3/30 Things: Parents

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Describe your relationship with your parents.

My parents. I love them. If you read my post just previous to this about fears, you'll remember that one of my greatest fears is losing my parents. I don't know what I'd do without them. Even though I don't rely on them for much of my physical support right now, just knowing that they are there whenever I need them provides a lot of my emotional support.

Right now my relationship with my parents is mostly over the phone, so here's what our relationships look like in that context.

My dad. He's not really the talkative type, so I often spend lots of time on the phone with him in silence, just thinking at each other. I usually call him for questions about money, work, my calling/ the Church, big decisions, and things like that. I've learned to trust and do almost everything he says, because I've never gone wrong by following his advice.

My mom. She's my best friend. In contrast to my dad, we can spend hours talking on the phone. I mostly call her about boys and dating, but we also talk about stuff like my calling, my classes, her work, my dog, and spiritual stuff. I can just tell her about my day, and sometimes we can just talk about nothing but the fact that we're talking is all that matters.

I love them both so much!

2/30 Things: Fears

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Describe 3 legitimate fears you have and explain how they became fears. 

Fear #1: Getting in trouble

This one probably seems weird, but it's definitely a legitimate fear of mine, and possibly my greatest fear.  I am absolutely filled with dread when I think I am in trouble.  I guess I am just such a people-pleaser that I hate to let anyone down or have my reputation marred.  I also really don't like confrontation, especially when someone is confronting me, so that's probably part of it, too.  

Fear #2: Losing my parents

I don't think this one is unusual.  Even though I am pretty independent and not living at home, just knowing that my parents are there for me is such a comfort and support.  And my mom is my best friend, I don't think that I could handle not being able to talk to her about life.  

Fear #3: Being attacked

Being independent, single, and female I worry a lot about my safety when I am by myself.  Another part of it is that I think I would be so afraid that I would just be paralyzed and unable to fight back, even if I wanted to.  I feel like that whole "fight or flight" philosophy wouldn't apply to me.  Then again, I wouldn't know since I've never been in that situation before.

In the end, I know it's been said before, but the only things we really fear are the unknown.  When something is strange or new to us, we don't know how we should or will react to it, and so fear is often the reaction.  Kind of interesting to think about and apply to your own fears.  What is it that we really fear?

1/30 Things: Random Facts

This is part of a series of posts I will be doing over the next 30 days or so.  It's from a list of 30 questions I found on this blog: Hopes and Dreams (you can see the all of the questions there).

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20 random facts about yourself.

1. I love The Beatles.
2. I was president of the American Sign Language club in high school.
3. I've attended church with President Hinckley.
4. I can solve a Rubik's cube in less than 2 minutes.
5. My favorite instrument on Rockband is guitar.
6. I like making green smoothies (fruit smoothies with spinach!).
7. My favorite Disney movies growing up were Aladdin and Pocahontas.
8. I love learning about the history of music groups and song.
9. My favorite Bible character is Daniel.
10. I played clarinet and bass clarinet in middle school.
11. I like to write missionaries.
12. Apples to apples is probably my favorite board game.
13. I prefer crunch peanut butter.
14. My favorite smoothie at Jamba Juice is Strawberry Surf Rider. :)
15. I love doing paperwork.
16. My favorite movie is Nacho Libre.
17. Washington D.C. is my favorite travel destination.
18. I absolutely love the beach.
19. I like to do the dishes by hand-- it's stress relieving.
20. My favorite temples are Manti and San Diego.

Break out the library card-- It's time for summer reading again!

BYU's Winter semester ends this week, so that means it's time to hit the books-- this time for fun!

I've started putting together my reading list, but I need some more ideas.

I'd love any book suggestions you have!  

These are the books I'm starting with:

Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln (biography)
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (sci-fi)Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption (biography)
Escape from Camp 14: One Man's Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West (biography)
Michael Vey: The Prisoner of Cell 25 (fiction)

Maybe that gives you an idea of what I'm interested in, too.

I'll post updates and mini reviews as I finish each of them.

Thanks for your suggestions!

Black History Month Project

I've been taking a History of African Americans class this last semester.  I've really enjoyed it and it has given me a lot of new perspectives.  As part of the class we had to do a Black History Month project.  I chose to attend events and write blog posts about them for BYU's History department.  I thought I would post them here, as well, for anyone who is interested in reading them.  There are 4 posts, and you may want to start with the first one I posted, about 4 posts down.  If you do read them, let me know what you think!