I Object.

I have a serious objection to calculated tear jerkers. (ie all books and subsequent movies by Nicholas Sparks, Jack Weyland , and the song "Christmas Shoes") I hate them. I hate the way that they get you to like the characters and then systematically rip these poor peoples lives to shreds. I was coerced into watching "The Last Song" recently, hence this post. I like happy endings, I'm sorry. Stuffing a movie full of sappy romance just so that some one can die at the end is crap. I understand that characters NEED to go through some sort of journey/difficulties/growth, otherwise what would be the point of the story in the first place, but some people take it to the extreme... and I object.

Running a Ragnar

Yes, I Alisha…am running a Ragnar Relay. "What in the … is a Ragnar?" you ask… let me tell you. Courtesy of the Ragnar So-Cal Website….

"PICTURE THIS: You and 11 of your buddies running relay style, day and night, in a 200-mile running event through Southern California. Starting south of Los Angeles in beautiful Huntington Beach your team of 12 runners will head south down the pacific coast. Along the way you will pass through Anaheim, Carlsbad, Del Mar and La Jolla. The race (and your stamina) will wrap up near San Diego on beautiful Coronado Island. This race had better make your running calendar; you really won’t want to miss it."

If some one would have told me I would run for fun and it would become a slight addiction, I would have laughed in their face and called them a big fat liar. But that is exactly what happened. Some friends asked if I wanted to run a relay with them, and I (not being a runner of any sort) said "Sure! Sounds like fun."

Well, I obviously didn't know what I was volunteering for, and when I looked it up, I about fell over. 200 miles in 24 hours, are you KIDDING ME? But, it was too late to back out and I am not a quitter, so I started running. And running, and running. This was about 2 months ago, and I'm hooked. I ran 5 miles before work yesterday, and have been running about that almost every day. (Although if its before work, I usually only have time for 3-4)

About 18 months ago, My Dear Sweet Leslie blogged about her love for running. Even though I love her a whole lot, I thought she might be a little crazy… ( or a lot crazy, but we won't go there… a marathon, seriously?) But now, here I am blogging about running and liking it. Just add me to the crazy list. Below are the pictures of my "Legs" of the race…. kind of scared, but kind of really excited too. (go figure)

There were FLOWERS on the tables at McDonald's

There were FLOWERS on the tables at McDonald's. Yes you read that last line correctly, there were fresh flowers in little vases on the tables at McDonald's. I was grabbing a RedBox on my way home from work and walked in to get ice-cream, and there they were. Spider-mums all over. I about fell over in shock, I guess that is what I get for working in a crazy rich part of town.

Thank you for saying Thank you

The other day I received a Thank You note, and decided that this is a dying art that I think we should revive. I have had my current church calling (Activities Chair) for almost 2 years now, and after our January activity (a trip to our cabin at Brian Head with another ward) I received my first ever Thank You note. And it was from a girl in the OTHER ward.

After all of this time, I sometimes get burned out… this leads to minor stress induced breakdowns which usually include a lot of lists, chocolate and occasional ranting about stupid irresponsible people who deserve to be ranted at. The cabin trip was one of these activities from ---- (fill in the 4 letter word), nothing was going right, the other ward had NO responsible help and I about quit on the spot. Everything ended up fine, as it usually does (well… as good as it can be when the "Special Souls" of the singles ward come out of their holes), and everyone went home happy.

A few days later, a little purple envelope showed up in our mailbox with a short Thank you note, and suddenly my day (and calling) suddenly looked a whole lot better. Someone appreciated all of the work that went into the trip, and amazingly enough a little note made it worth the effort.

I realized that despite the fact that I am grateful to a lot of people, I rarely let them know. Showing my gratitude is going to be a new goal of mine, because I am sure other people will be as happy as I was when I received my note. So, to people who show gratitude… Thank you for saying Thank you.