Days 8,9,10. Oops

 Today I am going to be triple grateful! 

Mostly because I have failed the last 2 days at expressing it.... blogwise. 

1-To grandma: Look, I made a lamp!

That puppy [seen above] used to be a hideous golden lamp from DI

.....spray paint does wonders :)

Someday I'll blog about the rest of the treasures I got that day.

2. I've been needing a dirty clothes hamper. So bad. 

And I found a cute one today at Ross!

[seen beside my lamp]

Really, the clothing situation in my room was

wildly out of control.

Now it's....semi.... under control.

And 3!

To the US Postal Service:

Thanks for making peoples' days..... all the time!

Love, Taylor

But really, who doesn't love receiving letters?

There's just something about them that makes you happy. 

Because someone who has every excuse to lose contact with you 

[thousands of miles, years, or other kinds of space between]

has chosen not to. They took time enough to think of saying hello.

You officially crossed their mind without having crossed their path.

Of course it's give and take. 

You have to send them too :)

When you try hard, you might just receive letters from all places.

And receive them from all levels of creativity :)

 

 But regardless of when they come, or where they're from...

I love them.

Letters, that is.

Day 7: It's a little late....

Blogging once a day is hard.

Last night I only got in the ballpark of 3 hours of sleep.
Check in on that in about.... hmmm.
the end of this countdown [but really it's a countup?].....
to find out the reasoning behind this lack of sleep.
It's currently 2am.

And I'm going to highlight today my gratitude for people.
I love them.
It's pretty much that simple.
Think of all the fascinating, kind, talented people in your life.
But also think of those who are so good and beautiful and wonderful...
They just don't realize it yet.

I think of it this way.
Let's say you are an adult and you have a daughter.
She is absolutely darling and has a shining personality,
but she doesn't realize either.
She sees herself as something different than that.
As ugly, or bad, or annoying.
As a parent, she may not believe you when you say she is none of those things.
But you have to love her no matter what, right?
Well, wouldn't you be so grateful if she had someone
[a teacher, friend, anyone really...]
Who helped her to see her beauty. Her potential. Her light.

That's our job! To be that person!
When you can learn to see the good in other people
and help them to see it too, it's the most wonderful feeling.
Some people are easy. You can just see the good in them right away.
Others not so much.
They believe that they are bad so much...
that they've made others believe that way too.
they may even have you tricked.
But I'm here to say 

not so.

Never believe those things about yourself.
And never believe them about someone else.
Because at the core, it's never true.
It's a scam really.
To get you to not reach your full potential.

Try to love people today, as easy or hard as it may be.
I love you all. Thank you for being so wonderful.

Day 6: Lovely Friendship

So yesterday I had class until six pm.

And it was frigid cold on my 15 minute walk home.

Mostly the wind was blowing. hard...the kind with little snow pellets.

I was freezing.

and hungry.

I came home to this

sitting on my dresser.

it contained things like...

this

and this

and this 

Let me tell you a story about that bunny rabbit.

So one time there was an old man who lived in Coarsegold

He would bring these....well, kind of hideous....
wooden animals to our elementary school.

Boxes and Boxes of them. 

We just didn't really know what to do with them.
Aspen and I adopted this one.
And send it back and forth.
Instead of annoying, now it's nearly endearing :)
Oh shoot, I love our friendship.

Day 5: For the love of shoes.

Ok, today I love these shoes. 

Well all shoes really.

But especially my party shoes.

 Thank you mom for forcing me to buy cute things. 

Remember how I said that my wardrobe can be attributed to her?

These are included in that statement.

I hope you've had a good day. 

I will be doing spanish homework the remainder of the evening :)

Day 4:Little Lovers

 

 So today I'm going to be grateful for these two. 

Jess and Steve

 

They are wonderful. 

Jess is my opposite. 

And Steve and I are the same.

That's why we all get along so well.

But really, I just love them a ton. 

I never want them to leave Provo, although I'm aware it's inevitable.

I'm grateful for their friendship to me.

And their example.

Of how to be in love 

And how to be happy

Helps me to believe in fairytales.

 Hope your Superbowl Sunday was as exciting as mine!

[did I watch the game.... nope]

Gooooo......packers?

 -Taylor

Day 3

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LAUREN SMITH.

i love you :)

and am so grateful to be your roommate!

you have beaten teen pregnancy.

and have 3 more sweatshirts in pink and purple.

and rocked the stretchy pants and hard yoga moves this morning.

and the sweet dance moves tonight.

you are hilarious.

and dang cute.

and am so glad to celebrate your 20th birthday with you!

In ways like.....

Funfetti Crepes!

 Cute Table Settings...

 And how could we forget... 

Tony.

I hope you know how much we love you!

And I hope you had the best birthday ever :)

Day 2

Happy Day 2 of my birthday month "love blogging" spree
 

Today in my Spanish class we sang

"Soy un hijo de Dios"

interpreted: I am a Child of God

and I remembered how much I love the children of Peru.

And the things they taught me....

How to be grateful.

How to love better.

How to appreciate the love I do have. 

And most importantly, they taught me about the meaning of being a child of God.

He loves each one of us, no matter who or where you are.

You are His child. And to really know that makes a huge difference.

For them, it made all the difference. 

I hope it does for you.

It does for me.

Day 1

Well, I already failed for the first day...
Mostly, I left the house and didn't return for over 12 hours....
Forgive me?

buuuutttttttt.....
I decided that since it is the month of my birth.

To get in the spirit of gratitude for the life I've been given...

my goal is to post about something I like about my life or something i'm grateful for.

Every day.

For 20 days.

Because guess what? I'm turning 20.

Today's Love: My cute parents.

I just can't help but love them a whole lot.

First, look how cute they are :)

They are wonderful parents, and always want the best for us.

They also put up with me calling all the time with nothing to talk about when I get homesick.

[even though I'm pretty sure they don't have time to just "shoot the breeze"]

I attribute nearly my full wardrobe to the doing of my mother 

[thank heavens for Birthdays and Christmas...or I'd look like a bum]

I didn't get as many things as I would like from her, but I'll try to work with what I do have.

and I attribute nearly everything else to my father. [just kidding...but really, alot]

My eyes. 

My nose [or so I've been told]

My need for specific plan and direction.

A whole large chunk of my personality is nearly identical to his.

I think it's fitting to put them first on my list this month. 

After all, they're the reason I'm here. 

And that I've successfully made it to 20.

Or so I hope...

Thank your parents today...it doesn't have to be on any list. 

And to my parents who will read this

1. I love you both a whole lot. 

2. I can not wait to see you in.... 2 weeks :)

On sprouts and pyramids.

One time, in that class we talk about so darn frequently on here...

we were assigned to grow a plant. 

what is the paper about at the end?

relationships.

naturally.

so, of course, I read way too much into the events that happen in regards to this plant.

Anyways...

Today my plant sprouted.

It had been 3 weeks... and let's be real...I was starting to worry.

I mean, what does that say about my relationship "growing" ability?

[just kidding... but kinda....]

as girls we read into everything too much anyways. 

But regardless, this is what I got out of it in terms of relationships.

Sometimes they are slow starters. 

Sometimes you can't see anything there for a long while. 

But then, there it is. Undeniably growing....that cute little green sprout. 

Then I read a talk and realized maybe starting out with some effort and time to get it going isn't so bad.

Let's read this quote together and see what we get out of it :)

"Be friends first and sweethearts second. Lowell Bennion once said that relationships between young men and young women should be built like a pyramid. The base of the pyramid is friendship. And the ascending layers are built of things like time, understanding, respect, and restraint. Right at the top of the pyramid is a glittering little mystery called romance. And when weary travelers in the desert see that glitter on top of the pyramid from far off, they don't see what underlies the jewel to give it such prominence and hold it so high. Now, you don't have to be very smart to know that a pyramid won't stand up very long if you stand it on its point instead of its base. In other words, be friends first and sweethearts later, not the other way around. Otherwise, people who think they are sweethearts may discover they can't be very good friends, and by then it may be too late."

We'll leave it up to interpretation for time's sake. 

Hope you had a good day :)

As Always.