I work out

"It's crazy; I can see your hamstring bulge out every time you do that," says my trainer.

Good. That means there isn't so much fat layered over my muscles and that you can actually see my muscles!

Yay!

Clean Room

My room is clean. Truly clean: dusted, vacuumed, bed made, clothes put away, drawers organiz....ok, the my desk drawers aren't really organized. But aside from that, it is clean. I always feel like I don't know what to do with myself when my room is clean. When my clothes are laying on the floor making it necessary for a pogo stick, I can find any number of things to do. There's always a book to be read, a show to catch up on, friends to hang out with, shopping to be done, baking to be done, etc. etc. etc. But when my room is clean, I feel lost. I feel like I should have a party in my room, but I can't find anything to do.

What does that say about me? It seems very, very backwards. Because my room is clean, I should be doing all of those things mentioned above. I have enough room in here to do yoga if I wanted!

I think there is a reason that the one novel I finished writing was finished while I was supposed to be doing Statistics. I'm driven by chaos and mostly by procrastinating. That's not a good thing, and it's about to change. Because I'm going to have to find something to do now that my room is GOING to stay clean.

Day 2, complete.

Conquering Celery

Remember this post? Remember the numerous Facebook status updates on how vile celery is? Get ready to be amazed!

For the past few weeks, I've been having these...baby cravings for some celery. But every time I've gone to the store, I've turned up my nose and walked right by. First, the price for celery has increased. Second, they were all looked pretty disgusting (i.e. wilted, brown, spotted, rotted, etc.). But today, I stepped into a new grocery store and there they were, freshly sprayed, glistening in the produce aisle.

I took it back to work, washed off three ribs, slathered them in the secret (i.e. key) ingredient and walked down to my desk where I greedily ate all three without flinching, without dry-heaving, and without throwing any of it out! (Except the really, really stringy parts that I couldn't deal with.)

Now, don't get mad. Let's look at the positives: I was craving celery. I ate celery. I liked the celery. There was green onion in the secret ingredient.

Ok, fine. I admit it: IT WAS A GREEN ONION CHEESE BALL! I filled the little crevice of the celery stalk with green onion cheese ball and I do not feel bad about it. It was so good.

Now, it has taken me since September to get to this point. I've bought celery a few times before, and never been able to finish the whole thing and I didn't enjoy the few pieces I did eat. But now things are going to be different.


I sort of can't wait until lunch tomorrow.

Taking the Lord's Name

Written in the 10 Commandments is that we should not take the Lord God's name in vain. Growing up, I was always taught that that meant not swearing and not using God's name as an exclamation or expletive. 

In Sunday School today, I was given a little more insight to this commandment. When we are baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ, we are also covenanting to take upon the name of Jesus Christ. We renew this covenant with Him every Sunday when we partake of the sacrament.

"O God, the Eternal Father, we ask thee in the name of thy Son, Jesus Christ, to bless and sanctify this bread to the souls of all those who partake of it; that they may eat in remembrance of the body of thy Son, and witness unto thee, O God, the Eternal Father, that they are willing to take upon them the name of thy Son, and always remember him, and keep his commandments which he has^[3] given them, that they may always have his Spirit to be with them. Amen." (Book of Moroni 4:3, Doctrine and Covenants 20:77)

To me that means, that when we fail to keep the commandments and go against the word of God, we are also taking His name in vain.

Perhaps everyone else already realized this, but to me, this is new and profound. It is not something I've ever thought of before. How grateful I am to have the Atonement, for the sacrament, and for Jesus Christ, so that when I do take God's name in vain, I can be forgiven.

Self Portrait