grace.

today in my adult development and aging class we watched a movie called grace. it is about a husband who cared for his wife who had alzheimer's disease for a total of about 15 years. he was her primary caregiver (and a great one at that) and cared for her until the day she died. watching him care for her and have so much patience and continual love for her was amazing. seeing her in that condition made me so sad (and scared of that possibly happening to me) but seeing him be there for her day after day was unbelievable. 

he dressed her. 
he fed her. 
he took her on walks. 
he stayed calm when she was worried. 
he painted her nails. 
he made sure she her hair was looking nice. 
he sang to her. 

the list goes on. that kind of love is hard to find and is definitely what i want to have one day. i didn't expect this movie to produce the same reactions as a chick flick but girls in class were crying and everyone was "ohhhhh"ing and "awwwww"ing as if the notebook was on. i love the feeling of getting lost in a movie. i felt like i knew grace personally after watching this show. that could be one of my favorite things about movies--getting lost in the story and feeling a connection with the characters, even though that sounds absurd. being able to escape to another life via movies is so great to me and i'm grateful for it. sometimes i need to have 2 hours where i don't have to think about myself, my life, and what needs to be accomplished. the media is truly a lifesaver at times and prevents me from losing it quite often. i currently have the desire to watch all of the audrey hepburn movies before i watch anything else. ok, i might not make it through them all but i at least want to give it a shot. i watched charade a couple weeks ago and absolutely loved it. i'm pretty sure the following movies will be consuming my spare time for the next few weeks...

roman holiday
sabrina
breakfast at tiffany's
how to steal a million
funny face
my fair lady
war and peace
wait until dark
always

let the movie watching begin!

the book of mormon.

i finished this wonderful book again last weekend. my testimony grows each and every time i read it. i am so grateful for the prophet joseph smith and all of the others who sacrificed so much in order to bring us the book of mormon. it truly was written for us. i just participated in a choir that performed the cantata "from cumorah's hill" a few times over the last couple weeks. this piece, written by steven kapp perry with words by brad wilcox, was all about the book of mormon and how we can apply it to our lives because it is most definitely written for our day. learning and performing this cantata had a profound influence on my reading and studying of the book of mormon the last few months. the messages and truths i was singing about through song and the spirit i felt while rehearsing and performing testified more to me of the truthfulness of this book. i am so grateful for the book of mormon and the guidance and peace that it can give. all we need to do is open it and have a sincere desire to learn from it and it will work it's magic. i'm grateful for this form of media that is used as a way for our loving heavenly father to communicate to us. how blessed we are to have it. 

earbudless ears.

as i was leaving class today i was about to pull out my iphone, put in my headphones and start my 3 minute walk to the bike rack. this is a usual routine after my last class--actually after every class (minus the bike rack part) but today i decided to not put in my headphones. we had just finished talking about media influencing prosocial behavior in class and although this isn't an example in the media it's an example of the media effecting my prosocial behavior. as i was walking i thought that in general, i would probably be more prosocial if i wasn't in my own little world (headphones in, music somewhat blasting) every time i was surrounded by others. as i was walking i ran into an old friend and didn't have to pull out my earbuds to begin a friendly conversation with her. i got a few silent laughs in as i overheard conversations taking place around me. i continued to think about our class discussion and reflected on my personal application of the concepts talked about. these things i experienced in that three minute walk were extremely more beneficial to me than hearing one song that i would have most likely listened somewhat mindlessly to. im not saying that it's awful to listen to music while walking around campus. i definitely turned on my music for my bike ride home (uphill the whole way--i need something to help it be more enjoyable). i am not someone who thinks everyone with earphones in is antisocial and hates life. i've been that person on campus for the last 2 years. all i'm saying is it might be beneficial to leave them out every once in a while.

come, follow me.

devotional last week was especially great for me. i feel like the message shared was exactly what i needed to hear right now. i could recap what elder snow counseled us (if you missed it you really should listen to/read it when it comes online. such excellent advice.) but instead i wanted to mention a great reminder i received from the beginning of devotional that came in the form of a song. 

"come, follow me, the Savior said. then let us in his footsteps tread for thus alone can we be one with God's own loved, begotten Son. come, follow me, a simple phrase, yet truth's sublime, effulgent rays are in these simple words combined to urge, inspire the human mind. is it enough alone to know that we must follow him below, while traveling thru this vale of tears? no, this extends to holier spheres. not only shall we emulate His course while in this earthly state, but when we're freed from present cares, if with our Lord we would be heirs."

i was overcome with the spirit as i listened to the concert choir sing this beautifully simple hymn. it really is somewhat of a simple commandment but at times it can seem so hard to do. follow the Savior. He is leading the way with His arms stretched out to us, just waiting for us to accept His invitation. i was reminded that He is the only way. our Savior Jesus Christ is the one who we need to be following. He is the perfect example for us. the counsel is there--plain, simple, and powerful. follow Him. 

monkey see, monkey do.

last saturday night i was watching gilmore girls (started from season one ever since we talked about our favorite shows in class...bad idea because i'm constantly not wanting to do my homework...) and i was particularly noticing how lorelai and rory eat. one of the episodes was about them having a saturday movie night (watching willy wonka and the chocolate factory, of course) and they had to go to the market to get the essentials to go along with their pizza: huge marshmallows, licorice, jelly beans, chocolate kisses, peanut butter, cookie dough, and fun dip. this is only one example of the eating habits of lorelai and rory. they eat at luke's daily, lorelai drinks more coffee than imaginable, cheeseburgers and cheese fries are considered their "usual" and somehow the two of them are still fit and normal sized. i assume they don't exercise because it's never talked about. so how do they still look the way they do? i found myself craving food and eating an absurd amount of it during the 2 episodes that i watched that night (after 10 pm-possibly contributing to my sleeping problems). i wasn't even hungry but i couldn't stop stuffing my face. it kind of got to me and i found myself wishing i could eat like they do and not feel yucky or have to run 5 miles to work it off. probably not the most positive effect this particular piece of media is having on me. i will cancel it out by reading a few quotes from the brethren about true beauty and my divine nature. that ought to do the trick, right? i hope i'm the only one slowly getting trapped by media's portrayal of the woman's body and health, but if i'm not (and my guts telling me i'm not) maybe a reminder would be beneficial to us all. 

don't worry, a post dedicated wholly to stephanie nielson is next. 

iTunes.

i recently got a new computer (finally a new macbook owner. it's about time!) and i've been transferring everything from not only one, but two of my old computers to my new one. when i transferred my music over i added over 3,000 songs to iTunes. whoosh. the sight alone of the number 3,045 started giving me anxiety. i have always loved music and it is a huge part of my life but i definitely didn't understand why i have that much music. i've been obsessed with the same two artists all summer. that doesn't mean i don't occasionally turn on something else but i definitely have my favorites now. i remember being in high school and feeling like my older siblings were so boring because they didn't listen to the radio and they only listened to their favorite artists. actually i thought it was more absurd than boring. it was incomprehensible to my 14-year-old mind that they weren't getting sick of listening to the same music over and over. uh, i totally don't listen to the radio any more. i am becoming boring and strange, just like my siblings had become. now that i'm in this particular stage i realize that they probably didn't listen to the radio as much because almost every song has at least one swear or the lyrics are inappropriate. i'll be the first to admit that i still know some of the popular songs and am not as picky as i should be about my music. i'm working on it though. i've been playing a game with myself in order to clean up my new iTunes (clean up in terms of having less music and purifying). as i'm doing random things (ok lets be honest-when i'm on facebook, blogger, or instagram) i turn on shuffle and when a song comes on that i really don't care for or is inappropriate i send it straight to the trash. i realize this will take so much longer than just going through my iTunes but i really don't have the time to do that right now. so until then i will anxiously await each new song that comes on shuffle and enjoy the game of deciding if it's worthy of my time (and eternal salvation).

the web is what you make of it.

as i was stalking my best friend's blog i stumbled upon her post about a favorite commercial. i also fell in love with it as i watched. not only does it show a fraction of what is available on the web today (there's so much available, the possibilities are endless) and shares the message "the web is what you make of it" (something i definitely agree with), but it does so through a cute little love story that every hopeless romantic (totally me) would ache to see, even if it is only a minute and a half long. if every commercial was that good then i wouldn't be so eager to watch my tv shows on hulu or netflix. unfortunately, that's not the case and i will continue to watch my shows commercial free. i may, however, search youtube for the latest worthwhile commercials and enjoy those too.