A new beginning.

Man has it been a month. Not one of my best, I must admit. Despite that, I'm beginning to see a small ray of light through all the dark clouds. Continually, I'm learning how my body reacts to different foods, levels of exercise and insulin, and how stress and hormones can throw everything out of whack. Hormones are not to be messed with!

I am blessed with extremely patient friends and family. Angels, I tell you! High blood glucose levels make me irritable and cranky, and unfortunately there have been quite a few of those moments of late. If any of my dear friends are reading this, to you I am grateful. Grateful that you have not done an about face and ran in the other direction. (Sometimes I'm good at being a storm cloud. Almost too good).

Through all this, I've been reading a TON, trying to figure out how to be healthy and happy. Many times I have wanted to throw in the towel, and give up (hence some of the high blood sugar episodes). But I've come to realize that throwing in the towel won't help. I'll either end up in the hospital (boy, I do not want that to happen!) or seriously depressed. How fun. So I'm choosing not to give up!

I've come to realize that the first thing I need to do is learn how to truly love myself independent of my successes or failures at work, in my love life, church, etc. And to love myself, I think I need to get to know myself again. It's been a looooong while since I've done this. Sad, I know.

On this new-found quest of self-discovery, it's kind of become my very own Happiness Project. I'm just in the beginning stages right now, gathering all the data on how to proceed. I'm excited for new goals, and for becoming the best version of myself ('cause right now, I'm not it).

Here's to starting over! And to figuring what life is all about!

Here's to 2012

You may have caught on that I love the beginning of the year. No? Well, I truly do. 

New years are shiny and new (obviously), an open book, full of untold possibilities. And I think 2012 is going to be absolutely fabulous. I can just feel it. 

Many of my friends know that I adore Bridget Jones. Bridget Jones's Diary could possibly be my favorite movie. Bridget is so endearing. She has flaws. She's been unlucky in love. But she has gumption and doesn't let set-backs keep her down. And she ends up with Colin Firth. Who wouldn't love that?

Anyways, one of the main things of the book/movie is that she sets goals. Sometimes she keeps them, but more often than not she's not so good about it. But overall she is working toward change in her life, even though it may not be as quickly as she'd like (I can't believe I'm analyzing Bridget Jones).

Since it's the new year, it's time for some of my own goals. Cuz if you aren't working toward something, you're falling backwards. 

So here are some of my quirky, small, big, short-term, long-term goals for the year. They are in no particular order, might I add...

• Wear lipstick everyday - there's just something about lipstick that makes you feel so glamorous
• Make my bed everyday - it makes my room look that much more clean
• Read my scriptures everyday - best pick-me-up and faith builder
• Pray everyday - communication with God is soooo important
• Go to Praha - it's been far too long since I've been in the Czech Republic. Hopefully my mom and I can combine it with a trip to Estonia.
• Date someone - really. This needs to happen. No joke.
• Be brave - My dear friend, Maggie, creates a motto to live by each year, which I think is super cool. This was her motto for 2011.  I love Maggie! Such and inspiration!
• Complete a 5-star Sudoku on my own - my ex and I used to do these together. He was super smart, and he did most of the work. But there's no reason why I can't be that smart too.
• Exercise regularly - I'm not going to put down how many days a week. Regularly I think works.
• Blog regularly - I need to keep up my writing skills, and what better place than here?
• Be nice - I pretty much have this down, but sometimes there are people that rub me the wrong way--I need to be nice to them too.
• Go shooting - this just sounds cool
• Love life - sometimes I get caught up in the things that aren't going well. My friends have accused me of living in the past, or having the grass-is-always-greener syndrome. I need to live in the moment and love it.

Let's see if I can keep them up. I'll have to make some smaller goals in order to achieve the larger ones, but I think it's doable. What are some of your goals for the year?

Well, hello there 2011...

2010 ended with a bang (haha, aren't I witty?), and the New Year is finally here. I'm feeling very optimistic about 2011. It's going to be a good year. It's funny that I said that on my golden birthday this year, but things didn't really turn out as I had planned. But then again, when do they ever?

The start of a new year always yeilds new goals or resolutions. I have to admit that I probably keep them for a month, but then forget all about them. But, I really do have a couple of goals for this year. Nothing major. I've been on the quest for a new hobby as of late. Lately I've been spending my time hanging out with my friends (definitely a good thing), watching k-dramas (kind of a waste of time), and reading. And trying to come up with ways to change and organize my pitifully small room with no wall space (let me tell you, it's been a challenge). Anyhow, here are my small goals for this new year:

1. take a Chinese class

2. learn how to knit

3. paint my room and paint it well

Oh! I forgot...in addition to these goals I also want to look for more opportunities to serve those around me, and be a better blogger. I think these will go hand in hand. I'm a firm believer that if you can't say anything nice, then don't say anything at all. I think this is why I've been absent from writing on this here blog. No one really wants to read someone else's depressing rants, right? Or at least I don't. So...here's how I'm looking at it: if I serve more people, I'll be more optimistic, and therefore I'll have a more exciting and bright outlook on life. This will yield amazing stories and experiences (or  I'll gain a better idea of who I am, and what my purpose is).  This will be the new beginning for my blog. And for me. 

Aren't you excited about the possibilities? I sure am. So this is my first step towards my goals in the New Year (and new decade by golly). 

And just because my New Year's was amazingly cool (complete with a masquerade), I will leave you a video of the actual event. Please enjoy the fireworks (aren't they magical?).

Check, Check

Ever since the start of the new year, I've been meaning to set some new goals for myself. But in the craziness of returning to the States and then moving to DC, I haven't made the time to reflect on what I now want out of life.

My senior year of high school, right before I began the new and exciting world of college, I sat down and made a list of about 20 things I wanted to accomplish in my life. They weren't all life goals, but some were. Others were things I wanted to do while at BYU. Last night I took a look at this list, and realized that there were only few left. That means I really needed to write a new list.

And so I did...and here it is:

What I Want to Accomplish in My Life--a list of sorts

1. Get married in the Temple


2. Have a family


3. get a TESOL certificate and teach ESL


4. take the foreign service exam


5. brush up on my Czech and French


6. learn Chinese


7. run a half marathon


8. run a marathon


9. visit my mission


10. work for a non-profit or begin my own


11. have a savings


12. go to hair school


13. travel to Jerusalem


14. see Petra


15. see the Taj Mahal


16. see the Great Wall of China


17. get out of debt.

And that's my newly updated list. Hopefully I'll be able to check off some of those things soon! Goals are exciting, and I'm feeling more hopeful about my future in general. It's not like I haven't had an exciting life thus far, so I'm sure that I'm bound to have a few adventures in my future!

P.S. Look what I'm wearing today!!!

I'm wearing shorts!!! That means winter is no longer here. Huzzah!!!