my (dream) christmas list

i don't really expect to get any of these, at least not from someone else, but these are the things i've been drooling over.


amazing rainbow glitter kate spade watch: $225

 i haven't even worn a watch in years, but i would go back for this kate spade masterpiece. i almost started a kickstarter campaign a few weeks ago to see if i could get my friends and family to donate to the cause of me getting this watch that embodies every thing i love about life. that one little sentence up there--"this item is currently not available"--breaks my little glitter-loving heart. find me one of these sold-out beauties and you'll have it forever.

one direction "our moment" perfume

i became a directioner this year, somehow. it just came on all of a sudden. anyway, i smelled their new perfume at macy's a month or so ago, and i'm pretty much obsessed with it. it reminds me of some scent i wore in my youth. so yeah, i really want it. i'll probably end up buying it for myself at some point. plus, the topper is a crown so...yeah, i'll be getting it.

TIME magazine subscription

i've been meaning to subscribe to TIME for over a year now--it's 30 bucks for one issue every week!?!--and it just hasn't happened. every time i remember that i want to do it, i think, oh, i'll start it next month. or, oh, i'll start it at the new year. so i just haven't ever actually done it. it's one of those things where i'll keep a window open on the subscription page for a few weeks and then eventually come to the realization that i'm not going to do it anytime soon and just close out the window. if somebody else got me the subscription, i wouldn't have to put myself through that mental anguish anymore. do it for my mental anguish, people!

one of these from society6:

can you sense a theme in what i like here? sheesh.

and...that's all i can think of right now. thanks in advance for your thoughtful gifts!

things that are making me happy right now

in the spirit of choosing happy:

slowly putting together my room. it's kind of amazing, actually, how closely it's coming to what i envisioned. and it's almost done, i promise.

having catered lunches at work. it's pretty great, you guys.

getting to know people around these parts.

new perfume. it's nice to have a new scent once in a while.

frozen. loved it!

do-it-yourself and crafting projects. this is related to getting my room all gussied up, but for other reasons, too. and it's really fun.

family time, which includes going home mid-week for dinner and just dance. i'm pretty lucky.

roommates who are involved and want me to be involved, too.

sisters.

two days off this week :)

finishing the old testament!!!

extra time thinking about the savior, his birth, life, death, and rebirth.

i really can't complain ;)

i'm lame.

i know, i know. you're all thinking it. you're all whispering it behind closed doors: wasn't courtney going to post everyday in december? well, things have been really busy, i'll have you know. but busy is good. remember how a few months ago my life basically had no purpose and i had nothing to wake up for ever and all i did all day was read and watch netflix? oh, how the times have changed!!

i know i'm repeating myself here, but i have a million posts i've been thinking about, but i always feel like i need to catch up on the here and now first, you know? like i should have written my christmas playlist post weeks ago, like back when i started listening to christmas music after halloween. but i didn't. listen people, i'm not a professional blogger, if you didn't already know. i've got a life to live. your expectations are too high! :)

but really, it's like every day my fingers itch to write and it just doesn't happen. and i know not many people are waiting with bated breath to see what i'm going to say about some random subject, but this dumb blogging thing does mean something to me, i guess. wow, this turned weirdly existential all of a sudden.

i guess i just wanted to check in with my blog and let it (and whoever's out there. probably only dad.) know that i still love it and will be better about  not neglecting it in weeks to come. i mean, it's almost resolution time!

okay, i'm back

so...i guess i took a three-day hiatus from that whole post-everyday thing, yeah? it has been a crazy crazy week! i feel like i've been running around pretty much non-stop. news from this week so far:

i went to my new ward on sunday and it was good. this was me:

except without any daddy warbucks-type character. though that would have been kind of cool.

my bed came on monday, which meant that mom came early to help me put up my pictures and such. this was me:

i actually really do love it though. i'll have to have a room tour post when it all gets done. i was excited to learn last week that the unparalleled tyler walke has volunteered his services in building me furniture for my new room. ladies, revisit this as soon as possible, please. how is this guy still single?

last night, i went to the foxhill ward christmas party at my old stomping grounds, the joseph smith memorial building. it has been seven years since that first summer i worked as a banquet server. crazy! how did i get to be so old?? anyway, the food was lovely, the program was lovely (if i do say so myself, since i had a role...)--it was a good time. it really has been fun to be at home and back in the home ward, even if i am still in that "i'm not a girl, not yet a woman" phase (so many multi-word/phrasal adjectives happening today!)

most exciting news of today: i got my salt lake county library card. it feels good to be a library-goer again. i feel like i've been doing barely any reading these days, and i was starting to question my own identity. who am i if i'm not reading. it's been something of an existential crisis. but now that's all solved, because i once again have a stack of books waiting for me, most of which i probably won't read but that's just that.

i have about a million posts planned that i just haven't gotten to yet. aren't you all just dying to read about my christmas list and my thoughts about one direction? well, be patient, my dears--there are still twenty more days in the month.

moving out/moving in

everything has been pretty close to the surface over the past couple days. i'm not entirely sure why--every so often i have a couple days where i just want to cry, and pretty much anything will make me cry. combine that with moving to a new place on my own and "leaving the nest" (again), and i've been having a rough go of it.

the good thing, though, is that i know it's going to be okay. even if i don't make a million friends right off the bat or become the social butterfly of the ward or even have everything figured out, things are going to be okay. remember how i have to tell myself that multiple times a day, still?

but overall, i feel pretty good. my space is coming together, and i love all of it. i'm sleeping on an air mattress for the time being (a very comfy air mattress, though) and there are still boxes surrounding me. but it's great. it's going to be great.

special thanks to my family, for so many things, as always: for being here to help me move, for being there to console me, for being the best.

so it's on to new adventures. this sounds so melodramatic, which it probably is. but it feels like a big deal to me right now. so bear with me. i'm sure it will be a fun adventure :)

and this for good measure

gotta love that anne shirley :)

it's been a tough day

things i like about winter*

*since winter is sometimes such a hard season to like

freshly fallen snow that glitters in the sunlight

christmas everything

family time

fires in the fireplace

hot chocolate

snuggling under warm blankets

winter church outfits that include hosiery

thinking about new beginnings/resolutions

my birthday is coming up

not as much sweating going on

crisp mornings (though i do prefer temperatures above 10 degrees...)

sweaters & socks

holiday meals

spending more time with the ones you love because staying in the house together is infinitely more appealing than the alternative.

i think winter sometimes gets a bad rep, and i'm at fault as much as anyone else. winter can be warm if i want it to be :)

thoughts on thursday

too many things swirling around in this brain of mine today to try to pare it down into one coherent post, so you get my disconnected thoughts today.

this week, i found the match to two different pairs of earrings. in both cases, i was overjoyed. there is almost nothing worse than losing just one earring--worse, even, than losing one sock--nobody cares, really, whether your socks match or not. and in some cases you can just buy another pair of the same socks and no one's the wiser. it's pretty weird, unless you're some alt-rebel-hipster type, to wear two different earrings. needless to say, i am glad my earrings are all back together.

driving in the snow=the worst. i'm glad i came out of the mess on tuesday with my body and my car in one piece. and my sanity, after it took me hours to get home.

i missed my post last night because i began the packing process, and because we made an exciting trip to hobby lobby to gather materials for my room. it's weird--for all of my college life i've had a lot of stuff to move around with me. tons of books, school notebooks that i save because i might need some random piece of paper or information again, that odd assortment of furniture that i collected as each new bedroom or apartment lacked some essential item of storage or decor. now, i'm obviously getting some different stuff, since this will be my own room and it doesn't come with any furniture, but i'm also trying to pare everything way, way down because 1) this is a time of reinvention, you know? and 2) i don't want to keep lugging it all around.

two movies i watch last night while packing and throwing junk away: monsters university and the way, way back. both were great. i've been waiting to see the way, way back for months and was never in the right place at the right time--it didn't disappoint, even though steve carell (spoiler alert) was kind of the villain. and you can never go wrong with pixar :)

i think i'm going to get this comforter set. i am insanely excited about it. things are happening!

tonight is my late night at work, so i'll probably get in another amazing, life-changing post today. in the meantime, more moving-day preparations!! (for some reason, i'm feeling an "insert-evil-laugh-here" kind of comment. insert as you wish.)

a new bedroom

today i bought a bed. buying a bed is not exactly what you'd think it would be. all the parts come separately. so what i really bought today was a mattress and a box spring, with a frame thrown in for good measure. what i'm left without, though, are the cute parts of the bed: a headboard, comforter, and pillows. i feel like i need to have a more sophisticated bed now, whatever that means. i guess i really want a sophisticated room, though, one that feels like me. a brand new bedroom is one chance to reinvent yourself, to create a sanctuary.

so now i'm thinking about what i can do to make my room awesome without breaking the bank. diy headboard? simple bedding with cheery accent pillows? vintage-y dresser? it all seems a little out of reach, especially when compared to the lofty goals and ideals of the pinterest monster:

need a cute antique dresser? do it yourself, it's easy! no practice or training required! just pick up some sandpaper, spray paint, and some of those one-of-a-kind drawer knobs from anthropologie and you're done! but that's not all: now you're an expert, too! 

somehow i think there's more to it :) we'll see how it all turns out. i have visions of collecting cool pieces over time, but the thing is, i'm going to need that furniture sooner rather than later. and i also don't have tons of time to go hunting all over creation for a dresser, for pete's sake. anybody know of any upcoming estate or garage sales that could be a possible gold mine for attractive and perhaps vintage yet affordable bedroom furniture? if so, let me know. in the meantime, i'll be adding to my new room board and trying my hand at furniture restoration and headboard assembly.

starting the season: the messiah sing-in

who am i kidding, though: the season actually started weeks ago. technicalities.

when i was a teenager, our stake in california performed selections from handel's messiah a couple christmases in a row. it was so fun learning the crazy choruses and then singing as a congregation about the birth and life of the savior. the messiah is an amazing piece of music, and i love hearing it performed.

a lot of communities host messiah sing-ins, where an orchestra or symphony plays and the audience sings the choruses, with performances by featured soloists. for years (seriously, years) i have been looking into the sing-in at abravanel hall, but i either miss it by a few days or we have some set-in-stone prior engagement that night. this year, even though the performance fell on the day we got home from an exhausting trip to disneyland, i convinced my mom and sister to come with me.

it was the perfect way to start the month. the music was beautiful, the setting was wonderful, the company was splendid. some of the choruses were new to us, but that was just motivation to learn them better for next year. in a nutshell, i will totally go again.

this picture taken illegally during the performance...

25 days of christmas

I'm going to try to do this thing where I blog more often than has been the norm for me over the past few months. I'm hoping it will be like a one-post-a-day thing, since presumably interesting things are happening in december :) I mean, I've already been to the symphony this month! So look to hear more from me in the coming days. happy december!

thankful {part five}: a big ol' list

(in no particular order)

technology

scriptures

bobby pins

regular paychecks

health insurance

laundry facilities

transportation

hammocks

hair products

glittery things

choir music

new music from favorite   bands

just dance

netflix

zumba

byu sports

tailgating

fairy lights

christmas music

family outings

cold medicine

the mountains

church meetings

the office & parks and rec

shoes

concerts

hot running water

plumbing

electricity

comfy bed

funny videos

laughing in general

good books

anti-virus software

founding fathers

joseph smith

modern prophets

general conference

musicals

this american life

disneyland

moisturizer

colored jeans

mocassins

singing

band-aids

puppies

laws

snow and rain

blankets just out of the dryer

sunglasses

hair bows

air conditioning/heat

brownies+ice cream

costa vida

snow boots

prayer

tithing

trees and flowers

chocolate shakes

pie

summer walks

temples

the salt lake temple

gmail

 shakespeare

roller coasters

thai food

indian food

doctors

babies

stories

polka dots

water

thanksgiving food

dr. pepper

good movies

dance parties

dresses

extended family

miguel’s

letters

long-distance calls

family reunions

the plan of salvation

the atonement

thankful {part four}: sunsets

if you've seen my instagram feed, you know i have kind of a thing for sunsets. i'll let you in on a secret: the sunset pics i post on IG are only a small portion of the sunset pics i actually take.

i just can't resist!

is there anything more beautiful than a sunset? is there anything more majestic than the sky? i submit that there is not!! the sky is constantly changing--what you see in one instant is completely different than what you might see in the next. it's awesome!

so, basically, i take a lot of pictures of sunsets/the sky in general. pretty much whenever i can, i take a picture of the sky. i'm outside and i'm like, it's so beautiful! i'm grateful for the beauty of the sky. it's so simple, but so grand at the same time.

the only thing about sunsets and the sky generally is that it's really hard to really capture their essence in a picture. but you know that doesn't stop me from trying anyway :)

 

the above picture through my rose-colored sunglasses

thankful {part three}: little miracles

i've been struck recently by the way that good things happen in my life. i always expect these grand happenings, where i see this beam of light and hear a chorus of angels , whenever i discover what i'm supposed to do or be.

that's never how it is.

and i even know, intuitively, that that's pretty much how it is for everybody (see this talk). but i guess i usually at least want a little voice nudging me along. it's usually not like that.

it usually happens that i have a thought one day to do something, something random that i wasn't really planning on, and then something good, even great, comes from that. really, usually something perfect for me happens. so, i'm thankful for those little nonverbal nudges that teach me to trust in myself along with the Lord. i'm thankful for the tender mercies that i can see in my life everyday.

thankful {part two}: family ties

i am really grateful for my family. it wasn't in the plan to be living at home, especially not for as long as i have been. but it has actually been pretty great. i'm grateful that we like each other as well as love each other--we like spending time together. i'm grateful that my parents were willing to let me stay here while i figured out what i was doing and then, when i did kinda figure it out, they still let me stay.

i'm grateful that i was raised in a home where the gospel was a central theme. along with that, though, my parents taught common sense and common courtesy and real life skills that i think a lot of people my age lack today. i'm not saying i'm perfect or that i know how to navigate every possible life situation, but i'm pretty sure (based on my own experience...) that my siblings and i have a leg up on some of our fellow youths, and that's a direct result of our upbringing.

i''m grateful for each of my siblings. meredith, who is my best friend, my only former roommate i still talk to regularly, the person who knows all my weird idiosyncrasies and random thoughts. bergen, my fellow reader, the one of us who is truly thoughtful and selfless in so many ways, the middle child who IS LOVED AND APPRECIATED (seriously, berg. we love you.). and carter, my hilarious brother, a dedicated future missionary, my basement buddy. we all have a ton of fun together--there's basically no one else i would rather go to disneyland with :)

my family is awesome, and i am so lucky to be a part of it.

thankful {part one}: faith

it's that time of year again, my favorite time, really: the month of thanks leading up to thanksgiving, which leads up to christmas. i'm this close to listening to christmas music, but i'm holding off for at least one more week :) so, in the spirit of thanksgiving, i'm doing my annual series of thankful posts. (hopefully this year i'll be more consistent and not remember in the last week..)

to start:

i am grateful for my faith. this is way more all-encompassing than just one little blog post, but pretty much everything great in my life boils back down to my belief in a loving Heavenly Father who wants to bless His children and see them happy. i know He knows me and knows what i need and what i am worried about and the desires of my heart, and i know He answers prayers. i am sorely lacking in many ways, but i try to raise my voice in thanksgiving when i can for all those amazing things that i have because of my beliefs.

happy november! more thanks to come!

working girl

wow, remember how a week and a half went by in a flash? i've been immersed in training, learning about the university, the industry, and all of the policies and procedures that go along with my job.

i'm pretty excited about everything, actually. most of the people are pretty cool, and i'm learning pretty quickly, and i guess i pretty much like it. i mean, the whole working full time thing isn't the most fun, but that's just a part of growing up, really.

so, i'm happy. i was a little nervous, but i'm good now. i have a desk! i have health insurance! i have paid holidays and sick days! i have paychecks! that's the most important thing, probably :)

token first day of work picture :)

mixed feelings

tomorrow, i start my new job. i haven't really been in denial about my nervousness--it just makes sense that, when you start something new, there will be a learning curve. i'm not nervous about that, the actual job part, because i know i'm a capable person and i can do hard things. but i am a little nervous about how much my life is going to change. don't get me wrong--i want to be working and doing fulfilling things with my time. but this is a pretty big change. i'll be meeting a lot of new people, working in a new field, spending the majority of my waking hours in a new and foreign place, adjusting to a new schedule and new rules (like, remember how now i can't have spontaneous vacations? not that i ever really do anyway, but...it was nice having the option, i guess). it's a lot to figure out.

i hope this doesn't sound whiny. i'm excited to be moving on to this new phase, excited to be meeting these new people, working in a new field, getting to know this new place and new schedule and new rules. but it's also scary to leave that old phase behind, you know? i'll see pictures on instagram of people who are in provo and that feels like a different world. it was only two months ago that i was there, my home of seven years! but now i'm like, why are they still in provo? nothing against provo, obviously, but it seems like everyone else should be moving along with me, but then i realize that, no, i'm kind of on my own here. maybe that's why it's scary. even though i'm at home, with my family, this new job is something that is just mine, just for me to navigate.

but i guess that's all a part of growing up, right?

blessed

the other night, as i was saying my prayers, i was thinking about how grateful i am to be a part of the true church and to have a knowledge of the true gospel. i have so many amazing blessings because of these truths. sometimes, at times like this, i start to wonder how it is that i could be so lucky. out of all the churches and all the belief systems, i am a member of the only true one, born into this restored church of Jesus Christ? it seems unbelievable.

then the thought process usually goes like this: what if this is all just a big hoax? what if, at the end of everything, nothing is the way we think it will be and we're all just floating out in the ether, alone? what if our leaders have either been deceived themselves or are deceiving all of us? what if it isn't true?

but then i remember: i know it's true. i've felt it, over and over again. i know the gospel is true, and this is the only true church. i know our leaders are inspired and that they commune with God. i know that i can also receive revelation and comfort and forgiveness and companionship and knowledge. it's true. i know it.

this became a classic quote as soon as president uchtdorf said it last saturday, but that doesn't make it any less true or relevant.

hold to what you know--there is great power in faith, even just a tiny amount. i know that exercising faith leads to more faith and more knowledge, and that's how i know it's all true.

thoughts on thursday

for the past few weeks, i've been going to water aerobics a couple times a week with mom. i am, by far, the youngest person there, since probably most people my age are either at work or school or getting ready for one of those at 8 in the morning. just another aspect of this funny time in my life. but water aerobics is pretty cool. it's exercising without really realizing that you are. probably the best moment, though, was last week when we warmed up to a version of "mmmbop"--i'm fairly certain i was the only one who knew the song. rec center water aerobics: always a good time.

now that i have a job, i'm all of a sudden in the market for a car. it feels weird. so many things are happening! pretty soon, i'll have my own medical insurance and my own car payment and i'll be living in a place where i probably won't know anyone. life is crazy. but back to the car: i really wish i could get a little suv, but i don't know if that will happen. so yeah, that's going on. i'm looking to become a car owner.

i'm listening to the new avett brothers album on npr's first listen as i type. can i just say that it is one of the greatest saddnesses in my life right now that i most likely won't be able to see them anytime soon? so good.

i got this book/kit from amazon last week. i like to doodle, and i would love to be able to do some hand lettered, hand doodled art projects. since i had just gotten the kit the day before, my notes from conference are the most artistic they've ever been.

i downloaded the app duolingo earlier this week and now i'm learning how to speak french. on my phone. so far it's pretty cool, and the lessons get pretty advanced as you go along. i'm kind of excited about it. anybody want to speak french with me when i can actually hold a conversation? maybe next i'll try to master german.

last week the last season of the office went up on netflix, and, naturally, i watched it in about three days. and i cried in probably a third of the episodes. it's still really bittersweet that it's over, even though the ending was perfect.

why haven't i made this my cover photo yet??

i'm still deep into the old testament. i'm hoping things spice up a little bit soon, because numbers and deuteronomy and joshua, while informative, were pretty dry. but i will be vigilant!

i also need to recap conference, which was amazing. coming soon! in the meantime, life is still good. happy thursday!

big news

as some may know, for the past couple months (really actually the past year or so), i have been on the job hunt. this was made somewhat harder by the fact that i want to teach and love to teach yet don't have a teaching certificate as of yet. so, the age-old question remained: what can you do with an english major?

job searching isn't easy. you don't feel that great about yourself. you see "now hiring" signs everywhere but none of them attached to a job or place you want to work. only a handful of the applications you send out lead to interviews, and a surprising number never garner any type of response at all. i like to think of those application out there in the nethers of the internet, waiting to be evaluated. i'll probably hear from them in a few months. how do you get a first job, the job that will help you gain real field experience, if all the positions require you to have prior experience? i don't know; i guess i was a little late to this game. i mean, i did a master's program partly because i wasn't ready to go out into the world and leave my little provo life.

i got the job!! and i don't take flattering selfies...

anyway, all this is leading up to the announcement that I GOT A JOB! i heard yesterday, and it's all very exciting for me. i will have a salary! plus benefits! i can once again become a functioning and independent part of society! i'm pretty sure my parents are even more excited than i am ;) i am really grateful that things worked out the way they did and that i have Somebody looking out for me. many somebodies, actually--i have been overwhelmed by the support and prayers of so many friends and family members this past little while.

i will be working at the salt lake/global campus of strayer university, which specializes in career-track online education for mostly adult students. i will be an admissions coordinator, so i'll be working with recruiters and students, helping them get situated. i'll get to know the ins and outs of this kind of higher education. i think it will be pretty cool. i start october 21st.

i still want to teach at some point. i think i'll end up getting my certification in a couple years. or maybe seminary? i would love to teach seminary. so we'll see. for now i am glad to be employed once again. there goes #4 on my list of 25 things to do this year.

get a big girl job: check.

that one time we saw hanson and it was amazing

i have been a hanson fan for a very long time. back in 1997, i kept hearing this catchy song, and then the djs would talk about these three brothers with long blond hair from oklahoma. i had to get in on that action, and eventually i was a full-fledged fanson. i got their first album, middle of nowhere, for christmas. i got their tour video for my birthday. i collected posters from j-14 and tiger beat and hung
them up in my room. i tracked their television appearances, from snl to good morning america to sabrina the teenage witch. and i've loved them ever since. i have every album, including their brilliant christmas offering, snowed in, and i've still never gotten
to see them live.

when i was younger, it was never really an option. they were pretty huge at one point, and we weren't really a concert-going family. then, though i was still a fan listening to the music they put out every couple years, i wasn't thinking about going to a show and being able to actually see these guys that i had loved for so long. i mean, as a boy-crazy preteen, i stayed up late in my room pretending i was a recently added member of hanson--asked to join because they were missing a beautiful dancer to spruce up their live performances. and also obviously zac was in love with me.


all of this is leading to the fact that, after 16 years of devotion, i finally got to see hanson live. i still a little bit can't believe that it actually happened, but my sisters and i bought tickets, went on the walk, and saw a hanson show--on berg's birthday, of all things! i could write so much about the details--how almost everyone in the audience was a female in her mid- to late-twenties or early-thirties (except for those random older people that creeped us out), how we met a hanson fan from slovakia, also a
first-time concert-goer, how i couldn't hear the next day, how everyone sang along to every song. it was seriously a dream come true for me, and i know how silly that sounds. after so many daydreams, i was a tiny bit sad that all of them are married and therefore not looking in the audience for a potential mate, which was always the way i envisioned getting into the inner circle, but i got over it ;)

in a word, it was great. amazing, even. nay, fantastic. no, more: exceptional. i might go so far as to say it was the greatest concert i've been to, and i saw taylor swift from the pit. for me, this concert was perfect. and i would go again in a second. thanks for going with me, sisters! thanks for being born, berg! and thanks, hanson, for still being my favorite band of all time. fanson forever.

we "took the walk"--we met up with zac and taylor a few hours before the show and walked a mile around salt lake barefoot. they do this before every show--they donate a dollar for every person who walks. and this is how close i got to zac. close enough to give him a little pat on the butt, if i had wanted.

conference is upon us

this weekend is, once again, General Conference for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. as i've said before, these two days consist of leaders from our church speaking on various doctrinal topics. these leaders pray about the messages they need to give, seeking to deliver an address that hits current issues, offers instruction, and hopefully provides an answer for someone in need. over the weekend, i  know i will be spiritually fed, as cheesy as that sounds (see what i did there?). i can't wait for this semiannual event, and, though i don't think i will get to be in the conference center this time, i will be watching every session, pen in hand. and i know that i will get some answers, hopefully to questions i've been asking for awhile, but probably to questions that i didn't even know i had.

i invite you all to take this week to prepare for conference, whatever that means for you. and then watch!

book of mormon challenge {results}

i'm happy to report that i finished the book of mormon on saturday, august 31, right on schedule. like i said before, this is the first time i've attempted to read the book of mormon in such a short amount of time, and some days were harder than others, but it was a cool experience.

one of the main things that stood out to me was how often the prophets stressed that they "delight in plainness"--the gospel is supposed to be "plain" to us. the truths of the gospel are pure and simple; if i don't understand a principle, i need to work to understand it plainly. things aren't supposed to be confusing, though there are obviously things that we just don't know yet (the mysteries--i LOVE thinking about the mysteries :)).

reading so quickly, i also felt like i got to know the people a little bit better and that i had a better grasp of the history and the timeline. it was easier to keep track of everybody when i wasn't spending two months reading second nephi.

so, it was pretty great. here is one of my fave scriptures, one out of many.

now, i'm reading the old testament as the next installment in my standard works challenge. i'm sticking with the 8-chapters-a-day regimen, which will put me in the middle of december to finish, also just in time to start the new testament at christmas (which will hopefully help me to stay on schedule). so far, it's pretty cool. some weird stuff, but that's why you consult official church materials for clarification.

in summation, the church is true. read your scriptures.