Within Walking Distance

I recognize that for five of the past seven years (the other two are from my mission) I have been truly blessed to have school and work within walking distance. This year, my sister's apartment has also been within walking distance. I am grateful to be in such close proximity to school, work, and family.

Delayed Flight

My parents had a delayed flight today, so they got to spend an couple hours more with me and my sister! I am grateful for that.

Kind Text Messages

Recently, I decided to look through my saved text messages in my phone and type them up in a Word document on my laptop. This serves as a reminder to me to use technology in meaningful ways. I am glad I did that. Now each time I receive a text message that makes my day a little bit (or a lot) better, I record it on my Word document. I am grateful for the kind messages I've received, including the ones I received today.

Cousins That I Can Carry

Being the oldest child in my family, I have no nieces or nephews. But I do have a few cousins that are young enough to be nieces and nephews. I got to see them and play with them today. I am grateful that I can have fun with them and carry them as we play. At one point, they asked me to pick them up and fly them around the room. We had a great time today.

A Special Birthday for My Sister

It was my sister's birthday, and my family is in town. This morning we went to the temple in Manti, UT, as a family. It is beautiful inside these temples, and much of that beauty for me today lay in the time I was able to spend with my family there. In the temple, we were able to attend special worship services to help my sister prepare to serve a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The rest of the day was filled with more time with immediate and extended family, but this morning in the Manti temple was certainly the day's highlight, even with the rainy weather!

A "Dang Straight" Good Roommate :)

One of my roommates moved out today to go home for the summer. It was great to get to know him this year. We served together as home teachers for several local church members. I am grateful for the time we spent together.

Cleaning to Tunes

One of the things that makes cleaning jobs so enjoyable for me is playing music as I work. It's great how that works. The music makes the job much more fun. It's the principles in Snow White's "Whistle While You Work" at work!

My General Conference Notes

I mentioned general conference a couple weeks ago and how grateful I was for that.Today I was reviewing the notes I took as I was watching the conference. There is so much I was inspired to write as I listened to inspired words. I am grateful for my notes because those represent impressions I received from God at the time, and they will be different from the words I will read when I read through the talks again.

Banana-Flavored Candy

Banana is my favorite flavor of candy. I am grateful that it exists. One of the best parts of this particular flavor is the fact that not many people like it, so more for me!

My First 100% on a College Final...Ever

Last year, I got a couple of 99% results on Music 101 exams, and I've been doing fairly well in college overall, but I never got 100% on a school exam since high school...until now.

It was in my music library class. I enjoyed the class immensely. I learned new things even though I already knew quite a bit about music and libraries. Admittedly, it was a 15 question exam, mostly multiple choice. Not a terribly rigorous exam, to be sure, but no one can argue that it was a final exam, and I got ever question right. This was actually on my collegiate bucket list, to get 100% on an official midterm or final exam, and I've done it at last.

So yeah, I'm grateful for that today. :)

The Reason Easter Is Such A Happy Holiday.

Today I am grateful for the true reason behind Easter: the sacrifice made and accomplished by Jesus Christ. He truly suffered for the sins, sorrows, pains, sicknesses, and heartaches of all mankind. He has felt it all so He can give us rest when we ask for it. He was rejected and lifted up on a cross by mortal men over 2,000 years ago. During the three days His body lay in the garden tomb, He truly did visit the world of spirits, taught His gospel, and had that message preached to every soul in the spirit world. Most of all, He did live on the third day, Easter Sunday, and ascended to heaven with a shining, perfected physical body. Because of what He did, and because He lives now, it is possible to overcome any obstacle, weakness, trial, addiction, and shortcoming through heavenly grace and live with God forever.

The commercial symbols of Easter is spring, bunnies, and little chicks. I think this is because Easter truly represents new life for every one of God's children. Grateful I am for the true meaning of Easter.

Random Phone Calls

I don't often call people from my cell phone unless it's my family, so it was a nice surprise when I saw that I had a missed call from a friend from whom I didn't expect to get a call. It turned out to be a mistake. My friend intended to call someone else but dialed my number instead. It happens. Even so, we still had a brief, friendly conversation. Oddly enough, it made my day a little bit.

Movies In Other Languages

Today, I am grateful for that really neat feature on most DVDs in which you can watch a movie in a different language. This is really useful as a way to learn languages, like the time I saw the movie "Shrek" in French for a French class. It is also fun to do this with friends. I just got back from watching "Frozen" in Spanish, and it was fun and enlightening. For these reasons, I am grateful for that neat feature on most DVDs.

A Walk Downtown

This afternoon, I took a walk downtown because I had the time. I am so glad I did! I had a lot of fun exploring historic buildings, including the public library. It was so refreshing and eye-opening to take a good look at a part of town I don't visit very often. I am grateful for that downtown walk.

No Classes Today!

Today I am grateful for this brief period between the end of classes and the beginning of finals. I got to relax and enjoy myself more, now that I have this break. It is much needed and much appreciated.

Happy to Be in the A Cappella Club

Oh my gosh, I have so many things to be grateful for today. Last day of classes, last final assignment completed, a brand new a cappella CD in my hands, free meals all day, and so much more. Today, I want to specifically express gratitude for the people I interact with in the a cappella club. I regularly interact with club leadership, the members of my a cappella groups, and other club members. They are all wonderful people, and I am so grateful that we have been able to have a successful semester. Several people told me that their involvement in an a cappella group has been one of the great highlights of the semester, and one of the things that made this semester great. I am so grateful I am able to be involved on campus like this.

Not Much Time, But Enough

So the end of the semester is upon me, and that includes those huge end-of-semester projects. I admit I have procrastinated much of that work, but I did make a plan. I did give myself a certain amount of time over the past few days to get it all done. I could have given myself more time, but I gave myself enough time to get it done. I am grateful I had the mental and physical capacity to do that today.

Elevators That Talk

I like elevators, but I especially appreciate elevators that announce what floor you're going to. I'm grateful for that because with those elevators I can make a joke that has without fail produced at least one laugh from my temporary elevator-mates:

A moment of two before the elevator voice announces the next floor, I would ask a question like this, "Siri, what floor are we going to?" or "Siri, what is the name of the top floor of this building?" Basically, I ask any question to "Siri" that would be answered by the next floor on which the elevator is stopping. People usually give me weird looks (and I don't blame them), until the elevator announces the answer to my question and people get the joke. It's like I'm playing reverse Jeopardy with the talking elevators, which I have named Siri (named after the voice in the new iPads).

Me: "Siri, on what floor is the main office of this building?" *Pause to wait for answer*
Elevator: "Second Floor"
Me: "Thank you Siri."

Steel Drums

I am so very grateful for all kinds of percussion instruments, but today I'll express my gratitude for the unique and infectious sound that is produced from steel drums. To me, they sound like the tropics, or the joy of a bright, sunny day.

Glow Sticks

I went to a comedy show tonight, and the performers tossed a lot of glow sticks to the audience throughout the show. It was fun to see the audience light up in neon colors. I also really enjoyed the creative ways the performers linked the glow sticks together around their arms and legs. I myself enjoy getting creative with glow sticks at around Halloween or other holidays. I am grateful for glow sticks.

A Spontaneous Ride

Today, I am grateful for a roommate who saw me walking to school this morning and offered me a ride to my class. That made my day.

Gracious Receivers

It is wonderful to be a person who gives time, talents, and resources for the benefit of others. I am learning that it is equally wonderful to be a good receiver. I am surrounded by good people who generally take an opportunity to serve when they can. People appreciate the chance to serve, and the receivers give them that chance.

So I am grateful for good receivers. These are the people who allow other people to help them. Good receivers are gracious and grateful. I saw that today. We are all on the giving and on the receiving side all the time. Whatever I am in any given situation, I try to be the best I can be.

Karaoke

Today was a first for me. I went out to a restaurant with some friends, and it just happened to be karaoke night. I had never done public karaoke, though performing on a stage was nothing new to me. Karaoke was a lot of fun, and I'm grateful I was able to do that. Check one more off the metaphorical bucket list.

A General Message of Appreciation

I have several friends who often write messages of love and gratitude on the internet for other people and especially to God. One of these friends wrote the following post:

"I love you. Whether I met you for a brief moment in time, or I have known you for quite some time, I am grateful for your existence, and I am grateful that you are part of my life. Thank you for influencing me to become who I am today."

As much as I recognize the size of the intended audience, I still felt it was directed to each of this person's friends individually. I thought about my friendship with this person, however brief it has been so far, and recognized it as something to be grateful for.

A Refreshing Perspective on Gratitude

This was the second and final day of general conference, and there were many wonderful messages given. One of those messages was given by Dieter F. Uchtdorf, a counselor to the president of the church, Thomas S. Monson. Uchtforf talked about gratitude and offered a neat perspective on it. You can watch the message with this link:

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/watch/2014/04?lang=eng&vid=3438304098001&cid=4

I have heard the phrase "attitude of gratitude" before, but it was neat to hear it this time because I thought of what I do on this blog. Each day, I make mention of something I am grateful for, and I can look at my page and count how many times I have done this. What Uchtdorf reminded me was the importance of incorporating gratitude throughout the day. I should remember to be grateful in every moment of my life and not just each night as I count my blessings here. This message also served as a reminder to me that I still don't know everything there is to know about gratitude or any other heavenly attribute. So each day, I will continue to try to be the best that I can be 

Timely Messages from General Conference

A two-day general conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints takes place every six months, and today was the first day of this conference. I was able to watch it on satellite, and I am so glad I was able to watch each session. As I listened and took notes, I realized just how relevant the messages were to my situation and to this modern age in general. I heard many great words from the leaders of the church, and I received several relevant promptings from the Spirit of God. I really look forward to tomorrow's sessions.

If you are interested in finding out more about general conference, here is a link to the church website: gc.lds.org. General Conference will 10am MT and 2pm MT on Sunday, April 6th.

Grateful To Be A Star

I may not be pursuing a music major in school, but my involvement in music and the associations I have lead me to really neat musical opportunities. I have a friend who is prolific at the piano and is an inspiration to me with his skill at music composition. He asked me to be involved in a new piece he wrote and that would be performed today. I was one of four hand bell players who represented stars in the sky, and it was a true delight to listen to the serene sounds of the piece and play a role in the music myself.

Today's performance of my friend's composition proved to be one of the great highlights of my day (and I had several good highlights today). When I was younger and had begun to take an interest in music, I had dreamed of opportunities like this.

A Thoughtful Art Exibit

There was a small art piece on display on a small gallery on campus today. The piece consisted of a number of handwritten notes that admonished its readers to write letters and notes more often. These notes also spelled out the benefits of hand-written communication and learning. There was also a wastebasket filled with crumpled paper, printed out emails. One main message was: emails are easily deleted, but letters and notes are kept and cherished.

That spoke to me. This piece struck a chord with me because I like to write by hand. I love written letters, written journals, and written notes. I am grateful for this art piece because of the reminder of the value of the written word.

New Spring Blossoms

The weather here is really unpredictable. We had several really warm days, and today it snows. I loved the lovely snow today. What was an even nicer surprise was a line of trees on campus that had new white blossoms. They looked really pretty, and it was neat to see them on a chilly day such as this. I am grateful for those spring blossoms.

Good Pranks

By good pranks, I mean pranks for good. I just saw a video about a group of people that decided to give several amazingly generous tips as a "prank" to a deserving waitress. These are my favorite kinds of pranks and surprises. I am grateful also for the occasional opportunity to pay it forward like that. Happy April Fool's Day!