Day 23: Wonderful

won-der-ful

1. Capable of eliciting wonder; astonishing.

2. Admirable; excellent

Shining spring day

Falling cherry blossoms with my calm mind

~ Kino Tomonari

Day 22: Super

su-per

1. Very large, great, or extreme.

2. Excellent; first-rate.

I am reading in Alma right now and today I read the account of King Lamoni questioning Ammon about the gospel and verse 41 really stuck out to me. It really such an amazing, dare I say, super blessing to have the atonement in my life to allow the Lord's mercy to clean me. A blessing I'm finding should take more seriously the older I get.

Day 21: Teeny-Tiny

Teen-y

1. Tiny

Tin-y

1. Extremely small; minute.

Teeny-tiny is one of the nicknames we call Neisah. She really is such a great sister.

Doesn't she look like such a good little jewish girl getting ready for her passover meal with her choir?

"Tzeitel, oh Tzeitel. Won't you make a lovely bride?!"

Day 20: Colorful

col-or-ful

1. Full of color; abounding in colors.

2. Characterized by rich variety; vividly distinctive.

Holi Festival of Colors.

Hare Krishna!

Day 19: Plain

plain

1. Free from obstruction; open; clear.

2. Obvious to the mind; evident.

3. Not elaborate or complicated; simple.

4. Straightforward; frank or candid.

5. Not mixed with other substances; pure.

6. Common in rank or station; average; ordinary.

7. Not pretentious; unaffected.

8. Marked by little or no ornamentation or decoration.

9. Not dyed, twilled, or patterned.

10. Lacking beauty or distinction.

11. Sheer; utter; unqualified.

12. Archaic Having no visible elevation or depression; flat; level.

I bought this beautiful clock from D.I. a couple weeks ago. It doesn't work but I figured I could fix it up and it would be a fun wall decoration. I haven't done anything to it yet (besides hang it on my wall) and I can't decided it I want to change it or not. It has such a simple quality but a definite lack of color for my taste. I'm still deciding.

Day 18: Raspy

rasp-y

1. Rough; grating.

I had a hard time finding something to take a photo of because all I could do was hear this woman's voice in my head.

Day 17: Flaky

flak-y

1. Made of or resembling flakes.

2. Forming or tending to form flakes or thin, crisp fragments.

3. Slang Somewhat eccentric; odd.

For those of you that don't know this about me, I HATE talking on the phone. If a phone call lasts more than five minutes, I start to feel irritated and just want to be doing something else. It's so bad that when I get a phone call it takes all my energy to not want to hit the ignore button. This is a really bad thing since I have a lot of friends that don't live near me and want to keep in contact. It's not that I don't want to talk to them, I just don't want to be on the phone. I'm trying to work on that so I'm not such a flaky friend.

Day 16: Grotesque

gro-tesque

1. Characterized by ludicrous or incongruous distortion.

2. Outlandish or bizarre, as in character or appearance.

3. Of, relating to, or being the grotesque style in art or a work executed in this style.

How is it that my room can go from this

to this

in a day?

Day 15: Disgusted

dis-gust-ed

1. Filled with disgust or irritated impatience.

Whenever I drive through the Salt Lake valley I always have a disgusted feeling as I see billboard after billboard that has something to do with plastic surgery. It just makes me sad that there are so many people that feel that altering their body will bring them more happiness.

Though I have had feelings of insecurity when it comes to how I look, I have never felt that I would need to surgically alter my image to make those insecurities go away. Maybe it does help some people but it just seems that we all need to come to love our bodies for being what they are: a gift from the Lord.

As I drove back to Utah after my Idaho trip and saw these billboards I kept being reminded of this talk by President Uchtdorf given in the last Relief Society Broadcast. These are the things I want to rely on when my insecurities overtake me.

Day 14: Adventurous

ad-ven-tur-ous

1. Inclined to undertake new and daring enterprises.

2. Hazardous; risky.

So remember that one time I went to Idaho and only brought a pair of sandals and a pair of moccasins and then it snowed like a foot. Yeah.....

Day 13: Easy

eas-y

1. Capable of being accomplished or acquired with ease; posing no difficulty.

2. Requiring or exhibiting little effort or endeavor; undemanding.

3. Free from worry, anxiety, trouble, or pain.

4. a. Affording comfort or relief; soothing.

b. Prosperous; well-off.

5. Causing little hardship or distress.

6. Socially at ease.

7. a. Relaxed in attitude; easygoing.

b. Not strict or severe; lenient.

8. Readily exploited, imposed on, or tricked.

9. a. Not hurried or forced; moderate.

b. Light; gentle.

10. Not steep or abrupt; gradual.

11. Economics

a. Less in demand and therefore readily obtainable.

b. Plentiful and therefore at low interest rates.

12. Promiscuous; loose.

I went up to Idaho to go listen to my cousin, Brandon's vocal recital. It was great to see him and I didn't tell him that I was coming to it was fun to surprise him. He has such beautiful voice that is just so easy and free. I could listen to it forever......FOREVER.

Day 12: Depressed

de-pressed

1. Low in spirits; dejected.

2. Suffering from psychological depression.

3. Sunk below the surrounding region.

4. Lower in amount, degree, or position.

5. a. Sluggish in growth or activity.

b. Suffering from social and economic hardship.

6. Botany Flattened downward, as if pressed from above.

7. Zoology Flattened along the dorsal and ventral surfaces.

One word: migraine.

Day 11: Voiceless

Voice-less

1. Having no voice; mute.

2. Linguistics Uttered without vibration of the vocal cords, as the sounds (t) and (p).

When I picked the one out of my jar I felt like I should keep it to myself until after my sister's recital. Neisah did such an awesome job! Afterwards, we went to the hotel my mom was staying at and jumped into the pool in celebration of Neisah being able to be voiceless now. It was glorious.

Day 10: Adorable

a-dor-a-ble

1. Delightful, lovable, and charming.

2. Worthy of adoration.

I am the music specialist at an elementary school which means that I get the wonderful oppurtunity to teach the future generation how to sing and create wonderful music...or how to pay attention and listen to the teacher, which seems to be all I do on some days. But I really do enjoy it and the kids make me smile. Whether it is their smiling faces, cute drawing they bring to me, or the funny conversation I overhear them having with eachother. For example, this morning I was doing bus duty and overhear this gem and it brought a smile to my face.

Boy 1: Hey, do you want to be in our club?

Boy 2: Yeah. What is the club?

Boy 1: I don't know but we just decided to make a club and need members.

Boy 2: OK!

Day 9: Selfish

self-ish

1. Concerned chiefly or only with oneself.

2. Arising from, characterized by, or showing selfishness.

This morning I had a very eye opening experience. Tuesdays are my usual day that I go to thetemple but when I woke up this morning I was so tired. As I was getting ready for work I was switching back and forth between the decision to go today or put it off until next week. When I reached into my adjective jar this morning and pulled out the word "selfish," I felt very chastened. The work that is done at the temple is so important for those people who have not yet received the gospel and have been waiting for so long, how selfish of me to not spend a few hours helping with that. Needless to say, I did go and I had a great experience.

Day 8: Wild

Wild

1. Occurring, growing, or living in a natural state; not domesticated, cultivated, or tamed.

2. Not inhabited or farmed.

3. Uncivilized or barbarous; savage.

4. Lacking supervision or restraint. Disorderly; unruly. Characterized by a lack of moral restraint; dissolute or licentious.

5. Lacking regular order or arrangment; disarranged.

6. Full of, marked by, or suggestive of strong, uncontrolled emotion.

7. Extravagant; fantastic.

8. Furiously disturbed or turbulent; stormy.

9. Risky; imprudent.

10. Impatiently eager. Informal Highly enthusiastic.

11. Based on little or no evidence or probability; unfounded.

12. Deviating greatly from an intended course; erratic.

13. Games Having an equivalence or value determined by the cardholder's choice.

I spent the weekend at my brother's house. While there we had some adventures with Photo Booth on my mac - one of AY's favorite past times and the whole family got into it.

Day 7: Clean

clean

1. Free from dirt, stain, or impurities; unsoiled.

2. Free from foreign matter or pollution; unadulterated. Not infected.

3. Producing relatively little pollution. Producing relatively little radioactive fallout or contamination.

4. Having no imperfections or blemishes; regular or even.

5. Not ornate or intricate; spare. Sharply defined; clear-cut.

6. Free from clumsiness; deft; adroit.

7. Devoid of restrictions or encumbrances.

8. Thorough; complete.

9. Having few alterations or corrections; legible.

10. Blank.

11. Morally pure; virtuous. Having no marks of discredit or offense.

12. Fit for all readers, listeners, or audiences; not ribald or obscene.

13. Honest or fair.

14. Slang Not carrying concealed weapons or drugs. Innocent of a suspected crime.

15. Informal Free from narcotics addiction. Showing no evidence of using banned or performance-enhancing substances.

So they, meaning my landlords, had the carpets in my apartment shampooed yesterday and it smelt wonderfully clean. This new clean feeling brought up the fact that my apartment was sadly under-decorated so my room-mate, Jessica, and I went and picked up a few things to make it look homier. Here is the finished product:

Day 6: Delightful

de·light·ful

Greatly pleasing.

I had a surprising "delightful" run today. My new year's resolution this year was to start exercising more. To help me do this, I bought myself a new pair of running shoes for Christmas. Since then, I have gone running about 3 times.....all not really successful tries and really just made me want to never look at my new running shoes again. But this week has been all about trying new things so when I woke up I said I would try again. I tried a new way of running where I run for two blocks then walk for two blocks. It was actually delightful and I can't wait to try it again!

Day 5: Envious

en·vi·ous

1. Feeling, expressing, or characterized by envy.

2. Eager to emulate; emulous.

For those of you that don't know, one of my favorite past-times in life is going swinging. I don't really know why it started but when I was like 13 or 14 I would grab my walkman (yeah, that's right walkman) and go to the park behind my house and disappear into a world of music and day-dreams. Now, ten years later, I still do the same thing though there have been some changes: luckily I now have an iPod so I don't have to drag my cassette tape collection anymore and Provo has more people in it. The later change has created something of a difficulty lately. Now that it is getting warmer, people are starting to come to the park more often making getting a daily swing a difficult. It has also stirred some very negative emotions up in me. Every time, I turn the corner to see the park that is two blocks away from my apartment, I dread the sight of seeing people on the two swings at the park (two swings is NOT enough for any park). When I see the swings filled, I always stop in my tracks and am filled with an overwhelming feeling of jealousy and envy. The worst is when it's a couple who think it's romantic to sit in the swing staring into each other's eyes. THEY AREN'T EVEN SWINGING! ... so I usually end up creepily sitting at the picnic table behind the swing and wait. Don't judge me.

Day 4: Terrible

te-ri-ble

1. Causing great fear or

alarm; dreadful.

2. Extremely formidable.

3. Extreme in extent or

degree; intense.

4. a. Unpleasant;

disagreeable.

b. Very bad.

I was a little worried when I pulled this word out of my jar today that it was foreshadowing my choir's performance tonight. Luckily, that was not the case and the Voices of Thunder did FANTASTIC!

So I began to think about something terrible in my life right now, which, happily, was difficult to do because things are actually going pretty well. Then I got to my classroom this morning and saw these "joyous" things waiting for me.

They look so harmless don't they? With their bright colors and sparkles. But it's all a lie because when put into the hands of my students they are actually an instrument of torture - pun intended. I teach music at an elementary school and this week I have started teaching my 5th and 6th graders to play the recorder. I went into this already disliking recorders and that feeling has grown into an almost monstrous hatred within a few day. Maybe going into this with that opinion hasn't helped but thus it is. I am trying to be positive about teaching the recorders and maybe it will get better. But I can't help but feeling like there should be some terrifying music booming when I have to utter the words, "OK class, pull out your recorders" and then the nice, brightly-colored woodwinds change into the monstrosities they really are. THIS!

Day 3: Puzzled

puz‧zled

confused and unable to understand something.

So I got my new glasses today in the mail. Two things I find puzzling about these: One, they were free! It is some promotion this company is doing right now. Check it out here, you just have to pay for shipping. How does that even work? Two, fashion is such a fickle thing. One day giant glasses are only for nerds and the next they are considered a "must-have." Oh well, I still LOVE it.

Day 2: Fierce

fierce

1. Having a savage and violent nature; ferocious.

2. Extremely severe or violent; terrible.

3. Extremely intense or ardent.

4. Strenuously active or resolute.

5. Informal Very difficult or unpleasant.

6. Savage or threatening in appearance.

Thistles by Ted Hughes

Against the rubber tongues of cows and the hoeing hands of men
Thistles spike the summer air
And crackle open under a blue-black pressure.

Every one a revengeful burst
Of resurrection, a grasphed fistful
Of splintered weapons and Icelandic frost thrust up

From the underground stain of a decayed Viking.
They are like pale hair and the gutturals of dialects.
Every one manages a plume of blood.

Then they grow grey like men.
Mown down, it is a feud. Their sons appear
Stiff with weapons, fighting back over the same ground

Day 1: High-pitch

high-pitched

1. High in pitch, as a voice or musical tone.

2. Steeply sloped, as a roof.

3. Marked by or indicating intense emotion

This last week I have been playing my guitar quite a lot. It's just such a great escape from my daily stresses and relax into my calm strumming rhythms. I have really fallen for an Elvis Presley song Can't Help Falling in Love covered by Ingrid Michaelson. Check it out!

Let's start something new....

It's been awhile....

I have had this need to have some more creativity in my life lately so I decided to indulge this need. I really love photography (more of from an observer's standpoint than from participating in the activity) and have wanted to start taking some more photos. But it always seems like there is nothing to take pictures of in my life so I haven't delved into my own picture taking skills.

With that now stated, I have decided to give myself an assignment to become the participant! I came up with this plan and will carry it out.

THE PLAN:

365 Days of Adjectives in Photos

Everyday I will take a photo that represents the adjective of that day. I have made (meaning I went online and found one) a list of adjectives. Each day I will pick an adjective out of my "adjective jar" (right now that is an empty mason jar filled with the printed off adjectives).

Then I will post the photo and possibly stories that go with it.

Well, there it is. I start tomorrow. Wish me luck!