Never Grow Up...

Just wanted to post this song, because I LOVE IT!

Never Grow Up

I am SUCH a nerd.

You know you are the nerd of all nerds when you get really excited about textbooks that come in the mail and you feel so much satisfaction from organizing your school supplies for the next semester.  I'm coming clean.  I am SUCH a nerd!

I got super excited about next semester today.  I got all my binders organized with the papers I needed for class and started packing all my books in my duffel bag.  I am taking the "Production block" of classes where they are all Horticulture classes that end 2 weeks early and all the students travel up and down California visiting various nurseries for 16 to 17 days.  Woo!

Patience --> Anticipation --> HOPE!

I went to Rockledge ward today with my family, and I LOVED the lesson in Relief Society!  We talked all about the talk that Dieter F. Uchtdorf gave called "Continue in Patience," and it was great.  A sister made a comment about how patience allows us to experience anticipation, and that is what leads us to hope.  This is why our microwave generation of kids aren't as optimistic anymore.

You can find yourself so focused on what you're getting at the end of the road that you forget about the journey! Patience is more enjoyable than people realize; you can experience SO much more if you just wait a little bit and stop to smell the flowers on the road side.  You can savor the experience of getting to your destination instead of only thinking about the end.

It's hard though!  It's so hard to slow down in our speedy, instant-gratification society that expects you to get things done and get them done quickly.  People wonder why you haven't graduated from college yet or haven't settled down and gotten married, and you feel so much pressure from outside forces to conform to that mentality.  It's so important to use this as an opportunity to fine tune your line of communication with Heavenly Father to see what He wants instead of relying on the arm of flesh.  It's an opportunity to work on putting your trust in God instead of worrying about whether people think you are becoming an old maid or not.  WHO CARES!

I am grateful for the experiences I've had in my life.  I am SO happy with where my life is right now, and I always hope that I can keep the mentality of enjoying what I am experiencing now instead of waiting for some future event to make me happy.  Finding happiness right now is actually the way to have lasting happiness.  If we seek for joy in certain events all the time, we'll get it, and then the happiness wears off as we get used to it.  

Happiness is more a state of being than an emotion.  

We Just Laughed!

Since I wasn't able to leave when I wanted to on Friday to play with friends in Utah, I had to take the torture train (aka Salt Lake Express) to Utah this morning.  It took nearly 5 stinking hours!  BUT, I had a simple lesson taught to me.  There were two older people sitting in front of me that we picked up in Idaho Falls who had their flight cancelled after they had driven up from Utah.  They were headed all the way back down to Utah to catch another flight at 6pm tonight.  The man was telling someone about it on the phone, and all he had to say about it was "and we just laughed!"  That was it!  No complaining about stupid airlines or crappy weather, just that they laughed about it.  And then said "there's nothing you can really do about it but laugh, you know?"

So then I stopped complaining about having to take the shuttle.

Sometimes... No, EVERY TIME, you should just laugh!


Click here to watch my favorite laughing baby!

One Big Piece of Humble Pie

I like pie a lot, so why use the phrase "humble pie?"  Why not "humble sardines?"  But if has to be pie, mine would be mincemeat.  Gross.

 So, today I had to eat a huge piece of humble mincemeat pie, and it tasted nasty.  Yesterday, I was diagnosed with bronchitis during finals for college, and it came at the worst time.  I still had finals to take, portfolios to turn in, and needed to move into my new apartment for next semester.  I had no energy, no motivation, and no appetite.

There was no way that I was going to be able to get through this on my own.  I had to accept rides, meals, people moving all my stuff for me, and give what I had done on my greenhouse portfolio and understand that it wasn't going to be the quality I wanted it to be.  When I was packing and moving my stuff to the front of the apartment, I was completely drained of energy.  I sat on the couch and just cried.  Heavenly Father had me down to my knees where only then could I really understand that I couldn't do everything on my own.  I HAD to ask for help and take it.

Kristin and her friend came over to move my stuff, and I started crying again.  I told them that I was having to eat my humble pie and say that I couldn't help them move my stuff.  Then my friend Jordan came over since I'd asked him to come and help when I realized I couldn't.  Well, he ended up being moral support instead, and it was so much needed.  At that moment, as Kristin and her friend were moving my things and Jordan was sitting next to me while I cried, I was so grateful for the "whipped cream friends" that make the humble pie taste not as bad.  Jordan made a really really good point that I needed to hear.  Even when I do take help, I have this inherent need to pay them back somehow.  He told me that I need to be able to take help and not pay the person back all the time.  Thank you notes and dinners are great, but don't feel like you always have to do that.  If I feel like I need to pay everyone back for everything, then I'm going to have a darn hard time paying back my Savior for the Atonement He gave to me.

I've learned my lesson, and I hope it stays that way.  I don't want bronchitis again.  :)

Thank goodness for whipped cream!

72... no, 63. 72. I added tax and tip.

Funniest moment today:  I was in a manager meeting with the professor I work for, and we were trying to figure out how much something was going to cost.  Here's how the conversation went.

Jace: All you have to do is 6 times 9 to see how much it costs.
Bro. Toll: 72
Valerie: No, 63.
Bro. Toll: I added tax and tip already.

I died laughing.  Good try at covering up!  Hahahahaha!

Anyway, the more I think about it, the more excited I get about going home for Christmas.  It just doesn't feel like Christmas to me right now, and I realized it's because I'm not home.  So Dec. 19 couldn't come sooner! ... Well, actually, it could wait.  I have a lot of homework to do first.

Peace, love, and happiness.

...And Coldplay

Coldplay - Christmas Lights