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!

So Close and Yet Soooo Far Away!!

The end of the semester is two days away...that's literally four class periods....two tests and two papers away from being home free!

In two days my freshman year in college will be behind me.

Where has this year gone?!?! It seriously has gone by so quickly, it's like I blinked and my whole freshman year was over. So many crazy important things have happened to me over the course of this year and I am so not the person I was when I started at the U. I like to think that I am a better person than I was and I hope to continue to grow as I continue as a college kid.

Even more exciting about the semester ending? Summer is beginning!!!!

There are so many things that I want to do this summer and so many things that I hope are spontaneous and adventurous. I am really just excited for sunshine and flip flops and shorts and freedom!! I've got a feeling that this summer will be one of the best yet.

Top Ten Things I Am Most Excited For: Summer 2011

1. Sleeping in!!!
2. Movie nights with my best friends
3. Camp fires, roasting some s'mores {among other things} and enjoying the great outdoors
4. Going to St. George to visit my Grandma
5. Road tripping it to Moab {I've never been!!}
6. Having heart to hearts and deep chats under the summer sky, again with my best friends
7. Spontaneous adventures
8. Creating and finishing a summer reading list {suggestions are always welcome :) }
9. Taking endless crazy pictures
10. Overall being 19 and crazy

I seriously cannot wait for Summer 2011! I have the power to make it amazing and I will harnass that power! Here we go Summer 2011, bring on the adventures!!!!

Positoovity

I strut my stuff with lotsa confidence!

Cause though I lack an awful lot

There is one thing that I got-

I got positoovity

I got positoovity....

Cause once you've heard that word

There ain't nothin' you can't do!

So let that positoovity work for you!

This is quite possibly the best mantra that I have ever gotten from a Broadway musical (or any other source for that matter). It's from a song in Disney's The Little Mermaid The Musical, which I love, love, LOVE!

Really go listen to the soundtrack...it's incredible..and will bring a smile to your face guaranteed (unless of course you are a heartless ogre...but that's your own issue)

Anywhoosers Positoovity just makes me want to be positive! I listened to it tonight right before I went to work and it totally changed my whole attitude. Immediately I was happier and definitely more willing to smile at everyone, because as the song says with positivity (or I guess positoovity :-p) there's nothing you can't do. And that is so true. My beloved French teacher Mdm. Durst over at Olympus always like to quote one of the coaches there in saying that a positive attitude changes everything, which it really, really does!! I full heartedly believe that positive affirmations will make a situation turn out for the better.

Tonight at work I felt reassured in this belief. More than one person commented on how nice my positive attitude and that it was so good of me to be so positive. It's always nice to know that one's positivity isn't all for not, that there are people watching and appreciating it.

Even better about tonight was Elder M. Russell Ballard and his sweet wife coming into my work (they are the first couple in the above picture)

I'm always SO starstruck when they come in. He just eminates goodness and light and I have never met a kinder woman than Sister Ballard. She is probably one of the sweetest people alive and I hope to be half the woman that she is some day. Seeing one of the Apostles or the Prophet in person is always such a testimony builder because there is just this light that radiates from their eyes, and their wives are definitely the same way. There is a defintie energy of kindness that just flows from them. Seeing them in person, doing everyday things like eating in a restaurant reminds me that they are human, just like me, and that maybe, just maybe if I work at standing as a witness of God at all times and in all things and in all places I might someday have the light that shines through their eyes.

Even in his photograph the light of Christ is in his eyes and kindness is etched upon his visage, and the cool thing is that it is not just Elder Ballard's photo that is like this. All of the photos of the General Authorities of the LDS church give off the same things. It is a true testimony to me of the goodness and truth of these men that lead this incredible church.

However the best part of my entire evening I must say is that as Elder and Sister Ballard were leaving he turned, waved to me and said "It was nice to see you again." Elder Ballard knows who I am! He may not know my name but he recognizes my face. How cool is that?!? Like I said: Seriously starstruck!

So yes positivity can make your whole day awesome, and I am so glad that the song Positoovity reminds me of that, and it's so upbeat and catchy...just makes me wanna smile!!

Not only does Positivity make your day better, it makes the days of those around you better. Positivity not unlike a cold is totally contagious but with a much better result.

SERIOUSLY. AWESOME. NIGHT!!!

It's the Thought That Counts....

Oh hey blog....haven't seen you in awhile...oops. Sorry about that. I'm sure my blogstalkers (all three of them) are highly disappointed in me. I would make some sort of promise here that I won't leave it for weeks at a time without an update...buuuuuuut it is me we are talking about here and I will get distracted and forget to update it...but hey it's the thought that counts right?

Soooooooo this is what Lexi and I do at school....after our Nutrition class we go to the Union and get super healthy foods....doughnuts and pizza have some sort of vitamins in them.... right?

Welllllllll even if they don't it doesn't stop them from being delicious.

D. Coke and a doughnut breakfast of champions. AND the doughnut was in the shape of a U...we got excited about it.

So delicious.

This was probably the best way to spend a couple of hours of downtime on campus ever.

Seawillow wanted to see her computer screen but couldn't because it was rather sunny (FINALLY! took Utah long enough to realize that it was Spring! but that's another story) So Paul took my sweatshirt and made a tent-like thing to place over her computer and herself...it was rather ingenious if you ask me.

Seawillow and Paul are probably two of the greatest people ever....pretty much the most legit afternoon in awhile. It better happen more often!

I love my friends...both those who I have known forever and those that I have met just recently. My friends truly are blessings in my life and I am so grateful for them.

LOVE YOU GUYS!!!!