My Simple, Happy, Beautiful Life

I saw Jimmer play basketball last night at Arco Arena (or Power Balance Arena). I kept thinking about how the adjustment would be hard to go from college to NBA. The styles, strategies, plays and pressure is completely different. And then the tall guys playing on the Kings were good, but Jimmer just seemed to have more success. According to me, these are the skills are of a amazing basketball player: 1. Brains (knowing the game) 2. Unselfishness (being able to give up the ball and give someone else the shot) 3. Being able to find a open shot 4. Fast Runner 5. Good Offense/Defense ( Middle ground between the two) 6. Respectful to the Game, Ref's, Coach, Other team, and team members. 7. Spontaneous Thinker 8. Be able to change quickly when necessary. Of course, there are more but these are the ones that I could think of. 

I refuse to say goodbye. There is no ending. A relationship will never have a end because there will always be memories that keep it alive. The relationship may diminish but there will always be a relationship. This is my new philosophy. Saying goodbye to me doesn't sound useful. This is what I will say.."I will see you later". Later may mean 10 years later, the next day or the next life. I have this new perspective that is more hopeful. Maybe this is my coping mechanism that I am just having a hard time realizing I am leaving everything I love for a bigger and new enviornment. I am not saying goodbye to Rexburg. I will visit Rexburg. I will miss my Grandpa and his kisses on my cheek. I will miss his house and the home that I always had. Rexburg was a home away from my home. It will always be. It is crucial to my testimony of the church, social and academic development. I love everything about Rexburg and BYU Idaho. I will miss having pillow fights with my best friend a

Yep, it is everyone's favorite time of the year. The time of exams, papers, projects, white glove clean checks. The stress levels are high. Roommates have more tension. Everyone has different plans for the next semester. Everyone is moving and packing. How do you handle finals stress? Do you cry, eat, laugh, procrasinate,complain, or just study? Each person has their own individual way of dealing with finals stress. I find it interesting that each person is different in how they deal with stress. It is a talent to deal with stress. My freshman year I was horrible with  dealing with stress. After being in college for 2 years, you learn how to deal with the stress. This is what I have learned helps me the most. Make a to do list with prioritized items that need to be accomplished. Then do number 1. Check it off. Then do number 2. Keep going until you finished the list. Don't try to multitask. Just do one thing at a time and don't think about the other items on your list.

I have a new favorite dancing...well I guess I have loved it for a while. Country dancing is the funnest dance possible. I love the steps, the music, the movements, the line dances. Looking back at the beginning of my country dancing class, I have loved every moment of it. The cowboy cha cha, triple step, two step and country swing.  If you are ever looking for a good time, take country dancing because it will change your life. The good thing about it is that it is easy. Anyone can learn a line dance or the foundations of country dancing. Other dances you have strict posture and dance steps you have to follow. Country dancing allows a lot of freedom that you can do whatever you want. I am a firm believer that country dancing offers a little something for everyone!

I have 10 days left at BYU Idaho. Then I am off at BYU! It is making me sad seeing the campus and friends that I will miss. I keep telling myself that the change will be good for me. I know it will. I will always hold a special place for BYU Idaho. It has treated me well :) Except for the boys...but...thats okay! I will miss the campus, my teachers, my past roommates, the I center, devotional days, going to grandpas, my nice apartment, and the fact that everything is walking distance. Well...it is bed time, but I am going to enjoy my last 10 days at BYU Idaho!

For thanksgiving meal, we had pheasant and turkey. It wasn't that bad surprisingly. My uncle bought two pheasants and cooked them so we had two meats. Like every thanksgiving, we had a amazing meal. Sweet potatoes are my favorite with a brown sugar glaze along with homemade rolls. We had our collection of pies that weren't homemade this year but they were still delicious. My grandpa bought a mincemeat pie that I didn't try ( I don't really like raisins). We had the meal at my grandpa's with my Aunt Kristen and Uncle Matt, Uncle Mike and Aunt Cindy and their family, my roommate Sheila and then my family. It was really fun. We played some games, ate food, took pictures after I looked like I just created a food baby. I loved having a break from school where I could relax, sleep in and just play. I haven't played for a couple days straight. Of course, being in a family of all boys, we watched a lot of football and some basketball. I did see Breaking Dawn though. It

She has the most heavenly voice. Just listening to one song of hers can brighten my mood like no other! The older I get the more I appreciate Jazz. It just brightens up my day with the chords and lyrics. There is so much talent in jazz. You can't fake being a good jazz singer. Even if you tried, you would be a disgrace to Ella, Louis Armstrong and all of the classics. I just love Jazz music. a LOT! Listen to it. It will change your life. No joke :)

I found out that I am a perfectionist today. I received a 89 on my personality test. It isn't a bad score yet I really wanted a higher score. The thing is I never knew that I was a perfectionist until today. I guess I have always had the symptoms but I never recognized them. I need to learn how to not be a perfectionist. Getting a B+ on a test is NOT bad. It is good. All I can do is my best yet I have this expectation of myself to do better. I have this mentality that there is always a better score that I can get. The funny thing is that I am only a perfectionist when it comes to school work. I am not a perfectionist with art, with looking good or having the "right" friends. I really don't care about everything else. I bet everyone around me notices it except myself. At least I noticed it at one point in my life right?

I have to remind myself that even though I am 20 and not married that doesn't mean I am a failure. I feel like all of my friends are getting married, engaged or going on a mission. They have this hopeful future ahead of them and it is hard to not to realize that I am really young. BYU Idaho is a pressure cooker. There is so much pressure to get married that I feel like If I was going to graduate without a ring on my finger than I am a failure.This is total illogical thinking. In Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy, they deal with illogical thoughts. I think BYU Idaho needs some REBT to reduce marriage expectations and fears. The rest of the world is different than us LDS young single adults. Education is very important. It is above marriage. The marriage ages are higher. If my neighbor came home from  college not married, nobody would judge or chastise her. It is perfectly normal for her. Why can't it be perfectly normal for me to be single with no prospects of marriage at age

Rexburg is a winter wonderland today! I walked home after running with hailing and then when I get out out of the shower with a blizzard! Yes, I like watching it though. I have been here long enough that you can tell when a blizzard is coming based on the wind. Anyways, I was thinking about we look at our life yesterday when I was hanging out with my bestie last night :) Life shouldn't be lived as a race or competition. There are so many precious moments we would miss out if we tried to live with a fast pace all the time. What if a couple lived with such a fast pace they missed their child's first laugh? I have seen this perfection movement with people all around me, and sadly myself as well. There is this competition to who can have the perfect image. You have to have a perfect house, perfect spouse, go to church weekly with your hair perfect and skirt ironed. You have to say the right things, be friends with the perfect people and look cool on your facebook. That is a sad

I have realized that many girls use this very common defense mechanism with dating. They deny the need for a man in their life. "I can be independent and be happy". I have too often developed this idea in my life. I push guys away from me because I feel like needing a guy is weakness. I feel like there is a healthy balance between needing a guy to function and needing someone because they make you happier and help you become better. After being heartbroken, you want to be alone because you don't ever want to be hurt again (or you seek for instant comfort with a rebound). I am the master of pushing people away and making myself not like guys. I come up with reasons why they are stupid and why I don't need them in my life. I have finally recognized this in my life. I have been too often joined the pity party club and "I hate guys club" with refreshments of ice cream. Here is the truth:  We need guys in our life. They make us happy and sad at the same time. T

Y ou have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You're on your own.  And you know what you know. And YOU are the guy who'll decide where to go. I was thinking of the places I have been and the places I will go. Life is too short to worry. Enjoy each moment because each moment you worry that will be one moment you will never get back. My attitude has just experienced a recent shift.  I was extremely worried about my future but recently I have been really happy and relaxed. I know that everything works out for those who work hard and trust God. It took me a while to fully believe that but it is a faith like  optimism  that has changed my attitude. I know that miracles can happen and there are tender mercies that happen to us everyday. Small moments that just let you know that God is aware of you. Like the fact that today someone asked me how I was feeling about transferring and I smiled. I knew it was right without

What do I want to do today? What do I need to accomplish? What do I like? Do you see similar things in these sentences? I have recently learned a new lesson about being self centered (Which is kinda ironic because this blog is what I have learned about..but it is supposed to help you). There is this thing called self love that American psychologists like to emphasize. I think that loving and respecting yourself is extremely important. Don't get me wrong on that. But if we had a more Adlerian focus on helping others? Adler was a altruistic psychologist who believed we should focus on others more than ourselves. Life focusing on yourself is miserable. There is no pleasure. You live to please to yourself. What is the purpose in life? To make yourself happy? There is more to life than to how much your cell phone bill is and how your relationship with your family and friends are. Those are important but if we focus more on how others are feeling than we will find more purpose in lif

I am in love with your music. I can't get enough of it and I say you in August! I have my radio station for Sara Bareilles and I listen to it all the time. I just wanted to encourage all of you to listen to Sara Bareilles. It is real music that will just make you happy.

I GOT IN! I GOT IN! Hallejuah...I am happy. I accepted. I feel good about it. I am relieved that my future is planned out. I am going to go school in the winter and I have the summer off to go home or to go to Alaska. Oh the opportunities! I love opening up doors and finding relief. I can breathe now and not have anxiety. Now I get to register and get my housing contract. This is a happy day where everything will work out for its good. Anyways, I wanted to share my happy moment of joy. My favorite words I have read this whole semester:   Congratulations! You have been admitted to Brigham Young University to begin Winter 2012. Through your preparation and personal achievements you have distinguished yourself from a very strong group of applicants. We believe you will make a positive contribution to the BYU community. It is a great pleasure to welcome you to our campus to pursue your educational goals.

I know its not Thanksgiving and that is when everyone talks about gratitude but I believe that we should be grateful for everything we have. I need to work on this more. It is so easy to see what we lack. We never see what we have until it is gone. What if we recognized what we have when it is in front of us? What if we showed more love and service and recognized the blessings we have? Do you have thank God for your bed, healthy body, food, clothes, house, friends, family, money, job, education, past, trials? There is so much to be grateful for but we need to keep our eyes open to what we have. I know that I close my eyes to what I have and seek for what I don't have. I wonder how my life would be different If I looked at what I had. Would I be more happy and less self centered? We sang Count Your Blessings today in church and had a talk about gratitude. Lately, I have been frustrated about my life. I want my answers and I have to keep being pacient. I have put my life in hold as I

You have the power to have greatness. You have the power to be great. I know there are many experiences that show we are born with the power to do evil. We are born with power to do good and evil. I try to emphasize the fact that we can do good. I try to see the good in people. There are too many experiences in my life where I have seen people do great things. I have seen acts of service. I have seen sacrifice. I have seen selfless people give everything to anyone and everyone. I like to think we can reach our potential if we work hard. I know there are some things we can't control. Our genes and environment have some kind of control yet I believe our free agency will allow us to make some choices. Call me navie. Call me ignorant. I call myself hopefully innocent. I don't care what others say, I believe in the free will. People can change. There is hope in the world.

I feel like dating has become like a complicated game. I watch other couples around the BYU Idaho campus and I feel like it is a game full of competition. Girls try to one up each other and try to be the perfect girl. People make out after hanging out instead of kissing after a real date and meaning the kiss. Guys don't ever call for a date. They will text to hang out. What ever happened to the act of courting? That was the process to get a wife and date back in the good old days. Guys had to court the girl by going on walks and buying them flowers. They would tell them compliments and try to impress them with their words and actions. Now the responsibility relies more on the girl. Girls are pressured to ask out guys in order to get a date. I don't know how I feel exactly if asking out a guy should be right. I want to be traditional but sometimes you have to move along with the times. We just had a devotional about dating and what girls should do. They said girls need to stop

I am currently developing my patience as I await acceptance or denials from DisneyWorld and BYU. These acceptances or denials will form my future plans so my decision making has been put on hold until I hear back from them. At times I can be frustrated because I just want to know now. I check my email first thing every morning and every night before I go to bed. Yet this time is helping me see that I don't have patience. I need to develop it in order to be more Christlike. I talk about making my future great and making plans in order to reach my goals and this scary time of finding out if I can get in to the programs to make my dreams come true is now!  I am pretty sure I will get into the DisneyWorld program again. I might not get the job I want. I want to be a character attendant really bad. I know that I will have fun in Florida again but I don't know if it where I am supposed to be again. I had fun and I learned a lot from the program. I learned about networking, making

We are studying Jung next in my personality class and let me tell you he is a very complicated psychologist. One interesting fact about him was that he was in love with two women at the same time. He was madly in love with his wife when he fell in love with a student. He continued to have the mistress live in a close bedroom to his bedroom with his wife in the same house. He was once friends with Freud until he told him that his ideas were based too much on sexual motivations. One thing we can all learn from Freud is that we need to take criticism better. People tried to constructively criticize Frued's idea on sex but he would ignore them and throw them out of his world. Maybe if he took criticism better, then his ideas would be more acceptable to society. Many people throw out Freud because his ideas are so extreme yet they are profound and catches truth about human nature.  Anyways, Jung was the first psychologist to start the belief of self actualization. This idea helped in

I believe in Freud. I wanted to reject his ideas because he believes that human behavior is influenced by sex and aggression. It is a negative view on human nature. I saw Captain America and all the previews before it were action movies. They were full of agression and sexual tension. Everything is based on these two things according to Freud. Look at media. Every soap opera and drama show has people fighting full of hatred and casual sex. I saw so many examples of Freuds theory this weekend that would just take too long to write. I don't want to say this but I believe in some ideas of Freud. Sorry Freud that I thought you were crazy. Well you are crazy yet you hold some logic in your theories. Okay, that's all. I just had to publicly apologize for making fun of Freud.

I have learned a lot about myself recently. So this is a blog about what I have learned about myself. I am a outgoing person to a extent. I want people to come reach out to me. Sometimes I just sit in my room waiting for someone to knock on my door wanting to be my best friend. I just have recently discovered that things don't work out that way. If I want a social life then I have to put myself out there and be in social situations. I have recently that I am more shy than I thought I was. I need to become more outgoing and more forward with people. I guess I got so comfortable in my little shell but then I realized my shell was breaking that I needed to make a larger shell. I learned that I am a perfectionist. I am very hard on myself. I have a hard time accepting the imperfections in myself. I long to be perfect. I always knew that I was like this in my school work. I never realized I was like this in my social life and dating life. Different experiences with different persona

Most psychology majors want to go grad school because it will open up new possibilities with new jobs. I went to Psychology Society tonight and we talked about applications and how to prepare for graduate school. My friend was there and she started freaking out saying that grad school was impossible. It made me think about the reality of grad school. I still have plenty of time before I start applying but its good to have a clear vision of reality. She said that Grad school was really hard. It was time demanding. You have classes with reading assignments all day everyday. You are never done learning. There is always something new to learn. You have to stay on top of all the current studies and be aware of different scientists. Grad school scares me a little bit. I have to prepare for the GRE. I need experience with a internship and research experience. The thing that excites me now is the fact that I choose what I want to research. I can choose any advisor and then work under them wh

Lately, I have been feeling down. I am still scared for my future yet I know that I will make it through this. I have learned the power of my thoughts and letting darkness in. I was so caught up in my future that I let it take over my life with anxiety and worry. What if I made the wrong decision? What if my life turned out that I would be miserable? What if I was going to be the single the rest of my life? What if I didn't get into graduate school? My life is full of options and at first that was a positive thing. I could do whatever I wanted with all of my open doors. A turn came when open doors scared me. Open doors became closed doors. Faith became fear. Light became darkness. I felt a contrast in my life as my thoughts were changing. I started closing up and not letting other people know until one day I felt like I couldn't function when I was alone. In public, I was happy but then when I was alone I felt this empty void where I felt my future was full of blackness. It w

It is my favorite time of the day. I love bedtime. This is my philosophy. You grow up and you don't want to have a curfew and bedtime. It is a restriction that people try to get rid of. You want independence until you realize that independence is better and more successful when you have a bedtime. It is kinda ironic the fact that you get rid of bedtime and naptime and your life becomes crazy. Then you get older and reorganize your life with it and then everything fits together.  My least favorite time of the day is hearing that alarm clock. I dream and have this wonderful thing happen and then I come back to reality. I hate realizing that everything that is happy fleets away in one sad moment. Then I realize that I can go to bed later that night and come back to my false reality. So guess what? It is my bedtime. I am not ashamed to have a bedtime. I will embrace this bedime until tomorrow morning when I wake up and start another day full of class, homework, Psychology Society, S

Today there was a talk about having a clean slate for this semester. Just hearing that made me think about second chances. We all have them. Everyday we have a second chance for happiness, success, relief, new friends and new goals. During the school break I wasted a lot of time doing nothing. Don't get me wrong I enjoyed it, but it made me think of what I could of done over the break! I wasn't proactive. I have had this new attitude just happen to become proactive. Make things happen. If things aren't going the way you want them try to change it! I know somethings you can't change. You can't make someone love you. You can't make strangers be friends. You can't make someone want to be your friend, but you can attempt to be their friend and encourage friendship. There is no bad things that happen because you tried. Only good things can happen when you put effort into a goal. So this is my new philosophy. Each day is a new day. As my friend Annie has s

Like before, I was a Get Connected Leader for Orientation. It was a great and tiring experience. I learned a lot about leadership. It takes time, energy and a positive attitude. Everyone will look up to you because you are the one with the more expertise. They watch you. They will ask you questions. They will notice everything you do. Your actions will impact the people in your group. If I don't include someone, I can make someone's experience awful yet I have the power to make their experience wonderful. It is hard to make everyone be friends because it is impossible. I have learned about people's agency in making friendships. You can't force people to be friends. Many time I would encourage friendships and encourage group unity yet sometimes it was hard when cliques became natural for the group. Having a positive attitude is hard to carry all day. I wanted to a positive leader with a fun attitude and spirit. I never realized how much energy it would suck out of me to

Just felt love for everyone in the room? I haven't, well I guess at EFY, but not at this capacity. I am doing Get Connected as a Leader for Freshmen Orientation at BYU Idaho. The training is all day literally but I love my group. I was doubting how people could talk about making instant best friends during the training. We were singing hymns for the closing session last night and the spirit was so strong. I was walking out and this girl we had a class with freshman year just hugged me. All I knew was her name yet I could just feel her love for me and I could feel my love for her. Anyways, It is an amazing feeling when you don't know anything about the person but you can just feel love for them. You can look at them and see them as God sees them. She was amazing and wonderful and yet I really don't know her! I don't know her favorite cereal or major. All I know is that I love her. Yes, It is a wonderful feeling.

I always wonder about dreams. Last night I dreamed of spiders. They were furry and ugly. There were spiders of all colors. There were neon and neutral colors. They all had big eyes and followed me in this freaky cabin that was uninhabited for 20 years. There was a basement I never dared to go into because there was a garden full of spiders. There were sticky spider webs everywhere that I was getting caught into. Spiders were hanging from the ceiling and crawling in my hair. Did you know that sticky spiderwebs mean it is from a black widow? My sister in law taught me this a while ago.  I haven't had a nightmare like that for a long time. I just  Here is my question: Why did God make spiders? Most creatures have a purpose and help the planet in some way. Spiders are born just to torment us. They crawl and they are ugly and creepy. I don't see the reason for their creation. Maybe someday in Heaven I will not have to co exist with spiders. They will have their own individual plac

One of my friends just recently was dumped by her boyfriend and heartbroken. This is my advice to how to move on from a past boyfriend/girlfriend. Breakups are tough but they can be good learning experiences and make you stronger. It will all depend on how you cope with everything. Don't make a enemy with your ex. It is possible to co-exist with your ex in the same room without killing each other. And below is my new favorite song by Sara Bareilles. Yes, I know I have a lot of her songs on my blog but thats because I am kinda obsessed with her music right now after seeing her live. So. The question of the day: How do you get over someone? This is my "advice column" for people who are going through a break up right now. First thing you just have to point out. It will be painful. Just accept the fact that you will have a hard time. You will doubt yourself, you will cry, you will have anger and denial. You will want to watch The OC all day everyday and just look at Seth Coh

I had one of those today. I was in phyiscal pain so I just wanted to lie on the coach and watch netflix movies that had happy endings all day, so I did. I can do this because I am not in school. If I was in school, I would just have to tough it out and deal with it. I realized that watching these chick flicks that make dating seem easy makes you happy temporarily but it makes you believe in this false reality. You start hoping, wishing and daydreaming that your life will turn out like this chick flick movie you just watched. Here it goes: You meet someone, there is instant attraction and everything is amazing. Something wrong happens and you have to deal with a problem. The problem is resolved and you kiss and "the end" flashes on the screen. That is what you see in every chick flick. It is the famous plot. And yes, it may happen like this in real life. What if there is no instant attraction when you first meet? What if there is no happy ending? What if fighting just occurs

I have had this negative attitude all break that Elk Grove is the worst place to be right now. I have learned several things about your perspective and life this break. First of all having a job would be nice. I didn't work this break and I wanted to earn money and be productive with my time. Having no plans all day isn't too much fun, but working and then coming home is pretty relaxing. Unproductivity is the worst feeling you can ever have. I loved not having responsibility because I had my freedom with my time. I started wasting my time with netflix, reading, playing the piano, running, sleeping and eating. I wanted something where I could hold responsibility in this break though. Second, you make what you want out of your life. If I had to stay in Elk Grove for the Fall, it wouldn't be that bad. I have friends and I could make new friends. I went to the fireside last night and there were some cute guys. If I was staying here, I would actually attempt to start something

I saw Sugarland and Sara Bareilles the other day. It was an amazing concert. Do you want to know why? Because I was in front a couple feet away on the floor. I have never been that close to the band before. It is a different experience than any concert I have been to before. I loved Sara Bareilles. She is amazing live. Her voice is so easy to listen to and it is beautiful. She is cute. She wore this adorable hat and dress. Her dress flew up and she said "We are family so I guess you can put that on youtube if you want". She seemed like a very real and genuine person by her performance. She was spunky, fun, talented and had some jerky ex boyfriends. But then again, who hasn't? I liked Sugarland's ball of positive energy. She danced around the stage in her confident manner just living in the moment. She didn't really talk that much, but much of Sara Bareilles and Sugarland's music was very positive. I loved that it was mostly clean with very little bad lan

Being in my house all day, I felt like I was going insane. I mean, I started singing Opera! When do I just bust out in Opera? I watched a really cheesy ABC Movie called Revenge of the Bridesmaids and Julie & Julia. I played piano, ran, vaccumed the car, cleaned my room and read my book. I like my summer vacation yet I am ready for school. Anyways, when I was watching Julie & Julia, it made me think about blogging. I love blogging. Everyday I wake up and think of what I am going to write about. In the movie "You've Got Mail", she says she can't wait to email Tom Hanks and see what the email is about. She likes to see the email and it makes her happy to write about her personal life and interests. I feel the same way about this blog.  I open up on this blog and write my thoughts on life. I don't think many people read this blog yet to me it carries meaning to me. It is my journal, my emotional outlet, my expression of my deepest emotions and secrets and wi

I watched a documentary on Beethoven and his life. Let me tell you that Beethoven is amazing. How can someone deaf write Ode to Joy without ever hearing it? In the documentary it said that people clapped for him in 5 ovations until the police had to come and silence the crowd in London. Symphony Number 9 was his last symphony before he died when he was 56. He become completed deaf in 1820 yet he still published. He kept writing until he died. Beethoven was inspired by God. He was mad yet he was brilliant. He was rude and arrogant yet he was humble in his ability to perform and compose music. He talked about his gift he was given and he wanted to use it for its intended use. People think he was disorganzied (and his apartment was) but his brain held so much organized information. One historian on the show said that he had a huge brain and a huge heart. These two would fight with each other yet they frequently would work together to make a masterpiece. I truly believe that what made B

I was thinking about people in general today and all the people I am friends with and have met in the last month. One of my best friends from home loves diversity. Her friend circle is people from all over. I went to her goodbye party last Friday where I was the minority as a blonde and white person. It didn't bother me but normally I am not the minority. I can relate to most everyone as I have had friends from all over the world. I don't see color. I see different personalities and cultures but I try to see everyone as my equal. I had a diverse friend circle in High School, so that is maybe where I learned to relate to all people. Throughout my friendships I have learned that we are one. Even though we may come from a different background and culture, we can find a way to relate each other. There are so many things that separate people today from building friendships; social classes, economy status, home location, personal pride and different family traditions and values. In t

My summer break has been fun. I have traveled a lot and been outside. I have danced. I have slept. I have watched movies, and I have picked up on some Joplin! I have never been really into ragtime piano but Maple Leaf Rag is a fun piece to learn how to play. It has a lot of flats and the tempo is crazy fast but once you can kinda play it, it is fun to play. If you have not heard Joplin music, you probably have. He is the composer of The Entertainer, which every piano player plays. If you haven't heard Maple Leaf Rag, go look it up on Youtube. It will make you more well rounded knowing some more composers and classical music and it will just make you happy. And I always hear people say they want to learn how to play piano but they are too old. No you are not! You can always learn. It is much easier to learn when you are younger but it is possible to learn when you are older. It will be hard but worth it because playing the piano is just a good hobby that will make you feel accompl

Last night I went to a Salsa club wit my best friend from High School. I loved it! There was a basic dance lesson where we learned the basic side step and turn and then they practiced it. I knew the basic step already and some other steps I had already forgotten. My friend introduced me to a guy who was really good. He was older but he was a really good dancer. I went to this college town place where people would come and just dance. It was a tiny dancefloor but it was all latin upbeat music. We danced to salsa, merengue, bochtata and cha cha. What I learned last night was once you know how to follow in most dances, then you can do anything. You learn the basic of a step, you trust your partner, and you can do most anything. I liked watching others who were really good dance. Some people just naturally move their bodies really well. They know how to lead and follow and move their hips naturally. I wish I could be like those people. I was told I was a good dancer all night, but it was

I just saw The Help with my sister in law and mi madre. It was a very good movie. It made me laugh and it inspired me. Skeeter, the main girl, has courage to do the right thing among her racist friends. She does the unthinkable and writes a book based on the "helps" point of view. What I like about the movie is it was clean with sexual content, there was some language but overall it was pretty clean. I liked how Skeeter was so brave. She didn't see color. She saw human beings with shared experiences and emotions. She could relate to the help because she saw them as her friends. It made me think about how we are raised and how we obtain our attitude and perceptions of the world.Her friends were raised in a racist environment so it seemed clear to them how they should treat their help. She was raised in that environment as well but she broke it with a new perspective. I loved it how it showed that people can change based on their experiences, it may be hard but it is poss

I have been thinking about how a small rock can have great effects on water. You throw a small rock in the water and then there is a ripple effect on the water as it creates small waves. Even though the small rock isn't heavy or powerful it still can change the water surrounding it. My point in this blog is not about small rocks in water, but about how small things can lead to greater things. Studying can lead to Straight A's. Running can lead to weight loss. Chocolate can lead to Happiness. Sleep can lead to Relief. One conversation can help someone when they are in need. One small act of kindness can lead to someone's attitude change. One smile can lead to a romance. These are some examples of how small things can lead to greater and bigger things. There have been so many examples of this in my life. I can think of a compliment that made my whole day when I was thinking negatively about myself. A simple friendship has lead to romances in my life. A lot of people think

I was hiking with my father worrying about my future. I could tell worrying was slowing my pace as my family was increasingly getting farther away from me. I finally called out my dad and asked him some questions. We had a good conversation. I already knew what he told me, it was no new information. The information he told me just reminded me what I needed to focus on more. For us single people, sometimes we can worry about when we are going to meet the person we want to spend the rest of our life with. You watch chick flicks about magical romances and first kisses. It is so easy to get caught up in these chick flicks and lose reality. I think I have been slowly getting caught up in some false reality that I have lose my focus. There is no man who will come up and save me miraculously. People will come attracted to you when you become the person they want to be with. Focus more on becoming than finding the perfect person. And there is no perfect person out there because everyone make

Yes, I did it. It was a challenge. I thought I was going to die but I have one thing off my bucket list right now. Hiking half dome was a big feat and I had to overcome fear in order to accomplish my goal. I have a fear of heights yet I have gone sky diving. I kept telling myself "If I have gone skydiving then I can do anything". Right? Skydiving is very different than Half dome because I am in control of my own life when climbing Half dome. If I slip, I will die. In skydiving, someone else is in control of the parachute so I just enjoy the ride. I had fear of my own capabilities, fear of dying, fear of falling, and fear of heights. I was afraid mainly in my own ability to climb. I knew it required emotional and physical strength. Each step I took I knew I was one step closer to the top. I kept thinking of Train who said "I think I can". I think climbing half dome was hard mainly because I doubted in my own abilities. If I knew I could do it and had absolute confide