On Monday morning I woke up late and contemplated skipping class for a nice morning of the gym and a homemade lunch. But once I remembered the lovely skirt I had purchased over the weekend I was eager to get up and go to school. Maybe that’s ridiculous or superficial, but I’d rather look at it as an adequate choice of a coping method.
The rules:
A. Each player lists 6 facts/habits about themselves.
B. At the end of the post, the player then tags 6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog, for these rules.
1. I am a planner. And I live by my agenda book. For the last three years I’ve used the basic DayMinder BYU version which I loved. But this year I decided to branch out. I found a planner at Paper Source while in
2. I’m a huge Dr. Laura fan. I listen to every hour. I signed up a few years ago for the podcast so I’m able to download each show. I’ve always loved talk radio and could listen to Dr. Laura in particular for hours. It’s my favorite way to drive anywhere, do the dishes, clean the house, fold laundry and fall asleep. It’s probably the best $5 I spend each month!
Every now and then I run into someone who really dislikes her but usually this hatred is unfounded and out of date. Most often I have people tell me they hate her because when they were little their mom listened to her show in the car all the time and they got sick of it. What’s more frustrating is when people dislike her because they think she’s a crazy, man-hatter. Nothing could be further from the truth! To summarize Dr. Laura’s main points: people must take responsibility for their actions and accept the consequences of those actions as the results of their own choices. In my opinion she gives great advice and her moral consistency is commendable. Here are just a couple quotes:
“That something is difficult should never be an excuse not to do it.”
“What you feel only matters to you. It’s what you do to the people you love that counts.”
“Choose wisely, treat kindly.”
“Eat less, move more.”
“The people and the circumstances don’t make me who I am, they reveal who I am.”
“The fears will never go away, but they will subside as you impress yourself with your courage to do what needs to be done to achieve your dreams.”
I am very grateful for my iHome thing my mom gave me for Christmas last year. I use it everyday and it has earned a permanent spot on my desk.
3. I have a weird issue with buying gas. Meaning, I do it as infrequently as possible. You’d be surprised how long you can drive around in my car with the gas light on. I think I’ve gone 6 full days before. Granted, it usually ends with me out of gas in some parking lot far from home. It all comes down to me being an accountant. I have a monthly budget in which I allow for one tank of gas per month. This clearly is not enough but I try every month to make it work. Ken gets frustrated with this since I am the one making my own budget and I could just increase the gas allotment without much effort. Furthermore he says I’ll be using the same money today or next month, the only difference is the date that will show up on my Quicken transaction list. All good points. Nonetheless, I’m usually very out of gas.
4. I love throwing pottery on the wheel. I learned in high school ceramics and I was never REALLY good but it’s something I really enjoy. I don’t have much time or access to a wheel these days. But I always picture pottery as that thing I’ll pick up again when I have a mid-life crisis, or when all my kids are in school or out of the house and I’m feeling lost and in need of a hobby. My projects from high school are scattered around my sisters’ houses which is kinda fun to see.
5. I have something against tap water. I know, I know, it’s irrational. Some studies have even proved that tap water is cleaner than bottled water. And I live in
Once they were having a crazy sale at Smith’s on Arrowhead bottles. They were all out of flats on the shelf so I asked them to look in the back. The silly high school kid came back and said he didn’t see any. I didn’t believe he really looked so I made Ken go into the back room to check for himself. He confirmed there were no flats back there. I got a raincheck coupon good for the whole month. Yes, I was that crazy lady who asked for a raincheck on an item at the grocery store.
It’s not rational but those who love me allow me this oddity. We all have our things right?
6. I love
So now, which race is next? I haven’t decided yet because the memory of the last race training is still too fresh. The training for these marathons is pretty exhausting and mentally draining since there’s so much recalculating going on everyday. For example, should I run today or not? How far should I run today? Is it ok to skip my long run this weekend and push it to next weekend? If I get out there and it’s a bad run, how far will I force myself to go before calling it quits? What route should I choose for my next long run? What’s the weather supposed to be like for the next several weekends? If I miss a Saturday run, should I do it Sunday and go to late church or skip class to do it Monday? All these decisions are hard for me… and all the guilt that follows the choice is even more difficult to bear.
This is why I love half marathons so much. The training isn’t as intense and mentally draining. The race is long enough to feel accomplished but short enough to run without too much effort (that’s not the right word) or strain. So we’ll see where I go from here. For now, I’ll wait to see which race Annee decides to do next and I’ll probably join in. I wish I could find a good running group to train with.
On Sunday after the race I was quite sore and stiff. When I drove back to
I was late leaving for school on Monday but was pretty proud that I was going to my 8am class at all! If I don’t leave by 7:40am I know I will not be able to get a parking spot in what I call “the business corner” (which is really a Y-lot positioned closest to the Tanner Building in which I have all my classes). Nonetheless at 8:20 when I got to the lot I decided to drive through it just in case. Imagined how happy I was when the #1 spot in the lot was empty!! You can’t get any closer than that spot! So lucky!!
I doubt walking the extra 100 yards from a different spot would have killed me but it was a nice little blessing for my sore legs and ankles.
I have been very busy at school the last few weeks. I feel SO LUCKY to be a part of such a great accounting program at BYU. At our MAcc orientation meeting our director told us "it is no accident that you are where you are in this program at this school." It is reassuring to know that all of this work I am putting in, all of the 15 hour days in the Tanner Building, are building towards some ultimate purpose. Now that I am in my second year in the program, I have gotten more comfortable with my classmates and have built some meaningful friendships. I've made it a point to force myself to stretch and grow and become better at being open and befriending the people around me. Focusing on getting to know my classmates has made being at school all day so much fun. I really am so lucky. 
Teatherball is alot harder than I remember it being in elementary school!!
I woke up early and drove myself up
The first 5 miles were pretty solitary except for a few hard core bikers pushing up the canyon. Although I like running with large crowds like in a race, I really don't like when there are a lot of people running towards me. It's so awkward! Do you look at them or not, do you wave or not, will they say hello and if so what do you say in response, do I look really awful (as I do when I'm on mile 12 of 18...), etc.. All this anxiety may seem ridiculous but there isn't much else to do while running but notice the people around you and over analyze your potential interactions.
On this day I was taking the basic smile and slightly nod while looking straight ahead approach. Most people passed without much incident until up ahead I saw an older woman approaching on a bike. She was a little bigger and awkward but riding steadily towards me. I began my decision making process about how I was going to handle this passerby.
Finally we were close enough and I looked up to give my slight smile and nod. Unexpectedly, the bike woman looked back at me with the biggest, warmest, most excited smile I've seen and gave a quick cheerful hello! In a couple seconds we had passed each other but I had tingles all over which lasted a couple hundred yards. I can't explain what was different about this person but in those few, brief seconds she made me feel so good. I was energized and uplifted and able to run with renewed energy through the last few miles of my run. It was exactly what I needed at that moment. It was another witness to me that someone is watching out for me at every moment, providing to me what I need even when I don’t know it.
What was it about that woman? How was she able to make me feel so good without even doing anything? What can I do to have that same impact on other people? Why haven’t I been open to more opportunities for such interaction and what have I missed out on by doing so? Good things for me to think about!
reflect on them at other times. We are promised if we write down and recognize the things we are given, we are blessed with more.
