As previously mentioned, I keep a gratitude journal.  I've been looking back on some entries.  Stereotypically-speaking, judging by my handwriting and these following entries, you would think I possessed a Y-chromosome.

12/7/12: I am grateful for the free donuts that happened at Wyview this morning.

12/6/12: I am grateful Wendy's has a dollar menu.

12/5/12: I am grateful that I now have clean underwear.

12/5/12: I am grateful that I finally got to watch Bourne Legacy...

12/3/12: I am also grateful that we discovered that Burgers Supreme is not that awful...and for their incredible cheese fries and Oreo shake.

11/30/12: I am grateful for the free pizza at work.

11/28/12: I am grateful that my ghetto stitching job I did on the hole in my blanket is holding up.

11/26/12: I am grateful...that we got to eat with Isabel and Mariangel right after I got off the bus.

11/25/12: I mean, how many roommates hold your hair back while you're puking?  (Well, if it's not a frat party.)

11/22/12: I am grateful for the food.

Yet, just after you're picturing a beer belly and a hairy chest, I say something way too girly for comfort.

12/2/12: I am grateful...that we got to watch Dear John...

12/1/12: I am grateful for how adorable he is.

11/30/12: I am grateful my girls helped me choose an outfit...

11/29/12: I am grateful I had the money to get the Revlon lipstick I've wanted to get for a long time.

11/26/12: I am grateful I got to sit next to (insert boy's name here) on the bus ride to campus.

11/26/12: I am grateful that I got to see...creamery guy twice tonight...

11/20/12: I am grateful I got to paint my nails.

11/18/12: I am grateful that Amelia did my eyebrows and that Mariangel let me borrow some nail polish.

Ladies and gentlemen, I am a walking contradiction of gender stereotypes.

Gratitude Journal

I am a sucker for procrastination and this blog does not lessen the enticement of said p word.

Today was another school day.  Another day where I wanted to cry for lack of understanding how and when to study for my two tests that I need to take by Thursday.  I wanted nothing more than to crawl into bed and watch a movie.

Part of the reason I have been lacking in the blogging department was because I used it as an excuse to not journal.  I felt like if I blogged one day, that meant I didn't have to journal that day too.  I don't want to get carpal tunnel for goodness' sake!  Since ceasing the consistent blogging, I can proudly say I have been super consistent in my journaling.  This is actually the longest length of time that I have been consistent in my efforts to journal.  Sleep or homework or reading a book after reading my scriptures was always so much more appealing to me as I was growing up.  No one would want to read my journals, right?  What is the point of them?

I'm not the world's most fantastic writer and my journal entries can get pretty lengthy due to my obsession to let my posterity know every detail of my every day, but journaling daily has really helped me better express my thoughts and it  has helped me develop a better perspective of my every day doings.

As far as content, though, I have really been putting forth effort to keep the entries short and sweet.  I have heard a million times about gratitude journals for those who never know what to write, but being the me who writes way too much, I just never digested the idea.  However, at a fantastic campus Tuesday Devotional, I was inspired by the speaker's talk of gratitude and his mention of a gratitude journal.  I took a step back and realized while it's always fun to read about the every day lives of my ancestors, what I love most is reading about the happiness of their days.  I'm not saying I want my children thinking I'm perfect and never struggle, but I also want them to know that life is so much more rewarding when we think back on our day and realize all the beautiful things that filled it.

I am going to try to balance blogging and journaling, but no promises.  I am grateful, though, that I live in a world where I can reach out to so many through the technology available.  We truly live in  great and marvelous times.

What Is This Place?

Oh, hello strangers.

So, it's been a while since I've blogged, so I'm a bit rusty at the moment, but hopefully that will change, and quickly.

Today is my first day of summer.  I was going to spend it with my friends, Charity, Nate, and Adam.  We were going to go to the Landing, which is this somewhat ghetto shopping place downtown.  All the shops surround the center part of the place, which is a stage with a circular area for the crowd to be.  (The crowd stands on cobblestone, or sits/stands on cobblestone stairs, or plays in this fountain thing.  Well, it's not a giant fountain, it's just one of those things where they're multiple little holes in the ground that randomly spit water out at you.)  A lot of bands play there.  My dad did a lot when I was little.  I think the best part of the place, though, is the fact that it's right by the river, which is right behind the stage and the stores.  We were going to go there and just hang out together all day.  Adam is going to Michigan for a month, and when he gets back, the busyness of my summer starts.  So, we wanted to hang out one more time before that happens.  Adam hasn't been feeling too great the past coupled of days -- mostly due to his lack of sleep from working on final exam projects -- and he just wasn't up for the task of being outside all day today, which is absolutely fine.  I want him to get better before his trip.  I just also wanted a proper goodbye.  I didn't hug them when I left them yesterday.  Adam and I have been writing letters to each other ever since I dropped out of the only class we have together, because, at the time, there was no other time we talked to each other.  The last letter I wrote, I gave to him on Wednesday, and he never wrote me back.  In joking, he wanted me to write one that he could read throughout the entire summer, -- because my letters are always notoriously longer than his -- and I was going to pull through with that joke, but he never wrote his reply, and I wanted some foundation as to how to start my letter by replying to his.  So, I'm a little sad this morning, but I plan on using ACT practice, Wall-E, Keeping the Moon by Sarah Dessen, and Doctor Who season 5 to distract me.  (I watched the first episode of the season last night, and the entire show definitely got a complete upgrade.  Haha.)

Well, reader, this is hopefully not the last time we talk this summer.