A Little Sunday Song

9. 11:30. 1. 8.

What do these numbers have in common?

They are the times of meetings that I had today (including church of course).

That's a lot of meetings in one day. I'm exhausted.

Luckily they were good meetings.

On another note...do you know that next weekend is one of my favorite weekends of the year?

It's GENERAL CONFERENCE!!! Hooray!!!

In preparation for listening to our prophet's voice, I shared this little song with my Young Women today.

Isn't that a fun way to learn who the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve are?

I'm not sure that they are quite as excited about Conference as I am, but I'm going to try and share my excitement with them. I handed out a "Conference Notebook" today, and one of the questions was if it was homework. No, it's not homework! It's just helpful.

And I'm very much looking forward to it.

Back to Our Regularly Scheduled Broadcast

I'm back.

Please pardon the interruption.

My internet has been seriously struggling, and I just couldn't fight with it on Thursday.

Yesterday my excuse was laziness mixed with a big dose of over-tired.

But I'm back on track. Hopefully...

Tonight I'm very grateful that I was able to watch the General Relief Society broadcast. I am blessed to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and I love that I am also a member of the largest women's organization in the world.

It's not often that I take the time to remember that I, as a woman, have wonderful innate gifts and qualities.

But I do.

We all do.

We are daughters (and sons for you boys) of God. And that is something more wonderful than i can comprehend.

I need to remember that more often. And then act accordingly.

Here's a link to some highlights of the meeting. It is more than worth the time to watch or read the whole thing, but if nothing else, the highlights are good too.

I particularly loved President Dieter F. Uchtdorf's talk.

I'm going to try really hard to "forget not" the principles and truths that he taught.

Also...I went to the mall today.

Day Dreaming

Here are a few examples of places I'd rather be tomorrow instead of work. I'm grateful for work, but tonight I'm thinking that it would be better if tomorrow I could be in...

...Monterey,

the Temple (doesn't have to be Salt Lake),

at a Giants game (especially since they're making a late run for the wild card),

Mexico (or Costa Rica),

Idaho (to see that cute family that lives there),

Seattle,

Disneyland (or World - I'm not picky),

or even San Diego.

I may not get to go to any of these places, but at least I get to go visit Gram and Gramps. :)

I Totally Know Her!

OK..."totally" might be an extreme word.

But I do know one of the cast members of this season of SURVIVOR!

OK..."know" might actually also be a strong word.

But I did take English 251 from this lady at the good ol' Brigham Young University.

That's right. She was my teacher. We had the big blue anthology book that I think I still have packed away somewhere. I can't remember why, but one of my classmates did a presentation and used the song "One Night in Bangkok." And we had one of the McConkie grandchildren or some sort of relative in that class. I'm also pretty sure we read something by Poe. Weird the things that you remember.

And now she's on Survivor. And I totally know her!

Artsy, Smartsy

One of my favorite things about living in the Netherlands was finding random Dutch art. I loved it! I have so many pictures of sculptures or exhibits in the middle of cities, soccer fields, anywhere.

So you can imagine how much I loved the art that was everywhere at Villa Montalvo. I only took a few pictures, but here's a little sample of what we found. Most of the art was created out of repurposed materials.

This was a manual wind chime (if there is such a thing) made out of fire extinguishers and bicycle chains and wheels

In oder to get the chime to start, you had to pull the cord, which was attached to the wheel (shown here) that's above Koreen's head. So fun to use!

One of my other favorites was the wishing tree. There's a huge pine tree on the great lawn, and there are these tags on which you can write a wish or your gratitude and attach them to the tree. Here are a few of the tags that I thought were just great/funny.

Clearly...superpowers.

Yoko Ono?! Not sure why, but ok.

This is my back-up birthday wish every year! I had to take a picture. "And...I really do want world peace." (That's another movie quote quiz. Anyone?)

And, last but not least, is the bike in the air. Actually, I believe it was titled "Luck of the Irish." Hmm...what is that saying about the Irish? I have no idea, but I think it's fantastic and hilarious all at the same time.

I love places with random art.

The Birthday Adventure

Here's where I got to spend the day yesterday: the Montalvo Arts Center in Saratoga, CA. Not only was the weather gorgeous, but we spent the day on these immaculate grounds. Doesn't it feel like something from an Austen book or movie?

This is a view of the villa from the Formal Garden (filled with roses and sculptures).

Here are Koreen, Nicole, Ariane, and Charity in the courtyard of the villa. The area just in front of them used to be a pool, but now it's just grass. That would make this bench like a lounge chair?

On our hike/nature walk. There are 2.5 miles of beautiful trails. We seemed to like to take pictures on the bridges. :)

Mix pine and eucalyptus trees and you have one of the best smelling walks ever.

A very nice couple stopped to take this group shot for us.

After our walk/hike, we spread out our blankets on the great lawn and had a very relaxing picnic.

Very relaxing.

Then we walked down to the Love Temple and Formal Garden. They were setting up for a wedding down under that white plaza space in the background.

In the garden.

On our way from Montalvo to the Saratoga Village (where we walked around and got ice cream), we found a house that was not only for sale, but it was open for an open house. We totally stopped and took the opportunity too peek inside once of these huge fancy homes.

When we were upstairs, I told Nicole to get in the bathtub and I'd take a picture. She was afraid we'd get caught, but she said she couldn't say no because it was my birthday. I like that rule! Sorry Nicole! But...it really is a fun picture. :)

This was the house. It was ok. I've decided to take my 4.75 mil somewhere else though. Because we all know Nancy's home-buying rule: Never buy a house on a street with a double yellow line. But it was fun to look. Hooray for spontaneity!

Here's one more shot of the villa from the great lawn.

I'm so glad that my parents took me here as a kid, because I really loved going back and visiting as an adult. It is a beautiful, serene place. And it was every bit as wonderful as I remembered in my mind. Which is nice. I'm glad that I didn't have exaggerated memories that were shattered when I came back. Instead, my memories were validated and new ones made.

On the way home, we stopped at Mom and Dad's house for a BBQ. Not only was it delicious, but I just love being home. Home and family and friends are just such a warm, comforting, happy combination. Then add tri-tip, home-grown tomatoes, yellow cake with chocolate frosting, and the Giants winning again, and could the day get better? I don't think so. Well...if BYU hadn't gotten slaughtered by the U it could have been better. But we'll let that one slide.

33 Wonderful Years of Life

I am WAY too tired to actually post about all that we did today, but I do want to say how grateful I am for all the wonderful people in my little corner of the world and for the blessed life that I have lived for these past 33 years.

I have a great life! And I love my family so much. They are my absolute favorite people in the world and I just always want to spend time with them. Good thing we have eternity! :)

So...in this upcoming year, I think I need to learn how I can better share my blessings.

And as a teaser for tomorrow, here are my two favorite quotes from the day:

"It sounds like a melon."

"Jenn, you are like...lemon gelato."

Excited?

Thanks for such a happy birthday.

Also, thank you to the Giants for winning again tonight. That was a terrific birthday present.

Birthday Eve

I was starting to get a little moody today about my birthday.

Weird, right? I mean...considering that I've been waiting with excited anticipation for quite a while now for my birthday, you'd think that today would be the big lead-in.

But instead, I found myself getting all sorts of reflective.

I was walking back from delivering the mail at work and realized that, at 33, perhaps I have lived a third of my life. Then the questions started to come. What have I done with my life? What are my talents, and am I using them? Where am I with my job/career, and where do I want to be? What improvements can I make? Will I get married? Have children? Go back to school? 

Granted, these questions are not really bad, but sometimes when they hit all together, they can be overwhelming. I could feel myself starting to go down that woe-is-me road.

But then my visiting teachers came with a birthday treat for me. And they brought me this beautiful balloon bouquet and made me feel like like a million bucks. They are fantastic, and I am so grateful that they are my friends!

Ok - it's getting late, and I can't figure out why this pic won't rotate, but you get the idea. :) Happy Birthday Eve!

Early Birthday Surprise!

Look what I came home to tonight!

Yes, oh yes, my friends. It's a doorknob. Excuse me - a door handle. AND I'M SO EXCITED!!!

My door was all wrapped up when I came home from my meeting. Nick and Emily had carefully wrapped up my door, and they had even written notes and drawn pictures on the paper AND on paper underneath.

Really, the whole door was covered when I got home, but this was after the big reveal. Those are my socks taped to the door. They're no longer just stuck in the hole where the handle should be. (Don't worry - I will take them down soon.)

Can you see the joy on my face? Now, I have to say that all my talking about getting myself a doorknob was in no way a hint that someone else should do it for me. However, I'm totally stoked (who uses that word anymore?) that I got this. I think it's been about 15 months since I've properly closed my door. I feel so grown up. Thank you Nick and Emily!!!

Thank you also to Angie for the AMAZING chopper that she brought me at our meeting tonight! Dicing onions will never be the same. :)

P.S. I made brownies to take to work tomorrow so that the office can celebrate with me. One batch of mint and one batch of peanut butter chip/chocolate chip. Mmm... Why have I only been to the gym once this week?!

I was thinking about some mellow contemplative birthday blog post tonight, but who can be emotionally melancholy when there's a new door handle to celebrate?

Let the Celebrations Begin!

I have been blessed with wonderful grandparents. And what's even more amazing is that though only my maternal grandparents are still alive, I grew up with all of my grandparents.

And now, I live only about 25-30 minutes from my grandma and grandpa. It's great to be so close!

Tonight I took a little drive out to see Barb and Chet. Grandma is teaching me more about sewing by helping me to make my Halloween costume, and we got the whole thing cut out tonight. It's going to be awesome.

Anyway...my point in starting this was to say that after a great dinner prepared by Grandpa, my sweet grandparents had chocolate cupcakes for my birthday dessert! With beautiful crystal sugar on top. And mine had a candle. And then they sang. Yes, the two of them sang "Happy Birthday" to me, and I loved every minute. I am fortunate beyond belief to get to spend so much time with them.

And the cupcakes were delicious because they were made with love...and sugar. (That's what Kari says is Grandpa's secret recipe.)

So, with the first song and the first candle blowing, and the first cupcake, the birthday fun has begun!

(I'm really not so super stuck on myself and my birthday. But, with writing every day, it makes for a fun topic. Just a disclaimer.)