Honk Honk!!

Christmas was FANTASTIC!!  I had a lot of fun with my family this year.  I don't like to travel for Christmas, but it was really nice to have all my family together in Grand Junction.  We ate, played lots of Guitar Hero, ate, enjoyed awesome presents, ate, learned Mom's secret recipes, ate, played card games, ate, watched movies, ate, and goofed off.  Did I mention we ate a lot?  Holy COW.  I can't remember ever eating so much food.  I take it as a sign that we are truly blessed and able to amply provide for our needs. 

I really love my family.  :)

Got a bite on a job in the DC area...  I decided to expand my search more north of Richmond.  I've been told there are more things to do, more singles wards, and all around much more interesting things closer to DC.  I still don't really know if moving (and so drastically) is the right decision...  I've been told to follow my heart, so that's what I'm trying to do.  Kinda hard sometimes to know exactly what the heart wants.  While I'm completely bored with life here, I do have wonderful friends, family, an amazing ward, and a job I love here.  Those are all things stowed carefully away in my heart.  So I could easily argue that my heart wants to stay here.  But on the flip side, I love adventure, exploring a new place, meeting new people, and having new opportunities.  So I could also argue that my heart longs for a new location.  I figure I'll keep making an effort at finding something worthwhile on the East Coast, and if the Lord wants to veto that decision, He'll stop me at some point along the way.  In the meantime... PATIENCE.  The one thing I'm best at. HA!!  (You may snort with derision now.  No really, go ahead.  I am.)

On a much less serious note, I have a joke that makes me giggle incessantly.  I apologize in advance for my potty humor:  "Do you know what the definition of a fart is?  It's poo honking for the right of way!"  hehehehehehehe!  Oh c'mon, you can't tell me you didn't giggle at least a little bit. 

;)

Where Do the Ducks Go in the Winter?

Okay, so I had this random long stream of thoughts this afternoon while taking a quick little snooze on my lunch break.  For some reason it all cracks me up.

So I was trying to drown out my caffeinated brain and tried some meditation.  (Ready for the longest sentence ever?  A prize to whoever can read it all in one breath!)  All I could think of was a low drone, which got me thinking about 6th century Europe and the ancient Druids and Stonehenge, which made me think of that Ducktails movie about the Druids, which led to an instant replay of the vid on youtube of the little duckies being blown away in the wind, which made me think about the secret pond I found behind our house a couple days ago that seems to be a Four Seasons Hotel for the thousands of geese and ducks flying north in the winter, which then led me to think about the book "The Catcher in the Rye" and how Holden Caulfield frequently passes a pond and always says to himself, "Where do the ducks go in the winter?".  Aaaaaand then I fell asleep.

NOT related to ducks or ancient Druids in ANY way, last night was such a blast!!  Michelle's bachelorette party was wild and crazy and fun as hell.  My feet are still suffering for it though - note to all females: don't wear four inch stilettos to traverse all of downtown Denver and four different dance clubs.

So excited for the wedding on Sunday!  :)


Today I am thankful to have been treated like a lady by a very kind-hearted man.  It's nice to be reminded that chivalry is not, in fact, extinct...

xoxo

Julia is Waxing Poetic - Beware!

Tiny ballerinas sculpted of ice
Twirl gracefully on the breeze of night,
Their shimmering glass slippers etching fine engravings
of unparalleled beauty
upon fragile spheres of crystal,
Never ceasing till each faceted flake
Glitters brilliantly in the frosty moonlight
As Mother Nature drapes her
Iridescent chandelier of diamond
upon the still and peaceful world.
Each minuscule flake of snow is
perfect
and beautiful
and unique;
An emissary sent to the earth
of Love
joyfully frolicking,
With its sugar-spun dancer to accompany the journey.

Brain Cramps

I keep meaning to write something here.  Before I started up this little dealio I would think of all these things I wanted to write about.  I composed so many blogs in my head.  And now... nada.  'Tis the season for a bad virus of... writer's block?

I ran into some old friends tonight at a Christmas performance.  I was a little sad to have nothing of consequence to report.  I work.  And I'm busy.  But it's all the same ol' stuff.  Don't get me wrong, it's not bad stuff, and I'm happy to have stuff in general to do.  But it'll be nice when there's different stuff to talk about.

Today I'm grateful for wonderful Christmas music.  Nothing like a few carols and hymns to put some Christmas spirit in yer britches!  We've been listening to tons of it at home while my sister works on a project she's doing with her students.  It looks like Christmas threw up in the house, with all the wrapping everywhere!  The only sanity is graciously provided by Pandora.  Oh, pandora.com, how I love thee!  Your endless selection of music based solely on what preferences I type into your system is a wonderful thing.

I'm obviously obnoxious at this hour of the morning.  I bid you adieu, with a hearty Ho Ho! (and not the chocolately, creme-filled kind, though I could go for one of those right about now...)

Tchao.

Thanksgiving!

What a great Thanksgiving!  It turned out surprisingly well.  The food was beyond delicious, the company was excellent, morale was high.  I love the holidays.

This week I've been especially thankful for the scriptures and for prayer.  This year has been really rough, and a lot has happened.  I admit that I've gone in and out of phases of relying on the Lord vs. relying on myself.  But I've recently been reminded that the most important relationships I could ever possibly build are the ones with my Lord and with my Savior.  And what's the best way to build a relationship?  By communicating, of course.  That's where prayer comes in.  It's really quite amazing, actually, that we have this direct line to God that we can use whenever we want.  And we can tell Him anything.  He wants to hear all the little things, He wants to know about our day.  That's pretty awesome.

I'm very grateful for wonderful friends who remind me of what's important, and remind me to communicate with the Lord often.  It's easy for me to forget, and to get caught up in the mundane things of life.

On a different, but similar note, yesterday was a little hard.  It was exactly a year ago yesterday that the man I loved proposed to me.  It was a bit surreal to realize that an entire year has passed.  While I believe that we have both moved on, I had a couple minutes of feeling immense sorrow.  And yes, I shed a couple tears.  I don't regret the relationship; I don't regret falling in love.  I hope the best for the both of us.  And I was grateful to feel the comforting arms of the Savior around me while my heart broke just a little in remembrance of something that was good while it lasted.

In other news, the job search continues.  I'm hoping to hear back from some offices now that the holiday has passed.  We'll see what happens...

Much love to all!

The Bandwagon

Welp, it's official.  I have finally retired my ridiculously outdated Xanga, and jumped on the blogspot.com bandwagon!  Bear with me while I figure out the settings and layout options.  It always takes me a while to get it all set up.  

I really intend for this to be a place of positive thoughts.  So if I start getting a bit negative... steer me back to the path!  

Much love to all my invisible, not-yet-existent readers!

Today I am thankful for second chances.