Flava Flave Febrero

Greetings one and all....just as in January, i carried a piece of paper with me all month and wrote down my favorite things that happened all month....and now the time has come for my monthly highlight report! Try to contain your excitement....

Also, I love the song playing. Listen to it. We are ok.

I will begin with some specific categories of what I've been up to and then get on to the general list:

Injury report: At wallyball one Thursday night I hit the ball (like I usually do...nothing dramatic or abnormal....) and MAGICALLY my hand started turning purple and swelling up quite quickly and began to feel quite painful. The guy at the PE building told me I probably broke something so I went to the ER and got an x-ray....only to have them tell me it was just a bad bruise and a broken blood vessel. Good news, BUT....I wish I didn't have to pay the x-ray bill. Sheesh.

Tummy report: I have been eating such amazing things this past month! In congruence with giving up red meat (only in my own cooking...it's too much of a hassle to avoid it elsewhere) I began to eat a lot of ground turkey! Um, hello....SO yummy! And cheaper than ground beef. And healthier. So many pluses :) For awhile I became obsessed with Turkey Avocado burgers....so easy and delish. I just grilled up some of the turkey meat on my handy George Foreman (best invention ever....so glad an old crazy roommate gave it away to me) and add some avocado, add some ketchup and wrap it in two slices of wheat bread and BAM....wonderful. The other day I decided to brown the turkey in a frying pan, so I tossed in some pineapple slices and ate the whole smorgasbord with plenty of brown rice. I love food. Mmm. I also fell in love with my new "Smorgasbord Soup"...which consists of dumping cans of whatnot into a saucepan and creating "soup." This month's hit: 1 can kidney beans (drained), 1 can tomato chunks (not drained), 2 avocados sliced up, and some cheese for good measure. I highly recommend this.

My heavens tummy report turned into quite the occasion. I guess we can see where my true affection lies....especially on fast sunday around lunchtime :)

And on to the rest of the list I kept (deep breath).....

- My seminary teaching class. This class is Grade A. I am learning so much and I love feeling the Spirit at school. I got to go observe an actual seminary class and it made me REALLY want to be a seminary teacher. I guess we'll see what happens! I have my first teaching evaluation this Tuesday. I'm a little nervous but mostly really stoked. Also after observing me and Mariah (who is in the class as well) went to lunch at Zupa's for some delish sandwiches/soup and spiritual conversation. Best day ever! (Notice how this came back to food again.....haha)

- My calling. I teach Gospel Doctrine and I L-O-V-E my calling. I think I'm the one getting the most out of my lessons because I am so strengthened every time I prepare a lesson. I just get so excited every time it's my turn to teach.

- Refugee seminar. For my job (PR department....school of education...) I attend weekly seminars and write about them. Some are more interesting than others but it's so great to learn a lot about a field outside of my major. I feel so educated these days! haha. Anyways, one seminar in particular was about helping refugees in Utah. My little heart swelled inside me and made me want to save the world. I love days like that. It's rejuvenating.

- Seeing cloak boy on campus (this kid is famous for singing folk songs on campus and yes, he wears a Lord of the Rings-esque cape to school every day. I was so happy to catch a glimpse of him in action...)

- Church music. I started listening to less loud music and more Church music when I walked to class in the morning. It always helped me be less stressed. The plan was going great until my ipod ran away about a week ago....I'm really hoping it's hiding in my room somewhere....

- Writing. This month I decided I wanted to write an article for the Ensign, so I wrote one and sent it in. We'll see what happens. It just felt good to write stuff down.

- Journal. Speaking of writing....I write in my journal every single day. I've been doing this for a couple years now, but I just wanted to point out what a blessing it is. It's a great way to get all my worries and thoughts out of my head, and also a great way to remember my blessings at the end of every day.

- Valentine's Day. I love that holiday. I wore red and pink for the entire week preceding the day of love and happiness. Critics can scoff, but nobody will EVER disillusion me from the sweet, simple beauty of a day devoted to loving each other.

- Coconut cookies. My friend Mama Lewis in Cedar City gave me this rockin' recipe for the best cookies of my life: Whole wheat, walnut, chocolate chip, coconut, oatmeal COOKIES. Basically like glorified granola. Basically amazing. Me and these cookies were destined for each other.

- Sister Tanner fireside. I had the chance to attend a Relief Society fireside in another stake given by Sis. Tanner from the YW General Presidency. It was incredible. Always is.

- I bought a headband with a bow on it. And polka dots. Joy. Enough said.

- St. George trip. I already wrote a blog about this and posted pictures. It was lovely.

- Crunchy Peanut Butter. This should have gone in the tummy report but I just had to share....I have converted to crunchy peanut butter. It was a big decision and one I am quite satisfied with.

- New phone. The Verizon gods decided to bless me with a sleek, fancy new phone. I thought I was satisfied with my old one but this one is just so fun and easy to deal with.

- Hometeachers. My home teachers are the best. I'm so lucky to have them.

- Denny's. YES....a midnite roommate run to Denny's with Lars and Nicole. I really wanted hash browns but unfortunately they were out....tragedy. But still fun.

- Living Legends. I went to see the multicultural dance group perform on campus and it rocked my world. Polynesian, Mexican, Native American, Hawaiian....I was entranced. (Mandy, you would have loved this!)

- Sweater video. I had a vision for an amazing video involving a jealous sweater, and me and my roommate made it the other night. We're still working on editing it so you can't see it yet but....you should be excited.

- Crunchy Peanut Butter. I just want to point out that I accidentally put this on my list TWICE. haha.

- Yogurt Toast. Sorry again with the food. I'm out of control. I wrote awhile back about falling in love with Banana Creme yogurt. I began eating it every morning with a piece of plain wheat toast...the other day I decided to spread the yogurt directly onto the toast. It was an excellent decision.

- Cinderlilly. So I bought a new children's book :) It's the cinderella story line but all the characters are flowers. Since lilies are my favorite, THIS is my favorite. The pictures are amazing.

- FRISBEE. Yes....the sun has begun to come out more frequently and Provo-ites have begun to dust off their cleats. I got to play Frisbee the last 2 weeks and it made my little heart so so happy!

- Speaking of working out...I was so good about taking care of myself this month. In addition to eating well, I started working out almost every afternoon. Thanks Monica for the rockin' Tae Bo video! Billy Blanks is a slightly crazy and enormously sweaty man but hey, whatever gets me groovin'....

- J-Dawgs. I'm not sure if that's how it's spelled...but it's this hot dog stand in Provo. I finally went and ate there yesterday with my roommates and we sat in the sun and ate our delicious meals....complete with Apple Beer. What an amazing beverage (try a knock-off version....Manzana soda at Walmart...it's good stuff). Also, they had Journey songs playing on their speakers and the guy working there gave me a whole extra pickle with my meal because he heard me singing along. Yesssss....

DONE!
Done.
Good work for reading all that. Remembering it all made me feel like it's been a good month....even if the sun was rarely out and Provo-land still smells like straight up bologna when it comes down to the honest truth. haha.

Go and make your own monthly lists.This is me and Nicole at the BYU-SUU Gymnastics meet. Yes I wore red. Proudly. Yes BYU got stomped on. Go Thunderbirds :)