a stiff upper lip

"No one has been blinded by looking on the bright side of things."

I agree. Why drag yourself out of bed each morning if you are pessimistic and claim to have no ambition to go on? Well, [I believe] if you do get out of bed and face another day (no matter how dreary the day ahead may seem), you do have ambition! Some itty bitty part of you has that desire...that drive...that hunger to explore what lies in store for you. Being optimistic doesn't mean you always have to have a smile on your face, but rather that you always keep the thoughts that brighten your day and that can make you burst into random smiles in the forefront of your mind. Having a positive outlook on the world and the things going on around you makes all the difference.
Things in this world are most definitely going to get a lot worse before they can get better, but that is no reason to just curl up in a ball and let all the bummer deals consume you! Always get up in the morning - there is always something to live for!

Speaking of difficult times, the presidential election is just a few short days away.
Up until this point, I have not been swayed to support either candidate in particular. Up until this point, my opinion has been that either way you look at it, the U.S.A. has a very long, very difficult journey ahead in order to try and preserve what our fore fathers fought so hard to obtain, and whoever becomes our president most certainly has his work cut out for him.
However, I received a rather interesting text this past weekend. Normally I dismiss random texts like this and don't give 'em much of a second thought, but this one got me thinking...
This is what the text said:

According to the Book of Revelation, the anti-Christ will be a man in his 40s, of Muslim descent, who will come out of nowhere, deceive nations with persuasive language, and have a massive Christ-like appeal...the prophesy says that people will flock to him and he will promise false hope and world peace, and when he is in power, will destroy everything.
Is it Obama?
I strongly urge you to think about it.
The Book of Revelation says (in chapter 13) that the beast will be allowed to have authority for approximately 42 months.
That's almost a 4 year presidency term!...

After reading that, I dove for my scriptures and got right into the Book of Revelation...I admittedly didn't read that far into it and I should have searched a little harder before I said anything in the beginning, but I have been politely corrected and told that nowhere in the scriptures does it state these things about the anti-Christ. Dummy me, jumping the gun before I'm absolutely sure on something...I need to work on that.
However, it does say that a beast will rise up and be worshipped, will be given a mouth with which he will speak great blasphemies, and have power given to him for 42 months...
Now, I am not saying that I agree with this silly text message, but it is definitely something to ponder...the anti-Christ is coming, regardless of if it's in the near future or in twenty years.
I had another notion go through my head as I read that and thought about it for a while:
At first I was terrified to think that if the anti-Christ was to come sometime soon, I'm not ready! That means that we are that much closer to when Christ comes to the earth again. I'm trying so hard to do everything I should be doing and to make up for the things I've done that I know I've done wrong and I just need more time to get it all right.
But then I thought - if I'm really trying my hardest to make myself a better person and to keep a positive outlook and to help others as much as I can along the way, surely Heavenly Father will know that, right?
So now I'm not scared =) As long as I'm doing the right things and doing them with the right mind set, I will be all right.
I love love love! my Father in Heaven and I know that no matter when He comes again, I'll be ready and be able to face all the tribulations that come at me before I come before Him once more. Yay =)
Lol umm...ya. Wow, I haven't written like that in a long time. I feel accomplished.
I know my ramblings here don't sound half as intelligent or powerful as the words I hear so many other inspiring individuals say, but I tried =P This is something I've been thinking about a lot lately.
Ok, well I think that this is the part where I stop while I am ahead...
Thanks for reading
=)

the return of the mac, the giggles, and the randomness of it all

Sooo Erica came over last week while my mommy was on vacation and we played with the mac again! Happy day! =D We made a couple new movies and took some silly pictures (again). I even did my hair all cute for 'em =P haha check it out:

and the best part is - i wear my hair like this on a normal basis around the house =P i'm so awesome lol
We also took some vacations of our own! It was pretty tricky to get it all set up - the backgrounds kept blocking out parts of us so Erica researched it and we had to make a sort of green screen to make it work right. I must say, for it being around one in the morning at this time, we were pretty dang creative! We got my old comforter and turned it over so only the solid pink side of it was showing. We shut it in the front door to hold it up and I can just imagine my neighbor's thoughts as he got home (we heard him trumping up the stairs in the early morning hours) and saw half of a comforter sticking out of our front door...lol he already thinks I'm odd =P Since neither of us was wearing pink, it worked!...for the most part. You can still see parts of pink pop out of nowhere during our videos, but it's all good 'cause we problem solved and pretty much fixed the problem. Go us! =D Here are some ofour ooberly amazing pics:

This was before our "green screen" - we danced on the moon!

Then we went to Paris to see the Eiffel Tower. We were giants there!






And then we went swimming with fishies and discovered that our current "green screen" (a dark blue blanket) made us look bald!
HAHA good times good times


And thennnn we flew up into the sky! I saw something I really liked apparently =) It was exciting!


Ok ok, so those are our adventures to different places. Pretty cool, eh? We also rode an awesome roller coaster! And we totally got footage of it - it's silly =P it was also very late - just bear that in mind =)


So my mommy and I were sitting here a while ago watching CSI and I was feeling restless and hyper. I didn't even realize what I was doing, but then my mom looked over and started laughing really hard and I looked around me and started laughing with her. While we were watching our show together, I had pushed myself up on the back of the couch and my body was all twisted and backwards on the couch. Kinda hard to imagine, but it was really funny! I was actually really comfortable =P haha my mom says, "Oh I wish we had a camera!" Silly mommy =P

I could write a bunch more because I've got so much to say right now, but I'm really hyper and I feel like dancin. =D I'm gonna go see if my momma wants to dance with me! Hehe

Umm...kthxbye!

the end =)

courage, birthdays, and grandma

I discovered that I am such a scaredy cat (actually, I already knew this, but something just really hit me hard today that made me realize it even more).

So, I'm sitting here watching some of the talks that I missed from conference this past weekend, and I'm listening to Elder Russell M. Nelson talk about marriage and I realize..."Holy cow, I'm old enough to get married!"
Ok ok, so I've already known that for a while now, but honestly, that thought really scares me!
To be with one person for the rest of my life I can deal with no problem - I'm excited for that part! But to find that person...oh dear. What if I think I've found Mr. Right, but somewhere along the road he turns out to not be who I thought he was?
I know I'm probably being irrational, but isn't this something I seriously need to be thinking about now? The beginning of the rest of my life could be waiting just around the corner, and I'd rather have these things in the fore front of my mind instead of them leaping out in front of me after I've already tied the knot. I haven't had the best example of a happy marriage in my life growing up, but I think I know what it takes to make a marriage work...And with me thinking so much about all of this, does it mean that I'll be able to avoid all that scary stuff because I'm so aware of it, or does it mean that I'll follow in the broken footsteps of the role models who haven't been the best example to me in this area my whole life? Hmm, maybe I just need to take a breather and chill out haha.
P.S. One more rambling from me, and then I'll shush about this subject =)
How do I find (and hold onto) my Mr. Right when I can't even tell the guy I like that I like him?
Have you ever heard the song "Say" by John Mayer? There's a part in it that says "...you better know that in the end it's better to say too much than to never say what you need to say..."
Well, I always seem to say too much...about every subject but something like this lol. I'm too shy (if you can believe it =P) about this kind of thing, and I can't seem to be able to work up the courage to say anything. Grr, it's frustrating. Come on Marie...get it together =P

Haha ok, enough of that.

So I went to Nicole's (my "little sister" from Big Brother Big Sister) birthday party tonight. She's already 9! Makes me feel old...lol. We went to a corn maze with her mom, brother, sister-in-law, nephew, and 7 of her friends from her class. They're such goofy girls =) I ventured in with the girls while Nicole's family waited for us to get a head start. The immediately started worrying about what we'd do if we all got separated. I suggested Marco, Polo and they took to that pretty quickly. Nicole and her best friend, Janecia, decided to test it out so they ran ahead and started yelling at the top of their lungs. For five minutes straight, that's all I heard: "Marco?!" "Polo!" "MARCO?!?!" *gasp* "I heard them! [after every voice they heard] POLO!!!" It was funny =)
As we continued along our corn maze journey, one of the girls said that she hated corn mazes because they scared her. Leave it to Nicole to pipe in..."Don't worry Hayley. Marie's pretty much scared of everything." LOL, from then on, I had 8 little 4 ft. monsters jumping out at me every few feet, trying to scare me! Crazy little kids =P That's otay though, I scared them back! Teehee =D

My cute little grandma is staying with us tonight =) I walked in and the first thing she says is "I don't like your long hair. It always attacks my face when I see you and try to give you a hug and a kiss." Sorry grandma! It has a mind of its own I guess =P Her and my mommy are going on vacation for about a week (hence, the reason grandma is staying the night. They have to get up early tomorrow) which means I get the place all to myself =) It's gonna be a good rest of the week lol.

Wellllll, this has been kind of a long blog...and I would say sorry, but this is my blog and I figure anyone who doesn't care about what I write has most likely already gone to a different website by now, so it's all good =D lol ummm....I'm kinda hyper too so if none of this made much sense to you, it certainly amused the heck out of me! I'm sitting here laughing and talking to myself (probably not a very good sign... =P) and making my family wonder...it's so stinkin funny! My family thinks/knows I'm a nerd haha.
hmmm....ok well, night night!

the end

ADVENTURE!!!

Ok, so bear with me here - it's really late/early and I can't sleep because I'm such a chicken and I'm here all alone...Lol I'm house sitting for my sister this weekend and taking care of her and her husband's kitties. I have no problem bein here alone when all the lights are on and stuff, but to turn the lights off and try to sleep in a strange place (while the wind starts to blow harder and the rain is coming) gives me the heeby-jeebies! Eep!Hehe anyways - funny story: Erica said she'd come over and keep me company for a bit tonight, so I called her when I got off work. She was just going to follow me out here to my sis's house, so she was just waiting down in her car while I was up getting my stuff together. When I came downstairs, there was this random kitty just chillin down there by my car...silly kitty. We were gettin ready to go when I realized that I forgot something upstairs. Uh oh! Haha, I'm way loopy right now...
I ran upstairs to grab my something and when I came back down, Erica was standing outside her car...odd. She looked up and said "Uh, we may have a bit of a problem here..."
Apparently, when I ran upstairs she rolled down her window to say hi to the kitty...and it jumped right into her car! Hahaha
We just stood there for a second and laughed our heads off, and then I whipped out my amazing laser pointer (the something I went upstairs for - I figured I could play with my sister's kitties with it too) as she asked, "What should we do now?" I turned it on and the cat shot straight out of the car after it! I pointed it way across the parking lot and Erica and I bolted into our cars. It was so silly!

After we got to the house, I took care of the kitties and explored the kitchen (of course =P). Then Erica and I made fudge and watched The Notebook. One of THE cutest chick flicks! It's one of those movies that is best when watched with your sweetheart while you're cuddling, but also makes for a good girl's night movie =)

So this house is pretty freakin' amazing - I want a house like this someday. It always smells so good (not overpoweringly good, just the soft, sweet scent of candles and incense - I love it!), there are some pretty awesome hiding places for hide n' seek =P, and I love how she has it decorated...It's hard to really explain it in text+it's late so if nothing I just wrote made sense, I sincerely apologize. Haha

Um, well, I'm going to try and overcome my fear here and get some sleep cuz I gotta work all day tomorrow...Ahhhh! The wind is blowing even harder now... =/ If you never hear from me again - haha jk. I'll be fine (I think) =P nighty night!

the end

smarty pants and personalities

Can I just start off by giving what I think is a sound piece of advice? =)
- Guys, contrary to belief that a nice Italian restaurant will woo your date on your first night out together, spaghetti is a BAD idea (unless you really like the girl and don't care how much of a fool she makes of herself)! I had spaghetti for lunch today and...well...Let's just say that as careful as I was, I still managed to get more on my shirt than in my mouth. Come on now, that's just embarrassing - I don't care who you are. Haha

So I've discovered that there are some very intelligent individuals in my life. It amazes me how knowledgeable they are and continue to get while I just stay my silly self. I could never in a million years achieve their level of enlightenment, and I truly love them for the kindness and friendship they have shown me (in years passed as well as recently). Along with their brilliance and other favorable attributes, they are always so endlessly patient with me as I ask bunches of questions that usually have pretty obvious answers. I look up to these people (most of them I literally have to "look up" to =P) and hold them in my highest regards. Thanks guys =D

I learned some interesting things about myself when I was in my PSY101 class (for the most part it was a pointless class that had nothing to do with anything, but it surprised me every once in a while). One of the coolest things we did was take a Meyers-Briggs personality test.
It was interesting to take this test and have the results tell me more about my personality (of course the results weren't EXACT or anything, but most of what it said sounded exactly like me and it was happy. Shibby!). My personality type is "ENFJ" and when I read/researched more about that personality type, it was totally right on! I thought it was pretty awesome.
If any of you want to check it out and see what your personality type is, go to http://sminds.com/cgi-bin/mbti.pl. When it comes up with your results, just put your type in the search bar in Google and it will bring up a bunch of stuff. It makes for interesting reading if nothing else.
And that's the pointless story of the day...Haha, sorry for that little rant and rave - I tend to do that a lot =P

LOL my mom and I are watching CSI: NY and this episode is about this crazy person who is killing by exposing people to different radioactive materials (something like that). The CSI guys are carrying around this radiation gun thing (or whatever it's called) to scan over suspects and see if they are radioactive.
Well, we're sitting here watching this, and as the CSI guys go up to talk to this suspect, they discover that he is Buddhist. Towards the end of their conversation, the lady holds up the radiation gun thing and says [sarcastically], "Mind if I scan your aura?" and runs the gun up and down him to check for radiation.
My mom sits there for a half a second and says, "Huh, that's cool they have the technology to scan auras like that...Must be something new."
I looked at her for a minute and tried to decide if she really was being serious or just joking around...When she didn't say anything else, I asked her. She was dead serious!
We were laughing so-o hard!
Haha, so if any of you were wondering where I get my blond moments from, now you know =D

So anyways....those are my stories for now =) Thanks so much (as always) for reading! =)

the end