Why I'm Beautiful

There are days where you don't feel attractive. This has been a week of that. Every time I look in the mirror I hear a negative comment pop in my head. And THAT is not acceptable, because I am a daughter of God and he made me beautiful. I don't need to talk myself down. What does that accomplish? Beauty is a divine quality that is bestowed to each of us, and I want to show that am I thankful for those beautiful qualities I do have.

Reasons I'm Beautiful

• I make an effort to smile at others, especially those that look like they need it.
• If someone does something mean or rude, I try not to take it as a personal insult or say "they're a jerk" but instead attribute it to outside forces. (He was probably running late. They may have just failed a really important test. She probably is really nervous about something going on in her family). We all have our less then shining moments after all.
• My eyes change colors from blue to green to match what I wear.
• I work hard and try to do so joyfully.
• I love the Lord and I love the gospel.
• My nose looks like a little button.
• I truly care about others and choose not to hold grudges. 
• I can make a baby laugh by making funny faces.
• My mother is beautiful so I've got to get some of her looks.
• I am able to see the good in every situation. 

To quote a girl from school, "I'm beautiful because I say so, not because someone told me."
And guess what? You're beautiful too.

what's a girl to do?

Alrighty. The goal is to blog and a blogging I go. There's just one slight snare in this plan. My digital camera is broken. Kaputt, finite, done for! Every picture it takes is a fuzzy mess. See, right now I would insert a picture of me making a sad face while holding my camera but alas, this can not be done. So in short, my blogging is doomed to be boring for a while. Le sigh. To cheer myself up, I've inserted a picture of a VEWWWY cute baby seal and a baby shaving.

Now, what was the point of this blog entry? Apparently to find some excuse for my lack of blogging and complain to the 2 people that read this blog. WHOOOOOOO!!! Hope you guys enjoyed ;)

An attitude of grattitude

I've been feeling kinda down and plain overwhelmed the last couple of weeks. So I asked myself, "Erica, why are you unhappy?" I came to the conclusion that I don't have any real reason not to be happy. Apparently I am in need to look at the blessings in my life with open eyes. Each day on Facebook, I am posting something I feel particularly thankful for. It's hard to see your life as gray when your focusing on the light and good. And there is SO much good to be enjoyed.

Saturday Synopsis

A  Somewhat Mundane Day in the Life of a Beautiful Couple.

Woke up at Stephen's grandma's house freezing cold.

Somehow Stephen seemed to have stolen the comforter in the middle of the night :/

...Just imagine this in reverse.

Went to the SLC temple for my first live session. AND Stephen and I were the witness couple. I was terrified but it turned out to be a wonderful experience. 

Bonus good news tidbit: Stephen and I ordered Chinese takeout. Why? Because we could. Yum, yum, yum!

World's worst failed attempt at making chocolate chip cookies ever!!! I felt like a  failure of a dietitian. I mean, my MAJOR is food. You think I could handle making Nestle Toll-house cookies. 

Guess who decided to be a cat for Halloween?

Super exciting right? Mundane or not, it was one of many perfect Saturdays.

 I love my life!

I've tried multiple times to get this blog rolling again but somehow I always get distracted mid-post and never seem to finish them. But not today. Yes, this pointless post is brought to you by Erica Tanner/Child and hopefully it's just the beginning of many more to come :)

It's amazing how much your life can change in a month. From this post to last SO much has happened. A longer post about that will be coming, I promise. For now though, all I have to say is this: Music is one of the most powerful and beautiful gifts. It can change your mood and train your mind. No Sabbath day would feel as sacred  and special without it.

I Don't Wanna Write You a Love Song

It's the strangest thing. Lately I'm filled such profound love for others that I start tearing up when I think about them. Sometimes it's people I talk to just a couple of times of months.  Seriously, I spent 30 minutes today writing in my journal about all the people I love. How sappy is that?!?! Perhaps its just hormones making me slightly crazy. Regardless, I can't stop feeling this way which can be a not-so-desirable trait to have when your engaged. I can't give other people the time and personal attention they deserve and so they pull away from me. And I completely understand that. Staying friends with an engaged girl is hard stuff. And I try. Truly I do, more then most engaged couples at BYU I would like to think. However, my pitiful efforts are not enough. Losing friends and being viewed at a distance sucks. I would like to not care but...........I feel such love for the people around me I can't help myself. It's a viscous, viscous cycle. I want them to love me because I love them but they can't because I don't give them anything to love. Does that make sense? Ughs all around. The only thing I can think of is to show my love as much as possible in as many simple ways as I can. I don't know if it will get the message across but at least I know I'm giving things my best shot. You know, if we were all just married, this wouldn't be a problem. Wouldn't that be nice?