Franklin Covey Keeps Me Sane

This morning I was getting ready for work and listening to my most recent favorite Pandora station, when a song I'd never heard before came on. It was called Mileage by Brian Vander Ark, and it was beautiful. Sort of an escapist, spontaneity encouraging song. I stopped what I was doing and sat on the bathroom counter and listened to the song, and I made me ache for a road trip to somewhere sunny and warm. When it was over I turned off Pandora and had to spend about ten minutes convincing myself not to run out to my car and drive to California by myself. I had to remind myself that I had to go to work, I had classes on Monday, I had commitments for the weekend, I needed to be responsible.  So I finished getting ready, went to work for six hours and missed all the sunshine the day had to offer, and then spent the evening mostly having fun with friends, while in the back of my mind wondering what would have happened if I had just left. But that's not what I do, and thats not who I am, and I decided thats okay. So what if I need to plan my fun in advance? So what if I take my obligations and responsibilities seriously? So what if just the thought of being spontaneous makes me nervous? Thats why I have friends and people I love in my life. Because we aren't all the same. I need friends like Reyna and Matt and Joey to make me stay up till two in the morning watching movies or go on cattle roundups, and they need me to plan birthday parties and make sure everyone is well fed and taken care of. How lame would life be if we were all the same? So I'll go on being responsible most of the time, and keep on making friends with people who can give me a shove when I'm being too responsible. And yes, my closet is categorized by type of clothing and subcategorized by color, my books are organized into genres and within genre by author, and I've been using Franklin Covey planners since I was about sixteen. And you know what? I like it that way!

I can only dream of something this beautiful . . .

A New Kind of Christmas Wish List

So instead of making a list of all of the things I want to be given, I've decided to to make a list of all of my favorite things to do during the Christmas season. That way I can be responsible for whether or not my wants are met, because its up to me to make them happen! Most of the things on my list will involve other people though, because the best part of Christmas is sharing it with my friends and family!


1) Decorate a Christmas Tree With My Friends and Roommates
2) Bake Cinnamon Pound Cake and Deliver It With a Smile (Just like my mom does!)
3) Have Lots of Christmas Sing-A-Longs Around the Piano (Especially since I have a roommate with an AMAZING voice)
4) Bake and Decorate LOTS of Sugar Cookies
5) Decorate a Gingerbread House (Maybe one with my friends, and definitely one with my little Chan babies back home)
6) Put Christmas Lights Up in My Bedroom
7) Go Caroling and Finish With Hot Apple Cider at My House!
8) Watch All of the Important Christmas Movies!
          *Its A Wonderful Life
          *The Bishop's Wife
          *The Snowman
          *A Christmas Carol
          *National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
          *Elf
          *Home Alone I&II
          * Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
          *Santa Claus is Coming to Town
          *Frosty the Snowman
           *etc.,


These are all things that I would love to be able to do this Christmas season, but if I don't get to it will be because I am having too much fun doing other Christmas things I have yet to be introduced to with my friends and family! Because the whimsy and magic of Christmas is not about getting everything checked off of MY list, but helping the people I love get things checked off of THEIR lists. Merry Christmas!

Fabulous Fall Centerpiece Inspiration!

So this looks like such a fun idea! You can get people to write things they're thankful for on the little cards before-hand, and then put it on the branches and make it a fun little Thanksgiving centerpiece! This is definitely something I can get my niece and nephews involved in, it should be lots of fun. Check out the link!

http://www.bhg.com/decorating/seasonal/autumn/fabulous-fall-centerpieces/?page=2

Tissue Paper Pom-Poms

These are so cute and pretty and look really easy to make! Next time I throw a party or need a little extra cheerfulness in my room, I know what I'll be doing. Check out the link to see how its done, its way easier than you might think!

http://www.marthastewart.com/how-to/tissue-paper-pom-poms-how-to?backto=true#slide_0

Remember how in California winter meant rain and temperatures in the low 60's and high 50's?

Well its happened the past three years that I've lived here in Provo, so I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised that it happened a fourth year in a row. Snow in October, snow before Halloween! Fall has barely had a chance to show off its colors, and winter is already trying to get in and upstage it.  

                     

How rude! Its less than ideal to have snow on the ground before December or at least before the day after Thanksgiving. But it seems downright wrong, almost immoral, to have snow before Halloween. It like mother nature is encroaching on the territory of fall, just skipping right over it the way department stores skip over Halloween and Thanksgiving and go straight to Christmas. Its not very nice of mother nature, and I must say I'm rather disappointed in her. Again, you would think by now I would stop being surprised by the early snow, but it made me almost start crying. I immediately began to question the wisdom of living here in Provo and think less of BYU and their great academic programs, cheap tuition, and morally irreproachable atmosphere. Is it really worth it? IS IT?!! Come June when it stops snowing I'll remember that it is, but between now and then I'll have to be constantly reassuring myself that its a good idea and be on the look out for things that make up for the weather.

LURVE

Ralph Waldo Emerson Wants Us to Bloom Where We're Planted

"To laugh often and much;

to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children;

to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends;

to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better,

whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition;

to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived.

this is to have succeeded."