aphorisms to remember

I've had this on a little piece of paper for a long time, and thought I would post it. It's good to remind myself of these things sometimes...

Aphorisms to Remember
Neal A. Maxwell, "Jesus, The Perfect Mentor"

1. In times of darkness, remember there is a difference between passing local cloud cover and general darkness.

2. Signs, if they are not supported by the righteous life and the continued influence of the Holy Ghost, have a short shelf life.

3. Pure charity is most elegant when it is expressed personally and quietly and when it is not a ritual expression of an assignment.

4. Never mistake a fashionable tide for the sea itself. Though real and dangerous, the "gulf of misery" is not the entire ocean.

5. Firmly determine the direction in which you will face--toward the Lord--and then let the secular spinmeisters do their thing.

6. We cannot expect to live in a time when men's hearts will fail them except the faithful experience a few fibrillations themselves.

7. Though our view of eternity is reasonably clear, it is often our view of the next mile which may be obscured.

8. How can we expect to overcome the world if we are too insulated from its trials and challenges?

9. Adulation can be our ruination. (I had to look up the definition of "adulation", haha)

The talk itself is really great, and there is more to it than that, so I would recommend reading it. But there you go! G'night :)

pancakes

Cool husband? Yeah....

This was last Sunday, right before tithing settlement. Here's what's going on with us...

- Had two awesome Thanksgiving celebration with our two cool families :) We're really lucky to be so close to everyone!

- Did ALL our Christmas shopping online today (instead of standing in lines) and spent much less than we planned on.. always happy.

- Last night when we got home, Nick had me turn on Christmas music and he decorated our apartment with lights while I designed our Christmas card. Happiest. Night. Ever. :)

- Tomorrow we're going to chop down our Christmas tree! ta da!

day 13

[This "30 days of posts" was meant to be 30 days over the next few months, right? That's how I interpreted it...]

Day 13 is a letter to someone who has hurt you lately. I have two letters to share.

Dear Snow,

You are cold. And wet. And cold. And icy. You've hardly been on the ground, and already I have slipped on you and injured myself. I do not snowboard. I do not ski. I do not even build snowmen. You are good for nothing except sometimes a good excuse to stay indoors. Few people know how to drive in you. It is unsafe and unnerving. Please, melt forever.

Lovingly,
Erica

Dear Calories,

I hate you. You are the reason I've told my husband to kick my butt out of bed every morning to work out. Why must you come in delicious, bite-sized portions? Why must you taste rich and creamy and delicious? Why must you be here in such large quantities at this time of year? Why are you so easy to gain but so difficult to lose? I hate you.

Unlovingly,
Erica

thanks

Today was kind of a rough day, for a lot of reasons, and not just because it's Monday and we woke up to an inch of snow on the ground... yuck! Nick and I have both been having a tough time today, and while I was driving home today, I decided to tell my self everything I am thankful for. You know, since Thanksgiving is next week and all :)

I am thankful for my friends. At one point today, I had to ask a really good friend to do a favor for me. They dropped everything they were doing to  help me, and then thanked ME for letting them help. We have the best friends in the world.

I am thankful for my in-laws. All of them.. mom, dad, sisters, brother, aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, nephews.. yep! Last night I sat on the floor with Nick, Mom, Dad and Lisa and played a game, and laughed 'til I cried :) I totally scored, marrying into this crazy Thurman family.

I am thankful for MY family, who.. above all else.. gave me a wonderful sense of humor and a huge capacity to love. They're my best friends.

I am thankful for my job. To have a job. And, luckily, to work with awesome people and a boss who listens to Christmas music before Thanksgiving :)

I am thankful for food. I love to cook. It sounds silly, but when the day was crazy and stressful, I love to come home and have control in at least one aspect of my life. Though I probably need to stop so I can lose some weight!

I am thankful for my primary kids.. even though they bounce off the walls and drive me crazy. They teach me great things every Sunday, like telling me that they sing primary songs so that Jesus can hear them. He likes those songs the best.

I am thankful for prayer. That no matter what is going on, I can talk to Someone who knows what I'm going through better than anyone else. Someone who loves me more than I can possibly imagine.

I am thankful for vanilla candles. And a clean fridge. And discounted apple turnovers at Smith's. And socks. And business cards. And post-it notes. For little things.

I am thankful for a car that works, even if I had to dish out wayyy too much money that we don't have to fix it today.

I am thankful for photography. For the opportunity to meet new people, to capture who they are, to do what I love, to learn more about it.

And yes, in case you thought I forgot, I am grateful for my best friend. Who goes to work every single day, despite what an awful job it is, and works for our family. Who smiles for me. Who sacrifices his free time for me. Who holds my hand EVERYWHERE we go.. and not just because we're "newlyweds".. it was part of the fine print. Who likes crunchy peanutbutter... and cream cheese, but only on bagels. Who is at a homeless shelter right now, doing electrical work late at night in the cold. Who loves to be with me, more than anyone else.

Those are a few of the things I'm thankful for today, on a day I did not feel even a little bit like being thankful.

goodbye pumpkin friends

We had a fun time on Saturday shooting with Garn & Heidi. We had some pumpkins to get rid of.. what else are you gonna do with them?

Goodbye pumpkin friends.. you will be missed.

day 12

How we heard about blogger and why we started one?

I dunno, and.. I dunno. Because we're cool. And we wanted all you lucky people to be able to keep up with our lives since we're anti-social? :) Yeah.

day 11

Another photo of you with your friends...

.. because we're best friends. And cool. And really really ridiculously good looking.

day 10

Music we listen to when we're feeling... (we made up our own "emotions")

Nick...

Happy and wanting to get things done: Motion City Soundtrack
Feeling intense: Foo Fighters and Lost Prophets
Sad: EFY music and the Anastasia and Hercules soundtracks :)

Erica...

Happy and/or cleaning: Disney music :) Almost always. And the Ten Things I Hate About You soundtrack.
Mellow: August Rush soundtrack
Sad: Bad Day by Daniel Powter
Twitterpated: These songs
Driving: Books on tape. Okay, that's not music, but ya know..
Editing: Just discovered "Pandora".. an online radio of sorts. So, all kinds of music.

halloween

I know, I know.. I've pretty much failed at the "30 day challenge" thing. I will perservere, though! It'll just take me.. like three months.

Nick and I have never really done much for Halloween. We kind of dressed up once for half an hour for a work party. And this year we bought pumpkins. Never got around to carving them, but bought them. That's kind of a big step for us.

We did go to Gardner Village with Garn, Heidi and Maya, though. Someday I'll have my own children and stop posting only photos of Maya :) Until then... so it goes. It was a lot of fun, though. I'd never been there, and their decorations are really cute. So.. we kind of celebrated Halloween this year! I even made mummy-dogs.. look at us go!

Hope you all had a good Halloween :) Now onto Thanksgiving! I'm having a hard time restraining from listening to Christmas music (when Nick's not around.. he's more of a stickler). But I've decided I can dedicate a month or so to Thanskgiving before I go crazy with Christmas. Wish me luck!

day 9

"something you're proud of in the past few days..."

Me: "Nick, what are you proud of from the past few days?"
Nick: [clears throat]
"Let's see, what happened Monday? Monday... we... uh... I shot an mp5!.. which was a lifelong goal."
[starts mumbling about some project]
Me: "What else?"
Nick: "Umm.. what did we do Tuesday night? Oh I went to young men's..."
...
[discovered I was typing every word he said]
[laughed on the couch together :)]

haha. I like us.

What am I proud of this week? I started a new job.. THAT is a happy thing. I made Nick good dinners this week. I ran. I've edited (I still have four sessions left to edit.. ugh.. but still). Have three sessions for next week. Nick folded ALL our laundry. I did ALL our dishes. Mom Thurman made MoTab. We're proud of her, too. Ummmm.. yep, that's all folks! Back to editing :)

day 8

Goals for this month.

I'm talking to Nick on the phone right now, and I asked him what his goals are for this month. His reply...

1: "My first goal is to figure out the odds and ends of your Christmas present." (woo hoo!)
2: "Second is to pass my step test."
2.5: "And, besides watching a lot of Star Wars,..." (innnnnside joke)
3: "...my third goal is... to become more goal-oriented." haha.

Then Bruce (my favorite of Nick's co-workers) chimed in that his goal for Nick is for him to finish the second floor of the museum. This is me humoring Bruce :) There you go!

My goals for this month?

 1. Finish my editing (I have four sessions to edit, and lots more coming up).. (oh, and fun information.. just found out I accidentally delted several photos from a couple of recent sessions.. permanently. I cried. Yuck!)
2: Keep running. I've been running on our treadmill a few times a week, I need to keep it up.
3: Stay on top of the laundry and dishes. Right now I have three loads of clean laundry piled on the couch. How do two people go through so much laundry? Who knows...
4: Print my business cards! I just finished designing them, and they're ingenius :) I'm excited.

Over and out.

day 7

(I know, it's been a few days.. Thursday, Friday and Saturday we had photoshoots.. among other things. It was a busy weekend.)

A photo of someone/something that has the biggest impact on you...

I figured this one contained the most "impacts"... Nick. Our marriage. The temple. Being sealed for eternity. The gospel. Kissing (haha). Fields of grass...

Really, it makes me endlessly happy to know that I am sealed to my best friend. That no matter what happens, he is ALWAYS my husband. And that we are blessed to be a part of this gospel.. which already, in our short (almost) year and a half of marriage, has gotten us through SO much.

Over and out.

PS- Started the job today.. so far, so good!