Back in the Blogosphere Again... For Now

Hello, blogger my old friend... 

Yeah, so I took a year off to ... well, 2012 was not a year in which I accomplished much. So I guess I took a year off from blogging to think about doing other things, and then ended up doing meaningful things like watching TV and contemplating exercising.

The truth is, I was not sad to see 2012 go. Was it a terrible year? Did my house burn down or did a family member die? Did I run over someone's cat or eat too many vegetables? Thankfully, no. None of these tragedies occurred. 

Still, 2012 was, ahem, not the year of good mental health practices. Which means that if I'd had kerosene and a match or saw someone's cat in the road... Just kidding, of course. I'm afraid of fire and I like cats so I found other ways to be crazy. (After a while, it becomes an art. They do say practice makes perfect. They just don't specify what you should practice. Although I'm thinking crazy probably isn't on the list.)

Well.

Anyway, I feel like I should give 2012 some sort of farewell just to prove I did live through it. So here goes:

Best movies of 2012 (not in order)

Liberal Arts

Life of Pi

Lincoln

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

Hope Springs

The Amazing Spiderman

The Hunger Games

Favorite books read in 2012

My Name Is Asher Lev

The Fault in Our Stars

The Sky Is Everywhere 

When Women Were Birds

The Bell Jar

Moon Over Manifest

Okay for Now

Best bands discovered in 2012

Bon Iver

Blind Pilot

Florence + the Machine

Of Monsters and Men

Random things I enjoyed in 2012

Vacation in San Diego with the fam

Downton Abby (I will marry Matthew if Mary won't)

The Shins concert at Red Butte (too cold but the opening bands were fantastic)

White chocolate peppermint M&Ms (dang, those are good)

Meeting a new cousin, Kaija 

Seeing Hamlet at the Shakespeare Festival 

I think there are more things I enjoyed but I can't remember any of them right now. I'm not really a big "New Year's resolutions" kind of person (mostly because I, like most people, rarely keep them) but I do have a personal "theme" for 2013. A post about that is too come. 

In the meantime, hooray for a new beginning!

White Elephant

It's been a while since my last post. I'll have to play catch-up but not in this post. No, I have something special planned for this one.

My work Christmas party is tomorrow and there will be a $10 gift exchange. Technically it's not a white elephant gift exchange but silly gifts are acceptable. And, let's face it-- they're way more fun than candles, lotion, chocolate, etc. that you just don't need or want.

This year's find was truly great. The microscopic print next to the guy says "This jail hair has gotta go!"

Yeah. Classic.

Pride Goeth Before a Fall (Sometimes Literally)

Yesterday was Fast and Testimony meeting. As is occasionally the case with "open mic Sunday," there seemed to be an unusually abundant amount of wackadoos sharing their thoughts at the pulpit. Since I try to be careful about what I post on the internet, I'll just say that many of those who got up quoted a string of strange scriptures (and then expounded them), discussed their bizarre Facebook posts and shared WAY too much about themselves (and took a really long time doing so).

My roommate, who gets embarrassed for others easily, immediately pulled out her scriptures and started reading. I quietly wondered if singles wards are driving young single adults to new levels of madness because how could four out of every five "testimonies" borne be so weird? Then I worried that maybe the social awkwardness that seems to be seizing YSAs is contagious and I might catch it. Or worse, since I've been in the system for so long, maybe I've already caught it and I'm not aware. The horror, the horror.

While I was feeling sorry for those poor souls who clearly lacked any sort of social tact or propriety, my roommate tapped my shoulder and pointed to the scripture she happened to come upon (3 Nephi 18:22-23):

"And behold, ye shall meet together oft; and ye shall not forbid any man from coming unto you when ye shall meet together, but suffer them that they may come unto you and forbid them not; But ye shall pray for them, and shall not cast them out;"

We both looked at each other. CRAP. It was a sign. A warning.

And it got worse. Because when I was getting up to leave Relief Society, my foot couldn't support my weight (I think it had fallen asleep, like me, ha ha!) and I fell down. All the way down. On the ground. In a skirt.

Yeah. Pride goeth before a fall.

But still I wonder which is worse: Proving to the world that you're a klutz? Or committing social suicide at the pulpit?

Either way, I got the point, Lord. I'll try praying for them next time.

Halloween Special

The options for Halloween were 1) a tri-stake dance at the University of Utah (does it get any scarier than a bunch of 18-21 year-olds in bad costumes making sad attempts to flirt?) OR 2) PlanB with my roommates.

Without hesitation, I opted for Plan B.

We made brownies,playedwith glow sticks, and watched the 1967 classic, "Wait Until Dark." Starring the lovely Audrey Hepburn, I love this movie for many reasons. The over-the-top music. The thrilling suspense. The clothes (yes, Audrey could wear anything, couldn't she?).

But my favorite thing about "Wait Until Dark" are the cherished memories I have of watching the film with my mom as a child and later as a teenager. We loved to rent old movies. I remember our Audrey Hepburn phase well (we loved "Charade") but we also enjoyed all of the Hitchcock classics and the charming romances like "How to Steal a Million."

Those are some of my favorite memories and I'm glad tonight's Halloween festivities brought them back.

Who knew I could be in such a cheesy mood on Halloween?

On Patience

Lately I have been having the same conversation with the Lord. It goes something like this:

"Heavenly Father, I'm tired of ... [insert trial, problem, annoyance, etc.]"

The response? Nothing. Or, occasionally, "I know."

But recently a comment in Relief Society caused me to stop and think. "Patience," a sister said, "is when you are tired of a particular trial or problem but you keep going anyway -- without complaining."

I like this thought. I wish I could say that it's instantly changed my behavior to make my conversations with the Lord less whiny. This isn't necessarily the case. But it is helping me to stop and consider my blessings before I launch into the complaint section of my prayers.

And I think it's been making a difference.

Things that Make Me Happy

I was thinking about things that made me happy today. The weather was beautiful, which I greatly appreciated. But what I enjoyed most about today was listening to Lenny Kravitz. What can I say? Lenny just made me want to dance. Don't worry-- I didn't. But I wanted to.

Review: Moneyball

I will admit that while I'm not the biggest team sports fan, I do often enjoy movies about sports. They make me feel like I am part of the American experience without me actually having to sit in a stadium and be part of the American experience.

Moneyball is no exception. The movie hits a home run. (And yes, I did need to say that. If it had been about football, I would have said touchdown. If it had been about basketball, I would have said slam dunk. If it had been about hockey or golf, I wouldn't have gone to see it because some sports can't be saved even by movies starring Brad Pitt).

I was surprised at how engrossing Moneyball turned out to be. I was engaged the whole time (and no, it wasn't just because Brad Pitt was in it, although that certainly helped). It's a good story (and true, too) told in an interesting way and I left with a greater appreciation of how professional sports teams are assembled.