Pollyanna Eyes

Lately, I have been trying out small ways to better my life (as much as I hate to admit it, I've even been browsing those cutesy "500 ways to brighten your day" blogs). As you may well know from reading THIS blog, I am an idealist, and as such, I have the bad habit of forgoing daily enjoyment for the sake of worrying about how I can better the world in the future.

Recently, my delightfully wise BFF told me she makes her decisions based on the criteria, "Will this make me happy?" and that was like a revelation to me. "You can DO that??? But... what about Ethiopian orphans? Washington politicos and their lack of touch with reality? The absence of basic art appreciation in America? What about my family???"

All in good time, my pretties. All in good time.

The following are the effective tricks I've been trying out to just get happy! Daily! I dare you to try one out. Or send me a new challenge I can try.

- Talk a stranger every day (Going two weeks strong with this and I'm likin it, and my neighbors and a few cashiers all now like me)


- Eat something green daily

-Take note of what your face looks like when you're home alone. Try to brighten that up by keeping your face how it looks after you say "Cheese Whiz"

- Make up impossible stories inspired by real life (I'm currently envisioning an epic battle between the DC and the VA squirrel populations. The dark and swarthy black squirrel who presides over my backyard is the hero)

- Find a good recipe, go grocery shopping only for its ingredients, bake, and give to friends

- Volunteer to babysit for married friends for free

- Enjoy quality time with a wee one, get down to their level (literally... try being 2 feet tall again. Gives you more empathy.)

- Start a savings account and add something, anything, to it bi-weekly

- Make your bed (this small act of orderliness totally makes a difference in my chi! And this coming from a girl who NEVER, EVER made her bed before age 18)

- Recite a positive mantra to yourself in the morning (it feels corny, but I go with the Young Women's theme. If that fails, I also have a Valentine's Day card I reread,

You really deserve the best! You are so beautiful, wise, and intelligent. Steadfast, true to yourself, hard working, COOL, INTERESTING :), lovely, and courageous- truly a great and wonderful person! I love you more than you know!

Sisters are so useful)

- Be honest today. With yourself, with God, with others


- Drink lemonade instead of water


-Use superglue to hold together your favorite shoes and REFUSE to stop wearing them (this one did not come from anyone else's list... it was inspired by my beloved Payless-Steve-Madden-Knock-Off-Silver-Ballet-Flats, age 7)


-Like Pollyanna, find something to be glad about

Not quite career advice, but perhaps a sign that I'm headed in the right direction

This just in: This world-famous newlywed earned a degree in art history. If she can do it, I can do it. 

Lullaby

I can't sleep tonight, although the video above is helping. Today has been the first (and hopefully only) day of my life made absolutely fabulous by the death of another human being. Say it with me now, "OSAMA'S A GONER!!!!" Did anyone else get teary-eyed watching the people celebrate into the night at Ground Zero?

It's my little brother Marcus' 22nd birthday. I made strawberry-oat muffins at 10:30 pm this evening to commemorate his life. I ate them with relish (figuratively, not literally- ew) at 10:31pm to keep the party going. I miss siblings. It's one of the hardest things about the East Coast.

I miss art. I miss learning about art right now. One of the walls in my room is stripped bare in preparation for an art project, because I need something to fill the creative void. I've got some good ideas a'brewin.

I have great roommates. Whether they are trusting me with their real thoughts on life, love, and family, driving me places, bringing me home Cafe Rio, or unwittingly setting a good example to me by unobtrusively serving and loving the people around them (I SEE YOU THREE!), they make life out here a lot more bearable.

And with that, I close my lullaby post- it doesn't mean much in the long run, but it's bringing a little softness to the end of my day.

Sugar-Fast FAIL!

That's right, I'm almost done with no-sugar-for-lent. It has been a rough, no-rewards journey. Next Sunday, as the world celebrates the resurrection of our Savior, I will commemorate the concurrent close of the ascetic season with a truckload of Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs and these two sugar-coma-inducing recipes I have been eyeballing for a month.

The secret truth is, I don't feel like this sugar-heist got me anywhere I'd envisioned or wanted to go. I've gained 5 pounds. I've felt HORRIBLE about myself when in desperation I've jumped onto such grey-area foods as yogurt-covered raisins, carrot-blueberry muffins, and sugar-free chocolate. I feel a little bit less healthy than I did before, when I still had my idealistic faith in the edict that sugar is toxic and that my 52-day sugar fast would rid me of my sweet tooth and set me on a more pristine, composed, and healthy life path than the cupcake-lined path I slogged along before.*

Thus I find myself this Friday morning with a commitment to see the course, but vanished enthusiasm for the game. As I polish off my second costco bag of dried fruit (they taste like gummies!), I attempt to make sense of the last two months and to spy out where I should go from here. I do NOT accept defeat easily. I wanted this sugar fast to really have an impact instead of make me hungry for two months. I have actually been mulling over the idea to keep on with the sugar fast after Lent, see if the change from rainy spring to outdoors-filled sunny spring will help any. My reasoning looks like this:

Good: I can fall asleep on demand and wake up feeling more refreshed than in months past. Must continue.

Bad: I have most definitely subsidized the sugar-gap with carbs (Popcorn! Wheat-thins! Baked Mac n'Cheese! Anything to make me feel full!!) Must quit this.

Good: I saved money. Must always do this.

Bad: I rarely work out now, although that could be a combination of allergies, three weeks of rain, and the lack of sugar to guilt me into working out on a weekly basis. MUST do better!

Good: I proved to myself that I have real will-power during the ultimate test a few weeks ago: I sat and ordered only diet Coke for dessert on a date at the Carlyle!! Go me.

Bad: I had to sit and watch my date and some other people enjoy a famed white chocolate bread pudding and an enormous slice of apple-pie-almond-streusel at the Carlyle for a solid forty minutes! Sad day.

I know several other people that have done the sugar-fast this season, does anyone have any differing conclusions? I'd love to hear stories!

-----------------

I'm back from a run. Today was the first day of the year that I could actually feel heat rising from the blacktop as I ran (the kind of atmosphere that turns me into a consistent outdoor runner). Today was the first day I've topped four miles in MONTHS! I ran 5.58 miles today at a consistent pace, and if you know me, that is a miracle. I am very much a sprint-walk-sprint-walk type of runner. Sustained pacing seems to be completely incompatible with my impatient little legs, which is why I'll never run a marathon (without great pain and frustration and cursing at whatever hot boyfriend made me run it with him). Maybe this sugar-fast DOES have more pluses to it than I thought.

While I was running, I decided on a new course. I am indeed going to continue with this sugarless experiment after Easter. I failed my sugar fast, and after Easter I'll go at it again throughout the weeks, although I will afford myself a little more leniency when friends are going out for dessert or when I have a hankering to bake. Given the upswing in outside temperature and the ample time I have for running now, I think I could pull this off til my birthday, in June.

Call me crazy. Sometimes you just want to experiment with life, right?

I might have a celebratory Milkshake cupcake next week (yes, that's one of Crumbs' flavors). I might make those peanut butter chocolate cookies I mentioned before and stuff myself and my friends silly Easter weekend. But come April 25th (Happy Birthday Katie!), I'm gonna keep on going.  For funzies.

Best thing you'll see all day

My immaturity comes out in full bloom at Costco.

Scene 1 (two weeks ago)

I see the Tangled DVD on sale at Costco, grab it, hug it to my cheek, and start jumping up and down and squealing with delight. Two stodgy middle-aged men next to me stare disapprovingly.

Scene 2 (almost every time I go)

Everyone else shepherds heavy carts of stuff to the checkout, while I stand in line with a lone milk carton, a veggie, and sometimes a cheap DVD on the ground in front of me. Sometimes I open up my new bag of Kirtland dried fruit and EAT IT right in front of other line-standers to feel like even more of a Costco renegade. In your face, baldy!

Scene 3 (EVERY TIME I go)

I have to suppress a giggle when I pass these in the frozen section:

Because I always, ALWAYS, read,

 "Spanktopia."

BAHAHAHAHAHA!

Fin.

Rules of Chillin

For Kathryn the Energizer bunny, who does not know the joy of unproductivity

1. Start by walking into your room and donning your sweats... with NO intention of working out.
2. Go to your fridge and look in it multiple times for funzies... After a while pick something to nibble.
3. There should be at least four tabs open on your browser: facebook, an interesting link someone posted on facebook, and two or more of your other internet guilty pleasures. (if you are not a big internet surfer, some suggestions include mymodernmet.com, dcist.com, the nytimes style section, cooking blogs, or hulu.com. Guys, I'm really enjoying Cougartown. There. I said it).
4. Ideally, you should have a roommate and friends around so you can discuss such non-pressing issues as kissing, your next grocery run, the eternal work-out-or-not-work-out debate, and what would happen if the squirrels of DC attacked Virginia.
5. Text Somebody!
6. If there is a couch, sit on it. If there is a footstool, or a coffee table, or pretty much anything foot level in front of the couch, put your feet up. Use the remote.
7. If you are lucky enough to have a significant other, CUDDLE CUDDLE CUDDLE! Do it baby. Take one for the team.

In short,

You MAY:
Listen to music
Be outside on the grass
Be on vacation
Pop popcorn
Fall asleep
Be Happy

You May NOT:
Learn stuff you will use later in life
Burn calories (except from laughing or chasing squirrels)
Clean
Accomplish anything you had intended to do when you got up this morning
Worry
Grow old before your time

Any questions??

Illustrations:

Embrace Your Liberty's most repeated words, in mug form!

Random Pretty Things I Found

DCist Flickr Pool

Pics 1, 2, and 3 are from mymodernmet.com, a drool-worthy arts blog. Every day, it never disappoints.

March Madness Queen

When your 80 year old grandfather writes the whole family an email and tells us he was Jimmered Thursday through Saturday watching BYU rock the first two rounds of the NCAA Men's BBall tourney, you know it was a good year to be really into March Madness. When your alma mater's frontman is a shoo-in for national player of the year (52 points in one GAME!) and his name inspires worship from men, women, and children of all religions even 2,000 miles away from his university, you know it was a good year to be into March Madness. When more first and second round games ended as buzzer beaters than ever and you see some MAJOR heart break played out through bizarre last-second foul shots (so sorry, Pitt), you know it was an excellent year to be into March Madness!!! Needless to say, this has been a great week, and promises to be a great month. This is my greatest source of joy this month of March:

Yes, that is my bracket. On top of my singles ward's 84-person pool. It's been up there since the second day of the tourney (I went for broke with a couple sweet sixteen upsets though, we'll see how long I remain the Queen). I worked super hard on my bracket this year, using a cool "Blind Bracket" feature from wsj.com where you picked winners based purely on strengths and weaknesses, you weren't shown the names of the teams. I still somehow ended up with BYU and SDSU in the Final Four and I took that as a sign. I rolled with all of my blind bracket picks, except I advanced Ohio and ODU more than the blind bracket said to (The Ohio bet is panning out, ODU not so much).

I FINALLY understand what Ben Herman was talking about in 12th grade when he screamed, " AHHH I love March Madness so much!" in the middle of broadcast journalism in an slightly inappropriate groan (I remember it vividly cuz I couldn't understand what would provoke that kind of frenzy). Now I know. Talking sports with guys is the best, btw, because they get so excited that they lose a lot of their cool front, one of the cutest and most refreshing things ever. My first-place rank at the top of my church pool got me a shout-out in Elder's Quorum today, every girl's fondest dream. Like you, Ben, now I can say exuberantly: I LOVE MARCH MADNESS SO MUCH!

I'll be honest, I love the drama of sports, which is why I tend to check in during tournaments and bowl series, not so much regular season stuff (unless it's BYU men's volleyball, football, or Jimmer, of course). And I only bother following college sports. One of the best lines I've heard on Sportscenter this week is, "College ball is a coach's game. NBA is a player's game." So true, and that's why I love college sports. All about the heart, the team, the learning curve, the four-year window of opportunity. Not the million-dollar contract. Any thoughts on this? It has been pointed out to me recently that I have never actually been to most kinds of pro sporting events- no NBA, NFL, NHL games for me, ever. (Baseball, yes). What can I say, I'm from Las Vegas. The closest teams are in LA!

I have been following basketball this year since the first SDSU game, I feel like that's legit. To all my girlfriends out there that are bemoaning the total absence of attention from their men this month, take it from me: it's actually really fun to delve into the game of basketball! This year, I've learned how seeding works, what "off the boards" and "in the paint" mean, how drawing fouls can actually be a recognized skill for a team, what to look for in a talented player, and how crappy Charles Barkley's predictions are compared to mine (BOOYAH). As you all know, I am an arts girl, so this a rare and awesome moment for me, this sports post. I'm just writing to let you know that I'm seeing the beauty in sports, the beauty of effort, which, if you're a guy, I probably don't have to describe you (or if you are a really awesome girl). Fun, crazy,  interesting, emotional, beautiful stuff, that basketball. The month of March just shot up the charts in my book. Now here's hoping Kansas and BYU continue to shoot up the bracket...

(I just had to throw this in- it's been in my head for two weeks)

because because because

Because it saved my non-sugary life today:

(It's a Greek Yogurt flavored like veggies and ranch. Aka it flavor-fies AND healthifies the pita chips I'm still downing like mad. Day 7 of non-sugar-Lent, going strong!)

Because I'm happily obsessed with this band:



(I don't remember whose facebook/gchat status first introduced me to the band The Civil Wars, but thank you. I had a REALLY long inner debate between four of their tracks to bring to the blog today, that's how good they are. This video won because they took a traditionally happy song and made it sad and somehow made it better and that is NOT easy to do! Mad props, you two.)


Because I'm feeling nostalgic today:

Come here!

Come back!

Come back!

Parental jackpot. I tells you.

You come here too. :)

Because we talked about the parable of the sower in Sunday school this week and it got me pondering how many scriptures use flowers and plants to drive their point home:

Mark 4: Out went the sower to sow, by the wayside, on the stony ground, among the thorns, and finally, "other fell on good ground, and did yield fruit that sprang up and increased; and brought forth, some thirty, and some sixty, and some an hundred. He that hath ears to hear let him hear."

Manet.

Isaiah 35:1 The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.

Alma 32:28 ye will begin to say within yourselves- It must needs be that this is a good seed, or that the word is good, for it beginneth to enlarge my soul; yea, it beginneth to enlighten my understanding, yea, it beginneth to be delicious unto me.

D & C, Luke, Matthew, AND 3rd Nephi: "Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow, they toil not, neither do they spin, and the kingdoms of the world, in all their glory, are not arrayed like one of these.

There's so many more. Be on the lookout for them this spring :)

End of Day 2. Good Lord this is hard.

So, I am giving up sugar for Lent, and it is ridiculous. I'm still true to my goal, but I've definitely nose-dived in other categories to make up for it. I'm going to be keeping track of this "journey" to sugar will-power though!! (haha... "journey." American Idol/Bachelor script writers' annoying go-to word).

Items that replaced Beloved Sugar with mild-to-moderate success today and yesterday:

1. EXCEDRIN*

2. Pita Chips. Bags at a time.

3. Water

* The fact that I have had a spine-to-skull headache for two days is really, really the reason (besides religion) why I am undertaking this fast. I can feel my addiction to sugar, the inability to withstand it, and it worries me. If you are a sporadic health-nut in America, like me, you no doubt have come across a health blog or magazine article in the last 3 years extolling the addictive and destructive qualities of white processed sugar (such an innocuous little monster...). Many experts now believe sugar is more hard to kick than cigarettes (it stays in your SPINE for two weeks before your cravings begins to wane!). As stewards of wonderful bodies, this fact should definitely disturb us. Yes, this is a mild soapbox issue with me, admittedly because it's something I'm trying to overcome. Sugar negatively affects our sleep patterns, attention span, ability to focus, and more obviously and most worrisomely (is that a word?), our metabolism and our ability to transition from different emotions or moods effectively.

I remember the last time I was off sugar. I NOTICED how less roller-coaster-y my emotions were. It was fantastic. Day 2- rough but going strong!

Sugar already appears in my diet in the guise of high-fructose corn syrup and the like, my goal is to just eliminate the obvious sweets that will give me a rush without a SHRED of nutritional value (and we all know that kind of sugar when we eat it. Candy, baked goods, sugar drinks, etc).

Besides Excedrin, today's Lindsey Life-Saver award goes to:

The apple. My body couldn't handle no sugar, so this is what I stuffed it with. Day 2 complete, stay tuned to hear what challenges lie ahead in Day 3 of the Sugar Sabbatical 2011, including a visit to the bakery with a new Birthday Cupcake potentially free for me to sample if I so desire. Dun-dun DUN!