Are you Gorky?

iPhone auto-correct can turn any conversation into something hilarious. Here's a little snippet from a conversation between me and my hunk yesterday. You may not find it as funny as I do, but it had me laughing for a good hour. 

Notice the random insertion of what the hunk should eat for lunch. That's a common occurrence. Just to clarify, I am NOT a socialist. A little while later I got on Facebook to see that the hunk had updated his status to the following: 

 

That made me smile. :)

I have NO idea why my phone thinks "girly" should be "Gorky." When I googled "Gorky", it came up as a last names of a Russian socialist writer and an American artist from the 1940s. Who texts about those people on a regular basis that they would be programmed into iPhone auto-correct?

In any case, it gave us a good laugh.  

Thunderstorms

Right now I am sitting on my couch, snuggled up in the quilt my mother made me, listening to the most glorious thunderstorm. I absolutely  love thunderstorms. I love them because they remind me of how marvelous and powerful nature is, and how small I am. I also love the memories that thunderstorms bring to me.

I remember as a young girl, my sisters and I would wait by the window to see the lightening until the thunder cracked. Then, we would run as fast as we could to our bed and hide under the covers until we gained enough courage to venture out to the window again. We would do this over and over, laughing the whole time, until the storm was over.

When we were a bit older, ages six or seven, we would pretend to be on a ship in the sea during a horrible storm. We would rock back and forth on our big rocking chair that my great grandpa made, pretending that it was a ship being tossed in the waves. Mother had a candlestick holder that we would hold and it made the imaginary scene even more real to us. The thunder and the lightening added the final touch to our adventure. I can still hear Cecily yelling, "Beware the rocks off the port bow!"

As a teenager, thunderstorms meant that swim practice was over. Some of you might not know this, but I swam competitively for ten years. I was even captain of my high school swim team my senior year. I was never very good, but I had a lot of fun. In Sacramento, most of the pools, including all the ones I swam in, were outdoor. So, we swam in all kinds of weather. Rain. Hail. Wind. We braved it all. The only weather that would force us out of the pool was lightening. I remember swimming laps and hearing the crack of thunder. My coach would blow the whistle and we would jump out of the pool as fast as we could. After all, we had been told how people who swim in thunderstorms always get struck by lightening and drown and we weren't going to let that happen to us.

In Oregon, there were lots of thunderstorms. I have a lot of sweet memories of watching thunderstorms with Joe when we were dating and engaged. Thunderstorms make for perfect snuggling weather. We would make hot chocolate, cuddle, and talk for hours. Those were some of the best days of my life.

The rain has slowed down and its been awhile since I've heard a crack of thunder.  I think I can see some sunlight poking through. That's the thing with thunderstorms--they never last forever. Soon the sun comes out and the sky is calm again.

What Easter Means to Me

This is a re-post from a few Easter's ago. My feeling and testimony is the same, but stronger.

My heart is full. My cup runneth over. I woke up this morning hearing the wind rustle through the blooming trees and the birds chirping in their nests. It is Easter. What a special day!

It is this day 2011 years ago that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, walked out of the garden tomb and broke the bands of death, that we may all live again. Friends, I hope you know that I have a firm testimony of the divinity and mission of Jesus Christ. His is the Savior of all mankind. He came to this earth for a special purpose. He came to ransom us from the fall, to provide a way that we could repent and overcome our own imperfections that we might live again with God the Father. He suffered the pains of sin in Gethsemane, alone, bleeding from every pore. He was judged of men, scoffed and scorned, though he had done no wrong. He was nailed to the cross, suffering even more. And when it was enough, he died. For three days his body lay in a mountain tomb. However, that would not be its final resting place. As angels rolled the stone of the tomb back, he arose, resurrected and glorified. He lives! With His resurrection he broke the bands of death, that in due time all men and women may rise again. That weekend 2011 years ago, Jesus Christ won the battle over sin and death, and provided a way in which we can overcome them too.

Jesus Christ is the Savior of mankind, the Redeemer of the world, the Son of the living God. He lives and loves us. May we all, accept the gift that he has given. May we repent of our weaknesses and sins and come unto Him that we may live with the Father and the Son again.

This is my testimony and I bear it in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Something Sweet

 This is what happens when I finish my finals, its Easter weekend, and I am scheduled to teach Relief Society.

 CUPCAKES! 

I wanted to make something sweet for my Relief Society sisters since it was such a special Sunday. Easter is my favorite! Little did I know that in Sacrament meeting they would announce that they are dissolving our ward and that all us young marrieds would be asked to go to the local family wards. This was our last Sunday and my lesson was the last one that they would hear in that ward. Talk about pressure! My lesson went OK and I think these cupcakes turned out cute. Everyone seemed to enjoy them! 

I made 40 of them and had a bit of fun with food coloring and sprinkles!

I love this cute bunny and the Easter egg sprinkles.

Hope you had a SWEET Easter too!

I'm a Lucky girl.

Finals tally: 2 papers done, 3 tests taken, 1 test to go.

Yesterday I had my last scheduled final. It was in my favorite class--immigration law. It was three hours of non-stop crazy typing and I loved it. All I have to say is I better get a good grade in that class. After the final I came home and fell asleep for 3 hours. It was an afternoon final, which  means I feel asleep around 6pm. I was so tired. After 4 nights of 4 hours of sleep each, my body just crashed. I don't know how new moms do it! Anyways, I woke up at 9pm, completely confused, watched a couple of episodes of Criminal Minds, then went back to sleep and didn't wake up until 9:30am this morning. It was amazing! I had forgotten what it was like to get more than 6 hours of sleep at a time. I'm seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. I just have to finish this take home final and I'll be free!

Oh, and want to know why I am such a lucky girl? Because my husband knows how to make me happy when I am "a train wreck," as he calls it. He brought home this lovely box of my favorite Lucky Charms and said I didn't have to share. What a sweetheart. I love that man.

Monday April 18, 2011 12:54 a.m.

See that beauty? It's my final research paper for my negotiation class that I had absolutely no time to write. Friday night I had no idea what my thesis would be. My research was hardly started. I hadn't written one single word. Furthermore, I didn't have all weekend to work on it as I have two other finals to study for. So, the fact that it is complete, that I feel that it is an actually decent paper, and  that it's ready to turn in hours before its 5:00pm deadline later this evening is nothing short of a miracle. In fact, Friday night I prayed that Heavenly Father would give me the strength and ability to get everything done I needed to this weekend. I must say, he has answered my prayer.

Last night I studied by candle light. . .

. . . not because I am terribly romantic like that, but because our power went ka-putz AFTER the electric company visited our apartment complex. True, there were 60mph winds and I did hear a huge explosion, so there was probably good reason they turned off our power. I just wished it had happened on a night where my husband wasn't in class and I didn't have a crazy amount of studying to do. It would've been nice to snuggle with my love by candle light. 

Alas, I studied professional ethics and now my eyes hurt from reading in dim light. Also, I learned that when you burn multiple (read 8) scented candles of differing varieties at the same time, you should be prepared for a fragrance overload headache.  

Yellow

Val and I getting ready to run the Rex Lee a few weeks ago Yes, we did sport those fantastic yellow headbands the whole time. How cool are we? 

Val kicked some sweet buns of love (as my mother would say) with an awesome time. My biggest accomplishment is that my knee didn't kill me afterward. You know what that means. More running is in my future! Hooray!

Ok, back to studying. As you can tell, my iPhone is a big distraction. Guess I need to lock it in the other room  for the next week or so.  

Finals Must Haves

Alright! It's that time of year again--the time of year where I study my brains out, get no sleep, blog too much, and consume way too much Diet Coke. 

FINALS!

Just thought I'd share some "must haves" for all of you who might wonder what a law student needs to get through these awfully stressful weeks.

Exhibit #1: Laptop with side monitor. All your notes will not fit into one screen, thus the need for two. 

Exhibit #2: An awesome study chair. Your rear end will be in that chair for hours on end, so make sure it's comfy! (Thanks to my hunky husband who let me splurge on this beauty!)

Exhibit #3: Slippers. Let's be honest, these are a must have no matter what time of year it is.

Exhibit #4: Diet Coke with Lime to get you through. Really, any caffeinated soda will do. Some prefer Red Bull, but it makes my heart race and that scares me. Be prepared to consume your beverage of choice  from 9am until you finally pass out at night. If you start showing the signs of overdose (jitters, racing heart, etc.) you might want to hold off for a few hours until you start lagging again. 

Well, I'm all set. Notice I didn't mention motivation, although that probably is an essential too. I better go look for some.