It's up to us to be the change

I love Josh Groban. I have for a long time. On my mission, my good friend Danizza, who is also a big Josh fan, sent me his Christmas album. Probably the best thing I was sent on my mission. I love this song Thankful. Thanksgiving is one of my favorite  holidays. I love that it's in the fall which is my favorite, that it focuses on being grateful for what you have, on giving to others, on relationships and on delicious food.

While I'm grateful for the time to focus on being grateful and take stock of all I have been given, I am not grateful for the billions of posts on facebook about it. I don't know why it drives me so crazy,  but it does. Last night as I was thinking about how my favorite month of October is over and that November starts Saturday and so do the grateful posts, I decided it would be good for me to take a break from facebook and focus on being grateful for the REAL FACE TO FACE relationships I have in my life. I have made the goal to call (or visit) one person every day and just chat with them for a little bit. Let them know I love them and I'm grateful for that relationship.

There really is so much to be thankful for. One of the things I am most grateful for and consistently thank God for are the relationships I have, the amazing people He has put into my life to help me through, inspire me, love me and help me remember who I really am. So if you get a call from me, I'm just calling to say hey, I love you. If you don't have time to chat, that's fine. I'll leave you a voicemail. If you don't get a call from me, know that I still love you!

Somedays we forget
To look around us
Somedays we can't see
The joy that surrounds us
So caught up inside ourselves
We take when we should give.

So for tonight we pray for
What we know can be.
And on this day we hope for
What we still can't see.
It's up to us to be the change
And even though we all can still do more
There's so much to be thankful for.

Look beyond ourselves
There's so much sorrow
It's way too late to say
I'll cry tomorrow
Each of us must find our truth
It's so long overdue

So for tonight we pray for
What we know can be
And every day we hope for
What we still can't see
It's up to us to be the change
And even though we all can still do more
There's so much to be thankful for.

Even with our differences
There is a place we're all connected
Each of us can find each other's light

So for tonight we pray for
What we know can be
And on this day we hope for
What we still can't see
It's up to us to be the change
And even though this world needs so much more

There's so much to be thankful for

It gets better

I've had a horrible time running for the last 6 months. I've never been a fast runner by any means, but in April I was running sub 10 minute miles. That's really good for me. Then I went on the Whole30 diet with my friend for the month of May and running was murder. Seriously I dreaded it every time it was a running day. I think the only reason I actually forced myself to go was because of my New Year's resolution to run 600 miles. I was slower than cold tar, I was tired the whole time and tired for the rest of the day. I thought it would get better when I went back to my regular diet. Nope. It was still miserable. I was slightly less tired, but still just as slow. And it started to make me mad. Really mad. Why on earth was I running when I wasn't improving? It wasn't fun. It was horrible. I'd be running and thinking, why am I doing this? What is the point? You are an idiot. Maybe I should have worked on more positive thinking, but even when I went out feeling good and had a positive attitude, I'd come back to the same slow times.
But I just stuck to it. Through early morning runs to avoid the heat. Early bedtimes, altered diet, more protein, more carbs, eat before, eat after and slowly. Oh so slowly, my times started coming back down and then in the last two weeks they've come down a lot! Monday I went running and it was awesome!! It was a longer-ish run and I kept up a good pace and when I got home I felt fantastic! I could have gone out and run some more. I was so happy and had lots of energy and it was great!!
I think so many times in life it's easy to get bogged down because we don't see any progress. All we see are the crappy trials and the failed attempts and the 8 steps back we just took, but if we just stick with it, keep trying, it will get better. Who knows how long it will take,  but it gets better.

Leaky Eye Syndrome

I think I must have something. My eyes just keep leaking this week. I swear there is nothing wrong, but I just feel so . . . sad? blah? unsettled? confused? frustrated? Okay, I guess maybe there is something wrong, I just can't quite pin it all down and figure out a solution. And so my eyes continue to leak. Randomly, at work in the middle of the day. Less leaky and more waterfall like at night in my bedroom. Why can't life be just a little bit easier to figure out?

Conference Weekend, can it get any better?

I submit that it cannot, unless maybe we had another day of it.

Seriously this Conference weekend is one of the best I can think of. I was SO excited for it. I have actually been consciously preparing for it for a couple of weeks. Usually I'm more of a "oh yeah, conference is tomorrow, better think of some questions", scribble something down and be on my way. This time around I've really had some things weighing on my mind and was looking forward to some insight and guidance from God's chosen servants. I was not disappointed.

Conference weekend started out with the BYU game. My roommate scored some free tickets, so we decided to ask a couple of guys from the ward and go to the game. Our ward is doing a Oktoberdatefest with a ward goal of 300 dates. We were just doing our part. ;) Sadly BYU lost, but we still had a good time.

My sister came down for a mission reunion, so it was fun to spend conference with her. She was a bit on the tired side. This was her during the "rest hymn".

I think all of the speakers were told the same thing. Write a message for Cathy. They all listened to this assignment really well. Seriously though. Especially Saturday Morning and Sunday Afternoon sessions. The talks were just so tailored for me.

Saturday afternoon Julie and I headed up to Salt Lake. Julie had a dinner with some mission people and I had my annual October Conference ice cream date with one of my best friends Dana. We decided to forgo the ice cream and get dinner instead since I was STARVING.  We always have such a great time together and I just love getting to catch up with her. I'm so grateful for her friendship and for her willingness to put in the effort to stay friends. She moved away in the 8th grade, long before facebook, cell phones, and at the beginning of the email days. It's definitely taken some effort, but look at us now.

Still as ridiculous as ever, but I wouldn't change that.

I tried to get some homework done when I got home from dinner with Dana, but my body just wasn't going to have it and I fell asleep at 9:15. Apparently conference was just a bit too much for me.

Sunday morning we were back on the couches with pens ready. It was a beautiful day with more beautiful messages. I think Sunday afternoon session was my favorite and I am just so thankful for a Heavenly Father who is mindful of me and what I need. I really just can't even wait to have a printed copy of all the talks to mark up and study out. In the meantime I'll just listen to them again. And again.

After conference Brenda and I decided a drive up the canyon to see the fall colors was in order. It was a beautiful drive although it did make me a little sick on the twisty road.

God is good. Really, really good.