pieces

enjoying the magazine Seeing the Everyday. It randomly came in the mail a month ago and I instantly loved it. It actually reminds me a lot of a blog. It's essays put with photos that focus on everyday life, a reminder that even the mundane things we do shape us. I considered getting a subscription when a card came in the mail a few weeks ago letting me know the magazine was a gift from my Stake President (church leader). I just assumed it was for taking photos while in Lake Powell and was pleasantly surprised his thank you came by way of this fabulous magazine.

listening to Where I Stood by MissyHiggins and Breathe Me by Sia

grateful for quiet morning where everyone is still fast asleep and not feeling sleep deprived. A rare occurrence.



thinking about our Stake Conference (basically a church meeting with leaders of my church presiding) Sunday where the Prophet Thomas S. Monson spoke. He said something that has stuck with me all week, "If we don't try, then we don't do, and if we don't do than what are we here for?" A reminder to me to not let fear of failure stand in my way of doing and living. For good or bad our life experiences make us who we are.

learning to paint online. I finally decided there's only so much I can teach myself and felt like I was in a rut so I signed up for Paulette Insall's organic dimensions background/collage class. It's only been one week, but I'm really enjoying it and have learned a lot. Have you ever taken a class online before?

loving the coolness and the smell permeating my room this morning as the dark sky threatens to rains. Love a rainy day.

have a great weekend.

thoughtful wanderings

I woke up too early for a summer morning wishing I could fall back asleep, instead laid in my cozy bed listening to the hard rain hitting my window, beating down on the road. I wasn't too excited about waking up to a cold wet gray rainy day, but I did love in that moment hearing it beat down in a fury. A part of me, I have no idea why, wanted to run outside and let it soak me. I guess it's me wanting the weather to encourage my thoughtful mood that I've had for days.



It was originally brought on by my release from the YW program Sunday. I knew it was coming and yet I wasn't quite prepared when it happened. It's hard to give all you have to something, someone and then just walk away from it, handing over your binder as if the rules to the job reside. Even though part of me was ready to move on, I really wasn't and it's been hard for me to let it go. It was such a huge part of my life and it's so crazy to just walk away from it like I never knew it.

All my thoughts and emotions that have come from this one incident has me thinking about connections we make with others. Why some of them last and others fleeting? Is one of our main purposes in this world to touch the lives of those around us and when the message is sent we go our way? Subconsciously I wonder how much this is true? How much God guides us to those we need or who need us? I guess you never know when you might be needed so you live hoping you're doing your part...making a difference the way you were meant to.


"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." - Douglas Adams

You know I've always wanted this extraordinary life, but knew in my gut my life would be very ordinary. I always knew what I was intended to do, but I never did understand til now what that actually meant. I've searched too long thinking an extraordinary life was something big and almost unattainable when really an extraordinary life has been right in front of me the whole time. Adam and my girls bring my life meaning and make life worth living...they are my purpose here. So while my life is simple, it's mine and everything I've always wanted.

I believe it's like Sheryl Crow said, "it's not having what you want, it's wanting what you got."

live