Long time no blog.....

This is Manhattan at sunrise, from about 30,000 feet above....

I wish there was a better reason for the blogging hiatus, but the only excuse I can offer is that I was just too lazy. Tiki Farm on Facebook has kept me sufficiently obsessed at night when things are quiet at work, so I end up staring at that screen and waiting for my crops to blossom so I can harvest them and buy all sorts of fun things, like a Tiki tent, surfboards, cool tiki statues, etc. It's a real waste of time, but surprisingly entertaining!

To say that I'm excited that I am starting the first of my last 2 weeks working the night shift is a severe understatement! I thought, when I got the shift 4 months ago "Ok- that's cool- I'll work at night, and be able to get tons done during the day!" W-R-O-N-G!!!! Working all night does funky stuff to your body, so I have been feeling more and more tired every day, even to the point that doing something as simple as FOLDING LAUNDRY seems like it takes too much energy to do. I'm excited, because starting June 8th (after a 4 day weekend with the Smiths in PA!) I will work Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 7 am until 5:30 pm. Not so excited about working on Saturdays, but at least I'll be off early enough to still have a date night or be able to do fun stuff with friends. I'm just really excited to join the world of the day-livers again. This night life stuff is WAY overrated!
Paulo and I had a fun spur-of-the-moment overnight date this last weekend. Since Paulo hadn't ever been, and the flights looked good for going there and coming back, I offered to treat him to a slice of New York pizza pie- in NEW YORK! We hopped on the plane in SLC, flew through the night, and landed in JFK at 6am Saturday morning. After an adventurous ride on the subway, we had a marathon walking day of seeing all sorts of fun sites: Times Square, Rockafeller Center, Radio City Music Hall (Where the Dali Lama was speaking that morning), Manhattan Temple, Little Brazil, and then we zoomed back to JFK to catch the flight at 3:00 that afternoon back to SLC. It was a little scary at the airport- the flight was very full, but luckily (for the standby passengers!) some people missed their flight, so we got on! I was praying like crazy that we would get on, because I had to be back at work on Sunday night, and we certainly hadn't planned to pay for a hotel room in Manhattan. Heavenly Father heard our prayers, and not even 24 hours after we had left, we were back in good old Salt Lake City! I'm really grateful for this new job with JetBlue, and the opportunities it is going to give us to see different places and have some really fun memories through the years.

My miracle for the last month has been Paulo. He is a great example of humility and patience and I love him so much!

April Showers

. . . . . . ... bring fear to the hearts of little Yorkie Doggies who haven't heard thunder in a long time. . . . . .....

My little miracle today was that I (almost) got the yard mowed before the thunderstorm came in. Here we go again . . . . it's gonna be a long summer!

Being Tough

Paulo suggested that we get out the lawnmower and garden gloves and work on the yard yesterday. After picking myself up off of the floor and trying to hide my shock at such a gesture, I said "Sure!"

Then I almost swore when it started snowing.

THEN, when he suggested we try it again today, I almost asked him "who are you, and what have you done with my husband?!?!?" Luckily, I was smart enough not to tease him and bruise his ego. Today's weather cooperated and we got the lawn mowed, edged, and lots of weeds pulled out/ decapitated. Paulo was so cute watching me pull out weeds- he started talking about how they don't have weeds in Brazil and he honestly thought that a lot of them (the dandelions namely) were actually plants that BELONGED in the flower beds! I gave him a quick lesson on the correct technique to picking a weed vs. decapitating it. My theory is that if you just decapitate a weed, it comes back, with an ANGRY vengeance! So it's worth the sore back to get them out by the root if you can! He was really intrigued. It was cute.

I was glad to see that one of my bushes in the front of the house is actually making a comeback this year. After last year's negligence I thought that this one bush that produces some of the prettiest and most tropical looking flowers that you can get on a plant in Utah was certainly kapoot. I mean DONE. DEAD. DONE FOR. MUERTE. All of the above. Imagine my surprise when I saw this:

Well, it turns out that Mr. Tropical Flower Maker was only mostly dead. I looked at the bush, pulled off some of the left over and now hardened remnants of the weed that I thought had taken over the plant last year. Then I kind of had a moment. I looked at that bush- it was covered in weeds last year, to the point that it probably couldn't breathe very well. If plants have thoughts, this one was definitely thinking "man, I should have taken out a life insurance policy or something!" But here it stood in front of me, 6 months later, proving that even though at one moment you may be covered and drowning in something that feels like it might even do you in for GOOD, it's possible to recover and have a rebirth.
I've been through some pretty tough moments over the last few months. Some of them felt like they were getting close to doing me in for good. But, like this plant- I've had someone come and pull off all of the schtuff that was suffocating me, and now it's time for me to start showing my pretty flowers again!
My miracle today was family. I love them all so much and am grateful for a Mother and Father who worked so hard to teach us all to love each other, and always help those in need when we can.

What the....

So, Paulo and I have been trying to do something outside the normal 'go to the store, get a movie at the Redbox, come home and go to bed' date nights. Last night we went on a walk up in Bountiful around the temple. Tonight, we broke out the crayons, markers, and coloring pages. Sounds funny, but you would be amazed at how wonderfully therapeutic coloring is. I bet if you took my blood pressure and heart rate while I was coloring, it probably was the lowest it's been in a LONG time tonight. We put the ipod on shuffle and sat for about 2 hours making our creations.

Here's one of the pages I colored:

And here's the one that Paulo colored:

So the question, now, is this: Should I call this "creativity," or should I call a therapist? :)
My miracle today was this simple childhood activity and the great effect it had on both of us. I think sometimes I expect too much of whatever can help me bring things back down to normal.

Clusters of Crocus

I planted crocus bulbs in my front yard about 5 years ago and every year they come popping up around this time. I can see them from my front window, and they make me happy every time! At the same time, however, I always want to yell to the tiny, delicate flowers "Hold on! Springtime isn't here yet!" Because, no matter how hard they try to wait until Springtime is actually here, they always bloom, and then get snowed on. Last week, these two little gems were covered in snow. Today, while the sun shines, they are soaking up the rays and loving it!
I've got other gems coming out around the yard too- tulips, irises, and daffodils are the ones that I know about. I'm really excited to work in the yard this year and make it a pretty one again! Last summer was really busy so I totally neglected it.
Yardwork- making things grow and bloom- it's my summertime miracle!!!

Return To The Heart

I reunited with an old friend today. I've known this friend longer than I've known anyone but my family. Unlike other friends, this friend has moved from city to city, and state to state with me. As I approached my old friend today I felt a little guilty because I hadn't spent much time with my friend for a very long time. Time together was well over due.

I started playing the piano when I was 8 years old. I took lessons from a lady in our ward, and HATED it. I can't remember how long I lasted, but it wasn't much longer than 6 or 8 months. I stopped taking lessons until I was about 12 years old, when my younger brother who had been taking lessons decided piano wasn't for him. It makes me sad that I can't remember my piano teacher's name at this point, but I will never forget our lessons together. Playing the piano quickly became not only a hobby or skill that I was developing: it quickly became a passion. I loved sitting down at the piano and playing for hours sometimes. I would play for so long sometimes that I didn't realize how long I had played until my hands literally started cramping up. When we moved to Puerto Rico, the main thing that broke my heart was that I wouldn't be able to take piano lessons any more. But, I didn't let that stop me. The piano was in my bedroom, and I continued to practice and develop as a player. We moved here to Utah and I started taking lessons again, and did until I graduated High School. I loved it so much! Went off to college and kept playing. Came back from school and nothing changed- I loved playing the piano, and it was when I was sitting in front of the piano that I would relax and unwind. When I went on my mission I was able to share my talent and teach other people how to play. I came home and bought my home, and the piano came with me of course! It was actually the first piece of furniture that I put into my home. I love my piano. Even though it's a little out of tune, and every time I play it I seem to find a new key that sticks, it's mine. An old friend who I could never get rid of.

Today I sat down at the piano as a test for myself. I wanted to see if the one thing that I know makes me feel happy and peaceful inside would still do it. So I sat down and started playing one of my favorite songs by David Lanz, "Return to the Heart" I played it over and over and over. It was beautiful. I felt happy, calm, complete and relieved that I could still find peace and calm in something.

My miracle today was music. And it wasn't a small one. Music, along with a few other things like family and friends, will keep me safe and secure in a life full of insecurity and doubt.

Patience

I'm not even lying when I say he sat frozen in this position, looking at the behind-neighbor dogs, for 15 minutes.

Which got me thinking about patience. I used to think I was a pretty patient person. HONESTLY- I did! But then I had a few experiences that held the mirror right in front of me and helped me see that my bucket of patience wasn't as overflowing, or even as full (or empty? depends on how you look at it I guess) as I nearly imagined. I'm trying to take advantage of the experiences that I am blessed with to develop more attributes that help prepare me for future roles and responsibilities. Unfortunately for me, PATIENCE seems to be one of those that constantly eludes me. But I will keep on trying.

I have missed the last 3 days for posts, and I know it. I purposely didn't do anything on the computer on Tuesday, since it was our Anniversary. We had a lovely dinner out and just relaxed at home. It was nothing like the day we got married. Even though that day was so much fun, it was exausting. Wednesday was a stressfull day at work with lots of anxiety levels high. I tend to feel other people's emotions, especially when they're really strong, so it gave me a headache. Thursday night was..... can't remember what happened Thursday. Oh yeah- I was putting together a book for my work (which, consequently, has landed me some extra spending cash- that story in a post yet to come). Yesterday night we worked on making more of the books (the extra spending cash came from people literally BUYING my book of notes from me, even though I offered to just email them the file) and here we are at Saturday. My hair is fabulous again, Paulo is just about to get off of work, and I haven't done ANYTHING as far as house work goes. I'm really thinking I need to strike it rich so I can have a personal assistant that I can call and have do my stuff, like blog, email, etc. Until then I guess I'll just have to dig in and get it done. Oh well.
Tomorrow brings the start of my new adventure...... and if you can't tell by my smile in this picture, I'm pretty excited about it.