- Internship- love it, love it, love it!
- Stake Conference this weekend- AWESOME. Elder Bednar (my favorite) spoke at the Sunday session, and of course it was inspiring and full of counsel of how I can do better. Gave me things to ponder about. The General Young Men and Young Women Presidents were also there, along with Elder Craig C Christensen of the Seventy. 40 Stakes participated in this regional conference (at the conference center and via satellite broadcast)! Needless to say, it was slightly noisy and I think I'll stick to my YSA ward for now...
- The Saturday evening session was only for my YSA Stake and it was TERRIFIC. We talked about "saving"- saving non-members, saving those who are less active, saving each other and saving ourselves. The conference was just wonderful.
- Narrowed down my grad school writing sample- I initially wanted to write a paper and why plural wives defended polygamy in the 19th century but once I commenced research, it morphed into this humongous monstrosity that could not be written well in just a few months. So I narrowed it way down and now I'm focusing on the Woman's Exponent defense of polygamy. The Woman's Exponent was an unofficial but church-endorsed magazine for women from 1872 to the early 1900s, and enjoyed a wide circulation. Anyway, the writing sample is... coming along, albeit like tar. Sigh.. I'm just not a fan of writing. Correction: I like writing (like this blog), just not scholar/ academic writing.
- Bought new food and tried 3 new recipes this weekend. Can you tell that cooking is a de-stresser for me? I bought a sweet dumpling squash (CUTE!) and tried allrecipes.com's Cheesy Acorn Squash and Food Network's Mashed Acorn Squash. The former was pretty alright... I need to tweak it a little. However, the latter was EXCELLENT. Mashed cooked squash, sour cream, little cumin and garlic powder, salt and pepper and yummy! My 3rd recipe was peanut butter cupcakes with peanut butter reeses cups with peanut butter frosting. Yes I know, I know... I was craving peanut butter yesterday (weird...) and had to make these. Turned out FANTASTIC except that next time, don't stinge on the sour cream if using Betty Crocker cake mix. It was a little too dry, but still tasted great. Peanut butter, peanut butter, peanut butter...
- Hot Pot to celebrate Vickie's birthday- DOUBLE HAPPINESS. Plus since we bought her a copy of the BBC North and South, we can watch it during the holidays... :)
- The Good Wife- new drama series that I'm hooked on, and I will admit, is the cause of my procrastination for grad school applications... so I can't complain if my grad school applications don't get done on time. Sigh... ANYWAY, if you are looking for a tv drama to waste time on and not feel too guilty, THIS IS THE ONE. It's not just a show about a housewife-turn-working Mom who discovered her husband cheated on her. There is SO MUCH more to it. It's a very complex show that makes you think about issues. For example, how far would you go to support your lying husband, who seems to have changed, but hasn't really because he's still clinging to his political aspirations, but then has taken on religion, but also harbors Old Testament "violence"? Yeah, that complex. Watch it.
- Then, there is one film that I want to also recommend that won't make you feel guilty for procrastinating since it's only an hour and a half long. And completely clean. Lovely, Still. I LOVE Christmas movies, and this is one of my favorites. I want to BUY this (and I don't normally say this). 2 elderly people meet in a first awkward encounter that slowly turns into a beautiful romance. Boring? HECK NO! It was MAGICAL. And even more astonishing is the fact that the writer and director of the film is around my age. Makes me feel like a loser.
- Helped with a Halloween Party for Down Syndrome children. I'm not a super huge fan of Halloween (I lack creativity), but it was fun. Those kids were ADORABLE.
That's my life for the past few weeks. Next update? Sigh... Can't promise you when.
