The Merits of Being Easily Distracted

Well this was going to be a post about how incredible Costa Rica was, but that will have to wait until later. I was then also going to write about how much FUN it was visiting Stephanie, David, and Madeleine (and the Miskins!) in Idaho this last weekend (I am having serious baby withdrawal) but that will have to wait now also. Instead, it is now imperative that I justify my thesis procrastination by writing this little diddy on all the good things my short attention span has brought to me.

1) When I work out at the gym, I sometimes get so distracted by having cable TV that I'll spend an extra 20 or 30 minutes on the elliptical watching commercials or waiting to see the "after" on the style network.

2) I learn A LOT of things from my Google Reader when I'm putting off work and thesis writing.

3) I was going to say that I can entertain myself during long road trips or boring talks, but sometimes I can't and then I just get REALLY BORED.

Those are actually the only good things I can think of.  Now all I can think of is how many times I've burned things (mostly just myself and food and the carpet). Ok no more excuses. Wait just one more. My most recent draft of my thesis was on our laptop that was stolen in Costa Rica. Of the many inconveniences being robbed has caused, this one really makes me want to take a machete down there and hunt those thieves down.

Good things

Spriiiiing is officially here! The season has brought good tidings my way so far. For example: for the first time ever, I successfully fancy parked my car on the first try! I was so proud I took a picture:

Last week we went to a really fancy dinner that we got invited to through Matt's work, and we totally felt like grown ups getting all dressed up on a Wednesday night for dinner at the Grand America Hotel. It was to honor Bishop H. David Burton with the "Giant in our City" award. It was a really neat event, and we felt lucky to be a part of it. Plus we got to see the whole first presidency and the governor!

We did some serious spring cleaning and organizing this weekend. I didn't take before and after pictures but I did take a during picture:

It reminded me of Sunday afternoons growing up when Stephanie and I would have the bright idea of  re-decorating our bedrooms. We would then dump everything on our floor, then get distracted with something and our rooms would stay messy for about 2 weeks. The only difference here is that Matt helped keep the motivation levels up so we only had clothes all over our floor for about a day!

Prospectus passed!

I passed my prospectus defense!! Yahooo! It really wasn't as bad as I expected, and I was told that my defense was much less painful than is normal. Thank goodness. I needed that. Now I have my work cut out for me for the next few months. I'm so excited to be moving forward! That faint light at the end of the tunnel is starting to grow, just a little bit.

Scripture Study

Emily and I are trying to be better at reading the scriptures more often. We recently started the Book of Mormon from the beginning with the plan of reading one chapter a day. We read 5 verses each rotating back and forth and at the end of each turn add some commentary. It’s not necessary to add commentary at the end of every turn but the idea is that when a thought or inspiration comes while reading the scriptures then we could stop and have a discussion about it. It’s been a good exercise thus far and we’ve had some good times with it. Here are our commentary and thoughts when reading in 1 Nephi Chapter 3.


Matt’s Scripture: 1 Nephi 3:15 (Nephi is speaking)

“But behold I said unto them that: As the Lord liveth, and as we live, we will not go down unto our father in the wilderness until we have accomplished the thing which the Lord hath commanded us.”

Matt’s Commentary:

We read so often 1 Nephi 3:7 which is a remarkable demonstration of Nephi’s commitment to do the Lord’s will and the faith to accomplish it. It is a powerful scripture and a great example of the type of faith we can develop by obeying the commandments and making countless correct decisions. Nephi was determined to start and accomplish this mission and his faith fortified those desires.

However, I like 1 Nephi 3:15 better. In this verse Nephi had already approached Laban and had been seriously rejected. This powerful man had also threatened Nephi if he ever came back. Nephi could have easily felt like he had tried and subsequently given up. He could have felt like “what’s the use”? He could have let doubt or disbelief creep in. Yet despite this major rejection and threat on his life, Nephi still had the same unwavering faith he had in 1 Nephi 3:7 when he was just starting his mission. I like 1 Nephi 3:15 because he was unshakable in his faith even after the first and second blows, he had the faith to finish what he started even in the face of adversity.

(Side Note: Nephi and his brethren then face further threats and challenges but in Chapter 4 verse 1 and 2 Nephi demonstrates the same rock solid faith. Another rejection and still no questioning the Lord. Rather, every time an obstacle comes up, his faith finds a way through, over, or around it)


Emily’s Scripture: 1 Nephi 3: 27 (Nephi is again speaking)

“And it came to pass that we fled into the wilderness, and the servants of Laban did not overtake us, and we hid ourselves in the cavity of a rock.”

Emily’s Commentary:

- Man that rock needs to brush its teeth!

Prospectus

My prospectus defense is a week from today... send me all of your positive energy!  I'm crossing my fingers that this will keep me on track for August graduation. I created the Wordle below to sum up the whole thing and save you the trouble of reading the long boring version ;)

Food, Glorious Food

Last night we watched the Oscars and broke out the Martinelli's. We started doing toasts with each other that got progressively funnier and dumber. My favorite of Matt's started out "Four score and seven years ago... I had a dream. I had a dream that one day, yes, one day I would find a wife... Here's to dreams coming true." Hear, hear! He's really quite the poet, my friends.

Food:

Shrimp on the barbie with garlic lemon butter sauce

Chicken Piccata with asparagus over wild rice

Grilled steak with citrus salsa

Curried rice with shrimp

I love this song. And I love these little boys that sing it. Their voices are precious!

Looooove Day

I told Matt that I would plan and execute Valentine's Day activities. Just because.

We began with a course of pancakes (gluten-free Bisquick is available now!) with little snausages.

Then I got carried away with a little chocolate making project. Why limit yourself to hearts when you can write chocolate love notes!

Dinner plans that evening got off to a late start due to one of my little abacus students getting very sick... all over the classroom carpet. Way gross. Anyways, Stephanie had recommended this restaurant to me awhile ago. IT IS REALLY DELICIOUS. Dare I say... superdelicious. I am restraining myself from writing a really lengthy restaurant review that details every menu item. 

And then I fell in love. with food. all over again. I had pear and brie cheese pizza with white truffle oil.  As my dear friend Rachael Ray would say, "yum-o".

Matt had pepperoni pizza. Way to stick with the classics.

 Below is the rest of my chocolate making project.

Dessert was milkshakes with the little chocolate lacy heart and raspberries.

In spite of the fact that I insisted on planning everything that day, Matt still managed to surprise me with a few tricks up his sleeve :)

Hope you all had a great Valentine's <3!