Did I do the 10 things I wanted to do in 2010?

2010 the Year of No Regrets.  I did pretty well with that, took care of doing and saying some things in the last minute but I can say that I don't regret anything that happened or didn't happen this year.  At the beginning of the year I also wrote this list of 10 things I wanted to do in 2010, let's see what I did or didn't do...

1. Keep it clean...while I'm pretty good at keeping the house clean my room is usually a disaster! Since my bedroom seconds as a scrapbook room, library, and office this can be especially disasterous. So I want to keep it clean. I am spending the month of January super dejunking and organizing and then I will attempt to keep it up. My POTD yesterday showed how I have now kept my closet organized for 4 days. this is huge for me!

My room wasn't always completely clean, but I actually did a lot better than I thought.  My closet only got out of control  on 3 or 4 occasions.  I dejunked TONS of stuff, and my scrapbook stuff is officially all of the way organized.  So overall I am pleased with how I did.

2. Go to the National Cherry Blossom festival in Washington DC. I've been wanting to do this for years. I love that city and I love cherry blossoms. Well this is the year. Toni and I decided we are going to do it, so April 8-12 here we come!

This I most definitely did and I had a blast.  You can read about it here. 

3. Read a book every week. I love to read and I have hundreds of books sitting in my room, honestly half of which i have never read, or haven't read in the past 15 years. Included in this is the Book of Mormon and the whole Bible. Those will take longer than a week, but I am determined to get 'er done. They don't all have to be one week at a time, but the goal is 4 books a month.

I got really close to finishing this goal.  I did read a lot more books than I have in the past but had a couple of slump months where I just didn't quite make it.  I read a total of 44 books and will finish one by new years, so 45 books really isn't too bad.  I read all of Harry Potter, all of Percy Jackson, finished Fablehaven, Decision Points by George Bush, If the Buddah Dated, Stardust, the Lost Symbol, The Hunger Games series, Anne of Green Gables, To Kill a Mockingbird, Push, and the Alice in Wonderlands...to name a few. 

4. Cook more, eat out less. I LOVE eating out. and don't get me wrong, I will still be at Village Inn after every basketball game...but I really need to cook more. Mission: Dinner is going to help me do this. We are cooking our way through the Worldwide Ward Cookbook. I also really want to learn to make bread and pie crust this year.

While I failed at Mission: Dinner, I did cook a lot more this year.  But I also ate out a lot too...something I still need to work on.

5. Affect Positive Change. This is one of my personal mission statements. It's something we used to teach the freshman at USU during Fall Leadership and it's something I want to try harder at in my life.  Not sure how I'm going to do it yet, but I will always be looking for ways.

I tried in general to be a better person and affect positive change in myself as well as looking for ways to help others.  I donated to some great causes, I went through the temple, and I am going to Cambodia next year with Youthlinc.  I could have done a lot more, but there are years I did less so overall I am happy with what I accomplished in this goal.

6. Scrapbook more. I scrap, I scrap a lot...but I am still a year behind and I used to be caught up. These memories are important to me and the creative process is even more important so I want to try and catch up.

There is always more I could scrapbook.  I did finish my stuff from 2007-March 2010.  There were some big vacation albums in there like NYC/Washington DC, Seattle, and the Cruise I took in January.  I still have lots to do but at least I am not a complete year behind.  I also started typing up some of my journals and filling in the blanks with extra memories.

7. Project 365. So far so good. One picture everyday to better capture the little details of your life.

This one was a fail.  I made it to mid April but  then decided to forget it.  I realized that there are only so many details I could capture about myself in between work, sleep, eat, aggie basketball, and family time.  As a single person it is just hard to find something meaningful or worth taking a picture day after day.  If I did this again my goal would be to take a picture everyday to practice techniques to improve my photography skills.

8. Pay all my bills on time. If I don't pay online I'm pretty bad about this and am going to try harder.

Switched all of my bills to online so this has been better.  I just need to become more concious of how much I am paying to what and split utilities with my roommates in a more timely manner.

9. Pay my tithing on time. I have a testimony of tithing, but am really horrible about paying it. New year, new paycheck, time to start doing this on time!

So I wasn't very good about paying it on time, let's not lie.

10. Travel somewhere I have never been before and somewhere I have been and love. I have/am alreading doing this (Carribean and DC) but I want another place each time. I love to travel.

I was lucky enough to travel several times this year, a couple were repeat vacations but I was able to do things I hadn't done before at those places.  In January I went on my Family cruise of the western Carribean that started in Miami and Everglades Nalt. Park, headed to Honduras, Mexico, Belize, the Bahamas, and ended with a drive of the Florida Keys.  In March I did a quick trip to Seattle to see Toni and Mandi, and then we headed to Spokane for some NCAA basketball games.  In April was the Cherry Blossom Fesitival in Washington DC with Heidi, Toni, Trisha, and Mike.  And then I headed back to DC this December with Camille to visit Mike and watch the Aggies play.  It was a good travel year.  To read and see pictures about any of these vacations, go here.

Here is to next year...2011 the Year to Be Excellent to Each Other (Party on Dudes) and a new list of things to do.

Christmas recap

Christmas Eve: Whitney family tradition continued on as we made treats like Stuff n Clutter and Peanut Brittle in the afternoon, had some dinner (Christmas nachos this year), then we head caroling to the mobile home park to the Chidister's and Sister Wake. At the Wakes we do a few musical numbers and then eat some good treats.  After caroling we head back to our house for the Christmas story to be read from the Bible and to open our stockings.

Christmas at work:  It was hard to strike a balance between work, family, and sleep.  I worked the night shift Dec. 23, 24, 25, 26 this year.  Amazingly this was the first time I have worked Christmas in 7 years of health care.  I am lucky my family lives just a few minutes away from work so I didn't have to waste valuable sleep time driving around.  At work Annicka and I had decided it was kind of a Grinchy Christmas season, so we celebrated a "Merry Grinchmas" and had a breakfast dish potluck.  I was lucky to work with most of my favorite co-workers...Annicka, Cy, Allen, Marcia, and Elena, and we picked up report from Kellie and Shawn.

Christmas Day:  I got off of work at 730am and headed straight to my parent's house to open presents.  I got some fun stuff...an ipod shuffle to take to Cambodia, a bread machine, an awesome punch bowl set, and some fun clothes and movies.  Then I slept and slept straight until dinner.  After dinner I headed to my place to shower and ended up watching the 30 funniest holiday moments on TV.  Number 2 was one of my personal favorites...when Penny gives Sheldon a napkin signed my Leonard Nimoy for Christmas on the Big Bang Theory.  Then my mom, sister, and I headed out to Christmas Utah and to take a drive around to see the lights in Murray.

Tonight I got together with some friends to visit while everyone was in town.  We had some great food, conversation, and entertainment from the 7 small children running around like crazy.  Always good to get together with everyone.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas!!

Those Christmas Lights...

Those Christmas Lights

Light up the street

Down where the sea and city meet

May all your troubles soon be gone
Oh Christmas Lights keep shining on

Those Christmas Lights

Light up the street

Maybe they bring [him] back to me

Then all my troubles will be gone

Oh Christmas Lights keep shining on
 Oh Christmas Lights
Light up the streets
Light up the fireworks in me
May all your troubles soon be gone

Those Christmas Lights keep shining on

-Christmas Lights by Coldplay

The true Light of the world is what this season is all about.  Looking at all of the lights everywhere is a beautiful and peaceful reminder.

The Searle's house that glows from a far, the nativity at the local mobile home park where my family carols, The "Christmas Utah" house with my sister Sarah and 2 dogs, My parent's Christmas Tree on Christmas morning, Camille and I in Old Town Alexandria, VA and myself with a Christmas Light post in VA.

Keep Calm and Merry On.

On the 4th day of Christmas I decided I needed a Cache Valley Christmas so I headed on up to Logan, visited my sister, had dinner with a friend, did a gift swap with another, polished off my Christmas shopping, dropped off a carload of stuff at DI, got an oil change, and enjoyed a couple of games at the Gossner classic with our new friends jar-jar, fauxhawk, and lurch.  Well maybe they are not feeling so friendly...that was quite a loss for Idaho State. It really is too bad I forgot my camera on this one.  I'll try to scope out some pictures.

Oh look here is one from Cache Valley Daily of Jar-Jar:

 And one of Brady's sweet 1 handed dunk:

For the 3rd day of Christmas I plan on making some delightful popcorn and finally go see the lights.

On the second day before Christmas I plan on trying to have a good attitude about working the next 4 days over Christmas.  And hopefully doing some Christmas reading while I enjoy my tree.

On Christmas Eve it's the family tradition of caroling to some families and widows of my home ward and opening stockings.  At work we are going to stage "A Merry Grinchmas" party and have ourselves a good old time. 

Then on to Christmas!!

Merry Christmas everyone!  Hope your holiday is merry, bright, and everyone takes a minute to savor and remember what is really important in their life.  Make sure to let those you care about know about it and promote a little peace in your own life as well as those around you.

Love to you all!

I've been feeling very emotionally anxious as of late...  not sure exactly why.  The beautiful Meg introduced me to the world of Hafiz, a Persian poet from the 1300's who had a knack for expressing emotion.  Some of his thoughts echo mine...

I wish I could show you when you are lonely or in darkness the astonishing light of your own being.



The Truth has shared so much of Itself
With me
That I can no longer call myself
A man, a woman, an angel,
Or even pure
Soul.


now is the season to know that everything you do is sacred.


All these words are just a front.
What I would really like to do
is chain you to my body,
then sing for days & days & days.

 
Let us be like
Two falling stars in the day sky.
Let no one know of our sublime beauty
As we hold hands with God
And burn
Into a sacred existence that defies -
That surpasses
Every description of ecstasy
And love.

On the 7th day of Christmas I watched Mickey's Christmas Carol, my personal favorite version of that story.

On the 6th day of Christmas I was wickedly ill.  So I tried to think about Christmas but mostly I was just feeling weird.

On the 5th day of Christmas I paid my sisters to clean my room.  I helped but was still feeling weird.  When we were little we believed that you couldn't get Christmas presents if your room was a mess so we went on a cleaning spree.  I also watched A Christmas Story for the first time.  I know, I know who hasn't seen that movie.  Oh, I hadn't, but now I have and I laughed a lot.

On the 10th day of Christmas I enjoyed the snow, and had lunch with the girls from work at Greek Market.
On the 9th day of Christmas I listened to LOTS of Christmas music and tried to be extra patient with people at work ;)
On the 8th day of Christmas I finish my Christmas shopping and spent the evening with my Mom at the Kurt Bestor Christmas Concert downtown.  After battling horrendous traffic we made it to the show to enjoy a wide variety of music and talent.  His guest star was Jason Castro, former American Idol runner up (to David Archuleta/Cook) and someone my mom adores.  He did a wonderful job and a song he mixed of Gloria with Kurt's Joy to the World and Silent Night was fantastic.  Afterwards I ran into Kyler and got a picture with the delightfully nice and surprisingly short Jason.

I love Christmas music and am lucky to have been able to go to three great musical events this season.  First the amazing US Air Force Band concert, second I saw Irving Berlin's White Christmas at Pioneer Theater Company which was fantastic. And now Kurt Bestor's concert which although wasn't as traditional as he usually does, was still a great show.  I actually have 30.7 hours of Christmas music uploaded on my computer and another 2 or so hours of music in my car.  Maybe I'm a Christmas music junkie, but it keeps me happy and calm so I am down with it.  Out of curiosity I looked to see what song I had the most versions of and it was...12 different versions of Silent Night tied with 12 different versions of O Holy Night. Surprisingly while I love those songs, my favorites are Carol of the Bells and O Come O Come Emmanuel.

Have you taken a few minutes to just sit and listen to a Christmas Carol today?

One the first day of Christmas...

Monday marked the first of the 12 days of Christmas.  I had the opportunity to go caroling with some people from my church.  We weren't a large group and even all that good but we had a wonderful time and were able to spread some joy to some people in need.  On my other blog I had copied a list of 25 things to do before Christmas.  I have been trying to do some of these things and it has made up the little difference I think Christmas is missing for single adults.  Christmas is totally different when you are a child and you really do spend the rest of your Christmas' trying to find, keep, or create that magic again. 

Yesterday for the 11th day of Christmas I spent some time reflecting on Christ by taking a visit to the temple, making up a recipe for Fresh Orange and Cranberry Muffins and getting to know some girls from church by going to a girls night out dinner at Mazza on 9th and 9th.  Mazza was a delightful Middle Eastern restaurant and we had a great time (I'll post pictures later when I get them).  Then we watched one of my favorite Christmas movies: Home Alone and had some minty goodness homemade Asphalt Pie.  One thing I noticed that I hadn't before is that the entire McCallister house is decorated, painted, and carpeted in red and green. Even the basement, the store, and the attic are accented in mostly red and green.

This morning I awoke to snow on the ground.  I am super excited!  I have enjoyed the in the 50's weather we have had but it just isn't Christmas in Utah without some nice fluffy snow.  Maybe the "Weather reversal" voodoo I seem to have on vacations is lifting.  Seriously, weird weather seems to happen to me.  For example when I went to see Toni in June 2009 and it hadn't rained in Seattle for 28 days and then, boom! It starts raining the day I get there and rains almost the whole time.  Or this past January when I went to Florida and it started snowing.  Or last week in DC when it dropped to freezing 20-30 degree weather there and was super nice here.  Mike called the other day and said it's gotten even colder while it just kept getting warmer here.  So maybe this snow is a sign of my weather world balancing again.  Or maybe I just have strange bad luck when I travel. :)

I hope everyone takes a look at the list of 25 things to do and finds something they can do to make their holidays mean a little bit more, and spread some extra cheer.

O Christmas Tree

I love Christmas Trees.

I love the smell, the random assortment of ornaments that have meaning, the twinkle of the lights.  I love everything about them and just don't think it's Christmas without one, thus I took lots of pictures of different trees we saw in DC.  Hope you have a Christmas tree of some sort, I promise it will make your day a little more merry.

Things I really don't like:

-Jewlery store commercials

-the Pregnancy category at Awkward Family Photos

Some more blogging questions:

A Favorite Song

Since it is the Christmas season my current favorite song is I Wander As I Wander by Katie Thompson from "Connie Lou's Christmas".  I love the mix of Carol of the Bells and I Wonder as I Wander.* (correction it is Wonder first lol)

Something that Makes You laugh

This picture (a favorite from Awkward Family Photos) with it's caption.  Love it.  When I need to be amused I look at this one.

Tis the season and so forth.

On Delta flights you can make a little playlist of songs you want to listen to from the "CDs" they have in their system.  I always listen to Spring Awakening first but then I went through to find some favorite songs from Broadway, Alanis, and some new songs.  One new song that I discovered was Sara Bareilles' Bluebird.  I came home and downloaded it and can't stop listening.  I like how much more mellow it is than some of her other songs.  Have a listen (the video is just random pictures, so really just listen): 

Tis the season for eating Oranges.  Normally I don't like to eat citrus fruit (although I LOVE the smell all of the time).  In June and in December is usually when I decide I love love love to eat oranges and crave them.  I bought some really big ones the other day and am happily eating away at them. 

Almost done with all of my Christmas shopping.  have a bunch of presents wrapped and under the tree already too.  I love trying to give a great gift.  I have a hard time stopping and not going overboard though because for some people there are just too many perfect things to give them!

Tis also the season of the Grinch who Stole Christmas.  No one is trying to ruin my Christmas but that seems to be a common theme this year.  At the US Air Force Band Christmas concert Mrs. Claus read the story to a group of kids while the band played some good stuff and a Grinch acted it out around the stage.  Although I have yet to see it, Elder Uchtdorf talked about this story in part of his First Presidency Christmas Devotional message.   Then on A Very Glee Christmas, Sue was the Grinch and I almost died of laughter watching her slither around, and loved when the glee kids sang Welcome Christmas.  I love that story (partly because Dr. Suess and I share the same birthday so loving it is in my blood) and think that, if I have heard it this many times lately there must be a message I am needing in it.

The Blogging Day 7 challenge is a picture of someone or something that has the biggest impact on me.  This is a hard one to pin-point one person or thing for all of time, or even just lately.  I told Mike the story of his influence and since that is the most recent example then it wins for now.

Pictures of other people and things that have had a great influence over me because of their works, deeds, personalitlies, legacies, what it represents etc: 

Georgetown and DC (mis)adventures recap

Day 1: 

-flew in

-met up with Mike for his ward's Service Auction

-headed for dinner in Old Town at Austin's Diner and to see some lights.

Day 2:  We Are Aggies vs We Are Georgetown. 
-went to the Alumni brunch with over 100 former Aggies and friends at Clydes

-met up with around 60 young alumni fans at the Verizon Center to cheer on the Aggies
-sign/sayings:  Hear Our Yelling AggieS, "I made your mom a true aggies" (as the GU player misses his free-throw)

-watching an amazing first half
-watching a miserable second half as a full court press causes some big problems

-checking out the Norman Rockwell exhibit at the National Portrait Gallery and my favorite use of license plates ever.

-Lunch at the Matchbox
-tour of Ford's theater where I ran into my old friend and USU neighbor (from my freshman year) Dave.

-Camille and I headed back to Old Town for some Joe Theisman's (Yes Toni our favorite waiter was there but we didn't have him), Candi's Candy (who recognized and remembered me from last April), and the boat lights.

Day 3:
-Freezing, fridged wind almost killed us all.
-A trip to the Washington National Cathedral to see the nativities from around the world, the wonderful stained glass, and Darth Vader's Gargoyle.

-Mike scored us tickets to the Air Force Band Christmas concert which was spectacular spectacular.  My favorite song being the Hanukkah number, I Wander as I Wander, and O Holy Night.  They even gave us a CD at the end.  It was a wonderful thing.

-Dinner at Mike's house
-A freeze your face off adventure to the Iwo Jima Marine Monument.

Day 4:
-American History Smithsonian to see the original Star Spangled Banner, pop culture items from 1939 and Michael Jackson's hat.

-a walk by the White House

-Lunch at G Street Foods with Camille's friend Joy
-Renwick Gallery of American Craft Art where we saw a fish made of game and toy pieces, a breast trophy, and some cool wood carvings

-US Botanical Gardens (heaven.) where there is a room that is truely magical.  Everything was carved of bark and other plants to make the wonders of the world. 

There were Poinsetta's everywhere for Season's Greenings and I could have just sat in there all day.

-a walk by the Capitol to see the Capitol Christmas tree

-Union Station for some shopping
-made Mike a Christmas tree
-I headed to Dinner with Mike while Camille headed to Old Town for a some more shopping.

Day 5: 
-since we didn't make it to Georgetown Cupcake we attempted to go to Red Velvet Cupcakery at Dupont Cir.  Yep it's closed on Tuesdays.  Screw cupcakes.  We found a delightful little empanada store instead.  Dupont Cir. also houses my new favorite quote:
Thus in silence in dreams' projections, Returning, resuming, I thread my way through the hospitals;
The hurt and wounded I pacify with soothing hand,
I sit by the restless all dark night - some are so young;
Some suffer so much - I recall the experience sweet and sad...

Walt Whitman, from Leaves of Grass, 1876

-The Bureau of Engraving and Printing to see money being made.  Not a fan of the new $100 that is coming out in 2011.  It just looks weird.  It was cool to see them make the money and I didn't know it was made of a cotton/linen blend.

-National Gallery of Art where we saw a Picasso, a painting by Leonardo Da Vinci, some Rembrandts, and this incredible and curious exhibit by Arcimboldo (who lived in the 1500's) who painted faces made of food.

-Fly away back to inversion city Utah. 

I love my home away from home.  I'm too tired to get any more detailed or tell any stories and there are hundreds of more pictures.  Maybe I'll throw some stories into the blog later.  Regardless I had a great time and am grateful for the good friends, fellow Aggies, Christmas trees, etc that made the trip even better.

Blogging Day 6 and 7

Something I bought recently:

This camera on Black Friday and this is the first picture I took with it.

 

A picture that shows my true self:

I truly am a nerd.