things that make me happy

on January 1, 2013, i started a 'happy jar'. i wrote down every single thing that made me happy everyday. it only lasted about a month and a half, but it was a really great month and a half. i took the jar down tonight because i was upset, and i was immediately overwhelmed at how blessed i am. i laughed, i cried, and i realized how much i really missed a few of people. it is absolutely astonishing how much things can change in just a matter of months. i picked out 69(i swear that was NOT on purpose.) of them that i feel mention people and things that have really shaped me and made me who i am. i left quite a few personal ones, but i saved these so that i could share them with all of you. they are all written on here exactly how i wrote them on the paper. many of them are repeated. i will also repeat them on here.

no order, just how i pulled them out.

1. dawn freaking conk
2. kelsey
3. tierra
4. my decision to celebrate chinese new year
5. BABYSITTING THE HUNTER'S
6. the scriptures
7. tanne randomly buying me super cool pants
8. the bachelor
9. <3 BYC <3
10. music
11. sister smith
12. YCL meetings
13. seeing scout
14. me and allison cracking up at the fact that it's almost second semester and mrs gigliotti still doesn't know either of our names
15. sleeping in
16. chick fil a with hyrum and will
17. the forsgren family
18. family home evening
19. seeing the garcia's
20. seeing dawn conk
21. having hardly any homework
22. black men
23. getting in fake fights with kesley
24. the forsgren's
25. scout
26. kelsey
27. mikayla
28. 11:00 church
29. dawn marie caroll conk
30. rebekah
31. being pressed up against random people and screaming and watching the balloons come down and phyiscally feeling like i could do or become anything i wanted (this was at the new year's eve dance)
32. the rain
33. QL
34. yogurtland after churchball
35. being able to laugh at my own anger
36. seminary
37. getting a 90% on my bio final
38. "All I Want Is You" by Barry Louis Polisar
39. being here
40. sleeping
41. CHURCHBALL
42. the thought of moving to new york with regan
43. when i forgot my teddy bear and kelsey brought him out to me
44. dawn conk
45. dr. pepper
46. doritos
47. getting a 93% on my lang final
48. snapchatting kelsey
49. seeing easter
50. the forsgren family
51. having Heavenly Father's help getting through school
52. BABYSITTING THE HUNTER'S <3 <3
53. SCONES
54. seminary
55. watching one direction on icarly
56. deleting my facebook and making a blog
57. creamed corn
58. WHEN WE HAD 10 SECONDS LEFT IN THE GAME AND WE'RE DOWN 38-37 AND SOMEONE FOULS EASTON SO HE GETS A FREE THROW AND MISSES. I AM STANDING ON MY CHAIR. SO OVERWHELMED AND OUT OF NOWHERE EASTON SHANK SCORES WITH NOT EVEN KIDDING .7 SECONDS LEFT. january 24, 2013. best day of my life
59. making churchball shirts
60. sleeping in
61. joey and jill's wedding
62. tommie's random visits
63. 100% battery
64. going to kelsey's
65. the forsgren family
66. getting snapchats of kelsey and tara
67. a relaxing bath
68. sleeping
69. chick fil a

i want you all to know how much i love you. i am so blessed to be here. i am so glad i decided to make this jar because it has given me a new perspective. i am definitely going to try it again, and i recommend you do the same.

goodnight lovelies.

Happy Birthday Dad!

today is the birthday of one of the greatest men i know. i have been so blessed to have this man's presence, knowledge, and hardwork in my home growing up. he has taught me countless things about life, school, and the gospel.

i remember as a child, not being able to fall asleep until he played the guitar and sang to me all of my favorite songs. but before every song, he asked me if i had talked to my Heavenly Father. i would always make it a point to run into my room right before him so that i could say a prayer, and be able to report to him that yes, i did speak with with my Heavenly Father. the relationship between God and I that was created from praying every night ever since i was in kindergarten is the foundation of my testimony. it is the first thing i turn to whenever i'm afraid or confused or sad. it is the best friend that never fails.

and all through middle school, he would watch Gilmore girls with me, over and over again because i was utterly obsessed. it was so much fun to share it with him, even though he definitely preferred Sons of Anarchy, who knows why.

he taught me to be selfless, although it's still a work in progress. he taught me how to manage my money (that one is definitely a lesson i need to review). he taught me that i could achieve anything with hard work.

he has an office in the back of the house, and if someone was trying to know him simply from his office, there would be too much to be able to tie together in a simple description of him. He has an elvis presley blanket (elvis's face and autograph appear on the blanket several times), along with a matching elvis poster. below that, countless numbers of photo albums filled with some of the most embarrassing pictures of my famiy and i (some of the ones posted today are from those very photo albums). below that is my favorite shelf: the more or less shrine to audrey hepburn. every movie she's ever starred in, in perfect condition and aboslutely off limits to anyone other than himself. audrey is his idol. there are many other things you would find in there, like a snake, three complete encylcopedia sets, a ridiculously large book on the mayo clinic (which he never went to or studied from), and a drawer dedicated to maps of places all over the world. he is more than well rounded.

last summer, i was flying home from utah on jetblue airlines. they have a tv on the back of everyone's chair, and the remote is on the armrests. the man next to me had his arm on my armrest, and he had unknowingly turned the brightness completely down on my tv. i couldn't see anything. so instead of asking him to move his arm, i just decided on reading a book the entire flight.

when i related this story to my dad, he looked me in the eye and said, "Shera, don't be afraid of people."

i could not put that thought down. it is obvious that people are very different, physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. but what we can't seem to figure out is why we allow this to shape how we communicate with one another. we do everything we can to hide the parts of ourselves that we have decided are strange or unacceptable. we believe that everyone else is normal, and we are the weird ones. what we fail to recognize is that everyone is strange. everyone has trials. everyone needs a friend. 

i would hope, that if my arm was on someone else's armrest, they would let me know. and i have a pretty good feeling that the man who disrupted my lifetime movie, would have said the same thing. 

we don't need to be afraid of people.

and that was one of the most important lessons i have learned from my father. happy birthday dad. i love you.

i have spent many months mulling over what my first blog post should be. i was hoping to have some kind of epiphany, some profound, inspirational event in my life to occur. something that i could write about that would grab people's attention.

so there i was, waiting. and one day, working in my mom's embroidery shop, i realized exactly what i needed to write about.

living is one of the most profound things us humans have the chance to do. whether you're a multi-millionaire or begging for some change outside the movie theater, the most important thing you can do is take one more breath.

now i'm just a 16 year old girl that has lived her entire life in the same suburban town in southern California. i'm no grandmother willow, but Pocahontas is my favorite princess.

i'm exploring new things all the time. at any given moment, i can change everything about myself. and that is what living is all about. so i hope you'll join me in my not so glamorous journey of taking life one step at a time.