One Stronger

There has been this new commercial out on T.V. I love it. I don't even remember the product it was selling, but I think it is for some type of heart-healthy cereal. In the commerical the actors are doing certain tasks and the tag-line is "One stronger." And I am pretty certain that at the end there is a women eating her heart-healthy cereal, and it says, "One Bowl Stronger." Does anyone else know what commercial I am talking about?

Anyway, I love it. I have thought about it often, especially as a motivator for me to get up in the morning and do my exercise, or throughout my day when I am tired. I think to myself: "I am one mile stronger." "I am one bicep curl stronger." "I am one stair stronger."

Today, as I spent nearly 5 hours doing intense research for a professor (as part of my research assitantship job) I had to keep telling myself, "I am one journal article stronger."

I hope that others can use that line of thinking too. It is so important I think, especially for all the little things. Let's all of us be some things stronger. One scripture study stronger. One prayer stronger. One kind word stronger. One grueling run stronger. One plate of veggies stronger. It will all add up, I know it will. So be one stronger.

Simplicity, Antonym

I looked up the definition of simplicity today. One definition was: the absence of luxury or showiness; plainness.

I have been thinking about simplicity lately. It seems it's a part of common rhetoric in today's "greening" society. (On a related note, google "freeganism" and you will see how Micah and I will be living if we don't get any pell grants this next year). In addition, I am getting poorer and poorer. I have gained some new perspectives, which all came into play when my backpack zipper broke the other day.

You see, my backback is over 4 years old. It was given to me as a gift by the Bells in Bountiful. I vowed it would last me all through college. When the zipper broke, my immediate thoughts were: "Great, how will I afford a new bag?" Then, I thought about simplicity. About being responsible with resources. And I thought: "I will not buy a new bag. I will just fix this one, even though the time it might take to do so might be more than it would take for me to earn the money for a new bag."

So what does the above picture have to do with simplicity? Well, that's the point. It doesn't. I got this picture from Anthropologie's new catalog. Anthropoligie is a store, that like many others these days, makes a consumer feel that they are buying into a simple, quaint, romantic and charming life. However, I would like to point out something about this trend: it is a farse. Simplicity simply does not imply buying more and more things that look old, rustic, quaint. This is the opposite of simplicity.

Observe: in order to get the look in the above picture alone, I would pay over $5000 for the items from Anthropologie. Then, if I went even further, I could buy 1600 sq. yards of fabric and sew that fabric to each and every one of my walls. Then I could sew up the windows, etc. etc.

Point taken?

Panic Button

My sweet husband and I have been married for two years in August.

In our marriage, Micah has usually always had a nick-name for me. At first, the nicknames were things such as "little sugie" and "little duckey."

Further into our marriage he started calling me "little tiger" and another time "little firecracker."

Lately my nick-name has been "little panic button."

Being married is a most honest endeavor, isn't it?

Grandpa Max-isms, & Other Lists

There are many things that people don't know about me, and one of those is that I am funny. Really funny. I really have a great sense of humor.

Another little known fact about me is that I like making lists. So I am going to indulge myself here and make a few. The first list is about my Grandpa Max (shown to the right) who I love dearly.

List 1: Funny Things that Grandpa Max Says (Max-isms):

1. Get your sass in the addle! (Get going!)
2. If you can't catch on, grease your butt and slide on!
3. (Speaking of his park model): It's like having an affair with your neighbor's wife. You ain't proud of it, but you sure do like it.
4. You (name an activity, such as driving) like a bat out of hell.
5. I sure do love getting kisses from beautiful women (or lovely ladies).
6. You're not short, the Lord just made the earth too close to your butt.
7. See ya later toots!

Because today was my first time trying Guitar Hero with my little brother, I made some important realizations. I am now going to list all of the things that I am completely unable to do because of my lack of coordination skills, and some things I am able to do, because they require no coordinations skills.

List 2: Things I am able and unable to do because of my coordination skills:

1. I CANNOT play Guitar Hero on the easiest level successfully for more than 4 consecutive seconds.
2. I can't play any sports that involve a ball.
3. I cannot dance with a partner (which is the reason why Micah and I had a really stupid fight at our stake Valentine's dance. Ha ha.)
4. I CAN jump very well. And I love to jump. Which is frequently jump over and over again when I am at home.
5. I can lift weights. And I enjoy to do so.
6. I can run. Nay, jog. SLOWLY.

Okay that's enough listing for now. More to come soon.

Mare

Go Jiggy, Go Life, And Such

Yesterday was funeral for my cousin, Jocelyn Garlick, a beautiful, testy, quick-witted redhead who was a bomber on a pair of skis. Jocelyn, Jocie, Jiggy, died March 22, 2008 in a ski accident. She was killed instantly.

I realized at the funeral that there is so much to life. And I realized that I really wanted to start the blog I was always thinking of starting but had never taken the time to do. So this is my first post, dedicated to Jiggy, to Life, and Such.

More to come soon!
Mare