Heeeeee :)

Once upon a time I made a list. On this list were shows and the characters in them that I loved and wanted to play before I kicked the bucket. I have been super blessed that I have been able to cross several of my "characters" off of my list. I am again blessed with that opportunity!

I have been cast as "Nellie Forbush" in South Pacific at Centerpointe Legacy Theater, in the MWF Cast!!! I have always wanted to play "Nellie" ever since I first heard "Cockeyed Optimist," and my desire to play her grew when I saw the Lincoln Center production of South Pacific. I am so extremely excited and grateful that I have this opportunity! I am so excited that I get to be counterparts with the amazingly talented and lovely (inside and out) Bre Welch! I am so excited that I get to be in a show with so many of my friends, and that I will have the chance to make new friends! I am excited that I get to be under the amazing direction of Jim Christian again. I am so blessed!!!

I am so grateful for all of the opportunities that I have all around me. I am learning that the more open I am to opportunity the more opportunities present themselves. I made a pact with myself that I would audition for everything that I even had a remote interest in, even if I had conflicts or stuff like that, and it has opened so many doors for me! If I had based my audition for South Pacific off of how many conflicts I had, I probably wouldn't have auditioned, and therefore would not have been able to cross "Nellie" off of my dream list. You never know what will happen! I also love auditions, so it's been fun for me to just get out there and do it no matter what happens.

There are so many things I am grateful for right now! And to continue onward with what I wrote about yesterday I am going to make a list of the things I am grateful for!

I am so extremely grateful for my amazing, handsome, sweet, hard working, hilarious, fun, caring, smart, and so much more, husband :) I LOVE YOU HONEY!

I'm grateful for Great Harvest Berry Oat Bran Muffins.

I'm grateful for my Costume Design class. I love pushing myself and working on something that I don't think I would have worked on otherwise.

I'm grateful for realizing what is really important and working hard to improve my focus on those parts of my life.

I am grateful for Alane Schultz and the constant friend and mentor she has always been to me. I am glad that we can continue to be friends and have the same connection we have always had even if it is difficult for us to get together regularly.

I am so grateful for natures way. I don't really need/want to explain what this means, but just know that I am immensely grateful for something I didn't really think I'd ever be grateful for.

I am grateful for amazing designers who make us actors look really good on stage. What would we do without them?!?! Seriously though, Sean Bishop has designed the most amazing dress for me for Tartuffe, and Jean Louise has done an AMAZING JOB constructing it. Seriously, I look like a big pink and purple cupcake :) In a good way.

I am grateful for learning opportunities.

I am grateful to be surrounded by so many people who are better than me. Not in a "I'm not good enough" kind of way, but in the way that I have people around me who constantly make me want to be a better performer, friend, and person. I am truly blessed to have such amazing people in my life.

I am grateful for modern medicine.

I am grateful for Hall's Vitamin C Drops.

I am grateful for good literature.

I am grateful for the small things in life that just make it that much better.

I am grateful for things that move me to tears. I am grateful that I can feel that deep of emotions and that I can be affected like that by art and the beautiful things in life.

There is so much more that I could write about, but I really should be doing homework of some kind, so here is where I will end. :)

Feeling Good :)

It's amazing to me how doing just a few simple things in your life can make you feel soooo much better! So amazing how that works. I guess those nutritionists know what they're talking about. Who knew that being healthy would make you happy too!?! Just kidding... But really. Simple things like

Drinking at least 64 ounces of water every day (event though it makes me have to pee every 5 minutes)

Exercising every day

Laughing every day (hard)

Eating frequent, healthy, small meals

Taking vitamins

Avoiding junk food

Getting enough sleep

Stretching

and others, have really made a difference in how I feel about myself every single day. I feel like I am finally making some progress on my weight loss (FINALLY) and I just feel over all better.

Now, along with being a better person on the outside, I want to be a better person on the inside. I have been gathering a list of qualities that I would like to have that I have seen in the people around me, and things that I want to add to my life, and I will probably continue to add to this list, but this is what I have so far:

Morning Prayers

Personal Scripture Study (while continuing Scripture Study with my sweet husband)

Supporting, even more, my husband in all of his endeavors

Taking the opportunity everyday to serve someone around me

NO SWEARING (not even the funny ones) I have been better about this, but I can do even better than I have been.

Keeping a constant prayer in my heart

Making a list of things that I am grateful for every single day

Making sure I tell the important people in my life how much they mean to me, every single day

No negativity coming from me EVER

Doing something special/significant for my husband as frequently as possible

Realizing my abilities and allowing myself to use them for good and feel good about my work.

Now, maybe these things sound stupid, but I feel that they are important. There are many people in my life who display these qualities or do these things every day and I wish to be like them. I wish to have the positive influence on those around me that these people have had on me. If nothing else, I wish to make myself the kind of person that I would want to hang out with.

So here's to working on being a better person on the inside and the outside!

Valentine's Day and Random Ramblings

Yesterday was Valentine's Day! My 2nd ever with a Valentine! Hee :) I have the best husband in the entire world. He got me a huge vase of the most gorgeous pink and white lilies! I think they are stargazer lilies? I'm not sure. They're gorgeous though and are so fragrant! And the best part is? They haven't all bloomed yet so I get to watch them bloom and keep them around for a long time! I'll post some pictures of them later :) He also wrote me an adorable poem. He's such a stinkin cutie. I LOVE HIM.

We went to Outback Stake House which was super fun and cheap (not really, but we had a $50 gift card so we paid barely anything at all!) and delicious :) After we went home and got to bed at a pretty decent hour for once in our lives. It was an awesome Valentine's Day. I'm so grateful for my sweet husband. He is the best valentine anyone could ever ask for.

So now on to the Random Ramblings part of this, which is mostly just going to be a bunch of things that have been/are on my mind:

- What is it going to take for me to feel good about myself? I mean, I've lost 15 pounds, which is fabulous, and means that I am back to where I was when I got married... but I wanted to lose weight before I got married too... so therefore I'm pretty much just back to where I was when I was less chubby, but still chubby. FRUSTRATING. Everyone keep saying "Wow Linds you look sooo skinny! You look good!" and I'm so grateful for that. Extremely grateful. It makes my day better every time someone says something like that. Before I lost weight people kept saying "I don't think you need to lose weight" or "where are you going to lose 15 pounds from?" or "You're about as thin as you can get I think" and I am grateful that people thought I was fine the way I was, but it's interesting to me because no one thought that I needed to lose weight before and now that I have everyone is like "you look great!" I then I tell them thank you and that I want to lose 15 more pounds and people say the exact same thing as they did before (where are you going to lose 15 pounds from? you're already so skinny!...). So I guess I'm just frustrated because people were telling me I was thin 15 pounds ago, and now they're telling me I'm thin again and I still have 15 pounds I want to lose... I dunno how to explain what I'm feeling. I guess I just feel like no one will be honest with me or I see something that is completely and totally different from what they see. How come it is ok for other girls who are already skinny to be skinny, but when I say that I want to lose 15 more pounds and be 120 instead of 135 people tell me that I shouldn't lose weight or that I look fine. I mean.... I may look ok, but I want to feel good about myself. GAHHH.... so much rambling and probably none of it makes any sense. Anyway... I have a goal of 15 more pounds to lose, and I WILL DO IT. I don't know how, I don't know when, I don't know much about it at all... but I know that is what I want... and I know I can get there eventually.

- I feel sick... and it's like a bunch of different sicks that alternate. A few days ago I had an insane migraine, the day after that I had this weird bruisey feeling all over my torso, shoulders, neck, and jaw, the day after that I felt like I would pass out if I didn't get some sleep, yesterday I felt like my throat was coated with sand paper, today I feel nauseous and bloated.... Yay.

- I miss Xanadu. Seriously. I miss it soooo much. I miss seeing my friends. I miss singing that music. I miss being silly. I miss my comfy cute costume, I miss the glitter, I miss the work out that it was, I miss the high I got from it, I miss the camaraderie of the cast.... I think the only thing I don't miss is doing my hair in a fro every night. I must say, though, that I really loved having a fro. It was super fun. My hair just couldn't handle it any more though. It was falling out in big ol' handfuls! Not good at all. But I am babying my hair now, so hopefully it will not all fall out.

- Speaking of hair, I did something fun with mine :) Nothing big, but a little different. Pictures later.

- I'm auditioning for a lot of stuff in the next month or so! I'm really excited about it. Hopefully something good will come out of it and I'll be able to do another show that I love. I love theater. It is seriously my favorite thing to do, other than be with my husband, and I am so lucky that I get to go to school to perfect my craft.

- I'm wondering what kind of person I am. Not in a dramatic way or anything, I'm just wondering what kind of people are my "kindred spirits." I am wondering what kind of people I would find a best friend in. Does that make any sense? Probably not.

- In a perfect world I would get to spend as much time with my husband as I want and still get everything done that I need to get done. Someday, I hope I find that perfect world. I LOVE HIM SO MUCH.

- I am amazed at how many talented people I get to surround myself with every single day. I am so lucky to be able to learn from all of them. I am so blessed to have so many amazing examples around me. I hope someday to be half of what the people around me are. If I can do that, I will have achieved much.

- I need to remember that I am allowed to feel good about the things I am doing. I am allowed to believe I can do good things.

Anyway, I'll stop rambling now. Hope everyone has a wonderful day!!!!