#GiveThanks: Flo

Flo

I'm grateful for our fish, Flo, who is still alive, even though I don't change his water as often as he probably wishes I would. He's been through a lot with us :) Bless him. 

60 to 0 to 5

It's safe to say that moving to Florida has been an adjustment. May was a difficult, rather sad month, and I'm glad we've moved on to June :) Life has been getting better since I've started to get more of a schedule going, but it has gotten even better since I've started asking God for more help.

Days generally consist of waking up in the morning to go with Jared to the hospital to drop him off, then driving back home. In the afternoon I go back to get him again. Each day has study time, and then there's a day for planning what we're going to eat and buying the food, a day for going to the laundromat and washing our clothes, a day for cleaning/watching a movie, a day to FaceTime with friends. I could be a lot more productive each day, and I know I'll get there, but I need baby steps :) People talk about how fast they can go from 0 to 60 -- this adjustment has felt like going from 60 to 0, and now I'm starting to slowly pick up speed again, but this time driving on a different road doing different things than I did before. The change is hard, but it's good because I'm closer to God because of it.

Hello, again!

Hello!

I've been wanting to write for awhile, but I ran into the problem of having so many things happen that deserve so many words to be written about them, and not making the time to write. I felt a little stuck, like Pooh Bear.

Solution: Here's a brief overview of all of the things so I can post again with you being caught up on all of the changes. This post is like watching a movie in double fast-forward. Quite a shame seeing as how the movie was so good. But, it is what it is, so here you go :)

I think it's sufficient to say that a lot of things have happened since April 17, 2018, which was the last time I posted.

Pretty soon after that, I went and bought a tree with a friend in my ward named Jared. Sometime during May we started dating each other (sometimes we say May 5th because that's the first time I was pretty sure we were on a "real date", but we never really had a conversation about it . . . ).  Over the summer we had good and growing times which included things like Jared meeting my whole family (all 30 of us, at the time) when he took our family picture at the end of May, fish pedicures, sitting outside talking, going to the BYU planetarium, Jared coming to the cabin, bonfires, Sunday dinner with Jared's parents, lots of dance parties, and lots of long walks.

At the end of August, Jared and I went to California and visited where I used to live (a.k.a. the Promised Land). We had a great time. Then we came back to Utah (on a Thursday) and broke up.

(It's okay if you feel confused--so did I.)

As you can imagine, many tears were shed. Lots and lots of tears, and lots of Desperado. I was a very nice basket case.

Happily for me, Jared realized he didn't really like being broken up. On Sunday night we went on a walk, and Jared asked if we could start dating again. I told him we could :)

A few weeks later we talked about getting married. We got engaged on the stormy night of October 3rd with a ring in a box of chocolate truffles. What a happy thing!

We were sealed in the Salt Lake Temple on December 22nd. It was, and is, wonderful.

PC: Tracy Anderson Photography

I love this good man. And he loves me. I'm grateful God helped us find and recognize each other.

After we got married, we lived in Orem, UT for about three months while I worked in Human Resources and Jared did school. He's almost finished with a masters in Speech Language Pathology. Halfway through April, I left my job, and we went to France, England, and Ireland for two weeks! So fantastic. We really loved our time in Europe, so maybe I'll tell you about it sometime :)

We came home from Europe on April 29th, and then drove to Florida starting on May 1st. It was quite a long drive, so it's a good thing we like to be together :)

Now we live near Tampa, FL where Jared is doing his last externship before graduating. We live, love, and learn in a one closet-one bathroom-one room (bedroom/living room/dining room/kitchen combo) Airbnb that we call home. And that, my friends, in a nutshell, is the happy adventure in which we currently find ourselves. 

           

Also, we got a fish named Christopher Columbus Florido, and a frog named Frederick lives outside of our front door :)

Here's Flo :)

Frederick seems to be a little nocturnal though, and I don't have a picture of him yet.

And there you have it.

The other day someone told me that I have olive skin. Some statements you just accept, without regard as to whether or not they're true. I'll embrace this one. (The someone was a redhead, but we won't let that invalidate anything he says about skin tones.) 

Life feels a bit fancier when you buy a can of whipped cream to put on top of your yogurt and berries. (Or really anything else you feel like putting it on top of, like a spoon.) 

I got to talk to the bestie this last week. I love her.

I had a nasty bout of stress and procrastination recently, and I'm glad to be over it. Although I did enjoy the panda videos I watched. 

The Bumb and I watched Sense and Sensibility with the parents two Fridays ago, and we all enjoyed ourselves. 

The Bumb and I also had two very enjoyable car rides this last week involving Billy Joel, an NPR broadcast about the Stoics, Jordan Peterson at Harvard, In-N-Out, great 80s music, good conversation, and The Killers.  

They changed the email list to be alphabetical on the scanner at work last week, making life ten clicks easier :) Thank you, Mom and Dad, for giving me an A name. #blessed

I found these blossoms by one of my favorite places to walk on the south side of campus. They were delicious. You should go smell them.

Sometimes life feels rather sad, lonely, lost, and frustrating, and that's hard. But really, overall life is happy and everything is going to be okay :) I don't really have any idea where I'm going or what I'm doing, but I'm sure it will all be fine because God knows all of the things and He'll help me :) because He loves me. 

He loves you, too.

Enjoy <3

Day Twelve: These People (Costco Sample Size)

Hello, again!

I've really been meaning to post, but sometimes things are a little bit crazy. So . . . yes. Here you go.

Let's count this as day 12 of 30 Days of Gratitude with Anna :)

#betterlatethannever

As I was laying in bed last night, I was thinking about a bunch of people for whom I'm grateful, and I made a list to share with you. 

I think we'll probably need to have multiple posts like this because you can't fit all of the wonderful people in one post. Let's be real, you can't even fit all of the wonderful things about one person in one post.

For you, this is my Costco sample of gratitude for these 10 people.

1. Mr. I

Mr. I is a man I work with. He had a supervisor whose name is Kerri G. (he's on a different team now). He always thought Kerri's last name was Fischer because that was just what came after the name Kerri in his head. So, that's the name he would write on his auto-break deduction forms he would turn in to me. I got a kick out of it every time.

2. Katie

I get to live with Katie. Lately, we've had some really good conversations. I love her. She's a saint with a beautiful soul.

3. Caroline

Caroline is my sister. After weeks and weeks of phone tag, we finally matched up, and when we did, she had just the right things to say to me.

4. Lauren

This girl is a gem. She goes running with me. She listens to all of the things I have to say about everything (which is quite a lot because, obviously, I know exactly how this world should be run), and she talks to me. Something I especially love about her at the moment is that we planned to go to the store together on Saturday, but she was thinking groceries and I was thinking shoes. I showed up at her house and said, "Let's try the mall. I need boots." Without saying anything, she tossed her food list, and we went to the mall and found boots for me and jellies for her. She didn't tell me about the grocery store until Sunday night, and she only told me then because she thought I might think it was funny. I did. :) I even made her miss stake choir practice while I was looking at boots, but she said it wasn't a problem, and that she was just happy to be with me. I'm not sure that people get much better than her. Everyone should have a Lauren.

5. Rebekah

She's one of my wonderful friends. Among many other things, I've especially appreciated some of her outfits lately. I'm sorry I didn't get pictures so you could have all partaken in the joy. If I were to name the outfits though, they would be called The Jazz Fanatic (even though she doesn't really follow the Jazz and just has the big t-shirt and beanie because her brother gave them to her) and The Athletic Colonial Boy.

6. Joyce

I also get to live with Joyce. The other week we watched Tangled and very thoroughly enjoyed it together. I was grateful for the much needed mental break and a friend to share it with.

7. Rachel

Rachel is another one of my sisters. She lifts me with every interaction and still chooses to love me, even though she knows basically everything about me. That's really saying something.

8. Mom

On top of everything she already does for everyone on earth, she cleaned my throw up out of my car and my clothes. TMI? That was an interesting day. True love, friends.

9. Marcus

The best friend. We talked. He listened to me tell him all of the things. He fed me pizza and we watched an episode of Band of Brothers (with all of the things I don't like cut out :)) It was great. A throwback to our old days of funemployment, except that now . . . we're both employed. #win

Last, but not least

10. Jonathan

The Bumb. He takes such good care of me. He'll come check on me and take me to dinner. We have meaningful discussions and lots of quality time. He's the best. I love him.

Day Eleven: The Temple

Hello!

Today, I am grateful for the temple.

I always know that if I can make it to the temple, everything in life will be okay.

I'll feel peace.

I'll find answers.

I'll know even more deeply that God loves me.

The temple is another one of my favorite happy places.

Also,

check out this sunset from when I came out!

Preeetty nice, eh?

It was better IRL.

Day Ten: Friends

Tonight, I laid by the fireplace and watched a little P&P. I finished the episode where Mr. Darcy first proposes to Elizabeth. (Can we take a minute to remember how very terribly awkward Mr. Collins is? He kills me. Well done, David Bamber.) 

After the episode finished, I kept laying by the fireplace having my internal struggle of kind of not really wanting to go anywhere, but knowing that I should probably go do something with my life.

The latter won out, and I texted my friend, Alexa.

We ended up painting/calligraphy-ing and watching a movie.

It was just what I needed.

Aren't you happy when you find friends who enjoy doing the tranquilo things with you when you don't feel like being a really exciting person? 

I am.

Today (and everyday), I'm grateful for friends.

 

The Painting 11.10

We don't really know what it is.

It just is.