Good Sunday



Last Sunday's post was also called Good Sunday. Maybe I'll make a habit of this and make each Sunday's post about the goodness that day was. Because, honestly, Sunday is the best day of the week; the day when I feel the Spirit the most, when I feel most loved and a sense of belonging and inclusiveness.

Today's goodness:

1. I don't think I've ever laughed so hard in a sacrament meeting. Two recent converts shared their conversion stories and let me tell you--their speaking styles were a far cry from the usual mundane yawners. They were hil-ar-i-ous! And then the missionaries spoke, and that was all good and missionary-y.

2. The Relief Society lesson came from the Gospel Principles manual, and was on baptism. The teacher (my awesome visiting teaching companion) brought in her laptop and showed this touching video on charity, one of the things we promise to do when we're baptized.

3. We held a Relief Society board meeting after church today. One of my visiting teaching district supervisors was in the middle of eating a cookie (the RS teacher had brought cookies for all of the sisters after the lesson beforehand). Our meeting hadn't quite started yet, when cookie girl stood up and was about to exit the room to look for her fiancee. These are her words: "Where's my sweetcakes? I want to give him half of my cookie." Awww--now that's gonna be a good marriage. How cute is that?! I'm totally stealing sweetcakes for my future love. (Check out that sweetcake above; doesn't that look scrumptious?)

4. Had one of those "talks" with the parents. Yeah, those aren't the most fun, but I do appreciate their advice, and I needed to have this discussion. We talked about my future and blah blah blah. I have an intense love/hate relationship with adulthood.


I sure do hope your Sunday was good, too. And here's to a good week as well!

I'm So Done With Tests



Don't mind the many changing blog layouts. I experiment. And if you do mind, get over it. Go solve world hunger instead.

So I woke up at 5:30 am this morning. Yes, I'm aware that it's Saturday. I had to go pick up a friend at 7:15 and get to the university by 7:30 to check into one of the two Praxis 2 (teaching) tests we took today. This test was 110 questions long, multiple choice, and we had two hours to take it. I got done in an hour and 20 minutes. My friend wanted to sit in the back of the auditorium-style classroom. I'm glad she made that decision, because when we were done with the test we enjoyed many undisturbed minutes of pure people-watching entertainment. You see, we were not allowed to leave the classroom after we got done taking the test (because trust me, I would have). And cell phones are certainly not allowed as a diversion. So what's left to do? Watch people as they go cuckoo waiting for the two hours to end. Good times.

This one girl in particular provided the following entertainment: 1. the one leg up on the chair, knee bended position (like she's too cool for school), 2. rattling of keys (you could hear a pin drop in the classroom, so why would you rattle your keys and bug test-takers? Sheesh.), 3. lip gloss application (smack, smack), 4. pencil-drawing on her bent leg (are you 13?), and 5. doodling on the desk in front of her, eraser side down (again, are you five?). Oh, and I can't forget about her choice in clothing. A Victoria's Secret baseball cap, a Florida Gators sweatshirt, and short running shorts. Honey, it's 2 degrees outside; we're not in Florida.

And then we had to take another two-hour test a half-hour later consisting of four essays. There was quite the hang-up before the test began on whether to write the essays in pencil or pen. It seriously postponed the test like 10 minutes. Finally, the testing supervisor texted one of the test proctors with the reply: either one works. Phew. Didn't want to fail the test because I used the wrong writing utensil of all things.

I finally got home at like 1:45 this afternoon. I took a nap. It felt good.

Oh, to be 16 Again



I'm subbing at my old high school again today, same Spanish classes.

I can't help but reflect on my own teenage years when I'm surrounded by all of these high schoolers. And as I reflect, I kinda get mad at myself. It's taken years since then to realize how lame it was for me to try to just blend in and not draw attention to myself. Now, I love noticing these kids' individual styles and quirks (and how they own them) and I regret not identifying my true self earlier on. Truth be told, I'm still discovering who I am, however, I still recognize that I cared too much about what others thought about me, and I didn't make the most out of those years. Anyway, props to these kids who embrace the world and themselves and just go for it. I wish I would have had that gusto.


In other news:

I'm taking the Praxis 2 (exams for teacher licensure) tomorrow. Pray for me.

I went to Stake Leadership Meeting last night (in case you don't know, I'm my singles ward RS president; yippee). We're taught in the scriptures that "Where much is given, much is required." A quote by Sister Kathleen Hughes, who was once in the general Relief Society presidency, was shared that puts a new twist on the aforementioned scripture: Remember, though, that where much is required, much is also given.

Isn't that just a nice ol' thought?

Happy weekend to you! Make it special. Oh, and feel free to find me a job; I'm still very much looking.

Vid Vid Vid Vid

There are four videos I've stumbled upon recently and that I like. I'm a sucker for mashups/medleys, so two of the vids are just that. Another one is of the pretty Fefe Dobson and her new song, "Stuttering"; creative storyline in the video. And the last is a well-done Mormon Message about living in thanksgiving daily, not just the fourth Thursday in November. Hope you enjoy these as much as I do.

You Know, The Stuff We Walk On



I can't believe I'm making this public, but it's too good not to share. I seriously wonder about my brain sometimes.

I subbed second grade today. The kids were doing a writing exercise when this girl came up to me and asked how you spell a certain word. And I couldn't, for the life of me, remember how to spell the word. Really FREAKY! This is second grade, people. It wasn't like the word was batrachophagous (which, for your curious information, is a person who eats frogs) or something. Now without revealing the word to you right away, I will tell you its definition: what you walk on inside buildings.


Okay, okay. The word was floor. Yes--floor. I seriously had to think about it. "Is it flor? What about flour? Flore? Scariest. Moment. Of. My. Life. I even got on the computer and googled it, but all I could manage typing out was flour. I was freaking out.

Finally, to my rescue, this boy who was standing nearby spelled it f-l-o-o-r. I've never been so relieved. And I've never been so privately humiliated. Granted this all happened within like 30 seconds, but it was the most terrifying half-minute of my life.

I'll go cry myself to sleep now. Heaven help me.

I Get an F in Flirting



Yeah, I know, two posts in one day, but this one is an itch that I have to scratch.

I read this post on a great, inclusive Mormon relationship blog, and it got me thinking about my approach to flirting. Or should I say, lack of approach.

I really doubt I'm an effective flirter, or that I even flirt at all. I mean, I don't think I'm a complete stranger to it, but I'll go ahead and attribute my flirting failure to these factors:

• To me, it looks ridiculous. Girls laughing at jokes that aren't funny, guys and gals saying stupid stuff, etc. Maybe I just haven't seen it done right, but it looks childish and immature. I don't want to dumb myself down, which is what I'm pretty darn sure I have been noticing.
• There's no one with whom I really want to flirt. Now, I understand that perhaps it would still be good practice to flirt for the sake of flirting, but I just can't get myself to touch a guy's elbow (apparently sends good signals) if I'm not into him.
• And if by some good fortune, there is a guy that I like, I'm sure I act just plain weird and different than the normal me when I'm around him.

So considering all of this, I think I have some ideas. First, I need to stop being so picky (so hard to do if you live where I do) and just practice flirting. Second, try to act sillier and have more fun (hard to do when I have a strong serious side to me; I'm only really goofy around family and close friends). And third, really try to just be myself (I think that's a constant pursuit for all of us in various situations; not just relationships).

No wonder I'm still single.

A Little of This, That

Did you hear about the woman who solved a Wheel of Fortune puzzle with only an apostrophe and a sole letter? So, so cool. Check out the full story here. That's the winner above. The link will also show you a picture of the very little she had to solve the phrase.

I observed a fifth grade teacher yesterday as a requirement for my student teaching experience. As I was walking down the hall, a special ed aide made intense eye contact with me. We exchanged greetings and then she asked, "How's your baby?" I responded, "He's adorable as usual!" JK. I wish I would have, though. I had to break it to her that I am babyless, to which she responded, "Oh, you look just like someone I know." Her face was priceless, though, when she figured out that I wasn't her.

My job search continues. And that's all I'll say about that.

Can anyone else not believe that it's November already? Time passes so dang fast.

I'm subbing Spanish right now at my old high school. Right now the kids are watching the 1987 film, La Bamba. The language is set to Spanish with English subtitles. They seem pretty engaged; gotta love watching movies in class. But they don't get off the hook that easy with a sub. They have to write 20 Spanish sentences in preterit (past) tense, describing scenes, events, and actions from the movie.

And that's about all for now. I'll blog again today if I can think of anything blog worthy. Or if I get bored.