Creative Wanderings

How can we be more cheerful, enthusiastic, sincere? Increase Godly love and be more positive, bring more energy into our lives? How can we exercise moral agency in an inspired way? We need to improve our relationship with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ daily.  Pray daily: draw near unto Him and He will draw near unto me. Personal morning devotional Create a sacred grove where divine communication can happen Arise early, shower, dress, pray and communicate  Attitude of humility, willingness Express gratitude Promise: life will be changed. Feel close to Heavenly Father, more than ever before. May feel overwhelmed by Spirit. Personally feel His love as never have before.  Immerse self in scriptures John 17:3 … we might know thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. After morning devotional, spend some minutes reading scriptures Book of Mormon can help us escape darkness Personal relationship with Read more…

We had a ward activity tonight and one of my friends in the ward (and my neighbor) said I looked like I had lost weight. Truth? I have. I lost 5-10 lbs during Fall semester, for reasons not entirely clear to me. (I ran more frequently and ate more protein, so I think those were the two main factors. I hope. I know I have bad eating habits sometimes, but I don’t think those would cause me to shed the weight, as they haven’t before.) Do I really look that different? I don’t have a lot of current pictures for right now, but… you get a sense. August 2010 October 2010 December 2010  

Opportunities flit by while we sit regretting the chances we have lost, and the happiness that comes to us we heed not, because of the happiness that is gone.Jerome K. Jerome (1859-1927)I read this quote today and thought wow, how true is that. I need to remember not to let the present pass me by, because who knows what it can bring!For what it’s worth, it’s been an interesting and productive weekend. I’m still having an extremely difficult relationship with sleep, but instead of not sleeping I’m now sleeping too much (arguably). I hope I can get that under wraps soon. I’m also pretty sure that I want to start volunteering at the American Cancer Society. I want to live a meaningful life. Meaningful to me and meaningful to others. I suppose I still need to work out some details of what that means, but part of that definitely includes serving others. Read more…

My top five picks from the December Photoshoot Thanks to Chelsy @ chelsyannphotography.com for her wonderful photography skills!  (And if anyone wants to shoot me, let me know! It’s really fun being an amateur model for my friends)

Run a 5k in under 30 minsGraduate in August!Complain lessHave more meaningful daily prayersPrepare to go through the temple (August?)Give meaningful service

First off, I LOVE my new Kindle. It’s glorious! I wish I didn’t have to write a thesis this semester because I would love to just sit in bed all morning and read my Kindle. And stay up late (3 am Friday night) and read my Kindle. Who cares about responsibility? Ok, before you get too concerned, I am planning to be better this week. Like get to campus before 10 am. Or 11 am. My goal is actually 8-8:30 am. And write a proposal for grant money for the conference I’m going to in March whereat I’ll present a paper on Irish Dance. And grade the assignment my students turned in on Thursday. And prepare class for them for this unit. And write/research more for my thesis. Ugh. Do I really have to do all that this week?!? (That and more, of course.) Well, that went downhill fast. In brighter news, Read more…

This animated dance premiered at the Faculty Works Performance in October. I’ve realized that I’m something of a hopeless romantic, so I think the ending is rather interesting (I won’t spoil it, but once you see it you can imagine what I might say).  In other news, I have a really wonderful class to teach this semester. We just had our first-day overview and there were so many wonderful comments! I’m super excited to really dive into the material and have some great discussions.  I’m also generally pretty excited about life! At moments it’s not all rosy and beautiful, but thankfully those brief lapses pass. Admittedly, I am somewhat frustrated and fed up with the social pressures unique to Provo, but I’m converting that – and the knowledge that I’m leaving this particular scene in August – into energy and excitement to do all the cool things this area has Read more…

(If you sort of look past the 3 or 4 posts I’ve started but never actually posted) This is my 200th post! What a way to kick of 2011! I have many pictures and fun stories to tell from my lovely long vacation in Missouri, but I don’t have them available right now. So… why am I posting? Because. I want to.  🙂  Fresh courage taken, so watch out world – Erica’s on the loose for 2011~

I generally have a humble opinion of myself, but I feel like I have just cause to celebrate. So if you think I brag and toot my own horn too much, you should stop reading.  For the rest of you, I am thrilled to brag that I had the second highest score on my graduate exam (94.75%). WOOT! That score represents the reading of nearly 21 books during Fall semester, an 8.5 hour written exam (sans books/notes) comprised of 9321 words and about 18 pages, single-spaced.  WHA-BAM! If you think I’m awesome too, you can join me in my cheers. And I’ll strive for greater humility in the future, but hey, I’m good, not perfect.  🙂  

 http://speeches.byu.edu/reader/reader.php?id=684 Timing DALLIN H. OAKS Dallin H. Oaks was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles ofThe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints when this devotionaladdress was given at Brigham Young University on 29 January 2002.© Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved.Complete volumes of Speeches are available wherever LDS books are sold.For further information contact:Speeches, 218 University Press Building, Provo, Utah 84602.(801) 422-2299 / E-mail: speeches@byu.edu / Speeches Home Page    The most significant academic talks I heard during my service at BYU had one common characteristic. Instead of providing new facts or advocating a particular position, as many lectures do, the most significant talks changed the listeners’ way of thinking about an important subject. Though I am a devotional speaker rather than a lecturer on an academic subject, I am going to make that same attempt today. I will attempt to change some listeners’ ways of thinking about an important subject–the Read more…