Thankfulness. Times 7.

Everyone is doing these little posts where every day in November they say something they are thankful for. Last year I was thinking I wanted to do something like that as well... but I forgot. And then this year, I forgot again, until this weekend, when I actually had a couple of minutes to throw together and think about things like that. At first I thought, Oh well, I guess that will be a good idea for next year, but then I realized, next year the exact same thing will probably happen again. So today I am going to make a MEGA POST of seven things I have been thankful for over the last few days, and then from now on I will post a little something something I am thankful for daily. Or every couple-of-day-ly.

1. I am thankful to have a husband who cooks.

I am so glad that Scott loves to cook, and that he is willing to divide the cooking up with me so that we each only have to cook about three nights a week. He is just as busy as I am, but he is always willing to help me.

2. I am thankful that Scott's UCSF interview is at a time when we are already in San Francisco.

I feel like we have really been blessed with our interviews. For the most part, they have been to places we already are or will already be, meaning that we haven't had to spend thousands of dollars to get there.

3. I am thankful for daylight savings time ending.

I know that I needed that extra hour of sleep on Saturday night, and I just find it so much easier to fall asleep and wake up now that the time schedule has been adjusted a bit. I guess my biological clock isn't on daylight savings time.

4. My busiest class has no homework this week.

This is giving me the opportunity to catch up on so many things that I fell behind last week. (Such as being grateful)

5. General Conference.

I have been gaining a lot from reading these talks this conference. Sometimes I feel like I study a lot and learn quite a bit, while other times I haven't been as diligent. This last conference I have felt really motivated to continue reading the talks and I feel like they are blessing my life quite a bit.

6. Good friends in nursing school.

Nursing school can be really stressful, and there are really quite a few situations that are difficult to deal with. It is nice to have good friends that I can talk with and process through the experiences (plus it makes the experiences more fun to have someone there).

7. This is a small thing, but I am SO grateful I didn't have to scrape my windshield this morning. I know it won't last, but I'm not complaining for every day that it is still clear!

Travel Bug

Lately, I am restless to go somewhere I haven't ever been before. While there are several places I would like to return to (Paris, Bruges, San Francisco), I am really craving to explore a new city. I don't know which I would choose, but here is a short list of the places I want to go. 

Seattle, WA

Portland, OR

 New York City, NY

London, England

Venice, Italy

Verona, Italy

Grand Canyon, AZ

Alaska

Testimony

The way to receive personal revelation is really quite clear. We need to desire to receive revelation, we must not harden our hearts, and then we need to ask in faith, truly believe that we will receive an answer, and then diligently keep the commandments of God.

Following this pattern does not mean that every time we ask a question of God, the answer will immediately appear with every detail of what to do. However, it does mean that if we diligently keep the commandments and ask in faith, answers will come in the Lord’s own way and in His time.

- Barbara Thompson

The things that make life

* Early morning snuggles (both of us being conscious at the same time... imagine that)
* Creativity
* Dave Brubeck
* Spontaneous and flamboyant nail polish experiments
* Fifteen hours of documentary joy
* Learning to hate homework in my twenty-first year of formal education
* Milking fall for all it's worth
* Friendship
* Pizza
* Discovering new songs and only listening to them on Grooveshark
* Focusing on acquiring knowledge instead of completing a task list (thank you, Scott)

After six hours of studying and more to go...

This is how I feel.

Matisse

Henri Matisse is my favorite artist. He does some beautiful paintings, but I love his cut-outs best.

In recent news...

Photo Source

I made tie-dye cupcakes last night. The frosting did not turn out like whipped cream but instead a sloppy, separated mess that still tasted pretty good. Oh well.

Finals week in nursing school. 2 classes down, 3 to go. Granted, the 2 classes down are the easy ones. But still.

I just got Pinterest. I'm not sure how to add people or to be added... but figuring it out. Makes a good way to pass the time in Health Promotions... (after responding to all my blog comments, adding to my immensely long TBR list on GoodReads, and playing a few rapid-fire games of Solitaire).