Four Degrees Fahrenheit

That's how cold it is in 84604 aka Provo, Utah. My sympathies to you lovely people.

Myself? So cold in upstate New York that I took a time-out halfway through the day and curled up on the couch for a few hours while reading the Happiness Project. (read it if you see it).

This is a lazy post, only read if you are feeling laxadaisical or else you might be irritated at the pace.

So it has been officially a week since BYU Winter Semester started and I have not been attending, which has strangely not been weird. About 3 weeks before I go into the Missionary Training Center and I am ready. I got a watch today so that was bascially my last necessity, so now I'm good to go. But really, I got an international driver's license today (no test, a little worrisome) so I guess I can go drive in India now if need be.

For all male inquirers wondering about my domestic skill set, I made the Perfect Banana Bread yesterday. Unfortunately you will have to wait about 18 months to pursue me.

Our fence is almost done being built and I made a supreme pizza. I watched Cake Boss and finished my 6th vision board. I visited the bird store and did some laundry.

I legitimately have not been bored with being at home. It. is. wonderful. I have to earn my keep by walking our adorable puppy and babysitting my cute little sister.  I get Netflix and I don't have to do any homework. Life is good, people. I think I'm enjoying it too much actually, would you all judge me if I dropped out of school to write a few books?

I plan on dedicating 3 solid days to immersing myself in the politics of America. I will go through all major news networks and read at least one article from each one, should be interesting.

I hope everyone else in the world is doing splendidly, I am amazed that I have people from all over the world who read my blog pretty frequently. Thank you!!

This is what I see on my statistics page:

Entry	Pageviews
United States	5977
United Kingdom	650
Canada	369
Russia	340
Australia	337
Germany	314
Singapore	245
India	243
Philippines	173
Greece	103

It is mind-blowing and so very cool.
Good night, off to read some more of my book!
love, Courtney
 

The Secret: Documentary

I consider myself pretty lucky, good things happen to me all the time. I realized after watching this documentary that I had been practicing The Secret, without even knowing it.

Worth a watch, thought-provoking if nothing else. Heads-up, some of the acting is uber cheesy. :)
The Secret (first 20 minutes)

Society is Sick and Needs a Cure.

Agenda for today: go to the market, scrapbook with the family, stay warm, watch The Secret documentary.

I have been giving some thought to the recent news reports involving shooters. I have come to the conclusion that everyone should read the short article "Sheep, Sheepdogs, and Wolves." Guns are not the problem. The problem is the culture of violence that has been glorified in Hollywood and the psychological problems that exist in society. Our society is sick. I'm not trying to be over-religious but I want to pose an idea: a lot of these problems could be solved if people had stable family lives. The teachings of my church (www.lds.org and www.mormon.org) have a heavy emphasis on the importance of the role family plays in shaping our character.

I'm serious. There are many psychological disorders that are genetic and/or unavoidable but for the other cases, most of them had some kind of serious family dysfunction. I think that it is so important for people to recognize that people are delicate and should be given positive role models at a young age. Otherwise, people create role models out of violent characters.

Also, stop releasing the name(s) of the shooters. There is a small part of every person that wants to be important. For some people, committing a heinous crime is a way to achieve that. If they don't become an infamous celebrity, at least some of the appeal is taken away from committing these acts. My very deepest sympathies go out to the victims and their families. I am especially troubled by the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary because children are so innocent. I ask that as a society we take a few seconds to think about the most important things in life and take care of the people we care about because the world is getting a little crazy.

Also, I may get a gun. Guns are not the problem, people are the problem. Lives can be saved if they are being protected.

There is Always a Lot to Say.

We are all in the midst of the holiday season. There is a lot going on with all of us, I don't feel guilty in the slightest about taking a little time to pen my thoughts.

First of all, happy anniversary Mom and Dad! They are the reason I believe in true love, know what to expect from my husband, and my biggest cheerleaders for my life choices. Congratulations on 23 years of marriage and I love both of you like crazy cakes.

I'm feeling gluttonous of late, probably a sign of dehydration. I encourage all of you to drink extra water during this season, it will help your health in many ways.

For Christmas I got a lot of useful gift cards and some money, practical for my upcoming mission. I cannot wait for my mission to Tahiti! I have several items of clothing for Tahiti but the catch is that I'll need to pack winter clothes for my time in Provo UT MTC.

You know who I think is awesome? Jennifer Lawrence. She is beautiful (dime a dozen in Hollywood) but also really enjoys her life. And it's clear why: she has a great sense of humor and she realizes the value of being healthy (physically and mentally).

I may have met my soul mate. Possibly. I am a hopeless romantic so it's possible that I'm overdramatizing this, but I know that this person made me realize what a soul mate would be like. I don't know his name, but we talked on the airplane from Rochester to Cleveland. He goes to the Rochester Institute of Technology to study Optical Engineering. He is a blonde (not typically my type, I usually go for dark or foreign/exotic) but with a handsome face. I was not expecting to talk to him, we just threw around a few lackluster comments at the beginning of the flight and then I was planning on sleeping but we ended up talking the whole flight about really interesting things, almost hitting the highlights of our favorite thoughts. He doesn't like comedians who end up yelling to make something funny, he understands what I mean about Anne Hathaway's acting. He didn't agree for the sake of pleasantry, he actually meant it and further explained what I thought. He wasn't trying to make me like him and vice versa. I didn't have to explain things that didn't make sense when I said them, he knew what I meant. We talked about ideas and people. He is very intelligent. We talked intelligently. It was a beautiful thing. I have no idea what to do with this information other than save it here and remember how I felt like we'd known each other for a long time.

My parents are out to dinner and I'm in charge of my little sister Lindsay and she wants to look at pictures of dogs, so I must away. Per usual, lots more thoughts but it is what it is.

Au revoir, Court

At My Marriage Reception: I Got You.

I have loved this dance for over a year and here's a secret: I want to do this dance with my husband at our wedding reception: Leona Lewis- I Got You.
P.S. I love Melanie & Marko in this. :)

So You Think You Can Dance: I Got You

Exam Week, Kinda Bleak.

There you go, yet another by-product short poem brought to you by Courtney's Tired Brain.

I have been awake since 4 am, studying for my 11:00 scheduled Political Science 200 exam. During that time I gave a girl a ride to work & I drove/walked through snow. Fortunately I was wearing my waterproof, oil slick-resistant, steel-toed hiking boots that I just rediscovered under my bed. Yes, there is quite a bit of snow. I am actually home now, possibly for the rest of the day because I almost hit a pole while driving because my car didn't turn very well.

I have the exciting prospect of attending Andrea & Connors' wedding on the 22nd! Thrilled that I can be the Maid of Honor, in attendance. I'm doing pretty well in all aspects of shutting down my residency at Alta Apartments, just have to finish doing about...6 loads of laundry of clothes I don't ever wear. (I want them to be in good condition for giving them away, of course.)

I'm actually less tired from all of the studying I have been doing and more tired from all of the time thinking about the importance of the final exam grade. Gah.

I'm watching Charlie Brown Christmas for the first time ever, pretty good so far! I didn't realize that this famous song was from this movie. "Of all the Charlie Browns in the world, you're the Charlie Browniest!" :)

Seriously concerned that I don't love my family members enough, sometimes. Like I'm seriously more excited to see my puppy more than anything else when I go home in 5 days! Is that wrong? I just know that I don't have to impress my puppy and she loves me anyway. I don't have to defend the guys I date to her either, she just assumes that I have valid reasons. Is this crazy talk? Possibly.

I hope everyone is enjoying the Christmas season! Lucy is on to something, I should charge for my therapeutic insight and observation. Ailurophasia is the fear of cats, I know someone with that. Pantophobia is the fear of everything! Ok, I like Lucy. I want real estate for Christmas also! Or just cash. Please, please, please just give me the monetary value of whatever you were thinking of getting me. :P

Here is the secret to enjoying Christmas: give. Make people around you happier, your work is never done. Right now I'm working on a quote book for someone and it has completely turned around my mood from stressed and distracted to peaceful. Did you know that PEACE is the only feeling that the Devil cannot replicate?

Have a happy week!!
Courty

Let Kids be Kids.

I have a few thoughts that come from a very personal place. I have always had a very healthy self-image. I can attribute much of this to the "plain Jane" style of my Mom. My mom has a lot of natural beauty and I always told my friends how pretty my mom was. In a lot of pictures of me as a toddler I actually look like a little boy. I'm so glad that my mom didn't put the idea of "image is everything" into my head. If kids want to look pretty, make "ants on a log" for a healthy snack or get them into sports. I will dress my kids up, but I will never dress them up to look like mini versions of celebrities or teenagers. I think it's cute to play "dress up" but when a toddler is giving fashion advice, I really think that's teaching them the wrong priorities and that's not okay. A lot of girls in America today have image issues because their parents set bad examples and/or it is expected that they looked a certain way. If you start that early, they'll have problems earlier.

I don't mean to come across as extreme, but I really think that there is a time and place when girls should wear make up and wear trendy clothes to school. That time shouldn't happen until they date, ideally.

In short: dressing up kids for play or for a cutesy photo is fine, but don't make them feel like that is when they are the prettiest and don't send them to school like this.