Danica is a Time-Traveler

Why am I a Time-Traveler you might ask? Well it's because I was able to rewind 2013 and re-designate TODAY as the first day of the New Year. Pretty impressive, right?

Here's why. Last week was awful. Just bad. For so many reasons, in so many spheres... just.... EW. I'm not a big believer in pity parties, sob stories, Negative Nellies, etc. So I'm not going to air my grievances or be a Downer Danica.

But I'm also a big believer in honesty and not hiding problems or issues. I love when bloggers - you know, the perfect one? The one who always seems gorgeous, put together, crafty, spiritual and amazing? - I love when those bloggers admit to being down on themselves, sad or discouraged.

REALITY.

Anyway. Last week sucked. I had the aforementioned breakdown. Several, really. And I was all kinds of worried for the future.

So I took matters into my own hands and declared today, Monday January 7, the REAL New Years Day. Today is the first week of the year. Today I really focus on my resolutions. Today I am not watching Office reruns in my sweats, sobbing into bowls of popcorn. (Well. Maybe later.)

Thanks to Glen Coco, a CDP with our besties the Findeis' and a blessing from the Beard, I'm feeling so much better and ready to take the bull by the horns. I'm looking at you 2013.

Last week I posted that OUR 2013 goal/resolution/hope was to figure shiz out and have real adult lives by next Christmas.

My personal resolutions are a little more specific.

1. Better Church Attendance/Magnify my Calling. Kind of sucked at that this year. 
2. Yoga, yoga and more yoga. 
3. Be more neat at school and home - which really means that I'm going to try hard to put things AWAY, clean up after myself immediately, and not be cluttered. See ya later, piles of papers, books and magazines!
4. Plan outfits by week. I feel so much better and more put together, not to mention my personal style is way more chic when not thrown together at 6 am in the dark. Yikes.
5. Try new recipes weekly - we used to cook like crazy when we were both home by 5 pm. The Beard's late work schedule has thrown a wrench in those plans and I eat popcorn for dinner about 3 nights a week. Double Yikes

But the biggest one is the best one. Also the most obscure and probs the most difficult. 

 

My biggest resolution is to be kinder, nicer, more empathetic, more caring and more filled with charity. 

Believe it or not, I'm not as mean in real life as I am on this blog.  I'm actually fairly nice. Promise. But it's not my strong point. I'm crazy judgy and a huge snob about meaningless things like grammar and style. And Harry Potter.

I just want to be nicer. So I'm studying charity, love, humility, service, all the good stuff in the scriptures. I'm going to give stuff to every homeless person I see. Seriously. You can hold me to that. I'm going to smile and chat with strangers.  Make goodies for people. Have real meaningful interactions via social media - complimenting, connecting, leaving people feeling happy. 

I started already with a wrong number texter. Best instagram I've ever posted, according to the feedback received.

I just want to leave people feeling better than they did before they saw me. I used to be more like that. These middle school kids and early mornings have slowly crushed my soul. But I'm gonna get it back.

So here's to you 2013! You are now officially allowed to start!

2013: The Year of Bad Decisions

Ok, it won't really be the year of bad decisions. That's just one of the Beard's favorite phrases.

Nearly every year I have a breakdown around New Years. It's the Type A planner's cross to bear. A whole new year to plan, a blank calendar, far too many unanswered questions, far too many possibilities.

I bought a new planner. All the blank pages freak me out. I find myself trying to put at least SOMETHING on each page. The unknown freaking KILLS me.

This year could be big for us. Who knows. We could be in the same spot doing the same thing a year from now. But I hope we're not.

Things are awesome right now, and we are super lucky. Life is so fun, we have great jobs and the best puppy in the entire world. So I definitely don't mean to sound ungrateful.

We are just excited to figure things out. Things just haven't felt REAL yet, and we want them to.

And that's our New Years Resolution - by this time next year, we'll have everything figured out and be REAL.

My fingers are crossed that we'll be on Mission Beach in San Diego.

The Beard hopes that it will be with his feet up on a desk in Fenway Park.

I guess that's the fun and scary thing about a generalized, open-ended resolution. We have no idea what or where or how it could happen.

That's where faith and hope and all that jazz come in. We'll go where you want us to go, dear Lord.

As long as that place has no snow.

Positively Amazing

A few weeks ago I picked up Corrie Ten Boom's "The Hiding Place" - an account of her adventures and horrors during the German occupation of Denmark and subsequent travels to Ravensbruck. I've always enjoyed learning about World War II and I wanted to freshen up before my class got to it this week. I thought I'd do a bit of a book review for anyone whose New Years Resolution is to read.

My review: Read it.

You won't regret it. Promise. As I was reading, I was struck several times at how familiar the stories sounded, and then realized that the stories I already knew and had heard in sacrament/Conference talks were HER stories.

For instance, one story in particular illustrates the power of positive thinking, gratitude and prayer. Corrie's sister Betsie is a saint. Just a pure-hearted, loving, charitable saint. She is the one who bears Corrie up when all light seems to dim from the world around them. They are moved into these awful, awful barracks where there are three women to a rough, thin cot and the entire place is teeming with fleas. Corrie, as a normal human being, is skeptical about the hopefulness of the condition. Betsie insists that they must pray in gratitude for EVERYTHING that they have in those barracks.

"Even the fleas?" Corrie asked incredulously.

"Even the fleas," a resolute Betsie replied. So she did. She prayed in gratitude for those fleas.

Weeks later, the German camp directors started running surprise raids on different barracks. Corrie was hiding vitamins for Betsie, a bible and their sister's sweater -- all contraband items in a Nazi work camp. They were terrified that these items would be found and confiscated, and the owners punished mercilessly. The bible in particular was their only solace in their cruel lives.

At the last minute, the guards arrive at the door of the barracks, taking a few steps inside and proclaiming "Fleas! I'm not going in here amongst the fleas!"

The fleas had saved them. The fleas were worthy of gratitude after all.

Along with providing a more realistic view of our cushy daily lives, and an appreciation for the sorrows and suffering of others, this book provides one of the most spiritually reassuring messages I've ever learned.

God is God. And he's everyone's.

It doesn't matter if you are a Jew in the prison camp. Or a Christian sympathizer in the prison camp. Or a Nazi German running the prison camp. Or an impoverished Muslim living in a war-torn refugee camp. Or a Latter-day Saint living in Happy Valley, U.S.A. God truly is no respecter of persons. This book illustrates beautifully the majesty of God's creation of man on earth. He listens to all, invites all, and blesses all.

While I am immensely grateful for the true and only Priesthood on this earth, it is comforting to know that people all over the world are living true principles and that God speaks to them as well. We're all in this together. It's only a matter of time until we're all official.

[P.S. I'm on Goodreads. Come find me.]