Grateful

This week I have quite a bit to be grateful for. Here are just a few of those things, and I'm constantly amazed at them:

1. I got a job as an in-house editor for a publishing company in Lindon. With a full-time position offered once I graduate.
2. I found out today I received an internship at LDS Living magazine for next winter semester!
3. The magazine I'm currently working for, Stowaway, featured an essay I wrote as the staff essay to be published in the Spring 2012 issue. BYU even did a news story about the magazine, and you can see my little face a couple of times, right here.
4. My hope has been restored in the male population. Real men do exist, girls. I found one. :)
5. I get to spend a few days at Lake Tahoe with my family next week for Thanksgiving. And I couldn't be happier about that.

After a year or so of getting a few bumps and bruises, the end of 2011 is shaping up to be a good one. As I was talking to my mom on the phone today, I joked with her that I'm kind of waiting for something bad to happen because I've felt so spoiled with all these blessings! She of course told me to stop thinking that way. It reminded me of one of my favorite quotes:

Via Pinterest

Blessings come, guys. I've been so overwhelmed with the amazing things that have happened to me in the past few weeks, but it's strengthened my testimony that Heavenly Father really does love us and that, after the storm, the clouds clear up and things get better. Sometimes it's hard to trust in the Lord (believe me, I know), but He always comes through. Don't ever doubt that.

I Feel Pretty

I'm just going to resurrect two of my favorite commercials. Aren't days when you feel like this the absolute best?

Quite the steal

I'm back home in California for the week, and today my sister introduced me to Crossroads Trading Co. While I was browsing racks and racks of cool clothes, I came across these little beauties. It was like a spotlight shone on them and angels started singing. The best part about all of this is that I've been eyeing them at Urban Outfitters since I saw Kendi wear them last December. But for $25 (and they're in 99% perfect condition) instead of $50? Yes please. I love a good deal. Moral of the story: patience pays off, folks.

Also, I was reminded today why I love Auburn, California so much. It's so beautiful.

The Placer County courthouse

At the museum with some vintage flapper dresses

So cool

The old Auburn Fire Department

Crafty.

I'm feeling a little creative today. Therefore, here's a list of my Fall projects.

All via Pinterest.

I love that these are just Coke bottles and Mason jars!

I would do the purple flowers in yellow or sage green. I love those colors with gray.

These bring out the English major in me. Of course.

I love the color of this mirror. It would look great on the wall in my room.

Detroit

Okay, we all know I have a deep love for Taylor Swift's music. Read here, here, here, and here and you'll see why. I came across this video today and it again made me think she's about the greatest country singer to grace the planet. She's on her U.S. tour right now, and in every city she visits she pays homage to musicians that have come from that city by covering a couple of their songs. In Detroit, she covered Eminem and Uncle Kracker. Isn't she just the greatest?

Well this is the story all about how...

This might be the best video I've ever seen. I love you, Jimmy.

The Happiness Project

Have you heard of The Happiness Project? No? Let me tell you about it. I came across this website and best-seller book a few weeks ago, and since then I might have become slightly obsessed. Gretchen Rubin spent a year of her life testing out theories and studies about what makes society happy. Her book and website record her findings. She lists her 12 commandments for herself and four splendid truths that remind her what life is about, and each of them are things I'm trying to implement in my life. If you have some time tonight, check the website out, and be happy!

Love Notes

Tonight was one of those nights. The one where nothing is really going on, you're home alone, and your mood starts to sink a little bit. I hope I'm not the only one who occasionally has those! The stress of moving in the next few weeks, of paying rent when I have about $5 in my bank account, and other things just kind of got to me. So I decided to read some notes.

I have a drawer in my room where I keep notes and letters from friends, family, neighbors, etc. I haven't read them in a while, and browsing through them was just what I needed. Notes like those remind me to put a smile back on my face, and to keep moving forward. They remind me that there are people out there who care about me, who want the best for me. So to those of you who have written me a "love note" in the last 4 years, thanks. Thank you for reminding me that I'm beyond blessed for having so many wonderful, amazing, and inspirational people in my life. And thanks for the memories those notes remind me of.

Gorgeous

But really. This is what summer is all about.

In Sickness and Health

I found this video today and I wanted to share it with you. In my Relief Society class we talked about marriage and eternal families, and I thought this video coincided nicely. I hope someday when I'm old and maybe a little senile I have someone with me who loves me enough to deal with it with optimism and faith.

Happy Sunday!

Sacramento, Sacramento, Where You At?

Ladies and gentlemen, we got him.

Father I Love You, Father I Do

Happy Father's Day, Dad! I know I'm biased, but I think I have the best dad in the world. Many of my memories from growing up were created by or involve him. Here are a few of my favorite things about David Cromar Justesen:

1. Motorcycle rides that always ended with a 7-11 Slurpee

2. Vacations to San Diego, Disneyland, Mexico, Hawaii, and Europe

3. His (and now my) appreciation for nice cars

4. Countless dance recitals that I know he probably didn't want to go to, but he never missed a single one anyway

5. Coaching my T-ball teams

6. Teaching me to drive a truck in the parking lot of a church

7. Various In-N-Out, Baja Fresh, and Big Mac Monday trips

8. Teaching my seminary class all four years

9. All of his advice and one liners: "Never pay full price for anything", "There's always a better way", "Don't give me lip service", "The worst they can say is 'no'", and the list goes on

10. Teaching me how to whistle

11. His ability to master a Santa suit, and how he makes Trick-or-Treaters sing Christmas songs to receive candy

12. His uncanny likeness to Tim the Tool Man Taylor and the white version of Bill Cosby

13. His Hawaiian shirts that he's had for years

14. How he loves my mom and my siblings and me and he sacrifices a lot for us

I love you, Dad! P.S. Anyone would be lucky to have this man as a father-in-law. I'm jut sayin... :)

Blackbird

via

"I climbed the stairs to my apartment, lay down in my new bed and turned off the light. I waited to start crying or worrying, since that's what usually happened to me with the lights off, but I actually felt OK. I felt fine. I felt the early symptoms of contentment. My weary body asked my weary mind, 'Was this all you needed, then?' There was no response. I was already fast asleep." Liz Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love

Hi friends. This is how I'm feeling today. I did something kind of brave and kind of scary and kind of necessary, and after I did it, I felt this wave of relief wash over me. And stress vanished. It was something I knew I had been needing to do for a little while, but I was scared. So I told myself, nope, this is it. I'm doing it. And I did.

So starting today, I'm at a point where I can say, "What do you want, Alexa?" Spring term ends this week, and I decided not to take summer classes. This little weary body needs a break. So what do I want to do? I want to learn Spanish. I want to run a half marathon. I want to take a road trip to somewhere I've never been. I want a job. I want to buy myself fresh flowers every week. And nothing is there to hold me back from doing those things. I've let go of what's been weighing me down, and it feels so liberating!

Two more things before I go. My great friend Megan shared this scripture with me after a long discussion about why things happen the way they do:

"Behold, I say unto you that whoso believeth in Christ, doubting nothing, whatsoever he shall ask the Father in the name of Christ it shall be granted him; and this promise is unto all, even unto the ends of the earth." Mormon 9:21

And last, the title of this post refers to this song. It's one of my favorites by the Beatles, and it describes a little bit how I'm feeling. Good night!

Sheeee's Baaaaack! This could be good or bad.

All right people, maybe you didn't notice (and you probably didn't), but I've taken a bit of a blogging hiatus. And I know that's pathetic of me, but it's true. May was a bit of an up and down month. Great things followed by not so great things followed by happy things followed by disappointing things. And I'll admit there were a few times that I looked up at the sky and quoted my favorite little man, "The clouds opened up and God said, 'I hate you, Alfalfa!'"

But I woke up a few days ago and decided to pick up whatever pieces had fallen out of my life's little puzzle and put them back. (This would be a fantastic time for some "Yay Alexa!" applause. But don't feel obligated. But really, you should.)

Anyway, here are some of my favorite quotes I've found that got me through these couple of off weeks. Find them here.

My favorite. And so true.

My sister Whitney would love this.

This one is too small to read, but it says, "You're going to come across people in your life who will say all the right words at all the right times. But in the end, it's their actions you should judge them by. It's actions, not words, that matter." And I don't know why these are all underlined but it's kind of annoying me.

This is the hardest one for me to learn. We all know Alexa is not patient.

FAVORITE

This is why I try to laugh as much as possible.

Yep!

Taylor Swift. Genius.

So anyway, I'm hoping maybe one of these helped you too. Life is good. It just has its ups and downs every little while.

Just Little Things

I stumbled across this blog today, and I absolutely love it. It's perfect if you need a pick-me-up or if you just want to be reminded of why life is good. Enjoy!

Just Little Things

Today, I am 22.

Happy birthday to me! Today I'm 22 years old. And BYU plays tonight against Florida and Jimmer, you better give me a good birthday gift. That's all I'm going to say about that. But, just because I want to, we're going to take a trip down memory lane and you can see me in various ages in all my glory. Just one request: please don't laugh. I know I look silly. Thanks for having me 22 years ago, Mom!

We love our daddy.

9th or 10th birthday? We didn't bother using forks.

Christmas sunday 1994

I was a Cougar fan from Day 1.

Christmas luncheon with Mom.

Bijou Bijou!

I'm so excited! I just found out that this is coming to Provo again:

The Bijou Market is my favorite thing ever. It's a local market where crafters can come and sell their products. I bought the cutest necklace from one of their vendors, Ritzy Misfit, last year.

So cute, yeah? Don't worry, Ali Fedotowsky, last year's Bachelorette, has one too.

Killin' It with Kisses

Florence and the Machine had it right. I'm kicking those dog days out of here. I feel like life is giving me lemons to make lemonade, and I get really excited about it, but then those lemons turn out to be sour. Not so good for lemonade. So what's a girl to do?

I've been thinking about this on this 2AM Thursday morning. I'm exhausted, but can't seem to sleep. The earplugs and eye mask are not working at the moment, although they usually knock me right out. So that only means one thing: it's time to write! About what, who knows? My Women's Lit professor told us that sometimes, when we don't think we know what to write about, our best thoughts spill out anyway. So maybe I should try that and see what happens. If none of this makes sense, I'm sorry. 2AM Alexa is usually a little bit loopy.

Today started out as a great day. Cute outfit, good hair, warm weather, the whole shebang. However, it slowly but surely fell apart. That killer job I applied for? Oh yeah, they loved my resumé, thought I was perfectly qualified, and knew I would do a great job, but they filled the position yesterday, before they even got around to looking at my resumé. A couple of other things fell apart, too. It seems totally appropriate that, as I was driving home from campus and near tears, the clouds opened up and my newly-washed car was poured on.

I of course listened to my favorite talk by President Uchtdorf, "Continue in Patience." This talk has gotten me through so much, especially when I feel like I've been patient for long enough. My favorite quote from this talk is: "There is an important concept here: patience is not passive resignation, nor is it failing to act because of our fears. Patience means active waiting and enduring. It means staying with something and doing all that we can—working, hoping, and exercising faith; bearing hardship with fortitude, even when the desires of our hearts are delayed. Patience is not simply enduring; it is enduring well!"

So that's the solution. I've got to keep going. I'm going to let those dog days of feeling like nothing is going well for me die. Florence puts it so well: "Happiness hit her like a bullet in the back." I need to keep actively waiting for whatever it is that's coming for me, because I want to feel that bullet! (That sounds awful but let's think figuratively here).

So there's my word vomit for the night. Hopefully this means that I can sleep! Good night, my lovely readers. And to finish with a great picture for the day. It makes me want to garden:

A Stroke of Genius

My wisdom for the day: Sometimes things don't work out the way you plan on them working. Sometimes they just might be better. I'll keep ya'll posted.

Love,

Lex

Lessons in Life Are Gonna Show You in Time

I feel like I've fallen off a few horses lately, and this week my daddy told me not to cry. :) So I dedicate this song to him and to those cowgirls who feel like life won't ever get better. When you fall, just get back up again.