Welcoming April

Well April is my favorite month so I figured I'd better start it off with a post. (Especially since I'm gonna try to get back in my grove of blogging.)

Today I didn't really encounter any April Fool's jokes...which was ok. Sometimes things are funny but different people have different levels of humor and its hard to appropriately play into that. I was slightly worried that someone would do something at work that would make it slightly awkward...but nothing! Which was good. Tomorrow's Thursday though and I don't want to have to come up with a Thursday activity...oh the awkwardness. Hopefully I can avoid that.

On my drive to work, people were calling into the radio station to share April Fool's jokes and so I got my joy from that. Also, as I always look forward to, Google launched their annual stunt and though I thought it was apparent, several of you I talked to were somewhat confused. :P
My all time favorite however is Gmail Paper...I mean, come on, wouldn't the idea truly be awesome?

This week started off on not the greatest foot but has increasingly been improving. Sunday was simply horrible for me...ack, not good at all. I get so caught up in stress and inadequacies and not feeling like I can or am accomplishing the things that I should be. I'm kinda a perfectionist so when all of these little imperfections, either in myself or various aspects of my life, add up, I have a hard time dealing with it...kinda like a break down every five minutes sort of thing.

But it reminds me to focus on hope and faith. And by the way, I love the explanation of hope in "True to the Faith"

The word hope is sometimes misunderstood. In our everyday language, the word often has a hint of uncertainty. For example, we may say that we hope for a change in the weather or a visit from a friend. In the language of the gospel, however, the word hope is sure, unwavering, and active.

When we have hope, we trust God's promises. We have a quiet assurance that if we do "the works of righteousness," we "shall receive [our] reward, even peace in this world, and eternal life in the world to come" (D&C 59:23).

The principle of hope extends into the eternities, but it also can sustain us through the everyday challenges of life.

Anyways, I think April will hold a lot. And I'm excited about that. Today I went to a folk dance performance at BYU (Go Gabe!) and it was really fun being back in that environment. I really enjoyed my time with folk dance and think if I hadn't been so darn dedicated to my academic studies and had sacraficed my schedule a little bit, I could have gotten even more out of it. I talked to a couple people on it still from back in my day...haha some of which was surprising. There was one kid on SPAC that I knew when he was just starting out and several girls and guys on PAC from some of my first teams. It's kinda weird that although some of the girls started with me their freshmen years, they are still there a year and a half after I even graduated. But hey, if I had dropped a mandatory class to be on a certain team... My favorite performances of the evening were actually from SPAC. The No. 1 spot goes to the Cumbia performance. This was a new one for the folk teams and I loved it because I do Cumbia like at least three times a week in my Zumba classes at the gym. So I know all the basic steps and style and it was awesome to see in a choreographed routine. Next went to their Bulgarian routine simply because it brought back my own memories of performing that style at the Spring Festival of Nations. Only my team was twice as big. So with the long strand of dancers clinging to each other by belts, we had quite the time. Back then we actually danced straight on the floor and when someone about 8 in on the line tripped over a cord, half the team went crashing down and the rest of us had to rush to catch up for the rest of the dance....it's hard to explain unless you know Bulgarian dancing...sorry :P

I also got to hang out with Katie May for a little bit (plus dinner a couple weeks ago)...and almost got to see Sarah Jenks but just missed her. I love Katie!! Haha and freshmen year was awesome living with her. (Random thought, but just thought I'd throw that in :P) This month I'm also meeting with a financial mentor which is really exciting and the topic of which will surely inspire a couple posts in the near future. Oh, plus I actual turn 23 this month. (Another blog post may share my experiences of accidentally already believing I'm 23.) Oh AAND this week is General Conference...just a year ago I was working on the conference issue with the Church. AND I get Good Friday off plus my birthday! Yay yay yay.

All in all, welcome April 2009