The Adventures of Stacy's Sick Body!

Update on the adventures of Stacy's sick body:
In this week's installment, Stacy gets an ultrasound!

The doctor wants to make sure that there isn't any funny business going on with my organs, particularly the gallbladder, so she had me go and get them all photographed by ultrasound. The gel wasn't as cold as people said it would be, but the rod digging into my organs was more uncomfortable than I would have imagined. Overall it wasn't that bad, and it didn't take long either so it was fine. 
She turned off the sound because the swashing of my internal juices apparently wasn't as cute as say a tiny heartbeat. I was so close to asking if it was a boy or a girl, but I figured she got that joke all the time, so I held it in. Besides, it was hard to talk when she had me holding my breath all the time. 
Overall, it was an interesting experience. Now I have to wait for a series of doctors to look at the pictures and tell me if they saw anything. Oh, the waiting game. I have come to know you well. 

Carrying on the t.v. series analogy, I really hope the season finale is anti-climatic and boring. I hope my viewers understand.

Little Victories

I CAN EAT CHEETOS. 

Add that to my acceptable junk food list.

It goes pretty much like this:
cheetos
corn chips
ice cream
chocolate
muddy buddies
rice krispy treats
pudding

...everything else has to be altered, changed and de-yummified in some way.

 
So don't be surprised if you see me with orange fingers all the time now.

 

 

Girls are alright, I guess.

Let's flashback for a bit to the time when I was called as relief society president in my BYU singles ward. I wasn't 100% surprised by the call. I think God was preparing me to be ready for the big blow. The previous relief society president was getting married so we all knew a new one needed to be called. I was told by friends and had the impression myself a few times before bishop issued the call that I would be next. So I guess you could say I wasn't exactly surprised when Bishop pulled me into his office after church one Sunday to drop the news. What was surprising, though, was how completely inadequate I felt in that moment. I foolishly hadn't been expecting that. I felt so overwhelmed as realization of what this calling entailed hit me. "Wait a minute," I thought. "I can't do this. I don't know anything about relief society! I don't even like girls!" Really, I was never that girl that enjoyed relief society activities and making small talk with the other girls in my apartment. Now suddenly I had to be all of their friends and be an example and plan those activities myself?! How hypocritical. It was interesting to me then that when I was set apart I was told that I would make some of my best friends while serving in my calling. "Girl" friends, up until then wasn't my thing.

Fast forward to today (over a year later), and I can honestly say that I love serving in the relief society, I have been blessed through friendships made while serving in my calling, and I love going to relief society activities. I am so impressed with the girls I serve the more I get to know them, and relief society activities are a great way to do just that. 

Last night, my awesome relief society meeting coordinator, Ariana, planned a simple but awesome activity where we met up in her apartment and enjoyed a little bit of summer together. We ate corn dogs and funnel cake, drank lemonade, and played games, with summery music playing in the background. My plan was just to make an appearance to show my support, but I ended up staying there until 10:00 at night because we were enjoying ourselves so much. I was so happy that a lot of people came, and I hope they enjoyed themselves as well. But my favorite part was getting to talk with just the few girls that remained after most of the people cleared out. That's when I felt like I got to know people better. We sat around and talked about all those funny things that girls talk about. Our conversation progressed from swapping dating stories and advice, to sharing the gospel with our friends, to waxing. It was so random, but so awesome to see how conversation about the most pointless things always seemed to come back to the gospel somehow. I decided to just sit back and listen, instead of dominating the conversation like I have the bad habit of doing, and what I heard impressed me so much. These girls are amazing and their testimonies are amazing and the difference they are making in other people's lives is amazing. I am so glad I get to be around them.

And my life was blessed because I was there. I learned about Onesie Wednesday's at Sammy's. What?! How had I not heard about this before?! And I made some other plans that will be fun. Also, I was told some really nice things that helped me feel a lot better about certain decisions I have made lately. It is so nice to feel supported.  

I guess my point is that God knew what He was doing when set up the Relief Society. We get cocky sometimes and think that there is nothing that relief society can do for us, but in reality we need the associations we make with the other women of the church. We all have different strengths and talents and when we work together and share we all are blessed and uplifted. 

    

In which I sound really shallow

Ok, I can't hold it in anymore. Can I talk about the time that Amy had me try on a dress and I did and it was tight but not bad looking. It just wasn't a stretchy material so it wasn't super comfortable. But, after I had it on I looked at the tag and saw that it was a size 0. 0! Whhhhhhaaaaaaaat?!?! Zero is not a size! Just the mere fact that I fit that tube of fabric around my body is absolutely crazy. But yeah, I couldn't breath super well in it. It was kinda like this:

Nothing good happens after midnight.

Sometimes you should go to bed on time. Sometimes there are more important things to do. 

Things that involve yellow food coloring and snow in your neighbor's yard. 

A Weirdly Great Day

Do you ever have those days where you are really productive? I don't know what it was about yesterday, but it was an unusually good day. Was it overly fun or exciting in anyway? No, not really. In fact, I had to stay at work an extra hour, I had to get a flat tire repaired, and I even had my car battery die on me resulting in me being stuck in a parking lot in 30 degree weather for an hour and a half. Based on that description, it wouldn't seem like a good day. But that morning I woke up with exactly 8 hours of sleep feeling grateful, inspired, and motivated to get everything I needed to done that day. It was just so clear in my mind some things that I needed to do that day, especially for my calling. Among other things, I made appointments, paid bills, read my scriptures in the morning, got a lot done for my relief society, started an online class just for fun, did some shopping, and I even had the opportunity to do a few little acts of service as well as receive some help myself. 

*Shout out to Becca for saving me with my various car problems 2 days in a row. Additional shout out to Anna for thinking to go get Frosties after being rescued from the parking lot.* 

It just goes to show that happiness is not the result of being rich or famous or whatever else it is that the world tells you that you must have to feel good. It's a state of mind that you can have no matter where you find yourself in life. I feel my happiest when I am productive, doing what's right, am surrounded by good friends, and am able to focus on others instead of myself. It makes me feel like I am in control of my life again. Lately I have been so weak; it's nice being reminded that I am a capable person who can and is being guided by the Lord.  

MyFitnessPal

So I use this app on my phone called MyFitnessPal. It's pretty cool and easy to use. You can track your food (calories, fat intake, etc) and weight and stuff like that. When I first got it it was to help me keep track of (and therefore ideally limit) the amount of candy I ate while working at the BYU candy counter (Mmm chocolate), but now I use it to keep track of what I eat so I can connect it to when I feel sick and such. 
Sometimes it is annoying bothering to quantify and type in everything I ate that day (I still have no idea what an ounce looks like), but I have to admit it's kind of fun tracking how much weight I have lost since I started using this app about a year and a half ago. My myriad of stomach issues have not been fun, but I'm going to enjoy being skinny, gosh darn it. This is my upside. I just wish I had lost the weight because of my awesome self control and exercise routine and not because my body hates me.
Anyway, the other day when I typed in my latest weight I noticed for the first time that this app tells you what percentage of your original body weight you have lost and I was shocked to see that it said "20.1%". Do you realize what this means? I have lost 1/5 of my body! Which might not seem like a huge deal, but I wasn't exactly a huge person when I started this app. I've for the most part leveled off and am not losing much weight anymore. That's a good thing, I guess, since I'm just a few lost pounds short of being a quarter less of a person. 
I'll tell you one thing, though, this 4/5 of a person sure enjoys having a reason to buy new clothes.

Happy 2014!

    The new year is a good time to pick blogging back up again, right? I love writing, but the last half of this past year was just not something I wanted to blog about. There was just too much negative stuff with too many emotions involved, so while I wrote a ton about it in my own personal journals, it's not something that I would ever put here. If I ignored all the crappy and super personal, then what was left for me to blog would have been a whole lot of boring. (For example: "I started a new show on Netflix today...") So yeah, you're welcome that I didn't post all that.

I don't remember who said it, but I read somewhere that:

"There are years that ask questions and 

there are years that give answers."

Well, if that's the case, then 2013 was definitely a question year for me. It started out alright (though I think I jinxed it by starting the New Year out with the wrong person). Winter semester 2013 was pretty good. I was confused about a lot of life decisions (mainly career-wise) and my roommates were struggling with some crazy stuff themselves, but I for the most part felt like I was on top. I was the happy, non-broken one in the apartment. 
     But true to life, that didn't last long. I'm not bitter about it, in fact I can see purpose in it, but that doesn't mean that I want to live it ever again. I'm still not 100% out of it yet, but I am on my way. 2014 is my answer year. I can feel it!
     I am one of those people who usually hates New Years. I'm not a partier, so I don't look forward to that, and I hate change so New Years usually just makes me sad. I think about how much I didn't get done the year before and I feel overwhelmed over all I will have to do in the year to come. New Years past have not been so fun, but this year, for the first time I woke up ridiculously happy it was the last day of 2013 ever. I have never felt so completely done with a year as I was with 2013, and I have never looked more forward to the future than I did for 2014. I have absolutely no idea what this year will hold or even where I will be 6 months from now, but I finally feel ready for the change. I want it and I think I will embrace it. 2014 holds all my hopes and dreams.

Unlike last year, this time I started the New Year out right: on a beach with my best friends, so it's got to be a great one, right? 

Happy New Year 2014, everybody! 

I hope it's a year full of answers for all of us.