Anyone who imagines

 that bliss is normal

 is going to waste a lot of time running around

 shouting that he's been robbed.

The fact is that most putts don't drop, most beef is tough, most children grow up to just be people, most successful marriages require high degree of mutual toleration,

 most jobs are more often dull than otherwise.

 Life is like an old time rail journey...delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders and jolts,

interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed.

The trick is to thank the Lord

 for letting you have the ride.

 

-Gordon B. Hinckley

 

Growing up it was always so easy for me to be happy. Which is probably just a testament to how simple I was. But it was up until recently that happy came easy. Then when I started having trouble finding joy so easily, I thought I was doing something wrong.

 

The world can be grim. And there is so much to be upset about. Of course it's going to be a chore to stay happy. It's an inconvenient truth (not a shout out to Al Gore, I just really like that phrase.) All this means is that you need to find the right ways to be happy. Sometimes I pretend that shopping or racing or having boys love me will make me happiest. J. Crew and medals; all we need, right?

  Buttttt we know that's not true.

 

The trickiest thing about being happy is that it's work. There are the basics, being humble and charitable. And then I think we all need to find our own recipe. That's what this life is for.

 

The biggest thing though, is gratitude. Express it in everything you do. Count your blessing. Thank your God for allowing you the beautiful, tumultuous ride. And it will bring you true joy.

 

So, today I am grateful for memories.

"God gives us memory so that we might have June roses in the December of our lives"

-Thomas S. Monson

Mad Mad Mad

Please just take a moment to full screen this, turn the volume up, and take it in. Watch it, hear it, internalize it. Please just appreciate the lighting, the shadow, the faceless characters, the allusions. Muse is genius. And something about this song when it surrounds you just hits you. And the video is perfect. Madness, chaos, discord, mobs and anarchy. None of it phases the girl that seem to be causing it. The electricity and madness that is inspired from her encounter with the man dwarfs everything else. You get a gimps of the madness of the relationship when she screams at him. And it's terrifying.And then it's gone. And we are left as outsiders once again. Conscious of the battle taking place around them, but not having a clue as to what drama and rage and emotion is shared secretly between these two beings.

Gosh I love it. Everyone should know a little bit of madness. Nothing else makes you feel as alive.

Ombre lovin'

i love this silly fur vest. yummmm

I got bored and melted my hair. My friends call me brave, but really I'm just crazy. I absolutely love the finished product. So simple to do. Just cover the tips with bleach, going up higher on some strands so you don't get a bad line. Some strands I went all the way up for highlights. I'm a fan of natural looking hair, and really didn't want it to be an obvious melt. More of a subtle ombre.

Just be careful with your bleach. If you don't believe me, see below...

I did color my hair myself, and it's not been done very much. Basically virgin hair. And I swear the box said 50 min. This was it at 30 min. Most frightening moment of my young adult life. I threw a hat on and went to buy dye. Half an hour later I had gotten it where i wanted it and I could breathe again. I'm such a noob. #sosilly #sorryhair #butiknowi'lldoitagain 

Needless to say, this did a number on my hair. Like I said, my hair hasn't been colored all that much and hasn't been too happy. I've taken to carrying around argon oil. It's the cure all for dry hair. Seriously, I have an argon oil testimony. Just don't apply it near the roots. It will make your hair look greasy faster, and trust me, you don't want it to get on your face. Save the Olay for that. I have super sensitive skin and most facial moisturizers sting my skin :( but Olay has got my back

My Utah Winter Moisturizing Dream Team. 

I don't go anywhere without these guys

This is it with my natural curl. Sorry it is such bad quality, I wasn't about to ask my boss to take a picture of my hair ;) But so yep. I feel like it looks like grown out sunkissed hair. Makes me miss Hawaii for some reason...

Top Knot FTW!

Argon oil also does wonders for relaxing your hair so it may be styled easier, too. As you can see, my hair gets pretty excited about it's natural curl. I try to avoid heat as much as possible, so i usually let it air dry. I always apply argon oil while it's wet, some sort of spray styler or mousse, and also a heat protector if I know I'm going to use an iron. Then when it's dry, I usually add a little more oil to the ends before or after I curl. And I only ever use a curling iron on my hair. No straightener for me, not anymore. It's just too much for my poor locks to handle.

It never turns out the same way twice when I curl it. It just likes to keep me guessing. Most of the time it's semi decent. And some times I get it just where I want it

We'll see how long it lasts, but as for now I love it. Stylists are always telling you not to use a box set, and now I should know better. But I just have this complex where I think I can do anything that I want as well as anyone else can. So, well, I just do things :)

A priority

***

"I urge our people everywhere, with all of the persuasiveness of which I am capable, to live worthy to hold a temple recommend, to secure one and regard it as a precious asset, and to make a greater effort to go to the House of the Lord and partake of the spirit and the blessings to be had therein."

—Gordon B. Hinckley

***

Please excuse the picture quality, it was dusk and I only had my phone. But I wanted to catch the peaceful feeling of the spire framed by the mountains. I love the temple.

When I left last night, there was steam rising from the fountains and it looked mystical. So sorry my silly phone couldn't capture the mood. You'll just have to go see for yourself.

strangers

 

Things that say a lot about people:

• the way which they treat the waiter/waitress
• how they feel about the weather
• whether they dog ear pages or highlight in books 
• fingernails 
• and hands in general
• their preferred creative outlet
• how much they dread/enjoy talking on the phone
• whether or not they drink coffee
• if they ever forget to eat
• how honest they are with themselves (and others)
• if they correct your grammar
• how they treat their parents 

(Source: younghabitats, via shewasonceuntouchable)

I'll see you in Health

My mom adopted a phrase this holiday season. You've may have heard it. She goes "Know what I got for Christmas? Fat. I got fat." This, of course, is a lie. If you know my mom, you know she works out every morning and eats very healthy. She is in incredible shape. I hope I can inherit a similar figure after I've had kids. But in the meantime I still need to take care of myself.

 

Recently I was under a lot of stress and discovered that the people who say they "are so stressed out, food doesn't even appeal to me." aren't lying. I was so overwhelmed that I literally always felt sick to my stomach and eating was a chore. Crazy right? It seems so strange to me know, but it was a real problem for a few months. And on top of that I ran my marathon in the middle of it soooo yeah.

If you don't eat, and are running an excessive amount of miles daily....

 

Needless to say, I wasn't in a healthy way.

I lost quite a bit of weight.

 

Then things started looking up and the holidays came and I got things back together. My appetite came back and I realized how unhealthy I had been.  I was weak all the time, needed tons of sleep, and was just unhappy. I was so mad at myself for slipping so far. I should know better.

So anyways, I've decided to never let my health slip like that again.

 

The biggest thing was that I felt all my muscle disappear. I missed it! So I've been working to get it back. I usually just run a lot with a little weight work, but I can't handle the cold Utah has thrown us this year. Nope. Low threshold for cold tolerance. So I go to the gym maybe every other day, sometimes everyday. The longer I go between workouts, the harder it is. So just go! Even if you just watch Netflix and ride the bike ;)

 

Here's the workout I usually do:

 

Warm up on the bike or elliptical for 5 minutes

 

Arms: 3 circuits of 

-20 pushups (give or take)

-15 curls

-20 tricep extensions (holding one hand weight behind you with both hands and lifting above your head)

-10 straight up dumbbell presses

-10 tricep kickbacks each arm (bend over a bench, flat back, and hang your arm at a right angle. Bring the arm up so it is parallel with your back and then bend back down)

 

Legs: 3 circuits of

-20 squats with about 40 pounds

-20 half squats (at the bottom of your squat, only go up halfway and then back down. So tough!)

-20 plié squats (just like a regular squat but with a very wide stance. It will murder your inner thighs)

-20 half plié squats

20 jump squats (only if no one is in the gym - these look so silly)

-40ish calve ups, alternating between feet together and one foot at a time

 

Then I usually do some rows and straight leg dips with about 50 pounds, till I'm really worn out

 

Then I'll run for 20 min or more. I try to keep my mileage up in case I ever want to do another race.

 

I'll cool down with some ab work and then stretching. (I love this at the end of my workout cause I am starting to feel tired and sore and I feel like I really did something)

 

For abs I love doing a plank, but jumping in towards my hands and back out to make it even harder, or stepping wider and smaller while still in a plank. I'm also a big fan of the bike kick crunch. I could do those for days. Or till my abs light on fire haha.

 

This was on my last Ragnar. Look close and you can see someone in the van behind me haha but aside from that, cool picture right?

Those shoes have made it through 3 Ragnars, several baby races, a half, and a whole marathon. And they are still going strong. Asics 4 lyfe.

 

Anyways, I'm excited for the new year and all the races I get to do, and I'm happy and blessed to be healthy. This year I think I'm going to try my first Olympic triathlon; let me know if you have any tips! Take care of yourselves, guys. And if you need a gym buddy, I'm your girl.

 

xo