New Happiness

Ok, besides the fact that the Relief Society broadcast was AMAZING and that my home stake's Women's Conference was OUTSTANDING, I have other happy things that may have just completed my life.

1) My mom, bless her, took me shopping while I was home because I am a very poor no-longer-college student, and she bought me not only a new skirt [which is adorable] but a new pair of Church shoes that just might be the most favorite shoes that I now own.

Aren't they fantastic??? Seriously. I wore them to church yesterday and I felt amazing.

2) I saw a new musical on Friday. It's a musical adaptation of Emma. I was skeptical at first, because we all know that it is one thing to make a movie from a book, but an entirely different thing to make a musical out of one. It works sometimes [like Les Miserables] and sometimes it doesn't [like Gone With The Wind]. This one was totally amazing. I think it must be off-Broadway, but it was the most fantastic thing I have seen since London. Mr. Knightly was a god, Emma was perfect, Harriet Smith was both as endearing and annoying as she should be, and the music was fun and sooooo good. There's a song Knightly sings about Emma and ugh! It totally made me cry.They were so cute! And I laughed my face off. Thankfully, the girl sitting next to me from our group was single, too, so we laughed at the same things... After Knightley finished his BEAUTIFUL song [part of which can be viewed on youtube here:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aw2LdVR1GC4 ], she leaned over to me a whispered, "I want one of those." I was in total agreement

So yes, new happiness has been found. Besides that, I inherited a full package of Halloween Oreos. Perfection...for the time being...

Begging Time...

I am going to completely abandon every sense of pride I ever posessed and get down on my knees [figuratively, of course. I couldn't type here if I actually were kneeling] and BEG, PLEAD, and CAJOLE any of you with any connections into the world of publishing to give me a boost up into it. I've sent out at least 15 letters, still awaiting the response from three, and all have been rejections. This is ok, it happens to all authors. But I've just finished my SECOND novel, and my fingers are itching to get going on the third, and I don't even have any prospects for my FIRST! Granted, it is certainly possible for me to keep writing and then just pass this stuff out, but, call me greedy, I want to make a little bit of proft. And I want to avoid that copyrighting issue. What's to stop any of you sneaky twits from selling this as your own? I don't care about being a bestseller, I just want to share what I've got with people!
So please, friends, if you know anyone in the adult fiction publishing area, or knows someone who knows someone, or your dentist's neice's husband's brother's podiatrist's former in-laws work at a publishing house, let me know. If you need proof that I'm not just chasing a wild fantasy, I'll send you some stuff. It's gone over pretty well with everyone who has read it thusfar, and I'm very proud of it.
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE. Thanks so much, and I promise to never shame myself this way again.

Confessions

13 Confessions from Me:
1. I will not do anything that has a potential to embarrass me. This includes sports and games. Oddly enough, I will do almost anything in a skit...
2. I hate video games and think they are a HUGE waste of time
3. I don't like basketball. Hate it, actually.
4. I don't like Jim Carrey. I think he is a good actor, especially when he does serious stuff, but I don't think he is that funny.
5. I think birds are the creepiest, scariest things on the planet. I hate hate hate HATE them.
6. I can call up a movie quote almost immediately but it takes time for anything school related to formulate.
7. I hate blatantly stupid movies and shows. Napoleon Dynamite, Nacho Libre, The Office, etc. I don't ever care to see Dumb and Dumber for that reason.
8. I HATE bad grammar and wrong pronunciation
9. Slow drivers and walkers tick me off like nothing else
10. I have a crazy obsession with love. It's incureable. I read it, I listen to songs about it, I write stories about it, I watch movies about it.
11. I sing in the car when I'm by myself. Loudly.
12. I cry in movies and during songs and while watching Hallmark commercials.
13. I cannot watch films where a spouse dies without going entirely to pieces. Total meltdown.

I tag Erin, Alicia, Jane, and Steph. And anyone else who wants to...

Update

Well, I suppose I ought to let people know what is happening with me right now. Sadly, my life is not very exciting and I have little hope of it improving. I had two job interviews this week, one as a sales associate for Massage Envy, which would be good, but it doesn't sound like something I would enjoy. The other was for a position on the Inventory Team or as a Seller at Borders, which would be SPECTACULAR. Both went well, but Borders sounds like more fun to me! Let's see, what else.... OH! There was a HUGE power outage all across the lower half of the state of Ohio because of a wind storm sent up from Ike. 1 million homes without power! For days! We were only out for 36 hours here, but the phones and internet were out for an additional 24. Thank heavens for cell phones! We didn't suffer any damages here, but many did.
In other news, I finished the first draft of my second novel, "The Heart of a Scoundrel", which is hilarious and a rousing good time. Now I am editing (endlessly) and still trying to get the first novel, "From Afar", published, which is taking forever, as no literary agent has accepted it yet. But never fear, I shall prevail.
Oh yeah, and I still have school. Yick.

Chocolate

I love chocolate. I do. I make sure that I always have some nearby because I never know when I'll need a fix. Chocolate is a pick-me-up, it is my happy thought, and it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, rather like I'd imagine that love would. I'm not addicted, but I highly doubt that I could give it up entirely if I needed to. I pray every so often that it won't make the list of the Word of Wisdom forbidden food because if it did, I would cry for years. I'm afraid the Lord might do it anyway just so I have to suffer it. It would probably be really funny for Him to watch.

But does anybody notice that our chocolate changes with the seasons? Autumn is coming, and so I crave caramel and chocolate, like a Carmello. In winter, it's chocolate and mint. Spring...well, that's when the fruit candy is real big, but those of us who are purists get the Spring colored M&Ms of our choice. And summer is all about the chocolate and nuts. Why do we associate those flavors with those times of the year?

What do you think? What is your favorite seasonal chocolate treat?

Castles in the Sky

Yesterday I met a woman who had everything I had ever wanted in life. She had a husband who was not only attractive (no, I was not checking him out, but a girl does notice these things) but thoughtful and playful. She had a few kids, all of whom were well behaved and beautiful, to boot. And she was so cute and fun and really just a great mom. I got to hold her 4 and a half month old baby girl for a very long time, and she had the most amazing blue eyes I have ever seen and the most perfect lips. She was an absolutely beautiful baby and she smelled just like a perfect baby ought to. As I was holding her, the thought occured to me that had my life turned out differently, this could have been my life. I could have been the woman standing at the poolside chatting with friends holding her baby girl in her arms. Granted, I most likely would only have had the one, but still, holding that little girl in my arms, I could see it. I could see myself with the husband playing around with other kids in the pool while I held our beautiful baby girl in the shade, watching him with all the love in the world, shaking my head at his childish antics, wondering if I had married a boy or a man. I actually got teared up during all of this, wishing that it had been the way my life had gone. That little baby symoblized all I had ever wanted in life.
But my life isn't that way, and, though it pains me very much to admit it, that was not how it was supposed to be. My life is turning out just the way it is supposed to go, however that is. I may not like it now or understand it at this point, but the Lord works in mysterious ways, and it is not up to me to determine if it is right or wrong because He is in control. He knows what I want and what is best for me, and all I gotta say is He's never let me down before, so there must be a DANG good life waiting in the wings for me. I just gotta get there and not lose faith. I firmly believe that I will get all that I have been dreaming off since I was a little girl, complete with the handsome Prince Charming to sweep me off of my feet and dream of castles in the sky with me, and live happily ever after. I know that happily ever after is not something that just happens, but must be worked towards, and I am going to enjoy the adventure of the work.
But until then, I'll still remember with a bit of sadness what I saw yesterday of what I could have. I'll still get it, but that doesn't really stop me from wishing it could be sooner rather than later.

Giving

We had stake conference this weekend, and Elder Tiexiera [I THINK I spelled that right...] of the Seventy came to visit. He's from Frankfurt Germany but he seems to have lived just about everywhere. He told us this story about a man who lived with his family in Rwanda in the 70s. They were very wealthy and had a lot of possessions, but were very good people. One of the things that they had that was very important to them was a Mercedes Benz that they had picked out directly from the factory and they loved it very much. Anyway, a war started in Rwanda, and they needed to get out of the country. The fourteen year old daughter left fist, because the whole family could not travel together. They sent her to Portugal where they had a lot of family. The two sons left next, and then the wife. The man remained in Rwanda for a time to help the customers of his bank, to make sure that they would be taken care of. He had nearly everything taken from him. His massive collection of books was confiscated by the government. His money was absorbed into other funds. His house was foreclosed. He had nothing but money enough to leave and his Mercedes Benz. He met a friend of his on the road one day and asked how he was doing. The friend broke down into tears and told him how his mother was very ill and needed to go to hospital, but he couldn't get to her because he had no car, and they would never be able to leave the country on foot. This man reached into his pocket and pulled out his car keys and handed them to his friend. "If there is any car that can get through the borders, it's this one. Take it." His friend thanked him profusely and left. The only thing this man still had and he GAVE it away. Years later, after he'd been reunited with his family and they had been living in Portugal for some time, he was walking along a port with his wife and on a ship docked there, they saw a car that resembled the one that they used to have. They went over to the captain, who told them they'd had the car for months just waiting for someone to claim it, but no one had. All they had was a note with a single name on it. It just so happened that it was this man's name, and it was this man's car. He opened the note and it read: "Dear [his name], This car saved my mother's life. I return it to you with a heart full of gratitude. Signed [his friend]." The only thing that he GAVE away was returned to him.
Elder Teixiera's message was this: what we give, we always recieve. And we recieve more than we ever give.
It was an amazing conference.