Find Your People

Clearly I haven't been blogging as regularly as I said I would, but I have been blogging more frequently than usual, so that is progress. I struggle knowing what I should write, wondering what I have to say that people would be interested in reading. What draws me into different blogs, however, is when the author writes about their life. I love it when my favorite bloggers write about themselves, what they are doing, what they think about various things, their life experiences, etc. I most appreciate it when the writing is real and I feel like I can connect with them on some level. It's when bloggers are trying to promote products continuously or putting on a show for their readers that I become turned off by the blog. You can see what I mean if you visit Hannah Emily Lane, Wit & Delight, or A Well-Spent Day. If you care, that is. One of these days, maybe I'll put more consideration into my blog. For now, though, I'm trying to figure out what I want to do with it. I hate constantly posting on Facebook and Instagram that I've blogged so that people will go read it. I also want what I write to be relatable to the people that do read it. Any ideas?

Today I want to give a quick shout-out to my people. I'm not going to name names, but I do want to talk about how important it is to have your people. 

I am so blessed to be surrounded by truly incredible people. Each of the people in my life that I spend time with are people who lift me and inspire me and have all been there for me in one way or another. I have been raised (whether it was consciously done or not) to have people in my life that I can depend on and trust, people that I am there for and that are there for me. I am tremendously blessed in the family department, both immediate and extended. I am also extremely blessed to have incredible friends. It is so important to find friends that are there for you and support you in what you are doing. To flip that around, I also believe that it is important to have friends that you are willing to be there for and that you support in what they are doing. My friends are people that I truly love. 

Find your people and make them a priority. In my experience, meaningful relationships make my life much more meaningful and fulfilling, especially when I devote time to them. 

Happy Saturday. 

A picture of flowers, just because I love them.

More Than I Bargained For

Here we are, day 2, and I already tried something new and way outside of my comfort zone.

Today is my dad's birthday. He loves donating platelets and he's always after the rest of our family to give blood. My stake just happened to be having a blood drive today, so I decided to donate blood for the first time as my birthday gift to him. Oh, what an adventure we had.

Before I get into the story, I'd like to share a few things I learned from the experience. 1. Eating a full meal before donating is very important. 2. Drinking water and being well hydrated before donating is very important. 3. Don't turn down the Red Cross workers when they offer you snacks and drinks.

Based on those three things, you can probably guess what happened today. No, I didn't pass out, but I came very, very close. The needle was much bigger than I was expecting (anyone who tells you that donating blood is similar to having your blood drawn is lying) and of course I made the mistake of watching it go in (because I had been told donating blood = blood draw and I'm totally fine with having my blood drawn). I got a strong head rush as soon as that needle slid into my vein. I got nauseous after a minute or two, then very nauseous. They had to lay me down and give me cool, wet cloths to put on my forehead and neck. I was so hot and clammy and sweaty and I couldn't wait for it to be over. 

Angels do exist, my friends, and some of them exist in the form of the Red Cross phlebotomists. I was so blessed to have the cutest phlebotomist at my side pretty soon after I got really nauseous. She talked to me so that I wouldn't pass out and got me juice and pretzels and she was just so sweet. Bless her, bless her, bless her. My poor dad was in the middle of a meeting over the phone (he arranged it so he could come with me to the donation appointment) and was trying to help me out while paying attention to the meeting. Nevertheless, I'm so glad he came with me.

I made it through giving a whole pint of blood. There was no way I was going to end the donation early if it meant that they couldn't use my blood (I didn't know that was a thing either until today), so I stuck it out. I'm so glad I did, but mostly I'm so, so glad it's over so that I never have to do it again. (Never say never, of course, but those are my current feelings about donating blood.)

There is photographic proof that I donated, but for now I don't think the internet needs to see me in all of my white-as-a-sheet, I-look-like-a-corpse glory. Maybe if you ask really nicely I might think about showing it to you. Unless, of course, you get to my dad first. 

Happy birthday, dad. Thanks for pushing me to do something totally outside of my comfort zone that might actually help to save lives. You're pretty great, and I'm so blessed to have you as my dad.

2017 Highlights in Pictures

Well, I haven't been posting as much as I planned, but I'm here today, so that's something. Since today is December 31, 2017, I'm just going to do highlights from 2017 in pictures, as the title suggests. 2017 was a big year for me. I accomplished a lot of my goals and I grew a lot as a person (in my opinion). This post is going to be pretty long, but I love all of these pictures, so bear with me or go ahead and click that little red x. We'll still be friends, I promise. 

 

You made it to the end! Happy New Year!