Mowing the grass

I love to mow the lawn. I don't really know why, but I truly love it. 


It helps clear my head. 
It motivates me to do better in my life. 
It calms me down when I'm stressed out. 
It is so immediately satisfying, watching the grass get cut down as you move the lawn mower.
The smell of cut grass and oil combined ... one of the best combinations out there. 

I just love it. 

Zealous

Adj.

1. Filled with or inspired by intense enthusiasm or zeal; fervent

2. Marked by active interest and enthusiasm

Synonyms: ardent, enthusiastic, eager, fervent, keen, earnest. 

This is one of my favorite words right now. I have liked it for a while, but I came across it last night in Alma 27:30. It really hit me. I love the example of the Anti-Nephi-Lehites, how faithful they are. It describes them as zealous. I want to be like that, like them.

 I want to be zealous for the gospel. 

The Beauty of Sunday

I had a seminary teacher tell me once that you could judge how well you kept the sabbath day by how well-rested you felt on Monday morning. It's a day of rest, for your soul, after all. I think that is so true and I'm so grateful for Sundays; they help me renew my committment and motivation, and remind me to be grateful for everything I have and to try again to be the person I want to be.

I love coming across beautiful passages, when the words don't seem to make sense, the poetic kind.

"From the depths of my sorrow, I have rejoiced in the glory of the gospel."
                     -Joseph B. Wirthlin

"It was one of those moments when the world stood still and all of heaven rejoiced."

"Happiness is your heritage."

I could sit and read quotes all day. Literally. Don't let me on Pinterest.

Lately, I have been spending a lot more time with Jon again. I really like it. We have started running again; he wakes me up, which is good, because college spoiled me and now getting up early is hard for me. Oh boy. But it's wonderful. I feel wonderful. And the discussions we have .. oh my, he is so smart. Sometimes, the insights he has on life and the gospel and the Book of Mormon blow me away. Like today on the way home from grandma and grandpa's, we were talking about the gospel and running, how they're similar. Life is hard, and keeping the commandments takes effort, but when you do, you feel great and when you don't, you feel .. well, not so great. Just like with running. It takes a lot of effort, but when you get out and run, you feel great about yourself and your body just feels wonderful. He has so many ideas that I find incredible. I am so lucky to have the family that I have.

Today, I woke up needing a little boost. I was able to look around and see beauty.

Do you ever just want to keep driving, away from everything, and into a new adventure?

I do.
Pretty much on a daily basis.
But especially in stormy weather like today.
There is something in the air when it rains that says, 'Go, have an adventure.'

I wasn't going to do one of these posts, but ...

I am. Sorry. You don't have to read it. And I don't want to be one of those girls whose life is over and all they do is talk about how sad they are. I really am okay. I mean, it's hard for me, but I'm doing fine and my life isn't over or anything. I have a lot to be excited about, and I am. For the most part, I'm happy. But, it's still hard.

Anyways, here's what I was thinking about lately ...

Why break ups suck:
-Everyone asks you about it. And what happened. But you don't really know how to explain.
-Everything reminds you about them. And that makes you sad.
-You have to start dating again, which can be both good and bad.
-Facebook does not make break ups easier.
-All your plans are suddenly void and you have to come up with new ones.
-Sometimes, they just ... suck.

Why break ups actually are good, despite being hard:
-It's obviously better this way, or it wouldn't have happened.
-Boys become a lot more interesting again.
-You see how loved you are, by more than just one person in your life.
-There are a lot of exciting things you can do, single, that maybe you couldn't before or that would have been harder. There are so many different activities and goals to work on in this world and life, a break up doesn't have to become the end of the world.

Book Frenzy

I have been in a reading craze lately. Do you ever do that? I get these times in my life when all I want to do is read, and then read, and then read some more. It comes in gushes, and when it comes, I get so many books piled up that I can't possibly hope to read them all. But hope I do, anyways. And I read like crazy. And then, it slows and I only read now and then. I think that probably I'm always in the middle of at least one book, but at times like these, I can't help but be in the middle of at least three. I get so excited about reading a book, but then also about reading another and another. I think other people go through this too, I know some people who are always going through this. I can't handle it all the time, it takes too much time and then I would never get anything done in my life.

I just finished A Separate Peace. Again. I definitely appreciated it a lot more than when I read it in tenth grade as required reading. It was beautiful writing. I love when authors put words together that shouldn't belong together but do. And some of the words he put together, well, they were so beautiful; it was poetry, in a novel. I'm glad I read it again. I just didn't really understand the point of it when I was sixteen, I didn't really get what it was about. Not really. I want to go back and reread a lot of the books I read when in high school English classes.