Muscles: Use 'em Or Lose 'em

I love getting the mail, especially when I'm expecting something I bought online. In this case I've been anticipating exercise DVDs and you know what? They came today!!!!!!!! I am so thrilled. 

The other day I had absolute nothing to do so I thought to myself,  "Maybe I should exercise...". I popped in the one DVD (my mom's) that I always use when I get the not-so-often urge to exercise. You know how they say exercising puts you in a good mood? Well, I found that particularly difficult to believe that day. It then dawned on me that maybe working out would be loads more fun if I had my own resources. Soooo, as soon as I finished up, I got on my laptop and bought two "10 Minute Solution" exercise DVDs.

On Saturday night I was at Kmart with my family and I saw these awesome pink, orange, and white tennis shoes that were a great price and I bought those too, because I think they will add an extra dose of motivation.. :) Now I've got my shoes and DVDs and I'm ready to get started! That's the next step-- just getting started. Haha. I can do this though, because I just pinned a bunch of inspiring exercise quotes on pinterest! :) I will give updates.

Today While The Sun Shines

"Wake up with Determination. Go to bed with Satisfaction."

To me, this quote says it all. Since the beginning of the year I've been trying my hardest to make a change in my life. Not just resolutions that will go untouched within a month, or saying to myself over and over "I need to be more positive". I have made the decision to really evaluate my existence here on earth and live my life to the fullest. I have been loving life and feeling GREAT each and every day- from the time I wake up until I go to bed at night. I am so glad I have finally found the key to true happiness, and that is to put Heavenly Father first in your life and trust that everything else will fall into place, because it always does.

I was just sitting here eating my mint M&M's while I read a bunch of blog posts by other Missionary Girlfriends and I am determined to blog more than just once a month. So... starting today, that is exactly what I'm going to do.

Relaxing Sunday, wrapped up in my  High School Musical blanket and eating delicious mint m&m's. 

After expressing my desire to try front counter to my manager at Chick-fil-A, he finally scheduled me a couple days last week to train up front. Monday was awesome! I learned alot (which was a bit overwhelming), but had such a great time. During the lunch rush I was put over desserts. I made soooo many milkshakes that when I woke up the next morning, my arms were sore from pulling down on the ice cream machine lever. :p I am scheduled for up front again this Monday and Tuesday, and I look forward to it.

I got my wonderful "Eternal Marriage" manual in the mail this week and I am just thrilled to have that thing in my possession! Not only do I get excited to read the words inside, but I also enjoy highlighting and marking it up. It's a pretty big book, so it will take me a while to get through it, but I enjoy every minute of reading the counsel of prophets and scriptures on specified topics. I love this book so much that I took it with me to church today and read it during sharing time, and then after church when the rest of my family was in choir. To sum up how I feel about this marriage manual, I would definitely recommend it to any of you out there who took the time to read this post.

In sacrament meeting today we sang "Today While the Sun Shines". I literally haven't heard that song in forever, but while singing the words today, the meaning really became clear: Seize the day!! Make each day count by spending your time wisely, and accomplishing the goals you've set. What a great hymn!

I hope you all have a Happy Sunday and enjoy your week!

"...Seek, And Ye Shall Find..."

I thought I would dedicate a blog post to being thankful to my Heavenly Father for the many blessings He gives me.  2013 has been so wonderful so far and I am really excited for what the next 11 months will bring. Especially seeing Matthew in 9 months. :D

My life has just been great lately. I feel motivated, determined, dedicated, and diligent in the goals I'm working towards. I am happy to say that I am sticking with list of goals I made a few weeks ago and they have proved to be a great blessing in my life. I find all of the spiritual goals the most important to me. Even from the time before Matthew left on his mission, I knew it was going to be important to progress and improve myself over those two years so that I would be at the same level he was when he came home. I actually did really well with that. I started college and I'm now a Sophomore and I got a job that I will have been at for 1 year in May. I have really been progressing and growing through doing those two things. However, it wasn't until the beginning of this year that I realized that as much as this temporal growth was important, I needed to be focusing on my spiritual growth as well. After coming to this realization, I set a couple of simple goals like reading one chapter of the Book of Mormon everyday, and reading a conference talk each Sunday. Since making those goals, I have carried them out every day without fail. I can definitely tell a change in my life. Not just in the overall picture of things, but in each moment of everyday. I believe this is where the extra motivation is coming from and it feels wonderful! Not only am I more driven to do tasks, but I just have a more positive outlook towards life and I've noticed that the little things don't seem to bother as bad (I'm still working on not letting them bother me at all) as they usually would. Because of this effort I've noticed more opportunities for greatness arising. It's not like beforehand I was really off the path and needed to find my way back, but I just didn't seem to be spending enough time being spiritually nourished. I wasn't really growing spiritually. I still had a testimony and everything, but I was continually developing it.

I shared my experiences with Matthew in the last letter I wrote to him. I'm hoping to make those spiritual experiences a bigger part of my letters, especially since he is pretty much submerged in the scriptures and the gospel everyday.

So I am happy to say that with a new year and a new start to everything, I have made becoming spiritually stronger not just a goal for 2013 but an improvement to my lifestyle. I know Heavenly Father has blessed me greatly already because of my desire. I also know studying and learning these doctrines and truths for myself is going to help me to better support Matthew, which is very important to me. :)

"Ask, and it shall be given unto you; seek, and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you."

3 Nephi 13: 7

Great Start to a New Year: 2013!!!

Tomorrow, January 12th marks Matthew's 15 months out in the mission field. I can't say this month went by quickly, but time is definitely moving along at a steady pace. I can assure you that my love for Matthew has only continued to grow in this past month and I get excited each and every day for the day when he comes home.

To give you an update of what's happened since I last blogged, all I have to say is Christmas!!! It was one of the most wonderful and yet sad days since he's been gone. First of all, that morning I opened one of my presents from under the tree and it was a package from Matthew. Mom and Dad had hidden it and wrapped it as a present without me having the slightest idea! That was just amazing by itself. In his package was a zebra striped electric blanket (which comes in handy quite often actually), and a book called, "Cajun Night Before Christmas" and it is absolutely hilarious! Later that evening, I went over to his family's house to talk to him when he called home. It wasn't nervous, just excited. While awaiting his phone call, me and a few of his family members played the game "Apples to Apples". All of a sudden the phone rang and his younger brother, Jeremy, answered it. Okay just so you know, this is when I became a nervous mess. I would say "wreck" but I would say it would've had to be worse to be called a "wreck". :) Anyway, I pretty much couldn't play the game anymore because I was not the least bit focused. :p When it was my turn for the phone, I was ready! He sounded good, yet our conversation seemed a bit formal at the beginning (which is understandable seeing as how we hadn't talked in 14 months). We hadn't talked but maybe five minutes when I realized we were having normal conversations like we did before he left and for the twenty minutes we talked, it really truly felt like he had never left; like it hadn't been over a year since the last time we spoke. It was indescribable. Amazing is the best word I can think of, maybe surreal... Anyway, getting off the phone was the hardest part, but when he said he loved me, I knew I could make it through the remaining months. I was kind of glad to get in my car and drive home afterwards because I just wanted to have a good cry (which by the way didn't even last five minutes). Unfortunately, for the next week (it seemed alot longer) I was in a slump and was afraid it was going to take forever to get back emotionally where I had been before the phone call.

For New Year's my family went up to my grandparents' house in Kentucky. It snowed on the way up there and there was a light coating of snow on the ground when we arrived. Being there with all of the extended family was nice and got my mind off of things and was a nice way to transition into the new year. I'm happy to say that as soon as we returned home I felt like I was back to normal. :)

I am so excited about 2013, especially since Matthew will be home this October. I know it's still months away, but just knowing I will see him this year makes it all seem so wonderful.

This past week I got really excited about making goals for the remaining months Matthew is away (perfect time of year to do so as well). Here is what I came up with:

Goals for 2013:

 Try a new recipe each week

 Read a "fun" book once a month

 Finish the Book of Mormon

 Try a new hairstyle and makeup technique each month.

 Read a conference/Ensign talk every Sunday-- RULE: Read a talk on MARRIAGE once a month. :)

That is what I have so far. It's a good start, and I'm sure I'll more to it before the year is up. 

In addition to my goals for the year, I came up with some "fun" goals for each month until Matthew comes home. (For example: buy a movie, buy a book, buy something for future home, etc.) I know they're all pretty much buying something, but I don't work for nothing! Haha. :) Anyway, for this month I'm doing this project I've seen people do on Facebook called, "30 Day Photo Challenge". I will start it tomorrow and for the next 30 days I will take a picture or find a picture that corresponds with the item for the day, on my list. I think the first one is something like... my favorite animal... so that's the kind of items that are on the list. I am so excited to get started!!  I will definitely be devoting a post all  to those pictures. :)

I found a treasure in the website picmonkey.com, which is a site for photo editing. Let's just say I've spent a good amount of time editing pictures because it is so much fun!! Well, because my sister likes, actually I should say loves the Beatles, (I like them, but she loves them) we decided to re-create one of the Beatles' pictures. It isn't a perfect match by any means, but I would say it's pretty good for a couple of amateurs. :) I have uploaded it below.

Well, I guess this is the end of my post for today... I'm just living life and doing my best to continue to improve and refine myself through both spiritual study as well as real life situations. As always I try to put my trust in Heavenly Father and stay close to Him. I can say it makes life a whole lot more happy and fulfilling. Until next time!! :D

My comical Christmas present from Matthew.

Re-creation of a classic Beatles photograph.