This isn't a Lemonade Stand... It's a Lemonade PARTY!!!

Murder on the Orient Express

This is such a great movie and you all should watch it if you ever get
the chance. The middle is a little slow but the end makes it all worth
it!!
I heart Agatha Christie- her interweaving storylines are brilliant and
you can never guess the end!!

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Saturday Seething (part 2 of a 444 part series)

I am working today but I just had 2 glorious days off this past
Thursday and Friday!!! Plus I have this Monday off as well- things are
looking up and I finally feel like I have a life again.
So my two days off started with a lovely collagen facial at Cameo
College of Beauty- it was 1 hour and 45 minutes of HEAVEN!!! Then I
went to Andrea's to help decorate for Lauren's first birthday and I
ended up taking Evan and Jack swiming at my complex. They were the
most perfect little boys ever!! They listened and never ran away from
me and stayed right with me in the pool. I was a little nervous to
take them swiming by myself but they were little angels for their
Auntie Alli. Then Lesley came down and say by the pool for a bit. She
took E to the potty when he needed to go (I was impressed he didn't
pee in the pool and actually told us when he needed to go). The we had
a fun party for Lauren at the Powell's. Yummy food and L couldn't have
been more adorable!!
My second day off started with a drive down to PG to pick up Kendra-
we went to the Utah Arts Festival down at Library Square in SLC. The
Greek food I got for lunch was pretty good. The art was okay- some
blew me away like the watercolors on silk, the embroidery paintings,
and the glazed/blowtorched canvases. Then we took K home and watched
some TV with her. It was such a fun time and I had not seen Kendra in
over a month!!
Since this is suppossed to be my weekly rant- I better get to the
point of this 444 part series: public nose blowing MUST GO!!!!!
There are special desingated places for "private business" so why do
it at the dinner table in a restaurant? Or during a business meeting?
Or at the movie theater? A simple wipe, I understand, but a full on
blow and a nose pick is NOT OK!!! Especially when they then examine
it... Sorry, I just threw-up in my mouth a little.
Get up from the table, excuse yourself from the meeting or breathe
through your mouth until the movie is over- do whatever you have to do
to NOT blow your nose in public.
Let it be written- Let it be done!!!

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My New Favorite Site

Go to www.shabbyapple.com
It is wonderful!!! I am sitting here at my desk just drooling over
these dresses and day dreaming about how great they'd look on me here
in the gallery :)
Check out the "flirty" dress section on the left side bar- it's so
fun!! As a bonus, all the dresses (well the ones I've seen) are under
$100.
My favorites are : Champs Elysee, Fifth Ave, Ingird, and Nine to Five
in apple green.
Check them out :)

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Saturday Seething (part 1 of a 444 part series)

I really want a Saturday off of work. An entire Saturday away from work so I can get errands run, clean my house, spend time with my family, and have some fun (maybe even go on a date).  

I have only had 3 whole Saturdays off of work this year.  The first was when I was in California in February, when I moved in March, and then when I was in Moab in May (a big thanks to Nannette who made all of those days possible!!) 

I will have Saturday July 3^rd off and Saturday July 24^th off (YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!) so I need to make sure I have something really fun planned those weekends. I am thinking Cabin and going to Rockport or going up the canyon to Ledgmere and have a bonfire and roast marshmallows.  I also think it would be fun to go camping at Cherry Hill. I remember my Aunt and Uncle taking all us kids there when we were little and I cannot remember having more fun!!

Well tonight I am going to a Luau Pool Party with Jenny’s ward and I am really looking forward to having some fun, or at least swimming in my Aunt’s pool- it’s the best pool :)

Happy Saturday to you all and I hope you make them fun!!

 

 

 

GIVEAWAY

My dear friend M is having a giveaway on her blog: www.albertis-window.blogspot.com

She is giving away a DVD box set of “The Private Life of a Masterpiece” produced by the BBC. I have been on the waitlist for this at the library for ages- it is that good!!! It includes amazing image quality and satisfies the seasoned art historian yet is also enjoyable for the art history novice.

It is educational AND fun!!  

 

Check out the blog, enter the giveaway, and then if you win… give Art History Alli the box set?!

 

Thanks!!!

 

 

I need to soften my heart...

Because I think Relief Society is full of crap. I really hate that I think that but I do.

I get to teach Relief Society this week at it’s the Teachings for Our Times lesson.  The selected Conference talk is Sister Beck’s “And Upon the Handmaids in Those Days Will I Pour Out My Spirit”

After reading it- all I can think is how full of crap it is. She starts out talking about how women in the Church, all over the world, are struggling and facing difficult times and hard challenges. Her answer to help: 1. Personal Revelation 2. Attending Relief Society and 3. Learn the proper way to measure success.  She says, “I have felt that there has never been a greater need for increased faith and personal righteousness.” Ya right, because the reason we are all struggling is because we lack faith and aren’t righteous enough- Thanks Sister Beck, that is way comforting.

Granted, I think her section on personal revelation is wonderful and insightful and something we all can apply to our lives with more zeal. I have been trying to follow the promptings of the Spirit more regularly.  How am I to know if the revelation is from God and not just my own thoughts if I never act upon them? So I now try to act on almost all the promptings I get- like where I should go for lunch or whom to Facebook a little message to that day.  I was really inspired by Sister Bonnie Parkin when she came to talk to our stake.  She said, “Never suppress a generous thought” and I have taken that heart.  Even if I feel foolish, I have tried applying my thoughts into action. Like what President Bednar (Elder Bednar now) used to say at BYU-Idaho, you must act or be acted upon.  I choose to act upon my promptings and not have my thoughts act upon me. Back to personal revelation, a good way to continue to receive it and obtain solutions to increasingly difficult problems is to act upon it, even the little seemingly insignificant ones. Sister Beck says, “having the Spirit of revelation makes it possible to prevail over opposition and persist in faith through difficult days and essential routine tasks.” Okay, so I am with you there Sister Beck, but as you move on to your next point, I kind of want to punch you in the face.

Let my preface this paragraph by letting you know that my all time favorite Church callings have been the one I have now, being a Relief Society Teacher, and being on Enrichment when I was a sophomore at BYU-Idaho. The older I get, the more I think Relief Society to moving away from the younger sisters/ the more I realize RS is for the “old people”. I have been blessed to attend wards all over the world and the same set up exists- the young sisters in the ward are called to be in the Primary or Young Womens… they do not attend Relief Society.  And now the RS has basically eliminated all social aspects of its organization essentially leaving the young sisters isolated.  I remember my mom going to Home Making and then to Enrichment- now they have “break out groups”- which sounds way fun (NOT!!!!!). I guess I should be grateful that I get to attend RS in my singles ward b/c once I get married or attend a family ward, I’ll mostly likely be put in Primary or Young Womens and will not return to RS until I am middle aged.  So getting to what Sister Beck says- “When Relief Society functions in an inspired way, it lifts women up and out of a troubled world and into a way of living that prepares them for the blessings of eternal life.” She continues on saying RS helps sisters increase in personal righteousness and strengthen home and families.  How can it help strengthen home and families when the sisters that have the young families cannot attend RS and they no longer have the social activities outside the 3 hour Sunday block? How can they be taught and inspired themselves when they are teaching Primary? Lets be honest, I really only attend Church to take the Sacrament and I attend my other 2 meetings only because I am obedient. 

And don’t even get me started on the “Charity” aspect of RS- actions speak much louder than words and from what I have observed just recently with my mother, I laugh with anger at her RS. My mother broke her RIGHT arm back in February- she actually told her VT (which I was shocked that she actually let her VT know) and her VT send a card. That’s it- no offer to bring her dinner or if she needed errands run or need a ride any where since she broke her RIGHT arm and she is right handed- plus she was on heavy narcotic pain meds so really shouldn’t have been driving.  Then my mother’s arm did not heal properly and she had massive corrective surgery and I happened to run into 2 members of her RS and asked them if they could get some meals into my parents… nothing. My mother ended up being the hospital for 2 nights for her outpatient surgery and nothing from her RS. Isn’t this the kind of situation where it is easy to get the RS involved and they would all be jumping to help? Granted, my parents are on a full-time mission but she is still a member of their Relief Society and my mother is a difficult person who has a hard time accepting help BUT they should have tried harder and insisted on bringing at least one meal- my poor father is so helpless it is amazing he didn’t starve to death- oh that’s right, my mother made him dinner. With one hand. While high on OXY! 

I think maybe RS needs to change its name to “Teaching, Inspiring and Strengthening hour of Church” because that is its focus.  It is no longer a society and it doesn’t really provide relief. It used to, but no so much any more. 

Now I do believe there are some amazing RS out there that do care about its sisters and provides compassionate service- I know this because my BFF Kendra is the compassionate service leader in her RS- she works on her calling constantly and helps get meals to new mothers, takes sick sisters to the doctor, and even had a schedule set up for companion/visitors for a sister who was going through Chemo so she wouldn’t be alone.  I am so tempted to go join Kendra’s ward- I bet that level of service and compassion in her ward has brought the sisters closer together and truly lifts them “into a way of living that prepares them for the blessings of eternal life.”  Maybe it’s just the wards in Holladay?

So this post has been filled with bitterness and a whole lot of anger but I am thinking more and more of the work Kendra does and it is making me feel a bit more optimistic.

I love serving in the Relief Society- well come to think of it, all but one of my callings in my adult life have been in the RS.  I am all about women and the power we posses.  We have special gifts of the spirit and I totally see Sister Beck’s point when she references President Kimball: “Thus it will be that female exemplars of the Church will be a significant force in both the numerical and spiritual growth of the Church in the last days.”- Ensign, Nov. 1979.

The Sisters Rock and basically we will be the ones to build up the kingdom of God in the last days because we listen to the promptings of the spirit by personal revelation and because we are diligent in serving even when it is hard.

I guess my anger stems from my disappointment in what I thought RS would be when I grew up.  I was looking forward to Home Making night and making cute things to help make my house a home.  I would hear my mom get nostalgic for the days when RS had a weekday lunch and the sisters would be able to socialize and get a yummy recipe to make for their families.  I was looking forward to the friendships I would make and things I would learn to help me be a better mom. Then I got to RS in college and I loved Enrichment!! It was a mix of spiritual lessons with lots of socializing.  It is hard to get to know people at Church and Enrichment helped us bond so we could then have friends to sit with and the little conversations between lessons could be more meaningful. Then they made Enrichment quarterly (once every four months) which made it 1 time during a semester- LAME. Now in my singles ward, we don’t even have it! What is there left to make RS any different than Sunday School other than its only women? We did have a RS temple night back in April which I loved- but even then it’s not like a social activity.

I think a big thing that all women struggle with is loneliness. As a single girl- I don’t have co-workers and I don’t have a ton of friends so most days, my social interaction is limited to my clients and family (and my cute kitties but they don’t really talk back!).  I am so lonely and I have a hard time making friends (I’ve been this way my entire life). RS should offer a built-in friendship but it doesn’t. I am the teacher and still most of the girls don’t know me in my RS.

I see my sisters with young kids- they don’t get to talk to adults except their husbands and the most conversation they get is between Max and Ruby or Thomas and Friends.

I see my grandmother who sits most evenings with my grandpa in their comfy rocking chairs- luckily they winter in Yuma and have the most amazing set of friends (I am so going to visit again this year and hang out with their hilarious group of friends and go to the swap meet and get shrimp tacos in Mexico and gamble at the Q casino!!). Okay- so my grandma probably isn’t the best example because her life is pretty awesome as is :)

I see my mom who hasn’t been to RS in her own language is about 8 years. She has no friends (sorry Mom but its true) and she still talks about her Alta Hills ward or her ward in Tampa (from the 70s!!). She has been in her current ward for over 20 years and most people don’t know who she is- that is sad.

Concluding this long and most likely blasphemous rant- I really love being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  I know that we have a Heavenly Father who loves us. I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and that Joseph Smith restored the Gospel and Priesthood to the Earth. I know that we have a prophet to lead and guide us.  I know that Relief Society is a divinely instituted organization and that it has the power to change the world.

I also know that my heart can and will be softened so that I can teach this lesson with the Spirit to fulfill the purpose of Relief Society as outlined by Sister Beck- Teach, Inspire, and Strengthen.

 

*The Image I chose to include is “For Such a Time as This” by Elspeth Young. It is her depiction of Queen Esther. I love it and it is making me feel better- I think the women of the scriptures would be an awesome RS lesson

 

 

Luke 22:43

“And there appeared an angel unto Him from Heaven, strengthening Him.”

 

This passage of scripture has been on my mind lately.  My recent scripture study has me focused on the Atonement and Gethsemane which normally I glance over b/c it makes me too sad and used to give me nightmares as a kid (that is why I only saw “The Testament” once when it was at the Legacy Theater at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building).  I prefer to focus on the resurrection and the wonderful things that happened after our Savior’s suffering but for some reason, I am becoming more and more fascinated by what took place in Gethsemane.

This scripture has been illustrated by several artists throughout history but I have only chosen a few to illustrate my idea. The first image is by Carl Bloch, a 19^th century Danish painter, the second is by Liz Lemon Swindle, a contemporary LDS artist, the third is by James Christensen, a contemporary LDS artist, and lastly we have “The Holy Trinity” by Masaccio, an Early Italian Renaissance painter.

In the Bloch and Swindle, you see the angel cradling the Savior and holding Him up.  While these images are beautiful, almost tragically beautiful, I do not think they really fully illustrate Luke 22:43.  The Bible used the word “strengthening” not “comforting” so with that word choice in mind, I think James Christensen’s “Gethsemane” is extremely effective and powerful.

Putting it in a more spiritual LDS context, I find this piece emotionally moving when you think of the Priesthood.  I think the angel was sent to strengthen the Savior by the power of the Holy Priesthood, which is the same power that created all things.  When you think of how awful His suffering must have been and how difficult it was for Him to be away from His Father’s spirit, He needed the strength and encouragement of a Priesthood holder.  I love how the angel stands behind Him, his head bowed with arms out-stretched to balance and support the suffering Savior.

As I was thinking about the significance of Christensen’s composition, I was hit by its similarity to Masaccio’s composition of “The Holy Trinity” but instead of Gethsemane, the scene is Golgotha (well, set inside an Early Renaissance church) and instead of an angel, it is God the Father who has his arms out-stretched behind the cross. 

I love the idea of our Heavenly Father as a Priesthood holder looking over all of His children with out-stretched arms to support and strengthen us- even if we can’t see Him.  He stands behind us, sending angels, messengers, visiting teachers, neighbors, friends, and sweet tender mercies exactly when we need them. Our Father in Heaven and His Son, Jesus Christ are actively engaged with what is going on in this world and in our lives- they love us and want us to return to be with them for eternity.  

I also like to think my own father is watching over me as my priesthood leader and sending me strength and blessings when I need them in my day-to-day life.

Isn’t the Gospel of Jesus Christ so awesome?!!! I cannot imagine the hopelessness others must feel without the knowledge of the infinite atonement of Jesus Christ, eternal families, and the blessings of temple covenants. 

So the next time I am going through a difficult trail- I am going to remember the Lord is ever present and the way I am feeling nothing in comparison to how our Savior felt in Gethsemane. With the knowledge of the Gospel, there is only room for joy!!

 

 

No, I did not crush sleeping pills in her baby food!