Quitting the gym

I have been trying for months to get myself to end my gym membership. I can't. I haven't made the call. I am sure that the phone call wouldn't take long. But it is scary. I never use my gym membership, but it is like my over-draft protection. I need it to be there just in case I suddenly and inexplicably gain 5 or 10 lbs overnight, which I swear has happened before, so I can go sweat it off for the next three weeks and then stop going again.

I know how to work out at home. I even like doing that. It is hard to not have a cardio machine, but I can still get my heart rate quite high on my own. And I plan on biking to work as soon as it gets warm enough (which isn't that impressive because I work really close to home, but it is something).

After years and years of having a gym pass, it is hard to go cold turkey. But I guess that my sporadic visits are similar to weaning myself off.

I'm making the call tomorrow, I promise. Or maybe the next day.

Ethics classes in schools

Today in church, there was a talk given that reminded me a an opinion I have had for a long time: We should teach non-religious ethics and values in schools from elementary through 12th grade.

I don't understand why this is not common practice. It is in the best interest of society to have law-abiding citizens who act ethically and with consideration for others. The values taught would not have to be based on any type of religious belief. We could do what the Greeks did and teach values derived from philosophy.

There are so many values in our Constitution that we could teach in an effort to uphold them. I think that just making an effort to idealize a society in which every keeps their word would be a valuable thing. It would be easy to tie these types of values into lessons about our government and the system of law that we use in this country. We have a code of ethics and values whether or not they are expressly written, but there aren't many secular institutions that are willing to talk about them in a direct way.

When I was in middle school we had a fifteen minute class period called ASPIRE and I think it stood for something, but the teach would talk to use about achieving our dreams, and how we needed to actually learn the things that we were being taught to reach many of our dreams. I think something like that, but with an emphasis on values would be awesome.

I don't want religion taught in school, but you don't have to be religious to think that the Golden Rule, respect for other people, and honesty are good things. And values like that can be substantiated by secular teachings of philosophers and experts on ethics etc. to give values some weight in a school setting.

*I realize that I have not posted anything about getting married on this blog. Please see my other blog, http://bradandrachelletilley.blogspot.com/ for posts about that! :)

6 days

I am taking out my endowments in six days! I am so so excited! I feel like this is Part 1 of getting married, and I could not be more thrilled. I am excited to wear garments and I am excited to hang out with Brad in the celestial room. :) I can tell this is going to be awesome.

Cheeky

I want to document the fact that a couple nights ago, I made Brad laugh so much that he kept telling me to stop because his cheeks were getting sore. He was trying to hold his cheeks in and massage them as well it was apparently so painful :) Making him laugh is one of my top three favorite activities. And I love it so much when I am successful! Thank you Brad for making me feel like I am hilarious!

(And speaking of cheeky, I would like to give a shout out to his super cute little cheek dimple. Love it!)

New blog!

I got booted out of my gmail account for several weeks due to a series of unfortunate events that involve a hacker and failing to write down the new password I chose late at night after trying to get google to accept 50 other passwords. That is why I have not posted in so long.

In the meantime, I survived by creating a new email address involving my future new name of Tilley, as well as a new blog. Eventually I will start writing more on the new blog and leave this one behind. Check out bradandrachelletilley.blogspot.com sometime in the next while and add it to your Reader before you forget!

Funnest Ward Activity Ever

Brad's ward had a Halloween dance tonight in the apartment parking garage. It wasn't even my ward activity, but it was the best party ever! Brad is on the activities committee, and so we got the donuts to go with the hot chocolate and cleaned up a little bit afterwards. But we had so much fun.

We dressed up as Mr. and Mrs. Smith, in the suits they wear during their big shoot out at the end. We bought these big, fake, black "automatic" guns from the dollar store that make noise and light up and we wore sunglasses. I thought we looked pretty good! The pictures are on his camera... If you are lucky I will post them later.

We danced for a long time! I was a little surprised because the first interaction I really had with Brad was Dani's black-light dance party birthday party, and I tried to get Brad and his friend Andrew to dance with me, and they made pretty small efforts to dance. So I was surprised tonight when Brad kept pulling me back on the dance floor, but it made me so happy! We can dance our cares away together!

It was so fun dancing together and kind of ignoring everyone else... Who knew that it would be so much fun to go with your pretend and almost spouse? But dance parties are now on the top of our list for activities!

This is an example of one of the many silly moments that make me so happy I am marrying Brad. Another is how much he enjoys watching "She's the Man" with me. He thinks it is hilarious! Yay for marrying someone with the exact same sense of humor as me :)

I'm Getting Married!

(Disclaimer: This post might be the cheesiest thing you have ever read. But I don't care.)
I am engaged! I am so excited! Twelve o'clock on December 18 cannot come soon enough! Oh my. This is the best thing that is ever happened to me in my entire life. Brad is a blessing straight from heaven made just for me. He is the sweetest man I know and my best friend. He is also ridiculously attractive :) I am so so so blessed. I have no idea how I got him, but he actually does know everything about me and loves me a ton anyway. I am totally marrying up.

Brad proposed yesterday by taking me on a picnic. As some of you who know him may be surprised to hear, he sang me a song that we both love about getting married, and that is when I knew he was proposing. I of course started crying. He made me cry harder while he talked about how he decided to marry me because it was so sweet, and then he got down on his knee and I laughed a little because we both knew what I was going to say. If I hadn't been crying I think I would have shouted the word yes instead of just saying it :)

The next surprise was that both of our families were waiting at his house to celebrate and have lunch together. It was so much fun having them all (well not really all, but some) in the same happy room! I love Brad's family and I love my family and the combination was great! I am glad that they got to meet.

Best day of my life thus far. And my favorite part is that the best is yet to come :)

I love Brad so much and am so excited to be with him all the time! I hope that everyone can come to the reception so that you all can meet him!