and my big nose. I love my blue eyes and my wonderful toes. I love that I don’t ever bruise, but I scar like a mink is minky. I love that I laugh at awkward moments. I love that I create awkward moments all the time! I love that my roommate just got engaged and I’m about to cry for joy because I’m so happy for her- and I’ve only known her for about a month. I love that every time I walk by the swing in my front yard (no matter the temperature or weather) I want to hop on and watch the cars go by. I love that I have my nana and grandmother’s names. I love that I am me. Happy Valentine’s World!

CONGRATS ROOMIE!