My brother

Kevin, sporting his awkward sunburn (notice the lines on his wrists where he was wearing work gloves :)).

He's good.
He never fights.
He never gets mad. I've only seen him really mad once...and he had a decent reason.
He never talks bad about people.
He's pretty funny.
He's calm--does not overreact, unlike me.
He doesn't react to my freak outs...like, he doesn't think I'm crazy for being so emotional.
He's actually a good listener when you get him one on one.
He's a man of very few words.
He has feelings, he just doesn't share them freely with anyone...but he definitely has some tender feelings.
He's obsessed...I mean OBSESSED with sports. All sports. He knows as much about sports as I do about Amy Grant. He kind of understands my love for Amy because of his love for sports. :)
We both love to make music...that's our biggest thing in common.



I like my brother alot, a lot a lot, and I'm thankful for the time we have to live together right now. I believe in him and his good heart. I love that I'm related to such a cool guy. :)

Just as an FYI, I like my sister too. You can read about my love for her here and here. :)

I would just like to say...

I'm down 15 lbs since I started my weight loss/get fit endeavor.

I've been living a paleo lifestyle for almost two months now and I'm absolutely converted.

I got a gym membership squared away, and finally started working out.

I've slept better the last couple nights than I ever have before.

Today marks 18 years that my dad has been gone, but it's okay, because I'm that much closer to seeing him again some day. Thank goodness for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Actually, we have Heavenly Father and the Savior to thank for that...but goodness comes into play as well. :)

Happy weekend, everyone! Specifically, happy General Conference weekend. :)

I love...

Cool days, wind blowing the bushes against the side of the house, rain coloring the sidewalk darker with each drop...all while smelling a pot of soup cooking on the stove.

Fall. Lovely Fall.

New moto

I saw this as a friend's facebook status. Couldn't have come at a better time. It's my new moto.

"Better to be hated than loved for what you're not."

Amen.

Oh heavenly deliciousness

The wonderful and super fun thing about living a Paleo lifestyle is the need and opportunity to experiement with cooking. Never before have I enjoyed cooking so much. Never before have I tried so many new recipes. Never before have I used so many different spices and veggies, spices and veggies I didn't know existed.

Yesterday I tried an extremely simple recipe. Beet chips. OH. MY. WORD. I want some right now, but I don't have more beets. :(

Here's the site I got the recipe from: http://www.myrealfoodlife.com/beet-chips/

I don't really like beets. I like beet greens (cut them off the beets, steam them up...they taste like cooked spinach, which I love) but I've never really liked beets.

I LOVE beet chips. Mmmmmmm. I guess baking them sucks out all the yuckiness but leaves in all the goodness. Gosh, I've been looking for some kind of paleo snack I could really love. Beet chips and guacamole it is!

When I die...

Will my only legacy be Amy Grant?

"I remember how much she loved Amy Grant." That may be the only thing people remember about me.

On the up side...whenever people hear about Amy Grant, they think of me. Which is kind of tender. :)

I must admit...the Sara Bareilles concert was a bit more exciting than the Amy Grant concert. BUT...that only matters if you go for excitement. :) You see, Sara is like a trip to Europe, but Amy is like coming home. And I've always been a home body...not so much of a traveler. :)

Apology

I feel as though my blog posts as of late have been bitter, negative, and/or boring.

I'm sorry.

Let me explain the best way I know how. I can't and won't go into too much detail, but I'll try to explain.

Over the past couple of years I let my heart get really involved with a situation. Extremely involved. Anyone who knows me well knows that I allow my heart to get a little too involved in things/people too often. Like...I don't understand boundaries. I go overboard. That's what happened with this situation. I'm sorry if the word "situation" is vague, but it's about as far as I'm willing to go. I put a lot of energy, time, thought, TRUST, emotion and love into this situation.

This situation/experience made me think, feel and understand things in a completely different way. It kind of changed me. I saw things differently. Honestly...my views on certain topics have completely changed because of this experience/situation I invested in. Really, like I used to see things in a pink world...everything pink. And now, because of this situation, I see some things green, some things blue, some things yellow, some orange, some black...very little pink any more. Honestly...whole new colors have entered my world.

This is a good thing. And I believe the entire experience was inspired and needed. God knows me and knows what I needed...so He led me in that direction.

But, just because something's inspired or right, doesn't mean we always make the right decisions with it. My boundaries dropped too far, I got too involved...and it ended badly.

Thus, my energy, time, thought, trust, emotion and love were all given back to me, very abruptly.

And it turned me a little bit bitter. Honestly. For better or for worse, I've changed a bit. I'm not as trusting, open or as nice as I once was. Probably more trusting, open and nice than some people...but not as much as my old self.

I am, however, finally at a healing point. I'm so much better than I was a year ago, that's for sure.

Anyway, if this post is a little too emo, I'm sorry. My sister calls me "emo." Apparently that's the "in" word for emotional...overly dramatic. I guess you could say I am emotional and, more often than not, overly dramatic. I don't feel a lot of in-betweens...mostly just highs and lows. But hey...it's me.

So, I'm sorry for my boring, negative bitter blog posts. I don't want to be a negative, bitter person. So, here's my attempt to start fresh. Will you accept my blog explanation/apology?

We all go through stuff, right? :)