#ChristmasWish #TheTruth #DearSanta #CouldYouPlease #ThanksSoMuch

When the holiday season begins,

this is how I feel;

And then comes a little of this;

And eventually even this;

. . . . . . . . . .

But then I start thinking about 

having to find dates to take to all the inevitable parties,

and I'm like;

Sometimes I look forward to having a husband

just so I don't have to stress about if I'll have someone

to kiss at midnight on New Years Eve.

Frozen Eyelashes.

It doesn't snow in mid/south Texas.

We had a snow day only twice growing up;

one time it rained and then froze on the roads,

and the other time, it wasn't snow...

....it was sleet.

It melted before the end of the day,

but they closed school anyway.

Winter in Texas = 30 degree weather, and rain.

The first time I encountered snow

was during my first semester at BYU-Idaho.

And it was magical.

Like, really really magical;

please take note of my face.

It was like sparkly pixie dust falling from the sky.

And it stayed pretty magical for a while;

we'd even go build snow men in our pj's

late at night if it had just started snowing.

But then, 

after a few months,

instead of thawing quickly like it had initially,

the snow started to build on top of itself.

Layers and layers, and inches and inches of snow.

And it got colder and colder...

...and weird things started happening...

...like, my nose hairs would freeze....

...and people got frostbite if they wore earrings outside...

And then one day, I was late to my 7:45am class,

so I slapped on some mascara literally on my way out the door...

And this girl from Texas didn't factor all together

that because Rexburg is relentlessly windy,

gusts of wind would most certainly

be making my eyes water,

and I would be blinking instinctively...

and if one does such a thing with wet mascara

in -20 degree weather,

their eyelashes will freeze together.

After a thorough freak-out,

and rubbing my eyes to warm up the mascara,

so that I could open them again,

I arrived to class looking like a racoon,

and thought to myself,

"Why ON EARTH would anyone want to live here??"

"Why does anyone like the winter??!"

...

And that was roughly 8 years ago,

but it was pretty traumatic, so it stuck with me

and I've never reeeeally enjoyed winter since.

But a wise friend of mine told me recently

that although winter is not his favorite,

he's set a goal to enjoy each winter more than the last.

And I figure since I have been hating on winter for years,

it can only go up from here!

So here's to the best winter yet.

I do love scarves and jackets and boots,

so that's a start

PS-I recognize it's still technically fall,

but it's snowing outside, dangit.

It's winter.

Working On...

"To love at all is to be vulnerable.  Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken.  If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal.  Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements.  Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness.  But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change.  It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. 

To love is to be vulnerable."

--C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves

I love laughing, laughing's my favorite.

I recently heard from a coworker about this article,

and have to say, #5 on that list of

"Ten Things Supremely Happy People Do"

is probably up there with one of the wisest pieces of advice

I've ever heard

about being happy....

As a key to finding supreme joy and contentment,
the article suggests that;

"Happy people use laughter as a medicine.
A good old-fashioned chuckle releases lots of good neurotransmitters.
A study showed that children on average laugh 300 times a day
versus adults who laugh 15 times a day."

(And I think that is why I love working with kids;

thanks to them my daily average of laughs per day

is most definitely higher than the average adult.)

#iLOVEtolaugh

Plus, one of the biggest lessons I've learned 

about working with people, 

is that if you really want to impact them,

you've got to make them laugh.

It eases tension,

and lightens even the heaviest of situations.

And if you share a laugh with someone,

it increases their trust in you.

It sounds crazy, but believe me.

You can make friends everywhere you go
if you can make people laugh.

And nothing stops crying quicker,

or more effectively, than laughing.

So here's a few little treats to make you "LOL"...

(and not surprising at all, these are all videos of hilarious kids...

so you can share in a few of their "300 laughs of the day")

Ok, just kidding, there is one of a grown-up...

HAVE AN AWESOME DAY!!

"The only way to get through life 
is to laugh your way through it.
You either have to laugh or cry.
I prefer to laugh.
Crying gives me a headache."
--Marjorie Pay Hinckley

Too Fast!! Stop!

Someone please tell me how it's possible

that my youngest brother, Dylan,

turned 16 today!!!!

Man, I'm old.

Also, he might kill me for this,

but good glory he's just too cute...

I mean, wasn't he just supposed to stay like that forever??

Just sayin.

Happy Birthday my handsome brother!

Stop growing up now! Thanks!!

Love,

Mimi

It Makes Me Cry...

There are times in my life I think I'm super tough....

...and these are of course the times that I am the most exceptionally delusional.

I've realized lately how many things make me tear up--every time I see or hear them.  No other circumstances are necessary to cause this reaction; these things just have to exist.  And for some reason, they fill my heart so full of feelings of love and joy and sparkly goodness, that my body can't contain them, and it leaks out through my tear ducts.  So I guess they don't really make me cry... they just make my happiness overflow.

For example:

1) This Van Gogh painting.  Not the Sunflowers painting, not Starry Night.  This one.  I saw it in a museum once, and something about the brushstrokes and colors just got me! Haha, didn't see that coming.  Who knew "Sower at Sunset" would be the most evocative painting I've ever seen??

2) The last scenes of Mona Lisa Smile.  If you've ever taught in any capacity, this one will get ya.  (But just maybe, it's those Van Gogh paintings for me again...)

4) Conversations with my grandparents.  I sure love them, and they've each lived marvelously rich and inspiring lives.  All of their stories are wonderful.

5) This Maurice-Sendak-styled, 1986 version of the Nutcracker pas de deux.  Even though the quality of this video is awful, and the Nutcracker has a thin, creepy mustache, I cry every time.

6) The temple.  It always brightens my life with truth and simplicity.

I used to get embarrassed to wear my heart on my sleeve, but I've come around to being grateful to feel all those emotions (good and bad), deeply.  I mean, what a blessing to be so full of "happy", that my body just can't contain it!

#LifeIsBeautiful

Tinder Review

Tinder is my new favorite thing.

I mean, here's a little taste of the Tinder messages I've received throughout the last few days:


"Hey have you figured out our story so we don't say we met on Tinder?"
     Yes.  You send me that message, I never reply, and we never meet.
     If I do meet/date/marry someone from Tinder, I will label every picture with him #TinderLove

"We can always say we met in line at the grocery store lol."
     (I guess I could also use this as a reply to that first guy.)

"Hello gorgeous, will you be my tinderella?"
     This one might be my favorite.

"I'm in love with you, will you marry me?"

     Uh, yes.  Duh.

"So are you as beautiful in person as you are in all your pictures?  Because that's one amazing smile."
     I honestly don't know how to answer this one.

"I like your look :)"
     Does this refer to how attractive he finds me, or how my face appears when I gaze at something... ?

"You're gorgeous and from Texas! Win win."
     Ok, I revoke my initial acceptance of marriage--I'm marrying this guy!

"Pizza or sushi?"
     Clever.  I liked this one.

"Wow ur gorgeous!"
     And THIS is why Tinder is wonderful.

"You look like a gorgeous princess from a fairy tale."
     That was almost as good as the time a kid thought I was Rapunzel.

"How does Moses make tea... Hebrews it!"
     Hold on, can I marry this one??

"What if I fish like Brad Pitt in the movie A River Runs Through It?"
    Uh, I would prefer that you eat insatiably like Brad Pitt in Oceans 11.


In all seriousness though, in 4 days on Tinder I've had the opportunity (if I've wanted it) to go on over twice as many dates as I have had the chance to go on in a whole year of living in Utah.  I have yet to actually go on any of these dates, so I recognize we're talking quantity versus quality here, but that's a GINORMOUS difference.  I've decided Tinder is a great type of a wing-man... like you know how when you're interested in someone, and you want to get that confirmation from a trusted friend that they think the person you like, likes you back?  And you always secretly wish your friend would just straight up ask them... well Tinder is that friend, and it ALWAYS comes through.  You only get matched up with someone if you both say you're interested.  And then you start a text conversation.  Straightforward.  Simple.  Yes, dating made simpler.  I didn't think that was possible.

Now, the method of "matching up" with people is a fairly shallow one; you see a photo of someone and swipe the picture to the right if you're interested, and swipe left on the other hand if you're not.  You can take the time to read their "Tinder statement" that they've written about themselves, and look to see if you have friends or interests in common... but um, that takes a lot of extra time.  So mostly, you swipe right or left, if you find them attractive or not.  Therefore obviously, there are some creepers on there, and it's a "read the book by the cover" situation initially.

But again, it removes that long, arduous, monotonous, and frustrating period of time where you're figuring out if that person is even interested in dating first of all, and then second, interested in dating you.  They're on Tinder, they swiped right, so they're interested.  It's awesome.  And if you have decent social and conversational skills, from that point on, it's similar to "real life" dating.

If you want to meet and date people, I recommend it.


"He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life."
--Muhammad Ali

#TinderisaRisk
#worthitsofar
#steppingoutofmycomfortzone