ME, MYSELF, & I ... numero quatre

It's that time of the month again...

the Me, Myself, & I Link-up!

#1) What are your top 5 favorite movies to watch during the Holidays?

The Miracle on 34th Street,
The Nativity Story,
The Santa Claus {gotta love Tim Allen!}
Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town,
& Mr. Kreuger's Christmas {even though I cry every time...}

How to Live

#2) It's the month of giving thanks, what are you most thankful for?
Oh, gee.... at least half a million things! Just to name a few,
+ warm socks
+ technology / electricity
+ God's love
+ autumn leaves
+ my opportunities for education
+ the scriptures
+ prayer
+ a supportive, loving family
+ friends that put up with me
+ books ... and having time to read them
+ this here bloggy and all you wonderful readers :)
+ my church
 + warm food
+ the fact that I am healthy and well
+ my divine potential
+ the Atonement
+ love

How to Live

#3) If there was a quote or a verse to describe your like, what would it be?

"I myself am entirely made of flaws, stitched together with good intentions"

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#4) Who in your family are you most like?
I think I have my dad's work ethic {except for when I procrastinate...that's purely me}, but personality-wise, I guess I'm most like my mom. My friends who know my mom constantly tell me how something that I said is exactly what my mom would have said. We find the same types of things funny{making fun of each other being on that list}. She's way more outgoing than I am, but I've noticed that the way I talk to new people is pretty similar to the way that she does. Overall, she's a pretty cool person to be like :)

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#5) What is your favorite drink order at Starbucks?

As if you haven't been hearing this enough lately...white hot chocolate! When it's not cold, my go-to drink is the Vanilla Bean Creme Frappuccino, though.

Now go check out everybody else's posts here - and link up your own!

Today's the first day of Thanksgiving Break...finally!

P.S. I'm grateful for

+ Christmas music

+ pecan pie for lunch ... 

+ the opportunity to be grateful. Have you ever 

thought about what a blessing that truly is?

fRiDaY - high fivin' it

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#1) Starbucks' White Hot Chocolate is reeeeally good. 'Nuff said.

{thank you for suggesting it, Haunani!}

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#2) My race yesterday went really well! I know I said the last race was my last this season, but this one snuck up on me. I wasn't supposed to qualify for it, but one of the qualifiers couldn't go, so I got bumped up a spot. And I'm glad I did - I ended up getting my best time of the season. Today's soreness is 100% worth it!

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#3) Listening to and singing along with my Gaelic playlist...

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#4) I went to a gun safety course Wednesday night - I'm getting ready to go shooting the Saturday after Thanksgiving!

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#5) One Direction's new album this week ... don't lie. You were way excited, too.

How have your weeks been? Anyone else crazy-excited for Thanksgiving next week???

P.S. I'm grateful for

+ the fact that it's Friday

+ that means I have a whole ... uh, one day to 

catch up on all my school work!

+ music that speaks to the soul {MoTab, anyone?}

Dear Boys,

Dear KickPushCoast,

No-shave November looks good on you.

Love,
Impressed


Dear Ewok,

You're a dork. But it's kind of adorable. Ish. :)

Love you too,
Meep


Dear Prep,

We've officially talked outside of school! Goal #2 accomplished. You wanna get me 12's number so I can accomplish #1?

Pretty Please?
Niamh


Dear 12,

Or you could give me your number yourself. Whichever.

Love,
Katniss


My dearest Stripling Warrior,

I really hope you like shooting. Because I think I like shooting. I'll get back to you on that after next Saturday. But how cute would that be? We could go shooting together!

All my love and then some,
Your Virtuous Woman ... in training


Dear Readers,

I think it's about time to bring up the no-reply issue again...
Click on that bright red button on the left to find out about it. Or read this post. If you're not sure whether not you fall under that category, here's an easy way to know - if you've ever commented on my blog and not received a reply, you are one. And if you can't remember, leave a comment on this post and if I don't get back to you, you're a no-reply commenter.

Y'all are the bestest!
Love,
Niamh

P.S. I'm grateful for

+ a healthy body

+ opportunities to challenge myself

+ when said opportunities are over with so

 I can look back and appreciate them

How To...Post Regularly When Life is INSANE

Okay guys, I think I've got it figured out.

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One of my goals here was to find a way to post regularly even through school, and  I think I've got a pretty good system going {besides that one week...we're ignoring that one week}. 

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Here's how you do it:

+ Still write posts the day of as often as possible
+Whenever you have a thought that you know you could blog about, open a new post, title it, and type up that idea
+As there's time, complete the idea and add pictures

Then, when the need arises, I have an almost complete post waiting for me that I add a sentence to and voila - it's ready to publish. And it's kind of funny, because that's the process that was used for this post ... it's been sitting around for months waiting to be finished. So here's proof that it works!

Having regular weekly/monthly posts {i.e. Dear Boys, High 5 for Friday, Me, Myself & I} is nice, too - one less day to worry about!

But then the problem arises when you've used all of your pre-made posts and are somewhat inspirationless...at least tomorrrow's a Dear Boys day!

P.S. I'm grateful for

+ waking up on time for the first time in a week!

+ eggs on toasted sourdough bread

+ Costco pumpkin streusel muffins...how have I been missing out on these?

Stop & Breathe...

With finals coming up in a month {officially FREAKING OUT}, 

this wouldn't be a bad thing to keep in mind...

or this...

and let's not forget this...

Sigh. 

I think I'll start studying now...

and listening to my Christmas playlist.

Happy Monday!

P.S. I'm grateful for

+ A day off ...that was spent doing homework. 

But we're focusing on the "day off" part!

+ answered prayers {a.k.a. ALL prayers}

+ when hard things become easy

+ all those who have served our country - God bless you!

P.P.S. All images from my "How to Live" Pinterest board

P.P.P.S. Mikarose giveaway here!

P.P.P.P.S. Anyone else super-excited about Brooke's 2012 Year in Review link-up???

Week Something-or-Other

I've been wasting time like nobody's business this week, and now I get to suffer the consequences of that. At least it's a three-day weekend!

You know what the hardest goal was? Refraining from criticizing and giving random compliments. 

It turns out I can be ridiculously critical, and even when I'm not being critical, I'm not one for giving out compliments. I've totally been on top of using my gratitude journal, though, and until yesterday (when I started having to suffer the consequences of my time-wasting) I was doing pretty well being positive and energetic, too. 

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In other news, I've started listening to Christmas music! My alarm clock radio is set to it, and this morning I woke up to "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch". It's officially my favorite time of year! 

Also, as rainy days become more frequent, I may be joining the ranks of you top-knot sporting bloggers ... a top-knot is much better than the alternative of matted, stuck-to-my-head hair!

P.S. I'm grateful for

+ caring Church leaders

+ warm fuzzy socks

+ Church Youth musicals

Why, Starbucks? Why?

Why must you include coffee in so many of your drinks? I know you're a coffeehouse, but still. And why, why, WHY is there COFFEE {or espresso, or mocha, or whatever - something that contains more caffeine than I ever wanted to consume} in your hot chocolate? 

And in your salted caramel hot chocolate? 

AND in your peppermint hot chocolate? 

You could've at least warned me about that before I discovered that I liked them. And don't even try to tell me that I should have assumed they were safe. Who puts that much caffeine {90 mg, which is nothing compared to straight coffee, but it's still more than I want!} in a generally Niamh-friendly beverage? 

But I know better now! Never again will I trust a drink unless I've thoroughly researched it! 

The plus side of this is that I did go and thoroughly research every other not-obviously-caffeinated drink at Starbucks, and I now have a Mormon-friendly Starbucks Bucket List!

1. White Hot Chocolate

2. White Chocolate Creme Frappuccino

3. Vanilla Bean Creme Frappuccino

4. Cinnamon Dolce Creme Frappuccino

5. Orange Mango Smoothie

6. Strawberry Smoothie

{there were a couple more that I could have included in this list, but they sounded yucky to me. I'm pretty sure one involved coconut...blech}

If Starbucks has still somehow managed to slip caffeine into these drinks undetected, 

someone please let me know before I try them!

Also, someone told me that if you have them add a creme base to pretty much anything, that makes it caffeine-free. True or False?

P.S. I'm grateful for

+ a three-day weekend! Thank gooseness!

+ when Blogger behaves

+ this amazing cold weather! I've been piling on the 

blankets these past few nights...and days :)