All Play and No Work...

...makes Shavonne a very unsatisfied soul.

It's amazing the lessons one can learn through experience. I, myself, learned that if you don't work hard, playing hard is just no fun. It also works the other way around, if you don't play hard, working hard will never seem worth it. So here is my shout out to all of you, go balance yourselves! Work and play! Neither are evil while the other exists in equality.

So here's the story for the post. This weekend has been the craziest one I've had yet! It all started on Friday with a massive water balloon fight. You read that right, massive water balloon fight!

I hope you watched the video because I was in that craziness! Following that awesomeness we decided to hoof it over to Costco to pick up some pizza, while still in our wet clothes. Come on now, why not show off our activities to the world right? ;) We didn't even make it in the door before security rushed out the entrance to yell, "Hey! I saw you on the news!" He then began to describe the epic sight that had displayed on his TV set. Needless to say, fame goes to my head waaay too easily. haha

After the pizza we decided we didn't want to dry off just yet so we went swimming. Swimming is always fun, especially on a hot day such as that. After that was frozen yogurt and then work. Guess who is using lotion regularly for the first time in her life to preserve what little color she obtained from the sun? Yeah...that's me...

That was only Friday! Saturday was just as exciting. :D
I went to Foam days with Icie and Jim. They are the cutest engaged couple I've ever seen. Before that though, we went to Elaine's to have Icie's dress fitted. Icie's dress will be so beautiful when completed! Elaine's kids were adorable. Almost all of them attacked Jim while waiting for us ladies to be finished ooo-ing and aaw-ing over Icie's dress. It was quite the sight to see.
Foam days was pretty epic. The fire department sprayed foam all over a large field then everyone was released to play, wrestle and cover themselves in the slimy, kind of funky smelling stuff. It was quite exciting.

After that we began a Star Wars marathon that will go probably weekly, starting with Episode I: The Phantom Menace. I forgot how much I love those movies!! :D Definitely worth watching again and again.

Just when you thought you knew all about the greatness the weekend held in store, there came more on Sunday! Leah came over and we made a delectable dinner that we ended up sharing with anyone we could invite. Good food and good people, now that's what Sunday after church should be like. :) I had been plotting a surprise birthday party for Leah for that evening (we couldn't do it on her birthday! She would expect it!) but she was making it very difficult. First she wouldn't leave my apartment so I could set up. Then, when the location of the party got moved, she wouldn't go! She was doing a favor for a friend so I guess I couldn't get upset...but I did anyway. She couldn't understand why I so badly wanted her to go to this location and I couldn't just tell her to go and I would finish her favor for her...so we ended up bringing the party to her. We knocked on her door and sang happy birthday then I happily took over the favor so she could finally go to her own birthday party. haha, gotta love how things work out.

There you have it, my whirlwind weekend. Whew! I thought I'd never get it all down on a post! Haha now there is no time for me to tell you about today so I'll have to save that for another time. Until next time readers!

This One's For the Girls

Advanced to any guy who may be keeping up with this blog of mine but this one is specifically aimed at girls.

Girls, I want to let you know just how special you are. Let's face it, only women have the ability to overreact, worry, be constantly frantic and still manage to look good while doing it. ;) We women have some pretty special talents.

I just have some words of warning that I have accumulated in my own life from other's advice plus my own life's experiences. First of all, fear not. Don't allow fear to keep you from doing what you want to do. If you want to perform, perform! If you want to flirt, flirt! If you want to be a hermit, be a hermit! (I wouldn't personally recommend it. It's kinda boring. ;) ) You get the idea. Fear is of the devil. Don't give him that power over you.

Second, guys are the most wonderful/scary beings in existence. It's the way we were created. It has been said that if there weren't that natural attraction to the opposite gender, we wouldn't like them because they are so different from us. The attraction is the wonderful part. The scary part is when you realize that attraction can get you into trouble. (For those of you concerned for my well-being, this has not happened to me personally. It is an observation.) Girls have a tendency to fall for jerks and players. It's true. Fortunately, this is not the case for all girls. There is hope! Just keep looking and loving.

I suppose that's all I have time for today seeing as I need to be at work in 20 minutes and I haven't even dried my hair yet. ;) Good day to ya'll!

I apologize profusely for my inattention to this blog. I've had some late nights (today not being an exception) and just didn't get to the blog.

Lesson for the day:

"Angry people are not always wise."

"If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all."

You get the picture? Anger and frustration causes problems. This doesn't mean we suppress these emotions because, well let's face it, they happen. This means that we need to learn to direct those emotions to something constructive. Channel that energy for good. I've learned to write. Not all of it is constructive...so it won't make it to this blog ;), but most of it comes out as coherent thought. My own thoughts plus whatever it is the Lord is trying to teach me eventually make it to the paper.

I told a friend today that it would be better for her not to join me in my misery...now I wonder if I made the right decision. I had the right reason for saying so. I didn't want to bring her down too...but I'm slowly learning that even the strongest people need a shoulder to cry on. So this is me, crying to you readers. Life is hard. It seems just when you think you have it all right, something goes wrong. I think it's a lesson in being a control freak. "How will Shavonne handle her life spinning wildly out of control? Will she be humble enough to see help?" Well, my answer to that is...yeah not all the time, but I'm getting better!

With that, I'm going to close. Thank you for reading. :)

We Are a Happy Family

Hello readers! :) I'm back!

To fill you in on my activities, I've been chillin' it up with my family. That's right, ALL of my family. Mom, Dad, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, all of them. Only two missing from the bunch. It was absolutely amazing!! We rode segways, four-wheelers, helicopters, and had all sorts of great food and fun! :) It's amazing how rejuvenated one can feel after being around such strong support. :D

As the hour grows near, I've been contemplating/planning serving a full-time mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I knew there were some spiritual and temporal preparations to be made but my goodness! There is so much to do and so little time given to do it. I've decided to work myself into a regular sleep, exercise and eating pattern, mostly for preparation for a mission but also just for my own personal health. I've come to learn for myself that personal health is important in a life's work. When we are healthy, we perform more effectively in all the tasks given us.

It never ceases to amaze me just how mindful the Lord is of us and our circumstances in life. I had some questions weighing heavily on my mind and I didn't know where to look for the answers. I had tried prayer and scripture study but the answer just wasn't coming. I finally received my answers today and you know what? I don't think I could have received those answers any better if they had come earlier. I'm grateful that the Lord answers our prayers on His timetable. Otherwise, I wouldn't grasp the full implication of what was said to me and would be lost in the dark with all this information I don't know how to use. Isn't it wonderful that every situation in life is presented to us with a specific purpose? War or peace, there are lessons to be learned in every place in our life. The question is, will we listen with the moment of teaching comes?

We talked about the Prodigal Son in Sunday School today. I have heard this story at least a hundred times in my life but yet again I was able to learn something new from it. The point was made that even though the prodigal son came back and got the fatted calf and celebration for his return from riotous living, the righteous son retained his inheritance. The prodigal son could come back as a servant and try to earn back his inheritance (as evidence of the ring on his finger and the robe on his back) but the righteous son will receive all that the father hath. The comment was made that sometimes we don't always see the blessings we have because we are so used to the constant downpour of blessings in our lives. For those of us who have grown so accustomed to constant blessings, it comes as a flowing river. For those of us who have not experienced that constant blessing or who have gone away from it for a while, the effect is more like a waterfall. Either way, both get wet.

I could continue but the hour grows late and there are pressing matters to attend to in the day to come. I bid you all a fond goodnight! =)

It's My Life

Whew! It's been a week since my last post! So sorry about that.

This has been a busy week in Shavonneyland. Between dates, work, and family vacation, its little wonder that I haven't had time to fill the web with my babblings. With my excuses made, let me fill you in on what's been happening with me.

So school is out for the summer. For me at least. I'm working custodial in the Tanner during the week and retail at Van Heusen on the weekends. When I'm not working, I'm job hunting. I've come to realize that free time is a scary thing to have. If I'm not careful, I'll just sit around my apartment and get fat (Ha!).

I'll soon be doing the necessary preparations to serve a full-time mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I've already spoken to my bishop and stake president about it. True, it'll still be a while before everything is done, but I'm pretty excited.

I've been making some decisions in my life. Pretty major ones, if I do say so myself. I have come to the conclusion that life is short so make it worth it. This doesn't mean that we should waste away our time by not contributing to society, but we should do our best in everything we do. That way we don't have to try to do it again.

I'll have to edit this post later because I'm short on time. Hope you enjoy what you've read!