Grumpy paaants

It's Halloween. It was a good day but as of right now I'm grumpy. I have to wake up at 5am tomorrow to go to work for 6 hours ON A SATURDAY!!!! I'm unhappy about it. But hey, get excited guys because tomorrow is the beginning of my attempt at blogging everyday for 30 days straight. It will be interesting to see what I come up with or to see if I follow through at all. :)

Until tomorrow...

I have mixed feelings

About Pandora.  Has anyone used it?  It's pretty great, you get to choose a song or an artist that you like and then they choose songs they think you would like that are similar in sound.  I think it's a fabulous way to learn about different artists and learn new songs but man do I get annoyed when you listen to a station for a few hours and suddenly you are hearing the same thing over and over.  Now, if that bugs me I have to say that what bugs me even more is the fact that I was listening to a Les Mis station today (I'm craving Les Mis right now) and I was hearing all of these fabulous songs from Broadway shows then suddenly I start getting random crap like Five for Fighting.  Umm...don't mess with a good thing Pandora.  I gave the thumbs up.  You know what I'm looking for, so don't get all creative...stick to what you're good at.  

Little known facts about Beth

Little known fact #1: When I grow up I want to be Queen Latifah. I've seen her in several movies and always leave wishing I could be just like her! She seems to be so confident & she is so talented. I mean really, who wouldn't want to sing like her? She was in Hairspray which the whole world knows I love and sang a song called I Know Where I've Been. Here, check it out!



I'm most certainly not ashamed to admit that I listened to that song on repeat tonight as I drove home and sang at the top of my lungs. When I'm alone in my car I sound just like Queen Latifah, I'd sing it for you but it only works when I'm alone, you see. :) Speaking of Queen Latifah, I went to see The Secret Life of Bees tonight. I loved it. I laughed, I cried, I was quite impressed that it was so similar to the book. I highly recommend it. I will warn you, there is quite a bit of swearing in a few parts of the movie so if that bothers you don't see it. And if you do see it and it bothers you...well, I warned ya.

Little known fact #2- Every time I listen to A Little Fall of Rain from Les Miserables I am on the verge of tears. Every single time. Especially at the end when Marius says "I'm here" and Eponine says "That's all I need to know..." Holy cow, just typing it makes me weep. It is seriously heart wrenching to me and I'm not quite sure why. Strange, I know. Here it is if you want to listen/watch my favorite version.



Little known fact #3-I'm doing Weight Watchers and am having quite a bit of success with it. I'm not going to go into details becaaause...I don't want to. But I did want to share that little tidbit.

Little known fact#4-For about 5 months I was scared to death to drive at night. I'm never afraid of driving, whatever the weather whatever the time of day, but for some reason I went through a phase. I'm not scared anymore though. Even though I kind of should be there are deer EVERYWHERE.

Little known fact #5-I'm actually really afraid of deer. I don't understand it but I'm pretty sure it's something about their glowing eyes and ability to run (or roll?) in front of my car at any given moment. I remember driving into the canyon with Kiely one night and we kept seeing deer. I was in a panic about it to the point that I made myself ill.

That's enough for today...I'm trying to get into the practice of blogging more often in preparation for November...I have a whole week to prepare. Ha! Forgive me in advance for any random blogs you may come across in the next month.

Bambi...

This week on my way to work I had a most unfortunate experience involving a deer. Don't worry, Ruby (my car) and I have recovered. Neither of us were hurt, more just emotionally damaged. I was driving to work with my co-workers at o'dark thirty and we were discussing hunting. My co-workers husband had just gone hunting the night before and had killed a deer. He decided to save the head to mount...we won't go into how I feel about deer heads (or any dead animal for that matter) hanging on the wall as decor, I'll just say that when she told me that I said "In _____ (enter my hometown here) we aren't too in to mounting deer heads." Seconds later what did I do? I drove over top of a dead deer. That's right, coulda had my very own mounted deer head if I really wanted one. You see wha had happened was (thank you Fresh Prince for that phrase...) the truck in front of me drove over the deer. Now I'm not sure if the truck wanted to see how big and manly it could be and so they drove over top of it or if they just thought it was a speedbump on Geneva Rd where the speed limit is 50mph or if it was just an accident but I do know that the deer rolled (yes, rolled...I think) out from under the truck and I had nowhere to go. I didn't swerve because I didn't want to go into oncoming traffic and so I just drove over top of it. Right on over. It was disgusting. We all gasped. Recovered. Then laughed hysterically. How ironic for that to happen during the conversation we were having. Isn't it ironic? Dontcha think?

So I haven't blogged in awhile, to catch you up I'll give you a photo summary with a blurb here and there to give you the latest and the greatest in the life of Beth. I'm considering trying to participate in Nablopomo http://nablopomo.ning.com/ during the month of November which basically just means you blog everyday but I can't make any promises. I will be working a thousand hours a week for much of the month. On to the photo summary of my life.

I played with this little guy when he and his mommy came to visit me at work.
Then he showed me how to sit in a frying pan when I made dinner for his mommy & I one night.

I went to "Narnia" That's another name that I have for the apartment complex I used to live in. (Now anyway, it used to be ugly now it looks like Narnia so I took Laur to see it)

I took this picture of the bushes by my old apartment. They were so tiny when I lived there and now they are HUGE!
I made some weight watchers friendly pumpkin chocolate chip cookies that are crazy delicious.
I've done much much more then that but haven't taken many pictures. I went to Idaho with my old roommate Allison and to a haunted village with her this weekend. Chris humored me and went to see HSM 3 (That's High School Musical 3 for you non-believers) with me last night which was fabulously fantastic. Oh man...oh man. I love HSM. I started taking piano lessons from my friend Crackers which I am incredibly excited about. Speaking of which...I need to go practice the 5 notes and 1 cord that I know. But first, the recipe for pumpkin chocolate chip cookies.

1 15 oz can pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling just plain canned pumpkin)
1 box spice cake mix
1 cup chocolate chips (I use mini-chips so it feels like there are more.)

Mix together then bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes!

What a weekend!!

Photo by rsathya http://rsathya.wordpress.com/category/Photoblog/

I feel like I went on vacation this weekend! I sure didn't but I feel like I did and I can handle the illusion of vacation for sure. General Conference (www.lds.org check it out) was this weekend and it was amazing! Probably my best conference weekend ever. I was more prepared, I went with questions in mind and an open heart...all the things we are encouraged to do and all the things I slack on because I often forget conference is coming. (Like last weekend when my mom said "And conference is next weekend..." and I said no it's not! Like that.)

Anyway, it was an incredible weekend. I was able to go up to Salt Lake for all of the sessions and actually go to the Conference Center for one of them. I love watching Conference in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building and that love continues to grow. Allison joined me for all of conference (she was also my ticket into the conference center for the Saturday Afternoon session :) and I enjoyed spending time with her so much. We are both in a similar place in our lives and we were really able to talk and help each other. So many talks really touched me and I was so excited to talk about them with Al afterwards.

Chris Al & I watched the afternoon session together and I was really grateful to spend time with my wonderful friends.

Conference lifted my spirits, strengthened my testimony, answered or led me to answers to prayers, renewed me and helped me to see the things that I can improve about myself. I received a powerful witness that Thomas S Monson is the Prophet this church. I was, as was promised in one of the talks, reminded of things that I forgot I knew, as I pondered the words that were spoken. I felt Heavenly Father's great love for me and I was reminded again and again that Jesus Christ is my Savior and Brother. Through the Atonement I am able to repent, overcome feelings of loneliness, be healed and feel true joy. I was so happy this weekend that everything just made me laugh! Although I know difficult times will come I know I can feel an underlying peace in all aspects of my life if I live a worthy life. I felt as though my heart was soaring all weekend and I just can't give up on that joy. I know the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the true church and I know this truly is Christ's church. I know we can all find greater peace, greater joy and find the things that seem to be lacking in our lives through the gospel. I want the people I love to feel this too. I know it's true! I know I am of great worth and I know that I am a Daughter of God. What more can a person ask for?

Now, to close my rant I would like to refer back to my previous post about change. My sweet Mom shared an article with me that she felt I should read. She said that she thought of me as she read it and so she directed me to it. Although she was hesitant at first to tell me the name of the article (Preparing Yourself for Marriage) I'm glad she told me about it. Allison and I came home last night and read it out loud together and both felt like we received answers that we were looking for. I'm going to share the section that I think my mom felt would help with my questions from the last blog and I'll also put a link to the whole article because it was wonderful. Here it is!

"

In looking forward to marriage, do not assume a wait-and-see posture. This is not just a period for marking time or treading water. Seek to become a happy, productive person in your own right. If you have been unsuccessful in love or hurt or betrayed or ignored, break away from complaining and self-pity. Fill your life with all the things that will improve the head, the heart, and the hand.

Read out of the best books, beginning with the scriptures. Get to know the great and noble human spirits in history and literature. Reading will open the world to you and make your mind a repository of things you can draw from later. Enjoy the beauties of the earth, of nature, and of the arts. Engage proactively in Church and community service and in social activities. Exercise to improve physical and mental health. Fill your life with journal writing, acquiring new job skills, creating through hobbies, composing music or poetry, missionary work, and family history. I promise you that every gift you develop now will be a valuable asset when you have a family."

http://www.lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=2354fccf2b7db010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD&locale=0&sourceId=4a69db98e2b9c110VgnVCM100000176f620a____&hideNav=1