Life Snapshot: December 17

Scott had a conference in Vegas before my birthday, so he bought us tickets to
see The Nutcracker, put on by the Nevada Ballet Theater.

Seattle Tidbits: Enchant Christmas is something that I would like to visit in future years. A maze of Christmas lights? With a Christmas market?! And an ice skating trail?! Yes, please.

This holiday season our weekends didn't allow for a Seattle trip, but I'm making this a priority for future holidays.

What I'm Reading: My audiobook du jour is The Good Neighbor by Maxwell King, read by LeVar Burton. If you haven't yet seen the new movie about Mr. Rogers with Tom Hanks, then I highly recommend it, especially if you watched Mr. Roger's Neighborhood as a child.

Then I'm reading The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow.

Part of My Spiritual Study: Scott and I watched the Christmas Devotional together this year, but I decided to go back and watch Patrick Kearon speak. The message was worth hearing again.

Church Calling: When we moved into this area I was called as the primary pianist, which is possibly the easiest calling asked of me. Just recently, though, Scott was called to serve as the Elder's Quorum President in our ward. He's on a slow roll moving into this calling, and we're beginning to understand what the time commitment might look like from here.

On the Telly: I may have spent an entire day binging the show Glow Up on Netflix. It's a reality TV competition based in London for make-up artists. Having very few make-up skills myself, it was fascinating to see how these artists could transform a person's look.

Favorite Eats: Oranges. That's a very boring answer, but right now we are buying boxes of oranges and going through them quickly because they are just so satisfying and sweet. Our favorite local restaurant right now might be El Balcon. It's Scott's favorite for sure, and I would never say no to a good taco.

Dr. Hubs: After all the many years of training, it is such a relief to hear Scott come home from work and gush about how much he loves his job. He enjoys the people he works with, working for Kaiser and the resources they provide him, and the patients that he sees. Lately he is either frequently asked if he's 12 years old or hit on by older female patients. Scott was invited to attend a special conference of experts earlier this Fall, and he taught at his fellowship's ultrasound course. So he's kind of a big deal, already. Not really! Mostly he now knows important people who are kind enough to include him in opportunities. 

My favorite moment from this last week: It was my birthday on Sunday, and we had celebrated the week before as we traveled for Scott to attend a sports medicine conference. But being on the plane must have exposed me to some virus, because I spent Sunday in bed at home with a head cold, trying to avoid getting anyone else sick. Sneezing and napping for my birthday was NOT my favorite moment of the week, but having new friends offer condolences and care was! Women from church, who had no assignment to help me, found out that I wasn't well on my birthday and were messaging and dropping things off to us. On my birthday I dislike to be the center of attention in a group, but this kind of individual thoughtfulness boosted my spirit.

On My Mind: While we were traveling, I went to a salon to be pampered for my birthday. The stylist was very young, but proficient. As she worked on my hair and created small talk, I realized that I was intentionally filtering my responses to match her attitude, and because of that, the stylist was making assumptions about my life. I should probably be clearer and say that I wasn't full-on Julia Roberts in Runaway Bride conformative, but I was responding in a people-pleasing way... and that upon reflection, I don't filter my responses with friends, but rather with strangers I just met. Anyone else find that you filter yourself with acquaintances in social situations?

I became quieter as I sat in her chair and realized the misunderstandings that occurred when I wasn't more bold to properly represent myself. I  pondered when filtering might be okay and when it might be better to be more blunt. My conclusion is that while I don't need to share 100% of myself (or even much less) with individuals who I don't know or who don't value my opinions and choices, the part I do share should be a true reflection. I'm not entirely sure how to make this a reality, especially when I feel naturally drawn to be agreeable, but I hope to become better at authentic sharing and correcting in the future.