Don't Forget That You Are Amazing, Incredible, and Beautiful

     I'll admit it....even though I try my hardest to be positive there are times where negativity creeps in. I find that I sometimes compare myself to others {alright basically I compare myself to other people almost all the time} and in the process I end up putting myself down and feeling all together kind of gross {I HATE that! it's one of the worst things in the world I am sure of it}and I forget all my positive thoughts that I had maybe only moments earlier.
     What I need to remember is that yeah sure there may be someone who is prettier than I, someone who has accomplished more things than I have or someone who has traveled more than me but all their accomplishments don't detract from who I am. Instead of focusing on what I don't have I should be focusing on what I DO have and what I have been blessed with. And friends I will be honest, I have been seriously blessed. I have a fantastic family, an amazing network of friends and a truly fantastic place to work as well as the opportunity to continue my education at a university {and those are only the big blessings in my life, there are SOOO many more but I won't bore y'all with those here}.
     There is this couple that lives in Provo, Utah both survivors of a nearly fatal plane crash. The wife came away from the crash with third degree burns over 80% of her body {she now refers to herself as looking like Sally from A Nightmare Before Christmas} her husband suffered extensive injuries himself but not to the physical extent that she did. her story in her words {this woman is so incredible!!}. She looks like a completely different person and in my mind she has every right to complain about the hand she has been dealt, however what is truly amazing is that she doesn't complain. In fact reading her blog is inspiring to me because she and her husband work so hard to find the positives in their situation even though I'm sure many people wouldn't begrudge them a little complaining. This couple is really incredible. To the world she may look like a stitched up doll but to her husband she is the most beautiful creature in creation.
     The best part about that? He loves her for her. He doesn't love her because she looks like a supermodel but because she has a beautiful soul that far outshines her burn scars. Her husband is in love with her. He is in love with her spirit. And that is truly inspiring and probably one of the most beautiful and wonderful things in the world to learn. Her blog has taught me that we are not our bodies. We are our spirits.


     My grandfather Renstrom was always, always, ALWAYS so good at seeing a beautiful spirit. He would go on and on and on about this beautiful girl that he met the other day and how wonderful it was to see such beauty in the world. He would continue on in that manner until you were just dying to meet this beautiful and gorgeous girl because the way he was speaking about her you just knew that she would be the end all and be all face of beauty. However more times than not when you were finally faced with this person, the girl before you would be very plain, sometimes even leaning more on the unattractive side and it was enough to make you wonder what kind of glasses does Grandpa wear when he meets with this girl? It was always very weird to me that my grandpa {who's wife was and still is absolutely beautiful} could call these plain, mousy and sometimes unattractive girls beautiful and stunning and gorgeous. I thought that until I actually took the time to speak to and get to know one of these girls. It dawned on me {well more it smacked me upside the head} that my grandpa wasn't looking at their physical appearances  but at their spirits. And in every instance he was right, these girls were incredible and absolutely gorgeous. These girls that he had called beautiful were beautiful but not in the physical way. They had a much better beauty, they had beautiful souls. After learning this little fact about how my grandpa viewed people I always felt much better about myself when he called me beautiful because I knew that he was commenting on something much better than my physical appearance. I've always been jealous of that ability my grandfather had to look not only at the body of a person but also at their soul and I hope to one day do just as he did and see beauty in everyone. And I do mean EVERYONE
     I am learning to not just ignore but accept and love the faults and flaws that I see when I look in a mirror, because those "faults and flaws" are what make me uniquely me and are not the only thing to me. I am trying to work on my spirit everyday so that it is the most beautiful that it can be. I may not be Natalie Portman or anything but I am me and I am determined to be the best me that there ever can be {that feels like I am channeling my inner Dr. Seuss...awesome right?}
     And to my blogstalkers {all four of you?} "don't let anyone ever tell you otherwise, but you are AMAZING, GIFTED and INCREDIBLE. I love you and everything that you are. Heavenly Father knows you by name and loves you with such intensity. Don't EVER give up and don't EVER be less than what you CAN be. You have the POTENTIAL to do ANYTHING. You are a choice spirit."
     I love you all and you are all amazing, incredible and beautiful! Thanks for being a part of my life!

    

The One With the Peanut's reference...

Today, while I was surfing the internet out of sheer and complete boredom, I came across something that acutally got me thinking and was pretty intriguing...shocking right? I know, I was pretty surprised myself that I found something that has a little value to it.

The Philosophy of Charles Shultz

The following is the philosophy of Charles Shultz, the creator of the "Peanuts" comic strip. You don't have to answer the questions, just read this through and you'll get the point, hopefully. 

1. name the five wealthiest people in the world.
2. name the last five Heisman trophy winners.
3. name the last five winners of the Miss America Contest.
4. name ten people who have won the Nobel or the Pulitzer Prize.
5. name the last half dozen Academy Award winners for best actor and actress.
6. name the last decade's worth of World Series winners.

How did you do?

The point is, none of us remember the headliners of yesterday. They are not second-rate achievers. They are the best in their fields. But the applause dies. Awards tarnish. Achievements are forgotten. Accolades and certificates are buried with their owners.

Here's another quiz. See how you do on this one:

1. list at least five teachers who aided you on your journey through school.
2. name three friends who have helped you through difficult times.
3. name five people who have taught you something worthwhile.
4. think of a few people who have made you feel appreciated and special.
5. think of six people you enjoy spending time with.

Easier?

The lesson: The people who make a difference in your life are NOT the ones with the most credentials, the most money, or the most awards. They are the ones who CARE.

I LOVE THIS! It really made me think. How often do we spend soooooo much time thinking about the celebrities that dominate our news and how important we think they are; and all the while we are ignoring or taking for granted those that truly matter in our lives and those that are making us who we are.
I don't know about the rest of you but I couldn't for the life of me answer those first six questions {and trust me...I tried...I almost cheated by thinking about looking them up on the internet...}. But answers to the last five questions came to me in the blink of an eye. In fact I am going to share with you my answers to those last five questions :)

1. Five teachers: Mr. James Felt, Mrs. Sandra Cordon, Mrs. Robin Edwards, Mrs. Ashley Shaw, Miss Marci Bishop. {And so many more, but it only asks for five and those five are the ones who have had the biggest impact on my scholastic journey}
2. Three friends that have helped me through difficult times:
1. Lexi Goodrich - She's always there for me and is never judgmental. She is my best friend after all and the one that I have crazy adventures with every time that we spend time together...even the classes we take together turn into total, epic adventures :) Love ya girl!
2. Seawillow Knight - She is the voice of reason in my life and has been since Kindergarten {and that ain't no exaggeration folks} I know that I can go to her when my life is all messed and feels like its falling to pieces and she will calmly help me sort it all out and make it better again. Not sure what I would do without her to be honest.
3. Devionare Jones - We survived rehearsal after grueling rehearsal together for not 1, not 2, but 3 full years...'nuff said.
3. Five people who have taught me something worthwhile:
1. My parents - they taught me how to work hard, to respect myself and others, and that I have the ability and the talent to succeed in anything that I put my mind to.
2. My Grandpa Renstrom - he taught me to love everyone and to see the beauty in all of God's children...because every person is a child of God and every child of God is absolutely beautiful.
3. Anne Morey - she taught me that it was ok to be wholly and completely myself. I have never met someone who is more comfortable with themselves than Anne is with herself and that is so incredible to me.
4. Danielle Schow - through example she taught me that it's not only ok but totally awesome to be nice to every SINGLE person you come across. Dani always speaks to people with a smile on her face and she is always kind to people. She is such an amazing example to me {and she'd be totally embarrassed by this...}
5. Any and every LDS missionary that go out and serve a full mission willingly - think about it...these guys are all of 19 years old, fresh out of high school, ready to take on the world and they willingly give up two years of their lives to preach this beautiful gospel. I have always admired them and will continue to admire them, even more so now that many of my friends are receiving their calls and are so excited about them. These valiant guys have taught me that this gospel is worth sacrificing for. {and yes I do realize that this is not a single person...but they are worth mentioning..every SINGLE one.}
4. A few people who have made me feel appreciated and special: My family {every crazy one of 'em}, my bestest best friends {you know who you are!} and really so many people that are genuine that it would take forever to name them all.
5. Six people that I enjoy spending time with:
1. Lexi Goodrich - Duh...she's my best friend
2. Seawillow Knight - again....duh....I feel like I've mentioned this already ;)
3. Anne Morey - I always, always, ALWAYS have such a blast hanging with her!
4.  Carson Kohler and Tina Vazquez - they are my squashmores that are squashmores no more and I FRIGGIN LOVE THEM!!!!!!!!!!
5. Cassandra Taylor - We started at the Grub at the same time and rocked every Saturday night for almost 2 years! She is such a fascinating person and so much fun to be around!
6. Any and all the people that I have met in my new ward! They are all such awesome people and I absolutely LOVE spending time with them!

This was really was kind of fun for me to think about and it really made me appreciate all those amazing people in my life that are my friends and my family. I am so blessed to have them in my life and I love them all so much!
And in parting my favorite quote from Charles Shultz: "Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It is already tomorrow in Australia..."

An Epic Way to Start Summer 2011!

     Exactly what was such an epic beginning to a hopefully epic summer? Going to see Thor at like midnight last Friday. It was totally epic. And I totally loved it. Lots of things went boom and Chris Hemsworth is utterly and devastatingly attractive. But aside from that it was a really fun movie and I totally recommend it to anyone and everyone.
     The people I went with made the movie even more fun I gotta say. Especially since it was midnight and Lexi and I had just gotten off of work so we were a little crazed from our respective jobs; but that really just made it all the more entertaining.

                Love this movie! Awesome fights, lots of things explode, funny moments and a really attractive hero. What more could a movie need?

 I love this picture...it's the product of downtime, in a theater, with a camera, before the movie started. I think it shows all three of our personalities pretty well.....we are all just a bunch of lovable goofballs after all :) and I love us for it!

 We are pretty special together....we didn't even plan our coordination in this picture. We've just been best friends since freshman year of high school. One of my most favorite pictures of the night that is for sure!

 Lexi photobombed me....but it's why I love her....I can't explain to you what I am doing with my face...because I am not entirely sure myself...give me a break it was 2 in the morning!

Love it...not really even sure why....I just do

 There are many reasons this girl and I are best friends....this is just one of the many. We can be complete dorks and look ridiculous in pictures together <3 her

I figure I should probably throw in a cute picture of us...to prove that we can take a cute picture :)

     Overall Friday night was so epically fun and I can't imagine a better way to kick off Summer 2011. Excellent movie, excellent company and so many laughs. Love you all!!! Here's to many more summer adventures like this one!

DONE, DONE, and DONE!!

     Officially my summer has now begun! I turned in my last paper today and there are no finals in sight!! I am now a sophomore in college!!!!!!!! So excited! But I am even more excited to sit back, relax, and enjoy my summer.
     I am so glad that I decided against doing summer semester. I was really burned out on school these last couple of weeks. I know for sure that I just wouldn't have tried as hard in summer and then my GPA would have suffered and no one wants that now do they?
      Still cannot get over that I am no longer a Freshman...it feels so weird, I swear that I am not old enough to be a sophomore yet. This growing up thing is a really surreal experience I gotta say. But there is nothing you can do to stop it so might as well lean back and enjoy the ride. Although there are some times when I really want to stay a little kid (granted those times come when I have to pay taxes or pay for gas stuff like that) but then I realize that growing up kind of kicks butt. It's really liberating when you really think about it. The best thing about this growing- up- being- a- college- kid- thing is you can be as pretentious as you want and people just expect it of you because you are, after all, a college student. It's fantastic (not saying that I am pretentious all the time but I will be honest here, sometimes I say some pretty pretentious things).
     On a side note I have quite possibly fallen in love with Blake Shelton...well at least his music. And normally I don't listen to a whole lot of country music, in fact I really dislike most of it (i.e. Taylor Swift...eeeewww) however there is something that I hear in Blake Shelton's music that I love...who knows what it is, it's an anomaly even to me. Just a fun fact for the day. Also I have fallen back in love with Maroon 5. I mean I have always loved them but I think I got sick of their music for a little bit there and stopped listening to them, but after watching a couple episodes of The Voice on NBC I have fallen back in love with Adam Levine (He's just so ridiculously funny!) and thus my love for Maroon 5 was rekindled. P.S. watch The Voice...it's fun :)
     Well I should probably wrap up this rather random post of mine. Until next time my friends. Loves!

Bulletproof Mascara

     Wow! It has felt like it has been so long since the last time I blogged!! I wish that I could say it's because of my crazy, busy, awesome life but alas it is not....really it's because I am a lazy butt and have just lounged around my house all day long doing absolutely nothing. That's the beauty of summer though isn't it? Not having to worry about homework, tests or deadlines? And I have been enjoying every single second of my couch potato lifestyle that I seem to have adopted of late.
     I have become a total summer bum though. All I do all day long is lay around watching lame t.v. shows and reading. I have read four novels in the past two weeks...yep that's right four. None of them can be considered truly academic reading though; they all seem to fall into the "chick lit" category. But I'm ok with that...like I've said before: it is summer after all.
     I really enjoyed Bulletproof Mascara by Bethany Manes. It's basically James Bond/Mission Impossible meets Elle Woods. It's a total guilty pleasure and well worth the guilt!

 Read it. Enjoy it. Fall in love with it.
It'll make you want to become a secret agent with a better sense of style. At least it made me want to.

 I also really enjoyed this book. The Help by Kathryn Stockett was incredible. It is set in 1960's Jackson Mississippi and is told in the voices of three different narrators. Two black maids and one white woman, all three are determined to help change the racist atmosphere of their hometown. I couldn't put it down, at least I couldn't once I got into it. The beginnings of it were a little dull but once it got rolling it really got rolling. I totally recommend it.

     Until next time....loves!