High Five for FRIDAY!

#1) New shooooes! I had my new running shoes just sitting out in my room after I bought them, just so they could make me happy all over again when I saw them!

#2) I'm running another race today! Hopefully it'll be better than last week...

#3) I was sick , but now I'm not!

#4) I'm thankful for people who push me even when I don't.

#5) It was Stake Conference last Sunday - the speakers were great!

*sorry - pictures are coming soon, I promise!!

Dear Boys,

Dear Boys in General,

Last time, I was sick of you guys. Now I'm just sick.
*snifflecoughsneezewheeze*

Love,
Niamh



Dear Duck,

You make me smile. You can keep doing that for as long as you want:)

Love,
Turtle



Dear Tom,

Please go away. It's not that there's anything wrong with you, it's just...you're...you.

Sorry!
Niamh



My dearest Spaniard,

You're getting replaced...how many times do I have to tell you to move here already?

Lovelovelove,
La Senorita



Dear Hobbit,

You're cute. In, like, the sweet little kid kind of way. Which is definitely still a compliment!

Yours,
Niamh



Dear Cool Guy,

I'm not that young! At least you're trying to make up for somehow never noticing me before.

Sincerely,
Not a Frosh

ME, MYSELF & I ... numero deux

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1) When you're feeling down, what do you do to pick yourself up?
I clean. If I feel stressed or down in the dumps, the first thing I do is make, or remake, my bed, then I move on to the rest of my room. Once I refolded everything in the linen closet. It's kind of symbolic...cleaning up my space cleans out my mind.
A good book always helps, too. I usually turn to The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.

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2)  If you had to live in a different time period which would you prefer?
The 40s! To be honest, I don't know much about that decade, but seeing pictures from then make me love it! I know I love the style, the music, the dancing...it's like a dream!

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3)  What is the most creative Halloween costume you've ever worn?
One year, I was my dad for Halloween. I dressed up in his work uniform. Really, I haven't been too creative in the past. But his year, I have plans to be Rosie the Riveter!
{NOTE: I swear I hadn't read Shane's post before I wrote that! It's just a crazy coincidence!}

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4)  Five weird things about you we wouldn't know without being told?
Let's see...
1. I am afraid of dogs. Like, deathly afraid. It's pretty ridiculous, actually.
2. The smell of citrus cleaner makes me nauseous. I can't even walk in the bathrooms at my Target anymore!
3.  I've been a Polynesian dancer
4. I'm painfully shy...until you get to know me. Then you wonder who that girl you first met was.
5. Every time I drink soda, I have insane burping fits. I guess my body can't handle carbonation. It's kind of embarrassing:)

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5)  What would you tell your 16-year-old self?
Heavenly Father is the only one you need to impress - not any boy, or girl, or teacher, or college, or leader, or any one else. And you know all those things you didn't do because you didn't want to go out of your comfort zone? DO THEM. I promise you, you won't regret it.

You Know Those Super-Crazy Life-Changing Moments?

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Those moments where you know you are totally okay with Heavenly Father taking you and turning you into whatever person He always intended you to be, no matter how far out of your comfort zone it is and how hard you have to work to get there?

Those moments when you forgive everyone who you've been holding things against because you realize how little any of it matters in the eternal scheme of things?

Those moments when you're willing to do anything it takes to have the light of Christ with you so strong that it pretty much lights up whatever room you're in?

Those moments when you love the entire world and everything and everyone in it?

I wish those could last forever. I had one of those last Sunday, and is was warm and fuzzy and soft and sweet and I wanted to cry and sing and never be the same!

The feeling only lasted a few days, but I've been able to make changes in myself since then, and I've gone out of my comfort zone for the better so many times this week! This is just another example of what I'm constantly being reminded of lately - the power of me. If I make a choice and have Heavenly Father backing me up on it, I can really accomplish anything.

This Autumn is definitely going to be a season of many changes, and I can't wait!

Have a fabulous weekend!

Keep On Running, Running, Running...

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Today was my first race of the season! I didn't do particularly well (just as well as I had prepared to do...), but now I've got something to base my goals off of.

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I now know that I really need to start running with someone who will motivate me to push myself harder. I'm not too good at doing that on my own.

I also know that I've gotten better at being positive! I usually get down on myself really easily, but today I just enjoyed myself for most of the race.

Now that I know what I need to improve on, I think I can expect to do much better at the race next Friday - just as long as I work to earn it!

There Are No Words

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To be honest, I don't remember much. The one thing I really remember is that there was this song by Enya that they played during montages of the tragedy, and that song ("Only Time") made me cry every time I heard it for years afterward.

I may not remember, but I can never forget, and I will never stop being grateful for this country.

I Chose...and It Happened!

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So I woke up today, and I was like, "Hey - I'm going to have a great day today!"

And guess what?

I did! Choosing joy has such a huge impact on everything - and letting Christ light up my life makes that possible.

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On a side note, I'm on this "spiritual detox" right now, and it's doing wonders for me. It goes like this:

+ pretty much no popular music. Not that all popular music's bad or anything, it's just that I know that the Spirit is much better able to communicate with me when I don't have lyrics of popular songs running through my head all day. I do still listen to music, it's just more church-y stuff.

+every morning, right when I wake up, I do a Vinyasa. Yoga is really soothing for me, and a great way to start off my day.

+after that, I read from the New Testament.

+right when I get home from classes, I read from the Book of Mormon.

I've been doing this ever since this post last week. I guess it's my version of that vacation in the middle of nowhere that I wanted. 

Have you ever realized that you just really need to get back to basics? How did you do it?