Elephant Beauty

(Picture sent to my friend to thank her for the t-shirt, I love it)

A few months ago when I was checking my bag at the Long Beach Airport the attendant checking my bag asked if I have been to India, referencing the the elephant t-shirt I was wearing. I said no but a friend had given the shirt to me as a thank you for giving her some ideas for her trip to Thailand because I have been there as well. And then I added on, but I did see elephants in Thailand.

He proceeded to tell me he was from India and that they have a saying there that would maybe be offensive in the US but it a very high compliment in India; and that is telling someone they have Elephant Beauty. To be beautiful as an elephant is a high compliment. See if you take the time to really see an elephant and notice its beauties you can see it. An elephant has an incredible truck, strong confident steps, a calm, peaceful, and kind presence, etc. He said, elephant beauty means someone is beautiful all around; the person has many attributes that makes them beautiful as a whole. And he didn't mean looks.

It was a great note to end a trip on but also another reminder to be beautiful in life; in the way I treat others, in the things I do, etc.

12 Days of Christmas

Each year for Christmas growing up, my siblings and I would draw names and whomever we chose is who we gave a gift to for Christmas. As the family grew the tradition eventually had a few changes and has now evolved into all of the nieces and nephews choosing each other's names and all of the adults choosing each other's names, my parents included.

This past Christmas I chose my mom. Since I'm not married, I consider my parents my family unit and get them gifts anyways, so I wanted to do something a little extra for my mom and decided on... drum roll please... The 12 days of Christmas. It wasn't easy thinking of something for each day and it was even harder not giving any clue it was me, but it was so much fun to do for her.

Since people I are sometimes sharing ideas on blogs, I thought I would share this:

Preparations:
A a lot of Googling went on for ideas. I found other blogs of people who have done this and looked at their list of ideas. Did I make a budget... nope. Probably should have but it was my mom, I was ok splurging a little. But I did hit up Target's $1 bins, looked for sales on candy, searched for coupons, and more.
When I was compiling each gift, I was so scared my mom might see scraps of ribbon or empty bags of candy bags in my trash and trace it back to me, so I hid a grocery sack under my bed and put any trash related to the gifts in the bag and waited until AFTER christmas to dispense of the evidence. A little over the top? Oh well!
I also found some cute 12-days of Christmas tags on the internet and tied them to each gift with a golden ribbon.

You can find them here.

The Delivery of the Gifts:
This was a feat in itself but I decided to recruit helpers. I asked each of my siblings, with kids, if their kids would like to do it, just so they could have a little fun and be a part of it. I asked two girls, who are about high school aged, who live in our circle to deliver a bunch of them. I even gave them a little schedule oh which gifts needed to be delivered which days. And then I did the rest of the deliveries. Probably the funniest thing was the nights that I was home and the gifts were delivered, which was perfect because how could she suspect me, my mom would be out running errands or doing her Christmas shopping.
At first my mom was hesitant to receive the gifts, she felt bad and was nervous because she didn't want someone spending so much money on her. Then she started to get excited as each gift came and to see what new clever thing Secret Santa could come up with. THEN the later gifts started to get a little expensive and she got nervous again. Read on to see her reaction when she finally figured out it was me.

The Days:
1st day of Christmas my true love sent to me, a partridge in a pair tree. This one was a stretch, I got a bag of green and yellow MM's from Zurchers and mixed them together. The idea was, in my head, the green ones were the leaves of a tree and the yellow ones were the birds in the tree. Like I said, a stretch.

2 Turtle Doves - Mint Milk Chocolate Dove candies
3 French Hens - A loaf of French bread
4 Calling Birds - The sound track from Little Women. My only idea with this one was that I needed to get my mom a Christmas CD and I decided Little Women because a lot of the story is based during Christmas time and the soundtrack is beautiful. Well, my mom also noticed the story is about four girls and she kept raving on how clever it was that her Secret Santa thought of Little Women for FOUR calling birds. Ha! Also! I ordered the CD from Amazon and it arrived with a crack across the entire case. Let me just tell you, Amazon's return policies and procedures are awesome and I had a non-cracked CD case at my door just a few days later.

5 Golden Rings - A tiny Santa bag from the Target $1 bin filled with Werthers candies. As it is not very exciting to receive these candies, I also hid bit size Hershey's with Almond bars in golden wrappers underneath the Werthers.
6 Geese a Laying - 6 eggs with some omelet mixings: tomato, onions, and mushrooms.
7 Swans a Swimming - 7 folded origami swans. This was not easy!
8 Maids a Milking - Dish rags. She was in desperate need.
9 Ladies Dancing - A gift card for a pedicure, you know, for dancing toes.
10 Lords a Leaping - Tickets to Ballet West's Beauty and the Beast.
11 Pipers Piping - Pepperidge Farm Pirouette Cookie Sticks.
12 Drummer Drumming - a framed sign that said, "Repeat the Sounding Joy."
My mom and I had watch The Family Stone a few weeks earlier and there is a part in the movie when everyone in the family is in each of their beds and the house is quiet and it's snowing outside and everyone is quietly humming to themselves Joy to the World. Then one of the family members sings quietly to herself, "Repeat the Sounding Joy" and my mom said she really liked that. She's never thought about highlighting that part of the song but she really liked it. So! I asked my sister-in-law who is a graphic designer if she would make me the sign and she ended up liking it so much that she now sells it on her Etsy shop.

The funniest part of the last gift was, earlier on Christmas before we had opened gifts and were eating dinner, I told my siblings about how a friend of mine and her sisters have a competition on Mother's Day who can give their mom the card that is so tender and sweet that it makes her cry. Their mom has no idea. Well, my mom opened the framed "Repeat the Sounding Joy" and then realized it was me and burst into tears and the rest of the family burst into laughter.

Probably the best part was doing something for such an extraordinary woman. My mom is constantly thinking of others and even goes above and beyond when she doesn't need to, so it was fun to do the same for her.

Book Review: The Rent Collector

In January I read The Rent Collector by Camron Wright. Oh my goodness, I loved this book. I even want to buy it so that it is part of my collection. The book started out and I was worried it would be more of a drama, intense, and sad, book but it wasn't. It was warm, and full of life. It did paint a vivid picture of what 3rd world country life situations are like but it also showed that your life can still be full and "rich" by the people you surround yourself with.

The book is about a community in a dump in Cambodia, yes a garbage dump, and centers around the rent collector and one of the families in the dump. It is about a mother who keeps a positive attitude but also looks for ways to improve her family's life. She decides to learn to read and write so that she may teach her children, in hopes they will be able to attend better schools and have a better life than she. It was fun to go along her journey as she learned to read and to appreciate my ability to read.

This will be the book I recommend to people to read for at LEAST the next year or so.

Some of my favorite quotes from the book:

"We are literature -- our lives, our hopes, our desires, our despairs, our passions, our strengths, our weaknesses. Stories express our longing not only to make a difference today but to see what is possible for tomorrow. Literature has been a called a handbook for the art of being human."

"Whatever words we utter should be chosen with care, for people will hear them and be influenced by them for good or ill." (Buddha)

"Just when we think we have our own stories figured out, heroes arise in the most unexpected places."

"Whether we like it or not, hope is written so deeply into our hearts that we just can't help ourselves, no matter how hard we try otherwise."

"It doesn't matter where you live, Sang Ly, it is how you live."

"Words demand justice, encourage freedom, change minds, and soften hearts -- and words save."

What a Year... Goodbye 2015

Soooo I'm a little late in writing this but whatevs.

Review of 2015
I quit my job at Utah State and it was such a hard thing to do. Well, actually I quit in December of 2014 and then stayed through the end of April to help find my replacement and to make sure the next A-Team was trained. I'm glad I got a chance to meet the new A-Team, and of course instantly fell in love with them. I spent the summer in Thailand on a humanitarian trip with Help International. While I was there, I thought about what I wanted to do next; school or a job were both front runners in the possible out comes. I made a mental list of things I wanted out of my next job, if I were to just start working again, and when I came home I was very blessed to have quite a few job offers. Surprisingly I ended up taking a job at my dad's office. His business partner has been trying to get me to work there ever since I graduated from college and I've always turned it down (probably out of pride because I didn't want to look like someone who was just handed a job because her dad's name was on the building) but this time everything I wanted on my job wish list was offered, and they didn't even know about the list, and I decided it was best for what I needed and I could still do a good job for them. One thing I loved in Thailand was working with all of the cute kids and I have really been missing dance (going to go dance in Disneyland was one thing I was considering for "what's next.") and I decided I wanted to try teaching dance to younger kids and one of my things I wanted out of my next job was to have one flexible enough that I could leave early once a week to go and teach. Masters is still not out of the question; getting my MBA in the future is still a high possibility.

2015 Travels

Thailand

Waco, TX

Kauai, HI

Capitol Reef National Park - blog post still to come

Highlights and Favorite Moments

• THAILAND!
• Most epic Gif Conversation
• One day in September two of my friends and I spent the entire day conversing through text only with gifs (moving pictures but not the movies). The humor and creativity was top notch throughout the whole day. The conversation talked about everything and anything; working out, eating food, being single, celebrating when someone would return to the conversation after being silent for an hour or so. We've tried to make it happen again but it quickly dies; that one day will always be known as epic.
• 12 Days of Christmas
• I had my mom for Christmas with our family Secret Santa drawing and I decided to do the 12 Days of Christmas for her. It was so fun to think of things to do for each of the days, to watch her receive each gift, and to do something big and special for someone who is constantly thinking of others.

Most Visited Posts
Sometimes People ask me "Why?"
Terrified
MBTI
Time Capsule

Things Learned
Cinderella reminded me I am happiest when I have courage and am genuinely kind.
The Thais taught me to be more generous, selfless, happy, and gentle.
Reflecting on my life thus far I came to realize the things I was most terrified to try but somehow still found the courage to try are some of my life's happiest, cherished, life-learning moments and stepping stones. No more letting fear stop me from what I want to do.
Dating can be fun when I let myself be myself.

What's Next
Teaching Dance - I'm terrified but what is there to loose? I would loose more by not trying. I'm not saying this is going to happen in the next month or so but my goal is to figure something out by the end of the year.
Buy a small home or townhouse. EEK! So scary and such a big investment.
Figure out the next grand travel adventure... obviously. London? Iceland? Asia? Guatemala?

Family Photos

My family as of 2015.

In 2008 we did family photos and while we were taking the pictures my sister-in-law said she was not doing this again until I got married. Well..... we have since had family photos twice and welp... no Amy marriage, sorry to disappoint. But at least the family keeps growing in other ways, right?

2008

2013

2015

Book Reviews

So of course I strayed from my reading list for the year... I always do. Well I had three books lent to me and needed to read them and get them returned. Here are my reviews on them:

FOUR by Veronica Roth

Spoiler Alert: If you haven't read the Divergent Trilogy and plan to, don't read this review.

This book was a special addition to the Divergent Trilogy; I can't really call it a sequel because it really starts in the time line of the series before hand. The book is about the character Four, who is my favorite character, and how he came to be FOUR. It was fun to read a book from his perspective and to learn more about him. The only thing I didn't like was that the book ended abruptly; I felt like the author was like, "Oh, I met my quota, good enough," but it really wasn't a smooth ending. If you were just reading the book on it's own without the trilogy you would have said, "What the?!" (I did). The book begins before the Divergent book but then it starts to write parallel to it but it doesn't finish. I wish it would have gone through the end of Divergent with the attack on Abnegation and riding off to escape on the train. Four gets very involved in this book about trying to figure out what is going on with the possibility of an attack, it would have been nice to see it through to the end.

For just a fun and easy teen read, I loved this and wouldn't mind reading it again.

The Great Gathering by Chad Daybell

This was a church fiction book and it was about when we are nearing the "last days." I have mixed feelings about this book. I really like that the book made me think about how I would react if the things in the book started to happen today; would I pick up and leave everything because the Prophet asked me to even though in that moment it didn't seem there was any threat, I hope so. I wasn't a fan of the fiction part of making up church policy changes and "future leaders;" it was just a little weird for me. There was also one tiny slip in of a jibe against "Utah Mormons" and that really annoyed me because I think that happens enough as it is (and the last I checked we were on the same team so why I we trying to bring each other down) and so why put it in a book. Lastly I wasn't a fan of the grammar; there were a few mistakes.

Overall, I would say this is a take it or leave it book. It's not one I would say you HAVE to read but I also don't think you would want to poke your eyes out if you read it. It kept my interest for the most part.

Calling by Jeff Thompson and Stuart Bunderson

This book was recommended to my by a friend who had to read it for a class in her MPA program. I really liked it because it addressed how we are sometimes perplexed as to what we should be doing with our life in the workforce and if it is meaningful enough or what we "should" be doing. I feel like I am constantly struggling with this and it was nice to have a little perspective.

One chapter talked about how the two biggest mistakes we make in deciding what to do with our life is taking a job because it pays a lot of money or taking a job because you feel pressured or because it is expected of you. I completely agree with the money thing; taking a job just for the money is not worth it. And the second, I trap myself into often and need to stop doing it.

The book also talks about how we perceive work and how to determine what you really should be doing with your life. For example: what did you do a lot of when you were a kid? When we were kids we were probably at our most true to our self states. I played school, A LOT, and danced around the house, A LOT. Maybe that will help me on my path of figuring out what to do next.

One of my favorite quotes from the book was, "Spiritual gifts, it turns out, are not so much gifts to us from God, but rather gifts for us to give away." It's the idea that we are here to serve and it is in everyone's nature to want to serve. We are given spiritual gifts so we may serve each other in unique ways for all types of people. I also liked, "Giving ignites our imagination." I'm always a sucker for imagination.

I loved this book and would recommend it to anyone. I liked that it had everyday advice intertwined with eternal religious perspective.

A Minute Is A Very Long Time

Do you ever have little life lessons that never leave you? The day I started 5th grade, many years ago, Mrs. T. told us she wanted us to hold still and not do anything or say anything for an entire minute. That minute was the longest minute of my life; I was very much aware of the time, the stillness of the room and nothing happening. When the minute was up we all erupted into outbursts of, "that was hard!" and "that took forever!"

Once we calmed down, Mrs. T. said, "Now that you realize how LONG one minute can be, I don't want to ever hear you say, 'well there is only 3 minutes left, it's not worth doing that or starting that.' because you can do so much in just one minute."

One more life lesson teaching me to use time wisely (not that I always do it), to make every minute count, and to make the most of, even the tiniest of, things.

Leadership

When I was going to school up at Utah State University I was on the new student orientation team called the A-Team. Eventually on the A-Team I became a Student Coordinator and was a student worker over the A-Team. Our department had a program/class new students could take the week before school began called Connections and each member of the A-Team was a peer mentor for the students in one or two of the classes. As a student coordinator I did not get to be a peer mentor but my job was to be a runner all week long during the class, helping A-Team members where they may need help.

One day, one of our A-Teamers, Spencer, used our buzzers to play a game with his students and then another A-Teamer needed the buzzers right afterwards. Well Spencer and the other A-Team member did not have time to meet up to exchange the buzzers, so I said I would be the in between man for them. When I arrived at Spencer's class I was impressed by the way he interacted with his students, how he reached out to the shy ones, how he got the awkward ones to be part of the group, how he knew all of their names, etc. As we packed up the buzzers together, and his class was headed out the door to a workshop, I told him how great it was that he was doing all the things I just observed and told him what each of them were. His response took me completely surprise. He said, "Amy, I have watched you as my leader and I have watched you do all of those things with the A-Team and I knew I wanted to be a leader like you." I don't tell this story to say, "Hey, in case you didn't know, I am awesome." No, I like to tell this story because it was a good lesson to me that you are always being an example, even when you are not intending to be and there is more than one way to be a leader; even a quiet leader.

Years later, as I have talked about on here, I became the boss of the A-Team and I would tell the A-Team this story as we started a discussion about what leadership. I always loved this discussion because I was in a room of all leaders but leaders in so many different ways, although some did not realize it, and it was fun to see them accept they could each be a leader in their own way and that is what would make them the best leader. (If we were all the same type of leaders, this world would be boring and only a small group would follow).

One of my best A-Team members returned for a second year and when he made a comment in class he said that when he first joined the A-Team he didn't think he was anything compared to the others on the team. This made me smile, because I always knew what an incredible leader he was, but so many of us have been there where we don't believe we can be a leader because we are comparing ourselves to those around us. The cool thing about him is he decided to take the opportunity to learn from those around him but he also held on to his true talents as well. At the end of each "A-Team Year" we have a closing banquet and give out awards, mostly funny awards, but this particular A-Teamer received the traditional Spencer Vernon Banks award which is an award given to the A-Team member who goes above and beyond when helping students and staying continuously until the very last student has been taken care of.

When I hired my A-Team I didn't look for one type of person or leader because that didn't make any sense; this team was a resource for all new students and all new students are all different, thus, I needed a team where there was a variety of leaders so that these students had a higher chance of having someone they could relate to and connect with.

When I taught this leadership discussion, I asked everyone to think for a minute about leaders in their own life that they admire and why. I then asked them to write down the qualities and traits these leaders have and we made a huge list on the board. It was fun to see the huge variety of things written on the board from hard worker to sense of humor to humility to organization and creativity. I then had them all write on a piece of paper the leadership qualities they felt the had and two they wanted to improve or develop.

I always loved this class discussion because it always seemed to spark a flame of hope in each of them because even though they were among the best of the best; they were each there for their individuality and that was a good thing but sometimes they needed the reminder to break the mold because I didn't want molds.

I always ended this discussion telling them a little bit about whichever leadership book I happened to be reading at the time. My favorite was The Servant and it is about what the “true essence” of leadership is. It talks about how it is natural to think that leadership means you have power or you can manipulate others to do what you want them to do but that is not what the true foundation of leadership is. It focuses on leadership having authority which is built (and must be built) by building relationships, showing love, serving others and sacrificing.

I like this idea. I like the idea of selfless leading, I feel it is the most genuine and most effective type of leadership. To me, one of the ways of being a true leader is helping those you lead reach their full potential and what better way to achieve that than bey being selfless. And honestly, the best part of being a leader is getting the opportunity to learn from all of those you are following because each of them are leaders in themselves.