Take that, New Years Resolution

ok ok, i know this might be an annoying brag post but i sorta can't help it. At the beginning of the year, I set the good ol cliché goal to exercise more. But really, not just exercise more but specifically run 3 days a week no matter what. AND so far so good! This month I ran a total of 45 miles! yay yay :)

Also I realized I have like zero pics of myself on this blog lately so I figured I would post a running pic. I choose this one because it was from my first race but it also has Ethan in it. Today Ethan and I are going to Park City to go boarding. Woot!

I love Saturdays :)

Sometimes I wonder about Social Networking

This may be the story of my life. Sometimes I wonder if social networking has ruined dating??? What do you think? I think this new form of media has changed how society functions both for the good and the bad.

Dear Carbs

Dear Carbs,

I know we have had a wonderful time together and I definitely cherish those memories. It's not that I don't love you, because believe me I do. In fact I think I love you a little to much. See the thing is that you just are no good for me. A few here and there every once in a while seems like an innocent enough relationship, but then I just find myself getting carried away when you offer me things like texas toast, fry bread, pasta, bagels, tortillas. Ultimately my infatuation with you is unhealthy and has decreased my physical well being. I think its best if we stop seeing each other for a while. Lets still try to stay friends.

I'll call you later,

Jaimie

Creeped out by the Creeper

Story.

Yesterday morning I was driving to school going from Lehi to UVU. I was in the far left lane so that I could pretend to go "fast" as there is all of the stupid construction work going on around here. I looked over to the right lane beside me and a man in a blue SUV was smiling and waving in my direction. I do the awkward hi wave in return and keep driving. So as I'm driving, I realize that if I go slower, he goes slower. If I go faster, he goes faster. He basically stays right with me all the way into Orem.

I tried to keep zero eye contact with him at this point because he started to be even more aggressive by blowing me kisses and such. I mostly was just laughing it off because you all have been with your friends when a bunch of guys in cars try to hit on you right? Well I just figured it was like that, only a little bit weirder. Anyway, because he was right beside me, I couldn't change lanes. If I sped up to pass him, he would speed up. If I slowed way down to go behind him, he would slow way down. I finally slowed down quite a bit and then gunned it so that I could pass his stupid SUV.

I got off of my exit and thought he would just keep driving and I would just chalk that one up as another guy who hit on me while driving. But no, he followed me off of the exit. It was getting creepy at this point. I didn't know what to do. I wondered if should I call the cops, call my mom, or what? So the exit I got off on had two lanes. He got in the lane next to me and was prepared to travel up the road following me again like on the freeway. Luckily I was able to make a right turn to go into UVU and because he was in the left lane, he couldn't follow.

After that incident, my heart was racing for like the next two hours. What would I have done if he had been able to follow me into school? All I can say is that I'm just glad I was able to lose him. What a crazy ordeal. And yes, don't worry I'm alive. In case you were worried.

On another note, I'm going to Vegas in an hour to listen to my sister-in-laws little brothers band Imagine Dragons open for Weezer. Yep, free concert tickets, possible back stage passes, and trip to Vegas for the weekend. I can't complain

Breaking Nasty Habits

I admit it, I am a nail biter. I've pretty much always been a nail bitter. I remember being little and my mom taking me to the doctor and he promised me that if I stopped biting my nails, I would get to pick out a present. Well, at age 23 I finally got to do that. After many fake nails, manicures, and tons of money down the drain, I have pretty much kicked the habit of nail biting. Except that I always have to have polish of some sort on my nails because once its off, I become a nail biter again. This means:

Nasty. Habit. Broken. YAY!!! :)

The finger nail polish for this week is purple on the bottom with a big Z of green on top. The nice thing about having to always apply polish is that I get the chance to have creative nails :)

You might do this too

Sometimes I play cleaning games with myself. Like if I pick up 20 things off of my floor then I can play on the internet for half an hour. And then after that if I clean off my nightstand I can drink hot chocolate. And then after that, if i vacuum then I can watch a t.v. show. A little pathetic huh.

A. this tells you something about how organized I am right now (meaning not at all).

and

B. I don't even have kids or a husband. How do people like my sisters and sister-in-laws do it? Maybe its for the best that I haven't reached that magical next step of life :P

Citrus Salad and Kiwi Cupcakes

Blog, Sometimes I feel like you are more like my journal. I sort of like that. My picture journal that the world can access if they want, or can choose to not to access if they want. Either way I like you.

So here we go

One of my favorite parts about Sunday is coming home feeling spiritually fed and then getting the chance to literally eat and feel physically fed. Ok so basically that sentence was a little bit to formal for me. What I am trying to say is that if you are anything like me, you probably eat everything in sight when you first come home from church. It's like being somewhere for 3 hours strait and then not being able to shop on Sunday is the perfect combination for some major carb loading. But today, I was a little bit better and made a conscious choice about what I put in my body and it ended up being a yum yum food day :)

First on the menu, a citrus salad (we have a lot of oranges sitting around. its orange season you know). This consists of lettuce, spinach, pineapple, oranges, lemon, almonds, and mozzarella (but feta cheese would always be better if you have it). The dressing is pineapple juice, lemon juice, orange zest, balsamic vinegar, and EVOO (extra virgin olive oil).

Next on the menu, kiwi cupcakes. For the recipe on this one go here. After eating a taste of these, my mom said, "hum, that's interesting." Apparently she wasn't so thrilled with this recipe but I really liked it. Food has a tendency to taste better to me when I know its healthy. That could be part of the reason why I enjoyed them so much :)

All in all, a day spent in the kitchen listening to cool music while i cook = perfect.

coached by the coach - lessons from Bronco Mendenhall

Every Friday the Orem Institute of Religion has devotionals. Sometimes I go, sometimes I don't. Actually lets be honest here, most of the time I don't. But when they announced that Bronco Mendenhall was going to give the devo, I felt that if anybody could whoop me into any sort of shape, a football coach would be the one to do it.

And boy, I had no clue how badly I needed this big bad football coach to whoop me into spiritual shape! You know, nothing is quite more intimidating then a football coach telling you what is what.

The Man who put me through a spiritual workout - Bronco Mendenhall

The spiritual workout included first the facts:

• When he got married he was 31 and his wife was 30 (by Utah's standards, she was an old maid like me! Woot, there is hope).
• Entering into marriage meant $250,000 of debt because she had to sell her travel business in order for them to be together.
• They lived off of ramon noodles while he rode his bike to work because as you know, biking is free and gas costs $.
• When he got the chance to interview for the coaching job at BYU, he wasn't their first pick. BYU really wanted a different coach but were denied.
• His first day on the field, the BYU stadium of fans booed him for an extensive amount of time and he felt like a failure.
• The whole time he was going through adversity, he felt like he was growing closer to Heavenly Father

What He Did About Adversity:

• He remembered how when Henry B. Eyring interviewed him, he asked him one question, "Is the church true?" Instead of talking about football stats and accomplishments, he realized that coaching football for BYU was a spiritual journey, not a temporal one.
• Coach Mendenhall approached coaching football saying that, "All that BYU football is, is just a vehicle to bring members of the human race to Jesus Christ." If he had the opportunity to tell ESPN about what BYU is all about, then he has done good.
• When Coach Mendenhall took on BYU, they were in a 4 year losing streak. Instead of placing all of the focus on the game, he focused on the spirituality and grades of his athletes, knowing that once they were strong in the basics, they would be a strong team. He held devotionals before the games. He encouraged good grades. BYU quickly had the highest GPA for all football players across the nation. With this increase in spirituality and grades, a miracle happened. A team that had been through a huge losing streak started to have huge success.
• He said, a miracle happens when good people who have their priorities right do the best they can. BYU winning games for him was a miracle.
• Bronco Mendenhall decided to have the team leave the MWC so that more publicity would come when games were shown on ESPN, once again to expose the world to BYU and who we are.

My point for telling you all of this:

Bronco Mendenhall seriously has his priorities right. BYU football is not more important then his family, his membership in the church, and his integrity. Once he placed God first, BYU football fell into place and he was successful.

Lastly, I leave this blog today with a video of Coach Mendenhall and BYU football team supporting my dear friend Brigham Larkin who has down syndrome. I see Brigham every day on UTA riding to school and I sort of watch out for him. He has told me about this experience quite a few times and here I will share it with you so that you can see the goodness coming from this team:

Bad Day Flipped

This has definitely not been my week. First of all, I had such a high in California that coming back to Utah has been much like the weather, just plain old dreary and overcast. Second, I went to a funeral for a little baby yesterday. Sad. Third, I am starting to be aware that I am desperately single and 24 in Utah. Due to Mormon culture, that practically makes me a spinster. And lastly, the pants I wanted to wear on my first day of school for my last semester ever did not make it to they dryer in time and are still wet. And there you have my laundry list of woe's.

So I prayed. And I told Heavenly Father that I was not happy. And then I decided to clean my room. First loner piece of paper that I picked up to start the organization frenzy was this message from Richard G. Scott from the 11/06 ensign saying:

True, enduring happiness, with the accompanying strength, courage, and capacity to overcome the greatest difficulties, will come as you center your life in Jesus Christ. Obedience to His teachings provides a secure ascent in the journey of life. That takes effort. While there is no guarantee of overnight results, there is the assurance that, in the Lord’s time, solutions will come, peace will prevail, and happiness will be yours.

The challenges you face, the growth experiences you encounter, are intended to be temporary scenes played out on the stage of a life of continuing peace and happiness. Sadness, heartache, and disappointment are events in life. It is not intended that they be the substance of life. I do not minimize how hard some of these events can be. When the lesson you are to learn is very important, trials can extend over a long period of time, but they should not be allowed to become the confining focus of everything you do. Your life can and should be wondrously rewarding. It is your understanding and application of the laws of God that will give your life glorious purpose as you ascend and conquer the difficulties of life. That perspective keeps challenges confined to their proper place—stepping-stones to further growth and attainment.

The Lord is intent on your personal growth and development. Your progress is accelerated when you willingly allow Him to lead you through every growth experience you encounter, whether you welcome the experience or not. Trust in the Lord. Ask to be led by the Spirit to know His will. Be willing to accept it. You will then qualify for the greatest happiness and the heights of attainment from this mortal experience.

I guess my point sharing this with you is that maybe you are feeling the same way I am, just in your own way. Maybe the January blues are getting to you too and you need a little sunshine. Looking at Richard G. Scott's words, it shows plain and clear that the Savior provides that light, peace, happiness, and joy. If we view life as though it is a test to be overcome, then we can better have control over our feelings and emotions. I know that this helps me cope with the hard things a little bit better. Not perfectly, but at least have the strength to work towards a perfect eternal perspective.

So take care all of you dear blog readers who are also seeking to find the strength and peace to carry you through the hard times. Even though it is tough, hold on. It's just part of the test.

Goodbye Ocean, I'll miss you. You are so much better than Utah